Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, but What You Can Do To Fight Your Democratically Elected President

Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, a potential presidential contender in 2012, said Obama's speech is "uninvited" and that the president's move raises questions of content and motive.

Many school districts have decided not to show Obama's speech, to be delivered at 12 noon EDT Tuesday, partly in response to concerns from parents.

So we now apparently live in an era where the democratically elected leader of our country can not speak to the students of our country about the importance of staying in school and working towards an education?! Bobby Jindal wants to push and force the teaching of Creationism in public schools to our children, but Obama's speech is what gains headlines and pushback the country over. When did we enter the Twighlight GOP zone?

What questions of "motive" could this possibly raise? Are we truly worried that our President is secretely handing out Socialist Decoder Rings to all of our children? Do we think that the children of our country haven't seen speeches that our President has given already? These are all really pertinent questions, and I hope people the country over are answering them in their own heads. This is a travesty. With the racial inequity sewn into the fabric of our country's history, to have a brilliant black man and President speak to the youth of our country on the importance of staying in school and valuing education is absolutely priceless.

Where were these folks when Reagan and Bush Sr. spoke to the youth of our country? Even more pertinent is this. If these same folks railing against the President making this speech were told that the President intended to make a speech on the evils of abortion, they would be lining their children up to attend. Now I'm really not trying to make this an ad hominem defense, so let me clarify. If Bush or Reagan wanted to speak to the youth of our nation and encourage them not to use drugs and to stay physically fit, great! I'm not saying those were bad things. The point here is there are some issues that, on which, we should be consistently unified. Guess what? The value of staying in school and achieving our academic goals is one of them!!

I just finished taking a look at the 7-12 lessons plans which can be found here: http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/lessons/7-12.pdf and I absolutely can not come up with anything that doesn't fit right in with just about any state's Comprehensive Curriculum. This is good classroom practice and curriculum folks. Now I understand that there was originally a lesson plan that included a question about "How can you help the President?" What the hell was wrong with that question? Do we not want to help our country succeed? Is this counter lesson planning tactics brought to you by Rush Limbaugh? I just don't get it folks.

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears

When family members swarm my inbox with "patriotic" emails about how liberals are ruining the world, then proceed to log off get in their Hummer which gets 5 miles to the gallon and drive to get their paycheck from a high paying V.P. job that allows them to pay an effective 15 percent tax rate...it really grinds my gears.

When people use the word socialist when they have absolutely no idea what it means...it really grinds my gears.

When people refer to Global Warming as a conspiracy...it really grinds my gears.

When senators appear on television and state that citizens of Canada have to wait until they are blind in order to have cataract surgery despite the fact they have never been to Canada...it really grinds my gears.

When people act like the fact that the impoverished receive free or subsidized health care is a conspiracy rather than demanding the same for themselves...it really grinds my gears.

Finally, when someone engages me in a political discussion and insists on quoting "facts" that they read in an email forward that they received...IT REALLY GRINDS MY GEARS...I mean seriously don't tell me that President Obama wants to take your guns away and impose the highest taxes in recorded history upon the American public because some douchebag in your office sent you an email. Hop online and use a researched and legitimate source to find out the facts, that indeed he hasn't proposed banning the right to bear arms and he only wants to tax people at 10 percentage points lower than Ronald Reagan did.

Landrieu is a Joke

There are truly no progressive elected voices in Louisiana. Senator Landrieu wears the mantle of "Democrat", but she's a bigger special interest whore than most Republicans. A recent article I read at crooks and liars.com showed that she received over a million dollars in direct donations from the Medical Industrial Complex and another $400,000 or so from the insurance industry. You know in our current system I have no problem with a candidate who takes the donations and still votes against a special interest. Hell, I applaud them, but when Landrieu flips her script and hops on the Blue Cross Express, it's pretty obvious why.

The rub here is we keep electing these clowns! Why is the electorate so ignorant? I try to fight the Southerner stereotype as much as possible, but damn my fellow Southerners make it hard. It's to the point now that any true Progressives don't even bother running for office in LA. At least with a tool like David Vitter you know what you have...A hooker crazy, diaper wearing, corporate twit. I place Landrieu a rung under Vitter, because at least we know he's willing to fuck people for the right price. Landrieu is a whore hiding in a supposedly liberal-elected officials clothing.

What Has Bobby Done For Me?

Governor Jindal has been at it for a bit now, and he is typically a well-liked individual throughout his home state. He is a shining star in the Republican Party and has even been talked about in regards to a Presidential run. Given all of this, I asked myself today a simple question: "What has Bobby done for me?"

That's a really tough one to answer. Obviously I don't mean to inquire solely for my own personhood but rather for a wide swathe of the population who fits into the average middle class worker category. I'm told that I pay less state taxes now with the repeal of the Stelly Plan, but actually I don't because I "make too much moeny". That's laughable. In fact only a small portion of the middle class who make right around 50k a year see a two percent reduction in state taxes. Now I'm all for helping these folks out, but this doesn't strike me as a sweeping tax reform especially in lieu of the budget shortfall the State is predicting for next fiscal year.

In addition to cutting a very oddly applied tax, Bobby has managed to hand me a cut to the funding of my state public school system, and higher education system. So now some programs in K-12 classrooms around the state may be cut and students could very well lose out on intervention and support programs that they require. Also, teacher jobs and salaries may very well shrink in parishes across the state. Oh and also if I want to augment my education and continue my professional learning, I may have to drive half way across the state in order to find the correct program now as colleges forsee having to condense the courses of study and classes that they offer. Thanks Bobby!

Oooooh wait, let's not forget that squarely in the middle of this shortfall, Bobby attempted to turn down hundreds of millions of dollars provided by the Federal Government for absolutely no reason at all other than he wanted to pander to his right wing conservative base in preparation for a presidential run. This gets better and better.

Well at least I can say that he pushed for and won cutting edge anti-corruption legislation. Except that along with it, he hyper- inflated his staff's and appointee's salaries and hasn't remotely put a dent in government corruption. Another good thing about this legislation is that several respected lawyers believe that if it is ever used to remove someone from office it won't be upheld as Constitutional. Like I said, cutting edge stuff.

I have noticed that since Bobby has been elected more and more fundamental conservatives have been gaining office. This is fantastic! Now I have folks like Eric Skrmetta on important environmental committees telling everyone how man-made global warming is a sham. Truly a beautiful thing, please keep polluting Louisiana and see if you can drop some more of it in the river while you're at it!

Well I have no one to blame but myself. I thought you were a bright and moderate individual Mr. Jindal. I believed you'd apply fiscal conservatism in conjunction with innovation and empathy while holding people accountable for their actions. You have fallen grievously short on all counts. You have done all you can to subsidize wealthy corporations while gutting our public healthcare system and education system. You have completely disregarded anyone with a progressive viewpoint in your lust for conservative political advancement. I voted for you and I daily chastise myself for the phenomenal lapse in judgment. Please Bobby do us all a favor and see if Governor Palin in Alaska needs a running mate and get the hell out of Louisiana.

Double Standards on Terror

Fundamentalist. A word that has become a staple in the average U.S. citizen's vocabulary over the last seven or eight years. Most commonly associated with Islam and terrorism. Since 9/11, so very many chain emails, books, and opinion pieces have been written on the Islamic fundamentalists and how they are the most dangerous threat to our nation and our way of life. They can't be reasoned with, they cant' be bought, they can't be intimidated because they are religious fanatics ready to kill and be killed for their religious beliefs.

The question I pose today is this. Why are we so ready to abhor Islamic fundamentalist terrorism and in some cases, are applauding its Christian counterpart?

That's right I said applaud it. Yesterday Dr. George Tiller was assassinated by a Christian fundamentalist while Mr. Tiller worshiped in his own church. He assassinated Dr. Tiller because he was one of three doctors in the country who performed legal late-term abortions. He was labeled Tiller the Killer by Fox News contributor Bill O'Reilly along with Glenn Beck and various other pundits and organizations. One of these organizations was Operation Rescue, a group dedicated to ending abortion and advocating provocative protest often laced with violence.

The assassin entered a place of worship. A place of worship unto the very god that the assassin is beholden to nonetheless, and shot Dr. Tiller dead. This assassin was found to have been thoroughly interlaced with Operation Rescue, and had posted violent wishes for Dr. Tiller in many chat and blog forums. In fact, on Fox News message boards and fundamental Christian sites all over the internet there are notes of praise for the assassin. Saying things to imply that he was doing god's work, and that Dr. Tiller got was he deserved.

So I ask again, why are there not terrorist watch lists for fundamental Christian groups across America. They advocate violence. They have taken the lives of many doctors and patients providing and seeking abortions over the last fifteen years, so why aren't they being held at Guantanamo Bay? Why aren't they being subjected to "enhanced interrogation" techniques? They blatantly disregard the law of the land, challenging the auspice of the United States government itself. They want to change the way life is lived in our country through violence, intimidation and murder, so what is the difference? Does one of these individuals have to fly a plane into an abortion clinic before they are labeled with disgust?

I wonder if the fact that they are not Muslim and not brown has anything to do with it?

Are Republicans in Denial About Global Warming Because They Are So Fond Of Their Own Hot Air?

It never ceases to amaze me how willing the talking heads are to lie in order to further their cause. Even more surprising is how easily people accept their bogus information as fact. I live in Southeast Louisiana, and I do not have satellite radio, so needless to say all the talk radio I get is embossed with the Republican seal of approval. Practically every third commercial is a doomsday smear against Cap and Trade. These ads quite literally attempt to frighten little old ladies into thinking that Cap and Trade will tax them into an early grave. From Boehner's lips to Limbaughs rear-end they are telling you the average household will see a $3,100 a year increase in energy bills!

Hannity peddles this same idea on his radio and television show in between rants about Obama being the ultimate socialist and baby killer. In fact, O'Reilly is on this band wagon as well. Down here in oil town Louisiana people get all bent out of shape about energy policy, and they practically foaming at the mouth over their electric bill going up $3,100 a month. The reaction is understandable. Hell, I can't afford another $300 a month either. The only problem here is we arent' going to have to pay anywhere near that. In true Republican fashion they have taken something some really smart people have stated and then mangle and chop it all up until they can scare people with it. In this case and M.I.T. study was butchered.

How do Republicans figure American households will be out $3,100? The figure is based in part on a 2007 study by the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. The study estimated that a cap-and-trade market for 2015 would be worth $366 billion in revenue. Republicans, figuring that that amount would be passed from the energy companies to consumers, calculated the average cost per household by dividing $366 billion by 117 million households (a population of 300 million divided into households of 2.56 persons) to get $3,128, or roughly $3,100.

However, one of the authors of the MIT study disputes that figure.

In a letter sent to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) on April 1, John Reilly, associate director for research at the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, said that the study he coauthored had "been misrepresented in recent press releases distributed by the National Republican Congressional Committee." He said the GOP's calculation fails to account for Obama's stated intent to provide rebates to consumers to cushion the effect of increased prices: "[M]any of the proposals currently being considered by Congress and as proposed by the Administration have been designed to offset the energy cost impacts on middle and lower income households and so it is simplistic and misleading to only look at the impact on energy prices of these proposals as a measure of their impact on the average household."
-http://www.factcheck.org/politics/cap-and-trade_cost_inflation.html

You would think that after the really smart folks with advanced college degrees from one of the most prestigious universities on the planet earth told Mr. Boehner that he didn't have his facts straight and that he was misrepresenting their study, he would have recanted and at the very least, found a new angle of attack. Oooooh Nooooo. He stuck with it along with the rest of his party (for the most part) and ignored the facts. Amazingly enough some analysis of Cap and Trade show increase in rates being as little as $81 a year! That's a pretty big stretch to get to $3,100.

What disturbs me about this is not so much the deception. I've already accepted that these guys will liie blatantly to further their cause. Rather, my concern is that they are lying because they either do not care about the effects of Global Warming or do not believe in Global Warming. Either way it's a terrifying prospect. Here in Louisiana I listened to a radio interview with Commissioner Eric Skrmetta in which he flatly denied the existence of any planetary warming as a result of human produced greeenhouse gases. In fact he attends the school of thought which states that since we breathe out Carbon Dioxide it cannot be a contributing factor to Global Warming.

Oh and for any fundamental critics who say "but there are scientists who disagree with man-made global warming" please check out this list of 650 "respected scientists" who do exactly that. What a crock of B.S. I think my plumber is listed on it somewhere.

http://mind.ofdan.ca/?p=1922

Because If It's In An Email, It Must Be True

Recently I received an email forward from some family members that really troubled me. My family en masse is quite conservative. They are true bread and butter Southerners complete with all the latent (and occasionally overt) racism you can "shake a stick at". They are very much like most Southerners of their generations: "Christian", relatively uninformed, and scared that they will lose their majority status. My point is that right-leaning viral emails from them are not an uncommon occurrence, but this one troubled me nonetheless. I'm going to paste it below so that it can be fully digested. The pictures won't post, but I'm sure you can find this in its entirety if you so desire.

So we have an argument that assumes that what transpired at Abu Ghraib is run of the mill fraternity hazing. If all we had to go on here was the initial reports and pictures from the prison, this email would still be disturbing on its face for condoning such degradation and idiocy, but that is not all we have to go on. Recently President Obama refused to allow further photographs from Abu Ghraib released due to concern for the effect they might have on our national standing. Despite the ban on there release, information regarding the photos has leaked out and make this email literally disgusting. Again, we are just so apt to believe it if we read it in an email (especially if it lines up with our preconveived political loyalites) that we will align ourselves with vile and immoral garbage. Follow this link for a detailed look at what I mean.


To ALL those whining, panty-waisted, pathetic Citizens, it's time for a little refresher course on exactly why we Americans occasionally have to fight wars to keep this nation great.
See if you can tear yourself away from your "reality" TV and Starbucks for a minute, pull your head out of your ass -- and LISTEN UP!!
Abu Ghraib is not "torture" or an "atrocity." This is the kind of thing frat boys, sorority girls, and academy cadets do every year. A little fun at someone else's expense.

Certainly no reason to wring your hands or get your panties in a wad.

Got that ?
THIS IS an atrocity!

So Was This!!!

WHICH PART DON'T YOU GET?
Islam a peaceful religion?
My Ass!
Millions of these warped misled sons-of-bitches are plotting, as we speak, to destroy our country and our way of life any way they can.

Some of them are here among us now.

They don't want to convert you and don't want to rule you. They believe you are a vile infestation of Allah's paradise. They don't give a shit how "progressive" you are, how peace-loving you are, or how much you sympathize with their cause.

They want your ass dead, and they think it is God's will for them to do it.
Some think if we give them a hug or listen to them, then they'll like us, and if you agree -
Then you are a pathetic dumb ass!
If they manage to get their hands on a nuke, chemical agents, or even some anthrax -- you will wish to God we had hunted them down and killed THEM while we had the chance.

How many more Americans must be beheaded?
You've fallen asleep AGAIN - get your head out of your ass!
You may never get another chance!

NOW GET OFF YOUR SORRY ASS
and pass this on to any and every person you give a damn about - if you ever gave a damn about anything!
DISMISSED!


Do you have enough balls to forward this email.

The truth shall set you free

Even if all we knew regarding this prison was the naked pyramid photo, the excusal in this email is apathetic to the extreme, but that is not all we know. Read below to understand what this email is really condoning. Funny how it ends with the truth shall set you free seeing that the truth is so disastrous to this line of reasoning. This is same basic swill that O'Reilly, Beck, Hannity and gang push every day.

Children raped at Abu Ghraib; Gibbs, Pentagon Deny

by El Yoss

Share this on Twitter - UPDATE: Children raped at Abu Ghraib; Gibbs, Pentagon Deny

Thu May 28, 2009 at 07:23:25 AM PDT

Former Major General Antonio Taguba, the officer who conducted an inquiry into Abu Ghraib in 2004, has been interviewed by Britain's Daily Telegraph. In the interview he confirmed that the unreleased prisoner torture photos contain images of rape at Abu Ghraib.

At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee.

Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube.

Another apparently shows a female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts.

• El Yoss's diary :: ::

Among the graphic statements, which were later released under US freedom of information laws, is that of Kasim Mehaddi Hilas in which he says: "I saw [name of a translator] ******* a kid, his age would be about 15 to 18 years. The kid was hurting very bad and they covered all the doors with sheets. Then when I heard screaming I climbed the door because on top it wasn’t covered and I saw [name] who was wearing the military uniform, putting his **** in the little kid’s ***.... and the female soldier was taking pictures."

So because we want to be angry with the "liberal's" stance on terrorism we accept and side with the idea of sodomizing inmates and raping children? Now I understand that these facts are just starting to flesh out, but did anyone really think that if the degradation began as pervasive as it did that we wouldn't find out that it was much worse?