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 to fact-free fantasies - missile nonsense and birther nonsense


Local and regional: arrogant government official;


Nation and international: I'm waiting, where's the balanced budget; Republi-CON deficit flip-flop and hypocrisy; speaking of flip-flops -- did you see the take down of Rand Paul; Republi-CON truthiness cost $220 million, Republi-CON health care hypocrisy;and they're off! -- the latest buzz is for Gov. Christie; reapng what the Republi-con fear industry sowed -- damned if you don't, and damned if you do, airline security; the Republi-CON's 'aristocracy of monied corporations' exposed; the Republi-Con jihad against America continues -- pledging to block action on every bill being considered by Congress until action they get their millionaire tax cuts; the American political meltdown continues, it's the road to poverty; Republi-cons are narcissists; and speaking of take-downs -- Hedgehog News and Glen Beck, The Manchurian Lunatic


Fun stuff: how pumpkin pies are made and new redneck fire alarm

and

Donate to a good cause: last month it was Pace FL's Woodbine United Methodist's Ray Of Hope Wheelchair Ramp Ministry, any suggests for the holidays?

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!

A Politician Without Honor

UPDATE: The latest McCain stance on 'don't ask, don't tell'.

"Senator McCain may be going through a tough time with this "don't ask, don't tell" thing, but it only gets worse":

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

The Bailout Bull Revisited

"The financial crisis stretched even farther across the economy than many had realized, as new disclosures show the Federal Reserve rushed trillions of dollars in emergency aid not just to Wall Street but also to motorcycle makers, telecom firms and foreign-owned banks in 2008 and 2009." Read the Washington Post, Fed aid in financial crisis went beyond U.S. banks to industry, foreign firms.

American Political Meltdown, The Road to Poverty

UPDATE V: "What if WikiLeaks got hold of a cable from China’s embassy in Washington? Here’s some of the “good news” that may have been sent home to Beijing." Read The New York Times, From WikiChina.


UPDATE IV: For another prediction -- "[t]here is very little likelihood the political class as currently constituted will address the looming fiscal disaster soon" -- and an explanation why, read The New York Times, Sin and Taxes.

Time to batten down the hatches?


UPDATE III: Be careful what you wish for . . . Read the Washington Post, Can business afford Jim DeMint?


UPDATE II: Does "the polarization of its politics symbolizes America’s inability to adapt to the changing nature of global capitalism after the financial crisis"? Read The New York Times, Blaming China Won’t Help the Economy.

The article concludes that America's political polarization and "nostalgic rerun of the experiment in market fundamentalism" may cause it "to ignore the global reinvention of capitalism. . . This would not prevent the rest of the world from changing course.

Rather, it would make it likely that the newly dominant economic model will not be a product of democratic capitalism, based on Western values and American leadership. Instead, it will be an authoritarian state-led capitalism inspired by Asian values. If America opts, for the first time in history, for nostalgia and ideology instead of pragmatism and progress, then the new model of capitalism will probably be made in China, like so much else in the world these days. "


UPDATE: Don't take may word for it, get "a good look at how the Chinese view us Americans" from someone who recently visited China. Read The New York Times, Too Many Hamburgers?

Some say the China model, also known as the Beijing Consensus or authoritarian economics, is the future, not "our poll-driven, toxically partisan, cable-TV-addicted, money-corrupted political class [that is] more interested in what keeps them in power than what would again make America powerful, more interested in defeating each other than saving the country."

Have we lost that "'can-do,' 'get-it-done,' 'everyone-pull-together,' 'whatever-it-takes' attitude that built our highways, dams and put a man on the moon."

Political polarization and paralysis -- "the way wealthy nations become poor." Read the Washington Post, So goes the center, so goes the economy.

And China laughs all the way to the bank.

The Nonsense of Pastor Truthiness, Cont.

Delusional birther lies -- but who needs elitist facts when you have Truthines.

Read CNN, Justices turn aside another challenge over Obama's citizenship.

Cheer Up Monday -- Puns

My Resume:

1. My first job was working in an Orange Juice factory, but I got canned. Couldn't concentrate!
2. Then I worked in the woods as a Lumberjack, but just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the axe.
3. After that, I tried being a Tailor, but wasn't suited for it -- mainly because it was a sew-sew job.
4. Next, I tried working in a Muffler Factory, but that was too exhausting.
5. Then, tried being a Chef--figured it would add a little spice to my life, but just didn't have the thyme.
6. Next, I attempted being a Deli Worker, but any way I sliced it... couldn't cut the mustard.
7. My best job was a Musician, but eventually found I wasn't noteworthy.
8. I studied a long time to become a Doctor, but didn't have any patients.
9. Next, was a job in a Shoe Factory. Tried hard but just didn't fit in.
10. I became a Professional Fisherman, but discovered I couldn't live on my net income.
11. Managed to get a good job working for a Pool Maintenance Company, but the work was just too draining.
12. So then I got a job in a Workout Center, but they said I wasn't fit for the job.
13. After many years of trying to find steady work, I finally got a job as a Historian - until I realized there was no future in it.
14. My last job was working in Starbucks, but had to quit because it was the same old grind.

The New TSA Health Care Plan

From a friend:

Reapng What the Republi-cons Fear Industry Sowed

"The fear industry has engineered security’s victory over freedom." Read The New York Times, The Real Threat to America.

OBL Is lovin' it!

P.S.

After years of supporting a police state, Republi-cons now claim to have found Fourth Amendment religion. White Americans now know what "what black and Hispanic Americans routinely deal with, courtesy of the police department." Read The Root, The Real Pat-Down Outrage.

The (Missile) Nonsense of Pastor Truthiness

UPDATE II: Tim, a defender of WEBY's very own Pastor Truthiness, wrote with a reference to a fact-free video narrated by Pastor Truthiness and a claim that I need to "get [my] 'stuff' together before [I] attack him - seems like he is always making [me] look the fool."

Sorry Tim, the fool is the one who quotes World Net Daily as a reliable source.

There is an explanation for, and long history of, mistaking airplane contrails for missiles. Read ContrailScience.com, Los Angeles Missile Contrail Explained in Pictures. The article is probably difficult for Tim and Pastor Truthiness to understand, since it includes a lot of facts, math, science and analysis to identify the actual plane that left the contrail.

Fact-free truthiniess, and its Pastor, are the fools.


UPDATE: Read The New York Times, How Smoky Plume in Sky Drew the Eyes of the World, in which one expert concluded that "news programs had acted irresponsibly in pushing the missile thesis without bothering to establish basic facts that would have quickly cleared up the riddle."

On Tuesday WEBY's very own Pastor Truthiness spend the better part of two hour talking about a missile launch" off the California coast. It felt soooooo right, and besides, he had seen it on WorldNetDaily.

Read the Washington Post, Mystery vapor trail over California was left by plane, not missile, experts say.

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

If You Are Having a Bad Day . . .

Remember it could be worse:

Thank God We Saved the Banksters, But Why?

"For years, the most profitable industry in America has been one that doesn’t design, build, or sell a single tangible thing." Read The New Yorker, What Good Is Wall Street?

It's the Economy, Stupid

"Based on the economic facts at hand — and not counting for possible financial shocks — a Yale economist says President Obama may be easily re-elected." Read The New York Times, A Forecast That Obama Could Love.

The Republi-Con Jihad Against America Continues

Republi-cons oppose "any actions taken by the Federal Reserve that would make the economy better" because they hope "economic hardship [is] the path to election glory." Read The New York Times, Axis of Depression.

The Republi-Con jihad against America continues.

The Republi-CONs Go to Washington

Watch the Republi-cons squirm as they refuse to explain how they will balance the budget, especially the take down of Rand Paul (beginning at about the 3:00 minute mark):

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

Time to call the Republi-con bluff!

Hedgehog News and Glen Beck, The Manchurian Lunatic

Glenn Beck's most recent delusional rant on Hedgehog News that -- "George Soros' relationships with various liberal media and charity non-profits is to overthrow America:"

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
George Soros Plans to Overthrow America
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

And a brilliant take down of The Manchurian Lunatic:

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

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: WEBY's very own Pastor Truthiness's delusional rants - now the sky is falling, is it just me, or does he remind you of Pastor Phelps; and deferred prosecution probation for Signgate


Local and regional: local less government bull, county board OKs camera ordinance; arrogant government official; and even more state Republi-Con fiscal conservative hypocrisy;


Nation and international: 2010 election wrap-up; I'm waiting, where's the balanced budget; Republi-CON truthiness cost $220 million, Republi-CON health care hypocrisy; and they're off!, handicapping 2012, Palin-mania begins (or continues); the Republi-CON I'd Be a Millionaire If It Wasn't For Social Security myth; damned if you don't, and damned if you do, airline security; first executing an innocent man and trying to hide it, now examining police misconduct, false confessions and unethical prosecutions, PBS continues its expose' of cases in the criminal justice system; fair play or not good sportsmanship?; and An American Sesquicentennial - what and why.


Fun stuff: how pumpkin pies are made and new redneck fire alarm

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!

Presidential Trip Hypocrisy

UPDATE IV: "When widely followed public figures feel free to say anything, without any fact-checking, we have a problem. It becomes impossible for a democracy to think intelligently about big issues — deficit reduction, health care, taxes, energy/climate — let alone act on them. Facts, opinions and fabrications just blend together. " Read The New York Times, Too Good to Check.


UPDATE III: He's no friend of Democratic presidents. But read what he has to say regarding Obama's trip to India, at the Washington Post, Why President Obama is right about India.


UPDATE II: Read CNN, Debunking the myth: The cost of Obama's trip to Asia.


Update: What are the facts about presidential trips? Read Politico, How much do Obama's foreign trips cost? and FactCheck.org, Trip to Mumbai.

The lie: Obama's trip to India is to escape post-election Washington and will cost the U.S. $200 million per day.

The trip to India was officially announced as early as June, after a trip to Indonesia and Australia was postponed.

"The trip to India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan encompasses a G-20 summit, an Asia-Pacific Economic Council summit, major holidays in India and Indonesia, and bilateral talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and at least five other leaders, as well as four presidential news conferences."

It is true that an entire hotel was rented, but the same was done when Bush visited India.

The cost of the trip are "wildly inflated", actually the figure is probably fabricated and no doubt real cost is similar to the cost of Bush's trips.

I did hear any complainin' from the Republi-cons about Bush's 77 trips to Crawford, TX.

Why Is America Great?, Part V, It's Not Because We Are God's Chosen Nation

"American exceptionalism is now the central theme of Sarah Palin's speeches . . . [but is it] presumptuous, if not offensive." Read the Washington Post, Ohhh, America, you're so strong, which notes:

"The conservative use of American exceptionalism as a political sword today is perversely revealing. There's something off when the first generation of Americans that is less educated than its parents feels a deep need to be told how unique it is. Or that a generation that's handing off epic debts and a chronically dysfunctional political process (among other woes) demands that its leaders keep toasting its fabulousness. . .

Sarah Palin's focus on this theme proves she is shrewder than her critics acknowledge. I don't doubt that Palin's beliefs are sincere. But she's also tuned in to her audience: Millions of Americans who are anxious about America's trajectory and worried about their family's economic future. If you don't have real answers, soothing words are a start. "

Fair Play?

UPDATE II: Speaking of good sportsmanship, "Wisconsin’s 63-point victory over Indiana showed that compassion takes a back seat to perception in big-time college football." Read The New York Times, In B.C.S., No Reward for Sportsmanship.


UPDATE: "Just because it's legal, that doesn't make it right -- especially when an adult coach puts one over on the kids. Such trick plays are many things, but they're not good sportsmanship, says [NPR sports commentator] Frank Deford." Read, or listent to, NPR, Trickery On The Football Field: Like Child Abuse?

From Time, Best Middle School Football Play Ever: Quarterback Sneak Goes Viral, "the Corpus Christi, Tex., Driscoll Middle School Defenders came up with a deceitfully simple slow quarterback sneak":



But was it a fair play?

Compare it to The New York Times, Flap Over Lost H.S. Football Plays in Connecticut.

Republi-CON Health Care Hypocrisy

"[A]n incoming legislator who staunchly opposes the new health-care law and ran promising its repeal, [is upset that he has] to wait a month for his government-funded health-care benefits to kick in." Read the Washington Post, GOP legislator frets over 28 days without insurance -- but what about 30 million he'd leave uninsured?, which includes a graph showing "the number of uninsured under the status quo, the GOP's alternative health-care plan, and the [Patient Protection and] Affordable Care Act:"



No wonder they are proudly Republi-cons!

OBL Is Lovin' It!

Do we have a government that now "needlessly humiliates American citizens":

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
TSA Full-Body Scanners - Jeffrey Goldberg
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

Makes ya wonder if OBL won.

Watch What You Wish For, You Might Lose Your Job

UPDATE IV: And if you lose your job, just die. Read the Washington Post, GOP to jobless: Drop dead.

Thank god for Republi-cons, defenders of the rich!


UPDATE III: What if those waskly Republi-cons had won in 2008?

"The Republicans opposed the stimulus package, and the nonpartisan

In other words, under Republican leadership, we would have at least an additional 1.4 million people out of work. As FactCheck.org, the indispensable truth squad Web site puts it: 'It’s just false to say that the stimulus created 'no jobs. Congressional Budget Office estimates that it created between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.''"

Help reelect Obama, vote Republi-CON!


UPDATE II: "Private businesses added 64,000 workers in September." That's about 850,000 more than in Bush's last month.

But if you're still thinking it's time to balance the budget, read the rest of the story, The New York Times, Cuts in Government Led U.S. Economy to Lose 95,000 Jobs.


UPDATE: The articles to which Al referred during the Your Turn discussion today:

Reuters, Job losses in 2009 likely bigger than thought; and

Gallup, Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment at 10.1% in September.

For all those who pine for the Bush economy and the 'good ol' days of Republi-conism, from The Washington Monthly, Private-Sector Job Growth, "showing monthly job losses/gains in the private sector since the start of the Great Recession" (emphasis added), with red columns for the Bush administration and blue columns for the Obama administration:

2010 Election Wrapup

"70 percent said the midterms were a negative reaction to the governing party . . . [and f]orty-four percent believe a GOP majority will make 'no difference.'" Read Politico, No mandate for GOP.

Why Is America Great?, Part IV, Why We Need a 'National Greatness Agenda'

"We now need a movement transcendent of partisan cliques and organized around a broad revitalization agenda and love of country.We now need a movement transcend. " Read The New York Times, National Greatness Agenda.

Unfortunately, voters reward "politicians who say they are worried about the budget much more than politicians willing to make specific benefit cuts and tax increases. [Voters] prefer generous benefits and low taxes." And one economist thinks that the "process meant to deal with the nation’s long-run fiscal problems has been hijacked on behalf of an ideological agenda."

Think it's easy? You Fix the Budget

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.

See you at the 2010 Blue Angels Homecoming Airshow.

The Big Health Care Lawsuit Showdown Begins

UPDATE III: If you suffer from insomnia, the FL health care lawsuit court documents have been updated.


UPDATE II: A government motion to dismiss is still pending here in Pensacola, FL, but the federal judge said he was going to deny it.

And a federal judge in Virginia "denied a government motion to dismiss the case and is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the merits on Oct. 18."

Not so in "Michigan [where another federal judge] ruled Thursday that the new health-care overhaul law is constitutional, rejecting an argument that Congress lacked the power to create the legislation's 'individual mandate,' which requires virtually all Americans to purchase health insurance." Read the Washington Post, New health-care law constitutional, federal judge rules.


UPDATE Read the Washington Post, Opponents present case against Obama's health-care law in 20-state lawsuit.

Tomorrow is a big day in the health care lawsuit, first arguments for dismissal of the lawsuit. Read the Los Angles Times, States opposed to healthcare overhaul pin hopes on Florida court hearing and the Wall Street Journal, Conservative Duo Tests Health Law.

I'll update the court documents later.

Redneck Fire Alarm

You never have to change the batteries!!! I'm putting one in every room:



Safety First!

Republi-CON Deficit Hypocrisy

From the Washington Post:

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: WEBY's very own Pastor Truthiness's delusion birther rants, the deliberate distortions continue and he is the one who should be embarrassed, so many lies, but who needs elitist facts when you have Truthines, now he has said that the President should be shot!

Local and regional: arrogant government official

Nation and international: the 'Tea Party' Revolt of 2010, now what; it's lookin good for Obama in 2012, even better if Sarah saves him; Obama should call the Republi-CON bluff and you'd better batten down the hatches; Republi-CON family values hypocrisy; executing an innocent man and trying to hide it; prosecutorial payback, shrouded in secrets; and Lincoln's election 150 years ago.


Fun stuff: why dogs hate Halloween and how pumpkin pies are made

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!

Help Reelect Obama, Vote Republi-CON

UPDATE V: It's lookin good for Obama in 2012.


UPDATE IV: "The reality of presidential politics is that it helps to have an enemy." Read The New York Times, In Losing the Midterms, There May Be Winning.

As you can see, I first posted about more than a week ago.


UPDATE III: Remember the elections of 1946, 1954 and 1994.

"In 1946, President Truman's party lost control of both the House and Senate. In 1948, however, Truman won an improbable reelection running against the "do-nothing 80th Congress." In 1954, President Eisenhower's party lost control of the House and Senate. But two years later, Eisenhower was resoundingly reelected. In 1994, President Clinton's party lost control of the House and Senate. In 1996, Clinton cruised to reelection, partly because of reckless behavior -- e.g., the government shutdown of 1995 -- by congressional Republicans."


UPDATE II: This is a quick told ya so, less than a week. Read USA Today, Obama: Republicans will bear more responsibility after the elections.


UPDATE: Vote Republi-con, for "a triple whammy to fix the economy: fewer jobs, worse deficits and greater inequality." Read The New York Times, Trifecta of Torment.

Obama wins in 2012 by losing in 2010. Let me explain.

As I said in 2008, the best thing that happened to the Republi-cons was losing. Obama become the chump, he become the fall guy to blame. From February:

"There's a sucker born every minute" is a phrase often credited to P.T. Barnum, an American showman. It is generally taken to mean that there are (and always will be) a lot of gullible people in the world. And these suckers must all be Democrats.

John McCain calls the stimulus bill is 'generational theft.' But remember that in October he voted for a bank bailout, calling it a "rescue effort not just for Wall Street but for Main Street," which was used to pay dividends to shareholders and bonuses to employees.

Such hypocrisy.

It is clear that the Republi-cons, who are largely responsible for the economic mess (beginning about the sixth paragraph), want the Naive-ocrats to take the blame for the stimulus bill. The Republi-cons see it as a win-win, and Obama is stupid enough to play along. Even if the stimulus bill works, Republi-cons will claim it was coincidence and say that the government should stay out of the markets.

The Naive-ocrats should demand that Republi-cons accept responsibility for the mess they created, and vote against the current bill. Then wait until the Republi-cons agree to cooperate.

When economic circumstance deteriorate more, the Republi-cons will concede. Then craft a sensible stimulus package."

He didn't, he tried to be nice to a group that openly stated that they hoped he failed.

But maybe he's wised up. If Republi-cons won't work with him, he need to shift blame back to them. Why? To win in 2012.

"[I]f Democrats lose their grip on Congress in November, President Obama would become the third consecutive president to see his party tossed from power on his watch — a sequence that has never happened before in the country’s tumultuous political history. This suggests that, however much the issues of the moment may seem to be defining these elections, there are some deeper forces at work, too. . .

The fast growth in the number of independent voters — a broad category that includes some voters who tend to identify more with one major party than the other, as well as a lot of Americans who are skeptical of both — has been making American politics more volatile. According to a Pew Center poll completed a few weeks ago, the Republican advantage at the moment is mostly grounded in the party’s 13-point lead among independents, which is about the same margin by which those voters supported Democratic candidates in 2006 and Mr. Obama in 2008.

In other words, independent voters have tended to side with whichever party can legitimately claim not to be in charge at the moment, and ideology doesn’t have a whole lot to do with it."

Read The New York Times, Voter Disgust Isn’t Only About Issues.

NoBullU Endorsement

UPDATE II: Pining for the gentlemanly days of the politics of our founding fathers? Think again:




UPDATE: And give the Republi-cons and the Naive-ocrats the third finger, and vote for Travis Irvine for Congress:



Ohio must be the state of memorable political ads this year.

Vote for Lee Fisher, Democratic candidate for Senate in Ohio, because he's got great, honest, effective ads:





If he loses, the Naive-ocrat should put him in charge of campaign ads in 2012.

Prosecutorial Payback, Shrouded in Secrets

Halloween is over, but this is scary:

After a failed effort to stop a woman from talking about a case, an activist was served with a 'sprawling' federal subpoena.

"It had almost 100 subparts and sought documents, e-mails, phone records, checks, bank records, credit card receipts, photographs, videos and 'Facebook communications (including messages and wall posts)' concerning contacts with dozens of people, including doctors and lawyers, along with information about a billboard supporting the [a doctor and his wife being prosecuted] and a documentary film called, perhaps presciently, 'The Chilling Effect.'"

When the woman refused to comply with the court’s order, a federal judge imposed fines of $200 each a day."

Read The New York Times, A First Amendment Case, Shrouded in Secrets.

Government secrecy is antithetical to democracy. See OpenTheGovernment.org.

The 'Tea Party' Revolt

UPDATE: Read Politico, Next for GOP leaders: Stopping Palin.

"The ordinary Americans in the Tea Party movement lack the numbers and financial clout to muscle their way into the back rooms of Republican power." Read The New York Times, The Grand Old Plot Against the Tea Party, which predicts that "their numbers will surely grow once the Republican establishment’s panacea of tax cuts proves as ineffectual at creating jobs, saving homes and cutting deficits as the half-measures of the Obama White House and the Democratic Congress. The tempest, however, will not be contained within the tiny Tea Party but will instead overrun the Republican Party itself, where Palin, with Murdoch and Beck at her back, waits in the wings to “take back America” not just from Obama but from the G.O.P. country club elites now mocking her."

Economics 101 -- Why Hoover Was Wrong and the Republi-CONs will Lose the Next Election

"More and more voters are convinced that what we need is not spending but more punishment. The irony is that they will end up punishing themselves." Read The New York Times, Mugged by the Moralizers.

Time to call the Republi-con bluff!

How Pumpkin Pies Are Made

Just in time for the holidays:



I think I'll have apple pie!

Cat Bowling

Squash as many cats as possible. Use your SPACEBAR to bowl, and the moving ghostly arrow to aim your shot. But beware! The arrow's speed changes with each throw.

Now get back to work!

Executing an Innocent Man and Trying to Hide It

UPDATE: Texas tried to execute another innocent man. The prosecutor withheld the statement of the real killer that he acted alone, and allowed his perjured testimony at trial. Read Texas Monthly, Innocence Lost.

Watch PBS Frontline, Death by Fire.

The worst part is that the Texas Governor, Rick Perry, rushed to have the man executed for political reasons, his reelection.

But "questions about Willingham's innocence would not go away. By 2008, the controversy had ended up in a small state agency. The Texas Forensic Science Commission was designed to go in and figure out what happened and figure out how to keep it from happening again."

Just before a critical report was to be released, which would have raised serious concerns that an innocent man was executed, Perry fired three members of the commission and installed a political ally as the new chairman.

The report has never been released.

Time to Batten Down the Hatches?

"How bad will it be if Republicans win control of the House next week? Very, very bad." Read The New York Times, Divided We Fail.

Time to call the Republi-con bluff!

Republi-CON Family Values Hypocrisy

"[F]ormer House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and ex-President Bill Clinton used to 'bond' over wine and cigars while sharing stories about their respective marital infidelities." Read the Washington Post, Dick Armey: Clinton and Gingrich traded stories about their girlfriends.

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 today I've been preempted by the FSU game. (A conspiracy, no doubt, to keep me off the air just days before the election.) I'll be back next week to deprogram you. Until then, squash a cat.

Obama the Philosopher President

"The historian James T. Kloppenberg has written a book about President Obama, whom he sees as a rare breed in America, a kind of philosopher president. . . [like] John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and John Quincy Adams, then Abraham Lincoln and in the 20th century just Woodrow Wilson." Read The New York Times, In Writings of Obama, a Philosophy Is Unearthed.

The Voters Are Boxed In

This pretty well sums up the dilemma facing voters, from the Washington Post, Crash test dummies:

Who Wants the Dangerous Nuts to Rule?

Some of the Republi-con candidates are just nuts, and some are dangerous nuts.

"The Republican nominee for the Senate in the Last Frontier has established himself in recent weeks as an authority on the authoritarian.

He sought protection from a security firm run by a guy with ties to the militia movement. His security detail, which included active-duty members of the U.S. military, handcuffed and performed a citizen's arrest on a reporter who was attempting to question Miller. The candidate offered favorable thoughts about the former East Germany. And he fought disclosure of details about his work for local government until ordered by a judge to comply."

Read the Washington Post, If Alaska's Senate seat doesn't work out for Joe Miller, there's always East Berlin.

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.