Told Ya

To do great work a man must be very idle as well as very industrious. -Samuel Butler

That is a sweet little mantra, right there. I was thinking, just yesterday afternoon, that sometimes it's just as productive to sit and daydream as it is to try to get something else done.

Just to let you all know, if you don't already, Buchanan defended his decision to can Bill Ayers from speaking on the UWYo campus last spring again yesterday, claiming safety as top priority. (Even though afterward he said the guy could come talk on Prexy's if he wanted to, right out in the open without police backup or anything.) ack.

He also said he will not institute a speaker policy on campus, and he is fully backed by the Board of Trustees. Hellz, that's great; keeps things wide open for him to deny someone again in the future, without a piece of paper for dissenters to point to him having signed saying he won't do that kind of thing.

Whatever. Politicians are politicians. Not that there aren't some cool ones out there, like Anthony Pollina and, right here in Wyoming, Chris Rothfuss. And others, too, but I don't have the time or inclination to go looking them up this morning. I mean, the FFM is right, even though he hates the peoples, in general, politicians get into that business for the power and money, not to serve in some civic capacity. God help us all. Oh, shite, sorry about that. I shouldn't talk about God in the context of American government. badbadbad

Birthday Girl

So, last night we were sitting around while Tom opened his birthday presents, and Patty asked what day I was born, like which day of the week. She knew her day. I did not. I thought maybe it was Sunday, that I'd heard that once, so I checked online, and sho 'nuff. I found this site that told me not only what day of the week I was born, but all sorts of other interesting stuff about my birthday.

Like my number path, which is 6 and which notes that generally there are no negative aspects to that path, but that there could be a tendency to expect too much from others and be really hard on myself.

Having been reminded, once again, of this tendency, and having engaged in a political discussion this morning that became borderline less-than-cordial, with an old friend, I realized I have to just stop: stop expecting people to be rational, forgiving and most of all, responsible.

So I might have to turn this blog into a venue for other thoughts, like maybe my daydreams of colored fishes, instead of the political fodder that generally appears here. Because, peeps, things just ain't gonna change out there, and I need to remember that my social libertarian philosophy is not a feasible one in the real world. People want want want to get get get, but give the same to someone else? Fuggidaboudit.

Republicans ARE Kids These Days

Peeps, I have a long day ahead; uranium forum 7:30 until...? Maybe a softball game at 6 if there's no one to sub so I can sit this one out and stay at the glow show.

So, I only have time to spit this out quickly: Republicans have nothing, NOTHING worthwhile to say- or do. Please, do NOT vote Republican this fall. Please. The Republican agenda is a non-agenda, a no-agenda. I've had it up to... beyond my neck. I am drowning in bitterness toward a bunch of people who have stooped to the piss poor tactics of attacking everyone else as "bad" because they have nothing good to add to this country's agenda.

The end. Seriously, folks, when I turned 18, I registered to vote as a Republican. I thrilled in the early 90s when the young moderate Republicans, many with Teddy Roosevelt-style conservative republican values, began to run for office. What the hell happened?

Don't do it. At risk of sounding like an icky Republican, do NOT. It's a misguided and misguiding lost cause. We're Americans. We deserve better, but we have to stand up and get it, not wait for it to happen.

Off to talk U. Have a day.

Republicans and Kids These Days

This is for the FFM, who suggested I might blog about both these issues today:

First, we've all heard that Lindsay Lohan was released from jail after 13 days of her 90 day sentence. We know because this is very important news. At least as important as, say, the flooding in Pakistan and Afghanistan that has resulted in the deaths of hundreds and tens of people, respectively. Well, it is more important because those countries harbor people with anti-American sentiments. To hell with them, right? Lindsay, on the other hand, is the pure embodiment of American youth, right down to the loud complaining about the inhumanity of the punishment meted out for her infraction, and the subsequent smug look on her face when she was freed early.

Second, the Republicans... The FFM suggested I talk about how the Republicans are trying to block the "energy bill" which plenty of people already think is watered down so much it "leaks" according to one opinionaire (I'm sorry, I lost the name). Well, it's not even just the Republicans. There are Democrats who are against passage as well.

An NPR story this morning: "Republicans — as well as some Democrats — say it's a bad idea to have unlimited liability for oil disasters. They say only the biggest oil companies have the assets to take on such risk, while small and medium-sized firms would be shut out."
(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128921726)

Well, this is all-American, too. Whereas some people might say, "Good! Impetus to do things safely and properly in the first place!" true Americans would say, "We don't want anyone to have to take responsibility for anything they do wrong. My God, we don't want anyone to lose a chance at making the largest profit they can possibly make, regardless. Money is the aim, after all, not people's safety, or the ecological stability of the surrounding environment, our children's lives down the road... Hell, that's how the native Americans or the commies, those kind of people think, and look at what happened to them, Who's number one in the world, after all?"

Cheers, opponents of taking responsibility! You are true Americans! Cheers, Lindsay Lohan! You are our future! Let's drink to that!

BP BP BP BP

BP did not go away while I was gone, nor will anyone likely be fooled by these antics of Hayward stepping down and "an American" stepping in. No, no, no.

But, that is all for today, except for this fine video provided by MadDog, for which I am grateful because I know I should be checking in, having returned a few days ago, but dag, other things keep getting into my schedule.

Remember, even, how hard it was to get this guy, Senator Al Franken, into the damn seat to which he was elected? Yeesh.

If Sharron Angle shoots herself in the foot any more times,

I don't believe she will be able to stand up any more, at all.

I mean, seriously, peeps, tell me this woman would not possibly get even a single vote, given her ridiculous actions?

Angle Sends Cease-And-Desist To Reid -- For Reposting Her Own Website

"Sharron Angle has resorted to an unusual maneuver to counter Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's attacks on her past quotes and positions, the Reid campaign has announced: A cease-and-desist letter, demanding that Reid no longer republish Angle's previous campaign website.

"The short version of the story is as follows: After the former state Rep won Nevada's Republican Senate primary, Angle's campaign took down most of its website, and later replaced it with a relaunched version that in some ways toned down her right-wing rhetoric. But Internet pages are rarely ever forgotten -- the Reid campaign saved the old version, and put up a website called "The Real Sharron Angle," reproducing the old content."

More at:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/angle-sends-cease-and-desist-to-reid-for-reposting-her-own-website.php

Flippin' Politics

Peeps, I flipped out about politics again last evening, raising my voice to obscene levels. My dad is in town, and he has been brainwashed by the hard right conservative shock-commentators who only want to point blame and claim there is so much wrong with everyone else in this country (especially Mr. Obama... I had to remind my dad that when I was taking the heat in high school as senior class President, he calmly told me not to worry, that I was limited in what I could do in my office and that really a president is more of a figurehead for people to stand behind than someone with inordinate power to perform every act that the people expect).

I can't take it. I couldn't take it. I told him, pretty loudly, that I don't care to hear from the conservative or the liberal media their spin on the facts, I just want to hear the damn facts. Fat chance of getting those.

He's home now, so I better go. (We made up when I reminded him that there isn't a politician in power who is really there for us, the regular people, and that not a single one of us will ever have a shot at being elected to office.)

Some days are better left outside.

Yesterday was a meeting of the museum guy from OK with the Friends of the SH Knight Geological Museum, about the reinvention of the museum. Hard to believe it's been a year since Tom Buchanan, President of University of Wyoming, axed the Geological Museum on campus. It was an insane summer for the Friends, raising awareness and even some funding to show the importance of the museum to the public, whether local school kids or families from Boston or Chinese scholars. Then, limbo.

Well, things don't happen overnight, and now the museum reinvention committee upon which the same President who formerly said NO to the museum ever being again bestowed his blessing, is in the process of, well, reinventing the museum. Wow.

As the museum man said yesterday, "We know that no one wants the old museum back. People want something new." (He did not know he was wrong, and that there are actually people who liked the museum as it was, and found it plenty valuable. He'd been listening to the committee peeps. And trust me, some day there will be something new. There is something now. Someone will probably let you all know at some point what it is. But it isn't the final destination. But there is money now, for something new, but still a geological museum, even though Tom said no. So, there is progress right there, right?)

Today Soil Mapping class went out to Boulder Ridge. It was sunny, then rainy, mosquitoey, and pretty gorgeous. The soil was moist and smelled good when we dug it up and handled it. It's just a better day most days when those days are outside.

p.s. This is a super cool image from 1922 of SH Knight himself having lunch with some peeps in the Snowy Range, overlooking the Laramie Basin where we were digging around today.

Baaaaahhh! We are sheep, and shock media is our shepherd.

I have two things to mention today.

First, I have been thinking since yesterday morning when I got to campus and saw the backpacks all over Prexy's Pasture, about suicide and how sad it is that so many people, including young people, get to a point that they feel like there is no reason to live. There were backpacks all over the field out there, for Pack in the Silence (do I have that name correct?), demonstrating the number of college students who kill themselves in this country every year. It was an impressive and very moving sight. We need to think more about why people are so desperate. Not just the social and socio-economic inequities that make people feel hopeless, but the fact that depression is still stigmatized.

So, the next issue just arose. I was on Facebook a couple minutes ago and saw a post from my conservative friend Silvie about having returned from WalMart, where she saw people of all ages who were just huge- obese, and opening up to conversation the fact that we need to take better care of our kids in this country because this just isn't healthy. So, I commented that we harp on Michelle Obama to leave our kids alone, but we don't care for them ourselves.

And I was attacked immediately. This guy Tom jumped to the conclusion that I want "Mama Obama" to take care of my kids instead. Now, how the hell do you come to that conclusion based on my words?

So, I am going to copy for you my response right here because, frankly, I am sick and tired of being attacked from all sides for trying to have reasoned discourse with people. My blood pressure rises, I feel it, and I get anxious every time someone throws some offhand comment without truly hearing what the other person says- without listening.

Here it is, and I dare you to misinterpret because you are a slave to the media shock talkers:

Tom, don't read what you think my lips are saying; read the words: WE DON'T TAKE CARE OF THEM. I don't think someone else should. As I told Sylvie (re: her comment... "unless we help ourselves first,") "WELL SAID." I'm a libertarian, man; I believe firmly it is OUR RESPONSIBILITY to take care of our own.

Sorry if I sound grumpy, but honestly, I am getting tired of trying to have a reasonable, thoughtful conversation with people and having them jump to conclusions. The radio and tv shock show hosts are doing too damn good a job getting people all up in arms in this country and we aren't talking and solving problems, just placing blame and making assumptions.

Sarah Palin and Bill Ayers

Let's talk about selfishness today, peeps. First, let me tell you about a Dear Abby letter I read this morning (yes, I did.) "Grinched" was upset that his girlfriend gave the dozen roses he'd bought her for Valentine's Day to a young man in a store who was beside himself because he couldn't afford to buy his own GF roses for the occasion. Yep, this "Grinched" considers his girlfriend's actions "thoughtless and insensitive."

OK, am I so far off base as to not be a good American? Are we all really so selfish as to think when we buy roses for someone they are still our roses and that person should put us up on some pedestal and think of us while staring at the damn roses all day? To my mind, "Grinched" is really "The Grinch," and his girlfriend, who probably would have liked to have looked at those beautiful roses and thought about how nice it was to have them, was thoughtful and sensitive. So, Abby says she can understand the dude felt upset at spending so much money to have the roses go bye-bye, but really, what better use than to brighten someone else's day (two people's) with an occasion they would not normally have been able to enjoy. The way I see it, hellz, four people could have benefitted from the whole situation, but one chose to be angry and pity himself instead. Selfish? I think so.

Let's move on, with that "s" word selfish, to Sarah Palin.

Read this and tell me she isn't:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36480381/?GT1=43001

Look, peeps, I can fully understand the request for two bottles of water and bendy straws for the girl so she can be comfy and give a speech and have her whistle all wetted and not be coughing or rasping or whatever. However, what the hell does she need a giant jet for?

All of you out there who think this woman represents you, if she truly does, you are not repressed, oppressed, downtrodden or anything else, just selfish and myopic, and probably carrying a crapload more money in your wallet and bank account than most Americans- and not because the rest of us are lazy. Can you say "slaves to money and power?"

Or, perhaps, again, I am just a crappy American, as in not a true red white and blue patriotic one.

And now, on to our final subject: Bill Ayers. You know, that "terrorist." Let me be honest and indignant here for a moment. See, the University of Wyoming cancelled a speaking visit by Ayers, and has most recently decided he can not speak on campus even if a student request a venue for him, without the University having to pay a red cent. So, the latest is that Ayers has an attorney who is threatening to sue the University for bludgeoning free speech. On this we can all agree, right? Violation of first amendment rights?

Well, apparently not. There are forces out there, scared people with money and power in this state, who call Ayers a terrorist (much like Selfish Sarah did during Presidential campaign time), and call him out for killing people. I kid you not; the local paper has actually printed letters in which people accuse him of killing people, when the buildings his group bombed (and Ayers himself has said, ya know, maybe that wasn't common sense?) were empty.

Yet these same myopic and terrified (of exactly what, I do not know, and my guess is they don't know themselves because they are too busy blustering in their sheep herd to actually go sit under a tree alone and think about it) people would threaten Bill Ayers's safety?

Why do I simply think this is not OK? I guess, once again, I am a terrible, unpatriotic American. If that's the case, so be it. I'M NOT YOU MEAN-SPIRITED, SCARED AND SUPERFICIAL PEOPLE!

Below is the text of an article on the latest Ayers development in Laramie, from the Billings (MT) Gazette. I thought it appropriate, as this is not just a local- or even regional- issue.

Peeps, this is an important moment: Either we can recognize that these people who claim to be patriotic Americans would violate the constitution and stop them, or we could continue along in our daily little sheep ways and let democracy cave under the political will of those same crushers of democratic values.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_1a83b018-477b-11df-a417-001cc4c03286.html

Doodeedoodeedoo... We're all in bed together.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/business/14lobby.html?8au&emc=au

I so trust these guys. I mean, just look into their honest eyes. Shifty? ha!

Oops, gotta puke.

OMG, not an embarrassment and inconvenience

to the United States of America!?

Forget that people are dead and wounded.

Jerbus!

Upheaval in Kyrgyzstan as Leader Flees

By CLIFFORD J. LEVY

Published: April 7, 2010

MOSCOW — Large-scale protests on Wednesday appeared to overthrow the government of Kyrgyzstan, an important American ally in Central Asia. Government officials said at least 41 people had been killed in bloody fighting between riot police and demonstrators in the capital of Bishkek and elsewhere in the country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/world/asia/08bishkek.html?8au&emc=au

Take a look at the latest from Don Siegelman

Please take a moment to read this frightening statement from the wife of an Alabama county commissioner who was subpoenaed by prosecutors to appear before my grand jury. There is no doubt in my mind that if he had lied, as they apparently asked, he would have never been hassled. This is the sad state that this Rove inspired investigation sank to in my case.

Below is the statement by Judy White of Birmingham, Alabama, choosing to break the "conspiracy of silence":

"My husband, while serving as an elected county commissioner, was subpoenaed to give grand jury testimony against former Governor Don Siegelman and Richard Scrushy, because he assisted in arranging the meeting between them at which federal prosecutors contend crimes were committed that resulted in Governor Siegelman's and Mr. Scrushy's convictions. Please understand that I was present when my husband was questioned by federal officials, and I witnessed their demands that my husband testify as he was told, regardless of his insistence that he could not. Following his refusal to comply, the Office of the U.S. Attorney began investigating him, and obtained an indictment and a conviction, which was overturned by the trial judge. The U.S. Attorney appealed the reversal.

My husband got on the wrong side by refusing to commit perjury for their benefit. We have complained to the Office of Professional Responsibility and to the Department of Justice, to no avail, of numerous and verifiable instances of wrongdoing in this matter.

On one day we were highly respected, productive citizens, taking care of our family, and contributing to our community in numerous ways, serving on the boards of non-profits and raising awareness and money for worthy causes, aside from my husband's public service. Then, after my husband refused to commit perjury at the direction of federal officials, they have viciously focused on causing destruction, including the loss of employment, our home, relationships, and any and every resource we might have to fight back, to the point my husband is even unable to retain counsel.

Please help us, and please continue to help change a broken system.

If I did nothing, we would continue as we have since that fateful day when my husband refused to lie as demanded. Ultimately, I understand someone has to speak out and speaking out brings exposure. But if everyone with knowledge of the corruption spoke out, it would have to end, so I have chosen to not be part of the conspiracy of silence."

Judy White

......................................................................................
And now - they need some help. My heart goes out to them.

Please send a contribution to Gary White so that he can obtain counsel.

Mr. Gary White
7032 Greenwood Lane
Leeds, AL 35094
......................................................................................
Please help me continue to fight this injustice, as well.

Donate online or mail your contribution to:

3963 River View Drive
Birmingham, Al 35243

Thank you so much!

Don Siegelman
Governor of Alabama 1999-2003
"America's # 1 Political Prisoner", The American Trial Lawyer Magazine

Hey, you whining Republican babies,

just so you know, when you say "we" are going to take our country back in the fall? That is a lie. Our country was not built expressly by or for a bunch of rich whiners who wanted to do nothing but block any possible opportunity to bring people together under one roof with their general welfare intact.

Just in case you've forgotten, your job is not to sit around piss-bitch-and-moaning and saying NO, but to represent your people. Jeeezus Cripes, start ACTING instead of stalling. And I don't mean acting like spoiled rotten babies.

Or do you have anything to really add to "our" country that benefits everyone?

Probably not.

Huh, more education crap.

Why can't I escape seeing these things? I wanna be free!

Too old to stay? Court says yes

March 8, 2010 by Tom D'Agostino

It sounded like a pretty clear-cut case of age bias – but a federal appeals court said it’s not.

Under Alabama law, no member of the board of trustees of Alabama State University can serve on the board past September 30 following his 70^th birthday.

Joe Reed, who was set to hit 70 before his term on the board expired, sued the governor and chair of the board to block his removal. He said the age limit was unconstitutional because it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

No dice, the Eleventh Circuit appeals court said. Relying heavily on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Gregory v. Ashcroft, 502 U.S. 452 (1991), it said the mandatory retirement provision was constitutional because it satisfied rational basis review.

Cite: Clark v. Riley.

http://www.higheredmorning.com/too-old-to-stay-court-says-yes

Israel Unveils Plans to Further Aggress Against Palestine, While We Fear Iran Will Make and USE Nukes?

As Biden Visits, Israel Unveils Plan for New Settlements

By ETHAN BRONNER

Published: March 9, 2010

"JERUSALEM — Hours after Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. vowed unyielding American support for Israel’s security here on Tuesday, Israel’s interior ministry announced 1,600 new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem, prompting Mr. Biden to condemn the move as “precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was clearly embarrassed at the move by his interior minister, Eli Yishai, head of the right-wing Shas party who has made Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem one of his central causes.

A statement issued in the name of the Interior Ministry but distributed by the prime minister’s office said the housing plan was three years in the making and that its announcement was procedural and unrelated to Mr. Biden’s visit. It added that Mr. Netanyahu had just been informed of it himself.

Mr. Netanyahu supports Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem yet wants to get new talks with the Palestinians going and to maintain strong relations with Washington. But when he formed his coalition a year ago he joined forces with several right-wing parties, and has since found it hard to keep them in line.

Mr. Biden came to Jerusalem largely to assure the Israelis of Washington’s commitment to its security and to restart peace talks with the Palestinians.

He began the day on a note of support, asserting the Obama administration’s “absolute, total, unvarnished commitment to Israel’s security.”

But by the end of the day, Mr. Biden’s tone had a very different quality. He issued a statement condemning “the substance and timing of the announcement” of the housing, and adding: “Unilateral action taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations on permanent status issues.” He said the announcement “runs counter to the constructive discussions that I’ve had here in Israel.”

On Monday, George J. Mitchell, the administration’s Middle East envoy announced that Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to four months of indirect peace talks, the first such negotiations in more than a year.

Nabil Abu-Rudeina, spokesman for the Palestinian government, called the new housing announcement “a dangerous decision that will torpedo the negotiations and sentence the American efforts to complete failure.” He added that “it is now clear that the Israeli government is not interested in negotiating nor is it interested in peace. The American administration must respond to this provocation with actual measures, as it is no longer possible to just turn the other cheek, and massive American pressure is required in order to compel Israel to abandon its peace destroying behavior.”

Last spring, the Obama administration tried to get Israel to stop all settlement building in order to get peace talks going again and hoped Arab states would promise confidence building measures in exchange. No such measures were forthcoming and the Israelis rejected the freeze."

Finish up here while I go calm down:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/world/middleeast/10biden.html?8au&emc=au

Test that hypothesis.

So, everything is political. We know that, right? But to really sit down and consider how opinion and politics affect our lives...

For example, yesterday I overheard a woman tell a guy who asked to interview her on a subject say that she doesn't "really know anything about it," just has her own experience, and that she will have to ask her sister, who is politically involved with the issue, if it is OK for her to speak.

What?!

And today in seminar we talked about how science and politics are so embroiled, how people in a university research setting rely on private funding and so are expected to get results that support that private company's message. But at the same time, people who work for a university are protected, so if they come up with a stance, based on facts they have gathered, that is not supported by the politicians with a certain monied constituency to consider, then those politicians will ask that the researcher be fired. Of course, said researcher is protected, but still...

What?

Bottom line is the person doing the research, gathering the information, is expected to put it out in a way that supports someone's viewpoint, preferably someone with money or someone with a gun, or maybe both.

I don't even know if any of that makes sense, what I just said. I was there; I heard it- and talked about it, in the latter case. But it's just not reasonable!

The March That Will Cure Our Ills

Reasons I should not go to Denver alone: I could go broke buying McD's and Subway for the people on the street. Seriously, I got really bummed last night walking up the 16th Street Mall after dinner, having subsequently bought a homeless man a sub and then three cookies for a buck, one for him, one for his friend sleeping on some stairs across the street, and one for myself, and thinking how it cost me about 10 bucks to feed four people in two evenings, about a quarter of what I paid a night to share a room up the street with three other women.

It's just weird and sad, and I get really depressed.

But it's all OK. Really, because I was listening to Denver Progressive Radio AM 760 on the way home today, as usual, and was excited to hear that people are gearing up for a March on Washington. (Guarantee they will wait until it's a little warmer and clearer of snow there.) But, what a great idea! A march on DC will so take care of the 40% premium increase in health insurance in California, and the 100% increase in Pennsylvania and will help the Dems grow spines and the Republicans to quit playing dirty politics, and all the other problems in between. Probably even the march will convince the SCOTUS to reverse that decision about corporations being individuals, too.

In fact, I wager that all those Americans who don't clip teabags to their ball caps and go out there and march will definitely remind themselves, and the rest of America, including the party pols, that there are more than Democrats and Republicans in this country when it comes to talking political party, and that in the end, really, we are all just people with values, wants and needs, and one of those needs is not for there to be a marked two party division in this democratic republic splitting us up and riling us up and making us all look like whining crying fighting goddam babies.

I cannot wait to participate in this march; it will be the cure-all for our ills.

Whoever says that just refusing to elect the selfish, rich, money-and-power-mongering people we keep electing is the answer is simply an idealist. That would never work. heheh

Still Experiencing Severe Angst

I have a headache because I am running out of migraine medicine, and I had crazy full-moon dreams last night, like about this girl all dressed in black, some kind of weird creature who was crawling around and sneaking up on me and then jumping at me to bite my toe and suck out my soul. I told her she was wasting her time because I don't have such a thing.

And I woke up thinking about not only those two things, but still the fact that I am just completely bent out of shape, like never before, about the fact that we have one President in this country, required by the constitution to give a State of the Union address to Congress every year, but that in these media times, the "other party" gets to come back immediately following the address.

Make no mistake; these dudes are not speaking off the cuff in response; these are craftily prepared partisan statements developed in advance of their air time. Hellz, John McCain had his response out on Facebook before Governor McDonald was even done talking from Virginia.

I mean, honestly, I had an anxiety attack this year when it happened. It's partisan politics at their finest and simply serves to further split this nation, especially since only "the opposing" party gets that talk time. What about the Libertarians? The Greens? The Independents? Shite, what about the Tea Baggers? hahahahaha

Do you see what I am saying? There is ONE PREZ, and it should not matter from which party he (she if you send me to Aubergine House in 2012, those of you who survive the return of Quetzalcoatl) hails because it's the damn PRESIDENT's, the HEAD OF STATE's address, not the Democrats' or the Republicans' address.

I have no problem (to remind Karen and Alix) with people responding. Don't get me wrong. Sure, reporters, get out to those Capitol Hill buildings and press rooms and get responses from the people to whom the speech is given, technically. And get out on the streets and ask Americans what they thought of it. And challenge them, huh? You, the fourth estate, have enough power to convince the masses what they think they believe or know; why not channel that into convincing them to think for themselves and get facts and make decisions on their own?

But I won't travel down that road this morning. I got online to harvest my crops on Farmville, and it's time for me to go do that. Later, I can assure you.

Face to face, Obama urges GOP to work with Dems

Mi hermano suggested posting this article here. It seems fairly fitting with the rant I had planned to produce myself. Since I didn't have time for that, and since this is available, my only other words here today are: Both parties, quit being little friggin' whinebag babies and get some goddam serving your constituents done.

STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
on the AP

BALTIMORE (AP) - In a face-to-face encounter, President Barack Obama chastised Republican lawmakers Friday for opposing him on health care, economic stimulus and other major issues.
Republicans pushed back on taxes and spending, and accused Obama of not taking their ideas seriously.
Obama, attending the House Republicans' retreat in Baltimore, began with conciliatory remarks but soon became more pointed. He said a GOP-driven "politics of no" was blocking action on bills that could help Americans obtain jobs and health care.
In a sometimes-barbed exchange, he said some in the audience have attended ribbon-cutting ceremonies for projects funded by the stimulus package they voted against. Obama also questioned why Republicans have overwhelmingly opposed his tax-cut policies, which he said have benefited 95 percent of American families.
"The notion that this was a radical package is just not true," Obama said. "I am not an ideologue."
GOP lawmakers pressed the president to pledge to support a line-item veto for spending bills and across-the-board tax cuts. Obama demurred, saying billionaires don't need new tax cuts.
In his opening remarks, Obama criticized a Washington culture driven by opinion polls and nonstop political campaigns.
"I don't think the American people want us to focus on our job security, they want us to focus on their job security," he said.
The president acknowledged that Republicans have joined Democrats in some efforts, such as sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. But he said he was disappointed and perplexed by virtually unanimous GOP opposition to other programs, such as the $787 billion economic stimulus bill enacted a year ago.
He also noted overwhelming Republican opposition to his proposed overhaul of the nation's health care, which now is in legislative peril. Obama said he would gladly look at better ideas, but he urged Republicans to acknowledge the difficulties that many Americans face in obtaining good health care.
Obama said it makes ideological sense for Democrats and Republicans to work together on some issues such as charging fees to banks that benefited from a federal bailout, temporarily freezing some government spending, keeping jobs from being exported and paying for new government programs when they are created.
Republicans have sharply criticized Obama's approach to most of these issues.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
(Huh, one more thing, then: Does this mean I'm breaking the law?)