Rick Perry Heads to Connecticut – Malloy on Gun Manufactures – As Long as what they produce is legal?- Texas stands to gain.

That rascally Govenor from Texas, one Rick Perry, is at it again. He’s traveling cross-country – bringing his message of success, less taxation, better working environments and the like to businesses in states where the business climate is less than perfect. This benefits Texas in two ways: One it insures extra jobs in a state that is the number on job destination state in the nation, and as more people move to Texas in search of jobs from Massachusetts, California, Illinois and other personal tax happy states – Perry finds himself in the position to bring in businesses to keep employment up.

Next stop is Connecticut. wtnh is reporting that Perry’s on his way – with a message of hope to “businesses, while the current Govenor, suggests: that he has already beat Texas in some competitions for business.

"Where we have gone head to head recently with Texas, specifically with respect to CIGNA and with respect to ESPN, we have actually won," said said Governor Dannel Malloy, (D) Connecticut. “ Therefore Malloy has kept two businesses in a state that desperately needs employers. Standing at the alter of better business conditions in the States Gun and Defense industry – where Perry is fishing. That may lead to quite a haul for the welcoming Texas Govenor.

There was one blurb in the article about Perry running for President, which, is most likely not the case, although no crystal ball is employed here. But suffice it to say, as long as he continues to run Texas the way he is running Texas, - as one former Massachusetts and now 20 year Austin Democrat noted: Perry can be Govenor for: Life if he wants.

Obviously, those that are not recent transplants or so partisan they can’t see the forest through the herds of cattle, wont’ exactly put that way, however, Perry is setting a fine example on how to run a state and make it profitable. A lesson that those governors form the northeast and New York may want to pay just a smidgen of attention.

In a recent search of Career Builder one finds that there are currently 1 - 25 of 41,359 jobs found in Texas, while in Connecticut a total of 6643 positions can be found One suspects, that there would be a disparity between Texas and oh Massachusetts, New York, etc -= The jobs available in Texas versus the State of Connecticut also show a different type of opportunity –less in the service industry in Texas.

Malloy should start to study Rick Perry and do what Perry has done – it may take some time, but Connecticut would recover to its once great stature. Unlikely

MA Senate Campaign – Media Spin: How to Turn a Mystery Into a Shaky Fact – Gomez PAC Support Not What It Appears

Of one thing one can be certain, if there is a smidgen of a name, or association, no matter how ridiculously far-fetched, it will be spun as a “fact” by the opposition and eventually wind up in an ad, or an article. The MA special election for the vacant Senate seat is one example: Ed Markey, the Democrat in the race, has had everyone show up except Ted Kennedy’s ghost – in an apparent effort to hang onto his base. Meanwhile, understanding just how bad it may be (even though he’s ahead in local polls, and in a dead heat in national polls), Markey’s fans are so concerned, that the issue of the opposition, Gabriel Gomez, the Republican in the race, may have a PAC supporting him that must have something wrong with it. Never mind the fact that Markey has had PAC’s throwing more money at Massachusetts than the state’s deficit – that apparently receives a pass.

The gist: From Politico - Headlined: ” Mystery PAC backing Gabriel Gomez in Massachusetts”, speaks to the fact that the Gomez campaign is receiving a bit of help from an outside source, and Politico cannot, with all of its ability, find out whence this PAC came from. The one thing they have gleaned from the PAC is that it appears not to have an affiliation, but a Republican firm is buying the ads on the PAC’s behalf – the button pusher: And the group’s treasurer, Nancy Watkins, is a Republican who has worked for a number of outside groups, according to past news accounts. She also served as treasurer for Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign.”

Suddenly an article appears on the Hill Blog: and this significant ad by in Massachusetts for the Republican, Gomez, is being handled by Michele Bachmann.

Michelle Bachman, recently announced her retirement from Congress, and is, in the eyes of the media, a crazy congresswoman who embraced the “Tea Party”. If one is following the gist – simply put, the Dems that be, are desperate to find anything to discredit Gomez, therefore, watch Gomez get slammed for being supported by and a member of those Tea Party Groups!!

This is not a stretch of the imagination – given the poorly constructed ads which the Markey campaign has airing, badly spliced segments of Gomez speaking, attempting to discredit him on the issue of social security, gun control and the like.

Gomez shot back with an ad that’s sort of hilarious – knocking the attack ad, and possibly just as badly produced in straight satirical form.

Perhaps, just perhaps, those living in the state of Confusion might see through the absolutely nonsense that is this campaign and choose for themselves – rather than play into the old tried and true of an entrenched Congressman from MA looking for a lifelong seat. His primary opponent, Lynch, would have been a better choice, but those crazy progressive, want a pure party player, so Massachusetts gets – Markey

Maybe

Which is why this is getting so childish – it’s almost as if no-one wants to even get out and vote for Ed – it’s embarrassing.

One has to ask, does it really matter who is sending all that cash into MA, be it one of Markey's many PAC supporters, or individual party players, or Gomez' PAC and/or any Republican or Independent PAC or person who is supporting him - as this PAC is from Miami, where, one might imagine there would be more than a few Latino-Hispanic individuals who support Latino candidates (see Marc Rubio), then, one might imagine that is where the money is coming from.

Class Action Lawsuit Filing Today – Man Versus Obama-PRISM-Verizon – Civil Liberty or National Defense on Steroids

A class action lawsuit is being brought against President Obama, and the companies tied to PRISM today in U.S.Disctrict Court of D.C. The case is being filed by “former Justice Department prosecutor Larry Klayman amended an existing lawsuit against Verizon and a slew of Obama administration officials Monday to make it the first class-action lawsuit in response to the publication of a secret court order instructing Verizon to hand over the phone records of millions of American customers on an "ongoing, daily basis."(USNews)

The companies listed in the suit, according to US News are: AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, PalTalk, Skype, Yahoo! and YouTube.

The Administration and the NSA has continued to insist the culling of personal data, including emails, phone records, and video, et. al, is necessary for National Defense. The opponents suggest that the amount of data, specifically data of millions of American’s who could in no wise be suspected of terrorist activity has gone too far.

This is not the first suite that has been suggested. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said during a Sunday appearance on Fox News that he intends to file a class-action lawsuit against Verizon and the Internet companies over the surveillance programs, but it’s unclear how exactly he will proceed with the plans.”I’m going to be asking all the Internet providers and all of the phone companies: Ask your customers to join me in a class action lawsuit,” Paul said Sunday. “If we get 10 million Americans saying we don’t want our phone records looked at, then maybe someone will wake up and something will change in Washington.”(patdollard.com)

There has been, for years, no expectation of privacy when it comes to social networking sites, and even one’s cell phone, specifically if photo’s are shared, but, it was “friends “and the ability to share data that caused the issue – it was not the Federal Government overseeing every move a citizen (or not) might be making.

Although argued that this is justifiably constitutional under the law, the suits will challenge that assertion, and the courts will eventually decide. One might think that given the courts propensity to side both for and against the administration – this would be a case worth watching – slippery slope syndrome is all over this one.

Under Suspicion – Government Agencies through the Looking Glass - The Heroics of Youth – An Essay on the Factor of Stupidity, Incompetence and Sheer Lunacy.

The old novel - suddenly of interest - it is a good fictional read - image tompaine.com

Understanding that one might feel a tad jitterish that “Big Brother” is watching, listening, reading, and predicting every move one makes, every hour of the day can, indeed be creepy. The fact that we understand, that anytime one posts something to an internet website, it becomes public, if one passes a photograph around via cell phone, chances are that photo will be seen by everyone – social websites offer little to know privacy – unless it is specifically requested – or so everyone though.

There is little in the way of “ownership”, especially online, and that is expected – but when one is stalked, for no apparent reason, then it becomes an invasion of privacy. That is what, for good or ill intent, the government has been up to lately. Looking at ever tying that is posted, noted, photographed, video graphed, and said, online and one one’s cell phone. Understanding the need to protect the nation, the original concept was to listen for key words and then go and check lines going to and fro places that held terrorists and those about to kill us. Yet, this program has morphed into a behemoth of information gathering on just grandma or grandpa. The reasoning behind this is as clear as the nose on ones face – the government, in it’s never ending growth, and the dwindling job market, has created these jobs and spent tax payers dollars on programs that on surface, might have merit, but overall, are fairly useless – unless one thinks hat Grandma is going to blow up a strategic government building – or her 10 year old grandson or granddaughter.

Government waste is more to the point, along with intrusion.

Therefore, there’s been a lack of trust over the Administration with one scandal after the next hitting the airwaves every other day – from the IRS targeting individuals that have a different view than the President, to Benghazi and the fact that our nation told marines hours away to stand down while our Ambassador and other American’s were murdered, to the newest – spying on everyone – it’s become increasingly clear that trust is dwindling.

Now, journalist are looking under rocks – as these items are front page news, and since the rose is off the bloom, so to speak, the administrating has become an obvious target, along with any various government agencies – the latest is the IRS (again), which has apparently been spending money or is about to on spy equipment. According to CNS news, the agency has a contract request out for all types of goodies one would think might fit better with Maxwell Smart, than an actual actuary, but to use an old adage, boys love their toys. The list includes some of the following items:

four “Covert Coffee tray(s) with Camera concealment,” and four “Remote surveillance system(s)” with “Built-in DVD Burner and 2 Internal HDDs, cameras.”

The IRS also is buying four cameras to hide in plants: “(QTY 4) Plant Concealment Color 700 Lines Color IP Camera Concealment with Single Channel Network Server, supports dual video stream, Poe [Power over Ethernet], software included, case included, router included.”

Finishing out the order are four “Color IP Camera Concealment with single channel network server, supports dual video stream, poe, webviewer and cms software included, audio,” and two “Concealed clock radio.”

Seriously, one has got to be joking – placing cameras in a plant, dvd burner or coffee tray, may have advantages if one is trying to catch someone who is fudging their taxes, but one would think with today’s electronic world, that task might not be too difficult, nor require any extra effort on the parts of the individual IRS Agent.

Although there is that Obama Care oversight that is pending – and that may have IRS Health Police agents need more “high-Tech equipment in order to found up those who would not have insurance. Either way, it’s ridiculous – especially for an agency that perhaps, more than any other is feared by the average citizen. If one makes a mistake on a tax return, one can anticipate an audit, and if one is audited, one has to lug all their records, etc., to an office and go over everything with a fine tooth comb – when found not in errors, one has wasted a day – but the relief that one is no longer in the building, innocence aside is palpable.

Now they want spy equipment, why not? Every other agency spends gazillions of U.S. taxpayer’s dollars on - to put it bluntly stupid things – this would most likely fall under the category of the IRS with an abundant budget and a need to spend it immediately – looking for something tangible that may someday come in handy.

Perhaps, just perhaps, if the administration had come out and explained exactly what was going on – admitted that they knew about (name a problem) and then just noted their abject sorrow over name a problem, and that they would fix it post haste and demote (not promote) those who were responsible for making (name a mistake) – this would not be an issue.

1984, for those who may not be aware, is a fictional novel – the reality of the situations are much more benign, - more Larry, Moe and Curly, more Get Smart – more ridiculous than nefarious – some with consequences that are serious indeed, however, it is nothing more than those that don’t what to do, doing it badly.

That’s what elections are for, followed by housekeeping and common sense approach to the U.S. budget – and we can keep on dreaming that any of that will take place.

As to the young man who blew the whistle on the massive invasion of privacy – with youth and passion and a sense of liberty and justice, he is, in a word, heroic. Although one might find his actions brash in the face of “terrorism” – the manner, in which the government was going about collecting data, would make any red blooded, young liberty minded individual speak out – especially if they had read 1984.

Give the kid a break –he caught a giant expenditure, and invasion of privacy – to whit, he feared out administration so much he fled the country, but, point being, it’s one which should take the tactic – good job uncovering this mess – were ‘pulling it and going back to the original doctrine of hunting just for terrorist – you just save use gazillions of dollars – want to take a look at the budget?!!!

In a perfect world.

MA Special Election Update – Obama, Biden, Gore, Wasserman-Shultz, Barney Frank – all in MA for Ed Markey – How Much Trouble is Markey In?

Biden, President Obama and Barney Frank to stump for Ed Markey - not shown: Gore and Wasserman, also on the Campaign Stump for Old Eddy - image from snydertalk.com

First there have been more than a few polls coming out for the MA Special Election, some have Markey up by 7, some by 15 (shades of Martha Coakley), and some in a statistical dead heat, which, if the seat were about to be handed to Markey by even five points, there would be no need for the following in the lower than average public interest election.

When an election has interest this low, one would think that between the unions, the nursing home trolling, the dead and missing voting, and other shenanigans known to take place in Democrat politics in the Bay State – the Democrat candidate, even if they appear to be the walking dead, and not even live in the State, can win by a landslide.

Since that’s the case and since memory still serves, there has not been any active call for outside help since Brown-Coakley, and Coakley lost. One thing to say about Coakley she was an interesting candidate, Markey less so. This is regardless of the mistakes she made, and there ere a few.

Who’s coming to help out Markey?

The President will be in Roxbury on Wednesday in support of Eddy.

Both Joe Biden (the Vice President for those who aren’t sure) and Al Gore (who invented almost as much stuff in his mind as Markey), will both be coming to Markey’s assistance

Barney Frank will be coming out of retirement for Ed.

Finally, Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, the head of the DNC came out to Western Mass (they sent her to our boondocks) to rally the troops for Markey.

That’s a lot more Dempower than anyone has seen in MA in recent memory – so that tells us one thing and one thing only – the base isn’t into it, and the race is closer than one thinks.

Gabriel Gomez, according to a press release, intends to fight this onslaught of star power, not to mention massive ad buys which are negative in nature – “with grassroots organizing “and a fresh face. He may already have it in the bag, considering the fact that so many of these Washington DC rulers have made the trek to MA to try and pursued the populace to get out and vote for Markey.

This suddenly makes this interesting.

The last time Obama came out to campaign for a candidate (Coakley), that candidate lost by 5 points – which begs the question, if Obama is so popular in Massachusetts, why did Coakley, no matter her faults, go down the drain. Markey is not the perfect candidate by any means – the only hope the Democrats have at this point, is to hope that the Unenrolled (50 plus percent) don’t get too interested and get out and vote – for Gomez.