LIBERALS GET YOUR GUNS

Anything you can say
I can spin my way
I can spin anything
And wreck your day

No you can’t
Yes I can
Please do not
Kiss my butt
Well it’s wrong, it is wrong, it is wrong!

You promote fear and hate
In every Red State
How long can we wait?
Till your guy is ‘great?’

He is now
Really HOW?
Can’t you tell?
From his smell?
He is great, he is great, he is great!

The fact we’re in a lurch is
Proof we must close churches
Get off your high perches
And don't touch our churches

Come on folks
There’s danger here
A Liberal hoax
That much is clear!

Where is that test
And the vaccine you promised
Don’t be a pest
Or you’ll our guy pissed

He’s a child
Now I’m riled
He’s a fool
You’re a tool
He must go
WE SAY NO!
Dump him quick
You are sick!
Yes of him, sick of him, sick of him!

EXCERPT FROM GOP GET YOUR GUN

Anything I can do I can blame you for.

I can blame you for the shit that I do!

No U can't.

Yes I can.

No U can't.

Yes I can.

No U can't, No U can't, No U can't! 

Look at the polls and you'll see our base loves us.

All of those jerks love us no matter what!

No they don't.

Yeah they do.

They should not.

But they do.

No they don’t. No they don’t. No they don’t.

All you do is pander

And you gerrymander

But we say with candor

At White House take a gander

You will see that our guy’s there

With that orange hair?

Yup.

You sure make a pair!

Ha

Any bills you guys passed we can now undo

We can undo all the good that you did 

No U can't.

Yes we can.

No U can't.

Yet we do.

No U can't, No U can't, No U can't! 

If we find we must sir

We’ll simply filibuster 

Our side you can’t fluster

You’re just like General Custer

This will be your final stand 

Is that what you’ve planned?

Yup, down to a man

No girls? You creep!

Why do you hate Middle Class and the poor folk?

Why must you always the wealthy guys stroke? 

No we don’t.

Yeah you do.

No we don’t!

Yes you do!

No we don’t. No we don’t. No we don’t.

You canceled out kids’ healthcare

And then made taxes unfair

But we did it with flair

And plenty of fake fanfare

You guys just don’t have a clue

To be evil like you?

Please, you play games too!

If there’s a bill you want passed, we’ll ignore it

We can ignore anything you guys want. 

You should not.

But we do.

You cannot.

Yeah we can

You must not not not!

Yes we do do do!

You should not!

SUNSET OF THE AGE OF AQUARIUS

The era of Woodstock is a distant memory and the Haight Ashbury scene has basically been replaced by Hate Kill & Bury.
In honor of this sad turn of events I've updated a Golden Oldie and dreamed up an imaginary group to sing it.
Sadly I believe it fits the current political atmosphere of America.
I give you The 6th Dimension!
(So as not to infringe on any copyrights I suggest you decide to what tune you would like to sing the following.)

SUNSET OF THE AGE OF AQUARIUS

When we’ve mourned our 7^th massacre

And GOP aligns with NRA

Then terror will rule the country

And hate will steer the polls

This is the sunset of the Age of Aquarius

The Age of Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

Discord and misunderstanding

Compassion and all trust are gone

Only falsehoods and derision

Golden years are just a vision

Mistakes rule our education

Science loses to creation-ism

Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

The title of this post is an oft used comeback against someone who says something you think is outrageous or at least insincere.

But many do put their money where their mouths are or at least where they silently want everyone else’s mouths to be.

I am speaking of the silent majority of political backers also known as lobbyists.

These days the more money some people have the more they want and they’ll do anything to get it.  And if it means hurting or harming a majority of others to reach their goal so be it!

The bottom line IS their bottom line and money is the way they keep score.
Today my newspaper showed three candidates running for county supervisor but a quick glance merely showed their photos and the amount of money they have collected in donations.  The subliminal message was clearly we do not need to vote because the man with the most will most likely win!  And sadly the trend of putting the worst man or woman for the job in place will most likely continue.

Of course power enters into the equation as well but without money you may find yourself powerless.

Grass roots movements are definitely not a thing of the past but certainly not as powerful as they used to be and that is by design.  And the designers are those in power and those with enough money to keep them there.

President Obama won his first election by obtaining an incredible amount of money with which he was able to get his message across.  He did this with a grass roots organization that collected enough small donations to make the total impressive even by today's standards.

You can be the smartest person in the world and have the best ideas for the most people alive but without money or backers with cash your message remains in your dreams.

The Republican Party is nothing if they are not deviously smart and they see how to keep or get power in America.

Most of the candidates on the proverbial right side of the aisle probably do not believe half the things they say or promote, at least one can hope, but they know their constituents do so they say them.

But the real problem in America today lies in the wallets of the wealthiest greedy power hungry few who spend millions like most of us spend quarters.

These quiet behind the scenes types are insidious.  They know how to dangle their bait in front of unscrupulous politicians afraid of losing a seat in Congress and thus having to actually work for a living!

Their money allows the words they wish to say to come out of their puppets mouths.

If every American of the so-called 98% group donated one dollar to the same cause it would amount to around $300,000,000!  That is approximately half the amount Sheldon Adelson threw away backing the Mittster in the 2012 Presidential campaign And he is promising to double it going forward!

Now admittedly he has only one vote and the 98%ers have around 200 million votes assuming everyone went to the polls next time so he could easily be outvoted but… (I left out those under the voting age.)

Let’s face it, there are too many among us in the country that have little knowledge of what is going on in government and many more who just don’t care.  Then there are the ones who actually believe the crap spewed by the puppets of Adelson and friends.  And his friends while not that many have wealth nearly beyond belief!

Take the Koch brother, Please!

The basically useless Koch boys inherited daddy’s business and starting from the humble amount of billions have been able to make even more billions in their effort to pollute the world. Their causes are generally bad ones for the future of mother Earth but they know they’ll be long gone before our children and grandchildren have to wear gas masks and protective clothing and move to higher ground merely to survive so they continue their quest for more money at all cost!

And they too donate and donate wildly.

One such donation was recently uncovered as David tried to block a PBS documentary entitled Citizen Koch.  An obvious reference to one of the greatest films of all time, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane which was about a ruthless wealthy man hell bent on having his views become those of the world.  The movie was a loosely veiled shout out against Citizen Hearst and clearly not a love note.
And with the money flowing the Republican Party has turned to voter suppression as an additional way to secure a long future in power for their wealthy backers.
In other words the more their money helps their mouths speak the less they listen to yours!
Be afraid - Be VERY afraid!

So how can we stop the creeping creepy creeps who flaunt their wealth and get their way by silently pulling strings in the public sector?

Well for one when we hear a politician say something odd or espouse a cause that may not be right for the majority of Americans we can look to see from whose mouth the words are actually emanating.  Follow the money back to its source.

Then ask yourself if you would want that puppet master to run your City or State or you America.

The answer will most likely be a resounding no!

Then use your hand next November and every November from now on to put your vote where your head is!

THAT SAID...

The title should actually be, “That Said, and other warnings of flip flops to come.”

Have you ever noticed how a pundit, politician or talk show personality, host or guest will say something that seems to put forth one side of an argument only to add the words, That Said?

It’s the ‘That Said’ part that signals the complete opposite thought is coming.

Now if you are paying close and complete undivided attention to the entire statement you may be able to parse exactly what side the speaker espouses.

Sadly most of America, myself included has not the patience nor deductive reasoning skills to keep our focus long enough to realize the speaker is generally full of it and merely trying to confuse the listener.

The two words basically mean I want to say both sides of the issue upon which I am pretending to pontificate in the hopes that you the listener will believe I am on your side when in fact I have no side except my own!

It is also a way to get a point across while attempting to stop the other side from debating you since you already stated their supposed position.

If your opponent should decide to go ahead and state his side after you have used the ‘that said’ ploy he will only look foolish repeating what you have already said.

It is similar in tactic to throwing in the, “And as you know,” phrase to get the audience to think you in fact know you are wrong and the speaker is the authority on whatever he is saying.

But there are other ways you can tell when the speaker is lying or fibbing or merely attempting to mislead.

For one his name is Willard Mitt who will never admit he is on one side or the other.

To flip flop is not
bad unless you
rotate!

But in general if a politician has his mouth open then look out!

Lately the Republican Party has been so guilty of this form of constant prevarication as to have the wonderful people at Guinness take note.

That is not to say that Democrats don’t hide the truth sometimes as well but generally when they do so they are trying to hide their allegiance to the so called 99% or the non-super, non-uber wealthy.

If the Democrats come out too much in favor of the common man they run the risk of losing all their funding from the group that can basically buy the country ten times over, as is being shown in the post ‘Citizen’s United’ ruling of the supreme beings of the Supreme Court.

That said I cannot condone any lies from either side of our political system.

That that said I understand that there must be some level of secrecy involved when dealing with matters of homeland security and foreign relations. After all if we the people know what’s on the minds of our leaders and their strategy going forward then there is a fair bet so do the enemies of America.

That that that said I also feel there should be some form of accountability for actions taken by our leaders in the name of country. (Note I left off the words ‘God and’ in front of that phrase.)

I note that our founders never wished America to be run by one branch of government or the church for that matter but rather by three branches. And only the office of the President is held by one individual while Congress, by its very name is a group of hopefully intelligent people to balance and check the other offices.

And my last ‘that said’ is one can only hope that our leaders will come to their senses soon and stop our downward spiral into total and abject stupidity within the halls of all government offices and agencies.

I would like to see one final flip flop and this time it would be toward actual compromised decisions and governance in the spirit of those wonderful words, “of the people, by the people and for the people.” For without ‘we the people’ what good is America?

Politics is The Same Everywhere

Nasty evil men used to stand in the shadows to do their dastardly deeds. They’d hide from the light of day and when caught they’d slither away. But it seems they all slithered to government.

They say all politics is local. That is true, but it’s also national and International and all of it is in dire need of fixing!

First local:

In Nassau on Long Island we are facing a $45M year end deficit that all sides claim is due to infighting. Republican county comptroller Mr. Maragos blames the shortfall on the minority Democrats failing to work with the current administration!

Does anyone sense a theme here?

Republican majority comptroller blames the Democratic minority for our woes on Long Island while in DC the Republican overall minority blames the Democratic majority for all the woes in the country!

So which is it gentlemen?

Clearly the Republican Party from local and all the way up to Federal levels wants it both ways and they want it at the expense of those who can least afford to pay.

At least on LI we must stop the finger pointing and start the handshaking! Get it done or get gone!

On Long Island they are in command but continue to give away the store to the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

At state level we see so many examples of new laws that border on draconian evil as to make us wonder what century we are living in, let alone year.

Women are just going to
line up for this procedure!

Rulings such as mandatory vaginal probes and ultrasounds if women of Virginia wish to avail themselves of a LEGAL abortion or even seek out medical advice are proof of a scary trend.

In Florida, Pennsylvania and many other states we see legitimate citizens being denied their Constitutional right to vote mainly because they are registered Democrats.

Of course the Republican governors of those medieval States claim possible voter fraud as the reason to target so many voters who coincidentally just happen to be Democrats.

But the fact that the instance of that type of fraud has been negligible for decades, unless you count their actions does not seem to enter into any argument.

And finally we come to the center of the web of evil, DC.

The minority Republicans continue to filibuster anything that might help the middle class while allowing the wealthy to continue their exorbitant and obscene existence.

On any given day you can witness one or more Republican Senator or Congressman trot himself out to a microphone and bemoan how President Barack Hussein Obama is handing the country over to one or another group that is out to kill us all and eat our babies.

Of course one Senator at least had the decency to proclaim that he would not do the job for which his constituents elected him. In January 2009 and continually since then he promised to do only one thing for four years, work his enormous tail and set of jowls off to see to it that President Obama would not get a second term.

It did not matter to this hypocrite whether or not Mr. Obama could be the best President the country ever had, he just wanted him out!

And the height of hypocrisy is the current Republican candidate for President, or as the media must call him until the convention, the Presumptive Nominee.

Presumptive is a great word for Willard Mitt Romney since he presumes to know what’s good for America all the while doing the opposite.

Textiles, my old industry is now a
mainstay everywhere
but in America

Would it be good to send American jobs to China?

Would it be good to take away affordable healthcare for Americans?

Would it be good for America to turn what’s left of our middle class into poverty level unemployed welfare cases?

And then would it be good to take away what rights the former middle class citizens still have so that they cannot vote anymore?

Would it be good for America to have you and your friends continue sending your vast wealth offshore so that you pay next to nothing in taxes to the country you claim to love so much?

Would it be good for America to turn over the keys to the United States of America to corporations in exchange for even more personal wealth?

Well the answer to that last question is one of the driving forces behind Mitt’s desire to be America’s first king!

The microcosm of government that is Long Island can show us a great deal about how politics works or does not but you have to view the large stage, the show that is Congress and the people who control it to get a real feel for how broken our system is.

And when I say the people who control Congress I am of course NOT speaking about the actual Congressmen and women we elected but rather the billionaires and special interest lobbies behind the curtain.

The unelected overlords who don’t even bother to whisper their demands in the ears of our elected leaders anymore are in full control of the country.

And with every bill, every decree, every law that is passed by DC we see the inequity of their choices.

When farm subsidies are altered so that only the wealthiest of corporate farms can benefit or when food stamp programs are cut and the savings handed over to those wealthy concerns we see the ugly underbelly that is Washington politics.

Or when big oil dumps millions of life killing barrels of Black Death into the Gulf of Mexico and gets nary a slap on the hand we see the long arm of special interest and the lack of power the individual has in his own life or livelihood.

They say in order to defeat corruption you must start by shining a light on it! We’re gonna need a bigger light!

Act - NOT!

We tend to revere actors and covet their notoriety. Celebrities are placed upon pedestals whether or not they are deserving of such praise.

Occasionally we ourselves listen to their opinions and may even change ours to mirror our celluloid heroes.

But one thing we must always remember, actors act. In fact the act of acting means doing something not essentially real.

The better the actor the more we forget they’re just acting!

We also use the word in many different ways.

For example when a director of a company or manager of a team steps down or is let go the person who succeed is known as an interim or acting manager.

In politics the word is generally used to define a law or at least a ‘sort of law.’ And by that I mean you may not risk jail time should you not agree and follow the act but there may be consequences.

A political act is nevertheless as close to law as you can get without having something written into the constitution.

Sadly in our currently divided divisive political climate words no longer have their usual and customary meanings. And the word ‘acting’ or just plain ‘act’ could in many cases be replaced by the slang expression, NOT as in "I really think you’re great, NOT!"

A prime example of this type of obfuscation and reverse usage of logic and fairness is DOMA.

For anyone who does not read or stay apprised of the world of politics and the conservative push against anything that might make the lives of Americans better DOMA stands for the Defense of Marriage Act.

But as the word 'NOT' implies DOMA is actually against marriage in that it seeks to limit the number of human beings being able to avail themselves of that peaceful union between two loving individuals. (Sorry Mitt but this is my post and therefore I am limiting marriage to two people.)

Seriously ladies, you do
know you married
outside your species!

In the case of DOMA proponents use hyperbole such as claiming to be worried that if they don’t act marriage could deteriorate into unions between people and say pigs.

This creature is far better
than
our Newtster!

(Some might argue that that has already happened and point to some women who have joined with political figures like Newt but I will not devolve into that herewith.)

Naturally humans are not generally lining up to marry other species and while it might be fun to posit otherwise this particular argument should not be allowed any quarter.

We as humans decide the laws by which we wish to be governed and in America, at least for now the will of the majority is given more weight.

And that brings me to act two.

With a recent, incredibly short-sighted and terribly wrong 'opinion' driven by political expediency and possible bribery the so-called Supreme Court of what used to be The United States of America decided to allow corporations all the rights of individual citizens.

This act is formally known as the Citizens United act or ruling.  And once again the words belie the meaning and 'NOT' could easily be added.

The word ‘Citizens’ implies individuals but in fact describes large multi-national faceless corporations with political agendas and the wherewithal to see to it that they get their way regardless of how many individual lives they ruin in doing so.

One of the first outcomes of what may prove to be our country’s worst era came last week when an entire state of wounded citizens (actual real people, not corporations) from Wisconsin tried to mobilize against the political machinery of the Conservative Koch brother billionaires and their cohorts to oust anti labor, anti-middle class, anti-human rights Governor Walker.

Naturally the people lost and whether or not they actually did lose or the vote was bought as has happened in the past is immaterial. What must be taken away from this debacle is that corporations are well on their way to taking control of the entire country.

How long before we see signs on Ellis Island touting America as a wholly owned subsidiary of Exxon Mobil, or some other obscenely wealthy profitable non-tax paying corporation?

One wonders if the ruling means the census is now incorrect and we must add many more people to the rolls.
Which State would get which corporation and how many more seats would that give them in the House?

I would like to know how an entire corporation gets into one of those tiny voting booths.

When a corporation goes bankrupt does it get on line at the unemployment office?

Of course the answer to those questions is moot since corporations are not people my friend but they do get their votes counted.  And those votes carry far more weight than any individual vote.

Okay, a vote is still a vote but when a corporation decides it wants one candidate or act to be placed into law they have tremendously large wallets from which to draw political capital and see to it that their side is the only side that gets heard.

Clout exists and whether or not we like to believe it money decides elections and elections turn countries around.

These are but two ‘acts’ that are changing life from reality into some irrational bizarro world run of, by, and for the wealthiest few.

But as all actors will say you must wait for the final curtain before understanding what the film was really about.

America has had more than its share of acts during our day on the world stage.

This country’s opening act saw a rather violent morning.

Our early afternoon act was somewhat violent as well but had long stretches of peace and prosperity.

Let’s learn from our yesterdays and not be headed toward dusty death.

This ancient Greek playwright
never met our Congress

As we move into late afternoon and on into evening let’s hope we can survive these actors, these poor players who now strut and fret their hours upon our stage; these idiots telling tales signifying nothing but doom until we can proudly say they will not be heard anymore!

As one who knew a thing or two about acting and actors, Sophocles once said, “One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day has been.”

So at the end of the day let’s unite and once again make America great for all real citizens!

Change the Past or the Future?

History is filled with ‘What Ifs.’

If you could go back in time and change things would you?

What if the Titanic had enough lifeboats to service all its  passengers?

What if the SS California had not turned off their wireless for the night and had actually heard the distress call from Titanic?

They were only a few miles away and easily could have arrived in time to save most of the passengers.

Sadly the engine crew probably would not have made it out but fifteen hundred others who died in the frigid waters of the north Atlantic would have reached America shaken and without their personal possessions but alive. 

I do not blame SS California for its failure as they did try to warn Titanic of iceberg dangers in the water but with so many wealthy people aboard the wireless operator was inundated with messages to send out and refused to listen to all else.

The Carpathia tried valiantly to get there in time but the laws of physics and liquid dynamics prevented them from doing so.

The Unsinkable Mollie Brown would not have been a film and when I visited her museum in Denver I would have been trespassing in someone’s home.

Science fiction writers have covered every topic of alternate endings or futures imaginable through the years with regards to titanic like events.

What if that asteroid did not kill off the dinosaurs?

Would mammals ever have survived and taken over the world?

What if that Jewish carpenters son was not murdered a couple of thousand years ago and allowed to continue talking about peace till old age took him?  Would any of us now remember his name?
What if women never got the vote or slavery was never abolished?
I should pause here so my Republican friends can wipe the smiles off their faces and stop daydreaming.

What if my high school Spanish teacher had not found that tiny piece of paper I hid under my butt?

History teaches us but do we learn?

History warns us but do we heed?

And with that in mind I turn your thoughts toward a topic that has polarized humanity for over half a century.

It's a hot button issue that’s guaranteed to start arguments and turn former likable actors into raving lunatics after being caught driving under the influence.

It’s also an event whose very existence has been denied by many who refuse to admit facts into their brains, most notably and dangerously the bearded ugly President of Iran.

What if Hitler had been stopped before killing so many Jews?

In other words, what if the Holocaust had never happened?

Before going further let me assure you that it did and I in no way shape or form am suggesting otherwise!

But what if?

First and foremost there would be many more Jews alive today, or at least I think so.

Steven Spielberg would still be making movies but only about aliens and Liam Neeson would have one less great role to point to.

There would be no Israeli state and the entire Middle East would be Arab territory with occasional visits by nomadic Jews.

The Bible toting radical Evangelicals would have to interpret the prelude to the Rapture in a different way.

And so many more consequences or threads leading from that horrible event that would or should not have happened that I am not smart enough to know or educe.

What I am trying to bring out is while it is romantic to think about how we would change the past given the opportunity we should face the reality that it cannot be done.

And it is entirely possible that while events of the past may have been terrible they are just that, in the past.

And rather than decry them forever we should learn from them and where possible make sure they never happen again.

For the most part we have made things better as a result of past disasters.

The likelihood of another cruise ship setting sail without sufficient lifeboats and trained personnel to load them is near zero.

We may not be able to do anything about an asteroid hitting our atmosphere in the future, sorry Mr. Willis but at least we will be well aware of it long before it does.

And I now know better ways to hide cheat sheets should the need ever arise.

But more to the point, will there be more atrocities in the future?

Will there be pain and suffering brought about by man’s inhumanity to man?

Will natural events such as tornadoes and hurricanes and earthquakes continue to destroy property and ruin lives?

The answer to these questions is undeniably yes!

Can we lessen their effect and mitigate the pain they cause?

The answer to this is also yes.

And the way to do this is through education.

We should embrace science and seek to understand more about our world and the natural forces that shape our very existence.

Closing our eyes to empirical fact is both ill advised and dangerous.

Religion and faith can coexist with science and education as long as the former does not attempt to supersede the latter and impede progress or muddy the waters.

What if we used religion only for personal inner peace and lost the need or desire to proselytize?

What if instead of trying to put the other guy down for personal or political gain our leaders started using their brains to work toward raising everyone up?

If we could admit that some of us have more than we will ever need even if we live to 200 then maybe we could selflessly work toward helping those of us who only have enough to reach next week and build a better future for all.

And if we did all this we might finally be able to lose the ‘What Ifs’ forever.

Republican Music 2012

With one debate after another this season of the Republican Primary has turned into a mass of blurry BS sprinkled with hypocritical hogwash aimed at bamboozling enough un and under educated voters as possible.
Sadly it has worked so far as the candidates who have dropped out of the race are not much worse than the ones remaining.
None of us are without faults but most of us don't lie for a living. Well I just lost any trial lawyers who read my blog.
As human beings many if not all of us have trouble remembering all the facts.
But it is equally true that when long pieces of information or soliloquies are put to music or placed in pleasing rhyme schemes they may become, well, memorable.
I was never in a Shakespeare play nor did I commit any of his works to memory but I can recite the "tomorrow and tomorrow..." piece as well as anyone this side of Richard Burton and friends.
So for the aid and assistance of those of you who's eyes have blurred and ears are aching listening to the phony rhetoric spewing from both sides of the mouths of the Republican Presidential hopefuls I offer four simple poetic (I hope) explanations of their character.
In no special order I give you:

The Song of Romney


I know I was flawed as my bank account soared

But don't expect a straight answer!

I made money hand over fist
And you who have clawed
To pay your room and board
Are surely at me quite pissed


But vote for me now and I'll show you how
To make all your small dreams come true
And this I here vow
if my fortune you allow
Past the tax code unscathed to sneak through

Hey Abbot

Newt's Plaint


I know I was harsh on old Bill
When his Presidency I tried to kill
Sure I too had a fling
But I gave her a ring
And next time and again I will!

Let me think - NOT GOV'TS JOB!

Ron Paul Bearer's Wish


Like Humpty upon his great wall
Should any of our poor people fall
If bones they do break
To the hospital take
Their own money, not mine AT ALL!


And finally:

Please God No!

Notes from the Inner Santorum


A woman's body's her temple
To be worshipped and honored and such
And all must follow MY example
Before marriage you never may touch


As for fetus and zygote and sperm
Between Bible and life there's no chasm
Presidents must decide for their term
When and where you may have your orgasm!



I hope these little ditties make it easier for all voters when they pull that important lever come November.  America's future rests in their hand heaven help us!