You need to read #1......very interesting, and will open your eyes........
1/ Fascinating column from Paul Krugman about the corporate influence on our politics, and how billionaires like the Koch brothers and the Coors family are shaping the modern Republican party.....
Arguably, this shouldn’t be surprising. Modern American conservatism is, in large part, a movement shaped by billionaires and their bank accounts, and assured paychecks for the ideologically loyal are an important part of the system. Scientists willing to deny the existence of man-made climate change, economists willing to declare that tax cuts for the rich are essential to growth, strategic thinkers willing to provide rationales for wars of choice, lawyers willing to provide defenses of torture, all can count on support from a network of organizations that may seem independent on the surface but are largely financed by a handful of ultrawealthy families.
But now there's Fox - not only are they an "out in the open" partisan Republican voice, they are now beginning to control the Republican party as well.....
Well, for one thing, Fox News seems to have decided that it no longer needs to maintain even the pretense of being nonpartisan.
Nobody who was paying attention has ever doubted that Fox is, in reality, a part of the Republican political machine; but the network — with its Orwellian slogan, “fair and balanced” — has always denied the obvious. Officially, it still does. But by hiring those G.O.P. candidates, while at the same time makingmillion-dollar contributions to the Republican Governors Association and the rabidly anti-Obama United States Chamber of Commerce, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which owns Fox, is signaling that it no longer feels the need to make any effort to keep up appearances.
Something else has changed, too: increasingly, Fox News has gone from merely supporting Republican candidates to anointing them. Christine O’Donnell, the upset winner of the G.O.P. Senate primary in Delaware, is often described as the Tea Party candidate, but given the publicity the network gave her, she could equally well be described as the Fox News candidate. Anyway, there’s not much difference: the Tea Party movement owes much of its rise to enthusiastic Fox coverage.
As the Republican political analyst David Frum put it, “Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we are discovering we work for Fox”
2/ Big Ag.
Monsanto is one of the most powerful Big Agriculture oligarchs, so it is especially pleasing to see this story about their present troubles.......but when you read this take note of the genetic modifications to the veggies we are eating it really makes you wonder about what exactly is in GM [genetically modified] foods and how safe they are.....
The article also gives some but not all details about how Monsanto screws the farmers...
The latest blow came last week, when early returns from this year’s harvest showed that Monsanto’s newest product, SmartStax corn, which contains eight inserted genes, was providing yields no higher than the company’s less expensive corn, which contains only three foreign genes.
Monsanto has already been forced to sharply cut prices on SmartStax and on its newest soybean seeds, called Roundup Ready 2 Yield, as sales fell below projections.
But there is more. Sales of Monsanto’s Roundup, the widely used herbicide, has collapsed this year under an onslaught of low-priced generics made in China. Weeds are growing resistant to Roundup, dimming the future of the entire Roundup Ready crop franchise. And the Justice Department is investigating Monsanto for possible antitrust violations.
3/ Ahhhh....Afghanistan - haven't heard much from this shithole lately, but quietly President Karzai and his relatives are making billions from US taxpayers - the most corrupt, disgusting place on the planet....a nation of medieval peasants, pederasts and beaten women......get out now.....let them sink into the pit they came from.....
While the roles played by two of President Karzai’s brothers — Ahmed Wali Karzai, the power broker of Kandahar, and Mahmoud Karzai, a prominent businessman and investor in the troubled Kabul Bank — have been well documented, the extensive web of other family members has not previously been reported. Most of them lived in the United States before going to Afghanistan, leveraging the president’s position to put them at the center of a new oligarchy of powerful Afghan families.
One of President Karzai’s nephews is a top official in the intelligence service, giving him authority over some of Afghanistan’s most sensitive security operations. A brother of the president is an official in the agency that issues licenses required for all Afghan corporations; an uncle is now ambassador to Russia.
At least six Karzai relatives, including one who just ran for Parliament, operate or are linked to contracting businesses that collect millions of dollars annually from the American government.
4/ President Obama
Quite an insightful story from The Independent UK paper making the case that Obama's presidency is similar to Jimmy Carters'......if you are at all interested in politics read this - it's very interesting.....and depressing, because the problems facing the US are......us......we don't want to hear the truth, we have the attention span of insects, we can't face reality and don't want to hear about any bad news.......so how can an intellectual like Obama [and Carter before him] connect with us?
Recommended for pointy-heads......
This is a rare moment when, seen from abroad, British politics actually looks rather impressive. A hung election produced the first coalition government since the Second World War, which has come up with a serious plan to put the country's finances back in order. Everything may end in tears, after the details are published on 20 October. At least, however, they've tried.
In the US, by contrast, nothing. As the deficit increases, and income disparities continue to grow, name-calling passes for serious debate. The only economic argument is over whether top earners should have their tax rates put back up to where they were before 2001, from 35 per cent to 39 per cent.
Like Carter before him, Obama at least tries to tell the truth – that the road back will be long, and that the US must change its profligate ways, above all in its use of energy. But this White House has yet to come up with a serious deficit-reduction plan. As for the Republicans, their new "Pledge to America" is basically warmed-over Bushery, gushing on about tax cuts, but refusing to be specific about the spending cuts to pay for them. The rise of China and other fast-industrialising countries, and the crash of 2008 might never have happened.
5/ Drunks, and the beer song......a stupid compilation of dumb drunks falling over.....2 minutes.....marginally funny.....
6/ And on the same theme Onion News researches and finds out most Americans get their exercise while drunk.....2 minutes.....funny......
7/ After those two links - Sobering article from the Guardian on how the elections in November will be the most expensive ever....thanks to the totally corrupt Roberts Supreme Court......the oligarchs on the right are buying our Congress.....
With the Democrats facing electoral disaster and Barack Obama battling to save his presidency, the Republicans are resurgent, their campaign chests bursting with money from big corporations whose spending power has been unleashed by a supreme court ruling earlier this year providing anonymity for donors.
The estimated $5bn dwarfs the $1bn spent on the White House race.
Public Citizen, a non-profit organisation that tracks corporate spending on elections and lobbying, said today Republicans had received six times more cash than the Democrats last month, and this could rise to 10 to one this month. Much of the cash had come from Wall Street, banking and the health and pharmaceuticals industry, it said.
8/ Sports - Ryder Cup
The win by Europe over the US in the Ryder Cup this weekend was a huge deal here.....live on TV, lots of commentary on the radio and in the papers, and my cousin called me to make sure I was watching, just to rub it in..... In the end it was a very close match, the US surged back including a miracle Tiger chip for an eagle, but Europe held out for the win.....good golf!
No it's NOT like watching ocean racing, or paint drying...........
Not since 1991 at Kiawah Island had the Ryder Cup been decided in such breathtaking fashion by the last of 12 singles matches.
A brilliant putt by McDowell on 16 left Mahan needing to win the last two holes for a half that would have denied Europe, but Mahan scuffed his second shot after firing short of the green off the tee on the par-three 17th.
9/ Good story about corporations sitting on piles of cash, and borrowing at next to nothing but not investing it to create jobs....according to the article there's no answer to this.....they use the cash to improve their profits and cut costs.....good for the oligarchs, screw the middle class.....have we heard this before?
The development presents something of a chicken-and-egg situation: Corporations keep saving, waiting for the economy to perk up — but the economy is unlikely to perk up if corporations keep saving.
This situation underscores the limits of Washington policy makers’ power to stimulate the economy. TheFederal Reserve has held official interest rates near zero for almost two years, which allows corporations to sell bonds with only slightly higher returns — even below 1 percent. But most companies are not doing what the easy monetary policy was intended to get them to do: invest and create jobs
10/ Governor Schwartznegger lashes out at the oil companies and the Koch brothers [yup, them again] trying to derail California's green energy bill.....
Good column from Thomas Friedman.....
What has Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California incensed is the fact that two Texas oil companies with two refineries each in California are financing a campaign to roll back California’s landmark laws to slow global warming and promote clean energy innovation, because it would require the refiners to install new emission-control tools. At a time when President Obama and Congress have failed to pass a clean energy bill, California’s laws are the best thing we have going to stimulate clean-tech in America. We don’t want them gutted. C’mon in. This is a fight worth having.
11/ Music video - Morgan Page "I'll Fight For You"......
Not a complex or expensive video, but a good catchy song.....cute ladies.....
Todays video - Get out of my Car!
Todays European joke
Heaven is where the police are British,
the chefs Italian,
the mechanics German,
the lovers French,
and it's all organized by the Swiss.
the chefs Italian,
the mechanics German,
the lovers French,
and it's all organized by the Swiss.
Hell is where the police are German,
the chefs are British,
the mechanics French,
the lovers Swiss,
and it is all organized by the Italians.
Todays teenager jokes
These are genuine answers (from 16 year olds)............and they WILL breed.
Q. Name the four seasonsA. Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar
Q. Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drinkA. Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists
Q. How is dew formedA. The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire
Q. What causes the tides in the oceansA. The tides are a fight between the earth and the moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins the fight
Q. What guarantees may a mortgage company insist onA. If you are buying a house they will insist that you are well endowed
Q. In a democratic society, how important are electionsA. Very important. Sex can only happen when a male gets an election
Q. What are steroids
A. Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs (Shoot yourself now , there is little hope)
Q.. What happens to your body as you ageA. When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental
Q. What happens to a boy when he reaches pubertyA. He says goodbye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery
Q. Name a major disease associated with cigarettesA. Premature death
Q. What is artificial inseminationA. When the farmer does it to the bull instead of the cow
Q. How can you delay milk turning sourA. Keep it in the cow
Q. How are the main 20 parts of the body categorised (e.g. The abdomen)A. The body is consisted into 3 parts - the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels: A, E, I,O,U.. (wtf!)
Q. What is the fibula?A. A small lie
Q. What does 'varicose' mean?A. Nearby
Q. What is the most common form of birth control A. Most people prevent contraception by wearing a condominium (That would work)
Q. Give the meaning of the term 'Caesarean section'A. The caesarean section is a district in Rome
Q. What is a seizure?A. A Roman Emperor. (
Q. What is a terminal illness
A. When you are sick at the airport. (Irrefutable)
Q. Give an example of a fungus. What is a characteristic feature?A. Mushrooms. They always grow in damp places and they look like umbrellas
Q. Use the word 'judicious' in a sentence to show you understand its meaningA. Hands that judicious can be soft as your face. (OMG)
Q. What does the word 'benign' mean?A. Benign is what you will be after you be eight (brilliant)
Q. What is a turbine?A. Something an Arab or Shreik wears on his head
Q. Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drinkA. Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists
Q. How is dew formedA. The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire
Q. What causes the tides in the oceansA. The tides are a fight between the earth and the moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins the fight
Q. What guarantees may a mortgage company insist onA. If you are buying a house they will insist that you are well endowed
Q. In a democratic society, how important are electionsA. Very important. Sex can only happen when a male gets an election
Q. What are steroids
A. Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs (Shoot yourself now , there is little hope)
Q.. What happens to your body as you ageA. When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental
Q. What happens to a boy when he reaches pubertyA. He says goodbye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery
Q. Name a major disease associated with cigarettesA. Premature death
Q. What is artificial inseminationA. When the farmer does it to the bull instead of the cow
Q. How can you delay milk turning sourA. Keep it in the cow
Q. How are the main 20 parts of the body categorised (e.g. The abdomen)A. The body is consisted into 3 parts - the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels: A, E, I,O,U.. (wtf!)
Q. What is the fibula?A. A small lie
Q. What does 'varicose' mean?A. Nearby
Q. What is the most common form of birth control A. Most people prevent contraception by wearing a condominium (That would work)
Q. Give the meaning of the term 'Caesarean section'A. The caesarean section is a district in Rome
Q. What is a seizure?A. A Roman Emperor. (
Q. What is a terminal illness
A. When you are sick at the airport. (Irrefutable)
Q. Give an example of a fungus. What is a characteristic feature?A. Mushrooms. They always grow in damp places and they look like umbrellas
Q. Use the word 'judicious' in a sentence to show you understand its meaningA. Hands that judicious can be soft as your face. (OMG)
Q. What does the word 'benign' mean?A. Benign is what you will be after you be eight (brilliant)
Q. What is a turbine?A. Something an Arab or Shreik wears on his head
Todays old codger joke
The marriage of an 80 year old man and a 20 year old woman was the talk of the town. After being married a year, the couple went to the hospital for the birth of their first child.
The attending nurse came out of the delivery room to congratulate the old gentleman and said , 'This is amazing. How do you do it at your age?'
The old man grinned and said, 'You got to keep the old motor running .
The following year, the couple returned to the hospital for the birth of their second child. The same nurse was attending the delivery and again went out to congratulate the old gentleman.
She said, 'Sir, you are something else. How do you manage it?'
The old man grinned and said, 'You gotta keep the old motor running..'
A year later, the couple returned to the hospital for the birth of their third child.
The same nurse was there for this birth also and, after the delivery , she once again approached the old gentleman, smiled, and said, 'Well, you surely are something else! How do you do it?'
The old man replied, 'It's like I've told you before, you gotta keep the old motor running.'
The nurse, still smiling, patted him on the back and said: 'Well, I guess it's time to change the oil. This one's black.'
