Jimmy Carter: How dare you ! There are no racists here.

Yesterday, former President Jimmy Carter suggested that - gasp!- those who disagree with President Obama are racists who cannot accept the fact that we have a black president. While I don't agree with such a broad statement, there is a great deal of truth to this statement.

The old white people at the town hall meetings concerning Obama's health care plan are very confused. A five minute search on Google turned up the following things people were protesting at these meetings: abortion, taxes, federal deficit, health care, end of life care, big government, immigration, national socialism, Obama's birth certificate and capitalism. This is merely a partial listing. Now why would a meeting concerning the future of health care attract so many protesters for so many different issues? Why are these people so angry? Where were the protesters against big, expensive government when George Bush gave a sweetheart deal to the drug companies? Where were the truth seekers when Bush lied us into two wars? It seems to me that these protesters really don't know what they are so angry about about. Could it be that....it drives them crazy that their President is black? Heavens no, that couldn't be it. After all, Jimmy Carter is way off the mark when he suggests that racism is driving much of the criticism of this president, right?

The attempt to paint Obama as the "other" or outsider is clearly an attempt to delegitimize his presidency by pointing out how different he is from the rest of us "real" Americans. There is an element of racism here as well. The accusations include: Obama is not an American citizen, he was born in Kenya, he is a socialist, he is a fascist, he is a communist. Also, it doesn't help Obama that he is educated and intelligent. A certain segment of our society has always been suspicious of intellectuals and REALLY suspicious of a guy who happens to be a black intellectual! And the protesters think, "Now this uppity know-it-all is gonna tax my hard earned paycheck and give the money to immigrants and coloreds!"

If you doubt the presence of racism in the criticism of President Obama, just take a look at some of the anti-Obama protest signs and artwork. My favorite is the guy holding the sign that says
"I want America back". Back from who? Who took your country?

R.I.P. Les Paul

August 13 2009 - Les Paul died today at age 94. He was one of my heros, having invented the solid body electric guitar and even more importantly, multitrack recording. Also, he invented tape echo, pitch shifting, and many other effects. To see how well this guy could play, check out this link from You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iGXP_UBog4

The song is called "World is Waiting for the Sunrise". The entire recording is Les on his guitar. No drums or bass, just guitar playing all the layered parts. The crazy guitar solo starts at 1:05 into the song. It is obvious that Jeff Beck was a fan of Les Paul, because many of those great Beck riffs come right from this song! No matter how many times I hear the playing on this song, I still get chills. Also, check out the documentary called " The Wizard of Waukesha" on You Tube. Les explains how he invented the multitrack recorder.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdAP7Bs6UZ0&feature=related At 8:30 into this clip, Les launches into the most insane riffing you'll ever see on a song called "Song in Blue". Truly a genius.

Sarah the Quitter

Sarah Barracuda? I don't think so.....

More like Sarah the Quitter, or better yet, Sarah the P***y. And how about that press conference where she announced she would quit? That was harder to follow than a 3 year old's account of her trip to Disney World ! Hopefully this royal ass will go away now. She and Joe the Farter have had their 15 minutes of fame.

Weak Tea: The Astroturf Movement

April 15th is "Tea Party" Day. Protesters are protesting against taxes. They say "enough is enough". But what exactly are they protesting? First, they don't like the fact that Obama wants to raise the top rate from 36% to 39% (by the way, I think that rate would still be lower than the top rate during the reign of Saint Reagan). They are also protesting the massive government spending. All Obama is doing is using the lessons of the past to try to get out of this deep recession. During the Great Depression, it was the massive government spending required to build armaments to fight World War Two that got us out of the depression. And what do the Republicans offer as an alternative? Tax cuts. Well, we've just had eight years of tax cuts. Where did that get us?
These phonies are also protesting not just taxes, but anything that President Obama wants to get through Congress. In addition, they list these grievances on their website (http://www.teapartyday.com/), making sure to use veiled language and the hot button words that play on the latent hatred and fear lurking in the hearts of these know-nothings. Take a look:
Are you fed up with a Congress and a president who:
vote for a $500 billion tax bill without even reading it?
are spending trillions of borrowed dollars, leaving a debt our great-grandchildren will be paying?
consistently give special interest groups billions of dollars in earmarks to help get themselves re-elected?
want to take your wealth and redistribute it to others?
punish those who practice responsible financial behavior and reward those who do not?
admit to using the financial hurt of millions as an opportunity to push their political agenda?
run up trillions of dollars of debt and then sell that debt to countries such as China?
want government controlled health care?
want to take away the right to vote with a secret ballot in union elections?
refuse to stop the flow of millions of illegal immigrants into our country?
appoint a defender of child pornography to the Number 2 position in the Justice Department?
want to force doctors and other medical workers to perform abortions against their will?
want to impose a carbon tax on your electricity, gas and home heating fuels?
want to reduce your tax deductibility for charitable gifts?
take money from your family budget to pay for their federal budget?
If so, participate in the TAX Day TEA party rally, the Taxed Enough Already (TEA) party.

Wow! During the Revolution, the battle cry was "No taxation without representation". Pretty easy to understand. These dopes, however, are really confused. Take, for example, the accusation that the government "takes money from your family budget to pay for the federal budget". Well, isn't that the definition of taxation? The people pay taxes to the government from their earnings so that we can have a civilized society with running water, roads, a military, public education, etc. What about, "Appoint a defender of child pornography to the number 2 position in the Justice Department"? They are referring to David Ogden. The record shows that Ogden aggressively defended the constitutionality of the Child Online Protection Act and the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996. He did represent Playboy magazine, but none of those cases had anything to do with child pornography. There was one case, while serving as counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union, he argued on constitutional grounds to strike down the conviction of a defendant who received and possessed child pornography. That is a far cry from defending child pornography. Now why would the Tea Party people put this item on their list of reasons to protest taxes? You know why...to push the buttons of the uninformed and the angry. They want to portray Obama as a left-wing intellectual communist homosexual pornographer (to paraphrase Woody Allen). What about this one: "admit to using the financial hurt of millions as an opportunity to push their political agenda"? Well, didn't George W. Bush use the 9/11 attacks to push his agenda? Everything that happened during his reign was an excuse to cut taxes and invade Iraq. Pushing your agenda when you have achieved a decisive victory in an election is what you are supposed to do. It is what the winner does. In fact, in my opinion, President Obama needs to be even more aggressive in pushing his agenda.

How about this one: "Want to take your wealth and redistribute it to others"? Well, who would be the "others"? Let's see, how will the tax protesters will fill in the blank. I'm guessing they will fill in "others" with some specific group of people. Maybe "blacks" or "immigrants"? See, they are pushing the buttons. They know the "bible and gun clingers" will fall for it every time.

Now, who is organizing this fiasco? Fox News promotes it day and night. Right-wing think tanks organize it. It is NOT a grass-roots movement like the real Tea Party over 200 years ago. It is an AstroTurf Movement - plastic, fake, manufactured. Not organic, not real. I'd call it bullshit, but at least bullshit is real.

Mark Fidrych - "The Bird"

Former AL Rookie of the Year Mark Fidrych was found dead today under a pickup truck at his home.

The Bird took baseball by storm in 1976. He talked to the ball, groomed the mound, and rocked back and forth before he threw the ball. He also threw 24 complete games in 1976, going 19 and 6 ! He was a lot of fun to watch, especially compared to the Nancys of today who can't get out of the sixth inning.

Obama reverses Bush's DUMBASS policy

Today President Obama reversed George W. Bush's retarded ruling on stem cell research. Remember back in August 2001, Bush had to go back to the ranch and "think" about what to do about stem cell research? After a few days of deep thought and discussions with Jesus, he emerged with his mentally constipated ruling: No new lines of stem cells for research. Like a retarded Solomon, he "spilt the difference".

Well, those days are over...

After eight years in the scientific wilderness, America returns to science and research. To those who say that they are "morally outraged", I say, "Shut up". You are holding the rest of us back. You say we are "playing God". But what about Dr. Jonas Salk? Was he playing God when he discovered the vaccine for polio? Why would the evil Dr. Salk try to alter the will of God? I mean, if there WAS polio, God must have known about it, right? And what about the geniuses who invent working artificial limbs for soldiers injured in Iraq? Are they "playing God"? God must have wanted them to get a limb or two blown off, right? Who are these scientists to go against the will of Allah?

I do not agree with President Obama when he says he respects the view of those who disagree. Let's face it, most embryos stored at in-vitro fertilization clinics wind up in the trash. Less than 1% are brought to term and adopted. 99% of unused embryos are thrown away. So let's do away with the myth that embryos are being unnecessarily destroyed. There is a perfectly good reason for them to be destroyed - for scientific research! To save lives of actual people, not smudges on a microscopic slide!

Throughout history, there have been two types of nations, those that put religion first and those that put science first. If you want to see what happens when nations put religion first, see: Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iran, etc. Essentially, you get a decrease in human rights and/or an increase in death and destruction. So to my pro-life, anti-science friends, I say, let us return to the fold of forward-thinking, civilized, scientifically advanced nations. And if you disagree, just shut up. The next eight years will be a looooong stretch for you (yes, I said eight years). By the way, let's attach a provision to this legislation that ensures that people who are against this research will not be allowed to benefit from it when advancements in human health are achieved through it.

Republicans responded to President Obama'a Executive Order by saying that they would immediately give all embryos additional tax cuts.

A-Rod: Can he survive among the Humans?

Hey, forget about A-Rod's steroid scandal - get a load of this questionable rubdown he's getting. The last time I saw something like this was when I walked into the wrong stall in the men's room at Penn Station.

A-Rods' steroid revelations have rocked the baseball world. Really, have they? As I have written here before, baseball is full of crap when it comes to steroids. As long as the teams are raking in the dough, they couldn't care less who is shooting 'roids. If they really cared, they would ban players who used steroids or HGH. And why can't we have the names of the 103 other players on that list of players who tested positive for illegal substances? Let's get ALL the names out, not just the high-priced Yankees. Then we'll see some fireworks. Or, allow everyone to use illegal substances by simply looking the other way and not testing anyone. And by the way, I don't buy the argument that A Rod is such a great player that he didn't need to use 'roids. He is indeed a great player, one of the greatest ever, but imagine you are him. You are facing mediocre pitchers who you know are juicing to get an edge. You just can't let that happen, no matter how much natural talent you have. Your ego won't permit it. You know other sluggers are also juicing, inflating their numbers, threatening your rightful place in baseball history. You can't allow that. So, you decide to use the same stuff everyone is using, to level the playing field. Before long, everyone is using the stuff, which is exactly what happened.

Also, lets' not kid ourselves - substance abuse and performance enhancing drugs have always been a part of American professional sports. From the 50's through the 70's, the players used amphetamines on a regular basis to stay alert. Today's football players could not grow to such immense sizes unless they were on all sorts of HGH cocktails, yet no one even questions that sport (I guess it's because baseball is such an individual sport and these larger-than -life figures really stand out and attract attention). And of course, who can forget Connie Mack's 1911 World Champion Philadelphia Athletics, who used so many of the performance enhancing drugs of that era that they were dubbed "The Laudanum Boys".... OK, I made that one up, but you get the idea.

Hey baseball, clean up your act. On second thought, don't clean up your act. Instead, give out clean needles and let the players do what they have to do to give the fans what they want. Homeruns, baby!

Bobby Jindal: Douchebag Extraodinaire !

Did you hear Louisiana Governor Bobby (not his real name) Jindal's rebuttal to President Obama's address to Congress on Tuesday night? It sounded like a speech a fifth grader might have given.
"Gee, Americans can do anything!" "My parents had to pay off the hospital bill in installments when I was born - it's a good thing they didn't miss any payments!"

Get it?

Bobby, you fucking douche.

Holy crap, this guy is the hope of the Republican party for 2012? He tells us that Republicans "went along" with big spending for the past eight years. No asshole, you guys were in charge. You had the keys to the fucking castle for most of the past eight years - and you fucked it up! I love watching these hypocrites revise history...

As a Democrat, I don't know who I would prefer to run in 2012, this guy or Sarah Palin. It is insulting how this all-white party suddenly has brown faces and women at the front of the party. They seem to be saying, "You want blacks? We've got blacks. We'll make Michael Steele the head of the party. You want broads? We've got broads. That sassy Sarah Palin is a real soccer mom! And you want slightly off color immigranty-looking guys? We've got those too! Check out Bobby Jindal!" Jesus Christ...

What makes it even worse is that his rebuttal followed a top-notch speech by a real craftsman. Whatever you think of his policies, it is evident that Obama is a serious person who speaks directly and is not shy about sharing the stark truth with the American people. When will the Right catch on that we don't want to be spoken to as if we were nine years old? Even though I support Obama and policies that are rather Liberal, I would still like to see real debate and opposing ideas about how to deal with the economic crisis. What do the Republicans offer us? Tax cuts. Enough with the tax cuts already! We've had 8 years of more tax cuts than we've ever had, and look at where we are. Maybe they could come up with one other solution. Economy bad? Tax cuts. Housing market floundering? Tax cuts. Crime rising? Tax cuts. Terrorist threats? Tax cuts. Got Hemorrhoids? Tax cuts.

Thanks Bobby Jindal. Your dismal performance on Tuesday night exposed you for the amateur you are. Republicans, PLEASE run this guy against Obama in 2012. In fact, make it a Jindal/Palin ticket. I'll even pony up some dough to their campaign.