June 30, 2010 .... the END of unemployment benefits!

Well, today's vote was 58-38 -- a TWENTY VOTE margin for the love of a duck! And in favor of helping the little guy along for a while too! But, of course, it takes a 60 vote majority to overcome a filibuster ... and Senator Robert Byrd passed on to Glory a week too soon. His passing (plus the earlier demise of Senator Ted Kennedy) left "only" 58 Democrats, thanks to Mr. Lieberman's switcharoobob to protect the Insurance and Banking fat cats in Connecticut.

The fat cats kept the single-payer option out of the Health Care Reform Bill (Lieberman again!) and managed to stop Financial Reform (umm ... Lieberman again!) ... while letting the Estate Tax lapse for another year and maintaining the high salaries of medical doctors who treat Medicare/Medicaid patients.

And using the deficit as an excuse is as silly as was the Iraq (and Afghanistan) War(s) that built the deficit in the first place--along with a badly timed tax cut for the wealthy. Of course the amendment to increase the tax (back to what it was) for those earning more than $200,000 per year went down to ... (what else?) ... another filibuster.

And yes, they were behind the lawsuit that allowed a judge to override Obama's moratorium on deep water off-shore drilling ... simply to give us six months to examine the safety of such silliness. Rep. Joe Barton's now famous apology to BP for our even suggesting that they set aside $20B for the (non-billionaire oilmen) Louisianans, Mississippians and Alabamans who are suffering while that insufferable leak continues to blacken the Gulf of Mexico.

You'd almost think that those two oilmen, What's-His-Face and his sidekick, were still front and center, wouldn't you? How long was it anyway since "Mission Accomplished" ... or since we allowed Osama bin Laden to slip through our hands at Tora-Bora?

It's Later Than You Think!!

Production Peaks for any Non-renewable Resource Generally Lag Discovery Peaks by No More than Three Decades! We're Already on Borrowed Time, Wouldn't You Think?

With demand for oil continuing to increase while production is on the decrease, serious consequences are certain to be very few years--if not months--ahead. I would strongly recommend picking up Michael Ruppert's video as a sure means for erasing "manic" from manic-depressive. Click on this link to Amazon.com's description of the video and pull out your credit card.

Democrat or Republican? ... It doesn't really matter, does it? Corporate Interests will be protected till Hell Freezes Over!

My goodness! The Senate Republicans seem to have all the might of a Rocky Balboa and a 10.6 magnitude earthquake combined when the interests of corporations are even mildly threatened (spelled: Single Provider Health Care, BP providing a slush fund, extension of unemployment benefits--that one hits home for me, or even raising taxes on those who are making millions on their game-playing with the Stock Market to curb rising deficits).

Still a vote for a Democrat is probably slightly better than a vote for a Republican ... or Joe Lieberman (I, Conn) and Ben Nelson (D. Neb) who joined in the latest filibuster of some help for those of us who are unemployed and (currently) unemployable.

Without the extension, more than a million of us will be off of the unemployment rolls come July 1st. But then, yacht races and oil prices/production will continue to be safe ... for a short while, anyway.

The Faces of Corporate Greed

The faces of capitalistic greed as I see them this week: BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg (center) with his predecessor Peter Sutherland (left) and BP chief executive Tony Hayward--who, incidentally, stated earlier this month that he wants his "life back" and then went to the yacht races in England this weekend to commemorate his "life" after putting Carl-Hendric Svanberg's "small people" behind him

BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, after this week's meeting with President Obama, provided the most recent BP gaffe: "We care about the small people!"

But, if that wasn't bad enough, America's own Republican Congressman Joe Barton apologized to Hayward for the "tragedy" ... not of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, but of Barack Obama asking BP to pay back the "small people" referred to by Svanberg ... for their losses.

Barton's comments typify in general the Republican party mindset vis-a-vis their priorities toward the average American "entities": corporations first, people second or maybe a distant sixth behind Wall Street derivatives, Dick Cheney's hunting trophies, their guns and, of course, their own puppies and kitties--puppies grow into hunting dogs--kitties don't, which explains that minor sub-ordering among the fifth priority--just above you and me, the "small people."

Think about it next time you vote!


Corporate Greed Representative Joe Barton (R. Tex.), just the type person for whom you would likely be voting--if you choose the Republican candidate!

It may be a little late to congratulate Scott Brown and his taking away our filibuster-proof Senate ... but ...

... the Republican filibuster on the unemployment extension is simply SELFISH!! (Excuse me for yelling.)



Simply put, I've been unemployed for almost a year and I have applied for so many jobs that I lost count. I've had dozens of interviews but I am either underqualified (true, in most cases), overqualified (really?) or simply too old--although no one ever says THAT to my face. And the extension we're asking for is absolutely NOT welfare—although I could care less what the Republicans might wish to call it. I worked for 50-plus years and paid taxes -- including unemployment insurance taxes --during almost all those years. Call it welfare if you like, but if I hear one more fat-cat Republican talking head on Fox Cable News tell me I am drawing welfare, I ... I will ...

... sick Hillary Clinton on them! ...

Alvin Greene -- He needs our love, forgiveness and prayers -- maybe we are witnessing a Godwink, eh, Nephew John?

Alvin Greene, South Carolina's peculiar pick as the Democrat's nominee for the U.S. Senate

Watching Keith Olbermann (MSNBC's version of a Pit Bull) belittle and in all possible ways demean the inarticulate Alvin Greene on Wednesday night made my heart bleed for Alvin Greene. Yes, he may well have been a "plant" put into the Democrat Primary by misguided Republicans to "mess things up a little," but I only saw a Child of God in need of my love and His Grace, plus Mr. Greene's contrition and repentance for what seemingly were inappropriate past activities ... and a recognition that absolutely nothing--ABSOLUTELY NOTHING--happens in this world without God's permission.

For the record, Alvin Greene is an unemployed 32-year-old black Army veteran with no campaign funds, no signs, and no website. He even faces felony charges for inappropriate advances made to a USC sophomore using sexually explicit images on the screen of his computer--several dozen such images, according to the charges.

He nevertheless shocked South Carolina on last Tuesday night by winning the Democratic Senate primary to oppose Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) come November. The young, imperfect and slow-on-the-pickup African American currently lives in his family's (father's) home. He defeated Vic Rawl, a former judge and state legislator who had a $186,000 campaign warchest and had already planned his next fundraising event.

Most agreed that he won the nomination because Alvin begins with the letter "A" and his name was at the top of the Democrat Ballot.

Despite the odds, Greene, who has been unemployed for the past nine months, said that he wasn't surprised by his victory. For public dissemination, he said:

"I wasn’t surprised ... but not really. I mean ... just a little ... but not much. I knew I was on top of my campaign ... and just stayed on top of everything ... I just ... I wasn't surprised that much ... just a little. I knew that I worked hard ... and did!"

Jesus works in mysterious ways.

My own life is testimony to that incontrovertible fact. Welcome to the club, Alvin; my prayers for you are from the heart.

Latest news! Coast Guard personnel are denying reporters access to taking photos of the oil-soaked birds ... to protect the birds!

A brown pelican coated in heavy oil tries to take flight on East Grand Terre Island, Louisiana.(McNamee/Getty Images) ... Do I seem overly fixated on the sad plight of the various speces of birds (and other wildlife)? Am I just a tree and animal hugging jerk?

Money talks! BO#1 (Barack Obama) is simply another American President controlled by BO#2 (Big Oil) and corporate dollars. Admittedly, not quite as bad as most of the Congressional Republicans, but tell that to the birds. Barack Obama's "leadership" in denying reporters access to the stomach-wrenching and tear-inducing sights and sounds of the Gulf coast is simply ... noted. Transparency is clearly "through a glass darkly."

Once this calms down, BO#Wan-Kinobi will allow drilling off the East Coast, the West Coast, the Gulf of Mexico and pretty much anywhere BO#2 (Big Oil) and Corporate America (and their Congressional Republican sycophants) want it.

How much longer before we (who are showing little inclination to stop BO#1 or BO#2) will have destroyed what is left of the Planet? The scenes on CNN and MSNBC Cable News broadcasts demonstrates that the Gulf of Mexico is little more than a cesspool today.

At least Fox Cable News [sic] has slightly less obnoxious (than photos of oil-soaked birds) talking heads like their #1 clown, Glenn Beck, and/or their #1 Nazi, Sean Hannity, carefully masking what’s going on south of Louisiana.

Bo's Cafe: It's all about Him!

Take a chance; read it!

This is a book that will hardly win a prize in literature. But, for many of you, I think, it just might hit home. Let me quote a few lines from the book:

"Doesn't matter how competent, intelligent, or accomplished you are [or think you are!] You've got it [shame] tucked away in there. And nobody can cope for any period of time with the feeling of that nakedness. You know what shame does? It takes a particular violation or several violations from your past, something that really got to you, and convinces you [that what you] felt like in that violation is who you'll always be, for the rest of your life. Sad,huh? --- We don't want others to see us for the person the lie has told us we are. We almost unconsciously create a lie to protect us from the lie. Bad combination." (pp.146-147). (emphasis mine)

It takes great strength for me to realize that the Greatest Man Who Ever Lived took more than my sins and guilt with Him to His death on the cross. My shame was nailed up there too ... almost 2000 years before I was even born, but I can forget that in a nanosecond if I allow myself to forget.

He [Jesus] essentially said,

"I took your shame for you two thousand years ago. And I won the right to have it never, ever again define you. It doesn't belong to you anymore. It's over. That's the truth. (p. 151)"

Why can't I remember that simple, but profound truth?

Anthony Van Dyck's Crucifixion

Will we ever know the true cost to humanity?

Like half of America--and maybe the world--I saw the CEO of BP on the news. He probably didn't know he was being recorded when he said "I can't wait to just get my life back". The bird above and the 11 workers who died on that rig can't get their real lives back.

A cap on the cost to BP? $2.5 trillion seems too small. Can the Department of Energy simply take BP's assets and any other Big Oil companies' assets--those who believe that the Gulf of Mexico and oceans worldwide belong to them?

Tell me how we are making progress as Gulf Coast governors and senators still insist that Obama's moratorium on off-coast drilling should be ended!

A bird is mired in oil on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast on Thursday, June 3, 2010. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon has affected wildlife throughout the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
I think I've had it with the nincompoops who insist that off-shore drilling makes sense!

e.g, Nincompoop Rush Limbaugh: "I'd rather have my birds soaking up a little crude than being completely blown out of the sky by a wind farm"

Even with great notes (written and edited by BP), there's no way to fully explain the oil spill and subsequent disaster on the coastline ...

Stand-in for BO Attempts to Erase What Appeared Earlier to be a Complete Whitewash of BP's Failed Efforts and Attempts to Reduce its Liabilities vis-a-vis the Disaster in the Gulf

LMRP Containment System at work now ... about as successful as Top Hat, Top Kill and Cut-and-Cap, I'd say ...

Lowe Marine Riser Package (LMRP) Containment System at work [sic]

Taken from the BP Oil Spill Live Feed – The success of the Lowe Marine Riser Package (LMRP) Containment System was earlier being lauded by the BP officials--even as the spill looked like the above on CNN in the middle of the night with Sanjay Gupta open-mouthed and disbelieving. They said that we can all expect within one or two days that the transfer of oil to the LMRP containment system would be stabilized, however, they are still unsure as to the actual capacity of this Containment System.

Lord, love a duck!

My suggestions to Mr. Obama still stand although I'd recommend also that Mr. Obama move Hillary from the State Department and put her in charge of BP's lame (to date) efforts to save the entire Gulf Coastline and perhaps the Eastern Seaboard. She'd have those billionaires skimming oil off the surface of the water and sand in about 30 nanoseconds.

Say it ain't so, Al and Tipper!

Al and Tipper Gore (taken before this week) ... I truly felt a pit in my stomach when I heard the news that they were separating after forty years ...