Chula Vista boys get it done!!!!

Sorry but nothing political this morning. The air here is dirty and deadly for someone with asthma. The fires burning down south are getting bigger not smaller and the smoke likes to wander up here to the San Joaquin valley and then just fucking sit here smothering the valley and it's inhabitants...but I digress.

I watched the Little League World Series Championship game this weekend. It was a glorious game for Chula Vista and the U.S. in general as they beat Taiwan aka China for the win and all the marbles.

It was a great game to watch, come-from-behind win and all that. Plus, do you realize how refreshing it is to actually watch children play a child's game? Not high-paid adults that get a hang nail and go on the Disabled list. Kids playing and loving every minute of it. From the LAT writeup on the grand game:

When pitcher Kiko Garcia struck out the final Taiwanese batter Sunday, several hundred exuberant fans at Oggi's Pizza and Brewing Co. were quick to pick up the chant: "We are the champions."

Chula Vista's Park View Little League team, dubbed the Blue Bombers, beat Taoyuan, Taiwan, 6-3, to climb the tallest mountain in Little League: the world championship at the annual tournament at South Williamsport, Pa.

It did so with a come-from-behind victory, snappy fielding, poise and sportsmanship.

For a city that often feels overshadowed by more glamorous neighbors, and was dissed by a national magazine as boring, the victory was particularly sweet.

No San Diego County team had won a championship at Williamsport since the La Mesa-El Cajon team of 1961 (two members of which were at Oggi's to cheer for Park View). The last California team to win the world championship was Long Beach in 1993. (Emphasis mine of course. ;)

It made me puff up with pride, as one of my sista's lives in CV and CV is part of San Diego county..my birthplace and favorite city on the left coast.

Chula Vista has a bad rap among San Diegans that don't know wtf they are talking about. Yes, it's close to the Mexican border. Yes, a majority of the residents are of Hispanic origin. And yes, it's been called the arm pit of San Diego county for decades and decades.

Fuck you folks that talk shit about Chula Vista. It's a beautiful part of the county and has coastline with a beautiful marina and open area's to walk your pets or just stroll around your own self.

So, congratulations kids..you should be very proud of yourselves and your team mates. You gents did it!!!!!!

And no one went on the DL or threw a huge temper tantrum at the umpire. Hugs to all of you wonderful kids.

Katrina-lest we forget..

The fourth anniversary of Katrina making landfall was today, Saturday. The horror stories are still fresh in my mind, and most likely will visit me during the night when I sleep tonight.

The gulf coast still has not recovered. The people of the gulf coast still have not recovered.

The Big O says he will go to NOLA sometime this year. He marked the anniversary by talking briefly about the horror of Katrina on his weekly address. He mentioned how his administration is trying to retool the programs that were designed to help the survivors of Katrina. Eleven members of his administration have gone to the region.

He then changed the subject and talked about the H1N1 flu virus.

Lest we forget, the toll on human life following Katrina's landfall was:

1,836 confirmed deaths, Between 135 and 705 never found and presumed dead depending on which report you read/believe.

The vast majority of the missing and presumed dead are African-American.

We should never forget the ravages of the gulf coast and what it did to the people of the region after Katrina hit land. We can never let it happen again folks..no matter what it takes..we can never let any part of our citizenry go through what the folks of NOLA experienced with regard to our government's actions and handling of the crisis.

Kennedy's private memorial service streamed live.

For those folks that do not own a telly, at 7pm eastern, the private memorial service for Senator Kennedy will be streamed live at tedkennedy.org. A schedule of events is below, courtesy of the website:

Friday, August 28th, 2009
Lie in Repose at John F. Kennedy Library and Museum8 a.m.-3 p.m. Senator Kennedy will lie in repose at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum.
Within one hour of the line being opened to the public on Thursday, 12,000 people came to pay their respects to Senator Kennedy. By 10pm, 21,000 people—from all corners of the world—stood in line to thank Senator Kennedy, and hours were extended to 2:00 a.m.

This event is open to the public and pooled press.

Celebration of Life Memorial Service7 p.m.-9 p.m. A private memorial will be held for Senator Kennedy at the JFK Library and Museum with Senator Kennedy’s family and friends.
A Celebration of Life will honor Senator Kennedy and his love of family and friends, his passion for life and his commitment to public service. The memorial is a way for the people closest to Senator Kennedy to celebrate his life—with his love of music, laughter and stories with friends and family he adored. Many members of Senator Kennedy’s family and close friends will participate in the program, as will representatives of his Senate and Massachusetts families.

The celebration is closed to the public and press corps size will be limited due to space constraints.

The speaking program includes:

- Paul G. Kirk, Jr.
- Father Gerry Creedon, S.J., Opening Prayer
- “God Bless America,” Boston Community Chorus
- Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II
- Senator Christopher J. Dodd
- Nick Littlefield
- Governor Deval L. Patrick
- Senator John McCain
- Video Tribute
Directed by Ken Burns and Mark Herzog
- Senator John F. Kerry
- Senator Orrin G. Hatch
- “The Impossible Dream” sung by Brian Stokes Mitchell, soloist
- Mayor Thomas M. Menino
- Senator John C. Culver
- “Just A Closer Walk with Thee,” sung by Boston Community Chorus
- Vice President Joseph R. Biden
- Caroline Kennedy

Saturday, August 29, 2009
Funeral Mass10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Senator Kennedy’s funeral mass will take place at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica,1545 Tremont Street, Roxbury, MA
Guidance Note: While his daughter, Kara, was battling lung cancer at a nearby Boston hospital, Senator Kennedy attended Our Lady of Perpetual Hope each day and prayed for Kara and her recovery. Over time, the Basilica took on special meaning for him as a place of hope and optimism.

This event is closed to the public and press will be pooled.

Washington, D.C. Motorcade, Stop at U.S. CapitolApprox. 3:00 p.m. Arrival of Senator Kennedy at Andrews Air Force Base.
4:30 p.m. Arrival at U.S. Capitol
The Senator’s motorcade will stop at the Senate steps for a brief prayer so that Senate staff and members of the broader Senate community with whom the Senator worked can bid a final farewell.

Motorcade Route From Andrews Air Force base, Senator Kennedy's motorcade will proceed to the east plaza of the US Capitol building. The motorcade will enter through the Independence Ave entrance and proceed past the Senate Chamber steps. The motorcade will then proceed to Arlington National Cemetery via Constitution Ave.

Arlington National Cemetery5:30 p.m. A burial service for Senator Kennedy will be held at Arlington National Cemetery.
The burial service is closed to the public and pooled press.

Senator Kennedy will be laid to rest next to President Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery. Senator Kennedy spent more days than most at Arlington, the resting place for our nation’s heroes, visiting the graves of his beloved brothers and paying tribute to the fallen men and women of Massachusetts who gave their lives for our country.

There will be some good people speaking about Senator Kennedy and his life. It's only fitting for a man that spent over 40 years serving the constituents in MA.

Cspan will also show today's memorial service and tomorrows burial service live.

Toyota and GM to abandon Fremont CA plant.

See all those happy faces in the photo above? They will all be unemployed sooner than later. From the BBC:

The world's largest carmaker will stop production at the Fremont, California-based New United Motor Manufacturing plant in March 2010.

GM announced earlier this year that it would withdraw from the venture.

Toyota said: "Over the mid to long-term, it just would not be economically viable to continue production."

The firm will move production to its other plants in the US and in Japan.

There are also reports circulating that Toyota is closing down a plant in Europe as well as one in Japan for at least a year.

The recession might be shrinking according to Obama and his go-to guy Bernanke, but you couldn't tell it by looking at Toyota or Nissan's plans they are making for plant closings this year and in 2010 and 2011.

He was the voice of the voiceless.

He is lying in state now. The 24 hour cable news channels are showing the inside of the JFK library where Teddy is laying and all told, over 12,000 folks have filed past his casket covered with the American flag to pay their last respects to Senator Kennedy and his family.

It's his family I have been thinking about today. Niece Caroline, his wife Vicky and all the kids, nieces, nephews and grandkids. They have lost the last patriarch of the Kennedy family.

Eunice and now Teddy. It saddens me to think of all the emotions they are all feeling lately. From his only surviving sibling to the youngest child and grandchild, they surely all loved him and looked to him for guidance at some point in their lives.

And for the haters in the blogosphere, let me say this: Mary Jo Kopechne's mother Gwen never held any hate or malice in her heart for Senator Kennedy. She actually encouraged him to run for office again after the Chappaquiddick accident, when he was considering getting out of politics altogether.

Thank heaven she did that..otherwise we never would of seen Teddy's full potential as the champion of the downtrodden or just simply..the voice of the voiceless.

Ted Kennedy's words on healthcare for all..from 1980

They ring as true today as they did 29 years ago. From MoJo:

We cannot have a fair prosperity in isolation from a fair society. So I will continue to stand for a national health insurance. We must—we must not surrender—we must not surrender to the relentless medical inflation that can bankrupt almost anyone and that may soon break the budgets of government at every level. Let us insist on real controls over what doctors and hospitals can charge, and let us resolve that the state of a family's health shall never depend on the size of a family's wealth.

The president, the vice-president, the members of Congress have a medical plan that meets their needs in full, and whenever senators and representatives catch a little cold, the Capitol physician will see them immediately, treat them promptly, fill a prescription on the spot. We do not get a bill even if we ask for it, and when do you think was the last time a member of Congress asked for a bill from the federal government? And I say again, as I have before, if health insurance is good enough for the president, the vice-president, the Congress of the United States, then it's good enough for you and every family in America.

It's like he said them yesterday...sadly nothing has changed in the 29 years since he said them to the Democratic National Convention.

Time Magazine will publish a commemorative issue September 7th.

The Lion of the Senate has died.

He passed on at the age of 77 shortly before midnight. He was in Hyannis Port with family. After four decades in the Senate, the last of the Kennedy brothers has joined his brothers Joe Jr, John and Robert on the other side.

But Teddy must of known his end was near. Last week he sent a letter to MA Governor Deval Patrick requesting that the law be changed to allow a replacement to take his seat immediately upon his death or resignation. From Chris Cillizza's The Fix:

Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy's letter to Gov. Deval Patrick requesting that state law be changed so that if he steps aside in the near future an interim senator would be appointed in his place set off a new round of speculation about the future of the legendary Senate seat.

Kennedy's proposal would amend a 2004 state law that calls for a special election to fill a Senate vacancy at least 145 days after the seat comes open, allowing the governor to appoint an interim replacement so that the state is not lacking a vote in the Senate in the period leading up to the special election. (The law was initially written to keep then Gov. Mitt Romney from appointing a Republican replacement if Sen. John Kerry was elected president.)

From CNN, some of the highlights of his career as a public servant for over forty years:

But while the White House eluded his grasp, the longtime Massachusetts senator was considered one of the most effective legislators of the past few decades. Kennedy, who became known as the "Lion of the Senate," played major roles in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, and was an outspoken liberal standard-bearer during a conservative-dominated era from the 1980s to the early 2000s.

He did so much to advance equality of all kinds for all people. Good bye Teddy...you can now rest. What follows is his surprise speech at the Democratic National Convention last August:


Like President Obama, Ted was a moving orator. His words will be here for all eternity. He was a wonderful eulogizer as well. Sadly, he had to bury so many of his family members, the most recent his sister Eunice, who's funeral he could not attend due to his health. From the Daily Beast writeup, part of Teddy's eulogy for Bobby, which should also apply to Teddy:

My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him:

Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.

His personal life was filled with mistakes, pain and tragedy..imagine that, he was human..but his body of work as a public servant will live on. The healthcare bill was his pride and joy, fighting for decades to see that all people had access to quality healthcare. As Robert Byrd said today, the healthcare bill should bear Teddy's name. As Robert Reich said in his post tonight on Ted:

We owe it to him and his memory to do it soon and do it well.

Leave your condolences for the family here at tedkennedy.org. There are wonderful sections about Ted on the site, peruse them and savor what he did for all of us for over forty years. The tribute video below was shown at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Healthcare reform..left of center economists discuss.

Good video from C&L, it's the ABC news roundtable from Sunday's This Week, with some interesting folks in attendance:


Krugman and Robert Reich are there. Warms the cockles of my little black heart to see both of them at the table with the nimrod George Will. The topic was of course...healthcare reform!

Krugman talks about the hypocrisy of the Rethugs and specifically Johnny McCain.

George Will asks the inane question, are drug prices too high? He actually says he doesn't know..idiot on aisle two!

Reich has an OpEd up at Salon that answers his own question, Why in the blue hell does the Gang of Six get to decide the fate of healthcare reform:

It's not even as if the gang represents America. The three Dems in the gang are from Montana, New Mexico and North Dakota – states that together account for just over 1 percent of Americans. The three Republicans are from Maine, Wyoming and Iowa, which together account for 1.6 percent of the American population.

No shit Mr. Reich..why in the blue hell do these fuckwits get to determine what is done? Tiny states with minimal populations will determine which road we go down, with respect to healthcare reform? Horseshit I say!

Still wading through the Torture Report, a chapter at a time. It's hard to make sense of it when page after page is completely redacted.

Hot off the presses, the Torture Report!

The wonderful folks over at the Washington Independent have posted the heavily redacted Torture Report we have all been waiting years for. Below is the report itself:

2004 CIA Inspector General Report on Torture -

Appendices

The report, CIA Inspector General John Helgerson’s 2004 report, will be fine reading for me after Weeds and Nurse Jackie this evening.

I plan to wade through it in it's entirety. Wish me luck. Dick Cheney, as you may recall, states this report vindicates torture. It is 159 pages long.

Um, yeah right Dick..what-fucking-evah!

Anthony Weiner-Medicare, aka single-payer, for everyone!

I never watch Morning Joe. Never. I hate his dumb ass, and frankly he always refuses to deal with and/or answer legitimate questions posed by intelligent guests that are left of the center.

What forced me to watch the clip below was this great read over at The Nation. Let me start by saying I wish to hell Anthony Weiner was my Congressional critter. He is spot-fucking-on with his logic in this interview with Joey Scar. Just a few of his points, courtesy of The Nation piece:

He even repeated Weiner's points clearly: The goverment would take over only the "paying mechanism" of healthcare, not the doctors or their medical decisions themselves. His ears perked up every time Weiner mentioned that the nonprofit Medicare spends 4 percent on overhead, while private insurers spend 30 percent.

*snip*

Maybe the real turning point came when Weiner asked, "How does Wal-mart offer $4 prescriptions?" Joe and co-host Mika Brzezinski looked as if they'd been thwacked by a hardback copy of Atlas Shrugged, and sat back to let the congressman explain it all to them:

They go to the pharmaceutical companies and say, "Listen, we have a giant buying pool here. You're going to give us a great deal."

Who's bigger than Wal-Mart? We are, the taxpayers. Do we do that? No. Because we have outsourced this to insurance companies who don't have necessarily as much incentive to keep those costs down because, frankly, they are getting a piece of the action.

As for the free-market freaks..Weiner asks Joey Scar and Mika..what exactly does the Health Insurance Industry provide, create, make or manufacture? Health Insurance is NOT a commodity!

What is an insurance company? They don't do a single check-up. They don't do a single exam, they don't perform an operation. Medicare has a 4 percent overhead rate. The real question is why do we have a private plan?

The Insurance companies are nothing more than carpet-bagging middlemen that are subsidized by our tax dollars in many instances. 40 percent of Insured Americans get their healthcare from a single payer, government-run source-VA, Medicaid, Medicare, SCHIP, Dept of Defense, etc.

Israel keeps water from Palestinians.

This is SO fucked up. The European Union, the UN, and everyone else that talks to Israel needs to bitch slap them for this bullshit. Pathetic fucks.

Jon Stewart takes on the Queen of the 'Deather's'.

These are the uncensored clips folks..enjoy Stewart making his points and Betsy baby ignores him completely and keeps shilling for the extreme right. 

Part dos of the interview, again uncensored:


This broad is out of her friggin mind. No wonder she was pushed out the door of the Corporate-lovin' bunch of whore's, The Hudson Institute.

H/T to C&L for having these vid's up.

Seder tries to talk common sense to a rightwinger

Sadly, the guy missed Sam's point entirely. Refer to my graphic of the day for additional meaning whilst watching this clip.

Capitalism, A love story-Michael Moore's new documentary

From Michael his own self:

'CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY' - In Theaters October 2nd

"It's a crime story. But it's also a war story about class warfare. And a vampire movie, with the upper 1 percent feeding off the rest of us. And, of course, it's also a love story. Only it's about an abusive relationship.

"It's not about an individual, like Roger Smith, or a corporation, or even an issue, like health care. This is the big enchilada. This is about the thing that dominates all our lives — the economy. I made this movie as if it was going to be the last movie I was allowed to make.

"It's a comedy." — Michael Moore

Another edition of - Feline Friday!

When we last left Sweetie, aka Faceplant, he was trying to adjust to life within the household. He was also shaved bald except for the hair on his face, and he had stitches galore.

Now, Sweetie Pie's fur is growing back quite nicely, his stitches are all healed and he still is trying to fit in amongst the other felines in the house. Below is a photo I took this morning. As usual, he looks grumpy as shit.


The other males can't stand him as he is pampered by me as we bond. The females don't pay him any mind as he is neutered. He tolerates Fuzzy, Lee and Tabby Lynn, the usual suspects that seem to live in the bedroom, very seldom venturing out to the rest of the house. Below in order from top to bottom: Tabby Lynn and her sister Fuzzy.



Sweetie doesn't go outside the bedroom either. He is still afraid of his own shadow. I also found out that he was declawed when I was loving on him one fine morning.

Who would declaw a cat then let them outside? Dumb mutha fucka's. Sweetie is quite lucky to have survived without any tools to protect himself.

He is not a picky eater, and tuna for human consumption upsets his stomach and gives him the shits. So he prefers to eat the Hairball formula dry food that all the felines are forced to eat because Clyde has a major hairball problem. Below is Clyde kicking back on the cat chair.
So there ends our Feline Friday edition. The world news today looks grim already.

I love Barney Frank.

I unabashedly love the man. As a former resident of MA I must say they have some great folks with balls to say what needs to be said. The rest of the friggin Dem's need to step up and quit being nice to the wingnuts that infiltrate their townhall meetings.

The folks at Progressivefuture.org are giving this button away..with a small donation of course. I want one!!!!

If you buy one, let me know.. ;)

Assault Rifle wearing nimrod was a setup.

View the video here on my video page.

And the fucking cops were in on it? Also, old Ernie was a staunch militia supporter in the 90's. The militia he was involved in, the Viper Militia, had five members out of the 12 arrested, that plead guilty to conspiracy and weapon's charges.

Oh wtf is this crap?

Someone needs to dig a deep hole in Louisiana and stick Brett Favre in it and cover him up.

When is this drama queen going to friggin retire?

And you thought Michael Jordan was an ass about retiring..

Just for general principles, I now want the Vikes to suck ass this year. They deserve it for hiring this jackass who will be playing with a torn rotator cuff all season long.

Maddow's 'after' MTP interview with Gregory

David Gregory interviews Rachel after the MTP show and asks her opinion of how Obama is doing regarding the progressive pov.

View the video here on my video page.
Thanks C&L, I never would of seen this without your wonderful blog/videocafe!

Glenn Beck losing advertisers by the bundle.

From Market Watch, which btw, is owned by Rupert Murdoch:

Among the advertisers to pull spots from the popular cable talk show are Geico, owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway ; Procter & Gamble ; Sargento Cheese; and Progressive Insurance , according to the companies and Color of Change, one group that is organizing a campaign against the program.

I am on Color of Change's mailing list. I joined the fray last week, but figured nothing would come of it.

Sadly, some of the advertisers don't have the balls to yank the ads completely from Faux News, so they aren't technically losing the revenue. From Market Watch:

For its part, Fox News said through a spokeswoman that while some advertisers have "removed their spots from Beck," they have just shifted to "other programs on the network, so there has been no revenue lost."

If Color of Change keeps up the pressure, or Beck keeps preaching more insane bullshit, perhaps more of these advertisers will see the light.

We can hope. Right? Meanwhile, the rightwing nutters have started a campaign to support Beck, according to TVNewser:

Meanwhile, in a counter to the ColorofChange.org campaign, a Support Glenn Beck site has been set up asking fans, "to show your support for Glenn Beck" by contacting the companies. The site RedState.com also lists the names and phone numbers of the CEOs.

And on his show last night, Stephen Colbert brought up the ad issue: "In the case of Geico, it's especially hurtful because that stack of money with googly eyes is Glenn's producer."

So, get onboard Color of Change's attempt to silence the crazed, hateful idiot if you are so inclined. The First Amendment is fine, but lies and obfuscation are bullshit and should not be protected speech.

Watch Steven Colbert fuck with Glenn here on my video page..worth the trip! ;)

Remote Area Medical not so remote this week.

Remote Area Medical. These people are saints and angels. They are used to servicing third world countries.

Except this week, they served Los Angeles. You know..SoCal, the land of starlets and movie moguls.

By the time they leave Tuesday, they will have provided roughly $2 million dollars of free treatment to over 10,000 people.

Read that line again. It's sickening to me because so many more thousands will have been turned away. These were by and large the working poor, some even had medical insurance but had outrageous deductions or their insurance didn't cover things like dentists and glasses. From The Independant UK via TruthOut:

In the week that Britain's National Health Service was held aloft by Republicans as an "evil and Orwellian" example of everything that is wrong with free healthcare, these extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California yesterday provided a sobering reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to reform the US system.

The LA Forum, the arena that once hosted sell-out Madonna concerts, has been transformed – for eight days only – into a vast field hospital. In America, the offer of free healthcare is so rare, that news of the magical medical kingdom spread rapidly and long lines of prospective patients snaked around the venue for the chance of getting everyday treatments that many British people take for granted.

In the first two days, more than 1,500 men, women and children received free treatments worth $503,000 (£304,000). Thirty dentists pulled 471 teeth; 320 people were given standard issue spectacles; 80 had mammograms; dozens more had acupuncture, or saw kidney specialists.

In one of the richest cities in our nation, 10,000 people will be given basic medical, dental or vision care that they would otherwise do without. As Dana Gould says in the video below..WTF??

The video below starts out with a nasty townhall meeting and outside protesters. Lots of folks with health insurance who don't give a shit about those without insurance. Lots of folks tossing around the words Hitler and Nazi to describe our President that is trying to fix one of the biggest problems to face any administration in the last few decades.

As a native Californian, I am embarrassed and ashamed that R.A.M. had to stop in L.A. It makes me angry that many people on the right can not see the forest for the fucking trees.

It's a good video..part of Bill Maher's show this week. Check it out and then see if you can keep your blood pressure down after seeing the fucking idiots bitching about reforming healthcare...then the folks who are grateful that they got to have a little free healthcare to make their lives more tolerable. Thanks to Crooks and Liars for the video which can be viewed here on my video page.

Ah yes, 40 years ago..

I was only 16, but I heard about this wonderful outdoor concert in NY state. Of course I couldn't go, my parents said I was nuts to even think of going as Northern Cali was a long-fucking-way away from NY state. I eagerly anticipated news from the gathering. Half a million hippies in one place?

Fucking awesome! Oh, to have been there.

The movie is on my telly now, as VH1 is showing it various times this weekend. Such good music, such memories it brings back. I loved that time in my life. Growing, exploring, becoming active in what was going on in my and our world. Realizing that power to the people could actually happen if we spoke as one voice. Speaking truth to power was exhilarating.

When the movie was released, I saw it too many times to count. I loved every minute of it.

The truth about Woodstock was, unless you stayed stoned for the entire event, it was wet, cramped, cold, muddy and you were constantly looking for food. Three people died and two were born that weekend on Max's farm.

But let me just glamorized it one more time in my mind.

So let me get my hippie speedball on, and watch the movie whilst traveling down memory lane. You all have a grand Sunday. ;)

We support this regime?

Karzai signed into law a repressive, horror-filled bill that allows men to deny their wives food if the wife does not cater to the husbands sexual whims. I shit you not, from The Guardian via the Afghanistan Conflict Monitor:

Afghanistan has quietly passed a law permitting Shia men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands' sexual demands, despite international outrage over an earlier version of the legislation which President Hamid Karzai had promised to review.

The new final draft of the legislation also grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers, and requires women to get permission from their husbands to work.

"It also effectively allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying 'blood money' to a girl who was injured when he raped her," the US charity Human Rights Watch said.

That is some sick extremist bullshit isn't it? According to Human Rights Watch this law contradicts Afghanistan's own constitution.

In April President Obama spoke out against this law, as did Gordon Brown and most of the UN.

Obviously, Karzai has sold his soul to the devil, otherwise known as the religious extremists.

And we have soldiers dying every day for this fuckwit and his administration.

Michael Vick's news conference

It was hard to see Vick out of prison clothes and in a very expensive suit. It was hard because I still can not fathom how he would risk it all for something so heinous on it's face.

His culture he said..his culture thought Dog Fighting was ok.

That is a true statement. I live in a downtrodden part of Bako, and I see the phony machismo every day. But I digress...

He said he was sorry ten different ways and times. He was humble as hell. He plans to be involved he said..in helping dogs not hurting them.

I felt myself relax every so slightly when he talked about righting the wrongs he has done to dogs, and animals in general.

Did he mean it? It's not for me to say, I can not see into his soul.

Tony Dungy, prospective Hall of Fame coach and good Christian thinks he means it. Dungy talked at length about Vick and his sessions with him.

Andy Reid thinks he means it as does Donovan McNabb. McNabb is the QB that I try to draft every year in fantasy football. I admire the shit out of his abilities.

Reid is a coach I respect and who has gone through his own personal hell with two worthless, drug-dealing sons. It was all very public and very ugly. He knows the pain of public scrutiny of one's personal life.

I will never think of Vick as a good person..a great football player, perhaps...but never a good person. I can not get past what he allowed to be done, I can not get past that he funded those bastards.

But I will try to keep my anger under control. His actions will speak louder than his words today. So I will wait and see on Mikey.

Forgiveness is a good thing if someone is sincere. It's just damn fucking hard to do.

They are marginalized, therefore they are bitter.

Reading MSNBC’s First Read this morning, I was struck right between the eyes by one section regarding the rightwing nutters coming out of the woodwork and why:

They were irritated with the direction of the country after the 2008 election, with a man as president they didn’t vote for, and with a Congress ruled by Democrats. They were angry with being out of power and having — because of being in the minority — what they felt was no say.

That, m’dear reader, is the crux of the problem. They are just pissed the fuck off that they LOST control of the government.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..fuck all you rightwing nutters..twice even. Suck it up and deal with it, like we had to do for eight-long-fucking-years under the Bush cartel.

Perhaps they all aren’t astroturfer’s after all. They are just highly pissed off that they are marginalized and have no real say anymore. All their representatives were either voted out or hanging onto districts thick with rightwing nutters when the majority of the state voted blue in 2006 and ‘08. So, like spoiled children all they can do is make a scene and scream at the top of their lungs. Again, from First Read:

But there was no indication that these folks were so-called “Astroturf” grassroots supporters. There were many who were affiliated with the tea parties and even LaRouchies likening Obama to Hitler. One LaRouche organizer said he was there to “cause some trouble.”

*snip*

They are the true believers. They were also big-time Fox News viewers and Glenn Beck disciples, hammering home the perception that this is where these people get their news, er, information. One mother-daughter combo — unprompted — enthusiastically boasted, “Fox rules!” “It’s all we ever watch!”

These fuckwits will not go away quietly, they are going to raise holy hell every chance they get. Because, that is all they have…acting like a 3 year old in the grocery store that didn’t get his way. They will be constantly whipped up by the likes of Limbaugh, Dick Armey and their ilk.

So we need to fight fire with a gigantic money-laden firehose. From Politico:

A new coalition on Thursday launched $12 million in television ads to support President Barack Obama’s health reform plan, in the opening wave of a planned tens of millions of dollars this fall.

The new group, funded largely by the pharmaceutical industry, is called Americans for Stable Quality Care. It includes some odd bedfellows: the American Medical Association, FamiliesUSA, the Federation of American Hospitals, PhRMA and SEIU, the service employees’ union.

The decision of labor and progressive groups to join with industry groups could draw new heat about the president’s package from the left.

The ads began airing at about 11 a.m. ET Thursday.

At this point..I don’t give a shit who does it, I just want the nutters exposed and then marginalized once again. They lost, they are now the minority and as such get nothing but a lump of coal in their stockings. From Politico again:

The official provides a little more back story: “These groups were part of a looser coalition that started back in January that focused on the links between health reform and the economy. Now that the debate is turning on what health reform means for the individual, they felt the need to launch a new front that addresses some of those particulars while debunking some of the myths that are floating around. Plus, these groups recognize that their collective voice packs more punch than if they were to just speak out individually.”

As long as they have money and connections..go for it..slap the shit out of the reichwing jackasses..you have my permission.

One of the wingnuts from Specter's townhall on Hardball tonight.

Katy Abrams seems like an intelligent woman. Seems is the operative word, as Lawrence ODonnell takes her argument apart and she goes right along with it. She refuses to say if the Obama tax hike will hit her family. Watch this..it's fucking incredible that this woman thinks Social Security and Medicare should be done away with because..

The founding fathers didn't put it in the Constitution.

Watch the video here on my video page.

She is a stay-at-home mother. Her husband owns a small business. She speaks intelligently, but it makes you wonder what she uses for a brain when she apparently buys into ALL the fuckery being spread by the Rethugs and those that want to keep health insurance an exclusive club. She would want her own parents to forego Medicare..meaning no safety net for them..BECAUSE IT WASN'T IN THE CONSTITUTION!!!!

Simply..utterly..fucking amazing.

Harriet rats out Rove?

Oh my…this is juicy. From McClatchy:

Karl Rove and other top officials in the George W. Bush White House were deeply involved in pushing for the ouster of several U.S. attorneys, notably including one in New Mexico, according to testimony and e-mails that the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee released Tuesday.

Sworn testimony from former White House Counsel Harriet Miers revealed that Rove considered former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico a “serious problem” and “wanted something done about it” because of complaints about politically sensitive investigations that Iglesias had mounted. Miers said that she couldn’t recall whether Rove specifically demanded Iglesias’ firing during a 2006 conversation, but Iglesias was fired later that year.

Harriet’s statements directly contradict Rover’s. Again from McClatchy:

In sworn closed-door testimony to the House Judiciary Committee in July, Rove continued to distance himself from the decision to push out certain prosecutors. He recalled a proposal to fire some or all of them in late 2004, but denied that he’d come up with a plan to have it done and rejected the suggestion that he had a direct role.

“My view was this is a decision that had to be made at the Justice Department,” Rove said, according to a transcript of his sworn testimony.

Rover is so full of shit, his eyes better be brown. We can now read the transcript of Rover’s sworn testimony with the House Judiciary Committee here and here(pdf). You can also read the emails frm the White House and the RNC about firing the USA’s at the McClatchy link at the top of this post.

I will be reading the transcripts and emails for the next couple of days..whilst my friggin tv is being shipped to Chino for a replacement tv.

The Healthcare Wars

It seems to me that the folks who have insurance are now the ones that do not want health insurance reform.

It's the "I got mine, fuck the rest of you" scenario.

So The Big O hasn't done a very good job of explaining to those folks how healthcare reform will benefit them.

I have come to this conclusion after watching quite a few of the townhall meetings recently. Arlen Specter is holding one live right now on MSNBC. Everyone who is speaking against healthcare reform has insurance.

Now, I am not saying ALL people who have insurance are against healthcare reform..just that that bulk of folks against it already have health insurance.

This pisses me off. A lot.

I did not have health insurance for over 20 years. During that time my spine started falling apart. If I had had basic health insurance, a doctor could of dealt with the problem before it reached the stage it is now..permanently fucked up.

I am sick of the 'I got mine, fuck everyone else' mantra. Selfish bastards need to suck it up and deal.

And The Big O has to do a better job of explaining how reforming the system will help those that already have health insurance.

Holder to name a special prosecutor.

The SP will be investigating torture abuses.

But wait! Before you get all giddy, its not what you think. According to the Chicago Tribune, it's going to be "narrow" in scope, focusing on "whether people went beyond the techniques that were authorized" in Bush administration memos known for their extreme interpretations of anti-torture laws.

From Jurist:

US Attorney General Eric Holder profile; is expected to name a special prosecutor who will be tasked with investigating the alleged abuse of detainees and other terrorism suspects by CIA interrogators, according to a Sunday Los Angeles Times report. The report cites a senior Department of Justice official who says that Holder will limit the probe to determining whether individuals went beyond authorized techniques when interrogating suspects. The official said that no final decision has been made, but last month it was reported that Holder had requested a list of 10 possible candidates.

This probe is merely window dressing folks. According to the LAT, it will be almost impossible to get a conviction. So why is he doing this?

Bullshit and bravado? He will be wasting money on an investigation that will do nothing to the assholes that allowed detainee's to be tortured in the first place. This quote says it all:

"I don't blame them for wanting to look into it," said a former high-ranking Justice Department official familiar with the details of the program. "But if they appoint a special prosecutor, it would ultimately be unsuccessful, and it would go on forever and cause enormous collateral damage on the way to getting that unsuccessful result."

Such a waste of resources wouldn't you say?

9th Circuit prohibits logging in National Forest's

Bush of course overturned a Clinton rule and allowed logging in our National Forest's. From Jurist:

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed a district court ruling reinstating the Roadless Rule, which prohibited the building of roads or the use of roadless lands in National Parks for timber production. The Clinton administration measure was effectively overturned in 2005 by the State Petitions Rule, enacted by the US Department of Agriculture under President George W Bush. The State Petitions Rule allowed governors to petition for Roadless Rule protections, depending on their individual state needs, in lieu of blanket protection. Affirming the ruling, Judge Robert Beezer wrote that the State Petitions Rule violated the National Environmental Policy Act because it was enacted without an environmental impact statement:

In the context of this case, we cannot condone a marked
change in roadless area management without environmental analysis because it was the USDA’s preferred response to an untested district court injunction that was subject to possible reversal in a pending appeal.

As expected, opinions on the ruling varied. The environmental group Earthjustice lauded the ruling, calling it a victory for all citizens who enjoy the outdoors, and for cities that rely on the wilderness for fresh water. The Intermountain Forest Association, a logging industry group, said that it was too early to say definitively what the ruling means .

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule was implemented by former president Bill Clinton in 2001 and replaced by the Bush administration in 2005. In March, the US House of Representatives voted to approve the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, a collection of more than 160 bills aimed at preserving federal land as wilderness areas. The Act includes a rule which allows governors to request that regulations on the management of roadless areas be developed to meet the needs of individual states. The Clinton-era rule would have prohibited mining, logging, and road construction in the forests of 38 states and Puerto Rico, totaling more than 58 million acres of land.

Lets hope this holds up when it hits the Supreme Court, which I know it will. The logging folks will not go away quietly.

Tortured Logic-New Video from ACLU

After watching this..please sign up at the ACLU website to send this to AG Holder.

OMG, I was born in Kenya too?

Thanks to Christopher for the link to this site. You too can be born in Africa!

Freaks and farkwits of the week

These assholes have no idea that their beloved Medicare is socialist medicine at it's best. Watch at 2:59 when the assholes raise their fuckwitted hands to hate on socialist medicine then raise their hands that they have medicare.

DAMN PATHETIC IF YOU ASK MOI.

William Jefferson found guilty on 11 counts.

MSNBC is reporting he was found guilty on 11 counts out of 16. Read the charges and verdicts here. From the Times-Picayune:

ALEXANDRIA, VA. - Former Democratic Congressman William Jefferson was found guilty of 11 of 16 corruption charges today by a federal jury.

The jury of eight women and four men returned a guilty verdict following five days of deliberation.

In the 16-count indictment, Jefferson was charged with soliciting bribes and other crimes for a series of schemes in which he helped American businesses broker deals in West African in exchange for payments or financial considerations to companies controlled by members of his family, including his brother Mose, his wife, Andrea, their five daughters and a son-in-law.

Jefferson, who represented the New Orleans-based 2nd Congressional District for nine terms, will now face sentencing by Judge T.S. Ellis III, who earlier meted out stiff sentences for lesser figures in the case. According to the U.S. attorney's office, Jefferson faced 235 years in prison if convicted on all counts, and will still face substantial prison time.

Finally, Justice has been served for this smarmy bastard. Hope the verdicts hold up all the way through the appeals process. I can't wait to see him do the perp walk in prison orange.

Erik Prince implicated in murder

The latest on those Blackwater USA boyz is that founder and head honcho Erik Prince was in on silencing those that tried to expose the dirty deeds of Blackwater. KO does a good piece on this story last night. The Nation has the goodies on Prince:

A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company’s owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe,” and that Prince’s companies “encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life.”

Sworn statements can not be taken lightly..jail time will ensue if you lie to the court. Lots more at The Nation..check out the link above. I have written about Prince and his biblical bullshit in the past. He sponsors many of the extreme rightwing bible thumpers and their attorneys, just for starters.

For someone that purports to believe in Jesus, he sure does practice the Devils's work quite well.

Here is KO’s piece on Erik Prince and Blackwater USA:

Paid mobs ambush Townhalls..

This shit is on my last nerve. At least when the leftwingers went after Rethugs, we weren't paid by some group and we did a little demonstration until we were hauled away. We did not shout down other citizens that wanted to speak. From Rachel Maddow's show last night, a good video..click here to watch it on my video page.


The goal by the paid rightwingers is to prevent discussion. They shout down everyone that isn't 'one of them'. Rachel Maddow does a great expose' on these asshats tonight as well.

Video when it becomes available...Its Available! Rachel and Chris Hayes discuss the history of the Rethugs dirty tricks with regard to astroturf protests, watch it here.


C&L has a great writeup on this topic as well as partial transcripts of Maddow's show tonight on this issue.

Is the media killing healthcare reform?

Many of us that pay attention and watch the media circus known as 24/7 cable news think they are. Watch GritTv's Laura Flanders and others talk about how the media affects the conversation on healthcare reform here on my video page.

From The Nation article:

Most agree the issue of healthcare is getting sufficient coverage and exposure in the mainstream media, but is it getting the right kind of coverage? The topic has often been belittled to another means of partisan divide, and most citizens still lack basic knowledge of reform plans in favor of rhetoric from one side or the other.

I really don't know..which side is the media on? Why do they report the lies spewed by the rightwing nutters with regard to what Obama's healthcare package will and won't do?

Blue Dogs-bought and paid for, just like the Repub's

They join the Rethugs as Big Pharma, Health Insurance companies and the other healthcare special interest groups as the highest paid whores for keeping the status quo in the US regarding healthcare.

KO did a spectacular Special Comment tonight on the Blue Dogs and the healthcare lobbyists..watch it below.

Next up are the fuckwits that are invading all the Democrat's townhall meetings. It's obvious as hell that these fuckers are paid for by the opposition. Watch Axelrod discuss them on my video page here.