Republicans anti-science

Why are so many Republicans anti-science.

See this article in the Huffington Post
Click here for link

No Newts is Good News

Here are some more of the Amphibian's cartoons

Who are the One Percent?

Are you part of the 99% of the American People or are you part of the 1% who really run things?  Few people know who the One Percenters (or the 1% of the One Percenters) who really are pulling the strings really are.

Click here to view some of those who really own the country.

A Newt by any other name...

Go Ahead... Look it up!

Does Fox make you stupid?

dows Fox News make you dumber than those who watch no news?  Check out this link from Countdown.
Click here for video clip 

Political Accountability

Heaven and Hell

While walking down the street one day a Corrupt Senator (that may be redundant) was hit by a car and died.  His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the Pearly Gates.

"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the Senator.

"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from the higher ups. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."

"Really?, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the Senator.

"I'm sorry, but we have our rules."

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course.

In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.  Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They played a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and the finest champagne. Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who is having a good time dancing and telling jokes.

They are all having such a good time that before the Senator realizes it, it's time to go.  Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens in heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him, "Now it's time to visit heaven...

So, 24 hours pass with the Senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing harps and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."

The Senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell."

So, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell...

Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.  He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls to the ground.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulders.

"I don't understand," stammers the Senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now it's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil smiles at him and says,  "Yesterday we were campaigning, Today, you voted."

Vote wisely

Insightful comments from Robert Reich

....Clinton's labor secretary:  Financial capitalism has taken over from real capitalism. Financial capitalism is taking over from product and services, from people that actually produce goods and services. And that has distorted our entire system. When so much money and so much income are at the top—and by the way, the 400 richest Americans right now have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans put together. When you get that much income and wealth at the top, inevitably some people at the top—not all people at the top, but some of them—are going to abuse their income and wealth and corrupt the political system. I don’t want to mention names, like Charles and David Koch; that would not be nice of me; that would not be fair. But they, each of them worth $25 billion—each of them worth $25 billion, what they are doing is using a chunk of their fortune to pollute and corrupt American democracy. And why are they doing that? Because they want to entrench themselves. They make petrochemicals, they want to stop the environmental movement; they want to create doubts about whether there is, in fact, climate change. They want to cut the budget; they don’t want taxes to be raised; they and other people at the top are using their political muscle to entrench their power and privilege, and we cannot allow that in America. [applause] _________________________________________________ Just in case you skeptics resist the point, Reich isn't seeking that awful-sounding "redistribution of wealth" that some politicians   these days like to throw around to frighten us into a renewal of anti-communist hysteria; he's talking about quite the opposite--the vast accumulation of wealth by a handful of financial privateers and corrupt businessmen at our expense. I have difficulty accepting how some of us still don't get it, how some of us will continue to vote  against our own best interests.  It has more to do with the suspension of common sense than with common sense.  Blindness to reality, the result of  the unwillingness to shake off  entrenched loyalties, has never been more a danger to this country than it is today. thanks to David A. Tree

A mesage for our Rebel friends..;.;

Lee surrendered.

You Lost.

Get Over it!

Oh, by the way…

A black man is President...

"Who Is Against Giving Children Good Food?" Answer: Fox News

MSNBC's Geist Asks: "Who Is Against Giving Children Good Food?" Answer: Fox News November 18, 2011 12:39 pm ET by Chelsea Rudman Today, MSNBC's Willie Geist asked what seemed like a rhetorical question during Morning Joe: "Who is against giving children good food for lunch?" While some of his co-hosts laughed at the idea that anyone could be against such a thing, there is, in fact, a major media outlet that has loudly opposed healthy food and exercise initiatives for children: Fox News. Geist's question came during an interview with Share Our Strength (SOS) founder and CEO Bill Shore and actor Jeff Bridges, who were on Morning Joe to promote SOS's No Kid Hungry campaign. After playing a clip of Jon Stewart mocking Congress' decision to allow schools to count pizza as a vegetable, the co-hosts discussed SOS's successes and struggles in trying to get healthier food into school lunch and breakfast programs. That's when this exchange happened: GEIST: So when you go out there, Jeff, let's say you go up to Washington, and I mean this as a serious question, who is against giving children good food for lunch? I mean that. MIKA BRZEZINSKI (co-host): Well, the clip that we -- GEIST: We laugh at the Jon Stewart clip. But are there people, when you say, we need to get fruits and vegetables, they say, no, no, we're sticking with the frozen pizza. I'm backed by the pizza industry. How does it work? Who's against this? Bridges responded by saying, in part, that "hunger is so connected with poverty. And ... poverty, you know, when you start to deal with that, everybody has different opinions," then concluded: "But you're right. When you talk about feeding kids ... it's a no-brainer." Watch: Geist and Brzezinski don't need to look as far as the pizza industry to find an outspoken opponent of SOS's work getting kids healthier food. They only need to look to neighboring cable channel Fox News. Fox has long attacked any government initiative to promote either healthier eating or exercise for children. In May 2010, after a White House task force released a report on voluntary measures to combat childhood obesity, Fox News responded by airing a promotion for Sean Hannity's show that stated: "No soda. No snacks. No choice? How the first lady's task force on childhood obesity is cutting into our diets and our rights." In September 2010, Fox News figures bashed Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" initiative, which aims to reduce childhood obesity through promoting healthier eating and exercise. Hannity claimed on his show that the first lady was "taking the nanny state to a new level," while Fox Business host John Stossel wrote in a blog post: "If the government is allowed to dictate our diet, what's next? Do they start deciding who we'll marry, where we'll work?" Fox Nation even linked to a CNS News article with the headline, "First Lady Targets Freedom Fries." Fox News figures also drummed up phony outrage over a supposed government plan to "ban bake sales at schools" after the passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act last December. Even though there was no such ban, Fox & Friends repeatedly claimed that the act could ban bake sales -- even after their guests corrected them. And in March this year, Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham attacked Michelle Obama for combining the annual White House Easter Egg Roll with her "Let's Move" initiative, bizarrely suggesting that it was somehow sacrilegious for the event to have a secular theme. The event is, in fact, secular, and routinely has a secondary theme -- in 2008, the Bush administration chose "ocean conservation" -- but Ingraham chose not to mention that and instead was enraged that children would be encouraged to "Get Up and Go." But it's not just "government overreach" that Fox News is against -- they've attacked private companies' efforts to make food healthier, too. In July, the Fox & Friends co-hosts were spitting mad over McDonald's announcement that it will shrink the Happy Meal's portion of fries and include a fruit or vegetable with every meal. The co-hosts had this actual exchange: STEVE DOOCY (co-host): And kids, there's about to be no more happy in your Happy Meals. Starting today, they're being replaced with the healthy meal. BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): Now how are we going to sell it to the kids? DOOCY: You can thank the fat police for that, Brian. Sorry, Mayor McCheese. There were no "fat police" involved -- McDonald's made that decision all on its own. And last month, when actress Josie Bissett came on Fox & Friends to promote her new children's books and mentioned an upcoming book that will teach kids to cook, Doocy bizarrely asked, "They don't have to make healthy stuff, do they?" Fox has, on rare occasions, allowed healthy foods to be promoted in its programming, but only through celebrities who are on as paid spokesmen for corporations, as when Angie Harmon took to Fox & Friends' airwaves to promote vegetable eating -- through her advertising for Hidden Valley Ranch     Adressing. But the overwhelming majority of segments Fox runs about food and health discourage healthy behaviors and promote unhealthy ones, from encouraging viewers to eat too much salt to hyping Botox injections. ________________________________________________ Were it only Fox news, it wouldn't be so strange. A number of politicians  have embraced the same view, insisting our "damned big government'' is determined to destroy  our freedoms, one by one; ah, but that's another story, that thing about politicians. Or is it? Maybe Fox and those politicians are right. So let's start by making  car insurance and public education optional, then go on and  eliminate police departments and the IRS.  After all, all four are designed to  restrict our behavior. We're on a roll so why stop there?  Let's also get rid of the privates that interfere with our free will.    Like, how dare McDonald's cut back on fats and  add fruits and vegetables!  I am certain Herman Cain has a better plan that has no restraints. I see the outcome, and it's brilliant:  we get to  keep the  kids at home,  feed them  a diet of pizza for lunch, dinner and breakfast too, while they sit  on  their arses,  watching Fox  tv.  And, best of all,   you and I get to drive to the pickup window at Godfather Pizza without a license, thanks to Fox and Friends...who, as we all know, never overreach. Thanks to David Allen Tree for this post.

Where do the Republican candidates for president get their money?

OP-ED COLUMNIST Republican Financial Plans By GAIL COLLINS Published: November 18, 2011 Our topic for today is: Where do the Republican candidates for president get their money? Earl Wilson/The New York Times Gail Collins The personal finances of the G.O.P. presidential hopefuls are important for two reasons. One is that we’re talking about people who aspire to the most prestigious and important job the nation has to offer. The other is that these folks seem to have done really, really well. Perhaps, they can offer career tips. Remember when Newt Gingrich claimed that the mortgage giant Freddie Mac paid him $300,000 for his advice “as a historian?” Thousands of young history majors who were resigned to a future in which they would pad out their $2,000-a-semester salaries as part-time adjunct lecturers with fulfilling careers in bartending suddenly were engulfed with new hope. Unfortunately, it turned out that Newt’s income actually comes from running think tanks that help promote the corporate clients’ goals in the public sector. That may be a little harder for the youth of America to put their heads around. But, kids, if anybody asks you what you want to be when you grow up, say: policy guru. Gingrich wants everyone to understand that he does not lobby. Really, whatever the exact legal definition of lobbying is, that is something he did not do. The Gingrich Group got what turns out to be about $1.6 million to not-lobby for Freddie Mac, one of a long, long list of clients. Let’s all pause to recall the high dudgeon with which Gingrich announced, during one of the debates, that Representative Barney Frank ought to be put in jail for being “close to” Freddie Mac lobbyists. What kind of politician demands that an elected official be incarcerated for hanging out with the same people who are paying said politician $1.6 million or so to not-lobby? This is an unusually delusional presidential field. Mitt Romney’s greatest political asset is that he doesn’t seem to actually believe it when he says he’s been consistent on matters like health care reform or abortion. Thank God there’s at least one guy on the stage who knows he’s fibbing. Romney is the richest person running for president, worth somewhere between $190 million and $250 million. Most of that came from his work at Bain Capital, a firm that bought up troubled companies and gave them makeovers. Although many people lost their jobs when Bain Capital reeled in their employers, Romney’s work did create a lot of new value. Which, on occasion, Bain Capital walked away with, leaving the remnants of the company flopping helplessly on the beach. In 2010, Mitt earned somewhere between $9.6 million and $43.2 million, according to The National Journal’s calculation of his financial reports. I believe I speak for us all when I say that there seems to be a lot of room in the middle of that estimate, but you get the idea. Much of that came from investments, but Romney also gets quite a bit of cash for making speeches. He once made $68,000 for one appearance before the International Franchise Association in Las Vegas. People, if you were raking in more than $9.6 million a year, would you waste your time talking to the International Franchise Association? Perhaps you would if international franchises were especially close to your heart. But, in that case, why charge them $68,000? There are a lot of mysteries in the Mitt saga. For instance, if you were a very wealthy father of five energetic young boys, would you choose to spend your vacation driving the whole family to Canada with the dog strapped to the roof of the car? Wouldn’t it be more fun to take a plane to Disneyland? Some of the Republican candidates seem to have no visible means of support whatsoever — like Rick Santorum, who has seven kids. You would hate to think they were going without shoes just so Dad could continue his never-ending quest to break into the 5 percent range in the polls. But, good news! Santorum made at least $970,000 in 2010, in all those mysterious ways unsuccessful Republican candidates for president seem to have of making money. Part of it came from being a commentator for Fox News, and part of it came from Santorum’s work at — yes! — a think tank. Rick Perry does not have a vast fortune, although he is blessed with friends who fly him around on private jets, take him on cool vacations and, occasionally, sell him real estate at bargain-basement prices. This week, Perry laced into Barack Obama as a man who could not possibly understand what ordinary Americans were going through because he “grew up in a privileged way.” This is a strange way to describe the president’s upbringing — particularly when Romney, the guy Perry is actually supposed to be running against, was the son of the head of American Motors. Maybe he got the two mixed up. All I can tell you is this. Rick Perry will never be paid by a tank to think. Thanks to David Allen Tree for this post.

Why the Right works so hard to attack Obama

Why the Right works so hard to attack Obama

1. He is intelligent.
2. He is articulate.
3. He comes from humble origins.
4. He is young.
5. He is not overtly emotional
6. He is a Democrat.
7. He doesn’t fit into their “Amos & Andy” stereotype.
8. They have no pictures of him eating watermelon or fried chicken..
9. He doesn’t speak with an “Al Sharpton” accent.
10. His name is Barack Hussein Obama and not Leroy Rastus Washington.

Religious affiliation map

This map is quite interesting.  Check it out.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/pew-religion-08/flash.htm
Oregon and Mississippi provide quite a contrast.

Attempted Coup in Arizona

In an action completely without precedence anywhere in the country, Arizona Republicans have voted to unjustifiably expel the Independent member of the state’s non-partisan redistricting commission, simply because the proposed maps were insufficiently partisan for Republican tastes.

What do we mean by “insufficiently partisan?” The state’s Independent Redistricting Commission drew a map that locks in a 2-to-1 GOP advantage in the congressional delegation and the legislature, but even that wasn’t good enough for Arizona Republicans.

GOP legislators demanded nothing less than an end to all accountability to the voters, but that would never happen through a truly non-partisan redistricting process. So they voted this week to fire the Independent redistricting commissioner on a party-line vote, with almost no notice or debate.

There is only one way to fix this naked, partisan power grab and restore fair redistricting in Arizona: the Independent member of Arizona’s redistricting commission must be reinstated and allowed to finish her job.

This, and only this, will honor the intent of Arizona voters, who spoke loud and clear when they ended politicians’ ability to gerrymander their way to power – or so we all thought.

Sign our petition today demanding that Arizona’s Independent redistricting commissioner be reinstated immediately!

This is the critical moment when we can make sure Arizona Republicans won’t get away with their partisan power grab or repeat it in other states. And you can be a part of it.

Here’s how Newsweek columnist John Avlon described what’s at stake and the difference we can make by speaking out:

One gauge the Arizona politicos will be watching is the level of public outcry. Politicians try this crap because they believe they’ll get away with it. (…) If Brewer gets away with this power grab, it will suddenly appear on the menu of every other governor looking to artificially preserve his or her party’s hold on power, Republican or Democrat. It is nothing less than an attempt to hijack representative democracy. These are the stakes, and that’s why it's time to take a stand in Arizona.

Show Republicans that they won’t get away with this power grab! Help restore non-partisan redistricting in Arizona by signing our petition today!

Mr. Avlon is right - swift and fierce public outcry is the only way we can stop shameless GOP power-grabs like this one from becoming the norm.

Please take a moment and sign the petition today.

Sincerely,

John Winston
National Political Director
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee

Dark Clouds from the Sunshine State

Folks,  I told you the reaction  my madras pants evoked last winter at Friday night Happy Hour in Central Florida, but just to emphasize the point I'm going to make, let me tell you again.  As I arrived at our regular table, one of the men seated there said, "What N.....did you steal those from?" My wife, ready to fight,  glared and hissed, "I can't believe you said that.” The offender shrugged, grinned and went mute. What I didn't tell you, a week or so later, my wife was at her usual north-south table position at the weekly duplicate bridge game in a room whose walls had just been repainted the color of--as she describes it--"spicy mustard."  A seventy-year-old woman sitting east-west, her mouth twisted in disgust, spoke loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear,” That’s an N....color!" I know my Friday night table mate loathes Obama and still expresses his feelings in an unexpurgated stream of malicious anti-Obama cartoons and far-right lies, the birther canard being only one of many.  He also considers himself "sympathetic to the Tea Party."  So are the others at the table. I can only guess, of course, what the bridge lady's politics are but chances are they are similar; an overwhelming number of far right-wingers live where I live in Central Florida. They outnumber Democrats and independents well in excess of a hundred-to-one. How they all migrated to the same place I cannot say with certainty, but I can be certain when I say the ones I know are enthusiastic about the Tea Party. Recently, one of them got so angry when I criticized his party that he now refuses to talk to me.  You'd think I was attacking his religion, and you'd be right; religion and politics are treated on the right with similar fervor. I did say that the Happy Hour fellow now expresses his high regard for Herman Cain.  I wasn't surprised that in this age of political correctness a guy like him would pay lip service to a Cain candidacy in an effort to convince others [and maybe himself] that he is not a bigot. He reminds me of those anti-Semites who used to say, mostly among themselves,  "He's okay for a Jew," or, worse, say to Jews,  Y'know, my best friend is a Jew." The irony is that the reactionaries who hold sway within Republican ranks consider themselves the friends of Israel. In fact, they are. That's because they and Israel share the Arabs as a common enemy.   But trustworthy Jew-lovers they are not. Today, it's popular among right-wingers to blame the media and the bankers for our ills, because "the Jews control the New York Times and Wall Street." The hate signs crop up at Tea Party rallies and on what I choose to believe are strictly the fanatical fringes of the Occupy Wall Street movement whose loose structure accommodates protesters of all stripes. This ingrained mistrust of things they have always hated in my lifetime lies barely dormant today.  Should Herman Cain become the Republican choice to face off against Barack Obama in 2012, I doubt that voters on the extreme right will remain enamored of Cain.  I doubt they will vote for Obama. I doubt they'll vote at all. It's the Republicans of the center right who will conscientiously go to the polls a year from now, but given a choice between a very black Cain and not-so-black Obama, they will opt for bitter coffee that is lightened with a teaspoon of cream. David Allen Tree [Thanks so much for your submission - ed]

Louis Armstrong: the Jewish Link

 "At the beginning of last century, in the emotional hotbed of New
Orleans, a child slave of the ghetto was born of a prostitute mother
and "missing" father.

He somehow stumbled into the attention of a financially poor but
loving Russian Jewish immigrant family, the Karnofskys.  This little
fellow, with an appreciative, magnetic personality, attached himself
to the father, to help him with his horse-and-wagon hauling business.

The Karnofskys loved the child, took him in for dinners, including
Shabbat, and provided more than bed and shelter.
They provided him with the love he needed, and his first musical
instrument that led this confused, hungry youngster onto worldwide
fame - as a jazz performer, music innovator and worldwide ambassador
for humanity. 

Louis Armstrong proudly spoke fluent Yiddish, from his
childhood through his whole life, and always wore a Star of David
around his neck.

[Here is the link to verify -ed]

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/20088/louis-armstrongs-first-influence-jewish-peddlers/

Occupy Seattle Photos