The Innocence Of Muslim Riots

"A new CNN poll shows that President Obama now has a six-point lead over Mitt Romney. You can tell Romney's depressed – last night he just sat on his couch and bought the Häagen-Dazs corporation." – Jimmy Fallon

"A recent poll found that most Americans believe President Obama would be a more loyal friend than Mitt Romney. In other words, Obama is the guy holding your hair back in the bathroom while Romney uploads the drunk photos to Facebook." – Jimmy Fallon

"Actually, members of Mitt Romney's own party are starting to criticize him for being too vague. When asked if that bothers him, Romney said, 'Maybe.'" – Jimmy Fallon

Notice incredibly cheap fake beard...

Well, what a long, strange week it's been. In the aftermath of the political conventions, Republicans had to pretend that Clint Eastwood's Alzheimer Moment with an empty chair was actually an inspired piece of acting,  while Bill Clinton showed why we should have hired him to give weekly fireplace chats to explain policy to the masses. Then, this weird anti-Muslim film trailer surfaces...

The Middle East is home to most of the bizarre conspiracy theories, with Texas and Florida a close second. Yet, turning one of the more twisted ones into reality shows that truth can be stranger than fiction... It seems that a strange combination of people got together to help write and finance a movie based on the life of the Prophet, yet showing him in an unfavorable light. The folks were a wimpy, self-proclaimed preacher in Florida, whose past claim to fame was burning a Koran in his church, another right-wing anti-Muslim from Texas, with ties to many other right-wing Christian militias around the country, and a Coptic Christian, originally from Egypt and now living in Southern California, with a record of credit card identity theft and creating 15 other false aliases with paperwork for himself...

Nobody knows if a whole movie was made, the only thing that has shown up is a 14 minute trailer, where the anti-Muslim slurs were dubbed in after it was made. It didn't catch on, was mostly ignored for about a year, until someone translated the whole thing into Arabic, re-posted it on Youtube, then made sure that relatives and friends in Egypt got the ball rolling and have people begin watching it. The idea was to piss off as many Muslims as possible so that the resulting riots and protests would show the Middle East in an unfavorable light in time to celebrate 9/11...

 At one point, the US government asked Google to take it off Youtube, but Google refused. The American Embassy in Cairo issued a statement hoping to calm the situation down, but six hours later a bunch of emotional young men stormed the Embassy, threatening the workers inside. In Libya, another group hit the US Embassy grounds at Benghazi, and ended up killing the American Ambassador. To date, there have been protests in Tunisia, Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Malaysia, and the Phillipines...

When asked by the news media why they were protesting, many people said that they didn't understand why the US government didn't censor the film, that it showed lack of respect for their beliefs. I think that they are right about the need to have more respect, but it's also a two-way street: respect can be freely given, but so often it has to be earned. It also shows an unfamiliarity with American culture and what we mean when we debate free speech. We may be the dominant culture in the world right now, but most people get their impressions of us from television shows, movies, and music gossip, a rather two-dimensional representation with a base in the dramatic and sensational... In the Middle East, most of the current population is under the age of 25, and are not very educated. The lack of jobs and depressed economies will only make these kind of demonstrations worse and more commonplace, especially when food and water gets more scarce in the next few years...

Mitt Romney tried to turn this tragedy into politics, and issued a statement that the Obama administration was handling things badly, that the calming statement from Cairo was as good as an apology, and we should never apologize for who we were... Besides misunderstanding and getting the situation totally wrong, he never apologized himself and kept up the tough-guy facade, saying that if he were President, no-one would have dared kill one of our ambassadors because they would all be overwhelmed by his Integrity and Resolve, feared the overwhelming response that he would have unleashed on their unwashed bodies... The GOP distributed talking points for those who felt like supporting him, like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld did... The rest stood around and looked embarrassed... Even Rush Limbaugh said that ultimately, if you vote, you don't have to vote for Mitt Romney the man; you are actually voting to keep Obama from a second term.

I keep reading these articles saying what a smart man Romney is, two graduate degrees, a law degree, a successful businessman, etc. But what I see from his speeches, commercials, and writings, is someone who has skated through life with little effort, and has become mentally lazy, at that age when the brain cells are killing off the important ones. There really isn't an interior intellectual life, and he consistently shows no interest in understanding foreign policy or any complex issue... Ronald Reagan was our first president to come down with Alzheimer's while in office, Mitt Romney, if elected, will be the second...

Democratic Convention, Afterwards And Forward...

"It is day two of the Democratic convention, and apparently they had a huge lighting problem in the convention hall today. They worked all day on it. They still couldn't get President Obama out of Bill Clinton's shadow." – Jay Leno

"Apparently last week the Republicans had originally planned to have a Ronald Reagan three-dimensional hologram speak at the Republican convention. They decided against it. I guess they were concerned that Reagan would come across as more life-like that Mitt Romney." – Jay Leno

"In her speech, First Lady Michelle Obama said her husband has dinner with his girls where they strategize about middle school relationship. Which explains why today the Pentagon ordered a drone strike on that lying bitch Ashley." – Conan O'Brien

What I was struck by both political conventions was how similarly they were structured, as if the planners for both parties plugged in their agendas into a common template. If it's Tuesday, then the candidates wives will speak... That being said, the quality of speeches during the Democratic convention was better than the Republicans. The two best orators of this century happen to be Democrats, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

I don't think that any of the speeches changed my mind, I've already made up my mind whom I will vote for. Bill Clinton was the winner and comeback kid, giving the most substantive speech. He went over his time allotment and frequently went off script, but unless you had a copy of the speech in front of you, you couldn't tell, or see the teleprompter tearing the hair out of his head, trying to keep up... He also rebutted each complaint made by Republicans, in language that was non-rancorous and humorous, propping up Obama's policies and decisions better than anyone else has done. Overall, the Democratic convention had speakers who gave less cynical and more upbeat speeches, more supportive of our military and veterans, and more positive regarding our further economic recovery.

The big loser was Paul Ryan, who has been exposed as a congenital liar. Don't take my word for it, fact-check his speech. Weirder, is that he also boasted to a reporter that he had recently run a marathon under 3 hours. The actual time was over 4, and it was recorded, and so he had to apologize for the blatant boast. Since he's a young guy, and theoretically has a long career ahead of him, one can only wonder the string of lies and boasts that will follow him like a trail of toilet-paper stuck to the sole of his shoe... We've all known someone like him, who feels compelled to make stuff up to make themselves appear more important than their abilities, and the persons we end up feeling the most sorry for are their kids, who have to put up with their shit all of their lives... If Paul Ryan is allowed to speak spontaneously to the press before election day, this single bad habit of his may sink his and Romney's chances.

And if the Democrats can use Bill Clinton for several more soundbites, especially after each debate, then they will have the best chance of getting Obama re-elected.

GOP Convention Part 2, The Lost Hours...

"Did you all watch the Republican convention last night? It's good to see scripted television finally making a comeback." – Jay Leno

"Hurricane Isaac turned out to be not much of a threat to the Republican convention. But to their credit, the Republicans had a contingency plan. If the hurricane did hit hard, delegates were instructed to evacuate to Mitt Romney's tax shelter." – Jay Leno

"The White House is now brewing its own beer. Republicans say the White House beer is actually pretty good. Just don't drink the Kool-Aid." – Jay Leno

It was left to the very end, for Mitt Romney to show that he was a caring family man who built a successful business; that he was a man of ideas who could solve our economic crisis and find jobs for millions of Americans. He did well on the first part, matching the tone of the brief speeches beforehand telling us what a generous and compassionate guy he is. He wisely never mentioned that his great grandparents and great-great grandparents were federal fugitives, chased out of the US and moving to Mexico where they could preach and practice polygamy. One grandfather had twelve wives... That's why his dad was born in Mexico, and it would be interesting to see Mitt's birth certificate to see if he has more than one mother listed...

I also was hit with the impression that Mitt Romney's smile reminds me of the cartoon smiles I've seen on a shark or in a Batman comic book. The basic problem with the rest of his speech is that it lacked content. It was satisfying on an emotional level, interesting where it was designed to appeal to voters of both parties who have become disillusioned with Obama's performance. But not once did he veer from bland platitudes and give any real policies or plans to steer our economy and create new jobs, nor does his web site list anything, either. He promised 12 million new jobs, but one independent study had predicted that those 12 million jobs would be created naturally over the next few years. In other words, even if Romney or Obama did nothing, the natural recovery rate would create that many jobs, still short of the 23 million needed...

Speaking of cons, what was up with Clint Eastwood? On the positive side, he showed that California Republicans aren't like the ones in the rest of the nation. On the flip side, he demonstrated that he can't carry a conversation unless he has a script in his hand, nor does he have much of a sense of humor. There was an empty chair next him at the podium, where he pretended an invisible Barack Obama was sitting, and he had imaginary conversations where Barack told him and Mitt to go fuck themselves. Ha Ha... Then, Mario Rubio had to introduce Mitt Romney... But, the crowd reveled in the bad taste, shouting out slogans like "Make my day!" along with a rambling and addled Mr Eastwood.

Was this convention a success? It hit some good spots and resonated with the crowd at times, so they didn't leave depleted and cynical. I doubt that it changed anybody's mind, except to note what a sleazy liar Paul Ryan turned out to be. But hey, at least he's not a Sarah Palin... Despite speeches from women and people of color, it was still designed to reinforce old white men and their antiquated set of values. It the Republican Party is to ever rebuild, we are going to have to wait until the old white guys die off and leave their money to their kids, which, unfortunately, will be years down the road.

After all of the speeches, I flipped around the channels to see what the commentaries were. I was surprised that the most generous analysis was given by MSNBC, while CNN and Fox were not as nice. Rachel Maddow comes across as the smartest woman on television and is worth listening to, no matter how liberal or conservative you are.

Republican Convention

"They’re all going down to Tampa where an Evangelical party is going to nominate a Mormon and a Catholic and then get wiped out by a hurricane…leaving Florida to the Jews as God intended." – Bill Maher

"Some of the Republicans, I think, are over-reacting to Hurricane Isaac — like today Rick Santorum was seen gathering up two of every animal." – Jay Leno

"Herman Cain was in Tampa. When a reporter asked him if Isaac reminded him of Katrina, he said, 'I never even met the woman.'" – Jay Leno

"It seems the GOP has placed 13,000 umbrellas in bins outside the hall for people to use. Delegates can't bring them inside for security reasons, so after you use the umbrella, you drop it off for the next person to use. That sounds like creeping socialism." – Jay Leno

I've spent the last two nights listening to the speeches from the Republican Convention in Tampa, Florida. Because the program on the first night was canceled because of Hurricane Isaac,we missed the spectacle of Donald Trump hiring a Barack Obama look-a-like and then getting to tell him that he's fired on the convention stage...

Tuesday's speeches got off to a rocky start, with the best one given by Anne Romney. She proved personable even though she failed to make her husband seem more human. It's nice to know that he still makes her laugh, but that was the deepest revelation she gave us. Perhaps they have an equally shallow relationship, communicating with each other in thumbnail sketches instead of real emotions... Anne also made an attempt to connect to the other women in the hall, evidently she is the Republican response that their isn't a war on women. I would have been more impressed if she handed out some of those Mormon Church's official condoms and dental dams... The keynote speech was given by Chris Christie, who gave an aggressive and self-absorbed speech, finally condescending to mention Mitt Romney after 16 minutes had gone by. Who would guessed that New Jersey was so fascinating? The New Jersey economy is failing under Mr Christie's bluster, and unemployment has increased by over a million more people.

The Romney camp has decided to slight a few fellow conservatives, neither Dick Cheney, George Bush, or Sarah Palin were invited to the convention. It was feared that Cheney might have shot Paul Ryan in the face, then tried to get himself on as the VP choice. Sarah Palin would have energized the crazy element and distracted the energy away from Romney, who really can't compete with anyone with charisma. And, of course, George Bush wasn't welcome because he would have made people remember that the problems we have are not all Obama's fault...

Each speaker had to mention the catch-phrase "we built it" or get demerits. The phrase is a misconstruction from an Obama speech, taken out of context, and then repeated so many times that it is a meaningless cliche. Obama himself was paraphrasing Elizabeth Warren when she said last year: “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own — nobody!” she said. “You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you all were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. ...
“You built a factory, and it turned into something terrific or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is, you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”

The most intelligent and elegant speech was given by Condoleezza Rice, who emphasized the importance of a good education and the importance that immigrants give to our diversity, not the biggest applause of the night, and a bit subversive. I'm sure that there were a few delegates having buyer's remorse over Mitt, saying we coulda nominated a Condi...

The scariest speech was given by John McCain, who has become such a hawk that he'd have us at war with six more Middle Eastern nations. Of course, his anger is rooted in losing the last presidential election, and now has become a bitter, bitter man.

The most attention will be given to Paul Ryan's speech, which set the delegates into an uproar. They loved him, even when his facts were incorrect. His delivery was spot on, and his speech was written by two of the best Republican speechmakers in the business. Two things he's going to have to correct, are the weird noises he makes in his throat after delivering an emotional line, and the black shoe polish that he put in his hair, which makes him look like a teenage boy who got into his mother's makeup bag... What bothers me the most were the blatant factual lies in his speech while purporting to be truthful and honest. This type of hypocrisy is distressing in someone so young, and if this kind of amoral behavior takes ahold among the younger generation of politicians, it signals more than the death of the Republican Party, but the death of all politics as we know it... even Ron Paul had to flee Tampa back to Texas...

Tomorrow Mitt will give his acceptance speech, and they have been hinting at a mystery guest, one that will make Obama angry. Let's hope that it is someone more than Clint Eastwood or Donald Trump and the fake Obama stand-in guy...

Paul Ryan's Star Rises Like The Sales Of AK-47's In America

"Mitt Romney is hoping to energize Republicans by announcing Paul Ryan as his running mate. Seriously? That's like trying to spice up a bowl of oatmeal with more oatmeal." – Jimmy Fallon

"During the announcement, Mitt Romney said that he and Paul Ryan are 'America's Comeback Team.' You know, as in 'come back in four years and try again.'" – Jimmy Fallon

"Romney and Ryan kind of look like a father and son in an ad for Super Cuts." – Jimmy Kimmel

We recently had President Obama campaigning in Colorado. The tickets to hear him speak were free, and they were quickly given away. In contrast, the GOP had Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal out pimping for Mitt Romney at the same time. maybe 200 people showed up... Now that Mitt announced that Paul Ryan would be his VP choice, Mr Jindal must feel a little burned... The polls currently show that Mr Obama is ahead of Mr Romney in popularity, and he may jump out ahead if people react negatively to Mr Ryan's tightly puckered policies and positions.

Paul is considered to be a super conservative who gives voice to the tea party concerns in Congress. He has sponsored a national bill that would give "personhood" to an infant at the moment of conception. So far, none of the personhood amendments have passed in the states where they have been introduced, including twice here in Colorado. Refusing to take a hint from the voters, the personhood people are going to put it on the ballot here again in November, and have vowed to keep on introducing it until it passes. See, who says we aren't providing stable jobs...? The personhood amendment movement began here in Colorado Springs and it's a bit embarrassing to the tea party anti-abortion folks that they can't even convince their homies that their ideas aren't wacko and way out there...

Paul is most famous for his belief in trickle-down economics, and he has been chairman of the House Budget Committee, a job he will have to give up. He has been involved in every budget fight and obstruction for the past two years, and has signed up to be Mitt's attack weasel for the next two months. What bothers me about Paul Ryan is he is another rich kid who never had to work very hard for a living, and hasn't bothered to develop much compassion for anyone who isn't a millionaire. His grandfather built the families wealth by building roads from government contracts, which may be better than Romney's grandfather, who was a federal fugitive for running around the country with his five wives, spreading the gospel of polygamy... He was elected to Congress at age 28, and hasn't known much or experienced life beyond the small town he was raised in and Washington DC. Paul also tends to be thin-skinned and whinny if he feels he's being made fun of or his expertise in understanding economics is brought into question. The fact that his budget has been analyzed to both cost more than he's promised it would and not solve the problems he says it will, makes one wonder if years of flattery hasn't made him intellectually lazy.
Paul Ryan is on the ballot to make Mitt Romney seem legitimately right wing, but I doubt he will seem attractive to many other voters. It's just another signal of the death of the Republican Party...


It's nice to know that the Russian factory that makes the Kalashnikov rifle, has recently been focusing on sales to civilians. Their sales rose over 50% last year, thanks to strong sales within the US. We have the pride of being the strongest market in the world for guns bought by civilians. Certainly puts the recent crazy people shooting and killing in Colorado and Texas into perspective, doesn't it???? In order for a Russian to buy a long barrel gun like an AK-47, they have to have a permit from the police clearing them of any criminal record, and a certificate of mental health from a doctor...

Mitt's European Adventure

"Kiss my ass! This is a sacred site..." - Rick Gorka

Mitt Romney made a trip across the pond, to prove that he had a solid feel for foreign policy and hoping that somehow he might attract the crowds that Barack Obama did when he visited Europe as a candidate. But, since Mitt is pretty vacant and clueless, all he ended up doing is embarrassing himself and his hosts.

When he was in England, he made comments about the level of organization exhibited at the Olympics, and was jumped on by every newspaper and politician in sight, including the conservative mayor of London, Boris Johnson. To be fair, they would have jumped on any American serving up criticism, and it was pretty tame compared to the verbal lashings English politicians receive when they have to appear before Parliament. But all Mitt had to do was smile and say nothing more than he was there to support his wife. Instead, I was looking to see if he was signaling the beginning of a Monty Python skit on upper-class twits...

Next, Mitt flew to Israel, to suck up to Benjamin Netanyahu in front of his new best friend, Sheldon Addelson. Mr Addelson had committed millions of dollars to conservative PACs, and has made his money from owning gambling casinos in Las Vegas and Macau. Of course, Mitt made a speech sucking up to the Israelis, saying that it was their culture that had made them so successful, as compared to to their neighbors. This was treated as a gaffe and the Palestinians responded that gee, they might also have become as successful if only their land wasn't occupied by a people dedicated to their failure. The Palestinian Authority said that:

"This man lacks information, knowledge, vision and understanding of this region and its people."

Mr Romney was hoping to embarrass the Obama administration and their lack of chummyness with the right wing Israelis. But the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barack told CNN on Monday, that "I should tell you honestly that this administration under President Obama is doing in regard to our security more than anything that I can remember in the past."

The mystery of Mitt's trip was, why Poland? It was determined that the government would be most receptive to whatever he had to say, since most exposure to the press had been restricted and scripted, with no room for spontaneity. When Mitt did venture outside, it was at the grave for the unkown soldier, and the press shouted out questions. Mitt's press secretary then shouted out the quote from above, making it the most wonderful quote of the year in many a pundit's book...

Now that Mitt is back, it's clear that things did not go as planned because he forgot to include the human element. It looks more and more that when you compare Obama and Romney's personalities side by side, that Obama will end up re-elected.

I have two main questions for Mitt Romney, neither have been asked by the press or his opponents: One, since he has raised five sons, tell us why none of them volunteered for the armed services? Mitt himself had a couple of student deferments during the Vietnam War, and one ministerial deferment. If he is so patriotic, why aren't his sons willing to serve their country?

Two: I don't really care if he has Swiss bank accounts and accounts in the Cayman Islands, what I want to know is if he is willing to transfer all of this money back into the United States if he gets elected? Shouldn't an American President show trust in American banks and institutions?

We've never had to deal with such a rich candidate before, and if politics requires more and more money, then we are going to have to rewrite the rules, and the sooner we begin the better...


Finally, this little tidbit from TPM: "Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency warns staffers to stop using the missile defense computer network to download so much porn..."

Mickey Mouse in North Korea, Free Pussy Riot!

"I secretly want Romney to win because, look, I'm a comedian. Mitt Romney is an ultra-Caucasian Mormon zillionaire who uses his dog as a hood ornament. For me not to secretly want him as President, it's like Halliburton secretly not wanting a war." – Bill Maher

"People will now have to have health insurance. The same way every driver in California has car insurance." – Jay Leno

"The Democratic Convention is $27 million in debt. They had to cancel the kick-off event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. A speedway is the perfect place for the Democratic Convention. You go around in circles, turn left every few seconds, and you end up right where you started. " – Jay Leno

I apologize for the long time since my last post, I took a vacation and then the hills surrounding the city I live in caught on fire. For awhile it seemed as if all of Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs would go down in flames, but the most populated parts were spared. Then, my neighbor died, one of my favorite grumpy old men, and we are still mourning his passing. I admit to being so depressed by events that I felt little compulsion to find anything humorous in the news... Next, my brother-in-law's father passed away, so he and my sister drove off to Illinois for a week,  and I've been left here to babysit their 3 small dogs, who had to share a space on my bed with my cat. Finally, my next door neighbor came back from her vacation only to have to put down her cat, and now her old dog, too, which had developed neurological problems and could barely drag her back legs around.

I was most enamored with the story out of North Korea, that the new ruler, Kim Jung-Un, had sponsored a concert starring a few Disney characters in costume, Tigger, Winnie the Pooh, Mickey and Minnie Mouse. The concert was broadcast by North Korean television, and presided over by the young leader and his stylish wife, although no information was given at the time who she was or how long they had been married. Tp prove how prissy Disney has become, they denounced the concert as not being licensed or officially approved by them, because they don't agree showing Disney on Socialism... What also was not given was where did North Korea obtain those costumes? Did they buy them or have to rent them? Or did they steal them like they used to do with Japanese nationals? The obvious answer is that Disneyland Tokyo provided the costumes, but their not admitting anything... Also interesting to know if one of the "youthful" changes that the young leader will make, is to have Mickey Mouse become the official government spokesmouse...

We now have a generation of world leaders who have had an education in a Western country. North Korea's Kim Jung-Un was schooled in Switzerland, while the new leaders of Tunisia and Egypt were educated in the US. Egypt's Mr Morsi also taught at the college level here, and has two children still living in the US. Most of the business and military elite in the Middle East have all gone to college in the US or Europe, proving that we are truly becoming a melting pot of different cultures. Of course, there is always a downside, as exhibited by Syria's Bashar al Assad, and have you noticed that about half of the current government officials in Kabul used to own restaurants in New york and Washington DC?

Free Pussy Riot!!! The Russian band Pussy Riot went on trial today for the spurious charges of committing "an act of hooliganism under religious motives," for performing an anti-Putin song at the altar of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, part of the newly resurgent and power-hungry Russian Orthodox Church. That a judge agreed to hear this case and is taking the procedures seriously, shows what a mockery most laws and courts have become in Russia.

The prosecutors charge that the performance caused great "moral damage" to 10 people who complained about the performance, and that the band intentionally meant to "inflict grievous mental suffering." Jeez, everyone is a music critic... This charade is an obvious attempt to by the court to suck up to Vladimir Putin, who still can't believe that not everyone loves him and the high-handed way that he rules. Perhaps the judge is trying to secure that plum job for her children with a Putin owned oil company, so she can be taken care of after she retires in six months... Whatever, the lawyers for Pussy Riot said that the charges are politically motivated by the Russian Orthodox Church, who also os trying to suck up to the Kremlin, so their Patriarch will be able to drive around in his new Bentley, shallow and vain man that he is. The end result could easily be that the girls will be sentenced to 5 years in prison. They would have to rename their band Putin's Pussy to acknowledge that he got the better of them, and let that be a warning to everyone who is opposed to our Dear Leader, who seems to think that this country is his personal KGB playground... I haven't the faintest idea if the band is actually good or not, maybe there will be something on youtube and I can listen to them tonight. Maybe they'll come out of this trial with a recording contract, or at least allowed to record the soundtrack of the Russian opposition...