Sarah Palin's advice for the GOP candidates, "Buy my book!" Whew! And here I thought she would be self serving.

"Hey, if you want advice from me then buy my damn book! Do I look like I give away anything for free?)

For reasons unknown the Washington Post asked Sarah "World's most famous quitter" Palin what advice she had for the current field of Republican candidates.

Here was her response:

Given the concerns I have for some of the Republican field’s focus thus far, I must implore the candidates to do something that sounds self-promoting, but whatever. Candidates, please turn to Chapter Three of “Going Rogue” and read what it takes for our country to step toward energy independence. Note the lesson I share in the same chapter about taking on the “elite,” the crony capitalists and the permanent political establishment to get a job done. 

Do you really realize what is at stake? What is at stake is our republic. The gravity of today’s situation is real. We count on you to lead our nation on the right path. Please let us know you realize this. Understand how the left’s terrifyingly naive assault on American industry exposes us to the mercy of foreign regimes whose prime objective is, at worst, our permanent demise and, at best, is stripping away our freedom. God has blessed America with ingenuity, natural resources and the strength of our workforce. Let’s use them. Tell voters that you understand this. Talk about this on the campaign trail. And quit gripin’ and moaning about “inside baseball” partisan machinations and maneuvering. We have other things to worry about. Stay strong. Focus on defending our republic and how we’ll re-industrialize our most exceptional nation in order to defeat the incumbent and win for America. 

So essentially when asked to provide helpful tips to the candidates NOT TOO COWARDLY to run for office, she immediately seizes upon the opportunity to hawk her book. You remember, the one that essentially had to be bought in bulk by Right Wing propaganda machine Newsmax, and others, in order to get anybody to read the damn thing.

And what the hell is Snowdrift Snooki even talking about when she brings up things like "the left's terrifyingly naive assault on American industry?" Is she talking about having the top 1% of the country pay their fair share of the taxes? Or perhaps she is frustrated about establishing oversight to keep corporations and banks from ripping off everyday Americans, or ushering in yet another recession due to their cavalier approach to ethical business practices? 

Personally I cannot think of an individual LESS suited to give any serious candidate for the most important political office in the country advice on ANYTHING!

Except, of course how to fake a pregnancy for temporary political gain. (Are you listening Michele Baachmann?)

Hey, perhaps the candidates would like visual reminder of how to explain "what it takes for our country to step toward energy independence.".  How did that go again? Yeah GOP, go ahead and ask advice from this giant fraud. That should really help...to get Barack Obama that second term that is!

Did 2011 signal the end of the United States as a "Hyperpower" in the world? Could be.

Courtesy of Juan Cole:

The United States is no longer the hyperpower. It can no longer necessarily act unilaterally by launching a major war of aggression at will. It lacks the resources. And, it has significant challengers in some theaters. The Obama administration was only able to act in Libya because Russia and China had allowed a strong UNSC resolution in favor of intervention to be passed. Had either exercised a veto, the Libya War would have been forestalled. And, even with a UNSC resolution authorizing the use of force, Washington felt the need to lead from behind and let France, Britain and Qatar stay in the forefront, because it feared bad PR if it were perceived to be yet again unilaterally attacking a Muslim country. 

A corollary is that each region of the world is now more independent of the US than it had been. Brazil defied the US on Libya and Latin America is defying the US on relations with Palestine. 

The greatest trend to greater independence of the US can be seen in the Middle East and North Africa. Some regimes that were almost sycophants toward Western capitals have been swept away. Indigenous and nativist political movements, especially those based in political Islam, are doing well. Religious parties came to power in Tunisia and Morocco, forming governments and selecting the prime minister. A similar development will likely occur in Egypt, Libya and Yemen in 2012. All of these governments had been dominated by billionaire politicians and increasingly Neoliberal economic policies. The new cabinets dominated by political Islam are economic populists, but likely will not challenge the US significantly. Neither can they be depended upon, however, to do as they’re told, in the way that Mubarak could have been. 

It is too early to say whether the assertion of people power, in part via the internet, in the Arab world marks a structural, long-term change in the way business is done. What can be said is that the Middle East is emerging as more independent than it had been since the 1970s.

Personally I do not see this as a bad thing, and neither should any Americans tired of seeing our wealth and resources, not to mention the lives of our young men and woman, wasted in attempts to control the politics and people of countries around the world.

And I have little doubt that this fear surrounding our loss of influence in these Middle Eastern countries is one of the driving forces behind the increase in Islamophobia among the Republican party. The idea that these countries will snip their puppet strings, and finally exert free will over their own futures, frightens the Republicans, and their corporate masters who fear losing access to all of that delicious oil.

The irony of all of this is that supposedly this is what the Bush administration had hoped to inspire in the Middle east by taking out Saddam Hussein as Iraq's dictator, democracy flourishing in the Middle East. Yet now that their wishes seem to be coming true, the GOP seem ot be panic stricken about what their invasive policies have helped to create.

Gotta love Karma, don't you?

So what do we think folks? New Gingrich tearing up, real or bullshit?

I have a pretty strong feeling about this, but I will keep it to myself until I hear from all of you first.

The dangers of taking the Bible, or any religious book, too literally.

Boy this guy is really the poster child for Christian tolerance, love, and acceptance, isn't he?

We keep hearing from the Far Right that the Qaran is this horrible, hateful book, just chock full of calls for murder and the mistreatment of women.

However the facts are that compared side by side the Bible is actually the more violent of the two books:

"By the standards of the time, which is the 7th century A.D., the laws of war that are laid down by the Quran are actually reasonably humane," he says. "Then we turn to the Bible, and we actually find something that is for many people a real surprise. There is a specific kind of warfare laid down in the Bible which we can only call genocide." 

It is called herem, and it means total annihilation. Consider the Book of 1 Samuel, when God instructs King Saul to attack the Amalekites: "And utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them," God says through the prophet Samuel. "But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."

In fact just in the first four books of the Bible, the cruelty and violence is sickening. And don't think the violence ends before the  pages of the New Testament begin.

I am not trying to pit one Abrahamic religion against another, and I certainly do not think the Qaran is much better. I am just reminding people that these books were written a very long time ago, by people who were not nearly as evolved or as highly educated as the people living today.

We are less violent, less misogynist, and less intolerant, not BECAUSE of the teachings of Islam and Christianity, but DESPITE the teachings of Islam and Christianity.

Just in case you think I am only picking on these two religions, let me just point out that my beloved Buddhism has also done little to reduce the number of wars fought by its adherents. And in Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" we see Taoism interwoven into the very fabric of the military instruction within.

Remember, man will always be man, regardless of how they worship, or to which God they send their prayers.

With Santorum "surging from behind" a desperate Newt Gingrich decides to suck up to the Palin-bots.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, who takes every opportunity possible to assure voters that he is the most serious candidate in the race, said he would be open to appointing Sarah Palin to a high level job in his administration. As Right Wing Watch reports, during a Wednesday night tele-town hall hosted by Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition, a caller asked the former Speaker if he would consider Palin as a running mate. Gingrich responded that Palin “is certainly one of the people you would look at” and told the caller that he is “a great admirer of hers.” He also floated the idea of appointing her Secretary of Energy because, he said, “I can’t imagine anybody who would do a better job of driving us to an energy solution than Gov. Palin.” “Tell her that she would certainly be on the list of one of the people we would consider,” he added.

Some of you seemed a little panic stricken about this yesterday.

Why?

Do you really think Gingrich will be the nominee?

And if by some miracle he was, do you really think he would choose Palin as his VP choice?

And if he was that brain damaged, do you think she would actually take that number two spot? Again?

And if all of the above came to fruition, do you really think this would help Gingrich win the White House?

Come on people, WE are supposed to be the intelligent side of the political divide.

This is just Gingrich's sad attempt to get a little press, and possibly win over a few undecided radicals. Perhaps he thinks it is helping Santorum, and he wants a little taste himself.

The promise of Heaven pales in comparison to the reality of what science reveals to be the true promise of our afterlife. Update.

If the picture is too small you can see a larger version here.

One of my major complaints about religion is that it interferes with the search for the TRUE beauty of our existence.  You don't have to imagine a magical explanation for the world around you, because the real explanation IS magic.

When I was in college I had this great biology professor, who always looked like he had just awakened after sleeping his his suit and rushed over to teach the class. His short grayish hair was always sticking up all over his head and his corduroy suit was wrinkled from top to bottom.

But he was a damn fine teacher, and he really enjoyed talking about science.

He also encouraged both questions and debate.  And when we got to the topic of evolution there was plenty of both.

In the middle of a Q&A a young girl stood up and asked the professor "Why scientists refuse to acknowledge the presence of God in their data?

He stopped, looked up at her about three rows away (The class had stadium seating), and simply replied, "Because we have not yet found any such data."

The girl looked irritated and followed up with "Then maybe they are trying NOT to see God in the data."

The professor walked closer to the first row and said the following:

"My dear girl, I don't believe you truly understand scientists."

"Every Astronomer who strains his eyes to study the heavens is searching for God."

"Every Microbiologist who suffers neck cramps after hours of staring at tiny samples through a microscope is looking for God."

"We search for God as we study ancient civilizations, the ocean depths, the fossils beneath our feet. Scientists search for the evidence of God every hour, of every day."

"And if we were to find it? Well that would, without a doubt, be the single greatest discovery in the history of scientific research."

"Scientists from all over the world would immediately drop whatever they were researching in order to study this new data. They would examine the evidence, test the hypothesis, and through this new prism reevaluate what they believed they knew about the universe, the world, and our place within them both."


"Not trying to see God? My dear, nothing could be further from the truth."

Yeah, what he said.

(P.S. "A Short History of Nearly Everything" can be ordered by clicking here.)

Update: I misplaced this video earlier when I was writing this post, but I just thought I would share Neil deGrasse Tyson discussing how progress is eroded by religions. It definitely provides food for thought.

"Serial Fabricators" helping to spread hate and distrust of Iran.

Courtesy of Truthout:
 
Behind a mysterious December 22 Associated Press story about "finding of fact" by a District judge in Manhattan Friday that Iran assisted al Qaeda in the planning of the 9/11 attacks is a tapestry of recycled fabrications and distortions of fact from a bizarre cast of characters. 

The AP story offers no indication of the nature of the evidence in the case except that former members of the 9/11 Commission and three Iranian defectors provided testimony. What it didn't say was that at least two of the Iranian defectors have long been dismissed by US intelligence as "fabricators" and that the two "expert witnesses" who were supposed to determine the credibility of those defectors' claims are both avowed advocates of crackpot conspiracy theories about Muslims and Shariah law who believe the United States is at war with Islam. 

The only real effect of the case is to promote right-wing political myths about Iran. One of the peculiarities of such cases is that the witnesses are not subject to cross examination in court. The witnesses have every incentive, therefore to indulge in false testimony, knowing that there will be no one to challenge them. 

The lawyers and the "expert witnesses" behind the accusation of Iran in regard to 9/11 hoped to sell the press and public on recycled claims first made by Iranian "defectors" several years ago that they had personal knowledge of Iranian participation in the 9/11 plot. The lawyers produced videotaped affidavits by three such defectors who were identified, with a dramatic flourish, as Witnesses "X," "Y" and "Z." 

I would imagine that this is the same kind of "intelligence" that has convinced those bat-shit crazy Politichicks that Iran is going to attack America at any moment, and that Sharia Law is already being used in courtrooms all across our country.

However the facts about Iran, how they in fact deal with al-Qaeda, and how they tried to reach out to America after 9-11, are significantly different than what we have been lead to believe by the GOP warmongers.


US Ambassador Ryan Crocker revealed last year that, in late 2001, the Iranians had been willing to discuss possible surrender of the senior al Qaeda officials it was detaining to the United States and share any intelligence they had gained from their investigations as part of a wider understanding with Washington. But the neoconservative faction in the administration rejected that offer, demanding that Iran give them the al Qaeda detainees without getting anything in return. 

Iran's crackdown on al Qaeda continued in 2002-03 and netted a number of top officials. One of the senior al Qaeda detainees apparently detained by Iran during that period, Saif al-Adel, later told a Jordanian journalist that Iran's operations against al Qaeda had "confused us and aborted 75 percent of our plan." The arrests included "up to 80 percent" of Abu Musab al Zarqawi's group, he said, and those who had not been swept up were forced to leave for Iraq. 

In further negotiations with the Bush administration in May 2003, Iran again offered to turn over the senior al Qaeda detainees to the United States in return for the MEK captured by US forces in Iraq. The Bush administration again refused the offer. 

By 2005, a "senior US intelligence official" was publicly admitting that 20 to 25 top al Qaeda leaders were in detention in Iran and that they were "not able to do much of anything." 

In 2008, one US official told ABC news that administration officials had not been raising the al Qaeda issue publicly, because "they believe Iran has largely kept the al Qaeda operatives under control since 2003, limiting their ability to travel and communicate." 

But in the world of the right-wing Islam-hating extremists and others pushing for confrontation with Iran, reality is no obstacle to spinning tales of secret Iranian assistance to al Qaeda. 

Not quite the picture that the Neo-cons tried to paint of Ahmadinejad and the Iranian people, now is it?

And as you have seen recently even the current crop of  GOP presidential hopeful are going well out of their way to vilify Iran, and make it the new "terrorist bogeyman" in order to frighten Americans into voting one of them into the White House, so that THEY can protect us from another false threat to "our freedoms."

Look Iran is indeed a potential threat to Israel, and could really make life hell for them, but they are not a threat to America in any substantive way. Even if they were to get a nuclear weapons that would still not significantly increase their influence in the Middle East, nor make them anymore dangerous.

Remember Israel has nuclear weapons as well, and it is ridiculous to entertain the notion that Iran is considering an act that would result in their mutual destruction.

And let's not forget how this same type of fraudulent information impacted how we dealt with Iraq.

I certainly hope that by this time Americans have finally started to notice that one of the political parties in this country is determined to keep America in a perpetual state of war.

Here's a hint: It's NOT the Democrats!

(P.S. There is much more in the Truthout article and I encourage all of you to read it.)

Michele Bachmann compares herself to Margaret Thatcher, forgetting that "The Iron Lady" actually won HER elections.

Yeah I don't think that this is a comparison that is going to fly with most people.

After all Bachmann is currently polling in last place and just had her state co-chair in Iowa jump ship. And then she lied about why he did it:

“Kent Sorensonpersonally told me he was offered a large sum of money to go to work for the Paul campaign. Kent campaigned with us earlier this afternoon and went immediately afterward to a Ron Paul event and announced he is changing teams. Kent said to me yesterday that ‘everyone sells out in Iowa, why shouldn’t I,’ then he told me he would stay with our campaign. The Ron Paul campaign has to answer for its actions,” Bachmann said in a statement. 

Sorenson denied receiving any money following the announcement at a Paul rally in Des Moines. Sorensen said the race in Iowa has come down to a two man contest between Paul and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, and he didn’t want Romney to win. 

“The fact is there is a clear top tier in the race for the Republican nomination for president, both here in Iowa and nationally. Ron Paul is easily the most conservative of this group,” Sorenson said in a statement. “The truth is it was an excruciatingly difficult decision for me to decide between supporting Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at the beginning of this campaign.”

Somehow this makes her look more like a rusty old has been, more than an "Iron Lady."

One cannot help remembering that a certain other female political has been once compared herself to Thatcher, and in fact threatened to attempt a meeting with her in England.

How did that turn out again?

Oh yeah: 

"Lady Thatcher will not be seeing Sarah Palin. That would be belittling for Margaret. Sarah Palin is nuts."

Yes who could forget that? And, who would want to?

Aren't there any OTHER famous female historic figures these losers can compare themselves to? 

You know ones that are more fitting? Like, I don't know Imelda Marcos? Or Elizabeth Bathory? Eva Braun perhaps?

I'm just saying.

It looks like hanging out with potential domestic terrorists is a tradition for Sarah Palin's family.

Sarah Palin's mom, Sally Heath, poses with possible militia members.

Oh there is so much about this picture that I wish I could share right now. But not yet. Nope, not yet.

However let me just assure you that as soon as Palin sees this there is a high probability that she is going to have a very bad day indeed.

Do you know who they are Sarah? And do you know what my having this photo indicates?

Just a reminder of the information still waiting to be divulged in case you ever get the silly idea that you could actually launch a Presidential campaign without having your entire life fall apart around you.

(Oh by they way, other than the blurring of the faces,the picture is not photoshopped.)

Okay, well NOW I get it.

I don't think I have ever seen a video that so adequately sums up the reasons for my disdain of organized religions.

With so much that unites these people, they honor their religions by creating fake boundaries guaranteed to be breached, and then engage in a violent conflict for no real discernible reason other than that they wish to fight and do harm to one another.

In many ways is that NOT the very definition for why religion can still cause so much harm in the world today?

Rick Santorum may need somebody on his campaign to let him know when he is being mocked.

Yep, you're seeing that right. Rick Santorum did indeed retweet a tweet making fun of the double entendre contained in the Philly.com headline. What a putz!

Considering Santorum's extremely dismissive attitude toward the LGBT community, this is pretty damn funny.

(H/T to Democratic Underground.)

Something that BOTH Conservative and Liberal bloggers can agree on, SOPA must be stopped now!

Courtesy of Politico:

The conservative and liberal blogospheres are unifying behind opposition to Congress’s Stop Online Piracy Act, with right-leaning bloggers arguing their very existence could be wiped out if the anti-piracy bill passes. 

“If either the U.S. Senate’s Protect IP Act (PIPA) & the U.S. House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) become law, political blogs such as Red Mass Group [conservative] & Blue Mass Group [liberal] will cease to exist,” wrote a blogger at Red Mass Group. 

Some have asserted that the controversial measures would criminalize pages and blogs that link to foreign websites dedicated to online piracy. In particular, this has concerned search engines like Google, which could face massive liability if some form of the bill passes, some say. 

“Of course, restrictions of results provided by Internet search engines amount to just that: prior restraint of their free expression of future results. Google and others, under SOPA, are told what they can or can’t publish before they publish it. Kill. The. Bill,” conservative blogger Neil Stevens argued at RedState. 

Liberals had their own spin on it, cheering on the fact that corporate support for SOPA was starting to subside. 

In particular, GoDaddy, a domain registration firm, suffered a spectacularly bad round of PR when it came out in support of the measures. But after a grass-roots campaign to boycott the firm, driven by Reddit, an online community, and others, GoDaddy reversed course and renounced its support. 

“Some good news on the SOPA front: Its corporate base of supporters is starting to crumble,” David Dayden wrote at Firedoglake. “GoDaddy is not alone. Scores of law firms are requesting their names be removed from the Judiciary Committee’s official list of SOPA supporters.

” In the blogosphere, the trajectory of the bill seemed set — that it is destined for failure if the pressure of the online community is kept up. 

This may be one of the most important issues facing those of us who love the internet, and rely on its ability to disseminate information freely.  If this law passes I would not even be able to cut and paste this article to share it with you. Even though I have little doubt that the author, Tim Mak, would like as many people as possible to read it.

It would most likely force small blogs, like this one, to shut down, and even make those with a larger internet presence, such as Google dramatically reduce how much information they made available.

The Reddit community has really taken point in this matter and is now encouraging its vast number of "Redditors" to target individual House members who support the controversial bill:

"Let's pick ONE Senator [who] voted for NDAA/SOPA and destroy him like we're doing for GoDaddy," Reddit user digitalboy wrote yesterday. "Relentlessly investigate and find skeletons in his closet, money bomb is opponents, etc."

My gut feeling is that this bill will die well before it comes even close to becoming a danger to free internet speech.  However I will continue to pay close attention to SOPA until I know that it has breathed its last, and also keep my eye out for any similar bills which threaten our ability to freely exercise our First Amendment rights.

Robert Reich's prediction for 2012: An Obama-Clinton ticket.

Courtesy of the Huffington Post:

My political prediction for 2012 (based on absolutely no inside information): Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden swap places. Biden becomes Secretary of State -- a position he's apparently coveted for years. And Hillary Clinton, Vice President. 

So the Democratic ticket for 2012 is Obama-Clinton. 

Why do I say this? Because Obama needs to stir the passions and enthusiasms of a Democratic base that's been disillusioned with his cave-ins to regressive Republicans. Hillary Clinton on the ticket can do that. 

Moreover, the economy won't be in superb shape in the months leading up to Election Day. Indeed, if the European debt crisis grows worse and if China's economy continues to slow, there's a better than even chance we'll be back in a recession. Clinton would help deflect attention from the bad economy and put it on foreign policy, where she and Obama have shined. 

The deal would also make Clinton the obvious Democratic presidential candidate in 2016 -- offering the Democrats a shot at twelve (or more) years in the White House, something the Republicans had with Ronald Reagan and the first George Bush but which the Democrats haven't had since FDR. Twelve years gives the party in power a chance to reshape the Supreme Court as well as put an indelible stamp on America. 

I agree with Robert Reich 199% on this. In fact in my opinion it is a non-brainer.

Part of the "looking for a reason to find fault with the President" crowd is made up of disgruntled Hillary supporters, who would suddenly be re-energized and anxious for the opportunity to finally cast a vote for THEIR choice in 2008.

However it would also bring a level of excitement to the race reminiscent of what Obama achieved on his own in 2008, that he simply will NOT be able to gin up this time around.

The Republicans, as I have noted before, are not at all thrilled with Romney as their candidate, but like good little stormtroopers they will march to the voting booths in lockstep for the opportunity to defeat Obama.

We need to inspire the Democrats to WANT to cast their votes, and adding Hillary to the ticket will do just that.

In my very humble opinion an Obama/Clinton ticket would be unbeatable.

P.S. And for those of you who are concerned how this might upset Joe Biden, don't be ridiculous! Biden is a true blue Democrat and he will ALWAYS do what is in the best interests of his party, as well as his country.

In fact I would be surprised to learn that Biden himself had NOT already brought this scenario up to the President. Seriously!

Actor Sacha Baron Cohen may have been instrumental in ending the Presidential aspirations of BOTH Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I am not a huge fan of Sacha Baron Cohen, though I have watched "Borat," but I may have just become a huge fan of his work.

That aroma you smell in Iowa? Well that's the smell of Palin-bot desperation.

An independent group are running ads in Iowa asking voters to write in Palin's name. They will air on KCAU-TV in the Sioux City, Iowa market. Some will also air as a commercial during the Broncos-Chiefs game on WHBF-TV in the market for the eastern border of Iowa.

And NOBODY will give a shit about them.

You know perhaps somebody needs to sit down and explain how politics works to these people. Because clearly they do not get it.

Oh and while they are at it, perhaps they should take away all of their sharp objects as well.

Just to be safe.

More good news for the future of our country. And this time we have Jon Stewart to thank.

Courtesy of Politicususa:

By losing 9% of their audience in 2011, Fox News’ prime time lineup now averages fewer viewers than Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show. 

According to TVNewser, Fox News averaged 1.868 million total viewers in prime time compared to 2.3 million for The Daily Show. 

The audience erosion continued over at Fox News as the network lost 8% of its total viewers and 14% of their viewers in the 25-54 demo. The total number of daytime Fox News viewers slipped to 1.073 million. 

“Red Eye” was the only Fox News show to post ratings gains in 2011. Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and On The Record With Greta Van Susteren all lost viewers. In the morning, Fox and Friends remained flat. Fox News still showed its dominance by having the top 13 rated cable news programs, but a certain program hosted by a comedian that Fox News loves to hate on Comedy Central blew past most of the Fox News shows in the ratings. 

According to Comedy Central, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart averaged 2.3 million viewers per episode in 2011. Unlike Fox News, “The Daily Show” was up in total viewers (+7%) and all key demos: adults 18-49 (+6%); men 18-34 (+2%); men 18-24 (+4%).” The Daily Show was also the top cable late night talk show in terms of total viewers, and was generally dominant. While Fox News was losing 14% in the demo in 2011, Jon Stewart was gaining 6%. 

Jon Stewart has become Fox News’ #1 media nemesis. To put Stewart’s ratings into a head to head context, The O’Reilly Factor tends to hover around the 3 million viewers range. Hannity is at around 2+ million, and On The Record with Greta Van Susteren varies between 1.1 million and 1.5 million as an average. This means that The Daily Show is more popular than both Hannity and On The Record, and trails O’Reilly by about 700,000 viewers. 

Every night Stewart is teaching Americans how to not watch Fox News. The Daily Show host has become the media critic with the biggest platform and loudest voice in our country, and most often that voice is targeting Fox News for their brand of “journalism.”

If the younger viewers continuing going to Jon Stewart (And of course Stephen Colbert) for their news, and avoiding Fox News like the plague, the future of our country will be very bright indeed.

You may be tired of hearing me say this, but I am incredibly proud of this upcoming generation of voters.

P.S. By the way is anybody else suffering severe withdrawal symptoms with the Daily Show on hiatus fright now? I am having a miserable time falling asleep at night without my dose of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, before I slip into my railroad train jammies and call it a night. I have been using "Two and Half Men" and "The Big Bang Theory" reruns as a placebo, but it's just not the same.

Some words of wisdom courtesy of George Clooney

Excellent point.

Even though the Republicans are demonstrating great disappointment in the fact that Romney is clearly going to end up their nominee, you can bet your house that they will turn in a tsunami of support for the chance to beat their nemesis, Barack Obama.

Can the Democrats do the same?

Are the Palin girls the next Kardashians? Yeah, not likely.

The next Kardashians? Or an episode of "To Catch a Predator?"

Courtesy of the National Enquirer:

“Sarah is getting flak from BOTH Todd and from Bristol,” said an insider. 

Todd’s proposed show about his snowmobile racing was shot down by both Discovery Communications and the A&E Network. And Bristol is strug­gling to reinvent her scrapped Bio channel reality show, this time under a Kardashian-style format featuring her boyfriend Gino Paoletti and her 17-year-old sister Willow. 

“To Sarah’s credit, she helped pitch Todd’s show,” noted the insider. 

“But he’s still furious. He thinks she didn’t work hard enough because it wasn’t centered around her. 

“And Bristol’s upset because Sarah wants to stay out of ne­gotiations for her show. Sarah isn’t thrilled with Willow being involved. But Bristol believes the show will be more marketable with Willow – that they can be the next Kardashian sisters.”

Well if this is accurate, and I have no independent confirmation that it is, it is also something that I think most of us predicted well over a year ago. If not earlier.

I have little trouble believing most of it, EXCEPT that Todd is really interested in getting his own reality show. I don't really think Sarah Palin's personal handbag carrier likes being in the spotlight.

And who can blame him? After all I have seen tree stumps with more personality then the Toad.

However  I have absolutely NO problem believing that Bristol, having given up on the adorableness of little Tripp to bring in the viewers, is now trying to prostitute her younger sister in order to attract the lecherous old men to watch their crappy reality show.

Ge Bristol I guess even after trying to convince Tripp that he is a Palin, by keeping him from his father's side of the family and embroidering "Tripp Easton Mitchell Palin" on his butt, he still refuses to cooperate with your money making schemes. Is that it?

Personally I think this is where Palin and her hillbilly crew were always determined to go in the first place. Reality television.

Let's face it, earning money for doing NOTHING except living your life while people film you, how is that NOT a Sarah Palin dream come true?

Sadly for them they are simply NOT that damn interesting. Once people were assured she no longer posed a danger to them and their children by gaining access to the White House, they simply stopped giving a shit WHAT she did.

Wow, that has to suck don't you think? So boring that you cannot even compete against such intellectually stimulating programming as  "Storage Wars," Toddlers & Tiaras," or "The Dog Whisperer."

Just when you thought the Sarah Palin's star could not sink any lower.

Fanning the flames of hate and religious intolerance through the ditziest mouthpiece on the planet, Victoria Jackson.

Courtesy of the Huffington Post:

Former "Saturday Night Live" actress Victoria Jackson, working on confidential information she as a web talk show host has special clearance to obtain, has claimed that the United States is being overtaken by radical Muslims bent on bringing the nation under Sharia law. 

"I just went to a briefing in Washington DC, across the street from the Capitol, at the Longworth building at 8:30 am two days ago and it changed my life," Jackson said last week on her web show, "Politichicks." "For six hours, I saw pictures and names and dates and facts and Islamic law books and Korans, Surahs for six hours and they proved to me... that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated our highest positions in government and this is serious." 

Jackson also detailed the meeting in an earlier blog post this December. In that post, she details testimony given by John Guandolo, a former FBI agent who worked on the case against former Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson. Guandolo resigned from the FBI in 2008 after he was caught trying to score a $75,000 donation for an anti-terrorism group from a wealthy Jefferson case witness with whom he was having an affair. Guandolo now gives speeches on the existential threat of Islam, claiming that Muslim groups are using political correctness and political insurgency to stop FBI and police officers from stopping their spread of Sharia law. 

The actress-turned-pundit also reported testimony from Maj. Stephen Coughlin, who in 2008 was effectively fired from his post at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, because, many conservatives believe, he was a staunch anti-Islamic extremist advocate. Wired reports that his contract was not renewed after a staffer for Gordon England, then the deputy secretary of defense, raised questions about his work. Last January, Coughlin gave a maligned speech during an FBI presentation on Muslim extremism.

Jesus! The stupidity is enough to make your head explode.  How in the WORLD does anybody take these idiotic women seriously?

Anybody who actually believes that Jackson was provided with "confidential information," that was NOT entirely made up or discredited, is a moron. Just imagine a reputable law enforcement representative telling Victoria Jackson ANYTHING "confidential!"

However there is a small faction of radical right wing Americans who want to believe this is true, so they buy the whole thing hook, line, and sinker.

The idea that Secretary of State Clinton is establishing Sharia law in America, or that President Obama is a "secret Muslim terrorist sympathizer, or that Timothy McVeigh had Islamic connections is simply too ignorant to contemplate. And yet these women verbalize them as facts.

As much as I would simply like to ignore these sad, sorry excuses for Americans we cannot, because they are continuing to spread lies, and misinformation, that is affecting how certain people view the world. Which allows them to be frightened into supporting unfit candidates for public office who are the ones that REALLY put our country, and the future for our children, in danger.

Who wants to bet that Palin-bots are among the most dedicated viewers of this show?

P.S. If you want to learn how these idiot got this gig, and who the hell they are, you can do so by clicking here.

President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton top list as most admired man and woman.

Courtesy of Gallup:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama continue to be named by Americans as the Most Admired Woman and Most Admired Man living today in any part of the world. Clinton has been the Most Admired Woman each of the last 10 years, and Obama has been the Most Admired Man four years in a row. Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin, and Condoleezza Rice round out the top five Most Admired women, while the top five Most Admired men also include George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Billy Graham, and Warren Buffett.

I am not at all pleased to see that George W. Bush is number two on the list of most admired men, though I do take some solace in the disparity of number between the President and him. I can't imagine how Trump and Gingrich made the list.

I am also displeased to see Palin at number four on the most admired women's list, though to be fair it is most likely the result of the Palin-bots attempting to skew the results by voting over and over again. (Think Bristol's completely undeserved ranking on DWTS.)

Which, if true, only makes this news even better.

One change in the list of Most Admired women is seen in Palin's fall from second place each of the last three years to fourth place this year.

It does my heart good to realize that even if they do cheat, there are not enough  Palin-bots to effectively hijack a poll anymore.

American Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson destroys idea of "Intelligent Design" by pointing out the complete lack of intelligence in nature's design.

So there you have it.

The only reason that people assume that things are perfectly created are those people too stupid or lacking in curiosity to investigate the truth.

And if that explanation was too hard to follow, or you just like your dismantling of the Creationist's argument to be more humorous, here is Louis CK's smackdown. Less "science-y" but perhaps more satisfying.

Young people abandon Evangelical churches in droves.

Courtesy of Laura Stepp for CNN:

Republican conservatives should be worried. Evangelical churches that frequently support conservative candidates are finally admitting something the rest of us have known for some time: Their young adult members are abandoning church in significant numbers and taking their voting power with them. 

David Kinnaman, the 38-year-old president of the Barna Group, an evangelical research firm, is the latest to sound the alarm. In his new book, "You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith," he says that 18- to 29-year-olds have fallen down a "black hole" of church attendance. There is a 43% drop in Christian church attendance between the teen and early adult years, he says. 

I'm not surprised. These young dropouts value the sense of community their churches provide but are tired of being told how they should live their lives. They don't appreciate being condemned for living with a partner, straight or gay, outside of marriage or opting for abortion to terminate an unplanned pregnancy. 

Consider the following facts about millennials in general: 

• Seven in 10 millennials say sex between an unmarried man and woman is morally acceptable (PDF). (According to Kinnaman, young Christians are as sexually active as non-Christians.) 
• Most women in their early 20s who give birth are unmarried. 
• More than six in 10 millennials (including 49% of Republican millennials) support same-sex marriages. 
• Six in 10 millennials say abortion should be legal (PDF), a higher proportion than found in the general population. A higher percentage say abortion services should be available in local communities. 

Millennials also part ways with conservative orthodoxy on wealth distribution and caring for the environment. According to a report in The Christian Science Monitor, three out of four say that wealthy corporations and financiers have too much power and that taxes should be raised on the very wealthy, and two out of three say financial institutions should be regulated more closely. In addition, most say that creationists' view on evolution is outdated. 

Sounds a lot like Democratic ideology to me.

As we all know, the Evangelical vote is the very foundation of GOP support.

With fewer young people willing to put their intellect in neutral in order to be directed as to how to think, and of course how to vote, the smaller the impact the Fundamentalists will have on the elections in this country. 

Adding this information to what we now know about the rapidly aging demographic of Fox News viewers, and the even older listeners of Right Wing radio, I think that we can now predict, with much confidence, that this country is DEFINITELY heading in a much more progressive direction.

Now we have actual data to use that disproves the Right Wing's irrational claim that America is growing more conservative. In fact it seems to be picking up speed as it rushes to embrace ideals that have long been the foundation of the Democratic party.

Have I mentioned lately how proud I am of this younger generation?

Perhaps THIS is why the Republicans keep trying to disenfranchise more and more young voters, and working to find ways to steal elections. 

Because they know that their time is coming to a close, and that someday the Republican party might well go the way of the Whig Party, and end up on the scrap heap of history. And what a great day in America THAT will be!

By the way I finally found a scientific illustration of how the fundamentalist religions work.

Yeah, that is kind of how I always pictured it.

Let's take a little peek inside the GOP clown car shall we?

So currently the media are only considering three individuals as REAL contenders for the GOP nomination, and they are Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich. (Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum could not get media attention right now if they immolated themselves on the steps of Capitol Hill.)

Personally I think that Mitt will end up with the nomination, and that this it is all smoke and mirrors from the other potential candidates, but let's go ahead and pretend this is an actual contest.

First up we have Newt Gingrich.

"Look I stand on my record. Unless you bring up embarrassing things in my record, in which case I deny it is my record."

The breaking story about him today is that the divorce papers from the end of his first marriage have now been made public.  And guess what? Newt may have lied about exactly WHO filed for that divorce. (I know, shocking isn't it?)

The documents, and interviews with people close to the couple at the time, contradict the Gingrich claim about who wanted the divorce. 

Newt Gingrich filed a divorce complaint on July 14, 1980, in Carroll County, saying that "the marriage of the parties is irretriebably (sic) broken."  

Jackie Battley Gingrich, the congressman's wife and the mother of Jackie Gingrich Cushman, responded by asking the judge to reject her husband's filing. 

"Defendant shows that she has adequate and ample grounds for divorce, but that she does not desire one at this time," her petition said. 

"Although defendant does not admit that this marriage is irretrievably broken, defendant has been hopeful that an arrangement for temporary support of defendant and the two minor daughters of the parties could be mutually agreed upon without the intervention of this court," her petition said. "All efforts to date have been unsuccessful." 

So essentially Newt's attempts to suggest that his first wife wanted out of the marriage, and filed for divorce, is NOT back up by the actual evidence. But what might prove just as damaging is a former friend's suggestion for why Newt REALLY wanted out of the marriage in the first place. 

Leonard H. "Kip" Carter, a former close Gingrich friend, backed the contention that it was Newt Gingrich who wanted the divorce. 

"He (Gingrich) said, 'You know and I know that she's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of a president,' " Carter, who now lives in South Carolina, told CNN recently, relating the conversation he had with Gingrich the day Gingrich revealed he was filing for divorce. Carter served as treasurer of Gingrich's first congressional campaigns.

Newt has been given a pass by the Evangelicals despite his numerous marriages. and numerous episodes of marital infidelity. But really HOW MUCH can these people forgive before the lies and cheating become too much for even their built in hypocrisy to handle?

The guy is beyond scummy and there is NO way he can stand next to the President without looking like a trenchcoated pervert bussed in from a local playground.

He has no real chance.

So that brings us to Ron Paul.

Here is the video of the "Baby Whisperer" with that inquisitive baby in Hawaii.

I posted the pictures yesterday, and thought that would be it for this story.

But then I saw this video.

As a man who is a complete sucker for babies, I cannot adequately explain how seeing this immediate connection with the little ones shapes my view of the President.  But it certainly does.

That may seem silly to some, but for somebody like myself who has spent decades working with children,or who is the mother of their own very young ones, it will make perfect sense.

I keep imagining Fox News desperately scouring the internet looking for at least ONE picture of a baby crying in the President's arms.  Good luck with that, because I don't think it exists.

Doonesbury illustrates exactly where Palin-bots should put their hopes for a Sarah Palin comeback. In the trash.

Sam decides to grow up and stop playing pretend.

Which includes ridding herself of the most manipulative and false fantasy object of all. Her Sarah Palin doll.

You can read more great Doonesbury strips here.

Sometimes Garry Trudeau just sums up a situation in way that is virtually perfect.

I imagine that this is directed at you Palin-bots.  It is clearly time to move on and leave behind your childish fantasies.

And really, could anything else have been MORE childish?

(H/T to Crystal Sage.)

Here is a blast from the past. Alaska's most famous singer mocks its most famous disappointment.

Betwixt The Music: Jewel & Sarah Palin from Jewel

I have to say, as an Alaskan I am proud of Jewel.

I think my feelings toward Palin are fairly well known.

(Here is a hint: Not proud.)

Former Ron Paul staffer tries to defend Ron Paul. I believe the appropriate phrase here is "EPIC FAIL!"

"Hey, hey! Stop helping me!"

Courtesy of Balloon Juice:

Is Ron Paul a “racist.” In short, No. I worked for the man for 12 years, pretty consistently. I never heard a racist word expressed towards Blacks or Jews come out of his mouth. Not once. And understand, I was his close personal assistant. It’s safe to say that I was with him on the campaign trail more than any other individual, whether it be traveling to Fairbanks, Alaska or Boston, Massachusetts in the presidential race, or across the congressional district to San Antonio or Corpus Christi, Texas. 

He has frequently hired blacks for his office staff, starting as early as 1988 for the Libertarian campaign. He has also hired many Hispanics, including his current District staffer Dianna Gilbert-Kile.

(Well hell if he actually hired black folk and Hispanic folk, than he couldn't possibly be a racist right? Yeah right.)

One caveat: He is what I would describe as “out of touch,” with both Hispanic and Black culture. Ron is far from being the hippest guy around. He is completely clueless when it comes to Hispanic and Black culture, particularly Mexican-American culture. And he is most certainly intolerant of Spanish and those who speak strictly Spanish in his presence, (as are a number of Americans, nothing out of the ordinary here.)

(So he has no problem with Hispanic people so long as they don't speak their native tongue in his presence. That is not just "unhip" that is "intolerant.")

Is Ron Paul an Anti-Semite? Absolutely No. As a Jew, (half on my mother’s side), I can categorically say that I never heard anything out of his mouth, in hundreds of speeches I listened too over the years, or in my personal presence that could be called, “Anti-Semite.” No slurs. No derogatory remarks. 

He is however, most certainly Anti-Israel, and Anti-Israeli in general. He wishes the Israeli state did not exist at all. He expressed this to me numerous times in our private conversations. His view is that Israel is more trouble than it is worth, specifically to the America taxpayer. He sides with the Palestinians, and supports their calls for the abolishment of the Jewish state, and the return of Israel, all of it, to the Arabs. 

(THAT is certainly NOT going to sit well with the Republican voters.)


Again, American Jews, Ron Paul has no problem with. In fact, there were a few Jews in our congressional district, and Ron befriended them with the specific intent of winning their support for our campaign. (One synagogue in Victoria, and tiny one in Wharton headed by a well-known Jewish lawyer). 

(WTF? He pretended to like some Jews so that they would support his campaign? And this is a plus?)

*** 

Is Ron Paul a homo-phobe? Well, yes and no. He is not all bigoted towards homosexuals. He supports their rights to do whatever they please in their private lives. He is however, personally uncomfortable around homosexuals, no different from a lot of older folks of his era. 

(That one speaks for itself.)


There were two incidents that I will cite, for the record. One that involved me directly, and another that involved another congressional staffer or two. 

(I am revealing this for the very first time, and I’m sure Jim Peron will be quite surprised to learn this.) 

In 1988, Ron had a hardcore Libertarian supporter, Jim Peron, Owner of Laissez Faire Books in San Francisco. Jim set up a magnificent 3-day campaign swing for us in the SF Bay Area. Jim was what you would call very openly Gay. But Ron thought the world of him. For 3 days we had a great time trouncing from one campaign event to another with Jim’s Gay lover. The atmosphere was simply jovial between the four of us. (As an aside we also met former Cong. Pete McCloskey during this campaign trip.) We used Jim’s home/office as a “base.” Ron pulled me aside the first time we went there, and specifically instructed me to find an excuse to excuse him to a local fast food restaurant so that he could use the bathroom. He told me very clearly, that although he liked Jim, he did not wish to use his bathroom facilities. I chided him a bit, but he sternly reacted, as he often did to me, Eric, just do what I say. Perhaps “sternly” is an understatement. Ron looked at me directly, and with a very angry look in his eye, and shouted under his breath: “Just do what I say NOW.” 

(Makes sense. Paul being a doctor knows that if he risks using the bathroom of a known homosexual he will emerge completely covered in the "teh gay."  Next thing you know he will be flaunting a feather boa and singing show tunes on the campaign trail.)


*** 

Ron Paul is most assuredly an isolationist. He denies this charge vociferously. But I can tell you straight out, I had countless arguments/discussions with him over his personal views. For example, he strenuously does not believe the United States had any business getting involved in fighting Hitler in WWII. He expressed to me countless times, that “saving the Jews,” was absolutely none of our business. When pressed, he often times brings up conspiracy theories like FDR knew about the attacks of Pearl Harbor weeks before hand, or that WWII was just “blowback,” for Woodrow Wilson’s foreign policy errors, and such.

So to be clear, this is a Ron Paul SUPPORTER.

Let's face it, Paul is NEVER going to be the GOP nominee and for every moron who truly believes this intolerant, racist asshole has a chance to win going up against the President I have a bridge to nowhere to sell you right here in Alaska.

It does not look like ANYBODY is buying the Palin family moosepoop anymore. Update!

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:

THE VALENTINE 

Popularized by: Teen mom Bristol Palin. 

How to get it: Chin work can turn your face into a perfect heart. Then deny, deny, deny.

Like I said NOBODY believes these ridiculous people anymore. And they also have no problem pointing out their lies to the whole world.

Personally I think they were kind to Bristol, since as we know there were far worse pictures of her horrible, and unnecessary, surgery that they could have chosen instead.

When the Palin-bots talk about what they perceive as the Grizzled Mama's qualifications to be president, they often talk about her ability to care for her family, and run a household.

This is ridiculous on the face of it of course, but if you were to actually accept those as qualifications, you would have to ask just what kind of "family management" produces a high school drop out (Track),  one teen pregnancy (at the very least), and inspires a young woman to get multiple plastic surgery operations before she is even 21 years of age? (Remember, in his book Levi spoke of trips to the cosmetic surgeon even before Tripp was born.)

Where is the self discipline, family values, and "steel spine" that Sister Sarah brags about constantly to the paint chip eaters?

If Palin were even half as focused on her family as she claims to be, they would be far better adjusted and much, much happier in their own skin.

Update: Someone in the comments mentioned that Bristol had broke her promise to let Tripp visit Sadie and Sherry for Christmas.  So I checked Sadie's Facebook:

Wow. The ONE day of the year we were promised to get my Nephew to celebrate Christmas and his Birthday and it gets taken away from us. 

Tripp is the real victim..how unfair to him! Does anyone think about TRIPP'S SAKE!!! I was really hoping he could finally open his Christmas gifts from LAST YEAR, and all of his new Christmas and birthday gifts, and be able to enjoy his birthday cake I made for him. 

I am so sorry Tripp. We love you so very much. I don't get how people can be so manipulative and lie without any sense of remorse just to justify their own actions. I didn't want to put this on fb but I feel the need to defend my family, because we would NEVER pass on the chance to get Tripp, and anyone who believes that we would can't tell the difference between a rock and a hole in the ground. (I have not asked Sadie if it is okay to post this, but I tend to think she won't mind. If I am wrong I'm sure I will hear about it.)


I feel terribly for Sherry and Sadie. I have been keeping my distance in the hopes that it not having me in their lives would remove Bristol's favorite excuse for not letting them see Tripp.  But clearly it made no difference whatsoever.

So they have NOT seen Tripp (Except from a distance or on the internet) for almost two years now. So much for family values.

And before that moronic Palin fairy tale troll starts in about how Mercede started it first, let me just say that I know that is not the case and so do the people on this blog. Remember I saw those text messages to Sadie from Bristol,  and also how she lied about me to break Sadie and her last boyfriend up.

However essentially it really does not matter who started what first, all that matters is that a little boy is only rarely seeing his dad, and NEVER seeing his father's side of the family. In my opinion there is NO excuse for that!

A Christmas day follow up.

I just thought I would give all of you a little update on my Christmas. (Assuming of course that anybody cares.)

Anyhow we had a great time. (In other words there were NO stabbings.)

The spinach dip was a huge hit, as always. And we all ate WAY too much food, drank too much wine, and followed that up with my mother's apple pie, which NONE of us really needed. (I just finished my workout, but it will take several more to work off that damn pie.)

My brother and I exchanged the traditional $50 Best Buy gift cards (I really don't know why we bother every year.), and other gift cards were scattered among the cousins, nieces, and nephews.

My mother cried when she opened the I-Pad my brother and I had purchased for her. That was a little unsettling as my mother rarely cries. She kept saying it was too much, but since, against all advice to the contrary, she refused to abandon us in the woods when we were little and helpless, NOTHING is too much for her.

Afterward my brother and I spent almost an hour and a half trying to set it up for her, since she did not have an I-Tunes account.

Then for some reason I-Tunes would not load properly on her computer, but my brother and I eventually worked through it as my daughter heckled us from the other room claiming that if we would have just swallowed our pride and let her, or one of her cousins do it, Mom would have been gleefully using her I-Pad an hour ago. (My brother and I were NOT to proud. We did not let them try for fear they were right. Totally different.)

Speaking of my daughter, she had decided to open her gift at my Mom's rather than at our house (Bigger audience in case  I screwed it up), and really loved her new camera. She gushed over all of it's bells and whistles, and started to describe them to me is if she was trying to sell ME the camera.  Then she found that it came with two lenses and she was just over the moon with happiness.

(I am only guessing of course, but I think I done good.)

After the opening of the gifts it was time for the insults to fly, and embarrassing family stories, to be told, but everyone was in such a good mood over their gifts that nobody had very much venom at their disposal. (Personally I was disappointed at the lot of them.)

Essentially it was a pretty great Christmas, as indicated by the fact that everybody in family is completely fucking spoiled.

But what can I say?  I love them.

I mean somebody has to, right?

President Obama assaulted.....by 8 month old baby.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:

Vacationing here, Obama and wife Michelle were visiting Marines at a military base in Kaneohe Bay during a holiday dinner in the mess hall when he came upon a baby boy in a red sweater vest and plaid shorts in American red-white-and-blue. 

“What’s going on, man? How ya doing?” Obama asked the boy, 8-month-old Cooper Wall Wagner, according to a press pool report. 

Obama lifted the baby from the hands of his parents, Capt. Greg Wagner, 25, and Meredith Wagner, 27, and held him over his shoulder. Holding and kissing babies for photo ops, that’s what presidents do. 

Acting predictably unpredictable, that’s what babies do. 

Deftly outmaneuvering Secret Service, Cooper, hands wandering, reached toward the president’s nose before sticking some of his fingers into the Obama’s mouth — an image captured for posterity by news photographers at the scene. 

The president played along merrily. “See that big nose and say, ‘I want some of that big nose,’” he was heard saying.

As I have mentioned before I put a lot of stock in how babies interact with people. They are often very good good judges of character.

And they DON'T put their fingers in the mouths of people they don't feel a connection with.

I can only imagine how Fox News and the right wing media will spin this image.

I imagine something like "President bites baby's hand."

Is Sarah Palin the DICK of the year for 2011?

"This is totally unfair. Don't you have to HAVE a dick, before you can BE a dick? Why are you looking at me that way?"

Courtesy of GreenFeed:

This is a nomination for Bright Green’s Dick of the Year 2011 award by Daniel Key. To submit your nomination email 200 (or so) words to editors (at) brightgreenscotland (dot) org. 

Since the failed election campaign and after stepping down as Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin took her charming views on gun ownership, abortion, same-sex marriage, capital punishment and other topics to Fox News. She then used this prime-time television appearance to push the influence of the Tea Party that has recently been astroturfing American politics. Sarah Palin was (seemingly) building up to run as a Republican Presidential Candidate, releasing a book, constantly criticising Barack Obama and visiting states where candidates were campaignin. 

However, just two months ago Sarah Palin officially choose not to run in the presidential election race. While this is good news for world at large, it’s a smack in the face to her supporters, who received this letter in a fundraising drive a few weeks before her announcement: 

“Gov. Palin is on the verge of making her decision… Someone must save our nation from this road to European Socialism. Do you think it should be Gov. Palin? If so, can you send your best, one-time gift to SarahPAC today to help her elect more common-sense conservatives – and show her that we support her if she decides to run?” 

Sarah Palin has effectively used her position as a money making scheme, abusing the position of trust she has with her supporters. SarahPAC, her political action committee, now has $1.4 million that can be spent any way Sarah sees fit.

Okay now for those of us on this blog, choosing Sarah Palin as "the dick of the year" may seem like a no-brainer. But, is it fair?

Don't forget that this was a year that saw Herman Cain deny any inappropriate sexual contact with at least five women who claimed otherwise, and then blamed it on their desire for fame, his Republican opponents, and the DNC.

We also saw Mitt Romney insist that people were corporations, Ron Paul claim that he had no idea there were racist rants on his new letters, and Donald Trump fake a campaign in order to bully the President into showing his long form birth certificate and make a fool out of him.

So considering all possible contenders for this title, is Sarah Palin REALLY the biggest dick of 2011?

Sometimes the things that President Obama accomplishes may seem small, but they also have significantly positive impacts on our country.

Courtesy of David Roberts:

Anyone who pays attention to green news will have spent the last two years hearing a torrent of stories about EPA rules and the political fights over them. It can get tedious. After a certain point even my eyes glaze over, and I'm paid to follow this stuff. 

But this one is a Big Deal. It's worth lifting our heads out of the news cycle and taking a moment to appreciate that history is being made. Finally controlling mercury and toxics will be an advance on par with getting lead out of gasoline. It will save save tens of thousands of lives every year and prevent birth defects, learning disabilities, and respiratory diseases. It will make America a more decent, just, and humane place to live.  

Paul Krugman weighs in:

As Roberts explains, we’ve known about these costs of mercury pollution for decades, yet it took until now to get something done. The reason is, of course, obvious: special interests, hiding behind claims of immense economic damage if anything was done, were able to block action. 

It’s worth noting that these claims of economic harm from pollution regulation have always been proved wrong when the regulation finally came. Ozone regulation was supposed to cripple the economy; so was acid rain regulation; neither did. 

Oh, and if we’re going to have to scrap some power plants and replace them, it’s hard to think of a better time to do it than now, when the workers and resources needed to do the replacing would largely have been unemployed otherwise. 

The point that strikes me most, however, is that this shows that it matters who holds the White House. You can complain about Obama’s lack of a strong progressive agenda, which I sometimes do, or wonder what good it is to hold the White House when the other side blocks every attempt to do good through legislation. But mercury regulation would not have happened if John McCain were president. 

As I have noted before, there is MUCH that this President is doing that we, the public, are simply never made aware of. 

In fact it seems to me that the main problem with the Obama presidency is not so much a lack of accomplishments, but a lack of the President blowing his horn to let us KNOW about his accomplishments. The sad fact is that because this man is so humble, we are not being made aware of just how great of a president he has become.

Dare I say that this President might be better served if he adopted just a little of George Bush's swagger?

Only this time it would a "swagger with substance."

Well I am off to celebrate Christmas in the Gryphen family tradition.

This is my tree. Yeah, I know, not terribly impressive is it?

Where's the Peanut's gang when you need them?

Still I DID decorate it by myself, while almost completely sober.

I am about to leave and visit my mother for dinner, reminders of past mistakes, and a barrage of insults from family members.

Essentially holidays spent with my family are kind of like watching a celebrity roast, only we occasionally have an actual stabbing. (In my defense it was a butter knife, and my brother was WAY out of line.)

Our favorite past time is locating the one person in the group who had the best year, and then humiliating them by reminding them of all of their past failures. This is especially entertaining if they have been ignorant enough to bring their new spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend/or current sexual partner with no place better to go on the holidays, with them.

I am often the biggest target at these dinners, not because I have the best life, but because I am the most vicious, possess the fastest wit, and really don't care for any of my relatives who did not actually give birth to me. Nobody can deal with me on their own, so they tend to gang up.

The only time this is not the case is, much like today, when my daughter is with me.

My daughter is possessed of my same quick wit, attached to an incredible catalog of ammunition courtesy of her mother (Or as I call her "That women who got me drunk and purloined my sperm to impregnate herself."). Essentially my little girl immediately comes to the aid of anybody who is  unable to defend themselves against my "teasing" and verbally eviscerates me on their behalf.

She just makes me so proud sometimes.

Besides my daughter and hundreds of dollars worth of gifts that I am required to bring in order to placate the mob, I am also forced to bring one of the only two dishes I can prepare without blowing up the kitchen.

I don't know WHY but for some reason my family thinks I make the best spinach dip they have ever had.

One year I forgot to make it and showed up empty handed.

The whole family just glared at me during the entire visit, with my brother occasionally muttering. "You know what would go good with these presents? Some spinach dip!" (Personally I think somebody is long overdue for another stabbing.)

Anyhow I will have my I-Pad with me and will try to stay on top of the comments, so if you would like to share YOUR family traditions or wish each other a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, or Super Saturnalia, feel free to do so.

The making of "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

The only other animated Christmas special that I love as much as "A Charlie Brown Christmas" would "The Grinch that stole Christmas."

However one of the main selling points for Charlie Brown's televised special was that I was a HUGE fan of the Peanuts comic strip. And I do mean HUGE.

I always felt that the best job in the world would be to create comic strips for the newspaper. Sadly I do not have any artistic talent whatsoever.

God, just watching this brought back so many memories. Now I have to go find this on television so I can watch it today.

Tennessee Christian school bans even the mention of homosexuality on campus. Oh yeah, THAT should stop "teh gay!"

Courtesy of WREG:

At least one Rossville, TN, parent is questioning school policy after her child's school sent an updated note defining its position on homosexuality. 

"My initial reaction is that it was specifically aimed at one person, and I felt very sad about that," said the parent, who did not want to be identified. 

Rossville Christian Academy is a private 4K-12 school with about 300 students. The parent believes the school's "ban" on homosexuality is illegally aimed at one gay student. The new policy reads: 

"Homosexuality is forbidden in scripture (Romans 1:27, Leviticus 18:22). A staff member or student who promotes, engages in, or identifies himself/herself with such activity through any word or action shall be in violation of this policy. Should the administration determine a violation of this policy, the person involved will be subject to disciplinary action with the possibility of permanent dismissal. Any applicant who is not in compliance with this policy will not be admitted."

It is astounding that this day and age that people can be so incredible ignorant about sexuality, and so fearful that even the mention of homosexuality will somehow increase the number of gays in their community.

You would assume that this ban would be impossible to enforce, but then you must not know Tennessee.

News Channel 3 took the policy to University of Memphis Law Professor Steve Mulroy who said the policy is legal. "It's entirely legal. 

There's no federal or state anti-discrimination law that protects gay people," Mulroy said.

Clearly these people are in a blind panic that their children will not be as homophobic as they are unless they completely damage their psyches early on by making EVEN the mention of  the gay lifestyle punishable by expulsion.

Personally I would happily see my child expelled from such a close minded, repressive school like this one.

Wait, come to think of it, she was!

And I was NEVER more proud of her.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!

Here is wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kickass Kwanzaa, or, if you prefer, simply a Happy Holidays.

It took me awhile but I finally found a nativity scene that reflected my religious point of view.

Yep, going straight to hell.