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Lies about ACORN set off Twitter Mob with #acornfacts

11-20-09 5:36 P GMT-08
Twitter is the most fun when the Tweeps start a big mob action themselves. And this one was glorious. Actually better than the Swine Flue mob that erupted last spring.

Washington Post- ABC News Poll President's Numbers Mostly Positive

11-20-09 5:05 A GMT-08
Seeing all the lies told about him, just staying in the plus column is a major victory.
Tags:      

Goldmans Sachs to Give "A Good Trading Day's Haul" Back to American Public

11-19-09 9:33 A GMT-08
$100m for each of 5 years, or 2.3 percent of 2009 bonuses will be "tithed" out to small businesses over the period.

Poll: Americans Want a Surcharge on the HIghest Earners in US To Help Fund Health Care Reform

11-19-09 9:02 A GMT-08
Oh that's a poll that has to be redone so that Mainstream news can use the second, doctored one as proof that this one was wrong.

Too Many Breast Cancers Diagnosed by Mammograms?

11-18-09 8:08 P GMT-08
LA Lady: I've seen this in my own family. My sister found a series of "lumps" by self examination as promoted in the 80s. Each one caused extreme stress and expensive medical bills as it was removed and examined though we haven't had breast cancer in our immediate family whether post or pre-menopausal type. Luckily, she had good employer based insurance for it. So I'm for the new guidelines. Why get women into unnecessary "pre-existing condition" problems for lumps, even cancerous ones that disappear rapidly. Eat lots of fruit, veggies, whole grains, and other whole foods you can find at a local farmer's market.

The Nation: Newsweek Taps Bush Aide For Obama Reporting

11-18-09 6:53 A GMT-08
If it seems like Republicans are pushing the news, that's because they are.
Tags:  

Alert Net at Reuters: Why boosting food output is not enough to beat hunger

11-18-09 6:36 A GMT-08
Inequality, not lack of supply creates hunger as food is priced out of the reach of the poor according to report. Thanks to @Liam_Fox at Twitter.com

Huffington Post: 18 Biggest Falsehoods in Sarah Palin's book

11-18-09 5:55 A GMT-08
You can also vote to tell them which whoppers you think are the worst.

Palingate: So how many abortions do these people claim Sarah had?

11-18-09 2:47 A GMT-08
I get lost in the long winding narrative. But they seem to imply that Trig is a rent a baby. But if a woman has an abortion why rent a baby about the time hers was to be born?

Exxon Gets their Iraqi Oil Field Deal

11-16-09 12:45 A GMT-08
Exxon gets 80% of "one of the largest" oil fields "in the oil rich south" according to the UK Telegraph. I know this is old news to some, but I just wanted a record here of the fact, and to inform anyone who hadn't heard yet. It did happen as we said it would. bTW, Telegraph, isn't the name of the largest partner usually first in news about a partnership? WTF?

Jenny Sanford Endorses Opponent to Husband For Next Year's Governor's Race

11-12-09 6:12 P GMT-08
Mrs. Sanford is no political lightweight either. This could send ol' Mark off to Argent... Oh wait. The pretty journalist isn't going to need a washed up old pol. Well maybe he can pitch a tent on the Appalachian trail, or join the soup lines with the rest of the unemployed homeless, the folks that Republicans usually ignore.

Massachusetts Man Says He Was Fired for Telling Colleague Her Gay Marriage Is Wrong

11-11-09 8:08 P GMT-08
Link goes to Fox News. Just wanted to make a comment. I've been there. You're taught by the fundie church that by standing up to "the infidel" you're going to win brownie points with God and get ya closer to the big man on that sea of glass when you die. And in the meantimes you're earning creds with your Christian buddies, a war story to tell and make yourself look good. Or maybe you know you're a tool for the Christian dominionists. Don't play martyr, now. I'ts just makes you look like a fool.

Examiner.com -- Robert Taylor: The Fort Hood massacre: more blowback from America's interventionist foreign policy

11-10-09 9:17 A GMT-08
Good piece. Agrees with the Bible that They who live by the sword will die by the sword.

Health Care Around the World: Why American Health Care for Uninsured is Like that Of 3rd World Nations

11-07-09 7:39 P GMT-08
Interview with TR Reid on the 4 methods of health care in the world and the types of insurance and other bundled medical programs in the developed world found in the nations of the world.

Neda's Mother: She Was Like an Angel

11-07-09 7:16 P GMT-08
Her mom, talks about Neda's life. New: Neda found it impossible to get work because she was divorced.

Why negative thinking makes the world a better place

11-07-09 5:32 P GMT-08
Writer's brush with positive thinking program illustrates how focusing on a positive outlook can hurt in the long run. 'come to think of it, positive thinking started out as a busineess ploy, didn't it? A ploy by already powerful and rich white men to ingnore the harm their business practices have on the world. Maybe they should go back to the EST scam. Oh yeah.that was for underlings. h/t @R_A_W at Twitter.com

Jake Tapper Interviews Roland Hedley Jr. On Twitter

11-07-09 7:03 A GMT-08
Over his new book based on his Twitter posts. (Has to be a first.) The Insufferably sufferable journalist opens up to the ABc's Political Punch columnist, or not. Now I know what I want for Christmas.

Focusing on Ft. Hood Killer's Beliefs Are an Easy Out to Avoid the Deeper Reasons for the Massacre

11-06-09 9:19 P GMT-08
Fort Hood and it's vicinity have have a lot of problems with killings and low morale. The fact that Hasan did not act until the day before he was to be deployed shows his actions were more about being denied his right to avoid war than because of his religious beliefs. Hat tip @ontd_political at Twitter.com for link

New book tells how Right Wing and business push mainstream news media into a right wing bias.

11-05-09 4:18 A GMT-08
Calls liberal bias of news media "and urban legend" and shows how the right forces news media to back up their own propaganda. Hat tip Twitter colleagues, probably either @maafa or @mparent77772

Meg Whitman's radio whoppers

11-02-09 5:04 P GMT-08
Right Now Ms. Whitman is a California concern, but such things go on in your state as well, and it's good to see some reporting on them which we do this far from the election. Beside should she win the governor's seat she's likely to be running for president by 2016 at the latest.

ROFLMAO Slate Imagines Barack Obama's Facebook Wall

11-02-09 4:26 A GMT-08
Must read. No registration required.

Users of Roan Plateau in CO Want Oil and Gas Drillers to Back Off

11-02-09 3:54 A GMT-08
My question is how many of those same people were at the GOP convention or at least in solidarity with the chant "drill baby drill". Just a bit ironic, don't you think?

Scott Roeder As John Brown? I can't begin to say all the things wrong with that

10-30-09 3:12 P GMT-08
While John Brown was helping fight off pro-slavery murderers in Kansas, the predecessors of Scott Roeder were probably there too, on the other side. And the David and Goliath fight was an arranged battle, not a cowardly assassination against an unarmed man attending church.

A Liberal's Hit List: Limbuagh's Crew Misses Hoax and Treats Obama Thesis Satire as Truth

10-25-09 7:11 A GMT-08
Yeah, so Limbaugh got scammed. Well it is important,because though his listeners call him a comedian, they treat him like a news reporter (a similar lack of skepticism is found in Glenn Beck fans. Therefore with Limbaugh and Beck, who make lots of money and can afford quality help it's almost criminal that they don't avail themselves of them. Apparently though TV advertisers are more sensitive to the standards of a show host. After Limbaugh spread racism a few years ago, a concerted effort was made by a large number of liberals to get his advertisers to give him the heeve ho, without much of the success that one group has had getting advertisers to drop Glenn Beck due to his racist remarks. Hat tip @crewislife at Twitter.com

Can You Get a Six Figure Job from the Unemployment Line?

10-25-09 12:27 A GMT-08
I think it would take many years of training and experience. Who's going to hire someone to totally screw Americans unless they know that person is without scuples or compassion. Still Pett's cartoon makes a good point.

"Swine" Flu Declared a National Emergency

10-24-09 9:22 P GMT-08
Order will allow hospitals to place separate H1N1 emergency rooms further from main hospitals. Too bad our government (including Congress) can't fight the oligarchy created by campaign donations from the wealthy as quickly and effectively.

New Book Coming Out in November on Sarah Palin "Going Rouge"

10-22-09 7:17 A GMT-08
No, actually I spelled that correctly. A book about Sarah Palin will be out the same day as her book. The only thing that scares me about the former governor is that we laughed so hard at Ronald Reagan until one day we woke up and he was the president-elect. Hat tip shadowfax_rulz at twittercom

Sci American Podcast: Racist Jokes Are Only Funny to People Who Think They're True

10-20-09 5:31 P GMT-08
Scroll down on Sci Am 60 Second Psych page to which I've linked to It's Funny Because It's True" link. If I link straight to the podcast itself it is likely to bring up ITunes or other player. So Rush Limbaugh is only a comedian. Only? Not exactly.

The Above Linkblogs Might Contain "Borrowed" links.

Linkblogs do not substantially contribute traffic to my blog that I can discover. They all go offsite, and are often accessed from my blog. It's possible to access them from the RSS according to my settings. Still, even if I were to get ads clicking on a linkblog from the RSS won't drive more people to my blog than otherwise because they leave my resources. (Note to self, do more posts, less LBs with sources I find). I explain because I sometimes borrow links from people at Twitter, and often forget who put them up. (To fellow Twitterers: If you have a link to your blog, I will point it there, but Twitter, being impermanent, cannot hold your link for people to discover from there. I only 'borrow' them to get news out to as many people as I can who might not have seen the reports and videos found by the smart people I follow at Twitter or find in search rooms.

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How to Desensitize a Touch Pad on a Laptop

11-20-09 11:11 P GMT-08

I have a cheap and now aging laptop. 

But the touch pad has always been iffy, tending to make the cursor jiggle or glom onto various links that I'm would be trying to pass quickly to get to another spot or the scroll bar.

I decreased the sensitivity via the software controls to the minimum and used a function that turns off touchpad completely when I'm typing.

Still it was pretty awful.

Tonight I realized the laptops with better control that friends have seem to have a thicker layer of  coating on the touch pad. 

So I decided to try covering the pad with some clear packing tape and that is working pretty well.  I can now roll over a link without the browser thinking I'm demanding to go to it.  Yet I don't have to hit the touchpad any harder to ask to visit a link's destination. Even the bubbles don't seem to affect use of the pad adversely.  (Packing tape is the 2+ inch tape used to secure boxes for shipping or storage.)

Cheap computers tricks.  Just one more free feature of our blog.  LOL

Okay, you might want to ignore the fact that we haven't had any other posts on computer help IIRCC.  But when we come up with something, we'll put it down.

I'm not a techie but I have one thing they might not, a lot of experience with cheap old computers.  So sometimes I might know something they don't need to know.

 

California Attorney General Puts Breitbart's Pimp and Ho Under investigation

11-20-09 10:02 A GMT-08
Panoramic crop of LA Skyline at Sunset
LA Sunset From Bill and Ted's Burg
San Dimas gets a different veiw than the South-Western one we can see from our local high spot.
But we get Alpenglow off windows of the Skyscrapers.
Picture and adaptation allowed via Creative Commons license. No support of nor further contribution to this blog by photographer/artist implied. Thanks to "kla4067" at flickr.com. Click on picture to go to original site and for link to options on different sizes. Rollover picture for further attribution.

As ACORN claims the latest video footage the hidden video attack team is again doctored to make conversations appear to be different than they are and California's Attorney General Jerry Brown is investigating the actions of James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles who secretly video taped conversations with ACORN employees.  Unacknowledged recordings of confidential conversations are illegal in the state.

An ACORN statement released after the tape says what one can see in the tape, heavy editing and manipulation of at least one employee involved.  The employee tried repeatedly to get them to go to some other agency and took the couple to the hall to hold what conversation she was having with them because it was not one that should be had within ACORN offices.

The philly office actually called the police and told them the couple had been talking about setting up an underage call girl racket.  

ACORN statement on the LA tapes:

1.    The tapes are clearly doctored and highly edited and it is our hope this will be responsibly reported on should this become a news story.

2.    The conversation took place outside of the ACORN office. The couple was taken outside of the office into the building-hallway (a common space) because the subject matter they were attempting to discuss was not appropriate and the employee made it clear that ACORN does not help with such things.

3.    The couple was brought to a neighboring agency that deals specifically with international abuse.

4.    The couple featured in the video did NOT portray themselves as a “prostitute” and a “pimp.”

5.    The couple described themselves as “a former prostitute escaping her pimp boyfriend in Miami” and the male as her “concerned friend, a student at USC” who had political aspirations. The male was NOT dressed in “pimp” attire but instead in a white shirt and pants. This contradicts what the “videographers” have stated in the press.

6.    The employee made repeated attempts to move the couple out of the office and building by suggesting a number of referrals of agencies or types of agencies to talk to.

7.    It is hard to respond to this tape. It is so heavily edited that it may be constructed to conceal the reality of the interaction.

 As you view the videos the statements become are born out.  In fact you can see the lady trying to aid what she thinks was an underage prostitute open and then shut a door.  She, apparently, thought she the pair was complaining about Hannah being pimped when she was underage and was trying to help her get restitution or aid.  

People don't automatically think the worst of others, at least of others who come to them for help.

I think that's what this shows.

This story isn't getting a lot of traction from mainstream news.  Finding the most requires  searching on "Hannah Giles" rather than "ACORN" or "O'Keefe". 

As I surmised a few days ago, this team destroyed their credibility last month with the videoless video that could be the result of extensive editing like the LA one.

And maybe OKeefe and Giles better stay out of the Golden State for a while.

See LA Times 'Top of the Ticker' blog  James O'Keefe releases another ACORN video -- this one from Los Angeles

Judging Army: Corps of Engineers Held Liable For Some Floods in New Orleans After Katrina

11-19-09 8:17 P GMT-08
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7476739@N05/3284137311/
Abandoned Gingerbread House
Lower Ninth Ward, N. O.
The good news is that no bodies seem to have been found here.  Picture was uploaded in February 2009.  Still abandoned all that time or ?
Picture allowed via Creative Commons license. No support of nor further contribution to this blog by photographer/artist implied. Thanks to "Clementine Gallot" at flickr.com. Click on picture to go to original site and for link to options on different sizes. Rollover picture for further attribution.

The flooding of the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernards Parish was due to negligence on a shipping canal from New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico according to a decision on November 18, 2009 from a US District Court as reported by CNN.

 CNN also reports that that five out of six plaintiffs were eligible for damage awards from the flooding.  And I guess those will dwarf the $26k FEMA doled out to those who lost homes in the flood. "Lost your entire house?  Here's pocket change for you."  seemed to be FEMA's message.

Though the five winning couples got only about $170k each, the consensus is that 100,00 other homeowners will be eligible for awards as well.

See CNN "Court: Army Corps of Engineers liable for Katrina flooding" (no registration required) for details in a pretty thorough article that doesn't require registration or payment for access.

The sixth couple, who's home was in East New Orleans, was not awarded money or a victory or damages.  The Washington Post says that was because the judge concluded that the flooding of that area was not due to ACE negligence.

My thoughts:

If new rules hadn't been put in place forcing new housing to lack a bottom floor this could repopulate the Ninth Ward it seems.  Now that the flooding has been proven to be manmade, maybe they should rethink the restrictions as long as houses had a safe way to the roof or other safe spot at the height needed during the post Katrina flooding.

1800 killed.  Where have they been hiding that number?  That's much worse than has been reported before.

Yes, citizen this is our money, but we really owe these people and we will all be safer if we pay it out and make sure the Corps doesn't work like a bunch of slackers.

Micro payment receiving pundits in the comment section represent a libertarian lot mostly whining about people who live in floodable zones as well as other kinds of danger spots, ignoring the fact that just about every point in the US is a danger zone, if not for hurricanes and floods, then for tornadoes, earthquakes, slides, fires, etc.  Los Angeles will make Post Katrina New Orleans look like paradise if a big earthquake off shore unleashes the size Tsunami that is considered a possibility for the area.  I can guarantee if that happens half of us will end up in the Lower Ninthof New Orlieans looking for someplace safer to rebuild our lives.  And the "libertarian" commenters never think about what happens if a tornado wipes out half of the trailer park in which they live.  They'd probably even lose their entire stash of meth.  They don't seem to think about that, do they?

To get back to seriousness the constant clamor for reduced taxes by "friends" of fat cats is the biggest danger  to our nation today.   One day every libertarian and conservative activist will know that, but it is likely to be too late.

Hoffman Unconcedes in NY-23

11-19-09 10:07 A GMT-08

Doug Hoffman was the poster-boy for the new Conservative Republican-Libertarian-Teaparty-9/12 Party in the recent special election in New York's twenty third district, and this may be the first salvo in a new kind of campaign for the right, one which never ends. 

A fund raising letter from the Bob Hoffman campaign alleges that ACORN and unions teamed to game the NY 23 election results.

What I'm getting is that he's alleging that not all the eligible votes were counted.  

Shades of Minnesota 2008-2009.  Will we see a half-year plus hassle to verify, justify, and recount every ballot?

Or is this just about Hoffman having to  run against Bill Owens who won the vote count and has already been installed in the House of Representatives again next year, your just a kind of political bomb throwing for money (so easily diverted from campaign funds) and power? 

See Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic ""

Young Activists Declare War on Energy Independence. Can Mom and Apple Pie be Far Behind?

11-18-09 8:10 P GMT-08
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmyboop/1754377218/
Santa Barbara Beach
Many nicer things to do in Santa Barbara than attend a convention of vindictive "take over the world for Exxon and Chevron" activists.
And what is their problem with energy independence? I guess they hate energy independence that isn't dependent on Big Daddy Oil Bucks.
Picture allowed via Creative Commons license. No support of nor further contribution to this blog by photographer/artist implied. Thanks to "Emmyboop" at flickr.com. Click on picture to go to original site and for link to options on different sizes. Rollover picture for further attribution.

 Young activists have declared war on you, or at least your mind and have decided you're stupid enough you won't be able to see through their BS if they keep lying. 

These gung ho rebels liken themselves to the civil rights activists, disregarding that civil rights are natural rights and what they are pushing is a regressive national policy including more wars (which political analysts like Susan Eisenhower say will necessitate a wide-scale military draft.  They also forget to tell you that conservatives like them were against civil rights and fought  long and hard to keep people of color and women from having equal rights and they haven't stopped yet.

But some are asking their newly popular "young" (Okay Breitbart isn't that young) leaders what do the "big money bags that make young Republican activists rich" want them to work on?  One of two primary focuses is to destroy an organization to that promotes energy independence.  

Wait a minute isn't energy independence a lot like mom and apple pie?  Well, apparently not if that energy independence promoter is into alternative energy instead of drilling for gas and oil.

Another interesting thing about the LA Times is that they have not run puff pieces on young liberals and their organizations and actions.  But this is at least the second report from Sam Zell's LA Times promoting young conservative activists in the last twelve months.  Please notice Mr. Murdoch how much Sammie boy wants to be your buddy.

And, again next week LA Times reporters will be claiming to be fact checked and unbiased.  

One might even think that claim to be an act of propaganda, if he or she were of a skeptical mind.

See LA Times " " for details about what Human Hotdog Andrew Breitbart and his fake Ho were doing in Santa Barbara last weekend.

Human Hot Dog and his Pimp and Ho Thoroughly Discredited?

11-17-09 10:22 A GMT-08
Picture hotogs on a plate
Two Hotdogs looking for their Sugar Daddy Pickles
Still unclear who represents the ketchup.
I know the purists will be hurt by the red stuff and lack of pickles or onion, and hey where's the kraut, cheese, bacon the things that make a hotdog delicious heartattack in a bun?
Picture allowed via Creative Commons license. No support of nor further contribution to this blog by photographer/artist implied. Thanks to "plindburgh" at flickr.com. Click on picture to go to original site and for link to options on different sizes. Rollover picture for further attribution.

Okay I can't resist just one more.  Maybe I  should go to the desktop.  I can't open may laptop cover more than 30% right now without it blanking, so typing mistakes may be numerous.

The Human Hot Dog and his crew who between the three produced and promoted sometimes dishonest anti ACORN tapes appear to have thoroughly trashed their own credibility, or would have except for the miracle of modern journalism in which anything that helps big business control American minds is great.

They claim to have proven that ACORN officials are lying about them being thrown out of the Philly ACORN rapidly, but people are sceptical that a video that has no video and omits half a conversation represents reality.

Say you wanted to keep a conversation going, but a second party doesn't cooperate?  What could you do?   Why omit the second party's conversation altogether.

And to seemingly continue a conversation (in a videoless video) in an office from which you have been ejected?   Just don't show the video. Continue the discussion in your own undisclosed location with the walls.  Since you have cut out the ACORN worker's conversation, who's to know?  You could be talking to a squrirrel in the park!  

The length of time the conversation went on in the Philly office is important because the staff there claiim they threw the assumed pimp and ho out quickly and called the police.  That's probably why Breitbart and his crew are trying to destroy the people who stood up to them.

The Washington Post shows very subtle skepticism.  Okay, invisiible skepticism.

But you'd think the tape released in October would teach mainstream to stay 100 yards away from "journalism" that Andrew Beitbart is pushing.  He's got worse stuff that Bush's TANG record to bring down a fine media star's career.

See Washington Post report: 

If you can't get into that report see .

So OKeefe, and Giles and Breitbart won't be promoted anymore by mainstream since they've shown they can't be trusted, right?

Ha! The just wrote a report on Miss Giles the other day.   The adoring piece tells us how the young Surfer/slacker discovered that phony reporting for the far right is the new "Get Rich Quick" scheme.  All those chamber businesses are ready to throw money and "journo" awards at you if one of your scams hits the big time.   Now they need to show her what sleazy scheme she needs to pull to finish her inevitable slide into becoming the new Ann Coulter/Michelle Malkin.  I think for those followers she'll need to get a skimpy skirt. Oh wait, she already has one. 

(Andrew Breitbart earned the name Human Hotdog the day after Edward Kennedy died when he trashed the late  senator's memory.   Trying to scope out the measure of such an asshole I came across a picture of a pudgy guy in a mustard yellow shirt.  Breitbart also made, about that time, personal statements to other Twitterers that went beyond political discussion and appeared to border on a threat.  I won't talk about the details or the seriousness, but I found it deeply disturbing and will continue to call this vicious character a Human Hotdog.)

The LA Times has featured right wing attack journos before.  Funny, I never read about Media Matters or other such liberal media wonders from their pages.  Promotion from mainstream news is essential to getting more funding for politically inclined journalists.  But I don't see the Tribune Company promoting any liberal journalists.  

Poor Sam Zell and His lacky publisher at the Times (who formerly headed Direct TV despite Zell's promise to keep Tribune's authority under the scope of "journalists" he also put a Clear Channel alumni in as COO of the Tribune Company.

I wonder if the old guy (who has spoken glowingly of Rupert Murdoch and has even sought a partnership with the right wing news hack over a NY paper he later sold to a third party and seems to want to follow in the footsteps of the king of propaganda) has a pickle green shirt. Then Miss Giles and James Okeefe can be the two sides of the buns and the picture is complete  But beware of ptomaine poisoning.

Computer Troubles

11-17-09 8:00 A GMT-08

Original reporting will be low for a few days.

I'm having serious trouble with my main laptop and am trying to get it cleared to try to take advantqge of a two year nmaintenance contract before it expires.

I will try to find a video or two q day until this problem is over.  I think I'll break my promise (made after the show helped spread Breitbart's anti-ACORN BS) not to seek out Daily Show pieces. I can't wait for them to fall into my lap if I don' have a lot of time to spend with social media.

 

 

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