Thursday Update - God and Country Edition

(The Boy and I survived the multiplex showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" practically unscathed, except for the beating we took on a SMALL popcorn and a SMALL drink.  I've got to say first that I enjoyed Spiderman more than this film.  Dark Knight is not only dark, it's a bit depressing.  There's a heck of lot of violence and thundering explosions, and though the "Bane" character was very impressive, the multiple beatings Batman receives from this monster throughout the movie is a bit much, in my opinion.  I didn't leave the theater in high spirits - no "wow," no "great movie," just a dazed two-and-a-half-hour exhaustion.  On the plus side, the FX are fantastic, but aren't they always these days?  Definitely not recommended for pre-teens, I give it 3 stars, down from 4 because of the violence.  What ever happened to Adam West?  But I digress ... )

• In trying to figure out the hows and whys of the madness that was played out in the movie theater in Colorado, pundits from all sides have pointed out how truly awful life and all its pressures can be, and when it gets too much for some people they just snap and go out and buy assault weapons and kill as many innocent people as possible.  We live in a violent society hell bent on leaving a trail of dead burnt babies in its wake, and we just can't do anything about it.  Mark Morford has one word for that idea:  Bullshit.  He looks forward to the day when someone storms into a midnight screening of a sweet romantic comedy and kisses everyone full on the mouth.
• The Boy Scouts of America voted the other day to once again remain in the Dark Ages by reaffirming the organization's ban on gays.  This in spite of the fact scouting looks to be one of the "gayest" groups in town.  Maybe it's the scarf and natty shorts with knee high socks.  At any rate, a group of Boy Scouts in full uniform appears to be a gathering of nazi queens.  I doubt if any self-respecting gay person would WANT to join this organization.  We give the Boy Scouts of America this month's Bad Hat Thumbs Down Award.
• "The Republican speaker at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Reno, Nev., was slashing the president with jingoistic jingles: Obama is ashamed of America, an apologist sapping the greatness of a country that is the greatest force for good the world has ever known, a weakling marring the American Century by gutting the military and the economy. And, on top of that, the Obama White House doesn’t know how to keep stuff secret." Maureen Dowd says it was like listening to Dick Cheney.  "Hiding In Plain Sight."
• Mitt Romney and his out-of-touch foot-in-mouth disease, spent a spot of time in jolly old England this week, and almost everything he said was controversial or just plain stupid.  He even hinted at racism by inferring that he would have better relations with Great Britain because of his "anglo-saxon" blood lines.  Even the normally stoic British were aghast. 
• You still don't believe the middle class in this country is about to be completely wiped out?  How many poor people are there in America?  Take a deep breath and click here.

Friday Update - Senseless Edition

(The Boy wants me to take him to the new Bat Man, er, Dark Knight movie this weekend, and I wasn't too enthused right off the, ah, bat, because everybody and his cousin will be going this weekend, and I really don't like crowds.  But then I heard something so wonderfully bizarre that now I have to see this movie.  It seems the villain's name in the movie is "Bane."  And this bad guy is a real bad ass bad guy.  The wonderful thing about all this is that Rush Limbaugh is rupturing veins in his pudgy little face, full of righteous rage over the fact that the Hollywood elite is out to get Mitt Romney.  Get it? "Bane," Bain, as in Bain Capital?  What a putz.  But I digress ...)

• Well, the country has sadly had to face another senseless shooting this morning.  Some douchebag went into a crowded movie theater (unfortunately during a showing of "Dark Knight") in Aurora, Colorado and started shooting, killing 12 people.  And of course politicians have to respond to stuff like this, to calm the worried populace.  I particularly love the way the Right interprets the causes of this madness.  After the Columbine shooting, Tom DeLay blamed it on science textbooks that teach evolution.  After the Virginia Tech massacre, Newt Gingrich blamed it on Halloween costumes, among other things.  And now Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said Friday that the shootings that took place in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater hours earlier were a result of "ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs" and questioned why nobody else in the theater had a gun to take down the shooter.  Break out the tin foil hats.
• Do you realize that Glenn Beck has a radio show and is still on the air?  Wow, ain't that America?  On Beck's Thursday show, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Lunatic) started spitting and oozing Islamaphobic attacks against a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, saying  that Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin, has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Beck got all foamy at the mouth and one-upped her by accusing Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), one of two Muslim Representatives in Congress, of being a "mafia hitman."  Good to know that utter insanity is alive and well on the airwaves. Even the OrangeMan is aghast.
• Funny law news:  George Zimmerman says it was "God's Plan" for him to shoot and kill Trayvon Martin.  God is expected to be called to testify in the defendant's behalf during the upcoming trial.
• I ordered a book from Amazon.com the other day, and the UPS guy knocked on my door the very next day with my book.  It was incredible.  How do they do that?  Well, it seems it's just going to get better.  Amazon has plans for same-day delivery of anything and everything you need.  Retirement heaven!  We'll never have to leave the house again!  Mark Morford reports.
• John McCain said the other day that he didn't pick Mitt Romney for his running mate in 2008 "because Sarah Palin was the better candidate."  Well heck, I guess that says it all.

Another Republican Turns On Mitt

Michael Bloomberg has enough money and personal clout to not give a damn about what he says about Mitt Romney, or anyone else.

And it would appear that Bloomberg, via this article, is letting the public know that he thinks that voting for Romney would be a bad idea. Ouch. A lot of Wall Street reads Bloomberg, just as they read Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. All three have published "I don't think so" articles in the last week. A coincidence, a conspiracy or a warning? I suspect that it is in part a reaction to Romney's major fund-raising success last month, a way of saying to the business community, "Uh guys? Before you throw too much more money that way, you might want to read this, okay?"

That's an interesting thing for those particular folks to have done. One almost needs to ask, "What do they know that the press and the public don't know yet?" My best guess on that is that Romney's web of offshore investments and holdings are significantly larger than he has listed on his financial disclosure forms. How much larger? Well, how about two, three or four times larger? Would that be a problem? If Mitt has listed himself as worth $250 Million and it turned out he was worth closer to a Billion? Ooopsy, another one of those typos one presumes, certainly NOT something that the voters should concern themselves with, but definitely something that the President should apologize for mentioning. Such bad taste, to discuss another man's fortune! How tacky...

Arthur

P.S.  "Wimp" Romney. Has a nice ring to it. Might be why he avoids using his real first name "Willard", since that could be seen as a wussy kind of name. And remember, GOP Mogul Michael Bloomberg owns Businessweek now. Him does not seem to like little Mittsy, does he?

Bloomberg gained some recent fame for reading a speech filled with bad puns, only to stop halfway through and ask, "Who wrote this shit?". That seems to be his question about Romney's campaign also.

Them, as Opposed to Us

A Chickenshit Politico Article

I just sent an abusive letter to Politico, suggesting they might want to grow a pair for a change, instead of writing chickenshit that examines what one side says versus what the other side says and speculates that what one side says "could" mean that someone was guilty of a felony, if of course that were true, which that perp says it is not, so oh gosh golly how confusing it all is to be a journalist, isn't it? Must hug Teddy, suck thumb and think about Kansas. Cowardly asswipes.

So Mitt may have committed a Felony? Oooooooooooooo boy would that be fun. All over this country those who are poor get arrested and tossed in the jug for stealing a bag of potato chips and a six-pack, while the very wealthy appear able to bluff, double-talk, say "gosh" and "golly" a lot and their lawyers get them off without any legal consequences whatsoever.

When is that going to stop? When is Teflon Mitt going to be held responsible for the gulf between what he says and what he actually did? Is that too much for the American people to ask?

Or have we in fact become a Banana Republic?

Two Sets of Tax Laws

One set of rules for Mitt, one set of rules for the rest of us?

And this guy seriously thinks we should make him President and give him greater power to enrich himself, his family and friends, and who knows who or what else? The last time I looked the Mormon Church seemed to be doing very well, thanks, but I would notice that those who have lots of money always seem able to envision what they could ALSO do if they just had a few hundred million or billion more. Why, the sky could be the limit!

Me, I notice that I somehow paid a good deal higher tax rate than Mitt Romney last year, even though it looked as though he could afford to have paid more without having to cut back on his lifestyle very much. Am I missing something here? Is his wealth and his low taxes something that God has ordained and our nation should shut up and applaud, or would electing him as President be a great deal like electing a Chisler-in-Chief? A fox, newly installed as the Hen House Manager?

Arthur

Thursday Update - REALLY? Edition

(Looking through the Internet news for today, most of the stuff I read anymore leaves me out of breath, and only one word comes out ... Really?  I digress ...)

• Republican presidential candidate Willard Cummerbund Romney has stated several times in his run for governor and again for President that he could not be blamed for bankruptcies and layoffs from Bain investments after February 1999 because he departed for the Olympics at that time and thusly was not in any control of the company.  But Lordy, apparently documents Bain Capital filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission after February 1999 state that Romney remained the firm’s “sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president.”  And in 2003 Romney’s state financial disclosure forms indicate he earned at least $100,000 as a Bain “executive” in 2001 and 2002, separate from investment earnings.  But, Willard cried, "I wasn't running the company." (Quote made-up.)  Okay, Mitt, maybe so, but you, as 100% owner, are responsible for the company. Really.  Period.
• Jeeze, this story will just make you sick.  Some people, savvy people in the business, people who actually KNOW things as opposed to those who just make things up, say that our beloved right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh HIRES people to call into his show.  Holy Crap! is there NOTHING sacred anymore?  I mean, if you can't believe every frickin' thing Rush Limbaugh says what's the use of going on?  I mean REALLY.
• Mitt Romney got booed the other day as he gave a speech to the NAACP.  Not just a little polite boo here and there, but a full 20 seconds of sustained boo.  And all he had to do was mention how the first thing he was going to do after taking office is eliminate "ObamaCare."  Not only did this grossly out-of-touch candidate not seem fazed by it, he explained later that the only reason he got booed is because black people just want free stuff.  You go, Mitt.  No, really.
• One more thing about this booing the Mittstir got at the NAACP convention; Mitt's campaign people are pointing out how much applause he got, during and especially after his speech (accompanied by an organ fercrissakes), and we can either write that off as the distinguished African-American people attending are polite and dignified people, or we could say it was all a conspiracy on Mitt's part to look better than he really is.  Really?
• Are you on board?  Labor has been getting its ass kicked all over the United States recently, and when I say "Labor" I mean Unions, the people who gave us weekends and forty-hour weeks, remember?  Being a retired bus driver and 41 year Union member, when Larry Hanley, the President of the Amalgamated Transit Union, says building coalitions with riders, not organizing more drivers, is the top priority for his union’s future, I sit up and listen. “I think Wisconsin shows,” says Hanley, “that at this moment in time, the right wing and the billionaires who support them have been successful in convincing a significant minority of working people that their interests are tied to falling wages in the public sector.” Hanley adds that Walker’s re-election demonstrates politicians’ success in framing unions as a “special interest,” and “saying there are working people, and then there’s organized labor.” Hanley noted he was particularly surprised by polls showing a substantial minority of union households backing Walker. “We have to – starting with our own members – make sure that people understand that we’re all in this together, we’re not all in this alone… Really.

Weekend Update - Gettin' Hot Edition

(Well now I'm doing two-count'em-two blogs to add to my busy busy retired-ass day.  Well, actually I'm just putting the other one together for a friend-brother who has for some reason decided once again to take a grand motorcycle trip across America, by himself.  He, or his Harley actually, pulls into a cheap motel after about 500 miles every evening and writes E-mail updates.  The messages have been so exciting to read that I volunteered to post them on a blog.  Yes, yes, I know; what a sweetheart I am ... At any rate, you your very self can check out Dan Dreier's blog at your leisure.  "Travels With the Mighty Mary Ellen (And ODB)"  But I digress ... )

• Let's start this thing off today with a funny and bizarre story.  Here's a 13-year-old kid who's chosen to make a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).  Remember now, he was thirteen when he made this speech.  He becomes the darling of the right-wingers and is shuttled around to various other conferences and tea-bagger meetings and becomes a child star of Republican talking points. The kid's having a ball.  Then something cool happens.  The kid grows a brain, and drops conservatism like a broken skateboard.  Now, four years later, even his father calls him a "flaming liberal." The Right's reaction is hilarious.  "I Was a Right-Wing Child Star."   
• Ever feel the hair rising on the back of your neck for no apparent reason?  Well, here's a election update story that includes the following line concerning drones:   "'Wait, you guys practice tracking enemies by using civilian cars?' a reporter asked. One Air Force officer responded that this was only a training mission, and then the group was quickly hustled out of the room."  Holy Crap.
• Speaking of losers, why is it that the only people who are rabidly anti-gay are religious nutbags (or gay Republican congressmen)?  You've heard about these well funded religious movements that propose the idea of "praying away the gay?"  One of the largest in the country, Exodus International, is all a-twitter over something its president, Alan Chambers, said at one of their annual meetings.  Something along the lines of this: "... that there was no cure for homosexuality and that 'reparative therapy' offered false hopes to gays and could even be harmful."  Gasp.  Blasphemer!  He will burn! 
• Update:  I know I said I was going to try to make it out to and shop at Wal-Mart.  But, well, I haven't.  Just can't bring myself to do it.  And because of stories like this one, I probably never will.
• Let's be honest.  There are more UFO sightings than cases of voter fraud.  Why is that important, you may ask.  I'm not sure, but I'll continue anyway, and stop interrupting.  Every election year we hear the conservatives calling for changes in the voting laws because of "rampant" voter fraud perpetrated by the NAACP, ACORN, the AFL-CIO (name the union of your choice) and illegal aliens, including, I suppose, aliens from a UFO.  But what's really going on is the conservative program to eliminate liberal voters.  Click on this, and weep.

By the Rockets Red Glare

We had a typical 4th, well, typical for our family.  The boy and I went down to the local fireworks stand and bought up about a hundred dollars worth of legal fireworks, to go with our stash of illegal fireworks purchased last year at an undisclosed location.  He had a couple of his close friends over and we had barbecued ribs and corn on the cob and macaroni salad, and with the possible exception of adding apple pie, I doubt if you could get much more American than that. Of course I had the big flag flying off the porch in the front, and several little ones at the end of the driveway.  When it got dark enough we set off a few of the legals just to alert the neighbors we were in business.  We live in the hills so we could see little blooms of fireworks all over town starting up, and being on that hill, and with the breeze blowing from the northwest, the sound of the distant explosions were amplified, and before long it began to sound like a real battle was going on in the city.  It finally got really dark and we set off one after another in earnest, adding to the cacophony.  The neighborhood was rocking and rolling with booms, lights, and screeching "whistling petes" and I was about to light up a giant bundle named "Mad Max" when I happened to notice the shadowy shape of a man walking his dog up the hill.  I thought it odd that anyone would bring a dog out under these conditions, but I stepped back and told the kids to stand down for a minute to let the man and his dog pass.  As he approached I could see he was an older man, and his dog was a large bird-dog type, a beautiful animal.  The dog didn't seemed alarmed at the noise. I greeted the pair by saying "now there's one brave dog."  The old man stopped and grinned.  "He's a hunting dog.  He's used to the noise."  I mentioned to him that it was kind of an odd time to be out walking, and he replied quietly, "I'm a Vietnam Vet, all this reminds me of stuff I don't want to remember, so I walk."  "I'm a Vietnam Vet too," I said, "Bien Hoa, '66, '67."  "Saigon, '68, '69. Tet," he replied in the Vet-talk familiar to all veterans.  We exchanged names and then shook hands, a little too long, then he and his dog were on their way again.  After a couple of steps he said "Welcome home."  I said "you too," as usual.  Later that night after the kids were gone home and the Boy was doing other things, I sat out on the deck in the dark and listened to the distant booms of the mortars and the rattle of the machine guns, and remembered being a scared 22-year-old so far away from home and all the friends who never came home.

JP

Ouch, Ouch, and Ouch

While Mitt shows us his water toys and his large lakeside mansion, one of his four homes I believe (but then it can be hard to keep track of, as John McCain demonstrated) we are learning just ever so much more about Mitt Romney's assets, and by that I mean the financial kind. A $101 million IRA? Help me here, is that part of his financial disclosure form? No? Umm, and why is that? And those other shadowy assets in the Caribbean? Are they included in his $250 million net worth? And if not, how much else is being hidden? And what else is being hidden about a man who seems so inclined to hide things and bluff his way through life, hoping no one will ask any really tough questions.

No, I have to say that the more I see of Mitt Romney, the less I like him.

(More)
Arthur

Mitt "The Gamer"

There are rules, and rule-breakers, then there are "gamers". If you have smart enough lawyers and you don't run for public office, who would think to ask how a lucky fellow happened to have a $100 Million IRA?

But when someone runs for high office, i.e. higher than Governor of Massachusetts, there is a powerful incentive for reporters and opponents to ask some of those pesky questions. And it turns out that if a person runs a company, they can sell shares in funds at modest prices, then run them up in value and have their company buy them back, or some variation on that theme. It's sort of gaming the system and the tax code to (further) evade income taxes. See, if you are very wealthy, all kinds of possibilities open up before you, all of them "legal". I am acquainted with a tax advisor, who has done quite well for himself over the years, but he has done significantly better for his clients. What the tricks of his trade are, he does not discuss in great detail, but he did mention once that he sometimes advises citizens to become citizens of other countries, presumably those countries that don't bother with income taxes, state taxes, etc.

As far as anyone knows, Mitt Romney hasn't actually renounced his citizenship. It must have been galling for him to realize how much money he could have saved, if he had been able to do so. But in order to run for President, to redeem his family name after his father's failed campaign, Mitt had to just give up the couple of million a year or so in taxes that he could have otherwise also evaded. I am inclined to ask, if Romney is so loyal to his class (including the owners of sports teams, NASCAR teams, corporate heads and the newly ousted head of Barclays Bank), what sort of payback is Romney capable of granting to them to thank them for funding his election campaign by massive donations to his PAC and Super-PAC? No taxes on income above a million a year? A true flat tax on every dollar earned, with no exemptions for number in the family? The end of Social Security and Medicare? Aren't both of those "taxes", and aren't taxes bad things?

It sounds laughable, but can't you hear the stooges on Fox News beginning to bleat in harmony about how ill-treated the wealthy are?   I can.

Arthur

A China Postscript for The 4th of July

China hasn't really figured out how to modernize in a way that is remotely in harmony with the aspirations of the Chinese people. One might suggest that after hearing for their entire lifetimes that their government exists to serve the people, the Chinese are starting to notice that isn't true. As much as Chinese struggles to censor, shape and double-talk the facts of what is going on, it would appear that the Chinese aren't buying it any longer.  And while the level of violence fell short of using firearms, the optics of such government heavy-handedness in an area recently hit by a devastating earthquake has the effect of sparking sympathy and outrage.

Bob Diamond

Of course, that's China, we live in America, whose birth as a nation we celebrate today. But please consider the staggering corruption of a local official in the far West of China when you hear Republicans, most notably Mitt Romney, say that "Government is not the solution, Government is the problem, business needs to be free, my friend!". As is, free to bribe local officials so the builder can profit through shoddy construction and substandard materials (China) or so that the head of Barclays Bank can engage in a broad-based conspiracy to fix the LIBOR bank loan rates so that his bank profited at the expense of borrowers all over the world (London).

And as it happens, the last story is about an expat American banker named Diamond, who was to be co-chair of Mitt Romney's upcoming fund-raising gala in London, when Mitt is over there to attend the Olympics to try to remind everyone that he rescued the scandal-ridden Winter Olympics in Utah. Which he accomplished by getting the Federal Government to put up more funding for an Olympics event than it ever had before. Romney worked hard to make the Salt Lake City Olympics a success, gosh darn it, and it is a pillar of his claim to be able to make things happen. His three pillars are approximately; Bain Capital (not working so well), He is rich (a mixed blessing), and his rescue of an Olympic event that had fallen on hard times.

Now Barclays Bank and its former head Bob Diamond have just had a meltdown, Diamond, who was to co-host Romney at a major-donors event in London, is spending the 4th of July being grilled by a Parliamentary Committee, who are suggesting he give his "outrageous" bonuses to a feeding the homeless organization. Nice optics for Romney's (not so) triumphant visit to the London Olympics and Diamond is not going to go down quietly, which is the sort of things that gives a story like this "legs" that permit it to run for weeks, probably on until the Olympics.

And so it goes for Mitt Romney. He built a house of cards, based on predatory business practices, and along the way he lost touch with normal Americans. I don't think he will be elected unless a miracle happens, the only question remaining is how spectacularly he is able to melt down and carry significant numbers of GOP candidates down with him.

Hope you had a Happy Independence Day!

Arthur