This Weeks Editorial Cartoons 21 Nov 2009

From Denny: It was a busy week in the news, the kind to lampoon. Women were up in arms throwing rotten tomatoes at some fed panel without qualified specialists deciding to change cancer detection guidelines for breast cancer. Women just feel like they are short-changed by the insurance companies.

Terrorists are finally getting tried in some kind of court whether military or civilian, starting with the controversial New York trial to begin soon.

Health care legislation continues to wind its way down the halls of Congress. Asking these guys to do the decent thing by the middle class has become an act of Congress...

Prez Obama's trip to China and Japan was a bit controversial when Americans saw that deep bow to the Japanese emperor and then no reciprocal similar greeting to Obama as a head of state. Of course, China is a sticking point ever since Prez Bush made them our banker. How do you tell off your banker? Answer, you can't.

Oh, and the GOP continues to disintegrate as dementia specialists. Bringing up the rear is weird Palin selling a book of lies, even in the face of factual emails to prove they are lies. Unbelievable. What is more unbelievable is that the book is supposed to be number one on the best seller list. Oh, come on, folks, just how stupid do you really believe everyone really is? The top 4 money guys for the Republicans have a history of buying up large blocks of book printings just to make their dog in the show look more important than they really are. Palin is no exception.

Here's the week's cartoons, enjoy!

New York petitioned the feds to try the idiot terrorists in New York courts. Opinions are divided: some want the revenge of trying the terrorists on New York soil, others are worried about bringing terrorists onto American soil from Gitmo. Note to "selves" worried about bringing terrorists onto American soil: get real; there already are terrorists on American soil, many of them home-grown domestic ones like Timothy McVay and other white supremacist groups.





Women were not happy about the change in breast cancer health care guidelines from a panel without a breast surgeon or a cancer specialist weighing in:



The continuing health care struggle just to legislate basic decency back into this country:











The GOP on slow decline self-destruct:





An exercise in greed and poor political judgment, The GOP Palin Nightmare:





Here are a couple of news links of the latest Palin weirdness:

Anger, disappointment after Palin stiffs fans at Indiana book signing

Fox uses 2008 rally footage to claim Palin getting huge crowds on book tour - and this is why Fox "News" is known as Liars News.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Daily Show: The Rogue Warrior
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

President Obama's trip to China and the reminder these guys bought up our debt who President Bush was only too willing to sell them, encouraging Americans to go deeper into debt. Remember the slogan when terrorism struck back in 2001? Bush declared to America, "Go shopping!" That was his idea of how to keep the economy from crashing after a national disaster: make the little people pay for it. Put the middle class in the poor house. Now that's a plan all the while calling their political party the party of fiscal good sense...

Meanwhile, back in the real world Obama is left with the balancing act of a relationship with human rights abuser China also as our banker.









The state of jobs and the American economy:





And America's favorite villain of the moment... It is disgusting how Congress has yet to get serious and take these jerks to task:



*** Thanks for visiting!

Cheeky Quote Day! 2 September 2009

From Denny: This retro poster looks like it should be subtitled "The Bright Ideas Club"! Amazingly fun things you can find on StumbleUpon...

Today I thought I'd concentrate on the cheeky quotes from one author and who better to start on a roll with than someone from America's early entertainment history: Will Rogers.

Will Rogers was an American actor, 1879 - 1935, was part Cherokee Indian from his mother and his father was a former slaveholder and Confederate veteran. Rogers was a simple plain-spoken cowboy from Oklahoma who made America laugh in the 1920's and 1930's.

He would get on stage dressed as a cowboy and start doing rope tricks as he would tell a story or whip out a funny quote that set the audience into uproarious laughter in an instant. Rogers was known for his public image of wry, genial common sense and that's what made him so popular throughout America.

His roping skills were so good that he was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. What roping trick won him the prize? He threw three lassos all at once: one caught the neck of the running horse, another would hoop around the rider and the third one swooped up under the horse to loop all four legs. Pretty cool trick!

Because of these roping tricks he earned his way easily in Hollywood starting with a movie called "Ropin' Fool." He carried on his roping entertainment in Wild West shows, vaudeville stages too, where he evolved his act by telling small jokes. Eventually, people were more interested in his joke-telling than his incredible roping skills.

Though he was a high school dropout, something he greatly regretted, he decided to never stop learning in life. He talked to well-educated people often and read and studied on his own. Over time he wrote six books and published over two million words.

He was a big hit on Broadway and starred in 71 movies. He wrote more than 4,000 syndicated newspaper columns. Rogers was known for befriending Presidents, Senators and Kings. He traveled around the world three times as he was covering wars, learning as much as he could about everything in life and he talked a lot about peace.

His most famous quote: "I never met a person I didn't like." This was his credo of real love and respect for his fellow humanity and all people everywhere. Rogers was known for giving his own money to disaster victims and also raised thousands for the Red Cross and Salvation Army.

Rogers was a professional as he worked as a radio commentator, silent movie star and vaudeville headliner. His original take on life and observation of politics ended up syndicated in daily and weekly newspapers across the country, over 600 of them. He was so popular because his hilarious philosophies really did embody the humorous heart of the nation at that time.

Rogers was killed in a plane crash with his friend, Wiley Post, a daring one-eyed pilot also from Oklahoma, on a trip to Alaska. Rogers loved the thrill of flying as much as fast horses.

His amusing views on politics, government, education and life in general are as true today as they were in his time.

Image via Wikipedia

Quotes from humorist Will Rogers

* And the thing about my jokes is, they don't hurt anybody. You can take 'em or leave 'em - you can say they're funny or they're terrible or they're good, or whatever, but you can just pass 'em by. But with Congress, every time they make a joke, it's a law! And every time they make a law, it's a joke!

Politics and Government:

* A fool and his money are soon elected.

* A difference of opinion is what makes horse racing and missionaries.

* About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation.

* Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?

* Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.

* Alexander Hamilton started the U.S. Treasury with nothing, and that was the closest our country has ever been to being even.

* An economist's guess is liable to be as good as anybody else's.

* Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.

* I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.

* Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.

* The 1928 Republican Convention opened with a prayer. If the Lord can see His way clear to bless the Republican Party the way it's been carrying on, then the rest of us ought to get it without even asking.

* If you ever injected truth into politics you have no politics.

* If I studied all my life, I couldn't think up half the number of funny things passed in one session of congress.

* Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock.

* I bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him "father."

* This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.

* If you make any money, the government shoves you in the creek once a year with it in your pockets, and all that don't get wet you can keep.

* One-third of the people in the United States promote, while the other two-thirds provide.

* It's easy being a humorist when you've got the whole government working for you.

* I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.

* The man with the best job in the country is the vice-president. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, "How is the president?"

* The more you observe politics, the more you've got to admit that each party is worse than the other.

Education:

* America is becoming so educated that ignorance will be a novelty. I will belong to the select few.

* Why don't they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth.

Business:

* A holding company is a thing where you hand an accomplice the goods while the policeman searches you.

* If advertisers spent the same amount of money on improving their products as they do on advertising then they wouldn't have to advertise them.

Food:

* An onion can make people cry but there's never been a vegetable that can make people laugh.

Life:

* The fellow that can only see a week ahead is always the popular fellow, for he is looking with the crowd. But the one that can see years ahead, he has a telescope but he can't make anybody believe that he has it.

* The only way you can beat the lawyers is to die with nothing.

* Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.

* We can't all be heroes, because somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by.

* We are all here for a spell, get all the good laughs you can.

* Live your life so that whenever you lose, you're ahead.

* Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.

Cheeky Quote Day! 12 August 2009

Photo by Tansan @ flickr

From Denny: For today's funny and ironic quotes it seems I hit the Mother Lode! In my research I ran across an additional category of Back to School quotes that was most amusing to add to the original idea of the Education category. Parents and kids are going back to school this week in Louisiana, very early in order to make room for any lost days due to hurricanes or if there is a flu outbreak. With some of those frazzled nerves out there from all the pressure of working AND getting kids back to school a few grins were in order...



If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers. - Edgar W. Howe

Being a child at home alone in the summer is a high-risk occupation. If you call your mother at work thirteen times an hour, she can hurt you. - Erma Bombeck

Labor Day is a glorious holiday because your child will be going back to school the next day. It would have been called Independence Day, but that name was already taken. - Bill Dodds

You send your child to the schoolmaster, but 'tis the schoolboys who educate him. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. - Friedrich Nietzsche

As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools. - Anonymous

I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework. - Lily Tomlin as "Edith Ann"

Often, when I am reading a good book, I stop and thank my teacher. That is, I used to, until she got an unlisted number. - Anonymous

There are three good reasons to be a teacher - June, July, and August. - Anonymous

What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child. - George Bernard Shaw

A professor is someone who talks in someone else's sleep. - W.H. Auden

A cross-eyed teacher can keep twice the number of children in order than any other, because the pupils do not know who she's looking at. - Four Hundred Laughs: Or, Fun Without Vulgarity, compiled and edited by John R. Kemble, 1902

Anyone who thinks the art of conversation is dead ought to tell a child to go to bed. - Robert Gallagher

The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn - and change. - Carl Rogers

My education was only interrupted by my schooling. – Winston Churchill

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. - Mark Twain

It doesn't make much difference what you study, as long as you don't like it. - Finley Peter Dunne

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. - Albert Einstein

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. - Attributed to both Andy McIntyre and Derek Bok



It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. – Albert Einstein

Education aims to give you a boost up the ladder of knowledge. Too often, it just gives you a cramp on one of its rungs. - Martin H. Fischer

Education would be much more effective if its purpose was to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they do not know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it. - William Haley

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing worth knowing can be taught. - Oscar Wilde, "The Critic as Artist," 1890

When a subject becomes totally obsolete we make it a required course. - Peter Drucker

Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know. - Daniel J. Boorstin, Democracy and Its Discontents

The founding fathers... provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called education. School is where you go between when your parents can't take you and industry can't take you. ~ John Updike, The Centaur, 1963



You learn something every day if you pay attention. - Ray LeBlond

I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught. - Winston Churchill

Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don't need little changes, we need gigantic revolutionary changes. Schools should be palaces. Competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be getting six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge for its citizens, just like national defense. That is my position. I just haven't figured out how to do it yet. - Aaron Sorkin, The West Wing

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook. - William James, Principles of Psychology

Intelligence appears to be the thing that enables a man to get along without education. Education enables a man to get along without the use of his intelligence. - Albert Edward Wiggam

Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily. - Thomas Szasz

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. - Alvin Toffler

It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows. - Epictetus

If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job. - Donald D. Quinn

If the Romans had been obliged to learn Latin, they would never have found time to conquer the world. - Heinrich Heine

The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. - Mark Twain

Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre. – Gail Goodwin



I read Shakespeare and the Bible, and I can shoot dice. That's what I call a liberal education. - Tallulah Bankhead

America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week. - Evan Esar, American humorist, 1899-1995

No matter how long you teach a fool, he still knows everything. - Leonid S. Sukhorukov, All About Everything (2005)

In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards. - Mark Twain

Home computers are being called upon to perform many new functions, including the consumption of homework formerly eaten by the dog. - Doug Larson

You can get all A's and still flunk life. - Walker Percy

I think everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cabdriver. Then they would really be educated. - Al McGuire

The more that learn to read the less learn how to make a living. That's one thing about a little education. It spoils you for actual work. The more you know the more you think somebody owes you a living. - Will Rogers

Did you know America ranks the lowest in education but the highest in drug use? It's nice to be number one, but we can fix that. All we need to do is start the war on education. If it's anywhere near as successful as our war on drugs, in no time we'll all be hooked on phonics. - Leighann Lord

College is about three things: homework fun and sleep ... but you can only choose two. - Andy Stern


Thanks for visiting!



Society and Culture, United States, Kids and Teens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oscar Wilde, Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw, Mark Twain, Education, Lily Tomlin

Breaking News: Bill Clinton Retrieves 2 U.S. Jailed Journalists From North Korea

Just 15 minutes ago updated - Bill Clinton arrives on U.S. soil with jailed journalists



President Bill Clinton in official photo with North Korea's ailing leader

Over at Dennys Global Politics today and 3 Videos included -

Breaking News: Bill Clinton Retrieves 2 U.S. Jailed Journalists From North Korea

New Book Titles Added to The Social Poets Store

From Denny: Don't you just love Twitter sometimes? While looking for something else I stumbled upon some great book tweets and decided to place them in the blog store for your perusal. They are listed under the category of Literay and then News and Politics or you can just click on the links below. Wish I had more time to read as these blogs are taking up all my time these days. If anyone has read these, please feel free to offer a review and opinion!

Considering how many death threats President Obama is getting these days what these books talk about is timely. Bush had only 3,000 threats a year. Obama's threat level increased by 400%. One plot by an idiot white supremacist group was to rob a gun store, kill 88 black people, decapitate another 14 black people and then assassinate the first African-American President in American history. The Secret Service foiled this one among many. (The CIA does similar throughout its history. Not everything they do is odious.)

Most reasons we never hear about these attempts is because the Secret Service and CIA are concerned about unoriginal types who will play copycat if the storyline is provided easily to them. What they lack in imagination they make up for in brutal stupidity and rash decisions.

During Obama's inauguration did you count the number of counter-sniper teams and other security detail along the parade route like I did? I was pleased to see such a high security presence and this book discusses just how much organization it takes to thwart the destructive elements of society. It also exposes how much the Bush administration ruined the Secret Service by placing it under Homeland Security and denying enough agents to carry out their mission properly. (Read that as they cut the budget.)

With the rise in Middle East terrorism affecting the rest of the globe this book on colonialism and its mentality is useful to understand today's politics. Americans are always hearing about the third world's anger toward the imperialists. This book offers up explanations and new insight.

Then there is a new book out of President John F. Kennedy, always an interesting person to read about even though his tenure at the White House was brief.

The write-ups that follow the book titles were quoted from Amazon.com.


In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect By Ronald Kessler: Never before has a journalist penetrated the wall of secrecy that surrounds the U.S. Secret Service, that elite corps of agents who pledge to take a bullet to protect the president and his family. After conducting exclusive interviews with more than one hundred current and former Secret Service agents, bestselling author and award-winning reporter Ronald Kessler reveals their secrets for the first time.

Secret Service agents, acting as human surveillance cameras, observe everything that goes on behind the scenes in the president’s inner circle. Kessler reveals what they have seen, providing startling, previously untold stories about the presidents, from John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson to George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as well as about their families, Cabinet officers, and White House aides.

Kessler portrays the dangers that agents face and how they carry out their missions–from how they are trained to how they spot and assess potential threats. With fly-on-the-wall perspective, he captures the drama and tension that characterize agents’ lives.

In this headline-grabbing book, Kessler discloses assassination attempts that have never before been revealed. He shares inside accounts of past assaults that have put the Secret Service to the test, including a heroic gun battle that took down the would-be assassins of Harry S. Truman, the devastating day that John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas, and the swift actions that saved Ronald Reagan after he was shot.

While Secret Service agents are brave and dedicated, Kessler exposes how Secret Service management in recent years has betrayed its mission by cutting corners, risking the assassination of President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and their families. Given the lax standards, “It’s a miracle we have not had a successful assassination,” a current agent says.

Since an assassination jeopardizes democracy itself, few agencies are as important as the Secret Service–nor is any other subject as tantalizing as the inner sanctum of the White House. Only tight-lipped Secret Service agents know the real story, and Ronald Kessler is the only journalist to have won their trust.

Cover via Amazon

An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 By Robert Dallek: An Unfinished Life is the first major, single-volume life of John F. Kennedy to be written by a historian in nearly four decades. Drawing upon previously unavailable material and never-before-opened archives to tell Kennedy's story. We learn for the first time just how sick Kennedy was, what medications he took and concealed from all but a few, and how severely his medical condition affected his actions as President. We learn for the first time the real story of how Bobby was selected as Attorney General. Dallek reveals exactly what Jack's father did to help his election to the presidency, and he follows previously unknown evidence to show what path JFK would have taken in the Vietnam entanglement had he survived.

Dallek (LIFTS) JFK out of the gossips and back onto the world stage, showing that while he was the son of privilege, he faced great obstacles and fought on with remarkable courage. Never shying away from Kennedy's weaknesses, Dallek also brilliantly explores his strengths. The result is a portrait of a bold, brave, human Kennedy, once again a hero.


Colonialism in Question: Theory, Knowledge, History By Frederick Cooper : In this closely integrated collection of essays on colonialism in world history, Frederick Cooper raises crucial questions about concepts relevant to a wide range of issues in the social sciences and humanities, including identity, globalization, and modernity. Rather than portray the past two centuries as the inevitable movement from empire to nation-state, Cooper places nationalism within a much wider range of imperial and diasporic imaginations, of rulers and ruled alike, well into the twentieth century. He addresses both the insights and the blind spots of colonial studies in an effort to get beyond the tendency in the field to focus on a generic colonialism located sometime between 1492 and the 1960s and somewhere in the "West." Broad-ranging, cogently argued, and with a historical focus that moves from Africa to South Asia to Europe, these essays, most published here for the first time, propose a fuller engagement in the give-and-take of history, not least in the ways in which concepts usually attributed to Western universalism--including citizenship and equality--were defined and reconfigured by political mobilizations in colonial contexts.

Link to Video: Hillary Clinton's Cutting Edge Digital Diplomacy

Image by US Army Korea - IMCOM via Flickr

From Denny: In my ongoing effort to keep from cluttering up The Social Poets, after all, this is my third post today... here's a link over at Dennys Global Politics blog to what Hillary is doing that is quite popular now globally! It is so refreshing to have people in government who are actually serious about carrying out government in a way to connect with the people they serve...

Video: Hillary Clinton's Cutting Edge Digital Diplomacy, go here.

Thanks for visiting! Just got back from my out of town sales calls today and am back at the keyboard posting... :) Happy Monday!

Video: Obama's Aides Cautious Over Economy

From Denny: Meet The Press was interesting this Sunday. This video gives a snippet of what was discussed. In the end, only about 10% of the stimulus money has been spent because it takes so long to get going on a big project. Considering the inherited mess from the Republicans who don't believe in government, a slowing down of the rushing freight train metaphor for our chaotic economy is a good sign. We still need to keep up the pressure on the brakes. So far the Republicans have yet to offer much in the way of substance in place of crankiness. Somehow, their credibility on good decisions does not carry any weight in this country. "Ya think?" :)

National Economic Council Director Larry Summers talks with David Gregory of NBC's Meet The Press about the state of the beleagured U.S. economy.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Politics: FINALLY! House Votes to Restrict Wall Street Bonuses

CEO Looking a Little Nervous...? WASHINGTON - DECEMBER 9: Former Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron (L) adjusts his tie while testifying with former Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd (R), and fromer Fannie Mae CEO Harold Raines (C) before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during a hearing on "The Role of Fannie and Freddie Mac in the Financial Crisis" on Capitol Hill December 9, 2008 in Washington, DC. The hearing focused on the financial collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, their takeover by the federal government, and their role in the ongoing financial crisis.Image by Getty Images via Daylife

From Denny: This just in from the Friday afternoon news cycle... Congress knows the public is seriously ticked off about the greed on Wall Street. They took advantage of us from the TARP money that was supposed to keep them afloat and the economy from tanking as the conventional wisdom went. When I first heard of it when Bush was on his way out of office I knew it was the Republican's last parting shot of "screw over the public" yet one more time "because we can." So, they did.

All they did with the TARP money was bonus themselves and continue greedy unwise short-term vision business as usual. Big business is now feeing their customers into the poor house as a result of feeling free enough to play with taxpayer money. The big banks, even Royal Bank of Scotland who got money from two countries - United States AND United Kingdom - decided to use their bail-out money to enhance their profit bottom line for the quarter. They even publicly said they saw no reason to start lending out the money to the public they were given for that express purpose.

What was voted upon and passed in the House by a 235 - 135 margin just minutes ago was a measure to prohibit pay and bonus packages that encourage big risks by bankers and traders, the kind of risks that can take down the economy like a house of cheap cards.

Just yesterday these big banks have bonused over $1 million to over 5,000 employees with the public money of billions. Voters are outraged. Europe and other investors outside America have called for this kind of reform for decades. They thought it was unbridled greed a long time ago and advised Bush and Cheney to do something about it. Of course, Bush and Cheney foolishly refused. What did you expect? You put two greedy American former CEO's - Bush who had bankrupted no less than eight companies - in charge of the candy store with a country's treasury and you think they would not go wild? Come on. They now had something to trade for big bucks to keep them in power: public funds.

Get this: even though House Republicans are fully aware of voter outrage, they still chose to dance to their lobbyist masters and vote AGAINST the measure. Unbelievable. Their sorry excuse of a claim? They weakly offered up, "Severe restrictions should apply only to banks that accept government aid."

So just what is the legislation banning in regard to risky compensation? This will apply to any firm with $1 billion in assests. That would include bank holding companies, broker-dealers, credit unions, investment advisors, and mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Prospects in the Senate are uncertain for this bill. You might want to start haranguing your Senators into voting for this bill now. The Senate Banking Committee is expected to take up this bill in the coming weeks after recess. It will be part of broader bill overhauling financial regulations.

What suggestions did President Obama ask to be included in this bill?

* shareholders get a nonbinding vote on compensation packages.

* prohibit members of compensation committees from having financial ties to the company and its executives (you know like Bush and Cheney did to Haliburton and others)

Finally, Congress is bowing to public pressure to deal with corporate greed. This is a good first step. The Senate had better get on board and sail this measure right on through or there will be a rush to "throw the bums out" come election time, and, these are the midterm elections coming up this November. Use your vote wisely.




Royal Bank of Scotland, big business, Wall Street, Republican Party, Dick Cheney, United States, Bank, Troubled Asset Relief Program, Business, Fannie Mae, Barack Obama, Freddie Mac, politics, big business

Video: Hurricane Katrina Super Volunteers 4 Years Later and How Bush Policies Have Jacked Up the Cost of Living There

From Denny:

Quality People Who Are REAL Christians

Hey! It's my birthday and I get to put up a story dear to my heart, all the class act volunteers who came into Louisiana and helped - and are still helping - rebuild people's lives. These folks are super heroes! They have given so much hope to thousands of people in emergency need who were so stressed out because they had meager or no resources to rebuild.

Most of all, these people like the ones profiled here, are REAL Christians. They are out there "in the highways and the byways" doing for others.

Pretend PHONY Christians

They aren't screaming about abortion and how a woman has no right to make her own moral decision. They aren't out there promoting character assassination because they can't get their own way and bully people into doing what they want. They aren't out there judging others because they don't go to the same church or believe in Jesus or whatever other hateful venom.

Latest Toxic Politics Courtesy of the Republicans

The latest so-called Christian vitriol is claiming President Obama is not a real American because they think his birth state of Hawaii is not really an American state. It just keeps getting meaner and meaner with the right wing's version of Christian politics. They also do not address him properly as The President. They have their little snide code words for him. Sure sounds like disrespect for the office, folks! You can't have it both ways: one minute demanding respect for a Republican President but you don't have to respect a Democratic President.

Call Goodness For What It Is and Quit Twisting the Truth

So, when I see quality people heralded as what they truly are, people of good character, then I like to promote them. Goodness no longer needs to be promoted as evil and evil as if it were good, something the Bible teaches by the way. That is some twisted thinking of our Republican politics in America for years now.

Republican Government Created Long-Term Harmful Effects After Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav

What a lot of the nation doesn't know, because it hasn't been the interest of the national media, is just how hard that storm hit the average person's wallet since the storm. Most Americans are frustrated and worried for the past year to eighteen months because of new expenses like fuel and food costs, watching their income ebb and flow because of it. Particular to Louisiana since 29 August 2005 is that the big business insurance companies have had a field day with us on jacking up our expenses beyond the ability to pay.

The argument is that you shouldn't live in such low-lying areas. True. Of course, you can kiss your oil to make the fuel for your car goodbye as the entire population moves away from the coasts. Kiss goodbye your natural gas to heat your homes, hot water and cook your food. Kiss goodbye your seafood too. Kiss goodbye your ports to move your goods across the country and overseas. That's the reality.

How It Developed into Such a Mess Because of Republican Policies

What's happened, because of Republican policies, is that the insurance companies were allowed carte blanche to do what they will. The result of Bush tax rebates has been that the state had to raise taxes, so did the local parishes (counties) and then the cities followed suit. Because of the Republicans yelling and screaming about how the Democrats would tax you, they ended up throwing the taxes to the local levels. Of course, not without a parting shot to the middle class across America. Under Bush, a Republican, I paid $7,000 more a year in federal taxes because of how he manipulated the tax code to force the middle class to give more again to replace what the wealthy were told they no longer had to give as their portion as being an American.

There went my savings account allocated for emergencies and retirement. What people who don't know that don't live in a hurricane zone (just like I don't know what it's like to live in an earthquake zone) is that it costs easily $500 to $2,000 dollars every time you evacuate for a hurricane or have to hunker down for 10 days by "sheltering in place" at home. Two or three hurricanes a year and you can see how families are devastated.

Insurance Companies Taken Off the Leash to Run Wild

Then the insurance companies went up on homeowners' and car insurances to the tune of the highest in the nation. Homeowners' insurance and new property taxes take up almost 40% of what was once my modest house note before Hurricane Katrina. Don't even get me started on the cumulative effects of Hurricane Gustav afterward... :)

Shed Your Expenses

Of course, when your expenses go up you start shedding anything you consider a luxury like a second car, vacations, dining out, hair and nail salons (do it yourself; it's easy), the car wash, lawn service, the dry cleaners and anything else you can do less of or do without entirely. Not really hard for us because I know how to do the same services. The ride was nice while it lasted not having to do everything all the time as eventually you get an inflamed shoulder nerve like I did from too much work.

Bush Rezones Flood Map for Democratic Voting Areas of Louisiana

Bush's parting shot at the Louisiana middle class was to pander to the insurance companies and redraw the flood map to now include people whose homes have NEVER flooded or come near to it in my area. What did that mean? Well, try to the tune of an additional $5,000 a year for mandated flood insurance from the mortgage company. Sure, we found cheaper.

We also should be carrying just a $1,000 deductible for homeowners' insurance. Because of the insurance lobbyists demanding everyone in state be mandated to carry homeowners' insurance whether you want it or not, we now get a really pretty choice: extremely high deductibles or normal deductibles with outrageous prices.

So, that translates as now a $17,000 deductible for homeowners' insurance instead of a $1,000. I'm lucky; most people I know in the same modest sized house are paying a $23,000 to $28,000 deductible. What this basically translates into is that you are self-insuring. Most hurricane damage does not cost this much so you will be out of pocket for it. All the while you are forced by the Republican policies to pay for insurance that will never cover a thing. Talk about a scam.

So, enough of the educational rant about how national politics really can impact our daily lives... it was meant as an illustration so the concrete thinkers out there can see how their bad decisions play out when they don't care about anything more than screaming their rhetoric. This is real life, folks!

Enjoy the Video About People Helping People Who Fall Through the Cracks

You will really enjoy this video. What I liked is hearing it from their own lips about what it is to trust God and go out and do what you know God is calling you to do. They put their money, their lives, their welfare, their everything on the line to start up a Disaster Recovery Service. They are entirely dependent upon donations. These are some incredibly cool people!

If you are able to contribute to this endeavor and give a donation to them that would be great. You never know when these people may come to your neighborhood and help you and yours in the future. They are such a class act!

Video: Hurricane Katrina Super Volunteers

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Hawaii, Democrats, Hurricane Gustav, Republican, Barack Obama, United States, Hurricane Katrina, Insurance, Republican Party, Meteorology

Video: Economic Worst Is Over?

From Denny: The public wallet has yet to rally as fast as these big businesses. Unemployment is almost double digits, the economy is on life support propped up by bail outs which translates as coming from the wallets of the middle class who lost their jobs those same big businesses chose to send overseas. It isn't really very smart when a business takes jobs away from the very people who turn around and purchase their products, now is it? That's basically what has happened.

There is a significant need to get serious about regulating Wall Street and other robber baron big businesses in America. Until then, the average middle class investor will not trust them with their money. Until regulation is done, overseas investors won't have a healthy long-term confidence either.

Realistically, expect a correction in these rosy statistics.

"The stock market recently rallied to its best level all year, which is making investors hope that this could be a signal that the worst of the economic downturn is over. Karen Brown reports."


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United States, economy, news

Video: Obama's Prime Time News Conference Health Care Appeal

From Denny: President Obama makes his case for national health care reform of some kind, preferably by August, though it looks like that deadline is going to be pushed back to Labor Day in September or longer.

Americans continue to groan under the weight of a weak economy, now 20 million people have experienced home foreclosure, banks are still failing, health care costs are still high, and continued, though somewhat slowed, job loss. The problem is that it will take a good decade to develop new jobs to a sustainable level. Meanwhile, families are going broke trying to pay for health care that often is denied when it comes time for the insurance companies to pay out.

Did I say our economy is in a real mess because it went unattended for eight years by the previous Bush administration? :) Considering the freefall going on it's pretty amazing anyone with a rational mind would oppose health care of some kind.

The reality is that it is needed and we had better start with something basic for everyone so we can stop breaking the backs of the hospitals with the uninsured flooding the emergency rooms for standard sore throat, colds and flu care. Preventive care and education of how to handle basics at home is also required so we don't end up with a nation of hypochondriacs running to the doctor for every sniffle.

Amazing too that Congress thinks it's OK to waltz off on a holiday while the majority of America is groaning under the weight of rising costs from every angle: food, gas, local and state taxes as well as health care.


Barack Obama, Health care, Insurance, Health, Breaking News, Health Policy, Labor Day, United States

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Cheeky Quote Day! 22 July 2009

Funny Quotes about unemployment and jobs from the Quote Garden.

Clown Photo by Tanzan @ flickr

From Denny: When the world is in chaos, the economy is confused and your 401K is now a 201K and descending, you just have to laugh about it all! Over at the Quote Garden site, bless their industrious little souls, they actually had a category for unemployment and another one for jobs quotes. I managed to cull out the lighter ones, enjoy!

We pretend to work because they pretend to pay us. ~ Author Unknown

It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose your own. ~ President Harry S. Truman

Unemployment is capitalism's way of getting you to plant a garden. ~ Orson Scott Card

The trouble with unemployment is that the minute you wake up in the morning you're on the job. ~ Slappy White

Cessation of work is not accompanied by cessation of expenses. ~ Cato the Elder

An "acceptable" level of unemployment means that the government economist to whom it is acceptable still has a job. ~ Author Unknown

Unemployment diminishes people. Leisure enlarges them. ~ Mason Cooley
(Hmmm… is this guy telling us that now is a great time to lose weight???)

We believe that if men have the talent to invent new machines that put men out of work, they have the talent to put those men back to work. ~ President John F. Kennedy
(Will someone please send this quote to the Republicans?)

When I quit working, I lost all sense of identity in about fifteen minutes. ~ Paige Rense

What is the good of being a genius if you cannot use it as an excuse for being unemployed? ~ Gerald Barzan

The number one sign you have nothing to do at work: The 4th Division of Paperclips has overrun the Pushpin Infantry and General White-Out has called for a new skirmish. ~ Fred Barling, "Humorscope"

Find a job you like and you add five days to every week. ~ H. Jackson Browne

Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties. ~ Doug Larson

Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work. ~ Robert Orben

If a train station is where the train stops, what's a work station? ~ Author Unknown

Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting somebody else to do the work. ~ John G. Pollard

Many people quit looking for work when they find a job. ~ Author Unknown

A lot of fellows nowadays have a B.A., M.D., or Ph.D. Unfortunately, they don't have a J.O.B. ~ "Fats" Domino

Monday is a lame way to spend 1/7 of your life. ~ Author Unknown

Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats. ~ Howard Aiken

A Mission Statement is a dense slab of words that a large organization produces when it needs to establish that its workers are not just sitting around downloading Internet porn. ~ Dave Barry

The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play. ~ Arnold Toynbee

The closest to perfection a person ever comes is when he fills out a job application form. ~ Stanley J. Randall

Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so. ~ Douglas Adams

I have never liked working. To me a job is an invasion of privacy. ~ Danny McGoorty

Researchers at Harvard say that taking a power nap for an hour in the afternoon can totally refresh you. They say that by the time you wake up you'll feel so good, you'll be able to start looking for a new job. ~ Jay Leno

I've met a few people in my time who were enthusiastic about hard work. And it was just my luck that all of them happened to be men I was working for at the time. ~ Bill Gold

A baseball game is twice as much fun if you're seeing it on the company's time. ~ William C. Feather

Law of the Alibi: If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you will have a flat tire. ~ Author Unknown

An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field. ~ Niels Bohr

You're no good unless you are a good assistant; and if you are, you're too good to be an assistant. ~ Martin H. Fischer

People who work sitting down get paid more than people who work standing up. ~ Ogden Nash

Commuter - one who spends his life
In riding to and from his wife;
A man who shaves and takes a train,
And then rides back to shave again.
~ E.B. White, "The Commuter," Poems and Sketches, 1982

The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning, and does not stop until you get into the office. ~ Robert Frost

The difference between a job and a career is the difference between forty and sixty hours a week. ~ Robert Frost

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. ~ C. Northcote Parkinson, 1958

A memorandum is written not to inform the reader but to protect the writer. ~ Dean Acheson
(Otherwise known as C.Y.A)

What is it that you like doing? If you don't like it, get out of it, because you'll be lousy at it. ~ Lee Iacocca

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important. ~ Bertrand Russell

What the world really needs is more love and less paper work. ~ Pearl Bailey

Retired is being twice tired, I've thought
First tired of working,
Then tired of not.
~ Richard Armour

Statistics indicate that, as a result of overwork, modern executives are dropping like flies on the nation's golf courses. ~ Ira Wallach

I think my idea of retirement might be to one day work a 40-hour week. ~ Vince McMahon

By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day. ~ Robert Frost

The best time to start thinking about your retirement is before the boss does. ~ Author Unknown

Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they're looking for ideas. ~ Paula Poundstone

If you don't like your job you don't strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way. ~ Homer Simpson, The Simpsons

(Let's see: half-assed pay = half-assed work or the old proverb: If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.)


John F. Kennedy, Cheeky Quote Day, Orson Scott Card, Bertrand Russell, Dave Barry, United States, C. Northcote Parkinson, Harry Truman, Dean Acheson, the social poets, Denny Lyon, unemployment quotes, jobs quotes, Quote Garden, humor, funny quotes