Hypocrisy

1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.

If there is one party who can really step into a mess, it’s the Democratic party.

If there is one party who can exploit that mess, it’s the Republican party. The republicans have a viciousness to them, a ‘pit bull’ streak that finds an opening and goes in for the kill. And like any wild animal when cornered, the attack is bloody and savage. Just look at the attacks on Nancy Pelosi over the last couple of weeks.

“I think this is the most despicable, dishonest and vicious political effort I’ve seen in my lifetime.”

“She is a trivial politician, viciously using partisanship for the narrowist of purposes, and she dishonors the Congress by her behavior.” -Newt Gingrich

Accusations of ‘viciously using partisanship’ from Newt Gingrich are not only comical but over the top,unabated, pure hypocrisy. Newt is the poster child for being the loudest one to complain, condemn and prosecute  someone else for doing exactly the same thing he was secretly doing.  As if his infidelity while his mission to attack Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky affair wasn’t proof enough of his hypocrisy, his problem of using tax-exempt funding to advance his political goals should have limited his ‘Pelosi dishonors Congress’ rhetoric. But, it didn’t.

Newt is old news though, an unimportant politically partisan pitbull hoping his hypocrisy has been forgiven. It hasn’t.  But what about newer more relevant GOP members?

“Lying to the Congress of the United States is a crime,” Boehner said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And if the speaker is accusing the CIA and other intelligence officials of lying or misleading the Congress, then she should come forward with evidence and turn that over to the Justice Department so they can be prosecuted.”

He added: “And if that’s not the case, I think she ought to apologize to our intelligence professionals around the world.”

That’s right, Nancy Pelosi should apologize to the CIA from claiming that they have misinformed congress. It is a disparaging remark and like Boehner says, she needs to ‘put up or shut up’.

It doesn’t matter that Pelosi’s accusations that the CIA memo’s are misleading seem to be panning out or that even some Republicans agree that the briefing notes contain many errors, such as briefings that listed former Chairman Porter Goss as the head of committee when Rep. Pete Hoekstra had already taken over. Because Hoekstra says, those errors are meaningless

Of Course those errors are meaningless. It doesn’t matter that 2 separate briefings have a low-level staffer as  being in on the top-secret,code-word clearance briefings. It’s meaningless that this staffer says he was actually asked to leave, which would be expected since he  only  two walked members to the room. It doesn’t matter that this staffer,Paul Juola, has asked the CIA to “immediately correct this record.”

It doesn’t matter that former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham came out and said not only did the CIA hide details from him during his briefings, but that 3 of the 4 dates the CIA said they briefed Graham were in error

…he(Graham) asked agency officials to confirm how many times they briefed him on torture. They gave him four dates, but after Graham went through his personal records and disproved three of those dates, he said the agency admitted their mistake and confirmed that he had, in fact, received only one briefing.

When our intelligence agency says they briefed someone 4 times and they really only briefed them once, when they say the person who headed  the committee was someone who had already been replaced, when they say that they allowed a staffer in on a code-word clearance briefing, none of it is relevant, in fact it’s ‘meaningless’. But when you go out in public and say that the CIA is misleading congress, that disqualifies you as from continuing as speaker. Or so Newt Gingrich says.

“To have the person third in line to be president say that the CIA misleads us all the time is so utterly irresponsible and such an attack on the men and women who are risking their lives … that she disqualifies herself for being speaker of the House,”

Now, this has nothing to do with partisan attacks, Newt,Boehner and Hoekstra wouldn’t do that. No, they are truly outraged that someone would smear the CIA by claiming they have mislead congress on some issue…

Well, except when it’s Hoekstra, and the CIA has just destroyed torture video tapes that they were warned not to destroy. When that happens

…it’s important for Congress to hold this community accountable. This community did not tell — the CIA did not tell us about the existence of these tapes. They did not tell us that they were going to be destroyed. They need — there’s a Constitutional responsibility for them to keep Congress informed and they have not and we need to hold them accountable

Or so Mr. Hoekstra says.

It’s OK for Mr. Hoekstra to say the CIA  mislead Congress. Even better, when you are on Fox News being interviewed by Chris Wallace, it’s ok to get down right nasty on the CIA.

WALLACE: Congress man Hoekstra, Hayden appeared this week before your committee. Are you satisfied that over the years the CIA acted in good faith?

HOEKSTRA: No, I’m not. There are certain statements that might have been misleading to Congress as to exactly what existed. I think you’ve got a systemic problem here. I think the community is incomPetent. It is arrogant. And it has developed — it’s become political. This — you know, you take a look at wmd in iraq. They were wrong.

Hoekstra went even farther than just calling them arrogant,incompetant and saying that they have mislead congress , he also said

…you’ve got a community that’s incomPetent. They are arrogant and they are political, and they don’t believe that they are accountable to anybody. They don’t believe that they’re accountable to the president. They’ve clearly demonstrated through the tapes case that they don’t believe they are accountable to Congress. And when we are at war, that is a terrible position for the intelligence community to be. If they had done what they are supposed to do on the tapes, keep us informed, listen to the kind of recommendations that my colleague Jane Harman made to them, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion today. But because of their arrogance and their willingness to move independent, that’s it.

The CIA? they’re political? They don’t believe they are accountable the President much less Congress? They’re incompetent?  These are just a few of the things that are OK to say about the CIA, unless of course you’re Nancy Pelosi.

Quick question, if the CIA mislead Congress, destroyed evidence… are arrogant,political,incompetent and admittedly prone to briefing errors.. why exactly are we or the GOP taking anything the CIA says over Nancy Pelosi?

It wouldn’t be to get the stink of another political land-mine off of them would it?

“..when you say that the community is incompetent, I’m telling you I don’t have confidence in the community. You know, I have high confidence that the community continues to be broken and is not giving us as policymakers the information that we need to make good decisions.-HOEKSTRA

Hypocrisy

“She is a trivial politician, viciously using partisanship for the narrowist of purposes, and she dishonors the Congress by her behavior.” -Newt Gingrich

1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.

UPDATE

Yes, the CIA has lied to Congress and covered it up. I think Newt might be the one who should step down and go back into hiding, after apologizing to Pelosi of course…

Related articles by Zemanta

• Gingrich: ‘Absolute obligation’ to investigate Pelosi (cnn.com)
• Did the CIA lie about torture? (guardian.co.uk)
• Newt Gingrich: CIA Bully-Boy Since 1995 (firedoglake.com)

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Shannon Burke accused of shooting of dog, wife

Notice anything?

Shannon Burke arrested for shooting dog, grazing wife

Here is the first few sentences from another news site

Who else gets angry at their dog and threatens to shoot it?

Cops say Burke got ticked at his dog, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. His solution: Pick up a handgun and threaten to shoot it.

The gun discharged, and the bullet went through the dog’s leg. The same bullet struck his wife Catherine on the side of her head, reports WESH News.

It takes that writer 53 words to finally mention the wife that was also shot, 53 words before she can get a quick nod in her direction. The entire piece is about the poor dog, what kind of dog, the threatening and shooting of the dog and Oh by the way his wife was shot in the head too.

After the Orlando Sentinel released photos of Catherine Burke and  her dog,  the Monsters of the Morning, the morning show on WTKS 104.1 took calls on the whole fiasco because they understood the need for people to vent their feelings on this. They also understood that all other locals news and radio programs were going to take advantage of the situation and talk about it so  they decided why not let the people hear and say what they want from the station at the center of the controversy.

Here’s the problem. I can’t count how many calls or how many posts on the muchedumbre forum have lamented over the dog first and then if she’s lucky, over Catherine.  There is even a thread titled

Burke fired…he injured his dog and wife but killed his career at REAL radio

In another thread, a post that reads..

What a class guy. What’s a king charles wiegh, 5 maybe 10 lbs.

Nothing about the his wife Catherine at all, just the dog.

One caller to the Monsters said Shannon Burke was on the same level as Richard McTear. Who is Richard McTear? Oh well he’s the scum-bag asshole who  after getting into a fight with his 17 year old girlfriend, grabbed their 3 month old baby and threw him on the concrete and then kidnapped him. As if that wasn’t enough, while driving down  I-275 he threw the baby out the window of his car killing him.  Now, why did this caller equate Shannon Burke to this reptile?  Because he shot his dog. Not because he also shot his wife, but because he shot the dog (the dog lived by the way). When called on this  by Dirty Jim the caller replied that the dog was innocent, the wife though…. well she could have left at anytime.

The dog.. was innocent… meaning what? That Catherine  deserved what she got because she didn’t leave? I really don’t know if that’s what people mean when they say something like that but it is a valid question that I would like someone to answer because I really don’t know of another way to take that kind of statement.

I am not excusing what Burke did in any way. But I am questioning the headlines when they read “Radio personalty shoots dog and wife” and even more I question why there seems to be so little outrage over the shooting of his wife Catherine? Even the Orlando Sentinel when putting the photos up on their website, put the dog’s photos up first!

We love our pets, we think of them like our children…but what Shannon did is not on the same level as the man who threw his own baby onto the concrete and then chucked him out of his car window while he was driving down the interstate. One is the horrific death of an infant, the other is a dog who was shot in the leg and lost it’s tail.  They are both sad, but they do not carry the same weight.

Maybe it’s all kind of like they say in Hollywood, never work with children and animals. Well, never get shot in the head by your husband after he shoots the dog because the dog will get the sympathy because it was innocent and you? Well you could have left.

I think we need to re-arrange some priorities here…

Zubaydah was water-boarded 83 times  that month.

According to many, including Marc Thiessen President Bush’s former speech writer, the technique was a success. Jose Padilla was apprehended in Chicago on May 8,2002 because of information learned through Zubaydah’s water-boarding sessions.

The problem with this is, in May 2002 Condelezza Rice hadn’t yet given her verbal authorization to water-board and the Justice Department, along with Gonzales and Ashcroft hadn’t yet given the written authority. Rice’s authorization wouldn’t come for another 2 months and the ‘Torture memo’ authorizing  the water-boarding would not be written for another month after that. If Abu Zubaydah gave interrogators the information needed to apprehend Jose Padilla, he did it without being water-boarded or he was water-boarded without consent of the NSA,White House or the justice department.“

one of the top

three leaders

in the [al-Qaeda] organization.

Another question raised is, if Abu Zubaydah was cooperating  and had already given up the information that lead to Padilla’s capture in May, then why did he need to be water-boarded 83 times in August?

In a story from CBS news, dated March 29, 2009, a former senior government officials said that not only was the information Abu Zubaydah gave after being tortured worthless, but it also caused the FBI and CIA to run aimlessly around the globe chasing made up shadows.

President Bush, in order to justify what he was allowing to take place, called Abu Zubaydah “al Qaeda’s chief of operations” and “one of the top three leaders in the organization.”

Not long after his capture though, this was found to be inaccurate..

Abu Zubaida was not even an official member of al Qaeda, according to a portrait of the man

Image via Wikipedia

that emerges from court documents and interviews with current and former intelligence, law enforcement and military sources. Rather, he was a “fixer” for radical Muslim ideologues, and he ended up working directly with al Qaeda only after Sept. 11 – and that was because the United States stood ready to invade Afghanistan.

This is not to say Zubaydah wasn’t a criminal or even part of a terrorist conspiracy, but he was not what he was water-boarded for. He was being water-boarded, so they told us, because he was the number 3 in al Qaeda, he wasn’t cooperating and he knew things that would help us stop the next wave of the attacks.

a senior terrorist leader

and a trusted associate of Osama bin Laden

But was he a high-ranking Al Qeada member with close ties to Osama Bin Laden? Was he uncooperative under normal interrogations? Author Ron Suskind wrote, which the Washington Post has confirmed, that President Bush was so invested in Zubayduh that another question that be must be asked is; is it possible that his ties to Bin Laden or his level of cooperation really didn’t matter at some point?

Suskind writes in his book, “The One Percent Doctrine” which Barton Gellman reviews, that not only was Zubayduh just the ‘go-to guy’ for minor purposes, but  he was also mentally ill.

Abu Zubaydah, his captors discovered, turned out to be mentally ill and nothing like the pivotal figure they supposed him to be. CIA and FBI analysts, poring over a diary he kept for more than a decade, found entries “in the voice of three people: Hani 1, Hani 2, and Hani 3″ — a boy, a young man and a middle-aged alter ego. All three recorded in numbing detail “what people ate, or wore, or trifling things they said.” Dan Coleman, then the FBI’s top al-Qaeda analyst, told a senior bureau official, “This guy is insane, certifiable, split personality.”

During this time President Bush’s outward proclamations were that we had captured a major leader in Bin Laden’s network. Privately though he wasn’t so sure, at one point even asking George Tenet “‘I said he was important,’

…’You’re not going to let me lose face on this, are you?’

To which Tenet replied, “‘No Sir, Mr. President.’”

The Chinese used water-boarding as a way not to get their enemies to confess their crimes, but to get them to confess to things they had not done. In the middle of 2002, what was going on that would require someone to force a person to falsely confess to something?

The Bush administration applied relentless pressure on interrogators to use harsh methods on detainees in part to find evidence of cooperation between al Qaida and the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime, according to a former senior U.S. intelligence official and a former Army psychiatrist.

It’s true that a link from those responsible for the 9/11 attack  to Saddam Hussein would have made the case for the war in Iraq that much easier, but is that the reason for Zubaydah’s treatment?

In 2002, this country was still reeling from the attacks only a few months earlier, crews were still digging out ground zero and our hearts were still broken into pieces as we remembered  those flag-draped remains being brought home to those who loved them. Would we have tortured anyone to get  any information telling us who, why and if there was another attack coming?

When Zubaydah was water-boarded in 2002, the CIA video-taped it. Some of the question we have today could be answered by just reviewing those tapes. Unfortunately, the CIA’s director, Michael Hayden had them destroyed for security reasons. But there are many principals left who can answer some of these questions.

ABC News Video

One of the 1st questions being, why was the Vice President the one to  give the order to use these techniques and where was President Bush during these discussions and decisions?

Allah had visited

him in his cell

during the night and

told him to cooperate,”

Do we ‘cross the Rubicon’ as my colleague says and open an investigation of the previous administration? And if by doing so, do we damn all other Presidents who come after him? Dick Cheney wants more memo’s released so that his side of the story can be told. But will he stand before congress and give his side under oath is the question. Judging by the last time his administration was under oath in in front of Congress..

In several hours before the Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Gonzales said he had done nothing improper in firing the eight prosecutors, but conceded the case had been badly handled. At the same time, he said 71 times that he either could not recall or did not remember conversations or events surrounding the dismissals.

The answer to that question is not as clear as it should be.

Abu Zubaydah was captured in 2002, he was water-boarded 83 times in August 2002 for not cooperating with interrogators even though 3 months earlier he had given enough information for officials to arrest Jose Padilla. A CIA operative involved in handling high-value al Qaeda targets, John Kiriakou now retired, told ABC News that what happened to Zubaydah was in fact torture, but it was also necessary. He goes on to say  the water-boarding was so effective that Zubaydah broke within 35 seconds and the next day told investigators  that “Allah had visited him in his cell during the night and told him to cooperate” and that… “From that day on, he answered every question,”

If Zubaydah broke after only 35 seconds, broke to the point where he spoke with Allah and Allah told him to answer every question then why did he need to be water-boarded an additional 82 times that month?  The Chinese used water-boarding to make their victims give false confessions.  What question did he either refuse to answer or not know the answer too?

Before the release of the ‘torture memos’ Kiriakou was sure about the number of water-boardings and even had actual quotes made by Zubaydah, but after the memo’s release, ABC contacted him and he had this to say

When I spoke to ABC News in December 2007 I was aware of Abu Zubaydah being water boarded on one occasion. It was after this one occasion that he revealed information related to a planned terrorist attack. As I said in the original interview, my information was second-hand. I never participated in the use of enhanced techniques on Abu Zubaydah or on any other prisoner, nor did I witness the use of such techniques.”

So who has the 1st hand information on this session where these comments were made? Who can answer if  Zubaydah was tortured before NSA Rice gave a verbal nod allowing it? Who can answer if Zubaydah was in fact cooperating with interrogators 3 months before the “Torture memo’s” were even put to paper? Who can answer if he really broke after only 35 seconds of one session or if he needed an additional 82 more before he gave information that had the CIA and FBI running all over the world to confirm? Did traditional interrogation methods work with Zubaydah? Did he give up the information he had on Jose Padilla and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, did the Bush Administration really get ‘actionable intelligence’ from by using these ‘enhanced’ techniques? The man who really was there, Ali Soufan says he questioned Zubaydah from March to June 2002 using traditional methods and he was successful in gathering actionable intelligence and the information Zubaydah gave up on KSM and Jose Padilla came before he was water-boarded in 83 times in August. Mr. Soufan goes on to say that not only were the enhanced technique unnecessary and useless, they even created a wall between the FBI and the CIA, similar to wall that impeded the sharing of information before 9/11. It was so detrimental to the rival bureaus that the person who knew Khalid Shaikh Mohammad more than anyone else in the government, was  not allowed to speak with him.

There are so many questions that need to be answered and we know the principals involved who need to be asked.  But the biggest question of all is, do we really want the answers? Do we really want to go down that road and if so, just how far are we willing travel on it?

Related articles by Zemanta

• How the Bush administration waterboarded a low-level operative, who was brain-damaged, 83 times (americablog.com)
• FBI Zubaydah Interrogator Calls George Bush a Liar: “No Actionable Intelligence Gained from Using Enhanced Interrogation Techniques” (firedoglake.com)
• Rice approved CIA waterboarding (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Released memos don’t answer age-old question: Does torture work? (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

There were signs screaming about “Obama’s” Bailout”.. What the hell? That wasn’t President Obama’s bailout, it was George W Bush’s Bailout, but since these lovers of  ‘fair and balance”
were out to cheer for Sean Hannity, they didn’t know that..and having tried to tell them before, I just tried to ignore it.

They did not know it because Sean Hannity would rather keep their anger and hatred focused away from the man he spent  8 years defending and re-direct it at President Obama instead. Any kind of hatred will do, truthful or not.

A friend summed-up the situation the other day..

…I’ve come to the consensus that these tea partys are where people who are *still* in shock or disgruntled (or both) that Obama is in office come together.They take comfort, coming together, rallying around any number of outrages…that aren’t really outrage worthy and doesn’t seem to have any merit in the substance they insist brings them together.  I think many there know this as well…but the rallies, forums, and group meet and greets make available an assemblage that encompasses a feel good zone, where they feel safe.

These people that FNC (Fox News Channel) showed were carrying signs that say “Obama=Socialist” . Where the hell were they when Bush created the largest entitlement of all fucking time? Where were the signs when Bush was proving that

‘government can always get bigger on every level and every way.’

“Well Obama’s a socialist and he wants me to pay for everyone’s healthcare” is the canned answer I get when I bring that tidbit up..

In a way that was inconceivable when he took office, Mr. Bush — the advance man for the “ownership society,” smaller and more trustworthy government, and a humble foreign policy — increased the size and scope of the federal government to unprecedented levels. At the same time, he constantly flashed signs of secrecy, duplicity, ineffectiveness and outright incompetence.

There were “NO BIG Government” signs  all over the place.. What the hell? Where were these when I was screaming about the abuse that would happen with those wire-taps and no knock warrants. Where were the signs then?

Hello? Patriot Act??  Where were the screams and cries of “Revolution” from the Right then?

“Oh it’s different when the government intrudes on each of us to make us safer”

Yes, yes it was different then because it was worse! You lost the right to privacy, the right to an attorney, the right to confront your accusers, the right to a speedy trial, the right to be treated humanely. You lost Habeas Corpus

But the biggest hypocrisy of all? Signs and slogans and chants in Hannity’s Atlanta crowd screaming
Bailouts=Communism… Bailouts=Socialism..Tell Obama NO Bailouts..  But wait? What the hell  John Rich song were these people dancing,screaming and going crazy over?

Now, Shuttin‘ Detroit Down is a great song. The problem is, it’s a song about New York big wig bankers getting a bailout, while Detroit gets nothing and slowly dies and those people were loving this song and it’s meaning. . Are you kidding me? The Bush administrations bailout isn’t Socialism until President Obama’s in office-then it’s totally Socialism… but asking you and me to bailout the automakers ISN’T Socialism because it’s just patriotic?

No, these people are only going against whatever Obama is for

and that’s fine. Protest, get out the word, start your grass-roots. I’m liberal.. I’m all for that kind of stuff for Christ’s sake. But protesting just to the breed hate and spread ignorance? What is that all about.

Another friend said something I believe sums everything up..

A girl I know at work was talking to me the other day about these tea party’s. I don’t know if I like the idea of calling these rally’s tea party’s. I think of the Boston Tea Party and I think it should be left there, but anyway. She said, ‘now the Liberals know how it feels to have people talking shit about THEIR President the way they talked shit about ours and damned us for 8 years just for being Republicans.’

And the thing is I’m getting the feeling some people are doing this, coming together if you will, for that reason.

No, we don’t know or understand because  you are protesting things that you were quiet on under ‘your’ president. Not only were you quiet, you were against the Liberals who were protesting. Had the destruction of your constitution actually bothered you, then why didn’t you say anything when Dick Cheney decided the Vice President office wasn’t a part of any branch of government and thus not answerable to anyone. No,  you are protesting to ’see how we like it!’. You came into this match with that chip on your shoulder, a chip that said “ok, lets see how you like it when we disagree with you” and  when you can’t disagree with the truth,you are make it up as you go along.

“Obama is cutting the pentagon’s budget!” WTF? It’s 8% more than it was last year. The Republican appointed Secretary of Defense is adding 8%  more this year to his budget, a number that is what President Bush recommended but somehow that equals “OBama’s hates America and cuts pentagon budget”?

Chorus of Protest Grows Over Report Warning of Right Wing Radicalization

Conservative groups are up in arms following a recent Department of Homeland Security report that warns of the possible radicalization of right-wing extremists.

That’s right, they are ok with extremism of any kind be labeled dangerous.. well except when it’s their extremists, then they are so pissed that this was incorporated into the ‘tea-parties’ last week. Oh but where was their anger, their signs, their protest when 8 youths were arrested and charged with terrorism for talking about protesting the RNC convention?

This crap is pathological at this point, the Right and FNC are brewing anger and promoting anarchy and it’s not because they disagree with the spending- that didn’t bother them the last 8 years. It’s not because  of higher taxes because Reagan is the Conservative’s God and he raised them higher. It’s not about that whole  2% of pork in the budget either. It’s because they wanted Bush to be better than what he was, but he wasn’t. Then they were pinned into a corner of support because he fucked up so bad and our side was nailing him right and left for it. That’s when they got angry and not at the man who screwed up but at the people who were pointing out that the emperor had no clothes…And now,  like my friends co-worker said.. “Lets see how you like it”

The difference is.. When we screamed about Libby and leaks… were we lying? Or wrong?

When we bitched about torture.. Were we lying? Or wrong?

When we said the new warrant-less wiretapping was going to be corrupted, were we lying or wrong?

That’s the difference here. WE didn’t screw the pooch, we just pointed and screamed “Get off my dog!” and because the “Right” is pissed that we dared…now they are protesting?

Too little too late my friends,  your money was already taken and abused, your liberties have already been taken.. your protests can now be monitored and you can be labeled terrorist for them and you didn’t care a flip until they came for you.

Well….Now we’ll see how you like it…

an end because of any of their woes. Our world will come to an end because of the goddamn automated phone system.

True story.

My convection/microwave oven stopped working. I took it to the manufacturers repair shop and 7 days later they called and said it was like brand new again. I brought the machine home, plugged it in and… it didn’t work. Ok, if that was end of the story it would be enough to make someone in the tension-filled climate we live go a little whack-o-nut, but no… that’s not the end.

I took the machine back to the prominent repair company and said “Um, yeah… it’s still broken.” The nice gentleman asked “What seems to be the problem?” My reply, “The same thing that was the problem when I brought it down to you last week, that  you were to have fixed and sent it home ‘as good as new’ yesterday”. He looked confused, I don’t know why he would have been confused unless he had a memory like a child or a dog because he had just seen me 20 hrs earlier and explained to me everything they had fixed. One would think he would remember what was wrong. But whatever, I explained once again my problem.

Fast-forward 8 days. Now, if you have ever had to live without a microwave for any amount of time you already know how  problematic that can be.

“Hey honey, I’m just going to re-heat some leftovers for dinner because it’s been a super crazy day”…

and then WHAM! No fucking microwave. So why bother with leftovers since you have to get out all  the pots and pans to reheat something. As if that wasn’t enough, try re-heating your coffee, making the kids a quick after school snack, rapid-thawing out the pork loin you forgot to take out that morning. Yes, not having a microwave is more difficult than not having indoor plumbing. Because a bucket and some air freshener can work in a pinch, but nothing replaces that good ole instant radiation-zapped mac and cheese.

So, tensions are already at a strained level when  I listen to the message on my machine.

“Hello, this the very well known repair center, please call us about your microwave/convection oven that we have now had for a total of 20 days and tell us what is wrong with it so we can fix it, thank you and have a good day”

Seems simple enough, let’s get out the phone book and call them right back. hmmmm, an (800) number, well that shouldn’t be too difficult I’ll just ask for the local shop’s number.

ring-ring

“Hello and thank you for calling…para el español, marque nueve”

and now, the fun begins.

“If you are calling about a service appointment you scheduled, please press One”

nope, not calling for that

“If you are calling to schedule a service appointment, please press Two”

nope, not calling for that

“If you are calling to find a local repair center, please press Three”

hmmm, well maybe that’s it but lets listen to the other options

“If you are calling about anything else, please say ‘Other’”

uhh.. well ok maybe I do need 3….. ‘beep’

“Please wait while I  transfer you”

hmmm.hmmm.hmmmmmmmm

“Please say your telephone number starting with the area code”

… 321-555-5555

“Thank you, You said 374-995-5959, is this correct?”

uh, no

“I’m sorry, please say your telephone number starting with the area code”

321-555-5555!

“Thank you, you said 965-555-9999, is this correct?”

NO!

“I’m sorry, please enter your phone number using the key pad”

stupidfuckingtelephonewhoreshouldhaveletmedothatinthefirstplace

“Thank you, please press 1 for the address to the nearest repair center”

grrrrrr

“The nearest center is located at 301 driving you nuts road, because I can, 32935. If this is it, you may hang up now”

motherf..bitchwhore.. I need the phone number, I need a person and NO this is not all!

“If you would like to return to the previous menu, please press 0″

arrrggggggggg..beep

(repeats original options}

No, NO I don’t want any of those…

“If you would like assistance, please say Help”

Help

“If you would like to repeat any..”

Help!

“..please press 9″

HELP ! HELP !HELP ! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!

enter husband carrying a hammer, “What the hell? I thought you were getting raped or something”

“Shut up! I can’t hear what this bitch is saying”

“What do you mean shut up? You’re the one screaming and I just came in here because you’re screaming your everlovin’ head off for Help”

“I swear to Christ if you don’t shut the hell up.. .I’m going to stab you!!”

“Thank you and have a goodbye”

“Sweet Jumping Jesus…Do you see what you did? Now I have to call that crazy bitch back and go through that insanity all over again because you want to come in here and talk?

“You’re nuts you know that? Next time you’re being attacked don’t call me unless you want me to make popcorn so I can watch!”

“You can’t make popcorn because we don’t have a GODDAMN MICROWAVE!”

“HA! Ever hear of Jiffy-pop, Ms. know-it-all? “

“Take my advice.. sleep with your eyes open tonight and have the kids ‘test’ your food for you!”

“Oh yeah! Back at you baby!”

slams door!

“asshole!”

dialing….. ringing….

“Hello and thank you for calling…para el español, marque nueve”

yes yes.. hurry up…

“…Press Two”

fine two whatever.. just for the love of GOD give me a human to speak to!

“What kind of appliance are you calling about?”

Oh dear God… A microwave

“A Microwave, good let me transfer you to the small appliance center”

ahhhhhhhhhh…..yes. Yes YES!!!

“Hello, this is Bob can I help you?”

“Oh Bob.. Bobby.. Robert, yes you can help me. I took my microwave/convection oven down to my local repair center to get it worked on and they called me to ask what the exact problem was and I’m trying to call them to let them know but I don’t have a local number I only have the (800) number, do you have the local number”

“Let me check….”

waiting.. hear typing..waiting…

“What’s your phone number”

321-555-5555

“Ok… Yep got it right here.. 407-555-1212″

“Um wait, 407 that’s Orlando.. I’m Melbourne, you don’t have the number to the local repair center, I have the address if you need it”

“Sorry, let me look again…. Yeah, no I don’t have that number but let me transfer you to the automated system and it will help you out”

“wait!.. WHAT?”

“Hello and thank you for calling…para el español, marque nueve”

Oh My…

“Hey Mom, how can I heat up this left over chicken?”

Lord, please forgive me for what I am about to do to those around me.

Conservative talk show  hosts out for ratings do..

Guns shouldn’t be taken from the people and banned.

Obama is a serious threat to Second Amendment liberties.

Gun-clubs with their own agenda should be banned.

The 2nd amendment is alive and well.

Gunmen Kills Three Pittsburgh Police Officers

A man opened fire on officers during a domestic disturbance call Saturday morning, killing three of them, a police official said.

Friends said 23 year-old Richard Poplawski feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

Three officers were killed.

Those who wrap themselves in the protection of the 1st amendment, while spreading unfounded rumors with headlines reading

URGENT ALERT – IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED

ANTI GUN BILLS ON THE MOVE – YOU MUST ACT NOW

or who twists the truth of the reemergence of sensible gun-control measure that has been around for over a decade and was only recently allowed to expire, which they described by saying

Obama was lying, and now gun rights may be dying.

instead of explaining the true measure…

The Assault Weapons Ban signed into law by President Clinton in 1994 banned 19 types of semi-automatic military-style guns and ammunition clips with more than 10 rounds.

will ignore their parts in any of this, the same way Nancy Grace ignores her part in the death of  mother.

I don’t know the reasons for spreading this kind of fear with this type of dangerous and inflammatory rhetoric, but as of today… I know the consequences of it.

Guns aren’t the problem here they never are, the people using them to commit crimes or pump up their ratings, thus increasing their paychecks or donor-rolls are the problem. Ignorance isn’t criminal, but spreading ignorance based on rumors and your own fears and bias should be. The 1st amendment doesn’t protect a person in crowded space yelling “FIRE!” but it’s a good thing for some of these liars that it does protect their rights to infect people with their money and ratings driven fear mongering.

In the above clip, at 6:33,  AG Holders assurances that there is no ban, no ban coming, no ban plan, no ban plan being discussed, that no one in the administration has any plans to interferer  with the 2nd amendment is answered with, “Agenda’s could change”.. Yes  and a frog could fly out of your ass tomorrow.

Guns are not a problem, but the 24 hour news cycle that has to fill their time with something… anything.. whether true,false or otherwise is a problem since they don’t care what they say as long as people are listening. Today, we mourn 3 officers killed in the line to duty by a deranged man who believed these talk show hosts when they told him President Obama was going to steal his guns. Today these commentators and  gun-clubs have blood on their hands, tomorrow it is up to us to decide if we want to make them accountable for it.

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Over the last couple of days I have noticed a trend in this country and in others and it’s becoming the Number 23 for me and while that could drive other crazy it’s gives me an unlimited amount of amusement.

Take for instance the comments from this article

Obama Says He Has ‘No Intention’ of Running General Motors

on Fox.com

The gist of the story is that when we gave the automakers $21 Billion in bailouts, we told them they would have to show us a working plan to keep them viable and solvent in the the next 3 months and they agreed to do this.  Well, times up and their plan isn’t good enough for the Obama administration  and now the conservatives are in a tizzy over GM, Government Motors maybe having to follow the capitalistic idea of “let the market decide”. Take this comment from dkirby

Now we have irrefutable proof that Obama is not only unqualified for the job, but he is a liar as well. He DOES intend to run the auto industry. It’s either battery power or nothing with him. He has no regard for the millions of cars out there that still need gasoline. He has no regard for widows of GM employees who are depending on GM stock to live. He has no regard for the Constitution of the United States of America, and he is bent on turning this country into a Socialist Dictatorship. He is dangerous and in 2010 we must vote people into Congress who will veto everything he does or we will all be slaves of the government. I hope all you star-struck college girls and boys who turned out in droves to vote him in are satisfied with yourselves. REMEMBER THIS. YOU ALL ARE GONNA BE FORCED TO LIVE THIS NIGHTMARE WITH THE REST OF US INTELLEGENT PEOLE!

Yes, INTELLEGENT PEOLE out there Listen  to dkirby, President Obama plans to run the auto market and he has no regard for the people depending on GM stock because he might be leaning towards a bankruptcy plan. Ya know, a ‘live or die by the market’ idea. Whats comical here is this comment from coloradobob on another Foxnews.com story about how 3 out of 4 Americans want AIG to give their bonus’ back

Congress and Presidents make the mistake of bailing out companies that should have failed and gone into bankruptcy! Employees at bailed out companies are paid what their contracts say they should be paid (legally). Now, the supposed leaders see that the payouts could affect on their reelections, so they gather together to retroactively tax the legal earnings of American citizens. Sounds like something that would happen in Venezuela or Cuba or Russia or China! If I were a saleman or manager for GM or Chrysler, I would be careful not to get in the news. Your earnings could be next. No longer is a America the land of free enterprise and individualism, but now it is the home of collective stateism and socialism.

So bailing out the banks and helping the bank widows who depend on AIG or any other Wall Street stock to live is Socialism and instead of that plan, Obama should let the market decide and let free enterprise and individualism rule the day… well unless we’re talking about the auto industry, because then if you let free enterprise and individualism come into play and allow a restructuring of the company through a bankruptcy and see which pieces live on in that market afterward, well  then you’re turning the country into a ‘Socialist Dictatorship’

I must say, Sarah Palin did her job didn’t she. Her and Joe the plumber sure did their hatchet job well with their oh-so- innocent inferences that Obama is a Socialist hell bent on taking over the country. Now, everything President Obama does is his way of turning us ‘European’ and ‘Socialist’, even when he does things that are the polar opposite of each other. Well, that’s ok as long as the rest of world isn’t stuck in the same gene pool as ‘Joe who isn’t a plumber and isn’t even named Joe’, and ‘Mrs. No more pork unless it’s a road to nowhere in my state that I said I didn’t want but didn’t return when I got it’.

Now onto international news.

Mr Sarkozy, who blames the “Anglo-Saxons” for causing the economic crisis, told his ministers last week that he would leave Mr Brown’s summit “if it does not work out”.

It seems the French are about to surrender again, but not before Sven, form Stuttgart, Germany has his say

Good for you Sarkozy. The world no longer looks to the US for leadership particularly when it is kept afloat only by China. And British days of significance are long since past.

Well, Ok maybe we should butt out and let everyone fend for themselves, maybe it is time for countries like France to stand up on their own. Maybe Friedrich, from Berlin, Germany is on to something when he laminates

The key will be US dollar status and an end to dollar hegemony. Kudos to Russia and China on pushing for a new global currency with portion backed by gold

Yes, Yes Kudos to Russia and China.

North Korea Threatens War Against Japan Over Missile

North Korea’s government vowed to wage war against Japan if Japanese defense forces try to shoot down a missile that the communist nation says will carry a communications satellite. “Should Japan dare recklessly to intercept the DPRK’s satellite, its army will consider this as the start of Japan’s war of reinvasion more than six decades after the Second World War,” the official Korean Central News Agency said today in an e-mailed statement. North Korea is also known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Kudos to Russia and China, now go to them to fix your other ‘global’ fucking problems! Maybe in this new global crisis, where some countries want to institute another type of money as the world’s currency because the American dollar is just so out of vogue, the people backing this idea will start to look to the country proposing this change for their other global crisis and leave us the fuck alone for once. Either we are your world’s police to interfere where you can’t or won’t because you are lack the nerve or the compassion or we’re not. But as long as it is the United States that you look to for these problems, then it is the currency of the United States that will reign supreme. If you do not like that option you can always look to Russia and China for your humanitarian and or security needs, because they are known world-wide for their compassion and their ability to stop the spread of hostilities around their own borders in such a way that the world would benefit from their input, right?

We’re not socialists in this country, we’re schizophrentic.. But that’s ok because the rest of the world is more fucked up than we are. Luckily, we have better drugs to offset our mania, now we just need to legalize them.

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When my daughter turns 18 in just a few months she will be able to walk into any store in the country and legally purchase a tobacco product that is chemically enhanced to ensure a speedy addiction to the product, a product that will most positively kill her as she gets older. But if she is diagnosed with cervical cancer at 18,21,35,75 or 99 she cannot go into any store any where in the state of Florida and buy another tobacco product that will help her with the nausea that comes from chemotherapy and also helps with the exquisite pain from the cancer.

At 18 my daughter can decide to have her tubes tied if she doesn’t ever want children, have a double mastectomy if she has the breast cancer gene or  she can directly donate one of her kidneys to a dying relative. But she cannot marry her lover if that lover is another  woman.

People are always a talking about the ‘liberal this‘ and the ‘liberal that‘ that has taken over this country.  They are complaining that the mainstream media is not only liberal, but taking over the minds of everyone in this country with their ‘liberal agenda’. Oh… I beg to differ. We are not a liberal,progressive country. We are a country that forces children raped by their parental units to seek parental approval before getting an abortion, while allowing the baby born to that child to be raised in squalor without healthcare,food,shelter or schooling. We want to preach that we are a country of choice, but the truth is our choices are dictated to us by religious zealots who cannot live in piety themselves, so they force everyone else to.

I am a believer in God. I believe in and pray to him. But I do it in my own way, which means to many church-goers.. that I am damned and will not be allowed into heaven. Lovely isn’t it? In order to get into the house of the Lord, I must 1st enter the house and pray at the house man decided to give to the Lord.

If we are adults at 18, if we can marry, own a gun, tattoo ourselves, jump out of planes for fun, jump out of plane for war, kill insurgents with machine guns on a foreign street, remove parts of our bodies or add silicone and botox to our bodies, make our facial features more ‘cat like’, smoke chemically enhanced tobacco for the profit of an overly powerful business, then Goddammit we should be able to smoke some weed, marry our gay lover and decide for ourselves which medical procedure we will and will not have.

You want freedom people, then by fuck give us freedom.  Get out of our bedrooms, our bodies and our bong shops.  Live the life you want to live and stop forcing me to live my life the way you think I should live it.

There are no more excuses, if we are going to keep allowing cigarettes to be bought at 18 by anyone who wants them, it’s time to allow purple haze the chance on the open market. The same goes with medical procedures, if we can add a gallon of silicone to our tits, we can remove 50 ounces of fetal material from our womb. If we can vote to choose the next President, then we can damn well choose who we want to marry.

Freedom,  either we have it.. or we don’t.. but if we are going to have it, then I must be free to live my life the way I want and not the way you want me to.

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“I worry very much that what is being done here is saying, ‘We’ve got an economic crisis, therefore, we’re justified in fundamentally remaking the health program in America,’” Cheney said. “I don’t think that’s right.”-Dick Cheney, March 15,2009

Let me get this straight. Dick Cheney, in an interview on Cnn Sunday morning, is worried that President Obama is using this crisis unwisely?…That on the other side of this crisis, the people of this country might actually get….. healthcare? Oh dear Lord please save us from the evils of healthy children.

“I worry a lot that they’re using the current set of economic difficulties to try to justify a massive expansion in the government, and much more authority for the government over the private sector,” Cheney said in his first television interview since leaving office. “I don’t think that’s good. I don’t think that’s going to solve the problem.”

He is worried about a ‘massive expansion in the government and much more authority for the government over the private sector’?  Are you fucking kidding me?  The man who was behind the largest growth of government in the private lives of it’s citizens since the McCarthy era is worried that the government is getting to much authority over the business’ who ruined this countries finances? Is he worried that maybe the SEC will actually take a fucking notice when they are told repeatedly about the next Bernie Madoff?

Is there some law or commandment that says we still have to take this kind of vapid bullshit seriously? We voted for a change in this country, isn’t it time we stop letting this kind of mental retardation infect the populous? The GOP is already playing the game of ‘We’ve completely forgotten the last 8 years and so should you” and the ones that are up in arms over anything President Obama has done or wants to do are the exact same ones who were cheering for Bush and Cheney when they were doing it for the last 8 years. If we wanted more of the same, we’d be calling Sarah Palin Ms. Vice President now and as scary of a fucking thought as that is… it’s still not as frightening that come Monday morning conservatives all over the country will be echoing the words of this dotty old man who it’s obvious must suffer from some kind of elderly mental disorder since he cannot remember his part in the passing of the largest and most intrusive government of all times with the Patriot Act and Department of Homeland Security. Not too mention the part where this same man who is worried about Government influence decided Congress and the Constitution  have no authority over him or his office.

If Dick Cheney was or is so worried about this country, then why is he still furious that George Bush didn’t pardon  the man convicted of lying about his part in the leak of a CIA agents name?  An agent who worked on WMD’s in a time of war, his war, whose covert status, along with the covert ‘cover-story’ corporation she and untold amounts of other undercover CIA agents used, was leaked to not one, not two..but THREE reporters just to take the heat off of Dick Cheney and George Bush because her husband released a report that showed they might be wrong on their Saddam/WMD information.

KING: Since taking office, President Obama has done these things to change the policies you helped put in place…… by taking those steps, do you believe the president of the United States has made Americans less safe?

CHENEY: I do……. And now he is making some choices that, in my mind, will, in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack.

Where was his concern for the safety of this country and the people giving up their entire identity and possibly their lives in order to get deep undercover and find those who attacked us when he told Scooter Libby to leak classified information?

It’s insanity that any party would endorses secretly spying on it’s citizens, extreme rendition of its citizens,torture and possible assassinations in the name of its citizens as the way to keep the country safe from outsiders, while protecting,ignoring and encouraging those corporation inside it’s borders to fuck every single one of us from top to bottom, young to old, rich to extremely poor and then claim they are the ones looking out for us and the Democrats are the ones who are making us ‘unsafe’ and ‘open for an attack’. But that’s not as insane as the minions who will crawl out from under their rocks Monday morning and pump this kind of idiocy  into the sycophantic minds of it’s followers.

There is hope that instead of picking up this thread and running to attack the nearest Democrat with it, the GOP will come up with a plan to fix what is broken in this country instead of just saying “Nope, that’s not the right way either” I have very little faith that this will happen, because the truth of the matter is no one knows what the magic bullet is, but one thing we should remember, after the success or failure of the Democrats efforts is…. They are the only ones trying. It will be easy if President Obama fails to sit back and say “I told you so” and it will be even easier if he succeeds to claim they were for it the whole time, but what is not easy, what is never easy is being the first one into the deep end.

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