Finally! Tea Baggers Attack Light Bulbs! Uh, right.

MeanMesa received the following little snippet from Freedom Works.  News-wise, it doesn't, of course, amount to much, but the content is hilarious!  More than just that, it has all the bells and whistles of being their version of a full  operatic production -- it would have been totally unfair not to pass it along.

Yes, the freak show seems to be moving into "Cannibal Phase."  It's MeanMesa's view that they have already begun to eat their own. But, as always, MeanMesa visitors can form their own opinion...  (The links are all enabled.)

Enjoy!  There's lots more where this came from!  In fact, two more years' worth!

BTW, the header of this letter reminds us of, yup, "Up is Down!" or maybe, "Down is UP?" or, uh, "Down with Upton?"  Gag.....

Beck and FreedomWorks: Down With Upton!

The new Republican majority is in the process of selecting its leaders for the next Congress. This is the time when the Tea Party movement can use grassroots activism to shape what policies are pursued in Washington, D.C.

Fred Upton, currently considered the front-runner for chairmanship of the critical House Energy and Commerce committee, is far out of step with the Tea Party movement, the GOP and the American people as a whole. You may have heard Glenn Beck talking about Fred Upton introducing a bill to ban incandescent light bulbs in favor of so-called "environmentally-friendly" alternatives. The truth is, Fred Upton has a Big Government record a mile long, and light bulbs are just the beginning.

The Tea Party movement must strongly oppose his candidacy. Please visit DownWithUpton.com to find out more about Upton's poor voting record and sign the petition.

You can also click here to call members of the GOP Steering Committee to urge them to oppose Fred Upton for chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Read More >>

Oh No! Another Sentimental Journey?

The dream goes on?

Not so much, but at least the tantrum goes on.

Understanding the last election

 How could we have gotten so stupid and self-destructive?

After the medieval text books validated by the gaseous cultural ideology of the Texas School Board's "Approved for Reading" list had worked their educational magic, almost no Americans had much a grip on history which hadn't been pre-digested into a movie for them.  The population of reflective folks with some perspective on events diminished in favor of a growing population of remarkably unaware -- and worse, uninterested -- eager beaver "money makers" consumed with a dream of simply having more than the next guy.

The scope and meaning of that "more" amounted only to troublesome details lost in the frenzy.  

In this cozy environment where neither history nor facts had any foot hold, the people were given, instead of a well founded hope, a narcotic fantasy.  Had actual parents indulged their petulant children with ideas so destructive, the police would have detained them for child neglect.

There seem to be two unavoidable aspects of this "ignored" recent history which lie at the root of the current dilemma.  Neither concept would enjoy such a position of influence had the underpinnings of its contradiction not been so energetically avoided.  Having said this much, the torment is further enhanced by the fact that there is nothing secret about the "missing" information -- no conspiracy, no esoteric secrets.  In fact, the effort required in avoiding this unsettling knowledge greatly exceeds the effort involved in acquiring it!

It may be great fun to trash sex education, but our national difficulties arise from trashing civics classes.

The Not-So-Secret, Secret Knowledge

First, voters did not even remotely understand the depth and scope of the damage we barely survived in the last decade.  The W's looting scheme made Pearl Harbor like a bothersome gnat at the picnic. In the hypnotic absence of any particular understanding of where we were, what happened and where we are now, it's only natural that cinematic fairy tales are more attractive than historical fact.

Second, the idea that an infantile "immediacy tantrum" could magically return us to a place of our past glory served, as it turns out, as a death warrant not just for the poorly formed dreams of a more comfortable, yet, imaginary past, but for the dreamers themselves.  Rather than face even the smallest inconvenience which might be associated with rehabilitating ourselves, we have reverted to starting a tantrum with the childish expectation that our over indulgent parents would, once again, rush to suave our wounds.

The premise was simple.  Being a "bullet proof" Super Power with an equally "bullet proof" standard of wealth, what possible worldly adversary could possibly plunge us into anything less than more happy days of "roses, simply roses?"

The W and his cronies answered that question in spades.

Anyone with such an ambitious demand that the future be once again just like the past -- save the unsatisfactory parts which take longer to forget -- would do well to avoid much history.

Recovery 1986-style, The Other "End of the Rainbow?"

The precise date, of course, isn't too important.  However, the important part of our over-indulgent economic recovery fantasy -- and its accompanying tantrum -- is best quietly introduced with details excepting, of course, all their deleted consequences.  What recognizable features will help us paint this up-to-date version of that old rosy picture?

Our house will be over-valued once again.  Oh sure, it will take a "W-style" housing bubble -- or cancer -- to get the steam roller rolling again, but once we're there, our net worth will once again start duplicating itself every fifth year.

A Dow Jones closing average of 16,000 or so would be nice.  Especially if we could, once again, manage to get there without making anything but paper financial gizmos.  After all, didn't securitized mortgages bring those halcyon days?

The full restoration of our retirement accounts could help make us happy.  Mutual funds assets deserve to be invulnerable, not like fleeting lucky streaks at a poker table.  The missing $5 trillion of suddenly missing wealth was nothing more than a bad dream.

It would be very convenient if the "bad people" in the world all dutifully continued to wage WW2 instead of all these messy, hard to understand, insurgencies.  We could joyfully punctuate the otherwise dull progress our  growing personal prosperity with a few, real victories -- the kind which justified too many martinis , kissing strangers in Times Square and wild, unfounded dreams of an even better national future.  We could, once again, buy stock in military contractors.

Americans should be able to cut the deficit and the national debt without feeling so much as a minor "pinch" in our standard of living.  As citizens, our job is supposed to be fully enjoying low marginal tax rates while not noticing the collapsing bridges or killer chuck holes in the Interstates.

All the exported jobs should magically flow back into the country.  When the Third World realizes how inconvenient their economic growth has become, they will simply fire all those out-sourced workers and return to their old gut wrenching poverty.  It's the least they could do.

Finally, we should be able to, once again, tell who belongs to the Country Club by looking at their kid's teeth.  Health care for poor people is just "so yesterday."

Does it sound crazy?  Remember, we were there a decade ago, or, at least, "sort of" there.

A Realistic, "Non-Rainbow" View of Economic Recovery

An unending tantrum of simply insisting that recovery means restoring everything to what it was before the looting began is the "hottest selling item" in the Republican dollar store at the moment.  The mid-term election outcomes support this idea.

Americans are not interested in a frightening look at what our future actually holds for us.  They remain infatuated with considering economic recovery as nothing more -- or less -- than a return to the way things were.  A more rational view of the actual, "out-of-control" likely prospects is much more frightening for them.

The old American economy has been stolen and subverted by the very worst among us.  The crime was conducted under the cover of a government which weaseled its way into power and perfected its subterfuge before leaving.  The damage done during that process absolutely spelled an end to the drunken, lackadaisical American fantasy which had prevailed previously.

The country is not going back to that place.  In fact, that place doesn't even exist as a possibility any longer.  All of those old pretensions of exceptionalism have "beached themselves" on the cruel rocks of reality permanently.

The political advantage which has been "harvested" from an electorate who continues to think that the difficulties of the day are no more than a temporary departure from the mindless, soul-less march to the top has left the continuing collapse even more inevitable than it was before.

Job One for the American people remains the same: 

"Bail out this sinking boat!"   

The Republicans may have successfully convinced voters that the real issue is the color of the ribbon fluttering atop our lifeboat's flag staff, but their feet are getting just as wet as ours are.  The billionaires have already left in the chopper.

If we must continue to gleefully volunteer for national suicide, MeanMesa would prefer to at least go there in better company.

The "Odd Couple:" Boehner and PayGo

Sometimes events arising from the intricacies of raw fate  simply flow together uncontrollably, fabricating grotesque, coincidental situations which are so sinister that we begin to search under every rock and in every crevice for  some comforting evidence of conspiracy or terrorism.  After these "mousetraps" have snapped shut on our unsuspecting fellow travelers, previous areas of disagreement seem to pale as we stare at the difficulties which have emerged to confront our old opponents now trapped and suffering under the fanciful waltz of unconcerned destiny.

It's probably something akin to "outrageous fortune." 

After our mid-terms, the narcotically soothing tragedies of the latest round of such furtive traps are now in place.  Life's inebriated carelessness is now in full advance.  An unhappy marriage has been arranged which shows no compassion for our love torn youngsters.

Who will suffer from this cosmic insult?  What bright faced boy now finds himself chained to the toothy harpy where the heady prospect of marital bliss descends at once to torment and desolation?

Are we talking about Obama and the new Republican House of Representatives?

No.  Actually, things are not that bad on our ship of state.

Instead, we are noting another, somewhat distant, new matrimony.  It is the "shotgun wedding" between Mr. John "the Boner" Boehner and an under publicized "mousetrap" which has been firmly anchored in the House policy by the Democrats who were in charge until last week.  

The groom, Mr. Boehner has, perhaps, just now met his bride, the House policy of "pay as you go" (PayGo).

Under the old management, PayGo has -- in the first budget of the Obama administration -- already reduced the monumental deficits of the last Republican administration by $200 Billion.  That would be the first deficit reduction we have seen in years.  In a world where Fox "News" controls the misinformation flow to "low information voters," most Americans don't know anything about this.

It's as if such facts go quietly into an unopened Birthday Present along with tax cuts for the middle class, newly insured families, material corrections to a long neglected infrastructure, the withdrawal from the murderous W's oil war in Iraq and so on.  The cheap, political pornography in the birthday card which has been "opened" tells a different story -- tax increases, per job costs calculated as if stimulus projects produced nothing else  (not repaired highways) and the "ObamaCare spending bill," all "topped off" with more white sugar frosting and a phoney label claiming that this soiled cake is, actually, "healthy food taken right off the table of our Founding Fathers."

A tide of misinformation may seem like facts and causes, but when the hypnosis of relentless complaints inevitably ends, it reveals itself as no more than the foamy spray careening along the top of actual waves of green water below. 

PayGo says that whatever the House may do, it must also pay for, and the "pay for" part will expose itself as "green water" rather quickly.  The immediate future of John Boehner's House of Representatives literally begs Hamlet for the Dane's dark prognosis.

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry."
- William Shakespeare, Hamlet, 1.3

A few MeanMesa examples may aid in making this posting's point.

Extending the Bush tax cuts for the top 2% will cost an estimated $700 billion before that stinky bill can "sunset" again in 2020.  Obama need only insist that the $700 billion be off set by savings from spending or tax increases before the tax cuts are renewed.

Repealing the health insurance reform will cost $1.3 trillion over the next ten years.  Come on, John, pony up the money.  You know, "Pay as You Go."  Of course your campaign sponsors from the insurance industry are salivating at the prospect of continuing their "profit" extraction schemes, but you'll have to cut something else to actually be able to hand them the cash.  Regardless of what Murdoch's dancing chorus has said, the bill we have right now is, of course, revenue neutral.

Although there are no details just yet, MeanMesa has to assume that Boehner will reinstate a nice collection of expensive Cold War weapons procurement programs.  After all, Boeing and Lockheed were not bashful farm girls at the ball where untraceable, Citizen United campaign donations were being collected like stolen kisses.  Ridiculous re-armament expenditures will be a task which will undoubtedly be made much easier after Fox "News" unleashes its next terror campaign on the geriatric hill billies and the stumbling American Legion bar sots.

Oh dear.  John, where-oh-where will you get all this Treasury "tax and spend" blood money to pay back the loan sharks which delivered the cash for your campaign?

Well, although the new "throw-backs-in-charge" have been very secretive about their plans to free up tax dollars to pay off their debts, a few "great ideas" have slipped through the net thanks to the babbling Senate tea bag girls who talked too much.

Thanks, Sarah, Christine, Lisa, Sharron, Carly and friends.

Abolish the Department of Education.  That thing has just made all sorts of disgruntled tax payers, and the GOP always does better with illiterates for voters.

Privatize Social Security.  That multi-trillion dollar trust fund has been nothing but a constant tease for your Wall Street contributors.

Repealing the banks and brokerage regulation will add untold buckets of pretend  money to the economic growth figures in the GDP.  Never mind the little problem that none of those who will profit the most will actually pay much in taxes.

Charge the Federal Treasury for putting more Mexican Immigrants into contract prisons.  Long the favorite of Arizona's heavily soiled Governor, every day of incarceration adds a few bucks to the GDP and pads the pockets of the prison lobbyists filling her staff offices.

It's not all bad news, John.  You and your House Republicans can start borrowing again, too!  There are still a few billionaires in Russia, Dubai, China and Saudi Arabia anxious to own even more of the country.  The new House "management team" can just continue to reward off shoring jobs and selling domestic real estate until the boat is completely under water.  A few really tasty "Free Enterprise" favors will lubricate the process.

Nothing about this is particularly promising.

If things get overly sticky with too many destitute American voters, there's always the media opportunities of "big show" political tantrums.

This means that MeanMesa has to now suggest to folks who pay their rent with Social Security money should start tucking away as much as possible.  These Republican economic geniuses have also spoken openly about "shutting down the government" in the old Newt "Contract on America" Gingrich style.

Homosexuals Attack! Yikes! Is Babylon Thrashing Leviticus?

Wow!  Is this MeanMesa post two weeks before the election about something other than more politics?  Well, yes and no.

MeanMesa understands how exhausted and breathless the geriatric crowd gets relentlessly "chasing the garlic" to keep up the social assault on the homosexuals.  The tottering, mindless command to "Charge!" seems to be a permanent fixture of every Bingo game and Ice Cream Social, not to mention the "public opinion polls" conducted at midnight in the American Legion bar's parking lot.

"Ain't them damned kids afraid of burnin' in hell?  What's wrong with 'em, anyways?  Why, when I was a youngster, us Christians just run that type out'a town!"

"Why, everybody knows -- 'It's 'Gainst the Bahbul!' "

Well, an unsettling bit of actual data has now emerged.  It seems that the religionist franchise's ambition for a perpetual enemy is beginning to fall apart.  In fact, considering the results of the study which is quoted (following), the fenders fell off at the last exit.

Take a look.  (MeanMesa's compliments to Dave, our IT Guy, for forwarding this little jewel.)

OkTrends

Dating Research from OkCupid

( original article here ) 

Gay Sex vs. Straight Sex

October 12th, 2010 by Christian Rudder

Gay issues have been in the news a lot lately, from the debate over same-sex marriage in Congress to a sickening rash of gay-bashing here in New York City. We see a lot of emotion out there, instead of information, and we wanted to provide some data-based context on sexuality so that people might make better choices about what they say, think, and do.

We run a massive dating site and therefore have unparalleled insight into sex and relationships. Here's what we've found, in numbers and charts.

First of all, gay sexuality is not a threat.

Gay people are not sexually interested in straights.

The subtext to a lot of homophobic thinking is the idea that gays will try to get straight people into bed at the first opportunity, or that gays are looking to "convert" straights. Freud called this concept schwanzangst; the U.S. Army calls it Don't Ask Don't Tell. 

We combed through over 4 million match searches, and found virtually no evidence of it: 

Match Search Returns

• only 0.6% of gay men have ever searched for straight matches.
• only 0.1% of lesbians have ever searched for straight matches.
• only 0.13% of straight people's profile visitors are gay.

Furthermore
In our dataset, there was not a single gay user, male or female, who primarily searched for straight people.

Gay people aren't promiscuous. 

 

Another common myth about gay people is that they sleep around, but the statistical reality is that gay people as a group aren't any more slutty than straights. 

Median Reported Sex Partners

• straight men: 6
• gay men: 6
• straight women: 6
• gay women: 6

Here's how the distribution curves compare: 

• 45% of gay people have had 5 or fewer partners (vs. 44% for straights)
• 98% of gay people have had 20 or fewer partners (vs. 99% for straights)

It turns out that a tiny fraction of gays have single-handedly - ooops - two-handedly created the public image of gay sexual recklessness—in fact we found that just 2% of gay people have had 23% of the total reported gay sex, which is pretty crazy.

Straight people have gay sex, too.

 

Another inquiry that had unexpected results: we asked 252,900 straight people have you ever had a sexual encounter with someone of the same sex?

Almost a quarter answered 'yes'. 

Click the airport-bathroom style icons to toggle the sex(es) displayed. Not unexpectedly, more women than men have had same-sex desires:

straight women's same-sex desires:
• 1 in 3 straight women has hooked up with another woman.
• and of those who haven't, over 1 in 4 would like to.

As for straight men, a surprisingly high 13% have had a same-sex experience, and another 5% haven't yet but would like to.

Using the incredible power of computers, we were able to break down this question geographically. Here are straight people who either have had or would like to have a same-sex experience in the continental U.S. and lower Canada. You can see some sharp geographic divides.

 

Awesomely, the mountain West lives up to its Brokeback reputation, and Canada is orange nearly coast-to-coast. Even in the yellow and blue areas, you can see pockets of gay curiosity in interesting places: Austin, Madison, Asheville. Anywhere soy milk is served, basically.

Sidenote

Doing the research for this post, I came across many awful things our elected officials have said about gay people; here's a relatively calm example:

 

For starters, I found that a fun game to play with stuff like this is to replace the words "homosexual" and "gay" with "politician"—then you have something that's actually true.

I also spent a lot of time looking up match questions to debunk this particular claim. Down in the database I discovered one question with a surprising disparity, not between orientations, but between genders. Like Frodo to the Balrog, I wished I'd never unearthed it.

 

Come on, people.

Beyond Sex: Gay & Straight Personalities

 

More than just asking about specific desires and behaviors, our match questions are designed to tease out our users' underlying personalities. We've collected over 669 million answers from users so far. Below is a straight/gay comparison on 23 personality categories. You can mouse-over the ?s for each category to pop-up some examples of the many questions that affect it. 

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Two things: (1) The idea of the typical straight man as a kind bullying jock seems to be broadly true, though there is also a strong dork streak there, as well.

(2) Looking closely at the chart for females, we can improve upon Marx's famous dictum.

Religion is the opiate of the masses, so long as the masses are straight. However, amass a bunch of lesbians and you're going to need actual drugs.

In any event, a lot of these measured traits are reflected by the users' own words. Like we did before with race, we looked at the interests and tastes statistically unique to the different orientations, according to their personal profiles. We crunched millions of words of essay text and found the phrases most correlated to a particular sexual preference; again, these are the users' own words.

The Stuff Gay People Like

/

the devil wears prada britney spears mean girls kelly clarkson the color purple project runway drop dead gorgeous running with scissorsm.i.a.imogen heapa boyfriendlily allenlady gagathe theaterkaty perrybuffy the vampire slayertori amosjoni mitchellowl citythe right guydavid sedarisamerican idolharry potterangels in americamodern familythe perks of being a wallflowercame outmaroon 5mr. rightgossip girlmoulin rougex mensix feet underthe theatrejustin timberlakenina simoneblack eyed peasmichael bubleella fitzgeraldsufjan stevensall american rejectsthe xxfinal fantasythe clubrocky horror picture showcuddlingpanic at the discojason mrazfiona applekill bill

the L wordtegan and saraani difrancopiercingsthe color purplesocial justicecat powera girlfriendrunning with scissorsthe perks of being a wallflowerbuffy the vampire slayermy girlharold and maudelaw & order svutori amoswriting poetryrilo kileyjanis joplinbitchif urimogen heapmy animalsthe usedcuddlingdamien ricedrop dead gorgeouscame outmy puppymean girlslily allenteaobsessionthe xxmomfavorite colorrocky horror picture showfinding nemorandomkaty perrylisteningthe giverbeautyfriendssaved by the bellscary moviessexkelly clarksonlovely bonesdramaharry potter

For both sexes, a lot of this stuff is way stereotypical. The size of the phrases indicate their relative popularity to the norm, and I actually had to shrink "The L Word" down to fit in our template. Meanwhile gay men's interests speak for themselves, evidently with an exaggerated lisp.

Compare those lists to their equally typical straight counterparts, below. It's like two zen koans, one by Meg Ryan, one by a viking: 

The Stuff Straight People Like

 

/

band of brothers poker cars my boat saving private ryan hunting fishing my buddiesgolfsportsthe right womanping ponga few beersengineeringrockworking outplaying poolburn noticea country boylaw enforcementcan fix anythingbreaking badtom clancycomputersbuilding thingstall dark and handsomeapocalypse nowcoen brothersqueens of the stone agefull metal jacketguitarvan halenmy bandtaxi driverufc

my girlfriendslip glosspretty womannicholas sparksdressed upa country girlwinelove storiesmedical fieldeat pray lovenew recipesyogaindependentmy passportmy couchromance novelsnursing schoolclose with my momin nursingflip flopsin educationjane austendirty dancinghigh heelsmy churchbakingreadinghorseback ridingself-sufficientlaughingmr. righti love childrencountry musicgone with the windjane eyre

As you can see, sexual orientation makes a huge difference in the words you choose to describe yourself. The small but enormous difference between lesbians' a girlfriend and straight women's my girlfriends says it all.

We extended this gay vs. straight analysis and for each orientation measured the frequencies of all one-, two-, and three-word phrases against the site-wide rates. Here's the breakdown: 

 

There's no question that according to this analysis gay people are "different;" as you can see, gay interests and self-descriptions have little to do with the mainstream's. In fact what these numbers are saying is that the average gay person has only about 30% in common with the average American. But, ironically enough, when it comes to identity, it's hardly rare to be an outlier here. Adding an ethnic group to the plot helps put it in perspective: 

 

Of course, as far as I know, no one's saying that Indians shouldn't get married or shouldn't be allowed to adopt children. The people of Louisiana even elected Bobby Jindal, an openly Indian man, as their governor! 

We hope gay people can expect the same treatment very soon.

Max Shron and Aditya Mukerjee contributed additional research to this article.

The Republican Playbook: What to Expect

Stephanie Miller, host of the liberal talk radio show, (The Stephanie Miller Show,1350 AM, KABQ, Albuquerque, 7 AM to 10 AM, weekdays) introduced a possible neo-con talking point for the November mid-term election campaigns.

"Put the NO back into NOVEMBER!

Vote for the Party of NO!"

By the way, for those who are unable to listen to the show, Stephanie Miller is exponentially hotter than any of the emaciated, "skeletor style" bleach blond babes from the other side.

http://www.stephaniemiller.com/gallery/photoshop-fun/?nggpage=3

The following is MeanMesa's offering to any newly elected neo-con who is wondering what the official platform of that strange bunch might be.  After all, the GOP votes unanimously against every bill that might possibly even remotely serve as evidence that Barack Obama is being an effective President.

Here are a few sample suggestions.  Once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to join the spectacularly unanimous zombie force intent on stopping ever effort to address any of our national challenges.

Official Republican Responses:

To banking regulation -

1.  Call your campaign contributors to see what they want.

2.  Water down any possible legislation until it is essentially useless.

3.  Vote against it, then collect your campaign contribution checks.

To immigration reform -

1. Check with the "Capitalists" who are employing illegal immigrants to see what they want.

2. Inflame the Tea Baggers with pre-arranged "talking points" furnished by the RNC.

3.  Vote against it, then collect your campaign contribution checks.

To education reform -

1.  Call your creationist friends to order more text books from the Texas Department of Education.

2.  Inflame the Tea Baggers with pre-arranged "talking points" furnished by the RNC.

3.  Vote against it, then hand the microphone to the nearest "dirty shirt preacher" while the cameras are still running.

To election reform -

1.  Mutter something about "State's Rights" as if the Jim Crow days were still going on at full steam.  Don't forget to drawl.

2.  Tell everyone that you are not a bigot.

3.  Go to the next suggested response.

To carbon cap and trade -

1.  Call your friends at the coal companies to see what they want.

2.  Add dire predictions of national economic collapse to your routine comments about "States Rights."

3.  Vote against it, then collect your campaign contributions from the coal companies.

To the restoration of "family values" -

1.  Pay off the "rent boy" in the back room.  Buy him an airline ticket to, uh, France.

2.  Add something from the Bible to your routine comments about the end of America, abortion, gay marriage, gun control, "States Rights" and clean coal.

3.  Vote against it, then hand the microphone to the nearest "dirty shirt preacher" while the cameras are still running.

Don't be nervous.

Just follow these simple guidelines and you'll do fine.

Putting "Flesh and Bones" On the Republican Recession

Now, MeanMesa has learned long ago that mathematicians should probably not wait by the phone for invitations to glittering cocktail parties or whoopie style bar-be-que picnics.  Even otherwise strong willed, durable women are  more likely to show more interest in an evening of bowling than even the most remote prospect of an intimate "exploration" of the proof for the Greene and Stokes Theorem.

It's a phobia.  In fact, it's the "math phobia," and it's the lifelong curse of the romantically challenged mathematician.

Because of this, MeanMesa has always adopted an understandable reluctance to the idea of simply posting a string of charts and graphs, regardless of their relevance or pressing, immediate applicability to current events.  In this case, however, the "posting muse" calls too passionately for revelation and redemption.

So, emerging from this apologetic warning, MeanMesa visitors are encouraged to view what is presented here as bravely as possible.  In fact, the shortcomings of MeanMesa's questionable, geriatric "computer savvy" may serve to soothe one's first, automatic revulsion.  This material was originally posted by the Huffington Post, and what you see here suffers from not only the graphics problems of that original source, but even more, further compounded graphics problems introduced in the process of placing the material on this blog.

MeanMesa ginned up the old, coal fired "jpeg factory," unleashed that unpredictable mechanism's output to the meat grinder of the "blog maker," profusely apologized, and wound up with this.  So, take a look.  The link provided will take the interested visitor to the original Huffington document which includes a significant narrative.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/19/the-scariest-charts-of-th_n_540456.html#s82340

For everyone else, a simple glimpse at the charts will convey an almost complete understanding.  Again, excuse the spacing and other glitches -- it's the information which is important.

Chart 1:

The red line is the "normal pay" of Wall Street brokers.  The black line is the bonuses they received in each of  the corresponding periods.

Chart 2:

This chart compares the profits of the "financial sector" to the profits of the "non-financial sector."   It shows that the main engine of our American economy was originating with "stinky paper products" instead of any actual, real, well, anything else.

Chart 3:

The red area of this "debt chart" represents mortgage debt.  The blue area shows the growth of other, non-mortgage, consumer debt.  All the data is presented as a percentage of the US GDP.

Chart 4:

The upper lines in this graph show the increases in income for the top 400 Americans during the last fifteen years.  The rather dismal lower line shows the income level of everyone else.  The title of this chart is in error.  The rate of increase is 476% not 47.6%.

Chart 5:

The line on this graph shows the share of total income in our country which is going to the top 10% of the richest citizens. The basic idea of the American Dream suggests that an individual's monetary success will result from innovation, invention, waste reduction or efficiency improvements.  Gosh!  These guys must not only be geniuses but also good, honest, hard working  citizens.  Right?

Chart 6:

This graph shows the historic record of the average period of unemployment.

Chart 7:

This chart shows the history of how many workers are working part time as a result of the national economy.  Recessions are shown by the grey columns.

 

Chart 8:

This graph shows the historic rates of home foreclosures.  Plummeting house prices after the real estate bubble collapsed account for some of these, but we have to assume that most foreclosures result from losing a job.

So, when, in your conversations with those who believe that our current mess is Obama's fault because he is:

a cannibal from Kenya

a socialist

a Nazi

a Muslim

the Anti-Christ

or, simply a mistake resulting from tricking the American voter

you are now equipped to constructively "educate" them.  Be patient.  These folks haven't learned anything in a very long time.

However, always remember that your friends plan to ignore all of this and vote Republican in the mid-term election if you can't help them!

MeanMesa thanks Huffington Post for consolidating and providing this information.

The Republican Strategy: Opportunity from Chaos

Watching the Republican Party mindlessly continue in its plunge to ever more complete irrelevance, one unavoidably wonders if some sort of larger plan lurks below the gaseous frenzy of the synchronized "talking points," unchallenged, deceptive comments in interviews and the flat out zaniness of the tiny fringe dramatics of Tea Baggers, militias and other drooling Southerners.

MeanMesa feels obliged to present some possible generalizations which might touch on the common ambitions represented in such a maelstrom apparently disassociated "cannon fire."  No matter how disorganized the immediate "big picture" might seem to the casual observer, there are, indeed, some common themes coursing through the smoke which might reveal a larger plan.

Of course, the observation that a daily ration of highly coordinated terms and "talking points" emerge, seemingly based on an impressive "lock step" continuity of zombie-like homogeneity of thought, is suspicious enough.  How can the objective observer think that these highly specific, inflammatory terms just simply "came to mind" spontaneously to anchor literally dozens of comments from different speakers on a given day?

Is there an underlying strategy which will reveal this unexpected, unsettling and unlikely singleness of expression?

Most likely, there is.  MeanMesa will avoid any speculation as to the source of  origin for such a questionable synchroneity.  That would entail yet another plunge into conspiracy theories which might dilute the intended focus.  There will be plenty of time for such postings later.

The Republican Strategy

1.  Sustain and enlarge the uninformed tantrum of the Republican base

Although this priority might, at first, seem to be central to the over all theme of the "divide and conquer" operation going on amid the GOP, their "straw men spokesmen" and their highly effective -- and unchallenged -- Congressional liars in interviews, it actually serves only as a minor distraction.

Of course, it is important to retain the fury of the marching horde of "hill billies and bigots" to plump up what would otherwise be far less notable affairs such as Tea Bagger rallies, health care hating festivals and other small gatherings of eschatological doom sayers.  However, Republicans know that these little pockets of truly purified medievalism will never represent a foundation for a working majority when it comes to election time.

For these groups, an on-going state of "out of control" frenzy will be suitable  enough.  All these wing nuts must fit in somewhere, and the party circuit of overly publicized "news" coverage is both a convenient and a relatively safe political cul-de-sac where they can be stored for use later if they are needed.

2.  Take Your Lumps, but Drag the Democrats Down With You

Public approval of the Congress is at an historic low already.  The Republicans have correctly gauged this bad reputation to be one of the few common opinions remaining in an exhausted electorate which is actually bi-partisan. 

The PR problem the Republicans seem have "sewn into their seams" arises from the image of relentless corruption.  The PR problem the opposing Democrats seem to have in "their seams" stems from perceptions of inaction.  Because the neo-cons have fastidiously concentrated on the purchase and ownership of all commercial media, these lingering public opinions have been carefully manipulated.  In the absence of contradictory information, the innuendoes craftily inserted at the most fundamental "word selection" level have been discouragingly effective.

Using the broad term "Party of No" has worked to some extent to reveal Republican obstructionism in the most glaring cases, but even that populist concept loses too much "octane" to present the gravity of the whole effort.  Voters can see and understand GOP obstructionism in spectacular examples, but, an objective view of how destructively thorough-going that effort has been  in hundreds of other, less salient cases continues to elude them.

The GOP Party Leadership has clearly adopted the idea that it can emerge a winner, although an admittedly "wounded" winner, by simply making every effort to stop the progress of every tiniest tid-bit of Democratic proposals for legislation, thus reinforcing the "inaction" criticism.

Further, this effort has a definite time-line.  The "inaction" idea must be constantly promoted at any cost right up to the mid term elections this November.  This explanation accounts for the continuous pleas to "slow down" all Democratic  legislation for "more debate."

It also helps to explain that when legislation makes its journey too quickly, it becomes slightly more difficult to loot it.

3.  Create Suspicion Then Constantly Reinforce It

At the ground level, the "dust cloud" constantly raised by the true crazies is effective enough to camouflage both some of the impact of the outrages of hypocrisy and some of the more flagrant criminality of the hyper greedy within the Congressional GOP.  However, as mentioned before, the "dust cloud" will never serve to swing elections.

No matter how distasteful it might be to radical neo-cons, elections are still won and lost by the perceptions entering the booth with the voter.  The most egregiously flamboyant antics always serve as "good cover," but there remains the troubling centrality of the mind of the voter who will be pulling the level on that ballot.

If the thoughts of that "voting mind" can be contaminated with suspicions inserted over time by "toxic capsules" of deception and mis-information the lever's product might migrate to become a Republican advantage.  Advantage?  Spell that "p-o-w-e-r."  Eagerly discharging any thought for the good of the country, the entire Republican priority system is comprised of politics, and that "political" obsession has absolutely no meaning beyond simply winning elections.

4.  Disguise the Legislative "Yard Sale" as Thoughtful Caution

A conventional understanding of the legislative process goes a long way in explaining why such matters always seem to take more time than we would like.  There are discrete cycles in the journey a bill must make to reach the all important "floor vote" we see on C-Span.

We are "lulled" into a remarkably compliant acceptance of the necessity of "negotiating" delays all along the course of a bill's development.

However, it is becoming increasingly clear that one of these routine "tasks" -- as seen by the corrupt neo-cons in the Congress -- is to carefully examine every aspect of each piece of legislation to relentlessly extract even the smallest possibility of exactly what is contained there which "might be sold" to a, uh, campaign contributor.

Once those "opportunities" have been detected, the "negotiating" can begin.  The goal of the "negotiations?"  The goal will be presented as some sort of ideological purification to provide the necessary cover to disguise the more pedestrian, "campaign contribution" possibilities of such a change.  If some advantage can be extracted from such "negotiated changes" to a piece of legislation, that same advantage can be sold at the neo-con "Yard Sale."

All that need to be added is a willing buyer, and, believe MeanMesa here, the neo-cons have lists of them.  K-Street and C-Street, Pharma, Big Oil and Defense Contractors -- for starters -- make certain that the "return address" list is perpetually plumped up, current and ready to go.

MeanMesa's message is the same.  Find good news sources, inform yourself about these issues, then talk to every fellow citizen and voter who will listen to you.  Find out what your Congressman -- regardless of party -- is doing.  Then get involved.  Elect people you can trust to look out for your interests.

There are 6 months between now and the mid-terms.  MeanMesa is determined to make sure that voters in this neighborhood aren't suffering from any short term -- or long term -- memory loss when they enter those voting booths in November.

Latest MeanMesa Bumper Sticker!

Since MeanMesa visitors have had such a hoot with the "Palin Beck - 2012" bumper sticker, we are pleased to present the equivalent for the upcoming mid-terms in November!

So -- fire up the old printer and create your own special message for the neo-cons who are watching you slide through traffic with your Obama sticker.  Granted, it may confuse them, but having them "up close" and puzzled beats the hell out of having them making fools of themselves at some dismal Tea Bagger luncheon!

It's FREE! 

Enjoy!