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November 30, 2010

Why Is the Kroger Supermarket Chain Promoting Sarah Palin’s New Book?

Filed under: Commentary,Opinion — Tags: , , — RS Janes @ 8:02 am

Kroger is a mostly Midwestern supermarket chain that is, for reasons unknown, promoting Sarah Palin’s new book, as well as giving her an opportunity to sign books in-store. To me, it is completely inappropriate for a grocery store chain to advocate for any potential political candidate, but especially one as controversial and extreme as Sarah Palin.

A good friend of mine in Ohio has forwarded the following message to me, and I’ve included Kroger contact info after the message, as well as my email to Kroger CEO/Chairman David Dillon.

If you feel as strongly as I do about this, please contact Kroger and let them know it, and then pass this on.

Dear friend, relative or countryman/woman,

Ginny and I heard a rumor on Sunday that a Sarah Palin book promotion was being planned at the Harpers Point Kroger (Cincinnati) store. Today we stopped by to see for ourselves and, sure enough, Sarah will appear for a book-signing on Dec. 3 at that store. A sign was posted on the door and a huge display of books was near the front entrance that you almost had to walk around to get in. We spoke to the store manager with our complaint. She was quite gracious and said that she had no part in it but that it came from “high up”. She understood that this was being done at a number of Kroger stores around the country, like Kansas, etc. She took our name, address and phone no.

To our knowledge, Kroger has never promoted any author before and now Sarah Palin. It is not a book store even though they do sell books. We believe that Kroger is not the place for this activity especially someone as controversial as Sarah Palin but also for any candidate or issue. There are certain things you do not mix with your core business. It is totally inappropriate. I estimate that we spend $900-1,000 per month on groceries, prescriptions and gasoline AND I like shopping at Kroger, but if this continues I will not spend another dime there.

Please join me in expressing your displeasure and applying economic pressure to the Kroger Co. if you are a customer. I welcome any ideas, assistance, or organizational help to mount a campaign to let Kroger know what its losses will be if they continue on this program of promoting Sarah Palin. It is urgent that we move quickly since Dec. 3rd is not far away.

Yours for fairness and peace,
Pete and Ginny

From the Kroger Book of the Month site:

Book of the Month

Save 40% off Sarah Palin’s “America by Heart”

On Sale November 23, 2010

Only $15.99!

Framed by her strong belief in the importance of family, faith, and patriotism, the book ranges widely over American history, culture, and current affairs, and reflects on the key values—both national and spiritual—that have been such a profound part of Governor Palin’s life and continue to inform her vision of America’s future.

If you’d like to object to Kroger promoting the book of a divisive figure such as Sarah Palin, write, email or call below:

Write to:

Mr. David Dillon
CEO/Chairman
Kroger Corporate Offices
1014 Vine Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202

Email (customer comments form):
https://customer.kroger.com/comments/comments.aspx
and address it to Mr. David Dillon, CEO/Chairman

Call: 866-221-4141

My email to Kroger:

(more…)

Premature Concession Syndrome

Filed under: Commentary,Opinion — Peregrin @ 6:54 am

Premature Concession Syndrome — A Remedial Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Dear Obama, it’s Law 101
That in deal making don’t jump the gun:
Never give stuff away
With the hope that one day
You might get something back — this ain’t done.

Your opponent will simply want more.
He will threaten to walk out the door
Unless you accede
To his limitless greed.
Learn this rule or you never will score.

You claim that you earned a JD.
I’ve got one of my own, so you see
Why I don’t understand
How you fail to demand
Quid pro quo from the damn GOP.

Premature Concession Syndrome — A Remedial Limerick « Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

November 29, 2010

Hang ‘em High?: Tariq Aziz & other war criminals I have known

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , — Jane Stillwater @ 3:28 pm

Is this really a good time to be sentencing former Iraqi diplomat Tariq Aziz to death — especially when WikiLeaks has just exposed a whole bunch of the dirty laundry stuffed into America’s and Britain’s diplomatic pouches regarding their “Coalition of the Willing” and its underhanded role in initiating and sustaining a brutal and unnecessary war on Iraq?

“But everyone knows that Aziz worked for Saddam Hussein and Hussein gassed the Kurds,” you might argue, “and Aziz was also found guilty of condoning torture.” Like I said, be careful about pointing your finger on that one. It could very easily boomerang back to hit certain American and British leaders in the arse. How many hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been “gassed,” tortured and killed due to American and British failed diplomacy? According to Information Clearing House, the current number is 1,421,933.

And speaking of executing former leaders such as Aziz, do we really want to hang former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba because he didn’t stop his troops from killing all those women and children in the Central African Republic? If we do that, don’t we also have to take a look at all the women and children who have been killed in Afghanistan by American and British troops too?

“Jane, just exactly where are you going with this?” I don’t know. But it just seems unfair to me that Tariq Aziz and Jean-Pierre Bemba both face hanging while George W. Bush gets to go on talk shows and actually brag about how he approved torture.

PS: Speaking of war criminals, according to professor Paul Larudee in an article recently published in “Redress,” http://www.redress.cc/palestine/plarudee20101123, whole bunches of Israeli security guys are currently madly scurrying around all across the internet, frantically trying to block the publication of a document that names 200 alleged Israeli war criminals.

“When unknown elements in Israel leaked the name, rank, identification number and other information about two hundred Israeli military personnel who reportedly participated in the 2008-2009 invasion of Gaza, the effect was sudden and profound, according to sources in Israel. Although the first site on which it appeared was taken down by the host, it has continued to circulate via email, and has appeared on at least one other site, http://s242816488.onlinehome.us/criminals/. The Israeli military and other Israeli agencies are reportedly doing all they can to shut down every site on which it appears, and to prevent it from ‘going viral.’ At least one popular blog that links to the site has received a record number of death threats.”

Why has this list of only “alleged” war criminals seem to have gotten so many of Israel’s muckety-mucks’ knickers in a twist? Let’s find out. According to Larudee, “The publication of the list of two hundred changes everything. The list contains the names of a few high-ranking officers, but many of those named are in the lower ranks, all the way down to sergeant. The effect is to make ordinary Israelis concerned that they, too, may be subject to arrest abroad, and without the protection that well-connected higher officials might enjoy. They know what they have done, or been ordered to do, or have ordered others to do, and they suspect that they may be held accountable by foreign laws, over which their government has little control.”

And there are other ramifications here too. If Israeli soldiers as a whole can be held accountable by the international community for their actions in Gaza and the West Bank and for agreeing to serve in a trumped-up “war” that is against Geneva Conventions, then perhaps American troops can also be held accountable by the international community for agreeing to serve in those chaotic shambles that Bush, Cheney and Obama so cheerfully call the Afghan and Iraq “wars”.

PPS: World opinion is sometimes like a snake on a cold day. It moves slowly — but it does move. And while most western media has been working its butt off for the past one hundred-odd years to try to make war seem sexy — ever since Kaiser Wilhelm was first portrayed as a Hun back in 1914 — way down below all their continual bombardment by war hype over the past one hundred years, ordinary people everywhere are finally and at last getting truly sick of all this war, war and more war — no matter what the alleged justification for it may be.

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The U.S. Chamber of (Whores for) Commerce

cartoon-chamber-of-whores

November 28, 2010

The Tattlesnake – Things That You’re Liable to Read in the Bible, Part Huh? Edition

“And thou shalt eat it [as] barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.”
– Ezekiel 4:12

Drop another log on the fire, so to speak.

“If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.”
– Deuteronomy 22:22

And yet those pious C Street gentlemen John Ensign and Mark Sanford still walk among us. (I forgot; Old Testament rules only apply to gays.)

“These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among brethren.”
– Proverbs 6:16-19

Has anyone told Fox News?

“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”
– Matthew 6:25

Has anyone told Sarah Palin?

“But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”
– Matthew 5:36-37

Has anyone told Bush – or his ghostwriter?

(more…)

November 26, 2010

San Bruno revisited: A tragedy’s aftermath & a high school reunion

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , — Jane Stillwater @ 2:25 pm

I was totally miserable back when I was in high school — painfully shy, big-breasted at a time before implants, an outsider intimidated by a stupid social stratification system controlled by popular kids and cliques, unhappy at home and lost at school. Back in the 1950s, I was my school’s only beatnik. Hell, back then I was the whole town’s only beatnik. And based on this pathetic back-story, you can probably imagine how much I dreaded going to my 50th class reunion this fall. But I went.

Screwing up my courage, I timidly entered the fancy hotel ballroom where our reunion was held, took one look at the tons of middle-aged people in leisure suits who I didn’t know, panicked completely and spent the next two hours hiding out in the computer room of the hotel’s business center. But then I finally got a grip and went back — and actually ended up having lots of fun hanging out with some members of my old Girl Scout troop. Not so bad after all. Thank you, Liane, Cecilia and Carol Sue!

But what (besides my old Girl Scout troop) really convinced me that this reunion — and even my miserable high school experience from 50 years ago — was actually not all that bad? It was when I considered the alternative. Yes, I could be dead. And, actually, a goodly percentage of my former 1960 classmates already are. Dead.

And even worse things than death could have happened to me too. “Worse things than death? Such as?” you might ask. I could have been horribly burned, maimed or torn limb from limb. “But how?” you might ask. Here’s how.

While I had actually been raised in Millbrae, a highly-conservative San Francisco bedroom community, the high school I attended was physically located in San Bruno — recent scene of one of the worst and most tragic fires in U.S. history, when a gas pipe suddenly exploded and decimated an entire community. Had I remained in the Millbrae-San Bruno area, perhaps I too would have lost all my worldly possessions in that horrible fire — or had major chunks of my skin burned off or been maimed for the rest of my life.

Here I am bitching about a bit of minor discomfort I might have suffered 50 years ago — while just recently many fire victims who lived near my school have just lost their homes, their families, major body parts and even their lives.

But I am proud to say that my Capuchino High School Class of 1960 has just collected over $5,000 to donate to the San Bruno Lions Club relief fund for these suffering families. And in appreciation, the San Bruno fire department recently hosted a dinner for some of our class members. We got to eat in the firehouse kitchen, take a tour of the “Fighting 51″ engine company’s firefighting equipment and were even given the opportunity to slide down the firehouse pole — yeah like I could actually do that kind of stuff any more.

“What was it like at the firehouse when you first got the 911 call?” I asked a fireman as he served me a generous helping of mashed potatoes and gravy.

“At first we thought a plane had crashed up there but then the fire burned too clearly to be caused by a crash. And the heat was intense. All we could do was encircle the fire, fight back the spreading fingers of flames, try to contain it and call in for backup — which we did. We had firefighters coming here to help all the way from Eureka.”

And now, three months later, these very same San Bruno firefighters were cooking us lamb chops and serving us dessert. I felt so honored.

“What’s happening up there at the site now?” I asked next.

“Eight people died from the fire and 37 were injured. And two of the survivors are still in hospital burn units,” he replied. Sigh. “And PG&E is currently trying to buy up the empty lots in that area and some of the residents are now trying to rebuild. However, some of the streets in that area are still closed and the crater caused by the explosion is still just a gaping hole in the ground.”

Most of the rest of the world has already pretty much forgotten the San Bruno catastrophe and moved on after just a few short months — on to the next media circus such as who was able to buy the most stuff on Black Friday. But for these heroic San Bruno firefighters who stood their ground against Hell itself, the memory of that tragic day will forever be engraved into their minds, hearts and souls.

I learned a lot at the “Fighting 51″ firehouse that night. I learned that the firefighters were really good cooks, that there are firewomen in San Bruno as well as firemen, and that it is time for me to stop whining and sniveling about how hard I had it back in high school. I have been one of the lucky ones. I too could have been dead — or scarred for life.

“When’s the next reunion!” I cried.

PS: Donations to fire victims can still be sent, care of the San Bruno Lions Club, P.O. Box 242, San Bruno, CA. 94066. Please write the word “Fire” in the memo section of your check. All money received will go directly to the fire victims.

Although mostly forgotten by the media in just a few short months, the victims and survivors of this tragedy still need all the help they can get.

PPS: Please bear in mind that many parts of Iraq and Afghanistan still look pretty much like this burned-out section of San Bruno, with new fires and explosions happening there every single day — no matter how many times George W. Bush tries to sugar-coat his actions on the Jay Leno show.

I know that I am lucky that I didn’t get caught in the San Bruno maelstrom. But do all of us Americans know how REALLY lucky we are that we don’t live in some war-torn country such as Afghanistan and Iraq, where terrible tragedy and horrendous damage like what happened in San Bruno is just another part of day-to-day life.

****
Wanna tour Afghanistan and/or Iraq? Here are the best ways to do it:

Afghans4Tommow has a wonderful program to help rebuild Afghanistan — you could donate to that too. And they also have a secure guesthouse in Kabul you could stay at, including meals, for $50 a night.
http://www.afghans4tomorrow.org/default.asp

Global Exchange is offering an outstanding package tour of Kabul in March 2011: http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/1078.html

Hinterland Travel can show you the historical sites and artifacts of Iraq, including the National Museum, Babylon and Ur: http://www.hinterlandtravel.com/

****

To see photos from the reunion and the firehouse, click here: http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2010/11/san-bruno-revisited-tragedys-aftermath.html

121_1760

The Tattlesnake – Thank God They’re a Small Minority Edition

“It’s plain hokum. If you can’t convince ‘em, confuse ‘em. It’s an old political trick.”
– Harry S Truman

Your Tattlesnake has had running arguments with various Teabaggers and Tea Party sympathizers for many months now and they all share the same tactic: Should you ask a question they can’t answer or make a point they can’t refute, they start screaming at you or rudely talking over you, as if the volume of their voice can eradicate reality and reason. This leads not to debate, but confrontation, and that seems to be what they want.

Beyond that, exactly how do you ‘debate’ people who insist:

– There are no racists in the Tea Party movement;

– It’s Obama and not George W. Bush who started the TARP bailouts of the banks and Wall Street;

– The terrible economy is exclusively the fault of Obama and his liberal social programs;

– All of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s social programs were complete failures;

– Social Security, Medicare, the VA and the GI Bill were/are not liberal social programs;

– Obama has raised taxes for the poor and middle-class;

– Obama is a Muslim/socialist/communist (take your pick) plotting the downfall of the US backed by George Soros’ money (and Soros was a teenage Nazi, too, incidentally);

– Rupert Murdoch is completely different from Soros, since he’s a loyal, patriotic American (Murdoch is, of course, from Australia);

– Obama was not born in this country and the ‘liberal media’ is hiding the truth;

– Sarah Palin has been shunned by the ‘lamestream’ media, despite the millions she’s made from doting MSM coverage of her;

– God has personally chosen the Tea Party candidates and opposition candidates are all the pawns of Satan;

– The only economic system God approves of is free market capitalism (you can look it up — it’s in the Bible somewhere);

– Jesus endorsed the death penalty; it’s obvious because he – duh – allowed himself to die on the cross;

– Liberals, not big corporations, are sending American jobs overseas to Communist countries like China in a conspiracy to position China to take over the U.S.;

(more…)

November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

Filed under: Opinion,Toon — Tags: , , , — RS Janes @ 5:17 am

cartoon-tday-2010

Lotsa ‘Splainin’ 2 Do: Trying to kick the schadenfreude habit, but backsliding from time to time.

Filed under: Commentary — Peregrin @ 4:07 am

Schadenfreude is the pleasure one feels at the misfortune of others. I consider it a trait for a poorly evolved person, so let me say this about Tom DeLay being found guilty.

OOOK OOOK OOK AAH AHH AAAAHHH!

Lotsa ‘Splainin’ 2 Do: Trying to kick the schadenfreude habit, but backsliding from time to time..

November 24, 2010

The Tattlesnake — Thanksgiving Prattle: Tortured Rhymes For Tortured Times Edition

Filed under: Commentary,Quote — Tags: , , , — RS Janes @ 5:54 pm

Tortured Rhymes For Tortured Times

The horrible thing
That is spring
Gives way to summer -
Bummer!
And fall -
The word says it all -
And then the wonderful
Cold kick of winter
Which is like
Finding your stocking stuffed
With a burned-out cinder.
On Thanksgiving we
Give thanks to a
Thing unknown for
All we’ve been given -
Life, health, some wealth,
And a broadminded cynicism.
But when Bird Day arrives
We’re still murky about
Who’s the real turkey,
Readying for the season of
Cheery humbug bah,
Thee, he, she, them, it,
Or – ahem — moi?

(End)

© 2010 RS Janes. LTSaloon.org.

TSA gone wild and National Opt Out Day spur heated public debate

Filed under: Uncategorized — Greg in cheeseland @ 4:01 pm

Author’s note: The National Opt Out Day appears to be causing no problems, which may say something about the docility of Americans. In fact, the only reason this issue may be getting media attention is because of a lot of media employees travel frequently and a few have been subjected to the searches. The article contains a video that is a compilation of media stories about the worst of the TSA abuses. I encourage you to check it out before you decide which side of this issue you are on.

Excerpt:
The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) newly-implemented enhanced search procedure is making headlines on the busiest travel day of the year and has spurred a national debate. Accounts of air travelers who have felt humiliated by airport screeners have been reported by mainstream media and have gone viral on the internet (see video).

On one side of the debate are those who feel that it is necessary to tolerate a “minor inconvenience” for safety and security. On the other hand, there are those who feel that the procedures are a health risk, an invasion of privacy, and an infringement of civil liberties that have little or no benefit in terms of flight security.

Officials say the procedures are necessary to ward off terror attacks like the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound plane last Christmas by a Nigerian man who stashed explosives in his underwear. The TSA says the scans emit very low radiation and aren’t a health risk. “It’s all about security,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said. “It’s all about everybody recognizing their role.”

Many who oppose the new procedures say that security is not the issue. Scientists and physicians have warned that the scanners may cause cancer. A group of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) raised concerns about the “potential serious health risks” from the scanners in a letter sent to the White House Office of Science and Technology in April. “While the dose would be safe if it were distributed throughout the volume of the entire body, the dose to the skin may be dangerously high,” they wrote. Dr Michael Love, who runs an X-ray lab at the department of biophysics and biophysical chemistry at Johns Hopkins University school of medicine, said to Agence France Presse that “they say the risk is minimal, but statistically someone is going to get skin cancer from these X-rays.” Ironically, those most at risk are TSA employees, since they are repeatedly exposed to the radiation emitted from the use of these machines.

Kate Hanni, the founder of FlyersRights.org, argues that the scanners and pat downs are a violation of all Americans 4th Amendment rights against unreasonable search. Hanni also told the Huffington Post that former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff ‘s security consulting firm, The Chertoff Group, benefits from the sale of the scanners because they have helped Rapiscan – the manufacturer of the machines, navigate the government procurement process.

Reps. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Ted Poe (R-TX) seem to agree with Hanni’s assessment. Both introduced legislation and blasted Chertoff and the TSA on the House floor last week. “Michael Chertoff!” Paul exclaimed, “I mean, here’s the guy who was the head of the TSA, selling the equipment. And the equipment’s questionable. We don’t even know if it works, and it may well be dangerous to our health.” Rep. Poe claimed that Chertoff gave interviews touting the scanners while “getting paid” to sell them. “There is no evidence these new body scanners make us more secure. But there is evidence that former Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff made money hawking these full body scanners.”

Some go as far as to argue that the scanners are ineffective and actually make air travelers less secure. Rafi Sela, a leading Israeli airport security expert, told the Canadian Parliament, “I don’t know why everybody is running to buy these expensive and useless machines. I can overcome the body scanners with enough explosives to bring down a Boeing 747. That’s why we haven’t put them in our airport,” Sela said, referring to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, which has some of the toughest security in the world.

According to the UK Daily Mail, Tory MP Ben Wallace, who worked on the scanners at defense research organization QinetiQ before entering Parliament in 2005, said the machines would not have detected the type of explosives that “underwear” bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab used in trying to mount his attack on Christmas Day. Alert passengers stopped the underwear bomber, the shoe bomber and stopped an airplane from striking the white house on September 11. If air travelers are lulled into a false sense of security, it can be argued that they may be less alert.

Read more, get links and video here: Orlando Independent Examiner

Protest the TSA: Go naked!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , — Jane Stillwater @ 11:24 am

If the TSA really wants to see us naked that badly, let’s just help them along. The next time you go through airport security and they tell you that in order to be allowed on your flight, you MUST let them either pat you down intimately or view your “junk in the trunk” on the screen, be supportive of their demands in an even more efficient manner — just strip off all your clothes!

I’m thinking that nothing will make the TSA re-think its new barbaric strip-search-by-proxy procedure than the sight of hundreds of old guys and fat ladies standing around a big airport naked.

And while we’re on the subject of protests, I just read where many Europeans are planning to pull all of their savings out of EU banks on December 7, 2010 — in protest of how banks there have been routinely using and abusing their customers for fun and profit. We could do that here too — and put our savings into credit unions instead. Credit unions do what banks are SUPPOSED to do, but without screwing us over.

PS: It’s probably not a good idea to withdraw your money from a bank while naked however — if for no other reason than that America’s top ten big-box banks have already striped many of us of everything already.

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November 22, 2010

Ye Olde Scribe Presents: A “Love” Poem for TSA

Filed under: Uncategorized — Ye Olde Scribe @ 9:10 am

“What’s not to love? Except EVERYTHING.”

tsa_logo

A “Love” Poem for TSA

Where might they put a bomb?
Can we figure that?
Maybe in a hat
Maybe in their caged cat
Can we gut people who are fat?
(more…)

Thank a Republican in Advance!

Filed under: Opinion,Toon — Tags: , , , , , — RS Janes @ 4:15 am

cartoon-gop-thanks

November 21, 2010

The Tattlesnake – Debunking Five Current Media Myths Edition

“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
– George Bernard Shaw

1. The Republicans are going to end earmarks. Ha, ha! Both parties, but especially the GOP, thrive on earmarks – not only does it bring home the bacon, but it’s a nice covert way to reward their corporate sponsors. The typically devious Republicans, with the help of some Blue Dog Dems in the Senate, are just going to change the name to something like ‘help American families add-ons’ or ‘freedom appropriation inserts’ and continue to happily earmark away.

2. The Republican Party is now strong. Another laugher. The GOP had to rebrand as the ‘new Tea Party GOP’ in 2010 and none of their candidates dared campaign with Junior Bush. In TV ads, many GOP candidates did not even mention they were Republicans. Rand Paul, the only true Teabagger in the Senate, is now making noises like a “go along to get along” guy, and various naïve Teabaggers in the House, like the anti-government-paid health care dimwit who demanded his government-paid health care ahead of schedule, have begun showing their strong streak of stupid, even before January’s official swearing in. Most of us have noticed it’s not the mid-90s anymore, with the booming economy of the Clinton years, except for Republicans like Rep. Darrell Issa. Tying the House up in endless attempts to impeach Obama is not going to endear the GOP to a crumbling nation dealing with what is really the second Great Depression. And some of the Teabaggers may be gravely offended to discover that the GOP has been lying to them. It’s going to be a fractious two years in Congress that won’t come out well for the GOP in 2012.

3. The Republicans have a plan to restore jobs. Related to the item above, and every bit as hilarious, the GOP has nothing except ‘tax cuts’ (spin and repeat, ad nauseum), and that isn’t going to create any jobs except at corporate PR firms trying to peddle the fraud that tax cuts are working to create jobs, and that’s not nearly enough to refloat the fast-sinking economy. As the fading middle-class notices its nails are ripping off trying to hang on to what they have left, brand ‘Tea Party Republican’ will become a political curse as loaded with negative connotations as ‘Communist’ or ‘Cheney’ is today.

4. The Republicans can balance the budget. The GOP hasn’t been able to balance the federal budget since Reagan took office, and without Clinton-inspired tax hikes and a few turns by Big Bill, there wouldn’t have been a surplus in 2000. Since the GOP doesn’t want to end two over-priced wars from which their corporate supporters are getting wealthier, truly reform our wastefully expensive health care system, remove corporate tax loopholes, separate commercial and investment banks, and cut the defense budget drastically, that leaves social spending like Social Security and Medicare on the block. The unvarnished truth: Even if the GOP junked all federal social programs, which they won’t be able to do, they still wouldn’t be able to balance the budget. In fact, with their tax cuts for the wealthy of prime importance, along with preserving corporate tax loopholes, they’ll be adding another trillion dollars to the debt. They’ll remain the ‘put it on the credit card and blame the Democrats’ party they’ve been for 30 years.

5. The Democrats lost because they went too far left. Au contraire, mon frere, as George Carlin used to say. Think of it: In spite of the corporate millions that poured into the Senate race in Nevada, the GOP couldn’t score what should have been an easy victory. In California, progressive and GOP target Barbara Boxer prevailed, and the Tea Party proved its basic worthlessness in the “I’m not a witch” fiasco that was Christine O’Donnell in Delaware. Only in those areas of the country dominated by Fox News and AM radio right-wing talkers, and not much counter-balancing local media, where the Teabaggers could work without serious scrutiny, did they score wins, mostly against Blue Dog Dems. The reason a lot of Dems stayed home in 2010 is that they were tired of voting for progressive Democrats and getting Republican Lite. Obama and the Dems should listen to the wisdom of Harry Truman, a Democrat who prevailed during a bad time for Dems in the late 1940s, “Given the choice between a Republican and a Democrat who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican every time.”

Obama and the Dems might also heed this advice from Give ‘Em Hell Harry: “Carry the battle to them. Don’t let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don’t ever apologize for anything.”

But let’s not expect too much.

© 2010 RS Janes. LTSaloon.org.

November 20, 2010

YOS Presents: Another Quote from the Quote Goat

Filed under: Uncategorized — Ye Olde Scribe @ 9:58 am

cool-cartoon-24047361

Poster jaapdenhaan commenting on the possibility of a Palin presidency @ guardian.co.uk-

The fulfillment of the Maya prophecy.

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