CanonRay
CanonRay's JournalWhat is the most screwed up state in the Union?
It can be political, religious, or any other criteria.
Thoughts on the death of Jordan Davis
I woke up in the middle of the night, thinking about the tragic death of Jordan Davis, the black Florida teenager killed a few days about by a middle aged white male with an available handgun, over loud music from the teenager's car.
What brings this home to me is that I have a black 15 year old nephew, the sweetest kid you could find. In another year, he'll be sixteen, and no doubt riding around in cars with his friends, just like I did some 45 years ago. And, no doubt, he and his friends will play their music too loud, just like I and my friends played the Stones way too loud. But nobody shot at us for doing so, and even if people yelled out turn it down, that was the extent of it. I can only imagine myself or his father's reaction if what happened to Jordan Davis happened to my nephew.
I don't want to get into a debate about gun ownership; I own a few myself. I don't even want to debate concealed carry. But I think this Stand Your Ground business is at least one step too far.
Let's just suppose that black males in Florida decide to publicly go out and get concealed carry permits and start packing in large numbers, which considering what's going on down there would not be an illogical thing to do. The white population seems to be on the verge of freaking out all the time anyway, and that would set them off big time. Could people in Florida just shoot each other when they saw the opposite race coming down the street? Because they feel "threatened"? Just walk up and wham. For no reason other than you feel threatened because the other guy might be packing. This is where Stand Your Ground seems to be going, and to me, that way lies Madness. That way lies the end of civilized society. I can see this being the logical outcome in a few years, of what is happening in Florida.
I hope they wake up down in Tallahassee and repeal this terrible law.
Please sign White House petition to Pardon Don Siegelman
I have posted a petition to ask President Obama to pardon former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. It has 27 signatures, needs 150 to get publicly posted on the White House website. It will need 25,000 for the President to respond.
If you agree that Governor Siegelman was unfairly prosecuted, please go and sign the petition. I know there are others out there, but none on the White House site:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-don-siegelman-former-governor-alabama/39qv9HvX
Thanks!
James Lipton nailed it on Romney, and got me thinking
James Lipton from Inside the Actors Studio was on MSNBC, discussing the election and said that the choice is whether we want a President, or a "Boss". Romney is a boss.
I think Romney is a classic CEO. Everythingn is a cost/benefit analysis. So when you work all your life, but now go on Social Security, you move from the benefit column to a cost, and are no longer necessary and should be cut. That's why the right hates pensions of any kind. If you are in the Army, you are a benefit, but get wounded and now you slide to the other side. Sorry, we have to let you go! Why should we take care of the sick, what benefit do they provide?
Romney sees everything in this light, and it is the source of his 47% comments. Life is a big spreadsheet to him.
Personally, I want a President.
My take on the "Binders of Women" comment by Mitt
I believe this is a throwback to his grandfather's polygamous culture. The "Prophet" would keep a book, or binder if you will, with pictures of eligible females from which his chosen male followers could make their selection to get additional wives.
At least I understand this went on (and still goes on) in polygamous groups.
I think Mitt slipped up big-time.
Let's get one thing straight:
Mitt Romney will NEVER release any additional tax returns. He'd rather lose, and he wants desperately to be President. I don't know what is in there, and won't speculate here, but it must be something terrible.
The main point though is that if he wins, it will set the new standard for disclosure of tax information by candidates. Never again will we, the people, get more than a token release of tax information. This standard will trickle down throught the political system. We will have lost yet another check on our wannabe leaders.
So if you, or your spouse, or Uncle Johnny or Aunt Tilly vote for Romney, you will be voting for this new standard. I hope you will mention this to any fence sitters still out there.
A Visit From My Libertarian Brother-in-Law
I know everybody has one of these in their family, but I have to rant.
So my wife’s sister and her husband, my dear brother-in-law, came to visit us this week. Now there’s a mixed blessing.
Rob is a one of those guys who always voted Republican, and now considers himself to be a libertarian. He's been slowly going off into the deep end of the pool over the last few years. Here’s a guy who probably hasn’t paid Federal income tax (he lives in a no income tax state, of course) in at least thirty years, and yet bitches incessantly about taxation. He pays property tax, and when he has to, sales tax. Period. If he could figure out how to get out of those, he would. Taxes are for suckers, according to Rob.
I generally tune him out, or try to. I don’t watch MSNBC, let alone Current TV, when he’s around. I basically de-news the house, so I won’t have to listen to his comments/rants.
This time I actually tried to figure out what he was thinking and tried to listen to what he was trying to say. It boils down to this:
He wants no government. Not limited government, NO government. He claims we don’t need it. We could police ourselves, put out our own fires, teach our own kids, and generally get by just fine, thank you, without any form of government at all. According to Rob, all governments, everywhere, throughout history were corrupt, thieving and unnecessary.
He says he just wants to be left alone. He completely and utterly rejects the Social Contract. He just simply doesn't give a crap about anyone or anything but himself. He is the epitomy of "I've got mine".
This is a guy who is so angry at everyone and everything, it comes down to that he entirely rejects society, and thinks that this “idea” would work out just fine.
Oh, his kids went to public school, and were eligible for two years free tuition at college. He drives on public roads. The cops and firemen protect his business and equipment and his home, but he doesn’t want to pay for any of this. When wildfires threatened his house earlier this year, and the BLM and Forest Service put the fires out, he didn’t pay a dime. Not one dime. His drinking water is clean, and he breaths clean air, because the guy who owns the land behind his house cannot open a smelter, because the EPA won’t let him Rob didn’t pay for that, either. In fact, he wants the EPA (and every other state and Federal agency) to go away.
Somehow, and he never says just how, he could take care of everything quite well on his own, if "they" would just leave him alone.
So when you get to the bottom of Rob, the real nitty-gritty core, what you’ve got is an angry, greedy, white guy who has ideas so cynical, irrational, impractical and juvenile as to defy imagination.
Now that I fully understand what he’s getting at, I will be able to tune him out just fine.
What I see as Rmoney's strategy
1) Never, ever release the tax returns
He can't do it before the convention, because they are so bad, he might not get the nomination. However, once the convention is done and the rethugs are stuck with him, he doesn't have to release them because his base will still vote for him whether he releases the returns or not. I suspect his internal polling is showing that this issue is not affecting his base one iota. They hate Obama so much, they'd vote for Mitt (once nominated) even if he had already been convicted of tax evasion, and had accounts in Iran.
2) Spend, Suppress, Spend, Steal, Spend, Spend, Spend
All they have to do is keep this think close in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Florida. The combination of suppression of of thousands of votes, and stealing elections where voting machines, supportive county clerks and Rethug Secretaries of State are in place, will ensure these races remain close. Then spend like a drunken sailor on his last leave to put him over the top. Rmoney thinks the Independents pay no attention until his ad bombs come out in the fall, and then are stupid enough to buy it all.
3) Throw in an Army of Mormons walking neighborhoods all over the country for good measure.
It might be just enough to overcome his own stupidity, nastiness, and greed.
Thoughts?
Yankee Doodle Dandy (2012 update)
Little Mittster went to London
Not to ride a pony
Stuck his big foot in his mouth
And showed that he’s a phony
Yankee Doodle keep it up
Yankee Doodle dandy
Mind your money not your mouth
On a Cayman beach so sandy
In Britain Mitt has been a twit
His manners have been lacking
He’s off to Poland in a bit
Bad jokes he will be cracking
Yankee Doodle keep it up
Yankee Doodle dandy
Mind you money not your mouth
On a Cayman beach so sandy
If Mitt is Pres o woe to all
Our nation will be failing
He has no wit or charm or warmth
He makes us all feel ailing
Yankee Doodle keep it up
Yankee Doodle dandy
Mind you money not your mouth
On a Cayman beach so sandy
Sen. Kevin Grantham, Colorado Republican, Thinks Ban On Construction Of New Mosques Is Worth Conside
Dutch right-wing politician and staunch critic of Islamic religion, Geert Wilders spoke at at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver last weekend issuing his usual warning that Europe and the United States are at risk of being taken over by the Islam religion -- a religion that Wilders has said is not really a religion, but an "ideology of a retarded culture," according to The Guardian.
The reaction to Wilders was mixed, according to the Colorado Statesman, but State Sen. Kevin Grantham (R-Canon City) appeared to agree with the radical European politician.
Although Grantham told the Colorado Statesman that he agrees with Wilders that there are some Muslims that "we would call moderate," Grantham maintained that the "philosophical underpinnings" of the "culture of Islam" are a problem and even "antithetical to the American way."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/07/sen-kevin-grantham-colora_n_1656276.html
Sadly, this Liberty University "educated" douchbag is "my" representative in the state legislature. He was voted in over a wonderful, bright, highly educated woman, who owns her own small business and who grew up in the town. He, and the idiots who support him, are the main reasons I have given up on politics in this county and am trying to move. These people would vote for dead skunk if it had an R after its name, and believed in Je-heez-us. I'm so done.
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Gender: MaleHometown: Illinois
Current location: Oregon
Member since: Fri Jul 23, 2004, 10:38 AM
Number of posts: 14,101
