The Social Poets: 01/01/2011

30 January 2011

Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 30 Jan 2011

Posts on astronomy, news, politics, poetry, lots of crazy humor, health and food.

From Denny: The past month I've been busy rounding up what the readers enjoyed throughout the year on all the blogs. It's amazing what people find intriguing - like the crazy humor post about the sloths over at Dennys Funny Quotes. The sloth post has gone past 30,000 views. People just love the cute little guys in the video. It's for a good cause too - a sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica.

Thanks, all of you, for visiting, commenting, subscribing in feeds and email updates! Your support is much appreciated!

Links follow * * *

Political Cartoons: Obama 2011 State Of The Union

How the cartoonists viewed the 2011 SOTU and cracked Republican responses.

President Barack Obama delivers the 2010 State...

Obama 2010 SOTU photo Image via Wikipedia

From Denny: Oh, the SOTU address. Doesn't it just bring shivers down your spine? OK, maybe not. But we do all wait for that time once a year to see if our politicians can behave like grown-ups for at least a night. Since the horrific shooting of Democrat Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in Tucson a few weeks ago, the watchword was to dial back the toxic rhetoric and dish out civil political discourse.

Well, this year was the time of acting like a bunch of middle school kids, asking each other to sit together in "mixed seating" instead of the usual partisan group seating by political party. No kidding. GOP Cantor asked Democrat Speaker Pelosi to sit with him. Of course, he was too popular and too cool to ask her directly. He did so through about three intermediaries. How childish can you get? Pelosi politely gave his staff the brush off as she had already asked her own Republican beau to the dance, uh, farce.

President Obama was barely into his speech when the GOP was up on Twitter denouncing it in the ugliest of tones and the usual spitballs flying all over the classroom, uh, the nation's Capitol. In the SOTU speech Obama seemed to hit the right notes with the American public as was evidenced by the polls. The real question is whether this president who is well known for inspirational speech-making will actually follow up with more than tepid deeds aimed at pleasing corporate welfare America. And my question is this: Will he ever look like a Democrat instead of a right-leaning GOP wannabe?

The 2011 State Of The Union address:

Taxpayers to Goldman Sachs: Give Us Back Our $3 Billion You Stole

Wall Street corruption, detailed blow by blow, in commission report - and still no one goes to jail.

Cropped image of Phil Angelides, taken from Fi...

Image via Wikipedia

From Denny: Wall Street recklessness, detailed in a report released today, outrages every American - and the world that trusted them. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, that delivered this scathing 633-page report, warns us about this current level of regulatory negligence from our government could create a similar scenario as what happened in the 2008 financial crisis.

The hefty 633-page report

This report is no fly weight. This commission got serious and immersed themselves in a mountain of literally millions of e-mails, testimony transcripts and more documents from which they drew their conclusion. Officials at regulatory agencies, The Securities and Exchange Commission in particular, investment banks, credit rating companies and mortgage lenders were all investigated and given no quarter for their outrageous negligence and actions, or worse, inactions.

Guns, Economy, Political Discourse Cartoons

Check out what cartoonists had to say this week about our economy and guns in America.

Gabrielle Giffords, Democratic nominee and gen...

Image via Wikipedia

From Denny: What a week! Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has improved dramatically over the past two weeks since she was shot at a public meeting. Giffords still has a breathing tube down her throat so she is not able to speak yet. She speaks with her hands, her facial expressions, her eyes: her intent.

She also has a piece of skull bone flap missing that will be reintroduced later after the doctors are sure her brain is no longer swelling even a little bit. There is always the risk of infection for this kind of surgery so keep praying for her. Your prayers by the thousands are a testament as to her unusual and astounding recovery.

Rep. Giffords is out of critical care and been moved to Houston, Texas for the next phase of her rehabilitation. She is doing remarkably well, again surprising her doctors. With assistance she is now up on her feet briefly (good to keep the blood clots at bay). She will be relearning basic physical tasks we all take for granted every day we wake up in the morning. If anyone has the grit and determination to succeed it's this woman.

Meanwhile, other struggles go on in the world like in Tunisia where the grassroots people finally rid themselves of a corrupt government. Anyone feel like importing a horde of Tunisians to help us rid ourselves of Washington lobbyists? Works for me.

The struggle to survive goes on in Haiti as well. It is shameful how our own American Red Cross took millions of dollars and withheld over 75 percent from the Haitians. Instead the Red Cross is continuing its wrong practice like it did in the 911 emergency and Hurricane Katrina: keeping the majority of the monies for later emergencies rather than spending it on the cause for which it was donated.

guns in America:

Mother Holy Spirit poem - Libations Sunday 23 Jan 2011

What do you know about the - sometimes controversial - feminine principle of God?

China Visit Cartoons

Check out the funny opinions from the national cartoonists since China came to town.

From Denny: China - America's banker and proud owner of a sizable amount of our national debt- came for a visit this week. You know how it is when you just happen to own a trillion dollar investment? You just have to "check on your things."

China is known for being an extreme introvert when it comes to international responsibility. They still are not convinced to be an international joiner to the level of being accountable for heinous or illegal actions.

Every time China is challenged to grow its mindset it invokes "national sovereignty." This mental obstruction of theirs prevents them from stepping over the line to adopt healthy agreements like trade rules that every country adopts as a standard.

Of course, the Republicans enable China to continue in this obsessive attitude by agreeing with their argument that their country - and ours - should be free to do as we please in the world without consequences or being taken to task. Even if we don't make these rules legally binding it's high time the world community get together and agree on a culture of behavior and attitude so we all can trust each other.

Currently, China stinks at human rights abuses, continuing to be arrogant toward its own citizens that challenge China's government to do better. China is still caught up in the Emperor mentality, not allowing political discourse and arguments to help thrash out some practical solutions to national problems. The Communist Chinese like their government neat and orderly, squashing dissent.

Where China has improved is in the area of nuclear nonproliferation. They recently stepped up and played a constructive role in dealing with their backyard neighbor North Korea. They have also talked with the crazies in Iran about the wisdom of their nuclear program. How far they have gotten with both countries remains to be seen but at least China is willing to take on the odious job. For that they can be commended.

One thing is for sure since this state visit, there is a new saying in town: "Hu's your Sugar Daddy, America?!"

State visit from China, America's banker:

Poll: Palin Wears Thin on America

Palin viewed as unfavorable by majority of Americans.

GOP Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin givi...

Image via Wikipedia

From Denny: "Got Palin fatigue?" You have plenty of company, like 56 percent of the rest of America, according to a new CNN poll. How is Palin's unpopularity among women? It's gone up 10 points.

How does she poll among Independents? They sure don't like her either. That score has risen rapidly in the past few months a stunning 14 points to 59 percent against Palin. Independents tend to prefer civility and bipartisanship of which Palin does not subscribe.

Funny News: Check Out That Huge Honking Political Gavel

Check out the amusing history of our American House Speakers and the gavels they wield like weapons in the political chamber.

Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California addresses the House after giving newly elected House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio the gavel.

From Denny: Talk about funny. Remember when outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi gave her last speech as Majority Leader and handed over that outrageously large whacking gavel to incoming GOP Speaker John Boehner? Remember that huge honking gavel that looks more like a croquet mallet, a veritable weapon? Does Boehner plan to play Whack A Mole on the House floor? If terrorists attacked the House Chamber all the politicians would have to do is slam them with that huge gavel to get some order in the House.

Political Discourse American Style: Cartoons - 17 Jan 2011

Check out the gun cartoons and how cartoonists view political discourse in America.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords

From Denny: At the moment, most politicians seem to have gotten the message that the public is not happy with the toxic political atmosphere. Now will someone please inform the media to also tone it down?

There are calls to gun reform in America and it's about time. How comforting is it to know that your neighbor owns 20 assault weapons and high capacity gun clips among other "goodies"? Hunters don't require assault weapons they just need a rifle. Taking an assault weapon to a deer hunt is like taking dynamite to a fishing party.

Why does America continue to allow Big Business and the National Rifle Association to own our politicians, compromising our everyday safety? The NRA and Big Business are in The Business of Selling Fear in order to make billions of dollars annually, talk about depraved indifference. The NRA and Big Business have repeatedly fought any kind of gun reform, especially in the area of selling to the mentally ill. There should be psychological profile tests people have to take before being allowed to own guns - and periodic retesting every year or so.

There should be a national limit as to how many guns a person can own or sell. As it is there is a brisk trade of Americans buying guns and reselling them to the million man army of drug cartels in Mexico. Those guns are used to kill thousands of innocent Mexican citizens, police and military opposing the drug cartels. Now those same guns are coming back over our border states and killing our police and citizens. When will it end? When will anyone stir up the political will and courage to address this insanity?

American style of toxic political discourse that has been going on for 30 years now, reaching a crescendo when Rep. Giffords was shot in the head at a public open-air political meeting with her constituents:

37 Guns Issue and Tucson Shooting Cartoons

Check out how cartoonists drew their opinions about the Tucson tragedy that occurred only last weekend.

From Denny: The Tucson tragedy is a lot to process. So much violence happened at once. How anyone in the media can say that toxic political discourse for the past 30 years in America had nothing to do with helping to unhinge a mentally unstable young man are foolish to say so. This young man has never known civil political discourse in his life time. Every day conservative radio talk show hosts issue threats "calling for those liberals, those Democrats to die" and "put 'em in the cross hairs, yeah, put a bulls eye target on their faces." At some point these vociferous political profiteers - who are nothing but toxic entertainment - must accept their roles and responsibility here.

The good things that have come out of this tragedy are quite something to behold. Courage was displayed by those under fire. Forgiveness was given to the parents by the wounded. The life of a child was held up to us to raise our sights to do as well with our lives. Politicians held public meetings with their constituents to honor fallen Rep. Giffords still in the hospital, now upgraded from critical condition to serious. The town of Tucson is pulling together to mourn and remember and be one voice of choosing to now argue their politics in a civil manner while disagreeing. A lot of good has come out of all this evil for one reason: Because so very many people chose to rise above this wrong and chose to honor and respect one another.

The President has been criticized by the conservatives for taking advantage of this situation. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I have no qualms about criticizing this White House when they require it but in this situation the critics are wrong. President Obama struck the right tone with his speech and he and the First Lady did right by visiting the wounded in the hospital right before the memorial service. Obama is correct about dealing with toxic political discourse and it's high time the country listen to his plea for America to do better.

Tucson shooting:

Shooting Victim Rep. Giffords Responds Well to Friends and Family

Good news: Update on Rep. Giffords recovery process.

Image by Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington via Flickr

From Denny: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords continues to surprise and astound her doctors, family, friends and well-wishers
with her unusual and positive recovery process.

Yesterday a memorial service was held for the shooting victims in Tucson, Arizona. President Obama attended to speak to the nation about how we all "need to do better" and "live up to the expectations of our children who are watching what we do today."

Most Popular Posts 2010 at The Soul Calendar

Check out the popular science stories this year that fascinated us like the volcanic explosions and earthquakes.

From Denny: Thanks for all your support this year! What a year of massive planet wide geologic changes: polar glacial ice caps melting rapidly, high scale earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and around the world, volcanoes spewing lava high into the air in Iceland and Indonesia - stopping air travel. It's been a humbling year for the human race on planet Earth. Floods, blizzards, mudslides, oceans rising, the Earth is changing and we are here to witness it.

Just this December we got to see the first lunar eclipse on a Winter Solstice, the first in almost 500 years. The next one is scheduled for 2094. Here in my region of the world we experienced the British Petroleum Oil Spill Disaster. As usual Big Business and the governments like America and Britain have shafted the locals who have gone bankrupt, personal and business. The millions of barrels of oil still lurks on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and continues to wash ashore. There are now light orange alligators found off the coast of Florida.

Here in Louisiana BP's oil spill devastated our fishing industry, killing the oyster beds and safe fishing grounds for everything from shrimp and spillway crawfish to salt water fish. The fishing industry has declined by 70 percent with no help from BP or our federal government. Big Business is just plain greedy and refuses to take care of the planet and future generations.

Out of this oil spill disaster has come some interesting ideas of how to clean up future oil spills. More ideas abound for new types of alternative fuels using the ocean to help produce it. Humanity can be innovative and creative if we just curb our greed to use our resources faster than we can replace them.

Take a look around. There are plenty of humor posts too and lots of technology cartoons for a grin.

The Soul Calendar - Wondering about our universe and the universe inside us.

Check out these posts too: Most Popular Posts 2009 at The Soul Calendar

Here's the most popular posts for 2010:

Rare 500 Year Lunar Eclipse Gets Viewed By 1.5 Billion

Popular Funny X-ray Pin-Ups Calendar: Stripped to the Bone

New Years: Funny Quotes, Resolutions Tips, Poems

News Analysis: Soul-Searching in America Over Giffords Shooting

How the politics of violence has become the national conversation. Political cartoons too.

From Denny: With the outrageous heinous shooting this week of Democratic Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, has come some serious soul-searching in America. It's about time and past due for about three decades now - ever since the rise to power of vitriol-rhetoric spewing Republicans.

Father of hate speech Newt Gingrich

It all began with the rise to power of conservative former GOP Speaker Newt Gingrich when he came from Ohio into Georgia and was elected in a very conservative district in 1978. I remember, while living in Atlanta, his rise to power and commented how this would not bode well for America for decades to come. Hate speech-fear promoters and insincere morality screamers always prove destructive to a nation. And now that famous mathematical exponential curve has reached its peak when it reveals that violent political discourse leads to violent acts of assassination.

Democrat, Rep. Giffords, Shot In Head At Rally By Crazed Gunman Attack: 6 Dead

Poisonous politics from the Republicans have come to this - shooting the good politicians and innocent bystanders.

From Denny: Sadly, today a Democratic Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, was shot in the head by a crazed gunman at a political rally in Tucson, Arizona. She was there to listen to her constituents about their concerns before returning to Washington. It was democratic politics at it's best. She was the accessible politician where the people could personally talk to her, not having to wade through a maze of aides.

She is in critical condition, after surgery, and the next 24 hours will tell. So far she is responding well to commands which indicates there is little or no swelling of her brain - and that's good news.

Crazy American Political Humor - 8 Jan 2011

House Republicans gleefully take over the American government yet bluff their way through the job and mess up. Democrats gloat and snicker.

From Denny: What a crazy week in politics. The Republicans took over the House and it didn't take long for the cartoonists and reporters to incessantly talk about new Speaker John Boehner's need to weep at the drop of a hat. There is something weird about this guy's constant weeping. Usually, that's a sign of someone who feels convicted that what they are doing is wrong and feel guilty.

Boehner is a guy who grew up in a family of 12 children and should understand the needs of out of work families in this economy. Yet he cares not a whit. He has consistently voted against every unemployment benefit extension, health care reform and other bills to help people in this down economy. Boehner is also known to frequent his Big Business pals' resorts, retreats, golf courses - he plays golf six months out of the year which is why he is known for his orange tan and dubbed The Tan Man. He travels unashamedly on lobbyists' planes on a regular basis.

And the new guy, Rep. Issa, who is taking over to head up the House Oversight Committee just contacted 150 lobbyists to ask them "what regulations they want repealed and he will be glad to do it." And this is the guy who is calling President Obama corrupt? Seems like he needs to look no farther than his own mirror to find political corruption.

Obviously, this new 112th Congress is going to be full of political theater. Too bad it will be entertaining at the expense of the voters. Yet "I predict" that this will be the Year of The Outrage. The middle class voters will be standing up to protest constantly until the politicians start governing correctly - instead of making this a business of politics and personal wealth accumulation while in office.

Republican takeover thoughts:

Clueless New House GOP Act Like Bozos On First Day

First day on the job and the House GOP do not know how to do their job.

WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 02: House Minority Lead...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

From Denny: Talk about bizarre political theater. Today the Republicans took over for their first day as Majority Party in the House. What did they do? They wasted your tax dollars and mine by spending the day reading aloud the Constitution. Can you believe it? We taxpayers give them free health care for which they begrudge the rest of us. We taxpayers give them an outrageous $168,000 a year salary for a part-time job. They have the nerve to waste our money, our time - and insult our intelligence - by reading the Constitution aloud like a bunch of fourth graders in a bad readers reading class.

28 Awesome Desktop Calendar Wallpapers

Check out the most interesting offerings from some great designers this year.

From Denny: Smashing Magazine has put out some real beauties for the "calendar challenged" where I culled out the most interesting and beautiful choices. Why print up a calendar when you can display it on your monitor? Check out just a few of these beauties.

They come in several monitor resolution sizes - and without the calendar - if you just enjoy the photo. You can even vote for your favorites on the site - which I did. I figure if someone took the time to create, send, choose, upload and post them then I can vote for the ones I enjoyed the most. :)

The designers hail from countries all over the world: America, Spain, The Netherlands, Myanmar, India, Nepal, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Poland, Romania, Moldova, England. Be sure to check out their links as most have links and are some interesting design, illustration, flickr or photography sites. Enjoy - and be sure to let me know your favorites! :)

*** All of these delightful designs can be found in five resolution sizes, with or without the calendar, at Smashing Magazine: Desktop Wallpaper Calendar January 2011.

Celebrating 2011

Designed by Tim Fritz from USA.

Frost Bitten - "A collaboration between two sisters. One’s a photographer and the other is a designer." Designed by Denise Johnson and Sharleen Heist from USA.

Quiet Please - Designed by Diana Samoila from Romania.

*** All of these delightful designs can be found in five resolution sizes, with or without the calendar, at Smashing Magazine: Desktop Wallpaper Calendar January 2011.

Funny Video: Happy New Year, Cartoonist Review of 2010

Get a New Year grin at the cartoonist review of our last political year.

From Denny: This is a funny review of the political year from JibJab with Prez Obama and VP Biden as puppets telling the tale of what a horrible year it was. They are glad 2010 is gone (like most of us) and welcoming the New Year of 2011. You might want to turn up the volume as it makes it easier to understand the lyrics of this catchy tune.

For anyone interested in the production of this video, go here for the complete breakdown of the scenes and the writing process: Behind The Scenes of the 2010 Year in Review

This year's New Year's Eve in Times Square, New York City, to welcome 2011:

*** Check out these posts too:

Funny Videos: Happy New Year From Cartoonists - Check out the cartoonists funny idea of wishing us a Happy New Year.

New Year Celebrations: History And Trivia - Check out how celebrating the New Year was once considered controversial throughout history.

Best New Years Cartoons 2010

New Years: Funny Quotes, Resolutions Tips, Poems

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02 January 2011

New Year Celebrations: History And Trivia

Check out how celebrating the New Year was once considered controversial throughout history.

From Denny: Ever wonder about the history of the New Year celebration around the world? Ever wonder how we came to celebrate it on 1 January?

Ancient cultures celebrated at different times of the year

Scholars believe the earliest idea of a New Year celebration goes back at least about 4,000 years to Mesopotamia in about 2000 B.C. They celebrated their New Year around the time of mid-March when the vernal equinox occurred. The vernal equinox is when the sun crosses directly over the Earth's equator. When it happens in the Northern Hemisphere, like in America, it's called the vernal equinox. (When it happens in the Southern Hemisphere it's called the autumnal equinox.)

Trivia: The word "equinox" means "equal night." What happens when the sun is positioned over the Earth's equator is that day and night are about equal in length all over the world. Quite the odd phenomenon.

Crazy American Political Humor - 1 Jan 2011

New Years, Christmas and politics all converge for your amusement by your favorite cartoonists.

From Denny: We are a global village. How American politics go really does affect the rest of the world. It depends upon how many jobs stay or go, hurt our economy or benefit someone else's. How much foreign aid we send overseas affects how well various countries can balance their national budgets, feed citizens in famine or flood ravaged areas.

The past decade most Americans have begun to wonder why we continue to send foreign aid to the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and other European countries doing well - or better - than America. It's crazy and a complete waste of money. Too much money thrown around all over the world has created tremendous resentment of America. Perhaps it's time to revisit the concept of foreign aid, especially to other wealthy countries.

Happy New Year!!!

The Social Poets

*** News, intelligent politics, American and world politics, common sense political opinion with humor, original poems from a (female) Social Issues Poet (SIP), funny quotes that make you think. *** Email : warriorspearl@gmail.com.

*** Join me for coffee and on Google Friend Connect too! - Denny Lyon, a Louisiana liberal blogger (yes, there is such a political animal in Republican country), writing on the right side of sanity, pushing our government to give us their very best and nothing less.

*** The Social Poets: Where politics crashes into humor.

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