Friday, September 30, 2011

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me-a little long-but really worth watching

Everything cleaned and back in place!

took everything out- wiped off the bottles and scrubbed the drawer itself and put everything back. it won't stay neat for long!

Emptied drawer

Cleaning the spice drawer

me- i read her years ago when i was young- i never understood how the now a days republicans and the teaparty people based their whole ecconomic and social platform on her fairly bad novel! read it yourself-she was not only a cold woman-she was a hypocrite who miled the government when it suited her needs. google her and read some biographic stuff on her.
The Terrorist Notches on Obama’s Belt The list of senior terrorists killed during the Obama presidency is fairly extensive. There’s Osama bin Laden, of course, killed in May. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader Anwar al-Awlaki as of today. Earlier this month officials confirmed that al Qaeda’s chief of Pakistan operations, Abu Hafs al-Shahri, was killed in Waziristan, Pakistan. In August, ‘Atiyah ‘Abd al-Rahman, the deputy leader of al Qaeda was killed. In June, one of the group’s most dangerous commanders, Ilyas Kashmiri, was killed in Pakistan. In Yemen that same month, AQAP senior operatives Ammar al-Wa’ili, Abu Ali al-Harithi, and Ali Saleh Farhan were killed. In Somalia, Al-Qa’ida in East Africa (AQEA) senior leader Harun Fazul was killed. Administration officials also herald the recent U.S./Pakistani joint arrest of Younis al-Mauritani in Quetta. Going back to August 2009, Tehrik e-Taliban Pakistan leader Baitullah Mahsud was killed in Pakistan. In September of that month, Jemayah Islamiya operational planner Noordin Muhammad Top was killed in Indonesia, and AQEA planner Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan was killed in Somalia. Then in December 2009 in Pakistan, al Qaeda operational commanders Saleh al-Somali and ‘Abdallah Sa’id were killed. In February 2010, in Pakistan, Taliban deputy and military commander Abdul Ghani Beradar was captured; Haqqani network commander Muhammad Haqqani was killed; and Lashkar-e Jhangvi leader Qari Zafar was killed. In March 2010, al Qaeda operative Hussein al-Yemeni was killed in Pakistan, while senior Jemayah Islamiya operative Dulmatin - accused of being the mastermind behind the 2002 Bali bombings – was killed during a raid in Indonesia. In April 2010, al Qaeda in Iraq leaders Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi were killed. In May, al Qaeda’s number three commander, Sheik Saeed al-Masri was killed. In June 2010 in Pakistan, al Qaeda commander Hamza al-Jawfi was killed. Remember when Rudy Giuliani warned that electing Barack Obama would mean that the U.S. played defense, not offense, against the terrorists? If this is defense, what does offense look like? -Jake Tapper
me- thanks eric!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Worldwide Hippies Mission Statement .By Joe Mcevoy · Worldwide Hippies Mission Statement (WWH) WWH – Citizen News Information Entertainment and community media outlet. Who we are: – WWH is an online based privately owned (Website – Blog). Started 2009. The purpose of the site - to provide for the Citizen Journalist, the Artist, the Activist and the Individual – a new form of media outlet for their work. Simply put, we are you and I together ~The People~ Who seek Peace, Justice, Love, Harmony – Promote,Basic Human Rights and Positive Change in the world! “To have a completly independant News and information Network, Worldwide. Professional and non professional volenteers providing Information daily from the ground. This is my challenge” Joseph McEvoy, Founder Worldwide Hippies What We Believe: - Social Networks and current technology is a powerful tool to create change needed, so we work and gather, mingle, support - network and organize within a Online Community, while having fun doing so! We Strive: - To embrace eclectic progressive people, from all ages and walks of life, with many diverse expereinces, honoring each others expereinces as useful, to foster positive solutions! Worldwide Hippies Welcomes: - All Creative Free Thinkers ~by drawing from the spirit and history of hippies of the Sixties, while pushing forward from that retro era, to embrace NOW, with activism. Worldwide Hippies invites You; ~Sharing your experiences is vital, as well as speaking for those who have no voice. ~We believe empowerment is crucial with accurate Media/News ~we the people~ reporting with opinion, as that vehicle, exposing tomfoolery and reserving the right to call foul where ever we see it. ~ We encourage each other to report on all levels ‘what’s happening’, through Neighborhood &Community News coverage not seen in Mainstream News being inclusive Globally. ~ Sharing the good news, those ‘bright spots’ that are working in our area’s that get us all through the day, in local communities as well as sharing the many silent injustices also is vital to our mission! Worldwide Hippies HEART BEATS: - Through Activism. ~ By you sharing your talents, be that writing, crafting, art,graphic design, poetry, spiritualism, faith, photography, public speaking/ radio, education,music,video, film, career experience,hobbies organizing,encouraging others to use their talents. All efforts are welcome here and nothing offered is too small! Worldwide Hippies is looking ; – for writers wishing to share content on this Site willing to own their words while respecting others opinions! Worldwide Hippies operates as: - A grass roots community of volunteers world wide, who are happy for their service to receive an occasional bumper sticker, wrist band or T- Shirt for their efforts. And Love… Love is Love and we share it! You are very welcome here!

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me- this made me smile-such a nice story!
went to the scholarship meeting last night-looks like it may be a good year! i'm so glad. the scholarships have always been important to me. kid's need some sort of post secondary training and this is open for kids going on to trades as well as a college. i'm proud of the fact that it's based on a student's work ethics and not a G.P.A. not every child is a straight A student and the child that gets Cs but is working to their max potential and gives volunteeer time for others is to me, a harder worker and may be a better future employee that a child that has taken their I.Q. for granted. i did miss going to my cousin louis's family party but these scholarships are important and louis understood. dull and dreary and cold today. nothing much to do but the same old routine. i did send my article in for worldwidehippies.com. you can catch my stuff there every thursday evening round 8 p.m. we have some really great writers on the staff and a lot of interesting and cool things to read every day so bookmark us and check often. that's www.worldwidehippies.com thanks!
http://unknownjournal.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/%E2%96%BC-report-the-kochs-their-nazi-past-american-oil-the-foundation-of-republican-ideology/ me- something ver inportant-very important- don't think there are no more like this in the world!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44706301/ns/technology_and_science-security/ it only takes 26 dollars to hack a voting machine
my little sweetie was here for a bit. she had 1/2 day at school. she grows bigger every time i see her. she's 7 going on 40!
http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/28/opinion/kohn-tradition-of-protests/index.html
Macaroni and Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Bacon Time:1 Hr 20 Min.(20 Min. Prep.) Cuisines:Hungarian, Canadian, Italian Courses:Main Dishes Calories:853/ Serv. Ingredients Servings+ Ingrediente Edit All 16 oz elbow macaroni 14 cup butter 12 cup sour cream 1 beaten eggs 2 tbsp cream cheese (softened) 4 cup asiago cheese (grated) 4 cup cheddar cheese (grated vermont) 4 slice bacon 2 tbsp butter 1 onions (sliced thin) 4 clove garlic cloves (minced) 18 tsp brown sugar 14 cup fresh parsley (chopped) 14 cup panko bread crumbs 5 tbsp all-purpose flour (purpose) 3 cup milk 12 tsp ground mustard 12 tsp paprika 14 tsp salt 12 tsp pepper 1 tbsp hot pepper sauce Directions 1.Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, add macaroni and cook for 8 minutes (noodles will still be slightly hard). Drain noodles and transfer to a large bowl with 1/4 cup of butter and toss to coat. Whisk together the sour cream, egg, and cream cheese; add to the pasta and mix well. Stir in 3 cups of grated Asiago and 3 cups of grated Cheddar cheese, reserving the remaining 2 cups of cheese for the topping. 2.Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate and chop into small pieces. 3.Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). 4.Stir 2 tablespoons butter, the onion, and garlic into the bacon drippings in the pan and cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and add the brown sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes until the onions are very soft and golden brown. Mix the cooked bacon, parsley, and panko breadcrumbs into the onions, transfer mixture to a small bowl and set aside. 5.Return the skillet to the heat and melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour, and stir until the mixture becomes paste-like and light golden brown, about 5 minutes. Gradually whisk the milk into the flour mixture and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook and stir until the mixture is smooth and thickened. Stir in the ground mustard, paprika, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Remove sauce from heat and let cool for five minutes. 6.Pour the sauce over the macaroni mixture, stirring well. Transfer to a greased 9x13 inch pan and sprinkle with the remaining 2 cups of Cheddar cheese. Top cheese with the onion breadcrumb mixture. 7.Bake in preheated oven until bubbling, hot and golden brown on top, about 30 minutes
Bill Hupp: Scattered Paper Once upon a time, an old man spread rumors that his neighbor was a thief. As a result, the young man was arrested. Days later the young man was proven innocent. After been released he sued the old man for wrongly accusing him. In court the old man told the Judge: "They were just comments, didn't harm anyone." The judge, before passing sentence on the case, told the old man: "Write all the things you said about him in a piece of paper. Cut them up and on the way home, throw the pieces of paper out. Tomorrow, come back to hear the sentence." Next day, the judge told the old man: "Before receiving the sentence, you will have to go out and gather all the pieces of paper that you threw out yesterday." The old man said: "I can't do that! The wind spread them and I won't know where to find them." The judge then replied: "The same way, simple comments may destroy the honor of a man to such an extent that one is not able to fix it. If you can't speak well of someone, rather don't say anything. Let's all be masters of our mouths, so that we won't be slaves of our words." ~ Author Unknown

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm
http://youtu.be/TjrusKatMWs me- x rated language
Here is a list of the veteran bills being blocked by the GOP in the House, PLEASE share liberally! H.R.26 - Veterans Mental Health Screening and Assessment Act H.R.28 - Veterans Outreach Improvement Act of 2011 H.R.79 - Dependent Care Act of 2011- To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide certain abused dependents of veterans with health care H.R.117 - Housing, Employment, and Living Programs for Veterans Act of 2011-To amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements in the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purpose 01/04/11 H.R.136 - To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow taxpayers to designate a portion of their income tax payment to provide assistance to homeless veterans, and for other purposes. 01/04/11 H.R.237 - To amend the Homeowners Assistance Program of the Department of Defense to give the Secretary of Defense flexibility regarding setting the commencement date for homeowner assistance for members of the Armed Forces permanently reassigned during the mortgage crisis. H.R.284 - Veterans, Women, Families with Children, and Persons With Disabilities Housing Fairness Act of 2011-To authorize funds to prevent housing discrimination through the use of nationwide testing, to increase funds for the Fair Housing Initiatives Program, and for other purposes. (01-11-11) H.R.287 - Homes for Heroes Act of 2011-To provide housing assistance for very low-income veterans. (01-11-11)
Someone asked the Dalai Lama what surprises him most. This was his response: "Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future. He lives as if he's never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived"
me- too funny and too true!

Monday, September 26, 2011

finally finished reading the morning paper. the spaghetti sauce is simmering on the stove- all the critters have been fed and the houseplants watered. still haven't made the bed- afraid that if i go in there to make it i might just lay myself down and go to sleep again! had a banana at 10 a.m. been trying to eat healthy during the week- it was the blandest thing i think i've ever eaten. phooey!
seems all i've been doing is sleeping. slept most of yesterday-slept all night- got up took out max- put on a pot of tomato sauce and i can barely keep my eyes open- this is very odd.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/arts/music/bob-dylan-assembles-the-lost-notebooks-of-hank-williams.html?_r=3
finally got my haircut today-been trying to get there for about 3 weeks. took well over an inch off and it feels so good! i think i'm coming down with a cold-thought maybe it was allergies but nope- think it's a cold. been drinking a lot of fluids and hoping! the leaves seem to be turning fast this year. the stinkbugs are plotting an invasion and i saw big flocks of robins gathering to migrate. fall is here!

Friday, September 23, 2011

IT'S FRIDAY BABIES!!!!

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grey, wet and gloomy outside. did my grocery shopping early. had a toasted sesame bagel and coffee for lunch. took a HOT shower just now. feeling a little under the weather-just a bit-like a cold might be coming on but maybe not. the shower helped.
People For Blog get the pfaw feed No Thanks for Your Service By Miranda | September 23, 2011 - 11:15am The most remarkable moment of last night’s GOP debate came when Stephen Hill, a gay soldier currently in Iraq asked the candidates if they would reinstate the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. The soldier’s video question was met with boos from the audience, and not a single candidate on stage thought to thank him for his service to the country or contradict the audience members who were insulting him. Rick Santorum, who answered the question, went so far as to call the new policy that lets Hill serve openly “tragic.” While the moment was appalling, it was also strangely hopeful. Before this week, Hill would not have been able to ask his question in public, much less on national TV. While before DADT was repealed, Republican leaders could talk about gays and lesbians serving in the military as an abstract concept, they now have to tell gay servicemembers their anti-gay theories to their faces. Santorum’s answer would have come across as hateful in any situation…but saying it to the face of a man currently risking his life in a war zone seemed downright unhuman. And Republicans know that -- in the spin room after the debate, candidates and their spokespeople were quick to condemn the booing and vaguely wish that someone on the stage had stuck up for the soldier. It was a sad display: no amount of post-debate spin can erase the fact that when facing an audience so shockingly disrespectful of a serving member of the armed forces, not one candidate found it worthy of comment. Polls show that one of the most powerful indicators of whether a person will support gay rights is whether that person knows a gay person. Even the strongest prejudices tend to break down when faced with real people with real lives. The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is a huge victory for the gay men and women who have been serving our country while being forced to hide who they are. But it’s also a huge step forward for the rights of all gay Americans – if it looks terrible for a presidential candidate to tell a gay soldier that he doesn’t appreciate his service to the country, it also looks pretty bad for him to tell that soldier he can’t get married or be protected from hiring discrimination. The boos directed at Hill made a lot of people, of a lot of political persuasions, gasp. The GOP knows that its anti-gay policies are becoming less and less popular as more and more LGBT people openly and proudly raise children, go to work, go to church, join the military, get married and care for each other in their old age. While the moment last night was sickening, it also exposed in a very stark way the emptiness of the GOP’s anti-gay arguments. me- so far 3 entirely different audiences at the 3 republican debates have- cheered the large number of executions in texas- cheered whistled and called out , "LET HIM DIE!" in response to a hypothetical question about a man with no health insurance that gets cancer and NOW this- booing a gay soldier SERVING IN IRAQ! this is the new republican party- THESE are their candidates!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

In a speech in South Carolina, Google search term and Republican Presidential candidate, Rick Santorum compared Medicare and Medicaid to “food insurance.” “So we’re going to have food insurance. So what’s going to happen? You’re going to go and you’re going to pay the grocery store 500 bucks. Then you go to the grocery story and there are no prices on anything, shelves are full, no prices on anything. You just go and get whatever you want. And you check out and they have a scanner and you check out and there’s prices on there but they’ll say, ‘Well, this bill is $435 and your bill is $42.10.’” Rick, um. I’m sure you have great health insurance. Most of us don’t. We can’t go to the doctor and pick out any procedure we want. No matter how hard I try, no insurance company, including Medicare, is going to pay for lipo or a “little lift.” How many Medicare recipients would be eligible for the Dick Cheney heart pump? If we’re lucky, we have the type of insurance that will cover preventative measures. If we’re lucky, we have the type of insurance that will treat basic illnesses. You might, but we don’t get a shelf full of procedures to choose from. Read story on Raw Story. me- he is so damn stupid. it's amazing how stupid he is.

My doors and screens are covered with

STINKBUGS!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

David Hope Rosser ‎"The term Allāh is derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article al- "the" and ʾilāh "deity, god" to al-lāh meaning "the [sole] deity, God" (ὁ θεὸς μόνος, ho theos monos). Cognates of the name "Allāh" exist in other Semitic languages, including Hebrew and Aramaic. Biblical Hebrew mostly uses the plural form (but functional singular) Elohim." From Wikipedia (For the SC folks who say 'Allah" is Satanic) There are these things called dictionaries, though you need to learn to read 1st
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 20, 2011 W.S. Merwin Reads for 57th Annual Poetry Day CHICAGO — The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is pleased to announce that poet, translator, and environmental activist W.S. Merwin will read in celebration of the 57th annual Poetry Day on Thursday, October 6. In a career spanning five decades, Merwin has become one of the most honored and widely read poets in America. From his first collection, A Mask for Janus, which W.H. Auden chose for the Yale Younger Poets Prize in 1952, to The Shadow of Sirius, winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize, Merwin has written with sheer grace and limpid power about the natural world, time, and memory. Appointed U.S. poet laureate in 2010, Merwin lives, writes, and gardens in Hawaii, on the island of Maui. He has spent the last 30 years planting 19 acres with over 800 endangered species of palm, creating a sustainable forest. The property has recently been protected as the Merwin Conservancy. What: Poetry Day: W.S. Merwin When: Thursday, October 6, 6 p.m. Where: Harold Washington Library Cindy Pritzker Auditorium 400 South State Street Tickets: Free admission on a first-come, first-served basis Inaugurated by Robert Frost in 1955, Poetry Day is one of the most distinguished poetry reading series in the country, having featured such poets of note as T.S. Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop, Carl Sandburg, W.H. Auden, Anne Sexton, John Ashbery, James Merrill, Adrienne Rich, Gwendolyn Brooks, Rita Dove, Billy Collins, Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott, and Robert Hass. Find information about other Poetry Foundation events at www.poetryfoundation.org/ programs/events. About Poetry Founded in Chicago by Harriet Monroe in 1912, Poetry is the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world. Monroe’s “Open Door” policy, set forth in Volume 1 of the magazine, remains the most succinct statement of Poetry ’s mission: to print the best poetry written today, in whatever style, genre, or approach. The magazine established its reputation early by publishing the first important poems of T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, H.D., William Carlos Williams, Carl Sandburg, and other now-classic authors. In succeeding decades it has presented—often for the first time—works by virtually every major contemporary poet. About the Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative literary prizes and programs. For more information, please visit www.poetryfoundation.org.

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ME -WOW!
Robert Myers ‎"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president" GOP Senate leader M. McConnell (R-KY) Remember this when going to vote in 2012! This is the reason, plus some in our own party holding things up was the reason you did not get everything you wanted!!!!
The Most Patriotic Thing You Can Do. by Mark Cuban on Monday, September 19, 2011 at 1:25pm . Bust your ass and get rich. Make a boatload of money. Pay your taxes. Lots of taxes. Hire people. Train people. Pay people. Spend money on rent, equipment, services. Pay more taxes. When you make a shitload of money. Do something positive with it. If you are smart enough to make it, you will be smart enough to know where to put it to work. I don’t care what anyone says. Being rich is a good thing. Not just in the obvious sense of benefiting you and your family, but in the broader sense. Profits are not a zero sum game. The more you make the more of a financial impact you can have. I’m not against government involvement in times of need. I am for recognizing that big public companies will continue to cut jobs in an effort to prop up stock prices, which in turn stimulates the need for more government involvement. Every cut job by the big companies extracts a cost on the American people in one way or another. Entrepreneurs are needed to create and grow companies to absorb those people in new jobs. If entrepreneurs don’t create those jobs, the government ends up having to spend more money to help them one way or another. So be Patriotic. Go out there and get rich. Get so obnoxiously rich that when that tax bill comes , your first thought will be to choke on how big a check you have to write. Your 2nd thought will be “what a great problem to have”, and your 3rd should be a recognition that in paying your taxes you are helping to support millions of Americans that are not as fortunate as you. In these times of “The Great Recession” we shouldn’t be trying to shift the benefits of wealth behind some curtain. We should be celebrating and encouraging people to make as much money as they can. Profits equal tax money. While some people might find it distasteful to pay taxes. I don’t. I find it Patriotic. I’m not saying that the government’s use of tax money is the most efficient use of our hard-earned capital. It obviously is not. In a perfect world, there would be a better option. We don’t live in a perfect world. We don’t live in a perfect time. We live in a time where the government plays a big role in an effort to help lead us out this Great Recession. That’s reality. So I will repeat my point. Get out there and make a boatload of money. Enjoy the shit out your money. Pay your taxes. It’s the most Patriotic thing you can do.
Gas industry group sues W. Pa. community Posted 9/19/2011 6:52 PM ET CORRY, Pa. (AP) — A gas drilling industry group says a western Pennsylvania community shouldn't be able to ban the dumping of toxic waste, and has filed a lawsuit on the issue. Columbus Township, about 30 miles southeast of Erie, tried to keep Marcellus shale drillers from dumping their wastes within its borders, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://bit.ly/oZd3qN reports Monday. The Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association, based in Marshall, claims in an Erie federal court filing that the ordinance prohibiting the dumping of toxic liquids that were not generated inside the township violates the Constitution's interstate commerce clause. The township passed the ordinance in August and amended it on Sept. 13.
wet and dark grey out! PHOOEY!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/its-not-class-warfare-its-christianity/2011/09/19/gIQAkoMxfK_blog.html

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Monday, September 19, 2011

While Lobbying For Huge Tax Giveaways, Corporations Hoard Record Amounts Of Cash Instead Of Hiring By Travis Waldron on Sep 19, 2011 at 10:35 am American corporations are holding more cash on their balance sheets than at any time in nearly a half century, as they continue to save instead of investing or hiring workers, according to a Federal Reserve report released Friday. At the same time, Republican presidential candidates and corporate leaders continue to lobby for lower corporate tax rates and huge corporate tax giveaways under the guise that they will lead to higher rates of job creation. According to the report, non-financial corporations held more than $2 trillion in cash at the end of June, a $88 billion jump since the end of March. Cash holdings made up 7.1 percent of all company assets, the highest level since 1963. And the report doesn’t even include foreign cash holdings, though 11 companies — including Apple, Microsoft, and Cisco — have foreign cash holdings of at least $10 billion. Those funds, the corporations argue, could be used to spur hiring and job growth domestically through tax breaks like a repatriation tax holiday, as one executive told the Wall Street Journal: But Jeff Agosta, chief financial officer of Devon Energy Corp., said that whatever companies use the money for—such as investments, dividend payments or stock buybacks—the U.S. would benefit by having the funds come home. “That’s money that’s going to be put into productive use in the United States,” Mr. Agosta said. Evidence from past repatriation tax holidays, in which corporations can bring foreign cash holdings back to the U.S. at lower tax rates, shows that companies wouldn’t use the funds to spur job growth. As one of the members on President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers said, the 2004 repatriation holiday “didn’t accomplish the stated goals of bringing jobs and investment to the U.S.” After the holiday ended, corporations cut thousands of jobs and stashed more money overseas in anticipation of a future holiday — a perhaps prescient move, as multiple Republican presidential candidates have endorsed an even bigger tax holiday than the corporations have asked for. Meanwhile, Republican candidates continue to endorse drastic reductions in the corporate tax rate, even as American corporations pay one of the lowest effective tax rates in the developed world. Those who favor lower corporate tax rates and bigger giveaways continue to argue more cash on hand will equal more jobs created. The Fed’s latest report, however, is more evidence that equation simply doesn’t work out.
http://www.politicususa.com/en/john-hagee-says-hate-is-the-only-way-to-save-america me - another ," small c" christian!
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/index.php me- check it out.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-09-15/Medicare-health-care-law-premiums/50420430/1
Bernie Sanders: The US has the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country in the industrialized world. During the Bush years, the wealthiest 400 Americans saw their wealth increase by some $400 billion and are collectively worth over $1.3 trillion. Today, the top one percent owns more wealth than the bottom 90% and earns more income than the bottom 50%. Meanwhile, a record-breaking 50 million Americans have no health insurance and nearly 44 million Americans live below the poverty line.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/19/322405/gop-rep-whines-400k/ me- oh BOO HOO for this guy-only 400 thousand a year left to feed his family!
By JACKIE CALMES Published: September 17, 2011 WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday will call for a new minimum tax rate for individuals making more than $1 million a year to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers, according to administration official. With a special joint Congressional committee starting work to reach a bipartisan budget deal by late November, the proposal adds a new and populist feature to Mr. Obama’s effort to raise the political pressure on Republicans to agree to higher revenues from the wealthy in return for Democrats’ support of future cuts from Medicare and Medicaid. Mr. Obama, in a bit of political salesmanship, will call his proposal the “Buffett Rule,” in a reference to Warren E. Buffett, the billionaire investor who has complained repeatedly that the richest Americans generally pay a smaller share of their income in federal taxes than do middle-income workers, because investment gains are taxed at a lower rate than wages. Mr. Obama will not specify a rate or other details, and it is unclear how much revenue his plan would raise. But his idea of a millionaires’ minimum tax will be prominent in the broad plan for long-term deficit reduction that he will outline at the White House on Monday. Mr. Obama’s proposal is certain to draw opposition from Republicans, who have staunchly opposed raising taxes on the affluent because, they say, it would discourage investment. It could also invite scrutiny from some economists who have disputed Mr. Buffett’s assertion that the megarich pay a lower tax rate over all. Mr. Buffett’s critics say many of the rich actually make more from wages than from investments. In a speech on Thursday, Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, agreed with Mr. Obama that the deficit-reduction committee “can tackle tax reform, and it should,” to get rid of many tax breaks and allow for lower marginal rates. “Tax increases, however, are not a viable option for the joint committee,” Mr. Boehner said. Instead, he emphasized that meeting the deficit-reduction target should come largely from overhauling benefit programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The Obama proposal has little chance of becoming law unless Republican lawmakers bend. But by focusing on the wealthiest Americans, the president is sharpening the contrast between Republicans and Democrats with a theme he can carry into his bid for re-election in 2012. It could also reassure Democrats who have feared that Mr. Obama would agree to changes in programs like Medicare without forcing Republicans to compromise on taxes. The administration wants such a tax to replace the alternative minimum tax, which was created decades ago to make sure the richest taxpayers with plentiful deductions and credits did not avoid income taxes, but which now hits millions of Americans who are considered upper middle class. Mr. Obama has said that many average Americans could see a tax cut if the system is overhauled, since ending many tax breaks would allow for lower rates while raising more revenues from the wealthiest. The millionaires’ tax is among several changes Mr. Obama will propose in urging Congress to overhaul the federal income tax code next year, both to raise revenues for reducing deficits and to make the tax system simpler and fairer, said the administration officials, who agreed to speak in advance of the president’s announcement on the condition of anonymity. The millionaires’ rate would affect only 0.3 percent of taxpayers, they said. That would be fewer than 450,000; 144 million returns were filed for 2010. Mr. Obama’s proposal comes a month after Mr. Buffett began reviving his longstanding objection that he and “my megarich friends” pay a significantly lower percentage of their income in federal taxes — income and payroll taxes — than everyone else, thanks to the tax code’s favoritism toward the rich, and especially toward investors like him. “My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress,” he wrote in an opinion article in The New York Times, a complaint he has repeated in talks and media interviews since. “It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.” Mr. Obama has been citing Mr. Buffett as he promotes his $447 billion job-creation plan. He proposes to offset the cost of that plan and reduce future budget deficits through higher taxes on the wealthy and on corporations after 2013, when the economy will presumably be healthier. Mr. Obama’s proposed Buffett Rule puts a new spin on that pitch, as he tries to put Republicans in Congress and in the presidential race on the defensive for their rigid stand against higher taxes. Behind the arguments of Mr. Obama, Mr. Buffett and others about the inequity of the tax system is the difference between taxpayers’ marginal tax rate, popularly known as their tax bracket, and the effective tax rate they end up paying after subtracting for deductions, credits and other breaks. The marginal tax rate is the percentage paid on the last dollar a person earns. The current system has six marginal tax rate percentages — 10, 15, 25, 28, 33 and 35 — and each applies to a progressively higher amount of income. In theory, a wealthy filer pays the lower rates on income within each bracket, but the bulk of their income is taxed at the top 35 percent rate. Middle-class taxpayers generally pay marginal rates of 15 percent or 25 percent. But investors like Mr. Buffett pay no more than 15 percent on most of their income because that rate applies to capital gains, dividends and “carried interest,” which is the compensation paid to hedge fund partners and investment managers like Mr. Buffett. Another reason many wealthy Americans pay a smaller share of their income in federal taxes is that the Social Security payroll tax does not apply to income above $106,800; most people do not reach the cutoff and pay the tax on all their income. Counting income and payroll taxes, Mr. Buffett has said he paid an effective tax rate of 17.4 percent for 2010 compared with an average 36 percent rate for many employees of his company, Berkshire Hathaway. Under Mr. Obama’s proposal, Mr. Buffett and others with taxable income of more than $1 million would pay a minimum tax rate closer to his employees’ rates. But Mr. Obama will leave the details of how such a rate would be calculated — whether to focus on the overall federal tax burden of middle-income individuals generally, or their marginal rates — to the debate over rewriting the tax code. Republicans and some conservative economists are certain to oppose him, however. In 2007, when Mr. Buffett made news with his complaints about tax inequities, N. Gregory Mankiw, an economics professor at Harvard who was an adviser to President George W. Bush, disputed Mr. Buffett. Mr. Mankiw, who now advises Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, said that unlike Mr. Buffett and others who live on investment income taxed at 15 percent, millionaires typically pay the 35 percent marginal rate on their salaries, bonuses and business income. Even Mr. Buffett probably paid a higher effective rate than he claimed, Mr. Mankiw added, because much of his income came from corporate income that had been taxed before it was paid out to individuals. Mr. Obama, in his plan, will call for more than $300 billion in 10-year savings from Medicare and Medicaid but not for changes in Social Security. Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, one of six Democrats on the 12-member joint committee, said Mr. Obama must make it clear that those reductions from entitlement programs “are tied to his proposals to raise revenues by cutting special-interest tax breaks and asking the folks at the top to pay more.” “Otherwise,” Mr. Van Hollen added, “there’s a risk the Republicans will cherry-pick the pieces they like and leave behind the ones they don’t.” A version of this article appeared in print on September 18, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Obama Tax Plan Would Ask More of Millionaires.
making a pork stew with new potatoes and baby carrots, onions, garlic and corn- wish i had some barley to put in. i did bring my rosemary bush in-so i snipped a branch off and put fresh rosemary into it-smells great. nothing much new- was a very busy weekend- went to elwoods pub for a cruise on saturday- the owners there are so very nice-i've known them since they bought the place-it used to be zeke's and was a very small bar on little deer creek- now- they have a kitchen and a lot of specialty beers (don't like beer but the names of the different beers just crack me up) sunday, went to a friend's home for the game- i usually stay home but it was a small gathering and i knew everyone. in fact i have known 2 of the couples since high school even tho we didn't hang out together. that's where i took the pictures of allie- the bigger white dog and ozzie the little black cutie. their home is riverfront property and i just love looking at the river even tho i can't swim. then- it was home and laundry and assorted odds and ends. today- rain and so- stew for supper!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Repealing the 20th Century: An Urgent Wake-Up Call. by Scott Ross on Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 1:49pm . PREAMBLE: Sixty-six years ago, humanity pledged, "Never again." Yet, we need only thumb through the iron-fisted regimes and genocides of post-WWII history to acknowledge that we haven't upheld that promise. But would we look away in passive resignation if America was encircled by an oppressive enemy, bent on repressing our constitutional freedoms and installing an authoritarian state? Not likely. We'd wrap ourselves in stars and stripes, rise-up as one, and fight to the death to defend the homeland and our freedoms. But what if we didn't see it coming? What if we were somehow distracted? What if our defense systems failed to recognize an approaching threat? What if we were so absorbed in defending the integrity of our borders that we failed to notice that the integrity of our democracy and Constitution were under siege? From within. And it was too late to stop the insurrection. American democracy had been quietly surrendered in a bloodless coup. It's not science fiction, nor a Tom Clancy espionage thriller. It's a legislative coup d'état, already in progress. Right under our noses. And as the insurrection inches forward with evangelical determination and bottomless funding, our cognitive defense systems are failing to recognize the approaching threat from within. We're in trouble big. I shit you not. If you understand the sequence of events which characterize the rise of the Third Reich, the perfect storm of timing, circumstance and political unrest in America recalls a familiar harbinger. If you need a refresher, search "Third Reich" and "Fascism" at Wikipedia.org for the abbreviated highlights. When citizens unwittingly surrendered their voting rights to the will of a single political party, minorities were scapegoated, then eliminated ... dissenters were fingered, then silenced ... freedoms were seized in the name of the party ... and extreme fundamentalism was imposed as rule of law. You know the rest of the story. And the body count. In America, freedom rang for some, but not all. Southern state legislatures imposed literacy tests, poll taxes and other oppressive Jim Crow laws to preclude black Americans from exercising their constitutional voting rights. When challenged, emboldened southern extremists and police enforced compliance with violence, intimidation and murder. Elsewhere, similar solutions disenfranchised Native Americans and immigrants from exercising their voting rights. The federal government dallied. The Supreme Court yawned. And "Never again" remained on hold until a more temperate Congress submitted to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Now, it's happening again . . . this time, oiled with dirty money and engineered to hijack the American political process -- state by state -- overtake government with a vertical political monopoly, rewrite the U.S. Constitution and install government of the Party, by the Party and for the Party. Mein Kampf in America. The parallels are primed. The timing is ripe. Economic chaos ... jobs scarce ... government losing the peoples' trust ... tax revolt ... class warfare ... anger ... finger-pointing ... immigration renews racial divides ... science and mainstream media maligned ... pundits stirring discontent and disinformation ... social media escalates conflict and vitriol ... national unity segregated into red states and blue states ... secession becomes a topic ... dormant hate groups reforming ... partisan militias recruiting, organizing, training for combat ... sales of guns and assault weapons skyrocketing ... extremism pits neighbor against neighbor. We've lost our center, our balance, our national equilibrium. The country is vulnerable, perhaps more so from within than threatened by foreign enemies. Partisan extremists -- empowered by 'patriots' with second and third generation ties to the John Birch Society -- have hijacked America's venerable conservative movement and are using the G.O.P.'s institutional standing to remake oppressive laws, rescind civil rights, resegregate public schools, redraw favorable congressional districts, restrict minority voting, and wrest control of election outcomes, en route to crashing the U.S. capitol in a fireball of neo-fundamentalism. The alarm is screaming. This is your wake-up call. DO NOT hit the snooze button. If this covert assault on democracy is allowed to succeed, you can kiss your individual freedoms goodbye. If you are an unwelcome minority or part of a political resistance movement, you can kiss your ass goodbye, too. American Fascism -- once, an oxymoron -- is poised to overtake democracy and constitutional law. If we don't protect and defend every American's constitutional right to vote and resist congressional redistricting tailored to fix election outcomes, America, as we know it, will soon collapse into oppressive, single-party authoritarianism. State-controlled media will feed us our opinions. Game over. It CAN happen here. Be afraid. Be VERY afraid. More importantly, be alert, informed and proactive in sharing and discussing Ari Berman's chilling wake-up call with family and friends. Open the dialogue. Learn more. Demand answers and accountability from your state and federal government NOW, before democracy is allowed to ebb, and government of the Party, by the Party and for the Party demands answers and accountability from you! 'Never again' starts now. Right here, at home. Here's the story link: The GOP War on Voting: In a campaign supported by the Koch brothers, Republicans are working to prevent millions of Democrats from voting next year http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-gop-war-on-voting-20110830 ■http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-gop-war-on-voting-20110830
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/09/paul-ryan-supports-plan-to-let-unemployed-work-for-free/

Allie

Ozzie

"I refuse to believe corporations are people until Texas executes one." ~ Ara Rubyan
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/09/17/watch-live-50000-gathered-in-nyc-poised-to-clash-with-police-in-the-occupy-wall-street-protests-68661/

Friday, September 16, 2011

IT'S FRIDAY!!!!
i hate the fact that we had to turn the furnace on yesterday- but i'm so darn cold! even now my fingers are like ice! going to be a busy weekend- lots going on. it's always feast or famine as to weekends.
http://www.grist.org/solar-power/2011-09-13-bush-admin-pushed-solyndra-loan-guarantee-for-two-years
BREAKING: Leaked Rove email singles out Daily Kos by My Left Behind . Share8151 408 permalink 796 Comments "Anonymous" has struck again, this time leaking a confidential internal directive from Karl Rove's shadowy, billionaire-funded American Crossroads GPS outfit. It allows a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the Rove machine. Daily Kos is specifically mentioned more than once. I have posted the email here in its entirety. It's pretty chilling stuff. . Aug. 24, 2011 From: KR To: All Internet Operatives and Interns Re: Internet Operations -- For Immediate and Aggressive Implementation CONFIDENTIAL -- EYES ONLY Hello Gang, You've all been working hard, and it's paying off. Obama's numbers are plummeting as I type this. Congratulations all around. But we can't afford to be complacent now. I just want to briefly go over a few Mission Points with you. 1. Main mission: Infiltrate all liberal web sites, posing as disaffected liberals with liberal-sounding user names, icons and signatures. (Reference Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kucinich, FDR, Smedley Butler, Bill Clinton, etc.) 2. Express. Disappointment. With. Obama. (Whining pays double!) (jk!) 3. Push primary challenge. Push third party. Push Green. Push Socialist. Push write-in voting. Push non-voting to "send a message." 4. Effective memes/talking points: "Obama is a DINO." "Obama is no different than a Republican." "Obama has sold us out." "It feels good to vote your conscience." "It feels good to stick to your principles." "Don't be trapped into voting for the lesser of two evils." "We need to punish Obama and the Democrats by not voting." "We'd be better off with a Republican in the White House." "Obama is a war-mongering, torturing, corporatist shill." I simply cannot emphasize this point enough: No meme is too extreme or radical. "Obama is worse than Bush!" "Obama is a war criminal!" Remember: the reader thinks he is reading the opinion of a fellow liberal. It's all about peer suggestibility, people. Keep expanding the Overton Window. The more you push a radical notion, the more likely a slightly less radical notion becomes acceptable. Someone else said it this way: "The bigger the lie, the more likely people will believe it." So take it over the top. Absolutely nothing is outside the realm of plausibility. "Obama is an alien from the planet Negron." I like it! The libs are disappointed that Obama hasn't turned America into a socialist paradise by now, but they're lazy and spoiled, not savvy and proactive like us. They think that by whining on a liberal web site they're engaging in some sort of "activism." They're "holding Obama's feet to the fire." They actually believe that DC policymakers or their staffers somehow have the time to read every ridiculous liberal blog. They don't get it that the only ones reading their whiny little rants are--wait for it--other liberals. So they're actually doing a whole lot of heavy lifting for us with all their dis-motivating buzz-kill, and we want to encourage them as much as possible. When your enemy is engaged in a circular firing squad, pass them the ammo! Look, we suckered all those nutjob Christian fundies out of their votes and their money. LIberals are almost as easy to fool! You've done great work so far. At this point, many of the liberal blog sites are virtually indistinguishable from RedState. (And can you imagine us on RedState trashing our own candidate? Riiiight.) On most liberal sites, anyone praising Obama is hounded and laughed out of town. Seeya later, blackwaterdog! We, with the help of the libs, have made it uncool to approve of or admit to liking Barack Obama on a liberal web site! Obama-trashing is now in vogue! Is this a great country, or what?! Remember, in 2000, the Greens helped us put George in the White House by chanting that Al Gore was the same as Dubya! That George W. Bush was the same as the biggest liberal around! And libs bought that! They've obviously got a serious masochistic streak, so let's hand them a whip! (Can you imagine what America would be like today if we'd had that commie wuss Al Gore in the White House for eight years? Gives me goosebumps!) The Internet was liberals' most effective weapon against us, for spreading lies and motivating other libs to vote and volunteer and donate, but not any more! Now the only effect of liberal blog sites is to sap enthusiasm and deter liberals from voting, period. We have monkey-wrenched our enemy's strength and turned it into a liability. The Republican Party owes Karl's Keyboard Kommandoes a huge debt of gratitude. You were instrumental in keeping Democrats home last November, and look what happened: we took back the House! I only wish I could thank you all in person. Mmmwahhh! I know most of you work at home, but here at Crossroads I sometimes hear you guys yelling across your cubicles. "Hey, rec me on Kos! I'm owning those liberal schmucks! That's another Prius-load of Dims staying home! Spurn, baby, spurn! It's a beautiful thang!" Gotta love that energy! But we can't let up now. Now is the time to work even harder to sow and fertilize discontent out there in lib-land. The debates have begun and soon a front-runner will emerge for the libs to focus on and sling their mud at, instead of their own guy. (Go Ricky! Either or both! The Ricky/Ricky ticket! Anybody but that grotesque, hideous beotch from the Klondike!) If Obama manages to steal a second term, he could be an unfettered loose cannon and inflict irreparable damage on our Republic. Two words: Supreme. Court. We just can't afford to let Obama pack the SCOTUS with liberal activist judges. The long-overdue Citizens United decision means that finally our friends in business will no longer be muzzled from speaking out politically, so now our voices will have the full force of our resources behind them. Here at Crossroads we're poised to spend $20 million for ad campaigns spreading the truth, and the sky's the limit. And we also have to acknowledge the work of our fellow patriots at the RNC and Heritage and CFG and AEI, etc., and all the private grassroots blog-warriors out there as well, such as the excellent Advantage Consultants. You guys are our Republican Underground, freedom fighters prosecuting our mission in the trenches on a daily basis. And don't think we don't recognize your commendable job of scrubbing all the filthy liberal lies out of Wikipedia. Here are some helpful answers to your Frequently Asked Questions: Q: Some libs are wise to us. A Rand Paul staffer got caught on Daily Kos last year. What if I am called out as a mole or troll? A: No problem; actually an opportunity. Simply accuse the accuser of being a troll for Obama and the DNC, of trying to stifle dissent. (Libs are suckers for that kind of stuff.) Say, "It's not a crime to criticize the president!" Or, "So I'm not allowed to say anything bad about Obama?" It's a straw man that works every time. Try this: "Nobody's gonna shut me up! I'm gonna keep on speaking out! Attica! Attica!" Q: What do I do if the libs confront me with Obama's accomplishments? What if they start rattling off all the liberal crap he's foisted on the American people? A: Just come back with the "warmongering corporatist torturer" bit (I know--he's a piker, he sucks at it, but some of them will actually believe that). Mere laughing dismissal is often very effective. Usually all it takes is an LOL. Call your attackers "Obamabots." Accuse them of mindless fawning, of worshipping their "saviour." Dismiss the positive, accentuate the negative. Reference Paul Krugman and Glenn Greenwald. We know Obama hosed us on the debt ceiling deal, for example, but the libs think he sold out. That's the spin we want to push. And it won't hurt to ramp up the vitriol and nastiness. We want to make every liberal site an unpleasant place to visit. Q: What if some of this criticism does reach Obama's radar and he starts going even more leftist or tries to kick Republican butt? Won't that backfire on us? A: Nothing would be better! Bring it, O man! We've already managed to inform a big chunk of the electorate that Obama is in truth an angry, racist, America-hating communist. If we can goad him to the point where he stops playing rope-a-dope with us and starts acting like the thuggish, belligerent, socialist dictator we know him to be in reality, we win. We want nothing more than for him to lose his temper and get all pushy and uppity (I love that word!) and uncompromising. Heck, if he gets uppity enough, we might have some traction on an impeachment move. Admittedly, it's frustrating that he has kept his cool no matter what we throw at him. His phony act of being so consistently goddamned adult and steady and reasonable and sober and bipartisan is what has made all our people in comparison look like stubborn, childish, maudlin, jingoistic, perverted, hypocritical, narcissistic, grandstanding, demented, ignorant, freak-show corporatist whores who don't give a shit about America. And they're not. Not at all. Nope. Not all of them. No way, Hozay! Q: Is our work really that effective? I mean, how many people actually read these liberal blogs? A: Your work is very effective, or we wouldn't be paying you. True, the people who visit these liberal sites might be a tiny percentage of the population, but they are the most political, the most likely to get involved in organizing, volunteering and fundraising. In other words, the core. If we can raise enough doubts among the core, and constantly reinforce those doubts through peer suggestibility, we will in essence drive a stake through the heart of the Democrat party. And that is a good day's work, my friends! Q: He got Osama bin Laden. How the hell do we spin that? A: Easy: "Obama assassinated a foreign leader without a trial." "Obama should be tried for murder before an international court of law." "They didn't even read bin Laden his Miranda rights, or offer him counseling!" People, the bottom line is that I don't care what you do, or what it takes. We get it. The libs don't. We know it's all about votes, and the money and enthusiasm and volunteering that gets votes. The guy who goes to the White House in 2013 will have either an R after his name, or a D. Do we want the party of Barbara Boxer and Nancy Pelosi and Sherrod Brown in our house, or do we want the party of Grover Norquist, Rupert Murdoch and the Koch Brothers? So, all eyes on the prize, which is: Keeping those godless, America-hating libs away from the voting booths! We want to make this the new theme song of the Democrat party: (To the tune of the In-N-Out jingle) Sit it out! Sit it out! That's what a Dem-ocrat is All about! *** Onward to the Hundred-Year Majority! And remember: The month's top poster wins a dream lunch with KR! Yours in liberty, free enterprise, and purity of purpose, KR * * * * 8:26 PM PT: Wow, 50 HRs and counting. I stepped into a nest of rattlesnakes, I guess. I used to love this site years ago, but now I'm sick over what it has become. All I tried to do was hold up a mirror, and maybe some here didn't like what they saw. When so much of the work here is so closely aligned with that of our enemies (yes, the Republican party is my enemy), then I think we need to question what effect we're having. Of course this is interpreted by some (defensively, I feel) as an admonition to stop criticizing President Obama, and that is completely missing the point. We are talking mostly to each other here, so a constructive purpose of dissent on DK would be to rally others to action. What action are we rallying our fellow Kossacks to take? 8:51 PM PT: My greatest disappointment: Apparently no one got the reference of "Spurn, baby, spurn!" Didn't anyone here see "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room"?