The Marathon Bombers…And Gun Control

Not much is being said about this, and it certainly hasn’t risen to the attention of the mainstream media – but…

How exactly did the Boston Marathon terrorists get their explosive material to make a bomb?

 

 

I took a bit of artistic liberty with Michael Ramirez’s excellent and poignant cartoon commentary to add a bit of truth.  The “cowards” in this case sit in the US Congress.

You see – the explosive material for the bombs constructed by the Tsamaev brothers  is commonly available in just about every gun store, and gun show in America.

Now in an America where Homeland Defense is busily putting cameras in just about every spot except up your ass – although if some Republican Senators have their way they will be able to shove them up women’s vaginas… Why is it harder to buy a joint of Marijuana than the tools to kill and maim dozens of your neighbors? (Speaking of – what the heck is the deal with the pot heads in Denver shooting up- instead of smoking –  the joint?)

Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t turned into an advocate for drug use – but guns in America are now paraphernalia for addicts and drug dealers…. And mass killers.

And no sportsman, we aren’t talking about your trusty Remington shotgun here.

This is what I am talking about …

 

This is a one pound container of “gunpowder” (It’s not really “gunpowder” anymore, but it is the fuel which goes bang when you pull the trigger). It also comes in 8 lb packages.  You see – there is a group of, in vast majority law abiding, shooters who like to make their own bullets. (And no – I don’t mean to pick on NORMA, as far as I know they are a perfectly law abiding company with no criminal connection, and there is no published evidence that their product was used in the Boston bombings). However – I can buy this “explosive” in many states he same way I can buy ammunition which already has been assembled containing it – cash and carry. Which apparently is exactly what the Boston Marathon terrorists did.

No – this isn’t C4 or SEMTEX or any of the vastly more powerful Military explosives used by international terrorists. Nor is it Ammonium Nitrate, previously featured in the Oklahoma City Bombing, currently starring in the leveling of an entire Texas town. But you walk into your local store and ask for a block of SEMTEX or C4, and there is a very good chance you will be invited to visit at your local Federal Law Enforcement Office, and get to met some swell FBI or ATF guys with a very limited sense of humor. Indeed – to purchase Ammonium Nitrate which is a common ingredient in many fertilizers requires a background check to make sure you are going to fertilize the fields instead of blow up a buildings.

Ergo in the NRA’s version of America (and 46 Senators), it’s easier to buy “gunpowder” than fertilizer.

So… The 46 azzwipes who voted down watered-down gun legislation are not only guilty of enabling the Newtown killer… But international terrorism via the Boston Marathon terrorists.

Do you really want to live in an America where you have to have armed guards so the kiddies can go to the playground and swing on the swing set?

 

 

 

Rep, Gwen Moore Makes It Real in Speech for Violence Against Woman Act

Rep Gwen Moore recounts her own history of sexual abuse in floor speech in support of approval of Violence Against Women Act. Why does she have to do something that painful to force Republicans to do right?

Gwen Moore, Wisconsin Congresswoman, Recounts Her Rape Ordeal In House Floor Speech

As part of her floor speech pushing to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) on Wednesday, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.) told the story of her own history of being sexually assaulted during her childhood and then raped as a young woman.

“Violence against women is as American as apple pie,” she told colleagues. “I know, not only as a legislator, but from personal experience. Domestic violence has been a thread throughout my personal life, up to and including being a child repeatedly sexually assaulted, up to and including being an adult who’s been raped.”

The VAWA has been met with some resistance from Republicans. The bill would renew grants to U.S. domestic violence prevention and survivor support programs, would increase availability of legal assistance to victims and would extend assistance to battered undocumented immigrants and same-sex couples.

The House Judiciary Committee’s lack of support for the bill, Moore said, brought up terrible memories for her “of having boys sit in a locker room and sort of bet that I, the egg-head, couldn’t be had,” she said.

“And then the appointed boy, when he saw that I wasn’t going to be so willing, completed a date-rape and then took my underwear to display it to the rest of the boys,” she continued. “I mean, this is what American women are facing.”

Since Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have not allowed Democrats to bring up the VAWA as a standalone bill, Democrats tried to attach it to the vote on the GOP budget proposal on Wednesday afternoon. But Republicans voted unanimously to end debate on the budget bill before Democrats could do so.

While some Senate Republicans have pledged their support for reauthorizing the VAWA, others said the bill touches on too many controversial subjects, which distract from the bill’s purpose of protecting battered women. For instance, that it creates avenues for battered undocumented immigrants to claim temporary visas and extends domestic violence protections to same-sex couples makes it tough for some conservatives to support.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who opposed the latest version last month in the judiciary committee, told The New York Times that he thinks Democrats have politicized the bill on purpose to make the GOP look anti-women.

“I favor the Violence Against Women Act and have supported it at various points over the years, but there are matters put on that bill that almost seem to invite opposition,” he said. “You think that’s possible? You think they might have put things in there we couldn’t support, that maybe then they could accuse you of not being supportive of fighting violence against women?”

A Hoodie and a Pair of General George Patton Pistols

New Dress Code to hit the convenience store for a bag of Skittles!

A Hoodie and a pair of General George Patton Pistols…

Old Panthers never die…

American General and WWII Hero General George Patton's pearl handled, custom engraved Colt .45

Save a tree! Plant a Republican…

Indeed.

National Disgrace

Back in the late 1990′s when Republicans were on their first disastrous campaign controlling Congress and setting the foundation for economic collapse, they bastardized the name of our National Airport between orgasms sniffing every little blue dress in town.

The so called Captains of returning authority to the States and local authorities used the very same Federal Government authority they constantly bemoan,  to jam the name of their hero, Ronald Raygun down the collective throats of the local citizenry and governments and affix it to our National Airport.

Many locals still refuse to use Raygun’s name when referring to the airport, preferring instead to use it’s real name – National Airport. You want to go to Reagan Airport – then you are on your way to Orange County, California.

Well, with the unveiling of yet another affront to the local citizenry – if you are flying with Fido, at least he has a better place to relieve himself than one of the local hydrants before being packed away for the long flight.

The New Doggie Pit Stop at National Airport

Reagan Statue Unveiled at Namesake Airport Near DC

The 18 million passengers who travel in and out of the nation’s capital through Reagan National Airport each year will now be greeted by a 9-foot tall, nearly $1 million bronze statue of the former president that was unveiled Tuesday.

The statue is the fourth dedicated this year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, which operates his presidential library. Tuesday’s unveiling also gave travelers an opportunity to revisit the dormant debate over whether Reagan was worthy of having his name put on the airport that had long been known simply as “National.”

Many D.C.-area residents resented the change when it was approved by Congress in 1998, and it seems the passage of 13 years has done little to soften people’s opinions.

“I’ve never understood the people who feel he’s such a beloved figure,” said Kathleen Meehan of Madison, Wis., as she waited for her flight. “My daughter refuses to call it ‘Reagan.’” The only thing Meehan gave Reagan credit for was “the destruction of the middle class.”

Jessica Denson of Washington said she continues to refer to it as “National.” Her travel partner, New Orleans resident Terry Scott, agreed.

“It’s crazy that they salivate over this guy like he was an angel. What’s next, canonization?” Scott asked. “It’s like John Wayne airport (in California). I won’t use John Wayne.”

But Carol Ole, who was headed back to Atlanta after watching her nephew run the Marine Corps Marathon, was thrilled to see the statue being unveiled.

“I love it. I’m a real conservative,” she said…

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority also spent about $80,000 on site preparations.

Gloria Cain to Stand By Her Man…and…Let Cain be Cain

Unlike most candidates, Herman Cain has kept his family firmly out of the limelight. Considering the current political tone – that may, or may not prove to be a good idea. In any event, having her show up on Faux on the Susteren show should (hopefully) be a safe bet, with Greta lobbing softballs.

Cain’s Wife to Break Silence on Fox

America will get its first good look at Gloria Cain soon: The campaign, beset bysexual harassment allegations, is setting up a debut interview for her with Greta Van Susteren on Fox News later this week, a source tellsPolitico. Until now, Mrs. Cain’s been conspicuously absent from the campaign—prompting occasional media questions. “You will meet my wife publicly in an exclusive interview that we are currently planning and anticipating,” Herman told Fox News. “But you won’t see my family out on the campaign trail on a day-to-day basis.”

The campaign has repeatedly denied requests to interview Gloria Cain, CNN notes, but those close to her describe her as an avid church-goer who’s intensely devoted to her husband. She stayed home to raise the kids while Cain was CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, but has been a teacher and librarian as well. “They know each other instinctively to the point they don’t need to double-check with each other,” one friend said. “They’re a united front.”

In the meantime, Eugene Robinson, over as WasPo eviscerates Cain -

Let Herman be gone

Let Herman be Herman...Indeed.

…Cain’s policy positions range from the ignorant to the unworkable to the just plain goofy — and yet he is running first or second in most polls for the Republican presidential nomination. He trumpets his utter lack of government experience as a selling point and boasts of not knowing foreign leaders’ names. If through some bizarre series of events he were actually elected president, the result would surely be an unmitigated disaster.

It’s not yet clear whether this remote possibility has been made even more unlikely by reports — first published Sunday night by Politico — that Cain faced allegations of sexual harassment from two female employees when he headed the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.

After some initial fumbling by Cain’s campaign, in which aides attempted to issue non-denial denials, the candidate himself went on Fox News to declare that “I have never sexually harassed anyone.” He acknowledged having been “falsely accused” of harassment when he was at the restaurant association, but he said the accusations were “totally baseless and totally false.”

He did not specifically deny the Politico story, however, which reported that the two women both left the association after being given financial settlements and signing agreements not to discuss their allegations. “If the restaurant association did a settlement, I wasn’t even aware of it,” Cain said Monday on Fox.

Nor has Cain, to this point, dealt with the reported substance of the allegations. According to Politico, this includes language that the women felt was inappropriate and made them uncomfortable; and, in one instance, a purported suggestion that one of the women accompany Cain to his hotel suite.

Far-right blowhards immediately played the race card. “Liberals are terrified of Herman Cain,” pundit Ann Coulter said. “He is a strong, conservative black man. . . . They are terrified of strong, conservative black men.” Rush Limbaugh said Cain was being sullied by attackers wielding the “ugliest racial stereotypes.”

Interesting to hear those two acknowledging the powerful role that race still plays in our society — the first step, intellectually, toward concluding that there’s a continuing need for race-based affirmative action. That’s what they meant, right?

Um, no. I’m quite sure that the far right’s quickness to compare Cain to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — and to call Cain’s present difficulties a second“high-tech lynching” — is just another salvo in the intraparty war Republicans are having…

How is the GOP Like a Bank? Maher

 

Maher Says GOP Like Banks: “They Will Not Give A Black Man Credit”

HBO host Bill Maher said the GOP was like banks when it came to the death of Gaddafi. “They’re like the banks, they will not give a black man credit!” he told his “Real Time” audience.

“I gotta tell you, these Republicans, they will not give credit. They, they talked about this yesterday. They gave credit to the rebels, and to the British, and to the French. They would not mention the president. It was like they were on a game show and the password was ‘Obama.’ They are like the banks. They will not give a black man credit.”

Herman Cain – House Negro of the Decade

This one starts with Malcom X’s talk on the “House Negro” and the “Field Negro”…

Save America – Deport a Conservative! Cain and the Unemployed…

Notice the crowd reaction to this one …

President Obama – Fighting Words!

“I think it’s fair to say that I have gone out of my way in every instance — sometimes at my own political peril and to the frustration of Democrats — to work with Republicans to find common ground to move this country forward. Each time, what we’ve seen in games-playing, a preference to try to score political points rather than actually get something done.” – President Obama

Roland Martin Unloads on Cain

Roland Martin not only hits this one out of the park – it’s left the city limits!

CNN Commentator Roland Martin

Herman Cain

Herman Cain denies GOP’s horrible history with blacks

You would think that a black man born and raised in Georgia, who was a teenager during the civil rights movement, would understand the transition of African-Americans from voting overwhelmingly Republican to strongly supporting the Democratic Party.

But the GOP presidential candidate clearly didn’t have the common sense that he often speaks of having when he went on CNN’s “The Situation Room” and accused many African-Americans of being brainwashed to vote Democratic.

“Many African-Americans have been brainwashed into not being open-minded, not even considering a conservative point of view,” Cain said. “I have received some of that same vitriol simply because I am running for the Republican nomination as a conservative.

“So it’s just brainwashing and people not being open-minded, pure and simple.”

Cain’s off-base and historically ignorant comments have received widespread coverage. In some quarters, they have been criticized, while MSNBC’s Pat Buchanan, who has a long history of racially offensive comments, didn’t surprise many by coming to Cain’s defense.

It’s not the first time I’ve heard someone question the reasons for blacks’ allegiance to the Democratic Party, but history has to be taken into account.

UC Berkeley Republicans Bring Back Racist Bake Sale

The first one to come up with this was Dinesh D’Souza, the author of a racist, and discredited screed done for the Hoover Foundation – “The End of Racism” in 1995 during his book tour at campuses. John Stossel converted it into a nationwide campaign.

The funny thing about this is that when Prop 209 was passed in California, outlawing Affirmative Action, while black and Hispanic numbers went down – the percentage and number of white students did too. Indeed, the sole “winners” of Prop 209 were Asian students, which now make up 50% or more of most elite California Schools. Post Prop 209, the white student percentage has dropped from near 50% to 30% at Berkeley and other schools.

So when these Republicans are selling bake goods for…

$2 to white students and $1.50 to Asian students – that is racism. Asian kids aren’t the ones who got the preferences. The biggest losers in the conservative attempt to eliminate black and Hispanic students and resegregate California Universities…

Was white kids. And the group most advantaged before Prop 209 by Affirmative Action…

Was white people.

Not much different from when an earlier generation of Republicans/Tea Baggers was carrying these signs -

Americans Have No Love for Congress

In what quite possibly is the most pissed off public and American History, a new Gallup Poll has found that Congress has hit historic lows in terms of public confidence. Now, in no small part this recent downward opinion drop is likely due to the Debt-Ceiling Debacle manufactured by the Tea Bagger Republicans…

But respect for Congress has been going downhill for quite a while.

Americans Express Historic Negativity Toward U.S. Government

The findings are from Gallup’s annual Governance survey, updated Sept. 8-11, 2011. The same poll shows record or near-record criticism of Congress, elected officials, government handling of domestic problems, the scope of government power, and government waste of tax dollars.

Key Findings:

• 82% of Americans disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job.
• 69% say they have little or no confidence in the legislative branch of government, an all-time high and up from 63% in 2010.
• 57% have little or no confidence in the federal government to solve domestic problems, exceeding the previous high of 53% recorded in 2010 and well exceeding the 43% who have little or no confidence in the government to solve international problems.
• 53% have little or no confidence in the men and women who seek or hold elected office.
• Americans believe, on average, that the federal government wastes 51 cents of every tax dollar, similar to a year ago, but up significantly from 46 cents a decade ago and from an average 43 cents three decades ago.
• 49% of Americans believe the federal government has become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. In 2003, less than a third (30%) believed this.

It gets worse.  Let’s call this one the Palinization of Political Figures. That is, the running of people who neither have the intellect, morality, or basic integrity to hold public office, who are put up as candidates solely for adherence to political ideology, sex appeal (in the case of the MILF candidates), or ability to say something totally off the wall.

Snow Black and the 7 Dwarfs in the current Republican Presidential Primary – where the only guy with the capability and skills (Huntsman)…

Is dead last.

Another MSNBC Host Hammers Tea Party Republicans

Well – at least MSNBC is taking their role as the anti-Faux Network seriously.

More and more people are stating the obvious about the Tea Party dominated Republican Party of today…

It’s about time. Here, Thomas Roberts hits the Republican field about their desire to go back in time to when “Slavery was cool”.

The video begins with the issue surrounding Republicans booing a US Service member who had served in Iraq, because he is gay. Roberts points out that not one of the 8 candidates bothered to thank the Veteran for his service.

(Comments on slavery about 2:50 mark)

Thomas Roberts: GOP Candidates Want To Return To Time When ‘Slavery Was Cool’

MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts condemned some members of the audience at the recent Republican debate for booing an openly gay soldier.

The crowd at Thursday’s debate provided yet another controversial moment when some people booed a video of a soldier asking about the candidates’ policy on the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law. Roberts called the moment “strange,” and noted that none of the candidates or anyone in the audience praised the soldier for his service.

He also criticized the GOP hopefuls for not denouncing the boos. One of the candidates, Rick Santorum, later claimed not to have heard them. But Roberts did not like Santorum referring to the lifting of the ban on openly gay soldiers as “social experimentation.”

“I get out of all of these things that many of these candidates would rather take legislation to build a time machine and go back in time to where we had no women voting, slavery was cool,” he said.

Roberts has previously said that Michele Bachmann would “extinguish” gay people.

 

Moodys – Obama Plan Grows US Economy and Adds Jobs

Well, the first of the Credit Ratings Companies has stepped in with basically an AAA rating…

My only real complaint about the speech is WTF is it proposed to spend $140 Billion in putting construction workers to work?

Seems to me that money would be better spent on putting unemployed college grads back to work on something like the Kennedy Space Program, which drove economic growth in the world based on technological advances for 40 years.

Moody’s: Obama plan would add 1.9M jobs

President Barack Obama’s $447 billion job-creation plan would likely add 1.9 million payroll jobs and grow the U.S. economy 2 percent, a leading economist said.

The plan, which Obama outlined before a joint session of Congress Thursday, would likely cut the unemployment rate by a percentage point, Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi said as Obama prepared to tout the plan at Virginia’s University of Richmond.

Obama is scheduled to speak at the university’s 9,000-seat Robins Center arena, home to the university’s Spiders basketball, at 11:35 a.m. EDT, the White House said.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. — who criticized the tone of Obama’s Thursday address but told CNBC he applauded some proposals, including “business tax relief, reducing red tape, working to try and streamline the infrastructure spending in this country” — will be in Richmond Friday holding his own jobs event.

More than half of Obama’s proposal consists of payroll-tax cuts for employees and employers — an idea the White House said it hoped would appeal to Republican lawmakers.

Advisers told The Washington Post Obama would blame Republicans for the jobs crisis if they don’t accept his proposal.

The proposal would cut in half the employers’ payroll tax for businesses’ first $5 million of wages. Businesses adding new workers or increasing wages up to $50 million would have payroll taxes completely eliminated.

The plan would expand the payroll tax cut passed last year to cut workers’ payroll taxes in half in 2012 — a tax cut of $1,500 to the typical family earning $50,000 a year. This would not hurt Social Security funding, Obama said.

The plan further calls for more than $62 billion in spending to extend unemployment insurance benefits through 2012 and let people unemployed for six months or more work for up to eight weeks while also receiving unemployment benefits.

About 14 million Americans are unemployed and the jobless rate, currently 9.1 percent, is widely expected to be above 8 percent in late 2012.

Obama also proposed $140 billion in infrastructure spending and aid to states — including cash for hiring teachers and refurbishing schools — as well as a $10 billion infrastructure bank and $50 billion for transportation projects.

White House officials said the proposed plan, known as the American Jobs Act, was deliberately constructed from policies that previously won bipartisan support.

“The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple — to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working,” Obama said in his 32-minute speech.

“It will create more jobs for construction workers, more jobs for teachers, more jobs for veterans and more jobs for long-term unemployed,” he said.

World Stocks Fall On Fears Tea Baggers Will Kill Jobs Bill

Now looking to do for the world what they have done for the US in damaging US creditworthiness…

Foreign Investors join their American counterparts in  no longer believing Tea Party majority US Congress will do the right things for the US or World economy.

The Tea Baggers are idealoges, clinging to a thoroughly discredited mantra bent on destroying the Governemnt – and who are doing, and have done more damage to the United States…

Than Al Quaeda.

That “credible terrorist threat” reported by Law Enforcement on the 10th anniversay of 9-11 isn’t radicalized Muslims…

It’s radicalized Republicans.

World Stocks Fall On Fears That U.S. Jobs Plan Will Stall In Congress

World stocks fell Friday on investor worries that a U.S. plan to stimulate jobs and growth will be held up in Congress and may not be followed fast enough by action from the Federal Reserve.

The euro hit six-month lows against the dollar and the yen with more falls likely after the European Central Bank shifted away from further rises in interest rates, a key driver in the single currency’s rally this year.

U.S. shares were poised for a weaker open, extending Thursday’s falls after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke left the door open for new stimulus measures but stopped short of signaling the central bank would take the plunge.

Markets are concerned that President Barack Obama’s proposed $447 billion package of tax cuts and spending plans aimed at boosting growth and job creation could be hamstrung by political wrangling.

“Investors are holding back…There isn’t any reason to commit until you can see credible policies,” Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management, said.

“Bernanke was never going to say anything. He made it clear at Jackson Hole he was pushing it back to the politicians. Obama has come up with this stimulus package. We now have to digest what effect this will have, assuming it is passed.”

European shares fell as much as 1.1 percent, pulling down the MSCI world equity index 0.7 percent. S&P index futures were last down 0.6 percent, pointing to a lower start on Wall Street.

Market confidence has been fragile this week due to growing concerns over the global economy and Europe’s debt crisis, with Friday’s deadline for bond holders to decide on Greece’s swap offer adding to the nervousness.