Jon Stewart and Barack Obama on the Bradley Effect ....Scary Socialism!....and also, Why Would Anyone even Want to be President?

Last night Jon Stewart interviewed a relaxed and happy looking Barack Obama. What has struck me this past week besides my PTSD from the Bush Administration, and fretting over the reports coming out of our good friend Brad's blog about the voting situation, is that there is a certain sour grapes feeling emerging from the right that no one would want this horrible state of affairs now anyway. (...just some ongoing wingnuttia on Hardball; to which I think that even Tweety said to whichever wingnut it was, "well you'd take it if you could, right?")

Woe is to the President that has a House and Senate fully in line with him, because then the blame cant fall anywhere but on that one party. I suppose that some sort of investigation and...er...impeachment might have laid the blame for alot of this on the correct shoulders, but that was not what the party wanted to focus on. So, the American short memory will ensure that the democrats get all the blame for things not moving forward fast enough or things overlooked in the coming years. There will be blame for sure, even if its the American people, so trained in their responses and set in their imperialistic ways, regardless of if their dominion is a mobile home or a mansion, unable to effect and allow change for fear of losing a few dollars here or there. Hey, you save in the long run with preventative care, but most people seem to want the payoff now!

My favorite part of Jon Stewart's interview with Barack Obama last night was that Obama makes it clear that now is the perfect time to effect change, if you're really in it for the right reasons. Presidential politics seems to have morphed into a game where the aim is to cause only enough waves to profit your friends, and emerge with a fine legacy or at least a compulsion fulfilled, regardless of if anything got better in the process. Its all about who gets the blame and who gets the cash. There are two types involved in this mess as far as I can see: the type that sees that there is more looting to be done before its time for the rapture, and the type that is actually a public servant and embraces the hard work of trying to put this thing back together. I could count the uninformed, the dreamers, the anger management problem folks, the risk takers and the gamblers who think that one more lotto ticket will put them up in that high bracket that Obama is attacking. Everyone can get whipped up into a frenzy by Donald Trump when the possibilities being real, but when you look around the Hyatt ballroom and realize that its full of suckers just like you with a pile of bills on the table at home, reality and logic have to take over in the world of grownups.

I believe that Obama is in this for the right reasons. And even though I haven't been his staunchest supporter along the way, I think he shows a great understanding of the hysteria that has gripped the country, and may be able to bring some calm and rational behavior to this situation. I sure hope so because I'm tired, I cant sleep, and I don't know if I can live here if McCain Palin get into office.




Americans of a certain stripe seem to forget the society part of our country; how our technological and intellectual advances were made possible by sacrifices of others who emigrated here or slaved away in factories to make a penny. This stuff isn't taught in school in any real way anymore, but the idea that so many American view the waxing and waning semi-socialist way that this country has run from the get-go as some sort of dictatorship, is just laughable.

So worried is the right about redistribution of the wealth that they forget that the only reason that they were able to earn that money was on the shoulders of everyone who came before, settled this place, fought in wars, invented and designed and worked their asses off in order to give Joe the Plumber the opportunity and the right to spew his nonsense. Call it greed or ego, but Americans are not all that special that we just deserve a chance...and God didn't just give us this fertile land; we took it from the Native Americans in grotesque and horrible ways that we are supposedly still repaying (though, last I looked, we still hold the principal of that, and its counted against the national debt...) Hoarding all of our money in the mattress with that smaller government or whatever it is they are calling it, and no standing army, would leave guys like Joe the Plumber out in the cold if his house catches on fire or he should need the police...or even if he drives down a road or highway to go to his non-job where he spins his web of lies.

I want to know what part of the infrastructure of America, physically and socially, the McCain campaign thinks is not some part of redistribution of wealth. I also want to know what part of the fire and police departments they want to privatize and outsource, because the failing infrastructure of the entire country should indicate how well that works! ...bridges and tunnels and highways and parks? How about the national forests?...come on!

I want to know how Halliburton would run social services? This is not how America was designed, and if what was once a village based economy, where each neighbor could rely on another, has grown to include an organized bureaucracy with which we imperfectly get help when we need it, I would have to say that it may be worthwhile for one of these guys to stand up and say that America is semi-socialist and that unregulated capitalism doesn't work!

A friend taking a friend in if their house is destroyed...is that socialism? Bringing a casserole when a community member loses a loved one...is that Socialism? Helping a friend with a sick relative....the list goes on, and its not considered wrong or strange in smaller view. Churches and social groups collect dues or contributions that go towards running an infrastructure; is that socialism? Its when the population grows and progress moves in such a way that we lose our tribal and family ties; when we begin to rely on the market of a bigger structure than just the farm fields, that we need more of a main structure into which everyone contributes. With proper representation there shouldn't be a problem. Its only a problem if it becomes a talking point and is misused to the point where the word has no meaning anymore. Rather than talking about it so much, I wonder how much time any of these disgruntled wing nuts in my town actually get involved in cutting down on overspending or bureaucracy! Ill tell you, its usually only involving something that effects their bank account or their backyard.

Up the road from me is the old town of Bedford Village, NY. I often take my dog Lola to the green, which, as part of the historic preservation of the area, has a plaque that notes that local farmers shared this village green for grazing their cattle. I'm sure then that they also worked on the green and reseeded it, as good neighbors banding together through hard winters and hot summers. Through history there have been cooperative efforts on the part of Americans, which can be seen in the endless piled stone walls around, here made of the stones that tough Americans plowed up from this rocky place, in order to grow crops. The stone walls built all over the Bedford town square and all roads coming and going from it, were not brought in from Home Depot; they were part of a cooperative where everyone gave time and whatever they had to better the whole. Its only now, in the twisted minds of these wing nuts, that we are seeing some deep rooted form of hate that throws the poor, and anyone else outside of some perceived lucky group, under the bus.

The horrible thing is that Americans likely need to have some tragedy, like the great depression with no social net, or children dying because roads are not maintained, to see that regulation is necessary. The greater good can only be served by Americans remembering that we are all the same, and if our weakest part is really our strongest as a society, then we have been neglecting that part too long. There is a greater good, and if life is fleeting for us , we still have the responsibility of every American since the beginning of this great experiment to leave something to our children; some foundation to stand on for their own dreams.

Ive been avoiding alot of this, and spending time with my birds because I find that I am just really...upset...worried. but I will be making some calls and doing something this weekend...and Im trying to not get my hopes up or take anything for granted in this. Anything can happen, and as much as Obama should have the numbers down...look at BradBlog for some scary facts that will give you pause.

Here is my friend Susan hobnobbing with the actual Barack!...um...or a reasonable depiction of him!...close enough! You go girl!

c/p Brilliant at Breakfast

The Evil Twins Talk Fear...

This is uncanny and sad in how simplistic it is and how well its worked. But then, apparently our representatives heard a little buzzing outside the windows after their fax machines crashed along with their websites and phones (silly technology!) and went back to work on the bailout.


...Scared yet?

We Don't Torture...That is Unless We Do...Oh Yeah, We Actually Do Torture!!

The concept of these assholes meeting to set the standard on torture is mind boggling. Who in that group has their doctorate in psychology and can speak to the truths told under certain physical stress? Who in that group even has the moral compass to make the decision for us in this matter, because what we do now is gonna effect us in the long run; especially if there is a draft that takes our kids and family members into a world that knows no Geneva Convention.

Its gonna be your kids and my kids who grow up in a world in which the likes of Condi Rice has decided how much to torture someone...and we know that TORTURE DOESN'T WORK! Not if you want reliable information. Torture works to force people to confess things they didn't do, to force them to renounce their country, and to force them to make up information in order to stop the torture. So, while our forces are tracking down those false leads, what else is going on that might have been extracted using other psychological and intelligence based tactics that actually work!
John Stewart jokes about this, but it is no joke...We all laugh because if we didn't laugh we would be crying. But, he delivers a very serious message within that funny. McCain will be the continuation of this policy, through the haze of a PTSD flashback brought about by the grotesque reality of the tactics and some sort of reality break/cognitive dissonance. We have to be very, very clear as we watch our two possible candidates try to ruin eachother and the party while they're at it, that its gonna be our kids who grow up in a world where we torture and we get tortured back.
Rock on, Jon...maybe someone out there will hear you....

Illegal Immigrants are Hiding in the Hills Around San Diego, and the Surrounding Area...What About Them? ...Colbert Continues Sweep....

Its gonna be alot harder to ignore and under-serve the people of San Diego and LA in this deal than it was to screw the people of New Orleans, but it sure sent a shiver down my spine to see Skeletor Chertoff on TV today, mouthing the disaster talking points, just as Brownie did once before....
yeah, its chilling...and not even in as much as the search, rescue, and help can even start because the thing remains out of control...half a million people are currently displaced, and I expect that number to grow exponentially as the days go on. There is no way to fight this fire except to hope that the winds don't come back as strong as they have been and to keep on fighting. Its definitely not under control.
According to 1010 WINS in New York City, some big stadium is offering gourmet food and massages. Who knows if that's true, but they are definitely being very careful to keep the people as comfortable as possible and to have Chertoff right on the scene to report the exact number of cots that they've got. Of course these people are a slightly different hue and class than the majority of the people who were housed and then shipped off from in and around NOLA.

It turns out that , tragically, many of the neediest people wont go to the stadium and shelters, because they are illegal and living in the hills. The fact that immigration raids in San Diego were suspended when the fires broke out aren't likely to make many of the illegal people ask for or accept help, considering how rabidly illegals are under fire in the area. So far only around 50 illegals have "turned themselves in" due to the fires. With thousands living in the area, this is what could be the big humanitarian toll in this thing.

As the fires spread into Mexico there is also a question about the conditions there and if the workers on farms will even be allowed to evacuate. I'm looking for this to be the big story in this thing...and I only hope that it brings to light the real plight of the illegal immigrants who are searching for a better life and will risk everything for a chance to be productive Americans and try to help their families back home. Im not in a place right now to discuss how globalism and outsourcing has hurt local economies even as they helped in some other ways, but having the local balance upset in favor of large American corporations, as opposed to foreign aid to help with a country's development, surely has not done much for the people.

...And like clockwork, Bush's people said that it was "premature" yesterday for the man to visit the area....are they crazy? I know he doesnt give a shit anymore abotu what anyone out here thinks, but as far as his legacy goes, I would think that he would want to strap on a parachute and jump! This is the worst fire ever out there, and its destroying, not only some of the most beautiful and important parts of our country, but many, many houses and lives. I can only imagine what its going to be like when this is all over.....

Rule of thumb for the White House: By the time that Schwarzenegger and his crew have been over to the stadium...by the time that the networks are on their way and Charlie Gibson is on the ground delivering talking points from the embers, its too late!
I can imagine that they're eventually gonna send Bushy in his cowboy boots and jeans to talk about the finer points of clearing brush....Because its all about clearing brush.


My father is just north of LA, but he still has a house down there that he rents out...its all probably safe in that area because its an upper class area...but he said that the air is so bad that its sickening to even go out in it. The place where he lives now is pretty fancy and the big move there has been to cut back all the dry brush from anywhere there are houses, and in recent years communities plan brush cuts so as to prevent big fires. I don't know if anything like that works, but clearly, you can't cut all the brush from everywhere. You also cant make it rain...maybe locusts and frogs, but apparently god has no water for the west.

The drought out west is another tragic example of how fast climate change is effecting us. What was previously something that might effect our children's children, seems to be speeding up, as if its gaining speed as it rolls downhill. We had been pleasantly surprised at how quickly the ozone hole repaired itself and how quickly the Clinton-Gore administration was able to begin to get a handle on emissions from trucks and plants...the levels of deadly, environment damaging poisons were reduced significantly, before the Bush-Cheney administration came in and canceled all of the programs and pending lawsuits...just like that. This was done in favor of big business, just like almost everything they do. How quickly things returned to where they were and got worse, is illustrative of just how bad this administration has been as a steward of this country's health and in keeping America's part up as a part of the world community.

Meantime....I feel like I'm Dorothy in Oz and the shiny bubble is floating down..."Here's someone who can help you!" Who has moved up to #4 in the Democratic presidential race in 2 days?...who is that man?...and is it wholly possible that a brilliant clown can sweep in and become our candidate for president..in South Carolina, at least?...well, we know that a chimp could do better than Bush/Cheney...so, take it as you will.







OK, so the Sunday Tim Russert Interview wasn't all that great, but put him with Jon Stewart and you've got a little slice of magic. The really funny thing is that I already had the bumper sticker and the buttons from last year....As Colbert says, all I've got to do is to cut off Stewart's name...

The Daily Show's Jason Jones on the Missing Emails and How it Coulda Possibily Happened

Comedy Central is nice enough to let us embed this until April 20th!! By then, hopefully some stealthy geek will have put it up on YouTube in code....