This week was just nuts and to celebrate, we do the podcast in reverse order. Instead of talking about our weeks at the beginning, we do so at the end.
Where to start?!?!?!
A Norwegian nut job goes on a killing rampage, as part of his anti Islamic campaign...yeh, that'll really help bucko...now they are just going to be reprisals. You know it....that's what those equally nutty religious zealots do. Now the government will want to take all the guns away from everyone, including all the sane normal people. Thanks a bunch.
Amy Winehouse died. Very sad, as she was very talented. However, it was a slow moving train wreck we all saw coming.
A Chinese bullet train crashed, killing and injuring a large number of people, but not as many as it could have done. We discuss the rumor of the driver being an Amy Winehouse fan, dismiss it, and put it down to poorly implemented technology, pushed through too quickly, primarily for the benefit of national pride....that's our theory and we're sticking to it....it could well be wrong, but it does seem to be a pattern.
Greg reads a letter (genuine) from a Psychopath, who argues that these are the people destined to rule the world....and they try to justify why. Unbelievable.
Talking of psychopaths, we talk about the debt ceiling too and the charade that is this side show. Well, our joint theory is that it's all a show and pre orchestrated. Here's someone who puts it far better than we can......It's a method called "Problem, Reaction, Solution" and it's a tried and tested method of getting the sheeple to do your bidding.
We didn't even get to talk about Sarah Palin's movie tanking at the box office.......Ahhhh haaaahhhhh!
Finally, we sum up our own weeks. Greg's was work based so not much info there. Simon got to fly over the SFO Bay area at 12,500 feet, forgot his camera and took some photos with his iPhone.....nice view.
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| Leslie Salt Flats, The SF Bay Area. |
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| Fog rolling in by the Golden Gate Bridge and the current fanning into the Bay. |
As promised, here is a copy of the letter SImon received from his Congress women, Anna Eshoo in response to his letter suggesting that all of Congress and the Senate should not be paid if they can't do their job and get this self created mess cleared up....she ignored that part you'll notice.
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July 25, 2011
Dear Simon,
Thank you for contacting me about federal spending and the statutory debt ceiling. I fully share your deep concerns that we need to protect Social Security and Medicare.
As you know, the debt ceiling is the maximum borrowing limit of the federal government. It currently stands at a whopping $14.294 trillion. Should the ceiling not be extended, the United States would be forced to delay payments on our obligations. These obligations include necessary payments to creditors and contractors, paying our troops, as well as state and local governments. Very importantly, failure to raise the debt ceiling would delay critical payments to Medicare and Medicaid recipients, placing the burden of our national debt on our country's older Americans and the disabled. The debt ceiling was reached on May 16th and the Treasury Department is now taking emergency actions to be able to continue paying our obligations through August 2nd.
I share your serious concerns about our national debt and federal spending, and I fully understand the need to reduce the debt and the deficit. I continue to vote for cuts across the federal budget (click here for a list of cuts I've voted for).
The vote on the debt ceiling has never been an easy vote for me to take. Very few understand it, and no one thanks you for it. Having said this, it is a profoundly important vote and it should not be used as a 'political football'. Why? Because it represents the full faith and credit of the United States of America. We are not a deadbeat nation and the consequences of this decision are enormous. With a fragile economy, not raising the debt ceiling would have large and long-term adverse consequences for our economy as a whole, devastate markets, and impact the global economy. Economists from across the political spectrum have warned Congress not to take this path.
I support a 'clean extension' of the debt ceiling, free of any policy 'rider' provisions. The legislation should be about one thing: ensuring that America pays its bills and continues to serve as the world's most reliable investment. A 'clean extension' would not authorize any new spending. It would ensure that we have the ability to pay the obligations we already owe. On May 31st the House considered H.R. 1954, legislation to raise the debt ceiling without any 'rider' provisions by $2.4 trillion. I voted for it, but the legislation failed to pass the House by a vote of 97 to 318.
I'm enclosing a copy of an Op-Ed I wrote for the Palo Alto Daily News on July 19th. I will, of course, do everything I can to reduce spending, and bring our fiscal house to order. Our collective future depends on a sound and strong economy, and a nation unburdened of heavy debt. But it also means that Social Security and Medicare are not put on the chopping block.
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BMSMA.
G&S
