Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Next Tuesday, President Obama will deliver his 2011 State of the Union Address. Rep. Paul Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin and chairman of the House Budget Committee, has been selected to deliver his party’s “official” rebuttal. Not one to let a media opportunity slip by, Rep. Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota and founder of the Tea Party Caucus, has decided that she, too, will deliver her own post-State-of-the-Union-Address address. Her speech will “supplement” Ryan’s GOP rebuttal with a “Tea Party” perspective. It will be webcast on the Tea Party Express Web site and will follow Congressman Ryan’s speech. Anyone wondering why Bachmann is planning to do this?
According to The Note, an ABC News blog, a source close to Bachmann has hinted that the Congresswoman has presidential ambitions. In fact, she was in Des Moines yesterday speaking at a fundraiser for “Iowans for Tax Relief.” Bachmann certainly sounded like she was buttering up folks from the heartland of this nation when she said: “It isn’t all the office seekers coming through here that will decide whether America will go on being an exceptional nation. It will be Iowans that make that decision. You will be the ones to decide. That is why I am so excited. Because I feel like I know you. Because I was born here. I was raised here. These are my values. I feel we understand each other.”
So…the Congresswoman from Minnesota who said she wanted people in her state “armed and dangerous” may actually be considering a run for the presidency of the United States. I wonder who she’d choose as a running mate? Glenn Beck? Sean Hannity? Louis Gohmert?
Do you believe Michele Bachmann has serious presidential aspirations? Do you think she would be a viable Republican candidate in 2012?
Sources:
**********
A Bachmann Concerto (my previous post about Michele Bachmann)
rafflaw wrote:
“didn’t Marcellus Shale play for the Bulls?”
Yes, I believe he did… LOL
“Let me get this straight. If you exercise your First Amendment rights legally and peacefully, you are a terrorist? Scary.”
It’s so much worse than many know, as time will tell. Bit by bit, the truth is trickling out.
Elaine,
That Gasland trailer was stunning and scary.
anon nurse,
didn’t Marcellus Shale play for the Bulls?
Let me get this straight. If you exercise your First Amendment rights legally and peacefully, you are a terrorist? Scary.
The video that I was trying to post didn’t embed…
Thanks for posting those clips, Elaine. I live in the Marcellus Shale region — an area rich in anti-fracking activists. 🙂
http://www.aclu.org/sites/all/plugins/jwflvplayer/player.swf
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/domestic-spying-victim-virginia-cody
“Virginia Cody — a retired Air Force officer and anti-drilling activist — was shocked to mistakenly receive a bulletin from the Pennsylvania Homeland Security Director describing the monitoring of several anti-drilling groups. The bulletin revealed that Virginia and other anti-drilling activists who were peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights were included in state “anti-terrorism” reports.”
Blouise & anon nurse,
Speaking of gas, have you heard of hydraulic fracturing–aka fracking?
Actor Mark Ruffalo Talks about Fracking on PBS
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmHzzWagyzA&w=640&h=390]
Trailer for the movie Gasland
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZe1AeH0Qz8&w=640&h=390]
Blouise wrote:
“Do you think these citizens failed to pay their taxes or that they failed to pay their gas bills? No. The Natural Gas companies have been taking huge profits … a few speculators making a bundle but of course there is no money for infrastructure so the actual consumers are stuck in their exploding homes or freezing in the 7 degree cold.”
================================
Coincidentally, a friend recently sent me the following link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/us/15pipe.html
Faulty Weld Is Suspect in Rupture of Pipeline
By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: December 15, 2010
WASHINGTON — The natural gas pipeline that ruptured in September, killing eight people and burning dozens of houses in a suburb south of San Francisco, may have had a badly welded seam in a stretch of pipe that was supposed to be seamless, federal investigators said Tuesday.
HenMan,
I don’t know if you’ll check this thread today but here’s a bit of news from northeast Ohio:
“Fairport Harbor Ohio fires:
The fires were caused by an over-pressurization of a gas line, fire officials said, and the first call came in around 7:00 a.m., after a home explosion led to several fires. Crews shut off gas lines to the entire community, which has about 3,200 people.”
Do you think these citizens failed to pay their taxes or that they failed to pay their gas bills? No. The Natural Gas companies have been taking huge profits … a few speculators making a bundle but of course there is no money for infrastructure so the actual consumers are stuck in their exploding homes or freezing in the 7 degree cold.
You are right when you say “I think our national motto has become “Don’t Tread On Me, We Will Do It To Ourselves””
Lotta,
In my opinion this present crop of wanna-bee world dominators (the ones who really got going during and after Reagan’s Presidency)are afraid that we will refuse to continue to be their spring-board … for without our support, without our tax-dollars, without our willingness to put our economy at their beck and call … they are nothing.
We are their power and they fear our discovering that and then deciding to end their reign.
I could get very specific as to who I think “they” are but it is late and time for bed … perhaps we can discuss more about this another day.
HenMan,
Have you looked at http://cppamerica.wordpress.com
Blouise: “… it is as though our government is afraid of we, the people.”
—–
They are. That’s the thing, they are. I’m not sure exactly what they fear we’ll do either; weather it’s that cities will burn or that one morning everybody in the country will just wake up and say ‘screw this, I’m just not participating any more’ and the country grinds to a halt.
Correction: “looser” should be loser.
Blouise-
They are afraid of us and watching us, but Dick Armey and the Koch Bros. may have found their solution. Pretend to listen to and pander to the Tea Partiers and then use them promote your own ends and build an army of the ignorant to work against their own interests. If you can get them into a rage against better healthcare and get them angry about a “Death Tax” they will never have to pay, imagine what else you can do with these poor suckers. Keep them entertained. Produce idiotic TV shows to keep them occupied. Create a “reality” show where the winner gets a million dollars and the looser gets killed. You will need the National Guard to control the crowds that come to sign up as contestants. “And may God continue to bless the United States of America.”
HenMan: “Lottakatz- Interesting comments-both yours and Chomsky’s. I have been thinking a lot lately that we, the U.S.A., have become the Soviet Union of the 21st Century.”
—-
That’s quite a posting! It’s also what I’ve been thinking for some time now. There is a really mean spirit in America these days. The racial component of it wears a very early 60’s face. Old divisions more appropriate to the Wallace era in Alabama and the McCarthy era in the fifties are reshaped to fit the times. There seemed to be a hiatus for awhile but that’s long gone.
HenMan,
“To prevent that tragedy, we need the money to listen in on every phone conversation in America, to moniter every home computer and laptop in America, to put a camera on every street corner in America.”
… it is as though our government is afraid of we, the people.
Pete: “…our bought and paid for media will provide all the necessary diversions. … but it can’t be global warming because it still gets cold in the winter.”
—–
There is always a sideshow for the MSM to flood the airwaves with and when there isn’t one will be manufactured. That’s one of the things I like about Olbermann and Maddow, they focus on some stories that don’t get much, if any, airtime elsewhere. I’m going to miss KO.
Right, lol, the old standby argument about global warming always just make me shake my head. I’m sitting here next to a window looking at around 7 inches of global warming in action after a December that was so warm I was working in the back yard in shirtsleeves the week before Christmas week and worrying about tornados, which we did have.
Our politicians and their thick-headed, faith-based policies are becoming a danger to more than the US.
This was a pretty good, short article in the Guardian recently: (NONONO, Im not trying to start a climate warming discussion. NONONO, 🙂 but the pic is cool and I’m sitting here looking at snow outside so it seemed an appropriate link.)
“That snow outside is what global warming looks like
Unusually cold winters may make you think scientists have got it all wrong. But the data reveal a chilling truth”
“There is now strong evidence to suggest that the unusually cold winters of the last two years in the UK are the result of heating elsewhere. With the help of the severe weather analyst John Mason and the Climate Science Rapid Response Team, I’ve been through as much of the scientific literature as I can lay hands on (see my website for the references). Here’s what seems to be happening. …”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/20/uk-snow-global-warming
Pete-
I think our national motto has become “Don’t Tread On Me, We Will Do It To Ourselves”
HenMan
a friend told me back in the late 70’s that he thought that the us was going to be more like the soviet union and the soviets would be more like the us. at the time i didn’t agree, i do now.
Lottakatz-
Interesting comments-both yours and Chomsky’s. I have been thinking a lot lately that we, the U.S.A., have become the Soviet Union of the 21st Century. Not that we are becoming Commies, as the right thinks, but that we are now feared and hated by people around the world. People who used to look up to the U.S. as a role model of freedom and decency. Today they see what we have become; paranoid, xenophobic, armed to the teeth, and belligerent as hell. The bullies of the world, telling other countries how to act, sending spies around the world to subvert other governments and install right wing, pro-American regimes. In a word, everything we used to condemn the Soviet Union for. Meanwhile while we bankrupt ourselves developing bigger and better ways to kill more people, our roads and bridges crumble, our sewers collapse, our water mains turn into urban geysers, our schools close, we lay off policemen, firemen, and EMTs. Our municipalities are broke, our states are broke, our federal government is broke. Ten percent of our working people and a much higher percentage of our minorities can’t find work. What will our solution be? Cut Social Security, raise the retirement age, cut Medicare, cut Unemployment Benefits, Cut food Stamps, cut Veterans Benefits. Take the money from those most in need- the poor, the sick, the elderly, the mentally ill. The veterans of two stupid, pointless wars- maimed, missing arms and legs, faces burned off and brains injured in explosions, many driven insane by being sent into combat over and over, far beyond the breaking point of the human mind by an uncaring government and by military leaders afraid to endanger their own careers by speaking out against this outrage. But don’t even think of cutting the “Defense” Department budget- we must be prepared to invade Iran, we must be prepared to invade North Korea, we must be prepared to invade Venezuela, we must be prepared to invade Cuba, we must be prepared to invade Somalia- you know, all those countries that piss us off. And don’t think about cutting the budget for the Department of Homeboy Security- there may be a barefoot Arab somewhere in the Middle East who wants to fire the AK-47 that we gave him at a Wal-Mart in Lebanon. To prevent that tragedy, we need the money to listen in on every phone conversation in America, to moniter every home computer and laptop in America, to put a camera on every street corner in America.
Isn’t this what the Soviet Union used to do? And what was the result? Total collapse. Is this what we have to look forward to? I don’t have the answer, but the trends are there for anyone to see.
Lottakatz
i think you’re right about it being to late to get us out of a neofacist era.
as our standard of living drops more and more people will be looking for the easy scapegoat and our bought and paid for media will provide all the necessary diversions.
it’s the lazy poor, too high taxes, too many illegal immigrants, too much regulation ect ect but always somebody elses fault.
all this while sea levels rise, and climate swings become greater and greater but it can’t be global warming because it still gets cold in the winter.
no, i’m not optimistic but where there’s life there’s hope
America is the 800lb gorilla in the room. If America goes crazy politicly, it could be a global catastrophe of unimaginable consequence. And it looks like (with our political antics and voter selections) we’re going nuts.
Noam Chomsky gave an interview recently about the implications regarding global warming deniers and our governments inaction on it being potentially a species-killing move because of our considerable global influence over the behavior of other countries. While this particular topic is interesting it isn’t what struck me about the interview. This statement did and is the cornerstone of my concern that our nation is going insane:
“If this was happening in some small country, in you know maybe Monaco or something, it wouldn’t matter much, but when it’s happening in the richest, most powerful country in the world – it’s a danger to the survival of the species,” he said.
I haven’t even read the entire article but it’s helped to crystallize my thought’s on some matters. Where will this spasm of pre-intellectual, reactionary run to the right and our nations international lawlessness lead us? How can it be stopped? Can it be stopped?
I don’t think it can, I think we have slid into Americas neofascist era and unless a couple of million people show up on the capital mall regularly, our politicians aren’t even going to acknowledge by any action, that the citizenry exists, let alone has specific, overwhelmingly supported policy demands.
So. I’m thinking that if we don’t get our shit together soon the rest of the civilized world is going to start thinking ‘regime change’. Our own politicians talk about it openly regarding other countries. Most recently regarding Karzi. (sp?) How long before other governments start considering that certain US politicians just need to be eliminated because the world can’t afford to have them in power? How long before we are treated like a 3rd world, rogue nation?
Up to this point I believe that all of our political assassinations have been domestic operations and not all of them by ‘lone nuts’, but domestic nonetheless. I can see situations in the future where that belief may not be so certain to me.
Republicans’ 2010 election triumph will fuel civilization’s demise, Chomsky says
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/republicans-2010-election-triumph-will-fuel-civilizations-demise-chomsky-says/