Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Brian Williams warns us that the video may be uncomfortable to watch.
Posted 5 days 28 min ago by gecannonphd

Williams was referring to the crazed man who came to the Florida Board of Education,and began shooting,in revenge for the firing of his wife.
Kudos to the Board lady who came back into the room,and tried to disarm the man with her purse;and to the safety officer who finally brought the man down.
Gun violence is endemic in the US.
A similar event takes place almost every week somewhere.
The gun advocates,and the NRA, really have won the good fight.
We are a heavily armed citizenry,with perhaps over 300 million guns owned by Americans.
I've often thought that perhaps there should be a Barney Fife law,,the Don Knotts deputy sheriff,who could carry a gun but had to keep the bullet in his pocket.

This is the time of joy and happiness and we should keep that in mind this season:

"Remember the reason we celebrate at all, to cherish our families and communities, to pray for peace, to bring warmth and grace to this cold world, and to honor the God that made this world. As hectic and crazy, emotional and confusing, as celebratory or downright pain-filled as the month of December can be, let us remember why we dash through the snow, dash off to the mall, or spend any time spreading some sort of cheer. It is because we believe that there is peace to be found in this world, that in all the chaos that is our lives, there is a moment that shines in the darkness. There are the arms of friends and the embrace of community and the love of God whose very son was born on Christmas Day to keep us going. When we focus on that we are instantly “green.” We spend less time in stress and the mall and more time on the couch with that cup of coffee and warm conversation. Keep focused."

http://go.sojo.net/site/R?i=jxoMTw7lcXxZ.....
Do we need a paradigm shift,or is the real dominant paradigm the way to go?
Posted 5 days 21 hours ago by gecannonphd

Last night I attended a book review at a regional library.
The book reviewed was American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us by Robert D. Putnam.
( http://www.amazon.com/American-Grace-Rel...).

The session was led by a Catholic priest,Richard Shaw.
It was informative and interesting.

I asked two questions.
The first described our POTUS's meeting yesterday with 20 CEO's of our nation's largest private corporations.
I asked if he would favor the POTUS holding a similiar meeting with members of the US Bishop's Council,Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun,and Jim Wallis,of the Sojourners.

We are a great nation,with a laudible history,but we are in trouble.
40 million in poverty.
40 million on food stamps.
millions unemployed.
30-40 million chronically without health insurance.

The Church's social gospel has long been a message of hope;a message that does not accept the prevailing international corporate dominance.

Meeting with Lerner,Wallis,and the Catholic Bishops would be a counterweight to the corporate CEO session.

The POTUS needs to walk the talk on liberal/populist rhetoric.

Rev. Shaw skipped over this question.

My second question dealth with the decline of religious belief and practice during the 196oies.
I asked about the murder of JFK..and how this began the 1960ies alienation...the rejection of establishment religion and a belief in authority.
I asked why the Church,and American Bishops, have never strongly called for an answer to the question of why JFK,the first and only Catholic POTUS,was murdered?
The good Rev. Shaw said he was really concerned about Obama's safety.

At the end, I gave Rev. Shaw the book description of Jesuit James Douglass' JFK and the Unspeakable:Why He died and why it matters.
This book is a spirtual journey. It deals with Dallas and Dealy Plaze,but then elevates to the cosmic. It describes in detail how JFK,following the Cuban missile crisis, was working closely with Pope John and the Kremlin to end the military Cold War. This was done with small steps,day by day.
(http://www.amazon.com/JFK-Unspeakable-Wh...).

If the liberal Lerner,Wallis,and the Bishops were to meet with the POTUS, they could describe to him the real dominant paradigm that exists in the country,not necessarily with corporate CEOs

"These include: a belief in the virtues of community; a desire to be part of something greater than oneself; a reciprocal relationship with nature and life's essential resources; an aversion to open hostilities and devastating warfare; an interest in the wellbeing of others as a precondition of personal prosperity; an adherence to culturally-transcendent principles such as the Golden Rule; and a willingness to work hard in return for an equitable existence..."

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12097
DADT will be repealed in a few hours. Now let's move on to more significant matters.
Posted 3 days 23 hours ago by gecannonphd

As of this moment, the Senate has voted to clear the deck for a vote this afternoon to repeal DADT.
This would be good for everyone.
This is what the majority of Americans want,the top military supports repeal, and the politicos are following the democratic wishes of the people,and the most conservative bureaucracy in our country,the military.

So let's get beyond this, and focus on more important issues.

The Hearst's cartoonist and writer David Horsey has a strong column describing why DADT and gay marriage are the right things to do,and will not cause a crisis in our country,our values,or our culture.
http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/articl...

and Sen. McCain will vote against repeal.
Here's a good take on his position.
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/polit...

And Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury has a good few strips on McCain and DADT,starting with Dec. 12th.

http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2010/...
Oprah's giveaway of her favorites.
Posted 1 day 48 min ago by gecannonphd

“Actually this is just a place for my stuff, ya know? That's all, a little place for my stuff. That's all I want, that's all you need in life, is a little place for your stuff, ya know? I can see it on your table, everybody's got a little place for their stuff. This is my stuff, that's your stuff, that'll be his stuff over there. That's all you need in life, a little place for your stuff. That's all your house is: a place to keep your stuff. If you didn't have so much stuff, you wouldn't need a house. You could just walk around all the time.

A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You can see that when you're taking off in an airplane. You look down, you see everybody's got a little pile of stuff. All the little piles of stuff. And when you leave your house, you gotta lock it up. Wouldn't want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. They always take the good stuff. They never bother with that crap you're saving. All they want is the shiny stuff. That's what your house is, a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get...more stuff!..”
George Carlin, On Stuff
http://www.writers-free-reference.com/fu...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuL...
**********

Family members DVRed Oprah’s “my favorite things” show yesterday. I gazed at it last night.
This is the show in which Oprah swims,showers, and shimmers with unlimited stuff. The audience is screened,and made up of good people doing positive,unlifting things
Oprah gave away stuff,ranging from Hope in a Jar (which promises to bath your skin in the youth fountain) to the 2012 new,revamped VW.
The audience yelled,cried and danced in the aisle.
Oprah’s persona on this show was excited euphoria,casting this spell over the audience.
Kudos to Oprah for gifting this stuff for the attendees. Kudos to the corporate givers for this holiday positive PR.
However,I do believe it’s a crass blasphemy on what should be a spiritual celebration.
For the Christians in Oprah’s audience, they should be reminded that Jesus was a populist; a preacher admonishing the people to give all their stuff away to the poor.
As the humorist Fred Allen said: “I don’t want to own anything that won’t fit into a coffin.”
Right now, I’m heading to Macys,looking for Hope in the Jar. It will take a miracle in a big jar to help my skin.
And here is a counter to Oprah’s unadulterated commercialism:

"Remember the reason we celebrate at all, to cherish our families and communities, to pray for peace, to bring warmth and grace to this cold world, and to honor the God that made this world. As hectic and crazy, emotional and confusing, as celebratory or downright pain-filled as the month of December can be, let us remember why we dash through the snow, dash off to the mall, or spend any time spreading some sort of cheer. It is because we believe that there is peace to be found in this world, that in all the chaos that is our lives, there is a moment that shines in the darkness. There are the arms of friends and the embrace of community and the love of God whose very son was born on Christmas Day to keep us going. When we focus on that we are instantly “green.” We spend less time in stress and the mall and more time on the couch with that cup of coffee and warm conversation. Keep focused."
"When Fat Cats TALK-Team O listens-at last" writes Charles Gasparino
Posted 14 min 16 sec ago by gecannonphd

I'm a strong believer in "deep politics",the existence of hidden,and often dark, forces that really make policy outside the view of the public.

And Business Fox writer Charles Gasparino describes a recent example of the deep politics model.

In today's NY Post, he describes a secret meeting in NYC held at hedge funder John Levin's house.
Attending from the White House were Valerie Jarret and Austan Goolsbee,two close Obama advisors.
Jarret and Goolsbee wanted to assure the monied class that Obama is a friend,not an enemy.
And Jarret tells them that Obama's public opposition to extending the Bush tax cuts to the rich was only rhetorical redmeat to satisfy the Dem. liberal base. It was not what he really believed.

Say what?

Obama is a Bill Clinton triangulator,not a "give them hell" Harry Truman.

All of this is a bit disconcerning to the Dem. liberal/progressive base.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/ope...

Sunday, November 7, 2010

The 65+ voters were 23% of the total last Tuesday. And they went GOP by a wide margin.

The 65+ voters were 23% of the total last Tuesday. And they went GOP by a wide margin.
*****
And it is all about Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act (ACT).

The older voters have health insurance,Medicare mostly.
And the 30 second attack ads against the House Dems. created fear,misinformation,and motivation for these voters to vote.

The losing Bluedog up here in Sarataga Springs,Scott Murphy, was hit savagely with the ad "He voted to cut Medicare by $500 billion..."

Of course, the ad. was misleading because the ACT,if fully implemented, would reduce Medicare cost increases by $500 billion over 10 years...or $50 billion yearly. Not a big amount,easily doable just by eliminating waste and fraud,and would make Medicare a stronger program.

But the 65+ voters have no interest in having Medicare "cut" to provided insurance to the "others"..the poor,younger,and largely minority Medicaid recepients.

Now the GOP in the House will likely pass H.R.1,in January,repealing ACT totally. Harry Reid and the Senate Dems. will bury it.

The House GOP will then attack ACT with a 1000 cuts...hold weekly hearings on all aspects of the bill;cut funding;subpoena HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to appear in the House;and will force a shutdown of the government, if required.

Meanwhile, the GOP governors and AG's will work at the state levels to undercut ACA and bury it.

The AG's will persue the ACA legal angles in the courts.

And this ACA will be a major issue in the 2012 campaigns.

There are many good aspects to ACA,but it is destroying civility and any small chance of bipartisanship in DC.

The tragedy is that if ACA goes down completely, major health care and insurance reform will not come around for 50 years.

Decision,Decisions, all day long. George Bush semi-memoir Decision Points will hit the bookstores this week

Decision,Decisions, all day long. George Bush semi-memoir Decision Points will hit the bookstores this week.
*****

(Decisions, decisions, decisions all day long
Will my decisions work out right or wrong
The Dems.media,liberals,and Olbermann don’t like anything I do-o-o
Laura seems to feel the same way too

Worries, worries pile up on my head
Woe is me I should have stayed in bed
Can’t get the the book advance that the Clintons got,
my decisions ain’t been so go-o-ood
My legacy is just ain’t swingin’ like it shou-ou-ould

Decisions, decisions, decisions
They’re all on account-a my lovin' you all the way I do
Problems, problems, pro-o-o-o-blems
They wouldn’t have been solved until I’m sure of you-o-ou
You can solve my problems with by buying my book;that’s tru-u-e

Problems, problems, problems all day long

FADE: Problems, problems, problems all day long "
*****
Adopted from the Everly Brothers, Problems,Problems All Day Long

________________________

Pres. George Bush is reappearing.
He,and his father, threw out a baseball pitch at the Ranger Stadium during the World Series.
One late night comedian suggested that Bush sold his interest in the Rangers a decade ago,and it took that long for the Rangers to recover.

I don't think the sales will be high on this book. Could be wrong.
I never liked the Bush family..too Texas,too drenched in oil.

Bush writes about how he got to feeling that Cheney was getting too much media attention,and the public was beginning to feel Cheney was too powerful. And Bush explored with Cheney the possibility of not being on the ticket in 2004.
Another comedian suggested that Cheney told the POTUS that I will get back to you on that.

Bush writes that his biggest disappointment was not privitizing Social Security. In short, not being able to give Wall Street and the hedge funds billions of dollars in new retirement money.
Is he serious?

Not disappointment in 9/11 happening;not in stopping the Wall Street financial meltdown;not in invading Iraq; not in downplaying Afgan.;and not in failing to capture Osama.

It will take decades for historians to make a final decision on Bush 2 legacy. I don't believe it will be favorable.

In a satirial look at Bush's decisions, Vanity Fair's Craig Brown outlines Bush's rules for decisionmaking:

1.Leap before you look
2.Never skate on thin water
3.Stare hard at a map and you'll see yourself waving back.
4.A big deal is no big deal
5.Mind up how I may made
6.Always do what your daddy torture.

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/featu...

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Carl Paladino..is he alright in the head?

“New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino: “I’m not intimidatable. I’m not politically correct. I’m an outsider. I plan on really restructuring our government. I plan on taking out these bad guys. And Andrew Cuomo’s at the top of the list. He’s a despicable character, he’s an angry man, he’s got an ego that’s bigger than this city, he’s got an arrogance about him — he wants to be President of the United States. He made a bad decision running for governor of the state of New York because we’re going to vet him out to the people. We’re going to show the people what a despicable character he is.”http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/09/29/ny-gov_paladino_im_not_intimidatable.html
**********
Having these two stand together on the same stage will be the ninth wonder of the world.

Is Paladino ok in the head?
He should go to coffeepartyusa.com and sign the coffee party pledge of civility.(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6500/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2097)

And he should read Tom Friedman’s NYT column this am.
He says the tea party is a tea kettle that is just letting out steam…it doesn’t attempt to deal with the real issues for our future.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/opinion/29friedman.html?_r=1&ref=columnists

Monday, September 13, 2010

Welcome to Boehner Land. The land of big money,open lobbying,jet rides,and cigarettes.

John Boehner wants to return to the Speaker position in the House.
All the prosnosticators say it likely will happen. U.of Vir.Larry Sabato (a GOP leaner);the Cook Report;and my graduate school friend,Stuart Rothenberg, and others all see a tsunami wave washing over Congress in Nov. The above seers all see the GOP taking 35-60 seats in the House. 39 are needed to flip to the GOP.

The NYT's front page story today describes Boehner as a corporate lobbys best friend..big check contributions,jet rides,open access for the corporate,Chamber of Commerce, agenda. It is similiar to the Tom DeLay K Street machine.

So how is Boehner different than any Congressional pol,and the lobbyists that buy them?

Well,as a liberal progressive, it is different? The agenda that Boehner and his GOP caucus will promote is reactionary. It is NO,NO,NO to any policies that are opposed to the corporate agenda.
It is moving back to policies of de-regulation,low taxes,and repeal of health care, financial,and energy reform.

It will bring to real power Boehner's young guns..the really rightwing bomb throwers in his caucus, the Paul Ryans and Eric Cantors.

I like to say that when Boehner goes out fundraising and campaigning, he tells people that his GOP caucus is a good American diverse group...a group of diverse white men and women,who also are members of a diverse group of country clubs.

And Boehner has responded to the NYT article. Second link below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/us/pol...

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinio...

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Obama walking on water.

There is the super New Yorker cover cartoon of Obama walking on water. Link below.
The reports are that he liked it enough to hang it in the WH where the bust of Winston Churchill used to be. Obama returned the Churchill bust to London.

Obama was elected because he promised hope and change;and he was a rock star type persona.
Now,like Palin tweeks, how is that hopey and changing thing going?

Well, there are limits to power,even with the POTUS.
He came in with very deep,deep problems.
We have avoided a depression,a bank,financial failure. But our $14 trillion GNP economy is moving slowly. Perhaps Reserve Chair Bernancke should be fired.
We have passed a semi-universal health reform bill. It took 60 years to do it; and if it didn't happen in March, it would take another 60 years to even come close. It is not a perfect reform;it is a work in progress.
There are other significant reforms that Obama and the Dems. have achieved in the last 18 months.

Not the change and hope is done.
Pronosticators,the pollsters,the rightwingers, are saying the GOP will flip both Houses in Nov.
Pelosi will have to hand the Speaker's gavel back to Boehner. What a sad day that will be.

Politico has a good read on how, if the good GOP rightwingers take Congress, the next two years will be filled with investigations of the WH;with repealing and defunding health,financial and energy reform. (Link below)
What a sad two years that will be.

The POTUS's change and hope is done. It was unrealistic to begin with. Washington's institutions don't change.

Obama should spend the next two years on two major issues: climate change and energy independence; and the elimination of nuclear weapons.
The earth is burning,and flooding.
Military nukes are useless,and should be eliminated by everyone.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/081...

"The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world. "

That is a quote from George Bush's 2nd Inaugural Address.
Links below have the address and video of same.

The address is the strongest outline of the neo-conservative belief in the unlimited US power..unlimited to promote "democracy",engage in long military wars if necessary,and to engage in a world wide,long, and unending struggle.

It was a speech to justify the preemptive invasion of Iraq.
None of the pr justifications for the invasion were valid (i.e Saddam's possession of wmd's). But the Bush/Cheney neo-cons could justify it through the "democracy" crusade.

POTUS Obama will speak to us on Tuesday,describing the "drawdown" of our engagement troops in Iraq.

I would like him to outline a conservative,realistic policy of limited engagement in the world.
I would like him to describe how converting a billion Muslims to Western style "democracy" is an unending call for perpetual military wars in many different places.
I would like him to describe how the US,faced with deficits,debt,overextended military,and domestic crises, will adopt a containment,limited,police action against a small criminal gang of al queda.

That is what I would like to him to say, but,somehow, I don't think that is the direction he will go.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/art...

http://www.hulu.com/watch/52747/inaugura...

Friday, August 27, 2010

Glenn Beck and Sara Palin would not want MLK Jr. speaking at their rally tomorrow. How sad! How tragic!

Beck's brigades will gather at the Lincoln Memorial tomorrow,calling for the "restoration of America."
It is deliberately being held on the anniversity of the March on Washington and the MLK Jr. "dream" speech of 1963.
The irony is that Beck would not allow King to speak at the rally tomorrow. King preached social justice and inter-racial harmony.
Beck rejects social justice, and favors instead "social equality".
Beck calls on his brigades to walk out of any church where a pastor calls for "social justice".
If MLK were to speak at Beck's rally,even for a short moment, he would revise his dream. His dream would call for racial harmony,the end of poverty,and the end of unnecessary wars.
Beck would ask MLK to leave the stage quickly, and Palin would run up and say "I refudiate that."
Beck should take his chalkboard and go back to the Fox studios.

and Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. attacks Beck's pretentions:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/25/17...

Another good blog re Beck's gathering tomorrow:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-s

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Dr. Laura:Don't retreat....reload!

Dr.Laura:don't retreat...reload! (Steps aside bc her 1st Amend.rights ceased 2exist thx 2activists trying 2silence"isn't America
*****

The heading is from a tweet from Sara Palin to Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
As the whole world knows, Dr. Laura used the n word 11 times during a recent call in from a black American woman.

11 times!!! Perhaps once or twice within a dialogue,to stress liberal compassion, would have been sufficient. Dr. Laura reminds me of the castrating therapist on 2 and 1/2 Men.

Palin believes Laura's 1st Amendment rights are being violated. Sara believes the good doc. had the right to use public airwaves to yell racist gibberish.

Sara is part of the problem,and not a part of the solution.

We are in a dangerous divisive period in our country. Civil war is building. And Sara's call to "re-load" feeds the most rancid,racist rightwing ramblings (how's that for alliteration?).

By,by dr. laura.
and hopefully, the same to Sara soon.

In Cheryl Crow's new cd, 100 miles from Memphis, she has her own tune,Say What You Want, she takes on good ole' re-loadem Sara:

"I saw you ranting on TV today
I heard you tell me to reload
You got a lot of nerve to talk that way
Someone unplug the microphone
I'm tired of all the fighting
Cynicism and back biting
Can't even hear myself think
You pour the Kool-Aid and then we drink."

Sunday, August 15, 2010

If WWE matron Linda McMahon wins the Senate seat in Connecticut, will she crotch kick Franken and Sanders on the Senate floor?

If WWE matron Linda McMahon wins the Senate seat in Connecticut, will she crotch kick Franken and Sanders on the Senate floor?
*****

These billionaires are climbing off their yachts; walking out of their gated community mansions;stepping from their limos.; and running for office.They have mucho dough to finance their own campaigns.

In my great state of NY, a Buffalo multi-millionaire Carl Paladino is pouring big bucks to win the gov.'s GOP primary in Sept.,and then to take on Andrew Cuomo in the Fall.
He calls the Albany politicos "rodents", and says he will take a baseball bat to them . He has several little ducks standing around areas of NY, with a sign "Cuomo ducks Obamacare". Get it?
a duck accusing Cuomo of ducking.

In the great state of Cal.,two rich ladies are running for the Senate and Gov., and may win.

In Connecticut, the WWE madam Linda McMahon won the GOP Senate primary, and will take on Richard Blumenthau in Nov. She spent $20
million of her money on the primary, and promises to spend another $30 million to dispatch Blumie.

She wants to repeal Obamacare, and may borrow Paladino's ducks for her campaign. She expresses concern about the many uninsured,but wants no mandate for insurance. Her WWE wrestlers are contract employees, who must pay for their own health insurance. Is that what she wants for all of us?
If she wins, will Franken and Sanders wear protective armor on the Senate floor?

A good read on McMahon is in today's NY Post:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/ope...

As I make my way back from Woodstock, I say vote "YES" on California Prop. 19

As I make my way back from Woodstock, I say vote "YES" on California Prop. 19

I'm still making my way back from Woodstock (that's hyperbole, and a metaphor).

When my sister enmeshed herself in the born again Christian zeitziest, she gave me her vinal Joan Baez albums. I've always liked Joanie.

I don't smoke pot. I may have once,in a previous life, but I didn't inhale.
But if I was in California, I woud vote "YES" in Nov. on Prop. 19, legalizing pot.

The drug war is an expensive failure. It has cost us billions, w/o making a dent in drug use. Even Bill Buckley, the non-libertarian conservative, long supported legalizing drugs.

So what would Prop. 19 do, if passed?
It, very likely, would:
1.provide Cal. with $2 billion in revenue and savings..$1 b. in taxes and $1b in court/prison cost savings;
2.regulate the use of pot;
3.promote hemp, which can be used in many eco-friendly ways..ie, it can save cutting trees for paper;
4.and would de-regulate low level use of pot, rather than the current prohibition which encourages escalating "up" on more powerful drugs.
This is, as I understand it, because speed,coke and herion remain in a person's blood for 72 hours, while pot can remain for 30 days. If someone has to take a drug test on a Monday, and wants to party on Fri., than the incentive is to escalate drug choice upward.

Judge Joe Grey,Orange Cty., is a leading advocate for ending the existing drug war. He says we have 5% of the world's population,and 25% of its' prisoners (largely because of the drug war). And the war is highly racist.

He wants a "YES" victory on Prop. 19, but feels the industrial-prison complex, and the prison guard lobby, will likely defeat it.

You can see some speeches by Grey on C-span and YouTube.
His book on this topic is:
http://www.judgejimgray.com/whyourdrugla...

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

"“They come here to drop a child. It’s called drop and leave” So let's amend the 14th Amendment

The GOP/Tea Party "no nothings" are stirring the anti-immigrant pot.
There are rumblings in Congress and the states to amend the 14th Amendment,the post-Civil War amendment. The original Amendment was to twart the Dred Scott decision. It was to counter the Southern white move to dismantle Reconstruction and make Lincoln's Emancipation Proclaimation moot.

The citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

The calls for repealing,or amending,the 14th Amendment are political fear mongering at its' worse.

The proponents suggest illegal pregnant women swim across the Rio Grande. park in the shopping mall parking lots,wait to dilate,and then head to the ER's. The new baby would be a US citizen,and would be qualified to receive all the welfare benefits of a citizen.

All of these outrageous claims are not true.
What do the mothers do after delivery? Swim back across the Rio Grande,and leave the baby here? And then the mother waits 10 years to try to reunite with the child as she moves her way,slowly,to adult citizenship?

It's all horse pucky! It's all fuddle duddle!!

A good article in the current Nation refutes all these righwing nativist claims.
http://www.thenation.com/article/38035/b...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/081...

Monday, August 2, 2010

The GOP Tea Party Contract. The Dems. should use Hubert Humphrey's litany against the GOP.

The GOP Tea Party Contract. The Dems. should use Hubert Humphrey's litany against the GOP.
*****
The Dem. National Committee has unveiled their GOP Tea Party Contract, to be used to attack the GOP in the Fall campaign.
The contract can be seen at the link below.
It is a good approach. It is a realistic summary of what can happen if the GOP flips the House and/or Senate.
The Dem. House candidates should take this contract, and use Hubert Humphrey’s great litany of GOP dangers in his 1968 convention acceptance speech.

Who favors implementing the the affordable health care act and making it effective?
Not the GOP.

Who favors saving Social Security and not privitizing it?
Not the GOP.

Who favors improving Medicare, and not privitizing it?
Not the GOP.

Who favors ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and Big Oil?
Not the GOP.

Who favors the Wall Street reform and consumer protections, and not repealing it?
Not the GOP.

Who wants to make the those responsible for the oil spill pay?
Not the GOP.

Who favors the Depts. of Education, Energy,and EPA and does not want to abolish them?
Not the GOP.

And who wants to preserve the 17th Amendment right to directly elect our Senators?
Not the GOP.

http://my.democrats.org/page/content/tpg...

Sunday, August 1, 2010

The House Tea Party caucus has 51 members. And the pretty lady Michele Bachmann may be working too hard.

Michele Bachmann entered the hospital Friday, and is now home in Minn. resting.
Wish you well, pretty lady.
Bachmann has been as busy as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
She is going around campaigning for GOP and tea partier candidates.
She is,of course, also running for re-election.
And she has organized the Congressional Tea Party caucus.
This new caucus raises several questions.
Is the tea party movement being coopted by the GOP?
or the reverse?
If the GOP flips the House in Nov., what policies and platforms will the Tea Party caucus push?
I notice that Paul Ryan,the author of the Plan to privatize Medicare and SS,is not a member of the caucus.
Will the caucus support his Plan?
And won't that Plan alienate the elderly,retired,SS recepients of the Tea Party?

So many questions and so few answers!

http://bachmann.house.gov/News/DocumentS...

The Congressional Black Caucus has 43 members and the black unemployment rate is double the white rate

There is discontent among the Congressional Black Caucus. Caucus members believe the House Ethics committee is racially bias. It has investigated at least 8 black Congresspeople since 2009.

Charlie Rangel should resign. But his ego won't allow it.
Maxine Walters' apparently had a conflict of interest on a bank bailout,involving her husband.

Rangel's ethics violations are long and serious.
Part of the remedy is to reform and reconfigure the Ways and Means committee. It is too powerful,and deals with a combination of taxation and revenue. These functions should be separated.

The Black Caucus needs to get in touch with their constitutents,and clean up their public act.

We have a black POTUS, but one million blacks are in prison.
The crisis of the black community and black families is acute.

"Seven out of every 10 African-American children are born out of wedlock, according to testimony given by a leading social policy researcher during a Joint Economic Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

In what is being called "the nation's worst crisis in the history of the Black family," hearing participants attributed the degenerating situation to the particularly disturbing plight of young African-American men, half of whom are now unemployed, and have 30 percent chance of serving time in prison before age 30.

And among Black men who drop out of high school-which is estimated at 40 percent--the situation is worse. Of those, 72 percent are jobless, and the likelihood of being incarcerated jumps to 60 percent..."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1...

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Nixon,the enemies list, Daniel Schorr and the Smothers Brothers

JFK during 1960 campaign: "I carry a great deal of responsibility. I'm the only person standing between Nixon and the WH"
**********
On this super Summer weekend, it is good to reflect on the past.
If you think our current political environment is toxic, the past was little different.

Daniel Schorr died yesterday.
He was a good investigative reporter who spent decades working to "drain the swamp" of Wash.DC.

He was #17 on Richard Nixon's WH "enemies list". The list was a result of RN's fertile paranoiac mindset,and was produced by little trolls in the WH (like Chuck Colson,the Germans, and then troll John Dean).

Paul Newman also made the list.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I'm also reading David Bianculli's new book on the Smothers Brothers,"Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'.

The show was on CBS for three years, and was cancelled by CBS suits after three years. The censorship war was rift by the 3rd year,and was centered on anti-Nam war skits and humor used on the show.
There are videos of the 3rd season shows available, and a video,Smothered, that deals with the censorship war.
The show is used in many college classes as an example of good writing and the political toxic atmosphere of the late 1960ies.

The show offered a venue for 1960ies new age talent,writers like Steve Martin, Rob Reiner, Pat Paulson, and Dave Steinberg.
All of these creative writers moved the Smothers Brothers to the political left...perhaps Tom Smothers was always there.

The Johnson WH,CBS suits, and the Cold War intelligence apparatus moved to silence the Smothers Brothers.
And succeeded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon's_Enemies_List

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

ElRushbo

Re El Rushbo: "If character were elastic, he wouldn't have enough to make a parakeet suspenders."

Or re Rush, from Fred Allen,describing another person long ago:
"You could fit his heart in a flea's navel, and still have room for dozens of caraway seeds."

El Rushbo has sold his NYC condo. He pledged to leave NY entirely when Albany imposed a temporary millionaires surtax.

He resides in Florida,which has no income tax. He also hides mucho greenbacks in the Cayman Islands.

LeBron James is going to Miami. And Huckabee says it's because of the NY high taxes.James will have no Florida tax on his $15 million annual salary. And being a legal Florida resident,he'll have no tax on his endorsement $s.

There could be a race to the bottom. Ohio could become the Florida North by eliminating its' top 6.24% income tax rate. NY could eliminate its' top rate of 12.62%

The better option is to have Florida impose an income tax.

There should be a race to the top of El Rushbo and James' mansions to collect taxes on their obscene income.

And we should get the IRS down to the Caymans.

A good read by a teapartier tax cutter is:
http://www.nypost.com/f/print/news/opini...

Former Sen. Alan Simpson tells a joke re ElRushbo and he talks to the governors

Ole' Al Simpson is a humorist,but he is also dangerous.
He is the co-chair of the POTUS's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform ,along with Erskine Bowles,the businessman accountant-type.
Their commission,composed of 18, including 6 Dems.and 6 GOPers from Congress,and Andy Stern, must report their recommendations by Dec.
Congressional leaders suggest they will allow an up or down vote on the recommendations. Simpson knows Congress, and says that is huey,lol.

Simpson is obsessed by SS and believes it has an untenable future. Bowles is less of a flamethrower on SS.
They take the SS acturials and agree that by 2039, SS will only have enough to pay out 75% of required payment levels.
But that leaves time for tweaking...raising retirement age (talk is 70yrs);making SS payments based on need;raising the SS wage tax;using a value added tax to contribute to SS;taxing all income etc.
I don't trust Simpson on SS.
He has never liked the entitlement.

In their talk with the governers Sat. in Boston, they didn't mention two cost-cutting suggestions.

Ron Paul and Barney Frank are co-sponsoring a defense budget cut of $1 trillion over 10 years...$100b annually.
And some health care reformers suggest that our entire health care costs can be cut 50%..half of the health care costs are wasted.

Simpson and Bowles displayed very little real humor in their description of the deficit/debt crisis.

But at the governor's conference, Simpson told a ElRusbo joke.

"A guy is looking to buy an expensive car, tests it out, and comes back to the dealer to complain, 'This is an expensive car, but the radio doesn't work.' The dealer explains, 'No, no, this is a high-tech state of the art car radio. All you have to do is say what you want to hear. Say 'country music' and country music comes on. Say 'rock n' roll' and rock 'n roll comes on." The guy says, "Great, I'll take it." The guy is driving it off the lot and turns into the street when another motorist cuts him off. "JerK!' he mutters—and Rush Limbaugh comes on."

The mattress economy

The conservative Michael Barone calls Obamaeconomics "the mattress economy". And I say trickle-down is sleeping in a bunk bed.

Conservative analyst,writer Michael Barone paints a very dark portrait of the current economy and recovery.
He accuses Obama and the WH of creating a mattress economy,

"Government policies designed to stimulate the economy seem to be having the opposite effect. Consumers aren't buying, businesses aren't hiring, and those fortunate enough to have some cash on hand don't seem to be investing.

I call it the mattress economy. People seem to be following this investment strategy: 1) Go to Mattress Discounters and buy the biggest mattress you can find. 2) Take it home, and stuff all your money in it. 3) Lie down, and get some rest..."

I don't agree.
The Great Recession continues unabated.
But even as Barone admits, the private corporate sector is sitting on $2 trillion in cash.
Reports on corporate earnings this week will show robust profits.
So there is something going on,but I don't blame Obama.
The POTUS, and his conservative economic team, have a bunk bed strategy.
Build the top bunk with juicy greenbacks,bailouts to the banks and Detroit etc., and let the bottom bunk,the middle and lower class, scramble for scraps.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/ope...
The Blue Dogs, and particularily the Blue pups, are in the political fight of their lives.

FDR moved to expand the Supreme Court because the conservatives there were undercutting much of his new deal.
He attempted to purge the Southern Congressional barons from the party.
And unemployment remained stubbornly above 15%.
It's the economy,folks.
The GOP won 75 House seats in 1938, and that essentially halted the New Deal.

There is very little the POTUS,Dems.or the WH can do about the unemployment rate by Nov. It will remain,nationally, at 10%. Black American unemployment will remain at 15%,and Hispanic rates a little lower.

This will hurt in Nov.

There are 54 Blue Dog Dems. in the House,with about half Blue pups..those elected since 2006.
They are from marginal Dem. districts, or GOP dominant districts.
The fate of these Blue Dogs will depend on voter turnout, and the movement of the independents.
And the independents are discontended.

The GOP would like to flip the House. If they do, expect them to move to repeal Obamacare,and generally make the POTUS life miserable. But Obama will still have the veto to stop the most outrageous actions of the GOP.

Short of flipping the House,the GOP could pick up 30-40 House seats.

Little or nothing can be done about the continuation of the Great Recession by Nov.
The POTUS and his cadre in the WH missed their opportunity a year ago...a much greater stimulus was needed.

Some random ruminations

Some random thoughts
*****
The iPhone4 and duct tape
_________________________

Consumer Reports says there definitely is a problem with the iPhone4 reception.
It recommends covering a small gap in the antenna with DUCT TAPE.
Does Steve Jobs have a financial interest in duct tape sales?
Wasn't duct tape recommended for protecting our houses during the early Homeland Security recommendations?
And how many millenial users of the iPhone4 know what duct tape is?
And we all thought GH 40 could cure everything,including arthritis. It has nothing over duct tape.
***
Mel Gibson's current movie ,in production, is titled "The Beaver".
He "plays an emotionally troubled man who talks through a beaver puppet".
The mad Mel's best defense will be that it was the beaver ranting to Oksan Grigorieva, and he wasn't even on the phone.
The paranoic mad Mel will also likely accuse Oksana of working undercover for Putin's spy agency.
*****
"A geezer carrying an oxygen tank and wielding a cane went on a shooting spree during a botched robbery in a high-end NYC Midtown clothing store.."
And he got away.
And we wonder how 6'4" Osama, carrying a dialysis machine, eludes capture

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Get smart, all you agent 99s

Get smart, all you agent 99s
***

The photo. op. with Bill Clinton and Valdimar Putin in Moscow was intriguing.
Putin, the ole' KGB spymaster, lectured Bill on the US cops rumming amuck, arresting the alleged spies.
Bill, laughing nervously, perhaps worried that he would be arrested for intelligence gathering.

Low level spying takes place everyday in every government and corporation.
This entire spy episode smacks of Get Smart Agent 99 capers. The "spies" were asked to smooze and cuddle with high level mucky mucks. The goal was to get government/corp. info.

The stunning NYC redhead was to party up to the mucky mucks, but she was not a prostitute.

What's the point of all this spying? Information is readily available online. Just buy an IPhone4,but don't tilt it so the phone disconnects.

The group has been charged with money laundering and conspiracy. But not with.espionage.

Let's get over our Cold War mindset. During the height of the Cold War, the Rosenbergs were executed for espionage. Ike was enamered with the U2 spy plane, and ordered U2 flights over the USSR. He knew it violated international law,and could have led to war with the Soviets, but the photos obtained convinced Ike that the Soviet claims of advanced missiles and tech. were lies.

Our side also had a "defector" program where we would send "defectors" into the USSR to gather info. Lee Harvey Oswald was one.

I say send these "spies" back to Putin and let it go.
Flag Like ReplyReply

The fortune 400 and public libraries

$600 billion would keep alot of public libraries open over the weekend.
*****
David Rockefeller is 95, but he attended a high level billionaires secret meeting in May 2009.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet asked him to organize the meeting.
They met at the gorgeous Presidential House at Rockefeller University.
Billionaire NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg was there.
Ted Turner showed up.
Gates and Buffet have a plan. They want billionaires to pledge half their net worth to charity, either during their lifetimes or at their death.
It sounds like a super idea.
The Fortune 400's net worth is estimated to be $1.2 trillion.
50% of that is $600 billion.
This elite money group has met several times subsequent to this first confam,and the group has expanded at each meeting.
As cities,states close parks,libraries,senior centers etc., $600b. would be super shot from the super elite of our country.
http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/20...

Sunday, June 20, 2010

"BP is a corporate criminal" or that is what the good populist Jim Hightower thinks.
(..From the time it was known as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and set out to grab and control the rich petroleum reserves owned by what is now Iran, BP has been a recidivist global criminal. In the past three decades, it grew huge by swallowing such competitors as Standard Oil of Ohio, Amoco and Arco. Along the way, it has been implicated in bribery, overthrowing governments, plunder and money laundering, plus having established one of the worst safety and environmental records in an industry that is notoriously reckless on both counts...)

http://www.creators.com/opinion/jim-high...

RINOS and DINOS

RINOs and DINOs
(Sharron Angle,(Nevada GOP senate candidate).. wants to abolish social security, the department of education and the income tax. Reid did his best to make Angle his opponent, spending heavily to undermine the more moderate GOP frontrunner, Sue Lowden. It seems to have worked. Angle is the perfect symbol of the Republican base in 2010: She's a fresh face; she enjoys grassroots support, and she wants to repeal the handiwork not just of Franklin Roosevelt, but of Theodore Roosevelt.)
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-s...
**********

The tea partyiers want to purge the RINO's from their party.
Up here in NY, the rightwing has already done that in the GOP.
Our Dem. governor candidate,Andrew Cuomo,son of strong liberal Mario Cuomo, doesn't need to cater to the Dem. progressive/liberal base. They have nowhere to go in November.

But the progressives are replicating the tea partiers. They want to purgh the DINOs (Democrats in name only).
The Democratic party is a broad coalition,and purghing DINOs and blue dogs is a recipe for defeat in November.
"People say we don't care about the small people.But we care.We care about the small people"
That's what the BP Chairman of the Board Carl-Henric Svanberg,a Swede, said yesterday outside the White House.
He also said "(Obama) is frustrated because he cares about the small people"
NYT Gail Collins says the man is talking in Munchkinland.
The BP pr man says its a language interpretation problem.
Svanberg does not speak English,as a first language.
Hopefully, Svanberg is at the Congressional hearings today.
If he calls Henry Waxman a small person, little Waxman will slice and dice him, and cut him down to his size.
Tony Hayward will,or is, in front of Waxman today.
Waxman will slice and dice this bloke,and hand him his head.
That will surely make Hayward a small, or smaller, person.
Monica Lewinsky saved Social Security. Yes, it's true. Goodness gracious.
In 1997, Pres. Bill Clinton and House GOP Speaker Newt(rightwing bomb thrower) Gingrich supposedly signed a secret agreement to destroy Social Security.
The "real deal",so to speak, was that Clinton would support Newt's idea of having individual savings accounts be allowed as a substitute,or alternative, to SS.
In short,the current SS would be converted into a voluntary program.
And it would have destroyed SS as we know it now.
This is the same program Bush 2 tried to ram through Congress for 4 years, unsuccessfully.
The Clinton-Gingrich pact dissolved when the Lewinsky scandal broke,and impeachment proceedings took center stage.
Thank you Monica for saving SS, at least for now.
The details of the Clinton-Gingrich pact can be found in the good read:
The Pact, by Steven Gillon.
Michele Bachmann labeled the $20 billion for gulf victims a “redistribution-of-wealth fund" and extortion.

It must be something in the water in Minnesota.
Here's the pretty lady's appearance on O'Reilly.
Again, the bumper sticker needed in her district is "
Turn off Fox;raise your IQ.
http://therichmonder.blogspot.com/2010
"I want my life back" says the oil-soaked pelican; and Tony's "prelapsarian state of blithe indifference"

Cartoonists can cut to the chase quickly. One of the best of last week:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_LxHYD_8IsV4/TB...

If the POTUS has lost Rolling Stone, he's in trouble.
The magazine's Tim Dickerson has a searing critique of BP,Interior Sec. Salazar, and Obama in the current issue.

Dickerson describes Salazar: "when the oil industry squeaks, he retreats.
The quote above in the heading is describing BP's Tony,but I don't really understand what it means, except it is negative.
Dickerson writes that the Gulf disaster resulted from the failure of 2 blowout preventors.
One was the regulatory..the corruption of the Interior's MMS and Salazar's failure to clean house.
The second was mechanical. BP deployed a blow-out preventor without a remote control trigger. BP also went with cheap single-way piping; and installed only 6 of the 21 cement spacers recommended for safety.
In addition, the Obama-Salazer approval of off-shore deep drilling in March of this year was a serious mistake.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/new...

Saturday, June 12, 2010

2012-lottery winning number or another presidential race?
**********

The pudnits and talking heads are speculating on 2012 presidential candidates.
I’m a Dem.,leaning independent,and will not be voting in any GOP presidential primary.

The GOP is smelling Obama blood in the water, and is circulating like sharks.
If I was a GOP voter, I would not be riding with Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana, and former Bush 2 budget slasher (Bush called him “the blade”).
Bill Kristol’s The Weekly Standard editor Andrew Ferguson wants him to run,and campaign by riding his motorcycle across the country.
Kristol and Ferguson like him because he has described Obama’s policies as “shock and awe statism”.
Nonsense.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/r...

Newt Gingrich would like to run, and his twitter network is in the thousands.
Stop twittering me,Newt. I want out of your network.

Mitt Romney has his own money, and he is visible everywhere.
He was in Cal.,standing beside Carly in her victory.
He was in South Carolina, standing beside the Indian-American lady in her primary victory.
Mitt is easier to find than Waldo.

Our own former NY governor George Pataki is working to repeal Obamacare and calling for all Americans to be Paul Reveres.
I know George, and he is no Paul Revere.
He was described as Rip Van Winkle during his last two terms as governor.
Pataki will not be President.
http://revereamerica.org/

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

“It’s incredibly sexy” and “I’m in complete awe” say the geeks re the iPhone 4; and China tells the 440k workers making the iPhone4 to work harder,stop the suicides and you will be paid higher wages.
*****
Steve Jobs revealed the new iPhone4 yesterday. The geeks are in a tsunami-type ecstasy.
It is faster and thinner than the iPhone3.
It has 16 or 32 gigabytes.
It has a camera of 3-5 megapixels.
The video has a retina display,making it sharper to see.
It is ultra thin, 9.33 millimeters.
And men will find that women are more attracted to them if they have the iPhone4, the gigabytes,and the megapixels (or say the surveys on this topic).

Let’s hope the video feed will allow us to see the 400,000 Chinese factory workers,sub-contracted by Foxconn TYech in Twaiwan,that toil to make this phone.
They work under high stress,there have been recent suicides, and China has recently been forced to increase their wages,to about $300 a month.
It’s all part of what Tom Friedman calls the new flat world,the globalization under the rubric of private corporations.

Friday, June 4, 2010

(Rep. Scott Murphy got an earful from frustrated NY-20 residents)

Scott Murphy is going to have a tough go in Nov.
But it is important to re-elect him.
First, he has only had a few months in office. In that time, he has been visible in his district and is listening.
Second, the House Dem. majority needs to be maintained.
The majority of the House GOP caucus is hard diamond rightwing.
If they were to take over the House, there are events that will happen.
As in the 1990ies, under Gingrich, they will try to shut down the government..based on spending,deficits and and long term debt.
They will move to again make Social Security voluntary, through ira’s, and that will destroy SS. This is outlined clearly in GOP Rep. Paul Ryan’s agenda.
They will attempt to build a case for impeachment of Obama. They will take the slurs,seditious statements, and lies of the Fox obergruppenfuhers,Hannity,Beck and O’Reilley; and Limbaugh; and use these slurs to build an impeachment case.
They will attempt to repeal the health reform act.
The House Dem. majority needs to be maintained.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Jay Gallaher and speaking truth to power
**********

Humorist Mort Sahl once said that he was getting nervous. Unitarians were moving into his neighborhood; and burning question marks on his lawn.

One of those Unitarians would have been Jay Gallagher, Albany Ganett news chief. Jay was a long-time Unitarian and asked many questions.

His family,peers, and friends came out last night to celebrate Jay’s life. I attended, and it strengthens one’s spirituality.

The AlbanyWestminster Presbyterian Church was full.
Susan Arbetter used good humor to describe Jay’s professionalism.
Times-Union Rex Smith, in good voice, gave a poignant rendition of Roy Orbinson’s Crying.
Jay’s daughters lauded their father’s humor,intellectual curiosity, and love.

Life is not fair. Jay was too young to die. His talking truth to power will be missed. His humor while toiling in the Capital political environment will be missed. In a mileau awash with power and fear, Jay had a detached appreciation of what is important.

What is important is family, truth, humor, and the Boston Red Sox.

Jay believed in democracy, even though it is messy. Just look at the current state GOP convention.

As the mud and muck of our state’s political campaigns approach levels of the Gulf oil spill, it’s important to keep in mind Jay’s favorite question to politicos: how are you going to pay for it?

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

We have a hugh water footprint


You've heard of a carbon footprint.
There is also a water footprint.
Water is a finite resource.
We,in the US, have the largest water footprint in the world...655+K gallons per capita per year.
The UK has a 328K footprint.
France has 304K.
India has 258K
China has 285K.
There are many useful,small,suggestions to reduce our water footprint:
*take 5 minute showers, rather than 8 minutes
*soap up before turning on the shower
*change shower head to a lower pressure one
*stop drinking bottled water
any other suggestions.
Yes magazine is a good read, and its' Summer issue deals with water.
It has a good water footprint chart.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/water-...

Friday, May 21, 2010

Rand Paul, Barry Goldwater, Rachel Maddow, and the 20 state Attorney Generals

I just paid my car insurance bill. I’ve never liked that car insurance is legally mandated. But the overall social good car insurance provides is a positive.
20 state Attorney Generals, all Republicans except one, are filing suit against Obamacare.
They don’t like the mandate to buy health insurance. They say it violates the Constitution.
How is this mandate different than car insurance?
Most of these AG’s are, or will be, seeking higher office.
They also don’t like the Obamacare Medicaid expansion.
I don’t like Medicaid either, but for different reasons.
It should be phased out, and Medicare should be expanded to younger groups.
Rand Paul has met Rachel Maddow and George Stephanopoulos.
They are attacking Paul for positions on the 1964 Civil Rights act and the Fair Housing act.
Paul is being consistent with his libertarian ideology. Private business should not be hindered, even if they want to discriminate.
Barry Goldwater was a libertarian Republican, and voted against the Civil Rights act. He ended up winning 5 states in the Deep South in 1964, white votes to boot.
Rand Paul will likely win in Kentucky, but he sounds silly defending his positions.
We are beyond the Civil Rights act of 1964.
Alpha males, nerds, 215 million sexually active women, 50 million unwanted pregnancies, and 25 million fewer abortions
*****
CBS has just announced their prime time schedule for next year.
Charley Sheen, the alpha male, has signed for 2 more years (if he doesn’t go to jail).
And his show, 2 ½ Men, will stay on Mon. nites.
The show with the nerds, Big Bang Theory, will move to Thurs. And the CBS suits hope the viewers will follow the day change.
Sheen, as the alpha adolescent male who thinks with his genitals, instead of his brain, never changes. His take on female/male relationships remains so 20th century.
Sheldon and Leonard, the Big Bang nerds, caress their tech. toys, but can’t relate to females.
According to NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, the world needs more nerds, and fewer alpha males.
In todays column, he is writing from Africa, and talks about overpopulation.
He quotes the Guttmacher Institute that estimates that there are 215 sexually active women in the world who don’t want to get pregnant. But birth control is rejected;or not understood.
Kristof argues that birth control in the 3rd world could prevent 50 million unwanted pregnancies yearly, and 25 fewer abortions.
The rightwing evangelicals preach abstinence.
It doesn’t work.

Monday, May 17, 2010

(Three primaries tomorrow in Kentucky, Arkansas and Pennsylvania will offer insight on just how mad voters are with incumbents this year. )
**********
Sen. Arlen Spector may pull out a squeaker.
The Phil. Dem. machine may save him; and Gov. Rendall’s machine may also help.
Spector is part of the inner club of the Senate, and is respected. But he is a Republican.
Even if Spector loses, he may do a Liberman and run as an independent. It would depend on the money. In any case, the Dems. should hold this Senate seat in Nov.
I don’t know about Sen.Lincoln in Ark. She has served two terms in the Senate, but seems to have left few footprints there.
I saw cable Fox’s special on these elections, and it included clips on Michelle Bachman’s rally in Minnesota,with Sara Palin.
With Bachman, how could such an attractive lady have such adhorrent political views

Friday, May 14, 2010

Casey Anthony and the death penalty

Casey Anthony and the death penalty
___________________________________

“..and as far as Casey is concerned, this PIG is crying for one reason, because she finally has realized that she will never again slide down a pole at Fusions, but instead will spend the next 50 years in a 10 by 10 cell like the animal that she really is. Unless of course she has a date with good old SPARKY .Fry the PIG…”
Post in Orlando Sentinel
**********

Florida is a glorious state in its’ natural attributes…the miles of pristine coastline, the Keys, the Everglades. For Northern retirees, it has been labeled God’s waiting room.

It also has elements of dark barbarism.

It has the death penalty, one of 37 states.

The death penalty is barbaric, and the reasons are well known:

“It is not a deterrent; is unfair,irreversible,barbarous,unjustified retribution, very expensive; and is inhumane and anachronistic..” (ACLU).

Local prosecutors in Orlando, with the approval of the state’s AG, are asking for the death penalty against “tot mom”, Casey Anthony.

Last week, her death-penalty expert lawyer, Andrea Lyon, argued that the death penalty can also be gender bias, against young single women.

The current local judge, Belvin Perry, listened, and asked the prosecutors if they had gender bias. After hearing their denial, Perry immediately rejected the defense motion. IMMEDIATELY, not taking a week to decide.

Lyon then asked the prosecutors to reveal their “aggravating factors” for seeking the dealth penalty. Florida, in its’ humane justice system, has 15 factors (that’s 15) that could be used to press for the death penalty.

Judge Perry looked at the prosecutors and said (paraphrasing): “You want to put this 23-year old to death, but, golly, you haven’t told us what factors you’re using. Give us that within 10 days..”

The next day, the prosecutors revealed their 5 factors: aggravated child abuse; heinous,atrocious or cruel crime; it was cold, calculated and premeditated; the child, Caylee, was under 12; and was in family custody at the time.

Judge Perry wants to move the trial outside Orlando, and sequester the jury, for 4-8 weeks likely. The strange Judge believes unbiased jurers can be picked in a week.

Anthony’s lawyers laughed.

You’ve got to find jurers who have no opinion on the case; never watched Nancy Grace ; and believe in the death penalty. That’s one heck of an assignment.
I carry no water for Casey Anthony. The whole case is tragic; and the judicial events are a travesty.

I’ve long assumed it was an accident that was covered up by this 22-yr. old immature girl.

But she does not deserve the death penalty; and the State of Florida should be ashamed

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Andrew Cuomo and the sub-prime mortgages

(AG Andrew Cuomo is investigating eight banks to see if they misled rating agencies to inflate the grades of mortgage securities in the years before the collapse of the housing market.

GOP gubernatorial hopeful Rick Lazio says Cuomo has “the personality of Eliot Spitzer” and “an ambition that’s out of control.”)
**********
The NYT best selling non-fiction books has Michael Lewis’s The Big Short as #1.
It’s a good read, and I’m half way through it.
Lewis personalizes the sub-prime crisis.
He focuses on Wall Street honchos who saw the profit to be made in the sub-prime disaster, through the bundling of these mortgages into bonds,and then buying insurance called credit default swaps. It was a Ponzi scheme writ large.
Lazio will claim that Cuomo,at HUD, pushed the sub-prime homebuying.
But Lazio will ignore what Lewis describes as the reason for sub-primes-the great inequality that was created in the 80s and 90s.
Yes, and Lewis also describes the rating agencies rubber-stamping these mortgage bundles.
Go get them, AG.
**********
The NYT best-seller nonfiction list has Oprah’s bio. at #2. Not tempted to read this. Don’s watch daytime tv.Oprah is a billionaire and good luck to her.
#3 is Chelsea Handler’s Chelsea,Chelsea Bang Bang. Read this, and not impressed with her humor. It’s mostly adolescent put-downs. She is overrated.
#4 is Carol Burnett’s autobio. Good read. Good to see her still being relevant.
Good because almost everyone else is gone.
Surfing cable finds a commercial for the old Dean Martin Celebrity Roast dvds.
It’s totally depressing. Everyone on these DVDs have left their physical bodies and their souls are in a much better place.
Everone of them-Martin,Sinatra,Davis,Jack Benny,Hope,John Wayne,Gleason,Red Buttons,Carson,Michael Landon ad infinitum.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

It's all fuddle duddle

It’s all fuddle duddle
______________________
Gov. Paterson locks his Lieutenant Governor Ravitch out of budget talks, rejecting his realistic proposal to borrow $2 billion to balance the budget.
Instead, the Gov. pushes employee furloughs..
It’s all fuddle duddle.
The Gov. has no power or credibility.
The Legislature votes for the furloughs in order to keep the government operating.
It’s all fuddle duddle.
The legislature should have allowed the State to close down. Then the leaders would get serious about a budget.
New York is now “Californiaized”. Paterson is our Arnold….a lameduck, politically impotent shell of a leader.
There needs to be transformational leadership in Albany.
It’s not Paladino.
He’s a wild and crazy guy, full of duddle duddle.
He wants to cut taxes by 10%, and spending by 20%.
Is it only state taxes he wants to cut, or local school taxes?
20% cut in spending is $30 billion. How’s he going to do that?
It’s all fuddle duddle.
Lazio is a Wall Street lackey. There is nothing transformational about him.
His campaign is all fuddle duddle.
Mayor Koch wants non-partisan reapportionment. It’s a good issue, but won’t happen.
His lobbying on this issue is all fuddle duddle.
I liked Mario Cuomo. I liked his intellectualism, his Jesuit method of thinking, and his Catholic social liberalism.
He always reminded me of Canada’s Pierre Trudeau, who had all the above traits.
Mario could never campaign wearing a red rose. It was never his style.
Is his son a transformational leader?
We will find out soon.
Andrew could easily wear a red rose during the coming campa

Monday, May 10, 2010

Carl Palidino wants to be governor

Let’s say Mr. Paladino becomes governor, and I say that with a grin.
Let’s say he cuts taxes 10%, and spending 20%, He will still have multi-year deficits of $10-20 billion per year.
Let this strange man explain how he will deal with that.
Let him also explain how he will cut 20%..where, what programs?

He is fighting the “liberal elites”!! Where are these elites? In the NYC media? Andrew Cuomo? But Cuomo will not run as a traditional liberal..he won’t even classify himself as a liberal, much to his father’s chagrin.

He wants Tea Party support.
In short, Paladino wants the NYS GOP to be very rightwing..further to the right than the Buckleys wanted to move it. He wants to purge any Rockefeller elements from the party. How sad!!
On Saturday, the Utah rightwingers purged long-time conservative Sen. Robert Bennett. The Utah teabaggers want a pure,hard right candidate.
The Florida teabaggers forced Gov. Christie out of the GOP.
The Arizona teabaggers want to purge McCain.
The Penn. teabaggers forced Sen.Spector out of the GOP.
I say bring it on. What could be better for the Dems. than to have an extreme GOP candidate.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Garrrison Keillor's description of Times Square

Humorist Garrison Keillor was in Times Square last Sat. and was actually unaware of the car bomb hullabullo.
His description of Times Square is worth reading:

" I'm fond of Times Square, which is an out-of-body experience offered for free to the general public, the colossal flash and razzmatazz of 10-story LED hi-def imagery rolling and bouncing among the JumboTrons and billboards in the glass canyons above the statue of Father Duffy by the TKTS booth. It is pure hullabaloo, millions in advertising canceling itself out by sheer overload, and one block away is beautiful Bryant Park and the serene reading rooms of the New York Public Library, where, for all you know, the scholarly gentleman across the table from you may be studying the art of explosives. It's a free country...."
http://www.tmsfeatures.com/columns/political/liberal/garrison-keillor/Garrison-Keillor.html?articleURL=http://rss.tmsfeatures.com/websvc-bin/rss_story_read.cgi?resid=201005041354TMS_____GKEILLOR_ctngk-a_20100504

Happy Mother's day weekend and other ruminations

Happy Mother's Day weekend to all.
The tulips are in bloom in the capital city.
The legislature is out of town.
The great city of Saratoga is booming.
Hopefully the sun will shine on all of us later today.
I caught PBS's "Need to Know" premier last night. It replaces NOW and Bill Moyers Journal.
I liked it.
Co-hosts Alison Stewart and Jon Meacham did a good job.
I'd give it a B+. 4 of 5 stars.
They seem to have some money for this series; and the producers traveled to different locations.
It is sorta of a more hip 60 minutes.
The segments on Gulf oil exporation;gun advocates; and the 50th anniversary of the Pill were well done.
The interviews with Mayor Bloomberg and Pres. Clinton added a nice touch.
They even have humorist Andy Borowitz giving a preview of next week's news. His online report is generally funny; and he repeated many of the themes he has originally used.
Humor has a big appetite.
Borowitz is a hip Andy Rooney.
As they say, Rooney is 150 yrs. old; and he keeps talking about his desk stapler.
Kudos to all for a good start.
There is a lot of rudeness in our society.
A lot of pushing and shoving.
Garrison Keillor also has described traditional middle-age virtues that is very good:

"These little lessons seem to push a person toward a modest, pragmatic view of life and those dull virtues that we rebelled against back in our salad days -- don't run in the dark, don't be a jerk, get over yourself, do your work, avoid self-pity, pay attention, know that the law of gravity applies to you too, and hang onto your old friends because there may come a day when there's no good reason for people to like you except out of habit. These are sensible virtues of middle-class people that strike you in middle age as vital to the preservation of life. You don't have to be so smart to make your way through adult life, but you should know the basic rules..."
http://www.tmsfeatures.com/columns/political/liberal/garrison-keillor/Garrison-Keillor.html?articleURL=http://rss.tmsfeatures.com/websvc-bin/rss_story_read.cgi?resid=201004131455TMS_____GKEILLOR_ctngk-a_20100413

Friday, May 7, 2010

The British election and Albany politics

The British election has produced what the Brits call a “hung parliament”.
No party has a majority of the 635 seats in House of Commons.
You might call our Albany situation a “hung legislature”..with no budget in sight.
The Brit Tories want the minority Liberal Democrats to join them in a majority government. BUT, the libs want a different electoral system…a proportional system, rather than winner take all. The Tories would lose many districts if they agreed to that.
Perhaps we need a proportional system in NYS. It would bring down the two-party monoply.

Sen. Bruno's sentence and the "honest-services" statute

(“You committed a crime. The jury told you that. You can’t accept it. You have blinders on. You simply can’t see it,” Judge Gary Sharpe told ex-Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno before sentencing him to two years in prison on federal corruption charges.)
**********
(“I know you don’t believe you did anything wrong,” U.S. District Judge Gary L. Sharpe told Bruno. “You’re not sorry because you don’t believe you did anything wrong. … (But) you trampled on the integrity of the state Legislature.”)
**********
The TU has it right this morning that ethics reform is needed for the Legislature.
Judge Sharpe’s comment is silly.
I can say this because I don’t ever expect to come before the judge. If I do, I am toast.
Someone has said that the Empire State Egg is really a UFO. And once a UFO lands, it doesn’t leave.
When it did land, it may have transported Judge Sharpe into Albany. His feeling that Bruno’s travail will put the fear of God into the Legislature is alien thinking.
Federal judges should not have life tenure.
I went down to the courthouse yesterday and was there when Bruno arrived.
Not having a press badge, or being an invited guess, I could not go inside.
The surprise is that there were few, if any, public outside the courthouse.
Sharpe’s sentence lacked creativity. There were many alternative sentence possibilities for Bruno, short of prison.
Based on the media reports, Sharpe did not address the vague,unconstitutional “honest-services fraud statute”; and the Torquemada-type role of the fed. prosecutors in using this statute against Bruno.
The Supreme Court heard three cases based on this “honest-services” statute; and all 9 seem to agree it is vague and likely unconstitutional.
They will issue their opinion soon.
The fed. prosecutors in Chicago were so afraid that this statute would allow Gov.Blago to go free that they decided not to use it against him.
The assistant US attorney Eliz Coombe likely should be charged with violating the “honest-services” statute.Her role has been intellectually,morally and legally corrupt.
She’s the one that wanted to take away Bruno’s passport, citing a flight risk.She’s the one advocating the draconian 8 years sentence.And she is perhaps brain dead.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Sen. Joe Bruno and consciousness cleanse

(Former state Sen. Joe Bruno is to be sentenced tomorrow.)

Judge Sharpe has a very wide discretion in sentencing.
The Justice Dept. regional office used the "theft of public services" rubric to present a wide-ranging case.
They succeeded in getting conviction on 2 counts, out of 8.
If the Judge applied democractic decision-making, he would bring the jury back today, and let them decide on the punishment.
I suspect the jury would not recommend that Bruno go to prison.

There are many alternative sentencing possibilities.

I would recommend the good Senator attending Debbie Ford's clinic,partaking in her effective 21-day consciousness cleanse program. That would be followed by local community service. And then the money restitution.

Ford's program is described in her book, The 21-day consciousness cleanse. It's a program that moves a person from being ego-centric to connecting to the inner soul. All politicians, or recovering politicians, are ego centered.
Ford's program shifts the outer ego life style to the deeper inner soul style..a consciousness shift.
And it could work even for an 81 year old.
As Ford describes it:
"..the ego judges and rejects with disdain and aggressiveness. The soul takes responsibility. The ego blames and transfers responsibility. The soul moves through life with grace. The ego moves through life with recklessness, chaos, and drama. The soul feels good about who it is and what it wants..The ego never has enough, it can never leave well enough alone..the ego swims against the current, while the soul sits back and floats in the the direction that life is moving in.You're either being guided by your soul or driven by your ego..."

I've sent this post to Judge Sharpe.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Predator drones

“Jonas Brothers are here, they’re out there somewhere. Sasha and Malia are huge fans, but boys, don’t get any ideas. Two words for you: predator drones. You will never see it coming. You think I’m joking?”
Pres. Obama at WH correspondents dinner
**********

The POTUS is under attack for this joke.
It seems our predator drones have killed civilians.
Actually, Obama could have used a variance of this joke re many in the audience Sat. evening: Rupert Murdoch;the cable Fox talkingheads;Larry King ad.nauseum.

It’s easy for any POTUS to take a power trip with his(her) military toys.
There is the gem of a story about LBJ. He was leaving the WH, to board the execuitve helicopter. A Marine told him that heli. was not his. LBJ told him: “Son, they are all my helicopters.”

A little bit of this, and a little bit of that

[Former state Sen. Joe Bruno will learn his prison fate on Thursday)
*********

I continue to feel that mr. bruno should get probation and pay resitution.
The feds. want 8 years. That is prosecution overkill..a possible reaction to their origninal weak case under the “thief of public service” rubric.

Let’s remember that the feds. spent 2+ years on the investigation; and charged Bruno with 8 felonies. He was acquitted on 5,hung jury on one, and guilty on 2 (one involving a horse).

In addition, Bruno will appeal whatever sentence he receives (except probation); and the Supremes are expected to strike down the the over broad “thief” rubric before August.

In some ways, Bruno’s tenure leading the State Senate was a golden era. Yes, power went to his head, including a regional personality cult. But we did have budgets before June, most years.
**********
(Sen. Kevin Parker apologized for calling his colleagues white supremacists)

Running with this story last night, the local tube news (Ch.6 especially) ran, and reran, a short video of Parker walking in the Senate chamber, passing Espada, who smiled and appeared to give him the heart/hand greeting; and shaking hands with the former Senator Hiram Monserrate.

Parker then reached the back; turned to the camera; and gave a hugh smile.
His ego has outgrown his intelligence. His hubris has no boundries.

I’m a Dem., with independent inclinations.
I would like to see a functioning state Dem. Senate.
But, Parker and his friends make that very difficult.
**********

"But we can’t expect to solve our problems if all we do is tear each other down. (Applause.) You can disagree with a certain policy without demonizing the person who espouses it. You can question somebody’s views and their judgment without questioning their motives or their patriotism. (Applause.) Throwing around phrases like “socialists” and “Soviet-style takeover” and “fascist” and “right-wing nut” -- (laughter) -- that may grab headlines, but it also has the effect of comparing our government, our political opponents, to authoritarian, even murderous regimes."
**********

The POTUS's University of Michigan commencement address is a super call for tolerance in our public discourse.
In the cable age, the strident discordant voice of cable Fox is sowing seditious seeds in our fragile democracy.

Obama's speech is worth reading:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-university-michigan-spring-commencement

Sunday, May 2, 2010

The DrudgeReport,National Enquirer, and Roger Stone
___________________________________________________
I do try to skim the links at the Drudgereport. Mr. Drudge is a strange conservative blogger.
He recently had a link story on a robber who disguised himself by wrapping his head in toilet paper.
The robber was so stupid that he used single-ply, rather than double-ply.
Drudge has a current link to an uncoming National Enquirer cover story about an alleged Obama affair.
It had to happen, and the surprise is that these tales were not written earlier.
According to the surrilious National Enquirer, someone is offering $1 million for a video from a hotel security camera.
Why do I suspect that Roger Stone's dirty fingerprints are all over this?

The White House Correspondents dinner

The WH Correspondents Dinner
___________________________

It was Mayor Bloomberg’s night.
He was there, of course.
And his Bloomberg News top honchos were in charge.
I’m not sure the POTUS enjoyed sitting between them during dinner.
How do you make small talk to these money gurus?
I thought the POTUS’s monologue was weak..few really strong jabs.
The Politico slides were not funny.
Leno’s gig was also weak. Most of his jokes didn’t work. He read off index cards, as though his writers stuck them in his pocket during dinner. The writers had months to prepare.
If you want to see a funny gig, go to CSpan’s streaming of VP Biden’s monologue at the March 17th Radio and TV correspondents dinner.
None of Leno’s cards matched Wanda Sykes topper last year:
“Whenever my daughter sees two cars, one with a stranger and another with Dick Cheney, I tell her to always get in the one with the stranger.”
Both Leno and the POTUS could have used some old, after-dinner humor by Adali Stevenson and Fred Allen.
Allen got up first, and as always, brought down the house.
Gov. Stevenson followed, and told the audience: “I met Fred in the hallway before dinner, and he told me he had no speech prepared. So, I gave him mine. You just heard it.” The Gov. then sat down.
I posted yesterday that Bill Maher should have been the comic meister.
He actually was there, with Adrianna Huffington as his date. These two seem to have some strange karma.
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brez. were there..they seem also to have some strange karma.
They both have evolved into sometimes narcissistic talkingheads.
I’m glad the IMan is starting to take Scarborough on..it’s overdue.

Suicide bombers

"Al Quada is short on cash. Do you know what an insurance premium costs for a suicide bomber?"
Jay Leno, WH Correspondents Dinner last night.
----------------------
Look, it was a joke.
Except for perhaps Mayor Bloomberg, nobody was aware of the lethal car bomb left in Times Square.
It was going to happen, and it likely will happen again.
Security will be increased;ore public cameras will besetup; and N residents will lose some freedom.
The balance between freedom and security is alwasy delicate

Saturday, May 1, 2010

conspiracies there, conspiracies here, conspiracies everywhere

I recently watched three DVDs from the History channel:
Conspiracies?
This stuff is cool..somewhat eyepopping..always stimulating.
The show covered alleged conspiracy theories re the JFK,RFK,MLK JR. murders...all conspiracies methinks involving the secret state within a state.
Others covered are ufos,Princess Diana,FDR and Pearl Harbor,the Okla.fed. building bombing and others.
How about a current conspiracy?
How about the national Chamber of Commerce?
It is the most powerful lobby in DC, and is a major part of our invisible government.
As Marvin Gaye asks: "What's going on".
Below is a summary of the C of C shenagians.

"Washington, D.C.--StopTheChamber.com, a network of national organizations dedicated to corporate accountability, has been calling for months for a full criminal investigation into the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its top staff, including CEO Tom Donohue, for racketeering, fraud, false reporting, and campaign finance violations. Now the network is adding obstruction of justice to that list. In the past two weeks, the United States has been hit with three major disasters, all tied to the polices and practices of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. First, 29 miners were killed in a Massey Energy coal mine explosion, second, 11 oil workers were killed in an British Petroleum oil rig fire, and third, Goldman Sachs was charged with a massive billion dollar fraud enterprise. Each of these companies uses the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, with its army of lobbyists and lawyers, as its first line of defense, corruptly influencing politicians and judges to protect corporations and thwart investigations, and spinning public relations to justify criminal conduct...
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/51903

Jim Hightower quotes

A couple of quotes from Jim Hightower on last night's Moyers Journal:

"As Hightower's fond of saying, the water won't clear up until we get the hogs out of the creek. "I see the central issue in politics to be the rise of corporate power," he reiterated. "Overwhelming, overweening corporate power that is running roughshod over the workaday people of the country. They think they're the top dogs, and we're a bunch of fire hydrants, you know?"

Of President Obama he said, "It's odd to me that we've got a president who ran from the outside and won, and now is trying to govern from the inside. You can't do progressive government from the inside. You have to rally those outsiders and make them a force... Our heavyweight is the people themselves. They've got the fat cats, but we've got the alley cats..."

White House Correspondents Dinner, Jay Leno, and Bill Maher

The White House correspondents dinner is this evening.
I will likely catch it on YouTube, rather than live on CSpan.
Jay Leno will be the laugh meister.
He is safe...no insults to the Establishment.
Actually, I'd like to see Bill Maher as the laugh host.
It won't happen, but one can dream the impossible dream.
Maher, on his HBO show last night, suggests that the teabaggers,including Sarah Palin, should wear their "drill,baby,drill" shirts down to the Gulf, and help clean the oil off the birds from the BP disaster.

Andrew Cuomo and Albany dysfunction

“We have to clean up the gridlock. We have to clean up the dysfunction. We have to clean up the waste. We have to clean up the delay. Enough is enough, my friends. The state government works for the people, and the people have been failed by this state government.”
Andrew Cuomo at Dem. Rural Conference last night.
*****
Nobody can disagree with the AG on this.
But it does sound like Eliot Spitzer in 2006.
There is a system problem in Albany.
There is a need for a transforming leader on the Capitol's 2nd floor.
Mario Cuomo was (is) a New Deal liberal, but governed as a pragmatic triangular. As he often said, campaigning is poetry, and governing is prose.
There are some basic reforms that are doable.
Make a June 1st budget the legal Constitutional (if required) norm. It is, unofficially, now.
Make it a two year budget cycle, with a new budget required in off-election years.
Deal with Medicaid...it is the monster eating New York.
At least two commissions have recommended that the local school property tax be replaced by a real progressive state income tax.
Lazio's mantra will be less government, low taxes.
It's not less government that is needed, but rather making the existing government responsive and transparent.
It is tax reform that is needed, including the above change in the local property taxes.

Goodby, Bill Moyers

(plutocracy and oligarchy is called “plutarchy” …)
_________________________________________

Goodby, Bill Moyers
___________________

The PBS’s Moyers Journal ended last night. It was a good run, almost always stimulating, and will be missed.
Moyers admonished listeners that he was forced off the schedule, but that it was his decision. At 76 years, he still has mountains to climb.

Last night, he described his approach on the Journal. He sees a US that has evolved into a plutocracy..rule by the very wealthy and Wall Street. For almost 5 yrs., his goal was to give voice to the other 95% of the people, and main street.

Last night, he had Jim Hightower, the funny populist blogger,writer and critic of the plutocracy. Hightower is a populist who sees the large corporations occupying most of our public realm. To him, liberals want to regulate these corporations. Populists want to give power back to main street.
I’m an old liberal. Large corporations will not be eliminated. But there needs to be a three-legged stool for stablity..one leg is the corporations,one is the public main street, and one is government. It is the government and main street legs that have been cut off by the corporate leg. The stool needs to re-stablized.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Arizona and apartied

Earlier this week, Pat Bertroche, an Iowa Republican congressional candidate also compared illegal immigrants to animals and suggested capturing them and embedding them with microchips.
"I think we should catch 'em, we should document 'em, make sure we know where they are and where they are going," Bertroche said. "I actually support microchipping them. I can microchip my dog so I can find it. Why can't I microchip an illegal?"
*****

"Abominations such as apartheid do not start with an entire population suddenly becoming inhumane....

However, when you strip a man or a woman of their basic human rights, you strip them of their dignity in the eyes of their family and their community, and even in their own eyes. An immigrant who is charged with the crime of trespassing for simply being in a community without his papers on him is being told he is committing a crime by simply being. He or she feels degraded and feels they are of less worth than others of a different color skin. These are the seeds of resentment, hostilities and in extreme cases, conflict...."
Desmond Tutu1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner
*****

Boycott Arizona.

Facebook and the POTUS assassination site

A Facebook group “praying” for President Obama’s death has surpassed one million members.)

There has been a hugh spike in rightwing white supremacist activity.
Many, but not all, advocate violence.
The Feds. claim that the POTUS has not received more violent threats than other presidents.
I don’t believe that.
I would recommend a re-reading of JFK’s planned speech at the Dallas TradeMart on Nov.22,’63.
He went into the strongest bastion of rightwing activity, including the violent Minutemen, as well as the John Birch Society (which still functions,even in the Capitol district).
And in the Trademart speech, JFK preached tolerance, and the acceptance of ambiguity on public issues.
At that time, the most extreme rightwing did not have a cable channel outlet.
Today, they have cable Fox, and the surriculus Beck,Hannity and O’Reilley.
Time’s Joe Klein suggests these three should be charged with sedition…advocating the overthrow of our govt.
2nd. Amendment gun lovers march just outside DC, with guns unloaded (at least for now).
We are in the midst of a dangerous, polarizing,time.
Recently,Bob Dylan played at the White House.
The times are achanging,but perhaps not in the direction Dylan, and sane, rational people want.
If the POTUS is shot, or shot at, civil war could erupt.
The Secret Service operates with what has been described as 1950s computer technology.
We should all pray for the safety of the POTUS

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Sen. Parker,Cornel West,David Horowitz,black studies and white supremacy

(Sen. Kevin Parker was unapologetic about calling his GOP colleagues “white supremacists.”

Parker was overheard shouting about the fallout from the episode by Times reporter Jeremy Peters. He lowered his voice when told Peters was waiting outside his office door.

The DN says Parker harbors a “bizarre racial paranoia)
———-
My comment:
Parker, Cornel West, David Horowitz, black studies and white supremacy
_________________________

Sen. Parker has taught (does teach) in the CUNY Black Studies programs (Wikipedia:
In addition to his work in the State Senate, Parker is also a professor of African-American Studies and Political Science at several colleges within the City University of New York system, primarily Brooklyn College, where he is also a faculty advisor to student organizations.)

In spite of my liberalism, I essentially agree with the hard-rightist David Horowitz. Black studies, like women studies, are not traditional academic studies.
There is a rich African-American heritage that should be taught. But it should be taught within a a broader, integrated liberal arts curriculum.
Black studies segrate, rather than integrate.
Black studies teachers can very easily become black supremacists as they protray US history one of white supremacy.
Cornel West is the leading figure in black studies, first at Harvard, and now Princeton.
He began, perhaps, as a black supremacist. But has now evolved as more of an integrated leader…referring to us all as “brothers and sisters”..regardless of skin color.
We are all spiritual beings.
While I don’t agree with West’s socialist orientation, I do think Parker could productivly dialogue with West.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

the first post yesterday on ny senator kevin parker

Sen.Parker was wearing a matching red tie and hankerchief.
It’s a nice touch.
When I used to wear ties and jackets, I had a multi-colored hankerchief that I could use on any color tie and shirt. The multi-color is so cool, as it can be adjusted for any coordinated tie. Now, being 150 yrs. old, I not only don’t wear ties, but I use the colored hanki. to wipe up the dribble.
Hopefully that tie of yours is the multi-type.
According to Taylor Hartman,Ph.D., in The Color Code, red is the power color.
Although it could be psychobabble, you could be on a power trip.
Keep it in check. You seem to have a propensity for violent talk and action.
Anyone could easily get a negative impression of the NY Senate.
By the way., doesn’t Sen. Espada wear coordinated ties and hankies.?
Not that there is anything wrong with you doing it.
As long as you are the “master of your domaine”.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

State Sen. Kevin Parker's tirade

I went to the 20 minute mark here on this video, and listened to Parker’s titrade.
Sen. Kruger seemed to be sitting there, a little man, with a gavel he doesn’t know how to use.
And Kruger is the leader we’re looking for to pass a budget?
Parker is a schoolyard bully, using street terror tactics.
Where was the Capitol security to pick Parker up, and throw him out of the hearing?
Parker allegedly was wearing a red tie, and matching hankerchief.
I posted on that earlier.
Actually, Parker apparently was weaned on the worse hip hop music…the genre that has promoted violence and degradation of women.
I may be 150 yrs,but if I was at the hearing, I would have gone to Parker, grapped him by his red tie, stuffed his red hankie into his mouth, and physically kicked him out of the room.
As I quoted Dr. Taylor Harmon earlier, the color we like determines our personality type.
In his book, The Color Code, Harmon describes the Reds’ obession with power:
“Reds want their own way. .when they have gotten their way for too long, Reds find it almost impossible to relinquish their power and freedom when they meet authorities in society who refuse to grant them the total control they demand..” p.45.

Sen. Espada, we're almost over you

‘I saw an old friend of our’s today
We asked about him, but didn’t quite know what to say
heard youv’e been making the rounds ’round here
while w’ve been trying to make you disapear

Chorus:
Now we’re almost over you
we’ve almost shook these blues
so when you come back around
after painting the town
you’ll see we’re almost over you…

you’re such a sly one with a cold cold heart
maybe leavin came easy, but it tore us apart
time heals all wounds they say and we should know
coz it seems like forever,
but we’re letting you go..”
Dedicated to Sen. Padro Espada, and adopted from Sheena Easton’s Almost Over You
———————–
Today is Sheena’s 51st birthday.
Ah, yes, Sheena. Being 150 years old myself, I barely remember the great 50.
Remember, ms. easton, whereever you are, age is just a number, and you should keep your number unlisted.

Monday, April 26, 2010

The Plague Year

The Plague Year
________________

Mr.Lloyd Constantine’s book, “Journal of the Plague Year,” is an insider’s account of the fall of Eliot Spitzer.
This weekend CSpan Book Review showed his appearance at a private book store in Albany.
Mr.Lloyd is a very bright, type A, energenic lawyer who was,in many ways, Eliot’s alter ego.
But his personality,I believe, is grating;confrontational;and moralistic..a Spitzer soulmate; an Eliot clone.
Lloyd argues that Eliot was a transforming,reformist leader..someone who could have changed the cesspool that is Albany.
In spite of Lloyd’s hubris, he admits that Eliot insulting Bruno,Shelly and Pataki in the first inaugural speech was a mistake.
You need to break eggs to make an omelette, but you also have to deal and broker with Bruno and Shelly.
The confrontational hubris that worked well in attacking Wall Street was counterproductive with Bruno and Shelly.
Directly trying to bring Bruno down, leading to Troopergate, was silly hubris from lawyer mindsets.
Eliot’s attempt to flip the Senate backfired. Mario Cuomo never tried that; and survived for 12 years.
The great tragedy is that Eliot could have been a positive transforming leader. His downfall has made the Capitol worse than ever.
In his strange self-centered hubris, Lloyd suggests that Eliot became Client 9 because he had stopped playing tennis with Lloyd. Eliot had too much energy stored.
Right!
"Shine a little light", corporate murder, and robots
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The W.Virginia coalminer's memorial service was poignant and sad.
Kudos for the POTUS and VP for attending.
Kudos for the POTUS for staying through the entire service, and standing as each of the 29 names were called.
The real sadness is that coal mine safety gutted under Bush2.
Massey Energy, and its' president Blankenship, have long been willing to pay the small fines; or appealing same; and then allowing the mines to operate unsafely.
Hopefully the POTUS told the miners' family, privately, that safety will be paramount.
The mine safety division of the Labor Dept. has been captured by the regulated mine owners.
That should end.
Massey Corp., and Blankenship, should perhaps be indicted for murder.
The "shine a little light" spiritual should be taken seriously..shine a good deal of light on Massey Energy.
Our goal should be a coal-free energy model; or,at least,clean coal.
Can nucear power plants totally replace the coal-fired power plants?
And can the Cave Dweller and Groundhog robots do the dirty work of coal mining?
See the ABC story:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/coal-mining-robots-humans-dirty-work/story?id=10303050

Sunday, April 25, 2010

"Are we listening? And if we are, what are we going to do about it?"

"Are we listening? And if we are, what are we going to do about it?"
Congressman Alan Grayson
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The DN's Bramhall's World this morning has a good cartoon...Obama is pulling the ears of a Wall Street tycoon, and in the next room SEC staffers are watching net porn.

There will be some sort of financial reform bill voted out of the Senate.
But it will not deal with the most important issue..breaking up the TBTF (too big to fail)financial giants.
In the good read, 13 Bankers, Simon Johnson and James Kwak argue that if the 6 megabanks are not broken up, the next financial crisis, which will happen, will destroy the entire world's finance.
The big six( Bank of America,JP Morgan,Chase,Citicorp,Wells Fargo, Goldman-Sachs, and Morgan Stanley), have a total wealth equal to 60% of the US GDP.
They want to "reconfigure the megas to be small enough to fail."
How small? Well, NO bank should have wealth that is larger than 4% of the US GDP. The goal should be 2-4% of GDP as the maximum size.
And we, on main street, should move our money into the community banks and local credit unions.

Rocky Mountain High, Leaving Albany and the old Albany handshake

Rocky Mountain High, Leaving Albany and the old Albany handshake.
______________________
(I hate to wake you up to say goodbye.
But the dawn is breaking, it’s early morn.
The taxi’s waiting, he’s blowing his horn,
Already I’m so lonesome I could cry.
.
‘Cause I’m leaving on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again -
Oh Babe, I hate to go.

There’s so many times I’ve let you down,
So many times I’ve played around,
I tell you now, they don’t mean a thing.
Every place I go, I’ll think of Albany
Every song I sing, I’ll sing for Albany)
(Adopted from John Denver’s Leaving on a Jet Plane)

He climbed cathedral mountains, he saw silver clouds below,
saw everything as far as you can see.
And they say that he got crazy once and that he
tried to touch the sun,
And the Colorado Rocky Mountain High,
I’ve seen it raining fire in the sky
You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply.
Rocky Mountain High, ….in Colorado….
Rocky Mountain High.
(John Denver)
__________
The Colorado legislature had to debate whether to make Rocky Mountain High the state
song. The politicos thought Denver was celebrating a drug high.
At least the Colorado legislature appeared to be working.
Our state legislature appears to be mummified.

In May’s Harper’s, Chrisopher Ketchum describes the Albany handshake: “the laziness, the corruption, the shameless posturing…”
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/05/0082944

Liz Benjamin asked Assembley majority leader Ron Canestrari when there will be a budget; and he said ,without smiling, probably never.

Ketchum says a radical solution is needed..abolish the legislature.
That’s not going to happen.
What can, and should, happen is Pedro Espada should leave Albany on a jet plane,asap.
State budgets should be two years, off-election years.
And perhaps the next governor should adopt emergency-like dictatorial power.

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