i'm heavily in favor of it

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Especially if they make it permanent.

President Barack Obama warned lawmakers on Friday that it would be the "height of irresponsibility" to shut down the government over a spending battle, pressuring Republicans not to pursue deeper cuts.

The actual "height of irresponsibility" is what we've already got, and COMPLETELY stopping that is the crucial part of taking responsibility.

So here's to the permanent demise of this regime.

No. Really. Even if what comes in its place ends up being worse, it NEVER would have gotten better any other way.

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love, 99
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refreshing?

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I don't think anything about any branch of our government is refreshing in the least. I can barely bring myself to speak of it anymore, so NOT refreshing do I find it.

The White House would forge ahead with military action in Libya even if Congress passed a resolution constraining the mission, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a classified briefing to House members Wednesday afternoon.

Clinton was responding to a question from Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) about the administration's response to any effort by Congress to exercise its war powers, according to a senior Republican lawmaker who attended the briefing.

The answer surprised many in the room because Clinton plainly admitted the administration would ignore any and all attempts by Congress to shackle President Obama's power as commander in chief to make military and wartime decisions. In doing so, he would follow a long line of Presidents who have ignored the act since its passage, deeming it an unconstitutional encroachment on executive power.

But, hey, that's just me.

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love, 99
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got brains?

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I could just edit the snot outta this piece and you'd die laughing.

There is no health risk from consuming milk with extremely low levels of radiation, like those found in Washington state and California, experts said Thursday, echoing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"When we have a disaster like we've had with a nuclear power plant in Japan, we're probably going to find things that are truly not a public health risk [right along with those that truly are], but I think it's very difficult for the public to assimilate this information and understand the risks [so please don't explain them in public]," said Dr. Wally Curran, a radiation oncologist and head of Emory University's Winship Cancer Center.

The federal agency said Wednesday it was increasing its nationwide monitoring of radiation in milk, precipitation, drinking water, and other outlets. It already tracks radiation in those potential exposure routes through an existing network of stations across the country.

Results from screening samples of milk taken in the past week in Spokane, Washington, and in San Luis Obispo County, California, detected radioactive iodine, or iodine-131, at a level 5,000 times lower than the limit set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, officials said.

At that level, a person would have to drink 1,000 liters of milk to receive the same amount of radiation as a chest X-ray, said Dr. James Cox, radiation oncologist at Houston's MD Anderson Cancer Center. [Except the radiation from the milk stays in the body well over a thousand times longer than that from a chest X-ray and they stopped giving regular chest X-rays decades ago because the accumulation was very hazardous to your health.]

The I-131 isotope has a very short half-life of about eight days, the EPA said, so the level detected in milk and milk products is expected to drop relatively quickly. [Except if nobody caps it off in Japan, otherwise it just keeps coming.]

"The good news about iodine is, it has a short half-life," said Curran. "It doesn't dwell in any biologic system [except if you want to nitpick about your thyroid], be it an adult, a child, a cow, for any significant period of time, and at those levels there's no evidence that there's any medical significance."

Radiation gets into the milk because it falls on grass eaten by cows. The milk does not itself absorb radiation. [So when we measure the iodine in it, we go measure it in the cow paddies on that glowing green grass and extrapolate from that.]

FDA senior scientist Patricia Hansen also said the findings are "minuscule" compared to what people experience every day.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said tests confirmed the milk is safe to drink.

"This morning I spoke with the chief advisers for both the EPA and the FDA and they confirmed that these levels are minuscule and are far below levels of public health concern, including for infants and children," Gregoire said in a statement.

"According to them, a pint of milk at these levels would expose an individual to less radiation than would a five-hour airplane flight." [And yer kid rides in airplanes for five hours radically more often than he drinks milk, right?]

Similarly, the California Department of Public Health reassured residents that the levels do not pose a threat. [Go back to sleep.]

"When radioactive material is spread through the atmosphere, it drops to the ground and gets in the environment. When cows consume grass, hay, feed, and water, radioactivity will be processed and become part of the milk we drink. However, the amounts are so small they pose no threat to public health," the department said. [We checked the paddies.]

At least 15 states have reported radioisotopes from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in air or water or both. No states have recommended that residents take potassium iodide, a salt that protects the thyroid gland from radioactive iodine.

Iodine-131 has been found in Eastern states from Florida to Massachusetts as well as in Western states like Oregon, Colorado, and California, according to sensors and officials in those states.

None of the levels poses a risk to public health, they said.

At high levels [at ANY levels], the isotope focuses on and accumulates in a person's thyroid gland, Curran said. A medical test for thyroid health involves a person ingesting iodine-131 and undergoing a nuclear scan to examine the gland. [Congratulations! You no longer have to drink the iodine first!]

The Japanese plant has been leaking radiation since it was damaged in a tsunami that followed a massive earthquake March 11 [and so has been here sliming Californians for approximately two weeks and yer still not dead so shaddap.]

I could.

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love, 99
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our resolve leaves something to be desired

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So far, the news is doing nothing for me. I think they've dialed-up the apathy rays again.

A Wisconsin judge issued a temporary restraining order Friday blocking the state's new and contentious collective bargaining law from taking effect, raising the possibility that the Legislature may have to vote again to pass the bill.

Dane County District Judge Maryann Sumi granted the restraining order in response to a lawsuit filed by the district attorney alleging that Republican lawmakers violated the state's open meetings law by hastily convening a special committee before the Senate passed the bill.

Sumi said her ruling would not prevent the Legislature from reconvening the committee with proper notice and passing the bill again.

So don't get excited... and I cannot recommend highly enough that you watch yesterday's Keiser Report. If you are SERIOUS, you will watch it and listen at least twice.

Seems the Pragmatists of Groupthink may not have thought this one through.

The Newspaper Guild has joined a group of Huffington Post bloggers in protesting the site's pay policy — specifically, its lack of pay.

The union said it requested a meeting with the Huffington Post to discuss the situation. "Thus far, the request has been ignored," the guild wrote.

“The idea of going on strike when no one really notices,” Huffington said. “Go ahead, go on strike.”

The Newspaper Guild, though, has over 26,000 members.

The natural comeback for this is that blogging for free at HuffPo gives you needed exposure for your own blog. She will point to the success of FireDogLake, and The Young Turks. And, especially, let you be on strike until doomsday because there are a trillion more bloggers and celebs out there who will jump at the chance to fill your shoes.

I'd be inclined to look at this as an opportunity to reclaim your soul... but that's me.

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love, 99
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never let a good crisis go to waste

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Perfidious prostitutes.

The House on Thursday voted to end federal funding to National Public Radio. Republican supporters said it made good fiscal sense, and Democratic opponents called it an ideological attack that would deprive local stations of access to programs such as "Car Talk" and "All Things Considered."

The bill, passed 228-192 along mainly partisan lines, would bar federal funding of NPR and prohibit local public stations from using federal money to pay NPR dues and buy its programs. The prospects of support in the Democratic-controlled Senate are slim. Seven Republicans broke ranks to vote against the bill.

How many of the many Democratic-Fascists in the Senate do you think it takes to pass this sucker? And if not this time, what about in January 2013?

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love, 99
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STAND UP!

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My tooth just shot lava into my mouth.

A Statement on the Events of March 9th
“A Stain on Democracy”

The Autonomous Solidarity Organization was officially formed on Tuesday March 8th, 2011. The roots of our organization date back to the early days of the original occupation of the Capitol. The bulk of our core membership were members of the drum circle and “people's microphone” which kept spirits high and allowed the voice of the public to be heard in the rotunda for the 18 days of the occupation. We worked in concert with unions, the Capitol staff, and the general public as these connections became available. We made every effort to maintain peace and order during the repeated provocations we were faced with. These roles were revisited on the night of March 9th. During the post-occupation period (after March 3rd) we decided to formally organize in order to continue the fight which we had already dedicated weeks of our life to. Our efforts, and our reach, will be much broader than the fight against SB 11 but for now that is a moot point.

To begin discussing the events on March 9th it is useful to begin by examining the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law (State Statute 19.84):

“Public notice of every meeting of a governmental body shall be given at least 24 hours prior to the commencement of such meeting unless for good cause such notice is impossible or impractical, in which case shorter notice may be given, but in no case may the notice be provided less than 2 hours in advance of the meeting.”

At around 4:00 pm, Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald announced that a conference committee on the Budget Repair Bill would meet at 6:00pm. This minimal compliance with our state's laws is the continuance of a disturbing trend we have seen from the Wisconsin Republicans. As stated in the Open Meetings Law, a 24 hour notice is required unless such notice is impossible or impractical. Assembly Speaker Fitzgerald has certainly not provided any argument as to why a 24 hour notice was impractical or impossible. There is no rational, intellectually honest argument behind such a claim.

Immediately members of the ASO and other groups involved in fighting this bill put out a call for the general public to get to the Capitol building as quickly as possible. At this point, access to the building was limited to only two entrances (King St. and North Hamilton St.). I specifically state this because the public entrances are constantly changed. Between 5:30 and 6:00pm, only one of these two entrances was open. Which entrance was open was periodically changed. Again, there is no rational, intellectually honest reason for doing this. It succeeded in slowing the pace at which the general public entered the building.

Despite the fact that Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca has stated that he received only the Legislative Financial Bureau memo on the new bill, the conference committee quickly approved the amended version of SB-11 and within minutes the Senate passed it. Before the Senate was even out of session, the building was locked down. No public hearings were held. Over the next several hours, there were several large breaches of the Capitol building security. Eventually the police largely stood down and the public began to flood into the building. In the past the DOA had clearly demonstrated its ability to lock the building down like a militarized zone. Even in the few days preceding March 9th, public access was severely limited. In the past, the Governors supporters were brought into the building through underground tunnels while a Democratic Assemblymen was literally tackled to the ground while trying to gain access to his own office. Members of ASO dressed in suits were offered quick passage through security while others were prevented access on March 8th. It is an interesting point that security measures were severely relaxed on the evening of March 9th.

While the massive flood of the general public into the building created a hectic scene, at no point did the crowd become violent. For a period there were no sound amplification systems in the building, which we had previously used during the original occupation to maintain order and peace. Eventually megaphones were brought in and members of ASO immediately began using them to urge the crowd to remain peaceful. It was merely a precaution that we have always taken. Despite the justifiable anger of the crowd, we have yet to resort to violence even in times where there was no control at all. Despite all of the provocations, manipulations, despite the DOA's violation of the state constitution and failure to comply with court orders, we have remained peaceful.

Eventually, after discussions with Chief Tubbs of the Capitol Police, the majority of the public left the building. All but a few members of the ASO have left the building. The assembly will vote on the new version of the bill today, March 10th at 11am. If this occurs it will be an unspeakable crime against our democracy. Governor Walker and the Wisconsin Republicans have spent weeks promoting the provisions of the Budget Repair Bill as necessary to close the budget deficit. There was never a rational, intellectually honest argument that stripping collective bargaining from public employees, that putting an unelected official in direct control of Badgercare and Medicaid, that allowing no-bid sale of power plants have anything to do with balancing the budget. However it has now been made even clearer. Explicitly financial portions of the bill were split into a separate bill and they are attempting to pass these provisions into law.

In the Legislative Financial Bureau's memo on modifications to SB 11, page 16, there is a provision titled “Discharge of State Employees.” It states that under current law, “the Governor may issue an executive order declaring a state of emergency for the state or any portion of the state if he or she determines that an emergency resulting from a disaster or imminent threat of a disaster exists.” Remember that the Wisconsin Republicans have shown a disturbing penchant for complying with existing law in the most limited sense. In the event of a Governor declaring a state of emergency, the new SB 11 would allow an appointing authority to discharge any employee who fails to “(a) report to work for any three days during the state of emergency, (b) participates in a strike, work stoppage, sit- down, stay-in, slowdown, or other concerted activities to interrupt the operations or services of state government.” There is a clear coordination between the language used to vilify those exercising their 1st amendment rights and the language used to activate this provision. The Republicans very clearly are interested in giving Governor Walker the ability to wield unreasonable, unprecedented power.

The writing is on the wall. Every day we see more of their intentions and every day our resolve only grows stronger. As always, we will respond appropriately, peacefully, and effectively in Autonomous Solidarity.

Thomas M Bird
Co-Chair, Communications
Autonomous Solidarity Organization

Obviously, Wisconsin Democrats knew these rules, knew how the Republicans would handle it. So nothing to lose by playing the good guy here.

GET. POLITICAL. PARTIES. OUT. OF. THIS.

WILL. YOU. NEVER. LEARN?

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love, 99
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rats!

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Better luck next time.

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love, 99
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wake up, america

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It makes me so crazy because I remember bellowing about this on the airwaves some six years ago. I was screaming about the fortresses that would be surrounded by naked and starving hordes here, and around the world, if this Democratic-Fascist and Republican-Fascist plan for globalization were allowed to go forward. So I almost want to smack the guys bellowing about it now, when it's this close to midnight.

From now on, whenever you hear the term "the global economy" you should immediately equate it with the destruction of the U.S. middle class.  Over the past several decades, the American economy has been slowly but surely merged into the emerging one world economic system.  Unfortunately for the middle class, much of the rest of the world does not have the same minimum wage laws and worker protections that we do.  Therefore, the massive global corporations that now dominate our economy are able to pay workers in other countries slave labor wages and import the products that they make into the United States to compete with products made by "expensive" American workers.  This has resulted in a mass exodus of manufacturing facilities and jobs from the United States.

But without good, high paying jobs the U.S. middle class cannot continue to be the U.S middle class.  The only thing that the vast majority of Americans have to offer in the economic marketplace is their labor.  Sadly, that labor has now been dramatically devalued.  American workers now must directly compete for jobs with millions upon millions of workers on the other side of the world that toil away for 15 hours a day at slave labor wages.  This is causing jobs to leave the United States at an almost unbelievable rate, and it is putting tremendous downward pressure on the wages of millions of jobs that are still in the United States.

So when you hear terms such as "globalization" and "the global economy", it is important to keep in mind that those are code words for the emerging one world economic system that is systematically wiping out the U.S. middle class.

A one world labor pool means that the standard of living for the U.S. middle class will continue falling toward the standard of living in the third world.

We keep hearing about how the U.S. economy is being transformed from a "manufacturing economy" into a "service economy".  But "service jobs" are generally much lower paying than "manufacturing jobs".  The number of good paying "middle class jobs" in the United States is rapidly decreasing.  So how can the U.S. middle class survive in such an environment?

What makes things even worse for manufacturers in the United States is that other nations often impose a "value-added tax" of 20 percent or more on U.S. goods entering their shores and yet most of the time we do not reciprocate with similar taxes.

But whenever someone mentions how incredibly unfair and unbalanced our trade agreements with other nations are, they are immediately labeled as a "protectionist".

Well, someone should be looking out for U.S. interests when it comes to trade, because the current state of the global economy is ripping the U.S. middle class to shreds.

Right now, the United States consumes far more wealth than it produces.  This nation buys much, much more from the rest of the world than they buy from us.  This is called a "trade deficit", and it is one of the most important economic statistics.  The U.S. runs a massive trade deficit every single year, and it is wiping out our national wealth, it is destroying our surviving industries and it is absolutely shredding middle class America.

We cannot allow tens of thousands of factories to continue to leave the United States.  We cannot allow millions of jobs to continue to be "outsourced" and "offshored".  We cannot allow tens of billions of dollars of our national wealth to continue to be transferred into foreign hands every single month.

The truth is that the global economy is bad for America.  The following are 23 facts which prove that globalism is pushing the standard of living of the middle class down to third world levels....

#1 From December 2000 to December 2010, the U.S. ran a total trade deficit of 6.1 trillion dollars.

#2 The U.S. trade deficit was about 33 percent larger in 2010 than it was in 2009.

#3 The U.S. trade deficit with China in 2010 was 27 times larger than it was back in 1990.

#4 The U.S. economy is rapidly trading high wage jobs for low wage jobs.  According to a new report from the National Employment Law Project, higher wage industries accounted for 40 percent of the job losses over the past 12 months but only 14 percent of the job growth.  Lower wage industries accounted for just 23 percent of the job losses over the past 12 months and a whopping 49 percent of the job growth.

#5 Between December 2000 and December 2010, 38 percent of the manufacturing jobs in Ohio were lost, 42 percent of the manufacturing jobs in North Carolina were lost and 48 percent of the manufacturing jobs in Michigan were lost.

#6 In Germany, exports account for approximately 40 percent of GDP.  In China, exports account for approximately 30 percent of GDP.  In the United States, exports account for approximately 13 percent of GDP.

#7 Do you remember when the United States was the dominant manufacturer of automobiles and trucks on the globe?  Well, in 2010 the U.S. ran a trade deficit in automobiles, trucks and parts of $110 billion.

#8 In 2010, South Korea exported 12 times as many automobiles, trucks and parts to us as we exported to them.

#9 The U.S. economy now has 10 percent fewer "middle class jobs" than it did just ten years ago.

#10 The United States currently has 7.7 million fewer payroll jobs than it did back in December 2007.

#11 Back in 1970, 25 percent of all jobs in the United States were manufacturing jobs. Today, only 9 percent of the jobs in the United States are manufacturing jobs.

#12 In 2002, the United States had a trade deficit in "advanced technology products" of $16 billion with the rest of the world.  In 2010, that number skyrocketed to $82 billion.

#13 The United States now spends more than 4 dollars on goods and services from China for every one dollar that China spends on goods and services from the United States.

#14 In China, working conditions are so bad that large numbers of "employees" regularly try to commit suicide.  One major employer, Foxconn, has even gone so far as to install "anti-suicide nets" in an attempt to keep their employees from jumping off of their buildings.

#15 Wages for workers in China are incredibly low.  For example, one facility in the city of Longhua that makes iPods employs approximately 200,000 workers.  These workers put in endless 15-hour days but they only make about $50 per month.

#16 In Bangladesh, manufacturing workers toil in absolutely horrific conditions and make an average of about $38 per month.

#17 In Vietnam, teenage workers often work seven days a week for as little as 6 cents an hour making promotional Disney toys for McDonald's.

#18 Since 2001, over 42,000 manufacturing facilities in the United States have been closed.

#19 Half of all American workers now earn $505 or less per week.

#20 In the United States today, 6.2 million Americans have been out of work for 6 months of longer.

#21 8.4 million Americans are currently working part-time jobs for "economic reasons".  These jobs are mostly very low paying service jobs.

#22 When you adjust wages for inflation, middle class workers in the United States make less money today than they did back in 1971.

#23 According to Willem Buiter, the chief economist at Citigroup, China will be the largest economy in the world by the year 2020, and India will surpass China by the year 2050.

Those that promote "free trade" can never explain how the U.S. middle class is going to continue to have plenty of jobs in the new global economy.

By merging our labor pool with the rest of the world, we have also merged our standard of living with the rest of the world.  High unemployment is rapidly becoming "the new normal" in America, and wages are going to continue to decline in many, many industries.

Already, there are quite a few formerly great U.S. cities (such as Detroit) that are beginning to resemble third world hellholes.  If something is not done about our massive trade imbalance, even more cities are going to follow Detroit into oblivion.

Unfortunately, most of our politicians continue to insist that globalism is good for our society.  They continue to insist that we should not be worried that jobs formerly done by middle class American workers are now being done by slave laborers on the other side of the globe.  They continue to insist that having 43 million Americans on food stamps is a temporary thing and that soon our economy will be better than ever.

Well, it is time to stop listening to the politicians that are promoting "the global economy".  They are lying to us.

Globalism is great for nations such as China and it is helping multinational corporations make huge profits, but for the U.S. middle class it is an economic death sentence.

If you want an America where there are less jobs, where more Americans are on food stamps and other anti-poverty programs and where our cities continue to be transformed into deindustrialized hellholes, then you should strongly support the emerging global economy.

But if you care about the standard of living of the U.S. middle class and you want for there to be some kind of viable economic future for your children and your grandchildren then you had better start caring about these issues and doing something about them.

Please wake up America.

Globalization would be jake IF there were a plan in place to protect workers, but everybody, INCLUDING workers, just skips over that part.

I'm about ready to start pleading with Agent BB2 to hop in my go cart from the eighth dimension with me and onward to Wisconsin, but this needs to be happening in EVERY government outpost from city all the way up to federal—and the airports, and the bus stations, and and the train stations, and the hotels, and the sports stadiums, and the goddam pits of murderating delusion shopping malls—across the nation.

NOW.

Or, you'll be a half-clad and barefoot beggar who pleads to put on a sterile suit and clean glass for the real people.

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love, 99
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don't tell me, because i'm not looking, but i bet they're using it

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George has the jump on it, man. Don't go there.

Don't let Wisconsin divide us.

Conservatives and liberals actually agree about the most important things.

In fact, most Americans — conservatives and liberals — are fed up with both of the mainstream Republican and Democratic parties, because it has become obvious that both parties serve Wall Street and the military-industrial complex at the expense of most Americans.

In reality, all Americans — conservatives and liberals:

— Want to break up the unholy alliance between big government and big banks
— Want to break up the giant banks
— Agree that the Wall Street criminals who committed fraud should be thrown in jail
— Agree that the Federal Reserve should be audited
— Are against corporate socialism
— Are against rampant inequality
— Want to stand up to the ruling class
— And are against unnecessary imperial wars

The powers-that-be try to divide us and demonize the "other side" so that we won't realize how much we all agree on.

Don't let them.

He gives a few million links, as usual, to back up his claim. And here I am to back up his claim as well. Don't be a dolt! Don't let them get us raging Hatfields against McCoys again. We're starting to wake up, some of us, and—be a goddam true human now for once—we all need to be fighting them, not each other. It is NOT only Republican Fascists doing this! What was that bullshit about the Republicans pulling off the vote in the Wisconsin Assembly before the Democrats were awake enough to tell the debate had suddenly turned into a vote? HORSESHIT. They are desperate for us to fight each other and not them. And they would be, because THEY are the ones doing the filthy stuff for which everyone should be breaking crockery over their heads.

Go over and read George's links if you need more convincing. He's nicer. I'm just screaming for you take your head out of your ass and stop being a jackass, or worse. Do NOT even mention to me what "progressive" blogs are making of this shit. THEY are AS guilty as the Koch brothers. PERIOD. Don't give me any lip. Just, PLEASE, make some space for sense and then let the sense in, and let's talk how we ALL deal with it.

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love, 99
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it's not that i don't know how fantastic you must find it

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I was mulling the possibility of emailing the Fitts interview to my mother in my wish, despite all, to help spare her even more discomfort. Everything they were talking about is perfectly true, but I know already that it will sound like a couple raving lunatics to my mother. So my good faith attempt to help keep her safe would turn into nothing more than making her yet more suspicious of my sanity. That's the big rub for anyone who would, out of love, attempt to make it more difficult for you to be ignorant. People don't take it well. In fact, they hate it. It's threatening as hell to them, even when it is borne on the wings of 100% unconditional love, the stuff of heaven.

Nossirreebob. It's Beelzebub. It's pure badness and contrarian to the core.

So, honestly, you could view my frequent offerings of wild and crazy things on which to practice opening your mental cell as treats, as the entertaining way to grow, as a sort of arch clown school exercise, where you get all the wild mental images as though you were reading a good novel and little escape hatches start appearing all over the claustrophobia of your daily grind, the tomb you lug around with you from place to place... that walking around dead person problem we have....

My mother is impervious. And imperious as only an eighty-year-old can be inside such imperviousness, but you? Well, now, you are a different story. You can sneak peeks without ever having to cop to it one way or another... very safely investigate... no worries of some upstart daughter getting one over on you... maybe stumble into one of those escape hatches and find yourself suddenly breathing again... no witnesses....

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Late night bad news, or maybe good news, motivation-wise:

Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly took the first significant action on their plan to strip collective bargaining rights from most public workers, abruptly passing the measure early Friday morning before sleep-deprived Democrats realized what was happening.

The vote ended three straight days of punishing debate in the Assembly. But the political standoff over the bill — and the monumental protests at the state Capitol against it — appear far from over.

The Assembly's vote sent the bill on to the Senate, but minority Democrats in that house have fled to Illinois to prevent a vote. No one knows when they will return from hiding. Republicans who control the chamber sent state troopers out looking for them at their homes on Thursday, but they turned up nothing.

This is definitely déjà vu all over again, tactics-wise. Every time Republicans are in control, Democrats have to flee... which is fitting as hell because, honestly, they all ought to have to flee... and, now, maybe, in Wisconsin anyway, that's what will happen.

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love, 99
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uh-oh

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The Zionists are at it again.

But for another thing — notice that date: 11,000 years old. If this is correct, we’re looking at something old enough that, as the article linked points out, was built at the time humanity was supposedly just transitioning from being hunter-gatherers to agricultural. Such a tower near the ancient ruins of Jericho, however, is another little monkey wrench thrown into the works of that academic model. This date would place it around 9,000 BC, that is to say, roughly during the same time period as the date proposed by Dr. Robert Schoch and John Anthony West for the re-dating of the Sphinx.

Either looking for the proof of their chosentude or to hide the evidence that it was another population altogether, I suppose.... :-P

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Oh, and, uh, why am I not surprised?

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love, 99
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does it strike you as odd

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How many politicians are retiring lately?

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. ... is the third Democrat and sixth member of the Senate to decide to step aside at the end of their current terms.

The others are Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Jim Webb of Virginia; Republicans Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Jon Kyl of Arizona; and independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.

I, of course, think they should all retire yesterday, but... well... you know....

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love, 99
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let's try to have some fun with this, shall we?

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I mean, I think it's time we start cheering for Piglips.

Sarah Palin has added a veteran Republican strategist to serve as chief-of-staff for her political action committee, Sarah PAC, CNN has learned.

Michael Glassner, an attorney and longtime adviser to former Kansas senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole, has signed on to steer the former Alaska governor's political operation as she considers a possible 2012 presidential bid.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Glassner managed vice presidential operations during John McCain's unsuccessful White House bid.

"We are happy and excited that Mike is joining our team," Sarah PAC Treasurer Tim Crawford told CNN.

NB: I said cheering, not voting, for her. We can't vote for Barackhenaten either. Or, we can vote for whoever we want—I'm voting the straight Christopher Walken ticket—but let's please, please, please not agonize our way through this next presidential election cycle, okay? Let's give ourselves a break, knowing it's all theater and we have no say one way or the other, let us all rejoice in the comedy, even if it is dark, dark black comedy... and this time I pray the only one making a squillion bucks off it will be William Shatner.

Glassner, for his part, is probably the hallmark of Barackhenaten's approval rating among the Supreme Council of Space Lizards. He really has outshone Dubya and Fudd by mega-lumens. This will be his reward, the long-fought battle to run against Sarah Palin. I think there would be several great advantages to her winning... all of them having to do with yanking people's heads out of their asses across the political spectrum... but, uhm, that is extreeeeeemely unlikely to happen. So let us please be light-hearted about it... save our vitriol for the jackasses engaged in the partisan shit-slinging it will entail.

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love, 99
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i wanna hear more about unknown unknowns

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Don't you think Barackhenaten should give him back his job? I see on the news feed that HuffPo says Rummy fought LBJ over Vietnam. He's a nice progressive peacenik who has been given a bad rap. And he had the class to wait a matter of years before coming out with his book. I mean, hell, we should all reconsider, shouldn't we?



Oh, don't be so mean....

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love, 99
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the state of our dystopia

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Little-known "fact": the psycho-president is the reincarnation of the psycho-pharaoh....

In honor of "the chosen" one, Democratic-Fascists and Republican-Fascists will not split themselves across the aisle from each other tonight. Isn't that so darn cozy?

Oh, oh, you'll pardon my tone, please, because I'm stumping for HUMANS to unite AGAINST murderating fuck space lizards, NOT space lizards to unite against humans.

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Legislators, for the first time, are allowed to bring their digital gizmos to the SOTU... and are expected to be making their outbursts on Twit-Face... so, suckers, don't say I didn't warn you.

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5:40pm PST: The interminable clapping begins... yer earplugs are in yer junk drawer under various twist ties too cute to discard and rubber bands long past the integrity of their rubber. Best get them handy before this gets seriously annoying.

So far, I've been happiest noting how focussed on the persons staying out to allow for continuity of government the commentators have been. Seems it isn't only me at least subconsciously hoping the ground opens up and swallows the lot of them in one transcendental Gaian gulp....

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6:30pm PST: So far, it's apparent GPY feels our loss of jobs to India and China is due to those countries doing a better job of educating their children. If only we will do a better job of educating our kids, we will be even more #1 than the already and still #1 we are, plus, bonus points, we'll straddle the immigration thing precisely fifty-fifty together... and, so far, not a hint that we have troops anywhere on the globe.

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6:42pm PST: AT LAST WE'RE GOING TO LOWER THE TAX ON CORPORATIONS! OMG!

You heard it here first.

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6:48pm PST: The austerity part.

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6:55pm PST: Consolidating/reorganizing federal agencies. At last, all agencies are dismissed, except DHS.

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6:57pm PST: Finally lies about getting out of Iraq, while bragging about our moral authority... amazing, amazing orator, no?

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6:59pm PST: Finally begins bullshitting about our glorious Afghan mission and promises to bring our troops home starting in July.

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7:00pm PST: Brings up Pakistan and puts on his cowboy hat and shakes his fist at terrorists.

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7:01pm PST: Invokes S.T.A.R.T. and the reset with Russia and Asia, and projects same for South America. I know they're quaking with anticipation for that.

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7:03pm PST: Digressing into incoherent blather about Africa and standing with Tunisians, notwithstanding having stood with their dictator up to now. Everyone on earth wants what we have and we love the men and women who serve our country... and didn't mean it to come out the way it sounded.... This is, at last, the acknowledgement of our troops all over globe from all over this country. And, don't worry, you are now allowed to be a storm trooper no matter who you love. One giant leap backward for all Gay Americans.

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7:07pm PST: Must be winding up because he's back to giving Sarah Palin's Facebook speech from just the other day....

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7:10pm PST:

LADIES AND GENTLEMAN THE STATE OF OUR UNION IS FUBAR.

Oh, no, wait! Chilean miners! Plan B. Rescue. Little guys doing big things. Oh, how inspiring. Gott bless this great idea for a new company.... I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. WE DO BIG THINGS!

Yes, we motherfuckin' do. Over a thousand bases, bitchez.

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7:13pm PST: FIN.

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love, 99
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i am NOT turning into a republican, okay?

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Issa? I can't describe to you how intensely I distrust the guy, but I'm heavily in favor of repealing that fascist crap healthcare act, which I will believe they are repealing when I see it repealed. And... I am heavily in favor of THIS:

WASHINGTON — A House committee has asked the Homeland Security Department to provide documents about an agency policy that required political appointees to review many Freedom of Information Act requests, according to a letter obtained Sunday by The Associated Press.

The letter to Homeland Security was sent late Friday by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. It represents an early move by House Republicans who have vowed to launch numerous probes of President Barack Obama's administration, ranging from its implementation of the new health care law to rules curbing air pollution to spending in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Associated Press reported in July that for at least a year, Homeland Security had sidetracked hundreds of requests for federal records to top political advisers to the department's secretary, Janet Napolitano. The political appointees wanted information about those requesting the materials, and in some cases the release of documents considered politically sensitive was delayed, according to numerous e-mails that were obtained by the AP.

The Freedom of Information Act is supposed to ensure the quick public release of requested government documents without political consideration. Obama has said his administration would emphasize openness in providing requested federal records.

According to Issa's letter, Homeland Security's chief privacy officer and FOIA official told committee staff in September that political appointees were simply made aware of "significant and potentially controversial requests."

Mary Ellen Callahan told them that political appointees reviewed the agency's FOIA response letters for grammatical and other errors and did not edit or delay their release, the letter states. She also told the committee that Homeland Security abandoned the practice in response to the AP's article, according to Issa's letter.

On Sunday, Oversight panel spokesman Frederick Hill said Issa sent the letter "because the committee has received documents that raise questions about the veracity of DHS officials" on the matter. He did not elaborate.

Issa asked the agency to provide the documents by Jan. 29.

Homeland Security officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last summer, officials said fewer than 500 requests were vetted by political officials. The department received about 103,000 requests for information in a recent 12-month period.

The agency's directive said political appointees wanted to see FOIA requests for "awareness purposes," regardless of who had filed them. The AP reported that the agency's career employees were told to provide political appointees with information about who requested documents, where they lived, whether they were reporters and where they worked.

According to the directive, political aides were to review requests related to Obama policy priorities, or anything related to controversial or sensitive subjects. Requests from journalists, lawmakers and activist groups were to also to be examined.

Under a new policy last summer, documents are given to agency political advisers three days before they are released, but they can be distributed without those officials' approval.

EVEN if he's only doing it for Republican-Fascist advantage against Democratic-Fascists. I figger it will get plenty of press and it might wake people up.

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love, 99
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note the damn date

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Supposedly some damn private in Iraq has access to this information, but Barney Frank doesn't? I do not actually believe it, but any way you look at it, it's beyond rotten. Waaaaay beyond rotten. Felonies in high places, every which way you turn, and NOTHING being done about it except screaming for the head of the guy who dared get the truth out.

Please. Get the courage to bark down anyone you hear dissing Wikileaks or Assange. It's poison.

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love, 99
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nice way to start my day

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I may just pile up links in this post today. I've been doing that a lot lately... so all you unconcerned types on the feed are probably missing many bits... including all the times I go back to make something clearer or flesh out the scene after I've gotten more coffee, amassed more brain cells, or the winds of inspiration blow back through. These are the hazards of just letting the cyber gods deliver up your content. I just think you oughta remember to stop and smell the roses every so often.

Phil left me this song in comments in the middle of the night, and so it was here for me when I got up. This is amazing because Phil is so totally into head banger heavy metal blast yer brains out music. I have to try to put eardrum warnings on his stuff... but this, now this is the kind of music we should all be listening to around the clock, and since it's Festivus, et cetera, I let you in on it.

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Dump BofA....

No... really... do you want a BANK ACCOUNT where they dictate how you spend
YOUR money? It's like I said when my mother first told me you had to put money in
to get money out: That's the craziest thing I ever heard.

This is a GOOD thing....

Senate Republicans on Saturday doomed an effort that would
have given hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants a path to legal status
if they enrolled in college or joined the military.
It would have given them a limitless supply of cannon fodder for
conquering the world.
[I know, I know, they've got it anyway, but THERE AREN'T ANY JOBS and the continued lure
for more immigrants keeps driving wages ever lower.
IT'S ONLY DRIVING US ALL FURTHER DOWN.
Come up with a better idea. The whole world is turning third.
Wrong direction.]

Got out of the tub just in time....

"The repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell' will be implemented in a common sense way,"
said Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich. "Our military leaders have assured Congress
that our troops will engage in training and address relevant issues before instituting this policy change."
This sensitivity training for hardened old Marines ought to be loaded with giggles.
My formal congratulations to queers everywhere! You are nearing "normal" at last.

Latest update on the perennial Biden vs. Biden thing....

Antiwar's antiwar Horton holds forth....

Heavily-recommended listening for all too frightened proto-flakes....

Florida definitely seems to get the most visits from space aliens....

[That would be about Jebby for sure.]

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

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Do not help them. Do not support them. Do not spend your energy and passion and intellect on earnest analyses of the twists and turns of their political fates. They are doing evil. Do not be part of it. Support instead those who try to speak the truth. Stand with them. It is their fate — not the fate of the petty, brutal power-seekers — which will determine the meaning of our times and the future of our species.

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love, 99
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today in that hopey changey thing not working out for us

[click image]

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Of course we already knew all this, right?

Obama and GOPers Worked Together to Kill Bush Torture Probe
by David Corn
Wed Dec. 1, 2010 2:47 PM PST

A WikiLeaks cable shows that when Spain considered a criminal case against ex-Bush officials, the Obama White House and Republicans got really bipartisan.

In its first months in office, the Obama administration sought to protect Bush administration officials facing criminal investigation overseas for their involvement in establishing policies the that governed interrogations of detained terrorist suspects. An April 17, 2009, cable sent from the US embassy in Madrid to the State Department—one of the 251,287 cables obtained by WikiLeaks—details how the Obama administration, working with Republicans, leaned on Spain to derail this potential prosecution.

The previous month, a Spanish human rights group called the Association for the Dignity of Spanish Prisoners had requested that Spain's National Court indict six former Bush officials for, as the cable describes it, "creating a legal framework that allegedly permitted torture." The six were former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; David Addington, former chief of staff and legal adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney; William Haynes, the Pentagon's former general counsel; Douglas Feith, former undersecretary of defense for policy; Jay Bybee, former head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel; and John Yoo, a former official in the Office of Legal Counsel. The human rights group contended that Spain had a duty to open an investigation under the nation's "universal jurisdiction" law, which permits its legal system to prosecute overseas human rights crimes involving Spanish citizens and residents. Five Guantanamo detainees, the group maintained, fit that criteria.

Soon after the request was made, the US embassy in Madrid began tracking the matter. On April 1, embassy officials spoke with chief prosecutor Javier Zaragoza, who indicated that he was not pleased to have been handed this case, but he believed that the complaint appeared to be well-documented and he'd have to pursue it. Around that time, the acting deputy chief of the US embassy talked to the chief of staff for Spain's foreign minister and a senior official in the Spanish Ministry of Justice to convey, as the cable says, "that this was a very serious matter for the USG." The two Spaniards "expressed their concern at the case but stressed the independence of the Spanish judiciary."

Two weeks later, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) and the embassy's charge d'affaires "raised the issue" with another official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The next day, Zaragoza informed the US embassy that the complaint might not be legally sound. He noted he would ask Cándido Conde-Pumpido, Spain's attorney general, to review whether Spain had jurisdiction.

On April 15, Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), who'd recently been chairman of the Republican Party, and the US embassy's charge d'affaires met with the acting Spanish foreign minister, Angel Lossada. The Americans, according to this cable, "underscored that the prosecutions would not be understood or accepted in the US and would have an enormous impact on the bilateral relationship" between Spain and the United States. Here was a former head of the GOP and a representative of a new Democratic administration (headed by a president who had decried the Bush-Cheney administration's use of torture) jointly applying pressure on Spain to kill the investigation of the former Bush officials. Lossada replied that the independence of the Spanish judiciary had to be respected, but he added that the government would send a message to the attorney general that it did not favor prosecuting this case.

The next day, April 16, 2009, Attorney General Conde-Pumpido publicly declared that he would not support the criminal complaint, calling it "fraudulent" and political. If the Bush officials had acted criminally, he said, then a case should be filed in the United States. On April 17, the prosecutors of the National Court filed a report asking that complaint be discontinued. In the April 17 cable, the American embassy in Madrid claimed some credit for Conde-Pumpido's opposition, noting that "Conde-Pumpido's public announcement follows outreach to [Government of Spain] officials to raise USG deep concerns on the implications of this case."

Still, this did not end the matter. It would still be up to investigating Judge Baltasar Garzón—a world-renowned jurist who had initiated previous prosecutions of war crimes and had publicly said that former President George W. Bush ought to be tried for war crimes—to decide whether to pursue the case against the six former Bush officials. That June—coincidentally or not—the Spanish Parliament passed legislation narrowing the use of "universal jurisdiction." Still, in September 2009, Judge Garzón pushed ahead with the case.

The case eventually came to be overseen by another judge who last spring asked the parties behind the complaint to explain why the investigation should continue. Several human rights groups filed a brief urging this judge to keep the case alive, citing the Obama administration's failure to prosecute the Bush officials. Since then, there's been no action. The Obama administration essentially got what it wanted. The case of the Bush Six went away.

Back when it seemed that this case could become a major international issue, during an April 14, 2009, White House briefing, I asked press secretary Robert Gibbs if the Obama administration would cooperate with any request from the Spaniards for information and documents related to the Bush Six. He said, "I don't want to get involved in hypotheticals." What he didn't disclose was that the Obama administration, working with Republicans, was actively pressuring the Spaniards to drop the investigation. Those efforts apparently paid off, and, as this WikiLeaks-released cable shows, Gonzales, Haynes, Feith, Bybee, Addington, and Yoo owed Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thank-you notes.

Spectacular.

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HUNNERTS OF WIKILEAKS MIRRORS....

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love, 99
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and while we're on the subject of epic fails

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Okay. I live in a longtime Republican-held county of the great blue state of California, though I'm certainly not one of them, just my address. Even if I still lived down in Mendo World, though, I know a lot of Republicans, and some of them can't control themselves from sending me evidence of the Republican machine. I think this leaves me with a better idea of the real temperament of your basic Republican voter. None of them have been against most of what we thought we put Obama in there to accomplish. Democrats and Republicans alike were sick of the egregious abuses of the Constitution and the awful conditions out here, and we not only voted the hopey changey ticket, we made sure he'd have the votes in the legislature to make it so. This last election was 100% a national thumbs down on his performance so far, and it isn't going to improve in 2012. The fascist media is already laying down the memes to help insure it.

Bad news Democrats — 2012 could be worse than 2010
By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press – 28 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Last week's election was bad for Democrats. The next one could be worse. Senate Democrats running in 2012 will be trying to hold their jobs in states where Republicans just scored major congressional and gubernatorial victories — Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Mexico and Virginia.

The Democrats' problems don't end with senators.

President Barack Obama carried those states in 2008, and he will need most of them to win re-election in two years. But this time they all will have Republican governors. These GOP governors can try to inhibit the president's policies and campaign operations. They also can help steer next year's once-a-decade House redistricting process in the GOP's favor.

Moreover, Democrats must defend Senate seats in hotly contested Missouri, and in four states that Obama has little chance of winning, assuming he even tries: North Dakota, Nebraska, West Virginia and Montana.

"The 2012 Senate landscape shows a daunting picture for the Democrats," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chairman of the GOP's Senate campaign committee. "They're not only defending twice as many seats as Republicans, but a number of them are in states where the Obama-Reid agenda is deeply unpopular."

Harry Reid of Nevada is the Senate majority leader.

The 2012 Senate map is much kinder to Republicans, who must defend 10 seats to the Democrats' 23. Except for Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who will fight an uphill re-election battle in Massachusetts, the GOP probably will be favored to keep the Senate seats it now holds.

Of course, countless things can happen between now and the next election, and Democrats might do extremely well in 2012. Obama could bounce back from midterm setbacks just as President Bill Clinton did in 1996, when he easily won re-election after Democrats lost the House and Senate two years earlier. The slow economic recovery could quicken, with a rise in employment.

Obama's spot at the top of the ticket also could help Democratic candidates spur turnout among liberals, minorities and young voters. But it might hurt candidates in states where Obama appears unpopular, such as West Virginia. Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin won a tough Senate race there last week to succeed the late Robert C. Byrd, but he must seek a full six-year term in 2012.

Democrats will try to win back some of the 60 House seats they lost to Republicans last week, but several factors will work against them. Republicans won gubernatorial and state legislative races in dozens of states. That will give them total or substantial control of the often partisan redrawing of House districts that will occur next year, following the latest U.S. Census. It's likely to result in several new GOP-leaning districts in states such as Texas at the expense of Democratic-leaning districts in the Rust Belt.

Democrats may find it especially hard to win back Southern seats lost last week by white Democrats, who are becoming almost extinct in much of the former Confederacy. And if Speaker Nancy Pelosi remains her party's House leader, Republicans will tell voters that Democrats did not learn their lesson from the 2010 election and need more convincing.

In the new Congress in January, Democrats will hold a 53-47 edge in the Senate. A mere handful of losses in the next election would put Republicans in control.

Democratic spokesman Eric Schultz said it's too early to count anyone out. "Republican overconfidence ran deep this cycle, too," he said, "but we proved that strong candidates running aggressive campaigns can beat expectations."

Still, an early state-by-state look at 2012 races shows the magnitude of Democrats' challenges.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Sen. Bob Casey will seek a second term in a state that just elected Republicans to replace Democrats for governor, senator and five House seats. Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, 74, will run or retire in a state that just ousted his Democratic colleague, Sen. Russ Feingold, and switched the governor's office and both legislative chambers from Democratic control to Republican.

Florida Sen. Bill Nelson will face voters who elected a Republican governor and kept the other U.S. Senate seat in GOP hands. The same thing happened in Ohio, where Sen. Sherrod Brown will seek a second term. Obama won both those states in 2008, and they will be fiercely contested again.

Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, who narrowly won his first term in 2006, will run again in a state that has gone Republican in all but two presidential elections since 1948.

In Nebraska, Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson likely will seek a third term in a state that Obama lost by 15 percentage points. Nelson, perhaps the Senate's most conservative Democrat, caught a break when GOP Gov. Dave Heineman said he would not run for Senate. But another potentially strong challenger, Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, may jump in.

Democratic Sens. Jim Webb of Virginia and Claire McCaskill of Missouri could face rematches in their bids for a second term in 2012. Republicans scored impressive victories in both those states last week.

Former Virginia Gov. and Sen. George Allen, whom Webb narrowly beat four years ago, might run again. The same goes for former Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri, who lost to McCaskill in a close contest.

Other Democratic senators facing re-election in states that just gave big victories to Republicans include Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico.

Few states are more daunting for Democrats than North Dakota, which last voted for a Democratic presidential nominee in 1964. Nonetheless, Democrat Kent Conrad has won a remarkable five Senate elections there, and presumably will try again in 2012. He's lucky that popular GOP Gov. John Hoeven just grabbed the open seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan. But another viable Republican might step up.

Not all the problems fall on Democrats. In Maine, centrist Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe has proven a savvy campaigner. But tea party activists just elevated Paul LePage to the governor's office, and the libertarian-leaning conservatives may try to knock off Snowe in the 2012 Republican primary.

In Nevada, a toss-up state in recent elections, Republican Sen. John Ensign is dogged by a staff-and-sex scandal. Re-election may prove tough for him, and Republicans might seek another nominee.

Perhaps no Senate contest will inspire Democrats more than Massachusetts, where they are burning to take back the seat long held by liberal hero Edward M. Kennedy. The state leans heavily Democratic. But Brown stunned the political establishment in the January special election, and it's possible he has more magic up his Republican sleeve.

Even so, we don't need the memes, the prefab rationalizations. We, from both sides of the aisle, wanted torture stopped; wanted the PATRIOT Act and others as egregious repealed; wanted lobbyists forever out of government and elections; wanted to just go to the doctor when we needed to and waved a big whatever at the taxes we'd have to pay to accomplish it; wanted government agencies to work the way they are supposed to, and preferably less of them; wanted OUT of the Middle East; wanted Wall Street SHUT DOWN... all of us.

You may think California Republicans are just as loopy as California Democrats, so that must be why I keep insisting upon this stuff, despite so much yapping otherwise across the wide world of media. I admit, most of them are Californians, but not the quadrillions of emails forwarded to me. Those people are all over the country. You don't seem to grok that when liberals say "fascism" and conservatives say "communism" or "socialism", we mean the IDENTICAL thing. The fascist/communist/socialist media knows it, and so do the politicians, and so do their controllers.

People have spent a DECADE... actually more like three decades... bitching at the top of their lungs about how the media is pumping us full of LIES, outrageous propaganda, and yet when it comes to figuring things out, they ALWAYS default to what the media have told them. They pick the media they think best fits their views and swallow what they "learn" there, despite spending much of their time PROVING that LIES and PROPAGANDA are gushing out of every box everywhere we turn. Liberals can see it in Fox and CNN and conservatives can see it in Democracy Now! and MSNBC. No one bothers to check to see if ALL of us might be right.

We choose to fight each other instead of solve the problems.

Every motherfucking time.

STOP BEING IDIOTS — STOP IT!


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love, 99
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