Damned if I Know: Sorry for the title's light profanity but I was just reviewing some past articles of Matt Taibbi the brilliant, creative writer for Rolling Stone who makes the explanation of the economic catastrophe of 2007 actually entertaining to read.
This is a wonderful February 16, 2011 article entitled "Why Isn't Wall
Street in Jail?" Truthfully, it's fun, read it and either weep, be
enraged or both. Whatever you choose you should choose never to forget
who REALLY landed us in this kettle of soup. You can click here or on the link below!
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216
I post the link to his articles which appear in Rolling Stone
so that unlike most Americans your memory and my aging one are not
short about the single most damaging historical rip off this country or
the world has ever seen, in my opinion, worse than the Great
Depression. At least in the Great Depression of 1929 remedies were
legislated
to prevent another catastrophe only to be reversed 70 years later by a
Congress in love with greed and Ayn Rand -- Alan Greenspan's secret
love. I wonder what Andrea Mitchell sees in that guy anyway. I doubt
she wed him for his looks! Did I make that looksist comment? I did.
Apologies but he reminds me of a Basset Hound. I digress.
Our current economic kettle of rancid
fish the "bipartisan" "American Jobs Act" about which Taibbi writes here
is just another segment of the saga that goes on and on and on and on.
Most who read my posts and I who write them may not be around to see the utter catastrophe
this brings on but your children, if you have them, probably will. Ah, the good ole USof A
what the hell happened to it? Damned if I know. I keep trying to
figure it out.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/why-obamas-jobs-act-couldnt-suck-worse-20120409
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
"Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?" -- By Matt Taibbi -- February 16, 2011
Companies like AIG, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. Most of these firms were directly involved in elaborate fraud and theft. Lehman Brothers hid billions in loans from its investors. Bank of America lied about billions in bonuses. Goldman Sachs failed to tell clients how it put together the born-to-lose toxic mortgage deals it was selling. What's more, many of these companies had corporate chieftains whose actions cost investors billions — from AIG derivatives chief Joe Cassano, who assured investors they would not lose even "one dollar" just months before his unit imploded, to the $263 million in compensation that former Lehman chief Dick "The Gorilla" Fuld conveniently failed to disclose. Yet not one of them has faced time behind bars."
Sunday, April 08, 2012
Tulsa, Trayvon and Me -- I AM elated local authorities along with the FBI and the US Marshall’s office caught two suspects in the random shooting, killing and wounding of five African Americans as they walked on a street in Tulsa, Oklahoma. On the heels of the Trayvon Martin murder, handled SO incompetently by Florida officials, this latest act of mayhem if not handled promptly could result in more violence and rioting of people who are fed up being the main component of this nation’s indelible stain. I NEVER advocate for violence but who in their right mind could not understand a historically besieged people’s fury when they are the recipients of racist violence which knows no end?
Unlike the people they killed who will never see justice, the perpetrators of these heinous acts will get their day in court. Trayvon Martin’s murderer SHOULD get the same day in court and while they are at it in Florida repeal or amend significantly the damn “stand your ground law.”
One Tulsa news blogger said "there are always mitigating circumstances." Oh really? In this case it surely does not seem so. But I will not, like the victims’ killers would, rush to judgment. The blogger sounded like a neo-Nazi. Perhaps he is and perhaps he is not but what kind of a sadistic statement is that when two white men go around shooting numbers of black people at random, victims they did not know and who, as reported, were out for a walk. It is clear on which part of the political spectrum this right wingnut extremist lies when he makes a statement like that. Unfortunately too many in this nation feel the same as he or simply do not care. I care.
I only wish Trayvon Martin received the same care. Alas the infection and putrification of our nation which has not overthrown its Civil War past still poisons its sinew. How is it that our Founders, men of the Enlightenment and its birth of liberalism could live with the hypocrisy they created? A nation built on that liberalism seemed to forget or did not think that human beings dragged here against their will might one day rise up against the injustice viciously perpetrated against them. Our Founders sadly did not understand that the chains they placed around African American necks, the whip lashes they inflicted upon African American’s backs, the rapes they viciously perpetrated upon African American women would be revenged and that those chains would one day be thrown off, the whips stopped, the scars healed and a people would seek the full measure of the justice they so belatedly deserved.
And yet, there are still white apologists for a system so rancid it inflicts, even until this hour, mind numbing illness. Our nation is torn apart by the disease at its cancerous core eating away at the body politic which cannot live because of it. Tulsa and Trayvon have many things in common but if nothing else what they do not have in common is the Tulsa killings will NOT go unavenged like so many other black killing by whites historically have.
I believe Iowa has the death penalty for crimes such as this. I am usually against the death penalty BUT in this case IF found guilty I want that Shakespearean pound of flesh. Yes, I am angry. Any person of conscience SHOULD be angry when innocents’ lives are taken from them merely because of an accident of birth. A hate crime murder is worse than other murders because it threatens not merely the victims but ALL the members of the group to which the victim belonged. This country's war against people of color MUST and WILL stop as Malcolm X so rightly said “by any means necessary.”
The Tulsa victims, Trayvon's ghost and I want the long arc of the moral universe to bend toward the justice the Founders promised this nation. That promissory note about which, Dr. King so eloquently spoke, is STILL not satisfied and the moral arc of justice is not yet bending far enough for me.
Unlike the people they killed who will never see justice, the perpetrators of these heinous acts will get their day in court. Trayvon Martin’s murderer SHOULD get the same day in court and while they are at it in Florida repeal or amend significantly the damn “stand your ground law.”
One Tulsa news blogger said "there are always mitigating circumstances." Oh really? In this case it surely does not seem so. But I will not, like the victims’ killers would, rush to judgment. The blogger sounded like a neo-Nazi. Perhaps he is and perhaps he is not but what kind of a sadistic statement is that when two white men go around shooting numbers of black people at random, victims they did not know and who, as reported, were out for a walk. It is clear on which part of the political spectrum this right wingnut extremist lies when he makes a statement like that. Unfortunately too many in this nation feel the same as he or simply do not care. I care.
I only wish Trayvon Martin received the same care. Alas the infection and putrification of our nation which has not overthrown its Civil War past still poisons its sinew. How is it that our Founders, men of the Enlightenment and its birth of liberalism could live with the hypocrisy they created? A nation built on that liberalism seemed to forget or did not think that human beings dragged here against their will might one day rise up against the injustice viciously perpetrated against them. Our Founders sadly did not understand that the chains they placed around African American necks, the whip lashes they inflicted upon African American’s backs, the rapes they viciously perpetrated upon African American women would be revenged and that those chains would one day be thrown off, the whips stopped, the scars healed and a people would seek the full measure of the justice they so belatedly deserved.
And yet, there are still white apologists for a system so rancid it inflicts, even until this hour, mind numbing illness. Our nation is torn apart by the disease at its cancerous core eating away at the body politic which cannot live because of it. Tulsa and Trayvon have many things in common but if nothing else what they do not have in common is the Tulsa killings will NOT go unavenged like so many other black killing by whites historically have.
I believe Iowa has the death penalty for crimes such as this. I am usually against the death penalty BUT in this case IF found guilty I want that Shakespearean pound of flesh. Yes, I am angry. Any person of conscience SHOULD be angry when innocents’ lives are taken from them merely because of an accident of birth. A hate crime murder is worse than other murders because it threatens not merely the victims but ALL the members of the group to which the victim belonged. This country's war against people of color MUST and WILL stop as Malcolm X so rightly said “by any means necessary.”
The Tulsa victims, Trayvon's ghost and I want the long arc of the moral universe to bend toward the justice the Founders promised this nation. That promissory note about which, Dr. King so eloquently spoke, is STILL not satisfied and the moral arc of justice is not yet bending far enough for me.
Two Great Men: Interview by Bill Moyers of Andrew Bachevich, BU Prof. of History
I sent an email to Professor Andrew Bachevich, a well known professor of history at BU. He also is a retired career officer in the US Army, served in Vietnam and lost a son in Iraq. He knows from whence he speaks.
Dear Prof. Bachevich: Just a quick note because the night grows late but I wanted to tell you that I taped your appearance on the great Bill Moyers and watched it this evening. You were, of course, brilliant. Hard to believe that the president is touting Robert Kagan's book "The World America Made" and not yours, "The Short American Century a Post Mortem." Clearly hindsight is 20/20 but in that hindsight we surely can see the grievous error of our foreign policy ways.
This progressive who believed so fervently in the election of our president, has on her Kindle your earlier book "Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War." I will, after I finish that and few others including Rachel Maddow's "Drift" (absolutely superbly written), purchase "The Short American Century a Post Mortem."
I wonder if I can convince the man I thought would be another FDR to tilt his course a little more to the left? I still love our president, but I remain disappointed in his attempt to win over those who consistently when they hit him on one cheek hit him on the other also. He needs to know his base, people like me, want America's penchant for permanent war to come to a close. My years attending BU and knowing Howard Zinn gave me hope after Vietnam that it would happen. So far it does not appear to be the case. Maybe next year, if god willing, he wins again it will. I surely hope it does not take another century, which I will never see, to do so.
Excellent interview as usual. What else would I expect of two great men!
I sent an email to Professor Andrew Bachevich, a well known professor of history at BU. He also is a retired career officer in the US Army, served in Vietnam and lost a son in Iraq. He knows from whence he speaks.
Dear Prof. Bachevich: Just a quick note because the night grows late but I wanted to tell you that I taped your appearance on the great Bill Moyers and watched it this evening. You were, of course, brilliant. Hard to believe that the president is touting Robert Kagan's book "The World America Made" and not yours, "The Short American Century a Post Mortem." Clearly hindsight is 20/20 but in that hindsight we surely can see the grievous error of our foreign policy ways.
This progressive who believed so fervently in the election of our president, has on her Kindle your earlier book "Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War." I will, after I finish that and few others including Rachel Maddow's "Drift" (absolutely superbly written), purchase "The Short American Century a Post Mortem."
I wonder if I can convince the man I thought would be another FDR to tilt his course a little more to the left? I still love our president, but I remain disappointed in his attempt to win over those who consistently when they hit him on one cheek hit him on the other also. He needs to know his base, people like me, want America's penchant for permanent war to come to a close. My years attending BU and knowing Howard Zinn gave me hope after Vietnam that it would happen. So far it does not appear to be the case. Maybe next year, if god willing, he wins again it will. I surely hope it does not take another century, which I will never see, to do so.
Excellent interview as usual. What else would I expect of two great men!
Thursday, April 05, 2012
The Hispanic Vote 2012--No se deje engañar (Do NOT be fooled)--a letter to the Hispanic Community: It is no secret that Republicans are talking about capturing a good percentage of the Hispanic vote in the general 2012 presidential election. Some say if they do not secure at least 33% of the Hispanic vote they will lose in November against the president. Obviously, Republicans are working furiously in an effort to determine exactly how to do this. It is a difficult task when the party who claims it WANTS to secure the Hispanic vote promotes policies which clearly identify it AGAINST the Hispanic vote. One need only listen to what the Republican leadership and its base are saying.
I will not enumerate all the myriad of ways it says it will seek to, in actuality, diminish the Hispanic population in the US by advocating draconian anti-immigration practices in states such as Arizona with its "papers please" law signed by one of the most right wing extremist Republican governors in that state's history to Republicans in red states like Alabama and Mississippi which have attempted to create an immigration barrier and codify into law undocumented worker round-ups to keep small businesses from hiring them. Businesses in those states are suffering from those policies and some are in bankruptcy. Many Republicans want to ramp up efforts on the US borders to seize and kill, if necessary, those who are attempting to cross. They relegate human beings to less-than-human status. It is shameful. The Republican Party is the new Nativitist Party of this century. There are even efforts by right wingnuts to stop the teaching of Hispanic history in public schools. The list of anti-Hispanic policies by the Republican Party goes on and on. All one has to do is Google the facts.
Therefore, I ask you NOT to fall for the Trojan Horse of Republican politics that sounds so nice when its candidates tell you how much they love Hispanics and speak in Spanish for one purpose only and that is to secure the Hispanic vote. The Republican Party in reality does everything from border vigilantism to gerrymandering districts as well as enacting voter ID suppression laws to diminish the impact of the minority vote because they KNOW that vote is usually cast for Democrats.
As a last point and one which I hope you convey to the Hispanic community: DO NOT FALL for Republican attempts to place the Cuban-American Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, as the Romney vice-presidential pick in order to lasso the Hispanic vote. This is a feeble attempt to take the Hispanic population as fools. Marco Rubio is NOT a Cuban refugee. He will no more be an advocate for Hispanic people than a white racist sheriff in a southwestern state, who wants to round up Latino people by any means necessary in an effort to deport them, is.
The Republican Party is NOT about Hispanic people. It is about white people trying to cement their power which they perceive is slipping away. Do NOT be FOOLED--No se deje enganar. The Republican Party is NOT about you or any who are among the 99%. They merely want you to THINK that they are to win power at your expense. Securing your vote for that purpose is too steep a price for any of us to pay.
I will not enumerate all the myriad of ways it says it will seek to, in actuality, diminish the Hispanic population in the US by advocating draconian anti-immigration practices in states such as Arizona with its "papers please" law signed by one of the most right wing extremist Republican governors in that state's history to Republicans in red states like Alabama and Mississippi which have attempted to create an immigration barrier and codify into law undocumented worker round-ups to keep small businesses from hiring them. Businesses in those states are suffering from those policies and some are in bankruptcy. Many Republicans want to ramp up efforts on the US borders to seize and kill, if necessary, those who are attempting to cross. They relegate human beings to less-than-human status. It is shameful. The Republican Party is the new Nativitist Party of this century. There are even efforts by right wingnuts to stop the teaching of Hispanic history in public schools. The list of anti-Hispanic policies by the Republican Party goes on and on. All one has to do is Google the facts.
Therefore, I ask you NOT to fall for the Trojan Horse of Republican politics that sounds so nice when its candidates tell you how much they love Hispanics and speak in Spanish for one purpose only and that is to secure the Hispanic vote. The Republican Party in reality does everything from border vigilantism to gerrymandering districts as well as enacting voter ID suppression laws to diminish the impact of the minority vote because they KNOW that vote is usually cast for Democrats.
As a last point and one which I hope you convey to the Hispanic community: DO NOT FALL for Republican attempts to place the Cuban-American Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, as the Romney vice-presidential pick in order to lasso the Hispanic vote. This is a feeble attempt to take the Hispanic population as fools. Marco Rubio is NOT a Cuban refugee. He will no more be an advocate for Hispanic people than a white racist sheriff in a southwestern state, who wants to round up Latino people by any means necessary in an effort to deport them, is.
The Republican Party is NOT about Hispanic people. It is about white people trying to cement their power which they perceive is slipping away. Do NOT be FOOLED--No se deje enganar. The Republican Party is NOT about you or any who are among the 99%. They merely want you to THINK that they are to win power at your expense. Securing your vote for that purpose is too steep a price for any of us to pay.
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
The Olbermann Saga: For those of you who are interested in the fate of progressive commentator Keith Olbermann as I am I was just informed that Keith will be on David Letterman tonight and will perhaps explain his side of the story relating related to his firing. This story has transfixed me because I consider Keith Olbermann to be the king of commentary -- progressive commentary. When he was on MSNBC after Rachel Maddow they delivered, in my opinion, a one two knock out punch to the wingnut know-nothing extremists of Fox News and other so called "conservative" stations on the right.
When he left MSNBC under not the best of circumstances and took a major interest along with Al Gore and Joel Hyatt in forming the new progressive cable network Current TV channel 192 on FIOS, I was hopeful that this would provide him the latitude the other stations he was employed by over the years did not. Alas, it was not to be the case. My king of commentary was summarily fired last Friday by the co-owners Al Gore and Joel Hyatt. Very little was said except for a my-side-of-the-story statement by Al Gore on the Current web page. Keith has yet to say much except that Gore/Hyatt will have one whopper of a lawsuit headache for breach of contract in the ensuing months. I'm sure there will be counterclaims as well.
I have blogged as others have on the Current web page. Many of his supporters feel as dedicated to him and as sick about this situation as I. I am hoping he will explain his side of the story tonight on Letterman and hoping he will part of another progressive format shortly. I consider Keith one of the most important vehicles for presenting a fantastically charismatic, brilliant and significantly progressive viewpoint which is hard find in lamestream -- oops I mean mainstream -- corporate media today. I am hoping Keith will not be out of earshot long as I believe we need him now more than ever before.
When he left MSNBC under not the best of circumstances and took a major interest along with Al Gore and Joel Hyatt in forming the new progressive cable network Current TV channel 192 on FIOS, I was hopeful that this would provide him the latitude the other stations he was employed by over the years did not. Alas, it was not to be the case. My king of commentary was summarily fired last Friday by the co-owners Al Gore and Joel Hyatt. Very little was said except for a my-side-of-the-story statement by Al Gore on the Current web page. Keith has yet to say much except that Gore/Hyatt will have one whopper of a lawsuit headache for breach of contract in the ensuing months. I'm sure there will be counterclaims as well.
I have blogged as others have on the Current web page. Many of his supporters feel as dedicated to him and as sick about this situation as I. I am hoping he will explain his side of the story tonight on Letterman and hoping he will part of another progressive format shortly. I consider Keith one of the most important vehicles for presenting a fantastically charismatic, brilliant and significantly progressive viewpoint which is hard find in lamestream -- oops I mean mainstream -- corporate media today. I am hoping Keith will not be out of earshot long as I believe we need him now more than ever before.
Sunday, April 01, 2012
Sarah Palin cohost of the Today Show: I just heard your advertisement for a ratings push to have Sarah Palin on co-hosting the Today Show next week. I am sending all I know an email and posting on my Facebook page and your Facebook page that I am canceling my regular series programming for the Today Show.
I think it is despicable to have a clearly right wingnut know nothing biased politico on the Today Show to co-host. I urge all those who agree with my political positions or even some of my political opinions to do the same and boycott the Today Show for at least a week.
If you want to have her on that is, of course, your right but the Today Show always taped every day in my house will be erased!
I think it is despicable to have a clearly right wingnut know nothing biased politico on the Today Show to co-host. I urge all those who agree with my political positions or even some of my political opinions to do the same and boycott the Today Show for at least a week.
If you want to have her on that is, of course, your right but the Today Show always taped every day in my house will be erased!
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
The Least of These: The questions of the Court regarding the Affordable Health Care Act appear ominous from the four died-in-the-wool right wingers and the one right of center moderate Anthony Kennedy as I originally thought. It is exactly why I am so nervous about this. Why are we being dangled on a string when this life or death decision is, it seems, already decided if one can count to five? It is so hugely sad.
Last night Keith Olbermann demanded Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law scholar and expert on various progressive and libertarian legal issues, "cut to the chase." I thought that a bit rude to demand of such a distinguished man like Jonathan Turley. Now I rather know what Olbermann meant. I personally think the conclusion of the Supreme Court has already been made. None of the so called conservative justices would dare offend their compatriots by siding with an administration that passes Democratic legislation to actually lend a helping hand to people in desperate need and in health crises across this country.
So I ask now, Justices, respectfully, do not make me wait until June to see you bit by bit take an administration down to further your own alliance with HUGE corporate power as you did in Citizen United. Yes, please cut to the chase and do what as Macbeth said when contemplating the killing of King Duncan:
"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly" because by your decision, Justices, on this issue you are committing as Christ is alleged to have talked about "the least of these" your brethren to an early grave.
This cannot and MUST not be allowed to derail the Obama presidency. The destruction an extremist right wing presidency could bring is inexplicable. We will be a doomed nation for decades if this is allowed to happen and for the least of these our brethren we should NEVER let it.
Last night Keith Olbermann demanded Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law scholar and expert on various progressive and libertarian legal issues, "cut to the chase." I thought that a bit rude to demand of such a distinguished man like Jonathan Turley. Now I rather know what Olbermann meant. I personally think the conclusion of the Supreme Court has already been made. None of the so called conservative justices would dare offend their compatriots by siding with an administration that passes Democratic legislation to actually lend a helping hand to people in desperate need and in health crises across this country.
So I ask now, Justices, respectfully, do not make me wait until June to see you bit by bit take an administration down to further your own alliance with HUGE corporate power as you did in Citizen United. Yes, please cut to the chase and do what as Macbeth said when contemplating the killing of King Duncan:
"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly" because by your decision, Justices, on this issue you are committing as Christ is alleged to have talked about "the least of these" your brethren to an early grave.
This cannot and MUST not be allowed to derail the Obama presidency. The destruction an extremist right wing presidency could bring is inexplicable. We will be a doomed nation for decades if this is allowed to happen and for the least of these our brethren we should NEVER let it.
A Progressive Oasis: I have just purchased Rachel Maddow's new book "Drift -- The Unmooring of American Military Power." I am reading reviews that it is a wonderful book and an easy read. It was reviewed well by Glenn Greenwald. Frankly, that was good enough for me. Rachel is OUR powerhouse of progressive action. She has and I hope will for many many years be a progressive oasis in a conservative desert.
I humbly suggest you purchase her book if you can. I put the link below to link you to it.
I know you and I will enjoy it!
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=drift+rachel+maddow&tag=googhydr-20&index=stripbooks&hvadid=18083526810&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=978488657393727352&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&ref=pd_sl_5itsnm0cq2_b
I humbly suggest you purchase her book if you can. I put the link below to link you to it.
I know you and I will enjoy it!
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=drift+rachel+maddow&tag=googhydr-20&index=stripbooks&hvadid=18083526810&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=978488657393727352&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&ref=pd_sl_5itsnm0cq2_b
Masochists in our Midst: A quote from an MSNBC article which sums up my fear: "Some argue that Congress, for one, is likely to refuse to make changes to the law to develop alternatives to the mandate. “It isn’t going to get fixed,” said Robert Laszewski, who runs a consulting firm, Health Policy and Strategy Associates, in Alexandria, Va. “Republicans want to blow it up. They’re going to be happy that the Supreme Court threw a grenade in it.”
IN OTHER WORDS THE SUPREME COURT MUST NOT NEGATE THE MANDATE IN THE AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE ACT AKA OBAMACARE FOR IT TO WORK.
YOU MUST PRESSURE EVERYONE BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY THAT THE SUPREME COURT DOES NOT NEGATE THE MANDATE. THIS IS SIGNATURE LEGISLATION FOR THE PRESIDENT AND REPUBLICANS ARE SALIVATING BECAUSE THEY THINK IF THE COURT NEGATES IT WILL SINK THE PRESIDENT AND HIS REELECTION LOST. DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN!
I DO NOT CARE HOW YOU APPLY THE PRESSURE WHETHER IN WRITTEN WORD, CALLS TO THE SUPREME COURT AND ELSEWHERE OR GOING TO WASHINGTON TO PICKET WITH OUR GROUP BUT DO IT. YOU and YOUR CHILDREN'S LIVES DEPEND UPON IT. NOTHING SHORT OF LIVES ARE IN THE BALANCE!
WHY ANYONE ON PLANET EARTH WOULD OPPOSE SOMETHING THAT CAN AT LEAST HELP TO FIX OUR INSURANCE BLOATED HEATH CARE EMPLOYER-BASED INSANITY IS BEYOND ME. THERE ARE MASOCHISTS IN OUR MIDST WHO LOVE PAIN AND SADISTS WHO LOVE TO SEE IT INFLICTED ON OTHERS!
IN OTHER WORDS THE SUPREME COURT MUST NOT NEGATE THE MANDATE IN THE AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE ACT AKA OBAMACARE FOR IT TO WORK.
YOU MUST PRESSURE EVERYONE BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY THAT THE SUPREME COURT DOES NOT NEGATE THE MANDATE. THIS IS SIGNATURE LEGISLATION FOR THE PRESIDENT AND REPUBLICANS ARE SALIVATING BECAUSE THEY THINK IF THE COURT NEGATES IT WILL SINK THE PRESIDENT AND HIS REELECTION LOST. DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN!
I DO NOT CARE HOW YOU APPLY THE PRESSURE WHETHER IN WRITTEN WORD, CALLS TO THE SUPREME COURT AND ELSEWHERE OR GOING TO WASHINGTON TO PICKET WITH OUR GROUP BUT DO IT. YOU and YOUR CHILDREN'S LIVES DEPEND UPON IT. NOTHING SHORT OF LIVES ARE IN THE BALANCE!
WHY ANYONE ON PLANET EARTH WOULD OPPOSE SOMETHING THAT CAN AT LEAST HELP TO FIX OUR INSURANCE BLOATED HEATH CARE EMPLOYER-BASED INSANITY IS BEYOND ME. THERE ARE MASOCHISTS IN OUR MIDST WHO LOVE PAIN AND SADISTS WHO LOVE TO SEE IT INFLICTED ON OTHERS!
Monday, March 26, 2012
Not that Mad about Mad Men—Season Five: I LOVED Mad Men from the beginning. It was set in an era in which I worked for a large corporation and remember those times well. There was not a segment of Mad Men I missed. Just in case I had forgotten something I reviewed the prior episodes.
Having said that and respecting ALL the actors' craft (I love them all) the new episode left me cold. I simply do not know what it is trying to do. It seemed like it was a line up of great actors in search of a story. It was not coming through to me. Don Draper's hook up with his secretary left me head scratching. She is a younger woman who is so adept handling his children but clueless about the private nature of the man and throws him a surprise 40th birthday party -- oh yes we all love those turning of decades celebrations so much -- dances seductively in front of his co-workers in their own home and she thinks he will be thrilled at that? It stumped me. It was good to see the inclusion of the black experience in America but the rest of it seemed pointless.
I am a faithful viewer so I will go on no matter what but from first view of this new season I wonder if the writers can ever duplicate that which it was before.
Having said that and respecting ALL the actors' craft (I love them all) the new episode left me cold. I simply do not know what it is trying to do. It seemed like it was a line up of great actors in search of a story. It was not coming through to me. Don Draper's hook up with his secretary left me head scratching. She is a younger woman who is so adept handling his children but clueless about the private nature of the man and throws him a surprise 40th birthday party -- oh yes we all love those turning of decades celebrations so much -- dances seductively in front of his co-workers in their own home and she thinks he will be thrilled at that? It stumped me. It was good to see the inclusion of the black experience in America but the rest of it seemed pointless.
I am a faithful viewer so I will go on no matter what but from first view of this new season I wonder if the writers can ever duplicate that which it was before.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
My Week with Marilyn -- A Film Review: Rented the Academy Award nominated film for best actress, "My Week with Marilyn" and since I lived during the Marilyn Monroe era but never knew this particular episode of her life it interested me. She was the film sensation of the 1950's and reflected much about the crushing superficiality of that time. As a child I could not appreciate her artistry because I WAS a child and because she was used mercilessly by Hollywood and the public who sold her as a piece of ornament or satisfaction for the lust of men and as an object of envy of women for Hollywood to make a buck. She was, in the final analysis, only human; the product of her childhood which was empty of love and absent parental care.
Looking as an adult at the artistry of Marilyn Monroe I see something quite different and lament the fact, as I do about all film and theater genus who die before their time, that we are deprived from enjoying more of their excellence. Other films Marilyn made outside of the ones of fluff had substance. Her roles in "Niagara," "The Misfits" and "Some Like it Hot" reflected her once-in-a-lifetime talent.
I walk away from this non-fiction film sad because Marilyn Monroe WAS sad. She was intrinsically sad. I thought the film quite accurately showed that sadness. The role of Marilyn was played, I thought, as perfectly as it could by Michelle Williams. It is difficult to play larger-than-life figures.
Some of the other characters were to me forgettable because Marilyn absorbs one's attention whether in real life or fantasy like a sponge. Marilyn oozed beauty and vulnerability. It is only natural that men and some women too must have desired to rescue this damsel in distress. Alas, maturity tells us only we can be the rescuer of us.
There was no Oprah show then to show us how to overcome the impossible obstacles placed before us in life. I wonder what Marilyn would have been like if she could have experienced the social revolution of our time. We will never know. The child in Marilyn never got to become an adult and we as the adults never get to see her morph into one.
Looking as an adult at the artistry of Marilyn Monroe I see something quite different and lament the fact, as I do about all film and theater genus who die before their time, that we are deprived from enjoying more of their excellence. Other films Marilyn made outside of the ones of fluff had substance. Her roles in "Niagara," "The Misfits" and "Some Like it Hot" reflected her once-in-a-lifetime talent.
I walk away from this non-fiction film sad because Marilyn Monroe WAS sad. She was intrinsically sad. I thought the film quite accurately showed that sadness. The role of Marilyn was played, I thought, as perfectly as it could by Michelle Williams. It is difficult to play larger-than-life figures.
Some of the other characters were to me forgettable because Marilyn absorbs one's attention whether in real life or fantasy like a sponge. Marilyn oozed beauty and vulnerability. It is only natural that men and some women too must have desired to rescue this damsel in distress. Alas, maturity tells us only we can be the rescuer of us.
There was no Oprah show then to show us how to overcome the impossible obstacles placed before us in life. I wonder what Marilyn would have been like if she could have experienced the social revolution of our time. We will never know. The child in Marilyn never got to become an adult and we as the adults never get to see her morph into one.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Of Supreme Importance: I happened to catch the news tonight. The Supreme Court is on the verge of a major decision on the president's Affordable Health Care Act. It looks like our obstructionist opposition is getting out to protest as they insultingly call it "Obamacare." They SHOULD have some company. There should be MANY Democrats and like minded people who realize the importance of the president's health care act. There SHOULD be MORE in number show up of those who SUPPORT the president as those who obstruct our president.
This bill WILL provide needed changes, bring down health care costs as stated by the CBO and ensure EVERYONE access to health care. Most especially it will mean that NO ONE, NO ONE be without health care again or kicked out because of preexisting conditions as minor as allergies. It WILL save lives.
We know the mean-spirited rancid nature of our opposition. We must NEVER let the forces of regression, racism and obstructionist interposition prevail nullifying that which we as a people so desperately need.
PLEASE tell those whom you may know to organize especially in Washington in front of the Supreme Court, to uphold our president's Affordable Health Care Act, hammered out tooth and nail over years. Pull people from ALL those who support the president's cause to STAND UP against these forces of Medieval torture. FIGHT BACK and show them there are MORE of us then there are of them!
This bill WILL provide needed changes, bring down health care costs as stated by the CBO and ensure EVERYONE access to health care. Most especially it will mean that NO ONE, NO ONE be without health care again or kicked out because of preexisting conditions as minor as allergies. It WILL save lives.
We know the mean-spirited rancid nature of our opposition. We must NEVER let the forces of regression, racism and obstructionist interposition prevail nullifying that which we as a people so desperately need.
PLEASE tell those whom you may know to organize especially in Washington in front of the Supreme Court, to uphold our president's Affordable Health Care Act, hammered out tooth and nail over years. Pull people from ALL those who support the president's cause to STAND UP against these forces of Medieval torture. FIGHT BACK and show them there are MORE of us then there are of them!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Rejoice: The death of evil and the killing of the Anti-Semite murderer of Jews in France: Who takes pleasure in a death? When it is the killer of two Jewish children and their rabbi father in France I DO! The headline, although I have not read the entire story yet, made me cheer and I am NOT ashamed to say it. I have always said I am left of center in my political views BUT my eyes see what they see and it is because of what my eyes see I am a supporter of the Jewish people, in general the State of Israel and the west. I have to be. I see free states as opposed to religious fanatical tyrannies. Yes, there are fanatics everywhere BUT USUALLY orthodox and other religious Jews keep to themselves and do not export religion. Children, any children, everywhere hurt NO ONE.
I did wonder why it took so long for the French government to perfect the killing but I do not care because we do not know how difficult this was to do and how hard it must have been to make the innocent secure as they secure members of their own French force. The murderer was a mind saturated with violence and well armed to take down any Jew or any French authority walking.
I say KUDOS to the French government. There is one more dead anti-Semite. That is a good thing. In the Vichy years of the Nazi period they NEVER would have investigated the death of Jews but rather, France, replete with anti-Semitism, contributed to it. THINGS change. They better well have changed. NO ONE anymore can wage war on Jews and think Jews will not fight back. If the French did not get him the Israelis probably would have.
The Holocaust has taught Jews everywhere we need to know about who cares about Jews. Jews do and some righteous others who see the longest hatred for what it is. The anti-Semitism that was centuries old in Europe can be seen now as its baton has been passed all over the Middle East.
The Jewish people LIVE and will NEVER submit EVER again to the disgusting anti-Semitism that was rife in France and ALL of Europe for centuries. The death of the murderous anti-Semite does not bring back the dead children and their father BUT they killed evil today in France and I am rejoicing!
I did wonder why it took so long for the French government to perfect the killing but I do not care because we do not know how difficult this was to do and how hard it must have been to make the innocent secure as they secure members of their own French force. The murderer was a mind saturated with violence and well armed to take down any Jew or any French authority walking.
I say KUDOS to the French government. There is one more dead anti-Semite. That is a good thing. In the Vichy years of the Nazi period they NEVER would have investigated the death of Jews but rather, France, replete with anti-Semitism, contributed to it. THINGS change. They better well have changed. NO ONE anymore can wage war on Jews and think Jews will not fight back. If the French did not get him the Israelis probably would have.
The Holocaust has taught Jews everywhere we need to know about who cares about Jews. Jews do and some righteous others who see the longest hatred for what it is. The anti-Semitism that was centuries old in Europe can be seen now as its baton has been passed all over the Middle East.
The Jewish people LIVE and will NEVER submit EVER again to the disgusting anti-Semitism that was rife in France and ALL of Europe for centuries. The death of the murderous anti-Semite does not bring back the dead children and their father BUT they killed evil today in France and I am rejoicing!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Crooked: If you read nothing else read Matt Taibbi's "Too Crooked to Fail" which appeared in Rolling Stone. It will tell you in language anyone can understand (including me who is math challenged to put it mildly.) It is funny, it is brilliant and written so you are guaranteed to laugh before you cry knowing EXACTLY what the Great Mortgage Fraud of 2007 was and its attendant Great Global Recession. Click here if you want to read the most entertaining rendition of an economic swindle you will ever read about this usually arid dry subject. If you cannot click on that I post the link below. 1000 pardons if I sent this before. I may have since it has taken me quite some time to direct my efforts!
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/bank-of-america-too-crooked-to-fail-20120314
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/bank-of-america-too-crooked-to-fail-20120314
Monday, March 19, 2012
The Eternal Jewish Constant: The very disturbing news story out of France is chilling. I post it here and below. An attack by a Neanderthal in black clothing on a motorcycle killed THREE Jewish children including a three year old at a school. It is sickening as an attack on anyone's child would be.
Because this dastardly act took place in France it seems remote but to me NOTHING is remote when it comes to attacks anywhere upon the Jewish people as the Holocaust history of the six million dead Jews of Europe proves.
I hope warnings go out to all Jewish schools and preschools in this state and even around the nation that they must always be vigilant and take necessary precautions against defilement or violence. Sometimes, though, especially in this country where the Jewish people feel relatively safe from the Jewish experience in Europe, we could let down our guard. We should not. We should treat every act of anti-Semitism anywhere in the world as if it were perpetrated on a house or in the town next door!
http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/19/world/europe/france-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Because this dastardly act took place in France it seems remote but to me NOTHING is remote when it comes to attacks anywhere upon the Jewish people as the Holocaust history of the six million dead Jews of Europe proves.
I hope warnings go out to all Jewish schools and preschools in this state and even around the nation that they must always be vigilant and take necessary precautions against defilement or violence. Sometimes, though, especially in this country where the Jewish people feel relatively safe from the Jewish experience in Europe, we could let down our guard. We should not. We should treat every act of anti-Semitism anywhere in the world as if it were perpetrated on a house or in the town next door!
http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/19/world/europe/france-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Sunday, March 18, 2012
AARP Betrayal the TREASON of this century: I posted late last evening and did not do the best job of explaining what AARP may be doing surreptitiously to get cuts in Medicare and Social Security for their OWN greedy vile purposes so here is the link to the Huff Post story: See Here or go to:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/17/social-security-advocates-aarp_n_1355477.html#postComment
Let them KNOW you are on to them and let your Congresspersons know you are AGAINST Social Security and Medicare CUTS.
They do NOT need to be cut IF the 1% pay their fair share in their taxes they would not even feel. They are GREED personified. Social Security is solvent until 2037 and need NEVER be insolvent if our tax structure was equitable.
When I go into doctor's offices now I cannot BELIEVE all the seniors I see and incredulously to me am considered nearly one of them now. ALL those people or
most of them are being kept alive because they have Medicare. The conservative swine want to get rid of Medicare and replace it with vouchers you would have to buy from private insurance costing us exorbitant unfordable rates. As it is one must supplement Medicare anyway as it does not pay for everything as, of course it should! DO NOT LET THEM CUT MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY. Conservatives with their opposition to the president's Affordable Health Care Act spew utter LIES saying it would "kill granny" with death panels. If you really want to kill granny see how fast she dies with no Medicare.
Remember the 2000 campaign of the great Al Gore and his LOCK BOX for Social Security? Well, monies for Social Security and Medicare SHOULD be in there. Lock it in and throw away the key!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/17/social-security-advocates-aarp_n_1355477.html#postComment
Let them KNOW you are on to them and let your Congresspersons know you are AGAINST Social Security and Medicare CUTS.
They do NOT need to be cut IF the 1% pay their fair share in their taxes they would not even feel. They are GREED personified. Social Security is solvent until 2037 and need NEVER be insolvent if our tax structure was equitable.
When I go into doctor's offices now I cannot BELIEVE all the seniors I see and incredulously to me am considered nearly one of them now. ALL those people or
most of them are being kept alive because they have Medicare. The conservative swine want to get rid of Medicare and replace it with vouchers you would have to buy from private insurance costing us exorbitant unfordable rates. As it is one must supplement Medicare anyway as it does not pay for everything as, of course it should! DO NOT LET THEM CUT MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY. Conservatives with their opposition to the president's Affordable Health Care Act spew utter LIES saying it would "kill granny" with death panels. If you really want to kill granny see how fast she dies with no Medicare.
Remember the 2000 campaign of the great Al Gore and his LOCK BOX for Social Security? Well, monies for Social Security and Medicare SHOULD be in there. Lock it in and throw away the key!!
AARP and Medicare Betrayal: Just posted on Facebook AARP: See link here for the story of AARP's POSSIBLE BETRAYAL: LISTEN UP AARP.. and those looking at this wall KNOW what AARP is trying to do. The AARP CEO's probably are a part of the 1% and they are betraying the very membership they are SUPPOSED to be about -- Seniors. They are behind the scenes advocating for cuts to Medicare and Social Security so the Congress won't take it out of the hide of the 1% wealthiest by taxing them like they SHOULD be taxed and save Social Security and Medicare. These are LIFEBLOOD safety nets. MILLIONS are alive today because of them. AARP, listen up and listen good ...when the 99% rise up we get what we want..we did in the Komens sickening plot to take down Planned Parenthood and we are getting somewhere with the 99% movement AND now we will take on AARP.
I will give up my AARP membership faster than I swat a mosquito if they aid in cutting Medicare and Social Security. They are greedy betrayers of those they are supposed to serve. TELL THEM DO NOT CUT MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY. There is NO NEED to. Seniors, GET READY TO SCREAM LOUD AND CLEAR. WE will CUT AARP membership in an INSTANT and get ready to join that which takes the place of this rotten to the core organization who is BETRAYING YOU!
Tell AARP you are mad as hell and you won't take it. Hit them in THEIR pocketbook before they try to take away your life.
I will give up my AARP membership faster than I swat a mosquito if they aid in cutting Medicare and Social Security. They are greedy betrayers of those they are supposed to serve. TELL THEM DO NOT CUT MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY. There is NO NEED to. Seniors, GET READY TO SCREAM LOUD AND CLEAR. WE will CUT AARP membership in an INSTANT and get ready to join that which takes the place of this rotten to the core organization who is BETRAYING YOU!
Tell AARP you are mad as hell and you won't take it. Hit them in THEIR pocketbook before they try to take away your life.
Friday, March 16, 2012
A Letter to Bill O'Reilly--A response to something he blathered: Since when is the EXTREMIST right who watch Fox News AND you, Mr. O'Reilly, such democratic rational humanitarians?
No matter how you minimize MSNBC's impact and you spin whatever numbers you like it does not matter since no one questions you and those who do turn you off because they know they get nothing but lies and the spin of them.
MSNBC and Current too are the most excellent network commentary on the planet and whose broadcasters are unbelievably BRILLIANT.
Here is my day: Dylan Ratigan, Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, the GREAT Rachel Maddow, and the WONDERFUL Larry O'Donnell are a must. I tape them all and watch two on Current TV -- Cenk Uygar The Young Turks and OF COURSE Keith Olbermann. On the weekend I watch UP with Chris Hayes -- a genius and after him Melissa Harris Perry -- brilliant and beautiful. Her verbiage is as wonderful as she is gorgeous!
For comedy its John Stewart. If I had 1/2 of the intellect of all of those commentators I would be a genius! I have one feeling when I watch them -- ENVY. I WISH I could be as intellectually astute as they. Even their fill-ins like Ezra Kline is cerebral dynamite.
You, Bill O'Reilly and your fellow right wing extremist commentators are nothing in comparison to them. What MSNBC and Current commentators have in their proverbial little finger you do not have, yes, you guessed, in your entire body. You only WISH you did. What the heck you take the money from Fox and live like a king; the same as those for whom you advocate.
At LEAST those on MSNBC are on the side of the 99% and guess what? The election is going to be decided right there. I cannot WAIT for November. Despite Fox's financial gargantuan status, despite your mouth dripping with your millions, despite the king of Citizen's United Mitt Romney and despite those racists who hate Obama NOT because of what he is about but because of an ethic status he had no hand in creating, HE will be reelected and you know it since the Republican field is an embarrassing Ringling Brothers circus. You and your alleged minions -- those lovely rational people whose spokesman you allegedly are -- will either get on board our train or be left in the dust! Your majority is slipping fast and you know it which is why, sir, you are the vitriolic blatherer you are!
No matter how you minimize MSNBC's impact and you spin whatever numbers you like it does not matter since no one questions you and those who do turn you off because they know they get nothing but lies and the spin of them.
MSNBC and Current too are the most excellent network commentary on the planet and whose broadcasters are unbelievably BRILLIANT.
Here is my day: Dylan Ratigan, Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, the GREAT Rachel Maddow, and the WONDERFUL Larry O'Donnell are a must. I tape them all and watch two on Current TV -- Cenk Uygar The Young Turks and OF COURSE Keith Olbermann. On the weekend I watch UP with Chris Hayes -- a genius and after him Melissa Harris Perry -- brilliant and beautiful. Her verbiage is as wonderful as she is gorgeous!
For comedy its John Stewart. If I had 1/2 of the intellect of all of those commentators I would be a genius! I have one feeling when I watch them -- ENVY. I WISH I could be as intellectually astute as they. Even their fill-ins like Ezra Kline is cerebral dynamite.
You, Bill O'Reilly and your fellow right wing extremist commentators are nothing in comparison to them. What MSNBC and Current commentators have in their proverbial little finger you do not have, yes, you guessed, in your entire body. You only WISH you did. What the heck you take the money from Fox and live like a king; the same as those for whom you advocate.
At LEAST those on MSNBC are on the side of the 99% and guess what? The election is going to be decided right there. I cannot WAIT for November. Despite Fox's financial gargantuan status, despite your mouth dripping with your millions, despite the king of Citizen's United Mitt Romney and despite those racists who hate Obama NOT because of what he is about but because of an ethic status he had no hand in creating, HE will be reelected and you know it since the Republican field is an embarrassing Ringling Brothers circus. You and your alleged minions -- those lovely rational people whose spokesman you allegedly are -- will either get on board our train or be left in the dust! Your majority is slipping fast and you know it which is why, sir, you are the vitriolic blatherer you are!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
For your Reading Pleasure: Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi has written a very engaging article. I suspect PERHAPS someone at BOA has read it. I put the link for your review: It's called: Bank of America Too Crooked to Fail
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/bank-of-america-too-crooked-to-fail-20120314
Lovely story about the most damaging, corrupt, sickening, disgusting corporate behavior in the history of planet earth. Not only according to this article, in my opinion, are they a traitor to their own clients like a doctor subverting his own patient giving him a false well diagnosis when the patient has cancer BUT they are a traitor to the nation that gave them life. Throw in this bag ALL the politicians in Washington Republican and Democrat alike who have given them the green light as long as I am sure they STUFFED their coffers. Cute of BOA to put toxic instruments
in a small corner, blow them up, if they fail make oodles of cash from the FDIC insurance which WE the taxpayers give them or secure low interest loans at the bargain basement window no one else has access to and leave their clients in the street. SHAME on them. Didn't their mothers teach them ethics?
BOA should CLEAN UP THEIR ACT before they make Occupy Wall Street angrier than it already is. They and all their compatriots like Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and other Wall Street banksters nearly took the global economy down while they ate ALL the money we and their clients had to offer them when they fail. One would THINK it would make them nauseated to be SO stuffed. Well I can tell you it makes ME nauseated since its my and all taxpayers' money! For an interesting paragraph in the article that particularly grabbed me look below:
I continue to believe what MLK said: The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. I surely HOPE he was right.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/bank-of-america-too-crooked-to-fail-20120314
Lovely story about the most damaging, corrupt, sickening, disgusting corporate behavior in the history of planet earth. Not only according to this article, in my opinion, are they a traitor to their own clients like a doctor subverting his own patient giving him a false well diagnosis when the patient has cancer BUT they are a traitor to the nation that gave them life. Throw in this bag ALL the politicians in Washington Republican and Democrat alike who have given them the green light as long as I am sure they STUFFED their coffers. Cute of BOA to put toxic instruments
in a small corner, blow them up, if they fail make oodles of cash from the FDIC insurance which WE the taxpayers give them or secure low interest loans at the bargain basement window no one else has access to and leave their clients in the street. SHAME on them. Didn't their mothers teach them ethics?
BOA should CLEAN UP THEIR ACT before they make Occupy Wall Street angrier than it already is. They and all their compatriots like Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and other Wall Street banksters nearly took the global economy down while they ate ALL the money we and their clients had to offer them when they fail. One would THINK it would make them nauseated to be SO stuffed. Well I can tell you it makes ME nauseated since its my and all taxpayers' money! For an interesting paragraph in the article that particularly grabbed me look below:
Anyone who wants to know what the Occupy Wall Street protests are all about need only look at the way Bank of America does business. It comes down to this: These guys are some of the very biggest #$%^ on Earth. They lie, cheat and steal as reflexively as addicts, they laugh at people who are suffering and don't have money, they pay themselves huge salaries with money stolen from old people and taxpayers – and on top of it all, they completely suck at banking. And yet the state won't let them go out of business, no matter how much they deserve it, and it won't slap them in jail, no matter what crimes they commit. That makes them not bankers or capitalists, but a class of person that was never supposed to exist in America: royalty.
Self-appointed royalty, it's true – but just as dumb and inbred as the real thing, and every bit as expensive to support. Like all royals, they reached their position in society by being relentlessly dedicated to the cause of Bigness, Unaccountability and the Worthlessness of Others. And just like royals, they spend most of their lives getting deeper in debt, and laughing every year when our taxes go to covering their whist markers. Two and a half centuries after we kicked out the British, it's really come to this?
I continue to believe what MLK said: The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. I surely HOPE he was right.
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