Rage, Against Vanessa Carlton

 My buddy Joe M sent me this link this morning, and it really brightened an otherwise depressing start to my day.  First day back to work following my son's death, funeral, wake, cremation, flight home, and zoom wake for relatives yesterday.  I listened to this, and thought several things simultaneously:

- It is brilliantly done

- It's perfect for introducing Rage Against The Machine to generations of people who may have never heard them before, or think they're too hard to listen to, or that "rock is roll is not my kind of music" listeners

- It can be listened to by teenage tik-tok trolls who love music like Vanessa Carlton, and perhaps it can open their eyes and ears and hearts to the message within

- My son would have enjoyed this

- I need to share this with a wide-of-an-audience as possible

I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did, wether you live in Kenosha, Portland, Washington DC, Charlottesville, Charleston, San Diego, Orange County, or wherever closed minded, anachronistic, 1950s-nostalgic, Confederate apologists, Nationalists, Alt Right, Q-anon, pathetic nazis, and white supremacists keep raising their ugly, delusional filled, willfully ignorant little heads.

Link: https://youtu.be/6kYco2Zt-cM

What If It Was "Red Lives Matter" Instead?

As a son of European immigrants, and a white male who was born and raised in Northern Indiana, lived & worked in IN, SC, AZ and now California, and who has lived more than 1/2 a century, I've seen many parts of the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia.  I've had countless civil conversations with men and women of various economic groups, ethnicities, ages, religions, and political affiliations, and usually I've learned something from each of those interactions.

When some of my high school friends embraced right wing politics during or after college, I did not follow them, and scratched my head as to what led them down that path?  When some of my high school friends embraced progressive, socialist, left wing or anarchistic ideologies in college or thereafter, I was busy raising a toddler and being the sole bread winner in my new family's household.  I could relate to the empathy my left leaning friends had for the under-dog, the little guy, the disadvantaged, forgotten, and under-class of society, since I grew up fairly poor myself.

My maternal grandmother would get government cheese at the Senior Center.

At one time in my childhood, my parents applied for food stamps when my father was laid off from Rand McNally as they closed their Hammond IN book printing facility, and dad could not find gainful employment to support the family.  We didn't get it, because we owned a home (with a substantial mortgage) and an old high mileage Pontiac Bonneville that dad used to get to work and then look for jobs when I was in Jr High School. But I understood what it was like to be poor, eat saltines for lunch at school, wear only hand-me-downs, and rely upon my maternal grandparents for food.  I never got an allowance, and didn't understand why any parent would just give their child money that was un-earned.  I had a paper route in 6th and 7th grades, delivering Chicago Tribune, Sun Times, and WSJ to a 8 square block area every morning, rain or shine, on my Schwinn banana seat bike - the Sunday edition of the Tribune was MASSIVE.  So I have first-hand experience with pulling myself up by my "boot straps", having had nothing handed to me or my family from the state or federal government.  But my father was able to get a loan for his house in a majority blue collar suburb of Chicago, where lots of Poles, Slavs, Germans, Hungarians, Irish, Hispanic, Italians, and Scandinavians lived.  He got a unionized job in a book bindery before I was born, and for most of my childhood, we were in pretty good shape.

Just a few miles away, in Gary IN, most of the city was not in very good shape economically.  The steel mills all began to close in the 1980s, and the tax revenues dried up in Gary, Easy Chicago, Hammond, and Whiting.  Street lights, traffic signals, and general infrastructure broke down and didn't get repaired.  The majority of Gary entered an economic malaise from which they've never really recovered.  The majority of Gary was also African American.  But what if the majority of Gary's citizens, instead of being African American, were caucasian and all had red hair?  I know this might sound silly or absurd, but give me a minute or two to explain.

Since Memorial Day 2020, when George Floyd was publicly murdered by Minneapolis police and recorded by civilians as it happened, all 50 states in the US, and many countries around the world, have seen widespread public protests against racism and police brutality against black and brown people.  What if George Floyd, instead of being a large man who was a former NCAA basketball playing African American, was a large red haired caucasian?  And what if every black and brown person who have been beaten or killed or wrongly convicted by the legal system had red hair and white (probably freckled) skin?


Hold that thought in your head for a moment.  Replace "black skin" with "red hair and white skin".  You can certainly SEE that someone has red hair, up-close, or from far away.  Many of them are originally from Scotland, Ireland, or Scandinavian countries, where the genes for red hair are not rare.  Red haired folks are no different than brown haired, black haired, blond haired, or gray haired folks, but you can immediately see that they've got red hair.  Take off a red haired person's hat, and there is no ambiguity that they are indeed red haired.  Many red haired men often grow beards, which show off their red hair even more.

As I kept hearing "all lives matter", and "blue lives matter" and white folks call in to shows on the radio (NPR) say "you have to first acknowledge there's discrimination AGAINST white people, before we can talk about black lives matter" it began to become very clear to me.  Many white people have a BIG problem with the word "black" because of the systemic racism within their narrow view of society in which they were raised and have been living their whole lives, racism that Most of them are not consciously aware that they are practicing.  So imagine a world for a moment, where there were NO BLACK PEOPLE, whatsoever, and probably no brown people either, for this analogy to work and make sense for the white people who read it.  Instead of African Americans being the most discriminated and disadvantaged folks in the United States, RED HAIRED folks took their place.

Think about that, for minute, especially if you're white.

Say that all red haired folks couldn't get VA loans when they left the military, because of the color of their hair.  They couldn't live in nice neighborhoods, without the KKK burning crosses in their lawns, throwing bricks through their windows, and hanging nooses from their trees.  Red haired folks were denied job interviews, jobs, home loans, entry into the best schools, entry into non-red-haired "christian" churches in the Southern United States. They were severely beaten and hospitalized when walking their girl friend home at 3am in Charleston by 5 blond and brown haired guys wearing College of Charleston shirts. Imagine that Red haired folks had been brought to the US in chains from Scotland and Ireland and Scandinavia and forced to work as slaves on cotton, tobacco, rice, and sugar plantations, mostly in the South, but some in the rest of the country as well.  When red haired kids tried to enter segregated public schools in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi they had police dogs set on them, were fire hosed, and beaten, all because of the color of their hair.

What if red haired folks created better music, more meaningful and soulful and powerful lyrics and rhythms, that they called blues, jazz, gospel and many other genres that blond and brown and black haired artists appropriated, imitated, and played for blond and brown and black and gray haired crowds in bars and concert halls and churches, where red haired folks were not allowed to enter?  What if blond and brown and black haired daughters liked red haired boys, but were forbidden to hang out with or date those red haired boys?  What if the N word was replaced with the G word (ginger)?  And one red haired person could call another red haired person the G word, but no one else was allowed to use it in conversation, in a tweet, on-air broadcasts, in social media, or anywhere else without repercussions?

What if, in the Fortune 500 companies, there were only 4 red haired CEOs, even though red haired folks comprised more than 10% of the US population?  What if red haired folks were 2.5X more likely to die from Covid-19 infections than their blond, black, brown, and gray haired counterparts?  Because of the systemic fear, structural racism, and discrimination against red haired folks, a large percentage of them worked in lower paying service professions, like security guard, bus driver, janitor, short haul truck driver, and health care assistants, and during periods of economic downturns, they were impacted disproportionately to their size in the general population?  What if the relatively few economically successful red haired folks who were judges, US senators, plant managers, or PhD scholars were routinely hassled and scrutinized, delayed by police, security guards, TSA, and retail store loss prevention personnel? "Why is a red haired person like you driving this really nice car?"

If you were a police officer (city or county) in this all white society where red haired folks were routinely discriminated against, you might be fearful of those citizens with red hair.  They have "fiery tempers" after all, and everyone knows "red haired women are trouble" while all non-red haired men know that many red haired women are "crazy".  Broken tail light, failure to use a turn signal, "fitting the description" of a red haired suspect... all of these would be opportunities to pull over a red haired driver, interrogate them - often rudely and with excessive force - and take them in for further questioning when the red haired driver, who was minding their own business and usually did nothing wrong, began to get irritated that they're being hassled for no reason whatsoever... oh... wait... yeah, they have Red Hair.  In the eyes of many of the blond, brown, black, and gray haired officers, most red haired folks "all look alike".

What if in Tulsa OK on Memorial Day 1921, the most prosperous part of the city, known as "Red Wall Street", 35 square blocks, was looted and then burnt down by non-red haired people, while Army Air Corp biplanes dropped petrol bombs on the district, with more than 400 red haired men, women, and children, massacred?  (without a single prosecution, and with zero insurance claims paid)  What if in Chicago Illinois, on the Lake Michigan lake-front beach in 1919, a red haired teenager swam over to the non-red-haired beach, across an imaginary line, that got him stoned to death by all the non-red swimmers?  And then the non-red swimmers went on a rampage killing 150 red haired citizens, and burnt down 1.1 billion dollars worth of red-haired owned homes and businesses in Chicago?  What if all red haired men were called "boy" or "uncle", instead of "mister" or "sir" when they were spoken to by someone with blond, brown, or black hair.

So if you personally have a problem with the phrase "Black Lives Matter", as I first did many years ago the first few times I heard it in my 40s, where I kept telling myself "no, all lives matter, not just black ones" ... then you really should stop for a moment, replace "Black" with "Red" and remember this context.  Think about the analogy I make here, about a country where everyone is white (no black or brown people whatsoever), but the red haired citizens consistently the short end of the stick, a raw deal, a violent and forceful shove back down the ladder of success by all the other citizens who don't have red hair.  Even if they have boot straps, the systematic barriers non-red society has repeatedly placed in their way have made it remarkably hard for the vast majority of red haired folks to succeed, prosper, and be on equal footing under the US Constitution, after the 13th Amendment was passed in December 1865, just 155 years ago.

If reading this has changed even one person's mind or opened their eyes to the reality that the majority of African Americans live in the United States are subject to just because of the color of their skin, then it was worth writing.

Note:  I have many red haired friends, former class mates, colleagues, acquaintances and neighbors.  All of whom are nice people.  I hope such discrimination and anti-red-haired hatred is never focused upon them, as stated in this analogy.  I was going to try "blue eyes" or "bald" or "left handed" but none of those aspects are instantly recognizable, from afar or by law enforcement officers, so I kept coming back to red hair in my mind.

I just have some extra lemons...

There's a local neighborhood social media platform called Next-door.com, which I renamed "complaining-neighbors.com" since the vast majority of posts on it in here in Southern California has traditionally been neighbors complaining about:

- dogs owners letting their dogs poop in other people's yards

- dog owners not picking up after their pets

- cars driving too fast near schools

- occasional helicopters circling a neighborhood

- cars being broken into that homeowners leave unlocked in their driveways

- packages being stolen off of front porches

- rattlesnakes being found in a large planter, or on a hiking path, or in someone's garage

- really loud music blasting late at night from a party where the parents are not home

- graffiti somewhere in the city

- drivers who cut you off or drive recklessly or who don't know how to turn on a double-lane turn

- strangers walking around the neighborhood or sitting in vehicles on residential streets who don't live there

- unleashed dogs attacking leashed dogs on walking trails

- coyotes attacking any dog that's smaller than a coyote

... that kind of thing.  Sometimes there are nice posts of someone who needs moving boxes, or someone who needs a heavy piece of furniture moved or picked up, or to borrow a ladder or wheelbarrow or other tool.  Over the years there have been lost pet posts, please adopt this dog or cat posts, seeking a pet sitter posts.. and that genre of neighborhood communication.  But nearly all of that has changed.

When the malignant narcissist was installed by the United State's electoral college after losing the popular vote in 2016, I significantly decreased the frequency that I ever visited the Book Face (or FaceBook as most people call it), because I was sick and tired of all the Russian bot generated fake news with inflammatory headlines designed to enrage whoever clicked on them. Troll bots drove massive amounts of traffic and eye ball exposure to misleading, or fabricated, or out-of-context "news stories" that so many devoted followers clicked on, and liked, or shared, and propagated faster than Covid-19 is currently spreading around the world.  I did NOT want any part of that, and trying to fend it off or combat it, or explain why it was incorrect was becoming an enormous waste of time.  So I withdrew from that battlefield (yes, the Book Face IS a battlefield, fighting for your attention, surveilling your data and preferences, plotting to try and sell you ads for stuff you don't want, while also re-selling your data to retailers and big data research firms to make even MORE money off of your "free" account - and their Instagram acquisition is no better.  It just has prettier pictures most of the time).

Around that time, Dr Desert Flower and I had just moved into a house in a new neighborhood, in a new city a few months before, and one of the realtors who lived in the neighborhood was the administrator of the local community Next-door site.  I signed up and created an account for DDF and I, and we "welcomed" other new neighbors, got to know several of the people who lived around us, donated our moving boxes to people who needed them, and even eventually adopted a pet who was posted on Nextdoor as being in need of a home.  

Gradually, as the malignant narcissist out lasted the Mueller investigation, and then the Republican Senate refused to convict the impeached president, I noticed that the posts and the comments on Nextdoor.com became increasingly political, aggressively confrontational, angry, and nasty.  "Mean spirited" does no begin to describe the vitriol that so many neighbors readily spouted on the site.  MAGA themes, and anti-MAGA themes pervaded any kind of post you could imagine, even ones that had NOTHING to do with politics.  Emboldened by the "new normal" that the White House had established in bullying, criticizing, using hate speech, being openly racist, without any repercussions, fans of the president found fertile ground in which to plant their ideologies.  Liberals and progressives would often provoke them - inadvertently often or overtly sometimes - and stoke the hate and anger to completely uncivilized levels of disgusting discourse.  

Then, the Covid-19 shelter-in-place orders came out, first from governors who needed to take action without any coherent leadership from the deniers in the White House.  Then, the White House issued the "president's guidelines" for how to stay safe in the pandemic by mailing everyone post cards 2ith instructions that just a few weeks before the malignant narcissist had been mocking.  Once the States were in quarantine, and everyone was home with ample time on their hands, the flood gates - which had been LEAKING terribly - burst wide open.  

Nextdoor became a full-on platform for those who were taking self-isolation and shelter-in-place to the strictest levels began railing on anyone they saw outside on the street or sidewalk as a public menace if that person or persons did not meet their level of sterile precautions.  The MAGA fans exploded back in hostile retribution telling those who criticized them where they could go and where they could stick things.  Moderators (like the realtor who admins our neighborhood site) now had a FULL TIME job taking down postings that were erupting with neighbors screaming at each other, injecting politics and personal beliefs into any and every posting imaginable.  

Posts like:

a) does anyone know when the city will open the hiking trails again?

or

b) the condos across the main road have 2 Covid cases in them, the City posted it on everyone's doors

or

c) does anyone have an extension ladder I could borrow on Saturday?

or

d) My son and daughter-in-law are stuck in Peru where the cruise ship they were on is quarantined; does anyone know how I can get them back home? 

or

e) I have some extra lemons, if anyone would like a few, our tree made so many 

... devolved, within 3 to 5 replies, to "that's the whole problem with you libertards!" or "it's the president you voted for who killed my uncle by not implementing a national plan!"  or "why don't you create a database that tracks everyone's health, doctor visits, cough, sniffles, and Rxs in the whole neighborhood?"

The little old lady just had some extra lemons... she was not trying to start an armed conflict.  

And it is not just down here in San Diego County.  Our friends in Orange County have noticed the same thing, perhaps even worse.  Our civil society isn't.  Civil discourse is dead.  Everyone is too angry and hateful, entrenched in there own camp, fed by Fox News and MSNBC, OAN and Talking Points Memo, Brietbart and The Raw Story, Drudge Report and The Washington Post, The New York Times and Gawker, Politico and The Washington Examiner.

I've been telling people who I know that there will very likely be an ugly American civil war if the 45th president loses in November 2020 and refuses to step down, or calls the election "rigged" (as he did in 2016), and possibly declares Marshal Law as violence rises in both red and blue states, minorities and outspoken voices of reason, and those who are not wearing the right 'patriotic' colors  are lynched, hospitalized, or disappear.  Most people scoff at such a notion, and say "things won't get to that level."  But look how QUICKLY Nextdoor spiraled downward.  Neighborhood residents CANNOT Fake profiles or Hide as an anonymous troll on Nextdoor.  It is a verified, regulated, moderated site, where Open Discourse is supposed to be the norm.  Open, civilized discourse.

It will not take much to go from Complainingneighbors.com to Violentneighbors.com or WeKNOWwhereyoulive.com, by ideologues who have forgotten how to discuss facts, respectfully, and politely.  

Humming Bird Happy Hour Bouncer

6 Hummingbirds drinking together in my yard (1 mature Anna's, 2 juvenile Rufous, and 3 Anna's females)

30 minutes before sunset this evening, I sat down in my backyard to enjoy watching hummingbird happy hour.  Hummingbird happy hour is the bet time of the day to observe hummingbirds in a group setting.  The dimming of the sun's natural day light, combined with the abundant availability of established food (11 nectar feeders around the yard) and the inevitability of the arrival of total darkness, draw all the neighborhood hummingbirds together for one long, deep drink of high energy sugar water before the long night's embrace.  The diminished light makes the Brilliant plumage that the dominant males of all hummingbird species develop look much less spectacular, mottled, dull, which puts ALL the hummers -  the dominant males, the fearful juveniles who sport just a goatee, the confident mature females (who are the same size as the mature males, but look they a lot like juveniles) and the immature new fledglings - on nearly equal footing.

Mature Rufous Male Hummingbird

I've enjoyed dozens of hummingbird happy hours here in California.  In Arizona, I saw 2 Anna's hummingbirds at a feeder, once.  Here in California, I've relished dozens of twilights that included a dozen or more birds all sharing resources, before going into their semi-catatonic sleep for the night high up on a secluded branch that's strong enough to barely hold their own weight (less than 21 grams, in most cases).  Tonight was the First time that I observed a vociferous, possessive, pugnacious male Rufous dominant male who continued to chase all other thirsty birds from the 2 feeders right outside the living room window.  One of the 2 feeders is a 4 holed solar PV lit feeder without any perches, so the birds have to hover as they drink.  Six feet away is 10 holed feeder that has a circumferential perch where I've counted as many as 9 hummingbirds drinking at one time (but I've not been able to take a picture of them in this way, yet), sharing resources, peacefully, and making me a very happy & satisfied human that I could create such an environment where I could 'bring the hummingbird community together', and be lucky enough to see them sharing.

A yellow jacket trying to get into one of the 10-holed feeders

Generally, the 2 feeders outside of Dr Desert Flower's office's window in the front yard are dominated by Rufous hummingbird males.  They hang out in the palm trees looming above, or in the oleander bushes a few feet away, or on the top of a skyward pointing succulent frond, observing the 2 front yard feeders, chasing away any other bird who comes to drink, With The Exception of mature females who the males are trying to woo, court, convince, and then with whom they want to copulate for all of 2 seconds while in free-fall from 200 feet in the air.  So Much testosterone and energy goes into the male hummingbird's daily routine, to bully away, ward-off, intimidate all other males and all other species, and try to romance only the mature females of their own species... it makes the plumage and prancing and jousting of a male peacock look blasé in comparison.  The Rufous males don't normally intrude into the back yard... or so I thought.

This evening, I listened to a proud dominant male Rufous sit up in my neighbor's tree above my backyard, chirp and whistle, claiming his dominance over 3 feeders that could be seen from that high vantage point.  I watched as this proud dominant male Rufous would swoop in, and chase away single birds, groups of females who were sharing the feeder, any creature who came near to the fears he now claimed.  This was ruining my happy hour observations.  Twice, I got up from my chair, glass of wine in hand, and stood near to the feeders.  The mature female visitors, who have been around the block and understand better how the world works, did Not see me as a threat, and they drank nearby, almost within arm's reach.  They were wary of the large hairless ape drinking from a wine glass, and they would have flown away if I had made sudden movements, but the pugnacious Rufous male would still come swooping in, Past My Head, and scare them all off.  This could not stand.  No little Rufous male is going to ruin my evening.

2 hummingbirds enjoying the feeder under my suppressing cover-fire

I thought quickly... how could I ward off this mis-guided cretin who never learned how to share, or get along with any other birds?  I remembered a recent Luther episode where a killer wielded a large orange squirt gun full of acid and blinded witnesses around London.  I recalled I had a large un-used squirt bottle in my laundry room that I'd not filled with anything, and ran into the house to fill it with water (no, not acid...  I am not a monster).  I'd used squirt guns to dissuade naughty house cats in the past, before I realized I'd become intensely allergic to them.  I hurriedly rushed back outside to sit with my wine glass and squirt bottle.  My wait didn't take long.

The dominant male Rufous swooped down almost immediately to ward off a dominant male Anna's and an Anna's female, in the dwindling twilight.  His angle of attack took him around the back of the feeder where I did not have a direct line-of-sight, but after he ran off the two other birds, he tried to get a drink from his coveted feeders.  My aim was exact, and the first squirt of water sent the Rufous off the feeder and back up into his tree observation post.  Two more female hummers came in to drink, and as the male Rufous dove down from the tree, I blocked his descent with a barrage of squirts that the gave him pause, and he perched in the jasmine about 8 feet behind the feeders.  More females arrived, and joined their sisters drinking.  5 visible birds at the feeder... but the Rufous male couldn't contain himself, he tried to drive them off.  I sent a salvo of 5 or 6 squirts that sent him into retreat.  2 of the drinking females rose off the feeder to note what was going on, But Then Resettled onto the feeder to resume drinking!  A dominant male Anna's, the NBA players of the hummingbird world due to the fact that they are generally 20% larger than any other hummingbird, settled down at the 10 holed feeder along with the bevy of females and juveniles.  "Hello ladies!" was the look in his little black eye, as he figured he'd hit the happy hour jackpot.  But it was short lived.

A fully mature, dominant Rufous male, perched outside my office, who thinks he "owns" the feeder there.

A moment later, the stubborn Rufous male Again dove at the feeder.  All the birds scattered, and I zeroed in on the bright white collar the mature Rufous male wore and hit him at least once, got close 2 or 3 times, and he fled again.  3 of the 5 females Returned and resumed drinking, under my cover fire.  The Rufous took up station back in his high tree branch, and I aimed upwards towards the little miscreant, arching far over the top of the feeders where the girls were enjoying happy hour, and the mature Rufous found this rebuff to be "too much" and flew elsewhere.  Finally, success!

So if you're a female hummingbird, regardless of species, you're more than welcome to come drink in my yard at hummingbird happy hour.  If you're an Anna's, Blackchinned, or Costa's mature male or a Rufous juvenile, and you know some boundaries and how to act publicly and behave at happy hour, you're also welcome to enjoy delicious high energy, fresh nectar in my yard.  However, if you're a trouble maker, you will be ejected, and refused re-entry into my yard's airspace.  If you persist, you'll be targeted with squirted tap water, which will make flight more difficult, frustrate your petty attempts to monopolize the abundant nectar in the feeders.  The unexpected wetting at dusk, combined with being chased away form the public feeders, may make it more difficult for you to remain warm over-night, but having a warmer, more friendly demeanor will be in your favor going-forward (over-come your instinctual programming, little punk!)  ... or just stick to the front yard, where the Rufous battles are pretty much perpetual.  The backyard feeders have a happy hour bouncer, who is more than 4000 times your mass, and who enjoys having a peaceful, sharing, community atmosphere at dusk.

Go FCC Yourself!

gofccyourself.com

Last Sunday night, John Oliver on Last Week Tonight reminded all internet users - left wing, right wing, trolls, white hats, black hats, everyone - how important Net Neutrality is, and how the newly appointed FCC commissioner Ajit Pay wants to reverse the Net Neutrality rules put into place during the Obama administration.  You see, Pai (pronounced 3.141592654), a former Verizon lawyer,  is an ideologue who believes that  "the more you regulate something, the less of it you get".  What he doesn't understand is that Title I and Title II of the FCC Net Neutrality rules, are not trying to regulate free and unfettered access to the internet, No, Not At All.  What they are trying to regulate is that internet service providers (ISPs) cannot scale back, throttle down your speed, in favor of their own content that may be competing with what you wanted to watch / see / download on the expensive and slow internet connection you have in America, land of the gouging ISPs [Asia's and Europe's ISPs are far better, faster, less expensive, and have multiple choices for hard wired as well as WiFi, while in America we're stuck with basically 5 monopolies who put their customers last].

"Why does this affect me?" you might ask?  Well, if you use an internet connection, it can and will affect you.

The most basic, simple example is as follows:  Say you want to download a show, and binge watch the whole season of it some Friday or Saturday, from Netflix or Amazon.  BUT, you have Comcast as your ISP... and Comcast has a series that is Similar to what you wanted to download and watch, so Comcast could then Easily reduce your download speed (loading.... loading....) for your Netflix or Amazon show while opening up extra fast-pass lanes for their own Comcast series that they want everyone to watch instead.  Your download becomes so frustratingly slow, that you search for something else... and your ISP (who knows that you were Just trying to download one of their competitor's products) SUGGESTS you watch their own 'original content series" instead.

Evil.  Despicable.  Enraging.  Yes.

And it is not just movies.  The same can be said for songs, youtube videos, live streaming, anything that requires data transfer, into and out of your home, your office, your mobile telephone, your iPad.  You THINK you're paying for 30 Gig a minute, or 100 Gig a minute, but every time you test it on a bench mark site, you find that it is 1/10th that speed for downloads... because you're not downloading the "recommended content" that your ISP wants you to see, is pushing at you, promoting to you, and making money from providing to you.

So John Oliver recounted how the first time Last Week Tonight did this 3 years ago, that they crashed the FCC website in minutes once the show aired.  And Oliver went on to state how TODAY, for this new period of public comment, the FCC has made it Much Harder to make comments on their website, requiring a multi-step search and entry process, one which Last Week Tonight streamlined by buying the URL gofccyourself.com - witty, hilarious, and most importantly, Easy to Remember.

So before I started this post this afternoon, I tried out the link.  You have to enter in your name, address, and phone number (perhaps for the re-education camps that 45 will implement in the future?) ... and you have to click on the     "+ Express" blue button on the top right of the page once it loads.  --------------------------------------------->>>>>>>

gofccyourself.com

But then you can write in, how you feel about having your internet speed reduced just because of your ISP monopoly's desire to push preferred content at you, instead of what you want to watch, see, hear, read about, download, upload, or enjoy.

For an example of what you could say, I have partially excerpted my entry here, to help spur creative ideas and other responses:

"Title 1 and Title 2 were created TO REDUCE or make it harder for ISPs to throttle, slow down, and give preferential treatment to content.  Ajit Pai is right when he says "if you regulate something, you don't get more of it, you get less of it". Exactly, Regulate ISPs who throttle content and slow down their competitors.  Get rid of Title 2, and throttling will become rampant, common place, ubiquitous.  Pai is right, but in the opposite way his idealogical mind thinks.  "

You can cut and paste mine, if you like, or create your own version.  But I encourage you, regardless of what part of the political spectrum you believe you are most closely aligned, to make your voice heard.  ISPs want to throttle EVERYONE down, to reduce our already slow American internet speeds even further, and promote their own ISP content preferentially.  This affects EVERYONE who uses the internet in America, except perhaps for ISP executives who have fiber optic nodes installed in their homes and who self-exempt from the throttling.

Take 5 or 10 minutes out of your day today or tomorrow, and let your voice be heard.

gofccyourself.com

Same As It Ever Was, Same As It Ever Was

I turned on MSNBC yesterday afternoon for a moment, before I headed out to go do yoga at the beach, and saw Steve Kornacki present the two graphics below:

These two survey poll results make it extremely clear, how American progressives are optimistic, improving, and growing, while 1950s focused American conservatives long to go back in time (member berries),
- before civil rights legislation passed and became enforceable in all 50 states
- before the EPA existed,
- before Germany and Japan rose up from the rubble of WWII to become economic rivals,
- back to the cold war & fear of Armageddon,
- back when LGBT citizens were treated as outcasts by 99% of Umerikuns,
- back when cigarette smoking in public was ubiquitous,
- back when drunk driving was a sport instead of a felony
- back to when you could fire a woman for becoming pregnant if she was not married
- back to when housing & finance discrimination against minorities was standard practice
- back to when Ike deported a million Latin Americans in "Operation Wet Back"
- back to when there were poll taxes and literacy tests to be able to vote

... yeah, a "simpler era" ... for simple minded people, who abhor change, and who are fiercely clinging to their guns & religion & 'majority white paradigm'.  Those who want all the benefits of living in a free Democracy, while having smooth roads to drive on, fast internet to access, reliable electric power, clean water to drink, a clean ocean to swim in, a bucolic landscape in which to hunt, free land on which to graze their cattle, and a strong army to defend them, without paying any taxes or having any convenience to their own personal preferences and desires.

Count me in the 70% of "it's getting better".  I'm still not a huge fan of any of the 4 candidates running for PUSA, but I will be voting for the woman most likely to defeat and contain the threat of a megalomaniacal narcissist who constantly lies & fabricates his own reality from taking over the Executive branch of our government.  The fossils of the 72% will eventually go extinct.

Make America Great, Again?

Make America Great, Again?

I am trying to understand, I mean Really Understand, what is meant by the slogan “Make America Great, Again” used by the “billionaire” front runner, Donald Trump (“billionaire” is in quotes, because so far, Trump refuses to release his tax returns… so his claim of being a lavishly wealthy billionaire are unsubstantiated, just as his claims of giving proceeds of events to veterans groups have never been proven to be factual).

How is America not already the greatest, most prosperous, most upwardly mobile, most tolerant, most multi-cultural, wealthiest Western Democracy with the most freedom (of movement, of religion, of speech, etc) in the entire world?  How will Donald Trump (thrice divorced, thrice bankrupt, outsourcing both his brides and his Trump brand manufacturing to foreign countries, never held elected office ever in his life) make it “great again”?  I am struggling to understand the reasoning behind this nationalist slogan, and I cannot come up with a cogent argument in favor of it.

Some people would say that Trump wants to reform campaign financing, since he is self funded and not “beholden to special interests”, but that’s Bernie Sanders whose been saying that.  Trump just lambasts his Republican primary “opponents” as representing special interests, but he has not proposed any plan to roll back or repeal the Citizens United decision

link:  http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/donald-trump-and-citizens-united-a-modest-proposal

In fact, Trump has been intentionally vague on any details about his plans, be it Citizens United, getting Mexico to finance his fantasy border wall, how he’d round up 12 million undocumented immigrants, or how he’d get the US Armed Forces to intentionally bomb civilians in Syria and Iraq in violation of the Geneva Convention.  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/02/28/former-cia-director-military-may-refuse-to-follow-trumps-orders-if-he-becomes-president/

If an intelligent person can make a rational argument as to 

1) why America is not great now

and

2) how Donald Trump will make it “great again”

… I would be very happy to have a civil dialogue with that intelligent person, so I can understand better what I am missing about this jingoistic, vocal bully, who appears to be America’s version Jean-Marie & Marine Le Pen, combined.  

link:  http://www.economist.com/topics/jean-marie-le-pen

I am really not looking for trolls or rhetoric, or some profanity or obscenity filled emotional rant by a devout Trump supporter who is caught up in the moment, and who just likes Donald Trump because “he’s strong” or because “he doesn’t take crap from anyone.”  Those arguments don’t hold up for what qualifications are necessary to be POTUS, or to lead the strongest & wealthiest democracy on the planet.  I AM looking for a cohesive, intelligent, logic argument as to why Donald Trump would “Make America Great Again”. And, why is not still great, now?   It was great when my father came here in the 50s.  It was great when my great grand parents on my mother’s side came here before the Depression.  Why is it not great now, and how will Donald Trump & the policies and proposals he’s articulated make it “great again”?  

I promise to post any comments that are not profanity or obscenity laced, whether they make a cohesive argument or even if they just reinforce my point that there is no logical argument to be made and voters in primary states are coming out in droves because of an irrational emotional response, voting for a candidate who makes them feel good, but they can’t articulate why he makes them feel good.

I really hope someone can help me understand this.  I’ve been troubled with trying to wrap by head around the fervent embrace of Donald Trump by 100s of thousands of US voters for the last month… and cannot comprehend what they see in him, logically and rationally.

Thank You Justice Kennedy

Swing Supreme Court Anthony Kennedy, thank you for being human, reasonable, and compassionate in your SCOTUS ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges on Friday.  All of my Gay friends can now enjoy the LONG LIST of rights and privileges that Dr Desert Flower and I have enjoyed for the last 28 years, if they find the love of their lives and want to get married as well.  Thank you.  You joined your 4 reasonable SCOTUS colleagues in making the right decision, and you worded your majority opinion so eloquently.

The hyperbolic fit throwing from the religious right - and their ridiculous predictions of being "forced" to act against their faith, or to "go out of business" as Huckabee said on This Week with Snuffleupagus - is amusingly stupid.  No chicken little, the sky is not falling, but legal barriers to basic rights are.

Thanks Justice Kennedy.

Cannon's Misfire

Last night, Dr Desert Flower wanted to go to a nice seafood restaurant in Dana Point called Cannon's.  We'd been there before, and the food is ok, the service not bad, and the views of the harbor are beautiful.  I made a reservation for 7pm on Opentable.  We arrived 5 minutes ahead of time, and were seated window-side by 7pm.  So far, so good.

The waiter took more than 5 minutes to come over to ask us how we were "hungry" I replied.  We ordered drinks, soups, salads, and main courses, tout suite.  "Do you want them to come out All at once?" the waiter inquired.  "As they're ready" I told him.  DDF ordered (menu here) a Napa Sauvignon Blanc, Cannon's salad, and the Mahi.  I ordered the lobster bisque, Oscar Filet (filet mignon with king crab), and a Mendoza Malbec.  We looked out over the harbor, and chatted about the day's and week's events, at work, locally, on the radio, and about things happening in the world globally.

My lobster bisque arrived solo, and I'd not eaten in about 10 hours, so I told DDF "if it is too hot, I'l let it sit until your salad arrives".  "Go ahead, don't wait".  I sipped it from my spoon, and it was barely above human body temperature, about 15 degrees cooler than I'd expected, but it tasted fine, so I sipped it, slowly, and we continued to converse.  Maybe it was from some other table's order, who changed their mind to have chowder instead, and they sent it back to the kitchen, who didn't rewarm it, and it was re-routed to me.  I don't know.  Soup was done, salad no where in site.  Bus boy takes empty soup bowl away.  Another 5 minutes pass.  Salad arrives, it's fine, DDF begins eating it.  We still have no wine.

Enter another couple who are then seated at the table adjacent to my right elbow.  Window seats are at a premium, so the restaurant has chosen to squeeze as many tables as close together at the windows that look over the harbor some 100+ feet below.  The couple is in their 50s, dressed nicely, and are rather "loud talkers"  Salad is done, wine arrives, with apologies from the waiter for the delay.  The wine tastes fine. The restaurant is 1/2 empty, with loads of additional capacity, it is not tourist season, so I am baffled as to why things are taking so long.  Another 10 minutes or so pass before the main courses arrive.

My filet comes with scalloped potatoes and grilled seasonal vegetables.  I've ordered it "medium" since I do not know where it was sourced, and when I am not familiar with my ranch source, I make sure any microbes have been heated to 165F and killed.  The filet is fine.  The vegetables - red & green peppers, red onion, and okra, have been scorched and blackened by the inattentive chef (he's not over-worked, the place has more empty tables than full ones).  The potatoes have not been cooked - they're hard, raw, sliced, with a yellowish flavorless sauce poured over them.  Not a hint of cheese, butter, cream, or anything that provided any substantive flavor can be detected.  I do not believe the potatoes ever saw an oven before making it to my plate.   DDF states that her mashed potatoes are quite tasty and offers me some, which I decline.  I know she loves mashed potatoes, and...  well....

The couple at my right elbow, have this loud conversation:
man: "so tell me, how that whole thing with IHOP worked out?"
woman in sparkly sweater: "oh I was so angry! When their sign says they are open to 10pm, it doesn't matter that we got there at 9:46.  Those two women, the hostess and the waitress were both so rude to us, saying 'you know it is already 9:46, we close at 10, can you eat quickly?'  So I called the IHOP corporate offices, and they kept thanking me for calling and telling them about what a horrible experience I had.  They said that everyone at that IHOP location were going to get re-trained, and that the two people who were rude to our business party were going to get written personnel file reprimands and verbal warnings.  My friend So-and-so (inaudible) told me 'they're just entry level positions' and I told her that it didn't matter, you can't treat customers like that, and the IHOP corporate customer service agreed."
man: "it just shows you how all of society is degrading, no one wants to work any more or is willing to earn their wages. This whole country is going down the drain"

I .... wanted...  to say and do very unpleasant things to this couple, and unload on them, but I refrained, and just stared at my uncooked, hard, tasteless potatoes and blackened scorched vegetables, and the space on my plate where my filet used to be.  I knew that anything I said to them would not have changed their minds, and it would have ruined DDF's evening.  No desert, just a check, and we got out of there almost 2 hours after arriving for $120 (a dollar a minute?) - which would have not bothered me if both DDF's and my food would have been served promptly, warmly, unburnt, and more than just 1/2 of it flavorful.

No Thank You Experian!

On the Credit Rating Agency website from the company Experian their tag line is "A world of insight".  What it really should say instead is "Intrusively and without your knowledge, pimping out your data".  Why do I say this?  Well, from personal experience.

You see, about 2 months ago, Dr Desert Flower contacted our bank (one of the big national, too-big-to-fail US institutions) just to inquire if they could call us back about a home loan, since we are renting here in California.  The very next day, our phone began ringing off the hook, with misguided and misinformed mortgage brokers from shady, never-heard-of-before, finance companies.  Each of these unprofessional callers incorrectly assumed we were "re-financing" our California home (which we rent, and do not own, but the callers were too stupid to figure that out).  The first day, there were 4 callers.  The next day, 6 more.  These were inane callers interrupting my work conference calls, leaving long messages, all of them dodgy and circumspect about who they were, how they got my name, or with which company they were associated.  I began telling them off, to remove my name from their lists, and asking them if they understood what the "Do Not Call Registry" was, and are they familiar with the $10,000 federal fines they would be hit with if they called back?  The 2nd week, the calls stopped.

Then, this week, DDF contacted a mortgage broker referred to us by our realtor, as we are looking to possibly purchase a home and wanted to see how much of a mortgage we could be pre-qualified to receive.  That mortgage broker again ran a credit check on us, and yesterday, once again, the flood gates opened.  3 calls yesterday, 5 calls today.  I began interrogating the callers directly, after they butchered the pronunciation of my last name:
"what is the nature of this call?"
"from what source did you get my contact information?"
...and then telling them I would never be interested in getting a mortgage from a telephone broker who I do not know, who I have never met, who is being predatory upon my wife and I, and whom I do not trust.  Sheepishly, some of them apologize.  Others, just rudely hang up on me.
"Do you understand what the Do Not Call Registry is?"
"Do you understand that if you call back, I will be reporting you and your company to the Federal government and they will hit you with a $10,000 fine?"

After the 5th call today, I looked up Experian, since 3 of the unsolicited callers told me that they 'purchased a list of potential borrowers from Experian' - to which I told each of them "that was not money well spent, was it?".  Buried 5 levels down on their web page, is an "Opt Out" page (link here).  It also has a link to the Do Not Call national registry.  I called Experian's OPT OUT number (1-888-5OPTOUT, or 1 888 567 8688) and the computerized answering protocol had the nerve to ask me for my name, address, social security number, and phone number.   Of course, it could NOT figure out what my street was, since it is a bastardized Spanish spelling that is meaningless and un-referenceable, so that lead to "leave a detailed message, with the spelling of your street address" logic path.

I never asked Experian to sell my information to anyone.   I never authorized Experian to sell my information to anyone.   And I am obviously not happy that Experian pimped out my name, and the predatory lenders have swarmed my phone number like locust.    I don't know if the other 2 national credit rating agencies do the same thing, but it is rather despicable and underhanded.  I rank credit rating agencies on the same list of bottom feeders and those who add no value to society, along with derivative traders, ambulance chasing injury lawyers, California DMV workers, industrial artificial franken-food manufacturers, tele-marketeres, and political strategists.

Hey you kids, get off my phone!!!!  grrrrrrrr

Otter Box Wanted

I want an Otter Box for my iPad, so I can goole THIS, or THIS, or THIS, while soaking in the hot tub and drinking a drinky drink with alcohol while soothing my sore muscles after a 5 hour bike ride on a Sunday afternoon.   Anyone who can steal a day (or two or three) of vacation away from my beloved wife, (and vicariously from me, as well, since my world and my wife's world, are intrinsically linked, in plans and planning, and weekends) and who THINK they know more about science than scientists...  when they are just MDs who deal with patients who are all on slides...  not living, breathing, family-waiting-for-an-answer patients (no, those would be General Practitioners, Hospitalists, Heads of Internal Medicine, Heads of Residency, Oncologists, ER docs, and other actual medical doctors).

Sorry, but I have little patience for those who THINK they know what they are doing when they are just "winging it" and scrambling because they are otherwise clueless egomaniacs.  Leave the actual science to scientists.  Thanks!

Creative Bike Responses

I saw this creative graphic today, and it made me laugh.   I've done several of these myself, when walking, biking, or driving and some other driver obscenely gestures, yells, honks, or threatens me.  Though I have never flashed anyone, yet.  =)

Anger Management for 2013

Anger Management Tip -
"Holding onto anger is like swallowing poison, and expecting the other person to die."

This "quote", often wrongly attributed to Buddha, the Dali Lama, and others (see link here) is still a good 'anonymous quote'.  Since moving to California, I've been trying to practice the "right thinking" and "right acting" Karmic principles of letting my anger go, not letting it fester, hand in the stream, let the water rush around your hand... you cannot stop the stream, nor can you significantly speed it up.  Your hand is wet, and you've felt the temperature and current, but you are not entirely one with the stream.

DirectTV Stops Carrying Viacom

Last Tuesday night, The Daily Show and Colbert Report started back up after the 4th of July break.  Dr Desert Flower and I thought that TDS and CR were on a two week hiatus, since there was no reruns or anything being DVR'ed from Comedy Central.

Well, DirectTV is blaming Viacom.  Viacom is blaming DirectTV. They're both being corporate money grubbing douche bags.   Viiacom also blocked ALL streaming of it's content on ColbertNation or The Daily Show website, so I really think that Viacom is being the greedier, more obstinate, evil corporation.  But, COX Cable still carries Comedy Central, so Monday morning, I will be giving DirectTV notice (putting them "On Notice", Colbert style) that they have until Friday to restore my Comedy Central, or, I will be dropping their service and moving COX.   I've heard lousy things about COX, but, they carry the shows I want to watch.

Dish Network carries Comedy Central, but no AMC, so Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men would be inaccessible (I don't care about Breaking Bad and Madmen, but DDF does).  And, Dish is still saddled with a damn Dish, that freaks out and stalls even during mild windy nights, like we had last Friday night, when my HD picture "pixelated".  grrrrr

I don't watch alot of TV, but dammit, when I do, I want it to be there, on a DVR, ready for me.  Daily Show. Colbert. Bill Maher. Game of Thrones. Walking Dead.  Dr.Who. PBS.  Sometimes Modern Family, Tosh.O, Office, or Parks & Rec.  That's really it.  When can I buy JUST THOSE and not all the other garbage the cable provider insists on bundling to me?

From Angry Joe to Retired Joe to JustJoeP

My retired godfather Uncle Joe shared this link with me today... that really has absolutely made my day.  Listening to the passionate, angry, insightful & inciting Vice President Joe Biden speaking in Youngstown Ohio, I almost began to tear up a little.  My parents (and my godfather who is my mother's brother) grew up poorer than Dr Desert Flower and I did, and worked hard to provide for their families.  My father and my Uncle Joe worked harder, in back breaking & strenuous labor intensive jobs, with multi-year skilled trade apprenticeships, retiring as card carrying union members, so I can relate to the content of Biden's speech. 
"Jobs are coming back, and they're the kind of jobs you can build a middle class family on [sic]"
"They're manufacturing jobs, decent paying jobs,  so you can live in a safe neighborhood."
"Own your home and not rent your home".(Mitt wants your foreclosure accelerated, so you can pay jacked up rent to rich investors like his country club buddies - link here)
 "My mother and father dreamed as much as any rich guy dreams"

I enjoyed his acceptance speech, back in 2008, and found it inspiring (link here).   This is the minute and a 1/2 version of that speech.
NPR keeps reporting this week about how housing starts are increasing in the us, and property values are going up by 20% in some of the hardest hit regions (NOT the West side of Phoenix though... no one wants to pay more than a $100K here)... and that illegal immigration has reversed to a net-zero balance.  I just hope the Euro tanking doesn't drag the US down with it, and the Federal Reserve doesn't crank up the printing presses to bail out the PIGS  (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece & Spain)...  we shall see.

Netbook Biting the Dust

My Asus Eee Netbook is biting the dust, rapidly.  Just 3 years after I got it, it's bogging down in a quagmire of limited memory, infinite Adobe updates, Windows XP updates, and (I think) just plain ole obsolescence.  I type this blog posting froma lenovo 'business center' desktop in the Holiday Inn Express in which I am staying.  It is disheartening that my formerly useful little netbook now takes FOREVER to load even justjoep, and then wants to download so many updates it is rendered useless.  I've tried clearing the memory, but to no use.  It just doesn't have enough "oomph" for today's network browing needs.  Firefox, IE, Google Chrome, none has worked on the anemic Asus Eee book.   I considered chucking it out the window of my hotel, to the asphalt parking lot below, but the windows don't open... so my attempt was thwarted.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Looks like I will have to learn to use (and possible like, someday) the evil jobs device at home.  Grrrrrr.

Why I Despise Renting

This sums up, very well, why I not only despise renting, but why I cannot happily live in high density housing, with neighbors packed in all around me, surrounded, pinned in, by others who do not share my affinity for peace & quiet, solitude, mutual respect, decorum, consideration, and the greater good of society.  I need to live in a dwelling that does not share common walls with my neighbors (or laundry rooms, or garbage cans, or elevators, or ceilings or floors).  I know many of my friends and followers love their densely packed city life styles, and they "deal with" or tolerate their neighbors... but I am not as tolerant.

http://maggieblueberry.tumblr.com/post/16229681350/woomack-need-to-print-off-the-first-one-for-my

Or, link here

It's not just the main largest image posted on the linked page, but also all the smaller posted images, just below it.  I've had nearly all of these happen to me personally, and I enjoyed none of them.  They're humorous when happening to someone else, and viewed from the third person, yes indeed.  But maddening when you're the one being subjected to it.

End Piracy Not Liberty

Have you signed the online petition (link here)?  Have you emailed and called your Congressman & Senators (link here)?

Do you really want your American or European internet access to be tracked, blocked, and regulated as if you live in China?  ...with legislation driven by well funded, thoroughly lobbied, Republican & Democrat legislators who are more interested in their campaign coffers than they are your daily life or your unfettered access to information and the internet?

7.77 Trillion - Turn It Up To Eleven

I am still trying to get my head wrapped around this one. Many Americans hated the $700 billion TARP bank bail out, which all got paid back (with interest) by the banks to whom the Federal Reserve gave money.  But up to March 2009, the Federal Reserve, through it's "Discount Window" loaned money virtually for free (0.01%... just try to get a car or home or business loan for 0.01% ANYWHERE) to the tune of TARP X 11.  $7.77 Trillion (with a "T") of imaginary money was poured out to US and foreign banks up in the form of 21,000 transactions (link here to Bloomberg), to keep the biggest banks solvent while FDIC went around closing down dozens of insolvent small banks who didn't have Tim Geithner on speed dial.

And then, these evil, evil, despicable F-tards from the biggest banks patted themselves on the back and gave giant bonuses in 2009 & 2010 to their "smartest & best" executives - bonuses stolen from the American Tax Payers' pockets without them even knowing it.  Their artificially inflated system of imaginary wealth comes crashing down around them, and they not only have the gaul to come to the US Federal Reserve for loans to bail them out at 0%, but then they give themselves bonuses to boot?

Yeah, it makes no sense why anyone in America who is not part of the 1% is angry and ready to grab pitch forks and torches.

And now, the European Central Bank is looking at doing the same thing for their PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain)... but unlike the Federal Reserve, they can't just print money out of thin air in imaginary credit default swap / collateral debt obligation BS land, where up is down, merde is pleasingly aromatic, and the rich get insanely richer.

Obama Waters Down Federal Regulations More Than Bush

You still have the delusion belief that the Obama Administration is anti-corporate, pro-regulation, anti-"job creator"?  Well, the facts do not support your case.  In fact, the Obama administration has enabled the watering down or elimination of more regulations in just 3 short years than the Bush Administration did.  I'm sorry if this does not support a right wing version of the world viewed through a partisan lens, but the fact is that the Obama administration has reduced or re-written, at K street lobbyists insistence, more federal regulations: (link here to Ari Shapiro's excellent story on NPR)

"We studied the records of 1,080 meetings that have been held at OIRA over the last 10 years," said Rena Steinzor, CPR's president. "And we found that OIRA has changed 84 percent of environmental regulations, and 65 percent of other agencies' regulations, and the change rate is worse than it was under George W. Bush."

Yes, Obama and his OIRA head Cass Sunstein, have enabled corporate lobbyists more influence, more access, and more leverage on re-writing and reducing Federal Regulations than the Bush administration ever did.  This is the same Cass Sunstein who insane-clown-with-a-more-insane-posse Glen Beck labeled a "communist & marxist".  

Every time I hear some Tea Partyer, or Republican devotee state how Obama is "killing jobs" with "regulations" I want & need to remind them of the facts.  If the corporate plutocrats are re-writing the Federal Regulations that are supposed to be protecting the citizens of this once great country, watering it down to their liking and satisfaction, then their minions (the Republicans) do not get to complain.