MR. SENATOR, I HAVE A QUESTION....

It's New Year's Eve, and the candidates are burning up the map of Iowa in preparation for Tuesdays caucus...answering mindless questions repetitively all the while saying less than nothing with virtual aplomb, or painting broad strokes of reform with little or no depth to indicate they have the faintest clue to correct the problems besetting our great nation.
These are the normal protocols for running for political office, and are completely predictable. I can only assume the candidates have been over and over the list of "usual" questions they can expect...the normal four year softball questions they will attempt to answer in order to curry favor and possibly even receive a round of applause, if the size of the venue allows.

The unfortunate result is a complete lack of information given from the candidates; as no one expects you to prove your worldly intelligence, or to display any impressive, or even appreciable modicum of pseudo intelligence beyond the average voter's ability to understand.

The sad fact is, the closest the average American gets to any public figure of any enviable intelligence level has been reduced to recent appearances by Dr. Neil DeGasse Tyson on space exploration, and "The Big Bang Theory." Any intelligent conversations or public debates are a rare vestige of what our worlds, and our entertainment avenues used to incorporate.

Intelligence and education used to be exalted and admired. We used to have a respect for the written word. Generations past would never consider additions to our lexicon such that are summarily added to Websters Dictionary without an iota of thought or debate in present day....bon mots that would render our previous generations spinning in their graves.....take the following sentence for instance.....

"The pod person used his WiFi at hyperspeed to listen to some tuneage, complain about plumber's crack, saw a gay-friendly drama queen and - bada-bing - wound up with some bling."

A nonsensical sentence to be sure, but every word now appears in the Oxford Dictionary. Every word. I have not researched it, but if it is not included already, can frickin' be far behind?

Our country no longer values education, no longer revels in the written word. We have become a nation of uneducated video idiots. Our educational system is begging for an overhaul. Book stores routinely go out of business. Libraries are under appreciated, and under utilized. Our public airwaves neither addresses the issue, nor seeks to be a part of the remedy...namely producing anything of an enriching nature, opting instead to produce an endless array of pablum targeted to the least common denominator amongst us.

Seems to me each candidate should be asked a variety of questions, such as "Our population has become increasingly lazy, unintelligent and culturally vapid...what can you do as a leader to help to return this nation to its former glory?" I would love to hear the answer, because until we return to a love of learning, until this nation returns to dreaming, until this nation returns to respecting and revering its intelligent people and regains its thirst for knowledge, we will be hopelessly mired in mediocrity. Even today, as we consider who to vote for, rarely if ever consider which candidate is the smartest person in the room...instead, utilizing our, baser instincts to make the decision, which in part leads to the banal charade a public forum with a candidate has become.

And if you are reading this and acknowledging the obvious fact that I could use a remedial course or two in grammar and diction, consider this. I graduated with all A's and B's throughout my school years and found the education system to be very easy and remained largely unchallenged throughout. I realize and acknowledge that I am......this post is....an indictment of the very system I rail about, and the very character and lack of priorities I assail against today. I know I am a part of the problem, and in no way above it all.

But welcome to my world...."The World According to Kimba." Thanks for reading.

CELEBRATE RESPONSIBLY & HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR

THE GOP CONTENDERS...FORMER SITCOM STARS

Random I know, but over dinner with friends (including a decent bar tab), I now realize where I know the GOP candidates from....The Addams Family.
Pugsley---------Newt Gingrich
Lurch-----------Mitt Romney
Morticia-------- Michelle Bachmann
Gomez----------Rick Perry
Uncle Fester----Ron Paul
When you think of them in this context, even the Addams motto begins to makes sense.....
Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc......
(We gladly feast on those who would subdue us)
I should probably add quitting drinking to my New Years Resolutions...

"I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace; that two are called a law firm; and that three or more become a Congress!" -- John Adams

HOLY CRAP.....WILL BARNEY BE REPLACED BY WILMA?

Barney Frank, ranking minority member on the house Financial Services Committee has announced he will not seek re-election in the upcoming election. In his many years of service to the country in government, Representative Frank has certainly made a mark on the landscape of the country, both financially and politically.

Despite his long and somewhat storied career in politics, ultimately Frank's legacy will be in his involvement in the economic crash we are currently experiencing; specifically in the issues with Fannie May and Freddy Mac, the failure to oversee Wall Street, the push to end the unfair practices by the financial sector towards granting loans to minority communities (which resulted in loan application abuses in order to reach acceptable loan percentages) and the lack of oversight of the housing bubble indicated by the creation of default swap products that devistated many financial institutions to the point of near elimination.

However the history books judge his involvement in the economic crisis, or any other portion of his 30 year political career....they will all pale in comparison to the effect his retirement will have upon the Financial Services Committee......

Ranking Minority Member Maxine Waters.

I could go into a 200 word rant about the political buffoonery, her complete lack of political acumen of Ms. Waters over the years, but let me just quote something from her memo on Rep. Franks retirement as testimony......

“I will miss Barney deeply. I will miss his wit, his sense of humor.....

May I submit to the ranking chair of the

Financial Services Committee

of the House of Representatives....

wit and a sense of humor is virtually the same thing.

Good Lord help us.... we have 12 months to unload our stocks.

ROMNEY & PERRY: LIARS AND THE LYING LIES THEY TELL

Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Perry have been accused of telling TV viewers blatant untruths about Barack Obama.
The candidates deny their TV commercials are deceitful and dishonest but both ads selectively quote the president to make it appear he is saying one thing when he is saying another.
The advertisements have been widely scorned for crossing a line from a longstanding practice of political campaigns pushing the truth to its limits, over to misrepresentation. One ad appears to show Obama admitting he will lose next year's election if he talks about the economy. The other has him calling American workers lazy.

Romney's campaign ad is airing on TV stations in New Hampshire, which holds its primary in January. It shows the president saying: "If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose."
The ad appears to have the president admitting he is vulnerable on the economy. But Obama's words were from his 2008 campaign, and he was quoting a statement by a strategist for his Republican opponent, John McCain, who was the one on the back foot over the economy.
Perry's ad shows a short soundbite of Obama saying: "We've been a little bit lazy I think over the last couple of decades."
The ad switches to Perry saying: "Can you believe that? That's what our president thinks is wrong with America – that Americans are lazy. That's pathetic."
But a viewing of Obama's full statement shows that he was saying the US government had been lazy in attracting foreign investment.

Foolish men mistake transitory semblance for eternal fact" (Thomas Carlyle).

So is this the new political normal? Complete and blatant lies in order to create the perception they want to put out? A complete abdication of any semblance of honesty or integrity?

Not only have they put out completely false ads...not only have they come out with additional lies in a vain attempt (cover up) to justify their dishonesty....but as lies go, they were inept and easily identified. Morons...they setting themselves up to be destroyed by fellow candidate Newt Gingrich, who seems to be taking the high road during the debates.

MORE THAN 1 IN 5 CHILDREN LIVE IN POVERTY IN SOME SOUTHERN AREAS

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/18/1037739/-Child-poverty-increased-in-2010;-more-than-1-in-5-children-are-poor-?via=blog_1

NETANYAHU NEEDS A U.S. BITCH SLAP...HILLARY?

So Natanyahu won't consult with us, or even notify us of an impending preemptive strike against Iran? Here is all SOS Clinton has to say in her next press conference...

"It has been made clear by Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel cannot guarantee that we will be notified prior to an Israeli preemptive military strike against Iran, and their nuclear weapons program. This obviously signifies Israel's desire to go it alone in any future military action against Iran. The United States will honor those wishes." DONE.

He'll be kissing our asses again in no time flat.....

OOPS

Oops is right....have you witnessed any of the debates? Where did they get these complete morons? The talent the GOP is bringing to the table is laughable!...they have Bachmann, who barely has the intelligence required to be the next FOX News on-air bimbo....there's Uncle Fester Ron Paul, Newt "cheated on my dying wife" Gingrich, and then theres this guy....

Mr. "on day one I am going to close three huge governmental departments...I just can't think of all three right now" Perry. Let's see, I think I had them written down right here....no, I guess not....OOPS is right. Who said there are no good sit-coms on TV anymore?

Update: IMPORTANT MESSAGE.... Apparently, I was all wrong........it appears one of the candidates is not only ready, but being endorsed, well.........by God. That's right Herman Cain, just like Moses, has been hand picked by the Almighty and come November, he is going to save us all...here is his quote: "That's when I prayed and prayed and prayed. I'm a man of faith — I had to do a lot of praying for this one, more praying than I've ever done before in my life," Cain said. "And when I finally realized that it was God saying that this is what I needed to do, I was like Moses. 'You've got the wrong man, Lord. Are you sure?'"

NOT COOL

FROM THE FLAVOR OF THE MONTH...COMES THE FLAVOR OF THE MONTH

http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/herman-cain-gets-a-ben-and-jerrys-flavor
Thank You to Buzzfeed.com,

always an excellent, amusing read...

HAPPY GUY FAWKES DAY

BEST TAKE I HAVE HEARD YET ON THE 1%

Arnold Kling:

『 The recent trend in job polarization raises the possibility that gains in well-being that come from productivity improvements will accrue to an economic elite. Perhaps the middle-class affluence that emerged during the latter part of the industrial age is not going to be a feature of the information age.

Instead, we could be headed into an era of highly unequal economic classes. People at the bottom will have access to food, healthcare, and electronic entertainment, but the rich will live in an exclusive world of exotic homes and extravagant personal services. The most popular bands in the world will play house concerts for the rich, while everyone else can afford music downloads but no live music. 』

http://www.frumforum.com/libertarians-for-oligarchy

THIS PUTS IT INTO PERSPECTIVE.....

SESSIONS: CUT INTO THE FOOD STAMP PROGRAM!

It takes a special kind of heartless bastard to suggest we cut into the food stamp program....it's not like they do not have to offer proof of their inability to afford food....let's take food out of the mouths of children...fuck the millions of children with no access to healthcare (through no fault of their own)...and let's filibuster any attempt to create jobs so we can blame the President next year and get elected....but let's continue to give tax cuts to the top 3% of income earners....you are a real fucking patriot, sir.

LEND YOUR VOICE TO THE MOVEMENT

HERMAN CAIN: SAY NEIN, NEIN, NEIN!

He is the GOP flavor of the month. He is a brash, hard speaking candidate who professes to be a political outsider. However, it doesn't take much investigation to see he is nothing more than the spokesperson for the Koch Brothers, and their organisation, Americans for Prosperity.
Who are the Koch Brothers? Here is an accounting for their actions from the Bloomberg News....

"....In May 2008, a unit of Koch Industries Inc., one of the world’s largest privately held companies, sent Ludmila Egorova-Farines, its newly hired compliance officer and ethics manager, to investigate the management of a subsidiary in Arles in southern France. In less than a week, she discovered that the company had paid bribes to win contracts. “I uncovered the practices within a few days,” Egorova- Farines says. “They were not hidden at all.”

By September of that year, the researchers had found evidence of improper payments to secure contracts in six countries dating back to 2002, authorized by the business director of the company’s Koch-Glitsch affiliate in France.

A Bloomberg Markets investigation has found that Koch Industries -- in addition to being involved in improper payments to win business in Africa, India and the Middle East -- has sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country the U.S. identifies as a sponsor of global terrorism.

From 1999 through 2003, Koch Industries was assessed more than $400 million in fines, penalties and judgments. In December 1999, a civil jury found that Koch Industries had taken oil it didn’t pay for from federal land by mismeasuring the amount of crude it was extracting. Koch paid a $25 million settlement to the U.S. Phil Dubose, a Koch employee who testified against the company said he and his colleagues were shown by their managers how to steal and cheat -- using techniques they called the Koch Method.

In 1999, a Texas jury imposed a $296 million verdict on a Koch pipeline unit -- the largest compensatory damages judgment in a wrongful death case against a corporation in U.S. history. The jury found that the company’s negligence had led to a butane pipeline rupture that fueled an explosion that killed two teenagers.

The Koch brothers have vaulted into the American political spotlight in recent years. Koch Industries has spent more than $50 million to lobby in Washington since 2006, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks political donations. The company opposed derivatives regulation and greenhouse gas limits.
The brothers have backed a foundation that has trained thousands of Tea Party activists. The Tea Party, a popular movement whose name stands for Taxed Enough Already, has grown into a potent force in national politics. Sixty representatives of Congress, out of a total of 435, identify themselves as Tea Party members. Virtually every Republican candidate for president -- including Texas Governor Rick Perry and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann -- has solicited the group’s support.

Cain's economic ideas, support and organization have close ties to the two billionaire brothers who bankroll right-leaning causes through their group Americans for Prosperity. Cain's campaign manager and a number of aides have worked for Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, the advocacy group founded with support from billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, which lobbies for lower taxes and less government regulation and spending. Cain credits a businessman who served on an AFP advisory board with helping devise his "9-9-9" plan to rewrite the nation's tax code. And his years of speaking at AFP events have given the businessman and radio host a network of loyal grassroots fans.

Cain is always quick to promote his career at the helm of the Godfather's Pizza chain, but his ties to AFP aren't something the candidate appears eager to highlight. But Cain continues to work with the group.
While several other candidates will be at an Iowa Republican Party dinner on Nov. 4, Cain is scheduled to be in Washington mingling with activists at AFP's annual "Defending the American Dream" summit. He is the only confirmed presidential candidate for the event.

"Herman Cain is the first presidential corporate spokes-candidate," said Scott Ross, a liberal activist who leads One Wisconsin Now, which has often mocked AFP as a front group for corporate interests. "The best way to have your issues talked about in the issue debate is to have a candidate in your pocket with snappy comebacks and easily branded policy papers which mask how destructive they would be." AFP's agenda also includes weakening private and public sector unions, opposing environmental regulations and undoing Obama's health care reform law, among other policies.

WHY THEY ARE MARCHING ON WALL STREET

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power.

We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.

*To the people of the world, We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.
To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.
Join us and make your voices heard!

IT MUST REALLY SUCK TO BE THE EX-FIRST LADY

I'm surprised Michelle is on the inside of the President....

9/11: REMEMBERING WHAT WE ALL WANT TO FORGET

As we mark the tenth anniversary of the horrific terrorist attacks on our country, you will be, no doubt engulfed in media coverage (if you choose to turn on your television, radio or computer). For the days leading up to this day, I myself have viewed hours of coverage...photos, 911 emergency calls from those in the top floors of the WTC, and interviews from survivors and widows.

And as I continued to watch program after program dedicated to the event, I wondered if this wasn't wrong. Wrong to continue to watch....continue to feed my morbid curiosity. Continue to listen to the 911 calls from people almost certainly aware they were about to die....and see pictures of victims who chose to die, not by fire, but to leap to their deaths 80 or 90 stories off the ground. I could tell you chapter and verse of where I was, and how the events unfolded for me, but I wasn't there. I couldn't feel the palpable fear NYC must have felt, nor the atmosphere days later, as New York City struggled to understand why 4000 people perished that day.

I don't have anything to add to the information storm available today if you so choose. Only that the feeling of togetherness we felt as a country, that "one nation, indivisible" mindset we felt on that day, and for weeks and months after, has inextricably vanished. Quite possibly never to be seen again.

And for all our high minded bloviations of how we are number one, or are the only great super power remaining on earth......how we are indeed, "one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all....."...is not true today. We are not one nation...we are many nations, rendered fractious and weak as a result.

So, as we seek to remember that ominous day ten years ago, let us mourn our fellow Americans that were murdered in a cold hearted, diabolical fashion...yes. But let us also remember the feelings we shared, the resolve we felt towards a common enemy, and that feeling......quite possibly the last time we ever feel it.......as we strip ourselves clean of the labels we don politically, socially and in every other way.....and remember what it felt like to indeed be..."one nation, indivisible..."

God bless their memories, God bless you, and

God Bless the UNITED States of America.

Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult

http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779

"To those millions of Americans who have finally begun paying attention to politics and watched with exasperation the tragicomedy of the debt ceiling extension, it may have come as a shock that the Republican Party is so full of lunatics. To be sure, the party, like any political party on earth, has always had its share of crackpots, like Robert K. Dornan or William E. Dannemeyer. But the crackpot outliers of two decades ago have become the vital center today: Steve King, Michele Bachman (now a leading presidential candidate as well), Paul Broun, Patrick McHenry, Virginia Foxx, Louie Gohmert, Allen West. The Congressional directory now reads like a casebook of lunacy.
It was this cast of characters and the pernicious ideas they represent that impelled me to end a nearly 30-year career as a professional staff member on Capitol Hill. A couple of months ago, I retired; but I could see as early as last November that the Republican Party would use the debt limit vote, an otherwise routine legislative procedure that has been used 87 times since the end of World War II, in order to concoct an entirely artificial fiscal crisis. Then, they would use that fiscal crisis to get what they wanted, by literally holding the US and global economies as hostages.
The debt ceiling extension is not the only example of this sort of political terrorism. Republicans were willing to lay off 4,000 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees, 70,000 private construction workers and let FAA safety inspectors work without pay, in fact, forcing them to pay for their own work-related travel - how prudent is that? - in order to strong arm some union-busting provisions into the FAA reauthorization.
Everyone knows that in a hostage situation, the reckless and amoral actor has the negotiating upper hand over the cautious and responsible actor because the latter is actually concerned about the life of the hostage, while the former does not care....."

Please click on the link for the complete article by a GOP insider who retired, because he could no longer stomach the incidious behavior of a political party who would rather the American people suffer....if it means they acheive victory down the line.

HAPPY LABOR DAY....

TAX EDUCATION

STEWART MAKES FOOLS OF THE VARIOUS FOX NEWS MORONS

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
World of Class Warfare - The Poor's Free Ride Is Over
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

GENERATION F*CKED

Short post to think out loud....as the parent of a soon-to-be fifteen year old; what kind of future have we created for our children?
The economy sucks, so no employment.
We have allowed them to create a lexicon all of their own based on texting, so they cannot assimilate into the job market, or be taken seriously.
We have allowed them to enter a technological cocoon with their mobile devices. They are oblivious to the immediate intimacies of their world, so they do not value, or desire any real social interaction, especially with anyone they do not know, limiting their world.
We have virtually eliminated the reading of books (printed on paper), thus creating a YouTube generation.
We have deteriorated the educational system, so we are graduating semi-functional illiterates. They are not "generation X," or "generation Y," or anything other than what must be labelled "generation fucked"....
And that's the world..."the World According to Kimba."
Thanks for reading.

CAPTION CONTEST

Texas Governor, and GOP candidate for the Presidency, Rick Perry.

Obviously, his handlers need to tell him to stop posing like this.

IOWA SPEAKS, AND THEY SAY.....

DUH.....

2011 Straw Poll Full Results (Votes, %)
1. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (4823, 28.55%)
2. Congressman Ron Paul (4671, 27.65%)

3. Governor Tim Pawlenty (2293, 13.57%)

4. Senator Rick Santorum (1657, 9.81%)
5. Herman Cain (1456, 8.62%)

6. Governor Rick Perry (718, 3.62%) write-in

7.Governor Mitt Romney (567, 3.36%)

8. Speaker Newt Gingrich (385, 2.28%)

9. Governor Jon Huntsman (69, 0.41%)

10. Congressman Thad McCotter (35, 0.21%)

This is too good to be true! Iowa actually picks the strangest, wierdest, "no chance in hell" candidate...Michelle "pray away the gay" Bachmann. This is someone so completely stupid she actually thinks the only thing we need to do to completely eliminate unemployment as we know it is to ........wait for it......eliminate the minimum wage. Moron! I love it!

WTF...did they legalize marijuana in Iowa? It sure would explain yesterday. Their political selection criteria in the past decade completely defies logic. Keep up the good work...

5 THINGS WE CAN, AND MUST DO THIS YEAR

1. Tort reform to reduce runaway medical judgements, and reduce malpractice premiums
2. Patent litigation reform to expedite innovation as well as stop the endless parade of frivolous lawsuits bogging down our system
3. Incentivize and encourage corporations to re-invest their massive amounts of liquid capital sitting on the sidelines waiting for an up tick.
4. Stop talking about deficits, and concentrate on growth.
5. Bring party elders into the Congressional negotiation process.

STALLING RAISING THE DEBT LIMIT DID THIS COUNTRY GREAT HARM...GOOD JOB CONSERVATIVES

Here is what Standard & Poors said initially was the primary cause for our credit rating to lower.......“the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policy making and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges.”

Translation: they did not like our considering NOT raising our debt limit....they did not like that a major political party in the United States would have the audacity...the stupidity....the temerity.....to even question raising the debt limit....and even worse...use the potential of not raising the debt limit to blackmail the other party into entering into a bill that will, yes cut expenditures, but yes, slow growth as well (not to mention hurting the lower classes, the seniors, the poor; and leaving the uber-rich completely off the hook.

Yes, of course their were other factors...rising deficits, the inability to balance a budget since Clinton, etc. etc. But the fact remains that at its core....the very foundation is their opening statement....“the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policy making and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges.”

Good job tea party, Speaker Boehner and the G.O.P.....once again you have shown how when it comes to economics you should sit at a card table, and leave us libs to sit at the large table. How many times have you shit your pants and expect a Dem to takeover the Oval and wipe your collective asses?

POLITICAL M.V.P.? ANDREW SULLIVAN KNOWS....

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/08/who-is-washingtons-most-effective-politician.html?om_rid=NHk2HO&om_mid=_BOPEqVB8coOvfo

Who is it? Well he ".....defeated the most heavily favored party machine in decades (the Clintons) while actually bringing his biggest rival into his cabinet, where she has performed extraordinarily well; helping to cement the GOP's broad identity as extremists opposed to compromise; entrenching black and Hispanic loyalty to his party; retaining solid favorables and not-too-shabby approval ratings during the worst recession since the 1930s. 44 percent of the country still (rightly) blame Bush for this mess, only 15 percent blame Obama.
On policy: ending the US torture regime; prevention of a second Great Depression; enacting universal healthcare; taking the first serious steps toward reining in healthcare costs; two new female Supreme Court Justices; ending the gay ban in the military; ending the Iraq war; justifying his Afghan Surge by killing bin Laden and now disentangling with face saved; firming up alliances with India, Indonesia and Japan as counter-weights to China; bailing out the banks and auto companies without massive losses (and surging GM profits); advancing (slowly) balanced debt reduction without drastic cuts during the worst economic period since the great depression."

And if that wasn't enough.....a favorable jobs creation report that just came out for July.......let's face it folks, there is a method to his madness. As "bark at the moon, ape shit" pissed off I get over some of the way he operates, and the dismal way he ran immediately to the center, he has done an extraordinary job considering the state we were in when he took office....and with two complete idiots as speakers (Pelosi and Reid---how did that happen), an ineffectual baboon as VP (Biden), and a Chief of Staff who cut and run on him before his first term ended.

BRILLIANT PIECE IN THE DAILY BEAST

"As the economy teeters on the precipice of a double-dip recession, as millions of Americans search in vain for a job, as tens of millions of homeowners are underwater, as poverty soars and the middle class is hammered, the Speaker of the House is pushing a proposal that—let me repeat a Greenstein analysis—“could well produce the greatest increase in poverty and hardship in modern U.S. history.” Deep cuts in every domestic priority—from education for disabled children to food safety to homeland security to clean air and water. Followed by painful cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. But not a dollar in new revenue. Not one corporate loophole closed, not one billionaire asked to pay one penny in higher taxes."

Paul Begalla in the Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/29/republicans-on-the-debt-ceiling-screwing-over-america.html?om_rid=NHk2HO&om_mid=_BONAKsB8chDdsU

PARTY ELDERS COULD ADD WISDOM & LEADERSHIP TO CURRENT SITUATIONS

Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton, Alan Greenspan, Bob Dole, George Mitchell, Trent Lott....there are former economic heavyweights and party leaders out there....why aren't they being brought into the process? The current leaders need to drop their egos and ask for help.

Immediately raise the debt ceiling so we can pay for what we already spent, then hash out a bi-partisan economic policy....it's not so tough. And with a senior bi-partisan commission, the current leaders would listen and fall in line.

Unfortunately, party elders are rarely, if ever sought out for their counsel. Foreign affairs? There are experts on the sidelines willing and able to lend their expertise and wisdom. The same holds true for any issue or situation that might arise,yet we do not get them involved. WHY? Ego, pure and simple.

A TICKING TIME BOMB MANUFACTURED LARGELY OUT OF MANURE

As news reports continue to filter out of Norway in response to the horrific slaughter of nearly 100 students, we learn more about the frame of mind and motive of a mad man; a self-described right winger and opponent of increasing immigration of foreigners, especially those of the Muslim faith.

These right wing sentiments, grounded in fear and bigotry, are already flourishing in the United States, and are beginning to take a strong foothold across Europe as well, and not just with right wing extremist groups. Multi-cultural tolerance has largely met its demise in Europe.

Great Britain's Cameron, Germany's Merkel and France's Sarcozy have all declared any tolerance to immigration dangerous, and Merkel went so far as to say "multiculturalism has failed...utterly failed." Cameron states that his countries immigration policies have led to segregated communities within which "extremist radicalism can thrive."

In France, the right wing National Guards leader Marine Le Pen has gained favor with the French to the extent it is a real possibility she could be elected President...in fact her popularity is surging in many national polls within France. She compares the public praying of Muslims outside overcrowded mosques in her country to the Nazi occupation.

In the Netherlands, Geert Wilder, leader of the Party for Freedom, having won over 15% of the previous general election, equates the Koran to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.

In Finland, their third largest political party is the right wing "True Finns" with almost 20% of the voting electorate. In Norway, the second largest political party, with over 25% of the votes in their last election is the right wing Progress Party.

So when reports come in from Norway of a right wing zealot attempting to make a political statement with a bombing, then the gathering up of young students and summarily opening fire upon them, then hunting the fleeing survivors with a barrage of gunshots, we shouldn't be shocked, welcome to the new normal.

This is not news to us in the U.S. either, as Timothy McVeigh, the perpetrator of the Oklahoma City bombing which killed 168 people, described himself as a right winger as well. Need more proof? Read the comments on any right wing political board, or blog....you will be amazed....at the anti-government and anti-culturalism sentiments that proliferates the comments.

Of course in a democracy, they are entitled to their opinions and I am certainly not trying to suggest we round them up and place them into internment camps....I am just saying it might be wise when confronted with a customer looking to buy a ton of steer manure and a propane tank, we check their vehicle for a Obama/Biden bumper sticker before completing the sale.
And that is the world...The World According to Kimba....thanks for reading.

WHOSE SIDE IS HE ON????

I am all for reaching across the aisle. I am all for a bi-partisan approach to solving our nation's issues and obstacles, as the correct answer can usually be found within the middle ground, and the more sane, less radical elements of Congress.

However, President Obama has taken reaching across the aisle to mean bending over backwards. He has turned "kow-towing" into an art form.....keeping Gates on as Defense Secretary, completely keeping the Bush Middle East strategy, keeping the Bush tax cuts, etc. etc. He promised us change, and the only thing that has changed is he has completely lost any genitalia he may have once had.

It is time he realizes he may well be a one term president and start pushing the liberal agenda....and that starts with insisting on a two year moratorium on the Bush tax cuts targeting the rich (at least, if not a total reversal).

$4 trillion in added revenue is at stake. Good Lord, wouldn't that be more palatable than cutting Medicaid to the point that seniors will be too poor to get treatment? That our seniors will become homeless due to the medical treatment that may save (or prolong) their lives? That seniors will be forced to decide between financially devastating their spouses retirement, or receiving life sustaining treatment?

It's time that Obama finds whatever is left of his testicles and put his foot down with John Boehner on the tax cuts. The wealthy typically do not create jobs....Bush has proven...history has proven...time and time again,that tax breaks for the wealthy do not "trickle down," they just make the wealthy wealthier. Mr. President, you have the job...now act like it, and represent all those that voted you into power.

Three years...three years of wishing my vote for Hillary put a real man into the Oval....instead of the apologetic piece of shit we have in office at present. Be a man and stand up for what you know and believe...if you in fact believe in anything other than breaking a color barrier at the top. Time is wasting, Mr. President.

THE BRUTAL ECONOMIC TRUTH THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW

I'M ON A FRAMERS QUOTATION BENT

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State ... " Thomas Jefferson

LET FREEDOM RING !

"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."
John Adams

THERE ARE NO WINNERS IN THE WIENER CASE

At the end of the day...at the end of the work week, once you have returned home and scraped off the barnacles...you ain't shit unless you can roast a chicken and properly decant a bottle of red. At the end of the day, it is almost entirely about the little things.

The little things.

Funny how a little thing can take you down.

See I have developed a severe case

of cognitive dissonance this week.

He was...well not quite a hero of mine, but I held equal parts respect and awe for the man. In my eyes he was the modern-day Henry Clay. I remember the times he would take control of the Senate well, screaming at his colleagues...imploring them to vote their conscience, demanding that just once they could see fit to, if not completely cast off the shackles of party loyalties, at least loosen them long enough to stand up long enough to vote what they knew in their hearts were right.

I remember the time he fought against bogus information being introduced into the record, with him fighting for a minutes time...long enough to accurately, if not parliamentarily acceptably, call the speakers bluff, and assert them as the lying liars that they were.

Funny how the little things can drag a good man down. We needed him in the Senate. We needed him like a meadow needs the occasional gust of cool, clean air. But he took himself down. And in a moment of sheer stupidity, he snapped the self portrait heard around the world. We are all the losers for it. Because at the end of the day, he was a clarion of truth, a breathe of fresh air in a very polluted atmosphere...and a man who stood up for what he believed. And that was no little thing.

WE NEED A LITTLE WEINER IN CONGRESS

His high school boy prank aside, this is what we need in Congress...someone who will hold them to task....someone who will go into the well and demand that for once in their lives, they simply vote their conscience, instead of being a sheep and voting the party line.....we need a little weiner in Congress...actually we need a little more of this kind of weiner, and less of the present day dicks we currently have in office.....

FLORIDA MANDATES DRUG TESTING

Florida has mandated drug testing for all welfare recipiants, a move I whole heartedly agree with. Strange hearing this from ableeding heart liberal? Maybe....but it is only fair that the taxpayers, who fund welfare, be assured that their taxes are not getting into the hands of criminals.

Food stamps cannot be used for alcohol or cigarettes, and welfare money should not go to drug dealers. I have been calling for this for years now, and I cannot be happier. Florida gets it, and I hope the appeals from the ACLU get squashed. The sooner this movement goes national, the better off we will all be.

Will we save money? Of course not...the savings we may reap will almost certainly be negated by the cost of the drug testing.....personally, I would like to see all drug testing go to local colleges, who could certainly use the revenue, and have the students and resources to perform the testing.

TARGETED TAXATIONS

Personally,when it comes to taxation, I think the government should worry less about those that worry about the number of carats they have, and focus on all those who worry about how many carrots they have......

THERE ARE ACTUALLY PEOPLE WHO WOULD VOTE FOR THIS MORON

130 BILLION REASONS TO VOTE TO RE-ELECT

Just a little something for the neysayers of the economic recovery that has been taking place slowly but surely since President Obama has taken over the Oval. Please note the abysmal trade deficits during the Bush years, then tell me why you still want to vote conservative. Repeat after me....exports just hit a new all time high. Now write it on the blackboard fifty times, then enter your nearest voting booth.

ADVOCATING A GRAND OLD PARTY

It's all starting to make sense....you would have to be on drugs to vote the party of Bush and the Bush doctrines back into power....so let's legalize damn near everything! Marijuana, prostitution, cocaine and even heroin would be legal if these two candidates for President on the GOP ticket got there way....very clever gentlemen.

TEDDY SAID IT BEST...IN 1907

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

ARIZONA FIRES BLANKS YET AGAIN

Congratulations are in order to the Arizona representatives and its legendary Governor, Jan Brewer.....they took a long hard look at the issues of their state, prioritized and came up with priority one....the voting in of an official state gun.....and the winner is..... The Colt single action army revolver......winner of the wild west, and the number one preferred weapon of mass destruction against native Americans, especially ballsy since Arizona is home to many Indian tribes today. You have to love these Arizona Republicans...they have their priorities straight at all times.....chase Mexicans from their state and celebrate the very weapon which is most responsible for the western genocide of native Americans years ago. Kind of makes you want to live there doesn't it?
Nothing surprizes me coming out of Arizona these days......except that they stopped short of naming the Glock 19, 9 millimeter semi-automatic handgun their official state gun, the very gun which shot Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords in the back of her head and very nearly cost her her life........I guess they do have a heart after all....

BIRTHERS: A MOVEMENT BORN OUT OF STUPIDITY

The document above is not new to us......yet the "birther" movement still rages on...including current front runner in the polls for the GOP 2012 presidential nominee, Donald Trump ( I love this fact....last time their VP nominee was a no-nothing press whore from Wasila, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, and now, according to early polls, Donald Trump is ahead of career politicians / public servants Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee).

It is clear that President Obama is, indeed a native Hawaiian, so what is the problem? Why do these so called "birthers" hate the current President so much? Is it the inevitable philosophy differences between liberals and the far right? Couldn't be....this has been going on for a century. Each side has distinct opposite philosophical differences, and has since the parties came on the scene. Is it because his political philosophy includes a touch of socialism....a sense of wanting to help out his fellow Americans who need it? No, the liberals have long held this viewpoint. Do they truly believe he is a Marxist....a Muslim....or an enemy of the United States? They can't be that stupid....these beliefs would extend even their huge capacity of ignorance.

So, what's left....seriously, is it because he is black? Is this hatred merely a manifestation of their bigotry? When they goad Arizona Governor Brewer to clean out her state of illegal aliens, achieving the most aggressive sweeps of minorities since the rebel flag flew freely across the south...are they expressing their bigotry? When they say, "we need to take the country back," don't they mean take it back from anyone non Caucasian?

The answer is...who cares? We liberals need these idiots. We need them to hold their candidates hostage; to keep them very far to the right...so far they are unelectable by any moderate. So, go Trump and your inevitable gaffes in the press, and go Birthers! You are about to the best thing you could possibly do for this country.....see to it President Obama is re-elected....to finish the job he was elected to do....reverse the damage his predecessor did in his eight year term...and get this country back to where we were when President Clinton was in office...financially sound and in good standing across the globe.

CONGRESS NEEDS TO BALANCE MORE THAN THE BUDGET

Anyone watching Congress of late knows two painfully obvious things, none of them presents our economic situation without spinning them to their own advantage, and it's election time again. And who gets hurt as they attempt to gain favor of the American electorate first and foremost, and do their sworn duty of taking care of the country who elected them second? Of course it is us.

History has shown over the last few administrations that we have a universal problem that cannot be blamed on any one political party. Needless to say, if you are currently in need of a financial advisor, the last person in the world you would want to put your economic portfolio in the hands of is a member of Congress.

The current platitude of the season is "we are broke....", and if you can sob a little while saying it, you get extra style points. The simple fact is, this is an absolute lie. This country has plenty of revenue, more than ever before. We are an economic behemoth whose business is coveted by every country the world over. Get our business in any economic sector, and you can literally make a fortune, pure and simple. Ask Japan, ask India, ask China. They have gotten rich primarily of us (or U.S. to be more accurate).

The trouble is not so much how much money we have, it's how we spend it. Of course we spend too much, more than we can afford every administration since the Clinton / Gingrich years, the last time we actually had balanced budgets. So why not get their expertise? They did it before, let's put them to work on it again. A Congressional advisory committee. Throw in Greenspan for good measure. Examine the overblown budget...page by mind numbing page. Let them get their highlighters out, and start cutting. It would be a true bi-partisan commission advising Congress on the two things we need to do to get out financial house in order......two simple things......spend less, and make more.

Let them cut ridiculous things we spend our money on...planned parenthood and the National Endowment for the Arts....and I am sure there are thousands of organisations like them on the public payroll. Let them make the unpopular decisions without worrying about what the public thinks, none of the three are going to be running for anything (Gingrich for Pres? now that's ridiculous) and should be capable of making the hard decisions without worrying about getting elected for anything.

Let them report that the reductions in regulations have made corporations preditory and monopolistic (not to mention remove methods of consumer protections); let them report that we need to simplify the tax code so that the IRS can focus on all those who are illegally avoiding paying their fair share. Let them examine our history and report the truth for once....and the truth is, if you made $250k last year, you paid on average $67,398, and in 1981 you would have paid $126,953. In 1940, corporations paid 43% of all federal income taxes, in 1950 it was 39%, and in 1990 they paid 19%. We coddle corporations today, and they slap us in the face by moving their workforce overseas and their money out of the country...this has to stop. We need to make it financial suicide to manufacture products overseas and bring them into the country. We need to make it advantageous to create jobs here if you want to sell your goods here.

When it comes to revenue, we need to simplify the tax code and eliminate all credits, deductions, tax reforms and loopholes that allow everyone to avoid paying their fair share (not to mention the ridiculous notion that we need to incentivize being rich with tax breaks...). We need clarity and transparency in the way everyone pays their taxes. And we need to make it a crime to set up shell headquarters outside of the country in an attempt to hide revenue and shield their companies from taxes. We need to make it a crime to take your personal revenue and wire it off shore to countries such as the Grand Caymans and Switzerland to avoid paying taxes. We need to find out who they are and tax the living shit out of them. We need to setup a month long amnesty to allow everyone to get their money from overseas and get it back into their country where it belongs...safe....and taxable.

We need to reduce our entitlements...and that means Medicare and Medicaid. Actually if we left the money alone, they would be much better off, but Congress can't keep their hands off from it....more voodoo economics. More bait and switch con games of now you see it, now you don't.

And we need to get our heroes out of Iraq, Afghanistan and everywhere else....unless we are welcome, and the host country are willing to pay us to protect them. It is mind blowing that we are spending ourselves stupid in oil producing countries, and they do not give us anything for our troubles. We need to shift our country from being the world's watchdog, to being the world's paid mercenaries.

Want to fix our financial problems? Get out of two wars, simplify the tax codes, eliminate all non-essential spending, and establish a non-partisan committee to advise Congress on how best to do what the country desperately needs to do....

Earn more, spend less....or do both.

If we do this, we will find we have plenty of cash...to do what we should have been doing all along...updating and improving our infrastructure, educating our populous and taking better care of each other.

And that is my world...the World According to Kimba.

Thanks for reading.

BTW, your taxes are due on Monday.

KAPUT

Sorry, folks, my laptop has succumb to a virus, and won't even load windows.....I'll be back as the one true clarion of truth in the political world shortly, once I have brought Best Buys and the Geek Squad to their knees! This is war!!!!!!

POSTING IT WITH VALENTINES DAY WISHES

A LITTLE BIRTHDAY CLARITY

One has to wonder when someone becomes bigger than life. Time passes, vision blurs, and all we can see is perspective of a legacy, and become unable to focus on the brutal reality of days gone bye. I am all for a celebration for the 100th birthday of Ronald Reagan...he was a very good Governor for the state of California, and deserves to be praised for his service to the country as our President. BUT, before we begin carving his likeness in Mount Rushmore and naming him the principal architect of the conservative political philosophy, let's take a moment to review some salient points of his presidential administration....

1. He aided and abetted one of the most brutal armies...the Nicaraguan Contras by selling arms to Iran (despite an official embargo), and using the money to train the Contras who were attempting to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. The contras engaged in the most violent and brutal forms of warfare.....rape, arson, murder, torture, abduction, and mutilation. And, oh yeah, he lied about it....and his administration destroyed documents in a cover up of the truth by all accounts. Check out these quotes from RR...

"despite the wildly speculative and false stories of arms for hostages and alleged ransom payments, we did not-repeat, did not - trade weapons or anything else for hostages nor will we" November 1986

"a few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and evidence tells me it was not" March 1987

2. He was one of our most popular presidents...this may have been true after he was shot, but as unemployment continued to rise over 10%, his approval rating hovered in the low thirties.

3. He was for smaller government....the truth is government grew over 2.5% during his tenure, including establishing the Veterans Affairs department...however this fact failed to reach his speechwriters.....check out these quotes from RR....

"government isn't the solution to our problems, it is the problem" "the nine most terrifying words in the English language.....I'm from the government and I am here to help"

4. He was an economic genius....under Reagan, the national debt exploded from $700 billion to $3 trillion, unemployment hovered around 10%, the number of families living below the poverty line increased by one-third (despite this fact, he made cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, aid to families with dependant children, school lunch programs and declared unemployment insurance as "a pre-paid vacation plan for free loaders"), and many believe his policies paved the way for the Savings & Loan scandal, which cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

5. He was a tax cutter throughout his administration....his 1981 tax cut was a sweeping measure that reduced taxes for our wealthiest Americans from 70% to 50%, including big breaks for corporations and the oil industry. However one year later with the economy tanking towards recession and the federal deficit spiraling out of control, he signed measures that increased taxes every year of his eight year presidency, except the first year and the last.

Please believe me, I take no pleasure in bringing up these points...I voted for the man twice as Governor, and just as all other Americans,grew to love him for his persona and quick wit. However the present day GOP still hold these principles as if they actually worked then, and will work for the country now.....hopefully they will include a visit to the facts in between the speeches by Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney...for the good of the country before we enter into a Reaganesque recession.

NUMBERS TO RIOT OVER

Just in case you are not quite sure what is going on over in Egypt, what would cause such an enormous portion of the population to protest, let me give you some numbers....

5: the maximum number of citizens allowed

to assemble together without an official government permit.

$34: the fine police officers must pay for

"cruel treatment" on a civilian while on duty

300%: increase in malnourished children younger

than 5 for the period of 2000 to 2008

10%: unemployment

20%: live below the poverty line

10%:of the population controls 28%

of the household income

750m: the net worth of Mubarak's son, Gamal

205.8: gallons of oil go through the Suez Canal

and adjacent pipeline (6% of the global supply)

Simply put, the citizens of Egypt see massive, massive amounts of money going through the country, but live in abject poverty, they can't get at it. They have no hope, and they have no chance of ever improving their economic status with the class system they have there. And, well, they live in Egypt. Once you've seen the pyramids, the thrill is gone. It is primarily sand, at least the Egypt the lower class gets to experience. And it gets hot. Unbearably hot. And after 30 years of Mubarak's rule, they want to be heard. They want a spot on the world's center stage, and they've got it. And we're listening.

H.R. 3: AT FIRST GLANCE, I APPROVE...LIBERALLY

If you are a regular, or even occasional reader to this blog, first of all thank you, and secondly, there should be no doubt in your mind where I am politically. I am just barely to the right of Jerry Rubin. But, that does not mean you can anticipate, or predict my views on any particular issue. Mere political affiliation does not, and should not lock in someones viewpoints. No, shed your labels and proclivities, and do a little research, then formulate an opinion. You never know, you might just sit on the other side of the aisle on an issue or two.....and good for you if you do. Your vote should be the result of a little critical thinking, not to mention soul searching. So, having said all of that, let me give you three of my beliefs that just might get me kicked out of a Democratic caucus.

Just being born on American land

should not automatically make you a U.S. citizen,

outstanding teachers should know they don't need tenure

and

it is categorically unfair to force all taxpayers

to pay for abortions.

Yes, it's true.

And so, while just barely skimming over the highlights of H.R. 3 introduced today in the John Boehner House of Representatives, and still meaning to read over the entire piece of legislation before making a firm commitment...I see nothing entirely wrong in the bill. I do want to fully understand their definition of "forcible," but for now, I would tend to vote aye on the bill that guarantees that no federal moneys are allocated towards giving someone an abortion, unless a victim of forcible rape, incest, or if carrying full term would risk death on the birth mother. Let's be clear...it does not, and is not intended to make abortions illegal, or take down Roe v. Wade. It just addresses the allocation of funds...your funds to provide abortions. But, read it yourself and make up your own mind.

LOSING SLEEP OVER CIVIL UNREST

While some cynics will say the world is about to begin spinning out of control, more level heads will acknowledge a very serious situation is taking over the world's landscapes. Civil unrest has raised its ugly head in Tunisia, Ireland, Ecuador, Peru, Italy, Jordan and now Egypt. This could have been predicted....faltering economies, unemployment, rising fuel costs, and sharp increases in the price of food. When these conditions occur in democracies, citizens can vote to change their governments. In more oppressive regimes, they take to the streets to voice their dissatisfactions.

And their voices are being heard around the world at present....and they are toppling governments......the next seemingly being Egypt's Mubarak, a leader, a dictator soon to be looking for a safe haven, a soft landing spot to retire. In fact, Hillary Clinton has publicly called for an "orderly transition."

But in Egypt, more is at stake than a change at the top. For decades now, we have pumped millions and millions of dollars into the Mubarak regime, and much of those resources have resulted in a very well armed Egyptian militia, an entity currently sitting on its hands, unwilling to engage with the protesters,made up of their own countrymen.

Egypt is more than the largest nation in the region. They are a US backed, US ally who has been very valuable in stabling the entire Middle East. And the government is about to topple, for whom we do not know. Normally, we would not give much chance for the radical led Muslim brotherhood to gain power, but in times of civil unrest, extreme voices gain ears. The thirst for change can result in unlikely victors. And should radical Islam elements take power in a country this large, it could set a disastrous example of what can happen in other Islamic countries in the region.

Certainly no one would be shocked if such a rise took place in Iran, one of the most oppressive governments in the world. And such victories in neighboring countries embolden others, and give voice to extremely radical voices within.

Clinton and Obama need to become fully engaged, at least in the backgrounds of the current situations in the region. Like a bad game of dominoes, the entire region is aching for a tilting in the balance of power, and if you are viewed as a U.S. ally, a U.S. sympathiser, you may become a marked man by your citizens.

You think the United States should be very worried? What about Israel? With anti-Jewish sentiment everywhere in the region, and new, more radical elements assuming power, especially in countries like Egypt, who is more than capable, more than adequately armed thanks to us, to do some real damage.... we cannot, cannot afford to become more militarily engaged in the region than we already are. So who will rise up and attempt to stabilize the region? Our friends are extremely nervous, at least as nervous as the more radical anti-U.S. sentiments are empowered, and emboldened. This is their moment. Will it come to fruition? Time will tell.

OLBERMANN OUT: I THINK HE JUST DIDN'T LIKE WHAT HE HAD BECOME

Keith Olbermann, MSNBC's most popular and successful personality has abruptly ended his reign over the unapologeticly progressive political show "Countdown," and his association with MSNBC. The terms of and deciding factors around his departure have not been announced, but in my opinion, he quit. He had enough. There is no way that MSNBC gets rid of their singular cash cow.
So why did he leave? Fatigue? Probably a factor. Tired of the bullshit? No doubt. But in my opinion, he had gone from world class reporter and journalist, and slowly but surely become something he could not tolerate....something he could not stomach.....the liberal Bill O'Reilly. A talking head spewing an anti-GOP agenda on a daily basis. A man and a writer capable of brilliance at times (an example of which is below)...but he could also be a caricature, a comic windbag inexplicably foaming at the mouth; a bat shit crazy imitation of Peter Finch in Network.
He is mad as hell, and he is not going to take it anymore. Good luck Keith. I hope you find a better avenue for your journalistic abilities. I hope you find...and bid you peace.