Sunday, February 27, 2011

Bill O’Rielly’s Pinheads and Patriots


I saw this book at Barns & Nobles yesterday and the title jumped out at me, “Pinheads and Patriots.” I am sure that O’Rielly is trying to project that if you do not agree with his viewpoints, you are a Pinhead; and if you do agree, you must be a Patriot. What ever.

Of course my mind instantly jumped to that in many cases, the name Pinhead was much more applicable to those claiming the current “Patriot” mantle. Non-critical thinking, non-questioning, merely repeating mindlessly what they are programmed to drivel on and spout back simply because this is what they want reality to be.

So in this spirit of mindset, my book review for this book that I did not read, I have concluded that it is just pure crap and not worth the $20 (plus or minus ether way). I really have no idea how much they were asking for this book.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

House Republicans Voted To Kill Big Bird


Yes the Republican led House of Representatives had the numbers as a block, by a vote of 235-189, to eliminate the funding for public broadcasting threatening millions of citizens throughout America with the loss of services that they rely on, especially parents and children.

“PBS and independently owned and operated public television stations is America’s largest classroom, available to all of America’s children including those who can’t attend preschool,” said PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger. “PBS' educational programming, as well as our training resources and tools for teachers prepare children for success in school and opens up the world to them in an age appropriate way and builds critical skills in young students. Costing about one dollar per person per year, public broadcasting is an effective, efficient use of leveraged tax dollars a public private partnership that delivers far reaching services that Americans trust and value.”

But in retrospect, just a few weeks ago we handed out tax deferment rewards to corporations by renewing the G. W. Bush’s 2000 tax cuts. This was money the country and tax payers did not have and it was this same tax cuts of 2000 that contributed greatly under funding the operations of the government and left us with the large deficits we are experiencing today.

It is not only the children missing out on educational and learning programs during their earlier years but are we to omit adult education and exposure to facts? Yes these Rush Limbaugh fawning Republican’s future hope of keeping political control is to make sure that the Adult U. S. Population is not exposed to programs like Frontline, BBC News, PBS News Hour (the only TRUE fair and balance U.S. News program), Nightly Business Report, Independent Lens, American Experience, Nova, Nova Science Now, Science Frontiers, Need To Know, well I could go on and on but you get the idea.

An example comes to mind of the Ken Burns documentary, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” If voting-age-adults were not educated and reminded of the uniqueness of our National Parks passing on the fact that each and every citizen is an owner of these Parks, the Republicans could sell them off to their cronies to be developed for their own financial benefit.

Would anyone really think that private financed programs expose their own corruption or even ask embarrassing or probing questions? No!! It will be exactly like an Orwellian prediction of steady streaming the “Corporate Company’s Line.” Are we to become a, “Company Nation,” much like what was described in the poem written by Carl Sandburg titled, “Company Towns” written at the turn of the century? You know, back in the Good O’l Days!!

Company Towns
By Carl Sandburg

You live in a company house
You go to a company school
You work for this company,
according to the company rules.

You all drink company water
and all use company lights,
The company preacher teaches us
What the company thinks is right.


This poem written over a hundred years ago still speaks true today. With the consolidation of the dying newspaper industry by the one voice of Rupert Murdock, and talk radio under the guise of religious, conservative programming; one has to ask themselves, who is purchasing the advertising keeping these program and papers going. Is it the trade unions, the voice of the working class, the masses who pay the bulk of the tax base burden, or is it the same corporations that have recently participated in more and more labor abuses and environmental crimes that are now evermore going unpunished even though the laws are still on the books. Should one of these media venues report negative facts about one of these companies, they will quickly pull the advertisement funding, economically shutting down the programming and reporting from the source. Even in the late 15th century, Niccolo Machiavelli noted that, “Absolute power corrupts, absolutely.”

Are we to produce a whole generation that only repeats these corporate “Rush Limbaugh” sound bites without giving any thoughts behind them?

Here’s a better thought, “Let’s Repeal Those Corporate Tax Cuts And Let’s Vote To Keep U.S. Citizens Well Educated!!”

Thursday, February 24, 2011

The 12 Most Asinine Things Rush Limbaugh Has Said About Food


In the past the Man Who Smoked Enough Dope To The Point That He Could Not Even Pass A Ballroom Dancing College Class And Dropped Out, but now has the nerve to passes himself off as a "Climate Expert" debating made up counter "Global Warming / Climate Change" arguments to those who have Doctorates Degrees in the subject; Now "Fat Ass Gush Limblob" is now presenting himself as a "Nutritionist and Dietary Expert!"

As you probably know by now, on Monday's edition of "The Rush Limbaugh Show," Dumb Ass Gush Limblob took Michelle Obama to task for "feasting on ribs," even while she has the audacity to tell us that we should eat vegetables. The nerve of that woman!

Of course, he also casually mentioned that "our first lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue," so who is she to tell people to eat healthy food? (Plus, we know all the swimsuit models go to Shake Shack.)

We're 99 percent sure this rant, like everything Limbaugh says, was just designed to get publicity (it worked!) even Limbaugh can't be obtuse enough to actually believe this drivel, and yet, it's still seriously foolish.

But is it the most foolish thing he's ever said about food? Of course not! Get your ire up and take a look at all the other senselessness, stupid crap Gush has feed his dumb downed listeners.

12. "I think bread's gonna go to $50 a loaf. Now is the time to get it, freeze it in large quantities. And butter, too; you can't have bread without butter. How does that sound?" November 15, 2010

11. "As the economy performs worse than expected, the deficit for the 2010 budget year beginning in October will worsen by $87 billion to $1.3 trillion. The deterioration reflects lower tax revenues and higher costs for bank failures, unemployment benefits, and food stamps.' But in the Oval Office of the White House, none of this is a problem. This is the objective! The objective is unemployment. The objective is more food stamp benefits." May 11, 2009

10. "The number of Americans fighting off hunger stayed level last year — have you seen that out there? Have you seen people fighting off hunger? I see it all the time. I drive around and — I do drive, I do drive myself — and sometimes I look out the window and a lot of people are waving at me as I go by. Have you seen people fighting off hunger? I mean you can actually see it. You go inside Publix or any grocery store, you can see 'em walking down the aisles, they're reaching for something and then they don't. It's an amazing thing to watch, people fighting off hunger." November 16, 2010

9. CALLER: Yeah. Well, you can't walk into the grocery store and blindly think everything in there is good for you, though. You've gotta read; you gotta do your own research. RUSH: Well, "good for you" is relative. CALLER: I know. RUSH: Give me an example. You're going through the grocery store and you see that's not good for you and you won't buy it, what is it? CALLER: Cheez Whiz. RUSH: Cheez Whiz. CALLER: Yeah, and I'm from Philly. RUSH: [Laughing.] Why is Cheez Whiz bad for you? CALLER: It's totally processed; there's so many chemicals in it. You can't tell me Cheez Whiz in a can versus a package of Cheddar cheese — RUSH: How many people have died from it? CALLER: Well, I can't give you a number on that one. RUSH: I don't think I've ever seen it on a death certificate. January 24, 2011

8. "During the campaign when Obama's out there ripping Wal-Mart to shreds, his wife shows up there the other day and has somehow bullied or pressured Wal-Mart, which already sells things for low prices, into selling healthy food at lower prices during the winter. Michelle Obama shows up and she and her husband are now partners with Wal-Mart ... “January 21, 2011

7. "You know, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, this wacko bunch of leftist kooks, statists, nannies, these are the people that banned coconut oil from your popcorn in movie theaters, have gotten rid of MSG, the flavoring in Chinese food, they wanted to ban Chinese food." July 9, 2010

6. "I'm sure you're aware that nutritionist-at-large Michelle Obama is urging, demanding, advocating, requiring what everybody can and can't eat. She's demanding that everybody basically eat cardboard and tofu, no calories, no fat, no nothing, gotta stop obesity. Except as in the case of all leftists, that's true for you but not for them. Michelle (My Belle) minus the husband took the kids out to Vail on a ski vacation and they were spotted eating. And they were feasting on ribs, ribs that were 1,575 calories per serving with 141 grams of fat per serving. Now, I'm sure some of you members of the New Castrati, 'This is typical of what you do, Mr. Limbaugh, you take an isolated once-in-a-lifetime experience and try to say that she's a hypocrite.' She is a hypocrite. Leaders are supposed to be leaders. If we're supposed to go out and eat nothing, if we're supposed to eat roots and berries and tree bark and so forth, show us how." February 21, 2011

5. "Now the venerable Sports Illustrated is quoting a bunch of wacko leftist food Nazis. If they don't like what's being served at the ballpark, don't go. If they don't like what's being served at the ballpark, don't buy it. But it is none of their business. Oy vey. I'm telling you, the sports media is no different than the rest of the media. There is no media. It's just the ruling class. It's just a bunch of leftist drivel no matter where you go. And, of course, food at the ballpark, that's really caused a lot of premature death, right? We've been serving hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries, crackerjack, peanuts, cotton candy, this is the ruling class saying, 'Don't let 'em eat cake.' I guess so, grilled asparagus, arugula with watercress vinaigrette, salad, and so forth. This is no different than the People for Science in the Public Interest, nutritionists. Obesity is a major problem in American ballparks. Right." July 20, 2010

4. "Now the venerable Sports Illustrated is quoting a bunch of wacko leftist food Nazis. If they don't like what's being served at the ballpark, don't go. If they don't like what's being served at the ballpark, don't buy it. But it is none of their business. Oy vey. I'm telling you, the sports media is no different than the rest of the media. There is no media. It's just the ruling class. It's just a bunch of leftist drivel no matter where you go. And, of course, food at the ballpark, that's really caused a lot of premature death, right? We've been serving hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries, crackerjack, peanuts, cotton candy, this is the ruling class saying, 'Don't let 'em eat cake.' I guess so, grilled asparagus, arugula with watercress vinaigrette, salad, and so forth. This is no different than the People for Science in the Public Interest, nutritionists. Obesity is a major problem in American ballparks. Right." July 20, 2010

3. "Anything better than diet, Qurans, prayer rugs, I mean where else can Muslims go in the world to find everything they need? There's no better place than Gitmo. Club G'itmo, the Muslim resort. The infidels have Club Med, why don't the believers get their own Club G'itmo? It sounds like we've put one together for them. It's a one-of-a-kind resort on the west coast of Cuba overlooking the bay. Every visitor, every check-in at no charge gets a new Quran, a new prayer rug, Muslim chefs, Muslim dietary laws ... " June 14, 2005

2. "Now that school is out, where to find food. We can have a daily feature on this. And this will take us all the way through the summer. Where to find food. And, of course, the first will be: 'Try your house.' It's a thing called the refrigerator. You probably already know about it. Try looking there. There are also things in what's called the kitchen of your house called cupboards ... If that doesn't work, try a Happy Meal at McDonald's. You know where McDonald's is. There's the Dollar Menu at McDonald's and if they don't have Chicken McNuggets, dial 911 and ask for Obama ... There's another place if none of these options work to find food; there's always the neighborhood Dumpster. Now, you might find competition with homeless people there, but there are videos that have been produced to show you how to healthfully dine and how to dumpster dive and survive until school kicks back up in August." June 16, 2010

And the #1 Asinine Thing That Rush Limbaugh Has Said About Food…..

"What have I told you about diet and exercise? Exercise is irrelevant. What matters in losing weight is what you eat, pure and simple, and how much, nothing more than that. And everybody tries to tell me I'm wrong, that I don't know what I'm talking about." November 8, 2010

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Prank Call Proves Billionaire David Koch Owns Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker And The GOP


A prank caller pretending to be billionaire conservative businessman David Koch was able to have a lengthy conversation with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker about his strategy to cripple public employee unions, the governor's office confirmed Wednesday.

On the call, Walker joked about bringing a baseball bat to a meeting with Democratic leaders, said it would "be outstanding" to be flown out to California by Koch for a good time after the battle is over, and said he expected the anti-union movement to spread across the country.

Audio was posted on the Buffalo Beast, a left-leaning website based in New York, and quickly spread across the Internet.

Democrats ripped Walker's comments on the call on the Assembly floor Wednesday morning, saying they had nothing to do with his assertion that legislation stripping public employees' collective bargaining rights is needed to help solve a looming budget deficit.
"That's why we must fight it! That is why people must come to the Capitol and fight this!" Rep. Jon Richards of Milwaukee yelled as thousands of protesters inside the rotunda roared in approval. "This isn't about balancing the budget, this is about a political war."

Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie confirmed Walker took the call, which will only heighten widespread suspicions that brothers David and Charles Koch are pulling strings in Wisconsin's battle as part of a conservative agenda to limit the unions' power.
The governor's plan would take away the ability of state and local public employees to collectively bargain for working conditions, benefits, or any other than their base salaries. Unions could not collect mandatory dues and would face a vote of its members every year to stay in existence.

The plan has set off more than a week of demonstrations at the Capitol, and prompted Wisconsin Senate Democrats to flee the state to block its passage. Similar ideas are being pushed in some other states with Republican governors.
The man pretending to be Koch said, "You're the first domino."

Of course trying to stop the selling of his state to Kock is just too late. Gov. Scott Walker says he won't be distracted by a prank phone call made by a blogger posing as one of his campaign donors, and he'll push forward with a bill to limit the power of public employee unions.....because that is what he was paid to do!!!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

It’s Déjà vu All Over Again


This is a famous saying credited to Yogi Berra and few memories haunt Republicans more deeply than the 1995-96 partial shutdown of the federal government, which helped President Bill Clinton reverse his falling fortunes and recast the House Republicans as stubborn partisans, and not savvy insurgents. The comments at that time from the population were, “Newt Gingrich thinks HE’S the President!”

Now, as Congress careens toward a budget impasse, one can only wonder if another shutdown is imminent and whether the Current Extreme Right Wing Republicans will once again suffer the blame.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Reaping The Return On Their Investments



This latest Republican controlled House just a few weeks ago handed out tax deferment rewards to corporations by renewing the G. W. Bush’s 2000 tax cuts. This was money the country and tax payers did not have and it was this same tax cuts of 2000 that contributed greatly under funding the operations of the government and left us with the large deficits we are experiencing today.

NOW this same Republican controlled House wants to purge all funding for Planned Parenthood, Environmental Protection Agency, and repeal the Health Care Bill because there is no money for these programs.

Let’s just call it like it is. This has been the social engineering aspects that the Republican Party has been trying to push for years.

1. Shutting down Planned Parenthood because they provide women’s health care that may require an abortion. The procedure much like Congresswoman Jackie Speier described and admitted having to have done to her publicly on the House floor.

2. Gutting the Environmental Protection Agency because they have the power to admonish corporations for blatantly dumping their industrial process pollution into the water and air. We have seen the destroying of the water aquifers caused by strip mining in West Virginia by the coal mining companies being protected under the G. W. Bush’s administration. We have also seen the protection interference for the oil industries use of petrochemicals to drill at oil sites and citizens living in the area can now ignite their tap water. Many of my readers will remember the Cuyahoga River catching fire in Cleveland. Is this now the current Republicans view that we are to return back to the “Good O’l Days?” Is this now the Republican Party’s idea of progress? It was the Republican President Richard Nixon’s passage of the “Clean Air Act,” that gave the enforcement ability of the EPA. This was once what the Republican Party’s legacy standard and platform was about.

3. Of course the National Health Care Bill that the insurance industry funded the resistance of its passage and now for its repeal. This Health Care Bill that protects people who have lost their jobs and are at risk after paying their health care premiums only to have their coverage deigned because 10 years ago they had a condition that needed to be treated.

4. Now we are seeing the last bastion of Union Busting going on right now in the current event today. Without this last aspect of workers voice and rights, we are seeing the removal of “Checks and Balances” of corporations.

Surely any person with just a smidgen of intelligence can see the “Return On Their Investments Dividends” being awarded to those who funded this current Republican House.

Where my curiosity comes from is why so many think that having protection of their personal health care destroyed, their quality of air and water being poisoned by industrial chemicals with no over site from the agencies that are to protect you. Instead now, all corporations will get is a knowing wink and nod with a smile from the EPA. How much is a person’s wealth in their homes worth when you can light their tap water to heat their homes? It can be said that this current Republican House motto is, “Take From The Poor (or even the middle working class making them the new poor) And Give To The Rich.”

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Valentines Day Memo From Multinational Corpco.


Memo:
From MULTINATIONAL CORPCO Corp. Inc.

EFFECTIVE February 14, 2011

Subject:
NEW OFFICE POLICY FOR ALL EMPLOYEES

Dress Code:

1) You are advised to come to work dressed according to your salary.

2) If we see you wearing Prada shoes and carrying a Gucci bag, we will assume you are doing well financially and therefore do not need a raise.

3) If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage your money better, so that you may buy nicer clothes, and therefore you do not need a raise.

4) If you dress just right, you are right where you need to be and therefore you do not need a raise.

Sick Days:

We will no longer accept a doctor's statement as proof of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work.

Personal Days:
Each employee will receive 104 personal days a year. They are called Saturdays & Sundays.

Bereavement Leave:
This is no excuse for missing work. There is nothing you can do for dead friends, relatives or co-workers. Every effort should be made to have non-employees attend the funeral arrangements in your place. In rare cases where employee involvement is necessary, the funeral should be scheduled in the late afternoon. We will be glad to allow you to work through your lunch hour and subsequently leave one hour early.

So in closing, on behalf of "Multinational Corpco. Corp. Inc.," we want to wish all employees a Happy Valentines Day….Now get you ass back to work!! You have already spent too much unproductive time reading this mandatory Memo.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

A Trader To His Class


There is a best selling book titled, “Trader To His Class,” written by H. W. Bands. It is a biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was born into the privileged life of wealth but is seen for a radical Presidency that transformed American government during the "Great Depression" with his "New Deal" legislation. The examples of developing the social safety net of Social Security and enacting and signing legislation passing rules and regulations that curbed Wall Street’s and Banking's finical abuse during the 1920’s. These laws served the U.S. Citizens’ well until they were started to be disassembled in the 1980’s during the Ronald Reagan’s administration.

With this thought, it came to light that maybe this book's title applied more to Ronald Reagan whom many are celibrating his 100th birthday today.

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in an apartment on the second floor of a commercial building in Tampico, Illinois on February 6, 1911, to John Edward Reagan and Nelle Reagan. Reagan's father was of poor Irish Catholic ancestry, and his mother of Scottish English ancestors.

In his youth, Ronny had a particularly strong faith in the goodness of people, which stemmed from the optimistic faith of his mother, Nelle, and the Disciples of Christ faith, which he was baptized into in 1922. For the time, Reagan was unusual in his opposition to racial discrimination, and recalled a time in the little town of Dixon when the local inn would not allow black people to stay there. Reagan brought them back to his house, where his mother invited them to stay the night and have breakfast the next morning.

Following the closure of the Pitney Store in late 1920, the Reagans moved to Dixon. He attended Dixon High School where he developed interests in acting, sports, and storytelling. His first job was as a lifeguard at the Rock River in Lowell Park, near Dixon, in 1926.

Reagan attended Eureka College, where he became a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and majored in economics and sociology. He developed a reputation as a jack of all trades, excelling in campus politics, sports and theater. He was a member of the football team, captain of the swim team and was elected student body president. As student president, Reagan notably led a student revolt against the college president after he tried to cut back the faculty.

After graduating from Eureka in 1932, Reagan drove himself to Iowa, where he auditioned for jobs at many small town radio stations.

Reagan did make his way to California where he took a screen test in 1937 that led to a seven year contract with Warner Brothers studios. He spent the first few years of his Hollywood career in the “B” film unit, where, as Reagan said himself, “the producers didn't want them good, they wanted them Thursday".

Reagan was first elected to the Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild in 1941, serving as an alternate. Following World War II, he resumed service and became 3rd Vice president in 1946. The adoption of conflict of interest bylaws in 1947 led the SAG president and six board members to resign; Reagan was nominated in a special election for the position of president and subsequently elected. He would subsequently be chosen by the membership to seven additional one-terms, from 1947 to 1952 and in 1959. Reagan led SAG through eventful years that were marked by labor-management disputes, the Taft-Hartley Act.

Ronald Reagan Trader To His Class:

His betrayal to the working class started during the House Committee on Un-American activities (HUAC) hearings and the Hollywood Blacklist Era. Amid the “Red Scare” in the late 1940s, Reagan turned on his co-workers and provided the FBI with names of actors whom “HE BELIVED” (no proof provided to support his claims) to be communist sympathizers within the motion picture industry. Yes the “Union President Ronald Reagan” testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee on the subject as well throwing his Union Party Members and Co-workers to the “Hysterical Wolfs” of the McCarthy Era.

Reagan began his political career as a Liberal Democrat and admirer of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and active supporter of New Deal policies, but in the early 1950s he shifted to the right and, while remaining a Democrat, endorsed the presidential candidacies of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 as well as Richard Nixon in the 1960 Nixon / Kennedy Presidential campaigns.

Reagan who once as a young man, "who was unusual in his opposition to racial discrimination, and brought back black people to his own home to stay because the local inn would not allow them to stay there;" was now opposed "Civil Rights" legislation in the 1960’s, saying "If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, it is his right to do so".

When legislation that would become Medicare (You now here the mindless Conservative Teabaggers shout that Obama better not touch their Medicare) was introduced in 1961, Reagan created a recording for the American Medical Association warning that such legislation would mean the end of freedom in America. Reagan said that if his listeners did not write letters to prevent it, "we will awake to find that we have socialism. And if you don't do this, and if I don't do it, one of these days, you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children's children, what it once was like in America when men were free." (Boy Does This Sound Familiar Today!?!?)

Only a short time into his 1980 Presidential Administration, Federal Air Traffic Controllers went on strike. Declaring the situation an emergency as described in the 1947 Taft Hartley Act, this once Union President Reagan stated that if the air traffic controllers "do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated." Despite fear from some members of his cabinet over a potential political backlash, on August 5, Reagan fired 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work. This act started a national trend of union busting and the attacking for the next decades the downgrading quality of life for the “Working Middle Class” across the whole United States.

Quoting Charles Craver, a labor law professor at George Washington University Law School, the move gave Americans a new view of Reagan, who "sent a message to the private employer community that it would be all right to go up against the unions".

This position was in stark contrast to Reagan's past as a labor union president of the Screen Actor's Guild, as well as his support for the Polish labor union “Solidarity” in its fight against Soviet domination.

Ronald Reagan was now at this point not even practicing for his own country what he was preaching for others.

TRADER TO HIS OWN CLASS!!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Teabaggers Display Their Ignorance Yet Once Again

I pointed out on another blog that the Bush / Cheney inherited a Budget Surplus and before them this country was paying down the National Deficit.

I was then accused by a Teabagger who barely has a 6th grade education that I was engaging in revisionism history. This Teabagger, with only a 6th grade education, went onto say that he did not recall one dime of the Annual Budget Surplus that Bush and Cheney inherited was being used to pay down the national debt before they took over.

Well below are data charts from the Public Debt, United States Department of the Treasury and the Budget Data from the Congressional Budget Office.



As we all know from the viewpoints of the Teabaggers, facts have an obvious liberal slant.

So in conclusion, if you want to know the viewpoint of someone with just a 6th grade education, go visit your local Elementary School Yard. At least you will find more TRUTH there than with the Tea Party Members.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Did You Know?

Here is a very sobering video clip with information that will make people in the U.S. realize that it is not our world anymore.


Your comments and thoughts, much like John Nash's, "Game Theory" is to be entertained to identify all the scenarios and how they would play out.