Almost fifty years ago my parents moved with their six children from a small four-room house in Hampton, Illinois to a three bedroom two story in Carbon Cliff. It was nothing fancy, an old farmhouse, but it was a big improvement from what we had just left. Behind this house and to one side was a cornfield, which was owned by our neighbor. About two miles behind that cornfield were a dozen or so railroad tracks belonging to the Rock Island Railroad that served as a switchyard and adjacent to those tracks was old man Alert's rendering plant. Now for those of you who do not know what a rendering plant is it is where they take dead animals like horses and cattle, and boil them down. Needless to say this creates an awful, unyielding stench in the surrounding area, especially on hot, humid Illinois' summer days. I remember complaining to my father shortly after moving in about the noise from the trains at night and the horrible smell drifting over the fields from Alert's plant. My father just smiled and said, "Don't worry son, you'll get used to it."

He was right of course, as after a while the clank, clank of the rolling trains with their long sorrowful whistles echoing through the nights did not keep us awake or awaken us from our slumbers. Truth be told those distant sounds actually became somewhat of a comfort to us as we lay there drifting off to sleep. Then too, except on some rare overbearing occasions, even that appalling stench from Alert's rendering plant soon went unnoticed as we carried on with our daily lives.

About ten years later as a young Marine, I stepped off of a commercial airliner that had served as our transport to Danang, South Vietnam. After long hours in the comfort of an air-conditioned airliner cabin what hits you first is the heat and humidity of coastal Vietnam. And it hits you hard like a flat steel shovel square in the face. The air is so hot and so heavy with humidity that in trying to take a breath your head actually recoils backward as if absorbing a punch. Sweat pours out of you and rolls down across your face and body in waves. At first you can't breathe so you suck in large full gulps as you fight the blinding glare of a blazing sun and the panicked feeling that you are truly suffocating. After a few frantic gasps your lungs slowly adjust to the humidity so your body starts to relax as the panic ebbs from your now half-baked brain, but that's when some new dreadful odor invades your senses. For even far out on the broiling tarmac of the airstrip you could smell this Third World city and its decay. As I marched with my fellow Marines off the airstrip fighting the sun's fierce glare, the ghastly heat, stifling humidity and the dreadful stench I remembered my father's words, "Don't worry son, you'll get used to it." Once again, my father was right.

Over the next year my fellow Marines and I endured the stink and horror of that country. We waded waist or neck high through stagnate, decomposing swamps that covered us with putrid grime and thick black leaches. We gagged as we walked through, and sometimes even crawled through rice patties polluted with human waste. We slept on rotted vegetation or in musty, decades old, rat and cockroach infested bunkers. We went weeks without a bath and reeked from our own body odor. You don't apply Right Guard or wear Old Spice out on an ambush or on a patrol. In camp our only toilets were crusty wooden outhouses fouled beyond tolerance from overuse, wherein spending more than a minute or two made you want to puke. The contents of which were then mixed with diesel or gas and burned in drums that raised high black rancid clouds of smoke. The acrid, sulfurous odor and taste of gunpowder became commonplace to us, as normal as fresh spring air. We came to know the smell of burning flesh and the sickeningly sweet, unholy odor of decaying human flesh. Even the common dirt of this country smelled bad as we dug our fighting holes to lay in wait for our enemies.

After my discharge I returned to the Quad Cities, farm country, The Hog Capital of the World. Just driving by a large hog farm and being engulfed by the pungent aroma of a thousand swine will make your eyes water. Later I moved to Arizona where the rapid growth of suburbia quickly encircled large isolated dairy farms. Now there's a smell that will open your eyes in the morning when you walk out the door to leave for work.

Of course you all have seen or perhaps even used what is called a 'porta-john', those blue or green fiberglass toilets that are used at county fairs, outdoor concerts and on construction sites. For years I worked in construction here in Arizona where temperatures average over one hundred degrees in the summer. Try to imagine how much these porta-johns reeked in the hot Arizona sun after being used by twenty or so men everyday and they are only cleaned out once a week! We could be working on a house a block away from these wicked waste filled containers and still smell them all day long. The nasty scent of the chemicals they clean them with alone is enough to gag a maggot!

Now I'm not telling you all of this to make you sick or to stroll down some nauseating memory lane. I have simply described these obnoxious odors to say that after all of these unpleasant pungent experiences in my last fifty years if I could somehow combine all of these disgusting odors together into one large mega-stink it would smell like a sweet flowery perfume compared to the vile, despicable stench that is now abhorrently sweeping forth from the greedy, arrogant, corrupt, imbecilic, criminal leadership of our financial and corporate institutions along with that of our State and Federal governments!

Over the years we Americans have gotten used to the 'normal' stink coming from our government, financial institutions and corporations with their occasional scandals, criminality, misjudgments and downright buffoonery. But what is going on now is just too appalling to ignore any longer, or to endure. No longer content to just rob the present populace, these swine are now on the verge of robbing the American taxpayers for generations to come. They are about to sell our children, grandchildren and beyond into servitude. They are ready to forever divide our country into three distinct classes. There will be the very rich who run the government, corporations and financial institutions. While the rest of us will be divided into halves, a working class in servitude to the past debts of our nation and the rest who will all be total dependants of the State. And they tell us that what they are doing is for our own good. These scoundrels are so greedy that if successful they will leave little or nothing for the future politicians to steal! Sorry Dad, I will just never be able to get used to this new stench.

Rising To The Top

We were once told that the cream would always rise to the top. Well guess what? There is something else far from that preferred cream that will all to often also rise to the top and that is the solid tubular matter of human waste, otherwise known as a t-u-r-d. And ladies and gentlemen in the cesspools of our government, corporate and financial centers we are now swamped with them. Instead of the best and the brightest among us we have settled for the worst and most corrupt.

Speaking of 'both sides of the aisle' pound for pound this could very well be the most corrupt and self-serving Congress ever to disgrace those hollowed Halls. The idea that members of this Congress should sit in judgment over anyone, even the heads of our corrupt and greedy banking and corporate institutions would be laughable if it wasn't so appalling and insane. The crooks condemning the other crooks with a thoroughly corrupted Barney Frank shamelessly acting indignant at the overspending of bank CEO's! It is surreal!

Trains, Planes And Automobiles

"How many of you own or lease a private airplane for your companies?" Asks another stern and serious Senator of the banking execs. This is compared to what? The private jets paid for by the American taxpayers that transport Congress-morons around on a whim like Nancy Pelosi back and forth from San Francisco to Washington D.C.?

On the subject of private planes the 'Big Three' automaker execs from Detroit were criticized by the Democrats for flying into D.C. on their private jets when asking for a handout. While that would be fair game coming from you or I, it is nothing less than full blown, all out hypocrisy coming from a group of politicians of whom it was reported used some six hundred private aircraft to fly themselves and their Fat Cat cronies into D.C. for Obama's inauguration! These are the same Demo-dimwits who mocked Sarah Palin when she told the story of selling the Governor of Alaska's private jet on e-Bay to save her taxpayers money!

In the last few days the new President has traveled to Indiana, Florida, Virginia, and Illinois to promote "his" stimulus plan. "His" is in quotation marks because this plan was really authored by Pelosi and Reid. Would someone please tell your President that the campaign is over, and that he has already won? Please remind him that in this major economic fiasco that he is no longer out campaigning with his own shadowy, anonymous 600 million plus campaign contributions any more. Instead it is the American taxpayers that are now footing the bill for this rather expensive propaganda tour. I wonder how many millions these little jaunts have already cost us and if we will ever find out?

Right now no one really knows for sure what all is included in this new stimulus bill as it keeps changing and as of yet has not even been completely published so that it can be read in full. No one has yet to read the full document let alone scoured over all the fine print. There have been no quiet contemplations or verbal debates of the possible consequences and repercussions if this stimulus plan is passed. Yet today our government will be voting on its passage! How very fitting that the end of our Republic as we know it should be determined on Friday The 13th.

It is true that in times of an emergency, if you panic you are lost. This stimulus plan and the previous bailouts have PANIC written all over them. Our government is rushing forward hell bent for leather and just 'hoping' that this will do some good while risking the very lives and livelihoods of our future generations! Obama has stated that if this stimulus plan is not passed then our economy WILL never recover! This from the party that condemned the GOP of using 'scare tactics' and 'fear' on the American voters! My, my, the Messiah and Nostradamus all rolled up into one.

Bits and pieces have surfaced over the last few days including so many millions to be used for a light rail train from LA to Las Vegas. Of course this has nothing to do with stimulating our economy outside of Vegas but it has a lot to do with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and helping him to win future elections in his State.

Money, Money, Money

One of the problems we normal Americans have with Congress is that while we deal in dollars and cents, usually limited to hundreds or thousands of, Congress deals in billions and now trillions. To our government if it is only in the millions then it is just throwaway change of little consequence, while we can't even relate to what a billion or a trillion dollars really means. Likewise when we run out of money that's it, it is cut back on expenses time and go without until payday. But even though our government has been out of cash for a long time now they still think that they can throw good money after bad and just keep spending.

Or how about Congress jumping all over these corporate hacks for giving out bonuses while condemning their obscene high salaries but in the meantime Congress gives themselves a nice little pay raise of almost $5000.00 dollars a year in the mist of our 'economic depression'! Pelosi then has the gall to stand before the cameras and tell the American people that, "We are all in this together." Right.

During the Presidential campaign Obama explained why the world hates us by stating that we could no longer have our home thermostats constantly set at 72 degrees or to keep driving our SUV's. He later said it was time for us to all "tighten our belts."

The other day there was what was meant to be a 'cute little story' about how hot Obama keeps the temperature in the White House. As one aid stated, "You could grow orchids in there." Another explained the why of this was because Obama was from Hawaii, you see, so he likes it to be warm. But don't you peons forget to turn your heat down below 72 degrees, or that, "We are all in this together."

The other evening MSNBC's Rachel Maddow was absolutely giddy as she explained how we finally have a couple in the White House who normally stay up after midnight. Gee! What a madcap family unit! It seems to have really bothered her to know that the Bush's went to bed like clockwork every night at 10 PM. The old fogies! She then happily went on to announce that The Obama's now are planning to hold a cocktail party every Wednesday evening! In the midst of this recession there was no concern of how much these weekly gatherings would cost the taxpayers or if they may not be appropriate at this time of 'tighten(ing) our belts." The fawning dingbat's only concern was finding out what is the name of the cocktail that will be served!

The Flim Flam Men (And Women)

I truly hope that by now everyone has figured out that all of these 'top floaters' are in this scam together. The Congressional hearings are nothing but dog and pony shows, be it interrogating oil company tycoons, banking executives, insurance peddlers, pharmaceutical pushers or corporation big wigs. This is all just something to appease, entertain and confuse the masses while thumping their collective chests to show that they, Congress are in control and that they WILL get to the bottom of all of this money monkey business. Right. Like we don't know that these are the same corporations and banks that finance the Congress-morons' campaigns.

It is similar to watching two competing football teams in the Super Bowl. On the field during the game they are rivals with a lot of animosity between them. But after the game is over and the public has turned away they all go out together for Happy Hour, on the taxpayers' dime of course. Yet they still continue to get away with these phony theatrics, and the money.

A big problem with these Congressional bailouts and stimulus plans is that with the vast amounts of money that is being shuffled about it is virtually impossible to keep track of it of all. There are an awful lot of people licking their chops right now knowing that they will soon be able to abscond with millions of dollars and with a very small possibility that they will ever be called on it. Besides with the lack of accountability that has been displayed recently by Wall Street, financial institutions, business corporations and our governments, it has been clearly shown that there is very little punishment for them if they do get caught. Is Bernie Madoff in jail yet? How about Rod Blagojevich? I didn't think so, but then what could we expect? We now have four new Obama Cabinet members who are known tax evaders. Folks we have the foxes guarding the chicken coops and they can do anything they want. Just don't let one of us get caught choking a chicken!

The Joke Of The Year

How's this for a joke? Last year in the midst of the Presidential election Wall Street was on the verge of collapse. Banks were on the verge of defaulting and major corporations faced bankruptcy! So the two candidates 'suspend' their campaigns and rushed back to Washington to help press through a bailout package for the floundering institutions. We were told that this was of the greatest importance! That the utmost speed was needed or it would be an economic disaster for all of us! That these financial giants were just  'too big' to be allowed to fail!

By the time the two candidates arrived the Democrats had announced that the bailout bill was all ready to go, it was a done deal and that they had the votes to get it passed. The only trouble was that they had not only excluded any input by their fellow Republican Congress-members, they hadn't even allowed them to see it! Naturally it didn't pass. Days went by as the two parties ironed out details of the bill, so much for speed. Finally it was passed, signed by Bush and seven hundred BILLION plus dollars were handed out to banks and corporations to get our economy going again! Weeks went by, the money had been doled out but there was no impact on our economy? Mmmm…

Congress to the Banks and Corporations: "Where did the money go?"

Banks: "Well we really can't account for all of it…"

Corporations: "Ditto…we really aren't sure…"

Media to Congress: "Didn't you set up some kind of regulatory commission to keep track of how the money was spent?"

Congress: "Well… you see… huh… we were in such a hurry… you see… because it was … huh… like you know… a crisis… yeah a crisis! Speed! So… huh… there wasn't… huh… time… huh… you see… to set up a commission… to huh… to keep track of where all the money went! Yeah… that's what happened."

But that really isn't the joke here. When the banks got the money that was supposed to be loaned out to Americans to get it back into circulation they instead used it to strengthen their own positions, as in buying out other banks. Instead of loaning out the money they themselves invested it while further limiting their credit lines to their customers and tightening up lending requirements! As for the corporations, instead of creating new jobs or investing the money they gave out more bonuses to the top floaters or in one case spent over a million dollars to redecorate a top floater's office! Still that is not the joke!

The joke is this. The morons in our government knew that these top floaters were immoral greedy scum but instead of letting them and their institutions fail like they should have after successfully robbing the public, or sending them to jail, our elected morons turned around and gave them billions of more dollars to steal without any accountability as to where it was going! This was like giving the James Gang the combination to the bank safe and then telling them that the Pinkertons have all been fired! Ha ha! Some joke, too bad it was on us.

Patriotism And Polls

Most of us know that when this slimy stimulus bill slithered through the House not one Republican Representative voted for it but the Democratic majority still got it passed. What hasn't been widely reported is that eleven Democratic Representatives sided with the House Republicans to vote against this plan. Meanwhile in the Senate three Republican Senators have added their support for this plan so it is expected to pass the Senate today, still unread and without debate. In a news conference announcing how these three new Republic-dems have switch sides, Senator Harry Reid praised the three as true Patriots. It was an obvious statement by Reid that if you were against this plan then you are not a Patriot. It came as no surprise to me that his concept of a Patriot is so vastly different from my own.

In the most recent Rasmussen Poll support has fallen to 37% for the plan with 43% against and 20% undecided. The poll has shown that support for this stimulus plan has fallen steadily over the past few days, as more and more information about what it contains becomes known to the public. Such as the once promised rebate to Americans of five hundred dollars is now down to four hundred dollars. I wonder if Michelle, who last year criticized the Bush rebate of six hundred dollars as too little, now thinks her husband is cheap?

Also taking a cut is the tax credit for first time homebuyers that went from $15,000.00 down to $8000.00. Hey, money had to be cut somewhere, you didn't really think it was going to be shaved off of the pork or earmarks did you? As a whole this stimulus plan is nothing more than a Democratic power play filled with their special pet interests and hometown projects. It has very little to do with creating jobs or getting money back into the pockets of the American taxpayers to create an influx into the economy and free market place. Despite the sentiments of the American people and with their current approval rating still in the low teens our Congress will pass this stimulus bill no matter what the consequences or our wishes. It hasn't mattered in the past what We The People have wanted anyway.

When 'they' pass this plan, and they will, we better all hit our knees and pray to God that it either works or that we somehow otherwise survive. That goes for all of you atheist liberals too. If nothing else then pray to Darwin or at least cross your stupid fingers!

Just Driving Through

Within a month of being in town Obama has driven up to the Congressional drive-thru and spoken to the clown to give his order. He needs it 'to go' because if this doesn't work he won't be around much longer. With Pelosi working the drive-thru window and Reid back in the kitchen, she took his order and asked, "Do you want fries with that?"

To which Obama replied, "Heck yeah! Oh, and Super Size me!"

When it came time to pay Obama said, "Give the American kids the bill."

To that Harry and Nancy just nodded knowingly, and smiled.

God Help America

God Help Us All

Mike


"Copyright 2009.  Michael E. Tank   All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied, faxed, electronically transmitted, or in any other manner duplicated without express written permission of the author."