Watering Hole: Monday, November 14, 2011 – Think Happy Thoughts

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What you think, you are.  What you think, you become.  What you think, you do.  Be careful of your thoughts because your thoughts can change your life and the lives of others.

This is our Open Thread.  Please feel free to Speak Up and share your thoughts.

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256 thoughts on “Watering Hole: Monday, November 14, 2011 – Think Happy Thoughts”

          • I’m actually thinking this needs to be a constitutional amendment of some sort. I wouldn’t presume to know how to exactly word it, but something along the lines of:

            “Any law that applies to the general population of the United States shall also apply to the Congress and the President, Vice President, the Supreme Court, and all other offices defined by the constitution, and defined by law.”

            This is supposed to be government of the people, by the people.

          • Repost but, meaningful

            _*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*_

            1. No Tenure / No Pension.

            A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no
            pay when they are out of office.

            2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social
            Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the
            Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into
            the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the
            American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

            3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all
            Americans do.

            4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
            Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

            5. Congress loses their current health care system and
            participates in the same health care system as the American people.

            6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on theAmerican people.

            7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this
            contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.

            Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding
            Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their
            term(s), then go home and back to work.

            THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!

  2. That’s a Happy Thought. Three years into the Obama Administration a whole shock of North African and MIddle East dictators have been gotten rid of and a few terrorists to boot. Assad is feeling the heat now.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15723023

    After four years of Obama the crooks are history and in a second tenure Obama can take on Israel, their excuses having gone out of the window, and force them to agree to a peace treaty with the Palestinians. Master Plan?

    • Thanks. It’s good to hear something positive, especially on a Monday morning. Sometimes we are too focused on the negative which is really bad for our health. I like Rachel Maddows “Best New Thing” segment that she offers at the end of the show.

      • And I mean it, too. I think I do see a pattern there. Good policies is not only trying to change the world from scratch (and with force) but take advantage of existing trends and tweak the outcome in the right direction. I sincerely hope none of the GOP Clowns will beat Obama. We’ll be back to brainless zombie politics in a hurry then.

  4. I’m trying to find some happy thoughts, but all I can come up with is what happened to Little Eric at Rice. Thanks for the link folks.
    I don’t know anyone of my son’s group of friends (all about 30 yrs old) who has a full time job with benefits except one who works for his parents’ business. They all work what ever they can find, but security seems unattainable. These are all hard working blue collar types, two are licensed electricians, my son is an excellent (and honest) mechanic with 12 years of experience. I don’t know what folks are supposed to do.

    • OIMF, I keep reading comments on websites, by self proclaimed small business owners, who claim they don’t get good staff in the US. I am so tired of their lies and arrogance, I have recently resorted to name calling when answering the. Who do they think they’re fooling any way?

      • Yeah, it’s hard to not call names when confronted with that toxic combination of arrogance and ignorance. What those “small business owners” really mean is that they can’t find anyone quite desperate enough to work 50 hrs/week with only 39 hrs actually recorded for minimum wage and no benefits. Remember “The Grapes of Wrath”? “No, we’re not hiring, we’ve got some 30 cents a day men. Now maybe I could use some 25 cents a day men”.

  7. The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide the fate of President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, with an election-year ruling due by July on the U.S. healthcare system’s biggest overhaul in nearly 50 years.

  9. Found this on the Keystone XL pipeline

    1. Prices may actually *rise* in the midwest as a result of resolving the glut of tar sands oil currently in the midwest.
    2. The Houston refiners actually plan to *export* their finished product (tax-free) of course.

    So much for reducing dependence on ‘foriegn’ oil (hey aren’t Canadians foreigners?) – the market says that Americans take all the environmental risk, Canada gets another outlet to export the oil and the refiners skim off some tax-free profit…. fabulous deal Mr Obama, where do you sign?

    I used to be party to a lot of this stuff in my prior job, it absolutely makes sense to me what the Guardian is saying, although its four years now since I was current on the market conditions.

    • I can feel another Bad Lip Reading video coming out with that interview.
      Or Mike Tyson…

    • This kind of rhetoric disgusts me. Besides being extremely chauvinistic with regards to the “manly man” crap, it fosters the notion of more is better.
      This leads to greed, and increase of possessions and power, on the backs of those that can be exploited.
      Corporate overlords, of which Cain is decidedly a full fledged member, don’t want American workers, they want American consumers, and a service based economy to change their bed linens, pick their fruit, trim their hedges and staff their security guard posts. They have their workers in second and third world countries.

    • Isn’t that a little like the bigger one’s monster truck tires are, the more manly he is? Sounds like he’s compensating for something… nudge, nudge, wink, wink… say no more.

  11. The ‘happy thought’ no riotous clashes – seems Oakland Police may have actually learned:

    Hundreds of officers from all over the Bay Area converged on Occupy Oakland,
    No clashes this time – thank the stars.
    The idea so many police departments, in riot gear, were called in to tear down the camp is a bit frightening.

    The police chief thought he was being generous saying they will still allow free speech, however no overnight camping.
    Newsflash: the 1st Amendment isn’t under your purview.

  15. Howdy!

    Well, how clever are teabaggers? It seems that they’ve hatched a cunning plan to collect signatures on Walker’s recall petition so that they can destroy said petition. Considering the fact that these people are so stupid that they are discussing how they are going to commit a felony on line; did they come up with the idea on their own? This just sounds like on of Lushbo’s cunning plans although i suppose it’s possible it came from an imitator in a Wisconsin market. Either way, it would interesting to see the ultimate source of this particular bit of election fraud.

    http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/wisconsin-tea-party-members-claim-the

    • As I commented the other day, I doubt any of the loud mouths are willing to actually spend the time and energy to go out gathering signatures. They’re unlikely to gather many of them sitting up on their barstools.

    • Interesting. People have admitted they want to commit a form of election fraud. But I can’t find a peep about it on Fox. They’re usually the election fraud watchdogs. Curious.

      Fox wouldn’t be biased would they?

  17. Good thing I had finished my coffee before reading this:

    “With each passing day, it is becoming increasingly clear that President Obama and his Democrat allies are fixated more on Mitt Romney than on turning around our struggling economy. If the past is any guide, we expect this obsession will grow. A Romney Administration will be focused on reviving the economy and adding jobs, not consumed by campaign politics.”

    • As if Romney hasn’t been focused on attacking Obama. He is such an idiot and is just like McCain, desperate to be the Republican nominee and hoping to win the presidency. His desperation makes him look weak.

      • The funny part is that, in order to have any appeal to the GOP base, he has to feign insanity to a point that winning the nomination will probably cost him, or whoever wins, the general election. One would think and hope that the Obama campaign will have to do nothing but play clips of the GOP “debates” rather than wasting money on slickly produced ads.

  19. Tim Dickinson the GOP’s frenzied pursuit of tax cuts for the very rich:

    “It’s difficult to imagine today, but taxing the rich wasn’t always a major flash point of American political life. From the end of World War II to the eve of the Reagan administration, the parties fought over social spending – Democrats pushing for more, Republicans demanding less. But once the budget was fixed, both parties saw taxes as an otherwise uninteresting mechanism to raise the money required to pay the bills. Eisenhower, Nixon and Ford each fought for higher taxes, while the biggest tax cut was secured by John F. Kennedy, whose across-the-board tax reductions were actually opposed by the majority of Republicans in the House. The distribution of the tax burden wasn’t really up for debate: Even after the Kennedy cuts, the top tax rate stood at 70 percent – double its current level. Steeply progressive taxation paid for the postwar investments in infrastructure, science and education that enabled the average American family to get ahead.”

    In today’s degenerate GOP, Eisenhower would be a communist, as the John Birch Society insisted he was at the time.

    http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-the-gop-became-the-party-of-the-rich-20111109

    • “Since Republicans rededicated themselves to slashing taxes for the wealthy in 1997, the average annual income of the 400 richest Americans has more than tripled, to $345 million – while their share of the tax burden has plunged by 40 percent”

      Next time you hear Boner on TV telling you ’53% of people pay no tax….’

      …. the rich pay most of it because they are earning 10-100 times what the rest of us earn!

  20. Bimbo Purina has things backwards and upside down. Here she claims that President Obma doesn’t want the economy to turn around. It should be obvious to any sane person that the GOP, who desperately want the black guy out of the White House, has done everything in their power to thwart any efforts made by the Administration. Alas, there are few sane people among the FAUX”News” crowd either as viewers or on air personalities.

    http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201111140002#1528906

    • Dana’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but considering the drawer is full of butter knives, that’s not surprising. Since her audience is comprised of mouth-breathers who can’t follow a simple trail of logic, it doesn’t matter what she says.

  22. Dan Danner is the president & CEO of the National Federation of Independent Business.

    He’s written an op-ed for Fox talking about how his collection of independent business “little guys” will finally have their day in court to strike down Health Care Reform.

    Forgetting his cherry-picked “evidence” that this is hurting his member businesses. He’s hardly a “little guy.” He’s effectively the head of a union. These member companies pool their resources to get a high-powered lobbyist like Danner to champion their causes.

    He points out, repeatedly, that small businesses hope their premiums won’t go up. That this law must be struck down to assure that. Anyone else see a flaw in that argument? Health care premiums were going up long before this law was enacted, and by double-digit percentages.

  25. MSNBC reminds viewers that Bachmann, Cain and Perry have said their God told them to run for President.

    That must mean their God wants them exposed for the fools they are.

    Personally, I think Herman should look into doing infomercials, Michele might try reading peoples’ future with a crystal ball and Rick would be perfect as a rodeo clown.

    • I think pRick would be better off as a dance instructor on a cruise ship in the Black Sea. He could take Madame Batscat along and she could read the tea leaves in their samovars.

  26. On the outside chance that Hermy gets the Repub nod, who are the bigots going to vote for? Can Godfather’s give away enough pizza to buy the votes?

    • Hooda, unbelievably NEWT seems to be he flavour of the day again. Realclearpolitics.com has all the polls and if you look beyond their bias they provide useful information. Mitt Romney doesn’t quite manage to stay ahead of the pack. Let alone distance himself. Fascinating, really.

      • Proof positive that Republicans have really short attention spans. ‘Oh look, a shiny squirrel!’

        • It’s like groundhog day. You can use all of Gingrich’s old scandals and they will never have heard it before, snort.Then they’ll favour Perry, then Cain and maybe even Bachmann will have her go at being recycled. Pathetic.

          • The way things are going come convention time they will just nominate Reagan. There is nothing in the Constitution that says the candidate has to be alive. ;)

          • Be it know to all that Newt has utter disdain for all “non-Rotarians”

            It’s a little euphamism that he used to describe those at a Rotarian get together that don’t drink his Kool-Aid.

  27. From Zimzones on TP…”Republicans suffer from Electile Dysfunction. How long can they ‘keep it up’?”

  28. The poor things really can’t help it. Now they are claiming that NBC hiring Chelsea Clinton is some kind of a “librul media” plot. No mention of GOP candidates launching their campaigns on FAUX”News” or Liz Cheney stinking up the airwaves trying to convince people that er Daddy is a war criminal.

    http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201111140019

  30. I guess that American Christians hate Muslims more than American Muslims hate Christians. I’m sure that I’ve missed a couple incidents over the history of this country but I can’t recall any high-profile incidents of American Muslims vandalizing churches or ganging up on Christians just because they are Christian. The funny part is the way that Reichwhiners squawk whenever anyone suggests that Reichwhiners are a threat.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-potok/fbi-reports-dramatic-spik_b_1092996.html

    • The way it works is when Christians hate nonChristians, this is the normal order and blessed by Jayzus. When NonChristians hate Christians this is reason to go to war and kill them so there is more room for loving Christians who can hate nonChristians and go to war and kill them. Neat little circle.

      • This may be a little simplistic, but perhaps around the time of Mohammed, 600 years or so after the time of Jesus, and after a few hundred years of Roman “christian rule”, Arabs may have begun to tire of the invasions, conversion philosophy and exploitation at the hands of imperialist invaders, and thus gave rise to Islam.

      • Indeed. Among the many things that I will never really understand about them is their perverse desire to be persecuted. It’s so compelling that they simply create persecution where none exists. Heck! we don’t even lock them up for wandering the streets making absurd “prophesies”.

        Actually, there’s a young man who catches the bus just down the street from me who spends his waiting time yelling Scripture at passing motorists. He’s quite friendly and we exchange “hellos” as I pass but I haven’t been in the right mood to engage him. Some day, I just might hand him a card for a mental health clinic as I wish him “good day”.

        • X-tians in this mode have fully embraced the martyr/victim mode of control drama. Their savior is a martyr and a victim, as with all their saints. They look at life as something to be suffered through, while deluding themselves with a trouble free hand out afterlife, where they will have all the gold, crowns and harps they didn’t get on earth.

            • Well, when push comes to shove, they might subconsciously realize that spending eternity kneeling at the feet of the Lord might not be altogether blissful.

            • Raven, that’s one that has always bothered me. They revere the sacrifice of saints/victims/martyrs yet they don’t act like them. They attack. Serious schizo.

            • That’s the attention getting mechanism at work. If they act offensively and attack, they have the chance to be attacked in response, then they get their wish and become martyrs.
              Definitely schitzoid!

      • They tried it before Paul McGann as the Eigth Doctor . McGann is a fine actor, but the script sucked.

        McGann has also played a couple of interesting roles – in ‘Withnail and I’ a cult-comedy film and ‘the Monocled Mutineer’ about a British Army mutiny in 1917 (the documents aroundwhich are *still* sealed and the movie/series was banned from being rebroadcast by the British Government of the time).

        I dunno, I doubt they’ll be able to do justice – Adams couldn’t do anything for Hitchhikers

    • Out of his depth!

      (it’s the tie – it’s not yellow – it’s throwing his “thought” process off)

      • Is this the Libya thing? I was just reading about this over at TPM.

        “I’m a much more deliberate decision-maker,” Cain said. “That is a point that I keep coming back to. Some people want to say, well, as President you’re supposed to know everything. No you don’t. I believe in having all of the information, as much of it as I possibly can, rather than making a decision or making a decision about whether I totally agreed, and didn’t agree, when I wasn’t privy to the entire situation. There might be some things that might cause me to feel differently.

        POTUS Cain has withdrawn to the Residence with a stack of pizzas and the single, double-spaced sheet of paper with everything he needs to know about the economic situation in Europe. His staff expects a response from him before the month is over.

        • The part that stinks is that, like all Reichwhiners, he simply ignores any information that dares to contradict his preconceptions. In this particular case the only preconception that matters is “Obama is always wrong”. KochCain doesn’t have any idea what the policy is but he knows that Obama was wrong. Period!

    • Shorter KochCain:

      I don’t have the foggiest idea what Obama actually did about Libya-becki-becki-stan-stan but it must have been rash and ill-considered.

      • On further reflection I realize that I was rash and ill-considered to attribute the phrase “rash and ill-considered” to KochCain. I sincerely doubt that he would be able to use either word in a sentence.

  34. Briefly back to religious influence. This site may be of interest in understanding some ‘craziness’ of the church influence:

    Medieval Monks

    Sexual Practises of Medieval Monks – Breaking the Vows
    The vow of chastity led to problems with the Medieval Monks of the Middle Ages. The strict rules applying to complete sexual abstinence led to some degenerate behaviour. Medieval monks were known to flout the rules of chastity and practise sexual perversions including sadism and masochism. There were cases where Medieval monks withheld absolution for sins as a weapon to force a woman to agree to his sexual requirements – such practises led to the emergence of the confessional. The practise of inflicting self-torture was widespread starting with simple self tortures such as wearing hair shirts, failing to wash and then harsher tortures involving self-flagellation. The vow of poverty was also disregarded by abbots of rich monasteries.

      • I would prefer a lead shirt in the hopes that it blocks some of the crazy emanating from her body. Then, perhaps, we could send her on a SCUBA diving adventure over a very deep portion of the ocean?

    • The Roman Empire embraced Christianity as a means of maintaining control and power. This established, or shall we say transferred, a ruling priesthood, who like any established hierarchy, has a tendency to abuse that power.

    • May I recommend Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana … “Veni, veni, veni, venias!” (Medieval monk poetry: “I come, I come, I come, WE come!!” or something close to that). Great music, fascinating theme.

  35. Okay, here’s a question for you Zoosters and Critters:

    Last time I saw him, my dad had this box full of the little curly light bulbs that his power company had sent him for free. He’d set them in a pile to go to Goodwill, so I asked him why he wasn’t using them. He said he “didn’t believe in them,” while I bit my tongue, and absolutely insisted that when stores run out of their current stock of incandescent light bulbs, they won’t be allowed to stock them anymore. He said the government simply won’t allow the people to buy incandescent bulbs anymore. Ever.

    I said I wasn’t sure that was true at all, and told him that if it were true, he might want to hang on to the curly bulbs. He’s stocked up with the old kind of bulbs, I guess.

    So, is it true that the government has banned incandescent light bulbs, and when current stocks of them run out in the stores, they will only sell the fluorescent bulbs?

    • From Wikipedia:

      Some governments around the world have passed measures to phase out incandescent light bulbs for general lighting. The aim is to encourage the use and technological development of more energy-efficient lighting alternatives, such as compact fluorescent lamp (CFLs) and LED lamps. Brazil and Venezuela started to phase them out in 2005,[1] and the European Union, Switzerland,[2] and Australia[3] started to phase them out in 2009.[4] Likewise, other nations are planning scheduled phase-outs: Argentina,[5] Russia, and Canada in 2012,[6] and the United States and Malaysia in 2014.[7]

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-out_of_incandescent_light_bulbs

    • As I understand it; light bulbs will be required to meet an efficiency rating. There are, in fact, incandescent bulbs that meet the standard and other types that do not.

    • Sorta, kinda, not so much.

      In December 2007, many of these state efforts became moot when the federal government enacted the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which requires all general-purpose light bulbs that produce 310–2600 lumens of light[33] be 30% more energy efficient (similar to current halogen lamps) than then-current incandescent bulbs by 2012 to 2014. The efficiency standards will start with 100-watt bulbs in January 2012 and end with 40-watt bulbs in January 2014.

      Light bulbs outside of this range are exempt from the restrictions. Also exempt are several classes of specialty lights, including appliance lamps, rough service bulbs, 3-way, colored lamps, stage lighting, and plant lights.

      By 2020, a second tier of restrictions would become effective, which requires all general-purpose bulbs to produce at least 45 lumens per watt (similar to current CFLs). Exemptions from the Act include reflector flood, 3-way, candelabra, colored, and other specialty bulbs.[34]

      In 2011, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas and 14 other Republicans joined to introduce the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act or BULB Act (H.R. 91), which would have repealed Subtitle B of Title III of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Barton was opposed to regulation, while Rep. Michael Burgess pointed to jobs purportedly lost to China and voiced a fear of mercury problems resulting from CFL use.[35] On July 12, 2011, H.R. 2417 failed to pass by the required two-thirds majority in the U.S. House.[36]

      I’m still trying to work out what H.R. 2417 was, as opposed to H.R. 91.

      • So basically, light bulb efficiency standards, not an outright ban. I knew it! Or rather, I suspected it!

        My dad is a Fux viewer, so you know here he’s getting this crap.

        • Your dad probably thinks O’Reilly’s book is the true story of Lincoln’s assassination.

        • We use curly bulbs almost exclusively, and for two reasons:

          1. They give off light,
          2. They last for years instead of for a couple of months. The small lamp on my desk (which doubles as a night light) is currently well into its third year of never-been-turned-off and never-burned-out. In fact, since we use curly bulbs almost everywhere we no longer have to buy bulbs ’cause our lamps never burn out. I like that.

          Curly bulbs light up, last long, save time and money, and make sense. Which is why Republicans are worried about them.

    • Hoping to have a few bulbs around, at least for nostalgia, I planted all of mine. They haven’t come up yet.

    • Why Republicans are fighting to save the 30-cent light bulb

      House Republicans are attempting to repeal energy-efficiency standards that would phase out the least efficient – and least expensive – incandescent light bulbs. They see the regulations as another example of government meddling.

      In an attempt to cut energy consumption, federal laws will soon prohibit the sale of inefficient incandescent bulbs. California began the process early, starting its phase-out last month. The rest of the country will begin next year.

    • “Don’t believe in them”

      Ah if I close my eyes and click my heels three times, they will go away? Since when have light bulbs been subject to faith?

  37. Those of you who have read my light bulb story may disregard this comment.

    A local store had CFLs on sale for $1.00 a piece so I replaced every bulb in the house. The checkout gal gravely asked me if I knew that they were dangerous. I asked her if Bachmann had told her that and she said “yes”. So, I pointed at the strip lights above her head and asked her if she realized that each tube contains thousands of times the mercury in a CFL and that we have been disposing of them for decades. Her reply was a blank stare and a dire warning; “but these are dangerous”.

    • Oops! I forgot to mention that the CFLs cut my electric bill by around 30%. And switching my aquarium from metal-halide to fluorescent saved another 10% although I can’t support the corals and anemones that I once did. On the other hand, the change in aquarium lighting has fostered healthy growth of “macro algae” which results in cleaner water and healthier fish.

    • One of my brothers-in-law spewed a Fox-driven Facebook report about the “Christmas tree tax.” One of his friends and I both pointed him to the actual facts about the fee, and the fact that it originated with a request from tree farmers. Oh, and I corrected him about this being a US-grown-only tax, when it will also be imposed on imports.

      Blah, blah, blah I say it’s a tax blah blah how dare they do this blah blah… First rule: ignore all facts that conflict with the propaganda you’ve been fed. Second rule: never wonder why your favorite network is feeding you disinformation. I mean, hell, at that point he might have to question every damn thing he “knows” because of Fox.

      • Based on very few clues; I tend to think that the nice lady at the store doesn’t even watch FAUX”News”. She strikes me as a person who learns everything she knows from campaign ads and people at church. Although, back when there was a salmonella scare over eggs, I noticed that she used a plastic bag as an improvised glove before she would touch an egg carton so she must have some source for current events..

        Speaking of FAUX”News”… Their act has crossed from misinformation into incitement. Their portrayal of the OWS protestors seems to be designed to rile up some dumb cracker to the point that he opens fire on the crowd.

    • I get a lot of this these days. Being resourceful and inventive, I go looking for odd parts and pieces for projects. Often times as I explain what I’m doing, the clerk will question me “Why are you doing it this way?” “Why don’t you just buy (this or that)?”. My response is that I can save money, or have something that is more dependable and sustainable. About that time the blank look comes over their faces and they go into parrot mode.

      • I’ve always gotten my fair share of that since I’ve always prided myself on being unconventional. Waaaaay back, when I was managing a restaurant full of teenagers, I used to hold a clinic on changing oil and tires every few months. One of the crazy mothers nearly killed me for teaching her daughter how to change a freakin’ flat. On the other hand; one of my favorites went on to tech school and is a lead mechanic at a dealership because he caught the bug when I showed him how to change his oil.

    • And an infinite number of typewriter-wielding monkeys will, given enough time, reproduce a Shakespearian Sonnet.

      It’s just the *impression* of Batshit suddenly making sense, listen to the next thing she says, it’ll back to normal. This is how the universe works.

      • Did you ever hear the Bob Newhart bit about the monkeys with typewriters? His punchline, on thinking he found something famous, was: “To be, or not to be, that is the gezornionplat…”

      • It’s also clear that the gloves are coming off, especially from the most desperate. Anyone of these fools has access to plenty of damning information about the others, especially by exposing their previous words and actions to the Base.

            • Maybe they’re not fit to be seen in public…

              Speaking of being seen in public, Mrs. Cain debuts defending her husband against the harassment stuff.
              I noted in particular that while saying he respects women, she made the statement that “To exhibit such behavior would indicate he has a split personality.”
              This may be her way of divulging something she knows something about.
              Just saying…

            • It’s called CYA, in case more women come forward.

              Having been married to Herb all these years, I doubt the woman is a complete idiot.

          • Or we get to see her Tweeting pictures of her in her chastity belt to the football team…

            • I actually have to give Batscat one tiny bit of credit. She has not used her kids, like a certain awful woman from Alaska, as props. The foster kids are protected by privacy rights but one would think that she would use her biological kids if she thought it would get her a vote or a dollar. Which makes me wonder if there was a family meeting where her adult children said something like; “if you don’t force us in front of a camera we won’t seek out opportunities to tell the world you’re nuts”.

            • I beg to differ, pete.

              Batshit uses her children all the time, she just doesn’t trot ‘em out on stage like Palin did.

            • I agree, Zooey. I just meant that she hasn’t provided us with those painful moments with the “happy family” mugging for the cameras. she does, indeed, use the kids with virtually every breath.

  40. According to FAUX”News”… Young veterans are not joining the VFW because they are lacking in patriotism.

    Here in the cause and effect universe I think that young veterans would rather get on with their lives and try to forget the travails of military service, especially in a shooting war, while the need to get together and pine for the “good ol’ days” comes with age.

    Dad served in WW2 and dropped bombs on French civilians. He never joined the VFW or any other veterans’ group. While I was young he would tell the funny personal stories about a bunch of kids thrown together but he never mentioned his actual war service until he was in his sixties and had suffered his first heart attack. That’s also when he hooked up with a few other WW2 vets who belonged to his R/C airplane club. I really miss sitting in on those bull sessions and soaking up the real life history.

    http://mediamatters.org/blog/201111140023

    Oh yeah. FAUX”news” sucks.

    • What’s patriotic about the VFW? With all due respect to the vets who choose to join the organization, they’ve already demonstrated their patriotism as few of those turds on Fox have ever done – they’ve served their country.

      • …they’ve already demonstrated their patriotism

        The true meaning of “actions speak louder than words”.

      • Exactly. The VFW, to take nothing away from their causes, is a social club for aging veterans.

        I’m not a huge fan but “King of the Hill” did an episode where the cash strapped VFW had to recruit Vietnam vets in order to get more people paying dues. The transition from opposing cliques to mutual support was actually pretty touching.

  41. ‘Lazy’ pigeons flock to ride Stockholm metro

    ”They stand calmly at the platform and wait for the subway train to arrive. When it does they get on, travel one stop, jump off and then head for their favourite haunts,” Rasmus Sandsten, press spokeperson for underground operator MTR, told The Local.

    ”They behave well while on board and don’t seem to be making much of a mess. They also choose to travel later in the day, cleverly avoiding rush hour,” Sandsten told The Local.

    Of course, we all know that pigeons are really robot aliens from the planet Xenu, and believe they are merely blending in with the rest of the population by riding the subway!

    • I can’t speak for city pigeons but rural pigeons aren’t robots. In fact, corn fed pigeons are pretty good eating on those days when no other game has found its way into the daily bag. I used to hunt on a farm with a big pigeon population and i figured that they eat the same stuff as the pheasants. I actually prefer them to pheasant but grouse and doves are generally better eating. Still, a nice plump pigeon stuffed with apple slices and slow roasted is very, very, tasty.

    • I would be inclined to believe that pigeons are robots except for the fact that my grandfather used to raise carrier pigeons in his barn in Toledo, Ohio. Unless my grandfather was an alien or his barn was a way station for the pigeons.

      • Hmmm. My Grandfather did have an accent, but I thought that’s only because he immigrated from Poland.

      • Funny you should say that you are “inclined to believe that pigeons are robots”…
        Pigeons aren’t the smartest in the avian world by a long shot, but they can reliably follow instinct (as in ‘Homing’) and they can grasp simple ’cause and effect’.

        Thus the US military trained pigeons to act as ‘pilots’ or rather ‘navigators’ for early UAVs or ‘drones’/cruise missiles in the early 1950s.
        The pigeon was trained to peck at a lighted button, for which it would receive a food reward.
        The us military installed a few lights and the space for a pigeon in the nose cone of missile. Various ground-based signals could be sent to the missile which would light one button or another depending on what course-correction was required.
        The pigeon would peck at the lighted button, expecting a food reward, and thus alter the path or trajectory of the missile.
        Until electronics advanced sufficiently, the pigeon was ,briefly, the CPU of the most advanced missile systems of the early 1950s. .

        • The robot theory is one that has been put out there by Thom Hartmann. I was being ironic. Thom’s take is the you never see a dead pigeon or a baby one.

          And like I said, my grandfather raised them to race each other and carry messages. I have seen baby pigeons. And feed was definitely involved in their training.

    • That was very entertaining.

      I disagree with the biologist who said birds/pigeons are very clever.

      …they have seen pigeons using the Stockholm metro system as early as the 1990′s, when a similar pigeon gang regularly roamed the suburb of Hökarängen…

        • I almost had to take issue, Ebb. Thank you for the correction.

          I actually have primed myself for someone calling me, or another in my presence, a “bird brain”. In fact, as knowledgeable people know, some birds might compare with dolphins and chimps on the intelligence scale.

          • Evenin’ 5th! They manage to survive and multiply.
            The Mourning Dove is a marvel of ‘staying alive’ – they lay their eggs in the darndest places: many times withing reach of the local feline population!

    • I fear there are very few members of this blog that are regular listeners of Thom Hartmann. It is his contention that pigeons are robot aliens from the planet Xenu, because you never see baby pigeons and you never see dead pigeons. If you think you are seeing a dead pigeon, it’s actually a disguised dove!

      • I’ve seen baby pigeons. I have also killed, cleaned, cooked, and eaten pigeons. However, these were pigeons that had appropriated an abandoned barn for their nefarious schemes. City pigeons might be a different matter.

        • City pigeons might be a different matter.

          City birds will take advantage of any space they deem ‘empty’ (even though it’s not) and congregate.

          We’ve observed our year round bonded pair of Peregrines hunt, stoop at and only able to lightly strike, leaving the rock dove to escape – generally to the ground for cover!

      • House, you know we take our birding very seriously//

        They are actually called rock doves these days.

        Perhaps Thom has never seen a juvenile rock dove – they are similar in appearance.

      • I got the reference, House. :)

        I try to listen everyday, but often get involved in something else and forget all about him. Boo.

        • Until I went to work, I planned my activities around listening to Thom. I have auxiliary speakers in the kitchen, so I can hear the show from the computer when I’m working in the house, even in the front rooms. If I’m working outside near the bedroom window, I can crank it open, and turn it up enough to hear out there, unless somebody fires up a nearby leafblower.
          I had to get a new phone (a cheap one) two weeks before I got hired, or I’d have one that can get I Heart Radio, and I could hear Thom and several other shows during the day. They allow radios in the shop, and several guys use earphones.

    • Various birds make tools, cache food, teach their young, use language, establish social orders, and construct three dimensional mental maps. I think it’s safe to say that some birds are smarter than many people.

      • The avian world is so fascinating! We’ve posted this many times -yet it never ceases to amaze me no end.

        Were I a female Lyre bird…

        ——-
        Peregrine falcons cache food – especially during nesting and fledge time!

    • Thanks for the reminder.

      I’d read about this being made into a movie – with detail to accurately portraying bird vocalizations.

      A few years back the book’s author, Mark Obmascik, was interviewed on NPR – very interesting!

    • I’ll just have to mention I positively identified a Pacific loon yesterday!
      The bird, I mean…

        • It is, thanks. With a lot of seabirds in winter plumage, I often need to get a photo to enlarge later for the particular details.

        • I’ve morphed in the last couple of weeks, starting wearing my camos. Helps me blend in better with the local color, so to speak. All I need now is a pair of mossy oak breakup rubber boots and I’ll look like I’ve always been here…

          • If you go all the way and get a camo jobbie on your truck, you’d fit in nicely in Idaho. Don’t push it! :lol:

            Anyhoo, you already look more like a local than most locals. Besides, if you take off mossy oak breakup rubber boots, how will you ever find them again?

  45. By the way, in case anyone wonders what kind of heinous military weapons I’m working on, my current project is parts for an F-16 boarding ladder. Last week I ran the top step, and today I started one of the side rails. Not really very high tech, but it pays the bills.

    • Will it stow neatly on a kayak?
      Just in case I run up on an F-16 which needs to be boarded.
      Arggggh!

    • I spent a few of my earlier years trying to design a gunpowder that would improve the m16. I came to the conclusion that it would be much easier to design a better weapon but that would have required a bunch of Reichwhiners to admit that the main American assault rifle was a piece of shit that no soldier should ever be forced to depend on to keep him alive in a firefight.

  47. Portland cops rough up protesters, and possibly beat another severely.

    It’s disgraceful that the cops are continuing to behave this way, and I’m not making any excuses for them at all. Having said that, I think the OWS movement is in desperate need of training in non-violent resistance. IMHO, non-violent resistance achieved physically AND verbally, and shouting “fuck you” or anything else in a cops face is engaging in verbal violence.

    Are there some old civil rights protesters who can give the OWS movement some training?

    • Well, Zooey, “We the People” are a bit out of practice when it comes to civil disobedience. The cops, on the other hand, have been practicing, at least, since 9/11.

  49. During Herb’s clusterfuck response regarding Libya today, he says at one point “No, that’s a different one.” It wasn’t a response to any question put to him, just out of the blue.

    Does Herb have a Bush-style transmitter box taped to the middle of his back?

    • I’d say no to the talking box . It was of no assistance if it were there.
      The really frightening fact: only one of those vying Repugnants has any reality toward foreign policy (Huntsman).

      • On the other hand; Ron Paul is the only one on the stage, including Huntsman, who dared to condemn waterboarding/torture. Old doctor Paul is as crazy as any of them but, at least, he realizes that abusing prisoners will only strengthen our enemies’ resolve.

    • I don’t know if “Herb” is, technically, stupider than Dubbya but he, obviously, didn’t derive a little benefit from having a daddy who was a political animal. “Herb” just might be the most unqualified person to ever last this long in a presidential primary season. Heck! Even Batscat has a small understanding of how American politics work while “Herb” is completely oblivious. I still can’t help but wonder if the Kochs encouraged his run as a way to prove that black people are unfit for office. The Reichwing claims that “Herb” is a “real black man” just serve to feed that suspicion.

    • The red is no better than the yellow – it’s the person wearing the tie. Cain is somewhat entertainingly stupid. Neut makes me quite ill – ever word out of his mouth is a lie.
      —
      Hey, you’re a purple turkey – interesting!

    • Again with not understanding non-violent resistance.

      I don’t agree that they should be kicked out, but screaming obscenities only makes sure they show up on Fux, and that doesn’t help the cause.

      • If riot-geared cops can’t ignore taunting and swearing – then find another career. Words don’t physically attack. Batons; teargas, etc do much damage to peaceably assembled people.

        • I’d agree with you Ebb, if so many of the cops weren’t hired thugs working for crap wages and bennies. All they need is a reason, and not much of one at that.

          I just don’t think it helps the cause.

    • Why? Just to make matters worse then it can be blamed on the Occupiers?
      I don’t understand that concept – relatively calm crowd then the shit disturbing police start their asinine antics to rile.

      • To cause pain, I guess. And it’s not visible to the press who aren’t being allowed in the area.

        I think they’re tearing everything up to make it look like OWS made the mess, not the cops.

  55. Police State:

    …describes a state in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic and political life of the population. A police state typically exhibits elements of totalitarianism and social control, and there is usually little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive

  56. That twitter feed is just too damn fast for me to try and keep up.

    On the Live Stream the occupiers have asked the cops:
    Why are the media not allowed in.
    Why are they destroying everything when it could be donated to the homeless.

    Police have no interest in keeping the peace – only causing aggravation and as you pointed out earlier – pain! Saddistic lot the ‘peace officers’ are.

  57. The cops, across the country, wait until the wee hours of the morn to invade/raid. As if that would be an element of surprise to a crowd that doesn’t all sleep at the same time.

    I’m disgusted with the Police State.

  59. Oh lordy, too sleepy to stay up. Things are still crazy in NYC, and hopefully the damn MSM will do its job and report on this shameful incident.

    • Good news, Al Jazeera is running one of the live streams.

      The world will know what’s going on, but America will remain clueless? We’ll see.

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