Click on the PTODE image to enlarge.

If anyone has any recommendations for changes or additions I’m always open to suggestions.

What would happen if I listen, really listen to the news 24 hours a day?  What would I hear from the different channels?  What would the outcome be and what would my response be?  Would it make me angry, happy, sad, disgusted?  I asked myself those questions and decided, what the hell, I’m  going to find out, so here goes.

I found out that Andrea Mitchell is a Wall Street ho.  She has a hard time understanding why people are going up against Mitt Romney for his obvious good deeds at Bain Capital.  I thought to myself, I am sure her asshole husband has trained her right and she, like the ladies of the night, will always defer to her pimp.

I found out that Andrea Mitchell and Chris Ciliza are terribly worried at how Mitt is going to make his millions last through an election cycle.  Apparently even though they ARE the “journalists”, they are not yet aware that Rove’s Crossroads GPS and Goldman Sachs are funding Romney.  He will probably still retain the majority of his almost quarter of a billion dollar holdings through his campaign and none of his homes will be foreclosed on despite the fact he is not occupying them right now.  The established elites of the party are supporting him.  I figured it out and I am just another retiree with no journalistic experience.

I found out that Jim Clyburn can make Mitchell shut up for a few minutes and only be able to get out the phrase, “thank you very much, we are out of time” when he was done, proving she has zero intellectual capacity when confronted with a person who knows what they are talking about.  I bet she is good on the coctail circuit though.

Oh darn, I thought that pic was of her and Greenspan but someone tells me it is Kim Jong Il, I guess I got it mixed up since Greenspan has been hiding since his appearance in Congress back in 2009.

I learned the Catholic Church can fire a teacher without any repercussions with regard to discrimination and all churches are included in the Supreme Court ruling.

I heard Hillary Clinton vehemently states that NO U.S. persons were involved in the assassination of a Iranian nuclear scientist, despite the fact we all know the CIA is imbedded in the country.  Then, a chill went down my spine, I just read a book by a zionist right-wing evangelical convert author (that sure is a mouthful but all true), Joel Rosenberg, where the exact same thing happened in the same city but he claimed the Iranians were blaming Israel/Mossad.  Now if I were an Evangelical I would see this as a sign of the end times because surely Joel Rosenberg is one of the prophets of the last days.  Calmer heads pervail here though, I think he just made an educated guess based on the news coming out of Iran for the past few years.  If you are interested in the book, it is called The 12th Imam and it is a good read if you are aware of the author’s religious leanings.  I have read his books for the entertainment value, not his religious leanings.

I found out if you work for MSNBC and write a book, they will shamelessly promote that book 24/7 despite the fact you are an ex-republican Wall Street schill pretending you are on the side of the PEOPLE, especially with a book to sell.  But your name is RATigan so it’s all good.

I learned that Moody’s is forecasting steady job growth for the coming year so they really can do more than develop complicated algorithms that aided and abetted Wall Street in committing the biggest heist in American, possibly World History where no one is ever prosecuted.  Let’s just hope this is not another of their Triple A ratings on a junk job market.

I learned 8.8m jobs were lost in the recession of 2007-2008 and Obama has only overseen 2.6m jobs recovered since 2009.  I guess you could say those 8.8m jobs were his fault since he was running for President in that time frame but I like to think Bush and his cronies had something to do with it.   And certain people wondered why their parting from DC was accompanied by the song, “Na Na Na Na Na Na Na hey hey hey goodbye” with Chris Matthews claiming the Inauguration crowd was being disrespectful.

I heard that Governor Haley Barbour decided to stick it to the citizens of Mississippi by pardoning more than 200  people including convicted murderers, DUI deaths, manslaughter, kidnapping, rapists etc.  I guess the only convictions that should hold are the ones against women who have abortions because we all know he would be PRO-LIFE in those instances with those women receiving no compassion at all.

I heard a Bomb-in-a-bag exploded when a woman and her husband found it beside their car with their names written on the bag.  The picked it up, put it in the car and when the woman opened it after they had gone a few blocks, it exploded.  Her ex-husband is the suspect because she had to take numerous restraining orders, file for divorce and won a $121 thousand dollar settlement from him.  I wonder if he just did not want to pay that settlement?  Well hopefully he fucked it up because they are in the hospital fighting for their lives and I just said a prayer for them.  Hang in there Allyson and Christopher Stone.

I heard that 213,000 Vets have suffered brain damage since 2000 and countless others various psychological problems, but Mitt Romney still hires the PNAC team who worked for Bush and needed a “Pearl Harbor Incident” to put into effect their evil nation building scheme, not to mention the other Bush administration flunkies.  Hmm that may be a post in itself detailing all the Bush/Rove people advising Mitt Romney.  I also have to ask why these people are making the big bucks with all the loss of life they are responsible for and I wonder if there really is a God?

I found out that Michelle Obama is an angry black lady because some twit named Jodi Kantor says it is so. Well I say Jodi Kantor is an angry white lady because she is now losing critical coverage of her book as a result of the NH primary.  Too bad, so sad, for her.  She calls herself a reporter and claims the

“White House has not pushed back on the specific reporting in the book”

despite the fact that:

“Soon after excerpts of the highly anticipated book surfaced online on Friday, the White House issued a statement strongly finding fault with Kantor’s reporting.”

I wonder, does Kantor know Rahm Emmanuel?  Does she know what an hotheaded asshole he is?  He could even make me, a mellow white lady, mad.  Apparently she was not there when he stabbed a table with a fork during the campaign of Bill Clinton because he was “mad”.  Does that make him an Angry Jewish Man?  I think it all just makes Ms Jodi sound as if she is not aware that sometimes people get angry, BUT, they get over it and to put a label to a person in this instance is just, well, juvenile.

I learned that the right cries “Class Warfare” whenever they are attacked, especially Mitt Romney but poo poos the idea that rich people commit “Class Warfare” despite the Occupy Movement all over the world proving him wrong.  I would bet the sheer numbers of the OWS movement scare the hell out of them.  They are probably, as I speak, re-enforcing those gates in their gated communities and writing off the security costs on the tax forms where they always end up paying less tax.

I found out that after coming in 2nd place in New Hampshire Ron Paul is now dangerous, instead of just a pesky moth flying around my light fixture, Rick Perry is stuck on “Vulture Capitalist”, Rick Santorum thinks NH was probably a waste for him and that Newt is about to drop a bomb on Romney in the South Carolina television cycle.

I learned the religious evangelicals in South Carolina may or may not vote based on Romney’s past history or the rhetorical shit he is spewing now depending on how Tony Perkins advises them.  Apparently the WWJD in this situation is not applicable because I am sure Jesus would not fall for a chameleon like Mitt, nor would he make excuses to go with the party line.  Jesus was always something of an individualist in his life, not buying the company line unless it was a direct line from GOD.  And no, that does not mean that GOD really told Bachman, Santorum, Paul or Bachman to run.

Dylan RATigan is on now, should I change over to CNN?  I think I will give it a shot despite the fact RATigan is now talking about the the same old story and Jonathon Alter thinks the president is not really that much apart from Romney in the polls.  Besides I have a DVR and I can record what this schill is saying.  Oh wait a minute here, he just admitted that right now President Obama would more than likely beat all Republican candidates.  Should I stay or should I go?  Sounds like a song I might have heard on the radio but on the way over to CNN, oh goody, my favorite news guy, Wolf Blitzer………..

First off I found out Erin Burnett did not always know she was going to be a journalist.  Who in the hell ever said she is one?

Now I am in the Situation Room, I think Wolfe has White House aspirations.

OMG CNN is reporting the number one suspect in the Iranian assassination is Israel and that the assassination will likely make Iran speed up the enrichment of uranium.  Funny I was not aware that the process could be sped up, but I am sure Barbara what’s her name is far smarter than I.  And the head of Israeli Defense Forces posted on the IDF FB page that he is not aware of whodunit, but he is not about to shed a tear.  Well golly, geez, that is not inflammatory because if it was CNN would not have provoked the situation further by airing it.  But I forgot, I am now in the “shocking video” “breaking news” zone because everyone knows CNN is number one, I mean look at how quickly they jumped on the end of the Tea Party bandwagon.

I am now watching the Angry Black Woman talking to Gayle King, I think people are just jealous that a Black Family has now given the White House substance and class.  The ToyStoryWhite Dude that preceeded them lost it somewhere down in Texas or Kennebunkport.  Perhaps when he shared a joint with Harold and Kumar?

Now they are showing a video of 4 Marines urinating on three dead bodies and you can see from their sniper rifles and helmets that they just could match a group in Afghanistan.  Despite the fact they think the video is horrendous, they never leave it the whole time Barbara Starr is describing it.  Despite the fact this could go viral, the leave it on the screen, never once taking responsibility for encouraging just such an incidence.

Now I usually do not make fun of peoples’ looks but trying to watch Dana Bash talking in SC, all I can see is that big long nose.  Thank God she turned in a conversation with Paul and she is sideways to the camera now.  And who is that old lady standing behind Paul from last night?  If it is his wife, she sure looks like my loving and sweet grandma, rest her soul.  I have never seen her before and she sure does not look like she is batshitcrazy.

Now Jack Cafferty wonders if the Republican race is over, but he wants you to chime in and make up his mind for him.  All these professionals on TV and they cannot make up their minds without asking all of us.  Perhaps we really are the one who KNOW what is what?

I just slipped over to Fox, we will see how long I can stay here.  Roundtable is talking about how Romney built companies that were in trouble, but one guy asking, “what company did Mitt Romney build from the ground up?”.  Then they slide into something about gaffes of Joe Biden and I am lost.  Now I can see why I never watch Fox news.

Channel down back to CNN.  I have 40 minutes until Rev Al comes on and I think I am more likely to be able to get through that one without this ridiculousness.  I think I will do a quick carpet bombing in my livingroom with the vacum cleaner.

Warren Buffet has just issued a counter-challenge to Republicans in Congress.  Actually they challenged him to pay taxes and established some fund for it, but he replied taxes are not philanthropy.  He did challenge McConnell that he would match 4 to 1 for any funds they would like to contribute to the fund as well.  I thought he was smart when I made a bundle on his purchase of Wells Fargo stock, I see he is cunning as well.

Oh dang, I missed that Erin Burnett wanted to make a difference too.  I wonder how she does that as a CNBC schill or as an infotainer at CNN.

Rick Santorum does not believe Romney is the man to lead the party, because he feels his package is just the right thing for SC and I guess the entire nation.  Even when he is speaking about non-sexual things, he can always get that little zing in there, quite the man isn’t he?  He thinks a “right to work law” would be good for the nation and Wolfe did not delve further into that, nor really anything he said.  I would have at the very least asked him how a “right to work law” would help the middle class, or any worker for that matter.  It is such a phony argument anyway when all a company has to do is advise a prospective employee that they are an “at will” employee.  The GAP does it here in California of all places.

CNN now is filling time by telling how the Twinkie is an American icon that has now filed Bankruptcy.  It is just a Chapter 11 reorg CNN, chill out, no need to go all gaga on a Twinkie sentimental journey to fill up space you cannot fill with legitimate news.

Ahhhh Relief………Reverand Al is on, my only relaxing,  just watch and enjoy pundit show in the entire cycle.

Uh oh Jim Clyburn just called Mitt Romney sophomoric with his patter on class envy.  But Mitt Romney clarified his comment on envy of the super rich, “they who envy should talk about that envy in closed rooms, not in the public.”  Sounds like he is talking to a victim of incest and he does not want to expose the crime to people who might just do something about it.

Now we are talking about responsibility especially with regard to the Satans ofWall Street who lined their own pockets at the expense of the American and World population.  David Corn is making sense, now I am in the “sensible zone”.  We have charts and numbers to go with the claims that are being made, how novel.  If you make your money off an inheritance from money left to you by a parent, you pay 18%, but if you go to work everyday, you are paying the going rate.  But that is not unfair.  Jim Clyburn and Rev Al are going to make sure these issues remain in the forefront of the campaign as they go and stump for the President.  David Corn is persuasive in his comment about the right making Obama now a European in an effort to discredit him.  He ultimately labels their strategy as, well let’s just say,  the southern strategy.

You’re So Bain or Feel The Bain is being covered right now.  It is a damning portrayal of Mitt Romney which is why he is doing everything to deflect this attack.  Including claiming the video as coming from Obama.  Jaysus does he ever tell the truth?  The right wing is circling the wagons and tryin to reign their mavericks in but it does not look like it will work for now.  Rev Al is good with parables.  His mama told him if you throw a brick at a group of hogs, the one hit will cry out, as an analogy to what the right is doing right now, especially Mitt.  Gingrich hit him hard.  The rest just have Blueberry Pie all over their faces.

Now I am listening to a comprehensive conversation regarding Nicki Haley’s decision to sue the Federal Government over State Voter ID.  You cannot blame Haley, after all she was probably not even born when Jim Crow laws were in effect.  But as a woman of color she should be more aware of civil rights in this country.

And finally, I did learn that Melissa Harris-Perry’s show will first air on February 4 right after Chris Hayes.

Well I never got through a full 24 hour cycle and I barely made it through all the cable networks but I did get quite a lot of information.  Some of it valuable, some of it trash.  To tell the truth, I could not watch what they call news for 24 hours a day.

“And that’s the way it is, January 11, 2012″

Image by albike's via Flickr

Oh,  for the fun of it, let’s  take another look.  Will tonight  be all Newt-Romney?

What’s the difference between Hannibal Lecter and the GOP? One is a crazed sociopath that wreaks destruction on innocent victims and the other was played artfully by Anthony Hopkins.

We may have become so accustomed to the outrageously hostile and vicious conduct of the GOP and the matter-of-fact presentation of it by the Mainstream Media that we may be allowing the abnormal psychological reality of it to slip past us.

It is not normal in a truly representational government to have one of two major parties controlling a nation, dedicated to harming 99% of the people in that country. It simply is not.

Nor is it psychologically well adjusted for a group of people to intentionally threaten the safety of or damage an entire nation of people purely to gain greater power and wealth.

There was a brilliant method presented in the remarkable and highly recommended documentary, The Corporation, which, in one segment, psychologically analyzed corporations as if they were people and their indisputable conclusion was that if corporations are people, they are sociopaths.

In light of the last year of destructive and vicious behavior of Tea Party Republicans in the House and the ongoing hateful rhetoric from the GOP and their Presidential candidates about gays, blacks, the poor, women, the unemployed, Latinos, Muslims, those exercising their Constitutional right to protest, etc., I wondered, if the GOP was analyzed as a person, would it fit the definition of a sociopath?

Here is a list of traits, courtesy of the Mayo Clinic, that are commonly displayed by people who have Antisocial Personality Disorder…aka “sociopaths”:

• Disregard for right and wrong

• Persistent lying or deceit

• Using charm or wit to manipulate others

• Recurring difficulties with the law

• Repeatedly violating the rights of others

• Child abuse or neglect

• Intimidation of others

• Aggressive or violent behavior

• Lack of remorse about harming others

• Impulsive behavior

• Agitation

• Poor or abusive relationships

• Irresponsible work behavior

I don’t know about your count but when I consider the actions and words of Republican Politicians, the Tea Party, the GOP Presidential Candidates and the corporate financiers of the GOP, I found it a 100% match up.

So let’s consider for a moment two things, the normalization of sociopathy as a legit political mindset and sociopaths controlling power locally and nationally in the U.S..

Thanks to the news industry merging with the prostitution industry (“Hi, you lookin’ a date or an update?”), EVERYTHING can be legitimized as long as it attracts viewers and raises advertising rates. So, sociopathic outbursts and actions are presented by the MSM as just as palatable and considerable as those coming from well adjusted politicians.

If there is no critical filter, no ethical standard, no discernment by the media that bombards us from every direction, between what is insane and what is sane, if both are merely “different opinions” of equal standing, then we, as members of this society, can become corrupted and in a way, sociopathic as well.

There is no public good served by sociopathic pursuits or the validation of them. And yet, the obvious lies and deception served up by the GOP to the media to justify their actions and intentions to assault the majority of Americans are freely broadcast to the country in an alleged display of being “fair and balanced”.

This one-two punch of thinly disguised sociopathy by a political party and the media’s presentation of it as being as legitimate as any other political sensibility has brought our society and politics to a point of absurdity never witnessed before in American history.

From Supply side economics insisting that the only way to make 99% of Americans rich is to make the top 1% richer.

Or the solution to joblessness in America is to cut the deficit so that hundreds of thousands if not millions of Americans in government jobs would be put out of work.

Or the way to reform healthcare and make access and affordability better than when insurance corporations had all the power over that is to repeal all the reforms made in the Affordable Care Act and let the health insurance corporations go back to calling all the shots.

On that last point, it’s too bad we don’t have single payer health insurance for our entire country because The GOP in particular seems greatly in need of mental health services.

And the sobering thing is, our nation and many state and local governments are being controlled by such sociopaths. Putting aside the damage they have and are doing (instituting Voter ID laws that could prevent five million or more eligible citizens from voting, outlawing collective bargaining, slashing programs that help the most desperate and vulnerable among us, etc.), the damage they are doing to the character of our society is profound.

It is now a given that we may have leaders of our cities and/or states who are a threat to our best interests as the majority. It’s a deterioration of our democracy to have to accept such a reality, an affirmation that the sociopathic corporations have so much power over our democracy that they can foist their sociopathic surrogates upon the people.

What is emerging as a silver lining in this very dark cloud is that the American people are rising up chanting the famous Howard Beale line from the movie Network, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

There is only so far that you can push people. Sociopaths have no sense of that, they will simply continue serving their own gratifications no matter the impact on others because they have no empathy for the feelings of others…and that is their downfall.

It certainly seems that national sentiment is strong and growing against the GOP and Corporate sociopathy that continues to be foisted upon the citizens of this country.

And that is doing wonders for my mental health.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Apparently, local media are now noticing what we have been talking about here for some time. For all the talk about President Obama facing “DOOM!!!”, he looks to be the only candidate with a real grassroots base and campaign infrastructure here in Nevada.

But today, I don’t want to talk about just that. I also want to discuss the message. This morning, we caught a glimpse of this continuing work in progress as top Democrats stressed the need to address job creation and income inequality while certain Republicans again used “TAXES!!!” as a proxy battle for the same old class warfare. For all the rumors about Obama “abandoning the working class“, we’re not seeing that as his actions speak louder than certain pundits’ words.

Nick Kristof reminded us this past weekend of what President Obama has actually done.

The administration helped tug us back from the brink of economic ruin. Obama oversaw an economic stimulus that, while too small, was far larger than the one House Democrats had proposed. He rescued the auto industry and achieved health care reform that presidents have been seeking since the time of Theodore Roosevelt.

Despite virulent opposition that has paralyzed the government, Obama bolstered regulation of the tobacco industry, signed a fair pay act and tightened control of the credit card industry. [...]

In foreign policy, Obama has taken a couple of huge risks. He approved the assault on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan, and despite much criticism he led the international effort to overthrow Muammar el-Qaddafi. So far, both bets are paying off.

This looks an awful lot like support for the 99% to me.

Yet while Obama hones in on this one message, leading G-O-TEA hopefuls can’t seem to pick just one!

Even conservatives know who Mitt Romney works for (hint: th

ink 1%). And seriously, it’s not like the other G-O-TEA hopefuls are all that different.

In a sign of the growing impact the 99 Percent Movement is having, New Hampshire Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid explained today on Fox News that his paper endorsed Newt Gingrich rather than Mitt Romney for the GOP Presidential nomination because the latter represents the one percent and is politically damaged because of it. “I think — and this is crazy, but so are we — that Gingrich is going to have a better time in the general election than Mitt Romney,” said McQuaid. “I think it’s going to be Obama’s 99% versus the 1%, and Romney sort of represents the 1%.”

Indeed, Romney’s net worth is estimated to be as high as $250 million — and much of this money was made through the same sort of corporate mergers and layoffs that have continually ripped off the 99 Percent. Ironically, Gingrich is also part of the one percent, “earning $2.5 million in personal income last year,” much of it accrued from using his government connections to assist major corporations.

OK, so even Romney can stick to this message! Without a doubt, a huge contrast is forming. Who’s willing to work for the 99%? And who only cares about the 1%?

This is the message going into 2012. And this points us toward the real choice we will be making with our ballots next year.

(This can also be found at Nevada Progressive)