This is just frightening. The right wing nutjobs are out of control.

Yesterday, Newsmax's John L. Perry wrote:

"There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the “Obama problem.” Don’t dismiss it as unrealistic."

The article was taken off the website, but mediamatters has it here for you to read.

"Imagine a bloodless coup to restore and defend the Constitution through an interim administration that would do the serious business of governing and defending the nation. Skilled, military-trained, nation-builders would replace accountability-challenged, radical-left commissars. Having bonded with his twin teleprompters, the president would be detailed for ceremonial speech-making."

Is this sedition?

I don't think it would be bloodless because a majority of American's would go bonkers if the radical right wing nazi's tried something like that. The sad part is that those who would support this sort of thing are all armed.

Good lord, I don't want this to be any more of a police state than it already is. In fact, I think it's time for sane Americans to make a stink about all this talk to incite violence against the president and to overthrow our government, which by the way is not leftist in any way shape or form.

Tom Delay is a DICK

From Dickipedia:
Thomas Dale DeLay (born April 8, 1947) is a disgraced former U.S. Congressman and one-time Majority Leader of the House of Representatives who resurfaced not four years after a humiliating federal indictment shaking his decidedly Republican booty as a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars." Needless to say, he is also a dick.

From huffpo:

Tom DeLay and partner Cheryl Burke made their second appearance on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," this time dancing the tango. Watch DeLay tango below.

Watch his first dance, the cha cha, here.




BEST COMMENT THUS FAR:

"I'm wondering why there isn't a protest crowd outside the ABC studios for promoting this clown who helped Bush DESTROY THE COUNTRY."

Polanski

So many people seem to be defending this man. In doing so – they automatically dismiss his victim – a 13 year-old girl, traumatized; betrayed by both family and a man she thought she could trust. But then Roman Polanski is and was a genius – and she was just some 13 year-old girl – disposable, as all girls seem to be in this culture. Why send him to jail after all this time? Who cares? Well for one – I do. As a rape survivor - I'd LOVE to see my rapist go to jail - even after 30 something years. So my sympathy is four-square with the victim here – whether she ‘forgives’ him or not. And I understand why she’s saying that. Poor girl’s been told all her life that SHE ruined Polanski's life. That SHE ruined HIS - not the other way around. So now all she wants is for the whole thing to just go away. I get that. I do. You try and rationalize it. It a survival mechanism.

But he deserves to answer for this – even after all this time. And for those who say what he did is analogous to consensual teen sex – they’re wrong. Read the trial transcripts. This is not a 19 year-old and a 16 year-old having sex in the back of daddy’s car. This is an adult drugging and raping a child. How she presented herself doesn't matter. At 15 I looked 20 - but my rapist knew exactly how old I was. He should have. He was the brother of my best friend.

It’s actually kind of odd that I’d take this tack; considering. You’d think I’d be one of the first in line to excuse him. After the rape – I only dated much older men. My rapist was college aged – young. Young men only seemed interested in one thing from me. Sex. Nothing but hot breath and grabby hands. But older men……they never took advantage (except for one – and he changed my dating criteria). But for all the rest of my teenaged years – I dated men in their 30’s and 40’s – men who took time to know me. Men who never sexually aggressed. Men who waited for me to make the first move. That they all believed I was years older than my actual age is also relevant. They thought they were asking a woman in her twenties out – not some 16 year old. By the time they found out the truth – they were already involved.

So I don’t have any bad memories of this. Through them, I learned to not fear sex – and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for that. I told them I’d been raped – and they understood. Gentle was the word of the day……sex was not the core of the relationship – I was. My wants and needs became paramount. I was treated with reverent respect. But age does not always connote wisdom – a circumstance I discovered by encountering the wrong man. Polanski’s victim discovered that too – that fame and age could be a deadly combination. I shed my mistake w/o lasting damage. I wish I could say the same about Polanski’s victim.

So I say this needs to be dealt with. Finally. Polanski needs to serve adequate time. No muss, no fuss - straight to jail, no frickin' bail. He did this again, BTW – had sex with a minor. Nastassja Kinski became involved with Polanski at age 15. One in what has been a rather long line of ‘Lolita’s’. It seems Polanski likes to have sex with underage girls. That’s a predator in my book. Doesn’t matter what he does for a living, or how many awards clutter his mantle. This isn’t the 1800’s. Artists don’t regularly take teenaged mistresses - and even then it was wrong, societal proclivities notwithstanding. And let's not forget the girl’s mother is all of this. She served her daughter up en brochette to a man she knew was only interested in sex. It's clear from the transcripts and at the time reporting that she envisioned fame for her daughter (and herself) - no matter the sacrifice. I wish like hell she'd been charged as a co-conspirator - but that's my outrage talking. After all - parents are supposed to protect their children - not throw them in harms way.

No – it’s prison for Polanski. Turning him loose now will only add to that poor woman’s misery. She will forever believe she was to blame for all this. I say let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream – and throw the key away while you’re at it.

Way Over the Top

Even when I was involved in rabid anti-bush politics, neither I or anyone I associated with even suggested that he should be assassinated. Sure we wanted him and Cheney to be brought to trial for war crimes and perhaps thrown in jail for the rest of their lives if need be... Yet the right wing has gone way too far. There was a Facebook poll/application, which has been taken down, that asked: "Should Obama be killed?" The answer choices: "No," "Maybe," "Yes" and "Yes if he cuts my health care." Here's the story at ABC News.

Gee, I wonder why so many people think it's okay to spew such hateful, murderous speech about the president?

Yes Let's Celebrate The Second Amendment

... because after all, that's what makes this country great.

Republican candidate holds 'machine gun social'
SC candidate raffles off AK-47 at campaign rally

Bullets and barbecue: SC candidate raffles off AK-47, offers target practice at campaign rally
Sep 27, 2009 13:28 EST

A candidate to be South Carolina's next National Guard leader skipped the fiery speeches for firepower, launching his campaign with what he called a "machine-gun social."


The Greenville News reports some 500 people came out to a shooting range Saturday for Republican Dean Allen's political rally. He wants to be the next adjutant general, the person who leads the state's National Guard.

Attendees paid $25 for barbecue, a clip of bullets for target practice and the chance to win a semiautomatic AK-47. Whoever wins the rifle will have to undergo a background check.

Allen says he is an Army veteran who wanted to celebrate Second Amendment rights. South Carolina is the only state that elects its adjutant general.

Source: AP News

Someone in the comments made this observation: "What the hell is wrong with these people? Are they simply frustrated because they never learned to play a musical instrument?"

Indeed!

The True Face of the GOP Base

I'm not going to post this on Blondesense, as I have a lot more respect for Liz than that. I do, however, have it on my blog, so feel free to stroll on over and comment on the depths of filth I'll dredge up to post just to illustrate a point.

United Police States of America

Remember the protests in Iran where everyone in America was shocked and appalled that the citizens were being harassed by the police? If it wasn't for Twitter, no one in the world would know what was going on in Iran.

Well the same thing happened in Pittsburgh last week at the G20 Summit. The descriptions and videos of the police/military behavior is despicable. What's more, the tactics used against students in the University of Pittsburgh is more than alarming. Tear gas was used on protesters, innocent people, bystanders and onlookers. For the first time in the US long-range acoustic devices (LRAD) were used (sound guns). Reports of rubber bullets abound.

What kind of democracy is it when you can't come together to express dissent at what your government is doing? From what I understand, no one had weapons (which as we know were evident at Obama speeches where no one was brutalized by cops)... but in Pittsburgh the cops and paramilitary whathaveyou and National Guard troops (has anyone heard of the Posse Comatitus Act?) acted against their fellow citizens. How easy is it to train people to turn against their neighbors?

Check out these 2 very good accounts of what happened
From the Ground: G20 Summit Brings Martial Law to Pittsburgh

and

Armored Police Seize University of Pittsburgh Campus, Attack Students, Then Claim They Were Stopping Anarchists @ G20

I'm simply stunned (but not very surprised.)

This is what Cindy Sheehan wrote on her Facebook page yesterday "Cindy Sheehan tear gas hurts, but what hurts more is seeing the cops/soldiers so fucking out of control brutal, especially with the young people. Am too tired and sore to write more tonight...and my throat, nose and eyes are stinging from the tear gas...more soon."


RIP USA

Have you seen the new commercial ad featuring James Dean?

The ad is put out by Allan Gray, an investment firm I've never heard of. I know I don't get out much. Maybe I'm just not wealthy enough to know about them. Whatever.


From the dailymail.uk

What if James Dean had lived? Astonishing new advert gives the original rebel a cause - and takes film critics by storm

Hollywood rebel James Dean is walking the screen again in a new advert that imagines what his life would have been like had he not died in a car crash aged just 24.
Technology brings the Rebel Without A Cause star back to life - and then ages him, showing a startlingly realistic version of what might have been.
He is shown receiving a lifetime achievement Oscar, as a director, protesting against the Vietnam War, and as a rather Angelina Jolie-like humanitarian ambassador.

So, what do you think about this ad? Not from a film critic's point of view, but as a viewer -- sitting home watching it on tv.

Why do I need a passport to walk this earth?

Michael Franti & Spearhead singing "Hello Bonjour"



I dont need a passport
to walk on this earth,
Anywhere I go cause I was made of this earth
Im born of this earth,
I breath of this earth,
and even with the pain I believe in this earth, So
I wake Up every mornin and Im steppin on the floor,
I wake up every mornin and Im stepping out the door
I got faith in the sky,
faith in the one,
faith in the people rockin underneath the sun
Cause every bit of land is a holy land and
every drop of water is a holy water and
every single child is a son or a daughter of the one
Earth mama and the one Earth papa, So
dont tell a man that he cant come here cause he got
brown eyes and a wavy kind of hair, And
dont tell a woman that she cant go there because she
prays a little different to a God up there
You say youre a Christian
cause God made you
you say youre a Muslim
cause god made you
You say youre a Hindu and the next man a Jew
Then we all kill each other
cause God told us to NAH!



Oh well, I know I can't walk this earth until I get one, so I guess I'll just do what I have to do. Now that this kids are old enough to fend for themselves, I want to start traveling -- you know -- sneak away someday soon when I have a few extra (worthless) dollars on hand. I'm 50 years old and never go anywhere but Cape Cod. It's time I stepped out and saw this beautiful world before I leave it.

I was unaware that all new US passports now contain radio frequency ID chips. Did we ever blog about this?

So, does this mean I may never walk alone again? For safety reasons, I know how important it is for someone to know where you are at all times. For this reason, we tell the people who need to know, where and when we go somewhere (family & friends). It's nobody else's business where I roam.



What do you think about this idea?



Do you think it would work?



I came across the suggestion over at Wired:

All passports issued by the US State Department after January 1 will have always-on radio frequency identification chips, making it easy for officials – and hackers – to grab your personal stats. Getting paranoid about strangers slurping up your identity? Here’s what you can do about it. But be careful – tampering with a passport is punishable by 25 years in prison. Not to mention the “special” customs search, with rubber gloves. Bon voyage!
1) RFID-tagged passports have a distinctive logo on the front cover; the chip is embedded in the back.

2) Sorry, “accidentally” leaving your passport in the jeans you just put in the washer won’t work. You’re more likely to ruin the passport itself than the chip.

3) Forget about nuking it in the microwave – the chip could burst into flames, leaving telltale scorch marks. Besides, have you ever smelled burnt passport?

4) The best approach? Hammer time. Hitting the chip with a blunt, hard object should disable it. A nonworking RFID doesn’t invalidate the passport, so you can still use it.

I'm so distracted lately. Where's my connect the dots book?

Swine Flu

Health Care

Bailouts

Obama Backs Extending Patriot Act Spy Provisions

U.S. terror suspect indicted on bomb conspiracy charge They have been charged with lying to federal agents during the probe of the alleged plot. Lying?

Census worker hanged with 'fed' on body (body found sept. 12th - just hearing about it now - ?)

Oh I missed this - (just out today)
Online Conspiracy Theorists Latch Onto Census GPS Units

Iran replaces Dollar with Euro in FX

Mackenzie Phillips - WTF is THAT all about????

Global Warming is Serious

I saw an advertisement from the coal industry this morning on CNN (that supposed bastion of liberal media). The ad promoted "clean coal." Of course even the coal industry knows that this claim is bogus. I read the following at the progress report this morning (it has links for proof) and it's just astounding how certain elected politicians have the US by the balls and will stop at nothing to thwart any progress in the way of cleaning up the environment that we and our children have to live in. Have they no conscience?

Getting Serious About Global Warming
Even as pressure builds for the U.S. Senate to take action on global warming, polluters have intensified their campaigns to block clean energy reform. With only 74 days until the world's nations are to meet in Copenhagen, Denmark to negotiate the successor to the Kyoto climate treaty, President Obama has reaffirmed his commitment to tackle climate change, end fossil fuel subsidies, and build a clean-energy economy. "The security and stability of each nation and all peoples -- our prosperity, our health, our safety -- are in jeopardy," Obama told the U.N. Climate Summit in New York City yesterday. "And the time we have to reverse this tide is running out. And yet, we can reverse it." However, "the U.S. has been dragging its feet for eight years," Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) told reporters yesterday. Critics are right to blame the Senate for inaction, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) explained, because "polluting industries see the Senate as a place where they can hold 40 votes." Members of the Senate who resist moving forward -- and their corporate allies -- argue that capping global warming pollution threatens an already weak economy. However, "solving global warming means investment," Center for American Progress president John Podesta writes in a new report. "Moving beyond pollution from fossil fuels will involve exciting work, new opportunities, new products and innovation, and stronger communities. Our current national discussion about constraints, limits, and the costs of transition misses the real excitement in this proposition."

'FLAT OUT WRONG': The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Energy Information Administration, and the Congressional Budget Office have each separately analyzed the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act, finding that this clean energy legislation would cut electricity bills, reduce global warming pollution, and cut oil dependence at a cost of about a postage stamp a day. However, based on Treasury Department documents acquired by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), Declan McCullagh, a libertarian blogger for CBS, claimed that "a cap and trade law" to establish global warming standards "would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent." Even though the Treasury Department has called McCullagh's tale of a $1,761 tax "flat out wrong" -- in part because "the revenue raised from emission permits would be returned to consumers under both administration and legislative proposals" -- conservatives and polluters have repeated McCullagh's false analysis. The American Petroleum Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and at least 12 Republican officials -- from former Alaska governor Sarah Palin to Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) -- promoted the lie. Radical Fox News host Glenn Beck -- a keynote speaker for the Chamber of Commerce who is praised by Republicans as a truth-teller -- used the false story to accuse Obama of "outright lies."

CORPORATE UNREST: Corporations concerned by climate change are turning away from the unethical fearmongering by industry trade groups against a clean-energy economy. Yesterday, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), California's primary electricity provider, announced it was leaving the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because of "irreconcilable differences" with the Chamber's reactionary stance on global warming, which includes calling for a "Scopes monkey trial" on climate science. PG&E Chairman and Chief Executive Peter Darbee wrote that company employees "find it dismaying that the Chamber neglects the indisputable fact that a decisive majority of experts have said the data on global warming are compelling and point to a threat that cannot be ignored." Nike, which is still a member of the Chamber, rebuked the organization: "It is not a time for debate but instead a time for action." Similarly, Duke Energy, which wants to "get to work on a climate bill," left the National Association of Manufacturers for calling the ACES Act "anti-jobs, anti-growth" legislation. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity -- the lobbying juggernaut caught forging letters to Congress opposing energy reform -- has lost several members in recent months, including Duke Energy, Alcoa, and Alstom Power.

SENATE OBSTRUCTION: Not only has the Senate let action on clean energy legislation slide, some of its members are attempting to block the Obama administration from moving forward. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), who denies the human influence on global warming, has submitted an amendment to the Interior appropriations bill (H.R. 2996) to block funding for centers that study and prepare for the impacts of climate change. Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) has "filed two amendments that would restrict U.S. EPA's ability to impose new carbon dioxide regulations." And Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) "wants to take away U.S. Environmental Protection Agency authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions from oil refineries, coal-burning power plants and other smokestack industries." Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) attacked EPA action as well, saying that "the alphabet agencies are not the fourth branch of government, and they ought to take judicial notice of what's happening and what's not happening in the Senate." Many senators seem to believe that the 12 years of inaction since they rejected the Kyoto treaty in 1997 are not enough. However, as the European Union's ambassador to the U.S., John Bruton, has expressed, "The world cannot wait on the Senate's timetable."



ENVIRONMENT -- SEN. VITTER TRIES TO BLOCK CLIMATE CHANGE RESPONSE CENTERS: Global warming denier Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) -- whose state was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 -- has submitted an amendment (S. Amdt. 2450) to the Interior appropriations bill (H.R. 2996) that would block funding for centers that study and prepare for the impacts of climate change. The amendment reads: No funds made available by this Act may be used to develop Regional Climate Change offices within the Department of the Interior." On Sept. 14, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced a comprehensive framework for his department's response to climate change impacts, including the establishment of eight Regional Climate Change Response Centers that Vitter's amendment would de-fund. Vitter's attempt to decimate climate change response centers is particularly abhorrent for a senator from the state that Katrina ravaged. The 2005 hurricane was significantly intensified by the effects of climate change, which the senator apparently does not want studied. As hurricane scientist Kerry Emmanuel has said, "Probably if Hurricane Katrina happened in 1980, the levees would have held." Earlier this month, Vitter also introduced an amendment to prohibit funding for directives from the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, that would further curb efforts to study and respond to climate change, potentially leading to more climate-based disasters such as Katrina.

Sibel Finally Speaks

An interview with Sibel Edmonds from American Conservative magazine just blew me away... but we knew this was coming. Quite frankly, I am not surprised by what came out in the interview but I am surprised that certain people haven't been brought up on treason charges.

Here's a tidbit

GIRALDI: So the FBI was monitoring people from the Israeli Embassy and the Turkish Embassy and one, might presume, the Pakistani Embassy as well?

EDMONDS: They were the secondary target. They got leftovers from the Turks and Israelis. The FBI would intercept communications to try to identify who the diplomatic target’s intelligence chief was, but then, in addition to that, there are individuals there, maybe the military attaché, who had their own contacts who were operating independently of others in the embassy.

GIRALDI: So the network starts with a person like Grossman in the State Department providing information that enables Turkish and Israeli intelligence officers to have access to people in Congress, who then provide classified information that winds up in the foreign embassies?

EDMONDS: Absolutely. And we also had Pentagon officials doing the same thing. We were looking at Richard Perle and Douglas Feith. They had a list of individuals in the Pentagon broken down by access to certain types of information. Some of them would be policy related, some of them would be weapons-technology related, some of them would be nuclear-related. Perle and Feith would provide the names of those Americans, officials in the Pentagon, to Grossman, together with highly sensitive personal information: this person is a closet gay; this person has a chronic gambling issue; this person is an alcoholic. The files on the American targets would contain things like the size of their mortgages or whether they were going through divorces. One Air Force major I remember was going through a really nasty divorce and a child custody fight. They detailed all different kinds of vulnerabilities.

GIRALDI: So they had access to their personnel files and also their security files and were illegally accessing this kind of information to give to foreign agents who exploited the vulnerabilities of these people to recruit them as sources of information?

EDMONDS: Yes. Some of those individuals on the list were also working for the RAND Corporation. RAND ended up becoming one of the prime targets for these foreign agents.

Go ahead and read teh whole thing

And then read this story at Bradblog Exclusive: Cover Story on Edmonds 'Outs' Video-taped, 'Blackmailed' Dem Congresswoman; Alleges State Dept. Mole at NYTimes; MUCH MORE...

Sydney under a cloud

A dust storm from the outback has blanketed Sydney, Australia in a red blanket of dust. The pictures are spectacular.... and eerie.

Duh

Poll: 92 percent of Iowans say legalizing same-sex marriage has had no impact on their lives.

For the life of me, I could never wrap my brain around the argument that same sex marriage would threaten heterosexual marriages. The only way it would threaten my marriage was if my husband was secretly gay and dumped me for his gay lover. It would be more probable however that he would dump me for a woman.

Terror Plot Probe?

Do you think it's true that there was a terror plot going on in the US? I don't like to jump on the bandwagon when these stories come out because most of the time, they are bogus.

Shameless self promotion

I got weighed yesterday at the doctor's office. I lost 90 pounds since March 9th (gastric bypass surgery.) I look completely different. It's weird. It's great too! I'll post pictures later on.

I highly recommend the surgery for those who are at their wits end trying to lose weight that piled on over the years due to illness, meds, yo-yo dieting. I cashed in my retirement fund to pay for it. At the rate I was going, I wasn't going to live until retirement anyway.

The Stupid ... It BURNS ...

There are times, dear readers, when the overwhelming impact of The Stupid only serves to remind me how fragile sanity actually is in an increasingly silly world. But all is not lost - while The Stupid is painful to witness, it is also a rich source of humor.

Exhibit A for this is a brief screed by Michael Schwartz, the Chief of Staff for the egregious Senator Tom Coburn (R-Wingnutland West) who had this to say at the Value Voters Summit recently. He was speaking at a small get-together forum thingy titled "The New Masculinity:"



Weird, eh? According to this rube's logic, an issue of Playboy can turn an 11-year-old boy as gay as Oscar Wilde. Think about that for a moment, and feel your synapses withering away like dry grass in a bonfire.

Of course, the Stupid isn't quite everywhere yet - a new poll in Iowa reveals that 92% of those Iowans polled say that gay marriage hasn't affected them at all. So much for the fearmongering about The Decline of Civilization, huh?

Then consider this little snippet of Bad Craziness:

Jedi Ejected From Tesco's.

Just revel in the fires of Stupidity as it burns your brain cells.

September Song, by Jeff Lynne

Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile.
~William Cullen Bryant

Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947 in Shard End, Birmingham) is a two-time Ivor Novello Award recipient and Grammy Award-winning English songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, guitarist, and record producer who gained fame as the leader of Electric Light Orchestra and was a co-founder and member of The Traveling Wilburys.[2] Lynne has produced recordings for artists such as The Beatles, Brian Wilson, Roy Orbison, Del Shannon and Tom Petty. He has co-written songs with Petty and also with George Harrison whose 1987 album Cloud Nine was co-produced by Lynne and Harrison. His compositions include "Evil Woman", "Telephone Line", "Livin' Thing", "Mr. Blue Sky", "Don't Bring Me Down" and "Sweet Talkin' Woman".
In 2008, The Washington Times named Lynne the fourth greatest record producer in music history.[3]

Jeff Lynne was my first and no musician/group has ever lived up to The ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA (imho).

He. Is. Amazing. I think his recording of September Song is the best one out there.

ELO was the first concert I ever went to. Dad dropped me and my bf off at the civic center downtown -- must have been 13 - 14ish? To this day, I have never exerienced a concert like that one -- probably why I have such high standards when it comes to listening to music. Maybe it's why I am so frustrated lately with today's sound.







(all about Jeff Lynne's songs)

Good News, Everyone!

There actually do appear to be a few Progressives in the Senate, if this is any indication.

Mary, you're sorely missed

It totally gobsmacked me to see on the news early this morning that Mary Travers had died.  She was battling leukemia, and only 72.

 

I was raised on Peter, Paul & Mary (and a great many other things), and learned many of their songs in elementary school.  That's 1970s elementary school, back when kids were taught songs from the Pete Seeger catalog without fear of their parents writing angry mob-mentality letters to principals and school boards to complain of radical indoctrination.  It was what would now be considered a subversive education in doing good, looking out for others, and being good citizens, which I wouldn't trade for anything.

 

We've lost so many this year, but Mary hits me hard.  It feels like some hope has been lost.  A bright light which shined for decades and inspired others to just do it, to just go ahead and be an activist and stand up for what you believe in, is now dimmed.

 

Thank you for following your heart and inspiring so many to do the same, Mary.

yay. sort of.

There's one good thing to come out of the Obama administration:

Barack Obama abandons missile defence shield in Europe


Still waiting for the rest of his hope and change BS to happen. What happened to closing Gitmo? Ending the embargo on Cuba? Withdrawing troops from Iraq? Ending the war in Afghanistan? and so on and so on? He better not cave on health care reform.

Are the Obama protests racially motivated?

Needless to say, the racist right denies former president Jimmy Carter's claims:

"When a radical fringe element of demonstrators and others begin to attack the president of the United States as an animal or as a reincarnation of Adolf Hitler or when they wave signs in the air that said we should have buried Obama with Kennedy, those kinds of things are beyond the bounds," the Democrat who served from 1977-1981 told students at Emory University.

"I think people who are guilty of that kind of personal attack against Obama have been influenced to a major degree by a belief that he should not be president because he happens to be African American.

"It's a racist attitude, and my hope is and my expectation is that in the future both Democratic leaders and Republican leaders will take the initiative in condemning that kind of unprecedented attack on the president of the United States," Carter said.

He should know. He's a southerner. Furthermore, here in NY and in New England, I've heard racial slurs uttered by friends although they haven't been motivated to protest.

Meanwhile that crazy birther attorney/evangelist Orly Taitz was ripped a new one by Clay Land a bush appointed judge in Georgia who threatened her with sanctions and thrown out of court for trying to defend a soldier who defies deployment because she believes that Obama is not a legitimate president. How much do you want to bet that this isn't racially motivated?

You Know . . .

(Picture courtesy of Artdecade on FurAffinity. Thanks!)


I always suspected that it wasn't hatred, but jealousy that was motivating our enemies. It's not our values; it's our things of value.

We have better bling.

Patrick Swayze - Dead From Cancer at Age 57

I moved back to the States to finish my undergrad degree (UNC-G) shortly after the filming of 'Dirty Dancing'. As most of the movie was shot on or near Lake Lure in North Carolina - almost everyone in our professional theatre dept. had appeared in the film as either dancers or extras. Not a one had a bad word to say about Patrick. They simply adored him. On top of that – the man had a rep for total fidelity to his wife – not at all usual considering the times. I've heard much the same since then from other associates who had the good fortune to work with him: he was talented, he was a hard worker, he didn't screw around, and he was joyful on set.

I'm so sad that he's gone. I think 'Ghost' was my favorite of all his films. The less cynical side of me would like to think love is really like that – encompassing, transcendental. It certainly seems to have been for him. He and his wife Lisa were married for more than 30 years. I hope the light came for him as it did his character. RIP Patrick. My heartfelt condolences to your family and friends.

Vacation Pictures, Second Leg

As promised, ladies and gentlemen, here are some of the pictures I took on the second leg of my vacation.

We start with a couple pictures from the Daisy Air Rifle Museum in Rogers, Arkansas ( I had no idea there was such a museum). This is the only extant model of a mock machine gun that fired BBs - it was used to train anti-aircraft gun crews during WW2.



The Arkansas Air Museum at Drake Field sports many vintage aircraft and other military vehicles. One of the exhibits is a Twin Beech sporting Canadian Air Force markings and accompanying nose art:


"What's that you say? No discount? Oh, I bet you WILL be giving me that discount ..."
A couple scenes of the Boston River valley in the Ozark Mountains (pictures taken at an overlook south of Winslow, Arkansas).


Nashville Tennessee sports a replica of the Parthenon as part of its Centennial Park (it was built to commemorate the city's 100th birthday around the turn of the last century).

A pond near the front of the structure attracts wildlife (there were several flotillas of Canada geese) as well as beautiful weeping willows.


The centerpiece is this statue of Athena Parthenos, matron goddess of Athens. The statue is over 41 feet high and is as near a match for the original as the sculptors could get based on ancient accounts. Athena bears the aegis of Zeus on her chest and carries a statue of Victory in her right hand. The serpent behind her shield is supposedly Erichthonius, one of the mythical first kings of Athens, and the central boss of the shield bears the face of the Gorgon Medusa.


A view of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. The weather that day wasn't conducive to taking good pictures.


The Florida monument at the Chickimauga Battlefield, just over the border in Georgia. The guy with the camera in the foreground provides scale (no, it's NOT me).


The Capitol Building, Tallahassee, taken about 7:15 AM.

The Toast Is "Absent Friends."

I want to tell you today about a man named Ronnie Brown.

When he was younger, he joined the Marine Corps, and served his country well and faithfully, like a Marine (and good citizen) should.

When he got out of the Marine Corps, he joined the Polk County (FL) Sheriff's Office, and he became my coworker.

He served his community, working at the Sheriff's Office for 20 years and rising to the rank of Detention Sergeant.

In May 2007, Ronnie and two other deputies received our agency's third-highest award, the Meritorious Service Award, for attempting to save the life of an inmate.

Which makes the events of August 30, 2009 ironic.

On that Sunday evening, an inmate named Terrance Barnett, facing murder charges from another county, was in his isolation cell and apparently not liking it much. Barnett, about 6'5" and 200 pounds, started by screaming that he wanted to be moved to another facility, then tried to force the issue by breaking the sprinkler head in his cell, flooding the area.

Ronnie had the sprinklers shut off, then tried to reason with the inmate (who was the same size as him). He entered the cell, and Barnett shoved him. Ronnie slipped on the wet floor, according to reports, and fell to the concrete floor. He complained of back pain, and was sent to a local hospital.

The next day he awoke in pain, and it was determined that one of his vertebrae was broken.

Ronnie died on September 8, 2009. The investigation is ongoing and it still hasn't been decided what charges will be filed against Barnett (although I expect him to catch a murder rap). Barnett's been moved to another county's jail - because we certainly don't want anything to happen to him.

Ronnie leaves behind a wife (also a detention deputy, with 22 years' service) and a sixteen-year-old daughter.

Rest in peace, friend.

Have you seen this site?

PeopleofWalmart.com

I'm sorry but I just had to laugh when my son showed me this website. It's kind of mean... but then again it's pretty funny. Makes you think of what you might look like when you hit the stores. yikes!

Fear is the Mind-Killer

Frank Herbert had it right.

This is the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (attacks, I will say again, that were facilitated by the Administration of George W Bush, who remained willfully blind to the growing menace of al Qaeda in favor of an entirely illusory threat posed by Iraq), and are we more resolute? Are we showing signs of the backbone that made this nation great?

Well, in many cases, a hearty Yes.

In other cases, um, not so much.

Case in point - the US Coast Guard scheduled a drill on the Potomac River for today. I applaud that - you train as you fight, and every component of the protective apparatus requires training and constant drills to make sure that every eventuality is prepared for. No weapons were fired, and there was never any need to tell anyone.

Unfortunately, the drill took place on the Potomac River. On September 11th. Near the Pentagon.

A lot of people started to panic, wetting their pants sufficiently to dye part of the river yellow as Fox News mobilized their entire Fightin' First Fearmonger Division to whip up the idea that there were Evil Terrorists skulking through our waterways.

A literal tempest in a chamberpot, but it required a Vice Admiral of the US Coast Guard to take time out to tell everyone that there was Nothing to Fear, Fox News to the contrary.

Meanwhile, there are a lot of people cleaning the underwear and drying out their chairs, their tiny minds possessed by fear.

More later.

Greatest threat to this nation is rank, willful stupidity

Shorter Olbermann

It is… this week, evident… that the greatest threat to the nation… is not terrorism… nor the economy… nor H1/N1… nor even bad health care.

It is rank, willful stupidity.

When did we come to extol stupidity ahead of information, and rely on voo-doo, superstition, and prejudice ahead of education?

How many Republicans believe in Death Panels… and Brownies and Elves?
When did we start to listen to — to elect — the impregnably dense?
I was almost too fearful of using the word “impregnably” because of the prospect that Governor Palin would go after me the way she went after Letterman.
—
The time has come to rise up and take this country back, to again make it safe… for people who actually completed the seventh grade.

The crime of Wrong-Way Wilson was not reflected in his emotions, nor his disagreement, nor his inappropriate conduct, nor in his incivility. It was in his prideful wrong-ness.

There are many vague portions of this bill, but section 246 says it plain: “NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS.”

Longer Olbermann

On Obama's Speech last night

Stupid white man, Rep Joe Wilson of South Carolina yelled out, "you lie!" when Obama said, "There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false - the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally."

In fact one of the versions of the legislation includes a specific bar on illegal immigrants' health care. Therefore Joe Wilson is the liar.

Rep Charles Boustany, a doctor who has been sued for malpractice three times and is a birther, gave the GOP response. He said that Republicans want to start over. So much for bipartisanship.

Watching the television commentary after Obama's speech confirms that the media is a for profit corporation and has no qualms about keeping the lies alive.

Latest GOP Sex Scandal

GOP Lawmaker's Graphic Sex-Bragging Caught On Tape

Oh this is good. Michael Duvall, a conservative Republican state representative of Orange County, Ca was caught on an open mic while he was bragging about his affairs with 2 women. He is a family values politician. She's a lobbyist for an energy company and he is vice chair of the Committee on Utilities & Commerce.

Crazy Czar Conspiracies

From the Progress Report

RADICAL RIGHT
Crazy Czar Conspiracies
The right wing's new conspiracy-based campaign against the Obama administration deals with special advisers to the President that conservatives and media are referring to as "czars." Far-right activists are using Obama's appointment of these special advisers to complain that he is trying to vastly expand the powers of the president and remove his appointees from accountability. Many of these attacks have been led by right-wing pundits and talk radio luminaries like Glenn Beck, who has referred to Obama's appointment of special advisers as a "power grab." Beck's most recent scaremongering campaign compelled Obama's green jobs adviser Van Jones to resign his post. While the conservative movement may be portraying the appointment of special advisers as a power grab, the fact remains that the right wing is engaged in mass hysteria and hyperbole. These "czars" have been a staple of American politics and the modern presidency for decades. The lies and misrepresentations are designed to do one thing: to bring the executive branch to a screeching halt. As Fox News' Sean Hannity explained, "We got rid of one [czar], and my job...is to get rid of every other one. I promise you that."

CONSERVATIVE CAMPAIGN AGAINST CZARS: Conservatives have begun using Obama's "czar" appointments to attack the President and remove his ability to appoint sorely needed advisers. The conservative Heritage Foundation wrote yesterday that the use of "czars" is part of the left viewing "the Constitution's separation of powers framework as an obstacle to their remaking of American society." Fox News pundit Neil Cavuto claimed a few months ago that Obama's czars should actually be called "evil despots accountable to no one." In July, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) introduced the Czar Accountability and Reform (CZAR) Act of 2009 to explicitly block taxpayer money from paying for "any task force, council, or similar office which is established by or at the direction of the President." The bill would effectively curtail the president's power to appoint special advisers. Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) has gone even further in his attack against "czars," specifically calling into question their constitutionality. As The Washington Independent's David Weigel notes, Pence's attacks on "czars" -- such as the Director National Intelligence (DNI) -- is hypocritical, given the fact he voted to create the DNI in 2004. One of the right wing's next targets is Cass Sunstein, the Harvard professor who has been tapped to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and who must be approved by the Senate. While conservative senators have placed holds on Sunstein's nomination over his advocacy for animal rights, the right-wing Wall Street Journal has praised Sunstein as "a regulator with promise." Despite the fact that Sunstein is going through the Senate confirmation process, Beck has referred to him as a "czar" on "no fewer than 12 episodes of his show."

'CZARS' ARE NOTHING NEW: While conservative pundits and politicians have continued to decry the Obama administration's use of "czars," the fact remains that the appointment of special advisers is nothing new. It is indicative of the partisan nature of these attacks that the same figures decrying Obama's use of czars had nothing to say about past presidents using them. The use of "czars" dates back to President Franklin Roosevelt, who appointed special advisers -- referred to by the press as "czars" -- to handle multiple national emergencies. In the popular press, the term "czar"once again came into prominence after Republican President Richard Nixon appointed former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon as head of the Federal Energy Administration in 1973, a position reporters deemed that of an "energy czar." In 1982, the UPI began to refer to the Director of the Drug Abuse Policy Office under Republican President Ronald Reagan as the "drug czar," a position created to oversee the nation's drug control policies. Obama has actually downgraded the "drug czar" from its previous Cabinet-level status. Former President George W. Bush appointed a number of czars to his White House, including a "cybersecurity czar," "regulatory czar," "AIDS czar," "bird-flu czar," "war czar," and "Katrina czar." This didn't stop former Bush adviser Karl Rove -- himself a former "domestic policy czar" -- from attacking the Obama's use of czars, claiming that they represent a "giant expansion of presidential power."

MISREPRESENTING NON-CZARS AS 'CZARS': One of the smear campaign's most-used tactics is misrepresenting Senate-confirmed positions as "czars" in the Obama administration. Right-wing pundit Sean Hannity exploded in an angry rant a couple of months ago, referring to Obama administration czars as a "select group of unvetted, unconfirmed individuals who are now at the helm of a shadow government right here in the U.S." He cited John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, as an example of one of these individuals, even though Holdren "was indeed confirmed by the U.S. Senate." Right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin has also deceptively referred to Holdren as the "science czar." In July, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) wrote an op-ed ripping Obama's "czars," even though three of the people he cited had been confirmed by the Senate. Meanwhile, conservatives have taken to using a list of "czars" compiled by Politico to claim that many officials who were either confirmed by the Senate or held over from previous administrations are "czars."


RADICAL RIGHT -- REP. JEAN SCHMIDT TELLS BIRTHER: 'I AGREE WITH YOU': This past weekend, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) spoke at the Voice of America tea party outside of Cincinnati, OH. Following a tense Q&A session -- during which the congresswoman was booed for acknowledging that the Constitution is a living document -- Schmidt engaged in a heated conversation with a birther off-stage. At the conclusion of their exchange, Schmidt whispered to the birther, "I agree with you, but the courts don't." Schmidt was among the members of Congress featured in Firedoglake's (FDL) Know Your Birthers video. In the FDL video, Schmidt could be seen running away from blogger-activist Mike Stark when he asked whether or not she had any questions about President Obama's citizenship status. In July, following her 15 minutes of YouTube fame, Schmidt's office issued a statement to Ohio's Loveland Magazine to clarify her views. "The President is indeed a Citizen of this country," said Schmidt in the statement. "I voted as a Member of the House to certify the vote of the Electoral College electing him as our President. I may not agree with his politics but there is no doubt he is our president and has my full respect as such." Schmidt's exchange with the birther this weekend directly contradicts her July statement. The footage appears to indicate that Schmidt is a closet birther who questions the citizenship of the President. Politico's Glenn Thrush noted that the Schmidt incident "captures the wink-wink game some GOP pols are playing with the birther fringe."

09/09/09 (yeah yeah yeah).... I had no idea the Supreme Court will re-hear "The Hilary Case" today

From the Christian Science Monitor --At stake in a case it will re-hear Wednesday is whether corporations and unions should enjoy the same rights to political speech as individuals.

The case could mark a turning point in the legal battle over campaign-finance reform. The justices have suggested they will be taking a close look at two existing legal precedents with an eye toward overturning them. Both deal with government efforts to restrict corporate spending for certain issue advertising and other political broadcasts immediately prior to elections.

Here's some background on the case from Bill Moyers Journal last week:
BILL MOYERS: Welcome to The Journal. The envelope, please. And the winner for Most Influential Motion Picture in American Politics is "Hillary: The Movie." A no-holds-barred attack that the producers intended for viewing during her campaign for President.

MALE VOICE: Vindictive.

ANN COULTER: Mendacious. Venial. Sneaky.

MALE VOICE: Idealogical. Intolerant

ANN COULTER: Liar is a good one.

MARK LEVIN: Scares the hell out of me.

ANN COULTER: Looks good in pantsuit.

BILL MOYERS: Never heard of it? That's not surprising. Very few people saw it in the first place. But "Hillary: The Movie" may prove to have an impact on the political scene greater than even the producers could have dreamed. That's because it got tied up in a legal battle. A very complex legal battle over federal laws regulating certain aspects of corporate union and special interest funding for political speech in elections.

The film was created by a conservative group called Citizens United. They wanted to use OnDemand television to distribute "Hillary: The Movie" and to buy commercials promoting it. But because the film was partially financed by corporate sponsors, the federal election said no, it would violate the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, also known as the McCain-Feingold which restricts the use of corporate money directly for or against candidates.

Citizens United appealed the case all the way to the Supreme Court, where it was first heard back in March. But the Court did an unusual thing: it asked for more time and ordered new hearings and new arguments for next Wednesday, September 9th. The reason for this special hearing is to more broadly consider the Constitutionality of McCain-Feingold and campaign finance reform in general, whether it denies a corporation the First Amendment right of free speech.

So this obscure little piece of propaganda has become the means by which the court could decide to erase the legal distinction between corporations and individuals. If that happens, some people say, a whole new flood of money will wash over politics increasing dramatically the power of corporations at the expense of democracy.



W.....................................T...................................F....................................??





I get by with a little help from my friends.....

Oooh! I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends


what do you think the outcome will be?

Fran Drescher Takes On Sean Hannity

Clueless Hannity spouts lies about health care in other countries and argues facts with Drescher who knows what she's talking about.

"Oh, you poor brainwashed man, you!"

I cannot wrap my brain around this sentiment.

Are you still shaking your head wondering how in the world conservatives were up in arms about Obama speaking to school children urging them to stay in school and work hard?

Excerpt from CNN article:

In the past week, news of Obama's speech had upset some parents.

"Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that just really upsets me," suburban Colorado mother Shanneen Barron told CNN Denver affiliate KMGH last week, before the text of the speech was released.

"I'm an American. They are Americans, and I don't feel that's OK. I feel very scared to be in this country with our leadership right now."

WHAT? This hurts my head.

Send a Message To Congress

From FiredogLake.com

Today at 5pm is the deadline to add your name to our petition asking members of Congress to hold the line for a strong public health insurance option.

So far, more than 57,000 people have signed our petition. We want to get to 60,000 by the end of the day today so I can deliver the petition first thing tomorrow. Can you add your name now?

Click here to sign the petition: http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/keepthepledge

Later tomorrow, President Obama will address Congress about health care reform. We don't know what he'll say yet, but we know that a strong public option is in danger - Obama's considering a "trigger" to avoid ever implementing a public option.

Max Baucus, the Senate "Democrat" holding up health care reform for the insurance industry, came out with his plan over the weekend. Frankly, it's garbage - no public option, just regional "co-ops" designed to fatten the pockets of the insurance industry.

So it's up to us to make sure we pass real health care reform with a strong public option. We need to show our resolve to members of Congress by signing this petition.

This is your last chance to sign our petition for a strong public option. Click here to add your name to our petition:

http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/keepthepledge

Thanks for all you do. We'll record the delivery of our petition and report back to you later this week.

Take care,

Jane Hamsher
Firedoglake.com

The terribly misinformed teabaggers are spreading the corporate message across the country (even where I live, god help them). They are a loud group, but a minority. Let's get our message which represents the majority of Americans to congress and assure them that doing the right thing may get them re-elected but answering to the lobbyists and the teabaggers will ruin their chances of going back to DC when they are up for re-election.

Vacation Pictures, First Leg

Okay, here are a few pictures from my vacation so far (I figure you could use some images, as it appears no one is reading the daily narrative of my sojourn).

We start with the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola and this big beast of a flying boat, the Curtiss NC-4. This four-engine (the center engine is a push-pull combination) aircraft was one of a flight that flew the Atlantic before Lindbergh.

Here is the USS Alabama, maintained as a memorial by the State of Alabama.

Yours Truly in the control room of the submarine USS Drum, part of the same memorial as the battleship shown above.

This quote by Elie Wiesel is on display at the National Civil Rights memorial in Montgomery.

At the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville you can spot the Saturn V on display from easily quite a distance away, despite the overcast skies.

And here's the restored Saturn on display in the Davidson Center.

The firing panel for Redstone Explorer, our first successful satellite. The red arrow shows the firing key for the rocket.

I wasn't able to find out if this is a reproduction or a restored donation, but this is one of Robert H. Goddard's early rockets (shown with the inventor himself).

Among the animals we sent up to test whether humans could tolerate space flight was a squirrel monkey named Baker. Miss Baker died in 1984, and is interred at the Center. Here's her grave marker:

The Garden Court of the Holiday Inn Select in Memphis, part of the venue for Mephit Furmeet 2009.

Two views of the assembled fursuiters after their parade through the hotel last Saturday:


On the grounds at Fort Smith is the gallows used by the authorities. A sign asks that people not climb the structure and to respect it for what it was - a place of execution.

The restored 1926 trolley I rode while visiting Fort Smith, Arkansas. Only cost two bucks, and was very interesting.

"Hey, Soul Sister"

It's been a couple of years since we've heard from them. The Train's DEFINITELY on time with this new song. FINALLY!! A great pop tune for all of us to listen to. Good tunes seem to be in short supply on the airwaves lately. My fingers get quite the workout changing stations all of the time. A lot of hand slappin' fights while driving the kids around trying to agree on a station.

We all yelled "TURN IT UP" when this one came on the other day.


youtube poster writes: Video I did for the band TRAIN using archival footage.

I wonder when we'll see an "official" video.

I bet we'll see/hear this song on a future movie soundtrack. It just works so well.

It's easy going, has a simple melody, and a hook that will certainly catch and reel you in.

and......

Is that a ukulele I hear??

Jimmy on the Ukulele



"I Gotta hear that one again"

“Soylent Green is People”!!!

Offered ‘as is’ without further explanation. All you really need to know is Glenn Beck is a pettifogging little clerk who sees communists under every rock and Olbermann fancies himself the second coming of Edward R. Murrow. Enjoy.

A New Low For Conservatives

Conservatives are furious that Obama is going to give a speech to young people urging them to stay in school and to work hard.

Conservatives have compared Obama's address to Chinese communism and the Hitler Youth, while also calling for parents to "keep your kids home" from the "fascist in chief." more

How obvious is it that the conservatives want a dumbed down population... and it's working for them too. Look at the Town Hall meetings where people are protesting AGAINST their own interests.

(This past week, 2 of my friends who have been out of work for a very long time finally got jobs. They are professionals. The jobs pay half of what they used to make, they are most likely temporary positions and there are NO health benefits. God bless America.)

Evolution a Religion?

Great post by Newswriter over at A World of Progress.

The Smith-Cotton High School marching band had a pretty good idea for a t-shirt, but parents and the school district’s assistant superintendent nixed them because they promoted religion.

Except they didn’t.

The shirts, worn by the Sedalia, Missouri, band in the Missouri State Fair parade, featured a monkey progressing through evolution en route to becoming human (not quite accurate, I know), with each figure carrying an ever-evolving brass instrument. The theme: Brass Evolutions. The superintendent dude, Brad Pollitt, said the school was required by law to remain neutral on religious matters.

Read the rest

Boy is our educational system fucked up.

What the hell is going on?

Still depressed here.

Still paying through the nose for my son's healthcare insurance since he cannot find a job anywhere. Healthcare insurance in NY state is astronomical. Where are those green jobs? He'll take anything... anywhere. Why do we push our kids to go to college when there is nothing waiting for them when they get out? Even the stores aren't hiring. The phone company is conducting layoffs. The post office isn't hiring. What is going on?

And where am I going to find at job at my age? When my husband goes on Medicare in a couple of years, I'll need to get health insurance too. How will I afford it? Sure, I'm willing to move and want to move... but to where? Red states are cheaper but I might lose my mind if my elected official is an evangelical fascist corporate owned maniac... not that northeastern Democrats are saints or anything but they don't interject misinterpreted biblical claims into their rhetoric. They're secular dictators here.

I read this morning that 78% of Americans want a public option but no one is listening. Will the Democrats cave to few fascists in government and a small group of loud mouths who disrupt town hall meetings armed with disinformation? Do any journalists have balls or are they just trying to hold on to their jobs in a time when it's so very hard to get a job?

This is a good article I read this morning: The Republican "Do Not Resuscitate" Plan To Let Medicare Die Check it out. It really is despicable how they have deceived senior citizens. If the GOP gets their way Medicare will be dead right before I qualify. Sane people do not mind paying taxes if they get something for it.

So where's the rally to send a strong message to the obstructionist GOP? I'm there.

I can't believe it's their plan to take down the whole country with their sinking ship. God help America.