U.S. Senator admits the Bill of Rights no longer applies

An almost enlightening statement of honesty from Sen. Dianne Feinstein:

“I was saddened and disappointed that we could not take a step forward to ensure at the very least American citizens and legal residents could not be held in detention without charge or trial," Feinstein said. "To me that was a no-brainer.”

The Fifth Amendment of the Bill of Rights is pretty clear:

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, ...nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;

When U.S. Senators admit they have reneged on their oath to uphold The U.S. Constitution (and The Bill of Rights) then we have officially lost Ben Franklin's republic. 

From the Huffington Post   

Medicaid is a Subsidy for the Healthcare Industry

The Weekly Standard published a report from the U.S. Senate Budget Committee about "welfare" recipients.  They wrote:

Food stamps and Medicaid make up a large--and growing--chunk of the more than 100 million recipients. "Among the major means tested welfare programs, since 2000 Medicaid has increased from 34 million people to 54 million in 2011...

But 54 million is a highly misleading figure.  It should be clear that sick people are not the primary benefactors of medicaid.  

U.S. Congress Encourages People to Live in Unsafe Areas

C-SPAN's Washington Journal had David Maurer from Government Accountability Office as a guest yesterday to discuss Department of Homeland Security Grants to States.  Mr. Maurer admits that after a decade of existence there are questions as to the benefit of Dept of Homeland Security and that it's a "work in progress to become a single unified department".  U.S. workers have paid nearly half a Trillion dollars to fund DHS over the past 10 years yet Congress is telling us that they have no idea if that money was spent wisely or not.    

The overall message from Congress (through GAO) to the people of These United States is that you are getting fleeced if you live in a safe area.  If you live in New York or California then you recover a bulk of your stolen property from DHS while the other 250,000,000 people in safe areas are getting hosed.  

DHS grants are given to areas that are at risk of terrorist attacks or natural disasters.  If you live in an area that is not at risk then you get nothing but you still have to pay taxes to fund the areas that are at risk.  People using this information to make rational decisions may move to high risk areas and just wait for the bailout from the people living in low risk regions who are duped by Congress into supporting the unsafe regions.

Of course this is ridiculous but these are the cockeyed incentives that government interference produces.  No matter where you live every U.S. taxpayer provides $6 each week to the Dept of Homeland Security.  The question becomes do you want that money back or not?

Thankfully Mr. Maurer also provides us with the U.S. government's definition of terrorism.  It is "an action designed with a political intent in mind".  My follow-up questions to John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi:

1. Are wars of imperialism in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan defined as terrorism?  
2. If so, should the people living in those places establish their own DHS to protect themselves against the terrorist activities of the U.S. government?  
3. Considering U.S. taxpayers foot the bill for these wars of imperialism should they also foot the bill for Pakistan's DHS?        

We will wait patiently for an answer from our fearless leaders in Washington.


 

Citigroup's CEO gains $2 million before lunch

Global banking giant Citigroup celebrated it's 200th birthday by announcing it is cutting 11,000 jobs. Many of these soon to be former employees will be from operations and other non-revenue producing spaces in the company.  The move should save Citi $1 billion a year in salaries and expenses.    

Investors were ecstatic with the news of layoffs this morning and rewarded CEO Manuel Medina-Mora with a $2 million increase in the valuation of his stock holdings.  This in a matter of mere minutes.    

Mr. Medina-Mora began his career with Banamex in 1971 after earning a bachelor's degree in business administration from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico.  The son of a surgeon, the current CEO was a third generation worker at Banamex.  

He went on to earn his M.B.A. from Stanford University in 1976.  Two decades later he was promoted to CEO of Banamex and secured his legacy in the banking arena.  

Mora knows as well as anyone that if you work for a mega-corp then you are expendable.  In order to best secure your future you need to be really lucky, smart, hard working and win the gene-pool lottery or even better simply provide a unique product or service to the market.  Think about what you know and have experience in and follow your passions.  Take your talents with you to self-employment and free your mind to be creative.  You will never lose sleep over a potential layoff again.  

You can help feed 50,000 hungry children

9,000,000 children went to bed hungry tonight in These United States.  The U.S. taxpayer could easily provide food for 50,000 of these children in a matter of days with the stroke of the pen by a handful of Congressmen and Senators.  

More than $144,000,000 is spent every year to hold 166 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.  These people were kidnapped from their homes by the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Powell Regime in 2002-2008.  U.S. workers have paid over $1,000,000,000 to the ruling class in Cuba for the right to lease the space for Guantanamo.  These same U.S. workers are forbidden to travel to or trade with Cuba.  These policies are bad for the Cuban workers, the people of These United States and the 166 detainees who have been kidnapped (not to mention the 9 that have died while incarcerated by The Regime).

Simply releasing these 166 political prisoners and closing the camp would save enough money to ensure 50,000 children could become food secure.  As a bonus, America would get to show the civilized world that she has a little bit of heart left in her.