It Begs the Question

“Bruiser LaRue” by Hudson and Landry

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on September 19th, 2011

Hudson and Landry “Bruiser LaRue”

Leon Redbone - Prairie Lullaby

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on September 2nd, 2011

Leon Redbone – Prairie Lullaby

Nighty night.

Walkin' to Missouri by Sammy Kaye

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on July 17th, 2011

Sammy Kaye – Walkin’ to Missouri

By the great Sammy Kaye, this song was rumored to be about Harry Truman, although it was released before Truman left office.

Johnny Cash - Flushed From the Bathroom of Your Heart

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on March 30th, 2011

Johnny Cash – Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart

Let's just say I didn't vote for Mr. Bush and leave it at that.

Fukushima Japan: Refueling the Regulation Renaissance

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on March 16th, 2011

Not many people unaffected by nuclear power plants.

The Fukushima nuclear power plant disasters will be the flame that ignites the fuse to the re-regulation bomb, both figuratively and literally. It was always going to be an event that stoked this fire, however no one could have anticipated anything this dramatic.

The course to deregulation was also determined by events, namely the seizure of 44 US Embassy personnel in Iran coupled with an Arab oil embargo that quadrupled the price of gasoline. Added to high unemployment and interest rates, Jimmy Carter’s defeat was a fate accompli. Since Ronald Reagan was the only other person in the race, he was the beneficiary.

I expected people to take to the streets after the banking crisis and then the BP oil disaster in the Gulf, but evidently they have more patience than do I. Now, with more than two thirds of US citizens living with a nuclear reactor in their backyards, we’ve reached a tipping point.

It begs the question, how far will we go in re-regulating business and industry this time?

Continue reading Fukushima Japan: Refueling the Regulation Renaissance

Japan's Nuclear Power Plant Workers: Making the Ultimate Sacrifice

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on March 14th, 2011

Boom!

Ever thought about dying at work? It happens, and EMTs are dispatched to roll a heart attack victim out on a gurney. I prefer to go peacefully in bed, in my sleep, and not knowing what hit me. No matter the reason, I don’t want to die at work.

I’d prefer to die being comforted by the gentle touch of my wife’s hand on my cheek. Short of that, hit by an unseen train traveling at 70 miles an hour. Poof, I’m gone, and I didn’t even know it hit me. Unfortunately, only in rare cases do we get to choose how we die.

So today, unless reports out of Japan are mistaken, it appears there’s a group of Japanese workers having the experience of dying at work at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

It begs the question, what’s it going to be like for them over the next several days?

Continue reading Japan’s Nuclear Power Plant Workers: Making the Ultimate Sacrifice

I Was Attacked with Biological Weapons, by My Own Government!

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on March 5th, 2011

Is this the shit they tested on me?

G.I., Government issue, grunt, dogface, slick. These are but a few of the more or less colorful euphemisms used to describe military enlistees. If you’re in you’d better accept the fact; you’re nothing but chattel property to them.

Now they want you declare your everlasting allegiance to them, but it’s a one-way street. You’re their bitch, and they intend to treat you that way, including using you as unwitting and unwilling subjects in all manner of testing, and who better than a dogface grunt?

I’m not the first and I surely won’t be the last to learn that lesson. Once the government owns you they have the right to treat you in any manner they wish, and they will exercise that right. I should have never taken that step forward at the induction center.

It begs the question, what was that shit they tested on me back in 1976?

Continue reading I Was Attacked with Biological Weapons, by My Own Government!

GOP Trying, Failing to Walk Back Loons

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on March 1st, 2011

Today's Republican party.

“Who’s going to shoot Obama?” Those words uttered by an unidentified man at an Athens, GA, town hall meeting for US Representative Paul Broun, coupled with the events in Wisconsin, signaled the complete unraveling of the Republican Party.

Broun’s unfortunate response to them in lieu of the recent attacks in Tucson surely sealed the deal. He laughed and said, “… I know there’s a lot of frustration with this president. We’re going to have an election next year. Hopefully, we’ll elect somebody that’s going to be a conservative, limited-government president that will take a smaller, who will sign a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.”

The GOP’s lost control of its loons and is working desperately to walk them back in an attempt to save millions of middle-of-the-road voters. It’s too late. The inmates have taken over the asylum, and all the keepers can do is ride this train until it reaches the end of line, then hope to turn it around. It has to be disheartening to be a sane Republican today.

It begs the question, is there anything the Republicans can do to short-circuit the idiots that have seized control of their party?

Continue reading GOP Trying, Failing to Walk Back Loons

How Will the Materialists Attack the Awakening?

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on February 27th, 2011

It's here, and it's now, and all you have to do to be a part of it is decide that's what you want.

Americans standing in solidarity with protesters in Tunisia and Egypt, and Egyptians sending pizza to demonstrators in Wisconsin. Amazing, since only five years ago a majority of Americans wanted to destroy Islam. How times change.

Zbigniew Brezinski has misjudged events, for this is not a massive global “political” awakening, rather it’s a massive global “SPIRITUAL” awakening. We’ve come to realize that we have far more in common with our neighbors in the Middle East than we ever imagined, and we’re ready to stand in solidarity against a common foe; materialists.

Don’t believe the materialists will go down peacefully, rather expect them to go kicking and screaming all the way. They like their possessions, and they are loath to share them with anyone they deem less deserving, and we’re all less deserving in their eyes. Expect a counter attack.

It begs the question, what form will this counterattack take, and how will we know it when we see it?

Continue reading How Will the Materialists Attack the Awakening?

The Playbook for a People's Victory? We Are One

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on February 25th, 2011

This is our path to victory.

There are descriptions everywhere of how rich and powerful the Koch brothers are, and how difficult, nay impossible, it will be to defeat them. People are giving themselves longshot odds at best, and if we lose that will be the reason. We don’t understand how things work.

I don’t deny that they are incredibly wealthy, powerful beyond our imaginations, but if you’re looking at that you’ll never win. This isn’t impossible, however legendary Chinese warrior Sun Tzu would say it’s essential to understand your enemy’s weaknesses. They are there to be exploited.

The strategy dates back at least 2000 years, probably further, however it requires something of each of us that many people have become unwilling to give over the past few decades. If we overcome our reticence, the world is ours.

It begs the question, how can the people surmount such seemingly long odds and emerge victorious in this ages old class warfare struggle?

Continue reading The Playbook for a People’s Victory? We Are One

Republicans Desperate for a Wisconsin Distraction, Enter Julian Assange

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on February 24th, 2011

You think these people might have been energized to learn Scott Walker's game plan?

It couldn’t have been a worse week for Republicans, with as many as 100,000 protesters in Madison, WI to fight union busting. It culminated with Buffalo Beast blogger Ian Murphy punking Gov. Scott Walker with a hoax phone call, pretending to be Wichita billionaire Charlie Koch. Walker regurgitated his entire playbook for everyone to hear, thinking he was speaking to his moneyman.

The Republicans were already in fast retreat in other parts of the country. Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana had withdrawn a bill similar to Wisconsin’s, indicating that they weren’t in the business of busting unions. Gov. Kasich in Ohio locked protesters out of the Capitol building. Visions of 100,000 angry people in their streets are giving these Republican governors pause.

With Walker’s gaffe it’s no longer speculation. Everybody knows that union busting was the endgame, and only the most myopic Republican supporter can deny it. If Walker hadn’t been thrown out of Marquette University for whatever reason he was, they surely would have tossed him for being the stupidest kid on campus.

It begs the question, when you’re a Republican backed into a corner and you need a distraction, what do you do?

Continue reading Republicans Desperate for a Wisconsin Distraction, Enter Julian Assange

Where's Wisconsin If Obama Didn't Rescue the UAW?

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on February 23rd, 2011

They are still here because of Obama.

There’s a cadre of progressives that hound Barack Obama at every turn, dissatisfied with his job performance. I regularly suggest to them that if they don’t like it, why don’t they get off their dead asses, organize and take the Democratic Party for themselves? I never get an answer.

It’s easier to sit around and bitch and piss and moan rather than do all of that hard work. Frankly, they’re like small children throwing temper tantrums, incapable of seeing a bigger picture. If they would open their eyes, they’d realize the magnitude of what’s been accomplished.

The current protests in Wisconsin and Ohio are destined to spread to other places like Tennessee, Indiana and Massachusetts. It’s a show of force by American workers we’ve not seen in several decades, and it’s heartening to realize that the middle class still has a backbone. Americans are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore.

It begs the question, would these protests be nearly as effective had Barack Obama not bailed out the auto industry, saving the United Auto Workers (UAW)?

Continue reading Where’s Wisconsin If Obama Didn’t Rescue the UAW?

The Unification Is Here, And Materialists Are Gnashing Their Teeth

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on February 22nd, 2011

We ARE all one.

Ian’s on State Street in Madison, WI, has been providing pizza for protesters against the regime of Gov. Scott Walker. To date, people from 38 states and 12 countries, including China and Egypt, have ordered pizzas for the protesters. The walls of separation are crumbling.

Divide and conquer is the main operating principle for ruling elite, and for centuries it has served them well. However apparently we have reached a point in our evolution that is denying them their power, and they are scrambling to put the genie back into the bottle. Good luck with that.

As these artificial divides continue to fall, more and more people are joining in with their fellows in the name of basic human decency. We now understand that no one can be treated decently until we are all treated decently, and we’re ready to stand up to power and say as much.

It begs the question, why does the materialists’ playbook no longer work?

Continue reading The Unification Is Here, And Materialists Are Gnashing Their Teeth

Republicans Shut Down Government, Turn Entire Nation into Wisconsin?

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on February 20th, 2011

Is it possible we might see this in Washington, DC? Maybe, if the teabaggers get theri way.

In all the talk about the Wisconsin protests, no one has uttered the words, “Scott Walker is very smart.” It’s not likely to happen, either. It makes you wonder how he even remembers to breathe.

Clearly he “misunderestimated” (George W, the idiot that keeps on giving) the resolve of working people in the Badger State. Estimates of up to 100,000 protesters against the measly 3500 teabaggers that he and the Koch brothers could muster tells the story. He has no popular support.

Not to be outdone the Feds are taking that stupidity national, and it will be no laughing matter. However it’s all they can do because we’re down to the short rows, and there’s no one else left to pillage, popular opinion be damned.

It begs the question, what is the lunacy upon which the US House of Representatives about to embark?

Continue reading Republicans Shut Down Government, Turn Entire Nation into Wisconsin?

Forget the National Guard, Walker Calls in the Teabaggers

By Larry Wohlgemuth, on February 19th, 2011

Will it be teabaggers, or will it be THESE guys that show up in Wisconsin?

So the shit’s really on in Wisconsin, and Gov. Scott Walker has deemed the National Guard insufficient for his problems. Instead, he’s made a nationwide plea for teabaggers to drop what they’re doing and travel to Madison.

Led by teabag pundit extraordinaire Andrew Breitbart, teabaggers are trekking to Madison to make their feelings known about a bunch of Wisconsin Cheeseheads. It promises to be the match of the century, pitting a bunch of old geezers on government run healthcare and disability against the public employees in the Badger State.

What we know for a fact about teabaggers is they are not the most reasonable or brightest people on the face of the earth. But this portends to be far more than is advertised, and I hope someone is taking the long view on what is about to happen.

It begs the question, will it REALLY be teabaggers on those buses, and will anybody be packing heat?

Continue reading Forget the National Guard, Walker Calls in the Teabaggers