tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61491882024-03-13T03:40:17.379-07:00Professor SmartassBlind obedience and leader worship is patriotic....<br><br>
(if you live in North Korea).Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.comBlogger495125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-36355673582277290642022-04-01T16:57:00.001-07:002022-04-01T16:57:07.340-07:00Biden to Pick Country at Random to Remove US Troops to Show Russia How to Do It<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnhq-KEqo-gw77qo_bHCLiaOTan6LYs3TxRvkKMXtQzxkLgMNfsSoslIecd3Jjk7D_HqgABXsxR818qFcDQ9O7GjV3FYHyy0MtUxR4o4DNV2ES5qMYc7yUfDh-hcmn88JPL4Cc8OGv72_I8mURKQRTxl3gCL79zeSn7ZMFFWWptjl2y64sMQ/s1978/biden%20picks%20countries%20us%20has%20invaded%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="967" data-original-width="1978" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnhq-KEqo-gw77qo_bHCLiaOTan6LYs3TxRvkKMXtQzxkLgMNfsSoslIecd3Jjk7D_HqgABXsxR818qFcDQ9O7GjV3FYHyy0MtUxR4o4DNV2ES5qMYc7yUfDh-hcmn88JPL4Cc8OGv72_I8mURKQRTxl3gCL79zeSn7ZMFFWWptjl2y64sMQ/s320/biden%20picks%20countries%20us%20has%20invaded%20copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />In an effort to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Biden is taking the unprecedented foreign policy step of leading by example and pulling troops out of a country the US has invaded. <p></p><p>As an added show of good faith, he will choose that country at random by covering his eyes and pointing at a map randomly.</p><p>When asked by reporters if any countries will be exempt, he said, "Of course! We're not going to give up countries that grow our bananas or cocaine, make our clothes for pennies a day, or have natural resources our extraction companies can profit from. That would just be stupid."<br /><br />The puzzled press corps asked which countries that left.<br /><br />"Wherever those Barbery pirates came from, and some of our troops just ran out of gas in Lichtenstein and decided to stay for the Licht festival.<br /><br />Another reporter asked what would happen if he accidentally pointed to part of the United States.<br /><br />"Come on, man! We're not going to give up all that stuff we won from Mexico! If we did that, where the hell would we go for vacation? Florida? Jesus, it's too damn humid and the alligators would eat my grandkids.<br /><br />Speaking of Florida, if I happen to land on that, I will return it to the Queen of Spain, but she's gotta take Trump and that Rick DeMentos or whatever the hell his name it. That's non-negotiable."<br /></p>Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-74568937137749263592019-07-28T10:19:00.000-07:002019-07-28T10:19:46.237-07:00Trump Vows to PERSONALLY Rid Baltimore of Rats<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEize46l9F_efrx5YHPe1wY3kQ4C2zMgwvyjY-1sMFQs30QyWiRY3aCb6OWKX9LIZ8RS7I-oAdjWPRoEH-vGXxF_XhMTrGypoPXhWF5frTjFCeaqInhYiYRwTlDs9EgXqHtJz-mF/s1600/Trump+Rat+catchers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="767" data-original-width="726" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEize46l9F_efrx5YHPe1wY3kQ4C2zMgwvyjY-1sMFQs30QyWiRY3aCb6OWKX9LIZ8RS7I-oAdjWPRoEH-vGXxF_XhMTrGypoPXhWF5frTjFCeaqInhYiYRwTlDs9EgXqHtJz-mF/s320/Trump+Rat+catchers.jpg" width="303" /></a>President Donald Trump said today his comments about<b><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/27/politics/elijah-cummings-trump-baltimore/index.html"> Rep. Elijah Cummings Baltimore district being rat infested</a></b> have been grossly misinterpreted.<br />
<br />
"People say that I mean something 'racist' by saying that, but I'm not," Trump said.<br />
<br />
"I care about the people of Baltimore, so much that half the time I'm scheduled to be golfing, or at Mar a Lago, or shopping for new wives, I've really been hunting rats in the sewers of Baltimore."<br />
<br />
Trump went on to say, "People don't realize how much I care. I do. If I see a problem, I will not only deploy the full power of the federal government to fight it, from our infantroopen to the latest steam catapult aircraft carrier, but I'm willing to get down and dirty myself. Because that's how much I care. I really care."<br />
<br />
Trump added that his years of avoiding the draft and his personal Vietnam of avoiding STD's while paying for sex in the 70's prepared him with the stealth skills to sneak up on rats.<br />
<br />
He also said, his rat hunting safaris started as a teenager in his father's low income housing developments.<br />
<br />
"My dad and I were very concerned that our buildings weren't safe for human habitation. I hunted and killed hundreds, maybe millions of rats. I could actually be a rat killing billionaire, but whose counting? But it was never enough. That's why my dad said to me, 'Son, this place is so unsafe, I don't feel right about letting African Americans live here. They deserve better.'"<br />
<br />
Many Trump biographers have said this was the beginning of the president's obsession with vermin, cleanliness, and even "shitholes" since he crawled through many to protect the tenants in his father's buildings.<br />
<br />
Trump fought bitterly with aides to make his famous "drain the swamp" slogan "clean the shitholes" but they prevailed saying networks might draw the line at playing that on air unbleeped.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"When I was a kid, I wanted to be a superhero that defended people from rats. I knew the only way to defeat them was to surround myself with them, think like them, and even become them. I think I've succeeded, don't you?"Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-86508855718678987172019-05-04T11:57:00.000-07:002019-05-04T12:00:56.659-07:00Countdown to Point of No Return from Climate ChangeRemember when <b><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/08/global-warming-must-not-exceed-15c-warns-landmark-un-report">scientists said we have twelve years left to get our shit together and do something about climate change</a></b>?<br />
<br />
Here's how long we have left.<br />
<br />
<div class="tickcounter" data-id="1169431" data-type="countdown" style="padding-bottom: 25%; position: relative; width: 100%;">
<a href="https://www.tickcounter.com/countdown/1169431/point-of-no-return-for-climate-change" title="point of no return for climate change">point of no return for climate change</a><a href="https://www.tickcounter.com/" title="Countdown">Countdown</a></div>
<script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, pjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//www.tickcounter.com/static/js/loader.js"; pjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, pjs); }(document, "script", "tickcounter-sdk"));</script>Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-35768229932115869642019-03-31T17:07:00.000-07:002019-05-04T13:23:28.892-07:00Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Presidential Countdown<div data-type="countdown" data-id="1171603" class="tickcounter" style="width: 100%; position: relative; padding-bottom: 25%"><a href="//www.tickcounter.com/countdown/1171603/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-is-old-enough-to-be-president-in" title="Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is old enough to be president in">Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is old enough to be president in</a><a href="//www.tickcounter.com/" title="Countdown">Countdown</a></div><script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, pjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//www.tickcounter.com/static/js/loader.js"; pjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, pjs); }(document, "script", "tickcounter-sdk"));</script>Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-78606873369072456622016-11-13T10:18:00.001-08:002016-11-13T10:19:14.882-08:00Post Trump Letters to My Democratic Senators<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As much as know-nothings and racists, corrupt Democrats who don't listen to or fight for their constituents cost their party the presidency.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here's one of my letters to my three Democratic senators (one is being replaced at the end of this term by another). I live in a Republican House district, so I have no rep to contact there.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Feel free to copy and send it to your own <b><a href="http://www.senate.gov/index.htm">senators</a>,<a href="http://www.house.gov/"> reps</a></b>, and state and <b><a href="https://www.democrats.org/">national party officials</a></b>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sen. Dianne Feinstein</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">United States Senate</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">331 Hart Senate Office
Building</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Washington, D.C. 20510</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">November 13, 2016</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sen. Feinstein, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As a Democratic voter old
enough to remember the George W. Bush years, I urge you to fight against
Republicans and fight for progressive values rather than repeat the shameful
enabling that Democrats in both chambers did for nearly all of the Bush
presidency.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I am under no illusions that
Democrats made some faulty tactical political decisions to pursue a greater
good. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The reality is too many
elected Democrats take their marching orders from Wall Street banks and other
corporations even when what they want conflicts with the best interests and
wishes of the overwhelming majority of your constituents. This has been especially true on issues like
Wall Street deregulation and bailouts,
instead of regulation and vigorous prosecution, enabling the privatization of
public education and prisons, and not publicly challenging the business and
geopolitical goals of our foreign policy and means of implementing them. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A profound example of this
was Obamacare that was written largely by insurance companies with seemingly no
provision to control their arbitrary price increases instead of something like
Medicare for All or at least a public option that would have served as a threat
to private insurers that if they didn't act ethically, their customers could
leave them for that. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Democrats in Congress have also
supported rather than opposed our profoundly dishonest and criminal policies in
Middle East. Our allies in the Gulf, and
indirectly (barely) our own government are supporting groups like ISIS to
undermine secular regimes like the one in Syria, and the past one in Libya. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Likewise, the recently
declassified Saudi pages of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 make it
clear that Saudi Arabia funded and supported the 9/11 hijackers, which our
government did nothing about. This makes
it clear that terrorism is not a problem our government is fighting but a tool
and excuse it is using to pursue other goals.
No one in the leadership of Democrats in Congress has ever clearly
articulated what those goals are and consistently fought this agenda that I
know of.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Worse, once the Cold War
ended and Russia became at least as capitalist as us, rather than find a way to
cooperate with them, we have violated our word, expanded NATO to their borders,
and fomented coups in places like the Ukraine to install regimes hostile to
Russian security and economic interests like the transit of oil and gas from
Russia to European markets. A lot of
people like myself balked at voting for Hillary Clinton since she had
enthusiastically implemented this policy as Secretary of State and during her
campaign, announced even more confrontational policies that could have lead to
war with nuclear armed Russia. While we
might "win" such a war, millions would lose their lives and trillions
dollars would be wasted to benefit very, very few. </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While you have been progressive on many domestic issues, your family’s
profiting from war contracts makes your support of any policy in that
area suspect to say the least. </span> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Senator Feinstein, I urge you
to help make the Democratic Party represent working people instead of just
being the corporate party that doesn't pander to bigots.</span></span>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Urge your colleagues to fight
for leaders of the Democratic minority in Congress who will fight for
progressive values. Wall Street tools
like Chuck Schumer should not even be considered an option.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Democratic voters will no
longer tolerate politicians who give us lip service during election season,
their back after, and their loyalty to Wall Street.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Sincerely,
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Professor Smartass</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-49662099516904668912014-11-13T09:56:00.001-08:002014-11-13T09:56:59.619-08:00Corporate Democrats Act Like the Cable CompanyAfter enduring another round of DLC/Third Way/Centrist whatever the fuck they're calling themselves this week berating of progressives after and even before the election because we didn't adequately support their candidates, I just realized their behavior is a lot like the cable company.<br />
<br />
Remember that guy who tried to cancel his service a while back, and the cable company kept him on the phone haranguing him about what a good deal he was giving up?<br />
<br />
Where else are you gonna go? Back to the three shitty channels you get with an antenna?<br />
<br />
Corporate Dems think they are cable and Republicans are the antenna. They know fewer and fewer people like the handful of channels they get with the antenna: tax cuts for the rich, cuts to government services, fear of gays, blacks, Mexicans, Muslims, and some foreigners yet to be determine, and military spending and war 24/7.<br />
<br />
So the corporate Dems give us some channels we like: gay rights, better education spending, health care reform, Social Security, and a couple of others. <br />
<br />
But they also make us pay for a lot of channels we don't want, including a lot of the worst Republican ones: trade deals, privatization of government services like education, weak punishment and regulation of Wall Street crimes, the surveillance state, and endless war.<br />
<br />
Sure there are third parties like the satellite systems, but they are set up much like the cable companies, and while they offer a better deal, they don't really cut into the cable business in most places.<br />
<br />
They think they just have to wait for the old farts that like antenna's racist, "get off my lawn" audience to die off, and they will own the market.<br />
<br />
But like cable, competition could come from some entirely unexpected direction.<br />
<br />
People are cutting their cable and getting the programs they want a la carte on Amazon, iTunes, and the like.<br />
<br />
The corporate Democrats don't seem to realize that that kind of unexpected changes is coming to politics.<br />
<br />
Even if they took better care of their customers, it would only delay the inevitable.<br />
<br />
The cable box is going to end up in the dumpster along with the last rabbit ears antennas.<br />
<br />
And if they don't take better care of us, we might throw the box out before we figure out what the replacement is.Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-63072838284190145432014-09-23T13:29:00.000-07:002014-09-23T13:29:57.076-07:00 New sports for the century of climate changeSince we are seeing more and more of the dark side of favorite American sports like the brain injuries, domestic violence, and worse that result from football, maybe it's time to invent some new ones that will actually help us make it through the century of climate change. <br /><br />One area might be <b>clean energy. </b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You could divide it up into wind, solar thermal, and non-dam hydro. To make it competitive between rich and poor schools, have them make wind turbines and solar thermal units from stuff they pull from a dump, so they're recycling too. <br /><br />An obvious start would be to make their own schools entirely energy self-sufficient, and then to start making money from power generation through net metering. </blockquote>
<br />Another area could be <b>potable water. </b><br /><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Which school can use low tech recycled materials and clean energy to reclaim the most dirty water, extract moisture from the air, or desalinate sea water? </blockquote>
<br />For the less clever, more brute strength types, <b>sandbagging. </b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Can you protect your community from flooding by building up the levee? <br /><br />Which school can make the most earthbag housing for people displaced by flooding, fires, and drought? </blockquote>
<br />You could add more hoops for them to jump through to add some "strategery," but this would also appeal to desire to contribute and be a "superhero" innate in most kids. <br /><br />Instead of saving the game, they could save the world.Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-42273508593220760512014-08-21T23:17:00.000-07:002014-08-21T23:21:14.983-07:00THE KILLER COP STORY WE NEVER HEAR: Hedge Fund Manager Shot for Suspected Sale of Fraudulent DerivativesGoldman Sachs executive Oliver Dauphin was shot and killed today when he failed to respond to questioning by a police officer.<br /><br />Dauphin was waiting for his limo at the curb outside the Bhutan Grill when police officer Damon Johnson overheard him on the phone, selling what sounded like a rent based derivative.<br /><br />"I knew how much damage those mortgage back derivatives did to our economy and the world, so I wanted to ask some questions to find out if they were solid or another pump and dump fraud like the mortgage backed derivatives," said Johnson.<br /><br />Johnson instructed Dauphin to hang up, so he could ask his questions, but Dauphin ignored him and walked a few feet away.<br /><br />Johnson followed and took his phone out of his hand, ending his call.<br /><br />Dauphin tried to grab his phone back, and Johnson said, "not until you answer some questions."<br /><br />Dauphin became enraged and said, "Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am? I'm the guy who's going to get you fired. I'm going to make your life a living hell. You're dead!"<br /><br />Johnson took his last statement as a threat, drew his revolver, and told Dauphin to put his hands on his head.<br /><br />Rather than comply, Dauphin made a dismissive noise and reached inside his jacket.<br /><br />Fearing that he may have been reaching for a weapon, Johnson opened fire, hitting Dauphin three times in the chest and once in the head.<br /><br />A later search of his body found no weapon, only a wallet and a cigar.<br /><br />Others in the finance industry were shocked by the shooting and demanded that the officer be fired or at least put on suspension pending an investigation.<br /><br />The police chief said he had no plans to do so since the officer acted within department policy.<br /><br />"A suspect wearing a long heavy coat like that could be hiding a shotgun, assault rifle or grenade launcher for all we know, so given his movements, the shooting was appropriate. Police officers deal with very dangerous people in this neighborhood who have been known to rob pension funds, bankrupt local and state governments, and even countries with their fraud. Given that threat, Officer Johnson acted appropriately."<br /><br />He also said that a cigar had been stolen from a nearby bodega and it was very likely the officer could smell the tobacco. Johnson did not mention this in any of his own statements though.Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-76415935891482369052014-06-26T12:10:00.000-07:002014-06-26T12:10:20.123-07:00Iraq Demands United States form a more inclusive government<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR7AwNV91LzHYzT7USZkfBQ7O1H8pOu-sd-y7yRHZ256j8rS2J29HQ07yKoJQCk_3h-27Uh9a71p8sRbd-L2AKavuiHDRTh8TOmLUlBeFj2hUu102aYlzTouOhh43ngnzF49nl/s1600/maliki.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR7AwNV91LzHYzT7USZkfBQ7O1H8pOu-sd-y7yRHZ256j8rS2J29HQ07yKoJQCk_3h-27Uh9a71p8sRbd-L2AKavuiHDRTh8TOmLUlBeFj2hUu102aYlzTouOhh43ngnzF49nl/s1600/maliki.jpg" height="203" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, expressing </i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>dismay at failure of US democracy</i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki spoke for his parliament and cabinet today when he urged the United States to form a more inclusive government that was responsive to more than just the minority of extremely wealthy individuals.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
"Polls show <b><a href="http://pollingreport.com/CongJob.htm">less than half of Americans approve of President Obama's performance</a>,</b> record public distrust of <a href="http://pollingreport.com/CongJob.htm"><b>the US Congress,</b></a> and little change economic, trade, budget, tax, and foreign policy regardless of which of the two major parties is in control of the White House or Congress," said Maliki.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"Further, <b><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746">recent studies have shown that American politicians are far more responsive to wealthy donors</a> </b>and past and future employers or business cronies than they are to their constituents even when what the wealthy want conflicts with the wishes of their constituents or actually harms them," he added.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"Therefore, for the stability of the United States and because of the effect their large economy and military presence has on the rest of the world, we ask that they dissolve their government and reconstitute a "salvation government" that is more inclusive of the vast majority and their economic interests and diminishes the influence of money in policy-making, whether through the inclusion of smaller parties or establishing means of direct democracy at the national level or whatever it takes," he concluded.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Maliki went on to say that the United States could learn from Iraq's mistakes before the US suffers an insurgency of its own.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Maliki could not resist ending on an ironic note. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"You know, the US could even learn a thing or two about democracy from us. The American people wanted to end their government's occupation of Iraq almost as much as Iraqis did. The Iraqi government responded appropriately, negotiating for the withdrawal of foreign troops, while the US negotiated fiercely to keep troops in the country and now looks for a way to reintroduce them, <i><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/most-americans-say-iraq-war-wasnt-worth-the-costs-poll/"><b>despite 72% of Americans saying the war was not worth it</b></a></i>. If you think that's democracy, then Iraq still has some hidden WMD's I'd like to sell you."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-6446906621145175732014-03-09T18:57:00.000-07:002014-05-02T21:01:23.572-07:00 selfish reasons for Americans to worry about what happens to RussiaIt seems that since the end of the Cold War, the financial elite have become more brazen in screwing the middle and working class (and even a lot of the rich) and buying politicians more openly to help them do so. <br />
<br />
They may have been more circumspect in the past because for all its flaws, communism would look more attractive to Europeans and Americans if we were still treated the way we were in the robber baron era, and while the Soviet Union was a going concern, it would look like a realistic rather than hypothetical option. <br />
<br />
So we got the original "Third Way" between capitalism and socialism, smoothing the corners and rough edges off capitalism enough that people didn't think too much about alternatives. <br />
<br />
Once the Soviet Union was gone, the financial elite seem to believe Francis Fukuyama's pronouncement that it was the end of history and they had won. Without an alternative for people to look to, the Third Way became three-quarters of the way to fascism and back to the era of Charles Dickens--smoothing the edges off capitalism was too expensive when the rich could just keep the tax money that costs in their pocket, and then privatize any surviving government services, so the tax dollars that are collected end up back in their hands. <br />
<br />
If that is how they treat us now, regardless of whether you think Putin is a nice guy, do you think the financial elite are going to treat us any better once they don't even have Russia as a major REGIONAL obstacle? <br />
<br />
<b><i>If they replace every government that doesn't do business on terms the IMF, World Bank, Wall St, oil companies and the like dictate, is that going to make life any better for the rest of us? </i></b><br />
<br />
<b>When the sun never set on the British Empire, far from helping the folks back in England, those were the darkest days of the Industrial Revolution, when men, women, and children worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week. </b><br />
<br />
Have our lives gotten any better since we've gone from one of two superpowers to the SOLE superpower in the world? <br />
<br />
If not why should we expect to get any better if the continue to isolate Russia and take away their oil and gas business until they become a super-sized Somalia? <br />
<br />
<a href="http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/2008/08/we-treated-post-soviet-russia-like-post.html"><b><span id="goog_319022556"></span>Previous post on Russia post-Cold War</b></a><span id="goog_319022557"></span>Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-51926957892824611872013-08-28T08:17:00.001-07:002013-08-28T09:38:06.998-07:00Obama sends Bush to teach Syria how to kill civilians legally<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDV9-Zzg1ag-oAjrXBsypAhV2qWKHMjMgJ79N7rvYWkdX-v-i-oqhI8dqzCTNngO3MCoQhdyrsbdvQ_GGpfKBZKEL-f1qyXLtQTPwBZmjkWOe1Wrtd7SOhwocMHSu18cHNpmhK/s1600/assad++bush.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDV9-Zzg1ag-oAjrXBsypAhV2qWKHMjMgJ79N7rvYWkdX-v-i-oqhI8dqzCTNngO3MCoQhdyrsbdvQ_GGpfKBZKEL-f1qyXLtQTPwBZmjkWOe1Wrtd7SOhwocMHSu18cHNpmhK/s320/assad++bush.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Syrian President Bashir Assad being advised <br />
by former American President George W. Bush</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In a last ditch effort to avoid air strikes and cruise missile attacks on Syria, <br />
President Barack Obama has deployed former President George W Bush as a special envoy to instruct Syrian President Bashir Assad on the how to kill civilians without committing war crimes.<br />
<br />
"No one alive knows more about this than former President Bush," Obama said. "He has by some estimates, authorized the killing of over a million Iraqi men, women, and children and untold tens of thousands of Afghans--all without committing war crimes or human rights violations. That's why I gave him immunity for actions taken in those wars just the other day."<br />
<br />
Bush had already arrived in Syria and begun what he called his "Cheneying" of the young president of Syria.<br />
<br />
He took a brief break to explain the advice he's giving Assad in an exclusive interview with Fox News.<br />
<br />
"See, first thing I told him is we're the deciders. We decide what's the right way to kill terrorists. And that's the first step. Only kill terrorists. And they can come in any gender or age or sexual oriented minority."<br />
<br />
The Fox interviewer Chris Wallace asked if he advised Assad against the use of chemical weapons.<br />
<br />
"Of course I did! That's the first thing I said! There's nothing more bad than killing someone with a gas that leaves their body mostly intact. I told him a real leader uses weapons that blows them bodies into pieces and buries them in rubble so it takes their relatives a while to find them and put them back together."<br />
<br />
"See when they're busy doing that, they can't be terroristing as much."<br />
<br />
"So explosives are the only weapons that are moral?" Wallace asked.<br />
<br />
"I never said that," Bush bristled. "We got stuff that can burn people to death. Inside and out at the same time. And they can't put it out even in water. They just kinda run around like a Bugs Bunny cartoon till they run out of juice, heh heh."<br />
<br />
"You can also take them out one at a time Old West style with good old bullets even if you have to do it from a helicopter to get more of them like reporters and kids trying to help terrorists we're in the middle of killing."<br />
<br />
Wallace asked if killing, even if limited to these legal methods, won't generate more enemies for the Assad regimes.<br />
<br />
"You know I don't really think about that. But if you think that's a problem, you can bring some people in and ask them how they feel about your leadership. Sometimes you have to use special 'enhanced' interrogation methods we've developed like waterboarding to get an honest answer out of them."<br />
<br />
"Don't those methods sometimes lead to additional deaths?" Wallace asked.<br />
<br />
"Not that I know of. I mean not people that wouldn't lose their life later anyway."<br />
<br />
Wallace said there may be some limits to how Bush's experience could apply to Syria since President Assad is killing his own people and Bush was killing people on the other side of the world.<br />
<br />
"Chris, that's what's great about America. We know how other people need to do things even if we haven't done it ourselves yet."<br />
<br />Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-77685275308034310902013-08-21T14:56:00.000-07:002013-08-21T15:03:25.406-07:00WHITE HOUSE PETITION: fully pardon Bradley ManningThere probably are and will be more of these various places, but posting one on the White House website makes it harder for them to say haven't seen it, and for others who stumble across it on their site, it will be like a scarlet letter.<br />
<br />
<div>
Who knows, it might even force Obama to act.<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://wh.gov/lg7Lo">SIGN HERE</a> </b>& pass it on to your friends.<br />
<br />
FULL TEXT OF PETITION:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
Pardon Bradley Manning and reduce his sentence to time served. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
His 35 year sentence is greater than that given to uniformed members of the military who tortured or massacred civilians, and typically got ten years and served far less. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
The Bush admin lied about their case for war led to the deaths of thousand of troops and a million Iraqis but weren't even tried. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
A prosecution witness in the Manning trial said NO deaths resulted from his leaks. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Manning's leaks exposed war crimes and helped spark the Arab Spring democracy movement. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
The only "damage" he did was to the ability of our government to lie to our people about the means and motives of our foreign policy. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Clean up the corruption and moral squalor in corridors of power in Washington instead of punishing the person who exposed it. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b><a href="http://wh.gov/lg7Lo">SIGN HERE</a></b></blockquote>
</div>
Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-58225472239861064792013-08-10T13:35:00.001-07:002014-05-02T21:02:33.469-07:00NSA launches lip reading drones in United States<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicZsGc3HVUwpnth_qVg7HZHG_Y8eaL5OTnERvirwuhS6v52zmcpCcpS8STnxno8fVrIzIODzEJh_5jW7Nb90snPp72BlFchn4NfzJLMVuhJZwExdYfRpssTua7YrrV-ULILjUp/s1600/lip+reading.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicZsGc3HVUwpnth_qVg7HZHG_Y8eaL5OTnERvirwuhS6v52zmcpCcpS8STnxno8fVrIzIODzEJh_5jW7Nb90snPp72BlFchn4NfzJLMVuhJZwExdYfRpssTua7YrrV-ULILjUp/s200/lip+reading.jpg" height="156" width="200" /></a></div>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->New leaks reveal for
the first time that the NSA is using drones to spy on in person conversations
within the United States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Predator
drones are taping all conversation outdoors and many indoors observable through
windows not blocked by drapes or blinds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An unnamed high-ranking official in the Obama administration
said average Americans should not be concerned about their privacy being
invaded.<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“We’re just collecting meta-data,” the official said,
adding, “like who is talking to who, where, and when, and the general tone of
the conversation, you know, whether it’s friendly, business-like, or furtive.
We’re certainly not recording the content of the conversations.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Critics of the program have disputed this, noting that the
NSA has advertised in many deaf publications for lip readers to serve as
analysts.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsS4ek6o3mopUHMy3WxlN68k8QzhRyLPLxm1sxKG2XqtJK4E3-nW_xJ1eWpfrxt5Xh1mDjC1ua0ap8TEyLpYb5VpyBibECt2G_Xye3ZNbGo_H8Pu8LDzsHw_RukNf84DlkC_T6/s1600/predator+drone-firing-missile4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsS4ek6o3mopUHMy3WxlN68k8QzhRyLPLxm1sxKG2XqtJK4E3-nW_xJ1eWpfrxt5Xh1mDjC1ua0ap8TEyLpYb5VpyBibECt2G_Xye3ZNbGo_H8Pu8LDzsHw_RukNf84DlkC_T6/s200/predator+drone-firing-missile4.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Obama administration has responded that lip-reading of
the actual content of conversations will only be done when there is suspicion
of a terrorist activity, like non-violent protests of tar sand pipelines or
further Occupy protests of financial crimes on Wall Street.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The administration official said the lip reading program
will be discontinued once their acoustic sensors are able to isolate individual
conversations from background noise.<br />
<br />
They had no comment on why the drones were armed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-88291249941544783182013-05-14T08:54:00.001-07:002013-05-14T09:36:13.017-07:00Guatemala Chamber of Commerce says genocide conviction "will will discourage foreign investment"<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container tr_bq" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.latinorebels.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/smith10-4-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://www.latinorebels.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/smith10-4-4.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Forensic anthropologist, </i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>remains of genocide victim, </i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>possible relatives of victim</i><br />
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Democracy Now has been covering the genocide trial of U.S.-backed Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, but more damning than any details of any atrocity are the reactions of the business community and what it reveals about how they use governments like Montt's, not just in the past but today.</div>
<br />
Most macabre is the recent quote by security guards at a mine who said protesters didn't realize that the mine "generates jobs" (a Republican talking point) before they opened fire on the protesters.<br />
<br />
Most people don't care or even know about communism, socialism, free market fundamentalism, or whatever. They just want decent working conditions, to be able to take care of their family, and have their employer subject to the rule of law if they don't provide the other two.<br />
<br />
That is obviously intolerable to corporations in their dealings in the Third World--and increasingly in America and the developed world.<br />
<br />
Eventually Americans are going to realize that the companies they work for see us the same way they do Bangladeshi garment workers and Indian miners in Guatemala, and we will change things.<br />
<br />
If not, look forward to being buried in rubble during of sixteen hour shift or being shot for not respecting "job creators" in the near future.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>EXCERPT:</b></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<a href="http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1420/1131472315_5f746c59d0_o.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="democracy now" border="0" height="123" src="http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1420/1131472315_5f746c59d0_o.gif" title="democracy now" width="200" /></a>One of the remarks that Pérez Molina made in response to the verdict against Ríos Montt—he was echoing the comments of <b>the American Chamber of Commerce, which represents the U.S. corporations in Guatemala—was to say that this verdict will discourage foreign investment in Guatemala. It’s a very revealing comment, because foreign companies, when they come into a country and are looking to invest, they want some laws to be enforced, like the laws on contracts, and they want other laws not to be enforced, like the labor laws and the laws which stop them from murdering their employees if they try to organize unions. <i>In the ’80s, the leaders of the American Chamber of Commerce described to me how they would sometimes turn over names of troublesome workers to the security forces, and they would then disappear or be assassinated.</i></b> Fred Sherwood was one of the Chamber of Commerce leaders who described that. And now, with this verdict, it seems that Pérez Molina and the corporate leaders and the elites in Guatemala, in general, are worried that they may have a harder time killing off workers and organizers when they need to.<br />
And it’s especially relevant right now because there’s a huge conflict in Guatemala about mining. American and Canadian mining companies are being brought in by the Pérez Molina government to exploit silver and other minerals. The local communities are resisting. Community organizers have been killed. There was a clash in which a police officer was killed. So Pérez Molina has imposed a state of siege in various parts of the country. <b>And just the other day, the local press printed a wiretap transcript of the head of security at one of these mines, in this case the San Rafael mining operation, where the security chief says to his men, regarding demonstrators who were outside the mine, he says, "Goddamn dogs, they do not—they do not understand that the mine generates jobs. We must eliminate these animal pieces of . We cannot allow people to establish resistance. Kill those sons of ." <i>And the security people later opened fire. This is the way foreign companies operate, not just in Guatemala, but around the world.</i></b> I mean, it’s this kind of non-enforcement of law that made possible the Bangladesh factory collapse that killed over a hundred workers. And now they’re worried in Guatemala—</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2013/5/13/ros_montt_guilty_of_genocide_are">FULL TEXT</a> </b></blockquote>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-23714254674715470222012-12-21T11:37:00.002-08:002012-12-22T07:54:21.438-08:00Following NRA lead, Republicans now ban gun-toting action stars from party<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXiXY_9zN4QAvoVIVf3fcIp82E7xkNg4ISY045FA19yNspvl-2uGikoQaS8_IBH1mnI_t4VAfL7MUqY96AfY3KhQgOVktZitI6VAQ1p1fNC7d4CurGCipIYYQjOAJoIVEN7lSV/s1600/gop+shuns+action+stars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXiXY_9zN4QAvoVIVf3fcIp82E7xkNg4ISY045FA19yNspvl-2uGikoQaS8_IBH1mnI_t4VAfL7MUqY96AfY3KhQgOVktZitI6VAQ1p1fNC7d4CurGCipIYYQjOAJoIVEN7lSV/s320/gop+shuns+action+stars.jpg" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Republican House Speaker John Boehner at press <br />
conference ousting gun-toting action stars </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Republican House speaker John Boehner announced at a press conference today that the Republican Party would no longer accept campaign donations, acknowledge endorsements from, promote as candidates, use as spokesmodels, or invite as guests on Fox News any celebrities who make movies or TV shows that glorify gun violence.<br />
<br />
This followed quickly on the heels on NRA President Wayne LaPierre's press conference that said in response to the Sandy Hook shooting, "Guns don't kill people, TV shows and movies kill people."<br />
<br />
"The evidence that media violence on TV and in movies leads to violence in real life is overwhelming," Boehner said. "Every single mass shooter that I know of has watched TV or been to a movie."<br />
<br />
This represents a major policy shift for Republicans who have long touted the support of action stars like Clint Eastwood, Chuck Norris, Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, and the late Charlton Heston, all of whom have high on screen body counts. The GOP even successfully ran action star Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor of California, who won in spite of his inability to pronounce the name of the state.<br />
<br />
"We can no longer even indirectly endorse their glorification of violence," Boehner said. "Nor will we accept the support of directors or producers of shows and movies that glorify violence or accurately portray wars like the War on Terror and tactics within that war that our party voted for."<br />
<br />
Boehner said the shunning will also extend to candidates and donors who profit from the sale and distribution of violent movies like Mitt Romney, whose Marriot Hotel investments profited from cable and pay per view movies featuring violence and other objectionable content.<br />
<br />
Boehner was quick to point out that the ban does not extend to all celebrities. <br />
<br />
"There is still plenty of room in our party for David Spade, Drew Carey, Britney Spears, Jeff Foxworthy, that ball buster chick from <i>Law & Order</i>, and that funny gay guy who is still in the closet. He just brings me to tears. And he makes me laugh too."<br />
<br />
Boehner said the excommunicated action stars would be welcomed back into the GOP if they promised to make only non-violent movies in the future.<br />
<br />
"There are several other kinds of movies besides shoot 'em ups," he said. "Chick flicks, coming of age movies, disease movies, movies about freaks, retards, and well-behaved minorities, comedies and romantic comedies."<br />
<br />
"You know even Arnold Schwarzenegger has made comedies like T<i>wins, Kindergarten Cop, Junior</i>, and the Austrian version of <i>The Birdcage</i>. I for one would love to see him star in a remake of <i>The Notebook</i> before another <i>Terminator</i> movie, or a remake of that wonderful movie about his home country, <i>The Sound of Music</i>."<br />
<br />
Boehner was asked about the status of Republican celebrities who make violent movies that do not use guns as weapons like Sarah Michelle Gellar, who as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, drove stakes in the hearts of innumerable vampires.<br />
<br />
"Staking, stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, garroting, drowning, smothering, those are all acceptable family entertainment," Boehner responded. "But the minute someone picks up a gun for anything other than hunting, shooting a burglar, or a person of color who makes you feel uneasy, a moral line has been crossed. So, yes, Buffy is perfectly acceptable."<br />
<br />
Boehner was asked how the Republican Party decided this was the correct response to the tragedy in Connecticut.<br />
<br />
"We did a lot of soul searching," he said, "and a little bit of math. We get a lot more money from the NRA than celebrities."<br />
<br />
<i>NOTE: Within hours of the press conference, the Television Manufacturers association released a statement saying to their knowledge, no one has been killed by the new flat panel TV's but only by the older, heavier tube sets that crushed some people. They added that those who still have tube TV's can get an excellent price on a flat panel model this holiday season.</i>Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-72161915590104971472012-09-27T21:49:00.001-07:002012-09-27T22:12:15.563-07:00PHOTO: Netanyahu passes Baby Bush, descends to Rocky & Bullwinkle level of evidence<br />
<br />
<img border="0" height="285" src="http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/0c9f93574610621b1c0f6a70670090b0.jpg" width="400" /><br />
<br />
<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-says-world-must-draw-red-line-iran-183329844.html">CONTEXT OF PHOTO</a> <br />
<br />
<br />
I thought nothing could be lamer than the Bush mobile chemical weapons lab drawings as an excuse for a war but Netanyahu did it at the UN, with an illustration that wouldn't be convincing in a Saturday morning cartoon.<br />
<br />
This is more likely to insult his audiences intelligence than persuade them of anything.<br />
<br />
<br />
I think he's trying to say that if we do not act now, the moose and squirrel are in existential danger.<br />
<br />
<img border="0" height="300" src="http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h194/GOODSTUFF1852/Rocky_Bullwinkle_Boris_Natasha.jpg" width="400" /> <br />
<br />
Note how accurate his drawing of the bomb is!Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-48132041679693444742012-06-22T13:02:00.000-07:002012-06-22T13:27:08.272-07:00PREDICTION: the "HAVE YOU NO SHAME?" moment for capitalism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.pbase.com/g6/12/474512/2/75545175.iZvtSh7h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://i.pbase.com/g6/12/474512/2/75545175.iZvtSh7h.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Our current form of capitalism is no longer based on real wealth of resources and manufacturing, but the investment and currency Ponzi schemes of the finance sector. <br />
<br />
What it's probably going to take for people to realize this is some hedge fund to decide to goose their profits by cannibalizing a company we all like and even depend on. <br />
<br />
<div>
It's not that far-fetched: they already do it to companies that are profitable--just not profitable enough to suit them. </div>
<div>
It wasn't quite enough for most people that it was done to the dream of home ownership, or the ongoing assaults on a middle class standard of living, secure pensions and access to higher education. <br />
<br />
Some icon of capitalism itself needs to be hobbled and torn to shreds by the jackals of Wall Street because a speadsheet showed it was far more profitable than merely investing in it and collecting dividends, or even running another pump and dump scam. <br />
<br />
When we see what we idealize as capitalism killed by what it really is, maybe people will realize our biggest enemy isn't the last three hundred al Qaeda in Pakistan or the last three commies in North Korea, put the sociopathic trust fund babies on Wall Street who crush our dreams and make us work three minimum wage jobs to survive, so that their descendants won't have to get a job for the next ten generations. </div>Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-12973744865182405942012-03-28T09:18:00.000-07:002012-03-28T12:25:26.285-07:00Why power generators are terrified of solar--electricity 40% cheaper in SOLAR Germany<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />This is a pretty good indication of how our energy debate in America is driven by oil, gas, and coal public relations bullshit not reality. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While our government has been licking around the edges of alternative energy and politely nodding when oil company execs tell us it's not cost competitive yet, Germany has jumped into it in a big way. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The result? <br /><br />The peak price of electricity over the course of a day dropped 40%, and 25% of their gas generators may be closed. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why are we still talking about deep water drilling and pipelines for tar sand and shale oil, which are a half step above turning coal into gasoline? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because only big money can drill oil or turn asphalt into usable fuel, so they can control the supply and therefore price. Once PV's are in place, it's a hell of a lot harder to explain price fluctuations when the ''fuel,'' the sun rays, are constant. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obama is doing more on this than past presidents, but we need to catch up to Germany, and the sooner we do, the less of a stranglehold big oil will have on our economy and foreign policy, and the harder it will be for power companies to blackmail us for billions and even turn out the lights as they did here in California at the beginning of the Bush administration. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need to demand that our government get out in front, not just in research and demonstration projects, but in getting these kinds of power plants online and displacing fossil fuel NOW. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tell the <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact"><b>White House</b></a> and <a href="http://www.contactingthecongress.org/"><b>your corrupt Congress critters </b></a>to build it fast and build it NOW. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>EXCERPT:</b></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The first graph illustrates what a typical day on the electricity market in Germany looked like in March four years ago;<i> the second illustrates what is happening now, with 25GW of solar PV installed across the country</i>.</b> Essentially, it means that solar PV is not just licking the cream off the profits of the fossil fuel generators — as happens in Australia with a more modest rollout of PV — it is in fact eating their entire cake.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Deutsche Bank solar analyst Vishal Shah noted in a report last month that EPEX data was showing<b><i> solar PV was cutting peak electricity prices by up to 40%,</i></b> a situation that utilities in Germany and elsewhere in Europe were finding intolerable. “With Germany adopting a drastic cut, we expect major utilities in other European countries to push for similar cuts as well,” Shah noted.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Analysts elsewhere said </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>one quarter of Germany’s gas-fired capacity may be closed, because of the impact of surging solar and wind capacity. </i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enel, the biggest utility in Italy, which had the most solar PV installed in 2011, highlighted its exposure toreduced peaking prices when it said that a €5/MWh fall in average wholesale prices would translate into a one-third slump in earnings from the generation division.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/03/27/why-generators-are-terrified-of-solar/"><b>SOURCE</b></a></span></blockquote>
</div>Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-53484896284214786592012-03-17T13:59:00.001-07:002012-03-17T14:41:52.891-07:00Progressive talker Thom Hartmann punished for Rush & other cons' sins in LA?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLf7HV3RbT0ccm6SlVVm59MAwmu2yXpbvCY3VeXKFYgtLBncCgB2SYOvnl3vIiFgdh6IQ8Zsp9AmEBQW1G5EnxwG8BLZiur8u1L_cVZ_hurHO5y9p5OWFML8iXybjmt-PUswZH/s1600/rush+john+ken+thom+copy.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLf7HV3RbT0ccm6SlVVm59MAwmu2yXpbvCY3VeXKFYgtLBncCgB2SYOvnl3vIiFgdh6IQ8Zsp9AmEBQW1G5EnxwG8BLZiur8u1L_cVZ_hurHO5y9p5OWFML8iXybjmt-PUswZH/s400/rush+john+ken+thom+copy.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Clear Channel wanted to diversify the range of voices on LA radio, especially in light of the Limbaugh dust up and <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2012/02/have-kfis-john-and-ken-lost-their-ktla-jobs.html">KFI local hosts John & Ken's remarks referring to Whitney Houston as a ''crack ho</a>'' after her death, but instead of replacing Limbaugh or the KFI locals, they bumped nationally known progressive talker Thom Hartmann. </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In one of the most liberal cities in America that has ONE progressive commercial station and a couple of conservative ones, and in which <a href="http://www.clearchannel.com/radio/StationSearch.aspx?RadioSearch=los%20angeles">they own two AM stations and five FM ones</a>. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Black Media alliance also noticed that <a href="http://www.eurweb.com/2012/03/clear-channel-black-media-alliance-clediverse-la-rsh-limbaugh/">the station that carries Rush has the highest ratings in the LA market, but it also has a very strong signal</a>. The progressive station is static at a range where Rush is still coming in loud and clear. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If Clear Channel really wants to do a mea culpa for Rush, they should replace HIM with this new show, or better yet, swap signals between their low powered progressive show and their stronger signal conservative one. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's also hard not to notice that Clear Channel is hardly making moves to make the progressive channel, KTLK 1150 AM more successful. They have gradually replaced nationally known progressives who could draw a large audience with little known hosts, David Cruz and Clark Howard from 3-8 pm, and now have done the same in the crucial morning slot. <b><i>Come to think of it, if Clear Channel wanted to try out new hosts on KTLK, why bump someone who has a national audience, that even people from out of town might spin the dial to find, instead of bumping the late afternoon hosts that even loyal listeners of KTLK switch away from? </i></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Either Clear Channel doesn't care about listeners who started with the station when it was Air America and stayed with for the nationally known very progressive hosts ever since, or they are actively trying to kill the format so they could then say it failed and keeping Limbaugh in spite of near universal outrage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Does this really sound like a free market at work or a corporation drawing blood from progressives to give a transfusion to a dying right wing propaganda format? </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Contact KTLK at <b>Programming@KTLKAM1150.com </b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And Clear Channel at <b>publicrelations@clearchannel.com </b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<a href="http://www.clearchannel.com/Corporate/PressRelease.aspx?PressReleaseID=1169&p=hidden"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>More Clear Channel contact info</b></span></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Tell them to bring back Thom Hartmann to 9-12 am on KTLK AM 1150, and move Diverse LA to the later slots or better yet, to Rush Limbaugh or John and Ken's time slots on KFI AM 640!</i></b></span></div>Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-88944350157559860542012-03-11T00:39:00.000-08:002012-03-11T11:47:10.544-07:00Santorum wants prima nocta, nobles' right of wedding night sex, back<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSN_T50vTG2qLl-ymtM3-6HOm-lkJfeYdVxTIK64w_-1qIHPae2UnFC8d89Jefr4BHtToOFU04PM1I4vHRhK5VkW8o7FKXdJ-5mhV3opJB7dECuIWMKJlQu-I_mV3qBJD8JHU/s1600/santorum+prima+nocte.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWSN_T50vTG2qLl-ymtM3-6HOm-lkJfeYdVxTIK64w_-1qIHPae2UnFC8d89Jefr4BHtToOFU04PM1I4vHRhK5VkW8o7FKXdJ-5mhV3opJB7dECuIWMKJlQu-I_mV3qBJD8JHU/s320/santorum+prima+nocte.jpg" width="320" /></a>After his success energizing Republican voters with his attack on contraception, presidential candidate Rick Santorum has reached even deeper into traditional Catholic sexual edicts to add <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_du_seigneur">prima nocta</a></b>, also known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_du_seigneur"><b>droit du seigneur</b></a>, the right of nobles to sexual relations with brides on their wedding nights, to his women's issues platform.<br />
<br />
To underline his embrace of this tradition, Santorum announced it during a campaign event at Dark AJ's Medieval Dinner Park in Hannibal, Missouri, going as far as to dress in Middle Ages attire himself.<br />
<br />
"You know our critics on the loony left often say they can't see how the Christian wing of the Republican Party can co-exist with the free market wing, as if there was some conflict of values between the two," Santorum began.<br />
<br />
"But in the ancient tradition of prima nocta, these two wings become one beautiful bird, perfectly illustrating God's hierarchy for all living things, and the economic superior embodying God's love as he fills the inferior."<br />
<br />
As Santorum spoke, the prima nocta scenes from movies like<i> Braveheart </i>and <i>Beckett</i> played in the background.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguAVGgNrr2Lh2dnUBIeLsiyC3Zp1Zgt0z8BR6lCxKmhMWyS8Nhc_4Tv8i6bwZim-bhwloPOcefHXsQ80HNWjEyxk-ks8mfcidfLtaOklzvnOi7oRheaJUzwnsIOOh0ZYd3FKBI/s1600/Becket2lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguAVGgNrr2Lh2dnUBIeLsiyC3Zp1Zgt0z8BR6lCxKmhMWyS8Nhc_4Tv8i6bwZim-bhwloPOcefHXsQ80HNWjEyxk-ks8mfcidfLtaOklzvnOi7oRheaJUzwnsIOOh0ZYd3FKBI/s200/Becket2lg.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Since America has no formal nobility, Santorum said as president he will fight for a law to adapt the ancient droit du seigneur to become a droit du corporis, or right of the corporation.<br />
<br />
The right could be exercised by the CEO, major shareholders, or board members of any corporation over recently married employees or customers indebted to the corporation through mortgages, credit card debt, or other consumer loans.<br />
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"What is really exciting is this could provide a new opportunity for the free market," Santorum continued. "If the CEO or others legally granted the right choose not to exercise it, they could sell that right on a nocta market."<br />
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A reporter asked if CEO's could also take the first night of gay spouses in states where gay marriage is legal.<br />
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Santorum thought for several minutes before saying, "I'll have to consult some trusted Vatican scholars before giving a definitive answer, but I can say as a Republican that so long as they do it in the closet, and at least one of them claims publicly to be straight, it's probably ok."<br />
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<i><b>UPDATE: Seth McFarlane used his FAMILY GUY characters to create this educational video on prima nocta for Santorum.</b></i><br />
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<br />Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-50889321503150249532012-03-07T12:53:00.001-08:002012-03-07T14:52:13.280-08:00ice cream shop names milkshake after Santorum<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTUHTKqzS2S5KsRAjmZV-MZdIw_shK1hvIP9kIKvXOSXeWw1F-kvdyVG34VEquJYLdc61tfUPfHV3nVlXamB1uVDHRm95RNVehMyAL78YSWMzV_FMC-i0d-I3ohM3RezbxlLk6/s1600/santorum+shake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTUHTKqzS2S5KsRAjmZV-MZdIw_shK1hvIP9kIKvXOSXeWw1F-kvdyVG34VEquJYLdc61tfUPfHV3nVlXamB1uVDHRm95RNVehMyAL78YSWMzV_FMC-i0d-I3ohM3RezbxlLk6/s320/santorum+shake.jpg" width="208" /></a>A Hershey, Pennsylvania ice cream shop owner came up with a novel way to support his favorite GOP presidential candidate: by creating a milkshake in his name.<br />
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Francis (Frank) Manuopus thought he should do more that plant a lawn sign to spread his support for Santorum, so he invented the Santorum Shake, made with double dutch chocolate (in honor of the Pennsylvania Dutch) and whipped cream because Santorum is "the cream of the crop" to Manuopus.<br />
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"If someone has never had the Santorum Shake, they absolutely MUST have a cherry on top," Manuopus added.<br />
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He has promoted it in various ways, such as selling it for 50% off if people ask for it at the far right end of the counter or who come in the back door.<br />
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He said the shake has proven popular, especially with the town's gay community.<br />
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"With Rick's stand on gay rights, you wouldn't think they'd be interested, but they have been flooding in, saying they want to taste Santorum. Sometimes they are really surprised how good it is. One even said Santorum tastes a lot better cold. I guess some gave him one that had melted to room temperature. That would be too runny for my taste," Manuopus said.<br />
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Manuopus said he isn't sure that all the gays who come in are Santorum supporters though.<br />
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"One group came in and one of the guys looked sort of like Rick and even wore a sweater vest. The other three bought Santorum shakes, sucked them up into straws, and blew it on the one dressed like Rick. They were good sports and cleaned it up though. They said they didn't want anyone to slip in their Santorum."<br />
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Manuopus was especially proud that his parish priest came in and tried the shake. "I was really surprised. The priest said he has made this for boys in the rectory lots of times, but never actually tried it."<br />
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He hopes the candidate himself will get a taste of his own Santorum before the Pennsylvania primary. "Nothing would make me prouder than seeing Rick wiping my Santorum off his face," Manuopus beamed.<br />
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<i><i>UPDATE: Always a good sport, Newt Gingrich came in for a Santorum Shake when he was in town. He brought his own whipped cream and offered to share it with all the ladies in the shop. </i></i><br />
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<i>"Frankly, I used to enjoy sharing this with my wife, but now it's more fun to give it to women I've just met," he explained.</i><br />
<br />Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-26722449784113137332012-02-29T16:00:00.004-08:002012-02-29T16:04:48.327-08:00Do Businessmen Make Good Presidents? Public Radio sidesteps Bush/Cheney answer<br />
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When I heard the host of Public Radio International's The World ask whether businessmen make good presidents and continue with, <br />
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But does business experience give a head of state a leg up? And why does a nation turn to a CEO for leadership?</blockquote>
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<b><a href="http://www.theworld.org/2012/02/do-businessmen-make-good-presidents/">CONTEXT </a></b></blockquote>
I assumed they were going to go for the obvious recent example in American history: George W. Bush and his Halliburton CEO VP, Dick Cheney. <br />
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Instead, the story went on to talk about Vicente Fox, a president of Thailand, Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, and even non-president, Donald Trump. <br />
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As odd as the absence of Bush and Cheney was the absence of a very obvious question: do businessmen in office use their skills for the public good, or do they simply use the office to help their business and cronies who will reciprocate later? I'm sure their are lots of the first kind, but far more often, businessmen see public office as a way to pursue business by other means, just as their campaign donations are far from altruistic, and a pretty strong relationship exists between an industry's donations and getting a favorable outcome on legislation that effects them. <br />
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Another odd twist on this story was how they described Romney's business experience, as doing ''business turnaround as a management consultant.'' <br />
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Isn't that a bit like calling a cannibal as doing health turnaround as a weight loss consultant? <br />
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NPR and Public Radio International do the public a disservice when they practice historical revision like this, and making conservative epic catastrophe that which shall not be mentioned.</div>
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<br /></div>Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-55196803119181794772012-02-04T01:00:00.000-08:002012-02-05T18:58:10.724-08:00Gingrich doubles down on France Bashing, says he can't find France on a globe<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3tLqVvyIWWuGNP8cq8H-d6VEyA8EB5gJnrItup1Brm2PmkzKIUxWYHqfW4SOW02QLVErmM6d11spFtfP6OmiaoWrrPIROerDMxln8Nh5EuyRskoobUmX5Z_tMkrEZAWN4Tq3v/s1600/gingrich+globe+france.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3tLqVvyIWWuGNP8cq8H-d6VEyA8EB5gJnrItup1Brm2PmkzKIUxWYHqfW4SOW02QLVErmM6d11spFtfP6OmiaoWrrPIROerDMxln8Nh5EuyRskoobUmX5Z_tMkrEZAWN4Tq3v/s320/gingrich+globe+france.jpg" width="320" /></a>Newt Gingrich knows his campaign is in desperate straits after his loss in Florida, but polling data shows Republican voters were favorably impressed by ad slamming Mitt Romney for speaking French.<br />
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In states with upcoming primaries, Gingrich will run an ad taking the anti-French theme even further, appearing himself with a globe in his hands and saying, "Unlike Mitt Romney, I not only don't SPEAK French, I can't find it on a globe."<br />
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Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum's campaign got an early copy of the ad and plans to go even further than Gingrich and say their candidate is uncertain of the very existence of France.<br />
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"If people want to believe in some theory of France because they read it in a book or heard it from some atheist humanist gay college professor, I can't stop them--but I can tell them they're wrong."<br />
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Santorum says that France was made up by elitists in New York City as a utopia of wine drinking, mass transportation, and the metric system, to bolster their own failed socialists ideas.<br />
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"If they can't back up their ideas with real places like Selma, Schenectady , or San Antonio, they should have the dignity to admit their ideas don't work rather than appeal to some fantasyland "France."<br />
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Santorum said that if France did exist, that like other non-English speaking countries, it would pose a grave existential threat to the United States since they may be using their foreign language to plan terrorist or conventional military attacks on the US.<br />
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"This is why we need a military larger than the rest of the world combined," Santorum added. "We have no way of knowing what they are saying in their godless, subhuman 'languages.'"<br />
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When asked about the success of the Gingrich ad and further efforts in that direction by Gingrich and Santorum, former Massachusettes governor Mitt Romney said that just because he publicly spoke French once does not mean he supports or denies the existence of France.Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-39107932549595351162011-11-28T18:34:00.000-08:002011-11-28T18:34:40.531-08:00PIC: put a little Occupy in every letter to CongressI've heard from several sources that for every letter a congressman or senator receives, they figure there are ten people who feel the same way but are too lazy to write. I think there might be an easy way to convince them that quite a few more than ten agree with you.<br />
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For example, look at the two letters below with the exact same text.<br />
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Which is more likely to put the fear of God (or more accurately, the fear of real democracy) into the hearts of our profoundly corrupt legislators?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZUR2bYK3gACz8nQrTDM3ISvX5ypIUIHiUekso0_Fpa5GSPEoY4wC3HBXdojeut3OtVq4Dwb_48ml_ijCrY5Td7c3fp5GsOCVVJMA1Ue96oPk4gy3XhdbMBoi5LqCQQ9UnKYt-/s1600/congress+letter+guy+fawkes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZUR2bYK3gACz8nQrTDM3ISvX5ypIUIHiUekso0_Fpa5GSPEoY4wC3HBXdojeut3OtVq4Dwb_48ml_ijCrY5Td7c3fp5GsOCVVJMA1Ue96oPk4gy3XhdbMBoi5LqCQQ9UnKYt-/s640/congress+letter+guy+fawkes.jpg" width="640" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">click to see full-sized</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I might be overly optimistic, but if you choose your words and issues carefully, the letter on the right might convince a corrupt politician that you don't represent ten people, you represent 99% of the people.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There are a lot of images of the <b><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=guy+fawkes+mask+metal&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=ba9&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnsfdo&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=6PnTTobREenniAKCqsGZDg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CDgQ_AUoAQ&biw=992&bih=492#hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=guy+fawkes+mask&oq=guy+fawkes+mask&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=15399816l15400370l2l15403769l4l2l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=63e0da9763e95b8d&biw=992&bih=492">Guy Fawkes</a></b> or <b><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=guy+fawkes+mask+metal&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=ba9&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnsfdo&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=6PnTTobREenniAKCqsGZDg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CDgQ_AUoAQ&biw=992&bih=492#hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=v+for+vendetta+mask&oq=v+for+vendetta+mask&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_sm=c&gs_upl=32561l37443l4l40139l14l10l0l0l0l7l3103l11177l5-2.4.1.0.2l10l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=63e0da9763e95b8d&biw=992&bih=492">V for Vendetta mask</a></b> online--find one you like and add it to a letter to local tool of Wall Street <b><a href="http://www.contactingthecongress.org/">posing as your elected representative</a></b>. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Let them know you see behind THEIR mask.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6149188.post-87873241874208391482011-11-01T09:59:00.000-07:002011-11-01T10:01:11.243-07:00Condoleezza Rice on Bush Poison Scare<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZVOM8rpNZCS3vsDgGmjFMZ727SSqxhjAK2nuau34mu3wFI27prIEQuY89IUWymPNv7XgF7olaLnt8fC6qUCruWhUAl9Pt-dqgY64aVXKVp_GgT5I-fDnYODkrc1DyCMZPx46/s1600/ABC-banner_004705.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZVOM8rpNZCS3vsDgGmjFMZ727SSqxhjAK2nuau34mu3wFI27prIEQuY89IUWymPNv7XgF7olaLnt8fC6qUCruWhUAl9Pt-dqgY64aVXKVp_GgT5I-fDnYODkrc1DyCMZPx46/s400/ABC-banner_004705.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTkauOCuvpPKokoq_Ox3DDVgFQX5dDPsdJojLG-AsjWRtJVBkVx9S_yuqJ3DCL2bN2IKxzTm3afCppTScRlqCWvtbB7oUCiCqPM6Hrfx-bD7kWfJOsvZZGh7n4I6VkiUqtzBHQ/s1600/condi+poison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTkauOCuvpPKokoq_Ox3DDVgFQX5dDPsdJojLG-AsjWRtJVBkVx9S_yuqJ3DCL2bN2IKxzTm3afCppTScRlqCWvtbB7oUCiCqPM6Hrfx-bD7kWfJOsvZZGh7n4I6VkiUqtzBHQ/s200/condi+poison.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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It was just a few weeks after 9/11 when then National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice received an alarming message from Vice President Dick Cheney: President Bush may have been fatally poisoned.<br />
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She later found out that the president had gone to the White House kitchen for a snack, but the entire kitchen staff was in a meeting, so he began looking through cupboards and cabinets for himself.<br />
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Cheney found him lying on the floor unconscious, his clothing stained with amonia and bleach-scented cleaners, which he feared the president ingested, thinking they were alcoholic beverages since he would be unable to read the labels.<br />
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The president was rushed to secure emergency room in the White House basement where his stomach was pumped.<br />
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Rice said the story had a happy ending. Bush had apparently found a bottle of peppermint schnapps, drank the whole thing and spilled some on his shirt.<br />
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Not wanting to take the time to go back to his room and have the valet change his shirt for him, he tried to remove the stain himself with various kitchen cleaners and declining coordination until he blacked out from the schnapps.<br />
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"We learned an important lesson about the president's security that day," Rice said. "We had to be prepared for every contingency."<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid6Wx3AVQVY-qotv7DcG-YkBjVYSgDDiVFiPlCcyByiPi7znK-RSewVZn9aO0n0dRBX2kN_ZiwDstiFj94Aw_arTvWxX7hNYlHtZE_RvB8QD5YKa1i2hHbHZkbzW4SqGdyYPwt/s1600/bush_fall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid6Wx3AVQVY-qotv7DcG-YkBjVYSgDDiVFiPlCcyByiPi7znK-RSewVZn9aO0n0dRBX2kN_ZiwDstiFj94Aw_arTvWxX7hNYlHtZE_RvB8QD5YKa1i2hHbHZkbzW4SqGdyYPwt/s200/bush_fall.jpg" width="166" /></a></td></tr>
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</tbody></table>She said Vice President Cheney supervised the installation of child-proof locks on all liquor cabinets and cleaning supplies cupboards throughout the White House and even tested them by watching the president try to open them.<br />
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The only damage done to the president was some scrapes on his face from his fall that were not explained to the public at the time.<br />
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"If we had told people what had happened, the president's life would have been at risk every time we traveled, simply by terrorists disabling child-proof locks on cleaning supplies. The public's right to know was outweighed by the president's safety.Professor Smartasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10423875319936428893noreply@blogger.com0