The Total Experience Gospel Choir backing up the Bergevin Brothers with “Fired Up And Ready To Go”

On the forum where I met Buzz Daly there is a right leaning regular poster named Winston. His post on one thread said,

” ..If you watch Keith Oberman
..eating a bowl of popcorn
..and chuckling at his wit and wisdom
..then you MIGHT
..be a Liberal!!!”

I responded with a smart assed remark that said if you read O’Reilly, Savage and Hannity you might be a killer.

These were the authors of books found in the Tennessee church shooters car on Sunday.

Watch what you read or you may just become an insane killing right wingnut.

Tip o’ the space helmet to Fixer at Alternate Brain.

Last week Obama fucked up badly when he cast his un-American vote to absolve those who have commited domestic spying crimes and continue to do so.

John McCain says flip flopping politicians aren’t to be trusted. Wonder if he should just drop out now.

Read The Political Cat’s post and follow the link therein. Then figure out how much you trust the candidates.

Welcome back Cat.

Now the Department Of Homeland Security is proposing that all airline passengers wear a bracelet. A bracelet that has a tazer like action that can immobilize the wearer. It also carries personal information on the passenger and has a GPS imbedded.No boarding pass needed while you wear it.

Yayyyyyyy! Another way to discourage people from flying while infringing on our privacy yet again. Who knows who has the technology to read the info and the ability to set the tazer off?

Total insanity for sure. People are supposed to feel more secure with these things. I would think the forced wearing of these things would make them even more paranoid. (especially if copies of Orwells 1984 was placed in the pocket on the back of the seat in front of you)

There are people I know (I was raised by a old fashioned fundamentalist preacher) that consider this the “Mark of the Beast”. There are other, thinking people, who just see it as another invasion of our private lives.  I will be totally surprised if anyone sees this as just a small inconvenience.
This could be the end of the airline industry. With all of the problems they already have think how it will be when no one wants to fly anymore.

Tamara, a friend and regular reader, wondered about my lack of mentioning the death of a bigot here.

I just haven’t felt good enough to say much of anything in the last couple of days, but I have wanted to.

I have been trying to cover the UFO Festival here but the Pain is intense and all of the getting around town foiled my attempts to even cover the parade. I have a few pics of revelers and stuff but stopped even trying to attend yeaterday when I had to realize that I felt too badly to venture out. I think the festival deserved more of my energy than Helms’s death did but I have some opinions anyway.

Growing up I heard my dad say “They split hell wide open.”, when he heard about someone he considered evil’s death. I am sure he wouldn’t say that about Jessie but I will. Hatred is evil and if there were actually a hell, Helms would have “split it open”.

I think it is fitting that he died on Independence Day. We are now free from his hateful rantings even though the crap he spewed is still being spewed from his supporters mouths. The vocal trampler of human rights is dead. he made the wicked witch look like a saint. I will celebrate July 4 with a new fervor from now on.

In the words of my friend Palm Springs Bum from Santa Cruz…ROT IN HELL!

(I dont care if I spelled his name wrong. I never respected him enough to edit it now.)

Christopher Hitchens’ words about waterboarding. Not just idle accusations but firsthand experience.

Vanity Fair asked him if he would agree to get the waterboard experience administered by members of the waterboarding experts, our very own Special Forces.
Watch the video of his experience here. Seems like the music itself would make me feel tortured.

The VF story written by Hitchens can be read here.

While the right wing and the current administration advocate it and say it is not torture those who have been waterboarded seem to have a differing opinion.

Tip o’ the space helmet to Snakebite.

Springsteen.

Listen to what he says before breaking into “Livin’ In The Future”

The media is somehow making a story of this. I guess they think the non-thinking Rush O’Reilly folks need another outdated Clinton/Reno thing to whine about other than presidential splooge on an interns dress.
The headlines blaze the fact that Elian Gonzalez joined the communist party. He was one of 18 thousand kids that were inducted last week.
It’s expected of the Cuban school kids.
I’m still wondering why this is news.
“Story” From MSNBC

In this election year I have been wondering how to cast my vote. Not totally on board with Obama I am searching for a reason to support a candidate. I found this little ad that makes me rethink everything I have said so far. Take a look and see if it can help convince you to vote Republican as well.

tip o’ the space helmet to Mahakala.

Shell shock, now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is claiming casualties all over our country. Soldiers come home not always able to make the distinction of being here or back under attack. Victims of the war even while back in peaceful surroundings.

I knew a Viet Nam veteran who was an officer in that conflict. Crazy George, as he was known by everyone, was a jumble of paranoid nerves that was always set to explode. His trips to the V A hospital to get his meds sometimes led to extended stays in the psych ward for a few months. I have seen him hide from “Charlie” when an Asian person walked by. He was always looking around sure someone was out to get him. Years after the conflict in Viet Nam was over he still lived in the jungle…in his mind.

In trying to help him they experimented with drugs and therapy to no avail. He couldn’t come home, always staying behind to be with his “brovets” (as Buzz calls them) that didn’t survive. He fought back against all those he felt were threats and was eventually shot to death by the Baton Rouge City Police while laying on his back, unarmed, in his own bedroom. (RIP my old friend)

Alicia at Last Left Turn Before Hooterville wrote about the hell that is coming back from war. Quite a disturbing post considering my old friend was just one victim of this horrible way of life returning vets face. So many new faces of this horrible condition are showing up in our hometowns as kids…yes kids…(I mean no disrespect at all as most of the soldiers fighting in Iraq weren’t even born by the time I finished college)…return home with fresh horror every day.

So they put them on new experimental drugs. Chantix is the popular one now. It, like so many other “anti-depressant” drugs is linked to violence and suicide. ABC’s Good Morning America did a story about this this morning. I haven’t figgered a way to embed the vids from there so I will post this link to ‘Disposable Heroes’: Veterans Used To Test Suicide-Linked Drugs. The story from this morning along with the vid clip I want you to see.

I guess there are many more casualties than the 4100 official KIA’s the DOD lets us know about.

Again I ask that everyone do whatever it takes to let the powers that be know we don’t want our fellow Americans over there anymore.

(UPDATE) Obama is outraged. As well he should be. We all should be.

Seems like all of the biggies (AP, Reuters, ABC, NBC….) have chucked the very newsworthy story about Rep. Dennis Kucinich and his articles for impeaching George.

Grateful Dissident wasn’t so quiet. He posted a link to the Raw Story.

He, like so many others, is supporting this impeachment.

I have a friend….no…really…I do. She is a sweet caring thinking mother of three. All boys that are completely wonderful. Notice I said she is a thinking person. Not one to just fall into lockstep to the political dogma Faux News or Rush Limbaugh marching tunes. Not one to puke up the soundbites of the so called liberals either. A woman who I admire greatly because her views don’t line up with most of her friends opinion yet she stands fast with her beliefs.

While she by no means endorses John McSameolBushit she loaths Obama. In many of her onesided arguments she posts on her My Space page she berates Barack while saying she is not a Republican. I’m sure she is not. Like I said…she is a thinking person. I try to fancy myself as a thinker too.

So I have been doing some thinking about the effect slamming Obama has on the whole presidential race. While I know it is the stuff right wing folks seem to thrive on, you know, the problems with the preachers sermons, the flagpin issue, pics of Obama in the native clothes of a region he was visiting (which all political officeholders including Bush and McCain do) it doesn’t seem to be the norm with thinking folks. Thinkers want to deal with real issues. The things that affect the majority of Americans. Regular people like she and I are.

I believe that each slam against Obama (the presumed Demo candidate) is a homerun for McCain (the presumed Repube guy). Each time someone lashes out against Obama it a supportive lash for the same old stuff to continue in America. This isn’t to say that Barack is perfect just sayin’ that in our 2 party system he is the only choice to stop things from continuing down the same destructive path John wants to rush down.

Every time anyone puts Obama down they are in a sense supporting war. The already failing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the one McCain supports against Iran. Supporting the reinstatement of the draft that will be the only way to restock the cannon fodder children of America. Supportive opinion for this war is negligable and if we start another unwinnable war with Iran all support will wane.

In my opinion, every time someone talks about Obama’s faults they are supporting at least 100 years of occupation in Iraq. John McSameolBushit has compared his dream of peacefully occupying the country similar to Korea and Japan. But both of those nations had to be brutally conquered before the peaceful occupation could begin.

The people of Korea and Japan were not as heavily influenced by religion as the people of the middle east are. The zealots there will not be so easily conquered. Even nuclear weapons, like the U.S. dropped on Japan, would not deter the defense of Iraq or Iran. They want to be left alone and will fight harder than the other countries our military occupies. So overcoming their will is a long and deadly process. That could be a verrrrrrrrrrry long time before the “Hundred years…maybe a thousand” desired by McCain could even begin.

Which all comes together to mean that not only will the American kids that are already alive today be forced to be put into harms way in the middle east so will those of generations to come. The human toll alone with McCains dreams will be incredible. The financial cost will be enough to destroy our country as we know it. And with our military fighting a losing war in the middle east who will be here to defend those who would invade us in our time of weakness and vulnerability?

I guess what I am saying is this. Every slam against the man who can defeat the same old Bush stuff is a voice supporting endless war and the devastation of America.

Last night during Clinton’s “concession” speech the crowd started chanting “Denver, Denver…”. She grinned that weird evil grin she has and shushed them with her hands. She knows she will be there…as the Veep candidate.

Another group is organizing a rally of sorts in Denver at the same time the DNC is in swing. (on a side note I thought it was epic that Obama picked the very spot the repubes are having their convention to give his speech last night) An organization calling themselves ReCreate 68. Why would anyone want to recreate the violence that prevailed outside the DNC in Chicago in 1968? I guess I am getting old because I don’t like being beaten by cops these days.

This time however the cops have a new weapon. The news calls it a “Buck Rogers Ray Gun. It uses heat and stops advancing peoplef rom up to a half mile away. One Fly wonders if they will use it in August.

Orwellian 1984 has made it to China. The production of constant surveillance equipment is high. How long until “Golden Shield” technology is in place in your town? Is it already there?

This article from Naomi Klien is long but worth the read at Rolling Stone .com.

Here is another link to commentary and analisys of the impact on the United States. The Left Coaster

Representatives Barny Frank of Massachusetts and Ron Paul of Texas introduced House Bill 5843 back in April. The bill would allow users of marijuana to possess and smoke the herb without federal penalties. This would surely cover medical marijuana patients in the states where it is legal now. While the bill allows for states to make their own laws concerning possession many states already have decriminalized small amounts and some have laws legalizing it for medicinal purposes.

While this bill is still in front of 2 committees I urge you to write your representatives in support of this bill. I will provide you with two links that have an article as well as easy links to write to your congress persons. WashingtonWatch.com

and the NORML site.