Truth Surfer

Is MN Senator Al Franken A Jedi Knight?

2009-12-16T14:43:00.006-06:00

You know that scene in Star Wars, where Obi-Wan clutches his heart and says " I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened. "...It's the same feeling I get about health care..about Obama's mishandling of it, about the blue dogs and about Lieberman.

I'm hopeless and helpless, mad and cranky...and scared...Is the 'change we believed in' dying?

Today I saw this video posted up at several blogs...Thank goodness for Senator Franken...at least there are some Democrats that are true to their values...I still feel kicked in the teeth...but let me listen a few more times to Jedi Franken and maybe the feeling will start to pass...maybe...

"For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times... before the Empire"..

These are dark times...there is a wall street empire..."Who's the more foolish: The fool, or the fool who follows him? " Never thought of myself as foolish and won't for much longer...Message to all you other elected corporate tools...Start Working for Americans!!!

Grap The Golden Ring...NOW!

2009-12-16T09:18:00.004-06:00

I had pages of rants about health care...volumes of venom about what's wrong (blue dogs, rethugicans, sell outs, bought outs, Liebertaitors)..but it was so negative...then in a blinding flash I realized that there is always someone directing, in charge, the grand poobah, the...fall guy. I won't mention names...just like my rant, it doesn't seem to be changing what's going on but I will tell ya this...it's time for Mr. Nice Guy Obama to send the family away and take to the mattresses...

LBJ said:

“Don’t ever argue with me [about health]. I’ll go a hundred million or a billion on health or education. I don’t argue about that any more than I argue about Lady Bird [Mrs. Johnson] buying flour. You got to have to have flour and coffee in your house. Education and health. I’ll spend the goddamn money. I may cut back some tanks. But not on health.”

In case someone forget, LBJ was responsible for among other things the 'great society'. His was a moment in time filled with turmoil and decisions that fundamentally changed our country....We're there again...a turning point. LBJ didn't always choose right but he did recognize the moral imperative to provide for all fairly/equally.

Are our leaders wise enough and strong enough to embrace fate and change the direction of this country? Get there...do it...show some dognapped ethical leadership...grasp the golden ring... We don't need a frickin compromise and concensus...we need healthcare! We need them to become what fate is calling out for them to be...

The End Of Hard Men

2009-12-14T14:17:00.005-06:00

Eternal Things:
Oh Yoko…John Lennons love for Yoko....Grocery stores check out lines...And men becoming soft…what?! Oh yeah…

"More women are drawn to softy fellows, which is prompting more men to get dolled up at hair salons, adorn themselves in the latest hip fashions and paint up their noggins with the latest from Mary Kay. Whatever the cause, the trend may not bode well for America.
If your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, will there be any regular fellows around who know how to fix things and don't mind getting their hands dirty?
The best you may be able to hope for is that a modern fellow stops his car to offer consolation and hand you a cell phone from his purse. "

Hmm..personally, I don’t want a guy spending more time and products on his hair than…me! It would lead to endless bathroom vanity fights but I think it's long past time for man bags.

I am the Walrus… but today it's all about cherry cola-lol

Shoot The Messenger and while you're at it throw a bucket of water on my head!

2009-12-04T00:58:00.000-06:00

This gave me indigestion and set my hair on fire...

So a group of elected officials (all men) are mad because of Minnesota Senator Al Franken's amendment made them look bad when they voted it was okay for the USA to do business with military contractors that would RAPE women. Really? They expected Americans to be okay with that? Because of the bad press, they blame Al Franken:

“I think hopefully he’ll [Al Franken] settle down and do the kind of the serious work of legislating that’s important to Minnesota.” -Senator John Thune (R-SD)
"I think it would be helpful for Senator Franken to come forward and say, ‘I’m not suggesting that anybody who votes for my amendment is indifferent to crimes against women or anybody else,’” -Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Hmm...so they want exoneration for their totally morally voided vote...but not because their vote was wrong, but because Al Franken shouldn't have sponsored the bill making them look bad because of their votes...(really I couldn't make this up if I wanted to!) This is the crap that makes me question my involvement with the political process...when soulless, misogynist, ethically challenged whores make a bad choice....and then a worse choice by blaming anyone but themselves!

Just a suggestion for the demon spawn elected morons...try this out for a change: Say your sorry and that in fact you do believe rape victims rights should be protected! Better yet, apology to every women voter (your mothers and daughters and wives too) and then maybe we can begin to get beyond your incredibly senseless, morally wrong vote...maybe...Still...if it was left up to me...you would be up on felony charges for abetting criminal behavior...stripped from your offices, drummed out of the human race, and given up to a red army ant colony...just saying!

There...The fire is still smoldering in my head....threatening to rage out of control again...Just WTF@! is wrong with these guys? Then to say some GOP senators question whether Franken’s handling of the amendment could damage his ability to work across the aisle? Jeez what's next...
Can someone throw a bucket of water on my head? I wouldn't cross the street to save their blacken souls...Now where are my shurikens.

When Smoke Gets In My Eyes

2009-12-02T10:43:00.001-06:00

This is about the right to smoke...well mostly, sort of, kind of...it's an interesting rant on the right to blow smoke up our arses...But don't get me wrong... I do agree with 'most' of what is being said. But I don't smoke and therefore, I don't want to smell or breath smoke. Simply put... if we're talking about individual rights, smoke all you want....just not in public!

As to the rest of the rant. (shoot the fat guys, hang the smokers).. It's an interesting read...and smoke for thought...yes we been sold down the river by raiders...Corporate pirates that are now demanding we walk the plank after they force fed up their ideology and we brought it hook, line, and sinker. The smoking analogy applies everywhere and to everything...sigh...it's depressing. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

"Generally, this war is described as a battle against big tobacco, but, of course, it's actually a war on working people, their habits, their little idiot joys, their little mechanisms of coping."And, I don't understand how being fat is a Left issue, either. What the fuck is all this shit?"...

And it took the raw obscenity of George Bush for me to realize that ideology had taken over the political and civic arenas, the only venues where a society can exercise compassion collectively and by force of legislation and law demonstrate its humanity and evolution."

"It no longer matters if Democrats are the majority. We don't see our warfare abroad decreasing. It's expanding. And following an ideological war over health care reform, we "won." We got reform. Reform which forces 40 million of America's poorest and hardest working folks into bed with insurance corporations, sucking an additional 70 billion dollars a year in public funds from the citizens' pockets into insurance industry coffers. We don't need the insurance companies at all. Never did. Never will. But they are still leeching us because "we won." We the supposed proponents of universal health care, we who believe in the right of all children and old folks, the right of all people to freedom from pain and misery, we won."

Obama's Super Sized War

2009-12-02T07:43:00.007-06:00

We fought to give you a place inside hoping for much, much better... but you've turned your back on us to stand with profiteers of the military industrial complexes and wall street thieves. Sure I knew your campaign was the top recipient of defense industry money in the 2008 election cycle ($1,029,997.00), but I still expected you to be as good as your words...now I see them now as only lies wrapped in fluffy rhetoric ...from war to wall street bail outs, to gays in the military to Gitmo... Where's the change?

I've had enough 'hope' and 'change'....last night the person I wanted, voted for, and supported died. I'm grieving now.

Bright Shiney Objects Are Closer Than They Appear!

2009-12-01T11:17:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving was fun and wacky...We did an 'Elvis comes to turkey day' theme....complete with a hunka hunka of burning turkey...Friends and Family gathered and we reflected on the year while listening to Elvis tunes. After a few glasses of bubbly I realized that humor really does save me...as in Jon Stewart getting me through the Bush years...and more recently...the Rev. Billy getting me through the season of consumerism (better know as the season of giving to corportations or Shopcaloypse).

If you haven't seen 'What Would Jesus Buy'...then do so...and take your family and friends. Get in touch with your spending and realize there's a difference between what you need and what you want and more importantly...what the cost is to both your community and your soul. I was going to post some pictures of Rev. Billy but found a bright shiney object on the way home and decided to post it instead-) Imagine all that and no trailer park in view!

Just say no!

Lassie...Go Find The Governor

2009-11-23T23:22:00.003-06:00

By now most have heard that SC Governor Mark Sanford has been accused of 37 ethics violations...among which is leaving the state with no-one in charged...say Lassie...Do you know where Timmy is?...Isn't Governor Timmy Pawlenty in town for a quick fundraising stop before he leaves..sigh... again?

Minnesota has terrible problems regarding balancing the budget, transportation, education costs, healthcare benefits being cut the to the neediest...and Timmy keeps leaving...hmmm...unlike Lassie, Timmy apparently keeps leaving and doesn't want to come home to his home Minnesota.

Fat Heads Misogynists Trolling on Women's Health

2009-11-23T22:36:00.001-06:00

Hmmm...so that's a stretch to believe that Rush Limbaugh or Hannity or Beck cares one iota for women...They must be running out of pulp fiction to troll on about...but to actually have to say straight face that the new mammography recommendations are a commie plot to start rationing health care...As if misogynists would care about women's health being rationed!

Just in case you have a ten second memory, lets review how much Rush Limbaugh (divorced three times!) cares about us women:

Sexist comments-- Hillary Rodham Clinton: "She sounds like a screeching ex-wife. ... Men will know what I mean by this.""Mrs Clinton Testicle Lockbox is big enough for the entire democratic hierarchy.""Will this country want to actually watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?""I don't know why the B-I-itch is staying in."Sexist comments by Rush Limbaugh --

"If she [Pelosi] wants fewer births, I have the way to do this and it won't require any contraception: You simply put pictures of Nancy Pelosi ... in every cheap motel room. ... That will keep birthrates down because that picture will keep a lot of things down."

Some of these babes, I'm telling you, like the sexual harassment crowd. They're out there protesting what they actually wish would happen to them sometimes."

"If I were Bob Woodward, I would be on a lookout for Mrs. Clinton and her testicle lockbox."

Amanda Terkel at Think Progress has more sexist comments from Rush --

KKK Failed!

2009-11-20T07:29:00.006-06:00

Say remember when the KKK wore white sheets so we could tell who they were? Well they still go to rallies, but no longer wear the sheets...oh and they changed their group name to 'Tea Baggers".

Easily the best video and there isn't even music!

DJ (I don't hate America) has a few things posted up on this...haahahahha...sry, can't stop laughing...

Ah...talking about the KKK...another video...this time to music.,,, Joey I miss you...

The Stories All Run Together

2009-11-06T13:10:00.004-06:00

Everyday there are stories...images that paint our world...

The Lost Soul:
Enuff said: Suspect Was to Be Sent to Afghanistan

ArchAngels:
Many blue dogs are opposed to health care for Americans because they are fiscally responsible…or so the story goes...but if that is really the reason then why does the majority of them still support the occupation in Afghanistan. It's costs are higher and deeper than providing health care …so why the difference?

The Choir:
“Government without revenue results in falling bridges and lousy schools and crime and bad health care. “ -digby

They drank the Koolaid:
“Rep. Bachmann is smart, beautiful and conservative” –PowerLine Boys

The Imaginary Things:
Non-lunatic GOP

The Angels:
Appearing at a protest of Condi Rice! This Sunday, Nov 8, at 5:15PM, Beth El Synagogue, St. Louis Park

I'm worn down and my spirit is thin ...but I'm still here...trying...have a nice weekend...hope to see you Sunday at the protest...

Follow your common sense
You cannot hide yourself behind a fairytale forever and ever
Only by revealing the hole truth can we disclose
The soul of this bulwark forever and ever
Forever and ever
Indoctrinated minds so very often
Contain sick thoughts
And commit most of the evil they preach against
Don't try to convince me with messages from God
You accuse us of sins committed by yourselves
It's easy to condemn without looking in the mirror
Behind the scenes opens reality
Eternal silence cries out for justice
Forgiveness is not for sale
Nor is the will to forget
Virginity has been stolen at very young ages
And the extinguisher loses it's immunity
Morbid abuse of power in the garden of eden
Where the apple gets a youthful face
You can't go on hiding yourself
Behind old fashioned fairytales
And keep washing your hands in innocence

Pawlenty: Do As I Said Not As I Get!

2009-10-24T07:57:00.006-06:00

So ex-MN governor...er...well AWOL Governor Pawlenty said on ABC's Top Line that if in charge he would 'opt-out' of public health care for Minnesota...

CHALIAN: But you would lead a charge in your state to opt out if that was an option available?
PAWLENTY: I think so because I don’t like government run health care.

So--pawlenty currently is covered under government provided healthcare...after all his healthcare is provide by the state of Minnesota...and he's on record as supporting Medicare and Medicaid in the past...but now...doesn't want that (public coverage for anyone...else?)...

Seems to me that Pawlenty will do anything...say anything...support anything if it gets him elected to national office...Someone should inform him that ethics, morals and values doesn't blow with the wind...and especially when he's harping against the very thing he has...government sponsored healthcare!

Message to Pawlenty... if like you say 'you personally would like to opt out', I'm sure Minnesotans would thank you for saving their hard earn tax dollars by dropping your health insurance!

Abandon All Hope

2009-10-15T12:21:00.005-06:00

So let me get this straight...30 (THIRTY!!!) Senators voted to continue contracting with firms that force women employees to agree not to sue componies if they are RAPED as a result of their employment...

All thirty should immediate resign from the senate for their support of felony behavior. Shame on everyone of you with mothers, sisters, wives, daughters....Shame on this soulless group for even thinking they could justify voting for rape...The Republican party hasbecome totally void of morality.

BTW, the bill was our Minnesota Jr. Senator, Al Franken...thank you Mr. Franken for continue to look out at the interest of our daughters, mothers, sisters...

Record profits on Wall St...sigh... so do I blame them or Obama for escalating the war on Afghanistan? What about Pakistan, Iraq and Iran. And it turns out our occupation has become larger, longer and made for more resistance:

WASHINGTON -- A recent U.S. intelligence assessment has raised the estimated number of full-time Taliban-led insurgents fighting in Afghanistan to at least 25,000, underscoring how the crisis has worsened even as the U.S. and its allies have beefed up their military forces, a U.S. official said Thursday.

Wow, big surprise not...If I get it, why doesn't Obama or could the whisperings be correct... that Wall St. now runs our country now...

"Because the people here really aren't in charge. Wall Street is in charge."- Rep. Marcy Kaptur

Just when did I miss that election?

Friday's If Onlys

2009-10-09T08:18:00.004-06:00

Gone in 60 seconds
So substract Chris Coleman from gadzillion and that leaves...all the rest...

Being bitch slapped twice
If you are a domestic abuse victim and lived in Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming and the District of Columbia, well then, eight of the 16 major insurance companies have the right to deny coverage on the rationale that it's a pre existing condition...

Tell me again why we should demand health care reform NOW!

Sure they look ordinary...
Be a hero? We need you more than ever...be the change you want to see.

Whew..what's that smell?
What if you have a zombie encounter? Well you can one of two things...see Zombieland (two thumbs up from me!) or come to the zombie pub crawl this Satuday.

What if... 'I'm just about as happy as I can be'...

All Yours

2009-10-02T11:01:00.003-06:00

Your Dream
Can't we just sign up for Congress' health plan?

Your Nightmare
The U.S. labor market weakened in September as 263,000 payroll jobs were lost and the unemployment rate rose a tenth to a 26-year high of 9.8%, the Labor Department reported. It was the 21st consecutive month of job losses.

Your Altered Reality
..."the recovery package is part of a Democratic conspiracy to "direct" funding away from Republican districts, so Democratic districts can "suck up" all federal funds. Bachmann doesn't think this will work because, as she [guess who?] put it, "We're running out of rich people in this country."

Your WTF
Sure you're artist, engaging, successful, and make great movies...but I have two girls that were once thirteen...What Polanski did was rape. Youthful error, stage mom, teen lolita aside...This was a middle age man who preyed on a ninth grader...It's a crime.

Your Cowboy Sense of Humour
Newsmax contributor John L. Perry wrote a column yesterday about politics. It went like this: “There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the ‘Obama problem.’ Don’t dismiss it as unrealistic.”

The Cost of Staying Alive

2009-10-01T15:54:00.003-06:00

SEIU has a new focus on health care reform...It one that anyone like myself who has a chronic illness (pre-existing) knows only too well..do we pay the rent, buy food, put gas in the car...or pay the doctor, pharmacy and insurance premium...not a pretty choice but one millions of Americans make a year...all in the name of staying alive while maintaining hugh profits for a few...

These modern day crooks make Jesse James seem acceptable...

Isn't There A Limit To Endurance?

2009-09-30T13:33:00.003-06:00

Just in case anyone cares….it’s been eight years since 'Operation Enduring Freedom'...Our war to protecting local Afghans and reducing violence...The war began October 7, 2001. It has lasted longer than World War I, World War II, the Civil War, the Korean War, the first Gulf War in Iraq, the second Gulf War in Iraq and now the American Revolution...and...

It's not working out...

KABUL — “Taliban militants are sowing fear along Afghanistan's highways with stepped-up checkpoints, hijackings and bombs – including one Tuesday that killed at least 30 bus passengers in the south….”

'Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.' - George Santayana

The Holy Cow Called T-Paw

2009-09-29T06:33:00.003-06:00

If you just talk to your neighbors or any other group of Minnesotans then this isn't much of a surprise.

"The poll shows that only 30 percent of adults want to see the two-term governor make a try for the White House three years from now, while 55 percent do not."

In fact, most of us want the governor to deal with the massive budget problems by working with other elected officials. Unfortunately for Minnesotan's T-Paw is AWOL as Governor.

At the very least Timmy should return his salary while traveling everywhere but Minnesota in search of a new position. He was elected and paid to do a job. To take the money and not do the job is defrauding us all. If I did that while collecting a work paycheck I'd be out on my kister, Instead T-Paw doesn't even make an attempt to 'phone it in'...

It's no wonder Minnesotan's don't want him for President.

No 1 with a Bullet!

2009-09-24T07:53:00.003-06:00

Happiness is...John Lennon saw a gun magazine that said happiness is a warm gun meaning its just been shot....wonder what he would have made of this...

Do you feel safer?

Being Courageous.

2009-08-28T07:38:00.004-06:00

Senators Klobuchar and Franken are taking a stand and will help us (thank goodness!). Day by day it gets worse with more and more of us becoming uninsured. Americans are dying because they lack treatment and care. Children are suffering. We're going with drugs, testing, preventative treatments because we can't afford it....We need help...we need the strong, morally ethical elected Democrats to stand and deliver...and then we need to support them for their courage. Help us.

The GOP Swift Boating of MN SOS

2009-07-17T06:40:00.006-06:00

Minnesota's GOP ‘ad nauseaum sore head - sour grape losers’ continue to attack Minnesota’s SOS Mark Ritchie with lying claims that would make a fairy godmother blush with shame. MinnPost has a nice write up with details but really it comes down to this: The GOP are gunning for Minnesota’s SOS Ritchie. Since they have no factual claims to bring him down, they are willing to go with a ‘swift boat’ campaign. (sigh, I guess they still haven't figured out Minnesotans are tired of the 'Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them').

The GOP want the public to believe the fairytale of “he fixed the election/recount”. Now if only they could explain why the Canvassing Board, the Election Court, and the Minnesota Supreme Court found their claim to be unfounded in law….The End.

Which HealthCare Bill Should You Support?

2009-07-15T12:25:00.003-06:00

Yes we need affordable healthcare for all Americans...but...let's not go throwing the baby out with the bathwater...read the bills being offered up. Ask questions if you don't understand them and talk with your representatives and friends. We may only have this one shot to get it right...so let's get it right.

HR3200 (click for more information or full text)

From Dennis Kucinich: Yesterday HR 3200 "America's Affordable Health Choices Act," a 1000 page bill was delivered to members. The title of the bill raises a question: "Affordable" for whom?. Of $2.4 trillion spent annually for health care in America, fully $800 billion goes for the activities of the for-profit insurer-based system. This means one of every three health care dollars is siphoned off for corporate profits, stock options, executive salaries, advertising, marketing and the cost of paper work, (which can be anywhere between 15 - 35% in the private sector as compared to Medicare, the single payer plan which has only 3% administrative costs).

HR676 (click for more information or full text)
From www.hr676.org: Basically, House Resolution (H.R.) 676, the “New Expanded Medicare” bill now in the House of Representatives simply creates a new and far more functional “single payer” method of collecting and distributing payments for medical services while leaving the medical system itself completely alone and intact. This will eliminate the hundreds of complicated and redundant payment plans currently imposed on the system by private “for profit” health insurance companies and save literally BILLIONS of dollars every year by eliminating such wasteful duplication. This will allow your doctors offices and hospitals to function much more efficiently and serve your needs much more effectively as well. Just imagine what a huge benefit this will be!

Wednesday's Whipets

2009-07-08T08:46:00.003-06:00

NOW HEAR THIS: "He [Rahm Emanuel] is working for a way out without a bloody fight. The problem is he doesn't mind taking that fight to the left. And what I worry could happen is the left will just quit." -

Hmmm so Rahm will take the fight to us but not the healthcare lobbyist? Well I’ve got news for him…As a card-carrying member of .the left, I WON”T QUIT! I will find another way even if that means abandoning Democrats like Rahm who can’t seem to understand the basic human necessity of healthcare.

FINALLY A GOOD WORD:
Senator Al Franken

OH SO WEIRD:
Sigh, wish the media would report on those things that affect Americans more like the war, economy, healthcare and international issues,,,,half as much as they do on Michael Jackson….sigh…

OH SO WEIRD AND WONDERFUL:
You really have to go that extra step to beat Michael Jackson off the media…Governor Palin managed to do that. One of my favorite TV shows is ‘Trailer Boys’ but even it can’t compare to Palin’s insanity. I look forward to her next adventures in political trashland.

Franken Prevails

2009-06-30T13:04:00.002-06:00

Congratulations to Senator Al Franken. Once again the courts upheld the Minnesota election/recount process and cited Al Franken as the winner. Now let's put him to work for Minnesotans in WA.DC as soon as possible.

PS Coleman, don't let the door hit you on the way out...sigh...again

More Than Lipstick Is Going On In Iran!

2009-06-25T09:47:00.002-06:00

It’s hard to know exactly what is going on in Iran given the media sellout/buyoff and political gamesmanship including our own special ops/CIA involvement... but we do know for sure that women are the first to suffer during political unrest and war…

And now by many accounts, Iranian women are now running the resistance.... As the Toronto Star points out “today we are seeing what is historically the first national movement with a leadership that is predominately female.”

And to Martha at ABC…NO! This is more than a ‘Lipstick Revolution!’ That degrades women’s role in wanting basic human rights and reduces their struggle to merely a matter of cosmetics. This is another example from media that shows a complete lack of understanding of women in Iran along with their culture. At election rallies, female supporters often chanted the name of Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard (a powerful political figure in her own right) as she promised that under Mousavi there would be more women in the cabinet and a reform of policies that strip women of their rights in marriage. Oh and have I mentioned the stoning of women?

Under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, women are discouraged from working and from seeking higher education, while he suggested that true freedom for women lay in not having all the "legal responsibility of men."

With half of the human population are women... so they should have full and equal participation and voice in the political, culture and economic arena…something the U.S. could also learn from and improve as well as Iran. Screw the lipstick...women are finding their voices.