Nov 22,1963 IMHO a date that changed the course of America. Do you remember where you were that day? I was in the 5th grade and received the news from our teacher.
I was in 5th grade, Mr. Wall’s classroom and when we were told the horrible news, several kids from the Republican homes in our town actually stood up and applauded.
Now do you wonder why I can see the same thing happening today if it was Obama in JFK’s shoes?
I’ve seen hate first hand – and it’s not pretty. And these were just the kids of these Republicans. One has to wonder what the talk was like around the dinner table to encourage their ‘little ones’ to act so horrid.
I was watching Chris Matthews in the past few weeks hawking his new book about John F Kennedy. Chris said that JFK made the remark that he was going into ‘nut country’ when he was headed for Dallas.
Hmm, I guess Texas has not changed all that much from 1962 – have they?
Nut country = right wingers with alot of hate…
My biggest fear since Obama was elected that history would repeat itself.
If you think I am over-reacting about the right-wing hatred of Obama…..
read this and then ask yourself, was it all just a ‘joke’ as this young woman is now claiming?
These right wingers like to stir this crap up – just like the anti-abortion protesters harassed Dr. George Tiller – until a nutjob from nut country finally did carry out the message of hate that these Right Wingers seem to thrive on…
What COULD have been – what SHOULD have been are two answers we will NEVER know.
There are alot of things that can be said about the Kennedy family (and not all things are nice) – but one thing the Kennedys did was to serve their country.
Ask not what your country can do for you. But ask what you can do for your country.
In today’s current Republican cirlces – just paying a few more dollarrs in taxes when the rest of the 99% are struggling to survive would be a good start in asking what YOU can do for your country.
Silly me – what am I thinking to ask a Republican to give up their gouging at the taxpayers’ trough for the good of the entire country.
I must be one of those Heathen Socialist Liberal Commies destined for Hell.
Well, I if I am all those things – Reagan must be also because even Reagan said that the wealthy should pay their fair share in taxes.
We’ve still got those loop holes, so neither man, not Reagan and not Obama, did what he said / hoped. Was it just lip service? Was it a true hope that was thwarted?
Unfortunately, I think it is the corrupt political system we have allowed to be built.
But with the SCOTUS giving corporations the legality of being a ‘person’ – that corruption is now somehow seen as legal or maybe a better word – acceptable?
These are very scary times but I still think about the Mayan calendar of 2012. This is to be a time of an awakening – and I think the OWS has been an eye-opener for alot of people.
Then factor in the backlash these Republican governors are getting from their individual states because they have over-reached in their narrow agenda of take money from taxpayers and give it to corporations.
I was in high school, began hearing at lunch time. Although students didn’t leave the school at lunch back in those long-ago days some radios were always playing tunes… Then the class right after lunch the big announcement was made and school was dismissed early that day and we were told not to return until after Thanksgiving.
The halls were eerily quiet. None of the boisterous celebrating that usually accompanied school dismissing for a holiday, none of the locker doors slamming…
I think most of us spent lots of hours of that long holiday watching our small black-and-white television screens.
I can still feel the solemnity of our nation mourning.
Of course later when Vietnam was raging, I blamed Johnson and somehow knew if Kennedy had lived… Vietnam formed much that is still me today. I lost classmates, friends, innocence and a whole lot more.
To this day the two presidents I think the most poorly of, and respect the least came from that state of Texas — Johnson and Bush2. It’s strange how our minds work! I didn’t like Perry before I found out he was bush the lesser without the brains. Reminded me immediately of two men I would just as soon forget.
Of all the scenarios I’ve seen this picture made into, this is the one I appreciate! I think we could use the word ‘karma’ here! And I won’t speak for anyone else, but it seems just! Maybe this will be his life going forward…
When I saw this video – my first thought about this guy was – don’t they have weight limits to be a law enforcement officer?
My second thought was – a Rent-a-Cop type……you know, the ones that cannot make it into the police academy so they go work for a university or mall somewhere.
Third thought was – he was taking too much pleasure in what he was doing – IMHO.
That is the moment he is no longer an effective law enforcement officer – and that is the moment he needs to be let go – permanently . IMHO
November 22, 2011
8pm ET on CNN – Live Stream
Location: DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC
Sponsor: CNN, The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute
Participants: Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, Huntsman, Paul, Perry, Romney, Santorum
Tonight you can tune in to the 14th Republican debate since May 5! This one, sponsored by two conservative think tanks, the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, and hosted by CNN, will focus on foreign policy. I think that means we’ll hear a lot about Iran and their plans for war. These republican ‘wanna-be president’ candidates are much more dangerous than any foreign country!
I like these debates! The more we see of them the worse they look!
40,000 Rally, More Than 100,000 Sign Petitions, to Say ‘Recall Walker’
As tens of thousands of Wisconsinites rallied in Madison for a mass signing of petitions to recall anti-labor Governor Scott Walker Saturday, it was announced that the drive had collected 105,000 signatures in its first four days.
The labor, farm and community activists who organized the effort have sixty days to collect 540,000 signatures—25 percent of the electorate in the last gubernatorial election—to force the governor and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch to face the voters in a recall election. Organizers hope to turn in more than 700,000 signatures, in order to thwart challenges that will be posed by a multimillion-dollar effort paid for by the billionaire Koch brothers and other anti-labor zealots from across the country who have financed Walker’s campaigns.
I’ve been a Republican all my adult life. I have worked on the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, at Forbes magazine, at the Manhattan and American Enterprise Institutes, as a speechwriter in the George W. Bush administration. I believe in free markets, low taxes, reasonable regulation, and limited government. I voted for John McCain in 2008, and I have strongly criticized the major policy decisions of the Obama administration. But as I contemplate my party and my movement in 2011, I see things I simply cannot support.
America desperately needs a responsible and compassionate alternative to the Obama administration’s path of bigger government at higher cost. And yet: This past summer, the GOP nearly forced America to the verge of default just to score a point in a budget debate. In the throes of the worst economic crisis since the Depression, Republican politicians demand massive budget cuts and shrug off the concerns of the unemployed. In the face of evidence of dwindling upward mobility and long-stagnating middle-class wages, my party’s economic ideas sometimes seem to have shrunk to just one: more tax cuts for the very highest earners. When I entered Republican politics, during an earlier period of malaise, in the late seventies and early eighties, the movement got most of the big questions—crime, inflation, the Cold War—right. This time, the party is getting the big questions disastrously wrong.
The link above takes you to a long, far-reaching article. There are many insights shared. Here’s just a few —
——
“I won’t soon forget the lupine smile that played about the lips of the leader of one prominent conservative institution as he told me, “Our donors truly think the apocalypse has arrived.”
—–
“In the aughts, Republicans held more power for longer than at any time since the twenties, yet the result was the weakest and least broadly shared economic expansion since World War II, followed by an economic crash and prolonged slump. Along the way, the GOP suffered two severe election defeats in 2006 and 2008. Imagine yourself a rank-and-file Republican in 2009: If you have not lost your job or your home, your savings have been sliced and your children cannot find work. Your retirement prospects have dimmed. Most of all, your neighbors blame you for all that has gone wrong in the country. There’s one thing you know for sure: None of this is your fault! And when the new president fails to deliver rapid recovery, he can be designated the target for everyone’s accumulated disappointment and rage. In the midst of economic wreckage, what relief to thrust all blame upon Barack Obama as the wrecker-in-chief.
The Bush years cannot be repudiated, but the memory of them can be discarded to make way for a new and more radical ideology…
—–
“We used to say “You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.” Now we are all entitled to our own facts, and conservative media use this right to immerse their audience in a total environment of pseudo-facts and pretend information.
When contemplating the ruthless brilliance of this system, it’s tempting to fall back on the theory that the GOP is masterminded by a cadre of sinister billionaires, deftly manipulating the political process for their own benefit. The billionaires do exist, and some do indeed attempt to influence the political process. The bizarre fiasco of campaign-finance reform has perversely empowered them to give unlimited funds anonymously to special entities that can spend limitlessly. (Thanks, Senator McCain! Nice job, Senator Feingold!) Yet, for the most part, these Republican billionaires are not acting cynically. They watch Fox News too, and they’re gripped by the same apocalyptic fears as the Republican base. In funding the tea-party movement, they are actually acting against their own longer-term interests, for it is the richest who have the most interest in political stability, which depends upon broad societal agreement that the existing distribution of rewards is fair and reasonable. If the social order comes to seem unjust to large numbers of people, what happens next will make Occupy Wall Street look like a street fair.”
—–
“Through the debate over health-care reform in 2009–10, I urged that Republicans try to reach some kind of deal. The Democrats had the votes to pass something. They could not afford to lose. Providing health coverage to all is a worthy goal, and the core mechanisms of what we called Obamacare should not have been obnoxious to Republicans. In fact, they were drawn from past Republican plans. Democrats were so eager for Republican votes to provide bipartisan cover that they might well have paid a substantial price to get them, including dropping the surtaxes on work and investment that supposedly financed the Affordable Care Act. My urgings went unheeded, obviously. Senator Jim DeMint predicted that health care would become Obama’s Waterloo, the decisive defeat that would destroy his presidency, and Republicans accepted DeMint’s counsel. So they bet everything—and lost everything. A major new entitlement has been written into law, financed by redistributive new taxes. Changes in the bill that could have been had for the asking will now require years of slow, painful legislative effort, if they ever come at all. Republicans hope that the Supreme Court will overturn the Affordable Care Act. Such a decision would be the most dramatic assertion of judicial power since the thirties, and for that reason alone seems improbable. Yet absent action by the Supreme Court, outright repeal of President Obama’s health-care law is a mirage, requiring not only 60 votes in the Senate but also the withdrawal of benefits that the American people will have gotten used to by 2013.”
—–
“It’s the job of conservatives in this crisis to show a better way. But it’s one thing to point out (accurately) that President Obama’s stimulus plan was mostly a compilation of antique Democratic wish lists, and quite another to argue that the correct response to the worst collapse since the thirties is to wait for the economy to get better on its own. It’s one thing to worry (wisely) about the long-term trend in government spending, and another to demand big, immediate cuts when 25 million are out of full-time work and the government can borrow for ten years at 2 percent. It’s a duty to scrutinize the actions and decisions of the incumbent administration, but an abuse to use the filibuster as a routine tool of legislation or to prevent dozens of presidential appointments from even coming to a vote. It’s fine to be unconcerned that the rich are getting richer, but blind to deny that middle-class wages have stagnated or worse over the past dozen years. In the aftershock of 2008, large numbers of Americans feel exploited and abused. Rather than workable solutions, my party is offering low taxes for the currently rich and high spending for the currently old, to be followed by who-knows-what and who-the-hell-cares. This isn’t conservatism; it’s a going-out-of-business sale for the baby-boom generation.”
Rupert Murdoch is facing yet another barrage of criticism (this time by celebrities) over that phone hacking scandal in the UK.
How far-fetched do you think that the same ethics of allowing phone hacking is going on at Fox News?
Hey – the tone and ethics of a corporation comes from the top down…IMHO
Maybe someone should phone-hack all the main characters at Fox News and throw in the talk radio shock jocks – that alone will probably make alot of people want to hurl.
But, yet, the Fox News and talk radio target audience are those self-professing moral, godly and holier-than-thou types. You know what I am going to say next – Evangelical Christians who want to play the victim card each and every time while steam rolling over others.
DAmn, I am tired of it.
Phone hack them all……..let’s see what drops out of the nut trees….
“This isn’t conservatism; it’s a going-out-of-business sale for the baby-boom generation”
—-
And the saddest part – IMHO – are these Evangelical Christians in their insatiable quest for political power are the ones being the cheerleader for all this GOP nonsense.
These are the money vendors in the Temple that Jesus ran out – IMHO.
And these are the folks that have hijacked my faith Christianity. They have twisted their version into something quite perverse.
Hey, don’t we ALL practice the art of C Y A if we’re given the chance!? 🙂
*** Three reasons Obama didn’t get involved in Super Committee: (1) Members on both sides of the Super Committee asked the president NOT to get involved, NBC’s Kristen Welker reports according to White House officials; (2) He believes the deadline in many respects is artificial. If the automatic cuts don’t kick in for a year, then there is time to come up with some other solution; and (3) It’s good politics. Yes, he’ll take short-term nicks with Republicans blaming him, but what if it failed and he had gotten involved? What if it passed, but they had to make painful cuts to social programs that would have upset his base? It’s good to run against a Congress that’s as unpopular as this one is. We’ve seen the president go down to Congress’ level on lots of occasions, and he was criticized for it. This time, he stayed away and highlighted Congress’ inability to get things done on their own.
“A hypochristian is someone who claims to be Christian but fails to follow the principal teachings of Jesus Christ (hereby summarised as love, tolerance and forgiveness), preferring for selfish, cultural or political reasons to selectively emphasize passages from the Old Testament instead.”
Allow me to give you two examples so you’ll know how to spot a hypochristian in future. Let’s start with Newt Gingrich.
Newt Gingrich claims to be a Roman Catholic. He opposes same-sex marriage, believing that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. As Speaker of the House he pushed the Defense of Marriage Act through the House of Representatives in 1996 when it looked like marriage equality might be won in Hawaii. Despite opposing marriage for same-sex couples, he has taken full advantage of his right to marry: he has married three times.
Gingrich married his first wife, Jackie Battley, in 1962. In 1980 he had his first affair with a woman called Marianne Ginther. He divorced Battley in 1981 and married Ginther, who became his second wife. Not having learned his lesson, he then began an affair with Callista Bisek in the mid 1980s. He finally divorced Ginther in 2000 and married Bisek, who then became his third wife. Not only did Gingrich clearly misunderstand Jesus when he said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” but he also appears to have ignored what the Bible says about adultery. Without a shadow of a doubt, Gingrich is a hypochristian.
Texas Governor Rick Perry also claims to be a Christian. Yet in spite of being “pro-life,” he is a strong supporter and celebrator of the death penalty. This may very well be in accord with the Old Testament’s “an eye for an eye” view of crime and punishment, but it’s hard to believe that Jesus Christ would have allowed 234 people to be executed by the state of Texas had he been governor. It’s also worth emphasizing that “thou shalt not kill” covers criminals just as much as it covers their victims. Oh, and before anyone points out, I’m well aware that the people of Texas would never actually elect Jesus Christ as governor. Perry is undoubtedly a hypochristian.
I, for one, am fed up with hypochristians denying gay men and women their human rights in the name of “God” through some kind of selective amnesia of what Christianity is about. These people are taking the Christ out of Christianity and replacing him with their own right-wing agenda. Put simply: Jesus did not preach hate. Those who use his name to justify their own hate and ignorance need to be called out. We now have the perfect word with which to do so.
There are hypochristians and there are hyperchristians.
The hyper one – IMHO – are those who are churchy peoplel. You know, those are the ones that like the dog and pony show and will always be telling you how much they love God, yada – yada and more yada.
Come to think about it – your list above fits these hyperchristians also.
Religion should never mix with politics. The last 30 years should prove that point.
I can’t find an answer to this question, anyone here know? I read that since the Super Committee gave up and unless the congress critters do something between now and January 2013, the Bush tax cuts expire and the automatic penalties / triggers go into place. No matter what happens in the 2012 elections everyone currently in office will still be in the same offices for the first two-thirds of January 2013. Inauguration Day is usually 20ish of the month. So, is there an exact date, and is it before anyone newly elected takes office for a term beginning in mid January 2013?
I hope they take place before anyone newly elected takes office! This puts the people who have kicked the can down the road responsible. They wouldn’t be made totally accountable because they could beg for reelection with promises of ‘fixing’ the situation by calendar year end. There’s always some voters who believe politicians promises.
I thought the exact date was Jan 1, 2013. That is when the extension of those class warfare Bush taxcuts are set to expire.
I assume the automatic budget cuts would take place at the same time?
I also heard yesterday there are several Congress Critters who are exploring the idea of simply changing the rules of the automatic cuts by simply rewriting the purpose of the Super Committee – which is why President Obama threatened a veto to any such attempt.
Did anyone really expect this Super Committee to be successful- I mean, seriously……
Almost two weeks ago, 21 Occupy Wall Street protesters decided to take the movement on the road, in a march from New York’s Zuccotti Park to the White House.
The protesters embarked on the 231-mile-trek with a $3,000 check from Occupy Wall Street. But the marchers soon found they didn’t need the money, as they received donations of food and cash, cigarettes and deodorant from local residents and passersby. Occupy movements also sprang up or grew larger in their wake in places such as New Brunswick and Trenton, N.J.
While some of the original 21 marchers dropped out because of missing toenails, shin splints or fevers, new marchers have since joined, so that more than twice as many protesters will arrive in Washington Tuesday (that’s TODAY!).
On Wednesday, the Occupiers intend to hold a “day of action,” to shut down part of the city in protest of the failure by 12 lawmakers to reach a deal that would ease the tax burden on the “99 percent.”
Did anyone see this today? Obama handled it very well. I was impressed by the way Obama let the protesters have their say and then he responded by telling them that he listened to them and they need to listen to him.
BTW – these protesters were OWS people talking about the 4,000 arrested. But exactly what can Obama do about these arrests?
Was this the best place for these OWS protesters to state their case?
Cain thinks he can get the black vote simply based on his race – I thought this was the Republicans’ criticism of the blacks that voted for Obama simply because he was black?
IOKIYAR….
Note – the sentence in the article that Eisenhower got 41% of the black vote back in 1956. Well, let’s see, Herman and followers – if you were to study the real history of America, you would know that in the 1960’s is when the Southern White Democrats fled the Democratic Party due to Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act. So maybe alot of those white voters who Cain thinks support him are only using him – much in the same way whites have used blacks for centuries.
And don’t you think the average black American (not a millionaire) does not exactly relate to Mr. Cain and his fancy suits and calling people lazy that do not have a job and they have no one to blame but themselves?
These are interesting times….. I wonder if these white supporters of Cain would be applauding so much if the Democratic opponent wasn’t a black man?
I just HAD to google “what is the plural of doofus”.
Looks to be a toss up between doofuses and doofi. You really should google it for some cheap amusement.
My son and his family are on their way! I haven’t seen my youngest grandson (in person) since he was less than a month old. He’s five and a half months old now. I’m smiling. A really really BIG smile. 🙂
Are they flying or driving? Wow – 5 and 1/2 months old? That is the beginning of the fun stage – their little personalitites start to come out and they start to interact with people.
They’re flying from Boston and in the air! I’ll see them TODAY!
My son (ever the nerd!) told me what his son likes to do is sit in his high chair at the table with grown up people and conduct gravity experiments.
I told him probably not many parents called that activity ‘gravity experiments’ but as long as there had been babies and high chairs we had been picking up whatever babies threw overboard.
It’s been forever since we’ve had a baby in our family. My next youngest grandchild will be 14 in December. So I was a bit worried the baby might be in that timid of strangers phase. My son said, “No. If you smile at him he thinks you’re probably the next best person he’s ever met.” He went on to say, “So far his theory has been proven.”
Can you tell I’m excited!?
My two oldest grandsons both live in Portland and I don’t see them as often as I would like. They’ll both be home in Wichita too! It’s going to be a good holiday.
As for the charge of violence in the home, – if it really has been two years – either prove there is violence or not – or is this normal to take 2 years?
I’ve never been in a situation where the state takes the kids – so I am really naive about all this.
flip flop, flip flop. flip flop. What do you want me to say? I’ll say it! Honest, anything! Just vote for Meeeeeeee!
But while Romney doesn’t think the government has a role in fixing the housing crisis, his campaign’s first advertisement specifically lays the blame for “record home foreclosures” at the feet of President.
Leading Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney laid out his prescription for America’s housing crisis while campaigning in Nevada last month, saying policy makers shouldn’t “try and stop the foreclosure process.” “Let it run its course and hit the bottom,” he said.
A few weeks later, at a GOP debate hosted by CNBC, Romney again declared that as president, he would do nothing to ease the housing crisis. “Markets work,” Romney proclaimed.
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
Nov 22,1963 IMHO a date that changed the course of America. Do you remember where you were that day? I was in the 5th grade and received the news from our teacher.
I was in 5th grade, Mr. Wall’s classroom and when we were told the horrible news, several kids from the Republican homes in our town actually stood up and applauded.
Now do you wonder why I can see the same thing happening today if it was Obama in JFK’s shoes?
I’ve seen hate first hand – and it’s not pretty. And these were just the kids of these Republicans. One has to wonder what the talk was like around the dinner table to encourage their ‘little ones’ to act so horrid.
I was watching Chris Matthews in the past few weeks hawking his new book about John F Kennedy. Chris said that JFK made the remark that he was going into ‘nut country’ when he was headed for Dallas.
Hmm, I guess Texas has not changed all that much from 1962 – have they?
Nut country = right wingers with alot of hate…
My biggest fear since Obama was elected that history would repeat itself.
God, I hope not…
If you think I am over-reacting about the right-wing hatred of Obama…..
read this and then ask yourself, was it all just a ‘joke’ as this young woman is now claiming?
These right wingers like to stir this crap up – just like the anti-abortion protesters harassed Dr. George Tiller – until a nutjob from nut country finally did carry out the message of hate that these Right Wingers seem to thrive on…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/lauren-e-pierce-texas-col_n_1098176.html
What COULD have been – what SHOULD have been are two answers we will NEVER know.
There are alot of things that can be said about the Kennedy family (and not all things are nice) – but one thing the Kennedys did was to serve their country.
Ask not what your country can do for you. But ask what you can do for your country.
In today’s current Republican cirlces – just paying a few more dollarrs in taxes when the rest of the 99% are struggling to survive would be a good start in asking what YOU can do for your country.
Silly me – what am I thinking to ask a Republican to give up their gouging at the taxpayers’ trough for the good of the entire country.
I must be one of those Heathen Socialist Liberal Commies destined for Hell.
Well, I if I am all those things – Reagan must be also because even Reagan said that the wealthy should pay their fair share in taxes.
http://www.huliq.com/3257/ronald-reagan-close-loopholes-millionaires-must-pay-their-fair-share-video
We’ve still got those loop holes, so neither man, not Reagan and not Obama, did what he said / hoped. Was it just lip service? Was it a true hope that was thwarted?
Unfortunately, I think it is the corrupt political system we have allowed to be built.
But with the SCOTUS giving corporations the legality of being a ‘person’ – that corruption is now somehow seen as legal or maybe a better word – acceptable?
These are very scary times but I still think about the Mayan calendar of 2012. This is to be a time of an awakening – and I think the OWS has been an eye-opener for alot of people.
Then factor in the backlash these Republican governors are getting from their individual states because they have over-reached in their narrow agenda of take money from taxpayers and give it to corporations.
We all remember.
I was in high school, began hearing at lunch time. Although students didn’t leave the school at lunch back in those long-ago days some radios were always playing tunes… Then the class right after lunch the big announcement was made and school was dismissed early that day and we were told not to return until after Thanksgiving.
The halls were eerily quiet. None of the boisterous celebrating that usually accompanied school dismissing for a holiday, none of the locker doors slamming…
I think most of us spent lots of hours of that long holiday watching our small black-and-white television screens.
I can still feel the solemnity of our nation mourning.
Of course later when Vietnam was raging, I blamed Johnson and somehow knew if Kennedy had lived… Vietnam formed much that is still me today. I lost classmates, friends, innocence and a whole lot more.
To this day the two presidents I think the most poorly of, and respect the least came from that state of Texas — Johnson and Bush2. It’s strange how our minds work! I didn’t like Perry before I found out he was bush the lesser without the brains. Reminded me immediately of two men I would just as soon forget.
Of all the scenarios I’ve seen this picture made into, this is the one I appreciate! I think we could use the word ‘karma’ here! And I won’t speak for anyone else, but it seems just! Maybe this will be his life going forward…
When I saw this video – my first thought about this guy was – don’t they have weight limits to be a law enforcement officer?
My second thought was – a Rent-a-Cop type……you know, the ones that cannot make it into the police academy so they go work for a university or mall somewhere.
Third thought was – he was taking too much pleasure in what he was doing – IMHO.
That is the moment he is no longer an effective law enforcement officer – and that is the moment he needs to be let go – permanently . IMHO
November 22, 2011
8pm ET on CNN – Live Stream
Location: DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC
Sponsor: CNN, The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute
Participants: Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, Huntsman, Paul, Perry, Romney, Santorum
Tonight you can tune in to the 14th Republican debate since May 5! This one, sponsored by two conservative think tanks, the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, and hosted by CNN, will focus on foreign policy. I think that means we’ll hear a lot about Iran and their plans for war. These republican ‘wanna-be president’ candidates are much more dangerous than any foreign country!
I like these debates! The more we see of them the worse they look!
I heard the focus was on national security – which is fertile ground for these Republicans to do their war mongering.
I wonder how their crowd will react tonight? Of course, there will be cheers of ‘Bring It On’ – how very GWB of these little minds.
40,000 Rally, More Than 100,000 Sign Petitions, to Say ‘Recall Walker’
As tens of thousands of Wisconsinites rallied in Madison for a mass signing of petitions to recall anti-labor Governor Scott Walker Saturday, it was announced that the drive had collected 105,000 signatures in its first four days.
The labor, farm and community activists who organized the effort have sixty days to collect 540,000 signatures—25 percent of the electorate in the last gubernatorial election—to force the governor and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch to face the voters in a recall election. Organizers hope to turn in more than 700,000 signatures, in order to thwart challenges that will be posed by a multimillion-dollar effort paid for by the billionaire Koch brothers and other anti-labor zealots from across the country who have financed Walker’s campaigns.
continue reading —
http://nymag.com/news/politics/conservatives-david-frum-2011-11/?mid=nymag_press
The link above takes you to a long, far-reaching article. There are many insights shared. Here’s just a few —
——
Rupert Murdoch is facing yet another barrage of criticism (this time by celebrities) over that phone hacking scandal in the UK.
How far-fetched do you think that the same ethics of allowing phone hacking is going on at Fox News?
Hey – the tone and ethics of a corporation comes from the top down…IMHO
Maybe someone should phone-hack all the main characters at Fox News and throw in the talk radio shock jocks – that alone will probably make alot of people want to hurl.
But, yet, the Fox News and talk radio target audience are those self-professing moral, godly and holier-than-thou types. You know what I am going to say next – Evangelical Christians who want to play the victim card each and every time while steam rolling over others.
DAmn, I am tired of it.
Phone hack them all……..let’s see what drops out of the nut trees….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/hugh-grant-milly-dowlers-parents-testify-in-news-corp-phone-hacking-inquiry/2011/11/21/gIQA9jrqiN_story.html?wprss=rss_europe
“This isn’t conservatism; it’s a going-out-of-business sale for the baby-boom generation”
—-
And the saddest part – IMHO – are these Evangelical Christians in their insatiable quest for political power are the ones being the cheerleader for all this GOP nonsense.
These are the money vendors in the Temple that Jesus ran out – IMHO.
And these are the folks that have hijacked my faith Christianity. They have twisted their version into something quite perverse.
Hey, don’t we ALL practice the art of C Y A if we’re given the chance!? 🙂
*** Three reasons Obama didn’t get involved in Super Committee: (1) Members on both sides of the Super Committee asked the president NOT to get involved, NBC’s Kristen Welker reports according to White House officials; (2) He believes the deadline in many respects is artificial. If the automatic cuts don’t kick in for a year, then there is time to come up with some other solution; and (3) It’s good politics. Yes, he’ll take short-term nicks with Republicans blaming him, but what if it failed and he had gotten involved? What if it passed, but they had to make painful cuts to social programs that would have upset his base? It’s good to run against a Congress that’s as unpopular as this one is. We’ve seen the president go down to Congress’ level on lots of occasions, and he was criticized for it. This time, he stayed away and highlighted Congress’ inability to get things done on their own.
It is almost 20 minutes long. If you turn up your speakers while you’re putting together that pie, or dusting, or …
“A hypochristian is someone who claims to be Christian but fails to follow the principal teachings of Jesus Christ (hereby summarised as love, tolerance and forgiveness), preferring for selfish, cultural or political reasons to selectively emphasize passages from the Old Testament instead.”
Allow me to give you two examples so you’ll know how to spot a hypochristian in future. Let’s start with Newt Gingrich.
Newt Gingrich claims to be a Roman Catholic. He opposes same-sex marriage, believing that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. As Speaker of the House he pushed the Defense of Marriage Act through the House of Representatives in 1996 when it looked like marriage equality might be won in Hawaii. Despite opposing marriage for same-sex couples, he has taken full advantage of his right to marry: he has married three times.
Gingrich married his first wife, Jackie Battley, in 1962. In 1980 he had his first affair with a woman called Marianne Ginther. He divorced Battley in 1981 and married Ginther, who became his second wife. Not having learned his lesson, he then began an affair with Callista Bisek in the mid 1980s. He finally divorced Ginther in 2000 and married Bisek, who then became his third wife. Not only did Gingrich clearly misunderstand Jesus when he said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” but he also appears to have ignored what the Bible says about adultery. Without a shadow of a doubt, Gingrich is a hypochristian.
Texas Governor Rick Perry also claims to be a Christian. Yet in spite of being “pro-life,” he is a strong supporter and celebrator of the death penalty. This may very well be in accord with the Old Testament’s “an eye for an eye” view of crime and punishment, but it’s hard to believe that Jesus Christ would have allowed 234 people to be executed by the state of Texas had he been governor. It’s also worth emphasizing that “thou shalt not kill” covers criminals just as much as it covers their victims. Oh, and before anyone points out, I’m well aware that the people of Texas would never actually elect Jesus Christ as governor. Perry is undoubtedly a hypochristian.
I, for one, am fed up with hypochristians denying gay men and women their human rights in the name of “God” through some kind of selective amnesia of what Christianity is about. These people are taking the Christ out of Christianity and replacing him with their own right-wing agenda. Put simply: Jesus did not preach hate. Those who use his name to justify their own hate and ignorance need to be called out. We now have the perfect word with which to do so.
If God truly believed in the death penalty – an eye for an eye – why didn’t God klll Cain when Cain killed his brother Abel?
Sounds to me like God is not so gun-ho on that death penalty stuff.
There are hypochristians and there are hyperchristians.
The hyper one – IMHO – are those who are churchy peoplel. You know, those are the ones that like the dog and pony show and will always be telling you how much they love God, yada – yada and more yada.
Come to think about it – your list above fits these hyperchristians also.
Religion should never mix with politics. The last 30 years should prove that point.
I can’t find an answer to this question, anyone here know? I read that since the Super Committee gave up and unless the congress critters do something between now and January 2013, the Bush tax cuts expire and the automatic penalties / triggers go into place. No matter what happens in the 2012 elections everyone currently in office will still be in the same offices for the first two-thirds of January 2013. Inauguration Day is usually 20ish of the month. So, is there an exact date, and is it before anyone newly elected takes office for a term beginning in mid January 2013?
I hope they take place before anyone newly elected takes office! This puts the people who have kicked the can down the road responsible. They wouldn’t be made totally accountable because they could beg for reelection with promises of ‘fixing’ the situation by calendar year end. There’s always some voters who believe politicians promises.
I thought the exact date was Jan 1, 2013. That is when the extension of those class warfare Bush taxcuts are set to expire.
I assume the automatic budget cuts would take place at the same time?
I also heard yesterday there are several Congress Critters who are exploring the idea of simply changing the rules of the automatic cuts by simply rewriting the purpose of the Super Committee – which is why President Obama threatened a veto to any such attempt.
Did anyone really expect this Super Committee to be successful- I mean, seriously……
Almost two weeks ago, 21 Occupy Wall Street protesters decided to take the movement on the road, in a march from New York’s Zuccotti Park to the White House.
The protesters embarked on the 231-mile-trek with a $3,000 check from Occupy Wall Street. But the marchers soon found they didn’t need the money, as they received donations of food and cash, cigarettes and deodorant from local residents and passersby. Occupy movements also sprang up or grew larger in their wake in places such as New Brunswick and Trenton, N.J.
While some of the original 21 marchers dropped out because of missing toenails, shin splints or fevers, new marchers have since joined, so that more than twice as many protesters will arrive in Washington Tuesday (that’s TODAY!).
On Wednesday, the Occupiers intend to hold a “day of action,” to shut down part of the city in protest of the failure by 12 lawmakers to reach a deal that would ease the tax burden on the “99 percent.”
Lots of pictures and more information at this link —
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/occupy-wall-street-protesters-finish-journey-from-zuccotti-park-to-dc/2011/11/21/gIQAz6PDjN_blog.html?hpid=z9
Did anyone see this today? Obama handled it very well. I was impressed by the way Obama let the protesters have their say and then he responded by telling them that he listened to them and they need to listen to him.
BTW – these protesters were OWS people talking about the 4,000 arrested. But exactly what can Obama do about these arrests?
Was this the best place for these OWS protesters to state their case?
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/11/obama-heckled-in-new-hampshire/1
I thought he handled it well too.
Cain thinks he can get the black vote simply based on his race – I thought this was the Republicans’ criticism of the blacks that voted for Obama simply because he was black?
IOKIYAR….
Note – the sentence in the article that Eisenhower got 41% of the black vote back in 1956. Well, let’s see, Herman and followers – if you were to study the real history of America, you would know that in the 1960’s is when the Southern White Democrats fled the Democratic Party due to Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act. So maybe alot of those white voters who Cain thinks support him are only using him – much in the same way whites have used blacks for centuries.
And don’t you think the average black American (not a millionaire) does not exactly relate to Mr. Cain and his fancy suits and calling people lazy that do not have a job and they have no one to blame but themselves?
These are interesting times….. I wonder if these white supporters of Cain would be applauding so much if the Democratic opponent wasn’t a black man?
Hnmmm,,….
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/22/8953778-cain-says-his-race-will-help-the-gop-but-is-he-right
Cain is one of the bigger doofus(es) among a batch of doofus.
Until this very minute I never wondered what the plural of doofus was! 🙂
Thanks for the laugh…..I usually refer to this group as the GOP Circus Clowns.
Seriously, isn’t there anyone in the Republican Party that as the good sense and qualities of a good statesman to stop this dog and pony show?
Are the moderate Republicans that scared of these Far Right Evangelicals?
I don’t know if you made a new word or not,but I think your right on and to the point of accuracy!
I just HAD to google “what is the plural of doofus”.
Looks to be a toss up between doofuses and doofi. You really should google it for some cheap amusement.
Here’s some synonyms: berk [British], booby, charlie (also charley) [British], cuckoo, ding-a-ling, dingbat, ding-dong, dipstick, fool [slang], featherhead, git [British], goose, half-wit, jackass, lunatic, mooncalf, nincompoop, ninny, ninnyhammer, nit [chiefly British], nitwit, nut, nutcase, simp, simpleton, turkey, yo-yo
Just in case you get tired of the same old terms. 🙂
My son and his family are on their way! I haven’t seen my youngest grandson (in person) since he was less than a month old. He’s five and a half months old now. I’m smiling. A really really BIG smile. 🙂
Are they flying or driving? Wow – 5 and 1/2 months old? That is the beginning of the fun stage – their little personalitites start to come out and they start to interact with people.
What a fun time you’re going to have…….
They’re flying from Boston and in the air! I’ll see them TODAY!
My son (ever the nerd!) told me what his son likes to do is sit in his high chair at the table with grown up people and conduct gravity experiments.
I told him probably not many parents called that activity ‘gravity experiments’ but as long as there had been babies and high chairs we had been picking up whatever babies threw overboard.
It’s been forever since we’ve had a baby in our family. My next youngest grandchild will be 14 in December. So I was a bit worried the baby might be in that timid of strangers phase. My son said, “No. If you smile at him he thinks you’re probably the next best person he’s ever met.” He went on to say, “So far his theory has been proven.”
Can you tell I’m excited!?
My two oldest grandsons both live in Portland and I don’t see them as often as I would like. They’ll both be home in Wichita too! It’s going to be a good holiday.
It sounds like Grandma’s house – and heart – will be full this Thanksgiving…
I just love how you’re so excited………
I just happened upon this link and thought it was interesting – since we are talking about Herman Cain, blacks and his ‘apparent’ appeal…
http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/brother-to-brother-a-letter-to-herman-cain/discrimination/2011/10/06/27934
I vaguely remember this couple when they hit the news the first time about that refusal to do their son’s birthday cake due to his name being Adolph.
Surely there is more to the story than just the Nazi names for their kids? I may not like the names but is it really a crime to have these names?
What does anyone else think about this?
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/22/8952917-parents-of-adolf-hitler-campbell-lose-custody-of-newborn-hons
As for the charge of violence in the home, – if it really has been two years – either prove there is violence or not – or is this normal to take 2 years?
I’ve never been in a situation where the state takes the kids – so I am really naive about all this.
indy, this link was in the comments…
http://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/courts/appellate/a2208-09.opn.html
…see what you think.
Wow – I know I am naive, but I have never been anywhere near the type of stuff that is in this link. This is just NOT my world.
Sounds to me like the Nazi names for the children is the least of the problems.
But more than that – the cycle of abuse seems to be rampant – doesn’t it? And that’s the saddest part of all – IMHO.
flip flop, flip flop. flip flop. What do you want me to say? I’ll say it! Honest, anything! Just vote for Meeeeeeee!
But while Romney doesn’t think the government has a role in fixing the housing crisis, his campaign’s first advertisement specifically lays the blame for “record home foreclosures” at the feet of President.
After Saying Housing Market Should ‘Hit The Bottom,’ Romney Releases Ad Blaming Obama For ‘Record Home Foreclosures
Leading Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney laid out his prescription for America’s housing crisis while campaigning in Nevada last month, saying policy makers shouldn’t “try and stop the foreclosure process.” “Let it run its course and hit the bottom,” he said.
A few weeks later, at a GOP debate hosted by CNBC, Romney again declared that as president, he would do nothing to ease the housing crisis. “Markets work,” Romney proclaimed.