A Rolling Stone Gathers Whatever Is In Its Way

Tags

budget, deficit issues, gas prices, GOP, Israel, John Boehner, Middle East, Obama, teabaggers, welfare

Sir Boehner of Orange is not a man who is cozy with the truth. He, like so many of his cohorts, believe it is a most malleable thing to be twisted and pulled into whatever shape is necessary to feed the agenda they are pushing at any given time.

As most of us know, the sequester is looming on the horizon, and the GOP chatter seems as usual to ignore facts and create a new reality as needed. Thus the sequester is the “president’s idea” as if he designed it as the solution to our fiscal ills.

The Grand Bargain that Boehner continues to claim fell through because the President “changed” the offer at the last minute, is a total lie. In fact Boehner made the deal only to discover that he could not control the crazy element in his own caucus. Because of the Hastert Rule (thou shalt not bring to the floor a bill not already approved by a majority of your party), Boehner knew the deal could only pass with Democratic help. That he was not prepared to do, so he created the myth that the President changed the offer.

Given that time was short and the GOP was threatening to destroy the economy unless they got their way, the President proposed a draconian alternative that would come into play in six months. This was supposed to ensure that a meaningful debate and agreement would ensue to avoid the awfulness of the sequester. The President originally offered a 50/50 deal–there would be a sequester that consisted of half tax increases and half budget cuts. Boehner refused that deal and insisted that all be cuts.

Moreover, at the conclusion of the sequester deal, Boehner bragged to the press and anyone else that would listen that he had gotten “98% of everything he had been asking for” so he declared himself and his Party the winner.

Those are the real facts.

What the GOP continues to miss here, is that we are not so gullible nor so stupid that we don’t know these facts. So, his little attempt to hijack the truth in favor of his new reality only elicits nods and uhuh’s from his own stupid base. The rest of America sees it for the series of lies it is, and of course, realizes that the GOP is still the party that protects corporate interests to the detriment of the rest of us.

No lessons yet learned. The GOP continues to wallow in the mire of lies. It will remain a party that can’t win the big one. It will continue to try to figure out ways to steal elections. It will continue to be the best comedy routine in town.

•

You have heard no doubt that the President is heading to Israel? And when he is there, he’s going to get a Presidential Medal of Distinction. And the Right wing reactionaries are livid. They just cannot understand why the vast majority of us cannot see that this man is a horrid, vile, Commie, Islamic lovin’ Israel hater. I mean they cannot fathom this as it is SO obvious that he has a “visceral hostility toward Israel.”

Their answer is of course that the person giving him the medal, Israeli President Shimon Peres, is just a figurehead, who is not liked by most of the population.

It makes me laugh. And then I read their shock and dismay again, and I laugh a bit louder and longer.

The circus continues.

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I do so appreciate a Republican who wants to help the poor. Jeff Sessions is ready to do just that. His method? Cut welfare of course. I mean really, it just breeds dependency doesn’t it? At least that’s what Newt said back in the 90’s when he pushed through the welfare reforms that resulted in tens of thousands losing their benefits. (hint: you might find some of these folks among the homeless today.)

Anyway, Sessions is bristling at the idea that the GOP is being called the party of the rich. And in a memorandum, he made it clear that they shouldn’t tie this deep desire to help out our poor by tying it to deficit reduction–that looks bad. Instead cuts in food stamps and such should be tied to helping business get healthy so those jobs become available. As everyone knows giving stuff to the poor just breeds more grabby people. Everyone knows that.

Boy, I feel ever so much better knowing the GOP really has a heart.

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If you have been wondering why the price of gas has gone up sharply, well, yes you guessed it, you can blame the neo-cons. They pushed sanctions against Iranian oil, making Europe and others refuse to buy any. The neo-cons were sure of course (they always are) that this would not impact American prices.

They were also sure that Saudi Arabia would pick up the slack. (That now seems unlikely).

West Texas oil is selling at $100 a barrel, which is not good either.

All this causes prices to rise (and Iran gets the benefit of that for what oil it does sell).

Thank your nearest Republican today!

Related articles

• PowerPoint Presentation Shows Boehner Selling The Sequester To His Members In 2011 (tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com)
• The sequester slideshow that may haunt the Speaker (maddowblog.msnbc.com)
• GOP lawmakers don’t fear political impact of sequester taking effect (thehill.com)
• Boehner pushed the sequester that he now blames on Obama (dailykos.com)
• Setting the Record Straight About the Sequester (whitehouse.gov)

Can These Folks Be Allowed to Vote?

Tags

debates, Election 2012, GOP, Middle East, voting

Much has been said lately about the efforts of GOP’ers around the country to limit the vote.

Efforts have been under way, and in many places successful in putting up road blocks for those wishing to exercise their right to cast a ballot.

All such efforts have occurred in states that have Republican majorities in their state congresses.

Most have resulted in various forms of Voter ID requirements that are particularly onerous on students, the elderly and minority populations. In some cases a permit to carry a gun is proof enough, while a college ID is not.

This is all in the name of preventing “voter fraud.” This is the argument even though there was something like like less than 400 cases of voter fraud NATION WIDE in the last election, and studies going back into the late 80’s, proved no worse.

Meanwhile, it is estimated that as many as 5 million potential voters could be denied their right to vote by these voter restriction laws.

So it’s a real issue.

Some colleges are re-issuing college IDs to  meet the very specific requirements of laws designed to make their IDs invalid.

Lots of volunteers are massing to help the elderly locate birth certificate alternatives where none were issued when they were born.

It should be noted that there are dozens of anecdotal cases in which people have voted for over 50 years and are well-known in their small towns, yet they will be turned away without “proper ID.” Sometimes people are donating money to pay the legal fees to help these folks get the proper papers.

A lot of lawyers will make a lot of money in order to work all this out.

And it does seem odd that a party would be so intent on trying to deprive so many people of their right to vote.

I mean the party of “the constitution” should be, you would think, the party that defends the right to vote to the death, wouldn’t you think?

When there are only a very very few folks who attempt to vote illegally, and they certainly don’t effect any results, one would think that it would behoove the GOP to vociferously stand on the right to vote against all challenges.

Now, alternatively.

One could make a very good case.

That people, over the age of 15, who are not being paid, and are not compelled, and are not entering a contest for money–who dress like his because they want to, might be of questionable ability to cast a knowing, intelligent vote.

People like this decide to spend money to buy costumes and materiél and dress up in their HOMES, and then go out IN THE STREETS dressed like their favorite hero, or to express their solidarity? with some sports team.

They drive in CARS along FREEWAYS, scaring the bejesus out of normal law-abiding citizens.

They teach your children, and handle your money and do your taxes and other things that we value.

I ask you, if you saw one of these walking insane asylums dressed up in their finery, would you leave your children with them? Give them your cash for safekeeping? Trust them to fix the faucet? Of course not.

And I would argue, they should be prohibited from voting.

Why are the Republicans not fighting to prevent these questionable brain-limited, only partly human beings from voting? Huh?

Oh, I see. Because they are Republicans.

My bad.

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Things are so bad for Rick Perry these days, that he can gaffe away, and nobody bothers to mention it. He’s having a free gaffe holiday.

Just say Solynda instead of Soyndra and call it a country. **pat on the head** little Ricky.

Michele Bachmann has taken as of late to touting her bona fides on Israel by telling us that she volunteered at a kibbutz in her young adulthood. Does the bubble-hair know that kibbutz’s were experiments in “collectivism” *GASP* not capitalism?

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Meanwhile Newt continued his ugly rhetoric that Palestinians are not a real “people” but “invented” and just “terrorists”. Frankly I thought Mittens had the better argument (freak out I’m agreeing with Mittens now!). Newt is just pandering for Jewish votes of course. His claim that Palestinian children are being taught to hate Israelis in school, is patently false, but hey, when you are making things up for effect, who cares? Certainly not the TeaNutz®, for whom this stuff is just red meat.

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Ya have to laugh. As you might suspect, The Blaze does little if any original investigation or reporting. Mostly they reprint others work. Shockingly, they reported a AP item which investigated the claims made by various of the GOP candidates in the last debate, and offered the truth of the various statements and allegations. For instance it found that Michele Bachmann’s claim that Newt was for cap-and-trade, to be true, even though Newt denied it. Similarly it found Mitt’s claim that Obama was the first President to cut Medicare to be false, finding that both Bush and Clinton had also done so.

But Blazey nincompoops can’t stomach that. So they attacked the AP as being. . . .you guessed it. . . . a liberal machine. And various other excuses that it doesn’t matter, because the devil must be defeated.

Sleep well my friends. The sky intends to stay up for at least another day.

Related articles

• Gingrich Targeted At Lively GOP Debate (huffingtonpost.com)
• Chris Weigant: Newt? Really? (huffingtonpost.com)

It’s Not About the How Your Carburator is Doing!

Tags

GOP, Herman Cain, Humor, Media, Middle East, Military, MSM, Obama, physics, quantum mechanics, racism, Syria, teabaggers, terrorism, Wall Street

Take quantum mechanics. What does that conjure up? Thoughts of grease-monkeys working on very tiny cars?

Actually, it’s pretty heady stuff. It deals with that portion of physics that deals with tiny particles and their wave-particle actions. (Remember that light particles (photons) are both particle and wave packets.

Well, the thing about quantum mechanics is that is works perfectly in ordering the world and making new things work out right. It is impossible to understand it however, since it is full of paradoxes. Objects are in more than one place at one time. They are “changed” by the very act of looking at them. They are not what they are until they are actually measured, and normal speed of light calculations don’t seem to apply.

Now I know it’s Saturday and there are lots of things to do, but surely one of the most important might be to go read the article and learn even more exciting things about things too small to be seen.

For instance: we might understand wavefunction collapse if only we understood how gravity played into it, thus we need to marry quantum theory and general relativity. Now, I know you are excited by that!

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There is a must read over at the Nation which is got the blogosphere all alight. I heard it mentioned on MSNBC this morning and ran into it over at wearespectablenegroes just now. By the way, read Chauncey de Vega’s fine piece as well about liberal racism. It’s much-needed thinking for the progressives.

Melissa Harris-Perry has written the piece at the Nation entitled Black President, Double Standard: Why White Liberals are Abandoning Obama.

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What if they gave a protest march and nobody came?

Well, not exactly. You see, THOUSANDS have been protesting across the nation against banks and other finance reforms. And guess what? the MSM has almost entirely ignored the whole thing.

A bunch of women were pepper sprayed in NYC and unless you watch Olbermann or the Daily Show, or Colbert, you probably didn’t know.

And the media is one vast left-wing conspiracy ain’t it Foxy Noise?

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Is it just me or have people like the morning morons on Foxy and Hannity, and Rush, just not worth the effort of sophisticated bloggers and readers any more? I mean aren’t they really the fodder for the newbies? One expects utter nonsense from their mouths ALL the time, and what’s the point?

It’s a bit like quoting Michele any more. She’s beyond stupid. She’s beyond beyond, being beyond. The don’t count. Who cares?

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How do you feel about the latest US assassination? Al Awlaqi and two other high-ranking Al Qaeda operatives (Al Awlaqi and another were American citizens) were killed in Yemen the other day by a predator drone.

I really feel uncomfortable about all this. Juan Cole has a good piece on it at Informed Comment. Go see what you think.

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This from the Salon and their weekly Tweet contest, using the above hash #weekinatweet. Who knows, you may win next weeks!

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Do you continue, as I do, to be astounded and so amazed at the willingness of the Syrian people to stand up to a bully dictator? They go out every day and lay their lives on the line in the name of freedom and democracy.

It’s fallen by the wayside of the MSM for the most part now, but the courage exhibited by these people is something we need to remember every day.

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Oh, Michele said some more stupid things about abolishing food safety regulations. And Perry said some more stupid things about the intel on Al Awlaqi “probably came from Gitmo” without any evidence that it did. And Herman or “Herb” as our gal Sarah calls him, still thinks that the win in the Florida straw poll were votes for him and not votes against Perry and Romney.

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Oh and this is good to know. Pat Buchanan assures us all that Herman Cain was correct in saying the African-Americans were “brainwashed” into voting Democratic all these years. White man says Black man is correct in saying other Blacks are stupid. Well, now that’s some endorsement isn’t it. Mr. House Negro Cain, must be so pleased. Buchanan also referred to liberalism as the “plantation”.

Ahh, ain’t it grand when the racists try to steal the language? This little ditty was posted at the Blaze. So maybe I’ll take a look and see if we can do a little Nincompoop post on this bit of trash.

Blaze is all up into this report cuz you know Cain is their main black man.

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What’s on the Stove? Spaghetti with Bolognese sauce, garlic bread and salad. Eat your heart out. The recipe will be posted on What’s on the Stove? later today I suspect or tomorrow at the latest.

Related articles

• Jesse Jackson to Herman Cain: ‘Don’t Let My People Go’ (thewesternexperience.com)
• WATCH: Pat Buchanan Makes His Own Shocking Comment About Black Voters (huffingtonpost.com)
• Jackson blasts ‘plantation’ comments (politico.com)
• Herman Cain 2012: The Secret Behind Presidential Contender’s Momentum (huffingtonpost.com)

Do the Idiots Ever Sleep?

Tags

Arizona, gay rights, GOP, human rights, Iowa, Michele Bachmann, Middle East, political pledges, recalls, Rick Santorum, right-wing nut cases, Syria, Vander Plaats

Actually, we start with some good news.

It has been my fervent belief, prayer, and hope, sensible people hoodwinked by promises of jobs and balanced budgets would come to their senses.

In other words, they would realize that though they were promised these things, what they got was uptight religious wackos and their social engineering to suit their personal moral codes. They got some balanced budgets, but to the detriment of the poor, working and middle classes while rich fat cats were protected.

In other words, they got taken for a ride. Instead of jobs they got union busters, cuts in education and social programs, and restrictions on voting, right to choose, collective bargaining.

It seems my hopes and prayers have been answered. People are waking up. The fine folk of Arizona have pulled off a coup of the first order. Senate president, Russell Pearce, architect of the immoral immigration law, has been recalled from office. Arizona may be conservative, but even they thought Pearce was over the top. That would be crazies: 0 and rational people: 1

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A couple of weeks ago, we revisited the sad state of Iowa’s nutjob, Bobby Vander Plaats, who, with tons of out-of-state money, successfully unseated three Iowa Supreme Court justices who had determined that Iowa’s refusal to marry gays in the state was unconstitutional.

Vander Nuts is still at it of course, trying to extract pledges from GOPers vying for Iowa votes come the next primary. And as you might guess, our own (I say that with great and grevious shame) Michele “Fundies are Best” Bachmann has been one of the first to sign, along with that other bastion of intellectual ineptitude, Ricky, “Don’t google me” Santorum.

Both pledge to do everything in their power to uphold the Godly design of marriage between a man and a woman in fidelity. (Newt has screwed the pooch on this one.) Michele “I submit to my husband and you should too”, also pledged to ignore the SCOTUS and ban all pornography as well as ferret out all instances of “sharia” law in the land.

What is most troubling about this idiocy, is that it goes on to explain, that children born into slavery had it better than their peers today. I quote:

Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.

Yes, you read that right. The fact that black couples were not free to legally marry and that they or their children could be sold, thus destroying that “family unit” seems to have escaped the ignorant Vander jackass.

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I picked up this quote from Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum, who quotes from Upton Sinclair:

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

And ain’t that the truth? How many (all?) politicians does that apply to?

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Oh I forgot to tell ya. I’m sending an email to the winner of the first Stupido Award, and telling them that for a small fee, plus shipping and handling, they can get a nice copy of their award, suitable for framing. I’ll post the actual letter when I decide who won. Still time to vote!

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I don’t know about you, but I continue to be utterly awed by the courage exhibited by people in the Middle East. They continue to risk death or serious injury to protect and ultimately topple the governments that have repressed them for decades.

Syrian soldiers who defect tell tales of being ordered to shoot to kill the unarmed protestors. If they refuse, they face being shot themselves. Al Jazeera has the accounts of nearly a dozen such defectors.

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What’s on the stove: Well, I split a breast, roasted it (chicken-not human), and am gonna place it on a bed or lettuce and other salady things, napping it with a lovely honey-mustard dressing. So there.

Related articles

• Bachmann, Santorum rush to sign marriage vow (iowacaucus.com)
• The Family Leader Says Its Pledge Doesn’t Mean What It Says (alan.com)
• Bachmann’s Wacky Porn Pledge (thedailybeast.com)
• Jeff Biggers: Arizona Senate President Pearce Has Been Recalled (huffingtonpost.com)
• “Marriage Vow”: Born into Slavery? At Least You Had Two Parents (psychologytoday.com)
• Racist Russell gets the boot in Aryanzona! (americanunion.wordpress.com)
• Russell Pearce : “Sixty percent of the Hispanics” support Arizona immigration law (politifact.com)

We’re Still Here?

Tags

"the hat", Beatrice, environment, global warming, GOP, Humor, Israel, Middle East, Mitch Daniels, Palestine, rapture, religion, Tim Pawlenty, tornadoes, weather

Photo credit: Adam Baron

Well, thankfully, we took lawn chairs. I mean Saturday for the Rapture. We were up on the hill, standing, and then sitting. Checking the watch. We clasped hands at :30 seconds and counting. And then. . . N O T H I N G.

At first, utter terror grabbed my heart. Oh no, was there some bureaucratic snafu? Had our names been left off by some angelic error? I commenced to clacking my ruby-red shoes again and again. To no avail.

We wondered, should we run back to the house and get in the basement? But all was eerily quiet and well, you might even say serene. No shaking, no erupting cacophony of earth-splitting horrors.

Finally, dejectedly, we wandered back to the house, flipped on the TV and found everything pretty much the same.

“Damn it!” the Contrarian exclaimed.

“What?”

“We missed the Preakness. Wonder who won?” he muttered.

“I can top that,” I intoned.

“How’s that?”

“On Monday, I’m back to what is increasingly as boring as paint drying–the GOP field of candidates!” I sighed.

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No doubt the poor people of Joplin, MO thought the Rapture might have been just delayed as they saw their town torn apart by a killer tornado yesterday. These monster storms are taking a toll across the country, and one has to go back to pre-1950 times to find these kind of death tolls. That means the storms are more ferocious, since warning systems and structures are certainly much better today. But there ain’t no global warming of course. No that is not possible.

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Does anyone care that Mitch Daniels is out and Tim Pawlenty is in? It’s really hard to. Theories abound as to why the “better?” candidates are opting out and the idiots are taking center stage. The most likely scenario is that they figure that Obama is nearly a sure bet. Re-focus on 2016. Maybe. If so, it promises to be a yawner except for the humor factor if Bachmann and Palin, join the other loonies Cain, Santorum, and Gingrich. Even then, it’s hard to get enthused. Or maybe I’m just off my game today. **shrug**

♦

 

Proof that I am sane and the world is crazy? One need go no further than a few weeks ago when I named the hat worn by Princess Beatrice at the William and Kate wedding as the “Bullwinkle Hat.”

Said “hat” sold on Ebay for $130,000 big ones. Need I say more?  

Truly, the more I look, the easier it is to find evidence that I am one of the few remaining sane humans on this planet.

Newt Gingrich. Need I say more?

I can go on like this all day. I deserve some kind of recognition for my ability to retain my mind in good working order when faced with this kind of insanity provoking nuttery. I do.

♦ 

I confess to not understanding all the intricacies of the Middle East peace process. But over the years, my sympathies have shifted more to the Palestinian side of things. I certainly don’t like Hamas’s tactics, but I think the Palestinians have a better claim on the land than do the Israelis. Fair reading of the Bible must leave a person with a certain amount of “well that’s a convenient way to tell the story and justify war and genocide isn’t it” feeling in the end.

Looking back, it was probably a very bad idea to create the state of Israel. And given history, Jerusalem, seems to me, to be fairly an “international” city of three religions. Saying all that, realities are what they are.

I suspect that those who really are in the know, know that Obama’s  speech on the peace process were carefully crafted and struck just the right note. They are entirely in line with European allies conclusions on the matter.

How do you feel about the situation?

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What’s on the stove? Liver and Onions, carrots, salad

 

 

Nothing to See, Move Along

Tags

brain, critical thinking, Dream Act, Election 2012, global warming, GOP, illusions, immigration, Latino, Libya, Middle East, Newt Gingrich, robotics, science, Syria

You could call it a three-ringed circus, but they may need an extra ring or two. We are advised that the Newty is joining in the entertainment division of “Republicans who are in the race for President.” He joins a fine panoply of jokesters–The Hair, The Palinator, and CrazyEyes, and Step-‘n-fetchit.

I’m sure that Hollywood is in this too, for this quintrangle (wrap your head around what that might look like) of queerness deserves what any good nut job gets in the good old USA–their own reality show.

Years ago, they had a wonderful if short-lived show on PBS wherein Steve Allen, and his wife were joined by a couple of others, each impersonating famous figures from history. Imagine Newton meets Einstein, meets Socrates, meets Cleopatra. They would sit around and chat on selected topics of the day.

So, I’m thinking, our fivesome (do not let you mind even alight for a moment on sex or your brain will burn up–think eating sauerkraut, caramels and raw rhubarb at the same time to counteract the thought) could just debate things like how to secure the future for our posterity in a post-post modernist Adam Smith world. You see the possibilities? I mean they could seriously put SNL out of business.

Newty’s announcement, scheduled today, comes at just the right moment. Obama’s polls are now up to 60% saying he’s doing a good job, his highest in a very long time, and 53% say he deserves another term.

Have at it Relaughlicans, have at it.

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There is a thing called the “best illusion of the year” and you can go and see it! As I understand it (since I can’t do the video) there is a central dot that you star at. A surrounding circle of interwoven dots of different colors surround it. The dots change colors and you can see that, but as the surrounding circle begins to rotate, the colors can no longer be seen changing. For some reason the brain can’t recognize the color changes when the circle rotates. There are others to see as well. Have fun!

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While the crackdown continues in Syria, things seem to be looking up again in Libya where rebels are once again on the move. NATO forces have upped their air attacks which no doubt has helped. Qaddafi has been “absent” for several days now.

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We just got through the mother of all winters in many parts of the country. Then killer tornadoes struck the Southeast. Now the Mighty Miss is inundating the flood planes along its sojourn to the Gulf in a way not seen in most of history. And the naysayers of course say this has nada to do with global warming.

Well, scientists say otherwise. The crazies who buy the rhetoric of Corpacracy, giggle as the snows fell. “Global warming? Ya gotta be kidding.” But of course those who have bothered to actually READ something not written by those who don’t want to pay for their pollution, know that extremes in ALL weather is an expected effect of global warming.

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The Democrats are re-introducing the Dream Act we understand. This is just exactly the right thing to do on every level. First, IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Second, IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Third, its politically the perfect thing to do. The GOP seems caught in its “find ’em, arrest ’em, send ’em back strategy. And in states with burgeoning Latino populations, that is a recipe for disaster as they say.

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It used to be that the Democrats were noted for taking a good thing and screwing it up. Well, move over, there is a new bungler in town. The GOP, who promised after 2010, nothing but work on jobs, jobs, jobs, has gotten itself bogged down in the usual anti-Obama rhetoric regarding the Bin Laden business.

Instead of just saying, “good job” and keeping their eye on the economic message, the good old boys just couldn’t help it. They fell for the uber right-wing “that black guy can’t be given credit for anything” frenzy and have been, for the last several days whining about how it’s all due to them that the usurper in the White House was able to put the very last nail into the house. And it has of course backfired as Obama’s numbers just continue to rise.

In other words, the GOP would have you believe, that they built the car, filled it with gas, and put the key in the ignition. Obama just turned it. Yeah, go with that Redicklians.

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Ya know, I’ve lived most of my adult life with the “Three Laws of Robotics”. It gave me comfort on days when I fought with machines, when no amount of cajoling would get them to do their duty–operate as required. I have never feared them, because I trusted they were in the end my friend, albeit a frustrating and someone chaotic one.

Well, now it seems that I can’t rely on this safety net at all. I kinda think I’ll keep a hammer by the computer from now on. Same goes for anything else that is remotely robotically connected. I may never trust again.  [h/t to Exploring our Matrix]

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We have spoken here a lot of the nut cases on the right who fracture, torture, and otherwise twist actual facts to favor their theory of choice. This can be evolution, climate change, health care reform, you name it. Because they cater to a basically ill-educated, ill-read, and ill-minded group, they can get away with this.

This piece also comes via Exploring our Matrix and explains the tools used by the pseudo-science of the extreme right. It’s a decent piece that might enlighten you as you swim through the muck of todays internet world.

I Don’t Believe They Meant to Say. . .

Tags

big oil, DOMA, Donald Trump, gay rights, GOP, Humor, Middle East, oil prices

[h/t Joe.My.God]

The situation in Syria continues to be beastly. Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad continues to reign death upon his people, determined to retain power at all costs. Following in the footsteps of Qaddafi and Bahrainian  King Hamid bin Isa Al Khalifa, Assad orders his military to fire upon peaceful protesters as well as those who try to recover bodies from the street or venture from their homes.

The situation is dire in Syria and Libya. Yemen is erupting once again in protest as the agreement whereby the Prime Minister would resign by the end of the month has apparently fallen through. Ali Abdullah Salah has gone back on his promise. Bahrain is heating up once again, no doubt encouraged by the bravery exhibited in Syria and Libya.

Much bloodshed is in store I expect, yet I believe that in the end, these uprisings feed each other, and ultimately they will prevail. No one can predict what these countries will look like in the end. No doubt some will fare better than others. Yet change will come and the Middle East will never be the same. I can imagine the fear that the Israelis feel since they no face potential unrest all around them. But that has always been the potentiality there it seems to me.

Sooner or later, I think all dictatorial regimes must conclude that over the long haul, such governments cannot prevail. One can only hope that Washington learns a lesson here, and regardless of the “strategic position” we cannot make nice with governments that repress their citizens all the while the elites live lives of splendor and comfort.

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Speaking of dictatorships, we have our own here in America. Big oil continue to hold the country hostage to higher and higher gas prices, resulting in increasing “pain at the pump” as well as rising prices for just about everything.

Meanwhile the Oil Conglomerates continue to reap enormous rewards from their speculation in oil futures and from oil subsidies which the GOP thuggery continues to vote for them in Congress. It’s absurd, its immoral, and yet there is no public outcry. While the GOP is feeling the wrath of the people when it comes to Ryan’s medicare killing legislation offer, no such hew and cry arises against them for their continued support of recession-deepening oil subsidies.

Absurdly, the American public blames the White House who has almost no control over the issue.

Obama calls for more regulation of speculators and the GOP responds predictably with “drill baby drill.” Experts of course point out that Obama has authorized more drilling and that won’t cure our current problems in the least for 4-5 years, besides the fact that THERE SIMPLY IS NOT ENOUGH OIL WITHIN AMERICAN CONTROL TO MAKE AN REAL DIFFERENCE IN THE LONG RUN.

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“If God had meant us to see the sunrise, he’d have scheduled it later in the day.” [h/t Exploring our Matrix]

 

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a “Member of Congress” But I repeat myself.”  “Mark Twain”  [h/t Under the Lobsterscope]

 

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This is just one of those posts that make you sing with happiness. Remember when President Obama informed us that the Justice Department would no longer defend certain provisions of DOMA? And he told Congress, it was up to them to do so. So they did. They hired a law firm by the name of King and Spaulding.

Well, the law firm took a longer look at what it was going to defend, and said, “thanks but no thanks” claiming they had not “thoroughly vetted the decision” meaning that they realized after some legal study that the provision in question (which called for the denial of federal recognition of same-sex state law marriages) was indefensible. Least that is what I read between the lines.

Such a law simply fails on equal protection grounds. This is the basis upon which the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a refusing issuance of a marriage license to same-sex couples must fail. It’s not at all about “judicial overreach” or the common “legislating from the bench” but rather it is the simple exercise of placing the proposed ban against the constitution and finding it comes up short.

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This is so much fun, it ought to be illegal. They are eating their own again. If The Donald could be called one of their own that is. Rove is trying to get the conversation off the damn birther issue foreseeing that it only plays to the GOP, and will never enthrall the Independents. In fact it will drive Independents away.

Meanwhile Trumpy is telling Rove to go take a retirement! Trumpy thinks birtherism is just a hot issue that can be ridden to success in 2012.

Meanwhile, thoughtful? GOPers like McCain make fun of the The Donald by suggesting that “he’s having a ball getting all this attention” and basically dismiss him as a showman. In that they are assisted by the Democrats who virtually laugh at the idea of his being a real candidate.

It is all hard to understand and makes my head hurt. For, one thing is clear. If you poke a stick at an egomaniac, he tends to respond. Keep making fun of Trumpy and he will run. So it makes sense to poke him if you are a Democrat, but not so much if you are a grubby GOPer.

But then maybe Trumpy is a secret Democrat who is trying to destroy the GOPers from the inside?

It all gets so confusing. As I said, it makes my head hurt. So I’m going to recreate Easter dinner. Bye.

 

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