Now THIS is good and the TRUTH!

Now, like never before, my support for Pres. Barack "The Messiah" Obama, has never been so tepid, and he really is testing my beliefs as an independent voter.

Not only am I getting really tired of what I see as his "People Magazine" moments posing with the Queen of England and world leaders, I'm really getting steamed at his brown-nosing of the Islamic world and putting the United States down as "arrogant and derisive." I guess having 3000 Americans murdered at the hands of Islamic terrorists means nothing to him. Well, it means something to me. I have tolerance and respect for different belief systems (I have very good friends who are Muslim), but to go around the world as Pres. Obama has in the past two weeks (it feels like a month!) as he has is short of disgusting.

Hey, Barack, why not come back to Washington DC and actually try to get some work done, huh?

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Barack Obama, making his first visit to a Muslim nation as president, declared Monday the United States "is not and will never be at war with Islam."

Calling for a greater partnership with the Islamic world in an address to the Turkish parliament, Obama called the country an important U.S. ally in many areas, including the fight against terrorism. He devoted much of his speech to urging a greater bond between Americans and Muslims, portraying terrorist groups such as al Qaida as extremists who did not represent the vast majority of Muslims.

"Let me say this as clearly as I can," Obama said. "The United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. In fact, our partnership with the Muslim world is critical ... in rolling back a fringe ideology that people of all faiths reject."

The U.S. president is trying to mend fences with a Muslim world that felt it had been blamed by America for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

OBAMA: OUR OWN HUGO CHAVEZ?

I'm very troubled with the news tonight that General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner resigned under pressure from the White House and Pres. Obama. While the U.S. Government might try to have a say how the bailout of GM and the other automakers goes, it troubles me that Pres. Obama goes around making pronouncements of this type. That is being a DICTATOR. Here he is loading up the American taxpayers with a frightful debt so that he can pursue his social/leadership agenda and now he is playing King.

As a Republican who after the fact has come to support Pres. Obama, I'm not sure how much longer I can support him. On one level he is doing the cheezy press junkets (Jay Leno, etc.), yet he is on the other leading us into uncharted waters with his agenda. What is he going to do next, order the slaughter of anyone who opposes him?

Pres. Obama has 1.5 years to get things right, just as the fickle American people supported him by bringing in more Democrats to support his agenda, if he messes up, there is no telling that his Democratic majorities can be sustained.

Only time will tell.

Simply brilliant.


Iran: A nation of bloggers from Mr.Aaron on Vimeo.

This is evidence that I'm right on my point about the Mormon Church and their positions on legislating how other people should live. They are no different than the Muslims who come to the United States (for reasons beyond me), and try to change the fabric and attitudes of our country.

To be "diverse" we don't have to accept every language and culture which someone thinks we should embrace without question.

WHAT HYPOCRITES!

Tonight was the much vaunted (you don't know how long I've wanted a reason to use that word) episode of the HBO Mini-series "Big Love" about a fundamentalist polygamist Mormon family, where a hereto sacred secret rite of the Mormon Church was depicted featuring the show's main female star, Jeanne Tripplehorn. According to the show's producers, the scenes were written with great attention to accuracy down to the white veils worn by the women.

During the past week, the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Voiceover here: "The Mormons") wrangled in the media how they felt it was "offensive" to Mormons to have this rite being shown on television...although the depictions of the rite are readily found on the good ol' Internet. HBO did the corporate thing by "apologizing" (read: "appeasing") the Mormons although they continued with their plans to show it. On the other hand, the official position of the LDS church was not to ask for an official boycott of HBO and its corporate daddy, Time Warner. It was the same kind of PR mud wrestling that the Catholics blustered over with the release of "The Da Vinci Code" -- which I found to be a VERY boring and wandering movie. (Of course, the other little untold story that "Big Love"'s executive producers, Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, are a gay couple, and I wouldn't put it past them that this was their way of retribution against the Mormons for their less-than-Godly conduct in California politics.)

Notwithstanding, my suggestion to the Mormons at this point would be for them to FUCKING SHUT UP. The official image of the Mormons would be for them to be a God-fearing goody-two shoed Shirley Temple/Mrs. Brady-like religious faith. But in actuality, as someone who almost joined the sect, the Mormons are a faith/belief system bred in a dark mythology wrought with politics and very strange rites.

I find it very interesting on one hand the Mormons are screaming and yelling about how the sanctity and privacy of one of their religious rites. Yet, the Mormons think nothing about prying and legislating themselves into the sanctity of private bedrooms of gay Californians by spending tens of millions of dollars to bring to victory a California state proposition which effectively bans homosexual marriages.

Mmmmmmmmm....somehow the old wise saw, "Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks," comes to mind...especially apropos for a religious sect who loves to build big glass temples....and delights with the concept of stoning a group of people which it deems as not worthy to breath air, much less, love as their hearts leads them to love.

Just as she was accused of "driving without a license" diplomatically many years ago when she allowed Suha Arafat to speak at a women's conference in the middle east where she accused Israel of actively engaging in Palestinian infanticide, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is once again showing she should be home watching over Bill rather than trying to make her mark as U.S. Secretary of State.

On her first trip abroad, she "gets in bed" with the Palestinians much to the chagrin of Israel by supporting the Hamas-led infitada, and then makes a gaffe at the European parliament by stating that American democracy has a longer history than European democracy. I guess the Greeks don't count.

The article doesn't mention her gaffe with the Russian Foreign Minister when she gave him a gift of a red "reset" button with a Russian printed on it which means "overcharge" or "overload."

I'm tending to believe these days that Pres. Barack Obama brought on Hillary Clinton not because of her White House and Democratic party ties, but rather to keep his sworn enemies closer.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Hillary Clinton raised eyebrows on her first visit to Europe as secretary of state when she mispronounced her EU counterparts' names and claimed U.S. democracy was older than Europe's.

Clinton has set herself a grueling pace on visits to Egypt, Israel and Brussels soon after touring the Far East, attending dozens of meetings and giving speech after speech, with little time worked into her schedule for sleep.

Tiredness appeared to show Friday when she answered questions in front of 500 young Europeans at the European Parliament, where she was the highest-ranking U.S. visitor since the late President Ronald Reagan in 1985.

A veteran politician, Clinton compared the complex European political environment to that of the two-party U.S. system, before adding:

"I have never understood multiparty democracy.

"It is hard enough with two parties to come to any resolution, and I say this very respectfully, because I feel the same way about our own democracy, which has been around a lot longer than European democracy."

The remark provoked much headshaking in the parliament of a bloc that likes to trace back its democratic tradition thousands of years to the days of classical Greece.

One working lunch later with EU leaders, Clinton raised more eyebrows when she referred to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who stood beside her, as "High Representative Solano."

She also dubbed European Commission External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner as "Benito."

Still, Clinton has been well received in Brussels, where the Obama administration has been viewed as a breath of fresh air after the unpopular leadership of George W. Bush. His secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, often drew protests on her travels.

Fellow foreign ministers stood and applauded Clinton's presentation at a meeting with NATO counterparts Thursday and extra space had to be set aside for a spillover audience of 800 at the European Parliament.

Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering was effusive in his praise, saying that with the new administration, the United States and Europe once again "share the same values."

"What you said mostly could have been said by a European," he told Clinton after she fielded questions ranging from climate change to energy security and aid to Africa and one on gay rights from a participant wearing an "I love Hillary" t-shirt.

So many things lately, watching the turmoil amongst the Democrats, the turmoil amongst the Republicans, the turmoil amongs the American people which reminded me of one of the BEST openings of a novel, specifically, Charles Dickens' "The Tale of Two Cities" :

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

"Tolerance is a noble virtue. Consideration is a better one."

Talking about having a shitty day.........

Robbery trial comes to abrupt end

UNION-TRIBUNE

6:30 p.m. January 27, 2009

SAN DIEGO – A robbery trial ended abruptly Monday when a defendant smeared feces on his lawyer and threw it at jurors, authorities said.

Weusi McGowan, 37, had apparently smuggled a plastic bag filled with excrement into the San Diego Superior Court building, said Paul Levikow, spokesman for the District Attorney's Office.

As the jurors stood to leave for their mid-morning break, McGowan smeared the feces in the face and hair of his attorney, Deputy Alternate Public Defender Jeffrey Martin, and threw it at the jury box. It did not hit any of the jurors.

Judge Jeffrey Fraser declared a mistrial.

Levikow said McGowan was apparently upset because the judge had previously denied his request to dismiss his lawyer.

McGowan faces charges including kidnapping and assault in connection with a robbery in Barrio Logan in October 2007. He is accused of hitting a 54-year-old man with a rock in a sock and demanding money and drugs.

McGowan is also accused of tying up the man, ransacking his apartment and stealing his 1994 Ford Taurus

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is receptive to the idea of prosecuting some Bush administration officials, while letting others who are accused of misdeeds leave office without prosecution, she told Chris Wallace in an interview on "FOX News Sunday."

"I think you look at each item and see what is a violation of the law and do we even have a right to ignore it," the California Democrat said. "And other things that are maybe time that is spent better looking to the future rather than to the past."

Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced Friday he wants to set up a commission to look into whether the Bush administration broke the law by taking the nation to war against Iraq and instituting aggressive anti-terror initiatives. The Michigan Democrat called for an "independent criminal probe into whether any laws were broken in connection with these activities."

President-elect Barack Obama has not closed off the possibility of prosecutions, but hinted he does not favor them.

Perhaps at the same time we need to initiate a criminal probe of Senator Edward Kennedy and his culpability in the murder of his campaign worker, Mary Jo Kopechne.

Oh....forgot...silly me...he needs to be excused that, one, he is a "Kennedy," and, two, he has brain cancer. Those are two good reasons.

And of course, we have nothing else dire to take care of in this country.

Now what chapter of the classic book "How To Make Friends And Influence Others" by Dale Carnegie did Venezuelan dictator miss in his read and study?

Venezuela's Chavez says Obama has "stench" of Bush

Sat Jan 17, 2009 4:44pm EST

CAMPO CARABOBO, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday Barack Obama had the "stench" of his predecessor as U.S. president and was at risk of being killed if he tries to change the American "empire."

Most world leaders expect a new era of U.S. foreign relations when Obama, a Democrat, is sworn in as president on Tuesday after Republican George W. Bush's eight years in the White House.

But Chavez said frayed ties with Washington were unlikely to improve despite the departure of Bush, who the Venezuelan leader has often called the "devil."

"I hope I am wrong, but I believe Obama brings the same stench, to not say another word," Chavez said at a political rally on a historic Venezuelan battlefield.

"If Obama as president of the United States does not obey the orders of the empire, they will kill him, like they killed Kennedy, like they killed Martin Luther King, or Lincoln, who freed the blacks and paid with his life."

Obama, who will be the first black president in U.S. history, was given Secret Service protection on the campaign trail earlier than is customary for candidates and security for Tuesday's inauguration is extremely tight.

Venezuela is a leading supplier of oil to the United States and the two countries once enjoyed close ties.

Relations deteriorated after Chavez first won election in 1998 as he took on U.S. companies as part of his socialist agenda of nationalization of various industries and accused Washington of backing a brief coup against him.

Last year, he expelled the U.S. ambassador from Venezuela.

Chavez's foreign policy is based on countering U.S. global influence and promoting countries like Russia and China as world leaders. He has close ties to U.S. foes Cuba and Iran.

Until recently, Chavez had said he hoped relations with Washington could improve. But in the last few days, he has picked up on comments he attributes to Obama accusing him of obstructing progress in Latin America and exporting terrorism.

For the past four days I have been suffering a severe allergic reaction to an antibiotic I was taking for two weeks for a nasty sinus infection over Christmas and New Year's. I'm not even going to go through the details of what I looked like, but suffice it to say that I was covered with very red splotches on my Scandinavian bluish-white skin on my entire body...with a miserable feeling of almost best described as a severe sunburn that itches from the inside and the outside. I saw it coming on so I was able to get the proper care before the total onset of the severe allergic reaction. Still, I was so beaten down emotionally with being alone, feeling woozy from the meds, and with my skin breaking out. I was one total piece of mess. (I have to say a couple of friends did call to keep check on me however they could...something which I so appreciated.)

Anyway.......True to my luck, in the midst of the bout I received the following very comforting advertising letter with the appropriate soothing pink printed paper with serene images of flowers and things associated with death from a local crematorium. And best of all, they are offering me a deal I simply can't refuse!

I don't know how they figure it out, but everytime I come down with an illness which beats me down with a Rocky Balboa-like knockout punch, I ALWAYS get these kinds of letters. (I think they must have some triggering mechanism with my local Target pharmacy.)

In the words of Charlie Brown, "Good grief...."

ROURKE: 'BUSH WAS IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME'

Monday January 12,2009
London Daily Express

Actor MICKEY ROURKE sympathises with U.S. President GEORGE W. BUSH - insisting he doesn't know how any politician could have successfully navigated America after the 9/11 attacks on New York.

The Hollywood tough-guy spoke out about his political views in a candid interview with Britain's GQ magazine, and admits he doesn't understand why so many people blame Bush for a string of world issues - including Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism in the West.

And the actor, who claims he didn't follow last year's (08) historic U.S. election battle between Barack Obama and John McCain, urges the public to consider the tremendous pressure the controversial president was under following the terror attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001.

He tells the publication, "President Bush was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I don't know how anyone could have handled this situation.

"I don't give a f**k who's in office, Bush or whoever, there is no simple solution to this problem... I'm not one of those who blames Bush for everything. This s**t between Christians and Muslims goes back to the Crusades, doesn't it.

"It's too easy to blame everything on one guy. These are unpredictable, dangerous times, and I don't think that anyone really knows quite what to do."

Rourke also confesses he was so angry after 9/11, he wanted to fight the war on terror himself.

He adds, "I'm not politically educated. But I do know that after 9/11 I wanted to go over there, you know what I'm saying?"

And the star is baffled by the U.K.'s approach to fundamentalists - insisting he was taken aback by the freedom of speech allowed in the U.K.

He explains, "I was in London recently and I couldn't believe all these hate-talking fanatics you have over here who are allowed to carry on doing their thing even when a bus full of women and children gets blown to pieces.

"I know you've deported one or two of them, but it seems crazy. I think there is worse to come, something terrible will happen to either America or the U.K., or France even. I don't think these fundamentalists should be allowed to talk all this crap, and brainwashing these young kids."

THERE IS apparently some intelligence in Hollywood....

I made this very point the other day about President Bush's performance over the past eight years to a friend of mine.

I find it interesting when my "blue friends" get more than a bit uncomfortable and unnerved and suddenly change th conversation when I make the suggestion when President-elect Barack Obama is really going back to center and is already bucking heads with the liberal Democrats.

So many Democrats have taken snippets of what President-elect Obama has said during the campaign and used "projection" to make it mean what they think it means. Believe me, I see it at as great vision that Pres. Obama is going to be disappointing a lot of liberal Democrats when he takes office next week. He said he wants to close Gitmo....like John McCain...but it could be YEARS before that actually happens. And while gay activists march around with placards with Obama's campaign logo in rainbow colors, he has made it very clear that he is against gay marriage and will not support it in anyway...yet the gay community rallies around Pres.-elect Obama as though he is their biggest ally.

To say the very least, methinks it's going to be an interesting three-and-half years.

I didn't vote for President-elect Obama, but I'm going to be his biggest supporter...because he represents a major "change" -- for better or worse. And that's good news for the greatest country in the world.

Magnetosphere revisited (audio by Tosca) from flight404 on Vimeo.

As someone who proudly works beside a proud member of the U.S. Army who is a disabled war veteran, I could not communicate this message any better.

Just as I respect and honor the right of those to have an opposing view about Sen. Obama, I have the high expectation of those who disagree with me to respect my views. After all, our country was built on diverse views and the tradition of respecting others who may have opposing views on an issue.

I really find the political immaturity of liberal elitists constantly mindbending. Here they go around ranting and raving about why their point of view is the "only" point of view (just like whacked out "born-again" Christians" -- what was wrong the first time?) totally dismissing any dissenting views.

Now it would seem that San Francisco voters are going to be given the option to vote in the name of a sewage treatment plant in the name of President Bush. I say, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Why not name the bridge where the drug-and-alcohol-womanizing addicted Senator Ted Kennedy plunged off the side (with the U.S.S. Oldsmobile) with campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne the "Sen. Ted Kennedy Memorial Bridge"?

San Francisco Votes To Give Dubya Dubious Honor
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS) ― President Bush still has three more months on the job, but there is already talk of an important building in San Francisco bearing his name.

Construction on the George W. Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, will begin next year, but if Proposition R is passed on Nov. 4, that won't be the only the landmark named in honor of our embattled president.

San Francisco's Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant may soon become the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.

Think it's silly? The measure's organizer, Brian McConnell, who came up with the idea over drinks, seems to agree.

"Most people think it's a really silly idea anyway, and then the Bush haters don't want anything named after him," McConnell told the San Francisco Chronicle.

So far, not a dime has been raised in support or opposition of the proposition, but members of the local Republican Party are working to defeat the measure, and 12,000 people signed a petition to secure its spot on the ballot.

Now, isn't that "spatial."

This just goes to prove right-wing fundamentalist Christians (or Muslims or Jews -- insert whichever religion belief here) are very sick people....and are just as crazy as people who put a few too many bumper stickers on their cars trying to make a point.

FERNDALE, Mich. -- A man assigned "The Crucible" in an adult education English class doused his teacher with a nonflammable liquid and threatened to burn her as a witch, police said.

Darin Najor, 20, ran from the classroom after the attack Sept. 11 and was sent for psychiatric evaluation after telling police "he was trying to kill the witch by pouring holy water over her head," Detective Ken Denmark said.

He was arrested Monday and scheduled for arraignment this month on misdemeanor charges of assault and battery.

The day before the dousing, Najor had asked the teacher whether she believed in witchcraft, police said. She told him she did not, calling Arthur Miller's play based on the 1692 Salem witch trials a metaphor for unjust persecution.

"The suspect threw his homework papers on the floor and declared it was all blasphemy," Denmark said. "The next day he came up behind her chanting what sounded like religious verses while she was working at her desk."

Court officials had no indication Najor had an attorney, and The Associated Press could not find a telephone number for him.

Police did not identify the teacher.

Insert Ring on Finger from Radthanael on Vimeo.