"Mikey Suits" & Florence Reece

Is it unfair to ask Congressman Michael Grimm (11th Dist. NY Republican) as to whether he had a bit too much caffeine before threatening  NY1 reporter, Michael Scotto last night?
a. "Throw you off this fucking balcony."
b. "Break you in half...like a boy."

Hell, he said he was sorry and acknowledged that he "lost his cool" but thought a question during the post SOTU interview with Scotto was "unprofessional."In other words, he felt "jumped".
Glad Scotto didn't ask the umpires to check the pine tar on his bat. But he probably succeeded in getting more than his fifteen minutes of attention. I don't think "fame" is the operative reward for threatening to kill a reporter. But, what do I know? Given the news the past several weeks, he substituted words for those who said nothing--- and pulled a trigger to redress their grievances.

Reporters ask silly questions and politicians give silly answers.

The President didn't break any new ground last night. Judging from the expressions of Joe Biden and John Boehner at different moments, he may have been breaking wind. I thought Boehner was trying to pass a kidney stone. I think he hates long speeches. All cigarette smokers do. You just get crankier and crankier. I don't care if he's addicted to alcohol and nicotine. I'm just sorry he doesn't have the same relationship with the truth. But he's not the only one.

Republicans are both smart and dumb: smart enough to have concentrated on local and statewide elections, with the help of dark money. They are pretty much defeat proof in many states and therefore will likely hold on to the House in 2014. They may even take over the Senate. And dumb enough to understand that their brand is halfway up a dying elephant's ass and therefore, dying. And because they feel they are highly principled, they have no clue that they continue to batter their brand and lose market share because they do not know how to speak to large (important) segments of the electorate. But they have promised that if they regain control of both houses, they will vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

So, and maybe not surprisingly, todays humstle is John Lennon's How Do You Sleep?

Sleep well my friends. Tomorrow is another day between heaven and hell. Which brings me to another humstle. Florence Reece's Which Side Are You On?. One of the notable singers of this 1931 classic was a man who deserves another tip of the hat and another RIP. Pete Seeger.

Le stupide du jour

It's French Friday and we pay tribute to stupid shit people said yesterday.
Ah, it's a rich landscape of  'uh, what I meant to say was....'. So let's start with:

1. Susan Atanus a potential challenger in Illinois 9th Congressional District who feels that God is angry with the United States and has sent scourges like autism and dementia to punish the American people (Source- Chicago Daily Herald). Was she channeling Pat Robertson?
2. Mike Huckabee, speaking to the Republican National Committee's winter meeting, decided to weigh in on the "war on women" debate. When your own brethren comments on your comments are,
"I wouldn't have said it that way." or "I would have talked about the economy." you might think you didn't have a good day at the lectern. So when you see the words libido or Uncle Sugar at least you'll have some context. Was it stupide? Is "Huck" running for President? (source: any news show you watched yesterday.)
3. John Boehner, my "guy" spoke candidly on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno yesterday: "I like to play golf, I like to cut my own grass. I do drink red wine. I smoke cigarettes. And I'm not giving that up to be president of the United States." In defining his multilateral role as Speaker, he allowed that to get consensus with his caucus, "with some of them, I have to be Gestapo." WWMD?** (source Politico)

I also am a frequent flier on the Dumb Things Democrats Say  website. I just think Republicans are better at it and they are like One A Day vitamins. You can count on them to say something sketchy just about every day. So, Charlie Rangel, when you're not getting adversely involved with property tax irregularities on your vacation home(s), you're referring to the Tea Party as a newer version of Jim Crow "white crackers." By the way, you're a hack whose time has long passed and you should either step down or certainly, not run for reelection.

Fair and Balanced? No, but like the man says, "don't hate the player, hate the game." But since calling for the President of the United States to be lynched, Joshua Black, a Florida political hopeful needed to get a visit from the Secret Service.

I am humming Earth Wind and Fire's Sing A Song. I played electric piano on that song in 1976.

Seriously? You believed that?

**What would Heinrich Mueller do?

Me 'n the Speaker

I regularly communicate with the honorable John Boehner, speaker of the House of Representatives. I also exchange niceties with Eric Cantor, the Majority Leader of the same body. Them fellers and I don't agree on very much- they're millionaires and I'm not. They still subscribe to trickle down economics and I don't. They want to shrink the size of government  and I do as well. But they consistently vote to defund the needy and I'm not down with that. There are many other reasons to tell them they're full of shit, so I try to tell them every day- Nicely, of course.

Every day, I boycott Georgia Pacific Consumer products such as Dixie brand paper plates and Brawny paper towels. I have no influence over the behavior of Charles and David Koch. I can't call them up and ask them why they behave the way they do.  My only recourse is to deny them the resources they would routinely receive, in part from me. I hope you will take some time to read about these men, and many others who have been very busy subverting the very tenets of our society that we think we hold dear. See where their (bordering on) evil reach goes and perhaps you will join me in denying them the very thing that funds their behavior. Stepping down from soapbox now.

The ASU Sun Devils chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon held a mock Martin Luther King celebration earlier this week. Only 80,483 people have witnessed our future leaders' behavior in action. Just click on You Tube and give it a visit. Wonder what the water cooler chatter is at the companies their parents work at? Better yet, could this be included as a tangible part of their children's resumes?

All of the above people's behavior is learned, taught or inherited. Yet, these very people utilize these advantages to--- wait---- I want to use a word I saw the Speaker of the House use in a tweet yesterday---- PROMULGATE exclusionary policies that are strangely friendly to a very small group of people.

So today's humstle is a tribute to Billie Holliday and Charles Herzog- God Bless The Child.

Until tomorrow. Stay Classy. You too #25.

Rip Off Tuesday

My head hurts from trying to interpret the 3,848 articles I read daily and from that, distill to you, my dear readers, in twitter style brevity. This is so typical of the Merlot infused thinking by that charming son of a barkeep from Ohio. This is the same guy that says his congresses should be known for the laws they repealed, not the laws they passed.Yesterday, a state legislator from West Virginia confirmed the fact that regulators go easy in these kinds of incidents- were they to do otherwise, industries would shop for low regulation states to move to. So is this corporate blackmail? If you regulate us we'll move jobs out of the state(s)?  Read on.


 So if there are ample regulations on the books, how does the Speaker's view jive with what happened in WV?

And have there been any other Presidents since 1991? Mr. Speaker, I have to put you on DB patrol.