Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Thoughts

In classic blogspot fashion when I went to publish this it deleted.
In classic BlakeGray fashion I forgot to ctrl+c it first

Yes, the stimulus saved current jobs and provided for future jobs.
Yes, but at the cost of current and future jobs.

Occupy wall street does not like how much "wall street" makes,
they also frame as the principle reasons of this problem the policies of Bush and Reagan.
Wall Street made more in the first 2.5 of Obama than in all 8 years of Bush.

Romney won't win because.....
he is not a "conservative republican" - The Evangelist
he is wierd - Obama Campaign Team
Insert instead "He is Mormon" and you get the same argument

Jack Welch is one of Obama's key men
Jack Welch took home $550 Million from 1997-2000
Jack Welch made an additional $200 Million in sale of stock options, selling most shares at $55 dollars a share before the value plummeted to about $23 today.
Now he makes a measly $357,000 from his pension and $377,000 for his consolting services, PER WEEK!
Maybe it is easy to stand by while your leader lambast selfish and unethical CEO's while continue to get rich. So when Obama or Jack are on the trail blasting selfish and unethical CEO's remember,
Jack Welch is one of Obama's Key men

The top five CEO's took home 4.8% of Corporation's profit in the 1990's (kind of ridiculous)
The top five CEO's took home about 10.3% or all Corporations profits around 2010.(Really ridiculous)
What is it that enabled or allowed the top 5 CEO's to take 1/10 off all profits home. ALL PROFITS created by ALL employees of the corporation. Madness.

Thursday, August 04, 2011

2 quotes from a recent article, and 2 articles!

"The new borrowing took total public debt to $14.58 trillion, over end-2010 GDP of $14.53 trillion, and putting it in a league with highly indebted countries like Italy and Belgium."

"Moody's said Tuesday that the government needed to stabilize the ratio at 73 percent by 2015 "to ensure that the long-run fiscal trajectory remains compatible with a AAA rating.
http://news.yahoo.com/us-aaa-rating-still-under-threat-204040123.html


hmmm so what you are saying is that we need to cut our debt by roughly 25% by 2015 to ensure our trajectory stays compatible with a AAA rating. Likely..... not. of course we could keep our dept the same and just let our GDP grow, let see it would have to grow by a rate of about 7.5% over the next for years assuming our GDP ends in 2011 at $14.75 Trillion. Congress is cheering about reducing our spending by $2 trillion over the next ten years. Assuming a rate of growth of 2% of GDP we would have to cut our debt by about 4 Trillion in 4 years to meet their trajectory. Truth is the current plan still plans to raise the debt by $7.5 trillion over the next 10 years.
http://blogs.forbes.com/peterferrara/2011/08/04/a-budget-cutting-deal-that-boosts-federal-spending/

Amazing.... Amazing

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

New American Slave Trade

Who is it that is selling or sending Mexicans to America to work for lower wages and worse working conditions? (supposedly) Who is it that is forcing them to work in bad circumstances? Who is organizing and creating illegal ways to get to America from Mexico? It is not, by-and-large, America, it is Mexico. Akin to tribal Africans who sold captives into slavery (not just to U.S. slave traders) are those who pressure, force, or create the situation driving Mexicans to extreme measures. It is not Americans who enslave them, it is Americans who exploit them. I do not agree with either, I just see pictures of Mexicans piled into semi trucks and think of slaves chained in ships. Who is driving this? Is it America's responsibility? Do they also have a right to our goods?

Blake Gray

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Gas Taxes, Subsidies

So we complain because we give oil companies tax subsidies and then high taxes on consumers at the pump. Let's think for a minute, why don't we just lower taxes at the pump and stop given subsidies? If we don't want to give money to oil companies (and since oil prices aren't driven by domestic producers) then we shouldn't. The only way to directly lower the cost at the pump is to lower taxes directly. Effectively this diverst from benefits from the companies to the consumers.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Brain Training Drain, by Thomas Sowell

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/05/10/the_education_mantra_109799.html

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

A dangerous wish

I love America. Its people, its cultures, its history. I love questioning its people, its cultures, its history, its beliefs. I dig into it, knowing that I will find at the root of it goodness. I am not afraid to question the reasoning of a perfect God. It does not make me afraid to ask why, as long as I have the patience and fortitude to know that my lack of understanding will not be His fault. So therefore I am not afraid to dig into the depth of what makes this country what it is. Seeing the discordant and disinterested population I felt as if this country was failing politically because the people could not be brought to believe in the government for any purpose. There was no unity, not together we stand strong attitude about any policy or move. America was divided and weak, unwilling to spring to any form of action. I felt as if we could just be united in some movement, even a mediocre thing, that we could begin to rebuild the pride of this country. That is where I was willing to fight for evil.

I had written, this I freely admit, in praise and support for Obama. I also wrote that if Hillary Clinton were elected president I would not fight her policies and make this country weak. Instead, I vowed to stand behind her movement, to work with her. If she moved to make health care better for the people then I would fight for that. I'm hurt by this realiziation now. I would be an agent for evil. I would be on the supporting side of health care? I know that my attitude would change but I am somewhat horrified that I would play a part in todays great evil. Apathetic, mindless, following. We do it because it seems right, because the world wants it. Who can fight for climate change? Then let's support green peace. Ok, (what are they doing.... well If A is bad than B must be good..... how can I question out loud, won't that put me into the same category as someone who fights for climate change....don;t question, don't fight, don't cause friction. Just put your shoulder to the back of the wagon and push, your face so pushed against the great movement you are helping so you don't see the world around. Bury your face in the work, shield your eyes from the work, act with one purpose, that purpose being the great mass of the movement.) Ok is the answer, the thoughts buried deep within. Amanda wrote, "I cannot imagine anyone thinking when they are young, when I grow up I want to spend my time, effort, and money avoiding responsibility. How did our society get to this point? Through misguided ideals?" (I didn't think that was too personal to share to my one blog reader, me)

My mom would say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I always thought that meant good intentions, but never anything done about it. But good intentions with blind actions are just as bad. Our end goal is making the road, but along the way we make excuses to not pave it correctly, not fix that pot hole, and mostly overlook and allow bad work to happen around us. What we end up with is not what we wanted. I have to fight to make sure the things I want happen, even if me and someone else have the same end goal in mind, something as sweeping as education or health care reform needs supporters, but not the mindless kind.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Strong, not impervious

Built like houses, every reality would hit their roofs and slant off falling into the mud that had become their reality. Mixed with doubts and deep feelings of inadequacies, the mud was safe, and truth could hide in it’s murkiness. Neither the brilliance of their character, or the darkness of their failures could be clearly seen in the bromide. She, however, stood on the roof top. Strength had been defined as being able, not to withstand the world, but to avoid it. Push it away and down the road. Troubles and hardships became future battles and problems for another day. When life reared its sometimes ugly head and they raised their shields, she would step forward, and raise her fists. On the roof of life, drops of moments would fall to her, and opening her palms skyward she would catch the moments, and let them sink into her hair, skin, and clothing. Life was a part of her, she did not barricade herself from it, protecting herself and hiding. She was strong now, not impervious.
He pictured her as a Joan of Arc, or a womanly Alexander the Great. Charging ahead, acknowledging the arrows of the danger of acting in glory, accepting their danger. By being more vulnerable she was stronger than those who would only run into battle after seeing that one could survive it. Seeing her on horseback, she took the reins in her mouth, holding one sword high and the other outstretched towards the sky. I am strong, I am powerful, I will not settle for less, I am.
“She is cold,” Instead is what they whispered. He smiled as she tucked her feet under the couch cushions. Her feet were the only cold part of her body, because it was far from the great generator of her energy and beauty, her heart. He knew there was more warmth and truth in her then they could ever know. More intelligence than they can see through their squinted eyes, lids blocking what they were afraid to see. Her placid posture accented her dominion over the world around her. When conversations danced tepidly, trying to find meaning or display intelligence or humor, she was mapping, commenting and notating on the whole of it. They went from sentence to sentence, she stretched from eternal principle to eternal purpose.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Why I love Grant Hill

http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/grant-hills-response-to-jalen-rose/?ref=todayspaper

Thursday, March 10, 2011

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704132204576190260787805984.html

Monday, February 14, 2011

Battling the Uncertain

In these situations,
I'll often act in patience.
Because things are so uncertain,
I'm afraid I will hurt them,
or myself;
So my eratic act shelf.
And I'll wait on the moment,
wait to take it and own it.
But then in a split second of fear,
I worry if I should hold her near.
I try to resist this impetus,
and wonder if she is into this.
In these situations,
I cannot yield to patience,
I should wrap her in my arms and dance.
I should risk it and take the chance.
The only way to know if things are right,
is to take this moment on Valentine's night.

Friday, February 04, 2011

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/labor-force-participations-plunges-fresh-26-year-low

Sunday, January 23, 2011

I don't like to just watch movies,
I watch movies to move me.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

She was the sand

If there was a storm, she was always in the middle of it. Where the peace was and the person can see clearly. Nothing disturbed her person, she was not altered by it, it was altered by her. When her dark hair hung relaxed by her side the air would surround it and playfully toss a strand from time to time. When the wind raged her hair would ride the waves of the wind and stretch out against the sky in beautiful defiance. Her eyes would not cloud with the fear of the future. Her lips would never purse, so I would watch them and wait for them to open and her to smile. When she smiled the angels would sing and then her lips would close and the world would go silent again, and the birds would chirp peacefully in the trees.
In the field were she stood the sand rolled in the wind and danced across her feet. It would be carried for a while then lay quietly underneath and between the mesquite and the brush. The sand was sand before it began and sand when it ended. Just like when the storms raged and the clouds of fear crowded their eyes, she quietly let the wind carry her to a new place. She was beautiful when it began, and she was beautiful when it ended.

Sands

I felt like the sands,
course and incomplete.
Pieces of a greater past,
crushed beneath the current's feet.

Like I was lost,
amongst the tussle.
Like I was the cost,
of the great struggle.

I lay like the wounded,
underneath the mesquite.
Where the wind laid me,
my forfeit replete.

Unfair winds had carried me,
had dashed me on the rocks.
I had been captured in,
lifes bars and locks.

I lay prostrate in the shade,
with other fallen soldiers.
With the dead I lay,
shoulder to shoulder.

Then again came the wind,
and laid me on the hillside.
And looking to the sunset,
I reflected on my killed pride.

I felt like the sands,
pushed by unknown winds.
I was with the beaten,
The lost were my kin.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Commitment Issues

You can save $10 on 3 dozen roses if you order now.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Sometimes inspirational quotes are depressing. E.g. In his speech The American Scholar Ralph Waldo Emerson states, "The true scholar grudges every oppurtunity of action passed as a loss of power." I stood up, looked around tried to do something, and then sat down at work. I got nothin' What the heck can I do with my life right now?

Monday, January 10, 2011

Diversification, Index and Mutual funds have led us to overinvestment in poor companies.

I cannot believe

I could not believe,
that steel could still your body,
or steal your soul.
That any thing could fill this hole,
and make me feel whole.

I could not conceive,
That reality could reel me in,
and to my chagrin,
make my skin to freeze.
---

I would not concede,
to the fatal reality of The Fall,
That our bodies could fall at all,
I would lie you could not lie there,
6 feet under, under His care.

I will not recede,
into black closets,
and sack cloths of loathing,
I will continue on holding,
that steel cannot steal your soul.

I cannot believe,
that blacktop could stop the seas,
of the beliefs of you and me.
I cannot, will not recede,
and back away from what you left in me.

Friday, January 07, 2011

I walked passed the poor

I walked down the street,
and smiled as the poor passed by.
I had long yellow teeth,
and a glistening gleam in my eye.

I patted dusty shoulders,
and shook the stained dirty hands.
I asked them of the future,
and they did not have any plans.

I wondered why the poor,
cast their eyes down that way.
Why when I gave a smile,
a frown responded in dismay.

I wondered why the poor,
allowed this life to stay.
They woke with a curse,
and with curses end their day.

I continued to walk,
passed a long bread line.
And at the very end,
was the spot that was mine.

I waited patiently,
laughing with those near by.
When they spoke sorely of their life,
I paused to asked them why.

Taking my cut of bread,
and the small bowl of soup.
I waved goodbye,
To the little ragged troop.

And then started walking,
down a day labor line,
I saw a spot at the end,
and said that spot is mine.

I left the poor behind,
and joined the tired throng.
Who worked while out of work,
and kept their spirits strong.

At night when I climbed,
into my shelters little bed.
Thoughts of the poor,
ran slowly through my head.

I had left the poor behind,
yet had no home at all.
I had left the poor behind,
when I started walking tall.

For though I be poor in pocket,
my soul will not take pity,
I will not let my luck,
drag me to those trenches of the city.

I woke up with the poor,
and left them all behind.
Because today is a day in a life,
and today, that life is mine.

Nancy Pelosi

When we were in the capital building walking around with R-Jeff Flake (or our Jeff Flake) we walked by Nancy's office and could hear her talking. I told Mr. Flake, I really don't like her (I probably said hate) and asked him what he thought. He said, "WEll, there are some things I don't agree with her on." He wouldn't play into it. He really is a nice guy. But she is not a nice person.

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Field of Green

They came upon a wanton field,
with rocks and weeds and trees.
And slowly they did labor there,
to shape it to their needs.
And side by side they worked and toiled,
to improve the landscape there,
The days were hard, hot and long.
But together, they did not care.
For day by day the field did change.
and began to be a grass field of green,
with smiles and laughs they relaxed,
and lived as if in a dream.
Every day, in the midst of play,
they would stop to make improvement there,
and a garden and flowers there sprung,
where once was a field so bare.
Small disputes would there arise,
minor, but disputes none-the-less.
But disputes were disproved and sent away,
with a smile and a gentle caress.
They stood proud and side by side,
on what they had made together.
They took the bare minerals of earth,
and with effort made it better.
But slow and sure, in independent demure,
they had made their dreams real.
But all the glory and beauty there,
could not match the way they feel.
But one day, from a sky of grey,
came a rock of insidious size.
And smashed in the middle, and made brittle
Their beautiful and glorious prize.
With anger complete, and determination replete,
they set out to tackle that rock,
but small indecision and silence's derision,
they started to cease to talk.
Unable to fix it, they decided to nix it,
and it sat obstructing their view,
and there they sat, back to back.
Unable to do anything new.

The rock could have been moved,
with the strength of them two,
but she blamed it on him alone.
And he is in anger,
berated her like a stranger,
and a crack appeared in their home.

A year passed bye,
you could see it in their eyes,
that slowly their love passed too.
And unable to act,
and with unflattering tact,
weeds began to infiltrate their view.

They left their lovely, once wanton field,
and went there separate ways,
and the passer-byes, and vagrant guys,
would pity with their wondering gaze.
The Field of Green, and what it did mean,
how did it pass from that to this?
The lover's quarrel, did erase the toil,
and freeze the warmth of the kiss.
Years later he too passed bye and cried,
as he looked on the Field of Green,
Because with all of the beauty and glory there,
the rock was all that could be seen.

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Daily Rant

Here is the link for the charts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_federal_budget

Red herrings and charitable people with other people's money. That is how I feel this morning. The Republicans and Democrats in the proceeding months will begin to wage important and imperative battles to save people, to cut the budget, or other grandiose and important items. The reality if the government was serious about making changes the important budgets to cut are not the discretionary ones. I pulled charts and data from two sources and to be honest, government accounting gimmicks are the worst, so take all numbers at face value.
First, www.usgovernmentspending.com lists the budget as thus,
.7 Tril Welfare
1 Tril Social Security
1.2 Tril Health Care
1.1 Tril Education
.9 Tril Defense
1.8 Trill All Other Spending

Second, Wikipedia, who also provided the graphs and pictures and whom I trust more, given there numbers seem to come from the CBO have these percentages
19.63% Social Security
18.74% Department of Defense
16.13% Welfare/unemployment
12.79% Department of State
8.19% Homeland Security
For a total of 75.48%

So what you will not see is any serious actions coming for any of these top budgets. Really you can ignore the headlines and the strong budget cuts unless they are to drastically cut these programs. You'll notice from one chart I am attaching the mandatory spending is almost the total of our federal income. That is with the Department of defense place as "Discretionary." Right..... like at their discretion congress can cut that..... or would without losing their political career. So if we cut 100% of these red herrings and cut the DOD in HALF! We are still unbalanced and worse, things will continue to get worse with the expanded costs of health care under Obama care. Republicans will win the battle in the house and move to repeal it and congress will do nothing. So the Republicans will put the onus on the Democrats and score a major political victory with much fighting, effort, and most importantly, attention, but in the end it will amount to nothing but political shenanigans. Obama care will not be repealed and all of that will be spent on brownie points.
As a side note, not the main point, we need to end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Piling on the debt does not increase our homeland security, it weakens us. The US is threatened by a serious foe to the Republic, and it should be painfully familiar to Americans in this time, for that foe is Debt. We cannot continue in this way, we must change.

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

All Was Quiet on the Western Front

All was quiet on the Western front,
and all the guns lay low.
There was no war and there was no hunt,
and Peace did quietly bestow.

Gifts of silence and time to think,
far from the fiery glow,
Hanging strong was the sulfuric stink,
and the soldiers still did know.

Of the battle that had raged there,
of the passion of the fight,
The war had taken every care,
and only paused at night.

Now the soldiers sadly sat,
without purpose, hope, or direction.
Without the valor of combat,
They could not hide in armors protection.

So home they came to enwrap their love,
and rebuild what they left behind,
But at home they found;
It was they that had been left behind,
and their loved one slowly unwrapped their love.

Uncovered, without proximity's protection,
At home there had been no combat,
and fight had fled another direction
At home the loved one sadly sat.

And thought while alone the cold nights,
Wishing to know of their soldiers care
Instead the passion of their fights,
Was all that remained there.

But the soldier did not know,
At home had hung his battle's stink,
He was far in the fiery glow,
And in the silence she could think.

A solemn kiss she did bestow,
Their was not the passion as at the hunt,
For now their guns lay low,
For all was quiet on the Western Front,
But how long would it last at home?