The Must See Chart (This Is What Class War Looks Like)
Saturday, March 12, 2011
A coupla thoughts about Mother Earth
Natural events can be disasters in human terms, but we're just along for the ride like fleas on a cow. I chose the 'cow' analogy on purpose.
Earthquakes are Mom doing a little self-chiropractic spinal stress relief, like a cow does when it stands up.
Tsunamis are Mom's shiver of pleasurable relief when the back pain goes away. Feels sooooo good.
Volcanoes are another way of relieving stress in her bowels. Sea floor vents and hot water geysers are like SBDs. Volcanoes are riproarin' most-certainly-not-SBDs of the not-in-church-please-dear-God aftermath-of-All-U-Can-Eat-burrito-nite variety! Mom likes to light her farts and have sparks shoot out her ample ass. Hey, don't we all? I do not recommend trying this on a cow, but hey, your call. Your hair will grow back. Video, please.
The tiny-brained amongst us would do well to remember where the hell they are when they poo-poo climate change and volcano monitoring and other metrics that tell us which way to jump. Maybe they're not on the cow but already on the cow pie, which is the place we're going to end up if we fuck up our only ride.
Earthquakes are Mom doing a little self-chiropractic spinal stress relief, like a cow does when it stands up.
Tsunamis are Mom's shiver of pleasurable relief when the back pain goes away. Feels sooooo good.
Volcanoes are another way of relieving stress in her bowels. Sea floor vents and hot water geysers are like SBDs. Volcanoes are riproarin' most-certainly-not-SBDs of the not-in-church-please-dear-God aftermath-of-All-U-Can-Eat-burrito-nite variety! Mom likes to light her farts and have sparks shoot out her ample ass. Hey, don't we all? I do not recommend trying this on a cow, but hey, your call. Your hair will grow back. Video, please.
The tiny-brained amongst us would do well to remember where the hell they are when they poo-poo climate change and volcano monitoring and other metrics that tell us which way to jump. Maybe they're not on the cow but already on the cow pie, which is the place we're going to end up if we fuck up our only ride.
California Tsunami Videos
There are many of these from all along the West Coast. I think these two are fairly representative.
Note: the two locations are approximately 470 miles from one another.
I saw a chart of the ins and outs. Tides normally rise and fall twice a day, a nice gentle sine wave on the printout. This happened about 12 to 15 times over 6 to 8 hours yesterday and the line on the chart was spikier'n a punk rocker's hairdo.
Here's a dramatic sped-up one from Morro Bay (Motto: "Home of the World's Largest Pet Rock"). Some of the boats appear to be under power and fighting for every inch. Watch the large waves break on the seaward side of the sandspit. The skipper of the sailboat in the center gets an A+ in mooring! This one will remind you in no uncertain terms to "spring ahead, fall back".
Note: the two locations are approximately 470 miles from one another.
From March 11, 2011: Japan earthquake, Crescent City, California. Filmed from Pebble Beach cliff top out of the evacuation zone.
Pacific Ocean gets sucked out and then surges back in within minutes. This happened many times over the course of the day.
I saw a chart of the ins and outs. Tides normally rise and fall twice a day, a nice gentle sine wave on the printout. This happened about 12 to 15 times over 6 to 8 hours yesterday and the line on the chart was spikier'n a punk rocker's hairdo.
Thanks to GiantPumpkinsRule.
Here's a dramatic sped-up one from Morro Bay (Motto: "Home of the World's Largest Pet Rock"). Some of the boats appear to be under power and fighting for every inch. Watch the large waves break on the seaward side of the sandspit. The skipper of the sailboat in the center gets an A+ in mooring! This one will remind you in no uncertain terms to "spring ahead, fall back".
CALIFORNIA TSUNAMI Surge retreat in Morro Bay 3-11-2011
From the Japanese 8.9 Earthquake Morro Bay Harbor fills up and empties in minutes
Thanks to lopaka73.
Saturday Emmylou Blogging
A tip o' the Brain to you for this one, Laurie. Outstanding. Thanks.
From 'Later With Jools Holland' 2008. Emmylou joined by Buddy Miller on 'How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower' and 'Gold'
Emmylou Harris : Interview plus two songs from 'All I Intended To Be'
Thanks to 1000Magicians, UK.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Save lives, lose your job
EssEffChron
I think if you find a backpack when you're removing trash, you'd pick it up to see if it had any ID in it and you'd expect to find books or personal items in it. If I saw wires in one, there would be a short delay in calling the cops while I found a phone a mile away.
These were temp jobs and apparently these guys can still get part-time work, but it's still kinda shitty to can 'em. Employers don't give a shit about their employees doing their civic duty if it causes a delay in the job, I guess. So much for saving lives v profit. Again.
Three cleanup workers who were hailed as heroes after finding a live bomb along the route of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade said they later lost their jobs after supervisors questioned their handling of the situation.
The men were employed by Labor Ready and working under contract for the Spokane Public Facilities District when they found a backpack containing the bomb about an hour before the scheduled start of the Jan. 17 parade.
They alerted police, who were able to defuse the device.
"For the first two days, basically all we did was get chewed out," worker Mark Steiner told Spokane television station KHQ. "We did this wrong. We did that wrong. I don't know what you consider calling 911 wrong after two minutes after we found it."
"I think they put themselves at more risk than they needed," Twohig said.
Burke (aka 'their boss' - G) said the men should not have picked up the backpack.
Steiner told KHQ the three men were not trained to deal with suspicious packages.
"We'd go out, and we'd clean up parking lots," he said. "Who knows what happens when you see a backpack sitting there? The first reaction is to pick it up and that's what we did, and we opened it, saw wires sticking out of it and called police."
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and Spokane Mayor Mary Verner have praised the three workers in speeches for being vigilant.
I think if you find a backpack when you're removing trash, you'd pick it up to see if it had any ID in it and you'd expect to find books or personal items in it. If I saw wires in one, there would be a short delay in calling the cops while I found a phone a mile away.
These were temp jobs and apparently these guys can still get part-time work, but it's still kinda shitty to can 'em. Employers don't give a shit about their employees doing their civic duty if it causes a delay in the job, I guess. So much for saving lives v profit. Again.
Sorry 'bout this Sheen shit...
...but I feel duty-bound to follow up on my prediction in this post:
Yup.
As soon as the cops left, it must have been amusing to watch his lawyers and friends try to stand up. They probly weighed about 400 lbs each from all his guns they had in their pockets. Heh.
Here's the statement that might get him locked up:
“I’m really trying to contain myself right now,” Sheen said. “My lawyer wants to come over to my house and take the bullets out of my gun.”
He's been in court several times for domestic abuse. I will ass-yoom he's been found guilty, or at least pleaded no contest, at least once. If so, he's not allowed to have firearms for ten years and it's a felony.
Yup.
L.A. police search Charlie Sheen's home for firearms
LAPD officers were making sure Sheen was abiding by a restraining order obtained by ex-wife Brooke Mueller that prohibits him from possessing weapons, Eisenman said.
TMZ said a source inside the house said Sheen, his lawyers and several friends were at the dining room table eating hamburgers.
...
Police said Sheen had not been taken into custody or arrested and added that they would not be releasing any findings.
As soon as the cops left, it must have been amusing to watch his lawyers and friends try to stand up. They probly weighed about 400 lbs each from all his guns they had in their pockets. Heh.
What will I outlive next?
Gettin' older sometimes slams ya with reminders. First, I outlived a brand spankin' new ship I served in, and now this:
It's a psychological blow to me too. Newer Lost Wages casinos have come and gone as well, but my folks took me to this one right after it opened. All I remember about it is the dollar-size pancakes.
Sounds like an advanced stage of decrepitude. The bathing beauties are all great-grandmothers too. Time for it to go, I guess. Maybe I can get there in time for a burrito...
The only thing I'm worried about outliving now is democracy. The way things are going, I just might.
Sahara hotel-casino in Las Vegas to close in May
Closure of the 59-year-old Sahara hotel-casino on the recession-battered Strip is a psychological blow to Las Vegas.
It's a psychological blow to me too. Newer Lost Wages casinos have come and gone as well, but my folks took me to this one right after it opened. All I remember about it is the dollar-size pancakes.
The Sahara, a haunt of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, once paid bathing beauties to frolic in its Garden of Allah pool. It is now home to a roller coaster and a NASCAR Cafe known for its 6-pound burrito.
Sounds like an advanced stage of decrepitude. The bathing beauties are all great-grandmothers too. Time for it to go, I guess. Maybe I can get there in time for a burrito...
The only thing I'm worried about outliving now is democracy. The way things are going, I just might.
California Tsunami Incident Information
YubaNet
We have a rental house in Oceano. It's not being evacuated because the flood plain 'low-lying area', which consists of some brussels sprouts fields, a retirement trailer 'village', and a Meskin good used auto parts yard, is across the street from it. Here's a photo of the Oceano Dunes and the Meskin junkyard taken from the sidewalk in front of the house. Any sea water that could make it the 3/4-mile or so from the ocean would come from the middle right of the picture. I'm not too worried about it, but ya never know:
Note to the tsunami: Look both ways before you cross the street. The traffic on Hwy 1 can be brutal!
Evacuations: San Luis Obispo County - Low lying areas along the coast including parts of Port San Luis, Avila Beach, Pismo Beach, Oceano & Cayucos.
We have a rental house in Oceano. It's not being evacuated because the flood plain 'low-lying area', which consists of some brussels sprouts fields, a retirement trailer 'village', and a Meskin good used auto parts yard, is across the street from it. Here's a photo of the Oceano Dunes and the Meskin junkyard taken from the sidewalk in front of the house. Any sea water that could make it the 3/4-mile or so from the ocean would come from the middle right of the picture. I'm not too worried about it, but ya never know:
Click to embiggen
Note to the tsunami: Look both ways before you cross the street. The traffic on Hwy 1 can be brutal!
GOP Revealed
Think Progress
There you have it. Can the brownshirts be far behind?
Damn Repugs get a buncha governors and state legislatures and don't give a shit anymore about keeping their nefarious agenda secret, not that it was.
They're finally out from under their rocks. I hope the sunlight is as cleansing as it's cracked up to be.
NH GOP Senator Says The Mentally Ill Are ‘Defective People’ That Should Be Shipped Off To Siberia
Omand says Harty then stated, “I wish we had a Siberia so we could ship them all off to freeze to death and die and clean up the population.” Omand said Harty appeared to be serious. After Omand responded that his idea sounded like what Adolf Hitler did in World War II, Omand said Harty responded, “Hitler did something right, and I agree with (it).”
There you have it. Can the brownshirts be far behind?
Damn Repugs get a buncha governors and state legislatures and don't give a shit anymore about keeping their nefarious agenda secret, not that it was.
They're finally out from under their rocks. I hope the sunlight is as cleansing as it's cracked up to be.
Well, at least one ...
Big time Dem has come out in support of the unions:
Al Franken, of course.
We were all shocked by what happened in Wisconsin Wednesday night.
Eighteen Republican state senators broke faith with the people who elected them. They broke their word. They may have even broken the law.
They wanted to bust public sector unions -- the last line of defense for the rights of teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses, and other public servants -- so badly that they were willing to cheat the system.
...
Al Franken, of course.
Thoughts ...
Our thoughts go out to our Japanese friends who have family and friends back home. We hope they are all safe.
That said, the American news media must be happy they don't have to wait for Charlie Sheen or Lindsay Lohan to do more stupid shit so they wouldn't be forced to report on the coup in Wisconsin. They can beat this earthquake/tsunami thing for days instead of informing Americans about what's important to them.
That said, the American news media must be happy they don't have to wait for Charlie Sheen or Lindsay Lohan to do more stupid shit so they wouldn't be forced to report on the coup in Wisconsin. They can beat this earthquake/tsunami thing for days instead of informing Americans about what's important to them.
Way to go ...
We kill nine boys last week and this week we go kill the president's cousin:
Yep, that was helpful. Winning hearts and minds ... yer doin' it wrong ...
A relative of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been mistakenly killed by Nato troops in southern Afghanistan, officials say.
Yar Muhammad Khan was at his home in Dand district near Kandahar city when he was shot dead in an overnight raid.
...
Yep, that was helpful. Winning hearts and minds ... yer doin' it wrong ...
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Pearl Harbor WI
Governor Walker
We are in a class war brought on us by the right wing as surely as WWII was brought on us by the Axis in the form of the Japanese Empire. We knew we were going to get into that one and we have known for some time that we will be in this one and now we are. That one was necessary and so is this one, regrettably.
Note: Anybody who thinks Japan and Germany weren't legitimate threats to us and that WWII was unnecessary, you're a fucking idiot and keep yer yap shut. I don't wanta fuckin' hear it. Clear?
I'm not the only one to have likened the Repugs' sneak attack on democracy to the attack on Pearl Harbor. I used the word 'Japped'. The member of the WI 14, being kindler and gentler and more PR conscious than myself, did not.
After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Empire ran wild in the entire Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia regions. We, the Allies, suffered many defeats - the Phillipines, Wake Island, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and dozens of other places too lost to time now to mention.
We were losing. We licked our wounds and mobilized and built and planned for the day things would turn.
The absolute turning point of the Pacific War came seven months after Pearl Harbor between 4-7 June, 1942 at the Battle of Midway. There have been many books and movies about this. Shorter: The Imperial Japanese Navy never came back from having their asses handed to 'em.
One, count 'em, one fight turned the tide. The IJN lost control of the Pacific and their advance was stopped. Then the real fight started to roll 'em up.
There were many other important battles on the road to victory, but the upshot was that by the end Japan lay in ruins. They damn near realized their dreams of empire but they were stopped.
It should be clear that my analogy has the United States in the role of the conceptual Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. I haven't quite figured out which Repug is playing Tojo, maybe the Kochs, but Corporate America is the General Staff and the RGA is providing the field commanders. I have visions of Walker sent crashing aflame into the jungle like Admiral Yamamoto who carried out the Pearl Harbor attack. A wistful metaphor, of course. We're fresh out of P-38s.
Emperor Hirohito is played by Obama, of course - he didn't like it, but he was too cowed by the power brokers to stop it. He remained as a figurehead after the war.
My point is that even though our dicks are in the dirt, one loss or even a series of losses cannot deter us from this fight or the Repugs, our enemy as surely as was the Empire of Japan, will take over this country like the Japanese wanted to take over the Pacific Ocean and Asia.
We MUST keep fighting. We need lots of little wins like Tarawa, medium sized ones like Saipan, a few bloody-but-necessary ones like Iwo Jima, protracted ones like the Solomon Islands, and one or two big ones like Midway and the Great Marianas
If we don't fight, whatever the cost, the
The sneak attack on Pearl Harbor was intended to demoralize the United States as much as to destroy our warfighting ability in the Pacific. It had exactly the opposite effect. The same thing may be happening now after the sneak attack on American workers. God, how I hope and pray.
Our battle cry is Remember Madison!
The Birth of the People’s Party
A lot of folks have been calling for another party to counter the rightward dash of both the Dems and the Repugs. Fine. I present it here FYI. I'll bide my time and just watch for a while. If it turns out to be as fucked up as or turns into a portside Teabagger Party, I'll pass, thank you.
Chances are it'll never go anywhere. Lefties and independents simply ain't as lockstep goose-steppers as the Dead End Quarter.
Chances are it'll never go anywhere. Lefties and independents simply ain't as lockstep goose-steppers as the Dead End Quarter.
Headline of the Day
In Unprecedented Move, Bush Bars Media From Covering Desert Town Hall Speaker Series Speech
It's hardly 'unprecedented'. He's been doing 'don't agree with me, don't get in' for years.
One 'comment' out of many, and perhaps the mildest:
And who could blame him? It must be tough being one of the most despised people on the Planet.
Fuck that weakling.
Sorry, Charlie
William Rivers Pitt on the sorry state of the so-called 'news' media:
The biggest house fire of 'em all is right under their noses and goes unreported - the Repugs and Big Biz burning our house down so they can get the lot cheap and build what they want and the hell with us.
Actually, he's an F-18 deploying his nose into the ground in a screaming sound barrier-breaking dive that will break out of the cloud cover at 100 feet. It will be over so fast we won't even get the satisfaction of getting to see the confused look on his face. Alas, but the sooner we get that over with, the better.
While I agree with Mr. Pitt that Sheen can kiss my ass, I disagree in that I do not think the media are the ones sticking the poisoned dagger in us.
That's the Repugs.
The media are simply too scared of their corporate masters to tell us. There are pockets of truth, to be sure, but most people can't or don't or won't see them.
I was watching "Family Guy" the other day on the local Boston Fox affiliate when they interrupted the broadcast for the following news bulletin. I quote: "Charlie Sheen may joke about them, but witches and warlocks in Salem say it's no laughing matter. See why tonight on Fox News."
No, really. That happened.
With all due and deserved respect to Wiccans, witches and warlocks, please for the love of God give me a freakin' break already. The "mainstream" news media is so mouth-frothingly desperate to gin up a distraction - any distraction - to avoid reporting real news that the entire industry has latched on to the downward spiral of a half-assed actor like it is the end of the world. Charlie Sheen is gutting his life for all to see, the ultimate bread and circus, and the "news" is all too happy to follow the plunging arc of his career for the same reason they show car chases and house fires.
The biggest house fire of 'em all is right under their noses and goes unreported - the Repugs and Big Biz burning our house down so they can get the lot cheap and build what they want and the hell with us.
So, yeah. Labor insurrection, Town Hall rage and a gubernatorial meltdown in Wisconsin. Vicious persecution of an entire religion in the House of Representatives, complete with Japanese internment victims standing in defense of Islam. Death and destruction continue unabated in Iraq and Afghanistan. Oh, and we can hold anyone we choose in Halliburton cages for as long as we like without trial or legal representation, because Mr. Obama seems to think Mr. Bush was right when it comes to human freedom and the rule of law.
But no, let's talk about Charlie Sheen being an F-18 deploying his ordnance to the ground.
Actually, he's an F-18 deploying his nose into the ground in a screaming sound barrier-breaking dive that will break out of the cloud cover at 100 feet. It will be over so fast we won't even get the satisfaction of getting to see the confused look on his face. Alas, but the sooner we get that over with, the better.
This Just In: America is dying, and the "mainstream" news media is the one sticking in the poisoned dagger.
Oh, and Charlie Sheen can kiss my ass. Get a room at the Betty Ford Clinic already, stop beating up women, get your act together, and get out of my face.
While I agree with Mr. Pitt that Sheen can kiss my ass, I disagree in that I do not think the media are the ones sticking the poisoned dagger in us.
That's the Repugs.
The media are simply too scared of their corporate masters to tell us. There are pockets of truth, to be sure, but most people can't or don't or won't see them.
Governor Walker's Coup D'Etat
Robert Reich describes what the WI junta did perfectly as a coup d'etat.
As has been made crystal clear for years, the Repugs' motto is "Damn the law! Full speed ahead!". All lingering doubts have been swept away in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, and other states. Northern states. The Repugs took the South under Nixon.
I hope this latest series of bayonets in the back will wake Americans up to the well-known fact that the Repugs' Big Push to take over the country for their Corporate Masters is well underway. It is so blatant and out in the open now that a blind man can see it. The Dead End Quarter is cheering them on. The brain-dead bastards will wake up last and wonder what happened and think the liberals did it.
Note to America: This is your last chance. Fight back or die.
Governor Scott Walker and his Wisconsin senate Republicans have laid bare the motives for their coup d’etat. By severing the financial part of the bill (which couldn’t be passed without absent Democrats) from the part eliminating the collective bargaining rights of public employees (which could be), and then doing the latter, Wisconsin Republicans have made it crystal clear that their goal has had nothing whatever to do with the state budget. It’s been to bust the unions.
That’s no surprise to most people who have watched this conflict from the start, but like any coup its ultimate outcome will depend on the public. If most citizens of Wisconsin are now convinced that Walker and his cohorts are extremists willing to go to any lengths for their big-business patrons (including the billionaire Koch brothers), those citizens will recall enough Republican senators to right this wrong.
But it’s critically important at this stage that Walker’s opponents maintain the self-discipline they have shown until this critical point. Walker would like nothing better than disorder to break out in Madison. Like the leader of any coup d’etat, he wants to show the public his strong-arm methods are made necessary by adversaries whose behavior can be characterized on the media as even more extreme.
Be measured. Stay cool. Know that we are a nation of laws, and those laws will prevail. The People’s Party is growing across America — and the actions of Scott Walker and his Republican colleagues are giving it even greater momentum. So are the actions of congressional Republicans who are using the threat of a government shutdown to strong-arm their way in Washington.
The American public may be divided over many things but we stand united behind our democratic process and the rule of law. And we reject coups in whatever form they occur.
As has been made crystal clear for years, the Repugs' motto is "Damn the law! Full speed ahead!". All lingering doubts have been swept away in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, and other states. Northern states. The Repugs took the South under Nixon.
I hope this latest series of bayonets in the back will wake Americans up to the well-known fact that the Repugs' Big Push to take over the country for their Corporate Masters is well underway. It is so blatant and out in the open now that a blind man can see it. The Dead End Quarter is cheering them on. The brain-dead bastards will wake up last and wonder what happened and think the liberals did it.
Note to America: This is your last chance. Fight back or die.
A Few Observations Regarding Last Evening's Events in Wisconsin
The Rude Pundit, in the wake of yesterday's Repuglifuckover in Wisconsin:
I have nothing to add.
2. It's time to fuck shit up in Wisconsin, in Michigan, in fact, all over the United States. In England, public employees are planning a June general strike over a coming plan to jack up the retirement age by 6 years and to cut benefits while raising the amount of the workers' contribution. The trade unions expect over a million workers to join in.
In Wisconsin last night, the fuckbag Republicans in the state Senate came up with a possibly illegal way to bypass a vote that required the on-the-run Democrats to be present, and they stripped away almost all the collective bargaining rights of state workers. How? By removing the collective bargaining part of the "budget repair" bill and voting on it separately, thus saying that it wasn't a fiscal matter needing a quorum. Or, in other words, the motherfuckers fucked the workers' mothers. Fucked 'em hard.
In Michigan, the legislature is about to pass a bill that will allow state-appointed emergency financial managers to take over cash-strapped cities and, if necessary, "cancel employee contracts, fire administrators or declare bankruptcy." Union contract with a teacher? Canceled by the governor's appointee. Legally-elected mayor and city council? Tossed out on the word of one person. That's a golden ticket of motherfuckery, man.
Imagine for one second what would have happened if Democratic-majorities in state legislatures passed bills that allowed a governor to disband local governments. Imagine the imbecilic grunts of "fascism" and "socialism" and "zoroastrianism" or whatever the hell teabaggers are shouting about. As for what happened in Wisconsin, all you have to do is look at what happened when Democrats in the U.S. Senate used budget reconciliation to pass health care reform legislation, a maneuver that Republicans had used numerous times in recent years. Fox "news" practically sold pitchforks and torches. The fucking capital in Madison would have been burned to the ground.
In Wisconsin, it's getting crazy, with the statehouse literally being stormed by a mob of protesters last night and with arrests of protesters going on today. Governor Walker (dubbed a "cross-eyed Kock-sucker" by a gleefully untethered Keith Olbermann) will sign his political death warrant when he approves the bill, as he'll be recalled next year without a doubt. And this weekend in Madison, it's gonna be flat-out nuts.
As it fucking well should be. With so many Republicans in DC talking about a government shutdown as if it's some kind of moral stand against spending, we, the people (we're still here, you know), ought to be talking recalls against Republicans around the country, if not a general strike. The strike's already in the mix for strategies in Wisconsin, except that the bill itself makes it possible for the governor to declare a state of emergency and fire any state worker (see #1).
Republicans have declared war on the unions, backed by so much money that you could bathe in it. Let's come up with a war plan to fight back. Let's have at least a fraction of the balls that the original union organizers had back in the day or that British workers have today.
3. Where the fuck is the President? Where the fuck is the President? Where the fuck is the President?
I have nothing to add.
To fight ...
Or not to fight, that is the question.
I've been thinking about it on a much more regular basis lately, especially after seeing, for these past two years, exactly what our President and the Democratic Party are made of. Not very much, it would seem.
We know what the Republicans want; we've known it for years but since their last election they've become blatant at it. Whether they're on the ropes, as some say, and they're desperate, or whether they're so far along with their "master plan" (what I believe), they don't care who knows about it anymore; who knows? What happened in Wisconsin last night, and other related events around the country, is evidence of the level they will stoop to, blatantly, to get their agenda through.
The corporations have co-opted our news media, all of them, going so far (with Fox) as to produce outright propaganda. We are fed nothing but drivel, at least in the medium that counts, television, and straight, honest reporting is dismissed or outright vilified. We're bombarded with schlock and as a result, a good chunk of the American people are uninformed and ignorant of what actually goes on. It's the way the "Masters of the Universe" like it because the ignorant are easily led.
Our election process is so fucked, thanks to SCOTUS and the prevailing campaign finance rules, the amounts of money needed to get elected is so great that big money donors are granted the loudest voice in the discourse. Even Democrats have to play the game (and it seems many embrace it too). There is no room for the "Voice of the People" anymore. We are drowned out in an avalanche of cash from the Bigs (Oil, Ag, Pharma, MIC, et. al.). We know all this but the people we elected to change it seem oblivious.
We were promised "hope and change" and all we got was the "same old song and dance", on steroids since last November's elections. Our President, while saying a lot of things we wanted to hear on the campaign trail has backtracked on almost all of it. When he did choose to fight for principle, it was weak at best. The man's negotiating skill on things of import are, putting it kindly, vacuous and self-defeating. Poor enough to think he could even be a plant for the Republicans; let alone the fact he let Bush Inc. walk away from prosecution scot-free.
Our Democratic leadership in Congress is no better, having allowed themselves to be stymied at every turn by Republican obstruction when they had a majority in both houses and then losing the House last November. That's not counting the third of Dems who, in a sane world, would be considered Republicans. They prove their uselessness every day.
Meanwhile, since September 11th 2001, we have turned into a police state with our economy in shambles. If there is never another Islamic terrorist threat again in the United States, they can point to 9/11 as the day they won. This is why terrorism is so effective. Even a superpower can be brought to its knees with inferior leadership (let alone a buncha crooks who saw it as a gift from heaven). All the slogans from that time, "if we give in the terrorists win", are now just so much horseshit on the side of the trail.
We, as a whole, have become a nation of cowards; allowing the "Security State" to flourish. If we were to "stand up to the terrorists" we should have stood up against our own government when they introduced draconian surveillance laws (Patriot Act) and idiotic security schemes for a supposedly "free" nation. Notice our "President of Change" happily accepts the enhanced executive powers of the Bush administration instead of trying to ensure the White House never has that type of authority again.
Instead of ending wars that are draining our treasury as promised (remember the campaign trail again), he escalates a war in a place where no foreign army has found success since the days of Alexander the Great; a waste of lives and money. I will say this, he hasn't gotten us into any new ones yet.
And then I see my fellow Americans, 25% of whom will blindly do whatever anybody with an "R" behind their names tells them. Let alone the 40% - 60% who follow whatever position the Washington "Village" take. There are very few who actually think for themselves. My 24 year old German nephew (a blue collar man, not like he's some sort of poli-sci major) knows more about what's going on here than most Americans and can speak on it more intelligently too. We're more interested in celebrity train wrecks than how fucked our country is and how to realistically fix it.
So I look back at all of this, how the country has changed, and not, in the almost seven years since I started this joint, and I wonder what are our choices for the future.
At best Obama gets reelected and the Dems control at least one house of Congress for the next 6 years; basically the mess we have now.
At worst, the presidency and all of Congress will be under Republican control. It would be all over then.
I don't like either of those options.
When we started this fight, we were dedicated to getting Bush out of the White House. After 2006, we had some hope and in 2008 we thought things would begin to change, but things have actually gotten worse in some respects; for those people who've been financially ruined by layoffs, or the sub-prime crisis, or any number of ways the rich have tried to separate them from their savings especially.
So I ask myself, do I want to stay in the country I love, the country I've fought for, and the country that gave me so many opportunities? And the answer is "no".
It's not worth another 6 years of our lives for a "maybe". It's not worth it when the best we can hope for is the status quo and there's no guarantee it won't get worse after that. There will be no benefit for us, no "social safety net" if we need it in our golden years, let alone affordable health care. It's just not worth it.
Yes, we had plans to retire in Europe but we're moving up our timetable (we planned to go in about 10 years). I certainly won't wait around for another six years as Obama and the Dems allow the Republicans and their corporate patrons dismantle what is left of this country. I'm not waiting around until the Bigs decide they should own everything and just take what they can't legislate away from us. My wife and I have worked too hard over the last 35 years to lose what little we've been able to put away because we have to pay some rich asshole's share to support this place. I'm tired of paying for things when I have no voice in how the money is spent or see any benefits from it. While they still call this nation "America", it ain't the America I knew nor is it one I want to be a part of any longer.
As soon as Dad-in-Law Fixer heads off to the Great Beyond, we're outta here.
I've been thinking about it on a much more regular basis lately, especially after seeing, for these past two years, exactly what our President and the Democratic Party are made of. Not very much, it would seem.
We know what the Republicans want; we've known it for years but since their last election they've become blatant at it. Whether they're on the ropes, as some say, and they're desperate, or whether they're so far along with their "master plan" (what I believe), they don't care who knows about it anymore; who knows? What happened in Wisconsin last night, and other related events around the country, is evidence of the level they will stoop to, blatantly, to get their agenda through.
The corporations have co-opted our news media, all of them, going so far (with Fox) as to produce outright propaganda. We are fed nothing but drivel, at least in the medium that counts, television, and straight, honest reporting is dismissed or outright vilified. We're bombarded with schlock and as a result, a good chunk of the American people are uninformed and ignorant of what actually goes on. It's the way the "Masters of the Universe" like it because the ignorant are easily led.
Our election process is so fucked, thanks to SCOTUS and the prevailing campaign finance rules, the amounts of money needed to get elected is so great that big money donors are granted the loudest voice in the discourse. Even Democrats have to play the game (and it seems many embrace it too). There is no room for the "Voice of the People" anymore. We are drowned out in an avalanche of cash from the Bigs (Oil, Ag, Pharma, MIC, et. al.). We know all this but the people we elected to change it seem oblivious.
We were promised "hope and change" and all we got was the "same old song and dance", on steroids since last November's elections. Our President, while saying a lot of things we wanted to hear on the campaign trail has backtracked on almost all of it. When he did choose to fight for principle, it was weak at best. The man's negotiating skill on things of import are, putting it kindly, vacuous and self-defeating. Poor enough to think he could even be a plant for the Republicans; let alone the fact he let Bush Inc. walk away from prosecution scot-free.
Our Democratic leadership in Congress is no better, having allowed themselves to be stymied at every turn by Republican obstruction when they had a majority in both houses and then losing the House last November. That's not counting the third of Dems who, in a sane world, would be considered Republicans. They prove their uselessness every day.
Meanwhile, since September 11th 2001, we have turned into a police state with our economy in shambles. If there is never another Islamic terrorist threat again in the United States, they can point to 9/11 as the day they won. This is why terrorism is so effective. Even a superpower can be brought to its knees with inferior leadership (let alone a buncha crooks who saw it as a gift from heaven). All the slogans from that time, "if we give in the terrorists win", are now just so much horseshit on the side of the trail.
We, as a whole, have become a nation of cowards; allowing the "Security State" to flourish. If we were to "stand up to the terrorists" we should have stood up against our own government when they introduced draconian surveillance laws (Patriot Act) and idiotic security schemes for a supposedly "free" nation. Notice our "President of Change" happily accepts the enhanced executive powers of the Bush administration instead of trying to ensure the White House never has that type of authority again.
Instead of ending wars that are draining our treasury as promised (remember the campaign trail again), he escalates a war in a place where no foreign army has found success since the days of Alexander the Great; a waste of lives and money. I will say this, he hasn't gotten us into any new ones yet.
And then I see my fellow Americans, 25% of whom will blindly do whatever anybody with an "R" behind their names tells them. Let alone the 40% - 60% who follow whatever position the Washington "Village" take. There are very few who actually think for themselves. My 24 year old German nephew (a blue collar man, not like he's some sort of poli-sci major) knows more about what's going on here than most Americans and can speak on it more intelligently too. We're more interested in celebrity train wrecks than how fucked our country is and how to realistically fix it.
So I look back at all of this, how the country has changed, and not, in the almost seven years since I started this joint, and I wonder what are our choices for the future.
At best Obama gets reelected and the Dems control at least one house of Congress for the next 6 years; basically the mess we have now.
At worst, the presidency and all of Congress will be under Republican control. It would be all over then.
I don't like either of those options.
When we started this fight, we were dedicated to getting Bush out of the White House. After 2006, we had some hope and in 2008 we thought things would begin to change, but things have actually gotten worse in some respects; for those people who've been financially ruined by layoffs, or the sub-prime crisis, or any number of ways the rich have tried to separate them from their savings especially.
So I ask myself, do I want to stay in the country I love, the country I've fought for, and the country that gave me so many opportunities? And the answer is "no".
It's not worth another 6 years of our lives for a "maybe". It's not worth it when the best we can hope for is the status quo and there's no guarantee it won't get worse after that. There will be no benefit for us, no "social safety net" if we need it in our golden years, let alone affordable health care. It's just not worth it.
Yes, we had plans to retire in Europe but we're moving up our timetable (we planned to go in about 10 years). I certainly won't wait around for another six years as Obama and the Dems allow the Republicans and their corporate patrons dismantle what is left of this country. I'm not waiting around until the Bigs decide they should own everything and just take what they can't legislate away from us. My wife and I have worked too hard over the last 35 years to lose what little we've been able to put away because we have to pay some rich asshole's share to support this place. I'm tired of paying for things when I have no voice in how the money is spent or see any benefits from it. While they still call this nation "America", it ain't the America I knew nor is it one I want to be a part of any longer.
As soon as Dad-in-Law Fixer heads off to the Great Beyond, we're outta here.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Ski Report
Includes the town I live in.
This is bragging, folks. Heh. Hey, when life hands ya lemons, make a tasty lemon slushy...not to be confused with yellow snow.
Ski conditions: 39.5 feet of snow in North Lake Tahoe since October
This is bragging, folks. Heh. Hey, when life hands ya lemons, make a tasty lemon slushy...not to be confused with yellow snow.
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