And so it ends

The United States of America is doomed; at least in any form that can honestly be called a Democracy. Of course it may remain for a while as a pseudo Democracy where government and business are intertwined to the extent that no likely coalition of individual citizens has enough power to elect representatives who are not owned by some powerful entity, as any coalition that emerges is likely to be organized around fictitious causes and motivated by delusion provided by powerful, corporate interests.

Yes, the Citizens United decision was another step in the destruction of Democracy and the reduction of the power of the private citizen, but the real leash around our neck is Rupert Murdoch's lie machine.

I got an irate e-mail today with a link to a hysterical Fox news diatribe. To the casual viewer, it would seem that a town in New York State had decided to give Hispanic voters 6 votes as opposed to the one vote everyone else has. That would, they say, allow non-citizens, the unregistered voters and the otherwise ineligible Hispanics to outvote that traditionally disadvantaged bloc, White Christians.

There must be a better word than lie for this deceitful passion play, but lie will have to suffice and lie it is because what has been portrayed as a breach of constitutional law, the creation of an activist Obama court ( even though the decision was made under the Bush administration) and an affront to democracy, is simply the time honored practice of cumulative voting. Port Chester New York, has a voter base that is about 46% Hispanic. That being less than a majority, it's unlikely that the Village Board of Trustees would include a single member of Hispanic origin. That's the sort of exclusive majority rule Righties like and to allow a voter to give one vote to each of the candidates or to give more than one to a lesser number of candidates makes it possible to have a representational board of representatives. That's the kind of Democracy Righties hate, because it allows representation to those who are by virtue of race: inferior and dangerous.

Enter the Fox. The hysterical minstrel show leads the viewer to believe that any Hispanic, whether eligible to vote or not will be given 6 votes and everyone else will have only one. Branching out from that bald faced lie, are all sorts of accusations and misrepresentations and characterizations all designed to show how under the Democrats and Liberals and Elitists, the country is going to hell and the constitution ignored.

As I said, there should be a better word than 'lie' and perhaps there is: Libel, subversion, treason and if I had a thesaurus, I could come up with a dozen, but what matters is that we have an internal enemy who has already conquered and infected the minds and souls of America and is progressing further toward supporting insurrection day by day. I'm only illustrating one of countless assaults on truth, reason, decency, democracy and the dignity of mankind, but it's enough.

Is there any hope? Not on my part and my vision of the future is the jaws of the Fox around the throat of America, forever.

TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM…

I have had insomnia most of my adult life. I have found that, as I get older, I require less sleep, functioning quite well on 5 hours. And once every couple of months I will sleep 10 or 12 hours.

Rather than fight it, I have always simply let my body set my sleep patterns. I recently decided to try a sleeping pill in an effort to sleep more normally but this resulted in a side affect I had not anticipated – I stopped dreaming.

I am one of those people that has crazy, vivid dreams – on occasion, I am being chased and as my pursuer catches up to me I open my mouth to scream and nothing comes out. If I could just scream, I would be saved, but, I cannot make a sound. I always wake up before I am caught, usually screaming in the “real” world. My husband has gotten used to this over the years and he knows the drill; ask me what the dream was about and then tell me, “you’re alright, it was only a dream.” I usually fall asleep again and dream of something nonthreatening.

So, after several weeks of no dreams I realized I missed them; even the bad dreams. Well, maybe not so much the bad ones, but not dreaming left me feeling sort of lacking every morning. My anxiety levels during waking hours had increased. I found myself more fearful, less sure of myself and that is SOOOO not me.

I stopped the pills this week and found a more holistic approach to help me sleep in the form of a tea. While it takes longer to fall asleep, I am happy to report my dreams are back.

So far this week, I have been chased and shot at but this time I had a big, strong guy with a gun to shoot back with me (decided to keep the Rambo guy to myself and not tell my husband), judged a contest between two sushi restaurants which my husband drove me back and forth between them with my truck (I don't eat sushi when awake) and I flew through the night sky to confront a bad guy. Kind of felt like Lara Croft, Tomb Raider this week.

I also found two websites about dream interpretation. Neither is all that extensive or even accurate but it’s still interesting to look up their take on dream meanings.
So, for your interpretive pleasure here is the link to DREAM MOODS and DREAM MEANINGS.

Sweet dreams everyone and if your dreams are anything like mine then I sincerely wish that NOT all your dreams come true!

Never forget 9/11

Unless it might cost offshore corporations some taxes, that is.

Well industry self regulation has been a great thing for America, hasn't it. We've all become prosperous and freedom is ringing everywhere here in Utopia now that industries we depend on can write laws and make national policy in secret. Now that they can write their own permission slips to embark on dangerous and ill advised policies and of course give unlimited financial support to politicians who handle the paperwork for them. Of course it's not government intrusion - it's not even government, at least not a government elected by or responsible to the American people. Private security companies can fight our wars for us without having to tell us what they do or how they do it - they're private, after all. Responsibility and accountiblity are, of course, COMMUNISM, as some Republicans have told us. Paying for the damage you've done is a shameful thing to ask of a Corporate Lord - the very kind of government intrusion that might take a burden off the taxpayer and place it on the corporate elite. That damned Obama!

It's all worked out so very well that there's hardly anything left to privatize, except perhaps justice itself. Now that the BP leak seems to have been plugged, it's time to figure out what went wrong and why it went wrong and who allowed it to go wrong. Who better to examine the evidence but BP, Transocean and Halliburton? We can't have our enemy, the government we elected, mucking about and trying to place blame on the guilty instead of Barack Obama, the "enviros" and the customary straw men. Offshore based companies in the business of exploiting American resources for their own profit must always be protected from the consequences of their actions and from the wrath of fish hugging liberals.

So important is that, that our own Whorehouse of Representatives is willing to sacrifice the 9/11 responders suffering from serious illnesses resulting from their efforts on behalf of our country, and why? Because of a rider that attempted to disadvantage Corporations like our beloved master Halliburton that has moved to Dubai so as not to pay takes on the windfall profits we've given them and perhaps to be out of reach when we notice how many billions they have let disappear without explanation.

It's OK, we don't want or ask for an explanation because nothing matters but taxes and if we're really nice, Baron BP and Lord Halliburton will cut taxes and we'll all be rich!

A FRIDAY FOTO

Bon weekend!

It's all opinion

And thus spake Fox:

"The Ninth Circuit court as a record of being overturned" said one voice at the table.

"Obviously it deserves to be" said another. "This judge just doesn't understand the situation."

"Well she's famous for making rulings based on her opinion. What we need are decisions based on law!"

Of course, like most clubs, mine has a policy discouraging political talk at the dinner table, but in practice, that means "Liberals shut up, Fox is talking here."

Wednesday evening at the would have been a good time to start a diet, my appetite fading as my gorge rose. Yet I said nothing. Nothing would have mattered or could have stood up to the wave of regurgitated Fox propaganda. None of those present had any background in constitutional law and like virtually all Americans have a very hazy view of what it says: indeed a hazy view of the entire Arizona Immigration law in general. But they have opinions to support any inchoate anger -- the anger and the opinions furnished by Fox News and all it costs is your freedom.

Opinion? What is a judicial decision but an opinion of what the law says? Yes, of course Article 1 section 8, clause 4 of the constitution gives all power over naturalization to the US congress, but does that grant exclusive power to regulate immigration? Perhaps there is a valid discrimination to be made, but if so, the conservative one would be that the Constitution does give the Federal Government sole power to determine who will require a visa, have a visa and what the terms thereof shall be and so it's reserved to the Federal Government to enforce those rules and no to some small town Sheriff or small minded Arizona governor buying votes from the hysterical mob.

Yes, sure, that's an opinion. As I said, any court decision is the opinion of the court and to any intelligent person, the law is open to interpretation and always will be - that's why we have the ninth circuit court in the first place. Should I be impressed that my dining companions are so knowledgeable about the history of that court? Not at all, since their rhetorical unanimity shows them to be a conduit leading from Roger Ailes's rectum to my ears. It's all opinion, but not reasoned opinion based on the law. It's based as Ailes has asserted publicly, about ratings and the sales value of anger.

My nausea having begun to subside, I was formulating a polite reply, but the rush to get home in time to watch Hannity and Beck preempted the effort. I haven't been back.

TODAY’S HORRORSCOPE FROM TOM TOMORROW

TODAY'S PREDICTION:

A conjunction of tea bagheads,
yellow kids, and solar flares.

Click on image to enlarge.

Credit: This Modern World.

BOYCOTT BEST BUY & TARGET STORES

Government of the people, by the people and for the people has perished from the earth and now lies decomposing in corporate boardrooms across America. 

The Politics of Food; Pass The Artillery

[Posted by Nance in full expectation of a classic Swash Zone food fight]

Last night's supper with grilled asparagus, whole wheat garlic
bread, and ripe peaches with grapes

I haven't written about veganism lately, but a couple of negative incidents this past week have brought my food philosophy back to the front burner. I am one of Michael Pollan's converts, still voting with my fork, to the occasional aggravation of friends and family. The politics of food is heating up, so please indulge me as I revisit my choice. Will I prosyletize? Not deliberately. And the title refers to my clever grandfather's term for silverware.

I came across an ultra-progressive blogger's piece making fun of the lame-o, piss-into-the-tide vegans who actually think what they put on their plate is going to make a difference when we can't even get a climate and energy bill before Congress. I wish I could find the article, but I haven't been able to find my butt with both hands since we got back to the East Coast. You'll have to take the word of this lame-o vegan: coming unexpectedly from what I had thought was a liberal source, it was raw enough to sting slightly and there are a lot more articles like it out there--more typically in the form of carnivore propaganda from Big Agra's brood and the Libertarians. Watch for it. (Oh, brother. Something else to get paranoid about, right?)

Not sure if it's true, but it sure
sounds impressive.

Second negative event happened while I was exercising. A woman about my age, whose politics is no secret, was talking about her grown sons coming home for a week with their families. One of the sons was headed for Afghanistan next month, and it was in sympathy for his mother that I extended an ear to her at all. She was planning menus of "real food" and proudly proclaiming that her kids "actually know what food is FOR!" She went on to declare that her boys don't diet or mince nutrients or worry their appetites with facts; there's steak and apple pie on their menu this week because, "in America, we have a RIGHT to eat that way. And why is Michelle Obama sticking her nose into the way REAL Americans eat?" I pulled my ear back in at that point. It wasn't a conversation worth having.

But it got me thinking. Why, at this age when most of my peers are declaring that their habits have been made sacrosanct by longevity regardless of their political leanings, have I gone to the trouble to make a real change at my house for the past year, one that runs against the tide of all the food mores I grew up with?

click to enlarge

I'll discipline myself to a bullet list, but I want to say first that it's not about being an animal lover. I don't volunteer for the Humane Society or make contributions to PETA or Save R Cats, although I'm not displeased that others make these issues central. And I do like this poster. I can find pets endearing and I would selfishly prefer that the species extant on the planet when I showed up here still be here when I'm gone, but that's about it. And that distanced relationship from animal protein food sources is enabled by the fact that it's hard to think of the sanitized and trimmed chunk of sirloin on the pink plastic tray, under the clear plastic wrap with the USDA stamp and bar code as Cow. My consciousness has been raised enough that I'm ashamed of that distance; for me, buying the chunk of sirloin is a vote for the whole CAFO/BigAgra/BigFuel business system. I just can't do that anymore. (Dear Friends and Family in the food business, I love you and this is entirely not personal. I admire your work.) So...

1. Climate. I believe BigAgra, which includes the livestock industry, has to change. I can actually put my mouth where my mind is on this one, so I do.  Read Michael Pollan on this.

2. Food is becoming a hot battleground for political debate. In the interest of exercising neurons by exploring opposing viewpoints, check out The Center For Consumer Freedom and the drumstick they're beating. Cruise through their links to The Epidemic of Obesity Myths (they can't have been watching the People of Walmart updates). Their animalscam.com states, "Led by PETA, the Humane Society of the United States, and other activist groups, the animal liberation movement does not seek to improve animals' lives. Its goal is to place unnecessary restrictions on ordinary people like you." I don't know anyone on the Left who sits around musing, "What new and unnecessary restrictions can I place on the ordinary people of America today?" I'm ordinary people and I vote with my fork, too.



3. Cost savings. Even with purchases from the Organic department and what Bubba Lion considers Specialty items like tofu and quinoa, our bills run about a third less than they did when meat and dairy were on the menu. In this economy, it's one way I can feel good about spending less. We look forward to growing more of our own food, although our space is limited.

4. Interesting food. I've been cooking for others regularly for forty-two years. A new way to cook chicken?...not fascinated. But I've discovered a whole world of food via veganism and I'm only beginning. Cooking this way requires thoughtful attention to plant protein, so there's nothing boring happening in meal planning. I have some cool new cookbooks that don't have ribs on the cover. They don't feature bacon desserts either.

5. Health. My husband is managing his cholesterol without medication now. It's not as low as he'd like yet, but he says he doesn't miss the meat. He still eats lowfat yogurt and cottage cheese because he loves them, and he usually treats himself to salmon when we go out, but we do that rarely now due to the expense. I don't consume dairy or fish anymore, but I don't object to people who do. Each vote is personal. We eat only whole grains, avoiding products with more than a few ingredients. We avoid sugar and all but the healthiest fats. Our meals are colorful, beautiful, delicious, and satisfying.

6. While I've put on a few pounds since retirement (this laptop now permanently attached to my lap accounts for most of it), I don't intend to wind up looking like this if I can possibly help it.

Kill the cuts

There seems to be a difference between the ultra right as represented by Ayn Rand disciple and 'free markets cure all ills' cult leader Alan Greenspan, and the ultra right as personified by the rabble rousing opportunists who feed the vernacular conservatives of America. Dilatory though he may be in admitting that free markets are no more free or self steering than a car without a driver, he's none the less not as retarded as people who claim to see Russia over the horizon, staple tea bags to their hats and shriek about tax increases they didn't get. He does, albeit slowly, question the ad hoc axioms upon which he bases his theories and thus, through doubt, he thinks, he learns, he changes.

Amidst the tumult of irate e-mails calling President Obama a liar for personally having raised the cigarette tax ( a tax is a tax, after all ) and a communist for unleashing THE BIGGEST TAX INCREASE OF ALL TIME, which actually is nothing of the sort, it's refreshing to hear Greenspan utter:

"I am very much in favor of tax cuts but not with borrowed money."

What he's dismissing is the lifeblood of Republican economic policy and has been at least since the Reagan administration: tax cuts pay for themselves. It's policy that along with a huge increase in government agencies, military spending and a war now having cost more that World War 2 was supposed to be paid for by tax cuts, but failed. It was paid for by borrowing from foreign sources with our independence as collateral.

A rational person must have noticed by now that it doesn't work and never has worked and virtually always precipitates a recession. An irrational man, a Fox man, a Conservative man, even a Libertarian man, chants liberaliberaliberal, constructs straw stuffed scapegoats and tries to distract us with fairy tales about the President's religion and parentage.

"The problem that we've gotten into in recent years is that spending programs with borrowed money, tax cuts with borrowed money, and at the end of the day that proves disastrous."

said the Former Federal Reserve Chairman on NBC yesterday. It's axiomatic in our new propaganda soaked world that fixing a problem is far less effective and more expensive than hiding it under foamy lipped hysteria, and so the tax cuts that were designed to expire this year by the Republicans who wrote them into law, become a surprise betrayal by Obama. Those liberals are betraying us by following the law we wrote!

The tax cuts, that if renewed will cost us $2.2 trillion to $3.8 trillion over the next decade and put us that much further in debt, since no, they will not pay for themselves as has been demonstrated but will further impoverish the nation but to the benefit of a handful of people and corporations. But that debt must be thought of differently than any debt incurred in extending unemployment benefits and the glaring hypocrisy must never be acknowledged. For are we not conservative?

"You don't agree with Republican leaders who say tax cuts pay for themselves?"

asked David Gregory on Meet the Press.

"They do not."

was the emphatic reply.

No Muslims here!

I have to be thankful to the Anti-Defamation League, for without them, I might not be living here and they've done much to silence the skinheads and neo-Nazis and Jew haters that would still kill us all if they could. They've done much to get Church printing presses to stop printing the infamous "protocols" fraud and making them stop teaching that kill Christian babies for their blood. But as I've said countless times, being persecuted doesn't make one virtuous.

The ADL has jumped on the out of control bandwagon, protesting the building of the "Ground Zero Mosque" which isn't a mosque and isn't at Ground Zero. I don't know how to describe that without displaying it as offensive to the freedom of religion which is one of the few things an American can point to as being fundamentally American in origin, albeit no longer unique.

To what do we owe the self-righteous attitude behind it? We're furious at a group of terrorists almost small enough to fill a school bus and most of whom are dead: so furious that we don't want anyone to worship the God of Abraham in a different way within our sight. So furious that we will ignore the prohibition against establishing a religion as permissible or not permissible or restricting the rights of one as opposed to another. If Muslims have no right to a community center in New York, they have no right to a community and if they have not that, we have not reason to see this as a country worth supporting