I grew up reading comic books wanting to be a superhero. Comics taught me that those who speak the truth are heroes, all the rest are liars.

Monday, December 29, 2008

A Feline Moment

KITTYwompas

If this is correct, then taking a 'virginity pledge' is really worthless and puts teens more at risk for STD. So why are we still funding 'abstinence-only' programs? They don't work and it really is the responsibility of the family to provide morals...it's the responsibility of schools to actually use facts and educate...




CATastropic

They had me until Canada...there's no way on this frozen tundra that Canada would even consider taking Minnesota...er...at least until our hockey improves.




Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Minnesota's Winter Wonderland

A holiday gift to all of us. Just waiting on a couple of supreme court loose ends . Won't be long now until the Minnesota's Canvassing Board certifies Franken as the winner and Minnesota’s newest Junior Senator! Whoopee! Happy New Year!

Ah so let me see, the guy who was forced to resign after it was revealed he also advised the liars know as the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’ is now advising Norm Coleman on the recount. Shameful! Hmm, enough said.

I love the MNPUBLIUS for labeling as trash the Republican National Lawyers Association latest fundraising ‘urgent’ message but perhaps they would have gotten more by simply stating the truth…Norm needs more money to pay his attorney defending him on ethic charges…why dirty it up with more lies?


Lookie, R.T. Rybak gets mentioned at gawker…sort of…got to read to the very end…hahaha


Who isn’t running for governor? No, not me! This time MN Senator John Marty…sigh, again.


It's cold out there, dress warm and drink lots of cider!


Thursday, December 18, 2008

Minnelious Thursday

Minnesota’s hanging chad?

Bu$h says ‘no debate’ about his keeping US safe! wtf@! Yeah no debate, because we all know what a colossal screw-up he’s been….yeah no debate.

Rick Warren will deliver the invocation at Obama’s inauguration….hmmm…wonder if he will pray for wives to submit to their husbands? While Obama is going to make compromises…my civil rights are not open for negotiations. Rick Warren is an inflated bigot who shouldn’t have a speaker’s podium, let alone given a national one.

‘Evil can’t be negotiated with, it has to be stopped’….so why is Obama handing a anti-gay, anti-choice, pro-assassination idiot the microphone?

I ate Chinese late last night and I have a headache…think I’ll listen to some music…later…



Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Senatepaloosa and More Ramblings

Ok the title is a bit far fetch...more like rantings from the mad surfer but you know when it gets to be below zero rantings keep ya warm-)

Cash-in Norm
This is from Fox news! Ouch! Guess that house remodel is going to cost Norm more than just money.

Well, we're here---> somewhere in the recount. Maybe but probably not quite over yet. One wonders when to start addressing Franken as Senator Franken? Might be awhile more as the Coleman campaign is suing to to temporarily stop the process until an official counting procedure is in place, a complaint the Minnesota Supreme Court is entertaining today. Still one wonders if it will be worth it for Norm by the time grand jury convenes to review the illegal funneling of monies?

I’m not surprised that Norm has money woes…It’s hard to live like a rock star on a public servant’s pay. What with weekend trips to Paris, expensive cigars, designer suits, house remodels...Now cash strapped Coleman has decided to use his campaign war chest to pay for his uptown lawyer. Of course the Federal Election Commission might see things differently.

"Many of the allegations against Coleman and his wife pre-date the as-yet undecided race against Franken -- even though Coleman has argued the matter only came to light as a result of the campaign- CBS News Story

While these allegations came to light during the campaign, it clearly is outside the venue of campaigning. I've been involved in several and never saw funding for personal defence by criminal attorney. - just making a point.

Only 12 things?
Mark Morford lists 12 things you could, if you wanted, to throw at Bush…
in his words:

Of course, I officially endorse none of the following far more appropriate, delightfully hurl-able options. Do not ever throw anything at President Bush, because you could get shot or perhaps go to jail for a very long time, which, despite how you'd be hailed a hero worldwide forevermore, would just be no fun at all. Don't do it. Throwing is wrong. OK? throwing reality into his face…but…er keep in mind you could go to jail or be shot.

Many would say it’s a small price to pay for instant fame and glory…just saying-

Let start being accountable for ourselves and others
Hmm…reminds me of the old saying…”I use to be all f@ck up on drugs; Now I’m f@ck on g*d.. There’s so many things wrong with this (well at least $500,000!). Call Amy and let her know your thoughts... just advising-

Not just a pretty face
The 2008 Mug Shots of the Year are now posted at the Smoking Gun…let’s just say that number 20 is an unfair representation of minorities and Obama supporters! And for over half, if they got on the elevator late at night, I would get off immediately...just worried about your safety! -

The Prince of War stumbles
About time…er well really it’s eight years too late but still…it’s about time. I’m guessing ‘prince’ won’t be secretly meeting the Prez at the white house… Blackwater received no-bid contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and post-Katrina New Orleans from the current Bush administration ...just praying for karma to kick their a@s.-

Giving the go-ahead for torture
Tell me we’re going to charge these guys for their crimes and once convicted throw away the keys. At least as prisoners they'll be treated better than this. ...just praying some more for karma to kick their a@s.-

Friday, December 12, 2008

Our Votes Do Count

It's all coming up Franken! Which is very good. Franken has consistanly demanded that every vote be counted. Seems almost a non-brainer that if you followed all the rules in voting and then an error occured by an election clerk...your vote should be counted during the recount. This is great news for all voters. Our votes do count.

From the Franken campaign:

"The state canvassing board has soundly rejected the Coleman campaign's attempt to disenfranchise 133 voters in Minneapolis whose ballots were lost during the recount, unanimously deciding to count those votes. In addition, they urged Minnesota's 87 counties to identify, open, and count absentee ballots that were wrongly rejected.

This is a huge win for us, because our position has always been the simple principle that every lawful vote should be counted. But there are still a lot of steps left ahead in this process, and the Coleman campaign is likely to bring a whole lot of political and legal muscle to re-double their efforts to stop the count."

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Thursday's Thumpings

Doing it Right
If we’re having a recount…then let’s have a recount where all ballots are all counted…even absentee ballots that were improperly rejected by a broken process that includes election judges' clerical errors. Someone’s vote shouldn’t be tossed because someone else made a clerical error. Do the right thing. See video here.

One of these things is not like the other
This is so unfair to single boots everywhere! Ah but I digress…Illinois Governor Rod Blagojewich and MN Senator Norm Coleman have more in common then you think…the latest being a FBI investigation. In both cases the wives seem to have bit parts. Hmm…one more reason to hope Franken in our next U.S. Senator.

Pawlenty to scream about
When Minnesota is facing a projected multi-million dollar budget shortfall, Governor Pawlenty tells us we need to cut services but remains firmly opposed to any tax increases. Yet the wealthy among us ( top 5% ) pay less in taxes than the rest of us including the poorest among us! Check out what Grace Kelly shows on this. Essentially if we taxed the top 5% their fair share, there would be no budget problem.

Ship of Fools
Joe decides to bail but all the wrong reasons.

Government of Fools
So the ‘must have right now’ money is still half unspent with no clear picture of where the spent money went. What I wouldn’t give for a stronger cup of tea right now!

Save the Jeep, Save the Nation
This country should not be spending all of its financial resources salvaging those who destroyed the economy. America needs to invest in what works — its people.- Leo Gerard

Calling it in
You don’t have to call in gay just to demand that everyone in America get equal rights. Do so either way. Tell those that want to dictate everything from your body health to your sexual preference to STFU? And that goes double for those that do it under the guise of being g*dly.

Step away from the edge
Jobless claims jumped to a 26-year high…over half a million collecting unemployment benefits…”Businesses are laying off workers at a fast pace, and finding employment is ever harder for those laid off”. Maybe Obama could start his new job early?

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Each Vote Should Count

Because every one of our votes should count...

In The Holiday Mood

Looking for some holiday music and ran across AJ Rafael…very talented songster writer…below is a couple of his videos…they are ‘home made’ funky but that just gives him more charm…It also fun to see how he’s morphed over time…but the same big heart shines through…Go to you tube and check them all out and subscribe to his vlog…I’m a hugh fan…besides I also have a uke that’s ‘really tight’ and been known to sing in the bathroom!





Monday, December 08, 2008

Muddy Waters with Mixed Messages on Monday

Realism + pragmatism + change = Obama’s appointments to date
All are inside the beltway folks with histories of being enablers. Not saying it’s bad especially compared to whom they are replacing but it’s not much of a change from business as usual..Is it? But maybe I’m too cynical and they won’t stick to the conventions of the past…maybe we’ve seen the end of the entropy….or maybe…old dogs can’t learn new tricks…just saying..and hoping steve doesn’t come after me for having an opinion that differs with his!

The recount is winding down…we don’t know the finally outcome waiting: challenges, missing ballots, and a ruling on absentee ballots that should be counted. Maybe a new Senator for the new year? I hope so!

BAWHAHAHA found this entertaining post up on The Bluestem Prairie: News from Minnesota's Fighting First. I guess “there’s alittle REAL SLIM SHADY in all of us”…finally a new blog savior!..er..maybe not…save me please!

The Pleasure of the Invaders

The Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan true to it’s threat has stepped up violence in response to the recent US Troop increase. The US was hoping the Afghan tribes will become our allies against the Taliban and other extremist groups …but that hasn't happen and as Taliban supreme Mullah Maulvi Omar has been saying all along…

No Afghan will lower himself to such an irrational and insensitive position to fight against his own brothers for the interests of the invaders and lose his life and faith for ... the pleasure of the invaders,"


The Pakistan pro-taliban militants have made a spectacular surge in recent months by gearing up their guerrilla-style war adopting hit-and-run tactics involving remote-controlled bomb explosions, long range rocket attacks, ambushes, and the use of cluster bombs:
More than 150 vehicles carrying equipment bound for U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan are blown apart and burned at two terminals in Peshawar, Pakistan. A second attack burned 50 containers....

In one of the largest and most brazen attacks of its kind, suspected Taliban insurgents with heavy weapons attacked two truck stops in northwest Pakistan on Sunday, destroying more than 150 vehicles carrying supplies bound for U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan….

Early today, a second attack on Western supplies was reported in the same area. A security guard said 50 containers had been burned and some vehicles destroyed by rocket fire…..

Nearly a month ago, militants hijacked a convoy of more than a dozen vehicles. Then last week, 22 trucks were torched at a truck stop. The attack was directed against the Pakistan Ordnance Factories, a complex of more than 16 factories with about 20,000 workers. It seemed timed to cause maximum casualties, coming as it did during the afternoon change of shifts.

While a variety of weapons are used in these attacks the use of cluster bombs interested me...where did they get them, why use them, what do they do?...Cluster bombs as a weapon contains multiple explosive submunitions. When the bomb break open in mid-air, they release the submunitions which cover an area the size of several football fields, hurling small fragments through the area killing and maining anything in their way. Unlike "smart bombs", the weapons that delivers a single bomb with pinpoint accuracy, cluster bombs are by their nature imprecise and designed to hit targets spread out over a wide area. Some cluster bombs are coated with DU (Depleted Uranium ) making them toxic as well as more deadly.

Depleted uranium (DU) weapons were first used during the first Gulf War against Iraq in 1991. The Pentagon estimated that between 315 and 350 tons of DU were fired during the first Gulf War. During the 2003 invasion and current occupation of Iraq, U.S. and British troops have reportedly used more than five times as many DU bombs and shells as the total number used during the 1991 war..that number is probably at least two fold higher today.


Some of the uranium used with DU weapons like cluster bombs vaporizes into extremely small particles, which are dispersed into the atmosphere where they remain until they fall to the ground with the rain. As a gas, the chemically toxic and radioactive uranium can easily enter the body through the skin or the lungs and be carried around the world until it falls to earth with the rain.
Cluster bombs create an unhealthy environment during war for any civilians...A third (1 in 3) of the casualties (victims) are children. 60% are non combatant (civilians). And factor in using chemicals like DU, and even the soldiers regardless of which side they are fighting on can become sick.
Today, more than one out of every three veterans from the first Gulf War are permanently disabled. Terry Jemison of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs said that of the 592,561 discharged veterans from the 1991 war in Iraq, 179,310 are receiving disability compensation and another 24,763 cases are pending.

The "epigenetic damage" done by DU has resulted in many grossly deformed children born in areas such as southern Iraq where tons of DU have contaminated the environment and local population. An untold number of Americans have also been born with severe birth defects as a result of DU contamination.

Many of the cluster bombs don’t detonate and like land mines, they can kill unintended victims years later (as opposed to unintended victims they day of!) As the bombs are scattered and used to a great extent indiscriminately, they aren’t mapped or disarmed after-the-fact. Still cluster bombs continue to kill years after they were used. Even today, decades later, many in Vietnam are still mained by such munitions.

These unexploded bombs are now used by the Taliban and used against us. In addition, they run several weapons plant and when captured, the Taliban often carry high-tech radio equipment, and are even wearing new sneakers, all signs they have found new financial support. In addition both the Taliban and Jaish have weapons and arsenal which have piled up in the past several decades of war. And they brag of having weapons for centuries to come (sound familiar?)


Given the deadly legacy you would think instead of supplying bombs the U.S. would promote a global treaty, but we haven’t. More history on this at The Daily Clarity. So how did these cluster bombs fall into the Taliban's hands? Well, besides old Soviet stockpiles, weapons dealers, and sympathetic countries, many were tinkered from what we dropped but wasn't exploded. The truth of the matter is, the U.S. has set a deadly example that the world is now following.

Instead maybe it's time to drop food aid, education, medicine and infrastructure. Let's introduce them to use those weapons instead.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Win Lose or Draw

Win
For eight long years Democrats have be screaming for their leaders to grow backbones, stand up, fight back…we’ll guess what? Minnesota's Al Franken is fighting back…asking that every single vote be counted…Finally a Democrat that isn’t backing down, isn’t willing to compromise or settle for anything short of the voter’s wishes…

Al Franken’s lead attorney Elias states “I have no doubt in my mind that Al Franken got more votes in this election than Norm Coleman, and the only question is whether or not Norm Coleman is going to continue to have his lawyers fight” to not have all the votes count.

That’s what this is all about, making sure every vote counts. Finally, someone to stand up and represent us...

Lose
- I’m filing this one under mystical creatures like unicorns and fairies…as if he really believed! A fairytale at best, better known as a crock of sh#$ at the end of the rainbow their time criminal acts while in power.

- The revolution will not be uploaded in all locations…add Australia to the list already containing China, North Korea, Burma, Turkmenistan, Equatorial Guinea, Libya Eritrea, Cuba, Uzbekistan, Syria, and Belarus.

Draw
-On one hand, they employ thousands of workers, pay a living wage, pay taxes
On the other hand, they can’t manage, have no vision, and promise to lay off workers if the US government bails them out.

What to do? I guess the question is not ‘if we bail them out’ but what do we get? Michael Moore sent out a letter regarding his stand…that the government should buy them out instead of bail them out…either way…a nightmare.

Singing Odetta's Praises

First time I saw Odetta Holmes was in Golden Gate Park…then a few months later in Washington DC…While everyone wants to own the incredible talents of others…with me…I wanted to be Odetta. To be the soulful, powerful, heartfelt, beautiful, insightful, pragmatic songster that allowed us to peak into another world by way of song. Odetta's message was clear, 'be yourself', 'look for goodness', and 'share with others'…

In the Washington Post interview, Odetta theorized that humans developed music and dance because of fear, "fear of God, fear that the sun would not come back, many things. I think it developed as a way of worship or to appease something. ... The world hasn't improved, and so there's always something to sing about."

Amen sister...The angels must surely be celebrating that one of their own has come home to sing with the choir.

I couldn't pick between these two so I posted both ‘House of the Rising Son’ and ‘Careless Love’.