Gridlock on Rye

HAVE MERCY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

2008-12-01T18:36:00.003-05:00

(i originally posted in 2004 on livejournal. much of which remains true today)

dear shoppers

the holiday time of the year has come upon us again. black friday is just around the corner and the most gleeful exchange of gifts is only a few short weeks away. most major retail venues have hoisted the cheery holiday swag, pumped the requisite holiday tunes into their sound systems, and have begun the traditional bombardment of holiday sales.

as you head off into the wonderful world of mass holiday merchandising to seek out those oh-so-perfect gifts that express all the feelings that you've kept pent up throughout the year, please remember this one thing: the customer service sales associate standing before you hates having to work during the holiday season just as much as you hate particpating in the rabid shopping frenzy.

so please:

* do not knock ALL of the clothes or toys off aisle tables- its not a game of see how long it takes for the associate to REDO the damn table. yes, you can navigate AROUND the tables without leaving a path of unholy destruction in your wake

* do not wander around shopping 30- 90 minutes AFTER closing time--- if you havent found what you're looking for by closing- THEN YOU WILL NOT FIND IT. get out! go home! let us poor associates go!!!! we want to go home too!!! because believe it or not, we are not allowed to leave the store until after the last shopper leaves. SO GO HOME

* do not leave your foul 300 ounce big swigs laden with saliva, lipstick, food stains, and children grime on counters, on clothing tables, in changing rooms or on floors--- and please don't expect us to put them in our trash bins--- we do not want your disgusting germs anywhere near us. go find a trash recepticle out in the mall that is far far far away from us.

* DO NOT PEE in dressing rooms (yes, it happens- but we prefer you pee in the restrooms-- you sick dirty bastards)

* do not VOMIT in dressing rooms (go home if you are that ill)

* give up on the GIFT RECEIPTS-- that only wastes register tape, wastes time-- and dammit- whatever happened to the old days when gift giving was about saying "Thank you" and lumping what you got rather than being about "Oh, it doesn't matter- If he/she doesn't like it then they can return it." ---this sort of mentality is what contributes to our throw-away society, it tells gift recipients that you really don't care if they like what you are getting them, and it also says that you really don't care to spend enough time with a person to determine what they like or dont like. and for you hard-to-shop for idiots--- stop being so damn picky, show your appreciation and love by accepting the gift and appreciating that someone made the effort at all--- remember for every gift you turn your nose at because it isn't perfect, there is someone out there in this world not getting any gift at all nor is spending any time with any loved one--- you should be grateful not picky or petty or obnoxious. Tell your kids/nephews/neices/cousins/etc. to SUCK IT UP... Christmas isnt about getting the perfect gift- its about being together. So wear the damn kitten sweater and get the hell out! OR GIVE GIFT FRIKKIN CARDS bastards

* and, yes- KEEP ALL OF YOUR DAMN RECEIPTS. if you aren't organized enough to keep the receipts of the things you purchase, then perhaps you should consider alternative gift giving ideas- like crafting homemade gifts such as ashtrays constructed of gum wrappers, paper mache and rubber cement. the more handmade it looks the more it looks like you care.

* and don't come back in March trying to return your damn christmas presents!

* and don't come back after you've worn your christmas presents looking to return them for cash refunds.

On a serious note:

INSIST that the associate taking your check or credit card is checking your identification. Even if your debit/credit card has your photo on the card. The more you make it clear to associates that you want them to verify i.d. the more associates will be forced to learn to do so.

For those of you who get insulted by being asked for your i.d.- get over it. I will ask for your i.d. I always ask for your i.d. I don't care that you've shopped my store for 20 years, have had the store's credit card for 10 years, or just used your card/check in another department 5 minutes ago, and say, "no one's ever asked for my i.d. before." I don't care. Have it ready- and make certain that it matches the name on your card/check, and make certain that it is current and NOT expired.

And anyone working in any industry that involves the exchange of payment for goods or services- Subway, McDonalds, Walmart, Target, JCPenney, Sears, Hallmark Cards--- doesn't matter where you work. You should ALWAYS check id, and never be afraid to refuse expired i.d. or question i.d. that looks fake or notify your managers when you suspect fraud.

thank you for taking the time to read this public service announcement. as always, shop safely, shop happily, and shop early.

That's it, I'm done. Putting the soap box away for now.

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Have Mercy This Holiday Season Part 2

2008-12-01T18:36:00.001-05:00

First, I blame Wal-Mart. They are responsible and they will undoubtedly have a big lawsuit resulting from this that will not bring their former temporary employee back to life.

Second, there was a new report out today by the police reviewing the case. After watching the tape, they think that the employee, working as a security guard, was trying to help/save a pregnant woman, whom I believe also went to the hospital after the trampling. He was not only a victim, but a hero.

Third, if you are multiple months pregnant and you go to wal-mart at 4am on black friday, you have your priorities mixed up. I see this as a sign of the times and many things that are wrong with all of us these days.

Fourth, Wal-mart hyped this event and has hyped it for a number of years. Just like that Whitesnake or Great White concert where hundreds of people were burned to death, Wal-mart is responsible. It happened on their property, was incited by their advertising, and happened due to their lack of planning from hiring additional security, taking proper measures to insure that the doors did not fall off the hinges, even making something like a 'roped off' line into the store. Wal-Mart will deserve what it gets during this one.

Fifth, the people suffering from affluenza that actually bought something from that Wal-Mart that day, have blood on their hands. They may not have laid a hand or foot on the guard that died, but cumulatively they were each part of the problem.

Sixth, all people that went shopping on black friday are suffering from a disease. I call it affluenza, some people call it consumerism. This is not the time to spend money ridiculously on spending sprees focused in the month of december. If you want to do your family some good for the holidays, don't go buy them some mass produced crap and call it a christmas present.

Seventh, I'm not trying to say that I am above any of this. I didn't shop on black friday, but like almost all of you reading this (you bought a computer didn't you?) we are all addicts. The first step is to recognize the problem, the nature and form of the addiction. Then you have to do something about it.

Eighth, so do something about it already. Share this with someone, share it with everyone, help the people around you wake up and realize that all of this wasted time spent shopping is not helping our economy but hurting it. Its not helping our families, its harming them.

In the meantimes, happy holidays, and I hope you live to see the new year. You might just stand a better chance if you avoid big sales!

http://something-about-harry.com/

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Have Mercy This Holiday Season Part 2

2008-12-01T18:35:00.001-05:00

I posted previously a rant/plea that I had originally concocted several years ago when I was a mere department store sales associate trying to survive the holiday season. With the new top story being the trampling death of a Walmart employee on Black Friday morning, at a suburban mall in NY State (20 miles east of Manhattan).

Its sad to think that I will have to amend the list of pleas to include: "Please don't trample the employees to death."

I mean seriously people- was it worth it? Jdimytai Damour was a real person trying to do his job- did this man have family? Is there now a child who will be spending Christmas without his father? A grandmother missing a grandson? And for what end? So you could get a dvd player for 25 bucks?

"Other workers were knocked to the ground as they tried to rescue Damour, and customers simply stepped over him and kept shopping even as the store announced it was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said." - What must the announcement over the PA system have sounded like?

"WalMart will be closing in 10 minutes because you selfish people trampled an employee to death. We will reopen after his carcass has been removed from the premises- for you that wish to continue shopping despite this horrific event, please note that paper towels on aisle 25 are on sale for 600 rolls for 25 cents."

I guess it was only a matter of time before someone got killed because of some kind of shopping catastrophe on Black Friday. Each year there seems to be one story thats even worse than those that came from the year before. Frankly, I think its plain awful that people behave in this manner.

I don't just blame the shoppers who buy into this annual mania, but also the stores who build and feed the frenzy. Each year opening an earlier than they opened the year before, encouraging long lines to camp-out for HOURS prior to opening. Having the "REALLY GOOD" discounts only during the first hour or two then dropping all the sale discounts back to normal levels for the rest of the day. Here's an idea- open your NORMAL frikkin hours, have Normal to REALLY GOOD discounts ALL DAY long- get more customers in the store ALL DAY long- perhaps sell MORE and make MORE MONEY withOUT getting anyone killed?

OK. Done with this rant for now.

Final note: To the family and friends of Jdimytai Damour, and the other people who were injured either trying to save him or just trying to survive the crush in general- my heart goes out to you all.

Url to article (one of many):

http://www.startribune.com/…01214.html

Url to my previous post:

http://www.utterli.com/…ODA0MDU3OA

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Man Is Pregnant for Second Time-New Normal?

2008-11-13T14:56:00.001-05:00

What do you think of this story presented by Barbara Walters on 20/20 about a man that is not only pregnant, but pregnant for the second time?

He successfully gave birth to a little girl last spring after being in labor for 40 hours. He did NOT have a caesarian, it was a natural child birth.

Now he is pregnant again.

Link to story

http://abcnews.go.com/…alth/story

These last few days since the election I have seen many many people showing their strong support for gay rights. Prop 8 in California has proven to be a lightning rod in that it ultimately and decisively showed Americans as bigots just at the moment in time when we were crooning over our ability to show our selves as not being racists by electing Barack Obama. Its hard to rejoice over a victory at the hands of a defeat.

Yet this story about a pregnant man pushes the envelope and the bounds of our societies perceptions, taboos, gender roles and much more.

Are we headed to a society where anyone man or woman can become pregnant, carry a baby to term and deliver a baby successfully?

Are we heading to a society where anyone can marry anyone else and in any number or combination?

Do we really need to maintain societal norms of 1 man for 1 woman no matter what?

We've seen divorce enter societal acceptance, witnessed trans racial marriages, witnessed trans ethnic marriages, witnessed arranged marriages, witnessed poligamy and bigamy and monogamy is this particular story all that different? Or is it just another step in our journey?

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CNN Projects too

2008-11-04T23:04:00.001-05:00

Congrats Barack

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Campaigning at the Polling Place

2008-11-04T13:22:00.001-05:00

They were much closer than I would have like to have seen. No one there representing the presidential candidates though and there was a police officer to keep order.

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Early Voters DC

2008-11-04T12:39:00.001-05:00

This is another angle of the voters lining up to get into the church next door to my office.

This was taken at 8:30 this morning.

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In line at my polling place

2008-11-04T12:31:00.001-05:00

They say it's about an hour and a half wait from where I am in line. Not bad. Plus the weather is really nice today - great to be outside!

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I voted

2008-11-04T12:23:00.001-05:00

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Voters on Election Day

2008-11-04T12:15:00.001-05:00

It's Election Day in York County, and voters are telling us what they think.

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Voter preparation

2008-11-04T06:56:00.001-05:00

So first I woke up about 7:12 am after crashing at 1:12 am last night. I donned my hacker safe t-shirt and my charlie brown sweater as symbols of what I hope to avoid today.

As I write this, I am emptying my flash cards from my cameras. Then I'm going to run by the gas station and by several coke zeros before heading to the polls.

I'm packing 2 digital cameras, a cam corder, my aircard, laptop, voice recorder and xshot photostick.

I'm brushing my teeth while I type and I still need to shave, but then I'll be ready to go. The kids are staying home with their grandfather (long time non voter in protest). My wife voted a couple days ago after waiting in early voting lines for a couple hours. I'm betting lines will be short after early morning workers clear out of the way.

I have no idea who I will vote for. I am unlikely to vote for John McCain. I'm leaning towards voting for Bob Barr to continue supporting Libertarians and 3rd parties, or possibly Barack Obama, who still even on the day of the election reminds me of George W Bush in the way he panders to his base.

I've ruled out John McCain because he just does not seem to be the leader I thought he was in the 90's. So, who knows. :)

Guess its a crap shoot for me this year. I'd like to see the country to come together and I'd like to see the energy policy that Obama promises, but given his background in politics, I seriously doubt that he will do it.....

We'll see, and I'll let you know.

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We're Off to Oust the Wizard

2008-11-04T00:28:00.001-05:00

I got this one from my brother. I had a very cute reply for him, but I'm not going to share it with this group. I'm tired of debate.

Source unknown

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Ron Howard, The Fonz, & Andy G on Obama

2008-10-23T22:50:00.001-05:00

Over the last couple of weeks several conversations have popped up here talking about Fonzie Jumping the Shark and Happy Days and various events (usually around the crappy plot twists on Heroes).

Well tonight I was reading the associated press and heard about this video that Ron Howard, Henry Winkler and Andy Griffith made to inspire people to get out and vote for Obama.

I'm not sure that the video would sway me one way or another, but it does make me nostalgic for happier days...

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Sarah Palin and First Dude Todd Palin on Saturday Night Live

2008-10-19T14:28:00.001-05:00

Last night not one but two Palins showed up to have fun and mock their public personas on Saturday Night Live. It was a riot of a show with a little funny in it for people of any political stripe (assuming they find the antics of Democrats and Republicans and their complete failings funny). If you haven’t already caught this show, the best clips are below (normally the show is a real dog, but the Mark Wahlberg clip and the Suzie Orman skits were pretty funny as well)

Another Market Crash

2008-10-15T15:31:00.001-05:00

Well we just saw the market drop 750 points at the end of the day again. Mostly due to the wake up call that 1 retail sales for September sucked(technical term for sales Uber crappy Keynsian economic depression), the Federal Reserve saw a slow down in all 12 regions, and surprise surprise people are realizing that the bailout will not fix the credit market any time soon.

Oh and people are paying the government when they loan the government money in tbills.

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John Cleese on Sarah Palin ‘Monty Python Couldn’t Have Written This’

2008-10-15T02:14:00.001-05:00

John Cleese stated that ‘Monty Python couldn’t have written this’ referring to the story of John McCain choosing Sarah Palin. Well, John Cleese is wrong. It would appear that Monty Python did write this!

del.icio.us tags: John Cleese on Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin, politics

Technorati tags: John Cleese on Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin, politics

"No Banker Left Behind Act"

2008-10-01T12:55:00.001-05:00

Here is a copy of an email that I received from my good friends at VoteToImpeach.org . . .

You have to love their spin on this headling. :)

Call the Senate Today

Stop Bush's "No Banker Left Behind Act"

Having suffered a stunning defeat of their "Grand Theft Bailout" Bill on Monday, the Bush Administration, the banks and Wall Street are now coming back for their second try. They are used to directing the affairs of the country regardless of the will of the people. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote tonight, Wednesday evening, in favor of a nearly identical version. This is intended to force the House of Representatives to do the same when they return tomorrow, Thursday.

You can call the Capitol Switchboard at 800-473-6711 or 202-224-3121 to ask to be transferred to the offices of the Senators from your state.

Bush's "No Banker Left Behind Act" was defeated because of overwhelming public opposition. But now the politicians have come up with an easy answer. In an unprecedented step, Congress is virtually shutting down its incoming constituent email. They are installing the digital version of riot police, protecting the politicians from an enraged population that demands to be heard. Congress has acknowledged that it is receiving millions of emails from the people of the United States, all opposing this theft of $700 billion to be handed to the richest bankers. People who try to send emails are likely to receive error messages and their emails will not go through during "peak hours." Congress claims that this is a response to the overwhelming emails to keep their server from crashing; however, their server did not crash during the time they were receiving the most emails and they quietly instituted this program late Tuesday afternoon.

The U.S. Senate - this country's version of the House of Lords - is returning to do the work of the White House in league with the biggest bankers. Known as "millionaires club" because of the elite status of its members, the U.S. senate is playing the same role that the King's House of Lords played in earlier times in British history, a political barrier created to protect the aristocracy from the wrath of the people.

VoteNoBailout.org is urging all of its members and supporters to call Congress, to email them at "off peak" hours, and to come directly to the U.S. Capitol on Thursday morning at 10 am so our voices can be heard at the People's Demonstration/Speakout. Congress can run but they can't hide from the wrath of the people. We won't let them.

Thursday's demonstration will take place at 10 am on the South side of the Capitol at Independence Ave. and New Jersey Avenues SE. For more information, see below or go to VoteNoBailout.org.

You can call the Capitol Switchboard at 800-473-6711 or 202-224-3121 to ask to be transferred to the offices of the Senators from your state.

Demonstration at

the Capitol Building

Thursday, October 2

10:00 am

Independence and New Jersey Ave. SE

South Side of the Capitol

Washington, D.C.

Initiated by VoteNoBailout.org, supported by the ANSWER Coalition and ImpeachBush

These guys do some good work and I'm republishing this on several of my own sites including:

http://nomoreincumbents.org/blog/

http://gridlock-on-rye.blogspot.com/

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Bob Barr on the Bailout

2008-10-01T12:47:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch for the video page.

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Treasury Secretary Paulson – The Wrong Man to Save Us

2008-10-01T12:32:00.001-05:00

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Today I'm watching the news, and I've been paying attention to just how much a success Congress may have as it attempts to pass this new bailout package. This time, the bailout is going to be reviewed and and possibly approved by the Senate after the House failed to approve it just a couple of days ago. I personally have very little confidence in Secretary of Treasury, Paulson and his material handling ability to manage this financial crisis, and especially to manage $700 billion of taxpayers money. So from that perspective, I'm not terribly impressed with the bailout nor with Congress if they continue to attempt to work from a framework provided to them by Sec. of Treasury Paulson, he is the wrong person for the job and I think he needs to be replaced.

Technorati tags: paulson, treasury, bailout, finance, politics, recession, depression

del.icio.us tags: paulson, treasury, bailout, finance, politics, recession, depression

Why I'm Against the Bailout

2008-09-29T15:52:00.001-05:00

Last week, my mom sent me an email that started with the sentence: "Would we be better or worse off if there was no bailout of these banks?"

I was going to just answer her question right there, but then I realized my answer would make for a great blog post. So, here you go, Mom! Sorry it took so long, but I got a little distracted with the news lately. :)

By the screencap above, you might think we'd be better off if the bailout went through. The Dow dropped more than 500 points by closing today in reaction to the bailout bill not passing the House.

If the bailout did go through, we'd see banking begin to return to normal--loans could be given again, loads of people would still have jobs, and both the USG and Wall Street would save tremendous face (after all, it was the two bodies in concert who is responsible for this mess).

Of course, those are just the good things that would happen. There would be bad things, too, that our leaders aren't really going into.

Most importantly, in my mind, if the government really decides to spend $700 billion (about the price we've paid in Iraq so far), the negative impact could be pretty far reaching--especially on one part of our economy that no one likes to *really* talk about.

We have a problem in our culture--no one really likes to talk about the "i" word.

No, not impeachment.

Well, they don't like to talk about that either, but Americans seem even more loathe to use the other "i" word, inflation.

I'm kind of a broken record when it comes to inflation. I explained my view of it in a recent blog post here: http://thepete.com/…ed-economy

Suffice it to say, when $700 billion gets injected into our economy, it will be a lot of new money floating around. When you increase the supply of money, the existing money drops in value (as dictated by the law of "Supply and Demand"). When the bailout goes through, it'll send the dollar's value plummeting.

That's what can really make for a weak economy, BTW. A weak dollar.

So, in the end, sure, a bailout is going to keep our lives more or less like they are now. We'll be able to borrow again and bankers will keep their jobs and life will be grand until the real meaning of "trickle-down economics" is learned--when the lost-value of the dollar trickles down from the rich (who will use the new money first) to the poor (who will only see the benefits of that new money once the value of their own money drops--it's a little abstract, my apologies).

Another thing any bailout will fail to do is guarantee this won't happen again. We are all familiar with the Great Depression and the stock market crash that preceded it. Was there a bailout then? I don't know.

Regardless, we, as a country, survived the Great Depression and I'm sure America will survive this, whether we have the bailout or not.

So, why does it matter? It matters because the bailout lets people get away with breaking the rules. Hell, the bailout itself is breaking the rules of the free market.

I'm no free-marketeer, but the way I look at it, if you're going to bother to make rules, you should bother to follow them. If you don't want to bother to follow them, then change them and follow the new ones.

Breaking your own rules just makes you look unprofessional.

I'll post more about rule breaking tomorrow...

...assuming I don't get distracted by the news again. :\

Tomorrow's post on the rules will also involve socialism vs. capitalism, conservatives vs. liberals, and probably even McCain vs. Obama, if I can get really creative.

So:

Bailout = good in the short term (status quo, status quoed)

Bailout = bad in the long term (inflates inflation, weakens our overall economy and our individual power to buy stuff, doesn't prevent another economic explosion, also lets bad guys get away with it)

Well, Mom? I hope that answers your question.

Either way, we're in for a world of hurt. Luckily, most of us are broke, so we won't feel it as much as the rich folks panicking right now (though we may have trouble buying things that are about to get more expensive).

For all the folks on Utterli who got notified about this post, I hope you don't mind! I hardly ever notify everyone I've friended about posts, so hopefully you'll forgive me if you're not interested in this post.

Also, I'd love to hear what anyone reading this thinks. I really want to learn more about our money and how it works. I'm really nervous that it's really as simple and truly as messed up as it looks.

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CNN Calls Bush a High Functioning Moron

2008-09-25T21:50:00.001-05:00

Paul Begala on Anderson Cooper 360 just called President Bush a high functioning moron on CNN. No one refuted him.

You can bet that the phones are ringing off the hook at McDonalds as high functioning morons across the nation attempt to call CNN to complain about that insult!

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John McCain Self Destructed By David Letterman

2008-09-24T23:44:00.001-05:00

Pay Off All of our Credit Cards

2008-09-24T17:14:00.001-05:00

In February the total US Credit Card debt was $790 billion.

http://www.voanews.com/…6-voa1.cfm

If Congress just rounded up to $800 billion, they could pay off everyone's credit card debt tomorrow.

I think that would go a long way towards making it possible for people to keep up with their mortgages, and stimulating the economy.

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Right Wing Newspaper Zeroes in on Obama

2008-09-18T00:57:00.001-05:00

I realize that this article is from a Right Wing paper, but I think they actually capture one of Obama's flaws.

What do you think?

see San Francisco Chrnoicle Article 'Saint Obama comes down to earth' - http://www.sfgate.com/…rticle.cgi

" On campaign-finance reform, FISA, NAFTA, abortion, capital punishment, guns, Iran, Iraq, the surge and drilling offshore, Obama has fudged on his earlier positions in the normal way of savvy pragmatists - but not in a manner befitting angelic idealists.

The new Obama probably will recover his temporary setback in the polls. But right now his problem is that disappointed independent voters are catching on that this saintly savior is all too human."

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Executive Crayon Tax Plans from Obama/McCain

2008-09-13T13:35:00.001-05:00

As I hop over to Obama's web site to review his 'tax plan' I am struck by the lack of a tax plan. :)

http://www.barackobama.com/…s/economy/

He has a number of bullet points about things that he will give to people in the form of cash back rebates, new deductions or tax credits or investments in special projects, but I do not see an actual tax plan.

As a poor schmuck, and accountant with a Master's in Taxation, I see Obama's page of giveaways, as a bit of a grab bag, that gives a little of this and a little of that to a lot of people.

Consider that Bush was loudly pounced upon by Democrats for spending about $150 billion to stimulate the economy with tax rebates not so long ago. It would appear that Obama wants to do basically the same thing.

That's nice of him to want to give away some of the Government's money, but I've got a news flash for Obama.

We have a $9 trillion debt, and that was the price BEFORE the fed spent close to a trillion dollars last week bailing out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Obama can give away all the cash or dollars he likes, but the truth is that if the government keeps giving away money that it doesn't have and printing more, well that money isn't going to be worth the dead trees its printed on.

Now, I'm not saying John McCain's plan is any better or worse (his focuses on a small handful of tax decreases as opposed to cash back give aways.

http://www.johnmccain.com/…/taxes.htm

I do also realize that neither of these candidates is the sharpest knife in the rack when it comes to the economy. Neither of them have hardly any experience working with economic matters. I think this lack of economic wisdom is reflected in both Obama and McCain's website (despite the conventional wisdom that they will hire 'smart' people to consult with, which doesn't seem to have happened).

Obama's tax plan page is basically a pandering central page. If you can't find a promise on that page that appeals to you, then you just aren't scrolling far enough.

McCain's tax plan page reflects McCain's own simplistic un-understanding of the economy. It doesn't pander to everyone under the sun, but does throw out 3 or 4 standards in tax cut dogma. He's not really pandering, he's not really simplifying the tax code either, just making small modifications.

Neither candidate seems to really be helping Americans or the economy with their 'plans'. If these plans weren't printed up on fancy internet websites, I'd swear they were written with white board marker (executive crayons) and thrown up haphazardly just to put 'something' on each respective website.

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Surprise! Bush is Bringing Osama to Dinner

2008-09-12T13:15:00.001-05:00

There have been a ton of things the news of the last couple of days, and so it could be very possible that many people of miss the story that's taking place in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

George W. Bush has changed the rules of engagement for the military, enabling them to fire upon targets across the border in Pakistan from Afghanistan without having to be first provoked or attacked. Several cross-border incursions, and missile attacks have been taking place since this change in the rules of engagement.

Why the sudden ramp up in attacks?

It sure isn't because we are getting along with Pakistan better these days. Pakistan just elected a new president, who ran on a platform espousing the notion that the United States should not cross the Pakistan border. The president of Pakistan has been very blunt in stating that the US should not attack anyone on on its own soil. They feel that they are cooperating enough with us and there should not be a need for the United States troops do this. Typically, the Pakistani government has not wanted to inflame instability in its own country by upsetting its people with US foreign troops on the ground.

So why are we risking the stability of one of our allies, and potentially upsetting that Ally at the same time?

All politics are local, and in our US local politics we are running into a presidential election. George W. Bush needs John McCain to win, if there is any hope that George's own place in history might be salvaged from ruin. The primary thing that George Bush could do to potentially save his own image, and possibly secured John McCain's place in the White House, would be to produce Osama bin Laden before the election.

As we consider that potential, and witness the change in the rules of engagement, and the increase in attacks on US soldiers on people across the border in Pakistan, have a strong suspicion that the US is finally making a strong attempt to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. Maybe they've been waiting for the perfect moment, maybe they've been waiting for political reasons, maybe they just got some information that could even be false hoping to ensnare Bush in a trap knowing Bush's own motives that I stated above.

I'm not sure what the answer to this is but we could be witnessing the October surprise unfolding right now in September.

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You can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig

2008-09-10T12:45:00.002-05:00

Look let's face it. Obama is an idiot.

There I said it, its out in the open. He's not an elitist savant, he's a freakin' moron.

Michelle needs to take him home tonight and smack him upside his stupid head a couple times.

Why is he stupid?

1. He didn't pick Hillary. Anyone could see a mile away that McCain was considering a female VP all year long.

2. He didn't pick Hillary. Hello, Obama, is there anyone in there. Hey you moron, if you made it past point 1 above, change your mind and pick Hillary. Otherwise you are going to lose!

3. He didn't pick Hillary. Hey, OK, look Obama you are driving straight into a train wreck. Let me mention a few names to you and see if you see in commonality between them and yourself (hint Republicans do, you all have the same weakness) Carter(80), Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, & Kerry (hint hint hint They let Republicans tear them apart with stupid shit and they would never defend themselves. Stupid or not Americans want leaders that will go to the mattresses to defend them (the people) against stupid shit. Shit rolls down hill and Americans don't like to be at the bottom of the hill. If you can't show them that you can build a retaining wall to block an avalanche of turds, they won't vote for you.

4. OK, let's face the facts. Palin made a joke that is now famous during the convention. she said 'you know what the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is? . . . . . Lipstick' So anytime anyone mentions lipstick in reference to politics, it is now a reference back to Palin. Palin told the world, I am a woman, I wear lipstick, deal with it or I will take a hockey stick and beat you across the head with it. When Obama paints the picture of putting lipstick on a pig (very old political reference that just got twisted like a pigs tail), everyone in the country that heard Palin's hockey mom joke, makes the inside joke reference to Sarah Palin. Obama stuck his stupid foot in his mouth, if he's not smart enough to realize that and more importantly DEAL with it, he is going to lose this race and go down in history as one of the dumbest candidates ever, first to NOT pick Hillary (hindsight is 20/20 that's Obama's problem not historians problem) and second for not jumping up and performing damage control to surgically remove his stupid foot from his stupid mouth. THEN he needs to grab himself by the ear, and yell in that big ol' ear, "Hey Barry! You are saying some stupid shit and walking into some easily avoided Republican snares. Get your shit together and play like you remember how to win."

Glad I'm still undecided btw. :) Obama might as well have volunteers passing out promotional items on street corners like those guys in Las Vegas that hand out adult trading cards, for all the good its going to do him, if he continues to run his campaign like a fool.

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Movement to Get Congress to Start Working on Immigration Problems Again

2008-09-08T18:11:00.002-05:00

It is true that we have many problems to confront in the United States today. That said, you can bet that when Congress sees a lot of balls thrown into the air that need some juggling, Congress will run away first and go on vacation. Well, immigration issues still confront the United States and we need reform now to encourage legal immigration and stop or discourage illegal immigration. Most people think of immigration issues and think about protecting American jobs in business, but they don't always consider some of the other problems involved with illegal immigration that harm both citizens of the US and illegal immigrants and their children.

Illegal Immigration has Many Dangers and Causes many problems

Population growth

Population growth which exceeds the carrying capacity of an area or environment results in overpopulation.[21] Spikes in human population can cause problems such as pollution, water crisis[22][23] and poverty.[24][25] World population has grown from 1.6 billion in 1900 to an estimated 6.6 billion today. In Mexico alone, population has grown from 13.6 million in 1900 to 107 million in 2007.[26]

In 2000, the United Nations estimated that the world's population was growing at the rate of 1.14% (or about 75 million people) per year. According to data from the CIA's 2005–2006 World Factbooks, the world human population currently increases by 203,800 every day.[27] The United States Census Bureau issued a revised forecast for world population that increased its projection for the year 2050 to above 9.4 billion people, up from 9.1 billion people. We are adding a billion more every 12 years. Almost all growth will take place in the less developed regions.[28]

Dangers

As with any illicit activity, illegal immigrants expose themselves to dangers while engaged in illegal entry to another country. Aside from the possibility that they may be intercepted and deported, some considerably more dangerous outcomes have been known to result from their activity. As an example, illegal immigrants may been trafficked for exploitation.

Slavery

After the end of the legal international slave trade by the European nations and the United States in the early 19th century, the illegal importation of slaves has continued, albeit at much reduced levels. Although not as common as in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, some women are undoubtedly smuggled into the United States and Canada.[29]

People been kidnapped or tricked into slavery to work as laborers, for example in factories. Those trafficked in this manner often face additional barriers to escaping slavery, since their status as illegal immigrants makes it difficult for them to gain access to help or services. For example Burmese women trafficked into Thailand and forced to work in factories or as prostitutes may not speak the language and may be vulnerable to abuse by police due to their illegal immigrant status.[30] In the Dominican Republic, Haitian migrant workers are sold into slavery on Dominican Sugar plantations, including children.[31][32]

Prostitution

The so-called "white slave trade" referred to the smuggling of women, almost always under duress or fraud, for the purpose of forced prostitution. Now more generically called "sexual slavery" it continues to be a problem, particularly in Eastern Europe and the Middle East,[33][34][35] though there has been an increase in the number of cases in the U.S.[6] Some Haitian children have allegedly been forced to work as prostitutes in the Dominican sexual tourism industry.[36] Currently the Dominican sex trade ranks third in the world, only behind Thailand and the Philippines.[37]

Rape

The possibility of being raped has become a problem for some women illegally entering another country. “After the coyotes get the women across the [U.S.-Mexico] border, safely on U.S. soil, they gang rape them to show they have total control over them. They hang their panties in the trees as signs of the conquest. . . If the women are young and pretty, they are kept in houses of prostitution where they have to have their families buy them out or work their way out. Of course, none will testify to this because the coyotes know where they are from and can seek revenge on their families in Mexico."[citation needed]

Death

Allegations have been made that thousands of illegal immigrants attempting to reach Europe have died since 1986.

In order to arrive to the sea, the dangerous passage of the Sahara is necessary. People have crossed it on trucks and off-road vehicles along the tracks between Sudan, Chad, Niger and Mali one one side and Libya and Algeria on the other. On this passage at least 1,069 people have died since 1996. The Libyan, Algerian and Morocan Governments have been accused of abandoning hundreds of migrants in open desert border areas.

Abuse has been reported of migrants in Libya. There are not any official data, but in 2006 Human Rights Watch and AFVIC accused Tripoli of arbitrary arrests, beatings and tortures in the migrant detention centers,[citation needed] In September 2000 in Zawiyah, in northwest Libya, at least 560 foreigners were killed in racist attacks.[citation needed]

247 stowaways in trucks were found dead in Albania, France, Germany, Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Hungary.

There are still minefields along the Evros river between the Greece-Turkey border.[citation needed]

Additionally, 51 people drowned crossing rivers delimiting the frontier between Croatia and Bosnia; Turkey and Greece; Slovakia and Austria; and Slovenia and Italy.[citation needed] Forty-one people froze to death travelling over the icy mountains at the border between Turkey, Greece and Slovakia;[citation needed] 20 people died under the trains in the Channel tunnel trying to reach England;[citation needed] 33 people were shot dead by Spanish and Moroccan police or injured along the border fence of Ceuta and Melilla Spanish enclaves in Morocco;[citation needed] 11 people burnt when a deportation center in the Netherlands caught fire;[citation needed] and eight men were found dead hidden in the undercarriages of planes.[citation needed]

Death by exposure is also known to occur in the deserts of Southwestern United States during the hot summer season.

~Wikpedia: Illegal Immigrations

The United States is not alone in experiencing this problem, but that does not mean we have to suffer a problem either due to inaction.

This is just to important of an issue for our Congressional leaders to ignore. They need to know how important this issue is for you, your family and our country. Act Now! Click to send a fax to your Congress man or woman and get them to act as well.

This is not a time for our leaders in the capital of Washington DC to do nothing on Immigration!

Biden's Freudian Slips Increasingly Deployed - Leutenant Governor Palin is a Governor

2008-09-04T17:15:00.001-05:00

Joe Biden, whom I like quite a bit just not the full ticket, would have us believe that he is the master of the well place freudian slip. He constantly seems to mis-speak in a way that degrades his opponent.

Here's what Biden said the other night after Governor Palin (not Lieutenant Governor Palin) gave an amazing speech.

"I heard a very, by the way I mean this sincerely, a very strong and a very good political speech from a lieutenant governor of Alaska who I think is going to be very formidable, very formidable not only in the campaign but in the debate," Biden said Thursday at an economic discussion at George Mason University in Manassas, Virginia.

ABC News Blog

Here's Biden answering more questions about his responses to Governor Palin. He was full of praise as the day started, but he is slowly trying to find traction and stride against a very tough opponent."

Now Joe Biden definitely has a way of framing himself as an innocent when ever he screws up in a televised comment, such as the one last year where he made some inappropriate references to Barack Obama being a 'clean' candidate, intending to say fresh or something like that.

That mistake sure didn't help him during the primaries, may have even cost him the primaries, but ultimately didn't send him away from politics to a life of selling picture frames. No, he recovered and even managed through his charm and intelligence to get selected for the VP slot on the Obama ticket. But how many times can he let his freudian cat out of the bag, before the accident starts to seem too much like a ploy.

Thompson and Lieberman and Some Bush 41

2008-09-02T21:48:00.005-05:00

Having watched almost all of the footage from both conventions thus far, I have to say that other than Sen. Obama's acceptance speech, I was especially moved from the George H.W. Bush montage this evening. I really enjoyed the look on the 41st presidents face when they showed images of him as a young man in west Texas.

I also enjoyed Fred Thompson's speech about Sen. McCain, it was interesting to learn what happened to that crazy old codger in Vietnam. I have to admit that it is fascinating to hear what Sen. McCain went through in that pit of hell and how he became the man he is today. I have more respect for him today than I ever had, but I don't trust him with a red-button, or Gov. Palin for that mater.

And then Joe Lieberman took the microphone...

If there is still anyone out there who thinks of Joe Lieberman as a Democrat or Independent, has probably got some sort of wool over the eyes issues. Honestly, it felt like "I want to be Secretary of Something cronyism" to me.

Overall, I think that the speeches were effective for the moment. The GOP has a product that is difficult to sell right now, so they are trying to change up their merchandising. I like their idea about focusing on a heroic candidate and uniting behind specific social issues. This will be the strong point for the GOP, this should help to solidify their base.

When the Republicans give you a lemon, you make lemonade.

Republicans & Democrats Have Both Failed Us

2008-08-31T11:39:00.001-05:00

Republicans and Democrats both continue to fail New Orleans and the country.

I just watched Senator Dodd (d) field a question on cnn. He was asked if the federal government was ready for Hurricane Gustav.

His answer, I don't know and I hope so.

Democrats are complete morons and failures for not holding the President accountable for Katrina and impeaching George W Bush.

Congress should know up or down whether or not the Government response to Gustav is prepared and ready and they don't.

Democrats wonder why their Congressional approval rating is hovering around 19% (a few points lower than George W Bush's). Its because, Congress is the levee of the American people against a bad President. Our levee in Congress failed us several times over before Katrina ever hit. Katrina did hit, and we voted to shore up the Congressional levee, and the new Congressional levee led by Nancy "Impeachment is off the table" Pelosi failed us even more, is failing us right now, right this minute, and any lives lost in Gustav is more the fault of Democrats in Congress than it is President Bush.

WE AMERICANS KNEW IN 2006, THAT 'W' WAS AN INCOMPETENT MORON. WE AMERICANS TOOK ACTION TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT IN 2006, AND THE CHAMPIONS WE CHOSE IN 2006 NOT ONLY FAILED US, BUT CHOSE NOT TO FIGHT FOR US AT ALL.

As a side note, any photo op that McCain/Palin engage in (kind of silly to trash them for something that they haven't done yet) is not really the problem.

The problem is that we have 3 of 4 of the candidates for President and Vice President that have failed to act to remove George W Bush from office.

Obama could have exercised some good judgment and fought to impeach George W Bush. Obama failed to do that and failed the American people.

Biden could have exercised some good judgment and fought to impeach George W Bush. Biden failed to do that and failed the American people.

McCain could have exercised some good judgment and fought to impeach George W Bush. McCain failed to do that and failed the American people.

So as I see it, all three have blood on their hands, and if more lives are lost due to Gustav, their fault is only going to be greater.

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These guys are all quick to seize a political advantage whether its throwing a verbal jab at each other, or finding a better make up application technique or even a acne treatment to keep their kids and spouses looking good for the camera, but they never seemed to have the fortitude to take action where and when it mattered.

Comparing Days in Office Obama v. Palin

2008-08-30T22:34:00.003-05:00

I'm not saying that Palin has more or less experience than Obama, as far as being President/VP goes, I think they are both lacking in experience.

That said here are the details of the length of their political experience in an actual office requiring an election so everyone can draw their own conclusions.

*Caveat Palin has 365 days of experience serving as an appointee of the Governor of Alaska responsible for $1.3 trillion in oil, no election required, similar to a cabinet position at a state level.

**Caveat Obama is running for President, Palin is running for Vice President, Obviously if Obama is compared to McCain (also running for President) this time comparison of experience would not be remotely close.

*** Caveat Obama has spent 575 of his 1336 days as a Senator campaigning around the country for the office of President. He served 761 days as Senator before starting his campaign for President compared to Palin's 634 days served as Governor before running for Vice President.

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Now, all this comparison of days served has some meaning, but is definitely not the only fact that will drive voters to the polls. I only point it out here to try and remove a little of the exaggeration that is being bandied about by the press and talking heads and people that have more gold watches than common sense.

McCain Plucks $7 Million in Contributions by Picking Palin

2008-08-30T15:06:00.001-05:00

Early signs are that people, possibly conservatives, really like McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate. His campaign added $7 million to the campaign savings accounts shortly after the choice was announced publicly.

Sen. John McCain has taken in $7 million in contributions since announcing Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, a top campaign aide said today.

The money bounce may owe to Palin's appeal with conservative donors, many of whom said privately they had planned on sitting out the campaign this year. The money comes in just under the wire -- after McCain accepts the GOP nomination Thursday, he will accept public funds and no longer be permitted to raise private money for the campaign.

That will not, however, stop McCain and Palin from raising money for the Republican National Committee. In coming weeks, McCain will host four megafundraising events in major cities aimed at bolstering the accounts of the party. Palin, meanwhile, will be sent out to headline more than a dozen fundraising events for the RNC.

Shortly before Palin's announcement, one senior RNC official said McCain's pick "better like doing fundraising."

Like almost everything else she does, hosting these events will be something of a new experience for Palin. When running for governor of Alaska in 2006, Palin raised a total of just $468,400.

Source: Washington Post

So at best, Palin can help bring in contributions for the RNC, while McCain plays it safe or desperate depending on your perspective taking public funds, while Barack Obama marches towards a billion dollar campaign.

The McCain/Palin ticket and 'limited government'

2008-08-30T12:58:00.002-05:00

It doesn't take eyeglasses to see that this image has been photoshopped, but it does none-the-less make a valid point. Anyone that seriously considers John McCain has to consider the potential of Governor Sarah Palin to jump in and take over the United States Executive Branch at a moments notice.

I found the below comment earlier today, and it likely reflects some of the perspective and tone that John McCain will have to face in the future. The question though will be one of can Democrats or Obama supporters get away with making vagina jokes about a Vice Presidential candidate without eventually upsetting women across the country and even women within their own base, still reeling from the over looking of their own female candidate.

What does Log Cabin Republican support of this ticket say about support by gay conservative men for the individual rights of women? Sarah Palin does not believe in reproductive freedom, and doesn't believe in equal pay for equal work (like their man McCain). This is troubling. Does limited government only extend to those without vaginas? Image via Jesus' General. http://tinyurl.com/6dgewd

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Who Runs Barter Town?

2008-08-29T22:05:00.003-05:00

Two words, Sarah Palin. When I woke up this morning, I had no idea who this woman was, now after one day, I feel as though I've spent a lifetime with her. Rumor has it, John McCain may have even known less than I did about Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin. According to MSNBC, Sen. McCain had only ever met with her once back in the early primary season. I have to wonder if he even knew back then that she would be his running mate.

The real question on most people's mind is what will this mean on the campaign trail. It would appear that Gov. Palin's limited experience and exposure may inhibit the McCain campaign from attacking Sen. Obama's perceived lack of the aforementioned.

My big question is how is Gov. Palin going to fare in a debate with Sen. Biden? I think she'll be able to hold her own, but going up against a seasoned veteran like Biden could be interesting. As for Obama and McCain, I suspect that could go either way depending on the setting and moderator.

Finally my top 3 facts I didn't know about Gov. Sarah Palin until today:

Sarah Palin was in a photo shoot for Vogue Magazine
Sarah Palin is a hardcore outdoorswoman (apparently according to spellcheck she can't be).
Sarah Palin has spent even less time in government than Barack Obama.

Barack Obama Kissed Mrs. Biden on the Lips!

2008-08-28T00:11:00.002-05:00

I found this amusing image and post at Utterz. I don't truly think much of this incident, but having watched it myself, it was rather unexpected, obvious and funny. Mrs. Biden seemed rather surprised to and it sure wasn't for having seen some acne up close and personal on Barack, but from the heavy smack on the lips he landed with her.

And if that wasn't enough, he then invited all these lovely young ladies on stage and proceeded to kiss them! Man, I wanna be president now!!!

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Is Election Rule Karma Going to Eat Obama Alive?

2008-08-25T12:23:00.002-05:00

For any of you that have viewed Obama's political history, you might find some irony in the tale of Barack Obama's tactics at winning his first election to State Senate in Illinois.

He did not win the election by going head to head in the primaries with fellow Democrats. Instead he relied on election rules to have his Democratic challengers thrown off the ballot, which is what the former Attorney General of Pennsylvania is now trying to do to Obama before he can become the DNC nominee officially.

By kicking other Democrats out of the race, so that he could proceed unimpeded in Chicago, he may have negatively charged his karma. This lawsuit could possibly be a universal reach around come back to grab Obama and jerk him out of the race, or it might even be simple political revenge of friends damaged by Obama's tactics even.

_________

Quote from CNN article http://www.cnn.com/…index.html

" In his first race for office, seeking a state Senate seat on Chicago's gritty South Side in 1996, Obama effectively used election rules to eliminate his Democratic competition.

As a community organizer, he had helped register thousands of voters. But when it came time to run for office, he employed Chicago rules to invalidate the voting petition signatures of three of his challengers.

Obama's past battles

See how Barack Obama has used election rules to his advantage during his political career on AC 360.

Tonight, 10 p.m ET

see full schedule »

The move denied each of them, including incumbent Alice Palmer, a longtime Chicago activist, a place on the ballot. It cleared the way for Obama to run unopposed on the Democratic ticket in a heavily Democrat district.

"That was Chicago politics," said John Kass, a veteran Chicago Tribune columnist. "Knock out your opposition, challenge their petitions, destroy your enemy, right? It is how Barack Obama destroyed his enemies back in 1996 that conflicts with his message today. He may have gotten his start registering thousands of voters. But in that first race, he made sure voters had just one choice."

_____________

For the detailed account of this story, read the Sun Times article

http://www.chicagotribune.com/…3097.story

It's one thing to win the popular vote, and quite another to win on a technicality sending your opponents in your own party back to work selling office supplies or clerking somewhere.

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Biden's Obama's Guy - Will Voter's Respond to the Cheney Play Again?

2008-08-23T10:10:00.002-05:00

Barack Obama has stolen yet another play out of the George W Bush play book, proving that Democrats are even more like Republicans than anyone would really like. Last night at 3 AM, the Obama campaign announced that Joseph Biden, the Sen. from Delaware, would become the vice presidential candidate of the Obama ticket.

Just like George Bush in 1999, Barack Obama realized that people still think he's inexperienced, and frankly he is very inexperienced. In fact he's probably more inexperienced than George W. Bush was in 1999. George W. Bush at least had the experience to run the state of Texas, and to run several businesses into the ground. Back then George W. Bush decided that he needed someone with successful experience to balance out his own ticket and chose Dick Cheney to be his CEO of the White House.

Well Barack Obama, who shares far more similarities to George W. Bush than any candidate that has run for president this year, realize that voters saw his inexperience as well and chose his own CEO for the White House and Sen. Joseph Biden. Joe Biden failed to make it very far in the Democratic primary earlier in the year when he was unable to raise more than a few million dollars. He is widely recognized as having significant amounts of experience in foreign policy. Plus Biden brings to the ticket a couple things that Barack Obama and his campaign are lacking in the form of a blue-collar Irish background.

So here's the real question which you will not see on CNN, not even in closed captioning. This is the question that people should be asking about the new Obama Biden ticket. Do we need another inexperienced chairman running the White House within over experienced CEO possibly stealing the show. We've seen just how corrupt policy can be when a CEO is not answerable to Congress. Do we want another weak leader in the top office run by his subordinate.

The Fiasco that is US - Russian Relations

2008-08-20T17:54:00.001-05:00

Some few years ago, President Bush hired one of the leading experts in the world on Russian affairs to be his Secretary of State (she was rebounding after a troubled job running a war in the middle east). At the same time, he took a trip and spent some time with a former KGB officer turned President of Russia, where George Bush was able to look his counter part in the eye and delve deep into his soul and find a man he could understand.

He thought he had found a man that he could trust, but instead he apparently didn't realize that he had found a man that would invade a country under false pretenses, justify the invasion with propaganda and then drive up the price of oil as a result of the turmoil generated from the invasion.

In fact, President Bush did see into the soul of Vladimir Putin, he did see a man that he could relate to, and in fact he found a man just like himself. The only thing is that he never had a good read on himself either. Its no wonder that George W Bush did so poorly in banking. I guess we can only be thankful that he did not go into futures trading and eventually become the head of the Federal Reserve, possibly the one other position besides President of the United States where he could actually do even more damage through incompetence.

In True Soprano's Fashion, Russian Foreign Minister says "Forget about it!"

2008-08-14T19:09:00.003-05:00

It looks like Cold War 2 is now underway in the caucuses, and you can bet unlike a leering Putin, the United States isn't taking it sitting down. After the Russian Foreign Minister announced that Georgia could forget about retaining its two breakaway provinces, as the French-brokered-cease-fire would insist, the United States has dispatched secretary of doom Condoleeza Rice to Tblisi the Georgian capital.

So far, not even Russia seems to know what they are doing so far into Georgian territory. In fact, the Russian forces have occupied nearly 1/3rd of the nation, and despite Prime Minister Putin's claim of a withdrawal, the Russian forces are within reach of the provincial city of Kutaisi (just outside Tbilisi). The French-brokered-cease-fire insisted on Russia's withdrawal to August 1st lines, which would place South Ossetia and Abkhazia back within Georgia's border. At this time, it doesn't appear that Russia is going to let go of the gains made in the last few days.

In addition to appearing as a reunification of former Soviet states, this land grab has netted Russia a strategic hold on 3 of the major sweet crude pipelines flowing from the Caspian. Wit the aforementioned pipelines closed down, it is unclear as to whether or not this battle will effect global markets.

The United States relief effort began on Tuesday as C-130's delivered pallets of food and water as well as medical supplies and applications for entry into NATO. While all this has been going on, Poland has agreed to house an American missile defense battery on their soil, further chilling relations with the Russian government.

Paris Hilton Response Ad to John McCain

2008-08-06T10:03:00.002-05:00

After encouragement from John McCain, Paris Hilton is entering the race for President in 2008. This will surely cause some conflict in the Hilton household, which has financially supported John McCain with maximum contributions. :)

Who would have ever thought we could put the categories: Energy Policy, scandals, Politics, and sexual gridlock on a post together and have it make complete sense. Let alone here a celebratant like Paris Hilton preach to us from a teleprompter about energy policy as opposed to color coordination or espresso machines being so 90's.

Get an Extra Year on your life with Shrooms

2008-07-30T12:25:00.005-05:00

Researchers have recently determined that Peyote and some mushrooms can create a long lasting connection to answered prayer that can last up to a year, before it needs to be refreshed.

http://www.sltrib.com/…ci_9926958

I had lasik done on my eyes in order (in part) to save 5 minutes per day from waisting time with contacts. That saved me 2 months of my life!

That's 2 months I can spend with my kids, 2 months I can do things that I want to do, 2 months worth of a key five minutes each day that might enable me to miss traffic jams, get to a meeting on time to clinch a deal, 5 more minutes to make love to my wife, 5 more minutes of snooze to sleep in during the morning, 5 more minutes exercising or taking time to eat a good breakfast.

Now imagine what you can do if you were to get connected with peyote or mushrooms, connected spiritually in a way that maintains that spiritual connection for up to a year. If you attend church, mosque or temple once a week for at least 2 hours and you pray for 5 minutes every day, you could save a year off your life.

If you are 30 years old and have a life expectancy of 80 years. For the next 50 years, you could save 216 days (about 5200 hours) by skipping church, because you are already connected and in contact. You could save another 126 days by skipping prayer every day(assuming you spend 5 minutes at the task), because you are connected real time. No need to pray, you're plugged in and connected in real time, 24/7/365.

By connecting to the cosmos on a real time constant basis with peyote and mushrooms you help god deal with your issues more effectively as your mole hills stop turning into mountains. god can level a mole hill a lot faster than he can level a mountain.

The world has about 8 billion people. If everybody started using peyote or mushrooms once a year, that would be 8 billion years of productivity that would be given back to the world. that's 8 billion mountains of problems that god doesn't have to deal with.

With that increase in productivity on a human level, and with that decrease in drain and strain on god, just imagine what we might accomplish?

Then again, people might just spend some extra money on a big flat panel, hook it on their wall with an LCD mount and never leave the house. That wouldn't do much for global productivity at all!

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Obama Bin Laden - Real Terrorists Support FISA

2008-07-14T17:42:00.002-05:00

I'd suggest that if you go by Molly Ivins standard (its funny when you make fun of people with power. its not funny when you make fun of people who don't have power) then Obama is completely fair game for the New Yorker or anyone else that wants to fake being funny on any given day of the week.

Obama has the Daley machine behind him. That may not seem like much on the East or West Coast but it has had substantial impact in Chicago and has screwed up more than one Presidential Election in the past.

Here is Daley the elder's response to Police that were in his opinion taking it too easy on African American rioters in Chicago following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

"I said to him very emphatically and very definitely that an order be issued by him immediately to shoot to kill any arsonist or anyone with a Molotov cocktail in his hand, because they're potential murderers, and to shoot to maim or cripple anyone looting."

That's the founder of the political machine that Obama works for and so its not terribly surprising when a number of Democrats today also get a little worried about the type of change that Barack Obama might bring to the White House. He may not appear to fit the mold, but he's got the deck about as stacked as you can get, he's more old school politician than Bill Clinton ever was by comparison.

The thing about satire and humor is that they usually only work when there is some truth behind them. So when a person looks at the New Yorker, if they see no truth in the image, its just not funny. Its pretty much nothing.

If a person looks at the cover and maybe unscrambles the secret code using a captain crunch decoder overlay, and realizes that this is supposedly about the deployment of fear politics against Obama then it might ring true just a bit and some one might find a little humor in it.

Absent any truth or truistic truism however, its just a little portion of complete fiction and in that its a waste of media.

Now as to the claims that various people make against Obama because of his name, his religion etc.

I personally don't care at all.

The reality is that he has the name that he has, and that name brings with it associations with islam even if Barack Obama himself claims no association.

His parents gave him a muslim name and so people are going to contemplate that implication from here until the cows come home. I find it extremely childish on his part that he tries to hide away from the fact that he has a middle name. He makes some pretty good jokes about his last name, but seems to fear joking about his own middle name more than sharing pictures of Michelle posing in sexy nurse costumes.

That seems to highlight a personality flaw to me. Don't get me wrong, everyone is entitled to personality flaws, but in a Presidential candidate having a personality flaw that manifests in a fear of one's own middle name is definitely a weakness that political opponents will exploit.

Its kind of like that grade school bullying technique. If a bully picks on you and you cry, the bully will probably keep picking on you. Well, Obama has shown that when people pick on him about this issue, he will cry over and over again, and that is just going to incite more attacks. Its kind of strange that a person that is so adept in deflecting attack after attack can't seem to rise to the occasion to defend himself over a name that he has probably had to defend his entire life.

I think the New Yorker magazine cover is far less controversial and far less harmful than Barack Obama's vote for FISA. If anything indicates that Barack Obama is a terrorist, its not his name or the way he looks, or the way he tags his wife in public, but IT IS the way he threw the Constitution under the bus and gave George W Bush the signal to hit the gas. That is as much of a terrorist act as I've seen from anyone with a name that rhymes with Obama.

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Pelosi Pro Impeachment Finally

2008-07-14T15:54:00.002-05:00

I have not yet finished turning all of the original articles of impeachment for George W Bush into audio, but there has been some progress made.

Nancy Pelosi now wants the Judiciary committee to take action on the impeachment of George W Bush. This is one of the most positive flip flops I've heard of in recent times and very welcome change of mind given the abundance of new facts about transgressions made by the Bush Administration.

Here's a quick interview also from Dennis Kucinich who has come out with a refined and more focused single article of impeachment to possibly move Congress past a tipping point of for Impeachment.

--- interview follows - -- -

HILL: Why do you think that it may have a chance? I understand you brought 30 articles of impeachment last time — just one this time. What happened to the other 29?

Related

KUCINICH: Well, this article that — I just came from the Florida House so — where I introduced it. It is very narrowly focused. It's about the communication that the president made to the Congress, a specific message asking for Congress to pass an authorization for the use of force, in which certain representations were made that would induce Congress to vote for the legislation. And categorically, the key representations that were made were false, I stated so, and provided the sources for my article on the floor of the House just moments ago.

HILL: So did you pick the article you thought was the strongest and then just decide to go with that one this time?

KUCINICH: Well, I'll tell you what — yes, let me tell you what the title of it is. It says that Article 1, deceiving Congress with fabricated threats of Iraq's WMDs to fraudulently obtain support for an authorization for the use of military force against Iraq.

So what I said is that all of the talk about weapons of mass destruction — nuclear weapons, biological, chemical weapons — they were false. And the White House had information that indicated that they knew that they were false and they proceeded anyway, so there has to be an accounting. We have to protect our constitution. This country must rely on truth in our communications to the people. And so this process of impeachment will, hopefully, help produce the truth.

HILL: This is one of the times where that the goings on Washington baffle me — many times, they do. But maybe you can help me sort this one out. Last time you brought this up, the Republicans voted to bring it to the floor to actually discuss it. The Democrats voted to basically push it into the closet in a committee. Why?

KUCINICH: I think the Republicans were basically daring the Democrats to move forward with it, sensing that there were some in the Democratic leadership who, at the time, had no stomach for a real debate. But I think that's changed, and I think it's changed because the war grinds on. We have 160,000 troops there. We have — over 4,160 troops have lost their lives. Tens of thousands are injured. The cost of the war go over $3 trillion, and a million innocent Iraqis dead.

I think as people come to accept the enormity of this, they're saying, "Wait a minute, maybe we should find out if that strip was necessary — if, in fact, the war was based on something other than the truth.

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Its not the most light hearted topic generating funny t-shirts left and right and making headlines on The Daily Show, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't benefit from the attention of more people of younger generations. This issue needs some righteous indignation to help fuel it and kick things off. It might just get that as more people head back to college over the next few weeks and get re-engaged in politics.

Not a lot of Gridlock for Boudoir Photography Careers

2008-07-13T16:34:00.001-05:00

Warning, this is just kind of whacky. I was working online today doing some research for a client that has a photography business on the East Coast. I came across a photography site for what appears to be a very good photographer on the West Coast that specializes in Wedding Boudoir photography?

What is that you might ask?

Well, its basically when a lady that is getting married wants to give her fiance something special on their wedding night. So she has some tasteful pictures taken by a very good photographer of her depicted in some sexy poses. We're not talking about Playboy type stuff here, just sexy poses of strategically covered bodies.

The concept is that when a woman gets married, odds are she will never be in that good of shape again (it all goes down hill after that point and this is a nice way apparently for women to recognize that even if its not explicit). So after spending months planning the wedding, dieting and exercising, they get some pictures made for their future husband so that they can remember just how hot they were when they got married.

So anyway, I stumbled upon this niche business and just found it rather humorous. I doubt you will see many Atlanta jobs posted with this type of career path, despite the international art school located there now (Savannah College of Art and Design 3rd largest art school in the world now).

Now, I've been married for close to 14 years. Its a bit late in the game for me to consider what I would think if my wife had this made for me, but in retrospect, if she had had something like this made, I think I probably would have liked it. Many of the site's clients seem to be very happy with the work, and the photographer definitely is very good, which does likely make all the difference in the world.

Bomb in the Back Yard - Common in Japan

2008-07-13T13:48:00.001-05:00

Here is an interesting story in perspective. I woke up this morning and read a headline on CNN via my cell phone about an evacuation in Japan after the discovery of a 1 ton WWII bomb that had not been detonated. Apparently some constructions workers had unearthed the rusting bomb and had called in the local bomb squad to help.

Now, in the United States we rarely come across a situation where we unearth bombs in our back yards. We've been fortunate to not have most of our landscape bombed at one time or another unlike many other areas of the world from Europe to Africa to Asia and the Pacific Rim.

A Few Recent Headlines on Unearthed Bombs

WWII US bomb forces evacuation in Japan
The Associated Press - 7 hours ago
An explosives disposal unit from Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force safely defused the rusty one-ton bomb in the crowded residential area during a 50-minute ...

WWII US bomb forces evacuation in Japan
KGAN, IA - 5 hours ago
TOKYO (AP) -- More than 5000 people have had to get out of their homes in Osaka, Japan, while army experts disposed of a one-ton bomb believed to have have ...

Mother Nature helps firefighters...Brangelina twins born...WWII ...
KXMC, ND - 7 hours ago
TOKYO (AP) More than 5000 people have been evacuated from their homes in Osaka, Japan, while army experts disposed of an unexploded one-ton bomb. ...

Saturday, July 19
International Herald Tribune, France - Jul 11, 2008
1943 - Allied air force stages first raid on Rome in World War II. 1956 - United States and Britain inform Egypt they cannot participate in financing Aswan ...

Tambun Folks To Evacuate To Allow Police Destroy WWII Bomb
Bernama, Malaysia - Jun 19, 2008
"The bomb cannot be moved as its switch system has been activated," he said, adding that 200 policemen will be on duty to ensure complete evacuation of some ...

Blast from the past: WWII bomb detonated
Malaysia Star, Malaysia - Jun 21, 2008
By IVAN LOH IPOH: The World War II bomb found at Sungai Pinji, Tambun, near here had to be detonated twice before it was completely destroyed. ...

Many people in the US this week are worried about glitches with their new IPhones or wondering if their ipods will ever have the touch functionality of the phones, but in many other countries they have slightly more dramatic day to day problems to contend with.

Obama's Must Read - Avoid Picking Sexist Joking Comedians for Dummies

2008-07-12T12:41:00.001-05:00

Barack Obama can't seem to get away from controversy. This time he's in trouble after Bernie Mac made jokes about his wife and daughter (Mac's not Obama's) being Ho's willing to take $50k from the mailman to sleep with them.

It was a joke, and Bernie Mac is a professional comedian, do not try this at home!

That said Barack Obama is taking flak from his over sensitive Democratic Party, especially those that were Hillary supporters and have witnessed a significant amount of sexist remarks and actions by Obama and many in his camp, of which, most are NOT professional comedians. So when an actual comedian said the following:

Bernie Mac said his "little nephew came to me and he said, 'Uncle, what's the difference between a hypothetical question and a realistic question?' "I said, ‘I don't know,’ but I said, 'I'll tell you what you do. Go upstairs and ask your mother if she'd make love to the mailman for $50,000.’"

Mac's wife, in the joke, said she sleep "with anyone" for $50,000, and Mac's daughter said the same.

Explained Mac: "Hypothetically speaking, we should have $100,000. But realistically speaking we live with two hos."

ABC news Blog

Barack Obama had to step in and step on the comedians act in an attempt to pander to that part of the Democratic Base that feels slighted over his own nomination.

Obama addressed the issue in his remarks, saying, "We can't afford to be divided by race. We can't afford to be divided by religion, or by region or class. Or by gender. That means, by the way, Bernie, you got to clean up your act. This is a family affair. ... I'm just messing with you."

ABC News Blog

Hmm, maybe next time, Obama or his staff will take sometime to vett their comedians before inviting them to a fundraiser. Its not like anyone that has ever seen Bernie Mac perform didn't know that Bernie Mac jokes about women being Hos from time to every time. In fact there is probably a Dummies book on Amazon books right now calling Barack Obama, "Avoid Picking Sexist Joking Comedians for Dummies"

Can Obama Be Prevented from FlipFlopping?

2008-07-02T00:05:00.001-05:00

I came across an interesting story tonight in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/…2fisa.html ). Obama supporters are protesting Barack Obama's expected flip flop on telecom immunity deals against the 3 of the 4 major telecom companies that gave up personal telephone and email information on their customers illegally to the NSA.

Obama was formerly against this Bush Administration act against the citizens of the United States, but now the Democratic Party has negotiated a compromise and wants to give in to the Telecom industry as well as open up FISA so that more illegal (today but not necessarily tomorrow) wire tapping can proceed.

The interesting thing is that Obama's own website is being used as a staging ground to gather support among supporters to call on Senator Obama to hold firm on his original position and not continue with his expected flip flop during a vote next week on Tuesday.

You can check out or sign up for the group with the information below (last count, over 8,000 people had already joined)

You're invited to join a group on My.BarackObama.com:

http://my.barackobama.com/…gainstFISA

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Drafted in the Navy at 40?

2008-06-28T12:51:00.001-05:00

My name is Brett and I am a veteran. I served in the active duty Army for 4 years and for 4 years in the inactive reserve afterwards. I joined to earn money for college and left to go to college. I would have made a career out of the military if I could have become an officer, but that was not an option.

I say all this as a preface, because today I received a letter from the Navy asking if I'd like to re-enlist, this time into the Navy Reserve.

I am 36 years old. If I had stayed in the Army, I would be looking at retirement in two years. I know there are lots of very capable people that serve in the military to ripe old ages, but I do not plan to be one of them. I chose my path, the decision is made and I'm not changing my mind. The military made their choice years back at the same time, and they chose not to keep me under the terms I required.

So now that they are in a jam and having to send people from the Navy to go reinforce troops on the ground in Iraq as the Army and Marines are stretched thin, I do not have too much sympathy for the actual organization itself.

For my fellow soldiers, I have a lot of sympathy, but not for the people in the Pentagon and in Washington that made stupid policies back in the 90's that kicked off the depletion of the military, which was flat out buried in the ground by the even worse policies of George W Bush and Donald Rumsfeld.

I am not going to go and bail them out for their lack of planning and stupid mistakes. After I left the military I learned of a term called the 'hero complex'.

Its the concept that often times when an organization is in trouble, a hero will step up and save the day. The thing is that when they save the day, the organization might give them a slap on the back, but eventually the organization might also institutionalize the need for a hero to save the day.

When the organization is saved by a hero, and they fail to learn the lessons from what went wrong, what it was that required a hero to save they day, they start to take advantage of that hero and every other hero in the organization. Today, the US military and politicians of every stripe are raping our heroes in uniform. They are taking advantage of them backwards, forwards and sideways and they are not learning any of the lessons learned from the organizations failing.

Now, I am definitely not calling for a general strike by our military, but the military leadership is partly to blame here. Their Can Do attitude and Yes Sir auto response, has served our country poorly and needs to be replaced with a military leadership with a better grasp on reality, one that will stand up and demand the items necessary to bring a successful resolution to a problem.

So I thank the Navy for their kind offer, but I will decline at this time. Twenty Thousand dollars is not enough to get me off the couch, let alone leave my business and family and go risk my life half way across the planet. I've been there and done that once already, and its time that the DoD get its act together and stop making their lack of planning my emergency.

All that said, if they don't reach down and find a pair soon, I do suspect we will see the draft reinstated, and in that case, they can call me up when I'm 40. I'll serve and I'll do a great job at it just like I did before, but in the meantime, they can kiss my ass until they get their act together. In the meantime, the only travel I'll be doing will happen with the travel deals I find on expedia.

Note. I'm not serving for any organization that condones or practices torture, so they can start their first!

Obama - My Wife is Just a Girl-Leave her Be?

2008-06-19T20:08:00.001-05:00

As I listen to Barack Obama try and defend his wife from the political attacks that she suffered after making political mistakes stumping for her husband,

The things that he says, sound sexist to me. He is using her on the one hand to stump for him politically, yet doesn't want anyone to debate with her mistakes and mis-steps.

This feels and seems a lot like the same mistakes that Bill Clinton made in the early 90's that left Hillary's competence in question.

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With Friends Like This John McCain Needs More Enemies

2008-06-14T00:44:00.001-05:00

John McCain's inability to enthuse the Republican base which is licking its wounds from a President that has ran them hard and put them away wet keeps running into 'friends' that no mother would wish on her son.

John McCain's latest would be friend is Clayton Williams. Williams ran for Texas Governor against the late Gov Ann Richards in 1990. His campaign was foiled by his own poor sense of humor when he joked that women being raped, should 'lie back and enjoy it.'

YouTube - Clayton Williams in His Own Words

So I say, with friends like that John McCain would probably do better with more enemies. As it stands it would appear that you couldn't keep track of all the bad friends that John McCain has on a brand new memory stick.

Maybe McCain's camp needs a memory stick of John's friends. That way the next friend like Williams that wants to throw a fundraiser for John, can just be told no right up front before it erupts into a political scandal not to mention a foiled fund raising attempt.

Vote Today-Send Impeachment Articles Forward

2008-06-11T14:05:00.001-05:00

1) House members are expected to vote Wednesday (today) on sending articles of impeachment against President Bush to the Judiciary Committee. The 35 articles introduced by Dennis J. Kucinich, D-Ohio, on Monday are pressuring the Democratic Party to make good on a promise many of them made before the 2006 elections: to impeach!

2) Calling it "a sworn duty" of Congress to act, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida signed on yesterday to Dennis Kucinich's 35 Articles of Impeachment. "President Bush deliberately created a massive propaganda campaign to sell the war in Iraq to the American people and the charges detailed in this impeachment resolution indicate an unprecedented abuse of executive power," Wexler said in a statement.

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Obama Interview on Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me

2008-06-10T21:11:00.001-05:00

Barack Obama appeared on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me (www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/) in August of 2005. Here he is, talking about his name, the senate (being 99th in seniority...), preschool, and Wade Boggs.

He is definitely a funny guy with a great sense of humor, but the reality is that I've known lots of funny guys with a great sense of humor and I wouldn't vote for them as President. Does it make you like the guy? Sure. Does it mean he's a good leader? Nope.

So the reality is that Barack Obama continues to show that he is interesting as a person and entertainer, but continues to fail to show any substance beyond self deprecation. With the level of depth that he has displayed so far (sarcasm to follow) you'd almost expect him to have taken up a career of a super model peddling a diet pill that works. Then again, if he had done that maybe he would at least have some results to show for his efforts. I'm still scratching my head looking for his accomplishments....

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Kucinich Offers Impeachment Resolution for Bush

2008-06-10T00:56:00.001-05:00

So I was flipping the channels and came across CSPAN, despite being accused of political junkyness from time to time, I do not watch a lot of CSPAN.

However, tonight was exceptional in that Dennis Kucinich was reading a 35 article calling for the Impeachment of George W Bush in the House of Representatives, which will have to be decided up on within the next 2 business days.

Democrats in Congress do not want to Impeach George W Bush for obvious reasons, they've supported him for 7 + years. Republicans are in no better shape than their Democratic partners on the other side of the aisle.

Despite the 2006 election which gave political power to Democrats to end the war and Impeach Bush among other items, Nancy Pelosi promptly seized control of the House of Representatives and promised to keep George W Bush in office as long as possible to further the goals of the Democratic Party.

Apparently, every day that Bush stays in office is one more day that the United States as a country is further despoiled. The cumulative effect is that the country will be so thoroughly waisted come November of 2008 that voters will be slightly more likely to choose more Democrats to continue the work they started in 2006 (not keeping Bush in office this time, but making life miserable for Republicans, the country be damned.)

I apologize if these prose do not drip with sarcasm, but it was actually uplifting to here someone read articles of impeachment against the President, finally.

People sometimes ask me why I do not support Democrats. The answer is that they do not have the fortitude to stand up for their convictions and our country more often than not. The perfect example of this is manifest in the lack of actions by the Democratically controlled Congress and especially in Nancy Pelosi (May Cindy Sheehan still have a chance of defeating her some day...).

Yes, it is true that Democrats can make it pretty far with political dirty tricks and underhanded slights, but there does come a point where you have to stand up and put your money where your mouth is. This was one of the reasons why I was slowly coming around to backing Hillary Clinton. She seemed to slowly be shedding her 34 years of experience at corruption and was starting to stand up for her beliefs. Dennis Kucinich, tonight definitely stood up for his beliefs. I have yet to see Barack Obama stand up for his beliefs at all and that includes his belief that he should be President.

I'm not necessarily looking for someone that will unilaterally take a position and hold stubbornly to it come hell or high water or Katrina or all of the above, that's a Bushism. However, I do want to see people take a stand and say, "This is what I am for, and this is why." I then want to see them defend that position and strike out to achieve the goals inherent in the position. I would not tie an absolute to it though, so if they get a better idea from somewhere along the way, then stand up and say, "This is now what I stand for and why I changed my mind."

The press pundits believe that Kucinich's resolution for impeachment of the President will not have support in Congress, neither at the House level nor at the Senate level.

So here is the real dirty secret behind what appears on the surface to be a shame, the shame is on us. If we do not pressure our politicians and representatives to support the resolution for impeachment then, we today, are choosing to keep President Bush in office again.

Today, tomorrow and Wednesday, could be our last chance to get Bush out of office a little sooner and help our country and the world start healing. If we do nothing, we are endorsing George W Bush and his administration yet again, and we are endorsing Congress to change nothing.

It is expected that within less than 30 days, oil prices will hit $150 a barrell and gas prices will hit $5 a gallon. It is now possible that gas will even hit $8 a gallon by Christmas. That's right, gas prices could double before the year is out. If you re feeling pain at the pump, paying $80 - $150 to fill up your vehicle, imagine paying $150 - $300 for a single fill up.

If you can afford that, then do nothing. If you think our economy can afford that, then do nothing. If you think that those types of prices, will encourage and ENABLE people to switch to alternative energy options that have not been rolled out en mass yet, then do NOTHING.

I don't drive everyday, and I can't afford it. I can't afford for our economy to get any worse than it is already getting. I can't afford to see my fellow Veterans hung out to dry both here in the US and deployed around the world. I can't afford to watch George W Bush and his administration make another mistake that will harm this country even more.

Now, even though I feel that Dennis Kucinich is an unlikely champion for the American People, he is the only one that was brave enough to stand up and call for the impeachment of the person responsible for so many problems that have struck this country in the last 8 years. So, I for one am calling my Representative in the morning (a Republican no less) and I will tell him that I do support this Resolution ad want to see the Resolution for impeachment advanced for debate in the House of Representatives. I want this if for not other reason than to give George W Bush a chance at a fair hearing. He needs it as much as the rest of us, otherwise he will be questioned and ridiculed by history for decades. If he is not responsible for the ailments that are specified in the resolution, then I want to hear the defense and see how this can be possible.

The pessimist in me feels that the Democratic controlled Congress and especially the House controlled by Nancy Pelosi will squash this resolution and continue to endorse George W Bush, but I will try none the less to help this resolution along otherwise, I am no better than blind supporters of George W Bush or GW himself.

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Problem Pastor the Sequel - Obama Goes Catholic

2008-05-30T09:18:00.001-05:00

(Hey Craig, I think we kind of agree.)

I think the preachers are getting to much air time. However, that said, I think the religious right empowered the preachers to get the air time, and I also think that Obama has been drinking from same cool aid and is now learning that when you summon a religious demon you can't put it down easily, even when it comes in the form of your pastor or your guest pastor or your spiritual guru or advisor.

To let the media defend themselves, the audio is Tucker Carlson explaining why the media should be looking into this and more importantly why Barack Obama needs to answer.

imho Obama needs to explain why he is receiving guidance and mentorship these guys.

The second thing you mention is looking at things from a different perspective. There is no doubt in my mind that there are definitely problems in the country and some of those are racial, but does anyone other than Obama's last two preachers think that Hillary Clinton feels that she was 'entitled to win the election because she is white' as this latest crack pot claims.

I criticized Hillary a long time ago and on multiple occasions for her entitlement to the presidency actions. It was a stupid political move, but I don't think she felt entitled because she was white. I think she felt entitled because she's been in the White House before and because she thinks she has paid her dues.

Regardless, entitlement is very close to one of the words that I think is very evil, and that is gratitude. Hillary acted as if we the people owed her gratitude for past service and this was enough to put her in the White House. I do not think as this guy claims that she expected to be put into the White House because her skin color matched the paint on the exterior.

This was the same problem with Jeremiah Wright. He turned a critical eye to issues that definitely needed a critical eye. The problem is that he was so subjectively flawed himself viewing a racist bogeyman behind every corner that the arguments that he made that had some merit were then made laughable by the ones that were crazy.

Wright and this last guy are taking the bully pulpit that Obama has given them and they are using it to expose partial truths with a bunch of nonsense. When it comes to actual problems of racism, their actions actually prove more detrimental to improving the country because they sprinkle lunacy on their political cereal for breakfast.

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Problem Pastor the Sequel - Obama Goes Catholic

2008-05-30T08:31:00.002-05:00

The title is intended to be a zinger because I'm getting tired of Obama's Pastor problems. I'm starting to wonder why Obama doesn't and hasn't bailed from his church.

Not for the obvious reason that the US was founded on a very strong belief in the separation of church and state and maybe all elected officials should drop out of their church before they take public office just so that they will not be corrupted by the influences of some of the oldest most powerful organizations in the world, churches, temples, mosques etc.

But just because his church and his pastors are really going over the top ridiculous. I mean, does this guy want to be President or does he want to run for President and lose?

That's pretty much the question that Barack Obama, not the press,not the democratic party,not hillary or bill, have forced him to decide and answer.

The Audio

If you haven't already seen or heard this audio on the news, let me give you some background information to put the audio in context:

-the speaker calling Hillary Clinton a white supremacist is caucasian

-the speaker worked on Obama's campaign until he resigned 2 weeks ago

-the speaker is speaking at Obama's current church

-the speaker has spoken at Obama's church many times in the past

-the speaker is a Catholic Priest

-the speaker made these comments 6 days ago on Sunday

-the speaker has already publicly apologized for his own sermon

-the cheering in the background comes from members of Obama's church

-the speaker has been active in defending Louis Farrakhan in recent weeks

-Obama's campaign has called the sermon divisive and backward but has not denounced the claims that Hillary is a white supremacist

So, I ask everyone, do we really want to hear from crazy pastors, ministers, rabbis, preachers, caliph or mullah, or maybe even a scientology leader(not sure what they call their religious leaders, Chief Clear?) that passes through Obama's church on a regular basis.

I think we'd all be better off if Obama went religiously neutral and dropped out of the church. I'm not saying that is good for Obama or his family or anything. He's got to make his own choices. I wouldn't want my kids to have some nut job like this reading a children's book to them, but if that works for the Obama's that is their choice.

However, I think that it would be good for America because I do not think we need more division in this country inspired by the people that Barack Obama chooses to accept into his house of worship and political campaign as spiritual advisors.

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FIght the HATE - Taking Down FAIR

2008-05-29T13:49:00.001-05:00

Listen to Eric Ward, Organizer at the Center for New Community, from the frontlines of a war against hate in the US. Eric and the Center are helping to expose the ties of anti-immigrant hate group FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, to white supremacists.

Want to keep FAIR from spreading hate in your community? Listen to Eric's tips on fighting back.

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Just Watched Recount

2008-05-25T22:51:00.002-05:00

I just finished watching Recount with Kevin Spacey. It was indeed a pretty good movie. I lived in Palm Beach County during the 2000 election so I did experience a lot of the things in the movie first hand. However, I worked then too, so much of it was experienced at night after work on the news and reading updates on the internet.

Back then I was working for Motorola and trying to help Verizon Wireless form. As it turns out, I might have been better off if I had paid less attention to Verizon Wireless (let them fold in their own problems at the time) and paid closer attention to national politics.

Then again, I'm not sure that paying more attention would have helped. I did pay attention and had been paying attention for many years. I thought Gore and Bush were two of the worst candidates that our country has ever seen. Since then President Bush has been able to confirm that I was definitely half right. I suspect that I was actually 100% right, but in this universe I can't confirm that Al Gore truly was the other worst candidate.

In Gore's defense he has been a much better non-President than he ever was a Senator or Vice President. Ironically, he has probably even done more good for the country since leaving politics than he ever did while he was serving in office. His attacks against Twisted Sister during Senate hearings were even more absurd than recent hearings in the Senate covering steroids in baseball that were about as surreal as watching Leslie Nielsen run a reality show featuring a Hydroxycut review.

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Economic Stimulus-Gone Daddy Gone

2008-05-22T09:35:00.002-05:00

The increase in the price of oil since the economic stimulus package was signed into law has risen enough to cost the economy more than $300 billion. That means the $157 billion stimulus package has been wiped out by oil prices, in many cases before any of us received a check at all. We may use the actual check itself to buy something, improve the house with vinyl siding even though home values have dropped by 3.7 percent, or maybe even spend the money on gadgets, but as a whole Americans spent the economic stimulus on gas and oil and probably paid interest on it too before anyone saw a deposit hit their bank account.

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Lake Going Up in Steam Everyday

2008-05-22T06:47:00.002-05:00

This morning, I'm eating some breakfast, drinking a diet mountain dew and watching the news. In the background I'm watching the steam rising up like fire off the lake.

I was having an idle daydream speculation wondering just how much water we lose every day from steam off the lake. Our lake is heated by a coal power plant. (The lake was actually created with damns to give power plants water to cool their systems.)

The plant couldn't function without the lake, which is why the plant's owner built the lake. Water an electricity often go together like food and people. The plants rarely can get away from the need for water unlike humans that can go several days with out and even a couple days without desiring it if they have some hoodia root handy.

The thing is that before the lake, the water used to flow into a river or sink down into the underground aquifer. Now that we are running into water shortages, I'm wondering if there is something wrong with the system. Maybe the heating of the lake water actually sends more water into the air through some type of super evaporation process (water evaporating both from the water and from the steam in the air).

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How Much Gas Can You Waist to Get Free Gas?

2008-05-21T15:54:00.001-05:00

That was the question that many people in Las Vegas found the answer to last week when a local gas give away ended up fueling a gas burn off in traffic jams and gridlock.

Most of these people would have probably been slightly better avoiding the gas give away all together, but in fact with prices as high as they are, burning a half tank of gas to get a full tank of gas does unfortunately make some economic sense. Congratulations Las Vegas you found a way to make the pain at the pump more painful even with free gas.

Maybe next week you could offer some free designer jewelry for anyone that wants to go sweat it out in the diamond minds and fields of Africa. What's a little malaria and enslavement when free diamonds are being offered?

Military Prosecuting Soldiers for Pregnancy

2008-05-21T03:03:00.002-05:00

Below is my reaction to a story I read in Stars and Stripes via Military.com at http://www.military.com/…50,00.html

It talks about how the military is slightly lifting the ban on sexual relations between heterosexual unmarried soldiers in Afghanistan. That's basically a lot of double talk for a shift in orders/policy so that unmarried female soldiers that get pregnant in Afghanistan can not be prosecuted for having sexual relations.

Note. this ban is still in effect in the 173rd Division.

Voice Transcript follows:

I was reading an article on military.com and the section article originally written for stars and stripes and talks about a new order that was recently issued by the commander of the combined joint task force in Afghanistan and the this change and orders is interesting and a strange way I say interesting for the perspective that I see some very negative things about this icy and slight positive things about this as well and good that in a minute but the order essentially he is the ban on sex for soldiers in Afghanistan it's was previously established that unmarried men and women were not allowed to have sexual relations in a combat zone that means that a man and woman cannot have sex in a combat zone in and also within the borders it was not allowed for a mail for example to go into the living quarters of the female and vice versa even if it was like public living area maybe you two or three unmentioned in the same quarters and a woman might come in in a just to hang out or talk or watch TV or in a bar or something or whatever the case might be that was banned and same time they were not allowed to have sex either this is just for homosexuals by the way which is still banned even after the change orders but was changed is that it's no longer bands that means that they could have sex in Afghanistan today the thing is they're still not allowed to have sex basically within their living quarters so they could have sex you can do it in their living quarters today another aspect of the change in the bands that they can enter each other's living quarters if they happen to share living quarters with a neo-other people think that remains to remade after the greedy and the door has remained open and their living corkers permitting tent flap or were the case can be there but they basically have removed the ban make it okay to have sex but they have not been possible for them to have sex in a what I would call a safe place so if a man and woman in Afghanistan and this goes for contractors as well not just soldiers if they were to have sex there they would have to find some other place to have sex outside of their living quarters which seems to me to be rather dangerous that would insinuate that the adapter you know via a mop closet or you know go outside or something possibly in a vehicle that seems a little peculiar but what's really at the heart of this is that if a soldier is caught having sex they cannot be prosecuted for previously and does happen many times in Afghanistan soldiers were prosecuted when they were caught having sex with other soldiers now there's two ways that this could happen one of the could literally walking onto soldiers while they're in the act of having sex and two and does work its ugly soldier could be found to have had sex when they become pregnant to become pregnant in Afghanistan and your woman a female soldier odds are you had to have sex is no immaculate conception in Afghanistan for American soldiers or anybody else for that matter is what was happening is that female soldiers might become pregnant while in Afghanistan and they would be prosecuted for becoming pregnant now don't get me wrong for female soldier gets pregnant in a while they're in a combat zone you are not actually allowed to serve in combat but they can wish something I disagree with but they can no service supporting role in risk their lives almost as much in a 99.9% as much as soldier in combat role but if they were to become pregnant and no cause and effect they had sexual relations and that was against orders and they can be prosecuted for that I think that's crazy I think they soldiers should be allowed to have sexual relations when there are no in a situation where you know sick of living quarters may be something akin to apartments or barracks and it's semi private and clean and safe while for Ivan Kersey orders to me restate that they should use birth control with their religion doesn't prevent it so that people don't get pregnant woman when they're serving overseas but the concept that you could potentially targeted a female soldier just because she happened to get pregnant in a to be tried and convicted in the just seems crazy to me so they've made us know quarter step forward in removing the bands that they can't be prosecuted for him having been caught either in the act or with child for they haven't really given soldiers there they're due for being no responsible adults I think that's as good a position that's you know one more screwed opposition can like the don't ask don't tell policy so wanted brings to your attention the title of the article's ban on sex or soldiers in Afghanistan lifted... story by Drew Brown of stars and stripes

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The voice transcripts on this article need a little touching up. Its something that I'm working on with our coders. The verbal recording is the key item here and don't worry too much if you come across text that doesn't match directly, the voice transcripts are entirely a guide to help you search and find the article to listen to. Its not intended for reading. So if you find keywords that tell you to go buy a bus don't be perturbed, we'll get things zinging along and more accurate soon.

$200 Per Barrel Oil Predictions fm Goldman Sachs

2008-05-06T18:23:00.001-05:00

Are you ready to pay $10 - $15 per gallon for gasoline? Are you prepared to ride a bicycle to work?

You might need to work on that plan now and plant a garden while you are at it.

AP story http://ap.google.com/…wD90GCJB80

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Bill Clinton on Local Radio Show

2008-05-06T18:03:00.001-05:00

Its kind of amazing the pr campaign that politicians are going through from regular appearances on late night TV to regular appearances on local morning radio programs. Next political season, they'll probably show up regularly on podcasts.

here's President Bill Clinton on the Ace and TJ Show learning that Rush Limbaugh accused Bill of flirting with Rush's girlfriend.

Yeah, I was amazed that Rush had a girlfriend too!

(to find the full show see http://www.acetj.com/listen/# )

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NC Election Trumped by Big Bird Arrest!

2008-05-06T07:50:00.001-05:00

I have started to regularly write or cover or blog about the demise of our local newspaper. Today they pushed an EMU escape above the NC Primary.

If it weren't so sad it would be funny.

Well, actually, its kind of funny regardless of how sad it is...

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The Final, Final, Final Super Tuesday

2008-05-06T06:12:00.001-05:00

Good Morning everyone!

Today is the final, final, final, maybe the last or probable last Super Tuesday. The last time voters will get to play a major role in the Democratic Primary.

After today, there will not be as many delegates left for candidates to claim from voters. Instead the candidates will start the real campaign for the truly important people in this election process, the Super Delegates.

These Uber Delegates are not like you and I. Most of them were born on Krypton a distant planet, far far far away that destroyed itself with war and global change that left most of the planet a barren ice planet before it ultimately blew up sending escape pods and meteorites to Earth dozens of years ago where the proud and few rich and fortunate survivors would work to take control of the Democratic Party of what was once the most Democratic Countries on the planet, the United States of America.

hmmmmmm, he wait a minute. I think my editor is playing with my type. Our Democratic Party can't be controlled by Kryptonites. We just have a bunch of blow hard flunkies that think they know better than your average person in the 'People's Party' established by Andrew Jackson when he wanted to run for President, but didn't want to play by the political rules of the day.

I suppose if people don't like what happens today in Indiana and my new home state of North Carolina, they will just have to do what Andrew Jackson did, and get up off their lazy butts and form a new party and get someone worth to bits elected to the White House!

So anyway, I'm going to be out covering the election process here in North Carolina. I'm even going to vote and with my single vote work to do just what I did in Palm Beach County in 2000, when I then lived in the Old Age Senile Capitol of the World - Boca Raton, named after the big rats that live there.

That's right, I was one of the few, the proud and the brave that helped screw up the 2000 election and I'm back. This time I'm in North Carolina and I'm hoping to work my voodoo that I doo here too.

I'm going to vote for someone, and this time, I might even know who I voted for after I do it! This time, (if my voting machine isn't hacked by one of those famous North Carolina hacker crackers, the code crackers not that other type . . .) my vote might just be important enough to put someone on the final approach to 1600 Pennsylvania Street.

Or then again, I might just choose to sew a little discord and place my vote on the person that is most likely to help get Americans off their tukus (how do you spell tukus?) and finally get around to creating a new and hopefully useful political party to break this oligopoly of a two party system that is running our country into the ground.

Hopefully turnout will be high. I'm actually a bit concerned about that since, its a brisk 65 degrees here and a slight swirling steam coming off the lake.

I'll keep you posted . . .

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Obama Sends Me an Email to Go Vote in NC Tomorrow

2008-05-05T14:45:00.001-05:00

Here's the email I received from Barack Obama. Note the personal touch, he didn't capitalize my first name. ;)

I've gotten phone calls from his volunteers and a phone call from Bill Clinton and an email from Hillary too.

Something tells me that I'm going to go through a political black out period with all of the candidates starting on Wednesday.

brett --

I wanted to get in touch with you one last time before tomorrow's primary.

We've had a long journey together in North Carolina. For more than a year, you have been dedicated to the idea that when ordinary people come together, we can do extraordinary things.

It's been inspiring to see our movement grow in the Tar Heel State, and it strengthens my faith that the American people -- not just here in North Carolina, but across the country -- are ready to stop settling for what the cynics tell us we must accept and start reaching for what's possible.

Tomorrow's our chance to make history.

But the election is going to be close, and it's vitally important that you vote, and bring your family and friends to vote with you.

Find your polling location and vote tomorrow:

http://nc.barackobama.com/NClookup

When Michelle and I talked about my running for president, one of the core goals we both had for this campaign was to leave the political process better off than we found it.

That's just what you've done in North Carolina. And you refused to let the tired old tactics of the political status quo distract you from building this grassroots movement.

If you get out and vote tomorrow -- and bring others to vote too -- our movement will continue to grow. The world will know that North Carolina stood up for a different kind of politics. And real change will be within reach.

Find your polling location:

http://nc.barackobama.com/NClookup

Let's bring real change tomorrow.

Barack

P.S. -- Here are a few details and rules that will help make the voting process run smoothly. Make sure to share these with your friends:

Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. If you are in line when the polls close at 7:30 p.m., you have the right to vote.

If you are a first-time voter who registered by mail, make sure to bring a current and valid photo ID (like a driver's license, student ID, employer ID or government ID), or a document that shows your name and address like a utility bill, bank statement, or paycheck.

If your name is not on the voter list, first make sure you are at the correct polling place. If you are, ask for a provisional ballot.

If you moved within the same county before April 6th, 2008, vote at the polling place for your new address.

2008-05-03T14:52:00.001-05:00

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Great representation of "pain at the pump"

2008-05-02T15:20:00.001-05:00

This image is courtesy of AlterNet. It accompanied a blog post titled: Straight Talk About Gas Prices at the following URL: http://www.alternet.org/…eek/84123/

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Congressional Smack Down

2008-05-01T22:14:00.001-05:00

It was a rough day to be a member of congress, or at least a majority member. President Bush wasted no time this afternoon launching political jabs at the left.
Whether it was their general ineffectiveness on issues such as the economy, budget or alternative energy bills, the President was quick to cast responsibility for the countries current crisis’ in any outward direction as he himself does not hold the only franchise on incompetence.
President Bush isn’t in an enviable position at this point. With historically low approval ratings and an economy sinking into recession, President Bush is at least looking for new and creative alternatives to try and stave off the recession. For all of our sakes, I hope he is successful.

Wand Waving Bush

2008-04-30T19:29:00.000-05:00

President Bush spoke yesterday in a rose garden question Q&A regarding the slumping economy and other hot topics. When probed a number of times about the current state of the economy, President Bush offered to wave his magic wand but suggested that even that might not be enough.
The news conference was presented in lieu of both Senator McCain and Clinton’s initiative to suspend the gas tax. President Bush stated that he was “open to any ideas…” In addition to his comments regarding the tax suspension, President Bush mentioned this might be another opportunity to explore the possibility of opening up ANWAR.

The President has never been accused of being with it, but maybe he has bigger issues and its time to recommend him for psychological screening and possibly drug rehab.

Howard Dean's Divisive Response -Meet The Press

2008-04-29T23:07:00.002-05:00

Here is Howard Dean's response on Meet the Press to the Governor of Michigan (Hillary supporter) who wants his State to have representation in the Democratic Primaries.

Even if Michigan broke the rules, it seems to me that Dean's attitude is divisive and is not helping the situation one bit at all. That makes me suspect that his tone and demeanor going into the planning of the primaries was probably also divisive and may have escalated the tensions that resulted in Michigan taking the action that it took.

If the Democrats lose this election cycle, I suspect that the blame can be easily associated with Howard Dean. If the Democrats win the election in November, I suspect that it will be despite Howard Dean.

What do you think? Does Howard Dean need to go after this cycle is over? Is it time for Dean to pack the moving boxes and get out of the way of Democrats looking for change and success?

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Stimulus Check Gridlock

2008-04-29T19:22:00.000-05:00

President Bush was pleased as punch this week to deliver a little bit of good news to Americans regarding the hotly contested economic stimulus checks. It turns out, that some households will begin receiving their checks as early as Monday the 5th.
There have been many rumors emanating from conversations around the water cooler in regards to the stimulus program.

Some folks seem to think that the money they receive will be taken from their tax return for ’08, other folks seem to be under the impression that the checks will be taxed additionally with their return this year. Isn’t it funny how the only thing we know for sure is when we’ll receive this “mystery” check.

Can anyone out there tell me where the money actually came from?

Better yet, can anyone give me an example of how spending this check will make the economy better. For example, where would you spend it if you didn't owe an arm and a leg like everyone else. Downpayment on a car? laptop memory so that you can finally use Windows vista? a new cell phone? Paying off the old cell phone? or just buying some bread, gas and milk at the new inflated prices.

For me, I may never know because I submitted my taxes on time, but they were not 'processed' until after April 15th. There is no schedule for payouts when the government is late to process.

Gridlock in Laughlin Nevada River Run

2008-04-26T16:00:00.001-05:00

There are times when gridlock is not a problem but a communal celebration. This week I'm visiting Laughlin, Nevada to cover the Laughlin River Run 2008.

The city fills up with bikers and music lovers from all around the country coming in for the oldest biker rally in the country. Its also the second largest in the country, which means there's a little bit of gridlock from time to time.

Gridlock at the concerts, gridlock in the lines for restaurants, gridlock in the casinos, gridlock on the sidewalks and motor home parks, and of course gridlock on the streets.

But people come here for that gridlock to be together and enjoy and gawk at the crowd. So in this case its a rye situation that the gridlock is actually a positive. Who knows maybe next up, waiting on hold or getting a life insurance quote will be a positive.

Equal Time - Barack Obama Doesn't Like Me

2008-04-18T13:46:00.001-05:00

I think it might be a good thing, but Barack Obama doesn't like me. I never get any emails from him like I do John McCain, who I'm disenfranchised with and from Hillary Clinton, who I do not trust.

Obama calls my in laws, but I get nothing. He follows me on twitter but never talks to me.

I just wanted to say "Thank You Barack Obama" for not talking to me on a daily basis. I'm not likely to vote for you, Hillary or John McCain and it probably saves all of us some time and trouble. Gives me maybe that extra 5 minutes a year to clean the bathroom faucets and I like that.

Hillary Says its Time to Play "Who Wants to be a Telemarketer?"

2008-04-18T13:39:00.001-05:00

I guess I can expect a lot of telemarketing phone calls this weekend. I just received an email from the Hillary Clinton Campaign asking if I want to be a telemarketer.

Truth be told, I don't want to be a telemarketer. I've been there and done that working inside sales and I don't feel the need to go back to cold calling anyone on a Saturday. Thanks anyway! :)

No, I'd rather dress up in equestrian clothing and hike through the desert without any water.

I talked about this email a bit with some family members and we talked a lot about how this election cycle has taught both campaigns how to get out and touch every single voter across the United States. In the old days, you were in the minority if you actually saw or heard from a politician. These days, you are in the minority if you haven't actually seen, touched or heard a politician somewhere near your house or home town.

Ten years from now, we'll probably have high definition toilet paper TV with politicians talking to to our attention giving face while we put the TP to good effect. Seems like a lot of effort and money down the drain to me.

Hillary's Campaign Reminds Me I can vote early in NC

2008-04-17T18:44:00.001-05:00

First, I am not a Hillary supporter. I am definitely completely undecided as I do not like any of the three candidates. I am currently registered as a Democrat I believe here in North Carolina.

A couple weeks back, I covered a speech given by Bill Clinton and now I must be on a mailing list for the campaign as I just picked up this email offering an early reminder to go vote now in the North Carolina Primary (Early Voting Season is here). I may actually go vote early, just so that I can spend more time on election day covering the action myself as opposed to waiting in line.

Dear Brett,
North Carolina is going to play a key role in picking the Democratic nominee for president, and you don't have to wait to vote.
North Carolina’s primary is on May 6, but you can vote for Hillary today. Early voting in North Carolina began on April 16 and ends on May 3.
Registered voters can show up, walk in, and cast a ballot for Hillary. No lines, no waiting.
Visit our website to find the early vote location in your county.
We're expecting record turnout in North Carolina this year, so early voting is an easy and convenient way to avoid the long lines on Election Day. You can vote on your own schedule.
We want to make sure every North Carolinian has an opportunity to vote early and make their voice heard. So find your early vote location by clicking here, and tell your friend, family, and neighbors to head down, register (they will need a North Carolina ID or utility bill to show proof of residency), and cast their votes for Hillary!
I hope you can get out and vote early.
Thank you for all you're doing to help Hillary win.
Ace Smith
State Director
Hillary Clinton for President

Regardless, the email above will not influence my vote any more than Oprah influences my book (or candidate) choices. Her latest that I will ignore is A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose. I've already awakened to my life's purpose. :)

Defining a Cult - Target Scientology?

2008-04-12T12:54:00.001-05:00

America seems to be embarking upon a journey towards religious intolerance and the illegalization of religions.

Using the word 'cult' is pretty much a loaded word. I think you could make the argument that every religion is a cult.

I've seen this guy, protesting Scientology before, but everytime I see him and others like him, I have visions of Jewish people being lined up to get into cattle cars or witches being burned at the stake or even the massacre in Waco, Texas. (Yes, I think those people that were massacred were nuts, but it was still technically a massacre, just look up the definition of massacre.)

Here's a few definitions of the word, but before you read these understand that the debate over what a cult is and how you define the word cult and how you define what groups constitute a cult is contested in a way that is almost a cult itself. ;0

# adherents of an exclusive system of religious beliefs and practices

# fad: an interest followed with exaggerated zeal; "he always follows the latest fads"; "it was all the rage that season"

# a system of religious beliefs and rituals; "devoted to the cultus of the Blessed Virgin"

wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

# In religion and sociology, a cult is a term designating a cohesive group of people (generally, but not exclusively a relatively small and recently founded religious movement) devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture or society considers to be outside the mainstream or ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult

# Cult is a novel by Warren Adler

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult (novel)

# Cult is Apocalyptica's third album, released in 2000 with a special-edition released in 2001 containing an extra disc. This album also saw a small trend starting in their single releases, as both Hope and Path have a second version called Path vol.2 or Hope vol. ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult (album)

# In traditional usage, the cult of a religion, quite apart from its sacred writings ("scriptures"), its theology or myths, or the personal faith of its believers, is the totality of external religious practice and observance, the neglect of which is the definition of impiety. ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult (religious practice)

# used in this (limited popular) context only, "cult" refers to the organisation that develops around an abusive guru, and which enforces the abuser's authority, usually by means of an inner circle of lieutenants or close disciples who have taken on the abusive guru's dysfunctional sadomasochistic ...

www.kheper.net/topics/gurus/glossary.html

# A religious group that follows a particular theological system. In the context of Christianity, and in particular, CARM, it is a group that uses the Bible but distorts the doctrines that affect salvation sufficiently to cause salvation to be unattainable. ...

www.carm.org/dictionary/dic_c-d.htm

# The word cult is a derogatory term used to express disapproval or those who hold beliefs other than one's own. ...

www.godweb.org/dictionary/dic_c-d.htm

# Veneration ( or honoring ) of a saint expressed in public acts, local or universal, and formally approved by the Pope.

www.ichrusa.com/saintsalive/glossary.htm

# the rituals and observances of a particular religion, esp. those pertaining to a single deity.

www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/soc_studies/rome/vocab/

# A religious group which denies the essential doctrines of Christianity. The term is usually reserved for groups founded after 1750.

www.dtl.org/trinity/misc/glossary.htm

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Blame Me for the Bad Economy

2008-04-11T21:08:00.001-05:00

I apologize to all my readers and to all Americans. I will be filing my taxes a little late this year.

I will file for an extension, but I will not be agressively filing in order to get my George W Bush Tax cut. I could use the $2.1k in the bank to pay down my bills like anyone, but I have work and projects to complete and I have to insure that my tax records and book keeping reconcile to the penny, so that means that Uncle Sam and the rest of my fellow Americans will have to suffer.

I do apologize to the banks, builders, airline companies, stock speculators, and anyone else that might loose their billion dollar company because I didn't get my $2k and spend it faster.

Like this image, I guess I'm just a lazy dog when it comes to taxes. . . .

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Save or Hide Our Monkey Heritage?

2008-04-08T15:14:00.001-05:00

We have had several interesting conversations on Utterz about the topic of race. Many of these have been in part inspired by the Presidential race and the events that relate to it, both good and bad. I'd like to explore this topic with the goal of showing just how similar we are and as an extension hope to help us start acting like we are really this close!

I was struck by this story about an Obama Delegate that had to resign from the campaign after the following exchange with neighbor children in Chicago.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/…8283.story

-She said the parents were outside, but she intervened because she was concerned about the boys' safety and because the small magnolia tree was being damaged.

-"I went over to the kids and told them to get out of the tree," Ramirez Sliwinski said.

-The father of one of the boys told her it was none of her business, she said, and "I calmly said the tree is not there for them to be climbing in there like monkeys."

She was later ticketed by police $75 for using a comment that could have been racially threatening. Sliwinski has a Hispanic heritage and her neighbors are African American.

Now the word 'monkey' has definitely been utilized over the years as a derogatory word directed at African Americans.

That said, the word monkey unlike other words, is not 'always' a racially derogatory word emotionally charged with hate.

I regularly refer to my kids as monkeys. They are monkeys. In fact genetically, they are about 92% monkey. By calling my kids monkeys, I am not charging them with a racial epithet.

Personally, I consider it a boastful comment when I call them monkeys. I want them to be able to climb around in trees or anything else as part of their evolutionary genetic birth right.

I have many many friends and neighbors of every race that also do and have referred to their own children (and mine) as monkeys as well.

Now, in the story that I refer to (http://www.chicagotribune.com/…8283.story ) It would appear that the lady involved that worked for Obama, probably had a long history of problems with her neighbors. In fact, it sounds like both this lady and her neighbors could probably be categorized as something that knows no boundary of race, ethnicity, religion or sex.

It sounds like all the parties involved are assholes.

So with that obvious caveat out of the way, what do you think?

Do you think of your kids as monkeys? When you were a kid, did you ever feel like a monkey, pretend to be a monkey, play like a monkey or anything like that?

Do you think that the word monkey when used in this situation was racial slur or hate speech?

Would you call a child not your own of a different race a monkey? If the parents of a child of a different race were to refer to their own children as monkeys, would you concur with them or tell them that maybe that is not an appropriate comment.

On that last question, I would add that I am and have been sensitive enough to not refer to children of other races as monkeys, even when their own parents did so. I did not think of them as monkeys for racial reasons, but for the same reason I think of my own kids positively and proudly as monkeys, because they were hanging from and swinging from trees. But due to the extra politically correct environment and country that I have grown up in, I have been conditioned to not use that word in that context.

As I reflect on this story, I have to now wonder if I have been harmed in this conditioning and if I have helped to propagate that harm on others.

I have to wonder if maybe I should have fought to keep the word monkey in my lexicon. I am a very small part African American and a slightly larger part but still relatively small part Cherokee, but I am 92%+ monkey(99% chimp), and you know what so are you!

Should we fight to save our monkey Heritage?

Image: Black-capped Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri boliviensis). Picture taken in Apenheul zoo, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. Photo by Jens Buurgaard Nielsen Caption by Brett Bumeter

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NYC Preparing to Write Off plan to Charge Commuters Entering City

2008-04-07T16:04:00.001-05:00

125th Street, New York City, USA
photographer manamanah

Even someone wearing a pair of cheap glasses can read between the lines and see that the New York City plan to charge incoming commuters environmental fees for driving into the city is likely going to be written off on a procedural technicality. The City's Assembly will likely not vote on the concept and that will void NYC's chance at bringing in $354 million in federal mass transit aid.

But on Monday, Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who killed Bloomberg's plan for an Olympic stadium on Manhattan's West Side, had made no announcement ahead of the deadline, which if missed will cost the city $354 million in federal mass transit aid.

The city's best-known transit advocates had already begun focusing on future battles to get more dollars, adding in a statement: "The Straphangers Campaign is sorely disappointed that congestion pricing will not move forward at this time."

Kevin Sheekey, a mayoral aide, warned lawmakers that they risked angering voters, businesses, environmental advocates and working people if they charge weekday drivers the fees during rush hour for entering Manhattan.

"I don't think they should worry about the mayor, I think they should worry about the other people," Sheekey said on an Albany radio show.

But he also explained why Bloomberg's leadership might have failed. "This was a plan that was advocated by the business community, the environmental community ... In many ways, the mayor came late to the game, put his office behind it."

UPDATE 1-New York anti-traffic fees may die without a vote

Preparing for Clinton Rally

2008-04-04T12:23:00.002-05:00

Here's a weird situation. I'm currently getting everything together so that I can head to a political rally where Bill Clinton will be speaking today in Charlotte.

I missed him the last time he came to town (about a week ago) and so I'm looking forward to covering this one.

Have my cell phone (for utterzing), small camera and video camera for the event. I'm leaving my laptop at home, so I won't be mobile blogging this one, but I was torn on that one. I may even change my mind at the last minute.

I am not a Clinton supporter. In fact, I do not support any of the top 3 candidates. Saying that I am undecided is incorrect.

I am decidedly against the top 3 candidates actually. The options for people like myself that don't trust Democratic politicians any further than we can throw a Republican politician are definitely limited these days. But hey what are you going to do?

Vote for someone that you do not trust to get the job done?

Vote for someone that you think is corrupt?

Every person will answer those questions differently, but imho life is to short to support Delsey people like that.

I usually try and find the positive in these situations. Something to create, something to build, something to improve, but when you have to go so far outside of the box to find some material to work with that is not easy. :)

I'd definitely like to see a strong 3rd party candidate stand up and swipe this election away from the 2 party system in 2008.

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Abu Grahib Linked to White House

2008-04-02T16:23:00.002-05:00

Rough Voice Transcripts

Covering the article in the Washington Post at http://www.washingtonpost.com/…02171.html

View or download the actual memo in 4 parts here

http://media.washingtonpost.com/…mo1-19.pdf

http://media.washingtonpost.com/…o20-39.pdf

http://media.washingtonpost.com/…o40-59.pdf

http://media.washingtonpost.com/…o60-81.pdf

Anything new for him but it's been following the scandals coming out of the Bush administration during the last seven years but it does basically prove that one of those scandals is true.
the abuses that took place about the grave of previously been blamed on a handful of enlisted people in the military. Privates and one sergeant basically, prosecuted for the abuses that took place as if they were the ringleaders. The real ringleaders include George Bush and Dick Cheney and several people that work on their staff.
In this memo written by John Yoo was a deputy at the Justice Department legal counsel to the President Vice President and to Donald Rumsfeld wrote an 81 page long memo describing how the office of the President basically has the right to throw out every law in the country and ignore the Constitution, to do whatever they like to anyone in the pursuit of information about what Al Qaeda is doing.

Now we've seen the administration act on this concept for years now and its upset quite a few people but this memo actually describes it in great detail. The policies that they had why they felt they could give the president as much authority as they liked even though there are constitutional controls. and prevent this type of thing covers this recovery history of the investigation into this problem it's deeply troubling but it's again is not terribly surprising anybody that's ever served in the military would know that you can't get ringleaders out of a handful of enlisted people to run something like the abuses that we saw that with grave mental deep basically describes how these techniques and the justification for these techniques were essentially exported from Guantᮡmo Bay across the ocean to Iraq so the same techniques were used on prisoners in Guantᮡmo and then later as you know people were moving into Iraq and they were getting enough intelligence as they are basically discovered they couldn't find weapons of mass distraction that they needed to use some better techniques zero what was really going on and so it was basically insinuated through the government and help in getting the Intel you need are some tools that we've used in Guantᮡmo and you can use them because we've done the analysis of the Justice Department and that's what drove all of us I think it's important to note is read this article in the Washington Post that they describe how the Justice Department basically did a runaround around the Pentagon there were lawyers and the Pentagon people have worked in military and military legal system for years that were very against this whole concept torturing prisoners of any type and the Justice Department basically wrote this document went around the Pentagon military lawyers and took it to Don Rumsfeld and from there to get to Vice President Cheney did one of his aides at a time and that just goes to show how screwed up is ministration is also a goes to show just how poor a job they've done and running the country and failing utterly to understand the Constitution alone uphold or defend the Constitution's identity to be brought to justice themselves along with everybody that allow this to happen there were far too many greenways and the administration should have stood up and said hey you know it's our ministration but this is wrong is against the Constitution it is the very anybody that stood up in the Bush ministration at work for George Bush had the balls to say this is wrong is against the Constitution and for that you know what Republicans don't deserve to win the election come this fall I've supported Republicans in the past and frankly all the Republicans are their work in the ministration today and implement but supporting the president on Capitol Hill the need to go they didn't have what it took to stand up and defend the Constitution instead they backed a Republican president who we can now see was extremely flawed extremely and capable streetlight and competent and extremely misguided in his belief that he could do whatever he wanted that he was above the law goes for everybody blog as well so that's all on to say about that it's I'm sure going to be up a lot more evidence that will come out on this this is just one memo even though it's an 80 page memo and I am sure there will be more like this one that will be uncovered in the years to come.

Its not like we are talking about subjecting people to a 1 hour talk to get vacation deals or a major financial scam, or steroid investigation or another Enron or sub prime fiasco. We are talking about life and death and in some people's minds something almost worse.

~ Transcribed with Dragon Naturally Speaking, most inconsistencies can be chalked up to the fact that I was recording video with Pinnacle Studio, while recording sound with Audacity and transcribing with Dragon Naturally Speaking. Its amazing my PC didn't just self destruct, by I do appreciate any text corrections that you would like to point out.

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