1/ Bob Herbert on what might have been if Obama had
concentrated on jobs, jobs, jobs.....very good column.....
Forget about the crazies in the Tea Party for the moment. Forget about the ugly Republican obstructionism that is based on the idea that the failure not just of President Obama but of American society itself is the G.O.P.’s quickest ticket back to power.
Forget about that for a moment. The Democrats are in deep, deep trouble because they have not effectively addressed the overwhelming concern of working men and women: an economy that is too weak to provide the jobs they need to support themselves and their families. And that failure is rooted in the Democrats’ continued fascination with the self-serving conservative belief that the way to help ordinary people is to shower money on the rich and wait for the blessings to trickle down to the great unwashed below.
And his closing paragraph.....
That didn’t happen. The Democrats are facing an election debacle because they did not respond adequately to their constituents’ most dire needs. The thing that is really weird is that a strengthened G.O.P. will undoubtedly make matters so much worse.
However - so often the conventional wisdom of the media is like a stampede - one does it so the rest follow in self defense. A prime example of this is the disgraceful wall to wall coverage of the Gainesville "preacher" and his self-ingniting Koran........
So when the media, Bob Herbert included, says the Democrats will lose both houses in November you need to remember where this originated - on right wing radio......
2/ Tax cuts for the Rich
One of the more entertaining sights on TV is a Republican trying to explain why the Bush tax cuts for anyone earning over $250,000 a year should be extended. They go on about how this will hurt small business, but how many small business owners earn more than $1/4 million? Let's get this straight - the tax rate for incomes over $250k goes up from 35.5% to 39% in 2011, so the doomsday comparisons they are so fond of are bullshit. The top 0.1% might notice it.....
So when you see this dance, ask yourself why does the media person doing the interview not ask the obvious follow-up, which is - if you extend the tax cuts for the wealthy how will Republicans cut the record deficit? They of course won't ask this on Fox News, but there's no excuse for the rest of the spineless corporate media.......
“The thought that tax cuts pay for themselves or that tax cuts alone can turn around this economy is magical thinking,” said Mr. Kleinbard, now a law professor at the University of Southern California. “The debate has become so unrealistic it makes you want to scream.”
3/ Politics and Anger
Arianna Huffington is a very smart woman, and has written a new book on the middle class, and class in America. The link is an interview with her on her ideas on why the economy is in so much trouble, why we are so divided, so angry....some excerpts from the review....
The book.....
Read the subtitle of Arianna Huffington latest book, Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream, and you already know a lot about the author's understanding of America's economic and cultural collapse. It's a rigged game in which Wall Street gets all the breaks and the Main Street gets stuck with the bill. Stories of lost jobs, lost homes, lost dreams, and a collapsing infrastructure help Huffington explain how the financialization of the economy has impacted millions of middle-class Americans.
On class warfare....
Many conservatives are aware that the heart of America, the foundation not just of our prosperity but of our political stability, is the middle class—and that if the middle class crumbles and the upward mobility that's been so central to the American dream is gone, we then become a very different country. We really do become a third-world country, defined by extremes—the very rich and the poor. The rich live behind gates with guards to prevent their kids from kidnapping, and then there are the rest.
On the anger and despair in the country
The middle class is responding in different ways to the sense of betrayal by the establishment. The Tea Party is one response. Progressives "checking out" is another response, as are the numbers of people who voted for Obama who are not planning to vote Democrat in 2010. There are many disparate ways of responding to what is happening.
On the Bailout of the banks and Tea Partiers
The Republicans, who are beneficiaries the Tea Party Movement, are using it, but the anti-government rhetoric that has pervaded the public conversation has a lot of justification in it. I certainly recognize the need for government solutions, but look at what government has wrought! Look at the failure of government, again and again, to regulate. And even when they are regulating, to get it done right. Look at the way the bailout was administered, without any strings attached. The banks, which should have been a pariah after what happened, had the power to defeat the cramdown amendment. As Dick Durbin said in disgust after its defeat, "The banks still own this place."
Maybe the Tea Party Movement doesn't know that the cramdown amendment was defeated. It's not really about the exact details, though, but the pervasive sense that the game is rigged, that the fix is in.
Maybe the Tea Party Movement doesn't know that the cramdown amendment was defeated. It's not really about the exact details, though, but the pervasive sense that the game is rigged, that the fix is in.
On the Obama Administration
Nevertheless, personnel is policy. The President picked a team that was completely Wall Street-centric. I have this metaphor in the book about a pre-Galilean view of the world. If you see the world as revolving around Wall St., you're going to come up with a very different navigation plan—which is not likely to work.
Read the review - she really nails the causes of the major troubles in this country right now. A lot of the book are practical things you can do to protect yourself and your family.....enjoy.....
4/ Good column from David Brooks on class in America, and why this is such an intractable problem for the economy.....
First, the elites. America’s brightest minds have been abandoning industry and technical enterprise in favor of more prestigious but less productive fields like law, finance, consulting and nonprofit activism.
..........These middle class office workers did not want their children regressing back to the working class, so you saw an explosion of communications majors and a shortage of high-skill technical workers. One of the perversities of this recession is that as the unemployment rate has risen, the job vacancy rate has risen, too. Manufacturing firms can’t find skilled machinists.
Finally, there’s the lower class. The problem here is social breakdown. Something like a quarter to a third of American children are living with one or no parents, in chaotic neighborhoods with failing schools. A gigantic slice of America’s human capital is vastly underused, and it has been that way for a generation.
5/ Viral Video
This is the original TV News footage of Antoine and his sister being interviewed, just a local TV news story of an attempted rape.....2 minutes....
This is the viral "Auto Tune the News" song you saw on Tuesday, using the local TV footage [above] and looping it to make the song....the two geeks in the video are the very clever lads who made it.....
Oh go ahead, watch it again.....it's actually kind of hypnotic....3 minutes....I love this guy.....
6/ Amendment 4 - on the November ballot in Florida
Vote Yes on #4 - this is the one giving voters control of changes to the land use plan. The opposition to Amendment 4 are developers - they hate it because it gives power to the stupid voters......that's you and I by the way........
Florida voters will have only one chance in their lifetimes to change the relationship of campaign funders to zoning and local government that shapes communities. The Growth Machine says, no! to Amendment 4. But look around at South Florida, and the ghost suburbs, foreclosures, unemployment and shattered dreams: Amendment 4 is your chance to vote YES! for change.
To reach the state-wide ballot, Amendment 4 was a monumental effort led by grass roots supporters of Florida Hometown Democracy. The development and real estate lobby threw everything they could muster against the measure. Why? Because when it passes, it will crack the bond between local political campaigns and zoning changes required by "comprehensive" planning. (please click, 'read more')
To reach the state-wide ballot, Amendment 4 was a monumental effort led by grass roots supporters of Florida Hometown Democracy. The development and real estate lobby threw everything they could muster against the measure. Why? Because when it passes, it will crack the bond between local political campaigns and zoning changes required by "comprehensive" planning. (please click, 'read more')
Great commercial running in South Florida .......60 seconds
7/ Oil changes for your car - every 7500 miles [says this article] will be fine for almost all engines, so don't listen to Jiffy Lube!!
Childhood habits are hard to undo, and that’s often good. To this day, I hate seeing an empty room with the lights on.
But sometimes, we need to throw aside our parents’ good advice. In March, for example, I wrote about how we should relearn the dishwasher and laundry soap habits we inherited from our mothers.
Add frequent oil-changing to that list.
8/ Not often you get a glimpse of true madness, but this speech by a prospective Republican candidate for a local county position in Ohio is incredible.....for 5 minutes he's dancing on a rope, close to melting down.....such passion and rage....I've never seen anything like it.....scary, exhilarating, riveting.....
9/ Still got a dumb phone? Just makes calls? Can't access your email, check the weather, find restaurants etc etc? Yeay!!! Let's fix this deficiency in your pathetic life...... [kidding!]
There are smart phones for you for under $100, some are free.....however there is bad news - all of them have a data fee on top of the phone function charges.... you have to pay to be cool!!!!
So you want to buy a smartphone? After enduring the taunting of your friends, you are at the end of the contract on your creaky three-year-old not-so-smartphone. The device doesn’t do e-mail or the Web, and it can’t find your position on a map.
There is only one problem. Now that you have decided to step into 2007, the choices baffle you. The mobile phone industry has changed enormously since you last shopped.
10/ Book Review from the Wall Street Journal- "The Grand Design" by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow.
This book has certainly caused controversy with religious leaders, as the premise of the theory is that the creation of the universe and indeed mankind has scientific logic behind it and has nothing to do with a "creator", i.e. God.
I had to read the review twice to understand it, let alone read the book, but it sure is an interesting theory......
The weak anthropic principle is not very controversial. But there is a stronger form that is regarded with disdain among some physicists. The strong anthropic principle suggests that the fact that we exist imposes constraints, not just on our environment, but on the possible form and content of the laws of nature themselves.
The idea arose because it is not only the peculiar characteristics of our solar system that seem oddly conducive to the development of human life, but also the characteristics of our entire universe—and its laws. They appear to have a design that is both tailor-made to support us and, if we are to exist, leaves little room for alteration. That is much more difficult to explain.
11/ Do you have a will? Don't need one because you're going to live forever? Ha! You must be a vampire on True Blood.....but if you're not, you need a will!
One of the worst headaches you can leave to your kids, cousins, your local mosque or whomever will get your estate is to die without a will. In a lot of states including Florida your heirs have to fight the State for their share of
whatever you haven't managed to spend. Luckily there's inexpensive software out there for everyone with assets under the $1 million mark.....so put this on the "get er dun" list.....
Todays redneck joke
Dearest Redneck Son,
I'm writing this slow because I know you
can't read fast. We don't live where we did
I'm writing this slow because I know you
can't read fast. We don't live where we did
when you left home. Your dad read in the
newspaper that most accidents happen within
20 miles of your home, so we moved. I won't
be able to send you the address because the
last Arkansas'er family that lived here took
the house numbers when they moved so they
wouldn't have to change their address.
This place is really nice. It even has a
washing machine. I'm not sure about it. I
put a load of clothes in and pulled the
chain. We haven't seen them since.
The weather isn't bad here. It only rained
twice last week; the first time for three
days and the second time for four days..
About that coat you wanted me to send; your
Uncle Billy Bob said it would be too heavy
to send in the mail with the buttons on, so
we cut them off and put them in the pockets.
Bubba locked his keys in the car yesterday.
We were really worried because it took him
two hours to get me and your father out.
Your sister had a baby this morning, but I
haven't found out what it is yet so I don't
know if you are an aunt or uncle.
Uncle Bobby Ray fell into a whiskey vat last
week. Some men tried to pull him out but he
fought them off and drowned. We had him
cremated, he burned for three days.
Three of your friends went off a bridge in a
pickup truck. Butch was driving. He rolled
down the window and swam to safety. Your
other two friends were in the back. They
drowned because they couldn't get the
tailgate down!
There isn't much more news at this time.
Nothing much out of the normal has happened.
Your Favorite Aunt,
Mom
newspaper that most accidents happen within
20 miles of your home, so we moved. I won't
be able to send you the address because the
last Arkansas'er family that lived here took
the house numbers when they moved so they
wouldn't have to change their address.
This place is really nice. It even has a
washing machine. I'm not sure about it. I
put a load of clothes in and pulled the
chain. We haven't seen them since.
The weather isn't bad here. It only rained
twice last week; the first time for three
days and the second time for four days..
About that coat you wanted me to send; your
Uncle Billy Bob said it would be too heavy
to send in the mail with the buttons on, so
we cut them off and put them in the pockets.
Bubba locked his keys in the car yesterday.
We were really worried because it took him
two hours to get me and your father out.
Your sister had a baby this morning, but I
haven't found out what it is yet so I don't
know if you are an aunt or uncle.
Uncle Bobby Ray fell into a whiskey vat last
week. Some men tried to pull him out but he
fought them off and drowned. We had him
cremated, he burned for three days.
Three of your friends went off a bridge in a
pickup truck. Butch was driving. He rolled
down the window and swam to safety. Your
other two friends were in the back. They
drowned because they couldn't get the
tailgate down!
There isn't much more news at this time.
Nothing much out of the normal has happened.
Your Favorite Aunt,
Mom
Todays oldies jokes
FAMILY
Three sisters ages 92, 94 and 96 live in a house together. One night the 96 year old draws a bath. She puts her foot in and pauses..... She yells to the other sisters, "Was I getting in or out of the bath?" The 94 year old yells back, "I don't know. I'll come up and see." She starts up the stairs and pauses "Was I going up the stairs or down?" The 92 year old is sitting at the kitchen table having tea listening to her sisters.. She shakes her head and says, "I sure hope I never get that forgetful, knock on wood." She then yells, "I'll come up and help both of you as soon as I see who's at the door."
Three sisters ages 92, 94 and 96 live in a house together. One night the 96 year old draws a bath. She puts her foot in and pauses..... She yells to the other sisters, "Was I getting in or out of the bath?" The 94 year old yells back, "I don't know. I'll come up and see." She starts up the stairs and pauses "Was I going up the stairs or down?" The 92 year old is sitting at the kitchen table having tea listening to her sisters.. She shakes her head and says, "I sure hope I never get that forgetful, knock on wood." She then yells, "I'll come up and help both of you as soon as I see who's at the door."
______________________________
THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO ME
An elderly Floridian called 911 on her cell phone to report that her car has been broken into. She is hysterical as she explains her situation to the dispatcher: "They've stolen the stereo, the steering wheel, the brake pedal and even the accelerator!" she cried. The dispatcher said, "Stay calm. An officer is on the way." A few minutes later, the officer radios in. "Disregard." He says, "She got in the back-seat by mistake."
_____________________________
I CAN HEAR JUST FINE!
Three retirees, each with a hearing loss, were playing golf one fine March day. One remarked to the other, "Windy, isn't it?" "No," the second man replied, "it's Thursday..." And the third man chimed in, "So am I. Let's have a beer."
______________________________
______________________________
ROMANCE
An older couple were lying in bed one night. The husband was falling asleep but the wife was in a romantic mood and wanted to talk. She said: "You used to hold my hand when we were courting." Wearily he reached across, held her hand for a second and tried to get back to sleep. A few moments later she said: "Then you used to kiss me." Mildly irritated, he reached across, gave her a peck on the cheek and settled down to sleep..
Thirty seconds later she said: "Then you used to bite my Neck." Angrily, he threw back the bed clothes and got out of bed. "Where are you going?" she asked.
"To get my teeth!"
Thirty seconds later she said: "Then you used to bite my Neck." Angrily, he threw back the bed clothes and got out of bed. "Where are you going?" she asked.
"To get my teeth!"
_____________________________
OLD FRIENDS
Two elderly ladies had been friends for many decades. Over the years, they had shared all kinds of activities and adventures. Lately, their activities had been limited to meeting a few times a week to play cards.
One day, they were playing cards when one looked at the other and said, "Now don't get mad at me.. I know we've been friends for a long time but I just can't think of your name. I've thought and thought, but I can't remember it. Please tell me what your name is." Her friend glared at her. For at least three minutes she just stared and glared at her.
Finally she said, "How soon do you need to Know?"
_____________________________
SENIOR DRIVING
As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his car phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife's voice urgently warning him, "Herman, I just heard on the news that there's a car going the wrong way on Interstate 77. Please be careful!" "Hell," said Herman, "It's not just one car.. It's hundreds of them!"
_____________________________
DRIVING
Two elderly women were out driving in a large car - both could barely see over the dashboard. As they were cruising along, they came to an intersection. The stoplight was red, but they just went on through.
The woman in the passenger seat thought to herself "I must be losing it. I could have sworn we just went through a red light." After a few more minutes, they came to another intersection and the light was red again. Again, they went right through. The woman in the passenger seat was almost sure that the light had been red but was really concerned that she was losing it. She was getting nervous. At the next intersection, sure enough, the light was red and they went on through. So, she turned to the other woman and said, "Mildred, did you know that we just ran through three red lights in a row? You could have killed us both!"
Mildred turned to her and said, "Oh! Am I driving?"
**********
Please !!!!
Please !!!!
TELL ME THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US
Todays blonde jokes
This blonde went to the pizza place and ordered a pizza. The pizza guy asked her if she wanted it cut into six pieces or twelve.
“Oh, six,” she said. “I could never eat twelve pieces.”
During her company's periodic password audit, a blond employee was found to be using this password:
GoofyHueyLouieDeweyDaisyDonald
When she was asked why she had such a long password, she said, "The boss said that my password had to be at least eight characters long and have at least one capital."
