Senator Richard Shelby - Hostage Taker? I am Not Paying!

You know I have to poke fun at politicians whenever I can because they seem to forget that they represent the people sometimes. Another United States Senator has put Alabama on the map - Richard Shelby, Republican from Alabama. Of course, I go to my favorite news source, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, to get the info. Senator Richard Shelby had earlier blocked about 80nominations including the undersecretary of defense for military readiness and top officials at the Departments of State and Homeland Security

Just like Senator Evan Bayh from Indiana, I am getting fed up with the bickering in Washington D.C. Republicans blame the Democrats; Democrats blame the Republicans; Independents blame Republicans and Democrats; Tea Party blames everyone. I am getting so tired of the damn blame game. I guess that is the goal of Washington - blame someone else so you can hide that you are not doing anything but getting a paycheck. Everyone in Congress is acting like a bunch of children on a playground fighting over a swing.

It seems that the Senator that is supposed to represent me has blocked nominees of President Obama for key posts over "pork spending" for the State of Alabama. For those that know me as a person, I am proud and glad when the state prospers and moves forward. Even though, he has since lifted the blanket block but is still holding onto three Pentagon slots. Why are grown ass folks playing the quid pro quo game? You say Obama is soft on National Security and maybe these three appointments will not lean either way but do not be a part of the problem. You can't blame anyone for a problem when you do not give them the proper tools (or the ones they request) to do the job.

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Crisis America: America in Crisis: Day 5
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I am not party bashing because I consider myself a Conservative Democrat and a Liberal Republican (yeah I think it is funny too). Please correct me if I am wrong but isn't the Republicans bitching about programs that are putting us further in debt HOWEVER this Republican wants to spend more money on more programs. Depending on who you talk to, it differs on whether they are "front burner" issues or things that can wait.

I am disgusted with everybody in Congress at this point. Here is another "waste" of my tax money below that I saw on the NBC Nightly News a couple of weeks ago.

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Maybe we need to take a page from the rhetoric of retiring Senator Evan Bayh and vote all incumbents out and start fresh with people that want to get stuff accomplished in Washington. This is my rant for today!

This Is a WTF Moment - Really? Is Rape Okay?

As I try to stay informed these busy days, I was watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart this morning and was taken aback by a segment on the show. It never amazes me what our elected representatives will and will not vote for while "representing the people." This, however, has got to be one of the most insane issues I have seen to date and wonder what the 30 senators who voted AGAINST it were thinking.

Al Franken, freshman Democratic senator from Minnesota and former Saturday Night Live alumni, passed an amendment to a defense bill this week that would withhold government contracts from organizations like KBR (Halliburton) if they restrict employees from taking rape and sexual assault cases to court. Seems simple enough, don't you agree? I mean, why would we want to restrict due process and give justice to those who are due?

This stems from Ms. Jamie Leigh Jones, a Halliburton/KBR employee, who in 2005, was gang-raped by her co-workers while she was working in Baghdad. She was detained in a shipping container for at least 24 hours without food, water, or a bed, and “warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she’d be out of a job.” Jones was prevented from bringing charges in court against KBR because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration. This is NOT an isolated case but even if it was the only one, it would be one too many.



This is the result of that vote as explained by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.

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Rape-Nuts
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Now, I have worked with federal government contracts in the past and know that the government can and will set forth rules and other directives to maintain a level of integrity for those that are, in essence, representatives of the federal government. But for what ever reason, the following 30 REPUBLICAN senators voted NAY to S.Amdt. 2588 to H.R. 3326 (Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010):

Alexander (R-TN); Barrasso (R-WY); Bond (R-MO);
Brownback (R-KS); Bunning (R-KY); Burr (R-NC);
Chambliss (R-GA); Coburn (R-OK); Cochran (R-MS);
Corker (R-TN); Cornyn (R-TX); Crapo (R-ID);
DeMint (R-SC); Ensign (R-NV); Enzi (R-WY);
Graham (R-SC); Gregg (R-NH); Inhofe (R-OK);
Isakson (R-GA); Johanns (R-NE); Kyl (R-AZ);
McCain (R-AZ); McConnell (R-KY); Risch (R-ID);
Roberts (R-KS); Sessions (R-AL); Shelby (R-AL);
Thune (R-SD); Vitter (R-LA); Wicker (R-MS);

What is embarassing to me is that BOTH Alabama Senators voted NAY on this admendment to the bill. I am not making any accusations but I wonder how deep in Halliburton's money pocket are they? What do you think? I suggest you ask your Senator, if they voted Nay, what was their logic behind their vote. I know I will. I need to remove the picture I have of myself with Senator Sessions from my Facebook and Blog pages until perhaps he comes to his senses.

Fox News....The A-Holes of Cable News Does it Again

I am back in the saddle again. Been a little busy with work and other things in my life but hopefully for those who read my blog (I know I do not have a big following - LOL), I hope that I will be back entertaining and perhaps informing you of the things that make up my Journey.

Now to my subject of this blog entry. Why must Fox News hate on Obama? I guess they have nothing better to do. Of course I had to get my current rantings about the laughing stock that is Fox News Channel from a report for the much more reputable The Daily Show.

Now I will admit that Obama has f'ed it up for all of us men mainly because most of us don't have a helicopter, limo, or have a police escort for an evening out on the town. But I want my President (whomever it may be) to try to be as normal as any other American. Sure there are trappings that you can't avoid being the Commander-In-Chief but when we have someone that doesn't just sit in the White House day and night and actually gets out amongst the constituents - that is a good thing.

Fox News wants to focus on the costs of the trip. Well I am sorry but the President can't just jump on a plane flying coach to The Big Apple, rent a Prius, and drive around for a night on the town. Does Fox News know for sure that they didn't pay for the meal at the restaurant? Did it ever occur to someone that perhaps that meal was comped because the President and First Lady chose their spot to eat on their dinner date? Perhaps the tickets to the show were free as well. Working in a hotel that has a 4 Star resturant and a Performing Arts theatre, sometimes you do comp stuff for good reason.

I do not care if you didn't vote for Obama, most people would love the opportunity to meet the President (and First Lady) and if there is a little bit of inconvenience because of it, so be it. I didn't vote for Bush I or the sequel Bush II but if they came to my Hotel, you damn straight, I am going to try to get a handshake and a picture because like them or not, they took on one of the hardest jobs we have in the US.

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Saturday Night Fever
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Maybe I need to buy that new cologne called POTUS. If I can't party like a President, maybe I can smell like one.

Have a wonderful day everyone - Out!

Did Wanda Go Over the Line?

Personally I don't think she went over the line. The whole purpose of the White House Correspondences' Dinner is for awarding scholarships to deserving persons who are interested in the journalism field and also time to not take life too serious inside the Beltway.

The fact that I have no use for Rush Limbaugh whatsoever made it so much more enjoyable. I had heard about his rant about hoping the Obama Administration would fail. Basically he is saying that he wants America to fail. Regardless of who is President, and you want them to fail, that is truly UN-American.

This is one of the times that my love for history and current events made me enjoy every joke Wanda Sykes made. I watched it with my mother on Mother's Day and I had to point on a couple of occasions why some things were funny.



I have read a few comments here and there and also saw some coverage from Fox News - the crazy insane not so factual news channel. Of course it came from my favorite sourse - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Do you think that she went too far? Your comments are appreciated.

White...The New Minority?

I grew up not truly thinking about race being isolated as a "military brat". I have said this to many people but there only class difference when my Dad was in the military were officers and non-commissioned officers. I dated (went steady, talked to) everyone under the rainbow as a kid. It didn't make any difference to me as long as you were pretty and had something positive about you.

As I got older, I noticed things were different outside of my military bubble especially in high school. I never experienced any racism firsthand but I noticed that there was a difference in perspective as far as race was concerned. Where you would see an abundance of interracial couples (of every kind of combination)on a military bases or in a military community, I only recall one interracial couple in high school. An example of a shift in my mindset even as a teenager, I always thought that there would be a white female as President of the United States before a black male was elected as Commander-in-Chief.

I also noticed that although black Americans had our own culture (i.e., music, fashion, vernacular) that some white Americans embraced the black culture. I don't know why. I joked to some close friends (black and white), "when did it become so cool to be black?"



Well in watching one of my favorite shows, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, there was a segment that pointed out that white Americans will no longer be the majority around the year 2050. I do not think that it is due to other races having more children but more of the fact that there are more and more interracial relationships and soon there will not be a "pure race" of any kind. Just a blend of cultures with small patches of an undiluted "family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock" (which is the Merriam-Webster meaning).

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The segment was funny with the one extremely bright kid and singer Robin Thicke, son of "ultra-white" Alan Thicke.

But I guess the question is how will the minority shift affect America? Will it truly become more of a melting pot? Will conflicts that involve racial undertones be substantially reduced? I am not militant by any means but will there be changes with the "shift of power"?

AIG Needs to See the Rage

This is one of those moments that you have to say WTF? So let me get this right - You organization's stock is down almost 98% of what it was worth? You get an infusion of $170 billion to keep you afloat by the federal government which is really people like myself Mr. Taxpayer? Then you give the people that made the HORRIBLE decisions that put the company in the toilet $165 million in bonuses? You have got to be kidding me. REALLY?

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The Notorious AIG

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I know the man plays it cool but maybe Barack needs to be a little more like this on this AIG matter. Let's take a lesson from Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock.



I bet AIG would smell what Barack was cooking if he went off on them like that.

I have heard this excuse by other companies that you reward these people because they are the best in their field and you want to keep them on board to keep another company from stealing them and their talents. THAT IS TOTAL BULLZHIT! What talent?

Hey big time CEOs. It is bad all over. These people are not going to jump ship because you don't give them a bonus because there is no where else to go. Nobody is hiring except at McDonald's.

So since as of yesterday, the AIG stock was worth less than a dollar, maybe they need to go work at a place with a dollar menu because they certainly can't handle any more than that.



Your thoughts on it all?

Another Fox News Crazy and Unbalanced "Journalist" - Geraldo Rivera

This clip from The Daily Show again shows the insanity which is Fox News. Geraldo Rivera has not had any credibility since he tried to open Al Capone's vaults. How do you keep this man on your staff? Oh, wait a minute, it is Fox News. I forgot what "news outlet" I was talking about.

Rivera is SUPPOSED to be a seasoned journalist but he is reduced to chasing down embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich in the parking lot where The View is produced. He is trying to prove his point but he comes off comical.

Again, remember the source that I am pulling this from but if the nuttiness wasn't there, it would not be so damn funny. See for yourself again.

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Fox News - Crazy and Unbalanced

Politics! It is something you do not discuss with friends because it is a quick way to make enemies. The Fox News Channel has got to have the most insane bunch of alleged journalist out there, in my opinion. I have quite a few friends who watch this channel for their "news". I believe that everyone has to the right to speak their mind even when it may not be the most popular things to say. It has only been 3 days since the inauguration and it is like this "news" outlet's goal is to tear down President Obama.

Now, let me set one thing straight. I know of a lot of African-Americans who voted for Obama just because of the color if his skin. I kind of feel bad for those people if that was their DECIDING factor because there is more to the man. I voted for Barack Obama because the other candidate didn't say anything that made me think things would get better for this country, not because he is a black man.

I know Comedy Central's The Daily Show is not the pinnacle of news but when I want to find out who is being nutty out there, it is a good source. Here is a sampling of the "supposedly Fair and Balanced Fox News" in regards to President Barack Obama and our country.

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Fox News Fear Imbalance

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

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Moment of Zen - Hannity Reveals the True Obama

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Does Rupert Murdoch take himself seriously? It seems that Fox News is still the like the Fox Television Network of 1986 - poor quality, juvenile, and lacks substance.

The Daily Show - Barack Concert

I am going to be busy watching the Presidential Inauguration today so I don't think I will be thinking of too much else today. So I am posting something funny I saw last night from The Daily Show. This clip has them picking on a few people such as Garth Brooks, the cable news networks, and Martin Luther King III.

Ever heard of the saying "some things are better left unsaid?" One of the things that baffles me about the press sometimes is the fact that they report news that really doesn't need to be reported. Case in point, talking about the security vulnerabilities of Obama's train trip from Philadelphia to Washington D.C.

Enjoy the clip everyone. Congratulations President Barack Obama. Yes We Can!

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Barack Concert

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video