October 21, 2014

about the "independents"

Ok, let me do the disclaimers:

Yes, I understand there are some "independents" who have a genuine distrist of, if not loathing for, both Democrats and Republicans. Either some issue that was importantjust kept getting back burnered, or they simply do not like what left and right have become. If you are one of these, I am not aiming this at you. However, let us face facts. There are many who call themselves "independents", or "centrists" who, simply put, are the rats who left the GOP ship when they realized that yes, the GOP was willing to let the inmates run the asylum provided they got paid. Many of these folks became Democrats, and when i say that, let me be very clear: they started flying the flag, but they carried on their buisness very much as they did before. Worse yet, they made themselves the focus of the Democrats. After all, people were still blaming all those dirty hippies for reagan, and right from the first time Bill Clinton mocked Jerry Brown and said "You're from California, chill out" it became very clear that they expected liberals to sit in the back of the bus, lest they get run over by it.

And today, we are stuck having to make a choice between those that hate liberals and those that would glady behead people Isis style if they thought they could get away with it, and yes, they are working on getting away with it. I will have to choke down Charlie Crist, because I know as is, it will take years to undo all the harm Rick Scott did to my state. However, I am not blind to the way that Florida democrats leaned rightward, to the point where even this very board allowed people to encourage people to abandon kendrick meek, for fear Rubio would become Senator. Of course, our head, Debbie Wasserman Schulz, has had a long hisotry of throwing liberals to the dogs.

However, since many of the self-appointed "centrists" frankly do not care about anything that does not affect them, let me offer some tidbits. Obama has bent over backwards to be bipartisan, and all it got him was hatred, as well as backstabbing by the Clintons. Eventually, two things will happen: One, the Right wing will simply get enopugh power to where they do nto even have to pretend to care about being bipartisan. If Billy Bob Tea party guy decides to shoot you, there will be a time when juries simply rubber stamp the idea. It already happened to Trayvon Martin, but it will get to the point where pale skin and a fat wallet offers no protection. The you will look for help from the same people you ignored, the very same people you yelled at for sayign "white priviledge:" exists, and they will offer you the solace that is exists no more. Second, if you think the rest of the world does not see what is happeneing, you are blind. Isis knows Hillary will giver them the war they wanted. China knows what side of the party gave them all the breaks they needed, and the Russians know that they can get away with murder because American centrism will, in the end, bow out to whoever throws around the cash.

And for those ones that still say "But really, I am not a Right wing type, I am an INDEPENDENT" I offer you somethign fitting, a misquote.

JFK thought Dante said 'The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality.'" It was a misquote, but still fitting. It refers to a part in the inferno where, contrary to what you might think, the "neutral" types are actually considered worst than the worst sinners, because they would not serve Heaven or Hell.

"And he to me: "This miserable way
is taken by the sorry souls of those
who lived without disgrace and without praise.

They now commingle with the coward angels,
the company of those who were not rebels
nor faithful to their God, but stood apart.

The heavens, that their beauty not be lessened,
have cast them out, nor will deep Hell receive them -
even the wicked cannot glory in them."

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Fast-Facts/Dante.aspx
http://articles.latimes.com/1992-03-07/news/mn-3575_1_hillary-clinton

October 10, 2014

Begging Beijing to host 2022 Winter Olympics bad sign for IOC: Arthur

http://www.thestar.com/sports/amateur/2014/10/01/begging_beijing_to_host_2022_winter_olympics_bad_sign_for_ioc_arthur.html

So now the IOC has to drag their big beautiful TV show somewhere regrettable. Beijing’s air pollution has actually worsened since 2008, and the human rights aren’t any better. But Kazakhstan would mean humping this show into the wilderness, to the borders of civilized possibility, and the IOC would have to bet that the president-for-life wouldn’t get toppled between now and then.

So unless they can roust a ringer — Vancouver! Calgary! St. Moritz! — it’ll be back to Beijing, and a special sort of humiliation. It won’t just be that the IOC was reduced to peddling the Olympics to autocratic, anti-democratic regimes, where the Games ballooned into a colossal, theatrical grotesquerie. It will be that they had to go slinking back to one of them twice.

It says a lot about the Olympics that they have to be held somewhere where a friendly regime can make people disappear. It is sad, because whatever you may say about Western democracy, the Chinese and Russian do not offer much in the way of hope for humanity, despite the fact, in deed, in spite of the fact they have learned to use capitalism to give their elites new toys. Kudos to Oslo for not capitulating to the IOC, but the idea of seeing another Olympics in Beijing, with it's hyper coordinated fascist pageantry right out of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, will ensure I keep my TV off that year.

October 10, 2014

In other words

Immediately after the Shelby County decision, North Carolina enacted omnibus House Bill 589, which imposed voter identification early voting by a week, prohibited local election boards from keeping the polls open on the final Saturday afternoon before elections, eliminated same-day voter registration, terminated preregistration of 16- and 17-year olds in high schools, authorized any registered voter to challenge ballots cast early or on Election Day, and barred votes cast in the wrong precinct from being counted at all. These measures likely would not have survived federal preclearance.

In other words, the second the muzzle was removed from the GOP dogs, they started sinking their teeth into the voting rights of anyone NOT White or Old, aka, those whose votes they did not control. They allowed the "vote challenges" which in practice are older white voters doping their best to harass the votes of whoever they do not like. In short, they showed exactly why we needed the Voting Rights act IN PLACE.

History will remember Tony Scalia as someone that did as much damage to this country as Osama Ben Ladin ever did. He destroyed any HINT that the Judicial branch is focused on justice, and turned them into the enforcement arm of the GOP. He put W. in office, and it all went downhill from there, and he would gladly put another Bush in office if it suits him, the law be damned! I do not like to wish negative fates on people, but if there is a Hell, may Tony go there, hopefully ASAP before he gets his tentacles into the 2016 election!

October 9, 2014

a question about Obama

Now, to lay my cards on the table, I have no problem with criticizing Obama, especially as he has been too nice to the GOP. However, I want to ask an honest question.

If Obama "dug in his heels" let's say on the Public Option, do you think he would have passed it. Do you really think this bought and paid for GOP congress would have given him an inch.. We are talkign about paid mercenaries.

If he had firm, prosecuting bankers, public option, out of Iraq NOW, let me ask this one question.

Would you have supported him, or joined in the chorus saying incompetent? Would you have had "well Hillary would dunn better!"

October 7, 2014

What can replace police?

What I am trying to do is start a discussion on what alternatives there are to Police. On the one hand, from Gerguson to Waldo Florida, it is apparent many cops are abusing authority. The situation is not accetpable, period. On the other hand, it is not like there are still not people that would gladly steal your stuff or beat you up if they can get away with it. How do we decrase the police state, while still keeping people safe from thieves and violent types?

October 2, 2014

Ebola and Texas

OK, disclaimers. I am in Florida, so I can sympathize with texas Liberals as we are surrounded by a bunch of idiots who take pride in voting for the rich bastards that screw us over. I am also aware that Texas has produced Liberals like Jim Hightower and Molly Ivins, people proudly to the left of the Clinton/Obama Democrats.

However, there are two things that should be mentioned. With the Ebola, we should be able to highlight why screwing the poor out of decent medical care is a bad thing for everyone. Is it any accident that, for all the people pouring into NYC and LA, this happens in Texas, a place like the rest of the Red States, cuts any and all public medical care to the bone? I am not throwing stones, I am in Florida, aka Texas Jr., and I half expect Miami to be a major bloom of the disease, because conditions are similar, both in over stressed medical care and exploited immigrants.

The fact is, we should not normally panic, but in America, especially in Dixie, we have allowed the Third world standard to be considered "pretty good."

October 1, 2014

and how would you avoid

having to build a nasty, outright racist mechanism to do that?

Take for example, Muslims. Many of them will notice initiatives in Germany to have more "native" babies, with phrases that are outright disgusting like "kinder Nicht Inder." They will also be able to read stuff like Orianna Falacci that compared them to vermin, and also note the hysterica in Europe because they are growing.

If you want to take religion out of it, well, I am a Latino, and am used to being talked about as if we all gathered in the back and decided to steal jobs and ruin Anglo-Saxon culture by putting up a few Billboards en Espanol.

But of course, serious population control comes in at the time when the White Majority is realzing it will no longer BE the Majority.

Now, I am not denying your facts, but I am saying that before you have a hope in hell of getting any population scheme to work, you will have to get past the fact that

A) many such schemes were, in the past, a way to weaken nonwhites. Nonwhites KNOW this.

B) the fact that the people who can have the policy enforced on them are, not accidentally, the people who have the least power. When people talk aboput Sterilizing welfare moms, they are not thinking of some blonde, blue eyed lady, even if statistics show that most people on welfare are white.

And yes, quote your science, because it is true that there are too many people, eapecially since many of us latinos, and the Asians, and the Indians, are slowly imprving economies, only to have a bunch of well fed anglos say "Ya gotta slow down for Mudder Erf!" Funny, your grandpa sure had no problem with paving over Mudder Erf when it was our land. If you want to do anything global, which,let's face it, you will, you will need to engage the people that do not look like you, and offer them something real, especially since what you will tell them is "yeah, we know we ruined things for all of you, and yeah, we know are asking this when youn are finally getting the medical care and water supplies like we used to, but we gotaa cut back." And then you will hope that they do not say "well, since you started this thing, why don't you make yourselves extinct first.."

September 26, 2014

I will see your truth and raise you one

Many of the same self-described "liberals" will indeed complain about their benefits being cut, but they will also be the first to lay roses at Rand's feet for several things.

One: making Marijuana legal. I know that Cannabis is legit medicine, but frankly, there are a lot of people that A) just want to legalize their pastime and B) think they will make a shitload of money. These will also be the same people who will complain when Monsanto, with the aid of the Tobacco Companies, makes damned sure that their brand of weed is knocked out of existence by the corporate strands that are probably all ready to go. Let's not even get into what the Medical industry will do, goodbye dime bags, hello big markup on price, with the ATF and DEA being replaced by the IRS.

And let us not forget Medea Benjamin, who made literal Valentines to Ron Paul, Randy's dad, even though he has been a zealous opponent of abortion rights. I wonder what these self-appointed "Feminists" will think when the Paul family brings back the back alley doctor days in a way that even the Bushes dared not do.

Let us not forget the Travis Smileys and Cornel Wests, who will talk about this as if the Paul rise to power is the key to getting a "real" black man elected, and by that, we mean someone that obeys them.

Do not get me wrong, Obama has disappointed me in many ways, mostly because he has allowed parasites and scum to use him and compromise him. It is like watching Muhammad Ali fight in his later years, with the Clintons playing the role of Don King, aka , the sob who will capitalize on his fighter, then betray him when he is too punch drunk to be exploited any more. However, there are a lot of people who attack because they know Obama is, by the very nature of being Black, able to be attacked with a vigor that no other could be attacked with. Yes, he is the Trayvon Martin or Michael Brown who can get shot for going into the wrong 7-11, with a bunch of white middle-class hipsters and blue collar types raising a Pabst Blue Ribbon in solidarity with the gunman. What is sad is that , if a president Hillary were to get into office, many of the people that attacked Obama will be as silent as a stone tombstone about Hillary. I really, really look forward to seeing what Jane "Obama reporters are sexist" Hamsher over at FDL does when her Goddess decides to start world war III to get her street cred.

September 23, 2014

Nice catch David

Though it goes beyond empty, it makes us sick. Whether Hillary's supporters realize it or not, there were things that Hillary supported and IS SUPPORTING that will KILL OR INJURE many of those on the left that are still expected to march into the booths and get "ready for Hillary." The poison that will spill from the Trans-Canada pipeline, the troops that will come back dead from Syria, the people hurt by slashing welfare, make no mistake, they will be hurt, if not killed.

And before some of her supporters take out the branding irons they used in 2008 "Sexist!/Anti-Semite/insert cheap insult here", and the war cries "Party Unity my Ass!", let me add this point: since Hillary has not yet decided if she is running (snicker) she is in that phase where she supposedly can define who she would run as; she is supposedly malleable. We, as the voters of the Democratic Party, have every right to say that we want to see certain things from her, and that we do NOT want to see certain from her. We have every right to say "If you want to pass through this gate, we need you to come in from the left." What is sad is that if Hillary wanted to be a liberal, she could.

Anything stopping her from denouncing the Keystone Pipeline, save for the fact her Hubby has already supported it, and already condemned Obama for not approving it pronto?

Anything stopping her from saying "If I were to become president, one thing I would COMMIT TO was to get rid of Nafta, at least as we know it."

Anything stopping her from saying "If I were to run, I would demand BiBi Netanyahu cease his course of action, and come with us to Oslo, where we can resume implementing the Oslo accords that everyone, Israel included, agree to when my Husband was President?"


Oh, but you cannot offend people in office. Ha, that sure as hell did not stop her from writing that book of "hard choices" and stabbing Obama in the back, knowing her words would be used by the GOP to apply pressure on him to do "Stupid Stuff." This was the unkindest cut of all. If Obama ran things like Hillary did, no one from the Clinton era would have been allowed in the cabinet, because he would have shown the vengeful spite the Clintons are known for. That would have meant Hillary would not be SoS, and Obama could have earned EASY praise.

The right wing would have praised him because it would have meant Hillary would have had a sad ride into the sunset. The left would have loved him because they hated Hillary the War Hawk. But no, despite the fact that leaving Hillary out would have been easy, he kept her on, and she repaid him by that damned book, which is a way of paving over Obama on her way to the White House she felt was hers.

September 19, 2014

two cents about Scotland

First off, the fact that the Scots chose to resolves this with a vote instead of with Guns is something that makes them noteworthy and praiseworthy. Let's face it, many nations had to let things get to the point of bloodshed. The US revolution is obvious, but also Ireland, Palestine, Zimbabwe, and even the non-violent revolution in India. The fact that the Scots voted, and that England was willing to listen to that vote, is something to praise, especially because this was the same England that was willing to go to war with Argentina to keep the "Falkland Islands."

However, I think there is a lot to fear in the way the vote turned out. The people who did the mot to kill the "yes" notion were the bankers, who pretty much said "Do what we want, or we take the pound, and move all the jobs down south." It's the same crap their siblings do in the US, and not matter how many times we give in, they still do what they want.

Jon Oliver and the Guardian kept comparing this to a romantic comedy where the guy realizes he has been horrible begs the girlfriend to take him back at the last moment. Actually, the more fitting analogy would be the abusive husband who controls his wife with threats, and says "if you leave me, you will starve." There is nothing romantic about a relationship based on dominance and manipulation, even the kinky BDSM types play at the domination, but would never actually want to HURT their partner.

I also say that I am thoroughly disappointed by the EU. This should have been one of the finer hours of the EU, as they told Scotland "you do not need the pound, Europe is waiting for you, and the Euro is." This of course would have been a real sea change, as a UK les England would have to stop looking towards Washington and towards a more common future, especially if Scotland started to prosper, as former colonies tend to do once they break away from London. The EU would have been a true influence, a force for power, not dominated by Washington on one hand, and the hard wall of the BRICS. However, The EU got cold feet, namely because they knew the Basques, the Flemings, and others would have imitated. There was also likely the feeling in Berlin and France that if the UK went, their dominant position in the EU would have been questioned as well. As long as Berlin, London and Paris fight for control of the mike, and treat the rest of Europe like servants (i.e. Greece) they will never be the transformative power they think they are. Couple this with the fact that their attempt to take in the Ukraine with disastrous results, and you will have people that are overpowered by the Brics long before they get their act together.

I am also saddened that Obama backed the UK. Dammit Obama, you have the blood of Irish as well as of Africans in you, and both sides of your history should be sympathetic to those that are tried of being exploited for London. But of course, we need our partner in all things Imperial.

It6's not like I could nto see the valid reasons why someone would say no. However, what I fear is that those who want to say democracy is a joke will use this as a reason why we need good old violent revolution. I can see the Ted Ralls and Ahudrunti Roys sharpening their pencils, in the hopes they make people take up guns. There has been serious talk about whether Democracy itself is some relic to be disposed of, although, right after they say "another world is possible" they offer sketchy details on what is involved, except killing a lot of people. I still remember in his "Anti-American Manifesto" where Ted Rall blithely talks about how there may be "Stalinist purges" but that is the only way to affect change (as if he does not have dreams of standing Michael Moore and Rachel Maddow against the wall.)

If we are going to keep democracy, we are going to have to protect it against the fear that is it's enemy. There are a lot of people, many in the BRICS, many in the US, that are peddling the idea that democracy is just not worth the effort, and that we should embrace killing in the streets. The Scottish rejected that idea, and for that, the whole entire world needs to support them. If you do not want the lovers of violence to win the day, then we ALL have an obligation to support Scotland, who may, after the fine job we Yanks did in 2000 (sarcasm of course) be the people to prove Democracy can still work.