AS IT STANDS

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Notorious dinner crashers stopped near White House

How about those wacky wealthy party crashers the Salahis?

They have nothing better to do than crash other people’s parties. Even though they caused a stir by sneaking into the first state dinner, they were apparently ready to crash the second one. They had camera men and were filming some reality show that the two privileged party crashers were involved with.

The Salahis have been under investigation for attending Obama's first state dinner last November even though they were not on a guest list. If these were two homeless people who dressed up and got past security with no invitation, they’d still be in jail. Ahhhh…the privileges of wealth in America today! Read this: Their limo driver was ticketed for running a red light

Hold that celebration, Republicans…

Analysis: Special election throws some cold water on GOP's high hopes

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Clowns Clash: Wall St. reform vote fails again in Senate

The Circus (our Senate) grinds to a halt as each party attempts to out-stupid the other. Democrats, GOP clowns continue to wrangle over amendments

photo source

Today’s Odd Byte: ‘Octomom’ paid $5K to tout pet birth control!

Really? To what depths will this woman go? For a mere $5,000. this time, she a strange, weird, and odd connection between humans and pets getting spayed or neutered! Remember that old phrase “Truth is stranger than fiction?”

Above: this sign will be in the front yard of octuplet mom’s home and it says, ‘Always spay or neuter’
Read more here.This image provided by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals shows a copy of a sign designed to be placed in Nadya Suleman's yard for a fee.

Reason 101 on why I’m glad to live in Humboldt

See this clown on the right? He, and like-minded Muslim wackaloons think New York City is the home of the Great Satan. So they gather in dirty little camps in places like Pakistan, where they plan to annihilate NYC. Why NYC?

Why not? It was the place of their greatest success; the cowardly 9/11 attack. These guys are hoping to duplicate (or outdo) 9/11. It’s old news, and these nut cases want to show the world they can committee mass murder in the name of Allah too.

Well, here’s the thing. I think people living in NYC are crazy. They must know by now that their home is a recruitment poster for every Muslim terrorist in the world. You notice this bonehead, Faisal Shahzad, only considered locations around New York City?

I guess New Yorkers like living on the edge. Me? I’m damn glad to be living behind the Redwood Curtain in Northern California, the last place in America a terrorist would attack. Right? They don’t have problems with Redwood trees. Right?

Official: Bomb suspect looked at other targets

Rockefeller Center, World Financial Center and Grand Central among sites

Lakers vs Suns tonight: Pau sports a black eye from Game 1

The Lakers clobbered the Suns (metaphorically) 128-107, but Pau Gasol of the Lakers was the one with a black eye. It was a rough game. Wait till tonight. The Suns know their season will set in the western playoff picture if they can’t win Game 2. I look for a competitive game. The Lakers have the edge in my opinion.

Texas plans on rewriting history books to promote extreme conservative bias

There’s no legitimate excuse to change history to suit a political agenda. All the Republican school board members in Texas are pushing for this agenda. They are hypocrites and racists.

When someone rewrites our history to suit an ideology, for any reason, we’re in trouble. Look at what the Nazi’s did. They rewrote they’re history to suit the new patriotic nationalism Hitler was preaching. I see no difference here.

What’s happening in the Texas school system can lead to a generation of children with warped world views. They’ll be able to spew all kinds of jingoistic lies without a second thought. Nationalism can be dangerous when it leads people down the path to blind hatred of others and any other ideology.

I’ll be following this situation closely, hoping sense will prevail in the end. If it doesn’t, then the next generation of children from Texas will be spoon fed propaganda until the day they graduate. I really don’t want to think about what a person schooled in lies by the state will do when they grow up. It’s scary. And history (WWII) shows the results. Photo source

Texas ready for textbook showdown

Board to vote on curriculum changes some call ‘backward’

“Among the recommendations facing a final vote: adding language saying the country's Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles and including positive references to the Moral Majority, the National Rifle Association and the GOP’s Contract with America.

Other amendments to the state's curriculum standards for kindergarten through 12th grade would minimize Thomas Jefferson's role in world and U.S. history because he advocated the separation of church and state; require that students learn about "the unintended consequences" of affirmative action; assert that "the right to keep and bear arms" is an important element of a democratic society; and rename the slave trade to the "Atlantic triangular trade.”

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Denial: A memoir of Terror’

To my readers;
I seldom do book reviews. This one is only my third in 18 months.

I’m not being paid to write it. My only reason is personal; the author Jessica Stern rang my bell. The subject of her new book - Denial: A Memoir of Terror -is one close to my heart.

I’m a Vietnam veteran who’s service-connected for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Stern is one of the world’s foremost experts on terrorists and PTSD. So this was a natural read for me:

By Dave Stancliff

Imagine writing down the most traumatic thing that ever happened to you in your life and sharing it with the world. Imagine that this thing that happened to you was so horrific that you somehow blotted it out of your mind. Then you locked it up in a secret room in your brain far from the light of conscious thought.
But your traumatic event throbs in it’s confinement, and you have to learn how to numb that throbbing. Then one day your traumatic event leaks out, unbidden, and your world tilts crazily.
What can you do? If, you’re brave enough, like Jessica Stern has been, then you can confront the issues regarding that event. You can wash them out and hang them up on a clothesline for the world to see. The result is a personal healing that translates to hope for others with PTSD.
Stern shares the most intimate of all traumas; rape at gunpoint. She was fifteen and her sister (who was also raped by the same man the same day) was only fourteen. What happened afterward, in the suburban town of Concord, Massachusetts, was almost as shocking as the rape.
The police thought she, and her sister, we’re lying about what happened. Her only answer to that terrible situation was to stuff it in. She moved on to overachieve in her life and has gathered many degrees and honors for her knowledge on subjects like terrorism and PTSD. It seemed Jessica had overcome her trauma.
That changed 30 years after the crime when a request from a police lieutenant re-opened the festering sore of the rape, and motivated her to investigate what happened. The result is stunning as she discovers who her rapist was, secrets about her own family, and how tricky the mind can be.
Be prepared to immerse yourself in a true life mystery that no fiction could surpass. You’ll learn about the human spirit, and the capacity for denial when terrible things happen in a person’s life. “Numbness and hyper vigilance can keep you alive,” Jessica tells us, “and it can “get in the way of normal life and of human relationships.”
I won’t giveaway who the rapist was, but I bet you’ll be surprised. There’s nothing predictable in this book, which makes it an absorbing read. The underlining message of Jessica’s story is how seductive denial can be.
I picked the book up one evening and read the entire thing. I didn’t mind staying up past my normal bedtime to. It was worth it.
I recommend this book as an easy and exciting read on a complex subject. Look for it in June 2010.