Ruth Bader Ginsburg Must Go

Does anyone seriously think the Republicans will allow anyone nearly as Liberal as Ginsburg on the High Court now? If she left, or Scalia, Thomas, or Kennedy crapped out, that open seat on the Supreme Court will be held hostage by the Republicans until the next Presidential election ... or until Obama caved a put a "reasonable Conservative" on the Supreme Court.



We are in a Cold Civil War currently, and I want Justice Ginsburg on the Supreme Court until she drops.
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David Stockman, Ex-Reagan Budget Director: George W. Bush's Policies Bankrupt The Country

Reagan simulated prosperity through deficit spending, which tripled the size of the national debt. That would be like a person running up thousands on their credit cards and then claiming they were rich because of all the stuff they have. Fraud.



Who knows what Bush was trying to do? Maybe he's like that guy I knew in High School who claimed to be an expert on cars and then wasted himself when he addressed a broken fuel gauge by trying to check the amount of gas in his car by peering into the tank with a match.
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Mikhail Gorbachev: Russia Must Move To 'Real Democracy' To Prevent Uprising

"This means that we face a new attempt by Russian society to move to real democracy and it will be of historic significance."



So Russia should move to "Real Democracy" so the country can be controlled by the Plutocrats in the way "Real Democracy" works in the United States?
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Markets Sending Unusual Signals

Right now the Markets are a "No Lose" Ponzi, so there is really no point in analyzing them. There'll be postmortem later.
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Popeyes President: Employees May Decide To Work Part-Time In Response To Obamacare

I love watching Right Wingers tremble and scream about "Obamacare" like infants in a crib with a dirty diaper.
About Obamacare
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JOBS Act Falls Short Of Grand Promises

The reason? The United States has been in an undeclared Depression since 2008.
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Bee Deaths From Colony Collapse Disorder On The Rise As Researchers Point To Pesticides

I saw the theory floating around that some crafty transnational agribusiness has genetically modified a variant of honeybee that is resistant to Colony Collapse, have patented said mutation, and will roll it out as a product. Sick concept, but not beyond the realm of possibility.
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Jeb Bush Praises George W. Bush For 'Not Having An Opinion' (VIDEO)

George W Bush ranks as one of the worst Presidents in American History, if he had an opinion, who'd care?
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NRA Robocalls In Newtown Spark Outrage From Local Gun Control Group

Remember, no one in the gun industry possesses a soul. American Gun Manufacturers make and sell products meant to terminate life by violent means. The gun manufacturers make their money off of murder. Even the incident at Sandy Hook was a sales opportunity for American Gun Manufacturers. The NRA is just a front for the gun manufacturers ... so this callousness is to be expected.
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Don't Forget the Geopolitics of Cyprus

I've heard a couple of interesting scenarios ... that should Cyprus leave the Eurozone the door would open for Russian influence, or ... that an independent Cyprus would be attractive for annexation by Greece. I think there is something else at play here that makes such extreme possibilities vocalized now. Cyprus has proven itself to be the Eurozone's Achilles' Heel. Should Cyprus exit the Euro, it sets a precedent for the other countries suffering from the effects of austerity currently. The message sent should Cyprus exit is "It IS possible for a state to exit." That, more than anything else, has to be the major concern for Germany and the ECB. Forget Russia, the whole Eurozone could fracture if Cyprus leaves, no scenario is more threatening than that for those trying to keep the wheels from coming off.
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S&P Cuts Cyprus Sovereign Credit Rating To CCC

Methinks Cyprus exits the Euro ... then things get interesting.
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States Told To Plan For Sequestration Military Cuts

I remember when Bush41 shutdown bases in California, the economic impact was rough for years, but communities recovered. Of course the boom economy of the Clinton years helped to soften the blow. Back then there was a lot of talk that the Republicans were just picking on California with all the base closings, and defense cuts, but, in retrospect, I'm glad the hatchet fell on us then rather than now.



I'd hate to be a Red State that relies on Bases and Defense Contracts and has little else economically going for it ... these are going to be some lean times. No doubt.
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Michele Bachmann: Repeal Obamacare Before It 'Literally Kills' People (VIDEO)

I'd like to see her finances audited.
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Michele Bachmann: Repeal Obamacare Before It 'Literally Kills' People (VIDEO)

Bachmann has evolved from nutty to sad.
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John Boehner Sets Up Debt Ceiling Battle With Demand For Major Cuts

This time let the Republicans crash the economy again. It has the most beneficial long term results.
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Universe's Age? Planck Space Probe Data Push Back Date Of Big Bang That Started It All

Let's have some fun. The Universe is limitless and timeless with no beginning or end. Your move.
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Freddie Mac Unaware Of Homeowner Complaints, Inspector General Concludes

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have been a Public/Private partnership between the US Government and the Financial Sector for decades, and for Banks it became an appendage of its Business Model. So, before folks start screaming that the Government can't do anything right, there was nothing wrong with Fannie Mae until the Private Sector got a piece of the action and corrupted it. Freddie Mac was created as a "competitor" for Fannie Mae once it went "Free Market" ... so of course these organizations are now a mess.



Prior to the last crash, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were just places the Banking Industry laundered toxic mortgages, that is why these agencies were at the center of the crisis when the crash occurred.



If you sever the influence of the Private Sector from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and regulate them responsibly, they won't wind up a risk to US Taxpayers again, and the housing sector would wind up being more stable and robust.
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Saxby Chambliss: 'I'm Not Gay. So I'm Not Going To Marry One.'

Chambliss probably believes he has the virtue of some god to defend.
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Orrin Hatch: Obamacare Is Designed To Fail, Lead To Socialized Medicine

Gee, if Obamacare was designed to fail lead to socialized medicine, I just gained a ton of respect for it.
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Ben Bernanke: 'I Agree With Elizabeth Warren 100 Percent' On Too Big To Fail

"Too Big To Fail" leads to "Too Big To Bail" when the next crash comes, so it is better to address the issue now.
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Richard Perle: 'Not A Reasonable Question' To Ask Whether Iraq War Was Worth It

" One of George W Bush's "thinkers" is Richard Perle. I interviewed Perle when he was advising Reagan; and when he spoke about "total war", I mistakenly dismissed him as mad. He recently used the term again in describing America's "war on terror". "No stages," he said. "This is total war. We are fighting a variety of enemies. There are lots of them out there. All this talk about first we are going to do Afghanistan, then we will do Iraq... this is entirely the wrong way to go about it. If we just let our vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely and we don't try to piece together clever diplomacy, but just wage a total war... our children will sing great songs about us years from now."



http://site.www.umb.edu/faculty/salzman_g/Strate/Discus/2002-12-12ANewPearlHarbor.htm
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Obama Mideast Trip: U.S. Officials Set Low Expectations For President's Journey

I'm not really sure what strategic importance Israel has to the US anymore now that we have occupation forces across the Middle East. Israel's value as a beachhead has evaporated. This isn't the 1980s.



In short, just by the US suggesting Israel looks to lose its position as strategic partner, might make negotiations on a long term, two state solution easier.
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Matthew Keys Case Shows Rogue Employees Can Be Just As Dangerous As Hackers

Not to be mean, but IT professionals tend to be a bit off the beaten trail and anti-social. When the IT outsourcing boom to India began in the 90's ... where companies found they could replace one well paid tech worker in the US with three in India ... the companies took glee in giving the American Tech Workers the heave ho. Unfortunately, the Americans who were laid off also tended to be the individuals that built the IT systems to begin with. The American IT workers knew the peculiarities of the systems, their idiosyncratic nature, their back doors. None of this information appears in tech manuals, or was turned over to their replacements, of course. So, basically, with the layoffs, the companies dumped the most sensitive knowledge that ran the systems that powered their business onto the streets in the memory banks of techies who frequently viewed themselves as screwed by the situation.



Executives don't consider this when they enjoy the reduced FTE and payroll.
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Tomas Young, Dying Iraq War Veteran, Pens 'Last Letter' To Bush, Cheney On War's 10th Anniversary

Let's remember something ... the Atta Cell behind the 9-11 attacks was based in Hamburg, Germany.



US Invades Afghanistan to secure Caspian Sea Oil Pipeline Taliban balked at ... the Pipeline now exists.



US Invades Iraq to secure control of Iraq's under exploited Oil Fields ... Mission Accomplished.



The occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan bracketed Iran for future invasion to recover control of Iranian oil fields lost when the Shah fell in 1979 ... Pending.



The US sends troops into Mindanao after AQ offshoot Abu Sayyaf, By 2004 the leadership of that group and its core members were wiped out .... US Troops remain as ExxonMobil drills for oil in the Sulu Sea.



But remember, the Iraq War and Global War on Terror were about Good vs Evil ... not oil.



Great letter, Mr Young. Thank you.
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European Leaders Urge Cyprus Not To Tax Bank Accounts With Less Than 100,000 Euros

This is really a mistake for the Banking Sector. Consider this, Banks pay interest in order to attract depositors, so the banks can turn around and invest their depositor's money in other areas of the business. If a Bank "taxes" people's deposits then they are, in essence, charging them to deposit their money. It would make more sense for people just to keep their money in a mattress, or convert it into precious metals than use a bank. This is really a short-sighted idea, and that is probably why the Banks are staying closed until Thursday. From a depositor's perspective, you should withdraw your cash and stash it somewhere so it won't be confiscated by the ECB.
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European Leaders Urge Cyprus Not To Tax Bank Accounts With Less Than 100,000 Euros

-"They are treating us like guinea pigs," said Takis Georgiou, 49. "The government has lost its credibility in the eyes of the people. We'd be better off leaving the euro and returning to the pound, we don't want to end up like Greece."-



BINGO!
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Cryonic Preservation After Death: What Does The Science Say? (VIDEO)

I would think that you would need to be frozen alive in order to be revived for treatment in the future. Once you are dead, you are dead. You would need to be resurrected rather than revived at that point.



Just live your life and die like everyone else does ... how hard is that?
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What You Should Know About the Cyprus Controversy

What we have here is the unwinding of a massive global derivatives Ponzi that has been collapsing in slow motion since 2008, only propped up by constant infusions of capital by Central Banks around the world. The Bankers are panicking because they don't know when the bottom completely falls out, but they know it is coming. The ECB fronts for the International Bankers in the same way the Federal Reserve does in the United States. Moving in on depositor's money signals a panic on the part of Bankers to lock down hard assets, but the problem is there is a couple quadrillion dollars in fraud infecting pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds, and banks, but there aren't enough hard assets on earth to cover all the losses.



"Tiptoe through the window

By the window, that is where I'll be

Come tiptoe through the tulips with me



Oh, tiptoe from the garden

By the garden of the willow tree

And tiptoe through the tulips with me



Knee deep in flowers we'll stray

We'll keep the showers away

And if I kiss you in the garden, in the moonlight

Will you pardon me?

And tiptoe through the tulips with me"



Tiny Tim
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Paul Krugman: Cyprus Bailout Will Push Europeans To Stage A Run On Their Banks

- “It’s as if the Europeans are holding up a neon sign, written in Greek and Italian, saying ‘time to stage a run on your banks!’” Krugman wrote in the blog post. -



True, the International Bankers are just looting these countries now, and it is a sign of the Bankers Fear not their Hubris. The International Bankers, for whom the ECB is just a front, have read the writing on the wall, in terms of high unemployment and growing social strife across the region, and know they need to lock down the assets before the EU collapses.



The Cyprus move is definitely a sign of things to come across the whole region.
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Cyprus Bank Levy Vote Delayed By Parliament Until Monday, As Nation's Bailout Hangs In The Balance

Again, Iceland is the only country that handled the economic crisis correctly. In real terms, the EU's balance sheets are so toxic moves like this across the depressed member states is like trying to save your TV and Microwave Oven as your house burns down. The die is cast for the EU.
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Jeb Bush CPAC Speech Says GOP Must Stop Being 'Anti Everything' Party

"Bush lamented that liberals have "channeled the anger and frustration that comes from this oppressive dynamic and used it as an opportunity to attack the very idea of success itself," and argued that conservatism holds out the best path upward for those without power or means."



Hmm. A couple of things.



First, Conservatives pay a lot of lip service to egalitarian concepts, but in concrete terms are happier to step on you when you fall then help you up.



Second. Wealth hoarding is addiction not success. Addicts always claim to be in control, but never are. Addicts also are never satisfied, and are always Jonesing for more no matter who gets hurt in the process. I have no respect for that kind of "Success", and that kind of "Success" defines the Republican Party.
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Greenspan Says Too Big To Fail Problem 'Is Getting Worse, Not Better'

Since it is a Ponzi financed by securities kiting it is not surprising the problem is growing exponentially. At this point, "Too Big to Fail" has become "Too Big To Bail" even if the US Government desires to, The next crash that sweeps the financial sector will conservatively involve hundreds of trillions in evaporating assets. Such a Global hit would be impossible for the Central Banks of Earth to react to in a meaningful way.



"Irrational Exuberance" has given way to Global Economic Existential Threat.
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CPAC Panel On Race: 'Young, White Southern Males' Hurt By Racial Outreach

If you are a young white American male in the South and you are unable to compete with minorities, with the traditional pro-white entitlement structure you were born into, I hate to break it to you, but the problem is with you, not the minorities.
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Republican Senators Hopeful Obama Is Ready To Slash The Safety Net

President Obama's presidency enters lame-duck status if he caves on Earned Benefits, and Democrats will face wipe out in 2014. I'm sure that is what the GOP is hoping for.
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Republican Senators Hopeful Obama Is Ready To Slash The Safety Net

If Obama caves on Earned Benefits he is guaranteeing the permanent Republican Majority of Karl Rove's dreams.
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Marco Rubio CPAC Speech: GOP Senator Addresses Beliefs On Same-Sex Marriage, Abortion Rights

Life begins at viability outside of the host.
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Jim Inhofe: Obama Is 'Destroying This Country,' But He Is Charming

The Conservative Movement destroyed America, the Conservatives just want to scapegoat the President for Conservative failings of the last thirty-two years.
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Marriage In the Age of the Printable Engagement Ring

I need an understanding of what constitutes a Millennial. By my reckoning the oldest anyone born in the year 2000 can be is 13. It's hard to believe many are already settling down, but I can see how printable engagement rigs could be all the rage in Middle School.



Oh, sorry, I just saw this:



"According to the Pew Research Center, just 25 percent of Millennials between the ages 18-28 have been married. Compare this to 34 percent of their Gen Xer older siblings at that age, and 48 perent of their Boomer parents."



I still don't understand how the Millennial label is earned though.
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America, You Must Not Look Away (How to Finish Off the NRA)

I'd say Newtown crime photos is a good start. I would add that crime photos from other gun massacres and killings should follow. And each photograph should be emblazon with:



"Brought to you by the NRA and (Insert Gun Manufacturer's Name Here)"



To this day, when I close my eyes, I can still conjure the images of car accident fatalities from the Drivers Ed Films "Signal 30" and "Red Asphalt", I saw in the 1970's.



You are correct, Mr Moore, there are some images, once seen, that are never forgotten. Let's hope you are correct that a member of Law Enforcement from the site of one of these Mass Killing Tragedies does the right thing, and schools an ignorant populace on reality.
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Senate Hearing On Sexual Assault In The Military Takes On Justice System

Hey kids, I hate to break your heart, but for decades sexually exploiting women, beating them, raping them, treating them like animals has been considered R&R for American Servicemen in Red Light Districts outside of foreign bases around the world. You can't tell men that abusing, and humiliating women in one context is acceptable, and in another is taboo ... that doesn't work.



If the Senate discusses the abuse of women in the US Military without examining the sexual humiliation of women as countenanced R&R you are looking at the problem with one eye shut.
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Obama: Budget Deal May Be Impossible If Republicans Continue To Insist We 'Gut' Entitlements

Note to President Obama: Drop "Entitlements" ... go with "Earned Benefits". The Right 's wordsmiths will never recover from that.
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Obama: Budget Deal May Be Impossible If Republicans Continue To Insist We 'Gut' Entitlements

All that the Democratic Party has as its legacy are the beloved, taken-for-granted programs of the New Deal, and Great Society, in addition to the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act. If the Republicans convince the Democrats to dismantle these programs, to cave on Voters and Civil Rights, then there is no Democratic Party ... Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and other social safety net programs that help The People are all the Democrats can cite as their reason for support. I don't care what leaders in the Koch backed DLC have to say on the matter, for what I am laying out here is fact.



If I were a Democrat in office, or an aspirant to higher office as a Democrat, I would be fighting like Hell to protect The People's Earned Benefits Programs, for the minute Democrats allow their rich campaign contributors, and their Republican opponents convince them that compromise on these programs "is only right" ... the reason for being a Democrat for millions of Americans evaporates.



I hope the President understands that there is no greater prize for the Right Wing then to have the Social Safety Net programs they despise dismantled by an African American Democrat President. That's winning the lottery for them.



Don't cave on Earned Benefits, Democrats, there is no recovery from that for your party. No second chance. None.
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Paul Ryan Budget: House GOP Unveils Blueprint To Slash Medicaid, Medicare And Repeal Obamacare

Remember the defining quote of Ryan's owner: "I Want My Fair Share and That’s ALL OF IT" Charles Koch.
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Fukushima And The Navy: Sailors Sue Japan Nuclear Plant Owner, Saying Disaster Made Them Sick

See, the real problem with Fukushima is this. The meltdown continues, it just isn't covered by the press. The disaster at Fukushima is far more significant than the event in Chernobyl, and while Chernobyl has been encased in a concrete sarcophagus for decades (Which the Russians intend on replacing) the meltdown in Japan has been open to the air, and ocean water since the event began. Seals are appearing in Alaska with lesions. Tuna off the west coast of the United States are showing signs of radiation in them that links their contamination to Fukushima. The reason these US sailors are barred from suing for their exposure is likely because the US Government wanted their exposure hushed up as much as possible. Unfortunately: Internet.



This wouldn't be the first time the United States Government stepped in and prevented US Military personnel from suing the Japanese for damages, the survivors of the Bataan Death March in WWII who found themselves working in Japan as slave labor prior to the end of the war were likewise barred by the US Government for suing for damages.
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Government Funding Bill Unveiled By Senate Democrats

When the majority of Red State Americans are Functionally Retarded you get "leaders" representing them like Paul Ryan, who is undermining the future of the United States as his supportive Geriatric Billionaire Con ninnies giggle.
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FDIC Secretly Settling Bank Cases For Years With 'No Press Release' Clause: Report

You want to see how a Third World, Kleptocratic Government runs? Here's your example. An audit in order?
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Distinguished Warfare Medal Honoring Drone Pilots Faces Bipartisan Backlash

A friend of mine's twelve year-old kid defeated the Lich King at level 80 in an ICC Raid on World of Warcraft, so when should he expect a medal from the Pentagon?



I'm sure that is harder than killing civilians in a drone strike.
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Martin Schulz, European Parliament President: Europe Saved The Banks, But Could Be 'Losing A Generation'

Only Iceland approached the financial crisis correctly by allowing The People to choose the path out of the crisis via referendum, focusing on punishing the malevolent actors in the Financial Sector and Elected Office who brought about the collapse, restructuring the laws of Iceland to prevent Bankers from ever crashing the economy again, and providing debt relief to the people of Iceland in order to get the economy back on track. Iceland's GDP has been rising as the rest of Europe, England and the US has been stagnant in meaningful recovery.



Protecting criminals, and putting Governments in the position of covering the bad bets of the Financial Sector is a losing proposition, and worse, creates the same type of Moral Hazard in the Financial Sector that leads to the risky behavior that crashed the Global Economy in 2008.



Final note ... the Banks haven't been saved, their fate has merely been postponed.
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Paul Ryan: GOP Budget Assumes Obamacare Repeal

Our Right Wing Feudal Lords in Waiting require a desperate, ignorant, fearful populace, forever battered by images of what happens to someone who steps out of line, so the Social Safety Net must be eliminated. If you look at the things Paul Ryan's Billionaire Right Wing Owners are at war with ... Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Unions, Public Education, and even the pro Health Care Industry/ Pharma Obamacare ... you understand what their plan is.



To paraphrase the Blue Oyster Cult ... the choice for Americans in either a life on their feet or on their knees.



I choose to stand up.
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Paul Krugman Accuses Republican Senator Ron Johnson Of Using 'Non-Facts' In Social Security Debate

All of these John Birch Republican's worldviews are based on a work of fiction, only they don't realize Ayn Rand was a fiction writer. When Senators, like Ron Johnson, start babbling on about Social Security they always display the wild eyed intensity of 70's era Trekies arguing whether the Klingon's or the Romulans were a greater threat to the Federation as they waited in line for an autograph from Walter Koenig, or to purchase a Tribble at a Star Trek Convention.



I never take these Bircher - Ayn Randians seriously on Economics or their Utopian Libertarianism and no sane person should, for, like most Right Wingers, they ignore what doesn't support their convictions, and reconfigure history to support their fatally flawed individualist view of America as something other than a story of humans building together and succeeding as part of a community. Most "go-it-alone-rugged-individuals" in the frontier days of the United States starved in the wilderness, broke limbs and whimpered alone under a tree until they expired, poisoned themselves by eating unfamiliar flora, became the food of wild animals, or ran afoul of a tribe of natives and were dispatched with haste. The individuals who succeeded in the United States did so as a member of a community.



I wouldn't take Senator Ron Johnson's opinion seriously on any issue affecting myself or people I cared about.



(Apologies to any offended 70's era Trekies ... I waited in line for Walter Koenig's autograph once too.)
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Ashley Judd Senate Run: Actress, Activist Planning To Declare Candidacy, Sources Say

What's that I smell? Is it .... turtle soup?
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