No pity for orphans

I try not to talk about my life as even I find it dull. I call my mother only after the pangs of guilt get so strong that they overshadow my dread of her pronouncements. Today was that day. Ugh.

Maybe I am wrong, but I've often thought that malnurtured people react one of two ways: either they become aggressive and mean (such as a bully) or if they are a gentle soul, they passively endure until they become mentally ill. Now let me get off my soapbox and give my dogs extra treats because they never disappoint me.

Contrast the laws for the rich and the poor

If you have the time, Bill Moyer's speech on Washington under the rule of the conservative right is an excellent condensation of current political corruption and a little view of how the rich defraud the nation. At the same time the IRS is hounding the little guy by withholding tax refunds. We all know that there are different standards for different folks, so lets be honest and stop calling this place a democracy. If we do not practice equality ourselves, how can we talk of spreading it around the world?

Read this on Daily Kos, a comment from RabidNation: Democracy and capitalism are not synonymous; capitalism has nothing whatever to do with "freedom" and everything to do with concentrating economic and political power in progressively fewer elite hands. republican corruption results from that party's orientation towards capitalism and the capitalist class at the expense of democracy. it is past time to sever the perceived ties in the popular mind between democratic freedoms and the freedom of the capitalists to take what they please.

Who said "enough already" on this topic?

Will Cheney's hunting haunt him forever as does Ted Kennedy's accident? Got this from a Republican Bible Thumper I know - cheap shots all around.

Cheney the hunter

I can't stop laughing about this...and he shot a Republican lawyer (the American dream). Man, is this too funny or what? NRA should be giving hunter safety lessons instead of campaign contributions to the bloated bastard....it wasn't so long ago Cheney was making fun of Kerry's hunting ability and ridiculing Kerry's new hunting vest. I wonder if the new reward for Republicans who don't follow the party line or make too small a contribution will be a hunting trip with Cheney. Here is a little flash game for you to help Dick practice.

Media

Molly Ivins - "Right On, Sister"

My opinion Molly Ivins
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.21.2006


I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president. Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation.

Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her. Her failure to speak out on Terri Schiavo, not to mention that gross pandering on flag-burning, are just contemptible little dodges.


The recent death of Gene McCarthy reminded me of a lesson I spent a long time unlearning, so now I have to relearn it. It's about political courage and heroes, and when a country is desperate for leadership. There are times when regular politics will not do, and this is one of those times.


What kind of courage does it take, for mercy's sake? The majority of the American people think the war in Iraq is a mistake and we should get out. The majority (65 percent) of the American people want single-payer health care and are willing to pay more taxes to get it. The majority (86 percent) favor raising the minimum wage.

The majority (60 percent) favor repealing Bush's tax cuts, or at least those that go only to the rich. The majority (66 percent) want to reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending, but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.


The majority (77 percent) think we should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment. The majority (87 percent) think big oil companies are gouging consumers and would support a windfall profits tax. That is the center, you fools. Whom are you afraid of? I listen to people like Rahm Emanuel superciliously explaining elementary politics to us clueless naifs outside the Beltway ("First, you have to win elections"). Can't you even read the damn polls?


Here's a prize example by someone named Barry Casselman, who writes, "There is an invisible civil war in the Democratic Party, and it is between those who are attempting to satisfy the defeatist and pacifist left base of the party and those who are attempting to prepare the party for successful elections in 2006 and 2008."


Oh come on, people — get a grip on the concept of leadership. Look at this war — from the lies that led us into it, to the lies they continue to dump on us daily. You sit there in Washington so frightened of the big, bad Republican machine you have no idea what people are thinking. I'm telling you right now, Tom DeLay is going to lose in his district. If Democrats in Washington haven't got enough sense to own the issue of political reform, I give up on them entirely.


Do it all, go long, go for public campaign financing for Congress. That is the only reform that will work, and you know it, as well as everyone else who's ever studied this. Do all the goo-goo stuff everybody has made fun of all these years: embrace redistricting reform, House rules changes, the whole package. Put up or shut up. Own this issue, or let Jack Abramoff politics continue to run your town.


Bush, Cheney and Co. will continue to play the patriotic bully card just as long as you let them. War brings out the patriotic bullies. In World War I, they went around kicking dachshunds because they were "German dogs." They did not, however, go around kicking German shepherds. The minute someone impugns your patriotism for opposing this war, turn on them like a snarling dog and explain what loving your country really means. Or eviscerate them with wit (look up Mark Twain on the war in the Philippines). Or point out the latest in the endless "string of bad news."


Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite. If the Washington-based party can't get up and fight, we'll find someone who can.

American Cars

Bush says the American worker can compete with anyone. Which American worker - the one with stupid management or the one with smart management. Take automobiles for example (since I am shopping for one. Honda and Toyota get good reviews while most of the others have strings of complaints). Local sentiment about the layoffs at GM and Ford is that the unions brought it on themselves. Now I don't see how the unions caused the car companies to design crap no one wants to buy. Actually, buying "American" is pretty hard when they are us and we are them. Here are a few facts I found:

Approximately 80 percent of the Honda's cars and light trucks sold in North America are produced here as well.

Ford has plenty of money to expand to China.

Japan’s automakers
investment in the U.S. has climbed to $17.5 billion since 1987. Nearly 50,000 Americans are employed directly by the manufacturers, while more than 230,000 sell Japanese-branded vehicles at 7,000 dealerships, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA). At the same time, US is investing in foreign car companies. GM holds a 20% equity stake in Fuji Heavy Industries Limited; GM holds a 49% equity stake in Isuzu Motors Limited; Ford holds a 33.4% equity stake in Mazda Motor Corporation; DaimlerChrysler holds a 37% equity stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corporation; Renault holds a 36.8% equity stake in Nissan Motor Co. Ltd; Renault holds a 22.5% equity stake in Nissan Diesel Motor Co., Ltd; GM holds a 20% equity stake in Suzuki Motor Corporation. Would they be better cars if American management didn't have large interests?

Japanese plants are run much more efficiently because of better management.

The number of Japanese auto plants in the United States has grown. There were 11 in 1993; 28 are expected to be operating this year, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. Although foreign companies employ less than a quarter of U.S. autoworkers, their growing presence looms large over the strategic decisions of both the corporate managers and the union officials at their U.S. rivals.

I'm baaack

Here is a little joke to make up for my procrastination. Sorry to have neglected my blog for so long - going to lose the few readers I havehad. My Republican brother-in-law died so now I have no one to argue with (others just roll their eyes and wander off). Also depressing is the fact that I have been car shopping and am so disgusted with what I can get...everyone wants big bucks for crap that has 100,000 miles on it - I already got that caliber auto - a 87 Buick boat with a hive body holding the seat up. I was going to give it to NPR Auto auction, but they declined even though I mentioned the new tires and and battery.