Occupy Missoula, Saturday, Nov 19, 2011

Representatives of the 99% expanded their encampment on the courthouse lawn, Saturday, with the arrival of a large military tent. Occupiers, and other members of the movement, worked together in a convivial tent-raising.

Guess what: There is no Them. There is no one but us humans on the planet, and all those lines dividing us are fictions, created by war-makers to help them sell product. 

Caveat: Plants and animals also share the planet with us and deserve more consideration than they usually get, since western culture conquered most indigenous peoples.

The original Diogenes was searching for an honest man. This Diogenes would be satisfied with a little truth, but hasn't found enough to satisfy. Does anybody out there believe the mainstream media news version of what's happening in the world? This is beyond right/left, conservative/liberal, Republican/Democrat. The same rich assholes, who lied us into war and wrecked our economy with their greed, own big portions of mainstream media. One must search for the truth through a wilderness of lies, ads, hype and bullshit to get real news.

Yes, it's obvious O'Reilly and other Fox News talking heads get paid big bucks to lie to the people. It should be added, however, that anyone who thinks CNN is any better is deluded.

There are some bright lights to remember. Since laughter is the best medicine, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, the Colbert Report and others are doing important work in the media. Amy Goodman carries on, shining light in the dark places where most are afraid to go. Amy can be seen on Democracy Now! on Missoula's MCAT cable station, M-F, at 6am and repeated at 10am. The program can be heard on KBGA 89.9 FM, M-F, 11am to noon.

Wikileaks has to be mentioned. This organization gave us more information about how our government and military really operate than most U.S. citizens could handle. The financial arms of the military-industrial complex quickly moved to cut off their funding. Bank of America, my ass, Bank of Pure Unadulterated Greed is more like it.

See that story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15434493

I want to talk about the Keystone XL Pipeline. The slick campaign to push this boondoggle through must be repudiated. First, the tar sand extraction process is causing the biggest ecological disaster in Canada's History. Second, the pipeline would run from Montana's Canadian border to Texas refineries and to the Texas ports, where they will ship it to international markets.

This project is NOT about creating jobs and securing energy independence. It's about health of citizens and mother earth taking a back seat to profits for oily Texas millionaires. If the pipeline goes through, more money will flow to the elite few, who already have too much.  

Obama says he personally will make the decision about the pipeline rather than leave it to the State Department, and will delay his decision 12-18 months. Some folks claim this as a good thing, since the State Department seemed ready to rubber stamp the deal. Obama has sold out to the rich and powerful so many times, after promising to be a president for the people, I don't trust him on this. Delaying the decision until after the election, will let him promise both sides of the issue a good result in return for their votes. One side will get hollow promises, and I suspect that's the people who oppose the pipeline. We must pressure him every way possible to say no this hideous scam.

OK, I have many subjects I could rant about, but I will stop there. There is going to be more of this type of thing on this blog. I hope so anyway, because I haven't blogged or flickr'd much lately. The movement and a woman have taken most of my attention and time. I do have some music photos taken and never even downloaded. Maybe, soon...

Sold Out Again

Holy irony, Batman. Award a man the peace prize, watch him go to war and refuse to ban land mines. Can you say sold out again? Change you can believe in became the same old thing and worse in no time.

Back during the elation of victory on election day, I posted right here a warning about the exuberance we felt after getting Bill Clinton elected, only to watch him continue the policies of Raygun and George, the First, which sent American business overseas. After pointing out how those two paid American companies with tax dollars to move overseas, while debating George I, Clinton continued the same programs. Corporations were given tax dollar assistance to move their operations to other countries. Americans paid to have the new employees taught English.

As soon as elected, Obama dismissed the people-oriented progressives who guided his campaign and brought in a financial team made of the very assholes who created the economic disaster in the first place. They immediately threw more money after bad by continuing the Bush bail out. That sell out came quickly.

Then the whole health care crisis was discussed as a health insurance crisis. We have too much insurance getting in the way now. What we need is health care. Fund clinics and hospitals. Fund medical schools. Fund all kinds of schools. Stop funding war.

Getting rid of the criminal Bush coalition should have freed our government of Orwellian double-talk, but again peace has become war and visa versa. Does one have to become a liar in order to be a politician? It sure looks like it. I've been tired of voting for the lesser of two evils for so long, but I thought the differences this time ruled out another vote for Nader. I was wrong, although perhaps McCain would have already pulled an Iraq on Iran. That was one scary possibility, and the other big one was Palin.

Pundits are already giving Palin an even chance of making Obama a one-term president. I think that is premature. Holy shit, that woman is nuts. How on earth can anyone take her seriously? We're off the scale into the absurd now. She can see Russia from her porch, you betcha. Whoa Nelly, back the truck up.

Speaking of sell outs, McCain committed a huge one when he reversed himself on torture. Likewise, the new president when he said there would be no investigation of possible illegal acts by the previous administration. Clinton made that same mistake, forgiving the previous administration. Should be blowing those fuckers out of the water, while the evidence is fresh. Make it impossible for them to come back any time soon. Drive Bush and his corporate cronies to live in their fortified South American estates.

How does he win the Nobel Peace Prize for selling out so completely to the military-industrial complex? Kissinger did the same thing. Eisenhower was the first to warn of the complex and its growing power. Kennedy and Johnson, two peace loving Democrats, got us into the Vietnam mess with much lying. Here we go again. Dammit.

Inauguration Night @Elks Club

When Bob Wire started playing at the Democrats' Victory Party, I headed upstairs.


Bob turned in his usual energetic performance and pulled a newly written song out of his hat. That one put the boogey on the floor. It was dance time.



The music ended too soon for me. Programmed as I am by the standard late zootown music times, I arrived too late for Tom Catmull. When Bob and the Magnificent Bastards wrapped up their set, the music went canned upstairs.

A Democrat flaunts his flag, as celebratory dances continue.

There was still live music downstairs at the the Bush Be Gone Bash.

Mountain Grip, a guitar trio from Bozeman, warmed up the crowd at the Bush bash. They had a folksy, easy-going sound, but the lack of a drummer weakened their presence.




Crowd pleasing local group, Delta Function, laid down a nice riff, as the music continued into the night. The Elks Club Bar had Moose Drool in the bottle for $3, and I splurged for two, one for each floor.


Warning: Rant Ahead

I am one of the malcontents not happy with Obama's let-bygones-be-bygones attitude towards the crooks who have been raping our country for eight years, while setting half the world on fire, in their greedy grab for power and plunder.

Put them in stocks in city squares and parks to be ridiculed and reviled for their crimes. These people committed incredible atrocities, because they couldn't care less about human life or the Christian values they claimed to uphold. All they cared about was the money, which brings us to the bail out bullshit.

It reminds me of the nazis, plundering France as they withdrew. I know, as soon as these fascists took power, they proclaimed they couldn't be compared to the nazis, because it was rude. Only heathen liberals could be so rude. Dammit, they've acted a lot like the nazis. Try this exercise: take a WWII movie and picture W and his cronies as the strutting nazis. You will see they fit right in.

Back to the bailout. It represents the trucks being loaded with the last of the loot, before the villains race for their fortified strongholds. It was ironic the Bushes seemed to be preparing to flee to the same area some nazis did. If they planned to live in Texas, why did they set up the huge compound in South American mountains? I think, at that point they really thought they might be pursued or prosecuted, after leaving power. Later, they realized they could get away with the whole thing, free as could be.

How in the hell does an outfit like Bank of America charge those outrageous interest rates on credit cards and still wind up in line for a handout?

We've been giving our banks and corporations money for years, and they claim to have lost it all and now our government will replace it with more money, taken from our taxes. The industries, which created this disastrous crash are being rewarded with more money. Fuck them. Give us affordable health care, adequate nutrition, and take care of those who have no homes and little food. It would be nice to make some improvements to education, after we dump that 3-Rs, standardized-testing load of pig-wallow, which claimed to leave no child behind, while dumping millions of them in the street.

I recognize a rant, when I start one. Perhaps I should change the subject. Yes, it's true--Dennis Miller became a sell-out, working for the propaganda arm of the organized crime operation which took control of our government. Oh, and now do we get to shout, "Shut up," at Bill O'Reilly? I try to be tolerant, even of the other side's views, but, damn, it is hard to ignore that loud-mouthed gas bag.

I just posted my tribute to Martin Luther King, and I want to return to MLK day for another quote, "A time comes when silence is betrayal." We cannot just become silent about the crimes committed in our names.

The war is not over. The new fascists are still with us, masquerading as patriots and holy people, and they aren't defeated, only slightly humiliated. They will continue to twist the truth to meet their ends, they will continue to push for profit at all costs and they will continue to terrorize people with their constant wars. This time we must go beyond outmaneuvering them in an election and actually, "Throw the bums out." Or better, throw them into their own prisons.

This isn't the end; it's the beginning. We must not let them get away this time. We must not turn our backs as Bill Clinton did on the crimes of Reagan and George I. If they get away, they or their allies will return with lies and bribery to seize power again. Can't let that happen.

We must go beyond just ending the war to dismantling the military/industrial complex, and removing their power forever.

Peace now, please.

Democrats Demand...?!

I just saw a headline about the Democrats demanding the Big 3 automakers come up with another plan by December 2. Boy, aren't they being tough. NO! They're being wimps again! They should show their leadership now and present a plan. The best one I've heard was given by an economist on Thom Hartmann's show. He said the government should buy controlling interest in GM's worthless stock and give it to the employees. There's a plan, one I would vote for.

Dammit, are Pelosi and Reid going to continue controlling things? I don't like either one of them. If we are going to have a new administration, the legislature needs new leadership, too.

I'm not giddy about Obama, as some are, but I am relieved. However, now that Washington is preparing for the second coming of the Clinton Doctrine, I'm already getting worried, as well. When Clinton was elected, we partied as the Obama people are partying now.

Our chosen savior continued the policies begun under Reagan and carried on by George I. After pointing out in the Presidential debates that Reagan and George I gave tax breaks and subsidies to companies who closed domestic plants to open new factories overseas, Bill did little to change the flow of jobs to other countries. He didn't make ridiculous proclamations such as announcing ketchup packets to be servings of vegetables, but then big Willy let his little willy lead him around and was embarrassing, in his own inimitable fashion.

When the GOP said they were going to shrink government, they were referring only to the departments which did the planet and people good. When the reduce welfare movement started, corporations were already getting more hand outs than citizens were, but that didn't stop them from crowing about putting single mothers back to work. This was another GOP tradition continued by our hero, Bill Clinton, whose victory we had cheered enthusiastically.

Anyone who remembers Janet Reno and Madeline Albright, knows it wasn't all sweetness and light under Clinton. Albright now admits her wording was clumsy when stating the deaths of half a million Iraqi children was a price worth paying to achieve their goals in the oil lands. Her wording was clumsy? The embargo they enforced left innocent civilians without proper medical equipment and medicines. It kept people from having clean water, and rebuilding the damage from the first Gulf War. George II and his neocon cronies have now killed more in Iraq than Clinton did, more than Clinton did there and in Yugoslavia combined. That's a hell of a stat to be comparing.

The people who ordered the bombing of civilian targets (i.e. "propaganda outlets" such as television and radio stations), during Clinton's time are lining up for positions in Obama's term. Even Albright is on the list. Others include hawks that supported every lie told to get the Iraq war rolling. I can neither pronounce nor spell the name of the secretary under Carter, who bragged that the U.S. had tricked Russia into invading Afghanistan, which would be THEIR Vietnam. He's another good Democrat from yester year.

There's always hope, and I have some. I'm just not overflowing with it, because it seems I remember seeing this movie before. If there is to be change, we are going to have to fight for it every step of the way. The rich and powerful do not wish to share their wealth and power. They will continue to pay any price, including human lives, to increase their status. Believe it or not, they exert their influence on Democrats as well as Republicans.

If domestic programs continue to be cut, while our bloated military continues to spend more than the rest of the world's military combined, you will know the sell out has begun. If an acceptable universal health care program is initiated, while the pentagon gets a budget cut, change will have actually begun. Justice for all must become a reality. Without it, there can be no peace, snd peace is what I hope for.

Jesus was a Socialist; McCain is a Warmonger

Going beyond describing Democrats as "tax and spend," and liberals as Satan worshipers, the McCain camp has labeled Obama a Socialist, and Fox has trumpeted the news. So many of the people supporting the McCain/Palin ticket claim to be Christians. How can they ignore how the GOP has completely sold out to anti-Christian values? The current administration is up to their eyeballs in lies, greed and destruction.

There are a ton of videos online about McCain voters being terrified because Obama is an AMT (arab, muslim terrorist). What the fuck!

Where do they get that shit? OK, I know one place, in addition to GOP rallies, FOX (faux) News. I watched it regularly, because I liked to hear both sides of arguments, and, at first, O'Reilly seemed to be a crusty old independent, as I consider myself to be. Then I realized he's a lying sack of shit. Every time some one accuses Fox of being slanted to the right, the network claims to host more liberals than conservatives. That's just another falsehood, as the count goes four to one the other way. Fox employs the biggest liars in American media, except for Rush Limbaugh. That asshole is the biggest of all, but O'Really and Hannity are both in the top five.

How can intelligent people watch or listen to all that crap and believe it? I have to tell you it is blowing my mind. Have they been completely brain-washed, or are they brain dead?

I must confess I voted for McCain once. It was in the Arkansas primary of 2000. At that time, I still thought he lived up to the "maverick" label. He had won the New Hampshire primary and was looking good. Nobody liked that smug little prick from Texas, but then a funny thing happened in the South. Most people don't realize "THEY" swift-boated McCain, before they swift-boated Kerry. During the debate about flying the Confederate flag in public, a whisper campaign began about McCain fathering a black child. It was one of many lies used to make W the candidate, similar to those which helped him win re-election.

After W took office, and the "Maverick" began to kiss ass and comply to party wishes, I looked the other way. Now, he's trying to distance himself from this corrupt administration, after voting with them, as they trashed the constitution and lied their way around the world. He claims to be an economy saver, but he voted for the deregulation that caused the current mess and profited from it.

I was considering voting Nader (again), but then I chickened out, when McCain chose Palin. Some of you have seen me around town, with my "Worst President Ever" t-shirt, and there's a photo in a previous post on this blog. McCain could make that obsolete in no time, and Palin, as his successor, could drop W to third. It's a sobering thought.

McCain doesn't think we have enough war in the world. He's made it very plain he would be willing to start more. Suggesting we might bomb Iran was beyond stupid, and his bellicose stance towards Russia is alarming. Tortured as a POW, in Vietnam, he said he would never support torture and then reversed himself completely. Torture is only one of many crimes he has supported with his vote.

This asshole calls Obama elitist for being well-educated, well-read and well-informed, while he, himself, owns more property than he can count. He calls Obama a socialist for wanting to move some of the tax burden back to the rich. The Reagan revolution began the wholesale looting of the government to enrich corporations and their already rich owners and bosses. Tax cuts were among the shouted slogans (memes), but they only applied to the rich. Claiming they were going to shrink government, they began to systematically cut every public service they could, while increasing expenses for weapons and financing wars supplied by their corporate cronies.

The last good Republican president, Ike, warned about the military-industrial complex. Contemporary Republicans have completely sold out to it. They've developed one of the most effective propaganda campaigns in history. So many Christians think those crooks support Christian values.

Wake up! Smell the napalm!

Christians should read their Bibles without listening to a bunch of rich, greedy preachers telling them what the book means. They should start with the Sermon on the Mount, because it is the heart sutra of Christianity. Expand from there through all of Jesus' words, paying close attention to the parables. What a storyteller the man was, and his stories had deep, eternal meaning. He promoted peace, love and charity, not profit-making and war.

I personally don't believe in an all-powerful, all-knowing being who created everything, in six days, and told the Hebrews to kill every man, woman and child who blocked their migration to the promised land. If it was true, Jesus made it plain those days were over.

We are entering the season when Christians celebrate the birth of their savior and his life story. It is a story worth repeating with timeless meaning. Christ, he was born in a barn! He was apprenticed and raised a poor working man. When he began to speak publicly, he spoke to and for the poor. He offended the rich and powerful, by exposing their hypocrisy, and they had him put to death.

That's a different biography than W has, for example. Let's start with his silver-spoon birth, quickly move through his spoiled childhood and his cruelty to animals and humans, and emphasize his rich daddy and his rich daddy's friends. They gave him everything, got him into Yale, kept him out of Vietnam, helped him buy companies, bailed him out when those companies failed, put him in the Texas governor's mansion, made him their figure-head and bought him the White House. I must admit, I was prejudiced from the beginning against him because he belonged to so many peer groups I despised, including spoiled rich kids and drunken frat rats

Let us consider the government, which oversaw Jesus' execution. Occupying legions of the Roman Empire held power and Herod's puppet government followed their orders. Jesus could be born in similar circumstances today, in Iraq. We, of course, are the occupying force. Our W resembles, not only the king with no clothes, but the fiddling Roman emperor, Nero.

Voting their values has a host of people serving the rich as drones, workers and cannon fodder. Still they claim to follow the poor, compassionate man, whom the government executed, as a terrorist, 2000 years ago.

We are Empire! And, reading the Bible clearly shows empires always fall.

History does indeed repeat, and it is time to stop the merry-go-round.

We Paid for Another Swindle

Everybody keeps saying $700 billion, but the bill passed at $850 billion and that is a minimum, not a maximum. In short, we just poured another trillion dollars down another rat hole, and the economy continues to sink. Kiss that money and the promised benefits good-bye. The only benefit will be to make the rich richer. Timeslip: amount may double.

Thank the powers that be, Bush and his neo-con cronies didn't get social security privatized, or it would be gone, too!

Note: McCain has campaigned for privatizing social security. Of course, he might not bring that issue up right now. Note: Obama supported the bail-out, in spite of the overwhelming public opposition.

I came to Montana from Arkansas, where the congressional delegation was particularly wimpy towards Bushite legislation, but I thought it was different here. Tester is different and I like him a lot, but Baucus appears to be another corporate democrat. I must recontact the Backbone Organization and get more of their "spineless tickets" to send to representatives who sell out. My first one goes to Baucus. That is just because he is the closest and most recent example of a Democrat being a wuss. I want tickets for Pelosi and Reid, too. Who put them in charge?

Our system no longer rewards excellence; it rewards mediocrity. Our leadership is mediocre in every category, on both sides of the aisle. Will someone, please, have the guts to step forward and say we must end this war. I'll send Obama a ticket for saying the "surge" worked. Bullshit! We've segregated Iraq and built walls to keep everyone separated. It's a reverse of the cold war, when the Soviets built the walls.

A day for voting and hope, or a rant

Time to get out and vote. Nope, not me. Sorry. I don't know the local issues and candidates well enough to cast an informed ballot, and I refuse to choose between Hillary and Obama. Both have cast votes, in the senate, I don't like. Hillary infuriated me when she announced she had been against the war from the beginning, after she voted for it. Then she made the excuse that she had been misinformed, and that if she knew then what she knew now...

I was sitting out in the armpit of America, and I knew they were lying their butts off to get the war started and enrich themselves and their cronies. How did she not know, while sitting in the halls of power? Feingold and Kucinich knew they were lying, as did Kennedy and Byrd, who both face serious health threats at the moment. Kucinich erred, however, when he told me Hillary had voted with Bush and his cronies "every time." When I checked, I found out of the first 14 legislative efforts to get the war rolling and keep it rolling, she had voted with the war-makers only 11 times.

Checking how your elected representative votes is important. It is easy to do online. Start here, and keep searching until your questions are answered.

Obama gave an eloquent speech opposing the rush to war, before he became a senator. However, after becoming a senator, his votes almost matched Hillary's. I'm all for hope, but until his actions match his words, I'm not sure what to hope for. I'm old enough to have been hopeful many times, and many times my hopes were dashed.

Now, you have my rationalizations for not voting today. That being said, whomever the Democrats choose will get my vote in November. The dim-dems have wimped out on the war issue (and many other issues) for years, but I want the Bush era ended asap, and a vote for McCain is a vote for more of the same old crap. I just hope the next president can make a difference.

I'm not quite as cynical as Philip Berrigan who said, "If voting made any difference, it would be illegal," but I'm getting there.