Misery in Brazil, and impeachment fever heats up.

Man it must suck to be Brazilian tonight. They love their soccer football in Brazil, and they are damn good at it. But I saw the beat down they took from the Germans earlier today, and it was hard to watch.




I have been watching the "beautiful game" for a long time and I have never seen anything like this. Not on such a stage.




I feel for all the Brazilian fans who live and die with their soccer, but given the size of that country and their passion for the game, I am sure that they will bounce back. And, as my twitter fam @pourmecoffee wrote, "A lot of pain-deadening sex going on in Brazil right now. Expect an April baby boom."


Yep.


Finally, I don't know what this Obama fellow did to these white republican women, but they are seriously calling for his impeachment right now.

"Sarah Palin might have called for the impeachment of President Barack Obama Tuesday, but Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst actually beat her to the punch by six months.

At a Montgomery County, Iowa, candidate forum in January, Ernst told a crowd that she believed Obama had “become a dictator” and that he needed to face the consequences for his executive actions, “whether that’s removal from office, whether that’s impeachment.”

The video, which was previously described to Yahoo News by a source, was posted, removed and then posted again online at AOL. Yahoo News was able to view a cached version of the previously unpublished video before it went live. The clip shows the January Montgomery County GOP Forum in Red Oak, Iowa. The Ernst campaign tweeted out a photograph of the forum Jan. 15.  

Ernst was asked what “punishment” Obama should suffer if the Supreme Court ruled against him in a then-pending case on the constitutionality of his recess appointments, and what she would do as a senator to stop his “blatant abuse of power.” The Supreme Court has since ruled against the administration in that case.

“I do think that yes, he should face those repercussions, and whether that's removal from office, whether that's impeachment,” said Ernst, who is supported by the establishment and the tea party wings of her party in her quest to succeed retiring Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat.
 

“As a U.S. senator, though, we have to push that issue, we can't be silent on things like that,” she said. “And unfortunately we have a number of legislators right now that simply let these things happen. [Source]

Well just keep pushing John Boehner and others girlfriend, maybe they will come around to actually going for the I- word instead of impeachment light, also known as an unwinnable lawsuit.


Unfortunately for the Speaker, it's such an exercise in futility that even members of his own party see through it.


But Mr. Boehner, bless his heart, is trying to protect his neck. He saw what the crazy right did to his running buddy, Eric Cantor, and he does not want to suffer the same fate.
























 

Seeing red.

Tonight I am not going to blog about the "Health Care Summit", because Stevie Wonder could see that there was not going to be a deal. Just more of the same from the rethugs: Block. Block. Block. I wish the Eagles offensive line could block like these guys. If they could we would have five Super Bowls by now. Today was just more political theater from the clowns in Washington. A chance t0 give their speeches and to show their base that they could stand up to the big bad beige man. (BTW, I loved how his O ness read Mr. Morton and that dude from Virginia, -Eric Cantor- a new one) Nice try O man, I see where you are going politically-you want to show the rest of A-merry-ca that you are willing to compromise- but enough of this already;time to start working on your own damn party to get something (anything) passed. Health care, or the lack of it, is a real problem in this country.

But enough about politricksters in Washington. Tonight a couple of stories have me seeing red. One of them literally, and the other figuratively.

Let me talk about the literal one first: It's Hannah Storm's boots, and how a popular ESPN host has been told to sit down for two weeks without pay for talking about them. This is a touchy subject, because it involves the sexes and how we treat each other in the work place. Tony Kornheiser was forced to apologize for saying the following about his colleague over at ESPN:

"Hannah Storm in a horrifying, horrifying outfit today,” Kornheiser said on his Washington, D.C., radio show last week. “She’s got on red go-go boots and a Catholic school plaid skirt way too short for somebody in her 40s or maybe early 50s by now. She’s got on her typically very, very, very tight shirt. She looks like she has sausage casing wrapping around her upper body. I know she’s very good, and I’m not supposed to be critical of ESPN people, so I won’t. But Hannah Storm, come on now. Stop. What are you doing? She’s what I would call a Holden Caulfield fantasy at this point.”

My first thoughts, when I heard this story, was who gives Tony Kornheiser the right to talk about anybody else's looks? (Have you seen the guy?) But then, I thought, well it's his radio show, and he is paid to be irreverent and brash. Hell ESPN even pays him to be that way, so why suspend the guy for speaking his mind? Besides, as others have said; ESPN has made a living on this kind of talk about other people, so why do this now when one of their own feels the heat?

Anyway, for puroses of discussion; does he have a point? Did Ms. Storm go over the top with her red boots? And if she was a man, would we be having this discussion? Hey, I have seen some serious sartorial faux pas by some of the male hosts over at ESPN and I don't think that any of their female co-hosts would rip them. And, for the record, I think Whitlock's criticism of Storm was over the top, his fat ass shouldn't be talking about someone else's outfit. Period.

"Hurtful and personal comments such as these are not acceptable and have significant consequences," said John Skipper, ESPN's vice president for content. "Tony has been suspended from PTI for two weeks. Hannah is a respected colleague who has been an integral part of the success of our morning SportsCenter."

Kornheiser said he had called Storm to personally apologize for the remarks."If you put a live microphone in front of somebody, eventually that person will say something wrong," Kornheiser said on his show Tuesday. "This was one of the times I said something wrong."

Hopefully this will be the end of Bootgate.

The next story has me figuratively seeing red. And, once again, it involves the now infamous Lower Merion school district.

I thought that busing was a thing of the past here in A-merry-ca? Apparently, thanks to a local federal judge opening up some records, we are learning that it is not. The folks of the Lower Merion school district allegedly bused some African American students to a high school far away from their homes to create a racial balance in their district, and now the families of the children are suing. Apparently there was enough of the them at Lower Merion High (which is close to the only area on the main line with pockets of black folks) and not enough at Harriton High. So, as a result, Lower Merion- allegedly- decided to do a little racial balancing act.

Well, the plaintiffs have won their right to go forward with their trial. And the beautiful system of laws that we have here in A-merry-ca will ultimately determine the outcome of this case.

"Said Douglas Young, spokesman for the school district: "We respect the court’s decision, and remain optimistic that our position will ultimately prevail in this important litigation. ... We have argued and intend to show at trial that no such proof [of racial discrimination] exists or is possible to demonstrate. The district developed its redistricting plan for one purpose: to equalize enrollments at two newly constructed high schools."

We will see Mr. Young; we will see.

The field offers his services to the Repubs: Just for tonight.

"A great party needs give. It must be expansive and summoning. It needs to say, 'Join me.'"

~Peggy Noonan~

Tired of people like Newt,Rush, and Dick being the face of their party, the repubs held a little retreat in Northern Virginia this past weekend. It was billed as the first in a series of town hall meetings-sound familiar?-to reconnect the GOP with real A-merry-cans.

The retreat was called by one of the new faces of the party, the telegenic Eric Cantor.

They are calling the initiative The National Council For White America and.....OK that's bullshit, I kid. It's actually called The National Council For A New America, ("New America". Get it?)and it's supposed to get the party's "fortunes back on track". Good luck with that Eric. After eight years of the frat boy you are not only going to have to get back on the tracks, you are going to have to build the tracks as well.

I am sorry but in case they haven't noticed, the "New America" that they are looking for looks nothing like the old America. Barack and the dems figured it out, but they were slow to the party. They were too busy playing up the old political strategy of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove. While they were watching FOX NEWS and pushing hate the rest of the country passed them by.

It's ironic that on the weekend that the grand old party lost one of their best men-- a man who begged them to expand their tent-- they decided to try a different strategy to connect to the A-merry-can voter. Too bad for them that the men leading the charge (maybe with the exception of Jeb Bush) couldn't connect to the typical A-merry-can voter if you locked them alone together in a room filled with table games. But this is what happens when political parties are in the dumps. We get the likes of Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and yes, even Eric Cantor, emerging as leaders.

"Certainly our party has taken its licks the last few cycles, but that's why we're here,' said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor. 'The reality is the prescriptions coming out of Washington right now are not reflective of the mainstream of this country."'

Ah, Eric, did you see the results from this past election? I would say that they (the folks in Washington) have that prescription down pretty pat, wouldn't you? See Eric, one of the first things that you are going to have to learn to do if you want to be the leader of a party is to be able to read the signs. Don't delude yourself into thinking that a bunch of town hall meetings, some tea parties, and well paid right wing talking heads are going to do it for you. You need a new message, and some new messengers to deliver it.

Anyway, let me see if I can help you with starting down the right path, because I am a such a nice guy. Here goes:

Recruit some grass roots black folks into your tent. I don't mean the self hating black folks we see commenting on FOX News and who take your money to promote themselves. I mean real community activists (I know you hate that word, but get used to it) who are doing real work in their communities and who are respected by their neighbors. And while we are talking about black folks: would it kill you to talk about issues that effect us just once? Instead of defense, tax cuts, and the right to bear arms 24/7; how about talking about education, crime, and affordable housing every now and then?

Stop making social issues the focus of your party. In case you haven't noticed most A-merry-cans don't give a damn who marries who. And while a majority of us might be for protecting the life of the innocent (and for the guilty as well) we really do believe that a woman has the right to do whatever she wants to do with her own body. So guess what? You can actually be pro choice and pro life as an individual.

Lose Sarah Palin. To steal a popular phrase: "Just do it".

Listen to folks like Peggy Noonan, and some of the moderate East Coast snobs in your party. It's nice to be able to count on the Bubba vote, but you have got to expand. We all know that Arlen Specter switched parties for political survival, but you all made it too easy for him to do that. If I make a peace sign with my fingers I have the total number of republican Senators in the Northeast, now if that doesn't scare you all I don't know what will.

Give us your plan, any plan. We know that Obama is a Socialist Muslim- traitor, who is going to make Cuba the 51st state, but what do you have to offer?

Stop knocking government. In case you haven't noticed times are hard and people are depending more and more on the government. Most A-merry-cans believe that we got into this mess because the private sector got too greedy and pissed over all of us. They want more government (which by the way represents us) to fix the problem, not less.

And finally, bring back J.C Watts (yeah I heard the whispers too) and lose MC Mike. A black face leading your party is nice in the age of Obama, but it can't look like you are just doing it to be like the other guy. Watts was there before Obama, and unlike MC Mike he knows when to shut up. Besides, we know that you all don't like MC Mike , so why don't you end the charade now before it gets any worse?

Eric, I will send you my bill. But please don't write me a check.

The rock star president.

I remember being a kid sitting in my cousin's Vineyard Town home in Kingston, Jamaica, as Tyrone Downie-- a friend of his at the time-- talked about the tour he had just come off of with Bob Marley in Europe. (Downie was the keyboard player for the Wailers for a long time) He was going on and on about how they played to a packed house in Germany and the Germans were rocking and vibing to every song; even though he knew that they didn't understand a word of the songs that they were singing or what the songs really meant. ("Chase Dem Crazy Bald Heads Out Of Town" wasn't meant to be a flattering song to white Europeans)

Later on in my young life as I listened to Fidel Castro give a speech, I could relate to those Germans, because although I didn't understand a lick of Spanish, I found myself cheering with the crowd whose grasp of the Spanish language was no better than mine. And so it is when you have skills as an orator or an artist, you can touch people's souls in spite of language and cultural barriers.

Fast forward over thirty years from that day at my cousin's home and I am watching his O ness give his town hall meeting in Strassbourg, France. I found my mind going back to that day and what Downie said about Bob and the Wailers and how they moved the crowds in Europe. Obama was moving the crowds in Europe and I am quite sure that like the Germans listening to Bob, most of the folks in Strassbourg, France weren't too proficient in the English language. Obama, like Castro and Marley has talent and charisma, and those two things can take you a very long way in life. If you have a message and an agenda those skills can help you convince others to go along with the program, and that is important to a politician, believe me. If you have talent and charisma that can also take you very far as an artist, and people will buy your records and pay to watch you in person no matter what.

Say what you want about his O ness and his politics, you have to admit the the man has some skills. Rethugs will nit pick and cry that he can't do any of his great oration without his trusted teleprompter, but Stevie Wonder and Governor Paterson can both see that it's all just sour grapes on their part.

So now rethugs have to ask themselves: Who will be our rock star? Who do we have with similar skills? Well, let me answer that for you: No one! In fact, you don't even have anyone that can come close. MC MacDaddy Steele? Not! Newt? The thrice married religion switching ,fraud? Not! Slum...(whoops I promised I wouldn't call him that).. Bobby Jindal? He blew his chance on the national stage. Sarah Palin? They really tried with her, but she wasn't ready for prime time and neither was her family. Eric Cantor? Please! In fact, rethugs are so desperate for a star that they created one who wasn't even a politician. But someone ought to tell the rethugs about packaging. I mean really folks; does "Joe the Plumber" really have a face that you want representing your party? Seriously, unless you are going after that all important skinhead vote, you might want to get him off the national stage. Then of course there is Rush, Sean, and Glen. It's not so easy to get them out of the spotlight since they are forever seeking it, but you might want to distance yourself from them as well, because as their envy for the really talented Obama gets greener, they are truly becoming unhinged. If I am going to be truly honest with you, I think quite a few people are becoming unhinged in A-murder-ca (That's my new name for A-merry-ca) these days. I wonder why? I bet if they had some talent and some real skills they wouldn't be so likely to be unhinged,but frustration can cause you to do some seriously crazy things.

“'I want anyone who believes in life, liberty, pursuit of happiness to succeed, and I want any force, any person, any element of an overarching big government that would stop your success – I want that organization, that element or that person to fail,' Limbaugh told the cheering CPAC crowd. "

Of course, frustration can cause you to say some seriously crazy things as well.