words for today's United States...

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country.

"Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility...."

in this time of crisis with all the forces denigrating and questioning and bombarding us from within, the rest of the world is declaring itself to be back in our corner with the Nobel Peace prize award. they see hope where there has been none for the last several years.

the self-ascribed patriots who live in this country are attacking the very core of its basis and doing it under the guise of their love of country. they are doing everything in their power to derail progress and hope. they avidly state that they want Obama to fail. they openly declare he should be impeached for unknown offenses. they have prediction sites for people to guess when he will be assassinated.

these people hate their country and they are being lead by self-aggrandizing demagogues using the freedom of speech of which they truly believe only they should have. they lie; they cheat; they twist words; and they border on the traitorous with their accusations that others are the turncoats.

they have hijacked the progress of this country. they have worked against the will and promise of the founders of it. they bastardize the words of the founders and ignore their true meaning. worse, they do it in a self-righteous misreading of the worship they portray, their own personal version of judeo-christian dogma at the expense of the true intent of the scripture they spout so often and to the detriment of others with different beliefs.

the quotes that open this post describe more than adequately and with great precision the state we find ourselves in today. the person saying them accurately identifies the force behind the attacks and the situation of the United States and what is happening right now.

sadly, they also give more credence to the George Santayana quote that is always in the right corner of this blog - “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

also, they make the old French adage "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" even truer - the more things change, the more they stay the same....

who originally spoke these words? i would bet certain elements reading them would say Barack Obama, because they would want to use them to discredit him even more.

they would be wrong.

Abraham Lincoln in his Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862 wrote the words.

litany against fear...

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

Litany against fear
Bene Gesserit incantation
from Dune by Frank Herbert

i thought of this when i was posting a comment on Pam's House Blend to an article about the right wingers being all aflutter about the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill about which i have previously posted.

one of the things i have always observed is that the louder people oppose or deride something, the more it seems that they are running from something that they fear.

fear underlies so much of the ills and problems we see all around us, and rather than embracing it we run away and avoid it. what we are missing are the lessons that we could learn from facing it.

i always end my emails with a little saying i used when i was working with kids -

there is nothing wrong, only things that are missing...

i would quite often hear adults say that a kid had issues or was just bad or was slow. there were a myriad of prognostications i would hear. all of them made it seem that there was something wrong with the kid.

what i always discovered is that there was some piece of information that we didn't know; something that happened in the past of which we weren't aware; or a story that was made up and the child learned to believe it.

i would also find this to be true in almost all of the management situations i was in with adults. their reluctance was never defined, their doubt was never uttered, or their insecurity revolving aroung change never was stated. it was the same thing. there was always something that was missing; something i didn't know; or something i could not quite put my finger on.

when i found out what it was that was missing, i would always go, "ohhhhhhhh!" and everything was suddenly crystal clear. the missing piece made everything fall into place.

so i always looked for that thing that was missing. i still do.

behind all of it i always found fear. it is debilitating and i still fall into it myself. it is my/our nature.

it explains a lot and leaves a lot unanswered. but remember - there is always something missing...

i haven't been taking much seriously, i guess...

i just was reviewing the last couple of weeks of posts. they've really been all monday morning mayhem's, weekender's and other funny stuff. (Zeus and Jupiter know we could use some laughs now-a-days.)

it's not that i haven't been reading the news, watching Obermann, Maddow & Maher, or haunting blog sites. i have been.

i have my daily round of news starting with "Morning Joe", reading the Chicago Sun-Times & the online New York Times: Global Edition, going to Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, following "Pam's House Blend", and watching ABC World News

actually, now that i think about what i just wrote, it is because i'm reading all of those things. they are filled with obfuscations.

they're depressing.

it's just one struggle after another and the more i read the more i realize that none of these things are real. they are all man-made.

AND then conflagrated and fanned by the media into bigger and bigger nonsense.

take the Miss California thing or the Joe the Plumber brouhaha. both of them have run over by two hours their fifteen minutes of fame, and it really should be called shame not fame. they've embarrassed themselves and they don't even know it!

so she's got fake boobs. so she posed for risque photos. so she gave an insane reasoning for posing - I'm a model. I pose

so he won't let his kids go near queers. so he pops up at strange Republican doings. so he wants to run for Congress.

they can do whatever they want. as the saying goes, It's a free country. if they want to made fools of themselves, let them.

neither one of these schmucks would be around the news today if the news didn't keep them there.

we are in a state of flux today. the United States, for the previous eight years can be compared to sixth grade girls. (i hate sixth grade girls!) they fight constantly because, well, because they look at each other funny.

Tsar George took us to war because Saddam looked at him funny (well, actually his father).

sixth grade girls stab each other for this. they then lie and cheat and torture everyone around them. they come up with logical reasoning for why they did what they did, and it's all legitimate in their reasoning.

the Tsar fabricated homeland security issues and reasons why his lackies didn't have to follow the law of the land, hedged on torture, and put the entire country into greater risk.

now, we are becoming seventh grade girls. we've come into a period of calm after a brief summer recess and are falling into a more realistic sense of need and led by a man who remains calm, cool and collected.

the only problem i have is that every once in a while those sixth grade girl habits will pop up when least expected.

AND seventh grade girls do something sixth grade girls don't - they keep their mouths shut and don't let you know what's really going on with them.

that scares me.

so, i'm going to keep making funnies and once in a while pointing out and commenting on obfuscations. i might be raging inside but what good will it do to vent it all. my story has always been, "No one ever listens to me. So why should I bother?" it's a safe place for me to be. believe me. really safe.

and i will listen to what Maxx has to say and laugh along with him. he laughs all of the time. maybe he's got the right idea...



you go Maxx...
have another glass of gin.
oh, sorry. Bombay Sapphire...

i think i'll join him.


[i know. my cynicism is on my sleeve right now. really on BOTH sleeves, in my pocket, out on the front lawn...]

the score seems to be adding up...

the more i've been reading about Obama's release of the torture memos and his decision not to pursue any legal maneuvers the more it seems that most people do not like his stand.

i don't either.

with all the talk during the campaign with emphasis on the Rule of Law, as a lawyer he is shirking his legal and ethical standards as an officer of the courts.

the best argument i've heard was Keith Olbermann's Special Comment last night. Olbermann lays out the argument succinctly bringing in historical reference that is quire indisputable, going all the way back to the Civil War.

you can watch and read Olbermann's Special Comment over at Crooks and Liars. it's really to the point.

Countdown Special Comment: Future of US Depends on Torture Accountability

one of the better round-ups of the flurry of pundits, newspeople and other media is over at Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish.

he has links to Greenwald, Coles, and others in a lot of posts he's done. one of the more telling post's title is We Are Now Indonesia.

IMO, Obama has surpassed all of the obfuscations over the last eight years in one fell swoop...

i was going to give him/them a chance...

i decided that i cannot.

there is just too much at stake. the battle for change is slow and tedious. though it is necessary to work in this way for continued and permanent change, we cannot afford the comfort. Obama has to do some change in his own thinking and behaviour. in order to do away with the way things were always done in Washington, he need not compromise; he needs to destroy it.

until the ruling members of Congress are out, there will be no difference. there will be no progress. the work of the netroots movement is already being stymied by their blind faith. the roadshow in Elkhart and Fort Meyers was just that - a roadshow. now there needs to be substance.

the first two people that i believe need to go? Pelosi and Reid. they are just going to perpetuate the normal way things have been done.

the next is the Republicans - the entire party. they have been obstructionists ever since Reagan and Gingrich and they hold a new theory behind their behaviour. one that smacks of a reworking of the Divine Right of Kings. privilege is undemocratic and unfair, and they are the epitome of both.



as a reminder: i am not nor was i an Obama supporter after he announced running for the presidency. he reneged on a promise he made to the people of Illinois and he always took the no-road in his decision making. it doesn't work in Washington, and he needs to learn that fast. so if what i write seems harsh, it is. as i said above, there is too much at stake. and if i sound bitter, it's the taste in my mouth because, "I told you so."

the way i see it...

there is a huge, major difference between organized religion and humanism or atheism.

the vast majority of the world's organized religions see themselves as more deserving, more special and more equal than anyone else because of the beliefs in their gods, who promise them that their worship will give people a better chance of happiness and salvation. in that respect, it is all right to detract and discriminate against someone who does not believe. they are doomed and of no importance. [sort of shoots the idea hate the sin, love the sinner all to blazes.]

humanism and atheism, on the other hand, believe that ALL people have happiness and don't need salvation but a rewarded by the way they treat and revere others right here, right now, where it is the most important.

the second part of this is humanists/atheists don't go around overtly trying to convince/convert religious to come over to their side. they are willing to let the religious believe as they wish - as long as they allow them to believe as they wish, but even then, we tend to keep our mouths closed. this is usually not because of the heated exchange that might follow but because it's just not worth arguing logically with others who believe in myth rather than reality.

actually, when you think about it atheists are also humanists. interesting.

at least that's the way i see it...

blogging...

posts have been few for a number of reasons. Monday Morning Mayhem and Weekender are easy because i can do them well in advance and they will post themselves.

for one thing, i got the double whammy over the holidays. i had that violent stomach flu Christmas week and then i caught a cold from kids so New Years week was worthless also. it was the first time i've stayed home New Year's Eve in many years. i think i was asleep by 8:30, maybe even 7:30. i can't even remember.

on top of that, the back problems continue. i need to have more surgery. it will be scheduled either the second or third week in February. to be better prepared, unlike the last one where there was nothing i could do, i've been working with a physical trainer who has a background in physical therapy and a massage therapist who specializes in therapeutic massage. the two have been working me to get my legs and abs strong enough to make it through the surgery better. both take up a lot of time and sometimes i've been completely wiped out - especially after the massage. go figure...

another reason for not blogging as much is that i'm just into not reacting to all of the s*** that's going on. i'm tired of hearing about Obama. it's all like a cultist thing and everything he's putting together is a Clinton administration. as i've written before, people should have just voted for Hillary - i did.

the crap going on in Illinois is beyond circus. you all, in other parts of the country, are hearing just a small portion and they are sensationalized.

there are very serious thoughts here that, even if Blago is forced out of the governorship since he's been impeached, the federal trial might be in big trouble. his attorneys have filed a motion to get Patrick Fitzgerald off the case because of the comments he's made in the initial press conference and since. he really may have blown it. he broke every policy involved with the federal handling of investigations with the comments he made. i don't think he was ready for the announcement but he was forced into it, and i don't believe it was because he felt it necessary because of his fear what Blago might have done. and if the federal trial goes bust, what fools are the Illinois legislators going to look like?

let me put it this way: it's near impossible for them to look bigger fools than they already are. the state politics in Illinois have always been an us vs. them - Chicago versus the rest of the state. meanwhile, the entire infrastructure is falling apart from schools to bridges to roads. all because they were constantly fighting with Blago instead of putting their focus where it should have been. hell, the Speaker of the Illinois House (Madigan) refused to speak to Blago for years.

as far as the happenings around the rest of the world, what's changed? the Middle East is the same old, same old. Israel does it's usual "The U.S. is changing presidents. We better do what we want now, because we don't know if the new guy will let us." and the Palestinians are doing the same things for the same reasons.

these people have been fighting for over 5,000 years. do they even know what they are fighting about anymore? as far as anti-semitism being at the heart of it? hellllloooo! both sides are semite! they all came from the same background of tribes.

same sex marriage? there are more important LGBTQ issues that need to be addressed. i know, i know. the leaders are saying that ENDA, DADT, and other basic rights are soooooo 1990's, but we still don't have them in all states. the U.S. Constitution still does not guarantee that all people are the same, no matter what the words are.

marriage of any kind seems to be on the way out. 50%+ divorce rates? more people procreating without being married, and they are doing it with a plan. that kind of shoots the marriage argument from the churches all to hell. the only thing you need to do to have children is screw.

if the wingnuts are really serious about saving marriage, they should be getting laws passed that outlaw divorce and have mandatory contraception until you get married. wouldn't that bolster their concept of ideal marriage? they could even go one step further. why not you have to pass a test and be certified before you can even have the fun to procreate? you don't get and A? NO screwing!

maybe David Vitter wouldn't have gotten into trouble. or the governor of New York. or Bill Clinton. hey, maybe it's an idea who's time has come.

and don't even get me started on the Panzerpope. "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

as you can see, my cynicism is at a very high level. that alone has been blocking me from posting. what use can it do? there's never going to be a change.

well, yes, there will be a change. in 13 days i'll be in Miami where it is 80° and then onto the Freedom of the Seas for an Atlantis cruise in the Caribbean.

AND IT HAS BEEN SNOWING LIKE HELL HERE SINCE LAST NIGHT AND CONTINUING TODAY...

sorry, i couldn't help but scream. we all need some sun and warmth since there has been so little of it...

"THE" Newsweek article...

i finally read the article in Newsweek - Gay Marriage: Our Mutual Joy - published Dec 6, 2008. if you've missed it, i recommend that you click on the link to read it.

the article, if you are not familiar, uses the Bible, just as the anti-gay marriage people do, as a means of supporting same-sex marriage. it's interesting and i've been familiar with most references in the article. the main points are 1) that there is no direct reference to homosexuality in the either the New or the Old Testament and 2) the message of Jesus was inclusion of all people in the love and joys of his father.

the more interesting part of the article is the comments following it from readers. [Note: Newsweek has had to suspend people from making additional comments because the server couldn't handle it. interesting!]

the comments have the usual mix of arguments that have been going around for the last number of years. there are people who say that the Good Book cannot be wrong; there are others who say that the book was written for the specific times it makes rules for and a lot is lost in translation; some comments are very well thought out and written and others are, well, ridiculously blind.

i was especially struck by the latter. the people who have their blind faith with no question or thought are especially rancorous. it is almost as if they are threatened that their entire world will end if same-sex marriage becomes widely accepted. of course, the article and the comments also point out this similarity to slavery, but it makes no difference to them.

personally, after reading both the article and its comments, i more firmly believe something that i've thought for a long time:

if Jesus were alive today, there is one thing he would not want to be - a christian!

blasephemy? afraid not. i'm no longer a believer in the mythology. only in its inherent message of brotherly love and equality of all.

the national media is having a field day...

and everyone with whom i'm talking here in Chicago is amused.

we shrug our shoulders because the idea of corruption in the city goes back well over a hundred years. the history of the city around the turn of the 19th to the 20th centuries makes fascinating reading in books like The Devil in the White City and Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul, two of the more unique stories.

truthfully, Chicago can be blamed for the ascension of religion into politics that has had the country in a mess for the last 20-30 years. the stage was set right here. if you're familiar with the second book i mentioned, Sex in the Second City, you will discover just how that is the truth.

our biggest amazement is just how stupid Gov. Blago has been. real stupid! one local politician told one of the local TV stations that he is learning sign language to talk with colleagues because "You have to believe that everyone you're talking is wearing a wire." sad, but true.

Rachel Maddow last night pointed out that the media in Chicago was not focusing on what Blago did but on the possibility that he might just be loco. she seemed surprised with it. there are stories popping up about his delusions and behaviours all over the Chicago media. Check out this story in today's Chicago Sun-Times: Hairbrained? Is Blago's hair a sign of sickness?

or the Chicago Tribune: By Chicago standards, Blagojevich isn't crazy.

Illinois' Attorney General, Lisa Madigan [who i wouldn't trust as far as i can spit either] is talking about going to the Illinois Supreme Court to declare Blago unfit: What's next for Blagojevich? Removal?



Obama at his new conference this morning was asked what's wrong with politics in Illinois. he has two views of people involved in government, first as service to others and second as a business; a business that says, "What's in it for me?" he went on to say that there is a great history of Illinois politicians who have been of the former view, but you also have people with bad habits and a culture of politics as a means of self-aggrandizement. that has to change. the latter is the far end of the spectrum, but there are elements that are more subtle in the middle. he mentioned other governments even the federal that do things for political reasons. he hopes his campaign modeled and hi administration will model it. [the previous are more or less my notes while listening to Obama this morning.]

i would add another element - enriching your friends. Bush is using his pen and pencil to do all kinds of orders that Mr. Obama can't do anything about for at least a year. today he doomed polar bears by an order allowing more exploration for oil, gas, etc. and he is about ready to destroy the Utah Redrock wilderness for the same thing.

of course, this is the same thing as Blago did, but Tsar George was willing to wait the eight years to get all the money after he leaves the White House. Blago wanted the money now. it's all a matter of degree.

to paraphrase an old adage:

politicians - you can't live with them...
and you can't kill them.

[for those of you unfamiliar with the original, the word politician was family.]

big mistake in Illinois?

living in Chicagoland all my life, none of the Governor Blago stuff is surprising. [we can't spell the governor's name so we just call him Blago] it's politics as usual. it's tit for tat. it's the way things are and always have been.

ABC World News interviewed people in Chicago and made a point of saying that no one they spoke to here really saw it as a big deal. there was no real reaction to speak, well except from other places around the country that aren't used to the way we do things here. remember, we are The City That Works, and there are reasons for that.

at the least, it sells newspapers and that's something that the Chicago Tribune can use right now.

however, did U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald get pushed into something that will not hold up in court? is there a political agenda for which he has fallen? was he made to jump the gun before he had a solid case? think about it.


what exactly did Blago do that is illegal? Pat Buchanan brought this up on the Cris Matthews' show tonight. Blago is taped saying some things he could do, some things he could ask for, and some things that had naughty words in it. does saying things that might or could happen constitute illegal behaviour?

did he accept any bribe? did he coerce any one to do anything illegal? did he break any ethics laws? these are all questions that will have to be answered in a court of law.

now, they are reporting that Rahm Emanuel was the one who alerted Fitzgerald. possibly because Blago would not name the person that Obama and Rahm wanted to replace Obama in the Senate? like i said in the first paragraph - politics as usual, and Emanuel is an expert at it, even more than Blago.

i may have used this metaphor in previous posts, but it bears repeating. in Chicago we have da Bears, da Bulls, da Cubs, da Sox, and da Blackhawks but the favorite sport in the city [county and state for that matter] is politics.

now the rest of the country gets to be part of the team playing, fan rooting, unquestioning supporting, cross-town fighting...

enjoy...


oh, and if i may add my 2¢, i think Governor Blago should go ahead and name Obama's replacement, that is totally within his legal right as governor, but i think that he should screw them all by naming his arch-enemy's daughter to the post - Lisa Madigan! her father, Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives Michael Madigan, has been doing everything in his power to undermine everything that not just Blago but all other Democrats and Republicans in Illinois have been trying to do. IMHO, only for getting her elected governor. Madigan has refused to even meet with Blago for years.

i'd love to see some corruption stuff on them. everything they've done is under the (dis)guise of making her governor.

it would also make for greater sport...

automaker "bailout" - my take...

i've been watching this as closely as everyone else, listening to the cries of poor us from the CEO's and hearing the tales of woe on how bad it would be for the economy, and i've decided, in my opinion, it would be best to not give them what they want.

the government has given so much funny money away to the banks, mortgage countries, etc and they can't even tell where it's gone. we're supposed to technically own their assets because it's collateral. i don't think we own anything but pieces of paper.

one of the things that is built into our government is bankruptcy laws. they are there for a reason. they allow companies to take a specific task of reforming themselves into new, more streamlined entities or closing down because it's impossible to make them profitable.

the big three automakers are saying that a bankruptcy scenario would be disastrous. why? disastrous for whom? the economy? how much worse could it get?

the reason i believe they are not interested in going the bankruptcy route is very simple. bankruptcy laws demand court supervision while the restructuring is happening.

we already are aware of some of the waste these companies have incurred. what else would pop-up if the courts were to get involved using outside agents that would scrutinize every aspect of the companies?

the Big Three CEO's are promising to reinvent, revise and restructure a model they say is no longer working. can they actually do that? personally, i don't think so.

well, actually they can, but they have too many expenses put on them that foreign companies do not. number 1 - health insurance. all foreign car makes do not have this as an expense because their companies are in countries with universal healthcare. subsidized by the government? of course, but what is so wrong with that?

exactly what are we getting for the taxes we now pay? i mean directly get?

roads and schools are falling apart. bridges are collapsing. sewer and water conveyance systems are inadequate and too old. energy sources are quickly being used up. the air we breath is slowly killing us. i don't think i need to go on.

the purpose of man establishing a government or organizing a community is to support the overall progress and well-being of himself and the community. instead we are closing in on spending $600 billion in Iraq that in no way really has anything to do with making my quality of life any better. nor yours.

priorities certainly have gone askew.

so, in my opinion, it would be best to let the automakers file bankruptcy, go through court supervised restructuring, and either come out of it better or go the way of the 1948 Tucker Torpedo or the Ford Edsel.

their are too many car models as it is...

i'm upsetting friends...

i have posted my cynicism about this election in a number of different ways. i live in the Chicago area and i believe that it is a foregone conclusion that Illinois will go to Obama, but i'm not sure of the rest of the country. i think that the numbers, the polls, the predictions, etc. are most confusing for a lot of people.

while the media is working on the presumption that Senator Obama will be the President-Elect on Wednesday, i have seen too many unusual things happen with the U.S. electorate. basically, they are fickle and influenced by fear and innuendo most of all.

though many pundits and newspeople are saying that John McCain has run not just a loose campaign but one with a scattergun effect, especially over the last week or so. i have found, working in both the public and private sectors and also in the service industry that peoples memories are short and tend to remember the last thing they hear.

as an example in this election, the word socialism has been bandied about by Palin and the Republicans. unfortunately, to most U.S. voters it is a dirty word, in spite of the fact that we have had socialized medicine for the elderly with Medicare and the Tsar and his minions just socialized the credit, banking and other industries with their baleouts.

when these people use the word socialism they are implying the word communism. at the same time, Palin used the word Marxism in reference to Senator Obama last week. in the belief that the U.S. electorate is actually a stupid body of people, the Mcpains are counting on the confusion of the three to instill or at least implant fear in the minds of people - especially the elderly who remember the witchhunt of Joe McCarthy, the Cold War with the USSR, the battle for Southeast Asia in Vietnam, and many other things that brought fear into the minds of U.S. citizens.

it's a vicious circle that has been perfected by the Republicans, especially, and been used as a master-plan to retain control and prevent the inclusion of new and, possibly, more modern and useful ideas and actions. it's been done for centuries, as i've written in previous posts.

now, back to how i'm upsetting my friends.

i have this very distinct sense that this historical error may actually occur. on Wednesday, November 3, 1948, the Chicago Tribune actually printed this banner headlined front page -

my personal fear and why i'm upsetting my friends? that not just the Tribune but other papers, websites and media will have this headline on Wednesday, November 5, 2008

McCain Defeats Obama

and i can't seem to shake it.

more than this, i can only imagine what the immediate repercussions could be around the country and, of course the long term effects of a Mcpain administration and the possibility of the second dumbest person to hold high office in the U.S. - Tsar George being the first. and, no, i am not talking about John McCain.

i wish for, what to me, would be reigniting of the hopes, dreams and goals of the movements in the 1960's. the Age of Aquarius is not just a short period of history; it is a period of about 2,150 years. by accounts it began around 1844. it's an age of promise for growth and progress, in spite of, or rather because of, the upheavals of the revolutions, world wars, depressions, nuclear discoveries, etc. that put a new sense of humanity into play.

i am not a true believer in astrology but i am a student of history and its cyclical nature. in most cases the cycles begin and end because humankind comes to the realization that the lot they are now part of is no longer working.

of course, on the opposite side are the groups of humankind who fear change and allow themselves to be played by the old guard. this play has been going on for 60 years now. i want it to stop, but i fear that i will not get to see it myself, but i know that...

when hope is gone, life is over...

after the debate, my reaction...

The Lie Clock







A man died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him.

He asked, 'What are all those clocks?'

St. Peter answered, 'Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock.

Every time you lie the hands on your clock will move.'

'Oh,' said the man, 'whose clock is that?'

'That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie.'

'Incredible,' said the man'. And whose clock is that one?'

St. Peter responded, 'That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have moved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his entire life..'

'Where's Senator McCain's clock?' asked the man.

'McCain's clock is in Jesus' office. He's using it as a ceiling fan.


I didn't watch the entire debate, I had a HEDAC Board Meeting last night. I saw the talk on CNN for a little bit before we left the meeting and it didn't seem that the analysts, both those with political affiliation (partisan) and those who were media representatives (nonpartisan), didn't seem to be saying in their first response after the debate that John McCain did as well as he needed and wanted to do.

After I got home, I turned on CNN & MSNBC because they were replaying the debate. So, I switched back and forth watching parts of it.

My initial reaction was dislike for the smarmy "My Friend(s)" phrase McCain kept using. It was transparently pandering and unconvincing.

The rest of the parts I watched had McCain bringing up things that have consistently been proven false concerning Senator Obama by sites like FactCheck.org and the New York Times along with others. Yet, he continues to use them.

As an example, the reference to Senator Obama's connection to Freddie and Fannie. One of McCain's major aides was receiving $30,000 a month from one of the companies until it was discovered. There are others on his staff who also have/had connections to the companies - making lots of money. Obama didn't deny that he had some connection Fannie and Freddie. He reported that he brought up regulation a couple of years before McCain said it was his idea.

AmericaBlog had an article this morning citing the Obama Campaign displaying the 17 Lies they heard Senator McCain spout last night. The comments after the post have readers citing others. Check it out.

This morning, I heard the "That One" phrase. It just trickled off McCain's lips with no hesitation but with malice behind it. I can see the reason the pundits and media are grabbing on to it. It was rude to speak of someone not more than seven feet from you that you are in a debate with as if he weren't there. I also would propose that it had a slight racial undertone to it. An undertone that runs throughout the Mcpains. They are being as careful as they can be, but they are creating new racial epithets in their speechifying.

So much for being a "straight shooter" as he considers himself.

"Drill, Baby, Drill"...

mcpain's echoing mantra.

Plain used a variation of it during the vice-presidential debate Thursday: "Drill, Drill, Drill..."

have you wondered why?

watch this...






if you are not familiar with Robert Greenwald's BraveNew Films and their website "The Real McCain", click to find out what the truth is.

sadly, we are entering the smear portion of the campaign that uses Rovian tactics and will use everything in his playbook to scare the s*** out of people. the Mcpain campaign has even said they are going to speed up the message that Obama is not for America.

they know what they are doing. it worked for them in 2004. sadly, many people, and the older generation especially, will fall for it all. they feel that they have a chance at loosing everything and they look to keep what they have for their kids, their retirement, their savings, etc.

the Rovian tactic is to tell them such things as Obama will tax them and spend their money on others; Obama will weaken the security of the U.S. by getting us out of Iraq; Obama caused the credit crisis; or Obama is to blame for the inflated price of oil up. finally, they will tell people that he doesn't have the experience to be president, at the same time as McCain chose a V.P. candidate with absolutely no experience.

what they won't tell people is that the credit crisis was partially caused by the Tsar's meddling in Iraq, that the billions of dollars we send over to Iraq in any two week period would bolster Social Security and provide health care benefits for everyone in the country for years, that the amount already spent in Iraq was enough to rebuild every road, bridge AND school in the country, or that the U.S. does nothing more than launder the money that the Tsar borrows from China to send to Iraq.

mcpain hopes that the U.S. electorate is stupid. if you listened to pundits, on both the left and the right, it's probably the one thing on which they all agree, of course for different reason. the right because they can get what they want and the left because they don't understand how people can't tell the difference between two candidates.

i certainly hope they are both proven wrong on November 4.

personally, i am asking people i know who are saying that they just can't vote for Obama to stay home and not vote at all. a no vote is better than one against progress and change...

maybe, i need to put my own mantra, based on Hopi Native American lore and beliefs, that "When hope is gone, live is over." on a wider bandwidth...

what is wrong with this picture?

$10/gallon by 2010...

That's what is being predicted today.

Oil Surges Above $140 to Record as Libya Warns of Output Cut Bloomberg, June 26. 2008

The article says that it could be $170 by July 4th!

Originally, the prediction was that oil would reach $100/BBL by 2009. [ummm, i think we're ahead of schedule.]

I put gas in the tank today at 10:30 this morning when I saw it was $4.27/gallon. Two days ago it was $4.39. I figured that it was bound to go up by 5:00 pm so I better stop. It was $54.35 to fill it. Better than last week's $67, but what's coming next? I've drastically cut back on my driving; buy only things on sale at the grocery; visit both farmer's markets in the area; have not bought anything that I don't really need; and have only eaten out twice in the last month for friend's birthdays.

I realize that a big part of the problem is the FX35, but I chose it because I needed something bigger for work - before I decided to retire - and it's a lease that is not up until January. The only way I can get out of the lease is to do another one with Infiniti. That isn't going to work. I don't want an expensive, gas hungry vehicle. Even before all the gas price raising, I had decided I was going to get a smaller city car. I don't need big any more.

The bigger picture of all of this was the effect it had on the markets: MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Stocks Plunge; Worst June For Dow Since Great Depression, -348.41 or 3% down to be exact today CNNMoney.com

One of the analysts recommended selling GM stock today. I have had GM forever. The 52-week high was $43.20. It closed today at $11.43! There was a time when the thinking was "As goes GM, so goes the country." If that's still true, we are in deep doo-doo. Really deep...

The smaller picture is how all of this is hitting the small investors like me. I took early retirement over a year ago. Though I am doing consultant work, it is not a steady job. As a matter of fact, being an educational consultant, there really is no work for the next three months. [Really four, since no one really wants consultants the first month of a new school year.] I have a fixed income with my pension checks, but the cost of everything is spiraling out of control because of the oil problem. I have already pulled money out of the money market and savings accounts twice this month just to pay regular bills!

I can't imagine someone who is on Social Security. I have two teacher pension funds I draw on and I know they are much better than SS. I remember my aunt getting her SS check and struggling to make ends meet. She also got a check for $55/month from my uncle's veterans fund. $55! That was what she considered her mad money each month. And now that's what a tank of gas costs!

what is wrong with this picture?

and I'm sitting here right now listening to Hardball with Chris Matthews who just asked his panel how [Tsar] Bush can be so out of touch with the problems he's caused with the economy. "Where's the oil Bush promised would come with Iraq?" Yes, he actually asked that question.

again, what is wrong with this picture?

anonymous comments...

over the last three years of posting i have only allowed three anonymous comments to be posted. i have a very strong believe that if someone wants to make a comment, they at the least should post a pseudonym.

the three that i did allow had legitimate things to say. two were about the loss of a person to AIDS and the people knew him and weren't aware that he died. they wrote comments that added to the post because they related the positive effect the person had for them.

the third dealt with the economy and poverty. it was a bit of research that added to the dimensions of the original post.

at the same time, i have rejected only one, and that was over this past weekend.

i have a very simple rule that i use, and i consciously decided this when i started posting. i decided, from reading other blogs & their comments, that i would not post comments that in any way were demeaning either to others or myself, were name calling, or untrue.

i believe that if someone is convinced they have something important to say, they should take responsibility for it.

anonymous, to me, signals that they not only don't have that confidence, but they also lack conviction and self-assurance - even if what they are saying is true.

it is much easier to hit & run than it is to be culpable.

legacy of the last eight years...

Liza minelli cabaret - money
Uploaded by Hanvak

of course it's easy to allege that it's Tsar George's legacy, but i don't thing we can attribute it just to the Republicans. they are just the most obvious and don't hide it from the world. at least that's a bit of honesty on their part.

what is most disturbing is just how much money is driving the world. everybody wants it; everybody lusts after it; everybody needs it.

and the real cost? all we have to do is look around us.

there is more poverty; there are more and more natural catastrophes needing rescues with no resources; there is an environment that is depleting not only natural resources but the very air we breathe; there is an energy crisis that won't go away; there is an infrastructure problem that has roads, bridges, sewer, etc collapsing; there is a health disaster looming as well as one with pension funding...

yet, corporations, and i'll state the obvious with the oil companies, that are making record profits.

what is wrong with this picture?

just asking...

obama & me...

i'm sure some people reading my entries may have questions about my views of Sen. Obama and the people i've mentioned in various posts about Mr. Obama's campaign/history. i supported Mr. Obama in his bid for the U.S. Senate and was familiar with his work through my own work before retiring, as I was with Rev. Wright, Rev. Meeks and Father Pfleger. i have met David Axelrod* as well as a number of the other Chicago personnel in Obama's campaign through various ways both in political, work, or social instances. with the exception of Rev. Wright, whom I admired greatly, i found all of the rest to be carpetbaggers, eager to take advantage for their own purposes and aggrandizement.

it all boils down to trust for me. i have little with Mr. Obama.

there are three reasons. first, i was at a rally after he was elected to the U.S. Senate when he was asked if he would complete his six-year term. he promised that he would. of course, the thought at the time was that he would run for governor of Illinois because so many people in the state don't like Gov. Blagojevich. one year later, he announced for president. in addition, in an interview with his wife, she said that they had talked it over and decided that this would be the only chance he could have in running for president. why? this makes no sense. he's only 47-years old.

second, he has said nothing with substance about how he intends to do what he promises. he has no record to stand on either in the Illinois or U.S. Senates. he used his organizing expertise to further his own ambitions and said it was for the people. have doubts? ask State Senator Alice Palmer. Wikipedia and other sites say that he succeeded Sen. Palmer, the incumbent. actually, he challenged every nomination signature that she and the three others running for the office had, forcing them completely off of the ballot. that's the Chicago way of politics. check out this article from the Chicago Tribune - Obama knows his way around a ballot

finally, along the same lines but interpreting it as experience, what background and understanding does he have of how the federal government works. he promises to bring change to how Washington operates, but if you don't know how it already does, how can you make revisions. just ask Jimmy Carter...

the United States is in the biggest mess of its history, save the Civil War. Teapot Dome was a circus. the Depression was a walk in the park.

the Tsar has almost single-handedly brought the country to the brink of disaster economically, politically, internationally...

it's going to take more than words and present votes to bring us back from this perifery.

i don't believe Mr. Obama has it right just yet, but...

i'm always just asking...



[*a little known tidbit to go along with the previous post: David Axelrod, Obama's Communications Director, has been working on a documentary about Father Pfleger for the last few years. a coincidence? perhaps...]

my, my, my...

Ms. Pelosi kinda, sorta retracted, refuted, changed her position, backed off her position/stand/idiocy about the Democratic nomination race today on ABC's Good Morning America.

In effect what she said is that the superdelegates are free to vote how they think best and that Mrs. Clinton should stay in the race if that is what she wants to do and the emphasis should be on the people having a say through a democratic process.

What she didn't say is that she and Howard Dean and Sen. Reid, among others, got a number of calls from big-time Democratic donors that told them that if they wanted their continued monetary support they had to put up or shut up. Actually, what they probably said was "Shut Up!"

isn't it amazing what money can do?

just asking...

i think...

Senator Reid and, especially, Speaker of the House Pelosi need to keep their freakin' mouths shut about the primary campaigns...

they have yet to keep the promises and pledges they made in November 2006 to rein in the Bush/Cheney administration and reinstate all the freedoms of the Constitution and have added to the economic disasters due to this never-ending Iraq mess. they're all talk and no action.

and they want us to tell Hillary it's time to put up and shut up? i would hope that should it happen that Sen. Clinton does get the nomination, she sets them straight and pulls her support. as a matter of fact, Obama should do it too. they are a large part of the problem. no one should be listening to them.

maybe Cindy Sheehan should be given the chance to replace Pelosi. in Cindy's own words:

It's time to send our own statement to the Speaker: Nancy, you're fired! The American people elected a new Congress to bring the troops home and instead all they've given us are excuses.

even Newsweek added their two cents.

The War at Home:
Cindy Sheehan's uphill battle.

i certainly would vote for Cindy Sheehan over Pelosi. i just don't live in SF...