Whose Reality You Talkin’ ‘Bout Willis?

Tags

big oil, budget, Don Juan DeMarco, economy, Election 2012, GOP, Johnny Depp, Michele Bachmann, tax cuts

Saturday night was Depp night in the Peyton household. A fairly old (1995)romp with Faye Dunaway and Brando was a perfect end to the day. I don’t think the movie ever got much acclaim, but I sure liked it. It was amusing, and beautiful eye candy to boot.

Brando plays an aging and retiring psychiatrist who is drawn to help Depp, a young man functioning under the dilusion that he is Don Juan. In the end, we find that Brando is the one who is “cured” and Depp lives on in his fantasy.

It raises the very interesting question of “whose reality is it?” Depp’s character seems fairly sane and functional, and no one can deny he is having a great time pleasuring women who cannot stop smiling following their encounter with him.

The clearly sane psychiatrist learns that there is more to life than literal reality. Love, Depp teaches him, is what makes life worth living. Without it, life is but a series of events.

In the end, we are never quite sure whether Don Juan is the real deal or not, and frankly it doesn’t matter. Brando terms the ending scene “our fable” suggesting of course that Don Juan is really John Arnold DeMarco. Yet he is also making a statement that it’s not necessarily a mental illness to operate under a thoroughly erroneous reality. It may in part be dictated by whether deep down the person knows of their “delusion.” Perhaps, we learn, it may be an effective and appropriate treatment plan.

So next time you find yourself daydreaming in some fantastical dream life (mine involves a multimillion dollar estate on the beach in Oahu, with the Contrarian I might add), don’t feel that tinge of guilt that you are being silly or worse. You might just be doing what needs be done to retain your mental health.

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I wonder if the average American, who I don’t esteem as being all that bright when you get right down to it, will figure out why the economy is stalled.

I suspect, given all the reading I’ve done, that mostly it’s due to Republican intransigence. We no longer duke it out and then congratulate the winner, getting on then with the business of governing. No. We no longer do that.

We whine and snivel about why we lost, about the dirty tricks and underhanded lies of the opposition and we convince ourselves that all hell will descend if we don’t retrieve the golden ring of control the next go around.

Republicans are geniuses at this. They simply dig in, complain that all that is wrong is due to the other party, and then refuse to budge one millimeter on any issue, even those that they had previously supported.

This is largely what is behind the recent breakdown in negotiations led by Vice-President Biden on the debt and budgetary issues. While Democrats have agreed to lots and lots (trillions) of spending cuts, the GOP walked away from the table again declaring that under no circumstances will they even discuss revenue issues. Even when we are talking about removing some tax breaks for those making over half a mil, they balk.

Worse, they are now refusing to even consider something many of them once championed: the removal of a tax loophole (an accounting mechanism) that saves billions each year for industry, mostly big oil and gas interests. This particular loophole called LIFO (last in first out), is disallowed internationally, but the GOP refuses to even consider removing it now.

This economy must fail for them to have a chance in 2012 and they know it. They rant on with their idiotic rhetoric that somehow debt reduction by increased revenues is no good, while cutting the hearts out of the working class in every way known to humanity is, all the while protecting at all costs big business in their continuing rape of America.

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We caught part of the interview on CBS Sunday morning with Scheiffer and Bachmann. She was asked a few hard questions, mostly of her own bizarre and outlandish statements. She avoided answering them all, saying that the issues were about Obama and his utter incompetence and lack of any understanding about economic issues.

While amusing, the Contrarian pointed out that one Sharron Engle deflected questions about her nutzy remarks over and over again, by claiming the election was all about Harry Reid and his horrid ability to do the job.

What these two morons miss is that in the end, it is about them. Do we stay with the one we already know, or do we trade in for a new model. Most new buyers want to test drive the new car before they buy it. If Bachmann thinks she can win while dodging why she claimed the Lion King was gay-subversion, among many of her more famous weirdisms,  she has another thing coming her way than a win in 2012.

Related articles

• Was Johnny Depp ever in a sex scene (wiki.answers.com)
• Depp creates characters in sauna (hollywood.com)
• How has Johnny Depp made an impact on other lives (wiki.answers.com)

Lining Up the Wacka-doodles

Tags

birthers, budget, Donald Trump, economy, Fox News Idiocy, GOP, Health care, Media, Medicare, Sarah Palin, tax cuts, unions, Wisconsin

 

It’s hard to find a subject that amuses me more than the incessant clamor by the extreme right about Obama’s birth certificate. Everyone knows it is a non-issue but it keeps the rabble busy. A bit like giving your 4-year old magazines to rip up, letting your finish your tax return undisturbed.

The fact that “The Donald” has taken up this cry is actually a bit surprising to me. I thought the man slightly smarter than that. Mind you, I said, only slightly smarter. No man who is so narcissistic as to create such an elaborate faux “do” to encircle his bald head has sufficient “something” to lead the free world.

The smarter (again that has an elusive meaning when applied to the GOP) elements are weeping copiously at this turn of events. Their party is be-speckled with screech owls like The Donald, The Michele, The Sarah, The Newt, The Rick, the Mikey,  all howling (to mix a metaphor, and you know that’s always fun) about this and other equally ridiculous notions that have their trollish followers all rubbing their nether regions with increasing vigor.

Equally rich is the fact that immediately after the President’s speech on the budget, which called out Paul Ryan for the dick-head that he is and put a stop to that blather about “courageous” straight-talk, the GOP is out in force with its talking points.

It was a “speech” and not a plan, they all echoed in perfectly toneless refrain. Moreover, he was “mean” when it came to them. Mean I say, mean. This coming, as so many of the pundits pointed out, after two plus years of calling the President, “not a real American,” “not a citizen,” “a Kenyan”, “a socialist,” “a Muslim,” “a communist sympathizer”, “a champion of abortions,” and one who is “deliberately trying to destroy America.”  Yeah, I can feel the love in all that.

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Ya have to laugh. If you follow the link here, you will see a picture of Paul Ryan holding in his little claws his budget proposal. It is entitled “The Path to Prosperity”. Yeah and the line of cars heading down the road are all Mercedes and Hummers, Lincolns and Rolls Royces.

The real point here, is that the GOP has screwed themselves. Today, we are told the House will “pass” the Ryan plan. It’s main points are to extend the Bush tax cuts, and privatize Medicare. Except that the electorate, and even their own base is solidly in favor of not touching Medicare and the country as a whole is overwhelmingly in favor of ending tax cuts for the rich.

The Democrats seem to have finally captured that they now hold all the cards, and merely have to drive this home again and again. Charts and graphs are useful here folks.

A double whammy is that the debt ceiling will be raised (so everyone predicts) and the teabaggers shriek they will wreak vengeance upon all the Republicans who vote for it. The Democrats are throwing parties all over Capital Hill. Things couldn’t look any better at this point at least.

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This oughta be rich. The Walker supporters (all ten of them) are having a anti-union rally in Madison tomorrow. And guess who is coming? None other than our dear Sarah, the marginalized, Sarah who? Yes, our darling girl is gonna come and support Walker. Except Walker won’t be there. And neither will any rational GOPer who has any desire to capture the White House. I just wonder by how many thousands the pro-unioners will out number the anti-unioners? Thirty to one? More? Can’t wait to see.

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If you thought my rant about the J Crew pink toenail thingie was silly, well I wasn’t the only one by far who thought the entire crazy episode was stupid. A number of Andrew Sullivan’s readers wrote to him about their experiences as parents under similar circumstances. Read on. I am vindicated! lol.

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This is why Fox Noise is a disgusting partisan mouthpiece for the GOP: On their website, Fox posted this headline “GWU student’s suicide tragically coincides with Obama visit.” Of course the two things had NO relationship, and as outraged students and others besieged Fox with e-mails and calls, the offensive and foully innuendo provoking story was taken down from the website. Proving once again that there is nothing quite as low as Fox and it’s hatred of all things Obama.

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And you all have a luciously wonderful weekend. See ya tomorrow with more news.

Related Articles

• House will vote today on Paul Ryan’s budget plan (salon.com)
• Charles Krauthammer freaks out over Obama’s speech; calls it a ‘disgrace’ for dissing Ryan (crooksandliars.com)

We Have Seen Strange Things Today

Tags

beer pubs, civil disobedience, GOP, rebellion, revolution, Steven King, tax cuts, UnAmerican Activities Committee, Wisconsin

Hello? Are you there? It’s white outside, and hard to tell. I knew it would come. I just wanted it to wait, until 2012. Of course, it did not. Keep up your chin. This too shall pass, and as Dorothy says, some fresh hell will assault us.

It is frigid, and it’s not even zero. That means I am going to be a pool of frozen snot when it gets really cold. I’m a baby, a whimpering limp poop. I admit it.

On the home front: There are new posts at Walking in the Shadows and 1000 Shitty Things. Do visit and prop up my failing ego. (TEASER: Johnny DEPP!)

We have been having girlie dog problems that have got us nearly coocoo. Brandy has been unwilling to come up the steps. We thought it was arthritis, but eventually concluded that she must have slipped on the steps and now is afraid to come up. She weighs nearly a 100 pounds so it’s not like you can pick her up.

No amount of food enticement, cajoling, or yelling helps. But we got an idea. The Contrarian found a piece of carpet, cut it up into pieces, and nailed them to the steps. Zoom! up she came! Problem solved. She is most glad that we humans finally figured out what she has been trying to tell us with eyes and wagging tail.

Cold? Yes, and so on the stove there is a new pot of chili simmering away, thickening and melding it’s rich blend of spices and peppers. Oh my. And jalapeno-cheddar cornbread. With sides of raw onions, more cheddar and crackers, oh my soul rejoices. I’ll check and see if I’ve posted my chili recipe online as of yet, and if not, I’ll post it this week. It’s world-class, and has received a number of awards. I can show ’em to you, otherwise trust me. ;D

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The new GOP talking point on the tax cuts, is that the reason that business is glutted with cash, but still ain’t hiring anyone, is that they are “worried about their taxes going up.” The continuing yak is that we gotta continue the tax cuts for the rich so they will feel safe to increase their labor forces. Crooks and Liars, has the actual numbers (imagine! real evidence?) which belies all that crap.  While I submit that business has deliberately stopped hiring it’s because they are trying to coerce Obama to do just that–extend the Bush tax cuts to them. Why do I suspect that the rich and the GOP (oh they are the same!) figured that out together and are playing the same tune deliberately?

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Mad Priest has a cartoon that speaks so well to our times. Go see.

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Holy  baby Jesus, now we understand why OKJimm lives in Wisconsin. And if he moves, it will surely be to either Illinois or North Dakota. Why? Well take a gander at this map and you will surely have your answer. It’s dumbfoundingly unreal.

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Do take a look at PeNolan’s, post, Sex as Civil Disobedience over at BlackMagpieTheory. And when finished, do follow the link to Power and Tiny Acts of Rebellion by Chris Hedges. The gist of it, is that we are never going to dismantle the corporate behemoth that runs this country by the electoral process, where nearly all who are elected are part of the problem.

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Our resident nut-job Steven King (R-IA) is opening his BIG DISGUSTING MOUTH again, and proving just how racist, homophobic and otherwise intolerant one human being can be. Seems that King is of the opinion that a McCarthy-style resurrection of the House “un-American Activities” Committee is in order, because, as we all know, once you get your “cultural house in order, the economic will follow.” (that straight out of Econ 101 no doubt).

I recall a scene from Full Metal Jacket, in which the drill Sgt. , eyes a prospective recruit and asks him his height. “Five foot ten, sir,” the youngster manages to spit out. “Amazing,” the Sgt. replies, “I didn’t know that could stack shit that high.” King you are a douche.

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Well, live is impinging on my blogging. Answer me this: why cannot any UPS or FED-EX or freakin’ post office understand that a blue-box attached to my 911 address at the edge of our lane, directly across from the mail box is meant to LEAVE SHIT TOO LARGE FOR THE MAILBOX? I get, instead, “we tried to deliver, but were too freakin’ stupid to understand the box, so we took it back with us and you can contact us and ‘splain to us what you want us to do with your freakin’ package!”

Instead of pulling out my hair, which is rather too glorious, I’ll go pull a few of the Contrarian’s which are becoming as sparse as an oasis in the Mohave desert.

Have a day, of some kind, and tell me if you see any strange things.

Driving Off the Cliff

Tags

DADT, Democrats, evolution, fundamentalists, GOP, life, McCain, Obama, Pauline theology, religious right, science, scientific integrity, tax cuts, theology

As we speak, the Senate is voting on two tax bills. Both are failing of course, since the GOP is holding tough with its demand that the rich get even richer. They take care of their own.

Sadly, this might have turned out differently had the White House not waved the white flag almost immediately after the midterm elections. Emboldened, the GOP knows that it cannot really fail since the President apparently doesn’t have the stomach to do as the American people ask: actually fulfill a campaign promise to end the tax cuts for the rich.

As we have said before, Obama can win this if he holds the line and lets the GOP argue that it is better to increase the deficit by 4 trillion in order to protect the buying power of the likes of Paris Hilton and as Think Progress suggested LeBron James. Where are the jobs after 10 years of tax cuts for the rich? I ask ya?

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One of the things we expected from this Administration, was scientific integrity returned as the standard of doing business. Obama promised that scientists would be free to do their work and report their findings without being edited. A policy statement was authorized. To date, no such policy has been forthcoming, and a significant number of scientists in the FDA and AG, report being urged to exclude or alter information. Read about it at New Scientist.

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For a different prospective on DADT: The Reaction asks: What do Bulgaria, Jordan, Poland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the US have in common? Go read the article and see. Oh oh, yes, we do have friends in low places.

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Ethics Daily reports that a slew of right-wing Christians leaders met a couple of months ago at a Dallas airport to work out how to get rid of Obama and install a right-wing friendly president in the Oval office. Scary rundown of names.  (H/T to Ahab at Republic of Gilead.

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Don’t know if you caught the big news from NASA. Life as we know it, has well, you know, C H A N G E D. It’s a subtle point, but once “gotten” its like huge. It’s like Star Trek! Okay, thoroughly confused? Let me ‘splain. (Remember I told you a couple of years ago, that most anything can be explained or understood via an episode from Star Trek?)

The Enterprise went to investigate a mining colony on a dead planet. Miners were turning up dead. What they discovered was that the planet was not dead, but a silicon-based life form was doing fine there, except that miners were killing the “eggs” of the mother Horta.

Once they made contact, they patched up the wounded Horta with some cement which worked just fine, and everybody got along famously.

The point is, that we have so far only identified life as being carbon based. And that requires a number of other elements to be viable. One of those elements is phosphorus. Trust me on this, I just read it in a book I’ll be reviewing for you next week.

Anyway, in a lake in California Mono, to be specific, a microbe has been found that doesn’t have any phosphorus in its DNA. Rather it has arsenic, yes you heard that right. It’s a bacterium that is different from any life form on this planet. No idea how it got here either.

What this means is that when we turn on the telescopes and scan for the stuff we think means life, we can’t just stop at the carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur, nitrogen and phosphorus, but must also scan for arsenic. What is life just got a whole lot broader. The possibilities are well, huge.

I feel all warm and cozy now, sure that surely we are not alone. A little alien may be among us, or perhaps even in our carbon based environment, other types of life can arise. Who knows? Science is wetting its pants and agog with excitement. But they get excited about a new species of newt too.   (Note the link is to the post of Dec. 2–I have loads of trouble with this reader feed)

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See, there are theologians and biblical scholars. And then there are wannabes. I’m one of those. But in this category, theology,  there are Wannabes and wannabees. I’m the latter. John is the former. If you are feeling all theology-y, then drop over and read what John has to say about how Paul acquired his theology on the road to Damascus. (pssst. it probably didn’t happen there, since Luke is probably not giving a historically accurate account of Paul’s travels here, but it assuredly happened to Paul somewhere!)

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If’n you want to see a psychoanalysis of Mr.’s McCain and Obama, then Crooks and Liars is your choice. Lots of interesting commentary from varied sources, make these two almost equally delusional.

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We got about two solid inches of snow. We can get out. We tidied up the bird feeder and put the “open” sign up. The dogs are sleeping. The cats are sleeping. I’m being a good wife and cooking liver ‘n onions for my husband. Don’t mind eating it, just hate fixin’ it. Going to church tomorrow. Lookin’ for some college football to watch. Havin’ ham for Christmas. Reading a lot these days, publishers have been kind. That is a tour of my synapses, known as roamin’ round the noggin.

Laters.

Related Articles

• Keith Olbermann Reports On Alien Life Discovery, Totally Pwns NASA in Star Trek Knowledge (mediaite.com)
• NASA’s Press Conference On Alien Life (geekologie.com)

It’s Time to Stop the Enabling

Tags

DADT, editorial, gay rights, GOP, John McCain, Media, Politics, President Obama, tax cuts

Mr. President:

I finally have had to admit that I’ve been enabling you, and it’s got to stop. This won’t be easy, in fact it will be most painful, but it must be done. Things cannot go on like this.

There have been good and noble reasons for my stance as protector. You have been unfairly and maliciously attacked since it became most clear that you would win the election and become our President.

There is not doubt that those who attacked you have done so on no basis of any unfitness on your part. It has stemmed, rather, from a mixture of utterly foul racism, and perhaps even worse, a personal addiction to power on their part. There are few if any in the Republican party today who are not solely motivated to achieving political power, and they don’t care who is harmed. There are virtually only a miniscule who actually feel any desire to govern in the people’s interest.

There is not a semblance of interest in putting the country’s needs first. These GOP/TeaParty adherents dance to big business and its slush fund for politicians with an occasional nod to whatever base seems to scream the loudest and promise it’s vote to anyone who will agree to enact their sordid agenda of hate.

You have been subjected, as perhaps no other President in history, to a slanderous excuse for a press. One is shamelessly pushing its own agenda, and actively lies to pursue it. They trust that their uneducated and incurious followers will not check out their lies. The rest of the media is too lazy and also too beholden to big business to ferret out the truth.

You have been accused of everything, proven guilty of nothing. You have been assailed as a racist, a Muslim, a communist sympathizer, a fascist, a socialist, and a Kenyan.

You are in fact a great communicator.

But Sir, you are a lousy negotiator.

The GOP has stated directly and probably to your face that it intends only one thing: to get rid of you and resume control of the government. They have made it clear that they will stoop to any low to achieve this. They are children who have been in the midst of a temper tantrum since Nov 5, 2008. Most importantly: They are not going to change.

You cannot continue to try to be bipartisan. You issue a statement that your meeting with the GOP went well, and there are points of compromise on the horizon. They reply with a letter demanding a full capitulation on the Bush tax cuts or they will filibuster any other bill put forth, no matter how much it harms our domestic situation, economy, or foreign affairs. They do not care, they want their way.

You Sir, cannot continue to abide this behavior. You have the bully pulpit. You can take air time any time you wish. You can use charts (Ezra Klein has a great one on what the Bush tax cuts for the rich would do to the deficit. I’m sure he will lend it to you). You must state the case , again and again if necessary. You must plaster the airwaves with truth.

You campaigned on ending the tax cuts to the rich. You cannot compromise on this, especially when it is really just capitulation. Let them threaten, and let them filibuster. Let them shut down the country and then explain that to the millions who are now destitute without unemployment insurance. Let them try to explain why it is so important to protect the rich, while destroying 9/10’s of the population.

Let them explain why trickle down economics is the only way to create jobs, when the charts and numbers, show conclusively that not one job was created in eight Bush years under these policies.

On DADT, Sir, again you promised the end of the awful practice, that demeans millions of our citizens, those both serving, and not. It shames us all. I know you thought, after the election when you sat down with John McCain, that you were speaking to a principled individual. You thought he would stand by his promise that if the military was ready to end it, he would be onboard.

Sir, John McCain, and the rest of the GOP are not honorable people by and large. They are only out for themselves. And for whatever reason they are against you here even when the military is on your side. Some are homophobic, some just hate you, some just want power back, and a very few are wickedly misreading scripture.

On both these issues, the public is on your side. You have the ability, as did Harry Truman, to end DADT by Presidential Administrative Order. Harry integrated the Armed Forces with the stroke of a pen. You can too. Yes, I understand, the GOP can threaten to play with the budget. Let them. And then let them explain.

You have the  facts, morality, and truth on your side. When will you realize this? More importantly, as I said, you have good majorities in the electorate on your side as well. You haven’t yet made the case on how well the stimulus has worked. The figures are out there. Tell the people in simple but clear language. Use charts.

I can’t continue to defend you. I can’t continue to hope you have an ace up your sleeve that I’m not aware of. You don’t. You need to fire half your staff and find some folks who have some grasp of reality.

Time is running short. If you fail in these campaign promises, you will not be re-elected, and we will find ourselves in all likelihood with a dunce in the White House. You owe it to us, the public, not to let this happen. It is your moral duty to DO SOMETHING!!!

Related Articles

• John McCain’s Sad, Permanent Crusade Against Gays in the Military [Polidicks] (gawker.com)
• GOP Moves Goalposts on DADT, Dream Act (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Political corruption: GOP embraces the Ken Lay way (thehill.com)
• John McCain on DADT (pinkbananaworld.com)
• The Dickishness Of The GOP (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
• The state of play for DADT repeal (washingtonmonthly.com)

Flushing Out the Despicables

Tags

Democrats, economy, feminism, Grassley, Health care, Individual Rights, Medal of Honor, Paycheck Fairness act, Salvatore Giunta, Sarah Palin, tax cuts, War

I ponder from time to time doing a post on only those stories that mystify, discombobulate, and otherwise question my own sanity and that of the species Homo Sapien Sapien. One story that would be in the running is the following.

As most of you know, I’m not a flag waver. I’m fairly suspicious of terms like patriotism, military, and things of that genre. I don’t find rattling sabres to be conducive to a peaceful and permanent resolution to much of anything.

Therefore, I didn’t say anything about Sgt. Salvatore Giunta. He is the Iowan who just was awarded the Medal of Honor. His family lives less than 20 miles from where I do. I have some right to crow I guess. But, as I said, I don’t go in much for that.

That doesn’t mean I disdain what he did, or dispute his honor. I am sure he did what I wouldn’t have had the guts to do, and I support all our troops in the sense that I wish them all home safe and sound.

However, some things are just beyond the pale. Bryan Fischer, that hater from American Family Association, bastion of hate, has seen fit to find fault with Sgt Giunta’s actions and presumably those that determined he merited this medal.  Mr. Fischer claims that it is part of the “feminization” of the Medal.

Now, I’m sure that puzzles you, as it did me, and prompted me to go and see what this fool was talking about. It seems that we no longer honor those who kill others, but now we are giving honor to those who save lives. Can you believe that? That is girlie I guess. Except that Mr. Fischer has no understanding of the facts, since in pursuit of trying to save a fellow soldier, Sgt. Giunta did inflict casualties on the enemy. Shut up Fischer and crawl back into the cave you live in. (Please note that the comment section was almost universal in its condemnation of Mr. Fischer.)

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It’s simple. We have had the Bush Tax cuts for eight years. Where are the jobs? Mike Pense says what we have is “not working”. Yet he pushes to make what is “not working” permanent. Is he unable to see his own illogic? Am I missing something? Why can’t any respectable Democrat in front of a microphone ever utter that?

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Need I say more than there is a new post at Margaret and Helen?

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Tom Cat has reported that House Dems have sent a letter to Repooplicans telling them that if they are opposed to health care run by the government, they ought to walk the walk and not accept the government health care they are receiving. Finally, somebody has gotten off their Miss Manners tuffet and managed to fight back a little bit.

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Oh, Palinism time! Or more aptly titled, “DID SHE SAY THAT?” The lamestream media is now the “cornerstone of our Democracy?”  No shit?

“We know that Obama wasn’t vetted through the campaign, and now, you know, some things are coming home to roost, if you will, which is inexperience, his associations, and that ultimately harms our republic when a candidate isn’t—isn’t vetted by the media, that cornerstone of our democracy.”

Oh, at the link you can sign up for FB “Palinisms”. Sounds fun.

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I understand that when the new Congress is sworn in, the Senate has a vote on rules. If the Dems don’t vote to stop the 60 rule I am gonna cry. Once again a minority has managed to stop a majority. Today the  Republican Senate filibuster against the Paycheck Fairness Act worked. Women in America will not be able learn that men are receiving more for the same work, nor will they have the tools to complain and win against cheating employers. Thanks GOP and thank you especially you old fool Grassley.

Related Articles

• Bryan Fischer pretends to know something about heroism (dailykos.com)