Thursday, September 30, 2010

It's Almost November. Bring out Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

Voting: The Lesser of Two Weevils


November is coming up fast. Time to vote again. Unless of course you are too bored by the election season posturing to get off your ass. Unless of course you are so mad at every politician that you feel like boycotting the event this year.

Let me say that I am not overly impressed by Republicans or Democrats at this point in our nation’s history. But I do know what Republicans have done over the last 40 years and I don’t like it. And those were the old school Republicans, the ones that still had a place for intelligence and actual ideas about how to govern. More recently the Republicans have been taken over by first the neo conservatives, then the fundamentalist right, and now the Tea Party: a group so scared and angry they don’t even know what they are want to do about it; they just want to make sure that no Republicans ever govern again.

I sure as hell don’t want to vote for the Tea Party candidates and their mission of destroying the government from the inside out.

But as a proud Liberal, I’m not very impressed with the Democratic Party either. They have been soft and unwilling to take on the obstructionist tactics of the Republicans. They too often give in to Wall Street and the Military Complex. I hear a lot of liberals saying that the Democrats don’t deserve our support. And they may be right.

The Democrats may not deserve us, but we sure as hell don’t deserve the Tea Party Right!

Boycotting the election will only give the Republican Party validation at a time when they need to be proving they stand for something other than blind allegiance to the very rich and very powerful corporations. Yes, Democrats give into these groups some of the time, but they also occasionally remember to support the rights and needs of the other 90% of the population. Democrats aren’t perfect, but they don’t want to “privatize” Social Security, or let the fundamentalists of this country impose Sharia Law on our minds and bodies. Nor let us ever forget, that despite the propaganda, Democrats have always done a better job with budgets and deficits than Republicans. Yes, the Republicans won the Civil War, but what have they done for us lately??

Most elections are a choice between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb.

But this election is a choice between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumber and Dumber.

Tweedle Dee, the Democrat, may not be delightful, but Tweedle Dumb seems to be getting dumber and dumber the more Tea they drink.

Go Vote! Vote for your better interests. And remember: Things that are good for everybody are good for everybody. The Republicans can only take control of Congress and the Senate if large groups of voters, (women, youngsters, exhausted intellectuals, minorities) stay home out of anger or apathy. If we all vote, change will at least have a chance.

-------------------------------------------------------
Echoes: The above is purely the opinion of Jay Larsen.
It is based on a life time of observation and history,
But I’m too tired to reference a bunch of history now.
I’m saving my strength for voting.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Military Thwarted President Seeking Choice In Afghanistan

It doesn't matter who is president. The Military Wall Street Complex just keeps on cooking the books and leading us all by the nose. Democrats resist a bit and fail. Republicans willingly go along.   
TOO MANY COOKS: Military Thwarted President Seeking Choice In Afghanistan
President Obama was on edge. For two exhausting months, he had been asking military advisers to give him a range of options for the war...
 


Jay Larsen
Sent from my iPhone

Atheists, Agnostics Know The Most About Religion

I'm having a hard time being surprised by this.
I just took the test and got 100% but I studied comparative religion in college.
It is amazing that Evangelicals know so much about the bible, but nothing about other religions.  Goes a long way towards explaining their fear of "others".
  

Atheists, Agnostics Know The Most About Religion
A new survey of Americans' knowledge of religion found that atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons outperformed Protestants and Roman Catholics in answering questions about major...
 
Jay Larsen
Sent from my iPhone

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Autumnal Equinox

Sunrise from my porch.
The days are getting shorter.
But I think those dark clouds might actually have silver linings.

Jay Larsen
From the iPhone.

Monday, September 20, 2010

National Debt by Presidential Administration

Should we be surprised that Republican administrations have piled up 2/3rds of the total national debt? Or that George W. Bush administrated over 40+% of that total?
Well, only if you listen to "fiscally conservative" politicians or Fox "news".
Republican politicians want to be put back in charge so we can have more of the same. They don't care what it does to the country, as long as they "win".
Tea Party politicians don't know what they want to do; they only know they don't like things the way they are. The Tea Party can't actually endorse any kind of actual policy because that would automatically put them on track to being "Washington Insiders" and "elites" that think they know better than the people, and any policy would betray the "movement". But they have a lot of "faith"; or at least they keep telling us they do.

Democrats are not blameless; they have freely participated in the last 30 years of American politics. They are not perfect. But they don't want to declare unemployment insurance to be unconstitutional. And they don't want to eliminate Social Security. And some of the time, Democrats sometimes consider the impact of laws and policy on citizens that are not major shareholders in Fortune 500 companies.

So with the mid-term elections coming. I say give change a chance. Vote Democratic. Then pressure them to keep working for all of us.

Unless, of course, you like the national debt level and pandering to the richest 2%; then vote Republican.

Unless, you prefer incoherent ranting and delusional talk about taking America back--(Back how far exactly? Pre Obama, Pre Clinton, Pre New Deal, Pre Industrial, or all the way back to the garden of Eden?)--Then vote for Tea Party candidates.
---------------------
Echoes:
You can get the raw numbers at the Treasury Department.
Rick Seaman of Portland, Oregon, made this chart.
I love a good chart.
And a good rant, apparently... :-)
I'm Jay Larsen, and I endorse this message.
[Use the Big Announcer Voice]
Paid for by Citizens Named Jay Larsen Who Wrote This Message.
[Faster now, we are into the small print]
Not associated with any candidate or party or so-called "news" organization.
[End Big Announcer Voice]
[Begin fade to black]

Thursday, September 16, 2010

I Can’t Memorize These Words

I’m always impressed
By the poets who stand and recite all their words
They don’t look at notes
Or wear secret head sets
They just remember which word
They put before the next
And after the last
Long torrents of words
Found exactly where they last left them

Not me
I can’t memorize these words
They come out of me
I remember writing them down
Moving them around
Trying out their sounds
But a day or a week later
I have a vague sense of what the piece was about
I remember the tone
But the exact word choices
And the sequences escape me
It is easier most times
To rap off some new composition
Than to recite the words in exact position
The same as I put them down before

I can’t memorize these words
Not even the ones you just heard.
So enjoy them
They may not come around again.
-------------------------
Echoes:
Poem and Collage, Eyes Like Bicycle Wheels, by Jay Larsen

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

I Really Like this Poem Film Thingy


Just found this via Boing Boing

I really love it. It is a poem by Tanya Davis. It has a wonderful tone to it and she knits slippers just like the ones my mom used to make for us. Enjoy.





Link for those who can't see the embedded video above. You know who you are...

With Violence, Everyone Gets Hurt

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/nyregion/11religion.html

I don't live in New York. So I don't have a say in New York's zoning issues.
But a lot of people have been arguing about the Cordoba Cultural Center Project which is two blocks from Ground Zero. Critics have been calling it the "Ground Zero Mosque." Their main argument seems to be that putting an Islamic organization of any kind that close to where the Twin Towers used to stand is an insult to the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

I think that people who are arguing this issue should be aware that 60 Muslims died in the Towers that day and that there was a Muslim Prayer Room (a mosque) in the Towers that day. So the families of those people and the local Muslim Community there are also victims of the 9/11 attacks. How should they be feeling right now?

Hate and intolerance is what guided the actions of the 9/11 terrorists.
Let's not mimic their example. We will only hurt ourselves and others that way.

Let us follow the examples of the thousands of brave people who rushed to the scene that day and put their lives and health at risk to save lives. That would be a real tribute to those who lost their lives that day.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Great Chart



I love a good chart. I admit that I have a bias for facts and logic. I also know that lots of people don't, otherwise Fox News would have no viewers and the Tea Party would not exist.
This chart shows that when Democrats are in charge every one's income goes up every year. An average of 2.5% a year. But when Republicans are in charge only the very rich have their incomes increase by a number bigger than the inflation rate.
Interestingly enough, the rich have better years under Democrats as well.
Note: The Income Percentile number means that you are richer than a given percentage of the rest of the population. So if you are in the 95th percentile, you are making more money than 95% of the population.
Somehow the Dems need to push facts as hard as Fox News pushes opinions for the Repubs.
Republicans increase the debt. Democrats pay it down. But listening to the "news" you would think that only the Repubs know how to handle a check book.
The Democrats have a lot of problems, but I don't want to give the country back to the very Republicans that have screwed things up so much in the last 30 years just because they have better propaganda people.

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Nothing to Fear except...Toy Pony

Thanks to Boing Boing for this one.
A “suspicious” toy pony was blown up after it was found abandoned in the middle of a cul-de-sac near an Orange County elementary school this morning.
The FurReal pony, an expensive, life-like toy, was investigated as a possible explosive device after someone called Orange County deputies to report it. A robot inspected the toy before a pack of explosives was placed near the stuffed animal and detonated.

There is video: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/09/09/police-detonate-susp.html
Video of the bomb squad locking down a school so that they can blow up an unattended toy. A toy left next to a public park.

Once we had nothing to fear but fear it's self. But now we are so afraid that we will blow up toys? Unbeleivable.

First day of school

I guess this is the new school uniform.

Monday, September 06, 2010

Ready to defend the Empire.

Or take over the world--depending on how she's feeling.

Chani in her new goggles

Steam Punk Goggles

These are the steam punk goggles I made for Chani. Leather, brass
bits, green plastic lenses, copper wire, and some glue. Not bad, if
I do say so myself. We scavenged parts yesterday and spent most of
today putting them together.

Friday, September 03, 2010

You Think About It. I Don't Think THEY Do.

From the crazy people at www.smbc-comics.com
I'm sure I will need forgiveness from the Flying Spaghetti Monster for posting this.
But if the universe is created, then are not all acts of creation sacred acts?
I'll think about it some more...and maybe do some scientific experimentation this weekend.

Thursday, September 02, 2010

Magadheera



This is my friend Mike's favorite new movie.
Link for those who can't see the embedded video above.

Nods to Dangerous Minds for exposing me to the awesomeness that is
Magadheera
2009 Indian mega-hit Magadheera is the most expensive film produced in the Telagu language of Southern India. Telagu (Tollywood) films don’t have Bollywood budgets, but Magadheera , a tale of reincarnation spanning 400 years, delivers maximum bang for the buck and, in this scene, some big laughs.