KBR Wants American Taxpayers To Pay Their Fine

It figures that this disgusting company would turn around and try to stick responsibility to the American public.

More Americans need to know the truth about KBR (formerly associated with Haliburton) and the insidious secret indemnification clause in their contracts with the United States.  It is despicable.

In November, a jury found KBR, the military's largest contractor, guilty of negligence in the poisoning of a dozen soldiers, and ordered the company to pay $85 million in damages. Jurors found KBR knew both of the presence and toxicity of the chemical. Other lawsuits against KBR are pending.

KBR, however, says taxpayers should be on the hook for the verdict, as well as more than $15 million the company has spent in its failed legal defense, according to court documents and attorneys involved with the case.

It makes my blood boil to read this.

The public doesn’t know what the indemnity agreement actually says because the military considers it classified. Until recently, the veterans exposed to the toxin couldn’t know either, nor could attorneys at the Department of Justice, who were left battling the contract in the dark, according to a source there.

 This company is a joke, and yet, our government can't seem to cut ties with them. 

Another soldier, Larry Roberta, now 48, was exposed to the chemical after a gust of wind blew it into his eye and into a chicken patty he was eating. After washing his face and mouth, he tried washing the chicken, because it was the only food he had left for the day. "It tastes like a mouthful of nickels,” Roberta said. “I just kept washing my mouth and I couldn't get that taste out."

Roberta said he now requires an oxygen tank because he has less than 60 percent of his lung function and gets migraines stemming from the eye that was exposed to the chemical. He had surgery to fix the muscle at the top of his stomach that prevented food from coming back up. “I can’t throw up, I can’t even burp,” Roberta said. “You know, when you can’t burp, the air has to come out the other end, which makes me the stinky dog that nobody wants to let in the house.”

Roberta said he doesn’t think U.S. taxpayers should have to pay for KBR’s mistakes.

"The United States Army Corps of Engineers is not in the business of restoring oilfields, therefore they hired KBR as their subject expert," Roberta said. "KBR was paid a good sum of money to do a job and unfortunately it didn't get done well. … The end results were okay, but they made some mistakes along the way."

Gentry’s wife said the “bailout” fits a KBR pattern.

“Whether it’s morally, ethically or even fiscally, there was no accountability then and there is no accountability now,” LouAnn Grube Gentry told The Huffington Post. “In fact, they continue their negligence and indifference. And just as an example of that is they continue to overbill the government for the legal fees. And to me that in itself proves that they are profit-mongering and their sole motivation is profit.”

 Read Senator Wyden's letter to the Secretary of the Army here. 

Two More Shooting Sprees, And Yet We Still Can't Have A Discussion On Gun Control

Shooting spree last night in Chicago, hitting 13 19 people, shooting spree today in NYC at Empire State Building, shooting spree last week ...

What is wrong with the adults in this country, make that white old men who control all aspects of local, state and national governments, that we can't have a decent discussion on gun control, and who have undone some of the most restrictive gun control legislation in recent years.

We most certainly are becoming a third world country, where everyone is armed to the teeth, and if we don't like someone, just shoot them.

GOP, The Party Of 70 Year Old Impotent White Men

Listen and learn. Do you REALLY want this? There is a war on women. There really is a method to the madness of the impotent old white men taking over the GOP. Yes to Viagra, no to birth control. H/T to GP over at AMERICAblog.

Why Our Postal Service Suffers Needlessly

I really want to make sure that my readers understand just what the attacks on the U.S. Postal Service are about, and why they are constantly facing a default on payments they have to make, and just how those payments, exclusive of all other government entities, were forced on the Postal Service, by our Congress, in a serious attempt to eliminate out government sponsored mail service in order to replace it by a private service. (Please remember that this is a primary goal of most Republicans in office, and many of those newly elected Republican governors in 2010 have been dismantling public sector jobs and replacing them with private contractors, from schools on down to police and fire departments).

In 2006 there was a congressional mandate that the U.S. Postal Service pre-fund future retiree health benefits for the next 75 years, within a ten year period. This, of course, is not mandated for any other public agency. That amount, approximately $5.5 billion a year, $21 billion total, is exactly what is causing the financial problems within the postal service.

Take a moment to digest that. Congress mandated the USPS to PREPAY retirement benefits FOR THE NEXT 75 YEARS WITHIN A TEN YEAR PERIOD! This is/was absurd. Can you imagine if you or your company (let alone any other government institution) was required to pay ahead of time 75 fucking years worth of proposed retirement benefits, and to pay that amount (75 years) in 10 years?

This is why the postal service is going broke. Please support the American Postal Workers Union.

One Family's Wealth Equivalent To 42% Of All Americans - Can You Guess Who They Are?

Staggering thought for the day.

"Sam and James "Bud" Walton now possess total wealth equivalent to 49 million American families, 42 percent of the total."

Let's See ... Caterpillar's CEO Made $17 Million Last Year, But The $25 Per Hour Worker Is Being Asked To Agree To A Six Year Wage And Pension Freeze?

I've been reading of late about the union vs. Caterpillar strike. According to Think Progress, Caterpillar made a $4.9 BILLION dollar profit last year, and paid its CEO a 60% increase in salary, etc. ($17 million), yet it is asking its workers to agree to a six year SALARY FREEZE, AND PENSION FREEZE, among other things!

Their rationalization for this is that they already pay their workers "above market rates" (that translates to paying about $25 per hour). According to Think Progress, the "above market rate" workers would have to work 244 YEARS to make what Caterpillar's CEO made last year.

How about some trickle down economics here, Caterpillar?

What is sickening about these corporations today is they aren't even afraid to put this shit out there! Yeah, the guy making $25 an hour can really compete and afford to live the lifestyle of the CEO! Freeze that $25 per hour, and freeze the pension payments for the next six years so the CEO can make more $17 million in compensation over that same period of time (and probably more).

All I can hope is that the union hangs in there.

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.

4 Dead In Ohio - 1970

John Filo's iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Mary Ann Vecchio, a fourteen-year-old runaway, kneeling in anguish over the body of Jeffrey Miller minutes after he was shot by the Ohio National Guard. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

I've blogged a couple of times about this event, here and here.

As noted in my prior postings, this was a pivotal moment in my life. I was a senior in high school, and after that event, I remember arranging for the cake for our senior party, long flat one with a mound, where we put on plastic toy soldiers with guns, and then on the flat part, we had little plastic people placed face down and in other positions indicating having been "shot."

Ohio, CSNY

Mitt Romney Is A Punk Ass Liar

I really couldn't say this better than karoli over at Crooks and Liars:

Today's picture concerns the auto bailouts and Romney's role in them. Mr. Fehrnstrom would like you to forget the title of Romney's 2008 op-ed, calling to "let Detroit go bankrupt." Or his 2012 op-ed, where he reiterated his 2008 stance.

But if you don't remember those, maybe you remember the primary debates, where he sneered at the bailouts (begun under George W. Bush, by the way) as a "giveaway to the UAW." If you don't, just watch the video at the top of the page.

Today we have the New and Improved Mitt Romney position on the auto bailout, courtesy of Fehrnstrom, via The Hill:

One of Mitt Romney's top advisers said Saturday that President Obama's decision to bailout Chrysler and General Motors was actually Romney's idea.

"[Romney's] position on the bailout was exactly what President Obama followed. I know it infuriates them to hear that," Eric Fehrnstrom, senior adviser to the Romney campaign, said.

"The only economic success that President Obama has had is because he followed Mitt Romney's advice."
[...]

"The fact that the auto companies today are profitable is because they've shed costs," Fehronstrom said. "The reason they shed those costs and have got their employee labor contracts less expensive is because they went through that managed bankruptcy process. It is exactly what Mitt Romney told them to do."

Welcome to the 2012 general election campaign, where up is down, right is left, wrong is right, and whatever you said yesterday is yesterday's truth because today is a new day with a new truth. This is the cynical Romney campaign at it's lying-est best.

This is an outright lie, and it wasn't Fehrnstrom going off the reservation. It was planned, it relies upon a gullible and uninformed public to accept the lie as truth because memories are too short to remember yesterday and for the most part, the part of the press that reaches the most viewers hasn't bothered to actually call a lie a lie or to pull them up short on any of the lies they've told, so why not?

This is what is infuriating so many people today. There simply is no restraint whatsoever on the aspect of telling lies. And it's not just limited to the political arena. It has permeated into the very fabric of our society, encouraging people to get what they want (or out of what they don't want) by lying. There are no consequences anymore.

I see it all the time in my job, with lawyers just making up shit. I keep asking myself "when did this become the habitual practice?" Lawyer jokes notwithstanding, many actually were, back in the "day" very good at speaking the truth to the lies. As a society, we have embarrassed ourselves into sinking so low that "he said/she said" is good enough to pass the smell test.

Got My Blog Back, But It Cost Me $3.00

Yeah, that's right.  Google actually charged me $3 to get it back.  And, on top of that, they tried to take an extra $1 out of my credit card, which I, of course, demanded they put back.  Asstwits.  Finally, though, I got the blog back.  Actually, I couldn't care less about this blog. But having the YouTube disappear was not what I anticipated.  More than likely, I will create a different type of blog on a different server, and just leave this one dormant for reference.  As far as I am concerned, Google sucks, and I am not going to be told how I can post or be forced to have to deal with Google's idea of "changes" that are supposed to "enhance" the experience.   Fuck them.  Look for me coming soon on a different network, with a different name, and a different style.

"Oh My God, Not The Secret Service, Damn It"

Uh, where were you when there was outrage over the Bush era criminal activities?

President Barack Obama, speaking for the first time about allegations that Secret Service agents hired prostitutes, said Sunday that "of course I'll be angry" if those accusations are proven true by an investigation.

Obama said the agents represent the United States and are supposed to conduct themselves with the highest levels of dignity anywhere in the world. "Obviously, what's been reported doesn't match up to those standards," Obama said in a news conference wrapping his appearance at a Latin America summit.

Ah, the faux outrage!

NRA's New Concealed Gun Hoodie

I haven't blogged at all about the Trayvon Martin killing. There are so many senseless murders of people of color that go on daily, that not all of them rise to the level of media prominence that this particular murder has.

But the "hoodie" aspect of this is just bullshit. First off, disgraced, stupid, ignorant and basically a very bad reporter, Geraldo Rivera's comments about the "hoodie" being "responsible" for Trayvon's death just proves my theory about the stupid people.

But I finally had to weigh in on the NRA's adopting a "hoodie with a gun pouch" as shown above.

“We want concealed carry to fit around your lifestyle — not the other way around. That’s why we developed the NRAstore exclusive Concealed Carry Hooded Sweatshirt."

I am beginning to seriously think about buying a gun, but no bullets, just so I can confuse the shit out of many people. The "open carry" laws just piss me off enough that if I could pull it off, I'd plop my gun at my local bar just for the sheer shock value. I'll probably get killed, but hey, what a way to go, eh?

Berkely Man Dies Because Police On Standby For Possible Occupy Protests And Refuse To Respond To His Calls For Help

Lest anyone think that the Occupy movement has gone silent, this tidbit should be of interest.

A Berkeley, California, man is dead and some residents say it's because police were focused on an Occupy march. Peter Cukor made a non-emergency call to police last Saturday night to report a suspicious man hanging around his home. He was told police were only responding to emergency calls because the department's officers were on standby to monitor an Occupy Oakland march to the UC Berkeley campus. Cukor walked to a nearby fire station for help and was beaten to death as he returned home. The suspect in custody Daniel DeWitt has a history of mental illness. An Occupy Oakland representative says people should be furious over Cukor's killing. He said Berkeley police officials made monitoring a non-violent march a higher priority than responding to what turned into a deadly crime.

(Copyright 2012 by VERTEXNews/Newsroom Solutions)

So, the police department in Berkeley is more concerned about what may happen with respect to a bunch of protestors, and are too busy concentrating on what may happen, to actually be effective and do their job when someone reports a suspicious person trying to get into your home.

Need I point out that police, who have unions, are part of the Republican strategy of eliminating collective bargaining, which is but one of the things the Occupy movement is concerned with. Although many police unions have been given the opportunity to be "exempt" from the right to work laws enacted as of recent in many states, and the stripping down of the collective bargaining powers of government employees, it is still distasteful to me that the police side on the part of protecting the 1% when, in fact, the police are part of the 99% across the board.

Planned Parenthood's Donations Up Since Susan G. Komen (think "pink") Organization's Decision To Defund PP

UPDATE: 2/7/12:

Karen Handel resigns from Komen for the Cure:

Karen Handel, the former GOP candidate for governor, just announced her resignation as a senior vice president for public policy of Susan G. Komen for the Cure – one week after the breast cancer charity reversed itself on a decision to sever financial ties with Planned Parenthood.

Read her letter of resignation here. The bitch is so full of herself, and you can tell. This story just keeps getting better and better. Not quite full blow red in the face yet, but enough pink to see it coming!

-------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: 2/3/12

Did SGK just blink? (H/T to Crooks and Liars)

We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives.

The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.

Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.

Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.

Well, according to that statement (and a post at AMERICAblog), SGK isn't really backing down, because the grants already approved for PP will still go through, despite their decision not to give any MORE grants. And the statement above does not change that. SGK is STILL reserving the right not to approve any future grants.

So, we have SGK first saying they will no longer fund PP because it is under "investigation." Then last night on their website, they claim it wasn't because they were under investigation, but because PP uses what is termed "pass through" grants, i.e., allegedly PP does not do direct mammograms, but "refers" them out (not sure if that is entirely true of the all of PP locations). And now, today, they change the story again and say that they have revised their internal rules so that any refusal based on any investigations will have to be a "criminal" and credible investigation.

Keep stepping in the doo doo. The smell is going to take a long time to go away, and those pink ribbons are not looking so hot right now.

----------------------------------------------

Unbelievable! All the press action today over the Susan G. Komen's organization's decision to defund Planned Parenthood!

First, in case you do not know what the SGK Organization is famous for, think "pink," as in breast cancer awareness PINK. Didn't we just have to go through a month of watching NFL players wear pink shoes, gloves and towels, etc. in support of SKG? And what about the "Race For The Cure" that SGK sponsor's annually? Guess you won't see too many liberals, dems and independents supporting SGK, wear pink ribbons, eat Yoplait yogurt, or sign up and/or donate to the Race.

And now that there are serious concerns as to whether the Race for the Cure and its founder are simply an arm of the anti-abortion wing of the Republican party, it's hard to imagine any Democrats or Independents wanting to be a part of that fundraiser any more - unless of course it's to protest it.

Let this be a case study in how to destroy an amazing brand in just 24 hours.

On the upside, Planned Parenthood received upwards of $400,000 today since the news of SGK's decision to defund breast cancer screenings.

This is all to say that perhaps the Planned Parenthood decision isn't all that big of a surprise, given the politics of people involved with Komen. The flap might end up benefiting Planned Parenthood in the end, however. The group has raised more than $400,000 since the news broke, a spokesman said Wednesday afternoon.

UPDATE:

It appears that a couple of SGK statewide affiliates are breaking ranks with the main SGK organization and will continue to support Planned Parenthood.

While the national Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation announced its organization will no longer partner with Planned Parenthood, the group’s local affiliate in Denver is breaking from the rest of the Komen organization. The Denver affiliate announced today that the national organization granted it an exception to continue funding Planned Parenthood.

[snip]

The Connecticut affiliate withdrew its support for the national Susan G. Komen organization, and the group wrote on its Facebook page that it enjoys a great partnership with Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. “We understand, and share, in the frustration around this situation,” the group wrote.

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.

Dear GOP Candidates: Do You Really Believe That Americans That Don't Have Insurance Should Just Die?

Powerful video.

Anyone Contact You Lately To Discuss Your Prescription Buying Habits?

I once got a telephone call from a "survey" company that concerned my "prescription" drug purchases. Now, I really only have two prescriptions, one for my blood pressure, and one for relief of stress. But, I was rather surprised that this company knew my information, what drugs I took and where I purchased them from. I was aghast that my personal medical history was out there for others to pick at.

Seems I am not alone (subscription required for full reading):

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Vermont law that barred the sale of doctors' prescription data to drug companies, ruling the law interfered with the pharmaceutical industry's First Amendment right to market its products.

Data companies such as IMS Health Inc. gather information from pharmacies about which medicines doctors are prescribing and ...

Unemployed Need Not Apply - New Business Mantra

Sadly, this is the new craze in hiring. Ain't American business just grand?

Hundreds of job opening listings posted on Monster.com and other jobs sites explicitly state that people who are unemployed would be less attractive applicants, with some telling the long-term unemployed to not even bother with applying.

I'd bang my head on the keyboard, but I gave that up a long time ago (got a strong head, and I really like my keyboard!)

Debt Ceiling Crisis - The Smell Of Mendacity

I don't know about the rest of you guys out there, but the themes of late by the Republicans and Democrats with regard to the so called debt ceiling crisis are disturbing to watch being played out.

I am one of the fortunate workers here in America that still has a job. Although, every month, it's a job that just barely survives. I can't believe the headache just meeting payroll every month, my boss endures. We don't close up because there are still clients we service, and we do get paid ... just not timely, but that's the economy, stupid, as they say.

How long this can go on, I don't know. As I approach 60, I can't imagine not having a job, yet I also have never imagined that I would be reliant on Social Security or any medical assistance in my "old age" as it were.

However, millions of Americans DO rely on SS, Medicare, and other forms of assistance. They PAID for it, and I am tired of the Government (both sides, and anyone else in between) trying to tell the American public that SS is NOT an American entitlement.

It's not the American public's fault that our government has used the SS trust as a giant free for all piggy bank. It's not the American public's fault that since 9/11, big corporate monied interests have dictated the pillaging of all forms of public funds. We, the people, did not ask for an invasion of Iraq. We the people, did not vote for handing off trillions of dollars to foreign countries while millions here at home go unemployed, are hungry and homeless.

The gutting of American's safety net, coupled with the dishonest corporate greed of the Republican wave of governors throughout the United States, makes it very clear there is a class war going on. The debt ceiling so called crisis is but one clog in the overall dismantling of what was an America I grew up knowing. Today's America barely resembles the country I came of age in.

I am unaffected now. Don't know how long I will remain unaffected. It's bad enough just to watch the dollar signs at the gas pump arbitrarily go up and down while watching everything else, like food prices, transit fees, just go up, up and up. Even rent, although mine seems to have topped out and there have been no increases in the past five years. But I do notice each time a unit in my building is vacated, the rental price increases for the new tenant, such that the singles that are rather small are going for more than my 1,400 sq. foot one bedroom! And it's too bad, too, because aside from a handful of us in this building that have been here for a while, the newer tenants only manage to stay a few months and then leave -- it is obviously too expensive.

I'm also lucky that I can use mass transit, which helps out a lot in that I do not pay for gas, insurance, repairs or parking. If I had a car, I probably could not make it every month on what I am paid. I made a lifestyle choice when I gave up my driver's license a few years back, and opted for a state ID instead. Getting rid of my car was one of the best decisions I have made financially.

So, as the President and Congress have their little tug-o-war over what to give and what to take during this debt ceiling made up crisis, I, like the rest of America, sit on the sidelines and just shake my head. I can't for the life of me figure out who these people are in Washington, and how the hell they got there. If this is any sign of the future of this country, where we, the people, actually don't count anymore, and they, the corporations, have more sway over our government, pretty soon we will find ourselves not even having elections because who we want elected and what we want done by those elected, won't be an option.

Jobs, not the debt of this country, is what we Americans wanted our politicians in Washington to tackle. In fact, we thought we had it in the bag when we elected a full slate of Democrats across this nation that espoused "change" as the mantra. We blogs were patting our collective selves on the back, great work, etc. Now we sit practically powerless as corporate money pushes us back into our "basement" offices, and our voices slowly but methodically being silenced by greed, avarice and to quote "Big Daddy," the smell of mendacity.

Police Arresting People For Dancing At Jefferson Memorial

Wow, this is pretty awful to watch. I don't know if it was a flash mob that went wrong or never got off the ground, but seriously, folks, arresting people at the Jefferson Memorial for dancing?

How much more bizarre does this country have to get for Americans to realize the magnitude of civil liberties that have been slowly taken away from us? Dancing? I think I need to put on the movie "Footloose." I thought we had progressed from that attitude, but now I find out that "dancing" in the eyes of D.C. police is "protesting!"