How the right crushes thought and the myth of Liberal media dominance.

President Obama is a Muslim, Sharia Law is taking over, Health Care reform will mean death panels, crime is rampant on our borders, Americans don't want gays to serve in the military, Obama has raised taxes more than any other president, these are just some of the out right lies spread by the right wing conservative propaganda machine and believed by many Americans. These are clearly lies, so why do they seem to gain traction in the media and why do so many Americans begin to believe them? I believe it's the domination of news media by conservative cable news and talk radio. But how can that be? Haven't we all been told that the media is dominated by liberals? Read on.

For years I've watched the conservative right, howl about left leaning media. I've heard Rush, Beck, Malkin, GOP pols (I won't even mention the twit from Wasilla) and just about every person who votes Republican go on and on about liberal dominance in the media. Generally speaking I never really saw it. To be fair this could very well be because I lean liberal on many issues. Though I like to think I can be impartial it's possible that I see the world through progressive eyeglasses and therefore don't see the bias which they whine incessantly about. It wasn't until I started to see the huge ratings for Fox News and Rush Limbaugh that I began to really wonder if there is a liberal bias at all or if maybe the conservatives are playing one of their favorite games, "we're the victims, liberals are big meanies".

Over the past few weeks I've scoured the internet looking for ratings and polls concerning cable news. As you'll find the majority of Americans get their news from cable news so this was the logical place to search. With each poll or ratings or article, I'll have a link to the original for you to read and verify. Strap yourself in, it's time for a little myth busting.

A recent poll by Politco/GWU shows that 80 % of Americans get their midterm political news from cable news channels and their websites. This shows just how dominate cable news is over all other forms of media when it comes to politics. Fox news was the big winner with 42%, followed by CNN with 30% and MSNBC with 12%. Of the three, Fox is clearly conservative. If you doubt that than there's no point in me trying to convince you, please go to the Drudge Report and continue your indoctrination. MSNBC is the most liberal by far, but to be fair the network does have conservative show hosts and they do not run a 24 hour news cycle like Fox or CNN. The one in the middle here is CNN. Despite what extreme right wingers might say, they are apolitical. Meaning they do not take sides. No matter, for in this debate, Fox news is the clear winner when it comes to shear numbers. Their influence can not be denied.

Let's stick with cable news television. On a typical weekday night during prime time, here's the numbers, Fox News 2,270,000, CNN 343,000, MSNBC 867,000! Fox News dominates MSNBC almost 3 to 1! Even if you add CNN and MSNBC it's a 2 to 1 domination. So, can we all agree that when it comes to cable news, conservatives dominate? Again, if you can not see and concede this fact, please click on the link and continue to be zombieized.

Now we'll turn our attention to talk radio. Surely, liberals must dominate talk radio. I mean we've all heard conservatives crying about liberals all over the media. I've just proven that at least on cable news conservatives dominate, so surely it must be in radio where liberals and progressives reign supreme? Er, no. Sorry, it get's worse.

Of the top ten politically based talk radio shows out there conservatives hold the the first nine spots. There are a total of 15 radio talk shows in the top ten, this is due to several being tied in ratings. Rush Limbaugh leads the way with 15 million weekly listeners, followed closely by Sean Hannity at 14 million. It's not until you reach the tenth spot do you find progressive radio shows. There are four each with 2.5 million weekly listeners. That means the top four progressive shows still don't equal the number of listeners of Rush Limbaugh. In fact if you add them all up you'll find conservative radio reaches approximately 80 million listeners compared with just 10 million progressive listeners. Conservative talk radio not only leads progressive shows, it crushes them.

I think we've smashed the myth of liberal news domination once and for all. It is clear that conservatives dominate political news by an amazingly huge margin. What this means of course is they can with one voice get their message out to the public in a monopolistic fashion that I doubt anyone really understands.

In the first paragraph I illustrated several lies spread by the right and believed by many Americans. I also asked why. So far I've showed you how great and vast the right wing propaganda machine is. Now I'll attempt to show you why it's effective.

Obviously, if 100 million or more Americans hear the same message weekly that has to have some effect. If you generally only listen or watch conservative media and you hear the same message day in and day out, such as Obama is a Muslim, it's conceivable that eventually you will begin to believe it. If you hear anything often enough, the message becomes part of your subconscious. Let's try a little exercise to illustrate this point. Try to finish each sentence; "Have a coke and a _____" or "Baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and _____" or this last one, "Where's the ____?" think old lady. How did you do? Despite the fact that the oldest commercial was 35 years old and the youngest was 26 years I bet you got one or all of them, why? Being popular you were inundated with their message. You saw them on tv, heard them on radio and read them in magazines. You were exposed to these messages hundreds if not thousands of times and now, after at least 26 years they're a part of your subconscious. This is similar to what the conservatives can do. By dominating both cable news and talk radio and by sending the same message, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for months at a time their message becomes part of the subconscious and then the conscious mind of their listeners and viewers.

A recent study of smear campaigns by Michigan State University psychologist, Spee Kosloff, was conducted. Here's an excerpt from the article:

There's something beyond plain old ignorance that motivates Americans to believe President Obama is a Muslim, according to a first-of-its-kind study of smear campaigns led by a Michigan State University psychologist.

The research by Spee Kosloff and colleagues suggests people are most likely to accept such falsehoods, both consciously and unconsciously, when subtle clues remind them of ways in which Obama is different from them, whether because of race, social class or other ideological differences.

These judgments, Kosloff argues, are irrational. He also suggests they are fueled by an "irresponsible" media culture that allows political pundits and "talking heads" to perpetuate the lies.

"Careless or biased media outlets are largely responsible for the propagation of these falsehoods, which catch on like wildfire," said Kosloff, visiting assistant professor of psychology. "And then social differences can motivate acceptance of these lies."

Notice the last two paragraphs. He doesn't say Fox news or mentions conservatives and I'd agree. It starts with the conservative media machine and with their 100 million ears (and dollars) other news organizations pick up the story. Anyone remember what happened to Shirley Sherrod?

It's almost a form of brain washing. First they terrorize you with outrageous stories of how Democrats are going to let immigrants take your job, or let Muslims install Sharia law at ground zero or allow gay service members to wear pink hats while on duty or whatever ridiculous thing they come up with, then, using the massive media propaganda machine they possess they smother their viewers with the same message incessantly until the viewers believe it's true. Once that happens the lazy general media picks up the story until CNN has a right winger frothing at the mouth screaming about pink hats and the Democrat pundit stunned, asking, "I thought we were here to talk about job growth?"

The right wing conservative propaganda machine is real and it's terrifying. They can make reasonable Americans believe the unreasonable. It's real, it's out there and it's coming for you.

It's about what's right.

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."

These words were spoken by Martin NieMoller, a pastor and German citizen, in 1946. For the previous eight years (freed in 1945) he was a prisoner of several concentration camps. His crime was that he did not support the government's attempts to nationalize religion. As a member of an influential organization he and that organization stood by quietly when when one group after another was demonized and attacked by citizens and government. Finally, there was no one left to protect him and they arrested him.

More than any other cause or belief, our country was founded on the ideal of religious freedom and tolerance. In the 17th century pilgrims from England crossed a terrifying ocean and braved deprivation and death to worship as they wanted. In the centuries following, millions more have come for this reason.

Our very first amendment to our contistution, reads "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." It is no coincidence that this was the first.

Since that time, over one million Americans have died and millions more injured, fighting to preserve our principles and way of life. So, why after centuries of struggles and the blood of millions of Americans, spilled to protect our freedoms are we now, actually debating whether or not a Muslim group has the right to build a Muslim community center in NYC? Did I miss something? Does the first amendment make an exception for Islam or for religions which are currently not in fashion? Give me a sec while I review it......well I'll be damned, there are no exceptions! So, why then, are so many Americans who fly a flag outside of their homes, wear stars and stripes on their ball caps and attend Tea Parties with copies of the constitution and with tears in their eyes, proclaim they'll die defending that constitution, so willing to piss on it now?

We all know what happened on September 11, 2001. An act of terror and horror was committed against the people of NYC. All the terrorists involved in this most despicable act were self proclaimed Muslims. They were almost all Saudis. So should we not blame Saudi Arabia too? Should we not allow Saudis to own property in our country as well? Hell, they were all men. By this reasoning, we should discriminate against all men. Or maybe just men of a darker skin color or men with accents?

It takes no stretch of the imagination to realize what's going on here. Despite the ideals of this country, bigotry and intolerance are always present and politicians and news people are always willing to exploit this dark bit of evil. The politicians in this case are almost overwhelmingly Republican. Luckily for them they have a propaganda machine that Goebbels would envy. Fox News, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and the rest of right wing media have been trumpeting this call to arms to it's bigoted and/or ignorant followers day and night, until now we are actually debating whether or not a religious organization has the right to build a community center in a US city.

I get that it's blocks away from ground zero and I get the trauma and pain (not that I have an idea of the actual pain felt) the survivors and families must feel. I also get that what the terrorists on 9/11 wanted was for us to change. They wanted us to resort to that basic instinct of revenge and hate and to become just like them. Because if we do, they can then say to the rest of Muslim world, "See, the America you believe in is dead. All they want is to discriminate, hate and kill Muslims". This of course leads to more hate and more violence. This is what they want. This is not what America is all about.

We can't paint every Muslim as someone to fear just because there are Muslims in the world who want to do us harm. Just as we can't paint every African American as a criminal just because there are more African American men in prison than any other ethnicity. Do you realize the stupidity of such logic?

Just because we are still a white, Christian majority it does not mean we have greater rights than anyone else. Just because your immediate world is being filled with more and more people that don't look like you, does not give you the right to lash out at those same people.

This is America. The first country born on the premise of religious freedom. A country which men and women have shed blood to protect that freedom. And a country which if it is determined to carry on those ideals must look very hard at itself and decide if hatred and intolerance are to be the rule or if our rights are untouchable and resolute. Because if we choose the former, one day by the time they come for you, there will be one left to speak up.

Hypocritical Rat Bastard Series, 1. President Obama

I just said that Obama is on my watch list and he has the distinct honor of being the first to be exposed in this series. During the campaign for president, candidate Obama was adamant that was happening at Guantanamo Bay was wrong and that the prison holding alleged terrorists would be closed. He said torture was wrong. He said holding people without the rule of law was wrong and that once president, he would immediately change the way the US dealt with the prisoners held there and then the symbol of US injustice and abuse would be closed. Well it's been two years since then and it's still open. It's still open and American injustice is beamed into television sets and sent via the internet to cities and small villages all over the world.

Before any of my right wing war mongering friends get up in arms, let me say this. To any terrorist who harms innocent people, or to anyone who assisted in terrorism, I wish them death or life long incarceration. But you have to do it right. You have to expose these people in a legal system which is admired the world over, except by Republicans in our own country. So, to those Republicans, I ask, "why do you hate America?". OK, that was a little joke to play on their hypocrisy. But it kinda rings true doesn't it? Back to the point. Unfortunately there are many problems with convicting these people in US courts and they all start with the policies of "The Little Goat Reader", GW Bush. First, there is little evidence to suggest that there was any discretion used when many of the Guantanamo inhabitants were picked up, blindfolded and flown to Camp X Ray (side note; I was among 20 security specialists sent to GB in 1994 who oversaw the construction of the prison and ran it for the first 6 months. Another story, another time.) Taxi cab drivers, farmers, goat herders were swept up in a huge fishnet in a race to catch real terrorists. Many of these people were held for months or years before being released. If they didn't have a hatred for America before they kidnapped and tortured, they do now. Another problem is evidence. We may suspect they are terrorists but may not have all the facts needed to convict them. But the main problem, is torture. Tortured subjects who confess during torture can not be convicted with that evidence.

Yes, the non-closure of GB is hypocritical but what this post is really about is a 15 year old Canadian boy, Omar Khadr. Don't know the name? A little history; Omar Khadr was 15 years old when he was caught up in the war in Afghanistan. He was indoctrinated to believe that America was the enemy and that enemy was going to kill him and to be a good Muslim he would have to fight if the Americans came. The Americans came and amidst a battle, Omar threw a grenade which killed an American service member. As tragic as one of my fellow Americans deaths was, it was not by terrorism. It was done during an act of war by a 15 year old boy defending himself and those he loved. What happens next is detailed in a piece by Glenn Greenwald on Salon.com
http://www.salon.com/news/guantanamo/index.html?story=/opinion/greenwald/2010/08/11/khadr

"It boggles the mind that the military judge could find that Khadr was not coerced and gave these statements to interrogators voluntarily. Khadr, then 15 years old, was taken to Bagram near death, after being shot twice in the back, blinded by shrapnel, and buried in rubble from a bomb blast. He was interrogated within hours, while sedated and handcuffed to a stretcher. He was threatened with gang rape and death if he didn't cooperate with interrogators. He was hooded and chained with his arms suspended in a cage-like cell, and his primary interrogator was later court-martialed for detainee abuse leading to the death of a detainee. During his subsequent eight-year (so far) detention at Guantánamo, Khadr was subjected to the "frequent flyer" sleep deprivation program and he says he was used as a human mop after he was forced to urinate on himself."
Omar Khadr is being tried as a terrorist by a military tribunal which is supposed to be fair and protect the accused basic rights, like not allowing admissions of guilt to be allowed if gained by torture. A miliatry judge has ruled that his guilty statements, made while being repeatedly tortured, are admissible.

President Obama promised us to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison and restore our rule of law. He has not and by trying a boy who was 15 years old when he defended himself, was then tortured, is barbaric.

Our country used to be a shining beacon of decency and hope for the world to admire. President Obama was the guy who was going to help restore that admiration. Unfortunately, as we have seen with GB and Omar Khadr, President Obama is a Hypocritcal Rat Bastard.

Two New Series to Watch for!!!!!

OK, I haven't finished the "End Justifies the Means" series and I haven't released the blog on my crazy Grandma yet (I'm still pulling together stories), but I've been inspired to write two new series! The first one is titled "Hypocritical Rat Bastards!". In this series I will from time to time chime in and highlight blatant hypocrisy in politics. Mostly it'll be from the GOP but the Obama administration is startin' to piss me off is on my watch list, so they could be a target as well. The second series is titled "Republican translations, free of charge". This is a free service in which I will break down, Republican speeches, statements and talking points and translate them to you, the dear reader. This is an important service because the Republican language is full of double speak and code which completely distorts the meaning. Only those who've been indoctrinated or have been given the decoder ring know the true meaning.

So there you have it. Two new series to look forward to. And you thought this was going to be a boring summer?

How I find my Zen.

I love motorcyles. That's it, that's the perfect sentance. No more needs to be said. I should end this right now while it's still perfect. I don't think you win pulitizers for three word stories so I'll continue. Motorcycles are everything which are right and good in the world.

I look at a bike and I see sex. It's sleek, daring, growling and begging for adventure. It's everything that attracts me to bad women. Just like women, there's hardly a bike I wouldn't want to own or ride at least once. Ok, that was a little joke but it illustrates my point. Honestly though, you can make some comparisons. Bikes can be dangerous. Women can definitely be dangerous. You can treat both well, you can baby them, spend too much on them, devote your life too them, but one bad slip can leave you heartbroken or dead. Both can fill a void in your soul like nothing else can. Be without a good woman or lose one and a darkness will creep into your life that you can not lift unless she returns. Be without a bike too long and you'll gaze longingly at every bike that passes you on the road. Worse yet is when there's a beautiful woman on the back of that bike. Your only response is to sigh and wonder where you went wrong.

Bikes can heal. Whenever there is a bad spot in my life, my bike has been there for me. When a trusted employee, a girl I treated like my daughter, stole from my business and left me hurt and unsure, I went camping on my bike. The long ride and nights by the fire helped me to gain perspective. The Irish whiskey and PBRs had a different but still helpful effect as well.

When my wander lust became too much to bear, my bike took me through an 8000 mile ride through Mexico. Long rides in the desert cleared my thoughts. Technical riding in the twisties of the mountains forced me to focus until my instincts took over. My bike was an ambassador to the local people. Where are you from? How big is your bike? Is it fast? How do you like Mexico? These were the questions we were asked every time we got off our bikes. My bike introduced me to the Mexican people in a way I could not have done alone. (check out my blog from my ride, Motolocogringo)

Something happens on a very long ride that I can't find anywhere else. When riding your left with your own thoughts. You may have an ipod filling your head with 80s New Wave or ACDC but you can only focus on music for so long. Sooner or later your mind takes over and thoughts creep in. There doesn't seem to be reason, method or sequence they just come. On long rides virtually every thought, conversation or experience you've ever had enters your head. It's uncontrollable. Sometimes I'll smile when I think about my daughter playing in the rain when she was three. Other times I may feel shame over something I said unfairly to a girl in high school. Problems with work or relationships get mulled over time and time again until a solution works itself out, usually with me realizing I've been a slave to my ego and I should just let it go.
Thought after thought after thought come and go like subway cars in New York or like bad politicians in Detroit. The thoughts keep coming and you continue to solve problems until finally, you've solved every problem, you've seen every face in your data bank and have rehashed every conversation you've ever had a dozen times over, until there's nothing. Nothing else comes. Not the last argument you had with your wife, not global warning or your favorite boots your old dog chewed up five years ago, nothing. That's when you've done it. You're now part of the machine. The bike is a part of you. Fifty miles have dropped off and you realize you've been smiling for every one. This is my Zen. Some people find this place in different ways. But this is mine. I need this. I need this every so often like a computer needs to reboot when running slowly. I need to reboot.

Yes, I love motorcycles. I know they may one day kill me. But I'd die a slower and unhappier death without them. Watch for me on the roads. If one day I pass you with a wide grin on my mug, don't honk at me to grab my attention. Let me go. Leave me to that space in my mind that I can only find while riding my bike.

ends justify the means, part I

(Note: this piece will have several posts, this is part I

Republicans aren't bad people. The Republican party is a bad party. Seriously, the vast majority of Republicans are great people who love their country and contribute in some way to it's health. They work, raise families and are passionate about what they believe in. You won't find me saying what they believe in is necessarily bad. Much of the time it's a difference in opinion. The main thing wrong with individual Republicans is they have no spine. They have no guts or courage to stand up to those in their own party who corrupt, lie and cheat to further an agenda which is now so far to the right, Eisenhower would be considered an extreme liberal. Hell, by today's standards, Reagan would be a left center Democrat. The main thing wrong with Republicans as a party is they too, have no spine.

The Republican party is morally bankrupt and have been for at least 50 years. Your average Republican has stood by as bit by bit their souls, the part of you which knows right from wrong has been picked apart and devoured by those within the party who live by the motto "the ends justify the means". Or in other words, we will do whatever it takes to remain in power. We will oppose those things we know are in the best interest of our country as longs as we get reelected. We will lie, we will slander, we will oppress whole classes of people, we will wage war, we will terrify our own people, we will empower the rich at the expense of the working class and we will punish the poor, we will sell our souls to the devil because we know that once in power we will be able to shape this country and this world into our own choosing. This is what the Republican party does. The average Republican stands quiet and says nothing.

I use 50 years because this is the approximate date of the fight for the Civil Rights Act. Many could argue that their sins go much further back but I use this date because I believe it ties itself to the modern era of the GOP and to the current party. The Civil Rights Act and the movement which bears it's name, divided the country like no other issue since the civil war. The premise is simple, the no man should be denied equal rights and protections under the law for any reason, race included. This seems simple enough. It seems to be the honorable, humane way a country with the highest ideals should treat it's people, except the GOP didn't think so.

At the time of the Civil rights movement the South was a staunchly Democratic region. Poor white people in the South had always chosen the party that fought for them. This did not sit well with the GOP. They knew they were in trouble because blacks were flooding the Democratic party with new voters by the millions. Sinister elements in the GOP had an idea, "what if we could scare all them white folk in the South, by baiting them incessantly with race? We'll tell em' how scary black people are and remind them that black people vote Democratic". This was called the "Southern Strategy". This is not rumor or theory or urban legend, it is fact http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy. It is fact based upon Nixon appointees and their own accounts. From that moment on, the ugliest elements within the GOP have relentlessly pursued the "Southern Strategy" with great success. Today the South is the only real power base the GOP has left. Any normal person would find this to be abhorrent. I find it vile. But what about the average Republican? Have they stood up and said that this strategy is immoral? Maybe one or two, but as a whole they are silent. Remember, with the GOP, "the ends, justify the means".

The evil of Nixon couldn't be hidden for long. Evil like that is hard to hide, though many of those involved with the formulation of the "Southern Strategy" moved on into all the subsequent GOP administrations to include the former Vice President Dick (Sith Lord) Cheney.

Every single chance ever since the GOP has used race as a lever to divide our country along racial lines.

Era by era, GOP prez by GOP prez there are examples; Nixon, whose administration devised the Southern Plan. Reagan in large part rode into power on the wave of the Southern Strategy. George HW Bush used a convicted murderer, Willie Horton who was furloughed by Massachussetts' Governor Micheal Dukakis' administration, and later went on to rape a white woman, like a racial battle bugle to get elected to the White House. The bugle notes were clear, "Don't elect Mike Dukakis, he'll let other scary negros out of prison to rape your white women". Apologists will argue the campaign was about crime. Horseshit, it was about continually beating the race drum until white America was terrified of it's black neighbors. Katrina, wasn't George W Bush's fault. The aftermath was. Again, apologists can make up excuses and if were not a half century of calculated use of race you could almost give him a pass. Now, there is Shirley Sherrod, an honest and noble black woman who has been the victim of a lifetime of racism. She did not let that hate into heart though you could understand if she did. Her life was forever transformed because of a "the ends justifies the means" punk by the name of Adam Breitbart. He along with the assistance of Fox news followed by the rest of the brain dead national media, slandered this woman.

Additionally, the "Immigration debate" is just another way for rousing the ire of the same constituents the GOP uses in it's Southern Strategy. I find this particularly stupid considering that Hispanics will soon (if not already) make up the largest ethnic group in the U.S. Combined with all the other ethnic groups, they will be the majority in 20-40 years. This does not bode well for the GOP. In their defense, they will search and search until they find a way to divide Americans again just so Republicans can attain power.

To pretend for one moment that the GOP is not racist is to admit one of two things; 1. that you are ignorant or 2. that you are stupid.

This is not the point of this article. The point of this article is to highlight the apathy of the individual Republican. Like I stated at the beginning of this piece, most Republicans are good people, but their silence in the affairs of their party are damning in the same way people of regimes throughout history were silenced when their party terrorized or mistreated citizens of their own country. When, you Joe Republican do not stand up to your party or the media members acting on behalf of your party you are complicit just the same. When you sell your soul because you really wanted that tax break so you could upgrade your BMW from a 5 series to a 7, or when Joe Six Pack blindly follows the race baiting at the expense of his own well being, then you too are guilty. In the Republican party "the ends justify the means".

In part II, I'll outline more disturbing actions and policies the GOP has used, from war, slander, terrorizing it's own people to the assault on science and intellectualism all in an effort to remain in power.




(Reagan era, black poverty levels rose, do research. Bush, war on Iraq, dumbing of the GOP, attacks on science and smart folk. Current, racist attacks on Obama, tea party, sherrod, leadership silent while rabid rw attack dogs, defame)

more on the Southern Strategy; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/13/AR2005071302342.html,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,399921,00.html

http://freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/912

Hack job journalism and the gutless Obama Administration

I watched the video. There was a black woman speaking at a NAACP meeting about how she essentionally screwed a white farmer out of assistance while working at the USDA, because he was smug and she had the power to do so. I saw and admittedly I was dismayed. Dismayed because this is just the sort of fuel the right wing douchebag media salivates over. Sure enough Fix News picked up on it and bludgeoned it's brain dead viewers repeatedly with the story. In the on demand news world we live in the entire news galaxy was running the story. Yep, I watched the video and the coverage and believed it. I believed it because for some stupid ass reason I want to believe we can trust those who give us the news. Even those sexy porn star looking chicks on Fix News. But it wasn't true. It was all a lie. It was a lie and a good woman by the name of Shirley Sherrod was forced to resign her job.

The outright lying, slime fucks at Andrew Breitbart's biggoverment.com, manipulated the tape. They used the first half of her speech and omitted the part where she goes on to say that before she could screw the white farmer out of the help he needed, she realized that it wasn't about race it was about helping poor people, white or black. She went on to help that farmer save his farm. The farmer and his wife now say they would've lost the farm without Mrs. Sherrod's persistent help and have the highest praise for her.

So it was a lie. It was a manufactured story to discredit a black woman, the NAACP and the US Government. But for what possible reason could Breitbart and the Porn Stars working at Fix News have for slandering a good woman? To remind you that there is a black man in the White House. There is a black man leading this country and he's dishonest and immoral and he's bringing all the welfare cheating, drug dealing pimps and ho's with em'!

Don't believe me? Let me remind you who Breitbart is. Remember the ACORN scandal which turned out wasn't a scandal at all? That was Brietbart and his thugs. ACORN if you don't recall was a community activist organization, with mostly black staffers helping a mostly black community. President Obama was a volunteer much to the dismay of a racist Republican party. To refresh, the video showed two white people posing as a pimp (Breitbart's people) and his ho trying to get advice from an ACORN official on how to dupe the system and get free government assitance. The video was pretty damning. The official appears to be giving them advice on how to lie and break the law to get assistance just like white America thinks all poor people do. It wasn't until after congress voted to withhold federal funds from Acorn causing the community organizing group to shutdown that the whole video was released to the public. The video goes on to show that the official actually tells them that she can't help them. Additionally, police records show the official actually calls the police to report the incident. It was proven that the whole scandal was a sham but it was too late. The damage had been done. ACORN was no more and millions of American's trusted the media and were duped again. Adding insult to injury the media hardly covered the follow up part of the story which unraveled the made up scandal.

The rightwing blogging douchebags along with Fix News and their porn stars are making every attempt to foment racism against black people in this country. They do it openly, all the while the Republican leadership sits back and while smiling denies there is any racist agenda within the party. Guys like the orange skinned Boehner or facial boneless wonder McConnell can tell the public that they have an "open tent". To prove it they installed a clown by the name of Steele as party head. Their tent is open like a Klan rally is.

What I really want to know is, where's the accountability? I mean how can these news organizations or quasi-jornalistic/political blog sites invent news which is blatantly false and not face repercussions? Why is there no "truth in journalism" laws but there is in product advertising. I can't create a pill claiming it cures cancer and makes all fat men uncontrollably attractive to supermodels and then sell it, can I? No, I can't it's illegal. So why can these racist, puss filled, skin sacks get away with it over and over?

There is one more disturbing part of this story, the scared knee jerk reaction from the Obama administration. They had Sherrod fired before Glenn Beck could sob on camera. No investigation, no questions asked before they shit canned an honorable woman. Fucking cowards. Fucking cowards to grovel at the feet of these moraless ass monkeys. USDA cheif Vilsack has empty ballsacks and Obama needs to find the pair he rode into to town with.

I'm disgusted with myself for believing this bullshit. Disgusted that we allow such shitty journalism to exist and disgusted by the gutlessness of this administration. As for myself, I will never, never believe anything which comes from those goddless fucks again without concrete corraberation from many other new sources, ever again.

Salon article concerning Breitbart's lying ways; http://www.salon.com/news/andrew_breitbart/index.html?story=/opinion/conason/2010/07/21/acorn

The Life of Riley, if Riley was getting his ass kicked.

Some of you may have wondered where I've been. Actually, I doubt any of you have wondered that. The last couple of months have kind of sucked. I'm not one to bitch about my own problems, it's much more fun bitching about other peoples problems. So, I'm not going to bitch. I'm just gonna tell ya what happened and where I've been.

Sometime at the end of April uncontrollable events forced me to close my restaurant. We were only open two years. We did some good things and failed at others. Bottom line, between our own mistakes and the the economy taking a dump we couldn't continue to take losses. It's a shame. We built a beautiful space in an unorthodox location and just couldn't keep it going until the economy and public awareness turned around.

It's been hard. Closing took a lot out of me. I'm facing a mountain of debt that even God couldn't pay off. I owe vendors and most importantly I owe my staff. That part hurts the most. I'll live and deal with my personal debt but owing the people I work with is hard to deal with.

Closing a business has been similar to going through a divorce. There's a sense of loss and helplessness that compares to divorce. Anyone who's been through a divorce can tell you that it's sometimes hard to be in the same small town as their ex. That's been my feeling concerning the restaurant. So, I've decided a change of scenery is what's needed for me right now. For the last week or so, I've set up camp in Detroit, to lick my wounds. I know that sounds nuts, trading Traverse City for the D but it's what I need right now. I need the familiarity of the streets, restaurants and the negativity which is uniquely Detroit. I also need friends and family. The people that go back to your childhood who know how to pick you up or knock you down when the time is right.

I feel good. Really. I'm regaining my optimism and my confidence and I'm looking forward.

So that being said, I'm ready to continue writing. You can look forward to rants about politics, life's absurdities and my life in Detroit. One of the things I'm most excited about is writing about food. Detroit is filled with great food joints which deserve a word or two from a master eater.

In short, I'm back! Republicans flee in terror. Hypocrites cower with fear. Food lovers drool or be disgusted by what will surely be my best writing yet.

Losing faith

I've lost complete faith in corporate America. This loss of faith has been building for many years but seems to have crystallized over the past couple of years. From a health care industry that has us by the balls (and knows it), to Wall St. making bets so risky, they look like a first time card player at the World Series of Poker, to the latest massive boondoggle, the BP oil disaster. To be perfectly honest this is not a spill, it is a disaster.

Over the last few year British Petroleum has been shifting it's brand to appear as if it's the only oil company that is interested in the environment. The commercials discuss green energies and protecting the Earth. They changed their logo to give it a "greener" look. They even had me wondering if they really were an Earth friendly company. Because I'm such a cynical prick, I hadn't bought in yet, but they did have me wondering. Now we all know this image makeover is complete horseshit.

Not only is the image equine scat, BP may be the worst safety and environmental offender there is. Consider this, over a three year period BP racked of an amazing 760 "egregious, willful" violations handed out by OSHA. Compare that to the next biggest violators, Sunoco and Conoco-Phillips each had 8!!!!! Exxon another huge energy company had 1!!!!! So to sum up BP 760 violations to 19! The rest of the field has a lot of catching up to do. Just so we're clear these aren't little piddily violations, like "not wearing a hard hat" these are serious safety violations. The kind that lead to workers being killed and entire enviroments being destroyed. In the past five years 3o BP workers have been killed in two seperate oil rig explosions a helicopter crash and other accidents. With 760 violations and 30 deaths you would expect the full weight of the federal government would be pressing on them and they were. BP for all of it's corporate malfeasance was fined $373 million. Now to you and I, $373 million is a shit ton of cash but to a company that makes billions a year, that kind of cash is just a cost of doing biz. So what about the current disaster? I'm not going to tell you anything you don't know. We all know they didn't have a real plan for preventing and fixing a disaster like we have now. We know that they are uncaring company hell bent on only profits. This is the point of this blog. Companies aren't built for caring, they are built for profits.

A corporation is designed and run to make money. They aren't designed to plant flowers and make little girls smile. OK, some are but you know what I'm saying. The main purpose is to make money for their shareholders. Every single dollar a company spends on safety measures is a dollar which is taken away from the profits which then go into shareholder pockets. So, when the profits are so high and the accidents are spread out by years and across the globe the impact doesn't seem so great. Except of course when the disaster is so large that an entire region is going to be devastated.

Let's be clear, corporations by themselves aren't evil. They are led by people who's goal is to make money, which isn't evil either. These people however, make decesions based upon making money for the company this quarter.This short sighted approach, often it's at the expense of everything else. Due to the complexity of the business world and the lack of governmental oversight, these same people are insulated from the repercussions of their actions.

In the end one would hope that those running these corporations would have more of a social conscience but they don't. The only entity which can reign them in, is government and we've done a horrible job. We've allowed regulations to be weakened in favor of business and in turn at the the expense of "we the people". We've allowed our regulatory institutions to be underfunded and devoid of talent and in most cases staffed by industry veterans who then go back to that industry to fat six figure salaries for a job well done. This happens and we don't seem to care. Also, let's be clear this isn't a GOP or Dem thing, they're both complicit. Nobody seems to give a shit until the entire economy stares into the abyss or an ecological disaster threatens to destroy a vast eco system and in turn ruining a way of life for millions of Americans.

I love the capitalist economic system we use. I've been a small businessman for a long time. I love the opportunities our country has to offer. But I hate thinking that corporate control of government is real and is becoming a reality.

So yes, I've lost faith in corporate America. They will never do the right thing unless made to do so. With that said, I guess I'm losing faith in government as well. The game is stacked and business has a bigger checkbook than I.

STFU!

Flashback to 2007 and the presidential race. Republicans drunk with delusion really believed they were going to win the White House. I mean, how could they not? They had the all star team of McCain and Palin. They were running against a black guy name Barack Hussein Obama. Hell, according to them he wasn't even an American. Wasn't he born in Kenya?

According to each candidate the race was about this policy or that policy. What it really was about was culture. Nothing makes this assertion more clear than the stupid chant of "drill baby drill!". On the surface this chant seems to relate to our energy policy but it isn't. It's always been about culture. The differences between the left and the right.

Now, I'm certain many knuckle dragging RWC (right wing conservatives) actually believed that by drilling off shore in American waters we could actually solve our energy needs. Of course this is complete fallacy and they are complete morons. If we tapped every available source of oil off our shores we wouldn't reduce our dependency on foreign oil one little bit. What most of the idiots chanting "drill baby drill" actually meant is "look here you stupid tree hugging idiots, it's just this simple, if you get out of our way and let us handle things we'll solve all our energy problems in days". At least that's what it sounded like to me. They seemed to be saying that that the solutions are simple and that progressives were holding up our energy independence.

But we knew better. We knew that offshore drilling came with a price that most of us weren't willing to pay. We knew that big business is interested in making money at the risk of all else including our environment. We knew that after eight years of the Bush/Cheney Oil Administration, that drilling safety measures had been watered down. We knew we could not trust oil companies to drill safely. We knew.

Fast forward to present day. Millions of gallons of crude oil is now floating in the pristine waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Tens of thousands of Americans, many still reeling from hurrican Katrina and the lack of government response are in danger of losing their livliehoods for years or forever. The gulf environment looks to be damaged for decades or generations. But what's the big deal? Oil is natural so says Rush Limbaugh. All of this happened because BP in cahoots with a business friendly Minerals Management Service office, put profit in front of safety.

Now, I (we) get no pleasure from saying "I told you so". RWCs need to understand that most issues are more complex and can not be solved with an idiotic chant. They need to understand that when we bow to big business real people can be effected. They need to understand how to "shut the fuck up".

So the next time a RWC like Sarah (no brains) Palin gives an interview but actually says nothing but bumper sticker statements which have no meaning, tell her to "shut the fuck up".

So RWC, here's the deal, either come to the table with real ideas and the intent to actually work with the other side or "shut the fuck up".

Kwame, U of M Football and other thoughts.

On the Freep's homepage today were several interesting stories which I feel the need to comment on. There was the former hip hop mayor being sentenced to five years for probation violations. An announcement from the current mayor's office which declared that tv crews will no longer be there to film raids by it's police force. U of M's football coach is deflecting blame for violations of rules by his football team and finally more young people being murdered in the city.

Kwame's cash and luck ran out and without any political clout none was forth coming. A Detroit judge today sentanced Kwame Kilpatrick to prison for five years for hiding cash and misusing cash from his former political life, both violations of his probation. Here's the rub, on one hand it appears as if the justice system has worked in Detroit, but in reality Kwame simply no longer had the cash on hand to make things go away. I know that seems cynical and snarky but if anyone has any idea of how things work in Detroit, you know I'm right.

Rich Rodriguez is an embarrassment. I'm not talking about his record as Michigan's head football coach or his arrogance or even for the violations that Michigan has just admitted to. I'm talking about the fact that he refused to take full responsibility for the violations. Rodriguez is in charge of a great college football program. More importantly he is a leader and mentor to the young men of the program. In the report released by U of M, Rodriguez say's he is partly to blame for the violations and his staffers are partly to blame. What? His staff works for him, they do what he tells them to do. When something goes down, a leader steps up and takes responsibility. It's like telling your neighbor that your dog is mostly to blame for shitting in his yard, but that you'll accept some responsibility. From the way he left W. Virginia to the way he's run his program, to his lack of leadership, Rich Rod has shown he is devoid of the honor, class and character that is required to be the head football coach at the University of Michigan.

A little girl was killed sometime last week by a Detroit police officer during a raid on a house to arrest a suspected murderer. The police immediately claimed that it was an accident caused by a woman in the house grabbing the officers gun. Generally, it's an issue of who do you believe, the police or the woman who claims she never touched the officer or his gun. The difference this time is that a tv documentary film crew was on hand. According to reports (mostly from the media whore Jeffery Fieger) the film paints a different picture of what happened. The police officer (again according to Fieger) kicked open the door and threw a flash bang into the room where the girl was sleeping, as it exploded the officer fired a shot into the room, thus killing the girl. Now we haven't seen the tape but if that's what happened, it sounds like at a minimum a manslaughter charge for the officer. So, today a spokesman from Mayor Bing's office made a statement saying that tv crews will no longer accompany police on raids. Why not? What are you afraid of? If it were not for the tv crew we would have only the police report to go on. There would be a dead little girl and no way to prove what really happened. The message I get from this declaration is, "our police department is so corrupt and/or ill trained that we do not want proof of their corruption or incompetence". Mr. Mayor, you can not improve the police department or the citizens opinion of it by pretending nothing's wrong. Mayor Bing, seems to be a good man for the citizens of Detroit but this is misguided decision.

Somewhere down the homepage, in small font is a story about another teen murdered in a drive by shooting. Over the past several weeks small children and many adults have been killed in the city of Detroit. Murders are so common that they don't get front page status. Only interesting murders get any type of coverage. It's sad, it's tragic, it's violence in the United States.

Whatcha gonna do?

It's been over a month since a British Petroleum oil rig exploded in the gulf of Mexico. Since that time eleven people working on that rig lost their lives, millions of gallons of crude oil has been released into the richest fishing waters our country has and Rush Limbaugh has again affirmed his role as America's biggest jack ass.

One more thing, President Obama has proved you can't have it both ways. Or at least you can't always have it both ways. President Obama is trying very hard to be a business friendly president very much like President Clinton was. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. The problem is business' are in business to make money not lose money on costly clean ups. Because of a friendly relationship with our government during the Bush years business is not prepared to clean up the disasters they create. So, when the oil rig in the gulf exploded British Petroleum told the White House they could handle the problem. The word disaster had not come up yet even though eleven people lost their lives pulling oil out of the gulf for BP. Now if Obama were the socialistic big government tyrant the right makes him out to be, he would've handled the response differently. Most likely he would've strolled in front of the cameras and declared a massive government response with the military taking the lead. There would've been coverage of US Navy ships rushing to the scene and helicopters hovering over head drop oil sponges into the sea. No expense would've been spared by the White House Press office to show how on top of things the government was. It didn't happen that way.

President Obama took BP's word that they could handle the spill. The president didn't want to appear as a guy who overreacts and that he trusts companies to take care of their responsibilities. Unfortunately BP was unwillingly or unable to handle the problem they created. Obama and his administration has for the most part stood on the sidelines and prayed BP could fix problem. That strategy has failed miserably and is making Obama look more like George W. Bush everyday.

Before any of you right wingers stand up and rejoice let me stop you right now and tell you, "shut up, you don't get a say in this". You can not espouse small government day in and day out and and then witness what happens when government stands on the sidelines and lets business have their way to disastrous effects. Then have the stones to say "see told ya, big govmint is bad!". This is a perfect example of the simple fact that massive problems can not be solved by big business because it's not in their interests to solve them.

There doesn't seem to be a solution in the immediate future. I do hope the Obama administration has learned that when something looks like a potential disaster that they rush in with everything they have even if it looks like over kill. Let the conservative pundits howl about how the president looked scared and unsure when he overreacted. The fisherman and their families in the gulf would've appreciated a little more help than they've gotten from BP or the federal government.

So what are you going to do now Mr. President? Are you going to continue to sit on the sidelines or are you going to commit every government resource to try to mitigate the damage. Or are you going to fly over the gulf and stare dispassionately out of the window like a failed oilman once did?

What happens in Detroit matters.

What happens in Detroit matters. It really does. No matter if you're in your cozy home in Traverse City or walking down the streets of Ferndale, what happens in Detroit matters.

Today I read an article in the paper stating that fourth grade children in Detroit scored last in the nation for reading. This follows a similar score released earlier for math. The fact that Detroit children are the worst educated children in America should alarm you. It should disgust you and it should make you think. The children of Detroit are behind the eight ball and they're only nine years old. I think you know where I'm going with this.

I mentioned Ferndale in the beginning of this post because for the most part it's where I grew up. For those of you who don't know, Ferndale sits on the Northern border of Detroit. Eight mile road is the real boarder. On the South side is Detroit and Wayne County. On the North is Ferndale and Oakland County. One usually doesn't use the word border when talking about city lines but it's what we always called it and with good reason. Growing up we always thought that Detroit was a dangerous, scary place where the law had little meaning and with good reason. Detroit represented urban decay and worse urban social decay. We often went to Detroit but we were always wary. We snuck across the border to buy booze because there was no law preventing us from doing so. On one such booze buying foray, my best friend was shot in the chest in a robbery attempt (I wrote about this previously). The shooting wasn't an isolated event. I personally know others who have been shot or seriously injured while in Detroit. In my mind Detroit has always been like a third world country. Crime, poverty, social decay and lawlessness have always been hallmarks of backward countries and Detroit is no exception, but it wasn't always this way.

From the early 1900s until the late 1950s Detroit was one of the richest cities in the world. A drive through Detroit today reveals whole sections of the city which were once filled with mansions teeming with wealthy inhabitants. Unfortunately most of those people fled Detroit years ago, leaving mostly empty neighborhoods and poor, lost people.

So, why does Detroit matter? Why, should we care what happens in a lawless city? Why should we care if Detroit's fourth graders can't read, write or understand math?

For better or worse Detroit has always been the economic engine of Michigan. In good times it's lifted us up and in times of economic woe it's been an anchor dragging us to the depths. It's as true today as it was in 1903, the year the Ford Motor Co. began.

Those fourth graders are sign of things to come. Yes it's bad now but it's going to get worse. As they age they will become increasingly frustrated by their lack of success in school. The vast majority will drop out before graduating. In 2006 only 21% of Detroit's students graduated! 21%! That means 79% will be on the streets of Detroit without a high school diploma. These kids have virtually no future. In short time they're choices will be dim. They can either, be under employed making minimum wage or they can find a way to get on public assistance or they can turn to crime. Remember, the days of a good union job are long gone. There are few options for these kids.

Under employed kids, eventually will have children if they haven't already. Soon they will be collecting food stamps or other assistance.

Turning to crime has it's obvious problems too. First they're are the victims. Next there is the exorbitant cost of policing, prosecuting and then incarcerating these kids.

No matter how you look at it these kids are going to be major drag on tax dollars. You can not ignore these kids and expect not to be affected by them.

Our only choice is to educate them. Educating children is infinitely more cost effective than the other options I've outlined. Add to that the fact that educated people give back more in many ways but predominately in taxes.

I don't know to change the educational deficiencies in Detroit. It's obvious that what we've been doing isn't working. The one thing I understand though is we can not ignore it. We can not pretend that Detroit's problem's aren't our own. If it means a wholesale change in the way we fund our schools, we should do it. If it means closing the whole school district down and start over, we should do that. If it means educating the parents at the same time we're educating their children, we should do it. The one thing we can't do is, nothing.

Today, I live in Traverse City. It's a wonderful small town community with good schools and people who geniunely care about what happens to the town and the people who live here. Traverse City seems like it's light years away from Detroit but it's not. While most people here probably have empathy for the children of Detroit, they probably don't give it much thought. It's easy not to care what happens hundreds of miles away in a city which is the polar opposite. But it matters. What happens in Detroit and to the the fourth graders who will not graduate matters to the fourth graders attending Central Grade School, in Traverse City. They will be the ones dealing with the problems created in Detroit.

So, please do not fool yourselves, what happens in Detroit, matters.

Doom and gloom in November? Don't think so.

I wish I would've wrote this before the May 18 elections but I was a little bit of a coward. I was worried that by small chance the elections would point the wrong way and make me look like a fool. Over the last few months we've witnessed tea party hysteria, polls all pointing towards a November doomsday for Democrats and a million pundits essentially saying the same thing.

Yesterday, we witnessed some interesting results in primaries and in one congressional election. In the election to replace Rep. Murtha in Pennsylvania, the GOP had an even chance at taking the seat but despite throwing a ton of cash around they still lost to a Dem. In several primaries , incumbants were beat on both sides of the aisle. This shows that the GOP doesn't necessarily have a winning formula in November.

Current conventional wisdom goes something like this, people are upset due to the economy, fight over bailouts and health care reform, fear of big govmint (yes I spelled it wrong), anti-incumbency feelings, unemployment, wars, oil spills, energy, deficits, (insert your current gripe here) and traditionally, mid term elections don't go well for the party in power. So, based upon these issues and a seemingly large tea party uprising and Fox News morons scaring the hell out of people (yes, FN we know he's black, please get over it) a landslide victory for the GOP is guaranteed.

I simply don't see it happening.

While the tea party movement made a lot of "top of the hour" newscasts I really don't think they're going to be very influential. Let's be honest, by in large they are nothing more than discontents in the GOP. They aren't new voters. It's not as if the GOP woke up and found they had persuaded millions of Dems to switch sides or that all undecideds had listened to Rush and lined up in the Red column. Worse, they are a bit schizophrenic about what they want (take a look the CBS/NY Times poll, sorry I'm having a hard time adding links to this damned thing). Tea partiers will have an impact. Mostly in districts and states in which they get their candidates on the ballot, voters will have to decide between and Dem and a radical GOPer. If they choose the radical, Dems didn't have a chance anyway.

Concerns over bailouts are valid. They represent real differences in philosophy between Dems and the GOP. To the majority of the public though, they are only meaningful depending on what the economy does. If the economy does not grow, middle America will look at the money spent on bailouts as a waste and blame the Dems even though it was G Dub's admin that started the process. If however the economy continues to grow (it should) and a sense of optimism returns then middle America will at worst forget about the bailouts or at best give credit to Dems for doing something positive.

With the GOP propaganda machine throwing everything it could at health care reform it's no wonder that people are unhappy about it. However, if the Dems do a better job of showing the people what they got out of it and if Grandma isn't put in front of a "Death Panel" (thank Sarah Palin for that lie), then public opinion will swing to them. I'm pretty sure, Grandma isn't in danger of having the plug pulled on her and I'm certain the Dems can't do a worse job of explaining their position, so I'm confident the numbers will creep back in favor for them.

Of course the big one is the economy. Almost everything I've written about in this article has to do with the economy. President Obama had the unenviable task of taking over an economy which was mired in a recession and teetering towards disaster. He inherited two treasure sucking wars and bleak job growth prospects. Nothing makes Americans more angry than poor economic conditions. I mean, if Jethro and Bobbi Sue Nascar can't have matching 3 ton pick ups, two 10,000 ft homes and zero percent financing, somebody's going to pay. The good news (if you are an American) is that the economy is improving. Unemployment is holding steady, a sign of stabilizing and our GDP is positive. Unless we experience another economic catastrophe (Europe?) the economic picture should be even better by November. This of course will spell bad news for the GOP.

So, is it going to be doom and gloom for Dems in November? Nah, I just don't see it. They will lose some seats in both the house and the Senate. They'll lose because the mood in the country will still be a little sour, they'll lose some because of the anti-incumbency feeling which is real and they'll some some over policy differences, but it will not be the crushing defeat predicted just a few weeks ago.

The only real hope the GOP has of regaining power is if Obama fails miserably. This of course what they want. I'm not just saying this, they've actually said it themselves. They want our country to suffer, for you to suffer. They don't want a robust economy because they want to be in power. It doesn't matter if you lost your home because you couldn't afford cancer treatment or because you lost your job 18 months ago. The only thing that matters is that they regain their place at the foot of the throne. They want to collect all the trinkets and crumbs that fall to them by being in power. This is real trickle down economics.

Fear not, it aint gonna happen. They may get closer but they'll have to wait a little while longer to run the truck into the ditch again.

Palinzilla

In 2000 a New Englander with a history of failed businesses and 5 years in the governor's mansion in Austin, Texas was elected President of the United States in large part by gaining the support of the religious right. George Dubya's ascension would never have been possible if not for the political genius of Karl Rove who saw that by capitalizing on the perception of religious persecution he could win the religious right and in doing so pulling the entire conservative base to his candidate. As we all know now, it worked beautifully and with disastrous results.

It's now 2010 and it's clear that if the political reptile known as Sarah Palin makes a run for the White House, this is the path she will take. Like a reptile, she has little intelligence but is full of political instinct. This half term, Alaskan governor has no idea what is in the Constitution but can read a Tea Party bumper sticker with as much snark in her voice as the Fox News morning show discussing Obama's birthplace. She can turn bumper sticker quotes with the best of 'em and when she plays the religious card, she knows she doesn't have to make sense she only has to appear to the protector of faith.

We only have John McCain to blame for the Godzilla of stupid remarks and annoying winks. Being the maverick he no longer claims to be, he choose Palin to be his presidential running mate in large part because she was known to be a fundamentalist Christian. He needed the support of the same Christian right that GW rode to power with. So, without understanding the horror he was about to unleash, he put her in tight skirts, high heels and five hundred dollar glasses and put her on stage. For that, I'll never forgive you, John McCain.

While it's not clear she will run, it is clear that she will do whatever it takes to keep the Palin family rolling in souped up snow machines and unlimited WalMart spending sprees. That means we can expect her to continue to use religion to forward her goals. This in itself may not scare some of you but it might if you knew she believes our laws should be based on the ten commandments(interviewed on the O'Reilly show, Fox News). For those of you who need a Sunday school primer there are some no brainers in the ten commandments . "thou shall not murder" is one that I'm a fan of. But what about, "do not have other gods before me"? or "But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns."? I mean no one is going to tell me when my slave can work or rest. I mean, am I right people?

It's no secret that GW was a religious man. There were times when I was worried that if he had the opportunity he would push our country towards theocracy. Sarah Palin on the other hand would. All this horseshit about constitution and individual rights would be thrown right out the door if she had the opportunity. Would the Tea Party stand up for my rights then? I doubt it.

If Palinzilla runs in 2012 remember this post. And remember this, nobody gonna tell me what to do with my male or female slave.

Dems need to grow a pair.

Democrats need to grow a pair. Or at least ask their wives or partners if they can take them to work every now and again. Seriously, when have they shown any huevos at all in the last decade? Oh, they talk a good game. They pound their fists and tell everyone how it will be when they get back in power. Then when it happens they roll over like a scared puppy and piss all over themselves. It really is discouraging.

Democrats steam rolled into power after a disastrous G Dub administration, with a sense of urgency and conviction. Then the country elected the most improbable candidate in modern history. Seriously, we elected a mixed race dude with a funny name and big ears. Why, because he promised change. He promised real change and with Democrats controlling both houses in congress there was nothing standing in his way.

So with a mandate from the people, Democrats decided to take on the big one, Health Care. The monster that is health care took down the Clintons, but Dems were sure they could do it this time. They had 60 votes in the Senate and with a couple of republicans, who would surely sign on that was more than enough. They already had a large majority in the House. So what did they do wrong? Two things; first, they thought they could negotiate with Republicans. Big mistake. That was never going to happen. Politicians in general and Republicans specifically, no longer do what's right for America. They do what's right for self and for party. The Dems had all the political clout they ever needed to pass health care in the manner in which they promised on the campaign trail. For some stupid reason, thought they could actually talk to the republicans. We all know what happened next. President Obama held out hoping for a bipartisan bill which never happened. All this did was allow the republican disinformation machine to take over. Death panels would kill old people and young people would be forced to work in coal mines to pay for the killing of old people. Oddly enough, the public thought this was a bad idea. The second thing they did wrong, they forgot how to negotiate. The ultimate goal for many Dems was national health care. What they would settle for is single payer. So what did the Dems offer to the republicans who weren't going to accept anything, anyway? A watered down version of single payer. Really? Here's my poor attempt at an analogy, The Dems had a car to sell. It was worth $5000 dollars. Break even was $2000. The republicans at that point had little choice but to accept the offer. So the Dems began negotiations at $1500 and the Republicans balked!!!!!! The republicans ended up getting the car for nothing plus free gas for a year! Dems should've grabbed a pair and forced the republicans to filibuster. They should've forced them to stand in front of a microphone and defend their pimps in the Health care industry to the American people. Instead they folded like the Lions fold to the Packers every year.

We're in a unique position to watch once again the lack of stones on the Democratic side. With SCOTUS Judge Stevens pending retirement, we get to see what the Dems are made of. Who are they going pick as a replacement? Will it be a progressive leaning candidate to balance the far right learching court or will it be someone to appease republicans? Drumroll please.......Oh forget it, you already know the answer. President Obama this week nominated US Solicitor General Elena Kagan. Now, I'm not here to argue for or against her. What I am going to say is that for the Democrats, SCOTUS nominations are generally an exercise in stonelessness (yes, I just made up a term). When the republicans are in a position to nominate a SCOTUS, they go all out. They don't fuck around. They nominate a guy that even right wing zealots say, "whoa that guy's out there!" Don't believe me? Take a look at an article in the US New and World report dated May 12, 2008 http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2008/05/12/ranking-the-politics-of-supreme-court-justices.html. The article show that four of the top five most conservative judges of all time are currently serving on the court. I'll give republicans credit when they wield power they do not play around, they go all out. Dems on the other hand generally look for someone everyone can like. This of course really doesn't please anyone. Jim Hightower famously said, "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos". There's a lot of truth to that. In the lead up to her announcement there was quite a bit of concern among liberals that she was not progressive enough to balance the court. I'm aware there are nuts on either side but these aren't who I'm talking about. The concern came from lawyers and politicos respected by both sides. Her choice again illustrates the gutlessness of the Dems.I understand the reasoning, with upcoming elections and the polls leaning to the right, the Dems fear that a progressive nominee would result in a protracted fight and push more voters to the right. Instead of holding to their convictions, they did the politically astute thing.

As we head to mid term elections in the fall we'll see who the real cowards are in the Democratic party. We'll watch how some will be more in line with Rush than with Obama just to get reelected in red leaning states. Instead of standing up and convincing voters why health care reform is important and why they passed the bill, some will hide from it. Instead of standing up for working class families some will sell out to big bidness. Instead of fixing the deregulation mistakes of the past they'll allow the republicans to dictate the argument.

So here's my plea, Mr and Mrs Democrat in congress or running for election, please, please, grow a pair. If you had a pair, please find them. Beg whoever is holding them for you to let you use them at least when you go to work. The future of our country depends on you showing your balls once in awhile.

Fred thinks he has Gas

So Fred goes to his doctor (a scientist) complaining of pain in his stomach. The doctor after reviewing the results from dozens of tests tells his patient the horrible news, "you have cancer and without treatment, you're going to die." Fred is dumbstruck, naturally he hates the news. He will not accept the diagnosis from his doctor so Fred seeks out a cancer specialist who gives him the same diagnosis, cancer. "This can't be", Fred says to himself. Cancer costs a lot of money to treat and I don't want the inconvenience of chemotherapy. So Fred goes out and seeks specialist after specialist, cancer, cancer, cancer each of them says. Fred still won't accept the diagnosis so he continues to see more specialists. In all Fred sees 260 of the world's best cancer experts. Of the 260 experts, 255 concur that Fred has cancer and will die without aggressive treatment. Still not convinced, Fred takes the advice of the five who told him he was fine, "probably a bad case of gas" they said. Satisfied and believing he only has gas, Fred walks out of the office with cancer spreading throughout his body.

If you haven't figured it out yet, Fred's body is the Earth but his mind however is right wing conservative and the 255 doctors are members of the prestigious U.S. National Academy of Sciences, including at least 11 Nobel laureates.

Despite, the greatest minds in the field of climate control overwhelmingly of the same opinion, conservatives for some unknown reason continue to fight against the obvious. I seriously don't get it. Is it a natural albeit stupid reaction against anything progressives believe? Or is it they're tendency to fight against science? I mean some of these morons actually believe that humans were created 6000 years ago and that Darwin was full of shit. Or is it something even more ridiculous? I mean c'mon these guys think like apes which in my opinion proves human evolution (de-evolution?).

Just to be fair, let's talk about the other arguement. Those in the extreme minority claim that the spike in climate warming is a natural trend that has played itself out throughout the history of the Earth. This might have some merit if the spike in temperature weren't so extreme and that increase in greenhouse gases correspond exactly with the rise in temperature.

Now, this isn't a scientific post that will bore you tears but here's a few excerpts from the scientists published in the journal Science (and stolen from The Huffington Post);

"We are deeply disturbed by the recent escalation of political assaults on scientists in general and on climate scientists in particular."

The essay continues:

"There is compelling, comprehensive, and consistent objective evidence that humans are changing the climate in ways that threaten our societies and the ecosystems on which we depend."

In recent months, a small minority of vocal climate deniers have been emboldened by minor errors identified in some of the international scientific assessments of climate change and by the publication of private email exchanges from some in the climate community. A recent independent commission in the UK, chaired by Lord Ron Oxburgh to review this debate, concluded that, "We found absolutely no evidence of impropriety whatsoever." The Science essay explicitly and strongly addresses these issues, saying:

" there is nothing remotely identified in the recent events that changes the fundamental conclusions about climate change:

* The planet is warming due to increased concentrations of heat-trapping gases in our atmosphere. A snowy winter in Washington does not alter this fact.
* Most of the increase in the concentration of these gases over the last century is due to human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
* Natural causes always play a role in changing Earth's climate, but are now being overwhelmed by human-induced changes.
* Warming the planet will cause many other climatic patterns to change at speeds unprecedented in modern times, including increasing rates of sea-level rise and alterations in the hydrologic cycle. Rising concentrations of carbon dioxide are making the oceans more acidic.
* The combination of these complex climate changes threatens coastal communities and cities, our food and water supplies, marine and freshwater ecosystems, forests, high mountain environments, and far more."

I've never quite understood the problem conservatives have with science. I'm sure it stems from the bible not jiving with known facts from the science world. Even that's not something I understand. I mean as a small boy in bible class I knew that stories in the bible were just that, stories meant to give a greater meaning. Why these neo-conservative religious morons can not reconcile their religious beliefs with science is beyond me. Unfortunately, they never do. These are the same jack offs who put the thumbscrews to Galieo way back in the day.

So it's as simple as this, if you have cancer see a doctor (scientist). Or do as a conservative would do and pretend you have a bad case of gas and slowly die even as virtually every doctor around tells you to seek treatment. The problem with this is, as Fred ignores and fights against the truth, Fred is threatening to kill us all.

Perception of Violence part III

In parts I and II I talk about perception and how it effects our truth. I also compared the violence of Mexico and the United States and how we view each. I think I've shown in some small way that the violence in the United States is horrific and yet, we go about our daily routines as if we're really quite safe. I should've added that many of us are. However, many are not. I've shown that while the violence in Mexico is also horrific and worse than the United States, it's not the apocalyptic nightmare that we've been led to believe. So why do we think it is? Why, do we ignore the violence in our own country but fixate on the violence of another? Honestly, I do not know, but I have some ideas that I'll share.

I don't think there is one simple explanation for our perception concerning violence. Ignorance, arrogance, laziness and self preservation all play a part.

It's always struck me odd that our country has been dominating the world stage since at least the second world war, yet we are the most ignorant of it. Any study of American's understanding of geography,world politics, or world history proves this point. Additionally we are poorly traveled. The world continues to get smaller and yet we don't travel it as much as other world players. Americans are less likely to travel exstensivley outside of our own borders as say a German or Japanese. One of the main benefits of travel is the exchange of ideas. Another is understanding that many places we once feared that once traveled aren't so scary. You begin to see people in foreign lands as people like you, who simply want to raise a family and send their kids to school. A strong example of this is the Rotary International Exchange program. The REP stated goal is "Peace through Exchange". They believe that the more our children live and travel in foreign lands and the more children from those lands do the same here, the more we'll understand and appreciate foreign cultures. The past few years we have hosted three wonderful young women from Chile, Turkey and Germany. Each reinforced my belief in the power of travel. During this period of time I sent my own daughter to live in Turkey for ten months. This was a life changing event for her and a reinforcing event for me. During the three years we were involved in the REP not a single American student was harmed in a foreign land. Conversely during that time at least two REP students were murdered in the United States. Both were random acts of violence. One in Miami and one in Seattle. So yes, ignorance of the outside world is contributing cause of our perception of violence. We see the world as a dangerous place filled with people who want to kill us. So when we see images on tv of the violence in Mexico it reinforces our perception and beliefs. Ignorance is bliss.

From the moment we are born we are instilled with the belief that America is the greatest country on Earth. It is taught and reinforced in our school systems, movies and popular culture. We are taught that as a country we are almost infalliable and it's a crime to suggest anything other than this belief. The punishment for such a crime is to be labeled as Un-American. This is an arrogant belief that blinds us from reality. I'm not suggesting that my country isn't the greatest. What I believe is that we are fallible. That we make mistakes but we strive correct them. This arrogance makes it impossible for us to clear this hurdle. So it's easy for us to believe that our country doesn't have the problems we indeed have. It's easy for the perception of infallibility to be reinforced. The perception that our country is the safest while the rest of the world is dangerous is fed by our arrogance.

Today we work harder than we ever have. When we're not working we're taking the kids to music classes, soccer games and a million other places we have to be in an average American day. By the time we're done running it's late and we're exhausted. We plop down in front of the tv and watch "Real Wives of Where ever" or the ballgame. Some will flip the channels and catch a twenty second piece on cable news about the drug war in Mexico. Few if any will attempt to discover the truth and let's face it, the news does a poor job of giving us the truth. It's a business and it plays to the dollar. Whatever sells will be covered. If it's a portion of the truth that's fine. Just as long as advertisers keep paying. Any any given day, people will be shot and killed in our country, but the national news will not cover it. Drug dealers in Mexico get killed in a shootout and it's played non-stop for days on cable news. It's so much easier to be spoon fed our information than to mine it for ourselves. It's so much easier to accept than it is to question.

If we fully understood how scary our own country is we might be paralyzed with fear. So it's just easier to ignore it. Put your head in the sand and everything will be ok. Poke your head out and ask questions and you'll wish you didn't. It's better to believe your safe and that Mexicans are just waiting for you to cross the border.

Like I said, I honestly don't know why the perception of violence exists. These are merely thoughts I've been working on for awhile. I am convinced that the perception is real. And like I also said if you believe in that perception, than that is your truth.

The constitution is only for those we like.

Arizona has a bigger problem than the flack caused by it's infamous immigration law. It has a problem of integrity. It's biggest problem is the fucking hypocrite known as Senator John McCain. There was a time when McCain was know as a level headed consensus maker. A guy who could reach across the aisle and compromise when it was in the best interests of his country. That was before he ran for his party's presidential nomination. Then he became what every person despises, a hypocrite.

During the presidential campaign, he quickly turned into someone who would do or say anything to meet his political goals. He became an opportunist and showed that when the prize was the biggest he was willing to sacrifice his convictions and let the ugly side of his character shine through.

Today, he showed exactly who is. Shortly after the Times Square bomber was arrested, McCain stated that it would be wrong to Mirandize the suspect. If you're not aware the suspect, Faisal Shahzad is an American citizen. McCain is advocating that an American citizen be denied his constitutional rights against self incrimination and be denied the protection of the law. He wants the suspect to be turned over to the intelligence community for "questioning". Let's be clear, if this guy committed this crime, I want him to rot in jail until his last breath. But as an American citizen, I want his rights protected just as much as I want mine protected.

McCain is currently in the political fight of his life trying to win a primary election in Arizona where he is no longer considered conservative enough for republicans in that state. I suppose denying an American of Pakistani descent, his rights is considered right wing conservative in Arizona. Personally, it scares the hell out of me.

So, there it is, McCain is a filthy, hypocritical, fascist. Good luck, Arizona, you're going to need it.