Brash, Rash & Trash

Here's The Thing

2015-02-05T14:09:00.000-08:00

Lately there has been a big hullabaloo over the recent measles outbreak sweeping the country, the outbreak being the direct result of the stupidity of some right-minded individuals that think their children can "catch" autism from the vaccine that had completely eradicated measles as recently as the year 2000.

Especially the religious-right types have the most prevalent misinformation propaganda delivery system to unsuspecting parents who don't care enough about their own children to find out the facts. This may sound harsh but it is true. Thanks to ONE discredited, false and actually fraudulent report in 1998 that tried to link children's MMR vaccines to the "onset" of the mental/behavioral disorder of autism. Facts failed the author, but that didn't stop the right-wing nuts from espousing the MMR vaccine autism myth that had nearly eradicated the three most serious childhood diseases that can and do kill people, including those children whose parents don't care about the health of the whole as much as selling their soul for snake oil.

Scientists and the Center for Disease Control had been alarmed that the measles that had been eradicated not only has come back, but that it is spreading like wildfire in the USA. Most of the confirmed cases got a foothold at Disneyland in California, where large pockets of uninformed parents thoughtlessly "decided" not to vaccinate their children. Not only does this disease spread quickly, but it leaves the most vulnerable of our society at risk; such as the very old and the very young, and those that have compromised immune systems. The cases of measles has steadily risen from 0 in 2000 to nearly 200 in January, 2015. And to think how nutso the GOTP went on the Ebola cases that numbered under 5 in the USA...

Now, here's the thing: I happen to know from very personal experience that the mmr vaccine does NOT cause autism. My son is severely and profoundly autistic. I knew before he was a year old that something was terribly wrong with him. He couldn't make eye contact, he was non-verbal and was not fond of being held, etc. I took him to the doctor to find out what was wrong with him. It soon became many doctors that I took my son to. For his entire second year of life, my son was paraded in front of doctor after doctor, with little to no prognosis or diagnosis.

Until my son reached his second birthday. Then all sorts of diagnoses started falling out of the woodwork. But the general consensus was that my son was severely and profoundly autistic. Coincidentally, what else occurs at age 2 in children? You guessed it, the mmr vaccine. So what exactly is the connection? NONE. Not any correlation, none whatsoever. Why the confusion, then?

Well, let me tell you about some pretty ugly ethical behaviors by some practicing physicians, especially in the area of obstetrics. You see, if there is any problem or possible injury that a child receives at or during birth, the OB doctor is responsible ergo liable for the "problem" that "occurred" during birth. But if the "problem" isn't diagnosed until the second year of life, then the OB doctor is off the legal hook. Yes, that's right; Scot free.

Here's what really gets my goat: for all other intents and purposes, the nutty right fringe that has become their majority, has decided that in the real world, there is no such thing as autism. Yep. Made - up disease. Any parent that claims they have an autistic child really is just a bad parent with a child behavior problem. Yes! If only the bad parent would simply discipline their unruly child, there would be no more claims of "autism".

If all the "unruly" children collecting SSI would simply "get some discipline" from their parents, then the USA would save billion$ in paying out SSI claims. The absurdity of the right-wing (mostly evangelical, with a sprinkling of Libertarian) to draw such ridiculous assertions, based on nothing factual, boggles the mind.

Of course, the "spectrum" of autism is somewhat hard to understand, the incidence of autism diagnosis has risen significantly over the same 15 to 20 years that the anti-vaccine propaganda has risen. This dichotomy should be proof positive that there is no connection to autism from the administration of the MMR vaccine. Not one shred of evidence.

The right wingers need to pick a side, Either there is such a thing as autism, which there is, and they should learn about it. Or they need to believe in the "herd protection" of every person that is able to receive vaccinations must be mandated to do so to protect our most vulnerable in society. Either way, the right has a lot of learning to do with facts as their base, not snake oil. It would be like if the fringe left claimed there was no such thing as cancer, and then accused ketchup as the culprit that "gives" you cancer. That's silly!

2013-10-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

Democracy Falls Under GOTP

What a sad time in America this past year. To watch and to live through such unrest and treasonous acts that the GOTP have undergone to destroy the United States is horrific enough, but the reason for this fall from grace is even more heinous. The only reason that the far, far right wing zealots have sought to dismantle our democracy and torpedo our economic structure is the very same reason that World War II happened, in a word: HATE.

No matter that President Obama won the election for his second term, no matter that President Obama was handed possibly the worst state of the union for his first term (brought on by the frightful and criminal neocons of the Bush Terror Regime and PNAC), no- it didn't matter that President Obama saved us ( barely ) from the brink of total destruction. The only thing that mattered to the GOTP is to get rid of the POTUS at all costs.

Since the GOTP's combined efforts failed miserably to get rid of Obama (obviously he was re-elected),the only thing that the GOTP accomplished in his first term was to not do anything in Congress- except to obstruct everything that Obama put forth. The one objective that Obama did achieve was his Affordable Care Act, which provided the opportunity to people previously unable to acquire health care- for whatever reason- would now be able to get covered with health insurance. It became the law of the land in 2009.

In other news, the Congress has not passed a timely budget also since 2009. The details and minutiae differ widely, but the main reason is the far, far right wing GOTP have decided to govern by terrorism, holding the fragile economy and American livelihoods hostage to their mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging inane and failed public policies. Is it little wonder why they cannot win an election?

The President has sent numerous budgets to Congress and that is where they stay, often not getting passed from the House- due to the contrary riders and add-ons. Congress is held in the utmost lowest esteem in record-breaking single digits in the most recent poll. Currently, dog pooh and cockroaches have more appeal than Congress...

When dirty tricks and cheating and minority disenfranchisement cannot win the GOTP ( oops! I forgot to mention boat loads of money {literally} from the Koch Twins) a presidential election, they had to resort to something! Well, that something turned out to be domestic terrorism. Treason seemed like a good idea to these right wing nut jobs. Imagine being elected to govern by dismantling the government and you have a pretty good idea of what has transpired in the past year since Obama was re-elected.

If counting how many legislative actions took place is any measure of the job Congress is elected to do, then their performance is beyond pitiful. 15 laws have been passed in 2013. That is barely more than one every month!!! This makes the Do-Nothing Congress look productive! Although the GOTP that has a stranglehold on the House holds the record for the most obstructionist governing in the USA history! http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/07/12/do_nothing_congress_how_many_bills_has_congress_p

In all desperation, the Speaker, Boo-Hoo Boehner, kept his tail firmly planted between his legs as he kowtowed to his extremist buddies of the right wing nut jobs as he refused any common sense ideas and instead, embraced subverting the U.S. government and destroying democracy so his Loony Tunes could shut down the government for 15 days. The second part of this devious and perverted plan to overthrow our government was to bring America to her knees by taking the economy to the very brink of total collapse unless "Obama Care" is dismantled and defunded. There are no words to describe the depth and despair of the GOTP's insipience's and presumption toward the greatest super power of the world. It is like the gnat seeking the oxen's permission to light!

The thought of what the majority of Americans went through when the U.S. government was forced to shutdown in an apparent temper tantrum of the far, far right wing sickens me. Not to mention the services lost, lost wages, and opportunities lost; but the amount of money lost measured in GDP is staggering at the total sum of at least $24 BILLION dollars!!!! This is just as unforgivable as the huge land grab in 2009. The people will remember this GOTP Shutdown as another stab in the back from the greedy, uncaring, inhumane, sectarian slime that the Grand Ole Tea Party stands for.

All this bad behavior and grandstanding by shutting down the government and threatening the economic downfall can be summarized in one word: Hate. The hatred of the GOTP toward one man and one man only: President Obama; because he is one-half black. That's it. It reminds me of a story I once heard: A group of diners complained about every single dish that was prepared to perfection and brought to the table for the GOTP to dine on. They refused each and every dish brought to the table, no matter how sumptuous or delicious it looked; they could not be pleased. Finally, the manager arrived table side to address the complaints. When the diners (GOTP) were asked if there was a problem with the food that was brought to the table, they answered no, the food was great. Then the manager asked what were they complaining about and the entire table of GOTP diners pointed to the waiter (Obama). So no matter what was brought to the table, the GOTP hated it because of who brought it to the table; the POTUS.

The moral of the story is if you want to die as a political party, lose elections and then shut down the government and try to hold the economy hostage, you probably won't last long in America. America remembers.

assed_in_2013.html

Concerned American

2013-06-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

Dear America:

You are my country and I am a proud American that loves you very much. I have worked to protect you and enjoyed the many opportunities and freedoms that you provide. I was proud of the fact that America was once thought of as the "World's Peace Keeper".

Now, people think of us as fat, lazy and violent. Imperialism is often bandied about since our invasion and occupation of Iraq, and our continued bullying of Mid Eastern countries, especially our undeclared war on "other religions".

Guns are now America's number one priority. Guns now occupy a higher standing than human rights in the United States. Everybody knows the Second Amendment. Did you know there are ten Amendments? Can you name the other nine? What document do they amend?

Violence in our schools has been prevalent for nearly two decades now, and the violence and massacres are only getting worse and more gory; a veritable bloodbath. Our children are our best resource! Why are we letting them get slaughtered when they attend school? The answer may be difficult, but the answer is not to arm the children. Or the schools. Guns are the problem. People with guns and unfettered access to the guns are the problem. People with guns are dangerous. Period. America needs to have an armed citizen's militia like we need a hole in our head.

Americans have more guns per capita than the next four countries combined. The United States has the highest death rate by guns in the world. Since the Sandy Hook massacre, the USA has surpassed the total number of deaths of soldiers killed in combat, in Iraq and Afghanistan. In less than six months time.

I am a parent, but I cannot imagine the absolute horror of having to go to the morgue and identify the bloody and mangled body of my child with body parts blown off. No parent should ever have to endure this tragedy. I pray for America.

I pray for America: to become more concerned about human rights than whom is right. To settle disputes with reason and compassion, rather than Smith and Wesson. To be more tolerant and accepting instead of who can hoard the most weapons. Live and Let Live should be America's motto; not come here and be hunted like an animal.

America, the beautiful, from sea to shining sea, let us put peace back in our hearts and it will make our country strong again from the heart- not strong from a false sense of power from a destructive weapon. That is what we are fighting against in the most recent wars. Have we become the enemy?

As a country, we should remember our duty as the Leader of the Free World is not to be the Bully of the Free World. True leadership is not measured by might alone, but by what is right- people's rights. A society measures its civilization by how well it takes care of the least of its citizens. But recognizing the least of the citizens rights is the most important step, next to the safety and welfare of all people- not by how many guns you have.

When will "We, the people" replace the Second Amendment as the most common phrase in America? After all, that is the phrase that started the United States of America. Build bridges, America, not bunkers.

Sincerely,

CC

Can't Get Over It

2013-02-23T14:01:00.000-08:00

President Obama has another 4 year uphill climb with the Republican House building road blocks and manufacturing every high escapade and drama-filled catastrophe imaginable. Ho-hum, yawn. After the past 4 years of the same GOP antics being played out at the detriment to the American people with threats and cuts to social programs and filling the rich pockets' with billion$ of dollars in profit, always party first, the American people have grown tired of the sore-loser attitude of the GOP.

Nearly four months after President Obama's re-election with a decisive win that almost made Karl Rove's head explode on Fox News election night, I'd think the Republicans would get over their loss and move on, possibly trying to re-brand or fix the problems within their party so they could compete in another election soon. Mid terms are approaching, and time waits for no party to get its stuff together. At least that's what a political party would do to avoid becoming irrelevant and possibly extinct. After all, it was Mitch McConnell that claimed early on after Obama won in 2008 that it was the mission, sole mission, of the GOP to make President Obama an one term president. We witnessed how that plan worked not-so-well. So now what is the plan for Obama's second term for the Republicans? It can't be to limit him to a single term anymore...

So far, the GOP's plan appears to be poor sportsmanship. Their poor sportsmanship in government operations on a day-to-day basis is a rather weird experience for the public to observe. Normal governmental business is being interrupted by this childish but harmful bad behavior that brings everything to a halt when it reaches its pinnacle of brinkmanship to high drama and well, hatred of President Obama. There is no reason for this sophomoric exhibition except poor sportsmanship; the fact that the right wing nuts can't get over it that Obama is still the POTUS.

The "fiscal cliff", "sequestration" and the "debt ceiling" have all had major roles in the GOP's poor sportsmanship category, like a bad B movie, playing out for all the world to see just how dysfunctional the USA can be. Instead of being fearful of the irreparable harm being done to our global profile, not to mention the harm being done to individual Americans, the GOP is gleeful when catastrophe after made-up catastrophe strikes the Obama Administration. I guess their thinking goes that in the long run, this governmental dysfunction will make Obama's time in office look just awful. It seemingly doesn't matter that any reflection on this period of time, after the worst depression since the 1930's, will be viewed as the worst Republican obstructionist period, putting the United States in peril after financial peril isn't going to make Obama look bad. The truth is glaring at the lies that the GOP has put forth time after time to buy time and obstruct the government. The crass callousness regarding social safety nets is astounding, only superseded by their staunch profit-only positions for the very uber rich.

Perhaps if the prelude to Obama's Administration hadn't been such an unmitigated disaster left by "W" Bush, with massive debts left by unpaid for wars, and of course the financial downfall from Bush deregulating the financial sector and then he just tossed the keys to the White house into the abyss for Obama to fish out and fix, perhaps, it wouldn't be such a loatheful reaction by the American people who's lives got turned upside down by losing their homes, their jobs, their saving$ during the Bush Terror Regime. Don't forget 911 and the GOP claim to security that they really failed to deliver.

The hatred of Obama by the GOP is party-wide. It is played out time and again -not only by obstruction- but by unprecedented rudeness and just abhorrent behavior to the POTUIS! For example, Speaker Boehner and his colleague refused to answer the phone call from the president to wish them well! There have been invitations turned down for social events at the White House that have been established events for a hundred years. I could go on and on with the nasty, filthy bad behavior by Republicans towards this president. What is the reason for all government and private, social and obligatory events to be laced with hatred and disrespect for the highest office in this land? Not to mention the global view for the United States super power to have to deal with the constant vitriol of the Right. Have they no shame?

Romney & Ryan

2012-08-12T14:08:00.002-07:00

After a scathing summer of gaffes and political blunders by Romney, it was beginning to look like a sure win for Obama. Even die-hard right-wingers were seriously doubting Romney's ability to carry the presidential campaign.

On the edge of political death, Romney surprised no one when he chose Congressman Paul Ryan (R) Wisconsin, to be his Veep running mate. Normally, when a presidential candidate wants to win an election, he tacks to the middle to gain wider acceptance and more voters. But Romney went so far to the (mythical) right in the laboriously long presidential campaign, that picking Ryan may seem to some a move to the middle. In fact, picking Congressman Ryan may have sealed Romney's doomed campaign.

Paul Ryan is the infamous author of the Ryan Budget Plan http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/paul-ryans-budget-in-summary/2011/03/28/AFnwrZkC_blog.html

Effectively, Ryan's Budget Plan will end Medicare, Medicaid and Medipass as the plan was designed to operate in 1965, enacted under President Johnson's Administration. The Medicare/Medicaid plan has been wildly successful for our country's elderly; to ensure that they have medical care when they most need it. Since the program has been in existence less than a hundred years, there have been many pros and cons. When the program get excess amounts of money in the Medicare accounts, the Congress (both sides are guilty) gets itchy to spend the account money, rather than let the money mature and accrue. Congress begins to spend down the account to supposedly try to make more money for SS. But this practice has never ended well for Social Security.

So it depends on which side of the political aisle you speak to that blames the other side for "stealing" money from Social Security funding, but the fact is that if Social Security where to be left alone when it gets a surplus, it will be soluble for generations, with little to no fixing.

Under Ryan's plan, he wants the elderly to start all over, past the age of 65, and start trying to find an insurance company that is the cheapest and does the most for the elderly. It's a little like re-inventing the wheel- only in this case, it's the wheelchair.

Long story short, Paul Ryan is the most politically polarizing figure in the past 5 years. How will this help Romney's fledgling campaign? It's hard to say.

If the USA were only the right wingers, their party would still be split with the Romney/Ryan ticket. Thankfully, the USA is split between the Democrats and Republicans, with slightly more registered Democrats. The Republicans have been having a mad campaign to disenfranchise Democratic voters. This seems to be the only way the Republicans can win by cheating. Look at the 2000 and 2004 elections (selections).

Besides being faux pas prone, Romney has a bad perception by most right wingers as not being right wing enough- actually he's got a liberal background as a Massachusetts's governor- his only elected office- one term. But with Ryan as an anchor to the extreme right wing, Romney's hopes (if any) of getting to a centrist position to win an election is sunk.

Also, Romney's lack of any specifics with respect to his plans as president, which has daunted his entire campaign, is now replaced with Ryan's plans, which are, to say the least, polarizing. Romney, the King of Not Revealing anything, even the norm for tax returns, is still not revealing his plans (if he has any) for being president. Paul Ryan is running for vice-president, NOT president.

Which brings it back to the backwards way that the right wingers seem to operate. They want to go back in time before Civil Rights, before Lincoln freed the slaves. Republicans will have to hold their nose to vote for Romney with his devilish lackluster appeal, while some of the Republicans may be excited by Ryan's name on the ticket, right wingers would be ecstatic about Paul Ryan being on top of the ticket, not second man. Never before has the veep choice won an election. People vote for the presidential candidate. Many people have written about how hard it would be for Romney to pick someone who is much more dull than Romney for his veep choice, with T Paw and Portman some of the names thrown around. But how do you get more boring than oatmeal (Romney)? Perhaps the Romney campaign had no choice than to go rogue with Paul Ryan, accepting the fact that Ryan will out shine Romney as a candidate.

Regardless of whom Romney picked as his running mate, he still has to rectify his horrible summer of bad press versus no press. He has yet to win an entire news cycle on his terms. Now, the light will most definitely shine on Paul Ryan as veep, many wishing he was the presidential choice- either way, the light will be shared and not be Romney's. The election looms with less than 90 days, That's not much time to turn the tide and get more voters, especially when the ticket is so polarizing.

President Obama wasted no time to come out with ads defining the losing battle of the Romney/Ryan ticket. Republicans made the job easy for Obama's campaign. Sometimes the truth hurts.

As for seniors and the disabled, two very large voting blocks, it will be a second term for President Obama :)

The Invisible Man for President

2012-06-26T17:07:00.000-07:00

I don't trust Rmoney as far as I could throw him as it is. His business model includes lying by his own definition. He stepped on regular people to make (take) his millions. His only concern in life is the bottom line. He has no idea how to act/interact with people. His robotic words and stiff mannerisms suggest a machine rather than a man. He considers corporations people. When in fact, corporations are legal entities set up to mask huge amounts of profit and legal maneuvers to avoid paying taxes (and avoid paying wages for the people that work at big corporations).

Rmoney has been running for office for at least a decade. But he claims he's not a politician; he's a business man. So what? The name of the job he's so desperately seeking is President of the United States (POTUS), not CEO of (?) America. Perhaps he should read the job description. For the first time. I, for one, don't want my country run according to the bottom line. People matter; people should not be bought and sold like commodities. There is so much more to be able to lead the Free World than to reduce a company to a profit line. Leadership means being able to be human; it means being diplomatic to the other world powers. If Rmoney wants to run a company- let him. If there is a CEO of America, where do the people come into play? Has any one of Romney's supporters asked him where they would fit in? I believe his answer would be "expendable".

A huge concern of mine regarding Romney's policies, or more specifically, his lack of policies. The man has stood on both sides of the coin for most issues. On the most relevant policy details he remains silent. It is hard for Americans to make a decision to vote for the most important job in the U.S. with such a lack of information. Perhaps that is why the most recent polls indicate that only 1 in 6 people feel comfortable supporting Mitt Romney for president. It is even more scary to think of what a tyrant or despot could do if elected to office with basically a clean slate. He could certainly change the rules once he thinks he's in charge of everything. It certainly didn't stop him when he closed down all those businesses for Bain Capital. People losing their jobs, homes and futures didn't mean squat to Romney. As long as he got profit, people didn't matter.

Romney has no idea how to talk to people. He constantly makes gaffes and insults people- whether he means to or not. That is troubling when a man running for president makes statements about "the correct height of trees" and "I like cars" instead of how he would help people. When he speaks of the poor, he claims "they don't need help, they have 'safety nets'", but he has no idea what it like for a family of four to live on a minimum wage. He doesn't even know what 'minimum wage' is.

When asked about what he would do with the plight of women, he says he would ask his wife. (?) What about immigration? He stays silent when President Obama lets children make a path to citizenship. But we have it on tape during the campaign he thinks Arizona's "show me your papers" is a good idea- a model, even. He said "self-deportation" would be the best policy(?). 12 million people?? Just pack up your family, leave your homes- you know who you are!! All 12 million-bye!

For the most part, the man's campaign has bordered on the absurd. I can only hope and pray there is an extreme democratic turnout on the second Tuesday in November. Get out to vote and take your neighbor, too! Please?

Repugs CAN'T Give the Prez A Nod

2012-01-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

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Repugs CAN'T Give The Prez A NOD

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IrishOne Repugs CAN'T Give The Prez A NOD Today, 04:57 PM

Repugs CAN'T Give The Prez A NOD

OMG! I can't remember the last time I heard a Republican give credit, let alone praise for the FRENCH!!! (Anybody remember "Freedom Fries"?) The GOTP has villified the French, and lesser, the British for "dragging their feet" in the Iraq debacle that Bush started.

Now, all of the sudden the French and British are better than AMERICA why?
Oh, yeah, yeah! Better because they were responsible for Gaddahfi's capture and death....
If this abhorrent behavior by the GOTP weren't so pathetic, it would be comical.
The Party of NO goes out of its way to give credit to other nations just so Obama dosen't get any credit??!! I dunno- seems pretty UNAMERICAN to me.
DON'T get me started about "how long it took Obama"! Bush said he'd get OBL "Dead or Alive" AND HE NEVER GOT HIM- OH, WAIT! OBAMA GOT OBL, that's right!!!!

Thank god Obama didn't thump his chest and beat drums- or god forbid- wear a jumpsuit standing on a boat! Obama gave a little speech and went back to work like a good little president. At least he didn't take a month off clearing brush and riding bikes...It's not like Obama doesn't have anything to do- Bush left a pretty full plate of catastrophes to fix.

The way I see it, the Repugs don't have a leg to stand on against Obama. They have always had their fallback position of "Dems aren't strong on Security". Even Cheney and Friends can't drag out their boogey man this time. Obama has blown the terrorists out of the water! (No pun intended...)
Now all Obama has to do is get his job bill through and he's got it made in the shade. If the GOTP doesn't pass his jobs bill, I believe Obama has some triggers all lined up for the Party of NO.

http://http://theweek.com/article/in...gadhafis-death

The clown candidates can debate lawn care all they want.
IrishOne

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Iowa Caucuses From A Precinct Captain

2012-01-23T14:22:00.001-08:00

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What Goes On In An Iowa Caucus From A Precinct Captain

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Thread: What Goes On In An Iowa Caucus From A Precinct Captain

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IrishOne What Goes On In An Iowa Caucus From A Precinct Captain 01-02-2012, 02:33 PM.

MaryAnne Thanks for the information.Great to read from someone who has been there. A... 01-02-2012, 02:38 PM.

IrishOne Why thank you, MaryAnne. I appreciate it. 01-02-2012, 02:57 PM.

GordonGecko I can imagine those speeches Romney's guy- "He's the only one of these nuts... 01-02-2012, 03:02 PM.

IrishOne Too funny! And probably true ;) 01-02-2012, 03:10 PM.

Apteryx bump 01-03-2012, 01:20 AM.

Saladin2 The whole thing looks absurd 01-02-2012, 03:40 PM.

GordonGecko And if Ron Paul wins it....probably over. Iowa picks Paul, they'll be a real... 01-02-2012, 03:49 PM.

Apteryx Seems like a strange system to me. I prefer a popular vote. 01-03-2012, 01:23 AM.

IrishOne The Republican caucus is a bit anal, I'll agree. But it is a real grass roots,... 01-02-2012, 04:03 PM.

Saladin2 In a few days most of these Republican idiots will give a shit about Iowa and... 01-02-2012, 03:51 PM.

GordonGecko Don't discount the Paulers and their utter devotion. Saint Ron wins it in... 01-02-2012, 03:56 PM.

IrishOne I agree, Gordon. I think Ron Paul might be the Republican sleeper candidate.... 01-02-2012, 04:10 PM.

IrishOne That's the way it always is- until the next 4 years. Iowa won the right to be... 01-02-2012, 04:05 PM.

Apteryx Very informative, Irish! Have wondered exactly how it was done. One... 01-03-2012, 01:17 AM.

IrishOne CNN and MSNBC reported almost exactly what I said, down to the 5 minute... 01-03-2012, 08:43 PM.

Mytzlplk I'm a little confused, sinced you appear to be contradicting this Brad... 01-03-2012, 09:00 PM.

Apteryx Why are you confused? This tells the entire story... 01-04-2012, 04:03 AM.

Mytzlplk this part apt On caucus night, you must check in at your precinct poll, or... 01-04-2012, 09:37 AM.

IrishOne If you do not have a photo id, they will accept the address verification on a... 01-04-2012, 01:43 PM.

NCmusicman I would wonder if Democrats in Iowa see the Socialism Obama has pushed.. do... 01-04-2012, 07:02 AM.

IrishOne You're entitled to your opinion. I don't see a lot of people agreeing with your... 01-04-2012, 01:49 PM.

Woolleybugger Sounds like fun. Not sure if it scales well but in a small state like Iowa, why... 01-04-2012, 07:05 AM.

IrishOne Every vote counts. At least in Iowa. 01-04-2012, 01:46 PM.

01-02-2012 02:33 PM#1
IrishOne
What Goes On In An Iowa Caucus From A Precinct Captain

First of all, I love the Iowa caucus system (for the most part). I have been involved in the caucuses for 40 years. I only attend the Democratic caucus, although you can register as a Republican (or other party) on the night of the caucus to attend, if you would like. All caucusing is precinct specific, though, so you cannot jump around outside of your own precinct.

The Republican caucus is a little bit different than the Democratic one. This is an off-year for Dems because Obama is our party leader, and no one is running against Obama. So the Dems caucus will just be a re-grouping of basically Obama supporters, and some people who want to add planks to the Dems platform.

This is a big year for the Republicans, though, because of course they want to prevent Obama from being re-elected.

On caucus night, you must check in at your precinct poll, or in some cases with smaller groups, you can designate the meeting place at someone's home. Everything must be documented. They check your name and address off on the voter rolls and verify with a photo id.

There is a Precinct Captain, who is voted on by his neighbors in his precinct (previously), and he/she is in charge of the caucus. He runs the rules of order for the caucus. Each individual candidate that is running will also have their own particular precinct captain that will present their candidate's arguments and positions.

For the Republican caucus, the individual precinct captains will each present a speech designed to win over their neighbors, and has a specified time length, like 5 minutes. At the end of the individual's speeches, there is a short discussion period before the blank slips of paper are handed out. The the Republicans write down the name of the candidate they are supporting, and it is collected in a basket or hat or whatever.

Then the Precinct Captain sorts all the slips for the different candidates, and counts them. Depending on the number of people who are actually attending the caucus, divided by the majority of the cadidate or candidates that have the highest numbers, they determine whose groups are still viable and which groups must disband and regroup with another candidates group.This process continues until the precinct arrives at their viability number, and how many delegates they can send to the national convention.

For my precinct, we are allowed 3 delegates. It is determined by size how many delegates a precinct receives, and 3 is about average in Des Moines. There are approximately 500 people in my precinct, but only about 1/4 to 1/3 participate in the caucuses. But they are the hardcore political junkies that attend the caucus.

You can split the delegates by majorities. For example, last time in my precinct, we had 2 delegates for Obama and 1 delegate for Clinton=3 delegates total.

Then after the voting, the Precinct Captain must finish the caucus order of business, which may include voting on a new Precinct Captain if he/she no longer wishes to do the job. Also, if anyone wishes to add planks to their platform, it must be submitted in written form and the Precinct Captain will submit it to the national convention.

There can be visitors and observers, but by law they are not supposed to participate in the caucusing. I have seen this law not being followed, especially by out-of-state visitors.

IrishOne
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Here's Another Viewpoint

2011-11-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

I feel sorry for the GOTP. They have a bad field of presidential candidates and the cllock is running out. Out of desperation and despair, they will have to settle for holding their nose at the polls. Or just let Obama win.

Read this and weep, rightwingers:

Conservative pundit rips Romney, predicts GOP loss

GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney campaigns in Dubuque, Iowa Monday. (Charlie Niebergall/AP)

By James Oliphant

November 8, 2011, 11:15 a.m.

As the Iowa caucuses grow near, an influential grassroots conservative says he believes Mitt Romney’s nomination as the GOP general election candidate is inevitable, and that Romney will ultimately lose to President Obama a year from now.
Erick Erickson, the founder of the RedState blog and a CNN contributor, wrote a lengthy post on blog Tuesday that was one part indictment, one part lamentation, as it laid bare, yet again, the deep fissure of mistrust that divides Romney from some conservatives. And at times it read as much as a surrender as a call to arms.
“Mitt Romney is going to be the Republican nominee. And his general election campaign will be an utter disaster for conservatives as he takes the GOP down with him and burns up what it means to be a conservative in the process,” Erickson wrote.
Herman Cain, Erickson wrote, has no shot, because women voters will desert him in the face of the sexual misconduct charges that are eclipsing his campaign.
“He’s down at least 10 points with women in Iowa. He’s falling even further and doesn’t even realize it,” Erickson said. “He’s largely been emboldened by a conservative media that is so used to standing by its men that too few are telling Herman that he is now at the point where he must actually sit and answer questions whether he wants to or not and whether he feels maligned or not and whether I think he should have to or not.”
Similarly, he said, Newt Gingrich’s tangled marital history (three wives) dooms him with the same voting bloc. Rick Perry, he suggested, won’t be able to recover from his record on immigration.
Erickson's blistering critique fell along the same line of attack that Obama’s reelection campaign has adopted—that Romney is inauthentic, that he lacks a “core,” a consistent set of beliefs.
“The man has no core beliefs other than in himself. You want him to be tough? He’ll be tough. You want him to be sensitive? He’ll be sensitive. You want him to be for killing the unborn? He’ll go all in on abortion rights until he wants to run for an office where it is not in his advantage,” he said.
“To beat Barack Obama, a candidate must paint a bold contrast with the Democrats on their policies,” he wrote.”When Mitt Romney tries, Barack Obama will be able to show that just the other day Mitt Romney held exactly the opposite position as the one he holds today.”
In a sense, Erickson is emblematic of modern conservative movement, as he has seen his profile as a voice for the rank-and-file increase along with the rise of the tea party. But, that movement, he asserted, is being back by East Coast elites, for whom Romney is the standard bearer.
“Many of the DC-NYC Republican ‘conservatives’ who support Romney are the same, only coming into contact with regular people when they are served their breakfast by a steward in the first class car on the Acela Express,” he said, engaging in a bit of class warfare himself. “Neither Romney nor the Washington GOP crowd who loves him have very much at all in common with fly over country conservatives who see the GOP and Democrats both as out to lunch tools of K-Street and Wall Street.”
He said if Romney does indeed lose to Obama, conservatives like him will be criticized for failing to rally to his defense.
“Once he loses, Republican establishment types will blame conservatives for not doing enough for Mitt Romney, never mind that Mitt Romney has never been able to sell himself to more than 25% of the GOP voters,” he wrote.
The state of Erickson's existential despair is apparently such that he regrets now be so dismissive of Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who remains flagging in the polls, well behind Romney and Cain.
james.oliphant@latimes.com

You Can't Vote "NOT Mitt Romney" LOL

2011-11-08T11:52:00.000-08:00

I had to share this article with you. It's been a long time since reading about politics made me literally laugh out loud. Seriously.

Jason Linkins jason@huffingtonpost.com Become a fan of this reporter

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Welcome To The Final Days Of Republicans Being Unable To Accept That Romney Will Be The Nominee

First Posted: 11/8/11 01:27 PM ET Updated: 11/8/11 01:27 PM ET

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Herman Cain's "blame the media for everything" strategy may enable him to survive the events of the past week in good enough shape to maintain his poll numbers. He may even pose a threat in the early primary states. But more and more, it looks like conservative elites are entering their last sad days of denying that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is going to be their nominee for president.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. Back in May, officials at FreedomWorks, the organization that co-opted the Tea Party movement and made it part of the GOP establishment, were saying that they were going to pull out all the stops to derail Romney's bid. By the end of September, with Rick Perry's collapse already on full display, the organization revealed that it was "softening" in its stance toward Romney. Since then, Tea Party opposition to Romney has been largely irrelevant.
Romney's rivals didn't get the job done, either. Tim Pawlenty, threw down the gauntlet on the health care reform policy Romney enacted in Massachusetts, terming it "Obamneycare" during a television appearance. But he chickened out on making the criticism to Romney's face in their first debate after Pawlenty coined the term. He subsequently crashed out of the race, leaving the task to his fellow contenders, none of whom have proven up to the task of causing Romney any pain.
Meanwhile, the reluctant thaw is on between Romney and the GOP thought-havers he'll have to court. Karl Rove, who'll be doling out large sums of money over the next year to elect the candidates he finds acceptable, seems to have accepted the fact that he'll be doing so on Romney's behalf as well. And in the clearest sign that the elites are warming to Romney, the Wall Street Journal's editorial board today praise Romney's "fiscal awakening," awarding him some positive press for moving "part way toward Paul Ryan on Medicare."
This is what settling sounds like:

Mr. Romney has moved about two-thirds of the way toward Paul Ryan's "premium support" plan. Like the Wisconsin Congressman, he'd give all seniors a defined cash contribution to choose among private insurance options.Still to come are major details like how the premium-support payments would grow over time, but even endorsing the Ryan concept is unusual in this Republican field. (Jon Huntsman is the laudable exception.) Mr. Romney also attempts to inoculate himself against Mr. Obama's inevitable Mediscare attacks by retaining traditional fee-for-service Medicare with its arbitrary price controls as an option for seniors, unlike Mr. Ryan.
But the key reform point is that Mr. Romney says that all beneficiaries would receive the same fixed payment whatever plan they chose. In other words, premium support would ensure that all seniors get basic coverage, but if they wanted more expansive coverage they'd have to pay for it themselves. This would introduce competition to keep down costs over time—the alternative to the brute price controls and rationing of ObamaCare.
Once seniors begin to see the results of competition, our guess is that most of them would migrate away from the Medicare status quo. Mr. Ryan's plan is purer and would do more practical good sooner, but Mr. Romney's revision may be an easier sell in a campaign. He also ruled out new taxes as part of entitlement reform, an important political marker.

"Mr. Romney still needs a bolder economic growth agenda," say the WSJ editors, "but his fiscal awakening is encouraging." In other words, "Feh. Good enough."
At this point, only those who carry a torch for something purer object. Opposition to Romney's bid remains in the columns of George Will and the bloviations of Rush Limbaugh, neither of whom see Romney as a bonafide conservative. There also exists an organization called "Not Mitt Romney" -- a ragtag group that unites some B-list political operatives and activists with various conservative bloggers, sharia-panic loon Pamela Geller, and political performance-artist Roger Stone, who's never forgiven Mitt Romney for that time he strapped his caged dog to the top of his station wagon.
This group clearly dislikes Romney, but the problem is, it doesn't seem to have an alternative to offer. As Alex Pareene wrote last week:

So these are a bunch of right-wing media professionals who know how to generate a lot of press, but all the press attention in the world doesn't change the fact that a "don't vote for Mitt Romney" campaign is only effective if there's someone you can vote for.[...]
So come out for Rick Perry, the only candidate who can potentially match Mitt Romney's fundraising, or Herman Cain, the only candidate currently even with Romney in the polls. Or Ron Paul! Or Jon Huntsman! But pick one, because you can't vote "not Mitt Romney" in a primary, or write a check to "not Mitt Romney's" SuperPAC.

Credit Erick Erickson, at the very least, for understanding that his fervent dislike of Romney has to come coupled with an alternative to tout. Erickson's RedState had been shaping up as the righty blogosphere's go-to source for Perry support, but Perry's inability to walk and talk is taking Erickson in a new direction.

I'm starting to think I need to walk it back on my rejection of Jon Huntsman. Because I'm starting to think even he would be more faithful in his conservative convictions than Mitt Romney. [Note: A lot of people are reading this as an endorsement of Jon Huntsman. It is not. Considering this, you might want to view it more as an expression of just how frustrated I have become with the field that I'm starting to think I may have to have another look given my conviction that a Romney nomination would (a) cause Barack Obama's re-election and (b) the destruction of the conservative movement as we know it.]

Here's where we note the beginnings of a Huntsman boomlet. Not the sort of boomlet that will lead to electoral success, mind you! Rather, it's the beginning of the "Jon Huntsman is getting a second look" stories that were probably inevitable, given his "Meet The Press" booking this past Sunday. Alex Massie notes that the meme is starting to worm its way along, from Erickson's post to the pages of Business Insider. "One more flurry of Huntsmania and we'll have a bona fide media trend," Massie says, adding, "and like most such trends, it will be bogus but fun." Mostly bogus, actually.
If Erickson's truly considering a walk-back on Huntsman, he'd better have a comfortable pair of shoes for the journey. Yes, it can be rightly said that Huntsman has mostly maintained his convictions, unlike Romney, who sells out in whatever direction the wind is blowing. As it happens, the stances for which he is best known -- like his position on climate change, to note one example in which Romney's shown some recent fecklessness -- aren't shared by the bulk of the GOP base.
Erickson praises Huntsman's economic plan, but I'm not sure why. Most of the time, when Huntsman talks about what policies he'd pursue on the economy, he doesn't sound any different from Romney. On those rare occasions when he does sound different from Romney, he sounds more like Elizabeth Warren.
And ultimately, Erickson is going to have to confront the starkly critical things he's said of Huntsman in the past. Which include this:

The reason I will never, ever support Jon Huntman is simple: While serving as the United States Ambassador to China, our greatest strategic adversary, Jon Huntsman began plotting to run against the President of the United States. This calls into question his loyalty not just to the President of the United States, but also his loyalty to his country over his own naked ambition.It does not matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat. Party is beside the point here. When the President of the United States sends you off to be Ambassador to our greatest strategic adversary in the world, you don't sit around contemplating running against the very same President you serve. It begs the question of did you fully carry out your duties as Ambassador or let a few things slip along the way hoping to damage the President? Likewise, it begs the question of whether our relations with China have suffered because the President felt like he could not trust his own Ambassador?

So there you have it. Erick Erickson is considering flip-flopping on Jon Huntsman, because Mitt Romney is such a terrible flip-flopper. The Wall Street Journal's editorial board is learning how to settle. Karl Rove just wants to get on with it. This is basically a study in the Kubler-Ross model of the "Five Stages Of Grief."
[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

Gaddahfi's Death by IrishOne

2011-10-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

Guest writer from Political Jack:

Repugs CAN'T Give The Prez A NOD

OMG! I can't remember the last time I heard a Republican give credit, let alone praise for the FRENCH!!! (Anybody remember "Freedom Fries"?) The GOTP has villified the French, and lesser, the British for "dragging their feet" in the Iraq debacle that Bush started.

Now, all of the sudden the French and British are better than AMERICA why?
Oh, yeah, yeah! Better because they were responsible for Gaddahfi's capture and death....
If this abhorrent behavior by the GOTP weren't so pathetic, it would be comical.
The Party of NO goes out of its way to give credit to other nations just so Obama dosen't get any credit??!! I dunno- seems pretty UNAMERICAN to me.
DON'T get me started about "how long it took Obama"! Bush said he'd get OBL "Dead or Alive" AND HE NEVER GOT HIM- OH, WAIT! OBAMA GOT OBL, that's right!!!!

Thank god Obama didn't thump his chest and beat drums- or god forbid- wear a jumpsuit standing on a boat! Obama gave a little speech and went back to work like a good little president. At least he didn't take a month off clearing brush and riding bikes...It's not like Obama doesn't have anything to do- Bush left a pretty full plate of catastrophes to fix.

The way I see it, the Repugs don't have a leg to stand on against Obama. They have always had their fallback position of "Dems aren't strong on Security". Even Cheney and Friends can't drag out their boogey man this time. Obama has blown the terrorists out of the water! (No pun intended...)
Now all Obama has to do is get his job bill through and he's got it made in the shade. If the GOTP doesn't pass his jobs bill, I believe Obama has some triggers all lined up for the Party of NO.

http://http://theweek.com/article/in...gadhafis-death

The clown candidates can debate lawn care all they want.
IrishOne

What's The Matter With Iowa?

2011-06-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

To coin a phrase from Thomas Frank, what the hell is going on in this fair state? I've been an Iowan my entire life and I have never felt this uneasy about my political association with it until now.

Looking back at Iowa's Red/Blue status over its recent history, one will find that Iowa did indeed launch President Obama from senator here in Iowa to the top in Washington, D.C. In 2000, Iowa went Blue for Gore and then Red for Bush in 2004 ( albeit by a close margin and near recount). This would seem to provide evidence that Iowa is more Blue than Red.

However, in the 2010 mid-term elections, the far right wing faction in Iowa, although funded by several far right wing organizations (outside of Iowa), took on three Iowa Supreme Court judges involved in the unanimous decision to allow same-sex marriage. The widespread propaganda by this faction allowed three Supreme Court judges to be ousted by the Republicans. This outrageous plan to cause upheaval in our court system was employed and carried out by Bob Vander Plaats. Among other things, he is a two-time loser for the office of governor in Iowa. Tax payers had to foot the bill for the three newly appointed Supreme Court judges.

The three justices that were thrown out on a Republican whim included a woman, Marsha Ternus, who was the Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme court. The three newly appointed justices by a Republican governor, Branstad, in 2011, were all middle-aged white men.

Branstad was the 39th Governor of Iowa from 1983 to 1999. He initially appointed Marsha Ternus to the Supreme Court of Iowa in 1993. Marsha Ternus became the first woman to serve as chief justice when her colleagues selected her for the position in 2006; a first in the history of the Iowa Supreme Court. Ternus stood for retention in November, 2010. She was not retained , with 55.04% of the vote being negative to retain her. Ternus' term expired on December 31, 2010.

A woman has not yet been elected governor in Iowa.

David Baker was appointed to the Iowa Supreme Court (ISC) in 2008 by Democratic Governor Chet Culver. When Baker stood for retention in November, 2010, he was voted out by nearly 55% of the negative votes, and his term expired on 12/31/10, ending his first term and last term as Iowa Supreme Court Justice Davis Baker.

The third and final justice that was voted out of office by a retention vote was Michael Streit, who received 55% of negative votes in November, 2010. He was appointed to the ISC in 2001 by Democratic Governor Tom Vilsack and his term ended December 31, 2010.

Not only was a state supreme court justice voted out of office for the first time in Iowa's entire history, but three out of seven were voted out of the ISC on a retention ballot in one election!

Not only did this cause an outcry from most rational Iowans (not Republicans), but it caused unsettling turmoil within the Iowa Court system itself. The unprecedented vacancy of one justice on the ISC was hard enough to fill- but the unprecedented POWER it unleashed on a newly elected Republican governor (that had already had a rather lengthy reign before) was terrifying to fill three Iowa Supreme Court vacancies!Especially when Branstad demanded that the sitting Governor Chet Culver (D) let the not-even-inaugurated Branstad do the appointing!

Since this literal scale tipping took place in 2010, it has many regular, common sense Iowans wondering, first of all, "how could this happen?" and secondly, "what's the matter with Iowa?"

In the 2012 presidential race, the Republicans are stuck with a circus sideshow of candidates that appear not to have the usual conservative values at heart, and are far right of the usual, old time right. This means there is no middle ground for a whole lot of Republicans. If you add in the Evangelical and other off-the-chart right wingers cropping up in Iowa faster than the corn, many presidential candidates are skipping the traditional starting point of the Iowa caucuses, and some are skipping the Iowa Straw poll in Ames, a Republican bell weather.

These factors are formulating a change in the national view of Iowa as a land of crazies, notwithstanding the movie of the same name (that took place in Iowa). At least for the Republicans of the state. What caused this hard right turn that is harming Iowa? Is it because Obama won the caucuses in 2008? Is it a deeper, racial divide that is rippling through the country in under tows since Obama got elected?

It appears that Romney, a front runner, is skipping Iowa to stay more nationally centered in the party, not to dismiss a hard right pull by Tea Partiers. Romney has never done well in Iowa- probably due to the religious righties in Iowa equating his religion to a 'cult'. But if the front runners leave Iowa alone and go on to New Hampshire, where will that leave Iowa?

Unfortunately, it has already attracted the many fringe candidates that are trailing in the polls dismally, like Pawlenty, Paul and Gingrich (?). Michele Bachmann claims Iowa as her own, and many think she will rap the caucuses, but she is a Minnesotan now, a rival state of Iowa. And her policies....leave many questions.

It is possible that a phoenix from the low polls could rise from the ashes in the caucuses and go on to be the GOP's nominee, much like President Clinton rose from an unknown to president. But that is unlikely at best.

I hope I'm wrong. Besides, Obama will win another term, and all will be for not.
Sheila

The Throwaway Children

2011-06-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

There is a world where children are kept hidden in a prison-like building, away from peering eyes of any would-be on lookers. The building is a nondescript grey concrete, with barely any windows showing and not in the front of the building as you drive up. You are greeted with a sterile jail-like entrance way, with two-way windows that you can talk to the person behind the glass in a small opening at the bottom. Once the elevators are unlocked, you can go to the second floor where the children are kept.

As you walk down the hall towards the 'classroom' areas, it appears a bit more like a school with drawings and pictures of the students displayed on the walls. But in the pictures displayed of the children, you will notice something is not quite right with the children right away. Some have goofy faces and others are distorted abnormally to make an attempt to smile. These are not the 'usual' pictures displayed by a school.

There are no children appearing in the halls without attendants or being guided by a wheel chair. You can hear intermittent screams and outbursts from the different classrooms as a matter of frequent intervals, and nobody seems to notice them.

When you continue to walk down the hall to the common areas of the gym and cafeteria, you will notice that there are ramps to accommodate wheel chairs and railings built everywhere.

I attended my son's "middle school" graduation at this school yesterday. He is severely and profoundly autistic. He does not speak in sentences, nor speak many words. He is not consistently toilet trained yet. He is 15 years old. His "graduation" consists of literally walking across the hall to the other set of classrooms and vocation education. He is chronologically in grade 9. Academically, his curriculum consists of kindergarten and first grade materials.

The teachers are assigned no more than four students to a class, with corresponding numbers of assistants, so it is basically on a one-to-one ratio in the classes by necessity. As the students "fly-up" to "high school", their teacher reads an obligatory statement about each student, mostly to try to make the student appear 'normal', even though everyone knows they are not.
The students look as if the teacher is not talking about them. You can tell most of the students have cognitive disabilities. While the other students wait to fly-up in the audience, there are many physical tics and verbal outbursts, with many students trying to leave as this graduation is not part of their daily routine and makes them physically uncomfortable.

As a parent, I sat stoically by, enduring their behavior patiently as the next parent sitting next to me as if nothing out of the ordinary where occurring. I looked around the room for the parents and noticed that there were no couples attending the children's graduation, only a single mom or dad showed up for the occasion. It was as if the couples had drawn straws to see who would attend this graduation- or worse, which parent got the short straw and had to attend. Perhaps the stress of having a special needs child had torn the marriage apart.

Every parent wants the best for their child. As I looked around the room and surveyed the dimly lit gym with brown cardboard boxes lining the other side of the gym like a storage room, with no bleachers for visitors to sit on, my eyes welled up with tears at the bleakness of these children's existence. I fought my tears back as they called out my son's name, not wanting him to see my sadness. I fought hard to keep the tears from rolling down because I had to be strong at that moment.

After the students walked unceremoniously across the gym floor to fly-up, we returned to the classroom, dodging wheelchairs in the hallways. I tried to make eye contact with each child and smile at them as I passed.

We had delicious cake and punch served with egg salad sandwich triangles back in the student's classroom. The students were noticeably irritated by the parents and a few grandparents that were "in their space". The teacher explained their annoyance because the usual items in the classroom had to be moved to accommodate the visitors. But everyone enjoyed the cake.

Then the parents left to go back to their lives. The students go on in their own little world as the rest of the world passes them by. No one notices the absence of these children in the "regular" schools. Nobody notices the absence of wheel chairs or handrails in the cafeteria of other schools. Other students wouldn't make "goofy" faces and have the picture hang in the hallways.

On the other hand, the special students don't have to deal with the drama of other kids making fun of them mercilessly. Kids can be cruel- for many different reasons in the real world.

So I guess I can live with the thought of my son going to school in a prison-like sanctuary, even though it is not really what I want for him. I only want the best for him.

Big Oil

2011-05-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

When Bush was president Big Oil ruled the economy. He gave them whatever they wanted, including deregulation. Starting in 2000, Big Oil began to price gouge at the drop of a hat, with President Bush's blessing.

If there was a terror threat, oil prices went up- whether or not the threat was real or perceived. If there was a freeze in Florida, gas prices at the pump went sharply up- with no explanation from Big Oil.

This practice of price raising at will by Big Oil under Bush's watch went on for all 8 years he was in office, with one small reprieve in October 2008 (right before the November election-hmmmm).

Then, of course, came the Oil Wars that Bush conveniently tagged for "Terrorism", which didn't actually yield any terrorists that were relevant to the attacks on America. The Oil Wars that were supposed " to pay for themselves" by oil take overs when we occupied their respective countries of Afghanistan and Iraq cost the USA our economy, dignity and global goodwill towards the U.S. Not to mention the fact that these wars of choice by Bush were the first military action in the history of America that was NOT paid for by a tax increase. Instead, Bush did just the opposite. He started passing out Tax cuts like they were going out of style- but only to the very richest of Americans- ergo Big Oil.

This started to pave the way for the rapid decline of the historic middle class and widen the growing canyon between the super rich and the multiplying abject poor in America like no other current time in history.

Since the 2010 mid-elections, the right wing loonies seemed to have taken over the Republican Party and made moderate Republicans a thing of the past. The 'new' right is soo far right that extreme policies almost seem in the middle- which is sad. This caused wide dysfunction in the Congress, making gridlock a common place occurrence, which infuriates Americans.

The Republican majority in the House made it very difficult to conduct business- even if it was to finish the 2010 budget in 2011. Under constant threats by the extreme right wingers to shut down the entire government unless they got their way, which was to cut 'entitlement programs' from the budget, which amounted to about 5% of the entire budget and would not come close to balancing the budget. It would, however, dramatically add to poverty in the USA, specifically targeting the very poor, the very old and (of course) women.

During the first quarter of 2011, this fight between extreme right wingers and Congress consumed all the oxygen in the USA.

Even though Big Oil claimed that the (their) oil spill (catastrophe) in the Gulf of Mexico would cost them major profits from the 'cleanup' (not sure it's really 'clean' yet) all 5 of the major Big Oil companies managed to eek out a mere obscene amount of profits that combined equals in the TRILLION$ of dollars. That is pure profit- above and beyond operating costs.

Rather than cut Pel grants for students, food stamps for the very poor, and early childhood programs for our children, President Obama suggested and the Senate agreed that perhaps we could cut the $4 BILLION dollar gas/oil subsidy to the most profitable Big Oil companies in the WORLD. The Big Oil wouldn't even notice this amount on their profit ledgers as a shadow of a dip- it wouldn't register!

However, the extreme right wingers in the House somehow seem to think that if Big Oil can't have all the money (which they do), they shouldn't be taxed in the least or have their $4 BILLION DOLLARS OF FREE MONEY FROM TAXPAYERS touched. No, no, no! The House Republicans would rather take money from the very poor, very old and women to 'balance the budget' ( it won't).

Sometimes I think the Republicans in Congress don't live on the same planet as the rest of us, let alone the same country. What happened to common sense and the Republicans?

Guest Opinion Writer E.J. Dionne, Jr.

2011-03-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

E.J. Dionne Jr.

Opinion Writer The Midwest’s new class politics

Text Size PrintE-mailReprintsBy E.J. Dionne Jr., Sunday, March 27, 6:05 PM

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn.

The battle for the Midwest is transforming American politics. Issues of class inequality and union influence, long dormant, have come back to life. And a part of the country that was integral to the Republican surge of 2010 is shifting away from the GOP just a few months later.

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E.J. Dionne Jr.

Writes about politics in a twice-a-week column and on the PostPartisan blog.
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Republican governors, particularly in Wisconsin and Ohio, denied themselves political honeymoons by launching frontal assaults on public employee unions and proposing budgets that include deep cuts in popular programs.

Democrats in the region are elated at the quick turn in their fortunes. A few months ago, they worried that a region President Obama dominated in 2008 was turning against him. Republican triumphs in Wisconsin and Ohio, as well as in Indiana, Michigan and Iowa, all pointed to trouble for the president.

Now, for reasons having more to do with decisions by GOP governors than with anything the president has done, many voters, particularly in the white working class, are having second thoughts.

“We certainly addressed the issue of Reagan Democrats,” said Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee, referring to the blue-collar voters who began drifting Republican in 1980. Barrett lost to Gov. Scott Walker in November by 52 percent to 46 percent, but recent polls suggest he would defeat Walker if the election were rerun. In Ohio, the approval rating of Republican Gov. John Kasich, who won narrowly in 2010, has fallen to as low as 30 percent in one poll.

In telephone interviews last week, Democratic politicians across the Midwest avoided premature victory claims. “I don’t think we’ll know until November of 2012,” Gov. Mark Dayton of Minnesota replied when asked if the Republican moves against public employee unions would turn out to be a major error.

It’s a political irony that Republicans clearly believed unionized public employees were so unpopular that taking them on would play well with voters.

“It was part of an intentional strategy on the part of the right-wing Republican ideological machine to split private-sector workers from public-sector workers,” said Dayton, a Democrat who beat back the 2010 Republican tide. After decades involving “a giant transfer of wealth to the very top,” Dayton said, the campaign against public unions was “a way to distract attention” by creating “a fight over who is getting a dollar an hour more or less.” The effort, he added, “has not worked as well as they thought it would.”

Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, said that even union sympathizers were surprised at the degree to which the Republicans’ approach “blew up in their faces” and that “the poll numbers of support for collective bargaining for public-sector workers are stronger than even most labor supporters expected.”

Another surprise: the extent to which Democrats, long wary of being accused of “class warfare,” are now more eager than ever to cast the GOP as the party of the privileged.

Barrett recounted a parable making the rounds among Wisconsin Democrats, telling of a room in which “a zillionaire, a Tea Party person and a union member” confront a plate of 12 cookies: “The zillionaire takes 11 of the cookies, and says to the other two, ‘That guy is trying to steal your cookie.’ ”

Still, Democrats are aware that the flight from the Republicans is also a reaction against ideology. Dayton saw the GOP’s heavy-handed methods in Wisconsin as playing badly in a region proud of its tradition of consensus-building and good government.

And Brown said that while joblessness was the most important issue in last year’s election, one of the most effective Republican arguments was the claim that “Obama was governing by ideology.” That charge has been turned on its head because “now, they are so overdoing governing by ideology.”

Sen. Al Franken said he saw this reaction against ideology playing out in Washington’s budget battle as well, citing the example of leading Minnesota business people, including Republicans, who have been appalled at cuts in effective job-training programs.

The first electoral tests of the new class politics will come in Wisconsin. David Prosser, a conservative state Supreme Court justice, is facing a surprisingly tough challenge April 5 from JoAnne Kloppenburg, who has strong backing from anti-Walker forces. Later this year, several Republican state senators could face recall elections.

The tests for the longer run will be whether echoes from the heartland’s struggles over economic justice are heard as Congress debates budget cuts — and the extent to which Obama, who has already benefited from fights he did not pick, decides to join the battle.

***************************************************************

may contact writer at ejdionne@washpost.com

I so whole-heartily enjoyed this column that I couldn't resist re posting it here. :0)

To the American people:

Keep up the good fight! I'm so proud of us! We work hard for what we have. Let's keep this great nation great.

Brash, Rash, & Trash

Egypt Has A Chance For Freedom

2011-02-11T12:55:00.000-08:00

Wow! They did it! In just a matter of weeks, Egypt's people spoke with one voice to get rid of their dictator, Hosni Mubarak. He has been the ruler in Egypt for 30 years, even though he claimed it was a 'democracy'. Three decades of rigged elections and civil rights abuse finally came to a head with the Egyptian people. They lead their demonstrations in the very aptly named Tahrir Square, which means 'freedom' in Arabic. Now the thousands and thousands of people gathered at Tahrir Square are absolutely jubilant, screaming "Egypt is Free!"

I am so impressed that a country as ancient as Egypt has come to execute this revolution in a matter of days and with vastly peaceful demonstrations. It can be done!

Unfortunately, there were some martyrs, but their deaths have been vindicated by Mubarak stepping down before thousands and thousands of people lost bloodshed. Thank goodness.

The people of Egypt are a proud, thoughtful and determined people that carefully planned to get what the will of the people demanded in a most non-violent way. I think many history books could be written about the methods of Egypt's freedom march and ultimate victory. Maybe the USA could learn a lesson in democracy and civility.

The flame that started the fire of revolution was a man of conviction in Tunisia that could no longer take the tyrannical rule, and he committed suicide by setting himself on fire. His act set the Middle East ablaze with thoughts of hope, change and freedom. All it takes is a spark for people to realize they have a voice.

Now the question is what country will be the next to catch the wildfire of democracy in the region of the world where overlords have ruled for so many thousands of years?

The Aftermath Still Making Quakes

2011-01-06T13:09:00.000-08:00

Two months after the landmark election that removed three Iowa Supreme Court Justices, all kinds of ripples and waves of discontent are coming into play- on both sides of the aisle. None of it is good for the Iowa Court system, nor the Iowa political system. It is a big, unprecedented mess that leaves the Iowa people unsure and skeptical at best about the eventual outcome of voting out Iowa Supreme Court Justices based solely on one decision that was unanimous by all the justices, and written by the now Chief Justice Mark Cady: the marriage of same sex couples in Iowa.

Incidentally, Mark Cady was appointed in 1988 by then Governor Branstad, who is also returning to office in January 2011 to fill the 3 vacancies ousted by the endeavors of his former gubernatorial rival, Bob Vander Plaats. Marsha Ternus was appointed in 1993 by the former Governor Branstad, where she went on to be chosen by her peers to become the first woman Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court. Apparently, all these ousted ISC justices are highly regarded and well respected individuals that earned their positions in the state's highest court. Attaining a justice seat is not an easy task. Just voting them out is easy when you have big money coming from out of state...and an agenda to push.

Even though the millions of dollars were spent from out of state medias with decidedly right wing agendas, basically against gay rights, the ousting of the three ISC justices did not affect the rights of same sex people to get married in Iowa. That law still stands regardless of all the brouhaha and disruption of the already over burdened court system. Yet Vander Plaats still exhibits the audacity to suggest that all the rest (4) of the ISC justices should be impeached. Why, you ask? Just because, Vander Plaats answers.

Note: To be impeached, a justice (or any other official) must have committed an egregious act of wrongdoing- not differ in opinion with a gubernatorial candidate that lost all the primaries. In a January 4, 2011 interview Governor-elect Branstad agreed that impeachment is not the appropriate remedy and that the ISC justices had not committed malfeasance. Branstad did agree with voting no on the retention to oust judges that are up for retention- but he did not state a specific reason that should result in not retaining a justice.

Several lawsuits have sprung up on from both Democrats and Republicans to try to further their agendas. Democrats valiantly claimed that it was illegal to oust three ISC justices all at once because it was unprecedented. They also said the ballot had to be separate to be legal- and neither argument flew. The current retention ballot is separated by turning over the regular ballot. The three justices lost their jobs at the end of December, 2010. It was a somber affair and rather sad, also.

The Republicans have tried to further their anti-rights campaign by suing to disqualify seven attorneys from the search to replace the three ISC justices that were removed from the bench in November, 2010. The attorney leading the law suit is from the Indiana-based James Madison Center for Free Speech which is lead by James Bopp, Jr., who is senior legal counsel of the group.

Bopp served as an adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.

He has served as the general counsel for National Right to Life since 1978 and as the special counsel for Focus on the Family since 2004. Bopp was the editor of Restoring the Right to Life: The Human Life Amendment. (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1984).

Again, a push on Iowa's judicial process is being spearheaded by right wing BIG money that is from out of this state. Not exactly the wishes, let alone opinions, of the people of IOWA.

However, Iowa's Attorney General Tom Miller did have some words to say at his own swearing in ceremony :

Miller calls for more transparency in political influence

By Lynda Waddington
01.03.11
2:31 pm
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller overcame $1.6 million in shadowy campaign spending to earn a repeat performance as state prosecutor, and spoke candidly during his swearing-in ceremony on the importance of transparency in the political process.
“[A]t least $1.6 million, and perhaps much more, was spent against me. Two-point-five to $3 million was spent against Congressman Bruce Braley. A million to $2 million of outside money was spent against the three [Iowa Supreme Court] justices that use to sit behind me here,” Miller said Monday in the high court’s chamber after taking his oath of office.
“That is not a good development in American politics in my view.”

While acknowledging that the recent development of hidden influence in the political process has been a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, Miller also held that there are steps that can and should be taken by local officials and the legislature to provide more transparency for voters.

“What the decision allows is reporting. And, it seems to me, that state and federal government should require quick, immediate, clear reporting of who is spending that money outside — no matter what the forum, no matter what the vehicle,” he said. “Because the public has a right to know who is competing with them for the allegiance of public officials. I think that is very, very important that the public knows who is the competitor for their allegiance.”

Miller, a Democrat, defeated Republican Brenna Findley in November by a 12-point margin. Miller expressed his gratitude to the voters for that victory, and promised to use the office for the benefit of “ordinary Iowans.”

O. Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa has the full audio of Miller’s remarks.

******

Iowans need to take back their own grassroots in politics and stop being bullied by well-monied out of state conservatives with far right agendas to push. The Iowans I know have always been fair-minded and ready to do research on the issues and candidates. I have been an Iowan for over 50 years and I am proud to be an Iowan. We are first in the country with the primary caucus. We were the catalyst state that elected the first black president. We were one of the first states to recognize that homosexuals are people with rights, too. These are exceptional firsts that any state in the union would be proud to be a part of.

We have a voice. Let's use it.

20/20 Apathy Is NOT A Political Stance

BRAT

He's At It Again!! Make Him Stop!

2010-12-08T12:14:00.000-08:00

Bob Vander Plaats, who can't win a gubernatorial primary to save his life, recently managed a political coup enlisting money and support from outside, rightwing organizations to oust three sitting Iowa Supreme Court justices. This didn't accomplish one single thing as for changing the same sex marriage law; it simply put three hard working ISC justices out of work. They obviously worked very hard and earned their positions in the ISC, as it is a privilege and distinction to be appointed to that high court.

Having three Iowa Supreme Court justices vacate their seats all at once is unprecented in Iowa history. This put the state judicial system in quite a quandry. All the other courts suffer because time and resources must be expended to fill those empty seats in a timely manner. There is pressure to fill all three seats by January.

A new wrinkle developed when the sitting Governor Culver was ordered by the Governor-elect Branstad not to touch any new court justices or appoint them before he gets elected. What?

This whole coup has a bad smell of a rightwing take over of Iowa government.

I believe Governor Culver is governor until January 14. He should appoint the "new" ISC justices if they are vetted and nominated before January 14.

But the worst part of this coup d'etat is Vander Plaats continued role in the overthrow of the Iowa judicial system.

You see, the 'new' chief justice of the ISC is Mark Kady and Kady is the actual author of the same sex marriage ruling that the other 6 justices voted unaminously to support. Vander Plaats viewed this chief justice appoinment as a "poke in the voters eye". I believe Vander Plaats has it backwards- it was intended as a poke in his eye.

Most Iowans agree that no judge- let alone a supreme court judge- should be judged on one, single decision. If we decided important things on one decision, then Vander Plaats has some explaining to do. By the will of the Iowa people, he lost numerous attempts to become an elected official. Thank Goodness he lost those primaries! Can you imagine the dictator he would have become by now?

Now- here's the kicker- Vander Plaats wants the rest of the Iowa Supreme Court justices to resign! What is the matter with this man? It appears his deck of cards is a few short, if you know what I mean. And he was left holding the joker.

First of all, there is the principal of this matter. These justices worked hard and diligently for their positions. Their appointment did not come about lightly. Their service is commendable.

Who does Vander Plaats think he is?

If he did not have the money and backing of the rightwing nuts and organizations (that wish to remain secret), Vander Plaats would have been run out of town on a rail.

He claims to "let the people of Iowa decide". We already did. Iowa does not want Bob Vander Plaats to be in charge of a Girl Scout troop.

Another scary thought is the old Governor Branstad is jumping (goose stepping) in line behind the rightwing big (secret) money for this coup d'etat.

All Iowans are not rightwing nuts and Branstad needs to be a governor for all Iowans.

Be aware Iowans. Be very aware. Rough times are coming in January.

Brat

When the Radical Right Loses Iowa Primary, Go After Judge Retention

2010-09-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

Trying to keep your political name alive in the short term elections can be problematic when you are as big a loser as Bob Vander Plaats from Sioux City, Iowa. He has tried to run for governor and lost so many times in the primaries that it is hard for one to keep track of his failed attempts. This guy won't take the hint from the people- especially his own 'people'.

This year, however, Vander Plaats decided he would stir up his resounding loosing streak to Terry Branstad by attacking the Iowa Supreme Court. A raging homophobe, Vander Plaats took aim at the Iowa Supreme Courts because the court decided that all people have rights under Iowa law by issuing the favorable same sex marriage ruling in Iowa in April 2009.

Even with his loosing minority of minorities, Vander Plaats decided that he knows better than the attorneys and judges that decided this case, being himself neither informed or qualified to judge the merits of this landmark case. Vander Plaats is not an attorney. He used to be a school principal. Apparently he lost that job, too.

Because the Iowa Supreme Court decided that gays are people too, and all people have rights in Iowa, Bob Vander Plaats took it upon himself to try to oust 3 Iowa Supreme Court Judges on the ballot this November. A Supreme Court Justice has never been ousted by voting no on the retention ballot in Iowa history. Yet.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the ISC decision was unanimous by all 7 ISC Justices. Only 3 Justices are up for retention this November, and Vander Plaats wants them all out. Just vote no is his motto- and apparently his loosing strategy. Former Governor Branstad appointed one of the ISC Judges, Marsha Ternus, in 1993.

The real heart of this cheap ploy is what is behind Vander Plaats feigned outrage over gay marriage. He is not so willing to admit where he is getting the money to fund his war against gays. Several deep pockets come into play when a little digging is done. National Organization for Marriage is contributing at least $235,000 to ads seeking to get rid of the three Iowa judges up for retention on this year's ballot.

But Vander Plaats is working even closer with a radical right wing group called American Family Association Action out of Tupelo, Mississippi, which has contributed another $ 57,000 to Vander Plaats group, Iowa For Freedom. He is the chairman.

The American Family Association Action is most recently famous for its controversial involvement in the boycott of Home Depot, which claims the workplace policies promote the spread of homosexuality. AFA Action was founded in the 1970's by the Reverend Donald Wildmon, head of this conservative Christian group.

According to Vander Plaats "AFA Action has been very helpful, very beneficial to our campaign."

Although Vander Plaats was not forthcoming on his funding source for his war on gays and judges, he added "We have the funds to run a very good...dynamic grassroots campaign that can provide office, that can provide staff and that can engage a lot of volunteers throughout the state which I think we need to do in order to win this battle." Vander Plaats continued "The simplicity is the court stepped out of bonds. Three judges are up for (retention). You don't have to choose which one to vote 'no' on. Vote 'no' on all three."

"We'll send a message not only across Iowa but hopefully across the country about what our founders' intent about the separation of powers, and how the courts have gone way outside their jurisdiction and have brought the country to the brink of tyranny," said Vander Plaats.

These contributions are a mere drop in the bucket when it comes to spending on elections for states' highest courts was nearly $207 million in the past 10 years, according to the Brennan Center, which reported in May.

This outside attempt to usurp the judicial branch in Iowa and three other states, Colorado, Illinois and Florida, by right wing extremists with a lot of money, is a very frightening scenario indeed. One group in Colorado, called "Clear The Bench", wants to oust 3 of 7 justices over rulings interpreting constitutional limits on state and local governments' taxing authority.

So basically, Vander Plaats is trying to hijack the Iowa Supreme Court with money from out of state and conservative, extremist groups, with some boots on the ground from volunteer Iowans. Tyranny, really?? That seems like a misplaced reference to the reign of Bush/Cheney. Tyranny, by definition, pretty much sums up Vander Plaats course of action to try to usurp the ISC's authority by radical action paid for by outside extremists, seeking to control the Iowa courts system.

If Vander Plaats hates 'government' so much, ie: the Iowa Supreme Court, why does he perennially run for 'governor' and wish to be a part of the "tyranny"? All he has to gain is some notoriety by keeping his losing name in the public eye- perhaps a savvy political move, but at what cost to the Iowa voters? He seemingly doesn't have Iowa's best interests at hand- especially taking a swipe at the respectable and esteemed Iowa Supreme Court. Vander Plaats exhibits what amounts to a bad loser's sour grapes whine. Why does he have to attack gays and judges? No one is asking him to take a same sex marriage partner. No outside extreme group with a lot of money is trying to harm his marriage.

I think the far right, radical arm of the neocons have reached out to touch Bob. To use him as one of the Republican pawns to dissuade Iowa and the country's attention away from the real issues facing America today. Like the economy they ran into the ground. The millions of jobs that tax cuts for the rich cost the working class. Like King George's war follies and debacles. Largest deficit and pork spending in the history of America by the Republicans who controlled the White House and Congress. Destroyed the surplus handed to the Republicans at the start of their reign of terror. Not to mention what happened on Bush's watch in September, 2001. Did the ISC judges cause these problems? No. The Republicans are the only ones to blame for the ruins they left America in for the past 9 years. The worst depression since the Great Depression goes to the credit of the Republican Party.

Leave the judicial branch alone, Republicans. Leave Iowa alone, GOP. You have collectively FUBARred the rest of the country. Don't touch "justice" in the name of your insanity. Not in Iowa. Not anywhere. Please.

20/20 Hindsight Is EZ 2 Remember

Brat

Tidal Wave or Deep Chasm in GOP?

2010-09-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

The many snake-headed Tea Party raises it's head again to strike out at the "establishment" Republicans in the mid-term primaries. Be careful what you wish for, conservatives and neocons- you just might get it. Right now, it seems that the Tea Party is a Frankenstein creation by the extremes and fringe of both Democrats and Republicans, with a slight tilt to the radical right. Just like Frankenstein, the Tea Party is growing into a monster made of dead parts, and there isn't a master that can control it. While there are people rallying around the Tea Party for support, the crowd is likely to get torches and pitchforks if it is not completely placated soon.

The Republicans think they have a handle on the Tea Party- but I'm not so sure they have any power over their monster.

Enter rogue Republican Sarah Palin. She equates her conservative popularity with the hard working and hard fought, legitimate reputation of Hillary Clinton. So Sarah Palin waltzes around, sprinkling her neo-con fairy dust, and annointing certain 'rogue' candidates to her liking, brands them 'Tea Party', and sometimes these candidates win the primary.

But deep down, like under her skin, Palin doesn't have a real grasp of the political machine she perceives to be driving.

Women are taking a stab in the political arena like never before. Can a half-term governor really be their role model?

The danger lies in the actual motive of the Tea Party; which no one is really sure what the purpose is. Too many factions are tainted with racism and anti-government, among other unpleasantries.The Republicans did a lot of real damage to the USA during the Reign of Republicans under King George. Most people can't forget all the damage, let alone give Republicans a pass for congress. The United States still hasn't recovered either.

So do we have a grass roots movement with the Tea Party that could amount to something or do we have a Grand Canyon opening up to swallow the Grand Old Party? Is the Tea the beginning of the end for the conservative Kool Aid drinkers?

If the trend continues with Tea Partiers devouring old conservatives, and the infighting within the GOP continues, it just might bode well for Democrats. At least in the beginning.

For Republicans, jumping on the Tea Party band wagon may be compared to their swan song. Remember- be careful what you wish for!

BRAT

Katrina After 5 Years

2010-08-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, I cannot believe it has been that long. For many survivors of Katrina, the ensuing years have been a living nightmare from which they cannot escape. The estimated one hundred thousand lost souls still haunt the living like open heart surgery left unattended.

The one person responsible for the catastrophic failure on all counts to actually help got away Scott free. The one person that showed absolute callous and was oblivious to losing people down the toilet drain of the most destructive hurricane stayed on vacation. This man was asleep at the wheel of leadership in the most heinous way, at the worst possible time. President George W. Bush.

A whole army of finger-pointers came forward to form a circular firing squad of blame instead of the actual Army being sent out to help people evacuate, live or leave the path of Katrina. Don't get me wrong - there was plenty of blame to go around. From the mayor to the state and especially the government- all missed life-saving steps. Technically, there is still blame 5 years later. But blame is no substitute for action taken in a time of dire need by the world's leader. No matter that Bush took off more than a year of time in office for vacations. He should have left Texas to come to the aid and to have been a leader for the millions of affected people that Katrina hit.

Shortly after Katrina's massive destruction, one month later, Rita hit the Gulf coast again with a much more swift, but gentler hand. Still, the major damage had been done with Katrina and the wildly poor response from the government that cost so many human fatalities in Katrina's aftermath wasn't helped by yet another hurricane.

However, the government was much more prepared for Rita, having had a month to prepare for a monstrosity storm like Katrina- but, alas, it was too late. One month too late. The government should have heeded the numerous warnings from NOAA about the huge storm that was approaching off the Gulf coast before it hit. That is where leadership is supposed to come in handy, King George. Rita was just a nasty reminder to the survivors' of Katrina, knocking down people that had already been swept off their feet. Rita destroyed most of the FEMA trailers that had just recently been brought to the ravaged region.

Katrina hit hard. She knocked down New Orleans for the count, and New Orleans still hasn't regained her majestic footing. Three states and 90,000 square miles of razed rubble is Katrina's boast of destruction. Katrina wiped out entire neighborhoods, families and friends. Many people couldn't recover from the destruction. It is hard to watch 30 to 70 years wash out to sea.

It seems now, on this fifth anniversary that a mere Band-Aid has been placed on the most dramatic and widespread swath left by Katrina. People have not come back. Houses have not been rebuilt, except for here and there. Neighborhoods are still gone, so are the neighbors.

New Orleans pulled herself up by her below-the-belt-straps, and she is proudly raising her head once again by the shear will of her people, like a Phoenix.

I hope that this great nation of the USA is still willing to help out her own people and be the loving and caring stewards to help get our southern regions back on their feet, especially after the BP disaster hit this year.

C'mon, America! Lend a hand or a dollar to keep America whole. I know you will not forget our beloved Gulf of Mexico when we have fought so hard to preserve others gulfs!

20/20 Hindsight

BP, Twitter & 912 Project

2010-07-22T14:53:00.000-07:00

Recently while traveling to Davenport, there seemed nothing but BP gas/convenience stores located on or near I-80, east of Iowa City. I did not buy gas from them, but I did stop in one BP in Bettendorf to ask for directions to Le Claire. After leaving the store, I noticed a new sign that had been recently put up directly under the big BP green star. The sign read that the owners were independent owners from Iowa, and the workers were Iowa locals and that this station provided valuable community support in many ways other than supplying gasoline from BP.

I was struck by the not-so-veiled pleading by the owner to please let him keep doing business. My heart went out to him and his employees. It was not his fault what happened with BP in the Gulf of Mexico.

This extraordinary signage brought my attention to just how far away the disaster in the Gulf could reach, clear up here to land-locked Iowa. But then I thought again that it only takes a ride south on the Mississippi River and a slight turn to the west, and you would be right on top of the spill.

I hope the recent cap and subsequent stoppage of the oil flow will hold and we can just focus on recovery of the Gulf now. May God bless the people affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

*** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** *** **** ***

I started my Twitter account a while ago but to be honest, I haven't really gotten into it yet. I view Twitter the same as I do Facebook, which is basically a big waste of time. Even though it seems I'm always busy with my 3 sons, I am capable of wasting my fair share of time.

Recently I went on Twitter to update and began to troll on some of the other Twitter sites. Someone had reTweeted me to look at some right wingnut sites as an FYI. And I thought what could it hurt to look, right?

Wrong. OMG.

At first it was the usual suspects that are regularly mentioned on talk shows such as Rachel Maddow- pretty tame and mundane right wing drivel. Same stuff they have been spouting since the '60s.

But then I went a layer or three deep and my eyes popped wide open. The themes that reigned supreme were white supremacy, anti-gay, anti-Hispanic/immigrant, anti-blacks, anti-Semitic, anti-government, anti-Democrats, anti-libruls, anti-Catholic and God and Republicans should be the only ones in America, and then they should be heavily, heavily armed. (I'm sure I'm forgetting some of the hate rhetoric but you get the gist...)

And this is just on Twitter! 146 characters or less!

Sarah Palin runs threads through it all without any clear purpose. The ex-governor is just sort of there.

One Twitterer gives a phone number where you can buy a box of weapons each day at high noon until the guns run out. Today's sampling was a high-powered M-16 special variety.

Another Twitter was dedicated to the art of carrying concealed weapons in the states that don't allow it- like to the grocery store, liquor store or church- don't forget to bring your weapons to the family picnic in the state park! (scary)

*** *** **** **** *** *** **** **** *** ***

One sleeper .org was the 912 Project. Could be compared to PNAC- Idk. 912 Project is touted as a "conservative movement" and seem to be a wild tangent off the TEA Party- uh- whatever that is. So far, the many faces of the TEA movement are like a snake without a head. Many people claim they are of the same brew as the TEA Party, but then the "Party" disavows them. Clear as mud.

It seems like many long-time, extreme right Republicans are jumping the GOP ship like rodents, and clinging to the stern of the Tea Party. The only problem with this arrangement is there isn't a rudder in either boat. One sits there with no boom or oars, and the other doesn't have a sail to put up. Both not going anywhere fast. The Tea Party is not exactly embracing the Republicans failed policies and wild spending and deficit explosion of the Bush/Cheney reign. Can't say I blame them....

We'll see if British Petroleum shows it's true colors when the clean up really starts taking place.

Twitter shows the USA as a mood swing nation, one sentence at a time ;0)

Brat

45 Days Is Too Long

2010-06-04T13:52:00.000-07:00

How could this happen in America? Americans let British Petroleum drill for oil off our pristine Gulf of Mexico coastline and the biggest man-made catastrophe happened in a matter of days.

The Players: Halliburton, British Petroleum and Transocean

The Game: Blame

The Outcome: Disaster

Since day one of this mess, the three stooges named above have been playing circular firing squad, and the American people.

It is not funny what these corporations have done to our states in the Gulf of Mexico. They ruined lives, livelihoods and generations- not to mention the wildlife. I hope and pray that there is not a more sinister motive underlying the obvious corporate greed one that these companies are displaying.

Currently there is no end in sight. The oil spews freely.

Hey BP, just stop the well. You know how. Just do it.

GOP Goes Postal In Meltdown of 2 Factions

2010-04-20T13:03:00.000-07:00

Of all the right wing nuts like Rush, Sarah and Glenn, who would have thought that Ron Paul would emerge out of the crazies of the Republican Party? I love it. Actually, I almost admire Ron Paul, and don't think all of his ideas are loony bin- especially since he reached out to Dem's before '08, and he campaigns peacefully, without guns or threats of violence. Maybe that's what set him apart from the rootin' tootin' Tea Bags- er, I mean party. It does give me hope that there can be some level-headed and middle of the road conservatives that haven't jumped on the gun bandwagon. Republicans, I urge you to regain your composure and the reins of your once sensible party- before civil war breaks out again.

Personally, I think a major cleave in the Republican Party between the right and the extreme right now might just be the undoing of the second major party of the USA, and may herald in the emergence of a strong third party (yay?).

Now for the 'other' faction of the Republican Party...Well. Let's see. David Koresh (not his real name), really, Rush? You really want to back this dark horse who changed his name to 'death' according to the Koran? Okay, you go Rush (Is that your real name?).

Sarah, the half-super, half governor of the last frontier state. Talk about Koresh being illiterate... It certainly wouldn't hurt Sarah to at least read the Constitution before she claims to know what it stands for, I mean it's only reasonable. Does Sarah read, besides the notes scribbled on her hand? I don't know. Apparently it doesn't matter if she can read because she can wield a weapon and shoot it. That sounds logical for the right wing nuts. If I were Republican, which I am not, that is who I'd want in charge of my party, you betcha!

Aw Glenn, shucks. Just when I thought I could go to the TV church and pray to the head idiot that spews whatever propaganda blather that is set in front of him, regardless of those pesky little things called facts, Glenn changed from CNN to Fox News. Hmmmmm. He coulda been a real playa. A real contender. Now, at Fox, he puts on make-up, uses props and cries on cue like Tammy Faye. To me, Glenn looks like a real, live clown. Still, for the Republican Party, he is a rabble-rouser of the worst sort. He gets the right wing nuts all juiced up and ready to fight on half-baked, erroneous tangents and then starts crying like a baby so they believe him. It doesn't take much to persuade a group of gun-toting loonies that think with a shared brain and mob mentality. But then again, Glenn has a job to do. Unfortunately, his job has nothing to do with instilling reason and debate- or even delivering the news. Glenn is simply a well-made up cheerleader who tries to arouse people to violent action by appeals to emotions, prejudice and the vague, unintelligent members of their electorate.

Ron Paul. I don't know all that much about him. But in a recent Rassmussen Poll, apparently Paul gave Obama a run for his money, coming out in a dead heat- if the election were held today. Ron Paul beat Sarah-Yay! I say go for it, Paul. If I were a betting man, which I'm not ( a man), I'd put my money on Ron Paul. Think about it, neo-cons: a real maverick! Endless possibilities. Sure beats hand to hand combat, death threats and more violence than you can shake a stick at.

We, as American people, need to embrace the new millennium with such decorum that would eliminate guns and violence from politics, not encourage it. We should have evolved enough to realize that reason and debate should be the only weapons used to continue to fight for peace in our own little world- the globe. To assume the great leadership role in the future for this world, we need to learn from the past, and not make the same mistake that violence wins peace. Americans especially need to recognize this axiom, or face the dire consequences.

Republicans: tone down the violent images and rhetoric and be careful what you wish for- you just might get a confederacy.

I want America to be the peaceful world leader; America filled with Americans. All Americans. Not just the red ones.

20/20 Hindsight

GOP Death Wish 4 Health Care Reform Despite Dem Victory

2010-03-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

Careful what you wish for, GOP; you just might get it. Come November elections, the people will decide who stays and who goes with their votes. The Party of No may become the Party of Out. I, for one, am sick and tired of all the GOP gloom and doom fear mongering and just out and out lies. People know how the USA got in this horrible economic situation from the dastardly ways of the GOP being in charge of the government in the Bush/Cheney Reign of Terror.

Especially when people are hurting because of the terrible policies and deregulation that passed with the Bush/Cheney tag team, making all of their super rich (oil-mostly) friends super richer. People aren't going to forget what was taken from them in the Bush/Cheney years, including all of their money.

The GOP swan song will come this fall when lots of people that were fooled by Bush/Cheney begin to see the light of reality when people can get health care and jobs that pay a living wage back here in the United States. All the Republicans running around screaming "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" are going to look pretty silly when the sky is still a bright blue- a nice shade of Blue Dog- in the next couple of years.

Naturally, all this fiasco comes on the heels of the biggest Democratic victory since the last great historic victory in 2008, when the people elected the first African-American Democratic President of the United States of America. A big step passing health care reform shall not only make history, but this step in the right direction for health care will shape the American future in a much brighter and hopeful way. Another hopeful Democratic dream for the American people comes true under President Obama's leadership.

The hard-core Right Wing nuts are all in a flutter when they go down in flames and try to attack the first woman Speaker of the House, who happens to be a Democrat, are trying to get her 'fired' for doing her job so well is just some more icing on the GOP cake (made of Crow). Nancy Pelosi is possibly the most powerful woman in the USA, and that speaks very well for all women. Care to compare Speaker Pelosi's record with a half-cocked, quitter and ex-governor from Alaska?

It reminds me of the GOP's great idea of "Family Values" theme a couple of years ago, when that went down in flames amid all the corruption in the Republican Party- both sexual and criminal. You couldn't swing a cat without hitting a indicted or jail bird Republican! Yay! Family Values! (What a bunch of hypocrites.)

This health care bill that ended up passing wasn't my first choice, nor did it encompass all the remedies for our broken-down health care as it stands today. I wanted the Public Option and the single-payer option. But the Republicans kept chipping away at the first couple of bills, trying to kill them all-which is not for the good of the people. The Republicans didn't care.

Republicans do not care about the American people. They only care about m-o-n-e-y and p-o-w-e-r. Anybody that believes differently about the agenda of the GOP has his head so far up his keister that he is oxygen deprived. That's why the Republicans have been fighting so hard against reforming health care in America- it cuts into their profit margins. The GOP owns the insurance companies, and they want to control everything. Who gets gasoline, jobs, health care- or even your life- the GOP doesn't care as long as the GOP gets everything.

I am proud to be a Democrat today. Proud to help Americans that really need health care, and for making a change to help people; not profits.

Go Democrats!

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