The Truth Behind the Tea Parties

This is what happens when corporations are allowed to run amok and take over the country...and the world. They support with millions of $$ the nutso right wingers who listen to Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and vote against their own interests. These ignorant people are being used by the elite to further their own gains.  Remember how Reagan and other Republicans promised us that if tax cuts were given to the corporations/elite, the wealth would "trickle down" to us peons who are supporting the whole evil system with our tax dollars?  Remember how tax cuts were granted big-time to the rich? (BTW, how's that trickle-down theory working out for you?)  Plus, notice how Republicans today are crying out for those tax cuts to remain--and for even more tax breaks to be given to the wealthiest in the country.  Read on about the Tea Party scam, funded by right-wing megabucks:

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/072910c.html
By Don Monkerud
EXCERPT:
Seldom has so much been made about so little. Supporters claimed the Tea Party was "a nonpartisan grassroots movement," but the reality is far different. Not only was the idea supported by right-wing money and promoted by the right-wing propaganda mill, Fox News, but it also garnered very little real popular support. When asked, 18 percent of Americans replied that they identified with the Tea Party. Only 20 percent of those sent money, or about four percent of the public, while 78 percent have done nothing in support.

Essentially, the Tea Party is a new face of the same old right-wing, reactionary forces that have long been working to turn America into a more religious, racist and militaristic country with an unregulated free-enterprise system, weak government and low taxation.

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Avoid Heart Attack: Take Vitamin D with Calcium Supplements

ABC NEWS Medical Page:
Calcium supplementation -- without giving vitamin D at the same time -- appears to increase the risk of myocardial infarction, a new review of past research has shown.

Among studies of patients with or at risk of osteoporosis, those who received calcium supplements were about 30 percent more likely to have a heart attack than those who did not, Dr. Ian Reid, MD of the University of Auckland in New Zealand and colleagues reported online in BMJ.

"As calcium supplements are widely used, these modest increases in risk of cardiovascular disease might translate into a large burden of disease in the population," the researchers wrote. "A reassessment of the role of calcium supplements in the management of osteoporosis is warranted."

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Paul Krugman: A Man Who Sees Clearly

For common sense and great advice to Obama (which he, of course, won't follow), read Krugman's latest column:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/opinion/30krugman.html?_r=1&hp

It starts out with a very good question:  Why does the Obama administration keep looking for love in all the wrong places? Why does it go out of its way to alienate its friends, while wooing people who will never waver in their hatred?

...protecting consumers, ensuring that they aren’t the victims of predatory financial practices, is something voters can relate to. And choosing a high-profile consumer advocate (Elizabeth Warren) to lead the agency providing that protection — someone whose scholarship and advocacy were largely responsible for the agency’s creation — is the natural move, both substantively and politically. Meanwhile, the alternative — disappointing supporters yet again by choosing some little-known technocrat — seems like an obvious error.

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The Palin Tribe: Want to See Them in the White House?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/30/levi-johnston-ex-lanesia_n_664897.html

Oops.  It seems Levi Johnston, Bristol's choice for her husband-to-be (reportedly against Mommy Dearest's wishes), may have impregnated Bristol's former best friend, who is now expecting a baby.  And the Bristol/Levi on-again/off-again nuptials may be off...again.  The Palin soap opera continues...  I wonder how John McCain feels now about the show he launched when he named Sarah his running mate. Wanna guess? (Clue: His red face and clenched teeth may be a giveaway.)

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Interesting info. re. 9/11 building explosions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwSc7NPn8Ok

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EXCELLENT New Yorker article on life/death issues

It's about time a doctor wrote an article like this. Oregonians have the right idea in having passed the right-to-die law there.  I do hope California will soon have one like it.  Although this essay doesn't address euthanasia, it importantly talks about the often unnecessary prolongation of life with undue suffering of the patient.  It presents end-of-life options, other than continuing with chemo, radiation, intubated feedings, etc. that only prolong misery and suffering.  There is a natural course to life and death -- and too often the natural end course is dealt with as an enemy by the medical field.  In many cases, quality of life needs to be weighed against the cost of a little more quantity of life.
LETTING GO
by Atul Gawande

EXCERPT: People have concerns besides simply prolonging their lives. Surveys of patients with terminal illness find that their top priorities include, in addition to avoiding suffering, being with family, having the touch of others, being mentally aware, and not becoming a burden to others. Our system of technological medical care has utterly failed to meet these needs, and the cost of this failure is measured in far more than dollars. The hard question we face, then, is not how we can afford this system’s expense. It is how we can build a health-care system that will actually help dying patients achieve what’s most important to them at the end of their lives.

Like many people, I had believed that hospice care hastens death, because patients forgo hospital treatments and are allowed high-dose narcotics to combat pain. But studies suggest otherwise. In one, researchers followed 4,493 Medicare patients with either terminal cancer or congestive heart failure. They found no difference in survival time between hospice and non-hospice patients with breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer. Curiously, hospice care seemed to extend survival for some patients; those with pancreatic cancer gained an average of three weeks, those with lung cancer gained six weeks, and those with congestive heart failure gained three months. The lesson seems almost Zen: you live longer only when you stop trying to live longer.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/02/100802fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=1

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Jon Stewart Nails It Again re. Breitbart and Sherrod

EXCERPT: While Andrew Breitbart is responsible for posting the edited video of Shirley Sherrod on his BigGovernment.com website, the Obama administration did not take the time to obtain the full speech before calling for her resignation.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack essentially forced Sherrod to resign. Stewart joked that she had been "Vilsacked." The Agriculture Secretary apologized but at least one statement reflected a lack of contrition.

"It should have been done in a much more personal way. It should have been done with far more thought and it should have been done in far less haste," said Vilsack.

"It shouldn't have been done," Stewart said to cheers from his studio audience. "We're not angry about how you fired her. We're angry that you fired her."

"I'm sorry I hit your dog with my car. I should have smothered him with a pillow," Stewart joked.

Only five months ago, Breitbart said, "I want it to be in the history books saying I took down the institutional left."

"He didn't say I want to be in the history books as a paragon of honesty," Stewart noted. "He didn't say I would like to be in the museum of broadcasting and be known by children around the world as Arnold B. Truthington of Accuracy Lane. No, he said out loud, 'I want to bring down the institutional left.' So, if you are on the institutional left and you receive a package from him, watch the whole f**king tape!"

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IMPORTANT STORY: Income of Very Richest shot up by 281% since 1979

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0728/top-1-making-280-1979/

This article is important to educate those who continue to say tax cuts for the rich are not only desirable, but necessary...  Read the article and see if you agree with them.

EXCERPT: a recent Wall Street Journal story revealed that, over the past decade, the two highest-paid CEOs at public companies each took in over a billion dollars in compensation, while others in the top 25 received compensation in the hundreds of millions.

What makes these pay rates really "infuriating," says Hayes, is that "CEO pay is both a cause and partly a symptom of the staggering increase of inequality in this country.

Hayes cited a study recently released by the non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities which shows that if you're in the bottom 20% of earners, "you're making only 16% more today than you would have in 1979." If you're in the middle fifth, you're making 25% more. "But the top fifth of earners in this country -- they're making 95% more."

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Gulf between Wall Street and Main Street widens

The rich get rich and the poor get poorer -- so the old song goes, and we are living that reality now.  Waiting for corporations to have empathy with the consumers is like waiting for hell to freeze over.  The democratic republic of America is dying, and is being replaced by a plutocracy.  We can't say we weren't warned.  See video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/27/consumer-confidence-corporate-profits_n_661601.html

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A very sad new world order

The only ones escaping the pain are the rich.  This is what the Republican agenda ever since Reagan has cost us.  The burden is all on the poor and the middle class, which is fast disappearing.  And yet the Republicans want even more tax cuts, ignoring the fact that the Reagan and Bush tax cuts for the rich and outrageous corporate greed have sent us down this terrible path to the ruin of what was once a great country. We ignored Eisenhower's warning about the burgeoning military/industrial complex that was trying to take over our world.  Tragically, that is now a done deed, and we are reaping the terrible consequences. In addition, just look at the Republican obstructionists in Congress today, stubbornly unwilling to compromise on ANYthing.  Take a good look at the lack of quality in their hopeful presidential candidates, with Sarah Palin leading the pack, as creatures like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh control the ignorant dittoheads who follow their every word.  Is this what our intelligent Founders had in mind when setting up our democratic republic?  I don't think so!  Bob Herbert's NY Times column today tells the sad, sad truth:

Economic Pain
by Bob Herbert

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/opinion/27herbert.html?_r=1&hp

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Uplifting Essay: Finding God after Leaving Religion

This is an essay I can really relate to.  I am glad to see more people finding true spirituality/God outside of organized religions that spawn hierarchies, authoritarian figures (ministers, priests, etc.) greed, abuse, and dogmas/creeds/rules that are meant to keep the sheep docile and controllable--and donating their hard-earned money to the already rich-beyond-dreams churches.  This is one good way (maybe the ONLY one) in which "The times, they are a'changing." 

Read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-mcswain/finding-god-after-leaving_b_651148.html

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Beautiful Essay on Einstein's spirituality by Krista Tippett

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/krista-tippett/albert-einsteins-faith-wa_b_651592.html

EXCERPT: Einstein described our perception of time as an arrow -- traversing linear and compartmentalized past, present, and future -- as a "stubbornly persistent illusion." Such language is evocative from a religious standpoint. ...it echoes insights that run throughout Eastern and Western religions and ancient indigenous cultures.
... If past, present, and future are an illusion, as he said, none of us ever really disappear. We all leave our imprint on what is now. I have a profound sense of Einstein's imprint, and it comforts me. ...if he could listen with twenty-first-century ears, he might be intrigued by how his generous, questioning, "cosmic" religious sense is deeply kindred with the religious and spiritual yearnings of our age.

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Catholic Church embarrassed by gay priest revelations

Interesting article:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/24/catholic-church-gay-priests-exposed

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Can the Republican Party get any dumber? Stay tuned...

BRING IT ON
by William Rivers Pitt
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/william-rivers-pitt/30265/bring-it-on

EXCERPT:  It is tempting to begin a sentence about today's Republican Party with the words, "Just when you thought they couldn't get any dumber," but then you realize you're talking about a group that actively thwarts benefits for the unemployed while pimping tax cuts for rich people, a group that champions a political base which by and large doesn't believe dinosaurs existed because they're not in the Bible but can't stand the thought of stem cell research making people whole again, who attack the ideas and policies of the majority with vehemence but absolutely refuse to offer any of their own, and you come to the realization that you can't begin a sentence with those words, because there really is no bottom to this particular barrel. This particular breed of dumb is a lot like the oil in the Gulf of Mexico; it broadens and spreads and grows by the day, and will continue to do so until someone finally goes in and cleans it up once and for all.

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Inhofe and much of GOP don't believe in global warming

More Republican Bamboozle Talk  (It's truly amazing how far down in the sand some Republicans can stick their heads)
Amid Heat Wave, Senator Inhofe Talks of Global Cooling
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/amid-heat-wave-senator-talks-global-coolilng/story?id=11237381&page=2

Thomas Peterson, chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center, says that while some people may believe that the planet is not getting warmer, data measuring a broad spectrum of indicators proves "far and away" that the planet is not in a cooling period, but is actually still in the process of heating up. Peterson pointed to data showing each of the past five decades reaching hotter temperatures than the preceding decade. 

"What I don't understand is when you see evidence, that looks at all those indicators in one place, on one figure, decrease in glaciers, I don't see how any reasonable person can look at that and not agree that the globe is warming," Peterson said. "The indicators are irrefutable."

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The Whitewashing of the Bush/Cheney Record

Haven't had enough of the Bush family yet? The GOP hasn't. They're still enthralled with them. Look for Jeb Bush to appear among the GOP hopefuls in 2012, backed by the Big Money. He'll have to plow through Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich (god, what a field to choose from...) to reach the gold ring, but there are enough Bush supporters in the Republican rolls who still maintain the Bush/Cheney years were just great!   Read the following article to see how the whitewashing and finger pointing at the Dems has begun:
Addicted to Bush
by Paul Krugman

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/opinion/23krugman.html?_r=1&hp

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#44, the Do-nothing President

This is one of the best analyses I've read about the Obama fiasco/waste of a presidency -- David Michael Green has it nailed, right on the head.
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/david-michael-green/29417/the-do-nothing-44th-president

EXCERPT:
It seems to me that there are four options for understanding Obama's self-defeating tendency when it comes to the economic disaster he inherited. One is that he simply isn't so smart, and doesn't get the ramifications of continued unemployment at the level it's currently running. The second option is that he's just a policy bungler, who has the right intentions but makes lousy choices for trying to get there. The third possibility is that Obama recognizes this latest recession as the capstone (we hope) of a three decade long process by the economic oligarchy seeking nothing less than the downsizing of the American middle class, and he simply lacks the courage to attempt any reversal of this tsunami of wealth redistribution. The final, and scariest - but by no means least probable - explanation for Obama's behavior is that he is ultimately no less a tool in that very piracy project than was George W. Bush or Bill Clinton. (This is exactly what I have come to believe is true!)

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For truth-telling...go to this site

www.crooksandliars.com  and read the first and third story.  The first one is about Glenn Beck, entitled Character Assassination without Due Process .  The second one is about Rachel Maddow, entitled The Sherrod Fiasco--Who's Next? Both have videos.  Very enlightening for those who are really looking for truth.

I highly recommend Rachel Maddow's daily TV report on MSNBC for anyone who would rather have truth than fiction in their political daily fare. Rachel does in-depth, well-researched reporting. For fiction lovers, FOX (FAUX) is definitely the place to go.  It's all day fiction--all the time, but Glenn Beck is particularly good at delivering his own brand of dastardly lies.  Rush Limbaugh on radio is another spinner of tales, for those who take pride in being one of his "dittoheads" (yes, he actually calls his listeners that ... and they love it. Pathetic, isn't it?)

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I saw a video today of a British comedian

His name is Pat Condell, and he is up in arms about the mosque being built in New York City, as he says "just yards away from Ground Zero."  As I watched the video, some thoughts came to me about it and about our situation on this planet at this time.

I definitely agree with Condell when he says, "Any religion that endorses violence has no business calling itself spiritual."  That seems to include most, if not all, of Earth's religions.  Oops. 

As for the mosque being built on Ground Zero, actually it's being built two long New York City blocks away from Ground Zero -- not just a few yards away.  I think you'll agree that the Christian religion, as it is being practiced by many hatred-filled people in our country is not really representative of the true teachings of Christ.  The same thing is probably true of the Islam religion as well. Many, many Muslims are horrified at what the fanatics have done in the name of their religion.  Cat Stevens is a good representative of his religion of Islam, as a practicer of the true teachings of Mohammed before they were rewritten and taken over by those who love power and control of the people.  We see the same thing happening here in America with the takeover of Christianity a la Bush and Cheney and the rightwing fanatics who mouth every word they are told by Palin, Limbaugh and Beck.  The ignorant will always be with us, it seems.  And fundamentalist preachers in all religions will always take advantage of their ignorance.

Rather than use fear and hatred to control the minds of people, as the GOP is now doing, it would probably be better for all of us to practice Christian principles as they were really taught by Christ.  At least, some of us can start to do that.  We've all seen what fear and hatred can do on our planet -- we've seen the effects of war, over and over and over. And yet, things never seem to change because war is profitable for the elite. They don't mind sending the children of the poor and middle class to their deaths, as long as the $$ keeps pouring into their coffers.   The words of the song Where Have All the Flowers Gone ring in our ears, but we continue to ignore them:  "Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will they ever learn?"

People need to be educated so they will not be controlled by every fear-mongering Limbaugh or Falwell or binLaden who comes along.  Education by experience takes forever, as we are seeing on this planet -- and sometimes it is never learned, no matter how excruciatingly painful the experience may be.  Open minds and hearts are necessary to receive truth as taught by Christ.  I read once a description of Christ as "one who was tall enough to see over all the fences people have built against each other."  He saw the Oneness that is the nature of us all and tried to convey that to the people of his time.  He was killed for it then -- and we are still killing him for it today. 

Just my own opinion....

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Sarah wants to be on the GOP ticket in 2012

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-07-14/sarah-palin-will-run-but-shes-not-ready-mark-mckinnon-on-2012/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsR8

Oh, I hope, I hope, I hope..... And if we're really lucky, she'll pick Ann Coulter to be her vice presidential running mate.  A dream ticket come true (for the Democrats)!  Sarah coined a new word today--"refudiate."  Just think of all the vocabulary additions she can make to the lexicon created by Dubya Bush during his comedic/tragic years as President.

Palin tweeted that "peaceful Muslims" should "refudiate" the New York mosque being built near Ground Zero. This prompted plenty of retweets at her expense -- "refudiate," of course, is not a word.

After deleting the offending tweet, Palin replaced it  with another, calling on "peaceful New Yorkers" to "refute the Ground Zero mosque plan" -- although the word she was apparently looking for was "repudiate."

Then came the kicker: To quell the ribbing she was receiving on Twitter, Palin  posted another tweet: " 'Refudiate,' 'misunderestimate,' 'wee-wee'd up.' English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!"

This spawned plenty of scorn Monday in liberal blogs, as well as a new meme on Twitter,  #ShakesPalin, in which participants revamped classic Shakespeare quotes, Palin-style. Perhaps  the best came from the Cato Institute's Julian Sanchez (a.k.a.  @Normative): "To suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous liberals, or to quit halfterm, and by opposing, rake in speaking fees."   --Matt DeLong

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