No Thanks Mike - My Letter To City Council Candidate Michael Taylor Judd

I received an email from Michael Taylor-Judd asking for my support of his candidacy for the Seattle city council position 1. This was my reply.

Mike,

I am Seattle native and lifelong Northwest resident. I'm sure your a fine individual and mean well, but I cannot support you with my vote or political influence for city council since I disagree with your decision to oppose the deep bore tunnel.

I think that it is unwise to oppose the tunnel at this time. I beleive the horse has left the barn. I see it as the real compromise between the bicycle and transit oriented surface options folks and the real transportation needs of the city, region and people who must get around in vehicles that take their goods and themselves to market.

I-5 is not a option really and most of the objections I have seen to the tunnel I consider elitist, naive and out of touch with reality.  Almost all of the state's political types to date have supported the DBT with the exception of Mayor McShwinn, council member O'Brien and the entire staff of the Stranger. I know these well meaning people have considerable political influence with citizens who are not well inform about this complicated issue. Also I believe that these vocal interurban progressive types have little commuting, business or getting goods and services to market experience.

If anything the continuing attempts to stop the project will be what causes cost overruns. Which as we really know is a false premise since there are always cost overruns with capital projects of this scale. The question is how to limit the cost overruns, which the state seems be taking seriously so far in-spite of the atmosphere created by the naysayers.

I have written extensively on this subject (of the DBT) in my blog. In the progressive blogosphere I know I am a contrary opinion on this issue and others. I am hoping that citizens, other then the folks I referred to above, will inform themselves about the full impacts of not building the DBT at this late stage of the process and vote to continue the construction in the upcoming special August election. At this point I think it would be a grave mistake not to support the tunnel.

One other main point I would like you to consider. I think that the tunnel would ultimately bring about the entire revitalization of the waterfront and as a side benefit create up to 30,000 long term union wage construction jobs in the community, and many service jobs and small business jobs after it's completion. This would undoubtedly be a major stimulus program for the community during the time that it is badly needed. Something that you as a politician in these difficult economic times should consider a top priority.

Finally I think we have talked enough about what we must do to replace the crumbling viaduct and seawall. Citizens of the Seattle deserve leaders who take action. 10 years of talking and "milking the mouse" on major political decisions of this type is long enough. 

Sincerely,

Danny O'Brien

An Old Working Class Bastard's New Manifesto For America

I can be a cynical old bastard, but at least I'm your cynical old working class middle class type of a bastard. In my 64 years on this earth I have rarely experienced the incompetence and corporate and political shenanigans I've seen from today's host of lackey politicians of both parties in concert with a host of unethical corporate Shylocks. (no offense to my Jewish friends intended)

It is not rocket science really, we need progressive outside the envelope thinking and action and not the pandering we most often nowadays get from our so called leaders in both parties. My premise is also based on the belief that deficit federal spending is needed more than ever now to overcome the backward out of date old white man, corporate manipulated thinking that caused the great recession in the first place.

We don't need long winded ideological driven ploys and speeches that fain the need to cut spending as a be all end all solution to every problem that troubles mankind or our nation either. Plus the religious zealots need to get the fuck out of the way and stop using the bible as their guide for American political progress and modernization. Please leave the book of revelations out of planning for the future. Religion is a personal and spiritual practice not a political one.

old fart manifesto for the working and middle class

• Reverse the Citizen United Supreme Court decision as soon as possible and pass a constitutional amendment that entirely eliminates and outlaws corporate funding of candidates. Creates a system of publicly and individually financed elections.

• Authorize a new massive stimulus program that's aimed at rebuilding our nation's crumbling infrastructure 

• The rich and corporations must start immediately paying their fair share of taxes, including ending tax breaks for oil companies and other special corporate interest groups

• Religious organizations and churches should be taxed

• Begin moving to a single payer, Medicare for all type, health care system

• Create and overall energy policy that moves us towards reducing green house gases and foreign dependence and recognize that climate change is caused by human activity. Set goals and timetables for reducing green house gases.

• Strengthen and expand laws, that protect the right to organize labor unions that collectively bargain for workers wages hours and working conditions

• End American involvement in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere and reduce American military presence virtually everyplace on earth.

• Reduce overall military spending

• Repeal the Patriot Act 

• Stop the right wing attack on women's rights

• Strength Social Security and expand Medicare

• Raise the minimum wage to $12 dollars per hour

• Strictly regulate all food production and safety and support and create infrastructure and laws that promotes small farming and family farm production of naturally grown foods. Work to reduce the consumption of processed foods. Restrict the use of pesticides. Regulate large corporate farming, seafood and meat production

• Promote physical activities, healthy lifestyles and the consumption of natural produced organic foods

• Support tax incentives and stimulus programs that are environmentally friendly and reduce energy use. Grant tax incentives for private parties who build small scale energy producing environmentally friendly alternatives for their private use

• Protect gay and trans-gender rights and legalize same sex marriage

• Reform the educational system, including reducing class size and modernizing our teaching methods and curriculum 

• Pass a constitutional amendment that strengthens the separation of church and state

• Pass a law that requires at least a 30 day paid vacation for every worker annually if they wish to use it

• Outlaw "ask your doctor" type drug commercials. Make generic drugs readily available and assure there testing and safety.

• Reform drug laws and immediately legalize and tax the sale and use of marijuana for everyone over 18. Increase funds for those needing drug treatment

• Prosecute the people in the financial industry who's speculation and criminal activity caused the great recession or if they break the law. Enforce the antitrust laws

• Create a federal program that provides low interest loans to home owners in distress and buys properties (that can be sold back later by the government) that are in foreclosure

• Revise bankruptcy laws that make it easier for homeowners to walk away from bad home loans without losing everything they own, Such laws would at the same time be aimed at forcing lenders to be more inclined to refinance bad loans on homes with distressed mortgages, mortgages in foreclosure or for homes that are underwater

• Separate by law banking operations from Wall Street investment enterprises and make credit available to those who qualify 

• Computerize all medical records and widely expand the availability and access to preventive medicine practices

• Prosecute racists groups and individuals when they violate the civil rights laws or threaten others

• Reduce military aid to Israel and begin acting like an evenhanded and fair mediator between the Palestinians and Israel on a 2 state solution which promotes the return of Palestinian to their former lands within the 1947 borders

• Reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons 

• License gun owners and require them to pass a course on gun use and safety in order to own or possess a firearm. Outlaw the sale of assault weapons and their sale at gun shows. Toughen laws that keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.

• Reform immigration laws and create a path for immigrants to become citizens. Protect the border and stop illegal immigration as much as possible. Pass the dream act.

• Pass laws that make it easier for all citizens to register and vote in elections and allow everyone to vote by mail. 

• Give large federal grants to the states that help them weather the recession

• Create government make work programs that are aimed at cleaning up environmental damage. Move away from nuclear and coal energy sources until it can be proven that it is safe and will not cause environmental damage or additional green house gases

• Expand the social safety net for those in need, including those needing unemployment insurance, food stamps and free medical care

• Promote birth control and parenting programs and early childhood food and support programs

• Keep abortion legal and available. 

• Outlaw the practice where former politicians can become lobbyists  once their term in office is completed

• Protect the environment, animals and the water supply

• Promote bilingualism and  sexual education in the schools

• Strengthen penalties for violations of worker safety laws, racial, sex and sexual orientation discrimination in the work place and wage discrimination

• Modernize the national power grid, and create internet access for all. Protect net neutrality

• Restrict the use of the filibuster in Congress and pass laws that restrict a "tyranny by the minority"

• Restrict or eliminate Frankenfoods and monopolies that control the access to crop and garden seeds

• Reform the presidential electoral college so that a candidate winning the greatest number of national votes cannot lose the election (The National Popular Vote Act). Create a system of regional primary elections for all potential presidential candidates that would happen in each particular region on the same day (different dates for each region) and involve all parties and candidates

• Reform our mental health delivery system and create institutions and housing for mentally ill patients who need it.

• Fund mass transit, high speed rail and alternatives to automobile use

• Stimulate small businesses that manufacture made in America products or that  promote innovation that creates jobs in the United States.   

• Penalize and tax companies that ship American jobs overseas

• Create a program that would create millions of college scholarships

• Expand FEMA and/or programs that deal with national natural disasters

• Make the NCAA create a Division 1 college football championship playoff system (oh well, why not)

• Make doing the wave at baseball games a capitol crime

Dancers Try To Take Back The Jefferson Memorial Following Previous Arrests

This is a follow-up on a post I had last week. I know it's Code Pink but who really gives a shit. The point is this is law enforcement overreaction per-say. It seems the authorities sent a public relations man who attempts to act reasonable, but of course his premise is flawed. The point should be the police aren't needed to enforce bullshit rules such as who and who can't dance in public places.

Republican Reproductive Rights For Women

Via: slowpoke comics

Elmo And Big Bird Are Communists...

According to Fox News...

Palin Thinks Paul Revere Rode A Brontosaurus While Shouting At The British "You Won't Take My Gun Away"

"She doesn't know anything" 

Observation of Steve Smith former McCain Campaign Manager

Understanding The Republican Debt Ceiling Chicanery For Beginners

Ala Steven Colbert....

"Now Republicans can say one thing to Wall Street and the complete opposite to the Tea Party at the exact same time," Colbert said. "Because to one of those groups, they are talking out their ass."

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Letter To A Friend - When Will These Criminal Politicians Actually Do Something To Fix The Housing Market

 Dear Friend,

Came across this article this morning.

It seems to indicate that the housing market is still in flux. The article says that people are more inclined to rent and to wait it out and buy when they think the market has bottomed out sometime in 1914. Not a home sellers market for sure it would appear. But I'm sure there are other factors that come into play depending on the particular house that's being sold. Such as the location and what type of house it is exactly.

I know I was surprised when I saw what some of the houses in my West Seattle rental's neighborhood were selling for.....  It's hard to get a buyer to purchase a house (probably the biggest investment most buyers will make in their lifetime) when they think the market prices are going to drop if they just wait a couple more years. Maybe a time to reconnoiter and dig in for the long haul.  Rent the house out again and wait for the market to bottom out. Sell every thing in two or three years. Develop a three to five year plan of some kind when it comes to your property and hope interest rates don't go through the roof in the meantime. Which is a whole other story. 

I just don't know and I doubt anyone really does right now, and the uncertainty is the biggest part of the problem.

In many ways if you could find a buyer in this market it maybe the exact time to sell given that home prices maybe headed even lower. Not really encouraging news for sure for owners of homes or rental property, but reality bites sometimes. According to the article people are more prone to rent then buy, meaning it's a landlords market especially in a big cities like Seattle where the economy is doing better then the national average and rental housing would supposedly be in demand.

There is a way to make it work out to your advantage in the long run I hope. But the government should be doing more to help. Up to now I don't see things like the making homes affordable program doing the job. I've been down that route personally with my property and the banks are just not interested in making a deal even though it maybe better for them it would seem then you being forced to walk away from the property. I think they know that the market is still pretty toxic and why lend money if they're not forced to or if your house is just going to be underwater even if they give you that modified mortgage.

As we know, when the great recession happened in 2008 it was mostly center in the collapse and toxic nature of the real estate market, bad loans, over valued properties and home owners leverage to the hilt. Many people predicted that until all the millions of bad mortgages were worked through, the economy would remain slow and stagnated. Everybody had borrowed to the hilt using their house as collateral, and now their stuck with the debt and no way to sell their devalued property for the amounts of money they need to pay off the lender, their house being worth less or even underwater. We have a record number of foreclosures or people just walking away from the property and telling the bank it's your problem now.

When the depression hit the world in the 1930's FDR's New Deal created a government agency that bought distressed properties or provided low interest loans for homeowners in trouble so they could stay in the house. Some of the properties were bought by the government and later sold back to home buyers as the market for housing stabilized. The government in the long run actually made money on the proposition. Now when you go to the bank the lender denies your refinance or loan modification request even though you've got great credit and a willingness to work something out. Many homeowners are left with nothing else to do but let the house go into foreclosure or just walk away.

We need a massive new program like the depression era one today. Ultimately it would help stabilize the overall economy more quickly and hopefully rid us of all the toxic mortgages and uncertainty that only delays recovery.  But the political climate is toxic with all these politically compromised politicians in charge who don't give a shit if you lose your house or not. In fact the way the Republicans act they rather see the economy tank in order to use it as centerpiece argument for  their reelection. So getting reelected and maintaining the corporate oligarchy is more important than helping the average American stay in his home or sell his home for these criminals.  By criminals I mean the politicians in charge and the financial industry who the government did bail out.

They'd obviously would rather spend billions on war and giving the oil companies and the rich tax breaks then help working class home owners weather the damn economic crisis.

I guess it time for the revolution.

Sincerely yours,

artistdogboy

Please Stop Exploiting And Patronizing Veteran's Service To Sell Shit

Okay I've had it with endlessly broadcast feel good tug at your heartstings TV commercials you see nowadays from companies like Budweiser and others that exploit and patronize the sacrifice and service of military veterans.

The beer companies seem to be some of the worst offenders in my estimation."Have a cold one when you come home all crazy from endless deployments and being used as cannon fodder, and it will be all better", they say to me. Never mind the broken families or a generation of mentally twisted and war ravaged human beings. But there seems to be a large number of companies who's apparent insensitivity makes them want to jump on the support our troops bandwagon because it sells product.

It would be closer to the truth if the commercials said "thanks veterans for protecting our right to make obscene profits at the expense of the working class, and buy political influence with politicians so we can continue to do that.  We remain eternally grateful!"

These corporate entities have no ethics when it comes to what they seem to believe is necessary to sell shit or appearing to be patriotic. Given the true nature of fighting, dying and serving this country in its misguided and seemingly unending modern day military conflicts.

I for one would not purchase any of the products these predominately oligarchical anti-working class corporations are trying to sell. I bet that half the veterans depicted in the commercial below are really nothing more than wholesome looking actors.

Veterans should be honored, but not in a way that is mainly aimed at selling cars, beer, and vacations getaways or shit made by outsourced cheap labor in China you can pickup at Walmart or the 7-11.  If you want to honor our troops you should be running commercials promoting the idea of bringing them home immediately so that they can transition back to a normal way of life.

Having Fun Deemed Illegal at US Capitol - Flash Dancers Brutalized By Police At Jefferson Memorial

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.

"I Don't Write Em For Any Reason" Happy 70th Birthday Bob Dylan

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’.

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.)

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. 

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

Twenty Things To Do Before The World Ends On Saturday

And continue to try to do if it doesn’t….

1. Realize your just a very small speck in the universe 
2. Fall in love with someone or something 
3. Stop eating contaminated food and learn what’s in your food and where it came from 
4. Get over yourself and work to reduce your ego 
5. Be of service to someone 
6. Live within your means 
7. Share with others 
8. Work to be creative while doing something you love to do 
9. Meditate and get quiet 
10. Stop buying shit you don’t need and recycle everything 
11. Realize your religious beliefs and moral standards don’t apply to everyone else 
12. Accept change and the fact that people are different 
13. Respect the environment and nature 
14. Travel 
15. Move and Dance 
16. Confide your deepest secrets to someone you trust and discuss them if necessary 
17. Forgive everyone including yourself and admit it when your wrong and say your sorry 
18. Have empathy for others 
19. Look for beauty in people, nature, literature and art 
20. Laugh whenever possible

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

NitwitPalooza

How to make Ron Paul look like a genius, just put him together with the rest of these nitwits.

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.

 

click on image to enlarge

via: Carwin Biloguist

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.

 

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.

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.

On Wisconsin!

Michael Moore articulates the problem that threatens our country, but will it resonate.

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..

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!

"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. 

"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."

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

Wisconsin Cops Join Protests

 This could be a significant development.

We're Watching The Drowning Of The Middle Class In The Bathtub

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....."

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. 

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"

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?

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.

Koch Brothers Party Gets Crashed By Greenpeace

Oh my what a bummer, and it was suppose to be a secret.

What you looking at honey?

Damn tree-huggers!

Thanks DB

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 Mayer

The 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.

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.

The Only Thing Catalans Hate More Than Real Madrid Is Time Magazine

Proponents of the long suffering Catalan independence movement are mad as hell at Time Magazine. Time unfortunately left out Catalonia when it listed the top ten countries in the world who aspire to be independent. Because of this oversight the Catalan independence blog Whispers From The US - Internationalization of Catalan Cause has started a letter writing campaign aimed at Time's editors. The hope is to educate people on an international level about the desires of millions of Catalans to form an independent and sovereign state.

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 Gaudí, 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 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.

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

 

She still doesn't get it.

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:

My Hometown

I've Been To The Mountain Top

Remembering Reagan

A man that is seriously overrated by the right.

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.

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.

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...

"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. 

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.