Rough Justice
A “playlist” of songs used to induce sleep deprivation and to drown out screams of the detainees was leaked to the press a while back, and now at least one musician wants the US government to pay for the privilege.
A link within the article above lists the “Top Ten” torture songs, but I didn’t recognize many of them. There were some tunes by Eminem, but the truly torturous tunes I DID recognize were: Barney TV theme song, Meow Mix TV commercial and the Sesame Street TV theme song. *shudder*
If it was up to me to choose songs to torture by, these would be some of my picks:
In A Gadda Da Vida and anything by Alvin and the Chipmunks, Celine Dion, Barry Manilow or Yoko Ono; also the tunes that Janet Reno used to root out the Branch Dividians in Texas, since that worked out so well.
But still, the most torturous tune would be the Meow Mix commercial played on a continual loop—if that doesn’t make ‘em spill their guts, they’ve got nothing to spill!
O Lamb Of God, That Takest Away The Sins Of The World, Grant Us Thy Peace
Speaking at a meeting of House Democrats yesterday about his recent overseas trip and the meaning of it, Obama said that “this is the moment, as Nancy [Pelosi] noted, that the world is waiting for. . .I have become the symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.”
How pathetic—Obama believes his own bullsh*t.
Good Luck With That
GOP ready to link Obama to Reid, Pelosi.
Jeez, since when has Obama been a working member of the US Senate? From the minute he won his seat he began running for POTUS. On all controversial votes he was either hiding in the restroom or voted “present”.
I can’t think of another US Senator who is so detached from the US Senate, but I have to admit it’s a juicy target when Pelosi says she’s against domestic oil drilling because she wants to “use the speaker’s gavel to save the planet.”
What a hoot!
An Embarrassment To Our Gender 07/28/08
In yet another “world ends, women and minorities hit hardest” story in The New York Times called Blogging’s Glass Ceiling, about the BlogHer convention in San Francisco, which is a bunch of wymyn bloggers getting together to kvetch and whine, which they have been doing since the first convention in ‘05.
At the beginning of the article, BlogHer sounded like a slumber party for adults with notes posted on restroom doors with pithy sayings like “You Are Perfect”, massages and makeup demonstrations/applications, but getting further into the article, it became the predictable whine-fest with the wymyn complaining (among other things) that:
1. Their blogs aren’t taken as seriously
as Daily Kos, even though the wymyn’s subject matter was about their family life, pooping babies, pets, type 1 diabetes, etc.—-stuff no one outside their immediate circle could possibly care about.
2. Wymyn are disadvantaged because they aren’t taught to be aggressive and analytical. Oh, please! What is this—the 1950s?
3. They get more comments about their looks than their comments. A modest proposal: don’t publish your photograph.
You get the picture (hee!hee!) but these were just a few of the complaints.
As for the political leaning of these wymyn, here’s a clue; when it was announced that Michelle Obama had just written her first blog post, the crowd wept, hooted and applauded. No mention of what the reaction was to Michelle Malkin’s years of blogging—or that it was even mentioned.
There are very few bloggers who make a living by just blogging, and maybe when a group of wymyn devise a political blog force like Kos, whose members don’t just blog but raise money and promote candidates, they’ll be taken seriously, too. But whining and playing the victim card exposes them as seriously unserious.
I’m happy to say that I have none of these complaints—I don’t expect to make money, I like having a platform to express my views and I don’t think I’m taken any less seriously than male bloggers—-maybe even MORE seriously than some.
So as McCain says (no, not THAT McCain):Ladies please: If your blog sucks, it’s not because of some patriarchal conspiracy, OK?
Ask The Examiner
Q: Who do we hate most?
A.The people elected by the people to do the people’s business.
Q: Why does Phil Hare hate the poor and minorities?
A: Because he backs the increase in the federal minimum wage.
Q: Dick Durbin voted against the Senate resolution to go to war with Iraq on October 11, 2002, but did he believe Saddam Hussein had WMDs?
A: Yes he did and here’s the quotes from Durbin:
“There is no one in this Senate Chamber making apologies for Saddam Hussein or his weapons of mass destruction.”
And,
“As we know—it has been declassified this week—our intelligence community tells us the most likely scenario of weapons of mass destruction to be used against
Americans is if we launch an invasion of Iraq. Saddam Hussein knows today if those weapons move or are used in any way against us or our allies, he will pay a terrible price.”
What “terrible price”?
So if Durbin believed Saddam Hussein had WMD and would use them against us, and threatened that he would “pay a terrible price” for using them, why did he vote AGAINST the Iraq war resolution?
Because he could and because he didn’t care. Durbin is typical of the people we routinely elect to represent us.
Q: Democrats are promoting increased federal tax on gasoline—are they walking the walk?
A: Uh, no. At the Democrat Convention next month in Denver, the Democrat poo-bahs will be loading up on tax free gasoline at a city fuel depot—sav ing 40 cents per gallon in state and federal taxes.
Q: How do we know that George Bush’s policy decisions weren’t based on politics?
A: He has the low approval ratings to prove it!
Q: Does the public believe the press is trying to get Obama elected?
A: Does a bear poop in the woods?
Q: If elected, will Obama govern from the left or center?
A: Well, duh!
The Back Door Man
Our specially selected congressman is the primary sponsor for H.R. 6439 which would extend V. A. mental health benefits to family members of veterans receiving non-service connected treatment.
So if Examiner Jr. joins the military and thankfully returns from war without injury, but breaks his leg in a motorcycle accident, he can go to the VA for treatment—that’s the law as it stands now.
But in this hypothetical, even though I have and can afford private health insurance, I could go to the VA and get taxpayer financed counseling/mental health treatment by virtue of being a family member of a former serviceman who was being treated by the VA for a non-combat injury.
I don’t want to hear about how some counseling might do me good. 
The good news is that this bill is in the early stages and has a long way to go until/if it becomes the law of the land. But my larger point is about how politicians back-door “change” the public doesn’t want, but politicians do.
For example, we all know how both Social Security and welfare were expanded way beyond their original mandates—so it will be with government run healthcare, which the public overwhelmingly rejects.
There is a reason why only extreme leftwingers like Dennis Kucinich advocate single-payer government run healthcare—-the public doesn’t want it.
But bills like H.R. 6439 will chip away at the status quo until one day we will wake up and realize the majority of our nation relies on the government for healthcare services, while the rest of us foot the massive bill—and politicians rejoice.
Obama Wins The Crucial Death Row Killers Endorsement
Just before he was executed for murder yesterday, Dale Leo Bishop apologized to his victim’s family, thanked America, and delivered this rousing endorsement:
“For those who oppose the death penalty and want to see it end, our best bet is to vote for Barack Obama because his supporters have been working behind the scenes to end this practice…”
I’m not sure why they would be “working behind the scenes” unless this is another example of Obama saying he is FOR something when he is really against it. The anti-death penalty crowd has a long history of activism and advocacy—they don’t work in the shadows.
But going into Obama campaign mode while strapped to a gurney waiting for the needle has to be the ultimate in whacked-out Obama worshipping.
After I got out of Obama Girl mode, I thought these worshippers were merely silly—now they’re starting to creep me out!
Reefer Madness!
You could have knocked me over with a hash pipe when I read in The Galesburg Register-Mail that our specially selected congressman was going to vote in favor of legalizing medical marijuana—again!
This time he has a posse of seven religious leaders in the 17th district to back him up. Considering all the wacky preachers we’ve seen in this election cycle, I’m not so sure having “religious leaders” in your corner is a positive.
For the most part, the article was well written and the reporter obviously did some research and digging beyond the usual press release journalism we see so often. While Hare and the preachers are FOR medical marijuana, some doctors are not, and they express their reservations in the article—it was a very balanced report, except they used too much space repeating a self-serving Hare anecdote about his alleged experience in a hospice—which may or may not be true. One thing about Hare—it’s always about HIM!
My own opinion about marijuana generally and medical marijuana in particular is ????? I haven’t made up my mind, but there are certainly plenty of painkillers on the market without adding marijuana. On the other hand, maybe it’s time to just legalize it, regulate it and tax the bejeebus out of it.
But all that aside, what I thought was most interesting/hilarious about this article was that by voting FOR this bill, Hare is voting to “prevent the federal government from interfering in state medical marijuana laws. Currently 12 states allow the use of medical marijuana” and I don’t think Illinois is one of those states.
But still, when has Hare ever been FOR states’ rights and AGAINST federal government control/intervention? I’d say, except for this issue—NEVER.
So let’s hear it for Hare’s change of heart and ideology— for State’s Rights Hare!
Quote Of The Day
In a press release issued by our specially selected congressman, who helpfully informs us that he was “a former clothing factory worker and union steward”, Hare trumpets the increase today of the minimum wage:
“At $6.55 an hour, the new federal minimum wage is still too low. I am pleased that next summer it will jump to $7.25. But I believe we need to go even further by indexing the minimum wage for inflation in the future. No one who works full time should live in poverty.”
