I remained silent:

When the Tea Party came for the progressives,I remained silent;
I was not a progressive.

When they locked up the muslims,I remained silent;
I was not a muslim.

When they came for the mexicans,I did not speak out;
I was not a mexican.

When they came for the working poor,I remained silent;
I wasn't poor.

When they came for me,there was no one left to speak out.


With deepest respect for Martin Niemöller.

What? A Fresh Thought? Hell it is time!

Watching this woman speak last evening gave me a feeling of hope for America.

She is the real deal.

What Fresh Hell - Glenn Beck

Lewis Black is a man that is able to make us laugh at the absurd in life.

What Fresh Hell? A Mosque?

The following is taken from today’s opinion page of a local newspaper.

Does it strike anyone, other than me, as odd, misdirected and contradictory?

Maybe I'm just overwhelmed.

The Mosque

The Obama administration has sued Arizona to stop an immigration bill that the people (Arizona Legislature) overwhelmingly approved; it has sued the state of California to overturn a marriage law that Californians overwhelmingly approved. It rammed through a health-care bill that Americans overwhelmingly rejected.

Now, despite the people’s overwhelming objections, the president supports the construction of an Islamic mosque next to the hallowed national site of Ground Zero, the very symbol of anti-American Islamic terrorism.

Yes, the mosque has the legal right to build near Ground Zero.
But it flies in the face of the most basic teaching of humankind:

When the Pharisees asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment, he replied:

”Love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Contrary to what the New York imam says, the mosque near Ground Zero is not showing neighborly love. It is an outward thrust of spite.

In Lovin' Memory of Jerry Garcia 2010

What Fresh Hell, Dirty Money

Why am I not surprised by this information?

Ok, ok, it's a set up. I was shocked, shocked that congress was pandering to oil.

ShoCKED!!

Dirty Energy Money

http://dirtyenergymoney.com/

http://dirtyenergymoney.com/index.php

Published by Andy Rowell

on July 22nd, 2010

Latest News:

75 Per Cent of Oil Lobbyists Worked for Government

http://priceofoil.org/2010/07/22/75-per-cent-of-oil-lobbyists-worked-for-government/

Talking to people about the Deepwater Horizon, often a response has been “how can something like that happen in the US.”

Exactly that question is being forensically picked over by lawyers and Congressional investigators and the answers are increasingly looking unpalatable.

But one thing for sure it could not happen without the raw power of big oil. As we have found out with the MMS, too often the regulators were compromised.

And then there is the elephant in the room of modern day politics: the revolving door.

The incessant and constant movement of people from government to industry or to the lobbying industry working on its behalf that is synonymous with “K” Street.

The wheel never stops spinning. And remember the old adage – it’s not what you know it’s who you know.

We have known for a long time that Big Oil, like the Gun lobby – holds power in Washington.

We know that the oil industry is one of the biggest donors to our politicians. Indeed, there is a great section on this website where you can track oil indusrty money.

OK, the industry’s star has waned slightly since the Obama Administration came into power.

But the revolving door is spinning as lively as ever. What we didn’t know is just how many industry lobbyists used to work in government.

So good on the Washington Post that reveals this morning that a staggering “three of every four oil and gas lobbyists worked for federal government.”

And even for the sometimes sleazy standards of Capital Hill this is excessive. According to the paper this is “a proportion that far exceeds the usual revolving-door standards on Capitol Hill”.

In comparison, the Center for Responsive Politics calculates that fewer than one in three registered lobbyists in 2009 had revolving-door connections — less than half the oil industry rate found by The Post.

The paper’s key findings include some staggering statistics:

With more than 600 registered lobbyists, the industry has among the biggest and most powerful contingents in Washington;

All told, more than 430 industry lobbyists once had jobs in the legislative or executive branches;

Key lobbying hires include 18 former members of Congress and dozens of former presidential appointees. Fifteen of these are from the oil-producing states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma or Kansas;

The industry employs two former directors of the Minerals Management Service, with over a dozen former MMS employees now working for the oil industry generally;

BP and other companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico disaster employ as lobbyists more than three dozen former lawmakers, congressional staffers and bureaucrats;

BP alone has hired at least 31 internal and external lobbyists with government experience;

The American Petroleum Institute employs 48 lobbyists with previous federal experience;

The party affiliation of lobbyists is fairly evenly divided. About 55 percent of the revolving-door lobbyists with clear partisan affiliations have worked for Republicans;

But the Democrats are well represented too, including Tony Podesta, whose lobbying firm represents BP and Sunoco. He has co-hosted at least five fundraisers for Democratic candidates this year, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Is Washington prepared to do anything about this? Well the topic will be a focus of a congressional hearing today chaired by Rep Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.).

One of his former aides, Jesse McCollum, signed on as a BP lobbyist two weeks after the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

So there you go. He knows about the problem first-hand.

Even the legislator looking into the revolving door post Deepwater has lost staff to the company responsible for Deepwater..

How ironic…

What Fresh Internet Hell

Everybody's humpin' Google's payoff from Verizon so I thought I'd give it a go.
Got this in email over the internet.
Go figure.

I Might start using http://www.bing.com/ more often.


Dear Friend,

Google's motto is "Don't be evil," but Google is about to cut a deal with Verizon that would end the Internet as we know it.

According to a front-page New York Times story, the deal would allow"Verizon to speed some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content's creators are willing to pay for the privilege."

It would create fast Internet lanes for the largest corporations and slowlanes for the rest of us.

I just signed a petition telling Google, "Don't be evil." I hope you will,too.

With massive amounts of public pressure, we can stop this deal. Have a look and take action at the link below.


http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/google_verizon/?r_by=10371-2455012-p6Tgcyx&rc=mailto2

What Fresh Hell: Last Supper 82010

I took an important painting that has been around for a while and reworked a postcard of it and sent it to a friend for his comments. This is what I got back. Please feel free to do the same as he, comment on what you see in the picture.

Please, freely, Please.

On Sat, Jul 31, 2010 at 8:42 PM, I wrote:

Like I mentioned

What do you think? Describe your thoughts upon seeing this.

He wrote:

Ok, you asked for my thoughts AS I VIEWED IT. I studied it from left to right (don't know why, except I was always taught to go from left to right...to have my light from left...write from the left, shit like that. This is of course bullshit to a left-handed person (My grandmother for example). Anyway, first thing I notice which is something I have never noticed before is Peter is about to pull down Mary's blouse. This clears up many things which occur over the next 2,000 plus years. Mary rejects him...she is the final straw, in a long line of straws...he turns to little boys, who don't know the damned difference...and Peter passes it on, down the damned line.

Next, I noticed that the wine jugs have been removed from the table...local ordnance, perhaps? We can't serve you more...you are too God damned drunk. They would have demanded their car keys, but.

Then I see that Mark is gesturing to someone stage right, to come on in. The little Rascals? The pole dancers? The centurions? Did we accuse the wrong person for treachery? Quite mysterious.

Moving on to the right...I noticed ANOTHER woman. Has to be a woman, because she/her/it has no beard! WTF? Another woman in the equation. Is this another virgin? Is this a paternity lawsuit in the making? After all, we only have Jesus’ word regards what actually happened out there in the desert. Know what I mean? I also noted that she/he/it seems to be reaching for her right teat, as if preparing to nurse...or, offer it to...Peter? We can only surmise...and accept the obvious by faith. Anyway, I'm of the opinion that the mystery woman is...Salome...which rhymes with Stallone, the Italian pony. It is also worthy of note that if you take out the "o" and "e" in Salome, and add "a" and "i"...you have salami...which is what she was probably ordering up.

Finally we have the fink of all finks...Judas Escargot (yes, yes, I know...he too has no beard...but he was confused as to his sexuality...and in those days, you didn't just go to Sweden and get it whacked off, or stuffed up your whatever that part is. I am of the opinion that this was the real issue between Judas and Jesus). Anyway, at first glance it appears that ol' JE is talking to...Death. But on closer examination, it can be seen that he is actually talking to the pizza guy in the wings, telling him to hurry the fuck up, as he is tired of the watered down wine of my body, and bread of my brains...and bring on the frucking anchovies.

One other note - have you ever noticed that the only empty plate is...the plate of...Jesus? What does this signify?

Lastly, I would definitely agree that your motto arch-flying above all these clowns is a truism...with an additional phrase...clears throat:

A WORK OF ART IS THE RESULT OF A UNIQUE TEMPERAMENT...AND A WINE SOGGED EVENING ENDING IN DEBAUCHERY...IDEALLY.

And in closing I would say, go with it...it is a damned sight better than some bullshit post about getting old and shit like that there.

Hope this doesn't piss you off to terribly much.

PS...I do like the graphic.

What Fresh Hell? Rope Dancing

On my last post a reader, Mona, offered a comment regarding Rope Dancing in India. I offered I would try to find an example. I was then corrected for my misspelling and had to make up for such an oversight.
Well I have found a video that has rope dancing in it, as a value added I believe I might have found a video that approaches the one Mr. Charleston has been whining about.

Mona, I'm not sure this is even close to the dancing, you mentioned in passing.
I would remind you that laughter is good for the soul. (again)

My readers are a tough bunch of creative critics.
Or is it a creative bunch of tough critics.
Maybe just a critical bunch of creative toughs.