It's about time!

*

It's nice to see that the US military can join the rest of us in the 21st century. "Don't ask don't tell" can finally be buried in the trash heap of history where it belongs. And please spare me the lecture about the camaraderie of men and women in the military being compromised because they have to serve with openly gay soldiers. I think we have been down this road before, and things didn't turn out so bad. I just wonder how many folks like Glenda Jones had to suffer before we finally got to this point.

Also tonight, I see that yet another mentally challenged business person is drawing attention to his business by letting his ignorance flow.

"The fuss over a sign in Alabama at an electronics store reading "BBQ PORK RESTURANT (sic) IS SAFEST NO MUSLIMS INSIDE" shocked its longtime owner who said he doesn't understand why it's such a big deal.

Electronic Repair Company owner Chuck Biddinger, who put up the sign last week, said he meant the message as a joke. But he said this sign, which has garnered national attention, has gotten more positive reaction than negative -- and he has no plans to apologize to anyone offended.

He told local television station ABC 33/40 that while it was meant as a lighthearted joke, it was true.

"Muslims do not eat pork," he told the television station. "It's a known fact that Muslims have tried to commit crimes in this country."

On Friday, Biddinger said he planned to take the sign down sometime soon, but hadn't quite had the time to do it -- and was still looking for something equally eye-catching. Signs outside his shop are changed every week, usually with jokes he receives via e-mail chains. " [Story]

Say Mr. Biddinger, did you hear the one about why black folks like Tylenol?

Finally, I am sure you are all familiar with Heidi Jones by now. Let's give Heidi some credit; at least she didn't say it was a black man who tried to rape her in Central Park. Heidi apparently realized the black man did it line is getting old, so she tried the next best thing: The Hispanic guy did it.

"NEW YORK (AP) — A meteorologist on ABC's local New York station was suspended Wednesday after police said she made up claims she was assaulted in Central Park.

Heidi Jones of WABC–TV told police Nov. 24 that a man had tried to rape her a month earlier as she ran in Central Park. She said the same person harassed her outside her apartment Nov. 21 at 7:50 a.m.

Police investigated, speaking to possible witnesses and canvassing the area for a person matching description she gave of her alleged attacker: a stocky, Hispanic man dressed in a black jean jacket and blue jeans, about 5 feet 9 inches tall. Police said Jones admitted fabricating the story when investigators went back to her to discuss the case.

She was given a desk appearance ticket for false reporting, which is akin to a traffic violation and does not require the suspect be taken into custody. The charge is a misdemeanor and she was scheduled to appear in court Jan. 15. If convicted, she could face a year in prison and fines.

Jones' attorney, Paul Callan, told The Associated Press (News - Alert) that his client would plead not guilty to any charges.

"Ms. Jones has had a distinguished career as a broadcast journalist and urges all concerned to refrain from jumping to conclusions about the unproven charges against her being discussed in the press," Callan said.

Jones also fills in on "Good Morning America." WABC said Wednesday that Jones has been suspended pending an internal investigation. She worked previously in Billings, Mont., and Houston and has been with WABC for about five years.

She has a blog centered on running, where she talks about her love of the sport and her time spent running in Central Park and other locations. Her motto, according to the site, is "if you knew you wouldn't fail, what would you try?" (Story)

Excuse me counselor, I don't want to rain on your parade, but she admitted to fabricating the story. What type of "conclusions" are we jumping to here? That she lied about being assaulted? That's not too much of a leap when she actually said that she made it all up.

Oh well, she was given a "desk appearance" ticket. No harm no foul. She will cop a plea, pay a fine, and her career will take off thanks to all the publicity. My girl will be on the air doing weather in San Diego before you know it.

Isn't A-merry-ca great?

*Pic lifted from the Grio.

"Bobby's Berms."

*

I want to start this post by giving a shout out to GQ Magazine for featuring the last surviving member of the original three Wailers in this latest issue of their magazine. It was a pleasant surprise to open up the pages and see my man Bunny Wailer in full effect.

Anyway, tonight I want to write about rising GOP star, Bobby Jindal. Seems my man, like so many wingnuts before him, was wrong about something else:

Remember when Jindal was ripping his O ness a new one about his administrations inactivity and incompetence during the gulf oil spill? My man even wrote a book about it and was on every wingnut talk show from California to Maine patting himself on the back and praising his skills as a governor on knowing how to get things done. Not so fast.

Now it seems that Jindal might have been wrong all along.

"The GOP's rising star, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, was the driving force behind the construction of sand berms to curb the Gulf oil spill. They were considered environmentally unsound, and a presidential commission has found that they didn't even work.

A draft of the commission's report was released yesterday, and aside from the obvious (BP), Jindal comes out looking pretty scummy. That shouldn't really shock anyone, but the particulars of the berm deal are pretty bad. So what really happened? Well, the berms cost about $220 million to build with another $140 million committed to finish the project. The report describes them as "underwhelmingly effective, and overwhelmingly expensive." The sand berm project got nearly three times more money than any other oil spill relief project in Jindal's state of Louisiana.

But how does Jindal himself feel about the berms' effectiveness? According to Bloomberg, on November 15, Jindal appeared on the Today Show touting the project's effectiveness: "The reality is, it worked. And the reality is, it prevented that oil from getting into the wetlands 15 to 20 miles away." Hmm. How well did it work? According to the presidential commission's report, the berms only stopped about 1,000 barrels of oil... out of about 5 million barrels that were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. Nice try, Bobby!

And Jindal could have listened to skeptical experts during a June meeting to weight the pros and cons of moving ahead with the project. According to the report, "A Coast Guard officer present at the summit offered a similar [dismal] assessment. According to that officer, the experts ‘all said it's pretty crummy' and offered no ‘glowing endorsements' of berms as a spill response measure." That sure doesn't sound like something a fiscally responsible Republican would get behind.

Jindal responded with a typically shitty statement, calling the report "partisan revisionist history at taxpayer expense," which means we can call Bobby's Berms "the result of very little scientific evidence, at the environment, and people of Louisiana's expense," right? So, to all of the Gulf residents struggling to squeeze money out of BP in the wake of the oil spill, you can thank Bobby Jindal for sucking up hundreds of millions of dollars for a joke of a relief project." [Article]

What a fraud! It just goes to show you that you can't trust a wingnut with anything having to do with science.

Finally, I would like to invite all of you reading this to come to Philadelphia and see the "President's House "display. If you are a student of real history it will be worth the trip.

* Pic lifted from Gawker.com

First they took our clippers....

To all you brothers in central Florida getting your domes clipped in barber shops, please consider buying some clippers and learning to cut from the comfort of your homes.

Honestly, I have to ask: Is there no place sacred for brothers anymore? It used to be that the barber shop was our refuge. A place we could get together and bond. Cut up. Practice our own form of therapy with each other. But, sadly, if you are in central Florida, you might no longer enjoy the black barber shop experience.

"A while back, some black barbers in central Florida must have felt like they fell asleep – and woke up in 1833.

In Alabama.

That was the year when that Confederate state – as well as a number of others – passed codes that forbade five or more black male slaves from assembling. Such laws were aimed at discouraging slaves from plotting revolts, or sharing wisdom, or bonding too much for their masters’ comfort.

More than a century has passed since then, and black men have been gathering all over the place; at lodges, at the post and especially at the barber shop.

That’s where they get a haircut, where they take sons and grandsons to get their first haircuts, where they talk about the news of the day, and where they dispense wisdom and talk trash.

But nowadays, this misguided War on Drugs seems to have given law enforcement free rein to do what slave owners and Bull Connor once did: To act on stereotypes instead of evidence; to automatically see a bunch of proud and often boisterous black men as being up to no good.

At least that seems to be what’s been happening in Orlando.

Officers with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office raided some 40 barber shops in black and Latino neighborhoods between August and September. Rather than go through the trouble of obtaining search warrants, they tagged along with inspectors from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to enter the shops.

To hear the barbers and customers tell it, what happened next was nothing short of a nightmare.

According to the Orlando Sentinel and other news outlets, witnesses said the officers conducted SWAT-style raids on the shops, complete with police dogs and, in some cases, drawn weapons.

In some shops, barbers were forced to lie on the floor and submit to pat-down searches. Drawers and lockers were pried open with bars and a battering ram, and extensive damage was done.

Lawyers representing the barbers said that customers, including those who were in the middle of getting haircuts, were ordered out of the shop, and criminal checks were run on them.

After all that humiliation, however, only three drug-related crimes were uncovered. But dozens of barbers were arrested and jailed for minor license infractions – and, for extra fun, were driven around in police vans as they moved on to raid other black barber shops.

Keep in mind that only three barbers in the past decade have been arrested for license violations. Most get a citation and a $500 fine.

To his credit Jerry Demings, Orange County’s black sheriff, has ordered an internal investigation of the raids and has said that the license arrests were overkill. The DBPR has fired three officials involved." [Story]

Maybe some over zealous inspector mistook shaving cream for cocaine one day, and things kind of went down hill from there. Or, maybe you Negroes are up to something in those barber shops. All that laughing and joking around has to be artificially induced. You black men are never happy.

The chase continues.

Things seem to intensify during the holiday season. People's emotions tend to get the better of them, and their true feelings always comes out. It's why my man racism works in overdrive around this time. But I have no problem with chasing his ass around the room and shining a light on him when he stops. The trick is to find the real Mr. R, and not fall for the fake ones like this author did.

Dateline Indiana:

"A business owner in Nobesville, Inidana has been selling soap with racist slogans. Residents of his town have come to support him after he was criticized for the racist soap. Fox 59 Reports:

The controversy over soap with racist labels being sold at a Noblesville store continues. In addition to those who are offended by the store selling these items, there is also growing support for the vendor who has been ordered to take the soaps off the shelves or face eviction.

After hearing about the soap, Carolyn Gentner bought two bars including one labeled “Kolored Kids.”

“I don’t think they’re offensive, I think they’re nostalgic,” she told Fox59 News. “I believe if this is going to be an issue, we should be in Kroger for selling Aunt Jemima syrup. " [Story]

"Growing support", indeed. Oh for those good ole days.

Dateline Illinois:

"CHICAGO-Chicago Sun-Times) A 4-year-old boy was Duct-Taped at the Pui Tak Christian School, in Chicago Illinois and the boy’s parents, Harold and Cara Irving, who are African-American, are claiming that race was a factor. The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

“I received a call from the school informing me that my son was in the principal’s office because he refused to take a nap, and he didn’t want to wash his hands,” Irving told me.

“I told them that I would come and pick him up. I arrived shortly after that and found him standing there with his hands duct-taped together.”

“She told me that I have to tell my son that it is not acceptable not to listen, and this is how it ends up with kids getting guns,” Irving said.

“My reaction was: ‘Are you kidding me. Is this what you think of little black kids?’ ”

Irving said he’s also concerned that school administrators treated his son like a criminal, thus reinforcing the stereotype that young black males are dangerous.

“I can’t think of any other race that they would have done this to,” Irving said. “If we don’t stop stereotyping and demoralizing black boys, we will precipitate the stereotype. We have to send a message that this is unacceptable for anyone’s child.” [Story]

Momma don't let your sons grow up to be Negroes.

Still, I don't know; it doesn't seem that anybody is safe in A-merry-ca these days.

Troy Dale's revenge.

AOL.Black Voices, you are killing me with material tonight. (No, not this clown, he is just looking for attention. *Yawn*)

I think I will start down in that beautiful state of Georgia:

A white man from Georgia who beat a black female Army reservist as her young child looked on and begged him to stop has been released from jail early.

Troy Dale West (pictured above) had only been sentenced to six months in prison for beating Tasha Hill (pictured below), after they had words while both trying to enter a Cracker Barrel restaurant.

West allegedly punched Hill in the face, kicked her as she fell to the ground and yelled racial epithets.

An early release for a man who beat a woman-one who is serving our country no less- in front of her child while screaming racial epithets? Nice. (I know slave catchers and house servants, she had it coming. You can't just go walking around looking like a victim.)

"The sheriff in Clayton County, Georgia, said West received two days of time served credit for every day he painted trailers. He also acknowledged receiving pressure from West's friends to release him early, but said he did not relent. "

You can't make this stuff up. What gets me is not the ignorant racist who attacked this woman. I expect that in A-merry-ca. What is troubling is the justice system, once again, failing one of its citizens. It would have been nice if the folks in Clayton, Georgia decided to send a message to Mr. Deliverance. But I guess the sheriff wanted to get reelected. Old Troy Dale must have had a lot of friends. [Story]

Finally, you Negroes can pat yourselves on the back for contributing to modern science here in A-merry-ca:

"University of Illinois professor Deborah McGregor has shed light on an important piece of American history. McGregor has noted that Dr. James Marion Sims, considered the father of modern gynecology, developed many of his techniques by operating on slaves, many of whom were not given anesthesia.

McGregor, author of 'From Midwives to Medicine: The Birth of American Gynecology,' said "There is no doubt that he carried out experiments on women, and that he was only able to do so because they were slaves."

Part of the controversy regarding Sims centers around a statue placed near Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street in New York City. The statue is located next to the New York Academy of Medicine, in a neighborhood that is majority black and Puerto Rican. EastHarlemPreservation.org put a poll on its Website that asks: "Should the NYC Parks Department remove the statue of Dr. Marion Sims from its East Harlem location considering his experiments on female and infant slaves?"

Child birth without anesthesia? Goodness! How did Dr. Sims look into the eyes of those poor women? [Story]

I bet Troy Dale West would have made a great assistant to the good doctor.

Oprah, next time take in a nice game of Cricket.

How is this for irony? So Ms. O's peeps were upset when she visited a doll shop "down under" and found "Mamee dolls" for sale.

This is ironic, because some would argue that part of the reason for Ms. O's allure and staying power is because millions of suburban housewives who are her loyal viewers tune in because of a certain....how do I say this? "Mamee" comfort level.

"As part of her Australian adventure, for some reason Oprah Winfrey thought it was important for her lucky troupe of 300 viewers to visit the Dafel Dolls And Bear Shop in Melbourne. Who knows? Perhaps this store has a cultural legacy that makes it of critical importance to visit when one goes to Australia. But Ms. Winfrey was shocked and disturbed when her producers discovered that this store makes some of its money by promoting one of the most unflattering stereotypes of black women in history: the mammy. Yet, she visited the store anyway. Hip Hop Wired offers a summary of what occurred:

An Australian store was forced to remove seemingly racist dolls called "Mamee Dolls" to prepare for a visit from Oprah Winfrey.

As previously reported, Winfrey and her audience on an eight-day Aussie adventure as part of her 'Favorite Things' segment give-away.

According to the Herald Sun, the talk show mogul and her 300 guests were scheduled to visit The Dafel Dolls And Bear Shop in Melbourne when her producers requested that the store's "Mamee" dolls be removed from the shelves.

The Mamee dolls show a dark skinned African-American woman with red lipstick, wearing a maid costume and a scarf around her head.

The store owner reportedly obliged and the dolls were removed." [Story]

A couple of questions: Why was Ms. Winfrey "shocked and disturbed"? Does she really believe that the world that exists on the set of Harpo Productions- where all those white assistants fawn over her is the real world? Second question: Why did the store owner remove his/her Mamees just to accommodate Ms. O? Is he/she not going to put them right back out after she leaves? And I know I said a couple, but I have one more: If Ms. O was so offended, why did she still go to the shop?

It's been a rough week for Ms. O. (Rough being a relative term.) Seems some folks were saying that she was trying out for The Color Purple 2 by doing a little acting when she sat down recently with Barbara Walters:

"There is no way Oprah would be able to end her 25 year run without any noise. Only two days after Oprah’s interview with Barbara Walter aired, now writer and journalist Ian Halperin, suggest that one of Oprhah’s former employees has decided to share some info on the fake tears shed during the taping…

Oprah Winfrey had a dramatic display of emotions, in an interview with Barbara Walters, when she rebutted rumors that she was in a secret lesbian relationship with BFF Gayle King.

However; investigative journalist and writer, Author Ian Halperin claims the billionaire media mogul used a special chemical so she could come across all emotional for the Barbara Walters’ interview.

“She wanted to make the interview as dramatic as possible so she could promote her new TV station,” said one of Oprah’s former employees.

“Her tears were fake. She put a chemical in her eye to make her cry. She has used that technique before on her show.” [Story]

Don't worry about the haters Ms. O. I got your back. Do you have any of those giveaways left?

Our black president: Sarah does Haiti.

I am watching "G" on the tele while I get ready for my birds. (Hey,whatever happened to Chenoa Maxwell?) I better get this post in or I won't have time to do it later.

So it finally took a Havaaad professor to tell A-merry-ca what black folks already know: that his Oness, in spite of his white mama, is black. And I know that I tease and call him the beige president and half and half, but I knew it too. Please believe that the one drop rule is still in effect here in A-merry-ca. It's why that clown who used to have the great golf game before he started playing like he was a young Hugh Hefner had us black folks laughing when he tried to come up with some exotic name to define himself. Yea right Tiger, and I am a Jamaricanegro.

Anyway, there is now academic evidence that most A-merry-cans view his O ness as a black man, first:

"A recent study out of Harvard University has concluded that the typical adult American sees mixed-race Americans like Barack Obama and Halle Berry as being more black than white. The study, conducted by Arnold K. Ho, a doctoral student of Psychology at Harvard, says that even when bi-racial people are equally mixed with both the white and black races, they are seen as being more black than white.

Ho conducted the study with James Sidanius, a Professor of Psychology and African American studies, also at Harvard.

The authors interpret their findings to relate to the "one-drop rule," based on a 1662 law in Virginia that connected mixed-race individuals to their lower social class. Even as recently as 1985, a Louisiana court ruled that a woman with a black great-great-great-great grandmother could not claim that she was white on her passport.

"One of the remarkable things about our research on hypodescent is what it tells us about the hierarchical nature of race relations in the United States," Sidanius said. "Hypodescent against blacks remains a relatively powerful force within American society."' [Source]

"Hypodescent", that's a fancy word, what dat mean?

"In societies that regard some races of people as dominant or superior and others as subordinate or inferior, hypodescent is the automatic assignment of children of a mixed union or mating between members of different socioeconomic groups or ethnic groups to the group that is considered subordinate or inferior.[1] The opposite practice is hyperdescent, in which children are assigned to the race that is considered dominant or superior.

Parallel practices include agnatic descent and cognatic descent, which assign race according to the father or mother, respectively, without regard to the race of the other parent. Since either parent (or both) might be of mixed-race, hypo- and hyper-descent can operate in tandem with, or separately from, a system of agnatic or cognatic racial assignment."

Thank you. That explains a lot.

And it's not only Obama. Halle, this means you too. I guess having that white boyfriend didn't help much.

Finally, I see where my girl Sarah is down in Haiti getting her missionary work on.
Good for her. Although I hear that her trip has more staging than a Broadway play. (Sorry folks, only FOX NEWS allowed.)

“I’ve really enjoyed meeting this community. They are so full of joy*,” . “We are so fortunate in America, and we are responsible for helping those less fortunate.”

Yes they are Sarah. They are a joyful bunch those Haitians.

Anyway Sarah, I hope you read my blog before you leave, because I have some travel tips on Haiti for you:

1. Caribou does not mean I love you in Creole.

2. Papa Doc was not the name of a famous pizza company there.

3. Port-au-Prince was not named after a famous American pop star.

4. Those little black things you see running around are children, not baby grizzly bears.

5. I know it seemed like a short flight but Haiti is not a part of Louisiana.

6. And, finally, whatever you do; please don't tell them that you are there on behalf of FOX NEWS to investigate their pact with the devil.

Go Birds!!!

A post for the adults.

It looks like terrorism has hit home for the folks in Sweden of all places. It just goes to show you that no one is safe in the world anymore. This battle for the soul of militant Islamic minds could be raging for awhile. -Coming to a town square near you. -

Anyway, tonight I want to share something I ran across while reading Slate.com and get your opinions on it. It has to do with the very serious and sensitive subject of incest and how one particular case is being prosecuted in the state of New York. Since we are all adults I figured we could discuss it and learn from each other.

"David Epstein, a 46-year old political science professor at Columbia University, has been charged with third-degree incest for allegedly having consensual sexual relations with his 24-year-old daughter. Under New York State law, a person is guilty of that crime when he or she has sex "with a person whom he or she knows to be related to him or her, whether through marriage or not, as an ancestor, descendant, brother or sister of either the whole or the half blood, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece." If the allegations are true, that would apply to Epstein—and also to his daughter. Why wasn't she charged for the crime as well?

Because she's seen as the victim. Prosecutors could have made a case against the daughter, but when it comes to incest, the authorities tend to focus on one party. In this situation, "consent" is irrelevant, since it's the act itself that constitutes the crime; and blame tends to fall on whichever half of the incestuous couple has more control. A law professor told Salon today that children are generally assumed to be part of a "protected class" even when they're above the age of consent. So the older party tends to be considered the guilty one, although in some cases—a man caring for his bedridden and elderly mother, for example—the ages of perceived control could be reversed.

In some cases, both parties are held accountable. Earlier this year, a 48-year-old man from Palm Coast, Fla., named Alton Everett Smith pleaded guilty to incest after impregnating his 27-year-old daughter. She, too, was charged with incest (after giving birth to her own half-brother) and is now serving five years of probation.* That's despite the fact that the father was clearly in control of the relationship: He was pimping her out for sex on Craigslist. According to court records, the daughter has a tattoo reading "Daddy's Girl" on her behind.

What happens in cases in which the power dynamic is less clear—as between similarly aged siblings? As a general rule, an older sibling will be in greater legal jeopardy than a younger one, and a brother gets more blame than a sister. In 2003, a football player named Tony Washington was convicted of engaging in sexual intercourse with his biological sister. At the time of the act, she was 15 and he was 16. While Washington pleaded guilty (and is now a registered sex offender) his sister was never charged." [Story]

Now before anyone goes off the rails on this and says that this is a double standard and reverse sexism run amok; I give you cases where mothers were charged with having incestuous relationships with their sons, here and here.

I am just trying to help you come to a "fair and balanced" opinion. There seems to be so little of that these days.

Sarah Vick?

I am totally hyped for my "birds" going into Big D this Sunday and taking on the Cowgals. Here is hoping that my main man, Michael Vick, chuck and ducks out another win for the birds. (Did I mention that I hate the Cowgals?)

Michael Vick is a perfect segue into my next post, because I want to talk about my girl Sarah Palin and an interesting double standard being played out in A-merry-ca.

Unless you have been living on another planet you know by now what Michael Vick was accused -and ultimately found guilty- of. He served two years and lost a hundred million dollars for his mistreatment of Fido. But thankfully, and with all due respect to F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are second acts in American lives. And Michael Vick is burning up the stage while he plays out his. But I digress.

Sarah Palin has been torturing animals and killing them for sport as well, and she is a hero to a lot of people here in A-merry-ca. Why? Where is the outrage for this heartless killer? Sadly, it took a Hollywood screenwriter to point out our willful hypocrisy:

Unless you've never worn leather shoes, sat upon a leather chair or eaten meat, save your condemnation."

You're right, Sarah, we'll all just go fuck ourselves now.

The snotty quote was posted by Sarah Palin on (like all the great frontier women who've come before her) her Facebook page to respond to the criticism she knew and hoped would be coming after she hunted, killed and carved up a Caribou during a segment of her truly awful reality show, Sarah Palin's Alaska, broadcast on The-Now-Hilariously-Titled Learning Channel.

I eat meat, chicken and fish, have shoes and furniture made of leather, and PETA is not ever going to put me on the cover of their brochure and for these reasons Palin thinks it's hypocritical of me to find what she did heart-stoppingly disgusting. I don't think it is, and here's why.

Like 95% of the people I know, I don't have a visceral (look it up) problem eating meat or wearing a belt. But like absolutely everybody I know, I don't relish the idea of torturing animals. I don't enjoy the fact that they're dead and I certainly don't want to volunteer to be the one to kill them and if I were picked to be the one to kill them in some kind of Lottery-from-Hell, I wouldn't do a little dance of joy while I was slicing the animal apart.

I'm able to make a distinction between you and me without feeling the least bit hypocritical. I don't watch snuff films and you make them. You weren't killing that animal for food or shelter or even fashion, you were killing it for fun. You enjoy killing animals. I can make the distinction between the two of us but I've tried and tried and for the life of me, I can't make a distinction between what you get paid to do and what Michael Vick went to prison for doing. I'm able to make the distinction with no pangs of hypocrisy even though I get happy every time one of you faux-macho shitheads accidentally shoots another one of you in the face." [Source]

I could not have said it better myself.

"Evildoers"

I see that the evil ones are still up to their old tricks in Washington:

"WASHINGTON – House and Senate Republicans on Wednesday thwarted Democratic efforts to award $250 checks to Social Security recipients facing a second consecutive year without a cost-of-living increase.

President Barack Obama and Democrats have urged approval of the one-time payment, saying seniors barely getting by on their Social Security checks face undue hardships without the COLA increase.

But most Republicans contended that the nation couldn't afford the estimated $14 billion cost of the payment, and that the COLA freezes in 2010 and 2011 come after seniors received a significant boost in 2009.

The measure was brought up under a fast-track procedure in the House that required a two-thirds majority for passage. The 254-153 vote in favor of the bill fell short of that." [Source]

Damn! You mean to tell me that you republi-clowns can't afford $250 for grandma? That's the cost of a tie and a shoe shine for you boyz. But I am not surprised, republi-clowns tend to roll like that:

"An Indiana baby needs life-saving surgery, but the state health care agency -- whose budget was slashed this year -- won't pay for it.

Six-month-old Seth Petreikis suffers from complete DiGeorge syndrome, which keeps him from developing a thymus, an infection-fighting glandular organ. He needs a transplant that's been pioneered by a specialist at Duke University in North Carolina. But the procedure costs $500,000, and the state's Family Social Services Administration won't pay for it under the state's Medicaid, reports the Northwest Indiana Times. It claims that the treatment is "experimental" -- even though 58 of 60 children to receive it have survived.

We last wrote about Indiana's FSSA after some of its staffers told parents to drop off their developmentally disabled children at homeless shelters. The parents had failed to receive schedule Medicare waivers to pay for care, after Gov. Mitch Daniels -- who is now weighing a possible 2012 GOP presidential run -- cut the agency's funding to deal with a budget shortfall." [Source]

At least we know that they don't discriminate; they f&^% over young and old.

But wait, there is more:

"The Senate Republicans did what they said they'd do today -- they blocked a bill aimed at providing over $7 billion in federal money for 9/11 responders and their families because it came before a vote on taxes. But despite the almost scripted outcome, Democratic Senators behind the bill seemed shocked at the outcome.

"We are gravely disappointed," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), a key sponsor of the bill, told reporters following the failed cloture vote. "When every Senator on the Republican side signed a letter saying no business can be done until they had a vote a vote on a tax issue, I find [it] to be morally reprehensible."

Sen. Chris Coons, a Democratic Senator from Delaware for all of three weeks, said the bill was the first one he chose to co-sponsor. The fact that the GOP stopped it in its tracks (for now, at least) was a surprise, he said." [Source]

Oh my! The young; the old; and first responders.

Still, if you are the GOP, it must be nice to know that you have a major news network in your pocket to work on your image for you:

"It's no secret that Fox News' political coverage isn't always quite "fair and balanced." But emails obtained by Media Matters show that Fox News' Washington managing editor Bill Sammon urged his staff to actually echo Republican talking points on the health care debate.

According to the emails, Sammon directed his staff to use specific wording when describing the health care debate, preferring the term "government option" over "public option."

Here's an email that Sammon allegedly wrote, outlining his instructions:

1) Please use the term "government-run health insurance" or, when brevity is a concern, "government option," whenever possible.
2) When it is necessary to use the term "public option" (which is, after all, firmly ensconced in the nation's lexicon), use the qualifier "so-called," as in "the so-called public option."

3) Here's another way to phrase it: "The public option, which is the government-run plan."

4) When newsmakers and sources use the term "public option" in our stories, there's not a lot we can do about it, since quotes are of course sacrosanct.

Apparently Sammon's instructions made an impact. Media Matters reports that Republican pollster Frank Lutz in August told Fox News' Sean Hannity that referring to health care reform as a "government option" creates more public disapproval than calling the reform a "public option." Media Matters also reports that the memo affected Fox News anchor Bret Baier's wording from one night to another." [Source]

You can't make this stuff up. And yet, there are folks in A-merry-ca who still believe that the folks over at Radio Rwanda are real journalist. Unbelievable.

Imagine there's no hypocrites in Washington.

So it's been thirty years since that wack job with the Catcher in the Rye jones put a cap in John Lennon's dome. He seemed like a cool dude and all, but I never understood the obsession. (Field, that's heresy! I know.) This is how f&^%$d up I am; Ringo Starr has always been my favorite Beatle.

Anyway, it looks like O might share a tragic anniversary with Lennon. This is the day that Lennon died, and it might very well be the day that the Obama mystique died as well. (At least with the lefties) I sure hope not. Maybe he will be ultimately viewed as a disappointment, but he does have two years to go. That is an eternity in polit-tricks.

Folks want to know why I am not as pissed off about his O ness caving as some other people, and I always have to explain that I never expected as much from the man as the people who are crying a river now. I took him for what he was: a career politician raised in old school democratic urban politics with a centrist and go along to get along mind set. He is no more no less. Ultimately what type of president he was going to be was going to depend on the people he surrounded himself with. That's why I was disappointed when I saw the first cast of characters.

---I am still waiting for someone to get his ear who knows what is going on with real people in A-merry-ca.

Still, what is pissing me is watching folks like Mary Landrieu play Jane f&^%$#g Addams all of a sudden. Give me a break! Question for folks like Michael Collins over at the Agonist; why are you even using Mary Landrieu as an example of liberal angst?

"Here's what Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu said about the deal. Landrieu is a conservative Southern Democrat with big energy agenda. She represents a very conservative state. Even she knows this deal is a disaster.

"He's enthusiastic about this new arrangement dealing with the Republican caucus that stated, according to their leader, their number one objective is to unseat him. I can understand trying to appeal to independent voters. I do that myself. I think it's very important. But this sort of enthusiasm for caucusing with Republicans – and he didn't even, literally, didn't even speak to the Democratic caucus. Not any of it. Not the liberal group, not the moderate group, not the conservative group," said Landrieu. Senate Democrats Openly Upset with Tax Cut Deal

When Mary Landrieu opposes your strategy on tax cuts for the rich, you know you've gone too far. But Obama is just doing his job, the one he signed up for - an elegant, charming functionary for the ruling class who could fool people just long enough to allow the Bush bailout looting to continue in full force."

Ahhh excuse? Let me remind you folks of something: MARY LANDRIEU VOTED FOR THE BUSH TAX CUTS! (h/t Lawrence O'Donnell for calling out this fraud)

" this "is beyond politics. This is about justice and doing what's right."

O- man, no wonder you're going gray.