Can Republicans 'Campaign to Govern, Not Just Win'?

"The [Republican] governor of Indiana says his party’s presidential candidates should 'campaign to govern, not just win.'" Read The New York Times, Republican Calls for a More Honest Debate.

As I've said before, fear, anger, and hatred is a great campaign strategy, but not much of a governing philosophy.

Republi-CON Laissez-Faire Hypocrisy

Today's word in Republi-cons hypocrisy is laissez-faire, which 'describes an environment in which transactions between private parties are free from state intervention, including restrictive regulations, taxes, tariffs and enforced monopolies.

The phrase laissez-faire is French and literally means 'let do', but it broadly implies 'let it be', or 'leave it alone.'"

Republi-cons have "lambasted the Obama administration over what he has described as its failed efforts to stimulate new jobs through clean-energy projects backed with billions of dollars in federal loans or other assistance. . .

[But] several prominent Republicans who have worked to steer federal money to clean-energy projects in their home states, Energy Department documents show. . .

[Senator] McConnell made two personal appeals in 2009, asking Energy Secretary Steven Chu to approve as much as $235 million in federal loans for a plant to build electric vehicles in Franklin, Ky. . .

Federal lobbying disclosure records show that Mr. McConnell’s support for the project came after Zap Motor hired a Kentucky-based lobbyist, Robert Babbage, who has been a frequent contributor to Mr. McConnell’s campaigns and boasts on his own Internet site about his close ties to Mr. McConnell. . .

Another [Republi-con], Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, recently asked Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to appoint an outside investigator to determine how the Department of Energy distributes clean-energy money. But in 2009, Mr. Smith wrote to Mr. Chu asking him to approve loan guarantees from stimulus money for a Texas project proposed by Tessera Solar, documents show.

Representative Fred Upton, [Republi-con] of Michigan and another critic of the Energy Department program, signed letters along with other members of the Michigan delegation in 2009 and 2010, pushing at least five clean-energy projects in his state, including a $207 million loan request from EcoMotors International. And Representative Cliff Stearns, [Republi-con] of Florida, praised the opening last year of a lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant in his state, which relied upon an Energy Department grant."

Read The New York Times, Republicans Sought Clean-Energy Money for Home States.

And "[h]ypocrisy is the state of pretending to have beliefs, opinions, virtues, ideals, thoughts, feelings, qualities, or standards that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie."

(Yes, I know, Republi-cons hypocrisy is another tautology, like criminal Republi-con or narcissistic politician or stupid politician.)

Republi-CON Constitutional Authority Hypocrisy

"In honor of Constitution Day we pose the question: Which part of the Constitution governs the use of laser pointers?

It sounds like a dumb question, since the Constitution predated the laser by 171 years. But this year, the House of Representatives declared it had found an answer: Article I, Section 8, Clause 3.

That clause says Congress has the power 'To regulate Commerce ... among the several States.' Which, of course, doesn’t say anything about lasers. But the House still used those words to justify a bill that prohibited pointing lasers at aircraft: The logic was that they were acting to protect “commerce.”

This legal loop-de-loop is the result of a new rule in the House, where Republican leaders require every bill to carry a 'Constitutional Authority Statement.' The idea was to demonstrate that a new GOP majority respected the enduring restraints of the Constitution.

Instead, this Congress has often demonstrated something else: an ongoing tendency to make the Constitution say whatever they want it to."

Read the Washington Post, Congress finds, and lists, meaning in Constitution.

Republi-CON Congressional Spending Bills Hypocrisy

"In last year’s campaigns, Republicans ripped into Democrats for failing to perform one of Congress’s most basic duties: providing money in a timely way for the operations of government.

But Republicans acknowledged Thursday that they would miss the deadline they had promised to meet. They began to rush a stopgap spending bill through the House because, they said, Congress could not finish work on any of the 12 regular appropriations bills before the new fiscal year starts in two weeks, on Oct. 1."

Read The New York Times, House Republicans Push Stopgap Spending Bill.

An Interesting Article Regarding Education

"What happens when you take three American kids and throw them in a classroom 5,000 miles from home where they can’t speak the language?" Read The New York Times, My Family’s Experiment in Extreme Schooling.

Moral Confusion and Public Health Illiteracy

"If Republican presidential candidates want to debate sexual health and hygiene, it would be nice if they displayed more collective knowledge and judgment than your average eighth-grade family-life class. During the Tampa debate, a viewer longed for a blunt, part-time football coach — or whomever they draft into teaching health classes nowadays — to mount the stage and present the facts of life.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a nasty, sexually transmitted disease contracted by about three-quarters of Americans at some point. You can have it, and spread it, without knowing it. In some women, the virus causes abnormal cells in the lining of the cervix that can develop into cancerous lesions. Virtually all cervical cancer is caused by HPV. There is, however, a vaccine that is highly effective against the most dangerous HPV strains. The main side effect, as you’d expect in a procedure involving a needle, is fainting. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all girls should get it anyway."

Read the Washington Post, A dose of reality for the HPV debate, which imagines "a parent-daughter conversation about sexual restraint and maturity that includes the words: 'Honey, I’m going to deny you a vaccine that prevents a horrible, bleeding cancer, just as a little reminder of the religious values I’ve been trying to teach you.' This would be morally monstrous. Such ethical electroshock therapy has nothing to do with cultivation of character in children. It certainly has nothing to do with Christianity, which teaches that moral rules are created for the benefit of the individual, not to punish them with preventable death."

Funny Signs

From an email:

Sign over a gynecologist's office:
"Dr. Jones, at your cervix."

In a podiatrist's office:
"Time wounds all heels."

On a septic tank truck:
We are #1, in the #2 business.
"Yesterday's Meals on Wheels"

At a proctologist's door:
"To expedite your visit, please back in."

On a plumber's truck:
"We repair what your husband fixed."

On another plumber's truck:
"Don't sleep with a drip. Call your plumber."

On a church's bill board:
"Seven days without God makes one weak."

At a tire shop:
"Invite us to your next blowout."

At a towing company:
"We don't charge an arm and a leg. We want tows."

On an electrician's truck:
"Let us remove your shorts."

In a nonsmoking Area:
"If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action."

On a maternity room door:
"Push. Push. Push."

At an optometrist's Office:
"If you don't see what you're looking for, you've come to the right place."

On a taxidermist's window:
"We really know our stuff."

On a fence:
"Salesmen welcome! Dog food is expensive!"

At a car dealership:
"The best way to get back on your feet - miss a car payment."

Outside a muffler shop:
"No appointment necessary. We hear you coming."

In a veterinarian's waiting room:
"Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!"

At the electric company:
"We would be delighted if you send in your payment. However, if you don't, you will be."

In a restaurant window:
"Don't stand there and be hungry; come on in and get fed up."

In the front yard of a funeral Home:
"Drive carefully. We'll wait."

At a propane filling station:
"Thank heaven for little grills."

At a radiator shop:
"Best place in town to take a leak."

Sign on the back of another septic tank truck:
"Caution - this truck is full of political promises."

Why the Individual Mandate, Because Ron Paul is a Hypocrite

UPDATE: "Compassion is out of fashion among the G.O.P.’s base." Read The New York Times, Free to Die.

"During Monday’s debate, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked whether an uninsured 30-year-old who had chosen to go without insurance should be left to die if he falls unexpectedly ill. Ron Paul dodged the question. 'What he should do is whatever he wants to do and take responsibility for himself,' Paul said. 'That’s what freedom is about.' Blitzer pressed the issue. 'But, Congressman, are you saying the society should just let him die?' 'Yeah!' whooped the crowd. But Paul stammered out a 'no.' And perhaps for good reason.

In 2008, his campaign manager, a healthy-but-uninsured 49-year-old, died from pneumonia and left his family with $400,000 in medical debt." Read the Washington Post, Why libertarianism fails in health care.

Someone should ask Paul who paid the medical bills.

As the article notes, "though it sounds nice to say that charities will pick up the slack, any hospital system in America will tell you that even with Medicare and Medicaid assuming much of the burden for the most intractable and expensive cases, charities are not capable of or interested in fully compensating the medical system for the services needed by the un- or underinsured."

Does Palin Have a Point About the "Collusion of Big Government and Big Business and Big Finance to the Detriment of All the Rest — to the Little Guys"

UPDATE II: About that 'detriment of all the rest' of us, which I call predatory business practices, did you know that Wall Street "don’t want the American people to know the extent to which speculators keep oil prices artificially high and the great damage that does to our economy. " Read the Washington Post, What Wall Street doesn’t want us to know about oil prices.

All part of the Republi-CON war on the middle class.


UPDATE: More on Palin's observation regarding 'corporate crony capitalism', "[n]early 5,400 former congressional staffers have left Capitol Hill to become federal lobbyists in the past 10 years, according to a new study that documents the extent of the revolving door between Congress and K Street." Read the Washington Post, Revolving door of employment between Congress, lobbying firms, study shows.

At a Tea Party event in Indianola, Iowa, Palin "made three interlocking points. First, that the United States is now governed by a 'permanent political class,' drawn from both parties, that is increasingly cut off from the concerns of regular people. Second, that these Republicans and Democrats have allied with big business to mutual advantage to create what she called 'corporate crony capitalism.' Third, that the real political divide in the United States may no longer be between friends and foes of Big Government, but between friends and foes of vast, remote, unaccountable institutions (both public and private)." Read The New York Times, Some of Sarah Palin's Ideas Cross the Political Divide.

She could be a real reformer.

If you "look at what Palin did while in office in Alaska—the only record she has—[it] shows a very different politician: one who worked with Democrats to tame Big Oil and solve the great problem at the heart of the state’s politics." Read The Atlantic, The Tragedy of Sarah Palin.

Class Today at NoBullU on WEBY

UPDATE: As discussed, from the Washington Post, David Nakamura, Obama has beer with Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer, sparking debate between critics, reporters.

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

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

Topics:

Local Business/Event Shout-Out: 3rd Annual Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival, Featuring 80+ Songwriters, 18 Stages, 200+ Performances!, September 28 through October 3, 2011, also on Facebook


Follow-up: 9/11, ten years later, hate just begets hate and the legacy of 9/11 can’t be fully measured even now, but perhaps the most damaging aspect can be found in our national discourse;


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

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


Local and regional: more good ol’ boy shenanigans in Podunk-cola, and accusations are a flyin' and nothing like a little oil spill to expose the Republi-con ' less government' myth;


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

To balance the budget, do nothing

Was 'Karl Marx right

Hello globalization, goodbye jobs

It's China, stupid

The Republi-CON stimulus myth

The myth of expansionary austerity

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

More Republi-CON deficit and debt hypocrisy

More on the Republi-CON war on the middle class

Beware federal pensioners, your day of reckoning is coming

The Great Stagnation' and our broken political system;


What Next in Libya?

Is Palestinian terrorism 'justified'?


Great quote on so-called government wisdom


And the Republi-CON Race is cont., to find America’s Not-Mitt, time will tell if Perry's the Not-Mitt but, "under the traditional rules of American politics, last night was a very bad night for" Perry

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

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

Rick Perry, R-Murderer and Believer of Junk Science

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

Miller's in good company, Perry, a former West Texas cotton farmer, [who] received at least $83,000 in federal farm subsidies between 1987 and 1998, during the time he was in elected office, according to his tax returns

Does Palin have a point about the corrupt crony capitalism


2 to 1 in the COA, health care lawsuit update

Why the individual mandate, because Ron Paul is a hypocrite


and

Big brother is watching you,


Fun stuff: If you want . . . adopt a dog, riddle of the day, and recession humor

Twelve things that a motorcycle can teach, and cute little cats in 'It Could Be Worse';

and

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

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

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

Great Quote On So-Called Government Wisdom

For all you partisan and/or conspiracy groupies out there, "probably the most famous Swedish quotation in the English-speaking world":

"Do you not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?"

More on the Republi-CON War on the Middle Class

UPDATE: "Another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in the United States last year, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, and the number of Americans living below the official poverty line, 46.2 million people, was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing figures on it.

And in new signs of distress among the middle class, median household incomes fell last year to levels last seen in 1996.

Economists pointed to a telling statistic: It was the first time since the Great Depression that median household income, adjusted for inflation, had not risen over such a long period, said Lawrence Katz, an economics professor at Harvard."

Read The New York Times, Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on 'Lost Decade'.

But it has not been a lost decade for one group, seniors. From The New York Times, Poor Are Still Getting Poorer, but Downturn’s Punch Varies, Census Data Show:

"When so much income goes to the top, the middle class doesn’t have enough purchasing power to keep the economy going without sinking ever more deeply into debt — which, as we’ve seen, ends badly. An economy so dependent on the spending of a few is also prone to great booms and busts. The rich splurge and speculate when their savings are doing well. But when the values of their assets tumble, they pull back. That can lead to wild gyrations. Sound familiar?" Read The New York Times, The Limping Middle Class, which includes this graph:



As the Republi-CONs continue their war on the middle class, the American dream withers.

More Republi-CON Deficit and Debt Hypocrisy

UPDATE: Republi-cons voted to raise the debt limit before they voted against it. Read the Washington Post, Republicans’ underhanded serve.

Another instance of demanding pay-as-you-go spending from 'the other guy,' after being "against pay-as-you-go, for both disaster relief and mega-expensive wars, as long as a Republican was in the White House." Read The New York Times, Cantor, Irene, and Interest Rates.

Hello Globalization, Goodbye Jobs

"From 1951 through 2007, there were never more than three unemployed workers for each job opening, and it was rare for that figure even to hit two-to-one. In contrast, there have been more than three jobseekers per opening in every single month since September 2008. The ratio peaked somewhere between five-to-one and seven-to-one in mid-2009. It has since declined but we have far to go before we return to “normal” levels.

The bleak outlook for jobseekers has three immediate sources. The sharp deterioration beginning in early 2007 is the most dramatic feature of the above chart (the rise in job scarcity after point C in the chart, the steepness of which depends on the data source used). But two less obvious factors predated the recession. The first is the steepness of the rise in job scarcity during the previous recession in 2001 (from point A to point B), which rivaled that during the deep downturn of the early 1980s. The second is the failure between 2003 and 2007 of jobs per jobseeker to recover from the 2001 recession (the failure of point C to fall back to point A)."

Read Brookings, A Decade of Slack Labor Markets, which includes these graphs:





And why the anemic job market? It's China, stupid.

The Republi-con's economic no recovery plan, as they lobby for more tax cuts: destroy jobs and pay workers less.

As I said in February 2009, tax cuts are not the answer, this downturn won't be over 'til the fat lady gets a job.

The Republi-CON 'Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme' Myth

UPDATE II: "NO PONZI scheme in the history of the world has ever lasted 75 years. Ponzi schemes depend on garnering an ever-increasing pool of new investors to pay out returns to prior investors. When the potential pool of new investors runs dry, they collapse. This will occur when the scheme runs up against the natural limits of its recruitment strategy; in the ultimate case, it can't keep going past the point where the entire population is already subscribed.

This should provide us with a hint as to why . . . Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme. The entire population of working Americans has already been subscribed to Social Security for decades, yet the system continues to pay out benefits on time. That is because the actuarial calculations underlying its revenues and benefits are sound.

Read The Economist, Social Security, A monstrous truth.


UPDATE: "All this talk about it being a 'monstrous lie' or 'a Ponzi scheme' or 'broken' is meant to create a crisis to clear the way for radical changes in Social Security. But if folks want to make radical changes to Social Security, they should just make the argument for their proposed fixes. And good luck to them. But in reality, what’s going to happen is that sometime in the next decade or so, Republicans and Democrats are going to compromise on a package that adjusts Social Security by about 0.7 percent of GDP over the next 75 years." Read the Washington Post, The boring truth about Social Security.

From the Mother Jones, A Venn Diagram for Rick Perry: Social Security Is Not a Ponzi Scheme:

Beware Federal Pensioners, Your Day of Reckoning is Coming

UPDATE: Bye, bye to more government pensions.

On Tuesday, Hollywood, FL, residents votes "to strip police, firefighters and the city’s general employee’s of their current pension plans, allowing the city to save $8.5 million." Read the Miami Herald, Hollywood voters: Cut the pensions.

As the Republi-CONs continue their war on the middle class, the American dream withers.

"Even as officials in Washington pledged to cut domestic spending [with no tax increases] . . . [several] American cities [serve an examples] . . . that no amount of belt tightening can set things right." Read The New York Times, Small City, Big Debt Problems, which cites "Prichard, Ala., a city you may have read about in the news, which defaulted on its obligations and simply stopped making pension payments to its retirees."

Republi-CON 'Less Government' Hypocrisy

UPDATE II: "A 16-month federal investigation has concluded that BP’s efforts to limit costs on its mile-deep Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico contributed to the disastrous blowout last year that killed 11 workers and sunk the giant rig Deepwater Horizon." Read the Washington Post, BP’s cost cuts contributed to oil spill disaster, federal probe finds.

Spill, baby, spill.


UPDATE: Speaking of hypocrisy, isn't funny that politicians now want to abandon liability limits for their friends in the oil industry. Read the Houston Chronicle, Lawmakers work to raise lid on BP's liability.

From the Washington Post, Through oil-fouled water, big government looks better and better:

"About an hour later came word from the Pentagon that Alabama, Florida and Mississippi -- all three governed by men who once considered themselves limited-government conservatives -- want the federal government to mobilize (at taxpayer expense, of course) more National Guard troops to aid in the cleanup.

That followed an earlier request by the small-government governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal (R), who issued a statement saying he had called the Obama administration 'to outline the state's needs' and to ask 'for additional resources.' Said Jindal: 'These resources are critical.'

About the time that Alabama, Florida and Mississippi were asking for more federal help, three small-government Republican senators, Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions of Alabama and George LeMieux of Florida, were flying over the gulf on a U.S. government aircraft with small-government Republican Rep. Jeff Miller (Fla.). . .

It may have taken an ecological disaster, but the gulf-state conservatives' newfound respect for the powers and purse of the federal government is a timely reminder for them. As conservatives in Washington complain about excessive federal spending, the ones who would suffer the most from spending cuts are their own constituents.

An analysis of data from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation by Washington Post database specialist Dan Keating found that people in states that voted Republican were by far the biggest beneficiaries of federal spending. In states that voted strongly Republican, people received an average of $1.50 back from the federal government for every dollar they paid in federal taxes. In moderately Republican states, the amount was $1.19. In moderately Democratic states, people received on average of 99 cents in federal funds for each dollar they paid in taxes. In strongly Democratic states, people got back just 86 cents on the tax dollar.

If Sessions and Shelby succeed in shrinking government, their constituents in Alabama will be some of the biggest losers: They get $1.66 in federal benefits for every $1 they pay in taxes. If Louisiana's Vitter succeeds in shrinking government, his constituents will lose some of the $1.78 in federal benefits they receive for every dollar in taxes they pay. In Mississippi, it's $2.02.

That may explain why, as the oil slick hits the Gulf Coast, lawmakers from the region are willing to swallow their limited-government principles as they dangle federal aid before their constituents.

Nothing like a little oil spill to expose the Republi-con 'Less Government' hypocrisy.

Next up, all the Republi-con conspiracy theories on the cause of the oil spill.

Ten Years Later

UPDATE V: Did Republi-cons exploit 9/11 for political gain? You be the judge, read the Washington Post, About that Paul Krugman allegation of 9/11 shame.


UPDATE IV: "The legacy of 9/11 can’t be fully measured even now, but perhaps the most damaging aspect can be found in our national discourse.

Taking the long view, it is possible to see the roots of today’s political dysfunction — the hate, fear, anger and resentment — firmly planted in the soil at Ground Zero.

Did Osama bin Laden envision such a thing when he plotted the attacks? Probably not. He might have imagined that we would retaliate, and this would cost us lives and treasure. But he couldn’t have known that we eventually would lose our common sense of who we are. This has been the big surprise of 9/11 — an ongoing, self-perpetuating act of American self-destruction.

Something was unleashed 10 years ago that bears our scrutiny. It wasn’t only evil, though the attacks were certainly that. The event was so cataclysmic and horrifying that it caused a sort of emotional breakdown in the American constitution. Simply put, it damaged our collective soul and seems to have released a free-ranging hysteria that has contaminated our interactions ever since. . .

[S]urvival ultimately depends on our willingness to marshal reason and restraint against the emotional terrorism that surely will bring us down."

Read the Washington Post, An America that no longer knows itself.


UPDATE III: Something for our resident Pastor-to-the-Dictators, who defends hundreds of killings, arrests and torture cases by Middle East dictators, to think about, from the New York Times, And Hate Begat Hate:

"IN their shock after Sept. 11, 2001, Americans frequently asked, 'Why do they hate us so much?' It wasn’t clear just who 'they' were — Muslims, Arabs or simply anyone who was not American. The easy answer that many Americans found comforting was equally vague: that 'they' were jealous of America’s wealth, opportunities, democracy and what have you.

But in this part of the world — in Pakistan, where I live, and in Afghanistan next door, from which the Sept. 11 attacks were directed — those who detested America were much more identifiable, and so were their reasons. They were a small group of Islamic extremists who supported Al Qaeda; a larger group of students studying at madrasas, which had expanded rapidly since the 1980s; and young militants who had been empowered by years of support from Pakistan’s military intelligence services to fight against India in Kashmir. They were a tiny minority of Pakistan’s 150 million people at the time. In their eyes, America was an imperial, oppressive, heathen power just like the Soviet Union, which they had defeated in Afghanistan.

Now, with the United States about to enter the 11th year of the longest war it has ever fought, far more of my neighbors in Pakistan have joined the list of America’s detractors."

UPDATE II: "What if the United States' response to the Sept. 11 attacks was a politics of forgiveness and peace?" Read The New York Times, The Cycle of Revenge, which note that:

"In the New Testament, Peter asks Jesus about the quantity of forgiveness: How many times should we forgive someone who had sinned against him. Is seven times enough, he wonders out loud? To which Jesus replies, from his full messianic height, 'No, not seven times, but seventy times seven,' meaning, there is no quantity to forgiveness, just an infinite quality."

UPDATE: "The war our enemies began on Sept. 11, 2001, is long over. Perhaps now, after 10 years of anxiety and self-doubt, we can acknowledge our victory and begin the postwar renewal and reconciliation that the nation so desperately needs.

There never was a 'war on terrorism.' It wasn’t 'terrorism' that crashed airliners into buildings on that brilliant Tuesday morning. The attacks were carried out by a 19-member assault team from al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization then being sheltered by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. There most definitely was a war against al-Qaeda, and we won."

Read the Washington Post, Post-9/11 permanent state of war should have ended long ago.

A topic for discussion today: 9/11, ten years later, what do you remember of that day, and what lessons have we learned, the cost of 9/11, one estimate is $3.3 trillion, and lost chances and those persistent myths about the attacks

Class Today at NoBullU on WEBY

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

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

Topics:

Local Business/Event Shout-Out: 3rd Annual Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival, Featuring 80+ Songwriters, 18 Stages, 200+ Performances!, September 28 through October 3, 2011, also on Facebook


Follow-up: TBD


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

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

and

I heard our resident Pastor-to-the-Dictators supporting Middle East dictators again. I wonder how he can call himself a Christian but defend "hundreds of killings, arrests and torture cases by Middle East dictators;

Dale Perkins unsuccessfully asked several times congressional investigation of the fisheries management, perpetuating the Republi-CON 'taxes and regulations are killing business' myth, and his prior questionable judgment,


Local and regional: another article explaining the incestuous relationships, more good ol’ boy shenanigans in Podunk-cola, TEAM Santa Rosa wants more money, can someone tell me how many jobs it brought to the county, and God and local government;


National and international: 9/11, ten years later, what do you remember of that day, and what lessons have we learned, the cost of 9/11, one estimate is $3.3 trillion, and lost chances and those persistent myths about the attacks

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

To balance the budget, do nothing

Was 'Karl Marx right

Told ya so: economic stimulus

It's China, stupid

Be Very Very Afraid of 'The Invisible [Republi-CON] Bond Vigilantes'

The Republi-CON stimulus myth

The myth of expansionary austerity

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

Republi-CON tax hypocrisy

More Republi-CON deficit and debt hypocrisy

More on the Republi-CON war on the middle class

The Great Stagnation' and our broken political system;


What Next in Libya?

Is Palestinian terrorism 'justified'?


May you live in interesting times


150 years later


And the Republi-CON Race is On, to find America’s Not-Mitt, time will tell if Perry's the Not-Mitt but, "under the traditional rules of American politics, last night was a very bad night for" Perry

Rick Perry, R-Murderer and Believer of Junk Science

Bachmann says the earth quake and hurrican were sign from God, do you agree

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

Miller's in good company, Perry, a former West Texas cotton farmer, [who] received at least $83,000 in federal farm subsidies between 1987 and 1998, during the time he was in elected office, according to his tax returns

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


2 to 1 in the COA, health care lawsuit update

The health care industry bottomline, the reason Republi-CON want to repeal the new health care law


The Republi-CON 'Climategate' myth

and

Big brother is watching you,


Fun stuff: If you want . . . adopt a dog, riddle of the day, and recession humor

Twelve things that a motorcycle can teach, and cute little cats in 'It Could Be Worse';

and

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

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

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

And the Republi-CON Race is On

UPDATE V: "The race is on in the Republican Party to find America’s Not-Mitt." Read The New York Times, Debating With the Stars.

Time will tell if Perry's the Not-Mitt but:

"Under the traditional rules of American politics, last night was a very bad night for Texas Governor Rick Perry. In his debut debate, his first introduction to a national audience, he found himself first explaining and then doubling down on his description of Social Security as a 'Ponzi scheme,' with a few references to the 'monstrous lie' of its long-term promises thrown in for good measure. It was precisely the kind of moment that the Romney campaign must have been hoping for, and thanks to the moderators’ questions and Perry’s answers, it fell into Romney’s lap without him having to even raise the issue. As soon as the exchange happened, a Romney adviser e-mailed Politico’s Ben Smith: '[Perry] has lost. No federal candidate has ever won on the Perry program to kill Social Security. Never has. never will.' That’s spin, yes, but I’m sure the Romney people believe the basic premise. As well they should. Everything we know about American voters — and yes, Republican primary voters very much included — suggests that Perry’s comments will eventually be deadly to his electoral prospects. . .

Based on last night’s performance, Rick Perry intends to run as exactly the kind of presidential candidate that many leading conservatives insist that the country wants and needs. In four months time, we’ll begin to find out if they’re right."

Read The New York Times, The Rick Perry Experiment.

Are the Republi-cons still searching for Mr. Right but Electable?

Also, read the Republi-CON 'social security is a ponzi scheme' myth


UPDATE IV: Tammy want to know why is Ron Paul like the 13th floor, often omitted?

"Even when the media does remember Ron Paul, it's only to reassure themselves that there's no need to remember Ron Paul." Watch The Daily Show, Indecision 2012 - Corn Polled Edition - Ron Paul & the Top Tier:

The Daily Show - Indecision 2012 - Corn Polled Edition - Ron Paul & the Top Tier
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UPDATE III: Was the Iowa straw poll a 'GOP ideological purity test'? And if so, was Obama the winner? Read the Washington Post, Tim Pawlenty and the limits of ideological purity and The straw poll winner: Barack Obama.


UPDATE II: Speaking of the "nonsense of the Iowa straw poll", read Rick's Blog, Iowa Caucus: You have to be kidding.


UPDATE: "The nonsense of the Iowa straw poll is behind us. We’ve had another GOP debate. We have one more candidate (Rick Perry) and one less (Tim Pawlenty). [Read] some thoughts as the nomination contest actually gets going" at Time, Notes on an Elephant in Despair.

"It will be the best of times for some GOP hopefuls and the worst of times for others.

Every candidate has a dream scenario for Saturday’s Ames Straw Poll but also a chance for a hard flop. For every George W. Bush, who won the nonbinding poll in 1999 and went on to win the caucuses as well, there is a Tommy Thompson, who dropped out of the GOP race in 2007, one day after finishing a disappointing sixth in Ames.

While it’s notoriously hard to game out the results of the presidential trial ballot that takes place on the grounds of Iowa State University, it’s a little easier to understand the best- and worst-case scenarios for each candidate.

[For] a quick guide to the prospective highs and lows for each of the roughly dozen GOP hopefuls when the ballots have been counted late Saturday afternoon," read Politico, Ames: Best and worst case scenarios.