Click here to view the embedded video.

SUBGATE: Romney Ryan hand out Subs for Votes in Waukesha

The matter boils down to one simple, yet deeply profound question: Why should I obey the law?

Our government… teaches the whole people by its example.  If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.  ~Louis Brandeis, Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939

For an instant last night, the sheep looked up, saw the plain lawbreaking of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, handing out free submarine sandwiches with the clear expectation that those accepting this bounty were going to go and vote in the primary (or, perhaps NOT vote against Romney).

NO ONE believes that this altered the outcome of the Wisconsin primary. HOWEVER, no one can justify this black-and-white lawbreaking. But they do. And, amidst this sea of pooh-poohing, WHY SHOULD I OBEY THE LAW?  As Jonathan Swift wrote:

Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.  ~Jonathan Swift, A Critical Essay upon the Faculties of the Mind, 1707

ABC News cravenly reports:

Apr 3, 2012 3:29pm
Cold-Cut Case? Wisconsin Democrats Accuse Romney of ‘Subs for Votes’

ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe, Emily Friedman and Elizabeth Hartfield report:

PEWAUKEE, Wis. – When GOP front-runner Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., gathered at a sandwich shop in Waukesha today to drum up support for Romney in the Badger State primary, they might have been engaging in “subs-for-votes” election bribery, according to the state’s Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin issued a complaint of bribery hours after the event, holding a news conference in downtown Milwaukee to air its grievances.

“It is a clear violation of Wisconsin election law, cut and dry,” the Democrat Party’s representative in Wisconsin told ABC News.
The group is filing its complaint with the state Government Accountability Board, which oversees the elections and will handle the complaint going forward.

Romney and Ryan’s event at Cousins Subs, billed by the former’s presidential campaign as an “Election Day Lunch,” was attended by a solid crowd on the day of the state’s primary.

The two politicos stood behind the store’s counter, handed out subs to a long line of people in attendance, and urged them to go vote.
“Get out and vote,” Romney urged voters in attendance at the sandwich shop. “If we have a good turnout, then I’ll become the person who receives the Wisconsin delegates that I need to go on to become the nominee and finally take back the White House.”

Poll workers in parts of Wisconsin were urged this year not to accept donuts from candidates, according to the Appleton Post-Crescent, which also reported that the Obama campaign in 2008 could not provide box lunches to election workers in Milwaukee.

The Romney campaign responded to the complaint from Wisconsin Democrats by accusing the president’s campaign of worrying more about refreshments than the economy. But it did not directly address whether the subs might have broken the law.

“President Obama and his allies keep wading in to the Republican primary, whether voting for Mitt Romney’s opponents or absurdly claiming we can’t provide refreshments for volunteers,” Romney spokesman Rick Gorka said. “If President Obama focused half his time worrying about the economy as he does obsessing over Mitt Romney, Americans would be a lot better off.”

It is illegal to distribute anything worth more than $1 “in order to induce any elector to go to or refrain from going to the polls,” according to the Wisconsin state statute.

The subs Romney and Ryan were handing out today, if bought individually from the store, cost more than $1. Sandwiches at Cousins range in price from $4.49 to $5.59.

This creates an astonishing irony as I hear NPR report “Mitt Romney is acting more and more like the Republican presidential nominee …”

Yeah. Nixon.

Or, as Aristotle noted: “The greatest crimes are caused by surfeit, not by want.” (Politics)

No heroes here

There was no reason to break the law, just as there is no reason to MINIMIZE it.

Wise men, learned men, and men of the West have, throughout history, recognized the primacy of the law in maintaining an ordered society. Consider this idiom, still fresh after two millennia and more:

Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.

Prov.The associates of public figures must not even be suspected of wrongdoing. (The ancient Roman Julius Caesar is supposed to have said this when asked why he divorced his wife, Pompeia. Because she was suspected of some wrongdoing, he could not associate with her anymore.)

Clearly, even though they used to watching enslaved men fight to the death for recreation, we seem to have fallen below even the honor of the Romans. When this ancient trope is brought up in public discourse, it is invariably minimized and scoffed at. Even though any careful observation of anybody’s politics will vouchsafe the sheer practicality of the proposition.

If those who make our laws do not themselves obey them, there are no laws, in essence, and people rightly ask:

“Why should I obey the law?”

Because, without law, there will be law. Not the law that we’ve evolved since the Magna Carta, thence to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and 230 years of modification and adaptation through law of those principles. What principles? Turn, if thou wouldst, to chapter and verse of the Book of Warren:

“It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.”  ~ Chief Justice Earl Warren

No: it will be the law of Chicago in the 1920s, where ruthless men murdered one another to supply the farcically illegal booze to speakeasies all over the Greater Chicago area. Or, worse, the law of the New Mexico Prison Riot of 1980, in which, in less than 48 hours, the veneer of civilization came off, and 33 inmates were killed, another 200 injured, and “none of the 12 officers taken hostage were killed, but seven were treated for injuries caused by beatings and rapes.”

Kill or be killed, survival of the strongest and most ruthless; game of thrones.

Torpedoed by a submarine sandwich

THAT is, presuming civilization could be maintained, with tankers of oil, and electrical lines and power stations, and roads and relative freedom from roaming marauders. Think “Road Warrior.”

Because this magical civilization in which we live is NOT a given. Sorry.

Pull the plug on America and all hell breaks loose within 72 hours. Food spoils. Generators run out of fuel. All electronic gizmos start dying off.

Then what?

Saturn Devours His Children – Goya

The framework that holds it in place is the law, which we commonly agree upon, following the last successful war. In this case, we opted for a representative democracy with three rules: we agree to  self-governance by majority vote. We agree to abide by the results of those elections. And we agree to reach consensus on the laws we elect our representatives to enforce and modify.

At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst. ~ Aristotle

Oh, one other rule: we agree to obey those laws passed by the majority consensus. Even “civil disobedience” openly acknowledges that a crime has been committed and agrees to the penalties for breaking that unjust law.

But we must know that our elected representatives are lawful. And we must know that those who are hired by those representatives to ENFORCE that law are, themselves, lawful.

Anything less, no matter how benevolent-seeming, is an inevitable descent into savagery and blood-feud.

It is NOT a small matter that a man who aspires to the highest office in the land breaks the law, and if he didn’t know he was breaking the law, surely Paul Ryan must have known, and Romney’s aides and Wisconsin GOP allies must have known. Now, the “defense” is that it’s not important.

NOT IMPORTANT?

Yeah. Consider the sniggering tone of the headline — knowing that merely saying “Democrats accuse” in the passive, rather than the quasi-journalistic, “DID Mitt Romney break election law?” will automatically make null and void all words following said phrase to 40% of any general readership, so partisan and poisonous has the climate been:

Cold-Cut Case? Wisconsin Democrats Accuse Romney of ‘Subs for Votes’

What a funny pun! Ha ha hah ahhhahahahahah.

Which is to say: THIS STORY IS NOT IMPORTANT.

And then “Wisconsin Democrats Accuse”

Which is to say: OH THIS IS JUST MORE SILLY BICKERING.

Less tongue and less ham, please.

To which I’d like to say, if the law is so unimportant to you, what funny headline will you come up with when you get back home and suddenly experience that existential rape: your door is off your hinges; stuff is missing, clearly. OH MY GOD! My (special irreplaceable thing) is GONE/BROKEN! Etcetera.

Will it be funny that a law was broken? Or are you just a bunch of coprophageous bottom feeders, slithering under the soft white underbelly of whatever sludge you can suck up and feed to your “audience”?

Well, when a man who aspires to the presidency has pulled this crap before, and again, you have to wonder if his fingers would be crossed when he pledges to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” so help him whatever he preys too.

You know there’s a goddam good reason for anti-corruption voting laws. And the continual irregularities of this electoral season OUGHT to scare the living hell out of you, if you give a damn about your country, and aren’t just masturbating to your fantasy of what the “Founding Fathers” had in mind.

Because it represents a FUNDAMENTAL scoffing at the very idea of democracy. We “bribe” the voters to get out and vote for us, and scoff that nobody can be bought that cheap.

(I don’t know, ABC News. They bought you pretty cheap, if that story is any indication.)

piss and vinegar doesn’t cut the mustard, pal

Besides, the Wisconsin Republicans know ALL ABOUT illegal electioneering. Here’s from a Milwaukee “News Radio” station on August 5, 2011 (if this were a stock or securities sale, Mitt, it would legally be a short term sale):

… The Republican Party of Wisconsin and Media Trackers, a conservative non-profit, non-partisan investigative watchdog, filed complaints about the block parties.  According to Media Trackers,

On August 1, a source who wishes to remain anonymous attended a Wisconsin Jobs Now! “block party” and witnessed a number of illegal activities firsthand. Upon checking in, the source was given a free meal ticket and a raffle ticket for a prize drawing before being whisked away in a white van to Milwaukee City Hall. At Milwaukee City Hall, personnel wearing Wisconsin Jobs Now! t-shirts explained the ballot and assisted voters with registration forms all from inside the Milwaukee Election Commission office, a polling location.

The Media Trackers complaint alleged Wisconsin Jobs Now! violated two sections of Chapter 12 of the Wisconsin statutes: those covering election bribery and electioneering at a polling place.

Earlier this week, Peter Pickett of the Government Accountability Board told the MacIver News Service it would be illegal to give people anything of value before giving them rides to the polls. It is also illegal to combine giveaways with transportation to the polls.

“If they walk in with a sticker that says ‘I voted ‘that’s one thing, but if they eat before they vote that’s a problem,” Pickett said. “It’s still a questionable practice on way or the other.” [...]

(I’ve covered Wisconsin’s “MacIver News Service” before, BTW. See “Water, Tea or Koch?” 20 February 2011)

If the law was important then, it is important now. And, in EITHER case, the law is the law until you change it. You don’t get to just “ignore it” when it’s inconvenient. (Unless you’re Mitt Romney and have returned to Massachusetts from Utah and want to change your residency. Or you’re Dick Cheney and want to change your residency from Texas, where you’ve lived for years, to Wyoming so as to get around the Constitutional requirement that no President and Vice-President may be from the same state. Having let them break that law, how’d that work out for the USA?)

This is not a partisan issue. It is an American issue.

And Mitt Romney just made a mockery of the very laws of elections — the PRIME source of all law and governance. What was committed was, by Wisconsin law, a felony.

And the law must either be enforced, else

WHY SHOULD I OBEY THE LAW?

When those who would lead us show no inclination to do so.

Dance down this broad, good-intentionally paved road.

But remember. At the end of that road, the New Mexico Prison Riot of 1980 is waiting for you.

If that’s what you want.

Or, you could have some foul-mouthed hillbilly from Wasilla, Alaska stand on your stage with her bastard grandson in the womb of her loose daughter, with the supposed-shotgun-wedding “groom-to-be” and yammer on about how moral and upstanding you are, and claim it’s about “country first.”

If you gave a damn about your country you would at least pay attention.

And if the Fifth Estate (or is that fourth column?) gave a damn about you, they’d not sneer and spit on the story, as did ABC this day.

And ask yourself: “Why should I obey the law?” and “If I obey the law, why shouldn’t Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney?”

Law is nothing unless close behind it stands a warm living public opinion.  ~Wendell Phillips

Wendell Phillips by Matthew Brady

And ask yourself why Sarah Palin guesting on NBC’s Today (Toady?) Show is getting exponentially MORE press coverage than this story?

Courage.
======================

A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog His Vorpal Sword. This is cross-posted from his blog.

Bruce Springsteen’s new single “We Take Care Of Our Own,” off his upcoming CD, Wrecking Ball was released today. 

ABC News notes, “judging from the names of the other tracks listed on the singers website — “This Depression,” “Easy Money,” and “Death to My Hometown” — Springsteen is once again wading in political waters and returning his focus to working-class issues.”

“We Take Care Of Our Own” is a hard hitting rocker, in true Springsteen / E Street Band style. As  longtime readers here know, I am a big Springsteen fan and I have to say this new single simply blew me away musically and lyrically.

Watch the video debut here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Springsteen’s long-time manager Jon Landau said of Springsteen’s new work, “Bruce has dug down as deep as he can to come up with this vision of modern life. The lyrics tell a story you can’t hear anywhere else and the music is his most innovative in recent years. The writing is some of the best of his career and both veteran fans and those who are new to Bruce will find much to love on ‘Wrecking Ball.’”

Washington Post’s Click Track blog notes, Wrecking Ball is the 17th album of Springsteen’s career:

The social commentary is evident on the lead single: “From Chicago to New Orleans, from the muscle to the bone/From the shotgun shack to the Superdome/There ain’t no help, the cavalry stayed home/There ain’t no one hearing the bugle blowin’,” he sings on the title track. It’s not hard to see a thematic similarity between the song and Springsteen’s work on “Someplace like America,” a recent book by Washington Post photographer Michael Williamson and writer Dale Maharidge to which Springsteen contributed a forward.

You can check out Springsteen’s reflections on “Someplace like America” here.

Springsteen’s new Wrecking Ball CD will be released on March 6. U.S. tour dates have not yet been announced, but it is reported will be a full U.S. tour with the E Street Band in 2012. Rolling Stone has more on Springsteen’s new CD here.

Wrecking Ball track list:
1. “We Take Care of Our Own”
2. “Easy Money”
3. “Shackled and Drawn”
4. “Jack of All Trades”
5. “Death to My Hometown”
6. “This Depression”
7. “Wrecking Ball”
8. “You’ve Got It”
9. “Rocky Ground”
10. “Land of Hope and Dreams”
11. “We Are Alive”

It’s appears that way to me. The timing, the gesture, the sheer passive-aggressiveness of the act, which would fit Obama’s passive-aggressive campaign, couldn’t be simply a habitual gesture. Judge for yourself.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’ll withhold most of my profane reactions to this classless, deliberate playing to a young audience who have no political history to use as an anchor point for judgment. Barack Obama is an ass. And you can bet Hillary Clinton, in private, will react much, much more strongly. [I hope she keeps Bill away from any cameras for 24 hours, at least, to let him cool off.]

I also hope she demands a public apology and lets him refuse to give her one. He’s played one too many passive-aggressive campaign games.

The Traditional Media won’t ignore this video (the full “looked in her element” video is at Politico and TPM ). It’s red-meat for them.

h/t to vtlover at Mydd.

UPDATE (7.58 pm pst by Pamela Leavey): The Swamp has picked up on this (emphasis mine):

Sen. Barack Obama was on the stump today in Raleigh, N.C., the day after his debate in Philadelphia with Sen. Hillary Clinton. Have a look at his body language when he spoke of the sort of debate it was — a “gotcha” fest — and about Clinton being “in her element.”

“Last night, Sen. Clinton and I had our 21st debate of the year,” Obama said today. “Last night, I think we set a new record, because it took us 45 minutes before we even started talking about a single issue that matters to the American people.

“I don’t blame Washington for this, because that’s just how Washington is,” he said. “They like stirring up controversy. They like playing gotcha games…

.. and I would say Sen. Clinton was in her element.”

And that’s the part of the videotape, courtesy of Fox News, where viewers need to pay some attention to the hand that Obama raised to his face, and the finger with which he scratched it.

And before the “finger” there was the “Snub.”

UPDATE 2 (11.15 pm pst by Pamela Leavey): For the sake of those arguing against the gesture here’s a freeze frame from the CBS video that captures the gesture at a different angle (from what I can see the index finger is bent down in the shot):

UPDATE 3 (11.30 pm pst by Pamela Leavey): From the LA Times Blog Top of the Ticket: Barack Obama makes a one-fingered gesture while speaking of Hillary Clinton

This is one of those political moments that really needs few words.

We’ll no doubt hear much more about this incident in coming days. [...]

The presidential candidate raises his right hand to seemingly scratch his cheek.

He doesn’t use his whole hand though. Just one finger. Briefly. A couple of strokes.

He pauses. He smiles slyly as the crowd begins to mumble and then he tries, somewhat distracted, to continue his remarks, smiling as the buzz spreads through the crowd.

He’ll no doubt deny it later, but that mischievous smile seems to confirm plenty. And the crowd sure sees something.

The infamous Gator, the one eyed, lame cowdog that’s afraid of cattle, in action as she obeys a simply ‘Down’ command. [It's a silent video taken with my digital still camera.]

Click here to view the embedded video.

The rolling over and groveling at my feet was her idea. How did a ‘she’ get named Gator? I have no idea. Sadly, Gator is missing in action at the ranch. She was a fine, if silly-assed, dog.

I’m on fire, right now, as I have a lot on my mind. I’m sure many of you are getting worked up about the same things that are sticking in my craw. Yet, when I try to express myself in a coherent fashion, it comes out on the page looking something like  ”akjf;laghoehtoieWTFgj;akjoijfoidjAHHHH!” Of course, I “know” what it says, but it’s impossible to translate.

I have plenty of time to think of these things, as I go about my daily tasks. I think “oh, how witty that will sound” and then I sit down to write and…I got nothin’!

Maybe I worry too much about censoring myself once I set down to my computer, trying not to offend anyone or at least, not offend them too much, especially with everyone on even higher alert and pointing to offenses more than usual during the current primary/caucus race. I think that I am coming to a point where I say fu…–I mean, “bleep” that (*wink*), I would rather lose friends than not be able to speak my mind. Of course, I will always be respectful when I am in a space (where you may be reading this) that does not belong to me, but I’m thinking it’s time for me to cut to the chase and actually say whatever the he…–I mean, “bleep” is on my mind.

That being said, there is some shi…–I mean, there are some things in today’s round-up that will definitely make you go “wtf?” So, why don’t we start off with a little soft shoe to ease you into it: Gregory Hines & Steve Martin Tap.

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Try dancing around today’s Ten Post Round-Up:

1: If sisters are doing it for themselves, how come movies and television are not representing them properly?…

On-Screen Sex Ratios Add Up to One Big Negative–AlterNet

2: Things not so comfy cozy on the housing front between GWB and the GOP?…

Bush throws GOP Senators under the bus on the bi-partisan housing bill–AMERICAblog

3: Those rebate checks might not arrive in time to do the economy any good, but at least the average Jane and Joe can maybe pay off one more bill before finally hitting the skids…

It’s official now: George W. Bush is today’s Herbert Hoover–Brilliant at Breakfast

4: Milestones and reminders on the road to victory in Iraq: Are we there yet?…

Another anniversary!–Bring It On!

5: They’re gonna git cha, so ya better pay up!…

IRS Hunts Down “Tax Defiers”–The Huffington Post

6: They have all this money, yet, they are still relying on the US for financial help? Excuse me while I beat up my desk with my forehead…

Iraq’s Oil Profits–The J-Walk Blog

7: Just one more thing for the cash-strapped working poor to worry about: Fraudulent rental agreements that leave them out on the streets (after handing their first and last plus security to a complete stranger who disappears into the night)…

Scam Leaves 3 Families Moving Into Same House–NBC10.COM

8: In a “real” free-market system, this makes perfect sense. Everyone is going broke, you gotta be able to make money where you can and if the whole world suddenly is starving, the last thing a hungry fisherman is going to be concerned with is the purple-bellied flying carp and whether or not it’s extinct…

As Prices Rise, Farmers Spurn Conservation–New York Times

9: I miss the old “Dr.” Phil: “You shouldn’t shush a nation when a president decides he’s gonna go to war. If we ever need the First Amendment, we need it then”….

Phil Donohue Stands Up For Free Speech In A Time Of War–News Hounds

10: I’ve said it before, being a friend of GWB and company means never having to say you’re sorry…

Bush Justice in the Department of Just Us–Scatablog

Oh, I definitely need more coffee!

284 días hasta el final de un error…

Peace.

(yes, I suffer from head*desk syndrome)

You say you want a ten post round-up? Oh? Well, I got your round-up, right here.

First, cue music: McCain Girls: Here Comes McCain Again. (Stop laughing! These ladies are very, very serious!).

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Now, cue today’s Ten Post Round-Up:

1: Ummm…I think they missed our stop…

Who’s steering the Iraq bus?–AMERICAblog

2: Be careful with that lipstick, ladies, otherwise you could stun more than that cute guy…

Lip Stick Stun Gun–Bring It On!

3: It would appear that some of our congress critters have their own personal stakes ($$$) invested in Iraq and Afghanistan…

US Lawmakers Invested in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars–CommonDreams.org

4: Sad, but true: We are all “pigeons”…

THE APRIL FOOL IS US–Hypocrisy.com

5: Does making “volunteer service” a requirement to graduate high school, actually defeat the purpose?…

Service or disservice? Student requirement debated–keepMEcurrent.com

6: I have a feeling that GWB, the movie will be just as disastrous as GWB, the president…

Oliver Stone’s “W”–Left of Centrist

7: One MILLION cars of public officials, in California, are immune to fines for traffic violations: no busts by red light cams or parking tickets to pay, a wink and nod when pulled over for speeding…Mus’ be nice…

Petty Tyranny in California–Reason Magazine

8: Whoops!: After being reassured by Cheney of a “long-term presence” in Iraq, soldiers are beginning to seriously consider candidates that want to bring them home, sooner rather than later…

Even After Listening To ‘Rousing’ Cheney Speech, Troops Back Pro-Withdrawal Candidates–Think Progress

9: Finally, an internet-arranged protest that is actually getting noticed!…

Truckers Protest, the Resistance Begins–truthout

10: Definitely NOT the top ten list you want to find your city on…

Nation’s Ten Worst Traffic Nightmares, Fragile Bridges, And Crumbling Dams–Wonkette

And finally, cue the morning cuppa!

285 días hasta el final de un error…

Peace.

(Somebody please cue me some chocolate!)

I admit it, I’ve got “spring fever”.  I’m desperate for the sun to warm away the echoes of snow and freezing rain that are permeating my neck of the woods.  I can see the grass and trees trying to turn green and the flowers are trying to sprout their roots.  I’m not looking forward to the excess of spiders that manifest during this time of year, but I am looking forward to watching hubby’s flower garden grow.

We are doing the big countdown to the LP convention and the day when hubby comes home for RnR.  He tells me that he will hear some big news by Thursday.  I imagine it has something to do with the same announcement that GWB plans to make on that date about deployments being reduced from 15, back to 12 months.  Of course, the fat lady rarely sings on Army matters, so I won’t be cheering about this supposed “news” until the last note is sung and hubby is home for Christmas.

Well, it ain’t singing but it is news: Uncle Jay Explains the News – April 7, 2008. (Wherein Uncle Jay tries to explain rec..um…reces…ahem…recessi…whoo…how bad our economy is).

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Some folks may be singing the blues with today’s Ten Post Round-Up:

1: Will the R-EVOL-UTION begin singing from the rafters for former Georgia Republican congressman and newly minted Libertarian presidential candidate, Bob Barr?…

The Barr Factor–Antiwar.com

2: Florida appears to be singin’ da blues over their abstinence only sex ed policy because the kiddies beliefs about sex have hit a bad note…

Florida Shines Once Again!–BlondeSense

3: For whom does the media sing?…

Your MSM In Action–Crooks and Liars

4: I’m definitely singing and dancing on this news…

Cup of coffee a day can keep Alzheimer’s away, say scientists–The Daily Mail

5: Maybe he was humming the “Armour Hot Dog” jingle and she’d had about enough out of that weenie…

Police: Woman Stabs Husband During Fight Over Hot Dogs For Dinner–local6.com

6: Shall we get together and sing karaoke after we play the “Bush Drinking Game”?…

Bush to speak about Iraq on Thursday–Wiredispatch.com

7: Tin-foil hatters singing a new tune about Sonny Bono’s death?…

Conspiracy Theory of the Day–Reason Magazine

8: I suddenly have an curious urge to sing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. Cue the zombies…

Rice for Veep?–Shakesville

9: This guy is definitely singin’ da blues, about now…

Man faces five years in jail after hitting a boy with… a hedgehog–Signs of the Times

10: Global rice shortage: So “unpretty”…

battle rice–skippy the bush kangaroo

Jus’ remember, the excessive blogging may kill you, but at least the truckloads of coffee will keep the gray matter from faltering!

286 días hasta el final de un error…

Peace.

(must.needs.more.caffeine…)

My apologies. My brain appears to be suffering a 404 page error, today. Maybe it’s the lack of caffeine. Maybe I’m suffering from “John McCain Syndrome”. Not good for a lass of my age.

Of course, it could just be that I am still recovering from my usual work-weekend. During the rest of the week, I wake early and bed down early. But, since I work bar hours, and still find myself getting up early to IM with my darling husband in Iraq, my aging body can’t cope with the bedtime disparities (early to rise, late to bed). It’s hard on this morning person. I feel bad for sleeping in when there is so much blogging and housework to be done.

I guess I need a wake-up song: ACE OF BASE – BEAUTIFUL MORNING

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Let this Ten Post Round-Up serve as your wake-up call:

1: Puh-leeze! Taxes are for the little people! Please leave those poor business execs alone to enjoy the fruits of YOUR labor…

“We’re paying executives like successful entrepreneurs, without asking them to take entrepreneurial risks”–AMERICAblog

2: But will anything worthwhile come of this?…

Common Cause calls out McCain on Campaign financing–Crooks and Liars

3: Well, if you can’t afford health care, then maybe you just aren’t supposed to have it…

McCain Health Care: Social Darwinism For All, Especially The Already Haves–Firedoglake

4: The fraud was not the exorcisms, it’s the performing of exorcisms without a license?…

Exorcism Fraud–Friendly Atheist

5: If Ronald McDonald says it’s “cool”, then the kiddies will eat it? Time to start wrapping those PB&J sandwiches in Mickey Ds wrappers!…

McKids And McFood–J-Walk Blog

6: Remember how we used to think folks who screamed about the military coming to kick in their doors, “any day now” wore tin-foil hats? Well, it turns out that now the rest of us might want to get fitted for one, too…

Oh When the Troops / Come Marching In…–Jesus’ General

7: Multiple deployments, stressful? You’re kidding?…

Army Worried by Rising Stress of Return Tours to Iraq -–Minstrel Boy

8: Get your gag-bag ready because you WILL be offended by this: Incest in the news in Australia (this is NOT a joke)…

If You Are Easily Offended…–Perez Hilton

9: “Soylent Green is”…Charlton Heston…

I Guess You Can Have Charlton Heston’s Gun Now–Shakesville

10: Maybe this explains McCain’s rosy outlook on Iraq: His son has served there as a member of the Marine Corps…

The tradition of war: McCain Is Vocal on War, but Silent on Son’s Service–Signs of the Times

Well, I still feel like I am running dangerously low on caffeine and a decaffeinated Dizzy is not really something you want to see, the first thing in the morning. As it is, all the mirrors around here remain concealed until after lunch! In the meantime, it will behoove me to exorcise my mental cobwebs with another morning cuppa!

287 días hasta el final de un error…

Peace.

(must.needs.more.caffeine…)

Being in the Bay Area, I’m a fan of the San Francisco Symphony (season ticket holder for several years) and Metallica (who one of my best friends works for). The fusion of the two in S&M is one of my favorite albums. Don’t worry, I’ll spare everyone the details of Metallica, and the early influence of Cliff Burton, their original bassist who was trained in classical piano, which you can definitely see in the composition of their early music. I digress…

I grew up thinking that “Master of Puppets” was an evil song. In reality, it is song about substance abuse. I wouldn’t call it an anti-drug song per se, but a song warning of its effects. In fact, according to Kirk Hammett, the Master of Puppets album is about “[v]arious forms of manipulation, which can go into entirely a [sic] different subjects which we could talk about for hours.”

In honor of the media trying to manipulate us into loving Barack Obama and hating the <expletive> Hillary Clinton I give you “Master of Puppets”. The song also goes out to Pat Leahy, Chris Dodd and all the other pols who don’t want to give PA, IN, NC, etc. a chance to vote. And to Matt Yglesias who thinks all we need is a good talking to by “credible party leaders”. A tribute to you all:

Click here to view the embedded video.

With my kids getting a little older and not needing 100% constant supervision (including the fact, as we are doing lessons, they can follow me around the house for instruction when I give them homework) and with the limited time I chat with my husband, online, I am finally getting a groove where I find that I can actually accomplish many things of substance and in a short amount of time. I haven’t had that since before the little ones were still in diapers (which is about the same time that I also started my business). So, now, I am actually experiencing boredom. What a relief!

So what do I decide to do on a workday, when I could be resting up for the long night ahead?

Chocolate? Yes, of course.

But, not only that, I decided to post a round-up. I must like you guys, a lot. Besides, according to my site stats, I have one loyal reader, so I don’t want to disappoint him/her.

It’s snowing outside, so it’s possible that I may not even go to work if it get’s nasty. The weather outside and all the dramz in the nooz is putting me in a miserable funk, so I figured I’d offer up something upbeat and funky for your musical intervention, today (btw: Dizzy abso-friggin-lutely LOVES this song): Ce Ce Peniston – Keep On Walkin

Stop a moment and let me walk you through today’s Ten Post Round-Up:

1: Wholesale Lies: The surge is not working as planned…

General William Odom Tells Senate Rapid Withdrawal Is Only Solution–AfterDowningStreet.org

2: Health Compromised: Eating ourselves to death…

Pollan: Nutrition “Science” Has Hijacked Our Meals — and Our Health–AlterNet

3: Worthless Education: President with an MBA failing the USA in the time of financial crisis…

“Mr. Bush has sometimes seemed invisible during the housing and credit crunch”–AMERICAblog

4: Let’s Raise A Toast(er): The Cylons are coming! The Cylons are coming! (PSA: Friday night on Sci-Fi Channel) Consider yourself warned!…

Battlestar Galactica–BuzzFeed

5: Sigh of Relief: We should be glad that GWB made the wrong decision after thinking about it for some time, instead of implementing his deadly decision right away…

David Gregory says Bush showed good judgement for not invading Iraq immediately after 9/11–Crooks and Liars

6: Knock on Wood: Help for homeowners may be on its way…

Foreclosure-Prevention Bill–Free Market News

7: Why Ask Why: Americans have not forgotten about Iraq, the media has just forgotten to report on it…

Myth: Americans Tuned Out Iraq Fact: The Press Tuned Out Iraq–The Huffington Post

8: Talk about “Whack”: Beware of the credit bureau “bait and switch”…

Profiting Off Debt–OurFuture.org

9: Keep on Walkin’: Indeed, in regards to race issues, “the past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past”…

Exhausting Race, Pt. 1–Pam’s House Blend

10: Cha-ching: “Republicans truly are the party of personal responsibility…unless you’re gay, poor, or a woman”…

Another Reminder–Shakesville

Just remember: Some days you’re the windshield. Some days you’re the bug.

That is all.

290 días hasta el final de un error…

Peace.

(Walk This Way…)