America Today Welcome to Bizzaro Land

How the loss of trust in government and corporations costs us all and what we can do about it.

By ABH Alexander

When I was a kid collecting soda bottles got me two cents a bottle, that dividend turned into candy, more soda and comic books. At about this time Marvel Comics began to upgrade the genre with Spiderman, the Hulk, Thor, and the X-Men.

There isn't a happy ending to this story but a lesson. When I went off to serve with the Navy in Vietnam I left those comic books stuffed to the rim of a red trunk in a corner of my home basement. My mother clearly didn't understand the attachment or why I would have kept them upon my return, so while cruising with an aircraft carrier these first issues were cruised to a nearby Goodwill and given away. They were just comic books anyway. At today's collectors prices those comics could be worth in the neighbourhood of fifty to one-hundred thousand dollars. They were the first editions of every major superhero that constitute the fanciful movies of today.

In one of my comic books Superman occasionally gets a visit from his alter ego in a land called Bizzaro World. In this world, this white chalky crystalline looking Superman helps the criminals and doing bad is considered good in this world, in fact they are rewarded and promoted for that very reason. A lot of changes have occurred in the last 50 years, some were positive; others land in the realm of Bizzaro Land. America is becoming Bizzaro Land at a record pace today.

What was learned from having my comics and then losing them is that the uninformed opinion is both dangerous and costly. While I love my mother you have to know with what you can trust certain people. Just like you wouldn't place a loaded revolver in the untrained hands of a five year old, would you open your home safe and entrust your life savings to someone you knew absolutely nothing about. Worse yet would you entrust it to a group of people who offer you nothing but hope?

The bitter pill we must swallow is that uninformed Americans can be manipulated into just about anything. Why did you know the greatest stimulus to the economy is unemployment checks? At least that is what Nancy Pelosi claimed. The Speaker of the House seemed to advise our Congressman to base their judgment on politics not sound judgment on what is in a bill. On March 9, 2010 in a Speech before the National Association of Counties Pelosi stated, "But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy. Furthermore, we believe that health care reform, again I said at the beginning of my remarks, that we sent the three pillars that the President's economic stabilization and job creation initiatives were education and innovation-innovation begins in the classroom-clean energy and climate, addressing the climate issues in an innovative way to keep us number one and competitive in the world with the new technology, and the third, first among equals I may say, is health care, health insurance reform. Health insurance reform is about jobs. This legislation alone will create 4 million jobs, about 400,000 jobs very soon.

Now that you have the whole quote, you can see even more about the agenda the uninformed are being forced to follow. What Pelosi does is nothing more than promoting a radical agenda of job creation and education from a political ideological viewpoint, which is obviously socialist.

Needless to say, both political parties are capable of idiocy before the press. The press is also proved more than capable of pulling quotes out of context and slanting it decidedly into favoring the liberal or socialist ideology. On January 2, 2009, ABC published a list of dumb quotes from politicians; John McCain, Sarah Palin, George W. Bush and even one of the all time favorite wells of dumbness Dan Quayle. Interesting enough the editors of this article chose not to showcase even one single quote from any Democrat. Yes, even Fox News is more fair and balanced.

If America is to have any kind of chance at a less than bizzaro future, both parties need to get the test of integrity from somewhere. The lamestream press for the most part has shown time and time again they are much too ideologically committed to a socialist agenda to do the job.

The Obama administration and those still repeating the magic mantra, "We are still cleaning up this mess", are finding it has less and less effect, especially when people pull their heads out of the sand of believing and look at reality.

Let us review that reality. If you recall those old boring government classes many of us sat thru, all spending bills originate in the House of Representatives and taxes are voted into law by Congress. Who controlled both houses of Congress before Obama was elected? The Democrats, therefore the additional deficits we are experiencing are because of those Democrats. The President can veto a bill and see if enough votes can be mustered to override him. In the case of President George Bush, he did not veto enough of the spending bills and our debt shot up. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) when Bush took office the National Debt was at 5.727 trillion, upon his exit it rose to 9.849 Trillion. That took eight years, two wars and a numerous scandals, some of which Bush actually tried to prevent.

President Bush in 2004 proposed that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac slow down on these risky mortgages. Democrats lead by Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel stepped up and protested as they enjoyed salting the earth with federal funds and federally funded homes as its always a good way to buy future voters. In spite of the risk, left-wing politicians and some Republicans too jumped on board in spite of the eventual dead end ahead. The pressure was on to keep loan the money, lower loan standards and enormous profits would be made, at least at first. Keep in mind in the age of spin, those applying the pressure use phrases like, "Who could have seen this coming?" or "This is the fault of George Bush and it will be a long time before we can clean up this mess". The lamestream press with the exception of the talk show hosts on Fox-News holds these instigators of this fraudulent scheme unaccountable.

Who is accountable? Both houses are again held by Democrats and the Obama administration is proving its critics correct when it comes to fiscal responsibility. In just 19 months, thru August 2010, according the Congressional Budget Office the national debt has been boosted 2.526 trillion dollars! That is more than the entire national debt at the end of the Reagan Administration. In other words Obama has exceeded the debt this country took to accumulate between Presidents Washington and Reagan in just 19 months. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be slowing down at all as more spending proposals are on the table.

The economy will play big in November elections as will the illegal immigration issue. Radical groups like La Raza, which means The Race, have been victorious at programming the media and liberal Democrats with the new term for illegal immigrants, which is undocumented workers. Those opposing such border crossings by who knows who are now being labelled as racists and fear mongers. Massive weapons caches that have been discovered in New Mexico as part of this activity go unmentioned by the lamestream press, as well as the numerous police chases, shootouts, deaths relating to DWI illegals, and a huge assortment of other criminal activities. As the attitude among liberals seems to be the ends justify the means, adding millions of Democratic voters to the polls at any price is one part of the agenda being discussed in the effort to change America. These changes will end up in less hope for us all. Clearly, there are other more destructive agendas at work on us all in this issue.

The solution we are told is more taxes on the very engines of our productivity, small business, anyone with any appreciable income (over $250,000 annual income and you are considered rich). Let us flash back in time to one of Obama's campaign promises "No family making less than $250,000 year will see any form of tax increase." Since this was part of his campaign he mentioned it often. Since he used the phrase "any form of tax increase" the first phase of Obama tax hikes which come up in January 2011 prove conclusively that this campaign promise was smoke up your backside. A few examples of the first wave:

Personal income tax rates will rise. The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed). The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent. All the rates in between will also rise. Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will again phase out, which has the same mathematical effect as higher marginal tax rates. The full list of marginal rate hikes is below:

- The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%
- The 25% bracket rises to 28%
- The 28% bracket rises to 31%
- The 33% bracket rises to 36%
- The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%

Higher taxes on marriage and family. The "marriage penalty" (narrower tax brackets for married couples) will return from the first dollar of income. The child tax credit will be cut in half from $1000 to $500 per child. The standard deduction will no longer be doubled for married couples relative to the single level. The dependent care and adoption tax credits will be cut.

The return of the Death Tax. This year, there is no death tax. For those dying on or after January 1 2011, there is a 55 percent top death tax rate on estates over $1 million. A person leaving behind two homes and a retirement account could easily pass along a death tax bill to their loved ones.

Higher tax rates on savers and investors. The capital gains tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011. The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011. These rates will rise another 3.8 percent in 2013.

Read more: http://www.atr.org/six-months-untilbr-largest-tax-hikes-a5171#ixzz0zJsq7HPy

What most of America doesn't realize is that there are still bigger scams to be revealed, the biggest will be found in our own US Government. It is called Institutionalized Criminal Politics or we pay and they play. The culpability in keeping us confused about his issue also lies at the feet of all the media.

This is not about the right wing or the left wing, or what liberal journalists so quickly tout as the extreme this or racist that. The effect of labelling anything or anyone is done to divert your attention from the facts of the case anyway. Ad Homonym or Attacks on the man should be a red flag to anyone listening to the typically lame news cast who hears a critic tear into someone because they misbehaved years ago. Perhaps they spin a partial truth or out of context quote into a massive faux pas. The lamestream press will merely pass this off as another example of how politics are played today. Keep in mind as politics is involved in every business, relationship or attaining a personal goal that requires the efforts of more than a single person, you need to be aware of what politics means to you.

By ignoring or basing your opinion on anything less than facts and their historical application that are readily available you risk not only your opinion but those around you who may be lead to jump on your ship, even though you can't see the gaping holes in the hull and you have no set course.

Potential Solutions

1) Dedicate yourself to learning what the facts are. It is amazing what you can learn in just a couple of hours a week. You can search the Internet for official statistics. Relying on uninformed opinion is largely due to believing fraudulent media mantras. Most politically oriented website will be happy to send you numerous updates; they can be checked for accuracy

2) Learn Critical Thinking Skills. This would be great for most adults as well as children. Take very little for granted regardless of source. Ask questions like why? And who is benefiting? Follow the money trails, stretch your mind. If you enjoy building a healthier body, this is like building a stronger more discerning mind. Just do it!

3) Activate that Law of Attraction. Instead of spouting uninformed opinions attract to your immediate circle people who can guide you into better information in order to make a more informed decision. Certainly, they may be biased too, but if you work hard on the aforementioned #2 you will see their flaws.

4) Learn to meditate, or if your religion forbids that pray for the wisdom to understand what you quietly confess to yourself you do not. Intuition can often be misguided and tainted heavily with hope, which is often programmed by skilful mental manipulators in the media and government.

The bizzaro America we have today is not new on the avenue of history. Frederic Bastiat, a contributor to the field of economics who lived thru the Napoleonic era, dying in 1850, said, "When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it".

Today, America enters into just such a bizzaro land. You do have the power to change that, if only you make the effort. America depends on you.