theater of the absurd and my concerns (for what it is worth)

monday morning: john mc cain takes credit for passage of the economic bail out bill.

monday morning: willard (mitt) romney says on national television, that if it wasn't for john mccain's leadership, the bill would have failed and if you want to see what real leadership looks like, then all you have to do is look at john mc cain and how he got this bill through congress.

monday afternoon: bill fails when republicans vote against it.

monday afternoon: john mc cain blames senator obama for bill's failure and then says this is no time for "blame game."

monday afternoon: rep. cantor (r) says that they (repubs) were going to vote for it but were offended when nancy pelosi made a speech saying it was george bush's economic policies that got us here.

monday afternoon: barney frank (d) says if the republicans will give him the names of the supposed 12 who switched their vote, he will go and speak to them in nice way.

so, what we have is a republican party who has no leader:

john mc cain could not bring them together.
george bush could not bring them together.
the whip (republican leader of the house) could not bring them together.

what kind of "leadership" is it, when your own party won't follow you.

NONE of the arizona house republicans voted for the bill. that is how highly they think of john ("i made this happen") mc cain.

theater of the absurd.

understand something here: i am still not sure if this bail out bill is a good idea! i think congress needs to spend more time listening to economists from the entire spectrum of political philosophy. i think they need to address the bigger problem of jobs before they bail out wall street and the banks. i think more regulations must be put on "wall street" so that this does not happen again. BUT i am not any kind of expert and there are good people on both sides of the aisle in washington who say that we MUST do this and do it now and maybe, just maybe, they do know what they are talking about. our market dropped 777 points today, the biggest POINT (but not percentage) drop in HISTORY. world wide markets are tanking as well, so maybe, just maybe, they are right.

however there are several problems that are not being addressed and these problems affect each and every one of us who are not millionaires.

a. we, as a people, are in debt up to our eyebrows and they are saying we need this bailout so we can borrow more money. hmmmm

b. they say that housing prices must "stabilize" so homes will start selling. yeah well, housing prices are still artificially high thanks to the sub-prime mortgages, which led to the incredible and incredibly stupid run up in prices from 02-06. MOST HOMES ARE SOLD TO MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE BECAUSE THERE ARE MORE MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE THAN ANY OTHER GROUP. WAGES HAVE NOT GONE UP IN THE PAST 8 YEARS, SO WHEN YOU RAISE PRICES BEYOND WHAT THE MIDDLE CLASS CAN AFFORD, THEN THERE IS NO WAY THAT THEY CAN BUY. duh. home prices do not need to stabilize, they need to COME DOWN SOME MORE. duh. hmmmm.

c. we have lost 600,000 jobs this year and millions overall since bush came into office. if there are fewer middle class jobs, then there are fewer middle class people to buy all these homes. since most middle class people are now afraid for their jobs, they are holding back from making big financial expenditures. EVERY DAY, WE ARE LOSING MORE JOBS, SO WHO IS GOING TO BUY THESE STILL OVER-PRICED HOMES?

d. if we put all this money into wall street, it means we have "printed" more money, which leads to higher inflation and if inflation takes off (and it is already much higher than washington admits), then how are people going to be able to afford to buy things?

e. what is obama's plan to get us out of this mess? what is mc cain's plan to get us out of this mess? NEITHER OF THEM HAVE PUT FORTH A COHERENT PLAN. THIS IS NOT LEADERSHIP AND BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WE NEED SOME LEADERS RIGHT NOW. maybe more than at any other time since world war II.

i am obviously a person of the left, but more than that i am an american and a middle class american at that. i worry about our country and it is OUR country, it is not a republican country nor a democratic country. we have millions unemployed and millions losing or who have already lost their homes. our financial markets are in shambles, inflation is rising, international markets are in shambles and no one has a coherent plan to get us out of what is obviously a very grim situation. if a republican comes up with a good plan, then i am for it. if a democrat comes up with a good plan, then i am for it... and I SURE HOPE EVERYONE IN AMERICA FEELS THE SAME WAY.

it is a mess that was caused, in part, by the deregulation policies of the republican party and there is no way they can weasel out of that but democrats have some guilt too because they did not fight nearly hard enough to stop the deregulation and did not try hard enough to bring their concerns to the american people. but and this is a big BUT: it doesn't really matter at this very minute whose fault it was; the problem is here and it is here now and we MUST do something and we must do it NOW. and the key word in the above sentence is WE.

that's all for tonight. peace to us all.

what do you think needs to be done?

A VEGAS BULLETIN FOR YOU.

the criss angel show at the luxor, according to today's paper, is a complete disaster. some of the comments by showgoers were; "unsalvageable waste of time", a "dead end" show that literally put some people to sleep. "everyone in the bathroom was chanting 'bull- - - -", "it was absolutely awful. you can't BELIEVE (the title of the show) how bad it is because it is terrible!"

the review goes on but i think you probably have the gist of it...just a word to the wise. as a resident of las vegas and an entertainer i always want the people who come here to have a great time because they are the ones who come back and apparently this show is a real stinker.

i have a friend who has a phd in economics and taught that subject at the university level and many years ago he told me that if you go to one university and take economics and then go to another university and take the same subject you could be taught something entirely different because in the end no one really knows how the economy works there are way too many chaotic factors involved for there to be a for-certain theory. i bring this up because today our always on duty representatives are voting on giving billions of dollars to the people who got us into this mess in the hope that they will somehow get us out of it. i must admit that the latest bill does a lot to answer some of my and i am sure, your, questions and concerns especially in the oversight powers given congress. man, i don't know.


it is now later in the afternoon and the financial bail-out bill has failed and the markets have tanked with a drop of 777 on the dow. while you would think it would be the democrats balking at rescuing the country from a republican lead crisis it is, however, the house republicans who balked. so much for john mc cain pulling his party together. though i must say that the situation is so dire that both sides must put politics aside and work together before this gets out of hand, or more out of hand as the case may be.

we have lost jobs every month of this year. since bush has been in office real wages have stagnated and jobs have been lost. we MUST put people to work because if we don't we are looking at, not a recession, but a depression.

i will write more later but i look forward to what you all think.

sunday musings about mc cain.

sunday afternoon, recuperating from unr's blowout of unlv's football team last night and thinking about john mc cain and some of my comments about him....

ten years ago, my opinion of mc cain was much different and he was, at that time, someone who i would have been comfortable with in the white house with the exception of his militaristic view of international affairs. since 2000 when bush ran one of the dirtest campaigns ever against mc cain (remember the accusation that mc cain had fathered a black baby) the senator has gone from an honest campaigner to one as dirty as gwb. mc cain once called the firebrand so-called "christian" ministers, falwell, robertson et al, "agents of intolerance" which, of course, they are but now he cuddles up to them. mc cain said of the bush tax cuts "i can't see why we should give tax breaks to people who don't need them and ignore the people who do need them" and then voted against them. now he is in favor of making them permenant and not offering anything to the rest of us. once upon a time, john mc cain would answer any question honestly from any reporter at any time. today he won't even talk to the press and the press who once really like him has changed their opinion of him as well calling his campaign the "no talk express."

since the iraqi invasion and the subsequent occupation, mc cain has become more and more of a unilateralist war monger. he refuses to acknowledge that the invasion of iraq was based on a series of lies. he was also one of the many senators, republican and democrat alike, who did not even read the intelligence report.

there was once a time in his career that senator mc cain could and would admit mistakes and that was one of the things that i admired about him but now, he is right on all things at all times and seems to think that he never, ever made a mistake.

he was always a deregulator but that is a republican mantra and they all follow it. i disagree but that is a political difference of what government does and where does government power begin and end.

but now he has fallen into the rove version of right wing...we are right and anyone who disagrees is unpatriotic and obviously wrong. he has fallen into the bush policy of lying about almost everything and looking at military power as the answer to everything. something that was very telling in the debates was when senator mc cain "dissed" senator obama's reaction to the russian invasion of georgia after georgia had started the "war" by saying that "senator obama said both sides must show restraint." what is wrong with saying both sides should show restraint? do you have an answer to that? if so, i would surely like to hear it.

all of this makes me wonder which mc cain is the real one, the honest, forthright, bi-partisan or the extreme right-wing ideologue. the first i could live with in the white house but the one he presents now, to me at least, is a threat to our national well-being and, as such, should be defeated at the polls for our country's good.

bush has lead our country into such a hole that we need an entirely new change of direction, nationally and internationally as well. we need more regulations of the financial services industry not less as mc cain advocates. we need to restore the good name of america around the world where today, because of our aggression against iraq, we are looked at as the new facist regime on the block.

anyway, that's my thoughts on this sunday morning. have a good day and peace to us all.

my take on the debate

i would have to say that john mc cain won last night's debate by a slim margin because he under-
stands one of the principles of propoganda; repeat, repeat, repeat. in john's case it was surge, surge, surge, general patreious (sp), general pat., general pat. obama on the other hand would make a point and think that the audience got it the first time around so he wouldn't repeat it. he did repeat that by concentrating on iraq we have ignored the threat from a resurgent taliban in afghanstan. (the FACT that we never should have been in iraq in the first place was not hammered nearly strong enough by obama and thus let mc cain's talk about the surge go mainly unchallenged)

of course this was supposedly mc cain's strong suit, national security so he was expect to "win" but according to the polls (other than fox news and rush limbaugh's) show it was basically a toss up and some gave advantage to obama. i think the right thought obama would look weak and uninformed and that didn't happen and i think the left thought john mc cain would shoot himself in the foot and that didn't happen either.

both candidates took the side of georgia which i found very unsettling because georgia started that little scrimmage. i was much more upset with obama over this than mc cain because i expect johnny mc cain to twist facts since he does it all of the time.

HENRY KISSINGER DID INDEED SAY THAT HE WOULD TALK TO IRAN WITHOUT CONDITIONS. LOOK IT UP! I DO INDEED HOPE THAT OBAMA STARTS THE NEXT DEBATE WITH THIS SINCE JOHN MC CAIN IN HIS NEVERENDING BELIEF THAT HE, AND HE ALONE, IS PRIVY TO TRUTH. HE, MC CAIN, MADE A BIG ADO ABOUT THIS..SAYING THAT HE HAS KNOW KISSINGER FOR 35 YEARS BLAH BLAH BLAH LIE LIE LIE.

mc cain NEVER looked at obama during the entire debate. he NEVER gave obama any credit for any idea while obama, being a gentleman and someone who recognizes that someone else can make a valid point, did give credit to mc cain when due. this trait of mc cains (believing that only he is right on all things) is reministent of the mindset of gwb who discards any conflicting information because he KNOWS he is right. and look where that got us. only idiots believe they and they alone are right all of time; if they are your next door neighbor that trait is just tiresome, however when it is the president of the united states it is dangerous to all.

another lie that mc cain repeated over and over is how obama was going to raise taxes. which, technically is true since obama is going to repeal the bush tax breaks for the top 5% and cut taxes for the 95% but when mc cain says it he leaves that little detail out.

once again, if you want another administration that lies elect mc cain. if you want unending war, elect mc cain. if you want tax breaks for the rich but the shaft for the rest of us, elect mc cain. if you want less medical insurance for more money and then have to pay taxes on that, elect mc cain.

mc cain is, as daffy duck would say, despicable.

palin is a joke. watch the katy couric interview. it is laughable. (sickening an frightening if you take into account that she could be the president of the united states should the actuarial tables are correct on john mc cain)

oh, and by the way, mention to john mc cain that there is a middle class. he never mentioned it in the debate. he did, of course, mention he (and apparently he, alone) was a p.o.w. he did not mention that while a p.o.w. he read an anti american tirade written by his jailers.

P.T. is the hidden mc cain campaign strategist.

well, john mc cain went to washington to show leadership and to get the deal done. lol. comments on tv last night from both republicans and democrats were to the effect that the only thing the erstwhile senator got done was to pose for a photo op. earlier in the day, senators from both parties said that they were on the cusp of a deal, that is until johnny, "i am here to save the day", mccain showed up and the deal went sideways. (though that wasn't his intention, it was probably the best thing that could have happened; i, for one, do not want a "rush to payment" for wall street)

fact of the matter is that neither of the two candidates seem to have a grasp on this thing. mc cain as of tuesday HADN'T EVEN READ THE PAULSON PROPOSAL AND STILL HAS NOT READ THE REPUBLICAN ALTERNATIVE and this is according to john, "i am on top of things", mc cain. obama has been preaching economics for the whole campaign while john, "i was in a pow camp", mc cain wants to talk about the "surge" and how he was for it and obama was against it. that is his entire campaign: THE SURGE. however this latest debacle out of the bush program for the rich seems to have caught both senators off guard.

i have brought this up before but how could an entire congress, wall street, the administration, the banks, the investment firms and all the other "groups" of "experts" fail to recognize this, obviously false, housing boom was bound to fail? a child could have told any of these experts that home prices cannot keep going up 20% per year forever and middle class people still be able to buy them (wages haven't gone up AT ALL in the bush years) and you cannot loan money to people who have bad credit and shakey jobs and expect them to pay, not only, the original amount of the monthly payments but somehow be able to meet payments that are 50-75% higher three years later. that, in a nutshell, is the crux of the matter. all these MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE as the people on wall street are prone to call themselves could not see this coming disaster? bullshit. bullshit. bullshit. they didn't want to see it, they took the money and ran and now they all want us, that's you and me, to bail their sorry asses out or dire things are going to happen to US. not them, us. bullshit. bullshit. bullshit.

and as far as sarah palin goes. watch the interview. read the transcripts. she didn't answer the questions. typical republican. smoke and mirrors and no answers.

and for joe and peter and their stubborn hatred of obama, have you ever been to one of his speeches? you keep saying that he can't speak with notes. you are so wrong. i have seen the man in person, heard him speak in person, heard him speak off the cuff and have NEVER SEEN HIM USE A PROMPTER OR NOTES. john mc cain, on the other hand, reads almost every word he utters from a prompter. watch the two tonight and see who is quick on his feet mentally. see who has a grasp of facts. see who understands what the average guy and what he is going through. and joe, if mc cain doesn't own any houses (lol, god you are such a republican) why couldn't he remember even that? maybe the houses are in cindy's name and that is how you come to the conclusion that mc cain doesn't own any houses. bullshit. bullshit. bullshit. john mccain, thanks, not to his own hard work, but to marrying into a fortune owns 7 houses and 13 cars. and his wife not only was addicted to drugs (pills) makes her money from her family who sells drugs (alcohol). neither one of them made the money. she inherited it and he married it. and they call obama elite. and the fact that some actually believe their lies just goes to prove that barnum was correct.

go dodgers, blathering sarah, elite john, and is your suit full?

at last, a sports predicition of mine that came true. the dodgers have won the west! true, it is the worst division in mlb but they did win it; now all they have to do is win a post season series for the first time since 1988..... i was at the game last night and got to see manny hit a home run; cool indeed. hope the dodgers work out a deal so that manny and fucal both stay. lowe is also a free agent and keeping him should be high on the to-do list as well. however, as in politics, money is the name of the game and i don't think they can keep all three...especially since they are paying a huge amount for andrew jones who has been a total bust.

on to the real blood sports, politics. mc cain's trip to washington and wanting to cancel the debate on friday smells of desperation to me. johnny, "i know very little about economics" mccain is off to washington to save the country. LAUGH OUT LOUD. maybe he will send sarah, i don't believe in evolution, palin to debate obama. LAUGH OUT LOUD.

i ran a post about "how racism works" and 3 people wrote to tell me that they were not voting for obama but not because they are racist. none of them commented on the obvious truths of the post. none of them admitted that surely there are people who are not voting democratic because they are racist. but one guy, he had a real reason...obama was going to take his guns. LAUGH REALLY HARD OUT LOUD. another was against him because of his "eyes."

we have two (2) choices for president. forget barr, forget paul, forget nader; it is going to be either obama or mc cain.

the biggest two problems facing our country are a. the economy and b. the occupation of iraq. and so we have people saying that they will not vote for obama because he is a. going to take away my guns. b. he is going to make me marry a queer. c. he is an "empty suit". (i really love that one; the man brought himself up by his bootstraps, worked to help people, went to harvard and got law degree, edited the harvard law review and finished in the top 1% of his class, went back to helping people and to keep food on the table taught CONSTITUTIONAL LAW at the university of chicago, ran for and won a state wide election and then became an united states senator. that is some empty suit...i wonder what the people who call him that have done by their 45th birthday). instead of focusing on the problems of the united states and who best to solve them some people come up with the most petty of reasons and try to convince me (and themselves) that they are not racist. question: what does a ban on armor piercing bullets have to do with the economy? what does gay marriage have to do with the occupation of iraq?




and you know, the more i hear out of washington and especially bushmccain about how dire all this is it reminds me of the run-up to the iraq invasion and all the dire things we were told about how important and urgent it was that we invade and all the things they told us were lies. hmm. surely they aren't lying now..are they...would they????? "no judicial oversight" hmmm.

on one hand i find myself agreeing with some of the house republicans that this is not a good deal for the american people but then these same house republicans bring forth their plan and you know what that is? MORE TAX BREAKS FOR THE WEALTHY AND LESS REGULATION OF THE MARKETS!

saw the cbs interview with palin. the woman looked and sounded like an idiot. "putin rears his head and where do those things fly over...alaska. we send those things to check on a mighty country, russia blah blah blah" making no sense whatsoever. and her answer about international experience and rambling about canada and russia was a real hoot. you want this woman to be a heartbeat away from the presidency of the united states? god help us.

the republicans no longer are in love with sarah and seem to be trying to keep her away from the press as much as possible.

mc cain is trying anything and everything to do something to hide his total lack of understanding of the economy but i guess someone who owns 7 (8 if you count the one they bought IN CASH for one of the kids) and 13 cars really doesn't know (nor need to) about everyday economics.

and the idea of someone who owns 7 houses and 13 cars calling another man an "elitist" would be comical in any country that spoke english and understood the meaning of words. (go look up elite and then ask yourself who is elite; obama or mc cain) ((i know the republicans aren't going to do that but hell, it's fun asking them to)

will john show up in mississippi? will john know where afghanastan is in relationship to iraq? will john remember his talking points, will he bring up his pow days? will he remember how many houses he owns? stay tuned.

how racism works

How racism works

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said "I do" to?

What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama were a member of the "Keating 5"?

What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

(from a letter to the editor of the fort worth star telegram)

my thanks to scott may who sent this to me.

TRUE COLORS

this is section 8 of the administration plan to save the economy and bail out the rich. if these words do not scare you then you are beyond any reason, any intelligence, any love of country, any grasp of language or right and wrong. i quote:

DECISIONS BY THE SECRETARY PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF THIS ACT ARE NONE-REVIEWABLE AND COMMITED TO AGENCY DISCRETION AND MAY NOT BE REVIEWED BY ANY COURT OF LAW OR ANY ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCY.

where is the press on this?

where are you on this?

fuck me, fuck you, fuck us.

hopefully, this economic crisis that we are all facing will wake people up to the hypocrisy of the republican party. they preach "private sector" and always get a big laugh from their left-over reagan jokes: "government isn't the solution...government is the problem!" which, of course, is then followed by BIG laughs and HEARTY guffaws as the fat cats all congradulate themselves on their INDEPENDENCE and RISK-TAKING. but when their own stupidity and their own greed and THE FAILURE OF GOVERNMENT TO REGULATE THESE PIRATES (thanks to the republican party and their never-ending line of bullshit about how "the markets" know best) leads to their collapse....who do they run to? why the taxpayers and the government!!! the gall of these people is almost beyond comprehension.

under bush and his cohorts, REAL INCOME FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS HAS FALLEN $2,000 PER YEAR, PLUS POVERTY IS UP AND PERCENTAGE OF HOME OWNERSHIP HAS DECLINED. yeah, the markets knew best.

what we have under the republicans is the following:

PRIVATIZING THE PROFITS (i got these phrases from a post on huffington)
SOCIALIZING THE LOSSES
PATRIOTISM FOR THE MASSES
SOCIALISM FOR THE RICH.

wake up, america and do it now. we teeter on the brink of a total economic meltdown.

someone has made billions on this. was it you? damn well wasn't me and rhonda. was it you scotty? how about you, joe? was you and ed, brookie? sevensteen?

how about we hunt down those folks who took those billions. just a thought.

the "bail out" isn't going to create a single job. the bail out isn't going to help anyone who can't afford that mortgage (that they shouldn't have gotten anyway). home prices MUST COME DOWN before they can be sold. greed, of many people including bankers, realtors, buyers, investment bankers etc and et al, brought this about by raising the prices of homes to levels that could not be afforded by the middle class. what were they thinking? they were thinking "take the money and run." the existing unsold houses must be sold before new ones can be built. that is pretty simple isn't it? they won't be sold at the inflated price if people aren't making more money. pretty simple. people are not going to make more money if there are no jobs. simple again.

the time for change is now. we cannot afford four or eight more years of republican rule. it will break us for sure. bush said that the very rich were his "base." but you and i are not "the very rich", we are working people. none of you who write me are rich. you, like rhonda and i, work for a living; we pay our bills and try to put something back. we are paying out the ass for a health care system that is broke. we are paying out the ass for oil and gas and our government is doing nothing to advance alternate fuels (other than ethanol which is a fucking sham as well). we watch our jobs and our neighbor's jobs disappear. our 401k's have been depleted. etc etc.

but our government is now proposing to bail out multi millionaires. fuck me. fuck you. fuck us.

ownership society

it is so (pick a word here) to see and hear john mc cain pushing for "regulations" when his ENTIRE CAREER in the senate he was always for DEREGULATION. flip flopping john, don't know what hat he has on.

look up the GRAHAM COMMODITY FUTURES MODERATION ACT if you want to see how this debacle came to be. (and yes, that is the PHIL GRAHAM, mc cain's economic advisor) the GCFMA was designed to keep regulators from controlling new financial tools descrbribed as "credit swaps", these are the instruments like sub prime mortages to be bundled together and sold as "securities."

under the GRAHAM (WITH MC CAIN AS AN ENTHUSIASTIC BACKER) ACT neither the sec nor the commodities futures trading commission were able to examine the books of all these companies who are now imploding.

and now, brothers and sisters, we are the ownership society that bush promised; it seems we, the taxpayer, now own banks, financial trading companies and several million homes. be sure and send your thank you note to bush/mccain by voting democratic this election.

(i know you can't vote for obama because he is black and lazy and violent....those are some of the reasons people gave in a new poll that was in the h.h. paper this morning.) well, stay racist and stay republican and stay fucked if that is what you believe.

what does it take?

last year, richard fuld, head of lehman brothers took home 45 MILLION DOLLARS.

MR. FULD IS A BIG SUPPORTER OF REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS.

in the 1970's ceo's of companies made 30-40 times what their workers were paid. today, ceo's make, are you ready?, 344 times the pay of the workers.

REMEMBER, DON'T FORGET, DON'T OVERLOOK, DON'T IGNORE THIS FACT:

JOHN MC CAIN WANTS TO PUT SOCIAL SECURITY FUNDS IN THE STOCK MARKET! GEORGE W. BUSH WANTS TO PUT SOCIAL SECURITY FUNDS IN THE STOCK MARKET!

just imagine what would have happened if the democrats had not stopped this effort at transferring wealth from the many to the few.

on the simplest level i can put it: a stock broker takes risks with other people's money and if he wins he takes 20% of the profit but if he loses, he risks nothing.

since the republicans deregulated the banks and the stock market look what they done. we are in the WORST financial crisis in decades.

we now have socialism for corporations under republican rule.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO GET MAD? HOW MUCH OF OUR WEALTH DO THE REPUBLICANS HAVE TO STEAL IN ORDER FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO STAND UP AND SAY "ENOUGH!"?

if we vote mc cain/palin in this fall we deserve the disaster that awaits.

house of cards comes tumbling down.

when john mc cain voted to repeal the g.s. act (see previous posts) the story was that "wall street will police itself...we don't need regulations"

john mc cain has said several times that "the economy is not something i know a lot about." it may the truest thing he has said on this campaign.

two days ago johnny mc head-in-the sand said that the economy was "fundamentally strong." then he said that what he meant was that the "american worker was the fundamental backbone of the economy and the american worker is strong." NO, THE AMERICAN WORKER IS OUT OF WORK, SENATOR.

wouldn't you like to know what the ceo's of aig, lehman brothers, jp morgan etc etc all made last year? i wonder if they are going to pay us (that's you and me) back now that we (that's you and me) are going to have to bail their stupid asses out.

the republicans have never met a regulation that they like. their mantra is that what is good for business is good for america and we don't want government in the way of business. yeah, right. but they do want government to save them when their policies come home to roost.

obama has always talked about the economy and mc cain has always talked about "national security" well, that and his time as a pow. now, all of a sudden, he wants to be the economic maverick. yeah, right.

oddly enough, i have had no comments posted defending the economic policies of george w. bush and john mc cain THEY ARE THE SAME, YOU KNOW!

mc cain will continue the policies of bush. plain and simple. now look where gwb has brought us.

want more of the same? vote republican.
want real change in washington, real economic policies that help us all instead of just the rich? vote democratic.

want endless war? vote republican
want end to war? vote democratic.
want tax breaks for the rich? vote republican
want tax breaks for the middle class? vote democratic.
want more of the same? vote republican
want real change? vote democratic.

it is real easy this year. the choices could not be clearer. open your mind; open your eyes and see what is happening because what is happening is the result of republican rule. like it? feel good about where the country is going? vote republican. if not, wake up and vote democratic and let's change the direction, let's change the priorities, let's make our government a government of the people and not the government of corporations. the choice is ours to make.

we, as a country, are facing some of the worst times since the great depression. you don't have to be a cpa or an economic genius to know that is true. we need to change course. we need regulations on the banks and investment corporations so that this does not happen again. we need a "make work" program to put people back to work before this whole house of cards collapses on us all. vote democratic. it is our only hope.

FIRST PLACE DODGERS!

ah, hilton head, hot and humid and full of republicans. this is one place where i do not do anything at all political because they are extreme right here. once again, i do my comedy to bring people together in laughter not, in any way, to change their political views. the newspaper here is more to the right than fox news is. lol. no wonder they are republican, they never get the other side of any story, not in the paper, at least.

THAT IS THE FIRST PLACE DODGERS TO YOU! even though they went part of august shooting themselves in the foot, the dodgers have gone on a great winning streak and at the same time the diamondbacks have crumbled. we are 4.5 games ahead with 12 to play for us and 13 for arizona. that makes it, while not impossible, extremely difficult for the d-backs to catch us. go blue.

did you see that unlv beat arizona state the other night? go rebels! we have only won 2 games each season for the last 3 and we already have two this year....hell they could win 5 or 6 this year which would be, for us local boosters at least, just great. our basketball team will be a top 20 team this year and could go deep into the ncaa's. being a college sport fan myself this could be a good year. go rebels!

oh, and that catch that our kid who made in the endzone with 18 seconds left to play in regulation is a freshman. heh heh.

oh well, off to get something to eat and maybe go down to the beach and watch the girls...dirty old man that i am.

glass-steagal act is no more and neither is lehman brothers

i've got an hour or so before going to airport and since the computer was alreay on.....

i think i hit on something my last blog; one of the big problems facing americans is the inability of certain republicans to EVER admit they were wrong. in the face of overwhelming evidence they refuse to see that we are in an illegal and IMMORAL occupation of iraq, that our financial markets are crumbling verily as i write this, more people are put out of work EVERY DAY and we have a health care system that is the most expensive in the world and some 30 million of us don't even have health. 401K's are being decimated by the latest debacle on wall street and still they plan on voting for john mc cain. why? because not to would be to admit they were wrong.

which brings us to the GLASS-STEAGAL ACT OF 1933. something i am sure all of you are familiar with. lol. the GS act was put in place to regulate wall street to prevent melt-downs such as we are seeing now. the GLASS STEAGAL ACT WAS REPEALED IN THE 90'S WHEN PHIL GRAMHAM (MC CAIN'S ECONOMIC ADVISOR---YOU KNOW THE ONE WHO SAID AMERICANS ARE WHINERS) THEN HEAD OF THE BANKING COMMISSION LEAD THE PUSH BY REPUBLICAN SENATORS, INCLUDING MC CAIN, TO DO AWAY WITH IT SO INVESTMENT BANKERS COULD TAKE ON MORE RISKY LOANS AND INVESTMENTS. over and over, democrats warned that this could lead to disaster. hmmm.

on a lighter note, karl rove said the mc cain ads have gone "too far." that is akin to goebbels calling someone a liar.

so, for you republicans out there...have a freedom fry.

THE FOOD OF IDIOTS

off in the morning to hilton head, south carolina for a week. over the last couple of three days or so, i have picked up some new clubs: three indian casinos in northern california, mrytle beach, south carolina and the punch line in atlanta. there is also a good chance i will get the improv in lake tahoe. so, for you folks in those areas, i should be seeing you next year. also, i picked up another club in houston, the laff stop in the montrose and will also be at the comedy showcase as well as the laff spot up in tomball the last two weekends in january.

have made contact with all my friends (or most of them, anyway) in houston and they all made it through ike with little or no damage. well, one of them had his carport fall on his suv but insurance will cover that. they all said that ike was, in it's way, worse than alicia which was a catagory 3 when it hit.

i have bought a new video camera and i will be filming all the shows in hilton head and hope to be releasing another dvd soon. i hope to get a really good version of world's greatest dope story to put on it. (there is a version on bootleg 1 but i am not enthralled with it) i also want to get dog stories, jan and howard and ham and cheese sandwich on it as well so that it will be a dvd of just stories. wish me luck. have the crowd god be on the job.

sarah palin sure gets a little defensive when she is presented with her lies. lol. the woman has, as does mc cain, a real problem with telling the truth. she WAS FOR THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE UNTIL NATIONAL PUBLICITY MADE HER BACK OFF. SHE KEPT THE MONEY, THOUGH, AND USED IT FOR OTHER PORK. her commercials are an out and out lie. since, mc cain also goes on tv and tells just flat out lies (obama is sponsoring a bill that would teach sex education to kindergarten children....LIE obama is raising taxes on the middle class...LIE) you have a real good indicator of what their administration would be like, lies and more lies. just like bush and cheney. you do remember that there were no wmd's in iraq don't you? they lied. over and over. it wasn't bad intelligence; it was lies. remember pfc jessica? lies. remember the football player who was the hero who charged the enemy? lies. his own men shot him and they knew but they lied. (if they would lie about that.....what else would they lie about?)

sorry, just RESTATING THE OBVIOUS. if you elect liars you will get a lying administration. duh.

so, i repeat: if you want endless war, endless debt, social security turned over to investment bankers (think bear stearns), more breaks for oil companies, high unemployment and all the other fruits of the posisoned republican tree...vote for john and sarah, they'll lie for you. and to you, but why care about that? you like being lied to. you are used to it. you like being told to be afraid. you want some more. gotta have your lies. just like you gotta have your enemies. gotta hate, don't you? oh, incidently, do you still hate the french? they were right and we were wrong. but hate 'em anyway. because not to, would be to admit YOU WERE WRONG AND THEY WERE RIGHT. there were no weapons of mass destruction in iraq. there were no missles in iraq. no atomic weapons. it was all lies. and you fell for it and now you can't admit you were a fool. so....you are going to be one again.

have a good day. be afraid. watch out for all those people who are after you.

me, i will be rocking and rolling. and, by the way, i have always really liked the french. and i never called a fry...freedom. freedom fries. the food of idiots.

you gonna be here when Ike comes?

i lived in houston when alicia hit and was in new orleans when camille took out biloxi, plus i have been in several other minor hurricanes and can tell you that a hurricane is one of nature's real barnburners or barnflooders as the case may be. last night i was in touch with friends in houston up until midnight their time and they said ike was bad but not as bad as alicia.

when alicia hit, we lived about 50 miles from the coast and the winds blew out some of our taped windows, knocked down our wooden fence, took shingles off the roof and flooded the house from the rain coming in through the broken windows. our two great danes were in the front room and because they were scared, they shit in the front room. so we awoke to floating doo doo and mosquitoes. power was out, the heat was oppressive and i had a bad case of the flu. it was miserable to say the least.

which all brings me to the people who were "playing in the ocean" yesterday off the beaches in galveston and who were swept out to sea. HOW FUCKING STUPID CAN YOU BE?! then the coast guard had to risk lives to save their sorry asses.

*as the swimmers were pulled out of the water they were polled on their political preferences, and of the 60, 58 were voting for mc cain, 1 for barr and 1 didn't know there was an election. so, i guess that answers my above question.

THE DUTY OF INTELLIGENT MEN

i watched part of the interview with sarah palin on abc with charlie gibson where he asked no hard questions nor did he bring up her obvious mistatements (oh, some would call it lies). he asked about georgia and russia and she said that the russian attack was UNPROVOKED and he didn't bat an eye.

WE HAVE SUNK TO THE POINT WHERE THE RESTATEMENT OF THE OBVIOUS IS THE DUTY OF INTELLIGENT MEN.
GEORGE ORWELL

georgia attacked first. that is provocation.

WE HAVE SUNK TO THE POINT WHERE THE RESTATEMENT OF THE OBVIOUS IS THE DUTY OF INTELLIGENT MEN.

it is not a "war" in iraq, it is an occupation of a foreign country that we attacked without PROVOCATION.

WE HAVE SUNK TO THE POINT WHERE THE RESTATEMENT OF THE OBVIOUS IS THE DUTY OF INTELLIGENT MEN.

john mc cain will keep the tax cuts for the wealthy and says that obama will raise "your" taxes. senator obama has said, over and over, HE WILL LOWER TAXES FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS but mc cain keeps repeating over and over like some kind of mantra that obama will raise taxes on "you." (which is true if you make over 210,000 dollars per year but that ain't all that many of us.)

WE HAVE SUNK TO THE POINT WHERE THE RESTATEMENT OF THE OBVIOUS IS THE DUTY OF INTELLIGENT MEN.

our economy is in the tank. banks are failing, millions are out of work, we are deeply in debt, oil and gasoline are at all time highs, millions are losing their homes, huge companies are going into bankruptcy and john mc cain thinks the economy is in good shape.

vote democratic or face another four years of decline, of war, of economy misery, of low standing in the rest of the world, of tax breaks for the rich and the shaft for the rest of us.

the OBVIOUS is that we can't stand another four years of republican rule. if that is not obvious to you then you are blind.

9-11 seven years later

it is 9-11, a black day in our history. seven years ago 19 maniacs attacked our country killing thousands. some things we MUST remember about this date:

there were no iraqis on those planes
there were no iranians on those planes

those attacks would not have happened if somebody, somewhere had been paying attention:

two of the highjackers boarded under their own names and those names were on the terrorist watch list, both the faa and airline security missed them.

president bush had been given a briefing document titled:" osama bin laden plans on attacking american skyscrappers using airline planes."

4 airliners were highjacked and the air force did not scramble until almost an hour after the first reports came in.

anyone who has not seen the film of george bush after being told by andrew card, "we are under attack!!", just sitting there with this bizarre look on his face YOU MUST SEE THAT FILM. it is as creepy as anything i have ever seen. to see it and still think that george bush is a good president is to completely suspend intelligence.

osma bin laden's family was flown out of the united states by our government just days after the attacks. somehow, we can put someone in gitmo and torture them for evidence but WE DIDN'T INTERVIEW AT LENGTH OSAMA BIN LADEN'S FAMILY. why in the hell not?????

when historians look back at this far enough in the future so as not to be passionate about it they will look at the underlying causes that set this whole thing in motion...from the first gulf war and the stationing of thousands of american troops in the middle east to the russian invasion of afghanstan and our arming and training the afghan rebels many of which are now part of the taliban. they will also look at the immediate response of the world, including the muslim world, and the usa's response to the attacks.

and the last thing we must remember is today, 7 years later, OSAMA BIN LADEN IS STILL ON THE LOOSE! GO GET THAT SON OF A BITCH AND BRING HIM TO AMERICA AND PUT HIS ASS ON TRIAL FOR MASS MURDER. the failure to do this is a stain on our honor and an insult to the thousands who died.

whoever the next president is must go get osama bin laden. period. no more fucking around, no more excuses coming out of the white house, no more keetowing to pakistan (i think that members of their intelligence services were involved in the planning and financing of the attacks). no more worrying about what the saudis might say. (15 OF THE ATTACKERS WERE SAUDI! SOMEHOW THAT KEEPS BEING PASSED OVER)

all of us and i do mean ALL of us must do everything in our power to see that a. this never happens again and b. those responsible be brought to justice. then we must look at the causes and rectify what we can (and should).

nothing we may have done justifies mass murder however if people in the middle east have a legitimate beef with us then we need to address that and not just demonize the whole area and the whole culture.

and, on this day, we should all say a prayer for all the families of the victims.

peace is better than war. try to remember that as well.

mc cain: wrong on almost everything.

The problem with iran started with their takeover of the american embassy in 1979, right? WRONG. the trouble with iran started when we OVERTHREW THEIR GOVERNMENT and installed the shah. hmmmmm. that fact is NEVER mentioned in the press when the talk is about iran. i wonder why that is. could it be that america never wants to admit that it did something wrong? by just ignoring history, the american government can then rewrite it.

i bring this up because john mc cain thinks that the way to "deal" with iran (lol) is through tough talk, sanctions and the threat of war whereas barrack obama thinks that the way to reach some kind of peaceful agreement is through diplomacy.

mc cain = wrong on iran.
obama = right on iran

mc cain' claim that obama is "wrong" on iraq is based on obama's opposition to the "surge". however that is akin to someone shooting a person in cold blood and then bending over to help stop the bleeding and then saying, 'look what a humanitarian i am." obama was AGAINST THE UNPROVOKED ATTACK ON IRAQ IN THE FIRST PLACE. the surge has nothing to do with it.

mc cain = wrong on iraq
obama = right on iraq

since attention spans are so incredibly short in the american electorate let me, once again, point out that georgia STARTED the conflict with russia (and against american advice, by the way). mc cain immediately started his "war is the answer" dialogue and blamed russia. obama was much more diplomatic and put the blame on both parties and said the way to stablity in that area of the world would come about through diplomacy and talks with all the parties.

(russia lost more people in world war II than the rest of the allies (( excluding china)) combined. russia has been attacked by the west multiple times but russia has never attacked the west.)

so

mc cain = wrong on russia
obama = right on russia

mc cain wrong for america, wrong for peace, wrong for the enviroment, wrong for the economy.
obama right for america, right for peace, right for the enviroment, right for the economy.

say, did you see that hard hitting interview of palin this past weekend on all the tv news talk shows? oh, you didn't. BECAUSE THE REPUBLICANS WON'T LET HER BE INTERVIEWED! they even said that they wouldn't until they were sure that the press would show some deference to her. deference? what kind of shit is that? what is she, the fucking queen?

oh well, rock and roll and peace to all

be it ever so humble...oj trial...bush the socialist

las vegas, be it ever so humble there is no place like home. glad to be here.

the o.j. simpson trial jury selection started yesterday so the media circus should be showing up very soon. maybe this time mr. simpson will get sent to prison where, in my opinion, he has belonged since that night in california when he slit his wife's throat. incidently, many people blame that jury for freeing o.j. saying that since it was a mainly black jury they were racially prejudiced and freed him as a slap to the"man" while i believe the two prosecutors were so inept and mark furman was such an asshole that the prosecution shot themselves in the foot (or in the glove hand as the case may be) then, as a real quickphoto of american society, the two prosecutors went on to become millionaires from books they wrote. shit, i could write a book on all the mistakes they made...

for all you republicans out there who are always decrying socialism what do you think about the government bailing out the fannies with tax payer monies? george bush, socialist. lol.

mc same has recieved a huge "bounce" from the republican convention but will it hold when, at long last, he has to debate senator obama. palin, who has looked to me to be a weak and then strong choice now looks to me to be a hypocrite of the highest order. she is doing one of the republican major tricks in as that she is now changing history saying that what happened didn't really happen. earmarks, bridge to nowhere, pork projects etc etc etc that she, reformer that she is, backed while in office but now says she is and was always against them. the republicans count on people not really paying attention to the past, for instance, that under clinton we had surplus and under reagan, bush I and bush II we had record deficits. tax and spend democrats. really.

for those of you who are going to be in las vegas during the thanksgiving week i will be at the tropicana that week so come on by.

oh well, have tons of things to do here so this one is going to be short. p.s. rhonda is still suffering from the car wreck, it gets better and then goes backwards. those kind of injuries can be a real bitch.

rock and roll and peace to all.

dear liz

dear liz, (aka rudy the reviewer)

you must get a grip on your life and quit writing to my blog; surely you have something better to do.

i delete your comments as soon as they appear. you are doing yourself no good here, so please knock it off.

ron



for the rest of you; the hurricane seems to have come and gone. ocean is still angry and a stiff breeze is blowing but no rain right now.

WAITING FOR THE HURRICANE

there is a smell of hurricane in the air and the first band of rain has come and gone. the pressure is dropping and the night feels different. the clouds are low and moving fast and the tops of the casinos flit in and out. a little after two in the morning and from where i sit i can see the ocean and hear the waves through the open window. a great night for sleeping or laying on my back staring at the ceiling and pondering the two shows we just had.

our first show was just great and all three of the acts just blew the room away; the kind of show where the artist remembers why we do this. the crowd couldn't have been better nor could we.

and then:

steve martin was on the tonight show with johnny carson and carson asks him why he didn't tour any more and martin gave the classic answer: "second show friday."

he was referring to our second crowd tonight who, at best, could described as drunk and obnoxious. yelling out various obscenities and animal grunts when not talking among themselves, the audience was the worst of the worst and, oddly enough, the management of the club did nothing to help the comics until, at last, i told the latest drunk shoutee, SHUT THE FUCK UP!! AND WOULD THE STAFF BE SO FUCKING KIND AS TO TAKE CARE OF THESE ASSHOLES!!?? normally, casiono show staffs are quick to stop any kind of trouble or disturbance because the quality of the show is what makes people come back and tell their friends but the staff tonight was not on top of their game. (to put it as mildly as possible)

oh well, i have vented. back to waiting for the hurricane.

A Page from the Bovine Chronicles

i've always liked to speak. i do, indeed, mean always.

i grew up knowing i could speak and speak well. from the time i was but a small child, i was the one who told the story of whatever adventure had stumbled upon us. between the ages of 13 to 20, i did a lot of hitch-hiking across america, and many times, would find myself stuck out in the middle of nowhere on some little road going in the general direction desired and the interval between cars going in my direction could be quite long. whenever possible, i would speak to the cows. cows are, in their way, good audiences....very polite.

i could speak to cows who were some distance away and by speaking to them in a loud (but not shouting) voice i could bring them closer. as they got closer, i lowered my voice and they would get closer still, until at last, they were at fence's edge and i was but a few feet in front of them still talking. sometimes, i would do speeches from shakespeare or poems by poe. i learned to modulate and "time" because i was in front of an audience that just loved to hear me talk. i would walk back and forth as i do on stage, and those cows, with their big cow eyes, would follow me intently. the cows were not only polite, but stoic as well. i knew they liked me, but i never really moved them. they weren't excited by what i said but, by golly, they listened to every word.

i bring this up because those cows...were good practice for the crowd i had in atlantic city tonight.

god told her

a beautiful day in atlantic city but i spent it at the poker tables basically blinding out for about 6 hours. nothing is as aggravating as getting just shit cards and when good ones come along they are obviously beat on the flop. example: on bb i have two black queens and the pot is raised to 15 dollars and three people call. here i can either reraise or cold call and i decide to cc. flop comes Ah, Kh, 2h. i check and it is bet 40 dollars and then raised to 100, i fold. mumble, mumble. towards the end of this horrible session i have a deuce 7 times in a row and now on bb and i say to dealer, "i want something that doesn't involve a deuce and especially deuce-6 off suit. you know what my hand was. i then left.

i am looking forward to palin's speech tonight. the buzz is that she is a very accomplished speaker so it should be good and, i am sure, the republican rank and file is certainly hoping so. i wonder if she is going to say that "god" wants her to be vice president. the reason i say that is gov. palin said that "god wanted us to invade iraq" and, you know how god keeps his finger on energy policy so that gov. palin said, "god wants us to drill for oil in anwar." aren't you a little skeptical of people who claim to know what GOD wants? fanatics use that tact. god told them to kill, maim, invade, destroy etc etc. bush said that god told him to invade iraq. apparently god didn't know that iraq didn't have wmd's. now palin says god is an oil man. yeah, yeah i know, god told you to vote republican.

i said some time ago that the republicans are going to run on their favorite platform; fear. bush came through on cue last night saying that john mc cain is the man for the job in these dangerous times. be afraid. be very afraid. vote republican and we will protect you.

last night i heard nary a word about the economy from the republicans, nor foreclosures, nor joblessness, nor banks failing but only how senator obama is wrong, wrong, wrong. we shall see if they bring any ideas at all to the convention. i especially look forward to senator mc cain's speech. he is so inspiring.

and where is cheney? not invited? my, my, my.

who vetted this woman? answer....NOBODY

while a couple of mc cain supporters wrote in defense of gov. palin, they miss the point. this is not about her, as much as it is about mc cain and his "decision making," and also about who really calls the shots for his campaign, because it ain't johnny boy.

senator mc cain has made much ado about how he is the better man when it comes to making important decisions. (well that, and he was in a prison camp which, though he claimed he didn't want to talk about that fact, he brings it up at every chance). apparently john mc cain wanted tom ridge, joe lieberman or tim pawlenty, but his ADVISORS told him NO, because all three of them were pro-choice, and that wouldn't do. searching the nation over, they found mrs. palin, but according to people in alaska they didn't vet her at all. not a single member of the alaska legislature knew anything at all about her being looked at as vice president. i quote rep. gail phillips, a republican and former speaker of the house in alaska: "i started calling around and asking, and i have not been able to find one person that was called. i called 30 to 40 people: political leaders, business leaders, community leaders. not one of them had heard. alaska is a very small community, we know people all over, but i haven't found anyone who was asked anything."

mc cain met her one time and then offered her the position.

now, all you republicans out there, tell me that you think this is the best choice for vice president on the republican ticket. senator mc cain is in his 70's and has cancer. it is not beyond the realm of possibility that he could die in the next four years and then she would be president. someone who has never been in the national spotlight, has no experience on the federal level, has no foreign policy experience, is involved in an ethics investigation, is against sex education in schools (worked out well for her family), is against abortion, but for drilling in anwar, which even mc cain is against.

yeah, yeah, yeah she is a governor. right, but a child could be gov. of alaska. how hard is it when you have a gigantic surplus every year? go look at every other state and see the difference between them and alaska. she is a "reformer." cool. you know what she was "reforming"? the republican party in alaska which is awash in scandal and graft.

john mc cain has shown by this pick to a.) not be in charge of his own campaign. b.) lack the courage of his own convictions, and c.) be a bullshit artist....he repeatedly told us the ONLY qualification that he looked for in a vice president nominee is that they "be ready to take over the presidency."

sorry, guys but i think that john mc cain just handed the democrats the election.

incidently, senator obama's comment on the teen pregnancy was gracious and polite, with restraint that the republicans have never shown when it comes to family.

and by the way, how many of you are aware of george bush's brother neil? how many of you are aware of george bush's brother marvin? one is a convicted thief and the other is making money in iraq. ahh, the liberal press has just hammered those two. oh, that's right, they haven't. by reading the american press between 2000 and now you wouldn't know georgie boy had any brothers other than jeb. now would you? WOULD YOU?

the party of lincoln and eisenhower is no more. fiscal conservatives. give me a break. your party has been taken over by neo-cons who believe in war as a national policy and have spent our country into a giant hole. i don't see how you can defend them.