Thank you, America!

Contrary to what you may believe, the midterm election results of yesterday did not allow you to "take back your country." Nope, what you did was hand the keys back to the same bozos who let corporations and Wall Street run crazy and nearly destroyed the middle class--and now you've given them the power to finish the job. Well fucking done America!

For a great perspective on the disaster that Barack Obama has been for Democrats and the Liberal agenda, please read this--I think it perfectly sums up my thoughts that Obama is a great campaigner for himself, not so much for the rest of us.

Can somebody please shut up people like Evan Bayh, Paul Begala, and Mark Penn? The last thing Obama or the Democrats need is to be centrists. Here are the facts: young people did not turn out to vote, minorities did not turn out to vote, and Liberals did not turn out to vote. These are among the most Progressive members of our coalition. The Blue Dogs lost better than 50% of their races--the Progessive caucus won 94% of their races. And we need to tack right? Fuck you, next idiot please! And shame on Arianna Huffington for running two of those bullshit pieces--with Liberals like that, who needs republicans?

Don't believe you got swindled by the republicans? Watch this: I was literally screaming at her while she was on the tube last night. It was all bullshit--this election was bought and paid for by corporations, their fellators (yes, you, chamber of commerce) and wall street, so the republicans could do their bidding at our expense. Period.

Looking for a silver lining? The two states that usually lead the way for Liberals, New York and California, had the good sense to stay the course, electing, respectively, a Democratic Governor and two Democratic Senators and a Democratic Governor and a Democratic Senator. All is not lost....

Keep up the fight, never quit--we're the good guys and eventually, we will prevail for all of America, not just old, white people....

Peace,
emaycee

I'm baaaaacccckkkkk....

On Monday November 1, 2010, forty-three seasons of disappointment came to a thunderous end with the victory of the San Francisco Giants in the World Series. It was an exhausting three weeks, and worth every minute of it. Forty three years! Think about that: none of my three kids were born when my love affair with the Giants began, my Beautiful Girl was ten years away from her wondrous existence, I still believed the Catholic Church was a force for good, and the Democratic Party hadn't even made the slightest dent in my conscienceness. What a long strange trip it's been. For posterity: I had to work on the eventful evening, and as the last inning approached, I had to make a decision. Do I stay at work to watch the end (major depressing thought as I don't particularly care for either my job or the company I work for) or try to make it home before the last out? I opted for the latter and headed home. In a most unusual twist, the Giants decided not to have a tortuous last inning and I was barely five minutes into my drive home when the last out occurred. Now many people would have been disappointed by this, but as I drove, for some odd reason, I remembered when my love for the Giants first began at age eight, and lying in my bed listening to their games with Russ Hodges (HR call: "Bye, Bye, Baby!") and Lon Simmons (HR call: "And you can tell it goodbye!") on my family's little black transistor radio (yes, kids, back in the day most games weren't on TV) and for some odd reason it seemed entirely poetic that I would be listening to their first ever World Championship on the radio. What goes around, comes around.... Baseball, as life, is a beautiful game. Peace, emaycee

You get what you vote for...

This is a quote from our future disastrous Governor: "The most terrifying words you can hear are, 'I'm from Lansing, and I'm here to help.' " While I understand it's popular these days to blame the government for everything (all evidence to the contrary--it's corporate America who's to blame), what exactly are we to make of this statement? Rick Snyder will soon be living in Lansing--does this mean he doesn't intend to help? If so, why would anyone consider voting for him? Does this mean he's already signalling that he's an incompent boob (what a fucking surprise coming from a republican) and won't be able to help? If so, why would anyone vote for him? Why would the Free Press deign to publish such a quote? To be cute? To continue their quest to appeal to scared, old, white people--the only ones left who may still think their newspaper is relevant? Can I be the only person in Michigan who finds this quote from a candidate for Governor of Michigan incredibly disturbing? Just wondering.... Peace, emaycee

One Nation

From USA Today: "We're fired up, and we're fighting for jobs and justice," said Cheryl Albright.... "We believe this is the real America. Look at all this diversity," she said. "This is not like the tea party. They call themselves the real America; we're the real America, too." Not "too." We're the real American period. The tea party is not the real America in any way. It's scared, old, white people, period. Nice of the Free Press to run a blurb on the One Nation rally--and an entire article on the recent tea party rally in D. C. Also like the "thousands" marched for One Nation in D.C. and "tens of thousands" marched for the tea party. By whose fucking count? The Free Press fails yet again. And for the record, the sky is blue.... Peace, emaycee

Where were you when we needed you?

Where the fuck was this poll when we were going through the whole Healthcare reform debacle? A full 40% of Americans think the new healthcare law didn't go far enough, while a mere 20% doesn't want the government involved in healthcare. This is a massive case of media and polling failure--in short, a large majority of Americans (factoring in the 30% who approve of the new law) want a greater government involvement in our healthcare system. How much better of a chance would the public option have had with these numbers (though with the jellyfish spinal columns of too many Dems it is hard to judge)?

Special thanks to the Free Press for publishing their article on page 18A--one can see that their readers' needs and opinions are obviously not a priority (or they must really need the revenue from the healthcare industry ads).

Note to republicans: good luck keeping the House in 2012 with the strategy of repealing healthcare reform....

Peace,
emaycee

Just a little bit more

A short while ago I wrote a blog about the motion before the Michigan Supreme Court on setting a time limit on submitting new evidence. There were a couple of interesting articles in the Free Press this week discussing said amendment--which I mention only because both are excellent examples of why this piss poor motion should be dismissed.

One is by Jeff Gerritt--who has the admirable job of being the Free Press' ombudsmen for prisoners (and what a fun job that must be in our current tea party hate-filled nation). He points out the case of one Dwayne Provience, who was convicted in 2001 of murder, but thanks to the Michigan Innocence Clinic, his wrongful conviction was overturned. Had the current motion for time limits been in effect, Mr. Provience would still be in prison for a crime he did not commit. Mr. Gerritt is exactly right when he explains that keeping innocent people out of prison is a far more compelling moral claim than the expense of "frivolous" (bet Mr. Provience doesn't think his new evidence was frivolous) new evidence claims.

The second was a piece by the always thoughtful Leonard Pitts (if any op-ed writer is writing finer pieces than Mr. Pitts in America today, I've yet to find him)--on the plight of one Anthony Graves, who recently won a new trial in what may be another in an unfortunate cycle of convicting innocent people of murder. Mr. Pitts aptly points out that outraged citizens demanding the death penalty for outrageous crimes may be a compelling case for abolishing the death penalty--emotion gets in the way of reason, logic, and fairness. And I might add, even worse, putting innocent people to death.

Just sayin'....

Peace,
emaycee

Ain't it funny how time slips away...

My Lord, it's October already...

The Free Press ran your basic puff piece on Bob King, the new President of the UAW. Overall the article was fair, and, to my mind, points out King's strong points (namely, tying all workers across the globe together, making social justice a key platform)--there's never anything wrong with a puff piece on the good guys.

No, what I wanted to point out from the piece is this comment by Paul Kersey, director of labor policy for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy (i.e., conservative think tank) concerning King's push for the union to have a bigger share of the auto industry's success: "Companies ought to be profitable. Bob King seems to want to treat this as a rainbow to prosperity now that the storm is over...and I think it is very premature."

What the fuck? No argument from me that companies need to be profitable. But you know what? So do employees--there aren't many of us who do the shit we do for free. And when exactly would be the right time? A year? Two years? My guess is that Paul Kersey, being the corporate fellator he is, would suggest never. Certainly haven't seen a lot of CEOs in the auto industry waiting for their share--when they wait, so should the UAW. When the execs don't, neither should the UAW. Bob King is right on the money (so to speak here): the time is now.

Peace,
emaycee