In know this was about a hundred posts ago, but you might want to re-read my post! My reference was to those who were being hyper-critical of Michael Phelp's pot use. I was trying to say (but not clearly enough, it seems) that the TV commentators and pundits who were totally wacking out about how wrong they thought is was for Phelps to be using pot were likely to be smoking it themselves within the next 12 hours.

Which brought about the day when the Republicans huddled with corporate lobbyists to write legislation in smoke-filled rooms with no Democrats allowed,... when bills were revealed just in time for an up and down vote with no amendments by the minority party allowed or considered,... when the whole attitude of the Republicans was "we're in charge! Sit down and shut the 'F___K' up!"

I'm not in favor of the Democrats doing quite that much, but it would be nice if ANY MSM commentator or interviewer (there are no journalists there, anymore) would have the stones to ask, "What about the way you ran things when you were in charge?"

Of course the reality is, those media celebrities are all afraid they might have to pay $5 or $10 more a year in taxes. Besides selling their souls for the money and thereafter taking their marching orders from the rich slobs who own the MSM (and believe me, there's not a moderate or liberal among those owners), they don't have an ounce of courage among them. WIMPS!

The MSM commentators are nearly universally so selfish, self-centered, self-important and self-serving, they'd rather see our nation destroyed than take even the tiniest little risk in the direction of truth, honesty and integrity. They should be ashamed of themselves for what they have participated in allowing the "news" in this nation to become!

When the "robber barons" held sway, led up to the financial "Panic" of 1907... Nothing much was changed (as far as regulations) leading up to the 1920's, the crash and the Great Depression.

Thereafter, during the era of FDR, much was changed. Over the loud objections of Wall Street and the wealthiest financiers and business leaders in the US, (the same folks echoing those hollow complaints today) many new regulations, tax increases, etc., were put in place to prevent the next crash, regulations which kept us from a repeat for the next 60 years until they began to be dismantled during the Reagan administration. Funny, now, 20 years later we're back into a massive financial crisis and approaching a possible collapse. DO YOU SEE A PATTERN HERE?

Clearly Wall Street and the wealthiest of our citizens need to be saved... from THEMSELVES.

And find himself spending his dotage in the least-inspected, most-inadequately staffed nursing home in the lowest-tax state in the nation, not counting oil states (in other words, his own personal utopia). Of course that will be nothing compared to the amazing "rewards" he might discover in the next life.

But we all must remember that our Republican friends are far more worried about Rubaugh (pronounced RUBE - oh) and his astroturf-minion Rubaughs (pronounced RUBE - ohs) than they are about the reaction of the American public. They really don't understand that Rubaugh is leading them right over the cliff when it comes to public support. Indeed it is true that "Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other." (Benjamin Franklin)

Is that they just CAN'T understand how money does any good unless it goes into their own pockets and those of their wealthiest friends. Why, everyone else will just fritter it away, by buying food and clothing and paying rent or paying to keep their houses, or paying for healthcare and education and... and... and...

They won't put the money to WORK somewhere by socking it away in some off shore investment that will make them richer! What possible use is money if you're not using it to make yourself rich!? Spending it is just the same as wasting it, isn't it?!

Surely we must all understand that NASA, the national science foundation, and anything that supports reality-based research on the nature of our universe and our planet are regarded as a direct threat by the religious right.

For this minority group among Christians, (as opposed to the Catholic and Liberal Protestant denominations) science is the sworn ENEMY of FAITH and the entire scientific community is bent on DESTROYING what they hold most dear ((such as the idea that the Bible was dictated, usually in the language of Shakespearean England, directly by God using humans merely as writing instruments,... that the first chapter of Genesis means the earth is flat (well, that's what it says even if most of them overlook that little detail) and was created in six literal days,... that, since the Biblical stories begin about 5,000 years ago the universe is only 5,000 years old,... etc.))

So, every picture from Hubble showing what some 5-million-light-years distant part of the universe looked like 5 million years ago seems, to them to be a threat their the version of the "one, true faith."

To include anything in the stimulus package that supports science or even advanced education would invoke the ire of such gigantic intellectual/emotional/religious midgets as Hagee, Robertson, Wildmon, and Dobson who, together with their followers remain just about the only supporters the Republicans still have in this nation.

Our Republican friends are not necessarily anti-science, they're just kneeling to kiss the rings of their own personal brand of "Popes" who, when their oh-so-tender sensibilities are offended, can turn on a dime and become political executioners.