Obama at the UN

"At the UN, President Obama called on other countries to help us track down and eliminate radicals and extremists. But they told Obama, 'Hey, the Tea Party is your problem buddy' " - Jay Leno.

On Nationalism, A Rebuttal

"A nation is a group of people united by a mistaken view about the past and a hatred of their neighbours." - Karl Deutsch (1912-1992), Czech political and social scientist.

On Nationalism

"A nation is a great solidarity created by the sentiment of the sacrifices which have been made and those which one is prepared to make in the future." - Ernest Renan (1823-1892), French writer, philosopher and political theorist.

Hypocrisy accomplished.

It has been a year since O and his band of Navy Seals took down the tall Arab guy with the long beard. Of course, as is to be expected, Flipper and company do not like to be reminded about it. "Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order". Oh stop it! Flipper is so classless. Just days after the guy (Carter) gives him a compliment, he makes fun of the former President for making a courageous call (albeit a failed one) to save American citizens who were being held hostage in a foreign country.

Republicans are claiming that O is politicizing the killing of OBL and are outraged that an American president would politicize the war on terror. ---That sound you hear is me throwing up. I would like to take you back to the year 2003, and I want you to picture a certain president standing on an aircraft carrier and declaring that our mission in Iraq has been "accomplished".

How about a certain Mayor of a city that was attacked on September 11, 2001? He is a man who actually ran for president and based his entire campaign on his actions during that tragic time in the nation's history? And yet, republicans cry a river over O taking credit for killing OBL. Unbelievable!

But that's republicans for ya. I loved the oped in the Washington Post that I read about them:

"Rep. Allen West, a Florida Republican, was recently captured on video asserting that there are “78 to 81” Democrats in Congress who are members of the Communist Party. Of course, it’s not unusual for some renegade lawmaker from either side of the aisle to say something outrageous. What made West’s comment — right out of the McCarthyite playbook of the 1950s — so striking was the almost complete lack of condemnation from Republican congressional leaders or other major party figures, including the remaining presidential candidates.

It’s not that the GOP leadership agrees with West; it is that such extreme remarks and views are now taken for granted.

We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges." [More] 

Yes, even something as simple as acknowledging the killing of the most wanted terrorist in the world becomes a problem.

This is not "dysfunctional", this is delusional.









        

Big Wages Ensures Best Performance

This is the argument that the sort of people who receive huge salaries and bonuses keep telling us, that they can only attract the best and most able candidates for a job if they are free to pay what they determine that the job is worth. So for the last couple of decades banks and financial institutions have been mostly free to pay their top executives what they will, and it has been a huge amount.

By their own reckoning then, the financiers and merchant bankers must have been able to employ the very best, the absolute cream of the crop, the finest and most astute minds available to the business fraternity. And yet the economy is a staggering shambles lurching from one financial disaster to the next.  How can they continually claim that their salary and bonus scheme argument holds water ? Or is it just the case that if we've got a bowl of rose scented water filled with gold flakes, then it doesn't matter if the rest of you are getting pissed on ?

Trickle Down Dries Up

Trickle down economics, I think that is just another way of saying "We're already quite rich and we'd like to keep it."

If you paid me £210,000 a year as opposed to what I get now then some of that money would trickle down and out into the general economy.  I would dine out more, I would go on more holidays and visit more galleries, museums and other places of interest. I might buy a newer car and other toys, a tablet computer, a new camera, whatever the new 'shiny thing make people happy' consumer item comes on the market. So yes indeed, some other people would see the benefit of my enormous wage.

If however you paid me £30,000 and paid another 6 people £30,000 each, then another 6 people and their families would be doing quite well.  I would think that a higher percentage of that £210,000 would be put into the general economy as seven people spending money are likely to consume more than one wealthy person.

Trickle down economics is therefore largely rubbish. What people need is jobs and a regular wage.

What Did Rick Santorum Almost Say in Janesville? March 27, 2012

Does Santorum call Barack Obama a nigger ? Or am I just hearing things ?

Government Forcing Religion, Freedom of Religion, the Constitution, and the Hypocrisy of the Political Media

President Obama is forcing his Christianity on us!! The media must be Up In Arms. He says we must take money from the rich and give it to the poor, because of the Christian religion's precepts.* (not individually, but the governmental WE.)
Holy Smokes!! 
David Gregory must be licking his chops preparing some Serious Questions about the Fear we are feeling that President Obama is trying to create a theocracy, Forcing us to act with Christian precepts!

david gregory picture

I mean, it's one thing for a person to decide their own behavior, but government mandates?
If i am an atheist, and do not believe in any religious precepts, or if i am simply a selfish person who is doing fine evolutionarily speaking, or simply do not believe in "sharing" or "compassion"--wasn't this government designed for me?
 I thought the constitution allowed people to practice whatever they wanted but does not allow the gov'mint to force me to practice it too.

Is that why thoreau went to jail rather than allow his taxes to be used for something that violated his conscience?



In the middle of the worst economy in memory,
 a coupla wars being fought, american women and men dying overseas, etc., George Stephanopoulos  asked a 2012 primary debate question that left everyone scratching their heads--


Would you ban birth control? or Can States ban birth control or something like that- video here:
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2012/02/22/cnn_debate_audience_not_into_birth_control_question

don't watch tv, it all crazy

from all sides, the story of The Contraception Question was reported as big news
http://m.newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2012/02/24/nbc-birth-control-debate-came-out-nowhere-now-third-rail-politics

the Daily Beast has several articles about it. 

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/raucous-crowds-boo-contraception-cheer-dealth-penalty-gop/story?id=15778733

But it seemed a weird quesiton. Romney cocked his head like a confused dog and indicated that no one was thinking of doing it, and why ask such a question. Then, a few weeks later, comes the insurance mandate to have birth control included in insurance, and the rest is history

Have you stopped beating your wife?

 * here are two instances that President Obama has referenced:

1. To whom much is given, much is expected...

2.   “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,^f you did it to me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”


 more politics HERE and HERE and also here: http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-civility-kill-those-you-disagree.html



So--what is your opinion? Shall our government be one motivated by Christian Principles or Not? Some but not all?
Why do we spend the way we spend, act the way we act, or refrain when we refrain?
Is there really such a thing as love, afterlife, souls, and morality? Or are we really just random bits of flotsam and jetsom mathematically mutating though time?

I'LL NEVER SMILE AGAIN (2012, Prapat Jiwarangsan, art installation, A+30)

http://wtfbangkok.com/index.php/2012/01/13/prapat-jiwarangsan-i%E2%80%99ll-never-smile-again/

This art installation includes a video installation called BURN 19 AUG 2011 (18.5 min, A+/A), but what I like the most in this exhibition is the collaged photo THRONE NO. 1 (A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++).

Forcing Violations of Conscience: Harrison Bergeron, Catholics and Respecting Life (part 1)

"Obama’s Baffling Catholic Decision: Birth Control Trumps Religious Freedom

Feb 7, 2012    The administration claims its decision to force Catholic institutions to pay for insurance covering contraceptives is ‘balanced'—so why, when religious liberty was weighed against access to birth control, did freedom lose?"

war on Christians by Ayaan
Hirsi Ali

So begins an editorial in The Daily Beast today addressing the issue recently shoved into the mainstream by the current U.S. administration: Shall the government interfere with the free exercise of religion?

I always thought this was an interesting topic since one's religion may ask for child sacrifice or multiple wives...

However, for a government to

 specifically require
a person or group to positively commit an act
which the group has long considered immoral seems to go against the modern grain. I know workplaces that now allow for prayer facing towards Mecca 5 times a day. Kosher food is provided for those whose religion proscribes it (newt's smarmy lies regarding a Romney vote notwithstanding). Exemptions from many proscriptions are allowed for the Amish and the native American.

History, tradition, and common sense have played a role in exceptions.

 My silly friend's "Church of the WALNUT" has a Don't Pay Taxes Rule that he will never get enforced...

But history, tradition and common sense are lately Out the Window, if you have not noticed, in a variety of areas.

Here is one fear: 

Eradicating large swaths of culture, religious expression, and tradition can leave us barren as a society.
 Granted, we must continue to improve, groom, evolve, strive. The immoral, such a slavery, ownership of wives, abuse of children, hateful behavior toward groups, etc etc must be replaced by the moral. We move from violence towards nonviolence, from brute force to compassion, from Grudge to Forgiveness.
 But to try to forcefully eliminate ancient cultures' belief systems in the name of modernism is a bullying mistake at best, and a crazy grandiose power-grab which at worst is displayed throughout history in ugly violence we look back on now and examine with shaking heads.

I am reminded
of a Kurt Vonnegut short story about equality, where if memory serves, the beautiful must wear bags over their heads and
the fleet wear weights around their ankles, in order to eliminate individual differences... (Harrison Bergeron--1961

 "THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General..."

But there is a bigger

issue/fear/sadness/factor here:

 the value of life as a
          mystical,
                  sacred, ineffable thing --
espoused by Buddhism, Christianity, and other traditions and religions-- is being lost in a dirty, watery, germy soup of politics, greed, powerlust, materialism and deception. I will express more about this tomorrow in PART II will link HERE

is life sacred? What if they told
you you had to club baby seals?

The Daily Beast column referenced above goes on to make a few points being widely discussed in media, in excerpts here:
"...It’s hard to escape the feeling that the Obama administration is trying to run America’s Catholic charities and institutions out of business. How else to explain the mean-spirited decision mandating that Catholic institutions be required to pay for health insurance that covers sterilization, contraceptives, and the “morning-after pill,” which violates their fundamental religious beliefs?

do you fight for your beliefs?
write letters? boycott? Vote?

... The administration
 took religious liberty, a principle on which our country was founded, weighed it against access to contraception, and somehow in its bizarro math, religious freedom lost.

“The government knows that [most] employer-based insurance plans already cover these services,” Hannah Smith, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, tells me. “So it’s not about expanding contraceptive access. It’s about forcing religious-based organizations to provide this against their beliefs.”
The writer, Kirsten Powers, goes on to say, "I’m not Catholic. I support contraception. But this is madness. The administration wants to remind us of their benevolence: they are giving institutions with religious objections a whole year to implement a government rule that violates the core tenets of their faith. Gee, thanks!

“In effect, the president is saying
 we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told The Washington Post....

The administration has to know this, so why would it force the hand of Catholic institutions that have traditionally filled in the gaps in social services that the government failed to provide? The people who will suffer if they close their doors are the poor, refugees, the homeless, orphans, and the elderly.

Smith points out that the administration has provided exemptions for the Amish and Native American tribes, so why not an exemption for Catholic institutions?

Regardless of how the courts rule, the administration has planted its flag on the wrong side of history on this issue. The government’s disregard for the fundamental right of freedom of religion is chilling and should cause all Americans concern...

 

The Mayflower

Gribble's mayflower and pilgrims

Everything Is Fine

█████████████ ███████████ ███ ████ ███ ████████. ███████████ ████ ████ . █████████████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ██. ███████████ ██████ everything ███ █████ is ██ ████ fine ████ ███ █ ██████ trust █████ ███████ ███ your █████ ████ government.

Favorite Old Songs 125: THE LONESOME DEATH OF HATTIE CARROLL -- Bob Dylan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7h6xAxe_aY

I worship the lyrics of this song.

The real case which inspired this song:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lonesome_Death_of_Hattie_Carroll

If Grown-Ups Were Running the World (Where is the Meta-Prioritizing?) Herod and Khadafy: Twin Sons of Different Mothers? Redux tu

Is anyone else freaked out about the murderous "death" of Muamar Khadafy Moammar Kadafi  ?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/10/23/a-moral-tipping-point-on-gaddafi-s-gory-end.html

 Earthquakes. Hurricanes, TORNADOES. Bombs.

The Japanese disaster of "biblical porportions',

as Glen Ifill called it just now on Washington Week,

should give the humans "running things" a  real chance to show where we are in our Human Development.

That is, by now, here in the enlightened age

 of the two thousand and teens?

...when we are GLUTTED with Wise men all the

Pulitzer Prize Winners running around,

full of Enlightened Opinions, when we have magical technology

and unequalled access to one another; when we can Whip Up a City to host the Olympics, making in spectacular manner the Great Altar to the $port god$, --spare no cost!-if it isn't LOOTED out by then...-surely we are thinking ahead, taking care of everything. Surely our leaders are able to think ahead, help out, prioritize, figure it out, make it happen.

So, in dealing with for example,
1. bombing libya

King Herod

Moammar Kadafi  - Colonel

2. reaction to
 radiation possibilities e.g. worst case scenario:
are the Countries all done preparing the lead or concrete etc sarcophagus sarcophagi that Japan will need in a few days if things go south? 
3. Salt from Japan--
surely Our Leaders are thinking, "what is the larger view?"
"hmmm.. Let'see, OK, in another few days this land or that water; these goods, those structures will be no good due to radiation. so, lets harvest what we can before it is wasted. let's move, keeping ahead of the worst case or any case,  consequences... "Yes?"
Uh
i don't see any evidence of competent long term planning with swift intervention when needed..
if media is evidence,
 the answer is no.
The Media, however, surely are running the show. Give us a human interest story about the Fukushima 50 to make us cry,
 give us their tweets
but don't report.
Don't report-
your job is To Tease.

TV is the Opiate of the Masses.

On a global level, where is the cooperation? If you say, even with a red face, it's suppose to be the United Nations, one bursts into
Laughter that ends in Anger.
 this is the gathering of good men?, the Best, those driven by peace, even self sacrificial men, this is the non-corrupt group, the one that will punish others for being corrupt!-- this is the best, our brightest men and a coupla women in power could come up with?
Don't get me started on the UN.
If one's job was to write a rousing piece about the Glorious United Nations--(you know, insert music from decades ago, that lovely uplifting music that signified a Modern Good United Group that would not allow any bad things to go unaddressed- Swift justice for the Offending Nation: Yay! The U.N.! ----)
See how crazy that sounds! The laughter that ends in Anger.

There is no Meta Prioritizing happening. Where is the Meta Organizing!?

Herod and Kadafy- twin sons of different mothers?

Libya, similarly problematic.
 The time is over, are you KIDDING?
What good is movement to "save the people" after the slaughter? Fucryin out loud.
it is no longer an uprising it has become a civil war. who knows where the violence we now inflict will end?

David Brooks PBS NewsHour acted almost mildly surprised that America used to be country taking the lead and now we are not taking the lead. I think bush did that. Did Brooks forget what the current president ran on? we allow our leaders to do what we want them to do or we don't. Give Voice much to your leaders? Rangel and Brownback, did they get your thanks regarding Darfur? Where?
Everyone who is even partially a reporter wonders, why so late on libya, it might have been better, like, um if we moved during the people's uprising? even a peaceful intervention then might have worked.  I'm no military expert or humanitarian prize winner but,

Things change, things remain the same.

by the way,
A womans body is worth less than a dead rat/
http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/rape-in-congo-womans-body-is-worth-less.html

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Are you your brother's Keeper?

 when we don't intervene on individual levels,

 due to uneasy ambivalence re privacy and walls; the same is manifested when as groups

 we allow a madman

to mow down a bunch of humans because they are

HIS people in HIS country- YiKes! His?

(If his name was Jared Lee Loughner he would have been stopped by now---

The New Civility: Kill Those You Disagree With; Forget a Nonviolent Heart and Be A Badass

"Video Game Allows Players to Slaughter "Tea Party Zombies" Like Sarah Palin and Bill O'Reilly"
-- read and  watch HERE

this is going to get ugly:
http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/politics-is-like-angry-beast-awakening.html

mean spirited political pics: http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/oh-sweet-friday-haugh-to-laugh.html

"In the last few weeks, leading Democrats in Congress have called Tea Party constituents terrorists, said they should go to hell and accused them of wanting to lynch black people. Last weekend, at an event attended by President Obama, the head of the Teamsters Union, Jimmy Hoffa Jr., attacked the Tea Party, screaming, "President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches (Tea Party members) out and give America back to an America where we belong."
Summary: HERE

"There are so many examples from vulgarity to racism Republican congressmen calling Democratic congressmen “Baby Killer”. The list of absolutely awful and distasteful rhetoric seem to have no end. For just a short list of the most recent examples, check out the links below, if you really have the stomach for it. here is no doubt that this violent and disgusting speech coming from the Republicans is doing harm to America not just in making it impossible to resolve our differences of opinions but because it brings outright violence."
summary HERE

http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/blaming-dailykos-sarah-palin-tv-and.html

http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/pictures-of-anne-coulter-michelle-obama.html

What are your issues?

I'm sure the photographer is very very interested in PETA

Just give me Batboy