Behind the Scenes of a New Law

The most evil people in government isn’t who we elect, it’s who they select.  Most politicians aren’t evil.  They are looking out for their futures.  Their motivation is money for their re-election campaigns and helping out their “buddies” who helped them get elected.  It is these “buddies” who are evil.  They are opportunistic and often write the laws that the politicians would pass.

One example is the latest soft drink law passed by New York City’s City Council.  It was a pet project by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and passed by the Council.  The law, which prohibits soft drinks to be sold in open containers larger than 16 fluid ounces in places like movie theaters and restaurants.  A customer can still buy 32 ounces of soda, but it has to be in two 16 ounce cups instead of a big gulp cup.

The official reason why this bill became law is that it “fights obesity.”  If City Council really wanted to fight obesity, they would have also banned larger sized bottles of soda.  They could have banned Twinkies.  They could have mandated exercise.  They didn’t.  There is more to this law that meets the eye.

People aren’t going to movies as often as they used to.  The Cinemafia has to recoup their losses somehow.  People are already complaining about the prices of soda and popcorn in concession stands.  They can’t just quit selling large sodas on their own – it’s too unnatural.  So they talk to their local City Councilperson as a “concerned citizen”.  They claim that people are getting obese because of large soft drinks at movie theaters and at restaurants.  They include restaurants as a guise because restaurants are dead against such a law and the Cinemafia doesn’t want to give the appearance that they will be the only people to benefit from the new law.

How does the Cinemafia benefit from this law?  They benefit by getting more money for soda without raising prices.  A 16-ounce soda goes for about $4.00 while a 32-ounce goes for $5.00.  By emphasizing that the new law allows customers to buy two 16-ounce sodas instead of one 32-ounce soda, they can charge $8.00 instead of the $5.00 they currently get for 32 ounces.

This bill will not combat obesity.  It won’t stop customers from getting obese nor will it do anything to slim the wallets of the Cinemafia.  The next time you hear that someone is a “concerned citizen”, find out why he or she is so concerned.

 

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Occupy Pennsylvania Avenue

This puzzle is supposed to say "Occupy Wall Street." But occupying Wall Street is puzzling when the laws are written on Pennsylvania Avenue.

I support free speech.  That being said, I have a problem with Occupy Wall Street.  It’s not so much that Wall Street is being occupied as it is that the wrong street is being occupied.  We should be occupying Pennsylvania Avenue.

Wall Street does not write laws.  They only buy people to write laws for them.  The people who write the laws that benefit Wall Street more than Main Street work on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.  They are the ones that Wall Street buys through “lobbying”, which is not to be confused with bribery (when you or I do the same thing.)

It was Congress and the Presidents (present and former) who have allowed money to get involved in politics.  It was them who allowed  banks to get the power and money they must enjoy.  Wall Street won’t change things just because we want them to change things.

Washington is currently talking about cutting the budget.  While I agree the budget is too big, it’s where the cuts are going to take place that concerns me.  The budget cuts are going to go towards social programs, but not administration of government (which is the largest cost of government.)  There are no plans to check into why it costs so much to run a government office.

Pennsylvania Avenue is pretty long.  We will need a lot of people to occupy it.  Together we can right this country.

The Politics of Food

It seems like nothing is out of the reach of politics these days.  Congress is about to vote on a bill that would categorize pizza as a vegetable.  The “logic” to this is that the tomatoes in the sauce is sufficient enough for pizza to be a vegetable.  To the best of my knowledge, this would exclude “White Pizza”, which is composed by a variety of cheeses.  White Pizza would probably be considered to be dairy.

If we were to use logic like this, it would be only a matter of time before Cherry Coke would be considered to be a fruit juice.  Corn Chips, Potato Chips and French Fries will be considered to be vegetables because they come from a vegetable.  After Congress has run out of junk food to categorize as  fruits and vegetables,  they’ll start going further out of bounds.  It will only be a matter a time before they legislate ham as “Kosher for Passover.”

The rule for determining a fruit of vegetable should be something that can be grown and harvested and eaten without adding or altering the food.

Places like Pizza Hut may someday soon be considered a health food store with the fruits and vegetables in a day's diet from Cherry Coke and pizza.

Call Congress and tell your elected official that you will not be fooled.  (Unless you want to be fooled.  To tell you the truth, pizza and Cherry Coke are tastier than Broccoli and prune juice.

Raise the Bar

Although I am no longer running for President, I still care about the country and its future.  I still believe we can change things and abolish the CineMafia and the grip it has on the Great American Entertainment Industry.

Time is running out.  We can’t wait until 2012 and hope the new wave of schmucks will fix the problems caused by the current wave of schmucks and the schmucks of the past.  The problems need to be asked now.

It starts with your elected officials.  They must be held accountable.  Ask them questions.  (By questions, I don’t mean the Katie Couric “How’s your day going?” questions.  I mean the “What are your intentions with a 14-year-old girl?” question that Chris Hansen asks fat bald middle-aged men carrying a case of beer on “To Catch a Predator.”)  I just hope you don’t have to ask your elected official that specific question.

Now is the time to hold them accountable.  Not Election Day, not during the primary season.  Demand excellence from your elected officials.  (It’s not like you asked to be governed.)  Raise the bar! NOW!  DONE! NOW!

2011 and the Senate

This week I will be taking a look at what will be happening to Washington in 2011.  I will be looking at the House, the Senate, the White House, the Supreme Court, and Federal agencies.  Today I will look at the Senate.

While the Democrats lost the House, they were barely able to hold on to the Senate.  In the rare instance that a bill is voted 50-50, America’s favorite walking blooper (Joe Biden) gets to break the tie,

The primary role of the Senate in 2011 and 2102 will be to kill every Republican bill passed by the house.  Many of the alternatives the Democrats will offer will be filibustered by Republican Senators.

My advice for the Senate is the same as it was for the House:  Instead of passing a Republican plan or a Democratic plan, pass my platform.  Not only do I have a plan that is different than either the Democrats or the Republicans, but I will let them take the credit for my ideas should they decide to pass my platform as it is.

I predict that instead of moving America forward with my platform, the Senate will play the “blame game” saying that the Republicans will not pass a bill that President Obama will vote for.

2011 and the House of Representatives

This week I will be taking a look at what will be happening to Washington in 2011.  I will be looking at the House, the Senate, the White House, the Supreme Court, and Federal agencies.  Today I will look at the House.

Americans spoke in 2010 and Americans said they like tea parties in their House.  A tea party is better than a party with no beverages at all.  There is no truth in the rumor (at least as far as I know) that the tea in these tea parties are Long Island Iced Tea, but Long Island Iced Tea parties are cool.

Unlike the Senate and the White House, the House of Representatives will have a Republican majority.  It will be interesting to show many of the bills that the House passes will also pass the Senate (and vice versa.)  It will also be interesting to see how President Obama will pass a bill that is more Republican than Democratic in nature.

My advice for the House (and the Senate) would be to pass my platform.  It is neither Republican nor Democratic in nature.  It has things that both parties can relate with as well as things neither party has tried.  My platform can be a foundation of a bipartisan effort to get things and make America great again.

I predict that the House will try to pass a lot of Republicanized bills only to die in the Democraticized Senate.  They will not consult me or my platform for anything and that 2011 will be a lot like 2010.

Two Sides of a Coin

Just about every coin has two sides.  (17th century Bavarian coins have three sides because they were spastic.)  There is a head and a tail.  The head has either a portrait of a dead guy or Queen Elizabeth (depending on which country you live in.)  The tail is something that is not human.

There are also two sides to every debate.  An example is the spending bill passed by the Senate today.  Republicans wanted the tax cute to become permanent and estate taxes to be cut to 35%.  Democrats wanted unemployment benefits to be extended for up to 99 weeks.

Republicans are against the unemployment benefits because it is too much spending.  Democrats are against extending tax cuts because it doesn’t generate revenue for the government.  Both parties say they are concerned about increasing the deficit and enlarging the debt.

Compromise can be good or it can be bad.  It can be good when the good from party A and the good from party B outweighs the bad from party A and the bad from party B.  But if the bad from the two parties outweigh the good, then compromise is bad.

Today’s bill is bad.  It took the bad ideas from both parties and added $1trillion to the debt.  It will take 8,000,000 people 30 years to pay off the debt and interest from today’s bill.

Today was a coin-flip with the coin landing in the drain and becoming irretrievable.  Not only will we have more debt, but somebody has lost a coin.