Wilson Burnell Is What I've Been Up To

What do you do? You spend many years angrily typing on a keyboard, ranting and railing against a failed society, and what does it get you? Nowhere. How many times can you type about how stupid one paryty is before you realize it's not a failing of a single party but a failing of humanity?
Wilson Burnel And The Well-Known Drags (8-4-2011 9-01-21 PM) 01 Driving Across America by WilsonBurnel
I remember 2008. The summer. Gas prices were nearing the $5 a gallon range, people were selling their gas sucking pigs of cars, and everybody was concerned about oil prices....until they fell again, then everybody continued on as if nothing had ever gone wrong. This song is about peak oil, and how silly it is for people to continue on a path of destruction for lifestyle that is doomed. I tried to do a Beach Boys thing here, since they wrote songs about cars and such.
Wilson Burnel Nobody Told Me And I Wouldn't Listen 02 All The Crumbling People by WilsonBurnel
Eventually, we all will end up as dust, that's many of our final contribution to this planet, our rotting and bloated corpses festering in a box somewhere, feeding worms and hopefully contributing somewhat to the lush green grass above our heads. We can't leave the planet a better place after we go, because, there will always be more idiots than not left in our wake.
Wilson Burnel Nobody Told Me And I Wouldn't Listen (8-2-2011 8-53-02 PM) 08 Utility Pole by WilsonBurnel
Nobody Told Me And I Wouldn't Listen (8-8-2011 9-07-36 PM) 03 Mr. Lester by WilsonBurnel
Two songs dealing with substance abuse and my own personal hypocrisy with it. Utility Pole assumes an elitist attitude that there is something wrong with drinking beer and smoking pot, but drinking bourbon is all right. Mr. Lester is about the people you meet while drinking, who become a nuisance, but fun to drink with nonetheless. I really like the guitar solos in these songs, if I do say so myself.

Well, that's it. That's what I've been up to lately. I wonder if there are still some of the old friends around, people that I've known only through this medium for lo, these many years. I'm working on putting together a real release of this stuff (there's more. There is always more)Check them out. Let me know if you like them, hate them, or offer some constructive criticism. Enjoy!

What's Missing From This Picture?

A member over at Huffington Post commenting on this article pointed out that in the above picture, Ron Paul was the only one not wearing a red tie. But I noticed something else missing. Something obsequious during the last presidential election cycle, something that was an issue in certain cases.
Of course, I'm talking about the flag lapel pin that every politician wore to show people that he was his own man and didn't bow to any pressure they were a real American. Don't get them, wrong, the Republicans are still trying to sell themselves to voters as the party of America, Ronald Reagan, Jesus Christ and working people. Well, their definition of "working" people may differ from mine of yours, what we call workers, they refer to as "whiners", lousy ingrates who work long hours for less than a living wage and want the government to enforce job killing safety regulations.
No, their definition of "producers" are the bean counting misanthropes who try to squeeze every drop of sweat from those whiners while trying to squeeze every last dime out of consumers. And if the government would just let them privatize everything, we'd all be better off because more of us would have jobs hauling these 'producer's' big bags of money back to the panic room of their McMansion in a gated community. Hooray. Yippee.
So the GOP is trying to sell itself as the party of change-remember when they mocked candidate Barack Obama for that whole "hope-y change-y thing"? No lapel pins, vote for change, it sounds like the GOP is trying to morph itself into a whiter, older, and meaner version of Our President. The only thing that might possibly stand in their way is the next two years of Republican obstructionism in the House of Representatives, which will remind people of what they really stand for, which is rich people getting richer while government services to the victims of their economic policies are removed. None of this will create jobs, but it will continue the Middle Class removal program started under the Reagan years.

In A Way, They're Both Right

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Grumpy Old Politicians!
In this corner, at 74 years of age, John "Maverick" McCain:

"Thank god (Rumsfeld) was relieved of his duties and we put the surge in"

.
And over in this corner, at 78 years old, Donald "Aspartame"Rumsfeld:

"John McCain has a hair trigger temper and a propensity to shift his positions to appeal to the media"

Taking their fight to the media, we are being shown the unsavory sight of two grumpy old men, airing their unpleasant dirty laundry in front of a nation who will have forgotten who they were in a matter of time.

Ronald Reagan: The First President Of The Corporate Idiocracy

Today marks what would have been Ronald Reagan's 100 birthday, and were he alive today, he probably wouldn't remember it. Just like he could barely remember being president. Or the many crimes committed by his staff while he napped or vacationed playing cowboy.
You can hardly blame right wingers for admiring a man who was basically a puppet for corporate interests, conveniently forgetting that he raised taxes and tripled the National Debt. These people are the same people who call Mubarak a good friend because he helps us out when we need to send alleged terrorists to be tortured for crimes they may have not committed, but give them a while and they'll be having them admit they like to wear women's panties.
But mostly, right wingers adore Reagan because he was the first president of the Corporate Idiocracy. His anal raping of Patco sent a message to all working people: don't stand in the way of obscene corporate profits.CEO compensation has gone up 500 times since Reagan while worker's pay has stagnated as costs have gone up. And why have costs risen so dramatically? Because CEOs want more money!
The Corporate idiocracy also applauds Reagan for bringing down communism, which means that communism does work, and must be undermined because it runs contrary to corporate interests. His administration also committed crimes such as the Iran/Contra affair, which sent weapons (illegally) to Iran, with the funds be used to buy weapons (illegally) for Central American right wing death squads. Reagan also helped create the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden, becoming responsible then for 9/11.
So as the corporate media spend the day today in revisionist history lies about the worst president until George W Bush, remember the truth. Because Reagan certainly couldn't!

The End Of The World As They Know It

The world is imperfect. There are many problems facing mankind each day, each one, created, by mankind itself. Someday, maybe sooner, but probably later, when the Sun goes supernova, I'm sure everything on this planet will be obliterated. The point is, we all have to die sometime, and all we can do about is nothing. Live your life and try to leave some good behind.
Or.....
Or you can scan some book of fables and myths, parables designed to impart some ancient knowledge for some clue, any clue, until you create in your mind that the world will end on May 21 2011. Then you can spend your remaining days in bliss, spreading your message while trying not to appear as a total nutjob, warning people that indeed their days are numbered. But what happens on May 22?
Jesus predicted to his followers he would return in their lifetime ( Matthew 16:28) and that never happened. In fact, the list of claims of Jesus' return and end the world is fairly long. The Heaven's Gate cult is another prime example of people who believed in the end of the world. In fact, most major religions have these end-of-the-world fantasies where their people are spared the agony of death by the trueness of their belief system.
My point is this: if there are people who are willing to believe that the world will end soon, then they have no stock in dealing with the real problems facing us now. Therefore, any Christian extremist should not be elected to public office, because their belief system is based on some invisible guy in the sky scooping them up up and away from the consequences of their actions. The world belongs to the non-believers. We're certainly not the ones screwing it up.

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".