Blessings from Whitney

Here is a quick little post, I'll post a big one on colleges later :)

Whitney's statement:
I must say that, I drove by a car factory the other day and saw the saddest thing in the world. It was empty, No one was working. My friends g ma looked at me and stated "Yup they can pay somebody in Mexico $3 salaries. That is where the jobs are going" Someone please tell me, please inform me how this will help US get out of debt. How can people losing their lively hoods, their jobs help OUR economy? Will one of those who understand the world better than I please inform.

My answer/retort?

first, No to everything you said
second, The plant is closed because they kept to many overly paid union workers and didn't send enough jobs to mexico when competitors did. So now instead of laying off some, all are laid off. Therefore, being competitive benefits US workers in the long run far more than "Buy/Employ American"
third, for every $1 ... Read Moresent oversees in jobs, it brings $1.66 back to the US (which feeds & clothes you with its benevolence)
The US economy must have this cash influx to maintain the lifestyles of its constituents
fourth, I assume there is some anti-Obama's economic policies plug in your statement. That plant closed because of a recession, which was caused by the lessening of regulations under a republican congress ( the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) in 1999. This act allowed investment banks and commerical banks to merge (CitiGROUP was a result, you know the one that was "too big to fail") which put hard working americans' money into the hands of overzealous Dan Stefanus at 10:39pm July 10
investment bankers who risked it all (needlessly).
Obama had nothing to do with this. This is republican free trade policy coming back to bite us in the ass. Responsible free trade is good, but this was reckless and stupid.

And I don't think there is anything to envy in Mexico ;)

Oh btw, Dubyah increased the national debt to fund the Iraqi War by more than any other president in history (during peacetime, ie Congress hasn't officially declared war, unlike in WW2). Obama has put us deep in debt to save our economy. Had he not, I promise you that we would still be freefalling, and unemployment would be 2x as high.

John McCain would have done the same thing, fyi (regarding the stimulus, his just would have been allocated differently: more tax breaks less funding

Reflections On My Faith & Beliefs

{Please read the following in its entirety & reserve your judgements until the end}

Today I realized why my church hasn't helped me resolve my belief, or lack thereof, in Christianity. It's because it always sounds like propaganda. There is no rationality, they just shove it down my throat and expect me to believe everything they say (which I just can't do). For instance about two months ago, our missionary leader gave us a sermon on "the state of things." It was the most intolerant, unfounded, scare tactic-ie thing that I've ever heard. He concluded with:

"I fear that someday the bells of Islam will tell our children when to wake up. I don't know if Americans will be able to worship the one true savior in the future. In order to protect our children we must spread the message across the world, so please donate, for the children. All of today's proceeds will go towards protecting your future children."

When I go to rational/not propagandistic religious retreats like Big Stuff, I feel like I get closer to finding an end to my sojourn, but then I hear some crappy, off-the-wall sermon, and I'm walking again.

To clarify, I am not an atheist, and I do care (so I'm not agnostic), but at the moment, I am very confused.

I really just need to read the bible in its entirety ; organized religion just seems to get in the way of the truth.

And some interesting food for thought:
http://thebuddhistblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/intolerant-christians.html

The above is my primary reason for opposing evangelism, I 100% support SHOWING JESUS to those who are unaware, HOWEVER, advancing Christianity at the expense of another religion is wrong, period.

Religion is a belief, not a fact, and therefore you cannot disparage someone else's religion, as yours cannot be PROVEN to be better, merely speculated to be as such.

I do consider myself a Christian, and I do try to improve my understanding of Christianity everyday, however that does not mean that I am not critical of it and every other idea that I encounter. Nothing is above reason and justice, especially not religious intollerance.

A Salam Aleikum

Staring Down the Colossus

Politics, that dreaded subject that makes millions of Americans cower in fear, are important.
Politics define your life, what you use, and how your children think and grow.
You must know politics; political ignorance harms you much more than you think.
HOWEVER
There are two kinds of politics:
real politics (the important one)
&
media politics (the bullshit one)

I am not attacking the conservative right and I am certainly not supporting the liberal left, however, I am saying that 90% of the politics that you know is incorrect bullshit.
Point 1: Obama is a socalist

FUCKING KILL ME NOW

In Europe they actually LAUGH at this idea. Obama does lean towards socialism (just as O'Reily leans towards facism), however that does not make O'Reily a facist, and vice-versa.
ALSO, Socialism, as a system, requires decades of constant stewardship.
WE CANNOT BECOME A SOCIALIST NATION IN 4 YEARS, 2 MONTHS, OR TONIGHT
I'm sick of people complaining about something that they CLEARLY do not understand.
There is nothing wrong with socialism, just as there as is nothing wrong with capitalism. Both are competing economic systems that completely FAIL independently.

I hope America realizes that we have a lot of socialistic systems that work fantastically.
Unemployment? Socialistic? YES In 1800s America (almost pure capitalism, an excellent vintage) if you lost your job you were FUCKED (since you also had no savings or means to hedge your losses)
Medicaid/Medicare? YES Also socialist, Medicare provides healthcare for 50 MILLION AMERICANS that otherwise would not have ANY. It is extremely inefficient, but that is because of the nature of US politics.

Due to the constant switch from Dem to Rep and back, 75% of all US programs are wildly inefficient.
Example: Medicare is established by Johnson in the 60s (a Dem)
Nixon rolls back coverage and weakens the system in the 70s (a Repub)
Carter attempts to bring it back to the Johnson level, but in doing so creates a hugely unwieldy infrastructure. (a Dem)
Reagan's austerity plan nearly destroys Medicare due to the huge cuts he makes in the early 80s (though as the economy recovers he does expand it slightly later on)
Clinton strengthens in the 90s

And now we are left with an emaciated/obese cow that has developmental disorders due to being malnurished half the time and stuffed to the gills the other half of the time.
Had we fed the cow slowly over time, things would have panned out much better and we could have just expanded medicare until covered everyone.

BUT partisan politics ruined that, as the media and dirty politicans used this as a hot-button issue to invigorate the base and win elections. So many Americans hate what helps them.

There are so many things to discuss, my brain is swirling, please bear with me.

This goes to the conservatives (politically, not morally)
The biggest problem facing corporate America today is the Spiraling cost of healthcare
Health insurance has tripled in the last decade, far outpacing inflation and wage increases.
The profit of corporate America, WHICH IS VITAL TO THE GROWTH OF THE US ECONOMY THROUGH REINVESTMENT, is being siphoned off to pay for overpriced vicodin.

If we introduce a US Gov't healthcare system, it will provide the competition necessary to reduce the outrageous prices of HealthcareAmerica LLC
THIS IS NOT UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE
This is a competing healthcare for anyone that wants it. YOU CAN KEEP YOUR PRIVATE INSURER. THis will alleviate the suffering of the poor (who often have to choose food or medecine, I'm not making this shit up. ACCEPT REALITY) who pay for ridiculously overpriced medecines. AND your private insurer will be 40-70% cheaper than it is currently, allowing you to save or spend more (depending on your financial acumen).

I beseech you to listen to the voice of reason. I am sick of hearing the constant jabbering of left and right wing nutjobs who have no idea about what is actually going on.

I voted in a mock election in the summer of 2008 and I VOTED MCCAIN, NOT OBAMA. Later, after I learned more about both candidates, I was rather torn since there were VERY few real differences between them, but ultimately I believe that I would have voted Obama because John McCain wouldn't have been able to shake this country up enough to put us back on the right path (the path where your kids are happy to be Americans, and you don't have to worry about your safety as you walk to the grocery store)
President Obama does have your best interests at heart, and he will make an excellent President. Just give him a chance and don't be a close-minded prick.
Legitimate criticism is good, pointless bickering is not.

Breaking the last record: 2nd post

Hello dear readers,
I realize that there are a lot of you, so please line up in a queue so that server doesn't overload.
First, my name. Henry Kissenger was a great american statesman...yatayata... and then he met this chick Rita. This is my origin tale (not Oregon Trail, and better than genesis, jk Jesus!)
here is the wiki article, enjoy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Kissinger

SO, tonight Joel, Brandon, et les filles went to the Hangover.
HILARIOUS!
I give it 9 blunts out of 10 (the 10th was stolen, or it would have gotten all of them; it's voracious!)

My dad's was pretty lame, as always. My sister flipped on the "You're the best big brother ever" switch, that'll last until next week.

I have a million things to do, and since you have nothing better to do, here is my list:
1) READ, I practically robbed a bookstore in Columbia and now I have 14 books awaiting my perusing
2) RUN, Cross Country will really suck if I'm still a fatty
3) PRACTICE, my French needs a lot of work and I need to order my AP books
4) VOLUNTEER, yeah so I scheduled myself on the 4th of July...oops.
5) WORK, so both congressmen didn't answer my emails...
6) PLAN, I still need to finish the details of my College Roadtrip
7) EXERCISE, Lankiness is annoying lol
8) WRITE MY COLLEGE ESSAYS, self-explanatory?
9) SUMMER HOMEWORK, calculus can kiss my balls, but...
10) SPEECH, I need to find/write pieces :(
11) EXEC, I have to organize half-time, fundraise, and start Prom stuff. yay
12) STOCKS, So the market didn't tank as much as I needed it to, so I have $3000 that will not be invested unless I change my pricepoints. yummy
13) COMM ADVISORY BOARD, I have 100 pages of PDF to read about the Mehlville School District, which I then have to draft into a proposal for the school board, and I don't know when it's due.
14) LITTLE THINGS, calls to make, papers to read/analyze, fun to be had, etc.

Well hopefully that brings you up to speed faithful reader.

Bonjour Bitches

Hello dear readers,
My name is Kissinger's Lovechild and I am the second member of the three muskequeers (and the lesbian hag).
At the moment I have little to report, other than my iPhone is on backorder (boo.).
I promise to shower you with witticisms later, but at the moment I have trivial matters to attend to.
Voila