A brief series interlude: Death in 3s, an uncomfortably close call and some belated "Ruminations"

In the last three months, death has knocked on my family's door three times.  I'm just now getting back home -- from yet another a funeral.

My aunt, the second of my grandmother's children (my mother was the first), died of a heart attack at 81 years old in mid-February.  I'd flown to Florida to take care of some tenant/maintenance issues at the house there, when I got the call.  I handled the headaches and changed my airline ticket and rental car drop-off location, and then drove the nine or so hours home so I could be there.

I flew back from there, and by the time I got back to Texas, I got a call shortly thereafter that her daughter's husband had died in March due to complications from sickle cell anemia (I'd planned to go to his funeral, but couldn't work it out financially). Then, the man who helped raise me and my brother after my parents divorced, passed away last week after some long-suffering and debilitating effects of Alzheimer's at 88 years old. His daughters and I were like sisters -- there was no way I wouldn't  show up for his "home-going."

I flew home Thursday morning.  Here are the stubs from my boarding passes for that leg of the trip:

   

Since my connecting flight was leaving from Terminal C, I went upstairs and rode the Link Train from Terminal A, through Terminal B, to Terminal C.  As I had an almost 2-hour layover, I decided to go to a cafe to get something to eat.  As I stood at the register, waiting to pay, the manager with a walkie-talkie came over to the young sister ringing me up and whispered something her ear.  She looked at me, eyes as big as saucers and said, "There's been a shooting in Terminal B!"  I said, "What?!  How?!  The only folks with guns in the terminals are the TSA people right?"  She said she didn't know who'd done the shooting, but she was going to find out.  She finished ringing me up and went in a back room with her manager.

I sat at a table close to the register, hoping to get some more details when she came back out, but she never did.  I just sat there nervously eating, eyes flitting around the cafe.  When I finished, I went to my gate and said to myself, "Let me hurry up and get the hay-ell on that damned plane!"

I got on, but we just sat on the tarmac, delayed because there were passengers who'd arrived at Terminal B but were stuck there.  They waited for a little while (the flight was fully booked) and then decided to go ahead and leave -- there were quite a few empty seats.

When I finally got home, I told my son what had just happened and we flicked through the local news channels to see if there was anything on about it.  There was nothing.  Later, I went online and found this, this and this.  And wonder of wonders -- the ass-hats from the NRA were all swooping in for a convention the following day! -- Houston airport shooting hot topic at NRA convention.  I swear, you just can't make this stuff up!

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Ballot Initiative Could Alter District-Congress Relationship:

“When I hear a senator saying he’s of two minds, that’s progress as far as we’re concerned,” Norton said.

This, from DC's  Representative-in-name only, makes sense?  Please.  She (along with the rest of the Black, misleadership class) has been begging for DC statehood/autonomy forever -- to no avail (and the Changeling putting those, "Taxation without Representation" plates on his official vehicle, mattered not one iota either).  Am I the only fool that understands that the powers-that-be have no intention of ever letting that Home Rule thing happen (at least not until they've effectively "bleached" the District of its chocolate residents, that is)??  {smdh}

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No, we all can't go to Cuba anytime we want, but what's the big deal about JoeC and Bey going?

(Photo courtesy of Naturally Moi)

I mean, it's not like the Changeling sent them on some kind of educational, or covert 007 mission or anything, right?  And certainly, there's no danger of them putting their heads (OR pennies) together with an Assata Shakur while they were there, kicking around ideas, plans or actions for Black Revolution 2.0, is there?  I sure don't think so (there's sure nothing revolutionary going on with Sasha Fierce over there ---> (quite the contrary actually).

If I thought this young sister was at all culturally savvy (or cared to be), I'd say she did an excellent, undercover job of exposing Mr. & Mrs. "O" for the, "We'll step on, and over, alla y'all -- because we're better than you" selves that they are (but then again, Mrs. "O" did say she felt Bey was a great role model for her daughters.  Wait!  Isn't "Sasha" their younger daughter's name?).  But, unfortunately, I don't think that about the sister.  I'll leave it at that.

What Black folk should have their panties in a knot over, is this piece of work by Ole JoeC:

Culture icon and hip hop superstar Jay-Z has invested in Israeli wireless technology company, Duracell Powermat, and has signed on as the new face of the company. Duracell Powermat, a joint venture between Procter & Gamble and Israel’s Powermat, was announced in September of 2011. Duracell, a brand of batteries manufactured by P&G, has also invested in Powermat.

If I thought he was at all culturally savvy (or cared to be), I'd say he did an excellent job of setting himself up to take Israel's cash (down the road), so he could use it to help the many Africans-who-look-like-him, living in apartheid conditions -- in Israel.  But again, like his wife, I do not think that.  What I do think is, he's just another shabos goy -- just like Russell Simmons (Sorry, you gotta read all the way to the end for the reference).

UPDATE:
A few things on this particular "rumination" -- First, Brother Amenta and I shared this convo on another post recently:

Amenta -- "When Jay Z, easily got the ok to go to Cuba I wondered who in his camp is an agent."
Me -- You're the second person I've read that said that! As I said here, I doubt THEY had a damned 007 clue, but y'all could be right, they could have been the Changeling's "useful idiots!"

A week later, I read Obama Uses JayZ to Trap Assata Shakur, posted over at Freedom Rider (follow the Dhoruba bin Wahad link there to read the entire interview). It included this sentence:   Jay-Z’s delegation included a State-Department “reliable” personage who transmitted the Obama’s administration’s position.  My snark about them not having "a damned 007 clue" was intended, and stands -- as does my "useful idiots" comment.

Second, staying on the subject of Assata Shakur, Sis. Carolyn over at Perspectives... (see sidebar) shared this link with me recently: Statement by the National Network on Cuba on the placement of Assata Shakur on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list.  A good read, and if you're into those "games people play" with other people's lives, a good move!

Third, according to the Naturally Moi link in Sasha's photo up there on the right, "...the weird outfit is supposed to be an owl."

No folks, THIS is an owl (guess I'm just not visionary enough to connect big green eyes, with big brown ones):

(Photo courtesy of Graham McGeorge, from the 2013 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

End of update

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What can I say about Amira Hass other than I certainly appreciate the alliance of values she and Sister Cynthia McKinney hold.  Mincing no words here, she mirrors what having "stones" is about (pun intended):

In the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, stones have played a central role. The stone was the symbol of the first Palestinian intifada (1987-1993), as children as young as 8 years old rained their projectiles down on the occupying Israeli army. Soldiers often responded with live ammunition, killing more than 1,000 Palestinians, about 200 of them children. Youths with stones confronting soldiers with Galils and M-16s: Palestinian children took center stage as David against the Israeli Goliath. The image pricked the conscience of many Israelis, and citizens and governments around the world, and ultimately helped force Israeli leaders, including the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, to the negotiating table. (The Oslo agreement they forged with Palestinian negotiators proved to be disastrous; nevertheless, there was a palpable sense during the first intifada that the stone would lead to Palestinian liberation.)

Today, the stone remains a part of Palestinian resistance to Israel’s occupation, which is more entrenched than ever. And while growing numbers of Palestinians advocate nonviolent resistance as the most promising path to a just peace, others strongly defend the right of Palestinians to throw stones as a legitimate act of political resistance against an illegal 47-year military occupation. One of them is an Israeli journalist.

“Throwing stones is the birthright and duty of anyone subject to foreign rule,” wrote Amira Hass in an April 3 article in the newspaper Haaretz. “Throwing stones is an action as well as a metaphor of resistance.”...

...In her piece, Hass underscored the “right” and “duty” of Palestinians to resist the occupation in the face of “shooting, torture, land theft, restrictions on movement, and the unequal distribution of water sources.” The Israeli journalist, who unlike nearly every Western correspondent, lives in the occupied West Bank, offered this resistance advice:

“It would make sense for Palestinian schools to introduce basic classes in resistance: ... how to behave when army troops enter your homes; comparing different struggles against colonialism in different countries; how to use a video camera to document the violence of the regime’s representatives; methods to exhaust the military system and its representatives; a weekly day of work in the lands beyond the separation barrier; how to remember identifying details of soldiers who flung you handcuffed to the floor of the jeep, in order to submit a complaint; the rights of detainees and how to insist on them in real time; how to overcome fear of interrogators; and mass efforts to realize the right of movement.”

Not least of these strategies, Hass asserted in the article that has drawn so much heat, is hurling rocks at soldiers: “Stone-throwing is the adjective attached to the subject of ‘We’ve had enough of you, occupiers.’ ” (emphasis mine)

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Pelosi: Members are lined up to sign Paycheck Fairness Act (tried to embed but not allowed).  That damned Nancy Pelosi is somethin' else ain't she?

I got this email from when I was a Democrat and subscribed to the DCCC emails (never cancelled it, I always like being abreast of e'erybody's lies).  And this one would have been too funny for how ignorant they believe most folk are to their tactics of blaming Rethuglicans for obstructing everything, if not for their hubris and my long memory (we don't all have it twisted).  Just like the Democrats held the majority in both the House and the Senate when Shrub & Co. lied us into the Iraq war, they also lied when they engineered the bait-and-switch in favor of Ledbetter versus the real Paycheck Fairness Act:

April 9, 2013

Friends --

As the first woman Speaker of the House, I know a thing or two about challenging the status quo. I'm really proud of that, and I'm proud of all the women who have made our country strong.

But the truth is, we're still a long way from fairness and equality in the workplace -- women make just 77 cents for every dollar a man makes.

Republican obstructionists continue to block progress on paycheck fairness -- tell them to stop acting on the wrong side of history:

Stand with me and women across the country and help us get to 100,000 strong for paycheck fairness >>

Equal work deserves equal pay -- and passing the Paycheck Fairness Act is the next step in the fight for equal pay.

This bill won’t see the light of day unless we hold House Republicans’ feet to the fire. Tell House Republicans it’s time to finally pass the Paycheck Fairness Act:

http://dccc.org/Equal-Pay

Thanks,

Nancy Pelosi

Am I the only one that remembers this dog & pony show, staged to make all you female 'mericans, think the Changeling had immediately done a damned thing about equal pay for women shortly after he burst on the scene?



Or when Pelosi stepped up on the floor in the first week of the 111th Congress, and told the lie again (even though the words on the bottom of the screen tell exactly what Lebetter was really about?



Rosa DeLauro would have done better on her damned own, rather than allowing the Changeling and Pelosi to manipulate a bill she'd worked on so hard, for so a long.

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Also, got this petiton from Avaaz and thought about my telling Amenta last year, "Lawd ha' mercy! I knew my people had it right when they were growing their own food and raising their own chickens and hogs out in the country!": 

Dear Avaazers,

It’s unbelievable, but Monsanto and Co. are at it again. These profit-hungry biotech companies have found a way to exclusively ‘own’ something that freely belongs to us all -- our food! They’re trying to patent away our everyday vegetables and fruits like cucumber, broccoli and melons, forcing growers to pay them and risk being sued if they don’t.

But we can stop them from buying up Mother Earth. Companies like Monsanto have found loopholes in European law to get away with this, so we just need to close them shut before they set a dangerous global precedent. And to do that, we need key countries like Germany, France and the Netherlands -- where opposition is already growing -- to call for a vote to stop Monsanto’s plans. The Avaaz community has shifted governments before, and we can do it again.

Many farmers and politicians are already against this -- we just need to bring in people power to pressure these countries to keep Monsanto’s hands off our food. Sign now and share with everyone to help build the biggest food defense call ever:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/monsanto_vs_mother_earth_x/?bCWVXbb&v=23931

Once a patent exists in one country, trade agreements and negotiations often push other countries to honour it as well. That's why these food patents change everything about how our food chain works: for thousands of years, farmers could choose which seeds they’d use without worrying about getting sued for violating intellectual property rights. But now, companies launch expensive legal campaigns to buy patents on conventional plants and force farmers to pay exorbitant royalty fees. Monsanto and Co. claim that patents drive innovation -- but in fact they create a corporate monopoly of our food.

But luckily, the European Patent Office is controlled by 38 member states who, with one vote, can end dangerous patents on food that is bred using conventional methods. Even the European Parliament has issued a statement objecting to these kinds of destructive patents. Now, a massive wave of public outcry could push them to ban the patenting of our everyday food for good.

The situation is dire already -- Monsanto alone owns 36% of all tomato, 32% of sweet pepper and 49% of cauliflower varieties registered in the EU. With a simple regulatory change, we could protect our food, our farmers and our planet from corporate control -- and it's up to us to make it happen:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/monsanto_vs_mother_earth_x/?bCWVXbb&v=23931

The Avaaz community has never been afraid to stand up to corporate capture of our institutions, from pushing back the Rupert Murdoch mafia, to helping ensure that telecoms keep their hands off our Internet. Now it’s time to defend our food supply from this corporate takeover.

With hope and determination,

Jeremy, Michelle, Oli, Dalia, Pascal, Ricken, Diego and the whole Avaaz team

I tell you!  Wa-a-a-y too many folk trying to control the damned world by hook or by crook -- and equally, wa-a-a-y too many of us not giving a shit about it! {smdh}

Related:
- Carnell Moore, Houston Airport Shooter, Left 'Monster Within Me' Suicide Note
- Why the Hunt for Assata Shakur Matters
- On Cuba Trip, Jay-Z Responds To Washington With Verse
- Why Nancy Pelosi Is Calling On Her Colleagues To Force A Fair Pay Vote
- Paycheck Fairness, Ledbetter and the "Walmart Women"
- Soybean Farmer Takes Monsanto to Supreme Court

Paycheck Fairness, Ledbetter and the "Walmart Women"

I'm no attorney, but I think I'm safe in saying that - had Congress passed that pesky Paycheck Fairness Act (about which I wrote here and mid-page here) instead of Lilly Ledbetter, the "Walmart Women" would have had some real muscle behind their fight for equality.

Maybe, they would've been able to use pages 8 - 11 of Paycheck's amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 216(b) to skip the Supremes altogether, rather than having this cruel joke played on them:  "The Supreme Court sides with Wal-Mart."

Pelosi and the Changeling, with their respective, bamboozle-cum-hoodwink little jigs, had so many women believing he'd rode in on his white horse and saved the damned day, that Ms. Magazine got this absolutely hilarious cover out -- PDQ (Come on now, tell the truth and shame the devil -- how many of you ran right out and made them a lot of money buying their little poster?).

Congress and the Changeling, with the Supremes bringing up the rear with this ruling, have told women - in no uncertain terms - "We will do nothing to change the status quo so - just stay in your damned place!

UPDATE:  "It's Time For Congress To Act On The Paycheck Fairness Act"  Well, at least one Congress Critter had the 'nads to tell the truth!

True Health Care Reform loses as HR 676 withdrawn - and Pelosi wins with HR 3962

Well, well, well!  Weiner folds - Democrat Gives Up Single-Payer Measure to Back Party Leaders...

...and so do Kucinich and Conyers.  Here's what they had to say at commondreams.org (emphasis and link mine)

Co-Authors Question Stand Alone Vote on National Single Payer

by Dennis Kucinich & John Conyers

Dear Friends,

We thank you for your continued devotion to the cause of health care for All Americans. We have worked together for many years to write, promote and campaign for HR676, a single payer, not for profit health care system. Your work, in communities across America, has been instrumental in helping at least ten states create single payer movements, with many more states to come.

Tomorrow, the House of Representatives is scheduled to consider a single payer bill. As the two principal co-authors of the Conyers single payer bill, we want to offer a strong note of caution about tomorrow's vote.

The bill presented tomorrow will not be HR676. While we are happy to relinquish authorship of a single payer bill to any member who can do better, we do not want a weak bill brought forward in a hostile climate to unwittingly accomplish what would be interpreted as a defeat for single payer.

Here are the facts: There has been no debate in Congress over HR676. There has not been a single mark-up of the bill. Single payer was "taken off the table" for the entire year by the White House and by congressional leaders. There has been no reasonable period of time to gather support in the Congress for single payer. Many members accepted a "robust public option" as the alternative to single payer and now that has disappeared. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has scored the bill scheduled for a vote tomorrow in a manner which is at odds with many credible assumptions, meaning that it will appear to cost way too much even though we know that true single payer saves money since one of every three dollars in the health care system goes to administrative costs caused by the insurance companies. Is this really the climate in which we want a test vote?

While state single payer movements are already strong, the national single payer movement is still growing. Many progressives in Congress, ourselves included, feel that calling for a vote tomorrow for single payer would be tantamount to driving the movement over a cliff. The thrill of the vote would disappear quickly when the result would be characterized not as a new beginning for single payer but as an end. Such a result would be seen as proof that Congress need not pay attention to efforts to restore in Conference Committee the right of states to pursue single payer without fear of legal attacks by insurance companies.

We are always grateful for your support. We are now asking you to join us in suggesting to congressional leaders that this is not the right time to call the roll on a stand-alone single payer bill. That time will come. And when it does there will not be any doubt of the outcome. This system of health care injustice will not be able to endure forever. We are pledged to make sure of that.

Sincerely,
Congressmen John Conyers and Dennis Kucinich
Dennis Kucinich is a Congressman (D) from Ohio. John Conyers is a Congressman (D) from Michigan.

Seems strategy trumps everything and the "urgency of now" is only for selecting empty suits.  Where are those Nextel Firemen when you need 'em???

And this is pretty interesting Ladies:

PLANNED PARENTHOOD CONDEMNS PASSAGE OF STUPAK/PITTS AMENDMENT

“Planned Parenthood condemns the adoption of the Stupak/Pitts amendment in HR 3962 this evening. This amendment is an unacceptable addition to the health care reform bill that, if enacted, would result in women losing health benefits they have today. Simply put, the Stupak/Pitts amendment would restrict women’s access to abortion coverage in the private health insurance market, undermining the ability of women to purchase private health plans that cover abortion, even if they pay for most of the premiums with their own money. This amendment reaches much further than the Hyde Amendment, which has prohibited public funding of abortion in most instances since 1977..." (emphasis and link mine)

 Make sure you thank Miss Ann Madam Speaker and all those Dems for looking out for the rights of women, mkay?

Caption this picture...

No, really!!!

Major gender-based pay-equity legislation remains in Committee

Women are still waiting for the Paycheck Fairness Act to become a law. But, since passing by a party line vote of 256-163 in the House on January 9, it remains in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP).

Unlike the recently passed Ledbetter bill which extends the statute of limitations for everyone in a protected class with a proven claim of pay discrimination, the Paycheck Fairness Act’s aim is to provide women with more effective tools to combat pay inequities based on gender. But, given its overwhelmingly partisan vote in the House, it appears the wait will be a little longer than expected and I don't think the Republicans are the only ones to blame - after all we all know who has the majority. If they wanted it to pass, Republicans alone could not stop it.

According to a January 27 CNBC transcript of a media event held in the Capitol following passage of the Ledbetter bill, Speaker Pelosi’s comments seem to hint it may well be some time before the bill passes.

When asked what the next workers’ rights bill she would attempt to take up, she replied:

” Well, we have paycheck fairness, sponsored by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, which Mr. Miller passed out of his committee, and with the leadership of Mr. Hoyer, on the floor passed and was sent over to the Senate. So we hope that eventually that will become law someday, too, because that's the obvious next step.”

If the bill becomes a law, women would be able to sue for unlimited punitive and compensatory damages to include expert fees either individually or as a class. Companies would have a greater duty to prove that job performance alone was the reason for any pay inequities that do exist. Additionally, the bill would usher in a never-before-seen era of wage transparency in our culture by preventing companies from retaliating against employees who share salary information.

The opponents of the bill feel it would strip employers of the right to manage their businesses and lead to more frivolous class action lawsuits. But the sponsors believe its passage is imperative in order to:

• provide a solution to problems in the economy created by unfair pay disparities
• substantially reduce the number of working women earning unfairly low wages thereby reducing the dependence on public assistance
• promote stable families by enabling all family members to earn a fair rate of pay
• remedy the effects of past discrimination on the basis of sex and ensuring that in the future workers are afforded equal protection on the basis of sex
• ensure equal protection pursuant to Congress' power to enforce the 5th and 14th amendments

If implemented as written (guess I should say "if implemented at all), it could either seriously close the gender wage gap, or clog the judicial system to such an extent that no substantive progress is realized. We'd just have to wait and see.

Nextel firemen could teach Congress a thing or two

"A lot of paper here to tell us we need to keep the rich, rich and the poor, poor. Want it guys?" "NO!!!" At least that's how it should have gone this past week. But then again, the firemen are among the working poor now aren't they?

I won't even say I'm surprised that this no-cojones-havin', low-approval-rating gettin', pattin'-themselves-on-the-back-posturin', impotent, poor excuse of a Congress voted for this obvious and blatant sell-out of the American people - because I'm not. For the four years the Democrats have had the majority in Congress, they've continued to do the same things, expecting different results. I know Shrub & Co. are rolling on the floor laughing their asses off in Crawford, TX tonight saying, "We got 'em again boys!"

As I watched the run-up to this "rescue plan," it felt so strangely reminiscent of their "Hurry, hurry, act now or we're doomed!!" run-up to Iraq that for a minute there I thought, "Now I know The Second and Fourth Estates won't even fall for this again!" But I was wrong. I gave them all too much credit for, at the very least, having some damn common sense. It was like Groundhog Day watching the mainstream media stoke the flames with the fears fed them by Paulson and the Bush Administration! Over at Poynter Online, David Cay Johnston wrote, "Ask tough questions about the bailout." It's an interesting piece about how the media really needs to do their job and one with which I totally agree.

I'm no economist, but I don't need to be one to know that if I ran my house the way the powers-that-be have run this country, I'd be on the street or in jail! Those same financial institutions who've lied, manipulated the market and stuffed their proverbial mattresses would be poised to take EVERYTHING I had as punishment for my irresponsibility. I wouldn't be allowed the opportunity to get credit again for a long damn time - no matter what reason I gave. And the government certainly wouldn't be beating a path to my door with boatloads of other people's money to "rescue" me. Oh, I forgot. Only the common people can be labeled irresponsible for borrowing more money than they could pay back.

And don't you just love the condescending way the talking heads make it sound like we just don't understand how this all works? How they know what's best for the rest of us and we, lemmings should just shut up and get on board? And have you noticed who was pushing the hardest for this debacle of a piece of legislation? Not your everyday, average John Q. Public of the population, that's for sure.

Why is it that we, the people, continue to allow those whose hands are the least clean to make such life-changing decisions for us? Every single person in on this hijacking has a personal stake in seeing those government dollars flow into the coffers of these hat-in-hand institutions. Hell, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has intimate knowledge of how this all works! After all, having been with Goldman Sachs for more than 20 years (the last four of which he served as the Chief Operating Officer of Investment Banking), he received a $37 million compensation package in 2005 and more than $16 million in 2006! You be the judge of whose interests he sought to protect. Naked Capitalism's piece, "Mussolini-style Corporatism in Action: Treasury Conference Call on Bailout Bill to Analysts (Updated)" should give you a clue.

Let's be clear, I have no intention of voting for John McCain. But when he announced he was suspending his campaign to head back to The Hill to do the damn job he was elected to do, I said "Bravo!" Obama's sarcasm-laden, "A president has to be able to do more than one thing at a time" bullshit was just more confirmation of his hubris (You're not the damn president yet!!!) and dereliction (You are a U.S. Senator - no matter how you got there - you don't get to delegate your legislative responsibility for your own personal gain!). Sure, it was probably a campaign stunt on McCain's part, but at least it was one that said, "This is a big deal and my constituents are watching. I better act like I know why they sent me to Congress." I noticed Obama didn't suspend, but he ran his happy-ass on back to the White House for that photo-op with Shrub & Co. and later showed up to vote so as not to be bested by McCain's appearance - the effectiveness of which remains debatable.

When the Republicans voted down the first package, I thought looming elections had forced their hand (after all, election time is really the only time the people ever get a fraction of what they want, or need for that matter). But true to form, corporate greed ruled the day and they buckled. Democrats tried to make it look like Obama played a major role in turning some of their votes around and the MSM, rather than asking the tough questions, lapped it up and regurgitated that bullshit.

And once the deal was sealed, Nancy Pelosi had the nerve to say they didn't know how they got to this place! Jesus wept!! Isn't that the reason we put them in Congress? To know what the hell is going on and make laws in the best interest of the people! Then she added insult to injury by saying, "We sent a message to Wall Street -- the party is over." What??? How can the party be over when Congress just gave the "Barbarians at the Gate" not only a pass for knowingly ripping off the American people, but a reward??!! Where are those Nextel firemen when you need them???

At the end of the day, both presidential candidates, knowing on which side their bread is buttered, voted "Aye" on a bill sure to rock the poor and shrinking middle class to their core, all the while telling us they did what was "best" for us. Considering Obama and McCain have together spent over a half-billion dollars - that's BILLION with a "B" (approximately $368 million and $196 million dollars respectively) - on this joke of a presidential campaign, nobody needs to tell me whose "best" they meant. I know my girl Sugar over at Sugar N Spice will not want to hear me say this (she's told me many times before!), but I think Obama will win this thing. Sad part about that is if you close your eyes, an Obama administration will likely look and act like all those that will have preceded it. For all his crowing about McCain not mentioning the middle-class, he's no better - because for me anyway, it's not what you say, it's what you do. And based on his marionette-like actions to date, he's proven he too, is merely talking loud and saying absolutely nothing. The more I think about that sad fact, the more I'm with Maxine on this one.

Now, we're re-e-e-ally "Off To See the Wizard"

I'd decided to post less about the campaign because I'm just worn the hell out with all the double-talking bullshit. But Glenn Greenwald kicked me in the shins and I had to post this. As I've been told that I am long-winded (like I didn't already know that!), I'm only saying what I said to Glenn regarding his, "Obama, telecoms and the Beltway system" article.

####

Bravo Glenn!!! I've seen no one more dogged than you in covering this FISA sham by the HPIC (Head Party In Charge)!!! Oh, and to your question, "Has anybody seen Obama?" and your statement, "Several readers have emailed to say that they called the Obama campaign and were told that Obama and his staff are "literally reviewing the bill right now and will make a statement shortly." - not to worry, just like no flag pin, now flag pin/Rev. Wright & Trinity, no Rev. Wright & Trinity/NAFTA, no NAFTA/Hamas, No Hamas, etc., etc., etc. - the senator from Illinois and his crew will hold their finger up, test which way the wind is blowing and comment accordingly - I promise you ( remember, the goal is the first Black president, period)! He didn't move most of the DNC OPS to Chicago for nothing! The Daleys are seasoned in this kind of two-step! But I think you may have put his proverbial "ass in a sling" by pointing out his support of Barrow over Thomas. I'm not laying any bets, but I guarantee "Orator the Great" will come up with something that at least sounds a little more coherent than Pelosi's babble. And if he doesn't? Oh well. Now that he's anointed and the presidency is in the grasp, nobody will really hear what he is or isn't saying anyway.