Defunding Planned Parenthood to prevent abortions is a lot like outlawing umbrellas to prevent rain.

Subtitle of an editorial published by the Milwaukee Sentinal-Journal on March 3, 2011 titled, Culture war redux.

It’s a shame that I missed January because there was much to comment about especially in the news.  I had things to say about my support of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, how the government is wasting our tax dollars on the folly of believing it can secure the Internet, various suggestions on how to fix California’s current budget crisis, and how I am starting to feel like my attempt to move in some ways toward the political middle and have some understanding for those far to the right just doesn’t seem to be working out for me.

I might still get to those issues in  one form or another.  As for what will actually come out, only time will tell…although I hope it does not take as much time as it was from my previous entry here until this one.  Things are settling down somewhat as I get into the rhythm of my new job and settled into a home that is either the second coming of the Possum Lodge or could be the physical embodiment of Brokedown Palace.

Whatever happens and when, I thought it would be appropriate on this Groundhog Day 2011 to poke my head out of my hole and take a look around to see if this website is going to have an early spring or another six weeks of winter.  At the moment, I think that life is going to start springing up here very soon.  Then again, with the track record I have had ever since starting this dog and pony show in 2005, this might end up being the same story all over again just like another famous Groundhog Day.

The main one anybody should ever have to deal with is if a link is included in the comment.  As 99.9% of all spam contains a link where one either gets exposed to an ad or something worse if it is clicked upon, the programming for this site is set up so that I have to approve any comment containing a link before it will appear on this site.  I apologize that such comments (which I highly encourage to exchange important and/or fun information) will be delayed until I can be at my computer to OK them.  However, until WordPress can program a better system or I can find a suitable plug-in for their software that is effective and user-friendly, I believe all will understand that a delay in having a comment containing a link appear here for everybody else to read is better than having any spam.

As for regular comments that do not contain a link, those should appear within seconds after being submitted.

On a completely different topic…I don’t really like to be cryptic or seem like I am superstitious but I don’t want to jinx myself.  Let me just say that I hope to have some very good personal news to share within the next several days — something that came completely out of the blue less than a day before I had to make some huge and unchangeable decisions about my future.  Stay tuned as my next entry could very well be filled with elation…or, some of the best cussing I that have engaged in online in quite some time. >:-)

Whether well known or not, I am also going to include links that I feel are extremely important — sites that offer vital information and/or things upon which I believe that almost anybody of any political stripe will want to act upon.  In that vein, I want to highlight a particular link — a site I heard about a few months ago that every single citizen of the United States should take a look at.

Everybody who is not a banker or an investment broker is madder than a wet hen over how the financial industry took advantage of well-meaning laws as well as engaged in pure, unadulterated buggery on the high monetary seas.  Big banks swallowed up smaller banks, bigger banks merged with other big banks, and all of the money went from our towns, cities, and states off to the big financial companies in New York City or even overseas.  The customer service went into the toilet and, worst of all, fewer of those dollars were truly invested back into the community.  Then, as we all painfully know, they had a massively disgusting financial orgy and fiduciary drinking binge after which they all puked all over our economy and gave it a bad case of the crabs.

Now, thanks to Move Your Money, you can find out what local banks and credit unions are left in your area and, best of all, the list will contain only institutions that are financially sound.  Yes, believe it or not, there are still plenty of locally-owned banks left that did not go ape-shit during the past ten years on shaky mortgages and other financial shenanigans.  In addition, despite what you might think, your little community, state, or regional bank usually offers the exact same services at the same prices (if not lower) than the big guys.

However, I should point out that Move Your Money should only be used as a starting point as you consider moving your accounts to a bank that doesn’t use your money to screw other people over and then yourself.  You should definitely do further research from searching Google News to YouTube to even just asking around to see if anybody else you know uses any of these smaller banks.

Yes, if you are like me, you might not be able to move all of your accounts right away for any number of reasons.  Definitely do not screw yourself just to hop on the anti-big-bank bandwagon.  As with any financial decision, think it through carefully especially if what you are planning might affect your credit score or foul up any automatic payments you have coming from that bank.  Most especially, make sure that you are on absolutely solid footing before changing banks if you have more services from them than just a basic savings or checking account.  Some of the big banks are being very vindictive these days if you make any complaints or ask too many questions (and I have seen it happen in front of my own eyes to friends of mine that use Bank of America, Chase, and Citi, all of whom basically froze credit card accounts because the customer called to complain about an increase in their interest rate).

Again, do be careful.  On the other hand, do it as soon as you can.  The best way to protest the way these bastards raped our country and the whole world is to no longer let them play with your money like it was a fucking game of Monopoly.

Move Your Money – http://www.moveyourmoney.info/

As for what will follow, it is hard to say at this point.  I am still considering what all I want to do now that the old version of the site is totally blown up and I finally have the time to start fresh.

On a national level, today’s announcement that the United States Supreme Court basically threw out 100 years of restrictions and traditions regarding corporations being able to donate unlimited funds to influence federal political campaigns is probably the saddest thing I have seen since the second airplane hit the World Trade Center.  In my view, this is now the second biggest immediate threat to the United States, trailing only behind another big terrorist attack.

For many years, I have quietly held the belief that only an amendment to our Constitution would solve this problem that the recent court decision just made a billion times worse.  For all of that time, I felt like I was completely on the fringe of public opinion.  In the wake of this decision, I am heartened to see that at least a few Republicans realize the grave danger now posed to our democratic system (joining the many Democrats and Greens that are already saying “Oh shit” to themselves over and over again).  Smart conservatives realize that they can be just as hurt in places by narrow-interest unions and other large liberal-minded donors just as much as progressives know they are now under the gun of self-interested corporations.  Now, for the first time, I have actually seen members of Congress state that a constitutional amendment is needed to rectify this problem.

To be honest, in a strict sense, the Supreme Court was correct to rule as it did even though the consequences will be so horrible.  There is indeed nothing in the Constitution that gives any branch of our government the authority to abridge free speech.  Like it or not, spending money to put up advertisements for political purposes is free speech as our Constitution is now written.

On the other hand, common sense tells us that free speech should not include the ability of any one person or organization to drown out the voices of everybody else.  There is no doubt in my mind that is exactly what is going to happen.  The corporations and unions will hide behind fictitious group names (like Americans for Freedom, Puppies, & Fuzzy Little Kitties) and there will be even more confusion as people try to sort out who is who and fact from fiction all while still trying to lead real lives in a would where almost everybody is scrambling in one way or another to hold themselves together financially and mentally.

Thus, I offer up this first draft of my proposal — the Election Campaign Regulation Amendment (ECRA) — which, if approved, would become the 28th Amendment to the Constitution.  This would correct the imbalance created in world that our Founding Fathers never envisioned.

The Congress shall have the power to regulate all donations, monetary or otherwise, made by individuals, groups, corporations, organizations, or any other similar entity involving in any manner any Federal election.  This power expressly includes donations made indirectly and not necessarily given to a candidate, political party, or any similar organization.  The Congress can enforce this power by appropriate legislation.

Whether one agrees with this specific text or not, something is needed before we never again have a President personally approved by Wal-Mart, Microsoft, NewsCorp, the AFL-CIO, SEIU, the Teamsters Union, and so on.  I cannot urge my readers strongly enough to take the time to send an e-mail to both of their Senators as well as their member of the House of Representatives urging them to get moving on this issue immediately.  Such a message should also include a reminder that you will not vote for any candidate, no matter the party, that does not support such an amendment.

Yes, I am fully aware that most election campaigns, Federal or otherwise, are bought and paid for by the wealthy special interests whether they be thoughtless corporations or corrupt unions.  However, there have still been opportunities for others to get through that system.  If we let this Supreme Court decision stand, we will have completely sealed our fate in becoming a declining democracy and quickly develop into a complete corporate oligarchy.

As it turns out, I have ended up with a lot on my plate as we begin 2010.  Unfortunately, most of it is not very “nutritious” and I am still going to be regularly shitting my pants as the time is soon coming when I might have to think about defaulting on my financial obligations.  I certainly do not relish that idea one bit but, then again, if it’s good enough for Enron…

Anyway…for today, I just wanted to pop in here and give a progress report…such as it is.  I already have a few topics in mind but I need to get some other things out of my way first before I can spend my personal time thinking and typing them out.

Gone is all of the previous material and the forum. This will be a completely fresh start.

In the very first entry that I made on the original version of this site, I emphatically stated that KoHoSo.us would not be a blog. Well, after working with blogs on and off since that time and judging by my current moods, tastes, and lifestyles, going with a blog format now seems best and sensible. I believe that it will be more fitting not to mention much easier for me to maintain.

Please excuse the mess as I add in my desired features and eventually change from a standard WordPress template to something more original and reader friendly. All of those various changes and tweaks will take some time.

So…what will the new KoHoSo.us be like? Partially, the same as originally intended — a place for me to rant about almost any issue and to poke fun at the bullshit that people try to pass off as serious business.

However, I need to be more honest with myself and be open to more topics. Unfortunately, that might be confusing for my foreign readers as a good portion of what gets put up on this new version of KoHoSo.us might be very “Americentric.” However, I am who I am. For better or worse, I am a real live nephew of my Uncle Sam and I have to write what I know and not strain to make everything understandable to everybody. I have to write what I know and what inspires me. Thus, even though I am about sick of politics and the way the United States of America is run by both government and big businesses, I cannot help but love this place.

Just remember…if you get lost, search engines are your friend.

There is one thing that will never change here on KoHoSo.us. Even if I no longer close every post with it, I will still highly encourage every one of you to keep sticking it to the man. ;-)