How to handle a non-regulated militia.

Steaming Pile

word...

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Grand Old Pity Party
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/256441/november-18-2009/the-word---grand-old-pity-party

Too Delicious, Ghoulin Rouge...

GOING ROUGE

Sarah Palin – An American Nightmare

Edited by Richard Kim and Betsy Reed

The most honest, revealing account of the Palin story to appear this fall? You betcha!

With contributions by: Max Blumenthal, Joe Conason, Eve Ensler, Michelle Goldberg, Jane Hamsher, Christopher Hayes, Jim Hightower, Linda Hirshman, Naomi Klein, Dahlia Lithwick, Amanda Marcotte, Shannyn Moore, John Nichols, Tom Perrotta, Katha Pollitt, Hanna Rosin, Matt Taibbi, Michael Tomasky, Rebecca Traister, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Jessica Valenti, Patricia Williams, JoAnn Wypijewski and Gary Younge.

Publication: November 17th, 2009
Price: $16 paperback; $10 e-book
240 pages with 20 b/w illustrations

Order your copy here for your favorite Repubs Christmas:
http://orbooks.com/

And Beck's just catching on to OnStar's tracking... no shit sherlock.

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

Betcha she pulls outta Oprah now.
Oprah Goin’ Gotcha?


.word

The SIMPLE Truth

...behind the Public Option


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXFHXqrrJ6g

Simple enough? The Insurance industry doesn't want the competition. Funny though as that is, because competition is what the free market is all about. What Capitalist doesn't get it? What the fools who follow them don't get is that they will LIE to you to get your business. Getting YOUR business is all they are after. And they do it for profit and profits alone.

What the 9/12 D.C. Tea Party March Was Really About

So they had a little march on Washington last week. Some folks had a little trouble with the Metro and are now demanding an explanation thru their Texas Rep. Kevin Brady (R) who voted against funding for it? WTF? Do these people have even a hint of common sense? You can’t make this stuff up.

Tea Party Protesters Protest D.C. Metro Service
The Wall Street Journal Blogs


Revealed: What the 9/12 D.C. Tea Party March Was Really About
By The Public Record

At 8:43 someone holds a Hannity/Palin 2012 sign. Wish he would have told that one about Alaska's own socialism with their fuel rebates. Where they share the people's resources.


.

Picture of the Week

The Dadfinger, like..."Don't make me pull this speech over, son."

Credit

For the Pro-Lifers

Here's one worth repeating...

BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

Why are Winger Pro-Lifers So Against Saving Lives?

By Mark Karlin

It's one of the manifold hypocrisies of the right wing, psychotic movement of hysteria -- shifting from tea bagging, to birthers, to Town Hall mobs, to anti-the-President encouraging studying -- that as far as healthcare, the "pro-life" mob is anti-life when it comes to medical care for all Americans.

It's really quite simple: thousands of Americans die each year from not having health insurance. Period.

Part of being in a demagogic cabal in a parallel universe of emotional pathology is that you do not have to make sense.

In this case, the legacy of the Nixon Southern Strategy combined with corporate ownership of the media that manipulates displaced white workers into thinking immigrants and blacks are responsible for losing their jobs instead of the global Pac-Man corporations that have exported them overseas, has resulted in a selfish greed over some crumbs of pie left in the wake of big business abandonment of production in America.

As a nation, we produce very little anymore except gambling debts from "cannot fail" Wall Street financial firms that we bail out with more loans from China.

And speaking of China, unemployed and underpaid workers swarm Wal-Mart and buy cheap goods made in China while Wal-Mart pretends it's pro-American. It's a sort of enforced economic self-cannibalization, with the Waltons making billions of dollars off of this scam.

It's a twisted and perverse tale only made possible by the Goebbels fiction machine of Cable TV "News" with the exception of the -- for the moment -- MSNBC evening line up -- and the vast reaches of right wing "Devil in Your Ear' right wing radio.

The Corporations have used the media to divide America into two communities: one that claims that it only cares about whites and themselves and their churches (and to Hell with others, such as in Katrina); and 2) the progressives (almost exclusively Dems) who believe that we are a national community caring for each other as a nation.

Last night, Obama appealed to our better angels; the Republicans continue to appeal to Satan's greed and selfishness, plus a glob of racism. It's that simple; it really is.

It's a tale of two communities: one for white people slightly deranged who have been brainwashed by television and myths about the Confederacy; and one for those who believe America is a nation where we support each other for the public good and the health of the country.

We won the Civil War in 1865.

Why is it still going on?

And isn't it ironic that those who accuse President Obama of being communist, support the corporate hypocrisy of dealing with China. What next? Cuba too?

The First Time EVER?

They (Faux News) report, YOU decide.
http://www.dailykostv.com/w/002100/

Geez... How many brain dead people believe this crap? Oh yea, they're still checking out My Pet Goat.

Again, WHY do they not want children making goals for their own educational development. Because someone else (helicopter moms?) has to do it for them?

Or because the Texas Board of Education has other plans for them?

TPMMuckraker
Could Texas' Gingrich-Based High School History Curriculum Go National?

Educators, please read the comments on this TPM article.

.

I'm for a Public Option, and Reform to help us all.

And Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL). Here's a woman that could give Sarah Palin a run for her money in 2012 or 2018. Joe Biden likes her and she's knows how to talk straight. I'll be voting for Debbie.

Now why would this nice Republican man want to deliberately mislead people as to how the proposed new system would work? They're always talking about people keeping more of their paychecks and isn't that what some good competition would do?




Where has the compassion gone?

So, So Humbled

Read their story here. http://current.com/sl/laura_ling.htm:
LAURA LING AND EUNA LEE MAKE FIRST STATEMENT REGARDING EVENTS LEADING TO CAPTURE

Insurance Company Death Panels

Insurance companies that deny policy holders care are the real death panels. What part of that doesn't Scarah Sarah get?



It's been a helluvan August, but it gave the Dems a chance to say they tried bipartisanship. That totally irrational arguments were raised now gives them the chance to just get it done. Millions of Americans NEED a public option because it's the only option they have. People can't even afford their mortgages (thanks banks), let alone $6 a day rip-off insurance they see advertised on tv.

We can't afford to wait. Premiums are rising and people without jobs have no hope. It's STILL time for a change. And that time is NOW.

Ask yourself why someone with a good health care plan wants someone else not to have one. There's your death panel right there. And don't fool yourself, either they have no social conscience whatsoever and are so greedy that they fear anyone having what they have, or they are stupid enough to be fooled by corporate interests that would rather see people dead than take their profits for the benefit of getting everyone help for what ails them.

So why is it again that this great nation can't have health care for all it's citizens? That's the saddest fact of all.

And btw, I've used the VA for health care for over ten years now. And all thru the Bush years they've offered me assistance on Advanced Directives and a Living Will. So where do you think Scarah got this idea of death panels from? Most insurance companies have nursing assistance guides who offer it too--contracted thru their HMO's.

What Bill Said To Kim Jong Il

Getting on the plane!

"Isolationaism ratchets up tension, engagement gets things done."

~RufusW, Busan

And this is delicious... of course we know that he was just the emissary, but it's still delicious. Get that man a bj.

Aug 4 2009, 3:02 pm by Matthew Cooper

What Bill Said To Kim Jong Il

Through the placement of a special listening device in Pyonyang, The Atlantic was able to overhear President Clinton speaking with Korean Strongman Kim Jong Il at their meeting today.

"Hey, man, I hear you like movies. That is awesome. I am told that you are a huge fan of James Bond. I love that guy, man. Have you ever seen the In Like Flint movies with James Coburn or Austin Powers? You remind me of that Dr. Evil dude, but in a good way. That is some good stuff....Who is your favorite Bond girl? So torn between Ursula Andress and Halle Berry.

"But enough chit chat. You know I have enormous respect for the Korean people. Hot Springs and Seoul are actually sister cities. And your love of Bulgoki finds a place in the hearts of Arkansans who love barbecue. You ever see Margaret Cho? Very funny. So know, I come here out of respect and admiration.

"I know we've had some differences. Heck, you promised a whole bunch of times to stop your nuclear program. I thought we had a deal back when I was president and I know the little Bush who followed me thought he had a deal, too. But, hey, we can talk reactors and uranium and stuff later.

"I'm here to talk about the two journalists you have in captivity. First, let me say that Al Gore, for whom they work, can be a huge pain so I know where you're coming from. In 2000, I gave him the best economy the world had ever seen and he couldn't bring himself to mention it or me or all the great things we'd done together. He didn't even want to talk about the environment and now everyone is green. So if you're chapped about his people on your territory I know where you're coming from.

"But look, these kids didn't mean you any harm and they're really sorry for crossing the border. I would take it as a huge, personal favor to me if you could commute their sentence--you don't have to say they're innocent--but just letting them out early would be great. I promise that I will put in a good word for you with the Mrs. and President Obama. He's all hopped up about you aiming missiles towards Honolulu where he says he's from.

"Now, I think if you can help me out on this, we can start to build some trust. You know, we're two young fellas who want to leave a lasting legacy. For me it's economic growth, revival of the Democratic party and good works around the world. Okay for you it's labor camps and really big military parades. That's different. But we both have pride. And we both miss our dads. I never got to know mine. You were lucky to know Kim Il Sung. I'm sorry I never got to meet him. But I tell you this, if you let those young ladies walk out of here with me tonight, you are not gonna regret it. The world will know you were strong enough and big enough to do the right thing. Plus I will make sure they don't send Biden over here to annoy you."TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://politics.theatlantic.com/mt-42/mt-tb.cgi/12895

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Just Go Away Sarah

Anywhere, just go away...

Tengo que obedecer mi corazon


Lyrics:

"Where's my pal where's my friend all good things must have an end
Sad things and nothing's on and on they go I guess he went to Mexico
They all went to Mexico buenas dias got to go
Tengo que obedecer mi corazon they all went to Mexico

Where's my mule and where's my dray straw hat's packed up and gone away
The mule don't go north and dray go slow they both went to Mexico
Where's my sweetie where's the face that lit dark corners every place
She put up with me long time you know and then she had to go to Mexico
They all went to Mexico...

Where's my brown dog where's my hound he liked my truck he hung around
But he's a canine Romeo and I guess he went to Mexico
Where's that woman so sweet so mean her heart was cautious her mind was keen
She was always looking for the peccadillo I hope she went to Mexico
They all went to Mexico...

Where's December's happy crew with German bikes and sidecars too
They take the truck south to St Louis MO motorcycle all the way to Mexico
Where's my luck and where's my grace has it all been just a foolish chase
Every time I hear that rainy chill wind blow I think it might be time to head to Mexico
They all went to Mexico...
They all went to Mexico...

Swan Song for SC Gov. Mark Stanford, El Creepo

Something tells me that both of those women are done with him.

Now at last the night has fallen
We're all alone
The sky is dark, the stars are bright
And we're so far from home

You and I have been together
For so many years
If love is right, why do you fight
To hold back needless tears

Tell me that it'll be alright
But when I'm deep inside I realize
That this our last night

Bring your pretty head closer
Get it close to mine
Your eyes are saying something
But the words are hard to find

Love don't know it lasts forever
Ours is here to stay
After all the love we've given
Please don't look at me that way

Tell me that it'll be alright
But when I'm deep inside I realize
That this our last night

Feelings come and hearts fall broken
Slipping through our hands
The ways of life and love
I'll never never understand

If it's true what you've been saying
If there's still a chance
Why is it that the two of us
Can't rescue this romance

Faded love don't ever come back
So the story goes
There is a side of you and I
Where love no longer goes

Tell me that it'll be alright
But when I'm deep inside I realize
That this our last night

-Los Lobos

esl teachers in quarantine in south korea

While the worldwide media focuses on North Koreas nukes, missle tests, and latest threats, and an ex-president's suicide in South Korea, there's a story going on in S.Korea about 50+/- english language teachers (Americans included) being held in quarantine for Influenza A, H1N1, the swine flu. They're blogging from their confinement center, but no ones seems to be aware of it here in the states. The US Embassy in Seoul knows though.

Some Korean news stories from this week allude to it by saying they are being 'observed' or 'isolated'--but no mention about the actual quarantine:
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2905314
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/05/117_45651.html

Teacher blogs from quarantine:
http://therubycanary.wordpress.com/
http://underquarantine.tumblr.com/
http://web.me.com/superacidjax/Sparkling_Chaos/Welcome/Welcome.html
Another teacher blogging from South Korea:
http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/05/more-on-those-english-teachers.html

The new hires are being confined in a govt training facility in Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, a Human Resources Development Center just south of Gangnam and just east the Seoul Art Center (pictured on Google Earth). This is the link to the quarantine location:
http://hrd.seoul.go.kr/eng/H01SHRDCBriefAction.do?method=direct
With address, phone number, email addy, map, and directions

Big media has been contacted numerous times, but I guess they have their hands full with the nuke stories. Not even so much as the 'who, what, when, where, or why' has been brought to the public's attention. At least not here in the states.
Google for more blogs.

Olé



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Please pray for Nerine

This is the Facebook page for Nerine Viljoen.

This is a heartbreaking tragedy that's taking place in Mokpo, South Korea, for a beautiful young woman critically burned in a fire while helping a friend.

Her friends there are collecting donations and will have a Paypal account set up soon making it easier for those not in Korea to help her family with their expenses of traveling and staying there from South Africa while dealing with this horrendous situation.

Please pray for her recovery, her condition is critical. And check the link for the paypal account if you can help too, it should be set up in the next day or so.

A Real Helicopter Mom

Turns out there really IS such a thing as a helicopter mom. And all along I thought I was being joshed.

From a blog I found, Kenneth writes about how this one is so obsessed she actually used one:

Mommie Dearest Racist

On a later episode she's even seen threatening to "kill" her son after she observes him from a helicopter making out in a hot tub with one of the black women.

Here I was thinking Helicopter Mom* is a metaphor. And to top it all off, she gets to be on television about it, some new stupid reality show. ha!


*Blackhawk Mom is what they actually call me. I guess that means spying from afar because I stay in tune with the goings on by these interweb thingies.

Best of the blogs

Shannyn Moore commenting on Palin's turkey pardon fiasco:

I like Shannyn because she gives us the 'real feel' from the frozen north. Sarah Palin really is a piece of work alright. But after working with Highway Safety and seeing some of the horrible accidents that happen, this other part of her post really got me. Any chance WEC was insured by AIG?

In his final hours, Governor Murkowski granted an executive pardon to a company convicted of criminally negligent homicide. Whitewater Engineering Corporation pleaded no contest in 2001 to the charge in connection with the 1999 death of one of its employees. They knowingly forced backhoe operator Gary Stone to traverse dangerous snow conditions. He was killed.

Whitewater’s pardon was granted on November 30, 2006. Mr. Stone’s family first learned of it from the Anchorage Daily News. No one from the Murkowski Administration notified the victim’s family of the request for clemency or that the pardon had been granted. It was a vulgar display of the corporate protectionism Frank Murkowski was known for.

I worked in highway construction for the state approving subcontractors, and fully 1/3 of the construction companies approved to work for the state were insured by AIG. The insurance company would have been making the death settlement.

Another curious fact: Elliot Spitzer was onto AIG when he was NY Attorney General. Now his downfall is being rehashed on some sleezy ‘entertainment’ show by glorifying the hooker who took him down.

We are all Democrats Now

A little helo-ing on the GoP tells me there's someone there who realizes how Paulson's up to no good... and a good many liberals have known this too all along. Only we called it Corporate Welfare--reverse socialism, but socialism non-the-less. (are you used to it yet?) While the govt takes over housing, banks, and now GM? hmmm... you've definitely got an Ism going on...

http://ideas.rebuildtheparty.com/

This post about how to change the Republican party tells me they're not all dumbo's after all. It came from a site looking for ideas for change.

remove the plank from their own eye

Conservatives who accuse Obama and the Dems of being socialists need to first remove the plank from their own eye. Under the GoP the Federal Govt has increased in size, power, and scope more than any other recent president. That is socialism. 9/11 changed many things, but NOT the fact that limited government is a good idea. There are ways of fighting terrorism without drastically increasing the size of government or terrorizing ourselves, as Michael Sheehan explains in his 2008 book 'Crush the Cell'.

Further, Bush's bailout of Wall St. is example of reverse socialism for the rich. Govt-mandated wealth transfer in any direction is destructive to the national free market and our economy. There are ways to solve this problem that minimize the cost to taxpayers and put first losses on stock and bondholders of struggling financial companies, which is the way capitalism is *supposed* work. Google 'Genesis Plan', 'Zingales's Plan B', and 'Janet Tavakoli' for several good examples.

Of course, Bush's Treasury Secretary Hank Pauslon made over half a billion dollars as CEO of Goldman Sachs prior to becoming Secretary in 2006. GS was one of the firms instrumental in creating this crisis. Paulson made that money *while* GS was creating the problem, failed to see it coming or understand it, still can't figure out what to do about it, and is blocking any effort to force investors in GS and other Wall Street firms to take first losses, favoring spending likely over a trillion taxpayer $ to bail them all out instead. That is *not* capitalism. That is an extraordinary conflict of interest. That is how banana republics and communist countries are run. Where is the accountability that is supposedly an important part of Conservatism???

All but the most partisan Constitutional lawyers and observant citizens are critical of Bush's guardianship of the Constitution and civil liberties. He has sacrificed a lot for expedience in the war on terror, and as president during the 9/11 attack I can't say I blame him, as a second attack could have been ruinous to the country and his administration. However, it is possible, likely, that he overdid it. It is now time for the GoP to take the lead in reviewing and re-evaluating PATRIOT I & II, the MCA, and other laws passed, and modifying parts of them where necessary to restore curtailed Constitutional rights and civil liberties. Again, Michael Sheehan provides a guide for striking the right balance between security, rights, and openess in his book 'Crush the Cell'.

thread sugguestions

...likely that he committed some crimes along the way, and they can enjoy their time in Gtmo.

We are all Democrats Now

Obama's Entourage

Back to the WH for Rahm Emanuel, Congressman from Chicago (Obama's hometown)
www.house.gov/emanuel/

This will be the guy who runs the show.

I've never watched The West Wing, but Rahm's character is in it, I understand. But if there's one HBO show I do know, it's Entourage. (the other is Big Love) T-Rev would make me watch it when he was home on college breaks. And come to find out, the character Ari Gold is based on Rahm Emanuel's (D-IL) real life little brother, Ariel. Someone who knows how to make a Midnight Run. ;)

His brother Ari is the model for Ari Gold of Entourage

his brother, Ari, is a talent agent in Los Angeles who inspired Jeremy Piven's character Ari Gold on the HBO series Entourage.

Brothers: Rahm Emanuel and His Family

Rahm, Zeke, and Ari Emanuel have become very successful in different fields—politics, medicine, and Hollywood. But it’s hard not to notice the similarities among the brothers. They’re all intense, pugnacious, and in perpetual motion.
...
Ariel, or Ari, the youngest at 47, has held up his end. He broke off from International Creative Management to start the Endeavor Agency in Beverly Hills and has turned it into one of Hollywood’s most successful talent agencies. Ari’s clients include Larry David, Aaron Sorkin, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Martin Scorsese. He called on Hollywood to blacklist Mel Gibson after the actor’s drunken, anti-Semitic tirade in 2006. He denounced Disney chief Michael Eisner after the mogul tried to prevent distribution of Fahrenheit 9/11, made by Ari’s client Michael Moore.

“It’s not what you’re supposed to do as an agent,” says Rahm, suggesting that his brother has more soul than the TV character based on him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

3 brothers (from a 1997 NYTs article):

Today, Rahm Emanuel is, at 37, one of the most powerful people at the White House. He is also the middle brother of two similar tank commanders: Ariel Emanuel, 36, a relentless Hollwyood television agent who left International Creative Management under cover of darkness to create a rival firm, and Ezekiel Emanuel, 39, an oncologist (with a doctorate in political theory) who is a nationally known medical ethicist at Harvard and a leading opponent of assisted suicide.

''We were cloned, full grown,'' says Ezekiel.

Of the three brothers, Rahm is the most famous, Ari is the richest and Zeke, over time, will probably be the most important. Zeke is also, according to his brothers, the smartest. Rahm, naturally, gets the most press attention. Last term he managed the President's campaigns to pass the crime bill and the North American Free Trade Agreement, but this term he has taken over the job and close-to-the-Oval-Office cubbyhole of his friend Stephanopoulos. Now chief promoter of Clinton's small-bore issues like stopping teen-age smoking and requiring trigger locks on guns, Rahm has been singled out in recent profiles as the centrist, hyperactive counterreaction to the Stephanopoulos liberal cool. The articles are more colorful than is typical of the genre (the dead fish helps), but Rahm is more interesting, and reflective of his time, in the context of his brothers.

Together, Emanuel Freres are a triumvirate for the 90's. All are rising stars in three of America's most high-profile and combative professions. All understand and enjoy power, and know how using it behind the scenes can change the way people think, live and die. All have been called obnoxious, arrogant, aggressive, passionate and committed. All three get up before dawn. All are the sons of an Israeli father, now a 70-year-old Chicago pediatrician, who passed secret codes for Menachem Begin's underground. Iregun, and an American Jewish mother, who worked in the civil rights movement and owned, briefly, a Chicago rock-and-roll club. All three also worry about a less successful Emanuel: Shoshana, 23, their adoptive siser, who crash-landed into the family at the age of 8 days, when the brothers were in their teens.

Interesting, especially Zeke's Ph.D. in Political Theory. But Rahm is sharp and also studied ballet. Wanna dance?

Next: Kiko movie review will be The Year of Living Dangerously, Mel's breakthrough into serious roles after the Mad Max thrill-a-thons. This movie is set in Jakarta, during the same era when Barack Obama lived there as a child.

The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)

Directed by Peter Weir. With Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hunt. A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia ... www.imdb.com/title/tt0086617