If you have some time read #5.....
1/ I am sure most of you watched the first Presidential debate, and some of you were underwhelmed with the President's performance, because he could have and should have called out Mitt Romney of at least these five major whoppers.....Tim Dickinson in Rolling Stone......
Here are mendacious Mitt's five most outrageous statements:
Mitt Romney turned in a polished performance in last night's presidential debate – and revealed himself to be an accomplished and unapologetic liar. In an evening where he sought to slice and dice the president with statistics, Romney baldly misrepresented his own policy prescriptions, made up numbers to fit his attacks and buried clear contrasts with the president under a heaping pile of horseshit.
1. "I don't have a $5 trillion tax cut." Romney flatly lied about the cost of his proposal to cut income-tax rates across the board by another 20 percent (undercutting even the low rates of the Bush tax cuts). Independent economists at the Tax Policy Center have shown that the price tag for those cuts is $360 billion in the first year, a cost that extrapolates to $5 trillion over a decade.
2/ But if you didn't see the debate, or if you did and want a recap of the highlights Stephen Colbert has put together 4 minutes of the most mesmerizing moments.....kidding!
This is one of his funniest skits ever.......wonderful.....and if you don't laugh at the final scene you're taking too many Xanax.....
3/ On a more serious note Frank Rich has some observations on the debate and politics in general......
If you are interested in politics at all, Mr. Rich is "the man".....
The overwhelming pundit consensus on last night's debate was that it was a big win for Romney. Did you see it that way?It was an unequivocal win for Romney — or, more accurately, an utter stumble for Obama, who seemed to forget the most elemental strategies of his own campaign (and not just the 47 percent) and too often failed to counter the most obvious Romney disinformation. But was this a win big enough to merit so much GOP triumphalism(Michael Barone likened Mitt to Sitting Bull at Little Big Horn) andliberal bedwetting (“He may even have lost the election tonight” — Andrew Sullivan)? I don’t think so. The hyperbole on both sides reflects the Twitter-blogging-cable hothouse emotions of an overcaffeinated commentariat. That is a test sample containing perhaps zero undecided voters. Back in the real world, what I think the less committed public saw, especially in the crucial first half-hour, was a mostly tedious exchange of dueling numbers that only the guinea pigs in a Frank Luntz Fox News focus group could get worked up about. When there was a sudden, unexplained boom behind the two debaters in the early going, I wondered if it was a stagehand fainting from boredom.
You said on Twitter during the debate that the whole thing could be "a non-event except for the junkies & partisans" unless it yielded sound bites that would be replayed over and over again. Did you hear any of those moments? Or do you think the debate will, indeed, end up as a non-event?You know you don’t have those sound-bite moments when the most memorable anyone can come up with involves Big Bird. The proof that they don’t exist could be found in both parties’ ads the next morning. The DNC had to make do with a spot showing Romney behaving like an entitled country-club swell riding roughshod over Jim Lehrer’s feeble efforts to cut off a filibuster. The RNC came up with “Smirk,” in which you see the president either looking down or bored as his opponent rattles off facts at a lightning pace. Neither ad is remotely effective, and the good news for Obama is that his failings were of focus, energy, verbal facility and, seemingly, memory rather than of the “you’re likable enough” kind.
4/ I love Bill Maher, and this four minute clip is full of excellent zingers.......and where can we get Lady Gaga's perfume?
Maher opened the New Rule by saying that in order to help Obama make an effective argument that the country is improving, the next presidential debate should be held in a mall. Maher said that for the most part, society is doing fine, and the people sleeping on the sidewalks are just in line for new iPhones.
Contrary to what many Republicans would argue, Maher contended that “it just doesn’t feel like Obama has ruined America.” He touted the Dow Jones doubling under Obama, which he said the GOP considers “devastating economic news.” Maher wondered why the Republican party is so concerned with the economy being a “rotting compost heap” when, as he put it, many of them don’t care about the middle class to begin with.
5/ We have had four sections on the recent debate and politics, two amusing and two more serious, but in the end it's all theater designed to keep us distracted - political theater, where we are critiquing the performances of the actors, but not questioning what's behind the facade.
Chris Hedges is one of the best commentators of how corporate power is winning in it's quest to dominate all of the levers of government, and pulls no punches in this essay. Continuing the theatrical analogy, Hedges looks at the authors of the play, and why the script was written.
His take is this election is a choice between Tweedledum or Tweedledee.....and I can't fault his logic....or his passion......
His words on the fossil fuel industry are especially good.....this is the way it is folks.....
We will all swallow our cup of corporate poison. We can take it from nurse Romney, who will tell us not to whine and play the victim, or we can take it from nurse Obama, who will assure us that this hurts him even more than it hurts us, but one way or another the corporate hemlock will be shoved down our throats. The choice before us is how it will be administered. Corporate power, no matter who is running the ward after January 2013, is poised to carry out U.S. history’s most savage assault against the poor and the working class, not to mention the Earth’s ecosystem. And no one in power, no matter what the bedside manner, has any intention or ability to stop it.
If you insist on participating in the cash-drenched charade of a two-party democratic election at least be clear about what you are doing. You are, by playing your assigned role as the Democratic or Republican voter in this political theater, giving legitimacy to a corporate agenda that means your own impoverishment and disempowerment. All the things that stand between us and utter destitution—Medicaid, food stamps, Pell grants, Head Start, Social Security, public education, federal grants-in-aid to America’s states and cities, the Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program (WIC), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and home-delivered meals for seniors—are about to be shredded by the corporate state. Our corporate oligarchs are harvesting the nation, grabbing as much as they can, as fast as they can, in the inevitable descent.
6/ And speaking of theater, just a small thing, but an indication of the man......the Presidential debate rules, agreed beforehand by both campaigns, say "no notes" or written talking points.....but have a look at this 90 second video and decide whether Mitt cheated......
We report, you decide......
7/ Time for the September fails.....a collection of drunken accidents, youthful idiocy, racing mishaps and general mayhem.....and it's probable some of the idiots in this 13 minute clip were seriously hurt.....ouch......
8/ Dese guys........a Tony Soprano voice goes through some recent history with a kicker at the end......you should know most of them......90 seconds......quite clever......
9/ Almost every female news anchor on TV, even local TV, is svelte, coiffed, slim and pretty. Some aren't, and they get hate mail, so watch how a local news anchor deals with a viewer who commented on her weight.....
Quite a moving story, and good for her! Four minutes......one for you ladies......
10/ I wonder sometimes if this country hasn't gone clinically insane.....consider this article. The Connecticut Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a man found guilty of raping a girl with cerebral palsy with the reasoning power of a three year old, because she didn't fight back.....
Read this disgusting story, then ask yourself if justice was done here.....
When we consider this evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict, and in a manner that is consistent with the state’s theory of guilt at trial,we, like the Appellate Court, ‘are not persuaded that the state produced any credible evidence that the [victim] was either unconscious or so uncommunicative that she was physically incapable of manifesting to the defendant her lack of consent to sexual intercourse at the time of the alleged sexual assault.’
According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), lack of physical resistance is not evidence of consent, as “many victims make the good judgment that physical resistance would cause the attacker to become more violent.” RAINN also notes that lack of consent is implicit “if you were under the statutory age of consent, or if you had a mental defect” as the victim did in this case.
11/ Remember this? The "Smell of Napalm in the Morning" clip from Apocalypse Now.......Robert Duvall as the Colonel.......wow......2 minutes......
12/ Cruise Ship time.....
A British camera crew did an undercover investigation on the Celebrity Eclipse, one of the newest ships afloat, looking at the working conditions for the crew and found long, long hours, cramped and crowded conditions and third world treatment for the workers behind the scenes. The story was broadcast on Channel 4 London, and this is a story on how the show was made, by one of the principals.
The airing of this production "Cruises Undercover - The Truth Below Deck" caused a furore in Britain, and sent the RCCL/Celebrity management into full spin mode. I haven't seen it, but based on this article it sounds pretty accurate. I am trying to get a copy of it, and when I do I'll post it.....
The Titanic, and its striking imagery of the cross-section of Edwardian life, is vividly ingrained on our imaginations. Upstairs: the luxury, the opulence, champagne and chandeliers. Below deck: Irish migrants, Italian waiters, the toil and trouble of a committed crew. Exactly 100 years later, the luxury is no longer so exclusive and the lowest-tier workers certainly aren't European – but not all that much has changed.
Dispatches' investigation Cruises Undercover: The Truth Below Deck, which airs tonight on Channel 4 and for which I spent five weeks undercover as an assistant waiter, reveals some of the harsh realities below deck for the multinational workforce who grind to provide once-in-a-lifetime holidays for almost 2 million British cruisers a year. But how is it that these cruises, as explained in this report from 2002, have been able to get away with providing working conditions well below the legal minimum in the UK for so long, even when operating out of British ports?
On 4 August, I set sail from Southampton on the Celebrity Eclipse, an impressive Royal Caribbean-owned cruise liner accommodating just over 4,000 passengers and crew. I was to sign a six-month contract stipulating I'd work straight through without a single day off, living in a small shared cabin. My typical working schedule was 70 hours a week, not including the intensive training schedule I would have to attend in my spare time between shifts. My basic salary was a mere £31 a month, leaving me almost entirely reliant on tips to earn a living. I was assured by the company I'd get a minimum guaranteed wage of £466 a month, equivalent to £1.54 per hour. If I failed to reach this total in tips, the company would make the difference up to me.
Needless to say this went on to social media, and here is a typical FB comment from someone in the casino staff who worked a contract last year on an RCCL ship.....and note the casino are treated as staff, with excellent privileges.......this is his take on the TV show....
XXXXX wrote: "Unfortunately that is what it is like now guy's.... I went back 18 months ago for 1 contract..never again!!!...was earning way more in 1988.....the food was appalling(unrecognisable mess or buffet leftovers) and we were constantly on lock down for one form of virus or another.(where where all the viruses and food poisoning back then?) If you were not working your own job in the casino you were cleaning the ship with disinfectant or welcoming passengers back on board with a squirt of hand soap. In my experience a lot of staff were working 100 hour weeks for very little pay or recognition for their efforts, especially young people from eastern block countries who were afraid to say anything about the bad treatment they received. I am glad I did my time from 88 to 95 no way I could work for these people now. Very few of the people in authority seem to know what they are doing and are very unprofessional (probably cheap though) god help them if there is a bad incident"
13/ I hate Arizona. Full of racist old white people with some of the stupidest politics in the nation. And the ugliest Governor.
But this story is appalling. They are going to demolish a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house to put up a couple of megamansions...... it's a gem of a house that Wright designed for his son, and is in great condition.....
They must think Frank Lloyd Wright was Mexican.....
It’s hard to say which is more startling. That a developer in Phoenix could threaten — by Thursday, no less — to knock down a 1952 house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Or that the house has until now slipped under the radar, escaping the attention of most architectural historians, even though it is one of Wright’s great works, a spiral home for his son David.
The prospect of its demolition has suddenly galvanized preservationists, as these crises often belatedly do. They are pursuing a two-pronged attack, trying to have the building designated a landmark, although in Arizona, where private property rights are strong, landmark status is really just a stay of execution, limited to three years. After that the owner is free to tear down the place. So the other prong of attack is to find some preservation-minded angel with deep pockets who will buy it from the developer. Preferably today.
Wright designed this 2,500-square-foot concrete home for David and his wife, Gladys, on a desert site facing north toward Camelback Mountain in a neighborhood called Arcadia. The area, known since the 1920s for its citrus groves and romantic getaway resorts among old Spanish colonial and adobe revival homes, was increasingly subdivided after the war and filled with new, custom-designed ranch houses.
But the Wright lot still had its orange trees. The architect took advantage of them by raising his son’s house on columns, to provide views over the orchard. It was a touch that partly echoed Le Corbusier’s famous Villa Savoye in France; at the same time Wright chose a spiral designakin to the Guggenheim Museum’s. He had drawn plans for the Guggenheim by then, but it was still some years away from construction.
The David Wright house is the Guggenheim’s prodigal son, except that unlike the museum, whose interior creates a vertical streetscape while turning its back on the city, David’s house was configured by Wright to look both inward and out. It twists around a central courtyard, a Pompeian oasis to which he gave a plunge pool and shade garden, but also faces onto the surrounding desert, with sweeping views of the mountain.
The house is coiled, animated, like a rattlesnake, yet flowing and open. A spiral entrance ramp gives it a processional grandeur out of proportion to its size — especially nowadays, when many of the old ranch homes in Arcadia have been torn down to make way for McMansions that dwarf Wright’s house. The developer’s plan for the site involves subdividing the lot and erecting two or more new houses.
14/ Occasionally we look at pop culture, and Nicky Minaj is an example of the excess of the music world.....limited talent, but amazing makeup, costumes, not to mention her body that if she gained another ounce would slip into grotesque.....anyway this is called "Starships", complete with low budget special effects.........bootylicious..
15/ I never wear a helmet riding a bike, but there is a huge movement in this country to make everyone wear a head protector, especially kids. But as this article points out there is no need for it - riding a bicycle is very safe and injuries are exceptionally rare and as usual Europe shows us the way........
Note - in Florida you can ride a bloody motorcycle without a helmet.....so why the pressure for headgear for bikes? Don't get it.....
ONE spectacular Sunday in Paris last month, I decided to skip museums and shopping to partake of something even more captivating for an environment reporter: Vélib, arguably the most successful bike-sharing program in the world. In their short lives, Europe’s bike-sharing systems have delivered myriad benefits, notably reducing traffic and its carbon emissions. A number of American cities — including New York, where a bike-sharing program is to open next year — want to replicate that success.
So I bought a day pass online for about $2, entered my login information at one of the hundreds of docking stations that are scattered every few blocks around the city and selected one of Vélib’s nearly 20,000 stodgy gray bikes, with their basic gears, upright handlebars and practical baskets.
Then I did something extraordinary, something I’ve not done in a quarter-century of regular bike riding in the United States: I rode off without a helmet.
I rode all day at a modest clip, on both sides of the Seine, in the Latin Quarter, past the Louvre and along the Champs-Élysées, feeling exhilarated, not fearful. And I had tons of bareheaded bicycling company amid the Parisian traffic. One common denominator of successful bike programs around the world — from Paris to Barcelona to Guangzhou — is that almost no one wears a helmet, and there is no pressure to do so.
In the United States the notion that bike helmets promote health and safety by preventing head injuries is taken as pretty near God’s truth. Un-helmeted cyclists are regarded as irresponsible, like people who smoke. Cities are aggressive in helmet promotion.
But many European health experts have taken a very different view: Yes, there are studies that show that if you fall off a bicycle at a certain speed and hit your head, a helmet can reduce your risk of serious head injury. But such falls off bikes are rare — exceedingly so in mature urban cycling systems.
On the other hand, many researchers say, if you force or pressure people to wear helmets, you discourage them from riding bicycles. That means more obesity, heart disease and diabetes. And — Catch-22 — a result is fewer ordinary cyclists on the road, which makes it harder to develop a safe bicycling network. The safest biking cities are places like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, where middle-aged commuters are mainstay riders and the fraction of adults in helmets is minuscule.
Todays video - The Galaxy Song from Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life"......their last movie, and some reckon their best.....by the way there are lots of facts in this song.....
Todays medical joke
A beautiful woman went to the gynecologist... The doctor took one look at the woman and all his professionalism flew out the window. He immediately told her to get undressed.
After she disrobed the doctor began to stroke her thigh. While doing so he asked her, “Do you know what I am doing?”
“Yes,” she replied, “You are checking for abrasions or Dermatological abnormalities.”
“That's right,” said the doctor.. He then began to fondle her breasts. “Do you know what I am doing now?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, “You are checking for lumps which might indicate Breast cancer.”
“Correct,” replied the shady doctor. Finally, he mounted his patient and started having sexual intercourse with her. He asked, “Do you know what I am doing now?”
“Yes,” she said, “You’re getting syphilis; which is why I came here in the first place.”
Todays gay joke
John invites his mother over for dinner.
During the meal, his mother can’t help but notice how handsome John's roommate is. Then, over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she starts to wonder if there is more between John and the roommate than meets the eye.
Reading his mom's thoughts, John pulls his mother aside and says, "I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you, Mark and I are just roommates."
About a week later, Mark says to John, "Ever since your mother came to dinner, I've been unable to find the silver gravy ladle. You don't suppose she took it, do you?"
John says, "Well, I doubt it, but I'll write her an email, just to be sure." So he sits down at his computer and writes: "Dear Mother, I'm not saying you did take a gravy ladle from my house, and I'm not saying you did not take a gravy ladle. But the fact remains, one has been missing ever since you were here for dinner."
Later that day, John receives an email from his mother that reads: "Dear Son, I'm not saying that you do sleep with Mark, and I'm not saying that you do not sleep with Mark. But the fact remains that if he was sleeping in his own bed, he would have found the gravy ladle by now. Love, Mom."
Todays misunderstanding joke
* *The Smiths were unable to conceive children and decided to use a
surrogate father to start their family. On the day the proxy father was to
arrive, Mr. Smith kissed his wife goodbye and said, 'Well, I'm off now. The
man should be here soon.' *
*
Half an hour later, just by chance, a door-to-door baby photographer
happened to ring the doorbell, hoping to make a sale. 'Good morning,
Ma'am', he said, 'I've come to...' *
'Oh, no need to explain,' Mrs. Smith cut in, embarrassed, 'I've been
expecting you.' *
*
'Have you really?' said the photographer. 'Well, that's good. Did you know
babies are my specialty?' *
* *'Well that's what my husband and I had hoped. Please come in and have
a seat !. *
*After a moment she asked, blushing, 'Well, where do we start?' *
*'Leave everything to me.. I usually try two in the bathtub, one on the
couch, and perhaps a couple on the bed. And sometimes the living room floor
is fun. You can really spread out there.' *
'Bathtub, living room floor? No wonder it didn't work out for Harry and
me!' *
*
'Well, Ma'am, none of us can guarantee a good one every time. But if we
try several different positions and I shoot from six or seven angles, I'm
sure you'll be pleased with the results.' *
*
'My, that's a lot!', gasped Mrs. Smith. *
*'Ma'am, in my line of work a man has to take his time. I'd love to be In
and out in five minutes, but I'm sure you'd be disappointed with that.' *
'Don't I know it,' said Mrs. Smith quietly. *
*
The photographer opened his briefcase and pulled out a portfolio of his
baby pictures. 'This was done on the top of a bus,' he said. *
*'Oh, my God!' Mrs. Smith exclaimed, grasping at her throat. *
*
'And these twins turned out exceptionally well - when you consider their
mother was so difficult to work with..' *
*
'She was difficult?' asked Mrs. Smith. *
*
'Yes, I'm afraid so. I finally had to take her to the park to get the job
done right. People were crowding around four and five deep to get a good
look' *
*'Four and five deep?' said Mrs. Smith, her eyes wide with amazement. *
*'Yes', the photographer replied. 'And for more than three hours, too.
The mother was constantly squealing and yelling - I could hardly
concentrate, and when darkness approached I had to rush my shots. Finally,
when the squirrels began nibbling on my equipment, I just had to pack it
all in.' *
couch, and perhaps a couple on the bed. And sometimes the living room floor
is fun. You can really spread out there.' *
'Bathtub, living room floor? No wonder it didn't work out for Harry and
me!' *
*
'Well, Ma'am, none of us can guarantee a good one every time. But if we
try several different positions and I shoot from six or seven angles, I'm
sure you'll be pleased with the results.' *
*
'My, that's a lot!', gasped Mrs. Smith. *
*'Ma'am, in my line of work a man has to take his time. I'd love to be In
and out in five minutes, but I'm sure you'd be disappointed with that.' *
'Don't I know it,' said Mrs. Smith quietly. *
*
The photographer opened his briefcase and pulled out a portfolio of his
baby pictures. 'This was done on the top of a bus,' he said. *
*'Oh, my God!' Mrs. Smith exclaimed, grasping at her throat. *
*
'And these twins turned out exceptionally well - when you consider their
mother was so difficult to work with..' *
*
'She was difficult?' asked Mrs. Smith. *
*
'Yes, I'm afraid so. I finally had to take her to the park to get the job
done right. People were crowding around four and five deep to get a good
look' *
*'Four and five deep?' said Mrs. Smith, her eyes wide with amazement. *
*'Yes', the photographer replied. 'And for more than three hours, too.
The mother was constantly squealing and yelling - I could hardly
concentrate, and when darkness approached I had to rush my shots. Finally,
when the squirrels began nibbling on my equipment, I just had to pack it
all in.' *
*Mrs. Smith leaned forward. 'Do you mean they actually chewed on your,
uh...equipment?' *
uh...equipment?' *
*'It's true, Ma'am, yes.. Well, if you're ready, I'll set-up my tripod
and we can get to work right away..' *
*
'Tripod?' *
*'Oh yes, Ma'am. I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon on. It's much
too big to be held in the hand very long.' **
Mrs. Smith fainted *
and we can get to work right away..' *
*
'Tripod?' *
*'Oh yes, Ma'am. I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon on. It's much
too big to be held in the hand very long.' **
Mrs. Smith fainted *
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