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