TheSkeptikOne

Friday Rap, February 2012-Life, Death and Insufferable Arrogance

2012-02-17T10:53:00.000-05:00

So much insanity...so little time..

The wing nuts of the pseudo-religious right came all the way out of the closet on Thursday to publicly worship their god....and no...it wasn't Jesus....it was the DICK...That thing that makes a man, a man...After watching these idolators hurl themselves on the almighty penis, now I understand why men go around holding themselves...It's to keep the lifegiver safe, apparently..

Life begins at conception, they tell us, when sperm meets egg.....DICK worship....

A few states with these DICK worshippers in control forced through new laws mandating that the little swimmers must be allowed to impregnate at will, or women and doctors will face criminal consequences....

WHOA! Sounds like rape to me....but then...didn't they try to change the definition of rape...to make it not rape, before they got to this “personhood thingey?”

Reducing everything...no matter what....incestuous father...rapacious neighbor...abusive and drunken husband....to situations of simply having sex...and not rape...frees men up to be...well, men.

Women don't enter into the equation except as receptacles for the holy sperm and bearers of future offspring.

Fortunately, saner heads prevailed in Congress on this...but that was just a battle..the war on women continues unabated, with more states, including Ohio taking up the issue in the coming weeks...

So, what next, the canonization of erections, as Bill Maher suggested on his show, last night? Well, now that you mention it......

This week's piece de resistance was delivered on Capital Hill, Thursday, when Congressman Darryl Issa unleashed hell by holding a committee hearing on birth control and contraception and had the audacity to say it did not concern women.

HUH!?

It was a religious issue, he said. Not a woman's issue. Women have nothing to do with birth control, according to Issa.

No women allowed to testify...only men...most of them clerics...Catholics and Lutherans who know so much about American women, their habits, lifestyles and health practices. There were no female clerics who could speak to the issue?

Question....if it's a religious issue...and we have a constitution mandating separation of church and state....isn't Issa's hearing illegal in the first place?

And once we answer that question we can move onto the blatant discrimination practiced by Mr. Issa and his oh so christian choir boys.

Just sayin'

Why don't we just cut the dumb shit and hold the election today, tomorrow...sometime in the next week...

Put this exercise in ignorance and arrogance to rest...

-0-

This has been a tough week to get through considering we've lost two giants of the entertainment industry.

Don Cornelius, Soul Train creator, was laid to rest on Wednesday after apparently killing himself last week.

On Saturday Whitney Houston will be eulogized and buried not too far from her father, following a private memorial in her home town.

RIP Mr. Cornelius and Ms. Houston. Both of you touched my life in ways that you will never know.

Open Letter to Stupid Women

2012-02-15T11:10:00.000-05:00

Dear Dummies,

I'm talkin' to all of you women who stand by your man, your significant others, your butch wives, and your father's dum-azz political party and church, while they persist in doing stupid stuff that may injure you, your children and other women.

WAKE THE FUCK UP!

Let me ramble on a bit about just how twisted is your continued support of these throw backs to the Jurassic period.

Birth Control and contraception will be free starting next year unless the Grand Old Party changes things with its newest and latest amendment. This GOP amendment once again takes us out of the equation by making birth control a decision made for us by our employers, would you believe.

Now, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't trust my boss to decide the color of the toilet paper I use in my bathroom, let alone, let him decide when I can use birth control and have family planning services.

The new amendment would allow employers to deny ANY SERVICE that THEY find morally objectionable to their female employees. I spotlight women because I don't hear Bosses or Congressmen, for that matter, writing laws to ban erectile dysfunction drugs or any service that may interrupt health services for men.

This amendment is a return to the old days...before the passage of the Affordable Health Care Law. This amendment is not limited to religious organizations such as the Catholic Church. It is so broad that it applies to everybody. Any employer who wants to keep from paying for health care for female workers need only claim that birth control “bothers” his conscience and he or she, can keep it out of the plan.

Child birth is still the number one killer of women in the world and that includes the so called enlightened island known as the United States of America. A legal abortion is safer than child birth, but the fanatics of the right always seem to overlook that fact. As long as the fetus lives, they don't care what happens to mommy. They only care about the rights they choose to convey on a lump of cells growing inside a woman's body at certain times of her life.

I like babies too. But not everyone is cut out to be a mother. We are far past the time when giving birth is a necessity.

And, ladies, this amendment goes further. Say it passes and becomes law. Now it becomes not only law but a precedent for other “exclusions” such as your boss decides one day that you are too fat, or you haven't quit smoking fast enough, or your HIV/AIDS medications are “morally objectionable.” What cha gonna do, hmmmmmmmm?

Thank you John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor and Congressman Blunt.

And back to the idiots you live with...you know...the ones who are kicking your ass on a regular basis because they don't have the balls to hit back when their boss takes a swing at them.

These same republicans are working to cancel out all domestic violence laws.

Last summer, you will recall Congress tried to change the definition of rape...to make it NOT rape. That was quickly shot down by sensible heads. Well now the Violence Against Women Act is up for reauthorization and the knuckle draggers don't want to reauthorize.

Why?

Because parts of the law were rewritten to reflect the times. In other words the law has been changed to cover same sex relationships in addition to straight relationships.

It means your boyfriend or your butch wife can't knock you around without legal consequence. The police must step in and treat you equally under the law. In addition, the neanderthals of the right want to reduce funding and disband the office within the Justice Department charged with overseeing regulation of domestic violence and sexual assault cases.

Preventive health services and domestic violence are woman things and as such are not important to our representatives in Congress. They don't care about us, unless we speak up.

But I'm not pissed off at them. I'm pissed off at you, the women who continually allow these idjits to hurt us...to deny us the services we need to live...to trade us in for a young, perkier model when the mood suits them. We suffer....our kids suffer...We as women, are better than this....aren't we?

It is time to stop suffering from their stupidity. It is time to take responsibility. Hell if we don't they are going to blow this world up and then where will we be?

Wake the fuck up!

Frothy's Got the Wheel and Gone!

2012-02-14T20:23:00.000-05:00

Another day, another change at the top of the GOP pop charts. This time it's Little Ricky Santorum taking over the driver's seat in the clown car.

The latest polls give him a three percent advantage over the Stiff, otherwise known as Willard, or Mitt or Max as in Headroom Romney. Ron the bigot goat Paul is in third, followed distantly by the suddenly silent Puffy Messiah, the self proclaimed savior of the world, Newt Gingrich.

Let's put this into perspective shall we.

The really, really big story that the main stream media is not covering, is that NOBODY.....and I mean....NOBODY is showing up to vote at these caucuses and primary votes.....NOBODY.

All you heard last week was the Little Ricky swept three states....HE WON THREE...count em...THREE STATES!

Man! Frothy really took it to Romney...didn't he, said the MSM....But like Billy Preston used to sing...”Nothin' from Nothin' leaves Nothin'...ya gotta have somethin', if ya wanna beat Obamaaaaaaaaaaa....” Okay, I added that last part.

The turnout in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota, I believe....was less than 20% collectively. I heard it was actually around 2% in Colorado and 6% in Missouri...and the media reported that Santorum won 30% of the vote in Colorado! 30% of 2%. hmmmmmmmm....What's that, two registered voters and the janitor walking through the room.

“Nothin' from Nothin' leaves nothin'”

Today, the MSM has Frothy surging based on the latest poll numbers. That's the word they are using...SURGING! And they say, Romney's about to lose his home state of Michigan...not that he lives there...Daddy Romney...you know the one born in Mexico...used to be governor of Michigan...Stiff er Mitt grew up there...I wouldn't call it his state...but the MSM describes it as such, so I'll run with that.

Okay, say this scenario plays out with Santorum barebacking Romney, to win the nomination. Do ya really think the rest of us will open wide and swallow? Hmmmmmm?

Frothy absolutely hates women. He is a general in the GOP war on women. According to his book, he is against women working outside the home. He doesn't think we need birth control or contraception. He says we must carry our rapists baby to termination regardless of the circumstance surrounding conception.

He sided with Komen against Planned Parenthood.

I would imagine he probably doesn't think that rape is a crime based on his past statements.

He has no stated use for Black people, Hispanic people, LGBT people or poor people. I would guess that if by some quirk of fate that he does make it to the White House those FEMA concentration camps will suddenly be put to use for those of us not of anglo saxon or aryan origin.

He is against marriage equality and civil rights in general for anyone other than WASPS.

The last time Santorum ran for office he was an incumbent Congressman. It should be noted that he pissed off his district so badly that they turned him out of office by the largest margin ever for an incumbent to lose, in the history of this country.

And he hasn't changed. This year, he's doubled down on the BS that got him thrown out of office in the first place.

Yet a very small part of the GOP wants this guy to win and apparently the more sensible portions of the GOP are going to stand back and let happen. And the MSM is missing the big picture of what is going on.

I say “oh well.”

Maybe the GOP moderates are actually going to cross the line and vote for Obama..that couldn't happen...could it?

National polls are indicating that this scenario may play out regardless of who wins the GOP nomination.

"Frothy Toast"....good name for a B-grade porn star...bad name for a president...

Gingrich and More Fake Piety from the Phony Christians

2012-02-08T12:28:00.001-05:00

Let's get real, there is no war on religion.

This fake ass sanctimonious outcry from the so called right is as bogus as the day is long. In mandating better health care choices for women, the Obama administration is under fire from the same men (primarily white, fake christian men) who brought you the idea that same sex marriage is a danger to heterosexual marriages.

And yes, it is men, those who control the catholic church, those who control other factions of the pseudo-christian right wing as well as those who hate President Obama, who are crying the loudest, by claiming that new federal ruling violates their religious convictions.

HOW!

Please tell me how the law violates your religious convictions, if you have them, they are carved in stone, right? So please tell me how a health care mandate for women, stands between you and your belief in your god?

Inquiring minds want to know.

The new law doesn't say you have to practice birth control. It doesn't say you have to use the morning after pill after you have sex. Hell, it doesn't even force you to have sex. You have the right to abstain. Isn't that what the all knowing Bishops and religious types tell all women and kids...abstain until you get married? The new federal rule simply makes more choices available to women, for their health, because frankly, women are the ones who need to make these choices. Men don't...never have....never will...Men don't die from child birth...women do.

How many guys do you know who stop the sex act because they forgot the condom. The first question at the first sign of pre-coitus interruptus is usually...”ain't you on the pill?” It has always been the woman's burden, just like the kid created before and after its born.

Do ya'll think Newt Gingrich has been celibate or lacking birth control options during his three marriages and god knows how many affairs. Allegedly, Callista is still in her 40's is she on birth control or does Newt carry a cache of Trojans in his pocket?

What about Ricky Santorum? If they're not using birth control, why doesn't he have a family to rival the Duggars instead of a measly 7 offspring?

And what about Mitt. Same thing applies. What's he got...five kids. Somebody's violating a whole lot of religious stricture, aren't they? Well, when he was governor, he signed a mandate just like this, almost word for word. Stood up to Catholic bishops and religious institutions that got their draws in a knot. Guess it's only bad when Obama does it.

28 States already have this mandate on the books. Women are going to do what they need to do, quietly and out of sight of all the uproar kicked up by their partners.

As an example to the blatant hypocrisy of the fake christian right, take the law proposed by a state senator in Oklahoma, which is currently wrestling with a personhood proposal. Lawmakers, there, want to define life as beginning at conception;

“The concept of “personhood” defines human life as beginning at the moment of conception according to the Oklahoma SB1433... that the resulting fetus “at every stage of development (has) all the rights, privileges, and immunities available to other persons, citizens, and residents of this state.”

Oklahoma State Senator Constance Johnson proposed to amend the law with a clause that also grants the same equality to every sperm, making them “sacred so to speak.” It holds men equally accountable for procreation.

“However, any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.” - Johnson amendment.

If left in the bill, this clause would outlaw male masturbation, anal sex (doggie style, for those needing translation), sex with condoms, all forms of fellatio to completion (blow jobs), as well as numerous other acts.

Girlfriend then turned around and withdrew the amendment as her male colleagues breathed a collective sigh of relief..not that it had a chance of becoming law. It does point out the total stupidity of these laws, that weigh heavily and completely on women while allowing men to escape most if not all of their responsibility.

One final thought....

98% of catholics practice birth control and when polled 58% of all catholics liked the Obama health mandate....'nough said.

Newt Gingrich in Cincinnati

2012-02-06T10:53:00.000-05:00

Well it had to happen. With the Ohio GOP primary set for March 6^th, it's time for the clown car to make an appearance in the Queen City. Newt “Puff Daddy” Gingrich reportedly plans to make some stops along the old three C highway, with Dayton thrown in for good measure.

You can read about it here.

Our local republican slanted newspaper says Gingrich and Callista have a taste for some Price Hill Chili and will plunk down there sometime on Tuesday. Afterward he and she will head to Dayton, then Columbus and end up in Cleveland for a big rally on Wednesday.

Of course you know that Newt is coming off his latest loss and subsequent temper tantrum to Max Headroom Romney. Romney dusted Lizard-boy in Nevada this past weekend. Literally treated him with all kinds of disrespect. It was not at all in keeping with the image of world savior that Newt has of himself.

He thinks he's the messiah but, so far has only alluded to it, not come right out and said it, yet. Maybe he'll leave the anointing up to Calllista, letting her finally speak instead of just stand there with that silent gaze trained only on him.

Ya know, now that I think about it, maybe that gaze and position next to his podium is her way of keeping her boy on a leash since we all know her dog does like to wander.

But I digress. I hope some enterprising reporter here in town has the guts to ask the Newter about the so called war on religion that he has been spouting off about in between bouts of calling Romney a liar, and telling us black people how shiftless and lazy we are.

Newt claims the new health regulations requiring insurance plans to cover birth control in the same manner as they cover erectile dysfunction drugs is a war, on first the Catholic Church and second, on religion in general. ( Newt is a new convert to Catholicism so have patience with his undying fanaticism).

Question- How is this possible since the regulation as I read it says the insurance plans must provide birth control coverage, but it doesn't mandate or force anyone to actually use birth control. You can still stick to the rhythm method if you want. The church can still outlaw birth control for its followers, if it wants.

What's the big deal?

Why should Newter be you ticked off about birth control when serial adultery doesn't bother him, lying doesn't bother him, or casting untrue aspersions on his neighbor doesn't bother him.

Anyway, I'm gonna try and find out where he is set to land and see if I can get close, welcome his highness to the Queen City and maybe even get some answers to a whole host of questions percolating in my mind.

I've always been a sucker for clowns...

Gingrich Followers Speak

2012-01-24T10:13:00.000-05:00

Show they like rewriting history as much as their newly found fearless leader....

By now, you've probably seen the story coming out of Tennessee, about a group of teabaggers who want to tell the truth about American history. You can read it here.

Basically they want to take out as much about slavery in America as possible, because according to them, it makes the founding fathers look bad. In other words, “yes we know the founding fathers were slave owners...but we don't have to talk about or teach about it...do we?”

This group of knuckle draggers believes that talking about the bad things the white men did to brown people in this country only incites the brown people to be pissed off and act out against white people, or resent white people and demand handouts from the government as payment for these “made up injustices as taught by bad history teachers.

These fools held a news conference during which the spokesman said;

"an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another." - Hal Rounds a Tennessee attorney.

Pardon my obtuseness....but when is taking land by force and slaughtering every Native American in the way, an intrusion?

INTRUSION!? WTF!

Invasion and conquer...maybe....genocide...surely...but INTRUSION?

And what about that slavery thing. The truth of the matter was that most of the presidents prior to the Civil War were slaves owners. They OWNED OTHER PEOPLE FOR PROFIT. They used them, raped them, sold them, split up families and killed them when they wanted to.

If that makes the founding fathers look bad...then so be it...It remains the truth whether it appears in a history book in Tennessee, or not.

The Middle Passage took millions of lives. It was not merely the Triangle Trade between countries that Texas teaches it's children about.

Conservatives, teabaggers and other intellectually challenged bigots have spent lifetimes attempting to cover up the two indigenous Holocausts that happened in North America after it was “discovered” by whites...the killing and continued persecution of Native Americans and the slave trade and practices that brought most Blacks to America as property, not people or human beings.

Two Holocausts! Two vicious ongoing acts of genocide that have never really been resolved. The repercussions continue to reverberate throughout the USA.

Don't think so...then listen to the words coming out of the right about the current Commander in Chief....replay the words of the current crop of lame POTUS wannabes running for the GOP nomination. The so called history teacher named Newt knows better, but he is too wrapped up in his fantasy world to realize the danger of his ever increasing over statements. Paul doesn't care, Romney and Santorum are simply pandering to find a new job in DC.

America has never told the truth about its history. What is going on in Tennessee and Texas is merely a retrogression of the revision that has passed for history since 1619.

Another example from the rewrites....The KKK was a club...The Black Panther Party was a violent terrorist organization.

Go figure!

Newt Gingrich, Anointed in SC, Jesus Mary and Joseph!

2012-01-22T11:17:00.000-05:00

With all the flair and petulance of a three year old, Newt Gingrich has won the South Carolina Primary by a very wide margin over the anointed one, otherwise known as Mitt Romney. Ricky the pope Santorum finished a distant third while the hobbit, Ron Paul, came in fourth, visibly demonstrating his short legged disadvantage.

So what does this mean? Well, I see shades of 1976 in this one. 1976 was the last time that the GOP had a real fight for the nomination. It was also the first time that I covered a convention as a working on air news reporter. It was held in Kansas City and Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford came in with a 50-50 split, or thereabouts in delegates.

I was personally appalled by what I saw and heard coming out of the delegates' mouths and rightly guessed that Ford would be the nominee, because I naively believed that “right” would prevail (there were still real live conservatives in charge of the GOP at the time, and I do like real conservatives instead of this fake christian variety now). It did, sorta. What really happened was a deal apparently being cut with the Mississippi Delegation. Pre convention, the delegation was supposed to be solidly in Reagan's corner, however when boss Haley Barbour stepped to the mic, he threw his delegation to Ford much to the consternation of most of his delegation.

Despite the Mississippi vote, Nixon's Southern strategy was working back then, and obviously from the vote last night, is still working today. However it was circumvented or short circuited by the powers that be in the GOP. The final result, Ford wins the nomination, but loses the presidency to Jimmy Carter.

It remains to be seen if the GOP elite will force feed Mitt Romney to their constituents, in the same manner in which they force fed them Gerald Ford. Romney's been running since the 90's and still nobody who claims to be republican likes him, or wants him to represent them. If the GOP elite is smart, they will make the base happy and come with somebody like Newt. But Newt has burned every bridge he's crossed on both sides of the aisle. Final result-democrats win again. The question is...will they win big or bigger.

Ricky and Ron have the lifespan of a snowball in hell, or maybe an ice ball in hell. They are both going to Florida, but probably not much further. Which brings us back to Newt, he of the self proclaimed towering intellect powered by prepubescent temperament unbecoming a man with so much white hair on his head.

Gingrich is playing his sideshow for the voters with no memory of his past. They seem to care only for the stuff coming out of his mouth, true or not. Most of his stuff is not truth based in the slightest of senses. Kinda reminds ya of that cool breeze that unexpectedly blew in from Wasilla, Alaska, a few years ago. The only difference between the two is their gender..one female...one male...both legends in their own mind.

To quote Kathleen Parker, “Newt Gingrich is an angry little attack muffin.” He attacks anyone and everyone who doesn't think the same as he, or want to live inside the fantasy in which he cloaks himself.

After all, it was just a couple of weeks ago, in Iowa, where his petulance and mental instability was on full display after he loss to Romney. Romney lost too, but we didn't know it until the recount this past week.

Regardless, Newt was pissed and he showed it, and he's been taking it out on anyone and everyone since that night.

Like the good liberal that I am, I am going to pop some popcorn, lay in a couple of bottles of my favorite wine and watch it all play out for as long as it takes. And I really hope it takes all the way to July for the GOP to settle on a candidate.

And since I'm in a predicting mood...I'm gonna tell you who it is they are going to choose to represent them...

His name is TOAST.

C-ya in November!

Newt “Sho I'm a Ho” Gingrich

2012-01-20T09:18:00.000-05:00

Oh he is soooooooooooooooooo GHETTO! Tryin' to pretend that he is "to the manor born." Please!

Gingrich's dramatic performance at last night's GOP debate was classic Hood Rat behavior.

We all have Hood Rats in our family...you know those fools who face you dead on after they've done their latest doo, and bare-face lie to you! They know they did it...you know they did it...and they know that you know they did it...BUT THEY FACE YOU AND LIE TO YOU ANYWAY, because they believe you will give into their wishes, like you've done in the past..

Hood Rats believe that no matter the transgression...they will be forgiven and allowed to continue living in a world of their own making, with no consequences.

They always signal the lie....“Now what had happen was....” Hood Rat plain and simple opening statement....He's lyin'.....Ho-speak for get ready for a story..

Newt's got the indignant anger down pat....He stares in the camera...gets very red, white and terse on his responses....answers like he's the victim...

“My ex wife is lying!......I did not ask her for an open marriage!”

Kinda rings like...”I did not have sex with that woman” doesn't it.

And you know what the most aggravating part of this whole charade is...the crowds...made up of similarly situated, so called christian individuals...standing up and giving this fool a raucous ovation...There is always a Greek chorus...Hood rats always, always travel in packs..

They cheered him, the hypocrites....Lays proof to the belief...any white man will do in 2012..

13 years after he screwed over his second wife to cavort and then marry his third..”Sho I'm Ho” Gingrich is still telling others how to live their lives. “Sho” was one of the first to sign that phony pledge to uphold heterosexual marriage...

“Sho” wants to instill bigotry into the Constitution in the form of an amendment banning same sex marriage...guess he feels the sanctity of his own is in jeopardy....

He says Mitt “Max Headroom” Romney is not tough enough on abortion, and that Ricky the Pope Santorum is not conservative enough...

And he has the audacity to lecture Black people about everything including moral values, religion and work ethics, delivered with all the condescending master to slave imagery that he's read about in his history books.

Classic, classic, classic ghetto behavior...

Newt “Sho I'ma Ho” Gingrich is angry that he is being called on his HO-ish tendencies, but he is not contrite, nor is he sorry. He's just pissed off that at least some of the people are calling him out on his shit.

Because, you know that is what eventually happens with Hood Rats...they get called on their shit...finally....And it usually begins with the phrase...

.”Nigga please...”

Little Ricky Calls it Quits, Drops Out of Presidential GOP Scrum

2012-01-19T17:45:00.000-05:00

Little Ricky going home to work on his Texas Secession speech....

I always heard that god don't make mistakes, so I guess Sarah and Christine and Herman and Michele and now Little Ricky must a been lyin' through their teeth when they said god told em to run for president. If he told em to run, he apparently didn't mean for them to win.

It wasn't god talkin' to em. It must have been the voices in their head talking louder than usual. Or maybe it was just caucasian arrogance telling them that any ole white guy or gal was good enough to beat the Black man in the White House.

Apparently you still gotta be a politician to serve in DC and like him or not, the target of all their animosity is a very good politician.

Tough to beat....Not that he's had to work at it while the clown circus plays dates throughout the country.

Or maybe he is the one who god is really talking to. We'll never know, because the tall stoic mocha commander in chief doesn't reveal himself very much, to us, anyway.

The Grand Old Party is down to four choices unless they can talk somebody else into the race. They have perennial candidate Willard Mitt Max Headroom Romney (he's the rich one, the great white hope one), Then comes Ron Paul the elder ( The Hobbit) another perennial candidate who never seems to get anything done in the form of legislation been there all this time and has only passed one bill out of 600 something sent forward.

Then there is Saint Rick Santorum (the Pope's puppet and Howdy Doodie's long lost brother in a sweater vest), and last but not least slime ball Newt Gingrich.

I always hesitate to put Gingrich in this race because it is sooooo obvious from his campaign that he is actually running for dictator of America. One would think with all those history degrees that he would know the difference between the president of a republic and a head dic, er dictator in charge.

The final four are still on message...their goal is to trash the economy and the country...they hate women...they hate minorities and blacks in particular and they want to turn the world backward to 1862, when all they had to do was to kill the minority (Indians, Mexicans or slaves) to get what they wanted.

So now that we know that Mitt didn't win Iowa, who is going to blink next? Is the fix in for Romney? Or will Santorum knock him off and open the door for Lizard boy to slither through....Forget Paul...he is equally despised by his party as well as the opposition.

We will just have to wait and see, won't we?

Iowa Caucus-And the Winner Is......

2012-01-04T08:44:00.000-05:00

None of the Above!

Okay, so this exercise in futility is over and what have we learned? Nobody still doesn't like Mitt Romney....The conservative default position is apparently Rick Santorum who can't carry a crowd in his home state......the white guy choice is Daddy Paul.....Lizard boy Gingrich has been exposed as the most mentally unstable, and that's saying a lot with Bachmann in the field....Ricky P is running home to Texas to lick his wounds and Michelle...well she is finding out what conservatives really think of women, let alone female politicians....But she's vowed not to quit, bless her heart. (UPDATE: Bachmann caves...suspends campaign....Ricky P decides to battle on!)

Now it's on to New Hampshire, where Romney is said to have the state on lockdown. So much so, in fact, that many in the clown car are by-passing New Hampshire and driving straight to South Carolina, whose nut job governor has already endorsed Romney much to the distress of many of her soon to be ex-constituents.

Jon Huntsman is also waiting in New Hampshire. He didn't bother to compete in Iowa saying “Iowa picks corn while New Hampshire picks presidents!” Guess he feels that he is the one. Considering that his money comes directly from a fund fed by his father, he may turn out to be as delusional as the rest of them in their hunt for the White House.

I mean just because you're the apple of Daddy's eye, doesn't mean the rest of us are going to like you, too.

Maybe he should have stayed in China as Ambassador....Could've opened himself up to being Obama's VP....nah!....Biden still rules.

And so does President Obama who is looking more and more like a safe bet for four more years in the White House.

Iowa Caucus-An exercise in Flash Mob Masturbation.

2012-01-01T11:27:00.000-05:00

Let's get real, the Iowa Caucus vote is not really all that important, unless you happen to be a news pundit/reporter/columnist or social conservative-would be kingmaker, looking to hang onto your job and justify your existence in 2012.

It's basically another form of peripheral bullshit that passes for news in the 21^st century. The media has to report and inflate every single thing that can be considered a news story, given the concentration on the bottom line to make news profitable for the corporations that now own all communications in the USA.

The kingmakers, well they just have to figure out how to stay in front of the cameras to get out their bigoted message to the sheeple.

The only thing that is really going to happen in Iowa this week is that after the vote, there will be fewer helmet haired riders in the GOP clown car fighting for the driver's seat.

Nobody fighting for position in Iowa stands a snowball's chance in hell of winning the nomination let alone the presidency come November. Mitt Romney may come away with the GOP nomination, but it won't be because his party likes him. They think he is the one white man who can win, and that is very bigoted of them

Unemployment is dropping, albeit slowly. The economy is strengthening. Other factors are working their way into the positive. People are making money, working and spending again. Based on what we've seen so far, Obama is a lock for a second term.

Iowa would matter if it were more reflective of America....not Norman Rockwell America of yesterday...but of America, today. It's not. Iowa is richer, more educated, older and whiter than nearly every other state in the union.

That works out to tea party country and most Americans still don't drink tea, at least not the kind served up by those social conservatives who dominate the landscape in the corn fields of Iowa.

If you look at Iowa, the people, there don't believe in the separation of church and state, public education, global warming. Nor do they believe that women, gays and lesbians, as well as other minorities, deserve first class citizenship, civil rights and adequate health care. They also don't support the christian concepts of being thy brother's keeper or of looking out for the poor.

Iowa will choose the new driver of the clown car, but will he be able to stay in the driver's seat thru New Hampshire and beyond?

Will it matter? I think not.

Kasich War on Women

2011-12-21T17:53:00.000-05:00

Oh man, has the Republican National Committee been doping their stooges with stupid pills or something?

Nationally and locally these GOP fools have gone all the way crazy. Usually, they are more circumspect with their misogynistic tendencies, fearing they might anger their own women, I would guess.

But not today. NO! John-boy Kasich just banned abortion coverage for women in Ohio. How did he do that considering Roe v Wade is still the law of the land, at least for today anyway.

Dur Fuhrer Kasich signed HB 79 into law that prohibits the sale of abortion coverage in insurance plans...even if you pay for it out of your own pocket.

No government funds involved here. This is private citizen money. Your money. Our money. Not taxpayer money.

No, the man is telling us, that WE the people CANNOT buy insurance coverage with an abortion rider, which has been standard practice for women since the implementation of the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal money for all abortions.

I thought the teabaggers wanted government OUT of our lives. I guess that only matters if you have a penis between your legs. Only those with three legs qualify for full citizenship in America these days.

And you know this fool and his state minions co signed on the lawsuit against the Affordable Health Care Law, stating the government cannot mandate the sale of insurance.

But Kasich and the idjits in Columbus feel they can dictate to women if not to men.

Women apparently don't count...We're apparently not smart enough to make decisions about our own bodies, healthcare, or family planning.

We're just plain stupid ass bitches who need to be looked after by the masters of the universe.

Know what's even worse....Kasich...the self avowed ignoramous...who doesn't read newspapers...books or the United States Constitution...apparently doesn't read the Ohio State Constitution either...

You know the one he is supposed to be upholding...

It is illegal under the Ohio State Constitution to ban or prohibit the sale of health insurance or health care....Article I, section 21B...

Let's just skip the recall and impeach this fool!

The War on Christmas

2011-12-01T14:01:00.001-05:00

As soon as we're done stuffing ourselves with bird on Thanksgiving, thoughts turn to Christmas.

And just like swallows returning to Capistrano, some Christians start whining about liberals and others destroying THEIR holiday by taking the “Christ” out of Christmas. We liberals do this by saying “happy holidays, “ instead of Merry Christmas. We apparently, and I am guilty of this, are part of a concerted effort to make Christmas a solely secular celebration.

After all they say...”Jesus is the reason for the season, “ right?

Well, no, not really. Truth of the matter is, Christians hijacked December 25th to be Jesus' birthday. He was actually born sometime in March, according to the experts who have studied the matter more than me.

“Happy holidays” is a way of acknowledging the plurality of December 25th. It is a way of greeting all people, because some people aren't Christian and don't necessarily celebrate Christmas. By saying “Merry Christmas” to everyone you know or meet, you are assuming that everyone is Christian and celebrates the same way you do. Kind of bigoted, don't cha think?

A blanket “Merry Christmas” is kind of like straight people assuming that all other people are straight, too, when some of us are gay, some bisexual, some transgendered while others of us are just plain festive and fabulous.

“Happy holidays” is merely an acknowledgement that the world is different and diverse, nothing more. It relays a respect for the humanity of others. Sort of like the greeting “Namaste,” which is loosely translated, “I recognize the humanity in you, as you recognize the humanity in me.”

The war on Christmas myth traces back to the 1950's and the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce aka the JayCees. The JayCee campaign was called “Put Christ Back in Christmas.” The campaign was started because some businesses began using “Xmas” as short hand for “Christmas.” They even got the boy scouts involved to hand out fliers and bumperstickers. Had nothing to do with anyone trying to persecute Christians and or their celebrations.

Henry Ford lambasted Jews as opposing Christmas while he sent boat loads of money to Adolf Hitler back in the day. The John Birch society regularly complained, saying Happy Holidays was an anti-Christian statement. Goes back a long time.

The War on Christmas is nothing more than a vampyric urban legend that refuses to die, kept alive by the wingnuts of the conservative right. In other words....Christians are behind the War on Christmas.

As we become one big global family, Christmas has become less of a religious celebration. It's downright Pagan in a lot of ways starting with the tree.

In America for most, the religious aspects of Christmas take a back seat...and I mean way back... to the commercial aspects of the holiday.

I mean, what was that on Black Friday...pepper spray to buy a toy? Please! Wonder if she will make time to go to church, if they don't lock her ass up first.

Let's be real, Christian conservatives revive this controversy every year because they are losing their dominance in American society. They want their country back and they want it to reflect all those Norman Rockwell drawings or those Leave it to Beaver days in suburbia when daddy worked, mommy worked at home in heels, and the kids were just kids playing baseball.

There is no war on Christmas....never has been.

The nice thing about this world that we live in today, is that you can celebrate what you want....when you want...and how you want...

So.... Merry Christmas....Happy Holidays.....and Happy Kwanzaa....or not

Your choice...

Occupy Wall Street

2011-11-27T11:13:00.001-05:00

I have to be honest here, I just don't get Occupy Wall Street. When it started up, I was geeked. I was ready to join up and finally get something done about the dysfunction in DC. Occupy Wall Street seemed like the perfect laxative to end the constipation that is American government.

An alternative to the Democratic Party....dare I dream?

I jumped downtown on public transportation and into Piatt Park...and … it didn't feel like a protest....felt like a bunch of kids who got together and were now sitting around asking each other...”well...what do you want to do?....I don't know...What do you want to do?”

I went home.....They mean well...but they don't know what to do. A few weeks in...Jessie came to town and did the “I am somebody shuffle” for them. Made em happy...many more Black people showed up....but left when Jessie did......OWS still on their butts, camped out in Piatt Park.

Several weeks into these so called protests, I'm sitting on the sidelines watching and waiting....and watching and waiting...and watching and waiting..

What am I waiting for....well, I guess I'm waiting for something to happen...like...protest maybe...like civil disobedience maybe....like mass arrests for, well protesting instead of sitting on your ass in a public park, playing drums.

Protesting to me is not pitching a tent in a public park and waiting for someone in power to take notice.

This time around... I don't have the luxury of youth on my side....If I take to the streets now and risk getting smacked upside the head or jailed...It's going to have to be worth it....real change....for everybody.....I don't see that with OWS...not yet...

Protesting for change, to me is pitching your tent on someone's desk...in someone's hallway.... or on someone's front steps...demanding they talk to you...or...call the cops to arrest your ass for interrupting their day.

You post bail...you go to the hospital and get your wounds treated...and you come back..You don't take time off to celebrate holidays with your parents in the burbs.

Sitting in a public park under a tent, under the watchful eyes of cops....seems more like a temper tantrum...something to do...until your parents give into your demands.

You need to earn your tear gas and pepper spray...sitting there reacting to over reacting pigs is not protest...ghandi-esque....picturesque...useless..

It's safe....it's “look at me, world...I'm taking a stand to change the world...sorta”

Safe....but not effective.

OWS is on the tongues of nearly everyone nationwide. It has seized the opportunity...but it doesn't know how to harness the power....and it is not reaching out to those who do know how to make it work..

Like I said, Jessie showed up in Cincinnati. Angela Davis made an appearance in Oakland.

MlK's peaceful protestors needed the counterpoint of the Black Panther Party, the SDS (students for a democratic society), CORE and SNCC to make it's point.

OWS just has OWS...no leaders...no one apparently willing to take the heat and lead..OWS is not reaching out to form coalitions....

It is complaining because Congress won't do the bipartisan thing...well....OWS is not being very bipartisan either...instead of waiting for the church to come to you...why not go to the church?

Folks are watchin...but OWS...just sits there and drums..

GOP Wing Nuts Targeting Sherrod Brown

2011-11-13T08:11:00.001-05:00

60 Plus Association lying through its dentures about Affordable Health Care, Senator Brown and Medicare.

Oh man, did you know there was a wing nut counterpart to AARP? Sure is. Been around since 1992 according to their website. These are not your touchy-feely seniors having fun on the golf course or senior sex behind the club house.

These are mean old fart crazy uncles and aunts, who hate the world as it is changing around them. The group's national spokesperson is none other than Pat Boone singer and former movie star, who shot to fame recording covers of “race music” as R&B was called back in the day.

This commercial, attacking US Senator Brown lies about Medicare, about the health care law and about Senator Brown. Here is the script:

“Hi friend, I’m Pat Boone. Last year, a lot of promises were made regarding health care reform, but America’s seniors knew forcing a bill through Congress when Americans overwhelmingly opposed it would be disastrous. And we were right.

NARRATOR:
President Obama’s health care law cuts $500 billion from Medicare and creates a board of 15 unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats. It’s like a Medicare IRS with the power to cut Medicare in order to pay for new government programs.

PAT BOONE:
This IPAB board can ration care and deny certain Medicare treatments so Washington can fund more wasteful spending. Your choices could be limited and you may not be able to keep your own doctor. Medicare will be bankrupt in nine years, but Washington politicians, like Sherrod Brown, are ignoring the problem, putting their own re-elections first. Call Senator Brown. Urge him to support real Medicare reform and protect our seniors. Tell him unaccountable bureaucrats should never have the power to deny you the care you deserve.”

These old fogies are agitated about the IPAB, or the Independent Payment Advisory Board, created by the Affordable Health Care Act. This board, to be made up of doctors, nurses and medical people appointed by the President and confirmed by Congress...that's law... put in place...IN CASE Medicare costs get out of control in the future.

The only thing that the IPAB CAN DO IS TO MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS...IF AND ONLY IF MEDICARE GROWS TOO FAST....It has absolutely no authority to change anything...It can't change anything by law.

Congress still has to do the work, period.

By law, the IPAB Cannot Ration Care, Increase Taxes, Change Benefits Or Eligibility, Or Increase Premiums And Cost-Sharing Requirements.

Bottom line....No bureaucrats in your exam room standing over your doctor. No $500 billion coming out of the Medicare budget......that is unless the GOP/teabag party gets it way and takes control of the government...

Once again, this is just a baseless, totally undisguised attack on Senator Sherrod Brown.

The only truism coming out of Pat Boone's mouth....is his name....everything else is a lie meant to bring down America by causing strife among Americans.

There is no unity...no patriotism...no compassion nor concern for fellow man...

This commercial is the embodiment of what the GOP/Teabag organizations are about...lies...lies and more lies in order to turn back the country to what it once was....a place where most of us aren't welcome...even though we were born here..

This ad should be taken off the air immediately with a swift apology to Senator Brown.

Dear Governor Jimmy John Kasich

2011-11-10T10:29:00.001-05:00

Hey, John-boy...you git the number of that truck that left those tire tracks on yo ass? Man, it's a wonder you still walkin'.....are you walkin'? Or you playin' piggyback with you security men?

The national news media is calling it an “overreach,”......as in “Kasich overreached himself by going after the unions in Ohio."

Let's flat out call it what it was....a bitch slap of the monumental kind...you know the kind that Momma deals out when you totally screw up and she's totally fed up with yo sorry ass!

John-boy, you need to go do what we all do after Momma beats yo ass...you go sit down and quietly rethink your position..vowing never to do that simple shit again...at least while she is within earshot, anyway.

John-boy...it's still JOBS and the ECONOMY, dummy!

You got into office promising to bring jobs to a struggling Ohio...Yet what do you do.... you confer big raises on your INCOMING, ALL WHITE , NEARLY ALL MALE administration, before they've done any work to merit a raise....you kill light rail for all of Ohio....you promise to privatize the prison system at a job loss of approximately 50,000 upfront.....You pimped the casinos for 3-4 million dollars for your out of town cronies..you couldn't even bring that job to Ohio...AND THEN YOU TRY TO BUST THE UNIONS....

Boy you been cruisin' for an ass whuppin' since last election day back in 2010...

Let me quote Fred Sanford here. “Note to Dummy”.....Killing the middle class, by killing the method by which the middle class was formed.... DOES NOT REDUCE THE DEFICIT...it just pisses people off.

It's a good thing for you that we don't have a recall law in Ohio or we might have been able to get rid of you altogether last Tuesday.

And oh yeah...you need to get a handle on those pro birth people too...women are only going to take so much...and you see what happened in Mississippi when folks such as yourself...OVERREACH....I'm tellin' you...don't bring that weak shit to Ohio...We ain't havin' it...

Respectfully yours

2011 Ohio Election Results

2011-11-09T03:22:00.000-05:00

Well, Ohio still can't seem to get it right on federal health care, but never the less Ohioans did get it right more often than not, in this off year election last night. Issue 3, was largely a symbolic vote against what the GOP calls Obamacare. It was really on the ballot so that the GOP/teabags can mount a court challenge to health care. Issue 3 spoke to the mandate requiring that all Americans have health care.

If the federal health care mandate is wrong...then so is the requirement for having insurance, in general, Right? Think the business driven GOP is going to kill one its staunchest allies, the insurance industry? I think not, in the long run. So we will have these skirmishes until SCOTUS rules.

Ohio did get it right on SB 5, Kasich's first and blatant attempt at union busting. SB 5 or Issue 2, went down in flames, which was a good thing in particular for the LGBT community. In addition to union busting, if SB 5 had been allowed to stand all hard won domestic partnership rights would have been flushed down the toilet. This is because domestic partnership benefits are negotiated rights in Ohio and SB 5 would have turned back the clock and prohibited unions from negotiating for them in the future. This is what SB 5 said:

“The recognition or extension by the state of the specific statutory benefits of a legal marriage to non-marital relationships between persons of the same sex or different sexes is against the strong public policy of this state. Any public act, record or judicial proceeding of this state, as defined in section 9.82 of the Revised Code, that extends the specific statutory benefits of legal marriage to non-marital relationships between persons of the same sex or different sexes is void.”

Don't think Kasich is done. I'm sure he will now take a page out of President Obama's book and attempt to piece meal this travesty through the house, when he thinks folks are no longer paying attention.

Voters in Cincinnati elected a democratic majority to City Council. The field was led by Roxanne Qualls, followed by newcomer PG Sittenfeld, Wendell Young, Cecil Thomas, Charlie Winburn, Laure Quinlivan, Yvette Simpson, Chris Smitherman, and Chris Seelbach.

Incumbents, all of em GOP, were unceremoniously retired. Those would be the Bortz family scion, the immature and mean girl Ghiz, the Japanese speaking Murray and the very bland and vanilla Lippert.

The fact that voters returned Winburn and Smitherman to council means the city must still need some comedy relief mixed in with its politics in these dire economic times.

Another good sign that the city is waking up is the vote on Issue 48, which was a COAST driven amendment that would have destroyed all city development until 2020 if it had passed. It didn't, thankfully. The street car will go forward and that is a good thing.

Cincinnati's school levy failed....not surprised...there are not enough homeowners in the city to make this an equitable tax. This statewide taxing system is well past its expiration date and needs to be changed.

The war on women is still raging, but with a little less steam, today. The personhood amendment in Mississippi, failed by a wide margin. However, the papers to resurrect it have already been filed here in Ohio. This very bad law criminalizes sex, and pregnancy, putting all burden on the woman while exempting men and their sperm from all childbearing and child-raising consequences.

Overall a good night.... now if we can just get that Kasich recall going for real..

2011 Ohio Election, My Take

2011-11-02T09:45:00.000-04:00

For Cincinnati City Council: Wendell Young, Jason Riviero, Roxanne Qualls, Yvette Simpson, Laure Quinlivan, Chris Seelbach, PG Sittenfeld

These are the people for whom I intend to vote. There are 9 slots to be filled but I'm not happy with the rest of the candidates and their past performances, so I have included four newbies who, at least on paper, and in person, say the right things to get my attention.

Issue One: Mandatory retirement for Ohio Judges...If someone can do the job effectively, I personally don't think they should be forced to retire just because they've reached a certain age. Vote: No

Issue Two: Proposal to repeal SB 5, Governor Kasich's attempt at union busting in Ohio, like what went down in Wisconsin earlier this year. SB 5 makes it illegal for workers to speak up for themselves in negotiating better working conditions. It criminalizes free speech in this context, in fact. You can actually be fired from your job if Kasich prevails on this. Make no mistake about it..if SB 5 is voted down by the people, our slippery little governor will find other ways to impose his wingnut policies on the State. Vote: No

Issue 3: Proposal to write into the State Constitution, a ban prohibiting Ohio from abiding by the federal Health Care Law, approved by Congress a couple of years ago. Success of this law means insurance companies can return to discriminating against people with pre existing conditions or against women's health care in general. It reads: "no law or rule shall compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer or health care provider to participate in a health care system." Vote No

Issue 48: A proposal to literally screw the City of Cincinnati until at least the year 2021. What it does is hinder any and all major development downtown along with the street car. This proposal is badly conceived, badly written and will keep Cincinnati the third rate backward city that it has become for years to come. Vote No

Issue 44: A plan to lower electric rates by forcing Duke Energy to the negotiating table....Two proposals on the Nov. 8 ballot promise Cincinnati residents and small businesses the chance for bigger savings on their electric and gas bills. These plans are already working in other parts of the state. What I've read about aggregation, sounds good on paper and I am all for anything that will rein in the arrogant Duke Energy. Vote Yes

Issue 32: Permanent Levy for the Cincinnati Public Schools. Money to be used for books, computers and building renovation...NOT SALARIES OR BENEFITS. The levy hopes to raise $49.5 million..meaning the owner of a home valued at $100,000 would pay an additional $243 per year in taxes.. Vote: Yes

Issue 37: Hospital renewal levy. Doesn't cost us any money and provides a much needed service. Vote Yes

Regardless of whether or not you agree or disagree...the important thing is to get off your ass and vote. It is the only weapon that you as a citizen have against mediocrity and stupidity in your government....

You stay home...we all suffer!

VOTE NOV 8TH!

John Jim Crow Kasich

2011-11-01T12:24:00.000-04:00

Let's get right to the point, shall we...

A lazy electorate, impatient and tired of what they perceived as Barack Obama's ineffectiveness in solving their pet causes in the first two years of his presidency, lazily stayed home in droves in 2010, refusing to deploy the only real weapon that a citizen has against its government. Many of you who did vote stupidly voted to put the very people who had pushed America to the brink of destruction, back in power, all because he couldn't get it done fast enough.

And you know who you are...

You actually believed that Barack the magic negro bullshit back in 2008. You expected him to blink his eyes, or wave a magic wand and presto, gay people became equal and marriage material, white people would starting actually liking Black people, the wars would automatically stop, the troops would fly home, the deficit would be fixed and Wall Street would pass out money to everyone, making us all millionaires.

We the people, gave Obama a boat without a paddle inches from going over a cliff and told him to “Get us out of here, quick!” And some of you didn't bother to try and help him paddle.

The result is not just partial, but complete gridlock in Washington. The mini-minds of the Republican Party have convinced themselves that the 18% who did go to the polls, in the midterm election gave them a mandate to rule the rest of us lazy-ass immature 80%, regressing the country back to a mythical and perverted version of itself.

This mythical version had workers who worked like slaves from sun up to sundown for no money. It had slaves, real ones, happy ones, dragged over from Africa who smiled and buck danced at the first sight of Massa.

It had women whose only roll in life was to please her husband, father, brother and bring children into the world sometimes fathered by their husband, father or brother. But the men folks was happy, and so were the rest of us, they assumed. Everybody was Christian, period.

Cut back to present day 21^st Century America, the GOP, with its fake mandate, has declared war on workers with laws such as SB5 in Ohio. They have declared war on women with no less than 44 new laws designed to deny women's rights and keep them under a male thumb.

This GOP has literally redacted the Voting Rights Act for Blacks by changing when, where and how people can vote. They have gerrymandered the voting districts to give Republicans and Teabaggers a better opportunity of winning electoral seats.

HEY JIM CROW, C'MONNNNNNNNNNNN DOWN!

The GOP has declared war on immigrants both legal and illegal. They have decided that the only “child” worth saving is the one still in the womb, with closer resemblence to a frog than a baby. If a woman should happen to get raped by ET, oh well...tough titties..

But it's still okay to execute innocent people...nothing in the constitution prevents it..right Justice Scalia?

The GOP/Teabaggers lied and said they would make jobs, but they've been telling this lie since Nixon was in office. Truth be known these fools have tanked more jobs than they've made these past two years.

It's not just happening in Ohio. The feds have gone to court in Texas to stop Rick Perry's gerrymander of the Lone Star State, whose sole purpose is to deprive minorities of the right to vote. If Perry is doing this in Texas, imagine what he can do if you give him the keys to the White House.

Kasich is attempting the same thing in Ohio, but the Ohio Supreme Court has stepped in and stopped it so far. This is going to force us to have two primaries next year and the GOP is crying foul, because an extra primary will cost $15 mill.

Should'da thought about that before rigging the elections. AND...by the way...the Ohio Supreme Court which called a temporary halt to this nonsense, is all republican with one exception...and if they smell a rat...you know it's got to be a big one...

Texas and Ohio are also joined by the likes of North Carolina, Arizona, and Colorado. In fact every state that had a massive and EARLY voting turnout in 2008 is being gerrymandered by the GOP, as we speak.

Jim Crow is back and dancing a jig on the White House lawn.

So how are they doing it? Provisions that no longer allow early voting on the Sunday before the election. It is estimated that 1/3 of the Black vote came on the Sundays before the election in 2008. Another change...third parties...such as the NAACP and people who help others to the polls...must submit their paperwork allowing them to do this within 48 hours, instead of 10 days or risk having to pay heavy fines. This is another way of killing organizations like ACORN...which was never in the business of rigging elections..proven only after they were forced out of business by the GOP.

This provision is particular has caused the League of Women voters to suspend their voter registration efforts for the first time in 70 years.

It's not just about the Sunday before...it's about early voting in general. Kasich has tried to cut the early voting window in half. He doesn't want blacks to have a chance to exercise their constitutional rights.

Colorado tried to get their counties to declare anyone who did not vote in 2010 as “inactive.” This would mean that an early voting ballot would not be mailed to them, a move that effects the elderly, low income and minority voters.

Let's not forget the new ID laws. It is estimated that the new laws in Alabama, South Carolina and Texas could keep more than 5 million people who voted in 2008, from voting in 2012.

And it's not just minorities....married women who have not changed their surnames on their ID...the elderly who can't get out and may not have updated their ID...people who simply can't afford the cost of a government issued ID are in jeopardy, too.

The fix is in, people. This is election year 2000 on steroids. When the GOP plays to win....they cheat.

But don't take my word for it....look at the justice system...look at what is going on in state governments....look at what is being voted on, on Capital Hill.

Makes ya wanna holla...

A Real Life Halloween Scare

2011-10-30T08:39:00.000-04:00

With all Hallows approaching, got me to thinking about a real life scare that I had a long time ago...

Both my parents are fright junkies. My Mom filled us full of ghost stories that she said happened in our family, like the night she watched two white terry towel bath robes belonging to her two brothers, suddenly slip off the hooks in the bathroom, crawl across the floor, open the window in the bedroom and slip out, to disappear forever. Uncle Billy and Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Alice always backed up the story as did Granddad. Our Grandmother, whom we called Mother, was also ticked off because she made the robes, she was a seamstress, and I don't think she bought the story. Yet they were never found.

My Dad just liked scaring people, telling us from the time we could listen about this creature named Bloody Bones. “Bloody Bones is gonna git you so you better watch out!” He would say imitating the monster and chasing us around the room, tickling us breathless if he caught us. Dad had a crooked finger from a fire cracker accident, which made his hands a lot creepy when he went into his Bloody Bones act. He also took us to every scary movie that played at the Twin Drive In, in Bond Hill or Norwood, depending on what side of the fence you lived on.

As kids, we were taught and knew not to go into those dark or odd places where things seemed a bit off, so to speak. Usually I listened, but one time I got caught. Years later, Hollywood made the movie The Exorcist. I'd read the book....bought by looking at the cover of the paperback...didn't know anything about the story...just read it...couldn't put it down. But it literally scared the hell out of me. I got to seeing things and smelling smells in my house. My imagination was working overtime for real.

The first thing I wanted to do was to get the book out of the house, which I did. I gave it to my brother in law who was on his way to Vietnam. He read it and tossed it overboard. It's still at the bottom of the Gulf of Tonkin, unless some fish scooped it up thinking it was food. All our conversations turned to that book until he got home. My sisters, both of them, read it too. The Exorcist was the recommended book from the Moore sisters that year.

Anyway, when the movie came out, of course, I had to see it, so my brother in law and my sister and I drove out to Springdale Cinemas. He was back by then. The crowd was huge, but so were the winds. A freak windstorm blew up knocking out electricity for miles around. It was freaky because other than the winds, the weather wasn't bad, sticky, cool but no rain, like the rain would come later. All of us in line were nervously joking about the weather and how maybe Mother Nature didn't want us to see this movie.

It was still early in the evening, so the three of us decided to drive downtown to the Regal Theater in the West End. Chinese Connection was playing and my brother and I were huge Bruce Lee fans. My sister was along for the ride, since she didn't like chop socki movies nor horror films, to this day.

We got downtown and couldn't get into see Bruce, so we decided to head home. My sister had to work the next day so my brother and I decided to meet the next day to see the movie. Trouble is, he thought we were going to see Bruce and I thought we were going to see The Exorcist. The next day, I went to Springdale while he went downtown. I waited and waited for him. Couldn't call because the cell phone addiction hadn't happened yet . We were still on pay phones and carrying quarters, just in case. So I butched up and went inside to watch this movie. whose book had almost literally scared me straight when I read it. The movie was just as bad/good. The theater was packed, but I'm alone again with this stupid story. At one point, I realized I was holding hands with the stranger sitting next to me. In fact we realized it at about the same time. We looked at each other and laughed nervously...but we didn't let go....not til the credits.

Then I went home to find my family... safe again....it was after all...only a movie.

Epilogue: A few years later, I met the Priest who performed the real exorcism and he told me the real story which led to some more sleepless nights. The real story was so much worse..But I'll save that for another day.

Happy Halloween!

I LOVE THE SMELL OF TEAR GAS IN THE MORNING!

2011-10-27T10:38:00.000-04:00

The pigs are back! Not that they ever went away in the first place. Their masters simply put them on a leash following the fall of Saigon, when the Vietnam conflict ended back in the day.

Oh yeah, they killed a few protestors too, around that time. Ya'll remember Kent State, don't cha? Or maybe you folks heard about it from the Jimi Hendrix song “Machine Gun,” or CSN & Y, “Four Dead in O HI O.” Some of you, like me, may have even been gassed while protesting between classes at UC...so you know what I'm talkin' about.

Blacks like me were protesting for our civil rights. Many white kids joined the protests under the guise of solidarity but were in fact acting out against their well off fathers, and the government that was “grinding” them down (can ya'll say SDS?).

Kid protestors died in other places around the US of A back then too, shocking their rich, mothers and fathers back to the reality that it was their own kids being shot at, kicked, beaten, gassed and killed, not foreign little gooks from a faraway land or big and black panther terrorist/criminals bent on destroying America. It's always open season on black and brown people, even today....Except the glitterati who have morphed into the Tea Bag Party, don't talk about it much, and besides, they've allowed black upward mobility to happen so the folks calling the shots these days, look just like the ones they are beating up.

Internal class struggle? Nah. The Committees of 50 are still in business around the country. For those of you new to Cincinnati or born after 1979, The Committee of 50 was/is a group of the richest local business men (one black, with a female spokesperson from Ky) who call the shots in Cincinnati...regardless of who is mayor or police chief or prosecutor or city manager...regardless of their various ethnic persuasions. If the Committee likes it...okay...But if it doesn't...then it becomes “LET THE DOGS OUT!” Regardless of who is actually holding the leash. They quietly employ what I used to call the “Lindner method.” The late Mr. Lindner, rest his soul, used his money to pollinate all sides in Cincinnati ( we have three, GOP, Dem and Charter) thereby guaranteeing that he would win the argument, no matter what it was, because what politician is going to bite the hand that feeds him or her. And as we all know, Mr. Lindner went to his grave revered and relatively bite-free last week.

Enter Occupy Cincinnati, recently de-trenched from Piatt Park( The Bortz said you had to go. Resistance is futile...you're messing up HIS park. Hello, Arn, long time). Did you know that OWSC is two groups in Cincinnati...one white and one black? OWSCW is the group getting all the media attention. OWSCB is, well black and ignored as always. Politics, politics...

I sympathize with OWSWC or B, whatever. The movement speaks to the inner anarchist in me. It speaks to the me who is tired of politicians....all of em. It speaks to the me who truly believes that the only way to clean up DC is to drop a bomb on Capitol Hill and start over with more women reflecting our numbers in the electorate, term limits, and rules that prevent them from opting out of the laws that affect me, thereby killing the mantra “do as I say..not as I do.” State Capitols and city governments are not exempt. I am in favor of a big fat fireman's hose turned on full blast at the doorway into City Hall... like Hercules did to the Aegean Stables....that would go a long way in washing away the stench of corrupt government that permeates America at all levels.

30 years younger and I would be camped down in Pie-ett Park with OWS. But I'm not. I've buzzed by and honestly, I see the same sitcom playing out that happened back in the day when I was less jaded about change. White kids taking a break from classes. Black people invisible. Out of work folks looking to stay relevant. Activists seeking face time. The homeless looking for a meal and way to re connect with a society that obviously doesn't want their participation. Opportunists looking for a way to capitalize on the misery, but staying out of the real line of fire. No sign of pimpin' ministers, yet either.

Missing in action, those who grew up...sympathize with the protestors(so they say)...except they have a J-O-B and a F-A-M-I-L-Y to support, so they watch it unfold on the T-V waiting for the call that the revolution has begun.

Trouble is as long as we wait for somebody else or our kids to start the revolution...it won't happen... It will take the whole city marching to OWSCWB's tune to get the city to lay off and act for the people. Otherwise, committee of 50 rules....still.

The kids in Oakland expressed surprise at the police onslaught a couple of nights ago. They were saying they didn't believe it could happen like that. Guess their parents never talked about the civil rights days or the war days. Guess they never cracked a history book or two or three. The American Spring happened years ago, long before the Arab Springs of this past summer. These young protestors protest like they play video games...can't tell imaginary from reality with none of them understanding the concept that every action draws an equal and opposite reaction. When the going gets rough many of them will retreat to the safety of Dad's home in the burbs. Trouble is...the way it is today...Dad's home won't be there much longer.....unless Daddy has millions to begin with.

So get ready...you ain't seen nothin' yet if the protests continue...you still have no idea what your country is capable of....really...

Do Buddhists Go to Heaven?

2011-10-20T11:30:00.000-04:00

Can Buddhists Rapture Up...Inquiring minds want to know? Or must we wait outside the pearlie gates until it's time for us to emigrate back to earth, or whatever the planet-plane-existence will be called when we get back.

I'm only asking because tomorrow, Friday October 21st, is supposed to be REAL Rapture combined with the REAL end of the world as we know it (can never think of EOTW unless I sing that damn song, then it rumbles through my brain for days and days and days afterward).

Reverend Harold Camping, the man with the plan, says Rapture Day back in May was a practice run for the REAL thing, which is happening tomorrow. Tomorrow we get two birds for one stone...snatched up to heaven in plenty of time to watch the sinners die on earth, along with the earth of course.

Which leads me to another question-if the world ends tomorrow, will there be anything for us Buddhists to come back to, assuming we have not finished our spiritual work and therefore need to come back in the first place? Just Askin'.

Decisions, decisions...

Rev says he is going to wait it out at home, which is understandable since back in June he suffered a stroke after he didn't get pulled up to heaven by Jesus in May (of course that very short evangelical hair style that he wears, may have had something to do with it). Maybe he should have grown dreds like a Rastafarian so Jesus could have gotten a better grip (that's why they grow em, ya know).

The fact that he's still here with the rest of us nearly took him out of here. But he says, he is recovering slowly and it will take a long time to get better...but why should he care, if his prediction is finally correct...he will be trading in his old worn out body for a new one, complete with snazzy new pair of wings, right?

Old Harold is hedging his bets this time, since Jesus surprised him in May by not pulling him up, Camping says salvation and destruction will “probably” happen like he predicts.

Probably!? Oh man, c'mon! You really talking to god? Who is that voice inside your head, for real?

Anyway, I'm packin' my fave duffel bag, laptop and camera just in case...I've been growing my hair lately, so no “grip” issues for the SOG... and if I am raptured I will have my pick of spots in the pearlie gates waiting room by being first in line...otherwise...I'll just go visit my sister in South Carolina... shucks...guess I better pack my golf clubs, too.

Just in case...

OMG! The Great White Hope...is a Black Man!

2011-10-13T09:25:00.003-04:00

Who-da thunk that the current GOP "flavor" is that chocolate covered peril named Herman Cain. He's the front runner for the GOP nomination, if you believe the latest poll numbers today. The way the GOP has spent the past three years vilifying Obama, one would think that another Black man wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting into the White House . Maybe he still doesn't, since he hasn't won the nomination yet.

Most pundits on TV still say Herb, er Herman is unelectable, despite his front runner status. Chris Christie endorsed Mitt and the Half Gov can't even get his name right. But there he is, right at the front of the pack....this week anyway.

Maybe it's a trick to make us think that the teabags have finally gotten past playing the race card to win elections, which along with voodoo economics remains the only republican political strategy going back to Richard Nixon.

Herman calls himself a "real Black man." Unlike the president who has some very visible "white" in his family tree. Herman graduated from Morehouse. He even married a Black woman, which we all know is not typical successful Black man behavior. We don't know if he can hoop, haven't seen those pictures yet.

But white people do like the way he talks tough...direct...to the point....just like the mythical black man that lives inside their collective mind, like the one they expected Obama to be. Cain fits the image of other black men and some women in the GOP...Black men like Uncle Clarence or the man named Steele. College educated Black men with degrees up the wha-zoo but with no discernible functioning neural ganglia between them. I do use the term "white" to refer to the GOP because other than a "black walnut" or two, there are no swirls in their preferred blend of Haagan Daaz, and that is by design going back years and years and years. Google "Sailor Strategy" if you want to read more.

Cain says all the things that many teabaggers wish they could say out loud. He can be the racist in their dream conversations without worrying about being called a racist by the media. After all, Cain is black like us, and as we all know, it's okay for a black to call another black a nigga. Whites can think it, but they better not say it, right?

H-I-T-M....WTF!?....stands for "Herman's Intelligent Thinkers Movement. Bet he made that up all by himself.

Not catchy enough...probably even scares off white people, especially the educationally challenged ones in the bunch. Why not BWC...Black Walnuts for Cain....makes you think of flashy cars or chicken wings, two things guaranteed to attract black people, right?

Did you know that Herman's biggest claim to fame was single-handedly defeating "Hillarycare" during the Clinton Administration? Not something that will endear him to Liberals and Progressives of any persuasion. He's trying to keep that quiet...likes "pizza man" nickname better, I would guess.

Message to Herman....to paraphrase the AGP's (American Ghetto Princesses) ,"if you ain't talking J-O-Bs, you need to git outta my face!"

As for the 999 plan....This ITBL (intelligent, thinking black lesbian) says it's bogus and built on the backs of poor people, just like everything else coming out of the teabag movement.

Black man or not, close your eyes and Herman is still soundin' like a slave overseer rather than a slave.

What Cain doesn't get is that even the Overseers were slaves, despite their "special" status.

Hypocrisy in Black and White, The American Way

2011-09-21T12:31:00.000-04:00

A couple of things are sticking in my craw today....

One is the fact that Troy Davis is scheduled to die this evening for a crime that he may not have committed. Yesterday, the Georgia Parole Board refused to grant Davis clemency, stating there was more than enough evidence to show that Davis was the gunman and that the 7 of 9 witnesses against him who later recanted their testimony, were apparently confused.

What it boils down to is another Black man is being lynched in Georgia. Davis is convicted of killing a white police officer. If Davis had killed a Black cop, he would probably have been sentenced to life in prison, all other things being equal.

But this is America, where equality and justice are still determined by the color of your skin. Studies continue to show that when the victim is white, 9 times out of 10, the Black defendant is given the death penalty...regardless of where the trial takes place in this country.

And believe it or not, a sitting United States Supreme Court Justice says it's okay to put an innocent man to death in America because the Constitution doesn't address the matter.

Current historical revisionists would have you believe, lynching is a thing of the past, doesn't happen anymore. Well, au contraire, mon frere, lynching has never been outlawed in America either. It just became not so classy to do so. Now it is done on the back roads, by drunken men in trucks who like to re-enact history, or left up to the American justice system and police officers trained to coerce confessions to make it all seem legal and above board. America's facade of pro life humanitarianism for all has slipped badly this week.

We're more worried about Palestinians killing Jews and vice versa than we are about what is happening inside our own borders.

No justice, there should be no peace if another innocent man dies. However, Black America has been strangely quiet on this subject. Maybe it's because we're too busy bustin' a cap on each other to worry about another soon to be dead Black man.

Where is the outrage? Where are the calls for justice from the Black blogosphere? Where are the Black celebrities willing speak on Troy Davis' behalf?

-0-

Wow! Black churches have discovered there is an epidemic killing the Black community. It's call HIV/AIDS! The headline trumpeted yesterday in the blogosphere.

So what do I do.... jump up and down, be happy, congratulate them? I've only been doing radio, TV and newspaper and magazine articles since 1984 on Blacks and AIDS.

I've lost 3 relatives and 15 friends to the disease. I don't even know how many of my friends are HIV positive, but I'll bet there are a lot of them, though. All died in secrecy and some in isolation and fearful estrangement from their families. All of them considered themselves Christian, with many of them diligently attending Sunday services. Two were ordained ministers.

Straight Black women are the most at risk group in America today.

Am I supposed to welcome Black Churches, finally, to the last dance? Maybe I should just suppress my own anger and move on. Better late than never, right? About damn time!

Fuckin' hypocrites!

-0-

Double WOW!

Only took LGBT equality some 60 years to the day after Blacks were allowed fully into the ranks of the military...Not because whites were suddenly become altruistic, seeing the error of their ways...The government simply needed more cannon fodder to fight the war du jour in Korea...

So on Day 2 after the government repeals that misguided policy formerly known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell...time for a reality check...

Sun still come up....check!
World still here....check!
Rain not turned radioactive...check!
Military not imploded....check!
Osama, Franco, Hitler and Mussolini still dead....check!
GOP still marching goose step over a teabag created cliff...check!
Obama still in the White House.....check!
Straight marriages still sanctified....Please!

9/11 + 10, A Family Conversation

2011-09-12T12:23:00.000-04:00

My family has come home for a visit and like always the central meeting point is our parent's family room in front of the television. Some old habits never die because that is where we spent most of our family time growing up, watching a consensus program. In other words it was one we could all stomach at the same time, especially since in those days, we only had one TV.

Most of the time the station played whatever dad wanted, period, and usually what dad wanted was sports.

Today was no exception. We were watching tennis, a Serbian versus a Swiss National, then a Scot versus a Spaniard. But all of us were simply passing time, waiting for Serena, no last name needed, to take the court. We didn't know it, but we had a long wait, because the men played very long, very entertaining matches, well past Serena's scheduled time of entry.

Like always, the conversation bounced around the room. We tend to think alike since we're family. However we, all of us, tend to come to the same conclusions in vastly different ways and this is what makes the conversation so much fun. Never an argument, but always different view points and, yes, times that we agree to disagree. The disagreement always signaled by someone deciding to go help Mom in the kitchen, which meant, they went upstairs to watch reruns of Perry Mason or Cannon with my mother, until they cooled off.

Mom never just sat and watched and talked with the rest of us. She was more “sniper” in her approach. In other words, she would walk to the top of the steps, test the air, launch a volley of thoughts down the stairs toward us, then suck on her teeth to let us know she was done talking and walk back into the kitchen to catch up on her show, totally unconcerned about any blow-back opinion.

Group conversation in my family has always crossed generations with no one being deemed too young or too old. If you could talk, and you had an opinion, then you spoke or jumped into the fray. The young asked questions and sometimes got several answers. It was up to them to sort it out in their/our heads, which sometimes led to off shoot conversations for clarification. Sometimes that clarification amounted to, “don't listen to that fool, he crazy.”

Next to sports, the other favorite topic is current events and politics. The generation of elders prior to this generation was Republican and the talk was exceptionally lively, back in the day. Nothing like an old Black Republican to mess up Sunday dinner. These members have since passed on to that great GOP caucus in the sky. Although I would suspect that based on the composition of today's GOP, if they were still here, my folks would have transitioned into Democrats. But that is only my supposition, based on remembered stances that they periodically took. The current elder generation is Democrat with a heavy dose of anarchist, ready, willing and able to fight, if and when the revolution comes. The conservatives at this time tend to be younger to middlin' in age.

This day was Saturday, September 10^th, 2011, and with prompting from the television, our thoughts turned to 9/11, remembering where we were when we heard or saw. For all of us the images in our mind were as clear as the day we watched the Towers fall. It never occurred to me that you could knock down a sky scrapper, and I still can't wrap my head around what I saw that day. Going around the room, the second plane into the building, the picture of the second plane frozen in the moments before it struck the tower and burst into flames, the pancake collapse of the buildings, the people falling, choosing to transition in their own way, rather than die by fire, the tears we all shed followed by tremendous anger and outrage that someone would dare attack our country.

We lost four cousins that day. All worked at the restaurant on top of the building.

That anger was palpable in the room among us. My dad, a World War II veteran, stung by the ongoing discrimination against Blacks even as they served their country. My brother in law, snatched out of college to become cannon fodder in the Vietnam war, spending his time on the USS Long Beach parked in the Gulf of Tonkin firing missiles at the Vietcong laden coast. My niece, a naval veteran who now makes her living as an air traffic controller in Texas. My nephew, recently discharged from the United States Marines, but not before being injured on his first and only tour of Iraq. Two of us lifelong, active campaigners and outspoken critics of the wars and any and all discrimination against Blacks, women and minorities, carrying scars, wounded in our individual ways, drawn together by name and an act of terror against our home.

The general consensus was that Bush should have listened to Joni Mitchell and paved a parking lot over Al Qaida's ass in Afghanistan. Never should have gone to Iraq. Should have finished what was started in Taliban country. Very supportive of President Obama, but not real happy with his continuation of Bush policies crafted in the wake of 9/11.

Another thing we all agreed on, is that America still has some unfinished business, some scores to settle, for the USS Cole, for Dar Es Alam, for Lebanon, with Iran and Saudi Arabia. We're not real happy about Israel either, We collectively need a Michael Corleone payback for past injuries suffered at the hands of those who dared to strike at us.

An unspoken consensus in the room....we were all still crying, inwardly and outwardly.

Healing is taking a very long time.