Skip to content

What is wrong with the Senate…

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

So today Senator Edward “Teddy” Kennedy’s senate seat was won in a special election by a pickup driving, health care reform hating, centerfold modeling, tax cuts for the rich loving, Republican, and listening to all the complaining by progressives about how this is the end of any hope we had of rolling back the damage “W” had done in his 8 years, and how there is no way to fix health care properly now, and how we’ll never get back to a progressive tax system, and how the sun won’t rise tomorrow…. Read On…

Filed in America, Politics | | Comments (0)

May The Echo Of The Lion’s Roar Prompt Action

Saturday, August 29, 2009

This week we mourn the passing of the Senate’s Liberal Lion, the senior Senator from Massachusetts, Senator Edward Kennedy, or as most of us (meaning New England Progressives) “Teddy”. Even though I never met the man personally, I always recall my family referring to him as “Teddy” and as an adult so have I always just called him “Teddy”. I could go on about his accomplishments, or about how his views reflected and influenced my own, or even about how sorely missed he will be, but I won’t. At least not right now, it hurts a little too much to think about how we won’t see him in the Senate anymore, or pics of him with his dogs on his boat.

Instead, I want to express my hope that his passing may prompt some Democrats into coming back to the fold and fight for a Public option (President Obama this means you) Read On…

Filed in America, Politics | | Comments (0)

Human Life Is Worth $20 To Corporate America

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Ah dear reader, so in case you still don’t believe me about the state of our country and our little known servitude to the machine of corporate America and the wealthy, here is a story where even the Government holds a second tier status to a vast Corporate Giant. Now, before you say, well, yeah the Government shouldn’t be in a superior position to anyone, our rights are more important. This was about the public welfare and the search for a distressed man.

According to The Times-Reporter on May 20, 2009 Ohio’s Carroll County sheriff organized a search party for a 62-year-old Carrollton area man man after deputies responded to a domestic call Wednesday at 2:21 p.m. The sheriff said the caller said the man was destroying the house and breaking windows and other items. But when deputies arrived they were told the man had fled and had taken several bottles of pills. So the sheriff’s department initiated an intense search overnight by Carroll County sheriff deputies, an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper and the patrol’s airplane. Two K-9 units, several fire departments and 100 individuals on foot also were involved in the search for the man. Sheriff Sgt. Ron Clapper and firefighters found the man about 1 a.m. the morning of May 21st after 11 hours of searching.

Now, you may be saying at this point, “So what? It’s terrible that some man in Ohio had a bit of a breakdown, but what does this have to do with the Tyranny of American Greed?” Read On…

Filed in America, Corporate Feudalism, Politics, The World | | Comments (0)

You Know If They Could Get Away With Putting Nicotine In Macaroni & Cheese They Would

Monday, May 18, 2009

For those of you who only think I rant about financial issues, I have an excellent example of how we are all just slave to the elite and the corporations. Dr. David Kessler, a renowned scientist and former FDA director, set out some seven years ago to figure out the reasons behind the obesity crisis besetting the nation and what he found is laid out in his new book, The End of Overeating. He puts fourth the theory of "Hypereating". Hypereating is eating that is excessive, out of control and has nothing to do with satisfying hunger. You wouldn’t give your child a cigarette, or a shot of whiskey, or a snort of cocaine, but every day millions of American parents are giving thier children something almost as addictive—meals laden with sugar, salt and fat. And this is priming them for a lifetime of “conditioned hypereating.”

Corporate America, the modern version of the Feudal Lord, has found another way to get us to spend what we don’t have and buy what we don’t need. It turns out that our national weight gain is not, contrary to popular belief, because we are far less active. Studies have found little difference in the average energy expended now compared to the 1950s. Read On…

Filed in America, Corporate Feudalism | | Comments (0)

The United States of Banking and Serfdom

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Ahhhh, smell that, it is the smell of destroyed dreams in the morning.  For those of you who thought my post on April 2, “This Country Needs An Enema”, was overwrought, pedantic, unrealistic, Utopian….  (umm, let me see what else did I hear, oh yeah, I forgot there were those of you who said “On the mark”, correct, the truth, a sad fact….  well you get the point) here is another post that ought to generate some emails.

So at the end of April we got a huge neon sign of a message explaining who OWNS this country.  A country “of the people, by the people, for the people” my ass… it’s a country of “the Rich”, by “the Rich”, for “the rich”.  And don’t start, I am not criticizing Lincoln , he is one of the very few true Americans ever!  And one of my personal heroes. So the neon sign of which I speak is the defeat of the measure that would have allowed judges to modify primary mortgages for borrowers in bankruptcy court by the Banking industry and it’s minions in the Senate (mostly Republicans, but with 12 Democrats sprinkled in for good measure).  Read On…

Filed in America, Corporate Feudalism, Politics | | Comments (1)

Can The Two Party System Survive?

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

And maybe more importantly, should it? We all know the story of how Washington was the only U.S. President that was not formally affiliated with a political party and that he warned in his farewell address that political parties are the most dangerous thing to democracy (I am paraphrasing).  And it is not just unlikely, but, virtually impossible, that the party system will ever be removed from politics.  Let’s face it, Washington was a dreamer if he thought anything larger than a city council could operate without parties.  But, perhaps, just perhaps, there might be an opportunity for more than just the traditional two parties.  Maybe. Read On…

Filed in America, Politics | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Connecticut State Senate Passes Machine Gun Ban For Children Under 16

Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Connecticut State Senate just passed a ban on machine guns for kids under 16 years of age. The bill now moves to the House of Representatives, where it is expected to pass according to  MSNBC .

Ummm, are we kidding?  What kind of a society would let children under 16 handle any types of guns?   I mean seriously.  And this is Connecticut, not Podunk, USA.  It’s Connecticut, you know the state sandwiched between Boston and NYC.

"For a young person, a minor, to handle an automatic weapon … it’s like saying that it’s OK to pick up a rattlesnake and that it is somehow going to be safe," said Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn. "It’s not going to be safe and it should not be legal and I would think that a lot of folks would be shocked that there was not a law." Yes Mr. StateTheObvious, color me SHOCKED.  But, really, I have to say it again, why just "automatic weapons"?

Now, I don’t want to hear from another person who says "where I come from there is a long history of gun ownership"…  blah, blah, blah.  Well, so do I.  I come from New England, you know, where the Minute Men started (and I mean the real Minute Men, not the right wing whack jobs that "patrol" the border).  Read On…

Filed in America, Politics | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Live Dogs Used as Shark Bait

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Just when I think humanity has sunk as low as it can possibly go, I get a stinging, shocking, reminder that we have further that we can sink.  This article in National Geographic, which admittedly is a few years old, was the latest thing to re-awaken me to how violent, sick, and depraved the human race can truly be.  The article, and there were several other articles from around the world as well, states that some fishermen on the French-controlled island of Réunion us both live and dead dogs and cats as bait for catching sharks. Read On…

Filed in The World | | Comments (0)

Forget Detroit, The New Automotive Leadership Is In Anderson, Indiana

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Bright Automotive in Anderson, Indiana today unveiled a 100-mpg delivery van called the IDEA.  Forget Detroit and their half-assed hybrid SUVs that get barely better gas mileage than the gas powered version.  Innovation in this field is going to come from small start-ups in this country and others.  Kudos to the Energy Department for offering significant grants towards the goal of super high efficiency vehicles, Bright Automotive has applied for a grant of $450 million to begin production.  They plan to start filling orders by 2013.

When I was a teen I was a car nut, just like so many of my friends, Read On…

Filed in America | | Comments (0)

Torture? What Should We Be Willing To Do To Save Lives?

Sunday, April 19, 2009

So on Fox News Sunday Michael Hayden, President Bush’s last CIA director from 2006 to 2009, said releasing the memos outlining terror interrogation methods emboldened terrorist groups such as al Qaeda.   Well, there are a few issues I have with Mr. Hayden.   First off, I am not a big fan of "Blind Loyalty", but, I am even less of a fan of "Blind DISloyalty".  As a very high level appointee, albeit not a Cabinet position, of the former President it is unseemly for him to be so blatently spreading this fear mongering bile in an attempt to smear President Obama and make his and his former bosses’ illegal acts appear critical in preventing some catastrophe.  However, it certainly isn’t surprising considering the way the former VP has been behaving in his first 100 days since leaving office.   That said, let’s actually look at his "logic".

First let’s look at the Emergency Case situation, also often referred to as the "Ticking Timebomb" scenario.  I think you know what I mean, “Suppose a bomb has been planted somewhere where it will kill many people if it goes off. Suppose we have the bomber in custody, the bomber refuses to say where the bomb is. We have no other way of either locating the bomb or safely removing people from the vicinity of the bomb.  Should we torture the bomber to locate the bomb?"  Read On…

Filed in America, Politics | Tagged , , | Comments (0)