You can always count on Jon Stewart and The Daily Show to come through with truth.  Using satire to slapstick in order to get the point across, they are equal opportunity highlighters of both Democratic and Republican follies in DC.  Liberal or conservative, Christian, Jew or Agnostic, expect o be skewered if The Daily Show points its camera in your direction.

Last night was no exception to their rule for making fun of everyone equally.  It was hysterically funny and would be even more so if it wasn’t so tragically true.

Watch Jon Stewart as he shines the light on hypocrisy regarding ethics in both parties in the piece they call Crumbums & Fatcats.

After you watch the video, ask yourself if the press as well as both parties in the House and Senate are really creating controversy to keep us all psyched up.  Really think about it, is politics just professional wrestling wearing nicer clothing?  Gives you pause, doesn’t it?

Health care reform is almost done and no one is in the mood to let little old Democratic Representative Bart Stupak hijack it because he wants attention drawn to himself.  It just is not going to happen even though Stupak choose the divisive subject of abortion in order to make his leap into fame and attention.

Congressman Stupak may indeed have strong feelings about abortion, he may well feel he wants more attention on the national scene and he definitely will try to derail health care reform by throwing his own personal monkey wrench into the works.  But he failed to remember that fame brings attention and not all of it is attention you may want.  Bart Stupak is a member of the infamous C-Street dwellers.  He says he moved out of the residence at the end of December.  How convenient for him.

I really don’t give a rats back end where this POS lives or what his religion tells him to do.  I do care deeply when he attempts to push his beliefs on everyone else and when he tries to threaten a health bill that this country badly needs.  I have always found these true believers and holier-than-thou types to be just a little beyond the believable.  Stupak is no different and I am sure he is no angel.

Watch as the press maven Rachel Maddow explains the Stupak connection to C-Street.

Post by BobbiV

Each day Bill in Portland Maine posts his Cheers and Jeers at Daily Kos.  And every day I get a good laugh from it.  Whether he is skewering the Republican or the Democratic side, giving his humorous take on the economy or religion or any other thing, there is always a chuckle to be found in what he says.

Today he reminded me that it is Festivus, a time to air our grievances.  He airs his in his inimitable fashion and looking back on the year I find myself having the same complaints.  So I am bringing you his list.  If you have things to add or things you don’t agree with, so be it.  But I find this to be a pretty comprehensive list.

For your enjoyment:

“It’s A Festivus Miracle!”

Today is Festivus. In accordance with tradition, I submit my 2009 list for the Airing of Grievances. The following have disappointed me over the past year:

>> President Obama, for not enacting my agenda fast enough.

>> Olympia Snowe, for hanging up when history called.

>> John McCain and Sarah Palin, for being the whiniest losing presidential ticket ever.

>> The traditional media, for another year of quoting politicians, “experts” and spokespeople without asking the fundamental question: “Are they speaking the truth, or am I being played for a sucker?” Too many times the answer is: Like a Tootsie Pop.

>> Whoever felt it was necessary to take from us this year: Walter Cronkite, Ted Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Bea Arthur, Michael Jackson, Corazon Aquino, Henry Gibson, Mary Travers, Farrah Fawcett, John Hughes, Andrew Wyeth, and our 21 year-old cat.

>> Teabaggers, for achieving with ignorance and venom in the public square what a two-year-old achieves with creamed corn in his diaper.

>> Family values titans Tiger Woods, John Ensign and Mark Sanford, for thinking with the wrong head.

>> Credit card companies that skirt new federal regulations and charge 80 percent interest.

>> Joe Lieberman, walking proof that backstabbers and liars do, indeed, prosper. Remember that, kids!

>> Dick Cheney, for not going fishing more often.

>> Wall Street barons, for returning to their greedy, greedy ways and not even having the decency to pick the confetti out of their hair and the caviar out of their teeth before they tell us how grateful they are to us for bailing them out.

>> Compromises that seem to only extract concessions from the left.

>> The 53 percent of Maine voters who repealed our gay marriage law and proved that we are, in fact, not a “live and let live” state.

>> All the two-faced “concernvative” citizens and pundits who are nitpicking things Obama is doing that Bush also did but they never nitpicked him for those things, did they? Noooooooooo, they most certainly did not.

>> God, for not coming down here and straightening out this mess of a planet. She’s dating another universe, isn’t she?

To them I say…

“I HAVE A LOT OF PROBLEMS WITH YOU PEOPLE!”

Me too, Bill, Me Too! Read more of Bill’s wisdom at the link.

http://bill-in-portland-maine.dailykos.com/

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Article by Guest Blogger BobbiV

The Founding Fathers of the United States built checks and balances into our form of government precisely to slow down legislation.  They were quite concerned about things getting out of hand and well they should have been,  However, I do not believe the Founders envisioned the lunatic wingnuts in political parties and I am certain they did not mean to have a government that didn’t move at all.  I am also sure they did not foresee the influence peddling of corporations and their lobbyists or the lack of thought  and religious zealotry of some in the Senate and the House.

Is our system broken?  Very nearly…yes.  Is the Senate the problem?  In most cases…yes.  Do we need to make some fundamental changes?  In my opinion…yes.

I am really, really tired of watching gridlock in the Senate.  I am also really, really tired of looking at governments in Europe that seem to get things done while we plod along and accomplish little, if anything.

I do not blame President Obama or the Democratic Party for our current problems.  Hell, I don’t even blame the Republican Party.  I blame a group of sophomoric old men and women who are possessed of super egos.  They come from both parties.  They wrap themselves in the flag and wear religion on their sleeves.  But, neither of these things mean a damn to them, because their only concern is how many times they are mentioned on news networks and how often their faces are seen.

These are not thoughtful legislators.  These are celebrity seeking politicos.  These are the Paris Hiltons of DC.  They are so immersed in their own egos they see nothing beyond self.  Their humanity has gone out the window in pursuit of fame.

I would like to let these senators and congresspeople know that history is replete with the names of presidents and their accomplishments.  School children can tell of them.  Supreme Court Justices rank right up there too, along with sports stars, Olympians, movie stars and entertainers of all stripes.  But there are few senators or congresspeople whose names come quickly to mind.  And certainly none that are famous for just being bought and paid for obstructionists.  In other words, you nimrods, fame , or in your cases infamy is fleeting.

These few are blocking the will of the people of the United States by using every procedural rule, no matter how arcane.  They are throwing up roadblocks where there is no need for them.  They are trying to use fear and religion to get their way.  They are throwing tantrums like over indulged children and they have grown far too enamored with their own voices and images.  They are quickly making themselves as obsolete as dinosaurs although not nearly as cute.

The American people are growing very tired of your BS and you know who you are.  Call yourselves the gang of ten or the gang of six or LIEberman.  It makes no difference.  Your packaging is no longer appealing.  Your words no longer ring true.  You have out lived your purpose.

We are tired and YES, we are sick…literally.  While we die because of your indifference and while we send our children to die in your misguided wars, you attend press luncheons and dinners at fine restaurants where you preen like starlets for your paid admirers.

Enough is really, really enough.  You will not be re-elected if we the people have anything to do with it.  You are the problem, not the solution and it is time to throw you aside.  If your replacements don’t do a better job, we will get rid of them too.

DINOs and RINOs, teabaggers and birthers, obstructionists and religious zealots are out of style.  Your as dated as last years calendar and not as useful.  At least it is paper we can use to line a pet cage or wipe ourselves with.

Now you are even embarrassing the United States overseas.  Just read this article in the UK paper The Guardian.  Here is an excerpt:

Then we have the nature of the GOP opposition. Once upon a time, there were a number of Republican moderates in Congress. Today, out of 217 legislators, the number of genuine moderates is under 10. Maybe even under five.

I do not embellish. Last Friday, the House of Representatives passed a set of financial industry reforms and regulations. It’s scarcely a radical package of measures. Speaker Nancy Pelosi had to make several compromises to get enough votes out of moderate Democrats for the thing to pass. So how many Republicans backed it? Yep. Again: zero.

To see David Cameron offer support for the bonus tax is mind-boggling to an American. There is no way a Republican in Congress would ever endorse such a thought. He or she would be destroyed by the conservative agitprop network.

So this is where we are. We now have a distended nightmarish version of what the founders wanted. We’ve got a Congress that can not only stand up to the executive branch but can (at least on domestic matters) dictate terms to it. And we have a minority that has the power to stop the majority from doing much of anything.

These are the two basic reasons the great progressive dawn of the Obama era has ground to a near halt. And yet even most Americans are dimly aware of all this. It requires a lot of dot connecting. What’s needed is a broad public education campaign – and here, Obama should start playing a role – about how broken this system is, bringing a new level of pressure to bear on the legislators who are the problem. But for now, people on the left would rather engage in juvenile carping about how let down they are.

You can read the rest here:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/dec/13/america-broken-political-system-obama

As I said before, it isn’t Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals.  It is a few super egos who don’t care about anything but themselves.

This is one of the obstructionists. Note the big mouth suitable for telling more lies than normal. Particularly note the beady eyes, most suitable for concentrating on a mirror and the long fingers for holding tightly to bundles of money from corporations. Hypocrisy, thy name is Lieberman!

In just three short years the world will end!  That is if you believe one very old Mayan calender.  Why is it every few years many in our nation feel they must go into a tither about the end of the world?  Why do we think the universe, the cosmic consciousness, sands of fate or God would give the human race a break and wipe us out in a single day?  Is it a feeling of destiny or fate?  Or is it just plain old fear of the future?  Could it be many among us do not feel we have a right to continue on as shepherds of this world?

Remember those who thought that the millennium represented the end time?  How bout Y2K?  When all the computers still worked on Jan. 1st of 2000 the diehards who had fallen for that scam and spent thousands hoarding food and ammo in little rooms in their basements just could not give it up.  They then said that all the computers and financial institutions, power grids and so forth would then crash on the REAL new millennium that started with the beginning of 2001.  News flash folks, that didn’t happen either.  I am sure there are still those today choking down dehydrated food they ran their credit out on to survive for twenty years.

Then you have the meteor junkies who say it will all end in in one big flash, the rogue planet striking the earth groups, the polar shift gangs, the alien invaders coalition,  the super volcano believers and a whole host of others that seek a nice quick end to the human race.  Those groups pale in number when compared to the purple tennis shoe wearing spiked Kool-aid drinking religious fringe groups that have called for the end of the world more times than you can shake a stick at.

The funny thing about many of these people, is the ones that are not so far gone as to actually drink the Kool-aid,   think they can survive these doomsday scripts.  Many who think it will come in the form of bio-weapon or disease have stocked up on duct tape and plastic to seal their homes.  The old school nuclear war types think they can survive a nuclear winter in a 10×10 cinder block bunker they built in a hole in their back yard.  Many Y2K believers took themselves off the grid and stockpiled food.  Is this all in some twisted effort to be the last man standing?  If so, what good will it do you?

The sad thing  about this next big end of the world scenario is not even the remnants of the Mayan culture believe it and, quite frankly from what I have read they are getting sick of being asked about it.  To them it is an end of a cycle of time and a time of change, but nothing more.  However, that  will not stop every cable channel from doing a special on 2012 or Hollywood from producing special effect driven movies with little acting and less story line to help drive home the fact that the world will soon end.

I, for one, hope that if the end time arrives in my lifetime it happens quick and painless.  One big flash and myself and the ones I care for can move on.  I do not think however, that fate will be so kind to the human race.  We have driven other life on this planet out of existence and are still doing so at an ever increasing rate.  We are poisoning the environment and the very water we drink and air we breath.  When faced with a choice to change our ways for the good of the world we fight every single thing that will inconvenience us in any small way.  Many of us for years have been willing to exchange the future of our world for creature comforts or material gain.

Even today with changing weather patterns and overpopulation, in a time where at any given moment one quarter of the people in the world are starving or dying and major natural disasters happen with ever increasing frequency, most of us live in a state of denial.  Religious leaders say natural disasters are punishment from God for a certain groups sinful ways.  Religious morals stop us from helping stop the spread of sexual and drug related disease.  Greed keeps green energy on the fringe while nuclear power and clean coal claim to be the future.  A primitive need to display personal power embraces Hummers and shuns electric cars.  Now, for lack of better game,  our health care system preys not on animals for their pelts but on our own citizens for their dollars.

The wind of change we all hope for that will make the world a better place is still little more than a breeze.  Those that hope to fan that breeze are still called tree huggers and hippies.  Visionaries that see a better tomorrow are silenced by corporate run media and we are all left trying to do a little bit to make the world better.

There are bastions of hope but they are spread thin.  I am left wondering if this big bang of an end dream is the hope we will actually be able to go on with our greed and usury of the world until we go out with a literal bang and not a long and suffering whimper that we as a race most justly deserve.

Come on people. Do something good for your world instead of using the mythical end as an excuse to just continue on your greedy, polluting way. This includes all you Rapture believers.

Well, well, well C Street raises its ugly head once again.  Now the Democratic members of this American Taliban are coming out of the woodwork.  And they are after women and their rights to reproductive health care…. big time.  They want nothing less than to turn the United States into their very own Theocracy and run everything according to God.  I have many problems with them, not the least of which is, whose God and who would interpret what he/she is saying or wants?

I think it is high time we begin to purge these fluffily clothed wolves.  Lets identify then get rid of them in the next election cycle or short of that lets expose them to the sunlight and they will shrivel from that exposure.  We got a glimpse of religion gone rampant under the Republican Bush Administration.  We all know how that one turned out.  I do not think this country can take much more of the C Street gang and the corporations that run them.

Watch and listen as Rachel Maddow exposes the Democratic C Street family members.  But be prepared to change your underwear after the video.

A week or so ago, I wrote about a ballot initiative in California that proposes to ban divorce in the state.  For all practical purposes this would put divorce in the same category as same sex marriage.  I’m sure Republican and Conservative voters along with their religious and wingnut supporters would be for this measure.  After all, they are the ones who decided to play religious politics.  They voted to defend marriage, now let’s see if they will work for and vote to protect it.

If passed, I think this amendment would be karmic justice to the religious, holier than thou Christians, Catholics, Mormons and others who worked so hard to kill same sex marriage in California.  Supporters of the initiative are now working to get the signatures to put the measure on the ballot.

In the interim, supporters are putting out Public Service Announcements about the initiative and they are sweeeet!  See if the PSA reminds you of anything and be prepared to laugh your rear off.

We need to let Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid know that we want Joe Lieberman gone, sooner rather than later.  I signed a petition from Democrats.com earlier that will be delivered to Senator Reid asking him to remove Lieberman from his committee chair if he even attempts to stop a vote on health care reform.

I cannot believe that at one time I actually thought Lieberman was one of the good guys.  Now I see he is a Prima Donna that only wants attention and dollars.  He does not give a whit about what happens to American citizens or his constituents.  But, he sure likes him some health insurance companies that headquarter in his state.

What really gets me angry is that Joe Lieberman is a strong supporter of Israel and he was a real hawk and never voted against more dollars and troops to Iraq.  I wouldn’t say anything against that except, guess what each of these countries have?  Government run health insurance for all their citizens.  And one of these systems was paid for in blood and dollars from the United States taxpayer and our soldiers.  I guess an Israeli or an Iraqi life is worth more to Joe than an American one.  After all, people in his state of Connecticut die everyday because they have no health insurance, so what else can I think?

To sign the petition, follow the link.  Thanks for all you do to help.

We are trying to reach 100000 signatures – please sign here:
http://www.democrats.com/joe-must-go?source=lunacanus%40frontiernet.net

Once you have signed, you can help even more by asking your friends and
family to sign as well.

Is it just me, or does this guy look like the cartoon dog Droopy?