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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Millennium Prophecy Coming to Pass? Hurricane Irene Floods, Devastates America

Infrared satellite image of Hurricane Irene fr...Image by Official U.S. Navy Imagery via FlickrFrom Denny:  The massive storm, Hurricane Irene, that came on land as a category 1 storm on Sunday, left behind billions of dollars in damage and plenty of clean-up headaches.  The devastation is widespread because of the relentless 12 hours of rain that pummeled an already soaked landscape.

The video clips tell the story:  Rivers of water rushing through a Vermont town, mud-slimed furniture thrown out of houses during clean-up.

Those of us here in Louisiana know the pain of these people.  We deal with flooding threats every year. We bear the brunt of extra unexpected financial worries that come from these disasters.  We understand how difficult it is to keep your attitude positive and start over once again.

The only good news that may come out of this storm is that the rebuilding may stimulate the economy is these areas.  To date this huge hurricane affected 66 million people in America, the largest ever in our history.


Current status of various areas

Power outrages in several states still exist for up to three million.  In New Jersey yesterday, they were still sweating out nine rivers cresting as they are already past record flooding levels.  It has affected the suburbs the worst. Yesterday, in New Jersey, there were 700 boat rescues as stranded homeowners were taken to higher ground.  Today, many of those rivers finally crested and are going down - thankfully!

Folks in Pennsylvania still can't get to work because of downed trees and power lines.  In Vermont the massive flooding has cut off eleven communities, down from the previous thirteen.  In North Carolina, the Outer Banks coastline area is forever changed while they wait to rebuild the washed out roads.  A ferry service is currently their only means of getting in and out of the area.  In Connecticut, over a 1,000 roads still remain blocked.

Cost of Hurricane Irene damage

The guessed amount of damage continues to mount.  What started as a $3 billion estimate has now climbed to well past $12 billion.  The toughest news about this storm is how cash strapped the federal government is to help people.

The Republicans are already calling for cutting funds for emergencies just like this storm.  They demand more budget cuts before releasing any funds to new disaster rebuilding or relief.  Talk about heartless.  Homeland Security is forced to take away funds from people still seeking funds from recent disasters like the tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri, and redirect it to help the current flood and hurricane victims.

For only a category 1 storm it sure did some serious damage up and along the Atlantic Coast.  Certainly, Hurricane Irene is a name that will be long remembered - and retired from the weather service.

How FEMA responded during this crisis

The good news out of this situation is that FEMA is finally back as a reliable and helpful agency, though running out of funds.  Remember how President Bush had dismantled the agency of 10,000 and gutted the budget?  Incredibly stupid considering America is the only country in the world with consistently the most violent weather.

FEMA pre-positioned emergency supplies ahead of the storm is strategic areas, enabling them to get to the needy more efficiently and a lot faster.  Both Democrat and Republican governors sang their praises for their efforts and constant communications.

Millennium Prophecy

After viewing the extreme flooding it does bring to mind those "Millennium Prophets" we heard on the news back in the late 1990's and early in 2000.  Remember them?  Better yet, remember the aerial maps depicting  the flooding, showing much of the American Southeast under water and America split in two, divided by a widened Mississippi River?

We are definitely living in a time of geologic change.  As a country we need to get serious about adapting to our changing world of melting polar ice caps, more severe weather, earthquakes and rivers changing course.  Just this year alone the earthquakes have been so influential as to change the earth's axis by several degrees.  That affects how water and weather moves across the planet.

Long Term Planning for America to Respond to Earth Changes

While the weather prophecy is coming true it will still take perhaps decades, even 100 years to fulfill to the level they depicted.  That said, a couple of generations is really not much time to begin the process of moving millions of people to higher ground and evolve an economy to absorb the changes gracefully.

America - and its leaders - need to quit taking time off to play golf or go raise campaign monies - and get serious about addressing long term changes affecting humanity.  At the snail's pace of our leaders - and constant bickering, we could very well end up fending for ourselves, living in a world so messed up it could take a couple of hundred years to work our way out of it like Europe's Dark Ages.

Do we really have to continue coddling greedy businessmen at the expense of our entire country's future?  Let's put pressure on our representatives to get serious about long term planning to ensure the safety and security of the next generation.  If we don't Mother Nature may not give us a second chance.










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Monday, August 29, 2011

Darth Vadar VP Cheney Crosses Bush In New Book


Alex Brandon / AP
Alex Brandon/AP


From Denny:  Former VP Dick Cheney is out to settle the score with his former boss, President Bush 43.  Cheney, often likened to the villain in Star Wars, Darth Vadar, is best known for his reputation as the GOP hatchet man.  He is also now literally the man with no heart.  What beats inside his chest is a mechanical heart.  He plugs himself into the electrical outlet every night.  Talk about the creep factor.

In this news clip he contradicts Bush's account of how it happened when he and Bush made the decision to go into Iraq.  Yeah?  Well, what I remember is the New York Times article back in August of 2001 - before the terrorist attack - detailing how the Pentagon had plans to go into Iraq.  That article also discussed how Bush and Cheney told the Pentagon to dust off the plan, take it off the shelf and put it into action.  Somehow, that little factoid has escaped public attention all these years.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Funny Jon Stewart Comics Explain American Politics





Photo by Beverly and Pack @ flickr
From Denny:  It's a wonder that humanity has survived this long considering our political gaffes, weird ineffective policies and dysfunctional governments over the centuries.  Too many selfish egos colliding around Congress like bumper cars at a state fair make our lives as difficult as it is entertaining.

Society must have survived because of the comics that help us laugh at our annoying government while we patiently wait to "throw the bums out" at the next available election. :)  I find Jon Stewart and his stable of fellow funny guys quite refreshing.  Comics sure do have a wonderful way of putting it all into perspective, along with stabbing pins into the hot air pundit and political balloons.

Now if MSNBC would hire back Cenk Uygar, Keith Olbermann and other smart commentators who can't be fooled and are looking out for the public's best interests...

Meanwhile, check out the hilarious look at both our American political parties, my Democrats and the overt corporate puppets, the Republicans - who believe in coddling billionaires.  Who could forget at the Iowa Republican Straw Poll state fair where Mitt Romney actually said, "Corporations are people too."  Unbelievable.  The comics don't have to make up this stuff because it's handed to them on a silver platter marked "Take me; I'm yours!"

For good measure the comics include the Socialist Party and the bizarros over at the Tea Party.  While there are five clips they are all short in time to view.  Get a grin to propel you through the rest of the work week while we all run for cover from the 98 degree summer heat and the occasional impromptu hurricane.


Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Funny Jon Stewart Mocks Obamacare Culture Wars: Birth Control



From Denny: Jon Stewart sure makes the case for birth control for the parents of the very people who miraculously grow up just to vote against themselves in favor of financial serfdom by the Big Business puppet masters. Maybe we can come up with a pill that fertilizes only critical thinkers? Wouldn't that be a most interesting world?

Who doesn't enjoy silly dancing birth control pills, courtesy of crazy humorist Jon Stewart? There are actually still places in the world where birth control is considered controversial. With a world population rapidly approaching eight billion we all might want to consider a neighborhood Mardi Gras parade featuring these dancers. Maybe if we entertain those clueless voters just like Fox News we might gain some ground with serious thinking and serious issues.


Get a grin at funny Jon Stewart. It's been a long day for me, trudging through the garage for purge and clean-up in triple digit heat. It's also known as a Louisiana Sauna where you can drop a few of those extra pounds you've been meaning to throw in the trash. I knew summer was good for something besides yummy cold watermelon! :)



Moment of Zen - Dancing Birth Control Pills

A Planned Parenthood music video celebrates birth control through Indian dance.





Thursday August 4, 2011

Culture War Update - The Dividening of America - Dana Perino vs. Free Birth Control






* * *  Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - helping homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  And a special thanks to those of you supporting this effort!  You rock!



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Monday, August 15, 2011

3 Polls: Americans Furious At The Tea Party


From Denny: Three different polls declare theTea Party's popularity is rapidly running downhill. There is a backlash against this ultra conservative self-serving political movement.

CNN, The New York Times and CBS recorded an all time high unfavorable rating this past month for the Tea Party and its goals.

What the Tea Party did achieve is to wake up the Independent voters who rarely pay close attention to politics compared to loyalist Republicans and Democrats. 


Independents are furious at the hard line against bipartisan compromise in Washington that conservative lawmakers have stubbornly held, without reason or sanity. Independents are considered the swing bloc of the electorate and when this bloc moves one direction or the other the politicians start paying attention to the winds of change. 

The recent debt ceiling debacle brought the Independents into focus to pay attention to Washington contentiousness. They did not like what they saw.

Independents were unhappy with several items just like the rest of the country:

* How the conservatives threatened to force a national debt default, contentiously refusing to compromise on a common sense deal.

* Failure of President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to reach a deal to reduce the deficit.

* Seriously unhappy with how Standard & Poor's thought sharply rebuking the political system by lowering the country's risk rating was the answer, only to end up causing outrageous havoc in the financial markets around the world.

CNN poll:

* Unfavorable rating of the Tea Party grew from 37 percent in October 2010 to a big jump of 51 percent in August 2011.

The New York Times poll:

* Unpopular rating back in October 2010 was 26 percent. Now? In August 2011 it's shot up to 40 percent unpopular.

From Charles Franklin, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin and polling specialist: “If you were paying attention to the coverage, the characterization of people resistant to raising the debt ceiling was they were Tea Party supporters or members of the Tea Party caucus. That characterization is an element in the current apparent decline in Tea party popularity."

Independents are a fast-growing segment of the voting population as both mainstream parties continue to lose support.

What do Independents want? * They want the political parties to bridge their differences to solve the nation's problems. Independents did not see that happen on the debt ceiling mess. What they observed was a last minute unpopular compromise to avoid a national default that basically did not solve the long term problem.

From Charles Franklin: “What we saw in all the polling, and it’s very consistent, is people favored some sort of compromise and did not know why the deadlock was there. The Tea Party, in some eyes, was blamed for the deadlock.”

* They generally agree that federal deficits need to shrink.

* They want government to be more accountable to the voter.

* Independent voters are turned off by brinkmanship, instead, favoring immediate and sensible solutions to the nation's pressing issues.

From Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College: “They want a government that works together, a government that gets along. What they’re upset about is intransigence toward compromise. What came through to voters is they saw the Tea Party as a hindrance to compromise.”


* * *  Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - helping homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  And a special thanks to those of you supporting this effort!  You rock!



 Subscribe in a reader to A Truth Journal

* Check out Dennys News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food - a place where all my other 20 blogs link so you can choose from among the latest posts all in one place. A free to read online newspaper from independent journalist blogger Denny Lyon. * 

*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Egypt: Obama Blunders With $65 Million In Unwanted Democracy Grants




15 July 2011 - Tahrir Square protests, Photo by Kahlil Hamr/AP

From Denny: President Obama campaigned on how things would change in Washington. Well, he lied. Not much has changed, at least for the better.

The New Egypt

Fast forward to The Egypt Revolution and their transitional government getting its feet wet trying to create a new Egypt. 

What does Obama do? He tries to do what America has always done: patronizingly decide what is good for someone else because we want to give it to you. Of course, foreign country gifts always come with a price tag, now don't they?

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Jon Stewart Exposes New American Credit Rating: The Obama Downgrade


From Denny: Only Jon Stewart would think of this crazy scenario - or dare to air it. Comic Larry Wilmore delivers a flawlessly funny run on the black stereotype in relation to America's new credit rating, courtesy of a downgrade from S & P. The other credit rating agencies did not follow suit. Nor did they make a $2 trillion error in projections like S & P who still refuse to own their colossal mistake.

Basically, these credit rating agencies were paid off by Wall Street to rate various companies as good risks when clearly they were not. The second video clip is of law professor John Coffee who explains how that tangled web of deceit created the economic mess we are experiencing today.



Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Funny Jon Stewart: Obama 50th Birthday Greetings From The Media

Day 163 - Happy Birthday

From Denny: President Obama gets funny 50th birthday wishes from Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Harry Smith, formerly of CBS and now over at NBC. In the August blistering heat, two comedians didn't think twice about blistering Obama, turning up the political heat for his birthday on August 4th.

The truth hurts, as the saying goes, well, at least the comedians made it funny. Obama can look to Harry Smith to give him a kinder, gentler birthday wish. Check out The Owners Guide to Turning 50 from Harry Smith. "You are only as old as Congress makes you feel."


I thought I'd collect this year's birthday offerings like some political time capsule of just how angry the American public is right now at Congress and this president. Since the debt ceiling deal was finally passed, the stock markets have gone crazy here and abroad.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Funny Jon Stewart on Debt Ceiling Debacle: Dealageddon Analysis


From Denny: Have some fun with Jon Stewart as he explains our own politics to us and how our economy is governed by greedy Bozos. (polite version)

Don't you just love the way the politicians finally saw the fury of the American public over their posturing and ran for cover? They inked that crappy deal so fast it made their heads rotate like a bad horror movie.

Congress decided to put the fate of our economy in the hands of a Super Committee. If this turns out to be anything like the Gang of Six, then good luck.

Jon also mocks the media analysts which is great fun too. That's in the clip of the Analysis Mob. Enjoy all 3 hilarious video clips because there is nothing better to do while America swelters in this incredible heat - but to go online for distraction. :)


Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Funny Jon Stewart Explains Compromised Inked Debt Ceiling Deal


From Denny: As only Jon Stewart can straighten out The Crooked Speak of our politicians, he is astounded at this crappy debt deal. Considering that 77 percent of the country is of the opinion that our politicians acted like "spoiled children" during this international crisis, Stewart has a lot of agreement in the country.

Stewart takes clips from Obama news conferences and speeches from seven months ago to just recently to demonstrate just how much Obama caved in to Tea Party demands. Like the rest of us, Jon thought the debt deal compromise sucked.


Why? Obama kept promising how the rich should pay their fair share. In the end, they do not pay a dime and get to keep the Bush tax cuts in place. Who foots the bill? The middle class and the poor - again. That is the reason many liberals like Senator Bernie Sanders, (I - VT), did not vote for it.

About the only thing this bill did accomplish is to get the angry public off the backs of the scared politicians. Gridlock got busted as Congress and this President soon figured out how they can be expendable to the voters come election year. That is the real news and the real change.

I was so disgusted with the back and forth over the weekend as Congress claimed they had a deal, then they didn't, that I took off several days from posting - rather than wait on these indecisive fools.  Read that as I had to wash off the political stink on my computer monitor.  I just could not look at it any more.

The whole world has been watching this drama for weeks now, incredulous Congress and the White House would actually take it down to the wire and possibly default the nation. When news reached the markets in Asia on Sunday that a deal had finally been agreed, the stocks rallied.





Come today, the deal was accepted and voted upon and the President quietly signed it into law. What did the stocks do? They plunged more than 200 points as investors no longer have a healthy confidence in America or Obama. What a mess.

Oh, and my favorite saying from the Bush years and now the Bush sequel, the Obama years: "Yes, we have a finalized deal. It's signed. Now we work out the details." Read that as, "Send in the lobbyists to work out the details and weaken what we just did."

What is more amazing is how Team Obama political strategists like Plouffe and Axelrod think Obama will get reelected "because there is really no place for the left to go" That is the lamest statement if ever we heard one.

Boy, have I got an alternative for you to the typical corporate suck-up politicians like the entire GOP or Obama - which I will write on soon. Meanwhile, get a laugh at what Jon Stewart has to say, framing this debt ceiling debate and screaming match as it looks to the world.


Monday August 1, 2011

Dealageddon! - A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Compromise
The debt ceiling debate ends in a budget deal that raises the debt limit and cuts trillions in spending, but doesn't increase revenue. (06:02)






* * *  Please support Warriors Pearl Foundation - helping homeless female military veterans come home.  Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  And a special thanks to those of you supporting this effort!  You rock!



 Subscribe in a reader to A Truth Journal

* Check out Dennys News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food - a place where all my other 20 blogs link so you can choose from among the latest posts all in one place. A free to read online newspaper from independent journalist blogger Denny Lyon. * 

*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!