A Sunday Sermon

Good Morning Friends-

Let us begin Sunday's sermon on an economic note with some pertinent quotes:

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the engine of job creation.

-- Ronald Reagan

I never met a small businessman yet who didn't have one finger up his ass and the other on the scales.

-- Mad Dog Howard

Now that you've had time to contemplate the socio/politico/financial-o/religio implications from important figureheads of note it brings us to consideration of the greasing of favored municipal projects through CA Redevelopment (funding) Agencies. Witness the mad scramble of county and city electeds and their administrative staff to secure RDA bucks for vital projects to combat blight and/or generate local revenue.

Among these worthy enterprises are a new massage business on the Plaza - no biggie, just 25 Gs to cover oil expenses - and a few bucks to the Jazz Plus Festival because, well, just because. Then there are the poor, starving non-profits huddled in the cold, begging bowls in hand as they line up for a little bond money largess. Now we're talking a little bigger buck-a-roos: $500,000 for the Community Center, and an undisclosed amount for the Visitors Bureau, because God knows we don't get enough tourists. Better line up soon, Sonomates, to get your piece of the $16 million pie for whatever biz or gig you'd like to get a little cash for. It's going fast.Better grab it wile you can before Big Bad Jerry gobbles it up.

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Casting our net further we observe the spectacle of New York's Peter King, a stalwart Republican Congressman who is going to rout out the nests of Islamic terrorist cells in our midst.

Taking a page, possibly a chapter or two out of Sen. Joe McCarthy's book, King has determined that American Muslims are either (1) plotting to attack us, or (2) not informing the authorities about legions of Muslims plotting to attack us. How does King know this, you might ask? Well, because, he just does. Why should he provide proof when he just knows this in his bones? Who cares about facts or evidence or such other inconveniences when what's really important is his unshakable conviction? Just like poor old Joe; so misunderstood. Here is Rep. King, trying to do God's work and protect America from her enemies, and loonies on the left are demanding his well-coifed head.

Don't let them get you down, Pete, even if they refuse to see who's hiding under their own beds. You're the guy to go under there and get 'em! And let's not forget, good old Pete knows about terror tactics and the killing of innocent civilians for that express purpose as a once staunch supporter and mouthpiece for the Irish Republican Army. Pete knows about this shit because he was into it up to his massive eyebrows. Nothing like on the job training, eh?

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And finally, just like the ever elusive Where's Waldo, the same query might be asked of our valiant President and his conspicuous absence in Wisconsin. Remember when he boldly told us when on the campaign trail in 2007:

"If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I'm in the White House, I'll put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself." "I'll walk on that picket line with you as president of the United States of America because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner."

Oh how stirring those words. How Presidential-ist. No doubt the Pres. is just picking out the right shoes, making sure the VP can handle matters in his absence, and will be jetting down to WI or wherever labor needs him to support the cause. Right on, Mr. President. Mr. President? Barack?