A Gentleman’s view.

\”May God have mercy on your souls!\”

Excerpt:

“There was no unemployment insurance back then,” Grayson said, in one of the more colorful speeches on the issue. “There was no State benefits back then. There was no help for the people who had no jobs. All they could do, like my grandfather, in desperate straits, supporting a family of seven, was to go to the dump and desperately try to find something he could sell.

“That, my friends, is the America that the Republicans are trying to revive. The America of desperate straits, and for them cheap labor. The America where people have nothing, hope for nothing, and are desperate to live to the next day. That is what the Republicans are trying to resurrect by blocking unemployment insurance day after day, week after week, and now month after month.”

Tea Party Signs You Won\’t See on TV

This is from the party that support real American values!

‎”Republicans approve of the American farmer, but they are willing to help him go broke. They stand four-square for the American home–but not for housing. They are strong for labor–but they are stronger for restricting labor’s rights. They favor minimum wage–the smaller the minimum wage the better. They endorse educational opportunity for all–but they won’t spend money for teachers or for schools. They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine–for people who can afford them. They consider electrical power a great blessing–but only when the private power companies get their rake-off. They think American standard of living is a fine thing–so long as it doesn’t spread to all the people. And they admire the Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it.” – Harry S Truman

Add to this these items:

Claims of support for family values but won’t support money for day care or breakfast in schools.

Always touting to be the patriotic party but refuse to serve or offer support to veterans.

Are so worried about the country’s financial state they don’t support unemployment insurance because of deficits, yet want tax cuts for the rich which financial experts insist would increase it.

Claim to be for the average working middle class America while deregulating any and all consumer protections as businesses work various means to rip them off.

Per Devona Walker of Alternet.org

Let me spell it out.

Exponentially more offshore drilling and raping of our natural resources with nothing but apologies to the big corporations as they ruin the environment.
No significant environmentally-conscientious energy legislation ever.
Creationism not evolution taught as science in every K-12 school in this country.
Texas-style rewrites of American history gone national.
Glenn Beck would have a cabinet position and Rush Limbaugh would be the new White House Press Secretary.
No drawdowns, to timelines, just more troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
No rules of the road for Wall Street and financial institutions.
Lower taxes for the rich.
Repeal of health care reform.
Elimination of Social Security.
More ultra conservative Supreme court Judicial appointment — which will inevitably lead to the repeal of Roe v. Wade. This will cause the unintended and unwanted births of thousands of children each year who will be abused, neglected and impoverished.
The passage of a new Patriot Act. This one designed specifically to weed out “anti-American” Americans. Bill authored by Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann.
Drastically scaled back government spending to boost the economy, huge increases in government spending on new military conflicts and 20th century military technology (like massive Cold War era fighter planes that are absolutely useless except that they make the military brass as giddy as school girls).
The possibility that someone even dumber that George W. Bush (Sarah Palin) will occupy the White House.
No repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. In fact, there might be a constitutional amendment to ban all gays, even the hidden ones, from joining the military.
A 24-foot wall on the U.S. Mexican border and 24-hour brigade of armed guards posted 12-feet apart with orders to shoot anything that moves, costing about $200 billion per year. Contract awarded to Blackwater.

Comparing the ordination of women to the raping of children is asinine and a sin!

Today is Sunday and for Christians, if there is a high holy day for them, this day is it. It is the day of reaching out, up and for the ultimate of human relationships on this plane, communing with God. As a mechanism for this most important of relationships for many humans, the church and its representatives: namely Pastors, Priest and nuns control access and authority on how this accomplished properly. We humans as seekers of the way have trusted them to have honor, integrity and mostly importantly our best interest at heart with this responsibility. For Catholics in particular, the Vatican has been the last word on whether or not both sides are maintaining this much needed connection in proper order. In its infinite wisdom, it has decided once again, this is a man’s world and has no place for a woman. I hope James Brown is just rolling around in his grave knowing how wrong this is. When he stated this, he also said it would be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl.

The Vatican has come out with a statement comparing the ordination of women as priest as being as detrimental to the church and this particular religion as the rape and molestation of children. If you follow that mindset to its logical conclusion, it would suggest that because women are not allowed in this religion to become priest, that those male priest who molest and rape little boys and girls to be an abomination and as such would not be tolerated one iota. That is not the case. The Vatican recently just about lost its decorum because the Belgian police conducted raids to investigate a case of the Bishop of Bruges accused of molesting his nephew for many years and covering it for more than 25. The Pope had a problem with their actions as they deemed it inappropriate. Apparently all that jazz about priest molesting children in America, Ireland, Belgium and even his own home Germany for the last 50 years or so has been wearing on his highness papal nerves. They have already disavowed any responsibility in the way of financial obligation should they come up short because of litigation for all the pain and suffering inflicted upon their flock. It seems the state of the church is more important that the faith of the very people it is responsible for protecting.

Many children who experience this abuse don’t tell their parents what went on at church. So it is not known just how much choice the priest who takes these liberties in sexual development of these children have removed. These kids feel shame, fear and because of the particular position of the priest himself expect not be believed anyway. They usually feel that their parents wouldn’t have been able to handle that kind of information about those things happening in the church. Becoming an alter boy was a big thing when I was growing up and I expect still a major accomplishment in Catholic churches today. As curious as kids are at that point in their lives they have no notion about learning about sexual abuse. These experiences take away many freedoms from a child’s normal development. It also warps the relationship with the church in such a manner as to sever it for life.

The damage inflicted upon the innocent by any adult by choosing to interact with a child in that manner can’t be measured in any way shape or form. To have this attack to come from a man of the cloth as the term used to be has to be even more devastating for them represent access to the most precious of relationships for many at such a venerable time in development in their lives. This damage has been consistently by men over and over again across the planet. In country after country in Catholic priest who are male, as women are not allowed in this club, have had their way with precious children to the detriment of those children and the Vatican considers women as priest to be the ultimate abomination to the health of the church. Roman Polanski must be asking; why didn’t I pick that profession to hide myself in, look at the protection I would’ve had. It looks like the sins of the Papal father may be the reasons why the Catholic Church as we know it today, may become as obsolete as confession for many.

Taking back America will leave the Tea Party with much to be desired.

1)     This is the primary objective: No people of color, period!

2)     Sending all immigrants of color back from whence they came.

3)     Eliminating the Social Security system and privatizing all existing accounts.

4)     Eliminating HIV/AIDS, Learning disabilities, behavioral disorders, mental stress disorders from Americans with Disabilities Act.

5)     Overturning Roe vs. Wade and all forms of birth control and  planned parenthood education.

6)     Overturning any and all Equal and Civil Rights legislation.

7)     Declaring any and all homosexual behaviors and support of any kind to be criminal.

8)     Eliminating the Department of Education and privatizing all public education institutions.

9)     Expanding permanently the Bush tax cuts for the rich and businesses in America.

10)  Privatizing all United States waterways and highways.

11)  Total deregulation of all business enterprise in this country.

12)  Expansion of oil and gas drilling anywhere in America to include offshore.

13)  Cutting down and logging all National Forests for profit.

14)  No national energy modification of any kind.

15)  No state, federal or local unemployment protection of any kind to hinder business.

16)  Total elimination of the United States tax code and the IRS.

17)  Total isolation from the international community

18)  Removing the United Nations from this country and our membership within.

19)  Establishing the church as the rule of law of the state and country.

20)  Reestablishing slavery as a means to control labor in this country.

Towering genius disdains the beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.

First and foremost, for the sake of future interviews, public speaking engagements and the like; LeBron go back and get that GED, maybe take a speech class at a local university down in South Beach, or hire a private tutor. Your interview sucked and it wouldn’t have been as bad if you could put together a sentence or two with one complete thought. With that out the way, LeBron, what the hell were you thinking and who convinced you that this was a way to garner props for your brand. Fire your managers, handlers or whatever you call the personnel responsible for that pure waste of time. You gathered people together, held up a major television network and totally wasted the time and money of so many when your handlers again let you down by allowing your final ‘decision’ to be leaked out before the show even began. You made the choice to spend an hour of pretty the country’s time to say something that was already known to have the spotlight to tell the world something Clint Eastwood stated long ago in a “Dirty Harry” movie; ‘Man must know his limitations”, and you do.

LeDecison wasn’t, and for that you will never be forgiven. A ‘decision’ would’ve been be or become a leader by leading a team seeking that kind of special leadership Michael Jordon represented and you watched growing up, to the promise land. Gilbert’s rant though inappropriate, was not off the mark by much. Whether it was lack of confidence in your teammates or damn good Celtic defense, it appeared that you gave up during the playoffs this season, especially game 5. In games like that Michael Jordan, your hero, took over until his teammates got their swerve back and got involved. You didn’t and didn’t seem to understand that it was what was required and expected of you. That is what Michael Jordan understood and for that he will always be considered to be a leader of men in many men’s eyes. He would have seen the historical value of establishing his own brand with the Knickerbockers.

That was the type of ‘Decision’ that was expected especially when you announced this primetime hour-long fiasco you pulled off. The next thing you need to understand about the failure of that night was your selection; rumors were out before the announcement that you most probably had decided to join forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. Professionalism is expected out of professionals, like it or not, you are a professional athlete and more to the point a professional basketball player claiming to have your own brand, claiming to be your own man, claiming about the history of basketball, to understand. You don’t. Real men don’t follow, as they want to lead. Granted, Chicago had an situation ripe for the picking with the pieces they already had in place, but then you would have been dancing in the shadow of your hero again; Michael Jordan, but you didn’t pick them either. Still, that would’ve been more acceptable than the selection you made to sheepishly follow Bosh and join Wade in Miami. Professional courtesy would have been at the very least to inform the teams interested and not going to have a chance of obtaining your services so that they could have made adjustments during the peak of the free agency frenzy, professionalism. These are things I hope as you grow to become a real man and not a 25-year-old spoiled rich narcissistic brat with no education that you will learn. What you did was not wrong because of your decision to leave Cleveland, as they would dump you in a trade when the time was right for them, but a team, town, and your fans were counting on you to behave like a man.

You got outshined by a skinny young kid playing his heart out and glad to do because a team on the market to be sold took a chance and drafted him and wanted him to stay; Kevin Durant. He is damn good and quietly tweeted his extension signing. He may see a ring or two before you do. You went to a team with two other known stars of which one is the ‘man’ and you will never be, you took the easy way out claiming to have won, always won, along the way in your career. What have you won in high school, permission to be treated like a Prima Dona?  Beat kids inferior to you physical stature? To have not learned enough to speak clearly in a manner understood by others who made it past 12^th grade? To be deemed a prodigy with no understanding of the game that has brought you out of poverty and showered you with undue adulation? What exactly have you won? Seven years and no rings. You have earned the right to be despised and have a big target painted on your back with the perception that you are incapable of ever living up to the crown placed upon the apparently swelled head of yours. You have three stars with no team and the league looking to teach you a very hard and nasty lesson about the facts of life in one of the most demanding leagues in sports outside of football. Your brand is not tarnished because it no longer exists as you abdicated the throne with your selection to be a follower rather than a leader. Not 1, or 2, or 3, or 5, or 6 rings will come your way. The league is waiting for you LeBron and they know they have nothing at all to fear. You have told them, they no longer need to fear King James.

George W. Bush:
accomplishments as president

* Attacked and took over two countries.

* Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury.

* Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.

* Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.

* Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.

* First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.

* First president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.

* First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history.

* After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in US history.

* Set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips than any other president in US history.

* In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job.

*Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in US history.

* Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12 month period.

* Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US  history.

* Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.

* Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in US history.

* Presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.

* Presided over the highest gasoline prices in US history and refused to use the national reserves as past presidents have.

* Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.

* Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.

* Dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.

* My presidency is the most secretive and un-accountable of any in US history.

* Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (the ‘poorest’ multi-millionaire, Condoleeza Rice has an Exxon oil tanker named after her).

* First president in US history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously go bankrupt.

* Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world.

* First president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation.

* Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.

* Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in US history.

* First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the human rights commission.

* First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the elections monitoring board.

* Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.

* Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.

* Withdrew from the World Court of Law.

* Refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.

* First president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US elections).

* All-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.

* My biggest life-time campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).

* Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.

* First president in US history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.

* First president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)

* First US president to establish a secret shadow government.

* Took the biggest world sympathy for the US after 911, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).

* With a policy of ‘dis-engagement’ created the most hostile Israeli-Palestine relations in at least 30 years.

* First US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.

* First US president in history to have the people of South Korea more threatened by the US than their immediate neighbor, North Korea.

* Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.

* Set all-time record for number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts.

* Failed to fulfill my pledge to get Osama Bin Laden ‘dead or alive’.

* Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capital building. After 18 months I have no leads and zero suspects.

* In the 18 months following the 911 attacks I have successfully prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States.

* Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.

* In a little over two years created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided the US has ever been since the civil war.

* Entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.

Apparently LeBron knows his, it seems Dan Gilbert does as well.

Dear Cleveland, All Of Northeast Ohio and Cleveland Cavaliers Supporters Wherever You May Be Tonight.

As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.

This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his “decision” unlike anything ever “witnessed” in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.

Clearly, this is bitterly disappointing to all of us.

The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER will betray you.

There is so much more to tell you about the events of the recent past and our more than exciting future. Over the next several days and weeks, we will be communicating much of that to you.

You simply don’t deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal.

You have given so much and deserve so much more.

In the meantime, I want to make one statement to you tonight:

“I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE”

You can take it to the bank.

If you thought we were motivated before tonight to bring the hardware to Cleveland, I can tell you that this shameful display of selfishness and betrayal by one of our very own has shifted our “motivation” to previously unknown and previously never experienced levels.

Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there.

Sorry, but that’s simply not how it works.

This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown “chosen one” sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn. And “who” we would want them to grow-up to become.

But the good news is that this heartless and callous action can only serve as the antidote to the so-called “curse” on Cleveland, Ohio.

The self-declared former “King” will be taking the “curse” with him down south. And until he does “right” by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma.

Just watch.

Sleep well, Cleveland.

Tomorrow is a new and much brighter day….

I PROMISE you that our energy, focus, capital, knowledge and experience will be directed at one thing and one thing only:

DELIVERING YOU the championship you have long deserved and is long overdue….

Dan Gilbert