DeRosaWorld

Is This Really What President Obama Sees When He Looks At Us?

“bloggers need to take off their pajamas, get dressed and realize that governing a closely divided country is complicated and difficult.”

Yes, and we put that difficult job in your hands... not in Hillary Clinton's and not in John McCain's and Sarah Palin's.

And can someone in the Obama Administration show me one example of a network news room supporting your policies?

Can some one in the Obama Administration show me one example of bipartisiansip helping the country since Inauguration Day?

Have fun beating Jeb Bush in 2012 without the left wing bloggers.

At What Point Do You Just Stop?

 

KPFK in Los Angeles has been in the midst of a Beg-A-Thon fundraiser for weeks. Look folks, I love you all, and support you, but maybe people can't afford to give this year.

I can't listen to the pleading anymore. It becomes pointless after a while. Maybe...obviously... no one is listening and that is what you should be concentrating on.

Sorry.

Saturday Musings: 'What If They Gave A Summit And Everyone Came' Edition

This is not a snarky or facetious question… Why was it better that banks that we were told were too big to fail receive billions of tax payer dollars… no questions asked… so they could put money bank into the lending pool… as opposed to them failing.

They failed in opening up lines of credit with the money.

Where is the corporate media and birther, teabag outrage at TARP?

Can some one convince me that Bush, JR. didn’t simply loot the U.S. Treasury at the end of his term?

And convince me that President Obama didn’t know any better and his advisers were bankers, so instead of being FDR… he may end up being Herbert Hoover?

I would like to hear the President (Obama or Bush, Jr.) explain TARP to me again…where the bailout money came from and where it went and why.

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Our news cycle if quick and this morning’s news is yesterday’s news… but I would like to go back a few weeks to President Obama’s State of the Union speech… yeah the one where a Republican Congressman shouted ‘you lie!’

Obama took a swipe at the left wing blogs… not sure why… maybe he thought it would prevent Republican Congressmen from interrupting his speech… but I have this to say… and it is a bold statement… can anyone, including President Obama imagine him winning the election without the progressive blogosphere?

What would the Democratic message have been…after being filtered through the corporate, Republican media?

If it weren’t for the progressive blogosphere…maybe doing noting more that yelling ‘you lie’ to the media, then we probably would be living under a McCain/Palin Administration.

Correct me if I’m wrong.

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TV’s new season sucks. Teenage vampires and fuck-buddies with no parental supervision, retard-reality shows plus some wise-ass sitcoms where all characters snark with the same voice. (Sons of Anarchy excluded).

Whatever happened to shows written with the wit of The Mary Tyler Moore Show?

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Hey, finally Gordon Brown was allowed to speak at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh. You know Brown being all working class, miners dust and Pittsburgh being all…all former steel and working class and stuff. Workers of the World, Unite! If you dare.

Saturday Musings: 'Having A Cuppa' Edition

It would be nice if all the progressive blogs, especially the A-list ones, simply didn’t report on what FOX News and Glen Beck said that day.

That way only the people who watched FOX News would know. We can start by picking one day a week for not telling everyone what FOX News said. Then try expanding that to one week of not relaying FOX News headlines, them maybe FOX News will wither on the vine or go to just being what the Republican Party actually is, a side-lined, fringe group.

I’ve been trying it on this blog and my traffic has increased. I thought it would go down if I wasn’t always on the Republicans and their Media, but there are other ways of presenting liberal views while not raising the opposition to a position of authority by making them the only alternative voice.

For example, instead of reporting what Chris Wallace thinks, here are some statistics from President Franklin Roosevelt’s’ Works Progress Administration or WPA: The breadth of WPA public works and social programs was enormous: It built 65 0,000 miles of roads, 78,000 bridges, 125,000 civilian and military buildings, 800 airports (built or improved), and 7 00 miles of airport runways. It also served almost 900 million hot lunches to school children, and operated 1,500 nursery schools. It presented 225,000 concerts to audiences totaling 150 million people, performed plays and circuses before another 30 million, and created 475, 000 works of art.

That’s something people can sink their teeth into. Their Government doing good things for them when Democrats are in control. Arguments against ring hollow.

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And I wouldn’t mind hearing a speech from Secretary of State Clinton now and again, maybe interrupt the news cycle or games shows and show Americans their State Department in action. She made a good one at the UN General Assembly last week.

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I do hope President Obama hasn’t completely missed his ‘New Deal’ moment. They don’t come along very often.

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Well, the summer is over. That was quick.  Rush hour traffic is back to full capacity. It’s getting dark earlier and earlier. I needed a hoodie the other night when I went out.

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Music: I somehow fell into a time warp and am exploring the early Abbey Road Studios. The Pretty Things and Pink Floyd are getting a work out.

Books:
In the Bathroom: Nothing To Fear (FDR’s Inner Circle And The Hundred Days That Created Modern America) by Adam Cohen.

On the Night Stand: The Turnaround by George Pelecanos and The Peppered Moth by Margaret Drabble.

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And right now I am enjoying a strong cup of Scottish Breakfast Tea from Taylors of Harrogate… with a splash of milk.

Saturday Musings: 'Who The Fuck Is Bob Dylan?' Edition

Remember, no TV news this weekend. Only surf the net. Read blogs. At least you know most of what they say is just opinion. TV News lies to you and presents it as news.

In fact, let’s all not watch TV at all this fall. When all the new shows debut… let the box be black. Fuck ‘em.

What have they done for you? The news is a lie. Reality TV makes people not want to lead their own lives. And as for drama: cops and hospitals… two things people try to avoid, so why have it in your living room each night?

Maybe, just maybe if the box stays black, corporate networks and cable news networks will start programming for the people.  Real news, real educational programs, intelligent drama to sell soap… and drugs.

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Health care reform. The Left has to start busting heads. Sorry, that’s the way it needs to play at this point.

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The Clintons still rule, still are the smartest people in the room, as a couple and individually, and are the most interesting people on the planet.

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Senator Jim Webb can kick any Republican Senator's or Media Pundit's ass, with one hand tied behind his back, while rescuing Americans from evil-doers' prisons at the same time.

Jim Webb Head-butt! BAM!! You are down. Democrats rule when it comes to rescuing captured Americans.

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You know what is interesting about American Media’s coverage of the health care reform debate? Not a fucking thing.

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Music: Bob Dylan and Woodstock don’t mean a damn thing to young people today. And Joan Baez wins the week! What's so funny about peace, love and understanding?

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Books: I am discovering a trend in American and British novels trying to come to terms with that sloping border between middle age and old  age. (see Jim Harrison’s The English Major) I guess the boomers are feeling the aches and pains. I need to do more research. Will keep you posted.

Get Local: Netroots Nation - Bloggers Gather In Pittsburgh... I Hope They Get A Chance To Look Around

I hope all the progressive bloggers who are invading Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania have time to look around a bit. It would be nice to get a bunch of progressive views on different aspects of that town from a bunch of smart, liberal people.

Pennsylvania is the home of diverse cities like  Harrisburg, Allentown and Philadelphia.

With a rich political past and present, from Old School Democrats to Bat-shit crazy Republicans: Ed Rendell, Tom Ridge, Arlen Specter, Harris Wofford, Rick Santorum, John Heinz.

Here is a bit of local flavor from Pittsburgh.

Joan Baez And The Protesters

Thanks to Nettertainment or I would have missed this great Joan Baez story.

Joan Baez has always been a favorite of mine and this powerful story of leading by example should be the lead story on cable news... but thank-the-maker for blogs...

"What would you do if you found yourself standing face to face with people bearing signs accusing you by name of killing babies and encouraging the shooting of American soldiers?  Might you lose your cool?  Might you get involved in an exchange that would ultimately lead to anger or descend into the shouting matches we've been seeing at so many Town Halls lately?

Not if you're Joan Baez, who, in the 50th year of her career, continues to live according to unshakeable ideals of non-violence and compassion in ways that should inspire us all...

Saturday Musings: 'Become The Change' Edition

Not that I was planning on running out to see Paramount Pictures' GI JOE this weekend, but the producers from Paramount claimed on NPR that they were premiering the film in the mid-west, where ‘real Americans’ lived.

So of course I immediately typed “U.S. Casualties In Iraq By State” into Google and within half a second got a listing that the NPR reporter could have gotten as well, that told me the majority of American casualties came from California, New York, Florida, Puerto Rico!!!, Pennsylvania and Texas…. None of the mid-western States made the top ten. Now I didn't substantiate this with the Pentagon, but this is more that I got from NPR.

'Real America'… without the Latino population from the above mentioned States, GI JOE is going to get its box office ass kicked this weekend by Meryl Streep as the French Chef.

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I remember a time when national news was only a half-hour, and we all seemed better off for it. 24 hour- news has brought us nothing but a quick decent into corporate-ruled mayhem. Do you know anyone who can explain the health care issues under debate in Washington? Even after all the ‘coverage’ on CNN?

Blogs are important, but if all they do is tell us what Glenn Beck said on FOX News, then what is the point?

Democrats in Congress and the Obama Administration better have learned their lesson this summer that bipartisanship is not an option in American right now. Democrats need to ram their legislation through without Republican support and trust the American people are smart enough to give them an even bigger majority in 2010 and 2012.

Television news is lost. Leave that battlefield to the ‘real Americans’ for now. We’ll retake it later. Legislation and regulation are the ways out of the mess that the corporate puppet masters have led us into. 

"We must become the change we want to see."

Saturday Musings: 'that horrible moral squint' Edition

Sorry I missed May Day, Comrades. I had to work, thank god.

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Arlen Specter, Smarlen Specter. We don’t need anymore Lieberman Democrats. Politicians who put their self preservation over the good of the State and the Will of the People need not apply to the Party of Hope.

Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) is going to kick Specter’s ass in the Democratic Primary. Stesak just won election in a Congressional District that is a suburb of Philadelphia. This was a Regean/Republican stronghold before Bush, Jr. took control of the reigns. Once Arlen Specter actually has to cast votes with the Democrats, game over.

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Justice David Souter... I hope he plans to write a memoir. Our Man For All Seasons on the Supreme Court. The Republicans thought they had a Sarah Palin for the bench and he turned out to be Thomas More.

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So do you think the Powers That Be would waste Jeb Bush on a 2012 run or wait until the Democrats fixed everything, filled the Treasury again and then take over in 2016?

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FOX News is a hate crime.

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Swine Flu, huh? Maybe in 75 years we will be told what really was going on.

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Speaking of swine... Mark Penn sucks big, fat elephant dick.

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Hmmm, it looks like being a bitch to the Banking Industry, even after all that has happened, is still a bipartisan thing in the US Senate. Congress is doing its part, but the Senate is just disappointing when it comes to homeowners vs. banks.

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Okay enough of this political stuff, I have a yard to sit in and some wine to drink. Let’s get to the important stuff…

Book of the Week: Hell, I’m not even finished yet and James Gould Cozzens is resurrected from the library trash bin with Guards of Honor.  Where have you been all my life? If I could write like this… well, I would. Three days in the life of a military base, yeah, I know… sounds wonderful and out of print longer than Zac Efron has been alive, but this book is being devoured this weekend.

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In music, don’t arrest me, but I traded my download of Chess Records Soul for a copy of Mavis Staples Live, Hope At The Hideout... Indeed.

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So I’m set for the weekend, I have Jacob's recap of American Idol's Results Show (the funniest writer on the Internet. Don't bother watching TV, just read Television Without Pity.) and I can smell the ocean. So now I just have to kick Marnie the cat off my lounge chair and I'm good to go.

Saturday Musings: 'Up Against The Wall' Edition

We have a stimulus package.

President Obama and the Democrats in Congress worked out an historic piece of legislation to begin to get America off of Reagan/Bush/Bush economics, hopefully forever.

The time for big, bad government is over. The time for smart people running the nation is now. We tried it in 1992 and we just weren’t ready for it. Now there is the Internet and the mainstream Press just couldn't cover the shit up fast enough.

Welcome to the 21st century, America!

Of course those few Republican fools who are still walking around, zombie-like with the life support system of the Press keeping them alive have managed to cause some trouble.

Let’s all remember in 2012, Representative John Boehner (R-OH) throwing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on floor in Congress. Let’s remember that image.

We have a long way to go. Republicans have been in power such a long time that some of them are actually Democrats. Republicanism is going to go down fighting, but it has to go down if America is to rise back up off its knees.

Republicans are so full of hate; they have no other policy or principle guiding them. They hate America and want to destroy it. Their policies and actions have proven that. So be warned, Republicans are the enemy of the state…wherever they are, not just in the halls of congress, but on TV and the radio and in print or in schools and the workplace. Beware Republicans.

Anyway…onward and upward. The Democrats have won the election and survived the first savage attack. Now the long, trench warfare of democracy begins.

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I live in California, a victim of some of the worst Republican attacks on America. We elected Governors who get recalled by Republicans who then commit worst atrocities by a magnitude of ten….and if there is economic recovery going on over the next few years…it seems that Californians are going to have to pay higher State income taxes, sales taxes,  gasoline taxes and even veterinary services taxes. 

Can we un-recall Gray Davis? Look at it this way, America. If California doesn’t work…you all starve.

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Commercial TV is giving Joss Whedon another crack at it. Dollhouse debuted last night. Eliza Dushku (star/producer…good move) is featured in this show about a memory-erasing organization that hires out its army of zombie assassins to rich people for a variety of weird assignments, from ‘best birthday ever’ to ‘rescue my kidnapped daughter’.  The first episode opens so many doors in the Dollhouse; I just have to come back for more.

Fox seems to be trying something new with product placement rather than long commercial breaks. We’ll see how that develops over the duration of the series.

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Psychedelia. If your kids want to know what the 1960’s were really like, and you don’t want to go into the whole Kennedy/Johnson/Nixon thing, just give them the Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealist Pillow album. If they like it and it changes their life and they run away from home, don’t blame me.

What I want to recommend today, however is the post-Pillow Jefferson Airplane.

I recently have been listening to After Bathing AT Baxter’s,  Bark and Long John Silver (I skipped over Volunteers and Crown of Creation and Bless It’s Pointed Little Head) because I wanted to get straight to the truly non-commercial stuff.

These are just great unapologetic psychedelic rock albums. There is great song writing, great singing, and great guitar playing. They are all obviously on drugs, but this is great music, not to be forgotten.

Classic Rock stations only remember Somebody To Love and maybe White Rabbit, but Eat Starch Mom and The Son Of Jesus, When The Earth Moves Again, and Lawman, Third Week In Chelsea, The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil, Martha, and Won’t You Try Saturday Afternoon. These songs should not be forgotten. The Airplane evolved as a band througout the late 1960s and into the 1970s.

They kept on resurrecting into something unseemly later, The Jefferson Starship, but for a short while, over a half-dozen records or so, there was nothing on on earth or in the sky as cool as The Jefferson Airplane.

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Be warned: I just got my shipment of Aristotle.