Johnny Cash - Done Differently

I grew up in Texas and saw Johnny Cash at the Houston rodeo when I was about 5 years old. You could say I have been a Cash fan almost my entire life.  His "Ring of Fire" is etched in the minds and hearts of Texans and millions around the world.  

Adam Lambert throws out the original arrangement, supplants it with a more Middle Eastern score and makes it his own.  I included the long version for context. If you only want to watch the singing portion, it begins about 1:40 in.  

I know what you are thinking: "I can't believe he posted an American Idol video."  I can't either.  I hope that he loses the American Idol competition and just allows this to jump start his career.  The kid is discovered now, he don't need no stinking corporate handlers.

P.S.  Please forgive me for posting something that has a Coca-Cola subliminal throughout. 

McKinney/Clemente in 2008

Think that no presidential candidate cares about trillions of dollars missing each year?   Think no presidential candidate is asking real questions about 9/11?  Think again.  Think Cynthia McKinney.

This is the 1st all-women-of-color presidential ticket in US history! 

I am still amazed that hardly anyone knows about Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente. You would think that it might get a mention on the news. Somehow ABC, NBC, CBS and (fair and balanced) Fox News seemed to have missed it. 

Do you want to vote for someone who has not supported the dissolution of the Bill of Rights as Barack Obama and John McCain have? Cynthia is an option. She is running on the Green Party ticket. Rather than choosing between the lesser of two evils, how about not voting for evil at all?

Homer Simpson Tries to Vote for Obama

The future is here. Watch as Homer attempts to place his vote for Obama. If you are concerned about electronic vote tallying, get informed and involved here.

Even the cartoons leave out all of the rest of the candidates for President. Granted, the Simpsons is a show on Fox.

Letter to Lamar Smith re: Economic Stabilization Bill

Thankfully, the vote to have working Americans pay for the golden parachutes of crooks and liars fell short today.  You can read the verbiage of the bill here.  The bill failed 205 to 228. 

I watched the news and they are saying that the bill needs to be renegotiated.  We need to keep on our representatives in both houses to keep them from redistributing wealth from working American citizens to banks and corporations that have acted irresponsibly.

Rep. Ron Paul provides his view on the failure of the bailout bill right after the vote:

I wrote a letter to my State Representative before and after the vote. If you feel like contacting your representatives, you can do it easily by clicking here and filling in your zip code in the "my elected officials" search box.  

Here is the letter I wrote to my State Representative.  (He is one of the few Texas Reps that actually voted for it.):

Dear Representative Smith,

I saw how you voted on the Economic Stabilization bill and am surprised. I have differed with your views in the past, but am shocked you voted for this...as is everyone I have spoken with today.

As a constituent, I ask that you stem the socialization of debt & privatization of profit this bill and others like it provide. This is one of the most impacting decisions of our time. Please side with conservatism, responsibility, accountability, free markets, transparency and the American way. Please be a fiscal conservative, please stand up for your constituency, please be a defender of our country's financial interests in the future.

I know you speak to people around you about the issues that face us. As someone who offices in the same complex as you, I speak to a lot of the same people you would. I have not met a single person in your district that supports the way you voted this time. I hope that you continue to speak to the people you represent and that time provides insight that might change your mind regarding this huge redistribution of wealth.

Sincerely,

Erik Kuykendall

Hope you write Your represenatatives and Senators.

Fox's Subliminal McCain

I stumbled across this video on Mascot Moscat's blog, "Flies in the Kitchen". In his blog article, he says:

"I was editing a video today when, while scrolling through this Fox News intro, I saw a very familiar face. A very Republican face."

If you want to ask questions, thank her for sharing her discovery or accuse her of creating this to discredit the ever-honorable Fox News, you can e-mail her at fliesinthekitchen@gmail.com

Police Chief says Austin Needs More Surveillance!?!

Do you think that surveillance has gotten out of hand?

Chief Art Acevedo of the Austin Police Department doesn't. He, assuming the sale, says:

"...(he) hopes to have surveillance cameras in the city's entertainment district up and rolling before the end of the year."

Click here to see a FOX Austin interview with Chief Acevedo.

The Austin Police Department's contact page can be found here.

Goodbye Benazir Bhutto

Another sad day in international politics.

Benazir Bhutto (beːnɜziːr bʰʊʈʈoː)has been assassinated in Pakistan. The lady on FOX News said it was inevitable. I had hoped it wasn't.

The man George Bush calls "My Buddy" declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution November 3rd thru December 15th of this year. Bhutto, the only real opposition to Pervez Musharraf, was placed under house arrest just before she was due to give a speech and lead a rally against the state of emergency that Musharraf had ordered.

After Musharraf "freed" her, he continued to prohibit other opposition party leaders from speaking in public. Ms. Bhutto was killed while leaving a political rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Although George Bush supported Musharraf throughout suspending of the constitution, raiding TV stations and taking their equipment, the arrest of political opposition and the imposition of martial law, he said in a public address:

``Mrs. Bhutto served her nation twice as prime minister and she knew that her return to Pakistan earlier this year put her life at risk, yet she refused to allow assassins to dictate the course of her country,'' Bush said.

"We stand with the people of Pakistan in their struggle against the forces of terror and extremism. We urge them to honor Benazir Bhutto's memory by continuing with the democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life."

Got Milk?

Milk, it does a body good?

As many of you know, I don't think that milk is healthy choice for anyone. These kids use an unsophisticated, yet effective, way of testing the theory that you can't drink a gallon of milk in an hour without throwing up.

Ever wonder about drug residues are in your milk?

There is a great video on how Fox News suppressed an investigative story on rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone). You can watch it here.

Return Your Enlistment Bonus With the Hand You Have Left

Does this make anyone else want to puke?

What happened to the America I was told about in school as I was growing up? I remember it distinctly as the class after Greek Mythology. I don't remember the name of the class, but I am beginning to think it was American Mythology. In what America is it OK to give G.I.s enlistment bonuses to "protect the homeland", send them into battle in a country that never attacked us, bring them home missing limbs, eyes, faces, etc., and then demand portions of the enlistment bonuses back?

Read an MSNBC article here:
View the video here.

Is this thing on? (*tap*tap*tap)

Does anyone still think allowing recruiters into our schools is OK? Remember, the No Child Left Behind Act requires school districts to provide military recruiters with numbers and addresses of children (so none are left behind). Of course, you can opt out by submitting a written request, although you are not notified of the government's invasion into your child's life or your rights regarding that intrusion. This is not No Child Left Behind, it is No Child Left Unrecruited!!!

Update: After news aired about the thousands of wounded service personnel being asked to give back bonuses due to their inability (serious injuries) to serve out their commitments, the Pentagon sent a Brigadeer General to correct our misperception of the situation. He graciously acknowledged the situation, said it was not their policy, promised it would not happen again and said troops who've already paid the money back should be reimbursed. The way Paul Kiel of TPM put it:

Tucker said that army policy “is that soldiers who are wounded in combat or have line of duty investigation injuries… we will not go after a recoupment of any bonuses they receive.” Recouping bonuses, he said, “doesn’t pass the common sense test.”

But notice that phrasing. While that policy, if implemented, would prevent injured soldiers from having to pay back bonuses they’d already received, they might still not receive their full enlistment bonus. That’s because the Army could still withhold parts of the bonus on the basis that the soldiers didn’t complete their full tour due to the injury.

I think it is an interesting way of looking at what Tucker was saying.

I'm glad that the outcry was great as this story began to unfold and that the government is being forced to move quickly to not further punish those who have served so faithfully and suffered so greatly.

3 Republican Candidates Support Torture!?!

It surprised me when I caught a piece of this at a restaurant last night. I thought I heard these people wrong. I went and looked it up on YouTube today and this is what I found:

During last night's GOP debate, Brit Hume set up a hypothetical situation in which 3 terrorist attacks occur at shopping malls in major cities. A fourth attack is thwarted and that would-be attacker, who we "know" has information about an impending, larger attack is captured and taken to Guantanamo Bay. The candidates were asked if "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques", including waterboarding, should be used to get information from the detainee.

All three said torture is acceptable!

McCain said he would use torture in the hypothetical situation presented. He said it would be a "million to one" scenario, but he would authorize and then railed on using torture.

Giuliani said, with no qualms, he would use "enhanced interrogation techniques" including waterboarding (to applause).

Mitt Romney said that he doesn't want them to have access to lawyers. He then said that,

"Some people have said we should close Guantanamo. My view is, we ought to double Guantanamo. (Lots of applause.) There is no question that in a setting like that where you have a ticking bomb and the president, not the C.I.A. interrogator, but the President of the United States has to make the call and enhanced interrogation techniques HAVE to be used, not torture, but enhanced interrogation techniques. Yes."

These people are running for president?

Ron Paul Wins Debates!!!

Ron Paul won both Republican debates by a substantial margin, but he isn't being spoken of as the winner of the debates on ANY of the news programs I have seen this morning or in any of the major news outlets. Ron Paul's 39% with the next closest contender at 9% in the MSNBC polls after the MSNBC debates was attributed to the viewership of MSNBC wanting to skew the numbers of the debate. This time the debate was on Fox News and Ron Paul's 30% in the Fox News poll is being attributed to Mr. Paul's ability to mobilize his supporters to vote in the polls.

Fox News Results:


Ron won the Vote.com poll. As of 7:50 am the results are as follows:

SAM BROWNBACK (15)	(1%)
JIM GILMORE (7)	(0%)
RUDY GIULIANI (310)	(15%)
MIKE HUCKABEE (43)	(2%)
DUNCAN HUNTER (72)	(3%)
JOHN MCCAIN (41)	(2%)
RON PAUL (1,226)	(60%)
MITT ROMNEY (244)	(12%)
TOM TANCREDO (86)	(4%)
TOMMY THOMPSON (16)	(1%)

The MSNBC poll as of 7:52 this morning has Ron Paul at 55%, Mitt Romney 24% and Giuliani at 19% as the leaders.

He also won the World Net Daily poll with 32% at the time this was written.

FOX listed McCain and Giuliani as the winners in their latest reports:

"The latest survey by respected Republican pollster Whit Ayers, who is unaligned with any campaign, shows McCain at 25 percent, leading Giuliani by 5 points. The poll has a 4.4 percent margin of error. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is in fifth place at 8 percent and behind two men — former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich — who aren't even in the race."

FOX "News" only mentions Paul as an afterthought and doesn't mention him as a serious contender. Most major news source stories aren't discussing how he is whomping people in the debates, they are focused on making Mr. Paul a distant memory by casting his comments in the light of blaming the U.S. for being attacked on 9/11.

Fox News

I just love the fair and balanced reporting that comes from Fox "News". (Clarification: I am not a Democrat or a Republican)

(Screen capture courtesy of Crooks & Liars.)