101 Reasons to Say Fuck You

So without further ado, my “(In)Complete List of Examples Showing Why Republicans/Conservatives/Teabaggers should not be allowed to regain control of Congress (Six weeks. These are all in just the past six weeks):

1. Gingrich Suggests Taking Out The Remaining ‘Axis Of Evil’ Members: ‘We’re One Out Of Three’. Are you tired of these budget-breaking, costly & bloody wars? The GOP isn’t.
2. Department of Defense can’t account for 96 percent of money administered in Iraq reconstruction fund (between 2003-2007, $9.1 Billion just vanished).
3. Deficit fraud Shadegg (R-WI) can’t name a single program he’d cut to reduce the deficit.
4. The GOP has become the “Let Them Eat Want Ads” Caucus: A look at all the Conservatives claiming people on unemployment are “lazy” and are simply “putting off looking for work”.
5. Speaking of which: TN Congressman running for governor, Zach Wamp (R-TN) Suggests Unemployed Are ‘Just Sitting Back Waiting’.
6. Sharon Angle – The Tea Party’s pick to replace Nevada Senator Harry Reid is too BSC even for Fox News with all her talk of “armed insurrection” and “Second Amendment remedies” if voters don’t return Conservatives to power in Congress.
7. House minority whip Eric Cantor Admits Extending Bush Tax Cuts Would ‘Dig The Hole Deeper’ on the Deficit — and can’t name a single program he’d cut to pay for it (continue reading the list and you’ll find he’s not the only Deficit Hawk that can’t name a single thing he’d cut.)
8. But that’s not the first time a Republican admits the truth about the effect of tax cuts on the Deficit: GOP Lawmaker Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) Slips Up, Admits Tax Cuts Will ‘Increase The Debt’.
9. Not convinced yet? Contradicting His Earlier Denial, Marco Rubio (R-FL) Admits ‘Tax Cuts Don’t Pay For Themselves’.
10. Don’t ask these guys how they’ll pay for extending the Bush Tax Cuts. Either they don’t know or won’t say before the election because they know you won’t like it (can you say “Social Security & Medicare” after they spent all of last Summer vowing to protect it?)
11. The man in charge of rewriting history on the Bush Administration, Rove Invents Fantasy World In Which The Bush Tax Cuts Led To The Most Government Revenue Ever. (So how did they double the National Debt in six years with “all that revenue” coming in?)
12. Tea Party Senate candidate Rand Paul (R-TN) claims mine safety regulations are unnecessary because ‘no one will apply’ for jobs at dangerous mines. – So, mines will simply go out of business after 100% of them deregulate and workers choose to starve rather than work for them? (They can just live off their Trust Funds until a better job comes along, right Rand?)
13. Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) Can’t Think Of Any GOP Ideas That Are Different From Bush. Says Simply: We Are ‘Pro-Growth’. (whatever that means.)
14. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Filibusters DISCLOSE Act After Decades Of Demanding Campaign Finance Reform – As recently as 2007, McConnell was still defending his 23 year effort to require candidates disclose who was donating to their campaigns. Now, suddenly, he’s filibustering something he has fought for for years. Why? Because Democrats want it too. It’s all part of “the Party of Record Obstructionism simply to deny Democrats of any achievements prior to the election. Will you reward them for it in November?)
15. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow takes note of McConnell’s flip-flop, producing video proof of numerous Republicans now vehemently opposed to programs & policies THEY themselves invented. (Can you say “Cap & Trade” McCain, Palin, Fiorina?)
16. And WHY would Republicans now obstruct their own programs? Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) says the answer is obvious: Republicans ‘Don’t Want People To Get Jobs Before The Election’ . I think he’s right.
17. People that think like this have no business being in charge of ANYTHING: Carnival offers shoot-the-president game.
18. On Sunday’s (Aug 7) Meet the Press, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) called for more deregulation to jumpstart the economy, then IN THE SAME BREATH, blamed a lack of regulation for the crisis on Wall Street and the oil disaster in the Gulf:
19. GOP Repeats Balanced Budget Amendment Farce – Why is this bad? Because they are still insisting on extending the $700B budget-busting Bush Tax cut for the wealthiest 2% while (almost comically) steadfastly refusing to explain how they’ll pay for it. (Can you say “Draconian spending cuts on the Poor & Middle Class”?)
20. Back in college, Tennessee Senatorial candidate Rand Paul reportedly kidnapped a female student and forced her to worship the ‘AQUA BUDDHA’ (a bong) as part of a secret society. (Update: Paul denies the kidnapping, but not the ‘bong worship’ part.)
21. Serial adulterer and potential 2012 presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who spends an inordinate amount of time preaching “Family Values”, dismissed his hypocrisy in a discussion with ex-wife #2 with a ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ defense.
22. McCain Promises He Won’t Work With Democrats On Immigration If He Is Re-Elected. – Do you get it yet? They don’t WANT to fix their made-up “problems” (ie: “campaign fundraising issues”). That’s why they never challenged Roe v Wade the six years they controlled all three branches of government. There’s gold in them thar race-baiting issues!
23. “Terror Babies!” – Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert went on Fox Business Channel to make the wild claim that pregnant Middle Eastern women are traveling to the U.S. to have babies who will automatically become U.S. citizens upon birth and later return when they are older to “blow us up.” – The FBI debunked him, but he continues to insist it’s true. These people are delusional paranoids, and they are hoping you’ll put them back in charge.
24. Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio thinks the way to balance the budget is simply to ban earmarks (which make up 1% of the budget) and putting every government expenditure OTHER than Defense) up for reapproval by Congress every ten years (are you ready to risk a Republican Congress reapproving Medicare and Social Security every ten years?) Oh, BTW: Every dollar of discretionary spending already has to be reappropriated every year.
25. A recent CNN poll finds that 27% of Americans and 41% of Republicans overall… still believe President Obama was either “probably” or “definitely” born in another country.
26. The Tea Party came out AGAINST ‘Net Neutrality’ on the grounds that ”Net neutrality” (what we have NOW) would result in “GREATER government control” and “MORE government regulation” over the Internet. (Corporations oppose “Net Neutrality”, wanting instead to regulate the flow of traffic, providing optimal bandwidth only to those willing to pay for it.) I think this speaks VOLUMES about just how misinformed and easily manipulated the “Tea Party” is by its corporate sponsors.)
27. Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) thinks Social Security… which just celebrated its 75th anniversary… is “unconstitutional” (read further for like-minded candidate Joe Miller.) Of course, if he had actually READ the Constitution… say Article 1, Section 8… he’d know otherwise. Despite spending the Summer of ’09 accusing Democrats of wanting to “destroy Medicare”, never doubt for a moment that these people want to privatize Social Security, Medicare, and every social safety net there is. Remember, these guys even blocked extendingunemployment benefits last July.
28. Republican Senate candidate for Washington State Dino Rossi believes that 1/3 of his state is in the Top 2% making over $250,000 a year.
29. 19 of the 22 states suing ObamaCare are receiving money appropriated by the new Obamacare law.
30. GOP House candidate Allen West (R-FL) believes people calling for peace and religious tolerance via ‘Coexist’ Bumper Stickers on their cars Want To ‘Give Away Our Country’.
31. Indiana’s Republican Senate candidate Dan Coats admits that he has no idea how much his “job creation plan”, which slashes taxes on corporations and the rich, will cost. They rant & rave over the size of the Deficit, then propose budgets that slash tax revenue without any investigation into what effect those policies will have on the deficit.
32. Rep. Marsha Blackburn: If The GOP Takes Back Congress, Our Priority Will Be To Repeal Health Reform – Blackburn isn’t alone. She’s referring to a petition circulated by NY Rep Peter King. To date, all but seven House Republicans have signed the pledge.
33. Every single Republican running for the U.S. Senate seat from New Hampshire is a global warming denier. – And they’re not too sure about Gravity either.
34. For the fourth week in a row, Sunday talk hosts pushed Republicans to explain how they intend to pay for making the Bush Tax Cut on the Top 2% permanent while screaming about the Deficit. This week, it was “Meet the Press” host David Gregory’s turn, pushing Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell on how they intend to pay the cut, with Mitchy asking“Why” all of a sudden are tax cuts “something we have to pay for?” Because you made the Deficit an issue, asshat.
35. NY’s Tea-bagger candidate for governor, Carl Paladino, believes we should convert “underused” State prisons into “Welfare Camps” for the homeless and people on public assistance, saying, “Instead of handing out the welfare checks, we’ll teach people how to earn their check. We’ll teach them personal hygiene…”. Could these guys BE any more insulting? If you lose your job and can’t get another one, you must be a bum, lacking in personal hygiene & social skills. Interesting suggestion coming from the crowd that decries the “Nanny state” and “government intrusion in personal lives”. Remember their paranoia over “FEMA Concentration Camps”?
36. GOP candidate for TX-17, Bill Flores, repeatedly refused to say if he’d support House Minority Leader John Boehner to be reappointed to his leadership role if he (Flores) is elected. But before anyone praise Flores for his disapproval of Boehner, know it is only because Flores… an anti-government Tea Party favorite… thinks Boehner isn’t wingnutty enough. Only Republicans would elect “anti-government” people to run the government. That’s like electing an arsonist to be the Fire Chief.
37. One week it was New Hampshire. The following week we learned all four GOP candidates in New Mexico are Global Warming deniers, believing instead that it is “scientists engaged in a conspiracy to ruin our economy” (those evil anti-economy scientists!) Have I mentioned lately these people are nuts?
38. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) tells a Town Hall attendee that if the GOP retakes the House, all they will do for the next two years is “frame the 2012 election”. Not fix unemployment, the housing crisis, Wall Street or health care reform; they’ll simply use that time to focus on the next big election. Remember Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) said all they should do if they win “is issue subpoenas” for the next two years, while Peter King (R-NY) refuses to say anything at all prior to the election about what they will do, for fear of making it “a campaign issue”.
39. Texas Governor Rick “secede from the Union” Perry, now wants the Federal Government to rescue his state from growing violence just across the border in Mexico’s drug war. After capitalizing on bad-mouthing the Federal Government for the past year, as soon as reality sets in, this hypocrite is first in line to beg it for help.
40. When asked to name something… anything… besides “tax cuts” that Republicans can do to improve the economy, the only thing Mike Pence (R-IN) can come up with is more tax cuts for the rich.
41. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) assures fill-in host Laura Ingraham that if Republicans retake control of Congress, “Absolutely” he pledges “to repeal ObamaCare”… which prevents insurers from denying people coverage based upon preexisting conditions and stops lifetime caps on how much coverage insurers will pay if you get sick.
42. Texas Senator John Cornyn thinks people are starting “to look back on the Bush Administration’s economic principles ‘with a little more fondness’”. Do you NEED any more evidence these people, not only live in their own little dream-world, but wouldn’t hesitate to re-implement the same economic policies that got us here?
43. Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman reminds us what happened the last time a Republican Congress took control under a Democratic President: A six year non-stop partisan witch hunt that spent millions investigating the President – “they subjected the Clinton administration to unrelenting harassment — at one point taking 140 hours of sworn testimony over accusations that the White House had misused its Christmas card mailing list.”
44. Alaska GOP Senate Candidate Joe Miller suggests Medicare And Social Security Are Unconstitutional. (Note: On Fox “news” Sunday Aug. 28, John McCain claimed Democrats were out to “destroy Medicare and Social Security”, suggesting Republicans were the TRUE stewards you should trust to protect those programs.)
45. Steve King (R-IA), when asked by his Democratic opponent why he won’t debate him, true to his name, “King” tells his opponent he “hasn’t earned the right to debate him”. In his eight years in office, his majesty has not once agreed to debate an opponent.
46. Former health care executive Rick Scott, who is now the GOP nominee for governor of Florida, is campaigning on issues he’d have NO power to affect (eg: extending the Bush tax cuts) if elected.
47. The Taliban revealed that they are using Conservative protests against “the Ground Zero Mosque” as a recruiting tool.
48. Is anyone surprised by this? Another “Family Values” teabag candidate is arrested, this time for “unlawful conduct” with a minor.
49. Delaware’s Tea Party backed candidate for Senate, Christine O’Donnell, who claimed to have graduated from college in 1993, in fact, just received her diploma in July.
50. Scott Tipton, the Republican candidate for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, rather than join his fellow Republicans in vowing to “repeal & replace” the Democrats health care reform, instead is vowing to “choke off funding” for health care reform and replace it with nothing.
51. When asked, “What NEW ideas will Republicans bring with them if they regain control of Congress next November?”, disgraced/indicted former Congressman Tom Delay advises his fellow Republicans to campaign on the idea that “healthcare reform is destroying the economy and it will destroy it even more if it is allowed to go into effect“. So let me get this straight. It’s not even in effect yet AND it is “destroying the economy”? Really? This is all they got folks.
52. Both John McCain on Fox “news” Sunday, and his buddy Lindsey Graham on “Meet the Press”, both argued that we must extend the Bush Tax cuts “to protect small businesses and family farms”. One, “family farms” are already exempt from the Estate Tax (what they call the “Death” tax because it sounds more sinister), and two, can you really call yourself a “small business” if it is raking in more than a quarter-million dollars in net profit each year? And as MSNBC’s Keith Olbemann uncovered last month, the global conglomerate Bechtel, which raked in $31-BILLION DOLLARS last year, qualifies as a “small business”.
53. The Iowa GOP is pushing to make it illegal for undocumented children of undocumented immigrants to attend public school. – This is one of the best examples I can think of that demonstrates Conservatives inability to foresee possible repercussions from their actions (see: Iraq). They think they will save money? Think about all those delinquent children roaming the streets all day, joining gangs and growing up with no education and no job skills that leads to a life of crime. The pittance they save today will cost them a fortune tomorrow, compounding lost employment tax revenue with an inevitable explosion in welfare and/or crime.
54. Top Republicans were totally silent on “Burn a Kor’an Day”. From GWB on down, though they have suggested it “shouldn’t be done”, not one single Republican leader condemned the vile and provocative event planned for the anniversary of September 11th. (update: Sarah Palin did eventually come out and “condemned” the planned book burning.)
55. Summed up in one sentence: GOP Claims $50 Billion For Infrastructure Is Too Pricey, While Pushing $800 Billion Tax Cut For The Rich.
56. You can always count on Republicans to put partisan politics ahead of the needs of their constituents: Lawmakers From States With Deteriorating Infrastructure Oppose Obama’s Infrastructure Investment. Bridges, roads and schools are crumbling around them, but Paris Hilton needs a tax cut first.
57. More signs a GOP-led Congress will try to shutdown the government (even the V.A.) if they gain control, they way they did when Gingrich took control in 1994. (Gingrich repeated the possibility during his appearance on “Fox news Sunday” yesterday, suggesting Boehner “may” shutdown the government the same way he did in 1995, should Republicans regain control of the House, but thought it “unlikely” – translation: “a sure thing”.)
58. Rep. Mike Crapo (R-ID) praises a health care clinic paid for with Stimulus funds he opposed. “[O]ne of the core pieces of the solution that we need in America today”, says Crapo.
59. After weeks of being unable to justify extending the Bush Tax Cuts to the rich while deriding the size of the Deficit, Deficit-hawk David “diaper” Vitter (R-LA) simply says, “I don’t think we have to quote/unquote Pay For” the Bush Tax Cut for the rich.
60. Mike Pence (R-IN) says, that the GOP’s new website, America Speaking Out, proves “the Democrat [sic] majority isn’t listening, but House Republicans will.” Pence might want to check that website out, because the second most popular thread on it is a request to “deny tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs overseas”… a popular business practice supported (and defended) by the GOP. (Fox’s latest hire, John Stossel, ran a segment on ABC defending “outsourcing” last year.)
61. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) Promised a ‘God’s Covenant With Moses Signed ‘In Blood’ To Extend the Bush Tax Cuts For The Wealthy. Because God said we should threaten with violence anyone that stands in the way of tax cuts for the rich. I read that somewhere in The Book of Bubba. Chapter Two.
62. The day “Stark County” Ohio became “Stark Raving Mad” County, Ohio. Meet Phil Davidson (R-OH). Davidson ran for and lost the race for the Stark County Republican Party Treasurer, following a blustery wild-eyed speech, running back to his notes after every line while touting his Masters in Communication. Can you hear me now, Ohio?
63. Just who’s more BSC^*? Newly appointed Republican nominee for the Senate from Delaware, Teanut favorite Christine O’Donnell is well on her way to giving another Teanut favorite Sharron Angle (R-NV) a run her money with statements like ‘Too Many People Are Blindly Accepting Evolution As Fact’ and equating masturbation with adultery. Another thing O’Donnell and Angle have in common? Both immediately scrubbed their entire websites of all information the moment they won their nominations. (^*Bat Shit Crazy)
64. I haven’t dared track every Wingnutty thing to come out of the mouth of Sharron Angle (R-NV), and thanks to the folks at ThinkProgress, I don’t have to.
65. Here’s TP’s already huge (and growing) list of Wingnuttery for the latest Tea Party star, Christine O’Donnell.
66. Every week produces more evidence that if the GOP regains control of Congress, they’ll shut down the government. This week: Teresa Collett (R-MN).
67. Fox Business Channel gets Rep. Paul Ryan to support their own version of Ryan’s own “Contract with America” entitled “The Scorecard”. Among its pledges: “No New Taxes, No New Bureaucrats, Cut Spending, Repeal Obamacare.” Translation: Tax cuts for billionaires, more deregulation, repeal the Stimulus, and allow Health Insurance companies to return to their despicable ways.
68. For some clarity on the above, a research report from Wall Street’s Moody’s Analytics Inc proves conclusively what we’ve all known: that tax cuts for the rich are NOT stimulative.They just put their savings in the bank (Thanks to Donklephant for the heads-up). Reminder: Obama’s payroll tax cut for 98% of Americans is paid for by the Stimulus thatRepublicans want to repeal, ensuring that the only people that will get a tax cut under a Republican Congress is that Top 2%. Yes, believe it or not, if you vote those “tax cutting Republicans” back in power, 98% of you will see your taxes go UP.
69. In the “sky is blue” department, the former chair of the Florida GOP admits “many within the GOP have racist views” and worries “there is no place for moderates in the Republican Party”. Mr. Obvious: Line 2.
70. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell not only wants to extend the Bush Tax Cuts for the Top 2% at a cost of $800B, he now wants to repeal the Estate Tax for the Top 0.25% of households at a cost of $3.9 TRILLION over the next decade, which would also add nearly $1 TRILLION IN INTEREST to the Debt EACH YEAR. And just how does he propose we pay for this astronomical hole he plans to blow in the budget? By “freezing $300B in spending over the next ten years.” Folks, I’m sorry, but these people just aren’t playing with a full deck.
71. Uber-Libertarian Rand “Civil Right Act was unnecessary” Paul (R-KY), who once threatened to filibuster any Budget that wasn’t balanced, now says he supports extending the Bush Tax Cuts for the top 2% without proffering any spending offsets to pay for it. Conservative “principles” stop at the door of Congress.
72. Nearly every single GOP Senate candidate is a Global Warming denier. Not surprisingly, all of them Tea Party favorites.
73. Scott Walker (R-WI), Wisconsin candidate for governor, proudly announced his “68 page economic plan” printed in:

    58 point type

    15 words per page, containing such ground-breaking ideas as “I am for things that are good. Not bad.” Seriously.
74. Another week, another Republican demanding their Party shutdown the government if they regain control of Congress. This week, it’s Steve King (R-IA).
75. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) said that, if the Republicans regain control over Congress, they “will reopen the broad Wall Street reform law and overhaul the newly created consumer protection bureau.” This is Obama’s new agency to protect consumers from deceptive contracts and the kind of questionable financial practices that led to the meltdown on Wall Street.
76. Despite the fact 73% of Americans oppose DADT (“Don’t Ask. Don’t Tell), and the fact that both the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates both agree it is time to end the oppressive practice, AND Sen. John McCain saying in 2006 that, “[t]he day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, ‘Senator, we ought to change the policy,’ then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it,” every single Republican plus two Blu-dog “Democrats” filibustered the Defense Funding Authorization Bill this year because it included the repeal of DADT. When George W Bush was President, if Democrats had blocked a Defense spending bill, the Right would of HOWLED, called Democrats “unpatriotic”, and ask why they “hate the troops?”
77. Once a person like Sharron Angle has made her 12th Wingnutty comment (such as suggesting rape victims “turn lemons into lemonade”), continuing to point out her latest ludicrous, outrageous and/or offensive remark seems like overkill. But every once in a while, these people say/do something SO despicable, you can’t let it pass. Last week at a campaign rally, Clearly unclear on the concept of “insurance”, Angle openly mocked the idea of being forced to pay health insurance premiums that go to cover children with “Autism”… “finger-quotes” in the air… suggesting autism is not a “real” illness (she has probably been listening to Conservative hate-radio host Michael Savage, who called Autism“a fraud. A racket. [...] In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out”. Angle’s argument is not unlike those of Conservatives with no school-aged children complaining of having to pay “school taxes”. They never consider the benefits of having an educated workforce. Are these REALLY the kind of people you want in charge of… well… anything?
78. As mentioned previously, The GOP wants to replace Obama’s ‘Affordable Care Act’ with provisions from… wait for it… Obama’s ‘Affordable Care Act’. Those Republican reforms? They’re in there.
79. As Rachel Maddow pointed out on her show Thursday, while Republicans constantly deny they are out to “privatize Social Security”, plenty of Republicans are now proudlycampaigning on that very idea, and the Conservative Think Tank “Club for Growth” is advising Republicans to be proud of it with an Op/Ed entitled “Privatize Social Security? Hell Yeah!“ Social Security currently operates on a “0.9% overhead”, is incredibly efficient and hasn’t missed a check in the 70+ years of the program. When Bush went around the country in 2005 trying to sell the idea of privatization, his own report estimated a “5% overhead”… a more than 500% increase in cost to administer the program… money that wouldn’t go back to those who paid in, but instead going to CEO’s to administer the program, investing your money in a stock market that the same Republican president tanked by mid-2007. “Hell yeah”? I don’t think so.
80. Residents of Portage, WI had to be evacuated when it was discovered that failure of the river levee was imminent. This nations infrastructure is crumbling. Failure of the levees killed 1,600 in New Orleans in 2005. And the collapse of a bridge on the way to the Republican National Convention in Minnesota killed thirteen people in 2007. And the GOP wants to cut the taxes that would pay for these repairs.
81. Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) said on “Meet the Press” yesterday (9/26) that one of the ways he’d “create jobs” is by improving the economy. And how would he improve the economy? By reducing the deficit. And how would he reduce the deficit? By slashing tens of thousands of government jobs (“reduce government employment to 2008 levels”). Yes, he did.
82. Nearly 100 church pastors participated in “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” and endorsed political candidates before their Congregations yesterday HOPING to prompt a legal challenge over the “Separation of Church & State”, claiming NOT being able to endorse candidates while on the job violates the pastors “freedom of speech”. The “event” (read: “stunt”) was organized by the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian nonprofit organization. My guess is they weren’t endorsing many evil nasty Democrats.
83. In “the ‘potatoe’ doesn’t fall far from the tree” department: Last week, Ben Quayle (R-AZ), son of former VP Dan “Potatoe” Quayle and candidate for Congress, posted a video on YouTube claiming that the Federal “government share of GDP in America is 44 percent” and “is today spending well over $14.5 trillion dollars a year.” This is a popular bit of Tea Party hyperbole, citing the government “takeover” of everything from “healthcare” to “the auto industry”. Problem is, it’s absolute nonsense. Last year’s Federal Budget was just $3.5Trillion. Nearly 50% of all American businesses are NOT government owned; And the entire National Debt is just over $13Trillion dollars. Someone at the Quayle campaign must have more brains than an actual quail because the ad was quickly yanked less than an hour later.
84. In November, Oklahoma residents will be voting on a “constitutional amendment that would prohibit state courts from considering Islamic Sharia Law in making rulings”. Is thisREALLY a problem in Oklahoma? Too many judges wanting to impose Sharia Law upon the residents of Cedar Creek? When asked to defend their xenophobia, Rep. Lewis Moore (R-Arcadia) argued the law is necessary because “we are at war with ‘them‘.”
85. The streak continues for a fourth week. Another Republican promises that if they regain control, they will attempt to Privatize Social Security: Pat Toomey Tells Ted Koppel He Wants To Phase In Private Accounts For Younger Americans To Replace Social Security. Folks, they are telling us what their plans are. Time to start taking them seriously.
86. And again, another week, another Republican promising to “shutdown the government” if Republicans regain control of Congress. Do we have your attention yet folks? This was an utter disaster when the Republican Congress under Newt Gingrich tried it in 1995. But if Republicans learned from past mistakes, they wouldn’t be Republicans, now would they?
87. ThinkProgress is reporting that in January of this year, Ron Johnson (R-WI), the GOP candidate for the Senate opposite Russ Feingold, testified before the Wisconsin state legislature in opposition to the bipartisan Wisconsin Child Victims Act to eliminate the statute of limitations on civil suits for child abuse. Johnson opposed the Act because of it’s potential impact on business. Because I know when I hear about child abuse, my first concern is how it might affect business. Isn’t it yours?
88. While most Republicans are going around demanding we “extend the Bush Tax Cuts for the Top 2%” regardless of what it would do to the Deficit they are so concerned about… even threatening to hold tax cuts for the remaining 98% hostage unless they get their way, richest House member Darrell Issa (R-CA) wants to CUT taxes on the rich to EVEN MORE than the Bush Tax Cut Rate. As I’ve pointed out repeatedly, the Bush Tax Cuts have been in effect since 2002 and still are to this day. If lower taxes on the Rich create jobs, how come we’ve just seen the worst job creation since Herbert Hoover? And those cuts STILL aren’t creating jobs to this day.
89. One day after California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman calls for a “crackdown on those who hire undocumented workers”, she admitted that she herself (knowingly?) employed an undocumented housekeeper. Conservatives get so swept up in their own hysteria, they aren’t even aware when they are slitting their own throats.
90. New York’s Republican candidate for governor and Tea Party favorite, multimillionaire Carl Paladino spoke to NBC Nightly News reporter Kate Snow Wednesday evening (9/29). Paladino, who had a YouTube message claiming, “I’m being called a racist” for sending racist, sexist and obscene emails, told Snow, “I [only] sent it around to a select group of friends. All of them treated it privately, except for obviously one.” So apparently, it is okay to be a racist pig so long as you only do it in private. (In addition to Paldino’s racist/sexist/homophobic emails and threatening reporters, Carl also decided that just hours after the death of his son in a car crash was the time to reveal to his hospitalized wife that he had fathered a child out of wedlock ten years earlier. Stay classy, Carl.)
91. First, Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle called defeating Harry Reid, “a calling from God“. Now, fellow God Warrior Christine O’Donnell (R-DE) says “God is guiding [her] campaign” and wants her elected so she can “filibuster” the coming “lame duck session” (where she would finish out Biden’s former Senate term.)
92. And speaking of record Republican obstructionism: A report by the Center for American Progress finds that the Senate has yet to vote on HUNDREDS of bills passed by the House since Democrats took control in January of 2007. By their estimate, it would require over 1,200 DAYS of legislating in the Senate just to vote on all the unaddressed bills passed by the House. Consider that the House typically is only in session for 548 days in a FOUR YEAR presidential term. And voters wonder why nothing seems to be getting done since Obama was elected.
93. And as mentioned above, despite all the talk on the Right of Democrats and their “economy-destroying” policies, the DOW (stock market) just reported its best September in 71 years. This also dispels the Republican myth that success on Wall Street directly translates into economic growth on Main Street. The rich are awash in cash. So where are all the jobs?
 And this weeks list of reasons to keep Republicans from regaining power:
94. Talking Points Memo has discovered that Republican millionaire businessman Rich Iott who is running in Ohio’s ninth district for Congress, spends his free time as a Nazi Reenactor.
95. Pennsylvania candidate for the U.S. Senate, Pat Toomey (R-PA), is just the latest Wingnut to claim Global Warming “is very much disputed”. No. It’s not… except by the oil & coal industry and the Conservative think tanks doing their bidding.
96. Further proof the Tea Party is to the Right of the Far Right: former Colorado DA turned Senate candidate, and Tea Party favorite Ken Buck on abortion: ‘I don’t believe in the exceptions of rape or incest.’
97. In 2005, Buck refused to prosecute a rape case because the victim had previously had an abortion while in a relationship with the same man. Buck justified not prosecuting the casebecause he felt the woman had a “motivation for revenge” against her rapist because he believed she was “resentful” over having an abortion (that she chose to have). Make sense to you? Me neither.
98. John Raese of West Virginia, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Linda McMahon of Connecticut, Joe Miller of Alaska, and Dino Rossi of Washington, along with Minnesota GOP gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer, have all expressed support for lowering or eliminating the federal minimum wage… an amount that GOP Chairman Michael Steele and Linda McMahoncan’t even name… they just know it needs to be lower (and yours right along with it).
99. Despite being an outspoken critic of the Federal Stimulus Program, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is using the Stimulus’ Bond Program to raise nearly $1Billion dollars for infrastructure programs in his state. These hypocrites have no problem taking advantage of programs they never would have passed and even seek to repeal, as long as they can use them to make themselves look good.
100. Expected 2012 GOP Presidential candidate, former Speaker of the House Newt “left his cancer-stricken wife for his mistress” Gingrich spammed thousands of doctors with a letter promising, “Send me $5000 and receive a ‘prestigious award’.” The ‘prestigious award’? A cheap framed paper certificate from “American Solutions”. Gingrich is a fan of cheesy fake awards, who was embarrassed last year for sending a “2009 Entrepreneur of the Year” award to a Dallas topless club.
101. In an interview with the far Right “Heritage Foundation”, Texas Governor Rick “Governor Good-Hair” Perry bragged about rejecting Federal education funds for Texas schools because it came with a stipulation that he actually spend the money on education, and not redirect those funds to shore up the state budget. (Note, after Texas was accused of stressing sports over education, Texas became the ONLY state in the country to count LIBRARIANS as teachers.)

Republicans have obstructed EVERYTHING for the past two years, all to prevent Democrats from enacting reforms just so you will put them back in charge. And the Teanuts are hoping to ride that wave into Congress, defeating “moderate” Republicans to push their extremist agendas. The only question left is whether or not you will fall for it and either vote to put the people that created this mess back in charge, or you will stay home on Election Day so they win by default. Get out and vote, folks.

E-Mail this list on to everyone you know.

I am an absentee voter in NY State. There is no reason not to vote. Every vote is a result of a pragmatic decision that you have made. If you rationalize that your vote does not count, or that both sides are just as corrupt, then you have obviously taken the lazy way, the easy way, the idiots way of dealing with reality...This is our future and every moment of the future begins RIGHT NOW! 

The Mandlebrot Set

"Fractal geometry is not just a chapter of mathematics, but one that helps Everyman to see the same world differently."
Benoit Mandelbrot (1924-2010)

also, Mandlebtot Remebered in The Atlantic

Now We Have Symptoms

Quote Of The Day/Oct.16, 2010

Theme For An Imaginary Western

Live solo performance by Jack Bruce, the composer from the early 80's. What a voice!

Let's Cut The Crap

Let's cut the crap.

It's a social issue. It's not politics.

Cheap Labor Conservatism is Fascism.

Do away with Social Security. Keep raising the Retirement Age.

If you can't pay to play, then you will have to work until you die.

In other words, Arbeit Macht Frei.

Death Is Death Is Death....

A research diagram for the Moska Tower, a vertical cemetery in Mumbai, which imagines a skyscraper that incorporates burial practices for Parsis, Muslims, Christians, and Hindus on separate floors. 

Hey Lacey!

William S. Burroughs - Shotgun Paintings

- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Check this out....Burroughs "painting" with a shotgun

This Is Not Photoshop

An actual Billboard in Grand Junction, Colorado.

The billboard is owned by Dennis Lucas, a local business man who claims that he can't reveal who sponsored it. The artist, Paul Snover claims he is not allowed to reveal who payed him to create it.

The billboard portrays Barack Obama as an Islamist suicide bomber, a gay characature, a gangster and a Mexican bandit.  Beneath the poker playing Obama figures are rats who seem to represent trial lawyers, The IRS, The EPA and the Federal Reserve Bank.

I suppose somewhere, in an alternative universe, this passes for intelligent discourse.

Jesus Was A Pirate

Shortly after, the BFA (Bread & Fish Association) filed lawsuits against all 5,000 food-sharers.

Quote Of The Day/Oct.15, 2010

“Is it better to out-monster the monster or to be quietly devoured?”

— Friedrich Nietzsche

Gargoyles, Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France, circa 1865, Large Albumen Print

Photographer unknown

The Green, Green Roofs Of Norway

Norwegians have their own way of going green, and quite literally. For hundreds of years houses in Norway have been covered with turf. And they come in different varieties. Some are bright green and almost velvety. Others are golden and look like they’re growing wheat or oats. A number of turf roofs have flowers mixed in with the grass, and a few have small trees.The advantages of turf roofs (also called sod roofs) are many. They are very heavy, so they help to stabilize the house; they provide good insulation; and they are long-lasting. 

Turf roofs in Norway are a tradition and you will see them everywhere. Roofs in Scandinavia have probably been covered with birch bark and sod since prehistory. During the Viking and Middle Ages most houses had sod roofs. In rural areas sod roofs were almost universal until the beginning of the 18th century. Tile roofs, which appeared much earlier in towns and on rural manors, gradually superseded sod roofs except in remote inland areas during the 19th century. Corrugated iron and other industrial materials also became a threat to ancient traditions. But just before extinction, the national romantics proclaimed a revival of vernacular traditions, including sod roofs. A new market was opened by the demand for mountain lodges and holiday homes. At the same time, open air museums and the preservation movement created a reservation for ancient building traditions. From these reservations, sod roofs have begun to reappear as an alternative to modern materials.

Every year, since 2000, an award is also given to the best green roof project in Scandinavia by the board of the Scandinavian Green Roof Association. To see a gallery of the Greenest roofs in Norway, click here.

faces of fascism

The ways might be stated differently, but the means are always the same. Class, Power, Intimidation.

Hitler Youth, The Yale Skull and Bones....belief in their entitlement and empowered to intimidate...

Todays Quote

“In the U.S. you have to be a deviant or exist in extreme boredom.”

—William S. Burroughs

Gee Dad, Strip Mining Is Really Neat!

The entire world has been transfixed by the Chilean Mining disaster teledrama and the seemingly superhuman miraculous rescue of the trapped miners. I just heard on the BBC that all of the miners were rescued, but as the mining company execs and politicians now transforming a barely-averted catastrophe into a publicity stunt: here's timely look back at some mid-century American mining industry propaganda in the form of a weird comic book unearthed by Ethan Persoff.

"With an environmental message!," says Ethan— "Specifically how strip mines are good for clearing landscape of pesky earth to make way for park benches and manufactured fishing (check out the very funny Sportsman's paradise joke on page 11).

Check out Ethan's Comics with Problems #41: "New Uses for Good Earth" (or, Ethan's title, "Gee Dad, can they flatten our mountaintop, TOO?")

A Word From Brother Wayne

I think I will post all of the clips from the MC5's 1972 performance from the German Rock TV Show Beat Club...

This is Wayne Kramers big solo piece, Ramblin Rose...He's still with us and still one of the greatest rock guitarists on the planet!

October 18, 2010/Anti-Slavery Day

The Mysterious Mr. Banksy, the British Social/Conceptual Graffiti Artist created this powerful piece for the Simpsons to be used to highlight World Anti-Slavery Day, October 18th.

The animation for the Simpsons is created old school style in a studio in South Korea. Manual animation technique is a time consuming process which requires tedious, repetitive operations.

It has always been like this, ever since Windsor McKay animated Gertie the Dinosaur and amazed audiences around 1900.

You can only admire Banksy, Matt Groening and well, reluctantly, even FOX for presenting this little piece of illuminating self criticism.

Meanwhile Back In 1968

Paris, 1968. 

And Now...The DNAers? Did I spell that right?

Man, here I thought that with Nazi re-enacters, witches, and tea baggers insisting they have a higher security clearance than the Commander in Chief, we had reached as low and as ridiculous as we could possibly get. How sad that reality proved to be so much worse than my pessimism:

I found a link to this article on the website of something called the Western Center for Journalism. I was hardly surprised, after I read the article, to find out that this organization was founded by Joseph Farah. They're going beyond even birtherism and demanding Obama's DNA:

This includes the determination of his actual identity, which requires genetic analysis. I started my investigation and analysis by deeming nearly every assertion as open to question, including the claimed identity of Mr. Obama's parents. A certificate that a child was born to Stanley Ann Dunham and Barack Hussein Obama in Honolulu on 4 August 1961 might be true; but, assuming it's true, it does not necessarily follow that Mr. Obama is that child. Whether he is or not requires genetic analysis.

Check the link, because it gets so much better. One of the commenters ponders if Obama's father isn't actually...wait for it...Malcolm X.
God, I wish I was kidding.
But no, the tea party/birther/DNAer movement has nothing to do with race. Nope.

RDUNZL

Yes, I know it isn't Zappadan yet, but I couldn't resist posting this clip of the niftiest little big band ever. Tom Fowler on echo wah wah trombone! Keyboards:George Duke! Ruth Underwood on assorted percussion instruments...Jean-Luc Ponty on violin. Ian Underwood on Bass Clarinet, James Youman on bass, Chester Thompson on drums and of course, Frank Zappa, composer, guitarist and conductor......

Another Face Of Fascism

Photo by Chas Gerretsen

    Murderer and Military Dictator Augusto Pinochet, Chile     1973

Gelato al Limon

Paolo Conte, a 73 year old Italian ex lawyer doing what he does best. I was looking for a version of a song from his latest recording called Clown. If I can find it, I will post it because it is absolutely brilliant.

For now, you can enjoy his piece in praise of Lemon Gelato.....

MMMM...NOT SO GOOD? Try Campbells New Jihad Helpers?

In case you missed the story earlier this week.

Earlier this year, Campbell Canada introduced a line of halal-certified soups. The 15 soups comply with Islamic dietary regulations which, much like kosher regulations, prohibit certain foods and define the right way to slaughter animals.

The line, which includes low fat cream of broccoli and vegetarian vegetable, was certified by the Islamic Society of North America, which has been certifying halal foods since 1988.

Naturally, the right-wing Bigot Brigade freaked out.

• “M-m-good for the Islamists. Not so yummy for the rest of us,” reads the blog ofScaramouche.

• Robert Spencer, who writes Jihadwatch.org and has been saying for years that ISNA is tied to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood,* quickly echoed the alarm.   “So why is Campbell’s Soup rushing to do its bidding?” Spencer wrote on Tuesday. “‘M-M-Muslim Brotherhood Good?’”

• Park51 opponent Pamela Geller is now calling for a boycott of Campbell’s.

• The Tea Party Nation.

.

.

Conservatives have truly reached the point where they have become oblivious to their own hate and illogical rhetoric.  They scream out for free markets but have restricted the definition of ‘free’ to those principles which they and they alone uphold to be good and true.  By their rules, a corporation like Campbell’s is entitled to practice free market capitalism as long as they abide by the fear-mongering bigotry laid out by the Tea Party and their minions of idiotic and hate-filled jackasses.

Give these fools the reins of power for a decade and the United States will surely evolve into the Christian equivalent of Pakistan.

___

The King Is Dead

Long Live The King!

Solomon Burke, the last reigning king of soul, died today in The Netherlands. Solomon recorded almost 40 albums in a career dating back to the early 1955. He wrote the classic, Everybody Needs Somebody". Burke was born in 1940 in Philadelphia, fathered 21 children, 90 grandchildren and 19 great grand children.

He toured and recorded constantly and was en route to a concert in Amsterdam on Oct. 12th when he died.

This is his funkafied and revitalized Memphis Soul version of Bob Dylan's song, Maggies Farm, from 1965....

What Is Fascism? #2

The original symbol of fascism, in Italy under Benito Mussolini, was the fasces. This is an ancient Roman symbol of power carried by lictors in front of magistrates; a bundle of sticks featuring an axe, indicating the power over life and death. Before the Italian fascists adopted the fasces, the symbol had been used by Italian political organizations of various political ideologies (ranging from socialist to nationalist), called Fascio (“leagues”) as a symbol of strength through unity. Today, the symbol continues to appear on the seal of the United States Senate, the emblem on the back of the Mercury dime in the United States, the coat of arms of France, the wall of the debating chamber of the United States House of Representatives and the coat of arms of the Swiss Canton of St.Gallen.

What Is Fascism?

(A 1944 Essay by George Orwell)

Of all the unanswered questions of our time, perhaps the most important is: ‘What is Fascism?’

One of the social survey organizations in America recently asked this question of a hundred different people, and got answers ranging from ‘pure democracy’ to ‘pure diabolism’. In this country if you ask the average thinking person to define Fascism, he usually answers by pointing to the German and Italian régimes. But this is very unsatisfactory, because even the major Fascist states differ from one another a good deal in structure and ideology.

It is not easy, for instance, to fit Germany and Japan into the same framework, and it is even harder with some of the small states which are describable as Fascist. It is usually assumed, for instance, that Fascism is inherently warlike, that it thrives in an atmosphere of war hysteria and can only solve its economic problems by means of war preparation or foreign conquests. But clearly this is not true of, say, Portugal or the various South American dictatorships. Or again, antisemitism is supposed to be one of the distinguishing marks of Fascism; but some Fascist movements are not antisemitic. Learned controversies, reverberating for years on end in American magazines, have not even been able to determine whether or not Fascism is a form of capitalism. But still, when we apply the term ‘Fascism’ to Germany or Japan or Mussolini's Italy, we know broadly what we mean. It is in internal politics that this word has lost the last vestige of meaning. For if you examine the press you will find that there is almost no set of people — certainly no political party or organized body of any kind — which has not been denounced as Fascist during the past ten years. Here I am not speaking of the verbal use of the term ‘Fascist’. I am speaking of what I have seen in print. I have seen the words ‘Fascist in sympathy’, or ‘of Fascist tendency’, or just plain ‘Fascist’, applied in all seriousness to the following bodies of people:

Conservatives: All Conservatives, appeasers or anti-appeasers, are held to be subjectively pro-Fascist. British rule in India and the Colonies is held to be indistinguishable from Nazism. Organizations of what one might call a patriotic and traditional type are labelled crypto-Fascist or ‘Fascist-minded’. Examples are the Boy Scouts, the Metropolitan Police, M.I.5, the British Legion. Key phrase: ‘The public schools are breeding-grounds of Fascism’.

Socialists: Defenders of old-style capitalism (example, Sir Ernest Benn) maintain that Socialism and Fascism are the same thing. Some Catholic journalists maintain that Socialists have been the principal collaborators in the Nazi-occupied countries. The same accusation is made from a different angle by the Communist party during its ultra-Left phases. In the period 1930-35 the Daily Workerhabitually referred to the Labour Party as the Labour Fascists. This is echoed by other Left extremists such as Anarchists. Some Indian Nationalists consider the British trade unions to be Fascist organizations.

Communists: A considerable school of thought (examples, Rauschning, Peter Drucker, James Burnham, F. A. Voigt) refuses to recognize a difference between the Nazi and Soviet régimes, and holds that all Fascists and Communists are aiming at approximately the same thing and are even to some extent the same people. Leaders in The Times (pre-war) have referred to the U.S.S.R. as a ‘Fascist country’. Again from a different angle this is echoed by Anarchists and Trotskyists.

Trotskyists: Communists charge the Trotskyists proper, i.e. Trotsky's own organization, with being a crypto-Fascist organization in Nazi pay. This was widely believed on the Left during the Popular Front period. In their ultra-Right phases the Communists tend to apply the same accusation to all factions to the Left of themselves, e.g. Common Wealth or the I.L.P.

Catholics: Outside its own ranks, the Catholic Church is almost universally regarded as pro-Fascist, both objectively and subjectively;

War resisters: Pacifists and others who are anti-war are frequently accused not only of making things easier for the Axis, but of becoming tinged with pro-Fascist feeling.

Supporters of the war: War resisters usually base their case on the claim that British imperialism is worse than Nazism, and tend to apply the term ‘Fascist’ to anyone who wishes for a military victory. The supporters of the People's Convention came near to claiming that willingness to resist a Nazi invasion was a sign of Fascist sympathies. The Home Guard was denounced as a Fascist organization as soon as it appeared. In addition, the whole of the Left tends to equate militarism with Fascism. Politically conscious private soldiers nearly always refer to their officers as ‘Fascist-minded’ or ‘natural Fascists’. Battle-schools, spit and polish, saluting of officers are all considered conducive to Fascism. Before the war, joining the Territorials was regarded as a sign of Fascist tendencies. Conscription and a professional army are both denounced as Fascist phenomena.

Nationalists: Nationalism is universally regarded as inherently Fascist, but this is held only to apply to such national movements as the speaker happens to disapprove of. Arab nationalism, Polish nationalism, Finnish nationalism, the Indian Congress Party, the Muslim League, Zionism, and the I.R.A. are all described as Fascist but not by the same people.

* * *

It will be seen that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else.

Yet underneath all this mess there does lie a kind of buried meaning. To begin with, it is clear that there are very great differences, some of them easy to point out and not easy to explain away, between the régimes called Fascist and those called democratic. Secondly, if ‘Fascist’ means ‘in sympathy with Hitler’, some of the accusations I have listed above are obviously very much more justified than others. Thirdly, even the people who recklessly fling the word ‘Fascist’ in every direction attach at any rate an emotional significance to it. By ‘Fascism’ they mean, roughly speaking, something cruel, unscrupulous, arrogant, obscurantist, anti-liberal and anti-working-class. Except for the relatively small number of Fascist sympathizers, almost any English person would accept ‘bully’ as a synonym for ‘Fascist’. That is about as near to a definition as this much-abused word has come.

But Fascism is also a political and economic system. Why, then, cannot we have a clear and generally accepted definition of it? Alas! we shall not get one — not yet, anyway. To say why would take too long, but basically it is because it is impossible to define Fascism satisfactorily without making admissions which neither the Fascists themselves, nor the Conservatives, nor Socialists of any colour, are willing to make. All one can do for the moment is to use the word with a certain amount of circumspection and not, as is usually done, degrade it to the level of a swearword.

1944

THE END

RICH I(DI)OTT

Ohio Republican Teabaggist Congressional Candidate, Rich Iott, who ran the family supermarket chain, Foodtown, into the ground and lost hundreds of Toledo area jobs in the process, proves that he really is an elite fantasy fascist who likes to play Nazi Dress Up Games to re enact Fifth SS Panzer Division Wiking battles from WW2. The group seeks to mime the 5th SS Panzer Division.
A Wikipedia entry dedicated to the unit explains that they took part in a campaign that resulted in the murder of over 700 Jews. More atrocities allegedly committed by the soldiers are described in Eleonore Lappin's book, "The Death Marches of Hungarian Jews Through Austria in the Spring of 1945." A detailed summary of their alleged crimes is also available on AxisHistory.com.
Rich I(di)ott claims that his interest in the group was inspired by his desire to "bond" with his son.

 JAH VOHL! MEIN FEUHRER!

Jealous Guy

Have you ever had to put up with the company of a person who, in a flailing attempt to bolster their own sagging self image, declaimed self righteously, "I don't have no bad vices."? My usual response is, "Me neither, I only have good vices!".

We all have our faults and weaknesses. One mans vice is another mans virtue. It is how we deal with out faults that define us. In a lot of ways, denial defines a lack of true character. How can we really be great if we are not able to acknowledge our baseness?

Today would have been John Lennons 70th Birthday. If there was ever an artist who was able to be brutally honest in regard to his own personal failings and faults and then use that knowledge to create truly great art, it was Lennon.

I'm sure if you are cruising blogs today, you will see many tributes to the genius of John Lennon. I chose this piece of music because I think John Lennon actually achieved the goal of creating great art from his personal failings. In this piece he admits to being a basically fucked up flawed human being, but transcends it with the ability to analytically use his flaws to create a truly great song. Happy Birthday, John.

Get Over It!

I know this is extremely lame of me, posting videos instead of doing some work here, but hey, I'm not you.....

#1 With A Bullet!

Can't Argue With
The Facts!

My Week In Toledo, Ohio Rant

Look folks, I just spent over 24 hours traveling almost nonstop escaping Toledo, Ohio. I met friends who had jobs but were working weekends because they companies they worked for had laid off everyone, except for the "essential" workforce who they were bleeding dry, using the fear of job loss as a manipulative tool. Meanwhile, I saw up close an altogether too intimate view of a household disintegrating and gong mad as the traditional breadwinner went into his final months of unemployment benefits.


The Evangelical Christian Belief of said breadwinner seemed to function as crutch, but it was like putting a bandaid over a ruptured fuel tank on a burning semi...you can't hide behind religion when reality has its heel on your windpipe. Praise the Lord and have another donut...at least a donut will the gaping hole in your psychic membrane for a few seconds...here, have another. 


I saw a family drowning collectively because of the over whelming burden of trying to provide healthcare for a severely disabled member of the family....spending entire days on the phone, in offices trying not to sink in the neck deep paper work and bullshit required just to get basic care. The bigger heartbreak was thinking about what happens to the disabled who don't have a support system of loved ones who care enough to destroy their own lives to get their loved ones right to a basic, human need.....


I can see why the tea bag movement has what momentum it has...the most simplistic, no brain solutions to any problem..."My LIfe Sucks, So Fuck You And Your Smart Ass Ideas! and "I Got Mines's So Don't You Even Think About It!" Sure, the teabaggers get the sensationalistic press, they seem to be able to generate enough steam and  noxious vapors to blow themselves up nicely...on a regular basis. I'm beginning to believe that Christine O'Donnell might really be a witch based on her own tax returns for the last 5 years.


Listen, I went to a few restaurants in Toledo, and I am so happy to be back here in my own home and allowed to eat food that actually has some flavor! What is it with you folks? I go to a Mexican restaurant and have to put the entire bottle of mediocre, pallid, wimpy assed hot sauce on the cheese topped dog food I was served just to make it taste like something...("But...Microdot, this is the best Mexican in Toledo!"....I think not!)
And then it started to rain...AGAIN!
Garr.....this little cartoon seemed to sum things up nicely.....
Maybe I'll feel better after I sleep for 24 hours......