Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Deficit Game Is Not A Drinking Game





The Deficit Game is being played out as a game of brinkmanship, with both sides making dramatic gestures in an effort to gain political support. Honestly, the Republicans are looking like idiots. As Thomas Friedman said in his column in the NY Times, I signed a pledge to not vote for anyone who has signed a pledge. Whenever I see John Boehner or Eric Cantor give a press conference, I see the marionette strings and look for the puppeteer's hand up their ass, moving their mouths... At least several news stations and newspapers like the Washington Post have interviewed Grover Nordquist, but no-one has asked him the right questions, like why does he make candidates sign pledges in the first place. The Communist Party used to have members sign a pledge in the 1930's, as did the Nazis; and the US government made you sign a loyalty oath if you were to be hired by the government, or schools and universities. I had to sign one in 1971, when I got a job reading for blind people at my local community college. Perhaps it's his wonky way of pretending to be a real organization and a pledge gives him some validity.

 But all of the other organizations trying to get Republicans to sign their own pledges are crazed fringe groups, hoping to piggy-back on Michele Bachmann's shoulders into the limelight, where lonely, church-going ladies might donate to keep that sharia law from creeping into the US system of law, next thing you know, we'd have to elect some kind of mullah or ayatollah to the Supreme Court and they'd allow terrorists to move in next door...

Of course, the gorilla in the room is being ignored, that we could be saving $10 billion per day by taking all of our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq, cancel all contracts to outside sources and have the military do its own grunt labor... Although the idea of having a war catered appeals to my lazy old butt, and next year we could have the Cooking Channel sponsor the Chefs of Kabul, or film a season of The Chefs of Beverly Hills, or better yet, let's send Andrew Zimmerman and Anthony Bourdain over... Reality shows are already moving towards our more violent natures, with regular folks making and shootin' guns, huntin' and shootin' gators, and  undergoing a training course like a Marine or Seal... And if old George Bush hadn't sent our boys over just to make his ego feel big, we'd be $10 trillion less in debt, except he'd have found other ways to spend the money, the old fake Texan that he was... The other things to do is close tax loopholes for just about every corporation and special interest, and let the Bush tax cuts die out since they have cost us over $4 trillion so far. Not only would we have no trouble balancing the budget, but in one year we'd have another surplus, ready for the next profligate Republican...

Raising the debt ceiling should be a one-line piece of legislature, that is what it has been in the past. ronald Reagan raised it 11 times, and George W Bush raised it 7 times, and there was no objection. The only reason that Barack Obama is having a difficult time is because people like Mitch McConnell have vowed to fight everything he proposes, so that he will become a one-term president. Part of it is party politics, and part of it is southern racism, no matter how much they deny it there is resentment that a black man is in charge of our nation. I can't wait to see how they'll react when Hillary gets elected in 2016... Sometimes it seems that I'm waiting for everyone older than myself to die off, so that they can be replaced by someone younger and more reasonable, but then I look at James Murdoch, shudder, and pray for Rupert's good health...

Nobody can really say what will happen if we default, and have to learn our lesson the hard way, like the tea party wants us to. It depends on how long we are in default. a couple of weeks will only make us the laughing-stock of Europe. Longer, and the lack of money problems will trickle down to the states and counties, which will be very interesting. We may end up renaming our cities after our banks and other monied institutions. My city would be the first to rename itself Wells Fargoville...

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Permanent Drought, Summer Hacking Season

EJ Dionne
Ruth Marcus
Brian Cathcart
"President Obama said he turns 50 this week, but he actually doesn't turn 50 until Aug. 4. This means that even he hasn't seen his birth certificate." – Jay Leno

"A group of rare snow leopards has been discovered in a remote corner of Afghanistan. So I guess traveling through Afghanistan isn't as safe as you thought." – Jimmy Fallon
"I think I know now why we are occupying Iraq. In case we have to sell America and move to a smaller country." – Bill Maher

"Republicans have to stop thinking up intricate psychological explanations for liberals don't like Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann. Let me save you all some time. Are you ready? Because they’re crazy people. People who are not that bright and full of awful ideas. Pretty much the same exact reasons we didn’t care about George W. Bush, and make jokes about him. So trust me, it's not because they have breasts. It’s because they are boobs." – Bill Maher


Enjoying the Summer weather? 138 people died last year from the heat, and so far this year there have been over 40,000 wildfires, and we can expect more, with August being the driest month... According to Alex Prudhomme in an article in last Sunday's New York Times.

This year, for the first time in our history, there are more people living in cities than in rural areas. We have so many people on the planet that we cannot grow enough food for everyone, nor is there enough water, we are draining the aquifers faster than they can be replenished, leading to drought and the creation of deserts. Many major cities have had drought experiences - Melbourne, Australia, Barcelona, Spain, and Mexico City, Mexico.

In the US, 14 states are experiencing record heat waves of over 100 degree temperature, from the Florida panhandle, up the East Coast, and across the Southwest towards Los Angeles. Computer projections say that these areas will become permanent desert areas because of our unsustainable water use. Soon, cities may have to be abandoned for lack of water, with LA and Phoenix being the first.

Taking a few steps away from our backyard, you can also see this happening in the Middle East and Northern Africa, already an area of vast deserts. Ancient rivers are drying up, the Nile, the Tigris and Euphrates, as well as the Red Sea. Soon, vast populations may start migrating like starving Somalis, desiring to move in next door to you. The differences between Muslim and Jew will become moot as millions of people begin dying.

The Mayan calendar ends in 2012. People have been guessing for years why the Mayans stopped in that year, they left no reasons or explanation. It may well be that 2012 is the year that the land of the Maya can no longer sustain its people, and they will have to leave for lack of water... Unless there are enough desalinization plants... If we don't start taking this problem seriously, then the next wars will be fought for access to water, democracy be damned. You might already notice that a foreign owned company like Nestle already owns water rights at a water source near you...




The summertime is traditionally when bored and lonely teenage boys sit in their rooms and try to hack into some really cool place, like the Pentagon or NATO, both which have been successfully hacked into. Despite spending millions of dollars per year on security, the Pentagon recently admitted that some nefarious foreign government posing as a thirteen year old stole 214,000 files from their servers. The group Anonymous was quick to take claim to the NATO hack. They are currently working on Rupert Murdoch's phones and email, and should soon have news of what's been hidden at Newscorp... As an aside, the Daily Beast had a headline describing the cream pie incident at Parliament the other day, as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Murdoch...

In computer security, we begin with a basic question: why do you need to have sensitive files be accessed through the Internet?  Answer: you don't, put them on an internal server without a phone connection. Yes, yes, then you would have to explain to those Generals that they really are not that important enough to login from their farms in Virginia or estates in Colorado, that their vanity and stupidity pose more of a security threat than any terrorist trying to sneak a bomb in their fanny...

Yesterday, the Obama administration announced that they are going to close about 800 of their data centers around the country. They spend over $8 billion per year on technology, and are always a few years out of date. They are bragging how much money they will be saving, and de-emphasizing that over 200,000 people will be laid off. Let them find new jobs in the cloud, said Marie Antoinette, having another migraine attack...















Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Rupert Murdoch Is King of Grumpy Old Men, Michele Gives Me A Migraine

Dana Milbank


"Congress consistently brings the government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility.This brinkmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would skyrocket, instability would occur in financial markets, and the federal deficit would soar. The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations.” - Ronald Reagan



"What Obama has offered — and Republicans have refused to accept — is a deal in which less than 20 percent of the deficit reduction comes from new revenues. This puts him slightly to the right of the average Republican voter.

So we learn two things. First, Obama is extraordinarily eager to make concessions. Second, Republicans are incredibly unwilling to take yes for an answer — something for which progressives should be grateful."  - Paul Krugman

The above is a peace offering, proving that history is cyclical, and that President Obama is outfoxing the Republicans when it comes to the deficit deals. By adopting a conservative approach that is more consistent with Ronald Reagan than Paul Ryan, which the Republicans will reject out of hand coming from Obama, he boxes them even farther to the right and shown being stubborn and uncompromising. Not even us old grandparents will vote for a fussy, unruly child who won't talk sense...



But let's talk about the King of Grumpy Old Men, that old fart himself, Rupert Murdoch. So far, he's thrown loyal friends under the bus in the British hacking scandal, one who has worked for him for 50 years, another whom he treated like a daughter. I'm waiting to see if he will abandon his son, who probably is behind most of the bad behavior practices, wanting to show how aggressive a Young Turk can be, embarrass the Brits more than his great-grandfather ever could... If you saw any part of the Murdoch's performances at the investigation, which made our Congress look like rank amateurs, then you know how innocent and clueless they chose to portray themselves, with Rupert in the beginning looking like a befuddled old man, awww don't you feel sorry for him? Here's a link to some quick highlights of the show, courtesy of TPM website. Remember what Soupy Sales said about shaving cream pies? Or the positives of having a much younger, faster wife?

Right now the FBI is investigating whether there is any cause to bring charges against NewsCorp, which is registered as a company in the United States. The charges would be if NewsCorp obtained the phone numbers of any of the 9/11 victims, and hacked into any of their phone calls. This is a felony, and, if true, could affect the licenses all of Murdoch's properties in the US, including Fox. If Rupert were a more lovable figure, the FBI might do what Scotland Yard did with all of their evidence, put it all in file boxes and lock it away in the basement without anyone ever looking at it for over four years.

Despite Rupert Murdoch being a despicable human being and hard-assed businessman, his love of newspapers maybe the only commendable thing about him, even if many of them are scandal sheets bought at the supermarkets... And while ex-employees like Piers Morgan tell what a sweet-heart Rupert really is, and Fox News tries to ignore the whole thing (it makes watching Fox News quite enjoyable (and provides a drinking game how many times do they try to go around the subject), the British Parliament is now complaining that James Murdoch lied to the many times, and that NewsCorp is trying to block their investigations... imagine that.


I don't know, does this story from the LA Times count as a real fight in Congress? Allen West ended up apologizing instead of going back on the floor of the House and continuing the role of Dan Ackroyd on Saturday Night Live - "Debbie, you miserable little slut..."

"A long-standing feud between South Florida House members Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Allen West turned to insults Tuesday after an exchange of speeches on a debt-reduction bill.


Wasserman Schultz chastised West on the House floor for supporting a bill that would cut Medicare and other spending. "The gentleman from Florida, who represents thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, as do I, is supportive of this plan that would increase costs for Medicare beneficiaries -- unbelievable from a member from South Florida," said Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat.


West, a Republican from Plantation who lives in Wasserman Schultz's district, responded with an email to her and House leaders: "Look, Debbie, I understand that after I departed the House floor you directed your floor speech comments directly towards me. Let me make myself perfectly clear, you want a personal fight, I am happy to oblige.


"You are the most vile, unprofessional and despicable member of the U.S. House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face, otherwise, shut the heck up. Focus on your own congressional district!" To think that this counted as news yesterday... Part of the problem is that none of the House Representatives stay on the House floor. They are in their offices until they are summoned to vote or give a speech, then immediately leave. Only if CSPAN sets up cameras do any of them choose to stay for any length of time. It's not like they are reading proposed legislature, they have staff members do that for them. Maybe we need a better way to find out what our representatives really do all day long, have local bloggers from their districts take turns following them around and reporting back home...


Finally, the fact that Michele Bachmann suffers from migraine headaches may have a negative impact on her candidacy. She supplied us with a doctor's note saying she's OK, but what if she constantly gives ME a headache...? Stay thirsty, my friends...


Thursday, July 14, 2011

Marcus Bachmann Bashed, Rupert Worst Person In the World? South Californication

Rob Stein
Gary Rivlin
Mark McKinnion
"Michele Bachmann says that if she's elected, she'll ban pornography. We have multiple wars, skyrocketing debts, a recession, unemployment . . . Yeah, let's ban pornography." –David Letterman

"Michele Bachmann and her husband run this institution where they try to 'pray away the gay.' They want gay guys to think outside the bun." –Jay Leno

"Hitler's birthplace in Austria has revoked his honorary citizenship. Talk about a rush to judgment." –Jay Leno


There have been rumors floating around that Dr Marcus Bachmann, the controversial husband of Rep Michele Bachmann, is actually gay. This was started by Dan Savage in an ipod broadcast, and was intended to get back at Dr Marcus for his bullshit pray-the-gay-away therapy that he charges $40,000 for. Dr Bachmann runs a Christian based clinic whose methods would be drummed out of any sane town, disbarred in any intelligent state with ethics; which might explain why he and Michele call Minnesota home, more rubes to impress and sway... Last night, Jon Stewart picked up and went with the schtick, saying: “Marcus Bachmann is an Izod shirt away from being the gay character on Modern Family.”

Dr Marcus could well be well-hidden, far back in the closet, he does come on like a con man when you listen to him. He is overweight, has a fat face, and lisps a bit when he speaks. But he may not be gay, there are plenty of overweight guys who lisp that are straight, and spend their lives in hell because they can't get a date. Maybe we should be glad that he found someone who loves him and married him, so she can dress him up in costumes every Friday night, praise the Lord... For those who are just trying to smear Michele Bachmann's Presidential campaign: ask her in public next time how it feels to be a fag hag... I seriously doubt that Ms Bachmann will remain a candidate for President of the United States with this loser hung around her neck, look for her handlers trying to keep him away from the press and public until the time she drops out... That's when Ron Paul will be coming on hard and fast, picking up the conservative slack. He has said that he won't run for another term in Congress because he is going to concentrate on winning the Presidential race. He is so much fun in a debate, I'd love to see him debate Obama one on one, just to see how far off-script they would go. You never know what Ron will say, but you can be sure it will be controversial.



The biggest winner in the news today, is Roger Clemons, whose trial ended before it began in a mistrial, after the prosecution showed a video clip that had been previously ruled by the judge a not being admissible evidence. The biggest loser, once again, is Rupert Murdoch, who is in London with his son James, ready to appear before Parliament. The FBI is looking into whether his organization hacked into any American's emails, especially the families of victims of 9/11. Of course, he really didn't have to use anyone from his organization to do it, all he had to do was bribe someone from the NSA, CIA, FBI or the Justice Department to do the hacking for him, since that's one of the liberties we gave away during the Bush administration... What is revealing about Rupert's trials and tribulations, is how he has no friends, everyone is distancing themselves as fast as their Mercedes will take them, both here and in Europe. He has spent his life acquiring a vast personal fortune and business empire, and everyone hates him, a very sad part of the story. Maybe he will have a visit from the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Future while he sits in a jail cell... Since he killed the 168 year-old newspaper in England, folks are wondering when he will do the same to the Wall Street Journal, which his right wing politics have ruined as a base for any credibility...



First the Germans, and now the Japanese are vowing to wean themselves off of nuclear energy, perhaps they are creating a new axis of alternative power... Over 5.5 million people in England already spend over 10% of their income on heating fuel, and it goes up every year. We don't keep these kinds of statistics here, we might be embarrassed to learn how many of our old folks freeze to death each year because they can't afford to buy any heating oil...



"A lawmaker in California is pushing for 13 counties to break away and form a new state called South California. Meanwhile, residents are pushing for a more fitting name: 'North Mexico.'" –Jimmy Fallon
A conservative state congressman from California has recently proposed to cutting the state in half. His agenda is to have the counties that are more rural and have the most tea party sympathizers collect in South California, while the rest of the state can go to Hell... It reminds me of a car commercial that Honda made for its Northern California market. The legislature wanted to divide California in the commercial also, with the Southern California contingent whining that the roads in Northern California were "too windy." Back in the '70's, whenever someone commented on breaking up the state, it was suggested that we wait and let the "big one," do the work for us, with the big one referencing the next big earthquake that would make half of the state fall into the Pacific Ocean... Jay Leno said that the new Northern California's main crop would be marijuana, while the new South California's main cash maker would be crystal meth...


                                                                              OR

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Tuesday Rant, From Casey Anthony To Libya

Rick Perlstein
Roger Cohen
"I was sure that the Republican plan to fix the economy by defaulting on the national debt would work, but apparently it didn't. The unemployment rate is now at 9.2%, which is scary because experts say 9.5 is the point at which people are desperate enough to consider Michele Bachmann." – Bill Maher

"If you can look at a crime where everything points to one answer and not see it, you're a dumbass. And if you can look at the deficit and not see that the problem is that the rich stopped paying taxes, you're a Republican." –Bill Maher

"Yes, Republican base, you are just like that jury. It is pathetically clear who’s killing the middle class, but you keep letting them get away with murder." –Bill Maher, comparing Republicans to the Casey Anthony jury

"New Rule: If your dad was on OJ's legal dream team, you can't Tweet your disappointment over the Casey Anthony verdict. It's like Tricia Nixon bitching about presidential corruption." –Bill Maher

I wasn't one of those glued to the Casey Anthony trial, I guess I got enough thrills with the OJ trials. Unless the plaintiff starts out with a car chase on the freeway, I just don't pay attention... Shows about clever and brash lawyers are crashing every year, and the actors in them keep getting better and better, but not even Jim Belushi or Cathy Bates seems to be able to hold our attention, yet the sad and pathetic case of Casey holds us rapt for weeks. At least we get credit for being able to tell which is fiction and which is real life, despite what Nancy Grace says... Too bad we can't make sure that Ms Anthony will never have another child, if she shows no remorse...


Lately, it seems that Barack Obama is the best candidate that the Republicans have, judging by the way he is handling the debt ceiling crisis. It's probably reverse psychology, since the GOP seems to hate whatever he stands for and votes the other way, if he embraces their plans and goals, adopts a more conservative stance (not to be confused with the Larry Craig stance), then maybe they will run away from the right towards the center and a more sensible ideology. It seems to be working with John Boehner, although he looks progressively worse, as if his hangover never had a chance to dissipate before the TV cameras find him...

Until we get some kind of manufacturing base back in the US, the job outlook will be pretty bleak. Tax cuts have never set up a business, and having health care for your new workers sure would be helpful, so the GOP priorities are all screwed up. Unemployment is worse in Europe and elsewhere, Spain, Portugal and Italy are on the brink of following Greece into economic meltdown. And with the drought here in the US, it looks like a long, hot summer still ahead... On a personal level, I keep fighting with my sister, so there's a lot of tension here at home. We seem to have lived very different lives as children, our interpretation of past events are as different as night and day. After I'm gone, this winter or the next, the only version of our family history left, will be hers...


France is trying to bring Libya back into the news, and nobody is paying much attention, hoping for a nice sex scandal developing instead. French envoys are the latest in a long line of so called envoys who have met with Qaddafi, saying that he is ready to give up his power as leader of Libya. I didn't think my earlier prediction would come true, so we'll see if this actually happens. The US is getting ready to escalate the war with Libya by using Egypt as its proxy. Egypt just demanded that 14 Libyan television programs leave its communications satellite, they will have to find somewhere else to broadcast their shows. Or else? Will the Egyptian Army march into Libya over reruns of America's Got Talent? The Egyptian Army is having enough problems being taken seriously at home, they may have more problems if they invade another country, no matter how nicely Leon Panetta asks them... Of course, since Qaddafi originally said that the protests in Libya were originally a plot against him by al Qaeda, then he might have to worry about being assassinated by someone he trusts...

And to show that they have more in common with totalitarian leaders in Syria and Lebanon, the state of Israel has just passed a law making it illegal to gather and protest against the state. The right wing conservatives think that by outlawing criticism they will foster a better image, they call it being legitimized globally. If our own right wing within the GOP is making it become the party of no, then Israel is becoming the country of no, and actually is doing a better job of shooting themselves in the foot than any other group complaining about them ever could. Perhaps that will be the next phase of Sarah Palin's career - to move to Israel and become their Prime Minister, another job that she can quit half-way through and add to her flaky resume...

Monday, July 11, 2011

Monday Night Rant, DSK and RM

"Democrats warned that if the debt ceiling isn't raised, the government would cease to function. How would you be able to tell?" –Jay Leno

"You know what the scary part is? Not that the government will cease to function, that they think this is actually the government functioning. They think it is working well." –Jay Leno

"The government is warning that terrorists may try to blow up airplanes by implanting bombs under their skin. The airlines responded by saying they'll charge any terrorists that do this a $50 carry-on fee." –Jay Leno

"Lady Gaga complained that the U.S. is allowing Iran and North Korea to get nukes and we have to stop them. Before the White House makes any decision, they’re waiting to hear from Britney Spears." –Jay Leno

"Vice President Joe Biden has a new Twitter account. He said he will not rest until he can embarrass the president on every media platform ever invented." –Jay Leno

"Sarah Palin spoke out about Independence Day, saying that if the British had won the war, we'd all be speaking English today." –Jay Leno


"And this little piggy..."
I was wondering how long it would take before some lawyer involved in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case got around to referring to the plaintiff as a prostitute. Yeah, she's a thirty-five year old black woman working as a hotel chambermaid? She must be a whore... But they tastefully waited until they leaked the contents of a tape first, that had the woman scheming on how to take advantage of this thing, so that she could make some money off of it. Evidently, Rupert Murdock's reporters hadn't found her yet, oh, wait, they are the ones hired to do the character smear... The only good thing that I can say about this case is that Dominique will have another complaint filed in French court waiting for him when he gets home, unless they demonize her in public, too Bet he'll go to England and hole up on vacation with the head of wikileaks for awhile...

Or, we could put them on a reality TV series, lock them in a big house along with Rod Blagojevich, Anthony Weiner, Rod Sanford, Jon Ensign, and Arnold Schwartzennegger. The contest is to come up with the name for the show, like the Bad Boys Club, or I Want To Screw A Millionaire... I guess in the first episode we drop off a few house maids to see what will happen, in the second half we see them making their own damned beds... Maybe they could form a boy band and learn to perform the song R-E-S-P-E-C-T, with special guest coach Mavis Staples dropping by... See, the lives of the very rich, powerful, and famous aren't all that different from you and me...




I take a break for gonorrhea... News today came that there is a new, drug-resistant strain of the sexually transmitted disease. I recall reading the same thing over thirty years ago, that a drug resistant strain had been incubated in the jungles of Vietnam... actually, 30 years ago it was warned that by using certain drugs to treat easily curable diseases like gonorrhea, they would evolve to develop a resistance to those drugs, which is what seems to have finally happened: "Since antibiotics became the standard treatment for gonorrhea in the 1940s, this bacterium has shown a remarkable capacity to develop resistance mechanisms to all drugs introduced to control it,"




I didn't include Rupert Murdock in my Bad Boy's |Club, because he's in a class of his own. It's ironic that what ultimately is causing his downfall isn't his espousal of right wing politics, but the immoral and illegal tactics of his tabloid newspaper in England. The more they dig into the story the worse it gets. And he will lose billions in folding the News of the World   even if he just renames it the British Globe. It will be interesting to see what form the anti-Murdock investigation take once they cross the pond and take root in America... He built Fox News up from the ground, so it will probably begin with the folks that are unhappy at the dumbing down that has gone on at the Wall Street Journal...





Saturday, July 9, 2011

Mullen Over the Pakistani Problem, Putin's Latest Mob BFF's And Woody Allen

Kathleen Parker
Larry Flynt
Paul Krugman
"North Korea has shut down all of its universities for 10 months so students can work in factories. Or, as they call it in North Korea, 'spring break.'" – Conan O'Brien

"Rev. Pat Robertson says that if more states legalize gay marriage, God will destroy America. He did say that afterwards, gays will come in and do a beautiful renovation." – Conan O'Brien

"A lot of people are taking time off for the holidays. For instance, Rod Blagojevich is going away for a while." – David Letterman


With each public revelation about Pakistan's spy agency, the relations between the US and Pakistan continue to spiral out of control, unless Pakistan decides that it is actually run by a civilian government... A recent NY Times article stated that the cell phone that was used by Osama bin Laden's courier contained phone numbers to members of a group that was known to be supported by the ISI, the Pakistani spy agency. The spy agency fervently denies any ties to terrorist groups, except for al Qaeda, which they had set up with the help from the CIA, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. They also deny supplying bin Laden with lots of Pakistani porn and herbal aphrodisiacs... While I'm on the subject, I haven't read why nobody in the bin Laden compound reacted to a helicopter crashing in the courtyard. I know that the helicopters were made with Stealth technology, but being able to cloak a crash of several tons of metal falling from the skies has not yet been explained. Perhaps all of the children and adults were thrashing metalheads, and were all listening to some very loud music...

But what is posing as more of a threat to the conservative, right wing, retired generals and the infrastructure of deceit they have created, with our help, may be the fallout in Washington from a report on the death of Asian Times' journalist: "A report firmly pointing the finger of suspicion over the killing of Syed Saleem Shahzad at Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has moved the issue to the very highest levels in Washington. The case of Asia Times Online's former Pakistani bureau chief will mesh well with evidence against the ISI that the US is gathering from many sources." One of the reasons that this particular journalist's death is causing so much concern in Pakistan is because he is a Syed, or recognized  descendent of the Prophet Mohammed, and you can't just toss him into a gutter, battered and bruised, with over 17 stab wounds...

God bless ornery generals and admirals who are about to retire, at a certain point they get tired of bullshitting and just tell the truth. Robert Gates did it, and now Admiral Mike Mullen added to his legacy. When asked about the Shahzad murder: "In an article on Tuesday, The New York Times said the Obama administration believed that Pakistan’s powerful spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, had directed the murder of Saleem Shahzad, a reporter who wrote about the infiltration of militants in the Pakistan army.


Admiral Mullen, who is retiring in several weeks, told a group of reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday: “I have not seen anything to disabuse the report that the government knew about this.” He added: “I would not be able to walk in and say, you know, here’s the string of evidence I have to confirm it.” The Pakistani government issued an angry retort, saying that Mike was wrong, and then they arrested several top generals who were said to be sympathetic to terrorist groups. The Pakistani press said that these generals were influenced and led around by a bunch of Stooges in the US military... Oh, when will Pakistan be left alone to upgrade its nuclear arsenal in peace; after all, they have to catch up once again to whatever it is that India is doing with its outdated nuclear program...

Even better news is that Leon Panetta has told us that we have our sights on the last 20 or 30 al Qaeda leaders, including the newly appointed Number 2. So, the War on Terror is almost won and we can send all of the troops home soon, then reduce the military budget back down by $500 billion to what it was ten years ago, before we invaded these countries based on erroneous information and the ego of one dumbass Texan... See, aren't you glad that the CIA has merged with the Pentagon, and we are now being monitioed by our cell phones and ipads, with drones flying over head. Let's name the next generation of robotics, the Cylons...




Sorry, I was day dreaming again... been doing that a lot, lately since it's been too hot to come upstairs and type, even if I have a stash of cold water... The mornings start out beautiful and warm, building into lightening and thunderstorms in the evenings, as the tropical humidity gets sucked up the Grand Canyon and meets the cooling northern air currents from the jet stream, here in the Rocky Mountains.

I was talking with my brother-in-law this morning, mostly because I had questions, and he had worked in aviation for awhile. I have been reading about Operation Paperclip, the taking of thousands of Nazi scientists and bringing them to the USA at the end of WW11, and the projects they continued to work on, which led to Stealth technology. They all became registered Republicans once they gained their citizenship, which explains the far right leanings of so many ex-military and GOP'ers. But, I digress...

Anyway, he complained that even now, no matter who ends up running the government, they stay out of touch with the people, and end up screwing things up just as badly as before. As a Democrat, he doesn't want to elect a Republican, but Obama has disappointed him in many ways. If the Republicans could field an intelligent choice to re-electing Obama, they might win the next election. But, as long as they parade the current batch of clowns, whom an intelligent person can't take seriously, then Obama will win again, handily. He could coast for another four years, making pithy speeches once in awhile, his best work being done at the White House Correspondent's Dinner, where he gets to repeat jokes written for him by the writer's from the Daily Show...

Yesterday, the Pentagon finally instructed the armed services to implement the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, to stop removing admittedly gay soldiers from service, and to start accepting new recruits even if the are gay. It's really going to take another 20 years, until the last homophobic hold-outs my age have passed away, until gays will truly be accepted in the military. Already our children and their children don't see it as any big deal, just something stupid their grandparents whine about when they get too drunk during family holidays...

High up on the scale of weirdness, is the giant gala this weekend in Moscow, intended to publicize the newest darling on the charity scene, the quasi-official Federation Fund. At its first event last January, it scored a coup with having Vladimir Putin sing Blueberry Hill to a thrilled audience. Right, talk about white dictators who have no rhythym... Before that concert, the Federation Fund was not listed anywhere in the world as a charity, or a business. It was only after one of the seriously ill children, whom was visited in the hospital by some of the concert-givers, wrote a letter to the press saying that nobody had received any money from the concert. Now, even more glamorous is: "Giant video screens and billboards plastered the city in June, advertising a Federation Fund benefit for children with cancer and eye disease. Most eye-catching was the lineup of Hollywood stars who were said to be attending events here on Saturday and Sunday, including Woody Allen, Dustin Hoffman, Francis Ford Coppola, Sophia Loren, Larry King and Isabella Rossellini."

Many of the stars have said that they actually will not attend, unless they still plan on making films in the future. Because the Federation Fund is a scam. Most charities only pass on about $2-3 out of every $10 dollars raised, but the Federation Fund doesn't even do that. They keep the money, unless embarrassed by the press: "Many officials of the hospitals listed as beneficiaries said in interviews that they had never had any contact with the Federation Fund, and were surprised to be listed on its Web site. Until two days before the concert, the organizers declined to disclose its location and callers were told that no tickets would be sold.


Among those pressing for answers are the directors of several charities, who say they fear the concert and other events this weekend will undercut public trust in fund-raising. Yekaterina Bermant, who runs a fund for children with heart disease, said she was puzzled by the participation of Hollywood celebrities.


“There are clear stories, understandable ones, like Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Japan,” said Ms. Bermant, director of the charity Children’s Hearts. “Why on earth are they coming to Moscow for some unclear story? Were they given that much money?”


“Maybe they were not paid, maybe Putin asked them personally,” she added. “It’s so unclear that I want very much for someone to explain it to me.”

So, party like its the old times in Moscow this weekend. I have wondered a lot about Woody Allen and his contacts with certain shady, mafia types, ever since I saw him at a club in LA several years ago that was run by some local bad boys. My youngest brother wanted to impress me because he had done some nights as a bouncer there... Anyway, for all I know, it was a Woody Allen imposter who was getting all of that VIP service, with the prostitutes and armed guards keeping the rest of us riff-raff away. Next time I get ol' Wood alone in the men's room, I'll have to check him for Russian jail-house tattoos... Enjoy hanging out with Putin's BFF's this weekend, glad you found financing for your next film... And, like all good crooks everywhere, the Federation Fund is headed by some idiot with a quick temper: "Bristling at the criticism, the charity’s director, Vladimir V. Kiselyov, said that his organization does not raise money for charity..."

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Pulling The Wings Off Of Congress

Deval Patrick
Paul Krugman
"Michele Bachmann is kind of like Sarah Palin but without the charisma — or marksmanship. You know, maybe we should stop telling kids that anyone can grow up to be president of the United States." – Jimmy Kimmel
"Anthony Weiner is reportedly involved in choosing his successor. The first question he asked his potential replacements is, 'What's the difference between 'reply' and 'reply all?'' –Conan O'Brien

"A senior al-Qaida leader was arrested in Afghanistan and he was disguised as a woman. Police became suspicious after he was seen stoning himself." –Conan O'Brien

"Sarah and Bristol Palin made an appearance at a book store. Apparently, it was 'Bring Your Daughter to a Place You Never Go Day.'" –Conan O'Brien



Here is the link to the Stephen Colbert Superpac website, not much on there, unless you want to donate...

"The narrative of Conservative Victimization is the true genius of what Fox News has accomplished. Any editorial judgment in news, or schools, or movies, that doesn't favor the conservative view, is elitism and is evidence of liberal bias. Whereas any editorial judgment that FAVORS the conservative view, is evidence of merely fairness and done to protect them from liberal bias. And, if you criticize Fox for this game, guess what that's evidence of? How right they are about how persecuted they are. It is air tighter than an otters ass…They can't lose. But you know what this whole 'victim thing' makes Fox? Well, perhaps this term a friend of mine used once to describe the current presidential administration is most apt: [Cut to clip of Fox News' ChrisWallace telling Bill O’Reilly: 'They are the biggest bunch of cry babies I have dealt with in my 30 years in Washington.']" – Jon Stewart

I've been having the hardest time staying awake in the afternoons, which is when I usually post to this blog. The rest of my time seems to be consoling my brother-in-law's pet Brussels Gryphon, an extremely moody little dog who spends hours sitting on top of the couch and staring outside, waiting for him to come home from work... I use to use a folded piece of newspaper that I would slap against my thigh to get his attention and snap him out of his mood, but that scared the rescue chihuahuas my sister owns. It's bad enough that they stare at me like I'm the man who kept them in those tiny cages for so many years...

The Republican Party has made good on its promise to attract more diversity to its tent, by making itself attractive to the sixteen year-old males that like to set their old plastic army soldiers on fire and pull the wings off of flies... By refusing to negotiate over economic issues,  the GOP is now the official party of NO. They have shut down the state of Minnesota, home to both Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann, and they may shut down the US govt unless the debt ceiling gets raised., something that they had no problems voting for seven times when Bush was in office.

A few years ago I was reading a book on conspiracy theories, and it said that one of the plans of the Illuminati was to create crisis that would bring down and wreck the US economy, so that we are no longer a country that others look up to. I thought it was silly until recent events. The GOP has gotten us into wars that have no elegant exit and costing us $10 billion per month, they have engineered an economic crisis and recession to hand off to a Democratic president, and now they are stopping every effort he makes to get us out of it, especially if he has embraced and supported their own ideas... Tom Coburn and John Kyl walked out of the most recent attempt at finding bi-partisan solutions, the last straw being the proposal to look at eliminating federal subsidies for corporate jets. The cruel joke is getting us to believe they were even close to being serious... Along with everything else, the Republicans are the dupes of their One World Masters. Look at what the pundits are saying, even on Fox News, that it looks like the Republicans in Congress want our economy in turmoil and people in pain during the time that a Democrat is in the White House, that they are trying to make things worse so they can pose themselves as the solution for the next election. Yes, you lost your job so a Republican might win in the next election...

20,000 people lost their jobs in Minnesota this weekend, and we can celebrate what a great country we are, Happy 4th of July. The Afghan and Iraqi people are grateful for us invading their countries, yeah right, what reason do you tell our mothers now, when they learn their child has died fighting overseas. We can also add Yemen, Libya, and Somalia to the list where the CIA is conducting covert actions and may soon drag in more armed forces, because we keep playing the world's top cop...

This is all a form of craziness, and the right-wing sickos are calling the shots. Maybe it speaks for the tolerance we have in our country, giving 15 minutes of fame to every political hack out there that's revealing themselves as the next candidate for President. And even though Sarah Palin  looks like some weird opportunist trying to make money off of her popularity instead of finishing any plan she's made during the last three years, she is wise to keep away from the right wing circus that is the GOP Presidential field. For those who miss Sarah's public stupidity, there's Sarah-lite, or Michele Bachmann, who evidently gets her history just as mixed up, and gets John Wayne confused with John Wayne Gacy, a serial killer from her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa. We even have a Mit Romney-lite in John Huntsman, another moderate Mormon, who can never win unless we have a national debate about the authenticity of the Mormon Church, something they may not be able to withstand, being the Scientology of their times. Seriously, read the Book of Mormon, then compare it to the Bible or the Koran... We can celebrate all of this craziness, crack open a beer and enjoy the chaos it's causing, or we can take the reins as responsible adults and create timeouts for our misbehaving progeny. So far, I don't see any Independents moving back to the party they left in droves a few years ago...Yep, time to paddle those little brats...

Having said all that, I kinda like it that MSNBC's Mark Helperin said that President Obama was acting like a dick the other day. Instead of suspending him, the Obama administration should have hired him, to walk behind Obama and let him know when he is going over the line, too...


Knowing the state of Libya's troops, why haven't we won there, yet? NATO has blasted just about everywhere Qaddafi could be hiding. Fine, we get it, he can stay and live there because he loves the country so much, just don't let him run the government. Qaddafi can become an empty figurehead, like the Queen of England. Lion of Africa, my ass...

Besides, Libya has become soooo yesterday's news. Let's see what rebellion the CIA is cooking up in the Sudan...