Thursday, September 30, 2010

OK, KOAA

So KOAA News First is promising me that they will be balanced and let me make my decisions based on their fairness in reporting, because I've placed my trust in them by watching. Actually I watch because Georgiann "Limber" Lymberopoulos is remembered fondly by people I'm fond of because they partied with her at a "B" Street Bash years ago. And she's real purty. 

I've called KOAA twice to complain in the past about Rob Quirky's  Quirk's editorializing during a broadcast. My finger's on redial, Rob.  I can forgive the freckles now that you're in High-Def (we all have a little sun damage) and you really do seem to be choosing your words more carefully and taking the objective high road.

Does this affect my chances for linking to their website?

KOAA - Colorado Springs & Pueblo

Billionaires, Rise Up!

Because s.z. says it so well:
World-O-Crap » Blog Archive » Take a Billionaire to Lunch: "Personally, I will not rest until every 16-year-old has at least one full-time job, so that they can help pay the taxes of those billionaires who are counting on them."

Yes, having the top earners in this country return to 39% tax instead of 36% it is now under the Bush Tax Cuts For the Rich is theft.You serfs should just suck it up and pay their fair share, so the rich have time to create all those jobs for you. Or rather, all those jobs for people in India and Sri Lanka.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Kitteh Gets Balloons

funny pictures of cats with captions
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Ah, Civilization!

Day run to Denver yesterday to see the Bronco Game. Light rail to McCormick's for pre-game mussels and fish and chips, and onto Invesco Field (still referred to by us natives as 'Mile High') to watch Indy beat Denver under a searing sun. Not a cloud in the sky, no breeze, 5280 miles high and 108 on the field. Twenty minutes after kick-off had me and a friend running for cover inside the stadium. It. Was. Hot.

After missing Denver scoring after the half, we ventured back where the young man next to me took over half my seat with his knees and shouted inane stuff down to the field. Several guys behind me talked non-stop about dates, bad calls, and some screed about AT&T for us all to share. The ads on the screen in between action on the field seemed to generate the most comment from the crowd. One middle-aged fat guy in front of me yelled his disapproval of some campaign to go green, wondering how they could afford to advertise, and something else about energy. Fat 35-year-olds, Bud in hand, hat on head, unhappy with their job at Auto Zone and their family life in Arvada can always be counted on to the the most vocal proponents of the Teabagger talking points at gaming events. And thanks for that.

Light rail back to our car (a trip where I had to assure three drunk friends that I really did know where the "C" line took us) we stopped at the Blue Star in the Springs for a peppered beef tips with blue cheese and mashers, french onion soup, and a look around their wine/cellar tasting room, set for a party of 12.

I have to get to Denver more often as after 16 months on the Prairie it's starting to feel like a special trip to the Big City instead of my home for most of my life. Mountains! Vegetation! Mass Transit! Two new 5-star hotels! Tons of homeless people and the usual assortment of plain crazy ones.

That said, Dems never to hit the tax cuts and facts about health care hard to the voters. And as expected, Big Business is throwing money at the Republicons; show some Democratic organizations a little love with a $5, $10 or $20 at Act Blue, DCC.org, Progressives for Change and the like.

Here's your LOL cat:
funny pictures-cat rule 67#  whats yours is theres and whats theirs is theirs
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Sunday, September 26, 2010

Ha! Real Americans Like Socialism

Most of America are not Tea Baggers, no matter how much coverage they get on t.v.:

AP Poll: Many think health overhaul should do more - Yahoo! News: "A new AP poll finds that Americans who think the law should have done more outnumber those who think the government should stay out of health care by 2-to-1."

I have to mute the t.v. during commercials these days or I end of shouting at the screen during the political ads. Empty buzz words and meaningless jargon from the Republicon candidates who know there are folks out there whose votes are triggered solely by 'freedom', 'stop big government', 'out-of-control spending', etc. Who doesn't like those concepts? One of the ads targeting Michael Bennet (I'm looking at you, Ken Buck) is a shrill pack of lies. Let's review:

Obama didn't have anything to do with bailing out the banks. That happened in October of 2008, voted in by a Republicon Congress.

"Raised our taxes": the old 'tax and spend Democrats' saw always works. If you are one of the 95% of Americans making less than $250,000 a year, your taxes went down. Did you not do your own taxes last year? Remember the 'Making Work Pay' credit? If congress lets the Bush Tax Cut for the Rich expire next year, people making over $250,000 will go back to paying 39% instead of 36%. Obama wants to keep the cut for those of us working stiffs that don't pay diamond dog collars for our pocket Americans with that sweet, tax-free income.

"Failed stimulus": um, how? It wasn't big enough, I'll grant you that, but it provided last year's tax cut (you did review your 2009 taxes, right?) and it cut my COBRA insurance from $475.00 a month to about $180. It is also giving emergency assistance to people whose unemployment has run out.
Other sound bites and notions:

"Repeal Obamacare": Why? Granted, it's not single payer or universal coverage, but at least the health insurance companies can't deny you for pre-existing conditions. And by 2014 we should have a health exchange you can chose to pay into for coverage, making the health insurance companies have to offer competitive rates. Like, you know, healthy competition in a free market? For an industry that is currently the only one not subject to anti-trust laws?

"I don't want my tax dollars for health care for some deadbeat". So paying higher and higher premiums for your health insurance to cover those people has escaped your notice?

"Nobody in this country goes without health care - just go to the E.R.". See higher premiums, above. And really, you think if someone with a lump in their breast goes to the E.R. to get it checked out then gets free treatment for breast cancer?

Throw in sound bites against illegal immigration, abortion and gay marriage and you've got the standard winning combination. In the meantime, they hope you won't notice that the REpublicons are right now trying to take away Social Security and make you work until you're 70. If you an older worker laid off because you were an older worker and you are having a hard time finding work because you are older, many opportunities to work in the next 20 years will present themselves as you get even older. Huh? Privatize Social Security? Give that money to the Banksters that ruined the economy and are still in the process of cutting themselves large bonuses and patting themselves on the back? We can't afford it? Repeal the Bush Tax Cut for the Rich and get back some of that 34 billion dollars missing from the treasury in the last nine years. Oh, or stop the wars and military spending. The U.S. spends four times as much as any other nation on defense and instead of keeping us safe (a silly concept, anyway) we throw money at military contractors providing materials our own Generals have said they don't want or need.

I didn't make it to the Chile Festival yesterday, so let's have a few other photos of Pwello;

By the Riverwalk
Affordable Gutters - now with Politicians!

And cats, of course. Gracie insists on keeping her dignity by never allowing a decent photo of herself.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Billionaire Bailout Recipient to America: "Suck It In and Cope, Buddy" -- RollingStone.com

Billionaire Bailout Recipient to America: "Suck It In and Cope, Buddy" -- RollingStone.com: "At the Michigan event, [one questioner] asked whether the government should have bailed out homeowners instead of Wall Street, Munger said: 'You've got it exactly wrong.'

There’s danger in just shoveling out money to people who say, ‘My life is a little harder than it used to be,’” Munger said at the event, which was moderated by CNBC’s Becky Quick. “At a certain place you’ve got to say to the people, ‘Suck it in and cope, buddy. Suck it in and cope.’”"h/t Fact-esque.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Dollar 'Whee!' and more excitement

Big doin's on the Prairie: a brand new larger Dollar Tree around the corner from the old one in Regency Square. Although there is a dearth of decent shopping and variety in vendors, at least we have the one place that I used to shop to stretch my budget but now as become a necessity for myself and the other patrons. The traffic has picked up (and it's such an annoying, goofy parking lot anyway, what with all those older vets meandering over the ridiculously high speed bumps to access the Office Depot, America's Best Contacts, Verizon, the inexpensive nail salon or new $1 item at Taco Bell. All in the same block.

Note the busy parking lot and the truck with the two "Support Our Troops" stickers, as required by the Pueblo City Council back in 2002:


And here's the sun-drunk cat you missed on Caturday:

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

No Global Warming to See Here, Move Along.

JuneauEmpire.com – Updates » Monday, September 13th, 2010 » Melting sea ice forces walruses ashore on the Chukchi: "The population of walruses stretches “for one mile or more. This is just packed shoulder-to-shoulder,” U.S. Geological Survey biologist Anthony Fischbach said in a telephone interview. He estimated their number at tens of thousands."

Because He Cares About the American People

Goldman Sachs, UPS, Google, Citigroup, all in the back pocket of our Favorite Pumpkin-colored Republicon:

WTF Is It Now?!?: "They have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns, provided him with rides on their corporate jets, socialized with him at luxury golf resorts and waterfront bashes and are now leading fund-raising efforts for his Boehner for Speaker campaign, which is soliciting checks of up to $37,800 each, the maximum allowed.

Boehner continues to travel to golf destinations on a corporate-subsidized tab, though now it is paid for through his political action committee, the Freedom Project. In the last 18 months, it has spent at least $67,000 at the Ritz-Carlton Naples in Florida, at least $20,000 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va., and at least $29,000 at the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio for fund-raising events."

Yea, let's vote againist our own interests in November:

The whole New York Times article here:

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Give Us This Day Our Daily Dread: Afterbirth of a Nation

Read the whole thing. Pretty much says it all:

Give Us This Day Our Daily Dread: Afterbirth of a Nation: "September 11th was the day we lost almost 3000 lives, people from many religions, races, nationalities, economic strata and political beliefs, in a way, a good representative cross section of America’s people. But when I see what we’ve turned into since that bright, clear Tuesday morning, we may as well have lost 300,000,000. America, for good or bad, was until recently a great nation. But that status had been sold off to the Saudis, the Chinese and countless corporations. We’re not the nation we once were but the afterbirth of a once Great Experiment that ultimately failed."

What He Said.

Read the whole thing - JurrasicPork says it all.


Brilliant at Breakfast: "With banks, HMO’s, credit card companies, oil cartels and even our own employers and government and other autonomous semi-monopolies squeezing us constantly as if there’s no end to the blood they can get out of a stone, we’re now hearing more serious talk than we ever did during the Bush years about the dismantling of the two biggest pillars of our retirement: Social Security and Medicare. Obama’s Cat Food Commission is getting closer and closer to saying that our nation’s seniors are becoming a drain on our financial infrastructure. Can Soylent Green be far behind?"

Saturday, September 11, 2010

September 11, 2001

AP photo

Up North

Katie Mullens, Denver

Labor Day took us out of the tumbleweeds and into Denver, stayed downtown, visited the Taste of Colorado, and mingled among what seemed like thousands of people out on the 16th Street Mall late Saturday night. Wandered into Katie's and although I don't drink beer, I thought this was a nice shot.

Iz Caturday!

Here's Gracie soaking up the sun last week. Resolution is not the best, but my digital camera batteries last all of 24 shots. I'm off to find some decent lithiums, or perhaps a rechargable setup if I can swing it, being one of the Walking Wounded Workers, I've got to watch the pennies.


Americans OK Allowing Tax Cuts for Wealthy to Expire

Americans OK Allowing Tax Cuts for Wealthy to Expire: "PRINCETON, NJ -- A majority of Americans favor letting the tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration expire for the wealthy. While 37% support keeping the tax cuts for all Americans, 44% want them extended only for those making less than $250,000 and 15% think they should expire for all taxpayers." Take that, John Boehner.

Frog, meet pot, from Ezra Klein:


As he points out, 64% of all income growth since 1979 has gone to the top 10%. You are not in that percentage.







Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Hot Water, Part 35089

Brilliant at Breakfast: "Republicans demonize the unemployed because they think (rightly so, unfortunately) that if they can make the unemployed yet another hated 'other' (like illegal immigrants or their latest favorite boogeyman, Muslims), they can distract the attention of the still-employed DOWN the economic ladder insted of realizing that the rich guys are stealing the few singles and fives they still have their wallets. Wages are flat, but more health care costs are being passed on to workers. Corporate profits are up, but hiring is down."

Hot Enough For ya?

Just like the frog in the pot. Here's another article describing income inequity in America. If you think the retribution of wealth will occur if the Bush Tax Cuts are allowed to expire, take into account that the wealth has already been distributed to the top wealthiest people in this country with those cuts. Lower and middle classes foot the bill.
The Great Divergence: Why we can't blame income inequality on the post-1965 immigration surge. (1) - By Timothy Noah - Slate Magazine
h/t Americablog

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Wake Up and Smell the Tea

Bats Left/Throws Right: Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before: "Because Republicans clamor to support massive deficits so long as they don't benefit any poor people, and the Grassroots Teabag Movement is fine with generational-genocidal levels of debt so long as it's going for something it supports, like bombing shit and arresting Mesicans."

Oil Rig Wants to Renig

AMERICAblog News: BP holds US to ransom - demands new drilling permits or not payouts: "BP is as oily as the slick they left in the Gulf of Mexico and can never be trusted. Maybe it's time for Washington to play hardball with this company instead of once again playing nice. BP has yet to show they can behave responsibly so why tolerate this behavior?"

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

National publicity for the Pitstop on the Prairie!

Pueblo's ‘Slopper Wars’ to be televised tonight - The Pueblo Chieftain: Local: "Every Puebloan knows what a slopper is, but for the unknowing outsider, a slopper is a hamburger or cheeseburger on an open bun and smothered in red or green chile and served in a soup bowl."

A friend here proudly proclaims that he never eats vegetables. Here's why:

photo: flickr



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