Morbid

Top 1 Percent of Americans Reaped Two-Thirds of Income Gains in Last Economic Expansion
Income Concentration in 2007 Was at Highest Level Since 1928, New Analysis Shows
Average income gains, adjusted for inflation, between 2002 - 2007:
* the top 1 percent of earners, saw a 61.8% increase
* the top 0.1% saw an astounding 94.1% increase
* while the bottom 90% saw a measly 3.4% increase.

This is just revolting. More proof that trickle-down/voo-doo economics is not much more than a license to exercise greed!

Wall Street Pursues Profit in Bundles of Life Insurance

If this doesn't make you sick to your stomach, I'm not sure anything will! These people are SICK!!! To gamble on peoples life insurance plans is absolutely revolting. And yet, the catch phrase of August was "Death Panels" and magically they attached it to Obama! Projection much?

Matt Taibbi's Response to the Above Article

Excerpt: "What’s very amusing about this New York Times article is that, while describing this, there is no passage that reads anything like, “This utterly insane plan, which will condemn all those involved with it to an eternity of elaborate torment in the afterlife, is ironically being promoted by the very institutions that only just recently tried to destroy the world by creating similar casino-like gambits based on home ownership.”

The shampoo fragrance dilemma

The Shampoo Fragrance dilemma is officially over!!! About six to eight weeks ago I bought a new shampoo. It's made by TiGi, part of it's BedHead line, named "Foxy Curls". It smelled amazing. Every time I washed my hair I would rummage through a number of super sugary products in my brain.

"Is it Pixi Stix?" "Maybe it's a Jolly Rancher I'm thinking of? Yeah, that's it! Grape? Strawberry? Apple maybe?" "NO I got it! It's cotton candy!!!" "Gum?" All of these came up short. I knew I was off, I just couldn't place it. I was considering,

no joke, washing my hair at friends houses until I could accurately pinpoint what I was smelling! And then, tonight... in the shower... it dawned on me. I FINALLY figured it out, and I feel so much better! Almost vindicated! Foxy Curls shampoo SMELLS LIKE SKITTLES!!!! That super fruity, not-just-one-fruity-sugary-substance smell you get when you open that glossy red bag... THAT'S THE SMELL!!!! Huzzah!!!

eh hehm... listen up Palin brood!

HAH! Stole This... Had to!!!

Extra Extra Read all About it!!! (Photos - NSFW)

Here's a bunch of relevant info for our day and times... at the bottom (while still informative) I've added a little treat for you all.

*light green = links!

Scary! NYT Opinion Piece: A Threat to Fair Elections - This is going backwards. We do need campaign finance reform, but NOT in the direction of allowing MORE money from MORE corporate/union interests.

The Bush Tax Cuts Cost Two and a Half Times as Much as the

House Democrats’ Health Care Proposal - But Obama's the redistributor of wealth In Chief, right?

More on the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy vs. House Dem. health care proposal

U.S. Forces in Iraq Beginning to Leave, Need for Private Guards Grows - which seems like a really good idea considering Afghanistan's recent run in with private, corporate Guards!!! Guards Gone Wild!

Click the link, but I'll post a few of my faves. FYI - NOT SAFE FOR WORK!!!

It's truly shocking that a fact checking organization is needed to prove that - Barack Obama is not the first President to Address Schoolchildren

Rescission: When your health insurance provider decides it's time they don't want to cover you anymore.

And the big daddy of the day... Matt Taibbi's unbelievable, RIGHT-ON, assessment of our sick and twisted Health Care Battle!!! Like Sir Mix-a-Lot, it's long, and it's strong and it's down to get the friction on! It's something you might even want to print out and take with you to those places we don't speak of simply because it's a lengthy read, but it is so completely dense with information and wisdom I recommend it to everyone I know, even the opposition!

After being good boys and girls, and reading up on the relevant stuff, I'm staying good to my word and linking you a treat. I now follow it myself! :)

Integrity is not an Accessory!

Matt Taibbi Rocks it again!!!

EVERYONE should read this. It is long and from time to time a bit rough to read, but it is so dense with valuable information, it BEGS attention!

Sick and Wrong: How Washington is screwing up health care reform, and why it may take a revolt to fix it!

Some excerpts:

"Let's start with the obvious: America has not only the worst but the dumbest health care system in the developed world. It's become a black leprosy eating away at the American experiment — a bureaucracy so insipid and mean and illogical that even our darkest criminal minds wouldn't be equal to dreaming it up on purpose."

"In the real world, nothing except a single-payer system makes any sense. There are currently more than 1,300 private insurers in this country, forcing doctors to fill out different forms and follow different reimbursement procedures for each and every one. This drowns medical facilities in idiotic paperwork and jacks up prices: Nearlya third of all health care costs in America are associated with wasteful administration. Fully $350 billion a year could be saved on paperwork alone if the U.S. went to a single-payer system — more than enough to pay for the whole goddamned thing, if anyone had the balls to stand up and say so."

"Will wasn't the only prominent opponent of reform openly arguing in favor of the insurance industry's right to continue doing business inefficiently. Sen. Ben Nelson, who together with Baucus are the Laverne and Shirley of turncoat Democrats, complained that the public option "would win the game." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell admitted that "private insurance will not be able to compete with a government option." This is a little like complaining that Keanu Reeves was robbed of an Oscar just because he can't act."

"To recap, here's what ended up happening with health care. First, they gave away single-payer before a single gavel had fallen, apparently as a bargaining chip to the very insurers mostly responsible for creating the crisis in the first place. Then they watered down the public option so as to make it almost meaningless, while simultaneously beefing up the individual mandate, which would force millions of people now uninsured to buy a product that is no longer certain to be either cheaper or more likely to prevent them from going bankrupt. The bill won't make drugs cheaper, and it might make paperwork for doctors even more unwieldy and complex than it is now. In fact, the various reform measures suck so badly that PhRMA, the notorious mouthpiece for the pharmaceutical industry which last year spent more than $20 million lobbying against health care reform, is now gratefully spending more than seven times that much on a marketing campaign to help the president get what he wants."

"Then again, some of the blame has to go to all of us. It's more than a little conspicuous that the same electorate that poured its heart out last year for the Hallmark-card story line of the Obama campaign has not been seen much in this health care debate. The handful of legislators — the Weiners, Kuciniches, Wydens and Sanderses — who are fighting for something real should be doing so with armies at their back. Instead, all the noise is being made on the other side. Not so stupid after all — they, at least, understand that politics is a fight that does not end with the wearing of a T-shirt in November."

You can take the girl out of Italy, but you can't take Italy out of the girl.

I was completely happy to have a waste-of-a-day today. I was enjoying being wrapped up in my sheets, doing nothing for as long as possible... and then I got restless. For some reason the urge to cook overcame me. I decided to make some hardcore pasta sauce. I did NOT mess around on this one! I started off with tomato sauce and added Hot Italian Sausage & ground beef. While that simmered a bit, I sauteed fresh thinly sliced garlic, mushrooms & onions. When that was perfectly oozing yummy smells I added it to my sauce, along with special herbs and spices. I boiled up some whole wheat angel hair, and rocked some parmesan garlic bread, to top it all off. It may not look like much, but I promise, it's a flavor fiesta in the mouth!!! This is not a sauce for the vegetarian or vegan friend, but for those meat eaters I know (and love), let me know when you want to come over for some of Mamma Salvadori's sweet sweet tasty pasta goodness!

OC Street Fair/LastNightWasRad.com

All righty kids, Mamma's got some pictures to share. I met up with Carrie yesterday to go to the Orange County Street Fair. We pre-gamed at her place, where the glory of the good ol' Monopoly theory was revisited. This is something I will have to delve into at a later date, but I promise you, it's fairly brilliant.

After breaking into someones house, which I'm pretty sure we did, we headed on over to the international food and beer festival, where it was SO BUSY we ended up eating no food or drinking any beer. Disappointed!

To explain a little more about the photos, Carrie's got a couple of friends (Djay and Brandon) who take professional quality photos for events and parties (check out lastnightwasrad.com - for more). They tend to go a little crazy with the photography which is unfortunate for someone like me who tends to be NON-photogenic, and/or doing something she shouldn't be doing. Getting caught in the act of debauchery is one thing, but being PHOTOGRAPHED... oh no, that just won't do. :)

First... this post, brought to you by the letters D and J, and the number 7 (and by 7, I mean Brandon).

Djay:

Brandon:

Onto the evenings festivities:

I have nothing to do with this photo. In fact, it was taken before Carrie and I even arrived. I just think Djay's infiltration is high-larious, and LOVE his expression:

Carrie and I arriving to flash photography (so hot right now):

For some reason, I decided to bury my face in her arm?!?!? Ugh!

We started wandering, and ran across these volleyball chicks. I was intrigued. They were so tall... and loud... and wearing pirate hats!

We also ran into an old friend of ours from High School, Steve. He's one of the best guys I've ever known!

And then... things start to blur:

Where are we? Who are we with? Why are we in a line? Who's this dude with no lenses in his glasses? Have I eaten? How much did I drink? Why am I teaching people the lesser known version of jazz-hands that some theatre snob taught me???

I think this girl might have the prettiest smile I've ever seen:

And of course, the theme of the evening... drinks... drinks drinks drinks, and confusion:

We ended up leaving fairly early, which was probably a very good thing. I had a poker game waiting for me at home. I ended up being awake until roughly 5 AM, and I'm completely unclear what I was doing between the hours of 12 midnight and about 12 noon this morning. I was however, greeted with a brutal hangover this morning and I probably deserved it.

I'm getting too old for this crap.

A letter to Pres. Barack Hussein Obama

Dear Mr. President,

My name is Jennifer. I am 31 years old. I live in Orange County, CA and I proudly cast my vote for you last November. I have followed you since the good ol' days. The days when myspace.com was still cool. Myspace had just recently swallowed up the dinosaur referred to as Friendster. You added me as a friend, and I was intrigued to get a friend request from someone who seemed like a pretty upstanding, diligent, hard-working civil servant. You seemed like a force to be reckoned with, so I added you even though I had no idea who you were. When you decided to run for President, I began digging. I began thinking, "wow, this is the guy who added me as a myspace friend, can he be for real? I wonder what his deal is?" The more I dug, the more interested I became, and the more I realized that you were a new breed of politician. You sounded like me. When I read your work, you seemed like someone genuinely in touch with the everyday American, but with the uncanny knack for relaying life experience, and intelligence with words. I wanted to know all I could about your history, and your politics, and your method of governing. The deeper I got, the more politically aware I became, and I was stupefied by your ease. I was mystified by your grace and calm in times of controversy. You seemed like a person the world could relate to and respect, mostly because you seem to give as much respect as you receive. You didn't condescend. You spoke to people's hearts, and it seemed like your policy backed that up.

In November, after many months of spreading the word and egging on friend after friend after friend to get out to the polls, millions of people who felt much like I did, voted for you. There are a GREAT number of reasons why they voted for you in such great numbers, not the least of which being what I described above. Your sincerity and your genuine concern for the common everyday hard-working American was refreshing, and something this country so GREATLY needed.

In recent weeks, I have found myself wrestling with a constant inner struggle regarding health care. You know, just like roughly 70% of this country knows, that we are in desperate need of reform. So I am left wondering why you would even consider turning your back on that overwhelming majority of American's who were counting on you to bring about the change we so ravenously desire? I understand that a man with your mental fortitude may see things on a much larger scale than the rest of us, and that's fine, but with your unparalleled oral mastery I would imagine there has GOT to be a way that you could explain things with a little more hutzpah. Where is the candidate who shouted "ENOUGH!" at the Democratic National Convention at Mile High stadium, in Colorado? Has the American public already worn you out in these few short months? Have you already quit on us? I know we're a hard bunch to manage, but I think you're up to it.

You know as well as I do, that about 80% of politics is being a good salesman, and I've watched you do it. For the most part, I would say that you play chess while most of the rest of us are playing checkers. And it's entirely possible that you're doing the same thing here. I tend to be of the mind that most of the opposition have run their course, and it won't be long before the wind in their sails has all but faded to calm. In the meantime however, I think it would be nice for those of us who put our trust and hope in you to lead this nation out of the crumbling empire it was becoming to see that fire you once possessed with such ease and grace. The lies and nonsense and ridicule and violence that has been perpetrated in the name of freedom should not go without rebuttal. Not just rebuttal however, but classy, articulate, logic-riddled, indisputable facts. You, Mr. President, have this gift. You sir, are absolutely capable of reigniting the grassroots flame you once had burning for you in the best of ways. You know how to motivate masses of people to be positive, informed, and passionate about what they believe in, and to take that positive, informed, and passionate opinion to the people.

I beg of you, Mr. President, PLEASE... bring back some of that fire. Show us that impassioned, bold, strong warrior with the people (notice I said with, not of or for, but with) and FIGHT for our "general welfare". We fought for you! We believe in you! Please, believe in yourself and our cause on this one. We would LOVE to get behind you once more and fight for the betterment of our nation. Many of us already are, but I'm of the mind that you have the power/gift to create a windfall of support that would prove itself to be unstoppable!

Thank you for your time.
Jennifer Salvadori~!~

P.S. Can we please prosecute some of these Wall Street/Banking MONSTERS???

Glenn Beck remix!

So totally entertaining, I felt obliged to share!

C'mon people, really? Some of the things these people are saying include such nonsensical, insane material it really does sadden me. They're reciting flat-out talking points. I do have to say though... I think they're all going to be really sad when they realize their fearless leaders (?) may have blown their wad a little too soon.