Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt Appointed as Portal Director for

LasVegasNevadaPortal.com

by Phil Staudt
June 10, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

Phil Staudt has been assigned to be the new portal director for LasVegasNevadaPortal.com, which is part of YourHomeTownPortal.com, which is a world-wide network of city portals designed to bring small business owners and local residents together. The portal features free classified ads and free business listings for local businesses and premium advertising that gets results. Smokey Miller is the new assistant portal director for LasVegasNevadaPortal.com.

Las Vegas is a unique city because the spotlight is always on the Las Vegas Strip and conventions and major events that are publicized around the world, and sometimes it is difficult for small business owners to get noticed online and promote their products and services to locals in Las Vegas via the Internet. LasVegasNevadaPortal.com is a website that is dedicated to helping small business owners network with Las Vegas locals and get the word out about the products and services that they have available for those living in Las Vegas.

Phil Staudt is experienced with using social media marketing, including myspace.com and twitter.com and blogging, to promote small businesses. More people are carrying portable devices that connect them to the Internet at all times, and it is more important than ever for small business owners to have an online presence, because potential customers are searching online for information and places to go while they are on the run. LasVegasNevadaPortal.com is the portal that locals turn to when they are looking for products and services in Las Vegas from other Las Vegas locals.

Phil Staudt grew up near Portland, Oregon, and graduated from Gladstone High School in Gladstone, Oregon, and attended Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon. Phil Staudt has lived in Las Vegas about 50% of the time since 1991, and has worked in casinos and restaurants on the Las Vegas strip, and has been a cab driver in Las Vegas, and has been making money online with affiliate programs since 1999. Phil Staudt also owns philbucks.com and vegastaxidriver.com. Phil Staudt has been involved in sales and marketing since 1980.

Timothy L. Drobnick, the owner and creator of YourHomeTownPortal.com, also owns PEEL Inc. and orangeleads.com and retailbucks.com. Timothy L. Drobnick has been an innovator and leader in Internet marketing since 1996. Timothy L. Drobnick hosts and designs and manages his websites in Gahanna, Ohio. He understands the challenges of getting traffic online in the ever-changing competitive world wide web, and Timothy L. Drobnick knows how to get Internet traffic that gets results for advertisers and small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Yourhometownportal.com was started in 2005, and LasVegasNevadaPortal.com was started in 2007

by Phil Staudt
June 10, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Impatient Plane Passenger Is A Hero

by Phil Staudt
March 31, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

Finally, some good news.

According to ASSOCIATED PRESS, a 60 year old man from Scotland was a bit impatient at JFK International Airport after waiting for his Las Vegas bound plane to get off the ground, so he tried to open up the emergency door and take a hike. I understand. I have been there. 

He had been sitting there for an hour and literally going nowhere. He decided he had had enough. He was probably just going to take a leak and come right back. What is wrong with that? The news media makes this man sound like maybe he has loose screws or something, but I am glad to see stories of people who do things I have thought about doing myself. He probably realized that he could have driven to Atlantic City in the time he had already been sitting in the plane on the ground and he decided to walk across airport runways and flag a cab.

I can hear him saying to himself, "Screw this! Let them kick me off the bloody plane and tell me I will never be allowed to fly again. I don't need airplanes or airports or snotty flight attendants or baggage handlers that lose my luggage. These seats aren't fit for sitting in to begin with, and then these jerks want to make me sit on them for an extra hour. I'm getting out of here."

This scene belongs in "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" with Steve Martin and John Candy.

He is a modern day hero. We need more people like that today. I hope he gets on Jay Leno and David Letterman and The Today Show when he gets out. The cereal companies should give him an advertising contract so parents can point at his face on cereal boxes at the breakfast table, and tell their kids that he is a modern day rebel like Paul Revere.

Don't tell me you haven't thought about doing the same thing.

He should fit in well in New York City. Cheers mate!

by Phil Staudt
March 31, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

PHIL STAUDT'S BLOG ARTICLES:
Why Giving Banks More Money Won't Work March 29, 2009
Obama Is Bankrupting America March 28, 2009
I Had A Stroke and God Is Mean March 27, 2009
Why I Write Blog Articles March 27, 2009
We Pay Taxes To Fix The World Plus Interest Added March 27, 2009
Clinton Blames United States For Mexico March 27, 2009
 Border Violence And Drug Money And Guns March 26, 2009
Obama Has Been A Big Disappointment So Far, Just Like Bush Was March 25, 2009
Obama Says No Cash Or Guns In The United States March 25, 2009
 Solves Mexico's Border Drug Money And Guns March 25, 2009
Is The United States Too Big To Fail? Another Day, Another Trillion March 23, 2009
Obama's Slip Up On Jay Leno Show And There Is My Aphasia March 21, 2009
The Real Enemy Combatants Are Greed And Selfishness March 19, 2009
Obama Knew About AIG Bonuses, But Is That The Really Big Story? March 19, 2009
No John McCain And No Barack Obama October 26, 2008
The Big Heist Of 2008 September 25, 2008

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Lights Off Made Las Vegas Cooler

by Phil Staudt
March 30, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

The lights were turned off on the Las Vegas strip on Saturday night in order to fight global warming. Since then the temperature has been dropping and it is quite cool outside at this moment. So turning the lights off was a success. I even went outside a while ago and sprayed a bunch of hairspray to try and warm it up a bit. Maybe the "lights off" thing would work in Las Vegas in August when it is 115 degrees, as long as they keep all the air conditioning on. I have been inside a large casino when the air conditioning goes out in the middle of summer, it gets uncomfortable quite quickly.

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Why Giving Banks More Money Wont Work

by Phil Staudt
March 29, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

What happened to that stimulus check Obama told us we were going to get when he was campaigning? It went to AIG and banks and car companies. Last year the government sent out $150 billion in stimulus checks, and it was spread out all over the country to everybody, even unimportant peons like me. But instead of doing that this year, trillions of dollars went to slicksters on Wall Street and crooked bankers. But since I didn't contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaigns of Obama and Dodd, like AIG did, I didn't get any of that.

Lets take a look at the way this grandiose bailout looks to an average peon like me:

Lets say you have a neighbor who buys brand new expensive cars all the time and is always throwing lavish catered parties, and the trash ends up all over your yard. While you are sleeping, his kids are breaking into your home and stealing things from you, and he parks his car in your front yard because he doesn't have room at his house. But the poor guy loses his job, so he comes over and gives you a sob story and asks you for money. So you give him $10,000 and tell him that he can pay you back when things get better. So he buys a new car and has a party to celebrate. When he comes back over and wants more money, you shake your finger at him and tell him he needs to be more responsible, but you give him another $10,000. So he goes out and trades in his new BMW for a used Escalade to show you how responsible he is now. However, instead of going out and getting a job, he stays at home and watches TV every day. Now you tell him that you want him to go out and get a job so he can pay you back, but you also tell him that you will keep giving him money as long as he needs it, because you are not going to let him fail.

The question is, boys and girls, when will your above neighbor go out and get a job? WHEN HE CAN'T GET MORE HANDOUTS! duh.

When are the banks going to take risks and start loaning again to make money? WHEN THE GOVERNMENT STOPS GIVING THEM MORE MONEY! duh.

So lets say you go back to your neighbor whom you have bailed out several times, but he isn't going out and looking for employment. Maybe all you need to do is give him more money so that he goes out and finds a job. How well would that work?

It wouldn't make any sense in any deals that have involved money since the beginning of time, so why should we believe that this methodology to save the banks by dishing out trillions of dollars to them, and telling them that they will not be allowed to fail no matter what they do, and THEN working out the details later , is going to work out in favor of the taxpayers and all the unimportant peons like me this time. So why have Paulson and Geithner and Barney Frank handed out trillions the way that they have?

Going back to your bum neighbor, lets say that you want to assist him in getting a job, so that he can get back on his feet and pay you back, so you decide to pay top dollar to a recruiter to hook him up with a high paying job so he can go back to partying and buying new expensive cars, and eventually maybe pay you back, too. Lets say that the recruiter you are paying to help him is his brother who has been partying with him for years at his house. How well do you think that would work out?

Maybe that is why Geithner and Paulson and Dodd and Barney Frank might not be the right persons for the job of overseeing the bailout to their buddies in the banking business.

Going back to your bum neighbor and his brother, lets say you become concerned that maybe he and his brother are just taking your money and pissing it away, so you decide to hire a detective agency to check up on them. Conveniently, the guy who owns the car dealership where your neighbor buys his cars, and who also owns the catering company that caters all his parties, also owns a detective agency. So, you pay top dollar to hire that detective agency to check up on your bum neighbor and his brother. How well do you think that would work?

Having politicians bringing these people in front of the big screen so they can pretend that they are watching out for us is a farce. All of the bright financial advisors that our country pays to keep us out of financial trouble (how well has that been working?) have all agreed that the stimulus checks did not work to make the economy better. But the economy was better for several months after the checks started going out. For that brief time retail sales improved and unemployment did not rise and the stock market went up, even though foreclosures were multiplying and bank stocks were tanking. 

Instead of Bush and Obama handing out trillions to mismanaged banks and AIG for the past nine months, what if the government had made a $10,000 loan available to anyone who owned a home, regardless of their credit, with the government becoming the the first debtor to be paid back and own the house in the case of a default, and make the conditions of these special home-owner loans the same as student loans that need to be paid back even if the recipient of the loan files bankruptcy? The loans could have been made at an interest above the interest being charged by banks, so it wouldn't just benefit the wealthiest with good credit (which is the current plan they are hatching), and since banks wouldn't be getting any bailout money, they would still be in the business of having to make loans in order to survive, and the banks that had been taking care of business and had been responsible in the past could have, and would have, made loans available that were more favorable for those who have good credit and cash. That would have put a stop to a lot of foreclosures and the good banks would have thrived and the irresponsible goofballs that are receiving taxpayer money now would have gone bye bye. Of course, that would be a really risky way for the government to handle a housing mortgage foreclosure crisis that affects all of us, but compared to what they have been doing with taxpayer money, it would be safer than Air Force One. And furthermore, it would have difficult for Bush and Paulson and Obama and Geithner and Barney Frank to siphon off billions of dollars and put it in the pockets of their buddies (but they still would have found a way).

I have been reading newspapers and watching news on television long before CNN was in business. A big percentage of advertising money for TV and magazines and newspaper has always come from oil companies, car companies, banks, and insurance companies. So who's side do you expect them to be on?

By the way, the stupid person who gave all that money to his bum neighbor and his pals, was in fact you. But in real life you get to work extra hours and retire later to pay for it in the form of taxes with added interest for the rest of your days, while the bankers and politicians and auto executives, and their kids and grandkids, get to have lives of luxury and ease.

I am just a peon and one of the hundreds of millions of unimportant Americans, so what do I know?

good night, and good luck.

by Phil Staudt
March 29, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

PHIL STAUDT'S BLOG ARTICLES:
Why Giving Banks More Money Won't Work March 29, 2009
Obama Is Bankrupting America March 28, 2009
I Had A Stroke and God Is Mean March 27, 2009
Why I Write Blog Articles March 27, 2009
We Pay Taxes To Fix The World Plus Interest Added March 27, 2009
Clinton Blames United States For Mexico March 27, 2009
 Border Violence And Drug Money And Guns March 26, 2009
Obama Has Been A Big Disappointment So Far, Just Like Bush Was March 25, 2009
Obama Says No Cash Or Guns In The United States March 25, 2009
 Solves Mexico's Border Drug Money And Guns March 25, 2009
Is The United States Too Big To Fail? Another Day, Another Trillion March 23, 2009
Obama's Slip Up On Jay Leno Show And There Is My Aphasia March 21, 2009
The Real Enemy Combatants Are Greed And Selfishness March 19, 2009
Obama Knew About AIG Bonuses, But Is That The Really Big Story? March 19, 2009
No John McCain And No Barack Obama October 26, 2008
The Big Heist Of 2008 September 25, 2008

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

The End of Another Day

by Phil Staudt
March 27, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

After another day of studying and researching and listening to news and writing, it is time for me to call it a night. Since it is Friday night, I am ready to sleep in a long time. I guess I will check out what is going on in the world when I get up.

good night, and good luck.

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

I Had A Stroke and God Is Mean

by Phil Staudt
March 27, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

I had a stroke while I was driving a taxi in Las Vegas. I had a couple of businesses that went bust in Oregon in 2003 and 2004, and I had to go somewhere and get a job. I went to Las Vegas where I had been a cab driver years before, because Las Vegas was a busy place and I needed to do something to finance my Internet marketing hobby-future-career-addiction. Spring is usually the busiest time for business in Las Vegas because of business conventions and trade shows, so last year I was working a lot during that time. On May 29, 2009, I had been driving for 10 hours of my 12 hour shift, and I had been feeling just fine all night long, but I got really tired. That was not too unusual after 10 hours of driving tourists around in traffic jams and working 60 hours a week, so I did not think that anything was wrong with me.

I had just taken some people to a hotel, and I had been talking to them all the way, and I headed back to the airport because they needed cabs. When I pulled up to the airport, I was feeling tired and a little dizzy, but that is the same way I felt a lot of times working many jobs where I had long hours and lots of stress. I put the passengers' luggage in the taxi and got in and started driving. But my seat belt was not going in. I kept trying to get it fastened but it would not work. So I put it under my leg and drove away. The two men in my cab were talking to each other, so on the way out of the airport I went to verify with them what hotel I thought they had told me they were going to, which had always been my policy when starting a trip. But when I started talking, all that came out of my mouth was gibberish. They looked at me weird, and so I said, "okay". I figured something was weird, but I thought I was just tired. I was driving fine and knew where I was going.

When I got to The Venetian Hotel to drop off these men, I could not get out of my seat because I was unable to get my seatbelt undone, which I had somehow fastened on the way there. After at least 30 seconds of trying, I finally got it unfastened. By that time the passengers had their luggage out and had the money ready for me. I said "thank you." I got in my cab and got back in the taxi line at The Venetian because it was busy. I tried to write on my trip sheet, but my pen kept falling out of my hand. My hand felt like it was asleep. I picked up a gentleman at The Venetian, but I could not hear where the doorman said he was going, which is common. So, I had to ask the man where he was going before I took off in the wrong direction. My words were not coming out good at all, but I was able to get something out of my mouth that got him to tell me where he was going. He was sympathetic, and I think he just thought that I had a hard time speaking, and he was right. I dropped him off at Mandalay Bay and he gave me a nice tip.

By then, there was just enough time for me to get one more ride from the airport. By this time my hand was working fine and I was writing okay and I did not even feel tired. I drove to the airport, but there were too many cabs in line, so I decided to drive up Paradise Road toward the cab yard. I was checking all the restaurants and hotels on the way to see if there were people waiting for cabs. I stopped by my apartment to drop off my briefcase, and I was starting to worry about my speaking problems. So I woke up my room-mate. I sat in the living room and he kept asking me questions, but I was not able to say more than one short word. I turned my cab in and went home.

I was walking fine. I had counted my money and filled out my trip sheet, and added the money in my head as usual, and had turned everything in properly. The only thing that was wrong with me was that I could not say more than one word at a time. The thought of going to the hospital, missing out on work, and then having a rotten messed up medical record, was the last thing I wanted to do. I hate doctors and hospitals and I had not missed a day of work because of illness in 18 years, and that was when I had to have a double hernia operation. I don't take any prescription drugs or illegal drugs. I smoke a good cigar once a year and drink a glass of red wine every few weeks. I don't have high blood pressure. My cholesterol is not high. I am not diabetic. I eat lots of salmon and vegetables. I walk at least five miles a week. But t here I was, facing the probability that I would not be able to have health insurance without being rich, or having to be employed at a dead-end job I hate. Don't think I did not consider going to bed and worrying about it the next day. But I called a taxi driver I knew, and went to the hospital.

When I got to the hospital there was a security guard at the desk. I figured I would have to fill out forms and wait for a long time in the waiting room to see a doctor, but when my room-mate told him that I was having trouble speaking, they zoomed me into the emergency room and started rolling me around from one machine to another. They take this stroke thing seriously. The hard part was knowing that my life would be screwed up from then on, even if I recovered 100%. Just more bad luck and one more rock hitting me in the head. 

Maybe I have been worse off because I did not get to the hospital right away. If I could go back and do it again, I would have dropped my passengers off at The Venetian and then sat down on their driveway and looked sick until their security got me an ambulance. The problem with not being able to speak is that you can't speak. There is no way to tell anybody that something is wrong. I did not think I had a stroke, because people I know who had strokes were unable to move and needed assistance.

While I was in the hospital all I could do is think. I could not talk to anyone. When I called my dad he did not even know who I was, because I could not say anything that he understood. My mom figured out quickly what had happened because she knows about strokes and how they cause people to not be able to speak. While I was hospitalized, I thought about how it does not pay to work hard and save money so I can do things that I want. I wondered why God was so mean and cruel to me. I know I deserve it, but I think we all would like a break now and then. That is when I came to the realization that God is mean and cruel. Not just to me, but to most people, if not to everyone.

God is mean and cruel. The things that were the easiest for me to do my whole life were writing and talking. The jobs and businesses I had where I made decent money were a result of my being able to write and speak well. Now I have aphasia and the only things I was good at are bad. Whether it is God's punishment or His refining process or whatever, the truth is that God is mean. If you believe in God and have read the Bible, then you know from the lives of Jesus and Job and Joseph that God is mean and cruel. Was God punishing them? That is not what The Bible says. Maybe I am supposed to call it love, but that would not make it any less mean or cruel. I am not bitter or angry about it, because misery likes company and I have lots of company. But I have found that having bad luck and difficulties is very annoying. I do not subscribe to the "it is good even though it is bad" philosophy. I believe in being honest with myself. My life is bad enough without being struck by lightning, too. Things could be a lot worse for me, but they could also be much better. But I am not a quitter. I just get up and dust myself off and try again.

The most difficult thing for me was a couple of days after my stroke when I sat down at a table in the hospital and tried to write. Welcome to the world of aphasia. I was unable to put more than three words in a row. My hard drive's memory had been wiped out. I could not come up with words. I could understand people as long as they talked slow. I could not pronounce words that I read. It took me a few weeks to be able to understand what was said on television or on the radio because they were talking too fast for me. It took me months of speech therapy and determination on my part to be able to have conversations with people without sounding like I was drunk or confused, and I still am not able to talk as well as I could before. If I relax and just try to talk at my normal pace like I used to, then sometimes words come out in the wrong order or I pronounce them wrong. So if I am talking to people I do not know I talk slowly and over-enunciate my words in order to cut down on my goofs. But when I talk to people I know, I conscientiously talk faster than is comfortable for me, and I keep on going in spite of the mistakes, because I know that the more I do that the better I get at talking and writing.

I still cannot sing songs. I could probably do some singing if I was reading the words, but I have not done that since my stroke. I had a large memory of songs and I could sing for hours and hours by myself without music. Now the words are gone. I cannot even sing the words to the songs that I wrote when I was young. That is no big deal. I do not need to sing, but it was a way to calm my nerves in the past.

Having a stroke and dealing with aphasia is just one more experience that I may or may not be able to use for good. I will see. If God wants me to be a doormat for everyone to wipe their shoes on, what can I do? God is God. Most of my life I have been very rebellious, and I am not a shining example of what God wants people to do, but during the times when I rebelled against God, I enjoyed life and things went well for me. During the times when I sought God and searched for truth from Him, everything has been rotten, and I have had nothing but bad luck, and there is no joy. I don't know what that means, it is just the way it has been for me. I do not know what it is like to live another person's life. I only have this one.

At least I do not have to take any prescription drugs and I am not disabled. My hope is that I make enough to pay more for health insurance what most people make in a year, because I live in the United states, and insurance company profits are more important than human beings. I doubt I can find an insurance to cover me in Nevada, even though I am healthier than most of the people working at the insurance companies that deny me, and they can deny anyone who has a record of having any health problems. If I move to a state that requires health insurance companies to cover people with health problems (because the insurance companies aren't paying off the right politicians), then I will have to pay a fortune to be covered. Of course, being out of work from my stroke was followed up with a world-wide economic depression, and Las Vegas was hurt the worst with record foreclosures and high unemployment and mass layoffs and companies filing bankruptcy, and my income went way down. That is just one more of God's blessings disguised as cruelty and hardship. I just try to take care of myself and hope that I do not need medical care. Such is life.

by Phil Staudt
March 27, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

On March 29, I went over this article and tried to fix my errors. Writing was always so easy for me before my stroke, and when I go back and see errors that I made in something I have written, it makes me feel discouraged. But that is a feeling I have known most of my life.

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Why I Write Blog Articles

by Phil Staudt
March 27, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

Why do I write blog articles? Because I can. It won't make me popular, because 47% of voters are Republican and 47% of voters are Democrats, and both of those political parties disgust me. I disagree with most people who are considered to be religious, and I disagree with most atheists, and don't agree with most opinions expressed on news programs and in news articles. My opinions are like spitting into the wind. However, I have an appreciation for the fact that I live in a country where I am still free and allowed to write my opinions. The reason I write about the things that I do, is because I do not take my freedom for granted, and what I see happening right now is that there may not be freedom on this continent in ten years from now, if things continue to go the way that they are right now politically. Freedom comes with a price, and right now the price that needs to be paid is that the majority of citizens of The United States need to take a break on watching American Idol and Survivor and Tweeting and texting, and get informed and involved in what is going on around them before the carpet comes out from under them.

Furthermore, I had a stoke less than a year ago. When I called my dad he did not even know who I was because I could not say anything. My mom figured out quickly what had happened because she knows about strokes and how they cause people to not be able to speak. But the worst thing was a couple of days later when I sat down at a table in the hospital and tried to write. I was unable to put more than three words in a row. The hard drive had been wiped out. I could not come up with words. I could understand people as long as they talked slow. I could not pronounce words that I read. It took me a few weeks to be able to understand what was said on television or on the radio because they were talking too fast for me. It took me months of speech therapy and determination on my part to be able to have conversations with people without sounding like I was drunk or confused, and I still am not able to talk as well as I could before. If I relax and just try to talk at my normal pace like I used to, then sometimes words come out in the wrong order or I pronounce them wrong. So if I am talking to people I do not know I talk slowly and over-enunciate my words in order to cut down on the goofs. But when I talk to people I know, I conscientiously talk faster than is comfortable for me and keep on going in spite of the mistakes, because I know that the more I do that the better I get at talking and writing.

by Phil Staudt
March 27, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

PHIL STAUDT'S BLOG ARTICLES:
Why Giving Banks More Money Won't Work March 29, 2009
Obama Is Bankrupting America March 28, 2009
I Had A Stroke and God Is Mean March 27, 2009
Why I Write Blog Articles March 27, 2009
We Pay Taxes To Fix The World Plus Interest Added March 27, 2009
Clinton Blames United States For Mexico March 27, 2009
 Border Violence And Drug Money And Guns March 26, 2009
Obama Has Been A Big Disappointment So Far, Just Like Bush Was March 25, 2009
Obama Says No Cash Or Guns In The United States March 25, 2009
 Solves Mexico's Border Drug Money And Guns March 25, 2009
Is The United States Too Big To Fail? Another Day, Another Trillion March 23, 2009
Obama's Slip Up On Jay Leno Show And There Is My Aphasia March 21, 2009
The Real Enemy Combatants Are Greed And Selfishness March 19, 2009
Obama Knew About AIG Bonuses, But Is That The Really Big Story? March 19, 2009
No John McCain And No Barack Obama October 26, 2008
The Big Heist Of 2008 September 25, 2008

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Paying Taxes To Fix The World Plus Interest

by Phil Staudt
March 27, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

PHIL STAUDT'S BLOG ARTICLES:
Why Giving Banks More Money Won't Work March 29, 2009
Obama Is Bankrupting America March 28, 2009
I Had A Stroke and God Is Mean March 27, 2009
Why I Write Blog Articles March 27, 2009
We Pay Taxes To Fix The World Plus Interest Added March 27, 2009
Clinton Blames United States For Mexico March 27, 2009
 Border Violence And Drug Money And Guns March 26, 2009
Obama Has Been A Big Disappointment So Far, Just Like Bush Was March 25, 2009
Obama Says No Cash Or Guns In The United States March 25, 2009
 Solves Mexico's Border Drug Money And Guns March 25, 2009
Is The United States Too Big To Fail? Another Day, Another Trillion March 23, 2009
Obama's Slip Up On Jay Leno Show And There Is My Aphasia March 21, 2009
The Real Enemy Combatants Are Greed And Selfishness March 19, 2009
Obama Knew About AIG Bonuses, But Is That The Really Big Story? March 19, 2009
No John McCain And No Barack Obama October 26, 2008
The Big Heist Of 2008 September 25, 2008

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

good night, and good luck

by Phil Staudt
March 24, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

It is 1:00 AM and I am totally burned out on news and television. I have been working online for about 15 hours a day for the past 18 days in a row. I should take a break, but I have lots of catching up to do since I have been unable to work on the computer much during the past three years. Working 60 hours a week working for other people doing something I hate doing did not work all that great for me. It will be a while more before because I can make it without working for others, but I am not going to rope myself into working so many hours that I burn myself out and have another stroke, unless it is something I really enjoy. I used to work 100 hours a week and not get burned out, but that was gettign physical exercise and moving around and doing things that did not stress me out.

People all over the world are hungry and do not have comfortable places to live and have no access to good medical care, so I am thankful for what I have and I realize that I have amenities and accommodations better than most of the people on the planet.

Good night and good luck.

by Phil Staudt
March 24, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

PHIL STAUDT'S BLOG ARTICLES:
Why Giving Banks More Money Won't Work March 29, 2009
Obama Is Bankrupting America March 28, 2009
I Had A Stroke and God Is Mean March 27, 2009
Why I Write Blog Articles March 27, 2009
We Pay Taxes To Fix The World Plus Interest Added March 27, 2009
Clinton Blames United States For Mexico March 27, 2009
 Border Violence And Drug Money And Guns March 26, 2009
Obama Has Been A Big Disappointment So Far, Just Like Bush Was March 25, 2009
Obama Says No Cash Or Guns In The United States March 25, 2009
 Solves Mexico's Border Drug Money And Guns March 25, 2009
Is The United States Too Big To Fail? Another Day, Another Trillion March 23, 2009
Obama's Slip Up On Jay Leno Show And There Is My Aphasia March 21, 2009
The Real Enemy Combatants Are Greed And Selfishness March 19, 2009
Obama Knew About AIG Bonuses, But Is That The Really Big Story? March 19, 2009
No John McCain And No Barack Obama October 26, 2008
The Big Heist Of 2008 September 25, 2008

good night, and good luck.

Clinton Blames US for Mexico Border

Violence and Drug Money and Guns

By Phil Staudt
blog.philstaudt.org
March 25, 2009

Apparently Hillary Clinton has been smoking something good with Mexican President Felipe Calderón. That explains why she said, "How could anyone conclude any differently? . . . I feel very strongly we have co-responsibility," according to The Christian Science Monitor today. Hillary Clinton was taliking about her conclusion that "Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians." Have another hit, Hillary. Hillary's above statements might be the stupidest thing I have ever heard anyone say in my life. I suppose the way to stop bank robberies is to stop people's insatiable desire to have money. I suppose the way to stop people from stealing cars is to squelch the insatiable demand of Americans to want to drive cars. If we get rid of every single fire-arm in the United States, wouldn't the drug lords in Mexico just buy guns from somewhere else? And while you are trying to use this situation to drum up support for taking away Constitutionally protected gun ownership, are you also suggesting that the way to stop cash from flowing across our border into Mexico is by keeping people in the United states from having any money? I am someone, and I "conclude differently".

TAXPAYERS ARE BEING ROBBED AGAIN!

Not only do I "conclude" differently than Hillary Clinton, I think that the majority of citizens in the United States disagree with Hillary Clinton on this issue, and they vehemently oppose taxpayer money handed out in this manner. Speaking of robbing, that is exactly what the Mexican government is hoping to do to taxpayers in United States, just like every other country in the world. How did we get these people in charge of our policies?... read_article

Is The United States

Too Big To Fail?

ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER TRILLION

A Trillion Here, A Trillion There, And Trillions Everywhere

Is the United States too big to fail?

by Phil Staudt
blog.philstaudt.org
March 23, 2009

The DJIA went up 500 points today, which is the first time in the past nine months that the stock market went up when a big announcement was made by the government to get us into another trillion dollars in debt. Maybe Obama and Geithner should come up with a new program overnight to add another trillion dollars of debt to taxpayers so that the market will go up some more tomorrow. I felt a little better when the stock market was going up every day at the same time that the United States government was paying down debt during the Clinton years.

I was born in the United States and grew up here. I was educated by schools run by the government. I read government censored newspapers, watched government censored television, I watched movies and TV shows made by Hollywood, was influenced by advertisements for fast food and soda pop and candy bars, traveled across the country a few times, worked in various capacities for a multitude of companies, and lived in five major cities in the western part of the United States. When I woke up and watched the news for the day on CNN and FOX and CBS and NBC and ABC and BLOOMBERG and on Internet web sites, all of them owned by profit-oriented parent companies featuring their carefully screened biased analysts, I wonder if maybe I am sitting in the middle of an audience full of curious people watching a grandiose magic show. But when the show is over, will everybody get up and orderly walk to the exit and stand in line to get a taxi and go back to their hotel rooms, or will there be a big explosion on stage that catches the place on fire and everyone will rush to find exits in the smoke and panic and people trample on each other in the process while the building falls down.

This President job seems pretty simple. Keep spending a trillion a day on things like toxic assets and hope it all works out okay. In the midst of the news stories and the jousting back and forth to decide whether or not the trillion dollar toxic asset spending spree of the day will work, there is very little attention being paid to the increased debt and how, and who, will pay for all of this. 

I worked for dozens of restaurants in different towns, and most of them do well at Christmas time. People are running around spending money and racking up debt on Christmas presents and Christmas clothes and Christmas travel and Christmas groceries. So, as long as people are spending more money than they know they should, and their budgets are shot, why not get out a credit card and go out to eat and spend some more?

As long as Obama and Geithner spent a trillion last week and the week before, why not spend another trillion today for toxic assets? The House and the Senate will not call them into testify like they did AIG or the car companies, as long as the politicians can get hundreds of billions for their pet projects to get themselves re-elected. It is a good time for Obama and Geithner to take advantage of the opportunity to bury the country in debt while they are unopposed, and while the average American is still in shock after losing their retirement savings and houses and jobs and hope. Besides, the Democrats are just making up for the trillions spent by Bush primarily benefiting corporations with world record profits and individuals earning over a million a year (but at least last year I got a check for $600).

When I was 18 I moved into an apartment with a friend in Denver. We both had jobs. The first week I went and bought groceries and put them on one side of the fridge. When my room-mate saw what I bought, he told me that I did not know how to buy groceries. He was older and had lived on his own for awhile, and he assured me that if we went in together on groceries that we would save a lot of money. So we went shopping. He would pick something I did not like, so I would buy something to make up for it. I would buy something, and so he would buy something else. Everything we bought was a good deal, but together we bought an enormous amount of groceries. Of course, we just made sure we ate it all, which was no problem for a couple of skinny hard working guys. We ate good. The little old ladies at church were always inviting us over to dinner, because they figured we must be eating out of cans, and we never turned down offers for dinner, but my room-mate and I agreed not to tell them how well we ate on the nights when we cooked our own food. (If only they knew.)

All of our elected officials have all been getting in on the current Christmas-style spending spree with pledged taxpayer money, and there is a rush to fill up the government shopping cart while the getting is ripe for the taking. The only reason some companies have been called on the carpet for paying out executive bonuses and spending money on Las Vegas trips or flying their corporate jets, is because they failed to give enough of their ill-gotten gains to the right officials. (They should watch some more gangster movies about Vegas.) Meanwhile, a large percentage of Americans are waving pom poms and dancing in the streets because their new hero made it to The White House, so no matter what Obama and Geithner do to ruin the country, there is no way they are going to criticize, the same way that conservative Christians and evangelicals were joyful and having potluck dinners to celebrate when Bush and the Republicans controlled everything.

Obama is certainly a socialist in one form or another, and not all socialism is bad as long as it does not hurt the ability of a society to also be capitalist in a regulated free market environment (such as roads, police, fire departments, Social Security, etc.), but this current debt increasing toxic asset program of Geithner is not very socialistic, nor is it capitalistic, but is very oligarchic. Wouldn't being socialist mean that Obama would take hundreds of billions of dollars and put it into the hands of the common folks? But we know that is only in theory and that is what is advertised by socialists, because we know that what happens in socialist governments, in practice, is that they just end up taking away from the people, and they never get around to giving to the people, because that would not be for the common good of the people, and that part of socialism is already evident all around us in the United States, thanks to our elected officials of both big political parties during the past decade.

Reagan made the economy look good by racking up huge national debt, so why shouldn't Obama? Five years ago I was criticized by my Bush supporting friends for warning them that if they re-elected Bush, after knowing what a crook and liar and scoundrel he was during his first term, that the repercussions of anointing him to run the country for another four years was going to result in having an administration in the future that would be worse than what we would have had if Kerry had won. Once again, voting for evil to fight evil is still voting for evil and the end result is always going to be more evil. It would be nice if everybody stopped voting for bad people for the sake of voting against the other bad people. That is how we got into this mess, and it is a mess, and the mess will get worse as long as we play into the agendas of the Republicans and Democrats. Until a sizable percentage of voters refuse to vote for anyone, liberal or conservative, as long as the only politicians, Republicans and Democrats alike, are selling us down the river and sinking our boats, then we will keep sinking in the quick sand until it is too late.

This toxic asset program from Obama and Geithner is just another program to "take care of the rich and they will take care of us", no matter how much debt is piled up, which was the philosophy of Bush and Cheney and Karl Rove. How has that has been working out for us?

by Phil Staudt
blog.philstaudt.org
September 25, 2008

"Nobel laureate Krugman slams Geithner bailout plan"
REUTERS Mar 23, 2009
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman said in remarks published on Monday that the latest U.S. Treasury bailout program is nearly certain to fail, triggering a sense of personal despair.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday unveiled a plan aimed at persuading private investors to help rid banks up to $1 trillion.... READ_THE_ARTICLE

"Geithner Banks on Private Cash"
Treasury Secretary Says Investors Needed to Help U.S. Rid Balance Sheets of Bad Assets
WALL STREET JOURNAL MARCH 23, 2009
By Deborah Solomon
WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the only way to remove troubled assets clogging banks' balance sheets -- which lie at the heart of the financial crisis -- is to work with the private sector, even at a time when Wall Street moneymakers are being vilified by the public and politicians.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal Sunday, Mr. Geithner said the government cannot fix the financial crisis alone...the creation of a series of public-private investments to soak up $500 billion, and maybe as much as $1 trillion, in troubled loans and securities...Banks still holding troubled assets at relatively high values may be reluctant to sell for fear they won't get a high enough bid to avoid having to take a huge write-down... READ_THE_ARTICLE 

"K. Denninger gets it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
MOTLEY FOOL March 23, 2009
alstry's CAPS Blog
...Now that the Treasury Plan to "cleanse" the market of "toxic assets" has been put forward, I have noted that The FDIC is the entity that will both guarantee the debt issued and vet the bidder list...The taxpayer gets hosed for the remaining $71.25 billion dollars.
This can and will be done if the "sellers" of these assets are allowed to bid either directly or indirectly as it provides a means for banks to intentionally dump bad assets at a certain loss that is much smaller than their expected realized loss over time, shifting the rest of the loss to the taxpayer.
This program has the potential to shift literally $500 billion or more in losses onto the taxpayer, not through the operation of "bad luck" but rather through what amounts to a bid rigging operation... READ_THE_ARTICLE

"Hey, It’s Only a Trillion (or More)"
FOX NEWS BLOGS March 23rd, 2009
By Phil Kerpen
...the Trouble Asset Relief Fund (TARP) bill was passed because it would have been too expensive and because there was no agreement over how to price the assets–set the price too low and banks would be hurt instead of helped by the deal, set the price too high and taxpayers get ripped off. The private part of the Obama-Geithner plan solves that problem, but the public half–the reliance on substantial taxpayer funding–is another misstep, and could ultimately cost trillions of dollars...This FDIC guarantee would be capped at a 6 to1 debt to equity ratio–but remember that half the equity came from the TARP, so private investors would actually have $12 of taxpayer funding for every dollar of their own money they put in. That’s a huge amount of taxpayer risk for every dollar of private risk-taking, which creates an incentive for funds to overbid at auction, taking a chance that loans may overperform expectations because taxpayers are on the hook for downside risk... READ_THE_ARTICLE

"Geithner Relies on Investors for $1 Trillion Plan"
BLOOMBERG.COM March 23, 2009
By Rebecca Christie and Robert Schmidt
...The plan is aimed at financing as much as $1 trillion in purchases of illiquid real-estate assets...Barely two months after President Barack Obama took office, he and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are staking much of the new administration’s economic credibility on the theory that removing the devalued loans and securities from banks’ balance sheets will help them start lending again and resuscitate the economy...Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of government attempts to end the worst financial crisis in seven decades; the Bush administration abandoned an earlier plan to buy the toxic securities in November. Obama officials still have to pick private asset managers and banks have yet to commit to selling their illiquid investments... READ_THE_ARTICLE

Tags: Geithner Geithner toxic assets toxic assets

        

Obama's Slip On Jay Leno Show

and My Aphasia

by Phil Staudt
blog.philstaudt.org
March 21, 2009

After my stroke it took me many months to learn how to talk again. I had never heard of aphasia, much less understood it. But I have been able to pick up on it with people who I would have previously thought were "under the influence" or mentally challenged. I have asked people up front if they have aphasia, and they get so relieved that somebody understands. I was fortunate to have minimal damage from having a stroke, and I have been able to overcome my aphasia enough for most people to not notice it unless they have known me a long time. Now when I see people on television or anywhere making fun of people who have speech problems, I look at it in a different light.

It is common for people on television and in public to mimic speech problems in order to poke fun of people, and hardly ever does anybody criticize that. It does not bother me, and I am not sensitive about it, but knowing that many people have aphasia from strokes or head injuries that they have to deal with

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

PHIL STAUDT'S BLOG ARTICLES:
Why Giving Banks More Money Won't Work March 29, 2009
Obama Is Bankrupting America March 28, 2009
I Had A Stroke and God Is Mean March 27, 2009
Why I Write Blog Articles March 27, 2009
We Pay Taxes To Fix The World Plus Interest Added March 27, 2009
Clinton Blames United States For Mexico March 27, 2009
 Border Violence And Drug Money And Guns March 26, 2009
Obama Has Been A Big Disappointment So Far, Just Like Bush Was March 25, 2009
Obama Says No Cash Or Guns In The United States March 25, 2009
 Solves Mexico's Border Drug Money And Guns March 25, 2009
Is The United States Too Big To Fail? Another Day, Another Trillion March 23, 2009
Obama's Slip Up On Jay Leno Show And There Is My Aphasia March 21, 2009
The Real Enemy Combatants Are Greed And Selfishness March 19, 2009
Obama Knew About AIG Bonuses, But Is That The Really Big Story? March 19, 2009
No John McCain And No Barack Obama October 26, 2008
The Big Heist Of 2008 September 25, 2008

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Greed and Selfishness

Are The Real Enemy Combatants

by Phil Staudt
March 18, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

Question: What do you call throwing all of the Democrats and Republicans out of a plane over the ocean without parachutes?
Answer: A good start.

The reason Obama got rid of using the term "enemy combatants" for captured terrorists is because it is more appropriate to save that term for our politicians in Washington.

Why is it that the major things done by our elected representatives and officials, both Republican and Democrat, are the very things that 80% of Americans wish they would NOT do, such as:

These are things that bother most Americans and most Americans wish they would NOT do, but these are the major things that the politicians we elect, Republicans and Democrats alike, spend most of their time doing.

We are being made fools of by the people we are electing. By keeping Americans divided as Republicans and Democrats, the crooks can band together in Washington by deceiving hard working honest decent folks into thinking that there is hope that their political party is on their side and is coming to their rescue. If their party is now in power, then they are deceived into believing that things that are wrong today are a result of what was caused back when the other party was in charge, and they are confident that their party is doing what it takes to solve the problems and they feel that everything will be fine eventually. But if their party is not in power, then they have hope that their party will get elected next time around, because they think that their party is wonderful and will fix everything. But, for some reason, the major things that we all expect and hope for from any elected officials are not what we are getting.

I realize that individuals and groups of people who have agendas and opinions want to pick a political party and be loyal and faithful to everybody in their particular party because they believe they will save them from the rats and scoundrels in the opposing party, but it is my belief that the politicians know that if they can keep us little people running around with a "keep true to your school" mentality, finding faults with our enemies in the other party and supporting our heroes in our party no matter how rotten and corrupt they are, then the people in power can bankrupt the country and rob it's citizens and create a panic environment that will lead to abolishing the Constitution and freedoms and rights and decency, and we will end up being part of a "new world order" instead of being the United States of America.

There are some Republican and Democrat politicians that seem like they are good and decent, but if they endorsed and/or supported the key players in either the Republican Party or Democrat Party during the past 10 years, I question their wisdom and I do not trust them. In order for them to get elected and be in a position of power in either of those parties it seems to me that they had to be dirty rotten lying crooks. In my opinion, any decent politicians would not continue to be in the Republican or Democrat parties, because they are both so corrupt.

Democrats tend to be able to see what is wrong with Republicans, and Republicans tend to be able to see what is wrong with Democrats, but somehow they never see how horrible and rotten their own party is, and that is what needs to be done for our country to move ahead in a positive direction. People have to be extremely critical and scrutinize the politicians in their own party so that we can get a better group of politicians running the country. We need to have lots of candidates on the ballot for President and Senator and other offices on every ballot on November 4 in the General Election, with lots of candidates to choose from that do not belong to a political party. Then we might end up not electing Harvard grads who have never held real jobs, such as the last two Presidents. We might even get some good people in office who do not belong to the "good ol' boys and girls club".

During the past six months we have had the opportunity to observe two different Presidents from opposing political parties with totally different policy platforms from different races, but when it comes to handling the national debt and Wall Street and banks and insurance companies and protecting our borders and the trade deficit, they end up doing the same things, which happen to be the very things that 80% of Americans are against.

I am glad that the United States elected a black President, because it shows that we are moving closer to a society that truly believes in equality for all people. But I am not happy about the particular black President that we have because he and his buddies are ruining this country and shooting holes in the boat and burying us in insurmountable debt. I understand that African Americans and gay rights advocates and women's rights activists and civil rights activists and companies that stand to profit from irrational exuberance about global warming are all happy that the Republicans are no longer in power and they think that "THEY WON", but I wish they would set aside their excitement of feeling victorious and realize that Obama and his counterparts are just as deceptive and cunning and crooked as Bush and Cheney and Rove. I have listened to some nice decent African American folks who keep sticking up for Obama no matter what, and they feel that it is imperative for the Obama Presidency to be viewed as positive because the future of black Americans is at stake and they want to "REPRESENT". But whether you are white or black or Asian or Hispanic, your loyalty to the Constitution of These United States and your freedom and the freedom of our country and our economic well being at home and international trade should supercede your desire to stick up for your President because of his ethnicity or his beliefs in any agenda you may have or his political party.

For Democrat voters that were just happy to see the Bush regime out of office and were hoping to see America get back to the kind of economic policies and progress that was made during the Bill Clinton years, I think we can all now safely say that Barack Obama is NOT a Bill Clinton President when it comes to the economy and getting the country out of debt. Don't give me this line about it was leftover from the last administration. Reagan used that line to justify his deficit spending and increasing the debt, and George W Bush used that line when he got into office. The way Obama is spending money is the equivalent to using his Blackberry and the taxpayer credit card to charge everything under the sun and buy every piece of jewelry and every stitch of designer clothing in existence, but that would cost a lot less.

The economy will probably improve while Obama is President. But whether the economy becomes fantastic or terrible, the debt will still be there. I voted for Reagan twice, because he said he was going to cut back on spending and eliminate deficit spending. He gave trillions of tax cuts to those making over $300,000 a year, but he also spent more money than had ever been spent and he racked up record amounts of debt. That is the President that Republicans look to as their ultimate hero. Any President can look good if they keep spending more money we don't have. I voted for Bill Clinton twice because he said that he was going to cut back on spending and eliminate deficit spending. And that is exactly what he did. It was the only time in my 48 years that the United States actually reduced debt. It would be nice if we had a President that did that now.

There are lots of things that a President cannot do, and there are lots of things that Presidents can do that I disagree with. But one thing that a President can do is spend a lot of money, or not spend a lot of money. Is it too much to ask to have a President to not rack up so much debt that the country goes broke? What can be more basic than that? No matter whether or not you agree with the President on issues, if he or she does not control spending, they should not be President. That should be a prerequisite in every voters mind. The current President and the last President have spent so much money in the past six months that it does not compare to any spending and borrowing that has ever been done in the history of the world, or even could have been imagined. That is what all of the news networks and media and bloggers and everyone drinking lattes at Starbucks should be talking about.

At the end of the Bush administration all of his buddies and supporters and the people who got him into office had to get paid back one last night before he rode off into the sunset, so a trillion dollars went to that. Then, once Obama got into office, he had to pay back his buddies and supporters and the people who got him into office, and the Democrats had been waiting a long time to be in control of the checkbook and had a long list of things to buy, so a trillion dollars went to that. But what's a few trillion taxpayer dollars among friends?

Obama supporters defending his reckless spending and lies about AIG bonuses are sounding a lot like the Bush supporters I have been criticizing ever since Bush told America we had to run a deficit in order to pay Enron to build 2500 power stations across the country or we would all be in the dark after blackouts mysteriously happened in California (they didn't vote for Bush) after the behind-closed-doors private meetings with Cheney where they figured out how to pay back Enron and Ken Lay for being the largest contributor to the Bush family campaigns for decades. Of course, there were a multitude of lies and shady deals after that by the Bush administration, but Obama supporters need to open their eyes and realize that Obama is just more of the same and he and his staff and lobbyists and contributors are all in the same corrupt bed together. Wake up, people, before you are all sold down the river. Obama is "change you can believe in", and believe you me that his changes in rules he is pushing for about gays and abortion and cell stem research are just a way to get people who agree with his side on moral issues to follow behind him like ducks in a row the same way the followers of Bush praised him and turned a blind eye to the lies and deception and corruption because he occasionally made vague statements that indicated that he might have been against abortion now and then.

I am convinced that if Obama read polls and statistics today that said that 80% of Americans thought it should be illegal to act gay in public, and if he was convinced that the majority of voters would vote for a candidate that outlaws acting gay in public, Obama would change his policies on gay rights tomorrow. I do not believe that Obama really cares about gay rights, any more than Bush really cares about abortion. I said the same thing about Bush for eight years. They just use these issues to get votes, and follow polls and statistics and how many kickbacks and perks they can get, and they choose their policies and supposed convictions based on popularity and votes.

Since most people get their news from CNN and Fox and NBC, things are not going to be improved if that is all people see, which is what the crooks are counting on. The big news networks are owned by corporations that make a lot more money in businesses that are not news related. Delivering the news is nowhere near as profitable as the money that General Electric, the owner of CNBC and NBC, stands to make off of global warming. The biggest advertisers of the news networks and newspapers has been the car companies and insurance companies and banks. So who's side would you expect them to be on? The point is that the news media is in the tank with these corrupt elected officials both Republican and Democrat alike. Greed. Greed. Greed.

What we need right now is people on both sides of issues like abortion and gay rights to work together to get rid of all these crooks and either change or abandon these horrible political parties that are using these kinds of divisions to destroy the Constitution of These United States of America. The bill of rights is designed for all of us to be able to play together on the same playground and get along. It does not mean that you have to get rid of your moral values or beliefs, but it also means that the bullies can not be allowed to make you change your morals and beliefs. And that means that there needs to be an attitude of cooperation in order to pass laws that affect the national debt and lobbyists and economy and ecology and law enforcement and courts and taxes and military action. What we have instead is each person and each group having one issue that they are pulling for and they are willing to give up all their rights and freedoms, and the rights and freedoms of everyone else, just for the sake of being able to trample on the rights and freedoms of people that oppose them on the one issue that is important to them. Nobody seems to be interested in equal rights. All they want is special rights for themselves and forget everybody else. But the people who having opposing views could get together and make a list what they agree on and expect for elected officials as minimum requirements. Then if we end up with politicians who do not perform adequately based on the things that most of us agree on, we could agree to get rid of anyone that does not measure up, whether or not we agree with them on other things.

*For instance, we may all disagree on how much taxes different people and companies should have to pay, but we can all agree that we need to stop piling up debt and running ridiculous deficits, and that debt needs to be paid down, and we can all agree that we are not going to vote for anybody that racks up more debt and runs deficits, even if it means not voting at all. And if elected politicians break their promise, we can all agree to call for impeachment and run them out of the country. Groups and individuals from both sides should pool some of their money and run ads on television to inform people that is basic and fundamental for any candidates from any political party.

*For instance, as long as Democrats know that they are guaranteed to get 99% of gay voters and Republicans know they are guaranteed 99% of voters who want to see abortion illegal, regardless of whether or not they promise to get us out of debt debt, neither of those groups has any say on election day regarding debt as long as they all vote. If those two groups were in agreement that they were only going to endorse candidates that promise to not get our country into any more debt, then both the Republican candidates and Democrat candidates would be forced into making that an issue and would have to promise voters to not get us into more debt. But as long as it goes the way it is now, and gay voters and anti-abortion voters will vote for anybody as long as they agree with voters on abortion and/or gay rights, no matter how much debt they get us into, then we will continue to end up with lousy candidates that will get us into more debt.

*For instance, as long as Republicans know that 99% of the voters who want less taxes for people making over $300,000 dollars are going to vote Republican, and as long as Democrats know that 99% of the voters who want to keep their food stamps are going to vote Democrat, regardless of whether or not they promise to get us out of debt, neither one of those groups has any say on election day regarding debt as long as they all vote. But if all of the voters were convinced to not vote for anyone unless they promised to not get our country into more debt, then both the Republican candidates and Democrat candidates would be forced into making that promise. But as long as it goes the way it is now, and both of these groups of voters will vote for anybody as long as they agree with voters about taxes and/or food stamps, no matter how how much debt they get us into, then we will continue to end up with lousy candidates that will get us into more debt.

*For instance, if 10% of the voters will only vote for a white candidate, regardless of whether or not they promise to get us out of debt, and if 10% of the voters will only vote for a black candidate, regardless of whether or not they promise to get us out of debt, neither one of those groups has any say on election day regarding debt as long as they all vote. But if all of the voters were convinced to not vote for anyone unless they promised to not get our country into more debt, then both the Republican candidates and Democrat candidates would be forced into making that promise. But as long as it goes the way it is now, and both of these groups of voters will vote for anybody based exclusively on race, no matter how how much debt they get us into, then we will continue to end up with lousy candidates that will get us into more debt.

If I had the opportunity to get a high paying job working for the Federal Government, doing a job that is respectful and decent, I would not refuse to take the job just because the President at the time does not belong to a certain political party, and I would not quit my job just because a different political party comes into power, and I would not decide whether or not to take the job based on whether or not the people in power agreed with me on moral issues. Nor would I expect anyone to decide which corporation to work for based solely on the personal moral values and the lifestyles of board directors unrelated to business. The aforementioned major things that I expect from the President of The United States and other elected officials should be what we focus on, and then once the car has an engine and wheels we can figure out how to get the kind of seats and stereo we want.

If you have been voting based solely on your desire for gay rights, would you vote for a candidate that promised you gay rights and also promised that in five years from now there will no longer be a United States of America or a Constitution and we would all be under Chinese rule, would you still vote for that candidate? If you have been voting based solely on your desire for gay rights, would you vote for a candidate that promised you gay rights and also promised that in five years from now there will no longer be a United States of America or a Constitution and we would all be under Chinese rule, would you still vote for that candidate? If you have been voting based solely on your desire to see abortion illegal, would you vote for a candidate that promised you to make abortion illegal and also promised that in five years from now there will no longer be a United States of America or a Constitution and we would all be under Chinese rule, would you still vote for that candidate? If you have been voting based solely on your desire for gay rights, would you vote for a candidate that promised you gay rights and also promised that in five years from now there will no longer be a United States of America or a Constitution and we would all be under Chinese rule, would you still vote for that candidate? I believe that is exactly the way that many voters in America are voting.

You and I do not have to vote for politicians that are going to ruin the country just because we want to vote against politicians that have beliefs we do not like. Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil. It is your right as a Citizen of the United States of America to not vote at all. If 30% or 40% of the voters insisted on no longer voting for the lesser of two evils, and declared they were not going to vote at all unless they can vote for candidates who explicitly promise to not to get us into more debt, no matter what else they promise to do. If 30% or 40% of the voters insisted on no longer voting for any Republicans or Democrats because they have had their chances, and have done nothing but put this country on a crash course with economic depression and moral destruction and a communist style government, then these parties would be forced to either get serious and change their practices or cease to exist.

We the people need to come up with some minimum standards that most Americans can agree with for whom we elect. Getting us out of debt would be a good start.

by Phil Staudt
March 18, 2009
The Phil Staudt Blog

      Tags: Democrats Obama Republicans Bush

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

PHIL STAUDT'S BLOG ARTICLES:
Why Giving Banks More Money Won't Work March 29, 2009
Obama Is Bankrupting America March 28, 2009
I Had A Stroke and God Is Mean March 27, 2009
Why I Write Blog Articles March 27, 2009
We Pay Taxes To Fix The World Plus Interest Added March 27, 2009
Clinton Blames United States For Mexico March 27, 2009
 Border Violence And Drug Money And Guns March 26, 2009
Obama Has Been A Big Disappointment So Far, Just Like Bush Was March 25, 2009
Obama Says No Cash Or Guns In The United States March 25, 2009
 Solves Mexico's Border Drug Money And Guns March 25, 2009
Is The United States Too Big To Fail? Another Day, Another Trillion March 23, 2009
Obama's Slip Up On Jay Leno Show And There Is My Aphasia March 21, 2009
The Real Enemy Combatants Are Greed And Selfishness March 19, 2009
Obama Knew About AIG Bonuses, But Is That The Really Big Story? March 19, 2009
No John McCain And No Barack Obama October 26, 2008
The Big Heist Of 2008 September 25, 2008

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

Phil Staudt - not Republican, not Democrat, concerned, opinionated

The Big Heist Of 2008

by Phil Staudt
blog.philstaudt.org
September 25, 2008

Last night our President made a speech. As I listened to the wise words of George W. Bush, and as I observed him saying the opposite of everything he has been saying about the economy and Wall Street and banking for the past eight years, and as he was speaking as if we are all so stupid that we cannot see this, all I could hear him saying was, "SHOCKED!!! I am shocked that gambling is going on here!" Maybe he then slipped away to check his Swiss bank accounts to make sure that the deposits were made.

These things happen in politics, and they are all crooks. In fact, the Democrats who are currently bellyaching about the Big Heist of 2008 are going to eventually vote in favor of it for the sake of their personal portfolios and those of their friends. There is no way they cannot okay this thievery because they are going to benefit from it. Of course Wall Street analysts are saying it is necessary, because they are going to benefit from it. They are telling us about corporations not being able to get credit and will fold if we don't act now. The banks are holding the country hostage until we pay them the ransom money, and it is an inside job by the Federal Government.

When Billy Clinton was in office he pushed to get China restored back to most-favored status, and then China had to kill all their chickens because of disease, and then China had to buy all their chickens from Tyson, based in Arkansas, where Billy had been Governor. You can expect politicians to do deals that benefit themselves and their buddies. There have been many "bridges to nowhere" built at every level of government. But this Republican administration is orchestrating the ultimate bridge to nowhere, and this Democrat Congress is going to okay it.

I have been waiting and watching to see how our current lame duck would get his piece of the pie. But this scenario is over the top. For all those who have said that Bill Clinton lied to the American people, and therefore it was imperative that we should vote for our President based on "character", which was the GOP code word in 2000, I have never seen more lies coming out of a politician's mouth then what came spewing out of GW Bush last night. Go ahead. Play the tape back. I am in the camp of those who believe that all of our politicians are a bunch of crooks, but he just won the top award. Either he was lying to us last night, or he has been lying to us for eight years, but everything he said last night opposes everything has been saying about our economy, and opposes everything he has said he would and would not do, and how can anybody believe anything he says.

Remember the energy crisis of 2001 that we had to take care of right away when the power was going out and there were mass blackouts? Cheney met behind closed doors to formulate a strategy while G.W. told us that he needed Congress to act quickly to pass a huge spending bill that included having Enron build 2500 power plants across the country, or we would all be in the dark. He wasn't in office for six months and he was already telling us that it was okay to run a deficit and borrow money (so much for the surplus) as long as we were at war (which we weren't at that time) or in times of a "national crisis". Unfortunately for Enron, they got caught with their pants down because we ended up having a real national crisis on September 11th, and Congress was out of the office because of anthrax and wasn't able to get the "energy-crisis-we-need-it-now" bill passed. We know what happened to Enron, whose chief was one of his biggest contributors to GW Bush when he was running for Governor and President. The lights are still on, but they found better ways to sucker Americans out of their tax dollars, except for those making over millions of dollars a year. I am not against people getting rich or getting richer, but I am against borrowing trillions of dollars from communist countries in order to benefit those who have the most and need tax breaks the least.

Any time we hear that the government needs something to get passed right now without questions or answers or ramifications or add-ons or subtractions or anything else that seems like good common sense, we know there is a heist taking place. Remember the fake gas shortages in the '70's? Remember the savings and loan bailout, which included a S&L that had as its director the brother of the man who gave us the speech last night from the White House? Remember the weapons of mass destruction? Remember how the tax cuts for billionaires was going to make the economy strong and make the markets go up, and at the same time we were going to balance the budget and pay off debt?

And we know about John McCain's record with the banks and the "Keating Five". Earlier this year, Andrew K McCain, son of John McCain, served on the board of Silver State Bank, but resigned in July, less then two months before the bank failed. I am sure that all of these ties to bank failures by the Bush's and McCain's are coincidental, and there was nothing that they did wrong, but they were failures, and that is a fact.

For 20 out of the past 28 years we have had a Bush as either President or Vice President. Every one of those years was a deficit year that increasingly piled up astronomical amounts of debt for our country. The only years in my lifetime where this country did not plunge into more humongous debts was the years that Clinton was President. I can understand those who will not vote for a political party or candidate because of their views on abortion or gay marriage, which ever side they are on, but for goodness sakes, don't keep voting for these lying crooks who are bankrupting our country, or our country might end up being run by the Chinese, and then you will see a lot of abortions. Borrowing money from China, including another $700 billion, is financing a government that has forced abortions and mandatory abortions, so if you vote for the party that gave us the debt, and keeps on giving us more debt, you are supporting forced abortions in China. How moral is funding and financing forced abortions in China, and borrowing money from China to finance the invasion and occupation of a country that did not attack us, and lying about weapons of mass destruction, all for the sake for oil and the profits of Haliburton and other contractors. Maybe it is not a good idea to put the wolves in charge of watching the sheep any more, no matter how good their disguises are.

For the past few decades there has been a pattern of coincidences surrounding this bunch that have been selling themselves as the "moral choice". Just for fun, here are a few Google or Yahoo searches you can do:
 
     andrew mccain silver state savings and loan
 
     neil bush silverado state savings and loan
 
     john mccain lincoln savings and loan
 
     george w bush oil company texas
 
Some people will not vote for Democrats for one reason or another, and that is justifiable, but voting for the crooks in the Republican Party is even worse. I did not vote for a President in the last two Presidential elections, and I have not decided on this one. But I sure ain't gonna vote for a Republican, and the Heist of 2008, combined with their record over 30 years, is the reason why. I voted for Reagan twice because he said that he was going to balance the budget and pay down debt for "the sake of our kids and our grandkids". Well, he lied. (You had to be there to appreciate that pun.) I was young and stupid and actually believed that giving enormous tax breaks for everyone making over a million a year was good for the economy. Nothing trickled down then, and nothing is trickling down now. I have been saying for the past two decades, that you know that you are in a trickle down economy when the economy is down to a trickle. We had four of the last eight years with the Republicans in charge of everything, and now we are there.
 
I voted for Clinton twice because I believed that he actually did want to keep the budget balanced, and that was the only reason I voted him for him. It was also the only time in my life that the country reduced its debt. The economy did not go down because the richest folks didn't get big tax breaks; in fact it was also a very good economy for most people. When people talk about good times during the years when the Bushes and Reagan were in office they are talking about times when the government borrowed record amounts to make the economy feel good, which is what they are doing now. A country cannot borrow its way out of debt, and somehow the debt needs to get paid for, and I feel it is fitting that people making over a million dollars a year should get the bill and work out a payment program until the debt is paid off, because they benefited the most from this borrowing frenzy. Once the debt is paid for, then they can get their tax cuts.
I am not a big fan of any political party (I guess that makes me a party pooper), and I was going to be quiet this time and not say anything about this election because many of my peers and relatives disagree with me, but then I listened to the President's speech last night and I was appalled (but not surprised). To my family and friends, my apologies.


by Phil Staudt
blog.philstaudt.org
September 25, 2008

  Tags: Bush McCain   

PHIL STAUDT'S BLOG ARTICLES:
Why Giving Banks More Money Won't Work March 29, 2009
Obama Is Bankrupting America March 28, 2009
I Had A Stroke and God Is Mean March 27, 2009
Why I Write Blog Articles March 27, 2009
We Pay Taxes To Fix The World Plus Interest Added March 27, 2009
Clinton Blames United States For Mexico March 27, 2009
 Border Violence And Drug Money And Guns March 26, 2009
Obama Has Been A Big Disappointment So Far, Just Like Bush Was March 25, 2009
Obama Says No Cash Or Guns In The United States March 25, 2009
 Solves Mexico's Border Drug Money And Guns March 25, 2009
Is The United States Too Big To Fail? Another Day, Another Trillion March 23, 2009
Obama's Slip Up On Jay Leno Show And There Is My Aphasia March 21, 2009
The Real Enemy Combatants Are Greed And Selfishness March 19, 2009
Obama Knew About AIG Bonuses, But Is That The Really Big Story? March 19, 2009
No John McCain And No Barack Obama October 26, 2008
The Big Heist Of 2008 September 25, 2008