Pot, Aliens And Politicians... And The Unending Saga Of Florida GOP Gangster David Rivera

The self-described "bad girl" of Florida Republican politics, Ana Sol Alliegro, says she just wants "to cut hair like Paul Mitchell and make people feel good." So he's on the lam, hiding out from the FBI in the picturesque town of Granada on the shore of Lake Nicaragua, under the name Ana Solá and running a beauty parlour, Salon La Libertad, next to the Roman Catholic bishop's house. From a prominent Cuban fascist family under Batista, the violent, drug addicted Alliegro brags that "All my life, I have fought for the GOP." Her bungled dirty tricks on behalf of then-Congressman David Rivera helped cost him his House seat last November and is likely to land both of them in prison eventually.

She's said to be using much stronger drugs than the marijuana Republican Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher is trying to get legalized back in the U.S.-- well kind of legalized. With right-wing fanatics Andrew Harris (R-MD), Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Jo Bonner (R-AL) demanding Obama crack down on states whose citizens have passed pro-pot laws-- as Colorado and Washington just did, following 16 other states-- the more libertarian-leaning Rohrabacher (R-CA) introduced H.R. 1523, a bill that would immunize from federal prosecution "individual marijuana consumers [as well as] medical and non-medical marijuana businesses operating in states in which they are legal." His co-sponsors are Justin Amash (R-MI), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Jared Polis, (D-CO) and Don Young (R-AK).

“This bipartisan bill represents a common-sense approach that establishes federal government respect for all states’ marijuana laws,” says Rohrabacher. “ It does so by keeping the federal government out of the business of criminalizing marijuana activities in states that don’t want it to be criminal.”

The bill’s approach to marijuana policy is seemingly consistent with the views of a solid majority of voters. A recent Pew Research poll found 60% of Americans believe, “the federal government should not enforce federal laws prohibiting the use of marijuana in states where it is legal.”

So where do the aliens come in? If you watch History Channel, you know they're out there-- and that they've visited earth and interacted with man for centuries-- and so do former Members of Congress Mike Gravel (D-AK), Darlene Hooley, (D-OR), Merrill Cook (R-UT), Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-MI), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA). They're holding a mock hearing in later April-- since Congress won't-- about the conspiracy within the U.S. government to cover up the existence of extraterrestrials. The 5 day meeting will be available in English, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, Japanese and Mandarin.

Nihilism And The Republican Party Establishment-- What Would McKinley And His Backers Say?

Let me introduce the essential video above with a tweet from Sen. Bernie Sanders yesterday: "93% of all new income generated between 2009 & 2010 went to the top 1% while the bottom 99% split the remaining 7%. #Sequester

One of the most memorable moments in the History Channel's rabidly pro-capitalist series, The Men Who Built America, came when predatory titans John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie decided to make Republican Party hack William McKinley president and destroy the political career of populist Democrat William Jennings Bryan ("the Great Commoner," his day's version of Bernie Sanders). J.P. Morgan: "We have to buy our own president." Watch the video above; you'll love it. It sums up the real history of the post-Lincoln/pre-Tea Party Republican Party.

Yes, "pre-Tea Party." Today the party of the predator titans has made a dangerous deal with the devil-- the easily manipulated teabaggers, racists, and paranoids that are now the electoral base of the GOP. They have embraced the studied ignorance and nihilism the titans most feared and loathed. Yesterday, the A.P. asserted in a headline that automatic budget cuts find few fans. That's Boehner's Sequestration they're talking about and while Boehner may (or may not) be a fan, plenty in the GOP base-- in DC and back in the lands that get their information primarily from Fox and Hate Talk Radio-- are eager for the pain and suffering Sequestration will bring. In Washington, these are the nihilists-- like Mike Pompeo, Koch Industries very own congressman... and they shouldn't be in Congress. Pompeo famously refers to the pain and suffering inherent in the Sequester as "a home run." Rockefeller, Morgan and Carnegie might be confused. The Kochs, offspring of the John Birch Society, are certainly just as predatory but a far different-- and more dangerous-- breed of titan. Between Rockefeller, Morgan and Carnegie and then the Koch brothers, we had the full flowering of the penultimate post-slavery right-wing economic system: fascism. Republican governors-- even the most weak-minded, like Arizona featherweight Jan Brewer have figured out that the real world trumps ideology when you try to actually run a state, instead of just destroy the opposing political party.

The automatic budget cuts set to take hold this week were roundly condemned Sunday as governors, lawmakers and administration officials hoped for a deal to stave off the $85 billion reduction in government services.

Suggestions intended to instill a spirit of compromise included bringing all sides to the bargaining table, where they could act like "adults, a presidential summit at Camp David and even a field trip to watch Lincoln.

The alternative, as the White House outlined, is a damaging impact on everything from commercial flights to classrooms and meat inspections.

With Friday's deadline nearing, few in the nation's capital were optimistic that a realistic alternative could be found. Instead of dealing with problem at hand, both sides made assigning blame a priority as the clock ticked down.

"Unless the Republicans are willing to compromise and do a balanced approach, I think it will kick in," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

..."It's senseless and it doesn't need to happen," said Gov. Martin O'Malley, D-Md., during the annual meeting of the National Governors Association this weekend.

"And it's a damn shame, because we've actually had the fastest rate of jobs recovery of any state in our region. And this really threatens to hurt a lot of families in our state and kind of flat line our job growth for the next several months."

Some governors said the impasse was just the latest crisis in Washington that is keeping businesses from hiring and undermining the ability of state leaders to develop their own spending plans.

"I've not given up hope, but we're going to be prepared for whatever comes," said Gov. Brian Sandoval, R-Nev. "There will be consequences for our state."

Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy said it is past time for both sides to sit down to help dodge cuts that will hurt all states' budgets.

"Come to the table, everyone. Everybody. Let's work this thing out. Let's be adults," Malloy said.

Obama has not been able to find success for his approach of reducing deficits through a combination of targeted savings and tax increases. House Republicans have said reduced spending needs to be the focus and have rejected the president's demand to include higher taxes as part of a compromise.

...There are fewer signs of urgency among congressional leaders, who have recently indicated their willingness to let the cuts take effect and stay in place for weeks, if not much longer.

"It will kick in, but at a pro rata rate. So, you're not going to see $85 billion all of a sudden shrink from the federal government," Coburn [R-OK] said, suggesting the reality would not turn dire immediately.

The cuts would trim from domestic and defense spending alike, leading to furloughs for hundreds of thousands of workers. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the cuts would harm the readiness of U.S. fighting forces.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called those defense cuts "unconscionable" and urged Obama to call lawmakers to the White House or the presidential retreat of Camp David for a last-minute budget summit.

"I won't put all the blame all on the president of the United States. But the president leads. The president should be calling us over somewhere-- Camp David, the White House, somewhere-- and us sitting down and trying to avert these cuts," McCain said.

Both sides created the sequester problem. Obama gave in to right-wing blackmail over the national debt and went along with the idiotic scheme in which Boehner bragged he had gotten 98% of what he wanted. And now only one side wants to solve it, even if the GOP Establishment understands the danger. Senate Democrats offered a temporary plan that heads it off with spending cuts and increased revenues but the Republicans insist on more and deeper cuts and only cuts and that they double-dare the Democrats to let the economy go down the shitter. Last night, the White House released a detailed look at how Boehner's Sequester will impact each state. Here, in part is what will happen in his own state, Ohio:

Our economy is continuing to strengthen but we cannot afford a self-inflicted wound from Washington. Republicans should compromise and meet the President in the middle. We cannot simply cut our way to prosperity, and if Republicans continue to insist on an unreasonable, cuts-only approach, Ohio risks paying the price.

If sequestration were to take effect, some examples of the impacts on Ohio this year alone are:

• Teachers and Schools: Ohio will lose approximately $25.1 million in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 350 teacher and aide jobs at risk. In addition about 34,000 fewer students would be served and approximately 100 fewer schools would receive funding.

* Education for Children with Disabilities: In addition, Ohio will lose approximately $22 million in funds for about 270 teachers, aides, and staff who help children with disabilities.

• Work-Study Jobs: Around 3,320 fewer low income students in Ohio would receive aid to help them finance the costs of college and around 1,450 fewer students will get work-study jobs that help them pay for college.

• Head Start: Head Start and Early Head Start services would be eliminated for approximately 2,500 children in Ohio, reducing access to critical early education.

• Protections for Clean Air and Clean Water: Ohio would lose about $6,865,000 in environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality, as well as prevent pollution from pesticides and hazardous waste. In addition, Ohio could lose another $981,000 in grants for fish and wildlife protection.

• Military Readiness: In Ohio, approximately 26,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed, reducing gross pay by around $161.4 million in total.

* Army: Base operation funding would be cut by about $1.9 million in Ohio.

* Air Force: Funding for Air Force operations in Ohio would be cut by about $3 million.

• Law Enforcement and Public Safety Funds for Crime Prevention and Prosecution: Ohio will lose about $455,000 in Justice Assistance Grants that support law enforcement, prosecution and courts, crime prevention and education, corrections and community corrections, drug treatment and enforcement, and crime victim and witness initiatives.

• Job Search Assistance to Help those in Ohio find Employment and Training: Ohio will lose about $1,786,000 in funding for job search assistance, referral, and placement, meaning around 57,100 fewer people will get the help and skills they need to find employment.

• Child Care: Up to 800 disadvantaged and vulnerable children could lose access to child care, which is also essential for working parents to hold down a job.

• Vaccines for Children: In Ohio around 5,040 fewer children will receive vaccines for diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, whooping cough, influenza, and Hepatitis B due to reduced funding for vaccinations of about $344,000.

• Public Health: Ohio will lose approximately $1,102,000 in funds to help upgrade its ability to respond to public health threats including infectious diseases, natural disasters, and biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological events. In addition, Ohio will lose about $3,310,000 in grants to help prevent and treat substance abuse, resulting in around 4200 fewer admissions to substance abuse programs. And the Ohio State Department of Health will lose about $302,000 resulting in around 7,600 fewer HIV tests.

• STOP Violence Against Women Program: Ohio could lose up to $245,000 in funds that provide services to victims of domestic violence, resulting in up to 900 fewer victims being served.

• Nutrition Assistance for Seniors: Ohio would lose approximately $823,000 in funds that provide meals for seniors.

That's just Boehner's home state-- and McKinley's. Watch the first 10-15 minutes of the video up top again.

Will Voters Choose Less Generational Income Mobility?

The other night I was watching an episode of the History Channel's fascinating--albeit extremely elitist-oriented-- series, The Men Who Built America. I tuned in just when they were talking about one of the most abhorrent of America's avaricious robber barons (widely acknowledged the most hated man in America), Henry Frick-- kind of a David Koch/Mitt Romney of his day-- who was vilified for an utter lack of morality. Founder of the notorious South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Frick demanded the earthen damn holding back Lake Conemaugh be structurally weakened to allow the widening of a road that would allow his extra-wide carriage to pass more comfortably. That led directly to the Johnstown Flood of 1889, the worst man-made disaster in American history until 9/11. It was awesome for Frick's carriage but 20 million tons of water was released in a storm and the city of Johnstown was virtually wiped out. 2,209 people were killed and although it was clear at the time that Frick and his fellow robber barons from the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club (which owned the damn) were guilty of manslaughter, they all managed to avoid any punishment at all. I couldn't find the History Channel portrayal of Frick online yet but up top is a History Channel documentary on the Great Flood itself which does make reference to whether it was the robber barons from the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club who caused the disaster or if it was "a gift from God."

Today, Johnstown is part of PA-12 and represented by corporate whore Mark Critz. Some people never learn. And it isn't just the folks in southwest Pennsylvania who haven't learned the lessons of plutocracy. Yesterday I ran across Charles Hugh Smith's blog, OfTwoMinds, where I found Generational Wealth and Upward Mobility, making the point that advanced democracies have lost upward mobility... something sure to accelerate if Romney and Ryan are elected and their agenda enacted.

Both capitalism and democracy promise the opportunity for upward mobility. Capitalism offers upward mobility to anyone with a profitable idea or productive skillset and work ethic. Democracy implicitly promises a "level playing field" of meritocracy, where talent, drive and hard work open opportunities for advancement.

Crony capitalism offers wealth to the class that already possesses it. Feudalism bestows "rights" to wealth to a favored few. In a way, upward mobility is a real-world test of a nation's economic and social order: if upward mobility exits in name only, then that nation is neither capitalist nor democratic. Stripped of propaganda and misleading labels, it is a feudal society or a crony-capitalist economy masquerading as a capitalist democracy.

...Most people who don't have physicians in their nuclear family or close circle of friends think that an M.D. is the ticket to upward mobility. In many cases, this is an exaggeration. I just received an email from an M.D. who stated that adjusted for inflation, his highest earnings were 30 years ago, in 1981. Others write to tell me that the hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans that those without wealthy parents must borrow to attend medical school take many years to pay off, even with salaries that most people consider generous.

This is an example drawn from what most assume is the top-level "surefire ladder to wealth." We could look at non-Elite graduates of Ivy League universities (i.e. the non-Elites accepted in the name of diversity) and see how they're doing in terms of wealth accumulation that can be passed down to their kids. Sure, they're "doing well" in most cases, making a comfortable living, but are they making enough to pay off their student loans, own a home that isn't 90% owned by the bank and accumulate enough savings to not only pay their children's education in cash but also help them buy their own home with at least 25% down in cash? If not, then they're not really accumulating wealth that can be transferred, they're simply consuming it.

...Correspondent Chris Sullins added transferable generational wealth to my short list of "what makes someone middle class": Priced Out of the Middle Class (June 28, 2012). How many American households can pay for their children's university education in cash and then fund their purchase of a home?

Here are the eight "threshold" characteristics of membership in the middle class:

1. Meaningful healthcare insurance

2. Significant equity (25%-50%) in a home or other real estate

3. Income/expenses that enable the household to save at least 6% of its income

4. Significant retirement funds: 401Ks, IRAs, income property, etc.

5. The ability to service all debt and expenses over the medium-term if one of the primary household wage-earners lose their job

6. Reliable vehicles for each wage-earner

7. Hard assets and cash that can be transferred to the next generation, i.e. generational wealth.

8. Ability to invest in offspring (education, extracurricular enrichment activity, etc.).

How many households meet these criteria? Not many. This is now a list for the upper-middle class, the top 10% who earn in excess of $150,000 a year. But even households with significant incomes and inheritances from their parents are losing items on this list.

What I am seeing, once again anecdotally, is the consumption of family wealth as America "eats its seed corn." Families with savings are "investing" them in $120,000 per child college educations that may not qualify the young person for a job that pays enough to duplicate their parents' purchasing power--or a job at all.

Having lost their corporate job, they're burning $12,000 to $15,000 annually buying their own health insurance.

Having drunk the debt-is-cheap Kool-Aid, they're heavily indebted, and much of their income goes to debt service and taxes.

Families that had significant cash wealth in 2000 are burning through that cash at an alarming rate. By the time the children are all educated and back living at home or in their own apartments, then Mom and Dad have to buy them vehicles, pay their dental bills, etc. because Junior doesn't earn enough to actually support himself.

The wealth that could have been transferred to the next generation has been consumed supporting a "middle class" lifestyle and providing the next generation with what was once the basis for advancement: a university education, healthcare insurance, a reliable vehicle, etc. Now that jobs are hard to find and compensation is low, the next generation still needs the accumulated wealth of the household to get by.

That is not upward mobility, it is downward mobility, on a vast and largely unnoticed scale.

Prometheus-- No Shruggin' Here

Usually I fast and meditate Sundays. It rests the mind and the body. It's not like a religion or something. When I can't do it, I don't do it. It happens sometimes. This year I missed two Sundays. But today was just a regular Sunday. I woke up, swam, fasted, hiked, blogged, meditated, drank plenty of water. And then I decided to go see Prometheus. I don't know how many movies I saw this year. It was less than 5. Maybe less than 3. I find reading more rewarding. But this Prometheus... wow... just wow. And my first 3-D movie since I was a child.

But I do watch H-2, the History Channel-2, formerly History Channel International. And Prometheus was like a high budget version of their series, Ancient Aliens-- only with actors and great music and drama. Short version: ancient aliens came to earth and created mankind. The proof's in the pudding... I mean the DNA. They may have done it several times before "getting it right." If they ever did get it right. And we don't know why they did it-- neither from the little screen, nor from the big screen... although, apparently, there's a sequel coming, even if everyone's dead except one character and a robot, or a robot's head, that's still functioning fine.

The film is set about 100 years from now. Romney or some future Romney must have won because it's a corporate world now, something like what Stephen Goldstein has painted in Atlas Drugged. The corporate heavy is played by Charleze Theron and it's what would have brought Atlas Drugged to mind even if Goldstein's introduction the story of the contrast between Atlas and Prometheus.

In Greek mythology, the Titans ruled the Earth before the Olympians overthrew them. After ten years, Zeus, the head of the Olympians, defeated his father, Cronos, the leader of the Titans. Atlas led the Titans to defeat against Zeus. His brother Prometheus sided with Zeus.

When the Olympians won the war, Zeus punished Atlas, a self-serving protector of the status quo, by making him hold up the world. Prometheus was delegated by Zeus to create man. And since then, he has always been known as the protector and benefactor of humanity.

Prometheus gave mankind many gifts, including fire, which he stole from Zeus-- and for which he was severely punished. But he never forsook humankind or gave in to Zeus.

Eventually, Prometheus was freed from his punishment. Atlas never was.

And you know what ancient astronaut theorists would say about that, right? And if you read Ayn Rand's adolescent novel that has so captured the mind of rightwing sociopaths from sea to shining sea... then you know we're in trouble.

Blanche Lincoln, The Kennedy Family, The History Channel And Right Wing Propaganist Joel Surnow

Propagandist Surnow belongs on Fox, not the History Channel

Blue America has been pounding reactionary Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln since last spring. Once she joined the GOP to declare she would filibuster Employee Free Choice, we've been running campaign after campaign against her lobbyist loving/worker and healthcare hating corrupt hide. We've explained to all the local TV stations that we don't want to buy any space on Glenn Beck's hate show. But they keep running our ads on it anyway and then when I get the monthly logs I just tally up the hundreds of dollars that went towards Glenn Beck and get refunds in the form of ads on other shows. Last month we took around $370 of Glenn Beck ads and ran them in the Memphis market (Arkansas side of the river only, of course) on BET, TBSC, USA, TNT and the History Channel on shows from "Celebration of Gospel 2010," "The Cookout," "Everybody Hates Chris," "Monica Still Standing," and "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" to "The Rose Parks Story," "Casino Royale, "Seinfeld," "The King of Queens" and "The Office." And you wonder why Blanche's re-elect numbers are the lowest of any member of the U.S. Senate?

Well, as of last week, no more Blue America ads will be run on "Rommel's Last Stand," "Modern Marvels," "Monster Quest," "Pawn Stars," "Sex in the Bible," or that annoying R. Lee Ermey's "Lock N' Load." We are done with the History Channel-- D-O-N-E. Ever since we read in the NYTime about how the History Channel is working with right-wing propagandist Joel Surnow on a Kennedy-smearing mini-series we decided they'll have to do without our ad dollars. Political character assassination isn't something we're underwriting, especially not with the Leni Riefenstahl of today's far right.

As for Blanche, her ratings continue to tank and it is now clear that she is unelectable-- even against a clown like John Boozman. African-American voters, which are the voters Blue America has aimed our ads towards, have now recognized her as a shill for Wall Street and the Big Business interests who are no friends of theirs. She will lose in all 8 counties along the Mississippi, the heartland of statewide Democratic wins-- as she should since she never serves the interests of the ordinary families in those counties. Please continue donating to Blue America's Arkansas education fund; rest assured that none of it will be spent on the History Channel-- and that lots will be spent on BET. And please take a look at the short documentary Brave New Films has put together explaining Surnow's perfidy in smearing the Kennedy name: