RE: Troy Winkelman Citizen Activist and his experience. I really think that the Tea Partiers are using Socialism and all that as an excuse. They know why they're really out there, they hate Obama, whether its because he's a Democratic President, Black President or both. If you start really questioning there hate for socialism, you'll find that they don't know enough about it other than Obama's a socialist, and therefore its bad.

Troy's experiment challenged them to think, and what did they do? They reacted with vulgarities and spittle or just walked away, anything to avoid having to justify their position with some sort of logic or reason. (Troy made their heads hurt... that wasn't nice)

I think that it should be pointed out that Pat Buchanan has a national chauvinistic, anti-multicultural agenda that explains everything about him. Whatever he has to say derives from personal bigotry.

I am pretty sure that the TPers will sign a petition for an Amendment that

Says Constitutional rights are natural rights of people (not corporations)

Affirms our right to life

Affirms a right to personal choice in medical care

Mark K: And for free-for-all-Friday, I want to talk about life (my life). That this past Saturday I found myself situated on the corner of 45th and Roosevelt in Seattle’s University District. Before me was a shop called “Ly’s Expresso Coffee and Donuts.” That was “espresso” with an “x.” I had a long walk in front of me, so I thought I’d get a donut and coffee to go. I walked into the place to the sound of door bells. Inside there were two shaggy-bearded men I took to be “regulars.” The proprietor was nowhere in sight. I took a look at the comestibles, and waited, and waited, and waited some more. I called out “Hello,” but no one appeared. I went to the door and opened it again; perhaps someone didn’t hear the bells chiming. I waited some more. And then some more. Finally, a man with Southeast Asian features and a put-upon look made an appearance from a backroom. He said, and I quote, “What do you need?” in a hostile tone. Taken aback by both the nature of the question and his tone, I retorted “What do you mean ‘What do I need?’ I don’t NEED anything here.” The proprietor replied “Good, Good” as if he thought it was “good” for business being rude to a customer he’d never seen before. I informed I wasn’t going to buy anything if I was going to be treated like subhuman garbage, and that I was going to tell everyone I knew about his joint. “Sure, Sure” he snarled as I walked out. I guess he didn’t believe me.

On Tuesday, I went as usual to the Kent Safeway at the corner of Meeker and Washington. Now, I had begun to note that every time I walked into the place, I heard someone, usually what sounded like a white female, announce over the intercom the number “201.” It never failed. It was never five or 10 minutes or any other random time while I was shopping. It was always the moment I walked in. I decided that I would test out a certain theory I had; as soon I walked in, without fail came the “201” announcement. After I selected my comestibles, I asked the kid at the cashier counter what “201” meant. He responded by saying that someone was calling the manager; pretty annoying, he said. I told him that I thought it was someone calling security. “Yeah, that too,” he said. And Thom wants to downplay the power of stereotyping.

A poll published in USA Today yesterday claims that 2010 bears strong similarities to the mood in 1994 and 2006. Maybe in mood, but not for the same reasons. In 1994, it was too much Hillary and too much bad publicity from the gays in the military issue. In 2006, it seemed to be that people were waking up to the fact that they should have voted Bush out of office in 2004 after all. This year it’s the deliberate effort of Republicans to stir-up trouble by reminding those of a mind to do so that Barack Obama is a black man with an “anti-white” agenda.” The poll states as somehow “bad” that “only” 50 percent of the respondents say that Obama deserves re-election; what isn’t mentioned is that a month ago it probably was 40 percent or less. Now if CNN and the network news would start telling the truth about the Tea Party “movement,” maybe we’d have nothing to be overly concerned about.

Also, I missed Thom’s conversation with Charles Bowden yesterday, although I can imagine how it went. “Murder City” seems to have opened-up a garbage load of hypocrisy, on CNN especially. I will comment more on this next week.

Nice vid DDay -- check Rachel Maddow - she paid a big fee to get a picture with Palin/Bachman... She gave them rabbit ears - lol - really roflmao She might make a donation to you to balance her prank donation...

Two Types of Elected Officials --- 1) those who go into public office to serve others and 2) those who go into public office to serve themselves. Sarah Palin, Michael Steele and others like them are obvious poster children for the latter.

I got a job as a collector at one of the big 4 banks in 1/09 - was glad to have it in the depth of the crash but didnt know if I could be a usurer. 15 months and MegaBank had not done one 'new' relief program, not done a single fee reduction or APR reduction - MegaBank did nothing that wasnt required by federal law. They proved to me the that the meme Too Big To Fail was spread to cover the well-known fact that organizations get Too Big To Succeed.

The people working there were by and large nice enough and well-motivated and this MegaBank treats its employees with respect. But the Mega Bank got a Mega Bailout and then did nothing similar for the customers and paid the bailout back on the backs of loyal or trapped customers paying at 25 to 30% APR. Their phone plan and equipment creates a pattern of harrassment (lots of hang up calls every day). I am not even pleased that I had the fortitude to make it over a year and I finally quit after our new lead denigrated the only positive internal cutomer-oriented initiative there (as did all the other leads and many mgrs). From penury to usury back to penury - I feel a whole lot better now. By God those TPers are way off the mark ...

Nels, mstaggerlee, food fascist, loretta, Quark, Mark K, harry ashburn, and so many other smart people whom I would like to consider friends...I await your critical reviews and comments. Did anyone follow the link I posted? If this is the reaction from those who I presumptuiously considered to be friends, I'm spinning my wheels! Did anyone see our U tube piece? http://tinyurl.com/yda4fry   Your collective judgements are important to me. I'm dying here!

Nels, if you view the utube video you'll see one of our websites. We have stopbachmann.com and blitzbachmann.com and others to come. They are in their infancy right now. Bless you for caring Nels. Anyone else? Reviews?

What's the status on the push back on Citizens United?