Al Franken Won. Coleman Lost.

What a waste of time. Seven and a half months.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has handed down its much-expected ruling in the heavily-litigated Minnesota Senate race from 2008 -- and it's a unanimous one -- deciding against Republican former Sen. Norm Coleman's appeal of his defeat in the election trial and affirming the lower court's verdict that Democratic comedian Al Franken is the legitimate winner of the race.

Only in a Republican stronghold

Have you ever heard of cops showing up with a helicopter and pepper spray for a noise complaint? Well if you're a democrat in a republican stronghold it's feasable. Why are these people so mean?

Francine Busby, a Democratic congressional candidate attended a fundraiser at a private home in San Diego. Since the homeowners were a lesbian couple, someone hid in the bushes and lobbed obscenities (and then probably called the police.) The cops said that someone kicked one of them and that is why several people were pepper sprayed. Yeah right.

A Personal "WTF?" Moment

I posted a brief YouTube clip on my blog yesterday, and today I get a notice from Blogger saying that the blog's been locked pending review. It would appear (and quite erroneously, may I add) that My Two Cents was flagged as a spam blog.

I have requested a review, of course, rather than wait 20 days and have the blog deleted. I have quite a bit of stuff there that I don't want to lose.

Anyway.

How 's your day going?

UPDATE! The lock's been released, and a good thing too.

A Big New Generation Gap

Pew Research has a poll that reveals there is the largest generation gap since the 1960's... and it's mostly in terms of social values, religion and relationships. The older adults in the survey are 65 and over. It's an interesting study. Read it here.

Young people today say old age begins at 60 which is a far cry from the 1960's when we thought people over 30 were ancient. Young people in the 60's were very passionate about the Vietnam War, civil rights and women's rights. I don't see young people today being as passionate about social justice than we were, but I could be wrong. They are pretty quiet. It seems like the most outspoken people today when it comes to civil rights, women's rights, illegal wars and corporate greed are people in their 50's. I feel a generation gap between myself and many people in their late 60's (which would have been the people over 30 when I was younger.) hmmm .

Madoff gets 150 years sentence

Yes Bernie Madoff's sentence is considerably longer than the 12 years his attorney's asked for.

RIP Billy Mays

Oxiclean pitchman found dead in his home. Who's next?

Michael Jackson + Addiction – Life at its Most Unfair

I'm getting really pissed over the tenor of all this media coverage - and I'll tell you why. It's the whole prescription meds angle. Michael Jackson likely died due to an overdose of pain medication. Christ!! Every time some celebrity either dies or gets sent to rehab for using prescription pain meds as a route to getting high - my doctors get squirrely over treating my chronic pain. I've a hard time getting them to treat the pain in the first place (why is it women are always told to just ignore severe pain? As if that were possible!). But as soon as the media gets in an uproar pontificating over all the supposed people lining up to abuse pain medication – doctors become loath to prescribe anything – no matter how badly needed. And I need them. Badly.

So I’m royally pissed. The only people I ever hear of using pain meds to get high are indulged celebrities. The rest of us barely get our pain treated at all. And I am always in pain. Always. Every fucking minute of every fucking day (including the last few, which have been a nightmare). The meds I am rationed only ease it enough so I can manage to walk across the room – they never really alleviate it. And that under-prescribing is not about addiction, actually. You don’t become addicted if the meds relieve real pain (or so my doctors keep telling me). It’s the Puritanical belief that pain is something to be endured. Just suck it up and move on. Well the people who believe that have never lain writhing on the floor unable to breathe because they hurt so damn much. Sleep? Pffft. Not likely – and when I do – I experience pain in my dreams. So I never really escape. My pain is always there. It greets me in the morning and I shake hands with it every night.

So now we have Michael fucking Jackson and his medicated trips in and out of Neverland. Great. Fucking great. I’ll be needing my prescription renewed soon – and I anticipate trouble. The last time Rush Limbaugh got caught with fake prescriptions – the pain clinic I was attending decided to cut patients meds in half. You’ve no idea what it’s like to sit in a hospital waiting room listening to some poor sonofabitch cry himself silly because he can’t get any relief for his cancer pain. Me? I weep every day. I weep every day 'cause I hurt every day; that's my life. So yes, it’s terrible that Michael Jackson died. Really. I’m sorry for him, for his family and for his kids; but this talk of policing Anna Nicole-like over-prescribing will not have the effect people are looking for. Wealthy celebrities will still be able to buy Oxycontin and Methadone any time they damn well please – while the rest of us (those who really need pain relief) – will have one hell of a time getting the occasional Vicodin.

But then I guess life is never fair.

Here's Michael in better days - when it was only about talent and ability. I've noticed something, by the way - as I've watched the endless streaming videos: Michael Jackson was one angry fella. Seriously. There's lots of violence and destruction to be had in every one of his mini films. I’d say Michael was mad at the entire world. Maybe he had good reason to be – I don’t know. Pity it got him in the end. RIP, Michael. It wasn’t your fault - not really. No one was ever looking out for you, I guess.

Bibles, Guns and Flags- the American way?

So this pastor in Louisville, Ky is so passionate about bibles, guns and flags, he is inviting 150 of his parishioners to bring their guns to church tonight in order to celebrate American rights. Read the story here.

“God and guns were part of the foundation of this country,” Mr. Pagano, 49, said Wednesday in the small brick Assembly of God church, where a large wooden cross hung over the altar and two American flags jutted from side walls. “I don’t see any contradiction in this. Not every Christian denomination is pacifist.”

This was a dangerous place to live when the country was being "founded." We had lots of "savages" and wild animals to bring to the brink of extinction (in the name of god). What's everyone afraid of now? Obama? Sheesh.

Interestingly, if you're on the terrorist watch list and can't board a plane, you can still buy weapons in the good old USA. I'm sorry but the US must look like a bunch of nuts to people in civilized countries.

According to a new report by the Government Accountability Office, folks on the list bought guns 865 times -- in 963 attempts -- over a five-year period. And not just guns -- at least one person purchased more than 50 pounds of explosives.

Obligatory Friday Sex Post- Super 7 Incher

Wow.

This outdoor ad is running in Singapore.

Hot beef and dripping mayo. A young, wide eyed woman with red lipstick wants to taste it. It suggests that eating one of these is like giving a blow job. And as everyone knows, we gals live for that and if we can't find someone to blow, we will eat long, juicy, penile sandwiches.

The small print says: "Fill your desire for something long, juicy and flame-grilled with the NEW BK SUPER SEVEN INCHER. Yearn for more after you taste the mind-blowing burger that comes with a single beef patty, topped with American cheese, crispy onions and the A1 Thick and Hearty Steak Sauce."

Can you imagine if this ad ran in the religious states of America? People would try to object to it, but then they'd have to pretend that they really didn't understand exactly what the ad was trying to say, because after all, they are religious and such notions never crossed their minds... oh it would be funny to hear the outcry.

hat tip to gaia sighs

RIP Michael Jackson

Wow.

RIP Farrah Fawcett

The pretty woman whose hair inspired my generation in the 70's lost her battle with cancer.

Rest in peace.

Sanford: This is getting juicy

Governor Sanford is back from South Freaking America!

He says he went there to "unwind." How nice.

UPDATE: It appears that he may not have been alone. hmmm. He said he was driving along the coast but it turns out that the coastal highway is ummmm 2 miles.

Follow the story here.


UPDATE: ADMITS AFFAIR

UPDATE: Oh man, this is rich. The governor spent more than $21,000 of tax payer money on his travel expenses last year including trips to see his mistress in Argentina.

This just gets more insane UPDATE: Notorious cheater and public wife dumper, Rudy Guiliani went on the news to say that Democrats cheat too. Whew. Here I thought that only Republican politicians were big fat cheating pigs with egos the size of New Jersey. Glad that the liberal news media gave him some airtime to clear it up and make everything okay.

UPDATE THURSDAY: Did you read the emails between the governor and his lover? I can't believe that they have been published!

Grasping At Straws

Instead of healthcare reform, there are some republicans who would rather cast doubt on Obama's citizenship and have come up with a bill that would require presidential candidates to furnish their birth certificates (even though Obama did furnish his birth certificate and was actually born in Hawaii when it was a state.) Rep. Neugebauer: ‘I Don’t Know’ If Obama Is A Citizen

I don't know if Rep Neugebauer was mentally stable enough to even run for office let alone be elected. I wonder how much special interest money he receives.

America's History (the declassified stuff) Now On YouTube

From TruthDig

In a post titled America’s History, Now on YouTube, Marie Cocco (from the Washington Post) writes:

But the school year has ended and the kids are at loose ends. What’s a worried parent to do?

At the risk of attracting the ire of those who justifiably want to pull their children away from computer screens, send them to YouTube. Amid the trashy home videos and other uneven chronicles of pop culture is a memorable new look at America’s past that whets the appetite for more free fun. The National Archives, in celebration of its 75th anniversary, has posted 17 videos to YouTube from its audiovisual collection.

I'll be sure to have the kids watch it!!

and then.........

I'll have them take a look at some of MOM's DISCLAIMER LINKS.............

Foundation for the National Archives
Board of Directors, January 2009 Quite an interesting array -- one of the VP's is a VP from the Washington Post. I see Cokie Roberts name listed as a VP also (?) -- check out some of the other names and affiliations.


2006 controversy over reclassification

In March 2006, it was revealed by the Archivist of the United States in a public hearing that a memorandum of understanding between NARA and various government agencies existed to "reclassify", i.e., withdraw from public access, certain documents in the name of national security, and to do so in a manner such that researchers would not be likely to discover the process.

Back in 2006:
Reclassification Program at National Archives Exposed

U.S. military and intelligence agencies have assigned personnel to review and reclassify declassified historical records at the National Archives where they have withdrawn thousands of records from public access.
The seven year old secret program was reported today on the front page of the New York Times.

Prior to that, remember Clinton's National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger? he got caught for trying to remove (stuffed the documents down his pants) classified material from the archives

and before that, remember the Hemp For Victory film?

Historical Data Removed from US National Archives by Nixon

Hemp for Victory: 1942 USDA Film to the American Farmer. This film was ripped out of the US National Archives by Richard Nixon to conspire to cover up history and censor the American Past. It was rediscovered by Capt. Ed Adair & Jack Herer, authors "The Emperor Wears No Clothes"

I'm sure there are many more....

Anyone else have any disclaimers they feel should accompany this audiovisual collection?

Weird

Don't you find it odd that the wife of missing SC governor Mark Sanford is not worried that he hasn't been heard from in days? It's being reported that he went hiking. Sure. And this is supposed to be the GOP frontrunner for 2012, the man who fought stimulus spending for his state?

Isn't it absurd that Donald Rumsfeld put talk about Iraq "off limits" when being interviewed for a book? What else is there to talk about? Bush doesn't want to talk about Iraq either. Hey, you started it and you own it, fellas.

House Republicans are such whining, blabbering babies even when they get what they want... even when they were in power... they never stop crying and the liberal media eats it all up. I can't turn on the tv without wanting to puke.

If more than half of tax paying US citizens want health care reform, why is there one Democratic politician on the air talking about it for every 2 conservatives attacking it? The liberal media is just eating this shit up.

If you're on the terrorist watch list, you can't get on a plane, but the government will allow you to buy firearms and explosives. That makes sense.

Online Journalism A Few Years Ago Vs. Today

click here to enlarge






via dump.com

So True

Hunger a Positive Motivator? For children? Sheesh.

Probably one of the most inhumane legislators we've heard from recently.
From Think Progress


In her June newsletter, State Rep. Cynthia Davis (R-MO) provided several “commentaries” to a press release from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services on a summer food program. The program provides “food during the summer for thousands of low-income Missouri children who rely on the school cafeteria for free or reduced-price meals during the regular school year.” Davis, who serves as the chairwoman of the Missouri House Special Standing Committee on Children and Families, questioned whether the program is “warranted,” and extolled the hidden benefits of child hunger:

Who’s buying dinner? Who is getting paid to serve the meal? Churches and other non-profits can do this at no cost to the taxpayer if it is warranted. [...] Bigger governmental programs take away our connectedness to the human family, our brotherhood and our need for one another. [...] Anyone under 18 can be eligible? Can’t they get a job during the summer by the time they are 16? Hunger can be a positive motivator. What is wrong with the idea of getting a job so you can get better meals? Tip: If you work for McDonald’s, they will feed you for free during your break. [...] It really is all about increasing government spending, which means an increase in taxes for us to buy more free lunches and breakfasts.

A report by Feeding America found that one in five Missouri children currently lives with hunger. Taking apart Davis’ other arguments, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial noted that most of the summer feeding program sites are actually hosted by churches and that the program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, fed 3.7 million meals at a total cost of less than $9.5 million last summer — “a pretty good use of federal money.” (HT: DailyKos diarist Dem Beans)

Taking It Easy

There is now blood in Iranian streets as the police, Revolutionary Guards and basiji militia attack people who are protesting against the election results of last week. With most normal news and information links into the Islamic Republic shut down or severely constrained, the protesters (who still march, despite tear gas, water cannons, mass arrests and batons) coordinate their marches via Twitter.

Which shows that it's good for something besides distracting people with 140-character verbiage.

There are some - oh, sorry, the Republicans - who are screeching that Obama needs to come out four-square in support of the protesters and not be backward about trying to bully Iran into become a democracy.

Well, hate to disappoint you, folks, but we tried that schtick five years ago.

Remember George W Bush? Remember how he lectured the Iranian people when they had their Presidential election, openly advocating for the reformist candidate over the hard-line Mayor of Teheran? Remember how the voters there told Bush to shove it so far up his ass he could taste it, and elected Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

Don't recall that?

I'm not surprised, really. Conservatives have a remarkably wonderful tendency to blank out the past two terms from their collective memory.

In trying to marginalize Mir-Hossein Mousavi and declaring that all protests must cease, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has chosen sides. For a supposedly impartial and neutral arbiter, he's made a poor show of things, and there may be indications arising that the people are letting them know his displeasure.

Obama's recent statement, the strongest he's made so far, is exactly the measured response that's required. Anything else - particularly the screeching of John Bolton and John "Bomb Iran" McCain - would sound a sour note among the Iranian people, and could go so far as to consolidate support behind Khamenei and Ahmadinejad.

And we definitely don't want that.

Hoekstra's The Joke Du Jour

Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich) uses twitter. On June 17th he twittered:

"Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House."

You gave got to read the twittered responses.

Here's a sampling:

"My kid's baseball game was rained out. Must be how Noah felt. "

"Got bit my my parrot today. Now I know how Prometheus felt."

"I took Amtrak once. Now I know what it was like getting taken to Auchwitz in a boxcar."

The Big Picture

Look at the damage religion does to people.
The Boston Globe literally has big pictures of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

And yet another Obligatory Friday Sex Post

15 Shocking Tales of How Sex Laws Are Screwing the American People

Man I thought people were so prudish when I was growing up... but you'd be surprised how many laws are on the books and coming on to the books that victimize Americans, particularly teenagers and gay people. Experience in life tells me that these laws aren't going to act as a deterrent.

Obligatory Friday Sex Post

MEN!

Yes, Sir, I'm talking to YOU!

If you, or anyone else, should have inadequacy issues, you may want to shy away from reading this:

Evidence of giant crustacean sperm found

3-D images show ancient creature was filled with seed as long as her body

By Jeanna Bryner

Senior writer

LiveScience

updated 3:01 p.m. ET, Thurs., June 18, 2009

The fossilized remains of a tiny 100 million-year-old crustacean reveal evidence of what to her at least would have been giant sperm, measuring perhaps as long as her body.

While the sperm itself was not preserved, 3-D images of the female's specialized receptacles indicate she had just finished having sex and that they were filled with sperm that has since degraded. (The oldest direct evidence of sperm comes from a springtail living some 40 million years ago, according to the researchers.)

Called Harbinia micropapillosa, the tiny organism now found to bear evidence of degraded sperm was also an ostracod, crustaceans ranging in size from smaller than a poppy seed to as large as a meatball. The organisms are still around on Earth today and are equipped with up to eight pairs of appendages along their bivalve bodies.

They are known for their supersized sperm relative to their body size, reaching a record-breaking 10 body lengths, or 0.2 inches (6 millimeters), in Propontocypris monstrosa. The males are likewise well-endowed, having correspondingly large copulatory organs to cope with their sperm, said lead researcher Renate Matzke-Karasz of Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany. (When sperm length reaches that of the organism's body, it can arguably be called "giant," Matzke-Karasz said.)

Matzke-Karasz and her colleagues used holotomography, a type of 3-D scanning method, to look at the reproductive organs of specimens of H. micropapillosa (male and female remains), along with those of a living relative called Eucypris virens.

Living ostracods like E. virens have reproductive organs separated into two systems located on both sides of the body. The males have two sperm pumps and two copulatory organs (aka penises), while females have two vaginal openings connected to long ducts that end in semen receptacles.

The researchers found that three specimens of male H. micropapillosa contained hollow tubes at the back of the body, which were likely sperm pumps. The two female specimens showed paired cavities that corresponded with seminal receptacles, which are only known from ostracods reproducing with giant sperm.

"The receptacles must have been filled with sperm in order to be preserved as two cavities," the researchers write. Empty receptacles are folded up inside the body and only take on their distinctive shape and size after sperm gets transferred into them.

And if the ancient ostracods copulated like their modern counterparts, it would've been arduous.

"The copulation itself takes a long time. They have to find each other, and during the act the female has to actively 'agree,' because otherwise she simply closes her carapace," Matzke-Karasz told LiveScience. "The copulation when it starts seems to be energetically costly because it can last up to one hour."

The new research, detailed in the June 19 issue of the journal Science, shows ostracods were already reproducing with giant sperm well into the Mesozoic Era even though sperm and its associated organs can be energetically draining to organisms.

"Now we can show that in spite of the costs, it must be a successful way to reproduce, since it 'survived' for such a long time," Matzke-Karasz said.

© 2009 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Rant of the Day: The Health Insurance Private Sector Stinks

So I paid almost $30,000 for an operation in March because my insurance company denied the claim. They have also denied any claims for subsequent follow ups and for complications due to the surgery.

If I was destitute and on medicaid, the government would pay for every single operation, follow up visit and medication even if my illness was terminal and hopeless. In fact most of what medicaid pays in health care is for the very elderly at the end of their lives. Millions upon millions of dollars are pissed away every day for the destitute elderly. I am paying for that out of my taxes and I am not complaining. I plan to give away everything I have so that I can qualify for medicaid too.

If I was over 65, I'd automatically qualify for Medicare and get adequate hospitalization and have doctor visits taken care of. If I had the balls to run for public office, I'd get government health care for life even if I only served for 2 years.

Alas I am out of work, can't find a job and I'm at the mercy of the pathetic excuse for a health plan that Paul's company provides. They take plenty of money weekly from his paycheck yet they automatically deny each and every claim that I make. Nice. I could sign up for Healthy NY which I got for my son who is out of work but I can't afford to pay for the two of us.

So what is it with those politicians who are against single payer health care? Socialism? First of all, no one is talking about national health care (which would be a fabulous idea). The private sector sucks because they put profits before patients... and all these so called "values" politicians are linked to the health care industry or big pharm in one way or another. Does the press report that? nope.

When I go out in the world I actually come across all these lovely "christian" Republicans who repeat the political mantra that socialism is bad and single payer health care is wrong. I ask them about Medicare and will they use that one day... well sure. So what's the big deal if I offer to pay for it NOW? No answer. I like to remind "christians" about how very unchristian they truly are and why I am happy not to be one anymore. I prefer to associate with people who give a shit about each other and look out for the other guy. I think it's more humane to be a non christian these days.

Former pResident Bush said he wouldn't criticize the current president but did anyway. His statement is foolish and ill informed. It is based on talking points that are aimed at the most ignorant of his base:

“There are a lot of ways to remedy the situation without nationalizing health care,” Mr. Bush said. “I worry about encouraging the government to replace the private sector when it comes to providing insurance for health care.”

There are not a lot of ways to remedy the situation. He is lying and offers none of the solutions. Who is asking the government to replace the private sector? Why is Mr Bush so terribly out of touch with what is being proposed? People should have a choice in a democracy. If people like what they have, then they can keep it for all anyone cares.

What's worse? Socialism or Fascism? At least socialized countries give a shit about the tax paying citizens and they get something for their money rather than more wars.

The War on Big Local Garden

The war against organic and backyard gardens wages on by big agra who think it's simply irresponsible to not use chemicals and pesticides when growing food for your family. People will simultaneously grow obese and starve to death!

See Industry is critical of Michelle Obama's organic garden

Watch Samantha Bee take on big agra in Little Crop of Horrors. It's hilarious.

It's so nice to know that skinheads are getting military training.

Not.

Related: Rights Leaders Warn New Spike in U.S. Hate Crimes

Expanding the borders

Interesting article on how Israeli settlements work, what they cost and what kind of people move to settlements. Nothing about the American "christians" who fund these settlements.

Life

via dump.com

Catching a Thief

"It's all true, I tell you!"

Hey LIZ from LAWN GUYLAND!! I had no idea there was talk of being the 51st state

Your "conjoined twin" has been hiding under a rock for a while!

I happened to catch the news via Samantha Bee


Long Island Wants to Secedethedailyshow.com


State Bird -- LOL!!

YOWZA YOWZA YOWZA -- Tell it like it is Chris Hedges!!.......Check out his recent post at TruthDig & the comments that follow.

The American Empire Is BankruptThis week marks the end of the dollar’s reign as the world’s reserve currency. It marks the start of a terrible period of economic and political decline in the United States. And it signals the last gasp of the American imperium. That’s over. It is not coming back. And what is to come will be very, very painful.


There are meetings being held Monday and Tuesday in Yekaterinburg, Russia, (formerly Sverdlovsk) among Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and other top officials of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The United States, which asked to attend, was denied admittance. Watch what happens there carefully. The gathering is, in the words of economist Michael Hudson, “the most important meeting of the 21st century so far.”


The Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Prospects For A Multipolar WorldThe SCO Declaration evinced a recognition that even if trends in all nations and societies should evolve in the direction of government that is equitable, accountable, accessible and humane, each nation and culture will arrive at that destination by its own path as well as that of universal principles.

The West that presumes to dictate, often to the point of blackmail and bombs, that its increasingly constricted and impracticable model of governance must be enforced always and everywhere, even where the native soil rejects such transplantation, would be better advised to examine its own deficiencies.

The standard bearer of Western values, the United States, held federal elections last year in which two billion dollars of private funds were expended in an effort to buy influence. And that in a system where only two established political parties are given automatic ballot status and thus have a monopoly on fielding candidates broadly and surely in winning posts.


The SCO Declaration evinced a recognition that even if trends in all nations and societies should evolve in the direction of government that is equitable, accountable, accessible and humane, each nation and culture will arrive at that destination by its own path as well as that of universal principles.








With "Independence Day" just around the corner, I have a feeling that the almighty dollar will soon be "set free" from the rest of the world.

Taking It to the Streets

A long, hot summer in a faraway land.

Conflict of Interest? I'll say.

Read this Key health care senators have industry ties

It's just WRONG that those entrusted to overhaul healthcare are invested in private companies one way or the other. I say that they should be off the committees. How do we make a stink about this?

Senate Passes Pathetic Tobacco Control Bill -- Mike Adams, The Health Ranger

(NaturalNews) There's no other word to describe it: The U.S. Senate's tobacco control bill is pathetic. It bans candy cigarettes and fruit-flavored cigarettes, but doesn't even require cigarette companies to disclose the ingredients they use until nearly a year-and-a-half later.


he also provides some history on the relationship between the AMA and FDA.

American Medical Association Promoted Tobacco, Cigarettes in its Medical Journal
Both the AMA and individual doctors sided with big tobacco for decades after the deleterious effects of smoking were proven. Medical historians have tracked this relationship in great detail, examining internal documents from tobacco companies and their legal counsel and public relations advisers. The overarching theme of big tobacco's efforts was to keep alive the appearance of a "debate" or "controversy" of the health effects of cigarette smoking.

The first research to make a statistical correlation between cancer and smoking was published in 1930 in Cologne, Germany. In 1938, Dr. Raymond Pearl of Johns Hopkins University reported that smokers do not live as long as non-smokers. The tobacco industry dismissed these early findings as anecdotal -- but at the same time recruited doctors to endorse cigarettes.








I can't believe how long the PTB have been dancing around the fact that the chemicals they put in cigarettes will kill you. And if they don't kill you, they will harm your body in other ways that will require you to seek medical attention for other ailments. I'm sure many doctors can attribute a great deal of their income to treating the effects of smoking.....

I know a way to get people to quit smoking (I know I would) -- NO HEALTH CARE COVERAGE IF YOU'RE A SMOKER!!

Feeling the Hate In Jerusalem on Eve of Obama's Cairo Address

NSFW. Language. Propaganda.
Shocking footage by Max Blumenthal in Israel on the night before Obama's speech to the Muslim world. Read about it here.


Exerpt from Blumenthal about the people in this video:

The people in my video were not white trash, nor were they the “extreme right-wing fringe” as some bloggers have called them. They were the college-educated sons and daughters of middle and upper class American Jews from cosmopolitan metropolises and genteel suburbs. Some had come to Israel on vacation, some had made aliyah, and some told me they were planning to move to Israel in the near future. Many were dual citizens of America and Israel. They may have behaved in a moronic way, but they will not grow up to toil in the custodial arts. Many of these kids will move into white-collar jobs and use their influence to advance Israeli initiatives. Programs like Birthright Israel — a few of those in my video were on Birthright tours — exist for the exclusive purpose of indoctrinating American Jews into unyielding, unthinking supporters of Israel. Thus the kids in my video represent at least one aspect of the Zionist project’s future base of political sustenance.

I do not and have never claimed that the characters that appeared in my video were representative of general public opinion in Israel. They reflect only a slice of reality, which is reality nonetheless. On the other hand, a new Yedioth Aronoth poll finds a vast majority of the Israeli public holds a negative opinion of Obama and believes he is biased toward the Palestinians.

Okay. Speaking of hate, even Shepard Smith at Fox News comments on the hatred in the hundreds of emails he receives each day. This is frightening. Read about it here



See also Fox News’ Shep Smith: DHS Report Was A ‘Warning To Us All,’ But ‘The Right Went Absolutely Bonkers’. Interestingly there is one person on Fox News who has his thinking cap on.

Propaganda of the Deed

In classic Anarchist theory, there is a concept known as Propaganda of the Deed. This is basically the use, by a terrorist (or Anarchist provocateur, or what have you), of physical violence in order to make a political statement or trigger change.

It doesn't usually work, and there are ample historical examples of governments putting the screws to extremist groups and the like after an incident.

Today, in Washington, DC, a man described by law enforcement sources as an 88-year-old white supremacist from Maryland walked into the National Holocaust Museum there (it's across the street from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, if I recall aright) and started shooting. A private security guard and the shooter were both injured, no one was killed.

No one can say we weren't warned about things like this, folks.

The Department of Homeland Security timidly released the results of a report commissioned by the Bush Administration in its waning months that pointed out that economic factors as well as the cold fact that white people will become a minority before 2050 will trigger a surge in the number and virulence of right-wing hate groups and concomitant domestic terrorist activities.

I say "timidly" with great conviction, as the right wing immediately howled and DHS flinched as if it were an abused puppy. Pundits such as Hannity, Limbaugh and the rest of their oleaginous ilk couldn't conceive that anyone, let alone The Big Evil Nasty Gummint could ever dare to tar the innocent and childlike Right.

Yeah, innocent as a newborn baby.

"Baby rat, that is," Bugs Bunny famously remarked when confronted by similar shenanigans.

So, a quick synopsis, if you please:

1. Starting about mid-2008, we started hearing hate speech flung out by conservatives during the Presidential campaign, including at least one shouted "Nigger!" at a rally hosted by Sarah Palin.

2. The volume (both in quantity and decibel level) of screeching invective by the Fringe Right and the so-called "mainstream" Right has done nothing but increase, and all of their denials and mealymouthed "apologies" for their rhetoric are exactly that - mealymouthed. Attempts to explain away the hatred spewed out on the airwaves and cables by saying that "No one is swayed or affected by this" is full-bore, patent leather, 100% Bullshit. If that were the case, Paul Joseph Goebbels would never have been the success he was in Germany back in the 30s.

2a. The amount of eliminationist rhetoric has exploded. This kind of rhetoric compares a certain ideology/ethnic type/religious affiliation/etc. with a dangerous disease, like cancer, and calls upon all "properly-thinking people" to wipe it out.

3. The number of right-wing hate groups has exploded, with a run on the gun industry that has the NRA forced to wear rubber pants in order to contain the amount of semen exploding from their tiny penises. It's getting to the point that law enforcement agencies are finding it hard to obtain ammunition - it's all either being earmarked for military use or being bought up by idiots who honestly believe that Obama wants their guns (News Flash, boys - the Democrats lost that fight, and there's no legislative gun control push on the horizon).

4. Antiabortion-related acts of domestic terrorism have started back up.

5. And now we have the shootings at the Holocaust Museum. For those of you who follow the white supremacist trends in this country, the fact that the shooter is 88 years old would have significance to these idiots. "88" is neo-Nazi code for "HH," and guess which historical figure had an H in his name?

(Hint, just to eliminate a bad guess - it isn't Herbert Hoover.)

I hate to say this, because as an American citizen I have a vested interest in the free speech provisions of our Constitution, but maybe - just maybe - it's time to start cracking down on the terrorists in our own country.

Photosynthesis -- a GREAT song with a WONDERFUL message, by FRANK TURNER.

and what a PERFECT video!!





And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all
I will

not

grow

up


"The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all of our lives"
~Albert Einstein

The NY Coup Could Get Juicy

For the first time in 40 years, the Democrats took control of the NY State Senate in January. NY State residents voted for a Democratic majority.... looking for a change. It looked like the gay marriage bill among other things like giving control of the public schools to the mayor, Democratic ethics reform, changes in city rent laws and passing the state budget were going to get pushed through the senate... until yesterday when 2 NYC Democratic senators defected unexpectedly and said they would caucus with the Republicans throwing the senate into havoc. Governor Paterson called this a coup. It is not clear whether or not this coup was legal.

Who are these defectors? One is Pedro Esada (D-Bronx) who will become the president of the Senate in NY. He is being investigated by the AG, Andrew Cuomo for whether or not he used non profit groups to benefit Esada's campaigns. There's a list of things he's being investigated for. The other is Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens) who was last seen in the news in handcuffs for beating his girlfriend.

Billionaire Tom Golisano and his PAC 'Responsible (sic) New York' claims that they are responsible for the defection. It is also interesting to note that both defectors are in need of legal defense funds. hmmm. NYC Democrats are notoriously rotten apples and one wonders if more of the NYC senators and assemblymen who've walked the perp walk will also defect. With funding coercion help from Golisano, it may be very likely we'll see more defectors.

90% of felonies and misdemeanors committed by politicians in the state have been NYC Democrats.

Dollar Crisis Looming - Jim Rogers

So, if "they" dump the dollar, does that mean those holding dollars can only spend them in the USA?

What about those holding US Debt?

I'm well aware that I live in a police state

Just got home from NH, the freest state. But I live in the least free state in the country.

Here's the study. Where does your state stand? Do you agree with it? I agree with mine.

Give me public health

Over a third of Americans want public health as an option and politicians don't care.

Sen Chuck Grassley is concerned that public healthcare would put private healthcare companies out of business.... SO????

The private companies have screwed me over again and again... and we pay quite a huge premium every month. Last year, my healthcare expenses were over $20,000 and this year we are well over $30,000 in expenses. Many Americans don't even make that much money! What is the matter with people who oppose public healthcare? My private health insurance is a joke! We are at the mercy of cheapskate employers and insurance companies that automatically deny every claim. I don't have enough money left to hire lawyers to sue them!

What do you think?

Ouch

Enough of politics over here; let's go across The Pond and see what's going on, shall we?

The United Kingdom has been in the viscid grip of the Labour Party for about twenty years now, but since the last few years of Tony Blair's tenure as Prime Minister the Conservative Party has been making gains. Now, with Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, things have only gotten worse for Labour.

First, there was the recession fueled by a collapse of the subprime mortgage market and the failure of a couple of major banks.

Then there came the Expense Scandal, which so far has claimed several members of the Labour Cabinet. Now, the scandal has so far hurt all of the four major parties, but the party in power always gets kicked hardest because they are in power. Several in the Labour Party, from the backbenchers in the House of Commons to the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, have called for Brown to resign as Prime Minister and call for a new general election.

So far Brown has resisted this.

He may not be able to resist it any longer, or ignore the growing calls for him to resign.

The reason?

Well, let's start with the local council elections in England. According to these figures, the Conservative Party gained seven councils and 244 councillors; Labour lost 4 councils and 291 councillors. This is not good.

What's even worse is the polling for seats in the European Parliament. There, the Conservatives gained a seat while Labour lost 5. In the unkindest cut of all, Labour came in second in the voting to the UK Independence Party, and the anti-immigration right-wing British National Party acquired two seats in Strasbourg.

Taken together, things don't look good at all for the Labour Party. I'm not inclined to handicapping non-US elections, but I personally give Brown another three months before he gives in and calls for new Parliamentary elections.

Thoughts on D-Day

(A day late, so sue me.)

I was watching the D-Day commemoration from the American cemetery overlooking Coleville-sur-Mer on Saturday, and a thought or two struck me.

First, contrary to one right-wing blowhard, President Obama did not "apologize to the Germans" for our invasion of Festung Europa and eventual victory over the Nazi regime.

Second ...

In the cold gray dawn that day, 160,000 men swarmed over the beaches and parachuted into enemy-held territory. The necessity for their going in was self-evident to them: Nazism was an ideology that was exactly at odds with everything espoused by the Powers arrayed against Hitler. It demanded submission to authority, a stifling of all dissent, a level of hatred directed against The Other.

Nazism was a hateful ideology wedded to the industrial and scientific might of a Great Power, with armies in the millions at its beck and call and a population working hard to keep those armies in the field.

Yet those troops went in, American and British and Canadian and Free French, because they knew that this ideology had to be stamped out.

Which makes me think about our current conflict with yet another ideology.

We faced off back in the 1940s against three Great Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan, in case those reading this may be illiterate), each wielding vast armies and industrial might, and beat each one of them. We then faced off against another ideology, Communism, for nearly a half century and held it off until the greatest state that espoused that ideology collapsed (for various reasons).

In the Second World War, we faced the problem without flinching. In the Cold War, we succumbed - briefly, and in some cases with justification - to paranoia at the possibility of fifth columnists in our midst that could sell us to the Communist powers. But we overcame those challenges without too much damage to our values and ideals.

So why - why, I implore you - are so many in this country so afraid of a few thousand unwashed troublemakers that they're about to soil their pants whenever someone says Boo to them?

I'll grant you, Black Tuesday was horrific, but was it a reason to treat it as the Reichstag Fire and put the screws to our civil liberties? Are we so afraid and weak that we allow ourselves to become the very monsters we seek to destroy?

The lesson I take from D-Day is this:

You can cling to your values, even when you're afraid. You can cling to your values because you're afraid.

But fear is no reason to abandon your values.

Gingrich: Americans ‘surrounded by paganism.’

I don't know about the rest of you heathens out there, but I've had it


"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH....I'VE HAD IT WITH THESE MOTHERFUCKIN' SNAKES"






On Friday, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and Oliver North visited Rock Church in Hampton Roads, Virginia to give a three-hour long lecture on “Rediscovering God in America...
The speakers warned the audience about the “continuing availability of abortion, the spread of gay rights, and attempts to remove religion from American public life and school history books.” The Virginia-Pilot reported that Gingrich argued that, while Christianity is the foundation of American citizenship, Americans are experiencing a period where they are being “surrounded by paganism”

GINGRICH: I am not a citizen of the world. I am a citizen of the United States because only in the United States does citizenship start with our creator. [...] I think this is one of the most critical moments in American history. We are living in a period where we are surrounded by paganism.

Huckabee also equated America’s victory against the British in the Revolutionary War with the right-wing’s success in the Proposition 8 fight in California as being miracles “from God’s hand.”


HOW DO WE MAKE THEM STOP????

How far to the right can the media go?

Newspapers are going away and Americans are getting their news from the television. If you've watched television news lately, you've noticed that the airways are filled with radical wackos. Sane people just don't make the news. One of them spews some ridiculous nonsense with nothing to back it up and all the channels pick up on it and discuss it as if this opinion means anything. Not only that, politicians are joining in on the nonsense. Do they use "1984" as their play book or what? If it wasn't for bloggers who work hard to scour the newspapers for actual news and find facts, we'd surely be taken over by the likes of Newt and Lush Bimbo. Progressives may try to use the same tactics as the right to get their point across, but alas, they are too late.

Newswriter over at A World of Progress laments that her colleagues aren't aware of what is going on... radical opinions are all over the news these days.

Seems there are significant numbers of my colleagues who have no fucking clue what the right wing extremist radio and television hosts are actually saying.

I know. How could they not know? Mostly it appears that my very busy colleagues just don't have the time to keep up with the specifics of what's being said on the airwaves. More importantly, though, is what they tell me about how they set their priorities regarding what they pay attention to and what they ignore.

They don't have the time, they say, for the fringes. And those right-wing bloviator dudes, they're the fringes.

Coulda knocked me over with a feather, I'm tellin' ya. So let me get this straight. My beloved colleagues are so busy parsing what it means for the president and the first lady to take a date night and run up to New York for a show that they don't know that the talkers are poisoning the air waves with the most vile and ugly shit since, well, the presidential campaign. And apparently my collagues missed all that nastiness for the very same reason.

They think it's coming from the fringes, and therefore should be ignored.

In the WaPo, EJ Dionne in Rush and Newt Are Winning points out that the Limbaugh's and Gingrich's are dragging the media to the far right.

When one of them spews, it's all over the news. Did you notice that when Obama went to NY last weekend, it turned into a circus on the television news... why? Because the right wing fringe lunatics made it so and dragged the media along. If you, god forbid, turn on Faux News, they are complaining that the media is too liberal. I have no idea what they are talking about... but that is their plan... to make baseless accusations and get the rest of the media to discuss it and try to prove that they are not liberal at all. It's reverse psychology. This drags them more to the right.

If you ask any progressive or liberal if Obama is progressive or liberal, they laugh and say, "of course not." If you ask anyone else, they tell you that Obama is a socialist! Granted, most of these people don't even know what socialism is because they only know the right wing fanatical fringe definition is... and furthermore, it's not even true! My hair is falling out on its own. I don't even have to rip it out.

When was the last time there was a progressive slant to the news on television? The 70's? I noticed in the 80's during the Reagan years that this war against America by the fringe right was taking hold and it hasn't let up a bit.

Good.

Freedom of speech is not license to spew hatred and urge people to take up arms.
Conservative radio host, popular onetime Hannity guest, charged with inciting violence

What really is a bible based marriage?

America's best christian, Betty Bowers explains it all.



Interestingly those in NH who are opposed to same sex marriage, the religious types, ought to open their bibles and read what god has to say about marriage. They'd be rather surprised. Read this story in the boston globe today.

Running Away from Themselves

A few days ago, twittering from Auschwitz no less, former House Speaker and former human Newt Gingrich tossed his puppy biscuit to the lupine masses of the GOP Base by calling Judge Sonia Sotomayor a racist.

Now Gingrich is backpedaling on it.

Bill O'Reilly, darling of Fox News (a/k/a the GOP Propaganda Wing) has for many years been vilifying Dr. George Tiller for being a murderer and equating him to a Nazi (among other noisome things). All of this served to rile (or would that be "O'Reilly?") up those people who might contemplate violence, with the result that some twisted little God-botherer put a bullet into Dr. Tiller's head.

Now O'Reilly's starting to backpedal, saying he only "reported" what others were saying.

I would say that this marks a new low in conservative hypocrisy, but digging into that is like an archeological expedition - every time you think you've hit bottom, all-new depths are plumbed.

some scary white guys

another reason why Obama changed his mind

Alrighty then.

It appears that Maliki went ballistic when he was informed that the US was going to release new torture photos from Iraq. Well just take this with a grain of salt. It seems like the story changes every day, doesn't it?

From McClatchy Newspapers:

In the days leading up to a May 28 deadline to release the photos in response to an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit, U.S. officials, led by Christopher Hill, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, told Maliki that the administration was preparing to release photos of suspected detainee abuse taken from 2003 to 2006.

When U.S. officials told Maliki, "he went pale in the face," said a U.S. military official, who along with others requested anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity.

The official said Maliki warned that releasing the photos would lead to more violence that could delay the scheduled U.S. withdrawal from cities by June 30 and that Iraqis wouldn't make a distinction between old and new photos. The public outrage and increase in violence could lead Iraqis to demand a referendum on the security agreement and refuse to permit U.S. forces to stay until the end of 2011.

Maliki said, "Baghdad will burn" if the photos are released, said a second U.S. military official.

Does Bill O'Reilly Have Tiller's Blood on His Hands

Well of course. It's interesting that whenever a domestic terrorist goes off on a rampage there is always a direct link back to a conservative media entertainer. This time it's Bill O'Reilly who fueled the hate that brought Dr Tiller to an early grave. You know darn well if the guy who killed Dr Tiller was Muslim, he'd be hauled off to Guantanamo faster than you can say Guantanamo. Since he claims to be christian, then the conservative media is praising the murderer.

This is the type of hatred spewed by O'Lielly that gets right wingers all riled up and ready to kill.

According to Salon’s Gabriel Winant, however, O’Reilly has gone after Tiller on 29 separate occasions between 2005 and this year, not only calling him a “baby killer” for his late-term abortions but also attacking him for not reporting the boyfriends of pregnant teenagers as rapists.

A few days following the clip shown by ABC, O’Reilly charged that “George Tiller is operating a late-term abortion mill that will destroy a viable baby up until birthing for a mental health exception, which much of the time is an episode of simple depression experienced by the mother. … There should be thousands of people demonstrating outside Tiller’s abortion clinic.”

In June 2007, O’Reilly sent his stalker producer Porter Barry out to confront Tiller with charges that “they call you Tiller the baby Killer.” At first, Tiller mildly responded, “Nice day, isn’t it?” but he finally had to resort to calling 911 and reporting, “I’m being accosted by the people from O’Reilly.”

O’Reilly concluded that segment by urging that “if the state of Kansas doesn’t stop this man, then anybody who prevents that from happening has blood on their hands as the governor does right now, Governor Sebelius.”

Three days later, O’Reilly went after then-Governor Kathleen Selelius again, saying, “No question Dr. Tiller has blood on his hands. But now so does Governor Sebelius. She is not fit to serve. Nor is any Kansas politician who supports Tiller’s business of destruction. I wouldn’t want to be these people if there is a Judgment Day.”

There is no proof that Dr Tiller performed late term abortions. In fact he was acquitted of those charges. But the law be damned when O'Reilly wants to stir up the shit. And that is why he is Blondesense's Douchebag of the Century.

Tell the slime ball what you think here.