Have Coffee Will Write

23 October 2008

AND YOU THINK WE HAVE PROBLEMS IN OHIO…?

1640 by Jeff Hess

The Mormons are flooding cash into the campaign to take away the right for the homosexual citizens of California to spend the rest of their lives married to the person they love and the dirty tricks are getting serious.

From A Las A Blog:

My husband is a phone banking coach for the local No on 8 campaign. Tonight, at an update meeting, they confirmed a rumor that was circulating around the phone banking session last week: Yes on 8 supporters are calling members of gay and lesbian communities and telling them that if they support same-sex marriage, they should vote yes.

If you can’t win on the issues, lie, cheat and steal; they’re Republican virtues.

Posted in Election 2008, Lie And Equivocate, Social Justice & Advocacy | 2 Comments »

23 October 2008

THE REAL PROBLEM WITH PALIN’S WARDROBE…

1553 by Jeff Hess

Susan Mitchell commenting at Jake Tapper’s ABC News’ blog writes:

If Sarah is as popular in Alaska as they claim she is (a bogus claim by the way), then why shouldn’t she dress the way she did as governor? Isn’t Alaska high toned enough for Real Americans? Are they saying that people in Real America don’t know how to dress well when they wear windbreakers and jogging suits? If it’s good enough to wear to Walmart, isn’t it good enough to wear to rallies attended by hockey moms and Joe Six-packs? Are they accusing patriotic parts of the country such as Alaska and rural towns as being somehow backward or redneck?

Posted in Election 2008 | No Comments »

23 October 2008

MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…

1430 by Jeff Hess

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is 9 Steps to Achieving Flow (and Happiness) in Your Work.

Posted in Blogpile | No Comments »

23 October 2008

THE POETRY OF SARAH PALIN…

1200 by Jeff Hess

“On the Bailout”

Ultimately,
What the bailout does
Is help those who are concerned
About the health care reform
That is needed
To help shore up our economy,
Helping the-
It’s got to be all about job creation, too.

Shoring up our economy
And putting it back on the right track.
So health care reform
And reducing taxes
And reining in spending
Has got to accompany tax reductions
And tax relief for Americans.
And trade.

We’ve got to see trade
As opportunity
Not as a competitive, scary thing.
But one in five jobs
Being created in the trade sector today,
We’ve got to look at that
As more opportunity.
All those things.

(To K. Couric, CBS News, Sept. 25, 2008)

Via Slate…

Posted in Poetry | No Comments »

23 October 2008

GLOBAL WARNING… IN 1958…

1108 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Global Warming/Climate Chaos, Video | No Comments »

23 October 2008

STEAL BACK YOUR VOTE…

1101 by Jeff Hess

From Steal Back Your Vote!

STEP 4: DO NOT FILL OUT A PROVISIONAL BALLOT if your vote is challenged!! In 2004 the Republicans challenged a ridiculous number of voters. The voters were then told by a sweet little lady at a table that their â€œprovisional ballot” would be counted, BUT IT WON”T. Don”t listen to the little old lady!! DEMAND that poll judges make the judgement ON THE SPOT. Demand a call to the supervisor of elections. If you have to, go home and come back with a better form of ID.

If you need help, call ELECTION PROTECTION at 1-866-OUR-VOTE . And help those around you when you”re at the polling place. Look for people having trouble. Call the number for them. Tell them not to fill out a provisional ballot!

Vote.

Via Blogger Interrupted…

Posted in Election 2008 | No Comments »

23 October 2008

CHALKING IT UP TO THE BLANK SLATE…

1030 by Jeff Hess

Posted in TED Talks, Video | No Comments »

23 October 2008

WHY ARE THE NATIONS IN AN UPROAR…?

1005 by Jeff Hess

She who Writes Like She Talks has posted about the nut job in Minnesota who vandalized the home of Republican Representative Michele Bachmann and five other politicians, both Republicans and Democrats, with the same message: U R A CRIMINAL RESIGN OR ELSE! PSALM 2.

(Note the possibly texting/Internet-influenced presence of all caps.)

What does Psalm 2 say? What is the secret message here?

2:1 Why are the nations in an uproar? And why do the peoples mutter in vain?

2:2 The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His anointed:

2:3 ‘Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.’

2:4 He that sitteth in heaven laugheth, the Lord hath them in derision.

2:5 Then will He speak unto them in His wrath, and affright them in His sore displeasure:

2:6 ‘Truly it is I that have established My king upon Zion, My holy mountain.’

2:7 I will tell of the decree: the Lord said unto me: ‘Thou art My son, this day have I begotten thee.

2:8 Ask of Me, and I will give the nations for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession.

2:9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’

2:10 Now therefore, O ye kings, be wise; be admonished, ye judges of the earth.

2:11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

2:12 Do homage in purity, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way, when suddenly His wrath is kindled. Happy are all they that take refuge in Him.

Translation from the Hebrew by the Jewish Publication Society, 1985.

Here’s a clue, don’t look for anything rational in the message because the vandal lacks either.

Posted in Superstition & Ignorance | No Comments »

23 October 2008

P.Z. MYERS WOULD LOVE THIS…

0947 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Art, Video | No Comments »

23 October 2008

MY COMMENTS…

0938 by Jeff Hess

0938: Discomfort

0922: Changes at Creative Ink

0721: Why I didn’t vote for President

Posted in Blogging, Election 2008, Writing | No Comments »

23 October 2008

VOTE McCAIN NOT HUSSEIN…

0847 by Jeff Hess

All they have left are hate, bigotry and lies.

Posted in Election 2008, Video | No Comments »

23 October 2008

1968… 2008…

0846 by Jeff Hess

Robert Stein writes:

The Obama campaign is planning a huge Election Night victory celebration in Chicago’s Grant Park, weather and vote tallies permitting.

Just reading about it makes my eyes water at what happened there 40 years ago.

Tear gas was stinging my face and burning my throat as armed men in masks pushed us deeper into the park. My middle-aged legs were pumping hard across the grass when a teen-aged war protester grabbed my arm and drew me to a water fountain. “Soak your handkerchief,” he said, “keep it on your face.”

I was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in August, 1968, but that night I found myself among young people being herded into Grant Park by National Guardsmen and Chicago police.

After the defeat of an anti-war resolution in the hall, another delegate and I had taken a convention bus heading into town. As we stopped for a traffic light in front of the Mayflower Hotel, cops with clubs and soldiers with rifles were pushing kids into the park. We got off the bus, joined the crowd and were immediately separated by a surge of bodies. With the wet handkerchief over my face, I stumbled along until I finally found an exit and a taxi.

Back in my hotel room, eyes still burning, I turned on TV to see what the rest of the country was seeing–American kids being gassed, clubbed and herded into police vans at gunpoint. In the convention hall, looking at the footage, Walter Cronkite was saying in disgust, “It makes us want to pack up our cameras and go home.”

If and when an African-American man faces a cheering crowd of young people and old there the night of this November 4th, it may erase that memory once and for all.

Posted in Election 2008, What They Say... | No Comments »

23 October 2008

ELEPHANTS CAN’T JUMP…

0822 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Election 2008, Humor | No Comments »

23 October 2008

CONSERVATIVES FOR CHANGE…

0652 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Election 2008, Video | No Comments »

22 October 2008

WHAT THE PFECK…?

1611 by Jeff Hess

Posted in Election 2008, Humor, Video | No Comments »

22 October 2008

BLESSING THE ANNOINTED…

1523 by Jeff Hess

I remember sitting in a Pols 101 class at Ohio University in the fall of 1980, shortly before President Ronald Reagan’s election, listening to and watching a chain smoking (yes, we could smoke in the classrooms) professor lecture on the Federalist papers when he took a hard turn and started to rant about how general elections were meaningless.

His point was that American politics are all decided in the primaries; that is the only point when Americans have any choice, the rest is all spectacle. And that is a meme others repeat; that despite the dramatic posturing of Republican and Democratic candidates, corporate American Washington has just kept chugging along.

Reading Tim Russo’s posts about Ohio Attorney General heir apparent Richard Cordray brought that 28-year old lecture to mind. Who is Richard Cordray? I don’t have a feckin’ clue.

Cordray hasn’t had to run — at least in Sarah Palin sense — for this office. He’s on the ballot because he’s been hand picked by the Democratic Party leaders to replace Attorney General Abomination Marc Dann. Continue Reading »

Posted in Election 2008, Ohio | 1 Comment »

22 October 2008

MUCKING OUT THE BLOGPILE…

1430 by Jeff Hess

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is Lessons in Productivity from Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Posted in Blogpile | No Comments »

22 October 2008

MY COMMENTS…

1325 by Jeff Hess

1325: Pope Tom Blumer – can”t be Catholic and vote for Barack

0832: Chicken Soup for the Swing State Soul

Posted in Comments, Election 2008 | No Comments »

22 October 2008

VOTE McCAIN/PALIN OR BURN IN ETERNAL HELL…

1225 by Jeff Hess

Just to show that Ryan’s comment that it is the unemployed, overweight, stay-at-home women who are nuts is off-base, here’s a few choice words from Bishop Robert J. Herman, the administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, on the upcoming election:

The decision I make in the voting booth will reflect my value system. If I value the good of the economy and my current lifestyle more than I do the right to life itself, then I am in trouble. Pope John Paul II, in his post-synodal apostolic exhortation Christifideles laici tells us: “Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights ï¿½ for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture ï¿½ is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination.”

The right of our children to be protected from destruction is greater than my right to a thriving economy. I am living proof of this, since I am here because my parents believed this priority and lived it. My desire for a good economy cannot justify my voting to remove all current restrictions on abortion. My desire to end the war in Iraq cannot justify my voting to remove all current restrictions on abortion.

[Snip]

Judgment Day is on its way. Pray your way into conformity with the teachings of Christ and His Church. Pray the family Rosary daily between now and Election Day so that you may not only make the right choice but also have the courage to discuss these issues with others who may have been misled by our materialistic culture. Include the candidates in your prayer intentions. It is my hope that our discussions will bring all of us to our knees to seek help from above.

Posted in Election 2008, Superstition & Ignorance, What They Say... | 2 Comments »