I began my day today with a very rare happy dance; here's why!
I wasn't expecting this book until early next year - YIPPEE! If you read the article, you see that his book doesn't have a title yet, so, with the full knowledge that people way more qualified than us are working on this issue, let's come up with some title suggestions. Please differentiate between actual serious suggestions from...uh...gee...well... not - so actual serious suggestions; let's behave ourselves with the full knowledge that I'm telling myself that more than anyone! ;D
The cupboard for "this day in history" items is rather bare today, and what's there is fairly depressing, but I'll try to end on a somewhat positive note. On July 29, 1981, Britain's Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. This so - called fairy tale wedding turned out to be a nightmare for nearly everyone involved. On this date in 2008, Senator Ted Stevens (GOBP - AK)was indicted on seven felony counts of concealing more than a quarter of a million dollars in house renovations and gifts from a powerful oil contractor. A judge later dismissed the case, saying prosecutors had withheld evidence. And, don't forget, boys & girls, that it was GWB's DOJ that sparked up this case!
Finally, Wil Wheaton is 38 today. Most of us probably know him as "Wesley Crusher" on ST - NG, and he managed to annoy the hell out of me. So, I'm going to remember him for this.
For those of you on teh Twitter or just peek into teh Twitter, today would've been Keith's Dad's birthday, so thoughts of strength & compassion to him & his sister on this first birthday since their Dad's passing.
Let's Countdown...
#5 "Sherrod Strikes Back" AKA "Lessons from Shirley Sherrod" - Shirley Sherrod announced today that she is SUING the scum Breitbart – YAHOO! Greedy lil’ ‘ol me would like to see FAUX News or Pirate Rupert or Roger "Jabba" Ailes a party to that suit, too. Ms. Sherrod still hasn’t decided if she wants to go back to the USDA. She also vowed today to never appear on FAUX News; again, OK, sue them, too! ;D The scum Breitbart has not commented so far. Awww...what’s wrong; ya’ afraid some hack will take anything you say out of context to make you look less – than human or something?!
Ms. Sherrod also volunteered to take President Obama on a little history tour of the South & the civil rights era – HELLO?! President Obama said this morning that what happened to Shirley Sherrod is another teachable moment (?). Well, OK, if showing how an executive should NOT ACT when it comes to the behavior or words of an employee from a less – than reliable source, then, yes, what happened to Shirley Sherrod IS a teachable moment. Oh, President Obama, it was YOUR PEEPS, too, that fell for the "bogus controversy" stirred up. At least, he admitted as such – sort of.
Eric Deggans, of the St. Petersburg Times, was in the room with Shirley Sherrod this morning; he was the one who asked Ms. Sherrod if she was including President Obama in her history lesson invitation! It sounds like Ms. Sherrod is truly fired up & ready to go – GOODY! Yep, like Lawrence, I did a bit of a double – take when President Obama used the term "cable news" instead of clearly identifying who done the dirty deed. Ms. Sherrod blames FAUX News & FAUX News alone. But, I liked Mr. Deggans’ answer; as much as I’m ready to throw FAUX News under a whole fleet of busses, the "media" cycle & culture have made themselves extremely vulnerable to being suckered in at the hopes of being the first to "break the news." Here’s Eugene Robinson, too – YIPPEE! To answer Lawrence’s first question, no, I don’t think President Obama’s conversation about race will be the same as Shirley Sherrod’s conversation about race because of 2 very basic simple facts; she saw the civil rights movement first hand, and she is a woman. So, naturally, their conversations are going to be different because their experiences have been worlds apart. Eugene absolutely NAILED the difference between the two "racial" conversations in another way. President Obama may have learned his civil rights history, but Shirley Sherrod (and Eugene Robinson, for that matter) LIVED IT – the horrible, the bad, the angry, the triumphant, and everything in between. Let's remember some of that history now in what happened to Emmett Till.
#4 "Return to Glory" AKA "Redo Economics" - The GOBP is going to defend the DNC apparent plan to hit them where it GWB hurts by talking about the glory days of the GWB years – KEWL! ;D The GOBP plans to "Tread Boldly." Uh, does GWB know exactly what bold means other than maybe the laundry soap? $hit, who am I kidding; it’s been years IF EVER since GWB’s touched a basket of dirty clothes! HEY! Lawrence made a great observation! Why are there 3 ferners on the GOBP proverbial front page? And, where’s the birther anger??!! President Obama wants to extend the tax cuts for the middle class but wants to end the cuts for the extremely rich among us. If we have any of said extremely rich among us F.O.O., well, you’ve sure been hiding yourselves well – HA! ;D The GOBP wants to put the kibosh on the stimulus, which WOULD actually increase taxes for middle income families & citizens. Well, I’m sure their idea of "middle class" is a damn sight different than most people’s idea of "middle class." Middle class according to Small Price to Pay Goldilocks probably means some poor sucker that can only tan themselves to a color not found in nature only once every few days instead of every day.
Rep. Mike Pence actually said, and I’m paraphrasing here, that the Dems are poised to allow the biggest tax increase in history. I’ve said before, and I’ll say again; I am so damn glad he’s not my rep! Since GWB couldn’t mount enough votes to overcome a tarantino of his planned tax cuts – cuts that even Senator McCentury just couldn’t in "good conscience" support, the Senate did the RECONCILIATION game to get them hammered through anyway with a simple majority vote. Ezra Klein’s back to talk up the tax cut expiration date. I understood Lawrence’s little civics lesson, and I know F.O.O. are smart enough to have understood it, too! :D And, yea for Ezra for reminding us all that the dreaded extension of unemployment benefits was just going to EXPLODE the deficit, according to the GOBP!
** Health Fair for All – Don’t forget about the 2 upcoming free clinics in Washington, DC & New Orleans! **
#3 "‘Catastrophic Incompetence’" - As many as thousands of graves at Arlington National Cemetery for those who made the ultimate sacrifice to our country may be mis – identified. Yep, thanks for the sacrifice, and your family can come visit your final resting place all they want as long as they’re prepared to accept the possibility that who might be in that grave isn’t necessarily who you think it is.
The former cemetery superintendent & his immediate underling testified in front of a Senate sub – committee today; they were forced to resign because of the "troubles" at Arlington. Graves of SCOTUS justices could even be mucked up?! YIKES! I need to do some digging – figuratively, of course, to see which SCOTUS justices are buried (or supposed to be buried) at Arlington. Even though lots of money was spent to computerize the records & locations of the deceased, much of the record keeping was still being done on note cards. Well, at least they didn’t write the information on their hands. Senator Nude Cosmo actually asked some pretty damn decent questions! Senator Claire McCaskill done good, too! OK, boys & girls, here’s a list of SCOTUS personnel buried (or are supposed to be buried) at Arlington National Cemetery.
#2 "Arizona Immigration" AKA "Arizona Aftershocks" - Even though the most odious components of SB 1070 were stuck down yesterday, there were still protests & arrests in the "Show Me Your Papers" state today. 30 protestors in MARICOPA COUNTY were arrested; gee, like their "honorable" Sheriff needs a reason to do that anyway. Rep. Raul Grijalva's office was vandalized today. And, let the appeals begin! The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in that librul bastion San Francisco got the appeal today. ;D So, just how badly is the federal government sparking up their border patrol duties? George Lewis answers that question. We’ve got more border security agents now than ever, and, soon, they will be joined by National Guard troops. There hasn’t been a homicide in Nogales, AZ in 3 years?! $HIT! They REALLY ARE doing a heck of a job! More immigrants are dying from the heat. Some rancher dude, of course, thinks the feds need to do more. Former Governor & now DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano begs to differ. Facts are a pesky thing, ain’t they?!
#1 "View Points" AKA "Viewership" - President Obama was on The View today {insert retching noise here}. I’ll stick with this segment as long as I can, but if Elizabeth Hasselback gets too bat$hit, I’m bailing! I guess his motorcade did a lovely job of snarling always craptacular traffic in Manhattan, too. Alex Wagner gets to talk President Obama on The View today. Man, I am glad "my guy" didn’t get this duty! ;D Can you just imagine the search & security procedures the audience was subjected to?! I’m not saying it’s not justified, but it still had to be a pain in the arse. OK, I didn’t hang in through the whole segment, but I think I got the jist of it.