The Moments of Joy

My youngest is 11.  She plays three different sports and loves joining a group of girls in an athletic contest of skill and heart. 

Today, she showed the heart part. 

We had a basketball double header. (I can say we, I'm the head coach.)  That's right, back to back games.   She woke up with a sore throat and the general crummies.  Despite that, she played super hard. She was diving on the floor, chasing down girls on the fast break.  When she came off the floor she was gasping for air, but despite the pain, she would rest up and ask to go back in.  She's one tough cookie and I'm very, very proud of her, her commitment to her team and her huge heart.
 
Bronte, you rock.

RIP Etta, I'll Miss You

We have lost a true American treasure in the passing of Etta James.  I, for one, loved her music.  I think I'll throw some on and say thanks for the musical gifts she shared with the world.  I think I'll start with the one below.  Not as well know as "At Last", this is a good one.

Etta James Dead at 73 - CNN.com

Newt Wanted to Share His Newt

ABC NEWS

According to Gawker.com, CNN and I'm sure others, ABC News will be airing an interview tonight with Newt Gingrich's ex-wife where she tells the world that Newt asked her to "share" him with his then mistress.

As I have said before, I don't care what politicians do between the sheets.  I think it is only fair.  I don't ask them when and how they bump uglies and I don't think they should ask/legislate us on the same subject.  But I have a hard time ignoring it when those politicians make themselves out to be some sort of moral compass or preach "moral values".

When President Clinton got caught diddling the help, Newt was center stage calling for Clinton's impeachment.  Well, my friend, if that is the standard you set for being President, then you have to accept that screwing around on your wife and then asking for a divorce after you find out she is sick becomes fair game for public scrutiny.

Karma; she sure is a bitch, ain't she Newt?

Newt's Ex-Wife Says He Wanted An Open Marriage (with video) - Gawker.com

Some Legislators Favor SOPA/PIPA But Violate Copyright Themselves

Check out this great post on BoingBoing about legislators who are supporting the draconian tenets of the Internet censorship bills now pending in Congress.  It would seem that they themselves are in violation.  It begs the question, do they truly understand the legislation they are supporting?

Senators behind PIPA are a bunch of copyright infringers - BoingBoing.net

Sign the Petition - Oppose Censorship

Do you want Google or Yahoo or Wikipedia deciding what you can and cannot view?  They don't want to, but the big media companies want THE GOVERNMENT to force them to act as censors and protectors of copyright and intellectual property. That is the gist of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate. 

Stop Censorship!

The issue is simple.  Some websites, particularly those outside the US, put pirated content online. They are not subject to US intellectual property protections. This pisses off groups like The Motion Picture Association of America, Wal-Mart, Major League Baseball, the National Association of Broadcasters and many, many more.

I get it, they get pissed because some people are virtually getting into the movies/concert/ball park for free and that hurts their bottom line.  But this is exactly the wrong way to go about solving their problem. Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia and other websites should not be given the responsibility for restricting access to information to protect the interests of these trillion dollar industries.

This is like telling the highway department that they are responsible because someone drove your stolen car on their road.  It is stupid, it is overly broad and in the end, it is censorship. 

To add your voice to the debate, to tell Congress to vote NO on these measures, go to americancensorship.org and sign the petition.  Act fast, votes are scheduled as early as January 24th.

One of the many reasons I like President Obama

I See Your True Colors Shining Through and That's Why I Dislike You

The proposal was pretty straight forward:  Maintain the payroll tax cut, extend it to new hires and pay for it with a small increase in taxes on millionaires and billionaires.

Everyone agrees that maintaining the payroll tax cut is the best thing for the economy.  It would mean an extra $1,500 in the pockets of people making $50,000 a year.  Not a ton of money, but enough that they can be a bit more active on the consumer side of the economy. 

But the Republicans in the Senate blocked a vote on the measure.  Why?  No matter what you hear the answer is really simple; they don't represent the average American, they represent the richest Americans.

God forbid we actually do things that help the Average Joe, particularly if the richest among us have to pay a little more than the historically low tax rates they now enjoy.

Senate Republicans reject measures to extend payroll tax break - LA Times

Political Brain Fart - A Painful Stinker to Witness

It's sad really. 

There are all kinds of reasons not to vote for Rick Perry.  His flawed tax plan.  His mean-spirited anti-choice stands.  His smoke and mirrors job creation record as Governor of Texas.  All of these are perfectly good reasons not to vote for Rick Perry.

However, in the end, a gigantic brain fart during the latest Republican debate may end up taking down this undefeated campaigner.  While spouting the old and worn Republican chant for smaller government and calling for the elimination of federal agencies, Perry just plain forgot.  He had a nearly terminal case of tip of the tongue syndrome.  Watching him flounder, watching him scour his brain for the name of the third department he would eliminate is one of the most painful things I've seen during a presidential debate.



Howard Dean had his demented scream, now Rick Perry has his iconic moment, the moment he blew a big, stinky, visible cloud of a brain fart in front of America. 

Of course, one man's stink is another man's perfume.  (Just watch the joy in Ron Paul's eyes  if you doubt me.)

As the pig farmers in Iowa say when they catch a whiff of their operation in action, "Smells like money to me."  That's what the rest of the Republican field is smelling right now, the sweet scent of failure from the former front runner and the robust musk emitting from the pool of Perry campaign donors who will soon become available.

See ya Rick... and enjoy this complimentary years supply of Gingko Biloba as a parting gift just for playing our game.

I'm not anti-rich, I'm pro-fairness

The people who are in the top one percent of income saw their incomes grow by 275 percent between the years of 1979 and 2007.  The middle class saw their incomes go up as well, a whopping 40 percent.

That means that middle class America averaged an annual 1.4 percent raise during that time period.  The top one percent?  An annual raise of just under ten percent.

And what have the top one percent done to repay America for providing them with the right, the freedom and the infrastructure needed to reap such wealth?  They have lobbied for - and gotten - more tax breaks, more loopholes, more opportunities not to reinvest in America, the country that has done so much to make their wealth possible.

"The rules have been changed by the unfair tax policies of the last decade and our tax code is doing less to level the playing field than it was in the past." [said Representative Sander Levin.]

Levin is the top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives' tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

As a result of this uneven shift, income was substantially more skewed toward the very top of the income scale in 2007 than it was in 1979, CBO said.

So much so, it said, that in 2005-2007, just before the financial crisis, the top 20 percent of the population received more after-tax income than the entire bottom 80 percent.

MSNBC.com: Income of top 1 percent far outgrew others: report

If this tells us anything, it tells us that that the Reagan "revolution" was an economic failure.  It tells us that the rising tide doesn't raise all boats, it just lifts the yachts and puts the average Joe's mortgage underwater. 

And what does the Republican field of Presidential candidates want to do about it?  Well, Herman Cain and Rick Perry want an even more regressive flat tax.  They want to put even more burden on the poor and middle class.  Isn't that just the opposite of what America needs right now?

Instead, it is time for America to deliver a bill to the wealthiest among us for services rendered.  Republicans are all about accountability, or so they say, so isn't it time for the uber-rich to be held financially accountable. This country helped make them wealthy so it is time for them to do the right thing, the patriotic thing, and start paying their fair share.

Cain Tax Plan Benefits the Rich, Hurts the Rest of Us.

See -- I'm not the only one who says so.

9 - 9 - 9 Plan would make 84% of people pay more - CNN