Saturday, December 31, 2011

A Laugh For Starting The New Year

My Mom sent this to me, thought you could use a laugh to start 2021

Ole's car was hit by a truck in an accident. In court, the trucking company's lawyer was questioning Ole.

'Didn't you say, sir, at the scene of the accident, 'I'm fine, ?' asked the lawyer.

Ole responded, 'Vell, I'll tell you vat happened. I had yust loaded my favorite mule, Bessie, into da.....'

'I didn't ask for any details', the lawyer interrupted. 'Just answer the question. Did you not say, at the scene of the accident, 'I'm fine'?

Ole said, 'Vell, I had yust got Bessie into da trailer and I vas driving down da road... ..

The lawyer interrupted again and said, 'Judge, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told the Highway Patrolman on the scene that he was just fine. Now several weeks after the accident he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question.'

By this time, the Judge was fairly interested in Ole's answer and said to the lawyer, 'I'd like to hear what he has to say about his favorite mule, Bessie'.

Ole thanked the Judge and proceeded. 'Vell, as I vas saying, I had yust loaded Bessie, my favorite mule, into da trailer and vas driving her down da highvay ven dis huge semi-truck and trailer ran da stop sign and smacked my truck right in da side. I vas trown into one ditch and Bessie vas trown into da other. I vas hurting real bad and didn't vant to move. However, I could hear Bessie moaning and groaning. I knew she was in terrible shape yust by her groans'. 'Shortly after da accident da Highway Patrolman, he came to da scene.. He could hear Bessie moaning and groaning so he vent over to her'..

'After he looked at her and saw her fatal condition he took out his gun and shot her right 'tween da eyes.

Den da Patrolman, he came across da road, gun still smoking, looked at me and said, 'How are you feeling?'

'Now vut da hell vould YOU say?

Ron Paul - There Is A Difference

I've been hearing lately about some "liberal" love for Ron Paul. I don't know about this, I hear things that frequently sound like something but have no weight. Just to act as though there is something to this, I'll go to the heart of some of the nonsense.

Yes, Ron Paul is against the Federal Drug War and that somehow puts him to the left of Obama and maybe the Democratic Party. I don't like the Federal Drug War but I don't propose the having the States wage it is some kind of improvement or somehow Left of any damn thing. I don't see where there are benefits to be gained from being executed in Mississippi for smoking pot and taxed in California.

I don't like wars of adventurism, or frankly - any of them. I can actually be persuaded that it has to be done, but the operative word there is "has." I don't propose that the way to avoid foreign wars is to disengage. I'll agree that the US is stupidly reflexively supportive of Israel and quick to forgive that nation's anti-democratic and theocratic behavior while bashing its neighbors for the same things but it is an entirely different matter to propose its abolition as a state.

I'm not in the least in favor of indefinite detention or other of the National Security tomfoolery but that doesn't put me in the camp of opposing the Civil Rights Act as though entire states and a region didn't use law to treat citizens as a despised second class. Ron Paul would have you believe it was an un-necessary infringement of liberty to make people stop doing that. He'd love to have the Civil War undone.

As for his "consistency" I'd have to question that in regards to the professed Libertarian view of not interfering in citizen's lives in view of his stance on abortion and actual Federal legislation he's written to interfere with it. He's perfectly fine with mucking around in a women's uterus as a Federal agent, but then men don't have such a thing. Maybe more to the point is that white men don't have them...

It matters how you get to a position. Let's say you and I agree to meet at a parking lot at noon. I leave early and drive carefully arriving at noon. You leave late and arrive at noon with your car beat to hell and smashed cars and run down pedestrians in your wake. We're both in the parking lot at noon, but you're a criminal asshole and I'm not.

Ron Paul is not to the left of anything other than Ghengis Khan.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The ABMs Are Gonna Be Pissed

It wasn't a real surprise when the Establishment GOP and its hangers on started to pile on to Newt. It may have surprised Newt, but it shouldn't have. Once Perry's head exploded publicly those folks had no place to go but MultipleMitt. Be assured, despite the endorsements and the Newt kicking they didn't want Mitt either. Well, he's one of them, you say - nope. Mitt is a Mormon Robot from corporate raiderhood. First of all, the candidate is supposed to be a Christian and second - you don't let the marks in on the scam, no broken companies, layoffs, and gadzillion profits doing it. No, rich is fine, a plutocratic tool desirable, but a shape shifting ruthless job raper with the personality of a board is not fine.

Three years ago they had no hope of winning, now that they've broken government's function of governing they do actually have a chance and they want to badly. They're seriously hamstrung with MultipleMitt but Newt was a ticking time bomb. They are, of course, scandalized enough by R Paul to keep real quiet and they pay no attention to the other loons, but Perry was supposed to do the job after all their first choices bailed on the idea. Newt as the last to rise and near IA Caucuses had to be stomped even though Mitt would be the beneficiary.

The ABMs are pretty screwed. Despite the racism and assorted bigotry, forced birthism, god-bothering and general screw the poor that Paul packs around with him - he misses real big on war and dope. Bachmann and Santorum are crazy enough, but just the wrong crazy. Perry should have been it, then he opened his mouth. Newt is getting cannonaded from all sides by the Establishment; so where have they got to go?

I don't know, but the ABMs are gonna have some real resentments when they start going to the polls. It might dawn on them that they're being played for the rubes... again. Mitt can go on all the TV shows in the world and even "poke fun" at himself and the result for the ABMs will be ... nnaaahhh.

Yeah, if Perry doesn't rise and Newt keeps sliding it will be Newt, the possibly electable one, and the ABMs will feel about like Democrats would have if Hoe LIEberman had been the 08 candidate.(not real unreasonably) I just shake my head.

(It would pay to think about Newt being hit with 2400 negative ads mostly from SuperPacs in the last 2wks in IA, of all places - CU Decision)

Monday, December 19, 2011

The House And The XL Bill

The GOPers in the House are beating the drum of a one year extension of the UE/FICA Pipeling thing versus the sixty day one the Senate managed. The crux is that the Senate couldn't figure out how to pay for the thing longer than sixty days and the House isn't satisfied with that. Now maybe you're thinking sixty days is a bit of underperformance and I'd agree.

My guess is that the House wants to poison the thing so badly that they can get an optics switch into the Democrats sinking the thing. I'll be real frank, though they could have done that next year it is probably a lot more politically efficient to poison the thing before Christmas. It is probably their hope that it won't be noticed that in order to deliver the present some other poor group must get coal in their basket. That and that pesky Pipeline thing must be fixed - the Prez might say no...

OK Democratic Party, they're going to put the ball in your court once again. They're going to try real hard to stick you with choices that you don't want to make and you're not going to get to jamb your choices down their throats because the flatly don't care about the hostages. You care, they don't, now what?

You know that poison beyond Pipeline is going to be in your future and you'll have to make some decisions regarding what you'll give up. Or not.

Heh.

Some Of My Best Friends Are Democrats

Yep, really...(there's also a not so nice joke there) Despite the outcomes of Democratic votes in the Senate and the House there are actually a pretty fair number of them who are to the left of Geo HW Bush. Some more than others, but that does include some some who are pretty far left of Ole George I. They don't get much acknowledgement, thanks to the contingent of plutocratic buttkisser who wear the same (D) and their fellow travelers who are scared spitless somebody will notice that St Ronnie the Never Existed wouldn't approve.

You really should have some admiration for these folks laboring under the shadow of the cretins who'd faint if a GOPer yelled "boo," and it isn't fair in the least to blame them for the actual outcomes of Democratic votes. It isn't so easy to forgive the collegiality that keeps them quiet in the face of a ... Max Baucus or especially a LIEberman. It isn't cowardice that makes it happen, partisanship is part of getting votes and coralling support for projects. The plain fact of it is that if you want to get even some watered down POS passed you can't have Mary Landri...whats her face... going off in a huff because you called her quite accurately a corporate whore. So they're stuck with making nice with someone they'd walk across the street to avoid because homocidal maniacs are running the other side. (exaggeration you say? well, bomb bomb Eyeeeran)

These folks (I'm being nice) are going to exist as long as the NABA GOP holds true. I'm not kidding, you'd rather live next door to a shoplifter than Gengis Khan so you let the thief into your neighborhood. Well, there is that and the endless pursuit of the imaginary middle (I)s. There's a bunch for you, despite the media pretense it is only homogenous in its label. That masquerade consists of:
Democrats too left/right
GOP too left/right
I'm busy don't bother me
They're all the same
They're all crooks
They should all get along
Don't rock the boat
I don't know anything and I'm proud of it
and a few other critters with their special hobbyhorse nobody pays attention to.
who could forget the Libertarians and their special world - though they may have jumped the corral.(I amost did forget them)

Sometimes it is really difficult to make a case to them that holds water and that is especially true for Democrats. If one of the best cases you can make is we're not as bad as the loons and your outcomes range from St Ronnie to GHWB and that leaves you crying in the corner because some GOPer called you a socialist you've got a tough sale. For pete's sake, I've been a Democrat since like forever and it is hard to get me to see past voting against the horror show that is the GOP. I'm not voting my interests or the well-being of the nation, I'm voting against its destruction. That's a choice? Really, in the end run, I'm not voting against the destruction of the nation, just the pace it progresses at. It would be nice to vote for something, but that would involve the risk of running on clear principles and advocation of clear actions...

Ah well, thanks guys for existing, anyhow.

The Elite Liberal Media

The Erin post got me thinking, well reflecting, on that frequently abused seldom verified creature and its hydra-headed clique. Sooo, how many practitioners of that dark art are there in major print and broadcast media? I started counting and so far I haven't had to take off my socks. If I were to get real loose in the definition I might have to take one off.

The really sad part is that I don't really care to have that imaginary creature (GOP hobgoblin) as a media. I would, however, appreciate some fact checking and a bit of questioning when Pols spout stuff for their edification. (regurgitation is more apropos) The job is supposed to involve a bit more than just giving a Kyl or even an Obama a platform to just say any damn thing. Maybe the job is even to tell some of the things that wouldn't make your Corporate owner's friends real happy for the rubes to know.

I know print is bleeding money like a ink on paper in a thunderstorm and the internet is cutting into their advertising, but they're also approaching bad internet in their credibility. Broadcast is in competition with shrieking "reality" shows and whatever the hell you'd call the Nancy Grace type thing. But honestly you jerks, I can go to any Party/Candidate website and get their take without all the damn commercials and I'd really like my news a bit more newsy than a Whamo commercial and maybe a bit more... truthful?

If there's a service MSM has provided in recent years it has been to run the GOP clowncar Primary show, despite the fawning softball questions and horse race foolery involved Americans have actually gotten to see them on display. I don't know what the much vaunted vigorously courted (I)s will make of it. Considering the '10 new hires a ballbat to the head wouldn't make much difference to the thinking processes involved.

How about just a little news to break up the commercials?

Hey Erin Burnett, Anybody Home?

Maybe they all went Out Front into the yard when your show came on. If a lovely, vapid, Wall Street pimp was supposed to put CNN into a good ratings place, well, maybe not. It only takes a little exposure to this Bidness Shill to wear out anybody that knows anything not put out by Rupert's outfit. I really have to applaud this bold move into the toilet by CNN. Somebody had to replace Beck and the IMMIGRANT!!! GUY (ok Dobbs) who could manage stupid without being homely or scary crazy. Well, she is pretty and if you turned the sound off she might be interesting to watch for a couple minutes... the problem is that you'd get about as much information that way (maybe more with the crawler).

If you're thinking CNN just sort of wandered into this consider that her entire work life is tied to working for, fluffing on air, and even getting engaged to bankster.greed.crooked/unindicted. I have heard that there are those who think much of the criticism is sexist... now how the hell could sex have any bearing on a CNN hire of a bathing beauty bidness carney barker for a news program? I know the GOP and Big Bidness ain't getting a fair shake anywhere other than from the Murdochians...and WaPo...and ABC...and well hell everywhere other than a couple MSNBC programs and never seen Current and FSTV. (yeah, you probably have to ask - Free Speech TV)

Damn CNN, you're supposed to keep at least a veneer of not being a Corporate Propaganda Arm Network. If you keep it up you're gonna let the marks in on the scam.

*if you think I'm piling on poor widdle Erin with two posts close to each other, somebody asked me about her and I wondered about her ratings and got way more info than I wanted so I thought I'd share overload with you all... oh yeah regarding her sympathies she's supposed to be worth somewhere north of $12M and $2M/year. You surely wouldn't want her to be a class traitor in the War On Capitalism that's being waged... uhhh maybe that's not quite right? Let me call the GOP. Yup, class warfare aimed at the JOB CREATORS.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Kim Jong Il Shuffles Off This Mortal Coil

Dead is what I mean, you know - checked out, permanently. It seems Kim Jong Un the third son of the third...marriage is now the boss. He's twenty eight or nine and last year was appointed a four star general. He looks a lot like daddy and may have daddy's diabetes along with high blood pressure. Daddy thought a lot of him apparently and he seems to have spent the last year cementing his position - essentially scaring the military into obeisance.

Not a heck of a lot is known about the guy, reports are that intelligence agencies have very little to work with. I'd be willing to guess that since daddy was into him his grasp on reality might be a tad bit loose. I suppose that what governments that have to deal with NK are hoping is that he isn't more cracked than the block he was chipped off of.

I suppose it's too much to get the pants wetters minds off Iran to point out that NK has actually managed to make a bit of an atomic bang. As you might guess, NK is suffering through a cold winter and has food shortages - just no shortage of Kim Jongs...

The XL Pipeline Bill & Other Crap

Oh, sorry - the UE, SS/FICA, Medicaid Bill with some fancy non-descriptive title bill has bit the Boner, er Boehner. It appears that the Prez won't have to sign the XL Bill as written. It does seem he'll be signing the Indefinite Detention Bill - er, NDAA Bill as re-written with its life in prison without trial provision.

Wait...it only says INDEFINITE, that's not the same thing. Well, if you have a "War" that isn't one and is never going to end it certainly is. The same applies to the "POW exists" appologists.

No, I never expected different. There is a real cost to constant fear mongering and that cost has been getting paid for a lot longer than since even the miscreant GWB held office. It is always pretty much the same crap, fear stoking and it's only about 'them' and it'll never come to haunt you and... well can't afford to hurt "our guy" whoever the hell that is. The GOPers used to make quite a stir about "slippery-slopes" and then the Dems were quite outraged and then... well none of it really meant spit - civil liberties are just disposable to the fear of the moment. Terrorist, Mafia, Guns, whatever.

Really people? We can expect the '12 elections to be run by democrats making the point that they're NABA. Just not quite as bad as is the accurate part. You surely aren't expecting someone to set out clear principles and goals are you? (well other than the clown car GOPer Primary bunch) ((well other than MultipleMittens, er - Newt))

Yeah, I'll vote for Obama - not in the interest of something positive, just in preference for a slower route to hell than the Clowncar Express. That is about the entire Endorsement. I don't expect that indicates much of an interest in making donations, knocking on doors, voter registration, or other propagandistic endeavors. I no longer see much point in pushing at Democrats, they know I'll (or like me) will vote for them out of horror at the consequences so they'll do policy that mirrors the previous decade or so GOPerism and feel safe. The thing is that one day the horror may over-load and result in the REAL GOP having both Houses and the Presidency and the rest of the SCOTUS. Do you REALLY think the GOPers can't be completely crazy and get there? Do you REALLY think there is some line the Dems can't cross in pursuit of not offending the rightward shift?

Maybe there is a line, but it sure the hell isn't going to get drawn without absolute revolt from the Democratic Voters and I don't see any sign of that - just a whole lot more capitulation. Here's the thing about that revolt - it will mean GOP dominance because pols sure aren't going to get the idea as long as they get VOTES.

Hell, they'd get the wrong idea if they didn't get votes...
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So why keep blogging? It's bad for my digestion to keep swallowing bile.

Secure The Borders

The GOP has spent quite a bit of rhetoric on securing the borders. Now their emphasis seems to be on the illegal immigrants crossing for jobs. Given that a border is the edge of a nation there is some reason to think it being an actual edge ought to mean something, even if it is just a line on a map. There are some issues with borders that aren't disputed, the biggest one being some form of smuggling, whatever that is including terrorism.

The job stealing aspect is another thing entirely and the most obvious consequence of porous borders. Well, thinking a border won't be porous is pretty damn optimistic and if the most obvious thing is jobs then why aren't you addressing jobs and employment? Let's be clear, legal hiring and illegal hiring are two completely different things.

Even if an illegal hire has proper taxes with-held they have essentially no recourse with an employer. Thanks to their legal status they cannot afford to stick their heads up and they're easily replaced by another. The consequence is low wages and a second class work force. Because business is profit driven a further result is lower wages in surrounding employment. In virtually every business endeavor labor cost is the one variable, material costs of whatever sort are pretty even as well as regulatory costs. The outcome of legal hiring is that prices on some products will rise, the real question is just how much. The crux is that labor costs are a much smaller piece of the cost of an item than most people realize and the real costs of illegal hiring aren't too easily quantified and some are not measurable by dollars.

The aspect that isn't dollar oriented but that has huge consequences is the creation of a second class group of residents. Try real hard to comprehend the soul crushing mind bending results of having your life in a place depend on never attracting the notice of the government. Throw in the disdain or even hate of large portions of the legal residents and tell me this is an outcome this nation can afford. And... the driving factor is cheap labor.

The point where correction can be made is at the root, not the border but at the employer. Employers do not care because the costs of infractions are so low. It is easy enough to claim Americans will not do the work, which is entire nonsense, what they will not do is that work for that wage. No, businesses cannot survive when there is a large wage differential amongst competitors. If the farm next to yours, or across a state line, has significantly lower labor costs; your goose is cooked because you do not have the margin to cover it. You cannot address this by "securing the borders."

This issue is entirely separate from the reality dealing with people who have been in this country for quite some time in large numbers. The only possible way to make any form of amnesty work, whatever the qualifiers, is to lock down employment into legal compliance. It will absolutely not work without that just as St Ronnie's amnesty didn't. It is simply an invitation to enter until the problem is once again unmanagable. You will not be able to do a thing about the greedy cheating employers unless they understand that they will be caught and the costs will be unsupportable and that the playing field is even, that 'my' legal hires will not be undercut by 'your' cheating.

This matter cannot be left to States to sort out, they will not do it well and the results will be entirely uneven. This matter cannot be left to simmer much longer, the American public already is getting unreasonable in its temperment and willingness to scapegoat. It is time to stop with the idea of a Berlin Wall around this nation and do something real. If the employment issue is fixed the qualifiers for staying will be met or unemployment will be the result.

I do not have the time or energy to start trying to set out what qualifiers need to be, other than that we have a moral and ethical responsibility to do something right by those who've tried to do the right things without that work visa.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Back To Serious Business - Skyrim

I doubt anybody will be stopping around looking for something new at this time so I'm going back to my second go-around with Skyrim on the XBox 360. If you're a gamer you know or ought to that this is a First Person Shooter (FPS) involving a fictional medieval sort of Norse country with dragons and magic and assorted bad guys and good guys. The thing is massive in scope and complexity of story, characters, build options, and serious eye candy.

I think it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that the thing will be Game of the Year just like it's predecessor Oblivion. Its Bethesda cousins are Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas and it is properly a part of the Elder Scrolls.

If you're used to the idea of video games being a fig leaf of a story to move killing around this isn't it. There is a deliberate and mostly successful attempt to involve the player in the story and to further complicate his life by making some major choices one of ambivalence or outright distaste. Beyond the major theme of the return of dragons there is a civil war raging requiring taking sides along with the day to day decisions imposed by gods, demons, asassins, theives, and general difficulties imposed by residence in a fantastical world of magic, arms and armor, and even marriage in an open access world map.

The game is stand alone, one need not have played any of the Elder Scrolls to deal with it, but I would strongly suggest Oblivion as an introduction - especially with its bargin price now and all the down loads available. Be prepared for games that will have around 200+ hours run time, I kid you not. (no I don't mean time involved in having to re-run sequences for getting killed - actual forward progress time)

There have been some kinks and Bethesda has made up-dates but I don't know how thoroughly all issues have been addressed.

Hmmph?

How do you like that, a couple people are actually reading my new content...

Maybe I ought to do it a bit more often.

Sometimes it's damn hard not to be too depressed by the news before I get to it to actually have any desire.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Erin Burnett???

Why the hell did CNN hire a CNBC corporate buttkisser for a news show? Is this a competition with FauxNews to get to the lowest possible denominator in reporting/news reading? Who the hell writes her scripts, Lehman Bros?

I just watched her take big swipes at Fannie and Freddie in the light of investigations/charges for officers and not bother in the least to mention who the hell sold the paper to them - hint, hint = her former buttkissed buds at Banksters.greed.crooks/unindicted...

My low opinion of CNN is scrambling to find new expressions. (ones that don't involve inventive physically impossible profanities)

Childish Pursuits

You might not believe it, but once I was young. A couple things that are relevant to this blog were a part of being young, one is that I was raised by professional middle class parents in an environment that stressed broad education and striving. You might not think that as a white boy with those advantages growing up in smaller to mid-sized cities in Ohio that I'd take on the ideas that some people in this country are given nothing resembling a fair shake and that manual labor was honorable, valuable, and even attractive and even odder, that Religion was over-rated.

As a youngster I didn't find myself ostracized or odd for holding these ideas, despite having prayer in school and this being Ohio. Since I was born in 1953 a bit of math will tell you my age as things like Civil Rights and other happenings were going on. I can tell you that I found myself riveted to the reporting of the events surrounding the Civil Rights struggle, including kids in dikes, fire hoses, white German Shepards, all the stuff. Given my feeling that there were some who were actively screwed by our own governments and their neighbors the stuff happening burned into me a fierce anger.

I was always interested whenever some kind of work was going on, I'd be there if a tree was being cut, street work was going on, something was being built. No doubt I was a nuisance, always trying to see, asking questions, and trying to scavenge lumber for my own "projects" and, you know, I don't remember a worker ever getting mad at me. I thought it was amazingly cool that these folks were out there using their hands and tools to get something done that needed to be done or making something out of a bunch of bits and pieces. It never occurred to me that they were failures who'd not managed a better education or something. I thought they were an example of what to do.

I fell out of religion as I learned it and watched its "practitioners" in action. People talk when there is a kid around if they think their talk is over that kid's head. They will say things that don't begin to square with their "Book," not realizing that that kid is there measuring the two. More information about the Books started to poke me in that part that didn't think people were getting a fair shake and the idea that God was the instigator sat very poorly. I couldn't quite square the part where a good person of another faith got screwed by ... God. It sure looked a lot like those folks being beaten by police or spit on by their neighbors for nothing other than not being them.

I was young and there was quite a bit I didn't know about law or other religions or how people wind up cleaning a house. I know a lot more about it now - I haven't changed my mind. I will tell you right now that this country and its wealth are built on the labors of people who do things and that the screwing of people hasn't diminished (minus the cops and shepards out front) and that "Books" aren't the problem, but their readers sure the hell are when they take them too seriously.

If you think I'm FOS that's alright, but I do have to tell you that we are mortal enemies because I want to see your viewpoint stomped into the dust of history. I'll even admit that I've done what I can to ensure it. Sadly, I might as well yell at clouds for being there.

Awww, Ron

I can get along with the idea that insurance companies are not the only devil in escalating medical costs and that Medicare will run into financial trouble at some point if its difficulties are not addressed. I can almost get along with the idea that there might be a GOP Congressperson who isn't batshit insane and who a Democrat could possibly work with... providing said Dem didn't expect to get his fingers back after reaching across the aisle. I can actually manage to swallow, with lots of choking and complaining, quite a bit - see ACA...

What has me spitting bile and finding my veins standing out on my forehead is any Democrat putting his name anywhere near that POS Paul Ryan. I'll just stop right there so I don't start spewing profanities that would upset my dear mother. The rest of you can fill in that big blank space following this sentence with as many convoluted references to ... well, you get the idea and think CONSTRUCTION SITE.

Extension Packages?

Now that the details on the funding, UE, and payroll tax break extensions look like and what Democrats seem to agree to go along with; it might be time to start considering what is going to happen when the BushCo Tax Cuts expire.

Ron Paul Almost Right

I'll have to paraphrase ole Ron because I don't have a transcript but anyhow, when asked if he could win in the General Election he answered 'Anyone up here could.' That wasn't quite right, but what should frighten the hell out of anyone with two live brain cells that talk to each other is that it isn't quite right.

Any one of the cretins on the stage with him would poll in the 40s in a General Election against Pres. Obama. Now you can play with intellectualizing reasons for that all damn day but it does not change the fact that such a percentage of voting Americans would look at the election in such a manner.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Scrooge

I'm not in the mood but here's your damn Christmas/Holiday Card. No pictures of over decorated trees or white stuff on the ground or cutsie family portraits. You get Harley because, well because I like 'em.




No, I don't know why the picture is cock-eyed, operator error...

Taken near Glacier Nat Park.

'Tis The Season To Be Jolly...?

Now that the NAR has admitted to inflating pre-owned home sales since around 2007 it would seem that maybe housing is and has been in worse shape than the currently abysmal condition... I let my contractor's license expire this fall after subsidizing it for 2 years so I'm not a, umm, fan.

Congress is what it is, something as apparently functionally useful as extending unemployment benefits is going nowhere and a really good sized number of people are going to suffer - along with the people who sell the stuff they'd buy. The GOP is willing to go along if they can poison it, the Democrats along with the GOPers are bound and determined to pay for it, despite the fact that neither is willing to pay for it in any way the other would.

Once again we're playing at DEADLINES in terms of government funding. The GOP makes the calculation that the 'gubmint loving' Democrats will go along with eating a poo sandwich in order to keep their thing going. Evidence seems to be on their side but there might be a limit to the size sandwich they'll eat. If that is the case and things shut down, a pretty good sized chunk of money that would get spent isn't going to be. I haven't seen much debate that business isn't hiring because people aren't buying. (well, that and it isn't made here anymore, anyhow)

Americans are getting dis-enfranchised without committing an offense - other than maybe not being reliable GOP voters. In fact without evidence of offenses against the system that is purportedly being defended.

The catalogue is pretty long and depressing and it sure looks as though Santa is going to deliver out of it. I know that some of you who are left of George Wallace are getting some 'jollies' out of the GOP Primary - I'm not. I'm not being a sour-puss here or some seasonally depressed spoil-sport. That mess over at the GOP is a symptom of this nation's condition. Unless you're willing to propose a 70/30 election in 2012 and get along with the high 40's for the other side no matter who the heck pulls it out; then you're getting laughs at nearly half the nation being barking at the moon crazy. This doesn't begin to address what space the President/down ticket can get into without trespassing into their territory.

No, I am not full of cheer and I give a rat's patoot if it is a White Christmas and Merry HoHo to you to.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Mitten's Bain

You'd think that a Romney might figure out that Newt and Fannie (jokes write themseleves) would bring on a Bain hit. That it didn't seem to dawn on him (them) kind of points up their view on capitalism. There was a time, a long time ago (before I had a furry face), that business thought corporate raiders were akin to pond scum though a bit lower in elevation. The words "bankruptcy, out-sourcing, lay-offs are a big easily documented piece of Bain type "business." It is plain amateur hour to go after someones business when your own has big capital letter STOP signs all over it.

You know I think they're both sad pieces of work, but for such a shapeshifter of political conveniences as Romney to not get this is stunning in its incompetence. Keep in mind that this is the guy that the Media portrayed as the inevitible smart candidate - now they've got their Newt toy, so we'll see what they come up with.

The GOP is the Party Of Business, think about it. I don't know exactly what that says about "business" in the US, it doesn't seem kind.

Lowe Down Cowards

TLC is running a show called "American Muslim" about ordinary Muslims living in Dearborn, MI. An outfit in Florida, American Family Association pressured Lowe's to pull its advertising because the show is some sort of stealth attack on Americans. This AFA's problem would seem to me to be one of projection - they figure the evil Muslims are gonna put religious law onto Americans because that is their agenda. Theocrats are just exactly that, religious law is their thing and it must also be everybody else's thing.

The divorcement of overt religion from public institutions isn't simply a matter of keeping an arm's distance between the two - it is Godless Atheism winning a religious war. The vastly majority religion in the US is under attack and being persecuted because... well because they don't get to drape their version of religion in the mantle of government.

This is what Lowe's caved to, a pissant organization with theocracy at its core...

I don't much care for big box stores and I do like locally owned business so it isn't much of a deal for me to not shop at a Lowe Down Coward Store. I don't care about the "Muslim show" what I do care about is giving these cretins power.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Appeasement

I've been thinking about the Mitt "appease, appease, appease" speech the other day. The root of this seems to be the base's idea that Barack Obama is weak. I might agree that the President has been a bit weak on economics and a bit on Civil Liberties. What they, GOPers, seem to have mental lacunae about is that this guy has done things as President, some of them damned aggressive in foreign policy and he has faced ludicrous lockstep opposition from the GOPers and still managed to get some things done.

Maybe, when they get ready to trot out this junk, they just completely miss what it means to be black in this society. If you look at the complexions of the actors it is pretty clear that they've not had to personally deal with the (at best) whispers, the profiling traffic stops, above the mean requirements to succeed, and ... This guy never has gotten to forget it, every morning that mirror restates the condition. The work Obama did before his political office career was a constant reminder. Somehow this man not only managed to run for offices but to actually win a nomination against the presumptive nominee and beat an angry old white guy war hero POW.

Playing at 'weak appeaser' is factually stupid and politically extremely risky. Flying in the face of facts this way only gets the stupid vote and gives the target a chance to make you look ridiculous while touting his own record. It isn't as though almost anybody reading this doesn't know where this theme comes from or know what sliver of the electorate Mitt was reaching out to. The question is why such a candidate thought it was a good idea since even FauxNews was likely to run the President's response.

As this Primary goes on the GOPer clown show just seems to get more broadly stupid, despite the seeming unreasonableness of such an occurrence.

Monday, December 05, 2011

Cain Legacy?

I honestly did hear this mentioned, the phrase, on a national "news" cast. Then I stopped to think about it - for a couple seconds...

I suppose that if there is a Cain "legacy" it would be one of the warning sign - big yellow curve sign - variety. There are serious risks to Palinism. Knuckle-heads with big problems on their resume probably ought not get near National Politics. As suck-up and stenographic as mass media is, there are limits to what they'll ignore or justify as "both sides do it." Even Mt Everest is a bit hard to miss for the paid equivocators... well, maybe...