Waiting For The Other Sequestrated Shoe To Drop

The endless game of chicken just seems to go on and on. Sequestration Day has finally arrived and there is still no derth of predictions for the future.  Personally, I don't think the scenario of either party will come true.  It has been my experience in everything from stock market predictions to marriage and child rearing that what happens is almost never what you think is going to happen and the real bone crunchers in life are never the things you worry about.  They almost always come out of left field and smack you upside the head.

So hang on to your crystal balls my fellow Americans. We've all just been sequestered. Now lets see what happens next.  One thing is for sure. Congress has proven to be completely useless on BOTH sides of the aisle.

The Papal Retirement

He's the first Pope to actually retire in more than 600 years,   It's ironic that Pope Benedict XVI who was, in so many ways, an academic intellectual, more at home arguing fine points of doctrine in the safety of the Vatican, than dealing with political and social realities in the outside world, should actually be the person to make early retirement a possibility for future popes, thus significantly changing the very nature of the job.

The man who in his salad days was called " God's Rotweiller" by the liberal wing of his church,  for his traditional views, has with one stroke, brought the concept of " retirement" or dare I say even " corporate downsizing"to the Papacy, thus changing it from an absolute, lifelong calling to just another job. It's like the difference between the " divine right of kings" and  election to the presidency of a modern nation state.

 On February 28th, Pope Benedict XVI will,once again, be Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a prince of the church still, but no longer its supreme pontiff, whose mystical touch can heal the sick and who speaks with the authority of God when he says something "ex cathedra".  My suspicion is he will welcome the change. As for his billion plus flock all over the world, I'm not so sure.

 During his reign he's managed to make many mistakes, from angering American nuns to horrifying the Muslim world with his narrow ideological views, and I'm not even going to mention his breathtaking ignorance and denial of the priest pedophile debacle and  the sangfroid with which he sacrificed so many innocent children to sacerdotal lust before he became pope.  That's a whole story just in itself.

 I don't think he is a bad guy, just someone who was promoted beyond his level of competency. Actually, I feel a bit sorry for him. Here he is at the end of his life, trying to stave off the knowledge of what a mess he's made of things and not understanding the world as it is outside Vatican walls.

 I suspect that failing health really is a problem as well, but the real issue here, is that Joseph Ratzinger is an old man trying to navigate a modern world of which he has very limited knowledge. His denial of the reality of the priest pedophile situation is so total and so horrific, I don't think he will ever be able to grasp the evil that has been done in God's name.  Perhaps that is just as well.

 I bet he will be happy to lay down the burden that was clearly too much for him and finish out his days back in his monastic library, reading, writing,and praying, as we all must, for forgiveness.  Popes, after all, are people too.

The Problem With Congress

Maybe if Congress had to live like ordinary Americans  they would represent us better.  We all know what one picture is worth and this one speaks volumes.

 h/t  Seniors for A Demoicratic Society   for the cartoon

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum

This cartoon, found on Pinterest and originally from The Political Carnival, is  too good not to share-- no additional comment from me except to say that sometimes I think the GOP has not only lost its way but also its collective mind. And THIS is the kind of voter identification law that makes sense.

The inmates really are running the asylum

Source: thepoliticalcarnival.net via Denis on Pinterest

 

Mission Really Accomplished This Time

They say an elephant never forgets-- unless it is the GOP elephant criticizing  the President for talking about taking out Osama bin Laden  on the occasion of the first anniversary of bin Laden's death. That elephant has a very selective memory indeed.  That elephant trumpeted far and wide that Obama was using the occasion for cheap political gain.

Tell me, my pachyderm pals, do the words " Mission Accomplished" ring a bell?  Do any of  you recall little Georgie Bush, all dressed up like a real aviator, dropping onto the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln  amidst military bands and much fanfare?  Talk about politics!!!!

 Does anybody but me  remember George Bush proudly proclaiming " mission accomplished" while patting himself on the back and taking a victory lap long before there was a victory to celebrate?  In fact, May 1, 2003, when George Bush made that speech, was when things were just heating up in Iraq and Afghanistan. To use another well worn phrase,the chickens were only beginning to come home to roost.

Yes, indeed, the GOP elephant needs to remember that while George Bush was good at swaggering around the deck of an aircraft carrier in costume, and also not bad at " Dead or Alive" speeches, Obama is the guy who delivered the goods. Note, dear elephant, that for many of us, criticizing Obama and trying to paint him as a braggart, only underlines that reality.

  In Obama's case, a victory lap really IS in order.



cartoon source: Ed Steinink

Little Red Riding Hoodie

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to get this cartoon.  It speaks to the Trayvon Martin murder and Geroge Zimmerman is definitely the big bad wolf in the case.  Who can possibly argue that race was not a big factor in his killing of  Trayvon, a seventeen year old boy.  Zimmerman maintains that the kid attacked him and broke his nose.  Are you kidding?  You kill a seventeen year old because he broke your nose?  One does wonder what Zimmerman would have done had his attacker been white and not wearing a hoodie.  The 911 call he made just before the shooting is chilling and a testament to impaired perception.

According to a recent ABC/Washington Post poll,  55 percent of Americans feel that African Americans are not treated equally under the law.  Duh!  Only 55%?  What is up with that level of white denial?The United States  has the highest rate of incarceration in the industrialized world-- 2.3 million people, 2.1 million of whom are male.  Of those male prisoners, almost 38% are black. That is a thought provoking statistic considering that blacks make up only 13% of the American population. 

 But any person of color in the nation could tell you that these statistics are right on the money from personal experience, and any white person would not have a clue, because  here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, black people and white people still experience very different worlds.Even our President is not exempt. I'm a conservatively dressed, salt and pepper haired white woman who can drive 80mph through a school zone and never get stopped by a state trooper.  Wonder what would happen if I were an 18 year old black male?  Never mind-- I think I know.

For the moment, George Zimmerman, far from taking responsibility for his actions, has put up a website asking for donations and telling the world how mis-understood he is.  What a nut job.  We are waiting for an announcement from  the special prosecutor in Florida.  It should come today and I fervently hope it is an announcement that George Zimmerman will be prosecuted ( if he can be found). It better be!

 I suspect George is no longer in the country and is being helped by some rather unsavory white hooded friends. I hope he gets caught  and is brought back home to face the music soon.  If he escapes, he will be just another in a long line of white men who have literally gotten away with murder because the victim is black.  We've already had too much of that in this nation.  Time for all of us, black and white together, to face reality and do the right thing.

H/T  About.com: Political Humor

EVENING UPDATE:  George Zimmerman is now in custody and  has been charged with second degree murder.   If found guilty, he could get up to life imprisonment.  Florida's controversial " Stand Your Ground" law  is now coming under close scrutiny as a result of this tragic killing.

 Stay tuned. The fat lady has barely opened her mouth.

A Guest Post on Dick Cheney's New Heart

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 Guest poster ,I. Mangrey,  has a sharp tongue and a good imagination. Here he offers up a sardonic vision of what might have gone on during Cheney's heart transplant surgery along with his own observations on Dick Cheney, the man and the myth. Hint: Mangrey is NOT a big Dick Cheney fan.

Dick Cheney, who recently cancelled a trip to our northern neighbor saying Canada was too dangerous, is now recovering after receiving a heart transplant. First there’s the matter of The Second Butcher of Baghdad saying that Canada’s dangerous. Canada? I can’t even remember the last time Canada shot someone in the face. I’m pretty sure that Canada thinks Cheney is too dangerous so I doubt they have any regrets.

Then there’s the matter of one of the most horrific figures in American political history taking what must have been a perfectly good heart that could have gone to someone more deserving like Rick Perry who has lots of available space between his ears for any of a number of objects, or the artificially animated Mitt Romney who would be able to use the heart indefinitely as he “lives” out his years entertaining Americans by running for president over and over and over, or maybe a homeless person who could use a pick-me-up.

In any event, doctors worked diligently to perform what is now a fairly common procedure. Except in this case it was not nearly so routine. In almost all cases to date, the surgery was performed to replace a damaged heart, but in Cheney’s case the doctors were greeted with something of a surprise when they entered the chest cavity of one of America’s most recent war criminals. The lead surgeon at the Halliburton Medical Center mused,

 “I can’t say some of us didn’t have our suspicions going in, but we treated it as something of a joke. I don’t think any of us actually expected there would really be no heart in there. I mean many people are referred to as heartless, but even I always assumed this was just a derisive figure of speech, or by Cheney’s standards a term of endearment. As a doctor/mercenary you kind of assume that the human organism is incapable of survival without such a vital organ. In most cases you would be right. But it turns out that in Mr. Cheney’s case his body managed to survive on sheer willpower and a deep-seated hatred of mankind.”

They say Cheney had an untold number of heart attacks starting at age 37. If it is indeed true that he had a heart, it would seem that that heart knew early on that Cheney should be stopped before doing any real damage. The presence of a heart in that, by-all-appearances-human form, does stretch the imagination, but I suppose the possibility exists despite the inability of his current surgeons to detect one.

 Maybe since this heart doesn’t know Cheney personally it won’t start attacking him immediately. Perhaps since The Dark Shadow is - as far as we can tell - retired, this poor hijacked heart will allow him to live out the rest of his nights.


I. Mangrey reporting.
Thanks for listening. Responsible comment (and spare parts) invited.
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The War on Terror Has Changed Your Constitutional Rights

© Ruben Bolling

I reblogged this from Political Irony  a nifty blog  that you really should follow if you don't already. Click on the link and go there for  comments and commentary.

Perfect Together

It seems that Republican Rick ( also known as " he who shall not be googled") Santorum has much in common with Iran's lunatic Prez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.   Both men claim to be doing the will of the Almighty.  Both think 'God is on their side and the other side is possessed by " you know who".  It would be funny if it weren't so scary and if nuclear weapons were not on the table. Santorum and Ahmadinejad are just a couple of sock puppets, of course, with the real principal players off in the shadows posturing and making deals with each other.  The stakes are high and the testosterone flowing.

 But the big question is, in spite of the media hype all over the world, will angry rhetoric and economic sanctions stop Iran's nuclear ambitions?  Or will it be bomb bomb Iran? The real players behind the curtain are the ones who will make the real decisions and at the  moment, only God knows what will happen.

Personally, I would love to put these two in a room together and let them settle the whole thing via hand to hand combat, just like in the ancient world-- you know, the old " the winner is the one whom God REALLY loves"  Perhaps,  Dana Carvey as the SNL Church Lady could serve as referee.

It makes about as much sense as anything else in this crazy world we live in


cartoon source:

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

The Republican clown car moves on and on, commanding the attention of the American media and the American public-- Newt, Mitt, Rick Santorum and the ever present Ron Paul are in the arena jousting at the moment.  Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Jon Huntsman have already gotten the thumbs down.

Meanwhile, out in the real world, Europe is foundering and the financial future of the Euro is in danger, not to mention the future of the European Union itself.  In the Middle East,  the Arab Spring has turned to a rather violent winter with Syria becoming a slaughterhouse and Iran  rattling a big nuclear sabre , 
Meanwhile the US and EU are  trying to pursuede the world to boycott Iranian oil. ( Good luck folks) Russia is sitting this dance out, but seems ready to leap into the fray at a moment's notice to defend its friend, Iran. 

Has anybody in America noticed the  war drums beating in the background?  Probably not, because we are too busy watching the GOP in action on the campaign trail like it was some kind of sporting event or reality TV.  The 1% are still very firmly in control.

Guess what-- it doesn't matter who wins the Republican nomination  because the fix is in.  The average American is being entertained and getting screwed and if we Americans don't wake up we are going to deserve everything  we get.  But pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.  Just sit back and enjoy the show.

Oh, and if you want to see more wonderful cartoons like the one above, hie yourself on over to  Paulfellcartoons.com

Congress Makes New Years Resolutions

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Some things never change.  Congress talks the talk but never seems to be able to walk the walk angering both the left and the right and getting absolutely nothing done. What else is new?

  Happy New Year everybody. Here's to 2012

The War Is Over At Last

What began with shock and awe ( and horrified surprise for some of us) ended with a whimper as the United States signed over its last remaining base on Friday and the troops moved out to Kuwait..  A war that cost the United States more than 800 billion in treasure and close to 5,000 military lives in blood and God only knows what in bad karma, finally is over.  Many of us wish it had never begun and look forward to consigning the Iraq war to the big blunders of government pile. We just want to move on.

But let us not forget the thousands of men and women who served in this war.  Over 30,000 of them  are already at home recovering from wounds received and trying to recover their lives as well.  It is time for the rest of us-- whether we approved of the war or not ( I most certainly did not from beginning to end) to honor the service of the people who fought and not to forget them. I am ashamed when  I read that more than 200,000 Iraq vets are homeless or of the vets who can't get jobs or whose homes are being foreclosed on.  This is just not right.

Lets breathe a sigh of relief and give the soldiers a big welcome home-- but most of all, let's acknowledge their service by seeing that we treat them right once they are back home.  Only then can we really say:

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!  ( at last)

H/T to The Political Carnival  for the great cartoon.

Saturday Cartoon-- The GOP Lineup

This just says it all, doesn't it? Great cartoon  by Steve Sack..  Here's where it came from.

Everything Is Bigger in Texas

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Yessirreee, we got us another " all-hat-no-cattle" kinda Texan running for President. Rick Perry may not have shot himself in the foot again last night at the latest Republican debate, but that doesn't matter.  The man has Texas money and a Texas sized ego-- not to mention a parochial point of view.

He doesn't have a clue how ignorant he is about the world outside of Texas.  Does that remind you of anyone?  hmmmmmmmmmm????????

Last night at the Republican debate,  he threatened to totally end foreign aid to Pakistan unless they rolled over and became an American puppet AND mounted a vigorous defense of " enhanced interrogation techniques" aka torture.

On a lighter note, just to show what a regular Joe he is, he managed to make a few jokes about his faulty memory and previous debate gaffes.  Boy-- this guy makes Bush look like an intellectual giant, doesn't he?

Yup-- Everything really IS bigger in Texas

Herman Cain and America's Obsession With Sex

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I don't know folks, but something is very wrong.  The European Union is teetering on the brink, Greece and Italy are about to go belly up and the Euro is in deep doo doo.   Thailand is under water, literally.  Closer to home, Wall Street is being occupied and Main Street is going down the tubes-- not to mention there have just been three major earthquakes  and a big tornado in Oklahoma. 

But here in America, we are obsessed by sex and the sexual adventures of celebs and politicians. It is as if the current presidential political campaign is like an entertaining professional wrestling match or a soft porn video  that we cannot take our eyes off of no matter what is happening in the real world. 

At the moment the media can talk of nothing but Herman Cain and the ever increasing number of women he seems to have sexually assaulted through the years.  Now, Cain is a joke.... not ever likely to become the Republican candidate in 2012.  Even Republicans don't take him seriously, except for the lunatic fringe-- which I admit is quite a sizable chunk-- but still, like Donald Trump and Sarah Palin, he is apt to fade into the woodwork when the going gets serious.

What is wrong with us as a society? Who cares that Herman likes to play grab-ass? We are like teen agers at a peep show and we always have been.  We want our politicians to be real straight arrows, and we take them down fast when they aren't. We are the folks who made the name Monica Lewinsky a household word and ruined the career of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer because he had the nerve to patronize call girls.  These days we seem to care more about what happens to Kim Kardashiann  than the future of the Euro.  I've got news America-- what happens to Kim K. will affect you not at all.  What happens to the Euro could change your life bigtime. 

What has happened to us as a people? We are entertainment junkies.  The sexual adventures of people like Herman Cain are our version of ancient Rome's " bread and circuses" -- if we don't stop the madness, we are going to deserve what we get and what we get is not going to be a pretty picture.

The Fireman and the Arsonist

This cartoon, The Fireman and the Arsonist, which first appeared in Politico, is so cool that it is fast becoming an internet classic.  I  wanted to share it here just in case you haven't seen it. 

It is just sooooooooooo on target and we all know what one picture is worth, don't we?

Why The 99% Are PIssed, Part Two

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Last week I blogged about the stupidity of TV pundits who don't get why the 99% are pissed and who really don't see that the Occupy Wall Street Movement is not a mess of malcontents, but a reflection of global discontent that spans age groups and continents.  It is definitely not going away soon.

This week I came across proof, in the form of an academic study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich,  one of the world's most respected universities, which concludes that Wall Street really does run the world, and that we are totally at the mercy of a small, tight-knit group of international bankers. The Swiss should certainly know about that, eh?  Here's what the study concludes:

147 companies account for the majority of  the economic value of all international companies, worldwide.  AND-- of the top 50 companies on the list, 45 operate within the financial industry. Do names like Barclays, UBS, and JP Morgan Chase  ring a bell?

So now there is proof that Wall Street really is Lord of the global economy and we the people are nothng but vassals and serfs.  Welcome to the new Dark Ages.  That is why the 99% are pissed and now there is an academic study that proves they have every right to be.

Born To Run But Not in 2012

The GOP wants him, they love him, they woo him but it ain't gonna happen.  Chris Christie is like a virgin at a Jersey Shore beer blast...... tantilizingly out of reach and always holding out the promise of " not now but maybe later"

Christie takes his orders from above and is not gonna do anything to louse up his gig here in the Garden State. Between Bachmann, Perry, and ( God help us all) Donald Trump, the GOP has really been scrambling to come up with a date for the prom. Mittins is their only viable candidate so far for 2012-- but even with an opening big enough to drive a truck through, I think Christie is saving himself for 2016. 

Meanwhile, here in New Jersey, Big Chris  keeps making us offers we cannot refuse.  

Stay tuned, America. 

H/T to New Jersey Newsroom for cartoon by Mike Scott

Is Eric Cantor The Marie Antoinette of The GOP?

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House Majority Leader,Eric Cantor, ( R, Va.) has an uncanny sense of timing.  Right in the middle of Hurricane Irene ( while my electricity was off and my basement filling with water) he evidently re-iterated  his " let them eat cake" position first taken after tornadoes devastated Joplin, Missouri in May.  

To wit:

 “If there is support for a supplemental, it would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors to that supplemental,” Mr. Cantor, Virginia Republican, told reporters at the Capitol. The term “pay-fors” is used by lawmakers to signal cuts or tax increases used to pay for new spending."

That was what Cantor had to say in May about Joplin.  Just as Hurricane Irene was  making her way up the East Coast Cantor opened is mouth again on Fox News to say that disaster relief for victims of last week's earthquake( the epicenter of which was in his home district) and Hurricane Irene should only be available if offset by cuts in other programs.

This is a good idea in theory, but only if it comes out of the pockets of people or organizations that can afford it. How do I know that the offsets he has in mind are not the pentagon, or corporate tax breaks, or a special temporary disaster tax for the very rich, or a national gas tax-- all of which would be fine.

  But I bet Cantor has in mind cutting early childhood education, or food stamps or medicare or something involving powerless people who can't fight back. GOP bailouts seem to be for bankers and corporations only.

I notice Cantor has shut his mouth in the last day or so.  Maybe folks in his district who were hit hard by the earthquake complained, or maybe somebody clued him in to what happened to Marie Antoinette when she under-estimated " the little people."

Update:  as of an hour ago, Cantor seems to have gotten the message and has clarified his position and walked it back a bit, as per this great TPM post

Fox News Reports the Heatwave

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Keep cool everybody and while you're at it, you might as well have a laugh.  Found this and some other great heatwave theme political cartoons on The Political Carnival.  Go have a look .

 Have a great week-end and try to stay cool