You can't really spoil something that's already rotten.
-- Green Party vice presidential nominee Cheri Honkala refuting Bill Moyers & Company's assertion that votes belong to either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.
Sunday, September 09, 2012
Truest statement of the week II
Most people don’t want to
be a perceived as party-poopers – which is why the principled folks
that have protested the evil antics of the corporate, imperial parties,
in Tampa and Charlotte, are so much to be admired. Frankly, who wants to
be the one to point out, in the middle of the festivities, that
Michelle Obama was just a Chicago Daley machine hack lawyer who was
rewarded with a quarter million dollar a year job of neutralizing
community complaints against the omnivorous University of Chicago
Hospitals? She resigned from her $50,000 seat on the board of directors
of Tree-House Foods, a major Wal-Mart supplier, early in her husband’s
presidential campaign. But, once in the White House, the First Lady
quickly returned to flaking for Wal-Mart, praising the anti-union “death star” behemoth’s inner city groceries offensive as part of her White House healthy foods booster duties.
She also serves on the
board of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the corporate foreign
policy outfit to which her husband dutifully reported, each year, in his
pucker-up to the presidency. The Obamas are a global capital-loving
couple, two cynical lawyers on hire to the wealthiest and the
ghastliest. They are no nicer or nastier than the Romneys and the Ryans,
although the man of the house bombs babies and keeps a kill list. Yet,
former “green jobs” czar Van Jones, a convention night chatterer on CNN
who was fired by Obama for no good reason, chokes up when he speaks of
the Black family that fronts for America – a huge act of national
camouflage.
-- Glen Ford, "What Obama Has Wrought" (Black Agenda Report).
A note to our readers
Hey --
Another Sunday.
First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
And what did we come up with?
Cheri Honkala, the Green Party's vice presidential nominee.
Glen Ford with another truest.
We were toying with something else for the editorial. When we started leaning towards this, Isaiah said, "I've got a comic I'm doing on that tonight." So the comic was published right then so we could include it in the editorial.
Ava and C.I. look at the DNC, The Diane Rehm Show, Bill Moyers new show and a lot more confidence games in their latest.
Rebecca said, when Dona was asking for short features, "Debbie Wasserman Schultz finally washed her hair but did anyone see that mascara?" That led to this.
We roundtable the political campaign developments of last week.
Joe Biden was rousing, we will all give him that. It's a shame he wasn't more factual.
John Kerry also repeated this lie. We didn't include John Kerry. Why? We assume we'll be calling him out soon enough as the man who should have stayed home with his ailing wife. SO we just focused on Rahm instead.
Repost from the Jill Stein campaign.
Repost from Workers World.
Mike and the gang wrote this and we thank them for it.
See you next week.
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Another Sunday.
First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
And what did we come up with?
Cheri Honkala, the Green Party's vice presidential nominee.
Glen Ford with another truest.
We were toying with something else for the editorial. When we started leaning towards this, Isaiah said, "I've got a comic I'm doing on that tonight." So the comic was published right then so we could include it in the editorial.
Ava and C.I. look at the DNC, The Diane Rehm Show, Bill Moyers new show and a lot more confidence games in their latest.
Rebecca said, when Dona was asking for short features, "Debbie Wasserman Schultz finally washed her hair but did anyone see that mascara?" That led to this.
We roundtable the political campaign developments of last week.
Joe Biden was rousing, we will all give him that. It's a shame he wasn't more factual.
John Kerry also repeated this lie. We didn't include John Kerry. Why? We assume we'll be calling him out soon enough as the man who should have stayed home with his ailing wife. SO we just focused on Rahm instead.
Repost from the Jill Stein campaign.
Repost from Workers World.
Mike and the gang wrote this and we thank them for it.
See you next week.
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Editorial: It Takes A Xenophobe (named Tom!)
Tom Hayden's the joke on the left that just keeps on giving. Then candidate Barack Obama, in 2007, saw just how ridiculous Tom was prompting Barack to deride "Tom Hayden Democrats." Tom Hayden Democrats are worthless whores who can't be trusted when a Democrats in the White House.
The always worthless Tom-Tom showed up last week to spew and whore.
Among his talking points? Barack did so end the Iraq War -- did so!!!!
Tom Hayden's such a creep. He really is. He's a sexist and he's a xenophobe. When he tries to cover one, he usually lets slip the other such as in his claim that when the US government declares that the Iraq War they started has ended that means it ended.
Tom Hayden is a worthless piece of s**t.
AP reports at least 82 people dead today from violent attacks in Iraq.
What war ended?
That is the height of xenophobia and highly offensive, to claim that just because the perpetrators have largely left, the war has ended.
The US unleashed the war and then they realized they couldn't afford it on the grand scale anymore so they reduced it.
It takes a real whore to ignore the dead and wounded Iraqis who continue to be harmed in this US-started war.
------------
Illustration is Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Tom Hayden Democrats."
The always worthless Tom-Tom showed up last week to spew and whore.
Among his talking points? Barack did so end the Iraq War -- did so!!!!
Tom Hayden's such a creep. He really is. He's a sexist and he's a xenophobe. When he tries to cover one, he usually lets slip the other such as in his claim that when the US government declares that the Iraq War they started has ended that means it ended.
Tom Hayden is a worthless piece of s**t.
AP reports at least 82 people dead today from violent attacks in Iraq.
What war ended?
That is the height of xenophobia and highly offensive, to claim that just because the perpetrators have largely left, the war has ended.
The US unleashed the war and then they realized they couldn't afford it on the grand scale anymore so they reduced it.
It takes a real whore to ignore the dead and wounded Iraqis who continue to be harmed in this US-started war.
------------
Illustration is Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Tom Hayden Democrats."
TV: Pig In A Poke
TV's supposed to do many things including reflect the world around them. Last week, it did just that and it was not at all pretty. It was, however, historic.
Politics is nothing but a confidence game, probably the oldest around, it predates even prostitution as one of the world's oldest crimes. And never was that more clear than in the coverage that came out of Charlotte last week where the Democratic National Convention took place.
Lilly Ledbetter achieved a feat rare for a non-elected official at a political party convention, she both lied and was used as a lie.
We're feminists. This is the first time we've mentioned Lilly Ledbetter. Because she's not about feminism. And the act passed in her name isn't about feminism.
People don't understand that and it allowed Lilly to lie and others to lie and cite Lilly as some great feminist move by Barack.
Lilly Ledbetter worked for a company which underpaid her. She made significantly less than her male counterparts. In 1998, her retirement year, she filed a lawsuit. When her case reached the Supreme Court, gender wasn't the issue. To hear her and others lie about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 is really something. Just as the Court didn't rule on gender, the bill doesn't take into account gender.
The Court ruled that the case lacked standing because it had been over 180 days since the pay decision was made and that Ledbetter should have filed a complaint with the EEOC within 180 days of the pay decision.
Writing the majority opinion, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito declared:
This case calls upon us to apply established precedent in a slightly different context. We have previously held that the time for filing a charge of employment discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) begins when the discriminatory act occurs. We have explained that this rule applies to any "[d]iscrete ac[t]" of discrimination, including discrimination in "termination, failure to promote, denial of transfer, [and] refusal to hire." National Railroad Passenger Corporation v. Morgan, 536 U. S. 101, 114 (2002). Because a pay-setting decision is a "discrete act," it follows that the period for filing an EEOC charge begins when the act occurs. Petitioner, having abandoned her claim under the Equal Pay Act, asks us to deviate from our prior decisions in order to permit her to assert her claim under Title VII. Petitioner also contends that discrimination in pay is different from other types of employment discrimination and thus should be governed by a different rule. But because a pay-setting decision is a discrete act that occurs at a particular point in time, these arguments must be rejected. We therefore affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
What did the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act do? Passed by Congress in January 2009 and signed by Barack on the 29th of that month, the act allows the 180 day time period to kick off with each check issued as opposed to a one-time 180 days. It covers race, age, gender, disabilities, ethnic origins and other classes which may lead to discrimination.
It does nothing for pay. It does nothing to end gender discrimination. We're not saying it's bad. We would have voted on it. In 2008 and in 2009. Yeah, 2008. It didn't suddenly appear in January 2009 for the first time. And the Senate voted on it (first time) April 23, 2008. Though we would have voted for it, guess who didn't? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He was a "no" vote.
So we don't see the legislation as breakthrough or feminist. Then there's Lilly herself.
When did she find out about the pay discrimination? That detail has changed so much. Last week, in Charlotte, she told people it was "two decades" after it took place. That's had right-wing sites like OpenMarket chortling since, in her deposition, she states she first learned of it in 1992, six years before she retired and filed a lawsuit. (You can also refer to Stuart Taylor's National Journal report.) Her inability to be honest before Congress, in speeches, etc. is the other reason we have no interest in Lilly Ledbetter.
Sadly, others can't say the same. Michelle Obama declared in her speech, "That's why he signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to help women get equal pay for equal work." But the "that" she's referring to is that Barack's grandmother allegedly had trouble moving up the corporate ladder and saw men she trained advanced ahead of her repeatedly. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act has nothing to do with what Michelle's talking about. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was misleading in her speech as well, "Working with President Obama, Democrats passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to strengthen the rights of women in the workplace; [. . .]" Again, it's not legislation about women, it's not legislation that changes anything other than the timeline for lawsuits. Consider it the Lawyers Get More Clients Act.
During its hey-day at the convention, only US House Rep. Rosa DeLauro provided accuracy, "The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, to give victims of pay discrimination their day in court, was the first bill President Obama signed into law. Now we want to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act: real protections to ensure equal pay for equal work." Everyone else made the act out to be something it wasn't. And then, angered by the fact checkers, the Dems largely dropped it with only one exception, US House Rep. Steve Israel who declared Wednesday, "At the start, we sent the president the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, because we believe a woman should be paid the same as a man for equal work." If you believe that, you should have passed a law that did that -- the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act does not do that. You can lie all you want, it doesn't do that.
We should note that even when it was being mentioned by various politicians, it was really by female politicians. The men were usually much more interested in expressing outrage over Mitch McConnell's 2009 remark. US House Rep Steny Hoyer limply tried to thunder, "Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, said that Republicans' number one priority was the defeat of President Obama."
He was far from alone harping on McConnell and Diane Rehm was 'puzzled' by McConnell's three year old remark as well on Friday's first hour of The Diane Rehm Show (NPR), asking for clarity from The New York Times' Sheryl Gay Stolberg.
Diane Rhem: Why the statement?
Sheryl Gay Stolberg: The statement that their number one task was to reclaim the White House?
Diane Rehm: Absolutely.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg: Well, because that's what political parties do, right?
Yes, it was that obvious and good for Sheryl Gay Stolberg for speaking the plain truth in a week when truth was in such short supply.
Along with mangled facts, Charlotte provided mangled attempts at being 'hip.' Charles Schumer probably self-embarrassed the most, signing off his Wednesday night speech with, "As we say in Brooklyn, fuhgeddaboutit." He is aware that The Sopranos ceased production in 2007, right? And that the reference would have seemed old even at the 2008 Democratic Party convention, right?
Cecile Richards was even more embarrassing, mangling basic jokes that her mother, the late Texas Governor Ann Richards, would have hit out of the park with ease. One example, "As my grandmother back in Texas would have said about any more help from Mitt Romney, 'I'm going to have to take in ironing'." Embarrassing. Cecile is not known for much more than being Ann's daughter. That's how she got her position at Planned Parenthood. She doesn't need to remind she was raised in Texas, it's obvious. But even if it's not, it doesn't belong in that joke.
"I'm going to have to take in ironing" is the punch line. You do the set-up quickly and get to that joke -- without asides, without tangents.
Television's longest running joke is Bill Moyers. PBS and NPR proper won't touch him so his new show comes to TV via American Public Television and to radio via PRI. It's called Moyers & Company and it continues the pattern of Bill Moyers Journal in that it books very few women.
Remember how we were mentioning Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his opposition (in 2008) to the Lilly Ledbetter bill? How he voted "no"? Well he came up on Moyers & Company last Friday when either the biggest fraud in the Senate or the weakest, Bernie Sanders, declared, "You know, there are Democrats, including Harry Reid, who are good friends of mine and who I work with. And there are other people in the Democratic caucus, who on many issues are no different than Republicans." Again, Reid voted "no" on Ledbetter.
But Bernie's a Socialist who depends upon the Democratic Party. His House career was nothing to be proud of. Always it was, "Bernie's going to stand up." He never did. Then in 2005, it became, "Let him run for the Senate in 2006, once he's elected there, he's got six years, not two. And he can make a real difference."
What a crock.
The 71-year-old Senator should have been able to stand up long ago. Instead he can't even tell the truth about Harry Reid's voting record. He has a lousy record for a Democrat. But you don't go after Harry Reid and get re-elected.
Bernie is listed as an "Indpendent." He's a Socialist. So which Democrat ran against him in 2006? What Democrat is running against him this year?
None and none.
It was that way with the House as well. When you're not a Democrat and you're running as an independent but the Democratic Party refuses to run someone against you, you've made a deal with the Democrats.
Bernie is not independent and it was hilarious to hear tired whore Bill Moyers spin that Bernie "belongs to no party, he's truly an independent."
Why was Bernie on?
We'll get to it.
We don't care for Bill -- check the archives -- and had hoped the article this summer would be the only one we had to write about him. But then we had to watch his lousy program Friday.
Why?
Guests included the Green Party's presidential ticket: Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala. Dr. Stein did get to talk about the Green New Deal.
Jill Stein: It is an emergency program to solve two problems: the unemployment crisis and the climate crisis. And it basically uses the model of the New Deal which got us out of the Great Depression, created a lot of jobs in the 1930s. We can do that. It directly creates jobs in our communities, and at the same time that it creates jobs it also jumpstarts the green economy that effectively spells an end to climate change and makes wars for oil obsolete. It makes national dollars available at the local level so our communities can decide what kinds of jobs they need to become sustainable. So it creates jobs for teachers. Let's hire back those hundreds of thousands of teachers who've been laid off, nurses, childcare after school, home care, elder care, violence prevention, drug abuse rehabilitation, affordable housing construction. It allows people to go down to an employment office and get a job in public works and public services. And it also provides funding for small businesses and start-ups at the community level.
Using Jill Stein as bait, Bill knew he had a chance at bringing in some new eyeballs. That's important to Moyers & Company because it continues to struggle and PBS stations aren't seeing the passion for it that there was in 2007 for Bill Moyers Journal or, in 2003, for NOW with Bill Moyers. So new eyeballs are necessary or his show's getting dropped. (It's already not being carried the way Bill Moyers Journal was or given the prime time slots the previous show received.)
More important to Moyers (who's to vain to believe he can ever fail -- vain and in denial) is re-electing Barack Obama. Electing Barack was the goal in 2008. It's why Bill Moyers became such a problem for PBS and they started getting very public about the fact that he was not part of the news division and that he did opinion and commentary for PBS, not reporting.
The thing that still stands out to PBS' news division (we spoke to members for this piece) all this time later? The 'moisty' (his term) moment. When Hillary Clinton's eyes moistened in New Hampshire. And how Bill Moyers mocked her for that ("moisty" being only one example) on air and decided to go to a clip . . . of the just out of rehab this weekend Jesse Jackson Jr. ripping her apart. Not to a clip of what happened. Bill went from his own distortion of Hillary to Junior's attack on her and Bill pretended he was being impartial. What a crock. The only thing funnier than that is Bill Moyers' ridiculous hair style. If you're self-hating and would like to wear your hair that way, just tell your stylist you want the I'm-Not-Getting-Sex-Ever-Again look.
There was Bill, pretending he hated to bring up the topic, but yammering away about Ralph Nader, turning a good portion of the interview over to Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential run. You know what would have been really great?
Jill or Cheri pointing out that, in 2008, Bill refused to interview Ralph for Bill Moyers Journal. That he refused to interview the Green Party's presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney. Bill was so into Barack that there wasn't even the pretense of interest in Nader or the Green Party.
Pretense of interest? He offered it this year and did so for one reason only: To sell Barack.
Bernie Sanders is a crap ass politician. We say that as two who've sat through the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearings. Did you know Bernie is a member of that Committee?
He is. We're not sure he knows it, but he is a member. He's a member who rarely shows up for hearings. We also regularly attend the House Veterans Affairs Committee hearings, the House and Senate Armed Services Committee hearings and the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearings and Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings. We're amazed by how often Bernie fails to show up for the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearings and can't think of anyone on another committee who misses as often as Bernie. But when he is present, Bernie makes a speech. It's a speech we usually agree with. It's just not a speech that carries any weight any more due to the fact that he never follows up on it.
Bernie was brought on to vouch for Barack to the independents.
He was there to dispel concerns from the left and right because this election will be decided by swing-voters, independents and late to the election types.
Is, Bill Moyers pretended he wanted to know, Barack a Socialist?
No, insisted Bernie. And, he insisted, he could prove it, "Can I prove he's not a socialist? Yeah. Look at his record. He is not a socialist."
If he'd left it there, he might have been more convincing; however, he kept talking.
Bernie Sanders: I mean, that's-- I mean, to be a socialist, a democratic socialist is to say, "Hey, we have 15 percent of our people unemployed today, that's the reality, or underemployed, some, close to 25 million workers. We are going to have a jobs program to put those people back to work. We're going to deal with the deficit in a progressive way."
Is that what it means to be Socialist?
Okay, then by Bernie's own definition, he's not a Socialist.
Take a look at his record for this year and last.
You may argue, "He was being practical and voting with Democrats!"
Okay, but we're not talking about his voting record, we're talking the legislation he introduced.
By the definition he gave for Socialism, Bernie himself is not a Socialist based on the bills he's introduced.
"But," you whine, "he was trying to be practical."
That's all you got? That's your fall back for everything? Bernie's a con artist from a long way back. But let's allow this lie that he was being "practical," okay? It sure as hell didn't work. Most of his bills have no co-sponsors, none of them from the last two years have passed.
If this is being "practical," it's not working for Bernie.
Barack is more unpopular than ever. His policies aren't what people hoped they'd be when they voted for him in 2008. Which is why so many lies came out of Charlotte last week. It was Three Card Monte and they all hoped to pack up and be back out on the campaign trail before the fact checkers caught on. Bill Moyers and Bernie Sanders were attempting to successfully execute the Pig in a Poke manuever -- the con where you think you're getting something of value but you're only getting something cheap and common. That is the US today, nothing but con games, no one willing to tell the truth and that was so aptly demonstrated at the DNC when they aired Jimmy Carter with a speech so embarrassing and self-serving that it appears no one bothered to transcribe it. Jimmy Carter, like Bernie, wanted you to know those 'crazy, wascal Republicans' were out to get you and that only the Democrats could save you (this con is known as the False Good Samaritan for those scoring at home). And as you listened to Carter prattle on for over four minutes, you might have forgotten that just months ago, the end of June, he penned a column for The New York Times decrying the government "abandoning its role as a champion of human rights [. . .] As a result, our country can no longer speak with moral authority on these critical issues." As June ended, Jimmy said that the US could "no longer speak with moral authority" yet last week, he told the country, "Overseas, President Obama has restored the reputation of the United States within the world community." Which is it, Jimmy?
If you'll agree trust is another form of currency, Jimmy Carter was working the Ponzi Scheme. The whole damn week was nothing but a con, a series of short-cons that are supposed to trick us long enough to get our votes.
Politics is nothing but a confidence game, probably the oldest around, it predates even prostitution as one of the world's oldest crimes. And never was that more clear than in the coverage that came out of Charlotte last week where the Democratic National Convention took place.
Lilly Ledbetter achieved a feat rare for a non-elected official at a political party convention, she both lied and was used as a lie.
We're feminists. This is the first time we've mentioned Lilly Ledbetter. Because she's not about feminism. And the act passed in her name isn't about feminism.
People don't understand that and it allowed Lilly to lie and others to lie and cite Lilly as some great feminist move by Barack.
Lilly Ledbetter worked for a company which underpaid her. She made significantly less than her male counterparts. In 1998, her retirement year, she filed a lawsuit. When her case reached the Supreme Court, gender wasn't the issue. To hear her and others lie about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 is really something. Just as the Court didn't rule on gender, the bill doesn't take into account gender.
The Court ruled that the case lacked standing because it had been over 180 days since the pay decision was made and that Ledbetter should have filed a complaint with the EEOC within 180 days of the pay decision.
Writing the majority opinion, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito declared:
This case calls upon us to apply established precedent in a slightly different context. We have previously held that the time for filing a charge of employment discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) begins when the discriminatory act occurs. We have explained that this rule applies to any "[d]iscrete ac[t]" of discrimination, including discrimination in "termination, failure to promote, denial of transfer, [and] refusal to hire." National Railroad Passenger Corporation v. Morgan, 536 U. S. 101, 114 (2002). Because a pay-setting decision is a "discrete act," it follows that the period for filing an EEOC charge begins when the act occurs. Petitioner, having abandoned her claim under the Equal Pay Act, asks us to deviate from our prior decisions in order to permit her to assert her claim under Title VII. Petitioner also contends that discrimination in pay is different from other types of employment discrimination and thus should be governed by a different rule. But because a pay-setting decision is a discrete act that occurs at a particular point in time, these arguments must be rejected. We therefore affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
What did the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act do? Passed by Congress in January 2009 and signed by Barack on the 29th of that month, the act allows the 180 day time period to kick off with each check issued as opposed to a one-time 180 days. It covers race, age, gender, disabilities, ethnic origins and other classes which may lead to discrimination.
It does nothing for pay. It does nothing to end gender discrimination. We're not saying it's bad. We would have voted on it. In 2008 and in 2009. Yeah, 2008. It didn't suddenly appear in January 2009 for the first time. And the Senate voted on it (first time) April 23, 2008. Though we would have voted for it, guess who didn't? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He was a "no" vote.
So we don't see the legislation as breakthrough or feminist. Then there's Lilly herself.
When did she find out about the pay discrimination? That detail has changed so much. Last week, in Charlotte, she told people it was "two decades" after it took place. That's had right-wing sites like OpenMarket chortling since, in her deposition, she states she first learned of it in 1992, six years before she retired and filed a lawsuit. (You can also refer to Stuart Taylor's National Journal report.) Her inability to be honest before Congress, in speeches, etc. is the other reason we have no interest in Lilly Ledbetter.
Sadly, others can't say the same. Michelle Obama declared in her speech, "That's why he signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to help women get equal pay for equal work." But the "that" she's referring to is that Barack's grandmother allegedly had trouble moving up the corporate ladder and saw men she trained advanced ahead of her repeatedly. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act has nothing to do with what Michelle's talking about. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was misleading in her speech as well, "Working with President Obama, Democrats passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to strengthen the rights of women in the workplace; [. . .]" Again, it's not legislation about women, it's not legislation that changes anything other than the timeline for lawsuits. Consider it the Lawyers Get More Clients Act.
During its hey-day at the convention, only US House Rep. Rosa DeLauro provided accuracy, "The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, to give victims of pay discrimination their day in court, was the first bill President Obama signed into law. Now we want to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act: real protections to ensure equal pay for equal work." Everyone else made the act out to be something it wasn't. And then, angered by the fact checkers, the Dems largely dropped it with only one exception, US House Rep. Steve Israel who declared Wednesday, "At the start, we sent the president the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, because we believe a woman should be paid the same as a man for equal work." If you believe that, you should have passed a law that did that -- the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act does not do that. You can lie all you want, it doesn't do that.
We should note that even when it was being mentioned by various politicians, it was really by female politicians. The men were usually much more interested in expressing outrage over Mitch McConnell's 2009 remark. US House Rep Steny Hoyer limply tried to thunder, "Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, said that Republicans' number one priority was the defeat of President Obama."
He was far from alone harping on McConnell and Diane Rehm was 'puzzled' by McConnell's three year old remark as well on Friday's first hour of The Diane Rehm Show (NPR), asking for clarity from The New York Times' Sheryl Gay Stolberg.
Diane Rhem: Why the statement?
Sheryl Gay Stolberg: The statement that their number one task was to reclaim the White House?
Diane Rehm: Absolutely.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg: Well, because that's what political parties do, right?
Yes, it was that obvious and good for Sheryl Gay Stolberg for speaking the plain truth in a week when truth was in such short supply.
Along with mangled facts, Charlotte provided mangled attempts at being 'hip.' Charles Schumer probably self-embarrassed the most, signing off his Wednesday night speech with, "As we say in Brooklyn, fuhgeddaboutit." He is aware that The Sopranos ceased production in 2007, right? And that the reference would have seemed old even at the 2008 Democratic Party convention, right?
Cecile Richards was even more embarrassing, mangling basic jokes that her mother, the late Texas Governor Ann Richards, would have hit out of the park with ease. One example, "As my grandmother back in Texas would have said about any more help from Mitt Romney, 'I'm going to have to take in ironing'." Embarrassing. Cecile is not known for much more than being Ann's daughter. That's how she got her position at Planned Parenthood. She doesn't need to remind she was raised in Texas, it's obvious. But even if it's not, it doesn't belong in that joke.
"I'm going to have to take in ironing" is the punch line. You do the set-up quickly and get to that joke -- without asides, without tangents.
Television's longest running joke is Bill Moyers. PBS and NPR proper won't touch him so his new show comes to TV via American Public Television and to radio via PRI. It's called Moyers & Company and it continues the pattern of Bill Moyers Journal in that it books very few women.
Remember how we were mentioning Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his opposition (in 2008) to the Lilly Ledbetter bill? How he voted "no"? Well he came up on Moyers & Company last Friday when either the biggest fraud in the Senate or the weakest, Bernie Sanders, declared, "You know, there are Democrats, including Harry Reid, who are good friends of mine and who I work with. And there are other people in the Democratic caucus, who on many issues are no different than Republicans." Again, Reid voted "no" on Ledbetter.
But Bernie's a Socialist who depends upon the Democratic Party. His House career was nothing to be proud of. Always it was, "Bernie's going to stand up." He never did. Then in 2005, it became, "Let him run for the Senate in 2006, once he's elected there, he's got six years, not two. And he can make a real difference."
What a crock.
The 71-year-old Senator should have been able to stand up long ago. Instead he can't even tell the truth about Harry Reid's voting record. He has a lousy record for a Democrat. But you don't go after Harry Reid and get re-elected.
Bernie is listed as an "Indpendent." He's a Socialist. So which Democrat ran against him in 2006? What Democrat is running against him this year?
None and none.
It was that way with the House as well. When you're not a Democrat and you're running as an independent but the Democratic Party refuses to run someone against you, you've made a deal with the Democrats.
Bernie is not independent and it was hilarious to hear tired whore Bill Moyers spin that Bernie "belongs to no party, he's truly an independent."
Why was Bernie on?
We'll get to it.
We don't care for Bill -- check the archives -- and had hoped the article this summer would be the only one we had to write about him. But then we had to watch his lousy program Friday.
Why?
Guests included the Green Party's presidential ticket: Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala. Dr. Stein did get to talk about the Green New Deal.
Jill Stein: It is an emergency program to solve two problems: the unemployment crisis and the climate crisis. And it basically uses the model of the New Deal which got us out of the Great Depression, created a lot of jobs in the 1930s. We can do that. It directly creates jobs in our communities, and at the same time that it creates jobs it also jumpstarts the green economy that effectively spells an end to climate change and makes wars for oil obsolete. It makes national dollars available at the local level so our communities can decide what kinds of jobs they need to become sustainable. So it creates jobs for teachers. Let's hire back those hundreds of thousands of teachers who've been laid off, nurses, childcare after school, home care, elder care, violence prevention, drug abuse rehabilitation, affordable housing construction. It allows people to go down to an employment office and get a job in public works and public services. And it also provides funding for small businesses and start-ups at the community level.
Using Jill Stein as bait, Bill knew he had a chance at bringing in some new eyeballs. That's important to Moyers & Company because it continues to struggle and PBS stations aren't seeing the passion for it that there was in 2007 for Bill Moyers Journal or, in 2003, for NOW with Bill Moyers. So new eyeballs are necessary or his show's getting dropped. (It's already not being carried the way Bill Moyers Journal was or given the prime time slots the previous show received.)
More important to Moyers (who's to vain to believe he can ever fail -- vain and in denial) is re-electing Barack Obama. Electing Barack was the goal in 2008. It's why Bill Moyers became such a problem for PBS and they started getting very public about the fact that he was not part of the news division and that he did opinion and commentary for PBS, not reporting.
The thing that still stands out to PBS' news division (we spoke to members for this piece) all this time later? The 'moisty' (his term) moment. When Hillary Clinton's eyes moistened in New Hampshire. And how Bill Moyers mocked her for that ("moisty" being only one example) on air and decided to go to a clip . . . of the just out of rehab this weekend Jesse Jackson Jr. ripping her apart. Not to a clip of what happened. Bill went from his own distortion of Hillary to Junior's attack on her and Bill pretended he was being impartial. What a crock. The only thing funnier than that is Bill Moyers' ridiculous hair style. If you're self-hating and would like to wear your hair that way, just tell your stylist you want the I'm-Not-Getting-Sex-Ever-Again look.
There was Bill, pretending he hated to bring up the topic, but yammering away about Ralph Nader, turning a good portion of the interview over to Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential run. You know what would have been really great?
Jill or Cheri pointing out that, in 2008, Bill refused to interview Ralph for Bill Moyers Journal. That he refused to interview the Green Party's presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney. Bill was so into Barack that there wasn't even the pretense of interest in Nader or the Green Party.
Pretense of interest? He offered it this year and did so for one reason only: To sell Barack.
Bernie Sanders is a crap ass politician. We say that as two who've sat through the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearings. Did you know Bernie is a member of that Committee?
He is. We're not sure he knows it, but he is a member. He's a member who rarely shows up for hearings. We also regularly attend the House Veterans Affairs Committee hearings, the House and Senate Armed Services Committee hearings and the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearings and Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings. We're amazed by how often Bernie fails to show up for the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearings and can't think of anyone on another committee who misses as often as Bernie. But when he is present, Bernie makes a speech. It's a speech we usually agree with. It's just not a speech that carries any weight any more due to the fact that he never follows up on it.
Bernie was brought on to vouch for Barack to the independents.
He was there to dispel concerns from the left and right because this election will be decided by swing-voters, independents and late to the election types.
Is, Bill Moyers pretended he wanted to know, Barack a Socialist?
No, insisted Bernie. And, he insisted, he could prove it, "Can I prove he's not a socialist? Yeah. Look at his record. He is not a socialist."
If he'd left it there, he might have been more convincing; however, he kept talking.
Bernie Sanders: I mean, that's-- I mean, to be a socialist, a democratic socialist is to say, "Hey, we have 15 percent of our people unemployed today, that's the reality, or underemployed, some, close to 25 million workers. We are going to have a jobs program to put those people back to work. We're going to deal with the deficit in a progressive way."
Is that what it means to be Socialist?
Okay, then by Bernie's own definition, he's not a Socialist.
Take a look at his record for this year and last.
You may argue, "He was being practical and voting with Democrats!"
Okay, but we're not talking about his voting record, we're talking the legislation he introduced.
By the definition he gave for Socialism, Bernie himself is not a Socialist based on the bills he's introduced.
"But," you whine, "he was trying to be practical."
That's all you got? That's your fall back for everything? Bernie's a con artist from a long way back. But let's allow this lie that he was being "practical," okay? It sure as hell didn't work. Most of his bills have no co-sponsors, none of them from the last two years have passed.
If this is being "practical," it's not working for Bernie.
Barack is more unpopular than ever. His policies aren't what people hoped they'd be when they voted for him in 2008. Which is why so many lies came out of Charlotte last week. It was Three Card Monte and they all hoped to pack up and be back out on the campaign trail before the fact checkers caught on. Bill Moyers and Bernie Sanders were attempting to successfully execute the Pig in a Poke manuever -- the con where you think you're getting something of value but you're only getting something cheap and common. That is the US today, nothing but con games, no one willing to tell the truth and that was so aptly demonstrated at the DNC when they aired Jimmy Carter with a speech so embarrassing and self-serving that it appears no one bothered to transcribe it. Jimmy Carter, like Bernie, wanted you to know those 'crazy, wascal Republicans' were out to get you and that only the Democrats could save you (this con is known as the False Good Samaritan for those scoring at home). And as you listened to Carter prattle on for over four minutes, you might have forgotten that just months ago, the end of June, he penned a column for The New York Times decrying the government "abandoning its role as a champion of human rights [. . .] As a result, our country can no longer speak with moral authority on these critical issues." As June ended, Jimmy said that the US could "no longer speak with moral authority" yet last week, he told the country, "Overseas, President Obama has restored the reputation of the United States within the world community." Which is it, Jimmy?
If you'll agree trust is another form of currency, Jimmy Carter was working the Ponzi Scheme. The whole damn week was nothing but a con, a series of short-cons that are supposed to trick us long enough to get our votes.
As if last week's DNC didn't have enough problems
. . . they faced an invasion of raccoons.
Not just any racoons, mind you.
No, judging from the hair, it was 80s racoons.
This one looks surprisingly like US House Rep. Debbie Wassermn Schultz.
Most animal control professions suggest the easiest way to get raccoons out of your yard is to stop leaving pet food outside. So stop leaving the food outside or prepare for the possibility that raccoon above will soon visit you.
Not just any racoons, mind you.
No, judging from the hair, it was 80s racoons.
This one looks surprisingly like US House Rep. Debbie Wassermn Schultz.
Most animal control professions suggest the easiest way to get raccoons out of your yard is to stop leaving pet food outside. So stop leaving the food outside or prepare for the possibility that raccoon above will soon visit you.
Roundtable
Jim: Again it's roundtable time and we'll be addressing the political race and anything else we can squeeze in. Our
e-mail address is thirdestatesundayreview@yahoo.com. Participating our roundtable are The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava, and me, Jim; Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude; Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man; C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review; Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills); Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix; Mike of Mikey Likes It!; Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz); Ruth of Ruth's Report; Trina of Trina's Kitchen; Wally of The Daily Jot; Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ; Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends; Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
Betty's kids did the
illustration. You are reading a rush transcript.
Jim (Con't): It's September and US elections will be held November 6th. That's not that far away and one presidential ticket took a rough hit last week. C.I. covered it in Tuesday's "Iraq snapshot." Wally, what's going on?
Wally: Cindy Sheehan, for health and other reasons, has stepped off the Peace and Freedom Party's presidential ticket. Cindy Sheehan had been Roseanne's running mate. Roseanne Bar won that party's presidential nomination August 4th. Last Tuesday, Cindy announced at her site that she was not a part of the campaign.
Jim: And there's been an update there. Ava?
Ava: I'm reading this from Cindy's site, "Apparently, it is too late according to state policies for me to resign from the ticket, but I am withdrawing active participation in campaigning. So, I will still be the VP choice on ballots."
Wally: And the campaign is nothing without her. As C.I. noted last week, Roseanne's running her campaign like she's the stereotypical pajama blogger. All she's offering is Twitter feeds and blog posts. And that's not a campaign.
Jim: As the campaign has collapsed, does anyone think Roseanne can turn it around or is this the end? Anyone? Ruth, Kat, you were both considering the campaign? Cedric, you've had positive comments for Barr?
Ruth: I would say it is over. She has lost her running mate. How do you recover from that? When your running mate announces they are out and you have no one to replace them, how do you recover? I think it is over.
Kat: I would agree that it's over. Roseanne was full of talk but didn't follow up on it. In July, if you'd told me that she'd fall apart this quickly, I wouldn't have believed it. I thought she really was going to use her platform to raise issues -- her media platform. And in July, she was doing interviews. Then she sort of appeared to become the shut-in for president.
Ruth: Cindy Sheehan was the one going to rallies for issues, writing pieces and more.
Kat: Right. The only good excitement came from Cindy.
Jim: Okay, "only good excitement came from Cindy." Let's address that.
Cedric: Yeah, I'll jump in here. I don't think we say, "I hope you get cancer." Roseanne's gone crazy in her Twitter feed. What she was saying wasn't appropriate for a comedian and certainly didn't rise to the level of presidential. It wasn't just one Tweet, it was many. They were hateful and they really lower my opinion of Roseanne, I'm sorry. Maybe I was expecting Roseanne Connor and was disappointed by Barr for that reason? I have no idea. But I found her really disappointing.
Ty: She started out the year running for the Green Party's presidential nomination.
Kat: Right and she lost the nomination to Jill Stein.
Ty: And when she was running against Stein, she stated she really didn't want the nomination, she said she knew it would go to Jill and she'd support Jill but she was using this time to raise important issues. Did she raise any important issues? In that time or afterwards when she got the Peace and Freedom nomination?
Ruth: I do not remember any important issues when she was seeking the Green Party nomination.
Stan: Post Green Party, she raised the issue of medical marijuana. It cracked up David Letterman's audience in July and she used a clip of it in September to be her campaign commercial. That's all she did. The pot bit. Two months later, when she should have had something else to offer, she was still recycling her pot bit.
Ruth: Good point. And during the race for the Green Party nomination, she had a difference of opinion with Dr. Jill Stein over Israel.
Cedric: Somehow, she went from 'I will support Jill' to despising her. And then when Jill was going to be nominated at the Green Party convention, Roseanne did her angry Tweets.
Mike: Angry Tweets, the next level for Angry Birds.
Trina: I'll jump in. I thought her stunts during the Green Party convention were bitchy -- that's the only word for it. Now that I've seen what Roseanne thinks 'campaigning' is, I really believe it was a bitchy move. She was being bitter and angry and trying to steal focus from Jill Stein. I'm referring to the attacks she made during the Green Party convention but I also think that applies to her failed run.
Jim: The run continues.
Trina: But it's a failure. Cindy was the only one working in that campaign. I would argue that she's the shut-in candidate and therefore could go for the shut-in vote but Oregon's really the only state that votes by mail.
Dona: The entire state votes by mail. Not just absentee voters.
Jim: So the consensus is that Roseanne's run is over. Jill Stein has the Green Party's presidential nomination. What's going on in her campaign? Ann and Jess, you should start since you are Greens.
Ann: Okay, well she had a victory this week. Google TV tried to censor her TV ad. E-mail protests and other things forced them to air the ad.
Jim: Jess, why weren't they showing the ad?
Jess: They claim it was a language issue. But the objectionable term was bleeped out -- the word was bulls**t -- and it would have been allowed on cable channels anyway. But they're not allowed to censor presidential candidates. Legally, they're not allowed so as this became an issue outside of the Stein campaign, Google was looking like an ass and someone who didn't value political speech. That's why it was solved so quickly.
Jim: Ann?
Ann: I would've expected Stein's campaign to implode over Roseanne's, honestly. Roseanne had huge media experience and so I expected her to dominate the press coverage of the race not focused on Republicans and Democrats. I thought she'd leave Jill Stein, Gary Johnson, everyone in the dust. But despite all of her experience, she couldn't run a real campaign or even a good for-show campaign.
Jim: So you were expecting this to happen from Jill Stein's campaign?
Ann: No. But if you'd told me a third party campaign was going to implode, I would have thought it would be Jill's before Roseanne's.
Jim: Betty, you're supporting Jill Stein. Ava and C.I. have her Green New Deal proposal in their TV article so, setting that aside, what policy proposal impresses you or zero in on one aspect of the Green New Deal if you'd prefer.
Betty: Sure, I can do that. And I can do it either way, actually. What I'm going to zoom in on is this, I'm reading, "Maintain and upgrade our nation's essential public infrastructure, including highways, railways, electrical grids, water systems, schools, libraries, and the Internet, resisting privatization or policy manipulation by for-profit interests." August 31st on Talk of the Nation, Neal Conan and his guests discussed how approximately "8,000 bridges around the country are unsafe and in dire need of repair." So Jill's proposal not only creates jobs, it addresses a serious safety issue.
Jim: Good point. Mike?
Mike: Two of the most important things Jill Stein is proposing, for me, are "Provide tuition-free education from kindergarten through college, thus eliminating the student debt crisis" and "Forgive existing student debt." I'm lucky, my college was paid for by a friend. C.I. I snuck that in quickly. But my brother who has a kid, he suffered under a mountain of student loan debt. It really didn't pay to work the way they were taking out hundreds of dollars each month -- garnishing his wages. He got lucky because, as a gift, his got paid off. But prior to that, I was thinking how lucky I was because I would have needed loans if it weren't for C.I. and I could easily have been in the condition my brother was where he could move up in his company but it was as if he was working part-time for minimum wage the way the government kept garnishing his wages.
Marcia: Jim, can I jump in on this topic?
Jim: Sure.
Marcia: I agree with Mike. I also think Jill Stein's correct that we need to prevent the privatization of our public schools. One of the things I don't get, and C.I., Cedric and Wally have pointed this out at their sites, is how Barack can grand stand on Medicare and how he won't allow vouchers because that will chip away at Medicare which is so damned important. Well excuse the hell out of me but public school is important as well and, in fact, it's the cornerstone of the American experience. It also predates Medicare so why don't we try to protect that instead of, as Barack wants to do, turn it over to vouchers and charter schools?
Jim: That's a good point. I want to bring in Isaiah's "Vouchers" which made that point as well.
Jim (Con't): Okay. That to me drives home what Marcia was talking about. Rebecca, Elaine and Isaiah, I'm tossing that out for you to talk about because you haven't spoken yet this roundtable. Let's start with Isaiah, talk about how you drew the cartoon.
Isaiah: I had the voucher idea floating around but needed time to develop it. The point of the comic was there but how to make it wasn't. I came up with Vinnie Voucher and then realized we needed more than one panel. In terms of the panels, I didn't want it to be the traditional book case look with the horizontal lines making three columns. So I made Barack's chin and Vinnie's feet in the first row hang on to the second. The second's also more enclosed and has David Axelrod invading it in profile. Then the last row is just the one panel. It resembles or restates the first row but we're in much closer and tighter on Barack and Vinnie.
Rebecca: I see it as a success but especially as a visual success. David Axelrod is so obviously David Axlerod and he pops out out of no where and has no line but it makes sense because he's always watching the campaign he runs. I also loved little Vinnie, trying so hard to be helpful and cute but defeating everything he's supposed to help -- which I saw as a coded message about the school voucher program.
Elaine: Okay, now I hate you. I wish I had made that point. I'm laughing, by the way. But Rebecca's point is so solid about the coded message. There was some confusion over that comic with some people thinking that the point was 'Vouchers for both!' Isaiah was pointing the hypocrisy in the comic. Medicare is important but, as Marcia pointed out, so is public school. On the issue of Medicare, Jill favors Medicare for all which is another reason to support her.
Jim: Good points. Okay, everyone but C.I. spoke, I think, and she'd said she was fine with not speaking if we ran over, which we did. I thank Ava and C.I. for taking notes. This is a rush trancript.
Jim (Con't): It's September and US elections will be held November 6th. That's not that far away and one presidential ticket took a rough hit last week. C.I. covered it in Tuesday's "Iraq snapshot." Wally, what's going on?
Wally: Cindy Sheehan, for health and other reasons, has stepped off the Peace and Freedom Party's presidential ticket. Cindy Sheehan had been Roseanne's running mate. Roseanne Bar won that party's presidential nomination August 4th. Last Tuesday, Cindy announced at her site that she was not a part of the campaign.
Jim: And there's been an update there. Ava?
Ava: I'm reading this from Cindy's site, "Apparently, it is too late according to state policies for me to resign from the ticket, but I am withdrawing active participation in campaigning. So, I will still be the VP choice on ballots."
Wally: And the campaign is nothing without her. As C.I. noted last week, Roseanne's running her campaign like she's the stereotypical pajama blogger. All she's offering is Twitter feeds and blog posts. And that's not a campaign.
Jim: As the campaign has collapsed, does anyone think Roseanne can turn it around or is this the end? Anyone? Ruth, Kat, you were both considering the campaign? Cedric, you've had positive comments for Barr?
Ruth: I would say it is over. She has lost her running mate. How do you recover from that? When your running mate announces they are out and you have no one to replace them, how do you recover? I think it is over.
Kat: I would agree that it's over. Roseanne was full of talk but didn't follow up on it. In July, if you'd told me that she'd fall apart this quickly, I wouldn't have believed it. I thought she really was going to use her platform to raise issues -- her media platform. And in July, she was doing interviews. Then she sort of appeared to become the shut-in for president.
Ruth: Cindy Sheehan was the one going to rallies for issues, writing pieces and more.
Kat: Right. The only good excitement came from Cindy.
Jim: Okay, "only good excitement came from Cindy." Let's address that.
Cedric: Yeah, I'll jump in here. I don't think we say, "I hope you get cancer." Roseanne's gone crazy in her Twitter feed. What she was saying wasn't appropriate for a comedian and certainly didn't rise to the level of presidential. It wasn't just one Tweet, it was many. They were hateful and they really lower my opinion of Roseanne, I'm sorry. Maybe I was expecting Roseanne Connor and was disappointed by Barr for that reason? I have no idea. But I found her really disappointing.
Ty: She started out the year running for the Green Party's presidential nomination.
Kat: Right and she lost the nomination to Jill Stein.
Ty: And when she was running against Stein, she stated she really didn't want the nomination, she said she knew it would go to Jill and she'd support Jill but she was using this time to raise important issues. Did she raise any important issues? In that time or afterwards when she got the Peace and Freedom nomination?
Ruth: I do not remember any important issues when she was seeking the Green Party nomination.
Stan: Post Green Party, she raised the issue of medical marijuana. It cracked up David Letterman's audience in July and she used a clip of it in September to be her campaign commercial. That's all she did. The pot bit. Two months later, when she should have had something else to offer, she was still recycling her pot bit.
Ruth: Good point. And during the race for the Green Party nomination, she had a difference of opinion with Dr. Jill Stein over Israel.
Cedric: Somehow, she went from 'I will support Jill' to despising her. And then when Jill was going to be nominated at the Green Party convention, Roseanne did her angry Tweets.
Mike: Angry Tweets, the next level for Angry Birds.
Trina: I'll jump in. I thought her stunts during the Green Party convention were bitchy -- that's the only word for it. Now that I've seen what Roseanne thinks 'campaigning' is, I really believe it was a bitchy move. She was being bitter and angry and trying to steal focus from Jill Stein. I'm referring to the attacks she made during the Green Party convention but I also think that applies to her failed run.
Jim: The run continues.
Trina: But it's a failure. Cindy was the only one working in that campaign. I would argue that she's the shut-in candidate and therefore could go for the shut-in vote but Oregon's really the only state that votes by mail.
Dona: The entire state votes by mail. Not just absentee voters.
Jim: So the consensus is that Roseanne's run is over. Jill Stein has the Green Party's presidential nomination. What's going on in her campaign? Ann and Jess, you should start since you are Greens.
Ann: Okay, well she had a victory this week. Google TV tried to censor her TV ad. E-mail protests and other things forced them to air the ad.
Jim: Jess, why weren't they showing the ad?
Jess: They claim it was a language issue. But the objectionable term was bleeped out -- the word was bulls**t -- and it would have been allowed on cable channels anyway. But they're not allowed to censor presidential candidates. Legally, they're not allowed so as this became an issue outside of the Stein campaign, Google was looking like an ass and someone who didn't value political speech. That's why it was solved so quickly.
Jim: Ann?
Ann: I would've expected Stein's campaign to implode over Roseanne's, honestly. Roseanne had huge media experience and so I expected her to dominate the press coverage of the race not focused on Republicans and Democrats. I thought she'd leave Jill Stein, Gary Johnson, everyone in the dust. But despite all of her experience, she couldn't run a real campaign or even a good for-show campaign.
Jim: So you were expecting this to happen from Jill Stein's campaign?
Ann: No. But if you'd told me a third party campaign was going to implode, I would have thought it would be Jill's before Roseanne's.
Jim: Betty, you're supporting Jill Stein. Ava and C.I. have her Green New Deal proposal in their TV article so, setting that aside, what policy proposal impresses you or zero in on one aspect of the Green New Deal if you'd prefer.
Betty: Sure, I can do that. And I can do it either way, actually. What I'm going to zoom in on is this, I'm reading, "Maintain and upgrade our nation's essential public infrastructure, including highways, railways, electrical grids, water systems, schools, libraries, and the Internet, resisting privatization or policy manipulation by for-profit interests." August 31st on Talk of the Nation, Neal Conan and his guests discussed how approximately "8,000 bridges around the country are unsafe and in dire need of repair." So Jill's proposal not only creates jobs, it addresses a serious safety issue.
Jim: Good point. Mike?
Mike: Two of the most important things Jill Stein is proposing, for me, are "Provide tuition-free education from kindergarten through college, thus eliminating the student debt crisis" and "Forgive existing student debt." I'm lucky, my college was paid for by a friend. C.I. I snuck that in quickly. But my brother who has a kid, he suffered under a mountain of student loan debt. It really didn't pay to work the way they were taking out hundreds of dollars each month -- garnishing his wages. He got lucky because, as a gift, his got paid off. But prior to that, I was thinking how lucky I was because I would have needed loans if it weren't for C.I. and I could easily have been in the condition my brother was where he could move up in his company but it was as if he was working part-time for minimum wage the way the government kept garnishing his wages.
Marcia: Jim, can I jump in on this topic?
Jim: Sure.
Marcia: I agree with Mike. I also think Jill Stein's correct that we need to prevent the privatization of our public schools. One of the things I don't get, and C.I., Cedric and Wally have pointed this out at their sites, is how Barack can grand stand on Medicare and how he won't allow vouchers because that will chip away at Medicare which is so damned important. Well excuse the hell out of me but public school is important as well and, in fact, it's the cornerstone of the American experience. It also predates Medicare so why don't we try to protect that instead of, as Barack wants to do, turn it over to vouchers and charter schools?
Jim: That's a good point. I want to bring in Isaiah's "Vouchers" which made that point as well.
Jim (Con't): Okay. That to me drives home what Marcia was talking about. Rebecca, Elaine and Isaiah, I'm tossing that out for you to talk about because you haven't spoken yet this roundtable. Let's start with Isaiah, talk about how you drew the cartoon.
Isaiah: I had the voucher idea floating around but needed time to develop it. The point of the comic was there but how to make it wasn't. I came up with Vinnie Voucher and then realized we needed more than one panel. In terms of the panels, I didn't want it to be the traditional book case look with the horizontal lines making three columns. So I made Barack's chin and Vinnie's feet in the first row hang on to the second. The second's also more enclosed and has David Axelrod invading it in profile. Then the last row is just the one panel. It resembles or restates the first row but we're in much closer and tighter on Barack and Vinnie.
Rebecca: I see it as a success but especially as a visual success. David Axelrod is so obviously David Axlerod and he pops out out of no where and has no line but it makes sense because he's always watching the campaign he runs. I also loved little Vinnie, trying so hard to be helpful and cute but defeating everything he's supposed to help -- which I saw as a coded message about the school voucher program.
Elaine: Okay, now I hate you. I wish I had made that point. I'm laughing, by the way. But Rebecca's point is so solid about the coded message. There was some confusion over that comic with some people thinking that the point was 'Vouchers for both!' Isaiah was pointing the hypocrisy in the comic. Medicare is important but, as Marcia pointed out, so is public school. On the issue of Medicare, Jill favors Medicare for all which is another reason to support her.
Jim: Good points. Okay, everyone but C.I. spoke, I think, and she'd said she was fine with not speaking if we ran over, which we did. I thank Ava and C.I. for taking notes. This is a rush trancript.
Oh, Joe
Thursday night, Vice President Joe Biden gave a rousing speech in Charlotte, North Caroline at the Democratic Party's national convention -- too bad it was so short on facts.
Already Kat's offered "Oh, shut up, Joe" and Marcia's offered "Joe Biden lied" dealing with factual problems. In addition, Glenn Kessler (Washington Post) highlighted a very egregious lie: by Biden, "Barack, as a young man, they had to sit at the end of his mother's hospital bed, and watch her fight with their insurance company at the very same time that she was fighting for her life."
Kessler notes:
This is a carefully worded statement that suggests President Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was fighting for health coverage while she was dying. This is a story that Obama frequently told on the campaign trail, but which was later called into question by Dunham’s biographer. Note that Biden does not specify that Dunham was fighting “health insurance” companies.
During the 2008 campaign, Obama frequently suggested his mother had to fight with her health-insurance company for treatment of her cancer because it considered her disease to be a pre-existing condition.
In one of the presidential debates with GOP rival John McCain, Obama said: “For my mother to die of cancer at the age of 53 and have to spend the last months of her life in the hospital room arguing with insurance companies because they’re saying that this may be a pre-existing condition and they don’t have to pay her treatment, there’s something fundamentally wrong about that.”
But then earlier this year, journalist Janny Scott cast serious doubt on this version of events in her biography, “A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s mother.” Scott reviewed letters from Dunham to the CIGNA insurance company, and revealed the dispute was over disability coverage, not health insurance coverage. (See pages 335-339).
Disability coverage will help replace wages lost to an illness. (Dunham received a base pay of $82,500, plus a housing allowance and a car, to work in Indonesia for Development Alternatives Inc. of Bethesda.) But that is different than health insurance coverage denied because of a pre-existing condition, which was a major part of the president’s health care law.
Biden’s remarks were echoed in the film that aired before Obama spoke. The clips were drawn from a film originally narrated by Tom Hanks -- this one was by George Clooney -- and we had previously given Three Pinocchios to the film for the manipulative way this story is retold.
Oh, Joe.
Big Lie Of The Democratic Party convention
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (above) declared, "I saw the president make the tough calls in the Situation Room -- and today, our troops in Iraq have finally come home so America can do some nation building here at home."
Our troops came home!
And that is true . .
Except for the ones in the United States' Office of Security Cooperation Iraq, the ones RTT reported on at the end of last month: "More than 225 U.S. troops, seven Defense Department civilians, 530 security assistance team members and more than 4,000 contracted personnel are currently in the office at the Iraqi government's invitation.""
But it's true . . .
Except for the special forces Sean Rayment (Telegraph of London) reported on earlier this month:
More
than 3,500 insurgents have been "taken off the streets of Baghdad" by
the elite British force in a series of audacious "Black Ops" over the
past two years.
It
is understood that while the majority of the terrorists were captured,
several hundred, who were mainly members of the organisation known as
"al-Qa'eda in Iraq" have been killed by the SAS.
The
SAS is part of a highly secretive unit called "Task Force Black" which
also includes Delta Force, the US equivalent of the SAS.
Still it's true . . .
Except for the 15,000 US troops who were transitioned to and remain in Kuwait, ready to go back into Iraq at a moment's notice. Good news, the Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are uncomfortable leaving 15,000 US troops so close to Iraq. In [PDF format warning] "The Gulf Security Architecture: Partnership With The Gulf Co-Operation Council" (issued June 19th), they recommended dropping it to 13,000 and continuing it for four mroe years. Great news, if you're a War Hawk.
But Rahm's statement is true, they all came home . ..
Except for the [PDF format warning] 4488 the US Dept. of Defense counts as dying in the war.
And of course, some were so mentally and/or physically scarred, they may feel they left part of themselves in Iraq.
But except for that . . .
Except for all of that . . .
If you ignore all those qualifiers, you too can pretend Rahm Emanuel told the truth.
Jorge Rojas on the realities of the American dream
Repost from the Jill Stein for President campaign:
Just yesterday, ten undocumented No Papers No Fear Riders risked everything
by participating in civil disobedience at the Democratic
National Convention in order to expose the injustice of police/ICE
collaboration. After their arrest, Jill and Cheri urged people across
the country to tell ICE that these people deserve relief, not deportation.
Today we share the story of Jorge Rojas, a Chilean-American student and Green Party supporter, as our first feature in a new series highlighting voices from our community. His story couldn’t be more timely.
My name is Jorge Rojas. I am currently earning my Ph.D. in economics at the University of Washington, but originally I am from Chile. I came to the United States imagining it was the land of possibility, but the reality I found was quite different. The American Dream is often unobtainable, and for many, has mutated into a nightmare. This is particularly true for misinformed Latinos seeking a land of endless opportunity and who instead find discrimination. This discrimination is often concealed by the corporate media and ignored by the political machine.
The current American two-party system only remembers these communities during election times - the rest of the year they rant about deporting ‘illegal’ workers. Yet, many of these ‘illegal’ workers pay more taxes than America’s wealthy. These workers contribute their skills, labor, taxes, and above all their cultures to American society.
The Green Party, and its 2012 presidential candidate, Jill Stein, has a history of standing for neglected and disadvantaged Americans, not just during election time, but whenever a helping hand is needed. Unlike other corporate-sponsored parties, Jill Stein bravely stands for social justice and prosperity for all.
The current two-party system refuses to enact change, yet change has never been more necessary. It is time to take action and build a better, fairer America. The philosopher John Dewey once said, “The ultimate aim of production is not production of goods but the production of free human beings associated with one another on terms of equality.” Jill Stein’s campaign represents this necessary freedom and equality.
----------This year, with a potential of 21 million Latino voters, both Mitt Romney and President Obama are focusing large amounts of energy attracting their attention and approval - especially so during their national conventions which feature record numbers of Latino speakers and events. Yet, Republicans are known for their staunch deportation and anti-immigration policies; and, President Obama’s time in office has been marked by a record number of deportations (about 1.1 million people) and continuing joblessness for 10.3% of the Latin-American population.
The Green Party, on the other hand, has always stood for every community. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and her running mate, Cheri Honkala, have historically stood with and for diverse populations regardless of immediate political agendas. (In fact, Jill and Cheri were deeply involved before either of them even were involved in elections). We’re grateful for Jorge’s support and if elected, Latino interests will always be on the agenda!
Help us Occupy the White House! Please donate today!
Learn how you can submit your story!
Jorge Rojas on the American dream, Latino voters
Just yesterday, ten undocumented No Papers No Fear Riders risked everything
by participating in civil disobedience at the Democratic
National Convention in order to expose the injustice of police/ICE
collaboration. After their arrest, Jill and Cheri urged people across
the country to tell ICE that these people deserve relief, not deportation.Today we share the story of Jorge Rojas, a Chilean-American student and Green Party supporter, as our first feature in a new series highlighting voices from our community. His story couldn’t be more timely.
My name is Jorge Rojas. I am currently earning my Ph.D. in economics at the University of Washington, but originally I am from Chile. I came to the United States imagining it was the land of possibility, but the reality I found was quite different. The American Dream is often unobtainable, and for many, has mutated into a nightmare. This is particularly true for misinformed Latinos seeking a land of endless opportunity and who instead find discrimination. This discrimination is often concealed by the corporate media and ignored by the political machine.
The current American two-party system only remembers these communities during election times - the rest of the year they rant about deporting ‘illegal’ workers. Yet, many of these ‘illegal’ workers pay more taxes than America’s wealthy. These workers contribute their skills, labor, taxes, and above all their cultures to American society.
The Green Party, and its 2012 presidential candidate, Jill Stein, has a history of standing for neglected and disadvantaged Americans, not just during election time, but whenever a helping hand is needed. Unlike other corporate-sponsored parties, Jill Stein bravely stands for social justice and prosperity for all.
The current two-party system refuses to enact change, yet change has never been more necessary. It is time to take action and build a better, fairer America. The philosopher John Dewey once said, “The ultimate aim of production is not production of goods but the production of free human beings associated with one another on terms of equality.” Jill Stein’s campaign represents this necessary freedom and equality.
----------This year, with a potential of 21 million Latino voters, both Mitt Romney and President Obama are focusing large amounts of energy attracting their attention and approval - especially so during their national conventions which feature record numbers of Latino speakers and events. Yet, Republicans are known for their staunch deportation and anti-immigration policies; and, President Obama’s time in office has been marked by a record number of deportations (about 1.1 million people) and continuing joblessness for 10.3% of the Latin-American population.
The Green Party, on the other hand, has always stood for every community. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and her running mate, Cheri Honkala, have historically stood with and for diverse populations regardless of immediate political agendas. (In fact, Jill and Cheri were deeply involved before either of them even were involved in elections). We’re grateful for Jorge’s support and if elected, Latino interests will always be on the agenda!
Help us Occupy the White House! Please donate today!
Learn how you can submit your story!
Protests in Charlotte (Workers World)
Repost from Workers World:
Charlotte, N.C. — Called “the March on Wall Street South,” a demonstration confronting the banks and corporations headquartered here that are wreaking havoc across the country filled the uptown streets of this Southern financial center on Sept. 2.
Despite extreme heat, more than 2,500 people from throughout the South and across the U.S. marched past the many gleaming corporate headquarters, shouting out a people’s agenda for jobs and justice as the Democratic National Convention was preparing to convene.
Participants came from cities throughout North Carolina, including Winston-Salem, Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, Rocky Mount, Greenville, Asheville, Fayetteville, Greensboro and Wilmington. Many more traveled hours from cities such as Baltimore, Atlanta; Greenville, Miss.; Washington, D.C.; Tampa, Fla.; Pittsburgh; and New York. A busload of more than 40 unemployed people whose homes are being foreclosed by Bank of America rode overnight from Detroit.
A “No Papers No Fear” bus, which had left Phoenix on July 29 with more than 40 undocumented people to bring their demands to the DNC, also joined the march with a spirited contingent against the deportation and criminalization of immigrant communities.
Other contingents in the march included unemployed workers, a group of Southern unionists who face onerous labor laws, people trying to end the many wars being waged by the U.S. government on countries abroad and on the poor and oppressed here at home, environmentalists calling for “No war, no warming,” and a group demanding equal rights for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer people.
Yen Alcala, an organizer with the Coalition to March on Wall Street South and also with Occupy Charlotte, said the demonstration was “historic” and “built an unprecedented level of unity between so many different groups and struggles on a grassroots level.”
“The March on Wall Street South,” continued Alcala, “showed what is possible when we unite, and pointed the finger at those who are responsible for the injustices being experienced by the 99%: the banks and corporations, and a political system that is controlled by the 1%. Building people’s power from the bottom up is the only solution to win jobs and justice for poor and working people.”
Along the march, demonstrators stopped in front of the world headquarters of Bank of America and the regional offices of Duke Energy. At each stop, people who have been directly impacted by the practices of these banks and corporations — whose homes are being foreclosed on, who have massive amounts of student loan debt, and whose communities are being devastated by coal mining and energy rate hikes — spoke out and confronted these institutions.
Recognizing the popularity of the issues raised by the protesters, the city’s daily newspaper, the Charlotte Observer, reported on Sept. 2, “Sensing the political winds, banks and their lobbyists will be taking low profiles during the convention.”
Elena Everett was a tireless organizer with the Coalition to March on Wall Street South. “The march was a tremendous success,” she said. “Our message for jobs and justice was heard loud and clear by the bankers and the politicians of both parties.
“But this is just the beginning. We know that the only way that real change has ever been won is when people come together, get organized and build social movements to raise demands to the powers that be. And that’s exactly what we’re doing — building a movement for jobs, education, health care, the environment and housing, and against wars, racism and bigotry, deportations and jails.”
Throughout the remainder of the week, the coalition plans to support actions and events being developed by other groups, including the Undocubus and the Southern Workers Assembly on Sept. 3. It will also be mobilizing support for the reoccupation of Marshall Park, being led by Occupy Charlotte, which was evicted from the park by police eight months ago.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
Protesters flood ‘Wall Street South’
By Workers World Durham, N.C., bureau on September 5, 2012 » Add the first comment.
Charlotte, N.C. — Called “the March on Wall Street South,” a demonstration confronting the banks and corporations headquartered here that are wreaking havoc across the country filled the uptown streets of this Southern financial center on Sept. 2.
Despite extreme heat, more than 2,500 people from throughout the South and across the U.S. marched past the many gleaming corporate headquarters, shouting out a people’s agenda for jobs and justice as the Democratic National Convention was preparing to convene.
Participants came from cities throughout North Carolina, including Winston-Salem, Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, Rocky Mount, Greenville, Asheville, Fayetteville, Greensboro and Wilmington. Many more traveled hours from cities such as Baltimore, Atlanta; Greenville, Miss.; Washington, D.C.; Tampa, Fla.; Pittsburgh; and New York. A busload of more than 40 unemployed people whose homes are being foreclosed by Bank of America rode overnight from Detroit.
A “No Papers No Fear” bus, which had left Phoenix on July 29 with more than 40 undocumented people to bring their demands to the DNC, also joined the march with a spirited contingent against the deportation and criminalization of immigrant communities.
Other contingents in the march included unemployed workers, a group of Southern unionists who face onerous labor laws, people trying to end the many wars being waged by the U.S. government on countries abroad and on the poor and oppressed here at home, environmentalists calling for “No war, no warming,” and a group demanding equal rights for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer people.
Yen Alcala, an organizer with the Coalition to March on Wall Street South and also with Occupy Charlotte, said the demonstration was “historic” and “built an unprecedented level of unity between so many different groups and struggles on a grassroots level.”
“The March on Wall Street South,” continued Alcala, “showed what is possible when we unite, and pointed the finger at those who are responsible for the injustices being experienced by the 99%: the banks and corporations, and a political system that is controlled by the 1%. Building people’s power from the bottom up is the only solution to win jobs and justice for poor and working people.”
Along the march, demonstrators stopped in front of the world headquarters of Bank of America and the regional offices of Duke Energy. At each stop, people who have been directly impacted by the practices of these banks and corporations — whose homes are being foreclosed on, who have massive amounts of student loan debt, and whose communities are being devastated by coal mining and energy rate hikes — spoke out and confronted these institutions.
Recognizing the popularity of the issues raised by the protesters, the city’s daily newspaper, the Charlotte Observer, reported on Sept. 2, “Sensing the political winds, banks and their lobbyists will be taking low profiles during the convention.”
Elena Everett was a tireless organizer with the Coalition to March on Wall Street South. “The march was a tremendous success,” she said. “Our message for jobs and justice was heard loud and clear by the bankers and the politicians of both parties.
“But this is just the beginning. We know that the only way that real change has ever been won is when people come together, get organized and build social movements to raise demands to the powers that be. And that’s exactly what we’re doing — building a movement for jobs, education, health care, the environment and housing, and against wars, racism and bigotry, deportations and jails.”
Throughout the remainder of the week, the coalition plans to support actions and events being developed by other groups, including the Undocubus and the Southern Workers Assembly on Sept. 3. It will also be mobilizing support for the reoccupation of Marshall Park, being led by Occupy Charlotte, which was evicted from the park by police eight months ago.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
Highlights
This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends, Ann of Ann's Mega Dub, Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.
"Iraq snapshot" -- The most requested highlight of the week.
Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Economy" and Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Needed Exp..." -- two comics from Isaiah last week, both addressing the DNC.
"Kat's Korner: Susanna Hoffs and Joss Stone, who ca...," "Kat's Korner: Animal Collective goes instinctual" and "Kat's Korner: All Hail The Queen of F**ked Up" -- Kat did three reviews last week, covering albums by Susnna Hoffs, Joss Stone, Animal Collection and Alanis Morissette.
"oh, lily," "The Barack economy," "What a lousy speech," "The convention," "The political circus,"
"One big dollar store from sea to shining sea," "Oh, no, she didn't," "they screwed over the palestinians again," "Not one damn thing," "Nuns, get off the stage," "The ugly economy,," "Disgusting," "More nightmares at the DNC," "THIS JUST IN! THE TIRED REPEAT!" &
"Never gets those manicured nails dirty," "Elizabeth Warren's image troubles," "Barack wasn't the belle of the ball," "What the?," "Jill," "The facts?," "barack palin's energy policy," "if actresses speak in public ...," "Gail in Southern Pines needs a tutor," "Barack Obama has been a lousy president,"
"Give him the pink slip," "Oh, shut up, Joe," "Bad speech," "Joe Biden lied," "Yeah, we do deserve a president who works for us," "Idiot of the week," "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot" and "Can't seal the deal" and "THIS JUST IN! NO SALE!" -- last week was the DNC convention and it was covered in many posts. The community also offered coverage of other topics and issues.
"Strait-Jacket" -- Stan covered film.
"Spinach Soup in the Kitchen" -- Trina offers a recipe and economy talk.
"At last, the truth about ObamaCare (rationing)" and "The real point of ObamaCare" and "THIS JUST IN! KICKING GRANNY OFF HEALTH CARE!" -- Barack's former White House think tank has a new proposal and, yes, ObamaCare was step one for rationing.
"When NPR let's the nation speak, it forgets women" -- Ann noted the article she co-wrote and, most important, that she's taking the month off from radio coverage.
"Curiosity" -- Betty continued to cover Curiosity's trip to Mars.
"RJ Ellroy" -- Ruth noted a mystery writer who got caught writing his reviews of his own books on Amazon.
"F**k you, All Songs Considered" -- Kat called out the never ending sexism of NPR.
"It's a yes or it's a no" and "What his speech writers missed" -- Elaine offered the basics and if you heard Weekend Edition Sunday this morning, you heard her points when people -- not pundits -- were allowed to speak.
"Iraq snapshot" -- The most requested highlight of the week.
Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Economy" and Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Needed Exp..." -- two comics from Isaiah last week, both addressing the DNC.
"Kat's Korner: Susanna Hoffs and Joss Stone, who ca...," "Kat's Korner: Animal Collective goes instinctual" and "Kat's Korner: All Hail The Queen of F**ked Up" -- Kat did three reviews last week, covering albums by Susnna Hoffs, Joss Stone, Animal Collection and Alanis Morissette.
"oh, lily," "The Barack economy," "What a lousy speech," "The convention," "The political circus,"
"One big dollar store from sea to shining sea," "Oh, no, she didn't," "they screwed over the palestinians again," "Not one damn thing," "Nuns, get off the stage," "The ugly economy,," "Disgusting," "More nightmares at the DNC," "THIS JUST IN! THE TIRED REPEAT!" &
"Never gets those manicured nails dirty," "Elizabeth Warren's image troubles," "Barack wasn't the belle of the ball," "What the?," "Jill," "The facts?," "barack palin's energy policy," "if actresses speak in public ...," "Gail in Southern Pines needs a tutor," "Barack Obama has been a lousy president,"
"Give him the pink slip," "Oh, shut up, Joe," "Bad speech," "Joe Biden lied," "Yeah, we do deserve a president who works for us," "Idiot of the week," "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot" and "Can't seal the deal" and "THIS JUST IN! NO SALE!" -- last week was the DNC convention and it was covered in many posts. The community also offered coverage of other topics and issues.
"Strait-Jacket" -- Stan covered film.
"Spinach Soup in the Kitchen" -- Trina offers a recipe and economy talk.
"At last, the truth about ObamaCare (rationing)" and "The real point of ObamaCare" and "THIS JUST IN! KICKING GRANNY OFF HEALTH CARE!" -- Barack's former White House think tank has a new proposal and, yes, ObamaCare was step one for rationing.
"When NPR let's the nation speak, it forgets women" -- Ann noted the article she co-wrote and, most important, that she's taking the month off from radio coverage.
"Curiosity" -- Betty continued to cover Curiosity's trip to Mars.
"RJ Ellroy" -- Ruth noted a mystery writer who got caught writing his reviews of his own books on Amazon.
"F**k you, All Songs Considered" -- Kat called out the never ending sexism of NPR.
"It's a yes or it's a no" and "What his speech writers missed" -- Elaine offered the basics and if you heard Weekend Edition Sunday this morning, you heard her points when people -- not pundits -- were allowed to speak.