God Loves Tebow and Bowls are a joke

Look at this line...You can't tell me God doesn't love Tebow. He puts this crap up and still "leads" Denver to the playoffs.


Denver C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT NFL RATING

Tebow 6/22 60 2.7 0 1 20.6

Someone at work was lamenting the loss of "College bowl tradition" because games were on Jan. 2 and not the first. I laughed. When the Rose Bowl stopped being Pac10 v Big10 champ every year tradition died. I was watching the "Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl" or something to that effect and they referred to the "tradition" of that game. I literally laughed out loud to myself. Bowl games have become so ridculous like UCLA not being bowl eligible (6-7 record) and appealing to get into a bowl and losing to a team that also just fired their coach. Stupid. But today all is better, with real bowl games that we've heard of before.

Go Ducks

Clearly God Loves Tebow

After the BS of today's game God clearly loves Tebow and/or hates Marion Barber.  There is no way that a guy can continue to put zero points on the board for 50 minutes and continue to win football games without divine intervention.  

Although if I was a Christian I might find it offensive that Tebow is praying to God (full kneel, eyes closed) for a field goal.  If  your relationship with God is so strong you'd think that your God would have better things to do than assure that you win a football game.  A game.  How does that prayer go.

"Dear God, I know you're really busy controlling everything in the universe but could make sure my team wins this game and the other team of guys just like us loses.  Thanks" 

The congressional war on childhood nutrition

Seriously Republicans. How does childhood nutrition turn into a way to make political points? I guess it's a twofer for them. ConAgra gets what it wants and Michelle Obama doesn't.

You really gotta wonder if they care about ANYTHING except getting relected and screwing Obama. Didn't they all say they were going to make America better? Improving nutrition for kids seems pretty basic. But I guess if it's not a fetus, they don't give a shit about it.

The congressional war on childhood nutrition

That GOP hypocrisy that we love so much

it's not about behaving morally, ethically or hell even like a decent human being, it's about imposing your program on others in the name of family while you fail your own.  Like Newt's adultery and failed marriages.  These guys can't meet their own personal obligations or even a basic standard of morality, but they'll sure as hell impose those same standards on you BY LAW.

http://salon.com/a/sUxGbAA

Clearly the product of a racist and left wing media, right?

http://scoop.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/04/8632586-justin-bieber-says-theres-no-truth-to-those-baby-daddy-rumors

Why no outrage over this ?  Why are Rush and Hanitty silent  on this?  After all it's only a racist and left wing media that would cover such allegations.

Why Obama is losing my support

Today Obama's Justice Department announced it was going after California Pot dispensaries, something I'd expect from the Bush administration (the irony of his Justice Dept going after legal activities protected by States laws was one of the most ironic for the States rights/small government GOP, but I digress).  The economy is in the shitter and he's decided he's going to hassle pot smokers.  Un Freakin Belieavable.  This is added to the long list of Bush policies and practices he's continued and even expanded.  Guantanamo is still open, we're still losing troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (when do we "win" in Afghanistan...a question I asked of the Bushies 4 years ago), he's deported MORE people than Bush. So, even while he's acting more like than BUSH than Bush did, he's derided as soft on these issues.  He's supposedly soft on terror, yet he was Pres when bin Laden was killed.  Remember when those Navy Seals killed the pirates a few years ago.  he's been a bad ass, but he'll never get the support of those who want that stuff and call him soft on terror and immigration.  So, he continues to appease the right with half hearted measures to mitigate the damage from his efforts and gets not credit from them, while the center and left sees each appeasement as a betrayal of what we voted for.  Calling him a socialist is laughable, Bush was more about expanding Federal power and influence in our lives (wiretapping , drug bill, TSA anyone).  So, as Obama continues to play to the far right with half measures and justifications, he's pretty close to losing me. 
Hell, I'm not likely to vote for any of the nut jobs running for the GOP nomination, but if a Democrat with some balls were to step up, I might be swinging my support that way. 
Obama hasn't turned out to be the guy I voted for and maybe no one ever is but his reversals and justifications simply are too many to forget at this point. 

"On God's time"?

I'm sorry for their loss, but I just have to comment on this lunacy. So, here's the quote that is ridiculous and the true believers won't see anything wrong with it...

"The heart of the issue would come down to the mix between respecting the parents' rights ... to be in comfort of (their) own home, to die on God's time," said Fedor.

So, this child becomes an "international" story b/c the Canadian doctors wouldn't perform a specific medical intervention, so the parents then get a hospital to do that intervention so the kid can "die on God's time"...say wha?  


If left in "God's hands" this child would have died months ago, MEDICINE kept this child alive beyond what nature or God would have allowed or intended.  If the parents were really concerned with God's time they would have not done the extra interventions that kept him alive a few months longer.  Those extra months were thanks to Modern Science, not God.  


I've got NO problem with the parents seeking alternative medical advice or getting the specific modern scientific medical intervention they felt was necessary, but please don't suggest this death was on God's time.  Science prolonged his life beyond what would have been possible in a place without modern medicine or at a time only decades ago.  

Small Government

I guess it's the Libertarian side of me that must ask again tonight, is there anything more intrusive, onerous, invasive that a government can do than kills its citizens?

Why is it that the people who are supposedly most against government intrusion in our lives completely, 100% support that same government taking our lives?  It doesn't seem to jibe.

Thank you R.E.M.

Warning: Waxing Nostalgic to follow...My best friend Steve from High School and REM are probably most responsible for showing me there was music beyond Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles (and whatever else 95X and 94Rock played) so this news has bummed me out more than I would have expected.  I didn't always like what they were doing ("Shiny Happy People" remains one of the worst songs ever) but I still get excited to hear "Superman" or "Pretty Persuasion" on the (satellite)radio. it's sad to see them go.  Hopefully they don't turn into the Eagles and do a reunion/farewell tour every 18 months.

Pat Robertson: ok with changing the "inviolate" word of God AND the institution of Marriage if it's convenient

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44530424/ns/health-alzheimers_disease/


For a man who has claimed repeatedly to talk directly and receive direction from God, this is a pretty big revision right? Seems like a pretty sizable departure from that "sickness and health" thing. I suppose that sacred bond doesn't apply if your spouse gets too frustrating to deal with, right? What are the other exceptions to this sacred marriage bond?

I've been hearing for the past few years that this concept of lifelong commitment to marriage is unbreakable and unchanging, but does this mean that Pat's OK with changing this supposedly UNCHANGING concept of marriage? Seems to me if you can divorce your spouse if they get inconveniently sick or a burden it would open up other changes to this supposedly unchangeable institution.

Reflections on an unchanged America

10 years ago today we heard, and we continue to hear, how "America changed forever".  The spirit of cooperation and unity as Americans that we all felt on that day lasted about 3 months.  We are country divided more than I can ever remember in my lifetime.  Large and vocal segments of this country drive the debate in the country, not about policy but about whether the President is American enough to even be here.  With accusations of him being Muslim (which after 9/11 has been code for, at worst "terrorist" and at best "Un-american".  There is no "one America" today.  Nothing has changed.  Sure you take your shoes off at the airport, but day to day the vast majority of Americans lives have not changed. Unless you know someone who died on 9/11 or your a soldier, or soldiers family you're life is pretty much the same as it was on Sept 10th 2001.  The lessons of that day are lost, the unity and One America are long gone.  The GOPs front runner is a guy who a year or so ago claimed that he didn't like America enough that he entertained the idea of taking his state and leaving the country.  A road we've been down before.  Can you imagine a governor saying that 10 years ago?

America's politics is broken, a state of paralysis exists in Washington and in my state Capitals.  I think we all felt a new hope for America after 9/11.  A time that America would change for the better, where being American would take precedence over petty political bullshit.  Look at Washington today, is that what you see?  Politicians don't care about America, they care about being re-elected (at worst they care about getting that "Muslim/socialist/fascist/communist/Nazi/black guy" out of office.  Scoring politic points is WAY more important than making this country better.

So, 10 years after 9/11 I'm doubly sad.  For the lives lost and changed 10 years ago today and for the opportunity squandered by the political and business leaders and opportunists of this country.

More on Gov Perry's hypocrisy

Perry is completely against Government imposing health care on citizens, except when he's for it.


http://www.slate.com/id/2303363/

Gov Perry who hates America so much he thinks his state should leave the UNION and hates government handouts...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44441386/ns/weather/


Did you see Mr. Tea Party begging the Feds for money to help fight fires in his state? I guess his small government principles (and of course his burning desire to secede from the Union) only apply when politically expedient.

Funny how things hit you

It's been a year and a half since a friend of mine committed suicide.  And tonight while I was folding clothes, of all things, I got mad at him for doing it.  Of course, at the time there was the "I can't believe he'd do it" and "I had no idea he was in trouble".  I didn't.  We hadn't talked in a few months, but I still considered him a mentor, one of the funniest people I knew and mostly a friend. He was one of the first people who ever said to me that he saw potential in me, he always would joke that someday he'd be working for me.  I always brushed that aside as so much bullshiting around, but inside I think I believed that he believed it. Although, I'd never admit that to myself (until just now).  Anyway, I've had a pretty good year and I've had some successes in my professional career and damn it I want him to say "see, I told you".  I want him to be proud of me.  I want him to say it in his way, because he was such a big part of my starting down this path.  But Goddammit he's not here to say anything.
I wish I'd known, I wish someone knew.  I wish he could have reached out to someone, he had people that loved him dearly and would have done anything for him if we knew he was in trouble.  I would have.
I'm mad at him, but I miss him more.

"Best healthcare in the world" or maybe Waffle Houses aren't the best place for birthin'

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/31/u-s-ranks-low-for-newborn-survival/?hpt=hp_t2

In a 20 year analysis of newborn death rates around the world, the study published in PLoS Medicine revealed the number of infants who die  before they are 4 weeks old account for 41% of child deaths worldwide.  Newborn deaths in the United States ranked 41 out of 45 among industrialized countries, on par with Qatar and Croatia.

I know, Facts are unpatriotic and hate America, but nonetheless. 

And another headline from Today, maybe if we did our birthin near medical facilities?

http://www.wave3.com/story/15371718/woman-gives-birth-outside-waffle-house

but apparently this is pretty standard in the south...here's another WaffleHouse baby from 2009

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/20016659/detail.html

The classic NON apology apology

"SOME" people find offensive...really?  This is the classic non-apology.  As in... "I"m sorry for YOU being upset by the terrible things I said or did.  I'm not sorry for my actions, but that it bothered you, because what I did or said, is still ok in my mind, I'm just apologizing that YOU got upset.  Really, this is your problem, not mine.  In fact, I'm sorry you're a whiney baby"

Washington (CNN) - A member of Congress has apologized after saying that being associated with President Barack Obama would be similar to touching a "tar baby."




Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado, sent a letter to Obama "apologizing for using a term some find insensitive," he said in a statement Monday

No jokes today about the absurdity of global warming today Fox "news"???

One of my favorite childish asinine things all the Fox people do, including those supposedly editorial neutral "news" people on in the morning is mock the notion of global warming every time it snows or it gets below freezing.  You've seen it, with their childish smirks "so much for global warming...ha ha ha".

Why no snarky comments this summer, with the record heat...and this.  Sean?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/01/us.record.drought/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1

Why no Jokes Now Sean Hannity?

Why no joking this week about how ridiculous Global Warming is this week?  They do it every time it snows as if that's proof that there is no warming, I guess this week reaches that same level of proof.  Except for most people aren't idiots and know that a snow storm or a hot weather event aren't proof of anything.  No doubt the Fox audience doesn't know the difference, but it's been repeatedly proven that Fox viewers are the most poorly informed.  That would be funny, except for you get the impression that the Hannity's and Beck's of Fox know their audience is that gullible and use it to their own personal financial advantage.

Netflix price increases...It's still a great deal

I think we've all gotten a little spoiled. Remember when DRIVING to Blockbuster to rent from their lame inventory to spend $3/movie for 3 days, or 1 day for a new release? Netflix has nearly every movie ever made on DVD, the streaming catalog is good, but it has huge gaps and with the studios playing hardball there will be fewer titles OR it's going to get more expensive (remember people Netflix is paying the studios and companies like SONY are looking at 10x price increases to Netflix...who do you think is going to pay for that?).




Redbox is cute, but again now I'm picking up and dropping off movies. With a two DVD plan and Streaming I can watch a couple of dozen movies a month. Well under a dollar a piece and I'm not driving to Walmart or the 7-11 to chose from the few dozen movies that are in a Redbox. Based on selection, convenience and price Netflix is still a steal if your a movie fan who is interested in movies beyond the latest blockbuster. It's funny that people are expecting prices to stay the same AND get a wider selection of streaming titles. Look at the enviornment Netflix operates in, they aren't raising prices to increase revenue (solely), the cost of doing business is going up thanks to the studios. I guess you cancel your account in disgust, and go see your movies at the theater. What's that run you about 3-4 months of netflix after the increase? Even at $16/month you can watch a LOT of movie for the price of 5 gallons of gas or 4 Lattes from Starbucks. Everyone hates price increases, but come on people think.

Clown - Brewer's office knew, but she didn't?

I so won't miss this clown's behavior or most of the politicians in this backwards state.  She tries to make Napolitano look bad only to make herself look like an idiot.  Even if she wasn't informed, she's the one who has apparently surrounded herself with incompetent oafs who don't think they need to tell the Governor things.  


Instead of trying to make political hay out of this, she should be asking why her deputies don't inform her of things like this, which should be there main job.  

God's Plan?

Josh Hamilton says God has a plan.  Does that mean he is God's vessel by throwing that ball when he did and where he did in accordance with God's desire to take a father from his son while that son watches?  

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/08/josh-hamilton-talks-about-thursdays-accident/related/

Absolutely. I haven’t yet. I’m going to give this situation time to, you hate to think sink in, but I can’t imagine what they’re going through right now. I can’t imagine. All I can think about is praying for them and knowing that God has a plan. You don’t always know what that plan is when those things happen, but you will.

Pryor quits...Can Oregon have that Rose Bowl Trophy?

Pryor quits…




http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/06/07/terrelle-pryors-career-at-ohio-state-over/related



I think that Rose Bowl trophy will look good in the Caz center. Pryor/Tressel/etc’s crimes should call into question most of their wins over the past few years. So, if USC is losing titles, why not Ohio St?



Not even talking about that joke of a punishment that let Pryor and his buddies play in the Sugar Bowl last season on the PROMISE that they’d serve suspensions this year. Seems to me that they need to give the Sugar Bowl trophy back too.



In case you forgot

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/tag/_/name/2011-sugar-bowl-coverage

Really? Are you so fired up about this? Should you be?

Well put by Steve Rushin

This about how I feel. So what? Does this surprise anyone? This is happening everywhere. Stupid rules (NCAA football has cornered market on stupid rules and hypocrisy) will be broken (again and again...be carefu... the school you love is probably doing it too). And no I don't care if Lance Armstrong took PEDs, you ever pedal through the Allps for a couple hundred miles? Red Bull ain't gonna cut it. Everyone needs to save their selective indignation for something that matters. 

This week in Republicans

This guy is pretty awesome.

Minister to state legislature: Obama's no Christian!

Love the family values that the Right's once hero, Schwarzenegger, exhibited over the past few years (you LOVED it when he was running, he was going to fix California...how'd that turn out?  Any different than the course it was on when they recalled Davis?).  Nice work.  Republican family values apparently include creating extra families without your wife.  Sweet

Speaking of adulterers, I can't believe how quickly your people spit out Newt Gingrich.  I heard two Republicans today claim that his candidacy is over already.  WOW.  All he did was point out the truth about Ryan's version of social engineering of health care.  

Disappointed in NPR's actions

NPR's behavior of getting rid of their executives today for expressing carefully edited and manipulated opinions shows a cowardice that gives it's opponents exactly the leverage it wants to further attack it.  Saying that tea partiers are racist and crazy is not radical idea, a lot of people think it.  By giving into this manipulation is concedes that they did something wrong.  NPR should have stood up and fought it or probably more effectively they could have ignored it.  Adulterers and criminals can attack NPR with some sort of moral superiority they believe in and their minions believe in, but NPR cowers and caves within hours.

I don't even remotely buy that NPR is biased.  The ALWAYS have opposing viewpoints...ALWAYS.  they try so hard to be fair that they end up putting more conservatives on the air.  I heard a bit this morning where some guy was defending Peter King's Islam hearings, there was no other person there, pointing out that for years King support terrorism in Ireland or that by continuing to kick Muslims that you further radicalize them, King plays into the hand of the radicals by treating Muslims as second class citizens, but NPR didn't present that truth...ONLY the King view.  Bias my ass.

Man up NPR and instead of conceding with all the bravery of a mouse, defend yourself.  Show the truth, show your neutrality, use data (it will be lost on the people who hate you b/c facts never get in the way of a firmly held Fox-given belief).  Stand up, it's the one thing that middle America understands.  Newt Gingrich can blame his infidelities on his patriotism and people will eat it up, surely NPR can stand up for truth.

Why is MSM talking in whispers about this story?

Why the mainstream media near silence on this? It's buried on all the news sites, you can be damn sure if it was someone who wasn't a in his demographic, it would be everywhere. Is it because it's a neo-nazi, hit a little too close to home for the tea party? I went to Fox News, who has a big thing for terrorism but their HUGE headline is about NPR.


So, much for a liberal bias in the media.

This is real terrorism, perpatrated by groups who are dangerous.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/us/10bomb.html

We distort, You blindly accept

There is a WHOLE real world going on outside the made up world created by the Republicans and Fox "news", considering their viewers will never know about the truth of what's going on in the world is my duty as an American to shed light where there is only darkness...you're welcome:

As Media Matters noted, on March 3, 2011, Fox News used footage shot by a local Wisconsin photographer to falsely label Wisconsin union protesters as "violent." The video showed protesters confronting Republican State Senator Glenn Grothman as he attempted to enter the Wisconsin capitol building. Although the video clearly showed no violence being committed, and in fact, the protesters breaking into chants of "peace" and "peaceful," Fox falsely depicted the crowd as "violent protesters," and an "angry union mob," who "ambush[ed]" Grothman.

In a statement to Media Matters, Phil Ejercito, the photographer who shot the video, responded, slamming Fox News' distortion of his material:

...

Let there be no ambiguity: I condemn the use of my work to distort the truth about the spirited but non-violent protests here in Madison. I believe that this is a genuinely dangerous narrative that Fox News is helping to create. Prior to Gov. Walker's Feb. 11 unveiling of his budget repair bill, the last time a Wisconsin governor invoked the National Guard in response to labor, seven demonstrators were shot dead in front of the Bay View Rolling Mill. I am deeply disturbed to consider that my work is being misused to establish a fictional narrative of violence by the working families of Wisconsin, and I encourage people to watch the entire clip on YouTube for themselves to understand the full context and decide for themselves what truthfully took place.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201103040013

Because the media never follows up on the truth after the lies make a media splash

So, I figured I'd help educate rather than have anyone continue to spout data that has been proven to be wrong:

 

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/03/phoenix_police_finally_admits.php

 

And one of the stories that led to the admission:

 

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/02/new_times_review_of_phoenix_ki.php

 

Phoenix police reported that there were 358 kidnapping calls in their community during 2008, and that a majority of them were linked to drug and human smuggling across the Arizona-Mexico border.

In recent months, Phoenix police union leaders have raised questions about the veracity of those statistics. And while they promulgate doubt, City Manager David Cavazos, Police Chief Jack Harris and Mayor Phil Gordon continue to dismiss concerns that kidnapping statistics are inaccurate or intentionally inflated. 

A New Times analysis of 264 of the 358 reported kidnappings shows that only about one out of every four incidents labeled as kidnappings in 2008 appeared connected to border-related crimes.

Chief Harris had agreed to discuss the kidnapping statistics with New Times, but a few days later, a police spokesman said that Harris was going to pass on the interview. 

Police officials say they aren't commenting because of an ongoing audit of those statistics by the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General.

New Times reviewed 264 police reports on a list of 2008 kidnappings -- a list generated and released by the Phoenix Police Department. While all 358 reports on that list are titled "Kidnapping," at least 53 of the actual police reports do not have the same title.

For instance, 24 of the police reports were titled armed robberies or extortions, 7 were listed as aggravated assaults and 8 were classified as possible violations of federal immigration laws. The labels on 14 other reports included a suspicious person, non-aggravated assault and robbery without a weapon.

...

But, of the 264 available police reports reviewed by New Times, only 64 incidents had discernible ties to human smuggling and kidnapping. That means thatPhoenix was dealing with Mexican-style kidnap-for-ransom cases an average of once a week, not daily. 

...

On May 13, 2008, a 20-year-old man attacked his ex-girlfriend after she drove to his apartment complex to pick up money that he owed her. When she arrived, he got into her truck and they spoke for a few minutes. 

He asked her for a kiss, and she said no. Her refusal angered him, and he grabbed a fistful of her hair, and then her throat when she started screaming. She tried to get herself and her child out of the car, but he got a hold of her shirt, ripped it along with the purse she was holding. He forced her to stay inside the car for more than half an hour before she eventually escaped.

She reported the crime to police the following day. Cops drove to his apartment, he admitted the attack on his ex and was arrested. 

The single-day investigation did not require intensive resources and the nonstop involvement of 60 specially-trained police officers and detectives, but it is among those 358 kidnapping cases purportedly assigned to specially-trained police squads. 

Another report, this one dated March 21, 2008, notes an early morning call from the Blessed Sacrament Church to Phoenix police. A priest told police he received an e-mail from someone threatening to kill him if he didn't pay $15,000. He said he had no idea who sent it. 

Cops went to the church, picked up the e-mail and logged the incident as DR 2008-80486550, a five-sentence departmental report labeled, "Extortion."

The single-page report from 2008 makes no mention of any harm coming to the priest, or of anyone being kidnapped. Nevertheless, it ended up on the list of kidnappings in that year

No doubt the right wing still thinks this is a "tough stance" on illegals

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110302/ts_yblog_thelookout/proposed-texas-immigration-law-contains-convenient-loophole-for-the-help

George Will disappoints with a ridiculous critique of "progressives"

Will: 

'Forever seeking Archimedean levers for prying the world in directions they prefer, progressives say they embrace high-speed rail for many reasons—to improve the climate, increase competitiveness, enhance national security, reduce congestion, and rationalize land use. The length of the list of reasons, and the flimsiness of each, points to this conclusion: the real reason for progressives’ passion for trains is their goal of diminishing Americans’ individualism in order to make them more amenable to collectivism.


To progressives, the best thing about railroads is that people riding them are not in automobiles, which are subversive of the deference on which progressivism depends. Automobiles go hither and yon, wherever and whenever the driver desires, without timetables. Automobiles encourage people to think they—unsupervised, untutored, and unscripted—are masters of their fates. The automobile encourages people in delusions of adequacy, which make them resistant to government by experts who know what choices people should make.'

The right seem to be talking out of both sides of your arse (again). So “progressives” who are all about shattering the status quo and improving the station of everyone, hate cars because they allow people to shatter the status quo and empower people to be mobile? If two people get together on the lawn of the Wisconsin State House they’re animals and rioters, as they fight for their rights that the Koch Brothers and the puppet governor try to strip their rights (protestors who work to be the “masters of their fates”, demand that they be seen as “adequate” , for their voices to be heard while the billionaires who stand to gain and the politicians who do their bidding ignore that adequacy and ability to shape their own fates, nay belittle the very act of demanding they be seen as adequate”)


Progressives who believe completely in the power of PEOPLE to change the world, hate that people are empowered?

While, Conservatives who hate change anything, keep the little people in their place so that the powerful can maintain their wealth and power are now the supporter of change and the little guy. They throw rhetorical tidbits to the ignorant to make them believe they’re on the side, just long enough to get elected and then they raise taxes for 98% of us and give the SuperRich more of the goodies. It’s really sad how gullible most “Republicans” are to this.

You can make the case that rail is a huge waste of money, but Mr. Will is overreaching and fails miserably to make some anti-progressive point here. Laughably fails. I expect a lot better from Will. 

Democracy comes from within

Years ago, I told my Bushie friends that you can't impose democracy on another nation at the end of a gun, it has to come from within.  But, Bush went ahead and tried to impose something like democracy on Iraq with pretty mixed results.  One despot was removed, but with tens of thousands dead and in it's wake a nearly failed state, with constant terrorism and foreign nations still with troops on the ground to maintain this imposed "democracy".

Turn to 2011 and people rising up in Tunisia and  Egypt and now Bahrain and Libya and protests in other places as well.  Why are we seeing this now instead of immediately after the fall of Saddam?  Because you can't impose democracy on other nations, and when it comes from within like all successful democracy movements others under the thumb of despots are emboldened to change their situations as well.  So, they take to the streets when they see the power of people in neighboring nations, NOT when they see the power of the United States military.  They know that democracy isn't granted by the weapons of Western nations, they know it comes from themselves.  It is only THE PEOPLE who can change their own government.  They learned from the US Revolution, the French revolution, from Gandhi who demanded change for themselves and made it happen.

I hope that the spirit of democracy continues through the world and extends to other places.  I hope that the military leadership supports that spirit, but I'm not confident that we'll see exact repeats of how the Egyptian military responded and we're already seeing  a different response in Libya and Bahrain.  I hope the Egyptian military supports more democracy and we can't get pissed off if democracy leads to Islamic leadership (they're Muslims after all who else would they elect???), but military leadership of countries doesn't have the best track record for non-oppression.  Hopefully the Egyptian military returns power to civilians and that government is interested in serving the best interests of the people and not simply enriching themselves.

Best of Luck to everyone fighting for democracy around the world

Some more truth about the Reagan Mythology

Now that the Right has conceded that Reagan had nothing to do with the fall of USSR and that it was the Soviet Space program that was responsible while Reagan was still a B-movie actor, SAG president and host of a TV show, here some forgotten reality about his "small government, fiscal responsibility" silliness.

http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2011/02/04/david_stockman_and_ronald_reagan/index.html

From David Stockman- Reagan's 1st Budget Director:

The Reagan Revolution was a Lincoln Day Dinner speech. It never happened in the real world of fiscal policy. During the 1980's, Big Government got bigger and the Federal tax burden was just shuffled, not reduced. The main fiscal legacy of the Reagan era is that the Federal debt was raised from $1 trillion to $3 trillion. Unfortunately, when the economy rebounded after Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker's conquest of runaway inflation, Republicans embraced the dangerous shibboleth that deficit-financed tax cuts are good for growth.

The reason spending went up is that there was no reform of the big entitlements like Social Security and Medicare and not a single department or function of government was eliminated.... Further, many of the initial cuts in discretionary programs were restored over the years, and the cost of interest on the ballooning Federal debt rose significantly.

The tax burden rose during the Reagan era as well. Specifically, when Reagan left office Federal taxes accounted for 18.4 percent of GDP -- a figure slightly higher than the 1960-80 average of 18.0 percent. More importantly, nearly half of the massive 1981 tax reduction -- festooned as it was with every manner of special interest tax breaks that K-Street lobbyists could conjure -- was recouped during the next four years in a series of annual deficit reduction bills that a bi-partisan majority was able to persuade the President to sign.

At the end of the day, during the 1980s income tax rates were lowered, the tax base was broadened through loop-hole closing and the 1986 tax reform act and the payroll tax was raised by a full percentage point of GDP as part of the 1982 Social Security rescue plan. On net, however, there was no reduction in the total Federal tax burden during the Reagan era. What survived was an anti-tax religious catechism which has left the country with two free lunch parties and no prospect of responsible fiscal governance.

Another married straight parent in Florida kills her kids

We always hear that gays can't marry because of the harm it will do to children (although marriage and adoption/child rearing are different things conflated by the homophobe crowd), but it's seems that it's always straight people that are torturing and murdering their kids.

Conservative says Tea Partyers are "irrational" and "ignorant"

http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2011/01/05/bruce_bartlett_on_tea_party_monumental_insanity/index.html

Bruce Bartlett is a historian whose résumé includes stints as a domestic policy advisor during the Reagan administration and a Treasury official under George H.W. Bush. 

Money Quote: The problem is that the Tea Partyers are nuts. That is my point. They are irrational, they are ignorant, they don't know anything about financial markets and they think that they are standing up for God and the balanced budget.

OK, I'll stop

(hey, you see George Will said Sarah Palin is unelectable?)

ok, stopping for real.  

How you like Scott Brown now, right wingers?

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/us_senate/index.html?story=/news/feature/2010/12/18/dont_ask_dont_tell_repealed

I remember hearing his election was a watershed moment for turning back progress (or progressives as you call them) but it looks like America will join the rest of our allies in letting gays serve openly in the military instead of in secret. 

Rollins has problems with Palin too...boy they're coming out of the woodwork now

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/12/01/rollins.palin/index.html?hpt=T2

 Ed Rollins, .... He was White House political director for President Ronald Reagan and chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Taking our ball and going home or We really aren't serious about all the deficit reduction talk that got us elected

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101201/ap_on_go_co/us_democrats_lame_duck_politics




So, these tax cuts that have been in place for years didn't stop 10% unemployment and the worst recession since the 1930s, what proof is there that extending them won't prolong a shitty economy, it didn't prevent one.

A middle finger from Jesus

It's clear that Palin can't even teach the slightest amount of decorum to her own children (oh yeah, and stop them from getting pregnant when they're 16 and living under her roof) but she's going to tell America how to live (Why is the right so ok with a Palin being an unwed teenage mother, they hate that stuff when it's poor people or minorites). See the other daughter's anti-gay rants on Facebook from last week. Clearly they stay on message when there are handlers around for People Magazine interviews, but off the cuff the reality comes out.


CLASSY

Just like Jesus said:

Palin, 20, the daughter of conservative politician Sarah Palin who reached the finals despite get low judges' scores for six weeks, said on Wednesday that prayer had got her through the controversy, which included an anthrax scare on the set.

"It is faith that got me through this and just praying all the time and just relying on God and knowing that He is on our side and we'll get through this," Palin told People magazine.

But in a comment on Tuesday's broadcast, Palin said winning the contest and the glitzy mirrorball trophy "would be a great middle finger to all the people who hate my mom and me."

The Queen of the Tea Party holds court on our North Korean "allies"

This woman wants to be President, (even though she's afraid of Katie Curic...imagine how scared she'd be of someone like Putin)


These words are sheer genius...thanks for the insight (even if she can't form a complete sentence)...I guess this is all Bush's fault...he had 8 years and did NOTHING about N Korea, right?

Sarah Palin is asked by Glenn Beck on his radio show what we should do about the current North Korea crisis:

“Well, North Korea, this is stemming from I think, a greater problem when we’re all, you know, sittin’ around askin’, ‘Oh, no, what are we gonna do,’ and we’re not having a lotta faith that the White House is gonna come out with a strong enough policy to sanction what it is North Korea is gonna do, so this speaks to a bigger picture that certainly scares me in terms of our national security policy, but obviously some stand with our North Korean allies we’re bound to by freedom; we’re also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies. And to my North Korea, well, we’re not gonna reward bad behavior and we’re not gonna walk away and we do need to press China to do more to improve pressure on North Korea.”

As the Tea Party begins it's journey toward continued irrelevance

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/17/how-gm-ipo-proves-the-tea-party-wrong.html





http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/11/17/5483303-ap-calls-it-for-murkowski

Rubio just another GOPer

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/11/14/20101114rubio1114.html

 

The other day, when I pointed out the utter failure of most big name Tea Partiers on election day, my old Bushie buddy, who now fancies himself a tea partier, he claimed Rubio was a signature win.  This article makes the point I attempted to make, but much better. 

Juan William doesn't know what "censorship" is?

Juan (who's had the quickest most lucrative firing in the history of broadcasting) claims that his firing by NPR was censorship.  Shouldn't a journalist know what censorship is?  Saying things that piss of your employer causing them to fire you is THE FREE MARKET, it's not censorship.  His words weren't censored by a government he was fired for saying something stupid "I think all Muslims are terrorists".  That's dumb and probably not something a person should say if they want to keep their journalism job.

But the Fox Right Wing Nuts are having a field day, but I wonder why when they were screaming for Helen Thomas to be fired for commenting on the foreign policy of a country (remember she never said "Jews scare me", she spoke about Israel's foreign policy) they didn't care about free speech then?  Why silent when Rick Sanchez was fired?  When  Peter Arnett was fired for speaking out against the Iraq war...they didn't care then.

It seems to me that the Fox/Right Wing/GOP stance is Free Speech only applies to saying shitty things about Muslims.  But you damn well not say anything bad about Israel or a Republican politician.

Freakin hypocrites.

The best the GOP has to offer?

This is the best the GOP has to offer? You'd think the Republican nominee for Senate would be at least casually familiar with the 1st Amendment, especially when she's always wrapping herself up in the document.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miwSljJAzqg&feature=player_embedded

Seriously, what is it with the "tea party" candidates. Paladino in NY. You've got the fake Doctor in Rand Paul, The Thug up in Alaska using the military to detain American Journalists on American Soil at public events, California's tough on immigration candidate who employs illegal immigrants, crazy lady in Nevada and the most sad of all, O'Donnell in DE.

Seriously is the the best the GOP has to offer? This group of clowns will be the further undoing of the GOP. At least Rove had the balls to say that about O'Donnell. No Republican can think this is good for the Party.

My (humble) review of "Let the Great World Spin" Colum McCann

I'll start by saying I don't feel qualified to "review" a book like this, don't have the training, the education or well-read enough. I don't even read a lot of Modern fiction, but I've read everything McCann has published, except "Zoli". So, I'm very much a fan of his writing.


Also, I think many of us like to believe we have a book or two in us, especially when you see what passes for writing these days and even more so when you know who gets book deals. I know I've thought, "Maybe I could do this", but then you read a book like "Let the Great World Spin" and realize "I could never do THIS". It's just so well done that it makes you not want to attempt it because you know you could never achieve something like this even if I had the discipline to start and finish the effort.

This book is extremely well-written as are McCann's other books. I've always loved his descriptions of everyday things and scenes, he does in a way that make images so vivid and real but without cliche and in such a manner that you've heard before.

What captured me most about this book was the creative and inventive story-telling. Sometimes the genius of the story-telling made me pause and I had to leave the narrative to contemplete the brilliance of the ideas within the story. To sit up and say "jesus, that's brilliant". I loved the characters, even when I didn't "like" the characters.

It is one of those books where you wish there was more because you enjoyed the journey so much you don't want it to end.

Why I'm still not buying a Kindle

Recently read an article complaining about prices for new eBooks and how publishers had become greedy and were running the risk of putting off adoption. This is a great example.

An electronically delivered eBook costs next to NOTHING to produce, no printing costs, no transportation, virtually zero storage costs (probably less than a penny for server storage space maybe???), yet this book is only 80 cents less than the hardcover book. A book I could later sell and even if I only got a $1 for it I come out ahead.

I don’t buy the idea that I’m going to pay for the privilege of carrying around a Kindle instead of a real book, even if I can carry 25 books on it (how many books do people read at a time anyway?).

Until publishers get less greedy, out of principle I could very well put off my purchase of a Kindle

Cover Songs

I think I rant about this from time to time, but it's apparently important to me.  COVER SONGS.  I love a great cover song and I've been putting together some rules about music in general (10 year statute of limitations for ALL bands for example) for the folks at work, but the Cover song rule is easy. 

MAKE YOUR VERSION OF THE SONG YOUR OWN.

This was brought home most recently in the course of a day in listening to Sirius in the truck.  Exhibit A- Devo's version of "Satisfaction".  Not my favorite cover song, but I"m not a big Devo Devotee (ha) but that song is their own.  it is the epitome of a great cover song.  They made a Stones Classic into their own.  It's recognizable which is part of it, but making it their own ...damn it it sounds like a Devo song.  You know it's Devo, not jsut from the voice, but the whole sound.

Exhibit B- 10,000 Maniacs Doing "Because the night" a near note for note cover indistinguishable from the Patti Smith version.  WHY FREAKING BOTHER?  Is it to prove you can read music and simulate the exact notes and sounds of another artist...NO ONE CARES.  In fact, this version of the song has made hate 10kM since the time I first heard it.  You wanna hear exact copies go listen to Mini Kiss. 

Other great covers that come to mind, that fit my rule above.  Anthrax doing "London" (The Smiths),  "Sweet Dreams by Marilyn Manson (Eurythmics), Johnny Cash doing "Hurt" , and pretty much any cover song that Dwight Yoakam ever did. And "All along the Watchtower" by Jimi goes without saying (yet, there I said it).

So damn it "artists" don't show us how you can copy another's song exactly, do something with it.  Hell if I was a record company executive I'd never let some of that crap get released...too lazy and a waste of vinyl.

Fox's lies reverberate through ill-informed masses

from a tweet @markos 1/3 think Obama raised taxes. 50% think they stayed the same, only 8% think taxes have gone down. Only 8% are right. http://is.gd/fctct

Change in plans for the right wing fringe...and a chance to give Beck/Palin even more money

Now that the book burning is called off, you can give some more money to multi-millionaires,Beck and Palin as they profit off the deaths of 3000 Americans.


Again, they have MORE than the right to do this, but it's pretty crass and shows what Palin and Beck are really about. Selling the fear they generate to make even more money. Classy. These are the leaders of your party. Good show.


Palin, Beck team up on 9/11 event

(CNN) - After a wildly successful rally on the National Mall, Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are teaming up again - but this time for a cost.

The two conservative rock-stars are set to appear together in Alaska on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks in an event that costs a minimum of $65 to attend.

"We can count on Glenn to make the night interesting and inspiring, and I can think of no better way to commemorate 9/11 than to gather with patriots who will 'never forget,'" said Palin on her Facebook page earlier this week. "Hope to see you there!"

But in sharp contrast to the free event in Washington last month, tickets to this latest Palin-Beck affair run as high as $225 – a price tag that some Democrats are making hay about given the somber timing of the event.

But Christopher Cox, the Anchorage-based promoter of the event, told the Anchorage Daily News the date is purely coincidental and was originally scheduled for a week earlier.

Trying to figure this out

So according to the right wing fringe, Obama is a Muslim, but 2 years ago he was unfit to be President because of his 20 year relationship with a "crazy, racist" Christian minister.

He's also an idiot, who can't form a sentence without a teleprompter, but he also orchestrated the downfall of Capitalism and the American Republic and instituted an entire new economic system of Socialism in 18 months.

I wish the right wing fringe would stick to a narrative longer than a few minutes. I know it's not confusing to the mental midgets that comprise the unruly mob, but for anyone with a brain it seems a bit disingenuous. Kudos to the puppet masters at Fox for knowing that facts and consistency don't matter in riling up the masses so they have no qualms about being inconsistent...they know their audience isn't that bright.

the Palin/Beck/Gingrich army

i wonder if those on the far right will continue stoking the Anti-islam fires until someone gets murdered. Palin, Newt and the rest should be proud that they can bring out this behavior in their minions.

Sad day in America

While we all know that far right fringe that is running the GOP these days has long since abandondend any sort of adherence to the Constitution (save Amendment #2), but it was shocking to see the hatred expressed over weekend in NYC by the anti-Islamic groups (anti-freedom is more like it). Did it not remind you of protests in the south in the late 1950s? Those times in the fifties are looked back on with shame by most Americans and this anti-muslim/intolerance/abondonment of Bill of Rights rhetoric will also be a source of shame in years to come. But for now, it seems ok that that's even more shameful (Did you know...Gov. Faubus was included among the "Ten Men in the World Most Admired by Americans", according to the Gallup Poll for 1958...per Wikipedia).

Sarah Palin and her ilk will be looked on with the same shame in coming years. Shame on her and shame on Fox news for stirring up this hatred of all Muslims...Shame. Our forefathers, the real Tea Party, are rolling over in their graves right now at this dispicable use of their cause and their name to justify this intolerance.

If only reality was part of the right wing's knowledge base

I know the basic fundamentals of the issue are not known to the right wing nuts, so I thought I do him the service that Sarah Palin’s Facebook posts and Glenn Beck aren’t doing.

Prayers have been going on at this site for nearly a year…

and

The "Ground Zero Mosque" that we have been and will be hearing so much about is not exactly a mosque, nor is it at Ground Zero. Here's why: you can't see Ground Zero -- the former site of the World Trade Center -- from the future site of the Cordoba House.

From 45 Park Place, the former Burlington Coat Factory building that will make way for the Cordoba House, it's two blocks, around a corner, to get to the WTC site. Park Place doesn't lie between the construction site and any mass transit stations, so you would need to go out of your way to have it offend you.

In addition, the building planned for 45 Park Place is a cultural center with a prayer room -- not a single-purpose house of worship for Muslims, which is probably what we should reserve the word "mosque" for. As Haberman also explains, "That it may even be called a mosque is debatable. It is designed as a multi-use complex with a space set aside for prayer -- no minarets, no muezzin calls to prayer blaring onto Park Place."
The 92nd Street Y, on which the Cordoba House is explicitly modeled, has a whole host of Jewish events take place inside of it, but no one calls it a synagogue. There's no good reason why Cordoba House should be misleadingly called a "mosque." I've been guilty of using this word too, in conversation and in writing, but it's inaccurate. Muslims already read the Quran and pray at 45 Park Place, but that does not and will not turn it into a "mosque."
There's one more catch for the opponents of the so-called Ground Zero mosque: by the same logical leap you can call the Cordoba Center a "mosque," you can also call Ground Zero as it already exists a giant, open-air mosque. Muslim prayers are already taking place right on the edge of the construction site, and not for world domination. Families are going there to pray -- for the souls of the dozens of innocent Muslim victims who died on September 11.

White, Straight, Christian Males are apparently the ONLY group in America that has never shown any bias

Just proves again (from the bashing from the right wing nuts) that anyone who is not White, Straight or Male has to "explain" or prove that they will overcome their "inherent bias' in not being Straight, White and Male. Straight White Males (and Christian too) are not asked to prove that they won't favor their own demographic in their rulings, but everyone else is (Can you imagine if a Muslim was nominated for the Supreme Court???). When Sotomayor was being confirmed she had to prove she wasn't biased toward hispanics because of her heritage, while Sam Alito was praised for his Italian heritage during his confirmation.

As we all know Straight White Males have never had any biases in the history of America.

It just shows how this country still believes that straight white and male is the "normal" state of things and anything else MUST be explained.

Why wouldn't a straight judge be biased toward his own sexuality? A question that would NEVER even be asked, but for a gay judge...





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gay judge has proven record of impartiality
ON U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE VAUGHN WALKER
February 09, 2010
Vaughn Walker almost lost his chance to reach the federal bench because of claims that he was anti-gay and hostile to civil rights. Two dozen House Democrats, led by Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, opposed his nomination because of his alleged "insensitivity" to gays and the poor. His first appointment, from President Ronald Reagan in 1987, stalled out in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
His nomination was renewed by President George H.W. Bush in early 1989.
Back then, Walker struggled to assure skeptical liberals that, as a judge, he could rule with impartiality even though he had represented the U.S. Olympic Committee in its successful effort to prevent an athletic competition in San Francisco from being called the Gay Olympic Games. He was harshly criticized for putting a lien on the home of a gay-games leader who was dying of AIDS. Walker insisted that he was not anti-gay and was only doing his best to serve his client.

Walker also was under fire for his membership in San Francisco's all-male Olympic Club. He resigned during the nomination process, which helped cement his confirmation.
Those who understood the distinct roles of lawyer-advocate and judge recognized that a person of ethics and fidelity to the law could separate his or her personal views and experiences from professional duty.
Today, at age 65, Judge Walker is presiding over the challenge to Proposition 8, which may well determine how quickly gays and lesbians achieve full marriage equality in this country. We now know what Walker never bothered to reveal when he was being castigated as anti-gay: He is gay, which changes neither his legal history nor his fitness for this assignment.
A judge's sexual orientation does not inherently shade his ability to read and interpret the U.S. Constitution with clear-eyed wisdom. Assuming this case advances on appeal, no matter how Walker rules, there almost certainly will be jurists who will need to set aside their religion's teachings - and, quite likely, the impact of their ruling on close friends or even a family member - as they do their utmost to uphold the meaning of the Constitution.
Walker did not think his private life was relevant to his ability to preside with fairness in the Prop. 8 trial. There is nothing in his long and laudable career to suggest otherwise.

Why doesn't the media's love affair with Palin include some actual Journalism?

I know we all just love to her about how the great Alaskan quitter has witty quips about Obama or tells us that the AZ governor has balls (is there a citizen without a radio or tv show in America that gets more positive press than this woman? The right wing media even turned her into hero for being the parent of an unwed teenage mother), but why do we never see any journalism investigating some of her claims?

http://www.politicususa.com/en/palin-steals-500-million

Palin’s Phantom Pipeline Steals $500 Million from Taxpayers

Some of that pesky truth you'll never hear on Fox

Deportations have soared under Obama administration

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38548026

Statistics put together by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University show that more illegal immigrants were removed from the United States during the first nine months of this fiscal year than during the same period in 2008. That is when Republican George W. Bush was in the White House and his administration controlled Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In fact, the number of those ejected from the country between Oct. 1, 2009 and June 30 of this year is nearly twice as much as it was in the same period ending June 30, 2005.

During the first nine months of the fiscal year, TRAC, using Immigration and Customs Enforcement data, figures that 136,714 "criminal aliens'' were deported. That same figure in 2008 was 85,334.

Did you also know that when Brewer first decided the Immigration was going to be her go-to relection issue she DEMANDED Obama send 250 additional troops to the AZ border, Obama responded by sending 524 plus additional border agents. THEN she has continued to have the balls to get on Obama for not doing enough, even though he did TWICE as much as she wanted.

Why does Newt Hate America's religous freedoms and the Constitution?

I know the Former Speaker thinks that Saudi Arabia should be the model for America's policy in re: Religous Tolerance (although I assume their take on Adultery I assume he has less in agreement with), but why does a man who has made a career out of deriding the East Coast Liberals in New York be so concerned about a community center?

HYPOCRISY

I can't wait for the "apology" blaming his words on our stupidity for hearing them

the head of the GOP is a little unclear on what America's been doing in Afghanistan for the past 8 years

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/07/obama-gop-rival-michael-steele-in-hot-water-over-afghanistan-comments-1/1

I can't wait for the retraction where he "apologizes" for everyone being too stupid to actually listen to the words that came out of his mouth and realize that he didn't mean that, but the exact opposite. (I apologize for anyone who misunderstood me...it will go)

Even after he chalks this up to miscommunication, shouldn't the head of the party be better at communicating?

Utilizing the Fox "News" standard for climate analysis

Considering whenever it snows during December in Minneapolis Fox and the rest of the anti-science crowd like to use that to "prove" that global warming is bunk, I'd like to submit the same standard of concrete proof of global warming.

Here in Phoenix, AZ at 9:52AM MST- the temp is 101 degrees. Yesterday's low was 82, the high 110. More of same today, with high of 110 predicted.

Another reason why American don't like Soccer

Adding to my points about how Americans don't like the faking and the falling down that happens way too much in Soccer, I've got to add that referee's have wayyyy too much power. I was watching the Australia-Germany game a few days ago and the AUS star gets a red card on a tackle where he had actually drawn his legs back up in order to avoid contact. Yet, some other time a much more aggressive foul didn't even result in a foul forget about a card. The fact that a referee has unreviewable power to force a team to play a man down at any time is stupid and I don't think Americans like that as if violates a sense of fair play. Aus wasn't going to beat Germany, but playing a man down helped give GER two more goals.

And the red card with all it's inherent power is used too much. ON that same day, Sunday maybe, all three games had a red card. I guess it's one thing to kick a guy out for a flagrant foul, but for his team to play down the rest of the game is too much of a punishment, especially with the subjectivity of what action results in a Red Card.

It's almost like the Republicans have been watching the Democrats on how to screw up politically

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100617/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_bp_s_ally

Imagine the outrage if a Democrat apologized to the head of a foreign company...that was destroying American's property and likelihoods with no end in sight. Idiocy so egregious that even the far right wing of the GOP was outraged at his stupidity.

Although I absolutely love that he claims that the entire world "misconstrued" his words as an apology, even though he used the words "I apologize". He even said he didn't want to live in this country (you know Rush would be spinning it that way).

In classic political apology fashion, he didn't really apologize for what he said or did, but only to those who "misconstrued" his words....ASS

Right Wing Media breaks FOUR YEAR OLD STORY...

Again, one can be against illegal immigration, but I feel I must shed a little truth that you probably won't hear from Fox as it doesn't fit the talking points. 1- The Sherriff quoted is from Pinal County which is NOT a border county, but he has become a poster boy for the right on the issue because the Sheriffs of the border counties don't support the AZ legislature's recent laws, as they believe it does nothing to help them or WORSE harms their efforts at law enforcement. (It's telling that the quote about crime on the border quotes only from a sheriff whose county isn't on the border, no?) 2- The park in the story was closed 4 YES FOUR YEARS AGO. Yet, this headline screams "recent events", otherwise why is it a "news story"??? 3- Violent Crime is AZ is at historic lows: "According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the violent crime rate in Arizona was lower in 2006, 2007, and 2008 -- the most recent year from which data are available -- than any year since 1983. The property crime rate in Arizona was lower in 2006, 2007, and 2008 than any year since 1968."
Additionally, "FBI Uniform Crime Reports and statistics provided by police agencies, in fact, show that the crime rates in Nogales, Douglas, Yuma and other Arizona border towns have remained essentially flat for the past decade"

Again, people can be against illegal immigration on it's own merits without distorting the reality of the situation. Despite what you may have heard, those of us in Arizona are not locked down in our houses in fear.

It would be nice if both sides had a little more respect for the truth and reality of what's going on here.

Finally, here is a FWS press release clarifying that the Park is NOT closed and points out that violence in the less than .02% of the park (yes 99.98% of park is open) is down significantly since 2006: http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/arizona/buenosaires/PDFs/USFWS%20MediaAdvisory%20BorderRefugeRemainsOpen%206%2016%202010.pdf

Seattle cop punches women in face

This story has everything.

This is the kind of solid defending of the public well-being that gives pissed off cops the "justification" to demand your papers in Arizona. Thank God, this officer was protecting the citizenry of Seattle form the scurge of jaywalking.

Chuck will no doubt join with the Union's position on this, he always seems to side with Police Unions when cops are doing something bad like Punching Women or shooting unarmed teenagers. Ironic considering his recent call for the elimination of unions, no? (I remember once in Portland where a cop let a felon get away because he was too fat to stop him and chase him as he ran away from the patrol car WITH handcuffs on. The office who weighed about 300 pounds was vigoursly defended by the union despite his inablity to do a very basic and simple policing task like running.)

Finally, what kind of solid individual punches a women in the face? Is that the kind of mentality you want in a peace officer? It takes a special kind of mindset to punch a women in the face.

It's interesting that the women who "grabbed" his arm is charged with "Assault", yet simply because he wears a badge he gets to punch women in the face. if that had been her boyfriend/husband he'd be in jail right now. Nice hall pass.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/16/police.jaywalker/index.html?hpt=T2

Former 'Family Values' CA Legislator Ashburn Comes Out In Favor Of Gay Rights

How many members are there in this club? The one comprised of Republican/"Family" values politicians and Religious leaders who spent their careers doing everything they can demonize gays and deny them basic human rights only to be gay themselves. I'm not psychiatrist, but i'm guessing it has to do with some sort of self-loathing they feel for what they really are. It seems the most vehement often are most likely to be trying to cover up their true selves. It's sad b/c they've been told "it's wrong" so they go to the extreme to prove their bona fides with the anti-gay crowd and deny what they are.

In my own experience, it's the ones who appear to be least secure in their own sexuality that seem to be the most outwardly homophobic (I mean that in the literal sense of "feaful" of homosexuality).

We manipulate ...you decide

watch the whole video...both versions

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/24/fox-obama-applause-speech/

This is why the "right" is so woefully ill-informed. It's not their fault, they really think Fox is a news organization.

Here you can watch Stewart catch them to it too

http://www.examiner.com/x-15870-Populist-Examiner~y2010m5d24-Cadet-applause-missing-from-Fox-News-video-of-Obama-West-Point-speech

This is what passes for rational thought among the right

A friend made a comment on FB that stated that illegal immigration in AZ had resulted in a "Massive Crime". I responded that crime is down DRAMITICALLY over the past 4 years while illegal immigration is suposedly exploding. Violent and property crimes down to levels from the 60's and 70's.

Another person responded, first conceeding that this was accurate and then claiming the proof that illegal immigration caused the "massive crime" was b/c the falling crime rate was not falling as fast as in other parts of America.

So, according to the logic of the right "massive crime" waves can be defined by historically low levels of crime, but those historically low levels not being lower...that is "massive crime". How exactly do you have a rational discussion with someone who "thinks" like that?

YOu can oppose illegal immigration on it's merits, you don't have to rely on hyperbole and outright lies to make the case. Although, I didn't realize that all those Canadian widow snowbirds living in Sun City overstaying their visas were such a crime risk, nor the Russian Software Engineer working beyond her H1-B visa. But i guess that's what they're saying.

Arizona...like 1950's Alabama with less humidity

So, the summer of Insanity in AZ continues with AZ banning "ethnic studies". Does this mean that AZ schools can't teach about Columbus Day, St. Patrick's Day? In fact, the way I read the law it would seem that most history would be banned, like how do you teach about WWII without bringing up one ethnic group versus another.

i can blog from my Droid

See