Engineer of Knowledge

The Origins Of Rap Music

2011-06-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

Many think that Rap Music is a recent movement in music arts. But I contend that this is not a correct fact. I give you my example of Rap that started with Country Music in September 1961. Yes it was Country Music that started the Rap movement when Roy Acuff composed and Jimmy Dean (yes of the breakfast sausage fame) performed the song, “Big Bad John.”

By November the song went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and won Jimmy Dean the 1962 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording.
So below I give you Jimmy Dean performing the first original Rap Song, “Big Bad John.”

Connecticut State Senate Just Passed The “Paid Sick Leave” Bill 18-17

2011-06-06T18:03:00.000-07:00

Today the State Senate of Connecticut passed a bill 18-17 that will mandate that paid sick leave for what has been traditionally low paying wage earners. It is also expected to pass in the House of Representatives and the eventual signing into law by the Governor.

The bill passed with provisions that exempt certain organizations, as the bill will apply primarily to service oriented companies employing over 50 employees.

The paid sick leave is accumulated, one hour for every 40 worked, and the accrued time could not be used until at least 680 hours have been worked. At 680 hours, an employee would have accrued 17 hours of sick time; accrual has a maximum of 40 hours per year.

Up to 40 hours can carry over to the next year, but only a maximum of 40 hours could be used in any given year. If an employer currently offers vacation or personal time at the rate of 1 hour per 40 worked or better, the plan in place currently would satisfy the new law.

The items that the paid sick leave can be used for is quite expansive. One can use the time for illness, treatment, or injury to themselves, a child, a parent, or a spouse. A signed document by a health care provider is needed to take the time, and for a victim of sexual assault, documentation from a court or counselor is needed.

A significant part of the argument for the bill, supporting the implementation of paid sick leave, involves restaurant employees. Since so many of these employees are paid on the lower end of the spectrum, the loss of wages when one takes a day due to sickness is substantial. Thus, many choose to simply work sick, creating significant health risks in the food industry.

But often those without a paid sick leave program are those that employ workers close to or even below minimum, where a loss of wages would have the most impact. In the testimony given the legislature in March, many of the accounts were of low-wage earners that needed extended time off, nearly bankrupting them, and many stating that after missing significant time at work, they were laid off or fired.

The law would make retribution for using sick leave illegal. If an employer fired an employee for using sick leave, there would be penalties, up to $600 per occurrence and may include the re-hire of the employee.

Information provided by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) showed that 40% of workers in Connecticut have no sick time, 78% of food service workers have no sick time, and 77% of low wage earners have no sick time. According to State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, 257,000 employees that do not have paid sick leave currently would become eligible.

But while unions and workers lined up to support the bill, businesses and their representatives showed up to oppose it.
If Connecticut were to pass a paid sick leave bill, it would be the first state in the country to do so.

Let’s hope other States wake up and start to make provisions to protect workers rights instead of examples of Wisconsin or Ohio who are trying to force a submissive work force for the Koch Brothers by busting the unions in their state.

More Are Making Plans To Counter The Effects Of “Man Made Climate Change”

2011-05-24T15:20:00.000-07:00

As many of my readers know, I have a real issue to those whom deny and voice their feeble arguments against “Man Made Climate Change.”

Just last week I was called by my insurance agency that has my home insurance, (I was in good hands with this insurance) as they wanted to go over some home insurance changes that came about from the head office. When I sat down in the local office, the agent went over some small issues. This national insurance is no longer going to insure Florida, and all coastal areas in states like Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, South and North Carolina, Virginia, etc. and Maryland. But because I live in the middle of the Delmarva Peninsula, they are still going to insure me but at a slight increase in premiums….an extra $20.00 per year about.

You may ask why this national insurance company is deciding to refuse to insure homes in these areas. In the insurance agent’s own words, because of the “Climate Trend Changes” these areas are going to be effected with sever flooding, and damaging weather occurrences. The insurance company decided if it were to insure these areas, it would cause “Sever Financial Hardship” to the company in the short term and near future.

Yes this “National Insurance Company” has reviewed the “Climate Change Facts” and made a conscience decision not to insure these areas of our country.

I would also like to add another story of a local TORNADO event here on the shore. My daughter is on the track team for the local high school. While at a meet last week, she took a picture of a TORNADO with her cell phone that developed on Kent Island right at the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay here on the Delmarva Peninsula….we never get TORNADOS!!!! Hurricanes yes, TORNADOS NO!!!!

If we can see the changes here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, I don’t know why anyone else can deny the changing events.

Nation wide there have been over 900 Tornados in just the months of April and May...twice as many as anytime in history for this time period!!!

I decided to complement this story by passing on more information of organizations making plans to be ready for the INEVITABLE events caused by “Man Made Climate Change.”

February 1, 2010
Pentagon released their report, “Climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked.”

The Pentagon’s primary planning document addresses the threat of global warming, noting that it will accelerate instability and conflict around the globe. In the report is language requiring the Pentagon Department to consider the effects of climate change on its facilities, capabilities, and missions to the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. The Department of Defense’s, “Quadrennial Defense Review,” officially released discusses the department’s “strategic approach to climate and energy”:

Climate change and energy are two key issues that will play a significant role in shaping the future security environment. Although they produce distinct types of challenges, climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked. The actions that the Pentagon Department takes now can prepare us to respond effectively to these challenges in the near term and in the future.

The QDR notes that climate change affects the Department of Defense “in two broad ways”:
First, global warming impacts and disasters will “act as an accelerant of instability or conflict.”
Second, military installations and forces around the globe will have to adapt to rising seas, increased extreme weather, and other effects of global warming:

Assessments conducted by the intelligence community indicate that climate change could have significant geopolitical impacts around the world, contributing to poverty, environmental degradation, and the further weakening of fragile governments. Climate change will contribute to food and water scarcity, will increase the spread of disease, and may spur or exacerbate mass migration. While climate change alone does not cause conflict, it may act as an accelerant of instability or conflict, placing a burden to respond on civilian institutions and militaries around the world.

The military is working on not just responding to the impacts of global warming, but also mitigating the threat by reducing global warming emissions. Increased use of renewable energy and energy efficiency not only lessens the military’s enormous carbon footprint, but also delivers immediate security benefits:

Energy efficiency can serve as a force multiplier, because it increases the range and endurance of forces in the field and can reduce the number of combat forces diverted to protect energy supply lines, which are vulnerable to both asymmetric and conventional attacks and disruptions.

The consequence of the Pentagon's failure to prepare could result not just in lost dollars but also in lost lives.
There are five key areas in which effective military planning can be undermined by uncertainty over when and how the major carbon-emitting countries combat climate change.

First, climate change poses a threat to fragile states that lack the capacity to adapt to environmental shifts. The Pentagon needs to know if the military will be called upon to operate more often in countries that have collapsed or are on the brink of doing so. The risk of a regional conflagration sparked by global warming is particularly severe in east Africa and south Asia. How urgently should the Pentagon begin planning for such contingencies?

Second, the US military needs to know how significantly to expand its capacity to act as a first responder in times of natural disaster. Climate change will increase the frequency of large-scale disasters over the next three decades. But the scope of this threat will vary depending on what action is taken to minimize emissions. Although some of the emergencies created or exacerbated by climate change may be managed by the UN, the US military has an unrivalled capacity to act as a first responder in these situations.
Recall the Indian Ocean tsunami that struck a little more than three years ago: only the US could or would so rapidly have deployed and sustained the 15,000 troops, two dozen ships and 100 aircraft needed for the mission. But if the US military anticipates being called upon more often to respond to such disasters then it needs clarity about how soon it should invest more resources into planning such missions.

Third, the US military will have to conduct traditional missions in increasingly adverse weather conditions. Planners must decide how soon to invest in equipment that works better in storms, floods and other hostile climates.

Fourth, rising sea levels and other climatic factors could threaten the viability of bases on islands or low-lying coastal areas. The US military must know how urgently it needs to plan to protect or, in extreme circumstances, compensate for the loss of bases in strategic areas. The Diego Garcia atoll in the Indian Ocean, which serves as a major hub for US and British missions in the Middle East and is vital to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, may be at risk from climate change.

Moreover, expanding existing bases or creating new ones is often expensive and politically challenging. If the Pentagon had a clear sense of what steps were going to be taken to combat global warming, it might choose to invest more in developing its own offshore "sea basing" platforms that do not require host-country consent.

Fifth, the roles of the army and National Guard will need to evolve according to the degree of global warming. National Guard troops are responsible for responding when necessary to domestic natural disasters, but this may not be viable if their deployment overseas leaves the US short of troops and equipment at a time when extreme weather occurs more often at home. The Pentagon might need to begin helping to create a state-level home guard to take over domestic disaster duties from the National Guard.

May 20, 2010
National Academy of Sciences urges strong action to cut greenhouse gases.

The National Academy of Sciences released their report findings on the “most comprehensive report ever on climate change” suggests taxing carbon emissions. It also raises the possibility that global warming might make it necessary to shift vulnerable populations away from coasts.

In a sharp change from its cautious approach in the past, the National Academy of Sciences on Wednesday called for taxes on carbon emissions, a cap-and-trade program for such emissions or some other strong action to curb runaway global warming.

Such actions, which would increase the cost of using coal and petroleum, at least in the immediate future, are necessary because "climate change is occurring, the Earth is warming ... concentrations of carbon dioxide are increasing, and there are very clear fingerprints that link these effects to humans," said Pamela A. Matson of Stanford University, who chaired one of five panels organized by the academy at the request of Congress to look at the science of climate change and how the nation should respond.

What is so hard for me to understand that many in my Republican Party will believe that Man Walked With Dinosaurs, the Earth is only 10,000 years old, Evolution is not real, and will even point to the increase of hurricanes, tornados, coastal flooding, that these are all caused as a sign from God of the Earth’s near end. But if you show them the science facts of “Cause and Effects” of these occurrences, they will parrot the nonsense from conservative talk radio and Fox programming that this is not proven nor the case. “It is just made up stuff and has not been proven.”

National Insurance Companies are canceling policies for home owners against wind and flood damage along the coastal areas, and in some cases whole states, because they have looked at the science facts and realized the odds of more and drastic occurrences of weather damage in the near future.

The Pentagon has been convinced enough it needs to know what kind of environment to prepare for to allocate its vast resources efficiently. Planning for future contingencies is a long-term process, as force structure and weapons systems have to be co-ordinate at least a decade in advance to make combat reaction plans to compensate and take into consideration that “Man Made Climate Change” will affect everyone in every country around the world.

National Academy of Sciences has collected the data and has scientifically proven that “Man Made Climate Change” is occurring.

But for the lemming dumb asses who choose to believe Rush Limbaugh or any of his like, or their local Fundamentalist Preacher, that “Man Made Climate Change” is not occurring….I am speechless as it is just incomprehensible for me that people are so ignorant.

But I see wearing a “T” Shirt makes it so for some!?!?!?

A Word To The Wise For Election 2012

2011-05-22T08:02:00.001-07:00

With the elections getting ready to go into full swing soon, there will be a lot of Republican Candidates promising how well they will bring the economy back with their proposals by addressing medical insurance, jobs, fuel cost, cost of government, or costs in general.

I know it will be tempting to many citizens because sometimes we try too hard to get to the greener grass, and in the process, we end up in trouble...

But way too often this just leads to making things worse and when you find yourself in trouble and you're stuck in a situation that you can't get out of, THERE IS ONE THING YOU SHOULD ALWAYS REMEMBER……
Not everyone who shows up...Is there to help you!!!!

Report Faults Mine Owner for Explosion That Killed 29

2011-05-20T19:21:00.000-07:00

The first comprehensive state report on the 2010 Massey Energy’s “Big Branch Coal Mine” disaster in West Virginia by an independent team of investigators, has put the blame squarely on the owner of the mine owners, “Massey Energy,” concluding that it had “made life difficult” for miners who tried to address safety and built “a culture in which wrongdoing became acceptable.”

Just as the preliminary findings by federal officials that the blast could have been prevented if Massey had observed minimal safety standards, but Massey was more interested in production and profits than the value of the 29 men’s lives that died that day, on April 5, 2010.

It was Massey’s pattern of negligence that ultimately led to the deaths of 29 miners in the worst American mining disaster in 40 years. For people in the mining industry, the report was surprisingly direct.

The report stated that it was poor ventilation negligence of the mine’s jury-rigged ventilation system was cited for 64 violations just in 2009 alone, equipment whose safety mechanisms were not functioning, lack of water spray designed to eliminate sparks caused by digging the coal, the track duster was often clogged where miners were reduced to carrying rock dust, the diluting substance, out of the mine by hand, and no lime was put down which would have made the coal dust less combustible.

I have heard my own Grand Father, who was a West Virginia Union Coal Miner, tell me that the “combustible coal dust would behave like gunpowder carrying the blast in multiple directions.” The official report stated that explosive coal dust, which had been allowed to accumulate, carried the blast through the mine, killing miners who were far from the original explosion.

The lack of air in the nearly three miles of tunnels, combined with coal dust and fumes, tormented the miners, the report said. One miner, Dean Jones, would come home so exhausted that, the report quoted his wife as saying, “I’d look over at the dinner table and he would be asleep.” “It literally felt like you were melting,” said Michael Ellison, a roof bolter who called in sick the day of the accident. Shortly into the shift, he said, “all of us looked like we had been standing out in a rainstorm, just soaking wet.”

Due to the lack of a union, the workers voice in such matters, miners who tried to remedy the situation were punished. When Dean Jones shut down his section for lack of air, a company boss, Chris Blanchard, “called the dispatcher and told him to tell Dean if he didn’t get the section running in so many minutes he’d be fired,” the report said. Mr. Jones, afraid for his job, complied.

As the largest coal producer in Appalachia, Massey used its leverage “to control West Virginia’s political system,” and through it, oversight agencies. Inspectors, whose job it was to protect miner safety, were cast as “ENEMIES,” the report said, with the company challenging their very legitimacy.

Politicians were afraid of the company, the report said, because the chief executive at the time, Don Blankenship, “was willing to spend vast amounts of money to influence elections.” (I want to interject that the Supreme Court has recently ruled that Corporations have the same rights as individual citizens)

Massey is in the process of being acquired by another company, Alpha Natural Resources, which has said it plans on retraining Massey employees after taking over in June. It has also hired Christopher Adkins, a chief operating officer for Massey, whose role in the disaster was strongly criticized in the report.

So concluded, one of Rush Limbaugh’s daily radio program at this time was spouting off how the “Miner’s Union” did not protect the miners of the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia. “Yes Unions are worthless!!!” The problem with Rush’s comment was the “Upper Big Branch Mine” was a NON-UNION MINE and the miners had no recourse to have all of the “Mine Safety Sightings And Infractions” addressed by the company; the miners had no voice to protect themselves and 29 good men lost their lives when the mine exploded. RUSH LIES!!!!

So the next time you hear someone bad mouth UNIONS, you can tell them that this ATTITUDE is exactly what killed 29 good family men.

THIS IS THE END

2011-05-20T16:38:00.000-07:00

This song is dedicated to the delusional ding-a-lings that think and project the Judgment Day being May 21, 2011……For the rest of my sane friends….I will see you tomorrow.

“Judgment Day” is May 21, 2011

2011-05-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

Well I want to pass on, and I have it on good authority, that the world is going to start to end on Saturday, May 21st, according to Family Radio Worldwide and a number of religious believers. This ubiquitous prophecy that is posted on more than 5,000 billboards, posters, fliers and digital bus displays across the country. “Family Radio,” based in Oakland, Calif., is a nonprofit evangelical Christian group that has declared May 21, 2011, as the day of Armageddon. It has been funding the campaign to spread the word through an outreach program it calls "Project Caravan." Tom Evans, a spokesman for Family Radio, said the doomsday date is based on a complicated reading of the Bible and calculations that stem from the "7,000 year anniversary of the flood."

Family Radio also predicts massive earthquakes will strike all over the world on May 21, 2011 to herald the second coming of Jesus Christ. How do these Ultra Right Conservative Christians come to this date…..Because the Bible is written in CODE and Harold Camping has broken this CODE.

The thousands of billboards and fliers are Family Radio's way of blowing the trumpet. The radio network, which has 66 stations in the United States, is headed by Harold Camping.

A former civil engineer turned radio host, Camping, 89, is the president of Family Radio and is touring the country to spread his message of impending doom. It has been funding the campaign to spread the word through an outreach program it calls "Project Caravan."

Members of his fundamentalist flock show up to his presentations sporting yellow T-shirts, cheerfully disseminating word that the “Rapture” is almost here. The signs on their RVs proclaim, "Have you heard the awesome news? The End of the World is almost here."

Tom Evans said, “Camping and his followers believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible. It is a manifestation of God's word." (OK….?)

While Family Radio says it has faith in the Bible, it has no use for organized religion and believes Catholics and Protestants, among others, have corrupted the word of God.
"If you're a Christian, you know that God does not elevate any man above any other man," Evans said.

Now one LITTLE draw back in the group's campaign is that Camping has predicted the end of the world before: in 1994, but Evans said, “Camping was thrown off a correct calculation because of some verses in Matthew 24." So when 1994 came and went, Camping headed back to the drawing board and came up with May 21.

So to all of my readers, I’m sure he got it right this time. (Yea Right)

So remember “Judgment Day” is May 21, 2011 and be sure to keep this day open for any plans.

These Ultra Right Conservative Christians also pass on the Bible passage:
“And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented FIVE MONTHS: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.” Revelation 9:5

This of course makes “The End of the World” October 21, 2011.

But before you start selling off your belongings, you might want to check your math. The real earth ending won’t arrive for another five billion years from now, when the sun runs out of hydrogen, evolutionary biologist and author, Richard Dawkins, claims.

I don’t know about you but I’m going with Science and Dawkins.

Obscure Hippie Music of the late 60's

2011-05-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

My good friend Microdot posted a recording I had never heard of but of course I loved it. I started to reminisce of some great but now obscure songs I use to perform in local bars. I was surprised to see when I found them so I had to pass them along also.

ENJOY and be careful of the FLASHBACKS!!! :-)

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Allies Charged With Sorcery

2011-05-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

Here we have a currant day example of what happens when people allow a religious government rule a country. Many in this country want to have religion play a dominate role in U.S. Government and below is what can happen. My comments to these people are there was a very good reason our founding fathers impressed “Separation of Church and State.”

Today in Iran there is a power struggle between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader sees arrests and claims of undue influence of chief of staff.

Close allies of Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been accused of using “Supernatural Powers” to further his policies amid an increasingly bitter power struggle between him and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Several people said to be close to the President and his Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have been arrested in recent days and charged with being "MAGICIANS" and invoking DJINNS (SPRITS).

An Iranian news website, described one of the arrested men, Abbas Ghaffari, as "a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds".

The arrests come amid a growing rift between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei which has prompted several to call for the President to be impeached.

On Sunday, Ahmadinejad returned to his office after an 11-day walkout in an apparent protest over Khamenei's reinstatement of the intelligence minister, who the president had initially asked to resign.

Ahmadinejad's unprecedented disobedience prompted harsh criticism from conservatives who warned that he might face the fate of Abdulhassan Banisadr, Iran's first post-revolution president who was impeached and exiled for allegedly attempting to undermine CLERICAL POWER.

Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, a hard-line cleric close to Khamenei, warned that disobeying the supreme leader, who has the ultimate power in Iran, is equivalent to "Apostasy from God."

But the feud has taken a metaphysical turn following the release of an Iranian documentary alleging the imminent return of the Hidden Imam Mahdi, the revered Savior of Shia Islam, whose reappearance is anticipated by believers in a manner comparable to that with which Christian fundamentalists anticipate the “Second Coming of Jesus.”

So here is the perfect example of allowing Religion too much influence in Government. Religious Fanatics propensity abilities to accuse someone of the superstitious crimes such as “Witch Craft,” “Going against God’s Will,” their convenient interpretations of “Bible Teachings” etc. when decisions don’t meet with their approval.

AVDI VIDE TACE translated means “HEAR, SEE, BE SILENT”

2011-05-03T19:20:00.000-07:00

The Royal Society, the premier and oldest learned society for the study of science, was founded in 1660 with the motto “Nullius in Verba” or “On the words of no one.” This date probably was the start of that remarkable period in the intellectual history of Europe that we call today “The Age of Enlightenment.”

But the story of the beginning of that age went back many years.

European universities and intellectual climate at the time were still dominated by Aristotle and Scholastic system of thinking, that of the “Disputatio.”

The way to arrive at truth was the method of “Deduction” axiomatic deductions from authorities. Who constituted the “Authorities" anyway? The sacred books, writings by ancient authorities and so on. Scant attention was paid to empirical evidence.

An example being based on the authorities of St. Thomas, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, Kings 1, (the last three are books of the Bible) and St. Augustine, one must logically deduce that witches exist, and therefore it was heresy to say otherwise. (Hence the Witch Trials that lasted for 100's of years)

The Catholic Church’s pressure on Galileo to recant his heliocentric world view was base on a similar line of reasoning. The authority of the Bible and of Ptolemy clearly stated that the earth was immovable and was the center of the universe. (Many intellectual men of this time lost their lives or came very close at the hands of the Church)

Even Martin Luther, the man who started the "Reformation" was steeped in the Aristotelian world view and was a follower of the method of scholasticism of his Age. He had this to say regarding the heliocentric world view: “This FOOL Copernicus wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; but sacred scripture tells us that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and not the earth.” (Again the teachings had to be that the Earth was the center of the universe because the Bible said so)

Even today you will see people holding up a Bible or Koran as proof of anything they disagree with. Evolution, Gay Marriages, Women's Rights, etc.

That was the method of scholasticism that one drew upon the rigid axiomatic deductions by logic from premises, the veracity of which were based on "AUTHORITIES."

To sum this up, “TRUTH” is to be derived by induction from the particular to the general, by induction based on empirically collected data.

When I read or hear a person quoting sources of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Rielly, Donald Trump, or any other Mass Marketed Ultra-Conservative Personality as proof of their argument; my only thought is, “Hey Mindless, Non-Critical Thinking Lemming!!! At Least Try And Join The 17th Century Line Of Thinking!!”

“NULLIUS IN VERBA”

President Obama Has His Day With "The Donald" Trump

2011-05-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

President Obama didn’t have to wait long to set out a big helping of “Bitch Slapping” for Donald Trump at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

The real estate mogul, Republican Presidential Candidate Contender, and Birther Nutjob, who attended as a guest of The Washington Post, was treated to some zingers by the commander in chief.

President Obama had his moment with comments like: “I know that he’s taken some flak lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than “The Donald.” And that’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?”

“Just recently, in an episode of “Celebrity Apprentice” at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around. But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn’t blame Lil Jon or Meatloaf. You fired Gary Busey. These are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir. Well handled.”

Then comedian Seth Meyers, the evening’s featured entertainer, tore into “The Donald.”

Meyers started off with, “Donald Trump has been saying that he will run for president as a Republican, which is surprising, since I just assumed he was running as a joke. Trump owns the Miss USA Pageant, which is great for Republicans because it will streamline the search for a vice president. Trump has said he's got a great relationship with "The Blacks"...Well unless "The Blacks" are a family of white people, I bet he's mistaken. Donald Trump often appears on Fox, which is ironic, because a FOX often appears on Donald Trump’s HEAD. If you’re at The Washington Post table with Trump and you can’t finish your entrée, don’t worry, the FOX will eat it."

Obama himself had a good laugh over the whole birth certificate thing. He began his remarks by announcing that he was prepared to go a step further, in case there were any lingering doubts about his American citizenship.

“Tonight, for the first time, I am releasing my official birth video,” he declared. On the video screens around the room, up popped the birth scene from “The Lion King.” The President then targeted the bias Fox Programming Group with the comment, “I want to make clear to the “Fox News” table: That was a joke,”…….“That was not my real birth video. That was a children’s cartoon. Call Disney if you don't believe me. They have the original long form version.”

I am of the opinion that the President and staff advisors released his long form Birth Certificate last week just to give the President plenty of material for the correspondents’ dinner.

I have posted a video clip for your enjoyment and a personal word to the President and Staff. Well Done!!!

The World’s Oldest Man, Walter Breuning, Dies At The Age Of 114 Years

2011-04-23T07:15:00.001-07:00

Normally this would not be a topic for my post except for one reason alone. Walter Breuning was a Brother Master Mason, 33° Degree Member of the Scottish Rite and Shriners.

To be more exact Walter Breuning was 114 Years, and 205 Days old when he was called to the Celestial Lodge at 3 PM, Thursday, April 14, 2011.

He had been a Master Mason for 85 Years, 333 Days.

The following will mean more to those who are Masons:
Brother Walter received his degrees in Great Falls Lodge No. 118, Great Falls, Montana. He was initiated on March 7, 1925, passed on April 4, 1925 and raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason on May 16, 1925. He affiliated with Cascade Lodge No. 34, Great Falls, Montana on January 1, 1992. He had served as Secretary of Great Falls Lodge No. 118 from January 1, 1946 through December 31, 1968. W. Brother Breuning received the Meritorious Service Medal on June 24, 1993.

On September 21, 2010, the plainspoken Breuning turned 114 years old, remaining the oldest man in the world, according to the Gerontology Research Group. Brother Breuning was also verified as the fourth oldest person in the world.

Below is a clip of Walter Breuning speaking of Masonry and Scottich Rite

Walter Breuning- Scottish Rite Freemason from Scottish Rite on Vimeo.

Who Was Going To Destroy Your Health Care?

2011-04-19T17:06:00.000-07:00

Remember during the last election you saw the Teabaggers screaming red faces at town halls how with the health care bill, “Obama better not mess with their Medicare!!” They were going around sounding the warning of Death Panels and how the Democrats were going to destroy Medicare.

Well as we can now well see, it is the Ultra Radical Teabaggers demanding removing Medicare and just give the retired population, “Insurance Vouchers” and sending them off to find private health insurance. Well reality is this older demographic population is not the customers Private Health Insurance wants as at this age they will get sick and the “Insurance Vouchers” is grossly under funding the elderly population’s needs.

Do these Dumb Ass Teabagger’s even remember what they were shouting during the election only to see those they claim to have elected wanting to take away their health safety net!!

Yes, once again the Extremely Conservative Republicans are throwing the Average Working Stiff under the “Insurance Bus” and now the Teabagger Lemmings are sing their praises.

Governor Scott Walker Admits Union-Busting Provision “Doesn’t Save Any Money For the State Of Wisconsin.”

2011-04-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform called Govs. Scott Walker (R-WI) and Peter Shumlin (D-VT) to testify in a hearing titled “State and Municipal Debt: Tough Choices Ahead.” Much of the hearing was spent probing Wisconsin’s spate of anti-union restrictions it recently passed.

At one point, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) confronted Walker about his crackdown on public employee unions. The congressman referenced a provision Walker signed into law that would require union members to vote every year to continue their membership. Kucinich asked the governor how much money the state would save from the provision. Walker repeatedly dodged the question and eventually admitted that it actually wouldn’t save anything at all.
Kucinich then asked Walker how much money would be saved by barring union dues from being drawn from employee paychecks, another provision of Walker’s legislation. Walker claimed that it would save workers money, but was unable to explain how it would save the state any money. Kucinich then produced a document from the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the state’s equivalent of the Congressional Budget Office, that concluded that Walker’s measures were “nonfiscal” — meaning they had no impact on the state’s finances. Kucinich asked that the letter be included in the public record, but Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) refused:

KUCINICH: Let me ask you about some of the specific provisions in your proposals to strip collective bargaining rights. First, your proposal would require unions to hold annual votes to continue representing their own members. Can you please explain to me and members of this committee how much money this provision saves for your state budget?

WALKER: That and a number of other provisions we put in because if you’re going to ask, if you’re going to put in place a change like that, we wanted to make sure we protected the workers of our state, so they got value out of that. [...]

KUCINICH: Would you answer the question? How much money does it save, Governor?

WALKER: It doesn’t save any. [...]

KUCINICH: I want to ask about another one of your proposals. Under your plan you would prohibit paying union member dues from their paychecks. How much money would this provision save your state budget?

WALKER: It would save employees a thousand dollars a year they could use to pay for their pensions and health care contributions.

KUCINICH: Governor, it wouldn’t save the State of Wisconsin anything.

Walker’s admission is crucial because he had long claimed that his anti-union “budget repair bill” was designed to save the state money, not bust unions. But his words today echo those of Wisconsin state senate leader Scott Fitzgerald (R), who last month effectively admitted that the union fights are not about budgetary issues, but rather about winning the next election by depleting the ranks of organized labor.

Now why is this not the "Head Line News" on every broadcast across the Nation…...? “Wisconsin Governor Admits He Lied About Union-Busting!!!” Why is there not an out roar to impeach this lying asshole? What Has Happened To Our Country that we tolerate this kind of crap from our elected officials? Have we as a nation lost our moral compass?

Did The Conservative Voice Standard Bearer, “Rupert Murdoch,” Sanction Illegal Activities?

2011-04-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

The head of "News International," the British news division of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, has been officially asked to disclose details of alleged payments made by the company’s newspapers to British police officers.

The request, by Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, came after John Yates, acting deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police (better known as Scotland Yard) testified that his officers have begun researching a statement made in 2003 by Rebekah Brooks, then the editor of The Sun and now CEO of "News International," in which she acknowledged that such payments had been made.

In his letter to Brooks, Vaz requested that she provide him by April 4th, 2011, with the following information:
1. The number of police paid by The Sun newspaper whilst you were editor?
2. How much these police officers were paid?
3. When the practice ceased?

The latest development comes as Vaz’s committee looks deeper into complaints that Scotland Yard, in an effort to court favor with reporters for another Rupert Murdoch newspaper, the "News of the World" failed to investigate apparent evidence that some reporters for the paper had routinely hacked into the voicemails of politicians and celebrities. In reporting on the new developments, Ian Dunt, editor of politics.co.uk, commented, “Ms. Brooks is considered one of the most influential figures in the Murdoch Empire and her involvement in the ongoing row will be treated as a sign that the contagion of phone-hacking at "News of the World" is starting to spread to the entire business.”

On Tuesday, April 5th 2011, British police arrested two journalists linked with the country's top selling tabloid as part of an investigation into phone hacking of celebrities, politicians and royals. Metropolitan Police said two men aged 50 and 42 were taken into custody in London on suspicion of unlawfully intercepting voicemail messages. They declined to name the men, who were later released on bail, but a lawyer for the tabloid's former news editor, Ian Edmondson, identified his client as one of the two.

The second man in custody is the “News of The World's” chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, confirmed that Thurlbeck was still employed by the tabloid.

Many are saying that Rupert Murdoch’s media interest were being protected as no Conservative Politician can get elected into public office without his support and backing. This mind thought is because this is not the first time for Rupert Murdoch’s possible illegal sanctioned activities. One of Rupert Murdoch's best-performing papers, “The News of The World,” was thrust into the center of the phone hacking scandal after a reporter and a private investigator in its employment were caught illegally eavesdropping on the phones of the British royal family's entourage. The pair was convicted in 2007, but “News of the World” executives have long insisted that they were the only ones responsible for the tapping operation, a claim dismissed as implausible by the paper's critics.

This latest incident has brought to light that once again British journalists working for Rupert Murdoch’s papers have been on a crime spree, hiring private eyes to illegally hack into the voicemail and data of thousands of people, including " tax records, social security files, bank statements and itemized phone bills"; Rupert Murdoch has paid out over £1M so far to hush it up.
Here is an interesting aspect that all American Citizens should take note on.
1. The head of the Conservative party's communications is a former Murdoch executive who from the time that much of this crime was committed by his staffers.
2. Senior editors are among those implicated. This activity occurred before the mobile phone hacking, at a time when Coulson was deputy and the editor was Rebekah Wade, now due to become chief executive of News International.

The extent of their personal knowledge is not clear: the "News of the World" has always insisted that it would not break the law and would use subterfuge only if essential in the public interest.

But faced with this new evidence, “News International,” has changed their position and started offering huge cash payments to settle the case out of court. To date they have paid out £700,000 in legal costs and damages on the condition that Taylor signed a gagging clause to prevent him speaking about the case. The payment is believed to have included more than £400,000 in damages. News Group then persuaded the court to seal the file on Taylor's case to prevent all public access, even though it contained prima facie evidence of criminal activity.

So the concluding statement to this posting is, “How Much Illegal Activities Are Going On A Fox Programming And Other Rupert Murdoch’s Interest Here In The United States? Are our own Conservative Republican Party members running “Legal Interference” evidence suppression? Are the Ultra Conservative Republican Congressmen and Senators protecting illegal activities against others that is being sanctioned by Rupert Murdoch’s media interests here in the United States?

Boycott Rush Limbaugh’s Sponsors

2011-04-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

It was the loss of sponsors is what forced Fox Programming to Fire Glenn Beck. His over the top Conservative Extremeism was just too much for Sponsors to take a chance of having their products Brand Labeled to this Nut Job.

Well I am proposing that by boycotting those who sponsor Rush Limbaugh could be just as effective. Please take note and not purchase any of the sponsor’s products and services.

ProFlowers
Sales or Service: 1-800-580-2913
Phone: 800.580.2913

Sleep Train (Mattress Center)
4350 Warehouse Ct., Ste 100
North Highlands, CA 95660
Phone: (800) 919-2337
Fax: (866) 293-5719

eharmony
300 N. Lake Ave., Suite 1111
Pasadena, CA 91101
media@eharmony.com
626.795.4814
FAX 626.585.4040

CARBONITE, Inc.
617-587-1100
177 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
david.friend@carbonite.com
Direct Dial Office: 617-587-1100 EXT:1115

Sleep Number Bed
Select Comfort Corporation
6105 Trenton Lane N
Minneapolis, MN 55442
Phone: 763-551-7000
Fax: 763-551-7826
800-438-2233
investorrelations@selectcomfort.com
Oreck Upright Vacuum Cleaners
Oreck Corporation
100 Plantation Road
New Orleans, Louisiana 70123
800-289-5888

Mid-West Life Insurance Company of Tennessee
9151 Grapevine Hwy.
North Richland Hills, TX 76180
Phone (800) 733-1110
(web banner ads on rushlimbaugh.com)

AutoZone Inc.
901-495-7185; Fax: 901-495-8374
P.O. Box 2198, Memphis, TN 38101
investor.relations@autozone.com

Blue-Emu
Jennifer Golleher

1-800-432-9334
http://www.blue-emu.com/

LegalZoom
800-773-0888; Fax: 323-962-8300
Site has a Web Form

Citrix Online (GoToMyPC)
6500 Hollister Avenue, Goleta, CA 93117
Phone: 805-690-6400; Fax: 805-690-6471
info@citrixonline.com

American Forces Network
Contact Us: @MyAFN.net

Mission Pharmacal Company
10999 IH-10 West Suite 1000
P.O. Box 786099
San Antonio, TX 78278-6099
Telephone: (800) 531-3333
Bennett Kennedy - Citracal Product Manager

Life Quotes, Inc.
32045 Castle Court
Evergreen, CO 80439
1-800-670-5433
info@lifequotes.com.au

Lending Tree
(704) 541-5351
Online Contact page

With any luck, by cutting off the finicial gains of those who sponsor this ASS WIPE that is Rush Limbaugh, they will soon drop him like the plague and possible any future sponsors.

Glenn Beck To End His Fox TV Show!!!

2011-04-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

With tomorrow being my 29th anniversary of turning 29 years old, I could not have had a better birthday gift than this news I noted when I booted up my computer tonight.

Glenn Beck is going to end his daily TV program!!! This really comes as “NO SURPRISE” since advertisers were shunning Beck's show of late for what it considers to be his "EXTREME VIEWS."

Yes his brand of “Ultra Extreme Right Wing Nutjobism” that is Glenn Beck’s TV Show is not playing well with sponsors as they do not want to be “BRAND ASSOCIATED” with this less than mentally stable “Fox Personality.”

So, pray tell what is going to happen to the mental state of all those who Follow, Quote, and Believe this “Messiah of Misleading and Misinformation” when they don’t get their daily programmed message on how to Think, Act, and Talk?

God Forbid!!! They may have to start to think for themselves or find a new "Ass Wipe" to transition their "HATE ADDICTIONS" to.

Quote from Christo

2011-04-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

"A work of art is a scream for freedom."

The Fanatical, Radical, Republicans Of Wisconsin Disregard the Judge’s Orders

2011-03-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

Once again showing disregard for the law when it does not coincide with their desires, the Fanatical, Radical, Republicans of Wisconsin, who illegally passed the now famous Anti-Union Law that sparked weeks of protests in Wisconsin, are going ahead against the Judge’s orders and put the law into effect today, Saturday, March 26, 2011.

The law was published online by the state office, “EVEN THOUGH A COURT ORDER BARS” the law from being published while the legal challenges get worked out.

A judge said Friday the publication dispute would have to wait until a previously scheduled hearing on Tuesday….well after the illegal posting fact.

Senator Scott Brown Maybe A Moderate Republican I Can Support

2011-03-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

Well another Right Wing Tea Party / Ultra Religious Conservative proposed House Bill dies a GRAND DEATH in the Senate today!

It is reported today that Senator Scott Brown has said he will oppose efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and other family-planning centers is a positive first step, and we look forward to seeing his name appear in the (NO) column when this vote comes to the Senate floor. It is stated that we also call on Senator Brown to stand up for women’s health and oppose other far-reaching and intrusive anti-choice policies as they move from the House to the Senate.”

Brown, a Massachusetts Republican, issued a statement this morning in support of family planning services, and said that an effort by House Republicans to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood “Goes Too Far!” Brown voted for the House budget plan earlier this month, though he said at the time he did not support all of the proposed cuts. With his latest “NO” vote, the plan failed to pass the Senate.

Rain King by Counting Crows

2011-03-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

I am posting this today as an honor to my friend Laci.
"I belong in the service of the Queen."

The band that played at my oldest daughter's wedding kicked into this song and they nailed it. I stood in the middle of the area that everyone was dancing....and sang it right along with them.

Enjoy and don't be afraid to sing....no one will know!! :-)

The Latest News From Wisconsin

2011-03-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

Police say the largest crowd yet descended on Wisconsin's Capitol to protest cuts to public worker collective bargaining rights yesterday. Protests have rocked the Capitol almost every day since Governor Scott Walker unveiled his proposal. But Madison police estimate the crowd of 85,000 to 100,000 by late afternoon as the largest.

More and more people in Wisconsin are waking up and realizing the BIG MISTAKE they made by voting in the Republican Governor Scott Walker.

Maybe this is a good thing as people are realizing that the GOP feeds lies and bullshit during a campaign then robs the wealth from the citizens after they get in office.

Here is a thought for all you Green Bay Packer fans in Wisconsin or any team fan across the country. Why is it you will hear complaints from the Ultra Conservatives against the Teacher’s Union but not a word from the NFL Player’s Union in talks with the Team Owners which is threatening a strike for next season? Is it NFL Player’s Union GOOD and Teacher’s Unions BAD?

What is Freemasonry

2011-03-12T13:58:00.000-08:00

I have been asked by interested people knowing that I am a Freemason. Today, I attended the Regional Freemason's Meeting for Maryland. This video clip was played for the Open House of the local Blue Lodges this April 2, 2011. Well I can't say it any better than Ben Franklin in this clip. Please play and enjoy.

After watching this clip, please feel free to ask me any questions about Freemasonry and I will answer them if I can....or allowed to. :-)

Looking In

2011-03-02T15:26:00.000-08:00

I was speaking with my good friend Microdot and during our conversation I had the image of the Savoy Brown’s album cover, “Looking In,” which led to the thoughts of this posting.

As a young man in my early 20’s I took to traveling the world as the first part of my “Life’s Experience” education. I traveled most of the coastal countries in South America and Southern Europe over a two year time period.

One of the aspects I noticed many years ago during my travels, and I told many friends and peers when I got back into the U.S., of the culture shock enlightenment and the value of being outside of the U.S. and looking back in from the prospective of those in another country. It is quite different than what many here think, being based on limited exposure, what the world is about or what we think should be. This was an eye opening lesson from the “School Of Real Life” that I learned at a young age.

What comes to mind is the title of Rush Limbaugh’s early book titled, “The Way Things Should Be.” Those who bought this book thinking it is a good guideline for their facts and viewpoints, should also read, “The Way Things Aren't: Rush Limbaugh's Reign of Error” which points out over 100 Outrageously False and Foolish Statements!! Another good counter point book is, “Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot” by Al Franken, which takes point by point, fact by fact of Rush Limbaugh’s book and disproves every misleading, misinformation, aspect of Rush’s statements.

This being said, there are still too many that will quote Rush as being fact on subjects as Climate Change, Environment, Social Issues, etc., from a person that from his own admission, flunked out of college before getting into radio as a top forty music “Shock Jock.” Rush is still doing the same act today the only difference is it is now a “Political Shock Jock” platform. What has changed is Rush's progression from Marijuana to OxyContin for his epific visions. He should NOT be quoted or given any more credibility than Howard Stern when giving political advice. Both are entertaining to many but not credible politically in any stretch of the word.

There needs to be more critical thinking, questioning, and not just accepting what is being told as the “End All To Be All,” facts!

We now have proof of “Big Corporate Money” dominating the communication media in this country and the information being disseminated is skewed drastically. This "Big Money" also is having an undue influence with our political leaders today. Much like George Orwell’s book, “Nineteen Eighty Four,” we are seeing the science fiction predictions coming true today.

So in conclusion one could say, we need to wakeup and understand that, “The world is not the U.S.’s oyster,” or maybe Samuel Clemmons said it better, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

Bill O’Rielly’s Pinheads and Patriots

2011-02-27T07:59:00.000-08:00

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.

House Republicans Voted To Kill Big Bird

2011-02-26T06:24:00.000-08:00

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!!”

The 12 Most Asinine Things Rush Limbaugh Has Said About Food

2011-02-24T14:58:00.000-08:00

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

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

2011-02-23T14:47:00.000-08:00

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!!!

It’s Déjà vu All Over Again

2011-02-20T12:44:00.000-08:00

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.

Reaping The Return On Their Investments

2011-02-19T07:10:00.000-08:00

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.”

Valentines Day Memo From Multinational Corpco.

2011-02-12T11:32:00.000-08:00

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.

A Trader To His Class

2011-02-06T08:36:00.000-08:00

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!!

Teabaggers Display Their Ignorance Yet Once Again

2011-02-05T19:20:00.000-08:00

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.

Did You Know?

2011-02-02T14:58:00.000-08:00

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.

Good Art Outlasts Political Power

2011-01-31T14:27:00.000-08:00

I was sitting, mindlessly passing the time, not focusing on anything particularly, when a thought came into my mind that I decided to expand upon and develop further. “Good Art outlasts the powerful people of the time the art was created.”

First example that comes to mind is anything Leonardo da Vinci created verses the religious power brokers that enforced their interpretations of religious laws and almost burned him at the stake for following science facts.
Conclusion: The Mona Lisa is one of the most visited artworks and is revered by many to be one of the best paintings of all time. Oh by the way, the sun does not revolve around the earth and the earth is not flat. So much for the religious inquisitions.

Pablo Picasso’s portrayal of the “Bombing of Guernica” by German bombers during the Spanish Civil War has more of a current message and meaning than Francisco Franco Bahamonde, who sanctioned the bombing act, emerging as the leader of the Nationalists government after winning the civil war with military aid from Italy and Nazi Germany.
Conclusion: The Spanish people are glad Franco is gone and requested the artwork be returned to Spain for permanent display.

The movie, “Citizen Kane,” is still revered with more reverence and admiration than the once powerful man it parodied, William Randolph Hearst.
Conclusion: Conservatively Political Hearst could never get elected to any political office, and the movie is still being played and enjoyed on Classic Movie TV.

These are just a few examples, and I am sure my friend, Microdot, can come up with many, many, many, more. So I would like to know everyone’s thoughts and examples on this subject.

A Conversation with Richard Dreyfuss

2011-01-30T07:46:00.000-08:00

I happened to turn on the radio and started listening to The Diane Rehm Show on NPR. She was interviewing Richard Dreyfus and I was soon engrossed by the program. What impressed me most was Richard Dreyfus’s prolific insight on Civics and the current political environment.

Below is the link to the transcript of that interview.
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-01-24/conversation-richard-dreyfuss/transcript

In speaking of the late President Kennedy, Richard Dreyfus said:
“In speaking of President Kennedy, that he had said things that were ahead of its time. He really was, I think, the last American president to lead the people. Sometimes to places where they didn't want to go and were reluctant and sometimes to a place where they wanted to go. And thankfully, civility is one of them and I had the privilege a few weeks ago -- a few months ago of watching his televised speeches about Civil Rights and it was a real shock to see an American president clearly out ahead of his majority. He was ahead of us and he was saying something that if we don't come to this place, we will have failed ourselves morally and it was a hell of a statement.”

Dreyfuss went onto say, “With such a peace, there will still be quarrels and conflicting interests as there are within families and nations. World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor, it requires only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement. And if we cannot find an end to our differences, at least we can make the world safe for diversity. For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's future and we are all mortal.”

“But isn't it interesting that even back then, President Kennedy was talking about civility, he was talking about differences of opinion, he was talking about how people get along in families, in communities and look where we are today.”

“Yeah, it's not a pretty picture and what he was doing in 1960, he could've been saying in 1760 or in 1460 or any year before that. Human nature is what it is. We are not Jaguars, we are not built for perfect efficiency, we don't laze away on a nice sunny day while the river runs dry and we don't always hunt only the huntable. We are human and we are diverse and we are silly and stupid and bright and intelligent and what is so extraordinary about the Constitution is that is was able to take into its creation the flaws and virtues of mankind as opposed to ignoring mankind completely.”

This next statement really impressed me:
Richard Dreyfus then went onto say, “When I ask students what was so revolutionary about our Revolutionary War, the answer is usually that we broke away from Great Britain. And I say, no, it was that for the first time ever, we were actualizing the idea that the ruler and the ruled were one thing and that the people were not the audience to the performance of the nobility, that we were all the same value and all contributed. And that was at the time probably the most important message in 13,000 years of politics.”

Later on in the program Diane Rehm played a segment from Mr. Holland’s Opus where Richard Dreyfus’s charter states:
“No, no, do not misunderstand me. I am not talking about my job. I am talking about the education that students once got at Kennedy High versus the education that you people are willing to give these kids today.” Then later goes on to say, “Oh, come on, Michael. You know, the big problem here is that you people are willing to create a generation of children who will not have the ability to think or create or listen.”

Diane Rehm then asked, “And it would seem to me that in real life, Richard Dreyfuss, you believe that what teachers consider to be their best right now is not good enough. And that students are not living up to what they could.”

Richard Dreyfuss reply, “There's a word in English that should be far more familiar to all of us and the word is exemplification. You can't exemplify reason or logic or goals of virtue unless you exemplify them and if you only exemplify, for instance, the public discussion of politics as something that is yelled and screamed and interrupted and patronized, then that becomes public discourse. And because you cannot scream reason, your advertisers will support screamers first. And so you raise two, three generations of people who don't know what reason sounds like, who don't know what a public discussion of a public issue can sound like without the melodrama of talk show radio or being demonized. And when you have a representative democracy, sooner or later, you have to get down to a definition which includes the willingness to share political space with those with whom you disagree, but if you demonize, you're not sharing anything.”

Later again in the program, Richard Dreyfuss said he had written the article because, “I was so hurt and offended by President Bush's casual inclusion of torture in the American Political Lexicon, something that had almost achieved the iconic level of taboo and he brought it back as if it was, you know, higher taxes or lower taxes.”

To later continue on with this thought:
“Teach our kids practical political power, teach it to them as their brains develop and can accept it more and more in its complexity, but teach it to them before they graduate high school so that they have a sense of ownership and pride. And that the next time someone tries to steal America, which is now a commonplace daily activity -- when someone tries to steal America from Americans, those future monarchs of this system will know when they're being flimflammed and what to do.”

“The fundamentals aren't there. When I was a kid, I was in love with America. I was -- my father and his generation had saved us from the most vivid civics lesson in history, Adolph Hitler. And when Hitler -- when we realized that Hitler meant every word he said, we stopped the whole world, went over to Europe and beat him to death because we knew we were not going to do that world.”

“But when it comes to the study of history and the study of the ethics involved with the writing of the Constitution and how incredible a coincidence in history it was that we could gather those men from the enlightenment era and actualize something that no one had ever thought to actualize. For them to do that and for us to learn it in its context is to make people aware of a pride of a country that is deserved and substantive, as opposed to being asked to love your country for no particular reason whatsoever.”

Diane Rehm then asked, “Is that your great concern that young people do not, in this era, grow up with the sense of pride in their country? “

In which Richard Dreyfuss replied, “I think it's one of the consequences. Another probably more important is that we grow up without any sense of connection and responsibility. We grow up without accountability and we grow up oddly enough without reward and punishment. Republican democracy is a two-way street where the people are not only the rulers, they are the people. And not only are they the rulers and the people, they are the neighbors in business, they are the neighbors in nursing, they are the neighbors who you are, in one way or another, accountable for and to, to make your society better. And when you remove that sense of responsibility from, let's say, local business and local business starts to recreate what used to be known as let the buyer beware, I can sell you a piece of junk. And if you don't catch me you can't do anything to me.”

I highly suggest everyone go to the link site and read for yourselves the transcript of this interview program. I personally found it to be very epific, and thought provoking.

Sarah Palin's Weird WTF “Sputnik” Story

2011-01-27T16:03:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday night, Sarah Palin attacked the “Sputnik Moment” line from President Obama's second State of the Union address.

Sarah went on to say, “That was another one of those WTF Moments, when he so often repeated this Sputnik moment that he would aspire Americans to celebrate. And he needs to remember that what happened back then with the former communist USSR and their victory in that race to space, yes, they won, but they also incurred so much debt at the time that it resulted in the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union.”
!?!?!

Sarah Palin in her Tea Party’s counter point rant, wildly misconstrued the president's argument, which was not about emulating the Soviets in the 1950's but instead about the Americans who responded to early Soviet success in space exploration by educating themselves and out-innovating the Soviets. I am seriously doubtful that Sarah could comprehend or more to the fact that did she even listen to the speech?

But let's pretend that wasn't Obama's point. The Soviets didn't have an empire-draining debt problem until some 30 years after Sputnik passed over America. And when they did, it was in large part a result of massive overinvestment in heavy industry, which supported Soviet military pretensions (Much like Bush and Cheney did). None of this is to argue that the Soviet economy is anything we should emulate. But let's at least get the basic facts right when we criticize it.

It's a fair guess that Palin thought she was borrowing her "insight" from the mythology of Ronald Reagan, who massively increased America's spending (Which took the U.S. from being the largest Creditor Nation to the largest Debtor Nation running up the largest record U.S. debt at that time. A fact the many self proclaiming Conservatives conveniently forget.) to spur the sort of competitive expenditure that contributed to the ballooning of Soviet debt in the 1980's. According to many conservatives, this was a crucial factor that catalyzed the Soviet collapse.

But in claiming that the Soviets incurred their consequential debts long before Reagan was president, Palin ends up arguing that the Gipper wasn't nearly that responsible for the USSR spending itself to death. If a reverence for Reagan's anti-Soviet spending inspired her narrative in the first place, then this is incoherent. If she's just making this all up, then she's really also claiming that the “Reagan Brought Down The USSR” narrative is overstated.

Palin appears to be lazily checking a lot of Fox News boxes. She wants to criticize Obama's State of the Union address, so she grabs hold of the Sputnik line. She wants to make a point about debt, so she invents a history in which the USSR had a debt crisis decades before this inference could have made much sense. Even better -- her argument sounds like an implicit vindication of Reagan, but that really just makes it either self-contradictory or hostile to Reagan's legacy.

Even worse, it seems that Palin planned her rhetorical disaster; as she goes on to discuss the "Spudnut Shop," a bakery in Washington State that's succeeding without government support.

Sarah Palin’s latest demonstration of her personal lacking qualities are yet more evidence that her judgment in both what she says and who she has vetted, is pathetic. It's not even cleverly manipulative. It is just sad and speaks volumes of those Tea Party members who follow her!!

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor: I Believe President Obama Is A U.S. Citizen

2011-01-23T08:40:00.000-08:00

Well once again we see the Republican Leadership throw the “Ultra Conservative Wing Nuts” under the bus even after whipping them into a frenzy by their own propaganda machine. Yes once the “NUT JOBS” have served their purpose for every election, the Republican Party Leaders tosses them aside with distain and as much compassion of used toilet paper.

The new Republican House majority leader says he doesn't think questions about President Barack Obama's citizenship should play a role in the discussion of policy matters.

Two years into the Obama administration, so-called “BIRTHERS” continue to argue that Obama isn't a natural-born citizen and that he hasn't proved he's constitutionally qualified to be president. Birth records in Hawaii haven't dissuaded them because they believe anything and can be mislead from the likes of Rush Limbaugh and the other Blow Hard Media Machine Personalities. It should also be noted that many of these Birthers are also Teabaggers.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says he believes Obama is a citizen and that most Americans are beyond that question.

Appearing Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Cantor refused to call people who question Obama's citizenship "crazy," saying it's not nice to call anyone crazy. (But any critical, intelligent, free thinking person knows they really are!)

Cantor went onto say, He believes that Obama wants what's best for the country and that there are honest disagreements over how to achieve that.

WOW!!! Imagine that…..President Obama wants what's best for the country!!!

Well Mr. Eric Cantor, thank you for that clarity of thought but more importantly, admitting it in the public forum of NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

WAKE UP Teabaggers....you are really not a factor in the real world but nothing more than a bad joke to be used at every national election! Dumbass Lemmings....nothing more.

Todd Palin Sex Scandal?

2011-01-21T17:34:00.000-08:00

Here we are again with the gift that just keeps on giving.

Yes Mr. Sarah Palin has allegedly cheated on Sarah with Shailey Tripp, a massage therapist who was arrested for prostitution last year!

Sarah Palin's spokespeople have, of course, denied the allegations, but “The Enquirer” now claims that there are “official documents” and “physical evidence” concerning the connection between Todd Palin and Shailey Tripp, an Alaska woman who was arrested on prostitution charges stemming from a Craigslist “massage” service.

According to the tenants in the building of her offices, they saw Todd come and go often and heard noises that sounded like someone was having sex. It was the same tenants who called the police on her.

Well it looks like with the darling of the Tea Party’s rating falling to a record low (or her unfavorable ratings at a record high), which ever way you want to look at it, due to her own self imploding dumb ass actions of recent events; Sarah Palin’s beloved Todd and father of her children, was playing trains with a “massage (prostitute) service” woman. Yes Trains…..he was Casey Jones and Shailey Tripp was blowing his whistle. I am also of the mind that his piston was building a lot of frictional heat in her cylinder…..Making the wheels on the train to round and round.

When asked, Sarah Palin said that it was just a little “ITTY BITTY” train piston.

Albert Einstein

2011-01-16T17:42:00.000-08:00

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

Crosby, Stills, and Nash's "Find The Cost Of Freedom"

2011-01-14T17:16:00.000-08:00

I have been somewhat solemn these last few days trying to comprehend the latest evens in Arizona. My mind constantly kept going back to the Crosby, Stills, and Nash song. I found this clip I thought that I wanted to pass on as it does project my feelings at this time.

Sarah Palin Had Gabrielle Giffords In Figurative Crosshairs Over Health Care Vote

2011-01-08T16:09:00.000-08:00

I have copied this Sarah Palin Facebook Target Chart from a good blogging friend, “Microdot” who has a great blog http://www.thebrainpolice.blogspot.com/

Of course as soon as this Sarah's Teabagger Target Chart could have cost Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords life, Sarah Palin took it off her Facebook site.

I think that it should be made known to Every Responsible Citizen of the United States the kind of inflammatory rhetoric that Bimbo Barbie Palin has been propagating to too many sick minds that can be found within the Tea Party. Remember Sarah’s cute little statement, “Don’t Retreat….Reload!!!"? On Sarah’s cute and perky but truly “Maverickie” little chart, please note:

“Gabrielle Giffords-AZ-8” and the rifle scope crosshairs.

Moments after the shooting, her father, Spencer Giffords, 75, was asked by the New York Post if she had any enemies. “Yeah,” he replied, “the whole tea party.”

The shooting comes on the heels of two unusually contentious years in American politics in which lawmakers were shouted down at town hall meetings and many offices were vandalized including Gabrielle Giffords.

After today's devastating news, Sarah Palin released a statement on her Facebook page.

"My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today's tragic shooting in Arizona," she wrote. "On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice."

Well here is my official released EngineerOfKnowledge’s statement to Sarah Palin and her "SEX GIMP" Todd……ROT IN HELL ASSHOLES!!!

Arizona’s Congressional Rep., Gabrielle Giffords, Was Assonated Today

2011-01-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and three others were shot and killed in Pima County near Tucson today, Saturday, January 8, 2011; when an assailant opened fire in an area where the lawmaker was meeting with constituents in Tucson, congressional officials said.

These officials said one of the victims died soon after the attack, and others were taken to a nearby hospital.

The officials said the wounded included some of Gifford's aides who were with her at the time.

One official added the attack was carried out with an automatic weapon.
The officials who described the events did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not permitted to comment publicly.

They said the FBI and local law enforcement were investigating the attack, which took place while Giffords was greeting constituents outside a grocery store.
Giffords, 40, was re-elected to her third term last November. She was a member of the Arizona House and Senate before coming to Washington.

She first won election to Congress amid a wave of Democratic victories in 2006. In November, she edged a tea party favorite.

Could this have been her offence that warranted her death in someone’s sick mind….She is an incumbent Democrat who defeated the Tea Party’s Candidate? I am afraid that as I have predicted many times in my comments, this was a Fanatical, Conservative Nut Job, Teabagger Assignation.

Mother Jones (Mary Harris Jones) 1837 - 1930

2011-01-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

American Labor and Community Organizer

Quote:
I learned in the early part of my career that labor must bear the cross for others' sins, must be the vicarious sufferer for the wrongs that others do.

This statement was true 100 years ago…..and still true today. In retrospect….nothing has really changed has it?

2011 Republican Congress Show Themselves To Be DUMB ASSES

2011-01-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

The Freshly Empowered Republicans are vowing to undo much of the work of the last Congress and launch investigations into a raft of Obama administration programs.

But their heavily partisan strategy runs the risk of alienating voters who are more concerned about jobs. (Remember, “It’s The Economy Stupid!?!?”)

At a moment when the Republican Party has the attention of economically beleaguered Americans, they will squander their efforts and time on repealing the Healthcare overhaul, challenges to federal regulations, and A READING OF THE CONSTITUTION ON THE HOUSE FLOOR. (Boy that will really get things going to bring back jobs and get the citizens of this country back to work!! Where are the “Dumb Ass Teabaggers” who voted for this group now?)

For me this new Republican Congress is just all flash and no substance…..and I can hardly believe that the citizens of this country fell for this act yet once again.

The cold hard truth is, the RNC is showing itself to be a debt-ridden, financially broken machine and yet this same group is expecting to spend over $1 BILLION dollars to try to unseat President Obama in 2012.

Those same Republican Party leaders, who are currently passing themselves off as being the clear choice for the country to be physically responsible with our U.S. National Budget Deficit, has led their own Republican Political Party finances after the 2010 mid-term National Elections, $20 MILLION in debt to date and expect to lead my Republican Party into a $1 BILLION dollar Presidential political campaign into 2012?

Well my question to those physical financially responsible Republican Party Leaders…..who is supposed to pay this $20 MILLION dollar bill? Who is supposed to pay the $1 BILLION dollar 2012 bill?

Could these Republican Leaders be just another Group of Blowhards who are not about to practice what they preach? I think that the latter is more to the factual truth.

1911 Titanic’s Hull Was Launched

2011-01-02T07:01:00.000-08:00

In 1911, a hundred years ago this year, the “Great Unsinkable” Titanic’s hull was launched on 31 May 1911. On 15 April 1912, the Titanic sunk in the North Atlantic on its maiden and only voyage.

Now I think that there is a teaching lesson to be learned using this as an example.

1. Those of the higher economic stratification, the world's wealthiest basking in the elegance of first class accommodations, got life vest, were allowed to enter the life boats, and were of the few passengers that survived. Most of the life boats were not even full as they left the Titanic leaving many to die that could have been saved.

2. Those remaining fifteen hundred people still aboard of the working class economic stratification, did get issued a life jacket but life expectancy would be short when exposed to water four degrees below freezing, were not allowed to enter the life boats, only to perish in the cold, dark, deadly, seas.

This year, 2011, the Economic Condition of the United States is becoming a reality. Many thought that the Capitalist Economic “Titanic” Strength of the United States was unsinkable too. The fact is today that out of every $1.00 spent by the Federal Government, $0.42 is borrowed from China. Now you factor in what is borrowed from Japan, Dubai and Saudi Arabia, this figure just gets worse. The economic policies especially of the last 10 years have been an all out attack on the Upper and Middle Class of this nation.

Many are now recognizing the ruse that has been presented to the masses and misled many to think that if you give more to the higher economic stratifications that this will cause a “Trickle Down” condition to their working class stratification. ("Please Sir, may I have some more" undeserving weak mind set) Well we as a nation have given these policies an opportunity to work for the last 10 years and the results have been; loss of employment, lower personal savings, less purchasing power, owning the crushing national debt, and postponed long term retirement potential. (working until they die)

Fact:
The Conservative Republican President George W. Bush along with the large majority Conservative Republican House and Senate inherited a record operating budget surplus and turned it into a record budget deficit!!! But Conservative Radio and Fox TV has somehow laid the blame on "Tax and Spend Democrats!"

Word lesson for today is Nihilist: "A doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths."

Unfortunately there is still a slight voting majority that believes this is fact. Maybe the 2012 election will become more enlightening to this group.

Let us review.

1. After financially abusing the economic deregulated conditions, those of the higher economic stratification got large financial industry bailout, awarding themselves large annual bonuses from this bailout money, special “Life Boat” tax deferments codes that reduces their tax burden share obligations, being awarded “No Bid War Industry” contracts, making their economic stratification survival much more assured.

2. Those of the Upper and Middle working class economic stratification, losing their employment, seeing their personal savings dwindle, retirement plans decline knowing that they are going to have to work longer in old age life with the realization that they may not be physically able to, the purchasing power of their wages exponentially get less through the printing currency to appear to pay off these national debt loans, being blamed for abusing unemployment insurance payments (that they have paid into their whole working life) because they were just lazy, expected to be thrown out of their homes and have their families starve, and excepted to not complain about this fact only to perish in the cold, dark, deadly, Economic Seas.

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-01T06:46:00.000-08:00

I was thinking and reflecting last night….it is hard to believe that the FIRST DECADE of the SECOND MILLENNIUM has just past.

In the early 1970’s when I was in my early 20s, I remember thinking that I had a good chance to live long enough to see the year 1984. This being the title of one of my favorite books and a title of a David Bowie song from his 1974 album Diamond Dogs at this time, made a personal impact with this thought. This epiphany stayed with me until that date passed and life went on to the next milestone…..the end of the 20th century and introduction of the Millennium.

This just seems like yesterday but now the first decade of this new millennium has just past last night. (Now that I extend this thought, it really passed last year in 2009 didn't it because it started with the year 2000) Oh well I did not think about it until last night. Screw it....

So I will now close this posting with, “What I do know for sure, the years to come will truly be a BRAVE NEW WORLD!” Another good book by the way!!! :-)

Feds probe Tea Party’s Christine O'Donnell's Campaign Spending!!!!

2010-12-29T16:38:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Attorney's office has confirmed it is reviewing a complaint about O'Donnell's campaign spending lodged this year by a watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics of Washington. CREW filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission raising allegations about O'Donnell's campaign spending. The group asked Delaware's federal prosecutor to investigate.

The allegations came about from two former campaign workers who alleged that O'Donnell routinely used political contributions to pay personal expenses including her rent in recent years as she ran for the Senate three consecutive times, starting in 2006 and the case has been assigned to two federal prosecutors and two FBI agents in Delaware.

O'Donnell, had set a state record by raising more than $7.3 million in a "Sarah Palin" backed Tea Party fueled campaign this year, and has long been dogged by questions about her personal and campaign finances. O'Donnell acknowledged she paid part of her rent at times with campaign money.

Federal law prohibits candidates from spending campaign money for personal benefit. FEC rules state that this prohibition applies to the use of campaign money for a candidate's mortgage or rent "even if part of the residence is being used by the campaign!"

One former O'Donnell staffer, Kristin Murray, accused O'Donnell of “living on campaign donations using them for rent and personal expenses, while leaving her workers unpaid and piling up thousands in debt.”

Another former aide, David Keegan, said he became concerned about O'Donnell's 2008 campaign finances as she fell behind on bills and had no apparent source of income besides political contributions. He submitted an affidavit to CREW alleging that she used campaign money to cover meals, gas, a bowling outing, and rent to her boyfriend and now landlord, Brent Vasher.

O'Donnell, who announced just after Election Day that she had signed a book deal, hasn't held a full-time job in years and has struggled to explain how she makes a living.

She reported in July that she earned only $5,800 in income for the previous 18 months through freelance public relations work. She said she lived mostly on a savings account that she reported in an amended Senate disclosure report as being worth between $1,000 and $15,000.

Her financial past includes a tax lien from the IRS, a lawsuit from the university she attended over unpaid bills and a foreclosure action that she avoided by selling her house to Vasher just before a sheriff's auction.
I will close with this message of here is just one more example of how those claiming Tea Party affiliations, have been yet once again bamboozled by the Republican Political Con Men.

New 2012 Presidential Campaign Poll: Obama Rising, Palin Falling

2010-12-28T18:49:00.000-08:00

A new political poll provides fresh data on the standing for candidates on both sides of the aisle. The poll finds that Mr. Obama's standing for the 2012 nomination is improving rapidly, while the Tea Party champion, “Sarah Palin: has lost ground to fellow potential Republican candidates.

OH MY!!! How can the Teabaggers handle this one? Their beloved, mindless, “Caribou Barbie” is no longer the darling of the Republican Party?!?!?

Could it be true what I have been saying for well over two years? If anyone would consider referencing my past postings and comments on other blogs, one can see that I foretold this happening. As an active member of the Republican Party, I have been saying that the Republican’s have only been using the current wave of “CONSERVATIVE NUT JOB” Teabagger movement to only further their needs yet once again!!

To add insult to injury, not only this latest devastating news that the Tea Party is now considered useless by the Republican leadership, but President Obama is coming out as the better and preferred choice for 2012!!!

War On Christmas Bill O'Rielly.....Really?

2010-12-25T08:06:00.000-08:00

Let me start out by saying that “Religion” is just another business no different than any other business. Marketing agents will come up with what ever they can to gain more market shares of the population’s expendable income and the “Business of Religion” is no different. Hence the marketing message to the populous lemmings that, THERE IS A WAR ON CHRISTMAS!!!

Below are some real facts on Christmas in the United States that goes back long before there was a United States.

1. One of the recent non-issues alarms that The Fanatical Religious Conservative Right, like Bill O’Rielly, is propagating that there is now TODAY a War On Christmas!!

Truth:
In sounding their alarm, the Fanatical Religious Right does not pass on that it was illegal to celebrate Christmas in the colony of Massachusetts in 1681. The Pilgrims had Christmas outlawed because it was too Catholic. Yes, the pilgrims, the very Christian religious English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs. The Puritans made it illegal to mention St. Nicolas' name, people were not allowed to exchange gifts, light a candle, or sing Christmas carols. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. That Christmas was ignored in this country for the first hundred years of its existence because it was viewed as an idolatrous Catholic invention...until retail stores discovered it was a way to make $$$. Christmas is the major holiday today because of retailers, so ranting against retailers for modifying their message is well...intellectually dishonest, especially when it comes from the same people who claim to represent the views of our founding fathers who didn't even recognize the holiday.

Presbyterians, Baptists, nor many Methodists, particularly those converted by revival during the Great Awakening of the 1740s and 1750s even recognize the celebration of Christmas. So the holiday did not have a prominent role in the community at the birth of the new United States of America.

No state legally recognized a Christmas holiday until 1836, and the federal congress did not acknowledge such a holiday in legislation until 1870, just six years before the nation's centennial. Santa Claus was invented in the 1840s by a committee of New York businessmen who wanted to promote sales. They borrowed the tradition of "Sinter Klaas" brought to New York by Dutch immigrants, originally a variation on St. Nicholas.

The early 19th century was a period of class conflict and turmoil. During this time, unemployment was high and gang rioting by the disenchanted classes often occurred during the Christmas season. In 1828, the New York city council instituted the city’s first police force in response to a Christmas riot. This catalyzed certain members of the upper classes to begin to change the way Christmas was celebrated in America.
In 1819, best-selling author Washington Irving wrote The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent., a series of stories about the celebration of Christmas in an English manor house. The sketches feature a squire who invited the peasants into his home for the holiday. In contrast to the problems faced in American society, the two groups mingled effortlessly. In Irving’s mind, Christmas should be a peaceful, warm-hearted holiday bringing groups together across lines of wealth or social status.
Irving’s fictitious celebrants enjoyed “ancient customs,” including the crowning of a Lord of Misrule. Irving’s book, however, was not based on any holiday celebration he had attended; in fact, many historians say that Irving’s account actually “invented” tradition by implying that it described the true customs of the season.

2. Another point that The Fanatical Religious Conservative Right gives as proof that there is a War On Christmas is the use of the letter “X” in Xmas.

Truth:
The "X" in Xmas came from the Greek spelling of Christ and is as old as the Christian religion itself. The word Christmas originated as a compound meaning “Christ’s Mass.” "Cristes" is from Greek “Christos” and "mæsse" is from Latin "missa" (the holy mass). In Greek, the letter “X,” pronounced “chi,” is the first letter of Christ, and it, or the similar Roman letter “X,” has been used as an abbreviation for Christ. Hence, Xmas was returned to popularity by retailers in their advertising as a cost issue and not for any anti-Christ aspect.

So in closing, my Christmas message to those claiming The Fanatical Religious Conservative Right, is be more critical and check the facts on what others would pass onto you because……
A little Learning is a dang'rous Thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring:
There shallow Draughts intoxicate the Brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.

Christmas Card For Teabaggers

2010-12-24T06:12:00.000-08:00

In the sprit of the season, I am sending this Christmas card to all those silly, mislead, uneducated, and obviously sexually frustrated Tea Party Members. Let’s hope that for some, the New Year brings you true enlightenment…..even though I really don’t see it for the mass majority of these lemmings.

Captain Beefheart Passed Away At The Age Of 69

2010-12-17T16:05:00.000-08:00

For all of my good friends who can identify with the fact that I am telling my age with this one, I am passing on that Captain Beefheart has passed away today, Friday, December 17, 2010.

I have always marched to a different drummer so to speak and I like the quirky edge of many things dealing with art and music.

The avant-garde rock legend and visual artist Don Van Vliet, who performed under the name, Captain Beefheart, passed away today of complications from multiple sclerosis at a hospital in Northern California this morning at age 69.

Captain Beefheart was not only a musician but also an artist. A representative of New York City’s Michael Werner Gallery, which showed his paintings, confirms the sad news.

Born in California in 1941, Van Vliet dubbed himself Captain Beefheart and began experimenting with eccentric rock’n'roll sounds in the mid-1960s. His first two releases with the Magic Band drew positive notice from some connoisseurs but failed to connect with the wider public. (Much like Frank Zappa too) In fact, Van Vliet forged a close creative partnership with Frank Zappa, a former high school classmate, who signed Beefheart to his Straight Records and produced 1969′s Trout Mask Replica. While the bizarre double album was not a major commercial success, it quickly became a cultural landmark. Van Vliet effectively redefined the frontiers of popular music, singing snatches of surreal imagery in disturbing tones over music that drew on blues, jazz, psychedelia, and a thousand other subgenres. Trout Mask Replica is still cited today as an essential art-rock document.

Van Vliet continued recording as Captain Beefheart with a rotating group of Magic Band members through 1982. In later years, he shifted his primary focus to creating visual art, a world in which he won some acclaim. The Michael Werner Gallery displayed his work for decades, with their most recent Van Vliet show occurring in 2007. Earlier this month, one of Van Vliet’s paintings was reportedly being offered at an asking price of $40,000.

Tea Party Member, Neo-Nazi, and White Supremacist, Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce

2010-12-12T07:10:00.000-08:00

I have been giving more and more of my recent thoughts to how far the Extreme Right of the Tea Party have embedded themselves into our Local and National Government under the pretence of being members of the Republican Party. Well I thought that I would pass on this bit of evidence to my readers with the hopes it would be passed on to other more critical thinking blogs.

While the Arizona Immigration Reform Act may not appear to be a racist agenda on the surface, the Tea Party has supported it and the Arizona Bill was written by a Tea Part member who also has (SURPRISE, SURPRISE) direct ties to the group called, "Stormfront" and White Supremacists:

I TOO AM SHOCKED!! (:-0}

Yes, Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce, who submitted the bill, has, for many years, been associated with local Neo-Nazi and White Supremacist groups.

Now please note how he is dressed trying to proclaim a statement that he is a "Good American Values" patriotic person by wearing a shirt like the American flag…..I bet he also has an American flag pin on his lapel when he is wearing a dress suit just to make it complete.

I have always found that when someone thinks they need to blatantly proclaim their “Good American Values”…..Freudianly speaking….they really don’t have “Good American Values.” They are over compensating and hiding the exact opposite....Just as Shakespeare wrote, "Me thinks thou protests too much."

In 2006, he came out speaking enthusiastically about the 1950’s deportation act “Operation Wetback” and for sending email to his supporters reminiscing the greatness of this program. In this email he included an attachment from a white supremacy group and made the conspiratorial claim that journalists pushed the view of: “a world in which every voice proclaims the equality of the races, the inerrant nature of the Jewish ‘Holocaust’ tale, the wickedness of attempting to halt the flood of non-White aliens pouring across our borders…”-http://news.jornal.us/article-5005.NeoNaziAZ-GOP-co...

In 2007, Pierce was photographed with J.T. Ready spokesman for the National Socialist Movement, better known as the Nazi Party. They refer to themselves, “the premier white civil right organization in the world.” The group claims to be true patriots claiming that they are only against non-white immigration. J.T. Ready has said that closing the borders is crucial to preserving the white race. “Let’s face it,” he said. “We’re not being invaded by Swedish nuns here. We’re on a border with a country that is a hostile country.” Pierce is also known for speaking at Neo-Nazi rallies and conferences.”

In 2008, Pierce sponsored Senate Bill 1108, which would make it impossible for students at Universities to join groups based in whole or part because of their ethnicity, claiming it would indoctrinate people with anti-American mentality. As if the relationship could not be any clearer, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer yesterday signed a bill targeting a school district’s ethnic studies program, Arizona law now prohibits classes that promote ethnic solidarity, that are created primarily for students of a particular race or that promote resentment toward a certain ethnic group.”

So to all of the Tea Party "Wing Nut" Members…..You Should Be So Proud!! In truth, instead of supporting "Good American Values," you are destroying them!!

An Essay on Criticism

2010-12-03T14:46:00.001-08:00

by Alexander Pope

As many know of me, I find it important to familiarize myself and constantly learn subjects that I think are important to be a well rounded educated person. Hence, the name, “Engineer of Knowledge.”

I recently have been reading the prose of Alexander Pope’s, “An Essay on Criticism.” Even though it was written over 300 years ago, 1709 to be exact, its applications are still current today. The poem covers a range of good criticism and advice and represents many of the chief literary ideals of Pope's age. The Age of Enlightment.
To the more intelligent and learned readers of my blog, I highly recommend reading this piece of work by Pope. You will find it rewarding.

Pope has been quoted almost as much as Shakespeare and many have heard the quotes of, “To err is Humane; to Forgive, Divine” or one of my favorite, “A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing, etc.”

To be correct, the accurate quote from this work is:

“A little Learning is a dang'rous Thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring:
There shallow Draughts intoxicate the Brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.”

Pierian Spring relating to the region of Pieria in ancient Macedonia or to the Muses who were once worshipped there. The Pierian Spring from Greek Mythology is the spring believed to be a fountain of knowledge that inspires whoever drinks from it.

This last passage is where Conservative Radio or Fox’s Conservative Programming leads many astray. They pass on accurate statements but only up to a point.

An example being on “Global Warming” or “Climate Change.” I have heard statements with the purpose of discrediting the science behind this issue such as, “Weathermen can’t even predict the weather from day to day, much less week to week. There is no way that they can predict weather or Climate Change 10, 20, or 50 years from now.” I very kindly correct there misuse of the two terms and take the moment to correct their misconceptions and incorrect application of these science terms.

Weather Verses Climate:
The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere "behaves" over relatively long periods of time.

When we talk about climate change, we talk about changes in long-term averages of daily weather. If summers seem hotter lately, then the recent climate may have changed. In various parts of the world, some people have even noticed that springtime comes earlier now than it did 30 years ago. An earlier springtime is indicative of a possible change in the climate.

What Weather Means:
Weather is basically the way the atmosphere is behaving, mainly with respect to its effects upon life and human activities. The difference between weather and climate is that weather consists of the short-term (minutes to months) changes in the atmosphere. Most people think of weather in terms of temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, brightness, visibility, wind, and atmospheric pressure, as in high and low pressure.

In most places, weather can change from minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and season-to-season. Climate, however, is the average of weather over time and space. An easy way to remember the difference is that climate is what you expect, like a very hot summer, and weather is what you get, like a hot day with pop-up thunderstorms.

I could go on and on with examples of misuse of science terms or half presented science facts but this posting is getting too long now. The whole complete aspect as presented would change the message of what Conservative Radio or Fox’s Conservative Programming presents as proof to their slanted arguments.

So in concluding, this posting is to the Teabaggers, Ultra Conservatives, and Religious Right Wing people. I would pass onto the Conservative’s point of mind; “Be sure to completely read and learn all on a subject and do not come to conclusions with only a part of the facts that seem to support your viewpoint.” This is your pitfall and how you are led astray by this slanted message media.

This is the lesson of Pope’s message of:
“There shallow Draughts intoxicate the Brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.”

In the Ultra Conservative person’s viewpoint cases; “A little Learning is a dang'rous Thing.”

Latest Tea Party Update From Wilmington, Delaware

2010-11-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

In a follow up public appearance after loosing miserably in her Republican bid for the Senate Seat of Delaware, Christine O’Donnell turned in a personal performance that, right from the start, was guaranteed to raise some eyebrows in Delaware and beyond. Chrissie once again showed her unique talent (and the gift to us all) of not having the social filter between her thoughts and whatever she says.

Christine O’Donnell, the “Tea Party Twinkie Joke” said at her talk last night that she strongly supports “The Separation Of Speech And Thought.” Chrissie went on to say,
“To tell you the truth, I don’t know if there’s anything about that in the Constitution. In the version of the Constitution that I read, Big Bird, Burt nor Ernie mentioned anything about this.”

Later in the interview talk, Ms. O’Donnell did seem stumped when the interviewer asked whether there were any Supreme Court decisions she disagreed with, and after an uncomfortable, too long, pregnant pause, Ms. O’Donnell finally blurting out, “Ali v. Frazier?”

After the interview that Ms. O’Donnell had painfully stumbled through, many of her supporters in the audience wondered why she had not written answers on her hand as her role model Sarah Palin has been known to do. Ms. O’Donnell offered this explanation: “As you know, I believe it’s immoral to use your hand to help yourself.” (Ms. O’Donnell’s obvious reference to her stand against masturbation as a sin)

(Under the honesty of full discloser, the above piece was totally made up for your entertainment. I felt I should add this note based on the fact that this occurrence could be quite plausible in Ms O’Donnell’s case. A lot of truth in jest!!)

What Was The Point Of Pride From President Bush's Administration?

2010-11-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

In a recent interview on his book tour promotion, former President G.W. Bush was asked what he thought was the high point and what he was most proud of from his Presidency.

As an example former President Jimmy Carter stated the Israeli and Egyptian Peace Accord was the high point of pride from his Presidency. Former President Bill Clinton stated his was the piece keeping force in Bosnia that stopped the genocide as his personal point of pride from his Presidency.

So what was G.W. Bush’s reply of his high point and personal pride from his Presidency? “When he caught a 7 /12 lb perch fish from his personal pond on his ranch.”

Now to be very fair to President G.W. Bush, I too feel that he was very accurately correct with that statement. I truly have to agree that his catching that 7 1/2 lb fish in his personally stock pond WAS the high point of his Presidency.

But I did think that he did go a little too far when he had the USS Abraham Lincoln with the “Mission Accomplished” banner still hanging on it air lifted to that personal pond on his ranch to celebrate the catching of that all important “Perch Fish.”

Of course Dick Cheney instantly put the country on “Red Alert” as the imminent terrorist threat to the country and stamped on more of U.S. citizens civil rights under the “Patriot Act.”

Convicted Felon....Tom DeLay

2010-11-25T15:36:00.000-08:00

Following DeLay’s conviction Wednesday on money laundering and conspiracy charges, technically the money laundering charge carries a punishment of up to life in prison, but the Texas judge hearing the case has wide latitude and could end up just giving DeLay probation. So once again, all can expect an injustice to the political process once again with this Texas “Good-Ol-Boy” judge.

Many of DeLay’s supporters will give the excuse that as a convicted felon, DeLay won't be able to run again for public office or even be able to cast a vote until he completes his sentence. After all, won’t that be punishment enough for corrupting Congress with laundered “Influence Peddling” money? I mean, after all, he is a Conservative Republican making all things such as “Felon Convicted Crimes” forgiven…right?

Texas prosecutors got convictions on DeLay for conspiring with two associates to use his Texas-based political action committee to send $190,000 in corporate money to an arm of the Washington-based Republican National Committee. The RNC then sent the same amount to seven Texas statehouse candidates. Under Texas law, corporate money can't go directly to political campaigns. But because it was used to promote Conservative Political causes….it’s OK right? After all it’s not like they were promoting LIBERAL Democratic causes!!!!

I challenge anyone to hear anything but excuses from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Rielly, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Sarah Palin, Fox News, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, etc. Not one of these will condemn the actions of Tom DeLay. If anything, they will work behind the scenes to give him a light sentence from the Texas Judge.

This is what this whole group has been about!!

Tea Party Wants Snooki for President

2010-11-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

After the Tea Party candidate, Christie O’Donnell, for the Delaware Senate seat, I being a converted Tea Party Member, would suggest that we gear up and start promoting a new candidate.

Snooki for President!!!

Here is my reasoning.
1. She has no political experience.
2. She is very popular with many across the country.
3. She too can say very stupid things without logic or reasoning.
4. Many find her attractive and fuckable.

Let’s imagine a self promoting Italian from New Jersey as President.
Think about it. If we had an Italian from New Jersey as President…it would go something like this:

The first 24 hours after being sworn in, the war in Afghanistan would be over!!! “You Wouldn’t Know How” but it would be over. At the Presidential Press question session, reporters would ask, “Ms. President Snooki, how did you end the Afghanistan War in only 24 hour period?” President Snooki would give a little knowing laugh then her face would go serious with the reply, “Don’t worry about it! You just go enjoy your gas prices at $.32 per gallon….OK?”

Think about this…..when Bin Laden attacked the U.S. what did then President Bush do? He sent in the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force. Everybody went to find one guy.

Would President Snooki do this?…NO!! Two Italian guys from Jersey would leave and go to Afghanistan and would be back in 24 hours. They would have found Bin Laden….No Problem. They would have walked right to his cave like any other hit, kicked in the door, leaned into the cave, and called, “Osama? Yo! How you doin? Pull up a rock….I wanna talk to ya about som’in. I’m already upset with you already cause I had to get up early. You know how far you live from New Jersey? Tell you what, sit still, here’s what I’m gonna do for you Bin. Hey Vinni….Hit him with da bat. Is he dead? Good! Steal the rug. War’s Over.”

That’s the kind of stuff President Snooki could bring to the table. YO!

Tea Party Leaders Profile

2010-10-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

With this posting, I am exposing the uneducated, miss-informed, and just plain stupid aspects of those leading the Tea Party Movement. The truly SAD aspects of the Tea Party Movement are the ignorant lemmings that swallow the messages whole without a tooth mark of critical examination.

Power may corrupt the few; it is the “Weakness of Mind” that will corrupt the many. Welcome the Teabaggers.

Tea Party Spokesperson and former Republican Vice President Candidate Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin has made ignorance fashionable, and one can compare the former Alaskan Governor’s intellect unfavorably to Marilyn Monroe’s character. Problem is Marilyn Monroe was just acting a character; Sarah Palin’s is real. Even Fox News admitted that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent but instead thought it was a country, did not know the countries involved in NAFTA, or that North Korea and South Korea were two separate countries or how that fact even came about, and she could not name the countries involved in WWII, who were Allied or Axis nations. This was just a few examples of the many short comings that Sarah Palin has lacking in her education.

Sarah Palin, pushing a conspiracy theory that ''In God We Trust'' had been moved to the edge of coins by the Obama administration (the change was made by the Bush administration in 2007 and was later reversed by Congress, before Obama took office), West Allis, Wisconsin, Nov. 6, 2009.
“Who calls a shot like that? Who makes a decision like that? It's a disturbing trend.”

Sarah Palin, getting First Amendment rights backwards while suggesting that criticism of her is unconstitutional. (Radio interview with WMAL-AM, Oct. 31, 2008)
“If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media.”

Sarah Palin, referring to a department that Does Not Exist while attempting to explain why as president she wouldn't be subjected to the same ethics investigations that compelled her to resign as governor of Alaska. (ABC News interview, July 7, 2009)
“I think on a national level your Department of Law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out.”

Sarah Palin, in a message posted on Facebook about Obama's health care plan. (Aug. 7, 2009)
“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel.” (Obama’s Death Panel!?!?…no such thing)

Sarah Palin, speaking at a fundraiser in San Francisco. (Oct. 5, 2008)
“They are also building schools for the Afghan children so that there is hope and opportunity in our neighboring country of Afghanistan.” (Afghanistan boarders the U.S. making them a neighbor?!?)

Sarah Palin, inquiring with Wasilla librarian Mary Ellen Emmons about banning books right after taking office in 1996.
“What would your response be if I asked you to remove some books from the collection?” (I guess Sarah wanted to ban some books because she did not have the ability of being able to read them)

Delaware GOP Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell (A Sarah Palin wanna be)
Oh were to begin with this one! Christine O’Donnell has made many claims that she has attended different Colleges but all are coming forward that they have no records of her. Among O’Donnell’s claims that she got a degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University 1989-1993, (actually obtained her bachelor's degree last September 1, 2010 where she initially majored in theater and finely finished with a communications degree) Claremont Graduate University studying Constitutional Government, (A spokes person from Claremont Graduate University has made the statement that they have no record of her being there) and University of Oxford studying "Post Modernism in the New Millennium" (It wasn't an official course of Oxford University. It wasn't sponsored or even offered by Oxford University)

Of course my favorite, Christine O'Donnell’s questioning whether the Constitution calls for separation of church and state during a debate before an audience of legal scholars and law students at Widener University Law School. (Oct. 18, 2010)

She has also made the statement, “God may choose to heal someone from cancer, yet that person still has a great deal of medical bills. The outstanding bills do not determine whether or not the patient has been healed by God.” (November 9, 1998)

Christine O'Donnell, during an interview when she was press secretary for Concerned Women for America (1995 C-SPAN)
“By integrating women into particularly military institutes, it cripples the readiness of our defense. Schools like The Citadel train young men to confidently lead other young men into a battlefield where one of them will die. And when you have women in that situation, it creates a whole new set of dynamics which are distracting to training these men to kill or be killed.”

Christine O’Donnell’s 30 second campaign ad.
“I'm not a witch...I'm you.” (Isn’t just sad if you have to start you political campaign ad with this statement?)

Christine O'Donnell, in a 2000 Fox News on whether nude sunbathing should be banned.
“I mean, it is very difficult, I'm sure, for a man to sit there and stare at his girlfriend naked and not want to go a little bit further.”

Christine O'Donnell, advocating against masturbation in a 1996 appearance on MTV's “Sex In The 90s” TV show.
“The reason that you don't tell [people] that masturbation is the answer to AIDS and all these other problems that come with sex outside of marriage is because again it is not addressing the issue. You're just gonna create somebody who is, I was gonna say, toying with his sexuality. Pardon the pun.” Christine O'Donnell, went onto say, “It is not enough to be abstinent with other people; you also have to be abstinent alone. The Bible says that lust in your heart is committing adultery. You can't masturbate without lust!” (Oh Yea Christine…keep taking I’m almost there…)

Christine O'Donnell, claiming that unnamed political opponents are following her, Weekly Standard interview (Sept. 2, 2010)
“They're following me. They follow me home at night. I make sure that I come back to the townhouse and then we have our team come out and check all the bushes and check all the cars to make sure that -- they follow me.” (Remember Ross Perot?!?! Or is it just me?)

Christine O'Donnell episode of Bill Maher’s ABC series, "Politically Incorrect," (Oct. 15, 1998)
"Evolution is a myth." When Maher challenged her to justify the anti-science statement, O'Donnell says, "Well, then why aren't monkeys still evolving into humans?"

Christine O'Donnell, in response to a reporter asking if she'd send out bikini photos to gain votes.
“A candidate said several years ago, 'I'm not concerned the reason you vote for me as long as you vote for me.” (Well I’m sure the Tea Party Twinkies in Delaware will Christine.)

Kentucky GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul (Note the Toupee)
Political taking issue with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 while arguing that government should not prevent private businesses from discriminating on the basis of race, interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (May 21, 2010)
“I don't want to be associated with those people, but I also don't want to limit their speech in any way in the sense that we tolerate boorish and uncivilized behavior because that's one of the things freedom requires is that we allow people to be boorish and uncivilized, but that doesn't mean we approve of it. If places want to be segregating or being at all racist that are privately owned, its ok. Not allowing them to refuse someone or treat them differently based on race would be a violation of free speech."

Rand Paul, on his version of health care reform, which calls for high-deductible insurance plans and people paying out-of-pocket for health care, (Details magazine, Aug. 2010)
“It sounds funny, but you need to be paying more for your health care.”

Glen Urquhart, the Tea Party-backed Republican nominee for the Delaware House seat held by Rep. Mike Castle, April 2010.“
Do you know where does this phrase “Separation Of Church and State” comes from? It was not in Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists. ... The exact phrase “Separation of Church and State” came out of Adolph Hitler's mouth, that's where it comes from. So the next time your liberal friends talk about the “Separation of Church and State,” ask them why they're Nazis.” (Yea What Ever)

Carl Paladino, New York State Tea Party-backed candidate for Governor
Carl Paladino sent emails of a woman having sex with a horse, President Obama and Michelle Obama dressed as a pimp and ho, and various other pornographic and racist chain letters. Carl’s explanation and justification is below.
“I'm in the construction industry.” (I guess ALL construction workers are racist pornographic perverts in Carl’s mind)

Conclusion:
Well as you can see, I could go on and on with the ignorance, uneducated, miss-information, and stupidity that the Tea Party Leaders and Political Candidates have exposed by their own words. Bottom line is, this is the best of what the Tea Party has to offer and there are so many with the same beliefs, racist viewpoints, and political ignorance supporting these candidates. I am doing nothing more than holding up the mirror to “Their Own Faces.” Should the Teabaggers supporting their Tea Party Affiliation not like it, the “Freudian Aspect” just reflects their own self loathing and hate; “So Be It!”

Farewell To The Delusional Tea Party Members

2010-10-24T06:26:00.000-07:00

Today’s posting will be with regards to the self image delusions of those whom claim themselves with the current Tea Party.

They would love to believe as seeing themselves much like the iconic Minute Men of Lexington or Concord during the beginning of the 1776 U. S. Revolution.

In reality, these Tea Party members fall way short of those men of honor. Today’s Teabaggers are nothing more than the current wave of hate mongers that have a tendency to pop up from time to time in our U. S. history.

One of the platforms propagating is that this current Democratic leadership is just the same old, “Tax and Spend Liberals.” This argument just becomes hollow and empty when you look at the truth and have to wonder where all of this outrage was when it was the Republican controlled Congress, Senate, and Presidency over the past several years. Teabaggers claiming a conservative Republican affiliation, I wonder why no one heard from this demographic segment until the Democratic took over and is trying to correct the devastating economic situation left by the “Stuffing Our Own Pockets” Republicans.

By just looking at the verbiage on the signs being held up by Teabaggers at Tea Party Rallies, you quickly note that their true message is nothing more than just plain, simple, hate.

This blatant “HATE” complemented by the examination of the logic behind the Tea Party arguments….one finds that there is “NO LOGIC” applied at all. The current handful of Teabaggers running for political office like Rand Paul’s platform of “Rescinding the 1964 Civil Rights Act,” or Christine O’Donnell’s anti-evolution, anti-masturbation lectures for teens, “I was a witch but now I’m not a witch Christian,” or my personal favorite of “Scientists Are Breeding Mice With Fully Functioning Human Brains,” speak volumes to the mindless stupidity of the Tea Party’s members.

The “Good News / Bad News” in all of this is that the Tea Party will be just another ugly blip in our U.S. History within the next two years but we can all count on the fact that this demographic segment population based on HATE will be back once again in some form or another going by another name.

Tea Party Wants To Return To "The Good O'l Days"

2010-10-17T06:45:00.000-07:00

I will start this posting with a lesson to those whom do not remember or even knew what the Jim Crow laws were.

The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated “du Jour” racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans.

In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were usually inferior to those provided for white Americans, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages.

Some examples of Jim Crow laws are the segregation of public schools, public places and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants and drinking fountains for whites and blacks. The U.S. military was also segregated. These Jim Crow Laws were separate from the 1800–1866 Black Codes, which also restricted the civil rights and civil liberties of African Americans. State-sponsored school segregation was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education. Generally, the remaining Jim Crow laws were overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 196. There own messages speak for themselves.

Today we are hearing a justification to repealing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the argument of State’s Rights verses Federal Government Rights. Those running for Congress and Senate claiming membership in the Tea Party Movement, are once again voicing returning to what are obviously nothing more that the old Jim Crow Laws. I am also of the mind that the current too conservative Supreme Court that is now more interested in ruling in favor of Corporate America that the populace citizens of this country, today would not find “Jim Crow Laws” unconstitutional.

Yes the Tea Party wants to return to the “Good O’l Days” but here are the Facts…..”They Weren’t That Good!!”

The American Family

2010-10-13T15:37:00.000-07:00

A Brief History

Every family has its ups and downs; the American family has booms and bust. Since the economic down-turn took hold in 2008, birth and marriage rates have fallen to all time lows, according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This come after 4.3 million babies were born in 2007, the most ever. But while the recent ebb and flow of the American family has followed that of the stock market, the institution has been slowly and steadily evolving since the nation’s founding.

The American Family’s structure in the 1700’s was relatively egalitarian, as both husband and wife worked the farm and large numbers of children were needed to maintain agrarian productivity. The Industrial Revolution was workers begin to migrate to the urban areas, separating work from home for the first time. Children became economic burdens rather than contributors. Wages started rising, and the idea of the man as breadwinner took off.

In the 1930’s, the Great Depression triggered a drop in the birthrate, which picked up again with the onset of World War II. A long period of postwar prosperity resulted in the baby-boom generation, whose nine to five fathers and stay at home moms defined the 50’s. But the feminist movement of the 60’s and 70’s pushed for more women in the workplace and led to an increase in dual income, absent parent families.

Today the nuclear family has largely been nuked. With so many single parent households, gay couples adopting children and women either having fewer children or delaying childbirth, the modern family is all over the place. Recessions have remained the one consistent predictor of American family size, with dips in birth and marriage rates immediately following the 1981-82, 1990-91, and 2001 recessions as well a the current downturn,. But as in the past, a bust will invariably give birth to another boom.

Christine O'Donnell says, "Scientists are cross-breeding humans and animals!"

2010-09-17T20:04:00.000-07:00

After her surprise victory over the moderate Republican Congressman, Mike Castle, there are now calls for an investigation of O'Donnell. It is becoming aware that there are questions raised related to her finances. O'Donnell has drawn intense criticism for a multitude of questionable financial issues that most notably include using campaign funds for personal expenses. Her former campaign manager accused her of using campaign donations for rent, among other things. Ms. O'Donnell acknowledged doing so, but said the rent expenditures were justified because her townhouse is also her campaign headquarters. Records show that Ms. O'Donnell has no steady income and earned only $5,800 last year.

Now to prove that she can raise the bar to “Loony Land,” candidate Christine O'Donnell made a point of telling a gathered audience the claim she made just a few years ago that scientists were "cross-breeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains."

During a discussion of the cloning of monkey embryos on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News program in November 2007, O'Donnell, introduced as a Republican strategist, insisted that "the real point of all of this research is to lead to human cloning."

Words of Political Wisdom from Samuel Clemmons

2010-09-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

With the upcoming National Elections, we all should review and reflect the "Words of Wisdom, from the great American writer, Samuel Clemmons. Much can be learned from this great thinker.

In defining those who claim to be Patriots much like the Teabaggers or Fanatical Rightwing Proponents today, I pass on that Clemmons said that a Patriot is, “The person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.” You can see this proof in action at every Tea Party Rally today.

As a lot of truth is passed on in jest, Clemmons can be quoted with, “It ain't what you DON'T KNOW that gets you into trouble. It's what you KNOW FOR SURE THAT JUST AIN'T SO.” Clemmons also went onto say, “Get your facts first, then you can DISTORT them as you please.” Again this is what you can find with about every follower and fan of “Conservative Talk Radio Programs” or “Fox Political Programming TV shows.”

I find that so many Teabaggers or The Extreme Right political viewpoints come from those with the least amount of worldly exposure. Clemmons stated about this with, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

As I know very well that these “Words of Wisdom” will only be taken in and see the relevance to those who are already aware. It is yet once again a sad state of affairs that the message to Teabaggers and Fanatical Extreme Right will just once again overlook the truths and continue on with their ignorance and nihilism.

Leonard Cohen sums it up perfectly in his song, “Everyone Knows.”

2010-08-31T06:13:00.000-07:00

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

John Law’s Ponzi Scam

2010-08-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

John Law said that he had discovered the philosopher’s stone. He went on to say, "I can tell you my secret!" The financier went on to say, "It is to make gold out of paper." Today we call it a "Ponzi Scheme."

Just as David Stockman stated in a recent New York Times op-ed piece, "Four Deformations of the Apocalypse." The G.O.P. has followed the exact same financial plan as John Law, the Scottish mathematician and gambler was an adviser to the Regent of France, who struggled to repair the nation's finances, ruined in the wars of Louis XIV.

Whereas money was previously seen as a store of value, Law saw it just as a medium of exchange. He wrote that, “Money is not the value for which goods are exchanged but the value by which they are exchanged; the use of money is to buy goods, and silver, and gold, while money, is of no other use.” (Just like Glen Beck is preaching “Buy Gold” on his TV show)

The problem is that from time to time, investors will want to realize those claims and will be disappointed when they cannot do so; the higher the claims are relative to Gross Domestic Product, the greater the disruption and loss of confidence when those periods financially crash; just as they occurred in the last years of G.W. Bush’s administration.

Allow me to approach this topic from another direction. During the Civil War, the Southern Confederacy was selling bonds backed by their cotton crop resources. Britain being a large importer of this cotton for their value added textile industries, invested in these bonds. When the Union North blockaded the Southern ports and General Sherman slashed and burned the cotton fields, the bonds were rendered worthless and the South’s monetary system crashed. In the mean time, Britain soon found alternative cotton sources in Egypt, India and China.

Just as our recent monetary value was based on our G.D.P. only to have U.S. Multi-National Corporations transfer the value add industries into foreign interests such as China, so goes our monetary stability.

As I have often referred to the book, "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," (generally referred to by the short title "The Wealth of Nations") is the masterpiece of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith, who in summation stated that the true wealth of a nation is based on its ability to have the “Value Added” industries that convert raw material into viable product. For the last couple of decades but more during the G.W. Bush administration’s period, these value added manufacturing industries have been moved to China by U.S. Corporations. This is why China is now moved into the position of second largest financial market and will take over the number one position replacing the United States in the next decade.

Today it is not uniquely tangable to see that as China is seeing double digit financial growth while the citizens of the United States are enduring layoffs, and the devaluation of their personal wealth.

Be prepared to start hearing the slogan, “Viva la Revolution!” yet once again.

"How my G.O.P. destroyed the U.S. economy."

2010-08-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, that is exactly what David Stockman, President Ronald Reagan's director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed piece, "Four Deformations of the Apocalypse." Remember David Stockman? He was the “Financial Wonder Kid” that upon seeing the Reaganomics Plan, instantly call it, “Voodoo Economics!” Many may remember well when President Reagan took him aside to the preverbal “Woodshed” and scolded him for not playing along with the Reaganomics Plan.

I have decided to post this as this is exactly what I have been saying how MY REPUBLICAN PARTY has been taken over by CROOKS and CON MEN, WITH A FOLLOWING OF NON-THINKING LEMMINGS.

Get it? Not "destroying." The GOP has already "DESTROYED" the U.S. economy, setting up an "American Apocalypse."

Yes, Stockman is equally damning of the Democrats' Keynesian policies. But what this indictment by a party insider, someone so close to the development of the Reaganomics ideology and coined the phrase of President Regan’s, “Voodoo Economics,” says about America, helps all of us better understand how America's toxic partisan-politics "holy war" is destroying not just the economy and capitalism, but the America dream. And unless this war stops soon, both parties will succeed in their collective death wish.

But why focus on Stockman's message? It's already lost in the 24/7 news cycle. Why? We need some introspection. Ask yourself: How did the great nation of America lose its moral compass and drift so far off course, to where our very survival is threatened?
We've arrived at a historic turning point as a nation that no longer needs outside enemies to destroy us, we are committing suicide. Democracy. Capitalism. The American dream. All dying. Why? Because of the economic decisions of the GOP the past 40 years, says this leading Reagan Republican.

Please listen with an open mind, no matter your party affiliation: This makes for a powerful history lesson, because it exposes how both parties are responsible for destroying the U.S. economy. Read Carefully:

Reagan Republican: the GOP should file for bankruptcy Stockman rushes into the ring swinging like a boxer: "If there were such a thing as Chapter 11 for politicians, the Republican push to extend the unaffordable Bush tax cuts would amount to a bankruptcy filing. The nation's public debt, will soon reach $18 trillion." It screams "out for austerity and sacrifice." But instead, the GOP insists "that the nation's wealthiest taxpayers be spared even a three-percentage-point rate increase."

In the past 40 years Republican ideology has gone from solid principles to hype and slogans. Stockman says: "Republicans used to believe that prosperity depended upon the regular balancing of accounts in government, in international trade, on the ledgers of central banks and in the financial affairs of private households and businesses too."
No more. Today there's a "new catechism" that's "little more than money printing and deficit finance, vulgar Keynesianism robed in the ideological vestments of the prosperous classes" making a mockery of GOP ideals. Worse, it has resulted in "serial financial bubbles and Wall Street depredations that have crippled our economy." Yes, GOP ideals backfired, crippling our economy.

Stockman's indictment warns that the Republican Party's "new policy doctrines have caused four great deformations of the national economy, and modern Republicans have turned a blind eye to each one:"

Stage 1. Nixon irresponsible, dumps gold, U.S starts spending binge.
Richard Nixon's gold policies get Stockman's first assault, for defaulting "on American obligations under the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement to balance our accounts with the world." So for the past 40 years, America's been living "beyond our means as a nation" on "borrowed prosperity on an epic scale ... an outcome that Milton Friedman said could never happen when, in 1971, he persuaded President Nixon to unleash on the world paper dollars no longer redeemable in gold or other fixed monetary reserves."
Remember Friedman: "Just let the free market set currency exchange rates, he said, and trade deficits will self-correct." Friedman was wrong by trillions. And unfortunately "once relieved of the discipline of defending a fixed value for their currencies, politicians the world over were free to cheapen their money and disregard their neighbors."
And without discipline America was also encouraging "global monetary chaos as foreign central banks run their own printing presses at ever faster speeds to sop up the tidal wave of dollars coming from the Federal Reserve." Yes, the road to the coming apocalypse began with a Republican president listening to a misguided Nobel economist's advice.

Stage 2. Crushing debts from domestic excesses, war mongering.
Stockman says "the second unhappy change in the American economy has been the extraordinary growth of our public debt. In 1970 it was just 40% of gross domestic product, or about $425 billion. When it reaches $18 trillion, it will be 40 times greater than in 1970." Who's to blame? Not big-spending Democrats, says Stockman, but "from the Republican Party's embrace, about three decades ago, of the insidious doctrine that deficits don't matter if they result from tax cuts."

Back "in 1981, traditional Republicans supported tax cuts," but Stockman makes clear, they had to be "matched by spending cuts, to offset the way inflation was pushing many taxpayers into higher brackets and to spur investment. The Reagan administration's hastily prepared fiscal blueprint, however, was no match for the primordial forces, the welfare state and the warfare state, that drive the federal spending machine."

OK, stop a minute. As you absorb Stockman's indictment of how his Republican party has "destroyed the U.S. economy," you're probably asking yourself why anyone should believe a traitor to the Reagan legacy. I believe party affiliation is irrelevant here. This is a crucial subject that must be explored because it further exposes a dangerous historical trend where politics is so partisan it's having huge negative consequences.
Yes, the GOP does have a welfare-warfare state: Stockman says "the neocons were pushing the military budget skyward. And the Republicans on Capitol Hill who were supposed to cut spending, exempted from the knife most of the domestic budget entitlements, farm subsidies, education, water projects. But in the end it was a new cadre of ideological tax-cutters who killed the Republicans' fiscal religion."

When Fed chief Paul Volcker "crushed inflation" in the '80s we got a "solid economic rebound." But then "the new tax-cutters not only claimed victory for their supply-side strategy but hooked Republicans for good on the delusion that the economy will outgrow the deficit if plied with enough tax cuts." By 2009, they "reduced federal revenues to 15% of gross domestic product," lowest since the 1940s. Still today they're irrationally demanding an extension of those "unaffordable Bush tax cuts that would amount to a bankruptcy filing."

Recently Bush made matters far worse by "rarely vetoing a budget bill and engaging in two unfinanced foreign military adventures." Bush also gave in "on domestic spending cuts, signing into law $420 billion in nondefense appropriations, a 65% percent gain from the $260 billion he had inherited eight years earlier. Republicans thus joined the Democrats in a shameless embrace of a free-lunch fiscal policy." Takes two to tango.

Stage 3. Wall Street's deadly “vast, unproductive expansion.”Stockman continues pounding away: "The third ominous change in the American economy has been the vast, unproductive expansion of our financial sector." He warns that "Republicans have been oblivious to the grave danger of flooding financial markets with freely printed money and, at the same time, removing traditional restrictions on leverage and speculation." Wrong, not oblivious. Self-interested Republican loyalists like Paulson, Bernanke and Geithner knew exactly what they were doing.

They wanted the economy, markets and the government to be under the absolute control of Wall Street's too-greedy-to-fail banks. They conned Congress and the Fed into bailing out an estimated $23.7 trillion debt. Worse, they have since destroyed meaningful financial reforms. So Wall Street is now back to business as usual blowing another bigger bubble/bust cycle that will culminate in the coming "American Apocalypse."

Stockman refers to Wall Street's surviving banks as "wards of the state." Wrong, the opposite is true. Wall Street now controls Washington, and its "unproductive" trading is "extracting billions from the economy with a lot of pointless speculation in stocks, bonds, commodities and derivatives." Wall Street banks like Goldman were virtually bankrupt, would have never survived without government-guaranteed deposits and "virtually free money from the Fed's discount window to cover their bad bets."

Stage 4. New American Revolution class-warfare coming soon.
Finally, thanks to Republican policies that let us "live beyond our means for decades by borrowing heavily from abroad, we have steadily sent jobs and production offshore," while at home "high-value jobs in goods production ... trade, transportation, information technology and the professions shrunk by 12% to 68 million from 77 million."
As the apocalypse draws near, Stockman sees a class-rebellion, a new revolution, a war against greed and the wealthy and soon. The trigger will be the growing gap between economic classes: No wonder "that during the last bubble (from 2002 to 2006) the top 1% of Americans, paid mainly from the Wall Street casino, received two-thirds of the gain in national income, while the bottom 90%, mainly dependent on Main Street's shrinking economy, got only 12%. This growing wealth gap is not the market's fault. It's the decaying fruit of bad economic policy."

Get it? The decaying fruit of the GOP's bad economic policies is destroying our economy.

Warning: this black swan won't be pretty, will shock, soon
His bottom line: "The day of national reckoning has arrived. We will not have a conventional business recovery now, but rather a long hangover of debt liquidation and downsizing, it's a pity that the modern Republican Party offers the American people an irrelevant platform of recycled Keynesianism when the old approach, balanced budgets, and sound money and financial discipline is needed more than ever."

Wrong: There are far bigger things to "pity."
First, that most Americans, 300 million, are helpless, will do nothing, sit in the bleachers passively watching this deadly partisan game like it's just another TV reality show.

Second, that, unfortunately, politicians are “so deep in the pockets” of the Wall Street conspiracy that controls Washington they are helpless and blind.

Third, there's a depressing sense that Stockman will be dismissed as a traitor, his message lost in the 24/7 news cycle until the final apocalyptic event, an unpredictable black swan triggers another, bigger global meltdown, followed by a long Great Depression II and a historic class war.

So be prepared, it will hit soon, when you least expect it!!

I intend for my next posting to be on John Law, the Scotsman who handled the budget of France based on a Ponzi Scheme that when it crashed……It started the French Revolution. History Repeats Itself!!!

Dancing for Mao And Now The Tea Party

2010-08-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

A photograph of a 5-year-old girl made her famous in China

Little Li Zhensheng the young girl with unusually fair hair tied in ponytails, dancing with her arms upraised and surrounded by smiling, clapping soldiers.
They were at the Red Guard Stadium in Harbin, in northern China, along with hundreds of thousands of Communist Party cadres, workers, peasants and other soldiers who had gathered for a marathon conference on the teachings of Chairman Mao Zedong. This was 1968, nearly two years into the Cultural Revolution, Mao's attempt to purge Chinese society of supposed bourgeois elements and escalate his own cult of personality. The conferees seemed to be trying to outdo one another in their professions of love for their nation's leader.

On April 28, 1968, the last day of the 23-day gathering, a 5-year-old kindergartner was performing the "loyalty dance," as it was known. In front of the soldiers in the stadium stands, she skipped in place and sang:

No matter how close our parents are to us, they are
not as close as our relationship with Mao

How absurd. The girl certainly was lovely and eager to please, but the photojournalist found the excess of zeal discomforting. "They had to love him to the extreme."
In the cult of Mao, everyone was expected to perform the loyalty dance, from miners to office workers to toddlers to old ladies whose feet had been bound. "The movements were always toward the sky, that way you could show how respectful you were to Mao and everyone knew how to dance it."

Now not to worry, the Loyalty Dance is alive and well today with the Tea Party. Please join along with Sarah Palin and the Teabaggers so you too can follow along to the Tea Party Loyalty Dance!!

Dr. Laura Schlessinger Part Two

2010-08-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

In 1998, admittedly upset that he was snubbed by Schlessinger at an event, former radio mentor Bill Ballance sold nude photos of Schlessinger to media outlet Internet Entertainment Group (IEG).
Schlessinger had posed for the photos while involved in a sexual relationship with Ballance in the 1970s. IEG purchased the photos and subsequently posted them on its website which was later leaked to the general public. Schlessinger initially denied that the photos were of her, but then claimed a copyright interest in them in court. Attempts to have the photos removed from various websites failed after a court ruling stated that IEG had legally acquired the rights to the material.
She later admitted that the photos were authentic, addressed the issue on her show calling Ballance a "mentor and friend", and said she was "mystified as to why this 80 year old man would do such a morally reprehensible thing." She claimed to have possessed "no moral authority" when the photos were taken, citing her age at the time of twenty-eight and a painful divorce as factors contributing to her voluntarily being photographed nude.
She added that she had undergone "profound changes over the course of my life, from atheist to observant Jew." The incident brought to light accusations that Schlessinger had been unfaithful in her first marriage, caused the breakdown of her second husband's marriage, cohabitated with him while unmarried, and intentionally conceived a child with him out of wedlock. Schlessinger had railed against infidelity, cohabitation, and intentional single parenthood on her show, but never addressed that these were part of her personal life experience. Schlessinger responded to these criticisms saying: “A hypocrite is someone who says, “Do as I say, not as I do.” “A TEACHER is someone who says, “Do as I say, not as I did.” As we all can see such a big difference in word play that we have to not hold her for any hypocrisy.

Now my only hope is we don't find and of these with Rush Limbaugh in them!!

Laura Schlessinger Says Is Leaving Radio

2010-08-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

As the conservative radio talk show host Dr. Lara Schlessinger, a family values advocating no sex until marriage but who had premarital sex herself, touted marriage fidelity by admonishing others but faced allegations of adultery herself, and railed about the decline of morality but saw nude pictures of herself published on the Internet; has, like many self-styled advice experts, a well-documented history of hypocrisy.

Schlessinger leapt past the bounds of typical talk radio phoniness into uncharted levels of self-delusion and hubris by her decision to hurl the N-word at a black caller nearly a dozen times on her show last week.

She even went on to justify her egregious act by stating that she wanted “to regain her First Amendment rights!" Yes it is her right and should not be admonished for hurling the “N” word on her talk show.

The conservative talk show hosts needs to realize “The First Amendment” doesn't guarantee speech without consequence, just speech without undue government intervention. Indeed, protesters' work persuading advertisers to abandon shows with questionable content may be the height of democracy; using the free market to register public protest in ways conservatives has practiced for decades.

Now, after so many years advising callers to take responsibility for their lives, it is curious to hear Schlessinger accept none for herself. The "Advice Guru" said she would be ending her three decade radio and not renew her contract and this isn't the first time she's ducked criticism by ducking out.

Bottom line, no matter how much she points fingers elsewhere, it should be clear: Schlessinger's biggest victimizer stares back at her from the mirror, every day.

Writer Anne Rice: “Today I Quit Being A Christian”

2010-08-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

Bestselling author, Anne Rice, officially decided she had had enough. "For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. It's simply impossible for me to "belong" to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else." "And frankly," she continues, "after doing it, I felt sane for the first time in a very long while."

Rice says although there were "last straws," there was no one event that caused her to reject organized religion. "This is something that had been going on really almost from the beginning. There were signs that the public face of Catholicism and the public face of Christianity were things that I found very, very difficult to accept."

Rice says she tried her best to ignore the facets of Christianity she didn't support and concentrate on the ones she did. As time wore on, though, and as Rice continued to live and study as a Christian, "more and more social issues began to impinge on me."

Rice says the priest child molestation scandals and cover-up, the Pope going to Africa denouncing the use of condoms, but the final straw was when she realized the lengths that the church would go to prevent same-sex marriage. "I didn't anticipate at the beginning that the U.S. bishops were going to come out against same-sex marriage," she says. "That they were actually going to donate money to defeat the civil rights of homosexuals in the secular society."

"I felt an intense pressure. I am a person who grew up with the saying that all that is needed for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing, and I believe that statement."

Dancers From Ohio Foxhole Strip Club Protest At The New Beginnings Ministries Church

2010-08-09T12:01:00.001-07:00

Turn about being fair play, the owner of a strip club located in Warsaw, Ohio and some of his dancers have been protesting the New Beginnings Ministries church in Warsaw, about 60 miles northeast of Columbus. Tommy George owns the Foxhole strip club in nearby Newcastle and the reason that Mr. George has taken up protesting the New Beginnings Ministries church is because the pastor, Mr. Bill Dunfee, and some of his congregation has been doing the same to Mr. George’s club for four years.

Mr. George says the church's pastor, Bill Dunfee, and his congregation have bothered the club's weekend patrons armed with bullhorns, signs and video cameras for posting customers' license plate numbers online. So to counter act and return the favor, Mr. George and his female employees decided to start coming to the church because they were fed up with the actions of the church’s congregation and minister. So Tommy George and his female employees started arriving at the church in bikinis and sat in camp chairs outside waving at passing cars and displayed signs with Bible verses, including one warning of "false prophets," written in neon colors.

George said he unsuccessfully sued the church several years ago, claiming a violation of his constitutional rights. "When these morons go away, we'll go away," George said. "The great thing about this country is that everyone has a right to believe what they want."

Now imagine this, pastor, Bill Dunfee and his congregation are insulted?!? I guess it is OK to protest one man’s place of business but it is not OK to protest the pastor Bill Dunfee’s place of business.

What's the Difference Between Weather and Climate?

2010-08-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

One of the arguments that I hear from my Republican friends against “Climate Change” is, “Weathermen can’t even predict the weather from day to day, much less week to week; there is no way that they can predict weather or climate 10, 20, or 50 years from now. I very kindly correct there misuse of the two terms and take the moment to correct there misconceptions of these terms. I should also add that they are just repeating what conservative talk radio has been passing on.

I have decided to pass on my knowledge to those who may come in contact with those who will repeat the inaccurate argument that they have heard on conservative programs.

Weather Verses Climate:
The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere "behaves" over relatively long periods of time.

When we talk about climate change, we talk about changes in long-term averages of daily weather. If summers seem hotter lately, then the recent climate may have changed. In various parts of the world, some people have even noticed that springtime comes earlier now than it did 30 years ago. An earlier springtime is indicative of a possible change in the climate.

What Weather Means:
Weather is basically the way the atmosphere is behaving, mainly with respect to its effects upon life and human activities. The difference between weather and climate is that weather consists of the short-term (minutes to months) changes in the atmosphere. Most people think of weather in terms of temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, brightness, visibility, wind, and atmospheric pressure, as in high and low pressure.

In most places, weather can change from minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and season-to-season. Climate, however, is the average of weather over time and space. An easy way to remember the difference is that climate is what you expect, like a very hot summer, and weather is what you get, like a hot day with pop-up thunderstorms.

Things That Make Up Our Weather:
There are really a lot of components to weather. Weather includes sunshine, rain, cloud cover, winds, hail, snow, sleet, freezing rain, flooding, blizzards, ice storms, thunderstorms, steady rains from a cold front or warm front, excessive heat, heat waves and more.

In order to help people be prepared to face all of these, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS), the lead forecasting outlet for the nation's weather, has over 25 different types of warnings, statements or watches that they issue. Some of the reports NWS issues are: Flash Flood Watches and Warnings, Severe Thunderstorm Watches and Warnings, Blizzard Warnings, Snow Advisories, Winter Storm Watches and Warnings, Dense Fog Advisory, Fire Weather Watch, Tornado Watches and Warnings, Hurricane Watches and Warnings. They also provide Special Weather Statements and Short and Long Term Forecasts.

NWS also issues a lot of notices concerning marine weather for boaters and others who dwell or are staying near shorelines. They include: Coastal Flood Watches and Warnings, Flood Watches and Warnings, High Wind Warnings, Wind Advisories, Gale Warnings, High Surf Advisories, Heavy Freezing Spray Warnings, Small Craft Advisories, Marine Weather Statements, Freezing Fog Advisories, Coastal Flood Watches, Flood Statements, Coastal Flood Statement.

Who is the National Weather Service?
According to their mission statement, "The National Weather Service provides weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas, for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy. NWS data and products form a national information database and infrastructure which can be used by other governmental agencies, the private sector, the public, and the global community."

To do their job, the NWS uses radar on the ground and images from orbiting satellites with a continual eye on Earth. They use reports from a large national network of weather reporting stations, and they launch balloons in the air to measure air temperature, air pressure, wind, and humidity. They put all this data into various computer models to give them weather forecasts. NWS also broadcasts all of their weather reports on special NOAA weather radio, and posts them immediately on their Interactive Weather Information Network website at: http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/graphicsversion/bigmain.html.

What Climate Means:
In short, climate is the description of the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area.

Some scientists define climate as the average weather for a particular region and time period, usually taken over 30-years. It's really an average pattern of weather for a particular region.

When scientists talk about climate, they're looking at averages of precipitation, temperature, humidity, sunshine, wind velocity, phenomena such as fog, frost, and hail storms, and other measures of the weather that occur over a long period in a particular place.

For example, after looking at rain gauge data, lake and reservoir levels, and satellite data, scientists can tell if during a summer, an area was drier than average. If it continues to be drier than normal over the course of many summers, than it would likely indicate a change in the climate.

Why Study Climate?
The reason studying climate and a changing climate is important, is that will affect people around the world. Rising global temperatures are expected to raise sea levels, and change precipitation and other local climate conditions. Changing regional climate could alter forests, crop yields, and water supplies. It could also affect human health, animals, and many types of ecosystems. Deserts may expand into existing rangelands, and features of some of our National Parks and National Forests may be permanently altered.

The National Academy of Sciences, a lead scientific body in the U.S., determined that the Earth's surface temperature has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the past century, with accelerated warming during the past two decades. There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities. Yet, there is still some debate about the role of natural cycles and processes.

Human activities have altered the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the buildup of greenhouse gases – primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The heat-trapping property of these gases is undisputed although uncertainties exist about exactly how Earth's climate responds to them. According to the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (http://www.climatescience.gov), factors such as aerosols, land use change and others may play important roles in climate change, but their influence is highly uncertain at the present time.

Who Studies Climate Change?
Modern climate prediction started back in the late 1700s with Thomas Jefferson and continues to be studied around the world today.

At the national level, the U.S. Global Change Research Program coordinates the world's most extensive research effort on climate change. In addition, NASA, NOAA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other federal agencies are actively engaging the private sector, states, and localities in partnerships based on a win-win philosophy and aimed at addressing the challenge of global warming while, at the same time, strengthening the economy. Many university and private scientists also study climate change.

What is the U.S. Global Change Research Program?
The United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) was created in 1989 as a high-priority national research program to address key uncertainties about changes in the Earth's global environmental system, both natural and human-induced; to monitor, understand, and predict global change; and to provide a sound scientific basis for national and international decision-making.

Since its inception, the USGCRP has strengthened research on global environmental change and fostered insight into the processes and interactions of the Earth system, including the atmosphere, oceans, land, frozen regions, plants and animals, and human societies. The USGCRP was codified by Congress in the Global Change Research Act of 1990. The basic rationale for establishing the program was that the issues of global change are so complex and wide-ranging that they extend beyond the mission, resources, and expertise of any single agency, requiring instead the integrated efforts of several agencies.

Some Federal Agencies Studying Climate:
In the 1980s the National Weather Service established the Climate Prediction Center (CPC), known at the time as the Climate Analysis Center (CAC). The CPC is best known for its United States climate forecasts based on El Niño and La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific.

CPC was established to give short-term climate prediction a home in NOAA. CPC's products are operational predictions or forecasts of how climate may change and includes real-time monitoring of climate. They cover the land, the ocean, and the atmosphere, extending into the upper atmosphere (stratosphere). Climate prediction is very useful in various industries, including agriculture, energy, transportation, water resources, and health.

Bristol Palin calls it quits with fiancé Johnston

2010-08-03T18:38:00.000-07:00

As I had predicted that we had not heard the last of the Trailer Trash Palin Family saga, Bristol Palin has now re-announced calling off their second engagement to Levi Johnston after he told her he may have fathered a baby with another woman.

Palin declined to identify the woman, but a pregnant ex-girlfriend of Johnston has publicly denied he is the father.

Palin, the 19-year-old daughter of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, said Johnston told her about the baby on July 14, the day the couple announced their re-engagement. Bristol Palin and the 20-year-old Johnston have a toddler son together, Tripp.

Palin had said she didn't have her mother's full support over reconnecting with Johnston. She said both her mother and father worried she would get hurt again.

Palin said the "final straw" was when Johnston told her he was going to Hollywood to see a hunting show, but actually went there to star in a music video mocking her family. In the video being shot this month in Los Angeles, Johnston will play a lover whose romance is thwarted by his girlfriend's disapproving mother. The project is based on the song "After Love" by singer-songwriter Brittani Senser.

"He's just obsessed with the limelight, and I got played," said Bristol Palin. Well it seams like Bristol grew up with this scenario and does not know the difference because how does that differ from her own Mother?

Oh No He Di-ent Again?

2010-07-30T12:03:00.000-07:00

It is reported that the story of Trailer Trash Sarah Palin’s Levi Johnston is going to be a “Baby Daddy Again?” But just to make this story “Juicy Special” is that the problem is Levi Johnston may have knocked up his ex-girlfriend, "Lanesia Garcia" while he and his first baby's momma, "Briston Palin," were broken up.

Well I guess that ABSTINENCE sex education that Sarah Palin supports is just working so well…..Right Sarah?!?!? Well Republican, Conservative, Tea Party, Sarah; I guess here is another one of your “Extended Family” welfare grandbabies that the tax payers will be supporting for the next couple of decades.

"You can't even run your own life, I'll be damned if you'll run mine."

Shirley Sherrod to Sue the Daylights Out of Andrew Breitbart

2010-07-30T06:08:00.000-07:00

Former U.S.D.A. employee Shirley Sherrod announced yesterday at a National Association of Black Journalists event that she will be suing conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart. As you may recall, it was Breitbart’s posting of a video showing Sherrod seemingly regaling the audience at an N.A.A.C.P. event with racism endorsing anecdotes that prompted her firing on July 19. Only after the complete speech surfaced, and the Department of Agriculture (and everyone else) realized Sherrod was actually condemning racism, was offered both an apology and her job back.

But Breitbart, unlike Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, has not tried to make amends.

On The Early Show last week, Sherrod hinted at taking legal action against Breitbart, saying that she “would definitely consider” a suit. Her language has now shifted from the conditional to the indicative. Today, Ms. Sherrod told the N.A.B.J. that she “will definitely do it.” Although Breitbart eventually appended half hearted corrections to blog posts about the matter, he told Anderson Cooper that he did not consider his actions illegitimate, much less illegal.

Well I hope that Ms. Shirley Sherrod takes everything that the Ultra-Conservative Asshole Breitbart has….including his computer!!

Scientists New Study Affirms Climate Change Is “Undeniable!”

2010-07-28T15:57:00.001-07:00

Scientists from around the world provided more evidence of global warming in the annual State of the Climate report Wednesday.

The past decade was the warmest on record and the past 50 years have been getting hotter, the researchers said, citing 10 main indicators, including surface and ocean temperatures, the amount of sea ice and glaciers and levels of humidity.

Compiled by more than 300 scientists from 48 countries, the report said analysis of 10 indicators that are "clearly and directly related to surface temperatures, all tell the same story: Global warming is undeniable."

The research was led by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is based on new data that wasn't available to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for its report for 2007, which has been attacked by skeptics.

Concern about rising temperatures has been growing in recent years as atmospheric scientists report rising temperatures associated with greenhouse gases released into the air by industrial and other human processes.

"The temperature increase of one degree Fahrenheit over the past 50 years may seem small, but it has already altered our planet," said Deke Arndt, co-editor of the report and chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch of the data center.
"Glaciers and sea ice are melting, heavy rainfall is intensifying and heat waves are more common," he says.
Last month was the warmest June on record and this year has had the warmest average temperature for January-June since record keeping began in 1880, NOAA reported last week.

But yet we have the Neo-Con Blowhards reporting with all authority from the aspect of “No Education In Science” at all assuring their listeners that Global Warming is just a “Big Conspiracy Hoax.” Thank God they are there to set us straight.

History of Knights Templar and Freemasonry

2010-07-26T12:48:00.001-07:00

Knights Templar History
As many of you are undoubtedly aware, there are several theories regarding a possible physical relationship between Freemasonry and the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, commonly known as the Knights Templar.

The Knights Templar were based in or near the original site of the Temple of Solomon and widely spread throughout France in the early 12th century. At this time, being religious knights and reporting only to the Church, gave them exemption from many laws and enabled them to receive much land and property throughout the country enabling a network of wealth to be created.

Their purpose was to guard and escort those on roads from Europe to Jerusalem that were often patrolled by thieves looking to prey on unaware travelers to the holy city. This gave rise to a need for protection by the travelers and it is thought that fees were generated by the knights in exchange for the protection offered. This became an exercise which gave rise to the first form of banking whereby a patron would be able to leave funds with a knights templar preceptory in one city and receive a promisary note which could be exchanged in another city in order to eliminate the risk of having to travel cross country with large sums of money.

The Knights Templar in France
The Migration of the Knights Templar
In the late 12th century the Christian following was removed from the holy city and the Knights Templar were no longer needed and thus returned to France where King Philip governed with the Knights still answerable only to the papal authority.

The King of France had been king since the age of 17 and had inherited much debt from his predecessors. This meant that loans were made from the Jews, the Church and the Knights Templar in order to maintain the country. This inevitably led to poor repayment by the monarchy and caused drastic swings in the economy leading to riots and a call for the removal of King Philip. The Knights templar allowed the king to seek refuge within their preceptory for a few days and it is believed that during this time King Philip forged a plot to arrest The Jews on June 24th 1307 and the Knights templar on Friday 13th October 1307 in order to retain their wealth, property and remove all debts that were owed to them by the monarchy, explaining why Friday 13th is deemed unlucky by some people. Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and 60 of his senior knights were arrested in Paris. It is believed that some of the Knights Templar avoided this arrest tactic and made their way to some of their ships in anchor and sailed from Europe to eventually land in Scotland.

The Knights Templar and Robert the Bruce
The Knights Templar in Scotland
Arriving in Scotland it seems was a choice by the Knights Templar due to the fact that Robert the Bruce had been excommunicated by the church and papal authority did not apply in Scotland. This meant that the Knights Templar had sanctuary from the reaches of the pope in Scotland.

Robert the Bruce was at war with England and was pleased to have the expertise of such battle qualified knights in his army and it is believed that the Knights Templar were integral in the defeat of the English at the battle of Bannockburn. Robert the Bruce is often credited with forming the Freemasons as a means to hide the fact that there were Knights Templar present in his army.

An exciting and romantic legend links the Templars to the battle of Bannockburn. The legend tells us that Scots were outnumbered three to one and were struggling desperately against the forces of Edward II, losing men and ground rapidly, when there appeared on the horizon a well equipped and obviously highly professional band of knights in full armor and mounted on heavy horses. The knights, although superbly equipped and obviously experienced in military battle tactics, bore no markings on their shields and carried no battle standards flying their colors. These mysterious soldiers joined the battle on the side of King Robert the Bruce and quickly turned the tide in favor of the Scots who won the battle and freedom for Scotland. The knights then rode off over the horizon without making known their identities or from whence they came.

Many scholars believe these mysterious knights to be a contingent of the refugee and internationally outlawed Knights Templar that the King had permitted to take refuge in the highlands. Many feel that the Knights Templar were returning the favor while pledging loyalty to Scotland and King Robert the Bruce? (There is a Masonic degree based on this story.)

Many sources tell us that years later, Sir Henry St. Clair was appointed the Hereditary Grand Master of all the Masonic guilds of Scotland by royal charter (the King of Scotland remains the Sovereign Grand master).

Because Robert the Bruce wanted to return Scotland to a state recognized under Christendom, he had informed the church that no Knights Templar existed in Scotland. The Knights Templar were then able to continue as they had previously, but now under the name of Freemasonry.

Rosslyn Chapel
In 1440ce a mere 133 years (just two generations) after the suppression of the Templars by King Philip and Pope Clement, the Earl of Orkney, a descendant of Sir William St. Clair designed and began the project of building a church in the family seat of Rosslyn. His intention was to build a great sanctuary to the glory of God and the Templar tradition. It was to be constructed in the form of a cross with a lady Chapel and a high tower in the center.

He imported the best stonemasons available, as well as tradesmen from the other guilds as necessary. The Master masons were paid a sum of 40 pounds per annum and the lesser skilled masons were paid 10 pounds. Simultaneously, he built the small hamlet of Rosslin to support and house his craftsmen during the project and see to their every need. The great sanctuary’s construction was never completed.

Through the centuries, St Clair’s unfinished sanctuary survived several invading armies and the brutalities of the Reformation as well as Scotland’s civil war of the mid-seventeenth century. It’s said that during this period, the armies of Oliver Cromwell occupied the areas in and around Edinburgh, including Rosslyn. Indicative of the disdain for which the Puritan church and Cromwell held divergent theological beliefs, after razing nearby Rosslyn castle, Cromwell stabled his invading troops horses and livestock in the chapel at Rosslyn.

There is a legend that says Cromwell recognizing the exoteric religious and Masonic symbolism and himself being a Brother, the unit’s commander was careful to preserve and protect the chapel and its artifacts during his troops occupation. Other religious structures and their icons did not fare as well during this turbulent time.

The Dirge of Rosabell is described in prose as our Brother Sir Walter Scott spoke of the ancient Barons of Rosslyn who were buried in the crypt of the chapel. His famous poem, The Lay of the Last Minstrel speaks of the ghosts and spirits of the honored knights laid to rest in the ancient Gothic chapel’s crypt.

In 1787ce, our esteemed Brother Robert Burns, the recognized Poet laureate of Scotland and Masonry visited the chapel with a friend and artist, Alexander Nasmyth and implored him to paint his portrait while at Rosslyn.

Conclusion:
The chapel that remains today, many scholars say, is probably one of the most remarkable examples of Gothic architecture in Scotland, not because of its design when viewed primarily from and architectural point of view, but because of the profusion of overt and esoteric design and symbolism shown in such abundance everywhere within the chapel.

When first viewed Rosslyn Chapel has an almost haunting quality exhibited not only in its Gothic spires and flying buttresses, but the chapel’s spiritual and ghostly esoteric qualities are manifested in the profuse and intricate carvings and hieroglyphics evidenced on the interior’s every square inch of masonry surface.

In this small cathedral, it’s a short and misty road from the present to the past. It’s a place where you enter into a world of “intellectual oblivion” expressed in design and stone by our spiritual Brothers of a different time. It is impossible, in this environment to deny that the genesis of our Order is shrouded in esoteria and rooted in the cryptic origins of contemplative man.

The ornate carvings and depictions in stone are almost overwhelming to everyone who views the chapel. But the abundant, half-hidden Templar and Masonic symbolism is profound and easily identified by the Initiated. There abounds hundreds of references to Christian parables, Biblical characters, the ancient Knights Templar, Freemasonry, and commentary on the religious-political climate of that time in our long past.

The chapel is a perfect exemplification of our sacred geometry and incorporates many easily recognized Masonic and Templar symbols in its architectural designs. The Apprentice Pillar with its attendant carvings, the Master’s Pillar, the hidden and much speculated upon contents of the subterranean crypt, the proliferation of Templar splayed and floriated crosses, obvious reference to the Masonic degrees, transparent references to Templarism, and so much more, can be found everywhere. There is a lintel at the east end of the south aisle bearing a familiar inscription in Latin which translates:

“Wine is strong, a King is stronger, women are even stronger, but Truth conquers all”

There is such a profusion of intricate carvings incorporated into the design and construction of every minute detail, that you can easily lose yourself for hours while just wandering.

To the best of my knowledge, Rosslyn Chapel represents the only place where such an obvious and overtly profuse collection of Masonic and Templar esoterica and symbolism is displayed together in a structure predating the traditional origins of the Craft.

Additionally, the founder and builder was documented as an heir to the heritage of the Knights of the temple as well as a Knight Templar himself. The dating of the construction of the chapel as well as its proximity to other known Templar and Masonic sites of pilgrimage leads me to the conclusion that Rosslyn Chapel is of significant importance to Masons and Knights Templar and may well be the common factor linking the respective orders.

Freemasonry and the steps to Knights Templar
There are various avenues which can be followed in Freemasonry. The three most popular avenues being the Royal Arch, Rosicrucian (Rose Croix) or Knights Templar degrees.

There are four world wide accepted degrees which must be completed by a new person deciding to enter freemasonry which shall we say are the basis of understanding to Freemasonry. The other avenues are all different in their teachings and handle different aspects of Freemasonry.

There are many opinions and schools of thought on the dates that speculative Freemasonry came into existence with the most common being 1717.

The Knights Templar were said to have obtained secrets throughout their travels from the ancient mysteries in Alchemy, Magic and Building Techniques scattered through history by the likes of the Greek, Roman and Egyptian civilizations.

Funny Friday Posting

2010-07-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
I will be leaving this Friday to go to the rehearsal dinner and wedding of my oldest daughter on Saturday.

I have posted a clip from the show, “You Bet Your Life,” with Bill Cosby.

As I watched this my thought was the whole time was, the woman Marcia Brody, would be a perfect Tea Party Member.

Enjoy!!!!

The Holy Oak Tree and Big Holy Rock Enact Their Wrath On Glen Beck

2010-07-21T03:45:00.000-07:00

The Holy Oak Tree and Big Holy Rock have performed evidence of their religious miracles by striking down Glenn Beck for his sins against mankind. This truly shows that the Holy Oak Tree and Big Holy Rock are the only true religions and all should lay praise and homage.

Glenn Beck announced that he has been diagnosed with an eye disease that is going to blind him. The blustering blowhard conservative Fox Programming commentator told an audience attending his "American Revival" tour over the weekend in Salt Lake City that a doctor told him he has the degenerative disease macular dystrophy. The disease generally makes itself known by a decrease in vision in 20- to 40-year-olds. Beck is 46.

Beck says he went to a doctor for testing because he had trouble focusing with his eyes. "He said, `You have macular dystrophy. ... You could go blind in the next year.”

So I say unto you, Glenn Beck Repent, Repent, Repent!!!! All who have followed and have lost their way from this man should also fall to there knees and Repent, Repent, Repent!!!!

Send your large donation of MONEY to the attention of Holy Oak Tree and Big Holy Rock and we will pray for your forgiveness.

Man with Neo-Nazi ties leading patrols in Arizona

2010-07-17T17:48:00.001-07:00

Minutemen groups, a surge in Border Patrol agents, and a tough new immigration law aren't enough for a reputed Neo-Nazi who's now leading a militia in the Arizona desert.

Jason "J.T." Ready is taking matters into his own hands, declaring war on "narco-terrorists" and keeping an eye out for illegal immigrants. So far, he says his patrols have only found a few border crossers who were given water and handed over to the Border Patrol. Once, they also found a decaying body in a wash, and alerted authorities.

But local law enforcement are nervous given that Ready's group is heavily armed and identifies with the National Socialist Movement, an organization that believes only non-Jewish, white heterosexuals should be American citizens and that everyone who isn't white should leave the country "peacefully or by force."

"We're not going to sit around and wait for the government anymore," Ready said. "This is what our founding fathers did."

Escalations of civilian border watches have taken root in Arizona in recent years, including the Minutemen movement. Various groups patrol the desert on foot, horseback and in airplanes and report suspicious activity to the Border Patrol, and generally, they have not caused problems for law enforcement.

But Ready, a 37-year-old ex-Marine, is different. He and his friends are outfitted with military fatigues, body armor and gas masks, and carry assault rifles. Ready takes offense at the term "neo-Nazi," but admits he identifies with the National Socialist Movement.

"These are explicit Nazis," said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project. "These are people who wear swastikas on their sleeves."

Ready is a reflection of the anger over illegal immigration in Arizona. Gov. Jan Brewer signed a controversial new immigration law in April, which requires police, while enforcing other laws, to question a person's immigration status if officers have a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally.

But Brewer hasn't done enough, Ready said, and he's not satisfied with President Barack Obama's decision to beef up security at the border.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said there haven't been any incidents with the group as they patrol his jurisdiction, which includes several busy immigrant smuggling corridors. But Babeu is concerned because untrained group acting without the authority of the law could cause "extreme problems," and put themselves and others in danger.

"I'm not inviting them. And in fact, I'd rather they not come," Babeu said. "Especially those who espouse hatred or bigotry such as his."

Law enforcement officials said patrols like Ready's could undercut the work of the thousands of officers on duty every day across the border, especially if they try to enforce the law themselves in carrying out vigilante justice.

Ready said his group has been patrolling in the desert about 50 miles south of Phoenix, in an area where a Pinal County Sheriff's deputy reported he was shot by drug smugglers in April.

The patrols have been occurring on public land, and militia members have no real restrictions on their weaponry because of Arizona's loose gun laws.

The militia is an outgrowth of border watch groups that have been part of the immigration debate in Arizona. Patrols in the Arizona desert by Minutemen organizations brought national attention to illegal immigration in 2004 and 2005.

Such groups continue to operate in Arizona, and law enforcement officials generally don't take issue with them as long as they don't take matters into their own hands.

Ready said he's planning patrols throughout the summer.

"If they don't want my people out there, then there's an easy way to send us home: Secure the border," he said. "We'll put our guns back on the shelf, and that'll be the end of that."

In 2001 George W. Bush Squanders Budget Surplus

2010-07-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

The Cause and Effects of the George W. Bush Squandering the Budget Surplus that the Bill Clinton administration left him with.

In 2001 the George W. Bush pushed through one of the largest tax cuts in U.S. history. Bush argued that unspent government funds should be returned to taxpayers, saying "the surplus is not the government’s money. The surplus is the people’s money." With reports of the threat of recession from the Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, Bush argued that such a tax cut would stimulate the economy and create jobs. Others, including the Treasury Secretary at the time Paul O’Neill, were opposed to some of the tax cuts on the basis that they would contribute to budget deficits and undermine Social Security. (What a great prediction that came true. Who Knew?!?!?)

Below is Engineer of Knowledge’s 2010 evaluation of this action.

George W. Bush’s “Economic Stimulus” Plan

Q. What was an “Economic Stimulus” payment?
A. It is money that the federal government sent to taxpayers.

Q. Where did the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers.

Q. So the George W. Bush government gave back your own money?
A. Only a smidgen of it, Vice President Dick Cheney got the rest.

Q. What was the purpose of this payment?
A. The plan was for you to use the money to purchase a high definition TV sets, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China?
A. Shut up Smart Ass.

Below was the George W. Bush’s helpful advice on how to best help the U.S. economy by spending the stimulus check wisely:

* If you spent the stimulus money at Wal-Mart, the money went to China or Sri Lanka .
* If you spent it on gasoline, your money went to the Arabs.
* If you purchased a computer, it went to India , Taiwan or China .
* If you purchased fruit and vegetables, it went to Mexico , Honduras and Guatemala .
* If you bought an efficient car, it went to Japan or Korea .
* If you purchased useless stuff, it went to Taiwan .
* If you paid your credit cards off, or bought stock, it went to management bonuses where they would just hide it offshore.

Instead, you could have kept the money in America by:
1) Spending it at yard sales.
2) Going to ball games, preferably the Texas Rangers
3) Spending it on prostitutes like Bush did in his drunken, cocaine youth.
4) Beer….Lots and Lots of Beer like Bush did as a drunk!!
5) Tattoos
(These are the only American businesses still operating in the U.S.)

Conclusion:
If you went to a ball game with a tattooed prostitute that you met at a yard sale and drank beer all day, you were a True Patriotic American….Just like President George W. Bush!

Moderate Republicans Speak Out Against The Tea Party Conservatives

2010-07-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

National Candidates Backed by the Tea Party Movement Have Had Damaging Results

The more intelligent and responsible Moderate Republicans have voiced concerns that the Tea Party has only inadvertently hurt the GOP. A quote from within the Republican Party, "With the Tea Party creating the mischief like that currently in Colorado, we may not win any seats. At the moment there is not a cohesive Republican strategy of what we're going to do, and certainly among the Tea Party types, there's clearly no strategy of what we're going to do."

Many of the Tea Party’s favorites have failed to secure key nominations. The California Senate hopeful Chuck DeVore lost to businesswoman Carly Fiorina; Doug Hoffman lost in the New York House special election despite Sarah Palin’s backing; and Idaho Congressional candidate Vaughn Ward lost the Republican primary even though he too nabbed Palin's endorsement.

The Tea Party’s efforts have only backfired on the Republicans. Sen. Bob Bennett, the three-term senator from Utah, lost his re-election bid. The chances are that now this seat could very easily go to the Democrats.

But Tea Party supporters mindlessly say that the discord in the movement is its strength, not a weakness.

"It's designed to be fragmented. That's the difference between the Tea Party and the political elite," said Shelby Blakely, a spokeswoman for Tea Party Patriots, a national group that provides support to local Tea Party organizations.
The differences of opinion are "mathematically impossible to avoid and we actually don't want to," Blakely said. "We are working towards a common goal and when it comes down to the wire, we unite and we become a rather larger force of people who can donate millions of man hours and resources to the right candidates, to the right issue, the right legislation. We've proven that." (?!?!You are loosing elections right and left and Shelby Blakely is claiming success?!?!?!?)

Many candidates who really don’t have a chance of winning are exploiting the popular grassroots momentum of the Tea Party, but the question is, “How long that allegiance will remain.” In Massachusetts, the Tea Party helped Sen. Scott Brown win an upset victory over Democrat Martha Coakley for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's Senate seat. The Tea Party Express released an ad extolling the virtues of Brown, and the Our Country Deserves Better PAC poured money into his campaign. He was hailed by many as the first official Tea Party victory, even though Brown distanced himself from the movement instantly. But Brown's decision to side with the Democrats on Wall Street reform outraged Tea Party members, leading many to call him a traitor but the reality was that Brown is a Moderate Republican and the Tea Party claimed his victory after the fact.

Americans' view toward the Tea Party is divided. 30% said they are more likely to support a candidate who is associated with the Tea Party political movement, while 30% percent said they are less likely to. So I guess the balance of the 40% just consider the Tea Party is just BATSHIT CRAZY!

The next test of Tea Party's mettle is in Georgia, where on July 20, Palin-endorsed Karen Handel will face off against former Rep. Nathan Deal for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. My predictions are, the Tea Party will just manage to convert this election into another Three Ring Cluster F*#k!!! This is the only true measure!!!

NAACP Passes Anti-racism Tea Party Resolution

2010-07-14T06:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon the NAACP passed a resolution calling on all people to condemn racism within the tea party movement. The NAACP’s resolution urge people to oppose what it said were the tea party’s drive “to push our country back to the pre-civil rights era.”

Anita Russell who is head of the Kansas City branch said as the debate on the resolution began, “We feel it’s very important that we educate our membership about the Tea Party.”

The resolution demands that the Tea Party purge itself of the racist element that has been allowed to hide behind the Tea Party’s veil but none the less is there. The element that is seen so often holding up signs displaying President Obama as a monkey, signs that prominently have the “N” word on it, and yes even spitting on and using racial slurs right on the Nation’s Capital Steps.

The NAACP plans a march to Washington D.C. to protest, confront the Tea Party followers, and make America aware who many of the Tea Party members really are.

America’s First Family of Dysfunction Does It Again

2010-07-14T06:27:00.001-07:00

Yes America’s Favorite Trailer Trash Couple Bristol Palin and her ex-fiancé and now fiancé once again, Levi Johnston, are announcing yet once again that they are engaged. It's been a tumultuous couple of years for the Palins and Johnstons but she says the two are looking to change all that, and possibly in a very big way.

Following his recent public apology, in which he conveniently admits he "said things about the Palins that were not completely true," Bristol, 19, announced their engagement in the most proper Emily Post TABLOID fashion of how to put forth your announcement in PEOPLE magazine’s new issue, "I forgive him for what he did. He was young, mad, misguided. We're moving on."

Amid reports that the two are planning to tie the knot – a move they reputedly have yet to run by her parents – Bristol, who did not wear an engagement ring during her conversation with PEOPLE, replied to the question of if they would marry: "Yeah. I mean, I don't really want to get into detail about what's in store for our future, because who knows? But all I'd like to say about it is, hopefully we will be a family."

As for how they managed to bury the hatchet after their very public falling out, Bristol credits Levi's "just coming around. But, I don't know. It's good. It's good for all three of us, including their son, Tripp Easton.

Looking back, Bristol believes that if fame, money and her mom Sarah Palin's vice presidential campaign had not become part of her and Levi's lives, the ex-couple would already be happy living a simple life.

"I think Levi and I would be married," she says without hesitation. "He would still have his oil industry job on the North Slope, and we'd be in a one-bedroom apartment, scraping by."

Bristol, who says all of her friends have gone out of state, has no plans to follow them. "Levi and I are both Alaska based, and I don't see us moving anywhere else."

Of course this is not the last we are going to hear from these two. I am sure there will be a whole SPECIAL PROGRAM when they appear on Steve Wilko's TV show.