Category: Daily Journal

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Representative Joe Wilson – The Wrong Side of Stupid

HR3200.PAGE 143. SEC. 246.  NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS

Representative Joe Wilson

It doesn’t get clearer than that.  But to be fair, what could have he been thinking?

SEC. 152 PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION IN HEALTH CARE.

“[e]xcept as otherwise explicitly permitted by this Act and by subsequent regulations consistent with this Act, all health care and related services (including insurance coverage and public health activities) covered by this Act shall be provided without regard to personal characteristics extraneous to the provision of high quality health care or related services.”

Okay, there it is, Joe was right. Right?

No, he was wrong.  Personal characteristics does not include immigration status and that first line “[e]xept as…” defers to the explicit regulation; NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS.

A report from the Congressional Research Service concluded the following:

“Thus, legal permanent residents, and noncitizens and unauthorized aliens who qualify as resident aliens … would be required under H.R. 3200 to have health insurance,”

There, he’s right! Right?

No, if you qualify as a resident alien then you’re here legally.  You have a resident alien card, a social security card and you pay taxes like every other citizen.

Oh well, I tried Joe, but on this particular issue you are on the wrong side of stupid.

Joe apologized for the outburst, but not for the statement, saying “…when I knew we had those two amendments.”  Okay, here we go, there’s two amendments that are going to open the floodgates and the whole world will inundate America to utilize our superior healthcare FOR FREE!

Well, actually those two amendments were already defeated.  Sorry Joe, that was your last hope.

But why?  Is Joe Wilson uneducated?  No, he received his undergraduate degree from Washington & Lee University.

What are the other possibilities?

  • Joe didn’t read the bill?
  • Joe read the bill but didn’t understand it?
  • Joe wasn’t there the day those amendments got defeated?
  • Joe knows what’s going on but he’s blinded by anger because a black man is president?

Hmmm…

Joe is an old white guy from the south who belongs to “The Sons of Confederate Veterans”, whose website proudly states:

“Today, the Sons of Confederate Veterans is preserving the history and legacy of these heroes, so future generations can understand the motives that animated the Southern Cause.”

The motives that animated the southern cause were quite simply slavery.  The states that attempted secession from the United States did so for one main reason.  To keep slaves.  That’s what the confederacy was all about.  Does it get any clearer than that?

The deadliest war in U.S. History was fought because seven states were determined to continue the immoral ideal of physically owning another human being.  To use and abuse through servitude and bondage at will and at whim.

South Carolina did more to advance nullification and secession than any other Southern state in the events leading up to the civil war.

When Representative Joe Wilson blurted out “You Lie” to the President Barack Obama, it was the first such outburst in the history of televised joint sessions.  But Wilson didn’t merely disrespect the President.  He disrespected the office of the President and in doing so disrespected all of it’s citizens.  He made us all the worse for it.

Joe, you are squarely on the wrong side of stupid.

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What Are You Fighting For..Really

What do you want?

To wake up?

yeah that’s cool

Open your crusted lids?

yeah that’s cool

Is it blurry?

most-times,

sometimes-less

Food?

yeah, that’s cool

A place to Piss?

yeah that’s cool

Rinse your scummy dermatology?

yeah that’s cool

Coffee or Tea?

okay

You care whether the people you love live or die?

Yeah.

Would you protect them?

Yes.

Has anyone ever helped you?

yeah.

Have you ever helped anyone?

I think.

Do you give a shit?

about what?

Anything.

maybe.

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Daily Journal

Death on Two Legs – The Progression of Incitement

Spread Hate, Destroy Property, Kill people – The Authoritarian Dynamic*

Death on Two Legs - The Progression of Incitement

The quotes below represent a small sample of the conscious, or otherwise, incitement campaign by self-agrandizers who suck the brains out of millions of overly impressionable eyes and ears.

Stan Lee wrote –  “With great power, there must also come great responsibility.”  It’s a narrative caption on a Spiderman comic book.

It’s also an appropriately illustrative application of Mr. Lee’s wisdom given that the characters quoted below are cartoonish in almost every way except, of course, for the excruciating socio-physical bile they produce.

Of particular note; the LaRouche Organization, who takes credit for creating and distributing posters of President Obama with a Hitler mustache and other Nazi-related defamatory literature directed at the President at local town hall meetings, actually sides itself with Nazi ideologically.   Their Anti-semitism, minimizing of the holocaust and position that Nazi war criminals should NOT be prosecuted is well known.  But now they’re using Nazi imagery to vilify?  And what was WWII about anyway?

In the historical words of Joseph Welch –  “Have You No Sense of Decency”.

The perversion of common sense.

Below are a couple entertainers who are selling ad space, writers (sic) selling books, religious zealots adrift in a chasm of misinterpretation and a few bona-fide wack-jobs.  It would be comical if they didn’t have so much influence (tragically) over so many whose confused complacency prevent them from researching the twisted allegory of the irresponsible and agendized rhetoric these demagouges  incessantly spew.

RUSH LIMBAUGH:
Rush Limbaugh
  • “I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.”
  • “You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed assassin of Martin Luther King]. We miss you, James. Godspeed.”
  • “Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.”
  • “The seasoned citizen population is well aware of Obama’s Cash for Caskets program with them in the caskets.  In fact, ladies and gentlemen, we told you about the VA Death Book last week.”
  • “I want him [Obama] to fail.”
  • “Obama is terrorist attack number 2; Obama is the follow-up to 9-11.”
GLENN BECK:
Glenn Beck
  • “This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy — over and over and over again — who has a deep seated hatred for white people or white culture, I don’t know what it is . . . I’m not saying he doesn’t like white people. I’m saying he has a problem, this guy is, I believe, a racist.”
  • “They think they — and they — they — you know what? At this point, gang, I’m not sure, they may be able to because they are so far ahead of us. They know what they’re dealing against; most of America does not yet. Most of America doesn’t have a clue as to what’s going on. There is a coup going on. There is a stealing of America, and the way it is done, it has been done through the — the guise of an election, but they lied to us the entire time.”
  • “When you enlist in the U.S. military, you have take an oath that says you’re gonna support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies – foreign and domestic – we talk a lot on this program about the foreign threats – maybe we should spend some time tonight on the domestic one….the physical threat may be developing domestically as well,”
MICHELLE MALKIN:
Michelle Malkin
  • “I have to tell you, in general, I’m skeptical of anything that has Bill of Rights tacked on to it”
  • “Why didn’t Obama save every child from drowning? Why just one? This myopia stems from his old, outdated liberal-elitist sensibility which states that the only drowning child worth saving is the one who has the connections and the wherewithal to be in the general vicinity of America’s so-called Swimmer-in-Chief.”
  • “Debate” Ezra Klein? What a perverse distraction and a laughable waste of time that would be. And that’s what they really want, isn’t it? To distract and waste time so they can foist their agenda on the country unimpeded.”
KARL ROVE:
Karl Rove
  • “Just get me a f**king faith-based thing. Got it?”
  • “Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers,”
REVEREND WILEY DRAKE:
Wiley Drake
  • “Imprecatory prayer is agreeing with God, and if people don’t like that, they need to talk to God,” Drake told host Alan Colmes.
  • “God said it, I didn’t. I was just agreeing with God.”
  • Asked if there are others for whom Drake is praying “imprecatory prayer,” Drake hesitated before answering that there are several. “The usurper that is in the White House is one, B. Hussein Obama,” he said.
  • Colmes later pressed Drake to ensure he had heard the preacher right.
  • “Are you praying for his death?” Colmes asked.
  • “Yes,” Drake replied.
  • “So you’re praying for the death of the president of the United States?”
  • “Yes.”
REVEREND JOHN HAGEE:
John Hagee
  • “God caused Hurricane Katrina to wipe out New Orleans because it had a gay pride parade the week before and was filled with sexual sin.”
  • “All Muslims are programmed to kill and we can thus never negotiate with any of them.”
  • “The End Times — Rapture — is imminent and the U.S. Government must do what it can to hasten it, which at minimum requires: (a) a war with Iran and (b) undying, absolute support for a unified Israel, including all Occupied Territories.”
LYNDON LAROUCHE:
Lyndon LaRouche
  • “As for ‘Jewish culture’…it is merely the residue left to the Jewish home after everything saleable has been marketed to the Goyim.”
  • “have declared war against Obama’s so-called health care reform because it is a direct copy of the policy Hitler declared in October 1939, when Hitler issued the order for euthanasia against those determined, by a board of medical experts, to have ‘lives unworthy to be lived.'”
  • (New Solidarity, August 22, 1978) that the Zionist Lobby is “the most visible of the internal enemies of the United States–and of the human race–at this specific moment. Every policy it is currently pushing is pure evil….”
  • (“New Pamphlet to Document Cult Origins of Zionism,” New Solidarity, Dec. 8, 1978) that the 1.5 million Jews whom he concedes died were the victims of “the Nazi policy of labor-intensive ‘appropriate technology’ for the employment of ‘inferior races,’ a small fraction of the tens of millions of others–especially Slavs–who were murdered….” (In other words, LaRouche denies there was any deliberate gas-chamber extermination campaign against the Jews.)
SEN. JOSEPH MCCARTHY:
Joseph McCarthy
  • “Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity.”
SARAH PALIN:
Sarah Palin
  • “I’m the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can’t.'”
  • “I think God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that.”
  • “Barack Obama pals around with terrorists.”
DAVID DUKE:
David Duke
  • “Our clear goal must be the advancement of the white race and separation of the white and black races. This goal must include freeing of the American media and government from subservient Jewish interests.”
  • “These Jews who run things, who are producing this mental illness – teenage suicide… all these Jewish sicknesses. That’s nothing new. The Talmud’s full of things like sex with boys and girls.”
  • On Michael Steele’s appointment to RNC Chair-
  • “I am glad these traitorous leaders of the Republican Party appointed this Black racist, affirmative action advocate to the head of the Republican party because this will lead to a huge revolt among the Republican base. As a former Republican official, I can tell you that millions of rank-and-file Republicans are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore! We will either take the Republican Party back over the next four years or we will say, “To Hell With the Republican Party!” And we will take 90 percent of Republicans with us into a New Party that will take its current place!”
ANN COULTER:
Ann Coulter
  • “If I’m going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I’ll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot.”
  • “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity.”
  • “The ethic of conservation is the explicit abnegation of man’s dominion over the Earth. The lower species are here for our use. God said so: Go forth, be fruitful, multiply, and rape the planet — it’s yours. That’s our job: drilling, mining and stripping. Sweaters are the anti-Biblical view. Big gas-guzzling cars with phones and CD players and wet bars — that’s the Biblical view.”
  • “What I find so deliciously amusing and so vastly hypocritical about this whole Asshole-in-Chief incident is that Obama’s rescuing this poor boy from drowning is completely at odds with his uber-liberal-facist policies of deliberately impregnating unsuspecting women just so they can be forced to undergo abortions.”
DICK CHENEY:
Dick Cheney
  • “On the question of so-called torture, we don’t do torture. We never have.”
  • “I think the evidence is overwhelming that the EITs (enhanced interrogation techniques) were crucial in getting them to cooperate,…”
  • “In Iraq, a ruthless dictator cultivated weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them. He gave support to terrorists, had an established relationship with al Qaeda, and his regime is no more.”
  • “I’m very proud of what we did”
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Daily Journal

Dick Cheney vs Eric Holder – Should We Investigate the CIA?

ex-Vice President Cheney has strong words for Attorney General Eric Holder’s pending investigation of past wrongs…what a surprise.

Cheney vs Holder

Should a special prosecutor investigate alleged criminal acts by the CIA?

According to ex-Vice President Dick Cheney and former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, the answer is a resounding “NO”.  Their unified opinion is that it would harm the morale of the CIA in wartime and could compromise the work of the agency.  They also believe that what’s done is done.  Why go back when the laws have been changed and problems  corrected?

Dick Cheney argues that the agents who carried out the illegal maneuvers should not be prosecuted because they were following orders.  For once, I completely agree with Dick Cheney.  The paranoid, autocratic-minded and contemptuous government official who gave the instructions is the one who should be prosecuted.  Yes, I’m speaking of Dick Cheney.

We impeached a president once who thought he was above the law, but apparently there are others who’ve forgotten about that dent in our liberty or have dismissed it.

Did the torture tactics work?

On Sunday, (Aug. 30, 2009) John McCain stated on CBS’ “Face the Nation“:

the use of torture on terrorism suspects violated international law, didn’t work, and actually helped al Qaeda recruit additional members. – John McCain

Back in May, Former FBI agent Ali Soufan also indicated that the “harsh interrogation techniques may actually have hindered the collection of intelligence, causing a high-value prisoner to stop cooperating.”

The FBI, the CIA and the Department of Justice have all made statements that torture is ineffective in that the information extracted is unreliable.

But if you ask Dick Cheney, he says it kept our country from attacks.

Inhibit US Military Progress in Afghanistan?

If those who broke international law are brought to justice, will that compromise the US objective in Afghanistan?  The goal is to end the Taliban and Al-Qaeda’s influence and power in the region.  In order to do that, it would seem necessary to have the people of Afghanistan on our side.

Foreign occupiers have unsuccessfully attempted to rule that barren strip of wasteland for 2000 years.  It seems hardly likely that success can be achieved independent of the people that live there.

It would stand to reason then that one way to aid the repair of our tarnished reputation overseas would be to address the sinister acts of this slice of evil that permeated our recent history.  Of course that would be the second reason to prosecute those responsible for reducing the world’s perception of our nation to an uncontrollable mob of hooligan hypocrites.  The first is that it’s the right thing to do.

What’s Cheney Afraid of?

What isn’t he afraid of, although in this case his own incarceration could be a start.  Any who participated in these egregious acts should be put on notice, but those who ordered the deeds need to be held accountable.  For those responsible and other authorities who sat idly while our constitution was spat on,  the full letter of the law needs to be exercised.  Why would people of integrity act any other way? Are you surprised at the united front of those who share culpability? Are you comfortable with allowing alleged criminal activity for the elite be disregarded, again?

CIA Morale, World Perception and National Security

Former CIA agent Jack Rice has stated on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” that the agents who carried out the rogue acts were a minority.  That the supervisors who handed down the orders were also few, compared to the many respectable, dignified and honorable men and women in the service of our great nation.  Saying the investigation will harm morale is like saying removing the bad apples is going to spoil the bunch.  It’s bass-ackwards

If the world sees that we have identified an instance of wrongdoing and are taking responsible action to correct it, won’t that improve our image?  President Obama took legal moves to block the release of detainee photos showing misbehavior of war prisoners with the correct conviction that the images in question would only harm our image and put lives overseas at risk.

In my humble worthless opinion, crimes against people, our constitution and our integrity have been committed and retribution is required.  Doing the right thing is never wrong.  I applaud the courage of Attorney General Eric Holder.


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Iran Kicks US Ass

Iran Kicks US Ass in voter turnout

80% voter turnout in Iran.  When was the last time the US hit 80%?  Before you go off googling, I’ll tell you.  It was 1876 between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden.  The results were highly disputed, familiar right, and you better know who the winner was.

In what was touted as the largest voter turnout in 40 years (and it was) the 2008 US presidential election came in at 56.8%.

Call it an interpretation, call it speculation, call it opinion, but based on the results, I’m comfortable stating that the people of Iran are more interested in the direction of their country than citizens of the United States.

Apathy.  56.8% is apathy.  We all jump on the “support our troops” bandwagon, but if you don’t vote you disrespect those who give their lives for your right to do so.

Is it more complicated than that?

Of course.

AND?

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349

Their viciousness and utter lack of sincerity struck me first.  Words sputtered from their rubbery lips,  then immediately splintered into meaninglessness and diluted disarray.  Each brittle syllable fractured.  Letters cracked and chipped as they continued through space until inevitable disintegration.  Vanquished, irrelevant and useless.

The futility of their cause and effort was lost on them because they had ceased to be.  Breathing, yes – Alert, falsely – Driven, sure – Ridiculous, absolutely.

What benefit could there possibly be in such morbid submission?

45 minutes of artificial ecstasy for a lifetime of regret.

Really?

I finally looked up. The spots on the walls had stopped moving, but the pitch of the carnage around the kitchen table was increasing.

Bugged trembling eyes jolted unnaturally side to side, riveted smiles, yellow teeth and duplicitous enthusiasm.

The frenzy recklessly fed on itself growing in intensity and immensity.

all we needed was a gun.

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Park Music on a Sunday Day

Seemed appropriate.  The Over-Talented Bill Nelson wrote and performed this number in the Late 80’s as a member of “The Mysterious Groucho Cat”.  Silly name, good songs.

Just Click on the thingy below:

Park Music On a Sunday Day

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Twitter-doom?

Ross Mayfield, Twitter doomsayer.  Quit it man.

Ross Mayfield’s blog post, “Mourning The Loss Of Twitter“, made a few points but their validity will remain to be seen.  At least as they are in the context of the post.

Twitter is not dead.

Are there spammers and blackhat marketers abusing this current form of  free expression?

Sure.  So what.

Point me to a time in history when a greedy troll hasn’t attempted to exploit an opportunity by whatever means necessary.

As long as we pay attention and use a modicum of common sense everything will be fine.

Will Twitter evolve?

Of course, it must in order to grow.  If it’s not evolving, it’s not living.

I’m all for sentimentalism when it comes to movies, but keep it away from my technology.

It’s the spirit of the thing that makes it work.  And the spirit is a culmination and a tribute to the heart of the individuals that participate in it.  The nonpluralized use of heart in the previous sentence is not a grammatical error.  I mean the collective heart of those of us who have fun with the interaction.  With the ability to say whatever the hell we want with out explanation or  expectation.

The ability to share.

So Ross, I’m sure you’re a gifted something-or-other, but I think you have this one wrong.

Love Dave.

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Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?

100+ Choppers Lined Up At The Front Door, And A Pop Band Pisses It’s Pants – In Unison.

Riding a Harley, dressed in leather does not make you a biker.  My understanding of bikers came from hanging out with them in the places they like to howl.  Acting like a biker became popular in the 90’s by balding, waist-expanded dudes suffering mid-life crises with enough dough to look the part.  So let’s clear up some biker myths:

Not all bikers have done time, just the real ones.

Not all bikers are drug addicts, some of them are alcoholics too.

Not all bikers will kick your ass if you look at them funny, just don’t look at their wives or girlfriends, ever.

If a biker doesn’t like you, he’ll probably just leave you alone.  Unless he’s in a bad mood, a good mood or drunk, then you’re dead.

Not all bikers carry weapons.  That’s my official statement.

If a biker likes you, you have life long protection.

If you make friends with a biker, he’ll demand that you ride with him and use his bike.  If you’ve never done it, you’ll be forever grateful.

If the pressures of life have you wound up tighter than a virgin at a prison rodeo, than a night out with a biker can blow out your exhaust pipes and return you to the peaceful, calm, gentle person you never were.  After the hangover wears off, of course.

Once, I was speaking with a gentleman who administered loans.  He told me he never denied a loan to a biker for his bike.  Not because he was afraid, but because bikers always made good on loans for their bikes.  Payments were always on time or early and loans usually were paid off before the term ended.

The Silhouette was one of the first true biker bars we played as a band and we learned from it.  Miko, Jim the owner’s girlfriend, was this freaky, flamboyant,  lasciviously dressed asian girl who knew everything.  She followed us out into the parking lot and started tearing into us about the crap we were playing.  “It’s too fast, you can’t dance to it”.  “Nobody likes you, play something good!”

Fortunately Mike, the guitar player, and I knew a bunch of 70’s rock songs and even a few country numbers.  Tina, the singer, couldn’t contribute that much vocally to that gig, but she could bang a tambourine and smile with the best of them.  Between that and  playing “Born to be Wild” four times a night, it seemed to be working.

Miko bounced up to the stage 7 or 8 times a set to tell us whether or not the song was any good.  Oddly enough, other than Steppenwolf and the Charlie Daniels Band, the Tempations were a big hit.  The doorman would also offer his objective point of view throughout the night, from time to time we’d hear, “the singer sucks” coming from his general direction.

All in all it was alot fun.  As long as you don’t make eye contact with the guy selling heroin in the bathroom, everything works out great.

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Our Life’s in Jeopardy, Baby, oOOo

Situation Normal All Fouled [sic] Up

Wednesday night.  Typically not considered Party Night, but when you’re a band on a mission, every night is party night.  Tina was menstrual, which usually isn’t a problem, but this was another day.  Another day brings another thing.  We never know what another thing is until it comes.  Another thing is open to interpretation.  Another thing can mean anything in the universe.  It’s rather broad, on purpose.

The agency sent us out on this gig and as usual, we had no idea what we were getting into.  Judy at Jam (the agency) gave us an address and a contact, Jim.  In the 80’s, you had to use instinct and judgment to ascertain an idea about things that were about to be thrust into your life.  You didn’t have Google.

We arrived early, unusually early, because it was a strange club and we wanted to have plenty of time to set up.  Besides, we didn’t have anything else going on.

We’d played shithole dives before, and this was no exception.  It had the same smell, state of disrepair and half-assed attempt at legitimacy as any club we’d played.  Interestingly enough, we didn’t analyze it beyond that.  I wish we had.

Jim wasn’t there yet, but we set up anyway, sound checked and then waited for the throng of appreciative patrons to fill the rafters and cheer us on in triumphant regalia.

Let’s understand something.  We were an 80’s Top-40 band.  We played Madonna, Prince, Cyndi Lauper, Culture Club and Thompson Twins.  Each of these groups are annoyingly pop and dated, but at the time they were the shit.

What We Didn’t Know

The club, The Silohuette, was a biker bar.  A stone cold biker bar.  A STONED, serious-as-a-heart-attack, ex-con infested,  drug-dealing in the back room biker bar.  The patrons were armed.  They had to be.

The Animals Sat and Stared

Hairy monstrous masses of men sat in bar stools deciding whether to stay or hurl half-empty glasses of domestic swill at the Annoyance emanating from the familiar corner where music once lived.

Music is interpretive.  So many factors in one’s environment determine whether or not one will enjoy a piece of music.  One thing was clear on our first set that night, no one was enjoying it.

Aghast and disheartened, we stepped out on to the front landing and took in the 100+ Harleys parked in impervious union.  It was our first clue that maybe the 80’s pop wasn’t going to carry us through the night, let alone the weekend.  Jim, our contact, gave us the death-stare as we passed by him collecting cover charges from tattoed and large prison muscle dudes entering into the blissful atmosphere we were paid to provide.

We couldn’t change our 80’s costumes, but we could change our tune.   So we did.

To Be Continued…