I just came across Colin Powell's words in endorsing Barach Obama for President, over John McCain:
"... I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to [say] such things as, 'Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.' Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, 'He's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists.' This is not the way we should be doing it in America."
9.02.2010
A VISIT TO THE VET
Dr. Joe said dat my eyes wooked good; so he just gave me some ointment dat my momma has to put on my eyeballs free times a day. Ick! But (cute!), it doesn't hurt or anyfing, so it's Okey dokey.
My brudder got checked, and he waded 22.5 pounds. Dr. Joe said now dat he is fixed (?), he will gain some wate. I's hoping he won't gain so much to look fat like my brudder Mo. Hahahahaha!
When we gots home, we all had to get our flea stuff and heartworm fingys. Dr. Joe said dis bees da worst time of the year for fleas!!!
WHAT'S WORSE THAN A MUSLIM?
Via: Badtux, the Snarky Penguin:
"Ann Coulter today opened his (her?) gaping maw and ejaculated that Obama was not, in fact, a Muslim. Rather, he was something worse, something so horrifying that ordinary Americans should run screaming in horror at the very sight of the man. Yes, Obama may be... maybe... AN ATHEIST! The horror! Oh the horror!
"Why, everybody knows that atheists are so horrible and evil that, like, they burn people at the stake or cut off their heads or other stuff like that! And everybody knows that atheists are such despicable people that they regularly bomb abortion clinics, blow up truck bombs outside of federal buildings, and crash planes into buildings. Surely atheist clergy have been regularly arrested for fucking little kids up every orifice, stealing money from their congregations, and shouting "God damn America!" at the top of their lungs from the pulpit, right? Right?!"
"Ann Coulter today opened his (her?) gaping maw and ejaculated that Obama was not, in fact, a Muslim. Rather, he was something worse, something so horrifying that ordinary Americans should run screaming in horror at the very sight of the man. Yes, Obama may be... maybe... AN ATHEIST! The horror! Oh the horror!
"Why, everybody knows that atheists are so horrible and evil that, like, they burn people at the stake or cut off their heads or other stuff like that! And everybody knows that atheists are such despicable people that they regularly bomb abortion clinics, blow up truck bombs outside of federal buildings, and crash planes into buildings. Surely atheist clergy have been regularly arrested for fucking little kids up every orifice, stealing money from their congregations, and shouting "God damn America!" at the top of their lungs from the pulpit, right? Right?!"
8.30.2010
WHY A CIVIL SOCIETY EXTENDS UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS
By Robert Reich:
"I have the questionable distinction of appearing on Larry Kudlow’s CNBC program several times a week, arguing with people whose positions under normal circumstances would get no serious attention, and defending policies I would have thought so clearly and obviously defensible they should need no justification. But we are living through strange times. The economy is so bad that the social fabric is coming undone, and what used to be merely weird economic theories have become debatable public policies.
"Tonight it was Harvard Professor Robert Barro, who opined in today’s Wall Street Journal that America’s high rate of long-term unemployment is the consequence rather than the cause of today’s extended unemployment insurance benefits.
"In theory, Barro is correct. If people who lose their jobs receive generous unemployment benefits they might stay unemployed longer than if they got nothing. But that’s hardly a reason to jettison unemployment benefits or turn our backs on millions of Americans who through no fault of their own remain jobless in the worst economy since the Great Depression.
"Yet moral hazard lurks in every conservative brain. It’s also true that if we got rid of lifeguards and let more swimmers drown, fewer people would venture into the water. And if we got rid of fire departments and more houses burnt to the ground, fewer people would use stoves. A civil society is not based on the principle of tough love.
"In point of fact, most states provide unemployment benefits that are only a fraction of the wages and benefits people lost when their jobs disappeared. Indeed, fewer than 40 percent of the unemployed in most states are even eligible for benefits, because states require applicants have been in full-time jobs for at least three to five years. This often rules out a majority of those who are jobless – because they’ve moved from job to job, or have held a number of part-time jobs.
"So it’s hard to make the case that many of the unemployed have chosen to remain jobless and collect unemployment benefits rather than work.
"Anyone who bothered to step into the real world would see the absurdity of Barro’s position. Right now, there are roughly five applicants for every job opening in America. If the job requires relatively few skills, hundreds of applicants line up for it. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says 15 percent of people without college degrees are jobless today; that’s not counting large numbers too discouraged even to look for work.
"Barro argues the rate of unemployment in this Great Jobs Recession is comparable to what it was in the 1981-82 recession, but the rate of long-term unemployed is nowhere as high. He concludes this is because unemployment benefits didn’t last nearly as long in 1981 and 82 as it they do now.
"He fails to see – or disclose – that the 81-82 recession was far more benign than this one, and over far sooner. It was caused by Paul Volcker and the Fed yanking up interest rates to break the back of inflation – and overshooting. When they pulled interest rates down again, the economy shot back to life.
"The Great Jobs Recession is far more severe. It’s continuing far longer. It was caused by the bursting of a giant housing bubble, abetted by the excesses of Wall Street. Home values are still 20 to 30 percent below where they were in 1997. The Fed is powerless because consumers cannot and will not buy enough to bring the economy back to life.
"A record number of Americans is unemployed for a record length of time. This is a national tragedy. It is to the nation’s credit that many are receiving unemployment benefits. This is good not only for them and their families but also for the economy as a whole, because it allows them to spend and thereby keep others in jobs. That a noted professor would argue against this is obscene."
"I have the questionable distinction of appearing on Larry Kudlow’s CNBC program several times a week, arguing with people whose positions under normal circumstances would get no serious attention, and defending policies I would have thought so clearly and obviously defensible they should need no justification. But we are living through strange times. The economy is so bad that the social fabric is coming undone, and what used to be merely weird economic theories have become debatable public policies.
"Tonight it was Harvard Professor Robert Barro, who opined in today’s Wall Street Journal that America’s high rate of long-term unemployment is the consequence rather than the cause of today’s extended unemployment insurance benefits.
"In theory, Barro is correct. If people who lose their jobs receive generous unemployment benefits they might stay unemployed longer than if they got nothing. But that’s hardly a reason to jettison unemployment benefits or turn our backs on millions of Americans who through no fault of their own remain jobless in the worst economy since the Great Depression.
"Yet moral hazard lurks in every conservative brain. It’s also true that if we got rid of lifeguards and let more swimmers drown, fewer people would venture into the water. And if we got rid of fire departments and more houses burnt to the ground, fewer people would use stoves. A civil society is not based on the principle of tough love.
"In point of fact, most states provide unemployment benefits that are only a fraction of the wages and benefits people lost when their jobs disappeared. Indeed, fewer than 40 percent of the unemployed in most states are even eligible for benefits, because states require applicants have been in full-time jobs for at least three to five years. This often rules out a majority of those who are jobless – because they’ve moved from job to job, or have held a number of part-time jobs.
"So it’s hard to make the case that many of the unemployed have chosen to remain jobless and collect unemployment benefits rather than work.
"Anyone who bothered to step into the real world would see the absurdity of Barro’s position. Right now, there are roughly five applicants for every job opening in America. If the job requires relatively few skills, hundreds of applicants line up for it. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says 15 percent of people without college degrees are jobless today; that’s not counting large numbers too discouraged even to look for work.
"Barro argues the rate of unemployment in this Great Jobs Recession is comparable to what it was in the 1981-82 recession, but the rate of long-term unemployed is nowhere as high. He concludes this is because unemployment benefits didn’t last nearly as long in 1981 and 82 as it they do now.
"He fails to see – or disclose – that the 81-82 recession was far more benign than this one, and over far sooner. It was caused by Paul Volcker and the Fed yanking up interest rates to break the back of inflation – and overshooting. When they pulled interest rates down again, the economy shot back to life.
"The Great Jobs Recession is far more severe. It’s continuing far longer. It was caused by the bursting of a giant housing bubble, abetted by the excesses of Wall Street. Home values are still 20 to 30 percent below where they were in 1997. The Fed is powerless because consumers cannot and will not buy enough to bring the economy back to life.
"A record number of Americans is unemployed for a record length of time. This is a national tragedy. It is to the nation’s credit that many are receiving unemployment benefits. This is good not only for them and their families but also for the economy as a whole, because it allows them to spend and thereby keep others in jobs. That a noted professor would argue against this is obscene."
8.28.2010
WELCOME GIZMO!
Gizmo appears to be a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. He is approximately 2 years old, but is petite for that age. He came from Stray Rescue of St. Louis (see previous post).
Stray Rescue found him standing alone in the middle of a street. They took him in and found that he had a terrible rash under his soft red coat; and the veterinarian exam found that he had heart worms too.
They shaved his fur and treated the rash with antibiotics; and then he underwent a six-week treatment for heart worms.
Through all this trauma, Giz has retained a zest for life! He loves to play with his tennis balls and stuffed toys - especially those that squeak alot!
Because he is such a charmer, the other dogs have welcomed Giz with open paws. Zorro and Livvy have even tried to play ball with him.
8.25.2010
STRAY RESCUE OF ST. LOUIS
ZZtopdog notes: The photo at left shows Daddog, before and after.
The founder of Stray Rescue, Randy Grim, tells the amazing story of starting this humane effort:
In 1990 I learned the fine art of cutting dog hair. It's not something I really wanted to do, but I thought it would at least point me in the direction of my dream of working with animals. I'd see stray dogs - some in packs - pass by the Lafayette Square grooming shop where I worked. In an effort to get them off the streets, I'd make the normal calls to the local shelters and government agencies, only to find out that these dogs simply are out of luck. I started to think of ways to catch them, and before long I invented some wacky capture methods. I also enlisted friends to help save these poor guys. Each year, this makeshift organization grew as I overloaded everyone I knew with a stray dog.
Stray Rescue officially was born in 1998 as a full-fledged non-profit organization and shelter. I still have no idea how I did it, except that I had no choice. Stray Rescue has received numerous accolades from the American Red Cross and also has received national media attention from Animal Planet, National Geographic, the Weather Channel and Forbes Magazine. Now with Quentin on board, his story has been featured in People Magazine and on It's a Miracle television show. In the National Geographic feature, Mary Ann Mott wrote: "In St. Louis, Randy Grim, founder of Stray Rescue, is out on the streets every day feeding 50 or more mutts. If these wild dogs don't die of sheer starvation, he said, diseases such as parvovirus, heartworm, or intestinal parasites usually kill them. Their average life span is one to two years. Many of the animals he sees were once "bait dogs" - smaller, passive animals used to train fighting dogs. Great Dane puppies are commonly used, he said, and wire is twisted around their legs to hold them down, so they can't run while being mauled during training sessions. "If they live, they are just discarded onto the streets," said Grim. The animals are recognizable by their missing limbs, and scars from the brutal attacks. Since starting in 1991, I am credited with saving 5,000 feral dogs, all of which - through months of gentle, loving care - have been turned into house pets and adopted by new families. Some have even gone on to become therapy animals, bringing joy to people in hospitals and nursing homes." Animal Planet's "Wild Rescues" television show featured Stray Rescue in action, saving dogs and cats from abuse and neglect from a dilapidated abandoned puppy mill in Cuba, Mo. More than 17 lives were saved, but the woman responsible never was prosecuted. Since 1998, more than 45 households have participated in the Stray Rescue foster family network. These generous people take in sickly, traumatized animals and, with time and the support of professional animal trainers and behaviorists, give back healthy, loving companions ready for adoption. Stray Rescue's foster network is the largest and most effective program of its kind in the St. Louis area. Stray Rescue has made a significant impact and become a voice for stray animals everywhere. With fabulous volunteers, veterinarians, trainers, behaviorists, shelters and programs, I continue to be amazed at how this organization has evolved. But there is so much more work to do because these poor animals continue to suffer. Some days it feels as if I'm fighting a never-ending battle, but it's a battle that I must wage - for their sake.
8.23.2010
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR SON!
How did this happen? Greg was just starting kindergarten himself, and now his daughter is? Where did all the time go?
8.22.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"Isn't it a violation of the Georgia sodomy law for the Supreme Court to have its head up its ass?"
~Letter to Playboy magazine, February 1987
~Letter to Playboy magazine, February 1987
THE SECOND "I DON'T WANT TO COUNSEL GAYS" LAWSUIT STRUCK DOWN
Via: Pam's House Blend:
Augusta State University's requirement that a graduate student read material about counseling gays and increase her exposure to that community after she objected to counseling homosexual clients was "academically legitimate," a federal court judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Randal Hall's decision enables university officials to expel Jennifer Keeton if she does not follow the remediation plan, which professors designed to "address issues of multicultural competence and develop understanding and empathy."
Hall said the case is not about "pitting Christianity against homosexuality," but rather the constitutionality of the school's requirement.
This denunciation comes at the heels of another case in which a student claimed that she was "forced" to choose between her religious beliefs and her vocation. Last month, the courts ruled against Julea Ward, a student at Eastern Michigan University who claimed that she was removed from the school's counseling program because of her strong religious views against homosexuality.
Augusta State University's requirement that a graduate student read material about counseling gays and increase her exposure to that community after she objected to counseling homosexual clients was "academically legitimate," a federal court judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Randal Hall's decision enables university officials to expel Jennifer Keeton if she does not follow the remediation plan, which professors designed to "address issues of multicultural competence and develop understanding and empathy."
Hall said the case is not about "pitting Christianity against homosexuality," but rather the constitutionality of the school's requirement.
This denunciation comes at the heels of another case in which a student claimed that she was "forced" to choose between her religious beliefs and her vocation. Last month, the courts ruled against Julea Ward, a student at Eastern Michigan University who claimed that she was removed from the school's counseling program because of her strong religious views against homosexuality.
8.20.2010
THE GREAT RIVER TRAIL
The paved bike/walk path runs along the east bank of the Mississippi River. The south end of the 60-mile trail is located in George Skafidas Parkway, near Sunset Marina, in Rock Island, IL. The path runs through the park and along the river, through downtown Rock Island, and in to Moline, where the trail is part of the Ben Butterworth Parkway. The path continues north through Rock Island, Whiteside , and Carroll Counties.
Each community along the trail offers an invitation to pause for a moment on the route, to explore the diversity that each community respresents.
The Great River Trail is part of a larger regional trail network, including the 500-mile Grand Illinois Trail and proposed 10-state Mississippi River Trail. There are plans to connect the Great River Trail to the nearby Hennepin Canal Parkway.
8.19.2010
THE GIVING PLEDGE
Via Investopedia:
"The Giving Pledge is the brainchild of billionaire businessmen Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. The two of them have teamed up to ask the world's wealthiest people to donate at least 50% of their fortunes to charities. They believe that the richest people in the world can eradicate many of the world's problems through philanthropy. The pledge is not a binding contract but more of a "moral commitment". Individuals are free to donate money to whatever cause they would like. So, far about 40 billionaires have accepted the giving pledge challenge. That's not a large number when you consider that there are nearly 1,000 billionaires in the world, according to Forbes....
"Bill Gates and Warren Buffett should be commended for coming up with the giving pledge idea. They have convinced 40 of the world's wealthiest individuals and families to give back to society. If they want to convince the other 900 or so billionaires however, they have a whole lot more schmoozing to do."
"The Giving Pledge is the brainchild of billionaire businessmen Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. The two of them have teamed up to ask the world's wealthiest people to donate at least 50% of their fortunes to charities. They believe that the richest people in the world can eradicate many of the world's problems through philanthropy. The pledge is not a binding contract but more of a "moral commitment". Individuals are free to donate money to whatever cause they would like. So, far about 40 billionaires have accepted the giving pledge challenge. That's not a large number when you consider that there are nearly 1,000 billionaires in the world, according to Forbes....
"Bill Gates and Warren Buffett should be commended for coming up with the giving pledge idea. They have convinced 40 of the world's wealthiest individuals and families to give back to society. If they want to convince the other 900 or so billionaires however, they have a whole lot more schmoozing to do."
ONE IN FIVE AMERICANS THINKS OBAMA IS A MUSLIM
Via: Alam Colmes Presesnts Liberalland
"Believe it or not, this is not a joke.
"The Washington Post reports on a new Pew Research Center survey.
"The number of Americans who believe — wrongly — that President Obama is a Muslim has increased significantly since his inauguration and now account for nearly 20 percent of the nation’s population… The number of people who now correctly identify Obama as a Christian has dropped to 34 percent, down from nearly half when he took office.
"Perhaps not surprisingly, right-wingers are the most likely to believe false information about the president’s faith.
"More than a third of conservative Republicans now say Obama is a Muslim, nearly double the percentage saying so early last year."
Zztopdog notes: This is a sad commentary on the intelligence level of the US population.
"Believe it or not, this is not a joke.
"The Washington Post reports on a new Pew Research Center survey.
"The number of Americans who believe — wrongly — that President Obama is a Muslim has increased significantly since his inauguration and now account for nearly 20 percent of the nation’s population… The number of people who now correctly identify Obama as a Christian has dropped to 34 percent, down from nearly half when he took office.
"Perhaps not surprisingly, right-wingers are the most likely to believe false information about the president’s faith.
"More than a third of conservative Republicans now say Obama is a Muslim, nearly double the percentage saying so early last year."
Zztopdog notes: This is a sad commentary on the intelligence level of the US population.
8.17.2010
8.14.2010
LIBERAL GROUPS PUSH TO EXPLOIT TARGET BACKLASH
From the AP:
"Protesters have been rallying outside Target Corp. or its stores almost daily since the retailer angered gay rights supporters and progressives by giving money to help a conservative Republican gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota. Liberal groups are pushing to make an example of the company, hoping its woes will deter other businesses from putting their corporate funds into elections.
"A national gay rights group is negotiating with Target officials, demanding that the firm balance the scale by making comparable donations to benefit candidates it favors. Meanwhile, the controversy is threatening to complicate Target's business plans in other urban markets. Several city officials in San Francisco, one of the cities where Target hopes to expand, have begun criticizing the company.
" 'Target is receiving criticism and frustration from their customers because they are doing something wrong, and that should serve absolutely as an example for other companies,' said Ilyse Hogue, director of political advocacy for the liberal group MoveOn.org, which is pressing Target to formally renounce involvement in election campaigns.
"The Minneapolis-based chain has gone from defending the donation as a business decision to apologizing and saying it would carefully review its future giving. But the protests have continued."
Zztopdog notes: Target has consistantly stated that it is a diversity-friendly employer, a gay-friendly employer. This contribution flies in the face of that stated corporate policy. That's the problem.
"Protesters have been rallying outside Target Corp. or its stores almost daily since the retailer angered gay rights supporters and progressives by giving money to help a conservative Republican gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota. Liberal groups are pushing to make an example of the company, hoping its woes will deter other businesses from putting their corporate funds into elections.
"A national gay rights group is negotiating with Target officials, demanding that the firm balance the scale by making comparable donations to benefit candidates it favors. Meanwhile, the controversy is threatening to complicate Target's business plans in other urban markets. Several city officials in San Francisco, one of the cities where Target hopes to expand, have begun criticizing the company.
" 'Target is receiving criticism and frustration from their customers because they are doing something wrong, and that should serve absolutely as an example for other companies,' said Ilyse Hogue, director of political advocacy for the liberal group MoveOn.org, which is pressing Target to formally renounce involvement in election campaigns.
"The Minneapolis-based chain has gone from defending the donation as a business decision to apologizing and saying it would carefully review its future giving. But the protests have continued."
Zztopdog notes: Target has consistantly stated that it is a diversity-friendly employer, a gay-friendly employer. This contribution flies in the face of that stated corporate policy. That's the problem.
8.11.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"Healing rain is a real touch from God. It could be physical healing or emotional or whatever."
~~MICAHEL
~~MICAHEL
8.04.2010
INCONTINENCE IS REARING ITS UGLY HEAD
Zorro has been having little leaks occaisionally. These often occur when he is barking about something -- wanting breakfast, wanting to go outside, etc. Today, he has had four accidents already, and it is only 10:00 am.
Incontinence is part of the pattern for what we suspect is Degenerative Myelopathy (or DM), a non-treatable, non-reversable disease that attacks the sheath surrounding the spinal cord in long-backed dogs. It is a sign that the disease is progressing upward, although Zorro still has some use of his rear right leg.
The first sign was the turning under of his rear left paw, which eventually became totally useless. His right rear paw is still able to help him scoot around as he drags his left.
I have added "doggie diapers" to my shopping list....
Incontinence is part of the pattern for what we suspect is Degenerative Myelopathy (or DM), a non-treatable, non-reversable disease that attacks the sheath surrounding the spinal cord in long-backed dogs. It is a sign that the disease is progressing upward, although Zorro still has some use of his rear right leg.
The first sign was the turning under of his rear left paw, which eventually became totally useless. His right rear paw is still able to help him scoot around as he drags his left.
I have added "doggie diapers" to my shopping list....
8.02.2010
THE CART IS READY, BUT IS ZORRO?
The cart was nearly completely put together when it arrived. When I finally sat down with the instructions, and laid out the remaining parts, it all made sense.
The cart is really an amazing little feat of engineering and design. The length and height can be adjusted to a certain extent. The piece that fits over the shoulders, to contain the corgi, lifts up to allow easy access.
Zorro needs to be in the cart in order to determine the necessary adjustments. So far, though, he isn't having any part of it.
Tomorrow, we'll see what food and treats will do to change his stuborn Corgi mind!
The cart is really an amazing little feat of engineering and design. The length and height can be adjusted to a certain extent. The piece that fits over the shoulders, to contain the corgi, lifts up to allow easy access.
Zorro needs to be in the cart in order to determine the necessary adjustments. So far, though, he isn't having any part of it.
Tomorrow, we'll see what food and treats will do to change his stuborn Corgi mind!
7.29.2010
THE CART HAS ARRIVED!
Zorro's cart arrived today, via FedEx. The body of the cart is assembled, but the wheels and some other part (not sure yet what it is) need to be attached. The nuts/bolts are included; but there are no instructions. Not even a good picture or diagram. Just a small picture of a corgi in a cart on the CorgiAid brochure.
From reading the posts on the WheelCorgis Yahoo Group, all carts are not the same.
This should be interesting!
From reading the posts on the WheelCorgis Yahoo Group, all carts are not the same.
This should be interesting!
7.21.2010
ZORRO HAS BEEN APPROVED FOR A CART
We recently sent an application to CorgiAid, requesting a cart for Zorro, We have heard that he has been approved for a loaner cart, and that they have one that should fit him quite well. We sent a check and the contract, and have now received a copy of the completed contract - which means we should be receiving the cart soon. He is very excited! He is so looking forward to walking up the street with the other kids.
Below is a photo of corgis using cart for mobility....
Below is a photo of corgis using cart for mobility....
7.20.2010
IT'S TIME FOR WHITE PEOPLE TO TAKE A STAND
Via: Alan Colmes' Liberaland:
Ryan Murdough, a Republican candidate for State House in New Hampshire, says he “stands for the interest of white Americans.”
Ryan Murdough, a Republican candidate for State House in New Hampshire, says he “stands for the interest of white Americans.”
For far too long white Americans have been told that diversity is something beneficial to their existence. Statistics prove that the opposite is true. New Hampshire residents must seek to preserve their racial identity if we want future generations to have to possibility to live in such a great state. Affirmative action, illegal and legal non-white immigration, anti-white public school systems, and an anti-white media have done much damage to the United States of America and especially New Hampshire. It is time for white people in New Hampshire and across the country to take a stand. We are only 8 percent of the world’s population and we need our own homeland, just like any other non-white group of people deserve their own homeland.Murdough is running as a Republican, only because it’s easier to get on the ballot that way, but has been disowned by the Republican Party. However, he says “the tea party movement is doing great things.”
7.18.2010
7.17.2010
7.15.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"I think it's time we started putting the health of our families before the profits of our insurance companies."
~~Barack Obama, October 5, 2008
~~Barack Obama, October 5, 2008
7.13.2010
BEET SALAD
From Martha Rose Schulman, for The New York Times:
People who swear they hate beets love this salad. It’s a North African-inspired mixture of grated, uncooked beets dressed with orange and lemon juices and a small amount of olive oil. It makes a great starter when you’re serving something robust as a main course, like a couscous.
1/2 pound beets
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon minced chives, mint or parsley (or a combination)
Salt to taste
Leaves of 1 romaine heart
1. Peel the beets with a vegetable peeler, and grate in a food processor fitted with the shredding blade.
2. Combine the orange juice, lemon juice and olive oil. Toss with the beets and herbs. Season to taste with salt. Line a salad bowl or platter with romaine lettuce leaves, top with the grated beets and serve.
Yield: Serves four.
Advance preparation: The grated beets can be dressed and kept in the refrigerator, covered well, for a couple of days. They become more tender but don’t lose their texture, and the mixture becomes even sweeter as the beet juices mingle with the citrus. Toss again before serving.
Nutritional information per serving: 58 calories; 3 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 6 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 32 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during cooking); 1 gram protein
People who swear they hate beets love this salad. It’s a North African-inspired mixture of grated, uncooked beets dressed with orange and lemon juices and a small amount of olive oil. It makes a great starter when you’re serving something robust as a main course, like a couscous.
1/2 pound beets
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon minced chives, mint or parsley (or a combination)
Salt to taste
Leaves of 1 romaine heart
1. Peel the beets with a vegetable peeler, and grate in a food processor fitted with the shredding blade.
2. Combine the orange juice, lemon juice and olive oil. Toss with the beets and herbs. Season to taste with salt. Line a salad bowl or platter with romaine lettuce leaves, top with the grated beets and serve.
Yield: Serves four.
Advance preparation: The grated beets can be dressed and kept in the refrigerator, covered well, for a couple of days. They become more tender but don’t lose their texture, and the mixture becomes even sweeter as the beet juices mingle with the citrus. Toss again before serving.
Nutritional information per serving: 58 calories; 3 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 6 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 32 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during cooking); 1 gram protein
THE FECKLESS FED
By Paul Krugman (my hero!):
"Back in 2002, a professor turned Federal Reserve official by the name of Ben Bernanke gave a widely quoted speech titled “Deflation: Making Sure ‘It’ Doesn’t Happen Here.” Like other economists, myself included, Mr. Bernanke was deeply disturbed by Japan’s stubborn, seemingly incurable deflation, which in turn was “associated with years of painfully slow growth, rising joblessness, and apparently intractable financial problems.” This sort of thing wasn’t supposed to happen to an advanced nation with sophisticated policy makers. Could something similar happen to the United States?
"Not to worry, said Mr. Bernanke: the Fed had the tools required to head off an American version of the Japan syndrome, and it would use them if necessary.
"Today, Mr. Bernanke is the Fed’s chairman — and his 2002 speech reads like famous last words. We aren’t literally suffering deflation (yet). But inflation is far below the Fed’s preferred rate of 1.7 to 2 percent, and trending steadily lower; it’s a good bet that by some measures we’ll be seeing deflation by sometime next year. Meanwhile, we already have painfully slow growth, very high joblessness, and intractable financial problems. And what is the Fed’s response? It’s debating — with ponderous slowness — whether maybe, possibly, it should consider trying to do something about the situation, one of these days.
"The Fed’s fecklessness is, to be sure, not unique. It has been astonishing and infuriating, as the economic crisis has unfolded, to watch America’s political class defining normalcy down. As recently as two years ago, anyone predicting the current state of affairs (not only is unemployment disastrously high, but most forecasts say that it will stay very high for years) would have been dismissed as a crazy alarmist. Now that the nightmare has become reality, however — and yes, it is a nightmare for millions of Americans — Washington seems to feel absolutely no sense of urgency. Are hopes being destroyed, small businesses being driven into bankruptcy, lives being blighted? Never mind, let’s talk about the evils of budget deficits.
"Still, one might have hoped that the Fed would be different. For one thing, the Fed, unlike the Obama administration, retains considerable freedom of action. It doesn’t need 60 votes in the Senate; the outer limits of its policies aren’t determined by the views of senators from Nebraska and Maine. Beyond that, the Fed was supposed to be intellectually prepared for this situation. Mr. Bernanke has thought long and hard about how to avoid a Japanese-style economic trap, and the Fed’s researchers have been obsessed for years with the same question.
"But here we are, visibly sliding toward deflation — and the Fed is standing pat.
"What should it be doing? Conventional monetary policy, in which the Fed drives down short-term interest rates by buying short-term U.S. government debt, has reached its limit: those short-term rates are already near zero, and can’t go significantly lower. (Investors won’t buy bonds that yield negative interest, since they can always hoard cash instead.) But the message of Mr. Bernanke’s 2002 speech was that there are other things the Fed can do. It can buy longer-term government debt. It can buy private-sector debt. It can try to move expectations by announcing that it will keep short-term rates low for a long time. It can raise its long-run inflation target, to help convince the private sector that borrowing is a good idea and hoarding cash a mistake.
"Nobody knows how well any one of these actions would work. The point, however, is that there are things the Fed could and should be doing, but isn’t. Why not?
"After all, Fed officials, like most observers, have a fairly grim view of the economy’s prospects. Not grim enough, in my view: Fed presidents, who make forecasts every time the committee that sets interest rates meets, aren’t taking the trend toward deflation sufficiently seriously. Nonetheless, even their projections show high unemployment and below-target inflation persisting at least through late 2012.
"So why not try to do something about it? The closest thing I’ve seen to an explanation is a recent speech by Kevin Warsh of the Fed’s Board of Governors, in which he declared that doing what Mr. Bernanke recommended back in 2002 risked undermining the Fed’s “institutional credibility.” But how, exactly, does it serve the Fed’s credibility when it fails to confront high unemployment, while consistently missing its own inflation targets? How credible is the Bank of Japan after presiding over 15 years of deflation?
"Whatever is going on, the Fed needs to rethink its priorities, fast. Mr. Bernanke’s “it” isn’t a hypothetical possibility, it’s on the verge of happening. And the Fed should be doing all it can to stop it."
"Back in 2002, a professor turned Federal Reserve official by the name of Ben Bernanke gave a widely quoted speech titled “Deflation: Making Sure ‘It’ Doesn’t Happen Here.” Like other economists, myself included, Mr. Bernanke was deeply disturbed by Japan’s stubborn, seemingly incurable deflation, which in turn was “associated with years of painfully slow growth, rising joblessness, and apparently intractable financial problems.” This sort of thing wasn’t supposed to happen to an advanced nation with sophisticated policy makers. Could something similar happen to the United States?
"Not to worry, said Mr. Bernanke: the Fed had the tools required to head off an American version of the Japan syndrome, and it would use them if necessary.
"Today, Mr. Bernanke is the Fed’s chairman — and his 2002 speech reads like famous last words. We aren’t literally suffering deflation (yet). But inflation is far below the Fed’s preferred rate of 1.7 to 2 percent, and trending steadily lower; it’s a good bet that by some measures we’ll be seeing deflation by sometime next year. Meanwhile, we already have painfully slow growth, very high joblessness, and intractable financial problems. And what is the Fed’s response? It’s debating — with ponderous slowness — whether maybe, possibly, it should consider trying to do something about the situation, one of these days.
"The Fed’s fecklessness is, to be sure, not unique. It has been astonishing and infuriating, as the economic crisis has unfolded, to watch America’s political class defining normalcy down. As recently as two years ago, anyone predicting the current state of affairs (not only is unemployment disastrously high, but most forecasts say that it will stay very high for years) would have been dismissed as a crazy alarmist. Now that the nightmare has become reality, however — and yes, it is a nightmare for millions of Americans — Washington seems to feel absolutely no sense of urgency. Are hopes being destroyed, small businesses being driven into bankruptcy, lives being blighted? Never mind, let’s talk about the evils of budget deficits.
"Still, one might have hoped that the Fed would be different. For one thing, the Fed, unlike the Obama administration, retains considerable freedom of action. It doesn’t need 60 votes in the Senate; the outer limits of its policies aren’t determined by the views of senators from Nebraska and Maine. Beyond that, the Fed was supposed to be intellectually prepared for this situation. Mr. Bernanke has thought long and hard about how to avoid a Japanese-style economic trap, and the Fed’s researchers have been obsessed for years with the same question.
"But here we are, visibly sliding toward deflation — and the Fed is standing pat.
"What should it be doing? Conventional monetary policy, in which the Fed drives down short-term interest rates by buying short-term U.S. government debt, has reached its limit: those short-term rates are already near zero, and can’t go significantly lower. (Investors won’t buy bonds that yield negative interest, since they can always hoard cash instead.) But the message of Mr. Bernanke’s 2002 speech was that there are other things the Fed can do. It can buy longer-term government debt. It can buy private-sector debt. It can try to move expectations by announcing that it will keep short-term rates low for a long time. It can raise its long-run inflation target, to help convince the private sector that borrowing is a good idea and hoarding cash a mistake.
"Nobody knows how well any one of these actions would work. The point, however, is that there are things the Fed could and should be doing, but isn’t. Why not?
"After all, Fed officials, like most observers, have a fairly grim view of the economy’s prospects. Not grim enough, in my view: Fed presidents, who make forecasts every time the committee that sets interest rates meets, aren’t taking the trend toward deflation sufficiently seriously. Nonetheless, even their projections show high unemployment and below-target inflation persisting at least through late 2012.
"So why not try to do something about it? The closest thing I’ve seen to an explanation is a recent speech by Kevin Warsh of the Fed’s Board of Governors, in which he declared that doing what Mr. Bernanke recommended back in 2002 risked undermining the Fed’s “institutional credibility.” But how, exactly, does it serve the Fed’s credibility when it fails to confront high unemployment, while consistently missing its own inflation targets? How credible is the Bank of Japan after presiding over 15 years of deflation?
"Whatever is going on, the Fed needs to rethink its priorities, fast. Mr. Bernanke’s “it” isn’t a hypothetical possibility, it’s on the verge of happening. And the Fed should be doing all it can to stop it."
7.12.2010
LIBERALS
Via: Simply Left Behind: The Non-rapturists Guide to the Galaxy
"Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things...every one! So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor." -- Matt Santos, The West Wing
"Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things...every one! So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor." -- Matt Santos, The West Wing
7.10.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"The most important lesson of American history is the promise of the unexpected. None of our ancestors would have imagined settling way over here on this unknown continent. So we must continue to have a society that is hospitable to the unexpected, which allows possibilities to develope beyond our imaginings."
~~Daniel J. Boorstin
Zztopdog notes: Take that, Teabag scum!
~~Daniel J. Boorstin
Zztopdog notes: Take that, Teabag scum!
7.08.2010
ECONOMIC MELTDOWN CAUSED BY OVERPAID WAITRESSES AND BARTENDERS
Via: Who Hijacked Our Country
Tom Emmer, Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota, wants to reduce the minimum wage for service workers who receive tips. He says some of these overpaid pampered bartenders and waiters make over $100,000 a year when their tips are included.
First Michele Bachmann, and now this dickwad. I thought Minnesota was a blue state. Where the fuck are all these inbreds coming from?
Meanwhile in California, tens of thousands of state employees are “temporarily” reduced to the minimum wage. I might be in favor of austerity measures like this, IF the higher-ups were willing to make a sacrifice themselves. I’ve gone over this linked article closely, but I can seem to find the part where Schwarzenegger and the California legislature are taking a pay cut. I’ll look again…
What do you call a highly paid elected official who thinks somebody else is making too much money? We all have plenty of names for people who are champing at the bit for America to go to war, as long as they themselves don't have to go — chicken hawks, keyboard warriors, the chairborne division, and a few less printable names.
So what do you call an elected official who gets a huge salary — courtesy of YOUR tax dollars — and wants somebody else to get a pay cut?
And speaking of overpaid legislators: Keep Congress in session this August. Yes I know, August is their chance to go home, put their ear to the ground, get back in touch with their constituents lobbyists, corporate donors; and go on those crucial fact-finding missions to Ibiza and Monte Carlo.
In this article, Robert Shrum says working through August would be a good campaign plan for the Democrats. They can highlight their differences with Republicans on, well, you name it.
As Robert Shrum says: “Keep Congress there in a drama that plays out on center stage — in front of the cameras — with the president calling a special session of Congress to deal with too-long delayed issues of urgent national necessity.”
Labels: bartenders waiters $100K a year, Michele Bachman, Robert Shrum, Tom Emmer
Tom Emmer, Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota, wants to reduce the minimum wage for service workers who receive tips. He says some of these overpaid pampered bartenders and waiters make over $100,000 a year when their tips are included.
First Michele Bachmann, and now this dickwad. I thought Minnesota was a blue state. Where the fuck are all these inbreds coming from?
Meanwhile in California, tens of thousands of state employees are “temporarily” reduced to the minimum wage. I might be in favor of austerity measures like this, IF the higher-ups were willing to make a sacrifice themselves. I’ve gone over this linked article closely, but I can seem to find the part where Schwarzenegger and the California legislature are taking a pay cut. I’ll look again…
What do you call a highly paid elected official who thinks somebody else is making too much money? We all have plenty of names for people who are champing at the bit for America to go to war, as long as they themselves don't have to go — chicken hawks, keyboard warriors, the chairborne division, and a few less printable names.
So what do you call an elected official who gets a huge salary — courtesy of YOUR tax dollars — and wants somebody else to get a pay cut?
And speaking of overpaid legislators: Keep Congress in session this August. Yes I know, August is their chance to go home, put their ear to the ground, get back in touch with their constituents lobbyists, corporate donors; and go on those crucial fact-finding missions to Ibiza and Monte Carlo.
In this article, Robert Shrum says working through August would be a good campaign plan for the Democrats. They can highlight their differences with Republicans on, well, you name it.
As Robert Shrum says: “Keep Congress there in a drama that plays out on center stage — in front of the cameras — with the president calling a special session of Congress to deal with too-long delayed issues of urgent national necessity.”
Labels: bartenders waiters $100K a year, Michele Bachman, Robert Shrum, Tom Emmer
WHO KNEW???
Maria asked me to pick up a new crossword puzzle book. I didn't really want to spend $15-20; so I found a cool, less-expensive book from TCM - "Classic Movie Crossword Puzzles."
Hmmm! Turns out that she doesn't know (or care) squat about Classic Movies.
I guess I'll have to get her a new crossword puzzle book today....
Hmmm! Turns out that she doesn't know (or care) squat about Classic Movies.
I guess I'll have to get her a new crossword puzzle book today....
7.07.2010
CANINE DEGENERATIVE MYELOPATHY
Canine degenerative myelopathy (also known as chronic degenerative radiculomyelopathy) is a progressive disease of the spinal cord in older dogs. The disease has an insidious onset typically between 7 and 14 years of age. It begins with a loss of coordination (ataxia) in the hind limbs. As of July 15, 2008 the mutated gene responsible for DM has been found present in 43 breeds including German Shepherds, Boxers, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, Rhodesian Ridgebacks, and both breeds of Welsh Corgis. The disease is chronic and progressive, and resulting in paralysis.
The myelin is an insulating sheath around neurons in the spinal cord. One proposed cause of degenerative myelopathy is that the immune system attacks this sheath, breaking it down. This results in a loss of communication between nerves in lower body of the animal and the brain.
Degenerative myelopathy initially affects the back legs and causes muscle weakness and loss, and lack of coordination. These cause a staggering effect that may appear to be arthritis. The dog may drag one or both rear paws when it walks. This dragging can cause the nails of one foot to be worn down. The condition may lead to extensive paralysis of the back legs. As the disease progresses, the animal may display symptoms such as incontinence and has considerable difficulties with both balance and walking. If allowed to progress, the animal will show front limb involvement and extensive muscle atrophy. Eventually cranial nerve or respiratory muscle involvement necessitates euthanasia.
Progression of the disease is generally slow but highly variable. The animal could be crippled within a few months, or may survive up to three years.
Degenerative myelopathy is a non-reversible, progressive disease that cannot be cured. There are no treatments that have been clearly shown to stop or slow progression of DM.
7.06.2010
CHINA REACTIONS TO HOW GUNS ARE SOLD IN US WALMARTS
Via Cynical-C:
ChinaSmack posts reaction from a BB where chinese users throw out theories as to why guns can be sold in the US at a Walmart. 2nd Amendment Fuck Yeah!:
ChinaSmack posts reaction from a BB where chinese users throw out theories as to why guns can be sold in the US at a Walmart. 2nd Amendment Fuck Yeah!:
I’d like to ask the lou zhu a question. It may be very naive but please be so kind as to give me an answer. Since guns are sold like this in America, is their government not afraid of social problems? Right now in Shanghai, the supermarkets selling cooking knives have also locked them inside glass display cases like this.
I think the American Constitution has a part that says the citizens have the right to overthrow an authoritarian government…it is what I have heard, not sure if it is true or not. But in China, that is not possible, and the key is that the character of the people [on average] is not there yet. If firearms were available for sale in China, then we’d probably have to wear bullet-proof vests in order to go out.
Only with citizens who have high restraint and a society with relatively few injustices would [a country] dare be like this.
Imagine for a moment, if we were to sell guns in this manner, I think those domestic tigers, birds, bears, these animals basically could no longer survive.
If this were China, the number of crime-related deaths would increase ten times. Therefore, America’s gun deaths is still very little. In the future [if guns were allowed in China], those who are involved in forced demolitions and chengguan would not be so niubi anymore. Pressure us and they’ll just shoot you a few times.
6.27.2010
40 YEARS LATER: A LOOK BACK AT THE TURNING POINT FOR GAY RIGHTS
For gay and lesbian Americans, June 28, 1969, was the day that changed everything.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, law enforcement officials kept track of suspected homosexuals and places that catered to them. Police regularly raided gay bars, seizing alcohol, shutting down establishments and arresting patrons. It wasn’t uncommon for gay men and lesbians to be exposed in newspapers, fired from their jobs, jailed or sent to mental institutions.
Homosexuality was then considered to be such subversive behavior that it was listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders I as a “sociopathic personality disturbance.”
On that June night, police entered the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village, at 1:20 a.m. and launched a raid.
While the police waited for patrol wagons to cart away the arrested suspects and the seized alcohol, the bar’s patrons began to resist. They refused to follow police orders. Men refused to show their IDs, and men dressed as women refused to accompany female officers to the bathroom to have their gender confirmed.
Those who weren’t arrested exited through the front door, but they didn’t go far. Within a short time, the crowd swelled to an estimated 2,000. As police put the arrested into the wagons that were now on the scene, the crowd threw what they had—pennies, beer bottles, trash cans—at the police and shouted, “Gay power!”
Thirteen people were arrested, and four police officers were injured at Stonewall.
The riots continued for six nights.
The resistance wasn’t planned, nor were the riots that followed.
“Every movement arrives at a moment when people say, ‘Enough is enough,’ ” says Michael Adams, executive director of Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders, or SAGE. “That was the Stonewall riots for the gay rights movement.”
Martin Boyce, a participant in the riots, shares this sentiment.
“We were feeling anger and resentment, but the big thing was that we had a chance to do something now,” Boyce says. “People got hurt. I got hit in the back with a club. But you could see and feel the person next to you wasn’t going to run.”
“People will point out there were acts of resistance before Stonewall. But those acts of resistance were on a smaller scale,” says David Carter, author of Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution. “This was an act of resistance that was a mass movement. It was mass crowds. These other events were smaller, they weren’t sustained, and they didn’t get in the media. Plus, the Stonewall riots sparked the gay liberation movement, by the founding of the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activist Alliance.”
Frank Kameny, a leader in the gay rights movement, estimates that there were 1,000 organizations formed within a year after Stonewall. After two years, 2,500. After three years, he stopped counting.
“Progress has been enormous,” Kameny says. “Sodomy laws were repealed, so we’re no longer criminals. Mental health classification changed, so we’re no longer loonies. The government is finally recognizing and respecting us. Just this year, an openly gay man [John Berry] was appointed head of the Office of Personnel Management, the group [then called the Civil Service Commission] that fired me over 50 years ago in 1957, and I was acknowledged at his swearing-in ceremony. That is deeply satisfying. It’s a storybook ending. At age 84, I am not sure that I will see full equality in my lifetime, but I have no doubt that we’re heading toward it.”
The meaning of Stonewall to me is that we now have personal freedom and liberation, and that means a lot,” says Ellen Ratner, bureau chief for the Talk Radio News Service and an openly gay White House correspondent since 1993. “We’re not ‘less thans’ in society anymore. We have the freedom to marry … in several states. We have freedom to work and can’t be fired because we’re gay … in several states. To me, that means we’re equal members of society.”
"It’s been 40 years since Stonewall, and systemic persecution of gay men and lesbians has given way to justifiable concerns of aging and care. Ratner wonders what will happen to gay and lesbian boomers as they age.
“Who’s going to take care of us?” Ratner asks. “Aging and caregiving is a huge issue for us. We are more likely to be caregivers, but what support systems will we have in place? What about our benefits? If I want to transfer my apartment to my partner, it’s OK with a state like Massachusetts, but it’s not OK with the feds. Why should I have to pay a 45 percent gift tax when [heterosexual married couples] don’t? We face housing issues if there are no specific laws to protect us.”
“This is a tipping point,” says Bob Witeck, coauthor of Business Inside and Out and CEO and cofounder of Witeck-Combs, a strategic communications firm that’s been instrumental in giving voice to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. “On the heels of Barack Obama, anything seems possible. The ‘what ifs’ become ‘why nots.’ The next 10 years will be dramatic ones. We will see resolutions to what we’ve started. By the time our community turns 50, we will be able to report that a lot of our biggest struggles are behind us.”
The memory of the Stonewall riots is kept alive through annual gay pride parades that are held in June around the country. During this 40th anniversary year, you can participate in celebrations in major cities such as Boston, Miami, Philadelphia, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas or Chicago. Or visit the Stonewall Inn and New York-based events.
Dave Singleton is the director of planning and promotion with AARP publications.
6.22.2010
ZOMBIES HAVE ALREADY KILLED THE DEFICIT COMMISSION
By Paul Krugman (my HERO):
"It must have sounded like a good idea (although not to me): establish a bipartisan commission of Serious People to develop plans to bring the federal budget under control.
"But the commission is already dead — and zombies did it.
"OK, the immediate problem is the statements of Alan Simpson, the commission’s co-chairman. And what got reporters’ attention was the combination of incredible insensitivity – the “lesser people”??? — and flat errors of fact.
"But it’s actually much worse than that. On Social Security, Simpson is repeating a zombie lie — that is, one of those misstatements that keeps being debunked, but keeps coming back.
"Specifically, Simpson has resurrected the old nonsense about how Social Security will be bankrupt as soon as payroll tax revenues fall short of benefit payments, never mind the quarter century of surpluses that came first.
"We went through all this at length back in 2005, but let me do this yet again.
"Social Security is a government program funded by a dedicated tax. There are two ways to look at this. First, you can simply view the program as part of the general federal budget, with the the dedicated tax bit just a formality. And there’s a lot to be said for that point of view; if you take it, benefits are a federal cost, payroll taxes a source of revenue, and they don’t really have anything to do with each other.
"Alternatively, you can look at Social Security on its own. And as a practical matter, this has considerable significance too; as long as Social Security still has funds in its trust fund, it doesn’t need new legislation to keep paying promised benefits.
"OK, so two views, both of some use. But here’s what you can’t do: you can’t have it both ways. You can’t say that for the last 25 years, when Social Security ran surpluses, well, that didn’t mean anything, because it’s just part of the federal government — but when payroll taxes fall short of benefits, even though there’s lots of money in the trust fund, Social Security is broke.
"And bear in mind what happens when payroll receipts fall short of benefits: NOTHING. No new action is required; the checks just keep going out.
"So what does it mean that the co-chair of the commission is resurrecting this zombie lie? It means that at even the most basic level of discussion, either (a) he isn’t willing to deal in good faith or (b) the zombies have eaten his brain. And in either case, there’s no point going on with this farce."
"It must have sounded like a good idea (although not to me): establish a bipartisan commission of Serious People to develop plans to bring the federal budget under control.
"But the commission is already dead — and zombies did it.
"OK, the immediate problem is the statements of Alan Simpson, the commission’s co-chairman. And what got reporters’ attention was the combination of incredible insensitivity – the “lesser people”??? — and flat errors of fact.
"But it’s actually much worse than that. On Social Security, Simpson is repeating a zombie lie — that is, one of those misstatements that keeps being debunked, but keeps coming back.
"Specifically, Simpson has resurrected the old nonsense about how Social Security will be bankrupt as soon as payroll tax revenues fall short of benefit payments, never mind the quarter century of surpluses that came first.
"We went through all this at length back in 2005, but let me do this yet again.
"Social Security is a government program funded by a dedicated tax. There are two ways to look at this. First, you can simply view the program as part of the general federal budget, with the the dedicated tax bit just a formality. And there’s a lot to be said for that point of view; if you take it, benefits are a federal cost, payroll taxes a source of revenue, and they don’t really have anything to do with each other.
"Alternatively, you can look at Social Security on its own. And as a practical matter, this has considerable significance too; as long as Social Security still has funds in its trust fund, it doesn’t need new legislation to keep paying promised benefits.
"OK, so two views, both of some use. But here’s what you can’t do: you can’t have it both ways. You can’t say that for the last 25 years, when Social Security ran surpluses, well, that didn’t mean anything, because it’s just part of the federal government — but when payroll taxes fall short of benefits, even though there’s lots of money in the trust fund, Social Security is broke.
"And bear in mind what happens when payroll receipts fall short of benefits: NOTHING. No new action is required; the checks just keep going out.
"So what does it mean that the co-chair of the commission is resurrecting this zombie lie? It means that at even the most basic level of discussion, either (a) he isn’t willing to deal in good faith or (b) the zombies have eaten his brain. And in either case, there’s no point going on with this farce."
THE BP SHAKE-UP THAT ISN'T
From Robert Reich:
"One day after he was blasted on Capitol Hill, BP CEO Tony Hayward has been removed from day-to-day management of the oil spill. BP’s chairman has turned it over to a BP managing director, Bob Dudley.
"That makes sense from a PR standpoint. Before the congressional hearings, Hayward seemed merely overwhelmed. After yesterday, the mere thought of Hapless Hayward in charge of plugging the hole strikes most people as ludicrous. Hayward told Congress he knew nothing, took no responsibility, and wasn’t able to comment on a thing.
"Yet Dudley’s only apparent qualification is he’s an American. Dudley still reports to the same BP board of directors. They are responsible to the same BP shareholders. Those shareholders still, naturally, want BP to maximize share values and not spend a dollar (or pound) more than necessary."
Read the rest here.
"One day after he was blasted on Capitol Hill, BP CEO Tony Hayward has been removed from day-to-day management of the oil spill. BP’s chairman has turned it over to a BP managing director, Bob Dudley.
"That makes sense from a PR standpoint. Before the congressional hearings, Hayward seemed merely overwhelmed. After yesterday, the mere thought of Hapless Hayward in charge of plugging the hole strikes most people as ludicrous. Hayward told Congress he knew nothing, took no responsibility, and wasn’t able to comment on a thing.
"Yet Dudley’s only apparent qualification is he’s an American. Dudley still reports to the same BP board of directors. They are responsible to the same BP shareholders. Those shareholders still, naturally, want BP to maximize share values and not spend a dollar (or pound) more than necessary."
Read the rest here.
6.21.2010
MICKEY MOUSE AS A SPEED PUSHER???
Via Cynical-C:
"The following comic book ‘Mickey Mouse and the Medicine Man’ was released by Disney in 1951. In the strip, Mickey and Goofy discover a new medicine called ‘Peppo’ that represents amphetamine (speed). Their enthusiasm for the chemical pick-me-up leads them to become salesman for the product in Africa."
Check out the full strip at All That's Interesting.
6.20.2010
JOSE SARAMAGO, WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE, DIES AT AGE 87
Jose Saramago, the first Portuguese writer awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, died at his home in the Canary Islands on Friday. He was honored in his homeland as a major cultural figure, but as a committed Communist, he attracted his share of controversy as well. Saramago moved to the Canary Islands in 1998 after a very public dispute with the Portuguese government.
Saramago was born into poverty in 1922 in a small village outside Lisbon. His parents were landless peasants who later moved to the city, where Saramago had the opportunity to go to school. Money troubles eventually forced him to drop out, but he never stopped educating himself.
"He was an avid reader," says Helder Macedo, emeritus professor of Portuguese literature at Kings College London. Saramago was "indeed a voracious intellectual ... acquiring information as much as he could."
Saramago wrote his first novel when he was in his 20s, but he hated it and abandoned fiction for many years — he said he had nothing to write. Saramago became a journalist and, in 1969, joined the Communist Party.
In 1974, his party membership cost him his job as editor of a small Lisbon newspaper. It was then, says Macedo, that Saramago returned to fiction as a "belated writer."
"It was the best thing that could ever happen to him," Macedo says. "If he hadn't written the books that he wrote well into his 50s, we wouldn't be talking about him today."
Saramago's 1982 novel, Baltasar and Blimunda, was the first to be widely translated, and his work began attracting international attention. In 1998, he became the first Portuguese writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. At a banquet in Oslo celebrating the award, Saramago said he owed a great debt to all those who had written in Portuguese.
"The ones of the past and of today, I am but one of them," he said.
Saramago is known for his imaginative blend of fantasy, fact and folklore. He takes on big subjects and big themes: In The Stone Raft he envisions a world in which Spain and Portugal are literally cut off from the rest of Europe. In Blindness, which was also made into a movie, the entire population of a city loses its sight.
"It's not a 'Once upon a time,' but 'What if?' " Macedo says. "What if suddenly the world became blind? What if the Iberian Peninsula was geographically separated from Europe? He writes fables in a sense."
Not surprisingly, Saramago attracted his share of controversy. In 1991, his novel The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, which depicts a very flawed, human Jesus, was condemned by the Catholic Church. The next year, the Portuguese government withdrew it from competition for a literary prize. Saramago accused the government of censorship and moved to the Canary Islands.
"He is a writer who divides people," says Margaret Jull Costa, who has translated many of Saramago's novels. "I think people either love him or hate him. ... He liked argument and he did antagonize people ... and he liked to be polemical."
Controversies and all, Saramago left a profound mark on his homeland. Speaking today about Saramago's death, Prime Minster of Portugal Jose Socrates said: "His disappearance has left our culture poorer."
6.18.2010
GOP DEFENDING BP: Cutting Off Their Heads To Spite Their Necks
By William K. Wolfrum, via Liberaland:
"A couple months ago, it was a political certainty that Republicans would make strong gains in both the House and Senate in the November elections. Today, however, the GOP and entire conservative movement is working on perhaps the most incredible bit of mass political suicide this side of Gary Hart.
"Since the British Petroleum Deep Horizon oil well exploded – taking the lives of 11 BP workers and leveling mass destruction on the Gulf of Mexico – Republicans have been unable to contain themselves. Even as oil destroys wildlife, jobs, lives and the Gulf, Republicans have been doing back flips to come up with anything to pin the blame on President Barack Obama. Facts, logic, or even thought of any kind has flown from the minds of those making attacks.
The end result? The GOP has now become BP’s champion. Simply put, Republicans would rather defend BP and its interests than the interests of the American people. Their efforts to destroy Obama have put them solidly on the wrong side of the argument. Basically, the Republican Party has gone far beyond noses – they are now cutting off their heads to spite their necks.
"It has been one of the most ridiculous, anti-American displays one could imagine. And it keeps getting crazier. Today, as Congress drilled BP CEO Tony Hayward, Rep. Joe Barton took his turn and used it to apologize to Hayward, stating, 'It is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, in this case a $20 billion shakedown.'
"Add this to Rep. Michele Bachmann stating that the $20-billion escrow account secured by Obama is “redistribution of wealth,” and Sarah Palin falsely claiming that Obama has avoided getting the help of the dike-fixing Dutch. One day a Republican calls Obama a weakling for his handling of the spill. The next day he’s a bully for making BP face it’s financial obligations to the U.S. And every day, Republicans have defended BP’s right to destroy the Gulf of Mexico and ruin the lives of Americans.
"To make matters even worse for Republicans, the Tea Party movement has been completely shut down because of the spill. Shouting slogans at the gulf of Mexico and screaming about how the free market will fix the problem has no place in such a monumental catastrophe. And the Tea Party has nothing more than slogans and copies of “Atlas Shrugged” to handle oil spills or any other issue. The movement – such that it is – has been muted.
"It’s easy enough to say that Republicans are only protecting their corporate sponsors. But that can’t explain their reactions fully. After all, the entirety of the American political system, on both sides of the aisle, is literally awash in oil company money. No, it’s more than that. It is Obama Derangement Syndrome to the nth degree.
"In desperately trying to paint Obama as incompetent in the face of the oil disaster, Republicans have made one thing very clear, whether they intended to or not – they are on the side of British Petroleum. They are more interested in the profit margin and stock price of a foreign corporation than they are in American citizens. And come November, it will be Republican necks on the line, as Democrats around the nation will make sure every last registered voter and “small person” knows that when all hell broke loose in the Gulf of Mexico, Republicans were too busy playing politics and holding BP’s hand to give a whit about the American public."
"A couple months ago, it was a political certainty that Republicans would make strong gains in both the House and Senate in the November elections. Today, however, the GOP and entire conservative movement is working on perhaps the most incredible bit of mass political suicide this side of Gary Hart.
"Since the British Petroleum Deep Horizon oil well exploded – taking the lives of 11 BP workers and leveling mass destruction on the Gulf of Mexico – Republicans have been unable to contain themselves. Even as oil destroys wildlife, jobs, lives and the Gulf, Republicans have been doing back flips to come up with anything to pin the blame on President Barack Obama. Facts, logic, or even thought of any kind has flown from the minds of those making attacks.
The end result? The GOP has now become BP’s champion. Simply put, Republicans would rather defend BP and its interests than the interests of the American people. Their efforts to destroy Obama have put them solidly on the wrong side of the argument. Basically, the Republican Party has gone far beyond noses – they are now cutting off their heads to spite their necks.
"It has been one of the most ridiculous, anti-American displays one could imagine. And it keeps getting crazier. Today, as Congress drilled BP CEO Tony Hayward, Rep. Joe Barton took his turn and used it to apologize to Hayward, stating, 'It is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, in this case a $20 billion shakedown.'
"Add this to Rep. Michele Bachmann stating that the $20-billion escrow account secured by Obama is “redistribution of wealth,” and Sarah Palin falsely claiming that Obama has avoided getting the help of the dike-fixing Dutch. One day a Republican calls Obama a weakling for his handling of the spill. The next day he’s a bully for making BP face it’s financial obligations to the U.S. And every day, Republicans have defended BP’s right to destroy the Gulf of Mexico and ruin the lives of Americans.
"To make matters even worse for Republicans, the Tea Party movement has been completely shut down because of the spill. Shouting slogans at the gulf of Mexico and screaming about how the free market will fix the problem has no place in such a monumental catastrophe. And the Tea Party has nothing more than slogans and copies of “Atlas Shrugged” to handle oil spills or any other issue. The movement – such that it is – has been muted.
"It’s easy enough to say that Republicans are only protecting their corporate sponsors. But that can’t explain their reactions fully. After all, the entirety of the American political system, on both sides of the aisle, is literally awash in oil company money. No, it’s more than that. It is Obama Derangement Syndrome to the nth degree.
"In desperately trying to paint Obama as incompetent in the face of the oil disaster, Republicans have made one thing very clear, whether they intended to or not – they are on the side of British Petroleum. They are more interested in the profit margin and stock price of a foreign corporation than they are in American citizens. And come November, it will be Republican necks on the line, as Democrats around the nation will make sure every last registered voter and “small person” knows that when all hell broke loose in the Gulf of Mexico, Republicans were too busy playing politics and holding BP’s hand to give a whit about the American public."
6.17.2010
6.15.2010
6.10.2010
MOVING TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE READING
More than 30 million trees are being cut down every year to produce the books sold in the U.S. alone. Balance out your books now! Learn more...
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"For that is our unyielding faith - that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it."
~~Barack Obama
~~Barack Obama
6.08.2010
CALL TO ACTION
From Glaad.org:
CALL TO ACTION UPDATE: GLAAD Calls on Advertisers to Explain Support for Fox’s “The O’Reilly Factor”
During June 2 Broadcast Host Bill O’Reilly Compares Gay People To al Qaeda
Today GLAAD released a list of advertisers that supported the June 2 broadcast of Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor.” During that broadcast, host Bill O’Reilly likened gay people to the international terrorist organization, al Qaeda.
After playing a gay-friendly McDonald’s commercial from France, O’Reilly asked commentator Jane Skinner to weigh in on the content. Skinner pointed out that the ad campaign is “part of an overreaching campaign called ‘come as you are,’ which you saw at the end there. So they show people in different walks of life.” O’Reilly then asked, “Do they have an al Qaeda ad, you know, come as you are? You know?”
Following GLAAD’s June 3 Call to Action that urged Fox News and Bill O’Reilly to apologize for the defamatory remarks, nearly three thousand people sent letters to FOX News executives and producers of “The O’Reilly Factor” to voice their concerns.
Today we are contacting the 35 companies that advertised during the broadcast to ask how they justify supporting this type of defamation.
Please see a complete list of advertisers below. GLAAD will keep you updated on any responses we receive.
• Farmers Insurance Group
• Porsche
• Broadview Security
• Atlantis Resort
• EHarmony.com
• Infiniti (NISSAN),
• Amway Global
• Accu-Chek Aviva (ROCHE)
• NHTSA
• Activision
• AT&T
• Carbonite (CarboniteTV.com)
• Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• Smart Balance Milk
• Starbucks
• Pulaski & Middleman LLC
• Foundation for a Better Life
• Merit Financial
• Kelloggs
• Lending Tree
• AARP
• Terminix
• Mayflower
• Holiday Inn
• Skip Gambert & Associates
• AmazonKindle
• Geico
• Lexus
• Peachtree Settlement
• Vonage
• Citracal
• T. Rowe Price
• Dr. Scholls
• Mercedes
• Jack Victor
CALL TO ACTION UPDATE: GLAAD Calls on Advertisers to Explain Support for Fox’s “The O’Reilly Factor”
During June 2 Broadcast Host Bill O’Reilly Compares Gay People To al Qaeda
Today GLAAD released a list of advertisers that supported the June 2 broadcast of Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor.” During that broadcast, host Bill O’Reilly likened gay people to the international terrorist organization, al Qaeda.
After playing a gay-friendly McDonald’s commercial from France, O’Reilly asked commentator Jane Skinner to weigh in on the content. Skinner pointed out that the ad campaign is “part of an overreaching campaign called ‘come as you are,’ which you saw at the end there. So they show people in different walks of life.” O’Reilly then asked, “Do they have an al Qaeda ad, you know, come as you are? You know?”
Following GLAAD’s June 3 Call to Action that urged Fox News and Bill O’Reilly to apologize for the defamatory remarks, nearly three thousand people sent letters to FOX News executives and producers of “The O’Reilly Factor” to voice their concerns.
Today we are contacting the 35 companies that advertised during the broadcast to ask how they justify supporting this type of defamation.
Please see a complete list of advertisers below. GLAAD will keep you updated on any responses we receive.
• Farmers Insurance Group
• Porsche
• Broadview Security
• Atlantis Resort
• EHarmony.com
• Infiniti (NISSAN),
• Amway Global
• Accu-Chek Aviva (ROCHE)
• NHTSA
• Activision
• AT&T
• Carbonite (CarboniteTV.com)
• Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• Smart Balance Milk
• Starbucks
• Pulaski & Middleman LLC
• Foundation for a Better Life
• Merit Financial
• Kelloggs
• Lending Tree
• AARP
• Terminix
• Mayflower
• Holiday Inn
• Skip Gambert & Associates
• AmazonKindle
• Geico
• Lexus
• Peachtree Settlement
• Vonage
• Citracal
• T. Rowe Price
• Dr. Scholls
• Mercedes
• Jack Victor
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Rain, rain, go away; come again another day..., when I don't have so many things I want to do in the yard!
6.03.2010
A POT, SOME BRICKS, SOME WATER, AND SOME PLANTS
I'm going to try some water plants in a large pot again this year. Of course, I missed the local landscape firm's class about it. But I think that as long as I'm not planning on having any fish in it, it will be OK. Maybe a snail or two - once the water settles down....
Wish me luck!
Wish me luck!
6.02.2010
LIVI UPDATE
Myownsister Livi wented to the vet yesterday. He said she gots a berry thick cataract on her right eyeball! He said he doubts that she can see anyfingy wif that eye. He said she is berry lucky to wiv wif a family who doesn't let her run and is so good to her. He said she is also berry lucky to have such a hamsome older brudder (me!). (My Momma says I shouldn't tell stories....)
So, my momma just has to keeps an EYE (Hahahaha!) on Livi's eyes to make sure the Glaucoma doesn't start to develope!
Later,
ZZ
So, my momma just has to keeps an EYE (Hahahaha!) on Livi's eyes to make sure the Glaucoma doesn't start to develope!
Later,
ZZ
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
~~Martin Luther King, Jr.
~~Martin Luther King, Jr.
6.01.2010
BLINDNESS IN DOGS
Zztopdog notes: My sister Livi may be blind, or going blind. My momma made an appointment wif da vet for today, to finds out for sure. Livi will just turn 4 years old this summber; but blindness is common in diabetic doggies.
Dats all for now.
ZZ
Dats all for now.
ZZ
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
“How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”
~~Dr. Suess
~~Dr. Suess
5.26.2010
SPENDING THE DAY READING
I stayed up too late reading "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest." I'm sitting down to read some more before I go to work, but I'm afraid that a nap will overtake me before I finish....
5.25.2010
THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNETS' NEST
5.15.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race."
~~H. G. Wells
~~H. G. Wells
5.12.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history."
~~Barack Obama, January 20, 2009, Inaugural Address
~~Barack Obama, January 20, 2009, Inaugural Address
5.11.2010
SARAH PALIN KEEPS ON LYING
From Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog:
"She tweeted today that the Obama administration wants a "soldier pay decrease."
The more elegant word choice would be 'pay reduction,' but whatever. This is a complete lie regardless of her remedial writing skills.
"FACT: The Pentagon proposed a 1.4 percent pay increase, while Congress proposed a 1.9 percent increase.
"No one's decreasing anything. Except for Sarah Palin whose limited intelligence seems to be decreasing by the day."
"She tweeted today that the Obama administration wants a "soldier pay decrease."
The more elegant word choice would be 'pay reduction,' but whatever. This is a complete lie regardless of her remedial writing skills.
"FACT: The Pentagon proposed a 1.4 percent pay increase, while Congress proposed a 1.9 percent increase.
"No one's decreasing anything. Except for Sarah Palin whose limited intelligence seems to be decreasing by the day."
5.09.2010
HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY
~~Margaret Mead
5.08.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"What I've realized is that life doesn't count for much unless you're willing to do your small part to leave our children -- all of our children -- a better world. Even if it's difficult. Even if the work seems great. Even if we don't get very far in our lifetime. That is our ultimate responsibility as fathers and parents. We try."
~~Barack Obama, June 15, 2008
~~Barack Obama, June 15, 2008
AND SHE WAS ALMOST VICE PRESIDENT...
From Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! Go!:
"The level of stupid in the following remark by Sarah Palin on last night's O'Reilly Factor is immeasurable.
"And while we're here, I should point out that the Declaration didn't just declare that all American men are created equal and 'are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' The Declaration stated that these human rights were endowed to all people -- regardless of religion, race, nationality or ethnicity. The Palins of this world tend to conveniently forget these details when it comes to topics like immigration and war.
"Back to Palin. So not only was she incapable of accurately describing the role of the vice president -- the job for which she was running -- but she's also incapable to telling the difference between two very different and distinct founding documents. Holy crap -- imagine the smoke billowing from her ears if someone were to ask her about the Articles of Confederation. My guess is her answer would involve Jefferson Davis and secession."
And finally, if any wingnut can show me a document written by either James Madison or any other participant in the Constitutional Convention that indicates the borrowing of Christian dogma for use in the Constitution, I will retract all of this and, I don't know, follow Sarah Palin on Twitter.
"The level of stupid in the following remark by Sarah Palin on last night's O'Reilly Factor is immeasurable.
'[O]ur Constitution, of course, essentially acknowledging that our unalienable rights don't come from man; they come from God. So this document is set up to protect us from a government that would ever infringe upon our rights to have freedom of religion and to be able to express our faith freely.'"Steve Benen points out the obvious problem here: the line 'that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights' comes from the Declaration of Independence. Not the Constitution, which contains no mention whatsoever of any variety of 'God' or 'Creator.'
"And while we're here, I should point out that the Declaration didn't just declare that all American men are created equal and 'are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' The Declaration stated that these human rights were endowed to all people -- regardless of religion, race, nationality or ethnicity. The Palins of this world tend to conveniently forget these details when it comes to topics like immigration and war.
"Back to Palin. So not only was she incapable of accurately describing the role of the vice president -- the job for which she was running -- but she's also incapable to telling the difference between two very different and distinct founding documents. Holy crap -- imagine the smoke billowing from her ears if someone were to ask her about the Articles of Confederation. My guess is her answer would involve Jefferson Davis and secession."
And finally, if any wingnut can show me a document written by either James Madison or any other participant in the Constitutional Convention that indicates the borrowing of Christian dogma for use in the Constitution, I will retract all of this and, I don't know, follow Sarah Palin on Twitter.
5.05.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"Just by being out you`re doing your part. It`s like recycling. You`re doing your part for the environment if you recycle; you`re doing your part for the gay movement if you`re out."
~~Martina Navratilova
~~Martina Navratilova
IF YOU ARE AN ANTI-HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVIST...
From Badtux, the Snarky Penquin:
New rule: If you're an anti-homosexual activist...
"... you're gayer than the gay mayor of gaytown. Bwahahaha! I love it. George Alan Rekers, a Baptist minister who wrote a book about how to raise your boy to be a manly boy instead of a gay boy (some sample advice: Force your child to excel in athletics, and forbid him from arts and crafts, because otherwise he'll grow up to be gay), was caught with a boy toy on a cruise ship. Just an innocent encounter, right? Right?!"
New rule: If you're an anti-homosexual activist...
"... you're gayer than the gay mayor of gaytown. Bwahahaha! I love it. George Alan Rekers, a Baptist minister who wrote a book about how to raise your boy to be a manly boy instead of a gay boy (some sample advice: Force your child to excel in athletics, and forbid him from arts and crafts, because otherwise he'll grow up to be gay), was caught with a boy toy on a cruise ship. Just an innocent encounter, right? Right?!"
5.04.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"To read a great novel is to lay yourself open for a conversion experience."
~~Katherine Paterson
~~Katherine Paterson
5.02.2010
4.30.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"Growth takes place whenever a challenge evokes a successful response that, in turn, evokes a further and different challenge. We have not found any intrinsic reason why this process should not repeat itself indefinitely, even though a majority of civilizations have failed, as a matter or historical fact."
~~Arnold B. Toynbee, A Study of History
~~Arnold B. Toynbee, A Study of History
4.29.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
~~Barack Obama, July 24, 2008
4.28.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"The world has changed, and we must change along with it."
~~Barack Obama, January 21, 2009
~~Barack Obama, January 21, 2009
4.27.2010
TEA PARTY ACTIVISTS - DO THEY HATE LIBERALS MORE THAN THEY LOVE LIBERTY?
A recent ‘Tea Party’ rally showed lots of anger toward President Obama, but little consistent support for liberty in America...
An Opinion piece from the Christian Science Monitor:
"Many 'tea party' activists staunchly oppose big government, except when it is warring, wiretapping, or waterboarding. A movement that started out denouncing government power apparently has no beef with some of the worst abuses of modern times.
"Unfortunately, there is scant evidence that most tea partyers have studied the copies of the Constitution they generously hand out to bystanders.
"At a Tax Day tea party in Rockville, Md., the speaking venue was draped with a huge banner: 'Tired of Big Government?' Members of the 'Tyranny Response Team' stood near the front of the rally with their official blue T-shirts. Giant American flags and ones with 'Don’t Tread on Me' (with a coiled rattlesnake) were carried around by men with tri-corn hats. Political campaigns busily sold '9/11 Remembrance' bracelets.
"And yet, the crowd of 300 seemed most outraged that the US government is not being sufficiently aggressive in using its power."
Click here for the rest of the article.
An Opinion piece from the Christian Science Monitor:
"Many 'tea party' activists staunchly oppose big government, except when it is warring, wiretapping, or waterboarding. A movement that started out denouncing government power apparently has no beef with some of the worst abuses of modern times.
"Unfortunately, there is scant evidence that most tea partyers have studied the copies of the Constitution they generously hand out to bystanders.
"At a Tax Day tea party in Rockville, Md., the speaking venue was draped with a huge banner: 'Tired of Big Government?' Members of the 'Tyranny Response Team' stood near the front of the rally with their official blue T-shirts. Giant American flags and ones with 'Don’t Tread on Me' (with a coiled rattlesnake) were carried around by men with tri-corn hats. Political campaigns busily sold '9/11 Remembrance' bracelets.
"And yet, the crowd of 300 seemed most outraged that the US government is not being sufficiently aggressive in using its power."
Click here for the rest of the article.
WHAT IF THE TEA PARTY WERE BLACK?
From Cynical-C:
Tim Wise: And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.
Zztopdog notes: Amen!
Tim Wise: And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.
Zztopdog notes: Amen!
4.25.2010
DOGS & DEVOTION
That is the name of a wonderful book about the celebration of our relationship and bond with dogs. By the Monks of New Skete, the book celebrates our dogs and the better person that they help us to become.4.20.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"If we are to make progress, we must not repeat history, but make a new history. We must add to the inheritance left by our ancestors."
~~Mahatma Gandhi
~~Mahatma Gandhi
4.06.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"Don't ever let anyone tell you that change isn't possible. Don't let them tell you that speaking out and standing up against injustice is too risky. What's too risky is keeping quiet. What's too risky is looking the other way."
~~Barack Obama, 9/28/2007
~~Barack Obama, 9/28/2007
4.05.2010
WORD FOR THE DAY: SOCIALISM
From Badtux, the Snarky Penguin:
"So what is Socialism?
"Well, you listen to today's right-wing blogosphere, and it becomes clear that they haven't a clue. They appear to believe that 'Socialism' is the same thing as redistribution of wealth. By that standard, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a socialist -- he had no problem with a 90% income tax rate on the top bracket in order to redistribute wealth downward.
"The problem is, that's not what Socialist means. Socialist means that the government owns the means of production of wealth. Like when the UK nationalized Leyland Motors and called it British Leyland, or when France nationalized Citroen and Renault and made them state-owned, or when Britain nationalized the hospitals in 1948 and made them state-owned, or when Sweden nationalized its banks in 1992. That's Socialism -- the State owning major industries. Redistribution of wealth -- such as, say, taxing the rich in order to provide subsidies to the poor so that they can buy health insurance -- is plain old liberalism, which is not the same thing as socialism at all, let alone Communism, which outright outlaws private property beyond anything you can carry upon your own person.
"Words have meaning. Using words in ways that aren't applicable makes you look like an idiot to anybody who is intelligent. Which, I realize, is the minority of Americans, since 50% of Americans are below average; and average ain't so smart anymore, but still.... This ain't Freeperville, and we're a bit brighter 'round these parts :)."
-- Badtux the Liberal Penguin
"So what is Socialism?
"Well, you listen to today's right-wing blogosphere, and it becomes clear that they haven't a clue. They appear to believe that 'Socialism' is the same thing as redistribution of wealth. By that standard, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a socialist -- he had no problem with a 90% income tax rate on the top bracket in order to redistribute wealth downward.
"The problem is, that's not what Socialist means. Socialist means that the government owns the means of production of wealth. Like when the UK nationalized Leyland Motors and called it British Leyland, or when France nationalized Citroen and Renault and made them state-owned, or when Britain nationalized the hospitals in 1948 and made them state-owned, or when Sweden nationalized its banks in 1992. That's Socialism -- the State owning major industries. Redistribution of wealth -- such as, say, taxing the rich in order to provide subsidies to the poor so that they can buy health insurance -- is plain old liberalism, which is not the same thing as socialism at all, let alone Communism, which outright outlaws private property beyond anything you can carry upon your own person.
"Words have meaning. Using words in ways that aren't applicable makes you look like an idiot to anybody who is intelligent. Which, I realize, is the minority of Americans, since 50% of Americans are below average; and average ain't so smart anymore, but still.... This ain't Freeperville, and we're a bit brighter 'round these parts :)."
-- Badtux the Liberal Penguin
4.04.2010
HAPPY EASTER
"I got a chocolate rabbit
For an Easter treat,
A great big chocolate rabbit
Good enough to eat.
"So I ate his ears on Sunday,
His nose I finished Monday.
Tuesday I nibbled on his feet.
I ate his tail on Wednesday
Thursday I kept on,
By Friday he was going,
Saturday he was gone.
"Oh, I loved my chocolate rabbit
From the moment that he came,
And if I get another one,
I'll love him just the same."
~~Author Unknown
3.28.2010
FILE UNDER VILE
By Paul Krugman (my hero!), on his blog, The Conscience of a Liberal:
"OK, I finally got around to reading Douglas Holtz-Eakin’s op-ed on health care reform. It’s much worse than I thought; time to scratch Holtz-Eakin off my shrinking list of reasonable, reasonably honest conservatives.
"How bad is it? Holtz-Eakin declares that:
Gimmick No. 1 is the way the bill front-loads revenues and backloads spending. That is, the taxes and fees it calls for are set to begin immediately, but its new subsidies would be deferred so that the first 10 years of revenue would be used to pay for only 6 years of spending."I think that’s what is technically known as a 'lie." Holtz-Eakin, of all people, knows how to read a CBO report. So he’s perfectly capable of looking at the actual report (pdf) and seeing that the revenues, like the costs, are minimal for the first four years. Here’s the chart:
"His implication that there’s funny business going on is totally false, and he knows it.
"Wait, it gets worse: Holtz-Eakin implies that there are hidden, delayed costs:
Consider, too, the fate of the $70 billion in premiums expected to be raised in the first 10 years for the legislation’s new long-term health care insurance program. This money is counted as deficit reduction, but the benefits it is intended to finance are assumed not to materialize in the first 10 years, so they appear nowhere in the cost of the legislation."Claims that the plan is window-dressed to look good in its first decade only to go sour later might sound plausible – except for the fact that the CBO projects bigger deficit-reduction in the second decade of the reform than in the first decade, something that wouldn’t happen if lots of costs were being hidden by being pushed off into the future.
"That said, we do learn something important from Holtz-Eakin’s article. If this is the best critique a conservative budget wonk can come up with – if deliberately misrepresenting how the legislation works is the only way to make it seem irresponsible – then the bill must be pretty sound in fiscal terms."
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"If we have no charity and no tolerance,
we shall never settle our differences."
~~Mahatma Gandhi
we shall never settle our differences."
~~Mahatma Gandhi
3.20.2010
WOMEN'S RIGHTS AS A SECURITY ISSUE
From On the Ground, by Nicholas Kristof:
"Hillary Clinton has been pushing hard to reframe women’s rights from 'soft issue' to 'security issue.' Obviously that’s partly because soft issues are shunted aside, while the security issues are discussed in the Situation Room and get billions of dollars thrown at them. In an interview with Andrea Mitchell released today, Clinton put it this way:
" 'I think that if you look at this century and you look at the instability, the conflicts that we have in so many places in the world, there’s a direct relationship between the subjugation and oppression of women and extremism. It is therefore in our interest to stand up for the rights of women. Because by doing so, we enhance our own security.'
"I think she’s dead right on that, of course. It’s a point that Sheryl and I made in Half the Sky, citing a fair amount of research. Indeed, I think a pretty good argument can be made that the reason the Islamic world is disproportionately turbulent and has 'bloody fringes,' as Samuel Huntington put it, doesn’t have to do with the Koran or religion in any direct way. Rather, it has to do with the fact that women are more likely to be marginalized in such countries. And when women are repressed, you have high birth rates — and hence a destabilizing youth bulge — and the country takes on the atmosphere of a boy’s locker room or an armed camp. Some American sociologists have argued that the American West was so violent in the 19th century precisely because there were so many young men and so few women.
"In the last few days, Hillary Clinton has been making these arguments right and left (although she has also made them in past years; this isn’t new for her). This is her most coherent speech on the topic; it’s very good and powerful, delivered to the U.N. I just wish that Bob Gates and David Petraeus were giving the same speech. When the Pentagon lists women’s rights as a security issue, that’s the historic milestone we need!"
"Hillary Clinton has been pushing hard to reframe women’s rights from 'soft issue' to 'security issue.' Obviously that’s partly because soft issues are shunted aside, while the security issues are discussed in the Situation Room and get billions of dollars thrown at them. In an interview with Andrea Mitchell released today, Clinton put it this way:
" 'I think that if you look at this century and you look at the instability, the conflicts that we have in so many places in the world, there’s a direct relationship between the subjugation and oppression of women and extremism. It is therefore in our interest to stand up for the rights of women. Because by doing so, we enhance our own security.'
"I think she’s dead right on that, of course. It’s a point that Sheryl and I made in Half the Sky, citing a fair amount of research. Indeed, I think a pretty good argument can be made that the reason the Islamic world is disproportionately turbulent and has 'bloody fringes,' as Samuel Huntington put it, doesn’t have to do with the Koran or religion in any direct way. Rather, it has to do with the fact that women are more likely to be marginalized in such countries. And when women are repressed, you have high birth rates — and hence a destabilizing youth bulge — and the country takes on the atmosphere of a boy’s locker room or an armed camp. Some American sociologists have argued that the American West was so violent in the 19th century precisely because there were so many young men and so few women.
"In the last few days, Hillary Clinton has been making these arguments right and left (although she has also made them in past years; this isn’t new for her). This is her most coherent speech on the topic; it’s very good and powerful, delivered to the U.N. I just wish that Bob Gates and David Petraeus were giving the same speech. When the Pentagon lists women’s rights as a security issue, that’s the historic milestone we need!"
3.17.2010
A CHOICE OF HEADLINES
From Paul Krugman's Blog: Conscience of a Liberal:
"By this time next week we’ll have seen huge headlines about health care. These headlines will either read 'Democrats do it!', followed by various Republicans and their apologists complaining that what the Dems did wasn’t nice, or 'Democrats — losers again', followed by Republicans going bwahahaha.
"And it’s up to a handful of Democrats to decide which headlines we get. They’re out of their minds if they don’t choose door #1."
"By this time next week we’ll have seen huge headlines about health care. These headlines will either read 'Democrats do it!', followed by various Republicans and their apologists complaining that what the Dems did wasn’t nice, or 'Democrats — losers again', followed by Republicans going bwahahaha.
"And it’s up to a handful of Democrats to decide which headlines we get. They’re out of their minds if they don’t choose door #1."
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY
"May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may troubles avoid you wherever you go."
~~An Irish Blessing
3.09.2010
HOW LITTLE THEY KNOW THE WORLD
By Paul Krugman, on his blog, The Concience of a Liberal:
"Well, it seems that Republicans are going all in on the idea that a big reason we have high unemployment is that unemployment benefits reduce the incentive to seek work. Aside from the sheer cruelty, it’s really bad economics, but whatever.
"And I found myself remembering a passage near the beginning of 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre':
" 'Anyone who is willing to work and is serious about it will certainly find a job. Only you must not go to the man who tells you this, for he has no job to offer and doesn’t know anyone who knows of a vacancy. This is exactly the reason why he gives you such generous advice, out of brotherly love, and to demonstrate how little he knows the world.' "
"Well, it seems that Republicans are going all in on the idea that a big reason we have high unemployment is that unemployment benefits reduce the incentive to seek work. Aside from the sheer cruelty, it’s really bad economics, but whatever.
"And I found myself remembering a passage near the beginning of 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre':
" 'Anyone who is willing to work and is serious about it will certainly find a job. Only you must not go to the man who tells you this, for he has no job to offer and doesn’t know anyone who knows of a vacancy. This is exactly the reason why he gives you such generous advice, out of brotherly love, and to demonstrate how little he knows the world.' "
2.22.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"An ideal is one thing; living up to it is quite another.... We may be said to have an ideal only when we put forth an effort to realize it."
~~Mahatma Gandi
~~Mahatma Gandi
2.17.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"In the places I have gone and the people I have met, I have been struck again and again by the fundamental decency and generosity of men and women who work hard without complaint, to meet their responsibilities every day."
~~Barack Obama, November 2008
~~Barack Obama, November 2008
2.15.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civiliztion."
~~Mahatma Gandhi
~~Mahatma Gandhi
2.12.2010
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"We know the difference we can make when we work together to open the doors of opportunity wide enough for everyone to walk through."
~~Barack Obama, August 2008
~~Barack Obama, August 2008
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