Hints from Eileen

As we all get older, so do our parents. My Mom just turned 89 last week, and life sure has been interesting for my Sister Jeannie and me. I keep hearing a voice in my brain telling me to not get upset, but I must admit, there are days I long for a primal scream. All in all, I guess you can say Mom is intertaining. My only prayer these days is please God, give me and every Designated Daughter/Son strength. Anyway, enjoy these Hints from Eileen on how to test the limits of how much your girls really love you:

1. If you can't find the garbage, throw kleenex on the floor.
2. If you have dirty clothes on, deny that they are dirty, and wear anyway.
3. If you are hungry, fill up with popcorn just before dinner.
4. If someone left buns or desserts on their table in the dining room, put them in your basket on your walker and bring them home.
5. If it's ice cream, don't worry. It will spill into your walker basket, coat your money in your wallet and adhere all the kleenex and superfulous stuff in the same basket into one gruesome lump that your daughters will clean up on Mondays.
6. If the two paces to your closet are too far to walk to hang your clothes up, just walk 8 paces to the chair in the corner and throw them there. Your daughters will pick them up on Mondays.
7. If someone wants to get serious and try to talk logic, just laugh and throw them off.
8. If you have to be 89 and living the life of the "Queen of quite a lot", who thinks life is just a chair of bowlies, remind your girls that it's better than being 89 and a shrew.
9. If you think you might be hungry later, take food off other people's tables as you leave the dining room. Afterall, they aren't going to eat it anyway.
10. If your daughters ask you to not visit the ice cream palor 7 times a day, just deny the number 7. Then tell them that you "only have a tiny little cone, with just a little ice cream in it." They are sure to believe you.
11. If that doesn't work, start to fake cry and tell them they are being critical of you. That one actually works almost 100% of the time.
12. If you want a new winter wardrobe, increase your visits to the ice cream palor. Guaranteed to jump you 3 dress sizes. Presto, new wardrobe.
13. If you can't get out of your bras, cut the straps off with the scissors.
14. If you have chocolate candy on your fingers, wipe on nearest piece of furniture.
15. If you have finished with your toothpick, throw it anywhere you want.
16. If you don't want to take a shower, argue that you have bathed every morning at the sink. Seriously, who needs more than one bath a week?

and lastly, my favorite hint from Eileen,

17. Take your shoes off in the middle of the front room so you will be sure to trip over them. This will send you to the Emergency Room (for the third time) where you will get all the attention you want.

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An Open Letter to Joey B

Dear Sir,  

Recently, during the Gulf Oil spill hearings, you said the following:

“I do not want to live in a county where anytime a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong, [it is] subject to some sort of political pressure that, again, in my words, amounts to a shakedown."  

I found your remarks disgusting and shameful, and I am shocked that your constituents actually voted you into your current position. Had they seen you for what you nakedly are--an industry shill--I doubt they'd have so rallied behind you.  

You say you don't want to live in a country where industry can be held accountable for its misdeeds? Well, sir, the proverbial door is "that way." I hear Juarez is quite lovely this time of year.  

Regards,

Milo Freeman

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Wouldn't You Like to Be a DFH, Too?

Here you go, Id, this one is for you!

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Modern Media

I don't like modern news. I don't. Especially not cable news. The fecklessness of the 24-hour news cycle in America just makes me feel dumber every time I watch it. I get my news from online sources mostly: BBC and Reuters, HuffPo and Raw for my political fix. My problem with cable news is the polarity: I hate Fox, and I can only take so much MSNBC. I like Rachel Maddow for her investigative journalism, but everything else just seems a shoutfest.  


CNN prides itself on being the most nonpartisan of the three major cable outlets, but to achieve that they have to pick the EXACT golden mean between the two extremes of contemporary public dialogue. And as a result, they assume that ALL arguments are equally valid, and that every story really DOES have two sides. And when they do that, shit like THIS happens:


http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0407/cnn-asks-is-homosexuality-cure/


Look. My problem is not with the political leanings, or lack thereof, from CNN. My problem is with the sheer slack-jawed credulity with which they do their reporting. There is no difference, in their eyes, between the weight given to a licensed expert and some quack kicked out of an organization years ago for breaches of ethics.  

Read my lips: American cable news is STUPID. You simply DO NOT see this kind of garbage on CNN International. What happened to news that challenged authority, of any stripe? What happened to journalists that risked their lives to bring corruption and injustice to light? I turn on the news now, and all I see are talking heads. People in power promise exclusivity for favorable coverage, and types like John King, or Judith Miller, or Bob Novak deliver. Doesn't matter whether it's a D or an R on the end.  


Do you get it, America? Your news is not biased. It is simply for sale.

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Anyone Watching?

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

This is amazing television. Truly amazing.

Though I have it on the SPAN because I get sick of the MSNBC bastards thinking that their comments on what is going on are more important than what is actually being said.

Dammit. Work phone rang when Slaughter was speaking. Louise Slaughter is my hero...I will have to watch her later.

Use the thread to tell me what you think. Are you pissy? Do you think that Obama is losing this debate?

Or, are you keeping an open mind and listening to what the experts are saying?

Let me know.

I believe that real health care reform will be passed. I believe that it will happen because the Dems know that they will lose their shit in November if it doesn't. I just hope that they heed the words of Dr. Dean and make it go into effect now!

President Obama is looking like the adult and the Pukes, of course, look like the tools that they are. Heh.

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YES, It Has Come to This

Will Marry for Health Insurance dot com.

Not a joke. The real deal. Desperate woman with a story that I can very much relate to.

Fuck.

H/T to Thom Hartmann for interviewing her today.

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The Last Chance

Recently, after President Obama's State Of The Union speech, I wanted to have a different dialogue with my conservative family over politics. Take Obama's advice, stop the same old arguments and vitriol. Unfortunately, the results were not surprising.

I'll keep it short. It went something like this... Obama didn't inherit any problems from bu$h, and he should have solved the economic crisis facing the U.S. by now. The bu$h "Tax Cuts" for plutocrats have helped the American worker. "The Housing Bubble" was created by Democrats because they wanted everyone to own a home, regardless of the deceptive lending practices. True documented facts aren't history... unless it's the new fake facts, which make it solid conservative history. Why should they pay for the "Health Care Reform", when they have insurance. The old standards still hold true, "Greed is Good" and "Gay Rights" equals tolerance for pedophiles. Abolishing the Fairness Doctrine did not open the door for Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. Nullifying the Glass-Steagall Act was good "Free Market" Capitalism. The recent Supreme Court decision favoring corporate contributions still leaves individuals on equal footing. There was no long term conservative agenda or right wing conspiracy stemming from The Powell Memo, (yet, refused to read it). Don't call conservatives racists if they oppose Obama's policies, especially those conservatives who do not confront and protest the creation, spreading and/or laughing at Obama jokes; but it was fine to call Progressives and Liberals traitors when they opposed the Iraq war Americans were lied into by the bu$h administration. And the funniest line of all, conservatives don't watch FOX NEWS.

I honestly tried to start the conversation in a positive manner. I mentioned that we must have some common ground and proceed from there, I even complimented them by saying, "At least conservatives have stuck to a long term agenda for what they think is right for the country." After family values and honesty, we started to move in different directions and the discussion started to fade fast. I gave in on "National Security", but mentioned we spend too much money on it. I agreed on "self-sufficiency" after everyone from all social classes has equal opportunity. One major sticking point on "freedom from too much government", came when I said, "Then you must let the individual decide what is right for themselves, such as a Woman's right to choose." The conversation quickly moved to "Right to Life", and I mentioned it's fine for conservatives to want the baby to be born but don't support government programs for the child when he's growing up. I couldn't get any of them to concede on gun restrictions for inner cities. Since the conversation got tied up with Corporate America's rights, we didn't even get to the environment and climate change.

I will say it started genteel enough, but after awhile it was back to the same old caustic arguments. I now know it is useless to talk to these automatons, even if they are family. They are the most shallow, thick, misinformed, obtuse group of riffraff I have ever known. This was the last chance. I will stop wasting energy and effort reaching out for a middle ground... their thought process is closed off for new ideas, deeply entrenched and rooted in ignorance. I'm proud that I gave an effort but learned Progressives must outlast and persevere. Progressives cannot ever trust conservatives, they are like "The Terminator", and will not ever stop! I know the truth is on our side. Sorry President Obama, nothing has changed the conservative mindset.

cross posted at Left is Right

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Thank You Mr. President

If you have not seen it (or even if you have) please watch the President take on the GOPpers. He is brilliant and in command. He is calm, cool and collected. He has a patience and a professionalism that is unmatched.

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

Then, if you have a minute and are so inclined, please send him a thank you note. I think that it is important to reward good behavior and to let him know that we support him and have his back when he takes them on.

(I have certainly been letting him know when I disapprove.)

Thank you, in advance, for your support.

Cross posted at PAS.

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Hey Dumbasses – The Healthcare Bill Will Create Jobs Too!

The ‘conventional’ (by ‘conventional’ I mean the Beltway) wisdom seems to be that the healthcare bill is dead. The media seems to think that the election of Scott Brown and the SOTU indicates that healthcare reform is taking a back burner or being restructured or some such shit.

Then there is the NY Times article that has the ominous headline that HC is “stalled” – and an even worse headline on the link to it at HuffPo that reads “Rahm: Health Care on Back Burner.” However, when I read the article there is no quote from Rahm stating that health care reform is dead.

Here is where the article 'quotes' Rahm:

With Mr. Obama’s health care overhaul stalled on Capitol Hill, Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, said in an interview that Democrats would try to act first on job creation, reducing the deficit and imposing tighter regulation on banks before returning to the health measure, the president’s top priority from last year.

How I read that paraphrase is simply that he will sign a jobs & financial reform bill before he signs a health care bill.

Obama has repeatedly said that he can do more than one thing at a time. Obama has repeatedly said that “everyday he focuses on the economy and on job creation” – even during the healthcare debate. Imagine that, a President who can multi-task.

Not only is health reform still very much alive, the bill might get a whole hell of a lot better. Especially after Obama took on the GOP at their retreat this morning.

Obama called the GOP out on their crap – even going so far as to remind them that the more that they demonize him and the Democrats, the harder that it will be for the GOP to support policies that the Dems put forth. They cannot even support policies that they might agree with. The stupid Pukes in the Senate even voted “no” on the pay-go rule yesterday. How they can say that they are “fiscally responsible” and vote “no” on pay-go is beyond me.

Health reform is an enormous jobs bill. Look at all of the potential jobs that will be created when 40 million more people have health insurance: doctors, nurses, health care billers, health care transcriptionists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, office staff, health care IT, construction workers (to build more clinics and hospitals), etc, etc, etc. Millions of fucking jobs.

Health care reform is not dead. It is now time for the Progressives to be louder than we have ever been. We need to “scream bloody murder.” We need to call our Reps and ask them to support the public option. We need to call our Senators. We need to call the Whitehouse. We need to tell them to use reconciliation or do whatever is necessary to get it done.

We need to call and write and send letters to the editor and we need to be loud. It is time to march in the streets and raise holy hell.

Health care reform is a jobs bill. Health care reform is necessary for deficit reduction. Health care reform is a moral issue – the civil rights of our time. Health care reform must be passed now.

Cross posted at PAS.

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The Obama Presidency is Officially Over

At least that is what one would have to believe if they had listened to any of the media reporting over the last 24 hours.

OK, Coakley ran a shitty campaign. Democrats took the seat for granted. The DSCC dropped the ball. And, the votes have not even yet been counted!

There are major problems with the MA election, and I am waiting for it to be certified before I cry defeat. (I get it that certification will probably come without the full investigation of the funny machines or the BS ballots, but I can always dream.) I do not understand why Coakley jumped so quickly to concede…I do not get it, unless she planned to lose. Her concession will make it a lot more difficult to actually count the ballots.

Enough said about Massachusetts. It does not mean shit. With Bayh, Landrieu, Lieberman, Nelson, Nelson and the others, we really never had 60 votes anyway.

I spend a lot of time listening to a lot of media. I have Left Wing radio on and MSNBC almost all the time. I never miss the Sunday shows. I read endlessly. I pay attention to what is being said and how it is being said. They are working overtime right now to spin this MA election as the end of the Obama Presidency and they are wrong.

We need to call and write and make clear why it is that the Dems lost the MA seat. We need to tell our representatives the truth. They will not be hearing the truth inside the beltway because the beltway common fucking wisdom is that the problem with Obama and his presidency is the DFH.

Maybe they are correct, but not in the way that they think.

The beltway press wants to spin this that the liberals were getting too much of their way, that Obama was too far to the left, that the Dirty Fucking Hippies ruined the Obama Presidency.

They’ll say that we have to move to the ‘center.’ That we have to act like the principle-less right wing. They are blaming MA on us; it is the DFH’s fault.

The only way that it is our fault is because we have not insisted loudly enough that the Congress follow the Progressive Principles that got them elected. We worked in 2006 & 2008 to send people to congress to get it done.

We want real healthcare reform (and we want it now.) We want a real jobs package, a New New Deal (and we want it now.) We want the Employee Free Choice Act (and we want it now.) We want the banksters thrown out of the corporate world and we want their seats removed from the table at the Whitehouse (and we want it now.) We want control over our own bodies (and we want it now.) We want the ERA (and we want it now.) We want an end to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (and we want it now.) We want marriage available to any committed couple who wants it, gay or straight, (and we want it now.) We want the banking industry reformed (and we want it now.) We want the wars to come to an end (and we want it now.) We want Gitmo closed (and we want it now.) We want fairness for our people and accountability in our government (and we want it now.) We want the bankruptcy laws fixed (and we want it now.) We want the Bush Admin held accountable for their crimes (and we want it now.)

These are the messages that we need to impart to our congress critters. This is what we need to tell them. This is why we lost (if we really lost) Massachusetts. This is what we need to say to our friends and colleagues and representatives and President. This is what we need to tell them; the Obama Presidency is not over, we are just getting started. We want a Progressive congress and President (and we want it now.)

Cross posted at PAS.

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