"Come on, got any other jokes?" cracked Representative Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat, when asked if Obama bargained hard in negotiations with congressional Republicans [on the debt ceiling deal].
..."There was caving this time," said Representative Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat. "Why don't you think there would be caving next time?"
...Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., an Illinois Democrat who has a close relationship with Obama, said the president made "a profound mistake" in signaling to Republicans that programs for the elderly and the poor are on the table for cutting.
"It's clear to us we're going to have to go to the mat for those people -- as we have been doing -- by ourselves and not necessarily with the support of the administration," he said, referring to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security recipients.
Jesse Jackson, Jr. does not just have "a close relationship with Obama"; he was the co-chair (and frequent hit-man) of Obama's '08 presidential campaign. It is profoundly concerning to me as a progressive, and as a voter, when an ally and colleague of Obama's like Jackson is expressing reservations about the president's commitment to defending the social safety net (even taking into consideration the Jackson family's penchant for opportunism and grudgery). Jackson is hardly a one-man choir on this subject, unfortunately.
This Herbert Hoover horseshit has got to stop. I don't want a Republican in the White House—not in the "Obama's doing Bob Dole's presidency" way but in the "one of the scary-ass extremists running for the GOP ticket" way. And I fervently believe that the only way to prevent that is for Obama to move left, not right.
If he keeps ceding ground to the Republicans, he can't complain when voters decide, "Well, hell, if he thinks Republican ideas are so fucking great, we might as well vote in a Republican." Our Democratic president needs to be the alternative.
In recent days, the debt ceiling deal — which just passed the Senate and is about to be signed by the President — has sparked a fair amount of handwringing among liberals who worry that the fight shows the left has lost the larger argument over the proper role and scope of government in our society. Jared Bernstein and Kevin Drum have both argued that until liberals can make headway in that argument, the playing field in such fights will be dramatically tilted against them.
It's hard not to agree with these folks when you look at findings like this one from the internals of the new CNN poll... Sixty five percent approve of deal's spending cuts. But it gets worse. Of the 30 percent who disapprove, 13 percent think the cuts haven't gotten far enough, and only 15 percent think the cuts go too far. One sixth of Americans agree with the liberal argument about the deal. ... [I]t's hard to avoid the conclusion that the public is reflexively disposed to agree with the GOP's economic worldview, and is all-too-willing to blame government for our economic doldrums.
"We will only find success when a majority of Americans agrees with us that government is something worth fighting for," wrote Jared Bernstein. ... Liberals who still hope to shift the playing field have tons of work to do.
40%: President Obama's current approval rating, and his lowest to date, in the new Gallup poll.
Here's another number, which might have something to do with that approval rating: 0.1%. That's the rate of US consumer spending in the second quarter.
Congress is faring even worse. Democratic leaders have a 30% approval rating, and Republican leaders, who had a 36% approval rating a few months ago, now get a meager 25% approval.
There are a lot of unhappy people in this country, most of whom feel powerless to effect change, and rightly so, as their votes are exponentially diluted by corporate cash, thanks to the Supreme Court.
Zero: The number of shits I give about what church any presidential candidate attends or does not attend.
Obviously, I am interested in their religious views, if and when those religious views intersect with their policy positions, but, beyond that, who cares.
It really doesn't tell us anything that Michele Bachmann is/was a Lutheran, even a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran.
I was raised a Lutheran, a Missouri Synod Lutheran, which is only slightly less conservative than the Wisconsin Synod, and, even though the god-belief didn't really stick, I still believe a lot of the stuff I learned there, like "Treat people the way you want to be treated," a message that doesn't seem to mean much to Rep. Bachmann.
I'm not even the only contributor here who was raised Lutheran and is still very culturally Lutheran in a lot of ways. See also: Eastsidekate and PortlyDyke.
So. Yeah.
What matters isn't what Lutheran church Bachmann does or doesn't attend, in determining her beliefs. People believe what they want to believe, irrespective of what their church doctrine is. Bachmann's behavior and policy positions inform us what her beliefs are.
Started volunteering in for Obama re-election campaign in GA. Knocking on doors and calling people is a given and has to get down, but on top of that I’d like to try something new.
Art is a medium that everyone can appreciate. I would like to incorporate some kind of artistic aspect when communicating with others as a neutral thing. thatblckgrl used the “Genuine” when wanting to hear something from politicians. I can understand that. The “hope” piece of Obama in 2008 campaign became the visual slogan. But I’d like to make multiple pieces vs 1 trademark piece.
What kind of art do you like? What communicates to you? Would it matter where the art is?
photography, painting, sketches, abstract, cartoon, graphic design, video games, or other?
Mike recording at Rising Tide Studios, Athens, GA.
Brian recording at Rising Tide Studios, Athens, GA.
There’s an online vote for Georgia’s new standard plate. This is generally a cool idea, but what’s not cool is the fact that several of the designs feature the words “In God We Trust”. That’s nice. Because as a non-believer, that’s exactly what I want on my license plate (unless I spring for a specialty one - which I shouldn’t have to). The text seems to be covering the spot where the county name goes, but quite frankly I’m not taking the chance.
Let’s vote for this one! Simple, bold, and resembling a horse’s bum.
NEWS FLASH: Federal judge blocks controversial Georgia law cracking down on illegal immigrants from taking effect http://t.co/acPhF42
...especially in terms of equality. I've been busy all day today (so excuse the late updates), but I wanted to take a quick minute to praise my home state's passage of a Same-Sex Marriage Bill. Equal rights and love over bigotry is paramount to me, and even as a straight male, I see the incredible importance of this. So, just saying...yay for New York!
Democratic Representative Barney Frank and Republican Representative Ron Paul are living the bipartisan dream—by introducing legislation to "remove marijuana from the list of federal controlled substances and cede to the states enforcement of laws governing pot. The legislation would [also] allow individuals to grow and sell marijuana in states that make it legal."
That's one of the smartest pieces of legislation about which I've read in ages.
The bill has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled House.
““The Supreme Court is not bound by the code of conduct for federal judges, but justices have said they follow it voluntarily. Justice Clarence Thomas, however, does not appear to believe that he needs to adhere to those rules.””
- From an excellent New York Times editorial on the dismaying conduct of Justice Clarence Thomas: Cloud Over the Court - NYTimes.com
Fashion on the Streets of Atlanta.
DEFTONES by beardenb on Flickr.
Working through dinner has it’s perks. Atlanta’s own Red Brick Pale Ale. (Taken with Instagram at Tannery Row in the Adventure Advertising offices)
The full text is here. He pretty much reiterated what was reported Tuesday: He will order the withdrawal of 10,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and 20,000 more by next summer, leaving 70,000 there, who will be gradually withdrawn until security is handed over to Afghan authorities in 2014.
One of the most interesting parts of the speech was this:
Over the last decade, we have spent a trillion dollars on war, at a time of rising debt and hard economic times. Now, we must invest in America's greatest resource – our people. We must unleash innovation that creates new jobs and industry, while living within our means. We must rebuild our infrastructure and find new and clean sources of energy. And most of all, after a decade of passionate debate, we must recapture the common purpose that we shared at the beginning of this time of war. For our nation draws strength from our differences, and when our union is strong no hill is too steep and no horizon is beyond our reach.
America, it is time to focus on nation building here at home.
Leaving aside his usual pixie dust-farting unicorn pipedream of a unified nation with a common purpose, I'll just note that promising to end wars abroad to reinvest in the US is a brilliant idea, and "time to focus on nation building here at home" is a great line, except for the fact that it's BULLSHIT as long as "there is no appetite" for progressive economic policy in the White House, and the Democratic Senate Majority Leader brags about "historic" budget cuts made as part of a doomed austerity strategy which will fail to stimulate growth while simultaneously creating a greater strain on underfunded social programs.
The president talked a good game, as usual, but the reality is that he and his party's Senate leadership are busily endorsing Social Darwinism as their grand vision for America's future.
We have, unfortunately, absolutely no reason to believe that the funds currently being spent on the war machine will be used for anything but paying down debt.
Maybe hope Obama can create a nice little surplus for the next Republican president to squander. Jeb Bush should be ready to ruin the country by 2016 to complete this carousel of horrors.
8%: The percentage of likely US voters who think Congress is doing a good or excellent job, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
1. That number is not reflective of a functional representative democracy.
Today has so far been as I mentioned in the post title.
I started my day with meetings and lunch at one of the two major DPP-affiliated think tanks in Taiwan to get the lowdown on all things “Green.” (For those of you who don’t know, green is the color associated with the DPP. The KMT is the blue camp.)
It seems as if there is still a ways to go until a coherent party platform is articulated, especially as it relates to what the DPP will use instead of the “1992 Consensus” when it comes to negotiations with mainland China. However, there is still time before the joint presidential and LY (Legislative Yuan) elections in January 2012.
Then, as promised yesterday, I went to Ikea.
Ikeas in Asia are fun. In China, I used to marvel at how they were a happening “date night” spot. Young couples sitting on the Drvla sofa, with their feet propped up on the Oblinoe ottoman (or whatever those Swedes call crap), planning out their futures which may or may not include plywood furniture you put together yourself…
It was sort of similar in Taipei, though I went during the day so I saw more young people studying, or old ladies napping, or mothers with young children playing.
All in all, I think my visit was quite successful. I got another set of sheets (hopefully that will fit), another set of towels, a bathmat, a bedside lamp (which requires a screwdriver that I DON’T have), and some hooks which will need to be returned because they don’t fit over the door.
Grand total — 1582NTD or about $58.50.
Now, I’m off to National Chengchi University to meet an old friend and have some dinner. Though it is pouring rain, which isn’t incredibly exciting.
Taichung_20110501_13 (by Lordcolus)
Taiwan
hakka-styled greens
Island by HW.Wang on Flickr.
110603 2AM Taiwan FP - ???????/You wouldn’t Answer My Calls
Germany's Greens on course for federal government:
Green Party in Germany has settled in as 2nd strongest party in the wake of Fukushima - new blog post.
Karma charmeleon
Flickr: Air Berlin Airbus A320 D-ALTD (by 64N21W)
Day 1: Traveling
I left on June 11 at about 4:30 pm EST and arrived in Berlin around 8:00 am in their time making it a 9 1/2 hour flight. Then I connect to arrive in Munich.
I liked Air Berlin. They are very nice. The person checking me in at the counter in Miami was the same person to scan the tickets to let us in the plane. So, he remembered me, smiled, and greeted me again. I thought that was nice, granted, I stick out so I am not so difficult to recognize, but it was nice of him. :)
The flight attendants were good as well. I guess the ones for international flights are more happy with their position than the domestic ones. They were willing to go back and find my meal even though I slept through when they were serving it. (Although, I should have remained asleep since the food was not so good.)
Although, it was kind of funny. I was sitting next to this French backpacker guy. He is dark skinned as well, but I guess the people assumed we were together, so they were handing me two of everything while he was asleep, and I’m just there like, Umm, I don’t know this guy…we don’t even speak the same language.
Sleeping on the plane was awkward. Usually, I would flirt with the person next to me so that I can lean on them, but I don’t like the French so much (I’m sorry, I’m an awful person, yes). The douche behind me, was like raging a kicking crusade on the back of my seat. I think he figured I would put it up if he kept kicking, so I made it lower. Usually, I am not such a dick, but it’s a 9 hour flight.
Most of all, I was scared that my luggage would not arrive, it was checked all the way to Munich, so I did not even have visual verification that it left Miami. It was nice to not have to physically walk it through border control, though. I hate that.
Anyways, I forgot my blanket and bus pass holder, which is too bad, since they would have been useful. I missed them while I was freaking out over the luggage limit of 8kg for the carry-on (17 lbs). Although, it did not matter so much. It was liberating to travel a little lighter, though. But I was freaking out the whole time, I asked some random person at passport control if it went through, but of course, language barrier. I learned the word for luggage, though.
Oh and to connect, the terminal was in a different building. I had to leave and walk a long ramp. Berlin airport is weird.
Connecting flight was 10 minutes late. So I was certain that my luggage was not going to arrive since it finally showed up, and we boarded very quickly. The plane seemed pretty new. It was a Boeing something or the other.
Oh, and another thing interesting was the photographers leaning over the barbed wire airport fence to take photos. That would not be allowed in the US.
Anyways, when I got to Munich, the bags took forever, but when they came out I was SOOOOO relieved.
Then I needed to figure out where I was going. No one was there with a sign, and I had no clue who was picking me up. But they found me.
Oh, no. That’s totally normal. I think that happens to most, if not all girls. You could probably discuss it with somebody on this blog:
http://fuckperiods.tumblr.com
It’s an advice blog specifically dedicated to period issues and stories.
xo, Lilly.
Comparing MyPlate to farm subsidies If the USDA says that vegetables and fruits should make up half of our diets, why does less than 1 percent of its food subsidies go to farmers who grow produce?
Drink 1/8 lemon and water every morning.
Why? Drinking lemon water helps you maintain a higher metabolism, fights hunger cravings, helps you lose weight faster and boosts your immune system, to name just a few benefits!
PS. It is recommended to drink the lemon water hot.
A Deficiency of Vitamins Can Actually Have Serious Health Consequences.: Symptoms of deficiency of...
My last name happens to be Popp, so you’d think I would drink alot of that carmel colored goodness that lurks in every vending machine, and food joint across America. I do drink pop (or soda for some of you folks), I enjoy it from time to time but its has become more of a “reward” than being a regular staple in my diet. Soft-drinks have been under much scrutiny over the last few years by many health officials because these drinks are seen as excess calories, especially amongst kids. Really, they are. Most sugar sweetened beverages contain around 150 kcals per serving, and if consumed in excess over an entire year can lead to around 10-12 lbs of weight gain just from these drinks alone!
In a recent study in adult males, the consumption of sugar-sweetened (or non-diet) beverages was highly correlated with an increased risk for the development of type-2 diabetes. Type-2 diabetes is a very serious disease, and one that is preventable! Type-2 diabetes results in your body pretty much becoming insulin resistant, that is to say that the insulin you produced has NO EFFECT on lowering your blood sugar levels (insulin is released after a meal to decrease your blood glucose levels). The result: you have very high glucose levels that can lead to a whole cohort of issues.
So, sugar-sweetened beverages are correlated with risk for developing type-2 diabetes, anything else? Yes, the study also found an inverse relationship between coffee drinkers and type-2 diabetes. Coffee is low in sugar so it would make sense that they are inversely related. They also found that artificially sweetened drinks—those lower in calories and sugar—were not associated with an increase risk for type 2 diabetes. This would also make sense because a lower sugar, lower calorie drink would not have that great of an effect on insulin secretion, similar to coffee. But, they happened to analyze another group of studies on beverage consumption and type-2 diabetes. These studies found a positive correlation with artificially sweetened drinks and diabetes (opposite of what this study found). They mentioned that artificially sweetened drinks might actually stimulate individuals to increase consumption of sweet foods at subsequent meals, but this was seen more as an idea rather than something that was proven true in the study. I mention this because it raises an interesting thought. Have you ever had a bite of a cookie, or ice cream and immediately wanted more? I am sure you have, we all have. Its so hard to put sweet foods down! The observation that artificially sweetened drinks stimulates an increase in the consumption of sweet foods plays off this idea—we want more of a good thing! Sweet foods have found to stimulate the pleasure center in the brain, sugar increases a hormone called dopamine—the pleasure hormone (Sex, and some drugs (like cocaine) also stimulate dopamine).
This study was interesting because it raised some intriguing points. The sample population was limited (white, adult males), which does not represent the entire population as a whole. But, it can provide some information between increased consumption of sugar sweetened beverages, and possibly even artificially sweetened beverages, and there role in the development of a preventable disease.
Try and cut back on the ever-so sugar sweet beverages—they’re not so sweet on your waistline! And personally, I think these drinks are okay but in moderation. Consume diet, tea, coffee, favored water or any zero-calorie drinks if you can.
Collin
Sweet Cherries Diet: Cherries also contain high levels of nutrients such potassium, and...Maize Vitamins and Nutritional Benefits: Corn cleanses the digestive system is useful for...
This post is going to be about the long road it took for me to get proper care, care I only started receiving last year.
For most people with bipolar disorder it can take up to ten years. One in four are lucky enough to get it in less than three.
According to Dr Wes Burgess in his Bipolar Handbook: “A recent study showed that almost 70% of bipolar patients had been misdiagnosed more than 3 times before receiving their correct diagnosis”.
I was misdiagnosed three times. Depression. Anxiety. Hormonal imblance. Voodoo Curse.
It took me three years to get a correct diagnosis.
It took me three more years to get treatment for it.
I’m going to refrain from making this entry really triggering because honestly I think that anyone who has fought with this kind of bullshit could find some help in reading this. That if you’ve stopped and given up you need to look and go “Damn, maybe I should try again.”
Keep going and don’t stop, because even if you get proper treatment you will be burdened from shit from all sides. It’s not just mental illness it’s for anyone who has suffered from a chronic lifelong disease.
This is just my personal experience and I just hope it echoes among some people. I have been worse off than some, much much more fortunate than most.
When I look back to when I was a child I can remember early niggling signs that something was wrong.
I thought about things too hard. Wondered if people didn’t like me. Little moments were blown up, VERY, little moments. I focused on them and I got angry and then I got overwhelmed and I cried. I cried a lot. I was put out in the hall for crying.
I was asked by teachers “Why” was I crying.
The answer is the same as it was then: “I don’t know.”
I learned to get some grip on it. I would pull myself away from the situation if I could. Choke back tears in the hallway or bathroom. Move on.
I learned that crying was bad because it made other people uncomfortable. While some can solve this emotional issue by warming up, making the crying stop through gentle words, soft gestures- I was not lucky enough to have these people as my parents.
I was punished for crying. Screamed at to stop. Why was I crying. WHY?
They did not see the emotions whirriing in my head they did not see the negative thoughts repeat themselves at a mile a minute. They did not see my mind become an ouroboros of self destructive thoughts.
It was just me. Crying.
It got worse through puberty. Other symptoms reared their ugly head. I don’t think I’m ever going to talk about some of the stuff that happened then.
One day I found myself in a counselers office, sobbing almost uncontrolably. Trying to calm myself while the woman on the other side stared at me wide eyed, my panic causing HER to panic. She called my mom and told her “YOUR CHILD NEEDS TO GO TO THERAPY.” The way she worded it just made it sound like a punishment.
Get this kid outta here! I don’t know what the fuck to do with em! Gettin tears all over the damn place!
I walked home and I cried home and I couldn’t remember what set me off originally or why it even mattered. I was just a bundle of mixed up brain chemistry, my mind sloshing and crackling.
My parents told me, once again, that I was just a very emotional and sensitive child and I shouldn’t listen to that woman I mean my grades were good I don’t need therapy!
My grades were good because I didn’t find High School particularly demanding. To put it in context: My highschool just graduated my brother, who did almost nothing the entire year and had F’s almost all across the board. The fear of graduating High School was almost non existant.
Then there was college. An art school that was 72 hours a week of anxiety.
I did not do well.
My symptoms exploded. It is not uncommon for people in their 20’s to get a real taste of their mental illness, because that is when things start to get really hard. When we get a taste of the amount of responsibility it is to be an adult.
I was diagnosed with depression.
The zoloft they gave me did help with the depression but it sent me spiraling into mania. People liked me more because I was “happy”. I was happy until it dove back into an aggravated mania again. Then I was angry. Then not only was I running over with hate, I had the energy to act on it.
“Jeez what a bitch!”
Then I crashed and became bedridden and sad.
“If only if you weren’t so lazy, if you tried harder.”
Those calm “normal” moments between symptoms were becoming rarer and rarer.
“This is hormonal you know, maybe if you ate right and exercised and took vitamins you would feel better!”
When I was nervous I ate, and I ate a lot. I gained a lot of weight. Sometimes I would stop eating, then I gained more from such inconsistent dietary patterns. Sometimes I didn’t want to leave my bed because of overwhelming depression.
My brain was causing my body to fall apart. It was causing everything to fall apart.
In ‘07 after having such a severe panic attack that my nose bled violently, I decided I wanted to see a therapist.
Six months later.
I saw a therapist.
I was too frightened of the idea that I was a failure, that I was sick, that I was wrong, that I would have to see a “shrink”.
I am lucky to be blessed with a wonderful therapist. A warm, kind, therapist. A therapist who took someone into her office who was crying and shaking and calmed them and offered them options and didn’t react with fear like so many had before. A therapist who will perform sessions over the phone if I am too upset to get out of bed. A therapist who will speak to my parents and explain to them what they are dealing with.
My first psychiatrist?
No.
My first psychiatrist was an oddly cold man who really didn’t care about what I had to say. One who made the same mistakes that many have before and looked at me, my weight, and gave me things that might help my WEIGHT and not my HEAD.
He put me on things that made bipolar people agitated. I told him that I had been diagnosed. Why was he doing this?
I attempted suicide in ‘07.
I was sent to the hospital for three days and the amount it cost was so staggering that I didn’t go back to see my therapist or psychiatrist (nevermind that I didn’t really want to see my psych anyway)
I stayed on the medications that did nothing, in fact they made me worse.
I trundled along. I dealt with it.
Then another bad person came into my life, another awful person that shoved my head into the dirt and used my hardships against me.
“You fucking loser!”
“Good luck making anything of yourself!”
“You’re so fucking lazy!”
I had a psychotic episode.
I finally returned to my warm therapist and she was disturbed to find me in that state and she insisted that I was going to see her every single week until things got stable because if things didn’t I would have to go straight to a hospital or I might die or I might kill.
So I got treatment. She talked me through it. I found a better psychiatrist. A man who specializes in bipolar disorder. He is warm he is kind he genuinely cares about my life. He carefully balances the medications that keep me going.
I don’t know why it has to be so hard to find people like this.
Doctors that aren’t shitty, who care.
I see so many people suffering who have stopped seeking treatment because their doctors didn’t care. Because their doctors spoke down to them. Because the people who should be helping them are just adding to yet another in a list of people who just don’t give a fuck, and would rather blame you for making THEM uncomfortable.
So let me just briefly stop and say that if you have the option to go see someone. PLEASE see someone. Do your research. Get some help. I don’t care if it’s a mental illness or a physical chronic condition just go out and do your research and call someone that can help you make your life a little less shitty. I’m only twenty-five and I feel like all my early opportunities have been destroyed because I did not have proper care. My story may be shocking to some but I am LUCKY. I have lived with people who have suffered and will most likely never get treatment.
Treatment isn’t easy.
I had to take a lot of different medications to find the ones that worked. Each persons brain chemistry is different. I had to take things that made me go up and down. Fogged me up. Made me too sick to eat. Gave me the shakes. I had to take up to eight different medications at one point.
Amounts were varied. Times I had to take medications were varied. Everything was slightly adjusted each week.
It got better but it got better slowly.
I didn’t realize that I was “cured” until one day my mother announced to the family that she had cancer.
Of course I was stunned.
I was overwhelmed.
But I did not curl up into that same depressed ball. I did not attack myself. I could comfort her and I could help my family and that is the greatest gift I have received from all this. I am no longer in pain and I am no longer spreading my pain. I told my mom that despite how much shit we’ve been through and how much fighting has happened and that while I don’t always agree with her and we will always be very different people I love the hell out of her.
One week later we found out that the cancer was a misdiagnosis. I was relieved and I was so happy that this was only an emotional “fire drill”. That I really was ready for the worse. That life wasn’t going to crush me.
While we still have tiny ups and downs my mother and I have gotten along almost perfectly since the incident and I would not trade that for the world. She has come with me to therapy, she understands my symptoms now, and when I am being manic she no longer acts with anger but with “Hey are you taking care of yourself like you should?” Then I stop, I think, then I remember that I drank a bunch of caffeine. Whoops!
Treatment has been the best thing for me but it will never be easy.
This morning I missed work, work that I was VERY lucky to have. Work that I REALLY need right now.
Because I was suffering from lithium withdrawl.
I have been going through it the last few days and I’m shaky and I won’t eat and I can’t sleep and little whirs of thought race through my brain. This article? I’ve already thought about it, milled over it, written it in my head about 50 times.
I cannot stop. I’m manic.
I did attempt to pick up my medication. I am very good about making sure it’s refilled properly. I do not like being off medication because I don’t like the withdrawals and the symptoms tumbling back even worse then before. I like feeling good.
So when I came to my pharmacy. They didn’t have it. They did not have the most common medication available for the mentally ill.
Call back tomorrow.
Maybe it will be in.
It will definately be in in two weeks though!
Cool. Two weeks. Right before I leave for a vacation I’ve been planning, scrimping, and saving for for four months. A potentially very very stressful vacation.
Fantastic
This has happened before. It seems to have happened with every single medication I’m on. I take four different kinds consistantly. Four in the morning, three at night.
Then there are pills for pain, for anxiety, for sleeplessness. They are to be taken as needed.
My road to recovery is never ending because there is no recovery. Every day I just learn to make it a little bit easier. I learn how to deal with the crap that life throws at me. Inconsiderate people, shitty doctors, not sleeping properly. I try not to dwell on it. Most of the time I don’t think about my illness beyond “did you take your pills yet?”.
Sometimes being on treatment is obnoxious. Sometimes you will meet people who are inconsiderate. Sometimes you will be so so tired of having to take pills and to go to appointments and get blood drawn.
But it’s worth it. Because if you don’t your symptoms will grow and overwhelm you. They will hobble your life and suck the joy out of it. You will be robbed of so many opportunities.
If you can’t get treatment. Seek alternative methods. Look up things that, while they probably can’t cure, they can make things easier. Hold on. Understand your symptoms so you have a better idea of how to control them.
Do not let this beast devour you from the inside out.
[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]
Video Blog - 12 / 06 / 11
Just another simple blog. Just letting you know what I’m up to and a short discussion of the book i’m reading ‘Run Your Butt Off’.
Anthony Weiner should really just resign already. Under mounting pressure from fellow politicians, and with police getting involved in his recent spat of Twitter exchanges, the embattled Congressman has announced a leave of absence from his post.
Can one seek professional help for being a horny moron?
A statement from Weiner's camp reads: "[Congressman Weiner] will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well. Congressman Weiner takes the views of his colleagues very seriously and has determined that he needs this time to get healthy and make the best decision possible for himself, his family and his constituents."
Read more via thehollywoodgossip.com by Hilton Hater
Celeb Power blog existence is for providing quality content and the rumors and gossips surrouding the entertainment industry. It covers four wood's of the world. Hollywood being number one, bollywood second, tollywood third and lastly lollywood film industry.
Its easy to say then done but celeb power will work hard to provide good information about celebrities in a cheerful manner. Also other fun entertainment will also be provided. Celeb power just not talks about the film celebrities, its other reason for existence to focus on other professional industries as well. Like, sports, politics teachers, writers etc.
Celebrity in my view is that person who is known by the public. Yes, i used the word known not liked. I mean any person can become celebrity that is famous over night but that does not mean he or she is also liked. So the focus of this celeb-power.blogspot.com blog will remain clear for its audience.
Also it aims to look at latest fashion trends, music, gaming, technology and health and also travel and tours. Celeb-power will keep a keen eye on the things happening around the world. No news is good news as long as it is made one.
I have very tough competition but hey no business is without competition. And competition means health growth. It will not be easy to work on the site but hopefully it will be updated on daily basis.
So do not forget to be a part of my blog. Visit it, read it, enjoy it and also follow it.
Well i do not see any future of Egypt now. What it seemed to be a peaceful country now seems like a dead one and soon a vanished one. We all muslims will always face such problems as we are not united. Barak Obama the president of USA wants Mubarak to fulfill his promise towards his nation. Well he is trying is level best and also Egypt aint that bad in Economy at the moment. But now i am sure its worse.
Egyptian muslims future is now at stake. I do not know about the others nations and races living there but muslims will surely suffer.
Like muslims in pakistan are suffering. Recently the killing of muslims(Pakistani) by American nationalists. If this was done in America i am sure that person would have been called a terrorist. Well UN exists then why still is'nt there peace.
Barak Obama needs to apply some good foreign policies for the muslim world. We all want peace but to have peace we need to stand united. And this can only happen if the powerful nations of the world like usa, china, uk, germany unite and help other third world countries.
Egyptian history is tortured now because of the riots taking place. The government is falling down. And as usual the muslim countries are doing nothing.
Stumbled upon this, from a liberal, Hillary lovin' site called, aptly, Hillbuzz.org. The editor in chief, Kevin DuJan, sent a letter to Rush Limbaugh, who proudly has proclaimed it on his site... and reading it, its fascinating.
I just finished a book called "Gamechange", which is the behind-the-scenes story of the 2008 presidential election, and over half of the book is spent on the relationship, and lack thereof, of He Who Must Not Be Re-Elected and She Who Thought She Should Have Been Elected. She was the heir apparent and deserved her shot--Bob Dole in 1996 comes to mind, though nobody had a shot against Slick Willie back then, so Dole was put up just as a "here's your chance, you earned it, enjoy your failure". Hillary, however, thought... no, knew she had a show, so much so that she already had her transition team in place BEFORE the primaries started. Thats "transition" as in, transition to the White House.
Well, I'll get to that book later, I've been meaning to review it for a few days now because its the best book I've read all year, but in reading this article, it confirmed a few things that I had learned in the book. Not only was Hillary blindsided by the media attention that was given to Obama (media love that was formerly for her and her alone), she was shellshocked that that same media would overlook anything and everything when it came to He Who Must Not Be Re-Elected, but then would turn around and pick up the tiniest little detail on the Clintons and broadcast it via negative ads and stories... she learned what Republicans deal with all the freakin' time.
Understand I have no love for Hillary, and thought she'd be a terrible president too--Hillarycare was also in the works, resurrected from the early 90s when it bombed, so Obama isn't alone in his tomfoolery, but I would have taken her over what we have any day.
I also recognize this is an opinion piece, an open letter to Rush and his listeners, but its fascinating nonetheless.
By the way, when I read "To Hell with the Democrats", I immediately thought of Stryper in tight, yellow and black striped pants yelling "To Hell with the Devil!!", though in some cases, I don't know that the two are much different. Anyway, Kevin DuJan writes:
Dear Rush,
It’s my great hope that some of your listeners find a way to get this letter to you, or that it makes it to “Snerdley” and finds its way into your hands. I don’t think even you understand just how much damage Obama has done to the Democrat Party — to the point where formerly lifelong Democrats like myself, and everyone here at HillBuzz.org, are actively working to expose the party and literally burn it to the ground for the good of the country.
Sez the Author (pictured): When Obama and the DNC .attacked Hillary and her supporters, they permanently alienated tens of millions of us from the party. I know for a fact I am not the only guy with a picture like this on his wall who is working every day to bring down the Obama White House and Democrat Party. Not for Hillary, though I love the woman, but for America... because I love this country even more.
None of this is being reported in the media, but a Civil War in the Democrat ranks has been raging since May 31st, 2008…a date every Hillary Clinton supporter knows well, because that was the date of the Democrat Rules & Bylaws Committee Meeting where Howard Dean (then-DNC Chair), Donna Brazile, and scores of other Kool-Aid slurping Obama flunkies took off their masks and revealed the full extent of the Leftist coup that had taken over the party. This was the day when the DNC took delegates Hillary Clinton won in Michigan away from her and handed them to Obama (despite the fact he wasn’t even on the primary ballot in that state, because he removed his name when his campaign realized he’d come in third in that race).
May 31st, 2008 was a day when Hillary “babes” (as you call us sometimes) like us flew to Washington in large numbers to stand outside the Marriott near the National Zoo, where this Rules & Bylaws Committee Meeting was held, to shout for the DNC to count all the votes and operate the nominating process fairly — but they refused. The anger over that day has never abated. In fact, it’s grown considerably since then.
This was the determining factor in millions of us leaving the Democrat Party for good. This was the day when the P.U.M.A. movement began — in response to Donna Brazile’s calls for “party unity” following the Rules & Bylaws Committee Meeting, we “Hillary babes” said “Party Unity My A$$” (or People United Means Action, depending on how you want to phrase it). Exit polls showed 8 million PUMA voted Republican for the first time in our lives in the fall of 2008…casting ballots for McCain/Palin (and in truth, mainly for Palin, whom we support, and not to a small degree because she receives many of the same attacks lobbed at Hillary Clinton all these years).
You seem to know most of all this, so I’ll end the history lesson by noting the people alienated by the Democrat Party during the primaries in 2008 — where it was clear the party and the media colluded at great lengths to push Obama while hammering Hillary Clinton into the ground — never came back to the Democrat Party.
This is also when most of us stopped using the term “Democratic Party”, since there’s nothing “democratic” about these people. They are the “Democrat Party”, and even that is hard to acknowledge because they really and truly have proved themselves to be enemies of real democracy.
I’m still registered as a Democrat here in Chicago (because the Cocktail Party GOP establishment so disgusts me I can’t will myself to party-ID Republican, and there’s no Independent option here in Illinois) but I can’t imagine ever voting for another Democrat again, as long as I live. To Hell with Democrats. This was solidified for me on Christmas Eve of last year, when Democrats rushed Obamacare through the Senate in the dead of night, through various secret channels, and every single Democrat voted for its passage (even supposed moderates like Evan Bayh in Indiana, who quickly realized his vote would cost him re-election…so the coward retired rather then face angry voters over what he did). I just don’t believe Democrats should be given elected office by voters because they cannot be trusted to even read bills before they vote on them, not even when said bills seek to permanently alter the entire American economy. This is reckless and reprehensible to the point of treason.
I was a Democrat for 32 years before the heavy-handed push for Obama alienated me from the party…and I borrow what Hillary Clinton said about Republicans once, back when she was a Goldwater Girl, and will paraphrase by saying that I didn’t leave the Democrat Party, the Democrat Party left me.
After it beat me to a pulp, called me a racist, berated and insulted me, and used Alinsky Rules to hit me with everything it had. Not just me, but all Hillary supporters.
This is the part I don’t think you understand because I don’t know if you and your listeners paid much attention to what the Obama campaign and DNC did to malign and assault Hillary Clinton’s supporters during the 2008 campaign. None of this has been forgotten by any of us.
If you have not seen it already, Rush, you need to watch Gigi Gaston’s documentary “We Will Not Be Silenced 2008″. I’m featured in a segment on the voter fraud that was committed in the Iowa Caucus back in January of 2008. While I was always aware Democrats use unions and other means to cheat in elections, I never knew the Democrat Party was capable of the large-scale, aggressive, unapologetic fraud it committed on Obama’s behalf all through 2008. In Iowa, I watched Obama’s ACORN and SEIU goons push and shove old people, bully them, and intimidate them when they wanted to vote for Hillary Clinton. I saw scores of Illinois license plates fill the parking lots outside caucus locations, with Chicagoland Obama supporters illegally entering the Caucus sites to vote for Obama and game Iowa for him. Having planned ahead, Obama supporters actually RAN those caucus sites, and held the doors open for all these fraudulent voters to walk right in, without being asked for IDs, where they then took control of the caucuses and bullied the Iowa residents into supporting Obama — lest they be called RAAACISTS! out in the open in front of their friends and neighbors in those open-air caucuses.
The media has never talked about this. I don’t remember ever hearing you talk about it. But one of the biggest reasons the Democrats are in the trouble they’re in right now is because of how frequently the Left and the media (one and the same, really) called anyone who opposed Obama a RAAACIST. If you supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries instead of Obama, you were called a RAAACIST. If you were someone like me who fundraised for Hillary, who hosted events for her, who put yourself out there and wrote columns advocating her or did media spots talking up her candidacy, you were aggressively targeted by the Obama campaign and his supporters…relentlessly attacked as a RAAACIST! and assaulted with the Alinksy Rules for Radicals in hopes of breaking your spirit, terrorizing you, and making you abandon Clinton for fear of having these people destroy your life, ruin your business, and make you an absolute pariah in your community.
This is what the Obama campaign, the media, and the DNC did to DEMOCRATS.
For almost a year, the Obama zealots and the Left waged all-out-war not just on Hillary Clinton, but on lifelong, loyal, dyed-in-the-wool Democrat voters like me. This came straight from the top, from Obama himself. Both he and his wife Michelle called the Clintons racists. Obama’s surrogates like James Clyburne, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, John Lewis, and others called Geraldine Ferraro, Madeline Albright, and others racists. The Obamas toxified the South Carolina primary, in particular, with foul race-baiting and turned North Carolina and Indiana into racial powder kegs by ramping up accusations that anyone not supporting Obama was a vile racist that needed to be pounded into the ground.
Stephanie Tubb Jones
Stephanie Tubbs Jones, my former Congresswoman back home in Cleveland, was a black Hillary Clinton supporter to the very end — and she was called a “race-traitor”, an “Aunt Jane”, and all manner of worse names as she was bullied, berated, and verbally assaulted by the Obama team…because she was black and dared to stand with her friend Hillary Clinton, the person Tubbs Jones knew would make a better president than “The One”. To her dying day in August of 2008, Tubbs Jones was threatened by the Obama campaign and told she’d be primaried in 2010 and kicked to the curb for being a “race-traitor”. She died of a brain aneurysm while driving her car, and Obama supporters filled Daily Kos, DemocratUnderground, and other George Soros-supported sites with lies about her drunk driving, doing drugs, and other slurs because even after she died these people wouldn’t stop hating her for daring to be an outspoken black woman who would never abandon Hillary for Obama.
This is similar to the grief that I’ve received here in Chicago for being a gay Hillary former Democrat in Boystown who never drank any Kool-Aid, never stopped speaking out against Obama, and who recently fully came out as a conservative — in the face of the same kind of Alinsky-grade, identity-based, “traitor” hectoring that Tubbs Jones got for being a black woman who didn’t kneel before the Obama altar.
Well, Rush, let me just tell you, from personal experience, that the tens of millions of people relentlessly abused and hounded by Obama supporters (remember that back in 2008 he urged his followers to “get in their faces” and “confront their neighbors” if they weren’t drinking his unicorn-pumped sparkly Kool-Aid ) will NEVER EVER FORGET what the Obama campaign directed at them, in terms of all this Alinsky bullying.
To quote Jeremiah Wright, the man Obama spent twenty years eagerly listening to at Trinity United Church of Christ: somebody’s chickens have now come back to roost.
In this video of America's Pastor, here's the context of "America's chickens have come home to roost"... apparently, he was using a quote from Malcolm X, but whether he added to it or quoted directly, there's little doubt as to his agreement with the sentiment. Also, he quotes former US Ambassador Edward Peck, but Peck said later he was taken out of context.
During the campaign, Donna Brazile famously said that the Democrat Party no longer needed the people Obama once described as “bitter, religion-and-guns-clinging, Midwesterners”. Brazile took this further and said, outright, that the Democrat party did not need blue-collar white voters, the Jacksonian voters, the Hillary voters, because the party was “Obamafied” and would win elections for generations with the Obama coalition of blacks, Leftist elites, Hispanics, low information gay voters, and self-hating Jews.
This is all the Democrats have left, Rush.
Speaking from personal experience, as someone who has worked in fundraising for over 10 years and who has been a part of every presidential campaign since 1992, the Democrats have permanently alienated tens of millions of people who normally turned out reliably every year not just to vote Democrat, but also to write checks and otherwise participate in campaigns.
No more. Never again.
Here in Chicago, just about everyone who was part of Team Hillary efforts with me on the ground has completely divorced themselves from the Democrat Party. Being called a racist repeatedly and hearing from Donna Brazile that we are not needed will do that to a person.
But in a bigger sense, Democrats, by being so shameless and aggressive with the voter fraud in 2008 have opened too many eyes for us to ever go back to pretending that fraud and corrupt practices aren’t the hallmark of the Democrat Party.
There was a show on ABC a few years ago called Alias starring Jennifer Garner in which she played a woman working for a company called Credit Dauphine…which she was told was a front for a CIA organization called SD6. Garner’s character, Sidney Bristow, carried out her missions for SD6, overlooking different things the organization did that she might not have liked, because she thought she was doing what was best for the country. And then, one day, Sidney learned SD6 was actually an enemy of America…that it’s real mission was to destroy the country…that everything Sidney was told about SD6 was a lie. The mask came off SD6, and Sidney Bristow realized she had to work aggressively to take the whole enterprise down.
Rush (and his listeners), please hear me on this because you will not read this in the media — but just about every one of us from the Hillary 2008 campaign is a Sidney Bristow today.
Those of us who worked Democrat campaigns in the past put up with union associations and the other unsavory aspects of being a Democrat because we were told this was the only way Democrats could win…with union muscle. But, in 2008 the Democrats revealed themselves to be an SD6 conglomeration of every force in this country that wants to bring America down, tank our economy, usurp our Constitution, and lay waste to the American way of life.
Democrats took off the mask. The DNC reveled in being fully Leftist-controlled. Crazy people unapologetic in their Communist admiration took over positions of great influence not just in the DNC, but in our state and federal governments as well.
I’m horrified by that.
Hillary supporters are horrified by that.
And we have not sat back quietly to allow this to happen without a fight.
I know for a fact that people I worked with on the Hillary 2008 campaign have been actively working against every single Democrat who supported Obama’s nomination. Everyone who backstabbed Hillary Clinton is being undermined and sabotaged by people who might still be registered as Democrats but have no more loyalty to the party. Sometimes, conservative sites try to make this into a “sour grapes” sort of “Hillary’s revenge” meme — and there might be a taste of this in what’s going on — but the real driving force is that we former Democrats saw just how insane these people really are and we are now doing everything we can, behind the scenes, to use everything we know about the Democrat Party to collapse it from within.
If you think about it logically, there is not enough energy to sustain a years-long drive to remove Obama supporters from office just because people are still upset Hillary Clinton was not the 2008 nominee and is not president today. Sometimes, I think even you believe this is what this is all about. Your “Reverse Operation Chaos” initiative seems predicated on this, but that belief is apocryphal in that it misses a few big marks.
This is and it isn’t about Hillary.
What it’s really about is what the Democrat Party did to Hillary that alienated tens of millions of Jacksonian/Clintonian/middleclass Americans from the party permanently — and this includes what the party and Obama campaign did to Hillary’s supporters themselves (ie, calling them racists, telling them they weren’t wanted, calling them bitter clingers, etc.).
For the first time in our lives, so many of us former Democrats were given an Alinsky taste of what the Democrat Party really stand for…what it really believes…and how it really feels about America, our Constitution, our economy, and our way of life.
Howard Dean, Donna Brazile, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Obama took the mask off the Democrat Party…and the Leftist gorgon that lurked beneath is something America-loving, middleclass, Jacksonian/Clintonian Democrats want nothing to do with.
As part of your “Reverse Operation Chaos”, you really need to emphasize something the media just won’t talk about — and that’s the simple fact that even if you called yourself a Democrat for 32 years, the way I did, because everyone you grew up with and everyone in your family was a Democrat, that in 2010 it’s time to ask yourselves what that really means.
Do you want to be in a party that calls people racists for stepping out of line and voicing opposition to the socialist lurch of the current administration?
Do you condone voter fraud and the shameless, undemocratic tactics employed by Democrats?
Do you wish to associate with the likes of ACORN, the SEIU, the Black Panthers, and all the other thugs, goons, and degenerates the Obama campaign and White House employ as the DNC’s muscle on the ground?
It is crystal clear that being a patriotic American who loves this country is intellectually incompatible with being a Democrat. If you love America and want it to prosper, the Democrat Party is at absolute odds with everything we need for a thriving, successful economy.
Hillary supporters realize this.
We received a heaping helping of Alinsky assaults to wake us up to this reality.
The reason so many of us support Governor Palin is not just because we see the same Alinksy assaults being waged upon her…but the woman is pitch-perfect in outlining exactly why Obama and the Left are wrong, and why Democrats under Obama are dangerous to have in elected office.
I know you talk about a “Hillary 2012″ but Rush, as much as I love Hillary Clinton, and as much as I worked my heart out for her in 2008, there’s no way that even she can repair the damage Obama has done to the party. Certainly not by 2012. MAYBE the Clintons and their supporters can purge the Obama lunatics from the party by 2016…but I doubt even that will happen. Just like with the Leftists Carter infected the Democrat Party with, Obama legacy hires will be in the DNC for a generation to come…and it might not be until the 2030s before the Democrats can remove the taint Obama and his Leftist agenda have put on the party.
Democrats have made themselves synonymous with anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-democracy. Obama and his acolytes decidedly upped the ante when it came to their aggressive push towards socialism…and this Center-Right nation is resisting it in what I am certain will be an epic refudiation (to borrow the Governor’s term) next week.
Claire McCaskill, D-MO, looking at He Who Must No Be Re-Elected with the love that much of the country looked at him in 2008... but not so much now.
On November 3rd, no one I know will be resting on any laurels. November 3rd starts the 2012 campaign…and not just the presidential race (where we’ll back Governor Palin) but the drive to knock people like Claire McCaskill out of office, continuing our work to take down every last one of the Obama supporters who backstabbed Hillary Clinton and helped install this socialist into the White House back in 2008. When you hear talk of a Hillary “enemies’ list”, or just “The List” as we call it in HRC supporter circles, this is very much real…and we are truly committed to making sure the Claire McCaskills out there get everything that is coming to them for all their service to Obama and his agenda.
Hear that, Ben Nelson…voters will be coming for you.
You and everyone like you.
Every last one of you.
If you voted for Obamacare, you are politically dead but may not know it…and it is your own fault. Being intensely stupid is no defense. If you were a YES vote on anything related to Obamacare you are going to be defeated…if not in 2010, then in the primaries in 2012. If you survive those, you will be taken down in the 2012 general election. Your political career is over…dummy. Hope your time on the Obama Kool-Aid bandwagon was worth ruining your life over.
We will not forget those Obamacare votes. We will not forgive being called a racist because we don’t support this terrible man and his awful agenda. We will not be silenced.
We will not give up.
It’s going to be years, if ever, before the lamestream media ever catches up to any of this, and realizes that a large swath of people who used to be Democrat loyalists are now doing everything they can to destroy the party. Some of them are out and open, like me and my friends here at HillBuzz, but many are doing their part quietly. They just stop writing checks. Or maybe now they write checks to Democrat opponents. They might continue to attend events and fundraisers, but now they call up Republican sites and give them all the dirt on what they heard in those meetings. The Democrat Party alienated so many people who are now working to bring it down that I could go on for pages and pages more on this topic.
It’s very Sidney Bristow, Rush. And if you watched that show Alias, you’d know she not only won in the end, but looked damn good kicking ass while doing it.
THAT, El Rushbo, is what your “Hillary babes” are up to.
Here in Boystown, and in every town, because the Civil War Howard Dean, Donna Brazile, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Obama started on May 31st, 2008 is raging without end until the Democrat Party is no more.
Tell your listeners to count on that.
Kevin DuJan Editor-in-Chief, HillBuzz.org Hillary “Babe” in Buzzquarters, Boystown
The original article is found here. Keep in mind that I copied and pasted the article exactly, but ALL italics for emphasis, links and video were added by me... in addtion, the first picture of the article, with DuJan and Hillary, and the text of the caption were the authors, all other photos and captions added by me. Thanks...
...oh, and why not just give you the link and let you see it for yourself? Cause I want you to spend time on my site, not somewhere else. Duh.
