Why not?

Isn't it time for our President to start naming names and pointing directly at those Republicans that are lying? He should just say it...Mitt Romney (pause) is a liar. Ryan (pause) is a liar! Now say it again and again through all of the speeches and as a topper, ask directly for an apology!This is not politics as usual; the Republicans have declared war on the truth because they know if it's said often enough, it will become "truth" to the masses of uninformed. The masses that hate the thought of a black man in the White House.

Wooden, but Wishful -

From the - NYTimes.com:
 "Neil Newhouse, a Romney pollster, recently explained that “we’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers.” Or the facts themselves, obviously."

'via Blog this'

Day two?

Day 2 of the RNC has passed and we still don't know anything about that empty suit named Mitt. We do know that his wife stands beside him in her own empty suit. What did she say? Important? And that was followed by the disgrace that calls himself governor of New Jersey. Again, emptiness. Devoid of any meaning. The standard lies were repeated as expected and that was that...

I'm not sure I can take much more of this... I need to get my brushes and paint.

Study: Right twists facts

Something we already knew

Obama In 'Impossible Bind' Over Donors

Jane Mayer: Obama In 'Impossible Bind' Over Donors : NPR:

Have you ever wondered just what it would cost to 'own' this country? I think we're about to find out. Unless you help...


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Another why?

Why is Romney touted as the man with "business experience"? He identifies himself with all of the small business owners; he's one of them! Yet the man has never run a business that produced anything. He's never had to face a payroll. He was a 'consultant' for a few years after college and then went into the company acquisition business with Bain Capital. He never produced anything and never got his hands dirty. He's a fraud.

Why?

Why do so many people think that the Keystone pipeline project is all about bringing oil and jobs to the USA? In some small way that is true. The oil will travel through the heartland of the USA on its way to a refinery in Texas where it will be made into gasoline that will then depart our shores on a supertanker bound for China. China is the Canadian company's customer for this gasoline. There will be some jobs created; mainly to build the pipeline and when that is complete, the jobs are gone. The Canadians were prepared to build that pipeline to British Columbia if we hadn't caved in. Building a pipeline to the Gulf coast is cheaper than building one to the Pacific.

From Guernica

How Nonprofits Spend Millions on Elections and Call it Public Welfare - Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics:

Who knew that the "501(c)(4) " could be used this way? It surprised me. And the $$$ numbers are astounding. Class warfare? Yes, and guess who started it. The very wealthy are in full attack to buy this Presidency and make this their nation.



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Akin the science major

This is from the LA Times... "So what's so scary about Todd Akin? It's that he currently sits on the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology", which oversees federal spending on non-defense-related research. This is not the kind of post for someone who thinks pregnancy can be suppressed by women's bodies. He also sits on the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, which is not the ideal assignment for a guy who thinks that climate change, if it's happening at all, is probably a result of solar flares. This is, of course, the House the tea party built. Unless voters put a stop to this anti-science movement, the Senate could soon go the same way. Now that's a nightmare."

A valid opinion

"ROBERT B. REICH, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including the best sellers “Aftershock" and “The Work of Nations." His latest is an e-book, “Beyond Outrage.” He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause." 

I would say that Mr. Reich has the credentials to have an opinion that bears listening to. Read this post of his (August 20) on why the Ryan/Romney plan would be a disaster for America. Even if you are a Romney fan, Robert Reich deserves to be heard by you. He makes his argument quite clear and doesn't hide anything from you.What do you have to lose by reading this short article? 

ENPLAN Wildfire Viewer

It's another orange morning as the smoke from all of the fires settles into the valley here (Chico). The Chips fire continues to threaten my son-in-laws family cabin in Prattville.

This viewer is a great tool for seeing what's actually happening in the field. The Rush fire is the states largest fire and is close to where we once lived... ENPLAN Wildfire Viewer:

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A quiz

Who was the 43rd President of the United States?

Why don't Republicans remember his name? And all that he did?

Just wondering.

Who believes them? Why?

"Both men have also twisted themselves into knots to distance themselves from previous positions, so that voters can no longer believe anything they say. Last week, both insisted that they would save Medicare by pumping a huge amount of money into the program, a bizarre turnaround for supposed fiscal conservatives out to rein in federal spending."

Read the whole NYT article here... 

What's his name?

Democrats and Progressives (no, they're not the same thing) need to keep Bush's name in the news. He and his policies are the reason for our economic mess. To pretend otherwise is insanity. And our President needs to keep reminding people of that...he needs to say the word 'Bush' in his speeches. No tiptoeing around it. That Republican President threw away a surplus budget and then spent over $3 trillion dollars in the wars he wanted. All while cutting taxes for the wealthy. That can't be debated. And this current candidate and his white bread partner want to use the same tax cutting method while accelerating the growth of the Pentagon war machine. The Reagan/Bush/Romney  'trickle down' method of budgeting has been shown to be a fool's game, as only a fool would believe it works. Why are they telling us it will work this time?

It's obvious that the Republicans know that Bush is their weak spot. He isn't invited to their convention and that's a first! Former Presidents are always invited to speak at their Party conventions. Not this time and that's why Democrats and Progressives need to speak his name every chance they get. He's to blame and he's a Republican. Enough said.

ps don't forget to ask about the tax returns...

Vitriol?

I've been watching and reading the news and I constantly see where Republicans are complaining, loudly, that the Obama campaign is out of control! They talk about the nasty rhetoric that our President uses against the upstanding Mitt. And then I watched a Jon Stewart clip where he reminds the audience, in his oh so subtle way, that the Republicans have an overwhelming edge on the Dem's when it comes to near slander of the President. Do the Dem's have a Rush Limbaugh? How about a Michelle Bachmann type? And there is Sarah Palin with her nasty mouth; the Dem's have no one like that. And how about the Fox network? They can't say 'Fair and Balanced' anymore as every spokesman on the air is trashing the Democrats. Do the Democrats have a TV network to call their own? I know that the Republicans insist that 'The News Media' is left leaning. Oh, if only they were! The news media of today is owned (literally) by the same corporations that are supporting the Right. No reporter wants to rock that boat! and so it goes...the summer and the campaign drone on. But I do feel good about one thing; I donated some money to the Obama campaign. Not a large amount and I may do it again later in the summer. He is gonna need every dollar! There's a dozen billionaires that want to own the Presidency and they are giving plenty to the Mittster.

She's back...

It was so nice to see that Nance was back and posting. Although this one is a repost of hers, it is being posted at just the right time. Give it a read, you will enjoy it.

A choice has been made

I'm not surprised. Those in charge of the Republican Party knew they had to have someone on the ticket to charge up their regressive base. And Mr. Ryan will certainly do that. Let's see; he wants to cut SSI and Medicare before he has them removed altogether.And taxes for the wealthy will decrease under the Ryan Plan and that means the someone else's taxes will have to increase. Duh! It's very much like the Reagan Plan when he took office, and if you will remember, he ended up increasing the taxes and the role of government. But not the taxes on the wealthy. Reagan wasn't going to do anything to hurt his boss's empires. So now Ryan wants to do the same thing and you may notice that everyone is talking about Ryan's Plan and not Romney's. That's because he doesn't have one. He is truly an empty suit. He has nice hair and millions of Mormon votes. And that's all that Ryan needs to fulfill his dream of gutting the government for the benefit of his friends.

With any luck at all, Ryan and his friend will not be elected. Then we can look forward to 4 more years of  venom from the regressive right. Sigh.

I'm still registered as an independent. I'm not a Socialist nor am I a Communist. I like to think that I'm a progressive (without a capitol P). Independent voters are increasing all of the time and that weakens the two parties; a good thing. Imagine a country without the two parties; those in office would have to listen to all of our comments, praises and criticism's. No more being deaf to the pleas of the citizens of the 'wrong' party.

Speaking of Socialism; we already have some of that in our government and it works quite well. I think we could use some more. A more perfect society would contain capitalism and socialism. You can make make money in your ventures but you need to help the widow and the crippled. All those that life has cast aside. How hard could that be if we all did it?

Just the other day...

I was watching the Olympics and there was a break for a human interest spot where people (Brits) were being interviewed and asked what they thought about Americans. One lady responded that she was baffled by the American preoccupation with 'God, Government, and Guns'.The first and last items were self explanatory but she did say that 'here in England we expect government to do things for us and it's quite the opposite in America.' So true. But wrong. Government is supposed to work for us. Thomas Jefferson, though I love his intellect, was dead wrong with his opinion that the wisdom of the 'Yeoman farmer' was enough to govern the land. In the America of 1776 the main industry was agriculture that was supported by slaves. There were only a few million Americans to govern, not over 300 million as we have now. We need government and we should be willing to pay for it because it supports us all. We are the government! Do we really want to go back to 1776 and be responsible only for our ourselves? If you do, you should leave; find yourself an island and move to it. Let us get on with the urgent tasks that our government must do to secure our future.

How very odd...

So, it's Paul Ryan for VP. The rigid Right Wing has decreed that if the Mittster wants their support he will take on Paul Ryan. Now, even as naive as Mitt is, he must know that Paul Ryan is not welcome around any gathering of baby boomers or elders. He is a declared opponent of Medicare and would eliminate it altogether. Ryan only has one theme and that is 'cut'. I think Mitt is in trouble.

The All-American sport

Football. NFL football to be exact. And the NFL and Lenovo have signed an agreement whereby Lenovo will sponsor the NFL and provide all of the great computers that the NFL will need. Lenovo? A very large computer manufacturer from China. You may remember them as the company that bought IBM Thinkpad.

The Chico ER says...

I was reading the local paper this morning and had already finished with the column 'Tell it to the ER', a place where anonymous callers can have their thoughts displayed in print on page 2 of the paper. Naturally, all those with no desire to be identified call in with every kind of lie imaginable. It has always seemed so odd to have such a prominent spot in the paper since you're not allowed to have a 'Letter to the Editor' published anonymously. I moved on to the editorial page and here the editor was raging on about the fact that Senator Reid was not revealing the source for his claim that he had heard that the Mittster had not paid taxes for ten years. The editor was convinced that Reid was lying because he had not named his source, and he used the full content of the column to vilify the Senator. I have a feeling that the editor was silent about the Swiftboating of Kerry and I don't remember this editor getting very upset with the 'birther' folks.

You would hope that the editor would remember some of the lessons from Journalism school and try to remain balanced and neutral while trying to seek out the truth. Nope, not going to happen here...that's how it is in a conservative county within a liberal state.

Another day, another medal

Here we go again. Another full day of Olympics and NBC. Don't get me wrong as I do love the idea of Olympics; the Olympics where the amateur athletes of the world assemble to compete against each other. (Or the clock) I don't like seeing incredibly rich professional athletes wearing gold medals. It makes me want to vomit. And then there is this business of counting the medals won by a country. Excuse me? I didn't see a country competing, I saw athletes competing and the glory belongs solely to them.

Oh, well...it's an old complaint and nothing will change. There simply too much money involved to ever make changes.

On another note; did you see the women's 10,000 meter race? You need to see that race! Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia ran always hanging back in the pack. Then, as final the 6 or 7 laps  came up, she began her move. Soon she was in 4th place and moving forward. As the last two laps began she moved to the front and then, when everyone expected the Nigerians to make a kick, she accelerated and left everyone seconds behind her! I get goose bumps just thinking about the race.

And the next day, it was the men's 10,000 and another thrilling finish. Mo Farah of GB and Galen Rupp of the USA were 1 and 2 in a finish that is giving me those goose bumps again. And to top it off, Mo and Galen have been training partners for the past 18 months while Mo was in Oregon to train under Alberto Salazar.

The best part of the Olympic viewing experience? It's being able to use the Mute button on the remote. Goodbye Costas! You're outta here!

Sail away

Politicians on both sides are blaming the other for the loss of jobs. The 'outsourcing'. Yet it is the American public that is to blame. We want the cheap goods. We buy the cheap goods. And I don't mean cheap in quality, just in price. And with our wallets open every day of the year at stores like Target, KMart and Wal Mart, we guarantee that those jobs will remain outsourced. The largest container ship in the world*, the Emma Maersk, sails across the world from China in just five days and it is loaded with goods for Wal Mart and Wal Mart only. So every two weeks, the Emma Maersk supplies us with the cheapest of goods. And I'm not even counting the hundreds of smaller container ships that are making the same kind of voyage. Those jobs? They sailed away while we wished them Bon Voyage!

ps did you know that both China and India are caught in the same trap? Yes, they are outsourcing jobs to nations that will do the work for less.because their citizens want a better deal. Good luck with that!

*there's probably a larger one by now...

Yippee! Vacation time!

You want to know why the unemployment rate just went up in July? Just ask your Congressman or Senator. Oops! I forgot; they just decided to take a month long vacation. Leaving a Jobs bill behind. I guess they forgot it in the rush to pack their bags...