Escapa

The object of the game is to move the red block around without getting hit by the blue blocks or touching the black walls. Click and hold the red square. Now, move it so that you neither touch the walls nor get hit by any of the blue blocks.

If you make it to 18 seconds, you are doing brilliantly!

Give it a try but be careful...it is addictive

Up, Up and Away

Police Misconduct, False Confessions and Unethical Prosecutions

UPDATE II: Another fabricated confessions. Read CNN, Mentally challenged man freed 14 years after false confession.


UPDATE: Another case where "the prosecution had essentially framed [two men] for murder by knowingly procuring false testimony." Read Sports Illustrated, Terry Harrington spent 25 years in jail for crime he didn't commit.

Another great expose' of the criminal justice system, by PBS Frontline. Watch The Confessions, about the Norfolk Four.

Real Dogsledding

When it snows, go sledding:

SOTU

Politics today, this pretty much says it all:



Needs no additional comments.

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, Morning Mike will sub. I'll be back next week to deprogram you.

Until then, watch the hilarious photo booth, guaranteed to make you laugh, especially the last one:

Hilarious Photo-Booth!
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

How to Find Mr./Ms. Happily Ever After

"[H]ow many dates do you have to go on to find 'the one'? And how do you know for sure that once you do meet Mr. or Ms. Right, a more attractive, more compatible prospect won’t pop up right around the corner?" Science can help. Read CNN, Dating with science on your side.

Who Controls End-of-Life Decisions?

The State or you? Read The New York Times, Unflinching End-of-Life Moments, which reviews an HBO documentary about assisted suicide, "How to Die in Oregon."

Myth of the Hero Gunslinger

UPDATE: What do others studies show? What other studies? "Researchers who study guns and violence say the influence of the group has all but choked off funds." Read The New York Times, N.R.A. Stymies Firearms Research, Scientists Say.

Your ignorance is the NRA's bliss.

"New studies, and perhaps the example of the Tucson shootings, suggest that a better-armed population actually makes us less safe." Read The New York Times, Myth of the Hero Gunslinger.

Health Care Lawsuit Score: US 2 - VA 1

UPDATE V: Trivia: The first U.S. law that included an individual mandate was the Militia Acts of 1792. What was the second?

Read Forbes, Congress Passes Socialized Medicine and Mandates Health Insurance -In 1798.


UPDATE IV: Add Iowa, Ohio, Kansas, Wyoming, Wisconsin and Maine to the lawsuit.


UPDATE III: Today it is US v. FL, SC, NE, TX, UT, LA, AL, MI, CO, PA, WA, ID, SD, IN, ND, MS, AZ, NV, GA, and AL. Read the Washington Post, Florida judge to rule on health-care challenge by states.


UPDATE II: "Twenty-four lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordability Act are working their way through federal courts around the country. The cases contest many aspects of the law beyond the one that has drawn the greatest attention: the requirement that most Americans carry health insurance starting in 2014. Most of the suits still are before district court judges, but a few already have been ruled on and are being appealed to federal circuit courts. Legal experts predict that one or more of these cases eventually will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court." Track some of the cases at the Washington Post, Status of legal challenges to Obama health care overhaul.


UPDATE: It's all about the individual mandate. Read the Washington Post, Is the Hudson ruling good news for health reform?, Cutting off your policies to spite your opponents, and A world without an individual mandate.

And what U.S. law required the first individual mandate. Read the Militia Acts of 1792.

A federal judge in Virgina, with a long history in Republi-con politics, has ruled that "Congress went too far by requiring most Americans to obtain insurance, a key provision of the health care overhaul that passed muster in two prior court challenges." Read The New York Times, Health Care Law Ruled Unconstitutional.

To read the opinion, click here. To read some of the other recent court documents, click here.

A Guy Fairy Tale

From an email:

Once upon a time, a Prince asked a beautiful Princess... "Will you marry me?"

The Princess said "NO!"

And the Prince lived happily ever after and rode motorcycles, and went fishing and hunting and played golf, and dated women half his age and drank beer and scotch, and had tons of money in the bank and left the toilet seat up.

The End

My What Bright Teeth You Have!

"Teens could soon be wandering around with a new fashion accessory that adds glowing LED lights to their teeth." Read The New York Times, New Japanese Fashion: LED Lights for Your Teeth.

How is Your Technology?

More Bailout Bull Revelations

"You would think at this point that there would be nothing left to be outraged about when it comes to government bailouts. But the more bailout rocks you turn over, the more well-connected players you find who aren't being forced to pay the full price of their mistakes." Read the Washington Post,
Old GMAC shareholders are winners after bailout.

So "[w]hy can't those who face foreclosure get the same sorts of help as bankrupt companies?" Read The New York Times, What’s Good for G.M. Is Good For Homeowners.

Needless Rules?

Needless rules, "reviled by some are cherished by others." Would it have prevented a
Gulf Shores mother from running over 4-year-old daughter at an Okaloosa RV park?
Read The New York Times, Obama Is Latest to Hunt for Elusive 'Dumb' Rules.

China, Rogue Economic Superpower

UPDATE II: "Is "our newest economic superpower may indeed be on its way to some kind of economic crisis, with collateral damage to the world as a whole. " Read The New York Times, China Goes to Nixon.


UPDATE: "Here we go again.

China's Supreme Leader visits Washington, and administration officials declare in the run-up to the visit that the United States has had quite enough of Beijing's currency-manipulating, intellectual- property-stealing, domestic- industry-subsidizing policies. . .

By week's end, Americans finally turn their attentions back to the more pressing issue of whether the Jets can really make it to the Super Bowl.

So far, this week's visit by President Hu Jintao has pretty much followed the script."

Read the Washington Post, Chinese follow same old script (and they get the punch line).

"China’s rare-earth monopoly is yet another example of its refusal to play by the rules." Read The New York Times, Rare and Foolish.

And China laughs all the way to the bank.

But all is not lost, yet. we could "use tariffs to counter Beijing’s unfair export subsidies." Read The New York Times, For Our China Trade Emergency, Dial Section 301.

Class Today at NoBullU on WEBY

UPDATE: Regarding thimerosal in vaccines, see the FDA Thimerosal in Vaccines Questions and Answers.

Tammy recommends Thimerosal in Childhood Vaccines, Neurodevelopment Disorders, and Heart Disease in the United States.

But see also WHO Position of the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety regarding concerns raised by paper about the safety of thiomersal-containing vaccines.

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:

The NoBullU New Year's Resolution and why you don't disagree with me


Follow-up to fact-free fantasies: don't be duped;


Local and regional: Happy Centennial!, non-Christians not welcome in AL, and local Taj Mahal, or poisoned well politics?: first the ECUA admin building and Perdido Key fire station and community center, and now a new sports complex -- can't the kids just play in the streets;


National and international: I'm waiting, where's the balanced budget, time to call the Republi-CON bluff, first day, first broken promise -- no $100 billion budget cut -- then broken promises two three and four -- the Republi-con health care repeal bill does conform to the pledge to include the statutory basis, identify spending cuts to pay for the $230 billion cost, and Republi-cons say no amendments,
the reason -- health care industry bottomline, time to call the Republi-CON bluff on health care, China déjà vu, but what can ya do?, in the Navy, it's not like not used to be, but maybe that's a good thing, Marriage 101, Happy 400th Birthday to the King James Bible, what Obama can learn from the Republi-CON Reagan myth and Republi-CON fear, anger, hatred = violence yet again;
an example of the fear, anger, hatred industry


Fun stuff: first Pluto, now Ophiuchus, why are they messin with the heavans;

and

Donate to a good cause: help the friends of a former instructor at the Naval EOD school at Eglin Air Force Base, Gunnery Sgt. John Hayes, who was detachment company gunnery sergeant from June 2007 to June 2010 and taught several courses and was recently wounded in Afghanistan.

I'll discuss anything, but expect a no mercy take down if you are a party hack 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.

Republi-CON Exceptionalism

"One thing that is endlessly amusing about the contemporary right is their comical lack of historical proportion, their frequent tendency to compare their current situation to the plight endured by history's leading victims of oppression, persecution, and genocide." Read the Washington Post, Delusions of world-historical grandeur.

Time to Call the Republi-CON Bluff

UPDATE V: "Republicans are popping up with new schemes on the debt ceiling. They don't just want to extract big cuts in spending; they actually want to refuse to raise the debt ceiling." Read the Washington Post, Do the GOP debt-limit schemes make sense?

I dare, no I double dare them to not raise the debt-ceiling limit and balance the budget immediately!


UPDATE IV: Read The New York Times, About That $100 Billion, which notes:

"It has been four months since John Boehner, now speaker of the House, first proposed to cut $100 billion from this year’s budget, an idea that was later elevated to a “pledge to America” in the 2010 campaign. Last week, Mr. Boehner finally specified his first actual cut: $35 million from House lawmakers’ office budgets.

Precisely because it is puny and painless, the cut passed the House with broad support, showing once again that the path to bipartisanship in Washington is paved with giveaways (like deficit-increasing tax cuts) and grandstanding (like trivial spending cuts dressed up as deficit reduction).

The road to fiscal responsibility is a harder one. . .

House Republicans claim that voters elected them in November to cut spending. Let’s hear the specifics, and then see what the people want."

UPDATE III: "Another conservative economic miracle bites the dust, with implications for the nation. . . Right now, triumphant conservatives in Washington are declaring that they can cut taxes and still balance the budget by slashing spending. Yet they haven’t been able to do that even in Texas, which is willing both to impose great pain (by its stinginess on health care) and to shortchange the future (by neglecting education). How are they supposed to pull it off nationally, especially when the incoming Republicans have declared Medicare, Social Security and defense off limits?" Read The New York Times, The Texas Omen.


UPDATE II: Will the Naive-ocrat be chumps again? Read the Washington Post, Raise debt limit to avoid national catastrophe, Geithner warns Congress.


UPDATE: Countdown to April 2011, when the debt ceiling is reached. The Naive-ocrats were chumps last time. But here is their chance to call the Republi-con bluff. And some are predicting a political 'blood bath.' Why? Because Republi-cons aren't " interested in helping the economy as long as a Democrat is in the White House." Read The New York Times, There Will Be Blood.

The Republi-con jihad against America continues.

Fear, anger, and hatred -- a great campaign strategy, but not much of a governing philosophy.

Now "[t]he new Republican House majority is facing a choice between cultural or intellectual dissent." Read The New York Times, G.O.P. Faces Choice in How to Oppose.

The Naive-ocrats have been too stupid to call the bluff -- give the public what it claims it wants until they don't want it anymore.

Republi-CON Health Care Rashomon

For a review of the "straightforwardly wrong and dishonest arguments" by Republi-cons regarding the health care law, read the Washington Post, Health-care Rashomon.

First Pluto, Now Ophiuchus

First they kill Pluto, now they are messin with the signs! Read the Minneapolis Star Tribune, What's your sign? Minn. prof suggests it's off.

Why You Don't Disagree With Me

Be Thankful For What You Have

From an email:

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.

Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, "Only a little while."

The American then asked, "Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?"

The Mexican said, "With this I have more than enough to support my family's needs."

The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat: With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York where you will run your ever-expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15 to 20 years."

"But what then?" asked the Mexican.

The American laughed and said that's the best part. "When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."

"Millions? Then what?"

And the American said…………

"Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

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:

The NoBullU New Year's Resolution


Follow-up to fact-free fantasies: today's morning show host spewing hate, are they real Christians and don't be duped by the Birthers;


Local and regional: 49 out of 50, but not Florida, new mayor, same old podunk town (his first priorities, hire a city administrator and think about doing other stuff); local premiere of a movie filmed locally by a local guy, and an interview with that local -- director-screenwriter Brett Haley, local Taj Mahal, or poisoned well politics?: now its the ECUA admin building and Perdido Key fire station and community center, and build it and make' em pay $3.75, maybe they need money for a lawyer;


National and international: I'm waiting, where's the balanced budget, time to call the Republi-CON bluff, first day, first broken promise -- no $100 billion budget cut -- then broken promises two three and four -- the Republi-con healthcare repeal bill does conform to the pledge to include the statutory basis, identify spending cuts to pay for the $230 billion cost, and Republi-cons say no amendments, Republi-CON health care hypocrisy, cont., in the Navy, it's not like not used to be, but amybe that's a good thing, 150 years later and five myths about why the South seceded, Marriage 101, Happy 400th Birthday to the King James Bible, what Obama can learn from the Republi-CON Reagan myth and Republi-CON fear, anger, hatred = violence yet again;


Fun stuff: 100 Great Movie Lines;

and

Donate to a good cause: help the friends of a former instructor at the Naval EOD school at Eglin Air Force Base, Gunnery Sgt. John Hayes, who was detachment company gunnery sergeant from June 2007 to June 2010 and taught several courses and was recently wounded in Afghanistan.

I'll discuss anything, but expect a no mercy take down if you are a party hack 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.

Republi-CON Fear, Anger, Hatred = Violence Yet Again?

UPDATE XI: Allegations of blood libel v. a call for unity, could Palin’s video statement and Obama’s address been more different? Read The New York Times, Study in Contrasts.


UPDATE X: Are high-capacity magazines to blame? Read the Washington Post, Arizona shootings underscore the dangers of high-capacity magazines.


UPDATE IX: Republi-CONs often misstate an opponents arguments before responding. Regarding the debate on the toxic political environment, read the Washington Post, Questions for Charles Krauthammer and others on the right, which notes:

"[W]hat some on the left object to is the rhetoric from the right that tacitly or overtly seeks to deligitimize the political opposition's democratically-obtained hold on power, and flirts with the idea that non-democratic means are an acceptable way of countering or undoing it.

In his original column decrying the current "climate of hate," for instance, Krugman didn't focus on Palin's crosshairs or the right's use of standard-issue war metaphors. Rather, he argued against the right's genuine "eliminationist rhetoric," their "suggestions that those on the other side of a debate must be removed from that debate by whatever means necessary."

This is one of a number of common Republi-CON debate fallacies.


UPDATE VIII: Palin responds. Methinks the lady doth protest too much. Read the Washington Post, The foolishness of the 'blood libel' charge.

And her response does not befit a serious presidential candidate. Compare her response to Al Sharpton's: In MLK's honor, let's strive for dialogue that's passionate but not poisonous.


UPDATE VII: Comedian Jon Stewart, who hosted the Rally to Restore Sanity last year, doesn't blame "the toxic political environment" for the shootings:

"We live in a complex ecosystem of influences and motivations and I wouldn't blame our political rhetoric any more than I would blame heavy metal music for Columbine," Stewart said on "The Daily Show" Monday night. "Boy, would it be nice to draw a straight line from this horror to something tangible, because then we could convince ourselves that if we just stopped this, then the horrors will end."

"You cannot outsmart crazy," Stewart said. "You don't know what a troubled mind will get caught on."

Stewart said he doesn't know "if there is a way to make sense" of the shootings.

Nevertheless, he did stress a need to tone down political "ramblings."

"It would be really nice if the ramblings of crazy people didn't resemble how we talk to each other on TV," he said. "Let's at least make troubled individuals easier to spot."

Watch his "moving monologue":

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Arizona Shootings Reaction
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

UPDATE VI: For a brief history of the violent rhetoric and imagery common in politics today, read the Washington Post, The Tucson tragedy: freedom from violent rhetoric and imagery.


UPDATE V: Is Palin the one now caught in crosshairs?


UPDATE IV: Regarding Palin's claim that the crosshairs map showed surveyor's symbol not gun sights, read the Washington Post, Gunsights or Surveyor Symbols?


UPDATE III: "Some people who study right-wing militia groups and those who align themselves with the so-called Patriot movement said Mr. Loughner’s comments on subjects like the American currency and the Constitution, which he posted online in various video clips, were strikingly similar in language and tone to the voices of the Internet’s more paranoid, extremist corners." Read The New York Times, Suspect’s Odd Behavior Caused Growing Alarm.

Then read the Washington Post, After 'armed and dangerous' messages, who bears responsibility for violence? and The New York Times, Climate of Hate.


UPDATE II: BTW, Palin now says ""we never ever, ever intended it to be gun sights. It was simply cross hairs like you'd see on maps [like a] surveyor's symbol."

More of her Republi-CON revisionist history.


UPDATE: Are you surprised at the shooting, "the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths, about tearing down the government, the anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country . . . the rhetoric about hatred, about mistrust of government, about paranoia of how government operates." Is right-wing media to blame? Read the Washington Post, After Giffords tragedy, fingers point to the media model of confrontation.

The formula is old: Republi-con fear, anger, hatred = violence.

"During the fall campaign, Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential candidate, posted a controversial map on her Facebook page depicting spots where Democrats were running for re-election; those Democrats were noted by crosshairs symbols like those seen through the scope of a gun. [Ariz. Democrat Gabrielle Giffords] was among those on Ms. Palin’s map. "

The result, read the Washington Post on this developing story, Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in critical condition after Tucson shooting; eight others injured.

The Republi-CONs have no shame or concern for the violence they may incite.

Republi-CON Truthiness Cost $220 Million

UPDATE II: Were Republi-cons using the oil spill to advance their political agenda? See Chapter Five, page 139, of the Presidential Oil Spill Commission's final report, which found: "Coast Guard responders watched Governor Jindal -- and the TV cameras following him -- return to what appeared to be the same spot of oiled marsh day after day to complain about the inadequacy of the federal response, even though only a small amount of marsh was then oiled. When the Coast Guard sought to clean up that piece of affected marsh, Governor Jindal refused to confirm its location."


UPDATE: "The berms were approved "despite objections from scientists that they would do little good and might cause environmental harm." But who need eletist facts, math, science and analysis. Read the Washington Post, Sand islands off Louisiana stopped little oil in gulf spill, commission finds.

Remember the outrage that the Obama administration was delaying and discouraging Louisiana from building sand-berms during the oil spill?

Republi-cons, including Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, insisted that sand-berms were needed immediately. But environmentalists and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers warned that the berm would be ineffective and a waste of money.

Who was right?

"According to state estimates, the berms have captured just 1,000 barrels of oil so far, at a cost of $220 million. By way of comparison, Mr. Bahr pointed out, the recently opened Hoover Dam Bypass, a four-lane highway bridge that soars 840 feet above the Colorado River, cost $240 million." Read The New York Times, Louisiana Rethinks Its Sand Berms.

That's $220,000/barrel of oil. All hail Republi-CON truthiness:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Truthiness
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

The New Year, a Movie Filmed Locally

UPDATE IV: Mark like the movie. Read the Pensacola News Journal, Pensacola part of an excellent movie.


UPDATE III: And don't forget the WEBY date night meet-up for the Saturday 7 p.m. show. See ya there.


UPDATE II: Read the Pensacola News Journal, Local haunts hit big screen in indie flick.


UPDATE: The New York Times gave the movie a favorable review: "[o]ut of raw materials — convincing 20-something dialogue; deft montages of night life, bowling, parties, the beachside setting — the director-screenwriter Brett Haley (with another screenwriter, Elizabeth Kennedy) has built an encouraging feature debut. " Read Serious Adulthood Waiting to Happen.

"Budding writer Sunny takes time off from college to tend to her ailing dad in suburban Florida, and after two years, a temp job at a bowling alley has turned into a comfortable rut -- but then high school rival Isaac returns to disrupt the routine. Friendly fire replaces competitive spirit as the pair pick up where they left off, and Sunny realizes the future holds more than a well-stocked shoe counter."

You might recognize that suburban Florida town and bowling alley, it was filmed in in Gulf Breeze and Pensacola, including "Cordova Lanes, the Village Inn on Ninth Avenue, and Pensacola Beach."

Watch the trailer and see if you recognize anyone:

The New Year Trailer from The New Year on Vimeo.

The film will premiere locally starting Friday, January 7, at the Gulf Breeze Cinema 4.

Marriage 101

"Opponents of same-sex marriage worry that allowing two men or two women to wed would radically transform a time-honored institution. But they're way too late on that front. Marriage has already been radically transformed - in a way that makes gay marriage not only inevitable, as Vice President Biden described it in an interview late last year, but also quite logical." Read the Washington Post, Gay marriage isn't revolutionary. It's just the next step in marriage's evolution.

In the Navy, It's Not Like Not Used To Be

"Never in its history has the military been quite so squeamish about sex." Read the Washington Post, No dirty videos, please - we're in the Navy, which notes that:

"Most military experts believe that it will make the integration of openly gay troops into the ranks much easier. 'The military will have no problem with homosexuals because it is a sexless environment,' [a British civilian who spent several years working as an adviser to top American commanders in Iraq] said. 'It just won't be an issue.'"

Republi-CON Health Care Hypocrisy, Cont.

UPDATE II: Where is that death-panel outrage? Read the Washington Post, 2nd person denied Ariz. transplant coverage dies.


UPDATE: So many Republi-con lies. Read PolitiFact's Lie of the Year: 'A government takeover of health care'.

What state is "'leading the way with health insurance for everyone, without a government takeover and without raising taxes.' . . More than 98 percent - 98 percent! - of the state's residents now have health insurance, as do more than 99 percent of the state's children. . . According to data from America's Health Insurance Plans, the largest health insurer trade group, premiums [in the state] have fallen by 40 percent since the reforms were put in place. Nationally, those premiums have risen by 14 percent."? Read the Washington Post, Health-care overhaul's individual mandate makes all the difference.

Next Year Return Misfit Gifts Before Receiving Them

UPDATE: "Next year, why not spare loved ones the trouble of returning gifts, and give cash instead?" Read The New York Times, The Best Present Money Can Buy.

Don't want that 'Thread and Bobbin Sewing Kit' from Aunt Mildred. In the future you may never receive it if she bought it at Amazon. Read the Washington Post, Amazon patents procedure to let recipients avoid undesirable gifts.

Is it rude, tacky but necessary, or a great idea for the gift giver and receiver. Vote in the Washington Post poll: What do you think of Amazon's plan?

No More Blamin Obama

UPDATE II: "[B]e wary of politicians bearing promises of a perfect world where average Americans can get the mortgages to which we now all feel entitled and the government is nowhere to be seen. It’s a mirage." Read The New York Times, Who Wants a 30-Year Mortgage.


UPDATE: Republi-con "rhetoric is nearly devoid of talk about solving practical problems. . . It may be easier to report windy speeches about 'liberty' and 'entrepreneurship' than to do the grubby work of examining budgets, regulations, programs and economic consequences. " Read the Washington Post, Conservative advice for a Congress of professors.

What Republi-con rhetoric you ask? You ain't been listening. Read the Washington Post, 'Job-killing' regulation? 'Job-killing' spending? Let's kill this GOP canard.

The Republi-con Congress starts soon, which reminds me of this old joke:

I met a fairy today that would grant me one wish: "I want to live forever," I said.

"Sorry" said the fairy, "I'm not allowed to grant wishes like that!"

"Fine," I said, "I want to die after the politicians get their heads out of their asses and start telling the truth!"

One of the first broken promises, balancing the budget. Read ABC News, Debt Ceiling Debate Will Test New Congressional Leadership and Slate, Faking Right, How the Republican Congress will abandon Tea Party ideas and legislate toward the center.

The Republi-CON's 'Aristocracy of Monied Corporations' Exposed

UPDATE: Republi-con corporatism , AKA the unholy alliance, is destroying the country. Read the Washington Post, Corporate America, paving a downward economic slide.

Tom Delay's conviction "showed what is 'common practice here in D.C. looks an awful lot like plain old corruption everywhere else in the country.'" Read the Washington Post, DeLay trial offers a window into Washington fundraising and influence-peddling, and see how the trial showed "in part that when some of the routines in Washington - including 'giving campaign contributions to a political candidate with the expectation that that candidate would vote a certain way' - are put before a jury by a prosecutor with either good or bad motives, they can convincingly look like bribery, or worse.'"

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:

The NoBullU New Year's Resolution


Follow-up to fact-free fantasies - don't be duped by the Birthers;


Local and regional: local premiere of a movie filmed locally by a local guy, and an interview with that local -- director-screenwriter Brett Haley, how many holidays do you get at work, local Taj Mahal, or poisoned well politics?: now its the ECUA admin building and Perdido Key fire station and community center, first the delay. now the lawsuit, will the darn park be built?, build it and make' em pay $3.75, but will driver's pay?, and 150 years ago yesterday [January 5, 1861] armed secessionist insurgents from Mobile overtook Fort Gaines on the outer reaches of Mobile Bay;


National and international: no more blamin Obama, I'm waiting, where's the balanced budget; it's déjà Republi-CON all over again, the agenda: more riches for the rich, more misery for the rest and speaking of Republi-CONS -- Republi-CONs con the Tea Party and first day, first broken promise -- no $100 billion budget cut -- then broken promises two three and four -- the Republi-con healthcare repeal bill does conform to the pledge to include the statutory basis, identify spending cuts to pay for the $230 billion cost, and Republi-cons say no amendments, and update, Republi-CON deficit hypocrisy continues, even more state Republi-Con fiscal conservative hypocrisy, and the Republi-CON I'd Be a Millionaire If It Wasn't For Social Security myth, supply and consumption, read your spouse's email, go to jail, and Inside Job, will it be the best documentary of 2010, and life's imponderables: if one wife causes you to drink, then why would two wives not?;


Fun stuff: 100 Great Movie Lines;

and

Donate to a good cause: it's not too late to help the poor or less fortunate, read the New York Times, The Gifts of Hope.

I'll discuss anything, but expect a no mercy take down if you are a party hack 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.

Life's Imponderables: If One Wife Causes You to Drink, Then Why Would Two Wives Not?

Does your husband drink too much? Maybe he needs another wife. Read The New York Times, Do We Drink Because We’re Monogamous, or Are We Monogamous Because We Drink?, "about an interesting working paper the AAWE has just posted: "Women or Wine? Monogamy and Alcohol."

And if you are looking for a group to join, you could do worse than AAWE, that is the American Association of Wine Economists.

It's Déjà Republi-CON All Over Again

"The Republican agenda: more riches for the rich, more misery for the rest." Read The New York Times, Get Ready for a G.O.P. Rerun.

America the Police State?

"During the past few decades, America has engaged in a massive experiment in routine imprisonment. From 1975 to 1999, by one estimate, the criminal justice system grew five times more punitive. A nation with 5 percent of the world's population now has about a quarter of the world's prison population - well over 2 million people." But is America a nation of the second chance? Read the Washington Post, Michael Vick: Symbol of the second chance.

Supply and Consumption

UPDATE II: Expect higher gas prices in 2011. Read the Washington Post, Oil’s Most Accurate See Second-Highest Price in 2011.


UPDATE: Complicating the situation as Americans try to adjust to the new world supply and consumption order, "The Age of American Predominance is over.

Our leading bankers looted the state, plunged the world into deep recession and cost the United States eight million jobs. Now many of them stand by with sharpened knives and enhanced bonuses – willing to suggest how the salaries and jobs of others can be further cut." Read The New York Times, Fresh Crises Loom in Europe and the U.S.

As a follow-up to the last caller last week: "World commodity prices have risen by a quarter in the past six months. What’s the meaning of this surge?" Read The New York Times, The Finite World, then What’s Your Consumption Factor?

Republi-CON Deficit Hypocrisy, Cont.

UPDATE III: "Hypocrisy never goes out of style, but, even so, 2010 was something special. For it was the year of budget doubletalk — the year of arsonists posing as firemen, of people railing against deficits while doing everything they could to make those deficits bigger." Read The New York Times, The New Voodoo.


UPDATE II: "The budget rules House Republicans intend to adopt will codify their fantasy that tax cuts do not deepen the deficit." Read the New York Times, Deficit Hypocrisy.


UPDATE: The Senate Republi-con minoroty leader was responsible for $458 million in earmarks between 2008 and 2010. That was him flip-flopping last week when he finally agreed to support a two-year ban on earmarks. Read the Washington Post, Sen. Mitch McConnell's earmark power credited for revitalizing Louisville.

"For whatever the reason, the hypocrisy at the heart of the party - and at the heart of American politics - is at its starkest in Alaska. For decades, Alaskans have lived off federal welfare. Taxpayers' money subsidizes everything from Alaska's roads and bridges to its myriad programs for Native Americans. Federal funding accounts for one-third of Alaskan jobs." Read the Washington Post, In Alaska, a preview of the GOP's future.

Then read The New York Times, The Impossible Dream, which begins:

"One of the most frustrating tendencies of mainstream leaders in the United States is their willingness, year after debilitating year, to embrace policies that have no hope of succeeding.

From Lyndon Johnson’s mad pursuit of victory in Vietnam to George W. Bush’s disastrous invasion of Iraq to today’s delusionary deficit zealots, the tragic lure of the impossible dream seems never to subside.

Ronald Reagan told us he could cut taxes, jack up defense spending and balance the budget — all at the same time. How’d he do? As his biographer Garry Wills tells us, the Gipper 'nearly tripled the deficit in his eight years, and never made a realistic proposal for cutting it.'"

Time to call the Republi-con bluff!

And Even More State Republi-Con Fiscal Conservative Hypocrisy

UPDATE II: The Republi-cons continue their old ways. Read The New York Times, Tricky Call for New Governors: Price of Inaugurals.


UPDATE: More state Republi-con fiscal conservative hypocrisy. Read the Washington Post, Haley Barbour takes heat for jet trips.

"After talking about trimming the state budget, top Republican leaders in the Florida Legislature have hired [more than 60] staffers with six-figure salaries." Read the Miami Herald, State GOP staffers raking in six-figure salaries.

What is Your New Year's Resolution

A reminder of the important things in life: