Evidence Suggests GOP Hacked, Stole 2004 Election Read more see link: If you are prone to high BP perhaps this article (link below) is not for you. It surely does NOT surprise me in the least. The idiot Bush stole 2000 and I KNEW that Ken Blackwell piece of trash played computer hacking dirty in Ohio which I KNEW went for Kerry and not the shrub. Thus 2004 was stolen as well. There was NO question in my mind then or now. Worse they will do it again because they have rigged Republican local districts through gerrymandering and demanded photo ID to vote all over the country which is unconstitutional flouting the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It works against minority voters which make up a HUGE part of the Obama base. Moreover, I have no doubt there will be outright fraud in at least Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin and perhaps in states like Florida in 2012 UNLESS the Democratic National Committee steps up to the plate and makes damn sure this does not happen.

I always thought 2004 was stolen by Rove, et al for the moron Bush. Who could doubt it? The question is WHY did Democrats not speak up especially when the guy who was involved in the fraud was going to testify about all of it was curiously killed in a plane crash. Someone needs to hold these vicious lawbreakers accountable and bend the horizon of history toward justice. Who will step up to the plate to do it and if not now when?

http://www.benzinga.com/news/11/07/1789905/forget-anonymous-evidence-suggests-gop-hacked-stole-2004-election

The Nation’s Destruction – the Power of Magical Thinking: All the logic and rational argument promulgated against the Republican leadership about the manufactured crisis of raising the debt ceiling does not matter because the Republican leadership is shaking in its self-created Tea Bag infected boots. The Knownothing Tea Bag so called movement is made up of a minority of Republicans (many racist) in the country that wants the president to fail and wants to take down the nation with him. Many see this as a once-in-a-life-time chance to foment national and world-wide discord (Oslo is, indeed, ominous) as the means by which they will usher in their Christianist -- mainly white power -- state. Rational argument, no matter how well intentioned and infinitely correct, the opposition of madness will never by persuasion back down. It would not matter if Democrats offered 14 trillion in cuts with no revenue, this small group of Republicans representing the religiously intolerant and ignorant will, using Republican leadership as their mouth piece, consistently say no. They have hijacked the rest of the Republican Party who, I believe, would negotiate a compromise at the very least.

The president in his heart, I think, understands that those who will not vote to raise the the debt ceiling (which Reagan raised 17 times), in truth, want really to subvert the president and Democratic senatorial leadership and thereby watch the country implode. Many Tea Baggers hope the resultant chaos of this deadly never-waged-before game of financial chicken will take this country and the world down with it. They have not seen, until now, this ripe moment of intertwined world discord to confront the secular world they have always loathed. Their magical fantasy world will, they think, usher in the second coming of Jesus who will save the believers only and leave the rest of us to take up residence in hell. I suspect the hell to which they wish to relegate us is the here and now on earth.

Ridding or cutting our hard-won-over-decades social safety nets of Soc. Sec., Medicare and Medicaid will kill – yes kill – many. Moreover, ultimately, if it those programs are put in the hands of Wall Street gamblers and their Ponzi schemes it will put the final seal on our nation’s coffin. One can see how well Wall Street worked for us in 2007 and the many booms and busts it provided before that. The preponderance of wealth now sits oligarchically in the hands of a few and those few co-opt the parties with unlimited cash.

The middle and working classes get the boot and are relegated to the lower tiers of our economic order. Those at the top 2% simply do not care. The middle class minions who support Republican leadership do not understand that they will relegate themselves to this hell as well since they are mostly a part of our middle and working classes. Still many rejoice in the discord as the more divided, psychologically furious and sick the nation becomes the better to usher in their Christianist fantasy Jesus land and truly marry church and state exactly what our founders did NOT want.

Most all families and those we love – including Tea Baggers' families – depend upon our country's social safety nets to live. They will, though, succumb with the rest of us who depend upon these programs. In the final analysis we are ALL human. The only ones who will NOT be affected by anything, of course, are the wealthy of Wall Street who have managed to make oodles of bucks through our crisis while the rest of the country stagnates in a quicksand of lost financial worth and economic failure. The wealthy always manage to escape their self-made hells but the rest of us will not have a map or GPS device to escape this route of social discord, fracture and anarchy.

We must harness our own minions, who make up the rational part of our national discourse, to summon our forces against the ignorant and we must not allow this sad misguided minority the prevalence and power of their magical thinking to take our intelligence, our rationality, our president and our country down with it.

My opinion about the debt ceiling made the "Highlighted" section of the NYT blog: There is no question to me that Minority leader McConnell and Speaker Boehner with the Tea Party at their side are playing a game of chicken with the lives of the American people at risk. The president has given them the world -- nearly all of what they wanted -- and antagonized his base at the same time but Republicans will accept nothing. If the president gave no tax increase, decreased the debt by 14 trillion or more Republicans STILL would say no. They will say no to everything. It is crystal clear to those of us who examine issues, motivations and intent that the intent of the Republican party especially of Sen. McConnell is to bring the president down. He has said it. It is clear. When someone says something I believe them.

I am HOPING beyond hope that the American public can see the methods to this insane Republican madness. I think the president is counting on the fact that they will and that the middle rational part of the American public will not let him down. He is counting on them AND people like me who are members of his base. The base has some disgruntled members in it as he has tried to appease Republicans SO much but he is hoping and as is the case for me, we will support him nonetheless.

When the American people want to punish a president they sometimes step on their own feet. They did it electing Nixon for the Vietnam debacle and they SURELY did it electing Bush II for the Clinton sexual improprieties. In both cases it did not bode well for our country. Unseating Obama would not bode well either.

It is easy to criticize but much harder to form policy. I am hoping the American people see how easy it is for Republicans not to care about their lives. The only life they DO care about is their own and those top 2% wealthy who know which side they are on. Republicans are NOT about you, middle America, THAT you can take to the bank.

The following is a list: Here is a list of ALL the Tea Bag House members below. Those of you who generally share my political opinions write them essentially what I have written about the necessity of raising the debt ceiling for monies ALREADY spent so that the United States of America does NOT default on its bills for the first time in its history. This is literally a life and death issue for MOST Americans except, of course, the top 2% many of whom pay no taxes at all.

Feel free to copy, to paraphrase or write something of your own to the ones I have listed below telling them in no uncertain terms do you do NOT want anything based on giving up YOUR Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- all safety nets which protect ALL of us. AND most especially you want the DEBT CEILING RAISED.

We are in difficult times now but IF the debt ceiling is not raised you will NOT recognize the America you have known and loved your entire life. If you can write or call them now you may save a life. Your life and your descendants' lives depend upon it. My opinion on the debt ceiling is at the following link: http://natalierosen.blogspot.com/2011/07/hitting-ceiling-i-am-so-angry-i-cannot.html

The following are Tea Party House members who will do anything to take down our president which is really what this debate is about. Simply Google their name and you will get their House link. If you have trouble do it through Googling the United States House of Representatives. You can call or email your own thoughts or cut and paste mine into the representatives' sites. It is not only for me it is for you, your children and those you love too!

P.S. You can send the Republican House leadership a note as well: i.e. Speaker John Boehner (R) Ohio, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R) VA

Tea Bag House:

Sandy Adams (FL-24)
Robert Aderholt (AL-04)
Todd Akin (MO-02)
Rodney Alexander (LA-05)
Michele Bachmann (MN-06)
Roscoe Bartlett (MD-06)
Joe Barton (TX-06)
Rob Bishop (UT-01)
Gus Bilirakis (FL-09)
Paul Broun (GA-10)
Michael Burgess (TX-26)
Dan Burton (IN-05)
John Carter (TX-31)
Bill Cassidy (LA-06)
Howard Coble (NC-06)
Mike Coffman (CO-06)
Ander Crenshaw (FL-04)
John Culberson (TX-07)
Jeff Duncan (SC-03)
Stephen Lee Fincher (TN-08)
John Fleming (LA-04)
Trent Franks (AZ-02)
Phil Gingrey (GA-11)
Louie Gohmert (TX-01)
Vicky Hartzler (MO-04)
Wally Herger (CA-02)
Tim Huelskamp (KS-01)
Lynn Jenkins (KS-02)
Steve King (IA-05)
Doug Lamborn (CO-05)
Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-09)
Kenny Marchant (TX-24)
Tom McClintock (CA-04)
David McKinley (WV-01)
Gary Miller (CA-42)
Mick Mulvaney (SC-05)
Randy Neugebauer (TX-19)
Rich Nugent (FL-05)
Steve Pearce (NM-02)
Mike Pence (IN-06)
Ted Poe (TX-02)
Tom Price (GA-06)
Denny Rehberg (MT-At large)
David Roe (TN-01)
Dennis Ross (FL-12)
Edward Royce (CA-40)
Steve Scalise (LA-01)
Pete Sessions (TX-32)
Adrian Smith (NE-03)
Lamar Smith (TX-21)
Cliff Stearns (FL-06)
Tim Walberg (MI-07)
Joe Walsh (IL-08)
Allen West (FL-22)
Lynn Westmoreland (GA-03)
Joe Wilson (SC-02)

Hitting the Ceiling: I am SO angry I cannot even tune in to political discussion that I ordinarily love to do because Washington spews the same old broken record and my security is at stake. I am angry because I am scared. The only criticism of the president I had tonight was that he gave a forum to the Republican Party to spew its empty rhetoric yet again. Boehner said NOTHING absolutely NOTHING about revenue which SHOULD be the other half of the equation. Moreover, Boehner lied when he said what the House had proposed was bipartisan. It was NOT. Revenue like one's paycheck is derived because government does something for you. As much as the Tea Party mantra say it does not and wants to kill it they are incorrect. It does. It does a lot.

When a plane lands safely thank the FAA. When your food and air are not poisoned thank the EPA. When your Social Security helps you when you are old and your body cannot work any more thank the SSA. When Medicare pays your expensive hospital bill then thank the government for creating it. When one gets laid off a job and collects unemployment insurance thank the government for mandating it. If a medication is created or an epidemic averted than thank the NIH for helping to do that. Thank the government for doing so many enumerable other things that make our life just a little bit easier.

Middle America must realize Republicans are NOT about them. Republicans are about the top 2% of our population which should, as the president says, contribute more to reduce our deficit. The top 2% represented by their Republican henchmen want to have it all. They want bailouts and bonuses without contributing to the government that gave it to them; a government owned by the people. The president is right the debt ceiling MUST be raised. If we must reduce the deficit to raise the ceiling then we must do it with an evenhanded approach which includes revenue -- money taken in.

Again, I say it: America, the Republican Party with their Tea Party hijackers is NOT about you. The Republican Party represents 2% of the population which Republicans entrust with their own jobs. Republicans will accept nothing the president offers because they are using this serious game of chicken to see if they can defeat him but by defeating him they defeat us. As those in Wisconsin saw after they elected a ruinous Republican Governor Walker, his party was NOT about most of them. Now they have the difficult task to undo the evil he and his ilk have done.

Write your senator and representative and say to them you want a balanced approach to addressing the deficit by cutting spending and taking in extra revenue from those who can most afford it. Raising the debt ceiling is mandatory so this nation does NOT default on its past debts for the first time in its history. Raise the debt ceiling so you do not have to hit the ceiling when your nation defaults on the debts it already has incurred thereby tanking its own economy and even the economies of the world along with it! This is serious stuff. Treat it with the seriousness it deserves.

Making Rational the Irrational – the Norwegian Massacre: The carnage of the innocents lies screaming to me in the night. I ask why. Why does such bestial cruelty lie within man and yet man possess the ability to do the greatest good. It is man’s eternal conundrum. Why can one man commit the slaughter of innocents and other men risk their lives to help people dying of thirst? We have both of those qualities within us. We have the capacity for great thought, for questioning, for knowledge; the ability to acquire truth through science and yet crackpot thoughts of cranks drive the politics of our time and really any time of historical scope. Man must claw his way through eons of fantasy and mythology to see truth.

A scientific truth was found today that sees Neanderthal DNA in one to two percent of our species. Genetics tells us that all of mankind originated in Africa. We can see evolution in the different species at work all around us. Evolution is indisputable and science blows continual holes in social Darwinist thought – the idea that a single race of men is innately superior to others. Right wing fanatical belief is, I believe, one of the most dangerous political ideologies because it has as its fundamental thought the denial of these truths and gives men a permission slip to commit horrific violence to another and deny personhood to that other – whoever that other may be.

The ancient Biblical Genesis tells us Cain slew his brother Able it is true but another Biblical man said “What you do unto the least of these my brethren you do unto me.” The Norwegian took over 90 innocent lives of those who were barely past childhood. Those lives were NOT his to take for a right wing extremist philosophy all science says is false. The man who took those lives calls himself Christian? I doubt that very much and so would, I suspect, Jesus himself.

Spread the Word--Malicious Mendacity: Spread the word through every hamlet and village said best by Longfellow in the last stanza of his famous poem “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.”

The Republican mendacity, deceit and yes treason of our time must be fiercely fought as our Founders fought tyranny so long ago. A world in Republican Land would be a fascist oligarchic tyranny indeed and in their eyes the people be damned as they block time and again a presidential compromise made in good faith. Raising the debt ceiling means this country will rise or fall unless it is raised and Republicans know that, block the president's compromise at every turn and do not care.

I quote Longfellow’s last stanza:

“So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,—
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.”

This time let the defiance of Republican treason and tyranny be fought by we the people. Always fight, never surrender, never give in and to quote another patriot Patrick Henry: “If this be treason make the most of it.” Let us not waste this moment which reflects the perfidy of this malicious mendacious Republican American minority. This time let the defiance of Republican tyranny be we the people!

Pray away the gay -- NOT: Please think about signing the petition below. Bachmann and her husband are ruinous of lives, they are hateful, hurtful and UTTERLY unprofessional most especially their views and her husband's "treatment" of homosexuals through his "clinic."

Her husband is dealing with people's psyches some of whom are fragile. To THINK much less convey a treatment as moronic as that which says praying away the gay works is insanity in and of itself. The word expert is not in the Tea Baggie repertoire as intellectuality and rationalism are shunned. Praying away the gay is no more efficacious than is creation non-science or the denial of evolution which is scientific FACT or that climate change is a hoax. These people will be responsible for the destruction not only of individuals and our country but of the planet as well.

Her husband should have his license taken away and be investigated for FRAUD. He is accepting, of all things to Tea Baggies, Medicaid funds-- i.e. government payments for services that are junk to say the least. Your tax dollar at work -- NOT!

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/bachmann_clinic/?rc=fb_share2

The Bottom Line Is You: The headline of the link below is “Wells Fargo Illegally Pushed Borrowers Into Subprime Mortgages, Falsified Loan Documents, Fed Says.” Wells Fargo was fined millions BUT it made BILLIONS. How will a few million in fines hurt them? The truth is NOT MUCH. What I DO hope is that it hurts its reputation and that people BOYCOTT firms that have been guilty of the GREATEST swindle and fraud since the Great Depression­. In truth this economic Ponzi scheme was, I believe, systemically worse. While the Great Depression was a horrifically difficult time in world history no one can dispute, not that many invested in the stock market and there was not a mortgage facet that kicked it off.

If the government will not adequately protect us we must protect ourselves and in libertaria­n fashion BOYCOTT those banks and other companies that do not have safeguards in place and for God's sake WATCH THE LOANS YOU TAKE OUT. MAKE SURE YOU CAN AFFORD THEM. Beat these beasts at their own game and let them know their vicious behavior has consequenc­e!! WATCH what or from whom you buy and READ EVERYTHING including all the fine print and most of all TRUST NO ONE. Assume these too-big-to-fail gargantuan dinosaurs will care NOTHING for you but WILL CARE for themselves­. They will eat you for lunch IF you let them. DON'T!

The Huge Grant story linked below means that in addition to banking and other fraudulent investment schemes send a message to ALL media that stealing your privacy or lying is NOT acceptable either. Boycott those entities which engage in illegal and fraudulent informational activities.

Like a doctor who treats infectious disease -- ACT AS IF the person has it and proceed to rectify the malady. IF people offer you the world that seems too good to be true it often IS. QUESTION EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE WHO TAKES YOUR MONEY WHETHER IT'S A NEWSPAPER, A RETAIL BUSINESS, A MORTGAGE LENDER OR AN INVESTMENT FIRM. Assume they are not telling you the truth and investigate it.

Libertarians hate government regulation so test their philosophy. Be responsible for your own security and information. BOYCOTT those who do not ethically comply! Sign on the bottom line. Remember, the bottom line is, in fact, YOU!


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/20/wells-fargo-subprime-fraud_n_905198.html?show_comment_id=98309593#comment_98309593,sb=18931,b=facebook

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43821759/ns/today-entertainment/t/hugh-grant-wins-court-ruling-uk-phone-hacking-scandal/?fb_ref=story_header&fb_source=profile_oneline

The Gang of Six, Seven or whatever -- debt ceiling compromise coming out of their gangland corners -- I HOPE!: The president was vague but talked about at first the gang of six and then the gang of 7 as he added one in hopes the debt ceiling will be raised. He said he is hoping that a deal is in the works. It would be as he said "strengthening entitlements" and some as he put it revenue.

So to me IF and I say IF the strengthening of Medicare and Social Security are based on income and need. i.e. those who pay into it and make more pay more, and those that get Medicare if they make more they will pay higher co-pays and higher fees to have Medicare I can live with that. If you make more you pay a LITTLE not a lot but a little more. Sounds good to me.

Other "revenue" I don't know -- maybe close a few loopholes. It's all very nebulous now. It's raising taxes by going around the mulberry bush maybe but keeping the entitlements for those who need it for example not paying the same as someone who can afford to pay more.

Ed Schultz who is absolutely death on compromising with Republicans I think is not correct. My feeling is if we the middle class do not take a hit and those who make much more than the middle class have to pay more we MUST make a compromise and raising the debt ceiling depends upon it. I think the rich will feel this very little. Okay great who cares? As long as the middle class and the poor do not feel it I say yes to compromise.

If the president can get a negotiated settlement with the worst of the worst most uncompromising and mean Republicans to ever grace the halls of congress since before the Civil War period than who can fault him? He may have saved the country and the world from implosion yet again but worse. Our actual national security is at risk. I say you can't fault him BUT I reserve the right to change my mind when the plan comes out IF it ever does.

WRITE, EMAIL or SMOKE SIGNAL YOUR REPS AND SENATORS IMMEDIATELY -- see link below.


Hands Off Social Security! http://action.ourfuture.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=127
Social Security is once again under attack. The White House debt commission co-chairs want to cut benefits and raise the retirement age.

DUH no kidding. Listen to George Carlin the late great comic below who nailed it right on the money.

(some of the language in the Utube
is rough, if your sensibilities would be bothered then don't click on it -- BUT it is so prescient and he said it years before this economic
insanity debt ceiling)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v​=acLW1vFO-2Q

Big and Small -- More Murdoch Empire Falling: The Murdoch News of the World, Wall Street Journal et al media times 1000 has to be the most unbelievable scandal eclipsing Watergate by MILES and MILES and MILES. In both cases, though, even though I bath in the joy of seeing right wingnuts brought down, it is still in a human fashion sad. These people like Rebeckah Books the editor of News of the World at 46 years old -- 46 years old -- at the TOP of her professional career being arrested and ruining the life of a probably bright person is astounding and yes unlike she I can evoke a certain appreciation for the sadness of tragedy.

What was/were she/they thinking? The first second -- no millisecond -- she became aware of people in Murdoch's empire HACKING .. HACKING into private phone conversions of the mighty and the small what would ANY moral person do? They would say FORGETABOUTIT I'm outta here. Who could EVER on God's earth think they could get away with this MASSIVE scale of actually STEALING -- stealing lives from people, stealing their personal phone conversations and private lives. It is at the very least SICKENING. Do I see an empire falling? It surely seems that way as it is stretching endlessly from scandal sheets like News of the World, to Parliament, to Scotland Yard, to Hugh Grant to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's newborn son's cystic fibrosis diagnosis and it is crossing the pond to US newspapers like the (formerly respected) Wall Street Journal. Its editor Les Hinton resigned his post. Perhaps it will even stretch to Fox News. I would not be surprised.

From under what rock did these so called "conservative" hacking Neanderthals and their financiers crawl? Maybe Murdoch, Murdoch's son, people like Rebeckah Brooks and Les Hinton will understand what it feels like to be unemployed and the prospect of getting another job after overseeing criminal behavior does not bode well. Watch as the rats desert a sinking ship. I cannot say that I am not glad because I am. I hope the charges stick. Then again the rich get off and maybe they will hack into yet more conversations to make sure they don't end up in jail. How many judges' phones can they hack, find something personal and then blackmail or buy them off?

Keep a close watch on your phone everyone. In an anything goes culture everyone is at risk!

"Contagion": A Communicable Disease for Everyone: Matt Damon's new film "Contagion" coming in September (by the name you can imagine what this film is about) is one I will see and you MAY want to see as well. I attach a link to the trailer below.

I wrote the following comment of the trailer on Facebook:

OH MY GOODNESS. There is no question (if I am alive) I will see this film. It appears on first glance to be one of Damon's great films and with Steven Soderbergh directing I am not surprised. It is a perfect film for our times. The one worry I have: with all the fear directed at humanity day after day after day by the media and the events it covers do I really want to see a fictionalized film of that which hits the reptilian fear synapse of our brain in triplicate?

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3924270105/

Midnight in Paris: Woody Allen yet again serves up a thought provoking, entertaining and brilliant film. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Have you ever wondered if it would have been better to have been born in a previous era? Woody Allen helps us answer that question by having us time travel a bit through the experiences of a young writer attempting to publish his first work which has as its setting a memorabilia shop filled with things of bygone eras which interest him. In this era, however, he travels with his shallow fiancé and her conservative condescending parents to Paris where the hero is smitten with its beauty and culture. What his fiancé does not know is that at the stroke of midnight our protagonist is transported to another era -- the Roaring Twenties – complete with Cole Porter music, Ernest Hemingway literature, Picasso art and Gertrude Stein as critic of the book he has just written.

This is a wonderful film especially if one has a general familiarity of the art, literature and music of that era as well as a general understanding of cultural settings in times other than our own. The film is brilliant and clever as only Woody Allen can be. The protagonist could certainly have been Woody Allen himself as he has played similar roles in many of his earlier works and if it were in a different era perhaps 20 years ago then Woody would have played the lead role instead of Owen Wilson whom I think was excellent.

Allen's talent will endure long after all who have enjoyed the genre of his films have left the scene. He brings a flavor to his films that is unique to him and yet carries with it something that touches all of us by trying to understand the human condition, its philosophical dilemmas, its heartaches, its romantic love, its fears, its joys, its failures and its triumphs.

Which era would you want to return? I always say the late 60's but "Midnight in Paris" warns us each era has its problems and its vicissitudes as mankind tries to improve upon his historical condition from generation to generation. It, therefore, gives us pause for thought maybe the era in which we do live is the best era of all. It is surely the only one we know.

Done: Tea Baggie Republicans do not care if the country tanks and it looks thankfully that the president won't budge. I hope he doesn't he has offered these swine the world. So what is the end game? Answer: Unknowable. Be prepared for another Great Recession or EVEN Great Depression. If Social Security Checks do not go out or if Medicare does not pay be prepared to have your loved ones die. Really, I'm not kidding, it's that serious. Not to mention the ever present stock market vigil as yet again your investments WILL plunge. Got any gold on hand?

I am through listening to the debt ceiling talks I can't stand it any more. No Rachel, no Olbermann, no Larry O'Donnell, no Ed Schultz, No News at least not tonight.

I will watch old movies, buy some verboten chocolate cookies, drown my tears in chocolate and at some point see Woody Allen's new film Midnight in Paris. Got fabulous reviews unlike our government!

As I see it: Larry O'Donnell cinched it for me. No matter what the criticism I may have this president is unmatched in his intellect and I think in his heart of hearts wants to do that which we elected him to do but this insanity that happened in the 2010 election midterms with the Tea Party extremists put a big fly in the ointment.

So we have to play the ball where it lies. I thought this strategic move by the president on the debt ceiling seemed very savvy and could only come from one who knows politicking inside and out and who knows what he is doing. I will place the Larry O'Donnell link below explaining how good the president's judgment on this was.

The bottom line is a Republican is unacceptable in the presidency and, as importantly, I do believe Democrats can win back the House. If that happened we would, I think, see some very good policy in the second term as a result. The president has been stonewalled at every turn. Moreover, Democrats CAN win elections as we are seeing in these small elections in NY and in CA and elsewhere. Even the State Sup Ct. Republican Judge Prossser in Wisconsin was nearly eclipsed by the Democrat and indeed she should probably have won if not for internal machinations of Republicans. It should have been a piece of cake for Prosser but it was NOT!

Wisconsin and other states that took a Republican hit with unions like Ohio and Michigan and Scott who is hated in Florida along with Maine governor Paul LePage (one of the worst extremist Republicans in Maine history) may NOT win re-election and we COULD do it with all the exposure of dirty Republican politics of which there is an abundance.

So I am linking to sites where you can listen to Larry O'Donnell's interpretation of what transpired yesterday vis a vie the debt ceiling and McConnell's offer
and a link to a donation site for the president.

Let's turn the Republican extremist and racist ideologues around and take back the House and, importantly, of course, re-elect President Obama. He needs your help. Let's repeat the glory of 2008. Our lives depend on it!

http://thelastword.msnbc.msn.com/

http://www.barackobama.com/get-involved

My Facbook comments summary--excuse the poorly written prose it is off the top of my head written fast to get it out. THREE good things-NOW 2012 DEMOCRATS TAKE BACK the HOUSE so the president can get more passed without having to wade through sludge.

Hahn defeats Tea Baggie in CA: The idiot Tea Baggies have shown to this country what they are about. The populist movement was taken over by BIG money and could care less about the people. They simply did not get it. Now they do as the Wisconsin governor Walker showed everyone so nicely and as Scott is doing in Florida. True colors show so when Dems make an effort they can topple these bas&*%^%ds with ease. CONGRATS to Janice Hahn in CA...bring on 2012. The Republicans have blown their own foot off. Extremism of any stripe does NOT work in this country the Republicans are seeing the beginning of a death knell because their platform is HATEFUL and regressive. This has happened spasmodically all over the country but says a LOT!!!

In Wisconsin all six fake Democrats lost to Democrats supported by the party in primaries Tuesday that are the first in a series of recall elections targeting nine Wisconsin state Republican senators along with their hateful governor tried to destroy the unions in Wisconsin -- BAD move.

ON WISCONSIN. The Tea Baggies have shown their colors. Democrats are winning and some Republican special election seats all over the country. The Republican Party's days are numbered. They ruined it themselves by buying into the extremist Tea Baggie wing which is funded by BIG corporate money that hijacked a populist movement. It appealed to the most hateful part of this country.

After 2008 they were saying Republicans need to reformulate the substance of their party. They regrouped STUPIDLY and filled themselves with OLD, WHITE often racist morons who could not articulate an intelligent thought if you paid them. This is what they are getting. The Walkers and the Scotts and others like them throughout the country you cannot steal, buy or lie your way to success. EVENTUALLY they are found out for the poison policy they are about.

GO DEMOCRATS never give up, never give in and VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE. Do the necessary things and overcome roadblocks that Republicans have set up like the poll tax of old. Let them know that won't matter because you will overcome it and VOTE!

Between what happened yesterday with special election in CA, Wisconsin AND McConnell's offer on the debt ceiling (after we examine it) this is VERY good -- I feel like life is coming back into my body. KEEP IT UP!

Republicans are sowing the seeds of their own demise. Keep ruining yourself Republicans I LOVE it!

The Recipe: Republican Mitch McConnell proposes giving the president power over debt ceiling. I never trust Republicans. If they offer a solution there must be a trap. Could this be unconstitutional and get Obama impeached?

Impeachment notwithstanding, I don't care who does it just raise the darn ceiling so we can have a country again and so the suicide rate does not go up. America, get Republicans OUT of the House so the president can do what will get us out of the ditch. Republicans keep us there by not doing what is needed and that is increasing revenue which is at an all time low seen only in the 1950's. We need both prescient spending cuts AND increase in revenues with an emphasis on the latter.

We need government to work FOR us not against us. Mr. President, after God willing, your re-election please ask Dr. Krugman what he is doing the next four years and then put Elizabeth Warren in the most advantageous position possible. See if Brooksley Born would want a job and make your economic advisers the kind that will make you one of the greatest US presidents in history along side Lincoln and FDR. You are stymied by bad advisers and Republicans who jack boot you into submission and stagnation. Given favorable conditions I believe the president could give us an injection of incredible pride!!

DO IT. Put the House back into Democratic hands, re-elect the president in 2012 and change his economic advisers. A recipe for success!

Do the Right Thing: I watched the entire presidential news conference. There was NOTHING with which anyone of good and fair conscience could disagree. This big deal between Republicans and Democrats that the president wants sinks or swims on Republican heads. It is simple. Tax increases for revenue or income coming in to the federal government will be SLIGHTLY increased and will (not until 2013) come FROM those who CAN afford it. It will NOT come from the majority of Americans. There is NOTHING unfair about it. IF big corporate anything – big finance, big pharma, big oil would not be agreeable to that then they DESERVE to have the country go down the drain. Make no mistake IF the debt ceiling is not raised our experiment in democracy WILL fail and those who will make it fail, Republicans, are anything but patriotic.

Cuts will be made to programs about which we as Democrats grit our teeth but will have to bear. To extend the debt ceiling it requires, as the president said, for the country to feel more comfortable that our debt is being ameliorated. Extending the debt ceiling is a no brainer. It will be on Republican heads if this simple-to-understand issue which deals with debts ALREADY incurred is not done. The full faith and credit of our country is at stake and if not done the economic survival of the US and the world WILL sputter. This has implications not only economically but defensively as well since there may be soon a 7th war in the Middle East. If we are plunged into economic chaos the rich may do fine but everyone else will not. Our very lives could be at stake.

Even IF the American public – god forbid – in 2012 elects Romney what is Romney going to do? HE will extend the debt ceiling assuming the House remains in Republican hands but by that time it will be too late. NO jobs will be created because those who have all the money will abscond with it and jobs will NOT be created here.

You will NOT want to see an America that refuses to raise taxes on the wealthy but will only cut programs for the middle class and you will not want to see an America which relies ONLY on business to create jobs. It won't. They will take jobs overseas because after all the free market will be SO free the American people be damned. If it is profits or people in Republican land profits win out exclusively. Republicans do NOT care about most of you.

The president said NOTHING with which anyone of sane mind could disagree. It's only Republicans who are mean, intractable, uncompromising and, in fact, truly unpatriotic. You want to put YOUR future in their hands? I don't think you do.

America, be smart and demand your representatives NOT be an impediment to the security of the country and to our president who, I believe despite my criticism, in good faith wants to do the right thing. The debt ceiling MUST be raised.

The Road to Perpetual War: A stream of conscious:

So let's see the below link is on MSNBC and is new Sec. of Defense Panetta threatening unilateral (another Bush invention) action against Iran: WAR NO. 7?? And just when does anyone think the US will pull out of the illegal Iraq War? As they say in the trade next Tishabov: Translation -- NEVER! We are in permanent never ending war for the foreseeable future and most likely for the rest of my own life! But hey people are protesting the Caylee Anthony trial.

As bad as what happened to that little girl was does anyone protest the hundreds of thousands killed by American forces all over the Middle East, families torn, uprooted by an unnecessary destabilizing Iraq and refugees by the millions. Where is the protest? What about bombing Libya? Another ruse. You know when people will finally figure things out? When they begin drafting your sons and daughters. Now with a volunteer army one can say they opted in but a draft would change the whole picture. If that happens welcome to Vietnam II. Stay tuned for the Great Recession II and permanent war coming to a theater near you! I can hardly wait.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43708897/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

The Limits of War -- Food for Thought: I am reading "Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War" by Andrew Bachevich who according to Wiki is a professor of international relations at Boston University and a retired career officer in the United States Army. He is a former director of Boston University's Center for International Relations (from 1998 to 2005), and author of several books, including American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of US Diplomacy (2002), The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War (2005) and The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (2008). He has been "a persistent, vocal critic of the US occupation of Iraq, calling the conflict a catastrophic failure." In March 2007, he described George W. Bush's endorsement of such "preventive wars" as "immoral, illicit, and imprudent." His son, also an Army officer, died fighting in the Iraq War in May 2007. In summer, 2010, he accused President Barack Obama of "want[ing] us to forget about the lessons of Iraq.":

I thought the following quotes from a blog on a Glen Greenwald article "The Great Generational Threat http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/07/09/terrorism/index.html were food for thought:

"James Forrestal, the first person to serve as secretary of defense, coined a term to describe this permanent crisis. He called it semiwar. Conceived by Forrestal at the beginning of the Cold War, and reflecting his own anticommunist obsessions, semiwar defines a condition in which great dangers always threaten the United States and will continue doing so into the indefinite future. When not actively engaged in hostilities, the nation faces the prospect of hostilities beginning at any moment, with little or no warning. In the setting of national priorities, readiness to act becomes a supreme value.

Semiwarriors created the Washington Rules. Semiwarriors uphold them. Semiwarriors benefit from their persistence.

The scathing complaint of foreign policy critic Roger Morris, registered some thirty years ago, remains apt today. Average Americans, he wrote then, their attention absorbed by the problems of daily life at home, 'give the rest of planet only a distracted, fleeting glance.' Easily persuaded that the United States is called upon to lead, they leave it to others to work out the details. As a result, ordinary citizens remain 'heedless of the people and closed politics,' cloaked in secrecy, that formulate policies advertised as essential to the nation's safety and well-being. From time to time, 'dour, mostly anonymous men' emerge from behind closed doors to 'announce discreetly some fresh disaster.' Although inquiries and investigations inevitably ensue, the net effect is not to fix responsibility but to disperse it. Then the game continues, the terms of reference all but unaffected, the cast of characters largely unchanged, with Republican and Democratic insiders simply exchanging portfolios at periodic intervals."

-Andrew J. Bacevich, Washington Rules

Professorial Prescience: These are two short lectures I found on UTUBE which was given by my new-found guru, Dr. Simon Schama. I always have to find one as for me Howard Zinn's loss needs repair. I heard Professor Schama discuss the US Constitutional construct. It was riveting. Professor Simon Schama is a Professor of history and art history at Columbia University. His resume is longer than this page so I place the link below to a few words he gave about Barack Obama. This was delivered in 2009 at the Carnegie Council. It is called "Obama's Realism." We now have a bit of hindsight with which to judge his words. I think his words were as on target then as they are now.

Underneath that on Utube you will see another one of Dr. Schama's lectures given in 2009 entitled: "Us in Afghanistan and Iraq." The latter was particularly interesting I thought as he gave his rationales for why the Afghanistan war in his view is justified as opposed to the War in Iraq. I find him presciently correct.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSj-MOissYc&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6LdFsylArk&feature=relmfu

No News of the World: Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch and his evil media tabloid style empire have tasted the fruits of their own Machiavellian machinations. Murdoch's closing of News of the World because of its wholesale phone hacking of innocents is I suspect but a ripple in an ocean of deceit, lies and immoral behavior in the world of scandal tabloid news. It seems to me someone famous who some think divine said "What profit a man if he gain the whole world but lose his soul?" What more precise question to address to Mr. Murdoch, et al.

I suspect News of the World is only the tip of the iceberg of this scandal driven, gluttonous, money making swill, written on the backs often of the innocent and gleaned because of the thirst for uncontroll­ed capitaliza­tion of human suffering. I can say, Mr. Murdoch, this is small justice but justice nonetheles­s to one of the most megalomaniacal , avaricious­, power hungry excuses for humanity ever to grace this planet.

I suspect this is merely a scab on a festering infected sore of sensationalist tabloid anything-goes media gone WILD! May those who pumped life into this scandal NEVER rest in peace!”

Social Insecurity: he summer 2010 when the town meetings because of health care got ugly. People yelling don't take my health care away -- they meant Medicare the president did not step up to the plate and tell them the realities of the health care he was pushing. He did not push back forcefully against the Tea baggies who were fuming from the bailout. The tea baggies are SO dumb many did not realize why bailouts were necessary. He needed to scream why bailouts were necessary if they were not bailed out the big corps would fall like dominoes!!

Nov. 2012 -- he is handed a "shellacki­ng" over bailouts and perceived spending on health care. it is what the Republican­s who lost so much power in 2008 were salivating over. Now they had furious groups against bailouts and ready to hook on to no taxes. sounds good but no new spending no new jobs. By the time the Republican­s had taken over the House it was too late. Now the president must work with the hand he was dealt. If he stands and fights he will be defeated by a solidity Republican House.The time that he needed to fight was the summer of 2012. The economic catastroph­e was NOT the fault of him nor really of many Dems it was 30 years of a deregulate­d Wall Street gone mad with greed. It was his fault in the summer of 2010 but it is not his fault now.”

Why support Israel: Joyce Kaufman is a talk show host and is on Utube. I agree with her generally about Israel EXCEPT for her final reason about god. Everyone thinks god is on their side and I would not base my support of Israel on a document written 5000 ago by men. The rest of her diatribe has substantive worth.

As I investigate more because I knew not much about her she appears to be a right wing nationalist ideologue much like Palin. I am not sure about that but it may be so. I do not know why I cannot voice my general support and love for Israel while not going for the rest of her anti-immigrant rants. I think I can and do.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmV1ffKP0ms&feature=share

I would like to write a book: "How to Feel Happiness in an Out of Control World": Feel free to take that title and write that book because I have NO idea what to put in it!

PLEASE READ and THINK: I cannot believe I am sending a link below to a Fox News story but if they have posted it you can imagine the threat. I am NOT surprised I have said this from
Day 1 of the Fukishima explosion and tsunami. Nuclear power is UNSAFE at any speed. It is subject to the whims of nature and the gross mistakes of man.

Global climate change is a FACT, it is occurring because of man and is a FACT, catastrophic weather events we have been seeing both in winter
AND summer related to fossil fuels ruining the climate is a FACT and nuclear power is NOT the answer. Rational thought rules. THINK and do not rely on
fairy stories and religious irrational myths that will DOOM all of us. Science tells us what we need to know and FACTS cannot be disputed.

For your Fourth of July reading which I hope prods you to THINK well what our Founders gave us and how toxic religion mixed with government policy is. Ultimately, it will kill us all.

Christ was right when he is alleged to have said: "Render to Cesar what is Cesar's and to God what is God's." THINK ON THAT and
do not give up man's gift -- the ability to rationally THINK!

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/06/29/radiation-in-our-food/

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE NUCLEAR MADNESS AND OTHER THINGS: This blog is off the top of my head. There is no time to waste writing a pristine constructed opinion so I am writing what I thought as I awoke and read the news. Two stories at first light -- the Minnesota government shut down AND Los Alamos.

There is so much sickening news I don't know where to begin. This country is waging SIX yes, count them SIX wars -- Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya under the direction of a Nobel Peace laureate!! All I have to do is get up and check the news in the a.m. and I begin to shake. Huffington Post has a huge headline -- "Minnesota shut down." I'm not a naive person but I saw that headline after just waking up and even though I have woken up to worse headlines certainly but with EVERYTHING else I am not kidding I am sitting here shaking.

It's not just Minnesota its the whole country and even the world -- Greece comes to mind. Their people riot but their legislators do not care. They cut their jobs anyway. This has all been perpetrated by bankster Wall Street greed that's where the thread to all this horrible news began. Do you think Blankfein of Goldman Sachs and his cronies are worried about losing their HOMES (plural)? HELL NO but little teachers in 50 states are shaking in their boots. People with no homes, no jobs, no food, living in cars, shelters or motels is no longer the exception. George Carlin had it so right it is amazing. The oligarchy is coming for all you have because they do NOT care about you.

Of course there is always the nuclear madness of Los Alamos, Fukishima, and two nuclear powered big time floods in Nebraska. Our nation is sinking fast I do believe that and I lay it at Wall Street's feet and a government whose people were railroaded by them because our oligarchic government whores and its corporatist johns are in bed with each other.(pardon the rough expression.)

I feel so powerless because the people of this nation are SO unintelligent if they can elect Republicans and some Dems too who put us into this mess. I do believe that for the most part Dems would NOT slash the little guys' jobs or humanitarian programs that feed the poor but go after the millionaires and billionaires who SHOULD contribute more to our nation's fiscal sanity. They would also have started to deal with climate change ridding ourselves of the corporate albatross -- OIL and infusing our economy with new clean energy life. This is a startling time. It is the worst I have ever known. But Americans will do what Americans always do care about comparatively waste-of-time stories about Whitey Bulger, Strauss-Kahn, Casey Anthony's trial for murder and Nancy Grace's histrionics when the nation of 350,000, 000 and the world of six billion people are drowning. It's all about priorities and our nation, for the most part, simply does not get it.

I enclose my relative's blog about our nuclear madness. In addition, I link Huffington's blog about Minnesota for your reading pleasure.

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/07/lies-damn-lies-and-safe-nuclear-power.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/