tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48002032240246538672024-03-13T10:25:35.668-04:00Dispassionate Liberal<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/DispLib/LibTwits.jpg" align="left" height="170" hspace="10" width="263"><b>Exposing the lack of compassion by conservatives and
debunking right wing hypocrisy at every opportunity.</b>Mark W Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535890174971048423noreply@blogger.comBlogger1297125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4800203224024653867.post-7511905738340080892012-04-23T08:49:00.001-04:002012-04-23T08:49:39.694-04:00Oh, and restrict TV access to FOX News only<p><a href="http://memebase.com/2012/04/13/internet-memes-keep-them-indoors/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Memebase+%28Memebase+Alpha%29&utm_content=Google+Reader">Keep Them Indoors - Memebase: Rage Comics, Forever Alone, Y U No Guy, Troll Face, Foul Bachelor Frog</a></p><blockquote><img src="http://chzmemebase.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/internet-memes-keep-them-indoors.jpg" alt="" /></blockquote><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<div style="text-align: justify;">All I wanted to do was get this sad little girl's name right, knowing that I should avoid Googling <a href="http://spreadingsantorum.com/">Santorum</a> I headed to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Santorum#Family">Wikipedia</a>. After reading what sick, demented shit these children are being subjected to being raised by Rick and Karen, I'm convinced the boy with the crazed look in his eyes will end up atop a bell tower with a sniper rifle, and the girls would be better off as Mormon Sister-wives. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So much for my original snarky take which has completely left my brain after reading this:</div><br />
<blockquote>In 1996, their son Gabriel Michael was born prematurely and lived for only two hours (a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_ultrasonography" title="Medical ultrasonography">sonogram</a> taken before Gabriel was born revealed that his posterior urethral valve was closed and that the prognosis for his survival was therefore poor). While pregnant, Karen Santorum developed a life-threatening intrauterine infection and a fever that reached nearly 105 degrees. She went into labor when she was 20 weeks pregnant and allowed doctors to give her <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytocin" title="Oxytocin">Oxytocin</a> to speed the birth.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Santorum#cite_note-12">[13]</a></sup></blockquote><br />
<blockquote>Karen Santorum wrote a book about the experience: <i>Letters to Gabriel: The True Story of Gabriel Michael Santorum</i>.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Santorum#cite_note-13">[14]</a></sup> In it, she writes that <b><i>the couple brought the deceased infant home from the hospital and introduced the dead child to their living children as "your brother Gabriel" and slept with the body overnight before returning it to the hospital.</i><br />
</b></blockquote><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">After seeing that, forgetting you left your dog on top of the family car seems like something out of a Chevy Chase film, and leaved me with the permanent impression the Santorums are a frightening mix of Amityville Horror, The Stepford Wives (original version) and Night of the Living Dead.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Not to make light of Mitt Romney's criminal neglect of his pooch (having just lost a dog myself to a hit-and-run driver) I feel obligated to link to <a href="http://www.dogsagainstromney.com/">Dogs Against Romney</a>.</div><br />
<br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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More importantly, we have to stop pissing on each other.<br/><br/>Those two goals, and I can name a host of others, enjoy support in the 60-70 percentiles and yet year after year, decade after decade these "liberal" policy demands are given bare lip-service. Come on people, the <a href='http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/20/new-poll-77-percent-suppo_n_264375.html'>Public Option was favored by 77%</a>, but we couldn't get our act together enough to secure a win on that one. Arguably, unless we tax them and throw them out of the temple of our democracy, the oligarchs will continue to feed their greed and buy off our elected officials with the tantalizing promise of making those crooks rich beyond their dreams as well -- quaint notions of ending wars and poverty will remain a fantasy of the prols and plebs.<br/><br/>So forgive me for not getting worked up when the Death Penalty is once again <a href='http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/10/mario-cuomo-condemns-troy-davis-case-death-penalty/1'>abused and misused</a>, cuz that little bit of American Exceptionalism ain't going nowhere when <a href='http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/national-polls-and-studies'>only a quarter of the population</a> oppose it. That's "Birther" numbers people. I'm not saying to get on any bandwagon, rather quite the opposite. Just pick your battles. <br/><br/>State Sponsored Killing enjoys popular support in this country, period. Which brings us to the sad case of the American in al-Queda, Anwar al-Awlaki. <a href='http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2011/09/unconscionable-if-every-other-president.html'>Barrels of digital ink</a> have been spilled denouncing the assassination as unconstitutional, and <i>frankly I don't care</i>. I've been informed that I've no right to hold the opinion that the President's decision was correct and still call myself a liberal, to which I can only reply in a manner which His Rudeness will understand: <a href='http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2011/09/in-brief-murder-of-anwar-al-awlaki.html'>"Suck my cock."</a> <br/><br/>The man was a traitor. He had sworn allegiance to an organization dedicated to the destruction of western civilization and the mass murder of it's citizens. Regardless that his actions didn't technically fit into the definition of treason and war by and between nation-states written centuries before the rise of multi-national corporate "personhood," he had no right to continue to enjoy the protections afforded American citizens -- whatever the hell that means -- and was putting my daughters and your friends in danger. He had to be stopped. <br/><br/>I see little distinction about the way in which we should treat such vermin as al-Awlaki and bin-Laden just because they were born on different continents. Al-Awlaki's cultural heritage is what made him valuable to al-Queda. <a href='http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/01/earlyshow/saturday/main20114273.shtml'>It's what made him an effective terrorist.</a> I can't condone him being able to use that same background as a shield against recrimination. He cannot use the Constitution to protect him from actively trying to destroy the society it created.<br/><br/>To my eyes, if he should have been captured instead of killed, so should Osama bin-Laden. They were both human beings, were they not? Is one a lessor human just because he was an Arab? Are you endowed with a superiority gene when born in New Mexico instead of old Mexico? Feh! By Digby and the Rude Pundit's logic, anyone who cheered the death of bin-Laden needs to turn in their tie-dyed T-shirts as well, because they aren't "real" liberals either.<br/><br/>If that puts me in the uncomfortable company of <a href='http://www.emptywheel.net/2011/10/02/dick-cheney-obama-violates-american-principles-of-justice-just-like-i-did/'>Dick Cheney</a>, so be it. I like his attitude on LGBT as well. If you still think the President should be condemned for taking out a known, admitted and notorious terrorist, then you are <a href='http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/30/anwar-al-awlaki-and-why-president-barack-obama-is-right-to-kill-u-s-citizens.html'>waltzing with Ron Paul,</a> so suck on that.<br/><blockquote><i>And like Abraham Lincoln, Obama has saved the constitution and the country by defending it against a nihilistic and narrow reading of the constitution that would prevent the country from protecting itself.</i><br/></blockquote>I have to laugh that the chief criticism of the <a href='http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/39237_Kristof-_Occupy_Wall_Street_Needs_Clear_Goals#rss'>Occupy Wall Street protesters</a> is that they are basically an unfocused, quixotic street party. Good god, they're the only ones out there who've identified a specific target with a grievance that enjoys popular support throughout the rest of the country:<i> the fat cats simply have got to pony up some dough</i>. <br/><br/>That's doable folks, and it has the potential to fix so many wrongs in this nation. Crying over death row inmates or cave-dwelling bomb throwers while spitting on the closest thing we've seen to a liberally minded President since Reagan declared war on working folk is counter-productive to say the least.<br/><br/><br/></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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That's the job, thinking of the absurdities of life pointing it out in the most devastating way ... while not pissing their audience off (too much). Laughter is a bonus reaction, the signal that they've hit on something <strike>profound</strike> <strike>startling</strike> funny enough to be repeated next time they do their act. <br/><a href='http://www.wtfpod.com/'><br/>Marc Maron</a> is one such sage, and I've been enjoying his WTF podcasts for some time now. While entertainingly funny the podcasts are profound in that they are not an "act," but a forum where Marc and his fellow comedians discuss the craft of comedy, where it comes from, how it develops. Like <a href='http://www.nerdist.com/'>Chris Hardwick's Nerdist podcast</a> (which I also highly recommend), what works and what doesn't is what drives the program, but Maron's WTF is a level all its own.<br/><br/>Where political bloggers and activist Tweeters analyze and advocate in often heroic efforts to spread the message of where our society needs to go, and some are even podcasting to great effect (and here I must plug the <a href='http://www.bestoftheleftpodcast.com/'>Best of the Left</a> aggregator podcast and Mr. and Mrs. Driftglass/Bluegal's <a href='http://professionalleft.blogspot.com/'>Professional Left</a> as personal favorites), let's face it -- they mostly are preaching to the choir.<br/><br/>So, when the nature of GOP nihilism is expounded on at <a href='http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/09/what_happened_to_the_power_of_their_ideas.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Talking-Points-Memo+%28Talking+Points+Memo%3A+by+Joshua+Micah+Marshall%29&utm_content=Google+Reader'>some lefty blog</a> in trying to get a grip on the suicide pact conservatives are using to blackmail the nation into accepting their theocratic policy prescriptions -- or else, "we" know what's up. But "we" are folks who care, sometimes too much, about politics.<br/><blockquote>Republican hue and cry about the current budget "crisis" is intended to force Americans to embrace their vision for the future whether voters like it or not. Their argument at its essence is, you may not like our vision but at this point you don't have any choice.<br/></blockquote>But when you hear something that on the surface is not political at all, but is so very applicable to the state of the nation even when it's entirely intended for another audience and merely describing an individual's personality, it gives pause. Maybe it's more about what's in my head and this says more about me than the art of the joke, but take this exchange between <a href='http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/episode_206_-_anthony_jeselnik'>Marc Maron and Anthony Jeselnik</a> last week on WTF about Jeselnik's experience playing sports in high school and Marc's introspective reaction and see it you too find it perfectly descriptive of how the leading conservatives of the GOP are operating:<br/><blockquote><i>Maron</i>: Did you get shit from the football guys?<br/><i>Jeselnik</i>: Nah, it wasn't like that. No one cared, no one cared about lacross at all. I think it might be better there at my high school now than at the time.<br/><i>Maron</i>: ... I always think about that in myself. That if someone had tought me some sense of healthy competition I would be better off in life. Like to me losing, is just, like I'm, <b>if I'm losing I would rather ruin the game ... than lose</b>.<br/></blockquote>Sure, call me PollyAnna, say it's just wishful thinking, but in the long run the extremism of the right stinks of desperation. They're losing, and they know it.<br/><br/>They're losing at life, and their attempt to destroy the game, our government, our democracy, our economy, our way of life is a symptom of their last gasp attempt to stop what cannot be stopped. Progress. Progress towards social justice, towards fairness and equality cannot be stopped no matter how many road blocks the conservative cry babies throw at us.<br/><br/>It's all they got. And it works to a degree, but only for so long my friends. Tricks and fear mongering only work for so long. Face it. No matter how some douchebag like <a href='http://www.newshounds.us/2011/09/15/sen_jim_demint_i_cant_work_with_the_president_because_hes_a_socialist.php'>Jim DeMint holds his breath and stomps his feet</a>, Barack Obama is our President. An insanely articulate, extremely well educated, urban black man from a northern state is President, and Jim DeMint never, ever will hold that title. That alone is progress.<br/><br/>We will always need more progress and they will always try to slow it down, but generation by generation, we win, they lose, and life goes on. Our society will advance and even if they try to destroy it from within, "we" will always be "We the People," (even if we have to include corporations or even androids and zombies as "people" too).<br/></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<br />
Actually, Bachmann did very well on the attack vs. Perry last night. Made him look like a crooked chump. It's a bit complicated and I can get into the details if you want, but basically Perry required schoolgirls get an anti-cervical cancer vaccine via executive order. The drug was provided by Merk, a campaign contributor his Chief of Staff used to run. Perry acted offended that he could be bought for a five grand contribution when he raises 30 million. (No mention if he really was a whore and was only dickering over price.) Rick Santorum - in his best debate performance to date - pointed out that you vaccinate kids so other kids don't catch what you got and start an epidemic ... and cancer ain't contagious. (Okay, those were the details.)<br />
<br />
Libertarian tea baggers ended up booing Perry ... and also booed their godfather, Ron Paul, for stating the obvious vis-a-vis 9/11 terrorists motives. They liked his stance that "Freedom" means you take your chances, and those have consequences, so if you ain't insured and get sick ... too bad weakest link, you die. Actually got cheered for that one. I weep for our nation.<br />
<br />
Huntsman was there, tried to do stand up and failed. Godfather Pizza guy Cain, tried to be serious and looked like a poor man's Bill Cosby.<br />
<br />
Later, Patti Davis, Reagan's daughter, was on MSNBC and said that none of these clowns were fit to stand underneath her dad's shadow.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, half-term Governor Mousellini agreed with Bachmann and piled on Perry, who she'd endorsed for Governor in 2010 and for whom shehad nice things to say about, just short of endorsing, last week. Onlyknock on Bachmann I saw last night on twitter was that her hair didn't look as good as Perry's or Romney.<br />
<br />
Winner, Mittens! Stayed above the fray, got some shots in on Perry too, and didn't get picked on.<br />
<br />
AND... ppp polls Obama up 49-45 on Romney, 52-41 on Perry, 53-41 on Gingrich, 53-39 on Bachmann<br />
<br />
Forgot about Gingrich. He's so funny, so angry, so full of crap. Twitter is scoring this debate a win for Bachmann, that she breathed new life into her campaign ... which has zero hope of going anywhere but may have earned her the Palin VP spot as designated attack poodle. <br />
<br />
For those keeping track at home:<br />
Bachmann: Pro-life mother of 23 and beard to one very up tight closeted white guy is also Pro Cancer.<br />
<br />
Perry: Cannot be bought cheaply, pretty dumb on his feet, great hair, authentic swagger, real ranch, bought and paid for by big oil. Typical GOP Texas politician. (Got booed by tea baggers for compassionate immigration stance similar to his old boss when he was Bush's Lieutenant Governor - booed for his one decent and human act as governor.)<br />
<br />
Romney: The robotic GOP equivalent to Al Gore, the RomBot is a quantum candidate, able to be on all sides of an issue at the same time.<br />
<br />
Santorum: STILL the most googleable candidate there, but was not frothy enough last night.<br />
<br />
Huntsman: Is obviously in the wrong party.<br />
<br />
Paul: Is obviously on the wrong planet.<br />
<br />
Gingrich: Is obviously on the wrong end of the space-time continuum.<br />
<br />
Herman Cain has a 9 point plan which as near as I can remember stands for a 9 item pizza for $9.99 delivered in 90 minutes.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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Bush let an American city drown, yet neither the media nor the "professional left" smell the blood in the water as they continue to scratch at Obama, hoping he will topple over from the paper cuts.<br/><br/>Just this week, the last week in the notoriously slow news month of August...<br/><ol><li>GOP House leader Cantor insists that hurricane relief only flows if there are cuts, something even the <a href='http://rss.dailykos.com/%7Er/dailykos/index/%7E3/fnaAqbTsVwg/-Christie-rejects-Cantors-insistence-on-spending-cuts-before-disaster-relief'>Jersey Bully rejects</a>. </li><li><a href='http://www.indecisionforever.com/2011/09/01/sarah-palin-back-on-for-tea-party-event-that-christine-odonnell-better-not-get-anywhere-near/'>Wassilla Quitta's non-campaign</a> gets into a snit fit when NotAWitch gets invite/disinvite/reinvite/non-invite to Sarah's non-announcements that she's almost/sorta/kinda wantin' ta run for the nomination ... also too.</li><li><a href='http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/tpmelectioncentral/%7E3/kGL38GWcAUc/fox-poll-bachmann-falls-off-while-perry-leads.php'>GOP front-runner</a> (<a href='http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/tpmelectioncentral/%7E3/cTcLh5DUegc/poll-gop-insiders-overwhelmingly-favor-romney.php'>sorta</a>), Governor Goodhair, is being outed as a class one crook with a scheme that <a href='http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/firedoglake/fdl/%7E3/vOtKTAcdlHc/'>makes WhiteWater look like a game of Tiddly-Winks</a>. But even blind squirrels can find <a href='http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/09/term-limits-supreme-court'>good ideas among the nuts</a>.<br/></li><li><a href='http://my.firedoglake.com/davidswanson/2011/09/01/cheneys-kettle-logic/'>Dick F@#$ing Cheney</a> squirmed out of his cave and is all over the airwaves again. That's gotta reinvigorate everyone's sense of nostalgia, like the <a href='http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/matthewyglesias/%7E3/X9f89BE83zA/'>good old days</a> when we prosecuted criminals.<br/></li><li>GOP Speaker Boehner <a href='http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/09/01/zomg-schedulegate-president-obama-is-a-cave-dwelling-cave-meister/'>publicly reneges on agreement</a> for the President to address Congress when he finds out the agreed date conflicts with the clown car freak show where Michelle and the Seven Dorks will debate over Saint Reagan's tomb.</li></ol>... and it's POTUS that looks bad for being snubbed, <a href='http://www.mediaite.com/online/speaker-john-boehner-should-resign-for-his-unprecedented-insult-to-the-president/'>disrespected as no President has in living memory</a>, accepting the new date to talk about jobs like a fucking grown-up <a href='http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/PoliticalWire/%7E3/lOI9oreBkVg/obama_voters_dont_want_compromise_on_jobs_plan.html'>as the public has demanded</a>. WTF People?<br/><br/><a href='http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/09/01/very_few_like_mitch_mcconnell.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PoliticalWire+%28Political+Wire%29&utm_content=Google+Reader'>Mitch McConnell's</a> got an approval rating of 16% while <a href='http://www.docudharma.com/diary/27396/public-policy-polling?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Docudharma+%28Docudharma+-+Front+Page%29&utm_content=Google+Reader'>POTUS</a> has 42% approving of him. A sinking ship drowns all hands. We're looking at <a href='http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/white-house-unemployment-will-average-9-percent-in-election-year.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpmelectioncentral+%28TPM+Election+Central%29&utm_content=Google+Reader'>9% unemployment during an election year</a>. The question isn't who will win, but why would anyone want to.<br/><br/>Got it. Another piece of WINNING for John McCain. (<a href='http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/Docudharma/%7E3/mnBt17S_uwc/obama-concedes-election-more-than-a-year-before-it-happens'>Seriously people, get help</a>.)<br/><br/>No, seriously, would you rather we had an executive saddled with a deadlocked Congress who didn't<a href='http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/Motherjones/mojoblog/%7E3/yaRUha_3Ppw/obama-doj-cracks-down-protestors-blocking-abortion-clinics'> fight back the anti-abortion fanatics</a> or <a href='http://www.donkeylicious.com/2011/09/breath-of-fresh-air.html'>enforce the anti-trust laws?</a><div class='blogger-post-footer'><script type='text/javascript'/><br/><script type='text/javascript'><br/>src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"><br/></script></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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Direct from my Twitter Feed:</div><blockquote><div><div><br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/thinkprogress" target="_blank" title="ThinkProgress"><img alt="ThinkProgress" height="48" src="http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/1389993016/tp_120_120_normal.jpg" width="48" /></a> </div></div></blockquote><blockquote><div><div><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/thinkprogress" target="_blank" title="ThinkProgress"></a><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/thinkprogress" target="_blank" title="ThinkProgress">thinkprogress</a><br />
ThinkProgress<br />
<br />
<div><i>by cbn2</i><br />
<div><br />
</div></div></div><div><div>NEW POLL: 47% have favorable view of Dems, 47% unfavorable <a href="http://thkpr.gs/nO5ToN" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/09/cnn-poll-time-to-clean-house-in-congress/">http://thkpr.gs/nO5ToN</a></div><br />
</div></div><div media="true"><div>»</div><div><div><br />
<img alt="ThinkProgress" height="48" src="http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/1389993016/tp_120_120_normal.jpg" width="48" /></div><br />
<div><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/thinkprogress" target="_blank" title="ThinkProgress">thinkprogress</a><br />
ThinkProgress<br />
<i>by cbn2</i><br />
<div><br />
<div>NEW POLL: 59% have unfavorable view of the GOP, 33% favorable. Worst rating since CNN started asking in 1992 <a href="http://thkpr.gs/nO5ToN" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/09/cnn-poll-time-to-clean-house-in-congress/">http://thkpr.gs/nO5ToN</a></div></div></div></div></div><div>»</div><div><br />
<img alt="Post Politics" height="48" src="http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1285775974/postpolitics_twitter_avatar_normal.JPG" width="48" /></div><div><br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/postpolitics" target="_blank" title="Post Politics">postpolitics</a><br />
Post Politics </div></blockquote><blockquote><div>.<a class=" twitter-atreply" data-screen-name="PostPolls" href="http://twitter.com/PostPolls" rel="nofollow"><span class="at">@</span><span class="at-text">PostPolls</span></a>: 29 percent say <a class=" twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23teaparty" rel="nofollow" title="#teaparty"><span class="hash">#</span><span class="hash-text">teaparty</span></a> has a negative effect on Congress <a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/behind-the-numbers/post/more-see-negative-than-positive-effect-for-tea-party/2011/07/12/gIQA4K9k4I_blog.html/" href="http://wapo.st/qdZoTl" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/behind-the-numbers/post/more-see-negative-than-positive-effect-for-tea-party/2011/07/12/gIQA4K9k4I_blog.html/">http://wapo.st/qdZoTl</a></div></blockquote><div><div><br />
I'm always looking for ways to put the science in Political Science.</div><br />
<br />
</div><br />
<br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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Why haven't we seen the radical right (or left for that matter) act so irresponsibly as to put the nation's economic vitality at risk just to score political points?<br/><br/>Part of it maybe what I'll call a "Reverse Bullworth."<br/><br/>Remember the 1998 Warren Beatty movie, <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulworth'>Bullworth</a>. <b>Come On!</b> You remember. Hum along to the Bullworth Obscenity Rap:<br/><br/><blockquote><b><a href='http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000886/'>Bullworth</a></b>:<br />Obscenity? The rich is getting richer and richer and richer while the <br />middle class is getting more poor/ Making billions and billions and <br />billions of bucks/ well my friend if you weren't already rich at the <br />start well that situation just sucks/cause the riches mother fucker in <br />five of us is getting ninety fuckin eight percent of it/ and every other<br /> motherfucker in the world is left to wonder where the fuck we went with<br /> it/ Obscenity?/ I'm a Senator/ I gotta raise $10,000 a day every day <br />I'm in Washington/ I ain't getting it in South Central/ I'm gettin it in<br /> Beverly Hills/ So I'm votin from them in the Senate the way they want <br />me too/ and-and-and I'm sending them my bills/ But we got babies in <br />South Central dying as young as they do in Peru/ We got public schools <br />that are nightmares/ We got a Congress that ain't got a clue/We got kids<br /> with submachine guns/ We got militias throwing bombs/ We got Bill just <br />gettin all weepy/ We got Newt blaming teenage moms/We got factories <br />closing down/ Where the hell did all the good jobs go? Well, I'll tell <br />you where they went/My contributors make more profits makin, makin, <br />makin, Hirin' kids in Mexico/ Oh a brother can work in fast food/ If he <br />can't invent computer games/ But what we used to call America/ That's <br />going down the drains/How's a young man gonna meet his financial <br />responsibilities workin and motherfuckin Burger King? He ain't! And <br />please don't even start with that school shit/ There aint no education <br />going on up in that motherfucker/ Obscenity? We got a million brothers <br />in prison/ I mean, the walls are really rockin/But you can bet your ass <br />they'd all be out/If they could pay for Johnny Cochran/ The constitution<br /> is supposed to give them an equal chance/ Well, that ain't gonna happen<br /> for sure/ Ain't it time to take a little from the rich motherfucker and<br /> give a little to the poor? I mean, those boys over there on the <br />monitor/ they want a government smaller and weak/ but the be speakin for<br /> the riches 20 percent when they pretend they're defendin the meek/ Now,<br /> shit, fuck, cocksuker, that's the real obscenity/ Black folks livin <br />with every day/ Trying to believe a mothefuckin word Democrats and <br />Republicans say/ Obscenity? I'm Jay Billington Bulworth And I've come to<br /> say/ The Democratic party's got some shit to pay/ It's gonna pay it in <br />the ghetto/ </blockquote><br/>Yeah, it's written by that hero of liberal movie aficionados everywhere, Aaron Sorkin of <i>West Wing</i> and <i>American President</i> fame. Who else? <br/><br/>Over a dozen years later, after enduring the worst Bush/Cheney and a GOP Congress could bring, and things ain't gotten any better. Now they're in the process of doing to us what they couldn't even get done with that kind of power and influence controlling the entire government, dismantling the social safety net via extortion -- something they didn't have enough balls to try under the Clinton administration. Why?<br/><br/>Why don't they fear a backlash? Why didn't they try this before? To me, the take-away money quote that sums up the whole movie's message was this:<br/><br/><blockquote><b>Angry black woman</b>:<br />Are you sayin' the Democratic Party don't care about the African-American community? <br /><br/><b><a href='http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000886/'>Bullworth</a></b>:<br />Isn't that OBVIOUS? You got half your kids are out of work and the other<br /> half are in jail. Do you see ANY Democrat doing anything about it? <br />Certainly not me! <b>So what're you gonna do, vote Republican?</b> Come on! <br />Come on, you're not gonna vote Republican! Let's call a spade a spade! <br /><br/></blockquote><br /><br /><br/>What's the reverse of that then? The thing that kept the GOP from complete radicalization for decades (if we only knew then how bad they could truly be when unleashed) was fear of a backlash. Because unlike minorities who had been purposely vilified and overtly ostracized and insulted by the Republic party for more than a century of fighting civil rights and Jim Crow tactics who would never switch to the other side, the white Republic base could indeed turn their backs on a GOP (and occasionally did) who have always taken pains to spread the fable that "both sides do it" and there's not a whisper of difference between the two parties.<img src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/DispLib/imagesqtbnANd9GcQLVcXG90GxOLkvwEzoa.jpg' style='max-width: 800px; float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;'/><br/><br/>Now, with their uniting principle the failure and defeat of President Obama, they can afford the take one particular segment of the GOP base for granted. The modern GOP can afford to act like terrorists, irresponsible children, just plain stubborn asshats and they will never alienate the willfully ignorant, bigoted backbone of the T-Bagger consortium no matter who they hurt in the cross-fire or how bad they make the economy.<br/><br/><b>Come on, what're they gonna do? Vote for the black guy? Come on! <br />Come on, they're not gonna vote for the black guy? Let's call a racist a racist.</b><br/><br/><br/></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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I probably need to do more than look under the hood, and may take it into the garage for a full tune up, but I think it's still street legal.<br/><br/>I mean, it's not like anything's changed in the year or so I took off from serious blogging.<br/><br/>We're still screwed. Just as screwed as we were when PrezO harshed our buzz the night he was elected, saying such nonsense that he was elected to be President of ALL of us. <a href='http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60471.html'>How's that working out?</a> <br/><br/><blockquote><p id='continue'> “Obama’s support among Americans who identify themselves as both liberal and Democratic was 83 percent last week, little changed from previous weeks and slightly higher relative to Obama’s overall approval rating than it has been historically,” Gallup said.</p><p> “Although President Obama’s job approval rating hit the low point of his administration during the past week and is down among most subgroups, there are no signs yet that he has taken a disproportionate hit among his traditional base of liberals and Democrats. On a relative basis, both of these groups remain as loyal to Obama compared with Americans overall as they have been on average since he took office in January 2009,” Gallup added.</p><p> The president’s overall approval rating is at 42 percent, down from 50 percent at the beginning of June.</p><div style='overflow: hidden; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; border: medium none;'><br/>Read more: <a href='http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60471.html#ixzz1TteAFklL' style='color: rgb(0, 51, 153);'>http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60471.html#ixzz1TteAFklL</a><br/></div></blockquote><br/>The left still likes him ("love" is too strong a word at this point), but are freaked that not supporting him could lead to President Bachmann. The right can't fucking stand him. ("Hate" is a mild descriptor, as in "I hate spinach." They're way beyond hate and always have been.) <br/><br/>For those who insist that either his policies, his style, or his negotiating (for lack of a better word) "strategy" are all politically motivated, are designed in some nefarious way to increase his chances for reelection are deluded and stupidly buy the spin from his spokestools. The frightening thing is the realization that Barack Obama thinks he's doing the right thing. <br/><br/>FAIL: <a href='http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/08/02/285599/report-debt-ceiling-deal-will-cost-1-8-million-jobs-in-2012/'>REPORT: Debt Ceiling Deal Will Cost 1.8 Million Jobs In 2012</a><br/><br/>As with most centrists/moderates/sheep he lacks an underlying ideology that can guide him when you can't see the shit right in front of your eyes because the shit-storm raging all around you has reduced visibility to zero. It's not a backbone he lacks, but much like Poppy Bush the Elder, he doesn't have that "vision thing." Bureaucratic plutocrats like that are more than satisfied with getting something done instead of getting something they want.<br/><br/>When historic, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities have presented themselves, like single-payor, a Stimzilla that REALLY invested in our future, or killing the Bush (II) tax cuts, we we told that the half-a-loaf was delicious. Sorry, but it left a sour taste after seeing <a href='http://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com/2011/08/another-columnist-uses-t-word.html'>how much a minority faction of loons</a> can get out of our system if you DON"T play by the rules and act like a grown up. <br/><br/>Whatever you want to call it, it ain't democracy. Not when<a href='http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/08/ever-shrinking-tea-party'> less than 10% of the country</a> gets <a href='http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/PoliticalWire/%7E3/rvELTlNobKg/quote_of_the_day.html'>98% of what they want</a>.<br/><br/>So I'm back. Back because I'm angry again. Angry like I was when we went to war over a pack of lies and I started this blogging adventure. Back because it's time. Back because the reason I stopped -- that I didn't want to bash the President but could no longer act the cheerleader when he extended the disastrous Bush tax cuts -- has come back to bite us all in the ass, because it revealed Barack Obama's fundamental weakness in negotiating with the GOP instead of breaking their back when they were down.<br/></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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of course is a media driven contrivance, bumper-stickers work. Bookend<br />
this with the Cairo speech, and use the Arab Spring as the meat of the <br />
sandwich ... then repeat this slogan: <a href="http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2011/05/america-fuck-yeah.html">"America, FUCK YEAH!"</a><br />
<br />
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/DispLib/KDssc.jpg" style="max-width: 800px;" /><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/la-naw-george-w-bush-osama-statement-20110502,0,5087431.story">W. got a call</a> from POTUS before the announcement. Thanked Barry for the <br />
heads-up, congratulated all involved, and pronounced "Bong Hits for <br />
Everyone" from an undisclosed location. Other than that, he still doesn't care. Just like nobody gives a damn what <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54082.html">Dick Cheney</a> has to say, so just go away.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/30/saif-al-arab-gaddafi-libya-killed_n_855920.html">Ghadaffi</a> has run out of pants he's shit himself so much in the last 24 hours.<br />
<br />
May Day...Anniversary of "Mission Accomplished" speech... and while Barack was waiting to hear <br />
results from Pakistan he pointed out <a href="http://rising-hegemon.blogspot.com/2011/05/we-interrupt-this-douchebag.html">Trump's</a> difficult decision making <br />
expertise in deciding Gary Busy had to be fired because he failed to <br />
give Meatloaf proper supervision at Taco Bell. Nice that he waited <br />
until after The Apprentice showed to interrupt network programming <br />
though. Showed class.<br />
<br />
In an utter corruption of the words of Reagan speech writer <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/robodweeb/osama-bin-laden-dead-killed_n_856091_86586015.html">Peggy Noonan, she praised</a>, "the <b>Return of Competence</b>." (Okay, that's actually a fairly direct quote.) How's that for your Bumper Sticker. Right now, does it really matter that he's a secret Muslim/Commie/Kenyan when you can retort ... Yeah, but HE got Osama bin Laden. Dropped a house on him, shot him in the eye and dumped the fucker's body in the ocean. You're going to have to get wet to find the Long-Form Death Certificate.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/mark-knoller-fox-affiliate-and-keith-olbermann-among-many-to-commit-obamaosama-gaffe/">Fox Noise</a> had it's own slant on the story, but Osama with a B instead of an S was small ball compared with al Jazeera insisting in it's chyron that drones carried out the attack after they carried the President's speech live, which spelled out how this was a manned operation. Another interesting juxtaposition was their "experts" insisting that the American people (who they were showing celebrating in front of the White House) would insist on DNA evidence and a picture of an American soldier standing next to Osama's corpse. That was 180 degrees from CNN's "experts" saying the Arab World would insist on strong evidence of the same. <br />
<br />
Lament there wasn't a <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/im-not-thaqt-concerned-about-him.html">trial</a> before the World Court, accuse us of <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/WhiskeyFire/%7E3/BDR16eIFMCs/really-most-sincerely.html">Beowulf Ethics</a> all you want my lefty friends, the <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/mydd/%7E3/6xZOt5wbF04/the-world-rejoices-the-american">Freeperati</a> can out-crazy any hippie and is still bummed a terrorist is living in the White House. These tea-baggers no doubt will feel even more marginalized in a coffee caffeinated nation when they hear the resounding chant: "America, FUCK YEAH!"</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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Wasn't surprised, only mildly disappointed that the corporate kleptocracy continues it's hold, but encouraged that there still is some backbone to what used to be considered middle-class values and now is labeled liberal/progressive/leftist.<br/><br/>What can I say? I'm a Dude. Not in a guy way, <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dude'>a Dude way</a>: <br/><blockquote><img width='166' height='106' style='max-width: 800px; float: left; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 10px;' src='http://www.ratewall.com/cpics/0ac17524-c830-4475-8150-7553dc49fe03_gi_jane_demi_moore.jpg'/>A <b>dude</b> is an individual, <u><i>typically</i></u> male, particularly somebody <br/>well dressed or who has never lived outside a big city. The female <br/>equivalent, which is used less often, is "dudette" or "dudess". However,<br/> "dude" has evolved to become more unisex to encompass all genders,<sup id='cite_ref-unisex1_2-0' class='reference'><a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dude#cite_note-unisex1-2'><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></a></sup> and this was true even in the 1950s.<sup id='cite_ref-oldunisex_3-0' class='reference'><a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dude#cite_note-oldunisex-3'><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a></sup><br/></blockquote>So yeah. Chicks can be Dudes. They do it better sometimes. Think of it as an honorific, like when a female Midship<i>man</i> graduates from Annapolis. They still salute her and call her "sir."<br/><br/><img width='151' height='82' style='max-width: 800px; float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;' src='http://www.tatoos-tattos.com/tatoos/tatoos-pictures/tatoos-dude.jpg'/>Mind you, there are dudes that give other Dudes a bad name. <a href='http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dude'>Surfer/Stoner dudes</a> with generally no clue usually achieve full Dude-dom when enlightenment hits and they awaken from their slumber. (It's in all the movies, that's why we love Dudes. They ain't as stupid as they'd like to be. They even manage to save the universe while finding their ride, man.) It's Dude Time in America, or at least Madison, Wisconsin.<br/><br/>No, Wisconsin ain't Egypt - and the Midwest ain't the Middle East. But after these pricks are done union-busting and ruling by decree in Madison, they're going to set their sights on Ohio. And I think we might as well get ready.<br/><blockquote><img width='130' height='103' style='max-width: 800px; float: left; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 10px;' src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/DispLib/dudewtf.jpg'/> <a href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704171004576149003027310600.html?mod=googlenews_wsj'>WSJ:</a> For a second straight day, thousands of Wisconsin public employees converged on the state capitol in Madison to protest Gov. Scott Walker's plan to close the state's projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall by increasing the cost of their pensions and health benefits and <b>taking away their collective bargaining rights</b>.<br/></blockquote><br/>If they get away with this there in Wisconsin, they'll try it everywhere. For the honor of becoming a public employee you are no longer merely a public servant, but now are a public serf.<br/><br/>Now we don't dream of letting the military go on strike, of putting benefits, pay, sick leave and work hours up to a vote of the soldiers. Vital security stuff, right. So their theory is that should also go for safety services like fire fighters and police. Essential services shouldn't be allowed to even collectively bargain so goes the slippery slope -- just ask the Air Traffic Controllers who were the very first target of the ongoing Reagan Revolution.<br/><br/>Aren't all government services, "vital" in one way or another? Where does one draw the line? Newsflash: All Politics is about drawing lines. All laws are subject to that imaginary line where a "reasonable man" believes the whole thing could fall off a cliff - and doesn't think we should cross that barrier.<br/><blockquote>"We're at a point of crisis," Mr. Walker told reporters. <br/></blockquote><img width='124' height='133' style='max-width: 800px; float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;' src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/DispLib/Dude-vinci.jpg'/>You bet your sweet ass we are, Governor. There are rules to this game, physical laws of the universe that the Wingnuts have forgotten along the way. Rule one is don't piss off the vast apathetic hoards enough to put down their remote controls and put on their marching shoes. The only thing that keeps the wall street types in enough caviar, cash and campaign donations to buy capital buildings throughout the land is the overwhelming numbers of people that simply don't give a crap.<br/><br/>As long as there's a couple of layers of flim-flam between "what they do" and"how does it affect me," these guy can get away with murder. Sometimes literally. (Illegal wars, rendition and torture anyone?)<br/><br/>The bait-n-switch game continues indefinitely as long as there's an ample scoop of deniability. But when they rub it in our faces, actually start doing the things proposed on their bumper-sticker slogans and focus group tested sound-bytes - those simpleton fixes for complicated policy considerations masked as middle-class panaceas funded by the Fortune 500 (who didn't get that way by looking out for the little guy) - the sleepers will awaken. <br/><br/>"Oh no, really. All those things that are good for Big Oil, Big Telecom, and Halliburton are good for you too." We've always knew that was crap, just like we all know TV wrestling is fake, faith healers and magicians stage their "miracles" with smoke, mirrors and plants in the audience, and that snake oil claiming to make you bigger and last longer really is oil of snake. <br/><br/><img width='144' height='107' src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/DispLib/DudeCaughtLooking.jpg' style='max-width: 800px; float: left; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 10px;'/>Dudes will be dudes, and will look the other way when it suits them. Sometimes they get caught looking the wrong way, cuz dudes can be, and often are distracted. But they know what they want. Simple creatures with simple desires.<br/><br/>Sure, there's always going to be that 20% of the idiot-cracy that buys into the crap, where belief is stronger than any factually based argument. There will always be birthers and flat-earthers, those rubes born every minute who paid full price for Sarah Palin's second book. But just because they got motivated enough to take advantage of an exhausted, laurel-resting majority that just wanted to get back to not caring anymore and win some power back in an off-year election marred by low-turnout and hyperventilating wackos, that doesn't mean they can get away with screwing us over. <br/><br/>We all had teachers we liked. If we didn't, we're stupid dumbfucks who can't get enough of Limbaugh and Beck, which explains a lot. You don't screw with teachers, or the guys who collect the trash, fill the potholes, build the bridges, keep our water clean and our street safe. You don't do that, even if you think unions aren't just a collection of working men and women, but some evil cabal sent from Stalin's grave. You don't do that without pissing enough of us off to start marching and protesting and ... voting.<br/><br/>So, to all you dudes out there who never erased me from your RSS feeds, or still pick this thing up via Twitter and the dreaded Facebook. What Up? Where do we sign up? When do we stand up? <br/><br/><div align='center'>Who do we follow?<br/><img style='max-width: 800px;' src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/DispLib/HolyDude.jpg'/><br/></div><br/><br/><br/><div class='blogger-post-footer'><script type='text/javascript'/><br/><script type='text/javascript'><br/>src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"><br/></script></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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However, he only pitched one perfect game, and if you're planning on bidding on that unique item - the very uniform he wore on September 9, 1965, plan on outbidding the Sultan of Dubai.<br/><br/>The converse is naturally true. <i>Surplus equals a lower price</i>. It there's a glut on the market, like what happens when you can poke a hole any old place in the ground and black gold gushers up to the surface (and you manage to collect it instead of just pouring it into the sea), the price goes down. <br/><br/>A lot of factors go into deflating prices from surplus. Competition among sellers tends to bid a price lower. Cost savings from mass production permits an increase in profit, which can be cut without hurting owners/shareholders in order to gain greater market share. (Okay, this is starting to sound like the jargon I used to hate, but bear with me.) <br/><br/><a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economies_of_scale'>Economies of Scale</a> also affect prices, where you can afford to buy in bulk at a reduced wholesale cost, divvy the goods up into smaller portions and sell them for more than it cost you per unit originally. Wall Mart does this on a mammoth scale, but so does your local pot dealer who buys two pound bricks and sells you a couple of joints for the Bon Jovi concert.<br/><br/>In fact, economies of scale, as well as the notion that a surplus won't last forever leading to price inflation in the market over time, compels an investor to buy items that can be had at surplus pricing before the market reacts. Some deals won't last forever.<br/><br/>Grumbling that that things just won't stay the way they are, <a href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704198004575310962247772540.html'>Alan Greenspan</a> misses the point, not surpirsingly since from his pampered ivory tower his self-denial and whacked-out priorities always ignore the actual lives in the balance when he ticks off unemployment statistics. He's right, though. Interest rates will not stay as low as they are, and credit capacity (Wall Street Speak for cash available to loan but sitting in a vault instead) will not be as great as it is forever. But neither will there be a perpetual labor force glut with one in ten of your neighbors looking for work. At least I hope not.<br/><br/>Right now we have a unique opportunity, a one of a kind, Sandy Koufax jersey moment when it comes to launching this nation into the future or flushing it all down the toilet -- missing a once a generation opportunity. Despite the massive debt rolled up over the post-Reagan era, our government still - miraculously - has excess money it can borrow cheap. <br/><br/>We can invest in people. We can invest in jobs. We can invest in clean energy and infrastructure. We have a beat up labor force willing and able to work for less, and we can borrow now to pay them knowing they'll pay back the debt their employment creates with interests if we put them to work in things that will make this nation more efficient, more competitive, more self-sufficient in the future.<br/><br/>Build the <a href='http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/01/supertrains_14.html'>Supertrains</a>, the center lane for I-95 all the way from Maine to Miami, the giant windmill and solar farms, hell, even the nuke plants as long as we spend the gazzillion dollars needed to make 'em safe. They promised us <a href='http://sify.com/news/flying-car-soon-to-become-reality-news-international-khblucabaef.html'>flying cars</a>, lets build 'em, and places to park them too. Tired of your smart phone cutting out as you travel through dead zones in the net? We can wire the whole nation for high speed internet access, wirelessly. It won't be done unless AT&T can figure out how to do it at a profit, or We The People decide it's worth the investment. It'll never be cheaper to do than right now.<br/><br/><a href='http://www.tcrr.com/'>Lincoln built the transcontinental railways during the Civil Frickin' War</a> people -- so don't talk to me about this not being the right time for thinking big. It was downright bleak during World War I, but we emerged as an <a href='http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_were_the_long-term_effects_of_World_War_1'>economic powerhouse</a> after massive investments in mining and factories, bringing women and African Americans out of the kitchens and farms and creating a modern workforce. FDR pushed through the <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Highway'>Alaska Highway during WWII</a>. Ike built the <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_System'>Interstate Highway system</a> during the hottest part of the Cold War and we paid for it by borrowing and taxing millionaires 80%.<br/><br/>We made this country great through deficits that invested in infrastructure and people, not hand-outs to corporate moguls who we taxed, taxed, taxed instead.<br/><br/>We are, again, a <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoroku_Yamamoto%27s_sleeping_giant_quote'>sleeping giant</a> that has been napping for decades. We CAN do this. We can if we get off our fat, pampered asses and get to work, insisting our leaders find something for us to do and pay us decently for doing it, ironically, with our own money.<br/><br/>See, economics is simple. There's a lot of people who can do a lot of stuff it would have cost too much to do before Bush wreaked the country and put so many workers on the streets. Right now, you can be bought cheap, cuz there's a lot of you who'll do those jobs Americans didn't want to do. We need your government to invest in you while you're cheap.<br/></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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