In another sign of overreaction by law enforcement, a group of flash mob dancers were attacked by park police when they try to stage a flash mob dance at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC yesterday. After seeing this video I would find it hard to beleive a jury would find any of these people guilty of anything except maybe trying to have some memorial day holiday fun. But having to spend a night in jail and being manhandled by police shouldn't be necessary to prove that.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Former Palin Aide Confirms Shit About Her We Already Knew
Frank Bailey, the author of a new insider book, opened up to "Extra" about the ex-Governor of Alaska with his thoughts on her possible run for the presidency. In his candid interview, Bailey revealed, "She would be an absolute disaster as President." Bailey also indicated in the interview that Palin is unethical and obsessed about her fame.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Poet, musician and the ‘godfather of rap’, Gil Scott-Heron passed away on Friday at the age of 62.
The world of music and especially of rap lost one of its greatest musicians today, as Gil Scott-Heron passed away at the age of 62. He died on Friday afternoon after becoming sick upon his return from Europe.
Gil Scott-Heron was known best for his song ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ which made waves in the music industry in the 1970s, and is still relevant today. The song basically criticized the mass media. He referred to his signature mix of music as bluesology or Third World music, but he later started calling it ‘black music or black American music’.
The world of music and especially of rap lost one of its greatest musicians today, as Gil Scott-Heron passed away at the age of 62. He died on Friday afternoon after becoming sick upon his return from Europe.
Gil Scott-Heron was known best for his song ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ which made waves in the music industry in the 1970s, and is still relevant today. The song basically criticized the mass media. He referred to his signature mix of music as bluesology or Third World music, but he later started calling it ‘black music or black American music’.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Palin Not Really Welcome At DC Biker Rally
Sarah Palin apparently finagled an invitation to the rolling thunder biker rally in DC this weekend. But many of the groups members aren't happy about it.
"We didn't invite her," Ted Shpak of Rolling Thunder told MSNBC. "We don't endorse nobody. She's not invited to speak [on the stage after the rally]. We're not endorsing her." How did the group find out that she was coming? "She came out with a press release that she was coming to Rolling Thunder." Still, if she wants to ride on the back of a motorcycle, she would be more than welcome. (The bus? Not so much.)
Friday, May 20, 2011
Are You Getting Koch Blocked?
FINALLY released for everyone to see, this commercial parody by the talented folks at Church of Great Rain takes issue with the Koch Brothers. Give it a viewing and pass it along.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Bush Tax Cuts, Wars, Wall St Criminal Behavior and Economic Crisis Created The Current Deficit
Not Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or Social Programs like the wing-nuts would like you to believe.
A report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities indicates that the George W. Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy, allowing off budget wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined with policies and corruption that lead to the economic crisis and downturn in 2008 are the direct cause of record deficits today. I'm completely flabbergasted by this news, NOT!
Complete source article here
A report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities indicates that the George W. Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy, allowing off budget wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined with policies and corruption that lead to the economic crisis and downturn in 2008 are the direct cause of record deficits today. I'm completely flabbergasted by this news, NOT!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Twenty Things To Do Before The World Ends On Saturday
And continue to try to do if it doesn’t….
- Realize your just a very small speck in the universe
- Fall in love with someone or something
- Stop eating contaminated food and learn what’s in your food and where it came from
- Get over yourself and work to reduce your ego
- Be of service to someone
- Live within your means
- Share with others
- Work to be creative while doing something you love to do
- Meditate and get quiet
- Stop buying shit you don’t need and recycle everything
- Realize your religious beliefs and moral standards don’t apply to everyone else
- Accept change and the fact that people are different
- Respect the environment and nature
- Travel
- Move and Dance
- Confide your deepest secrets to someone you trust and discuss them if necessary
- Forgive everyone including yourself and admit it when your wrong and say your sorry
- Have empathy for others
- Look for beauty in people, nature, literature and art
- Laugh whenever possible
Monday, May 09, 2011
Fighting Back Against Runaway Banks and Unfair Foreclosures
A Boston non-profit group empowers homeowners, whose home are in foreclosure, to fight back against the bank and force the financial institution to negotiate.
Hat Tip: The Backbone Campaign
Hat Tip: The Backbone Campaign
Friday, May 06, 2011
NitwitPalooza
How to make Ron Paul look like a genius, just put him together with the rest of these nitwits.
Monday, May 02, 2011
10 years - 2 Wars - 919,967 Deaths & $1,188,263,000,000
You could build many schools and provide medical coverage for lots of people with just a portion of the money squandered fighting the war on terror. Did the end justify the means in administering justice to Osama bin Laden? What the fuck was the war in Iraq really about? Please discuss among yourselves.
Spring Break Atmosphere Permeates #OBL Killing Celebrations In NYC
Everyone hates people who gloat. Even when it's over the killing of a religious whack job like Osama Bin Laden. My daughter Alexa O'Brien does some fascinating reporting with video from the ground zero celebrations in New York city last night. I especially like the woman who thought climbing a light pole and showing her boobs was appropriate to mark the occasion.
Did Guantanamo Informant Provide Osama's Pakistan Hideout Information In 2008?
This is what may of started the ball rolling. Guantanamo detainee Abu al-Libi apparently spilled the beans about the possibility of Osama Bin Ladin hiding out in and around Abbottabad Pakistan as early as 2008 according to the just release Guantanamo WikiLeaks files. Copy of the full relevant interrogation file can be found here.
via: Carwin Biloguist
click on image to enlarge
via: Carwin Biloguist
Sunday, May 01, 2011
American Hegemony Of Media Misinformation
An excellent piece entitled The Entertainment Superpower and the American Theater of Cruelty #Guantanamo by Carwin Biloquist addresses the failure, effect and manipulation of information by corporate controlled journalism and media in the United States.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Hazel Dickens June 1, 1935 - April 22, 2011
The coal miner songbird and advocate for working people who represented something very special in American folk music and labor union history.
Monday, April 18, 2011
The Poisoning Of America's Food Supply
The Premise is that fructose and high fructose corn syrup are poisons. Despite the corporate and government lies claiming their safe, studies show the opposite. It's the FDA and food industries dirty little secret. The fact is it is in everything we eat today. This video is well worth the 1:30 minute length. So instead of watching America's biggest loser maybe you'd like to watch this instead. If your fat or your kid is fat or you suffer from any form of the maladies nowadays known as metabolic syndrome like diabetes, coronary heart disease, hepatitis, high blood pressure, strokes etc. Perhaps watching this video could save or improve your life.
Sunday, March 06, 2011
On Wisconsin!
Michael Moore articulates the problem that threatens our country, but will it resonate.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Go Screw Yourself
Go Screw Yourself An essay from a friend of an Ohio teacher on the Republican Party's attempts to kill the labor movement. via dailykos
Glenn Greenwald Speaks On The Assange Extradition Ruling, the Jailing of Bradley Manning, And The Campaign To Target WikiLeaks Supporters
The question is why is the US Government continuing to harass Assange and his supporters Anonymous and actively using convert operations against them violating their right to free speech and association and threating them in General. Confiscating laptops and propagating smear campaigns against journalists who speak out in favor of Assange. As we can see the truth can be is a powerful weapon against corrupted power and something they fear..
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Anonymous Targets Koch Brothers With #OpWisconsin
Oh boy this should be fun....... from the examiner.com
Anonymous, the notorious collective of unnamed Internet activists, is declaring war on the controversial Koch brothers. In a press release this weekend Anonymous accuses the brothers and their financial empire of attempting "to usurp American Democracy," and call for a "boycott all Koch Industries' paper products." Anonymous accuses the Koch brothers of taking "actions to undermine the legitimate political process in Wisconsin". Here is a excerpt from the press release.
"The Koch brothers have made a science of fabricating 'grassroots' organizations and advertising campaigns to support them in an attempt to sway voters based on their falsehoods. Americans for Prosperity, Club for Growth and Citizens United are just a few of these organizations. In a world where corporate money has become the lifeblood of political influence, the labor unions are one of the few ways citizens have to fight against corporate greed. Anonymous cannot ignore the plight of the citizen-workers of Wisconsin, or the opportunity to fight for the people in America's broken political system. For these reasons, we feel that the Koch brothers threaten the United States democratic system and, by extension, all freedom-loving individuals everywhere. As such, we have no choice but to spread the word of the Koch brothers' political manipulation, their single-minded intent and the insidious truth of their actions in Wisconsin, for all to witness."
The Rebel
The Irish poet, educator, and revolutionary nationalist Patrick Henry
Pearse (1879-1916) was a leader of the Easter Rising of 1916 against
the British. Pierce was executed by the British May 3rd, 1916. Although Pierce died for his actions in 1916 eventually his death inspired a wider uprising that lead to the establishment of a modern independent Irish Republic. Pierce was a religious man of his time which explains why some of the prose are influenced by religious metaphors. In spite of that, I think Pierce captured the pent-up feeling of the common people when they suffer injustice over time at the hand of a corrupted power.
THE REBEL
By Padraig MacPiarais (Patrick Pearse)
I am come of the seed of the people, the people that sorrow,
That have no treasure but hope,
No riches laid up but a memory
Of an Ancient glory.
My mother bore me in bondage, in bondage my mother was born,
I am of the blood of serfs;
The children with whom I have played, the men and women with whom I have eaten,
Have had masters over them, have been under the lash of masters,
And, though gentle, have served churls;
The hands that have touched mine, the dear hands whose touch is so familiar to me,
Have worn shameful manacles, have been bitten at the wrist by manacles,
Have grown hard with the manacles and the task-work of strangers
I am flesh of the flesh of these lowly, I am bone of their bone,
I that have never submitted;
I that have a soul greater than the souls of my people's masters,
I that have vision and prophecy and the gift of fiery speech,
I that have spoken with God on the top of His holy hill.
And because I am of the people, I understand the people,
I am sorrowful with their sorrow, I am hungry with their desire:
My heart has been heavy with the grief of mothers,
My eyes have been wet with the tears of children.
I have yearned with old wistful men,
And laughed or cursed with young men;
Their shame is my shame, and I have reddened for it,
Reddened for that they have served, they who should be free,
Reddened for that they have gone in want, while others have been full,
Reddened for that they have walked in fear of lawyers and of their jailers
With their writs of summons and their handcuffs,
Men mean and cruel!
I could have borne stripes on my body rather than this shame of my people.
And now I speak, being full of vision;
I speak to my people, and I speak in my people's name to the masters of my people.
I say to my people that they are holy, that they are august, despite their chains,
That they are greater than those that hold them, and stronger and purer,
That they have but need of courage, and to call on the name of their God,
God the unforgetting, the dear God that loves the peoples
For whom He died naked, suffering shame.
And I say to my people's masters: Beware,
Beware of the thing that is coming, beware of the risen people,
Who shall take what ye would not give. Did ye think to conquer the people,
Or that Law is stronger than life and than men's desire to be free?
We will try it out with you, ye that have harried and held,
Ye that have bullied and bribed, tyrants, hypocrites, liars!
THE REBEL
By Padraig MacPiarais (Patrick Pearse)
I am come of the seed of the people, the people that sorrow,
That have no treasure but hope,
No riches laid up but a memory
Of an Ancient glory.
My mother bore me in bondage, in bondage my mother was born,
I am of the blood of serfs;
The children with whom I have played, the men and women with whom I have eaten,
Have had masters over them, have been under the lash of masters,
And, though gentle, have served churls;
The hands that have touched mine, the dear hands whose touch is so familiar to me,
Have worn shameful manacles, have been bitten at the wrist by manacles,
Have grown hard with the manacles and the task-work of strangers
I am flesh of the flesh of these lowly, I am bone of their bone,
I that have never submitted;
I that have a soul greater than the souls of my people's masters,
I that have vision and prophecy and the gift of fiery speech,
I that have spoken with God on the top of His holy hill.
And because I am of the people, I understand the people,
I am sorrowful with their sorrow, I am hungry with their desire:
My heart has been heavy with the grief of mothers,
My eyes have been wet with the tears of children.
I have yearned with old wistful men,
And laughed or cursed with young men;
Their shame is my shame, and I have reddened for it,
Reddened for that they have served, they who should be free,
Reddened for that they have gone in want, while others have been full,
Reddened for that they have walked in fear of lawyers and of their jailers
With their writs of summons and their handcuffs,
Men mean and cruel!
I could have borne stripes on my body rather than this shame of my people.
And now I speak, being full of vision;
I speak to my people, and I speak in my people's name to the masters of my people.
I say to my people that they are holy, that they are august, despite their chains,
That they are greater than those that hold them, and stronger and purer,
That they have but need of courage, and to call on the name of their God,
God the unforgetting, the dear God that loves the peoples
For whom He died naked, suffering shame.
And I say to my people's masters: Beware,
Beware of the thing that is coming, beware of the risen people,
Who shall take what ye would not give. Did ye think to conquer the people,
Or that Law is stronger than life and than men's desire to be free?
We will try it out with you, ye that have harried and held,
Ye that have bullied and bribed, tyrants, hypocrites, liars!
"If workers don't make a decent living America won't be a decent place to live"..
2500 protesters in Olympia today joined in solidarity with other workers in Wisconsin and across the nation to pledge that it will not happen here in Washington State. Hey, you rich pricks are you listening? Here's how it works. If we can make a decent living we can't by your fucking products, and you go out of business. Get it?
Woody Guthrie Fought For Working People And The Servant's Dream
Here's Willis Allen Ramsey's tribute song Boy from Oklahoma about Woody Guthrie and his travels with and for the working people of this country, many of them right here in the Pacific Northwest.
"Way back in… ’41, I made a fast walking trip up and down the basin of the Columbia River and its tributaries, the Snake, the Hood, Willamette, Yakima and the Klickitat, making up little songs about what I’d seen. I made up 26 songs about the Bonneville Dam, Grand Coulee Dam and the thunderous foamy waters of the rapids and cascades, the wild and windward watersprays from the high Sheliloh falls, and the folks living in the little shack house just about a mile from the end of the line" (Murlin). Woody Guthrie
Both quotes via: historylink.org
"Throughout the Depression Era of the 1930s, Guthrie scrabbled to make a living, rambling back and forth across the country playing migrant work camps, railroad yards, lumber camps, hobo jungles, union halls, and street corners -- it remains accepted lore among Seattle’s 'buskers' that Guthrie’s favorite performance spot in town was at 3rd Avenue and Pike Street."
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| Woody with the famous graffiti scrawled on his guitar |
"Way back in… ’41, I made a fast walking trip up and down the basin of the Columbia River and its tributaries, the Snake, the Hood, Willamette, Yakima and the Klickitat, making up little songs about what I’d seen. I made up 26 songs about the Bonneville Dam, Grand Coulee Dam and the thunderous foamy waters of the rapids and cascades, the wild and windward watersprays from the high Sheliloh falls, and the folks living in the little shack house just about a mile from the end of the line" (Murlin). Woody Guthrie
Both quotes via: historylink.org
We're Watching The Drowning Of The Middle Class In The Bathtub
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| Roslyn, WA Labor Day Parade early 1900's |
Yet most Americans have no clue.
Your grandparents fought and in many cases actually died for the right to collectively bargain for their wages and working conditions. Today all over the country in places like Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Oklahoma, and even here in what was once a virtual bastion of the American labor movement Washington State the far right is seizing the opportunity to defile your grandparent's legacy.
The corportate oligarchy and moral criminals like the Koch brothers and the lackey politicians they control can't wait to perform the final coup de grace on the rights of working people, who only want a say in what their working conditions should be. These blow hards relish turning back the clock to the late 1800's when workers suffered widespread exploitation and mistreatment while weak and divided.
Paul Krugman has an enlightening piece on the Wisconsin situation and how it is not just about collective bargaining. The legislation that Governor Walker wants passed, without compromise, also calls for the stripping of many other government guarantees and processes. This all hidden behind the well developed employer tactic of divide and conquer and turning one worker against another and budget cutting. The philosophy that workers have no real right to a decent piece of the economic pie. While these corporate pigs gorge themselves. Those who feel you may be immune from exploitation, sitting there in a false state of rugged individualism, get ready because you'll be the ones they come for next.
"A injury to one is a injury to all....."
Your grandparents fought and in many cases actually died for the right to collectively bargain for their wages and working conditions. Today all over the country in places like Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Oklahoma, and even here in what was once a virtual bastion of the American labor movement Washington State the far right is seizing the opportunity to defile your grandparent's legacy.
The corportate oligarchy and moral criminals like the Koch brothers and the lackey politicians they control can't wait to perform the final coup de grace on the rights of working people, who only want a say in what their working conditions should be. These blow hards relish turning back the clock to the late 1800's when workers suffered widespread exploitation and mistreatment while weak and divided.
Paul Krugman has an enlightening piece on the Wisconsin situation and how it is not just about collective bargaining. The legislation that Governor Walker wants passed, without compromise, also calls for the stripping of many other government guarantees and processes. This all hidden behind the well developed employer tactic of divide and conquer and turning one worker against another and budget cutting. The philosophy that workers have no real right to a decent piece of the economic pie. While these corporate pigs gorge themselves. Those who feel you may be immune from exploitation, sitting there in a false state of rugged individualism, get ready because you'll be the ones they come for next.
"A injury to one is a injury to all....."
Seattle Times Paper Boxes Get Punked
Somebody took the Seattle Times out of the Seattle newspaper's boxes, and replaced the display copies with these copies. In case you haven't noticed Seattle has a police brutality problem caused by a recent spate of fatal police shootings.
via: Boycott Me
Which Republican Senator Is Blocking The Whistleblower Protection Act?
The question is who killed the Whistleblower Protection Act? Apparently one of 5 possible Republican US Senators has put an anonymous hold on the legislation. Since my family comes from a long line of rabble-rousers what could be more appropriate and natural than having my daughter start a facebook page that's trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. By the way where the hell is the MSM on this story? Cue the crickets here.
The story behind the story is supposedly that this legislation was sailing along till the WikiLeaks shit hit the fan and suddenly some conservative Senator decided that knowing what our government may be doing or increasing the chance for some accountability wasn't important anymore. The Obama Justice Department is also up to it's elbows it appears with their hysteria about suppressing would be leakers and the people who protect the leakers since WikiLeaks opened a can of whoop ass on them. Come on Obama, we knew this shit was going on. Who are you trying to fool? Colbert did a classic piece on the subject last night on his show.
As late as December of last year the Whistleblower Protection Act was receiving near unanimous support in both houses of Congress when a mysterious and anonymous Senator put a hold on the bill. We just want to know who the freaking Senator really is..... we want you to think of ways to help us do that. Like the facebook page for starters and then go out form a union and organize a general strike in you neighborhood. I'm not kidding.
Friday, February 25, 2011
America On The Ropes Plan Parenthood NPR Cut But Not NASCAR
Holy shit, this is such hypocrisy ...... How can this make any sense?
"Something GOP doesn't want to cut: Funding for NASCAR"
Friday, February 18, 2011
The Middle Class Disconnect: While Fat Cats Rob The Tax Payers Blind And Pay Little In Taxes Unions Attacked For Fighting For What Amounts To Table Crumbs
Why do middle class working people turn on members of the community who belong to unions when these people are brave enough to organize together collectively and bargain for fair treatment from their employers, it doesn't matter if the employer is public sector or not. Why are non-union workers trying to drag union members and their families down. Is it jealousy of working conditions that are better due to collective bargaining. Does misery love company?
Weak, marginalized, underpaid, without health insurance, a living pension, defeated, overworked and alienated. Sitting their watching Fox News lie about unions and directing their misguide rage at other workers instead of their real enemy. The out of control corporations and selfish conservatives who would have us all working for minimum wage and not much else if they could get away with it.
Bitching about government workers who "make to much" is their favorite pastime. Meanwhile they are happy to kiss their employer's ass while they take it in the backside when it comes to their wages and working conditions. To ignorant, afraid or jealous to see the benefit of joining in solidarity with other workers to exercise power collectively. They would rather believe the anti-worker and anti-union bullshit they get fed unrelentingly by the corporate media.
Yes is no and no is yes, war is peace. Thank you George Orwell. Please think for your fucking self for once in your life. This isn't rocket science.
Since when was it not American for someone to fight for a decent amount of money to support their family or provide for their own and their family's medical needs? Don't these middle class shills see that they are being robbed blind, poisoned, abused, and manipulated by corporations that employ them, while at the same time these same corporations refuse to pay their fair share in taxes, or play by the same set of rules that they expect the working people to play by.
Wake up you fools! Smell the fucking coffee. Are you going to be tools of the corporations and the selfish political entities who exploit you on a daily basis all your life?
Friday, February 11, 2011
War And Peace A Speech By Obama In Cairo Vs Shock And Awe In Baghdad By Bush
Did Obams's speech in Cairo in June 2009 become a harbinger of change?
Obama Speech today in response to the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Obama Speech today in response to the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Koch Brothers Party Gets Crashed By Greenpeace
Oh my what a bummer, and it was suppose to be a secret.
Thanks DB
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| What you looking at honey? |
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| Damn tree-huggers! |
Sunday, February 06, 2011
The Rightwing's Koch (Coke) Habit Is Killing America
"they are long time very hard line libertarians, so their private agenda is really the eradication of the federal government in almost all of its forms ..... their trying to get rid of federal regulations particularly on energy companies like their own, they particularly have been at war with environmental regulations and they have a history of serious and even criminal pollution problems, and their very anti-tax in almost every form." Jan MayerThe Koch brothers, Charles and David, are assholes and a case study of American corporate power run amok. Selfish billionaire robber barons who's actions show they only care about their own selfish agenda even if it could mean the destruction of the environment and eventually working people's quality of life.
The brothers effectively now control the US House Energy and Commerce Committee with 9 of the 12 Republicans signing a pledge put forth by the Koch funded Americans for Prosperity political action group. The brothers are also the single biggest contributor, in the amount given by a energy company, to individual committee members.
With 100 Billion in annual revenue Koch Industries funds the Tea Party and other extreme right wing front organizations and uses them as shills to push the Koch's corporate agenda. They own Dixie Cup Products, Northern bathroom tissue, Vanity Fair napkins, Stain-master and Lycra carpets, Georgia Pacific, Brawny paper towels and refineries in several states. So you should take those products off your shopping lists. Ironically, Koch Industries have received 100 million in US government contracts, which doesn't seem to bother their libertarian conscience.
NPR's Fresh Air has a great interview with Jan Mayer who has written extensively for the New Yorker Magazine on these weasels.
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Ronald Reagan Fail
There have been a number of retrospective looks at the presidency of Ronald Reagan on the occasion of what would of been his 100 birthday. Most conservatives think he belongs on Mount Rushmore.
Really Reagan deserves to be called the phony prick and corporate shill he turned out to be. He presided over the beginnings of the systematic dismantling of the quality of life for most folks in this country through the destruction on his watch of laws that were set up to protect the middle class. A pattern that has continued pretty much unabated since he left office, but the point is he got the ball rolling. The right-wingers get near orgasmic when waxing on about the Gipper and the bullshit machine continues to spew out the mythological crap about this puppet of the corporate oligarchy non stop.
I beleive that the wide disparity we find between the super rich and the middle class in the distribution of wealth in this country began to widen because of policies that Reagan embraced. Trick down economics being the main bowl of warm shit served up. He opened the government to corporate influence and power while restricting the power of organizations and labor unions that advocated for the middle class. Think progress has a fine article on the 10 things conservatives don't want you to know about Ronald Reagan.
Really Reagan deserves to be called the phony prick and corporate shill he turned out to be. He presided over the beginnings of the systematic dismantling of the quality of life for most folks in this country through the destruction on his watch of laws that were set up to protect the middle class. A pattern that has continued pretty much unabated since he left office, but the point is he got the ball rolling. The right-wingers get near orgasmic when waxing on about the Gipper and the bullshit machine continues to spew out the mythological crap about this puppet of the corporate oligarchy non stop.
I beleive that the wide disparity we find between the super rich and the middle class in the distribution of wealth in this country began to widen because of policies that Reagan embraced. Trick down economics being the main bowl of warm shit served up. He opened the government to corporate influence and power while restricting the power of organizations and labor unions that advocated for the middle class. Think progress has a fine article on the 10 things conservatives don't want you to know about Ronald Reagan.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
The Only Thing Catalans Hate More Than Real Madrid Is Time Magazine
There are more than 7.5 million Catalans today who speak the native and beloved Catalan language. Catalonia takes up most all of the Northeastern part of what is now considered Spain by ignorant American tourists and unwashed student backpackers. I often found it amusing when Americans planning a trip to Barcelona would study Spanish for months only to arrive in what they thought was Spain and find that the locals generally don't like to speak a foreign language like Spanish in Catalonia. Catalonia is generally considered to be the areas where the Catalan language is spoken in Northeastern part of the Iberian peninsula . Andorra and parts of southern France were once part of a Catalan empire also. These areas are generally referred to by Catalans as Països Catalans, or the Catalan countries.
When you talk of Dali, Picasso, Miro, Pau Casals, Antoni GaudÃ, or even LA laker star Pau Gasol your talking about Catalans. If you called them Spanish I'm sure they'd not be happy about it. But it's a common mistake that Americans and others make.
I am lucky to have made many Catalan friends over the years during several trips to Catalonia and a short period of living there. So I know they'd be please if you'd click here to use the form email and let Time magazine know they screwed up big time on this! Or you can also send personal email to letters@time.com and tell the editor to check his facts when it comes to their uninformed and incomplete listings of who who among the world's independence movements.
Here's some facts about Catalonia:
"Autonomous community (pop. 7,500,000) and historic region, northeastern Spain. It encompasses the provinces of Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, and Lleida and covers an area of 12,399 sq mi (32,113 sq km). Its capital is Barcelona. The Pyrenees separate Catalonia from France; the Mediterranean Sea lies to the east. Its principal rivers, the Ter, Llobrégat, and Ebro, all run into the Mediterranean. Catalonia was one of Rome's first Spanish possessions. Occupied in the 5th century AD by the Goths, it was taken by the Moors in 712 and by Charlemagne in 795. After the unification of Spain (1469), Catalonia lost its centrality in Spanish affairs, and by the 17th century its conflict of interest with Castile-León led to the first of a series of separatist movements. Catalan nationalism became a serious force after 1876. In 1932 a compromise with the central government granted Catalonia autonomy; this was revoked with the 1939 Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War, and Francisco Franco's government adopted a repressive policy toward Catalan nationalism. The reestablishment of democratic rule after Franco's death again led to autonomy in 1979. Today it is the richest and most industrialized part of Spain." - Answers.com
There's Something Happening Here What It Is Isn't Exactly Clear Are Tunisia Egypt Lebanon And European Mostly Youth Driven Riots Just The Beginning?
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable" - John F Kennedy
The recent uprisings in the Europe and the Middle East are youth based. Does this indicate that the youth of the world are finally fed up with the corruption, violation of their rights and dogma of the generations of leaders that they have grown up under.
In the internet generation revolutions can spread quickly. Evidence of this is governments in Egypt, Iran, Tunisia and elsewhere moving to block twitter, facebook and youtube channels as one of their first actions to quell decent and communication between the protesters and the outside world.
Revolutions nowadays take place on facebook and twitter not via printed handbills from the revolutionary cell working in the basement. The bigger questions with the recent uprisings in Europe and more so in Tunisia and Egypt, is it the begining of something that will grow and spread perhaps worldwide. I think we are witnessing the beginnings of something that is going to be quite amazing. Whether it means good or ill for the United State depends on how compromised and guilty we are in the minds of the revolutionaries.
I fear that the United States will deservingly be framed as the cause rather then the solution to the problem. It's not hard to imagine, given the many years of absolutely stupid foreign policy blunders and war making by our government in our name. It's generally called "blow back". Our meddling, criminal behavior, war mongering, and violation of human rights in and outside our country will come home to roost. Our unfair treatment of the Palestinians visa vi Israel will not set well with the new leaders who sprout from the revolts in predominantly Muslim countries where the uprisings are now are taking place. A terrible beauty is born...
The recent uprisings in the Europe and the Middle East are youth based. Does this indicate that the youth of the world are finally fed up with the corruption, violation of their rights and dogma of the generations of leaders that they have grown up under.
In the internet generation revolutions can spread quickly. Evidence of this is governments in Egypt, Iran, Tunisia and elsewhere moving to block twitter, facebook and youtube channels as one of their first actions to quell decent and communication between the protesters and the outside world.
Revolutions nowadays take place on facebook and twitter not via printed handbills from the revolutionary cell working in the basement. The bigger questions with the recent uprisings in Europe and more so in Tunisia and Egypt, is it the begining of something that will grow and spread perhaps worldwide. I think we are witnessing the beginnings of something that is going to be quite amazing. Whether it means good or ill for the United State depends on how compromised and guilty we are in the minds of the revolutionaries.
I fear that the United States will deservingly be framed as the cause rather then the solution to the problem. It's not hard to imagine, given the many years of absolutely stupid foreign policy blunders and war making by our government in our name. It's generally called "blow back". Our meddling, criminal behavior, war mongering, and violation of human rights in and outside our country will come home to roost. Our unfair treatment of the Palestinians visa vi Israel will not set well with the new leaders who sprout from the revolts in predominantly Muslim countries where the uprisings are now are taking place. A terrible beauty is born...
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The Brain Crushing Republican Bullshit Filled Blood Sucking Corporate Sellout Attempt To Repeal HeathCare
Right wingers tell nation's middle class to go fuck themselves when it comes to health care. When lying becomes a way of life.... your officially a Republican or you've entered the land of delusion to the point where you think up is down and yes is no and Sara Palin makes sense. But your probably okay if when you hear Palin or John Boehner talk you have an uncontrollable feeling of wanting to go to the bathroom and vomit you guts out, take a aspirin and go to bed.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Happy Birthday Muhammad Ali
Happy Birthday Muhammad. Thank you for the courage you demonstrated by refusing to be drafted and protesting the Viet Nam War, and never being bitter about it. Thank you for standing up for your convictions, and thank you for knocking out Sonny Liston, because I won $20 bucks on that fight in 1964.
"float like a butterfly sting like a bee".
Palin Likes Running Off Her All American God Fearing Trailer Trash Mouth
A New York Times reader comments on a story about Palin's speech in response to the Arizona shootings:
"It's not "blood libel" if one correctly points out Palin's past allusions to violence, the sneering touting of a gun culture as being the utter definition of a real American and the symbols of that culture being superimposed on political targets by her - including Gabby Giffords.
She wants it both ways.
When the entire persona she projects is wrapped up in the condescending nastiness she deeply represents and someone finally goes off, she rejects being linked to it on any intellectual level. It's just the act of a lone crazy gunman.
Sorry, Sarah. No hall pass for you. You've got your freedom of speech and your followers, now live in the world you have helped create. Sure, it's not pretty and you don't like being "tarred" - but there are a lot of unarmed people in this country who don't want to be shot because of what they think or who they are. I think you call them liberals."
"calm down it's only a surveyor's mark"
.
Massive Off Shore Tax Evasion By US Corporations?
Will International Banking whistle blower Rudolf Elmer blow the cover on massive off shore tax evasion by US individuals and corporations?
"A former Swiss private banker handed over data on hundreds of offshore bank account holders to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at a news conference on Monday. Rudolf Elmer once headed the office of Julius Baer in the Cayman Islands until he was fired by the bank in 2002. He is scheduled to go on trial in Switzerland on Wednesday for breaching bank secrecy. Elmer handed Assange the data at a news conference at a media club in London."Here's the press conference:
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Republican Pol's Proposal To Outlaw Guns Within 1000 Feet Of Elected Officials Should Be Expanded To Include Everyone
Just like a wimpy rightwing politician to try and make it a federal crime to have a gun within 1000 feet of any elected official. Hey buddy how about the rest of us? We're the ones that are more likely to get plugged by some gun nut because you won't do anything to stop the uncontrolled spread of handguns, assault weapons, or extended magazines, like the one use in the Arizona shooting spree. Yeah it's great for you and your fellow crony politician's butts, but how about the common folk out here on the real urban battlefield.
Go home and lock yourself in the house, and contemplate that real men don't need a gun.
Go home and lock yourself in the house, and contemplate that real men don't need a gun.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Tom Delay To Star On Dancing With The Bars
In recognition of today's news that former House Majority Leader Tom Delay has been sentenced to 3 years in prison. From a my blog post of September 28th, 2005.
Calling All Weasels!
“Raise your glass to the hard working people
Let’s drink to the uncounted heads
Let’s think of the wavering millions
Who need leaders but get gamblers instead”
Jagger/Richard
Who can be really surprised by the indictment of house majority leader Tom Delay by a Texas grand jury today? Not me or, I suspect, lots of other “salt of the earth” folks he’s had bent over backwards for years. The "hammer" as he is lovingly called by his bottom feeding supporters calls it all a pinko plot. You can tell this guy is a “weasel” five minutes into any one of his sound bites. This guy is the same Tom Delay who tried to cook the house ethics committee rules to allow ex felons to have their convictions ignored when it came time to determine whether they should be booted out of the congress for committing felonious acts. At least for the ones that get caught.
“His Delayness” joins the number of GOP “leaders” who ethics or competence has been brought into question recently most notably Republican Tom Frist the Senate Majority Leader who's suspected of pulling the same thing that sent Martha Stewart to jail for insider trading. The question has to be asked how did this Delay become the majority leader of the United States House of Representatives in the first place? Common sense should tell anyone that his power is for sale to the highest bidder in most cases. Maybe this prostitution of one’s self plays well in the lone star state but it shouldn’t be tolerated coming from officers of our federal government. Many of his contemporaries in the government apparently fear his wrath should they stand up to him and call for his long overdo kicking to the curb. That is unfortunate indeed.
So what did this right wing “wacko” do to get such a bad reputation. Let me list the ways? Here are the “dirty dozen” as provided by Alternet.org.
Delay Raises Corporate Cash for TRMPAC:
DeLay is embroiled in a scandal in Texas for his active participation in illegally funneling corporate funds to assist state political campaigns. DeLay's political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), is under criminal investigation for using corporate money to finance Texas campaigns. DeLay has tried to distance himself from the group, but documents show DeLay "personally forwarded at least one large check" to the group and was "in direct contact with lobbyists for some of the nation's largest companies" on TRMPAC's behalf. [Source: NYT, 3/10/05; Salon, 10/04/04]
Delay Bribes Congressman to Vote for Medicare:
DeLay has admitted offering to endorse Sen. Nick Smith's (R-Mich.) son Brad, who was running for Congress at the time, in exchange for Smith's "yea" vote on the Medicare bill. His actions violated House rules and earned DeLay a "public admonishment" from the Ethics Committee. Smith originally alleged – and then retracted after pressure from House leaders – that DeLay also offered a $100,000 bribe for his vote. DeLay extended the role call on the Medicare bill for nearly three hours in order "to avoid an embarrassing loss." [Slate, 10/1/04; WP, 10/1/04]
Delay Uses Taxpayer Money for Partisan Stunt:
The House ethics panel rebuked DeLay for using government resources to help locate a private plane he thought was carrying Texas Democratic legislators. DeLay was trying to force the legislators back to the capitol so he could push through his "bitterly disputed congressional redistricting." The ethics report cited House rules that bar members from taking "any official action on the basis of the partisan affiliation...of the individuals involved" and said DeLay's behavior raised "serious concerns under such "standards of conduct." [WP, 10/7/04]
Delay Pays for Golf Tournaments with Cash Meant for Kids:
DeLay used a children's charity, Celebrations for Children Inc., as cover for collecting soft money from anonymous interest groups, some of which was used for "dinners, a golf tournament, a rock concert, Broadway tickets and other fundraising events" at the Republican convention in New York. Because the money was supposedly for charity, companies wishing to curry favor with DeLay were able to do so without revealing themselves as campaign donors. Federal laws governing tax-exempt charities allow no more than an insubstantial portion of a group's revenue to be spent on activities other than the charity's main stated purpose. [CBS, 11/14/03; WP, 3/24/04]
Delay Promises 'Seat At Table' for Donor:
In one of its three public rebukes, the House Ethics Committee cited the belief on the part of executives at an energy company, Westar Energy Inc., that a $56,500 contribution to a political action committee associated with DeLay would get them a "seat at the table" where key energy legislation was being drafted. DeLay also participated in Westar's golf fundraiser at The Homestead resort in the summer of 2002, " just as the House-Senate conference on major energy legislation ... was about to get underway." [WP, 10/7/04]
Delay Takes Money from Texas Prison Company with Legislation Pending:
DeLay took a $100,000 check from a private prison company: The Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) – at a fundraiser for his children's charity, the DeLay Foundation for Kids. CCA – whose 20-year history has been "fraught with malfeasance, mismanagement, and abuse" – was part of an ongoing lobby for a bill that would privatize up to half of Texas's jails. DeLay is known for wielding major influence over the Republican-led legislature that will decide on the matter. [Knight Ridder, 11/30/04; Texas Observer, 6/6/03]
Delay Blocks Legislation for Partisan Vendetta:
In 1999, DeLay received a "private rebuke" for threatening retaliation against the Electronic Industries Association when the trade group named a Democrat to head its Washington operation. To punish the group, DeLay stopped two uncontroversial trade bills that would have benefited the EIA and told the association it would lose all GOP access unless it hired a Republican instead. The group still hired the Democrat, but a little later, the EIA quietly hired a former House Republican staff member who promptly showed up at a fundraiser for DeLay's ARMPAC. [Texas Observer, 2/4/00; Slate, 12/5/98]
Delay Takes Shady Donations for Legal Defense Fund:
The list of recent donors to DeLay's legal defense fund includes two lawmakers placed on the House Ethics Committee this year (they replaced conservatives who were purged for being critical of DeLay), and corporations implicated in DeLay's alleged fundraising violations. Corporate donors include Bacardi U.S.A., the rum maker that has also been indicted in the Texas investigation, and Reliant Energy, "another major contributor to a Texas political action committee formed by Mr. DeLay that is the focus of the criminal inquiry." In December, DeLay was forced to return funds from registered lobbyists because those contributions violated House ethics rules. [NYT, 3/13/05; Time, 3/13/05]
Delay Leaves Ethics Behind On European Vacation:
DeLay enjoyed a luxurious vacation at the Four Seasons Hotel in London in mid-2000, paid for by an Indian tribe and a gambling services company, both of which opposed gambling legislation DeLay voted against two months later. The payment was funneled through lobbyist Jack Abramoff, best known for teaming up with right-wing religious fundamentalist Ralph Reed to close down a Texas casino operated by the Tigua Indians in 2002, then persuading the tribe to pay the two of them $4.2 million to lobby Washington lawmakers, including DeLay, to reopen it. According to expense accounts obtained by the Journal, Abramoff financed DeLay and DeLay's staff's stay at the Four Seasons hotel to the tune of $4,285.35. The total reimbursement for expenses in London was $13,318.50. [WP, 3/12/05; Raw Story, 2/25/05; WP, 9/29/04]
Delay Leaves House Rules Behind on Asian Vacation:
DeLay accepted an expense-paid trip to South Korea which, in direct violation of House rules, was paid for by a South Korean lobbying group. The Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, a group registered with the Foreign Agents Registration Act, was created with help from DeLay's former chief of staff. The cost to send DeLay, his wife and three of his lawmaker friends to Seoul for three days was $106,921, the fourth largest cost for any single trip taken by lawmakers between January 2000 and September 2004. [WP, 3/10/05]
Delay Kicks Ethics out of House:
DeLay and his allies in the House have sought to cripple the House Ethics Committee. The committee, which rebuked DeLay three times last year, was purged of its most "responsible" members last month and is currently "paralyzed" by a proposed rules change that "would prevent the committee from launching any investigation without the support of at least one Republican-a restriction designed to protect the majority leader." [WP, 2/5/05; WP, 10/7/04; Time, 3/13/05]
Delay Tries to Change Rules to Protect Power:
DeLay was the driving force behind the decision by House leaders to abandon an 11-year-old party rule that "required leaders to step aside temporarily if indicted." The idea was dropped only after rank-and-file lawmakers complained "the party was sending the wrong message." [NYT, 11/18/04; WP, 3/11/05]
This kind of behavior should not be tolerated no matter what political party or politician's sewer district it oozes up from. The President and Republicans leaders (who are not pending indictments themselves) should show some backbone and call for Delay to resign his seat in the congress now! He’s an embarrassment to the country and the institutions of government he is supposedly sworn to uphold and protect.
Calling All Weasels!
Let’s drink to the uncounted heads
Let’s think of the wavering millions
Who need leaders but get gamblers instead”
Jagger/Richard
Who can be really surprised by the indictment of house majority leader Tom Delay by a Texas grand jury today? Not me or, I suspect, lots of other “salt of the earth” folks he’s had bent over backwards for years. The "hammer" as he is lovingly called by his bottom feeding supporters calls it all a pinko plot. You can tell this guy is a “weasel” five minutes into any one of his sound bites. This guy is the same Tom Delay who tried to cook the house ethics committee rules to allow ex felons to have their convictions ignored when it came time to determine whether they should be booted out of the congress for committing felonious acts. At least for the ones that get caught.
“His Delayness” joins the number of GOP “leaders” who ethics or competence has been brought into question recently most notably Republican Tom Frist the Senate Majority Leader who's suspected of pulling the same thing that sent Martha Stewart to jail for insider trading. The question has to be asked how did this Delay become the majority leader of the United States House of Representatives in the first place? Common sense should tell anyone that his power is for sale to the highest bidder in most cases. Maybe this prostitution of one’s self plays well in the lone star state but it shouldn’t be tolerated coming from officers of our federal government. Many of his contemporaries in the government apparently fear his wrath should they stand up to him and call for his long overdo kicking to the curb. That is unfortunate indeed.
So what did this right wing “wacko” do to get such a bad reputation. Let me list the ways? Here are the “dirty dozen” as provided by Alternet.org.
Delay Raises Corporate Cash for TRMPAC:
DeLay is embroiled in a scandal in Texas for his active participation in illegally funneling corporate funds to assist state political campaigns. DeLay's political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), is under criminal investigation for using corporate money to finance Texas campaigns. DeLay has tried to distance himself from the group, but documents show DeLay "personally forwarded at least one large check" to the group and was "in direct contact with lobbyists for some of the nation's largest companies" on TRMPAC's behalf. [Source: NYT, 3/10/05; Salon, 10/04/04]
Delay Bribes Congressman to Vote for Medicare:
DeLay has admitted offering to endorse Sen. Nick Smith's (R-Mich.) son Brad, who was running for Congress at the time, in exchange for Smith's "yea" vote on the Medicare bill. His actions violated House rules and earned DeLay a "public admonishment" from the Ethics Committee. Smith originally alleged – and then retracted after pressure from House leaders – that DeLay also offered a $100,000 bribe for his vote. DeLay extended the role call on the Medicare bill for nearly three hours in order "to avoid an embarrassing loss." [Slate, 10/1/04; WP, 10/1/04]
Delay Uses Taxpayer Money for Partisan Stunt:
The House ethics panel rebuked DeLay for using government resources to help locate a private plane he thought was carrying Texas Democratic legislators. DeLay was trying to force the legislators back to the capitol so he could push through his "bitterly disputed congressional redistricting." The ethics report cited House rules that bar members from taking "any official action on the basis of the partisan affiliation...of the individuals involved" and said DeLay's behavior raised "serious concerns under such "standards of conduct." [WP, 10/7/04]
Delay Pays for Golf Tournaments with Cash Meant for Kids:
DeLay used a children's charity, Celebrations for Children Inc., as cover for collecting soft money from anonymous interest groups, some of which was used for "dinners, a golf tournament, a rock concert, Broadway tickets and other fundraising events" at the Republican convention in New York. Because the money was supposedly for charity, companies wishing to curry favor with DeLay were able to do so without revealing themselves as campaign donors. Federal laws governing tax-exempt charities allow no more than an insubstantial portion of a group's revenue to be spent on activities other than the charity's main stated purpose. [CBS, 11/14/03; WP, 3/24/04]
Delay Promises 'Seat At Table' for Donor:
In one of its three public rebukes, the House Ethics Committee cited the belief on the part of executives at an energy company, Westar Energy Inc., that a $56,500 contribution to a political action committee associated with DeLay would get them a "seat at the table" where key energy legislation was being drafted. DeLay also participated in Westar's golf fundraiser at The Homestead resort in the summer of 2002, " just as the House-Senate conference on major energy legislation ... was about to get underway." [WP, 10/7/04]
Delay Takes Money from Texas Prison Company with Legislation Pending:
DeLay took a $100,000 check from a private prison company: The Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) – at a fundraiser for his children's charity, the DeLay Foundation for Kids. CCA – whose 20-year history has been "fraught with malfeasance, mismanagement, and abuse" – was part of an ongoing lobby for a bill that would privatize up to half of Texas's jails. DeLay is known for wielding major influence over the Republican-led legislature that will decide on the matter. [Knight Ridder, 11/30/04; Texas Observer, 6/6/03]
Delay Blocks Legislation for Partisan Vendetta:
In 1999, DeLay received a "private rebuke" for threatening retaliation against the Electronic Industries Association when the trade group named a Democrat to head its Washington operation. To punish the group, DeLay stopped two uncontroversial trade bills that would have benefited the EIA and told the association it would lose all GOP access unless it hired a Republican instead. The group still hired the Democrat, but a little later, the EIA quietly hired a former House Republican staff member who promptly showed up at a fundraiser for DeLay's ARMPAC. [Texas Observer, 2/4/00; Slate, 12/5/98]
Delay Takes Shady Donations for Legal Defense Fund:
The list of recent donors to DeLay's legal defense fund includes two lawmakers placed on the House Ethics Committee this year (they replaced conservatives who were purged for being critical of DeLay), and corporations implicated in DeLay's alleged fundraising violations. Corporate donors include Bacardi U.S.A., the rum maker that has also been indicted in the Texas investigation, and Reliant Energy, "another major contributor to a Texas political action committee formed by Mr. DeLay that is the focus of the criminal inquiry." In December, DeLay was forced to return funds from registered lobbyists because those contributions violated House ethics rules. [NYT, 3/13/05; Time, 3/13/05]
Delay Leaves Ethics Behind On European Vacation:
DeLay enjoyed a luxurious vacation at the Four Seasons Hotel in London in mid-2000, paid for by an Indian tribe and a gambling services company, both of which opposed gambling legislation DeLay voted against two months later. The payment was funneled through lobbyist Jack Abramoff, best known for teaming up with right-wing religious fundamentalist Ralph Reed to close down a Texas casino operated by the Tigua Indians in 2002, then persuading the tribe to pay the two of them $4.2 million to lobby Washington lawmakers, including DeLay, to reopen it. According to expense accounts obtained by the Journal, Abramoff financed DeLay and DeLay's staff's stay at the Four Seasons hotel to the tune of $4,285.35. The total reimbursement for expenses in London was $13,318.50. [WP, 3/12/05; Raw Story, 2/25/05; WP, 9/29/04]
Delay Leaves House Rules Behind on Asian Vacation:
DeLay accepted an expense-paid trip to South Korea which, in direct violation of House rules, was paid for by a South Korean lobbying group. The Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, a group registered with the Foreign Agents Registration Act, was created with help from DeLay's former chief of staff. The cost to send DeLay, his wife and three of his lawmaker friends to Seoul for three days was $106,921, the fourth largest cost for any single trip taken by lawmakers between January 2000 and September 2004. [WP, 3/10/05]
Delay Kicks Ethics out of House:
DeLay and his allies in the House have sought to cripple the House Ethics Committee. The committee, which rebuked DeLay three times last year, was purged of its most "responsible" members last month and is currently "paralyzed" by a proposed rules change that "would prevent the committee from launching any investigation without the support of at least one Republican-a restriction designed to protect the majority leader." [WP, 2/5/05; WP, 10/7/04; Time, 3/13/05]
Delay Tries to Change Rules to Protect Power:
DeLay was the driving force behind the decision by House leaders to abandon an 11-year-old party rule that "required leaders to step aside temporarily if indicted." The idea was dropped only after rank-and-file lawmakers complained "the party was sending the wrong message." [NYT, 11/18/04; WP, 3/11/05]
This kind of behavior should not be tolerated no matter what political party or politician's sewer district it oozes up from. The President and Republicans leaders (who are not pending indictments themselves) should show some backbone and call for Delay to resign his seat in the congress now! He’s an embarrassment to the country and the institutions of government he is supposedly sworn to uphold and protect.
Sunday, January 09, 2011
No Country For Old Men Sheriff Expresses Anger At Arizona Gun Lobby
I'm starting to like the Sheriff of Pima County, Arizona Clarence Dupnik for his real life experienced based opinions about the shooting in Arizona yesterday. He has apparently struck a cord with many others too, given there's a Clarence Dupnik is my hero page on facebook already. He reminds me of the aging sheriff in the Coen brothers movie No Country for Old Men, with his, what's the world coming to attitude.
He's not afraid to say he's angry about the general state of affairs in the State of Arizona and with America in general when it comes to guns being made readily available especially to unbalanced individuals, who maybe susceptible to hate speech, and violent political rhetoric.
He also infers that dangerous mentally ill people who are allowed to walk the streets today should probably be institutionalized as they once were "when he was a young cop on the beat". A topic that certainly has some validity when we see the repeated episodes of certifiable mentally ill individual's involvement in a mass killing of the month somewhere in America. Also I have some empathy gained from my personal observations of the mentally ill gained while working as a municipal court clerk for over 25 years.
It could be argued that many mentally ill, homeless and other lost souls would be better served in a structured institutionalized setting instead of on the street struggling with their demons. Driven by the voices in their head and not willing or sane enough to take the medications needed to maintain lucidity or basic sanity.
But well meaning civil libertarians in the 1960's got the barn door open on the issue and it would be probably impossible to close now. The theory was that they did not need to be institutionalized only medicated and then turned lose to be serviced by community mental health clinics because they "were not a potential harm to others or themselves", if they simply took their psychotropic medication.
But I regress. Here is some of what the good sheriff thinks...
He's not afraid to say he's angry about the general state of affairs in the State of Arizona and with America in general when it comes to guns being made readily available especially to unbalanced individuals, who maybe susceptible to hate speech, and violent political rhetoric.
He also infers that dangerous mentally ill people who are allowed to walk the streets today should probably be institutionalized as they once were "when he was a young cop on the beat". A topic that certainly has some validity when we see the repeated episodes of certifiable mentally ill individual's involvement in a mass killing of the month somewhere in America. Also I have some empathy gained from my personal observations of the mentally ill gained while working as a municipal court clerk for over 25 years.
It could be argued that many mentally ill, homeless and other lost souls would be better served in a structured institutionalized setting instead of on the street struggling with their demons. Driven by the voices in their head and not willing or sane enough to take the medications needed to maintain lucidity or basic sanity.
But well meaning civil libertarians in the 1960's got the barn door open on the issue and it would be probably impossible to close now. The theory was that they did not need to be institutionalized only medicated and then turned lose to be serviced by community mental health clinics because they "were not a potential harm to others or themselves", if they simply took their psychotropic medication.
But I regress. Here is some of what the good sheriff thinks...
"Well, I think that when the rhetoric about hatred, about mistrust of government, about paranoia of how government operates, and to try to inflame the public on a daily basis, twenty-four hours a day seven days a week has impact on people, especially (those) who are unbalanced personalities to begin with..”The ironic aspect of the sheriff's comments are that many tea party sympathizers are probably, in reality, in the unbalanced gun nuts category. Maybe the exact point he's also trying to make. You can see the relevant parts of his press conference in the video via C-SPAN.
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Your NRA At Work
Now we will have the requisite two weeks of commentary from the CNN's and MSNBC's on "how could a nut like this guy ever get a gun anyway", before we return to doing absolutely nothing about it because of politicians to stupidly redneck, in love with guns or afraid of the NRA to do anything meaningful about it.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Why Does Seattle Jewish Lobby Hate Free Speech?
Instead Dow Constantine oped to go all "mommy state" on us, having been bombarded I'm sure by the pro-Israel people in town. The county actually will lose money for changing the policy in a time of transit budget cutting. But once again any semblance of the truth about possible Israeli aggression is suppressed because reactionary pro-Israel organizations in the area and country have a hard time apparently handling the assertion that Israel may be unjustly killing people. I have often written, here, here, here and hear about the retaliation one can expect when anyone suggest that there maybe other then even handed treatment of Palestinians by Israel in the Middle East.
I for one beleive that one of the reasons that 9/11 happened and the general anti-American feelings emanating from the Middle East and Muslim world for as long as one can remember is because of this country's continuing unequal treatment of the Palestinians in favor of Israel, and whatever crazy anti-Palestinian tacked Israel wishes to take. One would have to be blind deaf and dumb to think that Palestinians have gotten anything close to a fair treatment or even handedness from the United States.
I also think the County should rethink this new policy. If for nothing else we can use the money the advertising will generate to keep the buses running. The ironic thing is the message the Palestinian group wanted to get out probably got more attention in the end because of the Jewish groups attempts to suppress it.
Many Progressives Can't See Forest For The Trees
Definition: "unable to grasp the big picture because of a concern with small (trivial) details".
*Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – ends official discrimination against LGBT Americans who wish to serve their country in the military. START Treaty Ratification – reduces deployed nuclear weapons by 1/3 and ensures that we are able to continue nuclear weapons inspections in Russia in order to verify reductions and help keep nuclear materials out of the hands of rogue nations or terrorists.
* Affordable Care Act (health care reform) – expands access to affordable health insurance to 32 million more Americans, ends numerous abusive health insurance industry practices, provides significant tax credits to make health insurance affordable for families earning less than $88,000 per year and for small businesses, and creates health insurance exchanges overseen by the government or non-profit entities.
* Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act - Increases student aid by at least $65 billion over next decade by shifting funding from private student loan companies to students who need assistance affording college.
* Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act - raises nutritional standards for school lunches and increases school lunch program funding by $4.5 billion over the next 10 years – expands access to school lunch program for at least 115,000 students.
* Fair Sentencing Act – reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and cocaine, which has a significant disparate impact on African Americans, from 100-1 to 18-1. Eliminates mandatory five-year prison sentences for first time crack possession convictions.
* Wall Street reform, which enables government to step in to liquidate failing financial institutions in order to prevent additional future bailouts, creates a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to curb abusive lending practices by credit card companies and payday lenders, and regulate derivatives trading.
* Serve America Act - reauthorizes and expands federally-funded national service programs, such as AmeriCorps and VISTA.
* Children’s Health Insurance Program (“CHIP”) – reauthorized and expanded CHIP from providing health insurance for 7 million children to providing health insurance for 11 million children, and allows states to extend benefits to legal immigrants.
* Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act - helps ensure equal pay for equal work by enabling people to challenge unequal pay in court even if the fact that their pay is unequal is not discovered by the employee for a long time.
* Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act - gives the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over production and marketing of tobacco products. Also limits advertising that targets children, requires disclosure of ingredients and gives FDA authority to ban some ingredients in cigarettes, and requires larger warning labels on tobacco products.
* American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - A $787 billion economic stimulus package that stabilized our economy, prevented a second Great Depression, created 3.3 million jobs, and avoided greater declines in GDP. The stimulus legislation included:
*$14 billion in funding for energy efficiency programs, including weatherization of low-income housing, state and local governments, and federal building energy efficiency retrofits.
* $25.8 billion in funding for health information technology development
* A 65% subsidy for the cost of continuation of health insurance under the COBRA program for individuals who lost their jobs
* $2 billion for Community Health Centers
* $15.6 billion increase in Pell Grants
* $2.1 billion for Head Start
* $19.9 billion for the Food Stamp Program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
* $8 billion for high-speed rail development
* $6 billion for development of energy smart-grid
* Established meaningful limits and oversight for the use of Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”) funds, thereby ensuring that virtually all of the $700 billion in TARP funds were repaid to the U.S. Treasury.
* Ended major combat operations in Iraq, and began to bring our troops home from the Iraq War more quickly than the schedule that President Obama had campaigned on.
* Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act – restricts credit card companies from raising interest rates or charging penalty fees, and requires increased disclosure of credit card terms and conditions.
* Increased automobile fuel efficiency standards to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016
* FDA Food Safety Modernization Act – upgraded food safety procedures in the U.S. for first time since the 1930s.
*Matthew Sheppard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act - authorizes the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute hate crimes and to aid state and local law enforcement in doing so.
* Established by Executive Order pollution reduction and efficiency standards for federal government buildings, vehicle fleets, and purchasing.
* Issued an Executive Order prohibiting torture of prisoners of war, requiring compliance with Geneva Conventions, and rescinding any previous inconsistent Executive Orders.
* Established by Executive Order strict new ethics standards for federal employees or those seeking federal employment to help end the revolving door between lobbying shops and government agencies.
* Claims Resolution Act – authorizes funding for the Pigford II Settlement, which provides $1.15 billion in federal funding to settle approximately 80,000 claims by African American farmers of discriminatory loan practices in the 1980s by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Cobell Settlement, which provides $1.9 billion in federal funding to settle claims regarding U.S. Government mismanagement of trust funds and water rights for Native Americans.
* Equal Hospital Visitation Rights - issued a Presidential Memorandum requiring that all hospitals accepting Medicare or Medicaid funding to provide equal hospital visitation rights for LGBT patients.
* Federal Benefits for Same-Sex Partners – issued a President Memorandum extending federal benefits for same-sex partners to all employees of the Executive Branch and the Foreign Service
* Have started us on the path toward closing the entire Medicare prescription drug coverage doughnut hole by 2020.
* Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act - reforms Pentagon procurement policies to prevent billions of dollars in wasteful spending over the next decade.
* American Opportunity Tax Credit - $2,500 tax credit for working families and students attending college – included in stimulus bill and extended through the recent unemployment benefits/tax cuts compromise.
* Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act - expands health care services, including mental health services and counseling, available to our veterans.
* Ended the unnecessary F-22 fighter plane project, saving taxpayers $4 billion.
* Have put in motion a plan to trim $100 billion in wasteful military spending over the next five years.
* Saved the U.S. auto industry through an emergency auto industry rescue package.
* Lifted President Bush’s restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
* Repeated extensions of unemployment benefits, the most recent of which will prevent 7 million Americans from losing their safety net
* Put President in office who can speak English
via: Winning Progressive
Democratic Progressive Accomplishments 2009-2010
*Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – ends official discrimination against LGBT Americans who wish to serve their country in the military. START Treaty Ratification – reduces deployed nuclear weapons by 1/3 and ensures that we are able to continue nuclear weapons inspections in Russia in order to verify reductions and help keep nuclear materials out of the hands of rogue nations or terrorists.
* Affordable Care Act (health care reform) – expands access to affordable health insurance to 32 million more Americans, ends numerous abusive health insurance industry practices, provides significant tax credits to make health insurance affordable for families earning less than $88,000 per year and for small businesses, and creates health insurance exchanges overseen by the government or non-profit entities.
* Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act - Increases student aid by at least $65 billion over next decade by shifting funding from private student loan companies to students who need assistance affording college.
* Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act - raises nutritional standards for school lunches and increases school lunch program funding by $4.5 billion over the next 10 years – expands access to school lunch program for at least 115,000 students.
* Fair Sentencing Act – reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and cocaine, which has a significant disparate impact on African Americans, from 100-1 to 18-1. Eliminates mandatory five-year prison sentences for first time crack possession convictions.
* Wall Street reform, which enables government to step in to liquidate failing financial institutions in order to prevent additional future bailouts, creates a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to curb abusive lending practices by credit card companies and payday lenders, and regulate derivatives trading.
* Serve America Act - reauthorizes and expands federally-funded national service programs, such as AmeriCorps and VISTA.
* Children’s Health Insurance Program (“CHIP”) – reauthorized and expanded CHIP from providing health insurance for 7 million children to providing health insurance for 11 million children, and allows states to extend benefits to legal immigrants.
* Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act - helps ensure equal pay for equal work by enabling people to challenge unequal pay in court even if the fact that their pay is unequal is not discovered by the employee for a long time.
* Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act - gives the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over production and marketing of tobacco products. Also limits advertising that targets children, requires disclosure of ingredients and gives FDA authority to ban some ingredients in cigarettes, and requires larger warning labels on tobacco products.
* American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - A $787 billion economic stimulus package that stabilized our economy, prevented a second Great Depression, created 3.3 million jobs, and avoided greater declines in GDP. The stimulus legislation included:
*$14 billion in funding for energy efficiency programs, including weatherization of low-income housing, state and local governments, and federal building energy efficiency retrofits.
* $25.8 billion in funding for health information technology development
* A 65% subsidy for the cost of continuation of health insurance under the COBRA program for individuals who lost their jobs
* $2 billion for Community Health Centers
* $15.6 billion increase in Pell Grants
* $2.1 billion for Head Start
* $19.9 billion for the Food Stamp Program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
* $8 billion for high-speed rail development
* $6 billion for development of energy smart-grid
* Established meaningful limits and oversight for the use of Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”) funds, thereby ensuring that virtually all of the $700 billion in TARP funds were repaid to the U.S. Treasury.
* Ended major combat operations in Iraq, and began to bring our troops home from the Iraq War more quickly than the schedule that President Obama had campaigned on.
* Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act – restricts credit card companies from raising interest rates or charging penalty fees, and requires increased disclosure of credit card terms and conditions.
* Increased automobile fuel efficiency standards to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016
* FDA Food Safety Modernization Act – upgraded food safety procedures in the U.S. for first time since the 1930s.
*Matthew Sheppard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act - authorizes the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute hate crimes and to aid state and local law enforcement in doing so.
* Established by Executive Order pollution reduction and efficiency standards for federal government buildings, vehicle fleets, and purchasing.
* Issued an Executive Order prohibiting torture of prisoners of war, requiring compliance with Geneva Conventions, and rescinding any previous inconsistent Executive Orders.
* Established by Executive Order strict new ethics standards for federal employees or those seeking federal employment to help end the revolving door between lobbying shops and government agencies.
* Claims Resolution Act – authorizes funding for the Pigford II Settlement, which provides $1.15 billion in federal funding to settle approximately 80,000 claims by African American farmers of discriminatory loan practices in the 1980s by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Cobell Settlement, which provides $1.9 billion in federal funding to settle claims regarding U.S. Government mismanagement of trust funds and water rights for Native Americans.
* Equal Hospital Visitation Rights - issued a Presidential Memorandum requiring that all hospitals accepting Medicare or Medicaid funding to provide equal hospital visitation rights for LGBT patients.
* Federal Benefits for Same-Sex Partners – issued a President Memorandum extending federal benefits for same-sex partners to all employees of the Executive Branch and the Foreign Service
* Have started us on the path toward closing the entire Medicare prescription drug coverage doughnut hole by 2020.
* Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act - reforms Pentagon procurement policies to prevent billions of dollars in wasteful spending over the next decade.
* American Opportunity Tax Credit - $2,500 tax credit for working families and students attending college – included in stimulus bill and extended through the recent unemployment benefits/tax cuts compromise.
* Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act - expands health care services, including mental health services and counseling, available to our veterans.
* Ended the unnecessary F-22 fighter plane project, saving taxpayers $4 billion.
* Have put in motion a plan to trim $100 billion in wasteful military spending over the next five years.
* Saved the U.S. auto industry through an emergency auto industry rescue package.
* Lifted President Bush’s restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
* Repeated extensions of unemployment benefits, the most recent of which will prevent 7 million Americans from losing their safety net
* Put President in office who can speak English
via: Winning Progressive
Friday, December 24, 2010
McGinn’s No Cost Overruns Position On Tunnel Project Based On Faulty Premise
The real questions concerning the tunnel project are:
1. Does the Deep Bore Tunnel, agreed to by every stakeholder in the State but Mayor McGinn, offer the best option for replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and repair of the seawall?
2. Can cost overruns be controlled and mitigated so that the tunnel option is worth the money spent for the improvements it will bring to the safety and movement of traffic in the Hwy 99 corridor, revitalization of the waterfront, surface streets, transit, business creation, and the seawall replacement?
In a recent PI blog story Chris Grygile puts forth the argument that although Mayor McGinn has pretty much alienated everybody or fallen flat on his face in most areas of governing or his handling of the tunnel issue, he should still be sitting pretty for reelection 2013. How you may ask? Grygiel and others claim that if there are cost overruns McGinn will somehow look like a genius for acting like a petulant child on the issue from the first day he walked through the door of city hall. This in spite of the fact that he appears to have dropped the ball on every other initiative he's proposed since becoming mayor.
There is one major problem with this argument. McGinn and his supporters have bought into the premise that somehow there shouldn’t be cost overruns at all when it comes to the tunnel. Or at least cost overruns that Seattle should have to pay. I support the tunnel and am old enough and done enough construction of my own to realize that when someone builds something of scale there are always cost overruns. The tunnel will be no different. This is due to massive nature of the project and the potential for additional costs due to unforeseen circumstances.
I have often used the example, when writing about the tunnel’s cost overruns, of the homeowner doing a major remodel of their home. Seldom if ever does the cost of such a project come in under budget. Tunnel planners have use a conservative approach to their estimates on the cost of the project which bodes well for the possibility of bringing the project in close to budget.
So the premise that there should be some sort of guarantee of no cost overruns that the city may have to pay is a false one from the get go. The Mayor and many of his followers have created this idea apparently realizing that it never was a real possibility and therefore I beleive, only a ploy to stop the tunnel altogether. The only other explanation being they simply have no experience with or knowledge of modern construction costs.
McGinn would of better served the citizens of Seattle by working to mitigate the impact of any potential cost overruns instead of his pessimistic approach of demanding that there be no cost overruns the city should pay, or that this or that unforeseen calamity will surely strike us down should we build the tunnel. He has instead effectively alienate everyone in state and local government that may of helped soften the blow of cost overruns because of his obsession with trying to stop the tunnel.
I have insisted that McGinn and his detractors have really always opposed the idea of a tunnel and rather then just say that have worked to spread fear in the community about the project to keep it from every being built period.
The real question is how to limit or reduce cost overruns on the tunnel project. McGinn has destroyed much of his credibility with the legislature and the Governor by the sky is falling Chicken Little style of sniping at them about the tunnel project. One legislator told me recently that in the end McGinn won’t stop the tunnel in spite of all his posturing, and that most lawmakers feel he has done Seattle a disservice by his obstruction of the project and alienation of the very people he will need for support politically in the future.
1. Does the Deep Bore Tunnel, agreed to by every stakeholder in the State but Mayor McGinn, offer the best option for replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and repair of the seawall?
2. Can cost overruns be controlled and mitigated so that the tunnel option is worth the money spent for the improvements it will bring to the safety and movement of traffic in the Hwy 99 corridor, revitalization of the waterfront, surface streets, transit, business creation, and the seawall replacement?
In a recent PI blog story Chris Grygile puts forth the argument that although Mayor McGinn has pretty much alienated everybody or fallen flat on his face in most areas of governing or his handling of the tunnel issue, he should still be sitting pretty for reelection 2013. How you may ask? Grygiel and others claim that if there are cost overruns McGinn will somehow look like a genius for acting like a petulant child on the issue from the first day he walked through the door of city hall. This in spite of the fact that he appears to have dropped the ball on every other initiative he's proposed since becoming mayor.
There is one major problem with this argument. McGinn and his supporters have bought into the premise that somehow there shouldn’t be cost overruns at all when it comes to the tunnel. Or at least cost overruns that Seattle should have to pay. I support the tunnel and am old enough and done enough construction of my own to realize that when someone builds something of scale there are always cost overruns. The tunnel will be no different. This is due to massive nature of the project and the potential for additional costs due to unforeseen circumstances.
I have often used the example, when writing about the tunnel’s cost overruns, of the homeowner doing a major remodel of their home. Seldom if ever does the cost of such a project come in under budget. Tunnel planners have use a conservative approach to their estimates on the cost of the project which bodes well for the possibility of bringing the project in close to budget.
So the premise that there should be some sort of guarantee of no cost overruns that the city may have to pay is a false one from the get go. The Mayor and many of his followers have created this idea apparently realizing that it never was a real possibility and therefore I beleive, only a ploy to stop the tunnel altogether. The only other explanation being they simply have no experience with or knowledge of modern construction costs.
McGinn would of better served the citizens of Seattle by working to mitigate the impact of any potential cost overruns instead of his pessimistic approach of demanding that there be no cost overruns the city should pay, or that this or that unforeseen calamity will surely strike us down should we build the tunnel. He has instead effectively alienate everyone in state and local government that may of helped soften the blow of cost overruns because of his obsession with trying to stop the tunnel.
I have insisted that McGinn and his detractors have really always opposed the idea of a tunnel and rather then just say that have worked to spread fear in the community about the project to keep it from every being built period.
The real question is how to limit or reduce cost overruns on the tunnel project. McGinn has destroyed much of his credibility with the legislature and the Governor by the sky is falling Chicken Little style of sniping at them about the tunnel project. One legislator told me recently that in the end McGinn won’t stop the tunnel in spite of all his posturing, and that most lawmakers feel he has done Seattle a disservice by his obstruction of the project and alienation of the very people he will need for support politically in the future.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Giant Mouse Milking Contest To Take Place Tonight At City Hall Followed By Search For Light At The End Of A Tunnel
Have you ever milked a mouse? Well that's what the anti-tunnel crowd metaphorically hopes will happen at tonight's "tunnel debate". Just what we need more capitol hill hipster nerds and His Honor the Mayor talking endlessly about all the things that can possibly go wrong when you decide to get out of bed in the morning or fix a city problem.
Oh here's the handy pie chart to help put things into perspective and to outline what your probably going to hear from the anti tunnel crowd.
Oh here's the handy pie chart to help put things into perspective and to outline what your probably going to hear from the anti tunnel crowd.
Republicans With Voters Help Tell Everyone In State To Go Fuck Themselves
I think the Governor is trying to say: Okay voters you didn't want to institute a state income tax on rich people here in our state. You don't like paying the extra 3 cents for that candy bar or soda pop that helps maintain that fat ass of yours, and you agree with Tim Eyman that the minority party Republicans in the state legislature should have veto power over any tax increase proposed by the majority party Democrats so....
You'll Get Nothing!
I also think we should find if Tim Eyman attends church and then send all the people who are going to fall through the cracks over there so the congregation he belongs to can take care of them...
You'll Get Nothing!
I also think we should find if Tim Eyman attends church and then send all the people who are going to fall through the cracks over there so the congregation he belongs to can take care of them...
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
McGinn Personification Of Seattle All Talk No Action Politics When It ComesTo Tunnel Proposal
It's been more than ten years of political regimes, planning, debating, elections, proposals, counter proposals, environmental impact studies, confrontations, posturing. begging the feds for money, promises not to obstruct construction if elected and having the Alaskan Way Viaduct continue to crumble, yet Mayor "in over my head" McSchwinn calls for the city council to "slow down" on making a decision to sign off on the deep bore tunnel project. His plan:
"McGinn says the tunnel is too expensive and not environmentally sound. He prefers tearing down the waterfront viaduct and dispersing traffic the roughly 100,000 vehicles that use it every day on city streets." (he obviously has never lived in West Seattle or south of downtown)The Mayor latest ploy proves beyond a shadow of a doubt he is truly in the tradition of all other modern day Seattle politicians who would rather talk a proposal to death than take action to do something about it.
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