Saturday, November 17, 2012

Effing Game Day to the Max!!!







Because there is simply not enough hype about sports & football @ the University of Oregon.  ESPN is having a "Game Day" event. 7 semi trucks to run the game day broadcast, 60 staff people from ESPN, people are going to camp out overnight to be 1st in line for the super hyped up event-- but here is the kicker-- as a publicity stunt, they had the Duck Mascot sky dive... & the duck lost it's head on the way down!

Puddles, the Oregon Duck, has lost his head. Puddles was skydiving with for a College Game Day segment when his head came off mid-jump. As you can see from Chris Fowler’s tweet, it was lost somewhere in Oregon. While the Duck has two more heads (this was the “third string” head according to Fowler), this must have been seen as a bad omen with a game against #13 Stanford looming tomorrow night.

The mascot head was found in a nearby town by a "good Samaritan"- wow!
Returning a mascot head is now a heroic act, and or "breaking news"!
Want to watch the news? All about Game Day!
Want the weather report? It's the Game day weather report!
People are flocking to the book store to get--- you guessed it- Game Day trinkets!
All this over the top hype is ridiculous-- it is not just "Puddles the Duck" who lost his head.
This is like the Lorax story, College Football version.





Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Surely you jest



As far as street theater goes, this is one of the best. Rather than stoop to the hateful level of the KKK, protesters upped the "buffoonery" factor.  Going the court jester route, they lightened up the tensions while making the KKK haters look like the clowns they are.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Election hangover


Seriously though, that is an extraordinary amount of coin, much of it wasted on the airways, where we the people either hit the mute button on the remote, or figured out a way to tune out, turn off, run away from it. The word "saturated" came up, when discussing this topic. 

 What with Citizens United, and anonymous funding, including foreign interests-- things have clearly become out of hand.  "Just about anything else" would be a good answer, because it is shameful that this amount of cash was blown on political campaigning for just the presidential position. 
 The first thing that came to mind when I saw this thought provoking graphic, was *education*. In our area, teachers have been laid off, some schools consolidated & closed. 
A local school asked for a bond measure-- sighting the issue that the text book they are using now, states that Bill Clinton is currently the president! 

• Help for the Homeless
• Medical funding for those in need
• Disaster relief for the East Coast

What is your response to "I'd rather have spent it on....."

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Love it

A picture says 1000 words. NYC neighbors giving back.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Rove classic

"Delicious", says Jon Stewart- watching Fox News & Karl Rove on election night, realizing Obama won Ohio & therefore Romney lost the election.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

The Divided States of America


It is pretty clear that the U.S. of A is not all that united. The election results were uncomfortably close, with many states votes almost divided in half:

Virginia 51% Obama 48% Romney
Ohio 50% Obama 48% Romney
Florida 50% Obama 49% Romney
Nevada 52% Obama 46% Romney
Wisconsin 53% Obama 46% Romney

Of course we knew Romney would win Utah (he's a Mormon Bishop!) Obama 25% Romney 73%

Ryan lost his home State of Wisconsin, in the presidential VP race, - but kept his Congressional seat.

Hawaii, birthplace of the President,  71% Obama, 28% Romney (Kenya was not able to vote! )

Other quirky election results:

• "Legitimate rape" guy Todd Akin gets kicked to the curb

• Joe-the-plumber gets flushed out by Ohio voters

• Somebody call a Waaaaaaambulance for Karl Rove, he protested FOX's newzzz Ohio call for Obama

• Colorado & Washington State go to pot-- both legalized marijuana

• Maine & Maryland approve same sex marriage
MSN reports: In both Maryland and Washington, gay-marriage laws were approved by lawmakers and signed by the governors earlier this year, but opponents gathered enough signatures to challenge the laws.
The outcomes in the four states could possibly influence the U.S. Supreme Court, which will soon be considering whether to take up cases challenging the law that denies federal recognition to same-sex marriages.
• Michele Bachmann- Maybe money can buy you an election??
MSN reports: It was the nation's most expensive House race in terms of both money raised and spent by the candidates as of mid October, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The candidates had raised a total of $22.7 million and spent $20.8, the center reported, but Bachmann had outspent Graves by more than twelve-to-one.

• Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock  said "God intended" pregnancies that result from rape, lost the election.  Apparently god did not intend for him to be a Senator- neither did a majority of voters!
N.Y. Times reports: In this heavily Republican state, Mr. Donnelly became the first Democrat in more than a decade to win a statewide race. 



Cindy Sheehan made a pre-election prediction. She said the 1% ers would win the election. It is true that both candidates are 1%ers, but President Obama worked his way up the ladder of education, poverty, student loans, etc. One thing I have always admired about him was the fact that before he was in the spotlight, he chose to be a Community Organizer. He did not grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth, and knew firsthand what it is like to see his Mom struggle with health care coverage for breast cancer. He went deeply in debt to get a college education- which took him years to pay off. So he has walked the walk- he does have first hand compassion, and I think that is an important quality in a leader. 

I still have issues with the use of drones, and I want him to be saying he will vow to exhaust all diplomatic options before deciding to use military options. 

But I do know that Mitt Romney would have done more damage to this country, and being the top 1% of the 1%ers, his world view would be to look out for those interests & the remaining 99%, or 47% of those slackers would have paid a price too high to follow his narrow vision. 

There is still a whole lot of work to be done, and if we've learned anything, it should be that we can't just hope for change, we need to work at making it happen. 









Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Whew!

We can all breathe easier, & sigh the sigh of relief the presidential election is over.
So glad the candidate who would have done so much damage, on so many fronts, was defeated.



Ann Romney made a mid day announcement on election day- if we don't win this election, we are done with politics. This one's for you Ann-- for your retirement...

Cheers!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Pre election mash up

Ugh! It's all been said. We've heard the stump speeches, the "debates", the pundits, the polls & predictions, the commercials. Americans feels like it has a political hang over from way back when all this  election year business started, when the initial parade of unvetted  fools began the race for the White House. Holy Hell! These were the GOP's finest?
So I am cleaning out my photo files of election debris, as food for thought.

For the record, I dislike the two party "system". But I will admit, if all the hype is right, & this will be a tight election, I find myself not willing to vote for a 3rd party candidate, because I do think it will be thrown away as a "spoiler" (no hope of that candidate actually winning), and worse, the possibility of the greater evil candidate potentially winning. Oh hell no. That is not a risk I am willing to take.

  I am appalled regarding the amount of money wasted on elections, approx $6 BILLION- each presidential election, exceeding the previous candidates record spending. I will admit, last election, I bought in to the Hope & Change pitch-- who amongst us,  after 8 dreadful years of the Bush 2 regime was not in need of both hope & change?
However, I do not drink the Kool aid. There are many things about the Obama admin that I am not happy with-- including the prolonged war in Afghanistan (what are we fighting for?), the drone assassinations. the fact he holds a Nobel Peace Prize (along w the likes of Mother Theresa, & MLK jr.), and engages in violence as a solution, which also has killed our economy. I think Obama should have cleaned house of Bush admin personnel, because if you keep doing things the same way, you will keep getting the same results.
I wish Obama would step up w making Federal law marriage for all - not this piecemeal/makeshift, state-by-state business we have going on now-- cross the state line & your marriage will no longer be valid?  I also hold in contempt the entire Democratic party-- for as much as the GOP, walked in lockstep, demanding tax cuts for the rich... why were the Dems unable to unite & fight back?
Why did they not use the press & withhold votes & approval, counter demanding an end to tax cuts for the rich?
Maybe because most of them personally benefit from it?
We get lip service... but the tax cuts for the wealthy go on, and bog oil & big pharma get subsidies they do not need or deserve.
The list goes on.... but Obama has done good things--- our family personally benefited w "Obamacare", I used the Clunker car gas guzzler trade in, and also did a whole lot of weatherization to our home, using rebate programs, to make them affordable. In that sense he helped us walk the walk of actually doing tangible energy saving things that result in us using less gas, & power for our home, and my College grad (seeking employment), is getting much needed dental care.  when my kid applied for college loan money under the Bush 2 admin, he was approved for a 14% VARIABLE rate loan! (promptly filed in the shredder)... Obama took the student loan money out of 3rd party baking & did student loans direct.  College loans under Obama were @ 5%, fixed rate. Average 2012 public college, In-State tuition is running $89,000 (that is tuition only, food & housing not included).  You do the math-- do you want to pay 14% variable rate interest or 5% fixed rate? Plus Obama allowed an ongoing tuition tax break, whereas Bush had a HOPE tax break for education that could only be used 2 years.
Literally, our hope ran out in the Bush 2 administration! I'm just saying there are many programs Obama has put in place that are good. Planned Parenthood funding, a push for having birth control a covered expense, and funding for many social service programs, including care for Veterans, and educational funding . I realize that is a bone of contention, because many schools are hurting & underfunded & understaffed (a local elementary school asking for a funding bond, currently uses books saying Bill Clinton is the current president!)...  I'd like all the troops removed from Afghanistan, and schools fully funded! There is no nirvana when it comes to politics. Someone will always be discontent about some thing or other. But actions speak louder than words. Ryan voted to cut funding for things like security for foreign embassies, and now points fingers at the Obama admin for not doing enough in Libya. He also disses the stim program, but actually asked for some of the money for his State!
Romney achieved a balanced budget in MA by gutting funding for higher education (60% rate increase under his watch), and raising fees & cutting local program funding (social services).
Pay attention to what they have done, not what they say.
Also, the final icing on the cake... how can someone want the highest job on the land, but not love the country enough to pay a fair share of taxes, at a time when the country is in financial distress?
Imagine Romney running for president in the 50's with multiple offshore money accounts?
He would have never made it past the primaries, a laughing stock amongst patriots.
As much as our election process is a huge headache, believe me, waking up to a Romney presidency would be a 4 year disaster we don't want to experience.


Please Vote, damn it-- 
even especially when it comes down to choosing between the lessor of two evils. 













Not playing the blame game, just the facts of who exactly wracked up huge debt???













Friday, November 2, 2012

Voting- A "Supreme" decision

When I say "Supreme decision", I'm talking Supreme court. 





This chart pretty much lays it out. We have three justices probably close to retiring...
Kennedy age 76
Scalia age 76
Ginsberg age 79

It is very likely the next president will be doing some appointing of justices to the Supreme Court. 
What difference does it make, you might ask?

The right wing court recently decided "Corporations are people" & now we have anonymous Super PACS running amuck. 

They decided against the Women of Wal Mart who claimed workplace discrimination, because it was a variety of discriminatory acts (involving lessor pay, lack of promotions etc)... the court said it would not allow a class action lawsuit. 

Another strong case to vote against those who would do most (long term) harm. 

Nuff said.