The Free Market Jesus

Once upon a time, a young couple, Joseph and Mary were to travel to Joseph's hometown of Bethlehem, PA for the Census. Because every one else had to travel to their ancestral cities, it meant that there were many travelers, which, because of the law of supply and demand, meant that more people needed to use fuel then was readily available, due to a short supply created by oil companies shutting down refineries, which caused fuel prices to rise dramatically. Joseph, who was a carpenter, was suffering because his cross-making business had been hit with a cease and desist order, because the crosses he built were of design deemed the intellectual property of General Cross-manics, and was forced to pay most of his wages to them for use of their cross design. This meant that he and his wife, who, unbeknownst to him was carrying a child, had very little to travel on.
When they reached Bethlehem, they found that most hotels, motels and inns were filled up, and the ones that had vacancies, were charging much more money than Joseph had left after paying so much for gas, because demand for rooms were up, while the supply of available rooms was dwindling. While stopping at a local tavern, Joseph told his tale to a local bartender, who said he used to have a garage out back they could use, but had sold it because real estate prices had gone up so much, he was losing money using it to park his motorcycle. However, when he found that Mary was with child, he did offer them a spot in the fenced-in area around his garbage dumpster.
While setting up in the area around the dumpster, Mary informed Joseph that her baby was on the way, so Joseph went back and asked the barkeep where the nearest hospital was, but the barkeep informed Joseph that his wife could not be admitted with out any proof of health insurance, which as a self-employed contractor, Joseph did not have.
Meanwhile, a patron at the bar, called the local news station, which sent out a camera crew to film the miracle about to happen in the area around the dumpster behind the bar. The story was then beamed up to a satellite which spread this heartwarming story around the world. Soon, three agents from the East showed up w with much gold for Mary and Joseph if they would sign a contract to endorse their clients' frankincense and myrrh.
The gold rolled in as long as their baby, Jesus, which they had named after the barkeep, was small and cute, but as soon as grew up and became an awkward adolescent, he joined his father in his father's cross making business. Later, as a juvenile delinquent, he got in trouble smashing up an ATM outside his father's temple, and for turning water into wine, putting him in direct competition with the winery that contributed to the governor's campaign fund.
Centuries later, people everywhere celebrated this pseudo miraculous event, by spending too much money, trampling over each other to get the best bargains, and helping multi-nationals bottom line. The end.

Why Stop At The Methodists?

As this congress session draws to a close, another congress is chomping at the bit to set their agenda based on a mandate they feel they have from all the lunatics who were crazy enough to vote for them. And just how crazy are they? Bull goose loony squared is an apt description.
Take Tea Party nation founder Judson Phillips. He wants to get rid of the Methodist Church because they preach that togetherness, and understanding peace and other hippie crap espoused by Jesus, instead of twisting his words to suit their own selfish agenda. Feed the poor? No way! Make them work two or three part time jobs instead.
Not to be outdone, Rep. Peter King has decided he wants to hold hearings on radical Muslims. Because you can never persecute them enough. I thought the Republicans were about saving the tax payer's money, but there's always room in the budget for a little fear mongering, especially with a presidential election not too far away.
Yes, it's hunting season again, and the GOP has set it's sights on finishing the job they started in 2000: getting Americans to vote against their own interests by keeping them in fear of, well, everything different. Especially those which threaten threaten the thing unique to white people.

Cornered By Your Rhetoric And Your Zealotry

2012 GOP presidential hopefuls Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin are roundly criticizing the Obama administration over the embarrassing dump (as in shit) from Wikileaks. Palin says we should hunt Julian Assange with "the same urgency we pursue AlQaeda and Taliban leaders". Given that we can hardly identify Taliban leaders, and that the most visible people claiming to be Al Qaeda are still around (and, still Americans), one can hope that they'll put a little more effort in to their hunting.
Mike Huckabee, in an attempt to appear more butch than the Moose Killa of Wasilla has stated that "anything less than execution is too kind a penalty". Huckabee feels that leaking information that puts people at risk is treason, it's just kind of funny he wasn't this angry during the "Scooter" Libby trial.
So it's interesting to note that while both Huckabee as well as Palin both are pro-Zionists that they would take such a harsh view.
Former Carter administration national Security Adviser Zbiginiew Brzeznski states that "It's a question of whether Wikileaks are being manipulated by interested parties that want to complicate our relationships with other governments, or undermine some governments, because some of these items that are being emphasized or have surfaced are very pointed.
"And I wonder if, in fact, there aren't some operations internationally, intelligence services that are feeding information to Wikileaks because it is a unique opportunity to embarrass us, to embarrass our positions but also to undermine our relationships with other governments".
Hmmmm. Other intelligence services, I wonder who could he mean? Perhaps, Israel? Will the harsh rhetoric still stand then? I think not. Because what you get with these people are politicians whose belief system requires them to put America second. And we need leaders who'll put America first.

Bringing Teh Crazy To A Whole New (Local) Level

I might be giving the Tea Baggers a little more credit than they deserve, but I think they actually learned something from this past election. After winning only 32% of the elections, mostly in smaller jurisdictional races, as opposed to statewide Senate races, they've decided to think smaller. How small? They now are turning their attention towards local school board elections. This is not surprising from a group that considers President Obama an elitist for having, you know, an education, but the scary part is that their intent is cutting spending where it already has bee cut too much: education.
We can only hope they'll rein in pointless spending, like in Texas, where old text books are being replaced with ones that espouse a conservative point of view at a cost of $1.9 billion. Because while one can put a price on education, indoctrination is a different story.
Another part of the plan is the continued union busting, because apparently uniting together is good for some Americans, when workers do it, suddenly it's socialism.
So while Lockheed Martin, or KBR,orHalliburton can take advantage of the self-perpetuating war on "terror", it's those damned elitist teachers who are demanding a living wage that are ruining this country.

How Many More Times Do I Have To Say It Again?

As my few remaining loyal readers may have noticed, I haven't been as avid about posting here as I have been in the past. While this is partly due to other outstanding obligations, the main reason is I've said it already. Several times.
How many more times do I have to post about the Republican Party being tools, as well as the tool of capitalistic oppression? They seem to revel in finding new ways to keep government out of business while simultaneously finding ways to pass laws aimed to harm the poor, minorities, or gays and lesbians. I've said it before, and while I find the lot of them to be distasteful, saying it again won't change them.
How many more times do I have to criticize the Democratic Party? Their misguided attempts to solve any problem are tempered with their liberal sense of all-inclusion made sure that health care reform didn't offend the insurance companies, making it a mandated pay out for them, and another tax that working families can't afford. Good work.
How many more times do I have to point out that the reason the economy is in the toilet is because our politicians and their corporate overlords thought it would be best to ship all our high paying manufacturing jobs outside of the country? You can pour as many billions of dollars down a sinkhole as you want, if they're not creating permanent full time positions, than the industries hurt by the down turn, housing and automobile manufacturing, will never recover because people are not going to commit to a thirty year mortgage or a three year car loan if they're only guaranteed employment for nine months. Do I have to say it again?
How many more times do I have to point out the futility of fighting a war against an idea? Terrorism is nothing more than a small group of people's response to a greater group of people's injustice against them. Endless and self-perpetuating, every unmanned drone the US sends into Pakistan that kills unarmed civilians, 'collateral damage' as we justified these acts of murder, creates more desperate people who are so determined they will gladly risk life and limb to strike back at us as hard as possible. Do I have to say it again?
I started this blog over five years ago because I didn't want the only opportunity for my children is to become cannon fodder for a privileged class that has no qualms with using lies and deception to send them off to kill and die. There were no WMD in Iraq. Do I have to say it again? There is now, and they belong to the US Army.
I don't plan on gong away. A number of good blogging friends have hung up their keyboards this year, but I intend on continuing to exercise my futility. No matter how many more times I have to say it. Again.

No, I Didn't Vote

That's right, I didn't vote. I refused to participate in the Corporate Idiocracy charade of the-lesser-of-two evils where either side argues about which side is better like a couple of High School students debating the merits of one mass produced beer over the other. I looked at both sides of the coin and decided that beyond the empty platitudes launched to entice me to spend my one vote on them, there wasn't really any difference.
Maybe I've been burned before. I remember voting Democratic in 2006, on the hope that they would bring about an end to the wars in the Middle East. Nope. Didn't happen. Maybe they'd hold the incumbent administration responsible for acts of malfeasance perpetrated by those at the highest level. Instead, almost immediately, impeachment was taken off the table.
In that time, despite their general incompetence at being able to accomplish anything beyond deciding the best way to repair our health care system was to tax my work-related health benefits as income. Huh? Leadership? No, just mindless water-treading, pretending to serve people like me while assuming the position for their corporate masters.
And speaking of being one of me (of which there is only), who do the Republicans think they're fooling. I'm not a soulless money grubbing thick-headed Islamophobe who thinks the world would be a better place if we enslaved everybody under the capitalist system. I do not drive my gas guzzling Sport Utility Behemoth to an energy inefficient McMansion in a gated community in the suburbs. I work a cruddy job for crappy pay and am happy about it because the alternative is giving my soul to a corporation that would gladly chop me off at the knees if it meant another thousand bucks in that year end bonus for the people at the top.
I don't care if some sport team from a college I never attended makes the play-offs, how cute Bristol Palin is on Dancing With The Stars, or the latest patented "outrageous" outfit worn by Lady Gaga to obscure the fact that her music is pedestrian and ordinary. Don't lump me in with you. Please.
So, I didn't vote, and looking at the latest returns, there wasn't one candidate I may possibly could have hoped to maybe win that lost by one vote. And before you tell me that if more people who didn't vote had gone out and made the effort, it could have changed the outcome, I say if more people would ween themselves from the Republican/Democratic Corporate Axis Of Evil, we could have one great country.
So you can go ahead and con yourself into thinking that you're "trying to make difference" by aiding and abetting the status quo, but the truth is as long as we keep enabling the Corporate Idiocracy, the longer we all will have to suffer.

You And Your Elitist Friends

On Facebook, my brother posted a link to this article dealing with the current trend among Tea Baggers and fellow travelers to refer to the people on the left as "elitist". One of the many dictionaries I have (actually, the closest one to my computer) defines an elitist as one who believes in rule by a small and privileged group. Since the Democrats currently hold majorities in both houses of congress as well as the White House, I guess the small group who wishes to rule are the Republicans. So who is the elitist?
If you believe in American Exceptionalism, the notion that 5% of the world's population can tell the rest of the world where to get off,or should be able to assassinate anyone it wishes, you might be an elitist.
If you think that 'some people are just born to be slaves, you might be an elitist. If you think public employees shouldn't be allowed to vote, you might be an elitist.
There it is. Using the proven Rovian tactic of attacking your opponent on your own weaknesses, the right is accusing the left of being exactly what they're guilty of doing. Equity and fairness is not elitist, but a select few deciding to abolish the minimum wage appears to be. And so is a select group of businesspeople pooling their resources to put 1.4 million people out of work.
So remember when you hear the GOP and Tea Party (one and the same, I know) about "liberal elitism", just remember, it's just petty jealousy. There's a group that these people will never belong to.
It's called humanity.

The Lopsided Foreign Policy Of The Corporate Idiocracy

Consistency has never been a key factor in US foreign policy. It doesn't matter if there's a Democratic president, or a Republican one, the double standard employed by both always been the same.
Take today, as an instance. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced sanctions against eight Iranian officials for human rights violation following a crackdown on protesters after last year's elections. On the surface it sounds good, not just more posturing designed to soften the television watchers up for an attack on Iran.
In the meantime, the UNHRC says Israel used incredible violence against a Gaza Aid flotillaviolated international law by storming the flotilla and killing nine human beings, including an American in execution-style killings, and what does our country do? It criticizes the report as 'unbalanced'. The truth is, the only thing unbalanced is our foreign policy, which seeks to condemn one act of brutality, while defending another.
Now one case is set to go to the International Criminal Court, which the US opposes, mainly because between Iraq, Afghanistan, and the crackdown on the Gaza strip, American-Israeli exceptionalism rules the day. We can torture, kill, and maim whom ever we so please, as we are better than the people living over all those preciou natural resources the Corporate Idiocracy needs to keep it's followers happy and buying more useless things, giving up their time and money to make the incredibly wealthy, more incredibly wealthier.
I don't suspect this will end anytime too soon.

You Could Change All That, It's Why You Are Where You Are

Remember when we all voted for change, because we felt the country was going down a dangerous path towards dictatorship,and someone needed to put a stop to it? Then we all hoped that by putting the Democratic Party in charge that they would do what they were elected to do?
Boy, were we suckers.
Because, once again, as we did seven years ago, we have FBI agents raiding the homes of antiwar activists. You know, the protesters the media completely ignored? Someone was listening, Big Brother.
Speaking of change, wasn't President Obama going to bring an end to the war in Iraq? Yeah, right. And antiwar activists are giving material support to the enemy. Sounds like something out of the Bush administration, but no, it's an ongoing policy.
The Democratic Party is concerned of losing seats in congress to the G-O-Tea Party. Instead of standing up for real progressive issues, and ending the insanity that is the War Party, they choose instead to continue on with it, lest they be seen as weak. But by doing so, they are weak, afraid to stand up to the minority party, and not doing a lot to compel those people who might vote for them to leave their houses and, well, vote for them. Sure, losing the House may help Obama in 2012, but what about helping us, now? Be the Change. It why you were elected.

Bring On Teh Crazy

Republicans seem to think this midterm election will be a cake walk, that they'll end up with the control of Congress, giving them ample opportunity to continue their obstructionist policies. But I don't think so. Why? Because instead of offering answers and solutions to the myriad problems facing this country, the emperor wannabes new clothes are steaming hot piles of insanity.
First up is the insanity intern and future Palin hopeful Christine O'Donnell, who was revealed to have dabbled in satanism as a teenager, by her own words forcing her to cancel her appearances on the Sunday Morning Talking Heads New Shows on CBS and even Fox. You know when a Republican cancels a chance to knock softball questions out of the park on the media arm of the GOP, something is up, and that something is teh crazy.
Next at bat in the bat-shit crazy line-up is, no, not bat-shit crazy Michelle Bachmann, but the Montana Republican party which, in a moment of pure unenlightened unenlightenment have decided to adding homosexuality as a crime to their party's platform this year. It takes some severe homophobia to want to lock gays away, where you wouldn't be tempted to want to join them. Why else put them in jail, because what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes is something Republicans say that the government should stay out of, right?
And from homophobia, we cross the crazy trail to the phobia du jour of the conservative regressives-Islamophobia! Failed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is proposing a law to ban Sharia Law's use by judges in deciding cases. First off, you should have done that when you were, you know, an actual member of congress, doofus, and not now when it does no good but stokes the fires of a thousand burning Korans. Secondly, we already have that in our constitution, it's called the Establishment Clause, and it bars any decision made based on Sharia Law, Biblical law, Judaic Law, or any other law emanating from some all powerful invisible being who doesn't exist. All this does is play into the ignorance of haters who think that Muslims are taking over the country, and that our president is one of them. And that is the Republican plan. No policies. No solutions. Just pure unadulterated hate. And not a hate based on reality, but an unfounded hate based on insecurity. That is pure paranoia. Which is nothin' but teh crazy!

...You Just Might Be A Terrorist!

Ever march against BP? Carry misspelled signs at a Tea Party rally? Ever stand up for LGBT rights? Well, according to Homeland Security, you might be a terrorist! You're either for us or against us, and if you're protesting us, you must be against us, and if you're against us, you might be a low level terrorist, or so goes the specious reasoning of the lovely folks at the Pentagon.
So while corporations are able to avoid the scrutiny of the Patriot Act when it comes to it's wheelings and dealings because they are a matter of national security, you're on a no-fly list because air marshals have a quota to fill in order to get raises, bonuses, awards and special assignments.
Got it yet? It doesn't matter if we have a Republican controlled congress, or a Democratic. Corporations own the politicians; we just pay their salary. That's why you probably won't get a tax cut, but the Bush tax cuts will likely become permanent. And if you don't like, be careful who you tell it to, lest ye become labeled a terrorist.

High Fructose Corn Syrup By Any Other Name Would Still Be Too Sweet

I've been eating a healthier diet lately, becoming more vigilant about what I put in my body. You can often find me at the grocery store, reading labels of processed foods, trying to avoid additives and sweeteners that aren't good for my body. One of the most dangerous of these is high fructose corn syrup, which your body processes in different ways than regular cane or beet sugar, which in turn alters the way metabolic-regulating hormones function. It also feeds cancer cells.
So, being a prudent shopper, I should have the right to decide what I ingest, right? Not if the high fructose corn syrup industry has it's way.
Now they want to change the food label for high fructose corn syrup to the more pleasing 'corn sugar'. Why? because consumption of high fructose corn syrup in the US market has fallen 21 percent in the last ten years as more and more consumers are avoiding it in the diet. Even First Lady Michelle Obama says she doesn't want her daughters eating food with it in it's ingredients. Meanwhile, the industry has opened up new markets in Mexico and other emerging economies.

Pretty Ladies Selling The Lie

Yesterday was the ninth anniversary of the tragic events of 9/11, and while there were a number events to commemorate that day, and to honor those who lost their lives so that the Corporate Idiocracy could engage in endless wars to secure it's energy needs until the world runs out of oil, none were more obviously selling the cover story than Michelle Obama and Laura Bush honoring the 'heroes' of Flight 93.
The official story is that passengers on that fateful flight overtook their MossadBlack OpsArabIraqi?Al Qaeda! hijackers and forced them to crash into a field in Pennsylvania. But not according to Donald Rumsfeld who stated that Flight 93 was shot down by US fighter jets, which is supported by an examination of the crash site.
Now I'm not suggesting their either of the First Ladies know anything about this, or were anyway involved in a cover-up. I'm just cynical about anything that concerns the 'official' conspiracy of 9/11.
But not that I expect anyone else to be cynical. If you think that an administration that was dishonest in Florida in 2000,and lied about Iraq's WMD is being honest to you about the events of 9/11, I understand. If you think a steel frame building can be brought down by mere kerosene( the most of which burned off in the initial explosion following the crash), good for you! Just don't expect me to go all rubbery when ever some one chokes out 'hero' in a story that basic facts do not support. No matter which side of the corporate idiocracy you bring out to sell it to me.

Abe Lincoln Would Not Be Proud

The GOP for years had portrayed itself as the party of Abraham Lincoln, author of the Emancipation Proclamation. But ever since they decided to instead be the party of Reagan (whom himself was no friend to the working man), things have changed. And that's something to remember this Labor Day.
Especially when a person charged in the largest human trafficking case in US history,(that's slavery to you and I) one Mordechai Orian was also a major contributor to the Republican Party between 2004 and 2006. Curiously enough, that's when the GOP was pushing their"guest worker program".
Now I'm sure the corporate idiocracy would love to import as much slave, er, I mean, cheap labor as possible. It doesn't improve anything but the bottom line, since CEOs of the 50 firms that have laid off the most employees since the economic crisis began took home 42% more pay. Imagine how much more they could make if they didn't have to pay their remaining employees anything! Of course, that being the case, they would eventually lose their jobs because no one would be able to buy their products, but when you make $50 million in one year, how much longer do you need to work anyway.
So their you have it. So while you're out celebrating the murder of labor organizers by US marshals by grilling a steak from a non-union slaughterhouse, remember that while neither party seems too interested in watching your back, the GOP is even less likely to be concerned about your human rights as well.

Another Looney Tunes Throws Their Hat In The Ring

What wears glasses, is known for it's mustache, and isn't averse to throwing their hat in to the ring for the Republican nomination in the 2012 campaign? No, it's not Sarah Palin (electrolysis helped with the facial hair), it's former Bush administration UN ambassador John Bolton.
This is the guy who deemed it perfectly alright for Israel to bomb Iran for it's peaceful development of nuclear energy. What a great president he'd make.
Bolton, who was a recess appointment who resigned after his term was up because he could never get confirmation for the position, is one of many neocons within the Bush administration, although he deplores the term neocon and prefers to be called a "bull-goose loony never nude chicken hawk", not because he, like so many other members of the Bush administration, avoided serving during the Vietnam War which he supported, but because he has a predilection for young boys.
Bolton's one major drawback is that he doesn't have the name recognition of a Romney, Pawlenty, or Huckabee, and people often confuse him with histrionic eighties singer Michael Bolton. Although, like many Republicans who have lost or quit their government jobs, he is an analyst on the Fox News Network. And many people who see his picture often mistake him for Yosemite Sam, especially when he's brandishing his handguns and shooting them in the air while shouting "Yahoo! There's black gold in them thar Middle East countries!"
Of course the 2012 field is filling up fast with failures and quitters such as Newt Gingrich,  Sarah Palin, and a host of other presidential hopefuls, who, like Bolton, don't really have a plan as much as they know they don't like what passes for a plan from President Obama. So we can all look forward to them criticizing the current system while carefully alluding to "change".

Thanks, Idiot, Now Go Be Snarky Somewhere Else (And Check Your Facts)

That annoying squeaky voice. That smug self-satisfied delivery. That errant speech pattern. The complete disconnection from the truth. No, I'm not talking about Glenn Beck, but Sarah Palin who said at the "Restoring Honor" rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, activists must honor King's legacy by paying tribute to the men and women who protect America in uniform.
Huh? That don't make no sense!
You see, Dr. King opposed the Viet Nam War, as well as imperialistic US military action that diverted money and attention from domestic programs created to aid the poor blacks. Civil rights and antiwar are King's true legacy, not the celebration of the neocons imperialistic aim to inflict US based global hegemony.
In fact, it was that opposition to capitalism that led to his assassination by a conspiracy that included agencies of the US government. But Palin would never read that in the history books of the corporate idiocracy. Those tell us Dr. King was a great man, without detailing too much what he was really about, since economic, social and racial equality makes some people nervous.
And since were on the subject, how are our 'men and women who protect America in uniform' (shouldn't that be 'our men and women in uniform who protect America'?) restoring honor to our country? Neither the 34,000 civilians deaths inAfghanistan nor the 1,366,350 civilian deaths in Iraq were any sort of threat to our country. And their deaths have done nothing to 'restore America's honor', in fact, it's just the opposite. And how are they any different than the 'honor killings' alleged to by professional Islamophobe Pamela Geller?
Restoring America's Honor and honoring Dr. King's legacy would be easy. All it would take is a slight shift in our foreign policy. But getting a couple of thousand television watchers off their couch is a good start.

Delusional Paranoia Or Creeping Fascism?

Face it. While the right wing has been demonizing Islam and branding it as a cruel religion, the truth is all religion is cruel, barbaric, and just plain wrong when it's extreme (as in extremely conservative).
Here in the US, extremism takes another shape. I speak, of course, of the political religious zealotry of Sharron Angle. Known in progressive circles for spewing the fear mongering rhetoric of the right, Angle now claims there are domestic enemies in Congress, a claim she twice refused to disavow. Sure there are, Ms. Angle, they're called lobbyists. People to whom money is speech and corporations are people, their agenda is to tilt our system away from the will of the people and towards the will of the Multi-Nationals.
These are not the enemies of which Ms. Angle spoke, obviously. Unaware of the 14 characteristics of fascism, she is proving ample distraction for those whose loyalties lie not with a country, but with it's capital, taking as much as they can for themselves while left and right rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.The second Great Depression is upon us and even a college degree doesn't guarantee a good job.
So you could take Ms. Angle's paranoid delusions at face value, and believe she must have stopped taking her meds, or just conclude that she's just another rodeo clown, distracting bullish Americans from the corporate cowboys who are riding us until we are broken.

The Twenty Four Hour All Anxiety News Cycle

The other day on the way home from work I was passed by a car sporting the old "I Don't Believe The Liberal Media" bumper sticker. I chuckled to myself at the cluelessness of this driver for believing that the corporate media is liberal or, with the exception of FOX NEWS, conservative. What we have is the All-Anxiety American Media, all anxiety, all the time, designed not to enlighten and inform, but rather to keep viewers in a constant state of anxiety, crying wolf, as it were, about things they are ultimately powerless to end.
A prime recent example of this is the "ground zero" mosque controversy, manufactured, for sure, but in the end neither opponents nor defenders have any real power to make a difference. The die has been cast and while people browbeat each other over religious freedom and security issues, I'm sure somewhere they have already forgotten all the other things they threw at you to keep you reaching for your Xanax.
As an example, we were warned of the imminent end of the world when Iran acquired nuclear power, yet they launched their first nuclear power plant, and everybody's okay, except for this guy.
Today I caught a glimpse of a story on the Internet Bin Laden, the next in a long line of Boogeymen that the Anxiety News Cycle has to shake at you once you realize that the real Osama Bin Laden is dead. Once you have nothing to fear, there is nothing to keep you tuned into the news to see how to protect your family and yourself, and every viewer lost is a loss of revenue for them. The meat on that dead horse must be really tender they way they've been flogging it. It's no wonder alleged 'patriots' across the country are protesting the building of new mosques, or that in a desperate move, the RNC sent a tweet saying Obama has confessed to being a Muslim. Fear sells, but what's really scare is the type of people who are buying it.

Do The Republicans Have Any ideas?

With the Gulf of Mexico an ecological nightmare, the economic recovery not going as planned, and the US mired in not one but two endless wars, you'd think there'd be plenty of ammunition for an opposition party to run against the Democratic Party, wouldn't you?
These are real problems, problems that affect every American in one form or another, and yet to listen to the GOP, you'd almost think these problems are either non-existent, or not really problems at all. And what are our problems?
Muslims. Muslims exercising their freedom of religion.
As an example the number of television watchers who think President Obama is a Muslim has doubled. The most confused group is of course, Republicans. And it doesn't help matters when you have some Dick claiming that the "Ground Zero" Mosque will be used to train terrorists on Fox News, that beacon of rationality. Didn't the GOP from the last election cycle that a noun, a verb and 9/11 didn't work for Rudy Ghouliani, do they think it will work again?
All this manufactured hysteria is part of the corporate idiocracy's plan to distract television watchers from the simple fact that people are still losing jobs, and the Republicans and Democrats aren't doing anything to stop it.

Quick! Harry Reid Needs A Spinal Transplant

Ever wonder why, even with majorities in both houses of Congress, that the Democratic Party has been so ineffective in it's attempts to pass legislation?
Look no farther than the Senate Majority "Leader" Harry Reid, who when pressed on the "Ground Zero" Mosque, proved he's a spineless wimp able to be bullied by the likes of Sharron Angle.
Now, I understand, as a politician, there are times when it's wise to break away from the pack and stand up for what is right. This is not one of those times, unfortunately.
Sure, a majority of American television watchers oppose the plans to build a mosque six blocks away from the former site of the World Trade Center, but many Americans, after being fed a steady diet of misinformation about Saddam Hussein most Americans supported that crazy and illegal pre-emptive strike as well. All this means is that given the choice between rational thought and panic driven emotional overreaction that emotion will win out every time. But, given time to calm down, think, and apply rationality, they tend to see things more clearly.
What this means is that instead of approaching this issue as a First Amendment Issue, Reid is allow the Tea Baggers and Right Wingers to create the dialogue, and is caving in on it. That is not leadership. That is pure pandering to the television watching fear factory. And what's more, it's making Sharron Angle look stronger, which is the last thing an invertebrate like Reid needs.

Republicans Reflect Anti-American Ideals

    When the crazy Israeli serial stabber was nabbed last week trying to flee to his homeland, something happened. Nothing. There were no protests outside Synagogues, there were no people lumping together all people of the Jewish faith/race (I'm not really sure which is correct) as hateful racist murderers. Which is good, because I'm not sure if Elias Abuelazam was a practicing Jew, or just an Israeli national, and anyway, it's totally wrong to condemn an entire group for the wrongdoings of one of it's members, isn't it?
   Well, not really, if you're a fear mongering Republican. which is a redundancy, I know, but now the GOP plans to make the plan for a Islamic cultural center at Ground Zero a campaign issue . Those dirty Mooslems along with darker skinned Democratic politicians wish to impose Sharia Law in the US. Unless the Republicans stop them, they'll use their cultural center to impregnate wimmen and force them to squeeze out an army of terror babies! As Republicans and Tea Baggers protest Mosques across the country, it's ironic to note that the group responsible for referring to President Obama as a fascist is adhering pretty closely to many of the 14 characteristics of fascism. So, like the US did to Japanese-Americans during WWII, and like Hitler did to the Jewish people of Europe, the GOP is scapegoating the Muslims of America.
Now, just so you know, I believe all religions are as nutty as the next, from Judaism, to Christianity, to Islam and Scientology. They all wish to impose their will upon us, and the differences between their wills are minuscule at best. By singling out one belief system for persecution, aren't you in fact establishing another as the true faith, which in turn, is unconstitutional? And if you are opposed to the constitution of the United States, don't you stand against this very country itself?
But it's not like they have any real issues to run on. Tax cuts, deregulation and deficit spending on wars helped destroy our economy. They all supported the wars, so they can't run against those. Fear mongering is all the Republicans have, and if they keep the television watchers frightened enough, they'll be too scared to rationalize the truth.And that is the GOP is opposed to America, or at least the part that isn't white Christian conservative and straight.

Keeping The Government Out Of Everything Except Your Bedroom And Your Womb, The Two Places They Should Be In The Least

Wacky! that's the only word I can think of to describe Sharron Angle's way of thinking, with out resorting to such qualifying adjectives as bull-goose, batshit, or other animal-based euphemisms for those people so out of touch with reality that our language has been unable to invent a word that says it succintly.
I mean, really, how better can you describe someone who thinks that a fetus is a person under the Constitution, yet thinks that gays aren't protected by the that same document?
Thankfully, Ms. Angle is unaware that scientists have discovered a "gay gene", because those poor unborn homosexual babies sitting in their mother's womb wouldn't be afforded the same rights as straight babies and may end up being part of some faith-based eugenics program where women found to carry this gene aren't allowed to procreate, while victims of rape and incest are forced to carry their offspring to full term. The mind boggles.

Feeding Your Cancer Sweet!

Are our food companies trying to kill us? It almost seems that way, when you consider that they put high fructose corn syrup in almost everything these days. Already linked to hyper-obesity, HFCS can be found in almost everything out there, from some diet soda drinks and light salad dressings, to even croutons for stuffing chicken. No wonder more than a quarter of Americans are obese.The body processes the fructose in high fructose corn syrup differently than it does old-fashioned cane or beet sugar, which in turn alters the way metabolic-regulating hormones function. It also forces the liver to kick more fat out into the bloodstream. MMMM, more fat in the bloodstream.
Obesity can lead to more health issues, such as cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.
Now HFCS has been found to be the sweet stuff that cancer cells love to eat. In other words, just eating a diet of regularly prepared food increases chances of any cancer cells you may already have to proliferate, especially in your pancreas.
So why is it in everything? Well, one reason is it's cheaper to use than other sugars. Two, the government (those bastards!)policies that aimed to stabilize food prices and support corn production in the 1970s led to a glut of corn and then to high fructose corn syrup. With a cheaper way to sweeten food, producers pumped up the size and amount of sweet snacks and drinks on the market and increased profits. So there you go, making you unhealthy makes some one else richer, and you can probably guess that it's not you. So if you think that the federal government and the FDA are doing their job protecting us safe and coddled in our Nanny Ninny State, guess again. Politics play more of a role than actual food safety. And remember, the FDA are the same people who gave us aspatame!

Who Owns The Rain?

I know, it sounds like a Creedence Clearwater Revival song, right? But since rain falls everywhere, you would think that no one could claim it as their property.
But, apparently, in some states, it's illegal to collect rainwater, because the water belongs to the state. I'm sure some of you are thinking that is some sort of reconstituted hippie thing, that collecting water affects aquifer and groundwater supplies. Actually, it's completely the opposite.
So any multinational death conglomerate can tap into an underwater spring, purify and put it in plastic bottles, and that's not a problem, but collecting fresh and pure rainwater is illegal? In past times many people had rain barrels in their yard, at what point did someone say "Hey! You can't do that! You need to pay for water from the city!"
A news study says that thanks to global warming"climate change", 70% of US counties will face water shortages. So wouldn't it be prudent for people to now begin collecting and savingn water? Wait, conservation is the opposite of the American Way! Use it all up, then bomb some foreign country to take theirs because they're not using it up fast enough. Besides, once the polar ice caps melt, and water levels rise, won't there be more than enough water?

UN? We Don't Need No Steenkin' UN!

Well, the rest of the world does. Why? Becuase there are bastard countries out there such as Israel which rejcted the UN plan to probe Flotilla raid. Of course they do. Who wouldn't want to be found guilty of violating human rights again, now do they?
But hey, the The US has never had a need for a Human Rights Council anyway, because it offers rights to all those pesky brown skinned people living over the oil. That's why neocons in the US have got the House to OK a possible Israeli raid on Iran.(With support from the US, you know, the country that was so broke it couldn't afford to provide unemployment benefits to it's people) Even though Iran poses no threat to Israel, they are calling for an illegal "pre-emptive strike" against Tehran because Israel has a right to "self-defense". That same specious argument could also be used by Iran for building the nuclear weapons that the US claims they are despite all evidence to the contrary.
So when they start burning Korans in Florida this September 11, remember that the most vile hateful and evil country on the planet is Iran Israel and the United States, because they are the only ones planning to drop bombs on possible civilian targets then hope they can bury their evil deeds at the UN.

The New Slavery? Fuck You!

I don't watch sports. I don't care too much for it and can find better things to do with my time than spend it spread out in front of a television set, junk food and beer within reach getting myself worked up over something that has no impact or bearing on my life. Not that I have anything against sports, mind you, and if an opportunity to engage in any physical activity should arise, I would do it as I could really use the exercise.
I really don't care much about college sports, mainly because the art school I attended didn't have a sports team of any sorts, so I don't see how people can get bent out of shape about a college football team from a school they never had any intention of attending.
So I was very dismayed to find out that The NCAA is slavery! The poor put upon college athlete, who is offered a free ride at some of the finest school to get a higher education most people only dream of getting are no better than a slave. After all, they're only there to pass the time until they become eligible for professional sports anyway, why shouldn't they be able to accept gifts from generous donors?
The writer of the piece seems to think it's unfair that Reggie Bush (who, as I found out, is not a member of the Bush family) should have to forfeit his Heisman just because he broke the rules. As everybody knows by now, rules aren't for our professional athletes, especially if they're really good. He also feels that it's not fair that deans, athletic directors and coaches can make big salaries while the poor student has to wait a couple years to make the annual salary of the three aforementioned college professionals combined. He also feels it's not right that the money that colleges make should go to subsidize other "welfare sports", you know, everything that isn't college football or basketball, at the expense of the star player who is only receiving a free education, room and board, books, etc. And heaven for fend that some of that money be put towards academic scholarships for students who have the intellect but not the means nor athletic ability to go on to higher learning with out some help.
Now in Jason Whitlock's defense, I'm sure Reggie Bush wasn't doing anything that any other star athlete does, the problem is, that Bush got caught. But his idea that Bush isn't being compensated because he's too fucking stupid to appreciate a full college ride, well, that's a problem of Bush's lack of a value system, not the NCAA.
Our society puts too much emphasis on sports, winning and money. Sports dominate the world of the television watcher like no other single entity. Winning has become the most important thing, taking a back seat to decency, honesty, and integrity. And money has become everything for so many people in this country that it won't be long before we're all tearing each other apart so we can sell our rendered remains for a fistful of scratch.So I won't weep for the college athlete who should have to follow rules, at least while he's attending college, because he's living a dream. He's just too fucking stupid t5o realize it.

The Real Housewives Of The Tea Party

Poor Sam Wurzelbacher! I guess you are not wanted in the new Tea Party, which formed it's own caucus today in congress. To quote caucus leader Michele Bachmann:

the newly formed group will provide a voice in Congress for "real housewives, real farmers, real businessmen, real plumbers."

Not those one-time plumber, now full time metacelebrity wannabes. I just hope that when she says "real housewives" she doesn't mean the reality television show.
Now I'm not saying that the members of the Tea Party are slow, but when you fall for a three year old news story from The Onion, you do come across as gullible. And totally unaware that your movement has been co-opted by the Republican Party and a second rate Howard Beale.

The Monkey God's Middle Finger

Every country has it's own sacred ground. In Jerusalem, for instance, is the Dome of the Rock, a piece of dirt sacred to both the Jewish people and the Muslims. England has the Cavern Club, a sacred place for rock fans world wide, and Australia has the Outback, where Crocodile Dundee once killed a crocodile with an oversized knife.
Here in America, we have Ground Zero, a place hallowed by right wingers and neocons as a place where over 3000 Americans of all walks of life, and all religions, died so that the Cheney/Bush Axis of Evil would have carte blanche to start wars anywhere there was an Arab bowing towards Mecca. So naturally when plans for a mosque three blocks away from this consecrated ground were announced, the constitution quoters and theocracy seekers had a fit. It's almost as if Hezbollah, the Lebanese political party was planning on building a 'terrorist' theme park there. And almost on cue, professional Islamophobe Sarah Palin, who refudiated charges the Tea Party is racist, joined forces with Tea Party racist Mark Williams to fight the Monkey God's Middle Finger to Manhattan.
It's the Right Wing Fear Factory in full effect. This being an election year, they need something, anything to scare the good little Christ-Stains into suporting their party (the whole abortion thing, being played out, as it wouldn't take very long for someone on the left to point out that with a Republican Congress and administration they did nothing to stop that wedge issue)by stoking up the fears that yes indeedy-those Mooslems, they taking over, and soon will be forcing us to bow to Allah and Mecca everyday.

Another Easily Moved Thing Is US Dollars

Listen! Do you want to know a secret? But you gotta keep it to yourself, there's no need for all those unemployed people finding out.
You see, while Congress stalls on providing an extension of unemployment benefits for the nearly 22% of Americans out of work, the US just granted Israel $2.775 billion in aid for military and security purposes.As well as more aid to Pakistan, although only in the hundreds of millions there.
There is a small problem with these billions of dollars going to Israel. A little thing called the Symington Amendment which bans US economic and military assistance to countries which acquire nuclear enrichment technology when they do not comply with IAEA regulations and inspections. That would make this whole package, well, illegal. Not to worry, though Mr. President, US law, like the Congress that enacts them, is a thing that is easily moved.

Just Another Intelligence Failure In The Mega Million Corporate Idiocracy

The unnamed source is the scourge of true journalism, because it is an uncheckable rumor displayed as fact. And yet, in the permanent twenty-four hour news cycle,and it's unslakable quest for breaking news, the unnamed source has become the savior of the propagandist. Need to deliver a cutting blow to your competition? Nothing works better than an anonymous aide.
And if an intelligence failure is played out the world stage? Don't blame it on your agency. Fuck no. Blame it on the victim! Because if you can believe that the intelligence agency with the largest budget in the world was outsmarted, then you probably would believe that a slim majority of Americans support a military strike against Iran, if you were the type to believe that polls are nothing more than manipulated information used to create opinion and not reflect it. But hey, in their world we're more than halfway there! Never mind that in the rest of the world, the attempted bribe story is already out there, the rest of the world knew that reasons given for our invasion of Iraq were lies (France, anyone?), it just never made it past the gatekeepers of anonymous sources.
So while the egg on our collective face is discretely wiped off by the corporate media, and the blame is placed not on the criminals, but on their victim, maybe we should consider that another intelligence failure ( you know, like 9/11, Iraq's WMD, etc,) is to blame, we still keep relying on the intelligence gleaned from people who don't appear to be very smart.

One Way Or Another

They're gonna find ya. Gonna getcha getcha getcha! And by them, I mean of course, those durned Islamofascists who hate us not for the collateral damage piling up in their homeland, but because we are as free to be as stupid as Team Jake.
Or Team Edward.
The point is, every day, they're cooking new ways to overthrow this great "Christian" nation. First, and I realize that many of both my readers are well aware of this, but Texas Republican Representative Louis Gohmert thinks that the Islamofascists are hatching a plot to have terrorist babies in the US, where, thanks to the 14th amendment, they will be US citizens, then they come back in 25 years, after extensive training in an Al qaeda camp conveniently located in the country Israel the US wants to invade next.
Not to be outdone in the crazy department, Sue Myrick, a Republican from Nutty Cuckoosays Iranians are teaming up with Venezuela to infiltrate our borders. Spending six months in Caraccas to learn Spanish, then it's across the border to "do us harm".
Well, that should could and would be the end of it, but no. Now there's talk of the Taliban training jihadist monkeys! That's right! Cute little macacas given an AK-47 and trained how to discern and shoot only American soldiers (because, you know, monkeys are just that smart). We all see monkeys on television. And except for that episode of Gilligan's Island where one got hold of some abandoned Japanese armaments and started attacking the castaways, they are all pretty cute. Not really, but from a distance.
So you might as well surrender now, Dorothy, because those Islamofascists hate our freedoms and want to take them from us anyway possible, no matter how crazy it may sound. Really.

A Tale Of Two Defectors

Defector 1: Reza Kahlili, a Iranian revolutionary Guard defector who went to work for the CIA following the revolution of 1979 says that Tehran will attack Israel. Speaking at a conference at The Washington Institute For Near East Policy, Mr Khalili (not his real name) has stated that Iran will unleash the largest suicide bombing mission ever! Of course, since Israel has nuclear weapons while Tehran doesn't, it will most certainly be a suicide mission, conveniently timed for the propaganda run up for the US/Israel attack against Iran, later this year.
Defector 2:Shahram Amiri is a top Iranian nuclear scientist. He went missing a year ago on a pilgrimage to Medina, a city in Saudi Arabia. The Iranian government claims he was kidnapped, the US denied that claim.
Well, fast forward a year later, and Mr. Amiri (his real name) has turned up in the Iranian interest section of the Pakistani embassy in Washington DC. Mr. Amiri has claimed he was kidnapped and held against his will where he was "under enormous psychological pressure and supervision of armed agents in the past 14 months".
Hmmm. Mr. Amiri then goes on to state that "I was not prepared to betray my country under any kind of threats or bribery by the US government."
So, in other words, the US government, desperate to start a war against a country that is not a threat to anyone (unlike, say, the US), kidnaps a top Iranian nuclear scientist, using various means of coercion tries to get him to betray his country (possibly by stating lies about Iran's nuclear power program). Then the man escapes, posts an interview on YouTube stating he is a prisoner, which is then countered by another YouTube video of someone resembling Amiri saying he is fine and every body should just go back to buying things and disregard the previous video. Now it turns out the first video is right, and all Mr. Amiri wishes is that he just be allowed to return back to his country.
So there you have it. A defector who (most likely) was coerced (or bribed) into telling the chickenhawk war mongers what they needed to hear, and a kidnapping victim that was tried to be passed off as a defector in order to lie to sell ANOTHER war to the American television watcher.

If You Really Want To Piss Off Ahmadinejad, Grow A Mullet

Here's a funny thing. While the rest of the god fearing world is shitting their pants over Iran because of something they have yet to be proved to be doing, Iran has outlawed the mullet. How can anyone be afraid of a country that finds the ugliest hair style ever in the history of man, I mean, after the fauxhawk, of course, or that crew cut that has once again become so fashionable with the people in conservative circles who still have hair, such a threat that they have to pass an edict outlawing it.
I really don't like the mullet either, having despised it from the first time I saw an idiot with virtually no bangs coupled with a long feathered tail in back walking the West Side of GR, worn by some mustachioed ne'er-do-well in a wifebeater. So while I simultaneously applaud President Ahmadinejad for his courageousness in defending his country from the invasion of a hairstyle so hideous, it has become the epitome of idiocracy, I also disdain him. There are few ways that you can tell if a person is wrong headed. Draping themselves in some form of red, white, and blue is one. Tucking their T-shirt into their shorts is another. But the single most doofus-y way to detect a doofus, is their predilection for a bad hairstyle that should have died with the seventies, yet still lingers on in the corners of Real America where people refer to the president as Barack HUSSEIN Obama.
So go ahead, impose sanctions on Iran, you'll only make it's Revolutionary Guards richer and more powerful, but you must admire a country that saw the most godawful thing a person could grow outside of neurofibromatosis on their head and said none of that here.

Joe The Plumber Is Taking This Country Back!!! (To The Days Of Trillion Dollar Budget Deficits)

Like a chancre sore that won't go away, failed 'journalist', 'author','country singer', and all around metacelebrity Sam "'Joe'" the "'Plumber'" Wurzelbacher is back for another political election season, expounding his deep rooted political philosophy to the candidate who can pay his speaking fee for his endorsement
First off, Sam, who hasn't done a lot of plumbing since being turned into an icon for the McCain Campaign of 2008, has backed two candidates in the same race. It must be hard to go back to plunging people's toilets when you've been on SNL.
Also, Mr. Wurzelbacher has joined the "Take Our Country Back Tour" joining other fellow 'Americans' such as Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Karl Rove and Sarah Palin. (Although, to be honest, "Joe" doesn't even rate a mention on their home page). The goal of said tour is to encourage Americans to vote for candidates who believe "in the right of the American people—and only the American people—to determine the course and destiny of the United States of America." No more of those Kenyan Muslim Fascists deciding our policies for us. (But it is perfectly okay for our foreign policy to be decided by Israel). The Real America, according to Sammy, lives out here, the people who do the jobs that Mr. Plumber would do, if he didn't have a celebrity status to exploit. Sam and Co. don't ask you to vote for Republicans or Democrats, you see, but 'Americans', which has become another one of those right wing code words like 'family values' that mean exclusively white people, or people of color who know their place, like Michael Steele or Piyush  "Bobby" Jindal.

General Casey Wants To Give Afghanistan What We Don't Have In America, And He Wants Us To Waste Another Decade Giving It To Them

Speaking at the Aspen Institute Ideas Festival Friday, Army Chief Of Staff Gen. George Casey says we may be fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq another ten years. Whose idea is that? Certainly not mine, but I'm not invested in the military-industrial complex, so I won't be making a dime by bleeding the country dry.
But what's more upsetting are the objectives of the military in the region.
1.)You are only going to succeed when the people perceive there is a government represented by their interests-So why should the people of Afghanistan have what we don't? My interests don't include making the rich people richer, mine include something like providing decent health care for every American,or that those struggling through tough economic times not of their creation can keep their homes and feed their families. These were both wars of choice, only I didn't choose them.
2.)when there is an economy that can give them a job to support their families-Wait a minute-we had that here! I remember it well. Then our corporate idiocracy said, you know what, if we outsource your jobs to another country that doesn't have organized labor, we'll make out-we mean, you'll be able to buy more consumer goods because they won't cost as much. And the television watchers all said "Yup, yup, yup, more stuff for me! I like the sound of that~!"
3.)when there are educational systems that can educate their family-Do you mean like we used to have? Nowadays, many right wing candidates are calling for the abolition of the department of education. Why? Because the Official Party of 'NO!' said that education is bad because they won't let your myths be taught to other people's children, science is bad because it disproves their faith, and the only thing children should be reading is our big book of approved fables.
4.)States, non-states and individual actors who are increasingly willing to use violence-You mean, like flying unmanned drones into civilian areas, casually referring to civilian deaths as collateral damage, and bombing areas where we think there may be people we want to kill? Doesn't anybody in charge have at least one iota of common sense to realize that maybe the reason that they are shooting at us is because we started shooting at them first?
Of course, the general, who is set to retire in nine months , was followed by a Pentagon spin doctor, who stated:"General Casey was speaking of the types of conflict we will be fighting for a decade or so. He did not, nor did he intend to, imply that we would be fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan for 10 more years."
What he really meant to say was "We'll be fighting in Iran as well. That could take some time."

Taking Risks For Peace By Killing All You Hate

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met Tuesday for talks to smooth over the rift between the two leaders before they could both go ahead with the all-out attack on Iran. President Obama said Netanyahu was willing to take risks for peace. He then went on to call Fox News fair and balanced, BP as fine environmental stewards and Toy Story 3 as the best Toy Story yet.
Really, to call the man who called for an attack on Iran for it's peaceful nuclear power program, continues it siege against the people of Gaza for exercising democracy, and defended the murder of nine activists bringing relief to the people of Gaza a man of peace is to call Sharron Angle a sane voice for women's rights.

I Thought America Won It's Independence From High Prices

It's about time we faced up to the fact that the United States is a corporate idiocracy. Large multi-nationals beam mind numbing drivel into our homes featuring meta-celebrities in voyeuristic situations and call it reality. We are rapidly becoming a nation of slack-jawed mouth breathing window lickers who haven't read a book since they got out of school and couldn't locate Afghanistan on a map, let alone give a clear concise reason why we need to spend another $33 billion there.
How do I know? More than twenty five percent of Americans couldn't tell you from whom we won our independence. So where does these mentally challenged people emanate from? I mean, they can't all come from the Tea party, as they only comprise 18% of the population, but it is nearly as many Americans who think that Sarah Palin resigned as governor because it was the right thing to do for Alaska (which in a way, it was).
To some, the dumbing down of the United States isn't happening quick enough. There's only so many episodes of Jersey Shore that you can get people to watch. So to help ease this country into a more acceptable moronic state, Glenn Beck has plans for an university ('magic underpants' not included). This exclusive chance to be taught revisionist history by avowed theocrats is available exclusively to subscribers of Beck's Insider Extreme, a website devoted to fleecing the sheep to line Glenn Beck's pockets. Once you pass this course, Glenn Beck doesn't promise you'll get a job from it, only that you'll be as confused politically as he is, just what you need when you're working your new job, wrangling shopping carts in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
(Cross posted at American Insurgency)

Praying To Your Red, White And Blue Security Blanket

  Fox News, which we all have known for years, is neither fair balanced. Or truthful either. Basically it exists to reinforce right wing talking points while stirring up the base about non-existent issues.
Recently, the network, in it's effort to rile up the corporate idiocracy, incorrectly claimed a school refused to let students say the pledge of allegiance. Without going into much detail about how the pledge was written by a Christian Socialist, the recitation of the pledge is one of the  forms of brainwashing foisted upon children at the earliest age . Essentially a prayer to a piece of cloth, it is however considered important to the weak and feeble minded people who think it actually means something.
Following the erroneous report by Fox News, the school began receiving offensive hateful and potentially criminal messages from Fox News viewers. Because nothing makes one more patriotic than threatening a school board.
The whole controversy began when an initiative from the leader of the Republican Youth called for the pledge to be recited at every school. Because nothing says freedom more than being forced to mouth empty words to a piece of cloth. The student, Sean Harrington, gave an impassioned speech to the board spewing right wing cliches and talking points such as 'freedom isn't free' and other such drivel. All was in vain, though, as board members deadlocked on whether or not to pass the proposal. The school principal offered a compromise, wherein all who wished could join the principal in the school lobby before the start of each day and recite the pledge, which Harrington rejected.

"I was really heartbroken," Harrington said of the deadlocked vote. "It's hard to think that something so traditional in American society was turned down. ... It tells me that we've basically cast aside what our country is founded on."

Um, I think Mr. Harrington needs to retake American History 101, because the pledge wasn't even written until 1892. Our country was founded on the Constitution, which prohibits the establishment of a religion, which is what the idolatry based Americanism he wants to force upon all his fellow students sounds like to me. And as far as being 'something so traditional in American society', one must remember that it wasn't even until the forties that it became compulsory for students to recite it. So it's not that much of a long standing tradition.
So basically, what we have, is a school board being terrorized by right wing fanatics because some arrested developmental Republican still needs his red, white, and blue security blanket. Boy, is he in for a shock when he walks out into the real world.

Torture By Any Other Name......Would Still Be As Painful

That darn crazy librul media. You know, the one that bends over backwards not to offend the easily offended by not being too controversial?
Well, it seems for years, it called waterboarding torture. Well, it still considers waterboarding torture, just not when the US does it.
Sure, it's a double standard, but in order to placate those who maybe torturing, or have family members in the torture business, they can't infer that there's anything wrong with it. It's like, for fear of offending drug dealers, they started calling them entrepreneurs.
It's obvious by now that criminals are in charge, enabled by the corporate media, embedded in the social political elite, afraid to offend the leadership, because somewhere down the road, there may be a cushy government position for them.
Our corporate media has long abandoned the responsibilities of a free press. Maybe that's why newspaper circulation declines, and maybe why the country has devolved into a corporate idiocracy.

The Necessity Of Lies About The Necessity Of War

The upcoming weekend is a big holiday weekend, and, as usual, the big oil companies will exploit it by raising gas prices to pocket big profits. And motorists will gripe and grumble, and still pay it, because Americans are still too stupid to invest in any sensible alternative energy, a reliable mass transit service, or anything else that would ease our country's dependence on fossil fuels.
But if you think you're going to see high fuel prices now, just wait until the US and Israel strike Tehran. OPEC has warned war with Iran would mean an unlimited price hike, which means, bend over and grab your ankles, America. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mullen also thinks a military strike on Iran would be destabilizing.
And yet, there we are, surrounding Iran on all sides, prepared to do our worse, all based on lies. Which proves how stupefied the American people have become by the corporate media. They have forgotten that the reason were in Iraq is a bunch of lies. Weapons of Mass Destruction? Now they've conveniently moved to Iran
I could once again debunk every argument you may hear about why we need to go to war with Iran. But I'm as tired of typing them as you are of reading them. But still the lies continue. Because we need them, our corporate media isn't interested in the truth, and are too far embedded in the Washington DC Cocktail Party Set to be honest.
So I give Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the only Democrat I'd ever vote for:
"We are losing our nation to lies about the necessity of war. Bring our troops home. End the war. Secure our economy."
Amen.

The Old Two War Party Bait And Switch

Our political system would work a whole lot better if our two "opposing" parties were on the same page at the same time. For instance, Republicans opposed the filibuster when they had the White House, and now, with a Democratic president, it's considered an essential tool of government. (I know, I know, the GOP are "tools" of government)
As another example, in 2006 and 2008, the Democratic Party rode into power on a wave of anti-war sentiment. But now, with antiwar sentiment momentarily distracted by the continuing ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the Democratically controlled House has voted for more funding for the Afghanistan quagmire, President Obama has formally disavowed the July 2011 draw down date. Meanwhile, the Democratically controlled US Congress and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed new US sanctions against Iran, a prelude to war with that country.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, most Republicans now think the Iraq War was a mistake. Some have even gone as far as to call it "Illegal and immoral". I wonder, though, is this true regret, or is this an excuse, in that great game of Risk that has become US foreign policy in the Middle East, an excuse to move our troops in Iraq to it's immediate neighbor to the east. Or, maybe the change of heart within his own party and the fact that as an architect of a policy they are calling illegal he could now be prosecuted for war crimes has led Dick Cheney to the hospital. Don't worry, Dick. All this posturing is, I'm sure, just that, as Americans look closely at what we haven't accomplished after many years, many lives, and many, many more dollars wasted in a region of the world far removed from our back yards.
The problem is the learned helplessness of the two party system. Unable to think outside of the box, they are trapped in the Republican/Democrat box. Both parties have been in power on and off, for at least the last century, both parties have brought the country to the state it's in, and yet, people keep hoping that maybe this election cycle, or the next will bring real change if their party gets the control it needs.
Good luck with that. Evil 'A' vs. Evil 'B' is still evil.

US House Accuses Iran Of Being Just Like The US

When I was in high school, the US and the USSR were engaged in the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, or SALT II talks, which was about limiting the number of times each nation could kill the other one. I think they finally settled on 150. My father, an ultraconservative, one might even say reactionary, was opposed to such a treaty with the Russians, because, as he told me, "You can't trust those commies. They never keep their word and have broken every treaty they ever signed."
Fast forward a few decades, and here is the United States, breaking another treaty it signed, namely the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or the NNPT. Under the NNPT, the US recognizes the right of other nations to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes, such as electrical power, or medical research, and as such, would not hinder any signatory nation from doing so, and even offering to assist said nation in their quest to using the atom for peace. Except now, the US is doing everything in it's power to stop Iran from doing what it is guaranteed as a signatory to the NNPT. In other words, just like the commies of long ago, they are not keeping their word and essentially breaking the treaty which they have signed.
And now, the US House is send H.R. 1457 to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in the latest round in the lead up to the invasion of Iran, using entirely fraudulent claims.
1. President Ahmadinejad fraudulently won the last election
Remember in 2000, the hotly contested presidential election in the US? The one where the State of Florida had to pay roughly $5000 each to black voters disenfranchised by the Republican Party? Remember when it finally came out that Al Gore did in fact win Florida in 2000, we were told to "get over it"?
However, while there was no evidence of voter fraud in the 2009 Iranian elections, there is evidence that the US corporate media tried to paint it as such. So you see, vote fraud in another country is bad, very bad, but election fraud in the US is no big deal.
2. Iran has plenty of oil, why do they need to develop nuclear power?
A lot of neocons are suspicious of Iran developing nuclear power, because, they say, why do that, when they have all that oil? Well, in addition to having vast quantities of oil, Iran also has 1400 uranium mines. As the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran deputy head Fuel Hossein Faqihian pointed out, nuclear energy is a good alternative to energy derived from non-renewable fossil fuels as they are cleaner and cause less environmental damage.
Iran has even agreed to an arrangement with Turkey in Brazil in which raw uranium in Iran is exchanged for enriched uranium, thereby ensuring that Iran cannot enrich uranium to a high enough yield to use in nuclear weapons.
3. Iran supports terrorism
This claim is made because Iran funds Hezbollah, which is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Canada and Israel, but not the rest of the world which recognizes the differences between the security and political wings of the organization. Meanwhile the US, which created Al qaeda, is spending $400 billion annually to fund the MEK, a terrorist organization to destabilize the Tehran regime.
4. Iran continues to deny human rights and democracy to the people of Iran Right now, the whole of the Palestinian population in the Gaza strip is suffering under the collective punishment of the Israel led blockade against them. This blockade was put in place when the people, believing in "democracy" voted for the Hamas party to rule the Palestinian Authority over the US/Israel backed Fatah party. The blockade violates the human rights of about a million and a half people, many women and children. Meanwhile, right wing politicians in the US want us to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Commission because it wants to investigate the excessive use of force in the  Mavi Marmara flotilla raid.
5. Iran has a secret nuclear weapons program Nope.No evidence of that. Meanwhile, Israel which has nuclear weapons (and tried to sell some to South Africa), refuses to sign the NNPT or open up it's sites for inspection.
6. President Ahmadinejad has vowed to wipe Israel off the map
Here we go again. His statement was a gross mistranslation, taken out of context.
However, Israel has vowed to drop nuclear weapons on Iran again, and again,and again.

Right now, in the Red Sea , there are eleven US warships and three German built Israeli subs armed with nuclear cruise missiles . While there is a problem with Iran "wiping Israel off the map", there doesn't seem to be a problem with the US wiping Iran off the map. With the US now mired in two wars in the Gulf region, can it really afford to get tangled up in another? Does it really matter? We the people no longer decide what's right for this country. Although the many television-watchers may be cowed by corporate media propaganda about Big bad Iran, the truth is, while Iran isn't the greatest country in the world, neither is the US any more, mainly because we have become the aggressor that behaves in a fashion to it's once feared enemies. Economically, we can no longer afford to repair all the damaged nations of the world, because we have become as damaged.

You Can't Judge A Book B y It's Cover, But You Can Judge A Judge By The Way He Covers His Books

Given the unmitigated disaster that the the leak at BP's Deepwater Horizon has become, one would think that a temporary ban on drilling might not be a bad idea. The Obama administration had hoped the ban would allow time to ensure that other wells are operating safely. That ban has blocked by a federal judge, ruling in favor of drilling companies.
Well, guess what? That's right, the judge who ruled in favor of the drilling companies, US District Judge Martin "Marty" Feldman, owns $15,000 worth of stock in offshore drilling companies. Can you say conflict of interest?
It's a good thing that Americans have guardians of justice such as Judge Feldman, who will put public and environmental safety over their own personal gain. Judges who would recuse themselves from cases where a conflict of interest may appear, just to insure there is no appearance of impropriety.
The truth is, our justice system, much the same as our legislature, is bought and paid for, and unless you happen to have enough money to buy into it, you are seriously fucked.

The Lieberweasel Strikes Again!

Growing up, there was always that one kid, whose sense of entitlement made them feel they were entitled to the same things as every body else was, whether deserved it or not, or whether or not it was a good idea.
Ladies, and gentlemen, that whiny weaselly kid all grown up is ......Joe Lieberman!
China has the power to shut down its Internet, so why can't we?
Well, for starters, China is a communist country, while the US poses as some sort of a democracy. In the US, the open and free exchange of ideas is one of the many freedoms we have that make us better than say, China, where people have the freedom to work ten hour days seven days a week or be crushed by tanks!
Of course, Sen. Lieberman defends this act as a matter of national security, just like he defended the murder of an unarmed American citizen by the IDF as a security issue. So are we trust him on this? Remember what Ben Franklin said about liberty and security.
In the days before 9/11, the FBI shut down many Arab and Muslim websites. Some up to five days prior to that event. So the government already has shown it can shut down websites, even with out a just cause.
The internet is a dangerous place to those in charge these days. Just as quick as they can put out their disinformation someone else can discredit it as the fake it is. And with the US in preparation for yet another war by sending 11 ships to off the coast of Iran, they need to keep a lid on what's really going on before this administration's lies, much like the lies of the previous administration, are exposed for the falsehoods they really are.