Fox News's Megyn Kelly thinks cops pepper-spraying unresisting prisoners isn't so bad, because after all, it's "a food product, essentially."

My advice to Megyn would be first, to spell her name with a normal vowel.  Megyn Price gets a pass because she's funny, humane, and sexy.  Megyn Kelly is no funnier than she is humane, which is to say not at all.  

My second bit of advice would be not to eat out for a while.  Definitely not at any restaurant where the waiters aren't her fellow one-percenters.  Look, personally I love the snotty cheerleader act, but I can see where it might wear thin with less-masochistic personalities, even in ordinary circumstances.

And these are exceptionally emotional times.  As might be expected in a country whose populace is just becoming aware that their local peace officers can be turned into corporate goons who cheerfully gas grandmas and pregant women.  

Even if her favorite eatery does not give Megan (see? I'm helping her get over herself) a painful lesson in just how bad that nasty tongue of hers can burn, she may find herself ingesting any number of unsavory "food products" without knowing it.

And then there's her partner in crimes against humanity, Bill O'Wrongly (I'm pretty sure I have that name right...anyway, who bothers to fact-check anymore?)  Bill, taking time off from his usual job of making viewers less informed than they were before they turned on his show, was the soul of fairness:

"I don't think we have the right to Monday-morning quarterback the police."

Well, you didn't exactly need slo-mo to analyze that play. Office Pike (there's a Dickensian name for a thug cop, isn't it?) waddled down the line of unresisting students and carefully sprayed an agonizing, blistering bio-weapon all over them.

Exactly what extenuating circumstance does Bill imagine might excuse this calm, deliberate sadism?

The only conceivable explanation is, that it was the end of a long Laurel-and-Hardy style confrontation, where the protesters kicked him in the shin, ripped his tie, then set fire to his car, while he stood patiently absorbing the indignities, then cocked his hat forward and proceeded to take his turn.  Until that tape shows up, we'll just have to imagine the hilarity that preceded, and justified, the chemical torture.

Of course, had the police looked cross-eyed at a Tea Party protest, we might have heard a different tune coming out of Billo.  But that's because there are BIG DIFFERENCES between Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party.  I can think of a Dozen right off.

.

See more Doug's Dozen lists at www.dougsdozen.com.

And watch Doug's Dozen videos on FunnyOrDie.  

Our current 'debt crisis' is wholly manufactured by some quick-thinking Republican who figured out that he/she could use the raising of the debt ceiling (always pro forma in our history and unnoticed by the electorate) as a means to get the party's radical fiscal agenda in place.  As we look at the 48-hour cliff hanger, we know that this extreme wing of the GOP, though small in actual participants, will get every demand fulfilled in order for our economy to survive the peril they're creating.  As the president, Reid and Boehner huddle in secret, we know that
this insidious group will prevail and their benefactors, the multinationals, the oil companies and the very wealthy will be spared the indignity of having to forgo any further taxation.  

I think many of us on the left are totally disillusioned by the illusions Obama presented in order to get elected.  We know now that he is not bold and easily manipulated by any pressure from what we would consider the opposition.  His bi-partisanship song has gotten old.  Although it's time for leadership, we know from experience that he will cave to the Tea Party's extortionary measures. It will be such a relief to the ultra rich!  In gratitude they might even contribute to his re-election...  

News item:  

Two California-based Tea Party activists, James Patrick Riley and Jonathan Wilson, have birthed Colony Bay Productions.

Colony Bay's aim is to create patriotic programming that promotes conservative values in order to wrestle a bit of the narrative back for the right.

Colony Bay's first TV production, which made its premiere in late June to a packed house in Los Angeles, is Courage, New Hampshire. Set during the "Taxed Enough Already" Party's favorite period of U.S history--the American Revolution

Now, we need to remember that the Boston Tea Party was not a revolt against taxes, it was a revolt about being taxed without representation.  You know, like we have now, when our Congressmen ignore what every poll says Americans want, because it's not what their corporate donors tell them to do.  

So why do I think these guys would have been on the Tories' side?  Given the modern Tea Party's determination to restrict rights (health care, gay marriage) instead of expand them, I think their love of the Revolution just boils down to liking the funny hats.

But never mind all that.  What's their number? 'Cause I'm ready to pitch...

DOUG'S DOZEN: 12 NEW TV SHOWS FOR THE TEA PARTY PRODUCERS

1. THE ORIGINAL COSBY SHOW - Where unlike Obama's America, the Huxtables' ancestors are guaranteed of being an intact family...unless, you know, Massa runs short of cash or changes his mind.

2. MADISON MEN - Alex Hamilton (John Hamm), creative exec at Federalist Papers, Inc., sleeps and duels his way around New York as he tries to sell the public on a revolutionary new product, "The Constitution."

3. COLONIAL HOUSE - Each week, Hugh Laurie confronts a new medical mystery that can only be solved by applying leeches.

4. THE JEFFERSONS - Irrepressible Sally (Beyonce) hatches wacky plots to convince her owner Tom (Kelsey Grammer) to let her move on up into the main house at Monticello. Syndication title: I (SECRETLY) LOVE SALLY.

5. THE BIG BEN THEORY - Science geek Ben Franklin (Johnny Galecki) can't figure out why women don't fall for pick-up lines like "You're hotter than my stove" or "Wanna pull on my kite string?"

6. THE ADAMS FAMILY - Featuring short, creepy John, tall, vampy Abigail, and their bizarrely ambitious 8-year-old Quincy, who scares the neighbors with his obsession to end slavery.

7. IT'S ALWAYS REVOLTING IN PHILADELPHIA - A bunch of young slackers hatch hare-brained schemes to rip off a country from King George III (Danny DeVito).

8. THE GOODLY WIFE - Martha Washington (Julianna Margulies) thinks about becoming a lawyer and competing with men in the workplace. Then she laughs it off and goes back to looking after George.

9. FALLEN WHITE HOUSE - His Executive Mansion burned by invaders, family man James Madison (Noah Wyle) conducts a guerilla war, while constantly comparing the British to space aliens on a sci-fi show.

10. CSA: RICHMOND - Confederate pathologist Gary Sinise examines the bodies of slaughtered Union soldiers, hoping to find out how to do it more efficiently.

11. COLUMBUS - A supposedly bumbling explorer (a computer-generated Peter Falk) keeps tricking Indians into betraying themselves and letting him grab their land.

12. DR. HO' - A sexy time traveler (Michele Bachmann) screws with historical events for a big payoff.

See more Doug's Dozen lists at www.dougsdozen.com

And Doug's Dozen videos on FunnyOrDie  

Michele Bachmann is a multi-talented woman. Conspiracy theorist. Miscommunication expert. Spinner of wild fantasies. Stand up comedian. The list is endless. She's a barrel of laughs. The nation is lucky to have such comic relief in an era of unbroken heartbreak.

(Good one!! You must  wear a foil hat while reading this. Of course once you take it off, WTH did she just say?!!! LMAO! great diary! - promoted by lamb12)

I recently sat down with Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann for a candid interview including topics ranging from childhood obesity to the Iraq war.

Her answers provide a personal look into the mind of one of the most influential women in politics today. I thank her for her openness and insight.  

Mark Garrison: How would you approach the growing epidemic of childhood obesity?

Michele Bachmann: I personally believe that I would approach it from the right. And I would most likely approach it carefully such as not to startle it. Because I feel that Australian Obeses can be quite dangerous to our hopes and dreams. I firmly believe that reading to Obeses could be helpful and such as the United States should expand the Obesity reading programs.

MG: In one word, tell us how you feel about the situation in Iraq.

Bachmann: I believe that the Iraq is dangerous and such as it should be cared for gently. Many Iraq Iraqians feel that the U.S. is a big country and therefore we as Americans should do our best to shrink our nation to a reasonable size such as not to frighten the gentle Iraqis. Either that or we should just kill them all.

I've been following the stories of the standoff in Wisconsin while supporting the State Senators the entire time, the TEA Party has chosen to make this a national issue now with flooding the state with people of the lowest common denominator.  

            Reuters suggested that the State Senators are hiding out in Illinois but with the TEA Party now putting pressure on their governor and the Wisconsin Senate-at-Arms considering filing arrest warrants this sounds like it will become even more brutal before it is over.

            This truly saddens me that the TEA Party and Governor Scott Walker would go so far as to not only try and kill collective bargaining but to force the hand of these State Senators by way of warrants is beyond ridiculous.

            I believe we need to stand with these State Senators who are taking action we need to show them our support and I believe we need to fight back with the strongest tool we have social media.  I'm asking everyone reading this to post on facebook, tweet, blog or whatever else that you stand with the 14 Wisconsin State Senators and that we will not cave to pressure on the right. 

When I was a kid in the 60's, my Saturday afternoons were spent in a variety of ways. The guys on the block might show up to recruit me for a baseball game. Sometimes, my parents would condemn me to a well-behaved day of visiting the older relatives. Cold or rainy Saturday afternoons were usually spent in front of the television, watching old movies. There was Gene Autry, and Dagwood Bumstead. There was Abbott and Costello versus Frankenstein or the Wolfman. And there were always those Japanese exports, starring Godzilla. Godzilla versus Mothra, Godzilla versus Ghidorah. Godzilla versus the Smog Monster.

When I watched these Asian epics, I was often struck by the enormous amount of collateral damage. A massive Japanese army was always arrayed against the monster. Fighter planes darted across the skies. There were long columns of tanks and jeeps, heavy artillery and missal launchers, while riot police held back the horrified crowds. The troops would unleash a barrage of shock and awe at Ghidorah. The monster would become incredibly pissed, despite the lack of actual damage to his person. His tesy response would be to tear the tops off a few skyscrapers, followed by a little Riverdance on downtown Tokyo.

Eventually, Godzilla would thunder over the horizon, and the two beasts would engage in an epic battle. If the terrorized citizens were lucky, the combatants would take it out into the ocean. If they kept it in the city, oh well. More collateral damage. Eventually, Godzilla would open up a can of whopass sufficient to send his nemesis fleeing out into the open ocean, never to return-until the sequel. And the survivors would cheer!

Cut to Ronald Reagan. Reagan sometimes appeared on Saturday afternoon TV with Bonzo, or Knute Rockne, or the girl who was Working Her Way Through College. Some years later, Candidate Reagan was again on TV, telling us that government was not the solution, but the problem. He told us that the 9 most terrifying words on the planet were, "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.".

Reagan was planting the seed of the small government movement. This movement has persisted for 30 years, though no national politician who campaigned on smaller government has ever actually shrunk the government. Reagan, for example, failed to offset most of his tax cuts, and exploded Pentegon spending to a level that had never before been seen. Currently, the small government movement is embodied by the Tea Party. According to the Tea Party, all of our problems will be solved by shrinking government, lowering taxes, eliminating regulations, getting the government out of our business (except, of course, for bedroom and reproductive issues).

Frankly, I would love to see less government. I want to pay lower taxes, and I'm well aware that government fucks up frequently. Just recently, a new counterfeit-proof $100 bill was introduced. One billion bills were printed. Now it seems that, due to a printing problem, they will need to be reprinted at a cost of $188 million to taxpayers. Oops!

So, in my Utopia, government would be really, really small. Government would defend the borders, put on a really awesome fireworks display on the Fourth Of July, and...well, that's about it.
But, here's the problem with that: Government is not the only behemoth on the island. Swivel your gun turrets and push the citizenry behind the wooden barricades. Here comes the Multinational Corporation Monster!!

The comedian, Chris Rock made an astute observation about Montecore, the trained tiger that nearly killed Las Vegas performer, Roy Horn. Quoth Rock, "Everyone said, "That tiger went crazy!". That tiger didn't go crazy. That tiger went tiger!".

You can't hate a tiger for attacking a weaker creature. That's it's nature. You can't hate a corporation for doing anything in it's power, moral or immoral, in pursuit of profits. Corporations are profit machines, profit juggernauts. Morality isn't written into their charters. They will poison people's food, kill factory workers and miners, destroy the planet, drive families into bankruptcy, throw them out of their homes-all in pursuit of a quarterly profit, because that is their nature. Like the Terminator, they will not stop until they are stopped. It is as sensible to be angry about this as to be angry about gravity.

Corporate misdeeds have been harmful in proportion to the ability of the corporation to buy the cooperation of legislators. The historical alliance between robber-barons and lawmakers was responsible for mass genocide against an entire continent of Native Americans, initially to clear farmland and grazing land, later to build railroads and cities. They dispatched slave boats to fetch the labor force. Post-slavery, they used violence and intimidation to prevent workers from organizing into labor unions.

In the past 50 years, corporate atrocities have become better disguised, but  no less damaging. Corporations have commissioned fraudulent studies to refute everything from the harmful effects of tobacco to climate change. They are poisoning us with genetically engineered seed, steroid-laden beef, mercury contaminated seafood, and addictive processed food laden with hidden fat, sodium and sugar. They have thrown terminally ill people off of health care roles on technicalities. They've sold mortgages to people who didn't qualify, bundled these mortgages into incomprehensible securities, then used the money from people's pension funds to short-sell these securities. When the bubble burst, they accepted huge government bailouts, even as their plebeian patsies had to absorb their own losses. Then they used the bailout money to pay their executives massive bonuses while they began to rebuild the bubble. They've engineered foreign coups, and set up puppet governments to sell them oil, creating dangerous world conflict in the process. Then, when war breaks out, they engage in massive war profiteering, overcharging the taxpayers for everything, and "losing" billions in reconstruction money with no accountability. They've engaged in deep-water oil drilling, ignoring safety regulations and failing to plan for the inevitable environmental disasters. They've taken the tops off of mountains, pumped oceans of poison into the water supply, destroyed wetlands and rain forests, and driven numerous species to extinction and near-extinction. They bought up patents for alternative energy technologies for the sole purpose of ensuring that they would never see the light of day, and covered up safety flaws in automobiles. I could go on much longer, but I trust you get the idea.

The worst development in recent decades is that the largest corporations are now multinational. When a corporation was centered in a country, it had to be a citizen of that country. Now, thanks to thirty years of free-trade voodoo, a corporation puts it's offices in whatever country allows it to pay the lowest taxes. It builds it's factories in whatever countries provide it with the cheapest labor and the loosest environmental and safety regulations. Then, having been enabled by the free-traders in the government to pay obscenely low trade tariffs, it floods the U.S. with it's cheaply-made goods. Of course, a rational individual might ask how Americans would be expected to pay for all these goods, having had their best jobs moved out of the country. The answer; cheap, easy credit. Americans were told that they could buy up all of this foreign-made crap, make no payments for 2 years, and then our dwindling paychecks would still be more than enough to pay the monthly minimums. As a result, many Americans have been paying nothing but interest on their debts for years, and will probably die of environmentally-induced cancer or some obesity-related malady before the principal is ever even touched.

So, how does the average American fight this corporate monster? It's simple. We don't. We can't. The monster is simply too big to contain or control. We can train our little popguns on it and fire away, but there will be no effect. The factories are gone. The infrastructure is decayed. The education needed to compete has become unaffordable. We are beholding to the monster for our health care. We can't find other air to breathe or water to drink. We can't regenerate plant and animal species that are gone. And, if we are not major shareholders in the corporations, they don't have to pay attention to us. They shrug off boycotts and laugh at protests. Distasteful as it is, our last option is to wait for Government Godzilla to rumble over the hill and grapple with the Corporate Monster.

Now, you might ask, "Didn't you just state that corrupt politicians enabled corporations to commit these atrocities? And doesn't government do plenty of damage to the country in it's own right?". In a word, yes. I didn't say that we weren't in a near-impossible situation. I didn't say that we weren't nearly completely fucked. We are-big time. But the penultimate scene in these Saturday afternoon adventures is usually the one where the hero grasps at his last straw. We do have a way to convince Godzilla to fight for us, and it's called the voting booth. Corporations can spend unlimited funds to influence elections, but they can't pull the lever for us. The top 5% of wealthy may control 50% of our country's riches, but they still only have 5% of the vote. Corporate controlled media may be doing it's best to make us apathetic and stupid, but we don't have to swallow the stupid pills.

The task is crazy hard. First, we have to get people's attention off of "Dancing With The Stars" and the Super Bowl for five minutes, and onto the damage done by the Communications Act of 1996 and the repeal of Glass-Steagall. We have to convince people that those who are playing on their racism, xenophobia, homophobia and religious prejudice are like the magician who makes you watch what he is doing with one hand while he picks your pocket with the other. And, we have to convince people that Ronald Reagan was dead wrong. Government may often be a problem, but it doesn't have to be. We have to find people that are part of the solution, put them in power, then hold them accountable.

If we make our mission the shrinking of Godzilla, then our only line of defense is our own little popguns. Nope. We have to use every means at our disposal to induce Godzilla to fight on our side.      

When the news from Tucson about Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords found my consciousness on Saturday, my very first reaction - aside from horror and a sinking feeling in my heart - was whether this Arizona representative was a Democrat, targeted by an out-of-control vigilante from the extreme right.  Seconds later, when I read the first details I could find, I learned I was correct about party affiliation... but immediately, I cleared my head of any further conjectures.  There was no sense in blaming any political party, movement, PAC or homespun group; all that mattered now was that the congresswoman and several others were fighting for their lives, others were recovering from less severe injuries, the shooter was in custody... and, sadly, several innocent bystanders were dead.

My heart goes out to all who have been affected by this senseless act.  It's a pretty wide swath of people who are directly impacted - aside from, of course, the victims and their families and friends (including the commander of the International Space Station, Giffords' brother-in-law), that swath includes the shooter's family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances.  Beyond those several hundred connected people, this act affects the Tucson community at large, Arizona's population as a whole, and, really, all of us.  

As to my initial reaction - what bothers me is not the political bent in my knee-jerk reaction, but the fact I had that reaction at all.

All we have heard in the last several months from the Tea Baggers (snort) is about the need to return this country to what the Founders wanted.  So the incoming Republican majority decided to waste time and tax dollars (all those House employees get paid to be there) reading the U.S. Constitution.

The U.S. Constitution as the Founders wrote it and ratified it, right, since they're the ones we're all supposed to admire?

This video is so funny.  I know it is an ad for a book, but the humor is just so dead on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Forget her phony resume and her dipping into the campaign funds. Don't worry about her deep concern about where and why you touch yourself.  Ignore her belief that Pinky and the Brain was a documentary.  Weak tea like that will never make Sarah Palin sound capable and sane.

But listen to this...

Christine O'Donnell outed herself on Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect back in 1999.  She "dabbled into witchcraft"! She picnicked on a Satanic altar!  

Don't tell me this is the 21st century.  The strength of the witch is that she is unbelievable. Well, that and her being able to turn you into a frog.

Ask yourself, why are she and Rep. Michele Bachmann renaming Bachmann's caucus the Tea Party Coven?

Why has she been accepting rides on corporate broomsticks?

And why am I saying "ribbit" so much?

I'm warning you, you need to see I'm warning you, you need to see Doug's Dozen: 12 Signs Christine O'Donnell is a Witch.

Christine O'Donnell is the latest Tea Party candidate to win a nomination.  Ever since seeing Pastor Glenn Beck deliver his sermon on the Lincoln Memorial steps, I've been wondering how he and and Sarah Palin and their followers can love Jesus, but hate welfare, health care and gun control.  I mean, charity, healing, pacifism...that's pretty much Jesus's whole platform.

Then it hit me - the Teabaggers are talking about a different Jesus.

I mean, it was a pretty common name back then.  You  could walk into any crowd and be sure that you'd hear someone yelling, "Oh, Jesus!"  

But this other Jesus was obviously a pretty special guy, too.  

The type of guy who'd refuse to cure lepers because it was a pre-existing condition.

People would ask him for a miracle to feed a multitude, and he'd tell them to go out and work for their loaves and fishes, like he did.

He wouldn't render squat unto Caesar - he was Taxed Enough Already!

And you can bet your ass he wouldn't lie down and be crucified by a bunch of sword-grabbing Romans. Not this guy. He wants his Judea back!

So be comforted by the special wisdom to be found in the 12 Sayings of Tea Party Jesus.  

(I like your style Mr.Fay--great diary--and something the WHOLE country should think about, or are we doomed to never learn anything from history, except to repeat it?? - promoted by lamb12)

  It was a troubling time for the nation. Their armies were scattered throughout the world, placing a great drain on the financial resources of the government. Bad economic conditions were fostering discontent among the working classes. Equitable wealth distribution was unheard of, as the patricians exploited the working plebians with the blessing of the government. Political discontent brewed, and it even looked as if the nation would split apart. As if these conditions weren't enough, the powerless Senate took no action to alleviate the problems, and watched as all chances for progress turned into unfathomable regression.

(or why the "war on terroism" won't be ending any time soon)

(A long read, but worth it - promoted by dmondom)

(Originally published on Facebook - April 26, 2010)

THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS HONEST & ADULT LANGUAGE...YOU HAVE BEEN OFFICIALLY WARNED!!!

For several months now, I've been wracking my overloaded brain trying to figure out how to enter into the current political debate in this country. Well, let's be honest, it's not really a debate. There really is no such thing as true debate in this country anymore. If you cast your mind back to your high school civics classes, you might remember that a true debate is a forum in which two individuals on opposing sides of a particular issue publicly present their arguments, not in an effort to change the other's position, but to allow the audience to decide for themselves which argument is more sound and rational. This lost art relied heavily on the debaters' ability to present their arguments clearly and charismatically, and on the audience's ability to think for themselves. Of course, rational discourse and independent thinking are no longer noble pursuits in today's America. Instead, level-minded discussions have been replaced with finger-pointing, bad-mouthing, and blame assignment, and public opinion now hinges on who gives the best verbal smackdown.

As overwhelming evidence surfaces, the Tea Party movement becomes more adamant in their denial. They do not understand how they attract bigots, racists, illiterates, gun-toting inciters of violence, or corporate and PAC sponsors. They want us not to notice that the number of fans they have attracted is about the same as the number of people who have left the Republican Party. They ask us not to believe our eyes and ears, experts, or logic, and to disregard videos, news reports, and the people we meet daily on the streets and the internet. We are to pretend we have no idea what the term grassroots means, maybe even give them credit for coming up with the idea.

Those misrepresenting wackos (including people like Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck) are a shocking, unwelcomed fringe element that mysteriously managed to ravel in to center stage of a movement that totally denies purposely attracting or embracing them. They robbed the movement of speaking fees, forced their own names onto event flyers, and jumped in front of cameras, devastating movement leaders. And that movement is horrified, same as my friends Liz and Lonnie were when I suggested that she purposely attracts losers and he begs women to use him.

Hot-to-trot probably dates me but I don't know a more apt or current equivalent to describe poor Liz. She simultaneously overdresses and undercovers but when it comes to beauty products, she takes the opposite extreme - more is better. Nothing will convince her that a reasonable application of more expensive products in place of the cheap stuff she cakes on would benefit both her checkbook and her face. Liz hasn't met a man she doesn't like and hasn't acknowledged the ones who don't like her. She flaunts, she flatters, and she laughs at lame jokes and appreciates free drinks and dinners. She spends the grocery money for sexy date clothes, and she calls in sick and dumps the kids with sitters for wild weekends.

And then, when she catches the guys who are attracted to everything she put out in the dating phase, she can't understand why she keeps ending up with losers who don't want her kids around, can't keep a job, and who expect her to look like a million (or ten) dollars and be ready to party every minute. It cannot possibly be her fault that she ends up with losers.

Lonnie watches for women in distress. Take him out and he will invariably find the woman whose husband dumped her the day she lost her job and found out she was pregnant with her eighth child. Within a week, he will have fixed her car, built two rooms on the back of her house, given her his credit card for emergencies, and encouraged her kids to call him Dad and come to him with all their needs. He'll pay for Cinderella's divorce, see her through the pregnancy, and wonder why she falls in love with someone else but keeps hanging around him on payday. He can't understand how he collects women who don't appreciate good guys.

Like Liz and Lonnie, the Tea Party refuses to accept responsibility for the ads they run.  

While I should have grown beyond finding contempt for the conservatives in American Politics, I must admit to a bit of personal astonishment with the latest case of 'give me your votes verbal diarrhea'.  The verbal diarrhea is surpassed only by the extent of cognitive constipation that failed to guide Rand Paul to 'good judgment'.

Alright, the Rand comments about Civil Rights Legislation and the Americas with Disabilities Act came from his heart and his social views and I believe his upbringing.(The majority of Sociologist would speak same about his apparent contempt for the rights of others and his obvious bigotry) How about the extent to which his 'lack of mental acuity' has hit his party. Fellow Republicans are embarrassingly attempting to deal with this candidates FIRST MAJOR brain fart. Alas, the real damage lives in LEFT leaning media.

Paul has unleashed "the Kraken"!  From Chris Matthews, thorough Keith Olbermann right up to Rachel Maddow (the extremely visceral one, with the the superior research team), the stories flow like Mark Twains 'Ol' Missouri River. The candidate has given Olbermann all he needs to substantiate his frequent comments about an undercurrent of racism and bigotry in the tea party. Matthews can now claim accuracy in his beliefs that Obama is hated so by tea party (ers) (and many conservatives) based on his race and ethnicity). Maddow?.....Well she has mobilized her research team thus, 'unleashing the Kraken'.

As I watched the show tonight, I, and many of you, saw a long list of notable conservatives in full cover-up mode.

DeMint was forced to say that he supports the Civil Rights act of 1964. I am certain he scurried to his chambers to wash his mouth with cheap mouth wash.

Sessions released a comment about the virtues of the laws and the dismantling of segregation. Ah, from a man who once labeled a white public defender 'a traitor to his race' as the public defender argued a defense for his client.

Cantor was figuratively caught on camera as uncomfortable as I he has ever publicly appeared. He looked like the little boy who was caught with his hands in his pants. I mean 'what can one say'.

Pence said that he would be talking with Paul about his comments.

The list of videos went on for a few more minutes.

As a strong believer in 'fate', I assert that the 'Failings of a Wrong Cause' marches on.  I am virtually convinced that the socio/political RIGHT is devouring itself like a malnourished worm.

If there is doubt of my views on this matter,view the picture below. If you did not see the Maddow show, the picture tells a stark tale.

The picture speaks about 'States Rights' (a favorite refrain from the RIGHT). it speaks about America before the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Moreover, it shows the real danger in people such as Rand Paul and their embracing the tea party and the ideology systemic in those who embrace the party.

One last telling contrast.

Paul took a stage after his victory in Kentucky, surrounded himself with his (WHOLESOME LOOKING FAMILY) and declared. "the tea party is strong and is here to save our country" (Somewhat paraphrased).  

Oh Really, Rand?

Now, I ask the reader to view the picture below. Please note that Lester Maddox is holding a snub-nosed revolver and his son a pick (S/P) handle.

Rand and the tea party wants to 'save our country'.

                   

Amidst all of the clamor, railing and vitriol related to 'our taxes', I thought this reminder could be a handy item to keep near-by. 'Old news' for us news geeks but kinda of makes me wonder about the well educated tea party crowd.

USA Today 5/11/2010
Tax bills in 2009 at lowest level since 1950
Average rate has fallen 26% since recession began in '07

By Dennis Cauchon
USA TODAY

Amid complaints about high taxes and calls for a smaller government, Americans paid their lowest level of taxes last year since Harry Truman's presidency, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data found.

Some political conservatives such as "Tea Party" activists have criticized federal spending as being out of control. While spending is up, taxes have fallen to exceptionally low levels.

Federal, state and local taxes - including income, property, sales and other taxes - consumed 9.2% of all personal income in 2009, the lowest rate since 1950, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reports. That rate is far below the historic average of 12% for the past half-century. The overall tax burden hit bottom in December at 8.8.% of income before rising slightly in the first three months of 2010.

"The idea that taxes are high right now is pretty much nuts," says Michael Ettlinger, head of economic policy at the liberal Center for American Progress. The real problem is spending, counters Adam Brandon of FreedomWorks, which organizes Tea Party groups. "The money we borrow is going to be paid back through taxation in the future," he says.

Individual tax rates vary widely based on how much a taxpayer earns, where the person lives and other factors. On average, though, the tax rate paid by all Americans - rich and poor, combined - has fallen 26% since the recession began in 2007. That means a $3,400 annual tax savings for a household paying the average national rate and earning the average national household income of $102,000.

This tax drop has boosted consumer spending and the economy, which grew at a 3.2% annual rate in the first quarter of 2010. It also has contributed to the federal debt growing to $8.4 trillion.

Taxes paid have fallen much faster than income in this recession. Personal income fell 2% last year. Taxes paid dropped 23%. The BEA classifies Social Security taxes as insurance payments and excludes them from the tax calculation.

Why the tax bite has eased:

•Stimulus law. One-third of last year's $862 billion economic stimulus went for tax cuts. Biggest reduction: The Making Work Pay tax credit reduced income taxes $800 for married couples earning up to $150,000.

•Progressive tax rates. Presidents Clinton and Bush pushed through a series of tax changes - credits, lower rates, higher exemptions - that slashed income taxes for poor and middle-class families. A drop in income now can trigger big tax breaks and sharply lower rates, sometimes falling to zero.

•Sales tax. Consumers cut spending sharply in this downturn, thereby paying less in sales taxes.

A Gallup Poll last month found that 48% thought taxes were "too high" and 45% thought they were "about right." Those saying taxes are "too high" remain near a 50-year low.

The lower tax burden should last at least through 2010, says Roberton Williams of the Tax Policy Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C. "Virtually all the stimulus tax cuts expire at the end of the year," he says. "So the key decision is whether to extend them into 2011."
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OK, if the tea party crowd is so well educated and financially comfortable, why is there an issue related to taxation?  Also, why aren't the well educated tea party crowd that part of the movement who obviously avoids making placards and signage for their rallies.

After that New York Times poll, you wouldn't think there could be any more surprises in tea party movement.

We know they broadcast their love for the Constitution as fervently as Kristen Stewart's most dedicated stalker declares his passion for her, and displaying almost as much intimate knowledge of their beloved.

At Staples, I actually had a Tea Partisan in a very large straw sun hat inform me that "welfare" appears nowhere in the Constitution.  I said it takes some searching but if you manage to slog about thirty words into the Preamble, you do come across the phrase "promote the general Welfare." Assuming this was not bald-faced graft benefiting a presumptuous Colonel Welfare who had a lot of pull with James Madison, these words signal that the Founders foresaw the wisdom of government projects that would help the entire population: Postal systems, canals, highways and the like.  Had they known medical science was about to take a huge leap beyond leeches and bloodletting, they might have even specified health care.  As it is, we can certainly take it as implied...as we do with the Air Force,  paper money, Medicare, the Space Telescope, Social Security, and the right to vote.

But even though the Constitution held a few more nasty surprises in store for my Mad-Hatted friend (no "God", "Jesus", "Christ" or "Holy Ghost" either), turnabout is fair play.  The Tea Partiers have their own surprises for us - and not the good kind.