ET Phone Home

It can be said that with every political election comes the crack pots and just plain delirious. People that are looking to the heavens and the night sky are looking for proof that ET was here or still is here. Yes, UFO enthusiasts are claiming that the President Elect is sympathetic to their cause and should drag out the dead bodies of alien visitors in Roswell, New Mexico. If you are not up to date on UFO legends, back in the 1950’s it is alleged that an alien spacecraft crashed in Roswell and the government has hidden the bodies for top secret reasons. Area 51 and the top secret military base is where their bodies rest in scientific lore and legend.

They even claim to have an inside track to the President Elect Barack Obama courtesy of Governor Bill Richardson who is going to be the Commerce appointee. Governor Richardson just happens to be Governor where a plethora of UFO enthusiast find much of their research and interest in this hotly debated topic according to the group looking to unseal top secret records over the last fifty or sixty years. Over at the Telegraph in the UK they have this on ET phoning home and they want to see the phone bill to prove it…

UFO enthusiasts call on Obama to release X-Files

UFO enthusiasts are pressing Barack Obama to release classified documents about sightings of alien spacecraft, encouraged by support from within the President-Elect's own White House team.

By Tim Shipman in Washington
Last Updated: 1:30PM GMT 30 Nov 2008

Desperate to see the US emulate the British Government and disclose reported "contact" with UFOs, the enthusiasts have written to Mr Obama to ask that his administration comes clean about the contents of America's "X-Files".

They believe they have good prospects of success after public statements of support from both John Podesta, who is running Mr Obama's White House transition team, and Bill Richardson, the Governor of New Mexico - a UFO sighting hotspot - who is expected to secure a cabinet post.

In the letter to Mr Obama, the Extraterrestrial Phenomenon Political Action Committee calls on the President-Elect to "end the six-decade truth embargo regarding an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race".

The group wants the incoming president to insist on a "full briefing from your military services and intelligence agencies regarding what they know" and to open congressional hearings "to take testimony from scores of government witnesses who have already come forward with extraordinary evidence and are prepared to testify under oath."

The campaigners, who resent their common portrayal as nuts and conspiracy theorists, have high hopes of success due to their inside track with Mr Obama. - Telegraph UK

Now I’m not a scientist or even a physicist but I do know that one little known physicist called Albert Einstein had a little theory of space travel. It went something like this. You can not surpass the speed of light. Then there is the old comedy routine from Stephen Wright where he ponders the question if you are traveling at the speed of light, would your headlights on that vehicle work?

Is there a chance that aliens have been visiting this world? Anything is possible. We are currently robotically visiting Mars so why is it not feasible that somebody is visiting us? Let me tell you why it is not possible, it has to do with time and the distance needed to be covered for such a trip. The closest livable planet is probably hundreds of light years from Earth according to Karl Sagan writings and traveling at the speed of light alone is not enough to get you from there to here and back again. You would literally have to freeze time on the craft to survive the journey, gather your research once you get to Earth, start the trip back home and freeze time once more. The sad news is that time was not frozen on your home world while you were gone and the thousands of centuries that have passed will have no recollection of you as a space explorer. You would in fact be an alien to your own home world.

I would lend the thought that all of the UFO sightings can be explained as military aircraft in top secret development and that is all that it is. The United States government is not going to reveal any technology in high speed stealth development or even dare I say Unidentified Flying Aircraft science. Our nation spends billions in research to stay on the leading edge of human technology when it comes to the needs of our military. That is why we are the last standing super power in the world. It is all top secret for a reason. That secrecy in aircraft technology saved tens of thousands of lives in both wars in Iraq. Should we disclose to the next Sadam Hussein what our military is capable of?

One last thought, ET, your mother called and she is pissed that you didn’t put your socks in the damn dirty clothes hamper. Phone home!

Papamoka

Is Bush Thinking He is Harry Truman

I think I need to make it loud and clear that George Bush is not Harry Truman. Harry Truman let the buck stop at his desk. He road the waste in government as a Democrat and went after people and companies that tried screwing over the American people in the federal budget. George Bush could not pass all the bucks forward fast enough as President and he was not and will not ever be looked at as a Harry Truman President. Oil companies not excepted, George Bush has never met a military contractor as well that he didn’t like and Haliburton was his favorite son that just happened to move it’s headquarters from his own home state of Texas to Dubai in the Middle East to escape any future prosecution for war profiteering. That was convenient was it not?

President Bush is distancing himself in the closing weeks of his administration from the war on terror or should I say distancing his excuses for it. Granted, the attack on 9/11 happened but the way that it was dealt with was dead wrong. Going to war in Afghanistan was justified because that was where Osama Bin Laden based his attack from and that government justified it as righteous. Iraq however was a personal debt that George Bush owed to Sadam Hussein and his father. Sadam threatened to kill his father for the Gulf War. George Bush pulled a gang land vendetta pay back with the most powerful military in the world for personal reasons. The cost of that personal war on terror is more than all the lives lost on 9/11.

George Bush can not walk out of the office of President lily white and clean and he will more or less not even blink an eye on the pardons he is going to dole out like candy to kids attending a parade. The handfuls of pardons will go out loud and clear to his political base and they are frankly demanding them. There is not one crime committed on his behalf that will not be pardoned. Wire tapping, torture, market manipulation, and just about anything that was good for the rich and bad for the middle and lower class. His record shows how he really feels about veterans and how they are only of use to him if they are actually fighting in the field. After that, those veterans more or less have to go fend for themselves. His backing of the VA is all you need to see how hollow his defense of veterans has been.

How the folks on the right side of the political aisle think that George Bush was a Godsend to America I will never understand. Somehow, President Bush thinks he has a firm record to stand on but from my perspective I see him about to stand on the quicksand of history. And it may take three or more Democrat administrations in the office of President to fix all the damage he has done to the Constitution and common law in the United States.

Over at The Weekly Standard they have this thought on whom President Bush should pardon in his last days in office…

One last thing: Bush should consider pardoning--and should at least be vociferously praising--everyone who served in good faith in the war on terror, but whose deeds may now be susceptible to demagogic or politically inspired prosecution by some seeking to score political points. The lawyers can work out if such general or specific preemptive pardons are possible; it may be that the best Bush can or should do is to warn publicly against any such harassment or prosecution. But the idea is this: The CIA agents who waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and the NSA officials who listened in on phone calls from Pakistan, should not have to worry about legal bills or public defamation. In fact, Bush might want to give some of these public servants the Medal of Freedom at the same time he bestows the honor on Generals Petraeus and Odierno. They deserve it. - The Weekly Standard

I’m thinking that President Bush is going to chuck America the finger one last time on his last day in office with ridiculous pardons that will more or less cripple the Justice Department from investigating the actual crimes he and his Vice President committed. What was good for Bush is off limits to prosecute and the President Elect is left holding his luggage just because Bush and Cheney left him the baggage. History in tens of years from now will show us all how much corruption and manipulation has taken place under President Bush. Only then will he go down in the disgrace he rightfully deserves.

George Bush is leaving the White House with a legacy of ignorance and intolerance for all other nations in the world. He has crippled the diplomatic corps of the United States that has been built up from one President to another over decades and hundreds of years. President Elect Obama has his work cut out for him and the simplest path is to simply say that “We” are not George Bush.

Hold your head up high as an American, the political waters are going to get ugly with facts over the next decade as real reporters talk about the deception filled Bush administration. The truth always surfaces no matter how much it is held under the waters of politics and government.

Papamoka

Oil Price Tank Threatens Green Energy

One of the biggest factors for many industries and people to go with green energy was the high cost of oil. They went solar, they went with wind power, hydro, bio-fuels, hydrogen fleets, electric cars, and the green energy movement was born again. What happens now to that green energy drive when oil is once more affordable? Should it be abandoned or pursued more feverishly?

In my little corner of the world it was great to see one small Catholic high school put up a wind turbine on its campus from their pristine location on a high hill in our city. Seeing that turbine whip around and feed the school all of its electric energy needs is just amazing to behold. I would love to see the seven hills of Worcester, MA look like the Gray Goose about to take off. That would be a Howard Hughes reference to an aircraft that he proposed and the government prosecuted him over that it could never fly. It did fly and so will the green energy mentality.

America has been burned over the last few years with the speculation on oil and we frankly are late on getting on the green energy bandwagon. We never learned from the oil embargo of the 1970’s but we sure as hell will never forget the oil desecration of our financial system once the oil bubble burst.

Over at the Guardian and from Chris Goodall they have this amazing piece on "The Ten Big Energy Myths". I loved it! This is a must read article and you might find yourself amazed at the myths and what the truth actually is…

Myth 1: solar power is too expensive to be of much use
Myth 2: wind power is too unreliable
Myth 3: marine energy is a dead-end
Myth 4: nuclear power is cheaper than other low-carbon sources of electricity
Myth 5: electric cars are slow and ugly
Myth 6: biofuels are always destructive to the environment
Myth 7: climate change means we need more organic agriculture
Myth 8: zero carbon homes are the best way of dealing with greenhouse gas emissions from buildings
Myth 9: the most efficient power stations are big
Myth 10: all proposed solutions to climate change need to be hi-tech

Guardian.co.uk

I’m hoping that we in America will continue the fight for energy independence. We can not prosper as a people when any foreign entity controls our power needs. If we can not supply our nation with the energy we need to continue the fight that is right for human rights then we are dead in the water. If we as a people espouse to be the conscience of the world then we had better be able to feed the energy needs of that mind set. Otherwise, we need to start kissing the butt’s of some of the same folks that reaped the largest financial gains in history from the American people.

Keep up the fight for clean energy and chuck the bird at the people that told us we can not survive as a nation without the product they have to sell us. Thus dragging us collectively as a people into their political wars that have not made any sense for centuries.

Papamoka

Thanksgiving Day to You

I have to tell you that this day means many different things to me. Most of all it means that I am thankful for the family and friends I have. I’m most thankful to my beautiful wife and my five daughters. Of course I have to add my first grand daughter to that list too. Life has not been easy for all of us here in the Papamoka home but it has been a blessing to see the family come together as one around one sister to show her that we are and will always be one family forever. All of the past is gone and we see only the brightest of futures.

My Mom passed away in 1993, and Dad in 2003, so I don’t have this day to spend with them but I do have it to spend with my babies and my wife and her family. I remember as a kid the Thanksgiving Holiday, Dad would be doing most of the cooking for the main event but my Aunt Kitty that lived with us always made the cranberry sauce the night before. I was just a kid but she let me watch, she would let me stir the berries before they boiled, then she would ask me to back away as she strained them over a sifter. Then she would take me up on her lap as they cooled and tell me what my Dad would make for all of us the next day. Mom was sick for many years with heart disease and multiple back operations and Aunt Kitty took me on as her own. She never had any children. Later on she took on my little sister as her own and we grew up to be better people for it. Those were some tought times but those were also some good times filled with many memories, some good, some not so good. It’s all in the past now and the good memories are more prevalent now.

I made cranberry sauce with my thirteen year old and with my eleven year old daughter from scratch to travel with us to family far away. We made whole berries and we made jellied cranberry sauce. I like to do it every year before Thanksgiving Day with as many of them that want to make it with me. I like to call it building memories and a life long lesson for them to pass on to their babies some day when I am long gone. The day is not just about having a turkey and all the fixings that goes with it, it’s also about the love of family and working together to make the day and meal all that more special. Food is just food if it does not have the added spice of love added to it from the people you love that made it for you for this special day.

Enjoy the day with the people you love and realize how much your life is just that much different from knowing the person that passes you the potatoes, or the squash, or the turkey, or the gift of memories built into the cranberry sauce. If you have family and friends to share this day with then you are blessed. Be thankful for it.

Happy Thanksgiving Day to you and your family and friends. I wish you love and happiness on this day.

Now shut the damn computer off and interact with your family and friends! Don’t make me raise my voice! Don’t make me tell you twice!!!

Happy Thanksgiving Day to you and yours…

Papamoka

Text Message Idiot

I have to confess that I am a Text Message Idiot and that I suffer from TMI Syndrome. My children text me, my wife text’s me, my friends and family text me. They send me pictures, they send me videos, they send me all kinds of things that I could legally go to jail for in some foreign countries. Some of it is funny, some of it is cute, then some of it is just down right disgusting but I can’t figure out how to forward the damn things! Thus I am the classic TMI poster boy.

My fingers try to type out the messages back but the damn auto think logic in my cell phone turns my words into other words that don’t make sense. I try to re-write the text around the one word and it changes the letters around on another word. I then try to re-write that part and yet another word is turned into something that does not make any sense. By that time I am so frustrated that I just close up the cell phone, slam it down and just give up. I am however fluent in one word responses like OK, Yes, and LOL. Getting past that point… I’m screwed.

Then there is this whole other language in hieroglyphics or something out of ancient worlds that I can not comprehend. I did a Google Search and I found the beginning of the end of the English language as we know it and it is based in texting. Damn you to hell texters! Net Lingo has the conspiracy and encryption decoded and now we that can not text have these infidels code of speak so to speak. Then again… I’m still screwed.

Don’t even think that I don’t know about that three button typing for each key thingamajig! Hit the button once for A, twice for B, and three times for C and so the list goes on for the alphabet. You don’t want to know how many times I came close to just tossing the phone out of the window or front door of my house. Damn you to hell evil technology! This so called cell phone texting technology was not built for someone with a nervous system disorder prone to shakes having to type using limited options and buttons so small that trying to hit one key ends up hitting three others in the process.

Do cell phones and texting scare me? Oh, you don’t want to even go there. I’m the man that screams at the ATM machine when it asks me if I want to conduct my transaction in English as soon as I put my card in the damn machine. Then the damn machine has the audacity to ask me if I want a receipt for my transaction. I get a receipt when I put my money into the bank so why the hell are they asking me if I want one when I take it out of the bank? What part of idiocy did I catch and why am I nearly disabled with it? Maybe my personal DNA does not have the electronic acceptance gene marker that can skip a generation. My kids don’t have it and that is a fact. My thirteen year old hooked up a VCR and DVD to a television that I thought should never be able to accept either but she found a way to hook them both up? She must have gotten that gene from her mothers side of the family. I still can’t figure out the remote for our damn cable box and most of the time it does not matter because the six year old has it! Thankfully, I have my six year old that also has the electronic technology gene and she is more than happy to help her Daddy find the television she likes to watch.

I don’t want to call back the people that sent me a simple text because they have moved on past the moment. It was funny, interesting or even irrelevant to real life when they sent it to me. The first few times that I called the wife back on some funny text she had sent me, she yelled at me for not just texting her back. She didn’t have time to take my call? So why the hell did she text me in the first place then? I think you can guess who has won this war. Ergo, my text usage on our cell phone plan is nearly nothing. Everyone that knows me, knows that I am a Text Messaging Idiot. TMI is not something to laugh at. This is the illiteracy of the new century. Some day you will not be able to buy a loaf of bread or even a cup of coffee without being able to text someone what you want. Ozzy Osbourne is good but what about the rest of us suffering with TMI?

I’m thinking about starting a text messaging idiot hotline where texting is not allowed. You have to pick up the phone and actually call and talk to someone. I don’t think we will need to hold meetings or anything because most of us are still having a hard time trying to find the damn redial option on our cell phones to find out where the meetings will be held. If we do decide to hold TMI meetings, look for a large pile of cell phones on the sidewalk and the nearest late night breakfast diner.

Now I have to ask the hardest question for our readers ever. Are you too a text messaging idiot? Do you suffer from little button disorder? I’m asking because I honestly think the drug companies in America could come up with a fix for this. It might take a couple of billion dollars in research but would you pay for a little blue pill that would allow you to text message?

Papamoka

Good Men Should Not Be Destroyed Over Stupid Mistakes

Good Morning Bloggers and Happy Pre-Thanksgiving - After living in NYC for a while I admit that I'm a huge fan of Eliot Spitzer, but I also admit that a Governor should not be caught paying prostitutes - big time conflict of interest on many levels.

I also agree with many of the conspiracy theorists that he was a possible victim of a Bush Administration hit job.

I think they were trying to knock him out of power. I haven't been bothering to talk about it, but I am THRILLED to see the New York Times do a piece on it. It deserves to be investigated. The Times is reporting that a congressional panel will ask why an eight month federal investigation into a prostitution service led to the exposure of Spitzer, and then pretty much disintegrated. It looked like they were out to get Spitzer? Doesn't it?

The prosecutor has said that politics played no role in the pursuit of Spitzer, but that has not satisfied many of us. Spitzer spent his career pursuing Wall Street wrongdoing, and many of us believe that he created a few grudges. Many wanted him to fall.

Even though I believe there are many pressing issues related to Bush that should be investigated, I'm still happy to hear the House Financial Services Committee will be looking into it. They plan to hold hearings that could include testimony from the United States Treasury’s law enforcement unit, along with Spitzer’s bank, North Fork, and HSBC, a bank used by a company connected to the prostitution service. I've read a lot about the issues involve, and it sounds pretty good to me.

Of course, Republicans are screaming about how the Democrats are interested in political "retribution." What the hell are they talking about? What is wrong with exposing Bush Administration witch hunts? No government should be allowed to destroy good people over small issues (like Gingrich did to Clinton, which I still think was wrong) to wipe out their power.

What if Democrats, while in power, tried to expose Republicans who sleep around or hire prostitutes, just to destroy their power base? I think that would be wrong too. Law enforcement needs to expose those situations quietly. They don't need to destroy lives, careers, and families over something that amounts to rogue behavior, or a weak constitution. People make mistakes of the "heart." Do you feel comfortable casting the first stone?

The bigger question is whether the Bushies were trying to keep him from exposing larger crimes they were committing - in New York, on Wall Street? It sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

I'll be keeping an eye on this one. I think it will come out that the Bush Administration destroyed Spitzer to keep him from exposing their own wrongdoings in the financial sector. I wonder how many lives the Bushies destroyed over the past eight years to cover their tracks? I'm sure the number's very high. Hopefully it will eventually be revealed, and justice will prevail. Well, I can hope.

We pride ourselves on giving people second chances. He did so many good things to help New York and the nation. He deserves our respect, not our derision. Think about forgiving him this Thanksgiving, and let's try to bring him back.

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

Where's the Beaver When You Need Him?

Hello Papamoka Bloggers - In what I could only describe as Leave It To Beaver meets Father Knows Best, something that resembles Republican naivety out of the fifties, a political action committee is thanking Governor Sarah Palin for her "conservative values and service to America" in ads timed for release around Thanksgiving.

I must admit, it has me laughing my butt off. It is kinda funny and sad. I wonder what's going to happen next? Are we all going to be asked to vote for Ike? I wonder why they didn't get Beaver or Wally to narrate? The whole thing is a joke. They think we're out of touch. My God!

The oh-so-comically named Our Country Deserves Better Committee, a political action committee that supported Palin during her vice presidential candidacy (and NOT McCain), will begin airing the ads today.

A male figure appears in front of a smiling image of Palin and says, "We thank you for your passionate, hopeful and articulate advocacy of common sense conservative values." The ad ends with a cheesy Republican chorus exclaiming: "Thank You, Sarah Palin!"

Okay, yea, thank you Sarah Palin, thank you for being moronic enough to LOSE THE ELECTION! This has to be one of the best examples of conservative evangelical BS I've seen in a long time.

Why are they are so enamored with this retard? She is wholly unqualified to run for national office! Why are they going out of their way to THANK HER for being a "service to America?" Why do you people really want this woman as a leader? What are you thinking? You thank her in the ad for sending her son off to the military. I heard he was sent to be punished. What if he dies? The whole family is kind of scary.

I'm serious, please tell me here. I'm confused. Pray tell, what "service" are you talking about? I'm asking you people who think our country deserves better? (Btw, I agree with you, when you think about the past eight years.)

Was it how she wasted hundreds of thousands in Republican Party money? Was it the way she insisted on handling those national television interviews with little preparation, thus flubbing them and making a mockery of McCain's campaign?

Perhaps it was the way she insisted on taking spontaneous questions on camera answering in rambling sentences that would embarrass most politicians? Perhaps it was just the way she seemed like such a FOOL?

The woman was a political menace! She was a political JOKE! John McCain is too polite, or political, to admit it, but the woman needed be thrown back after the Republican Convention. She was a nightmare! She was a liability!

Oh well, if you guys want to look like fools, then who am I to dissuade you. Go right ahead! It kind of reminds me of the fool who screams at you despite your best efforts to help them. They are the fools screaming into the wind. They are the idiots who will always vote AGAINST THEIR OWN BEST INTERESTS. Sarah Palin in 2012!

You can call me elitist all you want, but that won't stop me from calling her a JOKE! Thank God she didn't win!

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

PS- I know that my attitude will piss off some people. Believe it or not I'm not a "blue state elitist." I'm a VERY laid back, down-to-earth person. I'm just sick and tired of listening to, and being led by, those sorts of people. I'm at my wits end with them. Instincts are not enough. Intelligence is also important. They need to let the adults run things for a while.

Can We Please Get Rid of Alberto Gonzales?

Good Morning Papamoka Bloggers - In my quest to keep us mindful of the Bush crimes, The Raw Story and I continue to focus on certain Administration scum who continue to amaze us, or screw us, depending on your point of view.

Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Conyers (D-MI) are upset and demanding answers from Attorney General Michael - all law is relative - Mukasey because of new revelations that "taxpayers are paying up to $24,000 per month to foot former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's legal bills," according to Raw Story.

The senators are supposedly demanding to know the details of the arrangement, which are being kept confidential. I tell you, Mukasey is a crook and a pig. I know many of you felt pity for him when he fainted the other day. I think of myself as pretty sensitive, but to be honest I could care less when a criminal of his caliber faints. The man could go into a coma and I wouldn't care. He's a lying crook who helps Bush and his band get away with God knows what!

Btw, I begged and pleaded with my Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) to vote against Mukasey's installment. She didn't have good reasons to believe him at the time, and has expressed many regrets since. So, Senator, I hope you know that you SCREWED UP BIG TIME! Everybody saw what he was during those hearings except you and Schumer(D-NY). You guys risked our nation on your foolish beliefs and we paid the price over the past two years. I lost a LOT of respect for you that day.

Anyway, I digress, so back to the story about Gonzales. This is one more area where internal Justice Department findings showed that Gonzales allegedly "politicized the department" and is personally liable for his actions. He broke the rules. So, the Senators are wondering why, with good reason, the Justice Department is paying to defend Gonzalez? He is being sued, so he should be forced to pay himself.

It doesn't make sense. Then again, when has anything related to the Bush Administration made any sense. The MAN IS SCUM. He should be forced TO PAY BACK THAT MONEY.

This is just one more example of how the Bush crime family is raping America and stealing from us. This needs to stop. I'm writing my representatives as well as Leahy and Conyers and I hope you do the same. It's easy, just search for their names using Google and you will find their websites.

Now that Obama is elected, it's tempting to think only about what is good. Unfortunately, we need to remain vigilant and demand justice for all the injustice over the past eight years. Please, help me keep demanding investigations, indictments, perp walks, and jail terms. They deserve it.

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

White Collar Job’s Only Bailout

Yesterday the U.S. Government bailed out another white collar giant in the banking industry. Citi Bank, the largest of banks in the nation received a blank check from Washington without any questions asked. This most recent of bailouts is all okay with the higher than thou Congress simply because the people cashing the blank check all wear white collars. White collar jobs are good, blue collar jobs bad.

The Steel Workers President put it best, it’s okay to bailout someone that takes a shower before work but if you take one after working all day you get thrown out.

Rachel Maddow has this interesting view on this very same subject…

Video Link



I think I might have just found the answer to the automotive industry bailout problem. Don’t tell anyone in Washington but GM, Ford, and Chrysler should change their mailing address to Wall Street in New York city. Better yet, they should all start offering brokerage accounts and free toasters with every car purchase. Even better and this would be a slam dunk, change the corporate names to GM Bank, Ford Bank and Chrysler Bank. Then they could get the same blank check as Citi Bank!

Blue collar union jobs bad, white collar big bank jobs good? Makes sense so far in the scheme of things that Washington and our pontificating Congress uses for an excuse not to bailout the big three automakers. While they claim that the big three have put themselves in the position they are all in, how did Wall Street and all the banks robbing the treasury blind get where they are?

Papamoka

Plastic Up the Windows, Winter is Here

One of the biggest scams with replacement windows is the installation. You can buy a window that is supposed to save you half of your home heating and cooling costs but if they are installed half assed you get nothing. When the guys making $10 or $12 an hour to install the windows just install a window then they just install a window. Much of the savings is lost when the installers do not insulate or caulk around the outside of the jams around the new window and you might as well still have that old window in its place. All that technology in a top of the line new replacement window you just paid top dollar for is lost because a twenty cent piece of fiberglass insulation was not stuffed in the gaps of the frame by a guy or gal making $10 or $12 dollars an hour. The sales pitch was great, the end result sucks.

We rent, the house has all new double glass windows, I feel bad for the original owner of the house who probably paid a fortune for the full replacement of all the windows in a three family house. They got screwed! Every winter we have to throw plastic window wrapping over the inside of the windows to not only cover the windows but the trim around them inside the house. I fear the house is going to lift off at any moment because the sails of the plastic are always full in our double pain windows. How do you fly a three decker house? Is there even a flight school for this? Maybe the people that sell the plastic window insulation kits should cover this topic in the installation directions?

Anywho, the plastic is going up in this house and if you want to save some heating dollars then you need to throw some plastic up on your windows too. It isn’t hard to do. Every home improvement store carries the kits this time of year for all sized windows. We covered our three bay bedroom windows with a large oversized window kit. The temperature in the room rose by ten degrees or more with just the existing heating system.

It’s simple, it is inexpensive, and it saves you big bucks on your heating bill. You put the supplied double sided tape around the window trim on the wall, you pull the protecting layer off the double sided tape starting with the top edge and half way down on each side of the window, start at the top of the window with the plastic and fit it to the surrounding wall and frame of the window. Remove the rest of the protective barrier on tape as you snuggly fit it to the window. Press and seal the plastic and you did it! Done! Now all you have to do is wait for the energy savings in your home heating bill.

Frost King has a great product and I’m sure that your local home repair store has other great products that would achieve the same goal. Saving you money on your heating bill this winter is easy if you put the plastic up on the windows.

Papamoka

No Pity for Evil Fools

Hello Papamoka Bloggers - The Raw Story is reporting this morning about an interview George - I'll never forgive the crook - Bush gave to a Japanese television network where he reportedly said that the Iraq war "was a success" and that he is "very pleased" with what is happening there.

Aside from his usual Saddam Hussein was a threat crap, Bush said that "people have been able to take their troops out of Iraq because Iraq is becoming successful. I'm very pleased with what is taking place there now."

I don't know about you guys, but I've shocked by the lack of Iraq coverage in this country. I watch the BBC News, and it has at least one story a day on the war and most of it is pretty bad. The lack of coverage in this country borders on the criminal. The American people are fed a bunch of lies that Iraq is doing just fine. We don't even get to see the frequent protests where THOUSANDS of Iraqis burn Bush in effigy and march for us to LEAVE THEIR COUNTRY!

The truth is much more complicated. THERE IS STILL PLENTY OF VIOLENCE! It's just happening between the Iraqis more, as they become more capable of killing each other. In general, based on all those reports I watch and read, is that the government of Iraq is refusing to hire the same Sunni forces that we've been paying, which means that after we withdraw there will probably be a civil war.

The other problems involve the Mahdi [sic] army, which is holding its cease fire until we leave. Nobody knows what will happen after we go. There are still suicide bombs every week killing dozens, warring factions targeting each other, Kurds interested in forming a new nation, and ex-Saddam loyalists who seek to reestablish a Sunni-led government.

They will all fight each other the minute we exit. What George - the war criminal Bush - isn't telling you is that there is no good solution. He's just trying to make it look like it's working. Obama is planning to pull us out because there are no other solutions, and George Bush and the Republican "truth squad" will try to make him look like the screw-up when that happens.

The whole thing is a bloody mess, and George - the lying sack - Bush is getting away with it. This is a MUCH BIGGER PROBLEM for us Democrats than it is for the Republicans. The Republicans have done a great job making Iraq look okay. Once the real news gets out, and we start pulling troops out, we will be taking the blame for a worsening situation - that WAS ALWAYS MESSED UP!

Why don't people seek out the truth? Why don't more people watch the real news, like the BBC News? Why don't more people read actual newspapers? WHY DON'T PEOPLE CARE MORE?

Oh well, that's enough yelling and ranting for one Monday morning. I blame you George Bush for being the evil fool that you are. A recent Wall Street Journal op-ed said that we, the American people, mistreat you. Really? I think you've gotten away with MURDER, especially since you are a psychotic murderer who feels nothing for the lives that you've destroyed.

I think you should be in jail. You are the WORST! I blame you and the Republicans who support you for driving this nation to the brink of oblivion - IRAQ was a big part of that trip. You're nothing more than a low-life, psychotic murderer. You sir slept while Rome burned. One day you will be forced to see the damage that you caused, learn about the lives that you destroyed, and hopefully pay the ultimate price for your crimes. I have no pity for evil fools like you.

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

Pardon Power and Bush Candidates

One of the perks when being President is that you can let criminals walk free of the law just because you say so. No matter the law, umm, I think murder is out, but the President exiting the White House can pardon anyone. No reason needs to be given, the President says so and that is it.

President Ford gave a blank pardon to Richard Nixon and most political theorists believe that he actually needed to do so in order to get America back on track and dealing with real American issues. Nixon more or less needed to be laid to rest political in order for Ford to lead.

This has me wondering whom will get a pardon from W and his crew of thugs and mischievous near do wellers. Scooter Libby has already received his pardon and commutation of his jail sentence. Is Dick Cheney next? Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzaleze? How many current or past cabinet members will President Bush have to pardon?

Haliburton has moved out of the country to Dubai so that group of Soprano thugs is out for a Presidential Pardon. Is Karl Rove on the to do list of President Bush? Dick Cheney has to be high on the list. To date over 2300 requests for pardons have been received by the White House according to MSNBC and Rachel Maddow. I wonder what her spin on the Bush pardon legacy will be…



I think we can all assume, and I hate to do that, that President Bush will cover his ass and everyone that covered his ass in the deceptive way he governed America. Anyone under indictment or in process of being convicted by the Justice Department for any crimes if they even remotely linked back to the White House will get a full unconditional pardon. Especially, the many friends that helped run the Iraq War. The key points of the list to watch of pardons will come down to who was not under investigation and gets a pardon anyway. That is the hardcore list of folks that screwed the American people most for personal gain. President Bush will cover the back door for them and they in turn will treat him like a God in his retirement. Isn’t this a great country where piracy in our government is forgiven! If Bush’s legal team could skirt the Constitution for eight years then I’m pretty sure there is an attorney out there that can charge him with treason. Bush sold America out to the highest bidder and he and his crew never blinked an eye in doing so. A precedent needs to be set. Even the President of the United States of America has to stand by the laws of the land. Where do we set the bar for standards for the highest office in the land? If we go by the Bush standard, you wipe your back side with the Constitution and flush it away as useless paper.

Papamoka

Detroit Bailout Terms from Reid and Pelosi

It makes sense that Detroit and the big three need to change their business plan if Washington is going to bail them out. Today Senate President Harry Reid and Speaker of the House served up the terms for any bailout loan. It would not make sense to just hand out a blank check to the big three without preconditions.

It also makes perfect sense that the Congress can not let these three key corporations fail when they are so heavily interwoven in the American manufacturing economy. Given the fact that many companies all across America rely on the big three as their main customers, the Congress can not kick the stool out from under them and let them hang in the bankruptcy courts. If they did collapse in bankruptcy it would be a rush on the courts to file bankruptcy by thousands of companies all across America when they are forced to eat the big three’s simple business mistakes.

Over at the Washington Post they have this at The Ticker on the terms of the Reid and Pelosi terms…

Congressional leaders gave automakers a list of promises that must be made in writing by Dec. 2 so Congress can come back for a second lame-duck session on Dec. 8 to consider the loans.

Here is what Congress needs from Detroit before it will release any loans:

-- A "forthright, documented assessment" of the Big Three's cash position, short-term liquidity needs and plans to meet their financing needs.

-- Estimates of how much money Detroit needs based on auto sales at current, better and worse levels.

-- "Transparency and accountability," including balance-sheet reporting to the government.

-- A promise to pay the government loans back before loans the Big Three has secured from private lenders.

-- The provision of sweeteners to taxpayers in the form of warrants or other mechanisms.

-- A promise to bar the payment of dividends to shareholders and "excessive compensation, including bonuses and golden parachutes." (Note the lack of a concrete figures on bonus and salary limits; this will provide automakers with some wiggle room to retain key executives.)

-- Proposals to continue paying health care and pension obligations.

-- A demonstration that the Big Three will be able to hit fuel-efficiency standards set for by Congress last year and "and become a long-term global leader in the production of energy-efficient advanced technology vehicles." (Again, wiggle room.)

-- An agreement that the government loans will be immediately callable if Congress's requirements are not met.

Washington Post and The Ticker

Congress is going to give this loan to the big three and the terms will be met. Congress does not have a choice when the tentacles of the business the auto industry is in reaches so far and deep into our economy. If you think it will not pass then you don’t have a clue as to how far and wide these three businesses reach.

Keep the pressure on and save good paying American jobs! Call your Senator and Congressional member. Email them, write letters, and just be a pain in the butt to save your neighbors jobs.

Papamoka

*****Buzz Tracker has linked in... Thank you!

Gasoline Price Tanks With Bush

Kick me in the butt but I saw a gas price in Missouri today at $1.35! Now tell me why it was over $4.00 per gallon just a few short months ago? It wasn’t a supply problem. It wasn’t a demand problem. Could the high price of gasoline just been political greed and pandering to close friends in the oil industry by George Bush? You bet it was!

Bush and company gave the green light to the oil markets to feel free to rape and pillage the masses. In doing so he gave the oil industries billions in gross profits per quarter and you can bet the farm who will be paying for the George W. Bush Presidential Library, his retirement, his book deals, and his monosyllabic world speaking tours.

You read it here first, George Bush is going to make Bill Clinton look like a cheap date when he pulls down more than a million dollars per speaking engagement. Don’t try and buy tickets for any of the speeches, oil executive board rooms only hold so many people and they need room to stretch. I’m thinking that his boardroom world tour will be sponsored by Exxon Mobil and of course security for the events will be sponsored by Haliburton.

Anywho, it’s nice to throw twenty bucks in the cars gas tank and it nearly fills it from empty. What the hell am I going to do with the other $40 dollars or more per week? Then I’m stuck with all this other cash because it won’t cost me $3,000 dollars to heat my home this winter too. What about all the money we are going to save at the grocery store now? Damn it this list is going to go on forever and ever! Maybe I’ll just toss all of the over inflated prices and cost reductions in the old savings account and call that my Bush Legacy retirement plan.

I won’t be crying for any of the oil companies when the price of gasoline breaks through the $1.00 per gallon mark. Not one damn tear.

Papamoka

Another Tragic, Public Teen Suicide

Hello Papamoka Bloggers - I came across a pretty horrible story in the London Times this morning about a 19-year old boy who committed suicide while being watched by up to 1,500 viewers on a live Internet site.

I wrote once before on this blog about a gay teenager in Derby, UK, who jumped to his death from the roof of a building while being mocked and encouraged to jump by people on the ground. The story was shocking to say the least.

So now we have another teenager dying while being encouraged by others who were watching online. Yes, sadly, Abraham Biggs from Broward County, Florida, took an overdose of pills while broadcasting himself on Justin.tv, a live video streaming website.

He told those watching that he was going to commit suicide and went so far as to post a suicide note on another forum before taking the pills and turning on his webcam. Supposedly those watching knew very well was he was up to, yet they did not call the police.

The Times reports that the "19-year-old lay on his bed and only after several hours of no movement did others begin to take him seriously. With the video still running, forum members managed to contact the local police who eventually broke down the door, found the body and switched off the camera. Up to 1,500 people were viewing the feed, according to one report."

Many thought he was joking. Well, I hope they can live with themselves after they failed to take him seriously. Their irrational belief that he was joking led directly to his death. I hate to say it, but I think they're partly responsible. I know myself, and I know that I would have assumed the worst and tried to intervene.

The Times says that he apparently had threatened before to commit suicide. Who cares, the boy was obviously in need of HELP! Somebody should have done something. "On Wednesday he went to the bodybuilding.com forum and detailed the amount of drugs he was going to take. The moderators of the forum reportedly did not take him seriously because of his past threats and other forum members encouraged him to carry out his threat." WOW, what a bunch of assholes! The whole story makes me sick!

They supposedly continued to insult him as he lay motionless on the bed after taking the pills. "One forum member pleaded with other forum members to contact the police and tried to e-mail the Miami-Dade police. He borrowed his father's mobile and spoke to police who directed him to the Broward County Sheriff's Department. About an hour later, the authorities arrived at the teenager's house."

Incredibly, video clips have been posted on the net and copies of the suicide note can also be found. I don't know what to think about the world we live in today. I'm sure many right-wing Republicans who believe the world will fall apart without everybody embracing Jesus will blame it on corrupt morals caused by a lack of religion in our lives, or families without moral leadership. That is BS!

Society creates the conditions for acts of violence - on others or ourselves - at multiple levels. I think it has nothing to do with religious oversight; it as to do with a lack of societal and personal responsibility. We seem to live in a world where people don't take their own actions, much less those of others, very seriously. It's crazy.

Remember, we are all our brothers keeper. We are all responsible. People need to STOP ACTING LIKE IDIOTS and take more responsibility. We should never assume that people are pretending to drown, or choke, or commit suicide. They are nothing to joke about. ALWAYS ASSUME THE WORST! Always try to HELP and to hell with the consequences. If it turns out to be a joke, well then, shrug it off. It's a poor reflection on them, not us.

So, I never knew you Abraham, but I would like to say that you deserved better. People should have helped you. I would have helped you. People should have cared more. I regret that you had to die because we live in a society that does too little, too late. My personal memorial to you Abraham is to promise to act if I ever see anybody hurting like you did. I promise to do something. No matter what, I promise to take them seriously.

Rest in peace Abraham.

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

Going Obama Rambo!

Did Barack Obama win the Presidency or not. Did he not earn the right to pick and choose who the hell he pleases for his cabinet. Why is America and the media so damn focused on who Obama will pick for his cabinet? Why is this same media frenzy feeding the right wing internet and giving them a voice? When George Bush won the White House he declared a mandate, can Democrats not do the same? Barack Obama should declare an election mandate and move quickly to enact his campaign promises. His coat tails brought many new voices to the table of government and those voices should be heard. So why is the hype over Obama and his cabinet so critical. Did the people that voted for him not send a message for change or not? Did Barack Obama not prove that his message is the new direction for America to follow?

Maybe we should point out that the Republican Party can not find its ass from its elbow right now. No kidding! America has moved away from the screw you mentality of a President that cares not for the people of America but defends the special interests of big business first. Can we look at the other side of the coin where the rest of us have a voice too? His legacy will be the bankruptcy of Detroit and our American auto industry. That is something to be really proud of. NOT!!!

Obama has not even taken the oath of office and people are going nuts over his choice for the people that will lead us all out of the Bush disgrace and Presidency. Let the subpoenas fly against President Bush and his crew, I’m confident that Presidential pardons from Bush will cover everyone and anyone that manipulated our nation in an all for me and none for the rest of you mentality.

Can we get back to change and what Obama campaigned on? Barack Obama has not even taken the oath of President and the media is out of control in speculation. Do you think they need to take a chill pill or what?

Papamoka

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

George Bush single handedly destroyed the respect most foreign nations had for America simply because he could. In Bush’s private little war in Iraq and outright refusal to use diplomacy, he has made the office of Secretary of State impotent and almost pointless. George Bush is not well known for the diplomatic talent of his father and all over the world they now look at America as the bullying nation carrying not only a big stick but a constant threat against nations that do not see the Bush philosophy of “With us or against us” mentality.

How amazingly simple is it to see that the next Secretary of State needs to not only be a diplomat, well rounded on world events, but carries a resume that includes a spouse that is a previous President of the Untied States of America. Not that Hillary needs Bill Clinton to do the job, but it sure as hell could help that a popular U.S. President around the world just might be traveling with the Secretary of State on missions to repair relationships all over the world on behalf of the United States of America. Over at Gallup they have this latest poll on Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State…

Most Americans Back Idea of Clinton as Secretary of State
Nearly 8 in 10 Democrats favor the possibility

by Jeffrey M. Jones
PRINCETON, NJ -- A new Gallup Poll finds a majority of Americans (57%) in favor of Barack Obama appointing Hillary Clinton as the secretary of state in his administration. Thirty percent oppose it. - Gallup

Hillary Clinton no longer has to prove herself to the American people and could easily spend the rest of her political career as a Senator from New York. Not that she would languish in that position but I think she could do more for her country as a peace maker around the world with not just our allies but with many nations no longer friendly with the United States. If President Elect Barack Obama wants to talk with nations out of favor in todays political climate, then he needs an ace up his sleeve and Hillary Clinton and her husband are in fact TWO aces! In her position as Secretary of State she would not be a thorn but an extremely well placed political asset in the diplomatic corps for her nation.

It would be a huge mistake for the President Elect to even think of not insisting that he has made his choice for Secretary of State and it is Hillary Clinton. It is the President Elects choice and Hillary Clinton is the one he wants for the position and that should be the end of the discussion. Frankly, I honestly believe that this is a done deal already and I firmly endorse it. Hillary Clinton earned the position on her own merits.

Then there are the detractors that say that former President Bill Clinton is the cause for all the media hype over this issue. Get over it, Bill Clinton will not be the Secretary of State but he will be a brilliant advisor to the Secretary of State and the President as to how we as a nation can restore trust and faith in America. Isn’t that what we the people really want? Isn’t that why we voted for Obama in the first place? If our President Elect wants Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State then she will in fact be our next Secretary of State. Congratulations to you Senator Clinton.

Papamoka

My thanks to Memeorandum for this news tip...

*****My twin Brotha from anotha Mutha has linked in at the Gun Toting Liberal! Thank you GTL...

Waxman Will Lead to Cleaner Air and Better Health

Good Morning Papamoka Bloggers - The most amazing BREAKING NEWS this morning is that one of the greatest men in Congress, my Congressman Representative Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), has OUSTED the chairmanship of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee from veteran Representative John Dingell. This is excellent news! Dingell has been the puppet of the auto industry and has halted hundreds of reforms over the years. It was time for him to go. This was a critical vote, and we the people WON AGAIN!

Heny Waxman, a man who I've met and support, is an avid environmentalist and extremely well qualified to help Barack Obama with his health and energy reforms. The Democratic Party member vote of 137-122 ended a bitter fight within the party since the presidential election. Dingell has held the position for 28 years and has been too slow to address environmental issues like global warming.

I think it's brilliant! It's not enough to elect Obama, it's also important to get the right people into the right positions so that he can accomplish his goals. I'm more encouraged than ever that we might pull off real change. This is GREAT NEWS! Henry Waxman is a very good, intelligent, capable man. He's perfect to help Obama tackle these critical issues.

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

So It Begins

Hello Papamoka Bloggers - I think those who know me will know that I AM THRILLED by the news that VP Dick - Darth Vadur - Cheney and the former Attorney General Alberto - Torture, Torture, Torture - Gonzales have been indicted on charges involving federal prisons in a South Texas county. Isn't that INCREDIBLE! Texas no less! WOW!

I've been writing my elected representatives for years asking for more investigations, indictments, and perp walks. I've been let down the whole time. I've been especially angry about the Karl Rove Congressional subpoena debacle related to the Justice Department and Don Siegelman, but that's a rant for another day. What's incredible is that an indictment has come out of left field, or at least left Texas. Strange, I thought that was Bush country. I guess all Texans don't speak Bush BS.

The judge still needs to sign the indictment, but let's keep faith. There are seven indictments in South Texas' Willacy County naming Cheney, Gonzales along with a state senator and other public officials.

The AP is reporting that "Cheney is charged with engaging in an organized criminal activity related to the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees because of his link to the prison companies."

Megan Mitchell, a spokeswoman for Cheney, declined to comment on Tuesday, saying that the vice president had not yet received a copy of the indictment. The indictment accuses Gonzales of using his position while in office to stop an investigation in 2006 into abuses at one of the privately-run prisons.

Gonzales' attorney, George Terwilliger III, said in a written statement, "This is obviously a bogus charge on its face, as any good prosecutor can recognize." He said he hoped Texas authorities would take steps to stop "this abuse of the criminal justice system."

Well, it's not a war crime, but it's something. I'll take whatever we can get. Besides, let's just call this the first step. Hopefully this will be the start of a whole bunch of indictments. The deceitful SCUM need to be flushed out of our system. We need JUSTICE! WE THE PEOPLE are finally taking action, and it will only get worse for them.

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

Pirates Gone Wild

Pirates from the rogue nation of Somalia have taken over the sea lanes surrounding their nation off the coast of Africa. The brazen criminals have gone so far as to hijack a super tanker with $100 million in Saudi oil and it does not look like they will stop anytime soon. You know this is a real problem when even the Saudi’s are calling them terrorists.

With such a large area to cover in international waters, the many navy and military vessels sent to protect shipping vessels can not catch all of the Somali pirates. India and its navy finally caught up with one of the thugs and scored one for the good guys. Over at Yahoo News they have this to say…

Indian navy destroys pirate boat, more ships taken

By Abdi Sheikh Abdi Sheikh – 2 hrs 3 mins ago

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – An Indian warship destroyed a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden and gunmen from Somalia seized two more vessels despite a large international naval presence off their lawless country.

The buccaneers have taken a Thai fishing boat, a Greek bulk carrier and a Hong Kong-flagged ship heading to Iran since Saturday's spectacular capture of a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million of oil, the biggest ship hijacked in history.

The explosion of piracy off Somalia this year has driven up insurance costs, made some shipping companies divert around South Africa and prompted an unprecedented military response from NATO, the European Union and others.

"The pirates are sending out a message to the world that 'we can do what we want, we can think the unthinkable, do the unexpected'," Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, told Reuters in Mombasa. -Yahoo News

If this were occurring off the shores of North America I would be the first to say that the nations of North America own this problem. Then I would think that the combined military effort of both Canada, Mexico, and the United States would patrol our waters to protect and defend free trade. Leave it up to the Saudi’s to outsource another responsibility to India or someone else to do their dirty work.

Papamoka

*****Reuters has picked up this post... Thank you!

Why Did Republicans Lose?

I was in the tank for Barack Obama for a reason for President. I believe in him. I will never apologize for it! I don’t agree with his abortion and pro choice issue but I voted for him still because the rest of his message was for the common good of his fellow man and woman. He was not talking to the elite of America when he asked for our vote but to you and I, the simple folk. That is not a message that John McCain could sell but he was weighed down by the recent history of his own political party. John McCain was honorable, his party and the members of it were not. My own faith and leaders of it were accused of abuse against children. Catholic Priests abusing children and the dare to have a voice on this election? And when they hid the crimes, moved priests around, and they still think themselves innocent. Now they want to claim the higher moral road?

Republican political party officials disgraced the political offices they held over and over again. You can literally Google Search Tom Delay that was the Senate President disgraced and resigned from office, Denny Hastert, the Speaker of the House disgraced and forced to resign. One Republican representative after another in our nations government betrayed the trust of the people. Sex accusations and just out right abuse of power led many Republican members of congress to resign in disgrace. The fish rots from the head and George Bush and his administration contributed to this deception. The political base did not do that to them, the people they thought that they elected to serve are to blame for their actions. They are the ones to blame.

It goes beyond that. Faith came into play and the Catholic faith came into play when John McCain accepted the endorsement of Reverend John Hagee. A man that declared all Catholics Bastards and Whores of the Christian faith. To which John McCain had to withdraw his acceptance of the endorsement. Still, all of us Catholics are bastards of the true faith of Jesus Christ. We are damned to hell unless we sign over a check to Reverend John Hagee. Um, I do not have a pen ready any time soon.

Politics is a double edged sword if you bring your faith fully into it. Faith and politics will never agree unless you want to live in a religious run state? In South Carolina there is one parish Priest that thinks that anyone that voted for Barack Obama needs to go to confession before taking communion. As a Catholic I can not see how the logic of this parish priest is relevant to our nation and out greater political structure. Over at Yahoo News they have this opinion piece…

SC priest: No communion for Obama supporters

By MEG KINNARD, Associated Press Writer Meg Kinnard, Associated Press Writer – Thu Nov 13, 6:33 pm ET

COLUMBIA, S.C. – A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.

"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation." - Yahoo News

If the Catholic Church ran the world then we would have forgiven the terrorists that killed 3000 people on 9/11 in New York City and that would be the end of it. But this priest wants the election to be all about abortion. Not that you as a person could have a choice if you don’t even believe in it till the circumstances happen to be you and or your daughter. Your daughter is raped by her brother, by her uncle, by even her farther, or for that matter by a complete stranger. Rape is good with the Catholic faith and as a Catholic I have an argument here with it. Excommunicate me for it! I will defend a woman’s right, a child’s right and choice to abort a child under duress. Tell me once when a man was ever raped against his will and the end result was a child from that crime! Just give me one example. It's easy to talk about creation of human beings when you supposedly take a vow against sex. Then your own infrastructure hides your own members sex crimes against children. The Catholic Church does not have a bully pulpit to stand on right now and for them to try and influence voters is pretty much against church doctrine as well.

I find myself not thinking that the Catholic faith is not in line with the reality of the world around them. As much as I love my faith, the real world is not playing the same game. We as Catholics need to find our way back to the original message of Jesus Christ. If we can not, then so goes the faithful. Maybe we can hate the sin but love the sinner again? If we can not then Jesus and his message is lost to reach out for the lost among us. I think it is to late for that now and it angers me as a die hard Catholic!

I can honestly say that I don’t think that anyone is ever pro abortion but that is a political message left to spin by politicians and political groups that have no idea how many levels of government that this plays into, but politics should never play into my faith and my faith should never play into politics. Seperation of Church and State is there for a reasons. No member of the Catholic faith should be denied communion based on politics. What is a sin to one person is common sense to another. This is America and not the Vatican! This is the new Catholic faith that is not beholden to the Pope that is omnipotent.

Papamoka

Obama Administration and the Media

Is it just me or is it that all of the media is going nuts over every appointment that President elect Obama makes. He isn’t even President yet and those that fought hard for him to be elected are slamming him for his choices. Why in hell did you fight for him to be elected then? I’m thinking that the next great chapter in this nation was based in Yes We Can and then followed up by No You Can’t! It is not even funny how the bloggers have turned sideways to now look for dirt on the man that has not even taken the oath of President and it disgusts me.

Why did we back him if we did not believe in Barack Obama. If he needs Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State then he needs Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State. Tell me one other person more qualified for the position? Any other person in your thoughts for the position does not have the ear of a former President of this nation. Together Obama and Clinton can heal the damage done over the last decade and maybe America can finally concentrate on our problems at home. Hillary Clinton should be the next Secretary of State, the Senate will not begrudge her this position and she will serve for the higher purpose that she is more than capable of fulfilling.

Yes we can make this nation better but we need to know that all obstacles will be put in front of the Obama Administration before he even takes office. All of the media is already in attack mode against the hope that the 44th President will begin working on as soon as his hand is removed from the holy bible. Everyone President Obama selects for any position will be under the media scope and up for all kinds of specualtion and bad mouthed even though they have not even served the next President. We can’t heal this nation if this is just another one party system and full of a one party only looking out for its own interests. We as a people need to look past the false hope that the media speculates on and believe that there is never anything wrong with hope.

I have a personal problem with attacking a politician that has not even taken an oath of office, served in the office, or even made one decision as President. Maybe the rest of the media and bloggers can get away with it but I don’t dare to travel there. As President elect Obama can pick his cabinet, pro or con, his staff, his counsel, and even his damn own pajamas. I’m sure the First Lady Elect has some opinion on that matter but get the hell out on all the other over speculation on what he is going to do! He gave you over twenty months on what he wants to tackle and the Bush administration has given him two months on the screw ups that he will have to deal with. I can picture the last day of the Bush Presidency…

President Bush, President Obama, President Obama, President Bush Crap. Would you like a doggie bag for that till you take full control of the West Wing and the White House President Obama? President Bush will not be taking this buffet home with him so feel free to toss it in the White House fridge on January 20th. The Vice President has the reheating instructions but we can’t tell you where he is do to states secrets and super duper security measures that KBR will not allow us to reveal.

Don’t blame Obama for Bush and Company lax homeland issue attention deficit disorder. Bush and Cheney screwed over America and apparently they are not done. According to my co-writer Michael Boh the $700 Billion bailout for Wall Street was the last rape of America and her taxpayers. Apparently, that blank check authored by the Bush Administration was just that, a blank check.

So do you think Obama is going to allow this go unchecked? Is President Obama not going to go after this drain on all of our nations treasury without somebody doing jail time? Ummm, he can’t! The Congress agreed to it and passed it with the stipulation that the Treasury Secretary could distribute the funds as he deemed necessary.

Maybe we should focus the attention of the media and our blog’s on what kind of garbage and last minute deals the Bush administration is going to try and pull off. Trust me, Bush will surpass by thousands the number of pardons anyone before him has signed. Do a favor, owe a favor. It is almost as if the Presidency of the last eight years was actually the Soprano’s and organized crime. Watch the pardons and you will see who actually served George W. Bush best. Even Karl Rove will be given and unconditional pardon just to cover President Bush ass.

Sometimes you have to look back to make sure that you can look forward.

Papamoka

Did Bush/Paulson Scam Us? Were We Fooled Again?

Good Morning Papamoka Bloggers - Raw Story today is pointing to a letter from CONSERVATIVE Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) where he tells his Senate colleagues that he "intends to push for immediate legislation that would require Congressional authorization for any further payouts" related to the recent bailout package.

According to my sources in DC, many in Congress are beginning to believe that Bush and Paulson bailed out their friends on Wall Street, with few conditions to lend the money out. Many now feel that's all they really wanted. There are rumors flying around DC that they needed to save specific institutions and markets before leaving office.

Since investing the money they have done very little to encourage lending, and they appear to be holding on to the rest of the funds just in case something else goes wrong - an emergency buddy fund I guess? They are supposed to be freeing up credit. They were supposed to be demanding that banks lend money. What the hell is going on?

The ultra-conservative Oklahoma Republican told the Tulsa World, "It is just outrageous that the American people don't know that Congress doesn't know how much money [Paulson] has given away to anyone. ... It could be to his friends. It could be to anybody else. We don't know. There is no way of knowing. ... He was able to get this authority from Congress predicated on what he was going to do, and then he didn't do it." I agree. I'm beginning to wonder if they know anything up there. What is wrong with them?

I never thought I would say this, but I think Inhofe is right! I, like so many others, came to believe that the government was trying to stop a disaster when they passed the legislation. Facts on the ground since are showing that things weren't as bad as suspected, and if anything it's beginning to look like Bush and Paulson created the panic based on very little data.

It's beginning to look like we might have been scammed again, just like with the Iraq War - another crisis that helped Bush and his buddies. What did Bush say, fool me once shame on me, or some perverted version of it? Maybe he's not the idiot we all took him for? Maybe he's just a much bigger CROOK! Then again, we're supposed to TRUST THE PRESIDENT when he warns us of a potential disaster. I don't know about you guys, but I feel sick!

Incredibly, our trustworthy Democrats in Congress - and center-right Republicans - didn't dig deep enough. I know they convinced many of us in the end, but aren't they supposed to know more than us? Then again, maybe they're not as smart as we think they are? Maybe we rely on a bunch of smooth-talking IDIOTS!

What in the hell is wrong with this government, especially our elected representatives? Nobody seems to know what they're doing. WE NEED ANSWERS NOW!

We need to FOCUS ON STOPPING THE BUSH CRIME SYNDICATE from plundering more. We need immediate investigations! We need action now! Unless something happens, this may be the first issue where I take a stand AGAINST OBAMA! Once in office, we need President-Elect Obama to support immediate investigations into possible Bush crimes, or we should take to the streets!

The American people voted for change, and we might not be able to wait until the inauguration. The Lame Duck Congress should act now! To protect our democracy for the future, we need to get to the bottom of what is happening to that money. I hope you agree.

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

Republican Propaganda Machine Spinning Out of Control

Good Morning Papamoka Bloggers - I won't cite specifics here, because there are too many, but last week and over the weekend the overall amount of Republican BS already being thrown at President-Elect Obama would be laughable if it wasn't so tragic. The Republican truth assassins are hard at work and the man hasn't even been inaugurated yet.

Of course, the worst culprits are the usual suspects: Hannity, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Beck, Savage and others. Not only are they claiming that the election was stolen, and being stolen in Minnesota and Alaska, but they are constantly blaming the stock market downturn and EVERYTHING about the current economic crisis on Obama. The "Obama Recession" was a joke at first, but I'm not laughing so much now. It's beginning to get me angry.

Why do I let those assholes get to me? Yes, I needed to say the word. They are assholes. Actually, they're worse, but I need to keep this PG. No matter how much I try to ignore them, they are getting to me. I guess it's the repetition. They're blaming Obama for everything they destroyed and we can't shut them up. Why? I want to shut them up!

Okay, cool down Michael. Let's evaluate the situation. So far, they're blaming us for:

• the credit crisis caused by their lack of oversight and regulation;
• the stock market collapse caused by their poor management of the economy and their record-breaking debt creation;
• a "secular revolt" because gay people are angry after religious conservative Republicans successfully funded and passed a proposition in California that over-turned rights for a large segment of society;
• election fraud because of ACORN, which has been involved in elections for decades and has never officially registered any voters because all it does is collect signature cards for state officials (not to mention there is evidence they stole over six million votes); and,
• basically EVERYTHING they've SCREWED UP on us.

I'm pretty sure that's only the beginning. Well, what can we say except GET REAL PEOPLE! Any Republicans who are believing their crap are delusional. I'm not a psychologist, but I think it's clear you people need help. IT IS NOTHING BUT REPUBLICAN PROPAGANDA!

Two great resources to help clear the polluted air are BIG LIES by Joe Conason and/or Cracking the Code by Thom Hartmann. Both describe the Machiavellian/Rovian tactics of blaming the other side for your own mistakes. Muddy the water, lie, cheat and steal if you must. Win at all costs. The end justifies the means. It's all part of their world. It's sad, but true.

So, let's try to keep it all in perspective. They're going to try to pin EVERYTHING that's going wrong on us. They're going to try to BLAME US for their own failure. I guess we're just going to have to live with it and hope it doesn't work. I hate it, but there's not much we can do about it. I'll try to relax and let it go, and I hope you can do the same.

Michael Boh

Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor

from Our Rants & Raves Blog

Firefighters

This is a from the heart post. I happen to have a great respect for people that serve to protect our fellow man. Firefighters come close to my heart when they rush into the flames where others not so brave would not. In their individual hearts for why they do what they do I will never understand but I sure as hell appreciate them every single day of my life. I can’t put myself in their boots when they rush into an empty building that is rumored to have homeless people in it or for that matter a single home known to have a family in it. Flames and the heat is so intense and yet they rush in where no man should. Many loose their lives for it. That is courage that can never be explained. God bless them all for it.

Here in my hometown we lost six brave men back in 1999 in one fire and I will never forget them. And from the ruble and site where they passed away in, the city of Worcester has built a state of the art fire station on the same land that they lost their lives on. That is the ultimate tribute to six very brave men and humanitarians till their last breath. God bless them all. Over at the Telegram they have this video on it…

Video Link



Timmothy Jackson Sr., Jay Lyons, Thomas Spencer, Jeremiah Lucey, Joseph McGuirk, and Paul Brotherton all rushed in to save homeless people in a building fully engulfed in flames. They never made it out of the building alive. They did not rush into those flames because of a city paycheck, they did so for a higher calling. They did so to save lives and they lost their lives for it. I dare not try and think of their last thoughts before the fire took them. God bless them all.

Worcester will be dedicating this new fire station in their honor in the same place where these very brave men lost their lives. I have mixed feelings on this but I think it is a great tribute to the men that died. Personally, I would have preferred a statue over a fire station. Something that just said we were here, we fought here and we died here. Then again, to think about it, placing a fire station on that same spot is a compliment to their memory. They deserve this fire station and what it will stand for till the wrecking ball comes in a hundred or more years when these brave souls are long forgotten is a much better tribute to their lives.

You don’t know how this feels to your soul till it happens to you and in your community. The Worcester Cold Storage fire happened many years ago but to me it still feels like yesterday. Why is it that December 3rd, 1999 is burned into my soul? We brought food down to the firefighters that refused to leave this site, we brought food to the fire stations manned from towns all over the state. We bought flowers for the stations with black banners over their engine doors. I stayed home from work and kept my kids home from school as President Clinton and other notable dignataries and people from all over America came to my city and spoke at the service to our fallen six firefighters. My wife volunteered her time as a school bus driver to shuttle all the firefighters from all over the world for the memorial service. I still feel like I have not done enough for the brave men that lost thier lives. All I know now is that I now have an extreme respect for fireman and policeman all across America. They dare to do what others would never think possible and some make it out and some do not. Say a prayer for those that act when we can not. God bless them all!

Thank you Worcester Fire Department and the Worcester Police Department for doing what you do. I don’t think people really know how much you should be really appreciated. God bless you all!

Papamoka

Twilight Book Series Widower

Over the past week I have become a book widower. My wife is addicted to the works of Stephanie Meyer and her Twilight series. Now the book series has infected my eleven and thirteen year old daughters as well. I’m finding that this is now a reading plague and it has infected many of my wife’s co-workers and thus creating dozens of other book widowers.

The wife started reading the first book Twilight, about two weeks ago and she has not been seen since, and then she started book two, New Moon. She finished that book off and infected the eleven year old child who read the six hundred plus pages of Twilight in three days time and is now spreading the dreaded disease to her older sister. Book three Eclipse and book four Breaking Dawn came into the house the other day and a friend borrowed book one today. Now the wife is on book four Breaking Dawn and I have a good feeling that that will be about the time she finishes reading it.

Neighbors have sent over casserole dishes that I can heat up for the family that is left over and I thank them for the sympathy and well wishes. We couldn’t have any formal religious service because the books are about vampires and such things. I’m going to plan a simple non denominational service by the bookshelf. Maybe a peaceful candle protest in front of Barnes and Nobel, or Borders. I’m sure as hell going to fire off an email to those monsters at Amazon that dare to spread reading of books by adults and children that mesmerizes them into a zombie like mode.

Now I hear they have a movie coming out too! Great, can these people not see that I have lost enough already. Do they have no soul or conscience?

Twilight the book and the movie. Next thing I need to hear is that they are must read books and a must see movie! Damn you Stephanie Meyer for writing so damn well! How dare you get my children to read like never before!

Papamoka