By Mark David Blum

(taken from Facebook postings)

(9/14/12)
what the hell has happened to us as a nation? instead of hunting the cowardly murderers of a US Ambassador, we are hunting the maker of a movie. instead of turning our ire and weapons against those who would do us harm, we (see USA Today) are calling for the arrest and punishment of the movie's producer. instead of drawing a red line in defense of our precious fundamental rights of free expression, we succumb and pander to the Egyptian President's proclamation that comments about the Islam and Mohammed are a red line. our secretary of state apologizes for americans being free instead of demanding an apology for the violence perpetrated against the innocent. i want my country back, my fundamenal inalienable rights back, and a government and president who has my back. egypt's president wants an arrest of the moviemaker. i want an arrest of the muslim brotherhood who staged these regional acts of violence. reactionary islamists want to defend their prophet with their heart and soul. i want to defend my american rights with bullets and missiles.

(9/16/12)
how come every time we have a supposed tough guy in the white house, terrorists shoot us up. when reagan was president, marines were slaughtered in beirut, planes were bombed over lockerbie, and weapons were sold to iranians for hostages. when bush 1 was president, iraq invaded kuwait. when bush 2 was president, the worst of all terrorist acts was committed against the United States not counting the daily attacks in afghanistan and iraq for seven years.

"they" say because President Obama is supposedly 'weak' (which he aint, ask Bin Ladin), we are being attacked internationally. a few crowds around a few embassies allegedly attract terrorists and show us with diminished resolve. our drone program speaks to the contrary and it doesnt appear the loudmouths at the embassies are doing much more than shouting. yes, one embassy was attacked but the attackers are already under arrest.

dont tell me President Obama is weak when his Republican predecessors brought about so much loss and suffering on Americans

(9/18/12)
so, about 26,000 teachers and support staff are striking in Chicago, demanding higher pay, better job security and changes to a new evaluation system. they are not striking for better conditions for the kids. they dont want better schools. they dont seek academic freedom. no, this strike is about padding their own pockets at taxpayer expense. already the highest paid teachers in the nation with a near 50% drop out rate, this is not a union thing protecting workers rights. this is a direct attack against the people of Chicago and puts greed and self interest on one side and children on the other.

(9/19/20)
it is the duty and responsibility of every citizen to take a stand as to where the national direction should face and thus it should be a law that every citizen be registered to vote and to be obligated by law, just as with jury duty, to actually appear at their place of elections and sign in on election day. Clearly every citizen shall have the right to not cast a vote but their appearance at the polls should be mandatory.

(9/19/12)
in honor of the federal law which requires all schools in the US to teach the constitution on constitution day, i am off to a local highschool again today to twist up young minds and make them think about what the document really means and says.

as part of today's mindbender, i am going to bring this issue to the table: Posited -- Abraham Lincoln was the great traitor to the Constitution. If you look at the Declaration of Independance, it states clearly that when one People decide to no longer be part of a larger nation due to what they deem as abuses, then it is their duty to separate and form their own. The southern states each voted in their own legislatures to seceed from the Union; all lawful and proper process. Instead of respecting those votes and letting the states leave the union -- a union comprised of the several states with a federal goverment of LIMITED powers -- Lincoln changed that relationship to a more mafia-esque relationship where once you join, you can never leave. He defiled the founders intentions and started a war that killed more Americans than all our subsequent wars combined. He also changed the role of the federal government to what it has become today -- all powerful and has no regard for the states or their rights.

Let the flamers ignite

(9/21/12)
what is wrong with us as a community when thousands will go berzerk over the smashing of some swan eggs but wont give a second thought to a homeless ban burned to death under a bridge in syracuse. shame on us. what kind of people have we become.

(9/24/12)
In these grand United States, there is presently a debate whether medical care should be universal and a right inherent to every citizen. Opposing the concept are the relics and old folks who equate socialism with Stalin and cannot separate the economic model from the political paradigm sought to enforce it.

If you are standing on a corner and are robbed, you have a socialized police force ready to come to your help. You have a socialized criminal justice system and prison system to deal with threats and wrongdoers. We do this because we realize that at any given time, any one of us could be a victim of a crime and need help.

If your house is burning down, again we have a socialized fire rescue agency to come and help. Again, we do this because we all realize that any one of us could be at risk of fire and we provide this service to all for our own protection.

If your child cannot read, then we have a socialized educational system because we all realize the value of an education and how it betters the nation.

If we need plumbing, roads, plowing of snow, we have socialized infrastructure to help everyone because we realize that as a community we need to be able to move about.

But, if you are standing on a corner and you see a fellow American drop to the ground suffering from a heart attack, all we do is stand there saying, “boy, I sure hope he has good insurance.”

Is it me or can we all accept the reality that sooner or later we are all going to need medical care. Providing ‘universal’ or ‘socialized’ medicine and cutting out the insurance companies will shift medical care to the same status as fire, police, courts, infrastructure, and education. Medical care should be seen as fundamental and basic a human need as any other.

Employers and businesses have no place or role to play in the nation’s health care debate. It is appalling that government has turned its attention to business owners and is helping itself to profits to offset what is arguably otherwise a government duty. Like police, fire, infrastructure, education, and courts, health care is not an employer driven need. Instead it is a social need shared by every single citizen. We do not require employers to provide for the costs of education or managing a fire district. It is just as insane to demand employers solve the nation’s health care issues.

It is time to correct a sixty year old bad habit that started as a fad and marketing trend and has since blossomed into what most folks consider a near constitutional right. I speak of the new age belief that an employer must provide health care benefits to its employees … or that employees have a right to insist, request, or even consider a health care plan as part of a compensation package.

Prior to the Second World War, there was no concept of an employer driven health care system. Because millions of healthy workers were in uniform, current demands of industry were high. Since the labor force controlled the market, employers began using Health Insurance as an added incentive to lure skilled workers to their industry. When the next generations came into the work force, they too wanted the same benefits as their forefathers and what we ended up with today is a benefit that is perceived as being on par with actual salary as the primary job consideration. Employers are to be the primary means of delivery of national health care by paying into insurance.

Mandatory health benefits are not the same legal animal as a minimum wage. Minimum wage is also a mandatory directive to private employers for the payment of benefits. Minimum wage laws send the profits directly into the hands of the consumer and the State via taxes. Also, these minimum wage laws apply to everyone across the board.

Aside from the libertarian and capitalist defenses of private rights to do business any way you want consistent with those who would buy your product, the two reasons government mandated health insurance through employers is repugnant are (1) only the insurance companies profit, and (2) it is an unreasonable burden on the entire market; both employer and employee.

Similarly, our nation’s employers are not medical providers (unless that is their service). We sell widgets and the skills to build, install, and operate those widgets. The last thing our employers need is to involve themselves in the business of insurance; either in carrying it and billing for it, or in paying monstrous premiums to commercial carriers. It simply is not their business and frankly, employers lack any real skill at providing quality benefits for the prices charged.

With employees, the situation is no better. Mandatory insurance upon the employer gives the employer unbelievable access to the most private aspects of a person’s life. Employers will know your blood pressure, your drug preferences, and of your venereal diseases. You will have to share personal medical information just to get the job; not because it is a condition of employment but because it is necessary to assess your impact upon the employer’s risk pool.

The bottom line is that business needs to focus on widgets. WE, as a Nation need to find another solution to our nation’s health crisis. Absolutely and no matter what, “insurance” must be factored out of the equation.

(9/30/12)
i got a flash message on my newsfeed yesterday asking me to hunker down and dig deep sending money to democrats to help them take the majority in various races from the white house to the state assembly. i have a newsflash of my own; we are not a nation built on a parlimentary system where party loyalty is absolute. in a two party system such as ours, the individual candidate in more important than the party. absolute devotion to a party over nation ignores the principles upon which our nation was founded.

THIRTY SEVEN days out from the election and not a single candidate has approached me to support them. oh they want my money, but none dont bother to tell me what for. whether it be my state races, my county races, or even the national races, and despite the fact that i am the bullseye target for all parties this election -- the middle aged white guy who is undecided and independant. i thought my candidates for judge or state assembly or congress or senate or president would have at least tried to make contact with me. (no, i dont want to hear from their surrogates) hence here i sit completely ignored. i wont forget. since at least two actual candidates are on my friends list and many others have surrogates that lurk and stalk, i would think someone would attempt an approach.

this proves my hypothesis ... the rise of the tea party and the occupy movements are the best evidence that neither the democrats nor the republicans speak to the overwhelming majority of the american electorate. each of the two parties speak only to their faithful and market candidates based on party, not quality. i see it in my obama supporting friends -- more about standing with the democrats than the candidate. we all know few if any republicans really support romney but those who are voting for him are doing so for the sake of party

(10/3/12)
"propaganda" is not about forcing people to think a certain way. Rather it is a tool to force people to focus on a particular issue. it is used to divert attention from issue A and get the targetted audience all riled up about issue B. for example: the newly birthed flimflammery arising out of a speech made by President Obama five years ago where he went all Black on his audience. This is pure propaganda as it shifts the discussion from the economy to whether the President is secretly a black man.

for every person who tells me the President is a Black man, i can tell you he is just as much a White man. either way, who gives a crap. that is not a qualification or a disqualifier for the office. (neither are lady parts nor spaghetti monsters). so please, can we seriously talk policy?

but then again, everybody's mind is made up and nothing is going to change. so all we are really going to do is beat each other up until we start this process all over again ... november 8th

(10/19/12)
Propaganda is not about the use of media to control people’s thoughts. It is the use of the media to control the discussion. Everybody on the political right, from the Republican nominee to the blowhards on television and radio are jibberjabbering endlessly about an alleged 14 day coverup of a terrorist attack on the American embassy in Benghazi. I am fed up with being lied to and watching facts and circumstances get all twisted up to create the illusion of intentional government misdeeds. The other day, the word “Benghazi-gate” slogged its way into an essay.

First, let us understand how embassy security works. By international agreement, the host country provides for the security of the embassy compound. For example, if there was a mass uprising and march upon the Pakistani embassy in Washington D.C., it would be the responsibility of American police agencies to provide for the security of that property. Libya is not yet completely organized and police and military responsibility is still clan oriented and not centralized. While I am confident American forces could put down an assault, Libya is obviously not yet capable of providing security.

Second, the role of the United States Marines at any American embassy is not to protect the Ambassador, the staff, American civilians or any other person; unless otherwise so tasked. The role of the marines is to safeguard the embassy secure materials. These soldiers are there to protect the security of the United States. They destroy documents, machinery, and information. Obviously too they have to protect themselves and I wouldn’t fault them for defending others. But the job of the marines on station is protecting American interests. Safeguarding the Ambassador and staff is the responsibility of private security guards hired by the State Department. It probably makes sense as a private security guard who shoots a local citizen would create less political problems than uniformed military.

Finally, there is no upside to the White House misleading the American public out of malice or to cover up anything. Recall, this is the same president who was yukking it up at the Correspondents Dinner while Seal Team 6 was en route to Abbottabad. There may be valid reasons for disinformation or no information divulged by the White House in the immediate aftermath. This is especially so if, as it is now admitted, it was a true military attack. Intelligence services and military assets needed to identify and locate the attackers. Letting the world think the government was operating on a false conclusion and was misinformed could be seen as giving the attackers a false sense of security. I have already heard of two arrests in France and I am fairly sure the rest of the bastards who attacked the embassy are within drone distance now.

The bottom line is that the mere passage of 14 days in and of itself is not evidence of an evil government. It is not evidence of a failed foreign policy. Clearly it does raise questions but national security issues may prevent the subject being fully aired. On this one, I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the White House. To those who are bombarding me with endless claptrap about this whole issue, I say the burden is on you to show wrongdoing and coverup is afoot instead of just constantly implying it.

Of course, I could be wrong.

(10/20/12)
It is arrogant of us as a species to see ourselves as the end of life as it will be on this planet. There have been so many previous mass extinctions, that all that we know as human evolution is but a blip in the planet's history. You worry too much about global warming and its effects on the planet. Our very existence proves that the planet seems to have this uncanny ability to heal itself.

(11/7/12)
it is nice to see the republican party exposed this morning for what it truly is; a throwback cult whose only real loyalty lines up foursquare with what was once the politics and ideologies of the confederate states of america. a decade ago, i began my observations that then president bush was doing so much harm to his party's ideology that republicans would either have to disband or count themselves out of any meaningful election for the next 3 generations. i dont need to resort to petty insults when it is obvious on its face and based on the barrage of advertising and loudmouth blatherings than came out of the four corners of the republican universe, that today's republican party is no longer the party of Lincoln but instead has morph'd into the party that would have impeached Lincoln and driven the confederacy into power. keep it going guys; with your Limbaugh phallic stogies, your ann coulter vago-waving, your irrational obsession with sex and the womb and drugs and liberty. my recommnedation is that all republicans be required to finish college, get real jobs, and learn how the world really works. perhaps that would bring them kicking and screaming into the new millenium. calling Russia our most dangerous enemy shows how plum backwards and out of touch is the party. funny thing too is that economic conservatives are libertarians and not republicans but the party's efforts to bring in every extremist to pad their numbers has had the opposite effect; the emperor has no clothes and the republicans have no platform. see ya in 4

(11/9/12)
So, the Republicans as part of licking their wounds from being exposed on election night as the party nobody trusts anymore, are now shifting their shape so as to try and appeal to the non angry white male crowd. Nothing could be more offensive to the voting public than a politician whose position changes with the wind or with the polls (when instead politicians should be solid in their beliefs and attract like minded voters). Thus, Republicans are now planning to start pandering to hispanics and surrender on the migrant issue. To me, this major shift in policy, after decades of racial divide, does not a better Republican party make. It is not enlightenment but dollars and power that Republicans seek. Let that party go into that good night.

(11/19/12)
i think the time has come to put to rest once and for all the stereotype that it is the Jews who are cheap. seriously, there be white christian types lined up sleeping tents in front of Walmart, Best Buy, and Target all to take advantage of Christmas sales. they are having their thanksgiving feast right there on the sidewalk. -- ALL to save a few bucks on christmas gifts. you wont find any Jews in those lines. we already know where to buy shit wholesale.

(11/22/12)
Welp, time to grab me a bitch, wash her stanky self off, rip her legs open, fist her good, stuff my sausage and other goodies down her throat and up her ass, get her all wet and greasy, and then stick it in there for hours until she is so hot, she is drained.

i will first open a glass of wine and work my way to the bottom of the bottle as i totally work over and eat this chick. laterz

(11/25/12)
She came in like a hurricane,
crashing through the door, storming to her room
She has been here four days
Her presence. Her scent.
Endless chatter of nothingness
Now she is leaving; in but one more hour
And just like that. I again lose my flower.

... until next time.

(12/3/12)
all this current talk about raising the taxes of the top income earners is a brand new subject in the american discourse. if you think back just 2 years, you will see that the issue was never on the table. i personally opine that it is thanks to the efforts of the Occupy movement that has brought to the fore of mainstream thought the issue of the top one percenters paying a greater share of taxes

fiscal cliff, my ass. raise taxes, cut spending on defense and government and we can all live happily ever after. the more republicans dig in on these issues, the more they make themselves irrelevant. if they havent learned anything from the last fifteen years, the republican party is headed down the same road as the Whigs. Americans dont want a party that makes itself more important than the nation's best interests.

(12/3/12)
imagine how the world will look in 100 years. technology does not expand linerally, it expands exponentially. fifty years ago, we had rotary dial telephones and manual typewriters. now we have more computing power in our telephones than Apollo 11 had in getting to and landing on the moon.

(12/6/12)
i am so mad at the city of santa monica for taking down its annual nativity displays at the beach. ever since i was a kid, we used to go down and gawk. the displays were big and beautiful and were as much a part of the local culture as are lights on the lake here in central new york. i understand the religious blahdeblah about it and i am a big first amendment kinda guy. but there is also the artistic side to the question much the same as when i see moses with the ten commandments on the side of syracuse law school or at the post office or in god we trust in courtrooms and money or what i find most offensive, red mass. depicting religious events can also be the subject of pure art without being a government sanctioned homage to any particular sect or cult. alas, a loss to all

(12/12/12)
i am sorry but i feel it is the height of arrogance to believe that we, the United States, are the end of political, social, and economic evolution of humanity. to think that it all stops here is ludicrous and irrational. moreso, to even think that humanity itself is the end of biological evolution is all the greater ignorant and narrow minded. there have been several mass extinctions in earth's history. to assume we can alter our own eventual extinction is to be blind to reality.

(12/14/12)
what is wrong with us white people? Everytime I see one of these mass shootings, there is always a white person involved. black folks and Hispanics and other non white people wouldn't be caught dead doing something as stupid as shooting up at school. We really need to keep a close watch on these crazy ass white people

(12/16/12)

(with thanks to Bing Crosby for the assist on the music)

I’m dreaming of a warm Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the waves are crashing
And children splashing
barbeques everywhere have coals a glow

I’m dreaming of a warm Christmas
One basted in sunshine and no snow
Where palm trees are swaying
Barefoot, shorts and tees, ijs
And nighttime bonfires just for show

Yes. I’m dreaming of a warm Christmas
With every breath and dream at night
May your days be sunny and grand
And may all your Christmases be tanned

(12/19/12)
nearly 110 years ago, in 1903, Orville Wright lay down and flew 120 feet at 10 feet per second. in that short span of time from then until now, we have been to the moon, mars, and beyond. we have built stealth and supersonic and jumbos. imagine if you can what will be in the next hundred years given the exponential growth of social change

(12/20/12)

Boehner's Plan B is an abortion and a political ploy intended on holding the nation hostage while republicans continue their obstructionist ways and use the tax code to protect the handful of millionaires. We see through the bullshit and slowly, the Republicans are learning that America is tired of their games. Slowly the party is shrinking into irrelevancy. Watch the blowback if my taxes go up in two weeks. If that happens, republicans will be finished for the next two generations.