Vanishing Point

or just plain vanishing, gone, not there, missing or taken away because  they know they are complete hypocrites. You can't push a talking point out to the obediently ignorant masses (or old white fundamentalist men, mostly)  AND be believed, if you're guilty of the same thing. Better just do some house cleaning....

/www.wjla.com/articles/2012/03/geraldo-rivera-tumblr-site-collects-photos-of-geraldo-wearing-a-hoodie-74171.html


http://www.mediaite.com/online/hooded-sweatshirt-mysteriously-vanishes-from-fox-news-online-store/

When will these people LEARN that once it's "out there" it's always there.....and people (at least some of us) aren't as dumb as they would like to believe. But the rest of the population scares me sometimes.......


Update:
OMG....I didn't have to wait very long for the Right Wing extremists to catch on and claim this tactic for their own:


http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/40121_Wingnut_Blogger_Dan_Riehl-_Obama_Is_Lynching_George_Zimmerman


I feel a migraine coming on.....

Yes, Geraldo....

it's ALL about the hoodie. We should be VERY afraid of people we've never personally met, people who act in unusual ways from the norm. We should be suspicious of those strangers that speak to us in awkward ways, talking in circles and making no sense: they may be on drugs. Those people with hate in their eyes, casting aspersions on the rest of us: they may be up to no good.

And if there is a hoodie involved: http://www.cafepress.com/+sarah-palin+sweatshirts-hoodies..............you can be SURE they're dangerous.


And then there is this:http://www.cafepress.com/+rnc+sweatshirts-hoodies.


And, not to be outdone: /www.billoreilly.com/p/Restore-the-USA-Shop/Restore-The-USA-Hooded-Zip-Front-Sweatshirt/35091.html?dispid=219

MY IPad Ate It

There I was, reviewing my post from two days ago on my IPad (instead of my IMac), and POOF....my delicate fingers tapped in the wrong place. And there was NO way to get it back, and I tried. So the following update I posted probably makes no sense, or maybe it didn't anyway....

I was ruminating upon the mystifying fact (to me anyway) that SOME people can watch FOX, and come away with a completely different view of reality than the rest of us. Then I read Juanita Jean's blog and it suddenly became very clear: these viewers probably love Lewis Carroll as much as I do (hence, the Jabberwock).

Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said: “one can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

It's the ONLY explanation that makes sense to me. Normal, sane, educated, open-minded people could not take anything those Fox Folks say as anything BUT fantasy. Or watch it for more than five minutes at a time.......

Thanks, Juanita. http://juanitajean.com/2012/03/18/no-seriously-they-are-through-the-damn-looking-glass/

Also note to self: an IPad doesn't operate the same as a computer.....

Update: I'm Not Alone

I was beginning to think I was living in my own alternative reality, that I was looking at things differently than most intelligent people. But alas, I found I'm not alone. Today I read this:


Paul Krugman         NY Times Opinion Pages

The Mighty Wurlitzer in Acton

Read the comments on today’s column and you’ll find many, many references to the alleged fact that the estimated cost of the ACA has risen by a trillion dollars — which happens to be a complete lie.

The remarkable thing is how quickly the lie has become part of what everyone on the right knows. And even if some of the people citing this “fact” could somehow be convinced that it wasn’t so, they’d brush it off, because there’s such a pattern of liberal duplicity, demonstrated by lots of other supposed facts — all of which are also lies.

This is the reality of modern American politics: a large and cohesive bloc of voters lives in an alternative reality, fed fake facts by Fox and Rush — whom they listen to out of tribal affiliation — and completely unaware that it’s all fiction.

It’s also, by the way, why attempts at outreach by Obama will fail. Even if he gives the GOP 95 percent of what it wants, these voters will never hear about it; they will still know, just know, that he’s a radical bent on destroying America.

The problem remains: how do we combat this perception? Are we doomed to be overwhelmed by the radicals on the Right and their well organized (and funded) propaganda machine? Have people lost all common sense? Or are we too far down the rabbit hole these days to pull ourselves out?

Sharia Law, Republican Style

Arizona legislators have advanced an unprecedented bill that would require women who wish to have their contraception covered by their health insurance plans to prove to their employers that they are taking it to treat medical conditions. The bill also makes it easier for Arizona employers to fire a woman for using birth control to prevent pregnancy despite the employer's moral objection.

The sponsor of the bill told the committee that it is intended to protect the First Amendment right to religious liberty.

"I believe we live in America," said Majority Whip Debbie Lesko (R-Glendale), who sponsored the bill. "We don’t live in the Soviet Union. So, government should not be telling the organizations or mom-and-pop employers to do something against their moral beliefs."                             (from a HuffPost article today)

What the heck is WRONG with this country? Why are we going backwards?

Hitler believed that the emancipation of women was invented by Jewish intellectuals and that for the German woman her “world is her husband, her family, her children, and her home” (ref).  Not only were women removed from professional and civil servant careers, they were believed to be unfit for jury duty because they were unable to “think logically or reason objectively, since they are ruled only by emotion”. ...... Female reproductive rights were dictated following the maxim that “Your body does not belong to you”.    ( taken from Dr. Arthur Kamm's Feb. 22, 2011 column Art on Issues)

I know that we are proceeding in the direction that the Right Wing has in mind: no rights for women (barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen); no voting right for blacks, students, Hispanics, union members; no help for our endangered environment (it's all god's will anyway); doing away with all forms of worship (except theirs); no improvements to our educational system (an ignorant people is easier to manipulate); and no NLRB (who cares about minimum wage--they've got a JOB; they shouldn't complain about hours or working conditions either; benefits should only be given to the JOB CREATORS, not to the masses actually doing the work).

State after state is coming up with sneaky, hateful, ignorant laws meant only to suppress the rest of us while they go blithely on their way to creating Fundamentalist Heaven Here On Earth, under the guise of "religious freedom" or the First Amendment. The problem is.......those freedoms don't take into consideration that getting THEIR way at the expense of OTHERS is NOT exactly what the Founding Fathers (bless their hearts) had in mind.

Maybe the old-school Republican, the moderate thinking GOP, the average go-to-church-on-Sunday-before-my-golf-game person on the right does not REALLY believe this. But if all we have to go on is the current crop of candidates and the talking heads on FOX news...this country's in a boatload of trouble.

Anybody that stays away from the voting booth this fall, does so at his/her own peril

It's All In The Translation

.........A Guide to Right Wing Politics

It seems we have a bit of trouble talking to one another these days, or at least difficulty in getting our points across. The mindset of the Right and the Left are just miles apart, especially in today's political climate. It seems there can't be debate on ANY topic...especially taxes, women's rights, the poor or the climate. Throw in one's insistence that religion is the backbone of EVERYTHING in this country and watch sparks fly......especially when there is little evidence of said "religiosity' being shown by political figures, except briefly on the campaign trail.

Stealing some examples from satirical site LarkNews.com creator, Joel Kilpatrick, it must just be in your interpretation of some standard biblical passages:

"Remember the poor" becomes "Remember how lazy the poor are and be glad you're not on welfare like them."

"My kingdom is not of this world" means "But for now make sure you keep control of the White House & Congress."

"Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him" today translates to "Vote against government benefits for illegals."

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's" obviously means "Only pay taxes on money you can't hide from the IRS."

See how simple that is? Once you get the hang of it, it's quite easy. It's sort of like watching FOX News (though I don't suggest it for long periods of time due to mental health issues): whatever is SPOKEN is the OPPOSITE of what is actually done. And projecting your fears and shortcomings onto the party in question is always a good political measure.

"Pay For Your Own Birth Control....

vasectomies, eye surgeries, maternity care, flu shots, hernia operations, emergency room visits, knee surgeries, back surgeries, pediatric visits, tonsillectomies, torn ACL treatments, broken bones, allergy treatments, mental health visits, carpal tunnel surgery, Viagra, antibiotics, Cialis, Lyrica, Lipitor, Restasis, Vesicare.......anything advertised on television "you should ask your doctor about." After all, I have NO USE for these particular healthcare services, therefore I am under no social, moral, or "religious" obligation to pay any of MY hard-earned money to provide them for YOU. "

If you've heard as much of that lately as I have, you are about ready to scream!

What has happened to us as a compassionate, caring, understanding, sensible country? When has it become acceptable to demean and humiliate on national television or radio, a private citizen/student simply stating her views on a highly debated "political subject"........one that is being thrown about simply to stir the pot anyway? And THEN to keep on with this same denigrating tone for three days, just to get ratings I assume. When did it become OK for MEN, usually of the old white variety, to make decisions on a personal female reproductive matter, since this matter is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS, and settled years before anyway?

"Let everybody pay for their own healthcare needs or wants" seems to be the mantra these days. That's the ONE thing the Right seems to agree on as a "freedom" for everybody else. Sounds good in theory to them. EXCEPT for the fact that being in an insurance pool, whether through an employer or HEALTHCARE EXCHANGE brings the cost down for EVERYBODY. (I'm sure the insurance companies, drug companies, medical facilities, and third party administrators aren't happily anticipating this either.) If those with good comprehensive insurance had any idea of what the services for THEMSELVES really cost, they couldn't probably afford it either! NOBODY will TOTALLY pay for another's insurance....everyone will pay according to their ability/need...but by spreading the anticipated costs among a larger number of people, the costs are easier for everyone to bear. Especially if those before-mentioned companies have to play by the rules set up for them in the market place. (Well, hopefully, better than Wall Street.)

But back to the fake "religious controversy" being played out today...it's simply one more example of the Extreme Right's rhetoric that alienates one more of group......a very LARGE  group.....of today's voters. (But it does bother me that no Republican women have voiced any opinion on this...) The talking-in-circles about such matters tells me that the GOP has NO clue what they are doing, and really do not care what we think, either. It's all lies and bluster, a puffing of chests, finger pointing, behind the scenes maneuvering, and one-up-man-ship to practice for the BIG DAY: the presidential campaign this fall......when they can "get that guy out of OUR White House."
 UPDATE: In addition, the Republican party’s increasingly hostile stance towards contraception and women’s health drew a response from the National Federation of Republican Women, who urged Republicans to move the debate back into a “legitimate discussion” and reaffirmed, “The NFRW is not opposed to contraception.”

So, until then......plug your ears, take your BP meds, and make friends with the manager of your neighborhood wine and spirits store.