September 11, 2010 archive

The Fear Campaign being waged for Oil Industry Independence

There is a battle going on for the hearts and minds of Americans, regarding our Energy Future.

Given the well-funded nature of this Ad Campaign — we probably shouldn’t expect any changes in our “Energy Economics” Future, anytime soon.

The Breaking Point

from AmericanSolutions  188 Videos



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

“Stop the National Energy Tax.”

 — Paid for by American Solutions for Winning the Future.

Who or What is ASWF ???

Sounds harmless, enough …

First Rule of effective Public Relations Branding:

Do No Harm … and sound innocuous.

Obama may soon be the most “Liberal” figure in government!

Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll give you a minute to unbunch your undies.

……….

But with the sliding scale of Liberalism turning into the proverbial slippery slope….and the polls as they are….

Think about it….if the Repubs win the House, what will the reaction of the Congressional Dems be?

The same reaction they have upon waking up each morning….to move to the Right.

So as un-Liberal as Obama obviously is…and….

So other than a few ‘nuts’ like Kucinich…(who do such nutty stuff as suggesting we change things that are obviously NOT working)

Who would be more Liberal than, lol, Obama?

Not Reid, hell not anyone in the Senate, since Feingold, like the rest of us, have pretty much given up on rolling back the death of the Constitution. Maybe Franken?

We do have a few stalwarts in the House, in the Progressive Caucus. But of course the HIR fight showed just how tough and effective they are. They gave up their voice, their effectiveness and their power when they caved on the Public Option Holdout…and it is doubtful they will get it back.

So that leaves, LOL, Nancy “off the table” Pelosi and a few stalwarts….surrounded by people who have to start campaigning again right after this campaign ends….who will undoubtedly take the lesson of losing the House as telling them that they too have to move to the Right to win.

Sigh.

Times are tough when a guy who actively rejects the Liberal label is the, or at least one of the, most Liberal figures in government.

Let’s Hope the nihilists are right….I guess….and that if things DO get bad enough, The People will start to get radicalized.

Because despite the fact the “The Republicans will be worse” meme is a fear tactic talking point of the Obamacrats…it is also correct. And maybe that IS what it will take to break us out of the path we are on now. “Allowing” the Repubs to destroy what little Liberalism there is left in the government of the good old USA and intimidate the spineless Dems even further down the path to the Right. A path that makes lemmings look like fucking geniuses.

The current Republicans are perhaps the most hated political party in the history of the US. And this batch of democrats apparently can’t even summon enough substance or guts to beat these hated, lying, idiot, corrupt, torturers.

We need a miracle.

Either an immediate miracle of the Dems actually DOING something to turn this election around…or a long term miracle of a vast awakening by the American People, spurred by the Repubs gaining power, shutting down government and impeaching Obama, that will cause them to stir from slumber.

A slumber that…and this is just an amazingly absurd indictment of America as a whole, actually moves them to put Republicans back into any kind of power, just two short years after Bush.

Truly Amazing. Just how bad do you have to screw the pooch to have THAT happen? THAT is just exactly how pathetic these Dems are. They are actually going to LOSE to THESE Republicans.

Which, sigh, will just move the Dems….you guessed it…..even further to the Right. Making Obama look like, ONLY BY COMPARISON, some sort of flaming Liberal, even as he tries to prop up and save The Crumbling American Empire.

Wow, I am just flabbergasted at the thought.

What the hell do we do now?

Washington Dysfunction Has Deep Roots

Across the board frustration at Washington, DC, will characterize this November’s elections.  The question on the minds of many is why, despite the promises to the contrary, nothing gets done and the situation gets worse and worse with every passing year.  To answer this question, one first needs to examine Washington culture in detail.  To begin, it is insular, frequently secretive, and suspicious of outsiders.  Capitol Hill dictates a more or less common mindset among everyone who lives here.  And, in all fairness, one really needs to get involved on the inside to totally understand its riddles.  I firmly believe that reform is possible, but, on the difficult matter of a solution, the analogy I always use is that of the Gordian Knot of Greek mythology.  This was an impossibly entwined knot that was eventually undone by a bold stroke of the sword, rather than through a probably hopeless desire to devote hour upon hour in the hopes of eventually untying it.    

Open Park

Photobucket

Al Qaeda Hates Our Soil!

KAPOW!2

On September 11, 2001, Islamist suicide-commandos crashed an airliner into the green fields of Shanksville, Pennsylvania, because they hate our soil!

But two more airliners aimed at the soil of Central Park accidentally crashed into the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan…

KAPOW!

And yet another incompetent terror-pilot, aiming at the Potomac (because they hate our water!) crashed into the Pentagon instead.

KAPOW!3

So al Qaeda’s real intentions were obscured by a flood of sensational images from the Pentagon and World Trade Center, and 9/11 was almost universally misinterpreted as an attack against militarism and globalization.

The Meaning(s) of Music:


There’s music and there’s music.  I started out being a big fan of classical music as a preteen, most notably Mozart’s  Symphony No. #41, and Brahm’s First Symphony, both of which I’d listen to over and over again, whenever I had the opportunity.  Another favorite record of mine was The Red Army, which were a whole bunch of sad songs, sung in Russian, which I’ve never understood, but I loved the tunes and voices nonetheless, while failing to understand the meaning of the songs. That record, too, was another record that I’d play over and over again.  When my mom and I would drive somewhere, I’d always want her to put on the car radio, so that I could listen to the classical music coming over the radio.  Another record, called “Absolute Nonsense” by Oscar Brand, was another favorite of mine, which I brought to school one day in the third grade and played it for my class, evoking much laughter from most of my classmates.   My dad was always a big fan of jazz, especially Dixieland, and the likes of Gene Krupa and Benny Goodman, which  he’d put on full blast on Sunday mornings.  Since I never liked jazz, I could never, ever get into it.  

Then came the late 1950’s and the early to mid 1960’s, when the rock-n-roll scene began to grip the country.  The first rock-n-roll I heard was back in the summer of 1962, when I attended day camp out west for six weeks.  The Four Season’s  “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, and the songs “Davy Crocket”,  “Johnny get Angry”, and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence”, all of which I found moving.  In 1963,  folk singers such as Peter, Paul & Mary, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, along with Pete Seeger and the Weavers were also on the  general music scene, although the Weavers were a favorite thing to listen to in our household even before the other afore-mentioned folksingers came along.  Since the early to mid 1960’s also issued in the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement,  much of the folk music back then also had special meaning.  Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in  the Wind” also had an intense meaning–it was about the civil rights movement, which meant  “The answer is coming”.   I ‘ve always loved Peter, Paul & Mary’s rendition of that song, and still do.  The Weaver’s rendition of “Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd”, also has a special meaning, as it is about African slaves attempting  escape to the North for freedom via t he Underground railroad.  This particular song tells a story about how slaves traveled by night en route tNorth, and the Drinking Gourd was the Big Dipper.  The phrase

“for the old man is awaiting’ for to carry you to freedom”

, meant the North Star, which was at top of the Big Dipper, or the drinking gourd, as it was slangily called, was pointing to the direction of freedom–North.  It was a fitting name–and necessary to protect the escaping slaves from torture by sadistic  Southern white plantation masters,  who, fortunately for the slaves,  were not aware of what they were singing.  Although I was still too young to really understand the meaning of much of this music when it was first out, I became more aware of it when I got older.

Fast forward to the spring of 1964, when my sister and I were visiting relatives  then residing in a neighboring town from the initial  skepticism as a young seventh-grader, I watched the Beatles along with everybody else, and was charmed and impressed by the music.  The Beatles were in vogue during those years, and everybody had Beatles Albums, wrote “The Beatles” on notebooks and clipboards, and sang their songs on the buses to and from school every day.   Despite warnings by my mom that the Beatles would corrupt my taste in music, I listened to the Beatles and other rock-n-roll anyway.  For a time, she may have been right, but when I was well into adulthood, I began to understand the meaning of songs and to expand my tastes a bit more. At the height of Beatlemania, there were even Beatles cards, Beatles wallpaper, and Beatle sneakers, but my younger sister created her own on a pair of white sneakers.  Beatlemania continued throughout the mid-1960’s, although other rock groups, such as Herman’s Hermits, Dave Clark Five, and many other rock groups began to edge their way in.  Elvis Presley, long a big 1950’s icon for teens during that period, began to evolve with a new style during the rock-n-roll era.    Then came t he late 1960’s, with the advent of more psychedelic music, often, though not always, related to LSD trips and experimenting with other drugs, and t he Flower Children era.  Scott McKenzie’s famous song “San Francisco” was a good example of what was beginning, and was clearly about the Summer of Love in San Francisco’s Height-Ashbury section in 1967.  Aretha Franklin also became prominent with her song,  “Respect”, which demanded, as the song said., respect.  The Seeker’s “Georgy Girl”, a theme song from the movie, was about an ugly, gawky-looking girl who  is constantly excluded from parties and datings, while her beautiful-looking roommate is always partying, dating and having an active social life.  Later, Georgie’s turn comes, after she shyly and slowly makes changes in her dress and appearance.

Docudharma Times Saturday September 11




Sturday’s Headlines:

Robert Fisk: Nine years, two wars, hundreds of thousands dead – and nothing learnt

Saturn’s moons team up

USA

US faces ‘Americanisation’ of terror threat

Pastor Terry Jones’s Koran-burning threat started with a tweet

Europe

Medvedev defends Russian progress on path to democracy

Middle East

Settlers vow to keep on building – at any cost

Obama has urged Netanyahu to extend partial construction freeze

Asia

The Karzai empire, villas in Dubai and fears over Afghan aid

Malaysia’s forgotten, forgiven 9/11 history

Africa

Mozambique govt suspends SMSes

Guinea poll chief guilty of fraud

Latin America

Salvadoran leader speaks of criminal gangs’ links to drug cartels

Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin

The King and Queen of Republican Fear Mongering and Racism  

Burn The Ballot 2010

(link to event on Facebook)

Photobucket

NO ONE is Representing “We The People” anymore. If you are tired of choosing between the lesser of the two evils, tired of being Promised “Change” and having none…. Join in our Protest.

The brainchild of Diane Gee, Burn the Ballot 2010 Day is a way to do our Civic Duty: Employ our Free Speech to show that we feel disenfranchised, show that we demand Elections, not Selections, show that we want The People to be represented, not …Wall Street, not Insurance Companies and Big Pharma, not the Corporate Donors padding our Federal Employee’s wallets.

Write your Local Paper, and tell them of your intent to protest. Then grab your video cameras, and walk out with your Ballot, and calmly (and safely) light it on fire. Should conditions prohibit safe burning, tear your ballot up, but be sure to get it on film.

It is of utmost importance that we do this with the safety of all surrounding people and structures in mind.

Until our voices are heard, reckoned with, we must show up, and show that we will not go quietly into Poverty and Despair.

One talking point could be the suggestion that all Ballots MUST have a “None of the Above” option. Should the Majority of Voters choose that option, then the election must be held again, with NEW candidates.

We can continue negating elections until we are given choices that truly represent us.

Our momentum from 2008 must mean something. Our hopes were betrayed, but our will is still strong. No war, more infrastructure, economic relief, national health care, the restoration of our privacy, transparent government and campaign finance reform.

Burning your Ballot is a Mandate.

We still want CHANGE.



(this post may be refined as ideas are generated by the People it is intended to serve)

Open Question: What Points should a DUMP OBAMA Manifesto make? Me: CALL FOR LEADERS WITH BACKBONE

The fertile mind of Jeff Roby has lately come to openly ruminate about a DUMP OBAMA movement. This diary poses the open question as to what main points a DUMP OBAMA manifesto should make. What should a 5 minute elevator speech sound like? If you casually mentioned to a co-worker that you joined a DUMP OBAMA movement, and they asked you “Why?” or “What’s that about?”, what would you want to say?

One suggestion by yours truly below the flip.

Late Night Karaoke

Random Japan

BRAVE NEW WORLD

A survey of 300 Japanese iPad users by research company Macromill Inc. found that 20 percent of them had digitized their own books.

The editors at the Oxford English Dictionary added the word hikikomori to the reference work’s third edition.

An agriculture ministry survey found that the number of people who became farmers last year shot up by some 11 percent, as did the number of people taking over farms from elderly relatives.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have found that beni-zuwaigani crabs like to cluster around sea vents that emit a compound called methane hydrate. The researchers added that this substance is “a possible next-generation fuel that has a sherbet-like consistency.”

West Side Story: My Own Synopsis:

   Loosely based on the renowned Shakespeare play, “Romeo & Juliet”, West Side Story is set on the pulsating, finger-snapping  West Side of 1950’s/1960’s New York City.  It is a beautiful movie-musical involving love and romance that develops amid conflict between two warring NYC street gangs:  the white ethnic American Jets and the newly-arrived Puerto Rican Sharks.  Determined to drive the Sharks off of their turf, the Jets claim and stake out their territory with a tough, macho bravado, especially with the Prologue and the Jet Song.  The Sharks, on the other hand, are also determined to have a piece of the small piece of turf that both  gangs have to share.  A melee between the Sharks and the Jets erupts on the playground, only to be broken up by Lt. Schrank and Ofcr.  Krupke.  Meanwhile, Tony, who was once the Jets gang leader, who is looking for something other than gang life and the streets but doesn’t know what he’s looking for, has been hired to work full time at Doc’s Candy Store.  Although the elderly, kindly Doc  attempts to be a mentor to the kids, there’s no avail.  

The Jets, now back on their turf, are now debating what to do,, and  ultimately decide to challenge Bernardo, the Shark gang leader, to a rumble.    When the subject comes up about taking a lieutenant, Riff decides to call on his old friend and ex-Jets leader Tony, to  help out.  Riff then goes to the Doc’s Candy Store to try to enlist Tony’s help.  After Tony has turned Riff down several times,  Riff suggests that Tony come to the dance that they’re holding that night, pursuading him with  “Who knows?  Maybe what you’re waiting’ for will be twitchin’ at the dance tonight. ”  Reluctantly, Tony agrees to meet Riff and the rest of the Jets at the Gym  at ten.  At the dance, Tony and Maria meet and fall in love., and the sparks really  begin to fly.  Tensions and hostilities between the Jets & Sharks, which have been steadily rising, now escalate sharply.

Maria, the sister of the Shark gang leader, Bernardo, is an attractive 17-year-old girl who has been brought to America in order to marry Bernardo’s friend and right-hand man, Chino, who works as an assistant.   At the bridal shop where Maria and her girlfriend, Anita, (who’s also Bernardo’s girlfriend, btw) work as seamstresses, Anita  has been altering an old white communion dress for Maria to wear to the dance.   Despite Maria’s demands that the neck be lowered, and her complaints that she’ll be the only one in a white dress,  Anita stands fast and continues with her work, despite Maria’s attempts to distract her by talking about other things.  Despite the small dispute, Maria tries on the white dress, loves it, and is enthused about coming to the dance, and the Sharks finally come to call.

That night, at the dance,  Glad Hand, the social worker attempts to have the Jets and Sharks do a “get-together” dance.  It fails miserably.  The Sharks and Jets each go off with their own kind, and the Dance ultimately becomes a fierce competition between the Jets and the Sharks.  Later, Tony, who has arrived and been greeted and embraced by his old friend Riff and his girlfriend, Graziella, sees Bernardo’s sister, Maria from across the room.   Tony and Maria ultimately meet, fall in love, and begin dancing together.  They are broken up by an enraged Bernardo, who orders Chino to take Maria home despite protests that it is her first dance.  At this point,  Tony’s old friend, Riff intervenes and  insists that he, the Jets and Bernardo and the Sharks meet at Doc’s Candy Store at midnight for a war council, to which Bernardo agrees.

Load more