Weekend Humor

A funeral service is held for a woman who just passed away. As the pallbearers carry the casket out, they accidentally bump into a wall. They hear a faint moan.

They open the casket and find that the woman is actually alive. She lives for 10 more years and then really dies. They have another funeral for her. At the end of the service, the pallbearers carry out the casket. As they are walking, the husband cries out, "Watch out for the wall!"

Have a great weekend everybody!

Florida,Again,Florida

Ahhhh, let me see, what was it this time?  Did this kid have a hoodie on? Was the assailant still angry about President Obama winning the election and was therefor traumatized...You pick any silly reasoning for this one...

You know...I haven't forgottenTravonn Martin, another senseless ,racially motivated Florida case that has yet to go to trial.

And now we have this...Jacksonville, Florida Police say a 45-year-old man was taken into custody Saturday for fatally shooting a Florida teenager last week at a Jacksonville gas station after an argument that began over, get this... loud music.


Michael Dunn made his first court appearance Monday in Brevard County where he pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, CBS affiliate WTEV reports.

At a press conference Monday, Lt. Rob Schoonover of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said the deadly incident occurred around 7:40 p.m. Friday.

Robert Schoonover said 17 year old Jordan Davis was sitting in a parked SUV with three other teens, when Michael Dunn parked next to their vehicle and made a comment about the loud music the group was playing. The 45-year-old apparently got into an argument with Jordan Davis, who was sitting in the back seat. During the altercation, Michael Dunn allegedly took out a gun and shot into the vehicle, striking Jordan Davis twice. Robert Schoonover says the vehicle had been shot 8 or 9 times in total, but no one else was injured.

Michael Dunn and his girlfriend, who was inside the gas station during the shooting, drove away from the scene, police said. Lt. Robert Schoonover said Dunn had apparently been driving to a hotel from his son's wedding when he stopped at the gas station.

Investigators are still trying to find out why the argument escalated into violence.

"It was loud," Schoonover said about the teens' music. "They admitted that. But I mean that's not a reason for someone to open fire on them and take action."

Glad he at least acknowledged that!

Michael Dunn claims he fired his weapon because he felt threatened, police say, Which is what Zimmerman and all of the other trigger happy folks who murder Blacks and in particular, unarmed Black men always say.   I could have on a Brooks Brothers suit and be carrying a bible in my hands and one of them would shoot me and tell the cops..."I FELT THREATENED!!! And what really gauls me is how many people would agree with this...and understand!

Shaking my damn head! It is after all...Florida~!

Sexiest Man Alive???

You know...every once in awhile, it's good to have something in the news to laugh about...Thank God for the Peoples Republic of North Korea and their wacky leaders...Apparently Kim Jung Ho...The sun of the equally bizzare Kim Ill Sung is "The sexiest man alive!!"

Stop laughing....It seems that Hong Kong media picked up the piece by U.S. satirical website The Onion a week ago while explaining to readers in Chinese that it was a farce. But from there, it jumped over the Great Firewall and landed into the official, irony-free Chinese media.


When Hong Kong's Phoenix TV website, ifeng.com, ran its story on its fashion channel on Nov. 21, the story's second paragraph clearly stated: "The Onion is a satirical news organization."

But, when state-run Yangtse.com picked up the Phoenix piece a few hours later, it had morphed into a straight news story. The piece never mentioned that the original was a joke, instead plucking comical reader comments attached to the Phoenix story and running those.

"A man with so much fat on the face, and the double chin, and the excessively white skin. And they call him the sexiest. They do deserve the name Onion. I can't help but shed sad tears."

The editor cited for the story, Yang Fang, could not immediately be reached — and two employees who answered the phone at the Nanjing media outlet said Wednesday they weren't even sure if Yang still worked there.  (He doesn't deserve to)

Five days after the Yangste piece, Beijing's Guangming Daily website took the story for a spin, cutting it back and citing Yangtse.com as its source. The Guangming piece was still live Wednesday and the story's editor told The Associated Press that she had not realized it was a joke until the AP called.
The editor, Wang Miaomiao, said she wasn't worried about the gaffe.
"Even if it was satire, the report itself was true. The content is not made up. Also, we have to go through a procedure to take something down from the website," Wang said. "In addition, it is not a fabricated report, and it does not jeopardize society."

The story next made it to the flagship paper of the Communist Party, the People's Daily, on Tuesday. An editor at the People's Daily website who refused to give his name said the story was picked up from the Guangming Daily site, running on three channels in Chinese and English.

Upon realizing it was a spoof, the People's Daily decided to take down their versions on Wednesday. But not before The Onion updated their original piece with a link to the People's Daily and a shout-out: "For more coverage on The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive 2012, Kim Jong-Un, please visit our friends at the People's Daily in China, a proud Communist subsidiary of The Onion, Inc."



"Exemplary reportage, comrades," The Onion wrote.

This is not the first time Red China's heavily censored media have fallen for a fictional report by the just-for-laughs website, The Onion.

In 2002, the Beijing Evening News, one of the capital's biggest tabloids at the time, published as news the fictional account that the U.S. Congress wanted a new building and that it might leave Washington. The Onion article was a spoof , you know like of the way sports teams will threaten to leave cities in order to get new stadiums.

Jeremy Goldkorn, director of Danwei.com, a firm that researches Chinese media and Internet, said that one of the peculiarities of the Chinese news business is that stories can be freely shared by any other media outlet in their entirety, or edited, as long as the original source is credited somewhere on the page.

"It does mean that stuff gets circulated a lot more widely because you don't have intellectual property restrictions on articles that you would in the U.S. for example," he said. "So when you mix that up with this culture of no fact-checking and not really having a news editor whose main job is seeking truth, then what you get is The Onion being taken seriously in the People's Daily."

Before any of us gets on our superior American High Horse....Just remember....Several hoaxes that pass as news story facts get passed around on Blogs, Twitter and Facebook right here in the U.S. of A. everyday and we fall for it....and I have to admit...that before I discovered that the Onion was a satirical website...They got me a couple of times.....but Kim Jung Ho....The sexiest man alive??????? PUH-lease !

Further proof that there is no longer a threat from communism and the cold war is really over!

In Need Of A Save

As I write this...The midnight hour approaches and I silently wonder ,might our government allow us to fall off of this fiscal cliff before this is all over??

As it stands now...U.S. lawmakers have made little to no progress in the last 10 days toward a compromise to avoid the harsh tax increases and government spending cuts scheduled for January 1, a senior Democratic senator said earlier today.


However, people in both the Democratic and Republican camps have been working hard to convince the public — and the financial markets — that they are willing to compromise and can reach a deal before the end of the year. I wonder how that's working out?

The United States is on course to slash its budget deficit nearly in half next year. Closing the gap that quickly, which in Washington speak is referred to as going over a "fiscal cliff," could easily trigger another recession.
"Unfortunately, for the last 10 days, with the House and Congress gone for the Thanksgiving recess ... much progress hasn't been made," said Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat,  who told this to ABC's "This Week."

A deadline is looming. Absent action by lawmakers and President Barack Obama means that roughly $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts will start to hit households and companies in early January.
Republicans and  Democrats are at an impasse over the President's wish to raise income tax rates on the wealthiest Americans, which Republicans say would hurt job creation. They are still hanging on to that fantasy.

Republicans also want to cut spending on social programs more than Democrats say they will accept. So...here we are!! Do we go over the cliff or is there a compromise and a last minute save? Will you destroy the republic to still try and make a point? That is my question.

II-

Yet!,A growing group of Republican lawmakers are loosening their ties to Grover Norquist, the anti-tax lobbyist famous for getting elected officials to sign a pledge that they will vote against any tax increases.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said Republicans will allow tax revenues to rise as long as social spending programs are reformed. "I will violate the pledge, long story short, for the good of the country, only if Democrats will do entitlement reform," he said.

Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss said last week he "cared more about the country" than a 20-year-old pledge, and on Sunday Republican Representative Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told NBC's "Meet the Press" he agreed "completely" with Senator Chambliss.

Durbin said Democrats are willing to allow small changes to parts of the country's entitlement programs, including public health insurance programs for the elderly and poor, but the Social Security government pension program should not be on the table. I agree.

"Bring entitlement reform into the conversation. Social Security, set [it] aside," Durbin said.
Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee, said the ability to avoid the "fiscal cliff," depended on the Republicans.

"The key here is whether or not the Republicans will move away from the ideologically rigid position, which has been the Grover Norquist pledge, which most of them signed," he said on "Meet the Press."

A deadline is looming....I'm looking for either a slide over that cliff or a last minute save...Who's going to be a hero?

Weekend Humor

Have a Great Weekend Everybody!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY!

Happy Thanksgiving To you and yours! Use this day to find something to truly be thankful for!

Cee Lo

Cee Lo Green was on the Steve Harvey Show earlier today….He'd just performed Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas” Either he sampled the band from the original or his backing band is just that good that they played it note for note….Anyway…He acquitted himself quite well…..I must say I was impressed…He can actually sing when he sets his mind to it… He won’t make me forget Donny Hathaway….But wherever Donny is, he wasn’t disappointed…I’m sure… We need more singers like Cee-Lo and Bruno Mars, who use live instrumentation and who respect the craft of R& B Music.

Hope you enjoy yet another cut from his forthcoming release...''Cee Lo's Magic Moments"

Keith's Favorite Quotations

R.I.P. Hostess!

After two weeks of practically non-stop election coverage, I and the rest of the free world was shocked to learn of a huge tragedy just this past weekend!

Hostess Brands, the bankrupt maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, said it has sought court permission to go out of business after failing to get wage and benefit cuts from thousands of its striking bakery workers.

Hostess said a national strike by members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union that began last week had crippled its ability to produce and deliver products at several facilities.

The liquidation of the company will mean that most of its 18,500 employees will lose their jobs, Hostess said on Friday.

The 82-year-old company said it took the decision to shut down after determining that not enough employees had returned to work by a deadline on Thursday.

The company, which filed for bankruptcy in January for the second time since 2004, said it had filed a motion with U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, New York, for permission to shut down and sell assets.

The Irving, Texas, company has 565 distribution centers and 570 bakery outlet stores, as well as the 33 bakeries. Its brands include Wonder, Nature's Pride, Dolly Madison, Drake's, Butternut, Home Pride and Merita, but it is probably best known for Twinkies -- basically a cream-filled sponge cake.

"We deeply regret the necessity of today's decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike," Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn said in a statement.

Union President Frank Hurt said on Thursday that the crisis at the company was the "result of nearly a decade of financial and operational mismanagement" and that management was trying to make union workers the scapegoats for a plan by Wall Street investors to sell Hostess.

Hostess said its debtor-in-possession lenders had agreed to allow the it to continue to have access to $75 million to fund the wind-down process.

"There's no way to soften the fact that this will hurt every Hostess Brands employee. All Hostess Brands employees will eventually lose their jobs - some sooner than others," Rayburn said in a letter to employees.

The company has canceled all orders in process with its suppliers and said any product in transit would be returned to the shipper.

In its filing with the court, the company said it would have incurred a loss of between $7.5 million and $9.5 million from November 9 to November 19 in lost sales and increased costs.

"These losses and other factors, including increased vendor payment terms contraction, have resulted in a significant weakening of the debtors' cash position and, if continued, would soon result in the debtors completely running out of cash," it said.

Hostess had already reached agreement on pay and benefit cuts with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, its largest union.



So this means no more Twinkies...(Which I didn't eat anyway!) No more Ho'Hos...

Which I loved, but must confess, haven't eaten since I was about thirteen years old.... and no more Wonder Bread, which I'm almost certain my mother bought and made sandwiches for us with...I can't remember , it was so long ago...

How dare you Republicans...Trying to secede from the nation....You guys know you can't even spell the word! , Asking President Obama to "Come clean about Benghazi....(a place most of you not only can't spell, but can't find on a map...)While Hostess is going out of business....How dare you!!!!

It's time for a bail out!  No more Twinkies...No More Ho Ho's....Come onnnnnnn!!

Weekend Humor

The night before the election, Mitt was very confident and said to Ann "This time tomorrow night, you'll be sleeping with the president of the United States."

After Mitt's concession speech, they head to bed. As Ann is getting undressed, she says to Mitt, "So, how does this work? Is Barrack coming over here or 'am I supposed to go over there?" LOL!

Have a great weekend everyone....Couldn't resist just one last jab!

Just Who Is Susan Rice Anyway?

Before yesterday I had never heard of Susan Rice...Today, I know that she is the latest Black boogeyman of the Republican Party...I was watching President Obama's news conference and I heard this poor woman all but blamed for the Benghazi attacks at the embassy last month that took the lives of four Americans...

This is such nonsense....Where there is no issue, they make up one...
Senior Republican senators vowed yesterday to block any future promotion of Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, over her handling of the September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.

 "We will do whatever's necessary to block the nomination that's within our power as far as Susan Rice is concerned," said Senator John McCain. I was really surprised at him for the stance he seems to be taking in all of this.

Fellow Republican Senator Lindsey Graham supported that stance at the same news conference. Susan Rice has been mentioned as a possible successor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has said she will not continue to serve in President Barack Obama's second term beginning in January.

Republican lawmakers, however, question Mrs.Rice's initial description of the violence that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other American officials as a spontaneous outburst rather than a planned attack.
If I recall, this was what everyone thought in the beginning  before we learned otherwise.

President  Obama on Wednesday defended Mrs.Rice's handling of the attack, calling Republican criticism of her "outrageous." At a White House news conference, President Obama pushed back against Republican senators who oppose Mrs.Rice's nomination.

President Obama said if Sen. John McCain and Senator Graham wanted to go after someone, they should challenge him, and not  Mrs.Rice. The senators cite Susan Rice's comments five days after the Libya attack that it was the result of protests against an anti-Muslim video produced in the U.S. The attack killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. It was the first time in three decades that a sitting U.S. ambassador had been killed. Senator McCain said  Susan Rice should have known that it was a terrorist attack. How would she have known that at the time?   Nobody knew that at the time and if they didn't...so what? IT's not her fault that this happened...The fault lies with the perpatrators...Whoever they are.

The President said that Susan Rice has done "exemplary work" and said she spoke at the request of the White House "in which she gave her best understanding of the intelligence that had been provided to her."
I can't believe that the Republicans would use a tragedy such as this for political exploitation....But then again, look who I'm talking about....They're still angry that they took such a shelling in the recent elections.

Something To Think About!

Now that the election is over and I've dealt with the silliness and crazyness that followed ,let's have a serious conversation about the economy.

My brother sent me an email that contains an article by ROBERT B. REICH, one of the nation’s leading experts on work and the economy,Mr.Reich is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton.

Time Magazine has named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including his latest best-seller, “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future;” “The Work of Nations,” which has been translated into 22 languages; and his newest, an e-book, “Beyond Outrage.” His syndicated columns, television appearances, and public radio commentaries reach millions of people each week. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, and Chairman of the citizen’s group Common Cause. His widely-read blog can be found at www.robertreich.org. You should check it out.

I would like to share an article he wrote recently about our economy that I found fascinating...

President Obama is slamming Mitt Romney for heading companies that were “pioneers in outsourcing U.S. jobs,” while Romney is accusing Obama of being “the real outsourcer-in-chief.”

These were the dog days of summer and the silly season of presidential campaigns. But can we get real, please? The American economy has moved way beyond outsourcing abroad or even “in-sourcing.”

 Most big companies headquartered in America don’t send jobs overseas and don’t bring jobs here from abroad. That’s because most are no longer really “American” companies. They’ve become global networks that design, make, buy, and sell things wherever around the world it’s most profitable for them to do so.

As an Apple executive told the New York Times, “we don’t have an obligation to solve America’s problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible.” He might have added “and showing profits big enough to continually increase our share price.”

Forget the debate over outsourcing. The real question is how to make Americans so competitive that all global companies — whether or not headquartered in the United States — will create good jobs in America.

Apple employs 43,000 people in the United States but contracts with over 700,000 workers overseas. It assembles iPhones in China both because wages are low there and because Apple’s Chinese contractors can quickly mobilize workers from company dorms at almost any hour of the day or night. But low wages aren’t the major force driving Apple or any other American-based corporate network abroad.

The components Apple’s Chinese contractors assemble come from many places around the world with wages as high if not higher than in the United States. More than a third of what you pay for an iPhone ends up in Japan, because that’s where some of its most advanced components are made.

Seventeen percent goes to Germany, whose precision manufacturers pay wages higher than those paid to American manufacturing workers, on average, because German workers are more highly skilled. Thirteen percent comes from South Korea, whose median wage isn’t far from our own.

Workers in the United States get only about 6 percent of what you pay for an iPhone. It goes to American designers, lawyers, and financiers, as well as Apple’s top executives. American-based companies are also doing more of their research and development abroad.

The share of Research &Development  spending going to the foreign subsidiaries of American-based companies rose from 9 percent in 1989 to almost 16 percent in 2009, according to the National Science Foundation.

What’s going on? Put simply, America isn’t educating enough of our people well enough to get American-based companies to do more of their high-value added work here. Our K-12 school system isn’t nearly up to what it should be. American students continue to do poorly in math and science relative to students in other advanced countries. Japan, Germany, South Korea, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Sweden, and France all top us.

American universities continue to rank high but many are being starved of government funds and are having trouble keeping up. More and more young Americans and their families can’t afford a college education. China, by contrast, is investing like mad in world-class universities and research centers.

Transportation and communication systems abroad are also becoming better and more reliable. In case you hadn’t noticed, American roads are congested, our bridges are in disrepair, and our ports are becoming outmoded.

So forget the debate over outsourcing. The way we get good jobs back is with a national strategy to make Americans more competitive — retooling our schools, getting more of our young people through college or giving them a first-class technical education, remaking our infrastructure, and thereby guaranteeing a large share of Americans add significant value to the global economy. But big American-based companies aren’t pushing this agenda, despite their huge clout in Washington. They don’t care about making Americans more competitive.

 They say they have no obligation to solve America’s problems. They want lower corporate taxes, lower taxes for their executives, fewer regulations, and less public spending. And to achieve these goals they maintain legions of lobbyists and are pouring boatloads of money into political campaigns. The Supreme Court even says they’re “people” under the First Amendment, and can contribute as much as they want to political campaigns – even in secret.

The core problem isn’t outsourcing. It’s that the prosperity of America’s big businesses – which are really global networks that happen to be headquartered here – has become disconnected from the well-being of most Americans. Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital is no different from any other global corporation — which is exactly why Romney’s so-called “business experience” is irrelevant to the real problems facing most Americans. Without a government that’s focused on more and better jobs, we’re left with global corporations that don’t give a damn.

That was basically what he said in a nutshell... Bottom line is these companies don't care....They don't have to....If they can't find the qualified or well educated workforce they need here,  they go abroad...

Instead of beefing up to fight wars overseas that have very little to do with us...We ought to be investing money in education and better schools and universities like China and Germany and Japan are doing....(Hell,even India!)

The money we spent in Iraq alone could have greatly improved our education initiatives... and money from Afghanistan could have repaired our roads and streets and general infra structure right here in the USA....

Will the USA ever get it right? or will we waste an opportunity on political infighting and racism and foolishness...That's a rhetorical question!!  I don't want to hear the answer.

Cry Baby!

I mentioned this yesterday and I swear this is the last time I'm going to write about this...The last time I'm going to give the crazies and the nut fringe any sense of legitimacy.
Everytime I hear the story the number changes....First I heard that people in 18 states petitioned President Obama for permission for their states to secede from the union...Then it was 20, then it was 15...Doesn't matter how many it is...It aint gonna happen...Not one state is going to leave the union...This is not 1860.

Shame on the Tea Party and Fox News and that whole right wing media crowd for stirring these nutty people up and having them to waste their time. Many of these folks that signed the petition couldn't run their own household, let alone an entire  nation/state...This is pure emotionalism and stupidity....These are spoiled brats who didn't get their way , so they want to take their ball and run home.

Let's look at some facts cry babies and then move on... Fact one, No state is going to leave the union...I doubt if any state will get even half of the signatures needed for the U.S. Government to even think about taking you seriously.

Fact two, Barack Hussein Obama is the 44th President of the United States  whether you like it or not. Deal with it..There was no voter fraud and the only attempted voter fraud was by you good folks...Having failed in that....He won the popular vote by three million votes and the electoral college by over 100 votes....I'd say that that was a mandate!

Fact three, Why don't you just admit that he's Black and that is what really gets under your craw...You'll feel a lot better when you get that off of your chest.....No , he was not born in Kenya, but in Honolulu,Hawaii, a state....but you probably didn't know that since when they were teaching American History in High School ,you were picking your noses or scratching your ass in the corner somewhere. He is not a Muslim, but if he was, is that a crime?  He's not an Atheist...Can't be a Muslim and an Atheist at the same time.  He is not anywhere near a socialist or communist....and his college transcripts do not contain anything in them alluding to him being a "foreign student".

Fact Four, Fox News lies and makes up stories....They are not fair and unbalanced as they say. They apparently don't talk to other people who might share a different view than theirs and they all virtually live in a bubble...a bubble that keeps the outside world out...You all should try watching news on NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN....anything but Fox.....I would suggest MSNBC....but they do tend to lean toward the left a bit...but the other networks I named are pretty straight forward, more so than Fox.


Finally cry babies.... He's been President elect for a week now....Has the world changed?  Is the world any different than it was on October 11th??? With the exception of the fact that you guys had false hope then?  Come on...Stop crying....In my time here on Earth, you Republicans have won the White House about ten more times than the Democrats...and I never acted like you guys are acting... You win some, you lose some...That's life....Get over it!  Stop crying!

Go have a cup of hot tea...Might make you feel better!

Cliffs and Whining Roads

The election is over.....For those of us in the real world it is...Still , I keep hearing of ridiculousness of several citizens in several states calling for their state to secede from the union, of people being laid off because their company heads are angry that President Obama got elected and of companies cutting back hours because they do not want to pay the healthcare costs of so called ''Obamacare"

This is a lot of sour grapes...This is people who just can't accept the fact that their candidate lost...and so they want to make the public pay and blame it on the president...Childish and crazy and fueled by Fox News and the right wing media.

It could backfire against them...It should backfire against them.  My thing is...Whether they like it or not...He is the president once again and the world didn't end....When George Bush won the election in 2000, I was sick to my stomach, I railed on and on about how he stole the election...I was angry for weeks...but in time...I got over it.   I don't recall anybody getting fired or laid off or any hours being cut back either because of it... I don't recall anybody petitioning to secede from the union either... Just these yahoos...Just these poor spoiled babies, who can't accept the fact that their candidate lost...

I hope no one is getting too upset about this craziness....They'll all get over it...Not one state, not one state will secede from the union....And for those people who got laid off or got their hours cut...This will affect their  companies in the long run and they may have to reverse their decisions...I'm really amazed at such childishness....

II-

That said...We do have some serious business to attend to....The so called  Fiscal Cliff.


The "fiscal cliff," a metaphor drawn from nature, was actually created by members of the U.S. Congress, the Republicans in the U.S. Congress mind you, who designed it to be so horrible that they and the president would come to their senses and avert it in the nick of time.

Well, that time is now with the start this week of a lame-duck session of Congress. But it is not at all certain that Republicans and Democrats are ready to make the compromises necessary to undo the trap they set themselves  in August 2011.

With all the time available since then, optimists assumed that Congress and President Barack Obama would return after last week's elections with a plan - perhaps a temporary fix - to avoid the $600 billion in tax increases and budget cuts set to start in January that threaten to throw the economy back into recession.
But they didn't.


Some people also assumed the election would give one party or the other an edge that could break the impasse over how to reduce the nation's deficit.

It didn't.

Both Republicans and Democrats say publicly and privately that they have the advantage – and a mandate from voters to do things their way. It remains to be seen whether such assertions are just opening moves.
Once again, optimists assume the parties will rescue themselves – and the country – from the crisis they created. But confidence is low, which is one reason global markets tumbled last week.


For 16 months now, Democrats and Republicans have been behaving like a husband and wife in an ugly divorce proceeding, not speaking to each other except through invective.

Now they will see if their troubled marriage can be salvaged, for the sake of the children, which in this case is the U.S. economy. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reiterated last week that jumping off the cliff would boost the jobless rate to 9 percent from the current 7.9 percent.

For President Obama, who won four more years in office in Tuesday's election, this is his moment to bring a "balanced approach" to healing the nation's fiscal problems. In the Democrat's eyes, that means keeping lower tax rates for the poor and middle class, while forcing the rich to pay more income taxes. White House spokesman Jay Carney renewed the president's vow to veto legislation that simply extends the tax cuts, which originated during the administration of President George W. Bush.

If Republicans were to agree to the higher tax rates on the wealthy, that would open the door to deals on a new round of spending cuts, including sensitive "entitlement" programs, such as the Medicare healthcare program for the elderly, some Democrats say privately.

The top U.S. Republican, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, does not see it that way. He has long argued that raising taxes on top earners would hurt small-business hiring and slow an already sluggish economy.

With voters giving Republicans another two years to rule the House,Speaker of the House, John Boehner argues it would be a mistake for President Obama to conclude that he has a mandate from voters to hike income taxes.

"Instead of raising tax rates on the American people and accepting the damage it will do to our economy, let's start to actually solve the problem," Boehner said in a Saturday radio address.

"Let's focus on tax reform that closes special-interest loopholes and lowers tax rates," he added.
The problem is that tax reform will take months, if not years, to do in Congress, and lawmakers have only about six weeks to avert the fiscal cliff by at least coming up with a short-term compromise and addressing more radical reform in the following months.

A senior Senate Democratic aide said Republicans were "underestimating the bully pulpit he (President Obama) has. He's going to focus on this and this alone for the next two months. They're underestimating his ability to sway the American people" if they block a tax hike on the rich.

The Democratic aide said that if President Obama produced a new plan for avoiding the fiscal cliff, including higher income taxes on the rich, "Boehner's reaction to that document will be the most pivotal point" in the upcoming fight.

I don't know where this fight will go from here...but it's the fight every American ought to be watching....Not the foolishness of those who only watch Fox News and are sticking their heads in the sand and concocting even more foolish scenarios!

Weekend Humor! ( Now that the election is over!)

Okay, now that we know President Obama has been re-elected...Let's take a look at how the right wingers over at Fox News are taking it..

In Fox News' election coverage Tuesday night, there was little to no pretense of fairness or balance. What there was, from the start and to the finish, was a glum tone that turned downright funereal by the time Mitt Romney finally conceded, near 1 a.m. Which is why I was too tired to write anything yesterday.

If you watched the FOX network's anchors and guests work through the dawning realization that their candidate was doomed was to witness a textbook case of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's five stages of greif.

Denial: With the early returns breaking badly for Mitt Romney, Karl Rove points to an exit poll suggesting that Democratic turnout was low in Ohio's Cuyahoga County. Everyone basks in the critical importance of Ohio's Cuyahoga County. Anchor Megyn Kelly asks, "Is this just math you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better?" Karl Rove assures her it's real.

Now Mike Huckabee, meanwhile, is counting on rural voters to turn things around: "I still think Mitt Romney wins when it is all over." Good Luck with that Mikey!

Anger: Shortly before the race is called, Sarah Palin says an Obama victory would be a "catastrophic setback to our economy" and lashes out at the public: "I just cannot believe, though, that the majority of Americans would believe that incurring more debt is good for our economy. … I cannot believe the majority of Americans would believe it's OK not to follow the Constitution and not have a budget."I can't believe that anybody ever picked her to run for Vice-President...but that's just me..

As midnight nears and reality sinks in, Megyn Kelly takes out her frustration on liberal colleague Susan Estrich: "You, having managed the Michael Dukakis campaign, are familiar with the losing feeling." Maybe so....but NOT TONIGHT!

Bargaining: With all of the networks calling the race for President Obama, including Fox News, Can you believe that Karl Rove was there pleading for his fellow hosts to un-call Ohio, promising that forthcoming returns in the state will be favorable to Romney? Really?

Megyn Kelly, followed by the cameras, heads back through the bowels of the building to grill Fox News' decision desk and see if the network's analysts will change their minds. They won't.

Depression: Ed Henry, reporting stone-faced from President Obama headquarters as it erupts in jubiliation: "The crowd is near pandemonium now, despite the fact that unemployment is hovering near 8 percent."

Charles Krauthammer: "As a psychiatrist, I will offer to write prescriptions for anyone who needs them right now."

Acceptance: I'm uh,Still waiting on this one.

The good news for all of them is that Obamacare, which they all hate so much will cover pre-existing conditions...Including Depression and Schizophrenia....Someone should get them all to the hospital and pronto!

Have a Great Weekend Everybody!

Hallelujah!!!!!!

President Barack Obama wins a second term!

Today!

Today is election day!  I sincerely hope that whoever you vote for that you do indeed vote!  It is your right as an American Citizen.  I don't want to hear the kind of talk that I hear from both inner city blacks in the barber shop and pseudo intellectual blacks on college campuses..."That voting doesn't matter",  "The game is rigged and that the big money men decide who they want to be president!" , "This isn't our country anyway.", "Neither  party truly represents the needs of Black America." yada, yada,yada."

I've heard all of the lazy excuses for not voting and I've got this to say to anybody who perpetuates that sheer stupidity.... BULL!

You may not think your vote is important, but THEY DO!  They are spending money to have people thrown off of the voting rolls and even buying voting machine companies...THEY THINK YOUR VOTE IS VERY IMPORTANT!

The Koch Brothers and other wealthy businessmen are spending tens and millions of dollars to suppress your vote, to finance advertisements on Television, youtube, Facebook ,Twitter to either make you vote one way or discourage you from voting altogether.


And if that is not enough, take a look at this-

They thought it was important for you to be able to vote...because they couldn't.......They endured much, jailings, beatings, even death!

If All of these people thought and think your vote is important......


WHY DON'T YOU ???

What I've Learned

1. Sometimes There is Real Wisdom in not saying a damn thing!

2.Corruption is something we all face at some point in life....It's best to avoid it!

3.The Greatest Gift God Gave Mankind was the ability to forget.

4. Many things need to be forgotten, but aren't!

5.Sometimes the only thing of value you have is your word.  (Word is Bond)

6.Nobody owes you a living, but everybody is entitled to human dignity!

7.My Grandfather always told me that "If you can't take care of it, you probably don't deserve it." He was right!

8.It's very important to have a comfortable and peaceful home....A shelter from the storm of life if you will.

9.What Other Folks have to say about me is none of my business.

10.At Every stage of life you think you have it all figured out...but if the truth be told...You never really know.

Peace!

Weekend Humor

WHEREFORE ART THOU, MITT ROMNEY?
By Ralph Maxwell

O, Romney-O, Romney-O, Wherefore art thou, Mitt Romney?
You flip-flop here, you flip-flop there,
You flip-flop almost ev'rywhere.
You ballyhoo what you're gonna do
And then you pull a switcheroo;
You now malign what you found fine;
Seems like you've got a jellyfish spine./

Obamacare, by you begun,
Now you'd trash it on day one.
Gun control you did extol,
But now you're preaching decontrol.
O, Romney-O, Romney-O, Wherefore art thou, Mitt Romney?
We've got no clue what you will do
Or what new view you'll pander to./

Time was you championed women's choice,
But you no longer heed their voice;
On gay rights, too, guess you withdrew
Support they once enjoyed from you.
Global warming, EPA,
Immigration, minimum pay,
Roe V. Wade, also fair trade,
All joined your flip-flop cavalcade../

O, Romney-O, Romney-O Wherefore art thou, Mitt Romney?
So many things that you were for
You've turned against and slammed the door.
Stimulus and cap and trade,
Education, foreign aid,
Campaign reform, tarp rescues, too,
All victims of your switcheroo./


You take your stand on shifting sand,
We never know where you will land;
You vacillate, and you fabricate,
A wishy-washy candidate.
O, Romney-O, Romney-O, Wherefore art thou Mitt Romney?/

As gov'nor you let taxes rise,
Now ev'ry tax you demonize.
You say regardless of the facts
You'd take an axe to the millionaire's tax;
You'd feed the greed of the richest few
The poor and middle class you'd screw.
Your tax returns you hide from view
What evil lurks there we've no clue;
If they're not bad why hesitate?
Is it that they incriminate?/

O, Romney-O, Romney-O, Wherefore art thou Mitt Romney?
At Bain you plundered with a flair
And walked away a zillionaire.
You shipped off-shore, good jobs galore
To China, India, Singapore;
A job creator you are not./

And to boast you are is tommyrot.
As a total fraud, Mitt's got no peer;
What we must do is crystal clear:
Let's give Obama four more years!
Yes, it's Obama – four more years!
FOUR MORE YEARS!
FOUR MORE YEARS!
FOUR MORE YEARS!

Special Thank you to Poet, Ralph Maxwell!

Have a great weekend everybody!