What Washington D.C. Sees In Me

Sometimes when the government is checking out your blog, it's not what you think it is for!  Here the individual was actually looking up my Grundig Majestic stereo console post.  I get about two hits a day from individuals searching for information about Grundig.

Vintage Paul Ryan - Smack Down On 71 Year Old For Speaking Truth To His Lies

This video has been making the rounds lately, and I believe it was about a year ago. Notice how disgustingly smug Paul Ryan is as he cracks a joke at the expense of the elderly gentleman.



This is a 71 year old man who has paid into Social Security and unemployment insurance all his working life (well, so he says ... but let's just assume it to be a fact or else he would not have taken the stand he did) and his complaint is about the "new age" politicians that keep wanting to cut/gut his Social Security and end unemployment as we know it. The constant drumbeat of the right wingers in re-labeling these services as "welfare" and "hand-outs" when they are, in fact, money taken out of working people's pay checks and put away for that rainy day, makes me sick to my stomach. And ironically, there are actually stupid people out there that believe this rhetoric ... until, of course, it comes to THEIR Social Security and unemployment benefits. In fact, it is even more ironic that many of our old farts in Congress actually get their Social Security and other government benefits (like health care), but continuously refuse to give up theirs while they say the rest of the American population MUST give up theirs. Bull shit.

And notice how the police or security guards treat the old man for just saying what he wants to say, and you can hear them yelling at him to "get on the ground." For god's sake, what is wrong with our country that a 71 year old man is not allowed to voice his opinion and has to be taken away in handcuffs, no less?

Good-bye America

I am ambivalent about politics of late. Somewhere between 2005, when I had started up my blog, and was very passionate about the slow take-over of our democracy by the “right wingers,” and today, where seven years of outright lying, a lackadaisical news media, and a misdirected and ill-informed public, I’ve given up. Literally. With the promises made by a presidential candidate in 2008, who won (in my mind) with overwhelming support, and the follow-up of consistent failure to keep those campaign promises, coupled with a very real embrace by said president of certain ideologies that are antiethcal to the very nature of our democracy (i.e., renditions, killing American citizens abroad without warrants, trials, and the like, deporting more people out of this country than Bush ever did, failure to properly and timely embrace the GLBT issues that he ran on, etc., and not to mention the very same reliance on the banking industry that his opponents also embrace) have molded me into a non-believer in today’s version of our democracy.

This is a fully corrupt nation, with zero regard for the 99% of those that make up this country, work hard, and have tried to believe in the greatness of America. Instead, we have countries disparaging America based on the hypocrisy of its ideology vs. the practice. We prop up dictators, deal with our enemies, and wage wars on innocent people and nations. We are trillions in debt and yet not a single legislator on any level of government is taking up the mantle and running with the torch for the American people.

I had a guy tell me yesterday at my local watering hole that it is the corporations like GE, the oil companies, and others, that “pay the majority of taxes” in this country. I literally almost fell off my bar stool. I told him he really must stop watching Fox news, stop reading the Wall Street Journal, and for goodness sake, turn off talk radio. You will not get the truth from such areas, and that is why you, my friend, are ill informed.

It is hard to stand for truth and justice when there are so many politicians that have jumped on the bandwagon of corrupt methods of gaining and maintaining their free ride in government. “Can I please have some more” is the cry of the populace with the answer from the politicians being “hell fucking no” even as they cash their social security checks, get their federally funded (or state mandated) insurance coverage that is denied to anyone not in politics, and tell the average worker to go fuck themselves. Hell, the thought that the 1% think it’s okay (for example, Scranton, PA) to cut police and firefighter’s pay to minimum wage ($7.25), even after a court ordered the mayor NOT to do that, is just to mind boggling for me. The 1% are clearly not aware that to live in today’s America, minimum wage just does not cut it. And to believe that the majority of Americans want to suck off the teat of the government (the only people the suck off the teat of government ARE the politicians) is preposterous. A decent wage, the ability to put a roof over you and your family’s head, and raise your children with a decent education, has now gone the way of a “dream” and is actually, according to many politicians, no longer a “right” for Americans. The only “rights” that these politicians believe in is their right to pillage and destroy the America I grew up in, and turn our government into a corporate owned subsidiary. One person, one vote? Got rid of that. Power to the people? Got rid of that. A decent working wage? Got rid of that. Home ownership for the average American? Got rid of that. Where a corporate executive can work one day, retire, and take home $44 million in severance, bonuses, etc. (think Duke Energy’s CEO Bill Johnson), while there are millions and millions of people (including many Iraq war veterans) who are literally homeless, on the streets, with no real income in sight, as well as the rampant starvation of our children, I get sick to my stomach. And to top it off, a great deal of this rhetoric is pumped up by the false assertion that these politicians and their supporters are merely following Christian (read “bible”) themes, which totally distort the reality of what “Jesus” actually preached (according to some relevant history that seems to be methodically erased from the propaganda of what current Christianity means to this country).

Many of our elected officials are boneheads and seriously stupid. Deranged and empowered by corporate fueled laws and rights that come hand-in-hand with corporate money, it is time for me to check out. The power of the people, or the lack of it at this point, will be demonstrable in the 2012 elections, when it becomes obvious that millions of people will be disenfranchised as voters, where gerrymandering has resulted in lopsided and illegal power grabs, and where many more millions like me will simply fail to show up to cast our worthless vote.

Good-bye America. I will dream of your resurgence in the future. I only hope I live long enough to see the second Revolution and the fight to regain the rights that constitutionally belong to the American people.

Where Are The Fireworks?

I miss the ability to set off fireworks as I remember as a child, even growing up in SoCal. Yes, we used to be able to have sparklers as children, and the grown ups would set off the bigger fire crackers. Now, at least insofar as Los Angeles County is concerned, fireworks of any type by personal use is illegal.

Pooh pooh to that idea.

I do find it interesting that at this time every year for quite a few years, I watch the history channel on television and re-acquaint myself with how this "united states" of America was formed.

Anyway, hope you all had a fun day off. We had hot dogs here (with chili and onions and the works!). And, of course, it is Eli's birthday so I know my grandson was spending the day with him at his house having a wonderful party!

Hmmm, Who Really Is The "Murderer," Pfc. Manning Or Staff Sgt. Robert Bales?

As always, Glenn Greenwald puts things eloquently into perspective:

Think about that: if you expose to the world previously unknown evidence of widespread wanton killing of civilians (as Manning allegedly did), then you will end up in the same place as someone who actually engages in the mass wanton killing of civilians (as Bales allegedly did), except that the one who committed atrocities will receive better treatment than the one who exposed them. That’s a nice reflection of our government’s value system (similar to the way that high government officials who commit egregious crimes are immunized, while those who expose them are aggressively prosecuted). If the chat logs are to be believed, Manning decided to leak those documents because they revealed heinous war crimes that he could no longer in good conscience allow to be concealed, and he will now find himself next to a soldier who is accused of committing heinous war crimes.

Greenwald has been on a one-man crusade to try to educate Americans as to just how far this country has gone over the hill with respect to banana republic rulers, i.e. not only Bush, and his predecessors (ah, Iran/Contra comes to mind), but Obama as well. Whomever has the misplaced idea that Obama is a peace loving American has not been paying attention. Under Obama, the "Patriot Act" has been given a new meaning, and more (worse) powers than ever thought believable unless you lived in the Soviet Union during the cold war era. And the above quote from Mr. Greenwald is especially telling.

To top it off, the Afghans that actually witnessed the massacre still claim more than one shooter is involved, but our wonderful country whisks away the "lone" perpetrator, and then gives this mass murderer better treatment in "jail" than Pfc. Manning, whose only alleged crime was to "leak" to the press the very atrocities Robert Bales actually committed.

If you believe you live in the "land of the free and the home of the brave" you might need to see a doctor.

Interview By Sam Seder Of Professor Richard Wolf

This is only about half an hour, but it is absolutely worth listening to. H/T to AMERICAblog's Gaius Publius for providing the link.

The above podcast is from an interview by Sam Seder of Prof. Richard Wolf which basically walks the average person through the financial crisis in Europe, the austerity programs such as what is going on in Greece, why they don't and won't work, and comparisons with the United States and its proposed austerity solutions to the economic crisis here.

Basically, the point being made is that the problem in Europe and America lie within the rich that have the money, and the manner in which they have "lent" their money to the not rich, and how when the not rich find themselves in the position of not being able to pay back the rich, concoct methods and ways to continue to "loan" or "bail out" countries (or individuals here in the United States, such as the loan modification programs, which by the way, don't work either). Austerity will not work because it takes the responsibility for the mess and for the resolution of the mess, off of the very people that created the mess, the banks, corporations and rich people, and try to put the resolving of the miss onto the backs of the very people who cannot afford to help solve the mess, because of the very fact they are the poor as a result of the mess!

Some interesting comments also were made about Roosevelt and how he handled the situation in the 1930's and 1940's, and a comparison was made of him to those today like the Warren Buffets of the "rich." A trickle down society will not solve the problem, it has to be a trickle up situation that will stimulate growth and a way to get back to the middle class that we pretend still exists but in reality, we only have the very uber rich, and then those that fall close to or below the poverty line. The so called pretend middle class has been fooling itself for way too long now that they belong with the rich, or can achieve what the rich have in some fashion, and many are also trying to cling to what little they have, not realizing that in comparison to the rich, what the "middle class" have that they are holding onto is a pipe dream, and not based in financial reality.

Until the rich start paying their fair share, and that includes banks, corporations, governments and people, this financial meltdown will continue, and the riots in Greece and elsewhere in Europe over austerity programs will follow to here in the United States when we make the least capable and most vulnerable class of people have to shoulder the debt and financial crisis while at the same time the rich do nothing but continue to get richer!

Seriously, listen to the whole interview - you will come away so much more informed about the financial problems we are facing, not just as a country, but as a world.

The "Fleecing" Of Minnesota Citizens By NFL

The rich never, ever, run out of ideas to screw the non-rich. I am copying the post from Think Progress verbatim, as cutting it up will now give the full impact of the deviousness nor the duplicity of the NFL (the "rich") stealing money from the non-rich, in this instance, the citizens of Minnesota. Guess there's a reason I don't root for the Vikings, and now I have another reason not to root for them.

In an egregious example of how professional sports can be little more than a “glorified real estate scam,” the owners of the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings are about to fleece an unwilling Minnesota public for hundreds of millions of dollars, as they push to secure public subsidization of a new stadium. A deal is reportedly “imminent.”

Real estate developer Zygi Wilf and five partners bought the team in 2005 for a reported $600 million. (The franchise is now valued at $796 million.) From the get-go, Wilf and his partners wanted what every owner in the NFL wants: a new stadium.

The Metrodome opened in 1982 and is certainly not the newest and most lavish in the league, but there are eight stadiums that are older. And Minnesota voters clearly do not want to pay for a new stadium using public funds. A February 3 poll sponsored by KSTP-TV in Minneapolis found that a whopping 68 percent of Minnesota voters think the new stadium should be built “entirely with private financing.” Only 22 percent believed that any tax dollars should be used at all.

Even more astounding, these results came after a six-figure ad campaign paid for by the Vikings to try to drum up support for financing the stadium.

So leave it to Minnesota’s politicians to find a way around the public will. Gov. Mark Dayton (D) has been out front on the stadium issue and is doing everything he can to get a new stadium built. “We’re at the five yard line and its first and goal, and I think we’ve got a great opportunity,” Dayton recently said.

But in 1997, Minneapolis voters overwhelmingly passed a referendum stating that voters must approve any plan to spend more than $10 million on a sports facility. Given that a referendum today would obviously fail, how is the governor going to get a stadium built in downtown Minneapolis? By exploiting a loophole, of course.

In the latest stadium proposal, at least $300 million in Minneapolis taxes already devoted to paying off the city’s convention center would be diverted to pay the city’s share of the new stadium. And to circumvent the requirement that voters approve funding for the stadium, Dayton’s top stadium negotiator, Ted Mondale, explained that a newly created “stadium authority” would spend the city’s money, rather than the city itself.

So despite the fact that the Minneapolis public voted to require a public referendum before financing any new stadium, and has made it clear that it doesn’t want a new stadium in this case, Minnesota’s governor and state legislature appear poised to spend $300 million in taxes on one anyway by creating a new entity out of thin air that is not subject to the referendum law.

The NFL is making money hand over fist, but the public is expected to pay the costs of providing a (lavish new) place for NFL teams to play, socializing the costs of the sport while privatizing the profits.

If You're Going To Drug Test, Test Everyone

A Republican member of the Indiana General Assembly withdrew his bill to create a pilot program for drug testing welfare applicants Friday after one of his Democratic colleagues amended the measure to require drug testing for lawmakers.

Hee haw.

Want Viagra? Get A Rectal Exam First, Damn It!

The level of assault on women's reproductive rights is so substantial (see this piece on how a high level cancer organization Susan G. Komen known primarily for the Race for the Cure, the best-funded breast cancer organization and known internationally for the pink ribbon, and their choice to now defund Planned Parenthood's breast cancer screenings) I thought that it was funny in Virginia, with the ultra Republican bill making women hear fetal sounds, etc. before having an abortion, that state Sen. Janet Howell (D) has decided to "level the playing field."

On Monday Howell expressed her disdain for legislation requiring the ultrasound by proposing an amendment she described as a simple matter of fairness. Her amendment said that before being treated for erectile dysfunction, a man would have to undergo a digital rectal exam and a cardiac stress test.

“We should just have a little gender equity here,” Howell said.

High five, sista!!!! It's about time the men start having to take responsibility for their impregnation of women, voluntarily or not.

Fuck Me Once, BP, Fuck Me Twice, U.S. Government

US District court has dismissed over 100,000 lawsuits brought against BP And Transocean to pay for oil spill clean up costs and environmental damages caused to the Gulf of Mexico from the BP Gulf Oil Spill. The court ruled that injury stopped the moment the well was sealed and the Federal Government, aka The US Taxpayer, is now liable for clean up costs along with any damages caused by deficiencies of the cleanup of the Gulf Of Mexico.

Read the rest of the piece here.

Hey, it's not like any of us were fooled into actually believing that BP would be responsible for the damage done to the ecosystem or the lives of those that live in the Gulf Coast region, right?

Just another example of how the 1% get to screw over the 99%, as usual.

"Deadbeat Illinois"

Great title (from this article). On the way back to O'Hare, there was a sign facing those leaving O'Hare going into Chicago that, I paraphrase, said Welcome to Chicago, We're Broke. It was a bit longer in phrase, but I really can't remember it other than it struck me odd as a "welcome to my city" type sign, because of its rather blatant slap. Most "welcome to my city" signs are upbeat, and if it has something important, it is usually highlighted in the welcome sign.

Drowning in deficits, Illinois has turned to a deliberate policy of not paying billions of dollars in bills for months at a time, creating a cycle of hardship and sacrifice for residents and businesses helping the state carry out some of the most important government tasks.

Connecticut House Of Representatives In Action

House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, pictured standing, far right, speaks while colleagues Rep. Barbara Lambert, D-Milford and Rep. Jack F. Hennessy, D-Bridgeport, play solitaire Monday night as the House convened to vote on a new budget. (AP)

The guy sitting in the row in front of these two....he's on Facebook, and the guy behind Hennessy is checking out the baseball scores.

These are the folks that couldn't get the budget out by Oct. 1, and are about to control your health care, cap and trade, and the list goes on and on..

Should we buy them larger screen computers - or - a ticket home, permanently?

This is one of their 3-DAY WORK WEEKS that we all pay for (salary is about $179,000 per year).

Author and photograph uncredited and unknown.

Oregon Legislature RickRolls Itself

H/T to AMERICAblog.

Solidarity With Wisconsin - You Go, Dems!

3/27/11 Update here.

UPDATES REGULARLY AT THE BOTTOM - CONTRIBUTE TO THE WISCONSIN RECALL HERE

3/18/11 - Moved to Front Page - Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi issues a temporary restraining order blocking Wisconsin's collective bargaining law from taking effect. Read more here. One small victory for the time being.

The stakes are high nationwide. Wisconsin is the first in a long line of states considering big changes to pay, benefits, work rules and the bargaining power of government workers.

The Wisconsin measure would force public employees to pay more for pension and health benefits while limiting their union's power to negotiate.

The sergeant at arms was searching for Democratic state lawmakers who had not shown up for a vote on the sweeping legislation, and one Democratic lawmaker said he and his colleagues had left the state.

This reminds me of a few years back when Texas Republicans were trying to redistrict the state to their favor, and the Democrats (and others) flew out of the state so as not to be present to allow a vote!

Now we have this idiot in Wisconsin having the National Guard on standby ... yeah, like 1970 in Ohio, dude? Ya gonna shoot the protesters?

UPDATE: 2/19/11, courtesy of Crooks and Liars:

Here’s the other thing: the current crop of extreme-right Republicans have no interest in compromise, on anything. They don’t want to force the public employee unions to the table to bargain over wages and health care, they want to utterly destroy the unions for all time. They don’t want to negotiate over changing the formula on pension contributions, they want to make workers pay for half their pensions, or slash their benefits to shreds — and then never have to negotiate with workers again over them. At the federal level, they don’t just want to make substantial cutbacks in domestic programs, they want to defund many of them entirely — and if they don’t get their way, all of it, they’ll just shut down the government. It’s not just economics issues either: pro-lifers don’t just want to make it harder to get abortions, they want redefine rape and make shooting an abortion doctor a justifiable homicide. These Republican extremists are completely beyond the pale.

UPDATE 2/24/11, Courtesy of AMERICAblog:

How un-American can you get. Having the GOP legislators pass a law requiring the protesters to be removed. In the old days we'd call that a bill of attainder - it's something Henry VIII liked to use, a lot, when he wanted to behead a wife or a top aide.

The Republicans will not be happy until they've gutted democratic principles and looted the treasury on all levels of government. At the time we see the Middle East oligarchies being toppled, we see the United States turning into one.

We shall see what happens this Saturday.

Speaking of oligarchs, here's an interesting tidbit I found.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller has dismissed a deputy, Jeff Cox, for posting inappropriate comments online critical of the labor union protesters in Wisconsin.

Cox sent out a message on his Twitter account saying that police should "use live ammunition" against the protesters.

Banging. Head. On. Keyboard.

UPDATE 2/26/11 from THE WISCONSIN PROFESSIONAL POLICE ASSOCIATION:

HEAD OF POLICE UNION ASKS GOVERNOR TO KEEP CAPITOL OPEN AND ANNOUNCES LAW ENFORCEMENT SLEEPOVER

MADISON—Following action by lawmakers to approve a rule change that clears the way for closing down the State Capitol and ejecting the people protesting Governor Walker’s bill to curtail union activity, the head of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association called on the governor today to keep the capitol building open and allow the peaceful protesters to remain.

“The law enforcement officers from across the state that have been working at the Capitol and have been very impressed with how peaceful everyone has been,” said WPPA Executive Director Jim Palmer. “As has been reported in the media, the protesters are cleaning up after themselves and have not caused any problems. The fact of that matter is that Wisconsin’s law enforcement community opposes Governor Walker’s effort to eliminate most union activity in this state, and we implore him to not do anything to increase the risk to officers and the public. The costs of providing security can never outweigh those associated with a conflict.”

Palmer also announced that, beginning tonight, the WPPA is formally requesting its members from across the state to come to the Capitol to sleep amongst the throngs of other union supporters. “Law enforcement officers know the difference between right and wrong, and Governor Walker’s attempt to eliminate the collective voice of Wisconsin’s devoted public employees is wrong,” continued Palmer. “That is why we have stood with our fellow employees each day and why we will be sleeping among them tonight.”

And then there is this:

Amendments to block labor unions from engaging in collective bargaining with the government over salaries and benefits for public workers are sparking protests. In Wisconsin, which may wind up as the Egypt of the Midwest, more than a dozen Democrat senators are AWOL, while Republican Gov. Scott Walker is standing his ground and becoming a tea party hero. Click on the map to see which states have proposed collective-bargaining amendments and follow our updates on the protests.

UPDATED AND MOVED TO FRONT PAGE 2/27/11:

First, I am pleased to see that the police decided to join the protesters.

From inside the Wisconsin State Capitol, RAN ally Ryan Harvey reports:

“Hundreds of cops have just marched into the Wisconsin state capitol building to protest the anti-Union bill, to massive applause. They now join up to 600 people who are inside.”

I gather the Saturday deadline to remove the protesters from the Capital did not actually result in any removal, considering close to 100,000 were there yesterday (of course, you wouldn't know it by watching any television as most news programs just couldn't stop "gushing" about the alleged two year anniversary of the tea party). From Politicus USA:

There is a deeper bias evident in the case of the Wisconsin rallies. The corporate ownership of these networks, like most businesses, is anti-union. They assume that all of America is also anti-union, and they have conveniently ignored all the polling that shows the American people are behind the protesters in order to rationalize ignoring the protests.

There was an interesting post up a while back when this all started in Wisconsin and the comparisons were made between Egypt and the protesters. And, that is, while American corporations have been shipping American jobs (especially in the manufacturing sector) overseas to underprivileged and dictatorship controlled countries under the guise of free trade agreements, some of the people in various countries that are starting to revolt against the leaders are just like the people in Wisconsin protesting. That is, they want better wages, better benefits and want to put a stop to the "bottom line" mentality of their employers or their government's stealing what is rightfully theirs. When across the globe, the people stand in solidarity against abusive working conditions and the taking advantage of dictatorships and oligarchies that force their people to live in substandard conditions and have a life that is barely livable, where will these corporations go to get cheap labor? When everyone joins together for the right to earn a decent wage against those that are stealing from the very people whose backs they made their millions off of, equality and justice looms around the corner. That's the deeper issue of these protests in the Middle East -- they want out from under the thumb of oppression, and it's a tough spot for the rich American politicians and the corporations they represent (because by now most Americans are well aware their representatives in government are not beholding to them, but to the fat cats that put the money in their pockets, and I mean this as to all parties, not just the Republicans) as it has always been their position to allow the despots to stay in power in exchange for cheap labor (or oil).

It's a new day approaching. The youth are revolting again, and I for one, am proud to see the lie exposed that there is apathy attributed to the youth, and its perpetration by mass media worldwide, and corporations with a vested interest in keeping young people poor and desperate, is slowly crumbling.



This is a must read piece about what else is really at stake in Wisconsin based on Walker's plans for the state. Courtesy of ThinkProgress:

As the standoff between the Main Street Movement and Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) continues for the twelfth day, much of the media coverage — and anger — from both sides has focused on Walker’s efforts to strip Wisconsin public workers of their right to collective bargaining. But Walker’s assault on public employees is only one part of a larger political program that aims to give corporations free reign in the state while dismantling the healthcare programs, environmental regulations, and good government laws that protect Wisconsin’s middle and working class. These lesser known proposals in the 144-page bill reveal how radical Walker’s plan actually is: (abbreviated by me) -- 1. ELIMINATING MEDICAID; 2. POWER PLANT PRIVATIZATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL NEGLECT; 3. DANGEROUS DRINKING WATER; 4. DESTROYING WETLANDS; 5. FISCAL IRRESPONSIBILITY; 6. DISENFRANCHISING VOTER; 7. CUTTING JOBS, LOSING THE FUTURE; 8. STIFLING INNOVATION; 9. “NAKED POWER GRAB”; 10. POLITICIZING STATE AGENCIES.

Latest update:

Wisconsin authorities backed away Sunday from a threat to evict hundreds of labor rights demonstrators who have occupied the state Capitol for nearly two weeks.

UPDATE 3/1/11 from FireDogLake:

The Capitol Police were supposed to open the building to the public at 8am. Two hours later they are still not letting anyone into the building. It’s particularly cold out in Madison today, with big crowds outside trying to enter.

[snip]

As you can see, they are really cracking down on access, and particularly what can be brought into the building. They have tried to make it very uncomfortable for people to stay, forcing them to sleep on jackets or the bare floor. They have restricted medical supplies and slowed the supply of food. But according to the CCLC, they are going well beyond these rules and basically blocking access to the building. And this comes after the police told protesters that they would be allowed back in at 8am.

[snip]

This is all tied to the joint legislative session on the budget on Tuesday. Governor Walker really doesn’t want to have to deliver the budget in a building under occupation. I think initially he planned to move locations, but that would not have been legal under Wisconsin state law. So instead of mass arrests and the negative publicity that would have went with it, Walker is going for the slow squeeze.

Local union leaders and the ACLU are working on the issue as we speak. More when I get it…

UPDATED 3/2/11 - Good news about recall efforts of key Republican Senators. H/T to ThinkProgress:

This morning citizens from around the state took the first steps by filing recall papers against key Republican Senators who have stood with Scott Walker and pushed his partisan power grab that will strip thousands of middle class teachers, nurses, librarians and other workers of their right to collective bargaining. And we learned just last night that their disastrous budget that will cut millions from our schools and universities. . . .

Make no mistake, these Republican Senators are vulnerable to recall for their radical partisan overreach. Senator Randy Hopper won his last election by just 184 votes. And Alberta Darling won her last race by only 1,007. By recalling just three of the eight Senators [Democrats] are targeting, [Democrats] can regain control of the Senate.

UPDATE 3/3/11

Now the Republican senate in Wisconsin has passed a resolution (not sure if anything they try to pass without the necessary lone Democrat is legal) that will fine the missing Democrats $100 a day, take away any per diem, and will punish their staff and more.

MADISON - The 14 Wisconsin state Senate Democrats who left the state two weeks ago will now face fines of $100 for each day they miss, if they miss two or more days.

Republicans remaining in the Senate approved the daily fine on Wednesday morning with none of the Democrats present.

[snip]

Republicans have already withheld the checks of missing Democrats from direct deposit and denied access to copying machines for their staff.

According to TODAY'S TMJ4's Mick Trevey, there are punishments incorporated into the resolution which would allow for the removal of offices from senators, to downsize their offices, to take away spending capabilities for their offices for photocopies and office supplies, even to changing the way the staffs are run.

This is so school yard playing. The typical "it's my ball, so I make up the rules" kind of thing. I am really very surprised, in a way, that these Republicans, with not only a majority of the citizens in their own state against them on this (and other) issue, still believe in their own bubble tent that they are right, and all those people outside the Capital and across the state are ALL UNION THUGS. What idiots. The recalls of many Republican senators has already been put in motion. Are they just dolts? As this is playing out across America, do they even think no one is paying attention?

Oh, and I love this new tidbit. Seems those television and radio personalities (think O'Reilly, Hannity, et al.) all, OF COURSE, belong to AFTRA (like Reagan was, and who was PRESIDENT of that union for a number of terms) believe that AFTRA really isn't a union, and they give different reasons for why they feel they aren't union members, despite the fact that their pay and pensions are the result of THEIR UNION's negotiations with the television and radio bosses. Oh, the humanity! It's only public workers whose union is being targeted by these scumbag politicians. God forbid any union they belong in should be targeted. Union for regular people equals bad. Union for idiotic and over payed television and radio right wing nut jobs equals ... long pause ... crickets chirping ....

UPDATE 3/9/11 - A lot happened today. Apparently the Republicans in the Senate "passed" certain portions of the Governor's bill (see more here) without the requisite number of Democrats. Not sure if it is legal or not, but Democrats tried to hold some kind of hearing, which resulted in the Capitol building being open and the protesters being allowed back in (see here with some great video of the protesters).

"Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten," said Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller, D-Monona, in a statement released shortly after the vote. "Tonight, 18 Senate Republicans conspired to take government away from the people. We will join the people of Wisconsin in taking back their government."

What an amazing scene (watched the videos). As an old timer, it warms my innards to know that the young folk are finally finding their protest voice. Keep at it, and know that all of America actually supports you guys, and they are decidedly against what the Wisconsin governor is trying to do. It's not supported even by Wisconsin residents, for goodness sake. I mean, come on, it was bad before with Bush in the White House, but this surge in Republican power grabs that are clearly unconstitutional, not to mention outright wrong (especially when it comes to the supposed "deficit" in Wisconsin that really resulted because of the governor's giving of tax breaks to his buddies like the Koch brothers, et al) is definitely giving ammunition to recall efforts, among other things. Don't be surprised when there is a definite trending in the opposite direction in 2012. This just makes me sick to my stomach to watch one man think he is god and can run an entire state solely on his personal agenda.

I was raised in a show business family, of which most belonged to AFTRA, SAG or AFM. I grew up knowing about unions, and just what they did for actors and musicians. Sports unions abound in professional sports. Collective bargaining is just a part of labor life for many, many Americans. And now the rich oligarchs just want to turn back the clock 100 years so that the robber baron lifestyle can return, and child labor will be the norm.

(Hate The Marks This Keyboard Makes On Head When Banging Head On Keyboard).

Feel free to click on the link below at the end of every page where I have placed my two cherished organizations, PBS and ACLU, for donations - since the inception of this blog. The private sector has to step up for what the Republican fear mongers continue to take away from us ... our freedoms.

Unbelievable. This is how Republicans want to rule. Just take over. Not even the slightest pretense of actually following a just order or a proper procedure as an elected official. Ram it down your throat improperly. All Hail Caesar as they say, e tu?

Great post over at ThinkProgress about options Wisconsin residents have to repeal this gawd awful bill and a step-by-step process to ensure that this never happens again. It's a must read.

UPDATE 3/13/11:


It is estimated that over 100,000 protesters converged on Madison, WI yesterday.

For two years, tea party activists and their allies in the GOP have claimed that the hard-right movement represents the true beliefs of the American people. But the crowd in Madison and numerous polls tell a different story.

H/T to ThinkProgress.

"Please, sir, I want some more."

Well, it's that time again, where the Republicans in Congress are informing everyone else that unless entitlement programs are cut, they will not raise the debt ceiling, which is, of course, a must.

One really has to wonder after all these years of unpaid for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, why any American at all would say yes to cutting their own Social Security benefits, or Medicare. If this was a lesson for elementary school children, cutting defense spending would be the first and only choice. Millions and millions of people will be affected by the Republican plans. Turning America into a third world country, with despots running every state, and an oligarch in the White House, is not how I thought I'd spend my retirement years. Hell, what retirement, eh? According to the Republicans, just work longer. Easy for them to say (and many Democrats too) as they only receive government benefits on top of their million dollar fortunes that got them into Congress in the first place. Don't take their government health care away from them, just take it away from the rest of America. Let's not fund the infrastructure of America, let's give this money away to defense contractors blowing shit loads of cash in Iraq and Afghanistan for their infrastructure, which by the way, is still looking like shit despite the years and billions that have been handed over to foreign countries. Let's continue to support financially countries like Saudi Arabia and Libya, but let's not feed our own citizens. Let them die in the streets of hunger, or freeze to death in the winter because they simply do not have enough money to pay to heat their homes. How many deaths have we had so far that fit that particular scenario, eh? (And, no, I'm not Canadian, but it just seems a fit word - eh?).

People, wake up. The Horatio Alger myth is no longer an option for our young kids. There is no ability to pull yourself up from the proverbial bootstraps and make yourself wealthy. The only options are to be worker bees or be the queen bee. And since there are only a limited number of queen bees but tons and tons of worker bees, you can pretty much count yourself out of the running of queen bee. Most of Americans will never be anything more than a worker bee. And then you die, thanks to Republican (and blue dog Democratic) policies.

What I really truly do not understand is why the wealthy in America (those very, very, very few), and especially the wealthy politicians, feel the need to not share the wealth? Especially considering the Christian motif that generally surrounds those that espouse the "I am rich and you are not" policies keeping the poor in their place. It is the opposite of Christ's teachings to hoard wealth. That's common knowledge -- among everyone, even those who aren't Christian! But in God's name, and American patriotism, the rich politicians bury this country under needless debt so they can continue to hoard the money built off the backs of the rest of America. Compassion is a dirty word in politics -- when did that happen?

It's heartbreaking to see this country go down the tubes as a whole. I can't say I never imagined this happening, though. I realized back in the 1980's that the destruction of the world as we know it would be a financial meltdown, and it would start and end with the United States. People back then thought I was crazy. Hell, we were still fighting the imaginary Communist Russians and fearing the rise of power in China. Now Russia has been broken up into smaller countries, and China has more money than God, and owns most of America.

The rich have sold out this country. But that still isn't enough for them. They won't rest until this country reverts to what it was 100-200 years ago. "Please, sir, I want some more."

Get used to that phrase. And get used to the answer as well, my friends.

I'm With Assemblyman Feuer In Pressing For Open Hearings In Dependency Court

Opening the state's dependency courts is an idea that has been gaining momentum in recent years. Michael Nash, the presiding judge of Los Angeles County Juvenile Court, is a stalwart supporter, and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, which once opposed it, now favors it as well. Public employee unions, whose members might be subjected to greater scrutiny, remain wary, but they should come to see that public proceedings will help instill public confidence. Witness the case of police officers who once flinched at putting cameras in patrol cars: Today, those cameras are widely regarded as protecting good officers from false accusations. So too would open proceedings protect those social workers who deserve it.

Feuer has devoted himself to finding solutions to problems that can be addressed without new spending; the state's finances make that imperative. He's succeeded with this bill, which involves no cost to taxpayers. "Opening these proceedings to public scrutiny," he said this week, "will promote needed reforms and help safeguard children by making everyone in the system more accountable." That is true and overdue.

He gets my vote on this issue. As someone who has recently been subjected to the "dependency courts" and how they operate, it is a conundrum when compared to other aspects of the legal profession. Everything is out in the open, except in dependency courts, where shrouding everything in secrecy prohibits even cursory reviews of the propriety of DCFS' actions! My case alone has so many mistakes it makes my head spin. And as for accountability, there is none, unless (as many have urged me to do) I file suit against the agency for the poor management of the case.

From my own experience, Los Angeles County DCFS workers are not held accountable in any fashion, rightly or wrongly. The autonomy afforded these workers makes many of the ones I came into contact with act like lords over a kingdom, and we are their serfs. They even go so far as to prod you to just lie and admit to an abuse that did not occur, they try to force you to take their appointed attorney (kind of like a public defender in a criminal action), and in my case I was actually told by one social worker that it would go a long way in my daughter's case if I just simply convinced her to accept the charges. When we said no, and told them we had our own lawyers, their prejudice against me was obvious. I was denied, without proper cause, the ability to take my grandson home, even though the eventual family (after they placed the kid into a non-English speaking foster home for a week) that was appointed as the temporary home pending trial, was in a weaker position than I with regard to the requirements for such placement. Even with regard to visitation, I have been thwarted at every angle from being allowed to have visits. It is as if my grandson dropped off the face of the earth because the host family has refused to allow me to even call my grandson to talk with him. And here, I'm not even the accused! I've not been charged with anything! On the other hand, the presumptive father who has had very little to do with the child in question, was given "temporary custody" in order to make decisions on behalf of the child, and this despite the fact that HE is also an accused in this action. It boggles the mind how these people can get away with such atrocities, and I applaud assemblyman Feuer in his quest to open up dependency court hearings to the public.

Read the article in full. It's short, but to the point.

"Step, Step, Step, Step..."

Hey, today was a step by step day, with all the drama surrounding Zaire. Good to know the attorneys are doing their jobs. No comment on the failure of DCFS personnel to even use "spell check" in their documents!

Courtesy of the Crests! Enjoy.

FDA Still Ineffective

As the Food and Drug Administration considers whether to approve genetically modified salmon, one thing seems certain: Shoppers staring at fillets in the seafood department will find it tough to pick out the conventional fish from the one created with genes from another species.

Oh great! Not only can I not eat shellfish bought at any local market because I cannot tell where it came from, and I sure as hell am not going to eat anything caught in the Gulf region, now I have to deal with fake fish masquarading as genuinely caught fresh fish?

I have to tell you that the move to buying only organic not only has paid off with great tasting food, coupled with a complete sense of security about the food, my shopping bill has been less then it was at my regular standard grocery store, even though the prices at Whole Foods are much higher. First off, though, I am buying less, and as a result, throwing away much less. That has always been a problem with fresh produce -- it rots before I have time to use it all.

This weekend I found these funny looking potatoes grown by a local farmer. They were so tiny that many of them did not even need to be cut up for my beef stew I was making in the crock pot. And they were in four distinct colors -- red, purple, yellow and white. They made the stew look fabulous, not to mention the grass fed cows that the beef came from and certified as organic, was tender and tasty.

America at its best - corporate profits over America's health! If it's FDA approved, run away, run away fast!

Jury Deadlocks On 23 Counts, Find Blago Guilty Of One Count

So ..... does anyone think that Blago's high profile television campaign that aired just before the trial (think Celebrity Apprentice where Donald Trump mumbled at the end of the episode Blago was voted off, something to the tune of "I hope you beat the charges") tainted the pool across America of possible jury members?

The jury was deadlocked on 23 of the 24 counts. Deadlocked. That means that they couldn't come up with enough people that felt the prosecutor (Patrick Fitzgerald of the outing of Valerie Plame prosecution that really only got as far as getting Libby convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice) presented a coherent case.

PATRICK FUCKING FITZGERALD? The one we thought would really give us the "perp walk" we all wanted to see re kkkkkKarl Rove do?

We really are doomed. The stupid people are taking over, and no smart person has a key to the room they are escaping from.

Come on, stupid people! Do the right thing and stop being enamoured by faux famous people.

UPDATE: 8/18/10 - It appears that the jury had one renegade holdout and that the other 11 jurors were ready to convict.

"He was lucky," [John] Grover said of Blagojevich. "I hate to put it like that, but the amount of evidence that prosecution presented to us — there was so much of it. I don't see how anybody could come to any other conclusion."

FDA Smell Test Ok's Gulf BP Oil Spill Contaminated Fish

Stay on track, readers. Gulf Oil Spill. Let's not get behind the corporate controlled government and their internal organizations (FDA) that have given the "go ahead, it's ok to fish in this area, there's no oil, nothing to see here, move along" ok to Louisiana fishermen. The fishermen are not totally buying it. Me? I'm not buying any fish, period, unless I either caught it myself or I bought it live in Santa Monica at a fish market. Done.

The FDA's test for dispersant contamination? SMELLING THE FUCKING FISH. Got that? Just smelling it.

I'd compare it to enacting the “5-second-rule” on food you dropped on the grounds of Chernobyl...

This smells WAY MORE than the Cordoba House non-controversy.