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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

One Man's Morality Is Another Man's Tax

So Al Gore thinks that global warming climate change is a moral issue. That's all I need, a morality lesson on a man who circumnavigates the globe in a private jet. Sure, I know, he uses carbon offsets, but do carbon offsets make his pollution less polluting because he isn't polluting somewhere else?
It's like the Carbon exchange that will make Gore a rich man, it doesn't really stop pollution if someone is still spewing carbon into the air? And what's so moral about a carbon tax? Robbing the poor and working people so that our government can take more of their money so they can give it to Israel to buy more bullets to kill more Americans? Where's the morality in that?
the problem is that this country has lost it's moral compass. We don't seem to have a problem with starving people and denying them medical treatment when Israel does it, but somewhere else? Then all of America suddenly grows a conscience.
So save your talk of 'morality' for some sucker who has no problem giving you their hard earned money so you can travel in comfort on a private jet. Around here, if you don't walk it like you talk it, you just full of hot air. And maybe, just maybe, another cause of global warming climate change.

John Boehner: Man Of Grace, Respect And Class

Before there was a Monty Python, there was the Beatles, four lads from Liverpool whom, besides being great musicians and songwriters, had a flash of wit about them. Long before John Lennon dressed down an upper class twit in A Hard Day's Night, he stood before the Queen at the Royal Variety show and asked the people in the cheaper seats to clap their hands, and the rest of the audience to "rattle their jewelry". Irreverent and cheeky, there wasn't anybody whom they wouldn't take down a peg.
So it was of little surprise when Sir Paul McCartney, a Member of the British Empire, and a knight as well, made a comment to President Obama when he received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song about how nice that America again has a president "who knows what a library is". ( I think it's nice we have a president who's not as likely to call it a 'liberry')
Just a joke, right? Well, not to House Minority Leader John Boehner. Boehner is demanding Sir Paul apologize for taking a jab at George W Bush.

"Like millions of other Americans, I have always had a good impression of Paul McCartney and thought of him as a classy guy, but I was surprised and disappointed by the lack of grace and respect he displayed at the White House," Boehner said in a statement. "I hope he'll apologize to the American people for his conduct which demeaned him, the White House and President Obama."

Hmmm. Lack of grace and respect? Let's look in the vault, and see how much class, grace and respect Rep. Boehner has had for President Obama, shall we?
John Boehner: President Obama has a 'pre-9/11 mentality'. That's not so bad. How about Boehner says Obama's bills make him 'want to throw up'. Vomiting, always a sign of class and grace, as exhibited by George Bush the first at a Japanese state dinner during his term. Then there was the claim that Obama is driving the US towards socialism, that's certainly respectful, and classy. Then John Boehner called the president out for not going far enough to allow offshore drilling, and even went as far as to call then-candidate obama a a chickenshit. So, as you can see, John Boehner is all about class, grace and respect. As long as it's for the people in his party. Stay classy, John Boehner, stay classy.

Hopefully, The UN Has A Short Attention Span

A gaggle of television watching diplomats? That's what the US is hoping for as it pushes back it's sanctions against Iran due to the fallout from the flotilla massacre. You know, the recent murder of activists bringing aid to the suffering Palestinians of Gaza by the Israeli Navy. Meanwhile, the US is quick to claim that blame Israel for the crimes it has committed when in fact, it's the activists fault for getting in the way of the bullets the Israelis fired. Even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has asked asked world leaders to dial down their criticism of Israel.
In fact, some US congresspersons defended the excessive use of force by the Israelis, but then why shouldn't they since they all receive contributions from Pro-Israel PACs.
So remember, the Israelis can murder civilians with impunity, because they have bought our politicians. But Iran, which is living up to it's obligations under the NPT must suffer sanctions, because it's what Israel wants. So now they have to wait until the international outrage has died down before they can ask the UN to punish Iran, while hoping that no sanctions are levied against them.

We Need More Retards Like This In Washington DC

Another sign that our country is quickly devolving into an Idiocracy is the claim made by California senatorial candidate Chuck Devore that Jack Bauer would support him.
Them conservatives sure do love themselves some 24: Seasons 1-7 . Never mind that Devore is seeking the nomination from the Tea Party wing of the GOP, which has among it's Contract From America that the constitutionality of every law be indentified, while Jack Bauer's disregard for things like Miranda rights and penchant for torture make him probably the most unconstitutional character ever depicted on television. Forget the fact the 24 was canceled due to sagging ratings, meaning it's popularity among voters is not worth embarrassing yourself by claiming an endorsement from a fictional character from that show. No, the question is, how can you rail against big government while bestowing upon yourself an endorsement from a fictional character who works for a monolithic government bureaucracy?

Where The Men Are Men, And The Animals Are Nervous

So, Florida, the Sunshine State, has, once again, failed to to pass a law banning bestiality, or, sex with animals. That means that in Florida, dogs, sheep, cow, goats and other animals, willing participants or not, are fair game for any person who finds it necessary to do so. This explains why the Florida legislature passed the Defense of Marriage Act, if it's perfectly legal to fuck a sheep, it wouldn't be too long before you wanted to marry it.

Freedom Of Speech Doesn't Apply To Those Who Are Saying What They Don't Want You To Hear

Remember when you were a kid, and if somebody told you something you didn't want to hear, such as it's time to go to bed, you would stick a finger in each ear and say "LaLalalalalalalalal" very loudly? It didn't work, because that very act alone told your parents that indeed it was time for you to go to sleep. Well, this is kind of like that. Jewish groups are asking member countries to stand up and walk out when Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the U.N. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference on May 3.

“Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability poses a threat to the region and the entire Western world. To have President Ahmadinejad address this review conference makes a mockery of the efforts of many countries to prevent nuclear weapons and nuclear terrorism from becoming the gravest global threats of this century."

Mockery? Really? How about Israel deploring IAEA and UN calls for Israel to sign the NPT and join the IAEA while trying to simultaneously deciding whom that august body should and shouldn't be listening to?
The president and executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the group that is calling for the boycott, then goes on to state that:"It is dismaying that, once again, the U.N. is allowing the head of a regime, foremost in the sponsorship of terrorism and the abuse of human rights, who defies U.N. resolutions regarding its nuclear ambitions, to appear before the international body."
Really? You want to go there? Israel, an apartheid state where it's Palestinian peoples are treated as second class citizens, where the Goldstone report has listed numerous war crimes and abuses of Human Rights, a country that has defied more UN resolutions than Iraq, and rejects UN resolutions regarding it's nuclear ambitions, and now you want to criticize Iran, which, once again has not diverted one isotope towards anything but it's nuclear energy program, nor has it been found to be developing a weapons program?
Which is likely what Ahmadinejad will be discussing at the conference, which is what pro-Israel groups do not want the world to hear. That and the fact the US has not lived up to it's obligations under Article 4 of the NNPT. (It's unlikely that the Iranian president will be discussing the continued violation of it's own Symington amendment by the US either) So, once again, we have the US standing behind international criminal state Israel while making false claims against one of Israel's enemies in the region. Pot. Kettle. Black.

Socialized Heroin

“How can our kids say no when the adults around them are saying yes?” asked Aimee Hendle, a spokeswoman for Californians for Drug Free Youth.
Yes the rhetoric is heating up in California, where an initiative to legalize marijuana has been placed on the ballot. Does making something legal that was once illegal make it all better?
How about all those people sitting in jails for mere possession, will they be released? What about all the law enforcement people and companies that profit from terrorizing pot heads? Will this make it illegal to not hire someone because they tested positive for marijuana in a drug test?
But what about the children?
Ironically, a world away, as right wingers fear the release of the killer weed into the mainstream of public altered consciousness, NATO has rejected Russia's call to spray the poppy fields of Afghanistan. And not even all of the poppy fields, merely twenty five percent. So what does that say to the paranoiacs of California who think the cultivation of pot is really bad when their tax dollars are going to support the cultivation of the opium poppy?

The Country Has Been Divided For A While Now, You Were Just Too Busy Jacking Off To Commander Codpiece To Notice

Let it be said that although I voted for Barack Obama, I have to this date not been happy with his performance thus far. He has spent too much time looking for a "bipartisan" solution instead of doing what needs to be done. The opposition party has left him out to dry because they only know how to create more problems and not solve them. The problems now facing this country were not brought in by President Obama when he took office, they were there already before he was even elected.
The health care crisis has been going on for twenty years, much of it with Republican control of Congress, and they have done nothing because they don't understand that it's not the quality of car offered by the finest doctors in the world, it's the inaccessibility for millions of Americans due to lack of insurance, or, for those with insurance, the inability to receive the care they need because their providers have denied it to them after taking their money.
In fact, if you named every problem facing the US and it can be directly traced back to the previous administration and it's inability to govern. President Obama is just the person who has to be the adult and fix these problems while the robber barons and banksters sit on their pile of money counting every dime they have ripped off from the US taxpayers.
So when Michael "Savage" Weiner says President Obama ripped the country in half in only one year, I would have to disagree. No, it was the people such as Michael Weiner, the Glenn Becks and their ilk who decided that they didn't like having a black and Democratic president in the White House that have ripped this country apart.
President Obama didn't create the huge deficit, it was there when he got there and people like Michael Weiner cheered on the previous administration as they poured money down the outhouse in wars of choice such as Iraq. Michael Weiner cheered as former President Bush mismanaged the war in Afghanistan, dragging that conflict out longer than any other war we have been involved in. Where were the Michael savages and Glenn Becks and other tea baggers when those cesspools were opened up for our tax dollars to be poured endlessly into?
The reality is, the country has been ripped apart for some time now. It's been nearly seven years now that President Bush unilaterally violated international law and invaded a sovereign nation with no just cause. There were lots of protests, the "liberal" media chose to ignore them, and the "free speech zones" created by the criminal-in-chief insured he'd never become aware of them, neither would you, Mr. Weiner, or the American people. No, the right was living in a fantasy world were everybody had better stand behind the president in a time of war, and conveniently forgot it once the new president represented the two things that scare you more than getting on a plane full of Muslims.
So now, the only thing you can blame on President Obama is the fact that he opened your eyes to a country so polarized that each side has created it's own separate reality, where truth is subjective and lies are acceptable if they help to prop up your insane belief system.

An Unbrainwashed Primer On Hate Groups

See Bill Donohue.
He is president of the Catholic League.
He likes to condemn things.
He condemns movies and television shows that might cause his followers to think.
He condemns advertising that relays messages that he doesn't agree with.
He condemns the use of condoms.
Condemn, condemn, condemn.
Recently, he condemned the meeting of officials from the Justice and Health and Human Services departments with representatives of the Secular Coalition for America, an umbrella group that includes American Atheists and the Council for Secular Humanism.
He denounced them as a 'hate group'.
A definition of 'condemn' is " to pronounce judgment against, to sentence". In other words, to hate.
Oddly enough, Mr. Donohue has never condemned pedophiliac priests. Because his bible says, 'judge not, lest ye be judged'.

See Fred Phelps.
He is the pastor at the Westboro Baptist Church.
He has a direct connection to his god.
His god tells him to hate things.
He protests funerals of gay people.
He protests funerals of soldiers fallen in the war in Iraq.
Reverend Phelps claims that his god is the Christian god of love.
Someday, Fred will die.
No one will protest his funeral.




See Council Nedd.
He is the leader of In God We Trust, an organization dedicated to protecting America's religious heritage.
Like the Salem witch trials, the Boston Martyrs, and the KKK.
Council Nedd describes the Secular Coalition for America as "some of the most hate-filled, anti-religious groups in the nation".
He must not think that the biggest number of hate groups in the nation derive from the Christian Right.
Poor Old Nedd.











This is Marion "Pat"Robertson.
A Christian leader, "Pat" is one of the most hate filled leaders in Christianity.
He denounces other religions as "demonic".
He openly calls for murder of other country's leaders.
He claims a hate crime bill is "noose around the neck of Christians".
He has claimed that Hurricane Katrina was a punishment by god for America's alleged sins.
He has stated that gay marriage will lead to bestiality.
He blames the earthquake in Haiti on a pact with the devil.
He has slammed Muslims as worse than Nazis.
In short, he is one of the most hate filled men in charge of one of the most hated filled religions and has met directly with presidents, then lied about what was said at such meetings.



Atheists have never called to bomb a sovereign nation as our elected Christians have done.
Atheists would never condemn a minority for not having the same belief system as they.
Atheists have never justified killing in the name of some unseen deity.
No, atheists have never advocated killing anyone for any reason.
Maybe that is why their voice has been kept out of the White House for 234 years. And look where that got us.

Those With Stained Glass Windows Should Not Be Casting Stones

Former Pop Music superstar Elton John has stirred up some controversy by suggesting Jesus was gay

"I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems"

Plus, he never got married, had sex, or was romantically linked to a female. Elton John was a major music superstar in the seventies who was also one of the first to publicly declare their gayness. So I'm assuming he has a finely tuned gaydar.
The Catholic League, protector of all things Jesus, responded with their own ludicrousity:"to call Jesus a homosexual is to label him a sexual deviant".
No, Mr. Donohue, Elton John was not suggesting that Jesus was what like so many Catholic priests have been accused of, he was merely suggesting that many of the qualities Jesus possessed are shared by a large number of gays. He wasn't a kiddie raper, that's what the Catholic Church has spent many years covering up and paying millions of dollars to obscure. There's your sexual deviancy.