Aloha Politics

I’m astounded at the behavior of the folks in our United States Senate in allowing rapists, criminals and terrorists to have access to weapons without background checks. They have ignored the bulk of the folks in America. Especially egregious are the Democrats that worked with the Republicans to deny the American people Background checks that work. Heidi Heidekamp is one of those that really didn’t have to vote the way she did since she has 5 years before reelection. This is a caricature of her this week. Each week I am going to try to feature each of those that voted against the checks starting with the Democrats.

Heidi for Criminals?

When Heidi’s office was questioned about “why” she voted the way she did, the response was that she got “so many calls” for those that didn’t want the checks and she “doesn’t believe the polls.” Just like old Mitt. He didn’t believe the polls either.

Joe Scarbourough deserves kudos for the work he and Mika are doing around this issue. Please let them know that you support their efforts for the American People. We deserve to have weapons security in our country.

I found this interesting essay online and thought folks might like to read it. I excerpted a piece and you can take the leap to read the whole thingy!
Go here for the full story: The ideological Jiu-Jitsu of the GOP in Hawaii

Ever since moving here I have regarded the political clime as, well, mystifying to say the least. Even for such a Democratic state, the Tea Party/GOP/fearful conservative demographic is exceedingly small but very very vocal, and overly funded. The fact that someone like Linda Lingle could ever become Governor of Hawaii attests to this bizarre dynamic. Two or three times a year (especially on “Tax Protest Day”) I can drive into Kona and see the annoying gathering of Tea Party holdouts, their expensive cars parked close by, shaking signs and waving yellow Don’t Tread On Me flags in anger over how we are not living in 1789 anymore. It is rare that you see a dark face amongst their scrubbed, white and slightly sunburned ones. But occasionally you do, and when that happens you are lured into a true Post Turtle moment. For those not aware of the joke, one guy walking a country road sees a turtle placed on top of a fence post and asks a neighbor what it is. The response is “a post turtle”. He asks again what that means, and is answered that no one knows how he got up there, but he doesn’t belong there and everyone agrees he needs to be helped down.

And finally, New Rule: Since President Obama seems to be having so much trouble defending his record on the economy, the next debate must be held in a mall. Any mall. It doesn’t matter. They’re all packed. There’s one not 100 yards from this studio, with dancing waters and a choo-choo train, and a shirtless gay kid out in front of Abercrombie & Fitch. The parking garage is always full, the Cheesecake Factory is working overtime, and Lady Gaga’s new perfume — with its delightful scent of blood and semen — is flying off the shelves at Nordstrom’s.

What I’m saying is, I know it’s campaign season, but can we all stop acting like the American economy is in complete shambles, where no one has a job or a place to live, and we’re all doing our laundry in the river? (wild audience applause)

Thank you. I mean, folks, I travel this country constantly, all four corners of it. And everywhere I go, I’m always standing in line for 20 minutes to buy hair gel, or batteries, or nipple moisturizer. Traffic is a bitch everywhere. Yes, there are people sleeping on the sidewalk, but that’s to buy an iPhone just like the one they already have! (audience applause)

It just doesn’t feel like Obama has ruined America. Republicans, you know, they used to talk a lot about this thing called the stock market, and how it helped not just the rich, but middle class folks, whose pensions and 401(k)’s depended on it. Well, now they never seem to mention the stock market. Perhaps, because under President Blackenstein, the Dow has doubled. Or as Republicans call it, “devastating economic news”. (audience applause)

Now, there certainly still is poverty in our country, but it’s obviously among the underclass that you don’t see — the very people that today’s Republicans couldn’t give a shit about! So I don’t understand why they’re all so upset about the economy. Except, of course, it’s their big issue. So they have to pretend that America is a rotting compost heap where people are eating cat food and wiping their ass with the pennysaver. (audience applause)

And weirdly, Obama kinda has to pretend that too. Because if he doesn’t, then he’s “out of touch”. So we all wind up living with this fictional picture of America that actually would be more appropriate for the year before Obama took office. Remember 2008? (audience applause) Yeah, I do.

That’s when Lehman Brothers collapsed, and the markets froze, and they were measuring GM for a pumpkin lot. And when you opened your bank statement, you saw the drowned Japanese girl from The Ring, and then you died.

And yes, I am saying we can keep blaming Bush for that. It’s the same as blaming rats for the Black Plague. Just because you’re sick of hearing historians say it, doesn’t mean it stopped being true. (wild audience applause)

George Bush left a flaming pile of dog shit on the White House steps, and now it’s gone, and Mitt Romney has a hell of a nerve running on the idea that “I’m going to fix the economy by restoring the policies of the party that destroyed it”.

12 million jobs. That’s what Mitt Romney promises. 12 million. A number that’s just… waaaaay up there. (reaches into ass to pull it out) Oh, there it is, wow! There it is, 12 million! (wild audience applause) Way up there! Hoo, boy, I feel better.

And about 45% of American voters hear that and say, “I like. Me want good now.”

People are disappointed in the economy? Sorry. I was disappointed in Prometheus. You don’t like the way the stewardess landed the plane after werewolves ate the flight crew? Stop electing werewolves.

That’s our show!

Go here for the full, hilarious story!The Real Romney

Romney was a precocious and gifted child. He uttered his first words (“I like to fire people”) at age 14 months, made his first gaffe at 15 months and purchased his first nursery school at 24 months. The school, highly leveraged, went under, but Romney made 24 million Jujubes on the deal. …

Mitt grew up in a modest family. His father had an auto body shop called the American Motors Corporation, and his mother owned a small piece of land, Brazil. He had several boyhood friends, many of whom owned Nascar franchises, and excelled at school, where his fourth-grade project, “Inspiring Actuaries I Have Known,” was widely admired. …

There was, frankly, a period of wandering. After hearing Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side,” Romney decided to leave Mormonism and become Amish. He left the Amish faith because of its ban on hair product, and bounced around before settling back in college. There, he majored in music, rendering Mozart’s entire oeuvre in PowerPoint. …

Romney is also a passionately devoted family man. After streamlining his wife’s pregnancies down to six months each, Mitt helped Ann raise five perfect sons — Bip, Chip, Rip, Skip and Dip — who married identically tanned wives. Some have said that Romney’s lifestyle is overly privileged, pointing to the fact that he has an elevator for his cars in the garage of his San Diego home. This is not entirely fair. Romney owns many homes without garage elevators and the cars have to take the stairs.

Mitt Romney Walks Back London Olympics Criticism (UPDATE)

huffingtonpost.com – Mitt Romney, in his first trip abroad as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, is trying to walk back comments he made questioning London’s Olympics preparation — comments that have drawn a sh…

patty jo bray

The Sentencing Project News – Having a conviction should not be a bar to voting in the US

sentencingproject.org – Bruce Reilly, formerly incarcerated and today a Tulane University law student, writes about campaigning to regain his right to vote in Rhode Island, only to lose it again when he moved to Louisiana…

PrisonReformMovement

Is Recent Greenland Ice Sheet Melting ‘Unprecedented’? Absolutely. Is It ‘Worrisome’? You Bet It Is.

thinkprogress.org – “Greenhouse gas emissions are overwhelming the [Arctic] system,” explained the coauthor of a 2009 Science article, “Recent Warming Reverses Long-Term Arctic Cooling.” The blue line is the estimate …

joshua epstein

‘Freedom Fighter’ Matthew VanDyke to Film in Syria « Shabab Libya

shabablibya.org – UMBC graduate spent 166 days imprisoned in Libya and joined rebels who deposed and killed Moammar Gaddhafi. Matthew VanDyke, the self-described “freedom fighter” and filmmaker who spent 166 days im…

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Jeffrey Levin

It is time to TAX THE RICH

It is time to end corporate personhood.

This is a brilliant idea. Please follow thru with the instructions in this video!