So, here's the deal. At the Obama office we told people that anything we collected in the way of contributions to the office, the sales of yard signs etc., that was past what was due on the actual offices expenses was going to be donated to a local charity.
Here we are (Mary, Jay, Bill - the director of Love Inc, and me) giving him that leftover money. It totaled $1,167.25. Sweet! Even sweeter was that we found out today that First Banking was matching all cash contributions through Dec. 24th so that is now doubled to $2,334.50 BONUS!
I do have to say it felt pretty damn good to be out in the community doing a good deed on behalf of all the generous Obama supporters who knew that what didn't go to the campaign efforts would go to a good a cause. Let me repeat that. BAP did this on behalf of the Obama supporters. We don't get all the credit, we just did the leg work and suggested it in the first place. BAPpers did contribute also, but most of the excess was from Obama supporters.

BTW, Love Inc. is well known and well respected for doing so much in this area for people in need. And, a FYI........if you want to contribute to the quickly emptying food banks giving some can goods is okay. But, money is the best because they can buy bulk foods at 14¢ a lb. Now, I know it's fun to put some yummy foods in a basket or collection barrel, but really, they need cash to get more food than they can collect easily. Plus then they can buy things that aren't donated like personal care items which don't seem to come in too often (hint, hint).

Also, before this gets into a debate of why and if we could do this. We spoke to an attorney and I called the FEC head office and spoke to an auditor myself and yes we can, so we did!
Feel free to use the link and give something yourself. It will make you feel good.

Depression Economics and the Nobel Prize

Back in 1999 Paul Krugman saw the economic crisis in Mexico, Argentina and Indonesia along with the collapse and bailout of the American hedgefund Long Term Capital Management as a wake up call in his book The Return of Depression Economics. He has recently updated, expanded and re-released the book and is on his way to Sweden to accept the Nobel Prize for Economics. In short he blames the over leveraging (gambling in the $ Trillions of dollars), lack of adequate cash reserves, lack of transparency and lack of common sense regulation of large swaths of the financial industry that allowed this all to happen and imperil people all over the globe.

Linked here is a brief interview with Mr. Krugman from salon.com http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/feature/2008/12/08/paul_krugman/

It's a short piece and well worth the read (especially for those who tend to rely on commercial TV for what passes as news and information there), but I've included a couple of the more pointed experpts below.

Andrew Leonard: What do you think is the one thread that links all these crises together?Paul

Krugman: Two threads, I think: leverage and the economic fragility it creates, on one side, and the limits to monetary policy on the other. The collapse of Indonesia or Argentina was all about leverage, and we've seen that replayed in the collapse of securitization in the United States. Japan showed us that central bankers can't always save the day, and Ben Bernanke is seeing that truth right now.

Andrew Leonard: What practical steps can we take to immunize ourselves from debilitating panics?

Paul Krugman: Well, we had about 60 years of financial stability, basically because we had an effectively regulated banking system. Then we fell prey to a combination of excessive optimism and excessive literalism. We started believing that financial markets always work, and we also believed that everything was OK as long as things we call banks were guaranteed, not realizing that lots of things we don't call banks are nonetheless subject to bank runs. So the answer is to relearn our grandfathers' lessons: Highly leveraged financial institutions have to be regulated and insured.

Andrew Leonard: What explains the growth of the unregulated shadow banking industry to a point where it could imperil the living standards of everyone on the globe? Was it simply the triumph of deregulatory ideology?

Paul Krugman: Ideology played a big role -- but we should also bear in mind that the shadow banking system was making a few people incredibly rich. And that much wealth distorts policy, not just through campaign contributions and the revolving door, but because people who make that much money come across as masters of the universe who know what they're doing.

Andrew Leonard: And how soon do you think it will be before Republican ideologues start blaming Obama for making it worse? Grover Norquist is already making the claim that the bear market is a result of the 2006 election.

Paul Krugman: To some extent you can't fight it -- people will believe what they want to believe. If they can make FDR the cause of the Great Depression, they can do anything. But one thing progressives can do is make sure that the story of the Bush administration is told, in all respects. There's going to be huge pressure from the usual suspects to let bygones be bygones, to forget about everything from torture to reckless disregard of financial warnings. But I want truth and reconciliation across the board, and progressives have to make it clear that it was an ideology, not an act of God, that made this crisis possible.

Torture Leads to U.S. Troop Deaths/Maimings

A Bronze Star awardee and former Special Intelligence Operations Officer in Iraq who obtained the information that lead to the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq has concluded that the mistreatment and torture of prisoners by American authorities and contractors has lead to a significant portion of the deaths and maimings of American troops in Iraq.HE has written a book; How to Break a Terrorist: The US Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq and an article for the Washigton Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/28/AR2008112802242_pf.html

He discovered that the interrogation techniques developed at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba were transferred to Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and that the outrage over the torture and abuse that occured at Abu Ghraib was a primary monivating factor for foreign fighters to go to Iraq and attack American troops. He also notes that the revelation, not long after the Abu Ghraib atrocities, that the CIA's repeated use of waterboarding at it's black sites around the globe and by proxy through it's extraordinary rendition program of snatching people, including innocent people and sending them to other countries like Syria and Egypt to be tortured on our behalf added more fuel to the fire, further deminished America's moral standing in the world and provided a great recruiting tool for al-Qaeda.

He concludes that Americans and military officers need to fight to protect our values from al-Qaeda and from those in our own country who would erode them.

And here's another little tidbit for those so enamored with extra-judicial detention and torture, a quote from Bush's, and soon to be Obama's Secretary of defense Robert Gates, stating on Tuesday that closing Gitmo will be a "high priority" and that; “I think it is possible to close it. I think it does require a joint effort with the Congress. I think some legislation probably is needed as a part of it. And I think that it will—I think trying to move forward on that, at least from my standpoint, should be a high priority.”

Change is coming and for the good.

Black Friday Stomp

I see that all the news shows have been hyping that we all get out and shop like good little consumers, even more intensely than ussual and especially today. I rarely leave the house on black friday and absolutely avoid any commercial centers if I do. A couple years ago between beers and turkey samdwiches I imagined what it my be like if I were infected with the sort of crazed consumerism that would get me out in the dark and cold to paticipate in a stampede into a (shudder) mall or (wretch) a Walmart. A happy Thanksgiving and a very peaceful Black Friday to you.

Black Friday Stomp


Friday mornin six AM standin here in line
Thanksgivin that might‘ve been livin, but it’s time to do some buyin
Cold’n damp along the wall, like in years before
Gotta thirst to be the first when they open up them doors
On our black Friday shoppin stomp, parkin lot hoppin romp
Pilgrims flockin by the score to the big box store

Don’t you push, don’t you shove, don’t you cut in line
We ain’t here to mess around, we ain’t got the time
Got our lists clenched in our fists, our marchin orders clear
If you ain’t with us yer agin us, git on outta here
On our black Friday shoppin stomp, parkin lot hoppin romp
D-day is at hand, the moment crouches near

Sakes alive, believe our eyes, the doors flung open wide
Swept along by the throng as we push our way inside
Triumphant cries and giddy smiles fanning out along the aisles
Scanning high, peering low among the mounding piles
Got to have this year’s device, no other will suffice
Stand aside won’t be denied, I’ve traveled all these miles

Round the corner twist and spin, man I’ve got the moves
Weaving out and weaving in, each year my skill improves
Got here fast and glory be there upon the shelve
This year’s gotta have it gadget, gonna grab it for my self
On our black Friday shoppin stomp, parkin lot hoppin romp
Three reasons for my ceasing, quickness, cunning, stealth

There’s the last within my grasp, got here just in time
Hey you git your mits off, that item is mine
In a flash grab it dash off to the cashier
My nemesis will not desist chasin at my rear
On our black Friday shoppin stomp, parkin lot hoppin romp
Dear Lord make fleet my feet, git me outta here

With a last ditch dive, my pursuer brings me to the floor
As I stumbled, nearly fumbled, never done that before
In the aisle a people pile asses, ankles, elbows
Got to be in possession when that whistle blows
Eye gouging, ankle bitting, all to get my grip untightened
Felt the blackness welling up and I slipped below

When I came to and I looked down much to my despair
The space in between my hands, nothing there but air
How could I return home, face my family
See their expectant eyes gazing back at me
On black Friday I got stomped, in the big box I got romped
So I signed aboard a merchant freighter and headed off to sea.

Copyright Sean Cranley November 26, 2004 (till death +75yr)

What Do You Do When Your Party Sucks?

Suck harder!

I found this analysis of the state of our GOPster friends to be such an uplifting read that I simply had to share it and spread the good vibes: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/11/24

Gotchyer GOPropoganda on the AM Radio

Hello, Be afraid, be very afraid-eo
We gotchyer GOPropoganda on the AM radio.

Linked here is an excellent article from Milwaukee Magazine by a former WTMJ Radio news director which outlines wonderfully the methods and manipulations deployed by rightwing radio: http://www.milwaukeemagazine.com/currentIssue/full_feature_story.asp?NewMessageID=24046

Those of us who don't count ourselves among the initiated noddinghead indoctrinants of this medium won't be surprised at all by this; those who are will simply choose to ignore it completely or stick it in a corner of their brain where it won't interfere with the machinations of their concrete belief system. But it does provide and interesting insider perspective with real people and real examples.

I have only one critique on the piece. While the author rightly points out how the hosts play on their listeners reptilian fears and their sense of righteous victimhood, he completely misses another avenue of mass mind management they employ, the ego.RWR listeners get their egos stroked on a regular basis. They are incessantly instructed in how they are better than "those people", how they are the bedrock of Merica the greatest nation ever in the universe!. Unlike those other people they are self-reliant, they got where they are all on their own, they don't need nobody else, they are rocks, islands. And so day after day they nod their heads in self-congratulation as they tool on down the public thoroughfare in their ostentatious SUVs. Fear and ego, one need only add greed to make the stool stand, but that's a topic for another day.

I know because I used to listen too. But then I engaged the critical thinking skills that I got from among other places, my public school education and realized they were trying to deceive me, to enlist me as a foot soldier in the War on Reality. So I went AWOL from their boot camp (figuratively, unlike our fearless flightsuit).Of course they don't lie outright, that would be too obvious. So they use the tactics above in concert with half truths and information taken out of context. Of course the intent (deception) and the desired outcome (manipulation) still make it in fact a lie.

Which is why I will not listen anything at all on stations like WTMJ and WISN, they are not serving the public interest as is their charge, quite the contrary. Oh sure from time to time I still get curious and tune in to El Snortbo or one of his clones to see what are the Rovian ganda-bytes of the day. But I always tune them out again at the first easily discerned deception or commercial, so my sessions are exceedingly brief.

Unlike the author though, I'm optimistic. I think the scales are finally falling from a lot of people's eyes and that the power of RWR lies to hold back the realities that are coming to pass from the failures of an extreme and deeply flawed belief system are on the wane. Which leads me to close with renewed confidence in the truth of my axiom:

If you must lie to advance your thoughts, your thoughts are not advanced.

Our President-Elect

BAP Rolls On

This may seem obvious, but I'll say it anyway. The election victory last night does not mean the end of BAP. We'll continue getting together and putting on events and talking about the next election. Though first, we'll probably take a bit of time to enjoy this one. :-) See you soon.

Autism support from Sarah Palin - Thanks, but no thanks.

A guest editorial from a woman who has two kids with autism and is the sister of one of our friends in Burlington.

*
It is after midnight and I can't sleep because I am so shaken by Sarah Palin's comments today in regard to autism. Just in case you did not know, she says we (special needs parents) can count on her as a friend and she would be sure to spend money better. But she mocked research being done on fruit flies saying they have little to no value. She said with a smirk ".sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not."

I am just shaken that she would make such a statement when fruit flies, for many years now, have been a standard in scientific research and that they have led to valuable discoveries related to autism and many other important causes. They have taught us about a protein called neurexin, which is required for nerve cell connections to form and function properly and how this plays a role in autism. What is she thinking?

It is nice that she offers to be my friend but I already have friends that support me (Thanks!). If we need anything, we need science and knowledge and information to solve this horrible epidemic. I do not expect her to know every detail of science, but to mock it and, worse yet, say you will stop it because it has little or no value when you obviously know nothing about it is so irresponsible. Does she think she knows better than the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the National Institute of Mental Health and the state of North Carolina who funded this research? Oh my goodness she scares me! Doesn't she know how to use google? This was reported on September of last year.

If this is an issue she calls near and dear to her heart and she can't get facts straight enough to make a good judgment call, how will she manage anything else?

Wassup Now?

Years after the funny series of Wassup commercials, what are those guys up to during the Bush Depression?



Funny, sad, moving, true. Vote.

McCain's Real Record on the Environment

The League of Conservation Voters put together this video about McCain's terrible record on the environment and alternative energies:



For more information, check their web site: www.lcv.org.

McCain'ts Healthcare Plan

McCain'ts Healthcare Plan? Why it couldn't be more simple, marry and heiress and run for Congress. You see in today's treacherous healthcare environment it pays to have a backup plan (like John's), in case you get say, melanoma (like John) and become uninsurable in the private market place.

Be prepared. You never know when an extremist freemarket fundamentalist politician might come along with a scheme (like John's) to offer a $5000 tax credit to purchase a $12,000 family healthcare plan as an individual on the open market rather than as a member of a risk sharing pool.

But if you're a member of Congress (like John), no sweat you're covered. And if that should fail, no problem, you've married an heiress, you're independently wealthy (like John) and can pay your own bills, you're golden!

Now some of you will say; "I don't need to take personnal responsibility and marry an heiress or become a Congressman, this is America no one goes without healthcare! Simply go to the emergency room." But just try getting treatment for melanoma (like John's) in an emergency room and see how fast they laugh you out of the automatic sliding doors.

Without the health plan plan or the cash to get treatment for melanoma (like John's) chances are you'd be dead real fast. So take a tip from John and plan ahead. Because if it's good enough for John it's good enough for you!?

Real Americans

The usual incisive satirical commentary from the Daily Show.



I'm glad we have the GOP to us who the "real" Americans are.

Addendum: And in case you're confused as to whether you may be a Real American, the Daily Show has come up with the following quiz and helpful hints:



Clear now? Thought so.

If I Were a Terrorist

James Pence explains how terrorists could really take America down.



Good thing that could never happen.

Takin' It Back with Barack, Jack!

Kay found this video/song at www.devradowrite.com, and it was too good not to share.

A little hip fun to get you swingin' for the last 2 weeks of the election. GOTV!

Here are the lyrics:

Hate to see the nation being run by a hack
Dig the situation that he dug in Iraq
Half the population wants to give him the sack
And now he’s lookin’ round for somebody else to attack
We need somebody great to get us back on the track

So we’re takin’ it back with Barack, Jack!

Choo Choo, Change to believe in
Woo woo, we can achieve it
Choo Choo, Change to believe in
Takin’ it back with Barack, Jack!

Now that global warming is a matter of fact
The only real question is just how to react
The new administration needs the guts to enact
Drastic legislation, leave the planet intact
We can’t be foolin’ round with some Republican Mac

So we’re takin’ it back with Barack, Jack!

Choo Choo….

He only gets his money from your regular macs
Doesn’t take a penny from some whackity PAC’s
For bringin’ folk together he’s the man with the knack
And he’ll supply the hope and inspiration we lack
Cause he’s the best we got and did I ….mention he’s black?

So we’re takin’ it back with Barack, Jack!

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama

A great endorsement from the former general and Secretary of State.



Check it out.

Joe the Plumber is a Fraud!

- JtheP does not have a plumbing license so he's not qualified to run the business.
- JtheP is a registered Republican, so his showing up at the Obama rally with "sincere" questions was just a sham.
- The plumbing business JtheP wants to buy only makes about $100K/year, well below Obama's $250K threashold. So under Obama he'd do BETTER if he bought it.
- He only made $40 last year (he better get that plumbing license) so the chances are that this cracker ain't buying a crackerjack stand, let alone a plumbing business.
- The business JtheP says he wants to buy is not for sale.
- Just another dishonest GOPster ploy. Cuz honesty just doesn't work for dishonest people with dishonest plans.
- How stupid can you get. You go on national TV with a contrived GOPoperative story that doesn't stand up for even 24 hours. I wonder how many interviews he'll be agreeing to do today. What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. JtheP is a liar.
- And the McCain campaign is hanging their hat on this guy. they found their "Jeff Gannon". What a surprise, more aimless thrashing about by the McCain't campaign.
- JtheP has a lien on his house because he hasn't paid his property taxes. Why SHOULD he pay his fair share, he's a GOPster!
- JT Plumber Patently pathetic.

Parade Magazine: Obama vs. McCain

I was very surprised to open my Sunday paper yesterday to discover Parade Magazine (not known for their political coverage - or left-wing leanings) with a chart detailing the differences in Obama & McCain's economic/tax plans.

Here's a link. Or, if that doesn't work in your browser, you can use the full URL below.

http://www.parade.com/news/intelligence-report/archive/how-much-would-you-pay-taxes.html

Their analysis shows that if you earn less than $112,000 per year, you'll do better with Obama in every case. At lower levels of income, substantially better.

And even up to $250,000 dollars, you'll have tax savings with Obama (though after 112k you'll get a bigger tax break with McCain).

Those of us who've been paying attention knew that Obama would save money for anyone earning less than $250,000. We also knew McCain's plan would give bigger tax breaks to those already well off.

What surprised me is the amount of "extra" money you'd have to pay under Obama if you earn between $250,000 and $600,000. (And I daresay that most of us earn less than 600k). According to the article, the extra tax you'd have to pay if you earn in that range is . . . a whopping total of $121. No misprint (unless it's on the magazine's side), that's one-hundred and twenty-one dollars per year.

Seems like a small sacrifice to make for most of the US population.

(Heck, even strapped as I am, I'd be happy to pitch in $121 a year to ensure universal health care.)

Of course, if you're making more than $600,000, under Obama you'd have to give up your W. Bush Tax cut. (And McCain would give you a big tax break -- whether you need it or not.)

I'll be carrying a copy of this article with me whenever I canvass or talk to other voters. I'm urging everyone in the campaign and BAP and all of my friends & family to do the same.

Spread the word. Let's get this to go viral.

GOPster Samantha Kerkman’s supporters have now demonstrated beyond doubt what scumbag traitors to America and her democracy that they are!

This is that same deceitful GOPgarbage that we go through EVERY election with the stealing and destroying of signs that represent the free speech rights of people that they disagree with and are afraid of.

How did I miss that this morning on my way to work this morning? I guess I was looking left at the Zamba = Socialism Bulls**t attack signs.

This shows them for what they are!, small minded, fearful, violent and criminal!

ZAMBA BILLBOARD HIT BY VEHICLE - WATCH WTMJ NEWS

From Larry Zamba: Last night Kerkman supporter(s) intentionally drove a vehicle 100 feet through a farmers field and smashed through our ZAMBA=HEALTHCARE billboard on Hwy 75 and 142. Rather than compete in the arena of ideas, my opponents supporters have chosen not only to steal our signs, but violently destroy private property.

I invite you to watch WTMJ tonight at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to see an inerview with me. If you miss it, we’ll have it up on Youtube.com soon. I’ve tried to run a fun, informative, unique campaign. I was warned how this campaign would go on the west side of Kenosha. Somehow, I thought it would be different this year. I should have known. Kerkman’s afraid to debate me. And because her record has been so lacklauster after 8 years, I guess this is all her supporters have left. Drive trucks through our signs. Apparently these people think they are above the law. They violate our First Amendment rights. And they set a terrible example for our children. As fast as we put up signs, they steal them. One fellow likened their tactics to the brown shirts of Hitlers day.

They must be very afraid of losing this election. And they should be. In fact, canvasing numbers give us a 4000 person lead. But we need to win over those independents to make sure that victory is ours. We’re shifting gears into a different form of advertising now, and that requires money.

Will you please help by donating? This has been elevated by them to a state of violence now. I’m willing to fight them, but I need your financial help now.Please, go to electzamba.com and click on DONATE or mail a check to 24503-75 Street, Salem, WI 53168, made payable to Friends of Larry Zamba.
Thank you!
Larry

Cons Blaming Clinton (Again!)

Once again the the so called "conservatives are trying to blame Clinton for the failures of their Fearless Flightsuit. Only this time they're really desparate as they see their failed extremist utopian ideology crumbling in front of their eyes.

So Rush "Half-The-Truth-All-The-Time" Limbo and his ilk have concocted a fantasy whereby this financial meltdown is the fault of Bill Clinton all those years ago. And the Kool-aid drinkers are still swallowing hard to defend their rigid but deeply flawed belief system. They are ever-so-slightly right in a way, Bill and his side kick Paul Rubens acting as GOPwanabees went along with McCain Econ advisor Phil "Americans-Are-Whiners" Gram, Mr. Enron himself in dismantaling regulations put in place after the Great Depresson to prevent it's recurrance.

This is in fact the perfect storm with at least 5 converging factors working in concert to cause this crisis as outlined below:

1) There were a lot of people (lenders and borrowers) who were all convinced of the conventional wisdom, that house prices ALWAYS go up. So there was NO risk to either party because selling would always recoup the value (and more). I have to say that I didn't question that much myself, although I would NEVER borrow against most of my equity to finance consumer Shtuff. But you know that isn't so much because I'm smart or virtuous as it is because I'm lucky and had savy parents who had savy parents who taught them that, and who in turn tought me that.

2) A lot of people thought they were getting fixed rate loans only to find out at the last minute or after the fact that they were getting ARMs. You know, fraud (see #3 below) If an ARM scared you, well take comfort, see item #1 above!

3) The people who wrote the loans had ZERO stake in the ability of the borrowers to make the payments because they sold them as fast as they got'em (See the fricken Countrywide CEO who walked with $Ms while his employees and shaeholders gotthe shaft as just one example).

4) The late 1990's repeal of the Roosevelt Era Glass-Steagle Act by GOPderegulators such as such as McCain Economic Advisor Phil "Enron" Gram and GOPwannabees like Paul Rubens and his master Bill "where kin I stick it" Clinton created a conflict of interest between the banks who want to sell the mortgages and the brokerages who want to bundle the mortgages into bonds/securities and sell tham all over the globe because they became one company, which was wisely prohibited since the 1930's. The incentive of the brokerages to check the teeth of what they were buying from the banks and selling to their clients was gone when the banks bought them upafter GOPderegulation.

5) Leveraged Hedge Funds and Deriviatives. Out of my league to explain.It's the perfect storm. ALL FIVE were required to created this crisis. Fixed interest loans and this doesn't happen. A stake in the viability of the borrower by the initial lender and this doesn't happen. Transparency in the process of selling and re-selling these loans and THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN! Leveraging the risk all over the the global economy and THIS . . . !

But what is the root sin? GREED. Greed and the enabled desire of the greedy ones (through moneyed lobbying of OUR government) to pursue their vice through the "conservative" plank of wontan and unbalanced deregulation which was what brought us our last Great Depression.

YOU (not the sinners) are now paying the wages of SIN! What more evidence could anyone need of the need to reform our democracy and make it work for people and not money?