12-25
Andy Borowitz: Santa Downed By Predator Drone
Now that's going too far.
We need to rein in these gung-ho types who can't tell a terrorist from a red-nosed reindeer.
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12-25
Might just be the best caroling of the season
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12-26
What will historians say about the first decade of this century? Where are we now that we were not in 2000? I agree with Bob Burnett who assessed the past 9 years with a perspective hard to dispute.
Bob Burnett: 2000-2009 America's Lost Decade
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12-26
Here's another good reflective. Women's health with ideas that would help me too. Like number 4.
Christiane Northrup, MD: Top 10 Women's Health Stories Of The Decade: Nothing Replaces A Women's Wis
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12-27
Bob Geiger: The Not Too Distant Future of Air Travel
Far-fetched but have we not become the most self-absorbed traumatized and terrified "victims" in the world? Afraid of our own shadows? Can't have everything our way so we lash out and make ourselves look exactly the opposite of the world's toughest society.
And this from Jim Harper, Cato Institute:
"... terrorism doesn't require explosions and fatalities to work its will. If public fear produced by this incident drives the U.S. toward self-injurious overreactions--abandonment of plane travel, overwrought and poorly directed security measures, and so on--then it will be a successful act of terrorism."
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12-27
PolitiFact's Lie of the Year: 'Death panels'
Who bought into this?
Those who chose to rely on total truth and honest communication from those Palinic, Limbaugchic, Hannitite sources of "would I lie to you?"
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12-27-09
"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell hinted on Sunday that Republicans would campaign for office in the months ahead on a pledge to undo health care legislation, should it become law. But the Kentucky Republican refused to commit to pursuing a repeal, saying merely that the health care reform of 2009 would be a major issue come 2010."
Maybe they should also run on repealing the repeal of the deletion of habeas corpus from the Bill of Rights.
We'd see then how StupidNation has grown or shrunk.
Anthony Spiesman:
“Hey how about just encouraging Congress to allow the rest of us to have the same totally Socialist health care they have for life, at our expense!”
Ssshhhh. You mustn't use the word socialist, socialized or socialtweet around Reflublicans. It causes their blowharditis to flare up.
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Based on the failed terrorist attempt, those HIH's (highly intelligent hawks) Lieberman and McCain perhaps should immediately be demanding that we re-invade and more fully occupy Iraq, eh?
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12-28-09
An Avatar Awakening | Let's Try Democracy
The elephant in the living room.
If Avatar did not prompt comparisons and you could only see Avatar as action/adventure with no relationship to any other reality, how numbed up - or dumbed down - might you be?
David Swanson:
"Millions of people stand in lines, shell out big bucks, wear stupid-looking 3-D glasses, sit in the dark for three hours, identify with twelve-foot-high pointy-eared blue people, cheer as the credits roll, and simply do not care that actual human beings suffer the same fate as the computer-generated creations, albeit without ... See Moremiraculous happy endings.
Imagine if a tenth of the people who now sympathize with these bony blue beings were to take three hours to read a book or watch a movie about the people of Iraq or Afghanistan or Pakistan or Yemen or Iran. Our real planet would then be a different world."
And this excerpt from U.S. Army veteran Gordon Sturrock of Veterans for Justice:
"Gallons of ink have already been spilled in the left blogosphere regarding the critical role now being played by the “soft” sciences of psychology and anthropology whoring itself out to Pentagon counterinsurgency in the AfPak theater.
... See More
As well, those who think about these things are increasingly alarmed at the mating up of CIA black ops, Special Forces, and an enormous army of mercenaries unaccountable to any legal framework, including the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a nightmare redux of the Phoenix Program in Vietnam now writ large in the AfPak arena. Obama’s Dirty War.You want an outstanding popularized version of how all this interlocks, check out “Avatar”, which is an astoundingly-good movie not just on an action and technical level.
It explores the role of corporate-imperial force and subordination of a native culture through the science-fiction medium of the avatar, to infiltrate an indigenous people in order to induce its cooperation though skilled manipulation, using the carrot-and-stick of do-gooder anthropology and mercenary hunter-killer terror.
Director Cameron even understands that the aliens (what we now call the “indig’s” in AfPak) don’t want our roads or schools, in other words want to keep their own way of life. "
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12-29-09
I might be an independent a conservative ... except to those who call me liberal because I disagree with their purified bathwater view of liberals and liberalism.
This writer and I are on the same page.
Politicans Before the People, Always
"The truth often is. Human nature dictates that the vast majority of our politicians will put their welfare or the good of their political party before the needs of their constituents, states or nation.
It's called 'self-preservation,' and it's destroying our country from within.... See More
... As an independent conservative -- while the actions of both parties sicken me at times -- I am usually most repulsed by the loathsome and hypocritical misdeeds of the Republican Party, the continuing exploits of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford coming most quickly to mind.
... What say potential 2012 GOP candidates Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Mike Huckabee? While all three men strongly believe in 'the sanctity of traditional marriage,' their response to the adulterous conduct of Sanford, Vitter and Ensign has been mostly silence -- or the always lame 'It's a matter between them, their spouses and their states.'
Hardly profiles in courage from men who talk the talk on traditional values.
On the Democratic side of the aisle of ill repute, you have the likes of Gov. David Paterson of New York and Sen. Roland Burris of Illinois.
When I asked a high-level Democratic friend of mine about these two, he said, 'Better to have them disappear quietly than bring attention to their misconduct and hurt our franchise.'
Wow. There it is in a nutshell. Both sides want to protect themselves or the 'franchise' at all costs.'"
Raven Webb:
True - I call it greed an d power for the politicians - they get away with it so America is no longer the land of the free and free enterprise and private property must be abolished!
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12-29-09
Never heard of Juan Cole? Possibly the most knowledgeable authority on the Middle Eastern History and Religion.
Top Ten Worst Things about the Bush Decade;
Including this comment from Alan (can be seen at the blog site):
"I had not known about your site until now; my loss.
Your overview of the first decade of the 21st century is the most astute and sweeping indictment of the current political system I've encountered.... See More
Should be required reading in our high schools, though given the lack of reading skills and knowledge of politics in our high school grads (I'm a university professor--I see it first-hand), I don't know how many would even grasp it.
And I agree about the war on science--reprehensible.
Again--simply brilliant piece. Like the governator said--I'll be back."
And this from Cole in his intro:
" Here are my picks for the top ten worst things about the wretched period, which, however, will continue to follow us
... See More
until the economy is re-regulated,
anti-trust concerns again pursued,
a new, tweaked fairness doctrine is implemented,
and we return to a more normal distribution of wealth (surely a quarter of the privately held wealth is enough for the one percent?)It isn't about which party is in power; parties can always be bought. It is about how broadly shared resources are in a society.
Egalitarianism is unworkable, but over-concentration of wealth is also impractical. The latter produced a lot of our problems in the past decade, and as long as such massive inequality persists, our politics will be lopsided."
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12-31-09
Another blessing arrived from heaven to call me GRAMPY!! Raina Grace Ruger ... the picture Cheri sent me shows a newborn with a left hand bigger than ... I don't know what. Will probably grow up to play the piano better than her Dad. Congratulations Joseph and Michelle Ruger.
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1-1-10
Well don't that beat all? Immigration agents posing as Mormon Missionaries.
Next time them two missionary folks come to my door, I'm going to tell them that Jake is here legally and has a doggie passport to prove it.
When I was a young Mormon missionary, the ministerial certificate signed by Church President David O. McKay formally designated me as a minister of - among other things - peace, love and harmony. That meant a lot to me and I still have that little certificate.
ICE agents pretending to be the same thing in order to act like Jack Bauer is an insult to America's core values and I am embarrassed for my country if we tolerate this sort of thing in the name of national integrity and moral values..
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1-2-10
Hold on now! All you creationists out there have an anomaly to deal with. It seems that the Sumerians were alive, well and thriving before God created the world (based on biblical time) only 6000 years ago.
Note: The Onion is satire but the historical evidence is not.
Sumerians Look On In Confusion As God Creates World
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1-2-09
We are loathe to admit it but in this country we take far too many things for granted when we think about our fellow-citizens who serve and with their families who are much closer to the problem than we.
PBS' 'This Emotional Life': War On The Military Family
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1-3-09
Of course TPM (Talking Points Memo) and the London Times might be satellite propagandists for Al Queda but I doubt it.
If the story below is true ... or close to it ... my next comment would be that we all need to see more TV stuff like "The Unit" so we can be commercially programmed and numbed down enough to accept th...is sort of thing in real life.
Wouldn't want our patriotism to suffer at the hands of our humanity eh?
Afghan Children Handcuffed, Then Killed By American Soldiers | Rutabaga Ridgepole's Blog
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1-4-09
Us baby boomers have got to be the most insecure, vulnerable, gullible and stupid generation in history ... and our overactive bladders prove it.
This Is Your Country on Drugs -- In These Times
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