Just Think About It -- That is All That Can Be Asked....

Let us set aside our political, philosophical and religious differences for a moment.

If you have children or grand children and care at all about the future life they are going to be experiencing, or if you are a young person looking forward to a long, peaceful and satisfying quality of life, please watch this video interview by Bill Moyers of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and award winning war correspondent Chris Hedges:

If it is the only online opinion piece you watch all year - make it this one.  If what Hedges is talking about and predicting comes to pass, it will undoubtedly affect you regardless of the political party you support, regardless of your skin color, regardless of your religious views, regardless of your socio-economic status and regardless of your own views of what exactly it is which equates your being an American to being a uniquely fortunate human being:

For an in-depth view of the work by Hedges, check out his book, "Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt."  Here's a link to Amazon for the book:  [ Click Here ].

It is vitally important that we the people get a clearer understanding that what is happening in America is not a right/left, Democrat/Republican, white/non-white or believer/non-believer situation.  To a certain extent, it is not even a rich/poor issue.  It is a condition that has been brought about due to our view of the distorted role in which we have allowed unfettered, unaccountable capitalism to play in the progression and continued viability of, not just our democracy, but also our shared human experience.  It is, quite literally, the discussion about whether our children and grand children will live to see either survive.

----TFG

The Limeys Sour on The Willard . . .

Looks like the Brits, similar to John McCain during his 2008 VEEP vetting process, were totally unimpressed, and perhaps even annoyed by, the whirlwind visit of the GOP's empty designer suit - Willard M. Romney:

In his first trip abroad as a presidential candidate, Mitt Romney intended to show off his strength as a statesman. Instead, he made a number of bungles -- and in their traditional fashion, the British press tore him apart for it.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57481007-503544/brit-papers-blast-mitt-romney/


Hell - even Britain's right leaning press couldn't find much of anything positive to say about America's self-styled aristocrat.  I mean, you have to admit it - when even the right leaning media is blithely comparing your party's Presidential nominee to Sarah Palin, that's got to fucking hurt man:

The Times, a center-right publication, ran a couple harsh headlines, including "PM delivers Olympic putdown to Romney." That article cites two unnamed "diplomatic" sources, one of whom says of Romney's visit: "It is worse than Sarah Palin in terms of basic diplomacy." The other source said of Romney: "There is none of the stardust of his opponent."

LMFAO!


----TFG

We Built This City! (with taxpayer dough) . . .

This is how supremely cynical these people are:

Today, the Romney campaign is hosting an entire series of campaign events based on President Obama’s misinterpreted comment about small businesses. While Obama’s full speech made a “no man is an island” argument, the Romney campaign has seized on the quote, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that” as evidence of Obama’s disdain for small business owners.

Romney, ignoring the fact that he has echoed this same sentiment on multiple occasions, organized 24 “We Did Build This” events in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Virginia, Ohio, Iowa, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Nevada. At each event, local business owners are speaking about their self-sufficiency in running a business and how government is hindering their growth.

But, like the New Hampshire business owner showcased in Romney’s attack ad on the issue, many of these business owners have received significant support from the government.

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/07/25/584751/romneys-we-did-build-this-events-feature-businesses-built-with-government-subsidies-and-contracts/


They have to know that not every voter is as stupid and gullible as your average T-bagger.

Yet there they are -- blatantly going out of their way to try and make people believe that by promoting a bunch of businesses, who public records show have received federal taxpayer subsidies and/or government contracts, as examples of businesses that have built themselves without ANY help at all from anyone -- is sufficient proof to back up their widely debunked claim that Obama dissed small business owners.

The dishonesty and sneering scorn they demonstrate toward the American public is simply brazen in it's breadth.

So in essence - Romney's team fully well knows that they are lying, but they also know who their base is.  And they know that their base will believe ANYTHING as long as it results in Obama being removed from office in November.  The level of blind rage and hatred that their base has toward the dirty, negro, commie, socialist, Kenyan Muslim is such, that if truth were a 40 lb. sledgehammer swung and connected right between their eyes, it still wouldn't allow them to see it.  And it's a damn certainty that Willard's handlers aren't going to let an easy mark like the right wing base escape the clutches of their con game.

So in a nutshell - this is what the GOP's strategy is going to be right up until election day - as they know that their candidate is an elitist, dishonest empty suit who has no original ideas or vision of his own and is completely beholden to wealthy corporate interests and will govern as such.  It is going to be lies upon lies, upon lies upon even more lies.  It will be the old throw as much mud as you can at a brick wall and see how much sticks routine.  And sadly, for the overall good of the country, a great many people are going to be willfully playing along with the suicidal ruse.


----TFG

One From the "Gee - No Shit Sherlock!" Files . . .

It's shocking I tell you!

Just shocking!

WASHINGTON (AP) — States that expand their Medicaid programs under President Barack Obama's health care law may end up saving thousands of lives, a medical journal report released Wednesday indicates.

Until now, the Medicaid debate has been about budgets and states' rights. But a statistical study by Harvard researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine found a 6 percent drop in the adult death rate in Arizona, Maine and New York, three states that have recently expanded coverage for low-income residents along the general lines of the federal health care law.

The study found that for every 176 adults covered under expanded Medicaid, one death per year would be prevented.

"Policymakers should be should be aware that major changes in Medicaid — either expansions or reductions in coverage — may have significant effects on the health of vulnerable populations," wrote the researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-07-25/study-new-medicaid-expansion-could-be-a-lifesaver

I mean - imagine that - providing expanded and easier access to basic health care actually saves lives!!  Will wonders never cease??

Quite the contrast to the T-bagger solution to ill and uninsured or under insured Americans... :




.... isn't it?


----TFG

Fox In The Hen-house of Truth . . .

With their deceptive editing of President Obama's statements, not only is Fox "News" enabling and abetting Romney in his campaign, which btw, is irrefutable proof that they are much more a political propaganda outfit than a straightforward news entity, they also sink to the unfathomably low level of utilizing children as stage props in a weasel like attempt to bolster their chicanery.

Watch Jon Stewart decimate Fox for using their public media platform for fraudulent and political purposes to misinform their viewership:

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

What sad, pathetic and duplicitous fuckers they are.  And I have to be honest with you - anybody who buys in to the noxious bullshit that these charlatans are peddling --- well then, you truly do deserve the fucked up America that Romney and the Koch Brothers and the Sheldon Adelsons of the world have in store for you.


----TFG

A Plutocracy By Any Other Name . . .

If you are one of these people who truly believes that a country of 5 million haves and 320 million have-nots is the ideal formula for a long term, stable democracy, you obviously have either flunked history, or just didn't give a shit enough to learn anything from it.

WASHINGTON -- The share of the nation's wealth held by the less affluent half of American households dropped precipitously after the financial crisis, to 1.1 percent, according to new calculations by Congress's nonpartisan research service.

By contrast, the share of total net worth held by the weathiest 1 percent of American households continued rising, hitting 34.5 percent in 2010. The top 10 percent's share was 74.5 percent.

The bottom half's share of wealth has declined since it reached a high of 3.6 percent in 1995. But the most dramatic drop occurred after 2007, according to the analysis of data from the Federal Reserve’s latest Survey of Consumer Finances.

Another staggering indicator of the concentration of wealth at the top in the U.S: When all household wealth is divided by the number of households, the mean household net worth in 2010 totals $498,800. But the median household net worth -- the level at which half the households have more and half have less -- was $77,300, meaning that the rich have so much that the average net worth in the U.S. is actually 6.5 times that of a typical American family.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/households-wealth-american-1-percent_n_1687015.html


Go and do yourselves a favor - take some time to learn something about this shit - and if you don't like what you learn, then do the rest of us a favor and join us in speaking up about it.


----TFG

Thar's Gold In Them Thar' Olympics!

Oh I so dearly hope that the Romney lackeys start pushing the meme that the 2002 Olympics were saved from annihilation by the Super Hero intervention of The Great and Powerful Willard.

The truth of the matter is that Willard and his cronies all made a ton of dough off of that escapade and even managed to stick the U.S. taxpayers with a $1.5 billion (yes - billion - with a 'b') bailout bill at the end.  No wonder Willard took the Olympics gig as a side-job while still at Bain Capital - it was easy grifter money, and he was able to get some of his pals in on the feeding frenzy too:

Is this a great country or what? A millionaire developer wants a road built, the federal government supplies the cash to construct it. A billionaire ski-resort owner covets a choice piece of public land. No problem. The federal government arranges for him to have it. Some millionaire businessmen stand to profit nicely if the local highway network is vastly improved. Of course. The federal government provides the money.

How can you get yours, you ask? Easy. Just help your hometown land the Olympics. Then, when no one's looking, persuade the federal government to pay for a good chunk of the Games, including virtually any project to which the magic word Olympics can be attached.

For the past few years, while attention was focused on the Great Olympic Bribery Scandal—in which Salt Lake Cityboosters dispensed as much as $7 million in gifts, travel, scholarships, medical care, jobs and other goodies to IOC members (and their relatives and companions) to ensure that Utah's capital city would be chosen to host the 2002 Winter Games—private and public interests have siphoned an estimated $1.5 billion out of the U.S. Treasury, all in the name of those same Olympics. Two months before the Games, Utah has already walked away with the gold while setting records in four categories:

Total federal handouts. The $1.5 billion in taxpayer dollars that Congress is pouring into Utah is 10 times the amount spent by lawmakers to support all seven Olympic Games held in the U.S. since 1904—combined. In inflation-adjusted dollars.

Enrichment of private interests. For the first time, private enterprises—primarily ski resorts and real estate developments-stand to derive significant long-term benefits from Games-driven congressional giveaways.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1024516/index.htm

[Click on Picture to Zoom]

Privatization is simply a word these people use to deceptively convey a sense of freedom from big bad government regulation, which gets the loins moist of the teabagger morons, when in fact all it really is is a way for the already obscenely wealthy to stuff their gullets with even more money for themselves and, if possible, walk away from the table leaving Joe Taxpayer to foot the bill.

All I can say is that if Americans want to put the Willard crew in charge, don't come fucking crying to me afterward when the depression hits and you and your family become the modern day version of Tom Joad and his kin.


----TFG

One Small Step For Americans, One Giant Kick In The Nuts For Banksters...

This is what fair and effective regulation of commerce is supposed to look like:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- In its first public enforcement action, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced it is fining Capital One Bank for pressuring and misleading two million customers into buying additional products when they opened their credit card accounts.
The bank will refund roughly $140 million to customers and pay an additional $25 million penalty to the CFPB for using deceptive marketing tactics, the government's consumer watchdog said Wednesday.

Capital One (COF, Fortune 500) will also pay the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency a $35 million penalty and refund an additional $10 million to customers for unfair billing practices. The two actions combined bring the bank's total payout to $210 million.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/18/pf/capital-one-refund/index.htm


The CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) is the entity championed by Elizabeth Warren and was a direct response to decades of fraudulent banking practices, predatory lending activities, and market manipulation of varying products such as credit cards, student loans, mortgages, payday lenders, banks and financial services outfits, etc.

In other words - it was put in place to protect the average American consumer from unethical business practices of the kind that this country has seen destroy the global economy this past decade.

And do you know who it was that fought the establishment of the CFPB tooth and nail to the point that President Obama had to perform a recess appointment of it's director (currently Richard Cordray) in order for the agency to get off the ground and begin the work of protecting consumers?  Yes - the Republican party, the bankers, the financial services and mortgage industries, and the TeaBagger congress critters.  All of which leads this interested observer to the foregone conclusion that the GOP truly does not give a fuck about whether or not the average American is getting screwed over financially by the banksters and credit card companies and mortgage industries.  They simply JUST DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU!

And while the GOP has been the main obstacle to the efforts of controlling the avaricious greed of the banksters, there are some Democrats (of the Blue Dog kind) who frequently side with the GOP in protecting the rights of the banksters against the rights of the consumers.  Those Democrats are just as goddamn bad as the Republicans are and need to be run out of office as well.  More than anything, once people realize that these politicians don't give a fuck about them, that's the time to unite and demand aggressive and permanent campaign finance reform in our electoral process.  Remove corporate money from politics, require full disclosure on all political donations, limits on individual donations, and institute public financing of national elections.   That and stiffer penalties for the criminal activities which we have seen decimate America's economy and bring our massive economic engine to a sputtering halt.

Enough of treating the money-changers and the wealthiest of the wealthy in this country as if they were aristocracy.   Ask Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI how that "aristocracy" crap worked out for them.  That should be the warning shot message sent across the bow of the ruling elites in this country - and the sooner the better.


----TFG

False Prophets Would Condemn Millions to Healthcare Excommunication

The fundamentalist religious loons at James Dobson's Family Research Council have put out a public statement stating that the ACA legislation, which in it's basest format is primarily about helping more uninsured Americans gain access to basic and affordable health care, equates to "tyranny" and is a cause worth killing and dying for:

Obamacare is tyranny, heretofore unimagined in the U.S. Advocates laugh off the House vote to repeal, insisting that the law - affirmed by the Congress, the President and the Supreme Court - is a done deal. But they underestimate the power of prayer and the determination of the American people to remain free. Some are willing, for the false security of government-run health care, to help create an over-reaching, overly powerful federal government that will use unlimited federal debt and oppressive tax and enforcement to finance it; others are not! Even if it appears to be flickering, there is still a flame of liberty burning in America. There are still God-fearing American patriots among the American people, who, like Patrick Henry, would rather die than allow it to go out.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/theyd-rather-die.html


This is healthcare these people are talking about.  HEALTH CARE FOR FUCK SAKE!!  These people are quite simply put - unhinged, hateful lunatics.

While I myself have some concerns and questions about ACA, the fact that somebody in this country had the goddamn courage to take up the fight and bring to light the fact that 1 in 8 Americans has absolutely no health insurance whatsoever and that it is costing this country dearly and will continue to do so until the whole system implodes, is a step in the right direction any way you sanely and objectively look at it.

All that the James Dobson and teabagger types of the world can do is stand around, wrap themselves in the flag, toss out meaningless biblical quotes and distort history.  They have no solution, no vision, no plans, and no demonstrable concern about this major crisis that is ripping away at the under fabric of this country's social support system.  They are selfish, myopic fools who believe that the holy business pairing of their invisible cloud being and the free market fairies is going to magically fix everything for us all.

I have to be honest with you - these people frighten me a helluva lot more than the bearded religious maniacs living in caves over in Afghanistan/Pakistan do.  Why?  Because they're already here among us in great numbers - and like the snakes and worms that they are, they are burrowing themselves into all facets of our government and corporate infrastructures.

Go educate yourself on the subject of Christian Reconstructionism.  Tell me exactly what is it that distinguishes Dobson and his ilk from what the Taliban are doing in Afghanistan or what Al-Qaeda is trying to do in several Muslim nations around the world?  Unchecked religious fanaticism in any form is a direct threat to secular government.  It is a direct threat to representative democracy.  It is a direct threat to free speech and free thought, freedom of the press and freedom of religion.  It is a threat that needs to be confronted - and the more forcefully, the better.

It simply boggles my senses that here we are in the year 2012 and we have a wide swath of people in our society who wouldn't blink an eye at the thought of one of their fellow Americans dying prematurely and unnecessarily due to lack of access to basic medical care.  I refuse to think of these people as true Christians.  I am convinced that the Christ I have read about would be abhorred by these people and the way in which they have co-opted and perverted his teachings.  No - they are not Christians.  They are, quite simply put, just awful human beings.

"But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." [Luke 14:13 & 14.]

----TFG

Somebody Has Some Secrets . . . . !!

Can  you even fucking imagine that if back in 2008, the Democratic candidate for President had been found to have offshore tax shelters and un-taxed business accounts in Switzerland, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands .... oh my! ... what a hell storm of outrage and fury would have been mustered up!! .... and then make that candidate a black guy to boot!!!!  Hoo-wee!  The Teabaggers would have been marching up to Obama's then Chicago residence with pitchforks, torches and, undoubtedly, a few nooses in their hands.

Oh my, oh dear-oh my . . . ROFLMAO.

Hell - even some of the more mainstream conservatives are now questioning what Willard Romney is hiding in his tax returns:

It’s a bad sign for Mitt Romney when conservatives begin to question why the presumptive Republican nominee won’t release more of his tax returns. But on Sunday, that’s what happened. Conservative analysts joined Democrats in wondering whether Romney is just being impolitic in not releasing several years worth of returns — or whether he’s trying to hide something.

Democrats have been calling on Mitt Romney to release more than one year of his tax returns with a series of web videos and public statements. So far, he has released his 2010 returns and an estimate of his 2011 returns.

To politicos across the ideological spectrum, Romney’s unwillingness to release anything beyond these two years raises the question: if it’s worth the bad press to keep the tax returns private, they must contain something worse.

“The cost of not releasing the returns are clear,” said conservative columnist George Will, on ABC’s “This Week.” “Therefore, he must have calculated that there are higher costs in releasing them.”

On the ABC roundtable, Republican strategist Matthew Dowd had a similar take.
“There’s obviously something there, because if there was nothing there, he would say, ‘Have at it,’” Dowd said. “So there’s obviously something there that compromises what he said in the past about something.”

“Many of these politicians think, ‘I can do this. I can get away with this. I don’t need to do this, because I’m going to say something and I don’t have to do this,’” Dowd said. “If he had 20 years of ‘great, clean, everything’s fine,’ it’d all be out there, but it’s arrogance.”

In the last week, several Republicans have advised Romney to release his returns. That list includes former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former RNC chairman Michael Steele and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, who called for “total transparency” and said he releases all his tax returns. On “Fox News Sunday,” the Weekly Standard’s editor Bill Kristol added his voice to the list as well, calling for Romney to “release the tax returns tomorrow” and “take the hit for a day or two.”

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/conservative-romney-taxes-returns-hiding-something.php

The Gadfly is not naive though - this info may sway a few fence sitting independent voters to go against Romney, but believe me, the faithful rubes and their Tea-bagger friends will simply whistle Dixie while looking the other way and lie to themselves that "everybody does it," or convince themselves that more accessible healthcare for more uninsured Americans (the ACA reform - aka Obamacare) is much more evil than some modern day robber baron like Romney, who's business track record of destroying smaller companies, jobs and communities is the personification of what is at the root of America's economic destruction.  In their blind and zealous hatred of Obama, they would gladly destroy what remnants there are of the ideals and concepts that made this country the greatest representative democracy and most powerful economic engine in history.

The Gadfly has stated it before, maybe we need somebody like Romney to win, and let the Teathuglicans have their way with Congress as well.  A deep and painful depression like the one in the 1920's-1930's on the conservatives watch might just be the magic tonic needed to wake people up as to who's interests Willard Romney, the GOP and their corporate sugar daddies truly represent.


----TFG

Raising the Next Generation of Human Parasites - The Lone Star State Way . . .

Awwww!!  Ain't that just so goldurn' sweet?

Apparently the wealthy elites in Texas start teaching their yung 'uns about political corruption at quite the early age:

Texans contributed more than $13 million in the last quarter to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign- making the Lone Star State one of the biggest sources of campaign cash for the GOP White House hopeful.  The Romney Victory Fund — which is raising money jointly for the presidential campaign and GOP committees — reported raising $140 million in June. Texas was the fourth biggest source of campaign cash for the month (California gave the most at $17.3 million, followed by New York and Florida).

Among deep-pocket Texas donors to Romney Victory were a host of Dallasites — Peter and Edith O’Donnell ($50,000), T Boone Pickens ($50,000), tax-reduction adviser Brint Ryan ($50,000) and high school junior Preston Troutt – son of Excel Communications billionaire Kenny Troutt. The younger Troutt gave the maximum-allowed $75,800, according to the new filings Monday. His father Kenny Troutt is a major Republican donor who supported Rick Perry and Rick Santorum earlier in the GOP presidential sweepstakes. Kenny Troutt gave $150,000 to the pro-Perry SuperPAC Make Us Great and, when Perry stumbled, gave $150,000 to the pro-Santorum Red, White and Blue PAC. Troutt is also a $500,000 donor to Karl Rove’s GOP SuperPAC American Crossroads. The younger Troutt is a high school basketball phenom at Trinity Christian Academy who appears to be making his first foray into politics as a big giver.

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2012/07/texas-donors-come-around-with-big-bucks-to-mitt-romney-campaign.html/


Well The Gadfly will be a suck-egg mule!

JR Ewing himself would be prouder than a sagebrush peacock at the brazen contemptuousness that this clan demonstrates toward those millions of Americans who have lost everything and are suffering economically as a result of people like young Master Troutt's father selling this country and the poor and middle-class down the river.  I mean, you have to admit that when, as a high school junior, you are able to donate an amount of money to a political campaign that is greater than the average U.S. family's yearly income, that my friends is a classic hallmark for great promise of success in one's elitist future.

Tell me again why it is that I should admire these great, patriotic Americans??


----TFG

Ode to Fredy

This is a personal post re: a recent event that shook The Gadfly's world.  Read on if you know about it and are here because of the FB link.  Ignore this if you are here for my dirty hippie rantings.

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Well - I never imagined I would be in this position today, at this point in my life, of having to say my final goodbye to our beloved son Fredy.

As much hell-raising as I have done in my own lifetime, honestly - the thought never entered my mind that it wouldn't be Fredy giving a eulogy for me some day instead.

I've heard it said that parents are not supposed to outlive their children.  In a perfect world, I suppose that would be the way things work.  But, as it is, we don't live in a perfect world and the fact of the matter is that sometimes bad things happen when you least expect them.  The sudden loss of our dear Fredy has shocked and devastated us and our pain is more profound than I can describe.

My Father and Mom and my Sister and her Husband are here today with us - they flew in from my birth state of Minnesota - to pay their respects to Fredy and support our families through this difficult process.  I am so heartened by their presence and I cannot thank them enough for being here for us at this trying time.  My Dad and my Mom Gloria, unfortunately, know all too well the pain and suffering of having to bury a child. 15 years ago my brother David was killed in an accident at a young age.  Like Fredy, my brother David left a young wife and children behind and a lot of broken hearts of many loved ones.  These are the kind of broken hearts that never truly heal completely --- but with the love and support of family and friends, the pain does lessen over time I understand.  While that may be true,  I am certain it will be a long time before our pain of losing Fredy begins to fade, because that is how powerful the essence of his spirit and love is in all of our hearts.

So -- truly -- it is quite obvious that there is plenty of proof that we do live in an imperfect, and yes, sometimes seemingly cruel world. Knowing that, I think it would do all of us good to maybe occasionally take a few moments out of our busy lives and reflect upon that reality.  I think that if we do, perhaps we can transform that reflection in to personal actions and deeds which enhance the quality of life of not only our own lives, but of those all around us as well.

Now some personal words about Fredy:

As some of you may or may not know, Fredy is not my biological son.  When I married my wife Nelly nearly 24 years ago, I inherited an instant family of four spanish speaking only rugrats, which, as you can imagine, made for some interesting early times considering that the only spanish words I knew at the time were “taco” and “burrito”.  Those four rugrats were Fredy, his older Sisters Ana and Linda and his younger brother Javier and they were all still living in their birth country of El Salvador at the time I married their mother.  I vowed to Nelly when I asked her to marry me that I would accept her children in to my heart and help her raise them as if they were my own biological children.  I remember working a lot of extra overtime at work for several months in order to make enough money so that we could pay an immigration attorney to do all of the necessary legal paperwork to bring the kids up from El Salvador to be with us permanently.  Once all of the immigration paperwork was completed, the day then came where we were able to send for the kids to come to the U.S. and complete the goal we set out to do -- which was to make us a family - all of us together.

I remember going to the airport with Nelly the day the kids flew in from El Salvador - and we waited for what seemed like an eternity for them to clear immigration.  Finally all four came walking up the ramp from customs clearance area. I recognized them right away from pictures I had seen of them.  They saw their mother and instantly sprinted towards her yipping with glee, crying and hugged her.  I just kind of stood off to the side and allowed them that brief moment of privacy so that they could reconnect with their mother whom they had not seen for nearly 2 years.  After a few minutes and at some point, while the other 3 kids were still clinging to and hugging Nelly, the little dark-skinned rugrat, who I recognized from photos as Fredy, stepped away from his mother and turned toward me. He tugged on my pant leg and looked up at my face -- and then with a big, goofy, toothless grin and sparkling eyes he said to me "hola papi!" as if he had always known me as his father and we had simply been separated for awhile and were reunited.  He then gave me a big hug, and with that lovable grin on his face took my hand in his.  We walked out of the airport that night and went home as a family at long last.

Raising Fredy and his brother and sisters through adulthood was an experience that ----well----if I had around 6 or 7 hours, I could probably tell you a thousand stories - and a great many of them would revolve around Fredy and his antics.  Therefore I think I will allow Fredy's brother and sisters to handle that part, for I am sure that they have an entirely different perspective of most of those events from my own, being that I was just the scatter-brained dad attempting to control and teach four nutty and unruly Salvadoran rugrats about life here in these United States.

As it is - I would like to focus the remaining part of my thoughts about Fredy about the way I saw him living his life these past dozen years.

I saw him graduate from Venice High School, I saw him take some college classes and I saw him get his very first job.  I saw him fall in love with and marry his beautiful wife Kimberly.  I saw him become a proud father of two precious little girls - Jasmine and Lorelei. I saw him being a responsible working and dedicated family man and I saw him living his life with joyful abandonment.

Speaking of Fredy's youngest little girl Lorelei, here is an example of how Fredy demonstrated his love and his respect for me personally.  When Kimberly was still pregnant with Lorelei and she and Fredy were considering names for the baby, Fredy, as a Christmas present to me, gave me the honor of naming his as yet to be born daughter.  I was completely surprised and floored by such a gesture.  I was practically speechless.  I'm not one for normally displaying my emotions in front of others, and I didn't that day when Fredy gave me that wonderful gift, so I gratefully accepted it and we moved on.  But I will honestly tell you now-- I cried like a baby later that evening in a moment of solitude by myself - because I knew that by Fredy wanting to have me name his daughter - it was a gift from his heart to me - and with a gift like that there is no doubt about the depth and the strength of the love that accompanies it.  That is how loving and thoughtful Fredy could be - and was.

Another example was when Fredy helped organize a Father's Day gift to me a few years back where he got together with his brother and sisters and they pooled their money and purchased for me this package deal where I got to drive a real NASCAR race car for 10 laps around California Speedway in Fontana.  Fredy knew I liked watching NASCAR racing and I'm sure he probably heard me just say in passing one day that I thought it would be cool to drive one of those cars.  And so off to the races we went - the whole family was there.   I remember after finishing my 10 lap run around the track and pulling in to the pits - I exited the car and pulled my helmet off and looked over in the gallery where the whole family was sitting - and there was Fredy with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face - he knew that I had just had one hell of a blast driving that race car and I could tell that it made him happy to see me so happy.  But truly - the fact that Fredy would remember me making an off-hand comment about wondering what it would be like to drive a NASCAR race-car and then working behind the scenes with his siblings to make that little dream of mine come true, was just another in the many ways he had of showing his love for me.

One final story I would like to tell you about is in reference to sports also.  Most of you know Fredy was a hardcore L.A. Kings hockey fan and his dream of seeing them win the Stanley Cup Championship this year finally came true.  You should have seen him as the final seconds ticked off and the Kings became champs – he had that same goofy grin and sparkle in his eyes that I remember when I first saw him coming off the plane from El Salvador as a little kid – it was just pure delight.  Even though the Kings were Fredy's primary pro sports passion - he was also a big St. Louis Rams fan in NFL football.  Now - I myself, having been born in and lived most of my early life in Minnesota, am a die-hard Minnesota Vikings fan (and a long time suffering fan at that).  So whenever Fredy came over to my house to watch the Vikings play on TV, some times he would occasionally have a Vikings shirt or hat on, and if he didn't he would just have a plain old t-shirt with nothing on it -- as he knew well enough not to enter in to my domain wearing any other team's colors, even those of his team - the Rams.  It was a sign of respect he had for me -- either that or he knew I would kick his ass if he showed up in my home, drank my beer, ate my T-Bone steaks and didn't show some support for my Vikings.  As it turned out we finally got the opportunity to actually attend an NFL game this past season.  It was opening day of the regular season – and wouldn't you know it - the Vikings were playing the Chargers in San Diego.  There were six of us who went to that game- myself, Fredy, Ana, Linda, Javier and my grandson little Tony.  I was so excited to see my Vikings play in person - so I dressed up in full Vikings regalia including a Vikings practice squad shirt, a Vikings horned helmet and painted my whole face Vikings purple and yellow.  We tailgated out in the parking lot a couple of hours before the game – and Fredy barbequed for us of course.  Since I had my face painting kit along with me, I asked Fredy if he wanted to get painted up in Vikings colors too.  At first he declined, but when I told him that I was going to go strolling around the parking lot strutting my Vikings colors in front of the Chargers fans, Fredy immediately changed his mind -- and so we painted him up -- we spray painted his hair and goatee Vikings purple and his eyebrows and mustache yellow.  He looked like a spastic version of a 1970's punk rocker.  Anyhow, after we got him all painted, I asked him why he changed his mind about it and asked if it was because he was finally changing his team loyalty from the Rams to the Vikings - he looked at me and with that stupid grin and said to me - "nah, I just figured since you're likely going to get your ass kicked by these Chargers fans for going into their territory dressed up like a Viking, I figured I might as well be there getting my ass kicked too right along with ya you crazy bastard."  And we laughed about it -- yet sure enough – off we went strutting in to the belly of the Chargers beast showing our Vikings colors.  We even convinced the rest of our crew to join us, and we walked up and down all those parking aisles full of Chargers fans – and thankfully we didn't get our asses kicked that day.  And even though the Vikings ended up losing the game , it was one of the most fun days of my life and Fredy was one of the main reasons for it being so much fun.

So - in closing - while I have only shared a few stories of Fredy's love and kindness toward me personally, I know for absolute certain that he was the same way with all of his family and his friends as well.  He was just a sweet, caring, giving and loving big 'ol Teddy Bear of a guy.  He was a wonderful son, a loving husband and father, a great brother and a caring friend – the type of friend who would give you the shirt off his back and who you could count on in time of need.  I am so going to miss you Fredy.  I love you and I am so proud to call you my son.  We'll meet up some day in the next world.  We'll sit down and have a few beers, some carne asada and maybe watch a football game together -- preferably a game in which the Vikings are kicking the asses of those Rams you love so much.

LOVE YOU FOREVER SON!

Dad.

The Matrix --- World of High Finance Style . . .

It's all an illusion folks - we've all been duped by the greatest magicians (aka con men) in the world:

The New York Federal Reserve on Friday released documents showing it knew banks were manipulating a key interest rate more than four years ago.

The documents, which date back to 2007, show that the Fed was fully aware that banks were lying about their borrowing costs when setting Libor, and chose to take no action against them.

The documents will likely feed growing concerns about whether the New York Fed, its former chief Timothy Geithner and other market watchdogs did everything they could to stop the manipulation. The documents also raise more questions about whether the New York Fed and other regulators were too cozy with the banks involved, looking the other way in order to spare the banks too much pain at a time when the financial crisis was still brewing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/13/new-york-fed-libor-documents_n_1671524.html

I don't know what kind of or how much more evidence is required to prove any further that the moneyed elites in this country do not give a rat's fucking ass about America and the American people.  Concepts such as fairness, integrity, justice, and honesty are less than mere words to the 1% crowd -- to them, those concepts represent weakness and weakness equates to losing and losing equates to loser - and losers are to be derided and made irrelevant.

This LIBOR rate rigging scandal, to the world economies, is a volcanic eruption just waiting to let loose. And when it does -- grab your guns, your food and head to the hills people.  These evil sons of bitches have been playing cheater's Monopoly with the world's economies and other people's money and the whole house of cards is about to come tumbling down.

The Gadfly has a vested interest in this LIBOR crap as the Gadfly's home mortgage is tied to that interest rate.  So basically, if what is coming out in the press is accurate, the rate rigging that has been going on has cost the Gadfly an additional $1200 to $2500 per year on his mortgage payments for the past 8 years.  In turn, the people who were doing the rate rigging were criminally raking in millions and billions in unearned gains.

The Gadfly does not take kindly to having money stolen from him - especially by people who are already obscenely wealthy to begin with.  Therefore the Gadfly has come up with a surefire solution to this obviously out of control problem.

The only thing that is going to stop these serial criminals on Wall Street and in the banking and financial services sector from - EVER! - doing this shit again is immediately arrest every single fucking one of them suspected of being  involved in this criminal activity that has devastated the lives of millions of people around the world, give them fair and speedy trials, and when those who were knowingly involved are fairly convicted, they are then to be given fair and speedy deaths by firing squad -- and that punishment it is to be  aired on national television in every country on the planet.  Once that unpleasant piece of business is taken care of - it's time to nationalize every single bank and financial institution in this country, ban all corporate money from national elections, and have a small once a year, progressive tax, to publicly finance all national U.S. elections.  Any wealthy elites or corporate leeches who are caught attempting to circumvent the public financing of elections law, if convicted, gets an automatic 20 years sentence at hard labor with NO possibility of parole.  That's how you clean up the sewage pit that is American politics and corporate corruption.  How do I know this?  If you even have to ask me that question, you are shit-4-brains clueless and it's best that you just go sit back down in your LaZ-Boy lounge chair and keep watching Dancing With the Stars while stuffing McDonald's fries and Big Macs down your gullet.  Oh - and lest I forget - if you truly believe that a "successful businessman" like Willard Mitt Romney is going to give one god damned shit about your sorry poor and/or middle-class ass, and save this country, you deserve whatever economic pain is coming your way - if he wins in November - not one single tear shall I shed for thee at the knowledge of your self-inflicted suffering.


----TFG

Wealthy Lard-Ass Says Unemployed and Poor Need to Suffer More!

Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!



When the Gadfly hears this self-loathing, maggot infested dung heap with arms and legs say shit like this - all he can think about is -- sure hope it turns out that hell is a very real place, and in that hell is where Limpballs will be singled out by the Benevolent (except in the case of evil pricks) Supreme Being and be held up as a prime of example of what human evil is - in it's slimiest form. The punishment is simple and straight foward -- Satan ram-rodding a super-lava-heated, spiked and stainless steel dildoe up Limpball's ass non-stop for eternity.  (Too lenient? ... let me sleep on it, maybe something better will come to mind).

And no - The Gadfly is feeling NOT one iota of regret for feeling that way about this person (I refuse to call Rush Limbaugh a man for obvious reasons) so don't even fucking ask me to.



----TFG

The Truth Always Exists ... Just An Occasional Ripple in the Time Space Continuum That Must be Dealt With...

The Gadfly has been absent for a few days due to a sudden, deeply personal family loss.

The Gadfly needs to attend to the needed business related to this loss at this time.

Despair not though - The Gadfly will be back soon, with an even zestier zest for exposing the fraudulent, awful human beings that, unfortunately have taken a great interest in fucking ruining the quality of life for a great many of their fellow citizens.  These fucking evil Darth Vader pricks have way too much influence over government, the media and the financial institutions  It's time to, in The Gadfly's opinion, to take a 37" Louisville slugger to the kneecaps of these goons and put them out of business for good.

Peace out.  (Oh yea -- I'm not your typical flower offering liberal - u wanna fucking fight?  U got it).


----TFG

Health Care Reform Explained: Toon Style...

Honestly - I don't even need to expound upon this.  Just click the cartoon image and read it.  You will find out every thing you need to know about the "controversy" surrounding "Obamacare."

If you are still confused after reading that cartoon, I will lay it out for you in layman's terms.

The GOP is screaming "socialized medicine!" about the exact same fucking plan that their conservative think tanks proposed in the 80's and which is also the exact same fucking plan that Mitt Romney signed in to law as Governor of Massachusetts in 2006.

It's all about election year politics folks.  But the insidious part about all of this is that the Republicans are playing politics not just with Obama and the Democrats - they are playing politics with the health and well being of real American's lives and their ability to gain affordable access to basic medical care.  It is disgusting and shameful any way you look at it.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/paul-ryan-bashes-obamacare-because-rights-come-from?ref=fpblg


----TFG

What Part of "It is Constitutional" Don't They Get???

Ex-Militia Blogger Who Spawned Fast And Furious Scandal Predicts Armed Insurrection Over Health Care Decision

June 28, 2012 4:52 pm ET by Matt Gertz

Mike Vanderboegh, the ex-militia blogger who calls himself one of the "midwives" of the Operation Fast and Furious scandal, recently predicted that if the Supreme Court declared the health care reform bill to be constitutional, it would lead to violent insurrection against "government tyranny."

In a mischievous, giddy, and perhaps macabre kind of way, I almost wish these beer-belly, Don't Tread On Me flag-waving, right wing oafs would put their money where their big spittle spurting pie-holes are and really try to start an armed insurrection against their own government.

They won't of course - for, while they may be stupid, they are not suicidal. They know full well that as loud and obnoxious as their voices are and how piddling their "armed" movement actually is, they would be totally annihilated by the U.S. (truly) Armed Forces and whatever "leaders" are left alive would be put on trial for treason.

But let's set aside for the moment the wet-dream war fantasies of the gun goon militia clowns.

Does not anyone other than myself see the absurdity of people threatening to start a civil war in our country over the issue of helping more Americans gain access to basic, affordable health care?? Am I missing something here where doing the humane and right thing for your fellow citizens is cause for taking up arms and fomenting violence and killing??

I mean, I make no claim to having any substantial amount of knowledge about or formal training in the studies of psychiatry and clinical psychology -- but if you ask me -- most of these Teabaggers are unhinged sociopaths and a danger to society at large - without a doubt.

I guess all that I can ask is for someone to prove me wrong on the matter, and in the interim, hope that none of these loons decides to emulate Timothy McVeigh and slaughter a bunch of people, including children, in the name of their fucked up cause.


http://mediamatters.org/blog/201206280021


----TFG

Plan? What Plan?? We Don't Need No Stinking Plan ! !

Mitch McTortoise, or anyone in the GOP for that matter, are unable to provide a cogent answer to the simple question of how the Republicans would handle the 30 million Americans who would lose access to affordable health care if the conservatives succeed in repealing the Obama ACA healthcare reform act:

Since the Supreme Court last week upheld the Affordable Care Act, Republicans have been scrambling for a response. Without much to say now that the law has been ruled constitutional, the GOP has fallen back on its pledge to repeal ObamaCare. However, the new health care law provides 30 million Americans with access to health insurance. So how do Republicans plan to replace this key feature if they repeal?

Fox News’s Chris Wallace asked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) this important question on Fox News Sunday today and the senior senator from Kentucky had no answer. After McConnell meandered through the typical GOP talking points that they plan to allow the sale of health insurance across state lines and that they will institute medical malpractice reform, he finally settled on an answer: Insuring Americans “is not the issue”

Fox's Chris Wallace actually handled this in a professional way.  Along with Shepard Smith, Wallace is the only other Fox pundit who, on occasion, dares call out the right wingers on their bullshit.

It's a moot point however, because the GOP has already previously informed us of their plan on how to handle sick and injured Americans who have no health insurance:

GOP Rep. Paul Broun Says All Americans Already Have Access to Health Care --- The Emergency Room





Such a simple, yet genius plan.


----TFG

Danzig time . . .

Serpent jesus
Snake of christ
Nailed to a cross
Of holy design
Blood to water
Water to wine
Whip the soul 'til a mother cries
Bring it down
Pierce the side
Start the legend w/a funeral rite
Serpent jesus
Snake of christ
Gonna build you
A world of lies




----TFG

Hating For Hate's Sake . . .

As much as I loathe these Tea Party assholes and just about everything they believe in, I truly don't wish any physical harm on any one of them.  I do wish, beyond hope I am fearful, that enough Americans will wake up eventually to the reality that these people are selfish, hypocritical, crazy and have an intense dislike of democracy -- traits which do not bode well for a fortuitous outcome for America's destiny.

Therefore - all I can do is to just continue demonstrating, to anyone open minded enough to listen, what these folks are all about.  On that note --  here is just one more example, out of a great many, which underscores the kind of awful humans which a majority segment of these Teabaggers have a penchant for being:

Conservatives have had a series of extreme reactions to the Supreme Court’s Thursday decision to uphold the constitutionality of Obamacare’s individual health care mandate: from charging that Chief Justice John Roberts’sepilepsy medication caused him to support the majority opinion, to calling for an armed rebellion against the Court.
Now, the Merrimack Patch reports that a Tea Party leader in New Hampshire is wishing cancer on the justices:

Former Town Councilor Mike Malzone, the founder of the Merrimack Tea Party, said Thursday in a Facebook post reacting to the Supreme Court ruling on health care, “I hope the (5 supremes) get colon cancer.”

What really infuriates me even more is that these same people constantly shove their Christianity in people's faces, as if by virtue of calling oneself a Christian gives them a free pass to behave as hateful and callous as they want.

I speak openly and publicly on this blog about this stuff, because I believe with every fiber of my being that if you do not stand up for the principles of compassion, sharing, fairness, equal justice under the law and humanity to your fellow human beings - then what legacy are you leaving the world?  What teachings are you imbuing your children and grandchildren with?  And if you are a true believer in the Christian religion - what kind of mercy can you expect from Yahweh when it comes time for you to meet your maker?

I hope people think about this stuff on a rational level.  This country has so much potential to be the shining beacon to the rest of the world in the wider realm of morality, dignity, integrity and fair justice.  But I truly believe that if we allow people like the Teabaggers to gain control of this country -- that potential will be squandered, and progress in the advancement of democracy and freedom on a world-wide basis will be set back a century or more.

Yeah -- I know -- what does this clown who calls himself The Gadfly know?  I'm certain that some folks who have read my views are of the belief that I am just some loud mouth, dirty stinking hippie liberal sitting at a keyboard baring my soul and views as if they have any meaning to anyone other than myself.  But that's alright with me.  I have peace in my heart because I know that exposing the inhumanity and charlatanism in others is a noble cause worth fighting for -- and I am most certainly up to that task.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/06/30/509256/local-tea-party-leader-i-hope-the-supreme-court-justices-get-colon-cancer/?mobile=nc


----TFG