Why Republi-CONs and Naive-ocrats?

This sums it up pretty well -- although the economic bailout program was approved primarily with Naive-ocrat support, most of the companies that received federal bailout money are making campaign donations to Republi-con candidates. Read the Washington Post, Companies that received bailout money giving generously to candidates.

Arrogant Government Official

What would you do if you were responsible for a government agency that had falsely claimed that a person had donated blood knowing he was HIV positive when actually the offense was a totally different crime. Apologize and correct the record? That's not one one arrogant local government agency did.

For years the person “diligently pursued efforts to correct the erroneous information. In November of 2007, [he] submitted to a blood test to prove his negative HIV status. He sent a letter from his doctor to the office of the clerk of court, but the entry remained unchanged. Plaintiff contacted the clerk’s office by phone but was told that nothing could be done about the public record. In August of 2009, he again mailed a copy of his doctor’s note and a copy of the erroneous internet posting to Mary M. Johnson, and . . . calls to [her] office in September of 2009 resulted in . . . being subjected to 'rude comments.' In October of 2009 he sent a certified letter to Mary M. Johnson with a detailed statement concerning a defamation lawsuit. The package was returned to [him] along with a notation that he did not pay the filing fee. He tried to get information about the filing fee over the phone, but a young woman that he spoke to refused to give him the information. He then sent another certified letter to Ms. Johnson indicating his intent to file suit in federal court." (Citations omitted.)

No apology, just arrogant rude treatment. Now thousands of your tax dollars are being spend to defend the inexcusable. Read the court file.

Mary Johnson should apologize for the actions of her office, investigate and discipline the appropriate employees, and pay the person to settle the case, instead of some out of town lawyer to defend the case.

And if she won't, she should do the public a favor and resign, before the next election.

45 Lessons in Life

From an email:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others.
You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ''In five years, will this matter?".
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business...
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32.Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Who You Callin Gay

"Following Christine O'Donnell's ironclad logic . . . masturbating equals being gay:"

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Transitive Property of Christine O'Donnell
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

BTW, does this mean our beloved Master Bates is gay?

The Faux Populist Anger of 2010

Politics got ya mad as hell. Your rent too high. The "Jimmy McMillan, running for governor as the candidate of the one-man Rent Is Too Damn High Party" is your man. His "crystal-clear message: The. Rent. Is. Too. Damn. High." Only problem, he doesn't pay rent, and hasn't for at least a decade. Read The New York Times, Opposing Excessive Rent, but Vague About His Own.

And just in time to leverage all that anger, the 'sludge' "from out-of-state, secretive political groups . . . overwhelming, and omnipresent." Read The New York Times, John Roberts’s America, which predicts that "[a]s ugly as 2010 has been, the next election cycle, for president in 2012, will bring us a John Roberts’s America that will make this year look like a town hall meeting from a Rockwell painting."

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

The Billionaires’ Coup Camouflaged a Populist Surge

UPDATE V: The history of the tea party, from Hannity and Beck to Palin and O'Donnell, by Stephen Colbert:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
On Topic: Colbert Case Files - Tea Party
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

UPDATE IV: From the Washington Post:




UPDATE III: "The Tea Party Express, paid Holland America Line a total of $103,000 to send six of its staffers on four consecutive cruises on the Amsterdam. The payments to the cruise line, which appeared on a campaign finance report filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission, have started drawing attention from critics of the Tea Party Express, who have alleged that the committee is a front for Republican consultants seeking to use the populist movement to make a buck and live the high life." Read Politico, Tea Party Express's pricey cruises.


UPDATE II: "There is genuine populist anger out there. But the angry have been deceived and exploited by posers who belong to the same class of "elites" and "insiders" that the Tea Party movement supposedly deplores. Americans who want to stick it to the man are instead sending money to the man." Read the Washington Post, A Tea Party of populist posers.


UPDATE: "John Boehner is the quintessential example of shameless government figures guiding the fortunes of the rich and powerful." Read The New York Times, That’s Where the Money Is.

Par for the Republi-con course, wouldn't you say.

"O’Donnell’s timely ascent in the election season’s final lap may well prove a godsend for the G.O.P. . . . She gives populist cover to the billionaires and corporate interests that have been steadily annexing the Tea Party movement and busily plotting to cash in their chips if the G.O.P. prevails." Read The New York Times, The Very Useful Idiocy of Christine O’Donnell.

And the unholy alliance lives on.

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. Until then, squash a cat.

Proof of the Unholy Alliance

Need proof that "the modern Republi-con Party is nothing more than an unholy alliance between corporate interest and social conservatives, the former using the latter to gain power to promote corporate interest."

How about "a secret agreement with a former Republican chairwoman of the agency to stand in the way of investors filing complaints with the agency. . . [The judge] was the subject of a story 10 years ago in the Wall Street Journal, which said that except in a handful of cases in which defunct firms failed to defend themselves, [the Judge] had never ruled in favor of an investor." Read the Washington Post, Commodity Futures Trading Commission judge says colleague biased against complainants.

BTW, that former Republican chairwoman of the agency is/was Wendy Gramm, wife of former senator Phil Gramm (R-Tex.).

As noted before, in the Republi-con-controlled Senate and House, Republi-con Senator Phil Gramm was only too happy to help to pass the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which deregulated credit default swaps, the real cause of this economic collapse.

And a historical not-so footnote, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act included the so-called "Enron loophole," which exempts most over-the-counter energy trades and trading on electronic energy commodity markets. The "loophole" was drafted by lobbyists for Enron working with Gramm to create a deregulated atmosphere for their new experiment, "Enron On-line."

Gramm was always Wall Street's man in the Senate. As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee during the Clinton administration, he consistently underfunded the Securities and Exchange Commission and kept it from stopping accounting firms from auditing corporations with which they had conflicts of interest. Gramm's piece de resistance came on Dec. 15, 2000, when he slipped into an omnibus spending bill a provision called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA), which prohibited any governmental regulation of credit default swaps, those insurance policies covering losses on securities in the event they went belly up. As the housing bubble ballooned, the face value of those swaps rose to a tidy $62 trillion. And as the housing bubble burst, those swaps became a massive pile of worthless paper, because no government agency had required the banks to set aside money to back them up.

The CFMA also prohibited government regulation of the energy-trading market, which enabled Enron to nearly bankrupt the state of California before bankrupting itself.

And guess what else, Wendy Gramm, was on the board of directors of Enron when it collapsed.

Was the Mission Accomplished?

UPDATE II: "Iraqis still don’t have a government. Resentments and mistrust are growing. That’s dangerous." Read The New York Times, Iraq’s Stalemate.


UPDATE: "[T]he war against Saddam (1990–2003) [gave] way to the American Occupation (2003–2010)." Now is "the conflict is simply entering a new phase," that may soon be called "the War of Iraqi Self-Determination (2010–?)?" Read The New Republic, Obama Wants Us To Forget the Lessons of Iraq.

And what would you call our effort in Iraq? Read the Washington Post, My Iraq mistake.

This will be a topic for discussion on Thursday.

Palin Told Ya So

UPDATE II: Just in time for Halloween -- Palin says "we can see 2012 from our house."





Run, Rogue Diva, Run!


UPDATE: Good article about our next next Republi-con presidential nominee. Read the Washington Post, Five myths about Sarah Palin.

BTW, I initally said she couldn't win. But the Naive-crats are so inept, I'm reconsidering to probability.

In July 2009, I said that Palin quit the governor's office to "build her network for 2012 by campaigning and fund raising for other candidates. . . and to cash in with a book and some speeches, maybe a little paid commentary on not-the-FoxNews.

And that's what she's doing. Read the Politico, Miller-Palin camps feud over e-mail, which notes that recently revealed emails that show squabbling between the Miller and Palin camps "serve as the biggest hint to date that Sarah Palin has presidential ambitions."

2012 is gonna be a great year for politics!

Run, Rogue Diva, Run!

Will It Be A Stampede?

From the Washington Post:

Republi-CON Oink, Oink Hypocrisy

First, "relentlessly assailed the Democratic stimulus efforts as a package of wasteful 'trillion-dollar spending sprees' that was 'more about stimulating the government and rewarding political allies than growing the economy and creating jobs.'"

Next, quietly ask for a share because "the project would create jobs."

Read the Washington Post, Republicans, Democrats who criticized stimulus wrote letters seeking funds.

Nothing new here. Read:

Republi-CON 'Less Government' Hypocrisy

Local Republi-Con Fiscal Conservative Hypocrisy

Oink, oink:

Funding Terrorism

"When the American taxpayer is inadvertently financing the Taliban, it’s time to review our strategy in Afghanistan." Read The New York Times, Tea in Kabul.

At Last, a Cell Phone for Seniors!

If you don't get it, you are too young.

The Republi-CON Party of Terrorist

UPDATE II: Read Huffington Post, Christine O'Donnell Tells GOPers: 'I've Got Sean Hannity In My Back Pocket'.

Actually, she's got that bass ackwards.


UPDATE: BTW, the Saudis are hypocrites like the Republi-cons. For example, a "Saudi prince on trial for allegedly killing his assistant in London." At trial:

The jury also heard evidence that the prince is homosexual and was a client of gay sex workers during his time in London.

The murder itself, Laidlaw said, had a sexual element.

The prosecutor outlined the findings of the post-mortem examination, which revealed the ferocity of the violence Abdulaziz had experienced. It included beatings to the face, swelling and bruising of the brain, and fractured ribs and neck. There were also signs the victim had been bitten on the face, ears, and arm, which, in Laidlaw's words, carried an "obvious" sexual connotation.

First Hedgehog News bought a stake in the Republi-CONs when parent News Corp. donated $1 million to Republican Governors' Association. Then News Corp. contributed $1 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, "the business lobby that has been running an aggressive campaign in support of the Republican effort to retake Congress." But more shocking, "every major contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination who isn’t currently holding office and isn’t named Mitt Romney is now" on the payroll of Hedgehog News.

Hedgehog News owns the Republi-con party.

And who owns Hedgehog News

"Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal owns a 7 percent stake in News Corp . . . making him the largest shareholder outside the family of News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch." As a result, Hedgehog News does the bidding of the Saudis and censors its broadcasts so as not to offend the bosses.

And it is no secret that "Saudi Arabia is hub of world terror," funding Islamic 'charity' organizations that are "hotbeds of anti-Western, and especially, anti-American, indoctrination."

Ergo, the Republi-cons are the party of terrorist.

It's Déjà Bircher All Over Again

Paranoid politics is nothing new. Read The New Yorker, Confounding Fathers, The Tea Party’s Cold War roots.

There's no denying the power of fear, anger and hatred,

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:

Follow-up: TBD;

Local and regional: health care lawsuit, the first loss for the states;

Nation and international: free speech, can you say anything?; quickie told ya so, help reelect Obama, vote Republi-CON; how do you know when a Republi-CON is lying?; watch what you wish for, you might lose your job; Republi-CON nirvana -- everyman for himself (pun intended); Economic Mess for Non-Dummies, the movie; W. v. H. who was worse; it's not the GOP it's the RPT (Republi-CON Party of Terrorist); welcome to the age of everyman for himself; exposing Republi-CONism; U.S. has a sad history of religious intolerance; DC road rally, who wants to go; test your religious hypocrisy; and sed quis custodiet ipsos cutodes;

Fun stuff: Foot Loose, a mash up of dance clips; Not So Little Red Wagon; did ya'll take the Yankee or Dixie Quiz; and how big is your pumpkin?

and

Donate to a good cause: this month support Pace FL's Woodbine United Methodist's Ray Of Hope Wheelchair Ramp Ministry, as reported recently at the Pensacola News Journal, Ramping it up: Pace church makes wheelchair ramps for people in need.

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 some ass kickin' discussion of politics and current events.

And remember: I'm still God's favorite Gulf Coast talk show host, just ask the capped well!

How Do You Know When a Republi-CON is Lying?

That begs the question, when does a Republi-con not lie to win election?

Read the Washington Post, Rove, Chamber ads widely debunked as false or misleading, which outlines the "scope of the dishonesty and distortion that's flowing from the conservative side . . . a massive disinformation campaign flooding airwaves across the country that could change the outcome of major races and shift the balance of power in Congress, funded by money from undisclosed sources, justified with still more falsehoods and disinformation. "

Is W. The Worst

UPDATE VI: $10+ T national debt, $1.2 T deficit this year, 2.6 M jobs lost in the last year swelling the ranks of the unemployed to more than 11 million people, failing economy, mortgage crisis, incompetent leadership, overstretched military, an unnecessary and disastrous war, politicized government, torture as government policy, Chinese ascension, Russian resurgence, oil addiction (did I miss anything). How soon we forget. Read CNN, Was Bush better president than Obama?

How will history judge George W. Bush's presidency?

Bush certainly has no regrets. Read Washington Post, Regret-Me-Not and watch the interview at Camp David by ABC's Charles Gibson.

There has even been an Oxford-style debate of the proposition "Bush 43 Is the Worst President of the Past 50 Years," in which Karl Rove defended Bush.

See also NPR, Is Bush The Worst President Of The Past 50 Years?

And answer the poll on the right and tell me what you think.

UPDATE: A Wall Street Journal poll (question 27), when asked to compare Mr. Bush with the past several presidents, two percent of respondents said he was one of the best; 18 percent said he was better than most; 30 percent said he was not as good as most; and 48 percent said he was definitely worse than most.

UPDATE, Part II: Certainly some Iraqis aren't happy with Bush. During Bush's surprise visit to Iraq in December, an Iraqi journalist denounced Bush as a 'dog' and threw his shoes at the President, an insult in Islamic society. (You might remember Iraqis beating the statue of Saddam with shoes after it was toppled 5 years ago.)

UPDATE, Part III:






UPDATE Part IV:






































Somebody should have told Bush that the President of the United States takes an oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

UPDATE V:



















Don't forget to vote in the poll.

Exposing Republi-CONism

UPDATE III: And there is also the family values (NOT) of Arizona House candidate Ben Quayle, a/k/a Brock Landers, the fictional sidekick to porn star Dirk Diggler in the film "Boogie Nights,", and real-life son of former vice president Dan Quayle


UPDATE II: Lest you forgot, there is also the serial adulterer, now Republi-con South Carolina gubernatorial candidate. Read the Washington Post, Blogger details alleged tryst with SC gov nominee.


UPDATE: First a candidate who loves pornographic emails while lecturing about family values and cashing rent checks from gay clubs, now a candidate who enjoys wearing Nazi attire. Who will the Republi-con nominate next? Read The Atlantic, Why is This GOP House Candidate Dressed as a Nazi? and the Washington Post, Candidate rejects criticism of Nazi uniform.

Nobody is a better Republi-Con Myth Buster by mocking the Republi-CON created reality than Stephen Colbert. Watch as he keeps fear alive and explains why America should fear Muslims:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - It's a Small-Minded World
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

And he wants the little one to grow up Republi-con, with suggestions for new coloring book to teach kids Tea Party values, such as Christine O'Donnell's Masturbation Alternatives and Down on the Farm with Carl Paladino, which cites his "racist and pornographic emails, some of which featured bestiality videos":

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Tip/Wag - Tea Party Coloring Book & CALM Legislation<a>
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

Judge for yourself, view the emails if you dare (<-WARNING: this link contains extremely graphic material). And don't forget his roast of Bush at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner.

Restore Truthiness

UPDATE II:



If you can't be there, watch it live on Comedy Central or streamed live online.


UPDATE: Not one but two rallies.

First, the Rally to Restore Sanity, where "rational people will gather on the National Mall in DC to spread spread a timely message -- take it down a notch for America":

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rally to Restore Sanity
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

And if that is too serious for ya, there is the March to Keep Fear Alive, "to fight Jon Stewart's creeping reasonableness and to restore truthiness":

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
March to Keep Fear Alive
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

Who wants to make a road trip to DC in late October?

Time to mock the Republi-CON created reality, support the Restore Truthiness rally, because "[t]here's no way to have a logical public discussion with the teabaggers. The best we can do is mimic them."


P.S. Don't know what Truthiness is? Then watch this:

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

And nobody is better at mocking the Republi-CONs than Colbert. Remember his roast of Bush at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner.

Everyman for Himself

UPDATE II: Banksy might blame them all.

Watch the graffiti artist and provocateur's take down of corporate greed and labor out sourcing by the corporation that owns the Republi-con party, 20th Century Fox, in this opening scene of the MoneyBart episode of The Simpsons:




UPDATE: What is to blame for the rise in income inequality? Technology changes, globalization, industry deregulation, the decline of unions, social changes that make income inequality acceptable, or increased corporate power? Read the Washington Post, The costs of rising economic inequality.

And vote in the poll.

How much money is enough, and when do greed, ambition, and betrayal of friends, partners and principles harm society in the long term?

"The film about Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, can be viewed as a cautionary tale or something to applaud." Read The New York Times, Film Version of Zuckerberg Divides Generation.

And consider that a society where it's everyman for himself would be a brutal, ugly place to live.

Not So Little Red Wagon

Now this is a Radio Flyer:

Test Your Religious Hypocrisy

Another test of your religious literacy:

Which holy book stipulates that a girl who does not bleed on her wedding night should be stoned to death?
a. Koran
b. Old Testament
c. (Hindu) Upanishads

Which holy scripture urges that the "little ones" of the enemy be dashed against the stones?
a. Book of Psalms
b. Koran
c. Leviticus

For the answers, read The New York Times, Test Your Savvy on Religion.

Religious fanatics are all alike, they emphasize the best parts of their own religion and vilify the worst parts of any other.

Foot Loose

A mask up "of dance clips from almost 40 movies from dance movies to comedies, from Fred Astaire to Micheal Jackson," set to the tune of Kenny Loggins - Footloose. Enjoy, as you try to name the clips (list below):




Did you recognize these movie clips: "Dirty Dancing, Flashdance, White Nights, Perfect, Saturday Night Fever, Blue Skies, Pulp Fiction, High Fidelity, Clerks 2, American Pie, Billy Elliot, Footloose, True Lies, Grease, Honey, Phantom of the Opera, Step up, Step up 2, Moonwalker, West Side Story, Moulin Rouge, Mary Poppins, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Strictly Ballroom, Happy Feet, Singing in the Rain, Fame, Fame2009, Save the Last Dance, Mamma Mia, Mask of Zorro, Coyote Ugly, Wild Hogs, Get Smart, Airplane, A Knights Tale, High School Musical, and Austin Powers"?

For the Pimps of Fear, Anger and Hatred

UPDATE: The U.S. has a sad history of religious intolerance. "The protests against Park51 closely mirror Protestant opposition to the oldest Catholic church in New York State, the pastor says." Read The New York Times, 200-Year-Old Echoes in Muslim Center Uproar.

The article reminds our most 'pious' ones that on "Christmas Eve 1806, two decades after the church was built, the building was surrounded by Protestants incensed at a celebration going on inside — a religious observance then viewed in the United States as an exercise in “popish superstition,” more commonly referred to as Christmas. Protesters tried to disrupt the service. In the melee that ensued, dozens of people were injured and a policeman was killed."

Religious fanatics are all alike, they emphasize the best parts of their own religion and vilify the worst parts of any other.

"Test your religious literacy:

Which sacred text says that Jesus is the “word” of God? a) the Gospel of John; b) the Book of Isaiah; c) the Koran.

The correct answer is the Koran. But if you guessed the Gospel of John you get partial credit because its opening passage — “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God” — is an implicit reference to Jesus. In fact, when Muhammad described Jesus as God’s word, he was no doubt aware that he was affirming Christian teaching.

Extra-credit question: Which sacred text has this to say about the Hebrews: God, in his “prescience,” chose “the children of Israel … above all peoples”? I won’t bother to list the choices, since you’ve probably caught onto my game by now; that line, too, is in the Koran."

Read The New York Times, The Meaning of the Koran.

The truth sure makes it hard out there for the party pimps.

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:

Follow-up: oil spill claim BS, a server at Angus steak house gets $10,000;

Local and regional: Happy 200th Birthday to the Republic of West Florida;

Nation and international: free speech, can you say anything?; does Obama win in 2012 by losing in 2010; watch what you wish for, you might lose your job; the tea party, how it's become just a Billionaires’ coup camouflaged a populist surge; it's not the GOP it's the RPT (Republi-CON Party of Terrorist); welcome to the age of everyman for himself; who wants to go to DC for the rally to expose Republi-CON-ism; Palin told ya so and Keynes told ya so; and sed quis custodiet ipsos cutodes;

Fun stuff: Lingerie Football, is it a sport?; did ya'll take the Yankee or Dixie Quiz; and how big is your pumpkin?

and

Donate to a good cause: this week support Pace FL's Woodbine United Methodist's Ray Of Hope Wheelchair Ramp Ministry, as reported recently at the Pensacola News Journal, Ramping it up: Pace church makes wheelchair ramps for people in need.

I'll discuss anything, but expect no mercy 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 some ass kickin' discussion of politics and current events.

And remember: I'm still God's favorite Gulf Coast talk show host, just ask the capped well!

Keynes Told Ya So

Think Keynesian economics is bunk. Not China. "No country has taken better advantage of free trade than China, with its controlled currency and strong industrial policies, including huge public investments in renewable energy technologies." Read The New York Times, What Would Keynes Say Today?

Another told ya so!

The Yankee or Dixie Quiz

To find out how much Southern blood your speech shows, take this test.

Ya'll come back ya hear!

So Long Suckers!

"The Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP [its legal authority expires on Sunday], may have staved off financial disasters, but it treated too gently the people who presided over the disaster, an economist writes." Read The New York Times, TARP, the Long Goodbye.

Taxpayers were suckered big time, but don't believe those Republi-con fairy tales denying blame for the mess.

Will Crist Win?

UPDATE VII: More than a month til election and "Rubio commands a double-digit lead among likely voters in Florida's U.S. Senate race, harnessing a split among Democrats over their nominee Kendrick Meek and independent Gov. Charlie Crist." Read The Associated Press, Rubio leads Crist big in Fla. Senate race.


UPDATE VI: More on those Florida Republi-CON fiscal CONservatives. Read the Sarasota Herald Tribune, Senate hopeful Rubio plagued by money problems and the Sunshine State News, Audit Nails Charlie Crist, Jim Greer For 'Inappropriate' Spending.


UPDATE V: "Florida's three-way Senate race between former state House Speaker Marco Rubio (R), Gov. Charlie Crist (I) and Rep. Kendrick Meek (D) is one of the marquee contests of the 2010 election cycle.

It also appears to have moved in Rubio's favor since the Aug. 24 primary and, as a result, we are moving the Senate contest from "toss up" to "lean Republican".

Read the Washington Post, Florida Senate race moves to "Lean Republican".


UPDATE IV: "Gov. Charlie Crist is the man in the middle in Florida's high-stakes race for the Senate, a candidate without a party whose hopes of moving from Tallahassee to Washington depend on his ability to fend off a squeeze play from his Democratic and Republican rivals. " Read the Washington Post, Florida Senate race starts without a clear favorite.


UPDATE III: Support is dwindling for Crist. Read the Pensacola News Journal, Crist losing ground in Senate race, poll shows.


UPDATE II: Who will Crist's opponents be? Read the Pensacola News Journal, Poll: Scott, Greene lead in races.

It would be ironic if he rode the national anti-incumbent, anti-establishment wave to D.C.


UPDATE: The title says it all. Read Reuters, Crist leads 3-way Senate race in Florida.

As I said before, Crist's decision to run as an Independent might be a wise move. Read the Washington Post, Will Charlie Crist be Florida's Arlen Specter?

Lingerie Football, Is It a Sport?

"[B]uxom young women wearing little more than René Rofé lingerie (tight-tight boy shorts, fringe-cut sports bras), shoulder pads, garters and small helmets with clear plastic visors across the face." Read the Washington Post, Baltimore Charm, a new Lingerie Football League team, plays up sheer talent.

Doesn't surprise me in a country where DWTS is considered entertainment.

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. Until then, have a laugh.

School of One

UPDATE II: The "new documentary 'Waiting for Superman' for ratcheting up the interest level" in education. But charter schools are not the whole answer. A "study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes found that only 17 percent did a better job than the comparable local public school, while more than a third did 'significantly worse. . . The best charter schools are laboratories for new ideas. But the regular public schools are where American education has to be saved. " Read The New York Times, Waiting for Somebody.

And Randy, the article also notes that "there’s no evidence that teachers’ unions are holding our schools back. Finland, which is currently cleaning our clock in education scores, has teachers who are almost totally unionized. The states with the best student performance on standardized tests tend to be the ones with the strongest teachers’ unions. "


UPDATE: And another article about education. Read The New York Times, Studying Engineering Before They Can Spell It.

For Randy, and anyone else concerned about modern education. Listen to Freakonomics Radio, How Is a Bad Radio Station Like the Public School System?

It reviews the New York City Department of Education pilot program 'School of One,' which "re-imagines the traditional classroom model. Instead of one teacher and 25-30 students in a classroom, each student participates in multiple instructional modalities, including a combination of teacher-led instruction, one-on-one tutoring, independent learning, and work with virtual tutors."

Choose your modality!

Don't Fall for the Balance Budget Bull

UPDATE II: "There’s a big difference between Republicans who have pledged to cut the deficit and true fiscal conservatives." Read The New York Times, Imagining a Deficit Plan From Republicans. The article includes a graph showing the magnitude of the problem:




UPDATE: "Banana republic, here we come." Read The New York Times, Downhill With the G.O.P., which confirm what I've said, "the only way to balance the budget by 2020, while simultaneously (a) making the Bush tax cuts permanent and (b) protecting all the programs Republicans say they won’t cut, is to completely abolish the rest of the federal government: 'No more national parks, no more Small Business Administration loans, no more export subsidies, no more N.I.H. No more Medicaid (one-third of its budget pays for long-term care for our parents and others with disabilities). No more child health or child nutrition programs. No more highway construction. No more homeland security. Oh, and no more Congress.' (Quoting Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.)

America's political meltdown, the road to poverty.

"Explore the various facets of the government's budget and see how revenues and spending have changed over time." See the Washington Post, Taking apart the federal budget.

Is It All For the Common Good, or Everyman For Himself?

UPDATE: Of course, it begs the question, what is the common good? Read the Washington Post, When do rules for the common good cross the line?

Bush's chief speechwriter and senior policy advisor from 2001 until June 2006, has some advice for having a little fun with your favorite Tea Party extremist this election, ask her/him the following questions:

Do you believe that Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional?
Do you believe that American identity is undermined by immigration?
Do you believe that gun rights are relevant to the health-care debate?

I suggest another question: is Obama "secretly a Muslim, or born abroad, possibly in outer space?" Read the Washington Post, Why the Tea Party is toxic for the GOP.

Let the fun begin!

Sed quis custodiet ipsos cutodes

Or as Socrates said "Who will protect us against the protectors?"

A staff sergeant in the Maryland Air National Guard and a computer systems engineer thought his helmet video camera would. But after "he taped a Maryland state trooper who stopped him for speeding on I-95 using a camera mounted on his helmet [and then] posted the video on YouTube" he was arrested, charged with violating the state's wiretapping law, and jailed for 26 hours.

Many states have laws against 'wiretapping. In Florida, it a crime to intercept or record a "wire, oral, or electronic communication" unless all parties to the communication consent. But it is not a crime where "the parties do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the conversation."

In the Maryland case, the judge ruled "that police have no expectation of privacy in their public, on-the-job communications." He wrote "Those of us who are public officials and are entrusted with the power of the state are ultimately accountable to the public. When we exercise that power in public fora, we should not expect our actions to be shielded from public observation. 'Sed quis custodiet ipsos cutodes' ('Who watches the watchmen?')." Read the Washington Post, Charges dropped in cyclist, trooper taping.

It's open season on recording elected officials, at least in Maryland.

The Republi-2010 Election Pledge-CON

UPDATE II: "Will the rhetoric of the House Republicans’ Pledge to America win over Tea Party members?" Read The New York Times, The Seduction of the Tea Partiers.


UPDATE: Jon Stewart on GOP déjà vu:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Postcards From the Pledge
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

"Extravagant promises and bluster are the stuff of campaign rhetoric, but the House Republicans’ “Pledge to America,” which promises a lot but is devoid of tough policy choices, goes far beyond the norm." Read The New York Times, The G.O.P.’s ‘Pledge’.

Cheer Up Monday

From a friend -- the 10 best caddy replies:

# 10 -- Golfer: "Think I'm going to drown myself in the lake."
Caddy: "Think you can keep your head down that long?"

# 9 -- Golfer: "I'd move heaven and earth to break 100 on this course."
Caddy: "Try heaven, you've already moved most of the earth."

# 8 -- Golfer: "Do you think my game is improving?"
Caddy: "Yes sir, you miss the ball much closer now."

# 7 -- Golfer: "Do you think I can get there with a 5 iron?"
Caddy: "Eventually."

# 6 -- Golfer: "You've got to be the worst caddy in the world."
Caddy: "I don't think so sir. That would be too much of a coincidence."

# 5 -- Golfer: "Please stop checking your watch all the time. It's too much of a distraction."
Caddy: "It's not a watch - it's a compass."

# 4 -- Golfer: "How do you like my game?"
Caddy: "Very good sir, but personally, I prefer golf."

# 3 -- Golfer: "Do you think it's a sin to play on Sunday?"
Caddy: "The way you play, sir, it's a sin on any day."

# 2 -- Golfer: "This is the worst course I've ever played on."
Caddy: "This isn't the golf course. We left that an hour ago."

# 1 -- Best Caddy Comment.... Golfer: "That can't be my ball, it's too old."
Caddy: "It's been a long time since we teed off, sir."

It Ain't Over 'Til the Fat Lady Gets a Job

UPDATE XI: "Instead of addressing the dismal unemployment picture during Wednesday’s press conference, Ben Bernanke bent to the inflationistas." Read The New York Times, The Intimidated Fed, which notes:

"Lately the inflationistas have seized on rising oil prices as evidence in their favor, even though — as Mr. Bernanke himself pointed out — these prices have nothing to do with Fed policy. The way oil prices are coloring the discussion led the economist Tim Duy to suggest, sarcastically, that basic Fed policy is now to do nothing about unemployment 'because some people in the Middle East are seeking democracy.'

But I’d put it differently. I’d say that the Fed’s policy is to do nothing about unemployment because Ron Paul is now the chairman of the House subcommittee on monetary policy."

UPDATE X: Another told ya so (originally posted in April 2009). "While data zealots have declared the end of the Great Recession, its pain is still very real for millions of Americans." Read The New York Times, We Haven’t Hit Bottom Yet.


UPDATE IX: In the future, will this time be known as 'The Great Unemployment?' Read The Atlantic, How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America.


UPDATE VIII: "Those in the lower-income groups are in a much, much deeper hole than the general commentary on the recession would lead people to believe." Read The New York Times, The Worst of the Pain.


UPDATE VII: From the Washington Post, Digging out of a deep hole:



And who dug the hole, Bush or Obama?


UPDATE VI: The unemployment rate jumped to 10.2 percent in October, the highest since 1983. Read The New York Times, U.S. Unemployment Rate Hits 10.2%, Highest in 26 Years.

But "the truer measure of unemployment -- a total count of everyone who should be working full time but is not -- hit 17.5 percent in October, the highest level in modern times."


UPDATE V: From The New York Times, Comparing This Recession to Previous Ones: Job Losses;



But thank God we saved Government Sachs.


UPDATE IV: Pity the non-government worker, unemployment is still bad, bad, bad. Read The New York Times, A Scary Reality.


UPDATE III: If Obama don't watch out, the unemployed fat lady might crush his presidency. Read the Washington Post, Shaky Economy May Dislodge Obama's Footing.


UPDATE II: How come the fat lady still ain't got a job? Cause there ain't none to be had, unemployment rose last month to 9.5%, and that number is probably an understatement. Read the Washington Post, Job Losses Dampen Hopes for Recovery.

Obama shouldn't have given all the money to the robber banks.


UPDATE: The fat lady still ain't got a job, and her prospects ain't good. Read The New York Times, G.M.’s Latest Plan Envisions a Much Smaller Automaker and Workers Walk the Plank. The later article notes that "[w]hile Wall Street is breaking out the Champagne, the rest of the economy is beyond terrible, and will be for the foreseeable future."

You can thank those Republi-cons and their war on the middle class.

Are happy days here again? Is the economic mess behind us?

There is an old saying, it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings, which means that one shouldn't assume the outcome of some event until it has actually finished.

(FYI: The phrase refers to the final scene of German composer Richard Wagner's opera Der Ring des Nibelungen, aka the Ring cycle, a full performance of which could take place over four nights with a total playing time of 15 hours, in which a heavy-set woman dressed like a valkyrie (Brünnhilde) rides into the funeral pyre of her lover (Siegfried), while singing of course because it is an opera, as the the set collapses and the entire cycle ends up in the Rhine river, where it started.)

Read The New York Times, As Stocks Surge, Fears Linger About the Economy.

After the looting and robbery of the treasury of trillions of dollars, the government has succeeded in propping up the stock market. But the stock market decline wasn't the problem, it was just a symptom.

The real event was an economic downturn, which was caused by massive fraud on Wall Street that was facilitated by deregulation and lack of government oversight, all part of a larger Republi-con decades-long war on the middle class, but that is a subject for another post.

Bottomline, the trillions were a mere band aid to hide the gaping wounds of the economic downturn. And my bet is, it ain't over.

More State Republi-Con Fiscal Conservative Hypocrisy

UPDATE II: Rubio's defense for charging personal expenses to the state Republi-con party credit card, he "spent less in 4 years than Sansom did in 2." Read the Miami-Herald, Marco Rubio charged $4K in home remodeling work on GOP credit card.

You remember Sansom -- over 2½ years, a 25-year-old junior Sansom staffer, who was given a party American Express card, spent nearly $1.3 million. Thousands were spent "on jewelry, sporting goods and in one case $15,000 for what's listed as a monthlong stay at a posh Miami Beach hotel." The Florida Republi-cons spent "$650,000 in lodging, $60,000 in airfare — mostly commercial airlines — and $66,000 for charter planes."

According to a former supporter, Rubio never met a perk he didn’t like and is "ust another career politician looking to line his own pocket."

Now you know why I call them Republi-Cons!


UPDATE: What will he do when he gets a hold of the federal government credit card? St. Petersburg Times, Marco Rubio charged kitchen flooring on GOP credit card?

Another Republi-con fiscal CONservative with money problems. Read the Washington Post, Republican's financial woes recast Ga. race.

He's got a lot in common with Rubio and O'Donnell.

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