GROUCHO MARX HAD IT RIGHT

Alter-Net's Sarah Jaffe picked 10 Ultra-Rich Congress-people who are in financially poorly working districts.  Nine of these are Republican and Jay Rockefeller is the only Democrat.  The article will give you the names of more detail about these 10 self-serving political elected persons.

However, I really wanted this blog to be a question. It is beyond me as to what the purpose is of the media having made a tradition of asking pundits to predict the future.  They are no better at it than the Yankee Almanac was good at predicting the weather 40 years ago. Watching this annual charade makes me wonder at how wrong most of them will turn out to be when those who heard it will have forgotten what was said, even if they saw and heard it, several moths forward.  Being wrong does not seem to eliminate any of them from being om any of the political shows.

On 1/3/12, the Republicans will start working towards picking a candidate. Rick Santorum is the only candidate who has not, at some point, reached the top of the Iowa poll.  Each of the other candidates has had their being crowned King/Queen for a day (and in some cases, several days).

They should all take the position Groucho Marx did when he  was told he had been accepted as a member of the Friar's Club.  He immediately sent a resignation letter as follows:  "Please accept my resignation. I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member."  Wouldn't it be better for our country if some of the incompetent candidates said the same thing?

THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT DO NOT SEE WATERBOARDING AS TORTURE

Scott Horton of The Daily Beast and article titled Torture Prosecution Turnaround?
Horton believes the Attorney General is leaning towards an appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the Bush-era torture policy.  His article discusses why Ho9lder might be considering the problem with new logic (Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod had advised against it initially as it would be a distraction to the major issues that Obama's administration held as priority issues, such as health care when he first took office).  It would seem that

Eric Holder, Attorney General

He writes:  "But, then, Holder decided to take a close, personal look at the issues, and his perspective began to change. Holder is said to have been closely engaged with three sets of documents—a group of memoranda from the Bush-era Office of Legal Counsel, since repudiated by the Justice Department; the report of the Office of Professional Responsibility on these memoranda, which has been on his desk, awaiting review and release for months; and the report of the CIA’s inspector general reviewing in great detail the actual techniques used, guidance given by the Justice Department, and results or lack of results obtained. "

To read the entire article,click here.

ATTACK ADS TOUTED TO WORK

It has recently been said by many pundits that the reason attack ads are used is because they work.  Thus continue the rationalizations.  The assumption is that they work, as though the candidates themselves have no part in their own success..  One must ask how?  Do they work because they attack, or do they work because the attacker has done homework and is exposing another candidate.  The use of attack is to obfuscate that the attacker hasn't a clue how to run the country or straighten out the mess GW left us in.

A BBC News headline is: Republicans attack rival Ron Paul in Iowa.  Under a heading of 'serial hypocrites'  The article goes on to say: "Former Massachusetts Governor Romney said on Wednesday in Muscatine, Iowa: "One of the people running for president thinks it's okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I don't."  Another statement:  "You don't have to vote for a candidate who will allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth," Mr Perry said. "Because America will be next."

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, joined the onslaught.l 
"Ron Paul would be a dangerous president," she said. "He would have us ignore all of the warning signs of another brutal dictator who wants to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. I won't."

The Los Angeles Times accused the candidates for threatening Democracy  by bashing judges. The article by Erwin Chemerinsky

Some of the candidates are really frightening with clear promises to circumvent the Constitution and decisions by the judicial appointees.

HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE NEWS

The outstanding stories of today, non-political, are tragedies of people being killed in fires, A Santa killing five family members then himself, a grandfather dying of smoke inhalation trying to rescue a grandchild in a fire (who also perished) and missing or murdered babies.

A thief caught on surveillance camera was attacked and knocked out by a fist to the jaw as the cashier leaped over the counter at him.  It WAS nice to hear something positive though most police will tell you not to risk your life, just hand the thief the money.  Does it suggest that all convenience store cashiers should be ex-Marines strong, smart and daring?

When the major stories in politics are a useless primary (in Iowa in a WEEK!), the pundits are hurting for something to talk about.  Their audience is also waiting for something worth hearing!

Some sad news today.  Democratic Senator Ben Nelson is not seeking re-election.  This may lessen chances for a Democrat majority even further.

Stratfor's website has been down since it was apparently hit by the hacker group Anonymous on Christmas Eve.  The Anonymous hackers monitor Facebook and threaten to repeat attacks on those who support Stratfor.

THE RELIGIOUS SPECIALIZE IN RATIONALIZATIONS

In Iraq, Christians are being killed.  If they believe God and Christ are their protectors, how is that explained.,  Christian Scientists would say they hadn't believed enough.  This is, of course, based on an erroneous assumption which victimizes the victim, not particularly Christian nor charitable. In Iraq, I suppose they are considered 'infidels' for being outside the Moslem faith and, as we have come to know, all not Moslems are infidels and deserve to die in some eyes..

Books are written, WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE'..  What is never mentioned is that 'good and bad things happen to all people '.  There is a Law of Averages and Randomness which governs us, even the non-religious.  Rationalization is not limited to Christians but can be seen in every religion.

How else could we explain things  for which we can never have proof.  We are told (in all religions) that you must believe and have 'faith'.  This concept is as ludicrous to me as the Catholic Church telling parishioners they should not have bad thoughts.  Tell an obsessional, or paranoid, or extremely cautious person that they must learn to control their thoughts to only pure ones and see how far they can get with it.

Many of these rationalizations are destructive.  People not able to lire up to what is preached by religious leaders leaving them feeling 'wicked' and fearful because they can't control their thoughts; others live in fear of afterlife because they cannot meet the standards set by their clergy.  The reasons that so many people are injured psychologically from clerical edicts is they feel unclean, impure, and like failures in life as humans when they can't do the impossible that is demanded of them.

More people, though they may claim a church affiliation, attend church rarely.  If the US would tax religious groups as businesses, (and profit making colleges, as well) we would have a far more stable economy.

CRUCIAL ADVANCES IN "BRAIN READING"

"UCLA's Laboratory of Integrative Neuroimaging Technology, researchers use functional MRI brain scans to observe brain signal changes that take place during mental activity. They then employ computerized machine learning (ML) methods to study these patterns and identify the cognitive state -- or sometimes the thought process -- of human subjects. The technique is called "brain reading" or "brain decoding." "-from Science Daily (12/21/11)

This particular study focuses on the brains of addicts and smokers.  For those of us who are not researchers in this field, we can only welcome any t4chnique that gets closer to understanding what is different that is happening in the brains of addicts and smokers.

The article further writes:  "In this study on addiction and cravings, the team classified data taken from cigarette smokers who were scanned while watching videos meant to induce nicotine cravings. The aim was to understand in detail which regions of the brain and which neural networks are responsible for resisting nicotine addiction specifically, and cravings in general, said Dr. Ariana Anderson, a postdoctoral fellow in the Integrative Neuroimaging Technology lab and the study's lead author."  For the entire article, click here: 

CHRISTMAS IS NOT ONLY FOR KIDS OR CHRISTIANS

 Hoping that your Christmas is memorable and happy with friends and family and followed by a wonderful 2012.

Christmas may mean happy memories to people of their childhood, parents, and a safe and happy time in families.  Those people look to hold onto those nice feelings.  If it means sadness and never having been loved or given to, people try to make Christmas into something it had never before been for them.  Channukah is very similar in activity to Christmas though the history and symbolism are totally different.  It is a time of tradition, family closeness and gift giving.

Atheists celebrate Christmas as a time when work stops, days are free to meet with family and friends, to make people happy with gifts that show thoughtfulness and love.  (That it makes merchants happy for other reasons is allowable.)  When the economy is busier, taxes are raised, town and state budgets allow people more services, the government gets more revenue and infrastructure is renewed and kept up.  (Well, it used to be...)  When Teapartiers cry that $40 for a person is nothing, they make the error of assuming that it is only one $40 and not the whole community with $40 spent by hundreds of people whose influence is felt widely.

Have we forgotten the stories from our past?  The Gift of the Magi, The Little Match Girl, what happened to our inspirational stories?  They have been taken over by ad men who aren't always truthful and the spirit has been lost for persuasive and commercial reasons.  Let us bring back or hold onto what we wish our lives to be.