What you get with Romney

This is Mitt.See Mitt run...

Shotgun Wedding

OOPS!!

The Debate That Never Was

That’s showbiz! The challenger found his mo-jo! The incumbent lost his!

Mitt Romney launched his political salvos with a  confidence borne of a CEO lecturing a board of submissive underlings. His verbal missiles, energetically launched from a visually benign, often plaintiff countenance rained down on their target without hesitation and were consistent in the rhythm of their delivery.

President Obama, constantly studied his navel in face of his opponent’s onslaught, looking alternately bored and irritated—as if he inwardly wished not to be wasting his time by being there. Responding faster than a speeding snail, he employed the intermittent syntax of an absent minded professor searching for an  intellectual shield of substance that would appeal to a game show audience---- but one that would carefully avoid any relevance to the mendacity of Romney

Cosmetics carried the day and reality was blinded by the studio lights. It is an unfortunate truth that words off the tongue from a verbally prolific and sometimes facile source are more often than not empty vessels, characterized by conveying an illusion of tangibility. In that sense, Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin have a great deal in common.

They both profusely speak words that fill the audio space of our environment and, as the poet said, “Signify nothing.” If one wants to confirm this fact, simply take what they  say out of the air and put it in cold hard print. Then read it and see if it makes sense.

 Romney effectively lied about and obfuscated his positions  with his barrage of verbiage.

He denied his tax plan would add $5 trillion to the deficit. He obfuscated by saying there were six “studies”  that refuted that figure. However, he did not mention that those “studies” included 2 Wall Street Journal editorials, an  article in the same paper by one of his own economic advisors–and two right wing think tank articles. (Nor did Obama).

He rambled on with energy and verve about revenue neutrality resulting from cuts in non-essential programs. When pressed (not by Obama) to name the programs, Romney comically laid the burden on Sesame Street and Big Bird.

He lied again about the so-called $716 billion “cut” in Medicare and about covering pre-existing conditions—but then, that’s old news.

In the end Romney won the Oscar for best actor and Obama won for the best supporting role.









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Irony, thy name is GOP

From outer space...

Mature, thoughtful candidate at work

"On the road again...."

The difference between them is plain to see...

GOP Medicare-Medicaid future

Romney reveals his economic plan

With the greatest of ease...

Wisconsin Recall--thank you U.S. Supreme Court!

Florida contribution to democracy.

Some things never change!

Florida, the dimwit state.

Slow learner!

An offer they should refuse!

From the black jungles of Florida...

Three Blind Chickens

Profile in cowardice

Democracy Florida style!

Careful what you wish for!

Inside the Bachmann & Perry campaign

The Two Faces of Rick Perry

No one could have seen it coming!

Recent startling discovery.

While working the desk at Six Mile Cypress Slough (our wetlands preserve) on a slow day, I decided to Google my old Band and see what turned up. To my amazement, up popped two videos from 1990 when we were regularly playing the Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Festival in Davenport, Iowa. They were shot by some unknown person at a Sunday gig that we played at the grave site of Bix Beiderbecke before 200 jazz fans. Apparently, he uploaded the videos recently. Bix became a legend as a young white innovator with his jazz cornet. He died at age 27 of alcohol addiction. The first video below is actually the second set we played. The video below that is our opening set.

BBMS PRESENTS BASIN ST SALOON. OAKDALE,CEMETARY,BIX'S GRAVE. 7/27/90

BBMS PRESENTS BASIN STREET SALOON BAND OF MILWAUKEE,WI AT BIX FEST 7/27/90

Sir Rob 'em Good at work.

...and happy landings!

Profile in Courage

Statesman at work!

CEO still at work

For Whom the Bells Tolls

Governor Scott keeps his promise, unfortunately!

Fool Obama once...

Slow Learner

Truth & Consequences

According to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, if gays in the military suddenly enjoyed the same constitutional rights as their heterosexual comrades, it would have “enromous consequences for out troops.” He’s got a point. One of the “consequences” would be 14,000 lingquists, tecnicians, pilots, riflemen and commanding officers would still be honorably serving their country, instead of pounding the pavement of civilian life.

Another “consequence” would be the survival of military combatants who otherwise might be dead were it not for the skill and bravery of their gay comrades who fought along side them in battle.

The final “consequence” would be dealing with homophobic career officers and enlisted personnel whose ignorance and bigotry facilitates contentious behavior in a unit.

That should be simple: Shape up or ship out!

Boehner, Dr. Quack!

Collateral damage isn't collateral!

In April WikiLeak exposed an Apache helicopter crew gunning down unarmed civilians, including two journalists, in Iraq. Included in the footage, shot from the Apache camera, can be seen on You Tube, we witnessed the murder of two men who drove up in a van to rescue a wounded civilian. The van which was riddled with bullets, also contained two children, who, fortunately were not killed.

We hear the Apache crew laughing and joking about “those dead bastards,” and chomping at the bit to kill the wounded, crawling civilian. When watching the children being taken from the van, one of the crew members remarks, “That’s what they get for bringing their kids.”

What we haven’t seen or heard in the intervening time is any news about the U.S. investigation or decision making as to the culpability of the Apache crew.

Now we hear via Associated Press that the Army has detained a 22 year-old Army Specialist in connection with the leak of the Video. Ah, yes, as standard procedure from Defense and State Departments, the messenger is the real culprit!! The State Department spokesman praddles about exposure of information classified as secret.


I have been a unit commander in Korea, with secret clearance, and am here to tell you a great deal of what the Army classifies as secret should be classified as Cover Our Asses. Meanwhile the culprit Army Specialist remains in confinement with no charges leveled against him. And meanwhile, the dead civilians rest under Iraq soil.

What is wrong with this picture?

I don’t know why anyone should be surprised, much less shocked , by the catastrophic oil well blowout in the Gulf Of Mexico—unless, of course, you’ve been living under a rock. Environmentalist and reputable scientists have been warning us about the risks of off shore oil drilling for at least 30 years.

Politicians, presidents and regulators have been in the back pocket of Big Oil for a long as I have been drawing political cartoons and that is 50 years. However, that particular relationship reached a new high—or rather low—when the Bush administration allowed Vice President Dick Cheney to gather oil executives together to secretly rewrite U.S. energy policy.

The only new aspect to this debacle is the blatant disregard for even the pretense of regulatory oversight by the Minerals Management Service which allowed BP to write its own “regulations.”

The hypocritical dimensions to this tragedy are almost too numerous to mention, not the least of it are the Senators and Congressmen who are, today, sitting in judgement with their back pockets filled with contributions from the oil industry.

Then there is Mr. Kum Ba Ya, who has been President for a year and apparently had a deaf ear to all the environmental and scientific road signs blinking DANGER! DANGER! He bought into the oil industry fairy tale about the technological advances that made deep water drilling a viable alternative.

This is not to mention the myth that offshore drilling would greatly add to our energy independence.The only thing it will add is big oil profits.

Which brings me to two questions: Why wasn't the adminstration and BP mustering barrers to protect the Lousiana wetlands on day two after the blowout? And why aren't giant oil tankers in the gulf sucking up the oil spill?

The Real World

Chickens coming home to roost.

Fish or cut bait, Mr. President!

It is time for the Obama administration to look back and reclaim this nation’s honor that was tainted by the Bush administration’s policy of torture. It is time to reclaim for future generations those principals of the Geneva Convention, of Nuremberg and of accountability that were the legacy of a past generation.

President Obama says he wants to look forward and not dwell on the past. That is acceptable only if you subscribe to the idea that there is nothing to be learned from the past and therefore no lessons to be learned for the future.

To suggest, as President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder did, that those carrying out torture techniques should have immunity from prosecution because they were only following orders, is an insult to the legacy of Nuremberg and gives credence to the twisted legal logic of the Bush Justice Department sycophants, John Woo and J.S. Bybee. It is also an insult to the legal profession.

When battered by the sordid details of the Bush White House policy which facilitated the CIA’s water boarding in secret, black site, prisons --- President Obama assured us that anyone exceeding the Woo-Bybee torture guidelines would be prosecuted.

Well, Mr. President, it is time to fish or cut bait.

Recently disclosed internal CIA e-mails not only revealed that the CIA destroyed video tapes of water boarding (which we knew a year ago) but that higher ups including former agency head, Porter Goss, approved of their destruction. (Can anyone spell obstruction of Justice?)Associated Press reported that Jose Rodriguez, the agency’s top clandestine officer thought the tapes would be "devastating" to the CIA.

The AP story further reports that the documents indicate that "the videos showed that interrogators DID NOT FOLLOW the water boarding procedures" handed down by Bush administration.

For more evidence of how far we have drifted towards denial and away from the harsh truth, one need only look at the Associated Press lead paragraph which uses the euphemism, "harsh interrogation" for the word torture.

Separating men from the boys in Florida.