this post inspired by men who date badly

 

Ahem —

Things Men Shouldn’t Do On Dates :

Announce you broke up with your long time steady three days ago — in the car before your date’s seatbelt is on or you turn the engine on.

Tell your date you are on a budget — suggest she stick to the house salad and breadsticks.

Suggest your date wear high heels — then suggest a [long] [budget friendly] walk after salad & breadsticks dinner.

 

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*feel free to contribute additions….

 

the limits of charisma

 

The more I see of Obama —

The more I dislike him. I am a Democrat. This is not supposed to happen. I voted for him. I talked other people into voting for him, people seriously heart broken when Clinton lost who were talking about not voting at all. I told them they had to vote. It was that important to put a Democrat in the White House. And I should like him. I should be swept away by the joy of actually seeing a president speak in public who can pronounce “nuclear.” Be awed by his sweeping plans for the future, his deft poses, head tilted just so, hand raised in stillness as if he can hear something the rest of us cannot. It is all very pretty. It is all very eloquent. But —

All I see these days when I look at Obama is a man who leaves whenever the real fighting starts, comes back when it looks like a masked crusader might get the biggest cheer, who has broken campaign promise after campaign promise and who spends an awful lot of time figuring out what people want to hear and saying it —

And spends no time figuring out how to do it.

This is not a popular opinion. Well, not among fellow Democrats. It also however is not just my opinion :

 

:::the limits of charisma:::

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:::other promises not kept:::

 

where the art work comes from :
that is from silencio

land of the free

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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*that is not iran that is pittsburgh

:::police pose with beaten student:::
:::police assemble in plaza:::
:::military abducts protester:::
:::gas those students:::
:::police seize university:::
:::more clips:::

 

even repubs are starting to freak over how fast obama quits

 

“The writer of this article —

“Is from the conservative part of the political firmament. However, he’s struck by what seems like a relative lack of backbone in the Obama administration. As far as my side of the ideological divide goes, hey, great. We’ll push as much as we can to either get what we want or make sure that the left doesn’t get what it wants.

“However, were this writer a Democrat, he might start getting a bit distraught over how quickly the Obama team caves on both principle and defense of its own supporters and colleagues.

“The latest… resignation accepted on Thursday of Yosi Sergeant, Communications Director of the National Endowment of the Arts —

 

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::: continue reading:::

 

where that article comes from :
that is by robert a. george from nbc washington

where the art work comes from :
that is from presti non è qui

dear america your 2010 vote just got bought

 

From FreePress.Org —

“Your election vote in the 2010 election has just been bought by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman.

“Unless US Attorney General Eric Holder intervenes, your electronic vote in 2010 will probably be owned by the Republican-connected ES&S Corporation. With 80% ownership of America’s electronic voting machines, ES&S could have the power to shape America’s future with a few proprietary keystrokes.

“ES&S has just purchased the voting machine division of the Ohio-based Diebold, whose role in fixing the 2004 presidential election for George W. Bush is infamous — “

 

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:::continue reading:::
:::contact attorney general eric holder:::

 

where the art work comes from :
that is from king of the wild frontier

support our troops bring them home

 

 

memories

 

I remember being a little kid looking at the TV and some fringe crazies on the screen and saying, Those people are going to be serious trouble. And my mother and her friends laughing and saying, Oh no, those are just some crazy people, No one will ever threaten Roe versus Wade.

I did not know what Roe versus Wade was.

But I knew my mother and her friends were wrong.

 

the end of oil dependence

 

This is very cool. It is an —

Electronic vehicle [EV] conceptualized by Better Place and built by Renault. The effort that went into setting this up is huge, the cars require a city-wide recharge infrastructure as well as a computer component on board the vehicle. [Also they did the first smart thing I have seen anyone do in an electronic vehicle, hello, change out batteries so no sitting by the side of the road waiting on the battery to tank up, cell phone companies figured out you could do this why didn't electronic car manufacturers?] But, Better Place has pulled this off, working with the Renault-Nissan Alliance as well as it appears Microsoft and unveiled the cars at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show and is set to launch wide spread use of the vehicles [estimated 100,000 vehicles initially] in Israel and Denmark by 2016.

:::press release:::
:::wired on renault ev:::

 

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*btw, i am not a complete idealist, there are still probs, like, um, convincing american automobile manufacturers and city infrastructures to work putting this together, like overruling the oil companies, long kings of finance, they are dinosaurs and must step aside and brand into new energy ventures, like the fact this isn’t going to power any planes trains or trucks yet — i get all that but it is still a damn good start so don’t rain on my parade

 

 

hello?

 

So —

Is anybody reading any of this or is this all just a collosal waste of my time?

:::sigh:::

 

five health care promises “candidate” obama won’t be keeping

 

Remember “Candidate” Obama? Back before he became “President” Obama? Remember THOSE promises? Here are five he will not be keeping:

 

1. No Individual Mandate.

2. Complete Transparency

3. Government To Negotiate Lower Drug Prices

4. Allow Drug Importation

5. Lower Premiums by $2,500 for Family of Four

 

The mandate is in, sorry ‘bout that kids. Baucus’s bill — fondly referred to in D.C. as The White House Bill — was so non-transparent Baucus’s own party was not even privy to its details before insurance lobbyists were, forget the American people. The government did negotiate drug prices –– um, higher or to stay the same prices –– and drug importation is out via a very not transparent closed door negotiation between Obama and Big Pharma. And oh yeah? Those lower premiums? Those are out too and if, God forbid, you are a single parent? More out. And by the way, if you don’t buy that promised-not-to-be-mandated insurance? You now pay a $3,800 fine. I can see that working out for the people who live in boxes in Downtown L.A. right off. And I have not even brought up the “public option.” [delicate cough]

 

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:::cbs special report:::

 

where that info comes from :
that is from stephanie condon’s cbs special report

war

 

 

where i nabbed that photo :
i nabbed that from alex ryking

can america be salvaged?

 

I do not know —

The answer to that question. It looks less and less probable as I watch the new president, allegedly the answer to all our woes, skip opportunities, allow his Green Man and to hear it told the voice of America’s youth to be drummed out of Washington, distance himself from the progressive economic advisers who strategized his election win, sell out to Big Pharma, extend the Patriot Act, celebrate a big signature on closing Guantanamo Bay and then fail in any way to follow through leaving it up instead to the Senate to block closure of what is essentially an American concentration camp while Pentagon lawyers hedge on the date for closure, humor Wellness Insurance’s Max Buacus’s $856 billion dollar “let’s force thirty million people to buy new insurance policies and fine the fuck out of them if they don’t” bill while totally ignoring smarter, better ways like the HR 676 single payer plan [which would by the way save $350 billion dollars a year and flat out pay for itself] — the more I see, the more I think Obama is just another corporation whore who really likes being on TV [Hello, Mr. President, contrary to your advisor's counsel, you are not Angelina Jolie and I really WOULD like to see you in the office MORE and on TV LESS] and it is maybe time for one slightly used American screenwriter to start looking for means of employment in France.

But this is a very good essay you should read it.

 

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Excepted from Can America be Salvaged by David Michael Green

… The moment correlates precisely with the peaking of the empire several decades ago, now further exacerbated as the deep wells of remedial pillaging — our credit cards, our mortgages, our children, a rising Chinese middle class, brown people everywhere, the environment — have disappeared entirely, with nothing but despair and moral dessication left in their place. Moreover, the folks most aggrieved and most estranged from their senses of late are precisely the people who were bought off of their sanity at every turn with the latest form of bigotry du jour, used to assuage their ever-diminishing sense of relative social status. Over and over again, the people I see on my television screen acting absolutely and incoherently stupid in their senseless rage seem to be little more than fat, white, Southern, sixty-something racist good ol’ boys.

Well past their sell-by dates, they’ve of course gotten tremendous help cranking it up again. That’s no surprise. I’m not sure these crackers are smart enough to even be stupid without coaching. As Lyndon Johnson used to say: “Couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel”. Lucky for them, those marching orders come from a host of politicians and media whores who, in an even moderately just world, would receive a wee taste of Abu Ghraib in repayment for the reckless destructiveness they’ve fomented upon the always precarious edifice of liberal democracy. There’s special place in Hell reserved for these shouters of “Fire!” in crowded theaters, these bloodsucking bottom-feeders, especially since they are being paid so handsomely for their faithful service as prolocutors for predators —

 

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:::continue reading:::

 

where that article comes from :
that is from david michael green
published at commondreams.org

where the art work comes from :
that is from king of the wild frontier

this must stop

 

 

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:::stop wolf slaughter:::
:::sign petition:::

 

 

usa! usa! usa!

 

 

 

where that song comes from :
rumor has it that is from paul hipp

top ten reasons for a single payer system

 

1. Everybody in — Nobody out.

Universal means access to health care for everyone, period — the desire of 81% of all Californians, as reported in a January, 2007 Field Poll.

2. Portability. Even if you are unemployed, or lose or change your job, your health coverage goes with you.

3. Uniform benefits. No Cadillac plans for the wealthy and Moped plans for everyone else, with high deductibles, limited services, caps on payments for care, and no protection in the event of a catastrophe. One level of comprehensive care no matter what size your wallet.

4. Prevention. By removing financial roadblocks, a single payer system encourages preventive care that lowers an individual’s ultimate cost and pain and suffering when problems are neglected, and societal cost in the over utilization of emergency rooms or the spread of communicable diseases.

5. Choice of physician. Most private plans restrict what doctors, other caregivers, or hospital you can use. Under a single payer system, patients have a choice, and the provider is assured a fair reimbursement.

6. Ending insurance industry interference with care. Caregivers and patients regain the autonomy to make decisions on what’s best for a patient’s health, not what’s dictated by the billing department or the bean counters. No denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions or cancellation of policies for “unreported” minor health problems.

7. Reducing administrative waste. One third of every health care dollar in California goes for paperwork, such as denying care, and profits, compared to about 3% under Medicare, a single-payer, universal system.

8. Cost savings. A single payer system would produce the savings needed to cover everyone, largely by using existing resources without the waste. Taiwan, shifting from a U.S. healthcare model, adopted a single-payer system in 1995, boosting health coverage from 57% to 97% with little if any increase in overall healthcare spending.

9. Common sense budgeting. The public system sets fair reimbursements applied equally to all providers while assuring all comprehensive and appropriate health care is delivered, and uses its clout to negotiate volume discounts for prescription drugs and medical equipment.

10. Public oversight. The public sets the policies and administers the system, not high priced CEOs meeting in secret and making decisions based on what inflates their compensation packages or stock wealth or company profits.

 

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*and i will add an eleven, it is the moral and ethical thing to do
*california nurse’s association supports single payer
* national nurses oragnizing commitee supports single payer
*physicians for national health program supports single payer

 

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:::support ca sb 810:::
:::support kucinich & weiner state/fed single payer amendments:::
:::contact representatives:::

 

where the art work comes from :
that is from tobbyotter