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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

State of Disunion?

I really hate that the other 'party' has made me hesitate about watching it. I really hate that. And if anyone, and I mean anyone, disrespects the United States House of Representatives I swear to whatever god there is that I will make it m...y duty to put them out of a job. You can disagree and disrespect the man but you cannot and should not disrespect the institutions that are the foundation that has made our democracy the greatest experiment in the history of the world for humanity. We aren't perfect, and truth be told not very nice to each other, but we have to respect the institutions the founders gave us. Respect the House and the Office of the President. And listen.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

21 guns and oh, have an assault weapon too.....

From Frank Schaeffer....
To me the word freedom means freedom to go to church or not where I want, freedom to educate myself and my family, freedom to vote, freedom to have access to my elected representatives, freedom to speak my mind. It does not mean freedom to own, use, collect and play with the sorts of weapons that only make sense in the hands of Marines like my son when they are at war, but no sense whatsoever in the hands of civilians.
You can stop by and read his blog here. If you don't know his history, he and his father were the architects of The Religious Right movement started in the 70's and came to full fruition during Saint Ronnie's rule in the 80's. This movement is the foundation of the mess we're in. To Frank's credit, he takes responsibility (unlike anyone on the right) for what he helped create and now he tries to tell the world how much he had it wrong.

to explore strange new worlds....

This is why I love reading over at Redshirt's. He is wicked smart and equally funny. He shares my love of Star Trek and Star Wars.  Go check his site out. He explains science and the universe in a way I can understand and be amazed by. And he either finds or makes these wonderful themed pictures.





 And congratulations to Sir Patrick Stewart

...the spaces in between......

I am looking at my channel menu and I see The History Channel is playing Jonestown Paradise Lost.
The last sitting Congressperson to be assassinated was Leo Ryan.
I was just beginning to pay attention to the world around me at that time. I was raised by a mother for whom religion and Christianity were of paramount importance. As a kid, I went to church happily. One of the best memories is playing Bible Dash. We played a similar game in school, Dictionary Dash, and I kicked ass in both games. Sometime in my early teens I realized that I had questions about what I was learning. I asked some questions and was encouraged to stop asking questions. (1st clue). After that, I had to choose carefully what questions to ask and whom to ask. The one problem I identified in those years was that the bible was written by man.(2nd clue). And men. And then King James came along and put his medieval male spin on it. And apparently, it's because I question this, I have no faith. So, while I am being made to feel that I have come up short for not believing enough in something that has no evidence (good times), I see that a religious fanatic has conned thousands of people to move to to Guyana and kill themselves. 
I think this is when I realized that I needed more than my family members did and do. Can you imagine having so much faith in a god like that? I simply can't. I am not saying I don't believe there isn't something or someone out there in the ether or dimensions other than these...I think it's something. I do know I don't like the organized religious version of this idea. I really don't. All organized religion is, in my view, a con. For money, power and greed. I find that very hard to grasp when I know my family has been conned. And yet, they feel the need to pray for me. If they ever read this I know it will hurt them to read this and I know their beliefs give them such great comfort. They are comforted by christianity and the bible. I am creeped out by christianity and the bible.
I don't know what or who created us and the universe, we can only know when we die. I know this because I have been to heaven. As far as I know, I didn't die to get there. April 10th 2005 I had a dream. I was in a Thomas Kinkade painting.....this is it....


 
I woke up near that bridge and stepped up to the door. As I walked up the door opened....there was this wondrous light. It was very warm and it was sheer, unadulterated love. It was the most wonderful wave of light and love. Holding the door open was this being or spirit or angel, whatever you want to call it. It was feminine. To this day I feel the love emanating from her. I knew her. I cannot tell you who she is or was in my soul's time span, but I know I knew her soul. It was and continues to be perplexing, yet I know that soul. That was when I realized I do have faith. Just not the same one as my family.

She didn't say anything....she just held the door open and I felt myself drift into the cottage. The cottage consisted of a hallway where the light was....it was a hallway of light and love. It was a pure white light. It felt like looking at a bright light of cream that didn't make me squint my eyes. And the waves....it was incredible. I turned to look at the soul and I knew that I had a choice. I could walk down the hallway and go or I could turn around and leave the cottage and wake up. I have to tell you I hesitated. I don't know for how long, but I remember sensing the hesitation. It really was more tempting than I can tell you. I took a long look at the light and a long look at the soul next to me and thought "I have to go back". And I woke up.

I can imagine you out there wondering what drugs I was doing or what I had for dinner.....no and I have never eaten anything that gave me hallucinations or 'dreams'. I can tell you I watched teevee, got in bed and simply went to sleep. I woke up knowing exactly what had happened and to this day I remember only 2 dreams ever. One is a nightmare that is the same but I can't tell you what happens in it. I just know I only have ever had one nightmare, repeated over my lifetime of sleeping. (haven't had it in a long time, I hope I didn't jinx myself) And one dream I remember. I just told you that dream.
Except it wasn't a dream. I know where I went and remember every detail of what happened. I can't tell you anymore than I have because there are no words...literally, there are no words to describe the light. There are no words to describe to you the immense feeling of love from the soul who opened the door. There are simply no words in our language to describe how it was.
So you see, I do have faith, just not in what the majority of the world has faith in.

I don't know the answer to why we are here. I think we have souls that learn lessons in our time here...and who knows, maybe other planets. That's just it...we don't know. I think our souls are grouped with a family, for lack of a better term, and we all help each other in our lives as we learn the lessons we need to. The goal is to better your soul. And if you do that by believing in an organized religion of some sort...great. I don't. I think my spirituality is between me and....for lack of a better term, my god. or goddess. whatever.

I am very glad to have been born in the United States of America where I am free to believe or disbelieve. As long as I don't hurt anyone or disrespect them, I can do that. There are people in the world that can't. There are people in the world with questions like mine who can't ask because it could mean their death.
And we're back to Jonestown. To put such blind faith in a human being is mind boggling to me. I guess you have to have some sort of blind faith in someone to be married to them.....and since I am not, I don't know. I guess I just have no faith in mankind. Faith in a higher power, for lack of a better term, that I have.

Goddamn Awesome

And when I say Goddamn Awesome I mean Awesome as Fuck...I cannot wait until I can watch this on my very own teevee. I have been very envious of my friend idreamofskiba since she got to see them this summer.
I came to Green Day late....I had always liked them, but couldn't buy anything from a band that named their first album Dookie. I really loved most of the songs on that album, but just couldn't do it...too 3rd grade. I very much enjoyed the rest of the catalog over the years, but until American Idiot, didn't want to spend my money on it. There were Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd cd's to buy. (I grew up with albums and 8 tracks..)
If you are in any way confused as to how we as a country have gotten so fucked up, go listen to American Idiot.  You will be able to search for it when you click here for their youtube channel.. I recommend American Idiot and Jesus of Suburbia to start and then a little St. Jimmy....then Homecoming. It really is amazing to me how clearly they saw what was going on in the shrub years. I really wouldn't have survived the last 4 years of shrubs administration without this cd. And when 21st Century Breakdown came out...well hell, I had to use all my itunes gift cards and buy 3 more cd's....it really is impressive to hear how far along they have come from the beginning. The talent I hear is incredible. They have stayed true to their punk roots and are a kick ass rock band.
So now you know why I am so fucking excited to watch this on my own little teevee in my own little house. Enjoy the trailer bitches.....

Saturday, January 15, 2011

.....to form a more perfect union.....

I think that the rhetoric has always been with us, but I hope that we will finally learn from the consequences, not just bury them like we did after Oklahoma City. Words do matter...they always have, they always will. Sticks and stones are for children. In the adult world, words have consequences. I don't think the half wit from Alaska had anything other than political power and fame in her mind when she started this mess, but she isn't immune from her part in this. I hold the corporate media more responsible. Jon Stewart has been telling us for months, as have many of my friends, our media is supposed to be there to inform us. But all they do is create drama and make money hand over fist....as usual, the Balloon-Juice writers say it best here....

It’s an exaggeration to say that the whole Tea Party movement is built on lies, but not by much. And the beltway media is complicit in those lies, because they were so goddam eager to have a narrative of populist anger about healthcare that they conveniently neglected to emphasize that most of that anger was based on utter bullshit. The only way that’s going to change is if the same DC media decides they can call out liars and the lies they tell during next week’s repeal debate directly in the front page stories they write, not in some goody-goody factchecking ghetto buried behind the fashion section.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

a cautionary tale....

You must read this.  Driftglass compares a recent David Brooks column regarding the violent rhetoric in our political debate and an older David Brooks column (in which he contradicts himself) about Islamic extremists. This reaffirms my belief that religion, organized religion, is something to avoid. Driftglass shows the hypocrisy of the republican party and the right wing media and for a little flavor, also reminds us that this is all about ideology of religion. not even good or evil, just 'my religion has a bigger penis and therefore you suck and must die in the most horrific fashion', which the christian fundamentalists in the United States have given us....slowly, like Chinese water torture. and actual torture. so what does all the vitriol in our current culture have in common?


Let's begin with reading what Mr. Brooks has to say about the recent horrible events in Tuscon and the violent rhetoric employed by the right...

These accusations — that political actors contributed to the murder of 6 people, including a 9-year-old girl — are extremely grave. They were made despite the fact that there was, and is, no evidence that Loughner was part of these movements or a consumer of their literature. They were made despite the fact that the link between political rhetoric and actual violence is extremely murky. They were vicious charges made by people who claimed to be criticizing viciousness.

Yet such is the state of things. We have a news media that is psychologically ill informed but politically inflamed, so it naturally leans toward political explanations. We have a news media with a strong distaste for Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement, and this seemed like a golden opportunity to tarnish them. We have a segmented news media, so there is nobody in most newsrooms to stand apart from the prevailing assumptions. We have a news media market in which the rewards go to anybody who can stroke the audience’s pleasure buttons.

I have no love for Sarah Palin, and I like to think I’m committed to civil discourse. But the political opportunism occasioned by this tragedy has ranged from the completely irrelevant to the shamelessly irresponsible.

The good news is that there were a few skeptics, even during the height of the mania: Howard Kurtz of The Daily Beast, James Fallows of The Atlantic and Jonathan Chait of The New Republic. The other good news is that the mainstream media usually recovers from its hysterias and tries belatedly to get the story right.

So, get that? Now read what he says when it's Islamic fundamentalists.....

The Arab world, though famous for its bazaars, has not defined national glory economically, Greenfeld adds. Instead, the rising radical groups today define greatness negatively through acts of anti-Western defiance.
Superseding market entrepreneurs, there are terror entrepreneurs competing to see who can issue the most militant call and perform the most galvanizing act of violence. They are driven by resentment toward the West, but also by the internal competition for prestige and standing.
Worse, more and more people are falling for the Grand Delusion — the notion that if we just leave the extremists alone, they will leave us alone.

That's your corporate media doing what it does best...telling you that there is a liberal bias when, if you can reason and think, can clearly see that instead of the media hating palin and the teabaggers they are enamored by her/them...and yep, you guessed it, because she's "politically inflamed". Because our corporate media and the right wing media are only interested in giving us 'the news' because it brings in the advertisers. Money. Greed. Power. That is your corporate media. And if they can do that by donning the fake skin of christianity so they can get away with it...even sweeter.  

...our better angels....

Balloon-Juice....

E pluribus unum. Nothing else needs to be said.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

152 bottles of rum and 1 bottle of vodka....

Cousin Avi drank the damn vodka. 
I wish I could write like him. Of course, he's smarter and funnier and has a more interesting life....anyway. He really is one of my favorite people. Make sure to put him on your playlist of sites, you will learn things. And he will make you smile and be happy there are people in the world like him.

(and LOOK! there's a handy dandy link to his site ---> right over there! I know!)

Monday, January 10, 2011

he did tell us......

amen, brother. amen.

One can believe that the Tucson shooter was a mentally-unstable madman and believe that the right needs to tone down its rhetoric. - Steve Benen
you can find his blog over there ---->

I have nothing to add....

William Rivers Pitt says it all here.

You false patriots who bring assault rifles to political rallies, you hack politicians and media personalities who lied through your stinking teeth about "death panels" and "Obama is coming for your guns" and "He isn't a citizen" and "He's a secret Muslim" and "Sharia Law is coming to America," you who spread this bastard gospel and you who swallowed it whole, I am talking to you, because this was your doing just as surely as it was the doing of the deranged damned soul who pulled the trigger.  The poison you injected into our culture is deeply culpable for this carnage.
You who worship Jesus at the top of your lungs (in defiance of Christ's own teachings on the matter of worship, by the way) helped put several churchgoers into their graves and into the hospital. You who shriek about the sanctity of marriage helped cut down a man who was about to be married. You who crow with ceaseless abandon about military service and the nobility of our fighting forces helped to critically wound the wife of a Naval aviator who fought for you in a war. You who hold September 11 as your sword and shield helped put a little girl born on that day into the ground.
You helped. Yes, damn you, you helped.
The "mainstream" media is already working overtime playing up the "Disturbed loner" angle with all their might. There is no doubt, from the available evidence, of Mr. Loughner's transformation into a disturbed individual. But here's the funny part: all the crazy crap he spewed, about the gold standard (a favorite of Glenn Beck, the master of Fox "News" fearmongering...so he can sell his gold scam to suckers) and government mind control and everything else before going on his rampage, is straight out of the Right-Wing Insanity Handbook. His personal YouTube ramblings were a mishmash of right-wing anti-government nonsense...the kind that attracts sick minds like Loughner, the kind that only reinforces their paranoia, the kind that finally pushes them over the brink and into the frenzy of violence that took place on Saturday.  The kind that the likes of you have been happily spreading by the day.  
He did not act alone. You were right there with him. You helped.
I'm talking to you, "mainstream" media people, who created this atmosphere of desperate rage and total paranoia out of whole cloth because of your unstoppable adoration for spectacle, and ratings, and because the companies that own your sorry asses agree with the deranged cretins you helped make so famous and powerful. It was sickeningly amusing on Sunday to watch Wolf Blitzer bluster and bluff on CNN about how the media owns no responsibility for this disaster. It was like watching a ten-year-old try to explain how a lamp got broken while he was running through the living room, but no, it wasn't him. It was, in reality, a pathetic display...but that is what you generally get whenever Wolf is on your screen.
"Mainstream" news personalities like David Gergen and John King bent over backwards warning people not to blame Sarah Palin and her ilk for this calamity.  It was a sick man who did this, they said. Bollocks to that.  I hate to break this to the "mainstream" media know-betters, but words matter.  When people like Palin spray the airwaves with calls to violence and incantations of imminent doom, people like Loughner are listening, and prepared to act. The "mainstream" media lets it fly without any questions or rebuttal, because it's good for ratings, and here we are. Words matter. Play Russian Roulette long enough, and someone inevitably winds up dead.

....the denial is a river in Egypt.....

I have been feeling for a long time now, probably since Palin started this vile rhetoric in September 2008, that we are headed towards another civil war. or more accurately, to finish fighting the first one. Living in the south, you feel the civil war more so than any other part of the country I have lived in. granted, I grew up on air force bases and was pretty sheltered from civilian life. but since McGrumpypants introduced half wit to our political scene, it has been going downhill. I hope I am wrong. I hope we, as a nation, pull ourselves out of this. I am not hopeful. I think it will depend on if the media keeps doing its poor job of calling the GOP on their rhetoric and finally stops the 'both sides do it' crap. that's just what it is...crap.  Read Paul Krugman's new post here.

Where’s that toxic rhetoric coming from? Let’s not make a false pretense of balance: it’s coming, overwhelmingly, from the right. It’s hard to imagine a Democratic member of Congress urging constituents to be “armed and dangerous” without being ostracized; but Representative Michele Bachmann, who did just that, is a rising star in the G.O.P.
And there’s a huge contrast in the media. Listen to Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, and you’ll hear a lot of caustic remarks and mockery aimed at Republicans. But you won’t hear jokes about shooting government officials or beheading a journalist at The Washington Post. Listen to Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly, and you will.
So will the Arizona massacre make our discourse less toxic? It’s really up to G.O.P. leaders. Will they accept the reality of what’s happening to America, and take a stand against eliminationist rhetoric? Or will they try to dismiss the massacre as the mere act of a deranged individual, and go on as before?
If Arizona promotes some real soul-searching, it could prove a turning point. If it doesn’t, Saturday’s atrocity will be just the beginning.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

I have nothing to add....

Per my friend ceu......
Another bad habit from the Bush years that must be eliminated- the idea that people shouldn't be held accountable & assigning blame does no good. The biggest meme to come out of Iraq & Katrina was "now's not the time to play the blame game"

Amen sister, amen.

....the world is spinning round and round, out of control again.....

it just kills me the way people try to rationalize and justify the right's violent, incendiary language and then blame Obama and the left for bringing it up when something like this happens. to be so invested in an ideology that you can do that is amazing and very, very sad.

Angry Black Lady says it all......

I am posting it in its entirety. You should go and read all her stuff. It is very much worth the click.....

I just got a panicked call from my mother asking me if I had heard what happened.  I hadn’t checked the news yet today because I’m frantically working on a brief.  She said that there had been a shooting.  My first thought was “Oh my god, they got him.” So I checked the news and found out that Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head, a federal judge, a 9-year-old, a Democratic aide and multiple others were killed.  Shot in the fucking head.  Killed.  Dead.  Where did this happen?  Tucson, Arizona –
ONE MILE FROM WHERE MY PARENTS LIVE.
A gunman opened fire Saturday onto a crowd at a public event held by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Ariz., killing at least five people and critically injuring the congresswoman.
The dead included U.S. District Judge John Roll and a 9-year-old girl, President Obama said in a brief statement Saturday. Giffords, who was shot in the head, was among at least 13 people injured, according to the Pima County, Ariz., sheriff’s office.
This is where our country is heading, and this is where certain politicians and pundits want this country to go.  When politicians and pundits talk about revolution, and rebellion, and the fucking tree of liberty being refreshed from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS.  Political idealogues convince themselves that what they are doing is right, and just, and patriotic.  And when tragedy strikes, those who have actively created an environment where such tragedy is inevitable throw up their hands and say “Aw, what a shame.”
I remember writing about being outraged by Sarah Palin’s cross-hair map. I remember thinking what an absolutely stupid move it was.  And now some crazy fuck has put her plan into action, and she has the nerve to say “Wha?!  What’d I do?”
That’s what pisses me off  the most —  the utter hypocrisy of those who wanted this to happen — or at the very least, created an environment where this was bound to happen — now claiming to be sorry and to offer support to the friends and family of the dead.
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin issued a statement on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ shooting, writing on Facebook:
“My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today’s tragic shooting in Arizona. On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice.”
Ms. Palin is receiving criticism over her past call for supporters to “reload” and “take aim” at Democrats. Ms. Giffords was amongst a group of Democrats “targeted” by Ms. Palin’s SarahPAC.
The Alaska Republican’s Facebook page, at one point, carried a map featuring 20 gun sights, one for each of the Democrats targeted by her political action committee.
Ms. Palin defended the choice of words at the time, “Those are fine. They’re used all the time.”
The former Alaska Governor has repeatedly tweeted to her Twitter followers: “Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: ‘Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!’”
No.  No. No.  You don’t get off that easily.  You don’t get to foment racism, hatred, and anger, and then when the shit goes down, sit back and play dumb.  You don’t get to say “I didn’t mean it.”  You don’t get to say that “people use those words all the time.”  You’re a goddamn public persona.  You don’t say those things, and if you do, you reap what you sow.  It becomes your responsibility.  YOURS.  It happened when Bill O’Reilly called Dr. Tiller a baby killer over and over and over until finally someone murdered him in cold blood — walked into his church in the middle of service and shot him in the head.
And it has happened again.
This is what Jon Stewart was talking about at the Rally for Sanity — about toning down violent rhetoric:
“I can’t control what people think this was. I can only tell you my intentions. This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith or people of activism or to look down our noses at the heartland or passionate argument or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies.
But unfortunately one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country’s 24 hour political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying up to our problems bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected dangerous flaming ant epidemic.
If we amplify everything we hear nothing. There are terrorists and racists and Stalinists and theocrats but those are titles that must be earned. You must have the resume. Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Partiers or real bigots and Juan Williams and Rick Sanchez is an insult, not only to those people but to the racists themselves who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate–just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe not more. The press is our immune system. If we overreact to everything we actually get sicker–and perhaps eczema.
Because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false. It is us through a fun house mirror, and not the good kind that makes you look slim in the waist and maybe taller, but the kind where you have a giant forehead and an ass shaped like a month old pumpkin and one eyeball.
So, why would we work together? Why would you reach across the aisle to a pumpkin assed forehead eyeball monster? If the picture of us were true, of course, our inability to solve problems would actually be quite sane and reasonable. Why would you work with Marxists actively subverting our Constitution or racists and homophobes who see no one’s humanity but their own? We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is—on the brink of catastrophe—torn by polarizing hate and how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done, but the truth is we do. We work together to get things done every damn day!
The only place we don’t is here or on cable TV. But Americans don’t live here or on cable TV. Where we live our values and principles form the foundations that sustains us while we get things done, not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done. Most Americans don’t live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives. Americans live their lives more as people that are just a little bit late for something they have to do—often something that they do not want to do—but they do it–impossible things every day that are only made possible by the little reasonable compromises that we all make.
Look on the screen. This is where we are. This is who we are. (points to the Jumbotron screen which show traffic merging into a tunnel). These cars—that’s a schoolteacher who probably thinks his taxes are too high. He’s going to work. There’s another car-a woman with two small kids who can’t really think about anything else right now. There’s another car, (referring to the Jumbotron blowing in the wind) swinging, I don’t even know if you can see it—the lady’s in the NRA and she loves Oprah. There’s another car—an investment banker, gay, also likes Oprah. Another car’s a Latino carpenter. Another car a fundamentalist vacuum salesman. Atheist obstetrician. Mormon Jay-Z fan. But this is us. Every one of the cars that you see is filled with individuals of strong belief and principles they hold dear—often principles and beliefs in direct opposition to their fellow travelers.
And yet these millions of cars must somehow find a way to squeeze one by one into a mile long 30 foot wide tunnel carved underneath a mighty river. Carved, by the way, by people who I’m sure had their differences. And they do it. Concession by conscession. You go. Then I’ll go. You go. Then I’ll go. You go then I’ll go. Oh my God, is that an NRA sticker on your car? Is that an Obama sticker on your car? Well, that’s okay—you go and then I’ll go.
And sure, at some point there will be a selfish jerk who zips up the shoulder and cuts in at the last minute, but that individual is rare and he is scorned and not hired as an analyst.
Because we know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light we have to work together. And the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land. Sometimes it’s just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together.
If you want to know why I’m here and want I want from you, I can only assure you this: you have already given it to me. Your presence was what I wanted.
Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder. To see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine. Thank you.”
I can’t say that I feel “strangely calmly good.”  I feel expectedly pissed off and angry, not only because this tragedy occurred a mile from where my parents lived, but also because the sensible among us– the Jon Stewarts among us — are losing.  The Palins, O’Reillys, Coulters, Limbaughs and Becks — they are the ones who have a frightening stranglehold on the consciousness of America and they are winning!  People are scared, and rather than alleviate those fears, these thugs seek to exploit those fears for their own monetary and political gain.  These thugs don’t give a fuck about helping their fellow man; they are crabs in a barrel clawing up to the light and pushing other crabs down in their desperate bid to have the light shine only on them.  They want a reality show, or a gig as a Fox News correspondent, or to hold office just long enough so they can launch themselves into a cushy lobbying or Wall Street gig.  These people don’t care about America.  They say they say they do, but their disdain for Americans and our problems is palpable, and it’s disgusting.
So while you may want to sit around and gripe about who Obama chose for his Chief of Staff, think about what you stand for.  Then think about what the other guy or gal stands for.  Think about whether you have more in common with your neighbor than you do with the talking head on the teevee. Then pull your head out of your ass and let’s work together to make sure that the O’PalinBeckbaughs don’t drown us all in a whirlpool of hateful rhetoric.  Let’s kick these fuckers to the curb because if we don’t, we’ll have only ourselves to blame.

the link to her blog is here. You can also find it to the right of where you're reading...I believe she's top of the list.

A federal judge and a 9 year old...dead. Thanks John McCain for bringing Sarah Palin in our lives and everything that has happened since you decided you 'deserved' the presidency. And thanks to Saint Reagan for opening the doors and all the windows and let this bad wind blow through my beloved country. Fuck you McCain and Saint Ronnie. And all of you who think the rhetoric the last 2 years that has come from Sarah, Newt, Rush, Beck and every person on faux news (possibly excepting Shep Smith)...Fuck You for being irresponsible, un-American

....the world is spinning round and round, out of control again.....

NPR is reporting  Representative Giffords has died along with 6 other people.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and six others died after a gunman opened fire at a public event on Saturday, the Pima County, Ariz., sheriff's office confirms.
The 40-year-old Democrat, who was re-elected to her third term in November, was hosting a "Congress on Your Corner" event at a Safeway in northwest Tucson when a gunman ran up and started shooting, according to Peter Michaels, news director of Arizona Public Media.
However, I am listening to MSNBC and there is a Sheriff that says he is told she is alive in critical condition.

global warming is a hoax.....

all those deniers out there think because we don't love Jesus enough, we claim climate change. it is a hoax and if we would just love Jesus, we would see that.
well, in my part of the world it doesn't snow very often. I have lived here, for the most part, for 30 years. I can count the amount of snow we have had on two hands...until the last year or so. My friend JK has sent me another gem that I have to share.


I laughed and laughed when I saw this...I'm still chuckling a little....

Jim Morrison once said people are strange.....

I just think we're stupid. In this age of instant gratification and our Veruca Salt I want it now mentality, we forget that shit takes time to clean up. And Obama, and us, have miles to go before we get the basics back. For those of you who are firebaggers or are just wanting everything to magically be good again, I offer this.
Yesterday morning, the Labor Department released its employment data for December, showing that the U.S. economy ended the year by adding 113,000 private sector jobs, knocking the unemployment rate down sharply from 9.8 percent to 9.4 percent — its lowest rate since July 2009. The “surprising drop — which was far better than the modest step-down economists had forecast — was the steepest one-month fall since 1998.” October and November’s jobs numbers were also revised upward by almost 80,000 each.

Friday, January 7, 2011

....and the beat goes on....

I am all for reading the Constitution. I am more for comprehending the Constitution. But if you're going to read it, read it. Flaws and all. That's why it's called a living document. duh.


But before the political world moves on, it's worth noting that those who listened to the reading didn't hear the entire Constitution -- there were some omissions organizers of the p.r. stunt intended to make, and then there were the omissions that happened by accident.
On the former, the reading left out any constitutional text that had been invalidated by subsequent amendments to the document. This, conveniently, spared members the embarrassment of having to read portions that, for example, counted slaves as only three-fifths of a person.
 and then...

To briefly recap, Reps. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) missed the official swearing in ceremony, but claim that they raised their hand and took the oath while watching the proceedings on television from the Capitol Visitors Center. Legally, that doesn't count.
They voted twice. idiots. They can read a whitewashed version of our most important document (while the leadership gives a press conference.) but they take the time to tell our national stenographers how wonderful they are. They have been in the House a long time and have demonstrated their lack of respect for the institution (I'm looking at you Joe Wilson) but really? You think you can be sworn in by watching teevee? wow, the dumb runs thick in them.

You can find the first post here.. You can find the second post here.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

...our better angels....

One of the things you need to know about me is that I do not do organized religion. Most everything negative and evil that has ever happened, or will happen, has its roots in a religion of some sort. The hypocrisy pisses me off. But then something like this (h/t JK) comes along to restore my faith in my fellow humans. Not many of us anymore look for our better angels, myself included.

Mariam Yassin, a 24 year old video editor, will take Thursday off to travel to Alexandria to attend the mass at the Two Saints Church. “I am not going as a representative of any religion. I am supporting all those who died as a result of ignorance.”
and another bit....

On the other hand, Fatima Mostafa, a 40 year old house wife, will join Copts tomorrow to show that Muslims feel their sorrow. “I want to show the world that Islam is a religion of peace and that such attacks are nothing more than a result of poverty, ignorance and oppression.”

must read....

You absolutely have to read this....

In this article, Matt Taibbi tells the unvarnished truth about Washington. He also informs me that there is a tea party person out there who agrees that the repubs caused the mess we're now in. weird.

Littleton recounts some of the ways the party has tried. One tack was dazzling the hayseeds with splendor and bullshit. During a visit to Washington, for instance, Littleton was meeting with Republican officials to go over "nitty-gritty" stuff like monetary policy, when an aide suddenly stopped the session. He was surprised, he told Littleton, that they were bothering with all this serious stuff — he thought the Tea Partiers just wanted to meet famous politicians. The aide's attitude, Littleton recalls, was: "I thought we could just throw you a bone, and bring in my rock star, and you're just really so impressed by him that you're going to smile and hug him and go out and do whatever we need you to do." Another time, when the Tea Party was making noise about a farm subsidy, a staffer for a prominent Republican congressman simply called Littleton up and asked him to be quiet. "Hey, would you mind leaving that issue alone?" the staffer said. "The congressman would really appreciate it — we work with a lot of farmers." Littleton was amazed that Republican leaders seemed to think the Tea Party was engaged in a collaborative effort to keep Republicans in office, but this is just the way things are done inside the Beltway.

and while I don't agree with Littleton regarding the debt ceiling or shutting the government down, here is what I have never heard from a teabagger....

In this regard, the contrast between Boehner and Littleton, the Tea Party leader in Boehner's home state, is interesting. The two men live in the same place, the small township of West Chester near Cincinnati, so Littleton is very familiar with Boehner. But Littleton's opinion of the Republican establishment couldn't be lower: It was precisely programs like the Medicare drug benefit bill and No Child Left Behind, programs he considers unacceptably wasteful and intrusive, that moved him to get into politics. "These were all Republican programs," Littleton says. "If you look at Republican congressmen from Ohio, they all voted for this stuff."

go read the whole thing.