Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Courtney!


Before Kanye West took over as the reigning king of Twitter, there wasCourtney Love. While West's tweets usually address his new album, his search for a Persian rug or his ever-increasing sense of his own awesomeness, Love's tweets are darker and smarter and more revealing (sometimes literally).
According to the Hollywood Reporter, they're also at the center of a potentially groundbreaking legal battle: Attorneys for Dawn Simorangkir, a fashion designer with whom Love had been squabbling, claim that some of Love's 2009 Simorangkir-related tweets were defamatory. The case is headed to trial in February.
In the meantime, Love is currently living in the UK and tweeting furiously about everything and everyone. We've waded through dozens of tweets about obscure British gentry and Winston Churchill's walking stick to find the gold within. Some of Love's latest and greatest tweets, decoded:
The tweet: no trouble, buy property, make art, babies be heroic everyday, get my stray sheparded into a school and rock some words.smoking too, surf?
The interpretation: This one was from December 31st, so we're guessing it's a New Year's resolution. The "stray" presumably refers to daughter Frances Bean
The tweet: oh my god, if i had had a college education none of the money would be stolen and my husband would be alive,. dont joke,
The interpretation:Self-explanatory.
(On Trent ReznorKe$ha and more, after the jump.)
The tweet: i guess they figure if they make enough trouble people will still kepp thinking im on drugs and insane despite that never really having been
The interpretation: With Love, there's always a shadowy "they." No sure who she's referring to here, though. Usually, it's lawyers.
The tweet: @Keshasuxx not slamming you, yr tall and pretty very tall and very pretty and i dont know what your here for. Fame itself? do you LIKE music
The interpretation Love has been on a Twitter campaign to save Ke$ha, from a lifetime of being...Ke$ha. Apparently, it isn't going so well.
The tweet: ok im going into the other room to watch "Gosford Park" did you know Julian Fellowes refused me as a friend on facebook?#FAIL
The interpretation: British people are mean.
The tweet: i dont mean to make russell mad but i watch his genesis and im so proud of him and i dont doubt he loves her, so?
The interpretation: Love had apparently been insulting Russell Brand's wife, Katy Perry.
The tweet no he [unrepeatable] me, it wa shim on my door, not the other way around, tho i waited 2 days in no b4 he came it was not,,,,great
The interpretation: Since this came in a flurry of Trent Reznor-related tweets, we think Courtney is saying that Reznor pursued her during their long-ago affair, that she waited for him in New Orleans and did not find the end result to be a satisfactory one.
The tweet: i think the washington post was really ridiculously harsh ive only ever seena nother review like that and it was insf, it was sexist & lame
The interpretation: We're guessing she was referring to this.
By Allison Stewart  | January 6, 2011; 12:08 PM ET
Categories:  Riffs  | Tags:  Courtney Love 

Monday, January 10, 2011

"Tone down the rhetoric"


Some of us are turning this tragedy into a contest to see who can most successfully pin the blame on the other side's political affiliation.

It was in many ways a senseless tragedy.
A mentally ill man who may have been encouraged in his insanity by violent rhetoric.
The more we learn about the assassin , the more he appears to be an extremely disturbed individual, noticeably so.

Both sides should tone down the rhetoric.
The average Republican, the average Democrat, doesn't support violence in our politics.
The average American supports the same basic goals as any other average American.

If the American Empire crumbles, it will be in large part because the American people turn against each other as the "empire" crumbles

There are some things people on the left and the right are wrong about.
We should dicuss them factually, rather than emotionally.

Now if an Arab or Terrorist sympathizer comes here, it might be difficult to deal with them in that way, but I've found that they are fairly easy to defeat in debate because the facts are on our side, as long as we keep the debate logical rather than emotional.

 Maybe the ultimate meaning of the tragedy in Arizona will actually honor the memory of those killed in Texas.

Perhaps we should, "Tone down the rhetoric".





Sarah Palin: Violent threats have consequences

Sarah Palin put 20 Democratic members of Congress in her crosshairs, and Sarah Palin bragged that 18 are now gone, leaving Rep. Giffords and Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia.

There has been an astonishing acceleration of violent right wing rhetoric. At the same time, the mainstream media has come to accept armed revolution (second amendment remedies) and violence as legitimate political discourse instead of calling it out as behavior that crosses a very dangerous line. In the past week alone, incendiary devices were received at the offices of the Democratic Secretary of Homeland Security and the Democratic Governor of Maryland.
This is what Sarah Palin and others like her have wrought with their violent and vitriolic rhetoric that literally places gun sights on people who don't agree with their extreme views.
Apologists on the right are already saying that while tragic, this event was simply the result of an isolated act by a deranged individual. There have always been deranged individuals. But they have not always had easy access to guns nor have they always lived in a 24-hour-a-day media machine that promotes a toxic soup of violent attacks on political opponents.
How can anyone not be haunted by the prophetic words of Rep. Giffords herself in March 2010, after her office was vandalized, threats received, and her name and district identified by Sarah Palin in her infamous crosshairs:
"Sarah Palin has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district and when people do that, they've gotta realize there are consequences to that action."1
Will there be consequences?
.What happened in Arizona yesterday was not an isolated incident, but rather the culmination of a long stream of threats and attacks, most in response to the Congresswoman's support for health care reform.
In November of 2009, a staffer fearing for Rep. Giffords' safety called authorities after a visitor dropped a handgun during another "Congress on your Corner" event at a local Safeway in her district.2
And on March 22, 2010, just hours after Rep. Giffords cast her vote in favor of health care reform, a vandal jumped a gate and smashed the glass front door of her Arizona office. 3
It was just days later that the now infamous map featuring Rep. Giffords' district in the crosshairs was posted by Sarah Palin's PAC. In announcing the map, Palin issued a chilling tweet urging her supporters "Don't retreat. Instead -- reload!"4 Incredulously, through a spokesperson, Sarah Palin is denying that the crosshairs on her map targeting 20 Democrats who voted against health care reform represents gun sights.5
As if the crosshairs weren't clear enough, Jesse Kelley, Rep. Giffords' Republican opponent in a hard fought race for reelection held an event two months later that makes the stakes all too clear. He asked supporters to donate $50 in order to "shoot a fully automatic M16" to "get on target" and help "remove Gabrielle Giffords."6 Sarah Palin subsequently praised Jesse Kelly on Fox Business News saying: "I don't feel worthy to lace his combat boots." 7
Sarah Palin: Threats of violence have no place in our democracy. End the use of shooting images in rightwing political rhetoric and stop validating political figures who use violent metaphors in their political calls to action.
We agree with Keith Olbermann who said last night that "Violence, or the threat of violence, has no place in our democracy."8
We must put a stop to the escalating hate rhetoric of the right and its very specific calls to armed violent action. Lines of decency have been crossed.


Originally Posted on Credo Action Web site

1YouTube video of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on MSNBC, March 25, 2010. 

2 "Gabrielle Giffords Town Hall: Gun Left Behind," Huffington Post, August 13, 2009. 

3 "Rep. Giffords' Tucson office vandalized after health care vote," Arizona Daily Star, March 22, 2010. 

4Sarah Palin's Twitter feed, March 23, 2010.


Saturday, January 08, 2011

People are dying because of Brewer Medicaid cuts


People are dying because of Brewer Medicaid cuts. 
More will die. 
Steven Daglas, a conservative Republican committeeman from Chicago, says this is outrageous, and he has, with a team of specialists, drafted 20 different ways of paying for the surgeries to save 98 lives that are currently at stake, without adding to Arizona's deficits, and Brewer refuses to look at the report. 

The choice is not freedom or slavery, it's not "second amendment" solutions or Communism. 
Obama is not a communist.
I've read his books. 
He is a capitalist. 
I hoped, although I didn't really expect, that he would be a great President. 
I think the reality of Obama is that he is a politician, and will do what he thinks will increase his chances to remain President. 
That's how it is with most politicians. 
I have known some, and I got the impression that their major concern was, always, keeping their job. 

I wish I had simple answers to all of our problems, particularly overpopulation, poverty, crime and violence . 
I wish I could just say, well, its the Republicans or the Democrats or the independents. 

I think the situation is complex, and beyond solution by slogans or icons or 
gunfire. 
The bottom line though, is to gain factual knowledge of the situation we are in and have a goal for what a long term goal would be. 
My view, and I am trying to learn more, is that we live in an oligarchy. 
The oligarchy's concern is profit. 
I'm not saying that's bad, in and of itself, I'm just stating what seems to be a fact. 

If a country is run strictly as a corporate possession, and profit is the main purpose of the government's policies, there will be human problems and societal problems as a result. 
If 30 million people are unemployed and can't find a job, and don't have some type of safety net, and cannot get another job, there will be crime and violence. 
No doubt at all about that, is there?

Friday, January 07, 2011

Another Patient Dies From Arizona’s Medicaid Cuts As Gov. Brewer Ignores Possible Solutions

 "I refuse to believe that any person or state will spend $1.25 million to save 5 squirrels a year, but not 98 human beings. It can’t be true. That just doesn’t make any sense,"  so said the gracious and charming Republican Representative from Chicago, Stevden Daglas.
This is something we don't really expect to see from a Republican lawmaker.
This article gives a background to the public emergence of this fine man, and, hopefully, a new wave amongst Republicans.
It was originally published on Think Progressive's web site.


As ThinkProgress previously reported, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) advocated for and passed budget cuts last year that cut off urgent transplant funding that was previously promised to 98 Arizonans. In late November, Mark Price, an Arizona father who had been battling leukemia for a year, died due to complications related to chemotherapy treatment he was receiving. Price was awaiting an organ transplant that could’ve saved his life, but he was unable to receive one in time due to Brewer’s budget cuts.

Now, the University of Arizona Medical Center has told the press that another patient passed away in late December because they were unable to get their organ transplant funded. Although the attending physicians declined to release the name of the patient out of respect for the family’s privacy, they confirmed that the patient that passed away was one of the 98 Arizonans cut off from organ transplants by Brewer and the GOP-controlled state legislature. He “was our patient. He was on our list,” said surgery department spokeswoman Jo Marie Gellerman.
Local news station KGUN reported the second death and tracked down two patients who are still waiting for transplants. They interviewed 48-year old David Hernandez, who has a terminal lung disease and will die without a transplant. They also highlighted the case of 27-year old Tiffany Tate, who also needs a lung transplant to save her life. Despite placing three phone calls and an e-mail, the station was unable to receive any response from Brewer’s office.
KGUN was able to interview Sen. Frank Antenori (R) — a Brewer ally who has long fought for provisions to prevent abortions, based on his supposed belief in the sanctity of human life — who told them that he wishes the legislature “had the money and it was flowing from the hills to fund everything we want to fund. Tough decisions are being made because we’re in a budget crisis right now.” Interestingly, the station found out that all state employees are entitled to medical benefits subsidized by taxpayers, and that “yes, they do cover organ transplants.” Watch it:
After learning about the plight of the 98 Arizonan patients, Steven Daglas, an Illinois State GOP Central Committeeman, worked with several others to analyze the Arizona state budget and finances to develop funding solutions that would allow the state to fully fund the transplants for all of the remaining patients without actually raising any new revenue. The possible solutions included using $2 million from an AIG settlement that the state of Arizona will receive or “transferring $1.2 million in funds that Arizona once planned to use to build bridges for endangered squirrels.” Yet even after repeatedly sending his proposal to Brewer since December, Daglas has received zero response from the governor. He told The Arizona Republic that she may be ignoring his proposal out of the fear that he’s trying to politically damage her, but he explained, “I’m a Republican guy from Illinois…We’re just concerned about these transplant patients and want to help“:
Since early last month, Daglas and those with whom he is working have been reaching out to the governor and her staff with the ideas. Among other things, they sent a letter that required a signature confirmation so they knew the information was getting through. But they haven’t heard back.
“We’re worried that maybe her office is thinking that we’re offering these ideas as a way to attack her or make her look bad, and that isn’t it at all,” Daglas said. “I’m a Republican guy from Illinois. We have plenty of problems up here. We’re just concerned about these transplant patients and want to help. We have provided detailed information about the suggestions, the statutes, the original sources and so on.”
The failure of Brewer to respond to the funding proposal has frustrated Daglas, and this morning he joined with five of the patients in need of transplants and launched a website, Arizona98.com. The website lists 26 possible ways that Arizona can shift funding in order to pay for the transplant procedures without having to raise any additional revenue. As the Arizona Republic notes, the savings Arizona is supposed to have by not funding the transplants amount to $1.36 million. As Arizona98.com notes, “The fact our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters (hard-working citizens and good people) have been deemed expendable at a price of $13,877.56 per human life still does not make sense.”

Monday, January 03, 2011

The Shame of Islam

The worst human rights abuse by Muslims, in Muslim countries, particularly the Arab States and Iran, is the brutal, daily, on- going dehumanization of women.
Read these observations by a Muslim educator:


Are Human Rights Compatible with Islam?
The Issue of the Rights of Women in Muslim Communities
By Riffat Hassan, Ph.D.

University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky

Women are the targets of the most serious violations of human rights which occur in Muslim societies in general. Muslims say with great pride that Islam abolished female infanticide; true, but, it must also be mentioned that one of the most common crimes in a number of Muslim countries (e.g., in Pakistan) is the murder of women by their husbands. These so-called "honor-killings" are, in fact, extremely dishonorable and are frequently used to camouflage other kinds of crimes.



Female children are discriminated against from the moment of birth, for it is customary in Muslim societies to regard a son as a gift, and a daughter as a trial, from God. Therefore, the birth of a son is an occasion for celebration while the birth of a daughter calls for commiseration if not lamentation. Many girls are married when they are still minors, even though marriage in Islam is a contract and presupposes that the contracting parties are both consenting adults. Even though so much Qur'anic legislation is aimed at protecting the rights of women in the context of marriage[54] women cannot claim equality with their husbands. The husband, in fact, is regarded as his wife's gateway to heaven or hell and the arbiter of her final destiny. That such an idea can exist within the framework of Islam - which, in theory, rejects the idea of there being any intermediary between a believer and God - represents both a profound irony and a great tragedy.

Although the Qur'an presents the idea of what we today call a "no-fault" divorce and does not make any adverse judgements about divorce [55], Muslim societies have made divorce extremely difficult for women, both legally and through social penalties. Although the Qur'an states clearly that the divorced parents of a minor child must decide by mutual consultation how the child is to be raised and that they must not use the child to hurt or exploit each other[56], in most Muslim societies, women are deprived both of their sons (generally at age 7) and their daughters (generally at age 12). It is difficult to imagine an act of greater cruelty than depriving a mother of her children simply because she is divorced. Although polygamy was intended by the Qur'an to be for the protection of orphans and widows[57], in practice Muslims have made it the Sword of Damocles which keeps women under constant threat. Although the Qur'an gave women the right to receive an inheritance not only on the death of a close relative, but also to receive other bequests or gifts during the lifetime of a benevolent caretaker, Muslim societies have disapproved greatly of the idea of giving wealth to a woman in preference to a man, even when her need or circumstances warrant it. Although the purpose of the Qur'anic legislation dealing with women's dress and conduct[58], was to make it safe for women to go about their daily business (since they have the right to engage in gainful activity as witnessed by Surah 4: An-Nisa' :32 without fear of sexual harassment or molestation, Muslim societies have put many of them behind veils and shrouds and locked doors on the pretext of protecting their chastity, forgetting that according to the Qur'an, confinement to their homes was not a normal way of life for chaste women but a punishment for "unchastity".


As part of our price for defending the governments of Afghanistan and Iraq, and all of the Arab States that depend on us, there should be a demand for immediate restoration of rights to women.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

What Would A conservative Society Look Like?



Political Conservatism is one of the most harmful scams that pols have going.
Its essence is, "I got mine, too bad for you."
Now, that is not compatible with any Jewish philosophy that I am aware of, contrary to some statements.

The liberal beliefs, compassion, helping your fellow man, working together to promote the well being of all, concern about rights and equality of all, and not just the dwindling middle class and the wealthy, these are more closely aligned with Jewish beliefs than the "cut your losses"  "every man for himself"selfishness of the so called conservatives.

The man in the street conservative, in my (here very condensed view) is following the "conservative" beliefs because people want someone to blame for there worries and fears.
Conservatives choose a very easy target, poor people, minorities and "illegals", as well as politicians who support  compassion and aid to these groups

I do a lot of work that involves attempting to convince some liberals that Israel is the good guy in the ME.
That's obvious to all of us, but like conservative  followers, liberals are sometimes brainwashed by the media as well, and a certain portion of the liberal media is anti-Israel, particularly "Democracy Now".

The solution is to diligently seek the truth, and disseminate it.

If one does that, certain truths, such as, "As Americans we need to work to lift all Americans, and all people, to the extent we are able," are obvious.

I viewed a painting recently that visualizes the world if conservative principles are followed to their logical end, it depicts a shining city on a hill,. and the mass of the world's people basically subsisting below on the refuse and cast offs of the few remaining people of wealth.

That is definitely not the Jewish view of how thing should be.