Category Archives: Current Issues

Jon Stewart demonstrates GOP Double Standards

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I first saw this on The Huffington Post. It’s amazing that the GOP does not suffer whiplash. Don’t they realize that thier being Video Taped???

What’s really sad: The “Mainstream News Media” doesn’t report this double standard much.  When the subject is Sen. Clinton, all is fair game, but Gov. Palin? Sen. McCain and the GOP attack the News Media whenever the News Media does their job and ask questions. When CNN’s Campbell Brown only asked reasonable questions of Tucker Bounds and demanded answers, The McCain campaign canceled a later CNN appearance and attacked Campbell Brown.

As you can see from the Daily Show clip above,  that’s the GOP Modus Operandi. They get Dick Morris (is it just me or does he sound like Harvey Fierstein?!? (No Offense Mr. Fierstein)) and Sean Hannity along with most of  GOP TV FOX News to parrot their talking points.

Loved the “Papa Bear” reference…

As usual Jon Stewart does an Excellent job of demonstrating how two faced the GOP operatives can be. The Entire episode was great and I recommend you see it. When former Rep. Newt Gingrich was on, I thought Jon Stewart was as polite and professional as he always is, but he nailed the hypocrisy of Gov. Palin’s press release very succinctly.  You should watch it.

Music I’m listening to now:
Shake It“, by Metro Station from the Metro Station album. You can see the video here on VH1.

Gov. Palin considered banning books in her town

From the NY Times, Apparently, Gov. Palin considered banning books in her town. Wow, she just gets better and better as the days roll by…

Hurricane Gustav Update

7:30pm EST and So far no horrific news from New Orleans.
I’m really hoping for a quiet evening.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment.

Hurricane Gustav

Hurricane Gustav is coming ashore and the city of New Orleans just can’t seem to get a break. As I write this, I’m watching the news and it’s looking pretty bad.

From CBS News, they say that Gustav will probably pass to the west of New Orlean which is different from Katrina. According to Dave Price, this could be a lot worse for New Orleans and Louisiana. The NOAA representative they interviewed said that the storm surge is typically higher and stronger to the east of the eye. I’m really hoping New Orleans is spared as they’re still rebuilding after Katrina, but it does look grim. On the plus side: the Federal and Local Gov’t seems to be more on the ball this time. There is a mandatory evacuation in place and I’ve heard that only about 10% of the population has remained behind.

I just saw Al Roker standing in the middle of a street in New Orleans. This is one thing that amazes me about the News Industry: The insistence that weathermen need to stand in the middle of a hurricane in order to report it.

Ok, We Get it: Massive Rain and 90+ MPH winds. Now get INSIDE!!!

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment.

Time Warner Cable

Been way too busy at work, so I took a couple of days off. I figured I’d sit back, relax, and watch a movie or see the Olympics.

Naturally, Time Warner Cable had other ideas.

There I am, having my coffee, watching the News, when the cable starts blinking in and out. Again. For close to 15 minutes.

Naturally, I call Time Warner Cable and the best they can do is send someone next Saturday.

I am so ditching Time Warner Cable ASAP.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment.

AP: Obama: tap nation’s oil reserve to help gas prices

Just Marvelous. In what I assume is just an attempt to garner more favor with the people who buy into this Nonsense, The AP reports:

CHICAGO (AP) — Barack Obama is proposing that the nation tap its strategic oil reserves to help drive down gasoline prices.

Campaign spokeswoman Heather Zichal said Monday the arrangement would involve swaps by oil companies with the government of light crude oil or heavy crude oil in oil stockpiles in Texas and Louisiana.

In the past, Obama has not advocated tapping the oil reserve, but Zichal said he has reconsidered because he recognizes that high gas prices have caused many Americans to suffer. Obama is making a speech on energy later in the day.

The last time I can remember a candidate doing this was (*shudder*) GW Bush in the 2000 Campaign. Not a comparison anyone would want! Tapping the strategic oil reserves is like giving the Oil Companies more “leased” land for drilling: It won’t help and when it does have a chance to help, it will be years down the road.

I know Sen. Obama needs to appeal to a wide base in order to get elected, but IMO, this is not the way to do it.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment.

News Media fails to spot political stunt for what it is…

Earlier this week, the house GOP staged a stunt demanding a “Vote”. Problem is: There was a call for the vote and the GOP obstructed the vote.

Did the Press report this little fact? Not so much. Listening to the News Friday, you’d have thought that the GOP was trying to get work done instead being the obstructionists that they are. Remember, this is the same “Liberal Media” that the GOP rails against when they actually do there job and report the facts. (NOTE: I’d bet that this stunt got more Airtime than the Telecom Immunity and other real issues…)

The fact is, the GOP wants to give the Oil companies more land to drill in, despite the fact that the Oil companies are not utilizing all the land they “lease” from the US now.

It’s a false “issue” that the GOP is hoping the American public falls for. They hope it will get them elected and “Help” the Oil companies too.

Did I mention Exxon Mobil set yet another world record in Quarterly profits? $11.68 billion for the second quarter of 2008. That’s $11,680,000,000 PROFIT for 3 months which I believe comes down to $90,123 a minute in PROFIT. Mind you this is AFTER Exxon Mobil “adjusted” the books. (I nearly choked on my coffee  when I saw a “commercial” claiming the Oil industry makes less of a profit than other industries…)

We have real issues and giving the Oil companies yet another hand out is NOT the solution. Whenever the GOP claims they are being “Bi-partisan” they mean they are attempting to dictate to the Democrats and NOT compromise. When they claim the Democrats did not offer a “Real Bill” they mean the Democrats did NOT roll over (YET!!!! They WILL Roll Over, bet on it!!!) and just do what they want.

Does the Democratic Party hold a press conference to point out the fact? Maybe, but would the press actually cover it? I have my doubts.

A Political Stunt makes for much better “News”, right?

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment.

Sen. Obama’s Campaign responds to Sen. McCain

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Recently, the McCain campaign has released two attack advertisements and made statements that were outright false (And the media actually came out and caught it!). I was afraid that the Obama campaign would do a John Kerry and not respond in a meaningful time frame.

Wednesday night, the Obama campaign released a response advertisement appropriately entitled “The Low Road“. This is a good sign as too many people believe the nonsense put out by these McCain ads.

So much for Sen. McCain’s promise of a clean campaign.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment.

AP: FDA declares it’s OK to eat tomatoes again

Wow, I’m reassured. I’m soooo glad the FDA is on the case. They still don’t know the source of the Salmonella outbreak…

Granted, finding the source is quite a challenge, but how many Ecoli and Salmonella outbreaks will it take for the Federal Gov’t to get a proper number of inspectors in the FDA and the USDA?

This administration takes the stand that the public should just trust business.  The only thing I trust business for is that they will try their best to make money, nothing more.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment

The NRA is going after Disney World?!?

Meant to post this last week but been busy: The NRA is going after Disney World. Just “Wow“. Apparently the NRA is upset that Disney Employees can’t bring Guns on Disney Property…