"To listen to talk radio, to watch TV pundits, to read a newspaper's online message board, is to realize that increasingly, we are a people estranged from critical thinking, divorced from logic, alienated from even objective truth.... [O]bjective reality does not change because you refuse to accept it. The fact that you refuse to acknowledge a wall does not change the fact that it's a wall. And you shouldn't have to hit it to find that out."

**************************************************

Welcome to your reality, a reality that is devoid of actual reality. Instead a 'reality' based on delusions considered to be reality. And of course your evil Coporate Media who understands that you citizens are simply stupid. Thus, they so easilty manipulate public perception in the propaganda and 'story line's' that they invent to do so. Thus, most of your citizens believe in the opposite of what actual reality is. Simple example: the health care reform that your President is trying to get passed. A counltess other examples. Your country is simple a country of obese, fat, and stupid people where the majority still 'believe' that the Earth itself is less that 10,000 years old. So of course a wall is a wall unless I want to believe that it isn't. Your greatest enemy is YOURSELVES and the stupidity that makes that so.

Gee blue, what fabulous country are you from?

Anyone read Joseph Stack's Manifesto? It is very interesting and makes more sense than some of what I read on this and other blogs. His means of delivering his message is not acceptable, yet he saw it as his only option. One columnist identified him as the first U.S. suicide bomber. How many more of these acts of desperation will it take to awaken the vast silent majority of U.S. citizens and legal residents who are facing similar disenfranchisement from the principles of this nation?

If you cannot get a reasonable response from your "elected representatives," how can you be heard? Once arrested on suspicion of committing a crime against the government, most of the mainstream will assume you are guilty and treat you as such. Unless you are mega-wealthy, in which case you are treated with deference and allowed to plunder the wealth of the nation.

Mr. Stack is not a hero, but his statement is, nonetheless, a wake-up call to all of us to demand a response from those who claim to represent us.

"Gee blue, what fabulous country are you from?" Sagacity @ 5:54 PM.

I would imagine it's more a mental state than an physical one.

Thomas is full of it when he disses his colleagues for not letting him get a word in edgewise. Several years ago, I was at the court and heard (and watched) oral arguments. Thomas spoke frequently into the ear of Justice Breyer seated next to him. It was rude to those arguing the case and distracting to those of us watching. I say put cameras in the courtroom so everyone can watch Thomas leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, idly chatting and just generally being a jerk.

Another fusion project.

Fusion is always 20 years away from commercial viability.

When I was stationed at West Point in the 70's one of the women I was stationed with was dating General Haig's son. I got to meet the General once when his son graduated from West Point. He was a very nice man and knew I wasn't an officer but he never said a word about it. At the time enlisted were NOT supposed to socialize with the cadets even though they were our own age. His son was a great guy too.

I think blue once said he was from Denmark, the happiest nation in the world, or Finland, maybe--where apparently they are so homogenous that he doesn't understand that there are all kinds of people over here, on a whole spectrum of fat-assedness and intelligence. Why he chooses to spew his venom at a fairly progressive blog site is beyond me.

You should get out more, blue.

You should get out more, blue.
Posted by: Gaia

Hey---blue and his pet st. johnny-on-the-spot are getting out---they just got out from CPAC. Don't you recognize the shrill swill?

And as for McCain, watching him squirm and writhe as the flames of teabaggerdom consume his Forrestal-charring hide seems an especially-deserved bit of karma....

"The fact that you refuse to acknowledge a wall does not change the fact that it's a wall. And you shouldn't have to hit it to find that out."

Judging by all the skid marks, just because you hit the wall doesn't mean you have to admit it.

The jobs bill has gone to the floor, with 5 repubs -- including the teabaggers darling, Brown -- breaking ranks:
http://washingtonindependent.com/77382/five-republicans-break-ranks-as-jobs-bill-passes-cloture-vote

Leonard Pitts is IMHO one of, or the best, "general columnist: in American today. I've been reading him for years.

McCaincient: would have been another Reagan in many ways, except getting senile sooner in the game. And then Palin! Two idiots in the White House at the same time. At least Reagan knew to get a Veep with a high IQ and insider chops.

neil b

got to agree with you 100 percent as far as leonard pitts is concerned. top-flight thinker and top flight writer. a joy to read.

ACORN should also change their name and rebrand. They're a good organization, but if they're truly overhauling their operations and rooting out the problems, then the public won't recognize the improvements under the old name. Sad to say that's just how it is.

Wow--yippee!! I think I've got a great idea for a combo platter that has not been known heretofore.

We can now allow loaded firearms in National Parks. (Time for Ken Burns to get going on Part II of his National Park Series--you, know, with all the accidental and deliberate killings and all.).

So this was the price we paid (tagged on)for some really lame 'Credit Card Reform'?

Well, let's see..I just got a notice that now I will need to pay an annual fee on my card and it will only be reimbursed at the end of 12 months if I've charged approx. a total of $2600.00 for the year.

So I have to pay them &60.00 in advance and I'm bribed into using the card.

Hmm..O.K. Well then, here is where twisted mind comes in:

Maybe I'll use the credit card to buy a gun and a National Parks Annual Pass Admission? Why not go for the combo platter?

What a great new world we are creating!

See you at the showdown at Yosemite...

Why is obama killing civilians? Why is obama targeting the innocent for his war?

Why is obama killing civilians? Why is obama targeting the innocent for his war?

He's not, and this is Cheney's bungled war he's trying to get us out of. You need to separate your maevolent fantasies about all politicians being evil incarnate from events in the real world.

Cheney and Addington are sociopaths, Bush and Yoo are moral idiots, in spite of the difference in their IQs, but Obama is just trying to do his job and work his way out of a bad situation.

This new credit card act is a sham. The administration and the Democratic Congressional leadership refused to accept the amendment by Sanders which would have capped interest rates. So, what goes into effect is nothing but a program where the credit card companies have to give the user more time when the announcement of how much the user will be screwed is made. Look at the number, such as Citi, which have raised yearly fees and have set a high minimum on useage by the user. Yet, Steve Benen and the Administration try to take great credit for some glorius "Victory". This is akin to being behind by 4 and Yepremian kicks a FG and shouts "I Keek a Touchdown". Thank you, Alex Karras for that one.

"An airstrike launched Sunday by United States Special Forces helicopters against what international troops believed to be a group of insurgents ended up killing as many as 27 civilians in the worst such case since at least September, Afghan officials said Monday."

Y'ever notice how, when NATO accidentally kills civilians, it's written off by the international media as an accident, and inevitable in the course of war, while when Israel does the same thing, it's instantly and universally condemned as a war crime?

Just sayin',
-Z

From the Washington Post article on the education policy:

Under the proposal, $14.5 billion in annual education aid for students from poor families would be tied to states' action on standards.

Only those that have what the administration calls "college- and career-ready" standards would qualify for the funding, known in education circles as the Title I program.

White House and Education Department officials said a state could show that its benchmarks meet the expected level two ways: by adopting standards developed through a consortium of states or by certifying, in a process to be developed with universities, that their existing standards are high enough.

...

"We have to stop lying to children," Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the National Governors Association on Sunday. "We have to look them in the eye and tell them the truth at every stage of their educational trajectory."

I'm tired of politicians trying to score points by slamming public schools and teachers. These are some of the hardest working people in the U.S. They spend around 8 hours a day in the class room, and then several more each night and on weekends to prepare and grade. Those who teach in inner city schools have to daily justify to kids why education is a better choice for their lives than the criminal activity that these kids see every day. It's hard to explain to a kid who sees a drug dealer making $500 a day that dealing is a worse choice than getting a high school diploma and making $9.00 an hour (if he's lucky) at an uncertain and demeaning job. These kids see a popular culture that denigrates the importance of education, and glorifies a life of crime. Their own parents are often forced to move around often, so the kids are shuffled from one school to the next, sometimes in the middle of a school year. But still, teachers must overcome these challenges on a daily basis, give the kids a broad educational foundation that will serve them well, while still teaching to the tests that politicians insist they use to justify their efforts.

When did teaching get the stigma of being a profession chosen by those who would shirk effort? Politicians don't know how to educate. How is denying funding to the almost universally poor districts that have trouble meeting these education requirements going to result in anything like a better standard of education for children? Leonard Pitts was far too kind.