Friday, July 31, 2009

REPUGS CROOKS & LIARS


Lyrics by ME – Apologies to Cher



I was born in the country that’s the best in the world
You knew we had real freedom when that flag was unfurled
Got me a job and tried to work hard
Trusting in the system threw me off of my guard

Repugs, crooks and liars
We hear it from the people who refute their statements
Repugs, crooks and liars
But every night all the stations air their views; not put the liars down!

Now my health plan sees me as just a checkbook
I got to pay big co-pays just for doctors to look
Heaven forbid they find something wrong
Insurance will deny me and I will not live too long

Repugs, crooks and liars
We hear it from the people who refute their statements
Repugs, crooks and liars
But every night all the stations air their views; not put the liars down!

My kid went to college and he got a degree
He studied hard and did real well the pride wells up in me
But there are no jobs, he’s looked everywhere
Americas Dream has become his nightmare

Repugs, crooks and liars
We hear it from the people who refute their statements
Repugs, crooks and liars
But every night all the stations air their views; not put the liars down!

Repugs, crooks and liars
We hear it from the people who refute their statements
Repugs, crooks and liars
But every night all the stations air their views; not put the liars down!


Repugs, crooks and liars
We hear it from the people who refute their statements
Repugs, crooks and liars
But every night all the stations air their views; not put the liars down!

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Old Tune - New Words

We didn’t start the meltdown

We Didn’t Start the Meltdown


Lyrics by ME - You choose the music

(Apologies to Billy Joel for use of meter)


We didn’t start the meltdown

So just please don’t blame me

It was Bush and Cheney


We didn’t start the meltdown

Blame that squat sick possum

Known as W’s Turd Blossom


W won’t take advice

Doesn’t stop and then think twice

Doesn’t listen to his aides

Even though he had low grades

Won’t believe in any facts

Of Bin Laden’s planned attacks

Feels the fear rise in his throat

While he finishes, “My Pet Goat”


We didn’t start the meltdown

So just please don’t blame me

It was Bush and Cheney


We didn’t start the meltdown

But the gun was loaded

Kerry got “Swift Boated”


Katherine Harris’ ugly face

True official of disgrace

Hanging chads caused a stir

President then picked by her

Start the ball toward personal gain

Right wing sings same refrain

Plan your targets to get oil

Even when on foreign soil


We didn’t start the meltdown

It’s what we expected

When Barack was elected


We didn’t start the meltdown

But with determination

We can save the nation


9-11 sneak attacks

Showed what W really lacks

Cheney took complete control

Relishing war monger role

Mapping out retaliation

Halliburton salivation

Calling up the National Guard

Sending youth to death not hard


We didn’t start the meltdown

So just please don’t blame me

It was Bush and Cheney


We didn’t start the meltdown

But we lived right through it

Freedom’s light is still lit


Trample on the Constitution

Always find a fake solution

Wire taps

Truth gaps

Never mind congressional saps

Calling things acts of sedition

Use of tactics called rendition

Water boarding just for fun

Boy you had a real sick run

AIGs killing me

When will we all be debt free?

Unemployed and out of luck

Former boss was such a schmuck


We didn’t start the meltdown

So just please don’t blame me

It was Bush and Cheney


We didn’t start the meltdown

But with determination

We can save the nation


Health Insurance really blows

Cobra costs are through the nose

Congress sits back on their butts

I sit home just going nuts!

Rush Limbaugh and friend Glenn Beck

All the other Fox News dreck

Cantor Vitter Foley Hatch

What a stinking sorry batch

Condoleeza Chavez Myers

Rumsfeld Cheney all were liars


Show these losers to the door

I can’t take it anymore!


We didn’t start the meltdown

But with determination

We can save the nation


We must end the meltdown

And tell the Party of No

There ideas must all go.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Free Lunch Anyone?

We all know, or at least should know that there is no such thing as a free lunch. So why do so many people continue to line up whenever someone offers one?

Because no matter how often we are hurt we want to believe that the next person will be good to us. It's in our nature to trust and hope for better times ahead.

That is why we listen to so-called experts many of whom are actually not experts but merely representatives of one side of a discussion.

We have a health care crisis now - RIGHT NOW - in America. And while it appears that there should only be two sides to the argument there are actually many. And every side has its champion. The problem is to weed out the self serving ones from the truly dedicated humanitarians.

Unfortunately we live in the real world and very few humanitarians are in power let alone in our Congress and when last I checked Mother Theresa was not one of them.

Understand that our Senators and Representatives in Congress (leaders from now on) all have their health care taken care of by us, the people and their futures are set. Neither they nor their heirs will want for anything. They have Social Security in the true sense of the term. We elected to give it to them.

This means that they actually don't give a damn whether or not you and I get health care or even live long enough to retire comfortably unless we live in a swing state. To them we are votes not people. Our leaders have so many buffers in place between themselves and their constituents that there is almost no possibility your request or complaint will be heard. Frankly they just don't have the time.

Our leaders do however have the time for free lunches!
'But you said there was no such thing?!?'
Well technically it is not free, we the people are paying for them.

We need a fix to our broken health care system and we need the leaders to get it done for us. But when they start to look at ways to repair it they come up against the groups determined to keep the status quo. This group has far more cash than do all the rest of us and in fact they even have our money, by obscene premiums and our bailout checks.

I am naturally speaking of the health insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies and the doctors and the lawyers. These groups all have lobbyists on their payrolls and much of the money they spread around somehow finds itself in the pockets and stomachs of our leaders.

When was the last time you took your Senator out to lunch? Well that was the last time he or she felt obligated to help you out!

The Republicans and Conservatives - you remember them as the group that lost the last election - are playing fast and loose with our future and they are winning the battle. The so-called 'Blue Dog' Democrats, the ones who would not be too upset being Republican also seem intent on killing health care reform.

Just like the annoying advertisements that repeat the 800 number over and over again so that we cannot forget it so too are these friends of the Insurance companies repeating their lies.

One of the groups cited by the opposition to your healthy affordable future is the Lewin Group. One after another our leaders in Congress who oppose any change to the structure that gets insurance companies their huge profits tells us about a study by the Lewin Group. And surprisingly every one of the studies shows how bad any change to our health care system would be.
We will have to pay more.
We will get worse care.
We will be told when to die etc.
The one thing these studies don't point out is that THE LEWIN GROUP IS OWNED BY THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY!

Know thy enemy! Here is a statement by two of our enemies printed in that decidedly liberal paper, the Wall St. Journal (Owned by Rupert Murdoch of Fox fame.).

“The Lewin Group [is] the gold standard of independent, health-care analysis.” Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Bob Bennett (R-UT) Wall Street Journal, June 26, 2007.


Now for the facts (From the Washington Post July 22, 2009):
The Lewin Group is part of Ingenix, a UnitedHealth subsidiary that was accused by the New York attorney general and the American Medical Association, a physician's group, of helping insurers shift medical expenses to consumers by distributing skewed data. Ingenix supplied its parent company and other insurers with data that allegedly understated the "usual and customary" doctor fees that insurers use to determine how much they will reimburse consumers for out-of-network care.

In January, UnitedHealth agreed to a $50 million settlement with the New York attorney general and a $350 million settlement with the AMA, covering conduct going back as far as 1994

In other words they are a fraud as are all the leaders who quote their findings such as smirking Eric Cantor R-VA or Orrin (shut your) Hatch R-UT and many others.

We must not be fooled by these criminals. We must not believe their lies. We must tell our leaders that we are on to them and that they have to get this broken health care system fixed.

Here is a partial list of Senators and the money they have been paid by the insurance companies to stop you and I from getting reform.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) $1,203,205
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) $206,297
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) $442,165
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-NV) $342,228
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) $702,595
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) $161,706

Surprisingly or not Senator Baucus who was given so much power by Harry Reid that he no longer has to answer to the Majority Leader is highest on the list! Harry Reid would appear to be a moron and who am I to argue with appearances?

Tell your congressman that we will no longer allow the deception and that for them there is no more free lunch!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Citi Never Sleeps - Neither Do We

Jefferson Starship recorded a song (words by Bernie Taupin et al of Elton John fame) entitled, "We Built this City." And since the song was written by Taupin and recorded by Starship any time it is used by others permission and royalties must be paid to them.

The same should be true of all things owned by someone in that if someone else uses it a fee must apply.

The tax-payers of America bailed out Citi Bank to the tune of billions of our dollars and now one of the employees of a part of Citi Bank wants a bonus in the amount of $100,000,000.00!

Andrew Hall who runs a shady end of Citi and whose figures have never been disclosed in annual reports other than to say "money and investments from other accounts" make up this amount has made a profit for Citi in the past and now wants to be paid the greedy amount noted above.

Unfortunately for this shady SOB the people he made the deal with are no longer in charge, we are. And as the new owners I say this bastard should take his greedy ass and his small team of 'talent' and march the hell out of the bank. And if the disgusting piece of filth wants to sue us, the US Government that is then be our guest. I truly hope he lives a long life but even if he does it will not be long enough to finish the battle because I think we can drag this mother out until he finally does the rest of us a favor and drops dead.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Sovereignty Should Not Be Concealed

Senator John Thune, Republican from South Dakota has tacked on a tiny piece of legislation to a defense budget bill.

This in and of itself is not news as Senators frequently use this tactic to push through a possibly unpopular agenda of theirs along with a sure fire bill. Some Senators will actually place a terrible addition on a bill knowing it will never be passed in order to stop the original one from succeeding. Thus Congress never gets enough work done and we never get the governance we believe we voted for.


The Thune addition concerns guns. His addition to the defense bill would allow anyone obtaining a permit in a State that allows the carrying of a concealed weapon to legally enter any other State in the Union and carry the concealed killing device even if that State has outlawed the practice. And he has added the old Republican patriotic line that worked so well for the previous administration by saying that a vote against the bill is a vote against the defense budget and therefore a vote against our troops.

In other words Senator Thune does not understand the meaning of the word sovereignty. His former President, the illustrious and brainy George W Bush also had a famous problem with the word. So for the benefit of the gun-toting NRA lover from South Dakota and his supreme leader W let me learn ya sumthin.

A sovereign entity has control over itself when it comes to decisions concerning it's life and the safety and well being of its citizens. Outside forces must respect their authority and obey their laws within its borders. It is not a new idea and version date back fairly far in the history of the World. Hey guy, have you ever heard of the silly phrase, "When in Rome...?"

Senator you may keep your concealed weapons hidden along with your obviously low IQ and continue to worship the Gods of the NRA but please stop showing off your stupidity and lack of understanding when it comes to the real world.

Rapid City is nice but Rapid Fire kills.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Jordan, A Nice Place to Visit but...

For years the Palestinians have been trying to kick Israelis out of Israel and turn it into their own Palestinian state. And for years the Arab communities surrounding Israel have either remained silent or when vocal would lean on the side of the poor oppressed Palestinians.

Without going into the validity of who was where first there is one thing that must continue to be pointed out - None of the surrounding Arab Nations want Palestinians in their country.

With Israel making up a tiny percentage of all the acreage in the oil rich region how is it that the Palestinians cannot find land elsewhere with which to create their own country? The answer is as obvious as a suicide bomber - They want Israel gone. And while most of the other countries don't say it they have felt the same way for years. And without naming any country (Iran) some have even funded the fight and armed the fighters.

But slowly things are changing and Jordan is the latest chink in the armor of the poor people of Palestine.

King Abdullah, who's wife happens to be Palestinian has taken a step toward thwarting a perceived notion that Israel is about to ask Jordan to become the official Palestinian state. The reason this is a logical next step is that so many Palestinian refugees live in Jordan already.

His first step has been to revoke Palestinian citizenship en masse.

Here is the report from the Jerusalem Post:


"Many Palestinians living in Jordan are convinced that the Jordanian authorities are trying to squeeze them out," said Ismail Jaber, a West Bank lawyer who has been living in the kingdom for nearly 20 years. "There is growing discontent and uncertainty among Palestinians here."

He and other Palestinians said that Jordanians' "hostile" attitude toward them had escalated after the rise to power of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu earlier this year.

Several Jordanian government officials, they said, are convinced that Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman are secretly working toward turning Jordan into a Palestinian state.

As a preemptive measure, the Jordanian authorities recently began revoking the citizenship of thousands of Palestinians, leaving many of them in a state of panic and uncertainty regarding the future.

The Jordanians have justified the latest measure by arguing that it's aimed at avoiding a situation in which the Palestinians would ever be prevented from returning to their original homes inside Israel.

Jordan's population is roughly 70 percent Palestinian, making the difficulty of this move quite obvious.

However, Jordanian authorities say it is aimed at preventing Israel from forcing Palestinians out of Gaza. The former Palestinian citizens of Jordan will be allowed to stay as residents, so long as they obtain "yellow ID cards" from the government.

"We're not expelling anyone, nor are we revoking the citizenship of Jordanian nationals," said Jordan Interior Minister Nayef al-Kadi in an interview with Al-Hayat. "We are only correcting the mistake that was created after Jordan's disengagement from the West Bank. We want to highlight the true identity and nationality of every person."

-- Stephen C. Webster


Having them carry yellow ID cards?

Hmmmm.

And next wearing a patch of some kind on their arms might be a good idea.

Ooh, wait, they can move them all into a neighborhood all their own, sort of like a, uh what's the word, oh yeah GHETTO.

I thought this had been done before but after speaking with Mahmoud Achmadinejad and Hutton Gibson (Mel's father) I find I am mistaken.

And Israel is the bad guy???

A Demented Waterloo

Just as Goliath had his David and Napoleon had his Waterloo so too does President Obama have a foe determined to see him fail. Unfortunately for the rest of us in the country his foe makes up 40% of the U S Senate, not to mention 100% of one of the cable network so-called news programs.

When Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina opened his mouth and told his conservative supporters, and by that I do not only mean his constituency that if his group can hold together and delay any movement on health care they can destroy Obama.

His actual words were, "If you're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."

Senator Demented, uh I mean DeMint went on to urge the people listening to him to stand firm and fight for the insurance industry and big business so that America would remain safe for corporate profits. It was a sort of damn the torpedoes full speed ahead speech meant to rally the troops against the evil doer in the White House.

It is clear that the battle lines are well defined and the enemy is spending millions trying to get the uneducated masses of the country to join their cause. Too many people are swayed by classy advertising to realize that they are voting against their own best interests.

In the old days it was said that what's good for General Motors is good for the country. Obviously things change and we must change with the times. It is time for all Americans to come together and ask their representatives in government to get real and get us affordable health care.

I know that they get tremendous amounts of money from the lobbyists and industry pays their vacations and makes their lives wonderful but if we don't vote them into office they cannot flex their greedy muscles. Once in a while they actually have to do something for the people that make up the country and this is one of those times.

If you would like to help everyone then help yourself to this link and find your Senator. Send him or her a message today so that you don't have send a different message in November!

Baboons Boxers & Briefs

This is a warning to those of you visiting safari parks. The animals are out to get you!

Actually they are not out to get you personally, just your underwear. And not all of the animals are interested in your Victoria's Secret collection, just baboons.

Watch this brief video of a recent attack and be warned. (The link to the video will be slightly down the page.)

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Big Bird Would Approve


The US Senate held their question and answer period this past week to decide whether or not to confirm New York judge Sonia Sotomayor as this nation's 111th Supreme Court Justice.

Many years ago when judges were nominated to the Supreme Court they could look forward to a short vetting out period where Senators would look into their views and decide if they were qualified and impartial enough to fit the bill.

But these days the proceedings are used to gain face time on television and possible sound-bites on the 24 hour cable news services. Generally the opposition, the party not in power at the time of the nomination will find fault in the candidate even if they have to manufacture it. And manufacturing
truths has become the Republicans middle name ever since Karl Rove showed them how easy it is to do so.

This year was no exception as the Republicans chose to go back into history and take a phrase out of context used by then Judge Sotomayor at a dinner event. The phrase gave the impression that she felt she could make a better decision than a White male because of her background as a Latina. Of course since the Supreme Court has had 110 justices to date and 107 of them have been white males this offended the "Party of No" tremendously.

Their fake outrage was evident on every Fox News owned station and paper.
The Republicans jumped all over this as the single reason to throw out her nomination even though her years on the bench proved her to be more than qualified and in fact among the most qualified to ever hold the post. She is arguably more qualified than a few of the terribly biased Republican appointed judges currently serving on the court.

The entire function was fairly dull because the questions posed to Ms. Sotomayor were repetitious and showed that the Republican Party is lost and has no definitive direction. And when some of the Senators brought up the question of her temperament any sane individual would have to have asked if any of the 108 male justices previously interviewed had ever been questioned in that area. Don't bother to go to the videotape, they had not. I was waiting to hear one of the chauvinistic morons suggest that her time of the month might affect her rulings.

In fact the grilling of Justice Sotomayor could have been written by Sesame Street:

"Today's proceedings are being brought to you by the letters EM and the number 3. Sonia Sotomayor is attempting to become merely female justice
#3 on the Supreme Court out of 111 total in its history. And she appears to have an EMpathetic nature."

The Republicans who are dead set against anything the Democrats are trying to do have pulled out those two letters in their defense. E & M and are the first letters in the word EMpathetic! They claim that Ms. Sotomayor is too EMpathetic to be a fair minded judge.

Of course empathy is what someone has too much of when they rule against you or your friends in favor of the other guy. In this case they are implying that other guy is the common man or woman and very likely a minority and the machine, AK the lobbyists will lose out.

The real reason they are against her is that they do not like the letters EM nor do they like the word EMpathetic. That is because they themselves don't use those letters and are in fact just plain PATHETIC.

Monday, July 13, 2009

60 Ain't So Bad

At around 11:30 am July 14th I will officially have been breathing on my own for 60 years.

Much has changed since that hot July day in 1949 but I celebrate the anniversary of that day quietly, at least internally.

There are some similarities between then and now:

I was not working when I was born and I am not working now.

I did not have that much hair then and, well I don't have that much left now.

Most of my food back then was in the form of a liquid and I do make it a point now to have at least one in that form every day as well, although my current libations are a bit more potent.

I couldn't really use my hands all that well at birth and until I finish physical therapy in a few weeks (depending on my HMO) I have limitations in that department now also. (I could suck on my toes back then. Now I'd be in traction if I tried.)

I lived at home then and I live in my home now. (Do you live at home? - Always a pet bugaboo with me. Ask if you dare and I'll explain.)

The country was just coming out of a war back then and peace, if we don't consider the cold war was about to reign for a while. Well I guess it's the opposite now as we seem to be entering into a never ending period of war. But we would only know that by turning on the TV or searching the innards of the papers as a celebrity death or Politician's affair can preempt the war in a moment's notice.

We are arguably heading into a warming trend in the world with Global Climate Change a real threat to our existence on this planet. And yet this July and the June that just ended were rather cool and wet. This is a stark contrast to 1949 which, as my mother loved to remind me was an extremely hot record breaking summer during which she carried me to term. The guilt starts early in a nice Jewish home.

The Dow Jones was at 170 which was actually not bad since it started in 1896 at 28.66 (Why they didn't start at like at 10 or 100 is beyond me but I guess they needed to be inscrutable.) However that 170 Dow was 55% lower than its all time high to that point.
Now we are around 8,330 on the Dow which is 41% lower than our current all time high. That's quite an improvement and it happened in my lifetime. No applause please.

Naturally there are many differences between the worlds of 1949 and now not the least of which is the fact that I am typing this on a personal computer. But we still have our old typewriter somewhere in the attic and even an electric one in the basement. It's under a layer of dust and behind some broken TV table I have to fix one of these days. Back then everyone knew what an Eberhard Faber #2 was, now only old accountants remember them.

And I have my mother's old Singer as well. You have to be really young to not know what that is. (Hint to the younger readers, it's not one of the Jonas Brothers.)

Back then we ate out occasionally and brought in food for dinner once or twice a month. Our favorite take out then as now was Chinese food but then Chow Mein was the staple. I can still remember when we branched out nervously to Moo Goo Gai Pan which was really just Chow Mein on steroids. It's was like all Mexican fast food is now - they use the same basic ingredients but in different proportions so it has a different name. (I'll have a tacquito, or is it a burriquito, no wait make it a Quesapizza.)

Nowadays we have Asian Fusion restaurants that serve any combination of every Far Eastern country including sushi which back when I was born was a huge no-no. In fact even when I was growing up eating it raw had a different connotation that was not all that pleasant.

But one thing I guess I enjoy about being old other than the fact that not getting old means I didn't make it is my family, my wife and kids. Everyone loves their own and I am no exception. Sure they piss me off from time to time but I probably return the favor just as much, at least I try to. The difference is that I am entering my so-called golden years and I am expected to become more irascible and annoying. (Funny how we color old age - Golden years - Gray brigade - just as our eyesight is failing.)

I especially love the image of the family sitting around the dinner table with the patriarch chomping away obliviously on some piece of chicken while the conversation moves to the inevitable,
"What do you want to do with Pop?"
"Well we have company coming this weekend you know."
"Right, I forgot. Okay, I'll put him in the garage."

I am getting close to that point although my dad is 91 plus and still doing well thank you very much. Unfortunately he recently lost his girlfriend and that is naturally weighing on him but, at least to this point he is a survivor and an all around good man. And with the help of his 2 kids and their wonderful wives; his 4 grand children and 2 grand children in law; and his 4 (so far) great grand children as well as surviving friends and neighbors he will continue to do well.

But that's another story and this is my birthday. If he wants to talk about himself let him write his own blog.

As a joke I have always stated that my one ambition in life is to become a burden to my children. And while I cannot know exactly how many years I will have been breathing at that point in time I must say that I hope they have a nicely furnished garage.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Oh I Wish I Was an...

Some related issues in the news:

7-4-09 Joey Chestnut breaks record by cramming 68 hot dogs down his throat to regain the coveted VD award (Vomitus Disgustus) from Japanese champion Takeru Kobayashi.

7-6-09 Oscar Mayer dies.
Coincidence?


7-6-09 Long Island politician and all around idiot Peter King (he's only a Republican so we should cut him some slack) declares that the coverage of the Michael Jackson festivities is out of hand since the deceased was a "Pervert, pedophile and child molester."

7-7-09 NAACP (which should probably be renamed the N quadruple A CP-I'll let you figure it out) comes out with harsh language against the insensitive King calling him and his remarks racist.

7-7-09 to 7-9-09 Twitter world and fans of M. Jackson jump on board with criticism of King (Peter that is.)

7-10-09 Rational thought prevails as it is noted that King never even mentioned the words Black or African American in his statement about the deceased 'King of Pop' leading one to wonder if the NAACP therefore associates the traits of p
ervert, pedophile and child molester to be solely in the Black community.
Foot in mouth?


7-8-09 In order to break the stalemate in New York's state senate in Albany Governor Paterson appoints former MTA chairman Richard Ravitch as Lieutenant Governor. The move which is the right and duty of the Governor comes months later than it should have but better late than never. It will also help to break that stalemate that has stymied NYS for months since the Lt. Governor presides over the State Senate and has the deciding vote in the event of a tie.

7-9-09 Showing their constant disregard for the population of the state and the reason the Republicans are in such disfavor these days the SOBs, I mean GOP members go to court to block the appointment of Mr. Ravitch. This latest move by the local 'Party of NO' assures state Senators the freedom to do whatever they want for the summer while the rest of us drown in debt with no services and no end in sight.


Finally 7-9-09 According to a headline in Newsday "Scientists tout sperm creation." (This is something I have been personally touting for many years but that's another story.) However the article goes on to inform us that the London based scientists have found a way to produce sperm in a laboratory. Before conjuring up visions of X-Rated magazines strewn all over the floor and empty beer bottles in petri dishes we are told that the sperm was produced by turning embryonic male stem cells into the desired product. Naturally more testing and more time is needed to perfect the process that precludes the need for 49% of the world's population.

7-10-09 Shouting "Free at last, Free at last, etc. Women the world over are lining up in front of divorce attorney offices awaiting final clinical tests.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Counting Calories? They're not!

I hate to burst anyone's bubble unless they really deserve it. Of course the list of those who deserve it has increased exponentially in the last year but...

Did you know that the fast food industry is lying to us? I know, I know it was hard for me to believe it also. I mean we are their customers and they need us to survive so why would they want to lie?

Well facts are facts and a recent scientific study showed that many places are posting wrong figures for the caloric content of their crap. And not surprisingly the numbers always seem to be on the low side of reality.

The study can be found in the Wall St. Journal, that bastion of industry and safe haven for the machine vs. the little man so you know it must be true. Here is the link to the actual story.

I especially enjoyed the opening line about Joey Chestnut (whose last name holds the key to the man's psyche) and the fact that he consumed over TWENTY THOUSAND CALORIES eating those hot dogs on Coney Island during his quest to regain the title of stupidest idiot on the Earth from his arch rival and equally idiotic Japanese competitor.

But the rest of us are a bit more modest in our choice of food, at least in quantity. However with the economy in the toilet many people are forced to eat cheaper food and we all know that fast food restaurants offer the cheapest food around, that is if you do not add the cost of doctor visits and shortened life spans.

So why would these bastions of bogus nutrition need to poison their patrons? PROFIT!

Come on America, you can figure this one out. You can make more money serving shit than actually making sure the food is healthy!

Enough of me saying so - Visit the government's page for yourself and start living better. We pay enormous amounts of taxes in this country the least we can do is afford ourselves some of the benefits.

So visit the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and learn how to live longer and healthier. And think of how many more of my posts you'll be treated to along the way - Or not.

Get the L out - Palin

Here is my take on the woman of Wasilla. Palin is a Pain. But wait a while!

(Have some fun with her name-How many words can you make using those letters? - Pan - Lip - Nap - Nip - etc.)

But no matter what you think about her she is a force. Granted that does not make her good or even newsworthy. I would love for the cable services and newspapers to just stop reporting her every bowel movement but...

A month before the Vice Presidential debate between lovable foot-in-the-mouth Biden and the former ESPN sports caster and beauty queen with a flute from Alaska the GOP hired a coach to train their candidate in the fine art of debating. The coach declared to a few insiders at the time that this woman seemed afraid not of the confrontation but of the fact that she basically knew nothing. She feared that her stupidity on the issues (My words, her sentiment) would be exposed and unless Playboy was willing to fork over some cash exposing herself was not on the menu.

However the coach later admitted that she actually handled the debate quite well and although expectations were low she nevertheless exceeded them.

This brings me to my point. Ms. Palin is or can be a fast learner and she is definitely a fighter. Given time and the tools needed she will be able to fool enough of the people to get back her political clout. In order to do this she would have to go away and study; learn the issues and figure out how to couch her statements and answers to questions on those issues in an intelligent manner.

I am not saying she will become good or even smart but I am saying that she could become adept enough at the game of politics so as to keep her foot out of her mouth long enough to succeed. And if she succeeds she will be back and soon, say in time for the 2012 run.

Let's not forget that 4 years before he was elected President not too many people knew Barack Obama. He studied and made all the right moves, joined and quit all the right Churches and came up with an internet plan to rake in the cash second to none. He then wiped the floor with all opponnets. Okay Jiminy Cricket would have looked better than any Republican after 8 years of Bush-Cheney but he did come off as impressive.

Remember this post in 2 years and when Palin resurfaces, assuming she goes away (please God) I will expect more than a few "Wow, you were right's."

News Gets Personal

As usual reading or listening to the news gets my blood boiling. I can never figure out how so many people get away with so much crap without anyone doing anything to stop them. But since there is always two sides to every argument or debate I am certain to piss some people off by stating my side of the issues. That is what a blog is for and that is why I write this one. If my friendly opponents wish to air differing views they may pen their own. I will even help them get started.

Today's bit of WTF news is on the front page of Newsday. In fact there are three items on that cover and I would like to say something about each.

First there is a teaser about the Pope and business ethics. The article which details the call from the Pope to business leaders asks for people to be placed ahead of profits. This is an admirable thought and one that I share. However in a slightly kettle-pot moment the Pope fails to note that he is the leader of arguably the richest organized religion in the world. The Church has an obscene amount of cash and property that is not taxed and it can do with it as it pleases without any seeming accountability. Perhaps Bernie Madoff chose the wrong scam to make his billions.

If the Pope would agree to sell off some of his rings and pare down the pomp and ceremony of his showy extravaganzas he might have a few billion dollars to funnel back into society. Using the same logic as he is transferring to the business community, which is undoubtedly only interested in themselves he should direct some of the Church's profits back to the people. If he were to order just half of what the fair taxes would be on Church property we could get our debt down to a manageable amount. And then his words would carry far more weight!

The second article on the cover of Newsday is a farewell to another business on the Island. OSI Pharmaceuticals is preparing to jump ship for greener pastures upstate. This Suffolk mainstay of 26 years has tried to make a go of it in Melville as it churns out anti-cancer drugs and works on other cures for disease. They had wished to expand so as to make it possible to find more cures for our diseases and have them come from Long Island.

But luckily we have caring elected officials such as Republican State Senator Charles Fuschillo who has repeatedly blocked attempts by OSI to expand here in New York. His claim that OSI would be leasing and building on state property without any public bidding has finally put an end to the pipedream of a pipeline of Long Island drugs. So the Merrick Republican can claim a victory over big business and Long Island can kiss 200 jobs and taxes from OSI goodbye. You may read the entire article which will show the scope of this loss due to one absolutely moronic a-hole in the paper or right here.

Another tiny article of note is hidden on page 8 of the paper today. A fan who was ejected from the old fan friendly Yankee Stadium won a lawsuit against the team and the city to the relatively small tune of $35,000. His crime was a heinous one and obviously premeditated but the courts decided to award him the verdict nevertheless. I will report, you decide.

Bradford Campeau-Laurion is a Red Sox fan and he was at the game in the Bronx on August 26th last year. Presumably after paying the exorbitant amount of money for the shitty beer they serve he felt the need to relieve himself. Being a law-abiding citizen of America he decided upon the men's restroom as his recepticle of choice. But he tried to do this during the seventh inning playing of the song "God Bless America." The police tried to stop him but he complained and when he refused to zip it they forcibly arrested him and tossed him out of the stadium. The officer even went as far as to suggest that since he did not wish to stand erect during the song he should leave the country.

Finally, although there were many more stories of note today as always I would like to say thank you to Newsday for their thoughfulness on the coverage of the never-ending saga of the Michael Jackson death. As the SNL skit once declared Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead - And so is Michael Jackson.

So after non-stop coverage on CNN and various other television news stations who seem to have lost sight of the real world Newsday chose to place a 16 page pullout section on the event. This allowed me to immediately remove it from the paper and place it untouched and unread into the recycleable bin without damaging the real newspaper. Bravo Newsday.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Words Can Hurt

In order to get our points across we all use certain words or phrases or even mannerisms. For example if someone calls you a genius it certainly could be taken as a compliment unless of course that person rolled his eyes while saying so. Also nothing is cut and dried so even if someone says something that you might find offensive it would help to know how they meant it and from whom it is coming.

A perfect example is the use of the offensive "N" word. While it
has long been a taboo for White people Blacks continue to use the term freely among themselves.

Many years ago I worked in a small company and had the great pleasure of meeting David, a young boy with a working knowledge of "street language." I asked him one day how come he called another kid who worked there, "money." He told me, "It's because he don't have any. You know, you say the opposite of what it is."
David would teach me "street talk" and I would try to get him to use more accepted business language.

One day I needed David to do something for me and as he passed my office I called out to him. "Yo brains can I see for a second?" David almost fell on the floor laughing at the obvious intent of my words.

We both benefited although when last I saw him he would still say bof (bow-f) instead of both.

Unfortunately not everyone is as intuitively smart as David and most other people know this. They intentionally say things to provoke and incite and then cleverly hide behind some vail of innocence as though to say, "If you took my words the wrong way then it's your problem, not mine."

It is no secret that our economy is in the dumps and we need help to get back on track. Right or wrong the current administration is trying many ways to start things moving again. Naturally until and unless it works there will be nay-sayers but the fact that they are allowed to do so is what makes America great.

However the words that are being used and used and used are starting to show a theme. It is a coincidence when two people choose the same words to describe a complex situation but when an entire wing of the Government, as in the Republican Party uses the same words on every show and every in every paper and
every chance they get it is a concerted effort bordering on conspiracy.

The stimulus package that was started back in the Bush administration was implemented because it seemed that it was needed. The country had wasted billions
of dollars and thousands of lives and lost millions of jobs due to the misguided path they had taken. The Obama administration is continuing the stimulus and believing that it has a chance to avert total disaster has actually expanded it in some ways.

The Republican Party to a man (and woman) is calling it a
"Spending Binge" and they are doing it constantly and squeezing it into sentences where ever possible. They are hoping for the same effect that advertisers get when they repeat the 800 number at least three times in every commercial that needs you to call them.

The term Binge has a detrimental conotation and is being used on purpose.

The Republicans have also taken another term out of moth balls that was last used when Hillary Clinton tried to help the middle and lower classes of America get affordable health care. That term is "Socialized Medicine." They are calling any change to the status quo where big insurance companies are able to reap huge fortunes while raping our citizens "Socialism."

The word conjures up bad times and tends to make people worry and yet even though there is no such proposal on the table and they
know full well it is not socialism they continue to spout the word every chance they get.

But why do it?
Why use key words and phrases to hurt the very same people who elected you to do the job that you say you wish to do?
It's simple really, you have to keep the status quo because your job is part of it!

Republicans have become so adept at not going too far with their "hate speak" that they have started to actually go nowhere! When they use the hateful words they offer nothing in return.

But they continue to use them since we have become a sound-bite society. We generally listen to one or two words before turning the channel or
the page to see what else is going on. With so much information out there and so many ways to get it can we really be blamed for not reading to the end of an article or watching an entire political show?
And if we do then isn't it certain that we will not have enough time to hear a different view?
The beauty of the Republican method of
obfuscation that they have used since before many of our children were born is that you don't have to listen to the end of their speech or read their entire article. What you get from one is the same as what the other will tell you so in the long run you will get their message no matter what.

The Republicans are known as the "Party of Family Values."
By whom?
Certainly not by themselves or their families!
So how did this come about?
They called themselves that and continue to do so to this day although the families of Mr. Vitter, Mr. Sanford, Mr. Gingrich, Mr Foley (I could go on and on but will stop here) would beg to differ. And while Republican and Conservative pundits visit every talk show and spout that the Democrats have also had their share of famous discretions the answer must surely be that, "Unlike you guys, we never said we were perfect."

What America needs now is quite simply for the politicians on both sides of the aisle to shut the Hell up and get to work.
Our need for the sound-bite will still be there when they fix the economy.
We will still believe the ads trashing their opponents in the upcoming election even after we get affordable health care.
We will still fall for the use of certain key words and phrases after our 401Ks are back on track and our retirement is a bit more secure.
We will all take sides and vote for the politician with the catchiest catch phrase even after we have lowered unemployment down to a manageable number.

Republicans and most politicians see Americans as sheep because we have acted with brainless herd mentality for too long. We must see through the use of hate speech and sound-bite phrases and demand the governance we deserve.

Let's stop binging on key words and become a bit more social in our attitude.

We all want health, wealth and happiness because a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Why Can't We Be Friends


A good friend of mine sent me an e-mail filled with photographs of people demonstrating against Obama and the things he is trying to do to get the economy back on track. He said that he bet we did not see it on the news implying that it really happened and was not covered by the so-called Liberal press.

As I said he is a good friend of mine and I do not wish to lose a friend over differing political views so I replied to him with the following statement. I did so with love and understanding of the fact America allows all sides to air their views, even if they are wrong and mis-guided.


"Sure we saw it on the news – Fox News which is synonymous with No News!

You will always find a group of people ready to carry banners for pay no matter where you go. Hell I was laid off by a so-called businessman 10 months ago and I still feel to this day that I can do and did a better job than half the people at the company, including the ones who laid me off. So if some organizer of a silly ridiculous group of morons such as the ones who staged the rally in these photos or the organizers who run the “Tea Bag” rebellions asked me to join their rally and paid me I would do it as well. In fact I would jump at the idea of getting paid and taking some cash away from them.

The bottom line is this – we have a President and Congress and a recession not of their doing. If we wish to let the recession continue until the next election and even further then the opposition party should continue to obstruct and complain and hire people to say things about everything the current administration tries to do. But if we wish to get out of the bad times and back into prosperity then both sides should start to work together QUIETLY and without statements to the press aimed at gaining political points with their constituents. Afterwards they can do as all politicians have done since time began, take credit for the prosperity and good times as a result of their hard work.

Cheney continues to blame everything bad that happens or might happen but has not on Obama even though most of the things he complains about were started by him and his puppet. He complained this week that our pulling out of Iraq is causing the increase in violence and blamed it on the current administration. But last year while he was still running the country Cheney and W set June as the date to pull out! We need people like Cheney to realize that their 15 minutes is up and they must depart to greener pastures. In Cheney’s case I’ll admit that I would rather he depart UNDER the greener pastures but…

The bottom line is this - Let’s cut the crap and try to work together. I need to get back into the win column and I cannot do so when the people in control have to fight the other side of the aisle at every turn. You do not have to use a slogan such as “Yes We Can” or “Change is Good.” How about “United We Stand.” Because divided we are surely not doing so well."

Anyway I hope he still considers me a friend - I know I do.