Is the USA a Banana Republic?

Democrats control the government - all three branches. This is driving Republicans mad. Calling us liberals isn't working anymore so they are now trying to brand us fascists. Fascists really hasn't clicked, so now they are trying to brand us socialists. Socialist doesn't seem to be working either - so now we are a Banana Republic.

But what makes us a Banana Republic. The Supreme Court didn't appoint Obama president. We didn't ignore intelligence reports about attacks on our country. We haven't lied ours country into a war. We didn't tell people to shop rather than sacrifice to support our country in a time of war. We didn't send too few troops to fight the war. We didn't send ill-equiped troops to fight the war. We haven't held people in prison without due process. We haven't suspended Habeas corpus. We didn't sit around while a major city was destroyed in a hurricane. We didn't prevent people from attending presidential "town halls" because of their politcal view. We didn't fire assistant attorneys general for politcal reasons. We didn't keep the process about how just about every major policy decision was made. We didn't squander a surplus budget. We didn't make our country hated around the world.

What did we do? We voted overwhelmingly for a smart, relatively young man who happens to be black and has an unusual name. We elected him because we want to end the Iraq War. We elected him because we want to stop torture. We elected him because we need to do something about energy indepence to make our country safer. We elected him because we realize that every American citizen deserves health care. And yes, many of us agree that people in the previous administration should be held accountable if they broke the law.

If lying about a blowjob is a crime, certainly lying about torture is a crime.

More Display of Ignorance from Congress

Ever hear of plate tectonics and continental drift congressman? No? I didn't think so. You would rather display your ignorance to the public while supposedly serving us in Congress.

Turns out this is even worse than I thought. It was Congressman Barton's office that released that video. They really honestly believe they stumped Sec. Chu. Look at Rep. Barton's arrogant "tweet" below:


Hey look at me! I stumped Nobel Prize winner Energy Sec. Chu. I just baffled him. That's right congressman, you did baffle him. You baffled him with your stupidity.

Maybe reading the pdf at this link will explain why the congressman appears to be ill educated.

What is Fascism?

This short post from the American Prospect helps define fascism:

The following things are fascism:

* Universal health care coverage

* A 39% top tax rate

* Boosting funding for voluntary national service programs

The following things are not fascism:

* Idenfinite detention without trial

* Torture

* “Disappearing” suspected criminals

* Warrantless surveillance of American citizens

No Man-Bear-Pig in Louisiana

At the request of the Catholic church, Louisiana will make it illegal for scientists to create the man-bear-pig.

More Gary from Bloomingdale Wisdom

There has been an ongoing debate this week, concerning the Gay Marriage bill, on "Talk of the Town". Adirondack Moralist "Gary from Bloomingdale" is, of course, against marriage of gays. Today he claimed that anyone that could cite a study showing that animals perform homosexuality would be a millionaire. I hope I win the million dollars!

Here is my reply:

"Gary from Bloomingdale" said anyone that could cite a study on homosexuality in animals would be a millionaire. I hope I'm the first to write in. I'm not sure if Gary is giving the million dollars, if so he can tell me when I can collect it. If not, maybe Gary can tell me where I can collect my million dollars.

Evidence for homosexuality in animals:

Bruce Bagemihl, Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity, St. Martin's Press, 1999; ISBN 0312192398

Harrold, Max (1999-02-16). "Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity". The Advocate, reprinted in Highbeam Encyclopedia.

Or how about this reference from the University of Oslo: "The most well-known homosexual animal is the dwarf chimpanzee, one of humanity's closes relatives. The entire species is bisexual. Sex plays an conspicuous roll in all their activities and takes the focus away from violence, which is the most typical method of solving conflicts among primates and many other animals."

Maybe "Gary from Bloomingdale" could read this book: "Homosexual Behaviour in Animals": An Evolutionary Perspective by Volker Sommer, Paul L. Vasey

Maybe Gary would like to watch a little homosexual activity among animals. He can go here to this National Geographic video and see for himself (http://nationalgeographic-2.magnify.net/video/Homosexuality-in-Animals)

Male fruit flies have been made to act "homosexual" by genetically deleting their capacity to make dopamine as shown in this study:
Reduction of dopamine level enhances the attractiveness of male Drosophila to other males. Liu T, Dartevelle L, Yuan C, Wei H, Wang Y, Ferveur JF, Guo A.
Gary from Bloomingdale needs to stop relying on common sense so much. Common sense only means that a givem group of people have the same opinion about a given subject. It doesn't make them right. It was once common sense that disease was caused by bad humors in the body.

Be that as it may, I want my million dollars.

Angels Talk Back to Jesus

K-12 Textbooks - Why Texas Rules

What a screwed up system of selecting textbooks for use in our schools.
Read this article and I guarantee you will walk away shaking your head.

Ignorant John Boehner

Here's Minority Leader John Boehner on climate change:

"The idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen that is harmful to our environment is almost comical. Every time we exhale, we exhale carbon dioxide. Every cow in the world, you know when they do what they do you've got more carbon dioxide."

CO2 is a carcinogen? The major greenhouse gas produced by cattle is CO2? How can this guy go on National TV and display his ignorance and not get called on it?