Obama's original birth certificate

To finally shut up all the nutcases, Obama allowed the state of Hawaii to release his original birth certificate.  You can see it in its entirety at: http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/04/politics/interactive.obama.birth.certificate/index.html?hpt=C1

But don't expect this to satisfy the fanatical right wing, which is full of crazies who ought to be institutionalized.  I can hear them now: "It's a forgery!" "The paper isn't the right kind of paper!" "The seal isn't quite right!" and on and on and on...

All the while our country is dying.  The right wing would rather have it die than accept a half-black man in the White House.  Disgusting...racist...and low-consciousness  -- but true.  Now that the birth certificate has been shown (with the comb-over idiot crowing to the press that he is responsible for it--oh, please, give us a break!), do you think the right wing will let up on their vengeful tactics against Obama? Not on your life!  Now, led by the comb-over egomaniac Trump, they are asking for proof of Obama's college attendance.  OMG!  Beam me up, Scotty!

Sigh ... we are doomed to having to live on the same planet with a right-wing species that looks human, but has unbaked brains.  They listen to raving lunatics like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh for their "news." They espouse to presidential candidates like Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, and Donald Trump.  Look at the harm they did in giving us Cheney/Bush!  Yet they are too stupid to remember--or even perceive--the hell hole they threw us into with that choice.  They don't recognize that the Iraq war was entered into on lies, taking us on the downward spiral we are still in today.  They don't recognize that deregulating corporations and reducing taxes on the rich has led to the trillion-dollars budget deficit -- after a huge budget SURPLUS was handed by the Democrats to Cheney/Bush!  No, because of the gigantic blind spots that cover their entire field of vision, they blame the Democrats -- and keep insisting that the wealthiest in our country should remain tax-free, while the middle class is disappearing, with their backs breaking under the tax burden that has shifted to them.  Meanwhile, the rich corporatists are giving themselves bigger and bigger bonuses -- AFTER WE BAILED THEM OUT FROM DISASTER!!  Upside-down, backwards, totally illogical is the world we are living in today, as a result of the crazies taking over the asylum.  The Republican Party is now an appendage to the Tea Party.  I hesitate to ask, "Could it possibly get any worse?"  ... because it always does.

Lord help us -- we are watching the death of a once-great republic.  The rise and fall of empires throughout history should have given us a clue of what not to do -- but we have followed into the same trap that took down those that came before.  Oh, when will we ever learn?--Oh, when will we ever learn?!!

I would like to propose to God, should he/she be listening, that a second planet be designated for earth people to live on, and that the species should be separated according to beliefs.  All right wing types can remain on this planet that has been polluted and will continue to be, because of their short-sighted vision fueled by greed. They would continue to live their lives by the rule: "We've got ours, and we don't care about the rest of you!"   And all left wing types (the hated "lib'rals") could be assigned to live on the new planet, where the golden rule would be practiced.  And the types should be forever separated in this way.  After a few centuries, God could look in on the two planets and see which one is thriving and which one is dying.  I know which one I would bet on.



 

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Conning the easily conned--Republican tricksters at work

FIX SOCIAL SECURITY? -- ON WHOSE BACK?
Full article can be read at: http://crooksandliars.com/blue-girl/whose-back

Ever since Social Security became the law over 75 years ago, there have been conservatives who wanted to kill it, finding the very notion that elderly or disabled people should retain any dignity or independence after their productive years have passed anathema. If you're no longer "useful" in their particular definition of the word, then you've got a lot of damned gall even thinking you should be able to stay out of poverty.

What the hell right does Grandma have to a flu shot and a living allowance? There are a lot of ways that money could be better spent, so far as they are concerned. It could be used to pay down the debt, or it could be invested on Wall Street. All Grandma does is spend it on rent and groceries and the like. She just pisses it away on avoiding poverty, the parasite.

Conservatives like to pretend that taxing the rich would keep them from creating jobs. Yet during the Bush years -- and he pushed through two rounds of tax cuts in his first term – American jobs disappeared, not to be replaced, every single year --we didn’t gain them.

Robert Samuelson in his latest post at Real Clear Politics wants to make sure that the deficit problem that Bush and the GOP Congress created gets solved by making the people who have realized no benefit from the Bush tax cuts and can least afford it pick up the tab.  What he is surely smart enough to know, but is betting that his target audience isn't, is that he just made the perfect argument for single-payer healthcare, most easily achieved by expanding Medicare to cover everyone and then allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of medications and assignment schedules. Healthcare is the problem, and we are decades behind the rest of the developed world in coming to that realization and moving away from the ridiculous "market based solutions" that conservatives are so fond of.

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Truth by the bushel-full from David Michael Green

To read this EXCELLENT article in its entirety, go to: http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/david-michael-green/35741/trump-beats-all

TRUMP BEATS ALL
By David Michael Green

EXCERPT: People are dumber now, certainly about politics. That's the reason why the notion of "President Reagan" was a laugh-out-loud joke in 1975 but a source of reverence in 2005. That's why George W. Bush is regarded as a basically benign-but-not-so-brilliant president, as opposed to a walking crime against humanity. That's why people continue to vote for politicians who will assist them in their own looting, and who have successfully carried out the greatest transfer of wealth in all of human history, while pretending to serve the public interest instead. And that's the reason why a Donald Trump kind of buffoon could actually lead in the polls for the presidential nomination of one of the country's two major parties.

It isn't so much a core civics education that is missing, though reading poll data on the public's comprehension of the most basic facts regarding their supposedly revered system of governance will positively singe your eyeballs. (What, senators have six-year terms? No! The Bill of Rights applies to us? Get outta here!) It's more of a kind of street smarts that's missing. More of a sense that people don't any longer have the ability to recognize their enemies - including, all too often, themselves.

To choose just the most obvious example, we live in a world in which unregulated private sector actors, greedily pursuing their boundlessly rapacious instincts, have crashed an entire global economy around our - not their - heads, then turned to governments in order to bail them out. And even though the whole notion of the capitalist system they so vehemently espouse is rooted in the idea of risk, they in fact came to believe retrospectively that they should take none, receiving in many cases full coverage for their obligations from the governments they so often and so vociferously deride, when their bets went south. Keep that in mind as I ask you to ponder when was the last time your heard anyone in American politics say, "Businesses should be run more like the government!"? Wouldn't that make a whole lot of sense, given the very recent history just chronicled? I mean who screwed up royally and who didn't? Who got bailed out and who did the bailing?

I have often noted that it isn't like the disconnect these days between the vast majority of Americans and the elites of the political right is simply a matter of two sets of honest-to-goodness patriots who just happen to have rather different ideas about how to make America a better place. That is an extremely naive view, in its most generous form, and I am positively slayed when I hear the president articulate it, because I sometimes think he actually believes what he's saying. In reality, the difference between these two camps is the difference between victim and criminal. It is an entirely false premise upon which to base any analysis of American politics to believe that the plutocrats and their Republican and Democratic marionettes have any interest whatsoever in the bettering of the country and its citizens. Indeed, their interests are quite to the contrary. Of course, they cannot market themselves that way, so instead do so by pretending to be hyper-patriots, and marching out a series of bogus enemies of the state du jour, whether those are Saddam or Castro or homosexuals or immigrants. Anything to keep the hoi polloi distracted from the fingers rummaging around in their pockets.

Nobody is better off as a group than older white males, and nobody foams at the mouth more about how screwed up the country is. Nobody gets more assistance from government programs than those who receive Social Security and Medicare benefits, and nobody races faster to the front of the barricades to rant about the evils of socialism. Nobody receives more in transfers of wealth than deeply red states like Alaska and those of the Bible Belt, and nobody complains more about having government on their backs. Enough, already!

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Absurdity -- homophobes in America are alive and well, unfortunately!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42672313/ns/today-relationships/

In America, the rules are very rigid for one man showing affection to another.  Makes you wonder...who in heck makes these rules, anyway?  No wonder men are so hard for women to understand--most of them keep too tight a hold on their hearts.  And they are ruled by fear -- "O God, what will the other guys think of me?"  Reminds me of what a little kindergarten girl in my grandson's class once said to her teacher:  "I'm going to build a Love-a-nator."  The teacher asked her, with a smile, "What will your Love-a-nator do?"  The little girl replied, "It will melt men's frozen hearts."

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The raving fanatical right wingers will never agree with this...

The Tea Party types are over the top in their hatred and ignorance/stupidity.  They should be ignored, but they are courted by the media and the corporate lobbyists who see they are nuts, but use them to their own advantage.  See the Reader's Comment at the end of the article, which tells the real truth of the matter:

Obama Is American as Apple Pie
By Brent Budowsky

Karl Rove is right. The fanaticism of the birther faction of the Republican Party is a curse that could sink the GOP. When polls show that barely 30 percent of all Republicans are convinced that President Obama is a natural born American, this is a level of sickness and weirdness in a major political party that could bring them electoral disaster.

I have not been shy about occasionally criticizing President Obama when I believe it is called for, but:

President Obama is as American as apple pie. He is as American as the nearest red, white and blue flag. He is as Christian as the nearest Protestant church.

Obama succeeded the American way. He studied hard and excelled at school. He rose by winning the respect of his peers. He succeeded the way Americans are supposed to succeed and achieved what he has through intelligence, diligence, ambition and hard work, which is the American way. He is devoted to a loving wife with whom he is raising a loving family.

There is something very wrong and in my view very sick when a large element of a major political party cannot accept the obvious Americanism of an American president, and when certain partisans in that party view nuts like the birthers as a constituency worth courting.

Criticize his policies for sure. But Barack Obama is as American as apple pie, and those who do not accept this are far outside the mainstream of our nation and our tradition as Americans. It is the birthers who need to learn the lesson about what it means to be an American.

Reader's Comment

He's Black - Haven't You Noticed?
Haven't u noticed he's an AFRICAN, Brent? All my GOP pals have and they don't f...ing like it! They want a WHITE guy like GW BU$H back in the WHITE HOUSE. It's called that, they tell me, because it was built to house OLD WHITE guys--not young NEGROES from Kenya or some other non-American place. Plus, haven't u read the Constitution yet--he's only 2/3rds of a person anyway.  Ignore the amendments, they were all written later on when lib'ruls like Abe Lincoln got in power.

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Nothing better than a baby's laughter!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/20/baby-laughs-dog-bubbles_n_851528.html

Baby laughs hysterically at dog eating bubbles...(~.~)

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Just what the Tea Party needs -- another "birther" GOP candidate for President

The perfect candidates for the Republicans: Donald Trump and Charlie Sheen.  Of that choice, which would you prefer? Or maybe together they could be the full ticket, with those two gigantic egos fighting for top place.  What a world! Our forefathers are spinning in their graves.

Daily Kos:

Just moments after not being able to win back custody of his kids from a wife in rehab, Charlie Sheen shocked the world by coyly mentioning he may consider a run at the White House.  “I know I promised this wouldn’t be political, but look where we f—  are, man!” said Sheen. “For one thing, I was born here!”

Sheen – who said he’d pick Nicolas Cage as his running mate, making  it the first-ever ticket based around abusing women – also announced the  fiscal policies he’d support when he became President.

“I would disband the Fed, like, now. … And send the I.R.S. to prison,” said Sheen.

Sheen’s announcement couldn’t come at a better time for the nation’s  media, as now every single network – including obscure cable outlets and  public-access shows – have now interviewed Donald Trump, and written  stories about how amazing it’s been that he has climbed in the polls.   Sheen  has that one special factor that only people like Trump have – he’ll  talk to anyone.

It is time to get Charlie Sheen on all political shows. That way,  next week, the media can be puzzled about why he’s climbing the polls in  the 2012 race for the U.S. Presidency, while others can ponder why political discourse in the U.S. has gone to hell.

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Zahi Hawass: Fake Chamber Scandal

I have never liked this man -- he is so obviously an arrogant authoritarian controller, enjoying his perch at the top of Egypt's antiquities pyramid (pun intended) -- but he is toppling fast.  Look at what he pulled on the public via national TV:
http://newsflavor.com/world/middle-east/dr-zahi-hawass-fake-chamber-scandal/

Read the latest on Hawass's arrest and sentencing to prison for one year at: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread690495/pg1

Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs Zahi Hawass has been sentenced to one year in jail on Sunday for refusing to fulfill a court ruling over a land dispute.

The article goes on to note the court has ordered Hawass be stripped of the ministerial portfolio for antiquities and fined. Will he actually serve any time or will the Egyptian military junta simply overturn the court sentence? My bet is on the latter. If not, what does this mean for Egyptology?

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Statue of Liberty stamp is actually picture of Las Vegas copy

Our country today;  using clip art to make a stamp and getting it wrong:   http://boingboing.net/2011/04/15/usps-accidentally-is.html

Read all about it at: http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/ted-rall/35664/stamped-out-the-statue-of-liberty-stamp-error-and-the-end-of-america

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A Bad Year, A Good Year -- all depends, doesn't it?

Two different stories -- light years apart.  This is America today.

LAID-OFF AMERICANS TAKING PAY CUTS, KISSING THEIR OLD LIVES GOODBYE:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/19/trading-down-long-term-unemployed_n_850220.html

On the other hand, IT WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR for: EXECUTIVE PAY SKYROCKETS 23 PERCENT--TOP 299 CEOS GET 3.4 BILLION   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/19/executive-pay-2010-ceo_n_850975.html

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'Close Encounters: Proof of Alien Contact' - Documentary

This is a very impressive 50-minute video.  If you can find the time to watch it, I think you will find it fascinating.  It is full of documented evidence and credible, informed witnesses/reporters, including astronauts, pilots, a surgeon who has found absolute proof of extra-terrestrial technology embedded in the bodies of some patients, and an engineer who actually worked on the craft.  Much video evidence that really can't be refuted.

http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com/page/1292.html    

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Tell-all book about Sarah Palin is on the way

Unfortunately, Blind Allegiance to Palin and Michele Bachmann and all other conservative "leaders" will continue, no matter what negative facts are brought out about them. The people who follow these idiots are the same ones who listen to Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh for their marching directions. They don't want truth, they want rants that agree with their already prejudiced views.  No use wasting energy talking to them or trying to inform them of facts.  Still, this book should provide some interesting truths.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — When a book is called "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin," you can guess it's not a happy story.

An imprint of Simon & Schuster announced Monday that it had signed up "Blind Allegiance," a long-rumored tell-all by former Palin aide Frank Bailey.

The imprint, Howard Books, will release Bailey's book May 24. Excerpts from an early draft were leaked to reporters earlier this year.

Bailey worked with Palin while she was governor of Alaska and when she was John McCain's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket in 2008.

Howard Books is calling "Blind Allegiance" a "chilling expose." Author Ken Morris and Alaska political blogger Jeanne Devon helped write the book.

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Wisdom of the Native Americans -- sadly, it didn't "trickle down" to the white man and we are paying the price

The True Peace

The first peace, which is the most important,
is that which comes within the souls of people
when they realize their relationship,
their oneness, with the universe and all its powers,
and when they realize that at the center
of the universe dwells the Great Spirit,
and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.
This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this.
The second peace is that which is made between two individuals,
and the third is that which is made between two nations.
But above all you should understand that there can never
be peace between nations until there is known that true peace,
which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.

~Black Elk, Oglala Sioux & Spiritual Leader (1863 - 1950)


Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.

~Chief Seattle, 1854


Treat all men alike. Give them all the
same law. Give them all an even chance
to live and grow. All men were made by
the same Great Spirit Chief.
They are all brothers. The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it....

~Chief Joseph, Nez Perce Leader


Treat the earth well.
It was not given to you by your parents,
it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors,
we borrow it from our Children.

~Ancient Indian Proverb


Friend do it this way - that is,
whatever you do in life,
do the very best you can
with both your heart and mind.

And if you do it that way,
the Power Of The Universe
will come to your assistance,
if your heart and mind are in Unity.

When one sits in the Hoop Of The People,
one must be responsible because
All of Creation is related.
And the hurt of one is the hurt of all.
And the honor of one is the honor of all.
And whatever we do effects everything in the universe.

If you do it that way - that is,
if you truly join your heart and mind
as One - whatever you ask for,
that's the Way It's Going To Be.

~passed down from White Buffalo Calf Woman


Cherokee Prayer Blessing

May the Warm Winds of Heaven
Blow softly upon your house.
May the Great Spirit
Bless all who enter there.
May your Moccasins
Make happy tracks
in many snows,
and may the Rainbow
Always touch your shoulder.

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Jon Kyl (GOP Senator): a typical example of Republican flip-flop doublespeak out-and-out LIES

And then, after making blatantly false statements to the world (and, rightly, being publicly ridiculed for it), does a Republican take responsibility and apologize for it?  Of course not!  The Republican way is to always...always...ALWAYS...blame someone else!  They complain about the crushing national debt and lay it all at Obama's feet, conveniently "forgetting" the role played by Cheney/Bush in starting the Iraq war on lies and all their other insane expenses that took a budget surplus (handed to them by the Democrat President Clinton)  and turned it into a horrendous, gigantic deficit. Will they admit that it was their own party leaders who created the deficit in the first place? NEVER! In their blind-eyed vision, it is all someone else's fault.  Jon Kyl, true to the "'don't-blame-me" GOP guidelines set down for all Republicans, follows their "rules" to perfection.  No matter that his false statement on the floor of the Senate was meant to destroy an excellent health-care-giving organization. No matter that its destruction would leave millions of women without any kind of health care. No matter that there are many people in our country ignorant and stupid enough to believe his outrageous lie.  He will not apologize -- and makes a meager attempt to "clarify."

By Jason Linkins

Last week, Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) received a fusillade of criticism when he took to the Senate floor to declare that abortion was "well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does." That criticism soon turned to ridicule after his office responded by releasing a statement that said that "his remark was not intended to be a factual statement." Everyone has been making fun of him on Twitter and on late night comedy shows, and it really hurt his feelings. So now, Kyl is "clarifying" himself once again.

Asked if he regretted the flap, Kyl said Thursday: "I misspoke when I said what I said on the floor - and I said so."

But what about the claim that it was "not intended to be a factual statement" when Kyl said 90 percent of Planned Parenthood's services were abortion related?

"That was not me - that was my press person," he said.

Got it. See, when Jon Kyl said a bunch of things that were not true, he obviously had some sort of malfunction in the speech center of his brain. Clearly, what he meant to say was "Three percent of Planned Parenthood's activities are related to abortion, and now that I'm saying this out loud, I forget why I was making such a big deal about it in the first place, so I yield the floor." But an episode of some kind of dysphasia caused him to form entirely different syllables, so while it looked to the world like he was absolutely speaking with perfect clarity of voice and thought, it was all really just a mangled mistake. That observers couldn't see that he was misspeaking is just a terrible coincidence.

Oh, and then some idiot -- "my press person" -- said some even dumber things to CNN, but why was anyone in the news taking the things Jon Kyl's "press person" says seriously, as if his "press person" was somehow authorized to speak to the press, on Jon Kyl's behalf?

So, really, this was everyone else's fault.

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If You Want to Know the Sad but True Facts about the Department of Defense

Read this article (it's enough to make you cry at how corrupt things have become in our government):

I don't believe that the US can make real changes to DoD procurement until we change the financial incentives of the individuals who work in this corrupt system. All other reforms can be deformed, and anyone who does not go along with this system, i.e. the Boy Scout types, are pushed out and most often have their careers destroyed if they don't go along with it. In this column, I will define the problem with the incentives for the people who work in this DoD/contractor system, and in next week's column, I will suggest tough solutions to change the very base of incentives for DoD personnel and the defense contractors.

For those who are interested in digging deeper on how this system got its start since World War II, I would suggest reading journalist Andrew Cockburn's excellent essay in the "Pentagon Labyrinth" called "Follow the Money."

Since I started working on reforming the Pentagon in 1979, I have found one of the most corrupting problems has been the revolving door, the insidious practice where DoD and Congressional personnel go to work for defense contractors or start work at defense contractors and move in and out of the government positions using their influence and inside knowledge to maximize the profits of the defense industry.

I don't believe that the US can make real changes to DoD procurement until we change the financial incentives of the individuals who work in this corrupt system. All other reforms can be deformed, and anyone who does not go along with this system, i.e. the Boy Scout types, are pushed out and most often have their careers destroyed if they don't go along with it. In this column, I will define the problem with the incentives for the people who work in this DoD/contractor system, and in next week's column, I will suggest tough solutions to change the very base of incentives for DoD personnel and the defense contractors.

For those who are interested in digging deeper on how this system got its start since World War II, I would suggest reading journalist Andrew Cockburn's excellent essay in the "Pentagon Labyrinth" called "Follow the Money."

Since I started working on reforming the Pentagon in 1979, I have found one of the most corrupting problems has been the revolving door, the insidious practice where DoD and Congressional personnel go to work for defense contractors or start work at defense contractors and move in and out of the government positions using their influence and inside knowledge to maximize the profits of the defense industry.

The Buying and Selling of the Pentagon
By Dina Rasor

http://www.truthout.org/the-buying-and-selling-pentagon-part-i68883    Part One

http://www.truthout.org/buying-and-selling-pentagon-part-ii                     Part Two

I don't believe that the US can make real changes to DoD procurement until we change the financial incentives of the individuals who work in this corrupt system. All other reforms can be deformed, and anyone who does not go along with this system, i.e. the Boy Scout types, are pushed out and most often have their careers destroyed if they don't go along with it. In this column, I will define the problem with the incentives for the people who work in this DoD/contractor system, and in next week's column, I will suggest tough solutions to change the very base of incentives for DoD personnel and the defense contractors.

For those who are interested in digging deeper on how this system got its start since World War II, I would suggest reading journalist Andrew Cockburn's excellent essay in the "Pentagon Labyrinth" called "Follow the Money."

Since I started working on reforming the Pentagon in 1979, I have found one of the most corrupting problems has been the revolving door, the insidious practice where DoD and Congressional personnel go to work for defense contractors or start work at defense contractors and move in and out of the government positions using their influence and inside knowledge to maximize the profits of the defense industry.

I don't believe that the US can make real changes to DoD procurement until we change the financial incentives of the individuals who work in this corrupt system. All other reforms can be deformed, and anyone who does not go along with this system, i.e. the Boy Scout types, are pushed out and most often have their careers destroyed if they don't go along with it. In this column, I will define the problem with the incentives for the people who work in this DoD/contractor system, and in next week's column, I will suggest tough solutions to change the very base of incentives for DoD personnel and the defense contractors.

For those who are interested in digging deeper on how this system got its start since World War II, I would suggest reading journalist Andrew Cockburn's excellent essay in the "Pentagon Labyrinth" called "Follow the Money."

Since I started working on reforming the Pentagon in 1979, I have found one of the most corrupting problems has been the revolving door, the insidious practice where DoD and Congressional personnel go to work for defense contractors or start work at defense contractors and move in and out of the government positions using their influence and inside knowledge to maximize the profits of the defense industry.

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This article should be read by all Republicans -- but won't be

Many (most) Republicans, against all understanding, still believe in the trickle-down "voo-doo" economics put forth by Reagan and continued by the two Bushes.  Even if they themselves are not getting any of the trickle-down, still they support the regimes that tell them we are better off when the rich become richer. And so they cheer when taxes are lowered on the wealthy. They honestly believe it is benefiting them, even as the country is crumbling around them.  It's a puzzlement that they cannot see what is happening in our country--and WHY it is happening, even when it is happening to their own children.  Were they to read the following article, they would find a way to brush it off and continue their delusion, quoting Limbaugh, Beck, Coulter, Hannity, Palin et al.  They would for certain blame it all on the Democrats. Their blind spot is so great, there is no way  you can show them the truth.  They don't want facts.  They like being "dittoheads" of Limbaugh and Fox (Rupert Murdoch).  It sure would be nice if they could read the following article and actually have their eyes opened.  But, I'm sorry to say after talking with right wingers till I'm blue in the face that that will never happen.  They are dedicated to the ruin of this country, and don't recognize the part they are playing in its accomplishment.

http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/83-83/5602-of-the-1-by-the-1-for-the-1

Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%
By Joseph Stiglitz, Vanity Fair Magazine

EXCERPT:  Americans have been watching protests against oppressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few.  Yet in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nation's income--an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret. ...The top 1 percent have the best houses, the best educations, the best doctors, and the best lifestyles, but there is one thing that money doesn’t seem to have bought: an understanding that their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live. Throughout history, this is something that the top 1 percent eventually do learn. Too late.

(To read the rest of this superb analysis of life in the present-day U.S., go to:  http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/83-83/5602-of-the-1-by-the-1-for-the-1 )

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IMPORTANT: An Open Letter to the Pope from a concerned documentary maker

Anyone who has ever seen the documentary video DELIVER US FROM EVIL can never forget it.  If you haven't seen it and would like to know more about what the author of the following letter is referring to, you can rent it from Netflix.  It is a real eye-opener, so prepare to be very shocked.  Another shock is delivered by the following information about the further travels of priest Oliver O'Grady.  The worst part is that the Catholic Church continues to protect this man, rather than the children he is allowed to be around!  Even if you decide not to rent the video (I think most curious, wanting-to-be-informed people will want to rent it, however), the following open letter to the present Pope and Archbishop of L.A. from Amy Berg, the creator of the documentary, will give you the shivers in itself. 

All members of the Catholic Church should see this documentary, even if merely for the sake of making you more aware of what can happen when people assume the Church is honoring its promise to "take care of things."  I think we all have come to realize that the promises of people in authoritative positions in religion and government often are not trustable, to say the least.  Thank God for watchdogs like Amy Berg who keep the rest of us aware!  I am very appreciative that she has made such an informative, though shocking, documentary -- and that she is once again giving air to her concerns with the letter and photos you will find in the following link:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-berg/deliver-us-from-evil-a-le_b_551743.html


DELIVER US FROM EVIL: A LETTER TO THE POPE, ARCHBISHOP MAHONEY, and HIERARCHY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
from Amy Berg

EXCERPT: 

Last Wednesday, a Dutch television station broadcast Deliver Us From Evil, my 2006 documentary about the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. A few days earlier, the subject of my film, notorious pedophile Oliver O'Grady, was contacted by Dutch police officers, tipped off by his neighbors who had seen an advertisement for the film. Over the course of his 30-year career as a Catholic priest in California, O'Grady abused hundreds of children and is now living on the lam in Europe. O'Grady quickly disguised himself and fled, taking a train from Rotterdam to Schtipol. He managed to catch the last plane out of Amsterdam on Aer Lingus at 20:45. Ironically, had the film aired a few days later, he likely would have been stuck in Holland due to the volcanic eruption the following day.

As you might imagine, after the film aired in Holland, residents of O'Grady's community in Rotterdam were outraged and contacted me and two of the advocates featured in the film, attorneys John Manly and Jeff Anderson. After I spoke to one Rotterdam family, I discovered to my dismay that O'Grady had been masquerading himself as "Brother Francis" and had been volunteering at their local parish. This is alarming on several levels, especially in light of the Church's recent commitment to screen all volunteers and laypeople working in the church in order to protect the children and the community. Needless to say, the community was terrified and is still in a state of panic and shock. Another family told me they had been very close friends with O'Grady and had even traveled with him along with their nine-month-old child.

To read the rest of this letter, go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-berg/deliver-us-from-evil-a-le_b_551743.html

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Intelligent analysis -- sad to read, because it's so true

And Now, for the Kill
By David Michael Green

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/david-michael-green/35468/and-now-for-the-kill

the GOP had a choice to make in 1953. With their hands on the levers of power for the first time in a long time, they could have undone the New Deal. Some in the party wanted to do so. But by that time both Ike and the bulk of his party had left behind the Neanderthal tendencies of the pre-FDR days and had moved to the center-right. Eisenhower famously discussed his position - and that of others in the GOP - in a 1954 letter to his brother: "Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid." Ah, how very quaint such sentiments now seem in retrospect. Weren't those just the days, back when even Republicans sorta had a heart with a detectable pulse? Now we live in a very different place. It is a place of destruction and despair. An abattoir where the little people go - all 99 percent of the country, let alone the fully dispensable "human resources" found outside our borders - to be sacrificed on the altar of unparalleled greed.

If we're remotely honest about it, we'd have to acknowledge that today's Obama, the former anti-war community organizer, is to the ideological right of yesterday's Dwight Eisenhower, former five-star general, leader of the Normandy invasion, commander of NATO and head of the Republican Party. As today's worst elements of the Republican Party (that is, almost all of them) seek to do exactly the things that Eisenhower called "stupid", there is Obama, facilitating their efforts.

Think about it. Here's the real version of what has happened: A decade ago, the United States had the greatest budget surplus ever recorded in human history. Then the regressives came to power. They quickly slashed tax revenues, especially from the rich, borrowing like crack addicts in order to pay for their profligacy. They meanwhile spent gigantic sums on wars based on lies, on hugely increased military spending apart from the wars, on a new Medicare benefit which they insisted on setting up in a way that massively benefited insurance and pharmaceutical corporations rather than the federal treasury, and on general pork barrel spending, thus driving the national debt up dramatically further, and creating the world's greatest ever deficits. Let me repeat, it was the GOP who did this. Now these very same people are falsely claiming an electoral mandate to slash spending, screaming that borrowing is an urgent problem which must be addressed at all costs. At the same time, they continue each year to further slash revenues coming in to the government, massively exacerbating the very problem they claim to desperately want to solve.

Their solution is to cut spending on essentials for poor people and the middle class. They have completely taken any form of tax restoration off the table. They won't dream of reducing military expenditures, which are bloated to an absurd degree. They cannot contemplate allowing the government to buy way cheaper drugs from Canada, or negotiating a bulk price discount for those drugs, let alone rescinding their (socialist) prescription drug benefit plan. They would never accept a reduction in the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on corporate welfare each year for agricultural or sugar or oil or other industries.

Instead, they're right back at us again, with more of exactly the same formula.

To read entire essay, go to: http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/david-michael-green/35468/and-now-for-the-kill

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Obama in the White House is the same as having no president at all

Might as well just let the Republicans sit in the Oval Office.  Obama's election amounts to the same thing as having Cheney and his puppet still there.  Only the puppet has changed.  Neo-con business goes on as usual. Republicans asked for $32 billion in cuts to begin with -- and Obama ends up giving them $38 billion.  Way to go in negotiating, pinhead!

The President Is Missing
By Paul Krugman

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/opinion/11krugman.html?_r=1

EXCERPT: 

Maybe that terrible deal, in which Republicans ended up getting more than their opening bid, was the best he could achieve — although it looks from here as if the president’s idea of how to bargain is to start by negotiating with himself, making pre-emptive concessions, then pursue a second round of negotiation with the G.O.P., leading to further concessions.

And bear in mind that this was just the first of several chances for Republicans to hold the budget hostage and threaten a government shutdown; by caving in so completely on the first round, Mr. Obama set a baseline for even bigger concessions over the next few months.

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Best video delivering truth about Planned Parenthood

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42503559#42503559

It's almost beyond belief that Planned Parenthood might be shut down for lack of funds because of right-wing fanaticism.  Those who are railing against it now, in fanatic ravings, should see this video, just to get the facts straight.  It is touching and factual, presented by a man with heart -- giving voice to a woman with needs.

I wish all people could see this video, if only to hear truth about what Planned Parenthood really does.  Though we don't hear them very often anymore, facts are still IMPORTANT in our world.

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My favorite Mark Twain essay

I have posted this before, but it seems time for another go-around.  It's hard to pick a favorite when it comes to Mark Twain.  Everything he wrote was like an electrical charge -- often delivered in sublimely cynical words that touched deeply, because they were true.  That is especially so with his short essay, The War Prayer, which wasn't published until after his death--no doubt, because it would have penetrated the hearts and minds of the people and offended the political and religious leaders of the time.  It's still offensive to that type, in our time.  In any time.  They are so used to living in the harsh cacophony of a world of lies, it's too shocking to their systems to hear truth so bright and clear that it cuts through all the lies like a hot knife through butter.  If you are tired of the BS of our political leaders and have a yen to hear refreshing truth for a change, you will appreciate this essay. 

The War Prayer

by Mark Twain

It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory with stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener.

It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.

Sunday morning came -- next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams -- visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender!

Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation:

God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest,
Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!

Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory --

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher's side and stood there waiting. With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, "Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord and God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"

The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside -- which the startled minister did -- and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:

"I come from the Throne -- bearing a message from Almighty God!" The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. "He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import -- that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of -- except he pause and think. "God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two -- one uttered, and the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this -- keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon your neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain on your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse on some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.

"You have heard your servant's prayer -- the uttered part of it. I am commissioned by God to put into words the other part of it -- that part which the pastor -- and also you in your hearts -- fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard the words 'Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory -- must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

"Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth into battle -- be Thou near them! With them -- in spirit -- we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended in the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames in summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it --

For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!

We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

(After a pause.) "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits."

…

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.

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Tokyo Electric will build new Texas nuclear power plants -- we're not making this up

Well, what else would you expect in a crazy, upside-down backwards world?  Read all about the latest insanity at:
http://www.gregpalast.com/no-bs-info-on-japan-nuclearobama-invites-tokyo-electric-to-build-us-nukes-with-taxpayer-funds/#more-4497

The No-BS info on Japan's Nuclear Operators
by Greg Palast

EXCERPT: The Administration, just months ago, asked Congress to provide a $4 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors to be built and operated on the Gulf Coast of Texas — by Tokyo Electric Power and local partners.  As if the Gulf hasn't suffered enough.

Here are the facts about Tokyo Electric and the industry you haven't heard on CNN:

The failure of emergency systems at Japan's nuclear plants comes as no surprise to those of us who have worked in the field.

Nuclear plants the world over must be certified for what is called "SQ" or "Seismic Qualification."  That is, the owners swear that all components are designed for the maximum conceivable shaking event, be it from an earthquake or an exploding Christmas card from Al Qaeda.

The most inexpensive way to meet your SQ is to lie.  The industry does it all the time. The government team I worked with caught them once, in 1988, at the Shoreham plant in New York.  Correcting the SQ problem at Shoreham would have cost a cool billion, so engineers were told to change the tests from 'failed' to 'passed.'

The company that put in the false safety report?  Stone & Webster, now the nuclear unit of Shaw Construction which will work with Tokyo Electric to build the Texas plant, Lord help us.

There's more.  For the rest of the article, go to: http://www.gregpalast.com/no-bs-info-on-japan-nuclearobama-invites-tokyo-electric-to-build-us-nukes-with-taxpayer-funds/#more-4497

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Good article -- hope is dwindling in our hearts and souls because we have elected....

The Nowhere Man
by William Rivers Pitt

http://www.truth-out.org/nowhere-man

EXCERPT: [Obama] won it all, and two and a half years later, many of his most ardent supporters now hear his words and taste ashes in their mouths. You campaign in poetry, someone once said, but you govern in prose. The poetry was magnificent. The prose, in far too many ways, has been dreck, and those who believed now find themselves more demoralized than they can easily describe.

He and his fellow Democrats all but folded on health care, leaving us with less than half a loaf. He backtracked on Guantanamo, and doubled down on Afghanistan. He promised to erase Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, and broke his oath shamelessly, to his party's great lament in 2010. Wall Street stands unmolested at the center of his counsel, while Main Street withers on the vine. He is flipping missiles into Libya while flipping off the American people by racing to "compromise" with brigands and thieves on the matter of how many billions to cut. In so many critical ways, he has been the Nowhere Man, the absence of what was so seemingly present when he was elevated to his current station.

Mr. Obama has not been losing policy arguments to reasonable people. He has been losing policy arguments to people who are, in many instances, absolutely and unabashedly barking mad. He is losing policy arguments to people who sought elected office in government in order to denude and destroy that very government. Listen to them talk and the matter is plain: they got the job to destroy the job, and are so blinded by the fervor of their political catechism that they cannot be reasoned with under any circumstances. They are destroyers and usurpers, but Mr. Obama has time and again bared his neck to them, and we have all suffered with their sundry victories, and his sundry defeats.

They cannot be reasoned with, but can only be defeated, and after two and a half years, it is the President of the United States alone who appears to have not received the memo.

The feeble fiction of the Democrats vs. Republicans paradigm has been falling to dust for a long time now, inexorably being replaced by a simple truth. There is but one paradigm in this reality, one core fact to be reckoned with: the struggle in America is between the Have's and the Have Not's, between towering wealth , towering greed and everyone else. It is about a class struggle that has been three centuries in the making, and even those who are today moderately comfortable will not be able to escape calamity. When it comes down, it will come down on all of us...all, of course, except the fortunate few who caused it all in the first place.

Mr. Obama has not been losing policy arguments to reasonable people. He has been losing policy arguments to people who are, in many instances, absolutely and unabashedly barking mad. He is losing policy arguments to people who sought elected office in government in order to denude and destroy that very government. Listen to them talk and the matter is plain: they got the job to destroy the job, and are so blinded by the fervor of their political catechism that they cannot be reasoned with under any circumstances. They are destroyers and usurpers, but Mr. Obama has time and again bared his neck to them, and we have all suffered with their sundry victories, and his sundry defeats.

They cannot be reasoned with, but can only be defeated, and after two and a half years, it is the President of the United States alone who appears to have not received the memo.

Mr. Obama has not been losing policy arguments to reasonable people. He has been losing policy arguments to people who are, in many instances, absolutely and unabashedly barking mad. He is losing policy arguments to people who sought elected office in government in order to denude and destroy that very government. Listen to them talk and the matter is plain: they got the job to destroy the job, and are so blinded by the fervor of their political catechism that they cannot be reasoned with under any circumstances. They are destroyers and usurpers, but Mr. Obama has time and again bared his neck to them, and we have all suffered with their sundry victories, and his sundry defeats.

They cannot be reasoned with, but can only be defeated, and after two and a half years, it is the President of the United States alone who appears to have not received the memo.

Mr. Obama has not been losing policy arguments to reasonable people. He has been losing policy arguments to people who are, in many instances, absolutely and unabashedly barking mad. He is losing policy arguments to people who sought elected office in government in order to denude and destroy that very government. Listen to them talk and the matter is plain: they got the job to destroy the job, and are so blinded by the fervor of their political catechism that they cannot be reasoned with under any circumstances. They are destroyers and usurpers, but Mr. Obama has time and again bared his neck to them, and we have all suffered with their sundry victories, and his sundry defeats.

They cannot be reasoned with, but can only be defeated, and after two and a half years, it is the President of the United States alone who appears to have not received the memo.

The feeble fiction of the Democrats vs. Republicans paradigm has been falling to dust for a long time now, inexorably being replaced by a simple truth. There is but one paradigm in this reality, one core fact to be reckoned with: the struggle in America is between the Have's and the Have Not's, between towering wealth , towering greed and everyone else. It is about a class struggle that has been three centuries in the making, and even those who are today moderately comfortable will not be able to escape calamity. When it comes down, it will come down on all of us...all, of course, except the fortunate few who caused it all in the first place.

The feeble fiction of the Democrats vs. Republicans paradigm has been falling to dust for a long time now, inexorably being replaced by a simple truth. There is but one paradigm in this reality, one core fact to be reckoned with: the struggle in America is between the Have's and the Have Not's, between towering wealth , towering greed and everyone else. It is about a class struggle that has been three centuries in the making, and even those who are today moderately comfortable will not be able to escape calamity. When it comes down, it will come down on all of us...all, of course, except the fortunate few who caused it all in the first place.

The feeble fiction of the Democrats vs. Republicans paradigm has been falling to dust for a long time now, inexorably being replaced by a simple truth. There is but one paradigm in this reality, one core fact to be reckoned with: the struggle in America is between the Have's and the Have Not's, between towering wealth , towering greed and everyone else. It is about a class struggle that has been three centuries in the making, and even those who are today moderately comfortable will not be able to escape calamity. When it comes down, it will come down on all of us...all, of course, except the fortunate few who caused it all in the first place.

The feeble fiction of the Democrats vs. Republicans paradigm has been falling to dust for a long time now, inexorably being replaced by a simple truth. There is but one paradigm in this reality, one core fact to be reckoned with: the struggle in America is between the Have's and the Have Not's, between towering wealth , towering greed and everyone else. It is about a class struggle that has been three centuries in the making, and even those who are today moderately comfortable will not be able to escape calamity. When it comes down, it will come down on all of us...all, of course, except the fortunate few who caused it all in the first place.

The feeble fiction of the Democrats vs. Republicans paradigm has been falling to dust for a long time now, inexorably being replaced by a simple truth. There is but one paradigm in this reality, one core fact to be reckoned with: the struggle in America is between the Have's and the Have Not's, between towering wealth , towering greed and everyone else. It is about a class struggle that has been three centuries in the making, and even those who are today moderately comfortable will not be able to escape calamity. When it comes down, it will come down on all of us...all, of course, except the fortunate few who caused it all in the first place.

The feeble fiction of the Democrats vs. Republicans paradigm has been falling to dust for a long time now, inexorably being replaced by a simple truth. There is but one paradigm in this reality, one core fact to be reckoned with: the struggle in America is between the Have's and the Have Not's, between towering wealth , towering greed and everyone else. It is about a class struggle that has been three centuries in the making, and even those who are today moderately comfortable will not be able to escape calamity. When it comes down, it will come down on all of us...all, of course, except the fortunate few who caused it all in the first place.

The feeble fiction of the Democrats vs. Republicans paradigm has been falling to dust for a long time now, inexorably being replaced by a simple truth. There is but one paradigm in this reality, one core fact to be reckoned with: the struggle in America is between the Have's and the Have Not's, between towering wealth , towering greed and everyone else. It is about a class struggle that has been three centuries in the making, and even those who are today moderately comfortable will not be able to escape calamity. When it comes down, it will come down on all of us...all, of course, except the fortunate few who caused it all in the first place.

The feeble fiction of the Democrats vs. Republicans paradigm has been falling to dust for a long time now, inexorably being replaced by a simple truth. There is but one paradigm in this reality, one core fact to be reckoned with: the struggle in America is between the Have's and the Have Not's, between towering wealth , towering greed and everyone else. It is about a class struggle that has been three centuries in the making, and even those who are today moderately comfortable will not be able to escape calamity. When it comes down, it will come down on all of us...all, of course, except the fortunate few who caused it all in the first place.

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How to get rid of the elderly -- new Republican medical "plan" for us

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/rj-eskow/35377/the-gop-budgets-attack-on-older-americans-their-most-radical-move-yet-explained-with-six-slides

Cut out Medicare -- and give us "vouchers" with which we can pay for health insurance with a private insurer.  Hmmm....picture this: age 65 and over folks go to a private insurer and apply for health insurance -- what do you think the insurance companies are going to say to us?  Do you think we will be their most cherished, come-right-in, red-carpet-treated applicants? Especially those with "pre-conditions" (and who doesn't have pre-conditions at that age?)  Even if by some miracle, a few of us did manage to get private insurance, when we had a claim, how do you think we would be treated then?  Do you think the private insurers will be happy and smiling, cutting us checks to pay our bills and telling us to "come again soon"?  Hmmmm?????

No, this sounds like the Republicans' Orwellian plan to rid themselves and the world of the seniors who are glutting the system now.  Culling the human herd will begin with the weakest members -- who do you think those weakest members might be?  Hmmmm???  Here's the answer: The elderly and the young.  The plan has already begun with their proposal to cut education funds and health care, food, and Head Start programs for the kids -- and Medicare and Social Security for us "oldie-goldies."  Those Republicans sure are smart, aren't they?  The politicians will still have their own government insurance plans for themselves and their families -- but ours will be gone. In the meantime, the trillions of dollars saved by throwing us under the bus will be added to the funds for the Pentagon, so they can develop more defective F-22 Raptor planes  (at $350 million a pop!) to never use and keep stored in hangars.  Here's some advice for those who agree with this plan: Keep voting for those Republicans, keep listening to Limbaugh and Beck, and keep believing all they tell you while they whittle away at your foundation until you crumble into dust at their feet. 

And, while you're busy crumbling, keep singing that great ol' song:  So long --- it's been good to know ya'....

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Japan's ocean radiation hits 7.5 million times legal limit

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-nuclear-20110406%2C0%2C2697428.story

But not to worry -- I mean, it's just in their part of the ocean -- not ours, (oops--but the ocean is one entity--and, even if it's big, what affects one part affects it all--sigh...never mind).  Be advised, too, that our government is already busy raising the previous limits on dangerous radiation levels.  If you believe them, you'll feel safe.  But will you be safe? That is the question your government hopes you won't be asking.

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Taking after Mom -- how to earn lots of money for doing nothing

...except for being a teen-age unwed mother...which is a job in itself, isn't it?  But unless your last name is Palin, you won't be making much money from it.  If your name IS Palin, boy, can you make out like a bandit!  Bristol Palin has bought her own home now, and made $262,000 last year as a figurehead "ambassador" for a teen pregnancy awareness foundation.  Way to go, Bristol!  Maybe your sis Willow will want to follow in your footsteps. 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-20050917-10391698.html?tag=stack

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As government shutdown looms, here's Rush Limbaugh's take on it

King Rush says:  "I don't care if the government is shut down. It doesn't affect my life."  In fact, he says he'd be happy if the government shut down, just to get them out of his life. According to him, "It's not as if it were a big deal, affecting one's life, or food, or anything like that." (at least, not his food!) I wonder how many of his "dittohead" followers feel the same way, especially those who are completely dependent on Social Security, Medicare, and a few little things like that.  No, a multi-millionaire like Rush isn't going to be affected at all.  If ever there was a moment for him to empathize with his dittoheads and the problems loomng over them, this would be it.  However, Dittoheads, being what they are, are not going to mind that Rush isn't concerned about their welfare. Nope, Dittoheads just keep following his every word, voting how he tells them, never stopping to realize how their own lives are negatively impacted by the point of view of their king, safely living in his castle high on the hill, out of harm's way. He and his family are completely protected from the dire circumstances resulting from his daily ravings and the devastation they cause in the dittoheads' lives.

Oh, yeah...almost forgot:  In case any dittoheads out there missed Rush's soliloquy on government shutdown and his daily commands to you, don't worry.  You can still get right in step and hear it at: http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201104050032  (Don't forget to put on your dittohead uniform--that's a mighty big cult er, club, you belong to!)

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More from Natural News: No. Carolina voting to make alternative medical practitioners FELONS

Natural News keeps on top of medical information important to all of us.  Here is the latest newsletter with great info. on many health topics, including the outrageous attempt by No. Carolina to eliminate competition of alternative treatments (homeopathy, acupuncture, herbalists, naturopaths, etc.) from Big Pharma:

If you missed our urgent alert sent out earlier, here's a shocking piece of news: North Carolina is about to vote on state legislation that would turn naturopaths, homeopaths, herbalists and energy healers into felons. This is the beginning of the medical police state that's attempting to imprison all the healers and remove all competition from the pharma-medical-industrial complex.

Ethan Huff reports this shocking (but true) news:
http://www.naturalnews.com/031953_medical_practice_licensing.html

The vote on that "criminalize all the healers" bill has been delayed until Tuesday, April 5, meaning that there's still probably time for you to join in and take action on this! Click the story link above for the phone numbers to call...

Just in case you weren't already amused enough today, "scientists" are now crossing human genes with cow genes to create cows that produce "human" breast milk. OMG, I wish I were making this up as some sort of sick April Fool's joke, but I'm not. This is being called cutting-edge science. It's just what we all need to feed our babies, right? Genetically modified nearly-human bovine breast milk!
http://www.naturalnews.com/031952_genetically_modified_cows_breast_milk.html

Speaking of the situation with science today, have you seen the amazing new book called Blinded By Science? You can download it from a UK website right now. I interview the author and will be posting that shortly. Here's our story about it:
http://www.naturalnews.com/031962_science_vibrational_healing.html

More news continues below on amazing stuff you won't believe, including natural cures, GMOs, the benefits of maple syrup and much more (see below)..

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EPA to raise limits for radiation exposure while Canada turns off fallout detectors (NaturalNews) The mass radioactive contamination of our planet is now under way thanks to the astonishing actions taking place at the Fukushima nuclear facility in Japan. As of last night, TEPCO announced it is releasing 10,000 tons of radioactive...

'Blinded by Science' explores the power of vibrational energy and water in healing and wellness (NaturalNews) The narrow and mechanistic way in which modern science tends to investigate and explain life, the world, and human health has robbed generations of people of a true knowledge of how these things actually work. In an up-and-coming new book...

CDC releases report about scientist working with plague virus who died within hours (NaturalNews) The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a report recently that highlights the events surrounding the sudden death of Malcolm Casadaban, a 60-year-old genetics and cell biology professor from the University of Chicago...

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Dark chocolate is brimming with antioxidants and heart-healthy properties, research finds Ongoing research shows that eating dark chocolate exerts beneficial effects throughout the whole body. High quality chocolate delivers disease-zapping antioxidants, lowers blood pressure and protects your heart and liver, all in one fell...

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Maple syrup compounds help fight diabetes, cancer (NaturalNews) Put down the corn syrup-laden Aunt Jemima and reach for some 100 percent pure maple syrup. New research recently presented at the 241st annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, Calif., highlights the amazing health benefits...

Homeopathy offers permanent body pain relief (Opinion) Body workers abound in various guises, from massage therapists to osteopaths and everything in between. They provide a valuable service to those who suffer from muscle tension and from misaligned or misplaced vertebrae and joints. These problems...

Support genetically engineered food "Right to Know" legislation In your state (NaturalNews) Legislation that would require labels on genetically engineered salmon or other GE foods has been introduced in 14 states across the country. Please take action if you live in one of the following states. If your state hasn't introduced...

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NC bill threatens to criminalize naturopaths, homeopaths, herbalists, midwives, aromatherapists as felons (NaturalNews) Alternative health practitioners in North Carolina (NC) and their patients need your help to defeat a stealth bill that flew under the radar of most everyone in the natural health community. Senate Bill 31, which clarifies the penalties...

The latest scientific abomination: Genetically modified cows produce human breast milk (NaturalNews) There seems to be no limit to the violations of natural law that will be committed in the name of "science." The latest is an effort to make cows produce human breast milk by using genetically modified embryos crossed with human genes...

Published review highlights lack of proper GMO safety studies in scientific journals (NaturalNews) A recent study published in the journal Environment International has found that within the body of published literature on genetically-modified organisms (GMO), there exists almost an equal number of both studies suggesting they...

Prostate cancer screening has zero benefit, concludes 20-year study (NaturalNews) Don't let anyone from the cancer industry lie to you about PSA screening: The test is completely bogus and offers zero improvement in your lifespan. That's the conclusion from a 20-year study that followed over 9,000 men. After 20...

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