Thomas Friedman Dreams Of A 'Grand Bargain,' In Which Sentimentality Saves America

My thoughts of Mr. Friedman run from crazy as hell to what a jackass! Really, my ideas after a few rounds of martinis are loads better than the abject silliness he has been promoting for years. Why on earth is that guy taken seriously and why is he paid so much for it?



And yes, I am testy. This kind of garbage makes me angry. Now, print this HP.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tavis Smiley: Obama Is The First President Who Hasn't Invited Me To White House

We are diverted from the fact of depression level unemployme­nt in the black community by the whinings of two grown men about another grown man not paying attention to them. I did not vote for these guys to represent me. I did vote for President Obama. The only point that Tavis and Dr. West have in my opinion is that the President has been very dismissive of the black community and the liberal media. I do not know who the President is listening to but they are giving him some terrible advice. Our community is in grave economic pain we are in regression­. There is no jobs program and a crazy unwillingn­ess to realize that the macro in macroecono­mics is indeed government­. At this point it is government that can pull us from falling further into this economic abyss.
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Recovery Job Growth Concentrated In Low-Paying Occupations

They paid someone to write this? They paid someone to research this?...ta­lk about out of control spending. All they had to do is ask me. I will make much less this year than last. Yet I am grateful to be earning anything since being a middle age black woman almost guarantees that if I lost my job I would not be hired again or if I am so lucky to get a job it surely will be paid significan­tly less than what I earn now. Stupid Congress, greedy rich people, and thank you lazy nonvoters of the 2010 election. Look what you have done to America.
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Senator Ruben Diaz, National Organization For Marriage Protest Gay Marriage In New York (PHOTOS)

It always seem that those that scream the loudest about gays are often self-hatin­g closeted gays. I can never understand how gays marrying affect strait marriages.



What appalls me most is the idea that the majority feels that they should vote on the rights of the minority. Taking in mind what Frederick Douglass said, "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." I do hope that we who believe in freedom will continue to resist those who seek to wrest it from others.
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What Your Favorite Author Says About You

Why no female authors? My favorite authors are: Alice Walker (The Third Life of Grange Copeland), Toni Morrison (Song of Solomon) , JK Rowling (Harry Potter series), Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God and Mules and Men) and Janet Evonovich (Stephanie Plum series). I also like any female detective series and Rick Riordan (mythologi­cal series) and Michael Scott (Nicholas Flammel series).



There's more but this is a pretty good start.
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Debt Ceiling Debate: Obama, Congress Seek Deal As Deficit Crisis Looms (LATEST UPDATES)

How crazy is this? Grown folks who wanted to "serve" the public as our representa­tives are holding our financial lives hostage because they can. My question to the Republican­s is simply this: Why do you h@te America?
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Obama Warns Cantor As Debt Talks Stall: 'Don't Call My Bluff'

First, turn off your cap lock. The United States of America is certainly not broke. The debt ceiling has been raised before without drama when it was Republican­s in the White House. The United States of America has had a debt albeit not as horrible as since Ronald Reagan severely increased the debt during his terms. George W. Bush went from a surplus to addition trillions to the debt. That said, America is not broke in fact we are still the richest country in the world what we do have is a financial industry run amuck killing jobs and two wars.



Obviously you have not a clue as to what would happen if we default on our debts. Not only would we in this country would go into an immediate financial downturn shedding even more jobs we would drag the entire world along for that awful ride.



The way out is a second stimulus, a public works program and increasing the tax rate on the top 2 % and corporatio­ns. What we need to pull out of the recession is revenue! Employed workers pay taxes (revenue). Workers spend money which means companies have more clients buying things that requires them to hire more people to serve them. Those newly hired? Why they pay taxes too so more revenue for treasury. I challenge you to review your history from 1928 to 1940. It also would not hurt to read up on economics too.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Warns Cantor 'Don't Call My Bluff' As Debt Talks Stall

Dang, President Obama is bringing the heat! I confess that he had me scared but like most people my short term political memory is faulty. It seems that I forgot that this is the same guy who got bin Laden (without pre-drama yacking). He has a steady laser beam approach to problems he gets there when the problem is solved. I will remember that. He is patient and I am not. I still think he has a FDR streak in that we his base have the job of providing necessary pressure on him to get things done. I'm happy to do that!

I have no respect for the Republican leadership and see them as the worst hostage taking negotiator­s in history. They do not seem to know what they want except that rich people pay less than their fair share of taxes. Where are the jobs in this? As far as the debt ceiling is concerned the President still has a weapon left with the 14 Amendment Section 4. I think world leaders of rogue states need to have a heads-up look at our President because they need to recognize He-Who-Is-­Tough-And-­Relentless takes no prisoners. Today is a good day. I have high hopes that the President will end the drama. Wall Street is impatient and they are ready to pressure their Republic friends to raise the debt ceiling. Meanwhile, they get nothing but scorn for their trouble. Serves them right!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Mitch McConnell: Democrats Engaging In 'Deliberate Deception' In Debt Ceiling Talks

It is hard to maintain Christian love for such a vile man as Mitch McConnell. He would rather see the American people suffer in order to get rid of President Obama. Jesus said we have to love everyone but he did not say we had to like them. I do not like Mitch McConnell and it is personal. My mother is dying and because she has Medicare she has excellent care. Her life and mine too would be vastly different if we had to use commercial insurance for her care. We would be broke. So Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are very personal programs that I am willing to base my votes on for any politician­. Try to diminish them and you lose my vote. Protect them and I will vote for you. You cannot tackle bigger issues than life and death. All three of those programs touch on that...lif­e and death.



It is high time that the Democrats stood up for core Democratic ideas and programs. This is the opportunit­y for Democrats to not resort to deception but to react to the needs and desires of their constituen­ts and in largesse the constituen­ts of the Republican­s too, who need Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security to survive.



Senator McConnell needs to grow a heart where those dollars signs exist. The Democrats need to stiffen their spines and join Nancy Pelosi in drawing a line in the sand that says...no mas, no more, enough!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads

Good morning fellow Sunday teevee talk shows avoiders! Ma's teevee is set at low so I will not hear MTP. My teevee is off and the world is fine with me. As always, thank you Jason for taking one for the team.



Congratula­tions to the new Republic of South Sudan! Long may you wave and keep the oppressors at bay.



As for the hostage negotiatio­ns, use the 14 Amendment Section 4 and end the drama. Let us pay our bills and make sure that we refrain from dragging the whole world down with us since we have a seditious political party willing to destroy America and everybody else so that they win political points. Let's not reward the Republican­s for their bad behavior. Use the Constituti­on that they claim to love so much and put an end to the debt ceiling mess!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Union-Busting Tactics More Pervasive Than Previously Thought: Study

The movement in this country is an accelerate­d crawl towards serfdom.On­ly through the collective organized mass of workers can we fight back against the insatiable greed of big and some small employers. A fair living wage, decent hours, safe working conditions and respect is worth the most productive workers in the world. Aynn Rand was a novelist. Fiction writer. If we all are un or under employed who will buy the goods and services businesses produce? Serfs have no power. Join a union!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Larry Summers Calls For More Economic Stimulus, Payroll Tax Cuts

The way out is for a second stimulus and a jobs program to happen. We need to focus on retaining present jobs and creating new jobs that do what the WPA did build things like new airports, highways, parks, libraries, college buildings, train stations, trains, clean up the environmen­t, new upgraded infrastruc­ture and things that will make the USA modern and thus competitiv­e with the rest of the developed world. The first stimulus was too small but it did stave off unemployme­nt for a while. What is needed is to reduce the fear factor of looming unemployme­nt and increase personal spending by people being employed. An added benefit that most naysayers do not admit to is the increase in tax revenue that occurs because employed people pay income taxes. Putting people back to work is what at this point only the government can do. Business is flush and sitting on their money watching the economy sink. They have been given everything except the right of indenture servitude and free labor and have provided nothing in return except more layoffs. We need America working and fast. However the Republican­s would rather see failure and misery because the majority of the people are not who they care about too sad they the majority does not seem to get this.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama On Economic Fears: 'Not Concerned About A Double-Dip Recession'

Every single word any US President says that is even remotely about the economy can affect our and the rest of the world's markets. I read the article and Mr. Obama is not saying that he is unconcern about the slowness of the economy but that he was more focused on the slowness of the jobs growth.



What was needed and frankly still is needed is another financial stimulus with a strong WPA like infrastruc­ture program and a jobs training program like the 1970's CETA program. These two programs combined would enable us to upgrade our infrastruc­ture from modernizin­g our sewage systems, airports, roads, government buildings, internet, utilities, rural access to internet and medical serves, libraries, schools, public hospitals, emergency response, train workers for jobs, and the things that will make us better able to compete with other counties who have already done what we need to do like those in Europe, Asia and South America.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads

I see that I missed another series of worthless teevee talk shows. Thank you Jason!



My political action plan is to vote for the person(s) that offers and/or supports the best jobs producing program so that we can get America back to work. JOBS, is the number one issue for as far as I am concerned. I'm looking for stimulus II or better yet a WPA/CETA jobs program. That gets my vote.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads

Well, hello fellow avoiders of Sunday Talk teevee. I see nothing much on the shows was going on. Same old blather!An­yway, a shout out to Jason for doing the hardest thing...wa­tching that stuff and reporting it to us. Better YOU than me!



Anyway, here's hoping probably in vain we get sensible folks to realize that most of the workers in this country are scared, tired and very angry making for a pretty volatile mix for an electorate­.



To all who have given the ultimate sacrifice for this country we remember you and honor your service in humble gratitude.
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Large Crowds Protest Rape Charge Acquittal Of NYPD Cops (ORIGINAL VIDEO)

It feels as if we are being thrown back to the 1970's in regard to rape and abortion. Where are we getting these backwards ideas? Rape is not about sex it is about power and control. Abortion is the choice of a woman to control her body. What happened to these ideas why are they being shunted aside by mostly men and some women that in turn make women second class citizens.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

LeBron James Flops, Shows Off Acting Skills In Game 5 Against Bulls (VIDEO)

Alrighty now Huffpost haters. Let go of that haterade and enjoy the magic of...King James! Miami has got it going on and will have it for years...so­mething like Chicago used to when MJ ruled the air.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Vermont Single-Payer Health Care Law Signed By Governor

I hope that Massachuse­tts has the guts to follow Vermont. Good for you Vermont! Medicare for ALL.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Jose Guerena Killed: Arizona Cops Shoot Former Marine In Botched Pot Raid

Horrible! Have the police gone mad? The young family is now without a father even if he were guilty of something deserved to be arrested rather than killed in his home in a hail of bullets. Where is the profession­alism on the part of police to remove the innocents from the area? In fact, where in the world did they get their informatio­n as to who were inside the home before they shot the place up?



In 2005, New Orleans police killed innocent people during hurricane Katrina. The police stonewalle­d and said that the killings were justified. In 2010, five years later those police after a FEDERAL investigat­ion were brought to trial and some were convicted. Is this Arizona family going to have to live with aspersions cast against their husband and father until the Feds investigat­e years later? That they have a reporter actually doing his job may help them most.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Rob Woodall Won't Give Up Government Health Care 'Because It's Free' (VIDEO)

Callous talk from the folks who are all about jobs. What they fail to say is that they are all about THEIR jobs. The reason Republican­s say they want to FIX Medicare is because of its impact on the debt. If we all had Medicare then the cost would be shared and we could focus on creating jobs for people who too will then pay taxes to help support Medicare for all.



The weak kneed Democrats need to take note that caving on Medicare and Social Security is at their peril.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Chris Christie Rebuked By New Jersey Supreme Court Over Budget For Schools

It's like seeing a wreck, I know that I should just look away but, dang it where are these folks coming from? See the CONSTITUTI­ON at the part where it says: "Promote the GENERAL welfare...­"



Mass education works. Public education does a good job with mass education. What we want and need in this country for our economic and democratic benefit is an citizenry that educated at the highest level in order to compete and produce goods and services that adapts to the expanding marketplac­e.



Under your concept I take it poor homeowners and renters home school? Aynn Rand nonsense.
About Budget Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Over 50 And Out Of Work: 'My Wife Doesn't Love Me Anymore; My Kids Don't Love Me' (VIDEO)

Republican­s and Democrats where in the hell are the JOBS?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Santorum: McCain Doesn't Understand Interrogation

And this dimwitted guy wants to be President of the United States? We have tried dumb before and we are still struggling to overcome that legacy. That Republican herd is mighty thin it won't stand much culling.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

The Obituaries for Data-Driven 'Reform' Are Being Written

All I can say to this article is: Amen!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

James Tate Banned From Shelton High School Prom For Romantic Gesture (VIDEO)

This is simply stupid. It is an over reaction from the administra­tion. Sad, this school seems more like jail than a place to learn and yes, even make mistakes.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama Gets Osama: Goodbye Vietnam

Promise kept! Thank you President Obama. You said that you would get him when he was found and get him you did. You said that you would cross into Pakistan if that was where he was and that is exactly where he was. Big Props to the getting the job done NAVY SEALS!



I lost friends in the WTC and I remember the morning of September 11 as clear as if it were yesterday. Finding and removing the man who was behind that cowardly slaughter is a fitting end to our leaving Iraq and I hope Afghanista­n soon. It was a very good thing do by a coordinate­d team congratula­tions.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Rick Snyder Recall Election Effort Clears First Hurdle In Michigan

Rise up Michigan! Take your state back from the greedy corporatis­ts and return it to the people. Taxation with no representa­tion is why we have a country now. The Declaratio­n of Independen­ce is just as valid now as it was when the Colonists threw off the British. Rise up Michigan!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

...And in Other News

I join you in your dismay Dan Rather. The American public deserves much better from its fourth estate than the nonsense we are getting now.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Donald Trump Should Receive The Same Scrutiny He Sought For Barack Obama

To my brother Baratunde Thurston I join you in the disgust and shame of this day's event. It is a shame and decent people ought to point it out and name it for exactly what it is...racis­m. No President should be subjected to merciless, relentless call for something that has already been given. The hoards who challenge him not on policy but because they simply cannot accept that a black man is President. He has already been tested with the long drawn out election process. Surely the Press that loves a lurid tale especially one that would be embarrassi­ng would have during that time sniffed out a fake US citizen. While I do not hold the Press in any esteem I would think even THEY would be competent to have exposed this to the world. Now, we have a sitting President challenged as to whether he an American citizen who is black is really a citizen. How sick and shameful is this? My heart is broken but I am also ENRAGED!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Reid: The Senate Will Vote On Paul Ryan's Budget

Make the Senate stand up on record with what they say they want to do. Then voters can easily vote against their Senator who voted to end Medicare as we know it. I want to see how BRAVE they are.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama's Presidency Is Not Working From Its "Core"

I am disgusted with this Republican nonsense masqueradi­ng as thoughtful advice. Where was this guy when Bush was sending the economy into the crapper? I am also disgusted with him spewing his spleen here in this forum. Why is Huffington Post hemming toward the right? Is this supposed to be the third way? If it is then the the third way is as useless and morally bankrupt as the poison we have been getting from the Republican­s for the last 30 years.



The DLC/New America and all of its lemmings or incarnatio­ns are a hindrance from real progress. W H Y is there no real debate and discussion of the Progressiv­e Budget presented by the progressiv­e Democrats?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

The Best Review of a Bad Movie About Bad Ideas

I love movies. I love books more. Atlas Shrugged is a movie made from a book. My experience is that movies made from books rarely are good or even satisfying. After reading Gin and Tacos' blog review of the movie any curiosity I may have had is gone. Still, I enjoyed his review so much I wanted to share it with others. I love entertaining writing and Gin and Tacos is an entertaining writer. Enjoy!

http://www.ginandtacos.com/2011/04/17/battlefield-train-an-atlas-shrugged-movie-review/

David Cay Johnston Hits the Nail on the Head!

David Cay Johnston has written a head shaking essay on, "9 Things The Rich Don't Want You to Know." I am enclosing the link in this post. No one likes paying taxes yet we all enjoy the benefits that they provide us. It is time that we grow up as face the fact that we need to pay taxes so that we can live better, healthier and safer. The services we enjoy do not come free. We need to change how we think about taxes from loathing them to honoring them as they provide us with civilizing things like decent roads or the ability to repair bad ones, firemen who rush into burning places, police, teachers, and city, state and federal employees who do things for us that we cannot do for ourselves like collect our taxes and take care of our parks and monuments.

We cannot hate the thing that makes living in a modern world worth living...Taxes! We all need to pay up.

Here's the link: http://www.altweeklies.com/aan/9-things-the-rich-dont-want-you-to-know-about-taxes/Story?oid=3971382

Rand Paul Uses Ayn Rand To Fight Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs

OK, who's going say it? Senator Paul, what an intellect huh? America, why do you love ignorance so?This is why I loathe libertaria­nism...it is way too simple because it is all about the me and never the we.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama and the Budget Civil War

Tunisia fell because of rising food costs. The USA may experience the same due to rising food, gas, and health costs borne heavily by the poor and working poor. To quote the amazing Fannie Lou Hamer, "Is this America?" Either we give health care to all or we allow this country to have third world level poverty along with first world discontent­. Either we reign in the avarice bankers or we a middle class uprising after they finally learn that the bankers are the ones spiking the commoditie­s markets. Either we take care of our poor and elderly because we still are the richest country in the world and we help the weak and less fortunate or we allow them to starve, fester and die because we have become a selfish, heartless country worshiping money as our god holding onto it as if we can take it to our graves. The President must stand up for the most of us because we do matter and we are under attack as never before from the Republican Party which is littered with hypocritic­al teabaggers out to secure the interests of people who do not see them as their equal.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Donald Trump: Obama Birth Certificate Details Being Sought By Investigators In Hawaii

America, we have tried dimwitted arrogance before. Why even consider doing it again? Obama is not perfect but he is smart enough to have put a decent (not great) health care plan in place for us so that more (but not all) of us have health care coverage and cannot have pre-existi­ng conditions preventing us from getting coverage. I want what Vermont is working toward...s­ingle payer health-car­e. Even our abysmal employment situation is slowly improving. Donald Trump is not much of a businessma­n nor is he a towering intellect though he claims to be one. He has made most if not all of his non-inheri­ted money off of his name...not exactly making anything. Meridith Viera provide America with a great disservice letting him wax on and on about lies without calling him on it and never once brought up any of his many short comings like his serial bankruptci­es.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

GOP Budget Proposal Seeks To Make $4 Trillion-Plus In Cuts

The incrementa­l crawl towards serfdom seems to be what the GOP plans for the majority of this country's citizens. If the people in the middle have no money then who will buy the gas, food, gadgets, housing, airline tickets, hotels, restaurant­s, theme parks, TAXES, state and municipal fees, education costs outside of what government covered, apparel, utilities and burials? It makes no sense to me to destroy what props this country up in the short term when abject poverty is what will result in the long term. We desperatel­y need a Teddy Roosevelt to break up the monopolies and a Franklin to tame the robber barons. What are the Republican­s thinking? That they will be safe? How? The majority of them are NOT super rich, so why destroy the very people you come from for a few who are only using you and would never count you as their peer?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Stanley Nelson, Concordia Sentinal Reporter, Exposes Killers In Civil Rights Era Case

The shame of this is not that a murder went unsolved for decades but that we are impressed with a reporter actually doing his job. How far we have come that we have an FBI/Justic­e Department that falsely accused and sent to jail people for non-existe­nt voter fraud but could not investigat­e and mount evidence of a town's open secret as to who killed a black businessma­n forty years ago? Our expectatio­ns concerning our news media are so low that we count it extraordin­ary when a newspaper reporter investigat­es a cold case and names the chief suspect in a murder as a part of being a reporter.



This is why I loathe TeeVee news. We have days of "reporters­" breathless­ly "reporting­" Charlie Sheen's nonsense so much so that even I have heard it in the background yet, they report nothing about the matters that affect us more like what is the real cause for $4 gas? That's the shame in this mess we get foolishnes­s instead of facts.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Steven Chu On The 'Very Hard' Decision To Cut Energy Assistance For Poor Households

Reinstate the laws that separate Wall Street from the Commoditie­s Exchange then watch the price of oil, food and other commoditie­s drop. It is disgusting the level of pandering that this administra­tion and Congress does concerning their need to shaft the poor instead of institutin­g rules that prevent the private bankers from draining the country dry AND making us pay for them to do so.



Tax the rich. Employing the poor and middle class also increases revenues through payroll taxes. Our country needs fewer wars, less corporate loopholes and handouts, and more working people working and spending money. THAT will keep all homes heated.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Donald Trump Birth Certificate Released Following Misstep

This is just silly! I will not be baited again to ever read such nonsense about President Obama not being a "born American." We have tried having a dimwitted President and we are still reeling from that sorry adventure. Trump certainly is not a towering intellect.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

White House To Rick Scott: We'll Spend Florida's High-Speed Rail Money Elsewhere

I am sure that his friend and my Governor Patrick of Massachuse­tts made a similar call. WE would gladly put to use money to strengthen a high speed rail system for our state linking us to NYC, Philadelph­ia and D.C. as well as our beautiful western Massachuse­tts making that commute faster.



Texas, I hope y'all aren't feeling that money either. Wait! California is on the phone San Diego to San Francisco and then to Sacramento a train trip making their commute better too.



The rule should be if a state refuses the money then it goes back into the kitty and is divided by all of the states that do want to move their transporta­tion infrastruc­ture into the 21st century.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Republican Lawmakers Face Grassroots Pressure Over 'War On Contraception'

My question is this: Why are we subjected to quotes from Steve King? It s not as if he is a towering intellectu­al or even a moderately successful legislator (as determined by producing actual legislatio­n that gets passed).



Why HP and other media outlets do you promote him?



I just don't get it.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Shawna Forde, Anti-Immigration Vigilante, Convicted Of Killing Nine-Year-Old Girl And Her Father In Arizona

I honestly believe the headline is misleading­. It should read: Domestic Terrorist Who Murdered a Young Girl and Her Father for Being Latino Is Convicted. That is the truth why gussy it up?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama's 'Humble Faith' On Display At National Prayer Breakfast

Whatever brings the President strength and comfort is good. Like him I draw my strength and comfort from God. My atheist friends draw strength and comfort from themselves­.



Great song from the movie Car Wash sad: "I'm willing to let you do your thing. Tell me why are you blind when it comes to mine?"-- You Gotta Believe in Something (sung by the Pointer Sisters)



Someone said that belief in God is a choice. They are correct. Believe or not why ridicule what someone believes? We need to respect each other's beliefs.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads

A great non-snowy Sunday and no teevee talk shows is has been. My heart goes out to the struggles of the people in Egypt. Our own politician­s do not understand or respect the power of our "safety net entitlemen­ts" should watch carefully at the goings on in Tunisia, Yemen and now Egypt not to forget France, Ireland, Britain and Greece. In so rich a world folks will rise up when they lack the means to acquire the basic needs. Work and education are a means to acquiring those needs. Displacing or suppressin­g those means to rack up money by producing nothing makes folks feel hopeless and helpless and then angry enough to act in a way those in control abhor...vi­olent. So far, the United States has escaped this massive marches and street riots in this century over work, food and shelter. And the escape is absolutely due to unemployme­nt insurance, food stamps, medicaid, and shelters because without them folks would become desperate enough to riot too.

The world cannot continue the expansion of the monetary divide between the rich and poor and more importantl­y the rapid disappeara­nce or existence of the middle class. Profit is good but unchecked greed is not.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

SOTU Bores, Bachmann Riles, And For Some Reason, Christine O'Donnell Was Booked On <i>Good Morning America</i>: The Mediagasm

What was that great line from that movie? "God bless America and nobody else!" I am really sick of hearing what is just a gratuitous phrase tacked on the tail end of chiefly nonsense most times by politician­s cowed by religious fanatics whose freedom of religion means merely freedom for THEIR religion. God Bless EVERYBODY because we all need it. This earth is a lot smaller than we think.
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Santorum Abortion Remark Spurs Incomplete Discussion

I wrote exactly the same thing on HuffPo and my own blog. I am galled as a black woman who is both a Christian and pro-choice by Santorum's assignment of less than a full personhood to women. I am further galled that Republican­s are seeking to eliminate support for low income women that they seek to force to bear children (more if they are white than of color) and withdraw support for those children already born. It makes me sick. The ultimate question is who controls women's bodies women or men through the government­?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Rick Santorum Explains Racially-Charged Attack On Obama

After the poor, blacks and Hispanics, comes women as the other chattel. Abortion is legal in this country because we have decided that women not the state control their bodies. After these many years you would think that the Republican Party and some Democrats would get the message that putting women in desperate situations does not end abortion it merely compounds the problem by having more desperate women die. Why is it as of today the Republican­s in Congress are developing a budget penalizing poor women with children? Where is their concern for the same children they want to force women to bear once they are born? The hypocrisy of this is sickening. They have no shame.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Haley Barbour: Civil Rights Museum Should Be Built In Mississippi

Mississipp­i needs a better public schools system that can drag it from dead last into the middle of the 50 states more than a museum that I am sure would skim over the truth of what happened in Mississipp­i during the Civil Rights Movement. Mississipp­i like central and northern Louisiana are not so far removed from the 19th century in terms of economic parity and race relations.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tell Joe Klein It's Stupid NOT to Get Out of Afghanistan

I'm on Ed's side. What's to think about? We have spent 10 years in Afghanista­n, have little to show for it, spent billions of dollars, our troops are less safe than when we started so, Joe tell me what's the up side of this mess? It is time to safely bring home our troops, equipment, and dollars from Afghanista­n. Why wait? It's not getting any better. Face it!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Heroic Woman Charged Jared Loughner, Averting 'Huge Greater Catastrophe'

If ever the word hero meant anything it is exemplifie­d in this awful tragedy. As an ordinary citizen from a different state I want to state my deepest and sincere thanks to the wounded woman and two men who stepped up and saved others from harm. That to me is what America is about coming to the aid each other.
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Virginia Delegate Wants To Bring Back Confederate Money, Or Something

I'd agree if only there weren't family, dear friends and some really great people in the south. Being a born southerner now happily living in the north I still have love for the south. For every mean spirited, crazy as all get out, and even dyed to the bone racist in each southern state there are kind spirited, sane, good citizens in the thousands. I hang my head in shame every time something stupid hails from Louisiana and especially New Orleans. I know for a fact that some of the smartest, kindest and loving folks I know live there in peace and are not looking to really be a part of a banana republic. Frankly, that is all we can ask of a section of the country that is still reeling some 150 years later from running a "peculiar institutio­n". F & F anyway because I understand your frustratio­n.
About Tea Party
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Gabby Giffords: A Few Words

My goodness. I am just plugging back into the world after what was a very pleasant day without communicat­ion of any kind. My heart breaks upon reading this. The soul of our country is in peril. When we hurt people who have been given the right to make decisions on our behalf because we do not agree with them we have become less.



I remember when a President could ride down a crowded street in a convertibl­e until that fateful day when that changed. I remember being able to walk up to my Representa­tive who was without body guards and engage him in a very lively and maybe loud debate. We ended up shaking hands and parting company. Now, I can envision having to be screened before you can talk to your Congress member. We are less now.



May God help those who are wounded heal, heal the broken hearts of the families whose loved ones have been taken away in such a horrendous manner, please God let us stop and consider how to rebuild the soul of this country to be more because right now it feels so much like less..
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Florida Welcomes Rick Scott As Their New Fraudster King

I left Florida in 1998. I still miss the work and the people I worked with and those I served. It was a great job. Yet, I am so darn happy that I don't have to hang my head in shame or live under the Scott rule. The crazies have taken over the asylum in Florida.



Good Luck my Florida friends!
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Texas Budget Crisis Goes Overlooked

Taxes provides services. No taxes no services. I like calling 911 and getting a police response to chase a criminal or a fire truck to put out a fire and even an EMT to save my life and the lives of my loved ones. I willingly pay taxes to get services I cannot afford alone.



I am not a Libertaria­n because I believe in the general welfare of my community, city, state and country so dang0it I pay taxes to support every level of government­.Go to YOUTUBE and type in Houston, we have a solution. You will get a peek at how foolish the Republican no taxes mantra sounds and possibly will look.
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