Results tagged “JLF” from HAWT action [hot ak-shuhn]

I don't understand how gays don't have a federal right to be married in this United States of America.  How are we standing by while our country treats individuals as second-class citizens.

I covered gay marriage in this post from December, 2007, and you should read it: JLF: Good Thing The Gays Can't Ruin Marriage

Of course, idiots point to religion as the reason for this anti-gay bias.  Specifically, they point to the Bible, a fictitious collection of ancient fairy tales.  Our country is using religion to drive social policy.

I'm sick of it.  I'm going to call in the West Wing to help.

So, things have been really busy at HAWTaction headquarters, and we are barely keeping our heads above water getting a post done a day.  I have three projects in the oven, but I haven't been able to steal any time to work on them.  John is busy with work and family.  Jenn is... distracted starting at the wall.

But, I found a quick thing I felt compelled to share, because I'm all about educating you.  If you look at my history at HAWTaction, I've been vocal about how the oil companies are playing the system like magicians.  Price collusion at its finest.

• JLF: Bush Administration in Bed With Oil Companies. Literally.
• JLF: Bush Bankrupts Everything He Touches
• JLF: Big Oil's Sleeping With the U.S. Government, We're Paying
• JLF: Exxon is Taking The World's Money; Our Government is Helping Crank Open Wallets
• JLF: Exxon Does It Again

Those articles seem so... antiquated.  I mean, wasn't Bush in office 45 years ago?  Well, in what might be the final marker of Bush's relationship with big oil, Fortune has announced the top performers in 2008.  Which companies were the most profitable, making the most money after expenses?

John has asked us to each write something about Michael Jackson.  (Jenn's post is here.)  This is my take on it.  Yes, you're getting JLF's take on it.  I am, after all, the best blogger, ever.

I, like everyone, enjoyed his music, but I'm not going to fawn over his music.  I'm going to write about this intense, universal sadness with his death.  The world is hurting, and that makes me think of an important question...

Is the world hurting because they won't see Michael perform again?  Is the world hurting because we won't have another Michael Jackson album?  Is the world hurting because his voice won't be lent to another cause?

OR

Is the world sad that Michael Jackson never found happiness?

I can't sit idly by and not celebrate the 100th 200th 300th 400th 500th post of HAWTaction [hot ak-shuhn].
This is momentous.  It's unprecedented.  It's HAWTaction [hot ak-shuhn].  We're just 18 months after HAWTaction went live, and a weekday still hasn't been missed.  It's a small operation here (smaller than you even know), so, we're hella proud of hitting 500.  Half-millenium mark!! The celebration's running strong: John just opened a root beer, JLF's burning a wheel and Jenn's chugging diet prosecco.

It is no secret that FOX News pulls in viewers by scaring them.  As team Bush's threw us into a post 9/11 fear country (no one can deny that) and FOX News grabbed the country by the balls with fear gloves on.  Just like team Bush, FOX also learned to spin everything "bad" as the "liberal's" fault.  What do I mean? 

I mean that when the U.S. is caught torturing, conservatives like FOX News don't disparage team Bush for torturing... they get mad at Obama for releasing the torture memos and then blame the liberals for caring about torture!!  They spin that torture, which has been internationally accepted for sixty years, isn't that bad when WE do it.  (JLF: When the U.S. Does It, It Isn't Torture)  Oh, and waterboarding isn't a big deal anyway, pussy liberals.

So, how will FOX News blame the liberals for the recent shootings in the U.S.?  How will they say an doctor-killing cook and a shooting by an anti-Semite old cook is the liberal's fault?

Be patient and digest this: If I said there was a government out there that put quotes from its religious scriptures on its highest, top-secret documents that summarized its war efforts against, for all intents and purposes, another religious group.... well, you'd think I was talking about the Janjaweed in Darfur or Medieval Spaniards heading to the homeland/Middle East for the Crusades.  Well, in this case, it's the good ol' US of A in 2003.  That should make you pissed.

Join me.  There are pictures here you won't believe.

I haven't done a post on HAWT about separation of church and state, because I always thought it was understood by all Americanos that we just don't mix those.  Why?  Because everyone who settled in this country and kicked around the Native Americans had come from a mess of religious fanaticism and bigotry.  When some of the Founding Fathers said, "Hey, let's make this a Christian country!" the others smacked them in the head and said, "No, dumb dumb.  Let's do it right this time.  Let's keep 'em separated.  If not, we'd be no better than the sloppy mess that is Western Europe."

Enter George W. Bush, a born-again Christian (born again after a stretch of cocaine and alcohol abuse) who was handed the Presidency of these United States in 2000 on the hands of religious extremists... and the Supreme Court.  Bush said, "Fuck separation of church and state.  In fact, let those two fuck and get it over with."

I originally posted this last year.  Enjoy my greatness.

Anyone who reads my posts know that I'm sick of the government being an ineffective, bloated, bureaucratic, money-draining operation that reached it's peak of ineptitude, arrogance and short-sightedness under George Walker Bush.  (I'm not crazy about some of Obama's decisions, by the way.)  I've taken apart the FCC, the TSA, our idea of torturing, the government's relationship with oil companies, credit card companies and American agribusiness... I mean, it's a hefty list.  Just click on my name on the right to see all of my brilliance.

The true measure of ineptitude came in Bush's decisions following 9/11.  Who knew a U.S. President would ever, under any circumstances, use torture as an intelligence-gathering technique?  Who knew a President would spy on his own people with the Patriot Act?  Who knew the President would start a war unrelated to 9/11, lying about it during the setup?  The list of Bush decisions in the name of 9/11, as looked back on through the lens of history, will be even more appalling that it is now.

It's not just the decisions, either!  The execution is laughable.  It's one thing to say, let's listen in on our telephone lines closer to see if we pick up any terrorist jargon... it's another to say, let's pay tens of billions of dollars to our corporate friends to build a system where we listen to EVERY phone call and can use it however we want.  I'll remind you, with the case of phone calls, that previously the government could listen in on any conversation and use the findings by just getting a warrant from a judge.  They could even get the warrant after recording the conversation.  In other words, there was a system in place that worked.  Bush had to respond by building a corporate-friendly system of spying that hasn't proven itself to be any more effective than what was in place before.

Well, they've adopted the same inept approach at controlling who gets across our borders and onto our airplanes.  It's called the Government Watch List, and it's as ambitious and failed as the Patriot Act.  It is, simply, a joke.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm digging through history...

The human inhabitants of this planet have an insatiable need to have me explain everything to them.  On the one hand, I consider this flattering, on the other I consider it a burden to spoon-feed all of you everything you should know about your planet, from the shifting of tectonic plates to a credit default swap right down to how you should vote.  I see how I can be addicting when you have no native curiosity.  Thank goodness for me.  I'm the best blogger, ever.

Well, another global holiday has rolled around, and John (our editor) shot me a heads up that he'd like me to explore the evolution of "our" Easter.  How did this insane link of bunnies and eggs become a part of our culture?  After all, bunnies don't lay eggs...  Well, sit back and open your mouth, because JLF has a brain-ful of knowledge he's going to spoon-feed you.  Here comes the airplane!

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

There is a giant ball of fury going inside me right now.  I'm currently working on a post to explain how dumb Verizon is, but I'm distracted with how dumb the state of Texas is.

So, here's my distraction.

This drive to push science aside, that has been en vogue for the past 8 years under Bush, is still living strong in Texas.  They are taking necessary steps to put creationism into their state's educational standards.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

First let me say that January 30th I posted this post: JLF: Bailout Disaster - How A.I.G.'s Spending MORE of Your Money.  It announced that AIG is giving $450 million in bonuses to the 400 employees who ran the credit default swap operation.  The news fell on silent ears, then, over a month later, it became headline news and the world became furious.  What does that tell you?  Just read HAWTaction.com  Don't wait to be mad... we'll bring your the fuel.

So, this series of all series is back, where I open a tiny window into what YOUR bailout money is doing for those receiving it.  Not only have I covered AIG's bonus, but I've covered how the government incorrectly valued assets, losing $25 billion of taxpayer money.  There's good stuff in this series, so click on Bailout Disaster on the right to check out the good stuff.

Today?  I'm taking the "Bailout Disaster" and spreading it into the "Stimulus Package."  The scope of the series grows.  So... today?  Microsoft.  They got $11 million.  They are building a bridge to themselves.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

This post is a long-time coming (and there might be more), but Jenn's post last Friday spurred it to the front of the line.  In Jenn's post, J.C.: Condoms Spread AIDS!, she followed a story of the Joke... er... I mean... Pope as he visited Africa and had the balls to say that condoms don't stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.  In fact, he said, "On the contrary, (condoms) increase the problem."

Of course, Jenn bought this line of horse crap, hook, line and stupid sinker.  Now she's using her voice on this blog to spread this idea that condoms, essentially, spread HIV.  Well, I'm going to get some serious fury off my chest while showing Jenn how to do a real blog post (with thought and content and context).  I also get to share with you a story about a little girl in Brazil that will blow your mind (no, not a terrible Disease post).  You, too, will have fury.

So, here we go.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

I've looked at how AIG used tax payer/bailout money to give out bonuses the likes of which I've never seen (certainly for a company that went, essentially, bankrupt) and how the government handed them tens of billions by overpricing their assets.  You can check out those posts, along with all of my other great posts, if you navigate on the right.  (Bailout Disaster for the former, Johnny Lead Foot for the latter... and shame on you for not reading them all real-time.  Respect yourself by respecting me!)

So, what's the newest window into this Bailout Disaster?  How do I get to explore it more?

Well, it's spin central right now, brought to you by Morgan Stanley's insanity.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

Last month I looked at how AIG's using tax payer/bailout money to give out bonuses the likes of which I've never seen... certainly for a company that went, essentially, bankrupt.  You can check out those posts, along with all of my other great posts, if you navigate on the right.  (Bailout Disaster for the former, Johnny Lead Foot for the latter... and shame on you for not reading them all real-time.  Respect yourself by respecting me!)

I have to restrain myself from posting a Bailout Disaster window every day.  The first bailout wave was so pathetic... it kind of makes me hesitant to trust another, you know what I mean?  Maybe we can actually learn from the first one.

Stop laughing.

Stop it.

Ok.  I'm laughing with you.

Again, this series will provide small windows into the Bailout Disaster instead of fusing into giant a 45,000 word report.  So, what news has come out recently?  What window is this?  It involves AIG again, and I read about it on BloggingStocks...

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

Three days ago, I took you on a ride into AIG's bonuses: JLF: Bailout Disaster - How AIG's Spending Your Money.  I find it insane that the one company I know that's is handing bonuses out to its employees is AIG, the insurance agency that has been given over $150 billion in bailout money by the government.  Read the post from three days ago, because you should read every one of my posts.  I'm the man.  Absorb how they doled out bonuses averaging almost $150,000 to employees of one of their business units, then dig into this new information I found in the New York Times.

This one will piss you off even more.

I can't sit idly by and not celebrate the 100th 200th 300th 400th post of HAWTaction [hot ak-shuhn].

This is momentous.  It's unprecedented.  It's HAWTaction [hot ak-shuhn].  We're just over 13 months after HAWTaction went live, and a weekday still hasn't been missed.  It's a small operation here (smaller than you even know), so, we're hella proud of hitting 400.  The celebration's running strong: John just opened a root beer, JLF's burning a wheel and Jenn's chugging diet prosecco.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

I am not a fan of this government bailout bonanza, but for lots and lots and lots and lot and lots of reasons.  (This might just be the beginning of a hell of a series.)  If I were to start rattling off the reasons, this post would be a thousand lines long... and it would only stop there because my head would have exploded from full rage.  The bottom line?  The government argues that some of these companies are too big to fail (i.e., AIG, Citibank, Bank of America, General Motors).  I say, as does Brent Hatley, if they are too big to fail, they are too big to exist.  Companies shouldn't be that important to our economy.  If a company gets that big, the government should have great oversight over their operations and their industry to make sure they don't get int a position where they'll fail.  General Motors, for example?  They should have been forced to make more fuel-efficient cars and restructured their relationship with their workers' unions.  Citibank?  They shouldn't have promised trillions of dollars in Credit Default Swaps and bet billions on the housing market and leveraged themselves to a 30:1 level.  (Just read John's good series: Economic Collapse.)  Instead, we are promising these companies trillions of dollars, and - what's worse - there is no oversight in how those funds are being used.  It's the worst stereotype imaginable about a government-run operation.  It's what people think universal healthcare would turn into.

Anywhoo... instead of covering the full scope of this Bailout Disaster, I'll do quick posts about the situation.  JLF will feed you a rage-inducing nibble.  So, get a tiny napkin and get ready for this amuse-bouche.  I'm going to cover how a bit of the money is being used.  You will be furious.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm taking on Bush's State of the Union...

John continues an 8-part series that explores President Bush's addresses to the U.S. population called State of The Union, from his first inaugural speech in 2001 to his State of the Union in 2008.  (This is the last one!)  John brilliantly pastes Bush's words.  Just his words.  He left it up to us to figure out what to make of them.  I had to comment on our General's comments.  Enjoy.  The bold is necessary for my fury. 

Click on State of The Union (there, or to the right) to see all 16 posts. 

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm taking on Bush's State of the Union...

John continues an 8-part series that explores President Bush's addresses to the U.S. population called State of The Union, from his first inaugural speech in 2001 to his State of the Union in 2008.  John brilliantly pastes Bush's words.  Just his words.  He left it up to us to figure out what to make of them.  I had to comment on our General's comments.  Enjoy.  The bold is necessary for my fury.  This post, I've decided to post comments as if G.W. was saying my genius, himself. 

Click on State of The Union (there, or to the right) to see all posts. 

I originated this "Evolution of "Our" series last Christmas, and it's one of the most brilliant things I've done.  John's asked me to repeat my post this year... and every year...  because I'm the man.  I am, after all, the best blogger ever.  I'll add to that that I'm the best lover ever.  And listener. 

Enjoy my good work.  Learn something!

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm celebrating...

I define Christmas as the days around the 25th with the trees and lights, presents, Santa Clause, birth of the son of God to a virgin, snow, eggnog, etc.  I will also use the label "buffoon" on anyone who claims this has always been the way with Christmas.  People like Ronald S. Martin have drawn a line in the manger to say, "THIS is the story of Christmas because there was a scribe there taking notes: 'Ah, yes, born to a virgin with lots of cattle around (no vacancy at the inn,  because it's Christmas!), a star instantly appeared in the sky over him, and then he was circumcised 7 days later (still a holy day of obligation for the Catholics), men showed up with gifts on the 5 days after that.'"

The Nazareth-Voice-intern-reporter-trying-to-get-the-story-of-a-millennium who took those notes only would have had one thing right, the no vacancy at the inn deal, because Nazareth was busy partying!  Everyone back then, all over the globe, was celebrating the heck out of the winter solstice, commemorating their version of the God of Light because they survived the year's darkest days and the cold of winter was yet to come (in the northern hemisphere).  It was a celebration of a "new sun."  The year's wine and beer had finally fermented and farm animals were slaughtered so they didn't have to be fed during the winter months.  Fresh meat was a luxury back then, and you couple it with booze?  Holy party, bat boy.  And I mean EVERYONE.  Stonehenge was lined up with the winter solstice as its focus.  There are altars in Guatemala lined up with the solstice (1800 B.C.E.).  Check out this list of solstice parties that span from Inca to Jewish to Hindu.  It wasn't a coincidence that this date was labeled as the birth date of The Light of the World, Jesus H. Bomb Chrizist.  Heck, the Jews were already called it the time the Festival of Lights.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

I haven't been this mad in a long time.  I mean, I've written about the melamine hypocrisy and I've been doing my State of the Union rebuttals, but I've been bottled up about President George Bush, and now that we're coming into an end of his era of the rape of human rights, I've bubbled over.... which means you readers get a treat.  Put your seat belt on.  It's going to be a bumpy ride as my head explodes with thoughts.

You've all seen this, no?


In my opinion, the world doesn't have a big enough shoe to throw at this man.

I can't help but think that this exercise is pointless.  My favorite posts for the HAWT Anniversary?  All the ones I've written.  Why would I waste anyone's time by sitting down and not typing out brilliance?  I'm not Jenn.  I bring you a fresh, brilliant perspective that everyone should worship, like I was Obama.  Or Jesus.  So, John's made me pick my favorite posts in this year.  So, read on.

HAWT Anniversary rolls along!  I kind of feel like I should be opening an envelope here, but... that doesn't work on the internet.  So, just read my top 10-11-12-ish and see if you agree.  Again, these are my favorite posts that don't hit into a series.  I'll pull the series-champs tomorrow.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

Leave it to James E. McWilliams to report in the New York Times how similar we are to China.  Outside of our love for this General Tso or Tsao or whoever, I don't think there's that much common ground for us to rodeo on.  Then comes melamine, and there's more square footage to the dance floor.

There was a recent melamine outbreak in China.  Instead of being in the drapes they make, it was in their food, mainly baby formula.  What is this melamine?  How did it get in the food?  Why would you care?  Can melamine possibly get in our food here?  Here come answers.

Melamine combines with formaldehyde to make a resin used to coat countertops, dry erase boards, fabrics, glues, housewares and flame retardants.  It's also an ingredient in a common yellow pigment, cleaning products, waterproof plywood, plastic compounds, ink, fire-resistant paint and high-resistance concrete.

What's the big deal?  When this melamine is consumed by an animal, it concentrates in the urine-filled renal microtubules.  There it crystallizes, blocking and damaging the renal cells that line said tubes.  That sounds bad, and it is.  That, HAWTies, causes the kidneys to malfunction.  And you can't live without the kidneys.

So, when baby formula in China was found to have high levels of melamine, you see how that was bad news.  Tens of thousands of infants became sick and at least 4 have died.  But it doesn't stop there.  As McWilliams says in the NYT, "Dangerous levels have been detected not only in milk and eggs, but also in chicken feed and wheat gluten, meaning that melamine is almost impossible to avoid in processed foods."  Crazy.

In all my years as an astute, insightful person, I've never seen something like the price of gas increase in the past two years.  It screams of market manipulation and by speculator influence, and a few weeks ago, news came out that needs to be shoved into your brain, because I don't think it got in there the first time.

The government likes to monitor business in these United States.  The problem is that the Bush government really pretended to.  I mean, there's a reason he hired the head of a horse agency, "Brownie," to head up FEMA.  There's a reason he wanted his lawyer-friend, Harriet Myers, on the Supreme Court.  Why would he appoint Susan Orr to head the government's Family Planning Program when Orr doesn't believe in using contraception?  Why would he appoint John Bolton to represent the U.S. in the U.N. when Bolton's stated, previously, that he didn't believe the U.N should have any power?

I mean, Bush could really give a frack.  He's shown time and time again that his friendships and debt to big business win out over the good of the American People every time.  So, one has to be suspicious when looking at the rise in oil prices.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm taking on Bush's State of the Union...

John continues an 8-part series that explores President Bush's addresses to the U.S. population called State of The Union, from his first inaugural speech in 2001 to his State of the Union in 2008.  John brilliantly pastes Bush's words.  Just his words.  He left it up to us to figure out what to make of them.  I had to comment on our General's comments.  Enjoy.  The bold is necessary for my fury.

Click on State of The Union (there, or to the right) to see all posts.

"Every time I'm invited to this rostrum, I'm humbled by the privilege, and mindful of the history we've seen together. We have gathered under this Capitol dome in moments of national mourning and national achievement. We have served America through one of the most consequential periods of our history -- and it has been my honor to serve with you."  Looks like I took care of everything!  What else could go wrong?

"To confront the great issues before us, we must act in a spirit of goodwill and respect for one another -- and I will do my part. Tonight the state of our Union is strong -- and together we will make it stronger."  Spirit of goodwill?  Yet another phrase the President doesn't know the meaning of.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm entertained...

Looking back at the election with a telescopic microscope, I'm most mad about Palin's involvement.  I'm mad at McCain for picking her and claiming, all along, "Country First!"  A 15-year-old honor student would have been better running mate if country came first.  Not only was she ignorant, but she was hella ignorant.

McCain's campaign is trying to distance themselves from her now, blaming her for the disaster McCain brought upon himself.  Aides are claiming that Palin thought Africa was a country, not a continent.  (I see how confusing it can be... is Africa a country or is it a continent with 53 countries/61 territories and 20% of the world's land mass?  So similar!)  They also claim Palin didn't know which countries were in the North American Free Trade Agreement.  (Again, this is complicated.  It would take a leap of faith to know that's more commonly known as NAFTA and that there are three countries in that.  Like, the U.S. and the two around us in North America.  Very complicated.)

Well, Palin's fighting back at these remarks, and she has called the staffers, "jerks," in her typical Shakespearean prose.  This comment shows she's not just ignorant, she's hella ignorant.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I've endorsed Obama/Biden...

Exxon has done it again, setting a record profit for a fiscal quarter.  This time, they have posted $14.8 billion in profit.  Again, that isn't their revenue (which was $138 billion), that's the amount of money they made after operating costs... in one quarter.  $14.8 billion in 3 months.  That's $4.9 billion a month.  In profit.  That's $161 million in profit for each of the 92 days in the quarter.  $6.7 million an hour.  Anyway you break it down, it's insulting, because our government has helped make them this profitable.  (Our profits at HAWT are the same as our revenues.  $0.)

Whose record did they break?  Why, their own from the previous quarter.  Which was a record they set by breaking their profit from the quarter before.  Which was a record from their previous quarter... and on and on for years. 

I've covered this government-Exxon relationship before, and you probably weren't listening back then, so I'm going to remind you now.  There's nothing like an oil guy being in charge in the White House... oh, and an oil-supporting Congress.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I've endorsed Obama/Biden...

Running for President, these days, is a full blown Marathon of Marathons.  The stamina required is mind-blowing.  When I watched McCain on Meet the Press yesterday, I saw a man who was incredibly tired.  He looked like a Galapagos turtle at the top of the hill she just climbed up to lay her eggs.  Really tired.

He replied to Brokaw's questions with a huff and a tone that said, "How many times do I have to tell you all this?  Can't I just lay my eggs here?"

Now, we know that the candidates have answered the same questions two million times (maybe four million for the Republicans, what with their limited talking points), but it's answers are not supposed to have (literal) huffing and hawing!  His frustration at the fact that voters aren't just believing him also comes through with his abbreviated answers.  In fact, it got to the point where McCain is, literally, saying "blah, blah, blah" to some key things.  I've got video.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

I dislike Sarah Palin as a vice presidential candidate.  No secret.  When she was presented to the country by McCain, she was painted as a maverick who saves money like Irish redheads drink.  (Carrot tops...)

The maverick title was smacked on her forehead because she "took on her party" by running for Governor against an incumbent who was also Republican.  WOW!  That has never happened before.  Also, according to McCain's campaign website, once she was running Alaska, "[Palin] successfully fought the special interests, the lobbyists, the Big Oil companies and the good ol' boys network to reform a system that had bred corruption in her state."  I think, from what I've seen, they are mainly referring to her getting a ~$3,000 rebate for all Alaskan households.  What they don't tell you, though, is that, in exchange for that "fee," Palin has been fighting hard to turn environmental policies to favor the energy companies... i.e., challenging the federal endangered species (polar bears) and supporting drilling off Anwar.  Sounds like she really took on the Big Oil companies by... being bought by them.... and... giving them what they want?

In terms of her cost-cutting and always having the highest respect for tax payers' money?  That's even thicker toro mierda.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm taking on Bush's State of the Union...

John continues an 8-part series that explores President Bush's addresses to the U.S. population called State of The Union, from his first inaugural speech in 2001 to his State of the Union in 2008.  John brilliantly pastes Bush's words.  Just his words.  He left it up to us to figure out what to make of them.  I had to comment on our General's comments.  Enjoy.  The bold is necessary for my fury.

Click on State of The Union (there, or to the right) to see all posts. 

"Two weeks ago, I stood on the steps of this Capitol and renewed the commitment of our nation to the guiding ideal of liberty for all. This evening I will set forth policies to advance that ideal at home and around the world."  I thought last year, in 2004, you said you weren't into pushing our values onto anyone!  Hmmmm...  Are you listening to yourself?

"Tonight, with a healthy, growing economy, with more Americans going back to work, with our nation an active force for good in the world -- the state of our union is confident and strong."  Yeeeeeahhh.

Meet The Press is a TV platform all Americans should keep their eyes on.  (Just like my posts on HAWTaction should have all eyes locked on them.  I'm the best blogger, ever.)  Whether Tim Russert or Tom Brokaw is steering the MTP ship, the show demonstrates incredible research, asks important questions and presses people for answers.  ANSWERS!  It's considered the most prestigious of political talk shows, so it's no wonder Colin Powell, a retired General of the Army, chose MTP as his platform to announce who he will be voting for in this presidential election. 

Why is Powell's vote important?  He served as NSA under Presidents Reagan and Bush (41), lead the first Gulf War for Bush (41) as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was U.S. Secretary of State for our current President, GWB (43).  He is part of the Republican party, even speaking at the 2000 Republican Convention to endorse Bush/Cheney.  His address to the United Nations (explaining the CIA's flawed intelligence about Iraqi WMDs) will go down in infamy, like all of my posts will.

It is one of the worst kept secrets in D.C. that Powell has been feeling alienated by the current Republican party and its policies, and an endorsement of Obama wouldn't have been out of the question.

Yeah, I watched that VP debate last night.  I did, and I've never been more secure in my choice for President.  That Palin is a sloppy mess, and I don't mean that physically, I mean that in terms of policy, general knowledge and specific knowledge.  I know she's not running for president, but it tells me the choices John McCain would make as president.  And I don't like it.

And yet the pundits are saying she did well.  Is that honest reporting?  Really?  In my opinion she was a robot piñata, over-stuffed with talking points.  Each question was a non-specific stick that hit her and released blabber, regardless of if it related to the question or not.  She showed no competence to think on her feet.  She constantly contradicted herself... putting down Biden for "pointing to the past," then pointing to the past herself. 

In this post, I'll put the JLF filter on this debate and point out what a mess she was.  Walk through THESE doors.

Anyone who doesn't know I've endorsed Obama/Biden should be embarrassed.  I understand if you skip John's posts or that idiot Jenn's posts, but to miss a JLF post?  Shame on you.  Here's a rewind.

• JLF: I Endorse Obama/Biden
• JLF: The Biden! The Biden! The Biden's on FIYA!

[Or, you can just click on Johnny Lead Foot in the right column there and see all of my brilliance.]

Anyone with my powers of analysis and observation can only come to the conclusion that Obama/Biden is the only choice for this country in November.  Now, JLF doesn't just throw opinions out there.  He backs them with facts.

I believe so much in the importance of voting for Obama/Biden that I've hijacked the Web_geM series from John.  I'm going to use this platform to study the chances of that Palin lady becoming President.  It's much higher than you'd think, and McCain's hiding the chances of that nut job running this country.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm taking on Bush's State of the Union...

John continues an 8-part series that explores President Bush's addresses to the U.S. population called State of The Union, from his first inaugural speech in 2001 to his State of the Union in 2008.  John brilliantly pastes Bush's words.  Just his words.  He left it up to us to figure out what to make of them.  I had to comment on our General's comments.  Enjoy.  The bold is necessary for my fury.

Click on State of The Union (there, or to the right) to see all posts. 

 

 President George W. Bush
State of the Union
2004

"As we gather tonight, hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed, and delivering justice to the violent, they are making America more secure."  By occupying Iraq...?

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

In 1971, Pat Buchanan changed politics.  It happened with one memo that summarized a new Republican strategy, a strategy that has lead to the elephant taking 7 out of the last 10 elections.  The Democrats have only controlled the White House for twelve years out of the last forty.

George Packer studied this memo (and its impact) in a fantastic article in the New Yorker magazine (The Fall of Conservatism).  Packer opened my eyes to the extremely effective common thread found in Republican campaigns.  I had no idea it was so planned out and long-living.  We can all applaud Buchanan, now relegated to political commentary on the news networks and McLaughlin Group. 

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I've endorsed Obama/Biden for President of these United States...

One of the most impressive things you can say about Palin's experience as Governor of Alaska is that she turned down the "Bridge to Nowhere."  You can bet that the Republicans will keep calling out how impressive it is over the next two months.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm on FIYA...

After endorsing Obama/Biden (JLF: I Endorse Obama/Biden), I have no problem pointing out why I am right.  Sometimes, it takes me spelling it out for you.  Other times, Obama and Biden will do it for me and I'll just paste the video here to bolster my argument.

I'm in sync with Biden right here..  I'm on FIYA and Biden is on FIYA.

Why?  The Republicans laid out no particular plans in the entire week of their Convention.  All they did was talk about how they should be trusted, how they knew what they were doing, how there were liberals in a Washington and conservatives should finally have a chance... oh, and they tore Obama's service down just like they did John Kerry's 4 years ago. 

In terms of policy and clear plans of action, I heard nothing from McCain and Palin.  I heard generalizations that would be more appropriate at a 4th grade election for class president. 

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm endorsing Obama/Biden for President of these United States...

John de Guzman, our fearless and sometimes-smelly leader, has yet to HAWTaction's endorsement for President, but I have no problem admitting that JLF, the best blogger, ever, is voting for Obama/Biden this election.  I didn't post during the Democratic convention because it's boring to report that all the major speakers hit the right nails on the head.  Now that iTunes has made all the speeches available for download, I'm sure I'll fly through them again and post comments on why I see a solid, reasonable platform of issues and actions there.  Meanwhile, as the Republican convention continues, I realize, more and more, that the Republicans are making this election a joke.

For those of you who don't know, PBS is actually running coverage of all the speakers at the convention, not just the 10pm block the networks are broadcasting.  I'm trying to get through the PBS broadcast from last night that culminated with Palin, and I'm about to pull the hair out of my head.  These speakers (including Carly Fiorina, former Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard and Meg Whitman, former President and CEO of EBay) are regurgitating such political garble-generic-jargon that I'm assuming it's a joke now.  Of course I'm appalled by the shallow platform under McCain/Palin: McCain is threatening to "fight" the very Washington he has built, but I'm more appalled by the way these speakers are spinning the world to be a different place than we are living in. 

Of all the speakers, I'm going to discuss the most charismatic.  Former Governor of Massachusetts should have left even the most staunch Republicans scratching their heads.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm furious...

[To see Jenn Cloutier's comments on Palin, check out J.C.: Sarah Palin is the Best! She Should be President!]

I honestly don't know what I saw on Friday with John McCain.  Did he really just pick someone with less experience than Obama to be his running mate?  Did he really?  Isn't that McCain's main argument as to why Obama isn't ready to be President?  So, he picked someone with LESS THAN TWO YEARS' EXPERIENCE as the governor of Alaska to be his 2nd in command - one heart beat away from leading us?  I still can't believe it.

It's also a hollow attempt to show the Republicans are diverse, too.  "We aren't just white men!  We've managed to brainwash non-white men!  Look at this sex pot!"  It screams of desperation, trying to pull the female vote.  They saw the power and passion of the female vote with Hillary.  The problem is, the female vote that fell in line with H. Clinton?  They aren't interested in voting for a female Taliban leader. 

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm taking on Bush's State of the Union...

John continues an 8-part series that explores President Bush's addresses to the U.S. population called State of The Union, from his first inaugural speech in 2001 to his State of the Union in 2008.  John brilliantly pastes Bush's words.  Just his words.  He left it up to us to figure out what to make of them.  I had to comment on our General's comments.  Enjoy.  The bold is necessary for my fury, especially since we're a few months out from Iraq's invasion.

Click on State of The Union (there, or to the right) to see all posts. 

 

"During this session of Congress, we have the duty to reform domestic programs vital to our country; we have the opportunity to save millions of lives abroad from a terrible disease. We will work for a prosperity that is broadly shared, and we will answer every danger and every enemy that threatens the American people."  Except China, Iran, North Korea, poverty, energy crisis...

"...our faith is sure..."  Our?  Your?  Both are questionable.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

We've had explosion after explosion during the Bush administration's run... including a fake war, outing a CIA agent, Katrina, walking away from Kyoto Protocol, ignoring the environment, a boom in energy company profits and prices, 9/11, two misled wars, approved torture, housing market collapse, looooooots of vacation time, government spying on its citizens... and on and on.

Well, the past 7.67 years might seem like a dream compared to the next 0.33 years.  Upcoming, we have the 11th hour manure dump.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

I've written and written about how our government is for sale.  Just check out the Corn and Agribusiness series I did pointing out how the agriculture industry is in bed with the government and actually helps write policy on their own industry.

• JLF: The American Agribusiness Industry
• JLF: The Corn Industry's Killing You - PART I, Corn Syrup et al.
• JLF: The Corn Industry's Killing You - PART II, Ethanol

Well, of course it doesn't stop there.  In February, I pointed out that JLF: Exxon is Taking The World's Money; Our Government is Helping Crank Open Wallets.  I discussed (with great genius and wit) how the government is helping Exxon make the largest profits in the history of business.  The greatest!  Over $40 BILLION in PROFIT.  Great for them, not so much for the rest of us.

Even as Exxon continues to post larger and larger profits than ever imaginable (they keep breaking their quarterly record... going on seven quarters, I believe), some believe petroleum's profit margins are too low and they should be making more money.  Regardless of what you think, you can't deny the Bush administration is in bed with the petrol industry. 

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

In July, President George W. Bush presented a record-setting budget deficit of $482 billion, and that doesn't include the tens of billions of dollars Iraq and Afghanistan will cost.  In addition, the total could climb if the economy doesn't recover as the administration is predicting.  Honestly, though, all of the administration's predictions seem to come true, so why bother?  (We're screwed.)

Bush has never been able to balance a budget.  He took the largest surplus in U.S. history from Clinton and turned it around into the largest deficit ever.  Despite the incredible knowledge Bush gained at Harvard Business School, he's managed to bankrupt almost everything he touches, including this country.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

The Olympics have been jam packed with highlights.  I mean, the swimming has been fantastic, but I take that with a grain of salt because I have webbed toes and a 5,400 RPM tail.  I can cruise at 30 knots from Staten Island to Hilton Head.

One of the most outstanding thing I've seen this Olympics is Bob Costas interview of President Bush.  It was just under ten minutes and it was the first live interview I've seen of Bush, and it was amazing.  Fantastic.  Given the short amount of time, Costas covered a healthy amount of topics.  Now, a lot of people were criticizing that Costas shouldn't have brought politics into the Olympic celebrations, but Costas strapped on his balls and shot out questions that probably had Bush's handlers shivering in the corner.  Don't believe me?  Watch for yourself.  Watch how Costas shows up all reporters covering the political scene.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

Dogs rule.  That's not marketing talking, that's common sense.  Bring in a Yorkie, Golden Retriever or a Dreya into the picture, and the room changes.  People relax.  Children open up. 

Women find a libido?  Men get lucky?  Ummmm...  Well, that's the prevailing thought process in Saudi Arabia right now.

Apparently the Saudi government is spinning its wheels with just-as-pointless-things as the government does here (steroids in baseball, Sirius/XM).  Riyadh's leaders have been busy busting out the powers of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which, essentially, are the religious police who are responsible for enforcing the state's strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

CNN had an article recently that got my brain boiling.  The report talked about the congressional Joint Economic Committee chaired by the fantastic Chuck Schumer (D-NY).  Two days ago, the committee heard from "experts," like a professor at Harvard Law School, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and senior policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation.  What was the consensus?  The American middle class is suffering in this economy.

Big surprise.

Two things made me mad, though, and I'll share them after we explore the experts' feedback.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

In February this year, I had a post about the XM-Sirius merger and how the government was holding it up due to the lovely influence of lobbyists.  This time, I'd like to talk about how the structure of our government is like the structure of a sloppy bowel movement.

Sirius and XM are the two satellite radio companies and they announced their attention to merge EIGHTEEN months ago.  The NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) has been paying lobbyists millions of dollars to persuade the governing bodies to delay the decision, bankrupting the companies.  (Those two companies are losing millions of dollars a day, waiting for a decision.)  Now, this merger needs to be approved by two governing bodies: the Department of Justice (DoJ), who approved it a couple of months ago saying that this merger would not constitute a monopoly, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  The DoJ took almost a record amount of time to announce their decision, longer than Exxon-Mobile, for example.  That pissed me off, but it's nothing compared to what the FCC is doing, the sloppiest part of this bowel movement.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

It's no secret that Bush is ignoring all environmental concerns to push regulation in favor of his friends who run big businesses.  For example, his drive to open up Alaska's shores to oil drilling is just absurd when we are only drilling in 30% of the land already leased in the Gulf of Mexico.  With everything going on in the country, he's most concerned about his petroleum buddies access to Alaska's coast.  That's his most important issue.  Insane.  It's as if he thinks the petroleum industry can do more good for the U.S. people if they have more power.  (Ripping us off = good + profit?)  Additional reading: JLF: Exxon is Taking The World's Money; Our Goverment is Helping Crank Open Wallets

Anyway, 5 days ago, Bush put a final exclamation point on his 8-years' environmental policy.  He's an ass hole.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm taking on Bush's State of the Union...

The first of the month, John continued an 8-part series that explores President Bush's addresses to the U.S. population called State of The Union, from his first inaugural speech in 2001 to his State of the Union in 2008.  John brilliantly pasted Bush's words.  Just his words.  He left it up to us to figure out what to make of them.  I had to comment on the General's comments.  Enjoy.  The bold is necessary for my fury.

President George W. Bush
State of the Union
2002

"As we gather tonight, our nation is at war, our economy is in recession, and the civilized world faces unprecedented dangers.  Yet the state of our Union has never been stronger."  Why could he admit we were in a recession back then and not now?

"We last met in an hour of shock and suffering.  In four short months, our nation has comforted the victims, begun to rebuild New York and the Pentagon, rallied a great coalition, captured, arrested, and rid the world of thousands of terrorists, destroyed Afghanistan's terrorist training camps, saved a people from starvation, and freed a country from brutal oppression."  Afghanistan wasn't fixed then, and it has only gotten worse.  That band-aid our country slapped on it did nothing.

 Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

The Senate is responsible for crafting policy as well as to chair committees that look into things that are essential to the safety of the American public: things like steroid usage in baseball, insane oil industry profits, XM/Sirius merger... oh, and they also look into things that will actually matter and make a difference, like the Intelligence Committee that has been looking into President George Bush's use of intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq.  That is a big deal.  I mean, there are serious rumblings, even on the Senate floor by Dennis Kucinich, that President Bush should be impeached based on the misuse of this very intelligence.

Well, the Intelligence Committee released the second phase of its report last week.  What was the finding?  They found that the Bush administration misused the intelligence.  Apparently, though, as pointed out by the Daily Show with Jon Super Stewart, the media barely reported it.  What were the findings?  Why is no one listening?

 Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

It took the BBC to do it, but they have identified $23 BILLION that has been lost in Iraq.  $23 BILLION.  I'm gonna blow through this one because I'm so FREAKING HAWT. 

Henry Waxman, the chair of the House committee on oversight and government reform for the U.K., said: "The money that's gone into waste, fraud and abuse under these contracts is just so outrageous, it's egregious... It may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history."

The reason this post is going to be so short?  The U.S. Government, like they f'ing do with everything they mess up, has placed a gag order on these allegations.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

Scott McClellan was the White House Press Secretary for President Bush from 2003-2006.  He recently released a tell-all book about those years, called What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and the Washington's Culture of Deception.  The book is not favorable towards the Bush administration, essentially saying they lied and deceived the world to start a war in Iraq.  Of course, when McClellan was working as the voice of the White House, the tune was a verrrrrry different one.  Now, on his press tour, he is proudly saying that he lied to us for three years while defending this country's actions and policies.  He is promoting his book as a brilliant revelation about something we, the people of the world, already knew.

Clearly, there's interest into this topic, because the book is the #1 best seller in the nation.  Despite all McClellan "spinning" while promoting this book, I can only think of him as the epitome of what's wrong with our government.  The first stop on his press tour was Meet the Press on June 1st, 2008.

I'm full HAWT.  This post, for the first time ever, will have adult language in it.  Such is my fire.

This is an actual quote from the White House about a tell-all book that exposes the Bush campaign:

"Why, all of the sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner.  This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration, and now, all of a sudden, he's raising these, um, grave concerns that he claims he had.  He's written a book and he certainly wants to go out there and promote that book."

That quote, though, isn't about McClellan's book.  That quote is about Richard Clarke's book, Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror that was released in 2004.  The person speaking those words?  Scott McClellan himself. 

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm taking on Bush's State of the Union...

Earlier this week, John introduced an 8-part series that explores President Bush's addresses to the U.S. population called State of The Union, from his first inaugural speech in 2001 to his State of the Union in 2008.  John brilliantly pasted Bush's words.  Just his words.  He left it up to us to figure out what to make of them.  I had to comment on the General's comments.  Enjoy.  The bold is necessary for my fury.

 

"We have a place, all of us, in a long story...of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old, a story of a slave-holding society that became a servant of freedom, the story of a power that went into the world to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer.
 - We conquered the shit out of Iraq.

"It is the American story--a story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.
 - Some are more flawed than others.  Some of us come with a conscience.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm digging through history...

Usually, these "Evolution" posts require me to be an electronic archaeologist to tie links between our modern holiday celebrations and those of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, see JLF: The Evolution of "Our" Christmas and JLF: The Evolution of "Our" Valentine's Day.  But, Memorial Day?  Going into it I knew this American holiday would require little digging.  Your mind wasn't going to be opened to a deep history.  I write, not necessarily to educate, but because I believe in the importance of the day.

This celebration takes us back to the U.S. Civil War.  (No, this day of festivities isn't a result of the Spanish-American 4-month skirmish.)  After the war, small communities put aside a day to honor the approximately 620,000 soldiers who died.  There was no consistency to these local celebrations... none outside of the desire to pay homage.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

Here we sit, using gasoline.  Not only is it choking us, but it's choking the world and empowering a part of the world that... well... doesn't share goals with the Red Cross or UNICEF.  Isn't there a way for us to have prevented this situation?  Could we have had the foresight to stay out of this dangerous situation?

Well, here comes the USA Today, with a blog that is actually included in the newspaper, which is odd.  A... paper... blog?  Apparently, that's called a "column" and it's written by a "columnist."  Old School.  Apparently, this "column" required two writers, Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel.  Though they sit on opposite side of the political aisle, they have come to terms about some things.  They call these things Common Ground they talk about one of them in this "paper blog."  Gasoline.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

Nothing gets me full HAWT like seeing the closets behind George W. Bush's insane policies.  As the machinations behind their policies are brought to light, our worst fears are reassured.  For example, we never found the guaranteed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  And their policies!  They shut the door on federal funding for stem cells, now that are calling for that research.  When running for office in 2000, George Bush said the U.S. shouldn't be in the game of nation-building, now we're going on our 6th year in Iraq. 

Just as frustrating was their denial of global warming.

Now it's come, like everything else, to bite them in the ass.  You won't believe what was announced today.  Read on.  [Oh, and if you click on my embedded links, you'll be reading through the sassy vaults of HAWTaction.]

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed... 

The Department of Defense is the largest funder in the development of prosthetic limb technology.  Apparently, our soldiers lose body parts and the DoD feels it needs to provide them with the best prosthetics possible.  Of course, that's the reasoning on the surface, though some of us know it's just one more step towards making that army of robots that will eventually turn on us and take over the world.

Now, in a move to bring us into the future, the Department of Defense has allocated $250 million to research regrowing body parts.  The problem is that the Commander in Chief has already stunted their progress.  Hold on to your shorts, people.  This is a loaded post.

There's a recession tickling our necks with its fire breath.  People are losing houses.  Our bank system is collapsing with foreign governments swooping in to buy large ownerships in our companies.  The stock market is crashing.  The FCC won't approve the Sirius/MX merger.  Unemployment rates are up.  Is anyone doing well?

Yes.  Wall Street.

An article in The New York Times called Wall Street Winners Get Billion-Dollar Paydays by Jenny Anderson points out that hedge fund managers have taken earnings to a whole new level.  Last year, the top 50 hedge fund managers made $29 billion... which averages out to $580,000,000 each.

Holy.  Moly.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm not surprised...
 

Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, is labeled a lunatic.  I can't help but think, though, that he's just taking after George Bush.  See, Ahmadinejad laughs in the face of the world, sitting on his nuclear weapons and oil money, daring people to provoke him.  Isn't that what Bush has been doing for 7 years?  Didn't he tell the world to shove off when he walked away from the Kyoto Protocol?  Didn't he tell the world to shove off when they wanted justification to invade Iraq?  Didn't he tell the world to shove off when he said he'd torture because he wanted to?  Hasn't he been sitting on his own bombs and boundless deficit daring the world to screw with the U.S.?  In fact, all the provocation Bush needed to invade Iraq and kill Saddam (with all its repercussions) was Saddam not behaving with UN Weapons Inspectors. 

To the world, though, there isn't much difference between spreading the religion of God (Ahmadinejad) or spreading the religion of democracy (Bush).  In fact, at least Ahmadinejad has been consistent in his tale.  Allah is a Ahmadinejad's motivation, even if he has an odd interpretation of the Koran.  Bush, meanwhile, has swung whichever way the wind blew: ties to Al Queda, weapons of mass destruction, removing Saddam, spreading democracy, Mission Accomplished.

Johnny Lead Foot, here, and I'm amused...

I originally wrote this on December 20, 2007, but, with tomorrow bring us the Biggest Loser Finale, I think it's time to revisit it.  Original post:

There's something sacred about the fatties.  (You just flinched, eh?)  People get insulted if you comment on someone's chub-factor.  I think it's because we are all sensitive about our weight.  Who isn't?  Shoot, you don't know how hard I work to look so good, and I still find myself insecure when I'm showering at the Turkish bath house.  Still, society has these "sacred cows," but doesn't hesitate to ostracize smokers or ridicule people who see UFOs.  It's a level playing field in planet JLF, so everyone's fair game and I'm going to be honest about the Biggest Loser fatties.  If you're insulted by such commentary, stop reading now -- and miss the best blog posting ever.  Of all time. 

The season finale of The Biggest Loser was Tuesday night, and I'm calling for a re-adjustment of expectations. Some perspective?  The finalists are in a house, isolated, for 4 months with nothing to do but workout with a trainer and not eat.  After the house, they have 3 months to continue working out so they can win more than a few years' salary as incentive.  It's amazing to see someone who's lost over 50% of their weight.  Kudos to them, but, shouldn't that be the norm?

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

On March 14, 2003, the Justice Department spit in the face of mankind.  In a true, we're-Republicans-on-a-mission-from-God-to-do-whatever-we-have-to-to-get-our-way move, the Justice Department assuaged all fears that international treaties (and our consciouses) might derail this mis-directed War on Terror.  On that day, they released a memo that, essentially, said Bush's wartime power as commander-in-chief could NOT be limited by UN's international treaties against torture.  Essentially, because we are in a time of war, we can ignore all rules set out by the international community about BEHAVIOR WHEN IN TIME OF WAR.

That's right.

The Justice Department, in your name, has pissed on everything sacred in this country.  No one would be more upset at this than the Founding Father John Adams himself.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

I'm not a fan of pharmaceutical companies.  I say they do more harm than anything with their drugs that contain a list of possible side effects that could fill a Dickensian novel.  Give me a drug you use, and I'll give you a JLF prescription.  Viagra?  Eat less and go running.  Lipitor?  Eat less and go running.  Allegra?  Eat less, go running and get a neti pot.

I mean, we are on so many drugs now, that the "run-off" in our urination (we don't absorb all the drugs we pop and pee it out) has polluted our waterways and drinking water.  Yes, there are PHARMACEUTICALS in your DRINKING WATER.  My lordie.  John covered this topic with this good post: Drinking Water, Brought to You By Pharma.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

You know what a "rubber room" is?  When I learned about it last week, it got me full HAWT.  See, nothing burns my soul more than our government wasting money.  It drives me bonkers, because I work my ass off to make my cash and Uncle Sam (with his State-level nephews and City cousins) just take and take and take and take and take... and I have no say in how my money's used.  I trust, as do you, that they use it for good.  But it isn't, and it drives me crazy when there is waste.  THAT'S MY MONEY, DAMNIT!  So, when I found out about the "rubber room," it got me full HAWT.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm cheering...

I've been totally honest about my hate for the FCC (Federal Communications Commission).  I covered their crappy performance in JLF: Sirius - XM Merger, It's What's Wrong With This Government (one of HAWTaction [hot ak-shuhn]'s most popular posts).  I also just explored my hate in JLF: The FCC SUCKS.  The main problem with the FCC is that they are in the pocket of big business, setting industry terms and regulations to favor their favorite corporations rather than rule in favor of what's best for the American people.  They are accountable to no one.  Now, it looks like the FCC's under-the-table practices have caught up to them.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

The Pew Center released a report a few days ago about the U.S. prison system called One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008.  The findings are.... insane.  They have me FULL HAWT.  Ready? 

1 in 99.1 adult Americans is in jail.  2,319,258 people.  1 in 30 males from ages 20 and 34 is behind bars.  For blacks, the rate for that age group is 1 in 9.  Age group 35-39: 1 in 355 white women are incarcerated and 1 in 100 black women are.

2,319,258 adults in jail.  The runner-up is China with 1.5 million.  But with their population soaring over 1 billion adults, their percentage of incarcerated adults is under 0.15%.  The U.S.'s is 1.0%.

We aren't talking about a stretch of time here, either.  We aren't talking about the number of people incarcerated over a month or a year.  This is a snapshot.  At the beginning of 2008.  A snapshot.  Holy moly.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

Over 1 year ago, XM and Sirius, satellite radio companies, announced their intentions to merge.  Now, satellite radio is a relatively new format that isn't compatible with standard (terrestrial) radios we all have slung around the house and in our cars.  Also, satellite radio isn't free (like terrestrial radio is), and the content is not regulated by the FCC (because it's something you pay to bring into your house, like HBO).  In exchange for paying for satellite radio, subscribers get music stations without commercials (Sirius), talk shows with adult content (Howard Stern), special programming (like every NFL, MLB or March Madness game) and general all-around sassiness.  Right now, combined, these companies represent 4% of the national radio market.  Despite, their merger has been held up for over a year, longer than any other merger in the history of history, because some members of the government are arguing that it would result in a monopoly.  Again, we are talking about reaching 4% of the radios in the U.S.  A monopoly?!?!?!  I rarely curse, but... what the balls is going on?

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

I thought I'd seen it all when, on Oprah's show a couple of weeks ago, dating coach Patti Novack told the audience that they had to train their husbands to make them acceptable mates, and the audience cheered like brainwashed zombies.  I covered that episode of Oprah (with transcripts from the show) in the most popular post ever on HAWTaction:  JLF: What Relationships Mean to Oprah and Her Army.

Well, it looks like the insanity is going around because Newsweek has an article in their February 18th issue entitled, How To Train A Husband, that reviews a new book by Amy Sutherland called, "What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love and Marriage."  Lucky for you, the Newsweek article is online, so you can read it for yourself.  What I'll do, though, is pull out the essence and, once again, consider what has gone wrong with.... everything.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

Bad things happen when I watch television, it seems, because TV's 800-channels-chock-full of stupidity.  I saw something yesterday that re-sparked the fury I felt when I saw Oprah encourage her female listeners to "train" their men and impose their more deciding, crafty will on them to trick the men to feel appeased... It's a whole lot of hog wash, and my comments on it is still the most read article on this site.  Read JLF: What Relationships Mean to Oprah and Her Army again to see JLF's brilliance.

Well, yesterday I had the 10-am hour of the extended Today Show on for the fifteen seconds I could stand, before I had to either 1. turn it off and stop it burning my brain, or 2. crucify myself to my Ikea coffee table.  (Of course the coffee table's tiny, so I'd have to crucify myself in a fetal crouch.)  On the show yesterday there were two pretty ladies on the screen jibber jabbering about, honestly, nothing.  If I was researching the Today Show burn on my brain, I'd say this about the fifteen seconds: it was uncomfortable, it was small talk, it involved a lot of giggling and it contained no content.  To me, it seems the morning shows love to sacrifice content for nervous chatter where the hosts try to out-"quip" each other about something totally predictable and unimportant.  I'm sure there'll be a post about this in the future, but now I'm going to discuss how sexist these fifteen seconds were.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm digging through history...

I don't participate in Valentine's Day, 'cause I make my mate feel special every other second of every day.  So, tossing flowers to he/she on a particular time makes me feel uncomfortable, like a programmable, robot-lover.  I don't like to go along with convention, anyway.  What I am interested in, though, is the history of Valentine's Day.  I already tore up this blog on December 25th in my amazing post: JLF: The Evolution of "Our" Christmas.  That post will live on in infamy.  Time for JLF to do it again with Valentine's Day.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

There is something insane going on right now, and all we can do is sit back and watch it happen until next January.  I'm FULL HOT.  Quite simply: the petroleum industry is raping the world, both mother nature and the world's citizens' wallets.  Our government, meanwhile, is doing everything it can to crank open those wallets.

Exxon released their financial earnings last week.  They made $11.7 billion in the 4th quarter of 2007.  Oops, my bad... I forgot a word.  They made $11.7 billion PROFIT in the 4th quarter of 2007.  Holy.  Crap.  Now, that wasn't a fluke quarter, either.  It seems they made $40.6 billion in PROFIT the entire year.  Ummmm....  What?  I've got a lot to say about this, so buckle up.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

I don't watch Oprah, because for every time I find a pleasant, noteworthy topic being covered, I go ape-crap nuts ten times over when pointless topics are analyzed, un-educated morons are casting judgment and the audience cheers like an army of brainwashed, dead-in-the-eye automatons.

Last Friday, I was lounging in my living room sketching UFOs when I flipped on the TV.  It was on ABC from the night before (Lost season premiere), and there was Oprah.  Her guest was a matchmaker, Patti Novack, who hosts a show on A&E called "Confessions of a Matchmaker."  Patti managed to look both sweet and condescending at all times.  Her reading lenses were always propped on her face, like half-moons balanced on her nose.  Coupled with her sharp highlights, she probably thought she appeared like an aged professional, and I admit it kind of worked.  Patti played the role of a wise old lady whose years of experience would be doled out to young ladies like fortune cookies.  Then Patti opened her mouth, and I realized she knew as much about dating as Genghis Khan did.  And there was Oprah, encouraging her advice and raucus cheers from a dead-in-the-eye, done-up-to-be-on-Oprah's-studio audience.

I was so mad, I transcribed portions the show.  I'll skip the parts where Patti says women are insecure and nervous on first dates, that actually makes sense, and go to stuff that made me want to throw bricks into my 19" tube TV.  Click on for more.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

I think the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is a big waste of time with regards to it "policing" our "public" airwaves.  It's pathetic that this nation relies on the government to control the content of our entertainment.  Quite simply, the FCC has the ability to fine any broadcaster over "public airwaves" for displaying content it finds "indecent."  The definition of "indecent" is arbitrary and constantly changes, though.  I mean, you could never say the F word on TV, but the other rules have changed in the FCC's history... recently for the worse.  Now, anyone looking for entertainment geared towards adults has to look to select cable networks, HBO or Satellite Radio.

Stupid.  Let me tell you how stupid.

I started a double-article on how the corn industry is trying to kill you, but then realized I needed a pre-article to explain how pissed I get at the lobby/campaign contribution system.  I'll first focus on the American Agribusiness System's efforts (capitalized because it's such a monumental piece of crap), but I'm sure more industries will be given the JLF treatment.

As a citizen, you voice your opinion at the ballot box.  Every couple of years you get the opportunity to put your one vote up against the million others fellow citizens, most of them idiots.  Corporations, meanwhile, have millions and millions of dollars to hire representatives who persuade/bribe/influence politicians to shape policy.  Their presence is constant, persistent, and, unfortunately, it is effective.

Someone hired by a company to persuade/bribe/influence politicians is called a lobbyist.  A whole group of them is called a lobby of ass holes.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm celebrating...

I define Christmas as the days around the 25th with the trees and lights, presents, Santa Clause, birth of the son of God to a virgin, snow, eggnog, etc.  I will also use the label "buffoon" on anyone who claims this has always been the way with Christmas.  People like Ronald S. Martin have drawn a line in the manger to say, "THIS is the story of Christmas because there was a scribe there taking notes: 'Ah, yes, born to a virgin with lots of cattle around (no vacancy at the inn,  because it's Christmas!), a star instantly appeared in the sky over him, and then he was circumcised 7 days later (still a holy day of obligation for the Catholics), men showed up with gifts on the 5 days after that.'"

The Nazareth-Voice-intern-reporter-trying-to-get-the-story-of-a-millennium who took those notes only would have had one thing right, the no vacancy at the inn deal, because Nazareth was busy partying!  Everyone back then, all over the globe, was celebrating the heck out of the winter solstice, commemorating their version of the God of Light because they survived the year's darkest days and the cold of winter was yet to come (in the northern hemisphere).  It was a celebration of a "new sun."  The year's wine and beer had finally fermented and farm animals were slaughtered so they didn't have to be fed during the winter months.  Fresh meat was a luxury back then, and you couple it with booze?  Holy party, bat boy.  And I mean EVERYONE.  Stonehenge was lined up with the winter solstice as its focus.  There are altars in Guatemala lined up with the solstice (1800 B.C.E.).  Check out this list of solstice parties that span from Inca to Jewish to Hindu.  It wasn't a coincidence that this date was labeled as the birth date of The Light of the World, Jesus H. Bomb Chrizist.  Heck, the Jews were already called it the time the Festival of Lights.

Johnny Lead Foot, here, and I'm amused...

There's something sacred about the fatties.  (You just flinched, eh?)  People get insulted if you comment on someone's chub-factor.  I think it's because we are all sensitive about our weight.  Who isn't?  Shoot, you don't know how hard I work to look so good, and I still find myself insecure when I'm showering at the Turkish bath house.  Still, society has these "sacred cows," but doesn't hesitate to ostracize smokers or ridicule people who see UFOs.  It's a level playing field in planet JLF, so everyone's fair game and I'm going to be honest about the Biggest Loser fatties.  If you're insulted by such commentary, stop reading now -- and miss the best blog posting ever.  Of all time. 

The season finale of The Biggest Loser was Tuesday night, and I'm calling for a re-adjustment of expectations. Some perspective?  The finalists are in a house, isolated, for 4 months with nothing to do but workout with a trainer and not eat.  After the house, they have 3 months to continue working out so they can win more than a few years' salary as incentive.  It's amazing to see someone who's lost over 50% of their weight.  Kudos to them, but, shouldn't that be the norm?

John de Guzmán
john(at)HAWTaction.com
twitter.com/johndeguzman


I've got a lot of opinions and I spread 'em all over this blog like plaster.  A tad about me: I was born and raised in Spain, and came to the U.S. to get a chemical engineering degree at MIT.  I fell in love with NYC after visiting for a weekend.  Post-graduation, I turned into a sponge and sit in NYC, soaking it all up.  When not blogging, I'm do management consulting to pay the bills and music/writing/composing to fill the soul.  Check out my stuff at johndeguzman.com and join my fan club, the CATAPULT!  Thanks for visiting.


Johnny Lead Foot
JLF(at)HAWTaction.com
twitter.com/johnnyleadfoot

I hate repeating myself.  Here's my amazing intro.  Here's my amazing website.  You can skip all the crap on this site (read: stuff not written by me) by simply finding "JLF" in the tag cloud on the front page.

Again, you're lucky I'm here.


Jenn Cloutier
jenn(at)HAWTaction.com
twitter.com/jenncloutier

I am amazed John invited me to post at HAWTaction since I don't love sarcasm like him and Johnny.   I guess I'm just not jaded like them... ;-o  All told, I'm waaaaay happy to be here and share my opinions with everyone!  Yay!

A quick bit about me: my name is actually French.  Jenn is short for Jennie and Cloutier is pronounced, Clue-tea-YAY!  (YAY!)  I loooooooove mocha cappuccinos, reality tv, sugar cookies, lavender (see my logo?!?!) and cute dogs.  My heroines are Margaret Thatcher, Elizabeth Hasselback, Dr. Laura Schlessinger and Gandhi.  Get it?  Gandhi's a MAN!  He can't be a heroine!  Did that surprise you?  ;-)  Aaaanywhooo, I don't really like reading the news or anything, so my posts won't have tons and tons of facts like JLF.  No fact-bloat here.  It'll be more like heart-bloat.  Came up with that myself! 

I don't believe in abortion, I love our troops, I believe in God, family, peace, education, diversity and the death penalty.  I'm open minded and I have lots of empathy.  I'm happy to be here!  Yay!  ;-)

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed....

Lucky for you, I'm posting on consecutive weekdays.  I'm not going to make this a habit-you would be so lucky-but I read something today that got my blood boiling: Pam Anderson just filed for divorced 2 months after getting married to some dude who did something with Paris Hilton.  Irreconcilable differences.  Who could argue with that?

The main argument for why gays can't get married is that they might ruin the institution of marriage, ya?  People are SO scared that the gays might get married that they are proposing ammending the Constitution (capital C) so that, in the very building blocks of our country, we clearly lay out that gays aren't equal to normal citizens.  Whaaaa?  Why so much hate towards the gays?  I always thought we should hate redheads.  Devil-children.

Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...

9/11 gave our government the right to do anything it wanted, and I'm delighted because this government doesn't have a delicate touch and it's entertaining to watch it flail. Volume and rules are the answer and our country has turned into a lummox that lifts weights, charges blindly at any threat and likes to constantly admire its physique in the mirror.  Our hands are like hammers with nails glued to them, and when we address a problem, we usually just swing as hard as the can.  Watching this administration tackle something is like watching the Cave-Troll blindly charge the Fellowship of the Ring.  Problem is, like the Cave-Troll learned, this approach is rarely the answer.  Look at how this country's been swinging haymakers at the the War on Drugs.  That is an undeniable disaster.

Let's talk about one of the governments brain-child since 9/11, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).  Nothing steals your pride in this country quite like walking through those 20 feet of top-notch security.  For the record: you can't take a quarter through the metal detector, you have to remove your belt, remove all large electronics out of your bags and put in their own bins, take off your coat and shoes, and limit the amount of liquid you carry to what will fit in a 1-quart sized plastic bag that doesn't hold anything larger than a 3 Oz. bottle.  WHAT?  In case that's confusing, TSA has developed this handy doodley graphic for us:

 

 

Johnny Lead Foot.  Me.  I'm on staff, and you're all lucky for it.  I could give a rat's liver about movie reviews and cute little SuckTube videos John will be throwing up here.  I focus on things that matter so much, they make me mad.  It's much more fun when I'm mad. 

I'm stating, out front, that I will be your favorite contributor here, because I'll say things your thinking, but you're too ashamed to say.  Heck, if you aren't thinking them, you should be, and when you're through with my submissions, you WILL be thinking them.  My stuff's is that relevant and powerful.  MIND CONTROL.

So, what makes me mad? 

• Driving in Miami where people drive at 20mph in both lanes while they blast music and scream into their cell phones.  How about a little respect for other citizens?
• Corporate control of the government.  This is expected in Somalia or pinko France, but in the USofA?  Horseshit.  We should all be mad at this.  
• Standing in line at a Best Buy when, mid-winter, they have heated the store to 84 degrees.  In fact, any over-compensation for the weather makes me nuts.  [See wasted energy below.]
• Religion.  They are all cults. 
• Waiting more than 15 seconds for a barista to ring up a venti tea.  In fact, there is a 94% chance that someone operating a cash register will piss me off. 
• Wasted energy, i.e., waverunners, Paris, "stand by" modes in electronics, Nascar, Best Buys in winter. 
• Inefficient governmenting.  So.  Much.  Here.  I'm itching to write something soon the TSA.  Talk about wasted energy.

So, this is me.  I'm not on a schedule; I'll write when I want to.  I don't care what's asked of me by those running this blog and by those reading it.  I could care less, and you will be grateful when I drop one of my nuggets on you. 

I'm going to be the best: the most interesting, intelligent, informed blogger on this idea-fest.  This has been your pleasure.  Look for my gems whenever-the-fuck I want to share them.

 - JLF