One Dead Doe

For those of you who are interested: I went out Friday afternoon & sat in the blind that I set up in my front yard. About an hour into this hunt (cough, cough, & I'm not being checked for hernias) a good sized doe walked by. I moved my rifle up to shooting position but made a small noise as I clicked (see what I mean) the safety off & she turned & looked right up at me. I was sure this deer was about to take off, so I took the front-on shot, a shot I really didn't want. I fired & for some crazy reason she dropped right there, just like on the teevee. She was kicking her front legs, so I took another shot & hit her in the neck again & this finished her off. There will be venison in the coldH2O's home this winter. The gun deer season ended today. Tomorrow we get a one week muzzle loader season. I just paid off my muzzle loader, a style of gun I have never used, last week. Hopefully I can pick the rifle up & the scope will be mounted. Then I'll sit in that blind in my yard & wait for a buck, a doe, & another doe to walk by. I do have three tags left, an antlered tag & two doe tags. But I must beg you, my loyal four readers, to have some decency & not call me Dead-Eye Dick, thanks in advance.

Thanks A Bunch Ted Thompson & Mike McCarthy

I hope you bastards slip on the new snow & fall even farther on your fat asses.

Packers 31
Carolina 35

Oh, & the refs weren't very good either.

Those Damn Swedes...

...appear to have just purchased an Illinois company & infected it with their damn Swedish socialism. The horror, oh, the humanity.

Among Other Things, President Bu$hCo Doesn't Care About The Land

What a spiteful, little man. No matter the result of the massive landslide election in favor of the Democratic Party, Bu$hCo & Dick "Dick" Cheney continue to show their contempt for the land. Check out the charts in the linked story. As a note on journalism, note how the author of the piece is clearly biased towards the Bu$hCo regime by writing things like:

The Bush administration, which has sought to reduce American dependence on imports to meet the continuing demand for oil and gas, has aggressively pushed to open up energy exploration across broad swaths of the West, off both coasts, and in Alaska.

Coupling the country's overseas oil dependence & the lack of leadership from Bu$hCo to develop alternatives clearly leaves the American citizenry & the American landscape sucking hide tit.  I'm glad it's almost over.

The Dems Made A Huge Error With LIEberman

The odious Joe LIEberman(Really R-Assholville) ought to have been stripped of his plum chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee, but no, 43 boneheads under the guise of compassion & a fake post-partisan zeal, voted to let LIEberman keep that job. The 13 Democrats, who truly understood what their party is supposed to stand for, wanted to throw this dickhead out with the rest of the ReThug trash. This will come back to bite them in the ass. One could make the argument that Smith, a moderate ReThug, but still a ReThug, was someone to support. That would make sense only if his Democratic opponent was someone like David Duke, but Smith's opponent, Jeff Merkley, support sexual orientation as a civil right, that's enough for me. We now find out the LIEberman also gave $5000, a nice chunk of change, to the douche bag "...too many mosques in this country" Peter King.

Via TPM.

More Evidence That Big Pharma Does Not Care About Life

Or the truth, for that matter.

What happened next provided the first signs that the Allhat evidence might not be universally embraced.

Rather than warn doctors that Cardura might not be suited for hypertension, Pfizer circulated a memo to its sales representatives suggesting scripted responses they could use to reassure doctors that Cardura was safe, according to documents released from a patients’ lawsuit against the company.

And in an e-mail message unearthed in those same court documents, a Pfizer sales executive boasted to colleagues that company employees had diverted some European doctors attending an American cardiology conference from hearing a presentation on the Allhat results and Cardura. “The good news,” the message said, “is that they were quite brilliant in sending their key physicians to sightsee rather than hear Curt Furberg slam Pfizer once again!”

Pfizer declined to comment on the messages.

My emphasis.

Why Won't Corporations Like Murphy Oil Just Do The Right Thing?

Murphy Oil has ties up here in the northern part of Wisco, ties that also want to dig 800 through bedrock to get at some taconite ore. This is going to occur, of course, near the headwaters of the Bad River in northern Wisco. At the other end of the Mississippi River watershed (I know, the Great Divide occurs a few miles south of billycreekville, so sue me.) Murphy Oil is making money, but not making many friends.

The suit was filed Friday at U.S. District Court in New Orleans by the Concerned Citizens Around Murphy.

The group contends that the refinery has violated the Clean Air Act more than 130 times since 2003 by releasing pollutants such as sulfur dioxide at rates exceeding the company's emission permits.
....

"We only have a few big industries" in the parish, he said. "We need them. We appreciate them. All we're asking is for them to comply with the regulations."

What a quaint idea, corporations actually obeying the law & understanding why it is a law.

How Much Sushi Can A World Eat?

Apparently, enough to make the bluefin tuna extinct.

Given that tagging studies have shown that the half-ton tuna can roam the full span of the Atlantic in seeking breeding and feeding grounds, the European position is widely seen by fisheries specialists as sending the fabled species spiraling further toward outright collapse. At the center of the fight, spurred largely by the worldwide sushi trade, is one of nature’s most magnificent, and endangered, experiments — a transatlantic torpedo that can sprint at highway speed while warming its brain with energy from its muscles.

What a cool animal.  It's too bad the fishing industry has more influence than brains. My emphasis.

J.B Van Hollen Is A Petty Little Prick

With a skin thinner than my two year old granddaughter's. We need to impeach him, before he embarrasses any more.

Nothing To Worry About, Folks, Move Along

Bu$hCo's complete lack of concern & regulation has led to this. & the moron president is sitting up nights trying to put these odious "regulations" into the permanent category. But, hey, we're as good as China.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who heads a panel that oversees the FDA budget, said the agency was taking a "marketplace first, science last" approach.

"The FDA should be insisting on a zero-tolerance policy for melamine in domestic infant formula until it is able to determine conclusively based on sound independent science that the trace levels would not pose a health risk to infants," DeLauro said.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., a frequent critic of the FDA, said: "If no safe level of melamine has been established for consumption by children, then the FDA should immediately recall any formula that has tested positive for even trace amounts of the contaminant."

Good

Let us all hope that this investigation is just the beginning of exposing everything Bu$hCo did & then hold the accountable, i.e., put the bastards in prison.

M.C. Breed, R.I.P.

Obit here.

Betty James, R.I.P.

The Slinky, a toy that I have a special fondness for, particularly when chicken pox is involved. The woman who gave the Slinky its name to the toy has died in Philadelphia. When I was a kid back in the 1950s, my dad brought home a Slinky for me to play with while I was home with the chicken pox. Why I remember that toy, rather than others is surprising to me. When The Kid got the pox, I went on a mad, frantic search for a Slinky, the original Slinky, the metal Slinky. My search yielded a blue on one side, white on the other plastic Slinky, ugh. Anyway, I hope The Babies don't get sick with chicken pox, but if they do, I hope their parents buy them a couple of Slinkys to play with.

Amazing

It's just amazing that we are actually having court cases that state the government (Bu$hCo) can not use a person's race/ethnicity as a reason to hold that person without charge or arrest. This is how far we have sunk in the last eight years. President-Elect Obama has a huge table to clean.

A federal judge in Brooklyn ruled on Monday that the United States government could not use ethnicity as justification for detaining two Egyptian-born men who were questioned for four hours after a cross-country flight in 2004.

The two men, Tarik Farag, a former New York City police officer, and Amro Elmasry, who was working in Egypt for General Electric, sued the government, saying the questioning was unjustified. The government said that the men, who were arrested but not charged with any crime, had acted strangely during their flight from San Diego to Kennedy International Airport and that two counterterrorism agents had observed them switching seats, checking their watches often and speaking in Arabic.

The government said that the men’s ethnicity was a factor in deciding to detain them, and argued that it was an acceptable factor.

Seat changing, checking the time, speaking a foreign language - no wonder, we ought to put them in maximum security & throw away the keys.  Actually, it souns like they may have been a bit nervous flying in an airplane, just like I am.  It's OK if I do, however, since I'm a grumpy, old, white guy. My emphasis.

Legacy, Baby, Legacy

This is one more reason that the Obama administration needs to bed real aggressive when it comes to Bu$hCo's many, many crimes. The country, through the vote among other expressions, demanded a tough, sharp partisan clean up. For example...

In their study, the two University of Illinois researchers wrote that “whether by design or neglect, the result is the same: The removals and revisions of White House documents distort the historical record of what our government has said and done.” In the new study, the researchers traced five online documents that listed the number and names of coalition partners.

Their study is here. My emphasis.

Favre-less Packers Lose Big Time (& I Don't Mean Dick "Dick" Cheney)

What a disaster. I can't even blame the refs for this loss. Oh, & Brett Favre, remember him? Well, the Jets are 7-3 after knocking off the Titans who were 10-0. Yeah, that Ted Thompson is a real fucking genius alright.

This says it all.

Well, maybe this deer-in-the-headlights look really says it all.

Meanwhile....

They just keep adding up.

My Friend Al

A prediction that My Friend Al will beat the dumbshit Norm Coleman(R-Asshat) by 27 votes after the recount is finished. It's way closer that it ought to be, but a 27 vote win is a 27 vote win.

This Isn't Oprah's Book Club

Here's a suggestion for my loyal four readers: What's New: Memoirs of a Socialist Idealist. The book is written by a 95 year old man named Ben Swankey. You can buy the book here. I didn't find it at Powell's or Amazon, so go right to the publisher to get the book. Hat tip to friend RK for turning me on the The Tyee, a Canadian online paper, where I heard about the book, but you know, they probably get their feisty behavior from their single-payer, socialized medicine, eh? Well, with a bookshop like Powell's, we can hope with some sense reality as a backup.

Thanks Again, Ted Thompson

Jets 34 - Titans 13

Remember, the Titans were 10-0, until they met the Jets & Brett Favre. Great decision Packers.

Don't Go Mental, Part Deux

A for-profit chain of psychiatric hospitals is good for investors, for patients, not so much.

The company put its well-honed business formula into action: Staffing fell. Beds filled up. Profits soared. It was a winning strategy for investors. But for some patients, federal records show, checking into Sierra Vista proved dangerous -- at times deadly.

Cut staff, kill patients? What's new about that?  My emphasis.

An Absolutely Good Thing

Good for Northwester & Illinois. It's about time. Now, for the North Dakota Fighting Idiots. It's time moron boys in North Dakota, it's past time.

Thanks Ronnie "I Don't Have Alzheimer's, I Think" Reagan

This is the result of Reagan's beginning his 1980 campaign in Philadelphia, MS. The progress that had been made in race relations in the country went down to tubes, thanks to Reagan & the ReThugs who supported him.  & now, the racists in the south, as well as other areas of the country, are out in full moron-mode & one person has already been killed.

Yet the house on Louisiana Avenue that Foster was renting is owned by a Bogalusa deputy sheriff. And leaders of Bogalusa's black community, which makes up 41 percent of the town's population, said they've been reporting Klan sightings to the local police for more than a year.

In October 2007, residents of one black neighborhood said they witnessed white-hooded Klan members on horseback riding through their streets. And last March, Klan members openly handed out fliers in town advertising the second annual "Sons of Dixie Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Craw Fish Boil" held at the house Foster was renting.

"The city leaders want to make it look like this is just some small fringe group," said Marvin Austin, 61, a former city councilman who was once a member of a black self-defense group, the Deacons for Defense, that formed in the 1960s to defend black Bogalusa residents from the Klan. "But the Klan still has a lot of sympathizers here."

My emphasis.

Bob Jeter R.I.P.

Info here.

I Guess It's Really Over

I hate Ted Thompson sooooo much. Favre's home sold.

What The Wisco ReThugs Have Wrought

It's good that Wisco voters have returned the government back over to the Democratic Party.

That would mean when the new Legislature is seated in January, Democrats will run the Assembly, Senate and governor's office for the first time since 1986.

"I'm not exactly a huge gambler, but I like the word trifecta," said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison). "I think it will be really great to have the governor, the Senate and the Assembly to finally have a good proactive agenda for the middle class in Wisconsin."

The ReThugs have really hurt the people of this state, & the people finally figured it out. Here's what Tommy Thompson & his fellow party members did to Wisco health care.

Health Department Director Conlon said that Wisconsin as a state compares poorly with Minnesota. While Minnesota ranks second in the nation in health, Wisconsin has been falling in rank in recent years. Our state spends only about $7 per person for public health and ranks 47th in the nation in public health spending. Minnesota spends seven times that amount.

Makes me so proud to be a Badger.  Yeah, I threw up in my mouth when I typed that.  My emphasis.

Don't Go Mental

We all know how screwed up the American health care system is, so bad that a single payer system needs to happen & needs to happen soon. What is also a terrible turn of events & it will be no shock to any person who can feel a pin prick in the foot, is that medical research has become a matter of Big Pharma throwing millions & millions at medical researchers with the hope that most of the money will stick & then the results will be just great for the drug makers. Even as we watch the once honorable discipline of psychiatry become nothing more than a pill monitoring profession, it's far worse than we thought.

An influential psychiatrist who served as the host of public radio’s popular “The Infinite Mind” program earned at least $1.3 million between 2000 and 2007 giving marketing lectures for drug makers, income not mentioned on the program.

The psychiatrist and radio host, Dr. Frederick K. Goodwin, is the latest in a series of doctors and researchers whose ties to drug makers have been uncovered... Dr. Goodwin, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, is the first media figure investigated.

Dr. Goodwin’s radio programs have often touched on subjects important to the commercial interests of the companies for which he consults. In a program broadcast on Sept. 20, 2005, Dr. Goodwin warned that children with bipolar disorder who are left untreated could suffer brain damage, a controversial view. “But as we’ll be hearing today,” Dr. Goodwin reassured his audience, “modern treatments — mood stabilizers in particular — have been proven both safe and effective in bipolar children.”

That very day, GlaxoSmithKline paid Dr. Goodwin $2,500 to give a promotional lecture for its mood stabilizer drug, Lamictal, at the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Fla. Indeed, Glaxo paid Dr. Goodwin more than $329,000 that year for promoting Lamictal, records given Congressional investigators show.

& this ethically challenged MD is not the only shrink to really screw with people's mind, Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff seems to have trouble with the truth.

In July 2004, Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff signed a letter to Emory University administrators, stating that he would not earn more than an annual $10,000 from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the world's second largest pharmaceutical company.

Nevertheless, UK-based GSK reported payments to Nemeroff amounting to $170,000 in 2004.

& then there are the wonderful nick names this loser earned.

He’s “Dr. Bling-Bling”.... An “arrogant academic bully”.... Whether Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff is....“a shill” for pharmaceutical companies, as a former boss described him ....

People struggle like hell to get better in the head, are given loads of different chemicals to try & balance out the brain chemicals, & search for someone to talk with, someone with a relevant education to help them out, as well. Then to read about these people, who really don't have the best interests of the patient foremost in their practice/research is really disheartening. Now instead of working out of a deep depression, people have to worry that the shrink that is monitoring their meds read some of this questionable research & then prescribed that drug. It's another worry a person just doesn't need or deserve.

My emphasis.

OK, OK, OK

Here's the video of no one shaking the idiot Bu$hCo's hand. I'm late with it, but it's worth a look. I would be sad for Bu$hCo if I gave a shit for an immoral, stupid, hateful drunk. I do not give a shit.

Via Crooks & Liars.

My Friend Al

It's getting closer. Coleman(ReThug-Asshat) is now up by just 136. I believe we are going to win this. But, dear readers, I also predicted back in the late 80s that Daniel Ortega would win in Nicaragua. That turned out to be the case, 20 years later.

This Is The Beauty Of Science

Darwin was right, even if it took 150 years. I can hear the wingnuts in the Bu$hCo assministration screaming & pulling out hair.

Just Keeps Going Down

Another 400+ today.  Legacy baby, legacy.

Oh, I Can't In Good Concious Make This Joke

So you guys go & do it.

Justice Delayed

For a very long seven years.

Just Wow

I just never thought this would happen. Maybe things are changing for the better in this country. You go Henry, & let all of us hope you get support from the Democratic leadership.

The Pathetic ReThug Gableman

Michael Gableman, ReThug & criminal Wisco Supreme Court Justice, grabs on to the last bastion of of the laughably evil - free speech. Well, here's some free speech - Does Michael Gableman fuck goats? That's what I've heard on the street. I believe an investigation on whether or not Michael Gableman fucks goats ought to be done by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Peter Matthiessen Wins

Peter Matthiessen won the National Book Award for fiction this year. This is his second win. Northland College, once again shooting itself in the foot, could have awarded Mr. Matthiessen the Sigurd Olson prize a few years ago, but one of the PhDs on the judging panel stated, & I paraphrase - "Well, it's no The Snow Leopard. All I can say to that doctoral comment is - WTF?

Legacy

Thanks George W. Bu$hCo, for this. Too bad it probably won't hurt your retirement funds. Dickhead.

As Someone Said: Disappointed Lately?
I was a lukewarm supporter of Sen. Obama given his centrist stand on most issues that I care about. His opposition the Bu$hCo's vanity war not withstanding, he really screwed up by supporting the FISA bill, after saying he would not support it. Well, he won the presidency with the support of a lot of progressives in the world of the Intertubes (although the biggest tube of them all, Sen. Stevens, gets to do an 85 year old slink back to Alaska). I, for one, was so horrified, disgusted, just plain fucking angry at Bu$hCo, et.al., that anyone could have put a bumpersticker on my truck. We've got change alright: a proposed AG with more friends in suits than blue jeans, a love affair with Joe LIEberman (that one really hurt, but the 43 totally spineless Democrats deserve all the criticism & anger they will get), & a promise (?) not to prosecute those who tortured in my name & yours. I suppose Sen. Obama is better than Sen. McCain, but on these three issues: the AG, LIEberman, & prosecuting tortureerrs, someone please explain how McCain would have differed from Obama, come on, someone, explain it to me.

So, my loyal four readers, I'd like you to read this, then come back & we will talk about change we can believe in.

One More

Look like Palin/McBu$hCo did clean up a little bit. I'm glad Stevens is out, but I'm real unhappy LIEberman is still in.

We Win

The refs cleaned themselves up. It's always good to atone. Plus the stinking Vikings are losing to the Bucs.

37-3

Mason Crosby kicks another field goal.  1:41 left.

Take A Breather

& read this interesting dog disease article. I always was under the impression that the Shar Pei had so many wrinkles because he/she was a fighting dog & the wrinkles made it difficult for the attacker to get a grip, a.k.a. big bite. The dog turns out to have been used as a guard dog/herding dog.

Shar-pei dog with mucinosis. (Credit: Image courtesy of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Oh, Nevermind

Jason Hunter runs a Bear's fumble 54 yards for a touchdown. Good refs.

Crooked Refs

Nick Collins get shafted.

Scary

If the prediction that America is headed toward the reality of present day Huntington, West Virginia, we really are in deep trouble. Time for some action, some change.

Huntington's economy has withered, its poverty rate is worse than the national average, and vagrants haunt a downtown riverfront park. But this city's financial woes are not nearly as bad as its health.

Nearly half the adults in Huntington's five-county metropolitan area are obese — an astounding percentage, far bigger than the national average in a country with a well-known weight problem.

Huntington leads in a half-dozen other illness measures, too, including heart disease and diabetes. It's even tops in the percentage of elderly people who have lost all their teeth (half of them have).

Decent Refs, For A Change

Packers(17)lead the dirty Bears(3). Oh, oh - terrible call, according to Larry McCarren as the half ends. Let's hope that call isn't an evil omen or the second half.

Stinking Vikings

The stinking Vikings are playing a noon today, the same as the Packers. What this means to those of us in northern Wisco is that we won't be able to watch the game on the teevee since the dumbass stations in Duluth will show the stinking Vikings rather than the Packers. Go figure. Let's hope the refs are honest. Lucky for me we have the Internets Tubes, thus I'm able to listen to the radio on my computer. Not so bad. Well, the refs have already cheated for the Bears. I hope they straighten up.

This Surprised Me

Until I thought about the places I go to get my laptop serviced. Or when I go & browse at computer stores. Yes, where are the women?

REMINDER

* * * * * * *

There is no longer the shadow of a doubt that the torture of prisoners was planned at the highest levels of the US government with the explicit knowledge and approval of the president. How do we know this? Bush himself admitted it.

Via Tristero.

Original post over at BooMan's.

* * * * ** *

J.B. Van Hollen's Ego Is Out Of Control

I've always know J.B.'s been a jerk, but his tenure as Wisco's AG has been downright stupid. What's going on at the state's Justice Dept., anyway? It certainly has become an ideologue's wet dream. Maybe we could get Van Hollen to hire the few idiot right wingers left in Wisco. That way they'd all be in one place; it will be easier to keep track of the dorks, plus Wisco's Supreme Court is in MadTown, so their rulings to overturn just about every nakedly partisan lawsuit brought by J.B. can be easily dismissed. I haven't forgotten the two ethically & criminally & intellectually challenged Justices - Gableman, the Crook & Ziegler, who just couldn't keep her hands off cases related to her husband's businesses. &, continuing the tradition of not doing any real discipline, the court slapped Ziegler, very gently, on the wrist. Hopefully the court won't be so damned timid with the criminal Michael Gableman.

Latter Day Saints? My Ass

There are a host of reasons for disliking the Mormans, but number one in my book is how they pushed so hard on Prop. 8 in CA. They can sit back & act all innocent & stuff, but they are a racist, homophobic, anti-woman outfit.

The campaign issued an urgent appeal, and in a matter of days, it raised more than $5 million, including a $1 million donation from Alan C. Ashton, the grandson of a former president of the Mormon Church. The money allowed the drive to intensify a sharp-elbowed advertising campaign, and support for the measure was catapulted ahead; it ultimately won with 52 percent of the vote.

As proponents of same-sex marriage across the country planned protests on Saturday against the ban, interviews with the main forces behind the ballot measure showed how close its backers believe it came to defeat — and the extraordinary role Mormons played in helping to pass it with money, institutional support and dedicated volunteers.

What a hateful bunch. My emphasis.

Edumacashonal President

Right. Even in his home state, it appears Bu$hCo created a culture of cheating, dishonesty, & criminal behavior. I wish to once again thank the 5 ReThugs on the Supreme Court for siccing this bastard on the whole country. Their wisdom was just, just, well, bullshit. Remember, this isn't about "foreigners", it's about Bu$hCo.

Eager to hire teachers for bilingual education programs, the Dallas public school system assigned fake Social Security numbers to newly hired foreigners so it could get them on the payroll quickly, an internal investigation found.

My emphasis.

Joe LIEberman Must Go - 2

First it was Sen. Leahy who spoke for millions of hard-working, law-abiding, honest Democrats. Now, the one-&-only Sen. BERNIE Sanders adds his great voice in not only calling Joe LIEberman out, but also demanding that the Democratic Caucus not reward this traitor with a major committee chairmanship. If LIEberman somehow weasels his way into a chairman's role, it will be a huge disappointment to all who worked hard for Sen. Obama & for the millions & millions who voted for him. Here's BERNIE:

"Appointing someone to a major post who led the opposition to everything we are fighting for is not 'change we can believe in,'" Sanders continued. "I very much hope that Senator Lieberman stays in the Democratic caucus and is successful in regaining the confidence of those whom he has disappointed. This is not a time, however, in which he should be rewarded with a major committee chairmanship."

Convicted Felon Ted Stevens Falls Farther Behind

Mayor Mark Begich is now 1,061 ahead of the convicted felon Ted Stevens.

It Must Be Nice

To live in a world where you are paid a bonus that is called deferred compensation, but ought to be called screwing the working class money. I would with troubled kids & often wonder what goes on in their heads when they have a clear choice of not getting in trouble but still get in trouble. I guess the same goes for these leeches at AIG. That's some great oversight there Paulson & Bu$hCo.

Let's See

Brett Favre has the Jets in first place with a 7-3 record. The Packers are in 3rd place (out of 4) wigh a 4-5 record. I've got nothing against the Packers' QB, Aaron Rodgers, but which record would I rather have? Yes, you'd be correct, 7-3 with Favre. I hope Ted Thompson & Mike McCarthy are happy. I'm not.

Continuing To Look Good

Oh, wait, wrong pic, screw it. Here's the post, but she does look good, eh?

It looks like we are going to win Alaska with Mark Begich leading convicted felon Ted Stevens by 814 votes. The votes left to be counted apparently come from areas favorable to Mr. Begich. This is good because Gov. Moron, er, Palin (R-I Don't No Nothing About Geography, You Betcha) will not be able to replace the convicted felon Ted Stevens with herself & then run in the special election to replace the convicted felon Stevens. I know, but doesn't it sound good to say the words convicted & felon when they relate to a worthless ReThuglican. So there, as I stamp my foot & turn blue, which, it turns out might not be much of a stretch for me since I read the results of a recent sleep study I did at the local hospital.

Wisco Voting Facts

Via dear friend LK, we get some insight into our freedom to vote.

The 1848 constitution gave a state resident the right to vote only if he was white, male, a U.S. citizen, 21 or over, and a resident for at least a year. In 1860, Wisconsin had more than 500,000 residents 18 or over, but only 200,000 of them met the voting requirements. Black men couldn't vote until 1866, and enrolled members of American Indian tribes living on reservations couldn't vote until 1935.

No woman could vote until 1919, when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed. The first Wisconsin woman to cast a ballot for president is thought to have been Ojibwe matriarch Flying Cloud, who voted in Odanah on Nov. 2, 1920.

My emphasis.

J.B. Van Hollen So Transparent

That one can wonder if there is any substance, besides vicious partisan behavior, in that man's head. The following info on the Appeals Court was happily lifted from Eat press Here. I've been doing a bunch of imploring of my loyal four readers lately, but once again I'll go the the implore market, pick some more up & implore y'all to right nice polite letter to the judges listed below. Let them know what you think vis-à-vis Van Hollen's blatant attempt to suppress the vote, the vote of good Democrats. As usual, I'm thanking my readers in advance, you guys (a gender-free noun) are just the bestest.

DISTRICT IV - DANE… ADAMS, CLARK, COLUMBIA, CRAWFORD, DODGE, GRANT,
GREEN, IOWA, JACKSON, JEFFERSON, JUNEAU, LA CROSSE, LAFAYETTE,
MARQUETTE, MONROE, PORTAGE, RICHLAND, ROCK, SAUK, VERNON,
WAUPACA, WAUSHARA, WOOD COUNTIES

10 E Doty St Ste 700
Madison, WI 53703-3397
(608) 267-0432


HIGGINBOTHAM, HON. PAUL B. Presiding Judge………..(608) 266-9360
McNeal, Vickie L. Judicial Assistant………………(608) 266-9360
Wittwer, Jacob J. Law Clerk………………………(608) 266-9360

DYKMAN, HON. CHARLES P…………………………..(608) 266-9362
Vine, Rose Marie Judicial Assistant……………….(608) 266-9362
Lawson, Elizabeth J. Law Clerk……………………(608) 266-9362

VERGERONT, HON. MARGARET J……………………….(608) 267-3100
Brehm, Carol A. Judicial Assistant………………..(608) 267-3100
Crowell, Carena E. Law Clerk……………………..(608) 267-3100

LUNDSTEN, HON. PAUL G……………………………(608) 266-9361
Waddell, Judith M. Judicial Assistant……………..(608) 266-9361
Lucchesi, Anthony J. Law Clerk……………………(608) 266-9361

BRIDGE, HON. BURNIE……………………………..(608) 266-9338
Dixon, Jane L. Judicial Assistant…………………(608) 266-9338
Zulkoski, Stephanie E. Law Clerk………………….(608) 266-9338

I highlighted the address of the court & the judges. You can snail-mail all of the judges to that one address.

Oh, Yeah, Actual American Working People?

Fuck you, we've got to take care of the poor, suffering financial CEOs. They have to put food on the table as well.

Oversight? Oversight? What's Oversight

The Bu$hCo assministration refuses to even talk about the concept of oversight. So, as long a Paulson continues to run a $700 billion bailout by pulling his next move out of his ass, who needs oversight?

Mitch Mitchell, R.I.P.

Obit here. I guess we just don't live forever.

Hope Springs Eternal

Convicted felon, Ted Stevens, is now behind the Democratic challenger, Mark Begich.

Our Taxes Are Going To Go Up

Because coldH2Oville is sprucing up the place. Here are two new windows. We are also replacing the two window above these two, you can just see the bottom of one in the upper right center of the pic. The windows are nice, but we had to get them with frame around them, rather than just the glass. We initially put in these windows, patio door glass without the wood, many years ago. The seals on most of them have broken, so we're getting a lot of condensation these days. We are also going to replace the patio door that you can see on the left edge of the pic.

Here's an example of the new siding & yes it is spruce drop siding. What you can't see in this photo is the rebuilt wood chute. I'll get pic up soon.

I'm doing very little of the work. Our good friend, R., is efficiently & correctly doing the work. I'm glad about that & when I do assist him, we get to talk about good stuff like politics, art, literature, coyotes & really big babies.

If My Pulse Rate & Blood Pressure Weren't So Low

I believe I'd be a lot nervous about this change in plans for the $700 billion that was supposed. It doesn't surprise me, however, that the Bu$hCo assministration can't do anything right, nor can they keep their word. I suppose Bu$hCo wrote a signing statement about this bill that allowed him to pretty much do whatever he wanted, without consultation with the Congress. I can't wait for the whole lying bunch to be gone.

In a news conference, Paulson acknowledged that the automotive sector is vital to the U.S. economy but repeated that he doesn't think that the Wall Street rescue money should be used to help it. The money, he said, is supposed to be used to boost the financial sector and thus spark greater lending.

The treasury secretary said he wasn't ruling out a proposal from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that would spend rescue money to help write down distressed mortgages and keep people in their homes. Such a plan requires spending, not investing, as has been the approach with bolstering banks' balance sheets. Officials hope that the invested funds will be repaid when the banks return to profitability.

However, that point contradicts Paulson's plan to subsidize investors in the purchase of complex securitized assets, since that too appears to involve spending rescue money rather than investing it.

What does Paulson, et. al., care about the U.S. auto industry, they're all driving the great cars from Europe. Let them drive junkers.

Another Example Of Why Bu$hCo's Two Supreme Court Nominees Really, Really Suck

Fuck the whales, just fuck 'em. I hate the 5 justices who make a mockery of justice.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts said the Navy needs to train its crews to detect enemy submarines, and it cannot be forced to turn off its sonar when whales are spotted nearby. "The public interest in conducting training exercises with active sonar under realistic conditions plainly outweighs" the concerns voiced by environmentalists, he said for a 5-4 majority.

Let's hope the Obama Administration will order the Navy to work things out so that whales can be left in some peace. One thing I didn't know is that the chief justice, dimwit Roberts, is also a military expert, talk about second guessing. What a fool.

I'm Not Sorry

In fact, I'm glad he's dead. I just spent the last hour & a half watching Frontline on my local PBS station, WDSE-8 out of Duluth, MN. The program concerned the late Lee Atwater. I repeat, I'm glad he's dead. He poisoned & kept poisoning the political process in America. The poisoning continues to this day because Karl Rove still has a job, outside of prison, sad to say.

Please, Oh Please, Oh Please, Oh Please

Same To You, Asshole. You Sure Listened & Learned Well From Atwater

Apparently, Even Stupid People Commit Murder

The Klan, completely out maneuvered by Pres.-Elect Obama, murders a new recruit from Oklahoma, to help ease their frustration.

Authorities said the group's members called themselves the "Dixie Brotherhood."

"The IQ level of this group is not impressive, to be kind," Strain said, adding, "I can't imagine anyone feeling endangered or at risk by any one of these kooks."

Wellstone Action Does Good

Wellstone Action is a great organization. They tracked 278 of their graduates, 247 of whom stood for election this fall. 97 of them won their contest. That's a very respectable 35%. As long as I'm asking my loyal four readers to second mortgage their homes to donate to the few things I donate to, well, donate to Wellstone Action, a great organization named after a great man & his equally great spouse, Sheila Wellstone.

My Friend Al Needs Your Help

That would be my friend Al Franken. As my loyal four readers know, I live in northern Wisco. So far north that before we invested (ooooo, a big word, usually identified with ReThugs, but, hell, I'm still happy about last Tuesday) in a satellite dish, the only news we received was from Duluth, aka MN. My friend Al is now in a knife fight with that asshat Norm Coleman (R-Stupidville). We all remember how the ReThugs stole the 2000 election in Florida. We also know how they stole the 2004 election in Ohio. Let's not let them steal another one in MN. I know that we're all in tough economic times, very tough, but if you have an extra fiver, send it by snail mail if you need to. Just click on the name Al Franken in the first sentence & it will take you to his donation page. I used to deplore the money aspect of politics, however, since I donated to my first cause, WWOZ, it has become a bit easier. It's not like I've pumped more money that we have into the system, but I have done the $5 to $50 donations to the politics of life, it's much easier to donate much more to a great radio station like WWOZ, an institution that does its share of political work just by being on the air & streaming themselves free to the world.

Good Guy, My Friend Al

The Only Good In This Pic Is The Joint, Which Is Being Wasted On An Asshat

More Van

From the comments on this post, comes a link to the YouTube site of Exile Films footage of Van Morrison. He also mentions a BBC site that has this sweet version of one great New Orleans song, plus a couple of others.

How The Polish Continue To Stain The World

Full disclosure, I'm half Polish. It's hard to be proud of your cultural/genetic heritage when you read crap like this.

"Someone regarded by the (American) Republican right as a crypto-communist has become the leader of the world's greatest power ... and al Qaeda are rubbing their hands with glee that the new president wants peace, not war," Artur Gorski of the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party told parliament last week.

"The black messiah of the new left has crushed the Republican candidate John McCain, and America will soon pay a high price for this quirk of democracy," he added.

"Obama is an approaching catastrophe. This marks the end of white man's civilisation," he said in an address.

Van Morrison

Good & interesting review of one of my all time favorites.

Sad Reality

One of the problems with trying & succeeding in electing a potentially good candidate is that many things get moved to the back burners. Iraq fits that category for me. Hopefully my loyal four readers clicked on the Iraq news in the left sidebar. Here, unfortunately, is today's news, much like the news all along from Bu$hCo's vanity war.

A suicide bomber struck Monday in a crowd gathered at the site of an explosion that had gone off moments earlier, killing 22 people and wounded 42 others, police said.

The twin blasts occurred during the morning rush hour in the Kasrah section of Azamiyah neighborhood in the northern part of Baghdad.

My emphasis.

Miriam Makeba, R.I.P.

Obit here.

Packers Lose

Without Brett Favre we suck. Thanks Thompson & McCarthy. Oh, & the refs were crooked.

& So It Begins

Just crap.

55-20

Good refs.

The Face Of Texas Racism

Buck Burnette. His "apology" doesn't say much for the educational system in Texas, both K-12 & post high school Frankly, with writing like that, how the hell did this moron get into college in the first place? Maybe this whole dumb jock thing is true.

Another Piece Of Bu$hCo's Legacy

Making it more difficult for poor people to get health care. What a hateful person.

Craig Will Need A Bit More Money

If he is to maintain his wide stance.

Sen. Larry Craig has raised just $4,645 since setting up a legal expense fund this spring to help pay the bills from his efforts to overturn his guilty plea to misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

That would be disorderly conduct by propositioning an undercover cop in a men's bathroom in Minneapolis.

Why Financial Institutions Suck

If you've wondered whatever happened to the $700 billion Bu$hCo, et.al., gave away to the banking industry, well, they've taken care of themselves don't you know. I was under the foolish & mistaken thought that the bailout of the wealthiest was supposed to trickle down, as they say. I'm wrong again. Socialism for the rich, bare-knuckles, heartless capitalism for the rest of us.

"Increased lending activity is the only legitimate purpose for taxpayer funding of these institutions," Frank declared. "It is very important if congressional and public support for this program is to continue that we receive assurances ... that the money being advanced will be used only for relending and for no other purpose."

Joe Lieberman Must Go

Joe "Loser" LIEberman is attempting to negotiate? Hell, goddamnit, no. I'm begging you, loyal four readers, to please go here & sign the petition. Joe must not be allowed back into the Democratic caucus, no matter what. How dare this bastard traitor have the nerve to even suggest he hold his chairmanship of the Homeland Security committee? What an asshole. Connecticut ought to be embarrassed. No more Joe! No more Joe! No more Joe!

UPDATE: More (This comes from a commenter's blog. ) here.

Pres.-Elect Obama Is A Mountain

Well, not really but the prime minister of Antigua thinks Sen. Obama is worthy of having a mountain named in his honor. The moronic Bu$hCo & his memoirs? Who care?

Jimmy Carl Black, R.I.P.

Obit here.

More Good News

It appears that we have a new senator from Oregon, Jeff Merkley. His opponent, incumbent ReThug Smith, actually said he just loved him some Obama in some of his ads. Lucky for us, the people of Oregon saw through that lie.

Not Every Football Coach Is Stupid

Pete Carroll votes for President Obama, at least according to MSNBC. Cool, just fucking cool. & nonheroicvet is right, Bu$hCo in a rear view mirror, along with McLiar, is a wonderful picture. Wish I was in Grant Park right now.

Easy, Baby

My Wisco sings On Wisconsin!

Looking Good

Colorado does the correct thing, apparently.

Barack Obama won Colorado, taking key counties such as Arapahoe, Jefferson and Larimer by more than 10 percentage points.

Obama led rival John McCain by 3-1 in Denver.

On his coattails, Mark Udall is the winner in the hotly contested race for the state's next U.S. Senator.

My emphasis.

Damned ReThugs

Protecting the sacred right to vote? No. Suppressing the vote? Yes.

The removal of two Republican election workers from a Warren Township polling site - for using improper methods to challenge voters' rights to cast a ballot - has prompted local Republican Party leaders to issue a statement of regret.

Regret? Yeah, regret over the bastards getting caught & kicked out.

Cool Electoral Map

Talking Points Memo has a cool map for today's election. Just pass your cursor over a state & a small window tells you what's happening in that state. It will be useful later today, obviously, but it's another example of why I just love technology.

Oh Yeah

OK, loyal four readers, get your sweet asses up & out the door &

VOTE!

VOTE!

VOTE!

VOTE!

VOTE!

The Babies Know

I've told you that The Twins are superior in all areas. Here they give you some last minute advice. Do what they say.

Thanks a lot to The Kid & The Son-In-Law for the video. Good job.

Results

& so it begins.

Democrat Obama defeated Republican John McCain by 15 to 6 in Dixville Notch, where a loud whoop accompanied the announcement. Hart's Location reported 17 votes for Obama, 10 for McCain, and two for write-in Ron Paul. Independent Ralph Nader was on both towns' ballots, but got no votes.

My emphasis.

Bu$hCo's Sick Mind

Is trying to complete the job of his assministration in destroying America. Let's hope someone is keeping a list, so that President Obama can immediately undo these newest outrages. That would be more than sweet.

Long Lines

The Kid just called & said that she went to vote &, of course, she had the babies with, but the line was so long that she had to go back home & will try again later. This is just good news for good people & terrible news for the ReThugs.

Madelyn Dunham, R.I.P.

Sen. Barack Obama's grandmother died today. It's sad that she got so close to seeing her grandson win the presidency tomorrow. More on Ms. Dunham here.  Condolences to Sen. Obama & his family from coldH2Owiville.

Here's A Bit Of Good News

Just sayin'.

Bu$hCo's Legacy, Part Fail Again

This ought to seal the deal for Sen. Obama & the Wisco State Assembly. Bu$hCo's victims just keep piling up. Gallows humor to lift the spirits of the pensioners.

Oh, Yeah

Crooked refs.

She Deserves Everything She Is Not Going To Get

I have been lightly posting lately, with good reason, I will add. First of all, I went down to The Cities last week for a visit with The Twins., You ought to be around them, their language development is just astounding. I also had my first two hour stint with Zack, my tattoo guy, who did the outline for my left arm sleeve. He works at Uptown Tattoo. The design is fantastic. You can see the beautiful work he did on my right arm here. I'll try to get a pic of my left arm posted soon. &, of course, I've been volunteering with the local Obama campaign, although, since I volunteered to drive people hither & yon, I haven't actually had much to do. My right knee, about to be replaced or retread, doesn't allow much walking. Anyhoo, I'm so happy that Liddy Dole is getting hammered. Here's the truly good ad that Kay Hagan, the new senator from North Carolina, put out in response to Dole's truly hateful ad against Hagan. Boy, these ReThugs sure know how to be complete assholes.

It is pretty clear to me based on our polling this weekend that Kay Hagan will be headed to the US Senate unless something very bizarre happens in the next 72 hours. While numbers in the races for President and Governor are basically unchanged from last week there has been clear movement away from Elizabeth Dole, a sign that her 'Godless Americans' ad is blowing up in her face.

My emphasis.

McCain; The A-hole Of A Spoiled Brat

From Rolling Stone. You need, loyal four readers, to go read the whole thing.

"I'm going to the Middle East," Dramesi says. "Turkey, Kuwait, Lebanon, Iran."

"Why are you going to the Middle East?" McCain asks, dismissively.

"It's a place we're probably going to have some problems," Dramesi says.

"Why? Where are you going to, John?"

"Oh, I'm going to Rio."

"What the hell are you going to Rio for?"

McCain, a married father of three, shrugs.

"I got a better chance of getting laid."

Dramesi, who went on to serve as chief war planner for U.S. Air Forces in Europe and commander of a wing of the Strategic Air Command, was not surprised. "McCain says his life changed while he was in Vietnam, and he is now a different man," Dramesi says today. "But he's still the undisciplined, spoiled brat that he was when he went in."
....

In one vital respect, however, the comparison is deeply unfair to the current president: George W. Bush was a much better pilot.
....

There, McCain behaved with all the petulance his privilege allowed, earning the nicknames "Punk" and "McNasty." Even his friends seemed to dislike him, with one recalling him as "a mean little fucker."
....

Midway though his final year, McCain faced expulsion, about to "bilge out" because of excessive demerits. After his mother intervened, however, the academy's commandant stepped in. Calling McCain "spoiled" to his face, he nonetheless issued a reprieve, scaling back the demerits. McCain dodged expulsion a second time by convincing another midshipman to take the fall after McCain was caught with contraband.
....

Soon after McCain hit the ground in Hanoi, the code went out the window. "I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital," he later admitted pleading with his captors. McCain now insists the offer was a bluff, designed to fool the enemy into giving him medical treatment. In fact, his wounds were attended to only after the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a Navy admiral. What has never been disclosed is the manner in which they found out: McCain told them. According to Dramesi, one of the few POWs who remained silent under years of torture, McCain tried to justify his behavior while they were still prisoners. "I had to tell them," he insisted to Dramesi, "or I would have died in bed."
....

"This business of my country before my life?" Dramesi says. "Well, he had that opportunity and failed miserably. If it really were country first, John McCain would probably be walking around without one or two arms or legs — or he'd be dead."

My emphasis.

J.B. Van Hollen Continues His Immoral Behavior

Van Hollen (R-Sonofabitch) just keeps making shit up. His behavior concerning the total lack of any real fraud in Wisco's elections just goes to show what a huge mistake it was for the people of Wisco to trust him. A real sad state of affairs. What a douchebag.

Studs Terkel, R.I.P.

Obit here.

Author-radio host-actor-activist and Chicago symbol Louis "Studs" Terkel died Friday afternoon in his home on the North Side. At his bedside was a copy of his latest book, "P.S. Further Thoughts From a Lifetime of Listening," scheduled for release this month. He was 96 years old.

An interesting sidenote, Mr. Terkel's wife, Ida, nee, Goldberg, was both in Ashland, Wisco, a town in coldH2O's area of non-influence.