He’s a Bungler!

Tags

African Americans, class warfare, corporate America, decision making, economy, GOP, John Kasich, Michele Bachmann, Michelle Obama, Ohio, political theory, poverty, psychology, racism, Rick Perry, taxes, teabaggers, unions

H/T to LOL GOD

Or what a difference a week makes. 

It was only a few days ago that I was sure the Ricky Perry was so capturing the goofballs known collectively as the TeaNutz® that he was a shoo-in to grab the GOP ball from boring old “I wanna be president” Mitt.

But, bungler that he apparently is, Ricky “No Lucy for you” is gummin’ up the works from the git-go. A series of duh moments has alerted even the know-nothin’ TeaNutz® leadership that they may have a real clunker here.

So, I’m not at all sure that Ricky will capture the brass ring, and that leaves us, ya know, the boring but ever willing to change his mind on ANYTHING, Mitty.

 And I was so hoping for more fun. Course it’s now about even money that the Neo-cons will travel five hundred miles on their knees to grovel at the throne of Chris (burp) Christie. Will Chrissy be like Caesar? No, NO, NO, oh if you insist!

Do stay tuned.

Meanwhile Newt is hot to trot in that bed of GOP voters, HA Why HE. Yeah, the grifter keeps getting a small cadre of really really really extra stupid wingnuts to give him money so he can live the high life.

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I don’t know if you saw The Daily Show the other night. Jon went on a super rant about the pundits on False Noise who continue, in true Randianesque form to whine that 51% of the people in the US don’t pay any taxes at all. They have dubbed this “class warfare” and now are arguing that the poor should “give some skin” before they ask the rich folk to ante up a dime.

What is simply stomach wrenching about this ugly claim of theirs is that they use Randian terms such as calling the poor “parasites”, “leeches”,  “takers” and frankly worse. The rich are portrayed as the true “makers” and “creators”. This is such unbridled hatred of a “class” that it’s a wonder they don’t choke on their own words.

Of course a HUGE portion of those who don’t pay any taxes, are those who, when the few tax deductions they are entitled to take are subtracted from their income,  have zero owing. Somehow this is their fault. “Stupid poor people who don’t make enough money!!”

And do you notice that calling the rich “creators” is a lot like calling them GOD? And that might be a suggestion that they are to be “trusted” as any Creator would be? Do ya think that is all just coincidence?

And of course let’s not forget that the poor pay most all of their income out in essential services, like utilities, rent, and food, all of which are taxed.

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When do you make decisions? Well, making a good decision depends on timing in part. So I would suggest that you follow the link and read all about how to make ’em good and stop screwing up! It’s a lengthy article from the NYTimes Magazine.

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There are two Michelle’s in Washington. One is in the White House, the other is on the campaign trail in the hopes of making it her home. Are they treated differently by the press? It would appear so. Read Sophia A. Nelson’s great article in The Grio.

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Professor Alexander Keyssar puts the GOP narrative into a historical perspective. Interestingly, I had used the same term to the Contrarian–they want a return to the Gilded Age of America where business had unfettered freedom to do as they wished. And that wish included, if you recall, child labor, unsafe working conditions, virtual slave wages, and long hours and no unions. Say Robber Barons. And of course, dismantle all social programs such as social security, medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, food stamps, education grants. . .well go on and on. This is the world they envision.

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I’d suggest you pop over and read Chauncey de Vega’s really good post on racism in America. He distinguishes two kinds: a white racial frame, and symbolic racism. These distinctions are terribly important and de Vega really explains what the phrase “take back America” means to the Teabagger mentality.

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If you thought the Wisconsin recall votes were not all that important, think again. Similar crap was pushed through in Ohio by the now beleaguered Governor John Kasich, and now guess what? The governor is trying really hard to placate the left in his state.

Kasich had pushed through a “kill the unions” bill through his Rethuglian-controlled legislature. But 1.3 million Ohioans have voted to put that very bill back on the ballot where they can put in their two cents. Under a weird little law, Ohioans had ninety days to get a bit over 231,000 signatures, and got, ummm 1.3 MILLION.

Kasich is trying to get the progressives to come on in and discuss the “issue.” 🙂

Related articles

• The Daily Show Takes On Fox, Again – Update (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Andrew Sullivan on Rick Perry (via Seniors for a Democratic Society) (allianceforanidiotfreeamerica.wordpress.com)

In the Name of All That is Holy

Tags

African Americans, Christianity, fundamentalism, GOP, Humor, ice cream, Italian, Joe Walsh, Pizza, teabaggers, terrorism

In order to protect my last shred of sanity, we are going to chat about just about anything OTHER than the debt ceiling and the children who claim to be governing us. Indeed the foxes are in charge of the hen-house.

So take a moment, relax, grab a cuppa joe and let’s see if we can find any remnant of a world we can still hang on to.

There is a really good post (most all of them are) over at we are respectable negroes about the backlash the right is giving to the notion that a Christian fundamentalist reeked the horror in Norway. From Beck’s claiming that the children murdered were attending a Hitler Youth-like camp to O’Reilly’s silly claim that he can be “defined” out of being Christian by his unChristian acts, we see a desperation on the part of the right not to be associated with terrorist acts. Chauncey DeVega weighs in.

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I was looking at a neat little recipe site the other day, and was reminded of a simple way to make “pizza” when you don’t have much time or are feeling lazy. While not as good as “real” pizza, it’s a nice substitute and heck, it’s down right perfect for those lazy football afternoons coming soon. It’s as simple as using flour tortillas as the “crust” and then adding your favorite toppings. Take a look at the recipe at JustaPinch and take it from there. The cook there calls her simple version, Pizzatillas.

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Joe “Hey Chris” Walsh, the blowheart that takes to YouTube to lecture the President and call him a liar, is a bit of a douche. Well a lot of a douche. The man who dares to claim he has all the answers of fiscal responsibility, and who is a loud-mouth TeaNutz® idiot, is a dead-beat dad. In Illinois, Joey owes his kids something over $117 THOUSAND bucks. Didn’t stop him from loaning his own campaign $35,000, but hey, that was important. Taking care of the kids? Not so much.

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Political Irony has a delicious piece entitled “To be a Republican You Need to Believe.” It is true, and funny, and sick, and ironic and well, it’s what a GOPer is, nuttier than a fruitcake. Don’t miss it.

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Like to make homemade ice cream? Not many people bother, mostly because left over ice cream becomes hard as a rock. This recipe is quick and promises that that will not happen. All you need is an inexpensive ice cream maker (usually under $40). It’s a rich recipe but only takes about 15 minutes to prepare + the machine time. I’m sure gonna try it.

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Just because it was cute!

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And because it’s true:

(h/t to Political Irony)

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Well, frankly there ain’t a lot going on in the blog world except debt ceiling blah blah blah, and so that’s it today!

Buckle Up: It’s Going to Be a Bumpy Ride

Tags

affirmative action, African Americans, Ayn Rand, budget, GOP, Paul Ryan, racism, Trump

It probably comes as no major surprise that not everybody was convinced yesterday by President Obama’s disclosure of his “long-form” birth certificate.

Fully 51% of Republicans, down albeit from 70%, still have doubts or are “convinced” it is a forgery. And of course, this relates not at all to the quality of  the evidence, but rather to deep-seated hatred of the President that is in some large respect motivated by conscious or unconscious racial bigotry.

Everyone knew this would be the case, as the post from yesterday featuring the dullards of The Blaze so aptly showed. The good news is that those who are of normal intelligence now know the truth, and the continuing yammering by the insane right will only serve to ensure that people will now see them for the loathsome vermin they truly are. Of course, the media whores from the right will make every attempt to claim that Obama and his crew invented this issue and surreptitiously pushed it, all to make the GOP look bad. No surprise there.

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Meanwhile the GOP continues to claim that it ain’t a racist bunch. New evidence from Oklahoma, where the GOP controlled House of Representatives has introduced a constitutional amendment ending affirmative action in state government. Rep. Sally Kern (R) explained that discrepancies in pay between whites and blacks were based on “blacks not wanting to work as hard as whites” and that black youngsters in schools don’t study as hard, because they “said government would take care of them.”

Kern comes by her bigotry in many forms. She wants teachers to be forced to teach against evolution, and considers homosexuality a greater danger than terrorism. She’s a full-basket full of crap. Oklahomans must be so proud.

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Don’t blame me, I’m just reporting the news! [from Joe.My.God who got it from The Onion]

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So, okay, maybe that was a bit over the top. Do ya like this one better? [From ICanHasCheezeburger.com]

 

 

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 We are respectable negroes has a much deeper question to ask about Obama and the “birther” question. A question, that I don’t know the answer to, but surely needs to be asked, discussed, and thought deeply about. Go on over and join that conversation.

Make no mistake this is so much about race. Trump in his egotistical hair mind, boasts that he is “proud” of himself. And now he moves on to his next target: how did this “boy” get into Columbia and Harvard. If you can’t see the implied racism in the very question, then well, you need a refresher course in racism 101 and the place to go is today’s post from stopthemadness at Angry Black Lady Chronicles.

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Paul Ryan says he got into politics because of her. All manner of folks from Rand Paul to Sean Hannity, sing her praises. She is the hero of the teabagger phenomenon. Who is she? Ayn Rand. Her famous and largely lousy book, Atlas Shrugged is the book they all tout, although The Fountainhead many would argue is a good book. In any case, if you want to see what the GOP really is all about and who they don’t care about and what they think about YOU, then do read AlterNet’s article.

Believe me, after reading it you will be chilled to the bone and see the GOP for what it is, nothing but a cold-hearted champion of the rich. We are the parasites, all of us collectively, who infest the wealthy who are the only true creators of wealth. Creepy.

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What’s on the stove: steak, baked potato, corn, salad.

 

Related Articles

• Oklahoma GOP Rep. Sally Kern: ‘Blacks’ Don’t Work As Hard As White People (littlegreenfootballs.com)
• Oklahoma GOP Lawmaker Sally Kern: ‘Blacks’ Don’t Work As Hard As White People (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
• Atlas Whined: ‘Shrugged’ producer may drop sequels to film nobody watched (dailykos.com)
• Radical RAND: The Truth About GOP Hero Ayn Rand (ynative77.wordpress.com)

Who Popped All My Balloons?

Tags

African Americans, basketball, Bryan Fischer, Butler, class, economy, elections, judges, racism, right-wing crazies, UConn, Wisconsin

It was a yawner, a dud, it was Much Ado About Nothing. Close your eyes, and miss nothing. You might have confused it for a high school state championship game.

About the best you can say, is that UConn played good defense. Butler? Where they even there?

Two jokes I came across. One is a WordPress blog post entitled:

“They should have shown Hawaii-5-0. There was better shooting.”

or this one:

‘If you compared Butler’s shooting percentage against the sobriety meter, you could have legally driven.”

After all the great games leading up to the final, this just didn’t deliver. UConn “won” mostly because they were there, occasionally putting the ball into the hoop. It won’t be one people “talk about” in future decades.

Wonder what’s happening in hockey? Are my Redwings doing anything?

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It comes as no surprise that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Vanity Fair puts it in some perspective with a nice piece. Our lopsided rich/middle/working/poor scale is akin to that of Russia and Iran, while Western Europe is much healthier. Yeah, lets keep gutting programs for the poor, and keep reducing taxes on the rich. That’s the ticket.

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Today is a biggie in Wisconsin. They are voting on judges. Self-defined conservative David Prosser is trying to keep his seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, where he can “maintain the conservative” control and be a “complement to Governor Walker and the GOP controlled legislature”. Prosser called the Chief Judge a “bitch” and explains why that was not really his fault to Fox, you know, the place all the GOP comes to pitch their “fairness.” A left-leaning assistant attorney general is running against him. Apparently as of now, the numbers voting are extremely high. We are keeping our fingers and toes crossed.

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It always seems to me that the Uber Right hate just about everyone. Everyone that is except whites and the right kind of Christians. Super hater, Bryan Fischer is at it again. Now he wants the entire welfare system ended. In him pea brain, the increase in poverty is because we have welfare. And get this, it just encourages those people to “rut like rabbits.” Yeah, he actually said that. Read the full remarks at Right Wing Watch.

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Here’s an interesting question. If you  could  “be” someone else for a day or so, who are some folks you’d like to see from the inside out? Angry Black Lady Chronicles has some interesting choices. For me, Cleopatra, Hypatia, Mary Magdalene, Katherine Hepburn, Socrates, Einstein come to mind.

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I’ve said it a dozen times here at least. The extremist right-wing Christians are no different from radical Islam. Both want to force their religious views on everyone else. Br. Dan at Dating God, makes precisely this argument about Terry Jones, the moron who burned a Qur’an and undid a whole lot of progress in Afghanistan in one moment of madness. When hate is your mantra, you simply have turned your back on God.

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Chauncey DeVega poses a very interesting question about black pride and white prejudice. In a new world where Fox and tea parties turn racism on its head accusing blacks of being racist and portraying whites as the new black, how do we judge these terms. What do they mean? Are they different for blacks and whites? It has been the contention of most African-Americans I know, and something deeply instilled in my from years of working for African-Americans, that only white people can be racist. As DeVega says, blacks can be mean and awful in every prejudiced way, but never racist. Read and see what you think.

Carry on!

Related Articles

• Honorary Co-Chairman Of David Prosser’s Campaign Resigns (dekerivers.wordpress.com)
• Sarah Palin endorses hard-right Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate David Prosser (americablog.com)

It’s Going to be a Bumpy Ride

Tags

abortion, African Americans, candy, cookies, dessert, evolution, fundamentalism, Gardening, GOP, health, John McCain, quilting, religion, Women's issues, world history

The artist is Zubaren and the piece is entitled, “St. Casilda.”

It can be found at El Prado in Madrid. It was painted in the time of 1638-42. It is religious in nature but the artist used presumably a friend as model. The dress is current to the day.

St. Casilda was daughter to the Muslim king of Toledo and carried bread to the to captured Christians. Once caught, the bread hidden in her skirts when unwrapped, had been turned into roses.

Well the rains seems mostly gone, and its soggy as you might expect. It’s also gloomy and dark which is starting to wear on me for sure. I suffer to a degree from SAD. I got a start on my poor craft room. What a mess. You see, we stopped taking extraneous things to the basement, because it tends to be damp, so my room got to be the receptacle of everything that needed saving. I moved out 2 towers and one monitor and 3 keyboards! Some of it still works I guess, but frankly I think it should all be pitched. It’s all piled in the kitchen. The Contrarian can decide if he wants to keep it. With that stuff out of the way, I got a fair amount put away, though I am torn about whether I should systematically clean every drawer. Crafting makes for lots and lots of tiny little “things.” Since I craft as eclectically as I think, I have bits of this and that, beads, boxes, ribbon, fabric, wooden doohickies, you name it. I dread going through everything and trying to put everything into some order. I know I have to eventually, I’m just not sure it’s a good thing to do now. Afraid I’ll get bogged down and not keep moving on to other rooms. I have a bad tendency to dump stuff into hidy holes to get it out of sight. Such is the state of my office/crafter room.

Let’s see what you need to know to get through the weekend!

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Ceres is both a asteroid and a goddess. As a goddess, she is Roman, the equivalent of Demeter, the Greek goddess. We really should be worshiping her in Iowa here, since she is the goddess of grain, and we get the name cereal from her. Read more at Ancient History Blog.

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I simply found this post intriguing and useful in improving my understanding of the evangelical right. No one can peruse this blog for long without realizing that I have a “thing” when it comes to the reactionary right. Most of that has dealt with politics and their attempts to restructure our country along their version of “Christian” life. This post addresses how this right wing sees itself in terms of family life and child rearing. It’s quite fascinating and you just might learn a few things. I think of myself as fairly knowledgeable when it comes to this subject, and I know I learned a few new things. Actually, some of it is quite chilling.

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I’ve never heard of these cookies. Maybe you have. The recipe seems simple enough. Give them a try. I think I will, after we finish the yummy cinnabuns I made yesterday. Thanks to Baking Delights for this lovely little cookie. They are called Berger Cookies.

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Want to make your own candy bars? How about a Baby Ruth? Copycat Restaurant Recipes has the recipe for you. I think I might be a tad too lazy for this one.

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This recipe is unusual. It’s fancy and perfect for an important dinner. Phyllo dough is required but you can get that at most supermarkets these days. I think it’s absolutely lovely and light and I’m rather anxious to give this one a try. It’s called Strawberry Cheesecake Cookie Stacks, and is from the ever wonderful Epicurious.

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Mother’s Day will be coming along soon, and this might be a nice gift to give. Also nice for any number of other occasions when a small personal gift is appropriate. Feeling stitchy has a pattern and a link to a tutorial to help you along. Make these sachets for lasting pleasure.

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Gardening Tips ‘n Ideas has some useful help if you have azaleas or want to plant some this season. They are an old garden standard and I like them a lot. I don’t have any, nor rhododendrons either for that matter.

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If you need inspiration, inspired by antique quilts will always help you out. Look at her lovely quilt that she has just finished. How do these folks do it? Turning out quilts in a couple of weeks, and it takes me months to get one even ready for hand quilting. I just love this one.

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I don’t pretend to know how they know, but they say they know, and I know I should know better, but know that I can’t know beyond what they claim they know. Got that? Scientists claim that the first animal life on this planet was way more complex than they thought. It was a jelly fish type thing. Have you seen some of these? I’ve seen film of some at great depths and they are florescent and colorful and so unworldly as to mesmerize one. Check out the Comb Jelly, which is fairly drab but still, it was your great-great to the nth power daddy.

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Oh you have watched Casablanca no doubt? Or you think you have. I bet you missed the ending. I mean the ending after the ending. Confused? Let Jeannelle set you straight at Midlife by Farmlight. Seems a couple of visitors told her the balance of the story very few of us have heard. You will be the talk of the cocktail parties when you wow them with this version!

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Okay, got your helmet firmly on and your oxygen mask tight? We are entering the twilight zone and next stop is weirdo world, home of folks who contribute to the National Review and the bunch of crazies who inhabit it. So up is now down, left is right, and inside is outside. Ready? Seems Thomas Sowell, black person, has determined how the GOP can capture the black vote. Not just any black vote, but that undefined part that they can win. Not the part the Democrats can get, it’s some other part. Think Alan Keyes I guess. Appeal to them on the level of no teacher’s unions, no environmental laws, no tort lawyers, no liberal judges. Apparently African Americans don’t like these things. Huh? There is some convoluted rationalism here that is beyond me. But as Mr. Sowell says, this is only for the blacks that Republicans “can realistically reach.” I guess this must be the 1/4 of 1% who are mentally disturbed. Mr. Sowell should thank God every night that he has a job.

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One of my pet peeves is universal health care. It’s a crime that we don’t have it. Most of the modern democracies in the world do. It is simply morally reprehensible that we operate on the idea that those that are lucky and have insurance through work or because they are wealthy and can afford it get what they want, the rest of us should suffer and die in silence. That is one of the reasons I continue to support Hillary Clinton. Paul Krugman has a good post on the matter, one I urge you to read. Twenty-seven thousand deaths per year stand silently asking us for an answer.

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Deepak Chopra is a spiritual guide for me. I have read a number of his books and find his work thoughtful, loving, inclusive, and deeply moving. He poses a compelling question for us today at On Faith, forum at the Washington Post and Newsweek. He claims the “Ecumenical Age may be Past.” Read what other readers think and join in the conversation if so motivated.

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If you think you might like to find out where John McCain stands on women’s reproductive rights, then I have the post for you. It goes way beyond his determination (arrived at late no doubt in an attempt to keep that religious right in tow) to reverse Roe v Wade. It goes way beyond that, and some women who are anti-choice even say he is way out of touch with the real world. See what you think.

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