A Mischievous Question ...

Who hates the United States Government More ... Al Qaeda or the Tea Party?

Although I have to admit (unashamedly!) that I have already mailed in my vote for Patty Murray to continue to be the senior U.S. Senator from the State of Washington, I must say that Dino Rossi (her Republican opponent up here) can at least be proud of the fact that he wasn't endorsed by Sarah Palin, the former "half-governor" of Alaska who spent most of her time in Alaska trying to see Russia from her back yard ... and her Tea Party menagerie (see not-so-funny cartoon above) for the primary election.

But at this time in our history, I think it's critically important to keep the House and the Senate in the control of the Democratic Party. In a perfect world, the Senate would become filibuster proof a week and a day from now with sixty Democrats. Then again, in a perfect world, Al Gore would have been our 43rd President and there might never have been a 9-11.

Al-Qaeda and the extreme right wing of the Republican Party have sure mucked us up, wouldn't you agree?

But surely, without that [delete four-letter word] Filibuster, Congress could get jobs bills passed, give corporations huge tax breaks to keep jobs in America, pass a fair tax bill which would eliminate the Bush tax cuts for the very wealthy and just try to keep up with the rest of the industrialized world.

Unfortunately the Republicans in the Senate have decided to abuse the filibuster rule in the same way a typical teenager uses the home phone for hours on end or use the family car to bus their friends to a football game in the next county (without mentioning it to the rest of the family).

Would you believe that even when President Obama and the Democrats in both Houses of Congress tried to incorporate some of the Republican's own ideas, they were summarily filibustered? Are the Republicans in Congress afraid of what the Tea Partiers and Al-Qaeda might say if the majority party in both Houses of Congress and the White House actually--oh, just for the sake of argument--were allowed to be a part of the governing process?

A great test might be for Obama and the Democrats to spoof the Tea Partiers and Al-Qaeda by pushing for an omnibus bill to eliminate Social Security, the IRS and the Department of Education while funding the building of (again, only for the sake of argument) a two hundred feet tall and fifty feet thick concrete wall around the entire Middle East--and our southern border, of course ... and while they're at it, include in the omnibus bill the unnecessary rebuilding of our Armed Forces to, say, twenty million strong while tripling our nuclear arsenal ... and maybe even rounding up (for summarily being deported to the South Pole) the estimated twenty million illegal immigrants working for patriotic American corporations and other wealthy Americans.

Would the Tea Partiers in Congress still say, "NO!" in lock step to such obvious Tea Party ideas?

What Al-Qaeda might do or say is left as a moot question.

Which brings us back to the mischievous question just below the still-not-so-funny cartoon above!


Which is which?

Another "Oops!" Moment for Christine O'Donnell

Christine O'Donnell within a couple of nanoseconds after her debate on Monday night -- and after having heard her handler read the Wikipedia item below to her verbatim!

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law "respecting an establishment of religion", impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances. The amendment is also interpreted as the constitutional origin of the separation of church and state as interpreted by the Supreme Court of the United States.

Jesus cheering at the prospect of a Republican/Tea Party avalanche on November 2nd

Jesus cheering at the prospect of a Republican/Tea Party avalanche on November 2nd

Are Republicans expected to support electing someone for their state's next Senator or their district's Member of the US House of Representatives in two and a half weeks ... who support free help for the poor, free care for the sick, redistribution of wealth (gasp), and someone who will turn the other cheek when attacked?

Hell no! (Excuse my English.)

Why? Because those are all “Socialist” ideas and “Muslim” things. Why ... they're radical to the core.

But for some of the "Christians" among you, let those of us who can think be reminded that all of those ideas (and very words) come directly from the words of Jesus in the New Testament of the Bible.

Interestingly, Republicans attack anyone who supports these things as “radical, liberal, socialist, big government” politicians who will destroy our country. (When did "liberal" or "socialist" become four-letter words?)

But isn’t it the Republicans who always flaunt their Christianity? Aren't they the folks who know of secret Government labs wherein reside mice with fully developed and functioning human brains, thanks to stem cell research--another vulgar and unchristian phrase? How could they be so far away from the teachings of Jesus? Have they even ever read more than ten pages from the New Testament Books of their precious Bibles?

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus condemns those who refused to help the poor, heal the sick, clothe the naked and house the homeless, all of which Republicans proudly stand against, because they don’t want a “welfare state.”

If you’re a good Christian, don’t vote Republican, because they stand against Jesus’ words.

And if you're not a Christian, don't vote Republican because they stand against your belief systems too. They attack goodness and compassion and stand against those from whom most of the largest corporations and corporate interests in America would steal to the point of creating hunger, disease, nakedness, homelessness and overall poverty among them.

I realize that not all Republicans are evil; many are simply misinformed and duped by scary words like "socialism," "atheist," "radical," and "big (spoken with a low growl) government." For those among you who are Republican and generally nice folks, I recommend reading The Help--a really good novel--on November 2nd,

For your viewing and edification, I suggest Capitalism: A Love Story, produced by Michael Moore and available in DVD.

With three weeks to go ... this is the only hope for a renewal in America!

FDR, LBJ and BHO -- An opportunity for Barack Obama to insure a continuation of America's historical evolution towards Universal Fairness for all!

A second Economic Bill of Rights was added to FDR's 1944 State of the Union Address--it was filmed and added to his radio address. In Michael Moore's superb documentary, "Capitalism: A Love Story", he (MM) revealed that Japan, Italy, and Germany all have this Second Bill of Rights as part of their rebuilt governments' constitutions--all written after World War II.

Obviously we here in America are still waiting ...

I highly recommend the documentary--as I would any of Michael Moore's films over the past few years. I only saw this one this evening when I found it in a box of DVDs behind my bed. In any event, these are the highlights of Franklyn Roosevelt's "Second Bill Of Rights":

"A Second Bill of Rights"

Every citizen has the right to:

1. A job with a living wage (Universal Employment)
2. Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies (Universal Job and Wage Fairness)
3. A home (Universal Proper Habitation)
4. Medical care (Universal Health Care)
5. Training or Education (Universal Education)
6. One Month Vacation per Year (Universal Recreation)

A powerfully delivered speech by Barack Obama between now and November 2nd would end all talk of a Republican demolition of the Democrats on what I believe could very well be a historic date.

John Raese and Rush Limbaugh meet ... WHERE?

The meeting place of two of the guys who matter in the GOP--at least between now and November 2nd

Rush Limabaugh happened to mention the following on his radio show yesterday as a (sort of) endorsement of John Raese for US Senator in West Virginia:

"I happen to know John Raese; He is a part-time resident here in Palm Beach and he has a locker right across the ... right across the bench from me at a prominent local club. I've never played golf with him, but I've met him."

Rush Limbaugh aside, I can not believe the people of West Virginia, many of whom I knew while serving as a civilian scientist for the US Air Force, would elect someone as power hungry as is John Raese. He obviously has no love for the state or he would live there at least more than half-time--he averages four months each year in West Virginia and eight months at his mansion in Florida. He just wants the power and prestige that a seat in the Senate would give him--but wants to enjoy and spend his money in his Florida home.

I have always regarded West Virginians as "salt of the earth people" with basic ideals related to their homes and families. Many of the most down-to-earth and genuine folks I've known were from West Virginia.

I hope I am not wrong.

(At least I heard no mention of encounters in the shower in the audio clip of Rush's radio show played on cable TV.)

Endorsee John Raese ... the benefactor of Rush's "endorsement"Endorser Rush Limbaugh

Besides not recalling a Supreme Court case with which she disagreed, Christine O'Donnell was a little vague about her Top Secret "China plans" info.

Christine O'Donnell trying to recall a recent Supreme Court case with which she disagreed

Every Democrat's favorite Delawackoh (Republican Senatorial candidate for Delaware), Christine O’Donnell, had some--not surprisingly--vague and yet still dingbatty things to say about China during the debate she took part in last evening.

Of course, she declined to name her informants and this brings us to an incredible point: Having had a TS-plus codeword clearance some years ago, I know how difficult clearances at such high levels--this is Strategic Information, not Tactical, after all--are to come by. Thus, either the Bush Administration committed a serious criminal act (likely Carl Rove) in letting her peek at the classified information or (more likely) she is out-and-out making crapeeola up on the fly.

Either way, a criminal investigation should be begun immediately and Rove, Bush and Cheney should be subpoenaed quickly before Christine O'Donnell goes even further and discloses where the mice with fully functioning human brains are being hidden by our Government in Top Secret laboratories.

As for Christine O'Donnell's releasing the classified information on China, stem cell research and a super-top-secret manned expedition to the sun, she could easily be declared incompetent to have even vaguely realized the nature of her crimes and put in an asylum or perhaps a dog sled in, say, Alaska ... under the care of Todd Palin (Sarah's far more interesting other half).

(I must honestly admit that Christine did a credible job of appearing "normal" throughout most of the debate and has at least promised answers to the questions that sailed over her head--most of them--on her website sometime today.* And she was/is certainly better looking than Chris Coons, the Democrat who is running against her, and remembered her talking points in a noteworthy manner.)

We'll see!

* Nothing new on her website two days later!

You can tell your friends that you read it on Mediawingnuts first. Yes, Sarah Palin will run!

Sarah will at least try in 2012 and be at the head of the GOP ticket by 2016!

When I first saw Sarah Palin along with most of you in August 2008, we all (admit it!) scratched our heads and thought to ourselves, "Sarah who?" Since then, she's gone on to become the most recognizable female face on TV, and even has some half-respectable credits to her name (heroine of Tea Party, author, etc.)--once she quit her day job.

So today, when it comes to Palin, the question on most of our minds is, "Will she or won't she?" The Tea Party continues to build momentum and has positioned Republicans to possibly decimate the Democrats in Congress--if not win both houses--in November, largely as a result of her timely endorsements. Let's hope that common sense prevails and that the Democrats will at least maintain "control" (or what seems like control) of the Senate.

But November results aside, as of today (October 6, 2010), I hereby predict that the second dizziest broad in politics (no one can beat Christine O'Dumbell in Delaware for that honor) will be in the race to be the Republican nominee for President in 2012--and will at least be second on the ticket then. To give the Republican Party an air of credibility [sic], she will likely either allow a Mormon (Glenn Beck or Mitt Romney--you pick!) to run with her at the head of the ticket--or select one of them to run with her, if she beats them in the primaries.

The primaries will be a tussle, but I think her rabid followers will either beat off or come close to beating off Beck and Romney (or even a Newt Gingrich go at it) and at least give her good shot at top billing. If she isn't the nominee, she'll make it hard for any one of them not to include her on the ticket. She remembers what sank the GOP in 2008--and it wasn't her name on the ticket! It was the crashing economy and after she was named to the ticket, McCain actually surged ahead for about a week.

I know that and She knows it too.

Remember, you read it here first!

The Fabulous 2010 Ocean Shores "Penguin Scare"!

I'm simply a common Murre Uria Aalge! Sorry for the scare.

Finding low priced real estate in Ocean Shores is becoming "the thing to do" among the big Real Estate investment firms, so why shouldn't a Murre Urea Aalge look over our superb beach? But the above photo made it all the way into our local rag, the North Coast News, so it needs some explaining, I suppose.

For the record, I clipped the following from an online "Bird Finder":

Natural History

It might be easy to mistake this bird for a penguin, with its white belly, dark head and wings, and upright posture. But common murres aren’t even related to penguins. Common murres are pelagic seabirds—they spend eight or nine months of each year continuously at sea. Those short wings are perfect for diving and “flying” under water.

Conservation

Because seabirds spend so much time on the surface of the water, and because they congregate in large groups for nesting, they’re very threatened by oil spills. Murres dive deep—as deep as 200 feet (60 m). Unfortunately, this puts them in danger of being trapped in gill nets, where they drown.

Pesticide compounds found in the eggshells of murres in California pose a threat to future reproductive success.

Cool Facts

Common murres don’t build nests like many birds. Instead, the females lay their eggs on bare rock or soil on steep cliffs. Fortunately, the pear-shaped—or pyriform—eggs stay quite safe there. If an egg is disturbed, it pivots around its pointed end, whereas an oval egg might roll off the edge of the cliff.

A murre chick leaves the cliff in dramatic style. Even without proper flight feathers, it hurls itself off the edge and glides down to sea—a drop of 800 to 1,000 feet (244 m to 304 m). The male murre escorts the chick out to sea, where he feeds and cares for it until the chick can fly on its own.

You know ... She's beginning to grow on me ... in a flaky sort of way!

Christine O'Donnell ... of mice and men fame

Christine O'Donnell, the Republican nominee in the race for Vice President Joe Biden's old U.S. Senate seat in Delaware, released her first television advertisement over the weekend. Responding to tapes that have surfaced of television appearances she made in the 1990s, she declares in the ad: "I'm not a witch...I'm you." Here is what she said.

Although her midnight picnics on a "bloody" Satanic Altar is the most quoted and youTube'd, I still prefer her more recent claim in 2007 that US company scientists (working for the US Government while doing brain cell research) have developed mice with fully developed and functioning human brains. That one is her classic IMHO and even caught right-wing Bill O'Reilly off guard on Fox Cable News.

Chatting with one of my sons this afternoon, our conversation happened to roam in the direction of the Senate race in Connecticut ...

A just-released Quinnipiac Poll shows ex-World Wrestling Entertainment exec Linda McMahon within easy striking distance of Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal

Although I suppose I shouldn't have an opinion on a Senate race three thousand miles away, I gave it a tiny bit of thought -- spelled: G-O-O-G-L-E.

As the former WWE CEO, McMahon built an empire that peddled violent, sexually explicit material that glorified the exploitation of women, and the mentally disabled. In this regard, she properly pointed out that her husband was the “wrestling fan” and she was simply the “money manager.”

Yet, it's some of Ms. McMahon's “management” record outside the ring that is raising questions, particularly the use of steroids within the WWE in order to “bulk up” both the WWE wrestlers and the WWE profits. The bottom line for Connecticut voters might boil down to the fact that although steroid abuse was known to have run rampant under her watch at the WWE, her handling of the WWE funds (she and her husband are multi-multimillionaires) displayed superb money-handling skills and brought boku wrestling dollars into Connecticut.

Apparently Mr. Blumenthal has a blemish on his record too, having allowed the implication that he was a “Vietnam veteran” slide by several times without his having corrected the statement to be understood as “Vietnam era veteran.”

In any event, the Quinnipiac Poll shows Blumenthal, the Democratic nominee, with a 51%-45% lead among voters likely to head to the polls Nov. 2. This despite the fact that 72% of those responding said they believe Blumenthal has the right experience to be senator, compared with 39% for McMahon, the GOP candidate. Thus, although she's a political rookie, she may be the one Senate seat that returns the Senate to the Republicans.

I do wish though that Ms. McMahon weren't of the strong belief that the Minimum Wage was “unconstitutional” and will be among at least seven newcomers calling for it to be repealed. It’s so easy to attack those for whom seven-plus dollars per hour is a lot when your own family … well let’s just say … she and her husband have amassed seven dollars times a very large number.

Bottom line: anything can happen and both candidates seem like nice persons, all in all.

(A vote for Blumenthal seems safe, I'd say.)

This Posting is a Cut-and-paste Job, to be sure .... But oh, so True! Sadly, Racism is Alive and Well in America in 2010 ...

It's time for "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (DADT) to GO!!!

I couldn't say it better than was done by former federal worker in the Stars and Stripes in a letter in Stars and Stripes last week. Read ... with full understanding:

My former supervisor is a veteran of both gulf wars. He's lived in close quarters with gays, fought beside them, been under fire with them. DADT makes him extremely angry; he says, "if the guy covering me knows how to handle a gun, what do I care if he's gay?" Does Marine Mom know how many variances soldiers are fighting under, for mental conditions and criminal records, right next to her son, while men and women whose only crime is their orientation, are being ejected? And is it making an issue of your orientation because your sweetheart's picture is the wrong gender? Ask anyone serving in a unit where somebody has been discharged under DADT, and you won't find relief; you'll find anger that good soldiers are being let go, and that is a morale-buster right there. Anyone brave enough and patriotic enough to wish to serve our country and put his or her life down for it deserves respect, and, just as happened with integrating troops in the past, in a civilized nation, it has to be done even if some people are upset. Further, the real waste of money is on the investigations, lawsuits, and resources spent on trying to expel these good men and women. Ending DADT would save money and resources. Bringing home our soldiers is a worthy goal that wouldn't be set back one minute by ending DADT.

Written by former federal worker
27 September 2010

Although not in uniform, I "served" as a civil servant "in-theater" during both the Vietnam War (1969-70) at Tan San Nhut Air Base adjoining MACV in Saigon and as a military contractor before, during and after the first Gulf War (1990-1991) in Riyadh and share the same thoughts as the letter-writer above.

Although it is probably correct for President Obama to avoid waiting (possibly forever) for Congress to add a repeal of DODT in the Defense Authorization Bill, it seems ludicrous for the White House to have given the "go ahead" for its Justice Department to appeal the court case of three weeks ago wherein the Federal Court stated in words that are almost written right out of the US Constitution that "Don't Ask Don't Tell" has to go!

From the outset, I thought DODT was a dishonest idea, even though it was attempting to right an obvious wrong.

Ohmigoodness! In three hours it will be exactly one month until the 2010 elections expose exactly how far America has fallen ...

Maybe a Photo of Glenn Beck Will Scare us Back to Reality ... Just Maybe!

Indeed, if the polls shown on Fox Cable News [sic] are a hint as to how bad things have become in our beloved America, we're in deep kim chee.

Would you believe that people tune in and listen to "Professor" Beck (above) regularly and actually believe what he says and scribbles on his blackboards--typically two or three to his right and left. This was brought to my attention when a friend whom I see two or three times each week (let's just call him "Tom") went on and on about the research done by Beck before he presents his nutty ideas.

I've tried listening to a few of his "theories", especially when he wraps them in early American History. But it's impossible to unscramble his ideas into coherent thought patterns ... other than that he somehow apparently equates the "Only say No!" Republicans in Congress to the Founding Fathers.

Lord love a duck!

He even found peculiar rationale yesterday for the gentleman [sic] running for Governor of New York against Andrew Cuomo who threatened one of (would you believe?) Rupert Murdock's reporters with death in a televised argument, and has mouthed squirrelly defense(s) for Christine O'Donnell's sequence of incomplete or false defenses for her odd picnics on Satanic Altars, unexplained campaign finances, false resumes (particularly her impressive-sounding degrees) and peculiar ideas about why monkeys aren't still evolving to new species having human brains, etc., ad nauseum.

I was seriously concerned about his sanity one evening about a month ago when he scribbled simple bullet points to advertise his (at the time) upcoming "Restore America's Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial and said:

"I'm only writing a few bullet points. And I am doing that so I don't get in the way of the spirit, in case he wants to talk...if you would just pray that I would be able to hear because sometimes--sometimes he's screaming at me and I still can't hear it."

I vaguely remember a time in America when those who spoke with God and audibly heard answers were gently led (or wheeled) to a facility where they could get the help they need so that they once again could rejoin our society.

I certainly don't negate the possibility that Beck is "feeling" the Holy Spirit. But maybe he's just feeling the early stages of a nervous breakdown! From personal experience I know that anxiety over a long enough time period leaves people broken, and then they have that complete breakdown ... and get carted off on a gurney to some rehab center where doctors try to fix their broken chemistry ...

Let's add our prayers to those of persons throughout America for Glenn Beck and for his restored sanity.

And for the voters of America on November 2nd ... to see through the insanity spewed out of media outlets such as Fox Cable News and that they maintain a Congress that is at least 95% sane and 98% compassionate.