Bash Newt Gingrich Day, Ahmadinejad Off-Topic At UN, No Crazy People At My Tea Party

Eugene Robinson
Richard Cohen
Robert Reich

"Boy, I really hate it when American judges try to impose harsh Islamic sharia law. You know, with all those grisly lashings, stonings and beheadings. What's that you say? No such thing is happening, and you wonder where I got such a crazy idea? Why, Newt Gingrich told me." - Eugene Robinson

"Only a spell also can explain how Newt Gingrich, possibly a presidential candidate, can attribute the politics of Barack Obama to "Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior." Obama allegedly picked up this behavior from his father, whom he knew only fleetingly, which is to say almost not at all, and has long been dead. This, as Gingrich and others under the spell can tell you, is proof of the demonic power that can come out of the grave, enter the White House (look, the gate-crashing Salahis did it) and pervade the very body and mind of the commander in chief. It's enough to give you the willies." - Richard Cohen

"The notion that somehow me saying maybe you should be taxed more like your secretary when you're pulling home a billion dollars...a year I don't think is me being extremist or anti-business." - Barack Obama

Today is National Alzheimer's Awareness Day, obviously an oxymoron, and should be renamed Bash Newt Gingrich Day, who is displaying to us, in public, what happens to a person coming down with the disease... With John McCain leading the filibuster in the Senate against bringing up the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy for a vote, once again I'm sooooo glad that he did not get elected President. Do you find it ironic that a sexually ambiguous, twenty-three year old pop star exhibits more bravery than your elected GOP Congressman? It's enough to make you gaga... With all of the public weirdness going on in politics this year, it only reinforces my belief that all public figures should tell us what drugs they have been prescribed. It would explain so much...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in town, well, really he's in New York, where he addressed the UN General Assembly. Basically, he wanted more recognition from world leaders that Itan is now a major player in world affairs. It was off topic from what everyone else were discussing, which was the eradication of world hunger. Of course, there was some controversy with his appearance, but it wasn't over what he said, but the "technical" problems that developed while he was speaking, as reported in al-Jazeera: "Right from the start, his speech was overshadowed by technical problems, as the president was heard saying: "there's no translation." And these problems continued to cause confusion two minutes into his speech. All this was followed by an ominous announcement: "The interpreters would like to state that they are reading from a written text translated into English." With that, the translation stopped altogether. Despite all the technical issues, Ahmadinejad managed to communicate his message that there is a need for an overhaul of what he called "undemocratic and unjust" global decision-making bodies..."

On topic, it was reported that progress had been made by: "Ten African countries, including Ethiopia, Egypt, and post-conflict Angola, have halved their absolute poverty levels, Benin ranked in the top 10 in education improvements, and Angola and Niger significantly reduced child deaths.


On the minus side, Amnesty International said efforts in many countries fail to address the widespread discrimination women face in accessing food, water, sanitation and housing - especially in slums. It accused Kenya of ignoring the needs of women living in slums and Nigeria of evicting slum dwellers and driving them deeper into poverty.

The UN's Millennium Goals are:
1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2: Achieve universal primary education
3: Promote gender equality and empower women
4: Reduce child mortality
5: Improve maternal health
6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7: Ensure environmental sustainability
8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

To add to the world's misery, monsoon flooding in Northern India has just left another two million people homeless, as the Ganges river overflowed its banks. This has been a horrible year for natural disasters, and the next two years are predicted to be more of the same for Asia. The upcoming party in North Korea will continue as planned, now that South Korea has sent some aid. And as the dynastic hat gets passed to the third generation, it begins to feel more and more like an old Greek tragedy, thankfully without the soliloquies by Kim Jung-Ill...

The biggest thorn remaining in the region, is the torpedoing and sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan, which the South and US have blamed on the North. The North has denied any wrongdoing, raising the spectre of an independent aggression by the North's military. Besides pissing off some old Navy Admiral, the most likely explanation is that it was a decision made by Kim's son, in a practice session of what would he do once he is in charge... Also, the decision to send artillery shells into an empty sea in protest of the joint military exercises by the South and US. Evidently, those actions were deemed enough to pass the test, as will be demonstrated on Sept 28, and maybe next year he will ascend the throne and try to out-talk Mahmoud at the UN...

The National Journal and Pew Research conducted a poll showing that: "Nearly half of America -- including nearly two-thirds of Republicans and 53 percent of independents -- admires political leaders who refuse to compromise. This is further evidence that the current political atmosphere is not merely contentious, but hostile to any hope of negotiated settlements to the many political and policy differences that define the current landscape. In essence, the Society for Human Resource Management/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll, conducted with the Pew Research Center, suggests a confrontational mood in the country that may mirror the partisan wrangling in Washington and might even give trumped-up cable TV's political spout-fests some rationale for their vein-popping intensity."

I thought this news cycles back to Alzheimer's awareness and the abuse of prescription drugs, now in your local water supply. Here in Colorado, we have the added bonus of having radiation from old uranium mines entering into the water table, which explains both Balloon Boy and Tom Tancredo. Tom had an accident while riding his motorcycle this last weekend, and hit his noggin, almost making him the first headless body found by Jan Brewer. No serious injuries, because nothing there was there... Now he will redouble his efforts into making immigration the #1 problem facing our state because he has no answers for anything beyond his obsessions. But don't forget to vote for him because he is a conservative... Candidates like Tom and the whole other bunch of so-called conservatives who spout wacko ideas on and off camera, only support my other contention that extreme conservatism is really masquerading as mental illness. Cynically, I enjoy watching these people vent, because it distracts me from my own problems with diabetes, degenerating disc disease, and a mild form of dementia...