Thursday, December 31, 2009

Oxy Contin

http://www.comcast.net/articles/entertainment/20091231/US.Limbaugh.Hospital/

Looks like someone's been hitting the narcotics again.

Notice this was filed under "entertainment", just as it was when Britney Spears shaved her head and flashed her junk.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Michele Bachmann: Welfare Queen

Michele Bachmann: Welfare Queen

Posted on Dec 22, 2009
By Yasha Levine

Michele Bachmann has become well known for her anti-government tea-bagger antics, protesting health care reform and every other government “handout” as socialism. What her followers probably don’t know is that Rep. Bachmann is, to use that anti-government slur, something of a welfare queen. That’s right, the anti-government insurrectionist has taken more than a quarter-million dollars in government handouts thanks to corrupt farming subsidies she has been collecting for at least a decade.

And she’s not the only one who has been padding her bank account with taxpayer money.

Bachmann, of Minnesota, has spent much of this year agitating against health care reform, whipping up the so-called tea-baggers with stories of death panels and rationed health care. She has called for a revolution against what she sees as Barack Obama’s attempted socialist takeover of America, saying presidential policy is “reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom.”

But data compiled from federal records by Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit watchdog that tracks the recipients of agricultural subsidies in the United States, shows that Bachmann has an inner Marxist that is perfectly at ease with profiting from taxpayer largesse. According to the organization’s records, Bachmann’s family farm received $251,973 in federal subsidies between 1995 and 2006. The farm had been managed by Bachmann’s recently deceased father-in-law and took in roughly $20,000 in 2006 and $28,000 in 2005, with the bulk of the subsidies going to dairy and corn. Both dairy and corn are heavily subsidized—or “socialized”—businesses in America (in 2005 alone, Washington spent $4.8 billion propping up corn prices) and are subject to strict government price controls. These subsidies are at the heart of America’s bizarre planned agricultural economy and as far away from Michele Bachmann’s free-market dream world as Cuba’s free medical system. If American farms such as hers were forced to compete in the global free market, they would collapse.

However, Bachmann doesn’t think other Americans should benefit from such protection and assistance. She voted against every foreclosure relief bill aimed at helping average homeowners (despite the fact that her district had the highest foreclosure rate in Minnesota), saying that bailing out homeowners would be “rewarding the irresponsible while punishing those who have been playing by the rules.” That’s right, the subsidy queen wants the rest of us to be responsible.

Bachmann’s financial disclosure forms indicate that her personal stake in the family farm is worth up to $250,000. They also show that she has been earning income from the farm business, and that the income grew in just a few years from $2,000 to as much as $50,000 for 2008. This has provided her with a second government-subsidized income to go with her job as a government-paid congresswoman who makes $174,000 per year (in addition to having top-notch government medical benefits). “If she has an interest in a farm getting federal subsidy payments, she is benefiting from them,” Sandra Schubert, director of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group, told Gannett News Service in 2007, when the subsidies to Bachmann were first publicly disclosed.

But Bachmann isn’t the only welfare recipient on Capitol Hill. As it turns out, there is a filthy-rich class of absentee farmers—both in and out of Congress—who demand free-market rules by day and collect their government welfare checks in the mail at night, payments that subsidize businesses that otherwise would fail. Over the past couple of decades, welfare for the super-wealthy seems to be the only kind of welfare our society tolerates.

In the 11 years for which the Environmental Working Group has compiled data, the federal government paid out a total of $178 billion to American farmers. We’re not talking about the Jeds here. The bulk of subsidies go to the wealthy, not small farmers, as Ken Cook, the group’s president, explained to the Central Valley (Calif.) Business Times:

American taxpayers have been writing farm subsidy checks to wealthy absentee land owners, state prison systems, universities, public corporations, and very large, well-heeled farm business operations without the government so much as asking the beneficiaries if they need our money. ... Even if you live smack in the middle of a big city, type in a ZIP code and you’ll find farm subsidy recipients.

Chuck Grassley, the longtime Republican senator from Iowa who warns his constituents of Obama’s “trend toward socialism,” has seen his family collect $1 million in federal handouts over an 11-year period, with Grassley’s son receiving $699,248 and the senator himself pocketing $238,974. Even Grassley’s grandson is learning to ride through life on training wheels, snagging $5,964 in 2005 and $2,363 in 2006. In the Grassley family they learn early how to enjoy other people’s money.

Sen. Grassley railed against government intervention in the health care market, telling The Washington Times, “Whenever the government does more ... that’s a movement toward socialism.” As the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, he ought to know, especially because the government has done more for him and his kin than for Americans struggling with high medical bills and mortgages. Even the free-market think tank the Heritage Foundation criticized Grassley on his deep connections to farming interests and his stubborn lack of transparency.

Then there’s Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., whose family has been on the government take for at least the past 11 years, pocketing some $500,000. The senator recently held a “prayercast” with Michele Bachmann to beseech God to kill health care reform as soon as possible because it would bring an evil socialist spirit into America. Like Bachmann, Brownback has a fierce belief in God, the free market and a two-year limit on all welfare benefits—unless it’s welfare to rich Republicans who don’t need it.

This is the type of shit I have been talking about for years. When the world welfare is brought up you usually think of the fat black woman in the projects with too many kids she couldn't afford but in reality, it usually goes to rich white people.

Corn alone is subsidized to the tune of about 7 Billion dollars per year going to states such as Minnesota, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, etc... Yes, mainly red states, mainly states that are more rural and more conservative; the very ones who can't stand other people getting something for nothing. Lets not forget that along with corn and dairy the tobacco industry as well as sugar, cotton and almost anything you can think of is subsidized by your tax dollars. Corn, sugar, tobacco???Do you see a problem with subsidizing the very things that are killing Americans and making us fat and unhealthy and raising health care costs?? Not to mention that almost all oil companies (who make billions in profits) and mining companies also receive federal subsidies and these subsidies are typically going to more rural and poorer states with smaller urban areas who generally receive more money back from the federal government than the taxes which are collected from them. This means that IL, CA, NY, MA, FL, NJ, CT, WA, OR, etc. all have to pay for the corn, tobacco, cotton, sugar, cows in places like KY, TN, SC, AR, UT, LA, MS, AL, OK, NE, etc.

Michele Bachmann is a Socialist!!!

Monday, November 30, 2009

Enough With the "If You Are Armed No One Will Attack You" Bullshit From the NRA

Seattle Area Shooting

A couple of weeks ago I pointed out the flaw in the logic gun nuts use to justify them carrying guns everywhere they go or that more guns make us safer by pointing out that a gunmen specifically targeted the Fort Hood military base. Yet again, a gunmen has specifically targeted a place that is known to be frequented by armed police officers and shot 4 armed police officers dead.

Can we finally put to rest the ridiculous notion that if you are carrying a gun, or if you own a gun, you are automatically safer because no one in their right mind would attack someone who is armed? First off, by owning a gun you are 3 times more likely to be killed by a gun. It's sort of like the gun toting soccer mom syndrome.

Again, I am not saying the 2nd Amendment should be repealed; I own a gun. But time and time again we see that the countries, cities, etc. that have the most guns, have the most gun deaths. And again, I am not talking about gun control, I am talking about the amount and availability of guns in general. More guns do not make you safer; owning a gun does not make you safe nor necessarily protect you from violence.

The silver lining is that it looks like
Maurice Clemmons is going to be Mike Huckabee's Willie Horton since Huckabee pardoned this guy as Governor of Arkansas.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The Christian Side Hug



#106. The side hug.

Posted using ShareThis
"Yes, God wants us to be compassionate and kind and tender with each other. Not only that, but he wants us to love our enemies and serve our neighbors. As long as there is no body on body action. I’m talking of course about a “full frontal hug,” one of those sinful abominations where you just wrap your arms around a friend and embrace them. That’s why Christians the world over have pioneered the “side hug.” In the side hug there’s no risk of two crotches touching. Instead of face to face, you go side to side, putting your arm around the person and your hip against their’s. Still having a hard time mastering it? Pretend you’re taking a photo and you’re both looking at the camera together. The side hug, or A frame as it is also called, is safe for the whole family, friendly and above all holy. I don’t know the exact scripture reference but try the book of Psalms."


Wow, these poor kids are being brain washed in thinking that not only does being gay make the baby Jesus cry but that Jesus was also against hugging (but not dancing on stage like a whigger, hoochie whore). Look, if you get a boner from a hug, you do need to get laid, badly. Sorry, but things happen to the human body at certain ages for a reason. There is only so much denying it you can do. I'm not advocating 14 year olds having sex, I mean I think I waited until I was 16 but things happen at that age and that's just the way it is. So are you allowed to give your Mom full frontal hugs???Grandmas?? Or is it ok for immediate family?? I think we should all just live in bubbles...That way we will be sure not to offend Jesus.

Look, even if Jesus didn't want you to have sex before you were married then he shouldn't have intelligently designed you to be ready for and crave sex and be capable of making babies when you turned 15. Oh, wait, ya, when Jesus was around most people got married in their teens. Hmm, well that made waiting a little easier didn't it? Wow, what a difference context makes. Too bad other people can't apply context to what was written in the Bible.

Even though Sarah Palin can tell you that abstinence doesn't work, the good thing about this is that if these kids aren't having sex, then we can rest assured that they aren't reproducing. The problem is these idiots are the ones who vote...when they are old enough.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

True Dat



And of course these mental giants:

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

2012

Ok, so there is a new movie called 2012 demonstrating the consequences of the "predictions of the Maya" and there are plenty of people who think, because of the accuracy of their calendar, that this will be the end of the world or at least the start of the end of the world. First off, the Mayans didn't predict that this would be the end of the world. The Mayans merely stopped counting at the Winter solstice of 2012. Being that it was more than 500 years into the future, why bother with keeping up with any more than that...Pretty logical actually.

And lets just assume for a minute that they did predict the end of the world. Let's think on that for a minute...The Mayans could predict the end of the world...Does anyone see the irony in all this?? They couldn't even predict small pox, the Spaniards, gun powder, etc...And yet, there are people who think we can trust them with predictions regarding the end of the world??? At some point, you have to stop counting somewhere!! End of story. A society such as the Mayan would probably pick an event such as the solstice as a good stopping point. What's the significance of 2012??Who knows, maybe the calendar maker stopped when he saw the sails and crosses of a Spanish armada outside his window and thought that there were more pressing issues at hand so he just stopped counting...It could be as simple as that.

If you think there is something to 12/21/2012 then you were probably on of the idiots who unplugged your computer on 1/1/00.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Gunmen Only Target Gun Free Zones!

From CNN 11/5/09:

Officials: 11 killed, plus gunman, in Fort Hood shootings

Wait, how could this be? From Columbine, Virginia Tech and Salt Lake City all we hear from the gun nuts is how the only reason schools and malls are targeted is because they are gun free zones. They say that the only reason crazed fucking psychopaths who are going to kill themselves after the shooting anyway, target these places is because they "know" other people (their victims) won't be armed. The consensus from that side is that the more guns you have, the safer you will be. Any moron with a brain knows that isn't true because all you have to do is look at the gun fatality rates in all different countries around the world to see that the ones with the higher death rates are the ones with the most guns. Let's forget for a moment what kind of chaos a responding officer would stumble upon if every time there was a public shooting spree, 30 armed citizens all pulled out their guns looking for the guy with a gun. I know all of those things are far too practical for the over zealous gun nuts to think through but at least now we have an obvious example of how crazed gunmen don't just target gun free zones. In this instance, they targeted the largest U.S. military base in the world which is home to:Army's 1st Cavalry Division and elements of the 4th Infantry Division, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 13th Corps Support Command and the gunmen was able to kill at least 13 people before he was finally shot.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Public Option Passes

House Democrats unveil $894 billion health care bill

Wow, just when I thought Obama and the Democrats pussied out, the House passed health care reform with a public option. The bill will cost 894 Billion over the next 10 years or about 89 Billion per year which is about 32 Billion dollars less per year than we spend per year on the Iraq war. The good thing about this is that this money will go to help Americans....36 million uninsured Americans to be exact and make health care more affordable and will force insurance companies to play by the rules.

So if any fiscal conservatives want to bitch about throwing too much money away, Iraq is by far the biggest reasons the tax rates of the top 1% of the population will return to what they were in the 90s and still be about half of what they were during Reagan's first term.
Healthy Profits

Friday, September 25, 2009

Mike Sever (Kirk Cameron) Is a Douche




Now to address his points:

Yes, I am concerned about what is happening in this country. I am concerned that being stupid is now being called moral and that there are people who try to force their religion on people by passing out Bibles and sneaking into courthouse grounds at midnight to install a statue of the 10 Commandments.

Since when are kids not allowed to pray in public? I see football players do it all the time when they score touchdowns and I don't see them being hauled off in the Obama paddy wagon. Stop making shit up.

It's not like the 10 Commandments were at one time in every class room and the Atheists came in with their guns and bats to destroy them. This is a made up issue by the Christian right who are trying to force the 10 Commandments on to other people and install them in every public location possible and act as if it was their right. If it's ok to build a statue of the 10 Commandments on a courthouse lawn then it would be equally ok to install a statue of the 5 pillars of Islam right??

And no, creationism nor any other part of the Bible is taught in a public class room. It’s similar to how teachers and scientists don't show up to your church and teach biology, chemistry and math. That's the deal, you don't make any laws allowing them to teach the Bible in schools and we don't make any laws allowing us to teach evolution in your church. It’s a pretty fair deal if you ask me. That goes for praying too. We don't pass out school lunches in your church so don't pray in our schools. There are plenty of schools where prayers are allowed such as madrassas. If you want your kids to be praying and not learning in school, then send them to a madrassa. Jesus specifically says that prayer is a private matter (Matthew 6:5-8) and something that is to be done in a church or at your bedside, not at school.

And who the fuck are the Gideons? Oh right, they are the group that prohibits Catholics, Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, Orthodox Christians, Unitarians, Muslims, Jews and Mormons from joining their organization. And yes, it is unconstitutional for these people to go onto public ground and enter a public school class room and hand out a Protestant Bible because that would almost be like the government endorsing one religion over the other and that almost sounds like a violation of the separation of church and state.

Thanks for pointing out that you have to be smart and educated in order to teach Biology and Psychology at the top 50 Universities in the country. That is no coincidence. And how many of those top 50 Universities are located in the Bible belt? Also not a coincidence. Yes the more educated you become, the less likely you are to believe in fairy tales such as Santa Clause and the Holy Ghost and the Garden of Eden and a sexist, racist, sky god.

Ok, wait, who is being brainwashed? Who is not being exposed to other points of views?? I can assure you that with the Bush administration over the last few years, the Palin's of the world along with all the faith based, evangelical crusade to install the 10 commandments and the manger in every town hall, the normal people of this country hear plenty from the side of creationists. We have to suffer through your prayers before football games, have let you add "Under God" to our secular Pledge of Allegiance, let you add "In God We Trust" to our money and now even our license plates in some states. And if the parents want their kids to learn about God then they should take them to church, not send them to school. School is where you go to learn facts; church is where you go to learn mysticism. Do you also want us to replace Chemistry with Alchemy? Astronomy with Astrology?

So what was that about only God can show man how to do good and only God can teach man to love?? If that were the case then wouldn't our prisons be full of atheists? Wouldn't all the terrorists and abortion clinic bombers be atheists? Wouldn't the Bible belt have the least amount of crime, the least amount of domestic abuse, the least amount of teen pregnancies and the least amount of children born out of wedlock? In all those cases I think that you will find just the opposite. I think you are way past 3 strikes at this point so you should have already been called "out", but I will continue.

Speaking of sexism and racism, what book are you reading? The Jews are the chosen people?? Does that sound just a little racist to you? In the Bible the word "Goyim" AKA Gentile, translates into "Heathen" 143 times. How about Genesis 3:16: To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." Or Exodus 21:7: "If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do.

How's that for Sexism?

I can draw more correlations between Martin Luther and Hitler than Mike Sever can between Hitler and Darwin. Sure, Hitler applied a sort of social Darwinism to his reign in Germany but let's not forget that social Darwinism isn't Darwinism. Just as Wahhabism is a perverted form of Islam and the Westboro Baptist Church is a perverted form of Christianity or Jews for Jesus is a perverted form of Judaism. Darwin never taught that weaker or smaller or different races should be exploited by the ones in power. Unlike Martin Luther and Hitler, he was not a Jew hater. In fact, the book the Protestant reformationist wrote, On the Jews and Their Lies, had a much greater influence on Hitler and holocaust than Origin of Species. So, Mike, if you are going to blame any idealists for the holocaust then you had better start with your own Protestant forefather.

So you laughed at the idea that nothing created everything yet that's exactly the premise of the creation story in Genesis. How is one more ridiculous than the other except that scientists don't actually claim nothing created everything they can just trace the universe back to one single event but never go as far as to say that nothing created everything which is exactly what the Bible says. The Bible says that God was always there, which with your logic is impossible since you claim that scientists are wrong when they say that matter in the universe was just always there. Which is it? Can something come from nothing or not? If not, then your god either doesn't exist or was created by yet another god. With this argument you discredit your own beliefs.

And you said there were no transitional fossil records between species? Really? What about Tiktaalik,Panderichthys, Eryops, Elginerpeton,Thrinaxodon, Yanoconodon, Pedopenna, Archaeopteryx, Ambulocetus (the walking whale),not to mention Australopithecus, Homo habilis and Homo erectus. What I do know is that there is no fossil or archeological evidence of the Garden Of Eden, Adam and Eve (or even that the mitochondrial "adam" and "eve" lived at the same time) Noah's Ark, That several of every animal species in the world living in an Ark for almost a years time, The Ark of the Covenant, a Flood which covered the entire Earth, 7 headed dragons in the sea, Jericho being an inhabited city by the time the Israelites got there, Jonah living in a whale, Mary being a virgin, Jesus performing miracles, Jesus rising from the dead, Jesus being the son of God, God, etc. Yet, for some reason, the absence of evidence of these things aren't a problem for you, yet the absence of a complete evolutionary chronology of every species on Earth leaves doubt in your mind? WTF??

And let's not forget that Newton, Copernicus, Bacon, Kepler and Faraday were all dead by the time Origin of Species was written so how would they even have the option of shunning creationism before there was another explanation?

Oh, and the Alliance Defense Fund and Campus Crusade in Christ are the same people and are also the ones who think they can change a person's sexual orientation. And Answers in Genesis speaks for themselves because there are in fact no scientific questions answered in the book of Genesis. So...Consider the source is what I am trying to say.

As you can see, Mike Seever is still a douche bag and has no idea what he is talking about and probably a bit paranoid.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

God I love Irony!

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/09/16/tea-party-protesters-protest-dc-metro-service/?mod=wsj_share_facebook

Tea Party Protesters Protest D.C. Metro Service

Brody Mullins reports on money and politics.

Protesters who attended Saturday’s Tea Party rally in Washington found a new reason to be upset: Apparently they are unhappy with the level of service provided by the subway system.
Rep. Kevin Brady asked for an explanation of why the government-run subway system didn’t, in his view, adequately prepare for this past weekend’s rally to protest government spending and government services.

Seriously.

The Texas Republican on Wednesday released a letter he sent to Washington’s Metro system complaining that the taxpayer-funded subway system was unable to properly transport protesters to the rally to protest government spending and expansion.

“These individuals came all the way from Southeast Texas to protest the excessive spending and growing government intrusion by the 111th Congress and the new Obama administration,” Brady wrote. “These participants, whose tax dollars were used to create and maintain this public transit system, were frustrated and disappointed that our nation’s capital did not make a great effort to simply provide a basic level of transit for them.”

A spokesman for Brady says that “there weren’t enough cars and there weren’t enough trains.” Brady tweeted as much from the Saturday march. “METRO did not prepare for Tea Party March! More stories. People couldn’t get on, missed start of march. I will demand answers from Metro,” he wrote on Twitter.

Brady says in his letter to Metro that overcrowding forced an 80-year-old woman and elderly veterans in wheelchairs to pay for cabs. He concludes that it “appears that Metro added no additional capacity to its regular weekend schedule.”



In other words, we need more funding for socialist, government run entities when white conservative people need to use it, the one time per year they use it but less when poor black people need to use it because it is a waste of money...or something. Do they know how stupid they are?

Thursday, September 10, 2009

The Lie About A False Lie

Photobucket

WHAT A DOUCHE!!

From CNN: Joe Wilson shouts to Obama during speech: 'You lie'

Here's what I want to know:

1. Where was Joe Wilson in 2002 when Bush was addressing congress with actual lies about WMDs?

2. What would have happened, if in 2002, Democratic congressmen would have correctly addressed the President as a liar? I mean, besides Rush Limbaugh having a heart attack, Faux News replaying the clip for the next 6 months over and over, Toby Keith writing a song about traitors and Dick Cheney water boarding the person who did it.

3. What exactly is he lying about? If anything, the bill would require undocumented workers to purchase insurance so we no longer have to flip the bill for them when they end up in the emergency room like we are doing now.

4. And finally, what kind of pressure are the insurance companies and drug companies putting on these guys to oppose this? How many more hundreds of thousands of dollars did Joe Wilson just add to his reelection fund from the insurance industry for yelling that out on national TV?

Well, I think I have some answers for that last one. Health Professionals were the top contributors for Joe Wilson totaling $244,196. But that's not where it stops. He has also received $86,150 from pharmaceutical companies, $73,050 from insurance companies and $68,000 from hospitals and nursing homes. From the health sector alone he has racked up $414,246 in contributions over the last 4 elections. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=Career&cid=N00024809&type=I

In 2002, when confronted with the fact that the US Supplied Iraq with weapons during their war with Iran and that we exchanged weapons to Iran for hostages to fund the Nicaraguan Contras, he shouted out the following: “That is wrong. That’s made up, I can’t believe you would say something like that.”

Clearly this guy either doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground or he watches too much Faux News.


Monday, August 31, 2009

Support Your Local Billionaire, Oppose Health Care Reform



Yes, we should also privatize the fire department! Those with the money will get their cats out of the tree before the people without money get the fire put out on their kids backs! Anything else would be socialism! No free handouts!

http://www.billionairesforwealthcare.com/HOME.html

Saturday, August 15, 2009

What Republicans Really Know About the Sceince Behind Global Warming

If this is what one of the top Republicans, Minority Leader John Boehner, has to say about global warming, what do all the mouth breathing, Sarah Palins of the world really know?

John Boehner, 8/9/2009: "The idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen that is harmful to our environment is almost comical. Every time we exhale, we exhale carbon dioxide. Every cow in the world, you know when they do what they do you've got more carbon dioxide."

Ok, there are so many things wrong with this statement. First off CO2 is not a carcinogen. But yes, we exhale CO2 because it is toxic! And I think it's Methane you are talking about when cows fart, not CO2.

Can they just admit that they don't know the science behind the debate and leave it to the real scientists. I get it, the Scientists are educated which they call "liberal" but knowing that man and dinosaurs didn't live at the same time isn't being liberal, its called being educated. Let's let the educated people tell us what is going on when it comes to global warming and leave the people like Boehner to figure out how their tanning beds work.

If you want more information about John Boehner, there is an entry for him here on Dickipedia

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Another Chain Letter from the Paranoid Delusional Reich Wing

You know how I hate those bullshit chain letters your always get from your crazy Aunt and are typically just all bullshit. Well, here is another one with my rebuttals in red.


This was checked on Snopes (searched "Letter to Obama from Lou Pritchett"), and it is for real .

A MUST READ

Lou Pritchett is one of corporate America 's true living legends- an acclaimed author, dynamic teacher and one of the world's highest rated speakers. Successful corporate executives everywhere recognize him as the foremost leader in change manage ment. Lou changed the way America does business by creating an audacious concept that came to be known as "partnering." Pritchett rose from soap salesman to Vice-President, Sales and Customer Development for Procter and Gamble and over the course of 36 years, made corporate history.


AN OPEN LETTER TO
PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me. But Nixon, Bush and senile Reagan with his hand on the button made you sleep soundly at night?

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you. Because you can’t read. There are at least 2 books out about his entire life.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support. They are called scholarships and student loans. When you are smart, people actually offer them to you. Lawyers typically don’t have much trouble paying these things off. Not to mention a couple of best selling books which far outsold your book Mr. Prichett. Who did you think paid for them, the Saudis?? No, they are the ones who paid for Bush’s now bankrupt companies. How about 2 lawyers and a Professor of the University of Chicago salaries paying for a modest house in a black neighborhood which is a relatively inexpensive house by Chicago’s standards? You think those might be ways of paying for this house?

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American. Just because you and Palin don’t know that Hawaii is a state within the United States of America doesn’t mean what you are saying is true. Barack Obama lived abroad from the years 1967-1971. So if by formative years you mean between 7 and 11 years old, then you are correct. At least he can find Indonesia on the map which is more than I can say for Sarah Palin or our last President. Living abroad educates you and expands your horizons far more than shooting elk from a helicopter or drilling empty holes in the Texas desert. So Lou, were you also just as terrified of John McCain who was born in Panama?

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll. But you prefer someone like Bush who has ran several companies into bankruptcy only to have them baled out by his fathers rich Saudi friends. The difference here is that when Bush bankrupted the U.S. the Saudis weren’t here to bale us out. So which companies and payrolls did Sarah Palin, Ronald Reagan and John McCain run?

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core. Just like Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz,Reagan, Lincoln, Palin, Adams, Jefferson, etc. However, John Kerry served in Vietnam but you chose not to vote for him.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others. So you are saying that the economy is Obama’s fault, not his predecessor? Iraq and Afghanistan are Obama's fault, not Bush's? Good one. He is merely calling a spade a spade.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail. He met Bill Ayers a few times while serving on a board of directors. His minister gave one speech about how Americas action can come back to haunt us. At least he didn’t spend half his life taking money from the extremist Saudi government or America haters such as Rush Limbaugh who want the country to fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America ' crowd and deliver this message abroad. Name one speech where Obama blamed America. America is to blame for Iraq, for the Shah of Iran, Pinochet, Efrain Rios Montt of Guatemala, Noriega, The Taliban, Saddam Hussein, etc. and the list goes one. Just because Fox News doesn’t tell you about it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. You are being lied to.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector. You mean where everyone has health care, they have a longer life expectancy rate, lower infant mortality rate, lower crime rate, lower murder rate, stronger economy, valuable currency, are scientifically driven, highly educated, high wages, at peace,etc??? Yes, that would be awful. Let's avoid that at all costs.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a controlled one. That’s a good thing. An all things go, laze faire, profit driven approach to health care has produced the most expensive health care system in the world and one of the worst in the western world. 1/3 of every health care dollar is spent on insurance profit and bureaucracy and over half of all family bankruptcies are due to medical bills.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves. Vast?? Is that supposed to be a joke? If America stopped importing foreign oil and lived only on what we could extract from National Parks and wild life refuges, at best estimates we could get a year and halfs worth of oil out of Alaska. And is T.Boone Pickens, an oil man, lying about oil and wind?

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world. Well, highest standard of living in the world for the upper class, one of the lowest standards of living for the poor in the Western Industrialized world. He doesn’t want to tax American job providing companies. He wants to punish the tax evading, job exporting corporations who are trying to eliminate the middle class and transfer that wealth from the middle class to the upper class and then, he wants to raise the tax rates on those people to the same rates they paid under Reagan.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations. Who have been living on the government’s money. Money doesn’t come with no strings attached no matter what. If you wan’t daddies money, you have to live under daddies rules.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals. Ever hear about the Blue Dog Democrats? I think you are talking about Bush’s congress, they are the ones who gave him a blank check in Iraq and a blank check for the AIG bailout which Paulson needed to puch through because AIG owed his former company, Goldman Sachs so much money that if they defaulted they would be out of business.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people. Rush Limbaugh, a college drop out, doesn’t count as intelligent. A mediocre graduate from Idaho State University who thinks she would be good at foreign policy because she can see Russia from her house, doesn’t count as intelligent.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient. Omnipotent is almost the exact definition of both Cheney and Bush. Are you blind? Obama has repeatedly brought Republicans to the table to try and include them on issues. As far as omniscience goes, well, it is a bit shocking to have a President who actually knows things, I know. It may look like he is trying to be a know it all but as it turns out, he just knows more than you which makes him smarter than you and our last President, not omniscience.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do. The media? you mean like Anne Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, The Drudge Report, The Weekly Standard, The National Review, The Christian Science Monitor? Yes, Fox News never calls him a communist or lies about how he is trying to take away the first amendment. I love how the free passes were never a problem with you guys when Faux News was doing it for Bush.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view. No, not silence or demonize, just point out how they lie and that they are wrong. When you don’t tell the truth and the opposing party gets upset about it, that is not demonizing or silencing, it’s a natural reaction.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing. Do you even know the difference? Name one thing he is trying to control. And by control over governing, how do no warrant wire taps fit into this picture?

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years. Now you know how liberals felt for the last 8 years…except they weren’t delusional. Bush actually signed laws restricting our rights, Obama has done no such thing, not even with assault weapons which are fueling Mexico’s drug war which coincidentally escalated shortly after the Assault Weapon ban was repealed.

Lou Pritchett

With Rebuttal by Toad

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Funny, Racist, Conspiracy Nut, Republicans




Soooo, this is a forum on health care which turned into a conspiracy theory gathering and then a Pledge Of the fucking Allegiance session...for some fucking reason! This was just a couple of days ago, not during the election when everyone thought Obama was an Arab Muslim terrorist who hated white people. What the hell is wrong with these people...aside from them being uneducated, ignorant morons, of course. I mean, just call him a nigger and get it over with. Is this all they have? So he has a funny sounding name, what other evidence do you have that he wasn't born in the US? And lady, providing us with your birth certificate doesn't make Obama's fake. Do you really think he would have been sworn in without a birth certificate?

These people are out there and they are armed and they think Jesus wants them to kill liberals, foreigners, Muslims, etc....Think about it. Maybe we should start forming liberal militias???

Certificate with stamp
Raised seal:
Raised Seal
Registrar:
Registrar
1961 news paper birth announcement:
Birth Announcement

If anyone can produce as much proof for John McCain's or George Bush's citizenship I would be surprised. Wait, wasn't it John McCain who was actually not born in the United States???

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Fair and Balanced

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Notice the political party Faux News associated him with.

This is not the first time this has happened:
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Starting to see a pattern? Either Faux News is incredibly dumb and unreliable or they are they ones who make up lies and are incredibley biased.

Now you know why they are a joke in the liberal world; they report news as they would like it to be, not as it is. 

Speaking of the way they would like it to be, imagine the world with no black rappers (AKA the whitest, most ridiculous thing ever):

This shit is real! Drill baby drill!!

 Megan Kelley???

And lets not forget that their latest presidential hopefull just admitted to an affair about a week after their biggest anti-gay marriage/pro marriage/anti-Clinton advocate, John Ensign got caught boning his campaign managers wife.

Seriously, unlike Faux News, I don't make this up.

Now, who's fair and balanced?

Friday, June 12, 2009

How To Get 63% of Americans to Support Gay Marriage. (Maybe.)

This is an interesting article for the Libertarian types out there who call themselves conservative because they don't like the government telling us how many guns to own, pay taxes, where to send their kids to school, etc.


How To Get 63% of Americans to Support Gay Marriage. (Maybe.)



And if a religion decides the recognize gay marriage, isn't the government restricting the freedom of religion when it tells someone they can't marry a dude? I mean, kids do drink wine in church and that is illegal but overlooked due to the freedom of religion.

Friday, May 22, 2009

This Is Great



I am surprised that Faux News didn't end up censoring this.

When Ventura was elected Governor of Minnesota I thought he was the biggest joke in the world. I now have a new found respect for him for calling Hannity on his bullshit. There's probably no one on this planet that I would rather cock punch than Sean Insannity. I would watch the Oreilly factor every day of the week and twice on Sunday if Fox would agree to pull this weasel off the air. And didn't he agree to be water boarded?? When is that happening? I'll tune in for that episode.

Friday, May 01, 2009

Liberal vs. Conservative Perspective on the Souter Retirement

"Obama's own record and rhetoric make clear that he will seek left-wing judicial activists who will indulge their passions, not justices who will make their rulings with dispassion," said Ed Whelan, president of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice, said, "We're looking for President Obama to choose an eminently qualified candidate who is committed to the core constitutional values, who is committed to justice for all and not just a few,"

I love how conservatives think people who interpret the constitution differently from them are somehow "activist judges" but someone who sneaks on the courthouse grounds in the middle of the night to install a statue of the 10 commandments is somehow "ruling with dispassion".

Look, nowhere in the constitution does it say that 8 year olds should be able to buy AK-47s (or any guns for that matter)at anytime they choose without any restrictions nor does it say that men have dominion over women's bodies. If you can find those passages in the constitution then I will agree with the "activist judge" thing. Until then, have a nice warm cup of shut the fuck up.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Random

A. Unless you are crashing into the Hudson River, don't fly your 747 through Manhattan with F-16s chasing you.

B. Fox News is a crybaby spoilsport. Your guy lost, get over it. Just because your slanted coverage and media bias failed to pay off this time you are just going to take your toys and go home? How can they now claim to be "Fair" or balanced when they only spend their hours criticizing Obama but don't allow him to tell his story on their station. This is the exact definition of bias and unfairness. Sorry, but my bullshit detector just went off. If Rush Limbaugh held a news conference they would cancel every show for a week and just replay it over and over. Of course Rush would never do that because it would mean he would have to actually answer questions from the audience and we know he just either talks out of his ass with no regards to facts or reads pre-written notes.

C. Instead of arresting Somali pirates, why don't we start kidnapping them and holding them for ransom? I mean, their organizations have millions of dollars and at some point they are going to run out of pirates so their foot soldiers may be a valuable commodity worth them paying for.

D. If you believed that email about the police picking on the first white guy they could find with regards to the Craigslist Killer, you are an idiot. Just because a guy is white, well kept and educated doesn't mean he isn't a killer. In fact, I would say the majority of serial type killers fit that exact profile. Didn't Ted Bundy and Timothy McVeigh look like a guy you would want to live next to?

E. Out of 300 Million people, 8 have the swine flu. Why don't you spend your time reporting on something that actually kills far more people like how many people choke to death while chewing on their ball point pens. Seriously, you are more likely to die from that than the swine flu. But you have to admit that maybe the Muslims and Jews are on to something. Of course they still eat chicken and spinach.

F. Pontiac is gone and I am sure it’s a Unions fault somehow not bad, overpaid management, bad engineering, bad marketing and boring cars. If you want to save the next brand of American cars lets stop importing Kias.

G. Are Republicans in Minnesota going to start wearing "Sore Looserman" T-Shirts now that Coleman has lost...again.

H. Arlen Specter has seen the light apparently. There is more room for the rest of you...except the I.D. Bush wackos. We don't want them.

I. Texas can secede but they have to take Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama with them and yes, there will be a border fence.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Thoughts on the Teabaggers

As I watch a streaming feed from a zoomed in Fox News Camera of a small crowd of white people made to look like a large crowd I can't help to laugh at the irony of the whole thing. Here is why:

A. It's the middle of the day and none of these people seem to be at work. If they aren't at work, then they aren't paying taxes any way. Maybe if they worked a little more and therefore made more money, maybe they wouldn't be so worried about taxes. That being said, as of April, Obama's tax cuts kick in to over 95% of all Americans. I certainly don't see any of the elite 5% in this crowd so what are they so angry about?

B. Some lady just got off the mic talking about how we need to support the troops; where do you think our tax money goes?? You can't have it both ways. Either you pay your taxes and the troops get body armor, or you don't pay taxes and the troops don't get the support they need. Now, one could argue that without all the taxes paid to the federal government, they could have never waged such a war in Iraq to begin with. This however, certainly is not the anti war crowd, just the opposite.

C. I am looking at a sign that says "Obama = United Socialist States of America"; when it comes to wealth distribution from the working class up to the rich, you know the trend Bush started with his no strings attached round of corporate bailouts, I would agree that we have become this reverse version of Socialism where money trickles/gushes from the bottom up. However, Obama is not the one who started that original trend of wealth redistribution; that was Reagan.

D. Where were they in November? You know, when every il-run company and its subsidiaries were running to the Bush Administration, and Paulson handed billions of no strings attached dollars to AIG so they could pay the $12.9 Billion they owed to his former company Goldman and Sachs (sound familiar?)? I get it; it was ok when the good ol boy Republican was doing it but not when the black guy does it.

E. The Boston Tea Party was not even about paying taxes, it was mainly about taxation without representation. The United States has a representative government. I know it didn't feel that way for the last 8 years and apparently our leaders are chosen in some cases as opposed to elected but in theory, we don't live under a system of taxation without representation. But not only that, the colonists were also protesting the fact that the British wouldn't allow the colonies to grow their own tea or import it from anyone except the British East India Company.

So I really don't get what this is supposed to be about. They cry when we can't bomb Korea, they cry when our education system sucks and pumps out kids who can't even find their own state on a map, they cry when a bridge collapses and kills a bunch of people but they don't want their taxes, or the taxes on the rich, who benefit the most from our American system, to pay more taxes. Maybe they think we should only raise taxes on people who don't make any money? I'll bet that would raise the revenue they need to build that missile shield they all so desire. What do you think; could they squeeze 500 Billion out of the poor?

Also, do they even care to know what would happen if AIG would have collapsed taking everyones 401k and the economy with them? What other options did we have other than another Great Depression? AIG provided insurance and investment products to over 45 million individual and institutional clients. If they want to be outraged don't do it on the steps of the White House, do it on the steps of Joe Cassano's house (the tax cheat head of AIG's financial products division) and Edward Liddy's, the CEO. Drag them out into the streets Somali style and things will change. They are the ones who got us into this mess, not Obama. I mean, protesters stood out in front of the White House protesting Iraq for 8 years but a lot of good it did them.

Here's a video of some Florida Teabaggers who were blindsided by truth and reality. I know, trying to introduce reality to a crowd like this is like trying to fit a round peg through a square hole.


More lies from the conservative media elite and the unbiased Fox News network:



And now, for even more conservative irony:
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And one more thing, anyone who thinks this is some grass roots, populist movement is being lied to.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/opinion/13krugman.html?_r=2

Monday, April 13, 2009

All You Need to Know About the Right Wing



This is about as good as it gets.

You can take out the "Pirate Hostage Situation" and replace it with any issue such as the economy, Iraq, war, WMDs, taxes, America's standing in the world, security, international relations, etc. and the story and it's ending would be the same when it comes to the Reich Wing. All they can do is try to scare you so you will believe their bullshit but what they don't do is offer their own solutions or help fix the problem. Always just talking about how the left will fail or that they are wrong when 98% of the time, they are the ones who are wrong.

Hey, dipshit conservative media: Obama doesn't have to answer to you, you don't know anything, you are insignificant, he is smarter than you, he has the shit under control, you, not he, will fail.

Even your stupid tea bag party will blow up in your face somehow more than it already has. And by the way, wasn't the last time America had a tea party, didn't the people who were participating in it actually have a reason to protest unreasonable taxes? I mean, I only have to assume that the tea baggers are a relative mix of all cross sections of American society, (which they aren't) as a whole which means 95% of them are having their taxes cut by the Obama administration. Again, it doesn't have to be true if they can lie and scare you into thinking they are right and can sell a few books in the process.

Wake up, you are being lied to by the conservative America hating media.

"I hope he fails" - Rush Limbaugh on the President of the United States

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Wealth and Taxes

Lately, Limbaugh and others are concerned that their, not your, taxes are going to go up and you, not them, may benefit from this. They call this wealth distribution. The fact is, wealth distribution has been alive and well in this country every since the Reagan era but in reality, what wealth the poor and middle class had has been distributed to rich people and some of that has been made possible through the taxes. Clearly free trade, deregulation of financial markets and plain old fashioned greed are also culprits.

Here are some facts about wealth and taxes:

Currently, the top earners in the US earn 440 x the amount of the bottom 50%, a number which has doubled since 1980. Or you could say a CEO earns 440x the amount as their employees. So much for trickle down economics; gush up is more like it. In 1982 the top 15 wealthiest people owned $92 Billion and by 2000 their wealth increase to $1.2 trillion so the Clinton tax rates, which Obama wants to return to, weren't hurting them at all.

During WW 2 and the Korean wars the top tax rate was 90% and the economy was booming.

Over the last 50 years the top tax rate has continued to decrease from 90% to 35%. In 1980 the top rate was 70% which declined all the way down to 28%. We call those the deficit years. Through most of the Clinton years, the ones with a balanced budget, the top rate was 39.6%.

Obama proposes to restore the 39.6% tax rate on the top 1% and a 36% (1% increase) on the top 2% and lower taxes on everyone else in 2011. Capital Gains will be 1/3 the rate it was under Reagan yet the right still spins this as a tax increase.

80% of American families own less that $250,000 of wealth, the bottom 20% have nearly 0 wealth.

The richest 10% of families own 85% of all outstanding stock and 90% of all business assets. These are the guys conspiracy theorists talks about.

Eight of the top fifteen richest people in America inherited their wealth and never worked a day for it. The Estate Tax only affects 2% of the population, which accounts for over 45% of all wealth, and never exceeds 50%.

The top 10 best paid CEOs in the US made more than a half billion dollars in 2007 while the profits for their companies shrank dramatically.

In 2007 Rick Wagoner, CEO of GM, announced the closing of 4 plants producing SUVs and trucks, posted a 39 billion dollar loss and increased his pay by 64% to 15.7 million.

The CEO of KB homes earned $24.4 million in 2007 while his company lost $930 million and 60% of its stock value.

So, who are the rich? Who will be affected when Bush's tax cuts expire?

The income bracket for the top 1% income earners based on 2005 numbers is $364,657 per year all the way up to 100 million per year and beyond.

The top 1% receive 21.8 % of all income and own about 39% of all wealth in the U.S and pay 39% of all taxes.

The top 5% make about $145,283 per year, pay about 59% of all taxes and own about 59% of all wealth.

The top 10% receive 48.5 % of all reported income ('05), own 71 % of all wealth and pay 70% of all taxes.

The top 0.1 % receives an average salary of 5.8 million per year and up.

In 2005 incomes (reported incomes) rose 9% but the bottom 90% of income earners saw a .6% decrease while the top 1% saw a 14% increase and this is the new trend.

The top 300,000 income earners in America received more income than the bottom 150,000,000 Americans.

According to the US Census Bureau, people in the United States living at 50% or less than the poverty line (the extremely poor) went from 3.3% in 1976 (7 million), to 5.2% in 2007 (15.5 million)

35% of the poor in the US are children under the age of 18. And no, they aren't poor because they are lazy and unwilling to work.

In 2007, 46.8% of the people living in poverty worked, 10.9% worked full time, year around, probably a lot harder than you or Rush Limbaugh works. In 1978 the percent of full time workers in poverty was at 7.7%.

58% of Americans between 25 and 75 will spend at least one year below the poverty line.

The US has the highest rate of relative poverty in the industrialized world.

Only 21.5% of the people over the age of 16 living in poverty didn't work at all

Under the Clinton tax rates poverty hit a 26 year low in 2000 and has risen since then.

The poverty level for a family of 3 is $17,600.


So what exactly are rich people worried about?

Lesson: Trickle down economics is a myth. By giving rich people more money and lowering their taxes, they only got greedier and outsourced American jobs to the Chinese. Upon doing that, they have just transferred the wealth of the middle class to themselves, the rich. Oh ya, and when you loose your job and can no longer pay your mortgage, the same rich guy will come and repossess your house thus transferring even more wealth to the rich.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Enough With the Teleprompter

Ok, I get that it is a hard concept for Republicans to understand that we have a President who can actually read, but everyone who gives speeches uses a teleprompter or a speech written on paper. With a teleprompter the speaker can actually look into the camera and speak into the mic as opposed to looking at his notes and speaking into the podium.

And another thing that pisses me off is that people are now actually saying that because Limbaugh didn't use a teleprompter at the Nazi convention or where ever it was he last spoke, that he would easily defeat Obama in a debate. Ok, so he used notes, not a teleprompter, it doesn't make him Yoda. But for the record, lets break down their qualifications when it comes to depating policy:

A.Obama has won several nationally televised debates against very formidable opponents such as Hillary Clinton and the Republican nominee for President
B. Rush has never debated anyone. Rush has never appeared on Hardball, Chris Matthews Show, Real Time, This Week, Daily Show, Meet the Press, etc. No debates with any hostile opponents. Even Ann Coulter has the balls (literally perhaps) to face these guys.

A. Obama got a degree in Political Science from Columbia University and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School where he became the first black President of the Harvard Law Review.
B. Rush Graduated from Cape Central High School and flunked out of Southeast Missouri State University after 2 semesters

A. Obama was once a professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago
B. Rush was once a disc jockey in Pennsylvania

A. Obama wrote a book which remained on the best sellers list for 30 weeks
B. Rush wrote a book which remained on the best sellers list for 24 weeks

A. Obama is the leader of the free world, digging us out of the mess Rush's hero, George W Bush got us into
B. Rush is an uneducated, three time divorcee, overweight, drug addict who is nothing more than a Monday Morning QB who can't offer any solutions of his own except for shitting on every move Obama makes and saying, "I hope he fails".

A. Obama loves America and wants it to succeed
B. Rush hates America and wants it to fail

A. Obama can dunk a basketball
B. Rush can dunk 5 doughnuts and a cheeseburger into his mouth at one time

A. Obama is half black
B. Rush hates black people

A. Everyone listens to Obama when he speaks
B. Only morons who don't know anything and get their kicks out of bug zappers listen to Rush

A. Obama uses a teleprompter just like Bush did when giving speeches
B. Rush probably uses a teleprompter on his radio show because how would anyone know otherwise but in reality he doesn't really need one because after all, he says the same shit over and over again: "Democrats are Socialists", "I hope he fails", "Its all the liberals fault", "The Government forced all mortgage companies to give loans to the homeless and then forced Wall Street to buy those bad assets", "I love cock and hillbilly heroin", etc.

Ya, I am sure Limbaugh would win a debate against Obama.

What a joke.

P.S. It might have been nice if Bush had a teleprompter on 9/11 instead of doing his deer in the headlights routine. Having someone other than Cheney telling him what to do or say would have actually been a good thing.

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Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The AIG Antithesis

From CNN:
Heroes of the Economy

Heroic act: Cut his own salary to $0
Position: CEO, Vail Resorts
Hometown: Vail, Colo.


Things are still sunny at Vail Resorts, which operates five ski and snowboard slopes in Colorado and Lake Tahoe, Nev. The company's revenues rose in the second quarter, boosted by real estate sales. But CEO Rob Katz expects the situation to head downhill.

To prevent layoffs, he decided to take the biggest cut himself. Unlike the AIG executives taking big bonuses and salaries, Katz cut his $840,000 a year salary down to $0 for 2009, and he will take a 15% cut when it is reinstated.

Seasonal employees were asked to a 2.5% pay cut, and executives agreed to a 10% reduction. The company's board of directors has agreed to reduce their annual cash retainer by 20%. Total saved: More than $10 million annually.

"If I was going to ask someone making $8 an hour to take a pay cut, they needed to know I was doing something that would really affect me," Katz says. "No one wants to see their salary reduced, but at least in this case those at the top are making the biggest sacrifice."
In order to adjust to a $0 salary this year, Katz said he will cut back on expenses like travel and food.


"I'm making changes, but you can't compare the challenges I go through to some of our folks," he explains. "I've saved money because I've made more over my time. They need to find a way to put food on the table."

"People here would rather take a pay cut than see their colleague lose their job," he adds. "Everyone at the company is a hero." -- Julianne Pepitone

Let's see: Running a successful business, not dependent on government handouts or subsidies, good business plan, realizes that he is already rich and has the best job in the world and would like to keep that job for himself and his employees, AKA NOT A GREEDY FUCKING IDIOT!

Just so everyone knows where I stand, not every rich person is an asshole and not every CEO is a rich asshole. I mean, how much money do you need and what are you willing to do to get it? Layoff 100 people? Ruin the economy? or just go skiing for free?

I agree with Sen. Charles Grassley, the execs at AIG should admit failure, take the blame, take no money or just kill themselves. Or perhaps we should publish their names and addresses (all their addresses) and let the tax payers take back what is theirs.

The next time I go skiing out west, which wont be this year, I will go to a Vail resort.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Conservatives Who Claim Bush Isn't One of Them



CPAC is a gathering of the top conservatives in the country. Some would claim that the economy failed and America's standing in the world has fallen because Republicans and or Bush, abandoned true conservative principles and thus started acting like liberals and that is the reason we are in this mess. Well, I do agree that Bush and conservative principles are what got us into this mess but to me Republicans have been acting exactly like Republicans and here is how:

Over the last 8 years the Republicans who have controlled Washington, have been cutting taxes on rich people, deregulating big business while regulating peoples personal lives, continued the war on drugs, continued its lopsided support of Israel, started wars, interfered in countries where we weren't needed or wanted to further the interests of big business,restricted civil liberties, circumvented law, appointed complete idiots whose education consists of Jerry Falwells Law School to important posts, cut welfare, cut education spending, increased defense spending, ruined the economy, tortured, cut veteran benefits, they have been hating and demonizing some minority, increase the deficit.... The list goes on. That is about as Republican as you get because these principles are not liberals principles.

Here are the main points about this clip 8 months before the ship started sinking and yet more proof that Bush and the Congressional Republicans and the conservative base have gotten us into this mess by acting exactly like conservative Republicans and how the conservatives at the time supported every measure and thought Bush was doing a terrific job:

A. The crowd starts out by chanting "four more years". If he abandoned conservative principles, why does the group of the most eclectic conservatives in the country want him to continue his reign of terror?

B. Bush mentions Cheney and that he was the best Vice President in history, to a standing ovation.

C. When a member of the audience yells, "We love you George" she incites another round of applause and cheers.

Since this was just one year ago, what did Bush do in his last 11 months, that he didn't do in his first 7 years, that all of the sudden abandoned conservative principles? The answer is nothing, it was par for the course. The Republicans have to now pretend that they were against Bush at the time but this clearly shows they were in lock step with the President on almost every issue.

Don't believe the bullshit when someone tries to tell you that the Republicans only screwed things up when they started acting like Democrats. I'm sorry but it's not a platform of the Democrats to take money away from poor and working people and redistribute it to rich bankers; only a Republican could come up with such a scheme. Remember, Democrats are Socialists, they take money away from rich bankers and give it to the poor, not vice versa. Republicans take money from the poor and the middle class and redistribute to the wealthy.

Oh, and when someone asks what Obama has changed or what is different about Obama all you need to do is refer to my list above.

Friday, February 13, 2009

'Praise Darwin' Billboards Spark Reply

'Praise Darwin' Billboards Spark Reply

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If you read the World Net article you will find that this ad campaign by zealots is in response to a group called Freedom From Religion's pro-Darwin anti theistic ad campaign which is in response to all the Jesus and God billboards you see on the highway while driving through the Bible Belt and Midwest.

The funniest thing about this billboard is that it is slamming Atheism for one of the main tenants of Christianity/Judaism/Islam; the notion that an all perfect being called God was created out of nothing. Somehow, they think this argument is a slam dunk on how evolution is impossible but what it tells me is that God couldn't possibly exist since he had no creator. Using the scientific method, I just want to know which is more likely:

A. An all perfect, all knowing, all powerful being was created out of nothing and who after living for millions of years, gets bored and creates a dude but oops, not good enough, then creates another being, a woman, who ruins man's paradise and then this "god" offers no other proof of his existence yet still commands you follow "his laws" which includes handing over part of your income to "his" church. And this all happened about 10k years ago and Pangaea breaking apart had no real effects on humanity who, by the way, used to ride Dinosaurs to church.

B. Some basic matter and amino acids seemingly appear out of nowhere, although no scientist actually states that they did appear out of nowhere, that's just the point where we can no longer find any evidence of a more distant beginning, and once these amino acids combine to form proteins it spurs the billions of years of evolution which ultimately leads to life on Earth leaving behind a fossilized blue print of this evolution which can be easily chronicled and studied.

By the way, faith isn't scientific; it cannot be measured.

Friday, January 23, 2009

But Only If They Had More Guns

2 Kids, 1 Adult Killed in Stabbing Spree at Belgian Day Care

From Fox News: 1/23/09
DENDERMONDE, Belgium — A man went on a rampage at a Belgian day care center Friday, stabbing two young children and a female worker to death and slashing 12 others all over their bodies, officials said.


But only if the Belgians had more access to guns this sort of thing....Oh, wait, right, many, many more people would be dead because it's faster and easier to kill kids with an AK-47 than with a knife. (See Columbine, Jonesboro Arkansas, San Ysidro McDonalds, Luby's Massacre in Killen, Tx, Virginia Tech, NIU, etc.)

Of course, if they allowed 3 year olds to carry guns then the victims could have shot the perpetrator before he stabbed them...Ya, that's it.

Oh, and apparently we have a new President who was just sworn in this week and get this, he's black!