Hope Ya Don't Mind

So, I leave for a couple of days on vacation and California catches on fire. And now all that smoke has traveled across the desert and landed here in Las Vegas. Like we need more smoke. So, I'm closed up in my house trying to rub the bloodshot from my eyes.

I see Dick and his daughter Liz are back at again. Maybe I should just start calling them Dickliz because they essentially say the same thing. "Who me - Torture?"

Here's what Dickliz said on Fox News in response to the planned investigation of the Attorney General, Eric Holder.

“I knew about the waterboarding, not specifically in any one particular case, but as a general policy that we had approved,” said Mr. Cheney, who noted that neither a gun nor a drill had actually been used on detainees. “The fact of the matter is the Justice Department reviewed all those allegations several years ago.”“The judgment was made then that there wasn’t anything that was improper or illegal,” said Mr. Cheney." - Ny Times

Yea right ... You know that gets me thinking. There's a great bit of dialogue between two characters in the movie Oliver. Bill is talking to Fagin.

Bill: Have you ever heard the sound a chicken makes when they're wringing it's neck? ... They squawks. Not a very pretty sound."

Fagin: No Bill.

Bill: And then they die, don't they?

Fagin: Yes, Bill. I mean, no, Bill.

Bill: Then, they say, some even start squawking before the event. They get what you might call a premonition. You wouldn't be having no premonition of that sort by an chance, would you?

You ain't gettin' no premonitions of that sort are you Mr. Dick Cheney? Is that a bit a squawking I'm hearing? Of course, I meant it as a metaphor and wish no harm to Cheney family. I'm a peace loving guy.

Mr. Cheney described the inquiry as an “intensely partisan, politicized look back at the prior administration” intended to placate the left wing of the Democratic Party. “It’s clearly a political move,” he said. “I mean, there’s no other rationale for why they’re doing this.” - Ny Times

Well, Mr. Cheney I got some questions of my own for you and President Junior that have nothing to do with torture, but I suspect are crimes none-the-less.

Question Number One: Why was CIA plane carrying cocaine and heroine for Mexican drug lords? - AFP "Mexican drug plane used for US renditions"

Question Number Two: Why were nuclear armed missiles transported, unknowingly to North Dakota? - Arkansas Online "Air Force punishes 70 in accidental nuclear-weapons flight"

Question Number Three: Why did we use a chemical weapon (WMD) on Iraqi civilians and who gave the order to use this weapon? BBC News - "US used white phosphorous in Iraq"

Question Number Four: Who knew Jeff Gannon and why was he in the White House? Washington Post - "Jeff Gannon admits past 'mistakes'"

Question Number Five: At the Republican convention in August of 2008, how did the police obtain information on potential protesters and why were those houses raided? Furthermore, who gave the command to arrest reporters covering the protests? Star Tribune - "Police Raid RNC protest sites in Twin Cities" and Democracy Now - "Host and Producers arrested at Republican convention"

Question Number Six: "Who gave the order to shell and bomb the hotel in Iraq housing reporters?" Guardian UK - "US tank shells hit media hotel"

Question Number Seven "Who gave the order to assassinate Italian reporter Giuliana Sgrena in Iraq?" CBS News - "Italian Journalist U.S. Lied"

There are so many more questions to ask ... but I think we know the answer to all of the them. Mr. Cheney - you have blood on your hands and no matter how hard you wash them they're stained forever

The Lion is Dead

Goodbye Senator Ted Kennedy

I got an email from Politico announcing this:

Image via Wikipedia

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port, Mass., the Kennedy family said in a statement. Kennedy, 77, "liberal lion of the Senate," had fought a public battle with cancer. "He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it’s hard to imagine any of them without him," the family said.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy died two years before I was born. Like Obama I have memories not directly, but through his work and persona. The space program is what I remember President Kennedy for. I remember watching a film of the "We Choose to Go to the Moon" speech when I was in third grade. Then watching astronauts land on the moon.

I have vague memories of Robert Francis Kennedy. It wasn't until college that I began to get a sense of the Kennedy legacy and the terrible tragedy of Robert Kennedy's death.

My memories of Edward Moore Kennedy (Teddy) are much more vivid. There was a Libertarian nutcase when I was a database manager at the Sahara Hotel & Casino. I worked on an ancient machine called the IBM System38. He was convinced that all Democrats were evil and their leader was Ted Kennedy. He went on and on about the Chappaquiddick incident.

Lucky for me, he was such a complete lunatic in other ways I mostly ignored him, but that image of Ted Kennedy remained until my third year in college. I'd become much more liberal then and I learned the other history. The other history that included Kennedy's work in health care and as an advocate of the disabled. He was a warrior for Civil Rights, but he was able to seek compromise and concessions from the Republicans.

In my political life, I grew up with Ted Kennedy - he was a teacher.

Dog Days of Vegas

So, this is how it goes down. My wife and daughter see this dog at a pet store and fall in love with it. When I come, they want to show me the dog. I'm thinking, "Oh God - not a dog, anything but a dog or a cat." We used to have guinea pigs and my daughter promised she'd clean the cage, but guess who got stuck with the job - yep me.

We get to the pet store and they show me the dog. It's a Lhasa Apso. Now, I have a plan to not get the dog. I turn to the store manger (a short German lady) and say, "Hey, Fraulein - I hear these dogs come from puppy mills."

She's get a bit angry at me "I'm a married woman and no these puppies are certified by (some agency) and guaranteed not to come from a puppy mill. I would never sell a dog from one of those places."

"Does this dog have any diseases? I know these puppies come loaded with diseases.", I ask.

"Absolutely not." She has this offended look. "They are checked by a vet each week."

Yea right - By this time, my wife and daughter are playing with the puppy and then my daughter turns to me and gives me that sad lip. What is it about daughters? Drives me crazy.

We purchased the dog. I won't say how much cost - I'm too embarrassed.

(Sorry, had to leave to go pet the dog. Now, I'm back)

She's a cute little dog, but I'm a grumpy man and I just don't like animals. Not that I would ever harm an animal. I think animals have just as much a right to happiness as human animals do. But go be happy far away from me.

I take Daisy (my daughter named the dog) to vet and sure enough the dog has parasites. I have to feed this drug to her every night now. The dog also has separation anxiety and is overly protective of her food. The vet assures me the dog came from a puppy mill.

Okay, even with these problems - I admit it, the dog has grown on me a bit. I have a condition where I'm in pain most of the time. I don't take any narcotics - don't like being doped up. So, the pain makes me sort of irritable and grumpy. But the puppy is always in a good mood and wants me to be in a good mood. Why are dogs so optimistic? And damn it all, the dog cheers me up.

Today, the little dog backed down a feral cat. I guess these little dogs used to guard temples in Tibet. She dug in her front paws, hunched her shoulders and gave out a tiny, little bark. The cat retreated about twenty feet, hissed and ran away. I was kinda proud.

Anyway, this long, overdone story was to talk about animals. I can't understand what hell Michael Vick was thinking. How do you raise a puppy and then let it get its throat ripped out in some dog fight? What the hell did the dog do? Now that I have a dog, I realize what a douche bag, Vick is. I'm an agnostic, but if there is a hell, you're going straight down.

Look, I'm not an animal rights advocate. I know that we got eat, which means animals got to die. But I do think that an animal should have a whole bunch good days and then one bad day. There's no reason (other than money) why an animal has got to suffer day after day. So what, if I got to pay an extra dollar for the chicken breast. Let them run free.

Also, if you're going to hunt and I understand if you need the meat to eat, then eat what you kill. F*%k Sarah Palin. It's a real sport shooting wolves and polar bears from a helicopter. In my uniformed opinion is she's a perverted, nasty skank. She even has a couched from from a bear skin. The bear's head was made into an arm rest. I swear I will move to Holland if she becomes president.

If it quacks like a duck

I really don't consider myself a Liberal. I think in a normal, sane world, I might even be a mild Republican. But in this political environment I'm some kind of left-wing Socialist. Why? Well, for the following reasons:

• I believe that every American citizen has the right to health care.
• I believe in evolution and the Earth is millions of years old.
• I believe in the Big Bang theory. I also believe in the theory of gravity.
• I believe that all children in America should have (at least) three nutritious meals a day.
• I never supported the Iraq war.
• I think we spend too much money on the military
• I think in some circumstances, unions are a good thing
• I know Obama was born in Hawaii and I know that Hawaii is a state in the USA.
• I'm an agnostic.
• I don't care one wit if gays get married, have children or sing Broadway songs.
• An abortion is a private matter between a woman and her doctor. It is a medical procedure
• Although I support responsible hunting, I think hand guns and assault riffles should be banned.
• Although I support a moment of silence, I think prayer and the Bible should be kept out of schools.
• I support Title IX.
• Guantanamo should be closed and water boarding is torture.
• We should spend more money on education.
• I think stem cell research is a good thing.
• I've never cheated on my wife, nor have I ever been to Argentina.

I guess I am a crazy Liberal.

Taste the Healthcare

This happens all the time to my wife and me. Our friends will go to this brand new chain restaurant and then come back just raving about how good it is. They're like - "Oh, you gotta try Buca di Beppo. It's so authentic. You eat your food 'family style'."

And then we have to go with them to Buca di Beppo and just as I expected the food tastes like a monkey crapped on spaghetti and then covered it with tomato sauce. Okay, Buca isn't that bad, but just because they call the cheese - "formaggio" does not mean it came from Italy. More likely it was canned in Pittsburgh.

Not that I don't eat at McDonald's from time to time. I'm just saying there's good food and there's crap food and part of living as a human being in knowing the difference.

Why am I telling you this? Because, it's the same with movies, art, music, books - does not matter a bit. People cannot tell shit from Shinola. Unfortunately, this law is so very true for insurance and healthcare.

A few years ago I worked for a large manufacturer. One year, the company decided to let the employees choose what kind of healthcare insurance they wanted. I thought this was a great idea. The company offered several options from "good luck you're on your own" to "Don't worry everything's covered" The company shared a percentage of the costs, so it would have to pay more for the more expensive plan.

The whole company voted and guess which option they took? Yep, you guessed it. They choose the cheapest and crappiest. Sure enough - we met the enemy and he was us. The HR rep said that most people wanted to save the extra $50 a month.

Staying in Vegas

I found sometimes you have to jump in with both feet and that's what I'm doing with this this new blog. Please, forgive me if it's a little rough around the edges for a bit. It takes a while to find your voice in any new endeavor.

I live in Las Vegas - actually grew up in Las Vegas. Which is a crazy thing if you think about it. In high school (many years ago) I had summer jobs at the casinos. I was a cabana boy for the Riviera Hotel & Casino. I met Steve Perry of Journey, Pavarotti (good tipper) and the late Andy Gibb (stiffed me out of tip every time). I've played video poker since I was fifteen - usually on dates at Macayo's or at the Hush Puppy.

I was always sorrta into politics. I worked in Harry Reid's campaign office when I was twenty. But it wasn't until we elected that misfit George W. Bush that I really got involved. I was always against the Iraq war. I was even against the first Iraq war (Desert Storm). I'm not much of a philospher but I just don't think we should be killing people. Killing=Bad.

Also, I can't understand why it's such a big deal to make sure everyone has a place to stay, something to eat and can see a doctor when they need to? How hard can that be? It's quite pragmatic to me. Ya give a person a boost up ... maybe they can get high enough to reach a slot machine.

What the Health Care?

First - Healthcare reform without a public option is no healthcare reform at all. That's as far as the debate has gotten. I would like to talk about the intricate details of healthcare, but there's nothing more to talk about. The whole country has stopped to have a small conniption about a black American president.

So, let's talk about the walking retards of the country that make up the Republican party and why they're freaking out about Obama.

Republican are afraid. They're so afraid they've piddled in their Depends. To help them overcome this cowardly fear, they worship guns and even bring weapons with them at political events (Seacoast Online) (MSNBC). This serves another purpose of intimidating anyone who might disagree with them.

Republicans don't trust Blacks and Hispanics (The Guardian) (Newsweek). More to the point, Republicans can tolerate Blacks and Hispanics as long as they know their place, but if they threaten White Power then it's time for them to bring out the guns.

Republicans have low intelligence. There's just no arguing this point. It's just true.



Republicans suffer from a number of mental disorders:

Cognitive Dissonance - Example: A Republican sees herself as a good Christian, but then does not want children to have health insurance because it might raise taxes. Therefore, poor children are not loved by Christ. (ABCnews)
Rationalization - Example: I fear Muslims so they must be bad people. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Projection - Example: Republican men cheat on their wives because gays are immoral.
Emotional Reasoning - God told me through a feeling that I must hate the gay. (Politico)
Dehumanization - The Birthers argue that Obama is not an American citizen so he is not one of us. He's an outsider - even though he grew up in the United States.

Scare the Old People

What the hell is wrong with Republicans? They've become the party of screamers and liars. I've been in business (the free market economy) for a long time. I've even invested my own money in my own business - trusting the American free market. I can tell you that none of these Republicans would last more than a few months at any normal business.

Republicans are lying about healthcare reform and they know they're lying. And these aren't little lies - these are baldfaced big lies. Republicans are also trying to put the fear of god into the old and the stupid. This is just wrong and mark my words, it will come back to haunt them.

Could you see the CEO of Walmart saying at a stockholder's meeting, "The government wants to kill your grandmother?" or "There are going to be Death Panels that will kill handicap children."?

It's crazy.

Leaders do not act like little children. Can you imagine Bill Gates, Andrew Carnegie or J.P Morgan behaving in this way? How embarrassing the Republican party has become.

You know it's just not embarrassing it's also dangerous. By acting in this foolish and retarded manner, they stoke the fires of the mentally ill and criminally insane.

The sad thing is I'm not even talking about healthcare reform ... I'm talking about how to talk about health care reform.

Sarah Palin's Death Panel
Sen. Grassley - pull the plug on grandmother
Steele's dangerous experiment
Commercial of FEAR

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