Thursday, October 27, 2011

Class Today at NoBullU on WEBY

Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- no political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!

NoBullU will broadcast today from 4:05 to 6:00 p.m. at 1330 AM WEBY and on line.

Topics:

Local Business/Event Shout-Out: Happy Halloween!!, 2011 Halloween Light Show, and a reported Why Dogs Hate Halloween.


Follow-up: see below;


Fact-free fantasies of the shrieking hatemongers of right-wing rhetoric and partisan hackery: all part of the fundamentalist subculture of ignorance that embraces 'discredited, ridiculous and even dangerous ideas'

And America's preference for rhetorical fairy tales to unpleasant realities

One was gays in the military, funny thing, the world's still turning, not even a hurricane, earthquake or an oil well

Coincidentally enough it wasn't the end of the world, again, just after the Fact-Free Friday Show with our so-claimed viral Pastor.

And don't be duped by the Birthers, including our very own Pastor Dred Scott (you may remember the infamous Dred Scott decision of 1857, which asserted that African Americans were "beings of an inferior order" who "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." That ruling declared that African Americans could never be U.S. citizens and therefore could never be President),

See The Fogbow, "your best resource for debunking the lies of the 'birther' movement and discussing the birther antics" and WhatsYourEvidence.com, there is even a Birther Case Scorecard, 0-80 for the birthers;


Local and regional: hasta la vista, when do I get my hurricane insurance refund, and
a local example of corrupt crony capitalism?;


National and international: I'm waiting, where's the balanced budget, don't hold you breath because the Republi-CONs Con the Tea Party, there'll be no $100 billion budget cut, and let's admit the obvious, the Republi-CONs are not serious about deficits, and who's responsible for the debt

To balance the budget, do nothing

Still no sign of those 'invisible [Republi-CON] bond vigilantes'

Our politically induced economic stagnation, part of the Republi-CON war on the middle class

Hello globalization, goodbye jobs

It's China, stupid

Told ya so: economic stimulus

The Republi-CON stimulus myth

The myth of expansionary austerity

About the Republi-CON war on the middle class

More on the Republi-CON war on the middle class

Better, not just less, government

The Republi-CON 'taxes and regulations are killing business' myth, now it dwarf tossing, what next, baby juggling?

Republi-CONs in their Delusion-land

The Great Stagnation' and our broken political system

The EuroMess

Would Jesus occupy Wall Street?


Great quote on so-called government wisdom

And courtesy of Tammy, a great quote on politicians and their corporate overlords

Also courtesy of Tammy, New World Order, Inc.


And the Republi-CON Race is cont., to find America’s Not-Mitt

Still searching for the ideal Republican candidate: conservative, interested, electable

A NoBullU prediction: Romney-Cain in 2012

A Republi-CON 'my family escaped communism' myth

Is the RepubliCON race a joke?

Déjà vu all over again, what to expect if it is Obama v. Romney

Colbert does another take-down of the Republi-CON 'taxes and regulations Are killing business' myth

Republi-CONs might start with those Solyndra half truths

Republi-CON Small Government Hypocrisy

Did the tea so-called party debate pass the test of 'limited government, free markets, and fiscal responsibility'

The Republi-CON 'Obama's a socalist' myth

Spreading slanderous lies, and supporting a group that massacres and enslaves women and children


Health care lawsuit update, the Supreme Court edition

Republi-CON 'it's not Judicial activism, it's judicial engagement' hypocrisy


Does Palin have a point about the corrupt crony capitalism


and

An Iraq What-Might-Have-Been, and was it worth it

Did Steve Jobs' faith in alternative remedies kill him?

So You Don't Believe in Global Warming, Then Explain What Happens to 35 Gigatons of CO2 Each Year

Those not so good ol' days

CSI Dog Poop, the trial

Big brother is watching you,

The myth of voter fraud


Fun stuff: Why dogs hate Halloween, Just in time for Christmas, Humor for English majors, and Punnies


and


Donate to a good cause: read "the story of a 9-year-old girl who teaches us adults about maturity truly renews our faith in humanity" at The New York Times, Rachel’s Last Fund-Raiser.

I'll discuss anything, but expect a no mercy take-down if you are a shrieking hatemonger of right-wing rhetoric and partisan hackery, pandering to fear, anger and hatred, because the truth sure makes it hard out there for the party pimps.

So tune-in, call-in, but only if you can handle the truth and some ass kickin' discussion of politics and current events.

Is the Republi-CON Race a Joke?

Is Cain "a mass practical joke of some type — 'Hey, let’s goof on the pollster and tell him 'Cain'!'

Or is Cain the 'none of the above' vote for those Republicans who haven’t decided to relent and back former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney but who can’t manage to utter the name of any other Republican contender for president?"

Read the Washington Post, A practical joke by GOP voters?, which concludes, "for those who think the presidential race is more important and more consequential than a reality show, they have to console themselves that Republican voters, when they actually get around to voting, will look for someone who seems to understand that comic relief is no reason to vote for a presidential candidate."

A Republi-CON 'My Family Escaped Communism' Myth

UPDATE II: Looks like Rubio also pressured Univision, a Spanish-language TV network based in South Florida to kill a story "on the 1987 drug-trafficking arrest of Rubio’s brother-in-law." Read the Washington Post, Marco Rubio on national ticket could be risky bet for Republican Party.

You may remember in 2010 it was reported that he "charged grocery bills, repairs to the family minivan and purchases from a wine store less than a mile from his West Miami home to the Republican Party of Florida while he was speaker of the Florida House."

That's why I call'em Republi-CONs!


UPDATE: Read more about it, at the St. Petersburg Times, Documents give shape to Marco Rubio's family history but raise new questions.

"During his rise to political prominence, Sen. Marco Rubio frequently repeated a compelling version of his family’s history that had special resonance in South Florida. He was the “son of exiles,” he told audiences, Cuban Americans forced off their beloved island after “a thug,” Fidel Castro, took power.

But a review of documents — including naturalization papers and other official records — reveals that the Florida Republican’s account embellishes the facts. The documents show that Rubio’s parents came to the United States and were admitted for permanent residence more than 2 1 / 2 years b efore Castro’s forces overthrew the Cuban government and took power on New Year’s Day 1959."

Read the Washington Post, Marco Rubio’s compelling family story embellishes facts, documents show.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Republi-CON Small Government Hypocrisy

"House Republicans usually claim to be champions of both small government and states’ rights, which makes it hypocritical, and downright reckless, that they are obsessed with taking away the authority of states to decide who is allowed to carry a concealed and loaded handgun." Read The New York Times, So Much for Small Government.

An Iraq What-Might-Have-Been

UPDATE: An article sure to get the Bushies riled.

"Who would have predicted it? Barack Obama has turned out to be so much more adept at implementing George W. Bush’s foreign policy than Bush was, but he is less adept at implementing his own. The reasons, though, are obvious.

In his own way, President Obama has brought the country to the right strategy for Bush’s “war on terrorism.” It is a serious, focused combination of global intelligence coordination, targeted killing of known terrorists and limited interventions — like Libya — that leverage popular forces on the ground and allies, as well as a judicious use of U.S. power, so that we keep the costs and risks down.

Read The New York Times, Barack Kissinger Obama, which notes:

"No doubt George Bush and Dick Cheney thought that both Iraq and Afghanistan would be precisely such focused, limited operations. Instead, they each turned out to be like a bad subprime mortgage — a small down payment with a huge balloon five years down the road. They thought they would be able to “flip” the house before the balloon came due. But partly because of their incompetence and lack of planning, it took much longer to flip the house to new owners and the price America paid was huge. Iraq may still have a decent outcome — I hope so, and it would be important — but even if it becomes Switzerland, we overpaid for it.

So let’s be clear: Up to now, as a commander in chief in the war on terrorism, Obama and his national security team have been so much smarter, tougher and cost-efficient in keeping the country safe than the “adults” they replaced. It isn’t even close, which is why the G.O.P.’s elders have such a hard time admitting it."

The remainder of the article is worth reading.

A sad day for our resident Pastor-to-the-Dictators.

"The death of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi is the latest victory for a new American approach to war: few if any troops on the ground, the heavy use of air power, including drones, and, at least in the case of Libya, a reliance on allies." Read The New York Times, Another Victory for a New Approach to War.

It is also interesting to compare the efforts in Libya to Iraq.

Again, it reaffirms my support for an openly debated and conducted assassination policy for rogue dictators.

Spreading Slanderous Lies, And Supporting A Group That Massacres and Enslaves Women and Children

The fact-free anti-Obama conspiracy du jour: "Before researching the Lord's Resistance Army, Rush Limbaugh accuses Barack Obama of killing Christians in Uganda." Watch the Colbert Report, Rush Limbaugh's L.R.A. Research:



FYI, the LRA has been "accused of widespread human rights violations, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children and forcing children to participate in hostilities."

So many lies, so little time to refudiate.

Did Steve Jobs' Faith in Alternative Remedies Kill Him?

UPDATE II: An interesting but sad article, about "Steve Jobs [who] created what Shakespeare called 'the brightest heaven of invention.' But his life sounded like the darkest hell of volatility." Read The New York Times, The Limits of Magical Thinking.


UPDATE: And what alternative remedies did he try, against the advice of family and friends, "a vegan diet, acupuncture, herbal remedies and other treatments he found online, and even consulted a psychic. He also was influenced by a doctor who ran a clinic that advised juice fasts, bowel cleansings and other unproven approaches, the book says, before finally having surgery. Read the Washington Post, New book suggests Jobs rebelled his whole life and threatened ‘thermonuclear war’ vs. Google.

Did he use a Mac or an iPad to do those searches?

"Steve Jobs had a mild form of cancer that is not usually fatal, but seems to have ushered along his own death by delaying conventional treatment in favor of alternative remedies, a Harvard Medical School researcher and faculty member says. Jobs's intractability, so often his greatest asset, may have been his undoing." Read Gawker, Steve Jobs Probably Doomed Himself With Alternative Medicine.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

CSI Dog Poop

UPDATE II: "A Fairfax County woman has been found not guilty of violating the pooper scooper law" Read the Washington Post, Dogwalker not guilty in unscooped dog poop trial, where you follow the trial via tweets.

Can't wait to see the movie.

Here is a picture of Baxter the dog:



Do you think that cute face swayed the jury?


UPDATE: "A dispute between neighbors in Fairfax County over that perennial suburban pet peeve — unscooped dog poop — has grown so big that the case is set to go to a jury Tuesday." Read the Washington Post, Fairfax neighbors head to court over unscooped dog poop.

"Some apartment complexes are using advances in DNA identification to deter dog owners who don’t pick up after their pets." Read The New York Times, Tracing Unscooped Dog Waste to the Culprit.

A Local Example of Corrupt Crony Capitalism?

The local paper is reporting that "Pensacola-based H2 Performance Consulting . . . [is] one of several key contractors awarded an estimated $12 billion Veteran Affairs contract." Read the Pensacola News Journal, Pensacola firm, partner land huge VA contract and H2 Consulting lands part of VA contract worth $12 billion total.

Coincidentally enough, the chairmen of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs represents Pensacola in Congress.

And anyone who thinks that this is a coincidence is naive.

The Republi-CON Stimulus Myth

UPDATE VIII: In the third and fourth quarters of 2008, U.S. economic output "fell by 3.7% and 8.9%, respectively, not at 0.5% and 3.8% as believed at the time. Employment was also falling much faster than estimated. Some 820,000 jobs were lost in January, rather than the 598,000 then reported. In the three months prior to the passage of stimulus, the economy cut loose 2.2m workers, not 1.8m. In January, total employment was already 1m workers below the level shown in the official data. . .

What's striking to me is that as new data have revealed the true dimensions of the 2008 collapse, the public's perception of events hasn't much changed. Critics still jeer the stimulus for its failure to deliver promised results, despite the now-obvious inadequacy of the package. Few in Washington seem willing to discuss how drastically officials underreacted in 2009, and how the results of that underreaction are still with us, waiting for a more appropriate policy response. I don't know which tragedy is the more troubling: the failure to see the true scope of the disaster when accurate numbers weren't available, or the failure to see it now that they are."

Read The Economist, Flying blind.

One conservative colunmist, a former Bush economic speechwriter, has called the decline "at -3.7% and -8.9%: Great Depression territory" and wonders "Were Our Enemies Right?"


UPDATE VII: "If Republicans dislike monetary stimulus, they loathe its fiscal cousin even more, routinely labeling Obama’s stimulus as ineffective, or worse, counterproductive. They want balanced budgets, the sooner the better. . .

That would be tolerable if a recovery were well entrenched by 2013 — but would constitute a major headwind if growth remained tepid. A shift toward fiscal and monetary austerity in the United States in 1937 helped prolong the depression. Fiscal tightening helped push Japan back into recession in 1997. "

Read the Washington Post, The Republicans’ new voodoo economics.


UPDATE VI: J.P. Morgan has warned of "a 'policy-induced slowdown.' Another way of saying that is we’re entering an unnecessary [politically-caused economic] slowdown." Read the Washington Post, A ‘policy-induced slowdown’.

Republi-cons want Obama to fail, the American economy is just acceptable collateral damage to achieve that goal.


UPDATE V: "Washington has been obsessing over deficits and debt ceilings while the economy crumbles." Read The New York Times, The Wrong Worries, which notes:

"Republicans won’t stop screaming about the deficit because they weren’t sincere in the first place: Their deficit hawkery was a club with which to beat their political opponents, nothing more — as became obvious whenever any rise in taxes on the rich was suggested. And they’re not going to give up that club."


UPDATE IV: "It has been three decades since the United States suffered a recession that followed on the heels of the previous one. But it could be happening again." Read The New York Times, Time to Say It: Double Dip Recession May Be Happening.

I've been warning of a Republi-con double-dip recession since February 2011.

Republi-cons want Obama to fail, the American economy is just acceptable collateral damage to achieve that goal.


UPDATE III: "Fresh signs of weakness in the economies of the United States and Europe send global markets plummeting." Read the Washington Post, Stocks plunge as investors fret about Europe, US economy.


UPDATE II: "America’s real crisis is not a debt crisis. It’s an unemployment crisis. Yet this agreement not only doesn’t address unemployment, it’s guaranteed to make it worse." Read The New York Times, Tea Party’s War on America, which ends:

For now, the Tea Party Republicans can put aside their suicide vests. But rest assured: They’ll have them on again soon enough. After all, they’ve gotten so much encouragement.

All part of the Republi-CON's economic no recovery plan: destroy jobs and pay workers less.

Thank God we saved the Banksters, but why?


UPDATE: The debt ceiling deal farce includes these losers:

"The unemployed: In the 2010 tax deal, Democrats managed to expand and extend unemployment benefits through 2011. This deal lets them expire at the end of the year. That means that barring some later rescue, $60 billion in support for the jobless will evaporate Dec. 31, 2011. That’s not only a huge blow to the uninsured themselves, but it removes some much-needed economic support from a teetering economy. Speaking of which ...

The economy: 'The nation’s political leaders agreed on Sunday to spend and invest less money in the American economy, a step that economists said risks the reversal of a faltering recovery.' Does that sound like the beginning of an Onion piece? Sorry, it’s actually the first sentence of an article in today’s New York Times. And it’s true. Last week, we learned that the economy had been much weaker than we had thought over the past three years, and that the recovery was continuing to sputter because businesses, governments, and individuals weren’t spending enough. So what are we doing? We’re letting the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits expire, which will further cut spending among individuals. We’re cutting government spending, which will remove that source of demand. And we’re somehow assuming that businesses will invest more even though their government contracts just got canceled and their customers just saw their paychecks and benefits shrink."

Read the Washington Post, Winners and losers: policy edition.

"[T]he financial crisis was much, much more severe than we’d thought—the economy actually shrank at a 7.8 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009, not 5.9 percent as originally believed.

Then, Congress passed the stimulus bill, the fall in growth dwindled to 0.7 percent in the second quarter, and, by the third quarter of 2009, we had 1.7 percent growth. 'We went from negative to positive at precisely the time that the stimulus was providing maximum benefit in terms of tax cuts and spending increases,' [Moody’s chief economist Mark] Zandi says. 'The numbers actually reinforce the importance of the stimulus in jump-starting a recovery.' What the stimulus didn’t do, however, was raise employment to the levels that the White House had predicted — partly because the economy was in worse shape than anyone, even the official data-crunchers, knew.

Of course, the stimulus only lasted two years, winding down in the end of 2010. And what happened then? As Dean Baker, an economist at the Center on Economic and Policy Research observes, 'The downward revision to the first quarter data coupled with the revision of the fourth quarter growth to 2.3 percent from 3.1 percent, suggests that the winding down of the stimulus has seriously dampened growth.' Zandi agrees: 'If fiscal policy had simply stayed neutral, the numbers suggest we would have had around 2 percent growth these past two quarters, which isn’t great, but it’s a lot better than what we actually had.' Except fiscal policy wasn’t neutral—it was shrinking. The stimulus wound down, that extra government spending started disappearing, and, with it, economic growth dwindled."

Read the Washington Post, What the new GDP numbers tell us about stimulus.

Republi-cons wanted Obama to fail, the American economy is just acceptable collateral damage to achieve that goal.

New World Order, Inc.

As Wikipedia notes: conspiracy theories are "a collection of the most popular unproven theories related but not limited to clandestine government plans, elaborate murder plots, suppression of secret technology and knowledge, and other supposed schemes behind certain political, cultural, and historical events. . .

Conspiracy theories usually go against a consensus or cannot be proven using the
historical method."

However, "AS PROTESTS against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters' worst fears. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy."

Read NewScientist, Revealed – the capitalist network that runs the world.

Surprise, surprise, surprise, NOT, the list includes many companies that benefited from the U.S. government bailouts, and continue to benefit from other ongoing government bailouts.

More proof of that corrupt crony capitalism that Palin talked about.

Hats off to newshound Tammy for finding the NewScientist article.

Monday, October 24, 2011

The EuroMess

UPDATE IV: The 2008 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics thinks "[i]t's looking more and more as if the euro system is doomed as one rescue plan after another falls flat and a vicious circle takes hold." Read The New York Times, The Hole in Europe's Bucket.


UPDATE III: For "a visual guide to the crisis," see The New York Times, It's All Connected: An Overview of the Euro Crisis:




UPDATE II: "In 2012, it may well be the European economy, dummkopf." Read the Washington Post, How Europe could steer the 2012 election.


UPDATE: "In the best case, a bailout of troubled banks and governments could keep the financial system from experiencing a major shock, though easing the huge debt could take years." Read The New York Times, In European Crisis, Experts See Little Hope for a Quick Fix.

"Think of the burgeoning economic crisis in Europe as the anti-Vegas: What happens there doesn’t necessarily stay there. The impact could spread just about everywhere, especially the United States."

Read the Washington Post, Everything you need to know about the European debt crisis in one post, Lachmann: 'What’s really at stake here is the European banking system', What happens in Europe doesn’t stay in Europe, Farrell: "The fundamental problem here is a profoundly political problem", and Reinhart: 'The outlook is dire, but it’s not end-of-the-world dire.'

Also read The New York Times, What Would It Take to Save Europe?

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Would Jesus Occupy Wall Street?

"[T]he tents, the damp sleeping bags, the communal kitchen. . . the occupiers, who have been derided by their opponents as a ragtag group of tax evaders, interested only in sex, drugs and rock and roll?. . .

The Jesus of history would love them all. What Jesus really said, and what he meant, are the subjects of culture’s greatest controversies, but one thing is sure. Jesus gave preferential treatment to society’s outcasts. Lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes — all would attain heaven before the ordained elites. Jesus believed that God was about to right the world’s wrongs with a great upheaval — soon — and at that time, a radical reversal of the social order would occur. As he says in the gospels, the meek will inherit the earth.

Jesus would have sympathy, too, with the occupiers’ first complaint: that in America, the poorest have too little and the richest too much. In first-century Judea, a powerful ruling class held nearly all the wealth and most people lived at subsistence levels.

'Jesus believed the whole system was corrupt,' says Bart Ehrman, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina. 'The people who ran things were empowered by the evil forces of the world, and his followers had to work against these powers by feeding the hungry, housing the homeless and caring for the sick.' Jesus had a fit when he saw the money changers in the Temple and turned over their tables — a dramatization, Ehrman says, of the reversal that was imminent. . .

If the Jesus of history could wander the precincts held by the occupiers, 'he’d see his people,' says Marisa Egerstrom, a graduate student at Harvard University who organized a posse of chaplains to volunteer at Occupy sites. 'I think he would be pretty pleased.'"

Read the Washington Post, Jesus at Occupy Wall Street: 'I feel like I've been here before'.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Local Republi-Con Fiscal Conservative Hypocrisy

UPDATE III: Read the Pensacola New Journal, Commissioners vote for investigation; Gibbs to be removed from job.


UPDATE II: Our own local 'I am not a crook' moment. Read the Pensacola News Journal, County Commissioner Robertson: 'I am a man of ethics'.

As I said earlier, Commissioner Robertson should resign and save the voters the trouble of voting him out of office.


UPDATE: More stores. Read the Pensacola News Journal, Wilson Robertson, partner hit with code violations for land used by Forrest Gibbs, Escambia Commissioner Robertson in on internal meeting, and Grover Robinson: Gibbs' hiring 'invalid', which includes this backstory:

"In April, county commissioners created an Equestrian Center marketing and promotions coordinator position with hopes of eliminating the subsidy of the facility.

The job was publicly advertised online from May 27 to June 30, with a salary range of $44,803 to $51,521. The lower amount was more than people in eight other comparable jobs across the state earn, according to the county's survey.

Applicant Forrest Gibbs listed County Commissioner Wilson Robertson as a reference. Gibbs' work background is in road construction and heavy equipment sales; he has virtually no marketing or promotions experience. . .

Assistant County Administrator Larry Newsom, one of three selection committee members, said Robertson contacted him to advocate for Gibbs while applications were still being received. . .

The committee interviewed the candidates during the last two weeks of July, then on Aug. 2 notified Gibbs that he was the No. 1 choice.

Gibbs said the salary range was too low and asked to be paid $75,000. During August and part of September, the committee haggled over how much to pay him and whether it was legal to go over the advertised range.

On Sept. 12, Gibbs was offered the job for $63,000, plus $17,000 in benefits. Newsom made the final decision. . .

Robertson and a real estate partner, Lamar Brazwell, own an undeveloped piece of land on Nine Mile Road from which a pile of milled asphalt is being sold. The asphalt is owned by Brazwell and Gibbs; a sign on the property gives Gibbs' cellphone number for delivery of the asphalt. Robertson and Brazwell are paid $1,250 per month in recent by Gibbs to store the asphalt on their land.

On Sept. 20, County Code Enforcement cited Brazwell and Robertson with code violations because the pile must be screened with a 6-foot, opaque fence or vegetative buffering."

Do Republi-con politicians go to the same school for corrupt stupidness? You may remember this:

In Wisconsin, Republi-con Gov. Scott Walker says that "the state is broke and public employees are overpaid." So what does he do, hire a 20-something year old with "no college degree, very little management experience and two drunken-driving convictions" as the Department of Commerce bureau director of board services, a job that paid $64,728 a year.

Next convert the Department of Commerce to a public-private hybrid and give the young man a pay raise of more than $16,500 a year after only a couple of months with the state.

But this was no 'ordinary' young man, he is the son of an important campaign donor.

Now here locally, we have reports of similar nepotism. Read the Pensacola News Journal, County's new hire for Equestrian Center rides high, Ties to commissioner bring Equestrian Center pick -- and his high salary -- into question and Commissioner Robertson's push for Gibbs not new, Robertson lobbied for Gibbs in 2009, county staff member says.

More proof that "the instinct to favor family [and friends] never disappears and will reassert itself whenever possible."

Be that as it may, Commissioner Robertson should resign and save the voters the trouble of voting him out of office.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Class Today at NoBullU on WEBY

Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!

NoBullU will broadcast today from 4:05 to 6:00 p.m. at 1330 AM WEBY and on line.

Topics:

Local Business/Event Shout-Out: TBD.


Follow-up: see below;


Fact-free fantasies of the shrieking hatemongers of right-wing rhetoric and partisan hackery: a statement was made this morning the British 'foisted' slavery on America, all part of the fundamentalist subculture of ignorance that embraces 'discredited, ridiculous and even dangerous ideas'

One was gays in the military, funny thing, the world's still turning, not even a hurricane, earthquake or an oil well

Coincidentally enough, the end of the world, again, just after the Fact-Free Friday Show with our so-claimed viral Pastor

And don't be duped by the Birthers, including our very own Pastor Dred Scott (you may remember the infamous Dred Scott decision of 1857, which asserted that African Americans were "beings of an inferior order" who "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." That ruling declared that African Americans could never be U.S. citizens and therefore could never be President),

See The Fogbow, "your best resource for debunking the lies of the 'birther' movement and discussing the birther antics" and WhatsYourEvidence.com, there is even a Birther Case Scorecard, 0-80 for the birthers;


Local and regional: hasta la vista, when do I get my hurrican insurance refund, and local Republi-Con fiscal conservative hypocrisy;


National and international: I'm waiting, where's the balanced budget, don't hold you breath because the Republi-CONs Con the Tea Party, there'll be no $100 billion budget cut, and let's admit the obvious, the Republi-CONs are not serious about deficits, and who's responsible for the debt

To balance the budget, do nothing

Republi-CON Congressional spending bills hypocrisy, not to be confused with Republi-CON constitutional authority hypocrisy, or Republi-CON laissez-faire hypocrisy

Facts v. Republi-CON tax myths

Where are those 'invisible [Republi-CON] bond vigilantes'

Our politically induced economic stagnation, part of the Republi-CON war on the middle class

Hello globalization, goodbye jobs

It's China, stupid

Told ya so: economic stimulus

The Republi-CON stimulus myth

The myth of expansionary austerity

Let's play the Republi-CON game of 'spot the contradiction', can you explain the Republi-CON contradiction as regards the economy, the debt ceiling, or deficits, or national security, or health care costs, or or even jobs

About the Republi-CON war on the middle class

More on the Republi-CON war on the middle class

Better, not just less, government

The Republi-CON 'taxes and regulations are killing business' myth, now it dwarf tossing, what next, baby juggling?

Republi-CONs in their Delusion-land

Is the 'Great Recession' God's punishment for American greed?

Beware federal pensioners, your day of reckoning is coming

The Great Stagnation' and our broken political system

The EuroMess


Great quote on so-called government wisdom

And courtesy of Tammy, a great quote on politicians and their corporate overlords


And the Republi-CON Race is cont., to find America’s Not-Mitt

Still searching for the ideal Republican candidate: conservative, interested, electable

Does faith matter?

A NoBullU prediction: Romney-Cain in 2012

About the Republi-CON war on the middle class

Republi-CONs might start with those Solyndra half truths

Did the tea so-called party debate pass the test of 'limited government, free markets, and fiscal responsibility'

The Republi-CON 'social security is a ponzi scheme' myth and The Republi-CON I'd be a millionaire if it wasn't for social security myth

The Republi-CON 'Obama's a socalist' myth


Does Palin have a point about the corrupt crony capitalism

Moral confusion and public health illiteracy


2 to 1 in the COA, health care lawsuit update

Why the individual mandate, because Ron Paul is a hypocrite


and

Am I a felon?

Did Steve Jobs' faith in alternative remedies kill him?

Those not so good ol' days

Big brother is watching you,

The myth of voter fraud


Fun stuff: Why dogs hate Halloween, Just in time for Christmas, Humor for English majors, and Punnies


and


Donate to a good cause: read "the story of a 9-year-old girl who teaches us adults about maturity truly renews our faith in humanity" at The New York Times, Rachel’s Last Fund-Raiser.

I'll discuss anything, but expect a no mercy take down if you are a shrieking hatemonger of right-wing rhetoric and partisan hackery, pandering to fear, anger and hatred, because the truth sure makes it hard out there for the party pimps.

So tune-in, call-in, but only if you can handle the truth and some ass kickin' discussion of politics and current events.

The World's Still Turning

I would have thought that according to Pastor Truthiness (formerly known as Pastor Poppins), all sorts of horrible events attributable to God's wrath would have befallen the country by now. (Presuming, of course, that if is after October 21, 2011 the world didn't end.)

But DADT ended September 20, 2011 and I bet the world is still turning, no matter when you read this. Read Yahoo! News, Active duty gays say coming out has been nonevent.

Another Republi-con myth bites the dust.

Does Faith Matter?

UPDATE: Perry discussing Romney’s Mormonism: "And this country is based on, as Newt talked about, these values that are so important as we go forward, and the idea that we should not have our freedom of religion, to be taken away by any means.

The whole First Amendment thing might be a little complicated for a governor whose State Constitution prohibits anyone who doesn’t believe in God from holding public office. This is not a joke.
"

Article. VI., Clause 3 of the Constitution states: "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

Nevertheless, should voters consider 'a candidate’s faith.' Read the Washington Post, Why a candidate’s faith matters.

Some think not. Read the Washington Post, Romney and America’s promise of religious freedom.

It's China, Stupid

UPDATE IV: "A bill that could impose tariffs on Chinese exports would trigger a trade war and distract the United States from the real issues it faces." Read The New York Times, Imagined in America.

Maybe, but China must allow free trade in its currency.


UPDATE III: "Ask yourself: Why is it so hard to restore full employment? . . .

The answer is that we used to run much smaller trade deficits. A return to economic health would look much more achievable if we weren’t spending $500 billion more each year on imported goods and services than foreigners spent on our exports."

Read The New York Times, Holding China to Account.


UPDATE II: Finally, someone sees the economic benefit of "crack[ing] down on China’s currency practices." Read the Washington Post, The China stimulus.


UPDATE: Want to know how 'Made in China ' is displacing North American made goods big time? The Emma Maersk. I first posted about this impressive weapon in the war against the middle class in April 2009 and I recently got another email about her, which reminded me:

"This monster transports goods across the Pacific in just 5 days!! This is one of three ships presently in service, with another two ships commissioned to be completed in 2012.

These ships were commissioned by Wal-Mart to get all their goods and stuff from China . They hold an incredible 15,000 containers and have a 207 foot deck beam!! The full crew is just 13 people on a ship longer than a US Aircraft Carrier (which has a crew of 5,000.)

A documentary in 2010 on the History Channel noted that all of these containers are shipped back to China , EMPTY. Yep, that's right. We send nothing back on these ships. What does that tell you about the current financial state of this country? Just keep buying those imported goods (mostly gadgets) until you run out of money.

Then you may wonder what the cause of unemployment (maybe even your job) in the U.S. and Canada might be????

'Nuff said ??"

Over the weekend, in a statement full of irony, China, the "largest foreign holder of American debt . . . lecture[d] Washington to get its fiscal house in order."

But, as the Wall Street Journal notes, "who are the Chinese kidding with their chest-pounding economic nationalism?"

China "is ignoring that America's real problem is sustained international trade imbalances." Read The New York Times, U.S. Debt Is Not the Culprit, which notes that the "root of global instability still lies in trade imbalances and currency values, and the need for adjustments in both Asia and the United States."

There is an easy way to resolve our government budget woes, end unfair trade practices, including Chinese currency manipulation.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Those Not So Good Ol' Days

For those who pine for the good ol' days, read The New York Times, Is Violence History?, which notes "that our current era is less violent, less cruel and more peaceful than any previous period of human existence." It also explains why homicide rates are "higher in the southerly states of this country than in northern ones."

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Am I a Felon?

UPDATE: What if I was lying, not about my age or weight on an Internet dating site, but about receiving the Medal of Honor? Read the Washington Post, Supreme Court to review free speech issue on lying about military honors.


"Imagine that President Obama could order the arrest of anyone who broke a promise on the Internet. So you could be jailed for lying about your age or weight on an Internet dating site. Or you could be sent to federal prison if your boss told you to work but you used the company's computer to check sports scores online. Imagine that Eric Holder's Justice Department urged Congress to raise penalties for violations, making them felonies allowing three years in jail for each broken promise. Fanciful, right?

Think again. Congress is now poised to grant the Obama administration's wishes in the name of 'cybersecurity.'"

Read the Wall Street Journal, Should Faking a Name on Facebook Be a Felony?

More Republi-CON Family Values Hypocrisy

UPDATE: An update on a Republi-con hypocrite. Yes, I know, another tautology, like criminal Republi-con or narcissistic politician or stupid politician.) Read The New York Times, G.O.P. Freshman’s Fiscal Message Clashes With His Finances.

"Freshman U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, a tax-bashing Tea Party champion who sharply lectures President Barack Obama and other Democrats on fiscal responsibility, owes more than $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children, according to documents his ex-wife filed in their divorce case in December." Read the Chicago Sun-Times, Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh sued for $100,000 in child support.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Sub Today at NoBullU on WEBY

Usually on Thursdays you can listen to me, the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- no political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!

But I can't make it today. I'll be back next week to deprogram you.

Big Brother is Watching You

UPDATE III: As I've said for years, big brother is watching you. Read MSNBC, German officials admit using spyware on citizens, as Big Brother scandal grows.


UPDATE II: The government doesn't even need location data from cellphone towers if it uses 'a little known cellphone-tracking device.' Read the Wall Street Journal, 'Stingray' Phone Tracker Fuels Constitutional Clash.


UPDATE: "In a series of rulings on the use of satellites and cellphones to track criminal suspects, judges around the country have been citing George Orwell’s '1984' to sound an alarm. They say the Fourth Amendment’s promise of protection from government invasion of privacy is in danger of being replaced by the futuristic surveillance state Orwell described. . .

Last month, Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the Federal District Court in Brooklyn turned down a government request for 113 days of location data from cellphone towers, citing 'Orwellian intrusion' and saying the courts must 'begin to address whether revolutionary changes in technology require changes to existing Fourth Amendment doctrine.'

The Supreme Court is about to do just that. In November, it will hear arguments in United States v. Jones, No. 10-1259, the most important Fourth Amendment case in a decade. The justices will address a question that has divided the lower courts: Do the police need a warrant to attach a GPS device to a suspect's car and track its movements for weeks at a time?"

Read The New York Times, Court Case Asks if 'Big Brother' Is Spelled GPS.

Should a warrant be required before the government can monitor your movement? Read DailyTech.com, Obama Administration Fights to Allow Warrantless GPS Tracking.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Humor For English Majors

Once again, the Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternative meanings for common words.

Some winners:

1. Coffee (n), the person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted (adj), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade (v), to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly (adj), impotent.

6. Negligent (adj), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.

7. Lymph (v), to walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle (n), olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence (n) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash (n), a rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle (n), a humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude (n), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.

14. Oyster (n), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism (n), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Circumvent (n), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

The Washington Post's Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are some winners:

1. Bozone (n): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

2. Foreploy (v): Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

3. Cashtration (n): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

4. Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

5. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

6. Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

7. Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.

8. Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

9. Karmageddon (n): its like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

10. Decafalon (n): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

11. Glibido (v): All talk and no action.

12. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

13. Arachnoleptic fit (n): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

14. Beelzebug (n): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

15. Caterpallor (n): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.

And the pick of the literature:

16. Ignoranus (n): A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

Friday, October 7, 2011

ShakesPalin Hired By Hedgehod News 'Cause She Was Hot and Got Ratings'

Does anyone know how many Nobel Prize winners work for Hedgehog News (which falsely uses the name FOXNews)? Read the Washington Post, Fox News's Roger Ailes: 'I hired Sarah Palin because she was hot'.

Punnies

From an email:

If electricity comes from electrons... does that mean that morality comes from morons?

A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking.

A pessimist's blood type is always B-negative.

My wife really likes to make pottery, but to me it's just kiln time.

Dijon vu --the same mustard as before.

Practice safe eating--always use condiments.

I fired my masseuse today. She just rubbed me the wrong way.

Shotgun wedding--a case of wife or death.

I used to work in a blanket factory, but it folded.

I used to be a lumberjack, but I just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the axe.

A man needs a mistress just to break the monogamy.

Marriage is the mourning after the knot before.

A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

Corduroy pillows are making headlines.

Is a book on voyeurism a peeping tome?

Dancing cheek-to-cheek is really a form of floor play.

Banning the bra was a big flop.

Sea captains don't like crew cuts.

A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumor.

Without geometry, life is pointless.

When you dream in color, it's a pigment of your imagination.

Reading whilst sunbathing makes you well-red.

My wife has manopause--she keeps stopping me from starting.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Sub Today at NoBullU on WEBY

Usually on Thursdays you can listen to me, the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- no political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!

But I can't make it today. I'll be back in two weeks to deprogram you.

Only Eleven

"America needs to rally.

Jobs are pitifully scarce. Incomes are falling. The U.S. government, like many American families, has taken on too much debt. The hangover from a brutal recession now looks like it could last for years, with the once-dominant U.S. economy sliding into a chronic state of disrepair.

During pivotal moments in the past, Congress has helped steer the nation back toward prosperity with bipartisan action like the tax reforms of 1986 and the welfare reform that passed a decade later. In 2008, Congress passed emergency bank-bailout legislation that turned out to be unpopular, but probably saved the nation from a financial meltdown and the first depression since the 1930s.

These days, however, Congress has lost its mojo."

Read U.S. News, 11 Things Wrong With Congress.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Is the 'Great Recession' God's Punishment for American Greed?

Some ministers are taking on the big economic issues of the day, "inspired by the example of Jesus, who angered the powerful by condemning the economic exploitation of the poor, religious scholars say. His teachings are seen throughout the New Testament in parables such as 'The Rich Man and Lazarus.'" Read, CNN, Preachers confront 'last taboo': Condemning greed amid Great Recession. Wikipedia link added.]