My Brother

Joseph 12/15/45 - 11/18/11

To Get It

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Here Come the Mummies

Believe

Thrills

OccupyWallStreet. What will eating, sleeping, defecating/urinating, sex in sleeping bags and trashing a public park accomplish? Catching a glimpse of Michael Moore and Susan Sarandon?

Do folks wonder which Wall Street stocks Moore and Sarandon are invested in? All their money in tax-free municipal bonds? They have no investments in Big Banks?

Remember in 2005 when author Peter Schweizer published the tax return for Michael "I don't own a single share of stock" Moore's foundation, which held stock in Halliburton, Pfizer, Merck, Genzyme, Elan PLC, Eli Lilly, Ford, General Electric, Sunoco, Noble Energy, Schlumberger, Williams Companies, and numerous other evil capitalist corporations. Why do you think I harp so often on the wealthy and their "foundations"? Places to hide their money and hypocrisy.

Where OWS should be protesting is in D.C. Even the Tea Party folks had enough sense to protest against bailouts and the health care bill in D.C. The WS protests don't seem to be cutting into the flow of Wall Street and Big Bank money to Obama's next campaign (Goldman Sachs investment bank top donor to BHO last time around). Wall Street knows their man in the big house is jiving the Occupiers.

Just heard OWS protested the Chamber of Commerce in D.C. Should I put on my Vee mask and help kill business?

I saw Harry Belafonte a few days ago, giving his 84-year-old opinions. I wonder sometimes why so many folks seem to be stuck in the 1960s. Belafonte said he is heartened by the Occupy Wall Street movement, which he sees as "connected to the Arab Spring uprisings." What? Connected to bloody confrontations as in Libya and Syria, or Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain and Yemen? That Arab spring uprising?

Do Americans want to drag a president from a spider hole and hang him or beat him to death? Then shoot their weapons into the sky and cheer about freedom and democracy, and hand power I suppose to men and woman they admire, like Moore and Sarandon?

On OWS page they say "We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we're working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent."

That is pure b.s.

I've been around too long and know that most everyone losing their homes were living beyond their means or living large because they could, and have done so for years, and it catches up doesn't it. The only folks I know who are forced to choose between rent or food are the hoochies here in the hood who sell their food benefits to buy a new outfit or use the rent money to get their hair and nails done. Or, as one family member of mine, used part of her rent money to buy Paula Deen cookware. She also complains she can't run to the doctor every week because the $20 copay is too much. There's uncle Buck who claims his emphysema is from air pollution (not his 40-year 4 pack a day Marlboro habit). And cousin Linda's bad teeth are due to dental care being too expensive (not her crack habit).

Doesn't most everyone think they work long hours for too little pay? Except maybe Michael Moore and Susan, etc.

Some of the "stories" on the OWS site say things such as "I'm a single mom of 3 making $800 a month, helping support my sister and her 3 kids, thankful for Ramen noodles, and haven't bought a pair of shoes in 2 years."

Well, join a big human club hon. The hard-luck stories we could tell you ....

We have worked some real godawful jobs for low pay - because we had to at the time. So what. For a long time I swallowed the sob stories, even had my own, but doesn't work for me anymore. What's that old phrase, can't shit a bullshitter, or something like that.

Six kids between the lady above and her sister, and where's daddy's contribution? Guess what, many folks live on Ramen to put themselves through college or save seed money to do something. I haven't bought a pair of shoes in years either, I like old shoes. My dad used to say - I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.

Your shoes, your income, your sister, your pack of kids, your noodles - are not my responsibility or the government, although I'm sure celebrities and Big Daddy helped you get to where you're at.

My youngest daughter is 31, had her first baby this year. She waited. She waited until she had a college degree, waited until she married, waited until she had a good job, waited until she could buy a home. Have you folks ever waited for anything other than someone to take care of your past and present mess, and give you a future?

I've heard all my life that the US is going to fall in the same manner as the Roman empire, but gave that little attention until this week. I watched a program about the fall of the Roman empire and was surprised at how the factors contributing to Rome's downfall parallels many of our own. The political corruption, greedy elite, pandering to the lower classes (Nero was hero of lower classes), then overtaxing the wealthy and powerful until they were no longer wealthy or powerful and the poor had to pay the bills, debasing their currency, losing their revenue base, depleting the treasury, and a super power limped into the dark ages.

Sometimes I wonder today if folks are so bored, so careless, so lost, not satisfied with the chaos they make of their own lives, they want a country in chaos and mayhem, perhaps for that thrill they believe they're missing in life.

Michael Moore would be a good Nero-ish hero. Fat and fiddling.

Latest Great Hope

Elizabeth Warren: "You built a factory out there? Good for you," she says. "But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. She continues: "Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along."

---- Not just "the rest of us" pay for roads, education, police/fire - so do the factory builders. And honestly, if every hard working family's tax bill was the same as mine (and most are less) for roads, schools, public safety - you would be up spit creek without a paddle or canoe. Warren, typically and politically, fails to mention that the government which would take that "hunk" would squander it on bogus programs and crony contracts (aka spreading the wealth around).

Aside from the obvious pandering of her remark, also consider how times have changed since the era she speaks of, more fitting for the 1930s to 1970s, because most builders now are building factories in China or India or the Mexican maquiladoras. Will Warren's soapbox pander change anything? No, but what the hay - her rhetoric strikes a warm note around progressive campfires. Some say she is what they wanted Obama to be. Huh? Obama was what they wanted him to be until he be. (Excuse my fit of laughter here.)

Lets remember too that in the last few decades the "next kid who comes along" is quite likely stoned and/or drinking on the job and not nearly as dependable as his daddy or granddaddy might have been. And not just in factories. For all the education the rest of us paid for, most folks today cannot handle simple tasks, be it in an office or factory or anywhere. In reality, the decent, honest, working class is disappearing in the land of money for nothing and the chicks are free, or whatever requires the least effort if you can't be a star.

At least once a day I run into one employed person incompetent and unequipped to the point that I ask myself, how has this human managed to survive this long in the world. I can only conclude that equally dull-witted folks cover for one another. And a good deal of the population has somehow come to accept incompetence and indifference in the workplace as a-okay. Or because they are the workplace and dumb enough to believe they are doing their job well.

(I've learned here in Podunk that when I ask for the best plumber, drywall, electrician, etc. in town, the most educated and experienced, they are dumb - which leaves dumber and dumbest who charge less. It's not just in Podunk - big city folks tell me it's the same for them. Once upon a time the phrase "you get what you pay for" meant something. Not true now. Quality these days is custom made with uberprice tags.)

Sometime I wonder, which came first? The greedy cost cutting factory owner or the "next kid" with a hangover and whining, since they both seem to believe "the rest of us" should pay for both of them opting out.

It will not matter how big a "hunk" anyone gives back - unless we stop making excuses for, and pandering to, dumb and dumber who just bark and bark and bark without a real dog in the fight. God bless.

100 Pounds of Clay

Gene McDaniels February 12, 1935 – July 29, 2011

Generational

My Grandfather's War


My Dad's War


My War


My Sons' War

Busy Bees

Some folks are shilling about what's really going on in Libya (or as Gaddafi named it, the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya): "... the Libyan "rebels might actually be under the overall supervision of the international banking industry, rather than the oil majors." (Cockburn)

"... taking down the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) may not appear in the speeches of Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy but this is certainly at the top of the globalist agenda for absorbing Libya into its hive of compliant nations." (Brown)

And then the usual socialist accolades for the colonel's free health care, education, free electricity, subsidized food, unemployment and social security benefits, government pays 1/2 the price of a new car, cash wedding gifts to buy homes,$7000 to each newborn, and that the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) is 100% state owned and charges 0% interest rates, etc. etc.

If all that's true, why would anyone be rebelling? Because, bring in the usual suspects, the evil enslaving Rothchild bankers, racist US killing brown folks, PNAC, NWO, and globalists are behind it, absorbing yet another nation into their hive. Does it seem "they" have been "absorbing" since time began?

Of course, no one in their right mind would consider Libya a utopia of freebies. Gaddafi, Cronies, & Sons, own or control most of the wealth, or did until dozens of nations along with the UN froze their assets.

But who can you trust for just the straight data on how good life is for average Mo(hammed) Blow in Libya under the colonel? WHO, CIA World Fact Book, UN, UNICEF publications? The UN child mortality chart ranks the US 34, Cuba 33, and Libya 79. Sources say Libyan unemployment is 30% and that 1/3 of population lives below poverty line. But, in a nation of only 6 million sitting on a lot of oil, the colonel could hand out enough to keep the masses happy - until the bankers, racists, globalists entered to absorb it all.

That 0% bank interest rate might be questionable too. Arab banking, under Sharia law, has found a way around that. Have you ever known a religion that doesn't find a way around itself?

The bank simply buys the item you want, car, house, computer, whatever, and then resells it to you at a higher price - no interest, but profit for the non-profit bank. You make payments to the bank, no late fees penalties either. Sort of like rent-to-own or leasing in the US, where you eventually pay 3-5 times the value, if you pay until you own it, and if you don't pay the note holder retains ownership and can sell it again. It's a tactic that rationalizes "interest" by calling it something else. Sharia bankers have it all figured out, how to "not charge interest" and still make money, while giving leftists/progressives in the West the ideal of kum-bah-ya banking.

And then, there's that info floating around about ... the Bush administrations sent terror suspects to Libya for interrogation, despite that country's reputation for torture, according to documents found in the abandoned office of Libya's spy chief ... a close working relationship between the CIA and Qaddafi's intel service.

The case of ... Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, commander of the anti-Qaddafi rebel force that now controls Tripoli. Belhaj is the former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a now-dissolved militant group with links to al Qaeda. Belhaj says he was tortured by CIA agents at a secret prison, then returned to Libya. But holds no grudges.

Hmmm. I guess Bush's terrorist is Obama's freedom fighter.

#11

Wyatt Joseph b.08/28/11 in Washington.

Mad Dog Exposure

Wikileaks : WikiLeaks cables expose Washington’s close ties to Gaddafi.

From the headline I would think US pols are good buddies with Gaddafi but reading the one cable that WSWS linked to doesn't prove the headline. And of course WSWS makes accusation without proof. (i.e. Libyan terrorist group merged with al-queda are now active leaders in the so-called "rebels". Although that may be true as one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, etc.)

And what would a progressive piece be without the usual accusation of oil, "Cables from 2008 and 2009 raise concerns about US corporations not getting in on billions of dollars in opportunities for infrastructure contracts ..."

Fact is, there are dozens of international oil and gas companies in Libya which are not US. Considering that Russia, China, Iran, Germany, Italy, India, Indonesia, Austria, Canada, Algeria, Great Britain, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil have a stake. Even the US companies that are in Libya today are not the largest producers.

Is the US not supposed to compete for Libyan contracts?

The "left" will not be happy until Joe Blow pays $10/gallon and pulls the thermostat off the wall. Some day Joe Blows will all be closely hogtied in the anti-US whitey doing business propaganda, willingly or not, knowingly or not, all the while demanding the US government stop doing anything but taking care of him. So many so disappointed that Barry is not their Obamao. Give it time. Rome wasn't felled in a day.

If you want to talk about close ties - remember when Billy Carter was a registered agent for Gaddafi? And the $220,000 loan (700,000 in 2010 dollars) to Billy in 1979? Also known as influence peddling and/or billygate.

WSWS also says "Those like Obama, Sarkozy, Cameron and Berlusconi who have branded Gaddafi a criminal to be hunted down and murdered were all his accomplices. All of them collaborated with, armed and supported the Gaddafi regime, as US and European corporations reaped vast profits from Libya’s oil wealth."

Is that why the Libyan "rebels" recently, when they took over areas held by Gaddafi, discovered weapons that were from N. Korea, packed in crates labeled bulldozer parts? Gaddafi also secured arms via Iran. (Though WS may be close to the truth about Sarkozy/France. There's more reason than perfume for the term "french whore".)

In what parallel world did the US collaborate, arm, and support Gaddafi? For decades the US and UN had embargoes against Libya of one sort or another, arms embargo, trade embargo, diplomatic embargo. The US isolated Libya and Gaddafi for a long time. In 1974 Gaddafi nationalized US oil companies and announced an oil embargo.

Sometime post-9/11 Libya/Gaddafi became a potential US friend. But it hasn't worked out. While wiki linkers insinuate US reps chatted warmly with Gaddafi, I would bet behind closed D.C. doors the talk was Muammar is still the fruitcake a-hole he's always been. One or more of the fruitcake's sons might become US new BFF - you just never know when the world's ruling class will throw an entire bloodline under the bus, or oil rig.

But the only "close ties" or accomplice Gaddafi ever had in the US was when Billy was his friend.

Buffoonery

Buffett at it again. He wants to pay more taxes. Heh heh heh. Sure he does. Then he should pay himself more than the $100,000 a year income he gets as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

However, his billions are tied up in long-term investments, generated through capital gains and dividends, and the capital gains tax is only around 15%. Is Buffett calling for higher capital gains?

Clinton lowered capital gains tax from 28% to 20% and Bush dropped it to 15%. Taxes on capital gains and dividends are really double taxation. The corporation pays taxes, and then the stockholder pays taxes again when he sells his shares.

Berkshire doesn't pay out dividends so no tax on that for Warren. No tax if he doesn't sell the shares, and Warren doesn't sell his shares - he gives them away to his 5 favorite charitable foundations (Gates Foundation and his own kids' foundations). And while Buffett argued to keep the "estate tax" - why not, since the best way to avoid the death tax was give it away before you're dead, which Buffet and others are doing.

Buffett is a smart man. His true income is not his "taxable" income because of his investment and income generating methods. He invests in stocks on a long-term basis, avoids realization of capital gains, avoids taxes on capital gains by giving to charity the appreciated assets, and holds tax-free municipal bonds.

An increase in capital gains tax or income tax will change little for the rich as they have advisors who know how to manipulate loopholes so the tax they pay is not on their true income. How many times do I have to say that.

If Warren really wants to be fair he should demand a tax on assets, as they do in Switzerland. Probably wouldn't hurt Buffett as he owns a simple life in Omaha - but many super rich hold mega assets.

Remember Donald Trump's 2000 proposal of a one-time 14.25% wealth tax on the net worth of individuals and trusts worth $10 million or more. Trump claimed that this would generate $5.7 trillion in new taxes, which could be used to eliminate the national debt. Kinda makes me wonder, how would tax advisors get their clients assets out of that tax. Nonprofit foundation anyone?

Liberating

After decades and decades of life experience it has dawned on me that there really is nothing much that can be done by the "common" folks to effect change, if for no other reason than Average Joe gets his opinion from media outlets who delight in screwing his head on for him. Once, yes, Joe might have had an honest effect, when the nation was younger, less bureaucracy, fewer bureaucrats, smaller government. But with population growth, and it's only getting worse, the common folk have little to no say in either how they are governed or by whom. In 2000 the US population was predicted to be 1 billion by 2100 but the same guesstimators predicted 300 million by 2050, way off their guesstimate. At the current rate of breeding and immigration, expect 1 billion Americans by 2050. But by then government control will be so tight that all knothead Americans will accept their place in the order of the universe.

Just take a look at Google headlines a few minutes ago to see what interests Joe:
* Top Stories
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Kim Kardashian
Peyton Manning
Mobile Industry
Donald Faison
Sarah Palin
West Memphis 3
Russell Armstrong
Steinem
Israel

Gaddafi - US messing around where we don't belong, again, Obama's war of liberation.

Kardashian - please stop the worship of this heifer and her family. Her stepdaddy Bruce Jenner is one procedure away from being a male Joan Rivers. When will folks tire of phony people on reality t.v.

Manning - footballer with a bad neck, oh woe are the Colts but no scandal, such as electrocuting and hanging dogs. Or behaving like college players accepting money, prostitutes, and paying for abortions.

Mobile Industry - the hottest cell phone! I'm still trying to understand how millions of Americans living in poverty continue to afford cell phones. Have they figured out a scheme where the government pays the monthly bill that I don't know about?

Faison - black t.v. celebrity engaged to a white girl named Cacee who once was an assistant to Jessica Simpson. Isn't it cute how white folks now mimic Sheani'quisha when naming their kids - creative trailer-ish spellings are everywhere. Free to be Sheelee or Caylee or Madysen. Oh well, at least white folks can still pronounce their names.

Palin - will she or won't she run (does anyone really care?). Palin is to liberated conservatives what Kardashian is to ... to ... moral liberals? Lol.

West Memphis 3 - see how Johnny Deppstick and publicity can free 3 child killers by insisting that 2 hairs "consistent" with someone else means the 3 didn't do it. Even though the hairs were family members and could easily have transferred to the victims clothing innocently enough. We've reached the point that unless a perp leaves a truck load of DNA on the victim, perps will go free. Never mind a mountain of circumstantial evidence and even confessions (just recant later). Or if your name is Casey Anthony, then a hair with a death band has no significance because daddy George did something. Americans becoming so addle brained they can no longer serve justice. The progressive dream of no prisons may come true - no guilty, no inmates. Shangri la la land. Ohhmmmmmmmmm.

Armstrong - reality celeb hangs himself with extension cord. Reality t.v. made him crazy. Or was it his overspending, monstrous grinning plastic wife Taylor (Barbie)? Was it the $50,000 birthday party for their 5-year-old daughter? Is it further proof that even the rich have money problems and when the government redistributes the wealth we can all hang ourselves.

Steinem - too late to duct tape her mouth. Steinem interview with bloggers : "Reese Witherspoon, whom I don't know very well, told me she did Legally Blonde because of me. I said, 'No kidding. How come?' And she said, 'Because I heard you say you should be able to dress any way you f--ing well please and be safe.'' A concussion wave went through the room. The bloggers, momentarily distracted from their laptops, realized they had just been part of a moment."

What? What moment? The writer's hyperbole moment? In Legally Blonde Witherspoon never wore anything that showed everything. These days men have so little respect for the "fairer sex" that a female isn't safe in ankle length burlap bags and hijab. The only concussion felt was by those women who believed it's okay to have abortions, okay to have babies alone, and okay to be "liberated" and do whatever the celebrifakes do. Steinem did nothing more than enlarge the work pool of uneducated, single struggling mommas for corporations needing cheap labor. Women are more sex object today than ever. A few more female CEOs and female pols have done nothing to improve anything for women - unless you believe subsided housing and childcare and foodstamps are liberating. By the way, Gloria wants to boycott the Playboy Club. I'm sure her fans will do that - after their shopping spree at Victoria's Secret. ;)

Israel - 80 rockets fired into southern Israel from Gaza. Well, if the Jews would leave, the Palestinians would not have to bomb them, right? Can't Palestine just accept the Jews were only looking for a better life for their families when they displaced Palestinian workers ... oops, no, that's the US border problem.

I saw nothing about the economy - even when I do it's either "the sky is falling" or "things are looking up" depending on which outlet and which political party is in the oval office.

Speaking of the oval office, tell Obama to water the yard. Just look at that pic I took a couple of weeks ago.

Cold People

The lawyer for the suspect in the Norway twin attacks says his client is a "very cold" person who took drugs before the rampage to be "strong, efficient, awake."

The lawyer, Geir Lippestad, spoke to reporters today about his client, Anders Behring Breivik, who is accused for killing more than 70 people in a bombing on government buildings in Oslo and a shooting spree at a [Labor Party] youth camp last week, the Associated Press reports.

Breivik, 32, faces terror-related charges carrying a maximum 21-year sentence. But prosecutor Christian Hatlo tells the newspaper Aftenposten that he might also be charged with crimes against humanity, which would carry a longer sentence.

Breivik's father, Jens Breivik, a retired Norwegian diplomat now living in France, tells Norway's TV2 that he has not seen his son for about 15 years and is shocked by the killings.

"I will never have more contact with him," he tells TV2. "In my darkest moments, I think that rather than killing all those people he should have taken his own life."

Breivik said both parents supported Norway's centre-left Labor Party, which he viewed as infiltrated by Marxists.

His mother won a custody battle, but Breivik said he regularly visited his father and his new wife in France, where they lived, until his father cut off contact when Breivik was 15. The father told Norwegian newspaper VG that they lost touch in 1995, but that it was his son who wanted to cut off contact.

Another article states that "Former diplomat Jens Breivik, 76, said he was ‘completely bereft’ and would never speak to his son again. And that "Despite being Anders's step-mother, Mrs. Breivik has never met him, while Mr. Breivik only had a 'short, bland' telephone call with him 10 years ago."

----------- Anders did not commit mass murder for a political cause, that's his excuse. This is more like an adolescent school shooting - societal hatred, a search for fame, and revenge against those he didn't have the courage to confront (mom and dad?). Passing it off as a political killing or "revolution" is how he romanticizes his hatred. Homegrown terrorist - product of his environment? Some appear shocked such a thing could happen in Norway.

So, I'll reiterate once again for those Americans who believe Michael Moore's Norway (pop. 4.6 million) is a model of successful redistribution since the 1970s oil wealth - it's not. Norway is experiencing the same problems as the US - aging population, unstable families, marriage becoming obsolete, physical and sexual abuse of children, drugs, immigration problems, racism (though most of their immigrants are Euro whites), inflation and poor selection of goods, rise in "treatment errors" in healthcare, and using "stimulus" cash to keep jobs afloat, etc. etc. Just don't deplete the oil too soon.

Contrary to popular belief Norway's prison recidivism rate was 50% in the 1990s after which time they changed their method of keeping or sharing crime statistics and crime/recidivism appears low now. Juvenile and drug related crimes doubled 2008-2009. A woman shouldn't walk alone in Oslo at night anymore than she would in Chicago or Detroit.

Bottom line, no matter what American backpackers or the "left" says, there's really not much difference in countries like Norway and the US. Both breeding cold people.

Name Your Poison

Disparities in health tend to fall along income lines everywhere: the poor generally get sicker and die sooner than the rich. But in the United States, the gap between the rich and the poor is far wider than in most other developed democracies, and it is getting wider. That is true both before and after taxes: the United States also does less than most other rich democracies to redistribute income from the rich to the poor.

------- I knew before I read the above third paragraph in the article that I would not agree with the premise - that money/wealth means you live longer. A decade of serious genealogy research has proven many of my ancestors, mostly poor, lived to ripe old ages of 80s, 90s, and my great grandmother to 100. They knew how to live, love, laugh. They knew how to make choices.

Assuming one is born without health problems, and to parents who provide a child with adequate love and care, it is lifestyle that determines longevity. Barring major accidents or disease, personal choices go a long way in determining how long we live.

Obesity, drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, etc. are choices. Genes are a minute part of our destiny. There is no gene that makes a person fat, doped, a drunkard, a "sex addict." Although every couple of years junk medicine/science tries to claim there is a "gene" for every bad act or choice. Or some fame seeking expert claims a brain image can predict a criminal. All humans have the capacity for addiction and criminality - just depends on the yes/no decision made in every moment, until good or bad becomes a habit. If poor judgement and bad choices were genetic the human race would have died out long ago.

There is what I call a "justify gap" though. Not a wide one, as most folks can apologize and seek treatment to justify and hide the fact that they're pretty much self-absorbed egos operating on whim and pity parties, or the worst - empty vessels stalking among us.

Probably can thank the likes of Betty Ford for outing herself as the first bored housewife fueled on pills and martinis. I've nothing against Betty - I just wish folks would keep their dirty laundry in the hamper. Her "addictions" didn't seem to effect her longevity so I gotta wonder how severe was her addiction. I believe it began with a 1962 pain pill prescription and ended with a family intervention in 1976. Had she not been in the White House, would she have remained an embarrassingly buzzed housewife on the D.C. cocktail circuit? (By the way, I'm going to D.C. next week for a "vacation.")

I know more than a couple of women, who found themselves entangled in legal problems and/or moral dilemmas after wild partying, and used addiction as excuse, becoming lifelong spokespersons for having "overcome" their addiction. Sorry, but the occasional drunken screwup does not an addict make. I think they were just scared from a close call and tired of partying - hangovers get damned harder after age 25 or so, just ask the revolving door at treatment centers. And Betty, being high on pain meds is at least as old as the Dilaudid deluded housewives of 2 centuries ago.

I have a family member, almost 80. She was in good health until about 20 years ago. She stopped working and very quickly gained weight, developed diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension. Before she became completely housebound, about 10 years ago, her hobbies were bingo, which she couldn't afford, and eating. No gardening, no mall walking, no road trips, no walking the dog, who also got fat. She has a daughter who is in her 50s, she too no longer works, is housebound, heavily medicated (high), slowly dying in front of a television. She had the usual trendy "diseases" of the 1980s, carpal tunnel syndrome, bad back, bad knees - had surgeries on all of them more than once, thanks to government healthcare. By age 50 she was stiff, overweight, diabetic, and on disability, major organs deteriorating - she will not live anywhere near her mother's age of 80. These are their choices. Not their genes, not their level of wealth. They and millions of other "poor" shorten their own life span.

At one time I tried to convince the family members above to eat healthier to reverse their health problems. They claimed healthy food was too expensive, an excuse I've heard from many syndrome-lovin' folks. But, which costs more - a couple of pieces of fresh fruit or half of a cheesecake? A piece of broiled fish with lemon or those crispy deep fried fatty pork steaks and butter loaded mashed potatoes?

Their grandchildren will be (and are) dying much, much younger than 80 - completely unrelated to "income gap" and solely related to gluttony, sloth, envy, and "cool" stuff like promiscuity, drugs, alcohol. (Ask an honest gynecologist what "free love" is doing to health and quality of life). The same choices kill the wealthy the same way (i.e. Elvis, Mama Cass, Belushi, Farley, Monroe, nouveau riche).

"Studies" also show the gap between wealth and obesity is closing. So, on the fairness side, the wealthy will also get sicker and die sooner - their big fat choice.

What makes a life long - diet, exercise, work, rest, and wanting what you have - available to all Americans regardless of what the income gap babblers constantly babble.

Note too that the same ideology/folks who push redistribution/mo' money as a cure all also excuse and/or encourage the behavior that creates many of the ills in the first place, in the name of freedom and your right to do, use, eat, drink, screw, take, try, whatever you want, even if it kills you. (Sometimes with "in moderation" in the fine print.)

Bella Vita

I was trying to detox from this story but so many people, particularly talking heads, seem completely off the mark regarding the dynamics of the Anthony family.

First of all, to those who think Casey Anthony was sexually molested by her father and/or brother. Not true. George Anthony is a distasteful man, a liar, a boor, a phony, a philanderer, and somewhat of a deadbeat as his "retired cop" career was 4 years as a deputy in Ohio and 6 years in the police department as what no one has ever said. He's a ne're-do-well, former used car salesman, security guard, now on disability. His wife earned the money for this family for most of the marriage.

Brother Lee, also a liar, though not to the extent of mom, dad, and sister. Lee grew up keeping his head down and his mouth shut while the lies, pretense, and family rants hurricaned around him. The storms became very ugly when Casey hit puberty. Lee is still a simpering frightened 30-year-old little boy with his head down.

The Anthony family worked with the defense put on by Baez and his dream team. That is how the defense had the photos of little Caylee with her hand on the sliding door, the photos of Caylee climbing up the pool ladder with grandma. Collusion explains the act put on by George as a witness - his calculated hesitation before answering the sexual abuse question, his feigned combativeness toward Baez, his obvious lying on the stand about a mistress. Collusion explains Lee's act regarding Caylee's birth - his sobbing how hurt he was that he was not included in the pregnancy. The fact Lee was tested for Caylee's paternity. Insinuation that Lee too was an incestuous pervert who some thought might be Caylee's father.

Lee was simply ashamed of his sister's promiscuity and pregnancy as only a big brother would be. But weeping about it on the witness stand gave him the role of potentially creepy, sister groping Chester the molester.

George and Cindy knew Caylee was dead the day they picked up the car with the smell of decomposition. It's why some of the jailhouse taped conversations between Casey and her parents sound as if they're talking in code. I.e. Cindy: "Are we going to be able to find her?" Casey: "I hope we can, Mom." Cindy was really asking if the body was disposed of so it would never be found. The Anthony's could then for eternity continue the "missing" or kidnapped saga.

I don't believe Casey made chloroform, not successfully anyway. Too many other knock-out drugs available, prescription or over-the-counter. She lacked the patience and intelligence to whip up of a batch of usable chloroform. She may have attempted it and put the mess she made in the trunk to dispose of elsewhere and that caused the high forensic reading for chloroform in the trunk. Or just as likely pappa George or Cindy tried to wet vac the car with calcium hypochlorite or other pool chemical they had in the garage, to remove the stench, creating detectable chloroform.

Casey Anthony, like Megan Hogg and dozens of others, smothered her child with duct tape. Having to hook up with Tony she didn't have time to dispose of the body and was quite busy for a few days until the odor forced her desperate dump in the swamp down the street. After a couple of months with no discovery of the body she likely thought animals and the elements had saved her from it ever being discovered. Her first few months in jail gave her plenty of time to hear other inmate gossip and tales, choosing which ones might work for her - accidental drowning, incest, abuse.

Not to say the grandparents didn't grieve over their loss - but their grief was secondary to the need to save face because in such a family, who believe they are superior to everyone in the world, only they have the right to judge, punish, or kill, their own. The deed was done, the family switched into "save face" mode. It's all they know how to do. Leave people wondering who is lying about what until no one knows which Anthony and which lie is to blame. They mastered the method with friends, neighbors, coworkers, family members - and now the judicial system.

The family's entire act was to aid Baez in casting doubt, confusion, and conspiracy on the case - and they succeeded better than even they or Baez expected. Baez, his love of the camera may only be outmatched by his client's love for the Bella Vita.

Throw in accusations or innuendo of tainted evidence and shoddy police work ... the prosecution thought they would dazzle the jurors with forensics, unaware that the defense would baffle them with bullshit.

I was watching an interview with Jesse Grund, Casey's one time fiancé, who said this is not the Casey he knew. That she did not lie to him, etc. Yet, 2 questions later he comments that a few months after their breakup she texted him that she was pregnant and he was the father. He did the math and doubted it, and had paternity testing which proved he was not the father. Yep, she didn't lie to him.

Grund seems like a decent guy, willing to step up to the plate and be a husband and father - but nice guys finish last with a gal like Casey. Five months after Casey agreed to marry Jesse, she ended the engagement. "She claimed I loved Caylee more than I loved her," Grund said. When asked if he thought Casey killed Caylee, Grund says "Honestly, I don't know … The Casey that I knew was incapable of hurting a hair on Caylee's head … But this person, this dark, selfish, remorseless individual that sits in jail right now, I'm not sure what she's capable of." Maybe it's hard admitting we didn't really know someone when we thought we did. What do we often hear in some of the most heinous cases - he/she was such a nice person. Such foolery is partly due to most folks having instinct and intuition culturally bred out of them by kindergarten. Play along to get along.

Casey tired of competing with her mom for Caylee's affection. Then tired of competing with Caylee for the attention of the men in her life - dad, bubba, lover.

The Anthony's successful "not guilty" was also directly related to a majority of the jury being lazy, mentally deficient, conspiracy minded, and a few perhaps corrupt. Lazy because they did not spend the time necessary to connect the dots, did not review the evidence, did not deliberate. A couple of straw votes and filling out the verdict forms was not deliberation. Mentally deficient because they did not understand their charge and were too narcissistic to ask for elucidation - i.e. they wanted a motive and the prosecution does not have to prove motive. Although competition for affection and attention is more than enough for some murders.

One juror has said that Casey was seen by her dad as she left the home that day but doesn't show up again until hours later renting a movie with her boyfriend - so she asks did Casey kill Caylee at the mall or at a public place? Duh, in evidence was the cell phone pings for Casey that day showing that she hung around her neighborhood for hours after she supposedly left for work. Most likely returning to the house after George went to work, where she murdered the child, double bagged, stuffed her in the laundry bag, tossed her in the trunk, then went to meet boyfriend Tony.

A juror has said they didn't like George Anthony's shifty behavior on the stand - but said Casey's 31 days of partying behavior as her daughter was rotting down the street wasn't a factor in their decision. Tell me that's not deficient thinking.

The jury expected CSI style proof - found with tweezers and a Q-tip and presented by analysts with cleavage and/or good looks wearing sunglasses. Within hours of the verdict some jurors were offering to sell their interviews to the highest bidders. Interviews less valuable had the verdict been guilty as charged.

The television gasbags now ask is it possible for Casey to ever have a relationship with her parents again? Of course she will, the relationship was never broken. Her parents did what they have always done for her - lie, connive, cover up, placate, kid gloves and sweethearts. But you can bet that Cindy will never again try to force Casey to behave as a responsible adult.

Now numerous states are passing Caylee laws - making it a felony to not report a missing or dead child within xx amount of hours. Shame on us for needing the State to force caregivers to do to the right thing. As if child killers are going to obey the law anyway.

Oddly, it seems those who are outraged when someone is wrongfully convicted are the first to tell us when a murderer is freed that it's the way our judicial system works and we have to respect the verdict. I can accept that it is what it is, but I don't have to respect the players or the outcome.

I'll keep rubbernecking to see how the karma comes back around to the main players, who are guided not by conscience and common sense, but greed and narcissism.

MJ Interprets For the Herd

Bachmann Signs Pledge with Questionable Slavery Reference. Rep. Michele Bachmann is the first Republican presidential candidate to sign the Family Leader pledge disavowing gay marriage, premarital sex, and porn. But perhaps the most outrageous part of the pledge is the section that implies that maybe slavery wasn't all that bad for black families.

Declaring that "[u]nmistakably, the Institution of Marriage in America is in great crisis," the document states:

Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.

Maybe they should get a bit of credit for acknowledging that slavery was "disastrous" for black Americans. But that passage seems to suggest that maybe things actually were better for black Americans then. Yes, being kept as property, forced into marriages arranged by slave masters, and raped by those masters was great for black people. As Jack & Jill Politics also points out, breaking up families to sell off slaves was hardly pro-family values. It's an insensitive comparison that ignores history.

------- Bachmann is not to my liking if for no other reason than she's dull as dishwater. And although I wouldn't call her a bimbo as some do - one would think she knows that politicians cannot voice an honest opinion about gays, free love, porn, or minorities - unless it's endorsement. She gives her opposition so much to work with here. Homophobe, racist, bible thumping gun clinging prude, prig ... gosh, whatever is she thinking ...everybody knows gays are normal and premarital sex is hunky dory, especially for teens, porn is just adult entertainment (ask Ted Bundy) and it's mass incarceration that takes away baby daddies.

Bachmann's "pledge" does not imply "that maybe slavery wasn't all that bad for black families." Before the day is over someone will say her remarks are "code" for racist white folks, if they haven't already. Bachmann is right about black children and two-parent households.

The marriage rate for black Americans has been dropping since the 1960s, and today, has the lowest marriage rate of any racial group in the United States. In the 2001 census 43 percent of black men and 42 percent of black women in America had never been married, whites were 28 and 21 percent. Black females are the least likely to marry in America. " ... a black child was more likely to grow up living with both parents during slavery days than he or she is today" according to sociologist Andrew J. Cherlin.

Why buy the cow when the milk is free - and more often than not "the Man" is paying for the stable and feed, and vet bill. Isn't freedumb wonderful...

Love & Lying

Had enough of Casey Anthony yet? What a disgusting circus. Folks sleeping on the sidewalk to get court passes, trampling, fighting, screeching like howler monkeys when someone cuts in line.

And the best guess "expert" pundits hyping and sometimes obviously lying about the day's court proceedings and what it all means. Asking why is the public so fascinated with the case. Half the interest in it is the media telling folks they should be interested, the media creating drama where there really is none, and media speculating on what it means for all of us. Or at least what it means to those who have nothing better to do than witness the possibility of yet another female getting away with murdering her own.

Fathers who murder, or murdering someone else's children can get you the death penalty or life behind bars - but a woman killing her own has psychological babblers to schmooze the act as some sort of blues or depression or temporary insanity and not the cold-blooded calculating heifer who stabbed, shot, beheaded, suffocated, drowned, tortured, starved, or beat her child to death. Most such heifers eventually walk away to breed another day.

Somewhere in all the media ratings a 2-year-old was murdered, and began decomposing in her mama's trunk before being dumped in the neighborhood swamp. Meanwhile a few blocks away mama, grandma and grandpa wore her innocent face on tee shirts and collected funds to "find little Caylee" all the while knowing she was dead.

How is it allegedly loving grandparents like the Anthonys never met their granddaughter's nanny, who supposedly babysat Caylee for a couple of years? How is it they had no clue their daughter didn't really have a job? They knew, they just chose to pretend tart mom had a life, was the responsible career single mom rather than the high school dropout party girl she was. And they continue to pretend. Pretend their daughter didn't really murder her child. Pretend the stench from the car trunk was a slice of abandoned pizza. Cindy spraying Febreze in the trunk pretending her grandbaby had been kidnapped.

So far, grandma Anthony and uncle Lee have lied under oath to aid mama's case. Daddy George may do the same if the trial continues. And this "falling on the sword" by grandma and uncle is deemed "love" by the big-mouth pundits - Nancy Grace, Jane Velez, and all the others. Nancy names Casey Anthony "tot mom." But tart mom is more applicable.

Folks, lying is not loving. Lying is the sociopathology of this family. Fortunate for the rest of mankind their first murder victim was their own grandchild, not a friend, lover, neighbor, coworker, or total stranger. What's frightening, and perhaps why so many middle class whites are "fascinated" with the case, is the Anthonys remind them of them. Phony people, pretending to be the Cleaver family, but once the front door closes, it's an armed camp, each going to their corner with teeth and fist clenched, dreaming up new ways to torment one another. Angry narcissists incapable of bonding. Everything is for the sake of appearance. Although the suburban family image they had has been blown away Cindy and George are recreating themselves as loving victims, standing by their daughter, claiming now they only want the truth.

The truth. Truth is the whole family is pathological liars (ask George's first wife). Truth is George and Cindy devoted their time doing paid interviews to promote the "kidnapping" lies of their daughter, and soliciting funds for The Caylee Marie Anthony Foundation, while her body skeletonized a few blocks from their home. They didn't want the truth then and they don't want it now. They want their perfect image back, or what they perceived as perfect, an image free of fault or defect.

The experts have coined a term to explain/excuse the boozing, screwing, and tattooing Casey did after she murdered her child - it's called "ugly coping."

Yep. Ugly coping. More b.s. from the psychiatric community, who also do a lot of pretending. Pretending they know human nature. Pretending we all react or "cope differently." Truth is, people who can love and feel and think, pretty much react the same in similar situations. Some liars can simulate something close to the correct reaction, but real people can see the difference.

Sadly, the photos of Caylee's last few months of life show a little girl with faint circles around her dull sad eyes. Not the sparkling lively eyes an almost 3-year-old should have, she already knew she was an emotional and physical weapon her family used on one another.

In a post below I said "Each generation getting slicker and meaner and more mentally deficient." The Anthony family is a fine example of that.

Oscar Winners

I watched several videos of the Oscar Grant shooting and read the stories a couple of years ago when the incident took place. Grant was involved in a fight on a transit train.

I do believe the BART cop, Johannes Mehserle, intended to use his taser, not a pistol. The look on Mehserle's face at the sound of the gunshot shows his shock at what he had done. Most videos uploaded online or played on the evening news did not show Mehserle's shock, simply because it did not fit the agenda of those making a case for racism and police brutality, or making political brownie points.

What irritates me is that Oscar Grant was an Oakland gangbanger with a thug sheet for drugs and violence, some baby's daddy, the stereotypical dependent on the same "system" that activists have convinced so many to disrespect - as a dead "victim" he is worth millions to his family and their attorneys, a martyr for the cause, support for a politician pimping votes.

Of course Grant's young daughter and her momma will need some support, not that he was contributing much support anyway. Of course BART should be held responsible for not training their rent-a-cops better - but who is responsible for not training Oscar Grant better?

While the Grant and Mehserle families grieve over the tragedy, the lawyers line up for lawsuits, the Grants go shopping, "justice seeking" pols pander the black vote, and the taxpayers bend over. Squawking about the "system" calms down, all the way to the bank.

It's a sad, sad day when you're more valuable dead than you are alive.

Weiners

Anthony Weiner. What a schmuck. Self-centered, egotistical, lascivious. Immoral, vulgar, dishonest. Licentious, liar. Disloyal, unfaithful, shallow. A weasel. Representative of modern man?

Or, if you believe some pundits and experts, he's a victim of social networking and technology. I had to laugh at the t.v. bimbo who was desperately trying to excuse Weiner's behavior with babble tech victimology. There is no excuse for a 45-year-old man who is either dumb enough or arrogant enough to think a code of honor doesn't apply to him.

Technology does not turn men into liars and toads. Upbringing and personal choices do.

But what the hay, since Slick Willie set the bar at knee level in the oval office - what's a little lewd twittering between strangers. Seems whatever a politician does, someone can spin it to make him/her a victim of facebooks and tweets, or a victim of the opposition party.

In my day, high tech was a Polaroid camera. Instant pics. Still, most of us had enough sense not to pose for lewd photos.

You could also order anything back then that's around today - it just took a few days longer to get it and it arrived in plain brown wrapper. "Swingers" advertised in print rather than the internet. Everyone had an uncle who had a magazine glorifying the beauty of a nudist colony. Aunt Myrtle's vibrators were for sore neck and back muscles.

We had the same "sex aids" decades ago, although today they're advertised on network television as "yours and mine" gel. A dab of Ben-Gay would have the same effect and cost less. There's a cable channel dedicating hours to the modern miracles of dildotic engineering. And is it really worth it - having to hide a pillowcase full of battery operated loveware from the kids... although today's parents seem to hide nothing from the kids.

But maybe the babble heads have a point - social networking is so much harder today - what with folks being distracted by IM'ing, and crotch shots and muscles in the mirror pics for anyone and everyone on their worldwide friend's list.

Beating and Bleeding

I guess you know the "racially charged" stories of 2 women*, Tanya McDowell of Connecticut and Kelley Williams-Bolar of Ohio, who were arrested for theft of services - lying to send their children to a better school district.

This district jumping for schools goes on everywhere, by all races. Usually the kids are pulled out of school and enrolled in the correct district, sometimes the parent/parents have to agree on a restitution amount, which these women were unable to agree to. Makes me wonder if they're being used as pseudo-martyrs for political gain.

I know folks who have used the wrong addresses for a different school, not always for better education, sometimes simply more convenient for one reason or another. Sometimes for sports programs. Sometimes for behavior problems which the parent blames on the school and a different school will show Little Johnny is perfectly normal elsewhere. He never is, but there are plenty more excuses to choose from.

After reading dozens of different articles on the two cases above, the prevalent meme is: these women just want a better education for their children, these women are targeted simply because they are Black, these women are being attacked by local racist republican officials, yada yada yada and on and on into idiocy such as education is "free" and the government cannot do this. I did see one comment that mentioned had the women been illegal immigrants they would be okay. There might be a point there.

Another common theme in the grousing commentors on the stories is that the "rich" districts get more Federal money while the "poor" get very little, "unequal funding." These folks don't seem to understand that a large part of funding comes from local and state property taxes.

Schools were more equitable until the early 1980s when all 50 states increased their education budgets to fund more than 50 percent of nonfederal school costs. This was to end inequalities in "property rich" and "property poor" districts, so the states upped their education budgets. We know now how mismanaged, corrupt, and bankrupt states have become. Too much of the money earmarked for equalizing ended up in other pockets and silly useless "enhancement" programs and to accommodate those who whine and wheedle about little wild Johnny Medicated's special needs. All the special programs for special kids who are the result, not of congenital ailments, not of poverty, not of inequality, but simply indiscriminate indifferent parenting (all races). A nationwide epidemic of folks who expect the world to bend over backwards to make them comfortable. For 2 or 3 generations now.

Lest we forget, gambling/numbers rackets were legalized with the promises of billions going to education and/or wildlife/conservation, environmental programs, etc. Yet, we're dumber and dirtier than ever.

Something I noticed years ago locally. Podunk has 1 high school, rated as one of the best in the state, 1 middle school, 1 kindergarten center, 1 "alternative" school (read screw-ups and future inmates), and 3 elementary schools. Lets call them Best Elementary, Second Best Elementary, and SlugFest Elementary. I noticed this because of my 4 grandchildren (all attending Best). I noticed because all the white folks want their kids to go to Best and are quite angry when Johnny is assigned to Second Best or SlugFest. I noticed that usually only the attentive, intelligent, well-behaved, unmedicated kids are assigned to Best. Second and Slug, as the names imply, get the potential problem and definite problem kids. Rich or poor is not relevant.

From kindergarten a child's school career is more or less sealed here in Podunk. The last chance equalizer in Podunk is high school, since there is only one. By then the Second Besters and SlugFesters who still have serious behavior problems will drop out, or just move through the motions and graduate functionally illiterate, or be the kid most likely to bring a gun or baby to school.

I truly think most people here have not noticed this is how it's done, although they all want their kid to go to the "good" elementary school, they haven't figured out it's the "good" kids assigned to the "good" school, because that would mean it's their fault Little Johnny is a muckup already, in kindergarten. They claim it's based on "rich" and "poor" too. The "two Americas" at the local level.

The average spent per child nationwide can range from $10,000 to $15000. Many good private schools spend as little as $5000. As with all things, it's not the money - it's the parental commitment, love, respect, hope that's taught at home those first few years and sets the child on the road he will travel.

But back to Tanya and Kelley. It's not a race issue, although god knows the NAACP and Black and white soapboxers say it is. For political reasons of course. One more shilling headline to keep folks angry, bitter, to sit on their ass doing the bare minimum while demanding someone else hand them the life they want. You could give some folks everything and a year later they would have nothing but their original grievance.

No, I don't think Tanya and Kelley's legal problems are racism. It may be unease, of the impending encroachment of folks who do everything assbackwards. Have kids first, have fun, live on the dole and then expect the "rich" suburbanites to fund you the same perks they waited, sacrificed, and delayed gratification for, so they could make money, live in the 'burbs and raise their kids.

If you want life's perks - earn 'em. Frankly, if the "poor" put as much energy into cleaning up the 'hood as they do in trying to beat and bleed the system, their schools and kids would fare fine.

* Ms. Williams-B­olar and several other families enrolled their children at the school although they did not live within the district. The school confronted all the families, around 48. The other families agreed to some sort of restitution but Ms Williams-B­olar chose not to pay and go to trial, she lost, even with the NAACP provided lawyer and 4 blacks on the jury. She was sentenced to 10 days in jail (she served 9), probation and community service. After her probation and community services the charges will be dropped to a misdemeanor so her future job chances will not be mired with a felony.

Her father has other legal problems because he filed documents for Ms Williams-B­olar and children. His problems are worse, as he is being indicted for knowingly falsely filing documents to receive monetary, medical and food assistance from the Dept. of Job and Family Services, connected to the children.

The other lady, Ms. McDowell, supposedly homeless, sleeping in her van, but sometimes overnight at a male friend's house. Her babysitter, Ms. Ana Rebecca Marques, was evicted from her public housing by helping Ms. McDowell falsify documents.

Front Runners

If this is the best the republicans have to offer ... run Forrest run ...

Mitt Romney. Apparently a sharp and successful businessman. Although a "conservative" some folks say Obamacare looks a lot like the Romneycare enacted in Massachusetts which some also claim is a dismal failure. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something about Mitt that my instincts say no no no. Sort of like the way the hair stands up on the back of your neck in the subway when you're uncomfortably close to the man in a dirty raincoat fiddling with something in his pocket.

Newt Gingrich. Personal and political life too messy, 4 marriages, adulterous affairs, sleazy, 84 ethics violations as house speaker which he managed to squirm out of all but one and for that was "reprimanded". To hear Newt tell it he was the victim of a "coup" attempt to remove him as speaker. But claims he has asked forgiveness from god for his personal sins and is a changed man (winky wink). (Why is it most men who claim religion do so after they have spent most of their life as marauding barbarians and "get closer" to god only when age and Viagra no longer work for them?)

Sarah Palin. LOL. A perennial debutante. Couldn't finish her last year as Alaska governor because of lusting for the camera, the book deal, the documentary, putting foxiness in Foxnews contributor, etc. Had to strike while the greed iron was hot, understandable, but certainly not what a sane person would want in the first woman president. Besides, her voice makes the ear canal cringe.

Huckabee not running. Thank god.

Ron Paul. At 75 Ron should be enjoying retirement not humping a campaign trail to the White House.

Donald Trump. Hmmm. Nothing would be accomplished as the world would be focused on his puzzling 'do don't and anal sphincter mouth.

Tim Pawlenty. ....Who? Just another former businessman turned political addict with 5 terms in Minnesota house and 8 years as governor. An "evangelical Christian" meaning he believes the Bible is authoritative, has had a born-again experience, and shares the message of faith. (Not much in the news regarding Pawlenty's ethics and accountability problem with appointment of Vicki Tigwell as chairwoman of MAC, a $1 billion airport expansion project, back in 2003. She stepped down in 2006 citing - you guessed it - family and personal reasons.)

Arnold. Can't run because of citizenship issue but would if he could. And it would have saved his marriage, at least until after his presidency. Like so many Hollywoodies, his marriage was near perfect until it wasn't.

So, unless some other termite crawls out of the woodwork - in 2012, to borrow from Charlie, Obama will be a "winner," a warlock with tiger blood and all that... until 2016 when he leaves office and writes a bestseller, Audacity of bin Laden Down.

Momma 1903-1966

CCR


Mammy Blue

Anything Is Possible

I guess most all bloggers felt compelled or obligated to blog on the death of bin Laden. I didn't feel one way or the other, but it's a slow day here in the Heartland and the water is rising.

Bin Laden. All the conspiracy is up and running strong. Is he dead or did he die years ago? Was he ever really on dialysis? Does Obama deserve credit for taking out Osama? Do we now officially know his name is spelled Usama rather than Osama? If so, why is that? How's your ratings now.

Osama/Obama - 1 letter folks, 1 letter, has to mean something ... surely some experts of one sort or another have decoded the nostrodamology or Mayan calendar meaning of that 1 letter.

Does it matter if the death pic is released or not? Will it inflame a world already on fire?

Or as our leader said of releasing photos "It would be of no benefit to gloat." Never mind the college-age herd cheering outside the White House moments after Obama announced OBL was dead. That's not gloating - that's celebration. Ding dong the wicked witch is dead my little winkies and munchkins. Ding dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low ... let them know.

How about the 1.5 billion a year paid to Pakistan who couldn't find their own butt with both hands and a flash light? Our BFFs.

Will the ACLU or progressives sue because bin Laden was not read his rights or given the opportunity to surrender? Will they sue on behalf of the men who were water-boarded for information that led to finding OBL? Or do we just continue to argue the "torture" issue... and deny one thing one day, then deny the opposite tomorrow? Dementia - every day a pseudo-new version of the same old issues that shouldn't even be issues.

What was the objective going into Afghanistan? To smoke out bin Laden? Can the troops come home now? Let's get to the real news: The man who refused to shave until OBL was caught - finally shaved. The school boy who had to wash a painted flag off his face. The man in the gated community who was told to take down his flag. Letterman said ... Jay Leno said ...

Why is Hillary claiming her situation room photo of hand on mouth was stifling a yawn or cough rather than fear/anxiety? Afraid she doesn't look butch enough in a room of steely-eyed steely-jaw men watching the live action take down of OBL? Does her gasping photo remind anyone of Bush Junior's instantly released photo-ops? The flight suit, the deck, the plane window.

Political pap to look manly, strong, yet concerned, pensive. Do they wear Old Spice? Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me... Anything is possible when your man smells like Old Spice and not a lady.

Marlo Expectations

From Huff Po, Marlo Thomas laments the integration of Take Our Daughters to Work Day - because they now must take sons too. I hope this woman isn't paid for her silliness. (If you wish to make a tax deductible donation in order for the Foundation to continue its work, or buy a t-shirt, please make checks payable to: Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Foundation, 209 East Fearing Street, Suite 1, Elizabeth City, NC 27909.)

Marlo says "Like a lot of women my age, it reminded me of the low expectations that were thrust on us when we were growing up. I'll never forget struggling with a math problem when I was in the 7th grade at Marymount, and complaining to the math nun about it. "Don't worry, dear," she said to me. "You won't need it."

As the daughter of a millionaire, and preppy in a private Catholic prep school rubbing elbows with other Los Angeles bratpackers, perhaps the math nun knew Marlo would never have to work like other women folk. How much math do you need being That Girl! or a "social activist."

We should be so lucky to have a math nun and the struggle of a math problem as a memory we'll never forget.

Michelle Obama hosted 200 children of White House employees. Michelle doing her part so low expectations are not thrust upon today's boys and girls. And can you say p-h-o-t-o op.

Marlo hasn't a clue that millions of women cannot take their daughters (or sons) to work. Or that the majority of kids who are taken to work are not minimum wage worker kids but are kids who come from homes where self-confidence, education, knowledge, and skills for success are a given.

And to think I used to listen to Marlo and Phil. Eeek.

I had a chuckle as one respondent to Marlo commented: "This program should be called "Take our [privileged] daughters to the white-collar business office to teach them how to kiss ass and exploit the poor." Even the majority of the huffpo posters seemed irritated with her pettiness. Has the "women's movement" finally petered out (pun intended).

As for St. Jude's, the hospital founded by Danny Thomas, I supported that for many years, crying in every commercial, but stopped after finding much of the clinical staff is low paid while the topcats make almost a million a year, that St. Jude insinuates credit for medical discoveries not theirs, that they have 2 billion in assets for a 56 bed hospital, and a good deal of money goes to research and programs that I question the efficacy of (research often funded by pharmaceutical giants and government grants), and that they take in almost a billion annually from corporate and individual donations and grants - yet have received low ratings at Charity Navigator; I heard they amended a few practices to raise their rating again. And though St. Jude's has done a lot of good for some children, fact is their giant fundraising footprint has drained away donations from other hospitals that treat childhood cancer but don't have the high profile of St. Jude. St. Jude's will not take kids who have been treated with chemo or radiation at other institutes, and turns away kids who fail to meet other St. Jude criteria. (Thirty years ago we had a daughter diagnosed with brain cancer at Denver Children's, her treatment could not have been better anywhere else.) A pediatric oncologist told me once that although we've improved the methodology, the equipment, and the survival rates - we still basically use the same old cancer treatments of "cut, burn, and poison."

Not that any of that is Marlo's fault. The nuns didn't teach her math and she never had a kid of her own to take anywhere.

Bemused

Saying he has long been “bemused” and “puzzled” over the fascination the controversy surrounding his birth certificate, President Obama said he released the long-form version of his birth certificate in order to help get the nation’s attention back on the “enormous challenges” facing the country.

Obama noted that during a recent stretch where he and Republicans were laying out their budget visions for the future, the primary news story has been about the so-called “birther” controversy.

------ That document "release" was so easy. Kinda makes me wonder why the pols, pundits, and press were so intense on picking this nit, and why Barack let it go on so long for his bemusement. And the "birthers" will not believe the certificate is legitimate at this point.

Obama - A Step Forward

Peg & Les

Kentucky drug overdose deaths soar.
By Ryan Rahilly
22 April 2011

Recent studies reveal increasing rates of prescription painkiller addiction, methamphetamine production, and fatal overdoses in the state of Kentucky. The drug problem has been compounded over the past decade by cuts to funding for drug treatment programs, which have increasingly been replaced with jail terms.

In an investigative series published in January and February, the Louisville Courier-Journal found that Kentucky drug addiction deaths have risen to 1,000 deaths per year, surpassing traffic fatalities in the state, and more than double the drug death toll of a decade ago. Deaths from prescription drug abuse rose from 403 in 2000, to 978 in 2009. Traffic accidents killed 791 Kentuckians in 2009.

Kentucky spends less than a quarter of what many states spend to contend with addictions, and drug policy programs have not seen an increase in funding for more than 10 years. What little funding has been earmarked for drug prevention, control, and treatment has been cut by millions of dollars. The Office of Drug Control Policy was cut last year by $2.1 million, forcing the agency to reduce its staff from 10 to only 4 employees. The $1.5 million budget for the Kentucky family and juvenile drug courts, which provide alternatives to prison or foster homes for drug-devastated families, was entirely eliminated January 1, 2011.

Operation UNITE, a non-profit agency focused on the epidemic of drug abuse in the Appalachian coalfields region of Kentucky, saw its 2007-08 budget slashed from $10.3 million to $4.6 million the following year.

The Appalachian region, and particularly eastern Kentucky, southwestern West Virginia, and southeastern Ohio are stricken with poverty and high unemployment, which has fed a black market economy and led to rising drug addiction rates. Eastern Kentucky registered a prescription drug overdose death rate of 26.3 per 100,000, which is almost twice as high as the rest of the nation.

The Courier-Journal investigation found that eastern Kentucky’s Bell County registered a staggering prescription drug death rate of 54 per 100,000, and advocates have reported treating children as young as 9 for addiction.

-------- I suppose the agenda behind such writing is to push for mo' money and government intervention. But, I know many of these unfortunate folks the WSWS is referring to, for example - Peggy and Leslie from Kentucky.

In the late 1960s and '70s both barely 18, they worked in factories, nursing homes, restaurants. They had 3 sons. Life was economically tough, but even uneducated and unskilled they managed to pay off a piece of land with a doublewide trailer, a car, a truck.

Some time around 1980 they determined life was easier without a job and with a lot of Wild Turkey and prescription medication. They began a career of minor car accidents and falling in grocery stores over spills they had manufactured themselves - before the days of everything caught on camera. Lawsuit Les and Settlement Peg. Medicaid, Medicare, disability followed.

Peg and Les spent most of the 1980s and '90s in overstuff chairs, drooling, slowly deteriorating physically and mentally, high on prescription drugs from the pain management clinic and numerous physicians in the tri-state area. Their 3 boys have followed in their footsteps, worse as the boys have been hardcore methheads, in and out of more jails and treatment centers than their parents. One son had 3 children before his 18th birthday - wards of the State now.

As the boys got older they too found they were eligible for government aid for one thing or another, thus they commit less crime now. Why steal for drugs if you can get the government or some agency or program to give you the means to get it free... and this generation has discovered that if your children are diagnosed with certain syndromes or disorders, they too can get a check and medications. All the kid needs is a little coaching and a parent willing to doctor shop until he finds that one who will fill out government forms, putting a lifetime label on the kid, worth a government check.

Les and Peg's land and trailer, the car and truck, are long gone. Sold to raise bail and buy black market drugs as the prescriptions never last until the next legal refill. Peg is gone now too - overdosed at age 55. Les awoke one morning to find her dead in the chair in front of flickering reruns of the Beverly Hillbillies. Les remarried a couple of years later, found a lady with a great prescription plan and a disability check bigger than his own. Les and Peg, and now this wife, always fight (one usually sporting a black eye or busted lip) usually over one or the other stealing the other's pills or who took the last slice of pizza.

They have spent most of their lives and all of their energy on scheming how and where to get more drugs. They want nothing to do with treatment programs - unless court ordered - because they're not addicts - they just have health problems, their life is not their fault, they have just been unfortunate, punished by fate, and in need of chronic pain medication (staying high).

It will not matter if government funding for treatment and/or prevention is slashed or infused with 10 times more. It will not cure the millions of Les and Pegs across the nation. It will not matter if jobs open up tomorrow - the Les and Pegs of the nation are too ill to work. Too brain damaged to think beyond the next dose and reruns of I Dream of Genie. As are their children and grandchildren. Each generation getting slicker and meaner and more mentally deficient.

Now some will say they are deeply offended by this post. Where's my empathy, where's my sympathy. More than likely, if you feel offended, it's because you, or someone close to you, are guilty of some or all of the above (or because your livelihood is dependent on pandering to Les and Pegs). And it's not offended that you feel, it's anger, because you're being called on your b.s.

The Next Black President?

Lt. Col. Allen West - Republican congressman from Florida.

The Dufus Don & Others

The Donald: Trump gives Democrats a boost by pretending to be a Republican or Independent who is a "birther." And a gasbag Tarzan yodeling his own praise. Despite his 2 or 3 business bankruptcies, shell games, arm candy marriages, and bad hair - some people think Donald is a real American hero.

Obama's birth certificate: Yes, he was born in Hawaii. His original long form certificate, not made public, is probably for no other reason than his birth is listed as illegitimate. Most states now have changed this classification because of the unmarried explosion of mama's baby, daddy's maybe, but in 1961 it would say such.

William and Kate: Waity Katie most likely will do better than her late mother-in-law. Kate knows her odds of being queen are very good. Princess Diane and most of the world knew Di would never be queen because the royal creep Charles would never be king. Some of the body language I've seen when William is with Kate tells me he will not be a good husband but Kate's language says that's okay considering the trade-offs, or trade ups. Sometimes a crown does cure a headache. (I do want to see her wedding gown though.)

Catherine Zeta-Jones: Newly diagnosed bipolar II disorder. Just another bored homosapien who, despite life's many blessings, gets the blues when life gives her some shit. But celebs with "disorders" serve the purpose of lending credence to junk medicine and pillheads.

Charlie Sheen: This is your brain on drugs. Careful Charlie, you're beginning to look the part of a ghoulish crackhead with hairpiece, dental work and Botox.

Movie critics: All holding out for the perks that come with a thumbs up. Limp wristed gladiators in the theater pushing or panning for pay. Atlas Shrugged. Awful reviews. Probably because the author believed "... civilization cannot exist where men are slave to society and government, and ... the destruction of the profit motive leads to the collapse of society."

Joe Bageant, 1946-2011

After a vibrant life, Joe Bageant died yesterday following a four-month struggle with cancer. He was 64. Joe is survived by his wife, Barbara, his three children, Timothy, Patrick and Elizabeth, and thousands of friends and admirers. He is also survived by his work and ideas.

---- I didn't always agree with Joe but he had a vivid memorable way with words.

Amused to Death

I read this a couple of days ago.

The Telegraph (UK) says:
Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today are on the front lines in Adjabiya".

Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," but added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader".

His revelations came even as Idriss Deby Itno, Chad's president, said al-Qaeda had managed to pillage military arsenals in the Libyan rebel zone and acquired arms, "including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries".

Mr al-Hasidi admitted he had earlier fought against "the foreign invasion" in Afghanistan, before being "captured in 2002 in Peshwar, in Pakistan". He was later handed over to the US, and then held in Libya before being released in 2008.

---------- I heard nothing about al-Hasidi on cable news, or why we are now backing someone who came to the aid of those fighting against US "invaders" and supporting al-Qaeda.

Surfing again this a.m. I checked Kos to see if any diarists were on it and found this at Iconic Surrealism: Daily Kos Scrubs "THIS is who we’re helping in Libya? Al-Qaeda?" Diary. And indeed, it's been scrubbed from Kos.

Over at HuffPo a comment was made mentioning the al-Hasidi story, but as usual on blog sites it immediately became a barb-fest between posters who drink the kool-aid and those who don't, all with the bravery of being out of range.

My favorite posters are those who resort to pithy humor or song lyrics because they know nothing said on Kos or HuffPo or anywhere else makes any difference in the grand scheme of things .... amused to death ...

Hey bartender over here
Two more shots
And two more beers
Sir, turn up the TV sound
The war has started on the ground
Just love those laser guided bombs
They're really great
For righting wrongs
You hit the target
And win the game
From bars 3,000 miles away
3,000 miles away
We play the game
With the bravery of being out of range.
(Roger Waters)

CAGW Ad

Popular Uprisings

God help me, old tricky Dick Nixon might have been right when he said, "Communism isn't sleeping; it is, as always, plotting, scheming, working, fighting." Problem is that's how all systems operate.

Does it make a difference if the sanctions or bomb says Johnson or Carter, Reagan or Clinton, Bush or Obama? Made in China, made in Russia, made in Israel, made in the US?

Who do you think is behind "popular uprisings"? Capitalists? The US? Communists, pinkos, left, right? The people? Republican, democrats? Freemasons? Illuminati? Rockefellers? Jesus or Allah? Foppish Europeans?

Who or what is really behind the popular uprisings in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, etc. ... let's take an uprising I'm familiar with - the Sandinistas versus the Contras.

Folklore tells us the Sandinistas were a group of poets and idealistic middle class college kids who wanted to bring hope and change to Nicaragua. They took the name of Augusto Sandino, the 1930s Nicaraguan rebel, freedom fighter, who also fought to throw off the yoke of imperialism, to rid the country of presidents who were puppets of the US, you know the slogans. Viva Sandino! Patria libre.

Sandino was the illegitimate son of a wealthy landowner, his mother a servant. He moved in with his father at age 9. Most wealthy latino men claim, raise, and educate their "outside" children, especially sons.

Pop culture sites say Sandino left home in 1921, around age 28, traveling to Mexico where he worked at Standard Oil and became involved with anti-imperialists, socialists, anarchist groups. True, but he fled Nicaragua because he had attempted to murder the son of a prominent "conservative" townsman, over remarks the man made about his momma. He returned to Nicaragua in 1926 or so when the statute of limitations ran out on his charges.

Isn't 28 a bit old to try and kill someone talking trash about your momma? In Sandino's own words he also returned to Nicaragua to marry his cousin Maria Mercedes, had saved enough money to open his own grain business in Managua, and his father had pleaded for him to come home now that the statute had ran out. So a poor indigenous peasant of the people or a favored son of a wealthy conservative landowner? Hard to separate fact from propaganda when studying dead heroes. When his business venture did not get off the ground he turned to making fame and fortune using the techniques he witnessed during his years in Mexico - become a rebel with a cause. There's a lot to Sandino but a good deal of it is myth and happenchance.

But until at least age 28 and until he fled to Mexico, Sandino was not all that political, although you'll find snips that say he was affected at 17 when he saw the body of General Zeledon being carried on an oxcart by the US Marines after a coup attempt. But if he hadn't tried to kill a guy for talking about his momma, had he stayed in Nicaragua and not spent those 5 years in Mexico's leftist community, had his grain business succeeded on his return, would he have become a rebel? Sandino was said to be a prolific writer and gifted speaker. So apparently someone provided a decent education. If you read far and wide, particularly Sandino's own writings you might begin to wonder if he was just a little man in a big hat with an even bigger ego.

The then president Bautista and his commandante Somoza within a year or so wiped out the band of Sandinistas and killed Sandino, who then became a people's hero, to be revived in the 1960s by the aforementioned older Nicaraguan poets, preppies and college kids, specifically Tomas Borge and Carlos Fonseca. Take it to the masses, the poor. Promise them anything if they support the popular uprising. Nicaragua's factions have always been the Liberal and Conservative. Which have today, like the US and elsewhere, blurred their platforms to the point it's hard to tell them apart. Say anything to get elected and reelected. Possibly because that's the only way governments can keep real revolution at bay - simply agree to take turns screwing the people and call it democracy. Would you like some ink on that finger? A sticker for you hon? says "I Voted."

Who organizes, trains, arms, funds, and manages these "popular uprisings"? Do guerrillas awake to find rifles and grenade launchers under their hammocks or camels or huts? Along with detailed logistics and long-term strategy?

No, my friends. The super players are their handlers. Super players grease the wheels of revolutions aka popular uprisings - once they see a certain group has serious potential and a leader to lead an armed rebellion.

Although still denied by old Sandinistas and lefties everywhere - Russia was in the mountains long before they began overtly supplying the junta that marched victoriously into Managua in1979. In fact, a Sandinista cofounder, Carlos Fonseca wrote a book in 1957, after a trip to Moscow, chronicling his visit to the USSR entitled Un Nicaraguense en Moscu (A Nicaraguan In Moscow). He praised the achievements of the USSR ... its "free press, complete freedom of religion and the efficiency of its worker-run industries". And Fonseca was a Sandinista intellectual.

Fonseca died long ago, 3 years before the Sandinista victory, but Borge lives on. Ambassador now, twittering for the little people about the awful conservative millionaires who despise him, and Hugo Chavez and other leftists (although Borge himself a millionaire). This from a man who believed "either the rich will exploit the poor, or the poor will free themselves by wiping out the privileges of the millionaires," excluding those millionaires like Borge who lead you to the millionaires who are to lose their privileges.

(One of Sandino's daughter, Blanca, and family lived in Cuba from 1961 to 1979 when grandson Walter Sandino returned to Nicaragua, about the same time the Sandinistas took power, and took a post in the Sandinista government for a while. Tubby and decadent Walt was educated in Russia. Daniel Ortega supposedly married into the Sandino bloodline and Danny too trained in Cuba in the 1960s. Still think USSR and Cuba weren't involved in the Sandinista's popular uprising? Maybe it really is just a family/clan activity.)

I knew 2 brothers in Nicaragua, actually knew the whole family of 22, counting the patriarch's outside children. Some were Sandinista, some were Contra, some managed to get to L.A. or Miami and sit the war out. Some sons were Sandinista, the others Contra. Truly brother against brother. Although the Contra sons initially fought with the Sandinistas, like many others a couple of years after "victory" they left disillusioned, to join the Contras. It took about 5 years for most campesinos to realize that the Sandinistas were not going to deliver much of that hope and change they had promised. Perhaps that is why pols favor 5-year plans - it takes that long for the people to recognize it's b.s. so they need a new plan every 5. And years ago I believed the results might have been different had the US left well enough alone in Nicaragua - but no longer believe that to be true. Isn't hindsight great.

The Contra presence, their threat, their engagement, their resistance was limited. Simply put - the Sandinistas lost the support of the people. And they lost that support because once in power, like all pols, they were too occupied with maintaining power to do what needed to be done for the people. The people (fodder) were their means to an end (power).

Oh sure, the Sandinistas confiscated some land from the rich absent landlords and set up co-op farms but that doesn't work on a large scale, unless you have a guy with a whip on a horse patrolling the fields. And more than a few of the remaining co-op farms today have been saved only because US or International nonprofits stepped in to pay off loans on the land, buy products (usually coffee) at above Fair Trade prices, charging the customers on the consumer end a whopping price for a cup of coffee. The 21st century style of how to make profit and feel warm fuzzies doing it. There are world fair trade organizations globally providing such aid - community organizing on a global scale. They help farmers survive. The third world farmers will not become rich nor even middle class, they will never have a car or a garage or 2 chickens in every pot, but they will survive, crop to crop, hand to mouth. They still do not own their land as the 40 other families on it are technically owners and bankers will forever hold the deed for equipment and seed, and they are still beholden to white progressive capitalists far away who help keep prices inflated by paying the difference. Twenty-first century "free market." Some day some of their children may move up and out, then who will work the farms. But let's not borrow trouble. As long as the underclasses breed like rabbits, and they will, there will always be plenty of field hands and uprisers.

Nicaraguans today are no better off than they were under Somoza. In fact, some might say worse as a local there told me as much as he says those who returned from the US brought their drugs and crime and immorality back with them. I suppose it depends solely on perception, as anywhere. If you're part of the class that has a bigger retaining wall around your house and heavier bars on the windows, you have a rosier outlook.

As I said before, it's not about "sharing the wealth" - it's who gets to control the wealth. One side offers the little people slightly more chance of lifting themselves up by their own abilities, the other side offers no chance of that but they will see that you "survive." And if you can't figure out which side is which you're probably supporting the wrong side.

Point is, if there is a point, is the men and women in government will never live up to their promises because they do not want to and never intend to, and we do not hold them to their promises. Anymore than Clinton brought peace and prosperity, or Bush the Boy brought back integrity, or Obama brought hope and change, or the Sandinistas a utopia of social equality. Heroes are rare. So they are invented out of any handy man (or woman) who steps up, after being properly groomed, to play the role and lead an uprising which more or less maintains the status quo but with slightly different rhetoric.

So Viva .... whomever!