(Vote for your favorite Boehner caption here!! - promoted by lamb12)

The finalists are in!  As always, chosen by a combo of votes and whim of your humble editor.

Scroll down to vote.  Here's the final 10:

1. Even Tiger Woods is jealous of how many people this golfer has screwed.
2. Hole 18...Par 5...Wow, this is a tricky one! You have a dogleg left going around the growing tent city of unemployed people!
3. "The golf course is the only place that I can beat Obama honestly and legitimately. But that's only because he isn't allowed into most of the private clubs that I play at."
4. If you experience A "Boner" for more than 4 hours. Contact your mental health dept. You may have "Corprocon" Brain damage.
5. "It wasn't too long ago that colored folks like me weren't even allowed at this country club."
6. He didn't touch it, so no stroke for the Boehner.
7. Never trust a politician or a brain surgeon with a good tan!
8. I'm a little tea cup, crazy and proud listen to my rhetoric it's vapid and loud When the Dems propose stuff I start to shout I very seldom even know what it's all about!
9. Ohio 8th Congressional District voters: It's time to use your Mulligan
10. Debbie, the wife of John Boehner, is quoted as saying "Yes, even after years of playing with his balls and club, John still can not get it anywhere near the hole. And, he looks goofy as Hell any time he tries."

A short while ago another oil rig exploded in the Gulf. Off the coast of Louisiana. The 13 people on the rig survived, one with injuries.

Its another deep water rig. 2500 ft. down. they have not spotted any oil sheen that would indicate oil leaking from the rig.

I wonder what the drill baby drill crowd has to say now? I wonder how much more Louisiana can take?? I wonder how many times these explosions have to happen before we, the oil gluttons we are, wake up and realize, NOW, is the time to rethink our nations energy policies?

Heres the latest info from Huffington post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Heres another link:

http://www.comcast.net/article...

(Excellent job Pardu! No need to apologize. - promoted by SuzeB1964)

(NOTE: Suze beat me to this topic. I composed a diary without knowing of the Suze dairy and I just refuse to simply delete it. Maybe, the redundancy in this case is worth it. The topic is a very serious topic and it speaks to how we are allowing our nation to fizzle to the bottom of disgust. Sorry, Suze if this one bothers ya.  Chuck Collins of IPS was on the radio today and I had not read your post).

"The Rabid".

A characterization that was leveled at Corporate Executive Compensation during a morning news cast. It was dead on in its illustration of the issue.

I sometimes foray into the unbalanced manner in which America's elite literally manage those who are less fortunate.  The LT post entitled The worker as Pawn was the latest in discussion; it preceded this diary. The topic is so much a frustration to me as a progressive that I feel the need to delve a little deeper.

The following set on information exemplifies the seriousness of  the executive compensation (EC) issue and how well paid executives may have metrics (or expectations) that lay-offs increases their potential for remuneration.  Actually reducing the workforce (via layoff and possibly even shipping jobs overseas) and hording capital can lead to the (hypothetical CEO's) potential earnings as much as three to four million more per year!  

(Submissions and voting ends Wed. night at Midnight! - promoted by lamb12)

Hello everyone. I hope your Saturday is off to a good start! Thanks to all who participated in last weeks MMW. A shout out to my cat Stinky, whose "antics" shall we say determined Bill O'Reilly as our winner, so thanks to Stinky!!(Faulty, He is waiting for his "reward" from you!)

Now on to my nominees. Remember, any submission is welcome. Please feel free to submit your own, all that is asked is that a small explaination or video is submitted supporting your nominee.

(Welcome back Merrykat! Great diary. This is something Everyone (on all sides), should learn. - promoted by lamb12)

(I'm a little rusty.;-)

'A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves' - Edward R. Murrow

And who can really blame them when the sheep come willing to the slaughter?

"The times, they are a different."  - Glar, 'Planet 51'  (Very funny movie.)

Rambling musings of 'Capitalism... A Love Story', 'The Spy Factory', 'Inside Job' and sheep tests...
It's odd how things seem to come together for me.  Every so often I'll read one thing, then see a couple of other things, read something else...
And it will hit, just how badly we are screwing ourselves over.

I have found an awesome book, and I simply have to share
with you all. It is entitled:
     How to Win a Fight with a Conservative
     by Daniel Kurtzman (2007)
It describes the ways in which we can fight the LefTake &  Facebook,
Rethuglican, Beckhead trolls that we all deal with on a daily basis. To
introduce the pure genius of this book, I present to you an excerpt from the
final chapter:

When all else fails: 27,000 ways to insult conservatives

---

(Okay, entries are in!  Tabulating finalists.  Stay tuned... - promoted by leftake)

It's contest time! In the spotlight this week, John Boehner!  Speaker wannabe, orange-hued, aka, "Jack Boner."  

$20.10 for the most creative caption for this picture!  Give your best captions right now, and... on Monday the 30th, we'll choose the top 8. These will be deterimined on the basis of who has the most "4" ratings, but... your humble editor reserves the right to choose a few extra, on the basis of merit and your humble editor's whim (and consultation with his co-editors, of course).  

The top ones will then be put up to a vote. Just the top ones, using that dandy polling feature we've got. Top vote getter by Wednesday the 1st at 5pm is the winner!

Go ahead, have fun!  (Picture Source)

Last weekend, the Beckwad claimed that President Obama was a follower of Liberation Theology. He did this in his usual back-handed manner, making it into an epithet.  

Now, you know I am against all religions, and think anyone who believes in magical sky fairies is completely deluded. However, I thought I might explore this theology, and contrast it to The Family, which is followed by a large number of our nation's elected leaders. What I found is that they are polar opposites, and yet purport to follow the same Christ.

It should be fairly apparent during the comparison, that the Republican Party and Fox News follow the tenets of The Family.

---

(Nice work as always, Philo - promoted by dmondom)

You are probably aware that Glenn Beck spoke on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial yesterday, at the same spot where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I have a dream" speech 47 years ago to the day.

Beck claims that "his weekend revival-style rally at the Lincoln Memorial was meant to reclaim the U.S. civil rights movement 'from politics,'" and he argues that "the movement was about 'people of faith.'"

The symbolism of the event suggests that former morning zoo radio DJ Beck is trying to reclaim the U.S. civil rights movement from none other than Rev. King himself, which is, if you think about, as offensive as it is hilarious.

Glenn Beck is promoting what he calls "The Plan" at the 912 Project. What is this plan, you ask? No one knows. Beck assures us that he "will be explaining the entire Plan over the coming weeks and months." But it has something to do with saving the country and changing its course. (I voted for Barack Obama for precisely that reason. Perhaps Beck wants Gingrich to save the country by getting us into a holy war with Islam, I don't know.)

The Mental Midget of the Week, may be just for laughs, but, the John Boehner caption contest, could win you some cash!!

Scroll on down the front page to the angry elephant and cast a vote or nominate someone in the threeway throwdown.

Just a bit further down the page, and you'll find the caption contest. Come up with a great caption, and you could end up with an extra $20.10 in cash. Think of it as helping Boehner to stimulate your economy!!

(thanks for taking my advice and writing this diary Dmon.  It is an outstanding piece! - promoted by faultguy)

I. A Case Of Doublethink?

1. I am a libertarian.

2. I am a democratic socialist.

George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 introduced us to "doublethink," the idea of holding two contradictory ideas to be simultaneously true. After reading the above box, some of you may accuse me of doublethink. But dmondom, how can you be a libertarian and a socialist? They're as different as night and day, black and white, hip-hop and classical! Aren't you being intellectually dishonest?

Well, no, actually. Libertarianism and socialism are compatible - in fact, they're perfectly compatible, so much so that it is pro-capitalist libertarians who are intellectually dishonest. As I will argue, the principles of socialism arise naturally out of an ideology that concerns itself with maximizing individual liberty.

For decades - centuries, even - we've been sold a particular version of libertarianism, one that I believe to be untrue. Libertarians are frequently divided into left-libertarians and right-libertarians. Of the two, the latter is the most vocal, and indeed the voices of left-libertarians are scarcely heard in the political debate (with the obvious exception of Noam Chomsky). I should venture to think that most people, if asked, would not even know that a left/right divide exists within the libertarian community. Libertarianism has been so closely tied to the right-of-center political spectrum that people are completely ignorant of the other side. As a result, few people challenge the assumptions made by right-libertarians. They think that to be libertarian is to accept laissez-faire capitalism and all its implications, and so they've rejected libertarianism in favor of other ideologies (conservatism, liberalism, etc).

But I think the time has come for an ideological realignment. I think we need to challenge some of those key assumptions that many libertarians make about their philosophy and, in the process, develop a more consistent political, social, and economic philosophy. So let's get on with it.

(damn good post by our own Pardu. - promoted by faultguy)

As the nation moves towards a historic national embarrassment and disgrace perpetrated by Glenn Beck, the Koch Brothers, Sarah Palin and their minions, I thought it appropriate to ask a rhetorical question.  A question that is being asked by many in the media and by many Americans who view the cacophony of discourse from the Far Right as behavior counter to the principles, values, mores and cognitive integrity of people who are denizens of a 'great society'.

How does the strategic invasion of a sacred day and sacred act for many Americans become a day for 'restoring our honor' as a nation? Even if one refuses to accept the healing significance of Dr. Martin Luther King's (MLK's) 'I have a Dream Speech' on the nation circa the 1960's, one has to acknowledge the significance of the international award of MLK's Nobel Peace Prize. How is it possible to ignore the blatant 'code' associated with Beck's planning? How I can one not view the pending gathering as other than an effort to self-promote (Beck), foster discord among US citizens, and advance a political agenda (despite Beck's claims that the event is not a political event). How about the lack of courage to just say "Yeah, I scheduled it on that day and here are the reasons"? (HONOR)

"To restore the nation's honor"?  As I consider the following, I sit in stupefied wonderment the extent to which the Far Right has aspired to reaching for deeper and deeper levels of an abyss. The state of wonderment is only surpassed by reflection of a common phrase employed by many on the RIGHT: Drinking the Kool-Aid.  

The Kool-Aid as sustenance for a return to 'honor'.

We are almost at the Labor Day weekend, but we aren't there yet.  Still, with the weeks continuing to fly by, it will be here before we know it.  I have no plans other than to sleep in for 3 days straight.  Sometimes that's the best you can do.  Until then, let's celebrate our freedom from the work week with some good tunes.  As always, if you don't like what's being posted, use your freedom to post something you do like!  Anything goes...on FREEday!!

So folks this weeks winner was a real pain in my backside to determine!

We had several nominees, but, no real follow up on voting. I determined the winner by process of elemination. Really the only nominee I outright "dropped" was God.  That was an easy one. Why, well, some think God is a fantasy, some thinks he's a real dude. So, until God presents himself IN PERSON on Faux news or MSNBC, or even the local ch.5 news here, and demands his entrance into the MMW....No!

So, the ones who were left were The Pope, Laura Schlessinger, Rep. Louie Gohmert and Bill O'Reilly.

The person who generated the most comments was:

Bill O'Reilly

Our winner is Bill-O the Clown. It also helped that when I was discussing with my man, the dilemna I was in, my cat Stinky, started making "ralphing" noises the minute I said Bill-O's name. Faulty, you owe Stinky a treat!! He doesn't take checks!

Tune in tomorrow, for a new group of small minds!

We are fast becoming what we say we do not accept in other countries.