Quite an interesting look at how our form of government was doomed to devolve into the mess it is today.

In a merciful twist of fate, Juan Linz did not quite live to see his prophecy of the demise of American democracy borne out. Linz, the Spanish political scientist who died last week, argued that the presidential system, with its separate elections for legislature and chief executive, was inherently unstable. In a famous 1990 essay, Linz observed, “All such systems are based on dual democratic legitimacy: No democratic principle exists to resolve disputes between the executive and the legislature about which of the two actually represents the will of the people.” Presidential systems veered ultimately toward collapse everywhere they were tried, as legislators and executives vied for supremacy. There was only one notable exception: the United States of America.
[…]
To weaponize the debt ceiling, you must be willing to inflict harm on millions of innocent people. It is a shockingly powerful self-destruct button built into our very system of government, but only useful for the most ideologically hardened or borderline sociopathic. But it turns out to be the perfect tool for the contemporary GOP: a party large enough to control a chamber of Congress yet too small to win the presidency, and infused with a dangerous, millenarian combination of overheated Randian paranoia and fully justified fear of adverse demographic trends. The only thing that limits the debt ceiling’s potency at the moment is the widespread suspicion that Boehner is too old school, too lacking in the Leninist will to power that fires his newer co-partisans, to actually carry out his threat.



  1. Mr Diesel - Bobbo who think child porn is okay says:

    With the direction the country was headed there was a good chance the no-information idiots would elect someone like King Obobbo. Obobbo rules through presidential directives to bypass Congress and the SCOTUS thinks they have the power to by-pass Congress, so yes, we are circling the drain and I have only one tip:

    Keep buying ammo and prepare to protect your own when the Zombie hordes (no-information voters) amass at your gates.

    • jpfitz says:

      The ACA is a republican formed healthcare system. Why all the complaints. Ah, maybe because the ass wipes in DC have tagged the healthcare system with a black man with a Muslim name from Kenya, no?

      Remember what the GOP’s mission was as soon as the Kenyan became elected.

      Boner and Cant’er are the problems. Your watching way too much of that animal planet “news” cable PROGRAM.

  2. Just saying says:

    Obamacare was rammed down the throats of the american people. Even more insulting, the president has already selectively postponed portions of the bill that suit his party’s needs for political capital.

    The president’s statements about who’s to blame are transparently self-serving and disingenuous. And yes, this also applies to some on the other side of the aisle.

    The time is ripe for independent candidates to rise and promise under oath to represent ALL the people, through true debate AND compromise.

    One more thing: With over 300 million citizens, the days of trying to pass comprehensive anything are over. “Comprehensive” and “compromise” do not mix and are a formula for disaster. Any bill over 100 pages should be suspected of being comprehensive and/or containing pork.

    • Just saying says:

      To stay on topic, the looming government shutdown is just the next step beyond the Obamacare tug of war.

  3. jpfitz says:

    Bloodicans are holding the Country hostage and the POTUS is blamed. I’m no fan of the sitting pres, stay on the issue at hand and there is only one “party” to fault. The GOP is and has been trying to drag the American way of life into chaos. Remember what the GOP’s number one job was, making sure that the pres fails meaning the Country fails. From what has been happening in DC with the Navy yard shooting, self immolation and that black Lexus the GOP is succeeding. The democants are in this too, they’re sitting by watching.

    A two party system is bullshit folks. Vote any other but and maybe the… ah who am I kidding, the debt is so large from W’s wars and Cheney’s bullshit rebuilding we be fucked.

    • dusanmal says:

      One side is asking to negotiate and offering compromises. Other side is saying “our way or no way”, no discussion. If it happened to you in real life I am kind of sure who’d you blame. If ability to meet in the middle exists, that is not and never ever have been “hostage taking”. One who refuses to meet in the middle is the only one to blame.

      • jpfitz says:

        If a law was passed regardless of you not liking it is just like me saying I don’t like the “patriot” act and doesn’t give me the right to ignore the law and say now I want what I want and if you don’t do as I say I’ll hold the Federal Govt at bay. Fucktard, the lot of them.

      • So What? says:

        The problem is both side are the ones who won’t compromise and blame the other side for not negotiating. If history is any judge the GOP will take it in the ass for the shutdown in the midterms. The end result will be a democrat controlled congress and oval office. Nice job, fucking morons. They didn’t just cut off their nose to spite their face. They took both eyes, ears, mouth, dicks and dangly balls with it.

        • Phydeau says:

          What is there to compromise? The law was passed by both houses, signed into law by the president, and upheld by the Supreme Court. Now the R’s want to fly in the face of the Constitution, trash the law, and the D’s are being criticized for not “compromising?”

          All the compromising went on during the crafting of the laws, if you recall your junior high school civics class. If the R’s want to change the law, let them go through the legislative process. They tried doing it, and failed, and now they want to cheat and get rid of a law they don’t want by holding THE ENTIRE FUCKING COUNTRY hostage.

          Piss on you and your “compromise.”

          • LibertyLover says:

            Actually, there is nothing in the Constitution that says the Legislature has to fund the law.

            IMO, it’s kinda silly to pass a law that is so fragile to maintain.

            As far as comprise in the beginning, IIRC, the law was passed on strict party lines.

            The D’s didn’t compromise at all.

          • So What? says:

            Obviously you lack the ability to keep up with the thread. My comment was not to you.

          • LibertyLover says:

            So What?,

            Were you talking to me? It’s hard to see on the threading.

          • So What? says:

            No it was not you, it was phydeau. He was too busy jumping up and down like an organ grinders monkey on meth to realize the post wasn’t directed at him let alone understand it.

  4. NobodySpecial says:

    I can’t see what the problem is.
    Everybody wants smaller government. Now everybody who is non-essential has been sent home, just make the shutdown permanent.
    Smaller government – achieved.

    • I READ (get it) the tea leaves too! says:

      Someone once said, “Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem.” And his name was Ronald Reagan!

      But since he was a REPUBLICAN, he’s no one special either. (See how it works?!)

      • jpfitz says:

        And a Reagan believer. Oh, he is special. So was his wife.

        Ronald W. Reagan 40th President 1981-1989
        The Genius of Ronald Reagan: Direct Quotes from the Gipper Himself

        “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do.” — Ronald Reagan, 1981 (“Trees cause pollution” is a gloriously stupid concept foisted upon the public in 1981 by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The full quote of his statement was, “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do.”
        Reagan was falsely referencing the photochemical reaction that causes ground level ozone pollution (GLOP), also known as photochemical smog. Smog is created when automobile and power plant emissions are broken down into ozone and other chemicals by strong sunlight. These reactions are amplified by the presence of various volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. During hot weather many tree species release volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere, notably terpenes and isoprenes (pine pitch is a terpene). Other VOCs that contribute to GLOP include gasoline, kerosene, paint, paint thinner and other industrial solvents.
        Reagan’s statement was disingenuous because volatile organic compounds produced by trees do not cause pollution any more than the sun causes pollution. Reagan might as well have said, “the sun causes more pollution than automobiles do.” Photochemical ozone pollution is created when automobile and power plant pollution is broken down by strong sunlight in the presence of any number of volatile organic compounds.
        GLOP or photochemical smog is only created in areas that receive large amounts of pollution from automobiles and power plants. Trees are not required to create it. Without the input of large amounts of man made nitrogen oxides by cars and power plants, the VOCs released by forests on a summer day have nothing to react with and they do not create any pollution. In reality, photochemical smog is very harmful to trees.)

        “A tree is a tree. How many more do you have to look at?” — Ronald Reagan, 1966, opposing expansion of Redwood National Park as governor of California

        “I have flown twice over Mt St. Helens out on our west coast. I’m not a scientist and I don’t know the figures, but I have a suspicion that that one little mountain has probably released more sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere of the world than has been released in the last ten years of automobile driving or things of that kind that people are so concerned about.” — Ronald Reagan, 1980. (Actually, Mount St. Helens, at its peak activity, emitted about 2,000 tons of sulfur dioxide per day, compared with 81,000 tons per day by cars.)

        “Facts are stupid things.” — Ronald Reagan, 1988, a misquote of John Adams, “Facts are stubborn things.”

        “We think there is a parallel between federal involvement in education and the decline in profit over recent years.” — Ronald Reagan, 1983. (It’s always good to run the Department of Education to make money.)

        “Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal.” Ronald Reagan, 1976, on his failed campaign for the Republican nomination. (Moron.)

        “The best minds are not in government.” — Ronald Reagan. (Not in his government anyway.)

        “You can’t help those who simply will not be helped. One problem that we’ve had, even in the best of times, is people who are sleeping on the grates, the homeless who are homeless, you might say, by choice.” — President Reagan, 1/31/84, on Good Morning America, defending his administration against charges of callousness.

        “The American Petroleum Institute filed suit against the EPA [and] charged that the agency was suppressing a scientific study for fear it might be misinterpreted… The suppressed study reveals that 80 percent of air pollution comes not from chimneys and auto exhaust pipes, but from plants and trees.” Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, in 1979. (There is no scientific data to support this assertion.)

        • Tim says:

          Some good compilations there. Reagan was just another tool and Nancy… well, “if you can’t say anything nice…”

          Still, The EPA clean air act did some good things but that seems to be completely unintentional as local problems were spread evenly throughout the nation by forcing the so-called catalytic converters on every vehicle. It rendered advancing conventional technology in efficiency and power hamstrung and exchanged the boogyman ‘oxides of nitrogen’ for sulfur dioxide {that rotten egg smell which really does harm trees} nationwide. Lower compression ratios have shot efficiency to hell so that total fossile fuel consumption skyrocketed.

          I would sometimes mention this on caving expiditions into the local favorite — it was a cave you’d walk up a steep trail to enter and in the summer there was a strong outflow from it that would sometimes be that little 8-14 mph extra that was hard to walk against. After a few hours in the cave, upon exiting people would have a hard time breathing because they had become desensitized to ozone {at the entrance, the outflow entrained fresh surrounding air so that your head was in the normal stew}. True, it went over most of their heads except to understand it was like being in the swimming pool too long but the point was that auto exaust and persistance of these chemicals, interacting or otherwise, was short in the environment and that the respiratory shock was wholly due to soil, soil bacteria, trees, and sunlight.

          I’ll dither futher if anyone is really bucking to ride my little pwny, but I’ll just leave it at no single goverment regulation ever was really concerned about the good of the people and shit.

          • Tim says:

            A little primer on SO2 and H2S — it is the hydrogen sulfide that is smelled with those converters but that is an indicator of the volume of SO2 released. The very hot surfaces with large surface area is the problem and an impediment to more efficient internal combustion engines overall {greater exaust pressure reducing differential with the intake} —

            http://recordum.com/index.php?gr_id=104&k_id=750&b_id=3620

        • Dewey Oxburger says:

          In the words of Sergeant Hulka (Stripes)… Lighten up, Francis!

  5. raintrees says:

    Want to end the United States as a country? Vote Democrat.

    Want to end it sooner? Vote Republican.

    It seems we need to dismantle both parties. Or maybe we should just dismantle the US. Break it up into smaller Countries who can more closely be representally governed.

    We are having a meeting/rally for The State of Jefferson, here in the Northern California area. It is high time to secede from all of this nonsense and make our own, small area nonsense instead. Limit the scope of damages, as it were.

    • dusanmal says:

      Yet you live in the state that by election of its own people represents the extreme case of where USA as a whole is pushed to.
      What article (and historian) fails to see is that Constitutional principles are still good and that blame is in Ideology able to permeate both Left and Right (though, unlike your claim it takes better root on the Left): Progressivism. Both parties are still salvageable – stop voting for Progressives. On both sides. Trivial. However, where danger lies is the fact that Americans haven’t experienced these lying thugs in their history. Hence naive to believe their claims vs. their actions. Hence likes of Gov Brown or President Obama in power.
      So, danger is in the attack of Progressive ideology on perfectly well functioning society based on individual rights and liberties and Constitutionally limited Government. Government which has, as Obama put it – “negative rights”. Progressivism places collective over the individual and does that through unlimited Government with no limits of what it can (and will) do.
      That is the fight. That is what the budget, ACA and debt ceiling will break on. Has Government already become so big that will of The People can’t stop it?
      And to article claims “weaponizing debt ceiling” – debt ceiling was not created to be constantly raised. Or it would not have been voted into the Law. Debt ceiling law is there to sooner or later, with honorable people in position of power STOP further raise in debt. Simple. Not enable it. Force it t stop. Any other interpretation relies only on Orwellian Newspeak.

    • NobodySpecial says:

      Have you thought of devolving all necessary power to the states and leaving a federal elected Stadtholder to deal with purely foreign matters – rather in the manner of C17 Netherlands?

  6. MikeN says:

    Yes, the US does not subscribe to the model of elected dictatorship.

  7. MikeN says:

    Liberals complained that it is wrong to not pass a debt ceiling increase, as this is money that Congress has already agreed to spend. Now they are upset when Congress is balking at more deficit spending, by not passing budget bills that increase spending.

    • I READ (get it) the tea leaves too! says:

      Congress is only NOW trying to remind us that there is an INCREASE in debt which was approved by an overwhelmingly DEMOCRAT CONTROLLED Congress.

      At the time, the minority party was complaining – just as it continues to complain today – that the budget needs to change or these new bureaucracies need to be cut or at least some pork needs trimming. Same then as it is now, no negation and no compromise!

      Of course, Congress has since changed where it’s now more or less evenly split and where the minority now has a little more power over the House of Representatives.

      Too bad no one on the left is listening. But then it is an excellent example of what a real jack ass does!

  8. jpfitz says:

    Mark my words. There WILL be much more obscene violence to come. Not from me if your listening Mr. NSA. I’m seeing and reading more and more sheep upset and on the edge fox watchers.

    Who ya gonna call, http://funnyordie.com/videos/d06e177085/ted-cruz-shuts-down-the-government?rel=player

  9. Captain Obvious says:

    The US Constitution is designed to make government dysfunctional. And it has succeeded spectacularly. Too many people in US view it as a “sacred document”. Religious mythology.

    There is too much inertia from the last 40 years of a failed political experiment to stop it now. It’s just got to play out, and this shut down is just one small part of it. Looking back in 40 years from now no one is going to blame the Republicans or Democrats. They are going to blame the current generation as a whole while they’re still cleaning up the mess.

    • I READ (get it) the tea leaves too! says:

      Sounds like you’re starting to drink the cool aide.

      The U.S. Constitution is a founding document created to set a system of checks and BALANCES! But in order to do that, certain RIGHTS must be acknowledged like the right to free speech, the right to peacefully assemble or even the right to bear arms! We call them LAWS!

      So if you agree that the Constitution is some kind of out dated “goddamn piece of paper” then can I invite you to the nearest EXIT?! Try moving to North Korea or even China!

      • Captain Obvious says:

        LOL. It must be delightful to believe you can never improve.

  10. MikeN says:

    “I was laughing at Boehner — until the mail came today,” Waschura said, referring to House Speaker John Boehner, who is leading the Republican charge to defund Obamacare.

    “I really don’t like the Republican tactics, but at least now I can understand why they are so pissed about this. When you take $10,000 out of my family’s pocket each year, that’s otherwise disposable income or retirement savings that will not be going into our local economy.”

    • I READ (get it) the tea leaves too! says:

      And just WHERE do you think those who lost that $10K are going to make it up?!

      Or maybe you think money grows on trees? (Although I do see your confusion when the federal government lets PRIVATE companies like the Federal Reserve actually do it.)

    • Phydeau says:

      You guys have been watching that network too long that swore to you Rmoney was going to win in a landslide in 2012.

  11. MikeN says:

    Lockheed Martin threatened to layoff some of their own employees, and Obama has now acted to reactivate the military workforce. So now the shutdown is down to Obama will keep the parks closed until Republicans agree to undo the sequester. According to Sen Schumer, a clean CR is not acceptable to Senate Democrats, for more than a few months.

    • NobodySpecial says:

      Could we not simply bomb the parks?
      So long as there are no visitors there will be no collateral damage and we can bomb them without wasting lots of fuel flying across oceans

      • jpfitz says:

        Finally a solution to the squirrels problem. And the bombing overseas. Plus we get to manufacture more bombs. Problem solved. Govt get rolling.

        http://youtube.com/watch?v=q7U2aVUAqPI

        • Tim says:

          Typical teenage angst film. She probably showed her tits to some boy in grandma’s shed five minutes earlier — The real horror in this one is that I shudder to think what granny did to draw down so much plot device at once.

  12. MikeN says:

    Aren’t key parts of the internet run by the government? Shouldn’t Obama shut down the internet until Republicans fold?

    • I READ (get it) the tea leaves too! says:

      NO! The Internet is NOT run by the Government! The taxes and fees you pay to your ISP may be what’s confusing you. However, those taxes and fees do trickle thought the government to help fund GOVERNMENT WEB SITES — sort of like this one. Only difference is, this web site WORKS!

  13. Phydeau says:

    Wow, such denial from Republican idiots here. It’s crystal clear what’s happened. These laws got passed according to the constitution. The minority of Republicans don’t want them to be implemented. And they are ruthless enough as the article said, to be “willing to inflict harm on millions of innocent people”.

    And furthermore, they’re clever enough to gerrymander the Republican-controlled states to frustrate the will of the people. In states like NC, where the majority of the state voted for the Democrats, but because of gerrymandering the majority of congressmen were Republicans.

    Your party is a party of liars and cheats and they don’t give a shit about you, only the rich people now pouring unlimited amounts of money into their campaigns. And you’re dumb, fearful, ignorant enough to buy their bullshit. Thanks, guys.

    • Phydeau says:

      Sorry didn’t mean “the minority of Republicans”, meant the Republicans, who represent a minority opinion, don’t want these laws implemented.

      Oh, and they’re spreading bullshit lies about the Affordable Care Act all over Fox News. Because they know it will work well enough, and Americans will be grateful to the Democrats for pushing it through.

      • jpfitz says:

        I’d love for one of my rebloodican relatives to be hit with a devastating illness where their insurance and money runs out and the shoe is now on the other foot.

        Not really, but imagine for a moment.

        Accept the ACA or take one to the head, too proud? Or just plain selfish and stupid.

        I know what I typed was rotten but how do you get through to neocon reboolicans. Remember what I wrote was only a fictional blip. I have no ill will towards anyone.

    • MikeN says:

      Democrats were the ones so eager to have racially gerrymandered districts. Republicans reap the rewards. Perhaps if Democrats would drop their race obsession.

    • MikeN says:

      Then why isn;t Obama enforcing the law as passed? Why did he announce a delay in the employe mandate?

      • Mr Diesel - Bobbo who think child porn is okay says:

        Because he is one of the Chicago thugs.

        He is also an asshole who has closed parks and even sections of the open ocean all because he wants to be king and show everyone how big a dick he is.

    • Phydeau says:

      Follow the money, idiot Republicans. They don’t give a shit about you. They care about the big corporations and Koch brothers who are giving them millions.

      How can some people be so dumb???

      • Tom says:

        And the Democrats care about poor people just enough to keep them economically sedated and dependent on “free” handouts. A starving dog will not bite the hand of his master, even if he gets only a few crumbs from the table.

        Let’s teach men to fish, rather than give them fish every day and be forever indebted to big government.

        • bobbo, fraud, rot, and the evil of the RICH for all to see says:

          Excellent analogy.

          Given all but garbage fish stocks and farm raised are about gone. That describes the job market very well.

          Stupid FLERP.

  14. Uncle Patso says:

    ‘Tis a tale told by an idiot,
    full of sound and fury
    signifying nothing.

  15. bobbo, fraud, rot, and the evil of the RICH for all to see says:

    Phydeau–as usual you have it exactly correct.

    When people disagree…. what happens? You kill or you compromise. If you compromise or lose, then you “should” go forward. You don’t immediately fight the same fight all over again and demand compromise again.

    Obama Care IS the compromise. Its defects from Single Payer is all FLERP driven. Info already is coming in about 80% of folks are getting cheaper healthcare with more benefits.

    It must suck to be so stupid to vote FLERP===except they are so stupid they can’t see how stupid they are. Those that aren’t EVIL that is.

    I’ll let Timmy link to any of the various skits of the guy getting fired and he keeps on asking whats going on and to give it to him straight. SNL did the same joke several different ways.

    Don’t want to honor the compromise?? We got some killing to do.

    Stupid FLERPs.

    • Mr Diesel - Bobbo who think child porn is okay says:

      Actually for a change, Bobbo is correct. ACA is the compromise for health care. Almost all the fucktards in Congress wanted a single payer system, i.e. Uncle Sugar.

      Can’t believe how expensive health care is, wait until it is free.

    • Tim says:

      “That’s what makes this so difficult.”
      http://youtube.com/watch?v=bU6m5UqLx9M

      • bobbo, fraud, rot, and the evil of the RICH for all to see says:

        Phil Hartman did an excellent version on SNL. Again…. I can’t find it… but this time I think the odds of me not remembering are slim. I think he played an actor who’s play was closing. Might have played opposite that guy that did the compulsive liar character who was married to Morgan Fairchild.

        • bobbo, fraud, rot, and the evil of the RICH for all to see says:

          Timmay==I am awe struck. What a great engine of intellect, curiosity, and dogged devotion to linking you display.

          ……now….. I just needs to figure me how to get you one the right track–AGW speaking.

          Well Done. Of course, that the one I was thinking of and I’d like to see the clip again.

          Its like dealing with the Citrus Heights Police Department: “What do you mean we aren’t following the law?” /// No video clips there either.

        • Tim says:

          test test… spam filter is blocking my post. must be some secret word but the WP error seems to be spitting email addresses at me!!

        • Tim says:

          Ah, thank you, thank you minion. Still, I’ve got somewhat of a curse — I’ve been looking for a particular movie ever since I’ve had search. I can’t remember the name. It was a late ’80s dystopic. It was total ‘b’, productionwise. The story was ‘underground rebels’ find a tape from a radio dj made in the last days before the final takeover and they are figuring how to get it to the masses.

          The silly movie is punctuated throughout with segments of the tape.

          About the only two lines I can remember was the DJ announcing that he must play stuff off the ‘government approved’ playlist and then spins up “Here is a lovely little toe-tapper, Let’s Get In Line”.

          The other scene was a bunch of richie-riches at a party but the tv does not even turn off for them — one guy is watching some inane advertisment and sardonically states “Ohh! Let me get my pen.”

          It drives me mad not to be able to find it or even anyone that has recollection of it. It drives me more mad that this Shooter Jennings album, Black Ribbons, has an interposed DJ character which is spoken by none other than Steven King {a.k.a. Will ‘O The Wisp} — It’s just too parallel; I just bet one of them knows something about what I’m searching for. Hmm… I wonder if I were to kidnap King and break his ankles…..

          { links deleted to see if this is why spam — to follow below }

          LL radio 11:01 pm
          From the center of nowhere
          Atop the shoulders of giants
          Above the creeping fog of disinformation that clouds the American union.
          This is Will ‘O the Wisp.
          And this is The Last Light Radio, your last beacon of truth and defiance.

          I’ve always started my shows by saying that: All ships lost in the night search for the lighthouse on the rock of the enlightened
          But, for truth seekers out there, the battery is fading and the light is dying. I see that freedom has failed us and with no light the night’s going to be a long one. Woody Guthrie said: This land is your land, this land is … my land Great words, but this land is their land now.

          This will be the last time your ears and my voice will be getting together; Because, as of midnight tonight, the previously public airwaves will be commandeered for government approved and regulated transmission. The last breath of free speech will blow itself out and what rises in its place is going to be the wind of thought control.

          Bad guys win folks!

          You know I don’t always play a lot of music on the show, as most of it these days is processed, bubble gum bullshit – churned out by the overlords of doublespeak and made to turn a gray world grayer. But tonight I won’t go without leaving a message. Tonight, I’ve chosen to play the one band the American Fascicrats don’t want me to play. Tonight, I’m going off the air with the music of Hierophant.

          For those of you not familiar, you’ll get a taste of Hierophant’s music tonight; Their message, their light.

          I started you off with Wake Up from their 2009 album Bohemian Grove, their first and most radical. Remember what the song says: Don’t let ’em get you down. The most important truth is love, all you know and all you need to know, as the poet says– Or was that beauty… what’s the difference? Love your family, love your neighbor, love your enemy as yourself. Go on loving, it’s what humans do best and the one thing they can’t kill. Got it?

          This is Will ‘O the Wisp
          The time now is no time
          The temperature is cold
          And the news is blue
          But for now the light still shines.

          Off the same album, this is Triskaidekaphobia. That’s fear of thirteen my sons and daughters, as in thirteen o’clock. You’re listening to the last night on The Last Light

          LL radio 11:16 pm
          The night seems so calm, doesn’t it? As if time is frozen. The city below used to sound like a mechanic motion moving in giant waves. Now, it’s silent. No cars, no kids, nothing but transport trucks and men with guns standing on street corners. What a waste!

          But, isn’t this what they wanted? What they bargained for? They create a problem so they can offer a solution. They scare us then offer relief, and we fall on our knees in gratitude. They create a war, promise peace, and we walk into their traps – like mice.

          From where I sit I can look down at a big park where I used to watch birds gather while old men played chess, as tired women pushed sleeping children in strollers. Where teenagers used to hold hands and sometimes – stop to kiss. Now it’s a tense city filled with soldiers there are guns instead of roses. I can see one armed man clearly and I’ve gotta wonder if he thinks he’s serving justice, I gotta wonder if he truly knows who he is.

          Which brings us to our next song. To you son, with your guns and grenades, standing there in all your graceless glory, I dedicate this next song. Here’s Hierophant with Everything Else is Illusion from The Well Wisher’s album.

          I’m Will ‘O the Wisp, you’re you, and we’re riding the night together.

          LL radio 11:29 pm
          There’s a book by an author named Carol S. Pearson from the mid-70s called The Hero Within: Six Archetypes We Live By.
          Even though it’s nearly forty years old, the book still speaks of the journey each of us takes through our lives:
          The Innocent
          The Orphan
          The Wanderer
          The Warrior
          The Martyr
          The Magician
          We float between these identities. They change as the phases of our lives take center stage, one after the other. Today I feel like a martyr, but tomorrow I’ll be a warrior. For, even though my time as the magician is drawing to an end, the innocent in me will continue to believe and hope in love and that the goodness of humanity will prevail.

          Here’s Hierophant’s take on the journey from innocence to experience; Which is another way of saying from innocence to orphanhood —

          Here’s Fuck You (We’re Famous). Put all ten middle fingers in the air and dance my brothers and sisters. If we can’t dance a little on the last night of the last light, all is lost.

          LL radio 11:41 pm
          As I’ve been cleaning up around here, I’ve been thinking about the ten plus years I’ve spent talking to you every night. I’ve got the original microphone from when I used to broadcast from a pirate station. Not way up there where the air is rare, but from the filthy basement with poodles of ooze on the floor. And I used to rap into that mike; that’s what we called it: RAPPING.
          With my God-damned Uncle Sam button pinned to one side of my chest and the one that said “killing for peace is like fucking for chastity” on the other. I still got those buttons too, hahahaha, it’s been a great ride.

          We could make it through this hard time folks, feel our way through this darkness, but it’s gonna take time and it’s gonna cost lives. Yet, the answer IS self evident; like those truths we used to hold dear; and the love of mankind may still come out on top. Our children’s children might still live in a better world, more beautiful world. Do I believe that, hee, yeah. With a glass of Jack in one hand, I manage.

          This next song is pure nostalgia at this point; harking back to a time when the world economy was going down the shitter, and we really believed that things couldn’t get any worse. Haha, but what did we know? The costs turned out to be higher than all the government bailouts and stimulus packages combined.

          Here’s some real stimulus, Summer of Rage, by Hierophant.
          I’m Will ‘O the Wisp.

          LL radio 11:57 pm
          Time’s winding down friends. The witching hour is almost upon us. I can’t tell you how much I’ll miss our night rides together.
          When I push back from this mike and get out of the old chair with a broken seat, that’s when the sadness starts.

          The moon is full tonight, and the silence is rich. In our time together we’ve seen crooked politicians hauled squealing into the courts, we’ve exposed toad stool hypocrites to the light of day.
          We’ve even won a victory of two for human rights. We said “Yes We Can” and for awhile, yes we could. Sometimes we fought the law and the law didn’t win.

          But this time, they’ve divided us so they could conquer us.
          Remember one thing though: they can muzzle me, but they can’t muzzle the love and truth in your heart. Lies will still be exposed and injustice can still be overturned. It’s not too late.
          The truth can still set you free — Guard the love in your heart.
          Guard the truth.

          Here’s another truth. Here’s When the Radio Goes Dead.
          http://youtube.com/watch?v=srKcQfhW-9Y&list=PLED20D5BB269E739C

          “…Fuck it. Here is tonights’ commercial — Buy shit, sell shit, get out of dodge.. I think that pretty much sums it up.”

          {Black Ribbons}
          http://youtube.com/watch?v=gwrPAti4EzI&list=PLED20D5BB269E739C

          peace, buds.

    • MikeN says:

      ObamaCare=CRAP

  16. Captain Obvious says:

    Not that much of a crises. It’ll come to a clean vote in the House. If it passes then the Republicans will be broken in half. Maybe even split into two parties. If it fails then a delay in the implementation of Obamacare and the Dems get to use it in the mid-terms.

    Either way, the Republicans didn’t think this one through. Nothing to do with whether you like the law or not, just crappy political strategy by Boehner.

    • LibertyLover says:

      I think it is going to be different this time.

      Too many people are questioning why Obama has given out so many exemptions to the law.

      And when there are pictures of parks being shut down for no reason being plastered all over the internet, it’s hard to accept it even with rose-colored glasses.

      Neither side isn’t looking too good right now.

  17. Dallas says:

    Here’s good reading and totally agree. The Republicans have weaponized the debt ceiling largely because they are dying as a political organization.

    Their scorched earth policy now is indicative of their desperation to assert control. Ignoring the results of the election, the hostage takers basically want to install Mitt Romney policies.

    I would consider this a hostile wing of Congress and immediately blockade the cesspool and cut off the lights.

      • LibertyLover says:

        Last Tuesday, House Republicans shut down the federal government, demanding that Obama abolish his health-care reform in a tactically reckless gamble that most of the party feared but could not prevent.

        Actually, they used the intellectually astute argument that the whole thing should be delayed, for everyone, not just Obama’s buddies.

        The Senate, taking their orders from Obama, rejected that.

        Why do you hate equality so much?

        • Phydeau says:

          What a nitwit. We played by the rules, your guys lost, and now you want to change the rules.

          Why do you hate the Constitution so much?

          • LibertyLover says:

            Where in the Constitution does it say that the Legislature has to fund a law?

            You seem to be so well versed in it, I would like to be educated on it.

          • Phydeau says:

            Oh dear… you’re embarrassing yourself.

          • LibertyLover says:

            Not really.

            There is no shame in admitting ignorance. Only in feigning the opposite.

            It’s how we learn.

          • Dallas says:

            You are correct. Like the Bible, the Constitution is selectively handy when an objective is in play.

            The debt ceiling procedure is a relic of when Congress had to approve every single government bond. It’s obsolete and no other country fucks with paying the bills on time.

            The terrorist Teanderthals effectively Boehner by the balls and he’s crying for help . The rest of the GOP Congress (Neaderthals) are basically afraid to sponsor a bill on their own to fund the government.

            As Warren Buffet stated, the GOP is playing a dangerous game and weaponizing the debt ceiling already causing severe ramifications in the US and global economies.

            I would definitely lock these mofo’s up and hang a few for good measure. Treason and economic terrorists needs to be hanged, ideally on the steps of Congress.

          • LibertyLover says:

            I would definitely lock these mofo’s up and hang a few for good measure. Treason and economic terrorists needs to be hanged, ideally on the steps of Congress.

            Why do you hate the Constitution so much? Don’t you know that you can’t charge any member of Congress for anything said in Chambers while in session?

            Free flow of ideas. That’s what made this country great.

            You really need to read up on these things before you start spouting off.

        • Dallas says:

          You should be ashamed of yourself for supporting this terrorist tactic and associating yourself with this and defy the wishes of the country and the law.

          • LibertyLover says:

            I have no problem with Congress passing whatever it wishes. Actually, I do, but I can’t fault the system for that.

            Just don’t tell me to support it by paying for it.

            IOW, talk all you want. Just stay off my lawn.

          • Dallas says:

            If that’s how you think government should run, I suppose you have your right.

            The notion of funding government ‘cafeteria style’ after the fact is ridiculous – especially in a two party form of government whereby the loser party can shut down government on a whim.

            I thought you were sensible as a businessman but you’re no different than the average emotional moron on the street.

          • LibertyLover says:

            It’s not how I think about it, it’s what the founders wanted.

            Federalist Paper #57, Date: February 19, 1788

            The house of representatives . . . can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as the great mass of society. This has always been deemed one of the strongest bonds by which human policy can connect the rulers and the people together. It creates between them that communion of interest, and sympathy of sentiments, of which few governments have furnished examples; but without which every government degenerates into tyranny.

            Until Obama, Pelosi, and all their butt-buddies jump on the Obamacare Bandwagon, the House is completely within its rights to do what is necessary to ensure we don’t fall into tyranny.

            #58:

            The House of Representatives cannot only refuse, but they alone can propose, the supplies requisite for the support of government. They, in a word, hold the purse — that powerful instrument by which we behold, in the history of the British Constitution, an infant and humble representation of the people gradually enlarging the sphere of its activity and importance, and finally reducing, as far as it seems to have wished, all the overgrown prerogatives of the other branches of the government. This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure.

          • Tim says:

            LibertyLover, that sure is a lot of flowery words that amount to the equally enshrined in the Magna Carta, *neener, neener*

          • LibertyLover says:

            Of course.

            They both enshrined the idea of individual rights and a constitutional form of government.

          • MikeN says:

            I don’t see anything terroristic about Congress refusing to raise the debt ceiling. Congress should stop spending more than it takes in.
            Unlike your calling it terrorist tactics, I find myself agreeing with this Senator:

            Mr. President, I rise today to talk about America’s debt problem.

            The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure.

            If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies.

            Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grand children. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.

          • Dallas says:

            Oh please. The Federalist Papers? Really. That’s your argument?

            First off, your first point has already been debunked. It takes a while to get it off FOX Snooze.

            Secondly please address the Federalist Papers point about the Bill of Rights : “I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and to the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution, but would even be dangerous.

          • LibertyLover says:

            Of course, the Federalist Papers!

            That is where the the philosophy behind the Constitution is described. SCOTUS will even refer to them when they want to know how the Founders were thinking.

            As for your dangerous statement, do you know WHY some thought the BoRs would be dangerous? Hmm? You’ve spent the last day looking for something to come back with, so you should know the reason.

          • LibertyLover says:

            Actually, Pedro, I’m impressed he’s reading them.

            Maybe he’ll come to understand just how out of kilter the Obamessiah has become.

          • Tim says:

            I’ve never read the Federalist Papers {it’s got words in them} but I suspect the concern on inumerating the Bill of Rights and writing it down as law would be seen as what was already understood to be universal and ‘inalienable’ might, at a later date, be stricken out.

            Since they did write them down, then the major elepant missing from the ark would be the non-inclusion of the ‘right’ to freely travel unmolested which was so fundamental for so long that writing it down into law was not worth the ink.

            Stupid wins, folks — “”But you have to have a license — you have to jump through hoops of fire to get it — you have to put your personal safty on hold, stand in line, and catch the flu and the fat virus, … ; All for the privilege of throwing money at the State so that they may gun you down for an improper U-turn–Keeping your body and your baby for science.

  18. bobbo, fraud, rot, and the evil of the RICH for all to see says:

    LibertyLover, butt naked drooped over an empty rain barrel for all the world to see says:
    10/7/2013 at 4:39 am

    I think it is going to be different this time. /// Of course. You can never dip your finger into the same river of time. How come you didn’t join us on the God Particle discussion?

    Too many people are questioning why Obama has given out so many exemptions to the law. /// No people are questioning this. FLERP’s throw this ball of shit against the wall to see who will think its ice cream. How does it taste by the way? Most of the specific exemptions I have seen are completely understandable unless you think shit is ice cream. In any program, you can exempt X% of target audience but when you exempt near the totality, you have no target at all. There is a flavor at Ben and Jerrys Called “Shit for Dumbass FLERPs and Uninformed Libertarian Fantacists.” Discount for large orders.

    And when there are pictures of parks being shut down for no reason being plastered all over the internet, it’s hard to accept it even with rose-colored glasses. //// The reason is not to get piecemealed to death much like the exemption issue above. Who is wearing rose colored glasses? Bueller………

    Neither side isn’t looking too good right now. //// FLERP. Its the F*cking Lying Evil Republican Pukes that are 100% responsible for the destruction of our country. Dipwads like yourself only enable them.

    FLERP’s. I’d shoot them on sight, but they are considered in our species.

    • Tim says:

      And when there are pictures of parks being shut down for no reason being plastered all over the internet, it’s hard to accept it even with rose-colored glasses. //// The reason is not to get piecemealed to death much like the exemption issue above. Who is wearing rose colored glasses? Bueller………

      Shit. I left mine on the helicopter.

      http://iowntheworld.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/mount-rushmore.jpg

      • bobbo, fraud, rot, and the evil of the RICH for all to see says:

        I think that photo totally demonstrates just how Kenyan Obama is. If that doesn’t make you put down your Ben and Jerrys “Shit for Dumbass FLERPs and Uninformed Libertarian Fantacists” and take off your rose colored glasses then nothing will.

        I DARE ANYBODY===ESPECIALLY PHYDEAU to show me where it says in the Constitution that Obama is allowed to buy Helicopters.

        Why are idiots allowed to vote?

      • LibertyLover says:

        There are quite a few people wondering why is doing this.

        Your and my opinions are irrelevant. A picture speaks a thousand words. And those thousand words are different for each viewer.

        Perception is reality.

  19. LibertyLover says:

    I’m still looking through the Constitution for that line that says the Legislature has to fund whatever laws it passes.

  20. LibertyLover says:

    And I keep looking for Liberal complaints about Obama and the NRA saddling up together.

  21. LibertyLover says:

    And the complaints about Obama not enforcing the Federal Laws on Mary Jane.

  22. LibertyLover says:

    I mean how can anyone take the guy seriously when he picks and chooses which laws to enforce?

    How do we know he even wants this one funded?

    I think it’s all a smoke screen to deflect attention from all the laws he’s broken.

  23. bobbo, fraud, rot, and the evil of the RICH for all to see says:

    In a Tsunami of radioactive stupidity rarely seen on this forum LibertyLoser says:
    10/7/2013 at 11:29 am

    I’m still looking through the Constitution for that line that says the Legislature has to fund whatever laws it passes. /// Its not there. There is also no line in the Constitution that says we will maintain the status of the worlds reserve currency. Putting these two negatives together……… what do you conclude Loser?

    And I keep looking for Liberal complaints about Obama and the NRA saddling up together. /// You have to pull your head out of Limbaugh’s ass long enough to identify the far left of the Dumbo party defined as those more liberal than a Republican of 20 years ago.

    And the complaints about Obama not enforcing the Federal Laws on Mary Jane. /// So….. Hatred for the Man from Kenya negates a corner stone of standard liberty loving libertarians? Ha, ha. You so stupid. Attention span of a gnat.

    I mean how can anyone take the guy seriously when he picks and chooses which laws to enforce? /// Impossible not to pick and choose.

    How do we know he even wants this one funded? /// This one what?

    I think it’s all a smoke screen to deflect attention from all the laws he’s broken. /// FLERP.

    F*cking
    Lying
    Evil
    ………….and for loser: Retarded
    Puke.

    what an idiot.

  24. Sea Lawyer says:

    Reading these comments is why I love the Internet. A bunch blowhards who know all the answers about why they think the world is fucked up.

    • Tim says:

      Hmmm. Let me check on that…..Gravity {movement in curved space-time} still works…. the unit charge of the electron is not oscillating {much}……….. my rich uncle still writes me from Nibiru…………… oops, strike that one out in post………………………

      Conclusion–

      The world is fine. The people are fucked, as Carlin postulated.

    • bobbo, fraud, rot, and the evil of the RICH for all to see says:

      Au Contraire, Mon Frere. The great majority of comments are exactly like yours. Nothing about the world, but rather how …… what did you so charmingly opine?…….oh yeah….. just like you: fucked up.

      Funny how that 3 finger thing works.

      ………but I mostly post just to keep Timmay company. We don’t have much to do at night.

      • Sea Lawyer says:

        Oh, the biggest blowhard of the blog. I feel privileged.

        • bobbo, fraud, rot, and the evil of the RICH for all to see says:

          The Liberty Loser response huh? SL==you are better than this. From your first post and your response.

          Does bobbo blow hard?…….Of Course. The Captain will tell you thats Obvious.

          So is the accuracy of my comments, typos excluded, including the horrible one I made with you, my meaning remaining clear.

          Why not just see the lesson, consider, change===>be better?

          The whole world here acting like upper management of the CH Police Department.

          Individually intelligent, but organizationally just as dumb as shit.

          • Tim says:

            Yet, like the CHPD, moral, comradery, and cohesive discourse may improve if only we had an office copy-machine widget so we could pass wittily-captioned ass and nutsack sillouettes amongst ourselves.

  25. Captain Obvious says:

    The Koch Brothers are sitting at the back of the courtroom with John Boehner’s brother, whom they flew all the way in from Sicily.

  26. MikeN says:

    There weren’t supposed to be winners and losers; instead, they were advised by fellow Californian Nancy Pelosi that “everybody will have lower rates, better quality care, and better access,” and by President Obama that “for those who have insurance now, nothing will change under the Obama plan — except that you will pay less.” What were trusting citizens supposed to conclude?

  27. bobbo, fraud, rot, and the evil of the RICH for all to see says:

    Lyin’ Mike: debt problems are solved with balanced budgets.

    Stop being a FLERP.

  28. bobbo, fraud, rot, and the evil of the RICH for all to see says:

    Some people can’t tell shit from shinola:

    “Thats not in the Constitution.” is one such incredibly stupid whine.

    Losing that approach totally with a sunburn smarting directly on a second degree assburn, the lament is made: “The Federalist papers explain …… how did Loser state it……… “That is where the the philosophy behind the Constitution is described.” BWHAHAHAHAHAHA

    Let’s roll the “r” in FLERP. You can’t be more RETARDED than to base an argument on the Federalist papers. Those papers were the DU of its day. We should have a BoR some said while others disagreed. We should have a central bank some said while others disagreed.

    What a dumbass. The Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers and the Report of Paul Revere riding to Boston, and the Magna Carta are all IRRELEVANT to any proper discussion beyond verbal bullshit shat upon the public vulgar. What is relevant is that they led to the Constitution that picked and chose between the various position for those arguments made plus others or for raw compromise.

    That said, even the Constitution is basically worthless as a document to understand anything. Its only the Supreme Courts interpretation thru case law that any meaning at all about what our law and rights are can even start.

    All else is buffoonery.

    ……………….and with that, we are back to Loser thinking his shit is ice cream.

    Yea, verily.

    • Tim says:

      There is a ‘lady’ on the phone to help us all — She will ask you to verbally agree to waive all those impediments all the way back to 1215 A.D. A significantly smaller sample of people that think water is wet will realize how they threw it all away for the pleasure derived of a short time getting ass-raped.

  29. Uncle Patso says:

    From
    https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/385468973971951616

    Judd Legum @JuddLegum

    Can I burn down your house?

    No

    Just the 2nd floor?

    No

    Garage?

    No

    Let’s talk about what I can burn down.

    No

    YOU AREN’T COMPROMISING!

    • Tim says:

      If you are asking permission to burn down someone’s house, then you are just doing it wrong.

    • Dallas says:

      Exactly. !!

      The good news is the sheeple appear have sent the Teatards are strong message . Looks like Boehnhead is gonna cave.

      The sheeple have a higher opinion on Al Qaeda than the Teapublicans.


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