Democrat Contract With America

Here is an interesting article in , The Nation, that addresses the issue of Democrats using the Katrina debacle to illustrate how Republicans have failed to live up to the promises they made in 1994 and cynically never really tried to.

Getting the Best of WingNut "Debaters"

If you are new to blogging and decide to debate wingnuts you have a fun and somewhat challenging task ahead of you. Your goal is to so "fshimmle" your opponent that they are practically screaming through the computer at you.

You've bugged your target wingnut a little if you are called a moonbat, kooky liberal, or a Socialist. You know that their face is red with rage and their jowls are flecked with spittle if you are called a Communist, Stalinist, or Leninist -- or any combination of these words -- and you can imagine a beer can being thrown at the monitor. This is the desired emotional state you seek to put the wingnut in.

Most wingnuts are quite stupid and extremely inflexible. They do, however, refresh their grab bag of arguments by going to a website ( like Free Republic) that is there specifically designed to fill their heads anew each day with logically twisted arguments that are so breathtaking in the lie they are attempting to propound that you will be taken aback. These lies are provided each day by professional wingnut liars who have been twisting the truth for so long that they no longer know themselves what it is.

The main thing you must understand in debating wingnuts is that they have about ten basic ( and easily refuted ) assumptions about the world and everything they say revolves around these simple assumptions.

A few of these core wingnut concepts is that a reference to Ted Kennedy's car wreck over 30 years ago in which his girlfriend was tragically killed automatically trumps any argument that you ( the Stalinist) is trying to use. Similarly, The oral sex that Bill Clinton received from Monica Lewinsky also trumps any crime, no matter how coarse, crooked and venal, that any Republican has committed. This especially applies to the President and the vice-President.

I have included a link to a site that will inform you about any subject you wish to debate a wingnut on. I think you will find the site very interesting, informative and educational.

Zero Sum Games and Economics

I, Headless Lucy, have been reading a bit about zero sum games and also conservative commentary about how tax cuts for the rich and the oil business as currently structured are NOT zero sum games but, rather, "win / win" situations.

They look an awfully lot like zero sum games to me.

Any comments?

GOP VOTER SUPPRESSION CHALLENGES IN KING CO ., WA (link)

Revoking the Corporation ( link )

Why do people think they need ( must have! ) corporations to survive?

People used to think they couldn't have a government without sanction from a king, who presumably was granted his power to rule by God, and passed the authority on to others -- like, the Sheriff of Nottingham. This is how effective corporate propaganda has been: that most people cannot envision life, order, and prosperity without gigantic corporations organising every facet of it.

Consider this: In 1997 corporations worldwide caused $2.6 trillion dollars of damage , which they passed on to the world society at large. At the same time, they created $520 billion dollars of profit which they kept for themselves and their richest stock owners.

This is not good business on the part of world society and getting rid of these corporations is the highest prioriyu we as world citizens have. ( Hit the link above for more info. )

General Motors deliberately destroyed public transportation(link)

Here's where I got my original link. The original article on tompaine.com appears to have been removed from the internet for some reason.

R Rep. Dave Reichert stung by own party(link)

"Rep. Dave Reichert( of WA ) broke with Republican leaders in Congress yesterday, proposing to restore $78 million to a federal program that helped King County hire dozens of deputies when he was sheriff." Seattle Times-- 6/15/'05

Reichert was accused by members of his own party of, "...being willing to allow terrorist groups and drug gangs to run rampant across America."

Well, Dave, do you still think you're in the right party? They don't seem to.

Boeing and Airbus sue each other...

Doesn't it seem ironic, given the current political climate in the U.S., that Boeing and Airbus are suing each other EACH claiming that the other is a larger recipient of "corporate welfare" from their respective states and therefore an unfairly subsidized entity. What about all this free market competition we're always hearing about from the corporate world? Both Business and government are so quick to deny the legitimate claims of poor citizens and yet so eagerly give the same sort of help to huge corporations. It makes me sick.......Sick of the corporations who demand the help and sick of the stupidity of the American electorate who consistenly vote against their own interests based on the asinine reasons that business and government give them for doing so. Then the corporations and the politicians treat themselves to the same welfare they supposedly decry.

Stolen Elections here in the U.S.

Find out how Republicans are using high-tech to steal elections.

headless lucy's T -Shirts

Check out the limited edition, "I'm With Stupid" T- Shirts. Shirts come in several styles with a classy print of Leonardo da Vinci's painting of, St. John the Baptist, cryptically smiling and pointing skyward with the humorous caption: "I'm With Stupid"!

Noam Chomsky: the common-sensicle professor(link)

I remember many years ago when I was an undergraduate student at Northern Arizona University studying U.S. History and English Literature that I was briefly introduced to the linguistic theories of Prof. Noam Chomsky. What I was exposed to sounded interesting and "commonsensicle" to me--to the degree that I was capable of truly understanding it. I have used Noam Chomsky's name many times over the years in successful attempts to appear smarter than I really am to other bogus intellectuals like myself. I've recently been told by conservative bloggers that Chomsky is a nutcase and even mentioning his name in a comment brings immediate and derisive dismissal of what I'm attempting to write about. Having been raised in a conservative Republican family, I am very aware of the conservative tendency to authoritatively dismiss anyone who is suspected of not sharing their beliefs, even if they know absolutely nothing about the person they are pontifically dismissing. To me, it's just standard dinnertime chit-chat and the dissing of Chomsky only serves as a high recommendation to me, because I know that the conservative doing the dissing has never actually read anything written by Chomsky, they've only read articles by other conservatives telling them what to think about Chomsky.

So, I bought Chomsky's book, "Understanding Power", and much of what he says makes perfect sense to me. Here's a quote to give you an idea of where the man is coming from: " If you look at the academic left, say, it's mired in intricate, unintelligible discourse of some crazed post-modernist variety, which nobody can understand,including the people who are invoved in it-- but it's
really good for careers and that sort of thing." p. 328

That's about as incendiary as it gets.

Sam Clemens, Union man

I know that Twain wrote about the riverboat captains' strike, but I cannot remember what the name of the work was that contained the narrative. Anyhow, what I remember is that, as Twain related the story, the riverboat captains of the Mississippi went on strike for higher pay and the owners of the riverboats finally gave in to the raise. However, the riverboat owners then raised the fares ten times what it would cost to cover the raise and blamed the boat captains' greed as the cause of the steep rise in fares.

This is typical of the duplicitous tactics of management to this very day. That is: to blame the victims of their socially irresponsible practices on the victims themselves!

Congressional report onW-M...

go to end of 1st article ... click on link

Each Wal-Mart employee costs you $2,000

According to the KEA Reporter, "the official letter of the Kent Education Association":

"*Wal-Marts anti-union, low wage, low-benefit policies have left its employees in need of hundreds of millions of dollars in public aid for various health-care and social safety net programs such as food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing.

* A congressional report estimates that the typical Wal-Mart store costs the federal taxpayers $420,750 a year-- more than $2,000 per employee.

* Many of our students and their families suffer harm as a result of Wal-Mart"s poverty level wages and benefits. The WEA Children's fund is therefore at cross-purposes when members use the fund to shop at Wal-Mart."


The only organization opposing the WEA is the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, an anti-union and anti public school organization that is partially funded by Wal-Mart through the Walton Family Foundation. The Olympia based organization is also partially funded by Richard Mellon Scaife, although the organization claims to be a grass-roots WA organization that is funded by in- state contributions.

Word to Conservatives: "Everything you Know is Wrong" (link)

Here is a great quote from an interesting blog that I ran across:

"Given such severe cognitive deficits,Conservatives are prone to perseveration on a pathological level. Sadly,it's all too easy to reduce the substance of Conservative arguments to these simple terms:

*Hillary
*Tax and spend Liberals
*You hate America
*Liberal Media
*Bill Clinton lied about a blow job
*Big Government
*Personal Responsibility
*Socialistic Program
*From my cold dead hands
*Gays are destroying the country"


To this list I would ad only one thing:
*Christian hating

When you are accused of this you're not merely disagreeing with their politics, you're gratuitously attacking their religion.

Squeeze the Wheeze.........(link)

"Go ahead....Squeeze the Wheeze....People often do......."


Firesign Theater

18 Democrat Senators trash party's future. (read more)

Ventures hope to ride wave to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...(link)

I saw the Ventures at Issaquah's Salmon Days last October and, let me tell you, for this fan, I felt like I'd died and gone to rock-and-roll heaven. As a kid one of the first rock songs I'd ever attempted was, "Walk Don't Run", by the Ventures. Every kid who wanted to play guitar in those days attempted that song. That song was and is to this day one that everyone recognizes on some level. People like to dance to it.



Don Wilson is the front man and personality of the group. His infectious enthusiasm and reverb-laden rhythm guitar are a trademark of the Ventures that is instantly recognizable. Nokie Edwards on lead guitar is as precise as the gears in a swiss watch. His rendition of "Apache" I would pay $100 just to watch him play it up close. The lead that he has created for "Apache" for some reason moves me a great deal. I am, for that moment when I'm listening, the nine year old boy that I was when I first heard it. The rhythm section of Leon Taylor on drums and Bob Bogle on bass keep time so seamlessly that you don't even know they're there.

There were also some heavy duty guest musicians at the concert. The first one was Roger Fisher, the original guitarist with, Heart. The guitar part that Mr. Fisher crafted for, "Barracuda" is so strong and influential that it alone, in my opinion, is grounds enough to put him in the Hall of Fame. No matter how good the Wilson sisters are, it was that opening guitar riff to , "Barracuda", that made them into international stars.

In addition to Roger Fisher on guitar, the Ventures were also joined by the drummer from, Yes. This was truly a supergroup and it was all for the enjoyment of the relatively small crowd at Salmon Days. Don't let me forget to mention that the crowd was WILDLY enthusiastic. I had a great time--and I'm not that easy to please. I am often critical of the performances of highly acclaimed artists. So I am not just waxing nostalgic. It was truly something to hear.

You can find out more about the Ventures by clicking on the link at the top of this article. They are having a concert this Saturday, March 12th. I guarantee that you will have one of the finest and funnest musical times of your life!

R. Tom Delay's Buddies Steal $70 Million from Indian Tribes

(Link on Title)
Jack Abramoff and Mike Scanlon, two close political cronies of George W. Bush and Tom Delay, are being investigated by Washington for stealing money from Indian tribes. Is this another lesson from the Bush administration on how to re-introduce moral behavior into National politics?

U.S. Constitution NOT Based on Christianity (link)

President John Adams signed the Treaty of Tripoli on June 7, 1797. Article 11 of this treaty states: "The Government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion."


Another quote from John Adams, Founding Father: "Where do we find a precept in the Bible for Creeds, Confessions, Doctrines and Oaths, and whole carloads of other trumpery that we find religion encumbered with these days?" (here) In addition, God is not mentioned even once in the Constitution