If I were deeply religious I might say that God is really pissed off by the Republican party.  Every step it takes moves it further from its former leadership role.

I say “good riddance” and “rest in pieces” to the Republican party but I feel the Democratic party will see a similar fate in the future.

We are witnessing the birth of the multi-party system in the US. The US will finally catch up to the European way.Moving to the left (more government) tells me that this is what the country (like an organism) needs to survive. I have this theory that governments, like corporations, have their own life force, if you will, that makes them like humans. After all, countries are made up of lots of human beings.

A government, like a corporation, will gravitate toward whatever it is that seems to make it healthier, an organism with the will to thrive. An organism that has food on the tables and houses to protect it. I think the brain (as part of the body, not separate from) does that for the body as well.

Glenn Beck. Yesterday I listened to about 15 minutes of his TV show. Beck reinforced his belief that the two party system is crumbling. Did you get that?

I was startled by Beck’s new beliefs. He is saying what I’ve been saying for a while now. “People should not fear the government. The government should fear the people.”  I put it differently and would say “The real work begins after the election.” This is a far cry from “You can change it but you need to wait til the next election.”

We look back and say “that’s the way it started out, so beautiful, now it is moving away from that ideal.” Beck is mourning the loss and he is fearful. But he sees the light. I think he knows he cannot rejoin the Republican party. His motives are not pure, for sure.

Wouldn’t you love a real opportunity to have an influence on what Obama does or does not do every day? We need to make Obama respect and, yes, fear us. How do you do that with the one-party system we have in place now?

You still don’t think it is a one-party  system?

Beck is flip-flopping. A few years ago the Republicans made fun of Kerry as a flip-flopper. How silly. It is good to flip-flop. At least it shows you are thinking and not head-bobbing.

You seem to be married to the Constitution and the Bible. Are you? Do you see them both as etched in stone? Both have some sound rules for living yet both are antiquated by the events of today.

Hitler and Stalin loved head-bobbers. They murdered those who were not.

See you next time!

Greg

I received this letter from an acquaintance :

I have been in Washington DC this week as a personal assistant to a man who uses a wheelchair. I came to collect a paycheck during a time in my life where paychecks have been scarce. I am leaving with some questions answered about who I am and posed with questions about who I want to be in the future.

It has been a difficult time since Devin’s death and in this physical place, I have discovered a wrenching emotional place, a place I have forgotten and had not connected the dots to. It took a return to DC with people from all over the country in a unified voice of defiance to learn the strengths others see in myself.

But I am still weak. I am too weak to finish sentences when trying to explain to strangers why the Community Choice Act affects so many so profoundly. I am too weak to not cry when thinking Devin could have been saved by a bureaucratic system bent on sentencing people in nursing homes to life without choice, without access, without respect or love or dignity, to a life without life. I am not strong enough in this army of the willing.

I have seen hundreds of people, some in wheelchairs, others with visual or audio impairments and still others with varying ability ranges march in 90 degree plus heat (not including Atlantic humidity) march to the White House only to learn Barack Obama lied about the change he said would come.

We wanted choice in the health care reform legislation currently being written. We wanted the scores of people locked in nursing homes without choice to have the simple civil liberty of choice to live in their own homes. We wanted the administration to know this is not merely a matter of policy but of civil liberties denied to people with disabilities but granted to everyone else.

During his campaign, Obama said he would.

President Obama’s legislative staff heard our demands and flat out said no.

He said NO!!!

I saw nearly a hundred people chain themselves to the White House fence. I heard singing and non-violent protest and children with their parents being shown something many people believe ended in the early 70’s: a sacrifice for the better whole in the name of a civil rights movement for a group by a group without their civil liberties. That was Monday. Tuesday I saw an intersection blocked during rush hour traffic and heard about another blockade in another part of the city. We were outside the Capitol on the House of Representatives side; the others were on the Senate side. I saw people arrested and pushed away. The first person was released ten hours later; the last 14 hours later. No meds, no food but what they had between them.
Wednesday I saw something NO ONE has seen since 1990: people in wheelchairs climbing out and climbing up the Capitol stairs on their hands and knees, others on their bellies the best they could. This defiant action was last seen just before the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed. THAT is how important this Community Choice Act is.

I will share with you why this is important to me: as I hand out flyers, I say “It could happen to you, it could happen to me. Free our brothers and sisters locked in the prisons called nursing homes.” It is simple, powerful and quick. And for the positive reaction I get, I too get a reaction, a realization of how this really does impact me.

Before I left Virginia in 2007, Devin, Connie and I searched desperately for personal assistants to replace me. No one stepped up and it came as no surprise because being a PA doesn’t pay, doesn’t come with benefits and the work can be highly personal and challenging.

Working at nursing homes or institutions provided better wages and benefits and scheduled lunches. The horror stories concerning these nursing homes are more rule than exception. Why it pays less to work in a person’s home than a nursing home is the government support and endorsement of nursing homes. Medicaid is built to protect nursing homes and keep patients (prisoners) in them so staff and administrators (guards and wardens) keep their money and what better way to make even more money?

People in their homes cannot compete or attract the quality employee because candidates would rather work in retail or food service because of how much more lucrative it is. And so, when I left Virginia and Connie left for work and Devin stayed at home because no one wanted to work for him who wouldn’t abuse him or support his desire to live and work and play,

I do hold the state responsible, I do hold nursing homes responsible and so should you. When I told people our brothers and sisters are dying in these places, when I heard others say patients come to nursing homes in an ambulance and leave in a hearse, when I heard survivors describe the conditions they lived in, I knew this wasn’t a line. This came from the heart. So does this next request.

HR 1670. This is the bill number concerning the Community Choice Act. It has been in legislation before and has been re-introduced. This act MUST be included in the health care reform package currently being written. It may be finished in a couple of weeks, so please do this NOW!

Health care reform is worthless if this is not included. The new administration has flatly denied the inclusion of this act, so we need Congress to back this up now and that means we need you to contact your Senators and Representative.

We are all a part of this American Community, right now we do not all have equal Choice or rights and we must Act now. Community Choice Act affects us all. 20% of all Americans live with some kind of disability and if lucky, ALL will age into a disability. Soldiers sacrificing limbs, citizens involved in accidents, everyday lives impacted in an instant: we are all impacted by this and tomorrow, you will not have a choice. This bill passes and you will. This is cheaper since it proven to be less burden on the state and federal governments, policy will be improved and most importantly, civil liberties will be ensured to all citizens of this country.
Photo by carf

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What I do, when I come up behind these people, is the same thing you do, namely pass them on the right and glare at them. Unfortunately this tactic doesn’t seem to be working. So I’m proposing that we go on to the next logical step: nuclear weapons.

Specifically I’m thinking of atomic land torpedoes, which would be mounted on the front bumpers of cars operated by drivers who have demonstrated that they have the maturity and judgment necessary to handle tactical nuclear weapons in a traffic environment. I would be one of these drivers.

Here’s how I would handle a standard left-lane blockage problem: I would get behind the problem driver and flash my lights. If that failed, I’d honk my horn until the driver looked in his rear-view mirror and saw me making helpful suggestive hand motions indicating that he is in the passing lane, and if he wants to drive at 55, he should do it in a more appropriate place, such as the waiting room of a dental office.

If that failed, I’d sound the warning siren which would go, and I quote, “WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP”. Only if all these measures failed would I proceed to the final step, total vaporization of the car (unless of course it had one of those BABY ON BOARD signs).

Dave Barry

20 ways to make $100 per day online
You will love this outstanding report!
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Some movies, I can watch over and over. I’ve noticed that the music in the movie often drives me back to it.

Here are a few of my favorite movie tunes (and scenes):

Interlude Theme: Time is like a Dream

(an oldie but a goodie from 1968 – DVD not available )

Rose’s Theme from Titanic

A Beautiful Mind

Requiem for dream

The Boys In The Band – Anything Goes (1970)

Now We Are Free – Gladiator (click the screen to see it on YouTube)

What are your movie music favorites?

No, I am not scared by this teabag stuff. I am amused and I just want to hit back at these brainwashed people who had such a good time aiming their attacks at liberals when they were protected by George and DICK.

Your paragraph on 48% of Americans makes no sense to me at all. Do you automatically assume that all of the 48% are low income people?

As far as I know, only rabid Libertarians want no taxes at all. I think your Repubconservatives realize that we need at least what was taxed before the meltdown brought on by the rich people.

Beheading and rape – be very afraid!

Do you know anyone who attended a teabagger party today? Maybe that is why you are sensitive?

By the way, what are they protesting today on tax day? Has Obama raised taxes? Is he proposing to raise taxes on people who earn less than $250,000 (or $200K – pick your number)?  Did you go to a teabag party? There must be a big one in Chicago. HA-HA.

The 50,000 is a number I took out of my Athletics cap. But I bet it is close, maybe higher than reality.

Where were the protesters when Bush did the first bailout? Wait, I know. This protest is not about taxation, right? It is about bailouts. Hmmm, were there any Republican bankers who gleefully took their bailout money? I did not hear many of the bankers or Wall St people rejecting the money.

Bailouts are bad because they are more about saving the rich than the poor, in my humble opinion. However, they seem to be having some effect on the economy. Well, I know they had nothing to do with the upswing that we’re possibly seeing now, do they? That was going to happen anyway, according to the Republicans.

I hope the Republicans are driven to disband only things would not be as funny any more.

Twitter is left wing? Who said so? Hannity, Rush, Glenn? Who? How would you or they know? Oh, I see, the entire Internet is lefty. Is that it? When the newspapers all disappear (that is a true tragedy in the making) then I guess “The Press” will be TV and the Internet and right wing radio?

WSJ reported that the pharmaceuticals are raising their prices by double digits. Hospitals also raised prices. I think the cost of healthcare has risen over 100% in the past 5 years? Something like that.

You talked about how the Canadian health plan makes people wait for tests.  Yvonne had to wait about three months to get her colonoscopy. What’s the difference? Nicer nurses?

In America we get the healthcare we deserve. True?

See ya.

Greg Cryns

Returning to Baghdad, 30 years later ( 0)

Editor’s Note: Our dear friend and poet, Nesreen Melek, returned to visit her country, Iraq, after 30 years. She sends us her lamentations for her country and her people who have been changed forever. - LMB

I left Baghdad the day before yesterday. I stayed there for sixteen days; it was my first visit since I left in 1978.

Baghdad was like a beautiful woman who aged in an ugly way, a woman who had an Alzheimer disease and lost connection with the outside world. Baghdad was raped by serial killers. They have so much hatred to anything that is Iraqi.

Neighborhoods in Baghdad are separated by walls and checkpoints are everywhere, although the soldiers are trying to make the checkpoints look as good as possible, so they decorated it with plastic roses and plants. Americans are still pointing their guns on the Iraqis thinking that Baghdad is now an American city. Streets in Baghdad are not paved, and dust covers the whole city. Dijlah is no longer the river which poetry was recited praising it’s beauty, the sky is no longer the clear sky, the air is not longer the clean air, people are sad, they don’t have hopes or dreams. There are no smiles on children’ faces.

What a loss.. What a loss

During my stay, I was overwhelmed with love, tenderness, care and giving from family members, friends and people I didn’t know. Their love will warm my heart and body in these cold days here in Canada. Despite the pain, Iraqis are still capable of giving and spreading their love to others.

I left Baghdad in the late seventies keeping a beautiful image in my eyes and heart. I left Baghdad this time with an ugly image. Baghdad is no longer the city I once knew. But in both times, I realise that I left Baghdad but Baghdad had never left me. What is in Baghdad that people get so attached to?

Back to Toronto, where the snow covers everything, where people are rushing to meet deadlines, where people are connected to computers, where people are busy, not knowing that somewhere in this world, people are suffering because there are murderers who killed innocent people by the name of democracy. I am part of this circle. I am going to work today, and my coworkers will think that I was on a nice vacation. People go home for a vacation but I went home to witness the ugliness of the American war on my country and to learn not to forgive or forget the atrocities of the killers.

I will continue with my life here, but I will never forget the face of the little Iraqi girl who I smiled to but she turned her face away from me. I asked her to look at me but she  refused… Was she blaming me of taking the smile away from her face? How many family members did she lose during the war and what was her story? I stretched my hand to reach hers, but she run away. What went on in her mind may be that she thought that I was one of them.

The little girl’s face reminded me of all our losses, I kept asking myself, “Who gave the Americans the right to ruin the Iraqi children’s life? And why do American children have the right to live a better life than the Iraqi children?

Baghdad and the face of this little girl will stay in my memory and my heart until I will go for a visit, another time.

Love you all,

nesreen

Axis of Logic is the original source

Global warming. Your mindset says that global warming is a hoax.

So, what is to discuss? You better be right! I may tend to agree with your conclusion but I’m not willing to risk being wrong.

If you feel comfortable telling your grandkids not to worry about it, then all is good, for you at least. Maybe not for your grandkids.

I bet you didn’t think there would be another Depression in our lifetime. Neither did I.

You are looking for scientific answers in a world where some scientific things never existed before. Thus, your conclusion could easily erroneous. Never in history has the carbon footprint been like today. I think that is partly due to your fear of change.

You want to keep gasoline cars. I would like to see trolley cars make a comeback in the big cities. And they might, or something like them.

Are you obsessed with keeping the world before 2000 the way it was? If so, I think you are going to make your sunset years very uncomfortable. Personally, I am getting ready intellectually and emotionally for some very strange things to happen. Did you know that gasoline will probably go over $4 a gallon soon? How about $8 soon? Does that shake you up? You probably know that already.

If Obama shakes up your world now, wait til $8 gas comes along.

Remember the Yellow Menace? It’s here! All of our dark dreams are coming true. Yet you diss me when I talk about the possibility of nuclear termination. That will never happen, right? The horror is that we would probably just not wake up one morning, not 3 million people in Chicago, anyway.