Friday, October 30, 2009

Happy Halloween

(the below is from a little while ago but, Halloween appropriate in my opinion...)



What can I say, I saw the movie Zombieland and came up with the above.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Link to My Radio Appearance

Here's the link to my appearance on the Jeff Bolton Show, a political talk show on KLIF 570 here in Dallas last Friday morning regarding Hispanics in America in case you wanted to hear it (fyi-part 5 cuts off mid sentence, I spoke to Clint, the producer of the show, and he said he'd upload part 6 at some point). Never mind, the link's good if you go to KLIF's blogspot page, you can hear all of the panel discussion there.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Who's Slick Rick Gonna Fire Next?

Gov. Perry talking strategy with his campaign team:


In case you missed it Gov. Perry essentially fired some committee members that were investigating a death penalty case he signed off on. The committee was about to hear from an expert that was likely to say the person executed was innocent. Now the committee's investigation into the death penalty  case has been delayed indefinitely.

What are the things in Perry's hair above? Click here and here for the background of the "Hair Aliens."

Click here for part 4 of the ongoing saga of the Hair Aliens.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

NPTN (Non-Political Thoughts Now)...

...sometimes a little non-political levity is a good thing. I give you "Wife Forces Husband to Dance":

Friday, October 23, 2009

Post Game: Thoughts After Being on The Jeff Bolton Show

Bottom line, it was awesome. I really enjoyed it. Jeff Bolton is a political radio talk show host and I knew that going in (I looked at his show's page on KLIF's website). I think Jeff was asking questions based on his own opinions and based on his typical listeners' opinions on certain topics related to Hispanics in the USA (immigration, English only, protests, healthcare, Hispanics being Democrats versus Republicans, etc.). I just answered his questions honestly and spoke sincerely about the topics he brought up . I really have to thank Jeff and his producer Clint for having me on the show. I also have to thank Shawn Williams of DallasSouthBlog.com and DallasSouthNews.org for putting the radio show in touch with me.
They're going to send me a CD of the broadcast and they're going to post the show on itunes. I'll look for the podcast and try to post that here somehow if I can. Friends that listened seemed to think I did OK. I'll wait until I listen to the audio to tell you exactly what I thought but, it was a lot of fun and again, I really enjoyed it.

(fyi - Andrew asked in a comment how the radio show went this morning, the above is, for the most part, the same response I originally posted as a comment reply.)

Cheney Under a Blood Red Sky...



In case you missed it Cheney had more to say about President Obama and Afghanistan. Of course, the White House responded.

Check out past thoughts on "Hi I'm a Dem and I'm a GOP" or "Cheney's International Center is Like..." if you'd like.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Yours Truly Will Be On the Radio...

I'll be on the radio tomorrow morning on the local radio show of Jeff Bolton on 570 KLIF here in Dallas from about 7am-9am discussing being Hispanic if DFW. I'll let you know how it goes. Or you can tune in for yourself.

Best of Sarah Palin...

...to date. Did you hear? She's going to appear on the all powerful Oprah's show the day before her book comes out. Didn't Oprah support the other ticket? Yeah, I'm pretty much mailing it in this week, I've had a busy couple of weeks. But, it really, really, really, really, really, really kills me that she has a following of any sort-as you should be able to tell by the number of times I typed, "really" in this sentence. Here's a SMALL sampling of why she is incompetent at best and dangerous at worst:



And if you think I'm being weird about my Palin-phobia she has her own PAC and is very popular among the PRR's(Pat Roberston Republicans).

And don't forget about the Palin-turkey-getting its-head-cut-off-in-the-background-video.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

GOP Launched a New Website (Straight Into a Dumb Brick Wall)

This is somewhat old news but, I'll explain below why I'm posting this now after all the coverage it's already received. As you may have heard from numerous news outlets, on Oct. 13, 2009 the GOP launched a new website, namely, GOP.com that had some problems.

Oh, GOP, you're like that elderly person from the early 1990's who tries over and over again to set the time on your VCR to no avail. After every failed attempt the VCR continually flashes "12:00" in what you believe is a mocking, condescending manner. Or GOP, you're like the 90's elderly person trying to look cool as you show off your new, hip cassette tapes to your younger friends, friends who wonder if you've heard of CD's.

One of the most covered aspects of the new GOP site was RNC chairperson Steele's blog titled, "What Up?". One day after launch they changed the name of the blog. I wonder why.

Another heavily covered snafu at GOP.com was the "future leaders" section of the site which displayed an error message or was blank part of the day it was launched.


Oh irony, you are a cruel, cruel mistress.

They've supposedly fixed the "future leaders" problem. They "fixed" the "future leaders" page by adding some prose that still does not list any future leaders of the GOP. I'm serious. And that's why I went ahead and wrote about the GOP's new site more than a week after its horrendous launch. GOP.com's "future leaders" section, as of this post on Oct. 21, 2009, still lists no one more than a week after the site's launch. Now, irony has evolved into plain, old stupid. Why even have a "future leaders" section? Sure, invite folks to give their 2 cents but, maybe, just maybe, you should list some up and comers in your party. Otherwise, it makes your party look lost. Just a thought.

To quote a famous GOP'er, "fool me once, shame on-shame on you. Fool me, you can't get fooled again." Apparently, the GOP can be fooled again(original GOP.com launch) and again(Steele's "What Up?" blog) and again(error on "future leaders" page) and again(fixed "future leaders" page still lists no one). Now if only the GOP could figure out how to set the time on its darn VCR...

Monday, October 19, 2009

About 1 Year Later: A Not So Subtle Reminder...

... of how far we've come and and the road left to travel.

I dare you to watch all the videos below. I double-dog dare you.

The below was posted here about a year ago by yours truly. I'm posting it again. I don't think that those persons featured below have changed their viewpoints, beliefs or convictions about what they believe is real/true. It's scary. It should be. Folks that hear this crap from friends or family should tell them they're morons or, at the very least wrong. Moreover, maybe, at the very least, we should be aware and worried about people like this, I know I am...

from the original post from about a year ago:
Mindy Green (featured in the first clip) is going to vote, does that scare anyone else besides me? It shouldn't matter if you are a Democrat or Republican or Independent, the type of ignorance displayed by some the people in the below clips should be combated at every turn by everyone.








Friday, October 16, 2009

No(t W.?)bel Peace Prize...



And if he won it for essentially being the exact opposite of W....
and re-establishing the USA as a leader in and of the international community is that such a bad thing?

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Join Twitter (If You Haven't Already) Follow Drew Carey and "Make Him" Donate 1 Million Dollars

As explained on CNN, Drew Carey has pledged to donate one million dollars to LiveStrong(Lance Armstrong's cancer foundation) if he reaches one million twitter followers by Dec. 31. How and why did he decide to do that?

Drew Olanoff, who has cancer, has the twitter handle "twitter.com/drew" and put it up for auction to raise money for LiveStrong. Drew Carey caught wind of it and decided to make his bid tied to the number of followers he can get at his twitter handle "twitter.com/DrewFromTV". He's going to make a minimum bid of $100,000.00 and will prorate his bid if he doesn't reach the one million follower mark. For example, 250,000 followers at "DrewFromTV" by Dec. 31 equals a bid/donation of $250,000.00 from Drew Carey to LiveStrong. PTN is already following DrewFromTV, you should too, it doesn't cost anything. If you're not on twitter already what better reason to join and follow someone?

Think this is a good cause? Pass it along to others.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Yeah, Sure, You Should Trust What the Insurance Industry Says...

and while you're at it I have some lovely, wooded, spacious ocean front property you might be interested in buying from me in Arizona.

In case you didn't hear, the insurance industry issued a "report". That "report" "revealed" that insurance rates would actually go up if Congress passed and President Obama signed insurance reform legislation. I don't find it surprising that a report written by the insurance industry would describe the terrible consequences of passing health insurance reform. I'll be honest, I didn't read the report, I don't think I need to, and I'll explain why through other examples, I also don't read/listen to the following:
1) movie reviews by the studios that produced the movies. 
2) book reviews by the author of a the book.
3) Glenn Beck raving about how great the 9/12 project is/was and how great the Tea Party is since he helped found and promote both and has profited financially from both.
4) anything Dick Cheney has to say about foreign policy, national security, torture, terrorism or Gitmo (because he and the previous administration did such a swell job on all of those issues).
5) anything Liz Cheney has to say about what her father Dick Cheney has said about foreign policy, national security, torture, terrorism or Gitmo (because her father and the previous administration did such a swell job on all of those issues).

but I digress...

Some potential problems/questions I have with the insurance industry's report that rates would go up if there is, in fact, reform passed:
1) Which version of the bill are they talking about? Remember there are at least 5 Senate versions in various Senate committees as well as whatever comes out of the House.
2) What if the legislation prohibits insurance companies from raising rates? Are they just going to break the law and raise rates anyway?
3) What if there is indeed a public option? Would the insurance industry put themselves out of business and raise rates while there is a more inexpensive public option? Would that be a bad thing?
4) What if there is a "trigger" for a public option in a reform bill that is passed. Is the insurance industry promising that they will raise rates and bring about a public option? Given this scenario, I say, "raise rates!"
5) What if people realized that the insurance industry wrote a report critical of health insurance reform?

And surprise, surprise, at least one former insurance industry insider has already declared that this report is "bogus." Are you really surprised?

Maybe the insurance industry fat cats are getting seriously worried that a bill will actually make it to President Obama's desk and the release of this "report" is the first sign of desperation. What else can the big insurance companies do? They've already used their record profits to line the pockets of any politician that will take their money and utter nonsense like, "death panels." Maybe they're grasping at straws.

Who would just blindly believe what these insurance industry yahoos have to say about health insurance reform? Again, if you do believe their report I have some lovely ocean front property in Arizona you might like to purchase from me...

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Palin's Memoir Finished Early


So Palin Finished Her Memoir Early...  if she's going to keep on putting out the same old crap [real 'America', mavericky, joe 6-pack], can you blame me for using an old cartoon?)

...I guess she had bunches of good old 'real American' mavericky free time on her hands since she quit her job. And again, let me get this straight, she quit her job as chief executive of her state in the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression right? So again, why do people care what she has to say or "write"("write" is in parentheses because, come on, she, like any politician, has ghost writers)

Some past thoughts on Ms. Palin include but, are not limited to...

- Palin on Health Insurance Reform

- Palin's farewell speech (that I'm pretty sure she wrote all by her mavericky self)

- Shatner's spoken word version of Palin's farewell speech

- Cartoon about Palin's resignation speech (again, I'm pretty sure she also wrote this one all by her mavericky self)

- Letterman vs. Palin regarding the joke about her daughter

- Chapter titles in Palin's memoir

Side note: If you want to view older posts just scroll down, under the last post there should be a link that reads, "older posts." Just click on it and see the previous five posts. Also, on the right side there's a "cloud" of some of the common topics here on ole PTN. Just click one of them to see posts associated with that topic. Lastly, blogger is having a problem with their embedded search engines. So the "search ptn" gadget on the right side only works for more recent posts. Weird huh? Especially since Google owns blogger. They're working on it though. There's also the "archive", located at the bottom left of the page, where you can click on different months to see the titles of older posts. If you enjoy what you see here please pass it along to others. Or just tell them to Google "Political Thoughts Now" or even "ptn jg" (without the quotation marks) and they should stumble upon PTN. As always, any comments, suggestions, criticisms are welcome regarding content or design. Although, to be honest, my skills at tweaking the overall design are limited at best-I can barely turn on my computer and check email but, if you have a good suggestion I'll do my best.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

NPTN (Non-Political Thoughts Now)...

Every once in a while I'll share NPTN's (Non-Political Thoughts Now), this is one of those instances.
If the score for 2001: A Space Odyssey had been performed by a bad high school band it might have sounded something like this, somehow I don't think any of those performing got into Julliard (you'll need your volume turned up):