Top 10 Things No Intelligent American Human Being Should Expect:

10. The wealthy actually hiring more workers at decent wages after receiving yet another tax gift from Congress

9. Truth and fairness in any way, shape or form anywhere anytime from a Fox Network so-called news show

8. Narcissistic sub-humans such as Ann Coulter actually caring about anyone but themselves

7. The liberal media NOT kowtowing to conservatives’ charges that they are liberal

6. Anything but hypocrisy out of the mouths of Republican Congressmen & women, especially if campaigning

5. Sarah Palin’s voice to be soothing

4. The 'religious right' understanding facts based in actual science such as evolution, gravity or climate change

3. Corporations hiring Americans while there are still unemployed Asians overseas

2. Republicans to be in favor of anything that helps the middle class or appears to give Obama a ‘win’


And the number one thing no sane individual who has been alive and awake for at least the past few years should expect:

1. The wealthiest 1% of Americans giving up their ownership of Congress and control of the country

America Needs a Real Pick Me Up

Parents know that if your baby is crying for no apparent reason and you pick him or her up the crying may stop but you have taught your child a valuable lesson.  You are in essence rewarding bad behavior.

Awwwww!
Don't you want to pick me up?

If the crying becomes an issue and you continue to do the prudent pick up the problem will grow out of proportion.
While the infant is not trying to 'put anything over on you' the fact that he knows crying will get him coddled and cuddled will keep him crying longer and longer until something or someone's gotta give.

Babies are cute and we love them so it will be hard to accomplish this but it is for their own good.

Naturally I don't condone ignoring a problem and if you know your child you should be able to distinguish between the attention desiring cry and the 'something is really hurting me' one.

The trick with the 'well' baby is to finally let it cry itself to sleep without the reward thus breaking the vicious cycle.

Such has been the case with the Republican Party over the last few decades and unfortunately many voters have failed to see the crying baby analogy.  We know this to be true because if they had then there would be nowhere near as many cry babies in Congress these days.
And just like the crying baby nothing gets done until they are satisfied.  We are taken away from the problems at hand to tend to them.  And while we tend to them our hands are literally tied so nothing does get done!
After the Democrats took the majority in Congress last decade the babies on the right side of the aisle effectively stopped the government by sticking their fingers in their collective ears and wailing.

Please pick me & my party up.

Okay only John Boehner actually cried but the rest of them constantly complained about the Democrats not getting anything done while they themselves were stopping every possible legislation or political appointment by using filibusters.
We the parents then inexplicably rewarded their incredibly bad counter-productive behavior by picking them up and electing more of them to Congress.
The lesson was learned and since 2010 the Republicans have done nothing but demand a pacifier.  And the pacifier they crave is total control of all three branches of government.
But they have not shown themselves to be worthy of that reward or I am sad to say, capable of running the country should they gain it.
With jobs and the economy as their supposed number one priority they proceeded to go after everything but jobs and the economy.
HR1 in the new Republican controlled House of Representatives was a bill to repeal health care for the masses.  Calling it Obama-care they cried and cried and somehow started to gain in the polls.
Emboldened by their gains they took on more issues that concern the middle class such as minimum wage and unions and planned parenthood and National Public Radio.
Should they get all their wishes on the above how many jobs will be created?  An intelligent parent or voter should be able to see that more would be lost.
Their next step was finally to take on the budget deficit but the gang of babies still cannot shoot straight.  They refuse to address the issue of zero taxes for billionaires or record profit producing corporations such as Exxon and GE.  These giants now have rights as though they were human beings thanks to the Republican leaning so-called Supreme Court of the Untied States.  (You remember them right?  Those wonderful people who gave you George W. Bush?)
The main point of the Republican Paul Ryan plan is Kill Medicare!
Should the voters reward Republicans for their current anti-social behavior the next step will most assuredly be the death of Social Security.
Babies are adorable and we love to hold them and play with them but we would never allow them to do our taxes or plan our future or drive our cars.  They just don't have the intelligence to do so!

The Americans are coming!
The Americans are coming!
Warn the Brits!

So why are we even considering  possible presidential contenders such as Michele "Death Panel" Bachmann or Sarah 'Paul Revere was warning the British!!!' Palin?
And then there's Newt 'family values' Gingrich who is currently on the campaign trail searching for wife number 4!
And if Obama-care was so terrible how can Mr. Romney show his face after Romney-care, which by the way was a success as would be Obama-care if the babies would stop crying.
The bottom line is simply this: Do not pick up the babies this time.  Let them go to sleep for a few years until they learn the lesson that we are the grown-ups, the parents, the voters.
We are the people for whom the government was created.
We the people need elected officials to govern, not babies!

What's Important NOW?

On "Meet the Press" today, a show that used to be an important source of news and information and now is merely another opportunity for pundits to ply their trade, the panel was talking about the current tense situation in Egypt.
Chuck Todd noted that the President's State of the Union address was just a mere five days ago and look how much has changed in the world.  President Obama did not even mention Egypt in the speech nor, perhaps should he have.  After all while we realize how important the country is to the continued peace in the region nothing tremendous was going on at the moment.
Then the moment changed and all hell broke lose.
Suddenly the possibility that an Iran type scenario could come to pass in the land of the pharaohs and peaceful partner of Israel.  Egypt has been able to keep many weapons out of the Gaza Strip and has been a strong ally in our attempt to thwart the further spread of terror.
What will happen in the future let alone the next few days is still anybody's guess but one thing is certain, Egypt will soon be a 'post Mubarak' nation.
Many times in the past and once just this month I used the word 'juxtapose.'  The word conjures up a strange bedfellow of sorts between two generally opposing views occupying the same space.
A perfect example of this occurred moments after David Gregory, moderator of 'Meet the Press' changed the subject from the important news coming out of Egypt to the topic of who will be challenging President Obama from the Republican Party TWENTY TWO MONTHS FROM NOW!
Obviously that is an important issue and one we definitely should all be thinking about in say a year or so.  But for now we might wish to discuss whether or not there will be a war in the Middle East or other pressing issues.
Unfortunately the media must continue to push uncertainty at every turn and what's better than future Presidential campaigns that will always be somewhere out there?
Whether or not Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee or even Sarah Palin and her lesser brained (if that's possible) cohort Michelle, slavery ended with our Founding Fathers Bachmann becomes the candidate for President in a year should not be the talk of the town at this point in time.
Can we get a break from the constant soap opera that has become the in-fighting among the Republican Party as they each jockey and position themselves for a run at the top office rather than do their jobs?
After the McCain/Palin crash and burn campaign of 2008 I said to anyone who would listen that Ms. Palin should disappear for a year and hit the books.  She should learn more about world history and become an expert in foreign relations and then burst back onto the political stage as a force in her Party.  Instead she chose to become a farce, albeit a wealthy one as well as a constant reminder of the old "United Negro College Fund" slogan.
But I digress.
This post is about current events and therefore should focus on our currently high unemployment rate in America.
We should focus on:
The economy;
Jobs;
Out of control military spending;
Corporate control of Congress;
True Health Care for all Americans;
And so many more urgent problems that need to be addressed NOW!
And when it comes to the next television or cable news program that purports to be about urgent current events do not devolve into a discussion about an election 22 months away!!
We have bigger fish to fry as the saying goes and miles to go before we sleep, miles to go before we sleep.

One Armed - Not Dangerous

When you are forced to use only one hand, assuming you have two to begin with certain things are not easy to do.  In fact they become downright frustrating.
I just had wrist surgery to fix (hopefully) a painful problem on my left hand and for the time being I am forced to type one handed.
Using half of what we have and are used to using is so annoying and time consuming but at least I know it is only temporary.  And I am far better off than many others who have permanent damage or worse as a result of the latest tragedy dominating our news these days.
It's at times like these that the proverbial cream rises to the top.
But something else is in the mix and that has drifted further down into the muck & chaff.
I am speaking of two groups here:
The first is broad reaching and includes many members of the Tea Party and their "It's all about me" queen Sarah Palin.
The second group is the equally selfish money grubbing organization known as the National Rifle Ass.
One of the above is constantly in your face and never disappoints when you are expecting stupidity.  For the woman who failed at oh so many projects not the least of which was to finish her term of Governor of Alaska the shooting in Tucson could have been a way out into to the sunshine.  But instead she chose to remain in her bunker, firing salvos at anyone and everyone who dared to point a finger at her past rhetoric and inane web postings.
Americans love redemption.  Stars who enter and graduate from rehab are welcomed back with open arms.  Perhaps it's because we applaud them for admitting they had a problem and having the good sense to deal with it.
Ms. Palin could have admitted that she got carried away in the heat of the moment (the moment being two years and counting) and that she is sorry if her zeal for public service was misconstrued by an insane individual as a license to kill.
Then she could have quietly taken down all evidence of her "target" maps aimed at taking out Democrats with whom she disagreed and replaced them with a message of peace and hope.  Maybe even a memorial set up to the victims of the shooting.
But in fact she feels there was only one victim here and she is nothing if not consistent.
The media and the country should move on and away from useless egotists like this woman.  Let her whimper, fade and wallow in self pity while America heals and grows.  She's yesterday's news and deservedly so.
As for the NRA and it's war mongering attitude there is no such easy solution.
Congress enjoys the bribe money way too much to dismiss and control the product that sick bunch sells.
There is no way a hunter or recreational shooter (should that even be a term?) needs a weapon that fires hundreds of rounds of ammunition within seconds.  Frankly if you cannot kill a deer with two or three shots from one of your high powered rifles maybe you should stick to the penny arcades.
Assault rifles and 'cop killer' bullets and machine guns and AK47s and on and on should be outlawed.
At the very least tough regulations about owning them or carrying them should be enforced.  As for Arizona's allowing them to be concealed the only word that comes to mind is INSANE.
"From my cold dead hands" is a phrase made famous by the paranoid misguided gun-owners who think the country is out to get them.
They also mistakenly use the Second Amendment to justify carrying everything from a Saturday Night Special to purchasing a personal tank and possibly a nuclear device!
Arguments about how impossible it would be to rid the country completely of weapons fall short of productive conversation.  We do not have to remove every single fire arm, just regulate them and the magazines that fill them with multiple murder capability!
When someone says they carry a gun to protect themselves I ask from what?
From whom?
From the other guy carrying a gun to protect himself from you?
Possibly Bambi is packing!
The gun problem will not end here.
It will not go away.
This piece was hard to write with one hand tied behind my back (figuratively.)
Using only half of my fingers is tough but using only half a brain is worse!
We see that whenever Ms. Palin opens her mouth and we hear it whenever Congress takes up gun control.
The country is trying to heal and become whole again.
We must not go off half-cocked into the future.
The news has given us the ammunition we need to restart the fight.
Wouldn't now be a great time to use all of our brainpower and all of our resources and all of our will to head off the next tragedy?
I'm raising my hand to say yes!!!

Vicious vs. Precious

One of the most frustrating things in life is the feeling of helplessness.  For example when we know something bad is about to happen but we are unable to effect a change.

It is akin to watching an impending car accident with no way to warn the drivers.

Or how about hearing someone tell a lie and knowing that they themselves realize they are lying!

This one is particularly irksome when nobody ever seems willing to point out their lie.

It is this last example that is frustrating Americans or at least middle class Americans when it comes to our political leaders these days.

Many of these talking heads use sound bites to convey a message that they probably do not believe themselves.  They do so for political expediency.  They know the message will stick.

A few years back a candidate for the office of President used a ridiculous ad on television that showed his opponent riding an ever turning ‘sailboard’ (similar to the one shown here) to describe the man as a “flip-flopper.”  He claimed that the guy said one thing one time and then changed his mind to say something else later.

The odd thing is the message worked and the lying candidate was able to squeak into office, with the help of a few other oddities but that’s for another time.

But the ‘flip-flop’ charge is absurd.

Sans flight suit W claims victory!

Suppose the President is following a policy that he or she realizes at a later date is wrong?  For example say the President starts a war for a reason that turns out to be an out and out lie.  Would we want that leader to ‘stay the course’ or would we expect him to take a step back and change direction?

I certainly hope it would be the latter choice lest many lives be lost unnecessarily.

Flip-flopping goes with the territory of being human.  Information helps us make decisions and wrong information clouds our judgment.

But the fact that telling lies and saying what we think the listener wants to hear gets us elected to office means that lying is not only here to stay but is an integral part of the process.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to have a truthful politician?

The odds of that happening are about the same as me winning the Kentucky Derby - without a horse to ride – barefoot – in the rain – at night - blindfolded.

So we are stuck listening to a never ending procession of inane reasons why the economy is the other guys fault.

And that brings me to the current pressing argument about taxes.

For years the Republican Party has been helping the wealthiest people of the country find loopholes in the tax structure as well as pushing for even more tax breaks with every session of Congress.

The argument is a simple one, in more than one way; “The wealthy create jobs and hire people so they must have tax breaks to give them more money with which to do so.”

That and ‘I’ll respect you in the morning’ are probably two of the biggest lies you will ever hear in your lifetime. (For men the latter is probably the biggest lie.)

We are stuck in a vicious cycle that has the wealthy moving farther into the financial stratosphere while the poor and middle class head toward poverty.

But there is still a chance to turn that vicious cycle into a precious one.

America needs this to happen.

We must take the bull by the horns (not the tail) and face the problem.

Here is a fantasy involving a high ranking member of the Republican Party, for ease of use I choose John Boehner talking questions at a news conference after being given a shot of sodium pentothal:

Reporter: Sir, do you feel that the Bush tax cuts should be continued for all Americans?

Boehner: Absolutely.

R: Really?  For every American? Even those making over a million dollars a year?

A rare photo of Boehner
without his signature
orange glow.

B: Of course. (He takes out a card from his pocket and reads.) The wealthy people in this country create jobs and if we keep stealing money from them they won’t have enough left to hire anyone. And the uncertainty of the Obama tax law is killing their incentive. And without knowing how much they will have to pay for the constitutionally illegal Obamacare health insurance policies how can they hire new workers?  The last election gave us a mandate and the people spoke and we heard them and we want to help them.  It is the policies of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid that are stagnating this great nation and the Barney Franks who are trying to turn our wonderful wealthy citizens into demons. They should be lauded as great people who will turn this country around and make it the greatest nation in the world once again and that’s why…

R: EXCUSE ME SIR? Are you okay?

B: What?  Huh?  Of course I am.  What do you mean?  Why do you ask?

R: Well your eyes seemed to glaze over there for a bit and your speech started to slow near the end of your rant.

B: (Confused and sweating profusely) I’m fine.

R: Glad to hear that.  So now I’d like to get back to the issue at hand.  And if you wouldn’t mind I’d like you to answer with just a yes or a no.  Do you think you can handle that?

B: I suppose, I mean yes.

R: First I ask that you put away the cliff notes.

(B places the folded card back in his pocket.  At this point the drug has finally taken hold and the Congressman’s voice becomes monotone.)

R: Thank you.  I’m going to put forth two scenarios. I want you to state which one works better, okay?

B: Yes.

R: First one: We keep the Bush tax cuts going for all, allowing the wealthiest people to continue to keep nearly all their money as they have been doing for the last ten years.  We then hope they will start to spend some on hiring new workers who in turn will use some of their new salary to buy the products that the wealthy business owners produce even though to date they have not done so nor show signs of wanting to do so as yet.  Okay, that’s the first one.  Can you remember that while I tell you the second one?

B: Yes.

R: Instead of giving the wealthy a continued gift we continue the tax cuts only for the lower or middle class worker. In other words people with incomes of say $250K to $300K per year or less.

Going back to the pre-Bush tax rate on the wealthy, an undisputed time of national prosperity, will afford the government enough money to start fixing the nation’s infrastructure, something the Republicans used to feel was important.

The people hired to fill the newly created jobs will suddenly have an income and extra money to spend.

The spending spurs businesses to produce more and in effect allows them to make more profits, hiring more workers to cover the new orders.

The cycle continues as all involved are now making more money and as a result paying more in taxes which in turn will go toward the government’s bottom line.

This then would aid in lowering the National Debt.  And a lower deficit is another supposed pet project of the Republicans.

So in the long run which scenario do you think would work better for the country and every citizen as a whole?

B: The second one.

R: Thank you sir, that’s all.

A loud roar of elation comes from the room as the reporters joyously leave to celebrate an unexpected productive press conference.

Angry McConnell about to
plant one on Boehner.

John Boehner is greeted by Mitch McConnell who promptly punches him squarely in the nose while the rest of the Republican Party members present at their Waterloo yell and shout that he has really screwed things up.

Multi-national corporations go into closed door meetings to decide how to spin the fiasco.

Fox News who understandably switched to a repeat of “The Best of NASCAR” during the press conference gets ready to report that they have evidence of an imposter being planted in a John Boehner costume.

Andrew Breitbart, at the behest of Roger Ailes, is already working on a fake documentary showing the above to be true.

And somewhere an adviser is translating all that just happened into one-syllable words for Sarah Palin.

Not Even a Pretty Face

It seems that we are allowed to make up our own words according to the oft 'refudiated' yet learned scholar from Wasilla.
Or we may give new meanings to old ones according to the Google-master of Fox, Gretchen Carlson.

Ignominious ignorant
ignoranus

So in that spirit I would like to coin a new one for the latter mentioned moron from the fake news channel that is partially owned by terrorists" (See two posts down - Final Fix for Fux @ Fox)
Gretchen Carlson is an IGNORANUS!
It means she, like her fellow TV personalities on Fox knows nothing and continually has her head up her ass!

Ignore This Tweety Bird

Help! I'm choking on my words!

According to a tweet from flip-flopping Senator John McCain, and I quote, "Last American combat troops leave Iraq. I think George W Bush deserves some credit for the victory."
Excuse me????

Well for one thing if the war-mongering moron and his trusty side-kick Darth Cheney hadn't started the illegal immoral war in the first place there wouldn't have been combat troops to bring home so I guess he is right in that respect.

But he loses all respect upon further examination.  (Whatever respect he had left that is.)

If we use the deranged thinking of the man who gave you Sarah Palin then Adam and Eve should be commended for the Apollo mission to the moon!

Clearly cause and effect must have some limitation.  And just as surely as we cannot hold the good Senator from Arizona responsible for the emergence of the Wasilla nit-wit nut job we should also not give anyone credit for righting the Iraqi wrong.

President Obama did what was necessary as he promised to do during his campaign days.  For that he deserves our thanks, not "W."

How we move forward from this point is what counts and switching horses in midstream is a dangerous move even if your horse is not the swiftest in the fleet.  If your mount is trustworthy and you know its heart is in the right place you must stay on for the duration.

I would offer that one Obama in the hand is worth any two Bush’s in the White House.
And this is proven true by reading tweets from people who should know better!

If It Walks Like a Duck

Time was when the names used to describe things most closely resembled their functions or at least had some basis in reason.
Even pithy names that might at first seem obscure would, upon closer examination become clear such as the so-called 'morning after pill' RU486. (Are you for 86 as in a short order cook's term for, "there ain't no more.")
The automobile is a word that can be broken down into its roots for simple meaning as an automatic machine for mobility.
But today we have gone away from truth in names especially in the wonderful World of the possible aka politics.
Groups such as Americans for Freedom espouse taking that freedom they so love away from people who don't agree with their views, many on religious grounds.
Other groups claim that they only wish to save marriage but they want to do it by sopping others from getting married.  If that particular group wins they may feel their oats and continue down the road toward more radical ideas and ideals.
For all we know they may even look to Shia law!  After all if someone other than yourself can determine who you cannot marry how much of a leap is it to their determining who you can?
Many of these activist groups have one thing in common, they are under the umbrella of the GOP.
And for that reason I believe we must hereby update the name of that grand old party.  I have a few suggestions that will not cause them to have to change their bath towels.  Care to vote for your favorite?

1 - Group Obstructing Progress (Duh)
2 - Gang Opposing Progress (Ditto)
3 - Good On Payback (To their owners)
4 - Gaga Over Palin (I just don't get this!)
5 - Grow Our Paychecks (In it for themselves!)
6 - God Over People (Not! Just pandering to religious fanatics)
7 - Good On Pandering (See above)
8 - Guys On Prozac (Or they should be)
9 - Get Oxy Please (Their boss Rush needs it)
10 - Give Obama Problems (Only till 2016)

The party represented by an elephant has a long memory.
They remember how they scared America to get into office in the past.  They continue to use the same tactics today and why not? You dance with the partner what brung ya!
As for the definitive name for the party of Palin; Grassly; Cheney; McConnell; Boehner etc. I cannot think of a more apropos one than that incorporating one of my favorite Yiddish words:
Group Of Putzes

Absurd But True!

There is an old joke about a woman who lost both her first and second husbands to accidental poisoning.  But when she was arrested for killing her third husband with a vicious blow to the head she claimed as her defense, “He wouldn’t take the poison!”

Kimberly Boone went shopping a few months ago and while she was out her husband, who was sleeping at the time nearly died in a house fire.  Authorities suspected the fire may have been the act of foul play and questioned Ms. Boone.  They let her go without any charges when nothing could be proven.

Now Kimberly is in court again because her husband was shot and almost killed in his garage during a supposed attempted burglary!  At least that is what Ms. Boone told authorities who arrested her for the attempted murder.

Just yesterday a jury of her peers (?) in Winter Springs, Seminole County Florida found her not guilty.  She actually admitted in private to the attempt on his life while publically claiming to have had amnesia during the event.

One can only wonder how the idiot Mr. Boone who knows who shot him will finally meet his maker.

A word to any wise married men out there, do not move to Winter Springs Florida!

In 1989 the award winning Broadway play, “Driving Miss Daisy” hit the big screen.  The original star, Morgan Freeman reprised his role alongside Jessica Tandy who replaced Broadway’s Dana Ivey for the film.  All three of these people were wonderful and Mr. Freeman received critical acclaim for his roll in Daisy.

The original story revolves around an African American male who works as the chauffeur to an old wealthy Jewish woman who can no longer be trusted to drive herself around.  The relationship between the two begins as slightly strained but ends as one of extreme respect and Platonic love.

A story as good as this one deserves retelling.  And a revival can be a welcome event as long as it is done well.  Unfortunately now appearing on Broadway in the role of the aging Jewish woman is the world renowned Israel-hating, Anti-Semite, Marxist piece of human crap known as Vanessa Redgrave. 

I believe this linked article says it all except to ask the geniuses of the Broadway stage and the producers of Hollywood one question, if you decide to do the life story of Elie Wiesel will you morons cast Mel Gibson in the title role?

The great grandson of Alexander Graham Bell, Kendall Myers was convicted of spying for the Cuban Government and sentenced to life in prison this week.  Mr. Myers worked in the U S State Department and had access to classified documents although it is unclear what information if any he compromised.

One wonders if he was caught by using wiretaps.  If so would A. G. Bell have approved?

In California, one of the states hit hardest by the economic downturn it was revealed this week that one of their public universities paid Sarah Palin $75,000 for a 40 minute speech. Universities across the country should get together and pay her more to not speak!

But before there was too much outrage California officials reported that as a fundraiser the school made far more money than they paid out in fees.

It was also assumed that having Ms. Palin speak at a university of higher education may be used as a warning to students of what can happen when you choose to be totally ignorant on all subjects concerning mankind today.

Ms. Palin who has made a personal fortune even though many consider her to be a total idiot unfortunately has a large following but then, as Gump would say, “Stupid is as stupid does.”

And finally to show that Forrest Gump knew of where he spoke a Pew Research Poll shows that most Americans think the Bank Bailout bill was enacted and then signed into law by President Obama.  I guess like Ms. Palin they do not have the time nor the inclination to use the 10 seconds it would take to find out that the bill was totally in place before President Bush left office.

Do these people actually dress themselves?

And heaven help us, that’s just the news from today!

Heil Goehring

In another Republican / Conservative 'Never Mind' moment Brad Goehring who is running for office in San Francisco's district 11 suggested hunting down and, I guess shooting Liberals.
Naturally the moron rescinded his call to arms by saying it was a joke.
But one thing these idiots never seem to get is words have consequences.  And if you are running for public office you should choose your words wisely.  I'm certain the old guard in the cave would say, "He chose - poorly!"
Whether or not this latest addition to the Republican Nut House should be permanently placed in the Palin wing remains to be seen.  But one thing is clear, his statement may not have been a joke but he sure is.