Labels

112th Congress (6) 2010 (1) 2012 (5) 9/11 (2) Abby. puppies (1) Adam Serwer (1) Al-Qaeda (1) angels (2) Angry Black Lady (2) Arizona (3) Bachmann (1) Balloon-Juice (9) Barack Obama (9) Bill Murray (1) Boehner (2) Broadway Carl (2) Buffalo Springfield (1) can I get an amen? (3) Carol Kane (1) ceu (1) Christmas (1) Civil Rights (5) civil war (9) climate change (1) Congress (3) Constitution (3) Cousin Avi (1) David Gilmour (1) David Tennant (1) Dennis G (1) Desert Crone (1) Doctor Who (1) Dogma (1) Driftglass (5) Dylan (1) Edward R Murrow (1) Eeyore (1) Egypt (5) Facebook (2) family (2) firebaggers and teabaggers (13) fleeting thoughts (2) founding fathers (2) Frank Schaeffer (1) friends (9) general state of suckage (9) Gin and Tacos (1) Gitmo (1) Goddamn Awesome (1) Green Day (2) Greg Sargent (1) Haley Barbour (1) half-wit (2) health care (2) Herman Cain (1) I can't believe I posted something that needs a tag line of Al-Qaeda (1) insane party (6) insane party. Al Franken (1) intro (2) Jeff Sessions (1) Jimmy Fallon (1) JK (1) John Cole (3) John McCain (1) Jon Stewart (3) Jr. (1) just bitching (3) jwh22 (1) karma is a bitch (3) Lawrence O'Donnell (3) LGBT (1) Liberal (2) Libya (1) life's a bitch (4) long game (2) Mark Halperin and all the other hacks (1) Marley (2) Martin Luther King (1) Matt Taibbi (3) me (10) media (5) MSNBC (1) Mubarak (1) must reads (10) New York Times (1) newt (1) NFL (1) NRA (1) NY Times (1) Occupy (1) our better angels (2) Pages (1) pale blue dot (2) Paul Krugman (1) Pearl Jam (1) Pink Floyd (6) President Obama (1) puppies (2) quotes (3) Rachel Maddow (2) Rally to Restore Sanity (1) rant (4) Reagan (2) Redshirt (3) religion (4) sad state of affairs (5) Saint Ronnie (1) same sex marriage (1) Sarah Palin (1) Scrooged (1) seriously? (1) shame on us (3) shrub (1) Smothers Brothers (1) Speaker of the House (1) star trek (1) Star Wars (1) stars (1) state of affairs (2) State of the Union (1) Stephen Colbert (1) Steve Benen (9) Super Bowl (1) Talk Radio (2) teabaggers (3) The Atlantic (1) The Capitol (2) The Daily Show (2) The Hairpin (1) The Left (1) The Rude Pundit (2) the universe (1) The US House of Representatives (1) UFO's (1) US House (3) useful knowledge (5) useless knowledge (4) Veruca Salt Syndrome (1) voting (1) what I love about America (2) What's Happening (2) Wisconsin (3) wtf? (13)

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Another Must Read.....and bonus! a rant

One of the pages I follow on Facebook posted this earlier and I must say, it blew me away. Remember a while back, when I said that I don't think the Civil War ended? What I didn't do was say it nearly as well as Charles P. Pierce does in this article. 

It really needs to be spread far and wide to every one who really wants to hold us together long enough to repair the damage and the wounds of the last 150 years....hell, from the pilgrims forward truth be told.

With our corporate media rushing to blame Islamic terrorists for the recent horrible events in Norway  when it turns out he is a blond, blue-eyed Nazi-type nationalist, makes me remember all the right wing nationalist attacks on American soil that no one talks about with any semblance of rationality. It's all about who wins and who loses the media day and the ratings and the whining from the very people who encourage and support these same ideas for political gain and power and wealth. Greed basically. All these christo-facists who will reap the rewards by the people too dumb or lazy or apathetic  to really pay attention that the 'religion' they all espouse is nothing but a facade to keep or gain power and money. And here they are ready to plunge the entire fucking world back into the worst depression any of us have ever seen, worse than the Great Depression of my grandparents era, by using peoples faith.
That worldwide depression led to the rise of Hitler, a world war and a cold war. World War II may have brought the United States out of depression, but what did we get for it? A literally divided world between free people and not free people. For 50 years we lived like this. Many innocents suffered in the undeclared wars of the 50's and 60's into the 70's. Korea, Vietnam, Hungary, Germany, Romania, Czechoslavakia, Iran, Iraq (funny, that) and another fun trip back in time in Afghanistan and on and on and on.....
Then the Cold War ended. (I have to say that as a military brat, the youngest of 4 girls, during the 60's and 70's that my sisters had no idea what the Cold War was....I was and still am, astounded by that. For those of you who share my sisters ignorance, go here.)  
So what happened after that? We turned on each other. Funny thing about us humans, we have to have an enemy. I don't know why, but I wish evolution would hurry up, we'll never get to the 24th Century that Gene Roddenberry envisioned and I want. Anywho, the entire era of the Cold War, it was politically advantageous for republicans to win elections by painting the democrats as weak on foreign policy. The reason they could safely have that ground was because they would actually cross the line and do things that democrats wouldn't. But on the other hand, the dems with the Gulf of Tonkin, some dems would and could. Which may be the genesis of the 'both sides do it' meme that is so familiar today. Then Nixon came along and did what he did and got away with it which enabled people like Donald Rumsfeld, Roger Ailes and Dick Cheney to do what brings us to the United States electing a black man for President. Can you imagine? It wasn't supposed to be like that at all....they have to have been so disappointed when that happened. But then, they got together at a Koch Brothers event in Palm Springs or somewhere equally posh and thought up the wonderful world we live in now. Just writing that feels like a conspiracy theory and maybe that's by design? Because there wouldn't be people out there who would deliberately want to destroy the entire nation and economy on purpose....right?
Well, I don't really think so.....I think their motives were, and are, greed and power and money. I don't think they realized the economic situation in the country....and really, how could they? They live in a world that knows no limits, none. They don't live in the world that the rest of us do. Where people like me have to budget the $20.00 co-pay to see the doctor. They don't worry about people out there who have to wonder, should I pay the electric bill or put gas in the car? They didn't know that was there when they started I don't think. Maybe they thought it was like 1992 and all we needed was a little political wrangling to get them more. I don't know. What I think is that they didn't realize the economic situation or, and this is the important part, the level of fear that they had been fomenting for years with faux news and rush and all the others....they had control before, why would this be any different?
So here we are, on the brink of default. Yay for us.

My question then is this, what do they do now? They have made compromise of any sort impossible with their behavior during President Obama's tenure. So what happens? They give? The President gives? I honestly cannot believe they have put him in this position. And it won't matter who will 'win' this battle. The politicians win. The corporate media wins. The losers? Me, you, the entire world that isn't in the top 2%. And the people who have brought us here? Only 27-33% of the Grand Old Party of the United States of America. The people who have been shunned, rightly, by civil society. The people on the fringe. This time though, the corporations had media holdings to bring the people too dumb, lazy or apathetic a story they could accept and make themselves feel better.
That doesn't seem like a fair deal. At all.

That's it. Rant over. But go read Charles P. Pierce's article which brought us all here. :) You can read it here.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Must Read

Amen Brother Steve, Amen......

The problem with the 112th isn’t a structural impediment; it’s the result of a radicalized Republican Party that has no use for compromise, evidence, or reason. We have a congressional GOP abandoning all institutional norms, pushing extremist policies, rejecting their own ideas if they enjoy Democratic support, and engaging in tactics that were once thought unthinkable from policymakers who put the nation’s needs first.

as usual, he nails it....read it here.

We're living in a demented Chocolate Factory without any chocolate....

A couple of weeks ago, I assured myself and others that even though the current republican party was insane they were not going to let the full faith and credit of the United States of America explode into default for the sheer and shameful politics of ideology. I thought they would listen to Wall Street. I am amazed they think the United States government would lie to the entire world about whether or not we would lose this only good spot in our current economic crises. We can now, at least, borrow money at insanely cheap interest to finance everything the previous administration and previous Congress' passed. Because that's all this is...we have the ability to raise our credit card limit. I understand the danger of that, lord knows, I would do it if I could get away with it. And here is what I don't think they understand about government. You can't run a government like a household no matter how many republicans tell you you can. You can't run a government like a business no matter how many republicans tell you you can.

That the current batch of nutjobs would be so totally convinced the Secretary of the Treasury would lie is not completely surprising. I understand why they would think that. They project everything they do, would do or have done onto the democrats....it's who they are. But to be so cynical and petty and partisan and ruin the credit of the US to "win" against a democrat in the White House, black, white or purple for that matter...is just beyond my comprehension.

They really are those 4 other kids in the Roald Dahl book and my favorite movie from childhood, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The United States is Charlie and the nutjobs are Veruca, Mike, Augustus and Violet. They are spoiled children riding a sugar high.

I am now very afraid that if the adults in the GOP don't just run a clean debt ceiling increase in both houses, we will invite catastrophe and god/fsm/thor knows what else.

I cannot believe that the media is still spinning this as a horse race. This is one of the fruits of Rupert Murdoch's gifts that keep on giving. If the media will not make them see what they are doing and keeping the 'both sides blame each other, oh the sameness of it' meme, we are doomed.

I don't want to be doomed. I want to shake people and ask them what they hell do they think they're doing? for fucking politics?!
This is what happens when kids are allowed at the adults table....

though, a silver lining,perhaps, may shine through this angry and destructive cloud....if the United States' defaults, every one's credit score is going to suck
and mine won't seem that bad:)

Thursday, July 21, 2011

look what the cat dragged in.....

As usual, Matt Taibbi nails it....

Given the monstrous political influence of Murdoch and his companies – this idiotic game of chicken our government is now playing with America’s credit rating is one of countless policy disasters that I believe can be traced directly or indirectly to the insane propaganda that is a consistent by-product of Murdoch's nihilistic quest for profits – that would be a world-shaking development.
So let's review. Rupert Murdoch, CEO/LORD ALMIGHTY/Whatever....has reigned supreme on 3 continents for decades. News Corp has done this by debasing our societies to the lowest base form of humanity that we as humans can be. And as poorly as our education system has performed since the Reagan years, is it any wonder that the electorate don't care about anything but simple, bumper sticker politics? And I won't even go on a tangent about the Texas School Board text book guidelines for history books for all grade levels, full of magical thinking.....you can google it...

Moving back to Taibbi, he makes a point I have been saying for years.

Once the media business made the collective decision to always put money above editorial judgment, I think scandals like the News of the World affair became inevitable. Because once media companies abandoned the notion that their business was somehow different from other money-making businesses, that there were no longer places they wouldn’t go to generate product, it became inevitable that the corporate media game would become nothing more than an all-out, relentless quest for sensational, titillating material.
When the 3 major networks decided to make their News Division's 'profit' divisions, all bets were off. It had once been for the good of the country. To investigate and keep tabs on our government and our businesses. And how did that work out? It was a smashing success. Journalists were considered well for their tenacity in keeping politicians and corporations honest.

But then they had to have more money, because by this time, corporations owned the big 3. And corporations are greedy bastards.

Go read the whole Taibbi piece here....

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

true dat

"I simply cannot accept that there are, on every story, two equal and logical sides to an argument." - Edward R. Murrow

Saturday, July 16, 2011

careless days.....

I'm here wasting the day away. It's what I do on Saturdays. There was a lot going on this week with the idiots still getting major media airtime with their stupidity on the debt ceiling....Murdoch and gang (I use this in the most criminal way) getting attention for their cynicism and illegal 'journalism'.....yet, on this day, I am watching Marley sleep beside me on the couch and I thought it would be a great time to post a new picture of her.


Yes, she is chunky, just like her mother. Abby was too....they are just so sweet and deserve those bones. Just ask my father...he'll tell you. His other bit of wisdom is that if the puppies can't eat what you're eating, you shouldn't eat it....if you can't share with them, what's the point?

We've finally gotten him to talk to the vet and she told him that the best way he could show he loves them is to not share people food with them....but there they are, Marley and Max (my parents lab/boxer mix), watching every move he makes while he's eating.....he has gotten better though. We are working on it. The vet says she's just 7 pounds overweight, so it's doable.

Anyway, happy Saturday and enjoy the weekend. And just FYI, you can thank unions for 'the weekend'....

And here's a picture of Max, Marley's partner in crime....

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

New Voter ID laws and me....

As a poll worker and listening to Keith talk about the new Voter ID laws in WI, I can say that most of the people who vote in my precinct hand over their licenses when they walk in. They have to sign a Voter form verifying their information, they take this paper (usually I'm the one they give it to) to get a ballot. (Ha! I am the Ballot Keeper - I like that!) Then they vote. I had to tell the other precinct workers that they can't ask for ID in NC. They were asking for it sometimes. They didn't know. I had to show them in our book. But that's just my precinct. It's a moderate, older neighborhood with new developments in the last years before the shit storm came, but still. Not rich, but steady. I just don't see it where I vote.
Having said that, I find these laws, all over, to be repugnant.
It is our 1 Constitutional duty. One.  It's the only thing the Constitution says we have to do. More people should do it, but they don't. And since I have worked at the polls, 2005 I think, I have seen the turnout go from very low levels (one municipal election we had 2 votes in addition to our 3 votes for a total of 5) to sky high in a matter of 2 years and the mood from 2006 to 2008 in my 60-40 republican precinct was incredible. Then 2010 happened and all I saw were repubs voting and very few dems. 2010 the repubs were more than happy to tell every one they were voting repub to 'get' Obama. or some such other version of 'hell yeah, I'm voting repub and I'm proud'. Anyway, I think next year, the people who voted in 2008 will be back. It will be too hard with another year of GOP controlling the House. They will have too. And I bet even some of those repubs who did show up but were quiet? They'll be there too, voting for the dems.

At least, a girl can hope that they cannot allow them to get away with this shit much longer than that. At some point, yourself and your family have to over come the ideology. Right?

Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy Independence Day

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

you can read the official transcript here.


I hope everybody has a wonderful day and remembers what the Founding Fathers really fought for and not the 'republican version' of them.