Snitch

Stop Snitching, For Justice’s Sake, by Suhith Wickrema, who best I can tell is a social worker in Cincinnati. This piece is a good example of the endless ignorance the public is subjected to.

The writer states:

Earlier this year my daughter, Angela, and her boyfriend bought a house in Roselawn. At a belated Fathers Day brunch, Angela shared that she had wanted to call the police on the “dope boys” hanging around the street corner. Her boyfriend protested. He said that calling the police would be snitching. Angela’s boyfriend was in good company. James Duane, a law professor at Regent Law School, in a public lecture titled, “Don’t Talk to the Police,” states, “I will never talk to any police officer under any circumstances.” Duane tells the story of Eddie Joe Lloyd, who had written to the police, suggesting how to solve several murders. Lloyd was convicted of committing one of those murders. After spending 17 years in prison, DNA evidence exonerated him.

Most inmates in state prisons tend to come from a handful of neighborhoods. This means that, in certain neighborhoods, almost all the residents might know someone who is in prison or has been in prison. At the same time people in these neighborhoods have not experienced a reduction in victimization. Life experience has taught them that talking to the police does not help. Residents in high-crime areas do not need statistical data or criminological concepts to know that the current criminal justice policy is not working.

So why cooperate with a broken system? Why talk to the police? Not talking to the police has become an act of passive resistance. “All men recognize the right of revolution – that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.”-Henry David Thoreau. “We got over two million motherfuckers locked up. Stop snitchin’”- Hip-hop artist Ice Cube.

With more than two million of my fellow citizens in prisons, I see the act of not cooperating with the police as an act of civil disobedience. I hope you join me. "

------ Wouldn't wanna snitch on "dope boys" because ... according to the left/progressive code of conduct snitching does not change anything, the police are your natural enemy, and/or a few rocks and joints are a "victimless crime." Never mind the victims of the dope boys and their customers - you know the murdered and/or used and abused family members and future boys and customers, neighbors, businesses - who are forced to support the dope boys - one way or another. "Victimless crime" is shouted by those doing the crime - follow the trail and there will always be others paying dearly for it somewhere.

The professor/author, James Duane, wrote of Eddie Joe Lloyd of Michigan who did 17 years for a crime he didn't commit. Eddie Joe had been confined to a mental institution after a violent dispute in a welfare office in 1984. From the mental institution he wrote the local police that he could help them solve the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl. It is said his confession was coerced and he had the usual sloppy court appointed defense. In 2002 DNA proved it was not Eddie. Some believe he knew details of the crime because he overhead conversation from folks in the neighborhood who had organized the search for the missing girl and found her body in an abandoned garage. Some say he was fed crime scene details by the police. Family and acquaintances said Eddie always had illusions of grandeur.

Wrongful convictions are of course unjust, but to use that as an excuse not to "snitch" or not to "talk to police under any circumstances", especially involving horrific crime - is pure stupid. Eddie was a victim of the system, but he was also a victim of his own disturbed mind. He died 2 years after his release and family members and attorneys have since received $4 million. Hopefully the profit from his suffering will be used wisely.

The silly snitch piece goes on to quote Thoreau and Ice Cube as if non-cooperation with police is an act of civil disobedience, revolutionary, and cool - the author wants you to join him. Baaa baaa. The revolutionaries who think it's okay for "dope boys" hanging on the corner are usually the first to cry and "snitch" to the police when they come home one day to find the door busted and all electronics missing.

The reason why the system is not working in high crime areas is partly because the sheep have been convinced not to snitch - but even more reason is because many of those who might have information do not want to draw attention to themselves because they too are guilty of illegal, immoral, or unsavory activity. A few keep quiet with fear of retaliation if they "snitch." Some have just washed their brains with stupid is and stupid does.

But, thanks to the "don't snitch" mentality - watching the rising tide toilet swirling at your doorstep is now cool, a revolution Bubba - eat, drink, and keep quiet. It's the Jim Jones ghetto cool-aid. Salud.

What A Country

I want to tell you a story - it's about someone local but she is representative of millions of Americans. Let's call her Claire. She could be black, brown, red, yellow, or white, male or female.

Claire just turned 21, is unmarried with 3 children (ages 5, 3, 1) with a high school diploma. She had a rough childhood and is bestowing most of the same roughness on her own children. She works as a nurse's aide in a nursing home at just over minimum wage. With overtime, she brings home about $1000 per month. The State is paying a cousin nearly $900 for Claire's childcare. This method of BigDaddy Government's helping hand seems absurd to me - why pay someone else as much as Claire earns, to stay home and raise Claire's children? Why not let her stay home until they start school? I suppose it has to do with the welfare-to-work but any way you work it someone is getting the welfare for the kids, why not mom ...

Claire receives about $700 in foodstamps, and lives in low-income housing. The children are covered by Medicaid. Several times through the year she receives help from charitable organizations to pay utilities. Thanksgiving and Christmas are bonanzas with food, toys, cash, and gift baskets from churches and agencies. If she had thriftier habits and mindset she could do a little better, she still likes to "run the streets" on occasion, but she refuses to shop the goodwill or secondhand stores for clothes and furniture. Another odd thing I've noticed about welfare recipients - most are ashamed to have anything "used" or hand-me-down, but no shame at all in lining up for organizational or government handouts.

Claire is wondering about college - being that Obamaman is encouraging moms with back to school programs/grants. Several of her girlfriends have received their school grant checks and are spending fast and furious. I cautioned her to think seriously about it as most of these grants are based on class attendance, passing grades, etc. and if you screw up you will owe BigDaddy. Loans are always repaid. It's a commitment Claire, not a means to a shopping spree. Claire even refused to put her oldest son in public preschool this year because her cousin needs the childcare money and she didn't have the money to buy him "a bunch of new clothes." For crisssake - I bought 4 outfits at the goodwill for my 5-year-old granddaughter - designer brands, hardly worn. One of my contributions to recycling the world, and when it comes to money I'm tighter than Dick's hatband, splurging is for bigger events than group finger painting and grass stains at recess.

Recently Claire was discussing her paycheck and the amount of taxes withheld every week. She pays about $83 per month for Social Security and Medicare, and another $10 for state tax. She pays no federal tax. Every February she receives approximately $4000 in tax refund.

Claire began to rant about the amount of taxes withheld from her paycheck and that she shouldn't have to pay so much, weaving her head and talkin' loud and ghettofied - she's a taxpayer goddamn motherf8#!ing guvmint.

I reminded her, considering the benefits of paid childcare, EIC cash, education, utilities, housing and food assistance, etc. and all the Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security that she and her nonworking and never worked relatives receive (plus our infrastructure and a myriad of other expenses) - that her taxes do not begin to cover what she receives in return. She asked, with what I can only describe as seriously, with an epiphanic expression ... "Is that what taxes are for?" then added, "so that's why white folks get so pissed."

Groan ... excuse me, gotta run, time to fill the moat and pull up the drawbridge.

Andre Rieu

Amazing Grace

Monkey See Do

(CNN) — Former President Bill Clinton is speaking out about his decision to change his personal stance on same-sex marriage.

In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, the former president said that while he still believes the issue should be left up to the states, he is no longer personally opposed to same-sex marriage as he once was.

"I was against the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage nation-wide, and I still think that the American people should be able to play this out in debates," Clinton said. "But me, Bill Clinton personally, I changed my position.

"I am no longer opposed to that," he added. "I think if people want to make commitments that last a lifetime, they ought to be able to do it."

---- Yep, Clinton is the go-to man on a lifetime commitment. Has Cooper left the closet yet? If the morality whores would push as fervently for Black marriage - our moral leaders might be worth their weight in condoms.

Interesting to read the defenders "logic" in the comments sections, "Haven't you noticed male on male sex among animals? Cats, dogs, sheep, horses, etc. That's as natural as you can get." --- Yep, our neutered male dog will still try to hump other male dogs - if the other mutt refuses, and usually does, a real dog fight follows. It's not sex fool, it's domination, territory, alpha male. As for the gay primate argument - maybe that's why the bonobo ape is known as the "forgotten monkey." Primate homosexual behavior is also a dominance thing, or used to divert attention and diffuse tension - rubbing genitals to avoid conflict - sort of reminds me of the UN speeches. (Even flinging verbal feces on occasion at the UN.)

In nature I see promiscuity, polygamy, polyandry, incest, and species who cannibalize their young and their mates - but most human societies frown on those "natural" acts too, for good reason.

Hodgepodge #2

G20 protests in Pittsburgh. "Police, in an overwhelming show of force, declared a Thursday afternoon march illegal almost as soon as it began, firing rubber bullets and canisters of pepper spray and smoke after small bands of anarchists responded to calls to disperse by rolling huge metal trash bins, throwing rocks and breaking windows. The G-20 Resistance Project has encouraged "affinity groups" to protest Friday morning at companies that it says represent greed, exploitation, warfare and other social ills, with potential targets including banks, Starbucks, McDonald's, grocery stores and a Marine Corps recruiting center." ------- After the smoke and rubber bullet drubbing, members of the "Resistance," high on adrenaline, regrouped at a nearby Starbucks, after buying all of the apple pies at a nearby McDonald's.

A group of kids singing an Obama Song last February is causing a stir again after MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell defended the tribute on the air. During Black History Month 2009, 20 children at B. Bernice Young Elementary School in New Jersey were videotaped singing a song of praise to the first African-American president of the United States, Barack Obama.

Hmm, hmm, hmm
Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must all lend a hand
To make this Country strong again
Hmm, hmm, hmm
Barack Hussein Obama
...Hmm, hmm, hmm
Barack Hussein Obama
...Hmm, hmm, hmm
Barack Hussein Obama
He said red, yellow, black, or white,
All are equal in his sight
Hmm, hmm, hmm
Barack Hussein Obama
Yes, hmm, hmm, hmm
Barack Hussein Obama

Hmmmmm - "equal in his sight" - a little too messianic for me, even if there's the reasonable cover of Black History Month and President's Day. Imagine if it were hmm, hmm, hmm George Walker Bush hmm hmm hmm.

AURORA, Colorado (CNN) -- An Afghan-born Colorado man charged with plotting to make bombs from household chemicals made several recent purchases from beauty supply stores in suburban Denver, telling workers he had "a lot of girlfriends," employees said Thursday. Najibullah Zazi, now charged with plotting to set off "weapons of mass destruction" in the United States was "a regular" at the Beauty Supply Warehouse in Aurora, Colorado, one store worker said. ------ Decades ago when we lived in Colorado, this suburb was known as "Saudi Aurora." East of Denver the area had no mountains, little greenery, like a desert, and a cultural mix of odd people. The only folks who bought homes in Aurora were those who didn't know better.

Former child star Mackenzie Phillips' candid confession about her purported decade-long sexual relationship with her singer-father, John Phillips, has forced the uncomfortable issue of incest into the public limelight. ------ Uncomfortable?? Phillips is a career criminal and "rehab-ista" - having been arrested again on drug charges in 2008. Sex with daddy took place between the age of 19-29; she was not exactly a victim, drug use is not a disease, nor is it an excuse. High on Arrival is just more vulgar garbage sold to a lascivious seeking public. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. "Now, more than a quarter century later, the saga continues. If she stays in good health, Mackenzie can perpetuate the cycle any number of times. John never quit "recovering." Among other great moments in their epic tale, John got a liver transplant ten years after the People story, following which the National Enquirer photographed him at a bar. Here is one more "fun" fact from John's memoir (yes, he wrote one too lauding his recovery, in 1986, while he was still screwing Mackenzie). The NY Times reviewer was not entirely convinced by John's story: "Phillips is not altogether realistic about himself. He recalls that when he was a postman, he threw mail away because his mailbags were too heavy; as a graveyard plot salesman, he received down payments, pocketed the money and never recorded the transactions. Still, on page 297 of a 444 page book, in reporting how he skipped out on a $2,000 hotel bill, he writes, 'My values were beginning to corrode under the prolonged influence of hard drugs.'

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, speaking at the United Nations Thursday, said, "It doesn't smell like sulfur anymore." ---- I watched part of Chavez and Gadhafi speeches yesterday. Amazing, I finally agree with Bush the Boy on something as he supposedly has said Chavez is Castro without the brains - a good description. Hugo backed off some of his earlier criticism of Obama to kiss butt as he compared Barry to JFK and said the lectern now "smells of hope," pucker up and mmmwah. Gadhafi, introduced as the "king of kings" by a fellow Libyan, once a fiery rebel in green fatigues, is now a prissy semi-senile putz patting and fussing with his robes, earpiece, and notes, rambling on and on and on. King of Krazies. And in the US, prefers to live as a homeless old man in a tent. I briefly listened to bits and pieces of Ahmadinejad and Netanyahu, and Obama. Good thing I never believed the UN was the answer to anything.

Last but not least - Obama's "good war." Obama spoke like a true hawk on the ridiculous notion that Afghanistan was a just war. On the campaign trail in July 2008 he visited Afghanistan and declared "troop levels must increase in Afghanistan." Of course, that was tough talk rhetoric for the "right" because I still meet folks today who swear Obama voted against both wars. Obama was not in the US senate in 2002 or 2003 to vote. Some people hear what they want to hear. Now that Barry O. has to put his money where his mouth is he's waffling, wandering around in his own mind over what's the best thing for his career. Last year he believed the situation in Afghanistan was "urgent" and needed more troops. Now, his apologists insist Barry O. is being boxed into a lose-lose situation. "Obama would do well to take his own sweet time with this decision and do his best to make the right one, and that appears to be the course he intends to take. What's the hurry? Why can't a new president take the time to listen to all the advice, test all the assumptions, weigh all the costs and then come to a decision with which he's comfortable? Obama's inheritance is a sorry one, to say the least. The Bush administration attacked Afghanistan after 9/11 but almost immediately turned its attention to its costly and unnecessary war of choice in Iraq, leaving al Qaida and the Taliban still standing and the war in Afghanistan starved of manpower and resources for nearly seven years." --- Remember the BushCo cry "blame it on Clinton?" Now it's blame it on Bush. "Why can't a new president take the time...?" Because he has had 2+ years of campaigning and in office to assess Afghanistan and have a pretty good idea of where he would go with it. Obama defenders sound as stupid as Bush's did.

Lift and Tote

"For us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase," the president said. "What it's saying is...that we're not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore.

"Right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance," Obama added. "Nobody considers that a tax increase.

"You just can't make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase," he added.

But a Democratic staff description of Sen. Max Baucus' bill calls the proposed fines an "excise tax." Initially, the Montana Democrat's plan called for penalties of up to $950 for individuals and $3,800 for families. But Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said Monday he expects the family penalty to be slashed in half to $1,900.

---------------- Read his lips - not a tax increase. You know Bubba, I won't be surprised if this mammoth in the living room healthcare reform passes, and I won't be surprised if it doesn't. Nothing the government does has surprised me since 1968. Besides, tax increases are on goods and products, i.e. cigarettes - pols have learned not to be obvious.

Take responsibility. Ooops wait a minute! Isn't "responsibility" what democrats and progressives (like Buzzflash, etc.) claim is the Republican "code" for "... institutional oppression, a "gimme" to their extremist base, which is primarily a large minority of Southern traditionalists, that when Republicans say "personal responsibility" they mean black, poor, disenfranchised, and otherwise less fortunate members of society who are left to fend for themselves."

Some people haven't a clue that not all Southern traditionalists are white - and what kind of doublespeak is "large minority"? Is there a lot of them, or a few of them? Or are there only some who think this way but there's a lot of them?

There's more to southern tradition than the stereotyped images of racists and rednecks. Tradition here includes people bound by diet, religion, habits, music and manners. It is ghost tales and old wives' tales passed down from generation to generation. It's gardening - okra and roses and honeysuckle vine. Hunting and fishing and picnics in the woods. It's taking cornmeal and lard and a cast iron skillet to the river to fry up catfish as you catch them. It's cooking large amounts of food to take to a neighbor who has lost a loved one, even if you barely knew them. It's a huge vocabulary of "old sayings" that finally make sense when you began to repeat them to your own children. And contrary to Michael Vick's dog fighting defense, dog fighting is not "just a part of the southern way of life." Maybe in his neighborhood, his generation.

I also found this Obama comment particularly interesting - "What it's saying is...that we're not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore."

Ha! Sounds good but who does he think he's fooling. Half the voting public expects someone else to heft their bale, lift their barge, and we know who is stuck carrying the deadweight (disguised as compassion).

Heave ho.

American Tribal Syndrome

Jimmah Carter, Bill Cosby, Pelosi, Maureen Dowd, etc. - It is not racism. Even Obama rejects the claim, letting others hoist this petard.

It may be the OJ syndrome. You know, where tens of thousands high-fived OJ's acquittal simply because it was a black man who beat the man (slitting throats didn't matter). It was the OJ syndrome that made long time Republican and Bush man, Colin Powell, become an Obama supporter. It wouldn't matter if Obama had preached Marxism from the stump, African-American Colin would have supported him because he was a black man who might beat the man. It's why most blacks laughed when African-American Kanye West stole the young European-American Taylor Swifts thunder - she was just a hillbilly singing white girl.

It may be the syndrome that caused African-American rightwinger Bill "personal responsibility" Cosby to also claim "racism is playing a role in recent outbursts against President Obama." Probably the most militant statement Cosby has ever made in his life.

I dunno why European-American James Carter would believe criticism of Obama is fueled by racism - Carter is supposed to be a wise old man. Is racism what he hears in his circle of white friends? How much time has Jimmah spent with black folks in the past few decades? When I was watching the clips of Carter on this topic I thought, god the man is still living in the '60s and '70s. I firmly believe one should retire from public forums when of the age of persistent watery eyes, 3 inch earlobes, and unable to pass a mini mental status exam.

European-American Pelosi used the issue for nothing more than a quivering lip with frozen forehead moment of pandering to the gays in her district. And she warns folks regarding their statements to "curb their enthusiasm ... that some of the people — the ears it is falling on are not as balanced as the person making the statement might assume." Is that the recycled "watch what you say" from the Bush era?

And what does airhead pundit Queen of Snark European-American Maureen Dowd know about racism? Well, she won a Pulitzer for reporting Monica's blowjob ... uhm ... she hears unspoken words in the air as in "You lie, boy!" Born and bred in D.C., she claims that for two centuries, the South has feared a takeover by blacks. Lol. God, is that helterskelterish. Dowd should stick to penis reporting.

Those who suffer from OJ syndrome are often white, for example, the white talking heads who claim that comparing Obama to Hitler or an animal is racism - although my Bushitler and Chimp Bush shirt and coffee mugs are okay, raise your hand if you considered Bush the village idiot and wet-brain moron, commander in thief. Oh, the placard that said "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy" was bad? No, it was in response to the liberals who hoped to get more converts for their healthcare plan while European-American Ted's dead body was still warm - claiming healthcare reform was Kennedy's lifelong dream. A tacky and obvious grab at support via sentimental b.s.

You see, it's only racist when a white person criticizes a black person, white folks can only criticize other white folks, black folks can criticize all white folks - if black folks criticize Obama they are "sell-outs," so it's okay to trash blacks who criticize Obama, as the liberals trashed Cosby when his speeches mentioned personal responsibility and pound cake. But Cosby may have seen the light now that he finally agrees with liberal tribe members on something.

For those who think the animosity toward Obama is race-based - think again. Most Americans, even the dumbest, know that the president (any color) is a puppet. The president, whether Bush or Obama, may believe in the agenda he's pushing - but he did not write the agenda, did not plan the agenda - he's given the to-do list, the speeches, and follows the script.

Slamming, even loathing Obama, is not racism. I think Bush the Boy the most loathsome man to hold office in my lifetime, nothing to do with race - I'm sure people can feel the same about Obama, and nothing to do with race.

It seems to me, folks like Carter, Dowd, and Pelosi weighing in on racism are depicting whites as the natural enemy of blacks - and seems they think we're all dumb enough to believe it.

Maybe the race issue is nothing more than an attempt to distract from all the other hot potatoes being thrown around - Acorn, the economy, unemployment, Wars that Obama owns now, plummeting poll numbers (haven't heard "plummet" in a while), or distraction from the hypocrisy, of such things as firing the IG Gerald Walpin, the Obama ties to Public Allies, another organization on the public teat, to train future community leaders - if it were a republican tribe, that would be community brownshirts. Maybe it's to distract from the government takeover of higher education - cutting out those evil middle-men bankers, so the government can run education successfully without corruption, you know like the post office, Medicare/Medicaid, HUD, DoD, Social Security, EPA, the IRS, Amtrak, etc...

I think this is the part where I say something profound about "move beyond" ... ? or is it move along nothing to see ... ? I can no longer be sure what rhetoric belongs to which tribe.

Dethroned

Isaac and big brother Alan.
There is almost exactly 5 years between Alan and Isaac. Alan has been parentally "prepared" for a new sibling. Just as Alan's dad (my son) was prepared for a new sibling when he was 5 y/o, about 35 years ago. My son adored his little sister like this, day after day. On the 5th day, my 5 y/o smiled and said "You can take her back now."

Hodgepodgery

ACORN: Are you shocked by the Acorn employees caught on tape giving pointers on how not to get caught running a child prostitution ring? Glenn Beck (Mr. Meltdown) has been showing this all week. I'm no fan of Beck's, he is too often embarrassingly, disturbingly emotional, but he is doing a good job on Acorn.

Acorn is corrupt, always has been. Long ago I was approached a few times to "join." After checking them out, attending a few meetings, etc. I said thank but no thanks. I have not paid much attention to the organization since, other than to shoo them away from my door, although I have heard many stories of corruption from folks who have dealt with Acorn over the years. Ninety percent of the Acornistas I have known or knew of, were liars, thieves, social dysfunctions who seem to know nothing of life other than to piss and moan, blame and game, lie and cheat, and scam the man. Those who might be decent folks, always seemed desperately lonely and lost - looking to feel part of a community, any community.

Back when I knew it, Acorn had the feel of a cult. Reminded me of bible thumpers, who if you would but listen and receive their word, you could be saved. When I turned down membership I knew they thought I was unworthy of their lofty ideals, a hopeless fool for not wanting to walk their path to social justice, welfare rights, cheap housing, free lunches, wages, etc. Acorn claims it informs, moves and recruits members and allies on such important issues. Yep, and look how much better off folks are today.

But nothing is more important to Acorn than the fatcat acorns at the top who can buy a politician or two or three or .... especially founder Wade Rathke and his I-stole-a-million dolla brother Dale Rathke. Acorn tried to keep Dale's embezzlement quiet but someone blew the whistle. How's this for "social justice" - Dale was dismissed from Acorn, no charges, and last year Wade stepped down as Acorn's chief but remains the chief of Acorn International - why not, since Acorn has taken its brand of social justice global.

Rathke is author of Citizen Wealth but I doubt Acorn followers get that the citizen and wealth is him and his. Citizen Rathke writes that all the "social justice" his cult has scammed and demanded for 30 years, is now not enough. Reportedly his new book shows how food stamps, unemployment insurance, and tax relief are temporary. The justice Acorn has fought for, are now stop-gap fixes and "do not address the systemic problems that keep people from building up the assets they need to create a stable life for themselves and their families." Supposedly, Rathke now has a real, workable plan to end poverty (his anyway).

JOE WILSON: Smacked on the wrist with a congressional admonishment, after 2 apologies, and after Obama took the high road and accepted the apology. How come? Because Obama's inner circle jerk, holding a deck of race cards, wanted it. Come on Barry, chastise that s.o.b., show that Joe mo'fo who be the boss. As ill-behaved as Wilson's you lie, do Obama advisers want him to look like a backwater preacher, clowning around with the congregation? If the wuss-faced Democrats had any backbone at least one of them would have yelled you lie, at least once, when Bush addressed them - and we would have cheered. Instead, Bush was given the go-ahead for war and the Democrat wussies talked against it later. Also, I take issue with the exactness of "you lie" versus "liar." The first is signifying a lie, the latter a person who tells lies, usually on a routine basis. There's a difference between saying you lie and you're a liar. But that's just my parsing, and hard to keep a straight face with lie/liar in conjunction with pols. Speaking of straight faces - Nancy Pelosi's expression seemed frozen, other than the eyelids opening wider. Botox? Did you notice seconds before the "you lie" she stifled a yawn. Wilson woke her up, maybe that expression was her morning wake face.

ALBERT GORE: An inconvenient truth may be that Al is co-founder and Chairman of Generation Investment Management (along with buddy Pete Knight), which provides funding for "alternative" energy, which also owns 10% of the Chicago Climate Exchange, which will issue the carbon credits that Cap and Tax legislation is based upon. Yep Bubba, it's generational. Al is also a partner in the venture capital firm of Kleiman, Perkins, Claufield and Byers (KPCB). KPCB is heavily invested in renewable energy and electrical grid improvements. The market for their products is almost completely dependent on government programs in the form of subsidies, tax breaks or regulation. Al Gore's contribution to KPCB is to promote government intervention in the energy markets. (Note KPCB global alliance with China.) Who said the "left" doesn't love Big Business? Not to worry - when you're literally keeping warm by singing around the campfire, reformed healthcare will pay for your Cymbalta.

MOVE/MOVED BEYOND: I'm so tired of this meme. This "national debate" of whether we have or have not moved beyond, regarding issues which I wonder why the hell we stopped to look at in the first place - other than for pols pandering to the meanest among us.

Top Gun

Isaac A. landed safely at Lackland AFB on Sep 13, 2009.
Landing weight 8 lbs. 1 oz. at 21 inches. Mom and baby
fine - dad home soon from Iraq. :) #8 :)

Truthers

Raimondo reminds readers to question the official story of 9/11. The 19 hijackers and boxcutters, etc. He revisits the Carl Cameron story, a favorite of Mike what's his name over at whatreallyhappened, and mentions the usual suspects - Israeli lobby, Israeli suspects, but Raimondo fails to mention the word Mossad in today's piece.

My first thought that day, when the plane hit the tower, was "only the CIA could do this ... an inside job." However, within a few weeks I was questioning who might the "inside" be? Yes, a foreign intel such as Mossad seemed more than feasible, believable, and that certainly seemed to be what the tinfoil crowd was pushing. But - then I gotta wonder, who are the folks behind the tinfoilers and what is their agenda in making sure the Israeli theory gets attention far and wide forever?

Raimondo says : "... those nineteen hijackers simply could not have pulled it off without outside assistance of some sort, by which I mean to say help from a foreign power acting covertly in this country."

Yes, I buy that much. Although that "foreign power" may be first generation or new citizens. Or it could be a group of homegrown disgruntled Americans who had a price that was met by foreign power.

But I have yet to see sufficient evidence which definitely links 9/11 to Israel. It could just as well have been the old KGB, Iran's MOIS, or some Middle Eastern group of billionaires living in Europe, buying influence and politicians and slowly but surely collapsing the US as we know it. Maybe it's an as yet unknown acronym from Latin America, who have joined subversive forces to bring down the Empire - Brazil, Chile, Argentine are skilled at covert activity. The international list of suspects as to insiders who done it may include folks you've never heard of, or would never guess. Hell, it may even be our old friends the foppish Brits and French - in the palaces of power you can never be 100% sure of allegiance.

Another issue for Raimondo, and many other "truthers" on the Israeli connection page, is the complexity of the attack, and how so much was missed or not caught, as if this proves whatever theory a particular "truther" is offering. Raimondo: "... Israeli agents on American soil had tracked the hijackers, as they moved amongst us, and, in addition, had launched what appeared to be a wide-ranging and quite aggressive intelligence-collection operation directed at US government offices across the country."

Attempts at intel collection from government offices is a far cry from an overt act of war (911).

I once bought into the Israeli connection, if for no other reason than it was easy to believe on the surface. Having grown weary of conspiracy all my life, it was easier to drink the current Kool-Aid. Finally, tearing myself away from gardening and grandkids, I forced myself to look closer, and most of the tinfoil is really tinfoil.

The Cameron files are here, - conveniently, not scrubbed or lost down the memory hole to eternity. The Israeli art students, mall salesmen, and high-five guys in a van by the river were broadcast within weeks of 9/11 - the Jews did it spin was a red flag that Reynolds wrap was on the roll.

In Cameron/Fox sensational reporting there is a lot of "...may well be .... ... could be used... if this, possibly that ... Israelis spying on Arabs in the US might have known in advance ... no direct evidence Israeli spies knew but suggests how could they not have known - how then could the US not have known? Isn't the FBI and a dozen other acronyms doing any surveillance?

May be, could be, what if, shoulda, coulda, woulda is not evidence. Cameron's report suggests to me more the activity of organized crime than Israeli connections to 911. It suggests Israel spying on Arab Americans, so who are Arab Americans spying on?

All agencies spy on all other agencies - friends and foes. Sad truth folks - a lot of this is explained by the simple fact that people do not do their jobs. From FBI agent slackers, to airport security, local cops not paying attention, lazy overpaid bureaucrats, incompetent desk jockeys, grownups pretending to be important while staring at bellybutton lint - the Peter Principle honed to perfection, American career masters of halfass-ism. But trust me, the rest of the world's agents are no different.

I have sat in a foreign country which was on the US shitlist and viewed classified documents, actually translating them until it dawned on me these people should not have this material and when asked how they obtained it, I was told "... we have friends in America." Those "friends" were not Jewish, not Middle Eastern. I now wonder if those "friends" are the same folks behind our pop-cult tinfoil, self-proclaimed saviors and truthsayers who have been debauching our minds for years, covertly of course.

One of the many many little details that caused me to question the "truthers" was the pretzel incident with Bush. Someone beat the crap out of the US president, and the public, both left and right shills, accepted the choked on a pretzel cover-up. I have to keep asking - who and why - those marks are not from fainting and rolling off the couch. It took place in January of 2003, just after invading Afghanistan and just before invading Iraq.

I wondered then and now if Bush balked at war on Iraq and someone let him know he was not in charge. I don't believe the asskicker was AIPAC or Jews - it was most likely a faction of the good old boys, as in Carl Oglesby's the yankee and cowboy war, whose agendas for the US encompasses all that has taken place in the last 40+ years, although I believe now the yankees and cowboys may have morphed into sold-out powers nearly unrecognizable from their originals. I know, makes me sound as tinfoil as the next guy.

Supposedly, one theory behind the Israeli link, is the attack would give Israel the war they wanted on the Middle East. For profit? For ideology? To risk having their little sliver of land blown to kingdom come? To destroy the US economically and politically? Why would Israel seek to bring about the fall of the US - who would replace the US as their best friend and benefactor? Heavy tinfoilers have a slue of theories on the whys and wherefores - the lightly tinfoiled crowd toss out fuzzy hints on the why/wherefore and you can draw your own conclusions - both crowds feed those folks who look for a goat to stake to the post.

I could just as easily form a theory that 9/11 was an act committed by Aryan/Arab intelligence and nation states with or without inside help, and inside help would not necessarily mean the foreign power in the US is Israeli - after all, according to the conspiracy crowds - the world hates us, as do a good many of our own angry homegrown political pedagogues in high places, and their followers.

It and they - could be anyone, although I have my druthers and others.

They Lie

They all lie - they're politicians. Even the claim that Joe Wilson's "you lie" outburst is unprecedented - is a lie. Presidents have been heckled in congress. Bush was booed and hissed, deservedly so, in more than one congressional speech. What may be unprecedented, is an individual member openly calling the president a liar during his speech to congress, although historically it has likely occurred it has never been caught on tape. It was a bit unsettling to witness last night's disrespect, but a few years ago when it was Bush being booed, I cheered.

More important, to me anyway, was Obama's statements that prompted Wilson's blurting "you lie." Obama: "There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false - the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally."

Ahh come on ... we know that's a lie, just as Wilson so rudely pointed out. We do not and will not turn away illegal immigrants who need treatment. So, if Obama is lying about one detail he's lying about others. It's our don't ask, don't tell sort of policy at clinics and hospitals. Besides Bubba, it's right there in Sec. 152. Prohibiting Discrimination in Health Care. "... all health care and related services covered by this Act shall be provided without regard to personal characteristics extraneous to the provision of high quality health care or related services." Plain and simple - you cannot discriminate based on a person's legal status.

But, aside from the phony talking points of the ruling class managed pundits, what's the real goal behind taxpayer funded health care for all? We know the government never does anything that is not, first and foremost, beneficial to the ruling class. So what's in it for the ruling class?

Why would corporate America not embrace ObamaCare? Wouldn't government funded health care finally remove corporate responsibility to provide such benefits and up the company's bottom line? Of course it would.

Why would insurance companies drag their feet on ObamaCare? The government will contract with insurance companies to provide coverage because you will be required by law to have a policy, just like auto insurance. Although unlike a vehicle, as you become a clunker your rates will go up, not down. But wait - Obama claims insurers will not be allowed to raise your cost - sure they won't, until congress passes approval based on excuses written by lobbyists. Obama's plan says those who cannot afford a policy will be subsidized, supposedly a small percentage - another way of saying taxpayer funds will be sent directly to a corporate policy provider approved by the government.

Doublespeaking, much of the scam is referred to as "insurance exchange" and the "public option." The public option, if included, is a health insurance provider run by the government and not for profit - we don't have to worry about the government making a profit do we - how can they when all the funds go to the corporations providing the government paid services. Sniff, sniff - does that smell like government insurance contractors?

The insurance exchange is where small businesses and individuals are pooled to negotiate better deals with insurance providers. The public option, if included in the final game plan, will be part of the exchange. So government and private insurance will be quasi-competitors - and as promised, the government will be not-for-profit - it's the only promise our massively indebted government keeps - no profit.

Folks, if this cradle to grave mediocre scam was not being swallowed by the public, I would be ROTFLMAO.

Just as you believe you can negotiate great insurance deals for your home, auto, life, etc. you will negotiate health care policies, and if not, BigDaddy Guvmint will be your proxy negotiator, right? Just as with other insurance policies, your costs will depend on your record, your region, even your neighborhood.

The public option, according to Obama estimates, would include only 5% of the country, and is for those without any insurance, and it is not taxpayer subsidized - it would have to be self-sufficient and paid for by premiums it collects. No government subsidy and self-sufficient? sounds like a failed option from the git-go. So who would this 5% be? Not the poor as they do not have the money for premiums.

Obama's plan expands the customer base of insurance companies because carrying a policy will be mandatory - so are corporate insurers really dragging their feet? Nah, that's just rhetoric from the "left" so you will assume the plan must be magnanimous otherwise the evil insurance companies would not be against it. Insurance companies did not fight legislating mandatory vehicle insurance in the 1980s, and they're not fighting mandatory health insurance. They're salivating.

I said years ago, and will say it again, if you cannot purchase your own policy, the government will eventually get around to applying your tax refund, or add another withholding box on your paystub, which goes to the insurance pool for your health coverage.

I know a lot of single mammas EICers who are not going to like losing that refund. Of course, there may be an up side to ObamaCare. I know a few hypochondriacs and seekers who will be pee'ode as well as those regular trips to the ER for a cocktail injection buzz will not be covered. And 2 guys I know have made a lifetime living off personal injury lawsuits with willing chiropractors and spine surgeons. If Obama's plan cuts all the fraud and waste in the health industry - the nation will be better off, but at a cost of almost a trillion dollars and more bloated agencies/overseers, I beg you not to count on a fraud-free industry.

The sad part beyond the smoke and mirrors is - your quality of health care will not be better, if anything it will be worse. Dr. Gitrich will know he has to tend to a certain number of folks in the lower priced pools and, much like now, your care will be those tests and procedures BigDaddy coverage allows - not necessarily what you need.

And although torte reform has not been discussed, that too will come to pass - you will not be suing BigDaddy Guvmint and his medical groundlings for malpractice.

1940's Norman Thomas: "The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But, under the name of ‘liberalism’, they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."

So, stay well folks, because once again, rather than address the root cause of our problems (political corruption) we're just going to hire more and more apparatchikers to doctor the system. Sort of gives the term "red tape" new meaning.

Italian Commercial

Racist? Americans have no sense of humor.

Fluidity of Language

Lesson for Van Jones: Don't get too uppity. By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist.

Van Jones loved the spotlight. Heck, who wouldn't, after being named a special adviser and green jobs czar for President Barack Obama. In Kansas City last week, Jones was one of the federal officials flown in to take a look at the Green Impact Zone, an idea to upgrade 150 blocks of low-income neighborhoods. Jones was introduced twice by fellow, higher-ranking fed officials -- and on both occasions, Jones made sure to interject that he was a "special adviser" to Obama. But now he's not part of the administration at all, thanks to imprudent remarks and a petition he signed years ago, a petition that implied the federal government allowed 9/11 to happen. The statement that really got Jones in trouble with radio shock-jock Glenn Beck and other conservatives came in February, when he was at a green energy conference in Berkeley. When asked why Republicans were more effective when they held Congress, Jones replied: The answer to that is: "They're assholes. That's a technical political science term. And Barack Obama's not an asshole. I will say this, I can be an asshole. And some of us who are not Barack Hussein Obama are gonna have to start getting a little bit uppity." Of course, for Beck and the rest of the white-America crowd, Jones got a little too uppity, especially when a group co-founded by Jones went after Beck and got some advertisers to pull out of supporting his show.

---- Oooweee, the Van man is so good-looking I'd hire him on looks alone. But woe are the BlameWhitey crowd as Van the Green Tsar has left the first black president's Tsarena.

A few short years ago Van Jones was a San Francisco Bay Area radical agitator–a committed Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, waging war on the police and capitalist system. A participant in the 1992 Rodney King riots (arrested, charges dropped); signing petitions with Code Pinkers regarding government culpability in 9/11; and founder of Ellen Baker Center for Human Rights, an NGO, the Color of Change, a 501c3, and Green for All - another NGO.

NGO - nongovernmental organization. Implies independence from government, but most NGOs depend heavily on governments for their funding, and/or funding by the older and larger moneybag NGO foundations of the ruling class. Peter Hallward argues that NGOs are an aristocratic form of politics, i.e. a faction of the ruling class can pour funds into an NGO which is complicit with their particular political agenda - and it all looks benevolent, charitable, humanitarian, independent, indigenous, community-based, and grass rootsy, etc. But follow the money.

I have ranted previously on NGOs, 501c3, foundations, etc. These organizations began to take serious hold in the 1950s and their growth has exploded in the last 35 years. They are definitely a form of aristocratic politics as the "founders" and members see themselves superior and best qualified to run the social-political show they have chosen to latch onto - usually color related, green, black, brown, red, or white folks helping some color or another. Amazingly, I can't think of one NGO that has done anything of real and lasting value for the peasantry in the last 35 years.

Even though Mr. Yael T. Abouhalkah, fortunately, is only a hack for the KC Star, his mentality represents much of what tries to pass itself off as progressive thought today but it is so 1950s.

Yael and friends are behind on the times because in today's world "uppity" does not mean a black man who dares to look the white women in the eye or the black woman who refuses to give up her seat on the bus - - no, uppity today is code for asshole, as defined by Mr. Van Jones himself, in above paragraph, in his owns words : "They're assholes. That's a technical political science term. And Barack Obama's not an asshole. I will say this, I can be an asshole. And some of us who are not Barack Hussein Obama are gonna have to start getting a little bit uppity."

So you see Bubba, to be a little bit uppity you only have to be an asshole - these days it doesn't matter what color you are or what political body you support - you simply have to feel self-important, arrogant, and overstep the boundaries of politeness - obnoxious is a plus (the Bush family are masters of uppity/asshole). You can be a member of the "white-American crowd" and be an uppity. And if you make the sheople chuckle by referring to yourself and the opposition as assholes - that's a cool uppity.

We can all be uppity - and some of us are bigger uppities than others. Some make a living at being an uppity, and for some being an uppity seems to come naturally. And, wouldn't you know it, in our physically fixated culture - it usually helps if you're a good-looking "aristocratic" uppity.

Of course, uppity/asshole can also, as Mr. Anthony "Van" Jones knows well, come back and bite you in the ....... especially if you love the spotlight.

Introspection

The violent anti-Obama sentiment coming out of central Arizona managed to get still more toxic over the weekend. Chris Broughton, the man who brought an AR-15 rifle and a handgun to an Arizona Obama rally earlier this month, says he "concurs" with his fundamentalist pastor's prayer for President Obama "to die and go to hell."

And in an interview with a local TV station, pastor Steven Anderson himself elaborated on his statement to TPMmuckraker that he would prefer Obama to die of natural causes so "he's not some martyr." "I don't want him to be a martyr, we don't need another holiday. I'd like to see him die, like Ted Kennedy, of brain cancer," Anderson now says.

In an interview with ABC 15 outside the storefront Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Broughton said of Anderson's controversial August 16 "Why I Hate Barack Obama" sermon: "I concur, I think we'd be better off if God would send [Obama] where he's going now instead of later. [Obama] is destroying our country." And when a reporter followed up with, "you're not advocating violence against the president?" Broughton, who has previously said his weapons are for defense, says "I'm not going to answer that question directly." "I don't care how God does it, I'm not going into further detail than that," Broughton says. "It would be better now than later."

---- When I first heard this story I thought, crazy zealots wanting their 15 minutes. My second thought was the left/progressive and democrats will love the fuel for their anti-religious folks, and their anti-racist groups - but damn, Broughton is black so that completely waters down the race card.

The comments, as always on these stories, are so predictable. There's the "give real Christians a bad name" sect. The gun experts describing the workings of an AR-15. The shut down this church commentors. The right to bear arms commentors and their opponents' diatribes on gun control. And of course, the all love one another sermons from those commentors who always want to appear bigger and better-hearted than anyone else. On and on.

But not one comment mentioned something I thought a few short years ago.

There was a time when I could not see Bush's mug or hear his voice without feeling intense loathing and the fleeting wish that the s.o.b. would just die, drop dead, choke to death on a pretzel. That's right, die - I didn't care how.

So, what many on the "right" feel today about Obama, is no worse than my own darkest thoughts about George W. Bush. Maybe the only difference between my "violent" thoughts and the pastor's - is I know when to bite my tongue and not preach about it.

The Big Dig - Burying Ted

Finally, it's over, I think. A week of listening to tales about the 47-year career of the "lion of the senate" was more than enough thank you. Is the public really this gullible? Ted Kennedy was the weakest male and biggest sot produced by Joe and Rose.

Ted has been described as a "guy's guy" - although I'm not sure what a "guy's guy" is ... but since the phrase is attributed to Dan Quayle need I say more. Hmm... a man's man is a traditional male, a stud, doing the manly things men want to do but many can't or won't - risky frisky behavior, drinking, womanizing, flaunting danger, a man who swears and spits and winks, a bad boy - until slowed down by age or feebleness - a woman is often credited with "reigning or reining-in" these manly codgers when they reach 60 years, unless you're Hugh Hefner and made a living at playboyhood, then it takes 3 young women pulling on the bridle and bit.

I won't ponder long the silly sentimental references to Camelot, the 3 brothers, the dynasty, or the insane blogger over at HuffPo who stated Mary Jo Kopechne was "a catalyst for the most successful Senate career in history."

And said blogger didn't have the sense to end it there but continued with "So it doesn't automatically make someone (aka, me) a Limbaugh-loving, aerial-wolf-hunting NRA troll for asking what Mary Jo Kopechne would have had to say about Ted's death, and what she'd have thought of the life and career that are being (rightfully) heralded. Who knows -- maybe she'd feel it was worth it."

Yea, but would such bloggers feel it worth drowning a kid or two of their own to launch a political career?

I watched a few minutes of the hearse carrying Ted's body and heard the crowds applauding and occasional cheers. Applauding? When did it become socially appropriate to applaud the carcass of political figures? Other than maybe Hitler or Stalin or Mussolini. Oh well, etiquette has changed so much ...

I read a few accolades, supposedly from Ted's constituency - and realized it was Ted's Era that killed off any semblance of political statesmanship and decency in the republic, to be replaced with porkers having their staff make enough phone calls to ensure that a sufficient percentage of constituents receive the free stuff to which they are entitled. Maybe you can't buy love but you can buy the next best thing - votes.

"Here in Rome, Ted Kennedy is nobody. He's a legend with his own constituency," says the Vatican official.

That about says it ... a legend in his own constituents' mind.