Saturday Stuff

Second verse, same as the first (from the day before – here)…



…and I remember getting dressed up for Saturday night – sigh.

Friday Stuff

I suppose “Obamacare” does cover pre-existing conditions, but I’m afraid Romney’s type of stoo-pid could be terminal (certainly for his presidential prospects, though we need to make sure of that – here)…



…and with stuff like this, no wonder Willard Mitt has “Romnesia” (funny)…



…and what of Willard Mitt’s “youthful ward”? Check this out (and this - typical)…



…and shifting the tone again, I give you this from Robert Redford (yet another important reason to vote for President Obama)…



…and 50 years ago, we were smack dab in the middle, basically, of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which lasted from about October 16th to the 28th – I thought Chris Matthews had some really good stuff on that on the following episode of “Real Time” (now watch those bastards at HBO find a way to block this video like they always do)…



…and happy birthday to Karl Wallinger of World Party.

Thursday Stuff

(I also posted here.)

Yep, you can tell we’re in the home stretch of a U.S. House re-election campaign featuring Mikey The Beloved – the Courier Times today, in the front page banner, has a reminder to look inside the paper for a full-page ad telling us how great Mikey supposedly is…yes, I get it that the paper can accept any advertising they want, but that still utterly reeks, almost as much as their largely pungent Op-Eds – and to help Kathy Boockvar, click here…



…and I don’t suppose this is really that funny, but it does make a point that needs to be made (more here)…

The Woman For Mitt Romney with Selma Blair from Selma Blair

…and I should have included this clip of Obama’s summing up at the Tuesday debate before now, but better late than never…



…and I think this is a bit of a catchy tune from these guys – they’ve ended up wearing pretty well, don’t you think?

Wednesday Stuff

I read some pundit who equated this moment from Willard Mitt (Binders Full of Women…???) Romney last night with Gerald Ford’s remark about supposed Polish autonomy way back when – just a thought...oh, and here is another thought…



...and I wish Obama had said, “yeah, here’s my pension, you doofus” and accented it with a crotch grab; I realize, though, that while that would have been highly satisfying, it probably would have cost # 44 the election – looks like that was Romney’s “I’ll bet Rick Perry 10 grand” moment, only slightly updated - here…



…and I don’t know why any life form with a pulse would trust Romney on anything, but I think this is an appropriate smack down on the whole question of what Romney would do if, God help us, he got the opportunity to sign legislation relegating Roe v. Wade to the dust bin (and with a Repug Congress and – God help us – he and Mr. Puppy-Dog-Eyes-With-The-Shiv in charge, you know he’d get it)…



…and happy 71st birthday to James Seals of Seals and Crofts; not going to get into the whole baha'I thing tonight, though…with all of the political flotsam and jetsam out there, I’m in the mood for a bit of escapism, and I think this vid delivers – hope you agree.

The Inky Gets It Straight On PA-08

The Philadelphia Inquirer announced its endorsement in the eighth district U.S. House race…

…and it’s Kathy Boockvar!

As the Inky tells us here…

A scurrilous Republican ad campaign against Democrat Kathy Boockvar offered (Mike) Fitzpatrick a chance to speak out against the divisiveness that continues to paralyze Washington. But instead of showing leadership, he has mostly talked about his bipartisan credentials as a former county commissioner.

Add his party-line votes to repeal the health-care overhaul and approve budgets that would gut federal programs, maintain tax cuts for the wealthy, and threaten traditional Medicare, and it becomes clear that Fitzpatrick is cozying up to tea-party policies far from his district's mainstream.

Gosh, it looks like the word has gotten out that Mikey’s “spine” is made of vermicelli. Color me shocked!

I’ve criticized the Boockvar campaign for not attacking Fitzpatrick’s awful voting record more. But even though PA-08 was heavily redrawn to support the Repugs…well, if Boockvar somehow manages to pull this off, I’ll gladly eat humble pie.

This is what happens when you get all kissy faced with the Teahadists, Mikey. And it couldn’t happen to a more deserving person.

To help Kathy, click here.

Tuesday Stuff

On the one hand, it’s terrific to see so much citizen action in all of the political stuff with the videos in particular (and yeah, it’s even better that it benefits Obama and the Democrats, mainly because the Repugs are just stone cold nuts on the national level). On the other hand, it’s sad to me that such participation is necessary because our traditional corporate media has, for the most part, utterly failed in its duty to educate and inform…

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

…and this goes out to Willard Mitt, who apparently got smoked by Obama based on the observations of the teenaged one (with Romney apparently looking oh so presidential on that Libya thing – not!).

Monday Stuff (updates)

And the Catholic Church continues to support (wink, wink) this pirate (more here…watch this and then ask me why I’m supposed to need some damn debate to make up my mind)…



Update 1 10/16/12: Uh, yep (and as far as I'm concerned, the analogy to organized crime is utterly appropriate).

Update 2 10/16/12: More here...

Update 3 10/16/12: And concerning the whole "debate" thing, I think this was very well-said, bad language and all.

…and a long time ago, I worked for a company in downtown Philadelphia where the former CEO, now deceased, once threatened to fire any employee who voted for Bill Clinton – I left soon after he said that, so I really didn’t think it was worth it to tell him what he could do in response; basically, the more things change…I know you know the rest (here)…



…and this goes out to Willard Mitt and “Mr. Puppy-Dog-Eyes-With-The-Shiv” (the latter noted here), because, as I sometimes say, you just can never get enough Frank Zappa…



…and I would say that this was nicely done; IMHO, Willard Mitt is the real “Slim Shady.”

More Sunday Stuff

As far as I’m concerned, the real “takeaway” in this New York Times profile of former Bushie (and now chief Romney) economist Glenn Hubbard comes near the end…

Mr. Hubbard earned much more making the same pro-industry point in several court appearances, as an expert witness on behalf of corporations and mutual fund interests. One of those cases was a lawsuit by employees of ABB, a power generation products manufacturer, against the company and Fidelity, the mutual fund giant, over accusations that ABB paid excessive fees, at the employees’ expense, to manage the company’s 401(k)plan.

During a cross-examination, Mr. Hubbard said Fidelity had paid him $420,000 for his participation in the case. About $200,000 of that was direct billings — he charged $1,200 an hour — and the rest came from a company called the Analysis Group, which provides teams of experts for research projects. Mr. Hubbard earned 7.5 percent of the amount that Analysis Group researchers charged Fidelity.

A federal judge in Missouri ultimately found that ABB and Fidelity had breached a number of their fiduciary duties and in March of this year ordered ABB to pay $35.2 million and Fidelity to pay $1.7 million for losses.

But (John P. Freeman, emeritus professor of business and professional ethics at the University of South Carolina School of Law at the University of South Carolina) says he believes that Mr. Hubbard’s scholarship on this subject — particularly the paper he co-wrote — was shoddy and did genuine damage.

“What Hubbard and (John C. Coates IV of Harvard Law School) have done is pour holy water on the Investment Company Institute’s hopelessly stupid defense of fees charged by mutual funds,” he said in a telephone interview. That Mr. Hubbard took money for the paper casts doubts on his motives, Professor Freeman says.

And when it comes to Hubbard, I think the following should be considered from here (the clip ends with Maddow and a perplexed look on her face – I can’t imagine that anyone else has a clue as to what Romney is talking about either)…



…and this to me is a first; a video with a bunch of guys standing in the middle of a creek on a cold night greeting aliens, and apparently alcohol isn’t involved.

Sunday Stuff

RIP Arlen Specter – on the “con” side, there’s the infamous “magic bullet” theory, the Anita Hill inquisition, the fact that his “answer” to almost every issue was to hold a hearing, and probably more than a few items I’m forgetting (and he commendably spoke “truth to stoo-pid” here a little over five years ago and, as nearly as I can tell, didn’t invoke anywhere near the amount of flak Harry Reid took for saying basically the same thing).

On the “pro” side, he served our country in the Air Force and also served in government (as well as the U.S. Senate from PA, of course) for about 40 years, delivering millions to our beloved commonwealth and creating thousands (or maybe more) of jobs. And even when I disagreed with him (which was often), I believe that he honestly examined an issue and exercised his best judgment, which, to me, is why we elect these people even when they don’t do what they want.

And yes, he became a Democrat a couple of years ago out of political expediency. But honestly, was he wrong to basically say that the Republican Party (on the national level, at least) has gone around the proverbial bend?

Our sympathies go out to Specter’s family and friends (more here)…



…and notwithstanding Specter’s comments here about “Holy Joe” Lieberman (as well as the self-promotion, though who doesn’t do that these days?), I still think he made some good points here (including the Romney dig at the end - heh).