HEADLINES:

"Madoff whistleblower says SEC still too timid"
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61R1ZZ20100228

PoLT's Headline:
"Anybody connected to the United States Government is probably too scared or too corrupt to do anything that would benefit the American People."

IOKIYAAU

No Liz. The post that was here wasn't aimed at you. It was for the "benefit" of a few who have emailed me since a comment about Macs a while ago.
They don't comment, just lurk and have chided me incessantly about supporting Microsoft. In truth I support a number of platforms. I've had a number of Apple products ranging from an original Apple, Apple II(and s), an iMac and even a Lisa for a brief period.
I just got sick and tired of these few condescending louts and their yuppie lives.
They support boycotts of sweatshops for shoes, food, poor treatment of animals and other "noble" efforts yet ignore the transgressions of Apple because they own one, have never owned a PC but enjoy slamming Microsoft.
The link finally showed the problem with Apple. Surprisingly, I've received NO emails from them, which is unusual...and entertaining.
Yes, most computers and parts are made in Asia but not all treat their employees worse than the Business Leaders of the early 20th Century.
Whether this makes any sense or not, I don't know. And maybe I didn't couch the post well. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding.

RED LIGHT CAMERAS DON'T WORK (unless of course you are trying to make a buck)

by Blondesense Liz

Yesterday I was traveling down a street at 40MPH, the posted speed limit. The light turned yellow when I was too close to the intersection to safely slam on my brakes because there were cars behind me. I decided that I must cross the intersection to avoid a rear end collision. It was an especially wide intersection and I noticed that the light turned red when I was in the middle of the intersection and there were several cars going through the intersection with me at the same time. I thought to myself that the yellow light obviously was not long enough there. I am not sure if there were big brother cameras at the intersection but if there were, I suppose I'll be getting a ticket in the mail. If I had slammed on my brakes though, I'd probably have been hit by the motorist behind me. Decisions, decisions. Body shop or Hospital?

This got me thinking about red light cameras at intersections... I had a feeling that they are making us less safe.

I did a little investigating via google this morning. Here's what I've learned so far.

LENGTHENING YELLOW LIGHTS SAVES LIVES

Experts who actually give a shit about public safety assert that if a municipality wants to reduce the number of accidents in their community, the cheapest and most effective way is to lengthen the yellow lights. The problem is that people don't get rich when America is run safely. Municipalities want to make money so many install red light cameras in order to catch taxpayers running red lights. It sounds good on paper, sort of.... but this type of story was in a lot of newspapers: Cities Caught Illegally Tampering With Traffic Lights To Increase Revenue Of Red Light Cameras.

WHO ARE THE REAL DANGEROUS DRIVERS?

From Shorter yellow lights boost red-light camera revenue we learn that red light running which causes broadside accidents occurs when the offending vehicle has entered the intersection 3 seconds or more after the light turns red. So those are the people you want to charge with endangering public safety. People stopped at a red light are not going to proceed when it's green if there are still cars in the intersection... but if someone is barreling along and enters the intersection after the light has already turned red, you run into some problems.

THE RED LIGHT RUNNING CRISIS IS INDEED INTENTIONAL

I found this study done by Rep. Dick Armey, Majority Leader in 2001 and it confirms my fears of what is going on around here and you simply must read the whole thing The Red Light Running Crisis Is it Intentional? PDF

The study determined that in those municipalities where the yellow light times were extended, there was remarkable reduction in red light jumpers and less accidents! Unfortunately that doesn't make money for municipalities and insurance companies. Hmm. Does anyone really care about traffic safety or do they care about profit? Don't answer that.

The study confirmed my fears that having red light cameras at intersections actually causes more accidents because people have to slam on their brakes causing rear end collisions.

WE DON'T TRUST STINKING ENGINEERS.
WE TRUST POLITICIANS AND CORPORATIONS

Before the advent of red light cameras, actual trained engineers were required to study the traffic in an intersection and increase the time of yellow lights. Since red light cameras have been invented and utilized, engineers do NOT study traffic patterns in order to increase safety at an intersection at all! Engineers are told to “use enforcement” instead. Dick Armey's study confirmed that some municipalities have shortened the yellow light times so that they could snag more motorists!

Oh really?

LET'S TALK ABOUT A CONFLICT OF INTEREST

(From Dick Armey's study) Every study claiming red light cameras increase safety is written by the same man. Before joining the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), he was a top transportation official in New York City at the time the city began looking into becoming the first jurisdiction in the country to install red light cameras. In other words, the father of the red light camera in America is the same individual offering the “objective” testimony that they are effective.

A similar conflict of interest affects those entrusted with writing safety regulationsfor our traffic lights. The Institute of Transportation Engineers is actively involved in lobbying for, and even drafting legislation to implement, red light cameras. They are closely tied to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), which in turn is funded by companies that stand to profit handsomely any time points are assessed to a driver’s license.

In short, the only documented benefit to red light cameras is to the pocketbook of local governments who use the devices to collect millions in revenue.

We traded away our privacy for this. We gave up our constitutional protections for this. In return, we are less safe. That is the red light camera scam, and it has gone on for far too long.

If you read the extensive study, you will see how and why red light cameras and big brother is being used to scam the American people. So I did some more research to see if the abuses had stopped since 2001. Nope. Seems that too many people and companies are profiting from your being caught in an intersection when the light turns red because the yellow light is too short.

FOR-PROFIT INSURANCE COMPANIES ARE THE LEADING ADVOCATES FOR RED LIGHT CAMERAS

“Rather than improving motorist safety, red-light cameras significantly increase crashes and are a ticket to higher auto insurance premiums, researchers at the University of South Florida College of Public Health conclude.”

Insurance companies benefit from your crashing into the scaredy cat who slammed on her brakes when the light turned yellow. The only studies that show red light cameras work are those funded by for profit insurance companies! More at Red-Light Cameras Just Don’t Work

Why does that not surprise me? How do they get away with this... oh yeah, that's right... we learned from the healthcare debate that insurance company lobbyists visit our elected officials 7-8 times a day.

THE RED LIGHT CAMERA COMPANIES MAKE A NICE PROFIT TOO

Camera companies get a cut from every violation that is paid

The largest red-light camera company, Redflex Traffic Systems of Scottsdale, operates red-light or speed cameras in 22 states, and added 79 cities last year. It signed a $32 million maintenance contract with Chicago last fall, and in just the last three weeks of last year, Redflex added five new cities.

Redflex saw net, after-tax profits of $10.6 million in fiscal year 2008, up from $7.3 million the year before.

That ticket in Clive shows why: More than half of the $75 fine went to Redflex.

Not only is that a slap in our collective faces, camera company employees are the ones who determine if a crime has been committed in an intersection.

OPPOSITION GROUPS ARE GROWING

In happier news however, this story from a few days ago Red Light Camera Giant Redflex Loses $8 Million From Opposition

Largest photo enforcement vendor reports that opposition groups have cut into company profits.

The number one speed camera and red light camera operator in the US today reported that its profits plunged by 32 percent in the first half of fiscal 2010, due in large measure to rising public discontent with automated enforcement. Redflex Traffic Systems told Australian shareholders that after adjusting for exchange rates, the company lost A$8 million, primarily as a result of citizen activists taking action against photo enforcement.

“The business, particularly in the US, has become more difficult over recent years, and the results reflect the influence of a range of adverse issues and circumstances on the business, including… the rise of opposition from various groups opposed to photo enforcement, resulting in challenges to programs through citizen initiated referenda,” a company statement explained. “A state wide ballot initiative [in Arizona] could result in negative impact.”

Well that's good news. I think the American people are going to have to take time from their busy schedules and fight these tickets. There is lots of information here at Help! I got a ticket.
I plan to get busy in my county and do some investigating. I want to find out how much this project cost to implement, if the camera company gets a cut from fines paid, who inspects the violations, when was the last time engineers checked the yellow light times at intersections, have accident rates lessened where there are cameras, is it legal in NYS to not warn motorists that there are cameras at an upcoming intersection, etc etc. Should be very enlightening.

USA: Bizzaro World

by Blondesense Liz

Before the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the US Military intelligence spied on various domestic groups- one being Planned Parenthood.

Now since when does Planned Parenthood present a terrorist threat? Was someone afraid that they'd march into the olympics and perform abortions on unsuspecting women? They spied on individual persons as well.

The US Military is not allowed to spy on US persons or domestic groups. It's up to law enforcement and Anti-Terrorism/Force Protection channels. But really-- planned parenthood?

It has also been discovered that the military spied on the anti-war group Alaskans for Peace and Justice in 2005. Oh my god, those peace and justice groups are such a threat to the military industrial complex.

(Remember before the RNC spit on NYC by having their convention there a few years ago? They had peace and social justice groups spied on (but I don't remember who was doing the spying). )

Wait bizzaro America gets better... the pot calls the kettle black

Right wing slams White House for meeting with atheist ‘hate groups’
Officials from the Justice and Health and Human Services departments (not President Obama) met Friday with representatives of the Secular Coalition for America, an umbrella group that includes American Atheists and the Council for Secular Humanism.

The paranoid right wing nut jobs are out in full force over this event.

"It is one thing for Administration to meet with groups of varying viewpoints, but it is quite another for a senior official to sit down with activists representing some of the most hate-filled, anti-religious groups in the nation," said Council Nedd, chairman of the religious advocacy group In God We Trust.

Since when are ethical humanists a hate group? Could you die? Is this not hilarious?

If Jesus Christ came back to earth tomorrow, who do you think would nail him to the cross first? Atheists or Christians?

duh. Hell the christian men would nail women, scientists, people of color and anyone who doesn't believe what they believe to the cross in a NY minute if they could. They'd then start nailing each other to the crosses over picky disputes over bible passages. I suppose some women might be spared to be used for breeding if of course they were lobotomized first.

This last part of my life is proving to be quite surreal. I feel like I'm living in a dystopian novel. Was I deaf, dumb and blind for the first part or what?

A Study About Liberal Elitism- This is good

Liberalism, atheism, male sexual exclusivity linked to IQ

(CNN) -- Political, religious and sexual behaviors may be reflections of intelligence, a new study finds.

Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa at the the London School of Economics and Political Science correlated data on these behaviors with IQ from a large national U.S. sample and found that, on average, people who identified as liberal and atheist had higher IQs. This applied also to sexual exclusivity in men, but not in women. The findings will be published in the March 2010 issue of Social Psychology Quarterly.

The IQ differences, while statistically significant, are not stunning -- on the order of 6 to 11 points -- and the data should not be used to stereotype or make assumptions about people, experts say. But they show how certain patterns of identifying with particular ideologies develop, and how some people's behaviors come to be.

Continued... (definitely read it if you're interested in the findings.)

It doesn't slam liberals for being elitist or slam conservatives for being not as intelligent. Of course there are exceptions.

The study was done by a couple of guys (one conservative and one libertarian) who are probably pretty intelligent and obviously well educated. They do believe in evolution.

The study showed that atheists and liberals had higher IQ's than conservatives and religionists.

The development of religion helped early humans to be "paranoid" as the authors put it because they looked out for danger (and of course, blamed it all on god). On the other hand, atheists, according to one of the authors "allows someone to move forward and speculate on life without any concern for the dogmatic structure of a religion." I believe that's a good thing as well.

Check out this part:

The study takes the American view of liberal vs. conservative. It defines "liberal" in terms of concern for genetically nonrelated people and support for private resources that help those people. It does not look at other factors that play into American political beliefs, such as abortion, gun control and gay rights.

"Liberals are more likely to be concerned about total strangers; conservatives are likely to be concerned with people they associate with," he said.

Given that human ancestors had a keen interest in the survival of their offspring and nearest kin, the conservative approach -- looking out for the people around you first -- fits with the evolutionary picture more than liberalism, Kanazawa said. "It's unnatural for humans to be concerned about total strangers." he said.

See, this is the part that always baffled me when I spoke to conservative christians and I know lots of them. I would always ask them how they could reconcile being christian specifically and being politically and socially conservative at the same time. After all, Jesus Christ taught us to be what we would call "liberal" and to look out for each other more than anything else. If you ripped out all the pages of your New Testament that pertained to helping the poor and outcast, you would be left with a couple of pages. This is true. Try it.

The study says that evolutionarily speaking it's more natural for humans to embrace conservativism and I'll buy that since it was expedient in ancient times to pay more attention to your own kin and neighbors... you certainly couldn't walk away from your family leaving them in danger in order to worry about people in other tribes. (Dinosaurs might attack them. I kid.)

Religiously speaking, if you actually heed what it says in the New Testament, The parable of the Good Samaritan really drives home the message of loving and caring for those you don't know and especially those you even hate. The Jews absolutely hated Samaritans, so this parable was considered shocking at the time it was handed down. Matthew 25:31-46 (whatsoever you to for the least of my brothers, you do unto me) also reiterates that when you do for others, you are doing for Jesus... simply doing for those who you know doesn't count in the grand scheme of things. Jesus' message was absolutely radical for Jews at that time... and it is a radical message today for those who embrace their conservative values and are trying to be christian.

So Christianity, if you truly believe in the message of Jesus Christ, the reason for the whole Christian religion in the first place, actually goes against human nature. I believe that St Paul also reiterated that. So conservatives are being true to their human nature evolutionarily speaking but if they want to be or need to be labeled as "christian", they are not being true to their religion.

Being regressive, conservative and un-compassionate does not allow someone to truly embrace the message of Jesus. It cannot be reconciled if you use logic. What happens is that you have to check your brains at the door when you turn your sights toward conservative christianity, only pay attention to those parts of the bible that your conservative christian pastor tells you to look at and willfully disregard the rest. Otherwise your brain would explode.

Try to reconcile Jesus Christ's message with Rush Limbaugh's message. You can't. It's impossible. One is a message of love and forgiveness, the other is a message of intolerance and hatred.

Here's the weird part: My Catholic education (K-12) actually made me more liberal than I probably would have been otherwise. Perhaps it was because the particular brand of Catholicism that I was taught paid particular attention to the message of Jesus Christ. It was all the crazy man made anti-woman stuff that the Catholic patriarchy came up with that pissed me off and caused me to walk away from the religion but I didn't abandon the message of Jesus Christ which was that we should look out for each other and to do with less so that others don't suffer. (Oh dear, that sounds like something our president mentioned which drove conservative christians insane) Furthermore, if you really read the gospels, you would see that Jesus was a feminist.

Interestingly, Catholics who are educated in Catholic schools are not taught to distrust science at all. They really didn't teach us how to reconcile science and the bible except to say that we shouldn't take the bible literally if the passage goes against sound scientific evidence or even logic... the important thing is to find the message of a passage and understand that the bible was written by ancient humans who pretty much blamed everything that they didn't understand on God. I could buy that.

Personally I don't believe that you have to be well educated to be intelligent nor do I believe that all intelligent people are automatically smart or liberal. There are very motivated individuals who choose to work hard at being smart and may score higher on academic tests than those with high IQ's who don't try very hard. Not sure you have to be smart to be compassionate either. I do openly admit that the more educated I became in my life, the more tolerant and liberal I became. I don't believe that my education outside of catholic schools indoctrinated me towards being more liberal at all... I used critical thinking skills and my guts to determine my values.

This article on the study was very interesting for me to read and think about.

How about you? What stood out?

Forget reconciliation...

Great post over at C&L by Suzie

What one Asshole can do to America


that shows we need more than just SOME rules changed in the Senate. These asses are so full of themselves thinking they are the most important beings on earth...
We need to eliminate the possibility that ONE dementia infested, senile, addle-brained, moronic curmudgeon, who can't stay awake past 5:00 P.M, needs a nurse to wipe his butt and has to look at the ground to be able to walk can stop legislation from at least being considered.

Filibuster? Hell! The idiots on the Right don't even NEED the word. All they have to do is block something by cursing and bitching unless whatever they want is added to a bill!

No, folk. We need an overhaul of these lame-ass rules that allow monstrosities like Bunning to hold America Hostage.

Gotta Love This Guy

(Hat tip to The Stark Report.)


This is Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ), He was asked a question about the odious Rush Limbaugh and the others of his ilk, and launched into an anti-abortion talk (not surprising; the man is a conservative). Apart from his defense of Rush, saying that he spreads his verbal filth out of a "compassion for humanity," he seemed to imply that African-Americans were better off as slaves.

Watch the whole clip, and the money shot's at about 6:10.



So, what else in the Good Old Days does Rep. Franks miss? Women having no vote? No child-labor laws? No food regulation?

Goodbye Earth

I came across this picture link over at Digg. It's featured on a site called coolvibe that hosts digital art from around the web.
Art by Chase Stone, United States.


The following comment over at Digg is just SO perfect that I must pass it on......

trosty45 writes--

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe:, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

So what did you think of that? I think it's time for all of us to get together at the community level and brainstorm with our neighbors, colleagues, families and friends. We are all so very capable in so many diverse ways. We really don't need bankers and politicians "figuring out" how we should all live out our short little lives here on earth. It's not that difficult to get along with others. I'm sure as a town, as a city, as a community, we the people can figure it out. It's called helping one another. BACK TO BASICS folks. I don't have a problem with progress - can't stop it -- I know that. We can stall it for a bit though.

It's time to regroup.

Plenty of towns have preserved farm land, so FARM IT. Work with the local schools and get all these (ADD/ADHD) kids to plow the back forty -- might do them a world of good! We need to really teach our kids how to become more self-sufficient. Ours is the last generation that may have any experience in feeding ourselves. I don't have any personal experience myself, but I do have a few memories left in my head of my grandparent's farm and stories of how their neighbors helped each other build their homes. They all bartered for everything -- so simple.

Plenty of towns and cities have hospitals, medical clinics, doctor's offices, etc. Elect a local government body to figure out how to provide these services to everyone. And while we are at it, let's figure out how to make our "little dot" that we occupy less litigious. Shit happens, I know. Lawyers are necessary, but we need to take responsibility. We the people should be able to save ourselves.

Plenty of people I know are perfectly capable of making things too. How about we start making those things right here in our local communities. I'll trade you this for that -- simple. Start your own community banks. What the hell -- establish your own local currency!! Build a railroad! Collect rainwater! You get the idea. The term secede comes to mind....

Life doesn't have to be so complicated. Life is simple. The PTB are screwing it up. Let's get our assess out there and figure it out. Let's shift the focus from our "rights" to our "responsibilities". I'm so sick of the whining. I can't even stand the internet anymore. We should put our blogging to better use.

What do you think? Let's come up with a game plan.

Anyone? Anyone.....?

The best healthcare money can buy

(The corrected version! Private bitch to Jason!)

Since December 2006, young Texas Teabagger Jimbob Longhorn, Jr. has had an unexplained medical condition.

Every morning he awakens with a strange orange coloring on his penis. What makes it curious is the condition doesn’t happen every morning. Sometimes there is more orange on his penis, sometimes less. This has been occurring for over three years.

Now Jimbob’s daddy is a U.S. Texas Legislator in Congress, so DaddyJimbob took Jr. to his favorite Right Wing doctor. After numerous tests, his perplexed doctor told DaddyJimbob that he was so baffled he should take young Jimbob to the Best Right Wing Diagnosticians in Texas. But he cautioned that it could cost a lot of money! DaddyJimbob said he’d do that because he had government healthcare and he didn’t have to worry about the cost.

Well, the Right Wing Medical Experts at the best Hospital/Research Center in Texas tried everything to find out what was causing little Jimbob, Jr.’s condition. Even stranger, when Jimbob, Jr was in the hospital, the condition was rare, bordering on non-existent. Finally, after months of tests in hospital and as an out-patient, getting no results, even they threw their hands up, totally puzzled.

A Congressional friend of DaddyJimbob told him that maybe it was time to get help from a higher source…the Lord. So DaddyJimbob took Jimbob, Jr. to the Reverend Dr. Dobson.

The Reverend Dr. Dobson called in all his acolytes, had numerous prayer meetings and vigils but couldn’t discover the reason for the orange coloring on Jimbob, Jr.’s penis. Exasperated, The Reverend Dr. Dobson, out of frustration, late one night called in a Catholic Priest thinking maybe an exorcism was required.

Father Donohoe performed the exorcism in the middle of a dark, stormy night and in the morning there was no trace of orange on Jimbob Jr.'s penis! Father Donohoe proclaimed Jimbob, Jr. cured. Happily, DaddyJimbob took is little heir home.
But to their surprise, the condition appeared the very next morning.

Totally frazzled now, with no idea what to do after spending millions of tax payer dollars to cure his son, DaddyJimbob talked to a Democratic friend from Congress. Of course, he did this on the sly because he didn’t want any of his Republican Teabagger friends to think he was a political traitor.

So DaddyJimbob met with Elite Leftist Dr. G at the Center for Disease Control where Elite Leftist Dr. G told him he’d do everything he could but given Jimbob, Jr.’s history, it might be fruiltless. Plus DaddyJimbob would have to leave his son overnight…alone. Nevertheless, DaddyJimbob said he’d do and pay anything to fix his son’s condition. So Elite Leftist Dr. G. took Jimbob, Jr. into the building for a series of tests.

Less than a hour later, Elite Leftist Dr. G. called DaddyJimbob and told him he discovered the problem!

An ecstatic DaddyJimbob rushed into Elite Leftist Dr.G.’s office anxiously asking what caused it. Looking at a slightly embarrassed Jimbob, Jr., Elite Leftist Dr.G. told DaddyJimbob that to cure the problem Jimbob Jr. would have to stop his nightly Cheetos eating while playing with his laptop…and masterbating.

Thank goodness for Elite Leftist Doctors.

I'm Fixing A Hole and I'm Taking A Poll

Figured I'd kill two posts with one title. Actually, they're very connected on several levels -- in our world today, and especially in my day today. I was out last night doing some stuff at the kid's school. Noah's Ark must have been in the back of a lot of east coaster's minds I'll bet ( Hey - did you know his arc was ROUND!!). I felt like George Clooney in Perfect Storm trying to navigate the car. Several hallways in the school wing I was in were blowing leaks left and right from the ceiling tiles. AND piss me off I missed Idol -- I just started watching it on Wednesday and thought Lilly Scott rocked! Did she sing last night?


She sings Fixing A Hole, by the Beatles, at 1:00



FANTASTIC I'm predicting Lilly Scott to be our next Idol -- for today anyway. Like I said, I just started watching and have no idea who's who, I just loved her interpretation of this song. I usually don't have time to watch the details of the show. If the girls are home and I'm home (and awake) we have fun critiquing the singers and dissing the judges. I just love Ellen and Randy. Kara's got 'tude that makes me want to slap her and Simon - well I often wonder what Simon is like in real life. Liz, we should live Idol blog some night.

Well, onto the next bird, I mean post. When I got home last night, I couldn't focus and decided not to read up on how our politicians were dealing with the health care crisis. They are all a bunch of bird brains just chirping away needlessly instead of putting a single payer health care system into place. I haven't paid one bit of attention to what is going -- it's a waste of time. I don't get it anyway. Is a single payer system the same as a public option? Would the insurance companies be out of the picture if we had a single payer system vs. a public option? This morning I watched a few videos of the bickering at the above link. Rep. John Dingell's (D-Mich comments are what got me thinking about taking a poll on what the outcome of this "Bill" would be. I understood his Ten Commandment analogy, I didn't quite understand his "Dan Webster" quote. Turns out he only scrolled down and read the second half of it.

Our proper business is improvement. Let our age be the age of improvement. In a day of peace, let us advance the arts of peace and the works of peace. Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered.

(I think the first half is vital)

In the process of getting sidetracked at wiki and reading up on "Dan", I started clicking away on the links to the Second Party System, and then the Third Party System and then theFourth Party System where it seems these "Progressives" (Republicans?) are far from what I consider a progressive in today's "Whatever Party System". How may different forms of progressivism are there? Are there Progressive Democrats and Progressive Republicans? I wonder if there are any Whigs in politics today? So confusing........

Poll: Which Party System (from the past) would you vote that 'we the people' emulate in order to make our country work for each and every resident -- AND -- who would you consider (out of all the well know individuals from each party system throughout our entire history) to be the best one to lead this party?

Healthcare: Why we the people are going to be screwed.

Wonder why most of us have crappy healthcare insurance and it's unregulated? Wonder why it will be a cold day in hell before I can buy good coverage like federal employees get even though I'm already paying for theirs out of my taxes?

This is why:
Companies infused eight lobbyists for every federal lawmaker into the health care debate.

We the people don't stand a chance. The misinformation and disinformation is spreading like wildfire and ordinary Americans don't even realize that they are being had.

Wishing there was a hell for most of our legislators to burn in.


For any people who think that healthcare reform is going to cost them money.
Read this:
AP Fact Check: Health care bill would reduce most individual insurance premiums


For anyone interested in just how evil private insurance companies are, read this
Blue Cross parent hiked rates after paying out $39 million in bonuses

And here is A guide to debunking Republican talking points at the health care summit.
Unbelievable how Republicans change the subject and lie at every chance they get. They mostly change the subject and personally attack anyone who has an ounce of humanity. How did our country get so many mean people?

Musical Interlude with DI3- Dave Isaacs

That's Dave Isaacs on guitar with his band the DI3 at the French Quarter Cafe.



Dave was my son's most excellent guitar teacher. Dave played on my album, co-wrote some of the music with me and taught me how to play better. He moved to Nashville and teaches music at TSU. He may get his doctorate in music. Go for it, Davie!

THANK YOU ANTHONY WEINER: "The Republican Party Is A Wholly Owned Subsidiary Of The Insurance Industry"

You gotta watch this:




via Firedoglake:

Anthony Weiner just made a fiery speech in the middle of the House debate on repealing the insurance industry’s anti-trust exemption. Angered by a motion to recommit, he lashed out, saying “the Republican Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry!” While continuing on this theme, Republicans asked that the words be taken down, an attempt to rule Weiner’s remarks out of order and ban him from speaking on the floor for the rest of the day. Weiner then asked unanimous consent to substitute remarks, and after withdrawing the initial ones, said “Every single Republican I have ever met in my entire life is a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry!”

Republicans again asked for the words to be taken down.

At issue was a motion to recommit from the Republicans which would essentially scuttle the bill to repeal the insurance industry’s anti-trust exemption. The motion would have inserted a massive loophole that would have allowed insurers to collude with one another. Weiner said “You guys have chutzpah… they say that, well this isn’t going to do enough, but when we propose an alternative to provide competition, they’re against it… they said they want to have competition, and when we proposed requiring competition, the Republicans are against it!”

Eventually, Weiner withdrew his comments. But then he concluded, “there are winners and losers in the way we distribute health care,” and the insurance industry are among the winners, and the motion to recommit would keep that in place. He basically reinstated his “wholly owned subsidiary” comments in slightly more palatable words.

Another "reform" that probably won't ever happen.

Last Friday night on Real Time with Bill Maher, Elizabeth Warren the chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for TARP explained how financial reform is being blocked by lobbyists from banks who appear in Washington 2 to 4 times per day! People who want to advocate for reform and change don't have that kind of lobbying power. American families are losing. The credit card companies have already devised ways to get around the new credit card reform according to Warren. She advocated for a consumer protection agency. That is exactly what we need but it's not going to happen. The problems and solutions are so obvious and yet the congress can't get it together. This is not government by and for the people unless you're a bank. Watch her interview.



Imagine my dismay this morning when I read in the Washington Post that Obama may compromise on consumer agency to pass financial regulation

The Obama administration is no longer insisting on the creation of a stand-alone consumer protection agency as a central element of the plan to remake regulation of the financial system.

In hopes of quick congressional approval of a reform bill, White House officials are opening the door to compromise with lawmakers concerned about creating a new bureaucracy, according to congressional and some administration sources.

President Obama's economic team is now open to housing the consumer regulator inside another agency, such as the Treasury Department, though they still prefer a stand-alone agency. In either case, they are insisting on a regulator with political autonomy and real teeth so it can effectively enforce rules designed to protect consumers of mortgages, credit cards and other financial products.

Who's in charge in this country anyway? All these watered down so-called "reforms" don't help anyone and big businesses get a slight slap on the wrist... maybe... but they have lawyers to get around reform anyway. It's all business as usual. The Republicans are the party of NO and the Democrats are pussies.

Know what still baffles me? How can regular Americans support the Republicans when it is absolutely clear that they shoot down any legislation that would regulate big business, banks and insurance companies. When I ask regular Americans who support Republicans why they support big business instead of American people, they cannot give me an answer... and yet they vehemently accuse the Obama administration of being commies.... this makes my head hurt.

Crappy Weather Report

Since we're a full service blog, let's whine about the weather.

A "monster storm" is heading to the northeast. Yuk.

Looks like upstate NY will bear the brunt of the blizzard and NJ, Pa, Md, De and DC will have significant snowfall. Don't know what it will be like on the Isle of Long and directly northward. Could be snow. Could be rain. Could be a mix as this particular map indicates. It depends on what channel you watch. I'm sick of shoveling... not that I do a heck of a lot of it since I have a 24 year old male living at home (and isn't that why we have children?)

Because of this storm, let us remind ourselves that global warming must be a hoax as the eastern seaboard of the United States is indeed the cradle of civilization and what happens here is what matters. Period.

Counting the days until spring. Hurry!

Glenn Beck is hilarious: Progressivism is ruining America

Oh yes. And regressivism is doing wonders for this country. Does he even realize what an ass he sounds like to any person with a tiny sense of logic?

Jon Stewart takes him down and proves Beck is a commie.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rage Within the Machine - Progressivism
www.thedailyshow.com
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Glenn Beck admitted to educating himself in public libaries after railing against taxes:

"I educated myself. I went to the library and books are free."

Stewart lowered his head in disbelief. "Glenn, Glenn, Glenn the library isn't free. It's paid for with tax money. Free public libraries are the result of the progressive movement to communally share books," he said.

"Community owned! That sounds like communist! You are a communist!" exclaimed an exasperated Stewart.

Joe Stack: Terrorist or Patriot?

It's interesting, but not surprising that Joe Stack, the man who flew his plane into an IRS building in Austin, has been receiving praise for being a "True American Hero." Facebook fan pages popped up supporting what he did which is rather scary because they want more people to take a stand against the government like he did. This could lead to a blood bath with a very unhappy ending.

Joe Stack's daughter, who now lives in (socialist) Norway, called her dad a hero for "standing up to the system" on Good Morning America. Furthermore

"She believes the reason Stack allegedly set his house on fire the morning of the attack is that "We pay taxes on our home as well. My belief is that the house was part of the government. And I think he wanted to get rid of what was left."

Um no.

Hey Joe Stack's daughter-- do you know what irony is?

I understand that desperate times call for desperate measures but this action is going to divide the American people rather than unite them because so many millions of Americans are seriously misinformed and uneducated.

The comments after this story Joe Stack is a "True American Hero": Facebook Groups Support Domestic Terrorist at CBSnew.com are really interesting.

Was he a terrorist? Was he a patriot? Was he an unbalanced murderer?

Why has the right wing embraced him? How many teabaggers are lucky enough to afford to own an airplane? Where does the money to run airports come from? Where does the money for roads to drive on to the airport come from? You pay taxes to live in a society but what's wrong is what is being done with our tax money (wars, corporate welfare, politician's bank accounts, war profiteers) and the blame has to go fully on the shoulders of our elected representatives in DC.

I Want To Be Evil

Newt's a lying sack of ....

So Newt and O'Lielly were on the telly last night discussing how Obama is a "socialist".

GINGRICH: I don’t believe that President Obama in any way is like Fidel Castro. But I do believe he is an exactly in the tradition of the French Socialists or the Italian Socialists or the German Socialists. I think he’d have been very comfortable in the Social Democratic Party in Germany. I think he would have been very comfortable in the pre-Tony Blair Labor Party in Great Britain. I think he represents a strain of left-wing big government. Government is smart. You’re stupid. Government should decide everything. You’re not capable of it.

And let’s look at his policies. Listen to his rhetoric. This is somebody who really does believe that if you’re in private enterprise and you go out and you work hard, you’re somehow doing bad things.

What an asshat. Castro is a commie dictator. How can he even begin to compare the two? The right also compares Obama with Hitler. He was a fascist dictator. Obama can't dictate shit. He's no dictator. His party can't get anything done because the right obstructs everything. So what is Newt whining about?

How is Obama promoting big government? If anything he's promoting big military industrial complex and letting big business regulate itself. He's supported corporate welfare. Doesn't sound like a socialist to me. How is he personally hurting businesses? How does Obama do anything? He can't wrangle shit from the congress. If the right had their way, we'd be run by corporations and the rest of us would be serfs. I don't have a clue what Obama stands for but it isn't socialist.

Newt doesn't give an example of how Obama is a socialist or explain why he claims that Obama is a socialist to the dumbass Faux News viewers who wouldn't know a history book if it was glued to their eyeballs. No one on Faux News bothers to explain anything... they just blow shit out of their asses and the masses buy it.

Matt Yglesias explained:

The Social Democrats were the main source of opposition to Hitler at a time when the Communists were bizarrely maintaining that there was no difference between the two and the mainstream parties of the center-right decided that it made sense to form a tactical alliance with Hitler. Social Democrats stand for a generous welfare state and active labor market policies. Nazis try to conquer the world and send people to the gas chamber.

So where does Obama fit in? Is he a fascist or a socialist? Or a commie? Or a nazi? Or what?

And if Obama is a socialist, what does that make ME?

Asshats.

Another Cheney/media rerun???

Deadeye's been harping for a couple of years that releasing a certain memo would show that torture worked to get them bad guys captured! He said we got a guy in 2003 because we tortured another bad guy.
Well, the memo came out (not quite redacted enough) to show that the bad guy Deadeye talked about was captured 3 months before the other guy was tortured! Oops! That could really make Dickie look bad!
After going on the media and proclaiming that torture worked for the Bush Admin, it looks now like Dickie Baby fibbed! What a surprise!

But what's really interesting is that, all of a sudden, like a number of times in the past, Deadeye quite suddenly and conveniently gets chest pains, is hospitalized, gets media sympathy and everyone forgets that he lied! Who'd have thought?
Now once is understandable. But this isn't the first time the grim reaper's protege has pulled this stunt. Other chest pains, leg pains all have conveniently occurred just before and after embarrassing revelations of other Bush/Cheney lies.
What's worse is that the Dems buy into this 110% of the time.

Hey Dems! I got a deal for you. An empty cardboard box you can all crawl into for the next 2 years. All you have to do is bring a quart of Vaseline with you to Barry's basement..and a beer)!

Mass. New Republican Senator Freaks Out Conservatives

Scott Brown helps Democrats advance 'jobs' bill

WASHINGTON – A Democratic "jobs" bill has advanced past a GOP filibuster in the Senate, helped along by the vote of the chambers newest Republican. Scott Brown of Massachusetts was joined by several other Republicans to help Democrats defeat a filibuster orchestrated by GOP leaders by a 62-30 tally. The tally sets up a vote on Wednesday to actually pass the measure. continued

It wasn't even such a fabulous jobs bill because it had to be scaled down... but to show just how stupid people are they are freaking out that the newest Senator from Massachusetts must be a socialist. Interesting how so many Americans are downright hateful towards their fellow Americans and oppose any legislation that would help small businesses and the unemployed get back to work. It really makes no sense.

Check out the twitter about Scott Brown's supposed defection from the conservatives. ha! People of accusing him of not being fascist enough. The idiots don't even realize that they are supporting an agenda that would only hurt them personally in the long run.

Do people who are fortunate enough to have jobs understand that if millions of their neighbors are out of work or working for very little pay and not spending money, it will eventually put them out of business too? Does anyone understand cause and effect? Or is everyone out for themselves in such desperate times? We are a nasty nasty people.


And one more observation.... Republicans from the northeast aren't like Republicans from the rest of the country. They are much more moderate for the most part. And who the hell really expected someone from Massachusetts to be conservative?

Watching the Middle Class Fade Away

If you've been watching the tv news, you'd think that the stimulus money went to complete waste and that it was the very worst idea to ever come from Washington. You've got Faux News watchers bashing the stimulus and complaining about how it hurt them personally and how their taxes went up (their taxes actually went down).

Turns out that more than a hundred of those obstructionist Republicans who bashed the stimulus have sought or are seeking money. In fact it has done wonders for creating jobs in their states. Wasn't that what it was supposed to do? These people are freaking unbelievable.

Arnold Schwarzenegger gladly accepted stimulus dollars for California and was able to save over 150,000 jobs. He is the only Republican to come out and call his colleagues out on their hypocrisy.

"Well, you know, to me I find it interesting that you have a lot of the Republicans running around and pushing back on the stimulus money and saying this doesn't create any new jobs," said Schwarzenegger. "Then, they go out and they do the photo ops and they are posing with the big check and they say, 'Isn't this great?'"

While that's all well and good that jobs are being created for some. It certainly isn't enough. Millions of Americans are out of work and it may take years for them to become gainfully employed again. The NY Times calls them The New Poor.

It's recommended that you read THE NEW POOR--Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs

Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.

The stories are sad. So many people who were once able to take care of themselves can no longer do so. The jobs that are out there pay so little that many people who worked so hard for decades to own and take care of homes can not handle their bills.

-----

Our college graduates are moving back home with their families while they try to secure decent jobs and in many cases the families can use the extra income if their kids are lucky enough to even get a job. My son's out of college for 3 years and can barely get a call back on a job he would apply for. Turns out that hundreds or thousands of people are applying for each and every job. He couldn't even land a job at a supermarket. I couldn't get a job cutting fabric at a fabric store. Mind you, we don't even list our education on our resumes anymore. I'd kill for a municipal or union job. I'll rake leaves. Who cares?

The worst thing to come out of all this for my family is health care costs. I am not sickly (in fact I am quite active and feel fine) but my pharmaceutical bill each month exceeds the grocery bill for the whole family... and this is WITH supposed health care insurance that we pay through the nose for. The meds I take are preventing me from becoming incapacitated. Sometimes I wonder if I should just quit taking them, get ill and lay in bed all day or end up in the hospital since I am not working anyway. My mood is sinking and it's getting harder and harder to stay motivated.

"I'm in charge..."

Alexander Haig died. He was 85.
Gotta wonder if he's planning on taking St. Peter's place! Or maybe someone higher?

"Only the good die young" - Billy Joel.

Again with Texas

Was the Flinstones a documentary or a cartoon show that riffed on the Honeymooners? A third of Texans might believe that humans co-existed with dinosaurs.

In light of the battle going on in Texas to "improve" the curriculum, that percentage may rise in the future.

But then again, I wonder how well other states would rate. (I wonder if any of my neighbors "believe" in the Flintstones? Dare I bring it up in casual conversation or keep my big mouth shut?)

I know that we have a number of readers from foreign lands. This is for you:
Can you believe that the national debate in this country lately is whether or not we should "believe" in science or the bible? Apparently you can't have it both ways. What century is this again? And all this from the country that leads the world in producing weapons of mass destruction. sheesh. Can you spell c o n s p i r a c y to dumb down the populace?

Tiger Woods

Does anyone really care?

You would think that his public apology for something that was none of my business was huge news if you have been watching the television. The talking heads were going on and on about it as if there is nothing else of importance happening in the world. I blame the media for so many stupid people in America.

CPAC attendees........

Bush Official Criticizes Obama For Killing Too Many Terrorists

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't George W. Bush have this to say about terrorists:

"We will hunt you down and kill you"

I wish I could find a video clip. I know he said this. I must be loosing my ability to search google. There's nothing out there.

Can anyone help me. Anyone? Anyone?

I hope Rachael Madow is all over this one.

und jetzt die Nachrichten

From FDL:

U.S Department of Justice reverses convictions of Nuremberg defendants.

Well, not really, but for all intents and purposes, yep, you betcha!
The DOJ posthumously, albeit brainlessly, has absolved Martin Bormann, Herman Goring, Rudolf Hess, Albert Speer and in absentia, Adolf Eichmann, Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, Josef Mengele and even Adolf Hitler (among numerous others) of war crimes…so sayeth DoJ attorney David Margolis.

Actually he absolved John Yoo and Jay Bybee of blame for allowing Bush/Cheney to torture prisoners. Both men exercised “bad judgement” (and should have their hands smacked!) but really didn’t do anything wrong and therefore shouldn’t be held accountable...for anything.
But the implication is that the U.S. doesn’t have to adhere to, support or live up to the Nuremberg Decisions we issued in 1946.

This opens up the possibility of any lawyer advising any president of anything that might be construed as illegal in the future null and void. In other words, any president can do whatever the hell he wants and those who advise him can't be held accountable!

Imagine an administration of Palin and Beck. Suddenly the Third Reich looks positively Democratic.

Good job Barry. You sure know how to pick ‘em.

STOP MAKING SENSE

"The greatest rock concert film of all time"

"A guaranteed cure for anyone's blues, it's a celebration of music that never grows old, fueled by the polyrhythmic pop-funk precision that was a Talking Heads trademark, and lit from within by the geeky supernova that is David Byrne."





(Lyrics & Song Meaning)


Life During Wartime







STOP MAKING SENSE original trailer


Buy the DVD here

I anxiously await its arrival. They are THE ONLY 'talking heads' out there that make any sense to me.


David Byrne is a romantic poet and should become your conscience.
~Urban Dictionary

The Latest from Apple!

The iFawn!

(Cute little bugger, by the way, named Rupert. Born premature and is now a bit over five days old. Sleeps in an incubator and only has one app so far - 'Bleat.')

Bernie Kerik Goes To Jail

And this is the man Bush and Guiliani wanted to be the head of DHS.

District Judge Stephen Robinson went well beyond federal sentencing guidelines, which suggested 27 to 33 months. He said the guidelines do not take into account "the almost operatic proportions of this case."

The judge said that after 9/11, Kerik "in many ways acted in the highest tradition of a public servant." But then, he added, "The fact that Mr. Kerik would use that event for personal gain and aggrandizement is a dark place in the soul for me."

He said some of the crimes were committed while Kerik was "the chief law enforcement officer for the biggest and grandest city this nation has."

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, "It is a very sad day when the former commissioner of the greatest police department in the world is sentenced to prison for base criminal conduct."

Kerik, a protege of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, pleaded guilty in November to eight felonies, including tax fraud and lying to the White House while being vetted for the Homeland Security post in 2004.

Here's the story

And he's all worried about getting back to his wife and daughters according to the story.... boo hoo. Mr Kerick was having an affair with Judith "oh my god, Bill Clinton is such a pervert" Regan* in an apartment overlooking ground zero after 9/11. Kerick also had a 10 year affair with a NY correction officer.

*Judith Regan was an outspoken critic of the Clinton/Lewinsky affair in the 90's. At that particular time, she thought that extra marital sex was disgusting and got to say so as often as possible on national tv. She repeatedly lambasted Clinton on the Fox News Channel.

The Daily Show correspondent, John Oliver, covers the Republican National Committee Winter Meeting in Hawaii

I missed this one last month.


In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Steele defended his decision to hold the meeting in Hawaii. He said he wanted to recognize the hard work of committee members from Hawaii and from U.S. territories who frequently travel to the mainland for party events. He said he also wanted to celebrate Lingle, an ally who is in the last year of her second term.

"People are trying to poison that and make it look like it's some nefarious payback and all this other stupid silly stuff. It's not any of that," Steele said.

Asked if he was concerned about the optics of the RNC gathering in a tropical place given the recession, Steele said: "No. Hawaii's going through a recession, too. So we're going to help the economy a little bit."
RNC Meeting in Hawaiiwww.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

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Health Care Crisis

In this clip, Oliver discusses Hawaii's government mandated health care

U

F

B

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cThe Apparent Trapwww.thedailyshow.com

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Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

The hypocrisy is beyond belief.

A new logo???

A fitting new logo for the teabaggers?

Click the image to enlarge.

Happy City Ratings

As many of you know, I live in the most unhappy state in the US- New York. I am one of the unhappy people, geographically speaking... although the climate on Long Island sure beats the rest of the state. Aside from that, it sucks here. The taxes are enormous, health care costs are astronomical, car insurance is ridiculous and there are hardly any jobs to pay for all of that. Oh yeah, and it's a police state.

Where to go? Where to go?

Boulder Colorado has been rated the happiest, healthiest city in the US.
Another happy healthy city is Honolulu. Hmmm. I can't imagine being depressed in paradise. Hell, I could be homeless in paradise and better off there than I am here in the money pit that is my house. There are several happy cities in California and a couple in Utah. The only one on the east coast is Washington, DC. but they get too much snow for me.

More

PS I don't know about where you live, but here on Long Island there are cameras at the intersections just daring you to make a faux pas. You will get a ticket in the mail with a photo of your car at the scene of the crime. That's right. Big brother at its finest. We pay probably the highest taxes in the country and our government is going out of its way to make criminals of the taxpayers. Way to go. Greedy pigs.

If you've been snowed under for some time, these pictures will help you feel better - from DARK ROASTED BLEND

Mind-blowing pictures

Reminds me of the great snow forts we used to build here in New England when we were kids growing up in the 60's and 70's. I know I'm a tad taller now, but doesn't it seem like we rarely get dumped on like we used to?

It's winter. It's supposed to snow all the time. It seemed as though we were always building snow forts. I can't remember the last time my kids spent the day outside.

What exactly do the Teabaggers want to take us back to?

Teabaggers have nostalgia for the America of the 1950's.
The 50's were only good for white men according to Bill Maher. (around 3:00)




Oh yeah, the 50's were fabulous
You must know a bunch of people, both men and women who "want our country back!" Back to what? Maybe they ought to be careful of what they wish for... or if this is what they truly wish for, maybe we ought to rethink who we associate with.

Watch Duck and Cover from 1952. Learn how to save your life when the atomic bomb goes off. When you see the flash, be sure to duck and cover... or you are dead, baby, dead. This is the queen of all civil defense films that the US government commissioned. More about it at Conelrad.





Watch Atomic Cafe on Hulu. (bookmark it for later) Remember the atomic bomb? Fallout Shelters? Duck and Cover? Military propaganda?

The background music is amazing. I had no idea that so many songs were written about the atomic bomb. Check out Cold War Music.

Read more about Atomic Cafe at Conelrad. I enjoyed this movie so much from an historical standpoint that I got the soundtrack and the picture book. It inspired a whole series of mixed media artwork.

Review:
The Atomic Cafe is a sometimes hilarious, sometimes sobering collection of film clips taken from American propaganda films of the 1950s. The thrust of the production is to expose the misinformation (and downright lies) dispensed by the government concerning the atomic bomb. We are shown vignettes from such classic instructional films as Duck and Cover, wherein school children are assured that they will survive a nuclear attack simply by huddling together next to the schoolhouse wall. In another sequence, a pack of pigs are dressed in Army uniforms and left to die at "Ground Zero" during a nuclear test to see if human beings (who purportedly have the same skin consistency as pigs) could endure such an ordeal. Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Texas at the forefront of culture wars.

Today's informative read is How Christian Were the Founders? from the NY Times Sunday magazine.

The culture wars wage on in Texas as their social studies text book content is being debated. It is being argued that the US was founded on christian principals. Some people believe that a radical liberal secular agenda has threatened the very core of American values. The US constitution is being debated, especially what the separation of church and state means. Talk about a political agenda... there are powerful people trying to dumb down Texans in the name of Gawd. (When our country was founded, wasn't Texas part of Mexico? I wonder if they'll include that in their revised history.)

We'd have to rescind the rights of women and non-whites if people want to go back in time to the original values set forth by the founding fathers. I'd like to see that happen. Are we going to bring back slavery? Who pray-tell is going to define which historical figures are christian enough to be included in the curriculum? They are arguing that point now.

Exactly which sect of christian religion would take precedence? The early settlers came to America to avoid religious persecution. They were mostly christians who had very different notions of what it is to be christian... much like there is today. Now the Texas state board wants to shove a particular brand of christianity down peoples throats! The founding fathers made it clear that they did not want there to be a state religion. They knew that a state sponsored religion would incite wars. That's exactly what would happen today.

Don McLeroy is is on the Texas board and is up for re-election in March. His candidacy is making waves. And rightly so.

“I consider myself a Christian fundamentalist,” he announced almost as soon as we sat down. He also identifies himself as a young-earth creationist who believes that the earth was created in six days, as the book of Genesis has it, less than 10,000 years ago. He went on to explain how his Christian perspective both governs his work on the state board and guides him in the current effort to adjust American-history textbooks to highlight the role of Christianity. “Textbooks are mostly the product of the liberal establishment, and they’re written with the idea that our religion and our liberty are in conflict,” he said. “But Christianity has had a deep impact on our system. The men who wrote the Constitution were Christians who knew the Bible. Our idea of individual rights comes from the Bible. The Western development of the free-market system owes a lot to biblical principles.”

For McLeroy, separation of church and state is a myth perpetrated by secular liberals. “There are two basic facts about man,” he said. “He was created in the image of God, and he is fallen. You can’t appreciate the founding of our country without realizing that the founders understood that. For our kids to not know our history, that could kill a society. That’s why to me this is a huge thing.”

So basically, McLeroy wants a theocracy. That's what wars fought over. He claims to have read a lot of history books... I guess he missed that part. The scary thing is that the dumbest, most ignorant sect of christianity is at the forefront of the religious revival.

Stay tuned to Texas.

Sunday Brunch....... OMFG

Greece Crisis: Wall St. Helped To Mask Debt Fueling Europe's Shake-Up

As worries over Greece rattle world markets, records and interviews show that with Wall Street's help, the nation engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European debt limits. One deal created by Goldman Sachs helped obscure billions in debt from the budget overseers in Brussels.

I haven't read the whole article in the NYT yet. I skipped directly to the comments following the huffpo piece. Here's what they're talking about:

The World According to....An interview with Lady de Rothschild

If you can stomach reading that, read it. It gives insight into the madness than is Lady Lynn. Whether talking about her madness of buying up all of the farms and farming rights and distribution rights for Europe to control food and who eats what.... to how she made her billion by possible insider trading ala Madoff in which she sold out for more than a billion just 3 months before the company collapsed, coincedence or something else?? Then read about her talking about the Cliton run for the White House and how she was supporting her because all of them would be part of the administration. Funny, those same people are part of the administration. Guess since Lynn gave up trying to beat Obama with her, then failing again with McCain, she apparently bought Obama and runs his administration which is full of insiders.

Field of greens
India is undergoing a second agricultural revolution - building the infrastructure that connects farm to supermarket.

""Organized supermarkets have to have an organized back end," says Lynn Forester de Rothschild, founder and CEO of E.L. Rothschild, a British investment firm owned by a branch of the Rothschild banking family. E.L. Rothschild is a fifty-fifty investor in FieldFresh with Bharti Enterprises, one of India's two biggest telecom operators, which is planning to set up a nationwide retail chain, probably with Tesco, as well as India's first large-scale fruit and vegetable export business. "There is a compelling case for India to feed the world, using inherent strengths that haven't been exploited at all," says Bharti chairman Sunil Mittal, some of whose produce already goes to Tesco."

There's the NWO plan for where we get our food, courtesy of the Rothchild's.

MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE OF WORLD:

Take care of your food supply.

Industrial Agriculture may be one of the first things to collapse in a financial meltdown.


Dem Sell-out Dianne Feinstein Attempts End-Run to Hand California Water to Billionaire Farmers - Feinstein is trying to ram through a massive transfer of public water into the private pockets of a clique of billionaire corporate farmers

Diane Feinstein is trying to wrangle with congress a deal with rich "farmers" in California to take over the water for a huge area in California. The corporation will buy the rights and plants and then, well, you know. All of this is being done kind of hush, hush. Correct: Watch--water and food--coming next.

Pass the Ramen Noodles please.....

Honey - I think it's time to Rototill the backyard



From OrwellToday -
"He who controls the food, controls the world" is a United Nations tenet.

According to this website, the above quote is attributed to Fritz Ter Meer

Who is Fritz Ter Meer? Oh JMJ - He was the son of Edmund ter Meer the founder of a chemical company that later became part of Bayer.

still can't find the exact quote and person

Let's try this site:

The companies- BASF, Bayer and Hoechst were responsible for Hitler’s dash for power, as well as the main beneficiaries of his conquests, they were the 100% owners of IG Auschwitz, the largest industrial complex outside Germany. The concentration camp Auschwitz was a forced labour camp for this company. IG Farben Board member, Fritz ter Meer testified during the Nuremberg trials that “There was no harm done to the prisoners, because they were to be killed anyway.” He was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment for “slavery and looting.” He was released in 1952. From 1956-1964 he was the chairman of the board of Bayer AG. In 1962 he was one of the architects of the Codex Alimentarius commission which is sponsored by the United Nations and the World Health Organization, and supported by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Codex Alimentarius Commission wants to BAN all current over the counter sales of herbs, vitamins, amino acids, minerals, and all other supplements. The pharmaceutical companies are planning a global takeover of the vitamin-herb industry, and within a few short years, they will have succeeded by pushing competitors out of the field. They are planning to do it very quietly and carefully through GATT and the Codex Commission. Will our lives and health be sacrificed again for profits, and control?(20)

"Others explore even remoter possibilities such as
focusing the sun's rays through lenses
suspended thousands of kilometres away in space, or
producing artificial earthquakes and tidal waves
by tapping the heat at the earth's centre."
~ Orwell in "1984"


Forget the Rototiller - we need a high tech greenhouse

Here's a piece on Codex Alimentarius


Please forgive the jumping around on this post. I'm pretty sure I have ADHD.

Bon Appetit!

"The Parade of Shame and Twisted Lives!"

This is what the Olympics should be like. Let the carnage begin!