Mr. Nice Guy

[ADDENDUM below - Second Addendum - #3 - #4]

Do you think Mr. Obama is getting it figured out that the Republicans are playing this game for keeps?

Face to face, Obama urges GOP to cooperate


Republicans question president, push back on criticism of 'party of no'

This is the MSNBC media take on the President's little GOP confab :: Luke Ressert Tweets:

RussertXM_NBC If you love American democracy, today's display by Obama and the GOP was one of the best examples of our system.


12:16pm on 1/29/2010RussertXM_NBC Obama and the GOP will replay in its entirety at 8pm on @CSPAN. Watch it, I wish Presidents had to do this weekly just like the UK.
 

---

"Best examples of our system"? Doing WHAT?

Solving problems and proving real leadership sparring like a box of feral cats?

When is Mr. Obama and his supporters going to learn, it is the Republican's Way and it is THE Republican's Way or nothing? They'll see this country destroyed before they stop trying to enforce their illegitimate and baseless beliefs.

Glenn Greenwald's article today in Salon explains why all American's have a vested interest in a President that upholds and enforces the law. Read it and weep:
Remember the illegal destruction of Iraq?

If the shoe was on the other foot -- Obama, Biden and the Democrat's that were responsible for that past 10 years, you can bet the very first thing Bush, Cheney and their Republican supporters would do coming into office would be to start and investigation in preparation for a criminal indictment and trial -- they'd be judged and awaiting their punishment by now. Instead Obama thought to perpetuate the same crimes and lead the American people on down that proverbial "garden path."

Addendum 


If you've got the time, this is worth reading from Chris Floyd HERE.

Blood is His Argument: Tony Blair's Gentle Cuddling at Iraq "Inquiry"

Tony Blair to a million dead Iraqis, and the grieving survivors of British soldiers: Fuck you.

The scam cover-up of all "High crimes and misdemeanours."

ADDENDUM :: Saturday, January 30, 2009

I watched the Rachel Maddow Show with Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews for a two-hour replay of President Obama's Q&A with House Republicans. President Obama was impressive, even by my standards. The commentary seemed to think that Mr. Obama is on a steep learning curve and he's starting to see these people for who and what they really are. I hope so.

My problem, fear if you will, is that when he finally accepts the impossibility of rational communications with believers with a bully mentality he will make them look like impotent piss-ants. Some of these mealy-mouth people might well wish they'd kept their traps shut and tried a little bipartisan cooperation with the infidel.

ADDENDUM :: Sunday, January, 31, 2010

Another good example of why it's impossible trying to communicate with a Republican believer was demonstrated this morning by Fox News CEO Roger Ailes on ABC's This Week. Here's an excerpt:
Ailes Defends Beck’s Incendiary Rhetoric: ‘He’s Talking About Hitler And Stalin’ Killing People, So It’s ‘Accurate’
Undisputed facts and the truth just get in the way.

ADDENDUM #3 :: Sunday, January, 31, 2010

Nostalgia for Bush/Cheney radicalism
Not even the Constitution of the United States or any of it's laws stand in the way of radical Republican domination. This excerpt says it all:

How much clearer evidence can there be of how warped and extremist we've become on these matters? The express policies of the right-wing Ronald Reagan -- "applying the rule of law to terrorists"; delegitimizing Terrorists by treating them as "criminals"; and compelling the criminal prosecution of those who authorize torture -- are now considered on the Leftist fringe. Merely advocating what Reagan explicitly adopted as his policy -- "to use democracy’s most potent tool, the rule of law against" Terrorists -- is now the exclusive province of civil liberties extremists. In those rare cases when Obama does what Reagan's policy demanded in all instances and what even Bush did at times -- namely, trials and due process for accused Terrorists -- he is attacked as being "Soft on Terror" by Democrats and Republicans alike. And the mere notion that we should prosecute torturers (as Reagan bound the U.S. to do) -- or even hold them accountable in ways short of criminal proceedings -- is now the hallmark of a Far Leftist Purist. That's how far we've fallen, how extremist our political consensus has become.

[ADDENDUM #4 :: Thursday, February 11, 2010]

--Joe

Boondoggles' Caboodle

This blog was started on Thursday, January 21, 2009.

Anyone that follows this blog knows that I probably get my inspiration from the newspaper -- our illustrious Times-Standard here in Eureka, California and others. I look fervantly for something of interest to carp about. I'm always on the lookout for the knee-jerk, simple-minded, and sometimes moronic opinions. I look at the Editorial, letters to the editor, local opinion writers and the nationally renouned writers' of mostly dogma, propaganda and brainwashing nonsence. We try to stay away from any personal involvement in politics and religion. We want an objective and as neutral as possible in our observations. We look for the less obvious, the defacto definitions and statements of truth -- what people do rather than what they'd like you to think they do. So, what did we find today?

First, from watching Democracy Now we got a good look at the lies and hypocricy of this country and the UN (United Nations) coming out of Haiti. The reason those people are not getting the help they desperately need -- food, water, medicine and temporary shelter is because the US and UN are deliberately not getting it to them. You can bet your last nickle, and you probably will, that if the troops in Iraq or Afgahnastan needed whatever supplies to stay alive and survive, Obama and his cadre would move heaven and earth. We had Bush's way in Katrina in New Orleans with the poor, mostly back people (from Haiti mostly?) and now Obamas' Haiti earthquake devestation. Show me the difference?

The next boondoggle came from the same program: In Landmark Campaign Finance Ruling, Supreme Court Removes Limits on Corporate Campaign Spending:

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court rules corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money to elect and defeat candidates. One lawmaker describes it as the worst Supreme Court decision since the Dred Scott case justifying slavery.

This ruling is the Elitist's continued looting of the common American's right to participate freely in their government. They've already taken more money and actual value from the American people than any other Empire in history. Credit that to Mr. Hope why don't you?

American self-worth, the value that allows the people to believe in themselves and their country is almost bankrupt. The Arabs, China, Japan and Germany own this country. I guess this is the way the American corporations figured out how to survive this situation. Can't have a nation of liberal progressives screwing things up, you know.

Here's the latest update worth reading: What the Supreme Court got right by Glenn Greewald.

Now for the newspaper. Front page, Authorities: Arcata package contained a 'suspicious mechanical device' where our fearless, but psychotic and mostly gutless "Authorities" do everything to protect themselves at the or to the point of total rediculasness -- We got to err on safety first, you know"? -- found a "suspicious mechanical device" in a "suspicious package." RIGHT!  So the evacuate everyone with a ten mile radius and manage somehow to get the device out into the country withou evacuating hundreds more people and blow it up.

UPDATE: This is what the Times-Standard now posts on their website: 'Suspicious' package was a bicycle light'

The suspicious package that led to the evacuation of several homes and businesses in downtown Arcata turned out to be a bicycle light being returned to the place it was purchased, the Arcata Police Department said this afternoon.

 My father, a WWII combat war veteran told me that on many occasions throught the German campaign men were shot and blownup on both sides of him. He credits his survival to the grace of God. However, the closest he came to actually dying was the night a close buddy of his suffering unbeknown to anyone from battle fatigue or more commonly known today as post-traumatic stress disorder. When you look at how these traumatized police officer act, you got to know we all got more to fear from them than any "bicycle light" as they err on "safety."

My next boondoggle report was this:

"Spared the wrecking ball: Kramer Properties purchases historic Old Town building with restoration plans."

Big hurry, for what?

This next article is more positive. Getting rid of the socialistic "red-tape" is always a plus:

"Eureka reels in the red tape."

Then there's James Faulk:

"An even keel." Maybe there's more to James than meets the eye. Either way . . .

By the time I got this far and had perused some of the local news-type blogs I was sufficiently depressed. It's so easy to be so c r i t i c a l . . .

This is a new year and a new decade and we had decided to be a bit more positive in our approach. Look for the hidden truth, the not-so-obvious and always try to inspire a little thinking. But then, who needs W O R D S to inspire anyone?

Boondoggles' Caboodle Means: do useless, wasteful, or trivial work or work of little or no value done merely to look busy. And, bunch: any collection in its entirety.

--Joe

How Do You Honor A Man?

We, the Joe Blow Report, do so by posting the following words of Martin Luther King spoken April 4, 1967. As you read and contemplate what he said, ask yourself, was there a "revolution of values" in this country. America votes in a black man hoping for a Martin Luther King moment and what did they get? They got a Nixon, a Reagan, a couple of Bushes, and a Clinton on steroids; you can throw in a Jimmy Carter, if you want. These men and their supporters did everything they could to maintain and enforce the devalued state of American character and self worth. Their looting of the American treasure is almost complete.

---

Here is the introduction by Amy Goodman 42 years later.

While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People’s Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of US foreign policy and the Vietnam War.

In his “Beyond Vietnam” speech, which he delivered at New York’s Riverside Church on April 4th, 1967, a year-to-the-day before he was assassinated, Dr. King called the United States, quote, “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” Time magazine called the speech “demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi.” The Washington Post said King, quote, “diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people.”

Today, we’ll let you decide. We play an excerpt of Dr. King’s speech “Beyond Vietnam.”

REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.: After 1954, they watched us conspire with Diem to prevent elections which could have surely brought Ho Chi Minh to power over a united Vietnam, and they realized they had been betrayed again. When we ask why they do not leap to negotiate, these things must be remembered.

Also, it must be clear that the leaders of Hanoi considered the presence of American troops in support of the Diem regime to have been the initial military breach of the Geneva Agreement concerning foreign troops. And they remind us that they did not begin to send troops in large numbers and even supplies into the South, until American forces had moved into the tens of thousands.

Hanoi remembers how our leaders refused to tell us the truth about the earlier North Vietnamese overtures for peace, how the President claimed that none existed when they had clearly been made. Ho Chi Minh has watched as America has spoken of peace and built up its forces, and now he has surely heard the increasing international rumors of American plans for an invasion of the North. He knows the bombing and shelling and mining we are doing are part of traditional pre-invasion strategy. Perhaps only his sense of humor and of irony can save him when he hears the most powerful nation of the world speaking of aggression as it drops thousands of bombs on a poor, weak nation more than 8,000 miles away from its shores.

At this point, I should make it clear that while I have tried in these last few minutes to give a voice to the voiceless in Vietnam and to understand the arguments of those who are called “enemy,” I am as deeply concerned about our own troops there as anything else, for it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in Vietnam is not simply the brutalizing process that goes on in any war where armies face each other and seek to destroy. We are adding cynicism to the process of death, for they must know after the short period there that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved. Before long, they must know that their government has sent them into a struggle among Vietnamese, and the more sophisticated surely realize that we are on the side of the wealthy and the secure, while we create a hell for the poor.

Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America, who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as one who loves America, to the leaders of our own nation: The great initiative in this war is ours; the initiative to stop it must be ours.

Eureka's Shock and AW Agenda

For this reality check we have to credit Donna Tam with her honest reporting in the Sunday, January 17, 2010 Times-Standard's front page article: "Earthquake repairs on Lloyd building begin."

She reports that the "city" of Eureka in 2006, only three years ago, sued the owner of the building, built in 1915, to either "retrofit the building" or "demolish the building." To justify this "attack" the brilliant Assistant City Manager went right for the standard Shock and AW gun and used the bullet, threat to "public safety"!

According to Donna Tam, this is what the Judge found:

In 2008, the judge ruled in Squires' favor, indicating that Squires proved he was actively working on the issue, while the city could not prove that it would be able to do the repairs any faster than Squires.

”There has been no showing that, absent a catastrophic earthquake, there would be an irreparable injury to the public. The public could be protected by measures far less severe than those requested by the city,” former Humboldt County Superior Court Judge J. Michael Brown wrote in his ruling.

To hype their agenda the first thing they do when they see a couple cracks is assess $1,000,000.00 worth of damage to the building and then inconvenience as many people as they can (see the picture). The owner, says it will cost him about $3,000.00 to repair whatever damage the earthquake caused. So, who was the brilliant "city of Eureka" (engineer) person that assessed the damage at $1 million? Be interesting to know since according to Gary Bird, Eureka's emergency response spokesman, no engineer has done a "complete analysis of the building." Someone just pull that outlandish figure out of a hat?

The owner, Floyd Squires says, "They get a little carried away." Maybe that was the idea, would anyone guess?

When it comes to old buildings and prime realestate we know what Eureka's Plan is. It didn't take the Arkley's and their bank to fall in line either. When you hear these local "elected" leaders talking about saving our heritage, just know in your heart it's all smoke and mirrors. It's really all about money.

[Picture source]

--Joe

Shock and AW at Work

[Update and Second Update Below]

Shock and AW in your face: Plans to demolish former Old Town Bar and Grill building approved -- Front page headline in the Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010 Times-Standard newspaper. No one is saying that the building is anything other than what the "engineer's" say it is. It's how quickly they moved to tear it all down. The ink hadn't even dried before they voted "unanimously" to tear it down.

When all else fails, wait until there's some sort of "disaster," get someone or some agency to proclaim it an issue of "public safety," and then declare a state of emergency. After that its only a matter of pushing through whatever emergency meetings necessary to pass whatever ordinances or laws needed to do what could never be done before.

When that doesn't work, phony up some outrageous patten lie like, Saddam Hussein is evil (he hates Jews) and has weapons of mass destruction. Since we know his intentions we invade his country and a cost in billion's, if not trillion's of dollars we cannot afford, but must spend because it is a "necessary war." A necessary war that has already killed ten's of thousands of innocent people. To justify that war, they (our elected leaders) declared war on Social Security, Medi-Care and Universal Health Insurance -- not to forge working or middle America.

. . . and Now There Is Haiti

Here are some interesting pictures on CNN. Updated coverage.

Naomi Klein Issues Haiti Disaster Capitalism Alert: Stop Them Before They Shock Again

Journalist and author Naomi Klein spoke in New York last night and addressed the crisis in Haiti: “We have to be absolutely clear that this tragedy—which is part natural, part unnatural—must, under no circumstances, be used to, one, further indebt Haiti and, two, to push through unpopular corporatist policies in the interest of our corporations. This is not conspiracy theory. They have done it again and again.”

---

"AW" —used to express mild disappointment, gentle entreaty, or real or mock sympathy or sentiment.

[Update Thursday, January 14, 2010]

There's a rather interesting conversation over at The Humboldt Herald about "Earthquake emergency no time for political pandering." Put the knee-jerks, top to bottom, in one room and they'd all look the same. A prime example why "Democracy," or if you prefer "democracy" as currently practiced and experienced does NOT work. If the poor people of Haiti are showing us anything, it's that they can work together to survive together WITHOUT government. No one tagging their homes.

[Update Friday, January 15, 2010]

Unlike Haiti it was heartening to see how effecient you local infrastructer took the shaking without so much as a quibble. Our illustrious Governor and our local elite's graced Friday's Times-Standard newspaper in all their splendor. If you have any doubt who these people are just look at the pictures published in the paper, ie., the Governor "shakes hands of Cherl Arkley." With all these fine folks on the job all us other citizens need not to have worried, even though there was no way to find out what was going on about anything!

 Ms. Arkley's generosity says it all:

Cherie Arkley, who owns Security National, which owns the historic building, was on hand for the governor's press conference Thursday, and afterward told him of her plans to sell off the bricks from the old building at $5 apiece, with all the proceeds to go to Keep Eureka Beautiful's street trees program. The governor pledged to buy 1,000 bricks.

”It's a wonderful way to parley a kind of sad situation into something nice,” she said, adding that Security National also has long-term plans to rebuild on the Old Town Bar and Grill site a building to house office and retail space, and possibly a restaurant.

We like parleying kinda sad things into something nice. Kinda like they're doing in Haiti right now.

--Joe

Shake, Rattle and Break!

[Haiti Update Below]

A fitting way to start out the new year -- learning just how inhospitable this place we call home, our Earth, can be sometimes. A necessary evil to shake us out of our complacency, I'd guess.

After the initial experience of standing flatfooted and feeling exactly what a 6.5 magnitude felt like, and checking to make sure the fireplace was still in one peace, no pipes broken and that the neighbor lady made sure she didn't have any gas leaks, I turned on the radio to see how serious the damage was. My regular FM station was off air so I started looking. I finally found a station, don't know which one, I don't spend much time listening to the radio, FM or AM and began to get some call-in information. Unfortunately that didn't produce much so I turned on the TV. Found out the local stations were all off line and ended up leaving CNN on. Wasn't too long and they began to present some information, but then went on with normal programming.

The website Ready America says, "Prepare, Plan and Stay Informed."
When preparing for a possible emergency situation, it's best to think first about the basics of survival: fresh water, food, clean air and warmth.

Recommended Items to Include in a Basic Emergency Supply Kit:

1. Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
2. Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
3. Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both
4. Flashlight and extra batteries
5. First aid kit
6. Whistle to signal for help
7. Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
8. Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
9. Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
10. Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)
11. Local maps
12. Cell phone with chargers

Notice the suggestion, "Battery-powered radio"!
You need pertinent, up to the minute, applicable information that can help a person deal with the emergency. If the highway is closed, power lines are down, a bridge is out, etc. people need to know about that at the time. In short, there needs to be some sort of designated emergency information clearing house people know about (attached to the radio) so they can find out what they need to know. We know all these government agencies that take all our tax dollars don't actually work together, even when they say they since 9/11. This might be a good place to start.

Some of the local blogs are blowing their horns about how well they helped. Who knew?

When I couldn't find out anything, I staid put. That didn't stop me from thinking about if my wife was stranded somewhere and couldn't get home.  I'm just glad the quake happened when it did, not at night or during a work day.

It shook me out of my complacency -- for a little while anyway.

Additional Items to Consider Adding to an Emergency Supply Kit: (from Ready Gov site)

---

• Prescription medications and glasses
• Infant formula and diapers
• Pet food and extra water for your pet
• Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container
• Cash or traveler's checks and change
• Emergency reference material such as a first aid book or information from www.ready.gov
• Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person. Consider additional bedding if you live in a cold-weather climate.
• Complete change of clothing including a long sleeved shirt, long pants and sturdy shoes. Consider additional clothing if you live in a cold-weather climate.
• Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper – When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented, color safe or bleaches with added cleaners.
• Fire Extinguisher
• Matches in a waterproof container
• Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items
• Mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils, paper towels
• Paper and pencil
• Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children

---

Update - Wednesday, January 13, 2010

We should count our blessing when you think this is what could be our experience. Personally, I really believed that shock was a 7. Emergency kits are fine, but I don't think many of these people were able to find theirs. You can read more on the quake from Reuters here. Heres another link for live coverage: The latest updates from Haiti.

---

[Source From Millan.Net]

--Joe

AVATAR -- My Avatar

January 1, 2010.

A great day to see the movie Avatar.

If you have any doubts how this whole mess is going to shake out, go see this movie.

Will it be a happy New Year? -- A happy decade?

We can always hope . . .

For whatever that's worth.

---

On 9/11 America was asked the following question:
DO YOU SEE ME NOW?

With an Avatar response.

---

Happy New Year everyone!

--Joe

[Picture Source]