I've finally achieved consistency in my life. Any person of average or above intelligence can predict what I will say next with unerring accuracy. And what I say will always be wrong.

Saturday, June 04, 2011

[ItsAllAboutMeMan] Re: [progressive] The GOP KILLS Jobs!

 

It's a puzzle to me why the Dems think it is a formula for success to accept huge donations from the same monied interests and the Republicans, completely sqander all the opportunities to make real changes that would get the popular vote and stay in office for the next hundred years... and then piss and moan to us about how all-powerful the republicans are, and how helpless the dems are before this evil juggernaut.

I concluded a long time ago they don't want to succeed. Since the Nixon era, the job of the Dems has been to let the Republicans spend like drunken sailors (Republican fiscal restraint is another Urban Legend), then the dems come in for 4 or 8 years and impose austirity on the backs of the poor, workers, and the middle class... then turn it back over to the Republicans for more rape and pillage.

it seems to me to expect otherwise from the Dems requires a powerful religious faith. But what a bizarre, fatalistic faith. The evil republicans are all powerful. Bush was able to do so much because he was evil and bad. Obama is powerless because he's virtuous and good. Who wants a religion like that, where the devil is so powerful, and the forces of good so feeble?  I sure don't.

I actually don't want any myths or fantasy mixed up in my politics. Dems, stand up for what's right, and we'll keep you around.  Do it your way, and you can have it your way - you can be the junior varsity, and management can send you in when the game is so lopsided (win or loose) that it's time for a shake up.  Just don't come whining, and lying, to me about how you're playing to win, and you're doing it for me.

On Sat, Jun 4, 2011 at 8:50 PM, Bob <joehawken4@yahoo.com> wrote:
 

...And here's some statistics, at least for one state. The Rethugs ran on job creation (a lie), and now blame Obama for job stagnation (another lie). Budget cuts COST jobs, dammit!

This is a Good Democrat! The Rethugs are looking to redistrict her out. Some of her reports often express the same kind of
disgust with the GOP as I do. In addition to this, the GOP has
tried to eliminate ALL the environmental funds and controls possible. For a tourist destination state, that IS deranged.

The Raleigh Report
Representative Susan Fisher
Buncombe County ~ District 114
7 Maple Ridge Lane
Asheville, NC 28806
susanf@...

From the Office of Representative Susan Fisher
June 2, 2011

The state Senate has passed a damaging budget which appears poised to pass the
House before the end of the week. I have done my best to keep the most harmful
aspects of this budget from going into place, but the majority appears
determined to pursue a course of action resulting in thousands of layoffs, fewer
preschool services, less access to healthcare and less protection for the
environment.

Education
The budget drafted by the legislative majority cuts education over $560 million
more than the governor's proposed budget. While the new budget deletes the
specific reduction to cut teacher assistants, it adds $322 million in cuts to
school systems. This new deeper reduction, along with others that were
unchanged, will result in an estimated loss of 9,300 public school positions.
The loss just to Buncombe County Schools will be $7.4 million and to Asheville
City Schools, $1.1 million.

Statewide, the projected loss of education jobs includes:
Teachers – 3,800
Principals – 90
Assistant Principals – 500
Teachers Assistants – 2,245
Instructional Support Personnel – 765
Central Office Directors – 210
Clerical – 560
Custodian / Other – 1,110
(maybe the kids can volunteer to clean the bathrooms! Bob)

The budget includes drastic cuts to the state's nationally recognized early
childhood programs, resulting in the closing of local partnerships and the
elimination of critical education and health programs for at-risk preschool
children. Workforce training and development will suffer with community colleges
being cut $70 million over and above what the governor recommended and the
university system losing $235 million--in addition to the reductions recommended
by the governor. These cuts will likely lead to the elimination of faculty and
staff positions, the closure of programs, and higher waiting lists for critical
workforce training programs.

Jobs & Economy
The budget would be reduced 10 percent for the state's Regional Economic
Development partnerships, a critical component to the state's job recruitment
and retention infrastructure. Funding for state historic sites, in many cases
the engines for regional economies across the state, would be reduced by 15
percent. Most notable is the major reduction and ultimate elimination of state
funding for Tryon Palace and the Cape Fear Museum.

Health
The proposed budget removes $2 billion from the state's Medicaid program over
the next two years. These cuts will result in the reduction and elimination of
Medicaid services, as well as access to providers. There will be major cuts in
critical Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Developmental Disabilities programs
and services.
The budget eliminates the state's Health and Wellness Trust Fund. Grants made
through the trust fund have been widely credited for helping reduce smoking
rates and encourage healthy lifestyles in the state.

Public Safety
Public safety and courts would lose nearly three times more under this proposal
as what the governor suggested. The plan slashes, and in many cases eliminates,
funding for domestic violence, sexual assault and community grants programs. A
cut of 15 percent to the state's Emergency Management infrastructure would
jeopardize the state's (nationally recognized) ability to respond to disasters.

Fiscal Integrity
The budget, if enacted, could endanger the state's Triple-A bond rating. The
document contains unrealistic proposals for budget cuts, appears to be
unbalanced for the biennium, and restricts the governor's constitutional
authority to manage through a budget emergency. There are several problems with
the plan that could leave a shortfall of about $500 million throughout the
biennium.
The proposed budget:

Leaves no money on the bottom line in the second year of the biennium.
Historically, the State has reserved hundreds of millions of dollars across the
biennium to buffer against revenue uncertainty and unforeseen disasters.

Relies on over $750 million in cuts to Medicaid over the biennium. More than
$200 million of these cuts are unachievable due to double counting and
unrealistic forecasts.

Assumes $40 million in unspecified asset sales over the biennium ($15 million
first year). Generally, any asset sale takes at least a year.
Provides no funding in the second year for university enrollment growth.

Thank you for your calls and comments in recent weeks. It is heartening just to
know you are involved and care about the issues. In the meantime, please contact
me if I can be of help.
Keep in touch,

*Please remember that you can listen to each day's session, committee meetings
and press conferences on the General Assembly's website at www.ncleg.net. Once
on the site, select "Audio," and then make your selection – House Chamber,
Senate Chamber, Appropriations Committee Room or Press Conference Room.




--
I want to play in your town for you and 2 of your friends. 
http://eventful.com/performers/matt-love-/P0-001-000156481-4/demands

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[ItsAllAboutMeMan] Re: sex scandals

 

Well, they are at it again.. the Wieners, the Edwards, etc.  There was a time in the shadowy past when there were people on this group that actually believed that Republican politicians are sex mad perverts who can't keep their pants up, but Democrats are sober statesmen, with healthy libidos channeled into sex with their pair-bonded S.O. because of their lack of repression.

Once upon a time I warned the folks in this group against such hubris. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the original posting, though I found a couple that alluded to it (occasioned by the charging of Elliot Spitzer, and the initial revelations about John Edwards affair and love child, which I've attached below).

In the interim Gore has had his own sex scandals...

This reminder hardly seem necessary any more; nobody here currently is advancing such foolish arguments, since the list has become a true progressive forum, rather than a place where democratic party loyalists posed as progressives and resented the heck out of arguments made by true progressives!  In fact, by the time I posted the two messages below in 2008, nobody disagreed.  Who says there's no progress in the world?

So much political coverage is gossip anyway. It was sort of interesting how damaging Edward's $400 haircut was. There's a little piece of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn scandal that as far as I can tell has gone unremarked on. At least one media outlet clubbed him with his love of up to $35,000 suits to show his lack of connection with the common man.  Obama gets his suits from the same tailor. They ask how can he afford his high flying lifestyle on his salary (roughly the same as Obama's).  How can a public servant in a time of suffering and austerity live so lavishly, etc etc.

You get the picture. Once you are public persona non grata, they will pile on you with anything they have. If you are the monied interests fair haired child, the very same things get no attention at all.  That's where teflon comes from - it's not something innate, its something conferred upon by what my wife and I sardonically call "the shadowy overlords."

But just like Noriega, Saddam, Mubarak, Somoza, Marcos, et al if Obama becomes a liability, they'll drop him like a hot potato and lavish their affection on some other new kid in town.

On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 12:49 PM, matt love <mattlove1@gmail.com> wrote:

"It would not be the first time that a high-profile politician became ensnared in a prostitution scandal..."


Then they give four examples:

Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana – Republican

Connecticut Gov. John Rowland - Republican

New Jersey's Jim McGreevey - Democrat

Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho – Republican

So the Republicans still have the lead, but the Democrats are closing the gap. It seems to me that among liberals there is a triple standard around these issues.

When the perp is Republican:  What do you expect, they are a bunch of closeted, hypocritical pervs! Anybody who keeps yammering on about morality can't be trusted!

When the perp is a Democrat:  It's a private issue between consenting adults (and their spouses, who no doubt encouraged them to do it). Nobody was hurt by it (see previous parenthetical comment). A vigorous political leader like Kennedy or Clinton is naturally going to be vigorous in the sack.  Live with it!

When the (non) perp is Ralph Nader:  There's something creepy about a guy who has never been caught in a scandal... I'm sure he put one over on those good people at GM when they were spying on him!  He's a sly devil, he is... as bad as Hitler!

On Sun, Aug 3, 2008 at 1:04 PM, matt love <mattlove1@gmail.com> wrote:
In this very forum not so very long ago, in the midst of euphoria about republican sex scandals, I urged restraint, saying that the Dems would have their turn soon enough. I wasn't privy to any special knowledge, just an understanding about how things work developed over years of observation.

Well, the chickens have come home to roost as they often do.

When a Republican is caught in a sex scandal, liberals can hardly contain their glee.  When a Democrat is caught, they huff that it's a private matter, it's nobody's business.  Of course there is the matter of hypocracy... Republicans claim to be family value supporters, and they carry on like this!  On the other hand, no hypocracy in claiming to understand the problems of the common people, and getting $400 haircuts.  Or being the global green messiah and living in an energy-sucking mansion.

I am absolutely certain that Ralph Nader is somehow behind Edwards' problems.  The bastard!


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Friday, June 03, 2011

[ItsAllAboutMeMan] Re: [progressive] Comedians for Sarah Palin

 

If comedians think the Bush terror regime was funny, but the Obama terror regime isn't, maybe they just need to work harder.  Or perhaps the whole enterprise of providing a safety valve for our anger is wrong headed.  Remember how we used to think Jon Stewart was on our side, but with his farcical march on Washington and his stupid "a pox on everybody to the right or left of me" he showed his true colors?

The Dems are so very very eager to have Sarah Palin run against Obama, they are so gleeful in their imagining of what their dull, ruthless, conservative corporate bureaucrat will do to the ditzy kook.

I don't have to think far back to remember a brain damaged right wing kook who was always spouting crazy and ignorant things winning an election over a dull, articulate bureaucrat only 4 years after an extremely corrupt Republican regime was turned out.  8 years later a guy people viewed as an effete, inarticulate twit, but who was actually a ruthless infighter, up to his neck in Iran-Contra, one of the most astonishing illegal governmental activities ever to come to light (before they decided to save themselves some problems and just make that kind of thing legal).  He easily defeated his dull, bureaucratic opponent.

For 8 years, the rightist technocrat Bill Clinton did hold onto office, despite vicious Republican attempts to dislodge him, inflicting damage on workers and the poor that Reagan only have dreamed of doing. 

His dull, competent bureaucratic heir apparent lost the next election to an incompetent religious kook who acted vastly stupid (though there's some evidence both the religion and the stupidity were acts).

Perception of the candidates is shaped by the mass media, particularly television. If the owning class decides they'll be better off with Sarah Palin, imagine the frustration and confusion of Obama and his supporters when they strip him of rock star status and drape the mantle of gravity and competence and vision around Sarah's slight shoulders. 

As a rock star, Obama is somewhere in the Leo Sayer or Gilbert O'Sullivan league; vulnerable on many fronts, it wouldn't take much to shift the advantage to his opponent, and they can gild whatever turd happens to be at hand - I've seen it happen so many times already, and I'm only just eligible for AARP membership.

I'm not predicting anything. I'm just saying you can't rule anything out, and the people the Dems hate and riducule the hardest have a habit of winning elections.

On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 10:56 PM, Scott Peden  wrote:
 



: Comedians for Sarah Palin


Support Palin! Put a comedian to work!
By Dean Obeidallah, Special to CNN
June 1, 2011 10:12 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- It's been a tough two and half years for comedians. We have been in a political comedy recession since Barack Obama took office. 
Sure, President Obama gives us some material here and there. But unlike his past two predecessors, he has not provided us with a clear comedic angle. It used to be so much easier. With George W. Bush, it was his well-documented struggles with English, and Bill Clinton was known for his "sextracurricular" activities.

But honestly, what's funnier -- a joke about Section 3002 of Obama's health care law, which deals with "Improvements to the physician quality reporting system," or a joke about Bush mispronouncing al Qaeda as "El Key-eeda"? A terrorist group? No! A Mexican restaurant. 

We comedians can wait no longer for this comedy downturn to end. We have decided it's time to take matters into our own hands. We are putting aside our petty differences to actively support the candidate who will best help our comedy careers.

That is why I'm excited to announce the formation of: "Comedians for Sarah Palin." Our slogan is: "Comedians putting aside their differences and the good of America for comedic material." You can follow us on Twitter @ComicsforPalin<http://twitter.com/#%21/search/@comicsforpalin>.

To comedians, Sarah Palin is not just a less-than-one-term governor with few achievements on the national or international stage. Sarah Palin is comedy gold. Comedians haven't been this excited over a political figure since George W. Bush was president -- in fact, comedically speaking, the only difference between Palin and Bush is lipstick.

It wasn't easy for Palin to lock up our endorsement. Many comics liked Donald Trump -- he could never stop talking, and his hairstyle made you appreciate Justin Bieber's. But, alas, he is out. 
And there are a few other lesser-known presidential candidates who show comedic possibilities, such as Michele Bachmann, who in March confidently proclaimed<http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/12/bachmann-increases-public-profile-makes-another-gaffe-in-nh-trip/> that the American Revolution had started in New Hampshire. (Right answer: Massachusetts -- but you knew that.)

And making a late attempt to win our endorsement was Herman Cain, the former head of Godfather's Pizza, who last month confused<http://www.politifact.com/georgia/statements/2011/may/25/herman-cain/cain-mistakes-declaration-independence-language-co/> parts of the Declaration of Independence with the U.S. Constitution, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

No -- it's Palin, with her proven track record. Others might be able to promise us comedy, but she has already delivered .

After all, she is the person who told us: "Obviously, we gotta stand with our North Korean allies<http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/25/political-hot-topics-thursday-november-25-2010/?iref=allsearchhttp://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/130721-palin-gaffe-we-gotta-stand-with-our-north-korean-allies>." (Right answer: South Korean.)

But Palin had lain low and avoided the spotlight -- good for her, but bad for us. The only time Palin isn't providing comedy material is when she isn't talking. We worried that maybe she had lost her comedy mojo.

Then in March, she showed us she still had the right stuff. During an appearance on Fox News, she discussed America's involvement in Libya. The Chicago Sun-Times says<http://www.suntimes.com/news/roeper/4564425-417/sarah-palin-questions-whether-military-attack-was-a-squirmish.html> she posed the question: "Do we use the term 'intervention'? Do we use 'war'? Do we use 'squirmish'?"

That's right, "squirmish." In her defense, Palin probably thought that in light of the recent success of the movie "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," it was acceptable to add the "squi" sound to the beginning of any word. Next up: "Squimmigration."

If we had any lingering doubts, they were erased this past weekend when she dressed in leather, jumped on the back of a Harley-Davidson and declared: "I love that smell of the emissions!"

Sold! Our ticket to the promised land of comedy.

Plus, to show you that we are not just selfish comedians, you should consider (we really have) that a Palin candidacy would create jobs. How? When Bush left office it resulted in massive layoffs to those working in the Bush "comedy industry," from the publishers of the Bush calendars which featured a different Bush misstatement each day, courtesy of Slate's Jacob Weisberg, to Weisberg's books filled with those "Bushisms." 

And do the makers of the Bush dog toy, Bush action figure and the Bush toilet brush not deserve to make an honest living? A Palin victory would immediately put those people back to work.

That is why comedians across America are climbing aboard the Palin express. We hope you will join us. We know that Sarah Palin may not be the right choice for America, but she's definitely the right choice for comedy.




--
I want to play in your town for you and 2 of your friends. 
http://eventful.com/performers/matt-love-/P0-001-000156481-4/demands

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Wednesday, June 01, 2011

[ItsAllAboutMeMan] Umba Umba

 



--
I want to play in your town for you and 2 of your friends. 
http://eventful.com/performers/matt-love-/P0-001-000156481-4/demands

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[ItsAllAboutMeMan] Re: Ultimate Girls Fail

 

Dear Sirs:

Are you guys called Liquid Generation because you're into Urolagnia (also known as urophilia, undinism, golden shower, watersports, and not to put too fine of a point on it, piss drinking), because I've followed your links a couple of times, and it really seems like you're pissing up a rope, and then sucking it dry again.

On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 2:16 PM, Liquid Generation Weekly Features <newsletter@liquidgeneration.com> wrote:

If you cannot view the message below, click here

Not getting this message delivered where you want it? Make sure to add: newsletter@liquidgeneration.com to your address book.

Click here to forward this message to a friend


Girls Failing

Ten minutes of girls failing. Sounds perfect.
Drunk Gets Ultimate Pwned

This stop-motion video of a drunk guy getting owned by his friends is the best example of this type of prank evar! This shall now end the "Drunk Pwned" series of photos. Thank you.
Ultimate Girls Fail

Nothing is better than seeing girls fail.
WEEKLY FEATURES

WHOOSE BOOBS SUCK MY NEWS WHO'D YOU RATHER
The famous boob game! Celebrity News! A celebrity sex game!

We hope you enjoyed our weekly update. We have sent it to you with great love and caring. However, if you're no longer cool enough to hang out with us then we understand. We have a reputation too. It's probably best that you admit: I'm just too boring to EVER get another LiquidGeneration Newsletter.

Just remember that once you click, you're gone! That is it! No going back. No re-subscribing. Ever. I know it's hard but think before you click. Moron.

We discourage communicating via the US Postal Service but if you must:

Liquid Generation Inc.
8750 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 301
Beverly Hills CA 90211



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I want to play in your town for you and 2 of your friends. 
http://eventful.com/performers/matt-love-/P0-001-000156481-4/demands

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[ItsAllAboutMeMan] Re: [OregonDems_etc] "We are unarmed and we are sailing" to Gaza

 

I love the wonderful, bitter irony of naming their ship "The Audacity of Hope" - a brilliant move on the organizers part. 

Here's what people with a concern about the Palestinian people have been saying lately about the guy that rode that phrase into the White house:


http://counterpunch.org/fisk05312011.html
While Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu played out their farce in Washington – Obama grovelling as usual – the Arabs got on with the serious business of changing their world, demonstrating and fighting and dying for freedoms they have never possessed. Obama waffled on about change in the Middle East – and about America's new role in the region. It was pathetic. "What is this 'role' thing?" an Egyptian friend asked me at the weekend. "Do they still believe we care about what they think?" - Robert Fisk

http://counterpunch.org/levine05302011.html
The time was therefore propitious for the United States to take a less servile course, and the visit of Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to Washington last week presented an ideal moment. Obama had yet another rare historical opportunity thrust upon him. True to form, he squandered it utterly. - Andrew Levine

http://counterpunch.org/cockburn05272011.html
Amid Obama's grandiose eloquence about freedom, he has effectively excluded Palestinians from his supportive embrace and, amid meaningless verbal froth, collapsed yet again in the face of Israeli intransigeance, and the Lobby here. - Alexander Cockburn

http://counterpunch.org/avnery05262011.html
NETANYAHU SPAT in Obama's eye... [h]e will pretend that the spittle on his cheek is rainwater. His promise to prevent a UN General Assembly recognition of the State of Palestine deprived him of his main leverage over Netanyahu - Uri Avnery

If you've missed any of these excellent articles, I urge you to read them.

I know it looks like I get all in information from Counterpunch. I ready as many articles I can reprinted on/and linked from OregonDems_etc and Progressive. I listen to National Propaganda Radio as long as I can stand, then I turn to Counterpunch for the bitter truth. 

I didn't hear a word of criticism about Obama's speech on NPR - because both parties and all the major institutions in this country are united in the promotion of lies and propaganda about the special relationship and our fragrant pet in the Mid East.

Who knows how many of us dissent?  We aren't counted, or consulted. But the vast, vast majority of the world sees the situation with clarity - and outrage.

On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 9:13 AM, <wytheholt@cox.net> wrote:
 

"WE ARE UNARMED AND WE ARE SAILING"

On Anniversary of Mavi Marmara Killings, U.S. Boat to Gaza Announces Passenger List

http://ustogaza.org/

New York, NY-May 31, 2011. Organizers of the U.S. Boat to
Gaza announced today that they expect some 50 people will be
aboard The Audacity of Hope when it joins the second "freedom
flotilla" in late June to break the siege of Gaza.

The announcement came on the year's anniversary of the 2010
Israeli attack on unarmed passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara,
killing nine, including an 18-year old U.S. citizen of
Turkish descent.

Leslie Cagan, coordinator of the U.S. Boat to Gaza, said, "We
are sailing -- despite threats by the Israeli armed forces to
use attack dogs and snipers against us -- and despite frantic
diplomatic pressure by the Israeli government to prevent
other countries from allowing the flotilla to sail." She
commented that while Egypt has just opened the Rafah border
to Gaza, the maritime blockade and the Israeli siege of Gaza
still exist.

So far, 34 passengers and four crew members have confirmed
that they will be sailing on The Audacity of Hope. They range
in age from 22 to 87 years old and live in 14 states in every
region of the U.S. All are committed to non-violence. Members
of the press will also be on the boat.

Varied occupations are represented by the passengers,
including retired film producer, construction worker, retired
teacher and engineer, student, author, nurse, EMT,
firefighter, activist, jazz musician, retired military
personnel, professor social worker, and lawyer. More than half
the participants are women.

Passengers and crew will gather in Athens on June 21, 2011 in
advance of the anticipated sailing date, which will depend on
weather conditions and logistics.

The Audacity of Hope will carry as its cargo thousands of
letters of friendship and solidarity with the people of Gaza
from people throughout our country. Cagan said that
inspections of the boat and its passengers prior to departure
will prove the non-violent nature of the mission.

Richard Levy, attorney and passenger on The Audacity of Hope,
explained that "Because Israel occupies Gaza, and accordingly
has obligations under the Geneva Conventions, it cannot
legally blockade Gaza." Therefore, he continued, "attempts by
the Israeli government to prevent ships from going to Gaza
are equally illegal."

A list of confirmed passengers and crew is attached. Short
biographical statements from each of them can be found at
http://ustogaza.org/passengers-on-the-audacity-of-hope/


PASSENGERS ON THE AUDACITY OF HOPE


Nic Abramson - Woodstock, NY

Johnny Barber - Gallatin Gateway, MT

Medea Benjamin - Washington, DC

Greta Berlin - Los Angeles, CA

Hagit Borer - Los Angeles, CA

Regina Carey - San Rafael, CA

Gale Courey Toensing -Canaan, CT

Erin DeRamus - Portland, OR

Linda Durham - Sante Fe, NM

Debra Ellis - Santa Cruz, CA

Hedy Epstein - St. Louis, MO

Steve Fake - New Orleans, LA

Ridgely Fuller - Waltham, MA

Megan Horan - West Seattle, WA

Kathy Kelly - Chicago, IL

Kit Kittredge - Quilcene, WA

Libor Koznar - New Britain, CT

G. Kaleo Larson - Northern CA

Richard Levy - New York, NY

Richard Lopez - Tumwater, WA

Ken Mayers - Sante Fe, NM

Ray McGovern - Arlington, VA

Gail Miller - New York, NY

Robert Naiman - Urbana, IL

Henry Norr - Berkeley, CA

Ann Petter - New York, NY

Gabe Schivone- Tucson, AZ

Kathy Sheetz - Richmond, CA

Max Suchan - Chicago, IL

Brad Taylor - New York, NY

Len Tsou - New City, NY

Alice Walker - Northern CA

Paki Wieland - Northampton, MA

Ann Wright - Honolulu, HI


CREW OF THE AUDACITY OF HOPE


John Klusmire, captain

David Smith, engineer

Yonatan Shapira, mate

David Schermerhorn, mate



GET ON BOARD THE U.S. TO GAZA CAMPAIGN

VISIT WWW.USTOGAZA.ORG

TO ENDORSE AND CONTRIBUTE

Thank you for your support

Please distribute widely




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I want to play in your town for you and 2 of your friends. 
http://eventful.com/performers/matt-love-/P0-001-000156481-4/demands

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[ItsAllAboutMeMan] Re: Saudi Arabian YouTube scandal

 

Dear Change.Org

Why don't you get your buddy Obummer on the case of the Saudis?  Everybody knows they are the absolute worst dictatorship in the Middle East, yet not a word of criticism of them has ever passed the lips of the Nobel Prize winning "change you can believe in" man.

Once he starts advocating for the Saudi people the way he's been standing up for the Palestinians...

on second thought, just forget the whole thing.

Very sincerely yours,

Matt

On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 8:28 AM, Weldon Kennedy, Change.org <mail@change.org> wrote:
Change.org

Drop charges against Saudi woman arrested for driving a car

Sign the Petition

Dear Matt,

The most controversial YouTube clip in Saudi Arabia this week doesn't feature obscenity, violence, or sex. 

It's an 8-minute video of a woman driving a car. 

Technically, Manal al-Sharif didn't do anything wrong. She has a valid U.S. driver's license, recognized in Saudi Arabia, and she had her brother's permission as well as her brother himself beside her as her requisite accompanying male relative.

Yet Saudi police arrested and imprisoned Manal for eight days for defying a long-standing ban against women driving. 

That's why Saudi women activists have created an urgent Change.org petition to demand that King Abdullah and the Saudi royal family drop charges against Manal. They describe the petition as "a call for solidarity with Saudi women's rights."

Click here to add your name to their petition.

In Saudi Arabia, women cannot vote, hold property, or even open a bank account alone. Most institutions are segregated by sex, with unequal access for women—in other words, gender apartheid. 

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world in which women cannot drive. Additional prohibitions against taking buses, riding bikes, and appearing in public alone essentially rule out independent travel for women.

For Manal, as a divorced, working mother, restrictions on travel create an immense burden. Her male relatives can't drive her daily, but private drivers cost an unaffordable $300-400 per month. Taxis are scarce, and drivers frequently exploit and harass female passengers.

Manal's act of protest is part of a historic campaign encouraging Saudi women to begin driving en masse on June 17. Click here to join the petition to have charges against her dropped and bolster her efforts.

Without significant support, Manal may face harsh penalties. Saudi cleric and government leader Sheik Ghazi al-Shemri is calling for Manal to "be flogged in the women's marketplace as a model and a lesson."

Leading Saudi women's activists tell us that placing international pressure on King Abdullah is critical to ensuring Manal's safety -- and to galvanizing the June 17 movement.

Click here to add your name to this petition urging King Abdullah to drop these unjust charges against Manal al-Sharif:

http://www.change.org/petitions/drop-charges-against-saudi-woman-arrested-for-driving-a-car/

Thanks for taking action,

- Weldon and the Change.org team

 

This email was sent by Change.org to mattlove1@gmail.com.
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--
I want to play in your town for you and 2 of your friends. 
http://eventful.com/performers/matt-love-/P0-001-000156481-4/demands

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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

[ItsAllAboutMeMan] Important announcement

 

For some reason explicable only to the shadowy overlords at Google, my beloved "It's All About Me, Man" blog and all it's contents have been removed from the web. There was no warnng and no explanation, and we just have to be philosophical about these things, because it's Google's world, we just live here.

My new blog is called "More Mush From The Wimp" and you can find it here:

http://moremushfromthewimp.blogspot.com/.

Matt

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