MooPig Government Shutdown Department :: "Follow Us into the Breach"

Knick Knack Paddy Whack, Give the Dog a Bone ...
Mashed articles by Pat Darnell  |  Oct 6-7, 2013  |  Bryan TX


October 1, 2013 -- "Lines in the sand have been drawn: Senate Democrats and the president won’t accept changes to Obamacare as part of a government funding deal, and House Republicans are refusing to pass anything that doesn't give them some concessions on the health care law they've been fighting since taking over the majority. (Kate Nocera and Evan McMorris-Santoro BuzzFeed Staff. October 1, 2013. LINK) ..."

 U.S. Service Academies Prepare For Government Shutdown: "Administrators and faculty at the five United States service academies are bracing themselves for the impending government shutdown, which stands to disrupt the education of thousands of cadets and midshipmen across the country. Mandatory across-the-board spending cuts imposed by sequestration have already taken a toll on the academies so far this year, forcing cutbacks to student services, extracurricular activities, and, in the case of the Naval Academy, classes."

'via Blog this'

At an accounting career fair.

Austin, TX

In our Military -- “USNA has an approximate 50/50 military to civilian instructor ratio and there will be circumstances where military instructors are not able to substitute for civilian professors in the classroom,” Erickson said in an emailed statement. Arabic and Chinese language classes will be canceled, as will chemistry, engineering and physics laboratories. As far as other classes taught by civilians, Erickson explained, “Many instructors were able to pre-package 4-5 days’ worth of classes in order for one of their military counterparts within the department to substitute and instruct the class in the event of the government shutdown. (September 30, 2013. Ellie Hall. LINK) ... ”

CONCLUSION
It’s an outrage that they are playing these types of games with the American people. And I think at the end of the day [Boehner and Cruz] will rue this day because they side with a minority in their caucus and Boehner is not running the House. A minority is.

SUMMARY
This Sunday morning, Tailgunner Ted Cruz went on CNN’s State of the Union to give his take on why it’s OK to hold the United States hostage. Cruz’s ship has been sinking for weeks now, but even weighed down with a billion tons of political self-interest, he plunges boldly ahead into waters that, according to him, aren’t exactly uncharted. According to him, taking hostages is just business as usual — and sad to say, these days, isn’t completely wrong. Ted Cruz Thinks Extortion is Politics as Usual in D.C.

But, cite all the historical precedent you want, Ted … what your little group of terrorists are doing is NOT what we do in America. But, don’t worry, Ted … you may sink, but your legacy is secure. Because if there’s one thing America loves to say about terrorists, it’s this … We will never forget.

_________________________Reference
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/us-service-academies-prepare-for-government-shutdown
http://www.buzzfeed.com/katenocera/government-shutdown-how-we-got-here
http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/minnesota-government-shuts-down
http://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/the-funniest-government-shutdown-signs
http://www.buzzfeed.com/chelseamarshall/dogs-who-long-to-go-to-their-nonessential-government-jobs
https://aattp.org/check-super-funny-government-shutdown-signs-photos/
https://aattp.org/called-out-tea-party-causing-taxation-without-representation-via-shutdown/
https://aattp.org/truth-gop-congressman-govt-shutdown-cruzs-mess/
https://aattp.org/ted-cruz-thinks-extortion-is-politics-as-usual-in-d-c-video/
http://aattp.org/watch-devastating-new-ad-rips-crybaby-boehners-temper-tantrum-video/

MooPig's Furlough Department :: "Furlough This"

Precedent of Government going Postal
Duplicitous merging of articles by Pat Darnell   |  Oct 6, 2013   |  Bryan TX

" ... A HuffPost/YouGov poll released Saturday shows that both parties are facing blame for the government shutdown, which stretched into its fifth day. According to the survey, 25 percent of Americans see Republicans and Democrats as being equally at fault. On party lines, 36 percent point a finger squarely at Republicans and 33 percent place more blame on President Barack Obama and the Democrats. ( Chris Gentilviso. Posted: 10/05/2013 | Updated: 10/05/2013. LINK) ... "

You gotta love Huff Post... eh? I think one day they will be a great network, as long as they provide lots of graphics like they do. House Republicans are standing against poor working people and standing for plutocratic corporations and transnationals. President Obama stands for anything that can keep him from being assassinated.
[PHOTO's LINK]

Furloughed Worker Protests
Furloughed federal employes march in front of a shuttered Independence Hall at Independence National Historical Park Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Social Security Administration
A man peers through a window as people came and went from the Social Security Administration Card Center building after being turned away for certain services due to the partial government shutdown, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Elizabeth Flores)

Bureau Of Land Management
U.S. Post Office letter carrier Jacob Ribald peeks into the window of the Bureau of Land Management office on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013 in Las Cruces, N.M. "I have a lot of mail for them," said Ribald, "at least I tried, right?" The door is locked and a sign is posted saying that the site is closed because of the government shutdown. (AP Photo/The Las Cruces Sun-News, Robin Zielinski )

Note: "AFGE"
Web definitions
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is an American labor union representing over 600,000 employees of the federal government, about 5,000 employees of the District of Columbia, and a few hundred private sector employees, mostly in and around federal facilities. ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFGE ...

“Significant amounts of work that should be reserved for federal employee performance are now performed by contractors because the current definition of inherently governmental is narrow, unclear, and unenforced,” said Mark Whetstone, President of the AFGE National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council. “In striving to retain in their agencies important and sensitive functions, some managers have tried to compensate for the narrowness of the existing definition by employing weaker designations—closely associated with inherently governmental, critical, core, etc.—to protect from outsourcing pressures functions that may not meet the statutory definition but should still be performed in-house. However, these efforts have left the definition even more unclear. And, of course, even a robust and crystal-clear definition is meaningless if it is not enforced. (AFGE, Christina Erling. May 20, 2010. LINK)”

CONCLUSION
Enemies of the USA attack from within our government and from outside it. Anyone who thinks they can do better somewhere else should go there. I think that Washington DC has become indefensible, and it is a great risk to have all the federal government in one place so close to the coast. Therefore the federal government should be housed in a metal building somewhere in Utah. And all the officials should attend by video conference. They could just ride around in automobiles tricked out for transmitting and receiving and attend mobile-like with the Speaker of the House actually a 'Bot -- Speaker of the House-bot ...

SUMMARY
Plutocrats close down the US government and all its contractors for no apparent reason. But it is interesting watching the developments from this shutdown. For instance, the George W Bush library is closed to all its one visitor and three workers. Now that is a total shame.



________________________Reference
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/05/government-shutdown-blame-poll_n_4045780.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFGE
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/05/jim-mcdermott-gop-shutdown_n_4049873.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/04/dennis-ross-cr-obamacare_n_4046284.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/05/dennis-ross-government-shutdown_n_4050231.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037
http://www.afge.org/?PressReleaseID=1163

MooPig Humor Detection Agency :: "China -- Straight Man or Funny Man?"

Chinese Government killed Humor with its Bowdlerizing
Captured by Pat Darnell | May 12, 2013 | Bryan TX "

[Picture LINK]

... One is reminded of the classic American comedy duos like Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, George Burns and Gracie Allen, or 60s TV acts like Rowan and Martin and the Smothers Brothers. The Chinese art is called xiangsheng (literally, “face and voice”), which is usually translated into English as “crosstalk”, and for most of the twentieth century this performance form was virtually synonymous with humor in China. (Jeremy Goldkorn. November 16, 2004. LINK) ...  "

How ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ Blew Up in China : The New Yorker: "He’s right, but there is something at work that runs even deeper: the popularity of Stewart and “The Daily Show” among the urbane crowd offers a good measure of how China is changing. And it bodes well for the future of satire in China."

So just what does China think of “The Daily Show”? Max Fisher, the Washington Post’s foreign affairs blogger, first noticed that a segment on North Korea, entitled “Nuke Kid on the Block,” had been subtitled in Chinese and racked up two million eight hundred thousand views in China. He wondered if “the voraciousness with which Chinese viewers are watching the segment suggests that their appetite for such coverage, for publicly criticizing an ally that has become something of an embarrassment, far exceeds what they’re getting.”

So we at MooPig Humor Detection Agency delve a bit deeper -- "... Crosstalk used to be phenomenally popular in China. Teahouses and auditoriums were packed each night with enthusiastic audiences, every theatrical troupe had a stable of crosstalk performers, and crosstalk was an essential part of every Chinese New Year variety show...

" ... Similar humor forms remain wildly popular in the States and in other countries. Stand-up humor is easily staged, quickly produced, and has an immediacy and topicality that no other form of humor can have. All people, including Chinese people, crave the cathartic release that laughter provides. If done right, there is no reason to think crosstalk would not enjoy the same popularity as its foreign counterparts. The real cause of crosstalk’s decline is painfully obvious, though no one dares to publicly acknowledge the truth: the Communist Party killed it. (Jeremy Goldkorn. November 16, 2004. LINK) ... "

'via Blog this'

In 1949 came the Chinese Communist Government. It imposed its dullness on Chinese CrossTalk because CrossTalk lampooned everything from poor people to efficacious, though impotent, elite. It satirized "pompous social elites, corrupt officials, country bumpkins, the handicapped, prostitutes, the effete intelligentsia, and even the KMT leaders in power at the time. It is difficult to convey the culturally-embedded style and content of crosstalk humor in a brief article such as this, but suffice to say, the form was every bit as rich and varied as the traditions of American Vaudeville and stand-up comedy. (David Moser. Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn on Tuesday, November 16, 2004. LINK) ... "

" ... Posted on May 10, 2008 by porfiriy
So what do you do if you’re interested in ascertaining how a nation’s social imagination classifies and categorizes a particular subset of its citizens?

Ask the Internet, of course!

This time, John Pasden of Sinosplice is our kindly intermediary. A few days ago he posted links to two humorous maps making rounds as jokes among Chinese netizens: China as seen by Beijingers and China as seen by Shanghainese. The concept is really quite simple: take a map of China, divide it into regional categories, then write in what a Beijinger or Shanghainese generally thinks of that area – so a Beijinger calls Beijing “Grandpa’s Home,” simple enough, but then we find out that Beijingers think prostitutes come from Manchuria, that Yunnan is a place of drug peddlers, and that the south coast is all about making money – oh, and hilariously, Taiwan – “Bitch at grandpa from not going here back then.” Obviously, it’s meant to be that type of rowdy, in-your-face, non-PC type of humor. Which is exactly why its such a good place to mine for info about mutual perceptions among peoples of China. Xinjiang in the eyes of Beijingers? (porifiy. May 10, 2008. LINK) ... "

CONCLUSION
Our humor detection agents found that 'China is too big to not be funny.'

[Picture LINK]




___________________Reference
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2013/04/jon-stewart-daily-show-china-north-korea.html?intcid=obnetwork
http://www.danwei.org/tv/stifled_laughter_how_the_commu.php
http://www.thenewdominion.net/2008/05/10/online-humor-affirms-xinjiang-stereotypes/
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ROC_PRC_comparison_eng.jpg
http://www.littleredbook.cn/2009/08/17/tiantian-fart-jokes-air-freshner-classic-chinese-humor/

MooPig FWD Email :: "Criminalization of Us"

Re-grouped by Pat Darnell  |  Feb 20, 2013  |  Bryan TX

[Picture LINK]

You Might be Committing a Felony at This Very Moment ... | Uncommon Wisdom Daily: "How many felonies have you committed today? The answer may surprise you. That’s because, if you’re like most Americans, you probably violate federal or state law several times each day — without even knowing it.

The “criminalization” of American law is nothing new. But most citizens don’t realize just how frequently their state and federal governments expand the list of activities that are considered criminal offenses.

But it’s not just adults being targeted. More recently, children attending public schools have been deemed criminals as well. Sounds absurd, right? Trust me, we haven’t even yet scratched the surface …"

'via Blog this'

Have You ‘Defaced a Hamburger’ Lately?

In Las Vegas, you can be thrown in jail for spilling a drink in a nightclub. That’s what happened to Justin O’Connell last summer. Apparently a bouncer watched O’Connell spill his drink and then asked him to leave. O’Connell then asked for his $30 cover charge back. The nightclub then called police, who escorted O’Connell to jail. He now faces criminal trespassing charges.

Here are some other criminal offenses in Las Vegas (and many other cities, for that matter):

• Sitting or lying down on public sidewalks in the downtown redevelopment district.
• 
  
• Buying drinks for more than three people within 24 hours.
• 
  
• Feeding the homeless in public. Incidentally, it’s also illegal to feed pigeons.
• 
  
• Pawning your dentures.
• 
  
• Defacing a hamburger, by leaving its contents anywhere in public.
• 
  
• Jaywalking.

We hope Warren Buffett enjoyed that hamburger … and properly disposed of it when he was done!

That’s the tip of the criminalization iceberg. Have you ever purchased sinus medication over the counter? Well, so did Diane Avera, a 45-year-old Mississippi grandmother. Now she faces a year in prison after being convicted of intent to manufacture amphetamine.

It’s a long story, but basically, Mississippi law requires a prescription to purchase pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in many sinus medications. To save time and aggravation, Avera drove to Alabama to purchase her medication, but got caught up in a sting operation.

It’s no wonder the United States has by far the world’s largest prison population per capita anywhere on earth. More people rot in local, county, state or federal prisons in the United States than in all other developed countries combined.

According to the World Prison Population List, Ninth Edition (2012): “More than 10.1 million people are held in penal institutions throughout the world, mostly as pretrial detainees/remand prisoners or as sentenced prisoners.

Almost half of these are in the United States (2.29 million), Russia (0.81 million) or China (1.65 million sentenced prisoners) … “The U.S. has the highest prison population rate of 743 per 100,000 of its national population followed by Rwanda (595 per 100,000).”

Paraphrasing President Obama, “Yes we can … put you in prison!” Even more disturbingly, the criminalization of America is now creeping into high schools, junior high schools … and most recently, even kindergarten classes.

Last month, a 5-year-old boy (from Mississippi … again!) wound up in the back of a police car because he didn’t wear the right color shoes to class. His teacher told him he had to wear black shoes. Unfortunately, the little boy had no black shoes, and his mother apparently didn’t have the money to buy any. So she improvised. She used a marker to cover up his red-and-white tennis shoes. Unfortunately, she missed a couple of spots.

When the boy showed up at school the next day, his teacher called the cops. Shortly thereafter, police escorted him home in a police car and delivered a stern warning to his mother.

Apparently, this is “business as usual” in Mississippi.

Indeed, the U.S. Justice Department recently filed a lawsuit against officials in one Mississippi county for running what critics call a school-to-prison pipeline.

You’ll hopefully excuse me from making a couple observations: Anyone can inadvertently run afoul of America’s metastasizing network of criminal laws. Spilling a drink in a nightclub is hardly what anyone would consider a criminal offense. Neither is purchasing medication over-the-counter. Once you have a criminal record, especially a felony conviction, you’ll find it much more difficult to live outside the United States, or to acquire a second citizenship and passport.

Not to belabor the obvious, but if you have any interest at all in establishing a second nationality, don’t wait until some inadvertent slip-up results in an arrest and possible felony conviction.

Contact me today for more information about how to acquire a second passport, and keep your eye on this column for more ways that you can protect yourself and your wealth from ridiculous — but real — threats that continue to grow in number as your rights continue to dwindle.

Best,
Mark
Mark Nestmann is President of The Nestmann Group, Ltd., an international tax planning and wealth preservation consultancy. For nearly 30 years, he's made it his life's work to document the escalating threats to privacy and wealth, and devise original and fully legal strategies to protect his clients from them. His most recent book is “The Lifeboat Strategy,” which you can learn more about by following this link.

To sign up for Mark Nestmann's free blog and notification list, click here.


 ______________________________Reference
http://www.mindfully.org/Food/2007/Sharing-Food-Prohibitions15nov07a.htm
http://www.uncommonwisdomdaily.com/you-might-be-committing-a-felony-at-this-very-moment-15756?FIELD9=1
http://www.nestmann.com/the-lifeboat-strategy-to-financial-security/?affid=15
http://www.nestmann.com/signup

MooPig Architectural Summary :: "Post Modern Architecture?"

Post Modernism ... Yes?

MooPig City Desk Department ::

Now that the 2012 Election closes... I guess we should start a serious discussion. What about infrastructure?
by Pat Darnell  |  Oct 3, 2012  |  Bryan TX

[Logo LINK]

As I hear distant thunder rolling across the gentle hills of Texas Hill Country, no one is complaining. The only trouble is that it is too hot, but that always occurs before a cold front comes in.

In 1926, The National League of Cities, NLC, was founded. In this small town, Bryan TX, the concepts of "City" are not well known. There is not a body of  knowledge anywhere around town that shows concern or  planning as to the dangers approaching as the "Town" grows into a "City." Yes I am watching it happen as we speak.

For instance -- there is absolutely no activity in this town for adolescent youths. That's right, the children caught in Bryan TX in the tender first stages of "young men and women" have no outlet for their zeals for life and liberty. It's dismal. There is underage drinking, illicit sex, and drug abuse available... how about some other outlets for our young disenfranchised youth? Eh, Bryan TX?

Most of the NLC historical perspective can be read on numerous sites, included in the Reference section below. From WIKI, I would like to quote this:

"...NLC lobbies Congress on multiple issues, including city infrastructure, particularly transportation; supporting local energy efficiency and conservation efforts; strengthening and stabilizing the housing market; helping build stable families; supporting community safety; and reforming the country’s immigration system. NLC’s core lobbying principles include avoiding unfunded mandates, preserving local authority and protecting the intergovernmental partnership. (WIKI. HERE)... "

I think they made a mistake there in that last part of the statement... but I suppose "traffic" would be the number one concern for cities today. In that category "Modern City" we have Chicago as the second city, a place where New Yorkers say the buffalo still roam. I lived in Chicago for 18 years, and why I stayed so long, is because every year I would say "Well, this year has to be better than last year..." Not true. The biggest problem in the Big Onion is, and still is, traffic.

Chicago is a modern city like Houston is a modern city to Chicago. Include Dallas, Denver, all of municipal South Florida, Salt Lake City, in that discussion ... and you have opened a can of worms that spills out all over the place.

Utah Local News - Salt Lake City News, Sports, Archive - The Salt Lake Tribune: "Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker is gaining a national reputation as an environmental leader — so much so that he's making an international trip. Becker and officers from five other U.S. cities will travel to Hamburg, Germany, this week to share ideas with their European counterparts on green initiatives for cities. The exchange on sustainability is being organized by the National League of Cities, which will pay for Becker's trip, according to the Mayor's Office."

'via Blog this'

The slippery truth is "You can't Outsource Infrastructure."

Why don't we use this post as an introduction to the NLC? We will find out together what it means for the Modern City and all its Infrastructure.

_____________________Reference
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/53924652-90/becker-cities-hamburg-sustainability.html.csp
https://www.google.com/webhp?rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS460US460&sourceid=chrome-instant&ie=UTF-8&ion=1#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_nf=3&tok=fNn1jM7hwai7VLJLnLrJ_A&cp=17&gs_id=o&xhr=t&q=national+league+of+cities&pf=p&safe=off&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS460US460&sclient=psy-ab&oq=national+league+o&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=fb3f20bcb15e4a5&bpcl=37189454&ion=1&biw=1024&bih=667
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS460US460&biw=1024&bih=667&q=national+league+of+cities+v.+usery+brief&revid=1687749279&sa=X&ei=GNmUUJ3eEKGO2wX6loCgAw&sqi=2&ved=0CG8Q1QIoAA
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS460US460&biw=1024&bih=667&q=national+association+of+counties&revid=1687749279&sa=X&ei=GNmUUJ3eEKGO2wX6loCgAw&sqi=2&ved=0CHAQ1QIoAQ
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS460US460&biw=1024&bih=667&q=national+league+of+cities+conference+2012&revid=1687749279&sa=X&ei=GNmUUJ3eEKGO2wX6loCgAw&sqi=2&ved=0CHIQ1QIoAw
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS460US460&biw=1024&bih=667&q=national+league+of+cities+membership&revid=1687749279&sa=X&ei=GNmUUJ3eEKGO2wX6loCgAw&sqi=2&ved=0CHMQ1QIoBA
http://lists.nextmark.com/market;jsessionid=600BCB9C606B8F65781544713A888DA6?page=order/online/datacard&id=286058
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/looting-main-street-20100331
https://www.planning.org/resourceszine/articleview.htm?ArticleID=9442

Hey, Michigan, What's Up with This? Raise Taxes, Cut Services?

[LINK]

Michigan Repub Gov Rick Snyder wants to Own it all ... ?
Retrieved by Pat Darnell

VIDEO:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"Last night on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show, Maddow explained that Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder is pushing a bill through that will give ultimate governmental power literally to corporations, thereby using shock doctrine tactics to create a dystopian government. Synder’s bill not only goes after collective bargaining rights, but does in fact seem to represent the Republicans’ final solution to killing democracy by enabling the replacement of elected officials, dissolving entire city’s government and handing them over to corporations. Snyder calls his “budget bill” a “shared sacrifice,” but it gifts corporations with 1.8 billion in tax breaks while hitting citizens with harder taxes, including seniors and other vulnerables, and cutting essential services to an already suffering region."

Above is the video from MSNBC: if you receive this post via email then you should go to the MooPig site to watch this VIDEO!!

"And like any good bully or dictator, the time to strike is when you’ve sucker punched your victim and he or she is lying on the ground helpless, barely clinging to life; people will give up all kinds of personal liberties when they’re desperate. So now they are striking at us by deploying Republican governors as missiles of economic warfare around the country; taking away collective bargaining, taking away Medicaid, pushing for state militias ruled by the Republican governor, and now in Michigan, literally giving the government to corporations. All of this will result in a Republican dystopia; a negative utopia often characterized by an authoritarian or totalitarian form of government which entails a repressive and controlled state."

"Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is calling this power grab a “$45 billion cost-cutting budget,” thereby attempting to package an unprecedented power grab as the answer to fiscal woes. Governor Synder suggests these cuts are part of a “shared sacrifice”, as he tries to appeal to the renowned work ethic of heartlanders. Of course, that “shared sacrifice” raises taxes on Michiganders while cutting services and changes the state’s corporate tax structure so only large “C” corporations pay business taxes while all other corporations get off scot-free. This amounts to a 1.8 billion dollar tax break to business. This “shared sacrifice” eliminates tax breaks for seniors and low-income workers and gets kills many other income tax deductions for individuals."

"So, brothers, what's your story?"

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