Final Push This Weekend For Public Option Now Before Senate Finance Committee

Daily Kos has an excellent assessment of the life or death of the public option being considered by the the members of the Senate Finance Committee. A vote on the amendment that would include a public option in the committee's bill is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday. The Daily Kos post gives a rundown on the key pro and con Senators and who's votes will be needed for the public option to survive. Also provided are links to email or to call key blue dog Democrats who have been against or noncommittal on the public option. The final battle for the public option is more likely to occur in the Senate when a bill reaches the floor then in the house.

In recent days polls have been indicating that most Americans support the idea of a public option, even in the districts of many of the Blue Dogs who are not now supporting it. So the next three days are critical. NOW IS THE TIME TO EMAIL AND CALL THESE SENATORS.

If an amendment is approved by the Senate Finance Committee it would mean that all the health reform bills being considered by the Congress, both House and Senate, would include a form of a public option. Making the likelihood of it being part of any final health reform bill excellent.

How Will I-1033 Affect Washington's Economy?

Ask people in Colorado where a similar law had to be eventually repealed.



via" NO on I-1033

Number Of Americans Who Believe In Higher Power But Have No Religious Affiliation Grows

It's not surprising to me that surveys show that the number of Americans who believe in a higher power but are rejecting organized religions has grown. I personally am amongst that group. I've had it with organized religion long ago. I don't think I need to go into a litany of reasons. All I would offer is look around and you'll find that most of the conflict in the world in this day and age is rooted in fanatic or near fanatic organized religious dogma. I'm not just referring to Muslim extremists in some far away cave, but also to the American Christian Right, who also reject reason and fact, and helped indirectly to promote war in places like Iraq.

Hopefully I'm not throwing the baby out with the bath water. I also would add a caveat to the observation in that many organized religions provide hope and help to many who are in need. Both in a spiritual and corporal way. But quite often in my opinion organized religions involve themselves in areas of life in which they have no business, i.e. politics. They are so involved in converting people to their dogmatic causes and congregations that they fall into the thinking and trickery of thinking that their truth should be sold as the one and only truth or the only path to salvation.

The belief in Deism , which this new spiritual thinking is associated with is not new, but the interesting aspect is that it was thought to have been something that had enjoyed its peak in popularity long ago. In fact it was popular belief system with Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers of this county. Apparently this new group of people, known as "nones", is growing. It's currently estimated to represent about 15% of the US population. If true it represents a group that is larger then most of the major denominations of the well known American organized religions.

Majority of Americans Support Public Option And The Myth Of Need For 60 Votes In Senate

Democracy for America's and Governor Howard Dean provide several surveys that show Americans support the public option. They also explain that 60 votes may not be necessary to pass reform. How does your Representatives and Senators stand on the pubic option? Click here to find out.

FOX News Turns Jim McDermott Into Republican

Fox News turns ultra liberal Congressman Jim McDermott (WA-7) into Republican when they think it will serve their purpose of misrepresenting who gets credit for unemployment insurance extension bill now being considered by congress.


via: crooks and liars

"You can't complain about healthcare reform if you're not willing to reform your own health"

Bill Maher can be rather snobby, rude and condescending sometimes, but more often then not he hits the nail right on the head with his non PC reflections on the issues. Maher is a master of saying things that need to be said in a rather uninhibited strait forward matter of fact way.

His new rule on healthcare reform "You can't complain about healthcare reform if you're not willing to reform your own health", is one of those times he points out the elephant in the room that none of our political leaders seems to be talking about when it comes to American health issues and healthcare reform. I think I hear more about this from talking heads on the right then on the left. Except maybe the ditto heads use it for an excuse for not reforming healthcare more then as what it really should be, a value added aspect of overall reform of the healthcare system and our eating habits.

Whether it's all the fat teabaggers mostly from down south who have the highest rates of obesity going because of overly fat diets and eating habits, smoking or the general lack of exercise in America generally, we are not a very healthy country period. I recently started smoking again even though I knew full well that not smoking is the number one way to prevent a number of major causes for eventual death. So forgive me for the pot calling the kettle black here. But, of course, I'm about to quit.

I work as a volunteer at the VA and one of the things you notice if you pay attention is the VA is very concerned about obesity, smoking, lack of exercise, and diet. As one of the major health delivery systems in the country they realize by encouraging patients to live a healthier lifestyle they also keep the enormous cost of any eventual treatment down. Which makes them one of the most efficient delivery systems in the country.

Maher criticizes Obama for picking a "fat" surgeon general. Or for not getting out front on issues like taxing soft drinks. It would make sense to me if you tax booze and cigarettes then you should tax the shit out of all the other things that lead to obesity and health problems. Maybe the money raised could help pay the way for healthcare reform. Seems logical. But have you seen the laughable ads already being broadcast and paid for by the soda pop industry? How about getting rid of corn syrup for starters? Here's a transcript:

"Now, President Obama has identified most of the problems with the healthcare system, but there's one tiny issue he refuses to tackle. And that's our actual health. And since Americans can only be prodded into doing something with money, we need to tax crappy foods that make us sick -- like we do with cigarettes, and like we do with alcohol. And alcohol actually serves a useful function in society, in that it enables unattractive people to get laid, which is certainly more than I can say for Skittles.

Now, I'm not saying we tax all soda, but certainly any single serving of soda larger than a baby. If you don't know whether you burp it or it burps you, that's too big.

We need to make taking care of ourselves an issue of patriotism. And if you are someone who condemned Bush for not asking Americans to sacrifice for the war on terror, sorry, but the same must be said for Obama and healthcare.

The president has already made it clear, there'll be no "sin tax" on food on his watch. And at a time when it's important to set new standards for personal responsibility, he appointed a surgeon general who is fat". I'm sorry real fat. Certainly too heavy to be a surgeon general. You know, it's a role model thing. It would be like appointing a Secretary of the Treasury who didn't pay his taxes. Oh, he did? He did. My bad.

And get this: our new surgeon general, Regina Benjamin, had previously been a nutritional advisor to Burger King. Which sells something called an "Angry Whopper Triple" that has 1,300 calories and 91 grams of fat. The only advice a health expert should give Burger King is to stop selling food.

The nutritional adviser job was described as, get this, "promoting balanced diets and active lifestyle choices." And who better to do that than the folks who hand you meat and corn syrup through a car window?

You know, when you have a surgeon general who comes from Burger King, it's a message to lobbyists. And that message is: "Have it your way."

Evangelical Sub Culture And Racism Drive Wacko Right-Wing Protest?

I like Frank Schaeffer especially because he is highly disliked by right-wing nut-balls and teabaggers. Their hatred stems from his continuing exposure of what maybe really underlying the nut-job arguments and what is driving the increase in dingbatism within the Republican Party.

So the protesters really aren't interested in protesting an alleged bad policy. Their anger and philosophy is based in evangelical Christian end times, crank religious dogma, anti secular, pro life extremist movement beliefs mixed with lots of old school institutionalized racism. More often than not this philosophy rejects fact, science and reason and even, I would argue, the teachings of Jesus himself.

The Party Of No's Favorite Movie Trailer

Don't act, think, of do anything every. Because!

Mary Travers Remembered

The stunningly beautiful Mary Travers of sixties folk revival hit group Peter Paul & Mary died Wednesday. The acoustic nature, harmonies and music may seem a bit corny to the uneducated but this group had a wide influence on the folk music renaissance and the success of contemporaries like Bob Dylan and many others. The idealism of the music and it's themes of social justice were at the heart of the coming social revolution.

5th CD Republican Kathy McMorris Promotes New Wingnut Claim "Disabled Kids Death Panels"

I grew up in Washington and it embarrasses me every time I think that no nothing a-holes like Cathy McMorris-Rogers and Doc Hastings are actually representing this state in Congress. My kids call me from back East and complain because they thought Washington was a blue state.

McMorris-Rogers jumps on Republican health reform bullshit spreader with this wack job like doozy. "Republicans warn of rationing for disabled children". Here's a taste.....

"McMorris-Rodgers could not point to any specific language in the legislation currently before Congress that would deny health care to disabled children, but she said she and the families were worried that a government-run health insurance plan would give power to a government bureaucrat who would be able to decide whether or not "certain procedures or certain devices" would be covered for individuals. The independent fact-checker PolitiFact wrote last month that there "is no panel in any version of the health care bills in Congress that judges a person's 'level of productivity in society' to determine whether they are 'worthy' of health care."

Rachel Maddow had a segment about this story on her show on MSNBC tonight where McMorris is making an ass out of herself while standing on the steps of the nation's capitol doing a her version of a Michele Bachmann imitation attempting to spread this lie. Fact: Government run SCHIP and Medicaid programs provide health coverage for all children now. So I guess McMorris is against that since some bureaucrat is getting between the kids coverage and their doctor's right to send them before these new socialistic nazi kids death panels.

We Should Shapoopi The Health Care Debate Narrative

I think that Vern Fonk should be hired to do the ads for health care reform. The nearly always hilarious Fonk ads may appeal to the simple minded on the right by keeping it funny and yes, simple. Just close your eyes and imagine what Fonk could come up with to sell the public option or employer mandate.

My Letter To Senator Max Baucas

Dear Senator,

When your old and gray and no longer a Senator, I hope, and your sitting on your porch enjoying the sunset I hope this thought comes to you.

By your complete capitulation to the corporate powers in the health insurance industry you will literally be responsible for the deaths of many ordinary folks long before their time. Furthermore you will have literally taken bread out of the mouths of the children of working people all over this country. In addition, your actions will have helped destroy the trust that Americans should have in the process and justice of government.

Your a gutless tool of corporate America. All their money and favors are not going to change that, because you have decided that your ego and apparently your lust for power, money and your beloved Senate seat are more important to you than the general welfare of this nation or it's people. Your a disgusting phony who I will work to defeat in any election where your name is on the ballot even if I have to drive 1000 miles to do it.

In the end you will have to live with this personal failure on your conscience knowing that you have sold out the vary people who put you in power in the first place, including the weak, the powerless, and those without a voice who long for someone who will bring justice to them. As the President said, this is a moral issue, not some backroom corporate sham or deal like you apparently have made it.

After all these months of fighting for health reform, and after all your stalling only to benefit the powerful, you have deliver a bill that will actually do nothing to protect working people or make the insurance industry honest. In fact it will make them even more powerful and greedy. There's a Woody Guthrie song where the lyric goes. “some people rob your with a gun some people rob you with their pen”. You, of course are in the category of hold-up men who are doing the latter.

It's funny how these right wing and corporate types are always yelling for competition except when they are the ones who are expected to compete. Your bill does nothing really to control the cost of health insurance and its burden on American families. Instead it will make your allies in the insurance industry, who have apparently bought and sold you, even more embolden to rob, and yes, kill people. Don't try to put lipstick on this pig either, because you will fool no one really except the ignorant.

But you know what going on Max don’t you? Maybe not...

I will be sure to tell my children that if your bill or anything similar to it passes as health insurance reform that the blame for the sham and complete sellout should be directed at Montana Senator Max Baucus. Furthermore, I hope your branded with a reputation for failure and selling out working people for the rest of your life. If you came to my home I’d throw you out into the street with the rest of the rife-raft and con-men. You’ve disgrace your state, a state I’ll have you know where my grandmother was born and once had a history of caring about protecting the welfare of working class people. How times have changed.

In the final analysis it's not about you or your power or Montana or even your Senate seat after all Senator. It's about having the courage and backbone to do what's right when the political going gets tough. People like you are seldom remembered in history because really you stand for nothing except your own self-aggrandizement.

So thanks for nothing! Hope the millions in corporate contributions make you happy.

Daniel O'Brien
Vashon, WA

p.s. I urge you to also contact Senator Baucas by clicking here.

New Website: Bombard Baucus!

A simple way to access information for contacting health care reform obstructing Blue Dog Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee including Fax Max Baucus, Ben Nelson, and Ken Conrad.  Call their office today and tell them to stop blocking health reform and the public option. Tell you friends.

Robert Reich's Straight Forward Short Video Explaining The Public Option

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich's gives us a concise video where he explains the public option and a need for your involvement in the fight for reform NOW.  That would be right NOW.

My Blog Post That America Blog Editors Didn't Want You To See

The other day I wrote a blog post based on the premise that the blogosphere is somewhat overly gay-centric. The thinking is that many major gay bloggers are in a snit over the failure of Obama to move legislation dealing with gay civil rights forward quickly enough, and this bad feeling has spilled over into a general bashing of the President for anything they perceive as failure or lack of leadership by the White House on other major issues of the day. Apparently. an observation that Im not alone in wondering about after seeing this post on Open Left this morning.

I posted a comment on a America Blog story that was bashing the president one more time with a link to my blog story. My comments were subsequently removed and are now lost forever.  I believe it is because the people at America Blog didn't like what I was saying in the linked blog post not the comment itself because it didn't agree with their views or hit a little close to the heart. I realize that it's their blog and they can accept or delete whatever comments they wish. They accused me of bashing the editor John Araviosis and only posting a link to my blog to gain traffic. Two things I deny. I think it was rather heavy handed given that the thrust of my post and link was on point with their story and what could be their possible motivation for their continued slamming of Obama.

Update: Found the comment posted under my facebook username Ricky Cresciend'o that started the brouhaha:

"Ricky wrote a comment on AMERICAblog via DISQUS: "Mr. Aravosis could you please stop bashing the President. The has become more then just worthwhile or productive criticism. It actually helps Republicans and in the end you will get nothing accomplished that improves the situation. For more of my opinion about what's really going on here please reference: http://artistdogboy.blogspot.com/2009/09/does-gay-centric-blogosphere-exist-and.html"

As you can see although my comments were blunt they were far from anything over the top in my opinion. My complaining has now got me blocked from posting any further comments..... on America Blog. I think I'll slit my wrists, not.

What If Everyones Wrong And Substantial Health Care Reform Is At Hand

The left is in a snit over the possibility of no public option. The right hopes the summer of teabagging the health care town halls has won the day. But what if both are completely wrong. What if substantial reform of health care is really on the doorstep and the overly partisan forces on both sides have only been yelling at each other from inside their respective echo chambers?

President Doesn't Back Off Public Option In Labor Day Speech

In spite of all the negative chatter about the President dumping the public option when it comes to health care reform. It didn't sound that way in his Labor Day speech at a Cincinnati Labor Day rally today. To quote the President, "I continue to believe that a public option within that basket of insurance choices will help improve quality and bring down costs".

Does The Gay-Centric Blogosphere Exist And Has It Had It With Obama?

Lately you can hardly find a major left leaning blog that’s not busy bashing President Obama. Whether it’s calling him a wuss for allowing the narrative on the Health care debate along with the so call public option to go off the rails or for his failing to immediately address and deal with LGBT community poster child issues of don’t ask don’t tell and gay marriage civil rights.

Only six months ago everyone on the left was totally ecstatic about the election results. It was the dawning of a new era of change. Maybe Obama raised our sights to high with his lofty rhetoric or made promises that in reality were not achievable even within his first term, given the unseen and now well known failures by the Democratic Party’s new control of Congress. Congress’s failures are not necessarily the responsibility of the President I would argue. So, In other words thank Senator Baucus and Harry Reid if the public option fails, don’t blame Obama.

America Blog’s openly gay John Araviosis was posting so much on gay issues, especially DADT and gay marriage civil rights, he had to create a separate blog just so the flagship blog would be actually reporting on anything else. Now a day doesn’t go by without Aravosis in someway slamming Obama as incompetent or worse. Why so much venom? There is something else going on here. It’s not politically correct and the elephant in the room and surely I will be thought of as a dick for saying this. But, is there a gay-centric bias prevalent in the lefty blogosphere and media, and is it fed up with Obama because of its disappointment with him over not addressing gay-centric political issues? Has this spilled over into a general tendency by these pundits to trash the President whenever the going gets tough on other major political initiatives?

By this I mean that often issues that involve gay rights appear to be getting more attention then other major issues of the day that are systemically more important when it comes to setting national priorities for change and for the continued vitality of our republic. Are LGBT civil rights issues, although vitality important, as important as many leading bloggers, pundits, and major media types think they are when compared to issues that more directly effect everybody else in society. If tomorrow you had the power to choose between health care reform and repealing don’t ask don’t tell, which would you choose? You can only pick one. Ending the war in Afghanistan or passing laws creating marital civil rights equality for gays?

These are in effect the types of priority battles that the President must choose to take on each day.

Dare I say that I believe what’s at the heart of this negativity is not so much disapproval or the lack of clarity coming from the White House on the major issues of the day. But, rather I think what’s at the heart of this disappointment is a gay-centric blogosphere and liberal media with a axe to grind. The sentiment and thinking I believe is based on a belief that because the President has not immediately and decisively moved gay civil rights issues to the head of the line, where the LGBT believe they belong, he is suddenly not the same Barack Obama they remember electing. Because of this thinking there is a tangible snit going on. There is the tendency to avoid looking at the bigger picture, and a backlash of negativity and even talk of a failed presidency, and this after only 9 months in office.

Gay bloggers, writers and media pundits are pissed about the lack of action on issues they hold dear and I think this is clouding much of their thinking about the President’s progress and priorities or lack of it in general. I think gay influence on the blogosphere and media is real and profound. I also think it’s good except when it effects your overall vision of the world and fails to realize that most of the world is not gay and arguable not seeing every issue based on the personal experience of being gay.

So is the President misguided for not championing major LGBT community issues and giving them top priority? It is not he alone that governs after all. He has an indecisive, muddled and Reid and Pelosi led Congress to convince and like someone said, “it’s like being Michael Jordan on a bad team”. So he must pick his battles carefully no matter how righteous the cause may seem to you personally. If anything the attacks should be aimed at the Congress not the White House. This nonsense of calling the president incompetent only emboldens the Republicans and weakens progressives in the end. As important as LGBT concerns about civil rights are they simply do not out weigh the need for other major initiatives in the long list of national priorities.

How soon we forget the past and how counterproductive this type of mind set becomes will be important in the immediate future in determining what type of government we get in the end under Barack Obama. Obama inherited a complete mess and here we are only 9 months down the road and people are acting like nothing has been accomplished. Much of this negativity I believe is centered in the above mention disappointment over the fact that Obama did not on his first day in office strike down all laws, and institutions that affront gay rights. A power he doesn’t really possess individually. You can also blame it on short-term memory loss and the all American spoiled need nowadays for instant gratification.

In the end I believe that gay civil rights issues will by address by the President to the general satisfaction of all those concerned about these inequities. His inability to do so now will be forgotten. In the mean time lets get our priorities strait and stop unfairly blaming him for everything that's wrong with the process.

Jackson Brown's Tribute to Harry Bridges

From the PBS special From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks. The story of Harry Bridges and the ILWU

My Ode To Labor Day Save The Economy By Buying Shit You Don't Really Need Made By Slave Labor

One of the major reasons we are in a protracted and recurring economic downturn is that we don't really make anything in this country anymore. All those union wage manufacturing jobs got shipped off to China, Mexico or some other free market third world country. Some American home grown capitalist who's commercial makes you all warm and fussy about being American and who use to make things here can now make even bigger and more scandalous profits on the backs of the powerless workers in the many sweat shops of the world, just to sell it back to you here in la la land. Along with the jobs goes the flow of capital to the corporate masters and governments of other countries while America is left swimming in debt.

It may not be as simple as just creating more manufacturing jobs again, though. As the Springsteen song Your Hometown says,"these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back". But working people can certainly demand better wages and working conditions which can give them more buying power which will increase consumer spending which will lift the economy. The labor movement can play a major role in the recover. That's why the proposals like The Employees Free Choice Act could be crucial in creating an atmosphere where workers can be on a level playing field with employers should they wish to join a union. Paul Krugman made this point in a open letter to the President in January citing approval of card check and real health care reform as crucial to a overall plan for economic recovery.

You don't see it that way I know. You think that it's neat that most of the wealth in this country is concentrated among a relatively small number of rich people. Leaving only the income crumbs for the rest of the workers who, by the way, produce that wealth in their be thankful you have a job, job. It's all the better that way to keep you from complaining about it. Thinking all the time that somehow your going to be the one that breaks the mold. Maybe that could happen if we realized they have more in common with the working class then chasing a delusional dream that I'm better then being just working class.

Rather snobbish and condescending I'd say. This of course flies in the face of the belief that either your a person who is working class and therefore the real salt of the earth one who makes their living with dignity and honor or a your a moron who has no initiative. Common corporate induced stereotypical propaganda themes. It's not enough to be contently producing wealth for oneself, your family and the boss. Isn't it a truism that material possessions have little to do with real happiness in an enlightened society. So what's the point in compiling lots of stuff anyway?

Making people think there's a simple or less effortless way to be happy is the key to the man keeping you in the everlasting mode to buy cheap shit that you don't really need that has a 9 out of 10 chance that it was made in China or Mexico by some poor stiff who's working for close to slave labor wages. The false belief is that there's no actual work involved, it's just a matter of finding the silver bullet short cut to a wonderful life that awaits for those without love handles or labor union membership.

Okay you go to Walmart, who's reputation for exploiting their workers is well documented, because you can't figure out that your caught up in the wasteland lifestyle that is an American in bred tendency of not giving a shit about the long term effect of your misguided consumerism or how it effects other workers in this world.

Still in that dead end job? That's the plan that someone forgot to explain to you when you bought hook line and sinker that American dream. Your in debt up to your eyebrows beholden to the credit card industry or your bank and looking for some way to forget. They've got you right where they want you. Broke, desperate, demoralized, and driven by fear. How much more of a capitalistic whore can you be? Shopping for cheap shit to get that temporary endorphin rush hoping it fills that empty spiritual hole in your freaking soul that you don't realize or deny even exists, and I'm not talking about the corrupt spirituality of organize religion here.

Well, at least if your going to work in a job you don't really like you deserve fair paid, real health insurance reform, better working conditions, a secure retirement and lots of time off to workout with your thigh master or to buy more unneeded crap. Maybe you should considering joining a union which may be the ticket to all that plus regaining your dignity while helping the economy and showing some solidarity with other workers in this world. Most of us are in the same boat after all.

O'Reilly The Ugly American Idiot Blowhard Trashes Amsterdam

Bill O'Reilly once again proves he's a moron. This is a common problem with many Americans. Being morons, they criticize European culture but have no direct experience gained by actually living or visiting there.

The truth is most European Union nations, and Canada next door, have social and government institutions that are superior to those provided in most of the US. Let's take crime rates, health care, environmental protection, education, a strong social safety net, and even the success of the so called nuclear family unit. I like the quote O'Reilly spouts, "the way they do statistics in the Netherlands is different", when one of the Fox News blond bimbo talking heads presents statistical feedback that he maybe fucking wrong.

Must See Bill Maher Interviews Bill Moyer On Health Reform

Bill Moyer can articulate the issue of health care reform better then most. The interview from Bill Maher's Real Time Show last Friday is compelling and informative.

All The Kings Men

I remember sitting on the floor of my Uncle's house on his farm just outside CleElum, WA on the summer night in 1960 when John F Kennedy was nominated by the Democratic Party to be their presidential candidate. As a rather impressionable 13 year old Irish Catholic boy I considered it quite a moment in time. We rarely were allowed to watch Television. So it was special. My Uncle, an Italian, was an Eastern Washington farmer, gypo-logger and a Democrat. A rare find in Eastern WA today.

Many of my ilk didn't believe it could happen then. But the Kennedy guile made Catholics and especially those who considered themselves mostly Irish proud of our heritage. A heritage, I may add, that was the backbone of the American Labor movement, and gave us many of the social reforms and protections working class people take for granted today in America. The Kennedy brothers were a extension of that progress.

This was the begining of the Kennedy brothers long legacy in American politics. Although the Kennedy's were imperfect, rich and mortal most of the time they were also champions for weak, poor and the working class. Their idealism, oratory, and wit inspired us. With the passing of Teddy today the final Kennedy brother of that generation is now gone. Teddy had his flaws, his boozing, his womanizing, but he still seemed to never forget that he was an important voice for the middle class, the common folk and the vulnerable everywhere. I think in many ways the Kennedy's imperfections and their absolute zeal for living is what endeared them to many Americans. People recognized in the Kennedys their own imperfections and most reasonable people often forgave the brothers for theirs.

Like his brothers before him, Edward Kennedy fought for civil and human rights, dignity for all, and organized labor and he especially fought for health care reform. A battle he lead for nearly 49 years. It is too bad that he will not be here with us to see that chapter in his life successfully completed. But, maybe his passing will become the impetus or spark that will make enough people and their representatives realize that real health care reform's time has come in this nation in spite of the demagoguery and lies of the Republican Party, their corporate numskulls or the loony of the radical right.

National Sick Out For Heath Care Reform October 9th

Is the health care reform debate making you sick?. Then call in sick on October 9th to show your support for health care reform and a viable public option.

This is my attempt to start a grass roots based action that will give people a vehicle to show that they are sick of insurance companies and their duped politicians and crazies controlling the debate. I believe the majority of Americans support health reform with a strong and viable public option, but they feel somewhat impotent about what to do about it. This could be their chance.

I need your help spreading the word. Post this link to your facebook, myspace or twitter account. Lets show the health insurance industry that we mean business with a national day of action.

Here is the website I've just put up.

Danny O'Brien

What The Hell Are We Doing In Afghanistan?

I think many on the left have a sinking feeling about America's present strategy in Afghanistan. This Robert Greenwald film does little to quell that feeling. Maybe it's time for a reboot before we escalate the situation into another American nightmare.

I'm A Jeffersonian Asshole

How many crazy town talking points does it take to make you a twit.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sarah Here's A Reality Check On Health Insurance Reform

The white house new website with some great videos addressing the major wingnut myths about health insurance reform.

It’s Time To Put Nick Licata Out To Pasture

He maybe the sweetheart of the fussy, knee jerk echo chamber occupying artsy-fartsy lefties and to the hipster writers at the SLOG who cream their jeans all over their computers at the thought of their champion. Apparently they support Licata’s feeling groovy ideology rather then for any known major civic accomplishment over the last 11 years. Most of Nick's accomplishment tend to be a subtraction rather then a addition to the vitality of the city I think.

He’s well meaning and probably a real nice guy, but its time to put Nick Licata’s parochial, vision less obstructionism and phony political posturing on the Seattle City Council to an end. 12 years of keeping Seattle from being visionary or obstructing meaningful progress and projects whenever he can should be enough.

Change is good people! Especially in a city known for taking as much time as possible to get anything meaningful done, also known as the Seattle process. At the center of that process stands one Nick Licata, chief civic bullshitter and mouse milker.

Licata said it himself in 1989 when he pushed for a two-term limit for City Council members. Believing at the time that allowing 3 terms would produce bored, lazy and unimaginative lawmakers. Well I don’t know about the bored or lazy part, but Licata has nailed the unimaginative part almost every time some big challenge or issue faces the city. It's just say no Nick. That’s fine if you want to live in Hicksville, but it doesn’t pay the rent if you want to act and be a metropolitan worldly world-class city.

Let’s look at some of the record. Licata fought light rail in favor of buses. He favored the reconstruction of a new even bigger monstrosity of a viaduct. He opposed the Mariners and Seahawks stadiums, now both successes. While president of the Council he opposed the Olympic Games 2012 bid, effectively helping to kill it. Meanwhile Vancouver, BC will welcome millions in tourist dollars next year by staging the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Much of the money Vancouver is getting to underwrite and build for their games will be Canadian federal funds that will leave long term civic infrastructure improvements once the games leave. As it was in Salt Lake City when they hosted the winter Olympics. But Licata didn't see that opportunity when Seattle wanted to step up to the plate. Instead, he wanted to ban circus animals from the city limits in a classic snobby, condescending, example of social engineering and overreach of his role. He led the charge that drove the Sonics to Oklahoma City. Hey basketball and NCAA tournament fans remember that? I only hope you remember to vote on August 18th.

Licata has done some good things. He been a advocate for the homeless, housing and supporting the arts. But I just don't think his record warrants making him practically a Seattle City Council member for life.

Many think driving the Sonics out was a good thing. The effect of their loss on the city will be “next to zero” Licata told Sports Illustrated at the time of the debate. Well tell that to the merchants, nightclub operators or their former employees on lower Queen Anne, or to basketball fans. Not to mention the potential lost tax revenue and the harm it did to the city in the way of our image as a city that could get and keep it’s shit together enough to save the franchise.

He opposed the SLUT streetcar saying it only benefited Paul Allen. He is often anti-business in favor of elements of the community that are consumers rather then those that produce jobs and business tax revenue. There has to be a balance for a city to be viable folks. We don’t need a Council full of members who are forever caught up only in their own tired mostly anti-business ideology, a Licata specialty, because you won't have a place to freaking work and earn a living people.

But, the most annoying thing about Licata is his penchant for posturing and obstructing on an issue up until he sees that it’s politically advantages to flip flop. Usually after irreparable damage has been done. This was especially evident on the viaduct replacement and transit issues. Licata often supports the status quo or is seldom for something, just mostly against. His positions and policies seemed like they are aimed at returning Seattle permanently to Podunkville. It’s time we had some different and hopefully visionary leadership on the council. Seattle could be a player not a city known for not being able to get big things done as it has become with Licata muddling up the works.

My endorsement goes to Jessie Israel because I think she's the best of the two candidates running for his seat, and I think the effect of loss of Licata will be as he himself put it, “next to zero”.

Note: Licata is opposed in the August 18th primary for City Council position 6 by King County Parks Manager Jessie Israel and Architect Marty Kaplan.

Crazy for God Author On Town Hall Hooligans... "The Election Broke Their Brains"

The video below I think this is one of the most precise and insightful interviews I seen on TV about what is going on behind the hooliganism and violence we see at town halls across the country and what part talk radio and to a certain extent the religious right are playing.

It's a violence prone and dangerous gambit.

He points out the people showing up at the meetings are white people who are not well informed or educated who have bought into the lies about the health care system and reform. "The election broke their brains". The people showing up and closing down any real discussion are mainly pawns in a elaborate right wing game. Many of them have been dupped into doing something that isn't good for their own personal interest.

Appearing on Rachel Maddow show on Friday Frank Schaeffer, a co-founder with his father Francis Schaeffer of the modern evangelical movement and author of the best seller Crazy for God, stresses that the right has crossed the line by associating Obama with Hitler.

They are "un-American, and want the country to fail." He also points out that he thinks the right wing talkers like Beck and Limbaugh and others are "bad Americans" who are, "leaving a loaded gun on the table and saying the first person who comes along who wants to use this, be our guest". Schaeffer denounces the right for fermenting hatred and facilitating the phony rage and shout down battles that block the real debate on health care reform policies. Their goal is only to stop reform. It's not really about reform of the health care system at all but a violence promoting attempt to maintain the power of the insurance companies and health industry.

Ironically, he believes the tactics used by the right and the corporate backers of the hooligans are akin to the brown shirts of Nazi Germany. A minority who used many of the same tricks to break up popular political meetings and suppress dissent in Germany in the late 1930's. It's the pot calling the kettle black.

Jewish Groups Don't Like Conservatives Comparing Obama's Policy Agenda to Hitler's

Jews should know. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and a few other crackpots new wrinkle the last couple of days is trying to sell the half baked conspiracy theory to their ignorant hardcore listeners that somehow health care reform and other Obama policies amount to some new form of the Third Reich's National Socialism.

What the fuck does reforming the health care system, lowering the cost of coverage or saving the economy have to do with Hitler? Answer is nothing. If nothing else Obama's policies are more centrist and mainstream American then most on the left would like to see. Limbaugh and Beck like to prey on the misinformed masses out there in an effort to improve their ratings and feed their egos. Much of this crap is far off point of course, but it muddles or blocks the real debate. In the fifties it was the commies are coming to get us. Now our brains are being taken over by some unseen Nazi agenda to place computer chips in your soon to be ethanized granny's head.

White House Fires Back At Drudge False Claims On Health Care

The White House, is responding to a misleading and out of context Drudge Report linked video that catches Obama in 2003, that's six years ago, talking about how he would favor a single payer plan. Well good for him I'd say. But to the wingnuts it just more fuel for the socialist conspiracy mind meld takeover bullshit.

The rebuttal features Linda Douglass, formerly an ABC News correspondent and now a White House official, showing Drudge’s homepage on the screen of her office computer.

Keith Olbermann On Why Some In Congress Are Selling You Down The River On Health Care Reform

It's a battle to the death people.... I know this has been posted lots of places, but it just too good not to get posted one more in hopes that someone who may not of seen it, will.

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Teabagging The Townhall Healthcare Reform Comics

click on image to enlarge

I hope Norman Rockwell and FDR will forgive me.

Saturday...

Tron Legacy

This Is The Type Of Health Care Rhetoric Obama Should Of Used At His Press Conference

The video below could be the first real salvo in the fight that is coming for real health care reform in America. Obama's new video from organizing for America raises the rhetorical bar to that of a full fledged political campaign.

The recent delays in Congressional committees have been interpreted by the main stream press as a victory for the forces of status quo, the insurance and health industry forces who want to kill any real reform. In fact that is how they killed it in 1994. It buys them more time to demonize reform and run millions of dollars in anti-reform ads hoping to only confuse us more. They think that the devil we know is better then the devil we don't know.

I am reasonably sure that the President knew this could or would happen and is now ready to take them on using the same tactics that got him elected president in the first place. Taking the message to the people outside the other Washington and framing it into a higher and more compelling goal.

Most pundits I've heard gave Obama low marks on his recent health care presser. He was like a college professor trying to explain the inside baseball aspects of the particular parts of what reform of health care would really look like. Unfortunately many Americans probably grabbed the clicker and switched over to shit for brains Glen Beck. Then of course, the presentation went completely south when it got sidetracked on the Gates arrest media feeding frenzy thing.

I think most Americans with a brain realize that health care needs reforming, but get lost when you get into he weeds with them on the details. This latest video I think returns the debate to a level that most Americans will better understand.

Are you ready to join in the fight? Because if your not health care reform it probably a goner. Just freaking die.

Blue Dog Ben Nelson Is A Douche Bag

So called Blue Dog Democratic Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska is a real douche bag for sure, but I guess he's our douche bag. Which makes it even worse. He got over 2 million from health and insurance company special interest in contributions and now he's delaying real health care reform. Delay only works in the favor of the people who want to maintain the status quo. Send Ben a message and ask him what side he's on, the insurance companies or the working people?

Public Options Already Exists And Works Better Than Private

My mom gets treatment under medicare and I got my cancer successfully treated at the VA.

Both of us receive higher quality treatment then many in the private sector. That's if your actually covered under your expensive private insurance since insurance companies are liable to drop you if they think your illness costs too much to cure.

The truth is and studies show that programs like medicare and the VA provides coverage more efficiently and for less to millions than does the private sector. Most increasess in medicare cost are due to the rising cost of providing medical coverage with a broken system. The VA system is considered one of the most efficient and quality systems in the country by experts. Both are of course public systems provided by the government and are a glimpse of what the public option could be.

Wake up people. and start learning the truth about public health care not just Republican and corporate lies.

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Boycott Montana

If Senator Baucus from Montana, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and insurance and drug company butt boy, manages to remove the public option from health care reform legislation I won't be visiting Montana any time soon to spend my tourist dollars.

I move you join me and send a message to Baucus that we will boycott his state if he sells us out to the insurance and drug companies with his so call bi-partisan compromise. My ass.

Call Baucus and tell him if the public option is off the table so is his state. Simply call the number and tell whoever answers you have a message for the Senator that your boycotting his state, since he more interested in protecting the insurance and drug companies then the working people. Here's the phone numbers.

Washington, D.C. 20510
511 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
(202) 224-2651(Office)
(202) 224-9412 (Fax)

Missoula
280 E. Front St.
Suite 100 Missoula, MT 59802
406) 329-3123

Send The Blue Dogs Blocking Heathcare Reform A Message Now

Take action send a message to the gang of 6 blocking real health care reform.

Have you heard about the six senators who are out to kill health care reform. Of course, that's not how they'd phrase it. Sens. Baucus, Bingaman, Conrad, Enzi, Grassley and Snowe say they're striving for "bi-partisan compromise." But what they're actually doing is working to make sure reform won't include a public option or mandatory employer-based insurance - two key policies needed for effective reform.

There are 100 members of the Senate, but these six, inexplicably, seem to be holding all the cards when it comes to health care. So you probably won't be surprised to learn that all six have taken a huge amount of money from the health insurance industry and pharma.

via: credo action

Tweet Congress About Heathcare Reform Now

If you have a twitter account or want to create one then you can now tweet your lawmaker in Congress directly and tell them to support health care. Use the message composed already or write your own. Tell them to pass healthcare reform now and stop stalling. 60 years of waiting is enough.

WA Reichert and McMorris Defend Birthers

This is pretty good stuff. Firedoglake sent a reporter to Washington, DC to pin down suspected birther supporting members of Congress on just how they stood on the birther issue. Representative McMorris R 5th and Reichert R 8th of WA look pretty stupid defending this shit. McMorris is really not that surprising, we know she's a wingnut, but do the mostly well educated moderate folks in the 8th district know Reichert is propagating this crap.

Harvard Professor Failed Personality Test

Working as I did as a municipal court clerk for more then 25 years in Seattle, I saw my fair share of criminal cases come before the court that also involved police officers having to deal with unruly or abusive citizens or visa versa. Dealing with unruly officers is a story we all have some experience with.

When it comes to the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Gates, that we are all learning more about each day because of the involvement of the President who apparently saw the incident as a teaching moment when asked the question about it in a nationally televised press conference, police and legal profession types have often referred to such a arrest in the classic legal system slang as the citizen who, “failed the personality test”.

What it usually involves is a unruly, drunk or disrespectful citizen/suspect who’s verbal abuse of officers, or other high jinks have given way inevitably to a form of police abuse of power and retribution the cops jokingly call the failure to pass the personality test.

The Gate’s case I think is a classic example.

Often officers will end up more or less throwing the book at the abusive disrespectful person, and taking him to jail for what maybe considered normally minor or chippie violations of the law. The defendant ends up spending the night in jail and having to deal with the pending charges. If the charges are dropped, as was the case in the Gates case, the officer has still successfully played the roll of prosecutor, judge, and jury because the defendant has been punished whether the prosecutorial authority pursues the case(s) or not. In most cases like this one when the charge person has little or no criminal record the punishment of one day in jail and all the legal hassles involved with dealing with the charge(s) are more punishment then the defendant would of received had he in fact inevitably been found guilty.

Professor Gates and President Obama are probably the two worst people in the world for a cop to pick on or deal with in such a circumstance. Gates made his name promoting and teaching civil rights and certainly knows more then the average cop will about racial based abuse by the police in this country. Obama made his political bones as an Illinois State Senator championing laws to protect against racial profiling.

So it’s no wonder that Obama and Gates are apparently making an effort to make the incident a teachable moment for the rest of us oblivious white folks. Maybe in the long run it may raise consciousness, if your not already a right wing racial bigot. In which case it will probably reinforce all your fears about loss of white power because of the election of a African American as president.

When Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times asked the question during the press conference about the Gate’s incident I’m sure Obama though he’s been thrown a soft ball question about a subject he is well verse on, racial profiling. This is where the problem started. He immediately became the professor talking to a class of students at Harvard law school about the history of racial profiling in America. He started off all right by disclosing the professor was a friend and that he knew nothing about the real facts of the case. But soon drifted into a general condemnation of racial profiling in this nation which included the “police acted stupidly it appears in this case” remark. He been better off saying I don’t know what happened but it appears the charges have been dropped, and left it at that. Leaving the teaching for later.

Most knowledgeable observers of the case admit the police overreacted. Even though there is evidence that Gates was abusive to officers in his own home the smart or streetwise officer in most cases would of just said, “have a nice day” and left the scene happy to not have to hear the professor harangue them anymore as racists or profiling. Plus they would of not had to fill out all the paperwork involved with the arrest and booking.

It be back to the donuts shop for them.

It has always amazed me the things people will do when confronted with dealing with a police situation or officer. Standing up to police when your rights are being violated is one thing, but acting stupid or getting worked up when it comes to dealing with the police is another. Usually it involves some form of intoxication. Blacks and Latinos do experience racial profiling and police abuse of power often, especially in locations where that type of thing is institutionalized. That’s a reality that we all must accept and do what we can to overcome.

But in this case I think what really happened here is that both Gates and the officers overreacted. Gates by going into a tirade about race and directing it in a personal way to the officers, and the officers for not realizing that because of Gates personal life experience he needed to blow off some steam. The officers employed the personality test on Gates and in their minds they felt justified because of the no one should ever disrespect police code cops often are encourage to buy into or otherwise known on the street as failing the police personality test.

I'm sure Gates probably felt pretty dumb losing his keys and having to break into his own home to start with. The incident also says tons about his neighbor who apparently didn’t know him well enough to be able to recognize him as the person trying to gain entry through a window, which led them to call 911 in the first place.

It's Official A Nation of Retards Has Morphed Into The New GOP

Right wing bozos loved to label liberals as un-American traitor kooks and crybabies when they complained vigorously after the 2000 and 2004 elections or questioned American foreign or domestic policy disasters during the George W. Bush years. Little did we realize the extent that these same accusers were in fact a bunch of bat shit crazies who now represented the new base of the out of power malingering Republican party.

Yes, now with the shoe on the other foot, nothing has unloosed the fear filled nut case lunatic fringe ditto heads apparently more then the tea bagging bunch of crazies and malcontent we are now faced with on a daily basis since the election of President Barack Obama.

There is a certain fear that is palpable with this group of nuts that shouts the fact that they know deep down that their all white people's brand of Judeo Christian power wheeling and dealing is finally being pried from their cold dead hands, so to speak. They are liable to say and do anything in the state of desperation they now find themselves, desperately attempting to maintain their fleeting hold on power. But, it's over baby. In twenty years or so you'll be the minority race whether you like it or not.

Thus the truth has little chance or importance with this bunch right now, and like the communists, who long had represented the straw horse they've demonized, they have adopted the belief that the end justifies the means. They now more often then not take on the actual characteristics of those they have profess to hate as the antithesis of Americana they claim they have been empowered to guard and represent.

With them it is no wonder the dumb shit average American is easily duped by stupid and unsubstantiated Republican claims that health care reform is just a socialist form of demon worship or a communist plot to bring about world enslavement under a demon seed Manchurian candidate Muslim represented in the person of Barack Obama.

In actually universal health care is not a demon or a political system but common sense policy that strengthens the community's underpinnings as they are intended to be in any modern fair and just society.

When exactly did the public educational system in this country become so verifiability worthless that it continually failed to teach people the basic use of logic, common sense and the workings of our political system. Nearly half of these Americans have apparently turned into a nation of idiots who now spend their free time having doubts about the sitting president's birth and citizenship. Or openly preach discrimination and hatred towards any and all people who are not of white European heritage, religion or in agreement with their personal sexual morality standards. These people think gun ownership and use is the highest right in the land surpassing the overall security of the country and any and all others major issues of the day, including their own life or death.

In California these substance negative flag waving zealots have so severely limited the ability of the State to tax the citizens through bogus self centered people's initiatives that the government cannot fulfill the most basic of the State's responsibilities. Fuck paying for education, infrastructure or any other thing that used to represent what a progressive community felt were the basic requirements of a modern civilized society. Fuck you all I don't believe in taxes. You can all go die in hell, while at this very moment they are trying to bring this bullshit based form of government financing to my State. These are the self righteous, phony, religious types so selfish they see no benefit in helping others by the simple act of paying their fair share in taxes.

Ironically un-Christ like in their actions while preaching the tenets of their freaking doctored and misinterpreted self serving good book as justification for any and all of their wild hair up your ass ideas. These people call themselves Christians and hypocritically point fingers accusingly at those who are fortunate enough not to have gotten involved in the hypocrisy. I have news for you bastards your about as far from Christ like as Bozo the freaking Clown. If a hell exist, I'm sure your going to be the ones who burn the brightest and the longest in the fire of eternal freaking damnation.

It's only a matter of time before one of these self righteous gerbil wheel brained fuckers does something real crazy being all full of their own self fulfilling diarrhea of stupid god on our side baseless ideas of what is right and wrong. Driven over the edge by Sara Palin's phony outrage or just one to many Glenn Beck shows watched or neo Nazi themes rationalized out there in the boonies before they snap like a cheap rope pulling too much dead weight. It won't be pretty I'm sure we all fear and realize.

Obstructionist Senators Need To Hear From You On Healthcare Reform Now

If you haven't heard yet there are six conservative Senators who sent a letter to Senate leadership requesting a delay on health care reform legislation. Despite their phony proselytizing about their concern for the health of the American people, the phony reasoning for delay they layout is their supposed concern about costs.

The real reason is they are shills for the medical industry interests and wingnut conservatives in the states they come from who want things to remain the same. I think we all need to contact these so called representatives and tell them how we really feel about their obstructionism.

This delaying tactic is the same one the opponents of Hillarycare in 1994 used to stop that attempt at reform. Fifty years of talking about health care reform in this country must end now.

The six Senate obstructionists are listed below. I suggest you pick one, google their website and write an email to them about your objections to ANY delay of health care reform.

Ben Nelson (D) Nebraska (ringleader)
Olympia Snowe (R) Maine
Joe Lieberman (I) Connecticut
Mary Landrieu (D) Louisiana
Ron Wyden (D) Oregon
Susan M Collins (R) Maine

Here's my email letter to Senator Nelson sent through his website that may give you an rough outline when composing your letter.

Dear Senator Nelson,

Americans are dying out here in the real world because of political obstructionist like you.

Your continuing attempts to stall or kill health care reform are hypocritical and show what a shill you are for the powers who want to block health care progress in this country. You say you are concerned about cost, but your record shows you had little of no concern about costs when industry supported bills like the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 was passed or when it came to supporting the boondoggle of a god damn war in Iraq with billions of dollars without question.

That's because the truth is your either a total ignoramus or totally in the bag with the medical industry forces who want to maintain the status quo.

Probably both.

Your a phony and soon everyone will realize it. I will do everything in my power personally to see that you are defeated and I will work with other individuals who oppose your continued obstructionism should you run for reelection. We need Senators in this country who actually have the personal courage to finally fix the health care mess and fight for the people not the interest of the wealthy.

God knows we don't need anymore cronies of big business like you. We've got the totally brain dead Republican party for that. And you call yourself a Democrat. What Bullshit!

Sincerely,

Daniel O'Brien
Vashon, WA

Below is Obama's weekly address that points out that delay is exactly what we don't need now.

Obama's Remarkable Speech To NAACP

This 35 minute speech I think is one of the President's best lately. Worth spending the time to watch. God I love this president's ability to communicate. Every old white man bigot in America should be required to watch this.

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25 Year Old Bay Area Geek Who Facilitates Iranian Web Protests Info Under Direct Attack From Iran

Austin Heap a 25 year old bay area geek and IT director is developing a program called haystack that allows Iranian protesters to get their message through to the outside world in spite of the Iranian government establishment attempts to shutdown internet and phone access.

Heap has become somewhat of a local Iranian community and media darling since he developed methods that allowed Iranians to tweet and use other web communities to report what they see and hear is going on on the ground in Iran in the early days of the recent protests.

Prior to the the uprising Heap knew little about the internal workings of Iran. But he started the project because he strongly believes in free speech. "Americans ignored the subversion of their democracy. When the Iranians stood up to secure theirs, I could not let them down. The revolution may not be televised, but it will be tweeted." Heap is quoted as saying.

"Heap's weapon in the past few days was the proxy server, a computer configured to act as an intermediary between a computer user and the Internet. Such servers have many legitimate functions, such as speeding response times, and some illegitimate ones, such as helping spammers hide their identities."

What interested Heap was the use of a proxy server to bypass censorship. Properly configured, a proxy server could identify Web surfers in Iran and route them to Twitter and other sites the government had restricted. People around the world were posting network addresses for such proxies on Twitter and elsewhere, Heap said, but there was no organization and the servers were unpredictable."

Heap needs your help. His web server has been under attack directly by the Iranian government and that's the least of his problems. He is attempting to bring other willing programmers to San Francisco to work on the project but lacks the funds. He is trying disparately to get Haystack completed to coincide with the upcoming general strike in Iran. You can help by donating money and getting the word out to your friends and their friends in your online social communities like twitter, facebook and myspace.

Pictures From Space Station Include Vashon Seattle Tacoma

Thirty-five great photos taken over the last several months of the earth from the ISS. One photo even features the center of my universe Vashon Island, WA. via: boston.com big picture

Iran We hear Your Cry For Freedom!

I see the battle taking place in Iran as one between generations. The old one who remembers the 1979 uprising and blindly believe in the leaders who came to power in that earlier revolution and, the younger generation that sees the outside world and longs for greater personal freedom and a move away form an autocratic government.

Ironically the older generation always sees its revolution as being different from the one that follows. They suppress and brand the protesters as a "mob" or illegitimate, yet they are no more illegitimate then their generation was when they called for revolution in the past. "don't stand in the doorway don't block up the hall" , as Dylan put it in the song "times they are a changing".

There is a interesting story here about Neda the woman shot dead by a police sniper in the first days of the protests. Her violent death has become a symbol of the brutal suppression of the protests by Iranian authorities. Apparently her own mother is in denial about the responsibility for her death being caused by the those in power.“That’s what comes from pouring into the streets,” the mother is quoted as saying in the story. In the same story her brother talks of the disconnect between the older and younger generation in present day Iran.

Polaroid Sunset

Right Wing Media Enabling Racists Extremists And Lunatic Fringe

The ex-wife of James von Brunn, the racist nut who shot up the holocaust museum in Washington, DC yesterday, says she divorced him because he was totally consumed with hatred for Jews and "Negros" that “ate him alive like a cancer”.

How the heck can one be so fucking hateful and not be call on it by someone. Maybe it's because most of these nuts feel justified by what the right wing media passes off as news these days. Joe Scarborough of MSNBC thought it quite comical at the time that the Department of Homeland Security report indicated that right wing extremist groups and individuals posed a terror treat to the US. He remains to this day one of the biggest dumbshits on cable TV.

Hey Joe now that we've had the Tiller murder and the holocaust shooting, both by right wing crazies, what do you think of that DHS report now?

More Proof Senator Shelby Is An Idiot!

He claims that health care system in US is "best health care in the world". Well, that maybe if you actually have coverage provided and your an insulated rich SOB. Shelby somehow misses the point that we have the most expensive system in he world delivering what could the the worst coverage for the money spent, or that there are millions who have no medical coverage at all. We also have a huge population of unhealthy fat assess with no idea of what healthy living looks like. Many of these medically challenged obese are located in the region of the country where Shelby is considered to be a genius.

Gordon Brown Calls Omaha Beach "Obama Beach" in Speech

Whoops!

Moving Sculpture On Omaha Beach Comemorates D Day

Les Braves, by French sculptor Anilore Banon set up on Omaha Beach makes a moving statement I think that out does conventional attempts to portray just what happen that June day in 1944.

via: winds of change net

Alcoholic Monkeys Not Just Found At The Local Party

I always thought that people acted like monkeys when they indulged too much at the local party. Now I come to find out that monkeys mirror people with their drinking habits and actions after getting hammered. We're lucky monkeys can't drive.

A Photo Of Every Apple Product Ever Released

Yes a photo of every Apple product that's every been released. If you like to see a even bigger enlargement click here.

A New Practical Party Instead of the Republican Party Perhaps

I say woe to the left if someone could put together a political party that supported a mix between the best of libertarian thinking (not ideology) while also supporting practical efficient and needed basic government services to citizens. I think the Democrats would have their hands full. One of the best things about Obama has been his basic belief in doing what works, not necessarily doing what ideologues in his party or the other want.

Jesse Ventura the ex wrestler and former Governor of Minnesota, who appeared on CNN last night, seems to also be interested in doing what works when it comes to politics. As we all know by now Ventura is an interesting character and definitely a man's man type of fellow who is unbowed by the typical rhetoric from both the left of right.

I admire his ability to think for himself and not just blindly go with the flow like most ideologues and idiots do on both the right and the left. He got me thinking, especially in the light of the pending demise of the Republican Party who’s old angry white guy theme seems to be headed nowhere or the a left wing led Congress with the likes of go with the flow Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi or more Republican than Democratic Democrats

If independent populist reformers and libertarians like Ventura every completely got over their fear of government and its intervention in the lives of common people when necessary to provide basic public services we'd probably have something. I think they would be a formidable political force and the alternative to the present day no idea Republicans or the obstructing right wing Democratic types.

Let's call it the Practical Party. A new party that would be willing to be open minded enough to support a national health care program, for instance, or see the benefit of social security for the elderly. Or be open to things like federally mandated worker protections and unions. Or stop interfering in marriage rights of its citizens or interjecting religion into politics. Or make it a policy to curtail American propensity for xenophobia and militarism.

Instead of just the ideological of every man or woman for himself or no tax anti government of any type that pervade most of the right wing types or the equally frustrating lemming like lefties that toe the party line even when it's not working or practical. I'm talking a hybrid here, so let's simply forget the use of too many labels.

Admittedly Ventura has never been one to follow any one ideology. He seems more interested in practical solutions to the problems at hand and solutions that offer the least amount of government intervention into the private affairs of citizens. He wants to decriminalize drugs, create rapid transit and rail, and prosecutes Cheney and anyone else involved in torture, get organized religion out of politics and on and on. He supports same sex marriage civil unions and many things most liberals, lefties and libertarians would agree with.

He now is living in Mexico part time and as he said "off the grid". He claims he watches no TV anymore and instead does lots of reading and surfing. If nothing else he is definitely an original and one has to admire him for that. Here is the interview from Larry King last night.

UFCW Single Payer Ad Attacks Insurance Companies

Let it be so Mr President!