New Rules – 7/11/14

New Rules

Now that there’s been an uproar about all the neocons that lied about the Iraq war, with no consequences, somebody has to tell my where there hasn’t been a similar uproar over all the Republicans who lied about Obamacare, with no consequences.

It’s been 4 years since the bill passed, has anyone come across even one death panel?
The next Liberal to tell a Republican “you’re entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts”, should really just admit they’ve never seen Fox News.

Now I get that neither party has a monopoly on lying and they all do it so often, they’ve invented their own word for it; “I misspoke.” but how come the rule for one party, the Republican party, is that when they get caught in a lie they don’t have to stop telling it?

They said Obamacare would use death panels. It doesn’t. They said it was a government takeover, and the insurance industry is making record profits. They said it covered illegals. It doesn’t. They said it was a job killer. It hasn’t been. They said there were elves who bake cookies in trees. Well, almost…

Now for sure, Obama also told a lie when he said everybody who likes their healthcare plan can keep it. And for about 2% of the population, that did turn out to be false. The difference is he stopped saying it. He stepped up and said “You’re right. My bad.” because he understands there’s this thing called observable reality.

But on the Republican side, observable reality needs more study. Which is why their talking points, which have been disproven, remain! Like a guest whose been asked to leave a party but does not. It reminds me of a horror movie, when you think you’ve killed a lie but it won’t stay dead.

Which is why I call them Zombie Lies. Yes zombie lies.

Remember fracking doesn’t cause earthquakes? Zombie lie! So stop saying it.
Voter fraud? We studied it, it’s not an actual problem. Stop zombie lying about it.
Their entire economic philosophy -cut taxes for the rich and it trickles down- is a zombie lie.
And all these zombie lies are still out there, roaming the countryside. Neither alive nor dead.

Like Dick Cheney.

Hungry for brains, like Dick Cheney.

I mean, we think we’ve eradicated one, but it turns out it’s just lying dormant, in a cave full of bat blood. Like the ebola virus.

…or Dick Cheney.

Dick Cheney, who did not even bother in his recent return from the dead to update the lies he told about Iraq the first time. He’s till out there saying “Well Saddam was building a bomb and he was working with al Qua….”
What????

It’s like when Chuck Berry sings about Sweet Little Sixteen. You’re 90, man.

There is no shame in their game. One week they’re out there saying “No one will sign up for Obamacare.” And the next week “Oh, OK, they signed up? OK, but they aren’t paying the premiums. Oh they are? OK. Well, it’s not the young people. Oh, it IS the young people? OK. Uhhh, but it only covers you if you’re Gay….”

You just want to go “Wait! When did we switch over? What happened to yesterday’s lie? It’s still out there forever, like a plastic bag in a tree, but now we’re just using the new one?”

Yes, because what they do is they pass a zombie lie down to dumber and dumber people who believe it more and more.

Hank Poulson may be over the one about Climate Change being a hoax, but it’s still good enough for Sean Hannity. Who then gets quoted by Michelle Bachman. Who forms the intellectual core of thinking for Victoria Jackson.

And when you think the zombie lie has finally gone to die at the Idea Hospice of the absolutely stupidest people on Earth, there it is being retweeted by Donald Trump.

Opposition To The Tide of Social Change Sweeping America Is A Threat to GOP

Is this what the tea party is all about? Not so much sprawling government programs, although that is a part of it, and not even so much the spending that supports them, though that, too, is part of it. But perhaps the larger issue, as playing out in Colorado, is at once more ephemeral and more fundamental: a feeling that life, as tea partyers know it, is slipping away.

In Weld County, Colo., Commissioner Sean Conway is pushing to allow his county and 10 other rural counties to secede and form the nation’s 51st state. The reason: The state’s changing demographics is leading to changes that challenge some long-held ideas of what is normal. 

Specifically, Conway cites new restrictions on gun ownership, energy policies that increase costs to farmers and public approval of a measure allowing recreational use of marijuana. “The state I love, as a third-generation Coloradan, has really left me,” he said. 

For those reasons, voters in 11 rural counties in Colorado can vote on Election Day for a non-binding referendum on secession. 

The pain, we suspect, is real. There might even be a quotient of fear in the mix. Similar issues may be at play in other red, or reddish, states. Same-sex marriage has suddenly come roaring down the tracks – as unstoppable as it is inevitable. 

Even those who acknowledge the fairness of it can, on reflection, understand that many socially conservative Americans would perceive that as a threat like none other. It turns upside down standards they understood as inviolate, challenging fundamental beliefs about the nature of life in the United States. 

The most severe reactions are generally occurring in the old Confederacy, which is also the Bible Belt. It’s where many of the laws on voter identification are concentrated. Whatever the claims of those states, the clear purpose is to diminish the voting strength of minorities and poor residents, who tend to vote Democratic. 

Some of that may be raw politics of the sort that both parties practice, but if it is not specifically driven by the sense that the world is changing too quickly, it surely draws support from that fear. 

The plain fact is that the country is changing, and nothing will stop it. To most young Americans, same-sex marriage is about as threatening as a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It’s a nonissue. 

What is more, minorities are becoming an ever-larger force in the nation’s politics. Those who support voter ID laws in an effort to weaken their influence – that is, the Republican Party – will ultimately pay a heavy price. They should be wooing those voters, not working to sideline them. 

Those changes are taking place in Sean Conway’s Colorado. Young professionals have flocked to Denver, changing voting patterns. The state’s Hispanic population has increased 40 percent since 2000. More change. 

The phenomenon is playing out nationally, too. President Obama, an African-American twice elected to the nation’s highest office, won almost 60 percent of voters ages 18 to 39, and 55 percent of women. 

The change is upon us. Minority voting strength will only grow and unless Republicans change their tune, they will lose more and more of them to the Democrats. 

The tea party wants nothing to do with changing. It may be easy to understand the source of its members’ fears, but it’s just as easy to see that, ultimately, it leads nowhere. 

 

From November 2, 2013

New Rules

Now that a record 58% of Americans support the legalization of Marijuana, the Federal Government has to hurry up and do something about it 

If you work at a market and you see someone shoplifting condoms, let them. If they can’t afford $5.50 for a 3 pack of Trojan Ultra-Ribbed, then I’m pretty sure they can’t afford a baby. 

Tom Hanks has to stop making movies where he gets stuck somewhere. He got stuck in space in Apollo 13. He got stuck on an island in Castaway. He got stuck in the airport in The Terminal. Now he’s stuck on a boat in Captain Phillips. I don’t know if he’s going for an Oscar or ransom. 

Until Ronald McDonald starts paying his employees a living wage, he has to wipe that smile off his face. 
A new study shows the median income for fast food jobs is $8.69 an hour and let’s face it; that is barely enough to gas up the car you are living in. 
Now when it comes to raising the minimum wage, Conservatives always say it’s a non-starter because it cuts into profits. Well, yeah. Of course.Paying workers is one of those unfortunate expenses of running a business. You know, like taxes or making a product. 
You might think that paying people enough to live is so self-evident that even crazy people could understand it, but you would be wrong. 
Michelle Bachman is not only against raising the minimum wage, she’s against having one at all. She once said that if we took away the minimum wage we could wipe out unemployment because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level. 
You could hire everyone if you didn’t have to pay them. 
And naturally Ted Cruz agrees. 
Ted Cruz thinks that it’s a good thing that when his Cuban father came to America, he was paid .50 cents an hour to work as a dish washer. 

When did the American Dream become this pathway to indentured servitude? 
This economic death spiral where workers get paid next to nothing so they can only afford to buy next to nothing so businesses are forced to sell cheaper and cheaper s**t? 
Walmart employees can only afford to shop at Walmart. McDonalds Employees can only afford to eat at McDonalds. 

Even if you’re not moved by the “don’t be such a heartless prick” argument, Consider the fact that most fast food workers, whose average age by the way is 29, so we’re not talking about kids here, are on some form of Public Assistance. Which is not surprising when even working people can’t make enough to live take money form the Government in the form of Food Stamps, school lunches, Housing Assistance and Day Care. 
This is the Welfare that Conservatives hate.But they never stop to think if we raised the minimum wage and forced McDonalds and Walmart to pay their employees enough to eat, the tax payers wouldn’t have to pick up the slack. 

This is the question the right has to answer. Do you want smaller Government with less handouts or do you want a low minimum wage because you cannot have both. If Colonel Sanders isn’t going to pay the lady behind the counter enough to live on, Uncle Sam has to, and I for one am getting tired of helping highly profitable companies pay their workers 

Especially when I don’t even eat at KFC. 

 

From October 27, 2013

To Fix America’s Politics, Put God Back In Its Culture

The American political system is in crisis. Many believe our problems are systemic, due to a failure of our institutions. They believe that our problems are caused by politicians, by other people. They are wrong. 

Our politics are the result of our other beliefs; politics flow from culture. America is in trouble not because of some mistake made by the Founding Fathers, some unintended consequence of their efforts, or the malevolence of people in Washington. It is in trouble because of culture. 

America’s problems are, without a doubt, our fault. 

Since coming to Washington in the 1970’s, I have watched two trends emerge in American culture that disturb me greatly: secularization and increasing dependence on the government. They are not unrelated; on the contrary, secularization leads to increasing dependence on government, and increasing dependence on government leads to secularization. As Chesterton said, “when you abolish God, government becomes God.” 

That’s why libertarians who think that there is a wall between social and economic issues are puzzling. There’s a distinction, but it’s more abstract than people usually think it is. Social issues have economic consequences, and economic circumstances have socio-cultural consequences. You can’t completely separate them. The libertarian only does so with the assumption that people are capable of self-government. 

A look at the different cultures of the world tells us that this is often untrue. We should not take our own success for granted. Poverty is the rule of human life; our prosperity and freedom are the exception. We can’t simply count on having these things forever. 

Why is the West so wealthy and powerful compared to the rest of the world? Is it because of natural resources? Other countries are rich in natural resources. Is it because of colonialism and its ravages? The West rose to dominance before colonization and imperialism, rising from a cultural backwater that was far less wealthy and far less accomplished than the great civilizations of China and the Middle East. Surely culture is a major factor in what makes for success. 

This isn’t just a phenomenon of nations and civilizations; even within our country, communities with a strong work ethic, an emphasis on family, God, and service, thrive. Even at the individual level, we have all seen examples of how hard-working, morally grounded people eventually create their own luck. 

One of the great legacies of Andrew Breitbart is his keen understanding that culture is the real battleground in this country. He knew that, so long as the Left controlled the cultural mainstream, politics wouldn’t matter. 

But, of course, the orthodoxy of academia and the media of our time — which the Left took over precisely because of their importance — centers on cultural relativism: No one is allowed to judge anyone’s culture, and all cultures are equal. 

No one believes this until they are taught it. Of course some cultures are better than others. Not only is it acceptable for us to proclaim that, but it is our duty: The culture of life is superior to the culture of death, the culture of family is superior to the culture of selfishness, the culture of entrepreneurship is superior to the culture of dependency. 

When we believe that, we will be in a position to start fixing America’s politics.

 

From October 24, 2013

What Were They REALLY Thinking?

….those famous ol’ founding fathers of ours. 

So many times I hear people say “Our founding fathers would roll over in their graves if……..” and then fill in the blank, but after the research and reading I did recently, I think you’re all wrong. At least all the things I normally see people use that are wrong. 

The founders came here for one main reason, and they proclaimed it in everything they did and it wasn’t to make sure we all had guns (Although I am totally pro guns), or to create some constitution to base this new country on, which btw, this country was NOT based on The Constitution. They certainly were not in favor of any separation of Religion & State, at least not how that term is so misused today 

Let their own words give you some real insight into how it was. 

Constitution Of The New England Confederation – 1643: “Whereas we all came to these parts of America with the same end and aim, namely, to advance the Kindgome of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to injoy the liberties of the Gospell thereof with purities and peace, and for preserving and propagating the truth and liberties of the gospell.” 

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Original Delaware Constitution, Article 22: Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust, before taking his seat, or entering upon the execution of his office, shall take the following oath, or affirmation, if conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath, to wit: 

” I, A B. will bear true allegiance to the Delaware State, submit to its constitution and laws, and do no act wittingly whereby the freedom thereof may be prejudiced.” 

And also make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: 

” I, A B. do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.” 

And all officers shall also take an oath of office. 

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“Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate the age, by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls; of inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity and universal philanthropy, and, in subordination to these great principles, the love of their country; of instructing them in the art of self-government, without which they never can act a wise part in the government of societies, great or small; in short, of leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system” Samuel Adams 1790

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“In contemplating the political institutions of the United States, I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes, and take so little pains to prevent them. We profess to be republicans and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government. That is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by the means of the Bible. 

Christianity is the only true and perfect religion, and that in proportion as mankind adopts its principles and obeys its precepts, they will be wise and happy.”  Benjamin Rush 1799

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“Art. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” Northwest Ordinance of 1987 

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“In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed. In this institution it is of more importance, as the pupils will be orphans, and may be destitute of parental instruction.

 

No truth is more evident to my rnind, than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.” Noah Webster 1838 

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 “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.

 

 And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” George Washington’s Farewell Address 

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 “The Holy Ghost carries on the whole Christian system in this Earth. Not a baptism, not a marriage, not a sacrament can be administered but by the Holy Ghost. . . . There is no authority, civil or religious – there can be no legitimate government – but that which is administered by this Holy Ghost. There can be no salvation without it. All without it is rebellion and perdition, or in more orthodox words, damnation.” John Adams The Wall Builder Report

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 “The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.” Benjamin Rush Of the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic 

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“Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore, who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime & pure, which denounces against the wicked eternal misery, & insures to the good eternal happiness are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free government.” Charles Carroll – Signer Of The Declaration Of Independance

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 “Religion and morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness” Samuel Adams

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 “The great pillars of all government and of social life . . . [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible.” Patrick Henry 

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“Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things. In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country. 

I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors…; in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great. The safeguard of morality is religion, and morality is the best security of law as well as the surest pledge of freedom. The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other. Christianity is the companion of liberty in all its conflicts-the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims. They brought with them…a form of Christianity, which I cannot better describe, than by styling it a democratic and republican religion” Alexis de Tocqueville 

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“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” Benjamin Franklin 

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 “The moral principles and precepts found in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. These principles and precepts have truth, immutable truth, for their foundation. . . . All the evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible. 

 

It is alleged by men of loose principles or defective views of the subject that religion and morality are not necessary or important qualifications for political stations. But the Scriptures teach a different doctrine. They direct that rulers should be men “who rule in the fear of God, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness.” Noah Webster 

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“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.”  John Adams 

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“To preserve the government we must also preserve morals. Morality rests on religion; if you destroy the foundation, the superstructure must fall. When the public mind becomes vitiated and corrupt, laws are a nullity and constitutions are waste paper.” Daniel Webster 

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“How has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection.- Our prayers, Sir, were heard, & they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? 

 

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that “except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel 

 

We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest. 

 

I therefore beg leave to move-that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that Service” Benjamin Franklin 

 

I see our current state and look to our future and then I read from people who have said: 

 

“More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened. 

 

Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our Revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn

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 “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!” Abraham Lincoln – Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day 

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“If the enemy can destroy the Christian’s passion for America, then he has won the major battle for the soul of this nation.” Hudson Taylor 

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Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Revelation 2:5

 

From January 19, 2013

New Rules 5/25

“If not for the coup, err Republican filibuster in Washington that violates the constitution by requiring 60 instead of 50 US Senatorial votes to pass a resolution, these things would have passed under Obama’s first term as POTUS: 

A Market based system to control carbon emissions which would have revitalized the Clean Energy SectorA Public Option in the Health Care BillThe Dream Act; Undocumented Immigrants who serve 2 years in the US Military can go to collegeElizabeth Warren would have been head of the Environmental Consumer Protection BureauThe Carried Interest Tax Break would be gone 

In the first 50 years of the filibuster it was used 35 times, in the last 2 years, over a hundred. 

Mitt Romney, a Mormon believes that the throne of God resides on Planet Kolob. WTF?? 

Newt Gingrich calls Obama The most Radical Leftist President in historyMark Rubio calls him the most divisive figure in historyMichelle Bachman says he’s the most radical President we have ever seen in the history of the countryJohn Bolton said Obama just doesn’t care about National Security 

How can a guy, Barack Obama make these people feel that America has changed so completely and yet make me feel like it’s barely changed at all. 

I travel all over this country doing stand up and since Obama has been President, and what!!?? It’s still the exact same Kentucky Fried Country it has always been.I see it. People driving their cars to the mall buying stupid s**t, stuffing their faces, taking pictures. The only difference is now we all bump into each other more, because now we’re all texting.We haven’t lost our freedoms. I’m pretty sure the only things Obama has killed are Bin Laden and Donald Trump’s last shred of dignity. 

If Obama were as radical as they claim, here is what he would have already done; Pulled the troops out of Afghanistan, given us Medicare for all, ended the Drug War, cut the Defense Budget in half, and turned Dick Cheney over to The Hague. 

Here’s what Obama actually did; He cut taxes and spending, Look at this graph: 

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/images/slowest-spending.png 

These bars show the growth in Federal Spending for each President. Obama is at the bottom. Yes, the Black man’s is the shortest. He didn’t go on a spending spree. He didn’t break up the “too big to fail” banks. They’ve only gotten bigger. And fail-ier. That’s not what Liberals wanted; that’s what Conservative wanted.  

At the 28th Convention, Sarah Palin chanted “Drill baby drill!” Under Obama there’s more drilling than ever. That’s not what Environmentalists wanted; that’s what Conservatives wanted. Obama spent most of last year conceding the Republican premise that Government needed cutting. That’s not what Progressives wanted; that’s what the Tea Party wanted.The Dow was at 7949 when he took office. Now it’s at 12,000 and over. Corporate profits are at their highest ever. If Obama is a Socialist. He’s a lousy one. 

He could not be less threatening if he was walking home with Iced Tea and Skittles. 

So the question remains, how can YOU guys be so unhappy with Obama when I’M so unhappy with Obama. You think you got coal in your stocking? I wanted Single-Payer Health Care, a Carbon Emissions bill, Gun Control and legalized pot. If YOU get to carry around all this outrage over me getting that s**t, shouldn’t I have gotten it?  

So, just admit it. This isn’t about what Obama is; it’s about what you need him to be because hating him is what gets you up in the morning. And Ted (Nugent), you don’t have to fear what happens if the Democrats are re-elected, because they don’t have any ideas anyway. I could understand your paranoia that they have a secret plan, because they sure as s**t don’t have a public one. Can anyone tell me what the Democrats want to do? The best I can come up with is ‘Elect Us! We may be lame, but the other guys are nuts.'”

Bill Maher 5/25

 

From May 27, 2012

 

Sixty Five Dollars

I can’t pay my bills

I’m not healthy

I can’t find any motivation

I procrastinate to a fault

I hate how my house looks

I don’t have a single close friend

I don’t know love

I hate my job

I hate my boss

I hate most of my co-workers

I hate my neighbors

I can’t build my website

I hate Peoria

I can’t find a better job

I haven’t seen my kids in months and that doesn’t look to change any time soon

I’m a dark place I can’t get out of

I’m so lost

I’m so lonely

I feel like I’m dying, slowly

I don’t understand how I got here

I cry, a lot

 

I have sixty five dollars to my name….

 

From November 19, 2011

Days Of Tears

Each year at this time, I repeat a routine I have in honor of the attacks of September 11th, 2001. I don’t watch any programming about that terrible day until after September 10th, and I do that for a reason. On September 10th, I was happy. The world was happy. It may have been the last happiest day I’ve known, outside of when my children were born, since. 

I don’t remember much about September 10, 2010. I know it was a Monday. I worked. I probably spent some time dealing with my Booking and Promoting business. I may have spent time talking to my friends, and family, and i’m sure that night, like every night before, I went to sleep with very few worries on my mind. The next day…. was the worst day I can ever know. 

I’m not from New York City. I’ve never lived there. I had been to New York City many times, but I wasn’t there when the city was attacked, yet in New York, it doesn’t matter what part of New York you’re from. Whether it’s Upstate, Down State, Plattsburg or Binghamton; Chautauqua County or Jefferson County, New Yorkers are bound together. It’s one of those states, like several others where you can meet someone else from New York, and you just know. You just feel the bind. 

This year marks the significant tenth anniversary, and I’ve been watching a series about rebuilding  the 16 acres that were destroyed that day called Rising: Rebuilding New York. Each episode is about the reconstruction of  a different segment of the area known as Ground Zero and the amount of care, and technology and engineering… the thought put into the reconstruction is overwhelming. 

 One episode is about the new Tower One; 1776 feet tall. It’s not just a new tower, but every aspect of it it designed with a purpose. Be it tribute or structural integrity. Another episode is about the new Transit Hub, highlighted by an above ground structure that represents a large, steel spine, with structural ribs at angles, jutting out from the center. The designer took into account the angle of the sun when the first tower was hit and the angle again when the second tower collapsed and designed the piece to echo those angles so that when the sun gets to a certain point, the light shining down creates an aura of a welcoming, great place. 

The trees planted at the Memorial Site are arranged so that if you walk North-South, it’ll resemble walking a random path the to the Waterfalls. East-West is reminiscent of  walking through the aisles in a sacred temple. The waterfalls themselves, are built in the foundations of where the original towers stood. The plumbing work beneath the towers is some of the most impressive ever conceived. The fountains themselves are surround by bronze plates, bearing the names of each person that died here. And not just listed in random order, but thoughtfully arranged so that people who had any type of relationship are cut into the plates near each other. 

 The tower is designed with incredible structural integrity making it one of, if not the strongest building in North America, along with being the tallest. The museum houses remnants of the World Trade Center and the people who died there. The famous tridents that surrounded the towers are some of the more memorable images, and two were salvaged and will be the center pieces of the new museum. Even the glass atrium surrounding the museum was designed with the glass etched to reflect the lines of the original towers, fading as they near the spot of the the tridents so that maximum viewing can be seen, unobstructed from the outside. Even the reflective quality of the glass is designed so that from the outside, your reflection will make you look as though you are inside, standing with the ghosts of the remains of the World Trade Center. Even the placement of the new towers was designed to allow an unfettered beam of light to shine down on the spot of the north tower at the exact moment of the first attack. 

Each night for the last few days, I’ve immersed myself in remembrance of what happened that day. And I’ve spent most of that time in tears. It doesn’t take much; an image of a destroyed fire truck being lowered into the basement of the museum; A parent’s tale of the loss of a child in the attacks; an image of the damage; of someone that died. It rushes back and it takes over my soul and my emotions and I’m transported back to that day. To that minute when evil revealed itself to all of us, and tore a piece of every single American away, never to be recovered. I’ve cried a lot, needless to say, and it’s affected my overall mood, which has been sullen and angry. 

People may ultimately see this as a form of self torment. They may say it’s not necessary. But I believe that this sado-masochistic ritual is very important, because without it, I’m afraid of becoming complacent. I’m afraid that I may start to forget the way I was affected on 9/11, as I, along with the world, stood transfixed by the images of  the horror that was unleashed that morning. And I cannot allow myself to forget. 

The attacks on the World Trade Center, on a city I love, New York, and on my country have affected me in way that nothing else in my life ever has, and I hate it that I had to see that. Nobody should have had to experience what we did that day, and I long for September 10th, 2001, when I was happy.

 

From September 13, 2011