tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:53:50 +0000Rants, observations, diatribes & digressions on current affairs, world news & politics, politics, politics.http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/index.htmnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)Blogger106125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-6657906269332137470Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:53:00 +00002010-04-08T09:53:50.761-07:00KS2 Problema is moving... hell, we pretty much have moved. We hope you'll join us here at our brand new home.*  (Although even it may be temporary. It's currently hosted on the WordPress servers. We're weighing a switch to storing the content on our own servers and database.)http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2010/04/were-moving.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-1105982877496002796Thu, 08 Apr 2010 04:19:00 +00002010-04-07T22:43:07.897-07:00The conservative, anti-government activist who attended tea party events and protests and who was recently arrested for a long series of threats to US Senator Barbara Boxer was plenty mad at free-spending big government -- but that didn't stop him from taking advantage of federally subsidized housing intended for the disadvantaged. Turns out that 48 year old Gregory Lee Giusti wasn't just mad athttp://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2010/04/right-wing-anti-government-activist-who.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-2324200992178865472Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:04:00 +00002010-03-29T14:08:35.228-07:00Item [NY Daily News]: Sarah Palin defends her use of "hunting" language and imagery in her political action committee's website and other materials in wake of violent threats against Democratic politicians and officials and attacks on Democratic Party offices. Item [CNN]: An indictment unsealed today alleges an anti-government militia with ultraconservative fundamentalist religious views http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2010/03/monday-29-march-2010-palin-defends-gun.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-6664752427763961076Sat, 27 Mar 2010 16:10:00 +00002010-03-27T09:11:47.807-07:00Sarah Palin has come under increasing pressure from crtics and former supporters alike for her campaign's use of violent imagery and language -- a map on her website "targets" Democrats holding vulnerable seats with gunsights and Palin says it's "time to reload" following the unsuccessful Republican bid to block health care reform -- but, while she has denounced violence in the wake of a number http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2010/03/loyalty-palin-style.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-5854132944188620419Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:30:00 +00002010-03-26T09:00:28.798-07:00In this minor shocker from the right, we find out just how much liberty and freedom of speech really mean to the people who fund conservative institutions like the once respected American Enterprise Institute -- which has reportedly forbidden Institute staffers like former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum from discussing the health care reform debate -- because too many of the  staffers http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2010/03/conservative-scholar-david-frum-fired.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-5992669343518315966Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:09:00 +00002010-03-26T08:10:45.055-07:00 Looks like Eric Cantor's me-too threat claims have blown up in his face. According to Richmond police, the bullet had been fired upward into the air and fell with a downward trajectory, striking Cantor's office window at a steep angle, but still with enough force to break the window. The spent slug fell just inside the broken window.The cynical among us may jump to presume that the late night http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2010/03/attack-on-cantor-office-result-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-7589388233678806767Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:26:00 +00002010-03-24T21:13:19.245-07:00Tea party blogs appear to have inspired a wave of attacks on offices (and apparently a home) and threats against Democratic  legislators. Incidents were reported in a number of states, including death and other threats of violence, an apparent attack on the home of the brother of a Virginia congressman -- local tea party blogs mistakenly posted the brother's address and suggest tea party http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2010/03/wave-of-tea-party-inspired-violence.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-9110556495016945977Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:31:00 +00002010-03-21T10:55:09.569-07:00Like the block bully who menaces the neighborhood with his vicious dog and then is suddenly contrite when it tears apart one of the neighborhood kids, members of the Republican leadership denounced racial slurs screamed by anti-healthcare-reform protesters at a handful of black members of Congress, including one of the most respected living leaders of the 60s civil rights movement, Rep. John http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2010/03/gop-lawmakers-denounce-racial-slurs-by.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-608764120509683711Sun, 21 Mar 2010 04:34:00 +00002010-03-21T00:01:00.511-07:00A screaming gauntlet of Tea Party protesters tried to block US congressmen, including civil rights pioneer John Lewis and other black congressmen, from entering the Capitol earlier today. Lewis, a veteran of civil rights marches of the 60s, and deeply respected on both sides of the aisle that divides Republicans from Democrats, has certainly heard and seen worse, but the rest of us may want to http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2010/03/tea-party-activists-scream-racial.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-1064344942162555514Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:11:00 +00002010-03-12T13:12:58.411-08:00It reads like a trailer trash pot boiler, but these aren't a packet of slack jawed rural meth freaks... Kevin Garn is one of the most powerful Republican politicians in Utah, Utah House Majority Leader -- but in the mid-1980's he was a 30 year old business owner who arranged a one-on-one nude hot tub party with a then 15 year old girl. Flash forward to 2002 and that girl, Cheryl Maher, now http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2010/03/utah-gop-leader-in-hot-water-over-long.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-4725964230867397109Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:47:00 +00002010-03-09T07:52:13.411-08:00In former GOP vice-presidential candidate Sara Palin's first Canadian public appearance since stepping down as governor of Alaska, she reportedly connected with conservative Canadian fans who were, according to reportage, unclear on her policies (isn't everyone?) but largely adulatory. Not quite lost in the appearance was a tidbit about the years Palin spent growing up in Alaska -- turns out http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2010/03/sarah-palin.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-340984963245766914Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:56:00 +00002010-03-05T14:45:17.599-08:00I was tempted to kick this blog back into action on the news of a recently discovered GOP internal presentation for Republican National Committee fundraisers that characterized many party donors as "reactionary" and suggested fund-raisers play to donor's ego- and fear- driven motivations and their desire to buy "access" to political leaders. But... that was yesterday. Today's news is admittedly http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2010/03/anti-gay-gop-california-senator-busted.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-873005980807119157Sat, 26 Dec 2009 16:00:00 +00002009-12-26T08:06:36.144-08:00A wheel-chair bound registered sex offender, angry at the typical targets of the "Tea Bagger" movement: taxes, gun control, and the nation's first black president, Barack Obama, and distressed because his two year old pick up truck was about to be repossessed, took three people hostage using handguns and a fake bomb. The man, with a criminal record and registered as a sex offender in Florida, http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2009/12/post-offfice-hostage-taker-angry-at.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-6999322815163944706Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:09:00 +00002009-11-10T08:11:42.114-08:00The American Family Association, a religious organization described as conservative and Christian, has called for a ban on service in the U.S. military by those of the Muslim faith, according to Mother Jones. This might seem shocking at first, flying in the face of U.S. constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion and separation of church and state. But it's simply addressing a basic fact: http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2009/11/proposed-ban-on-muslims-in-us-military.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-7776266951003816669Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:25:00 +00002009-10-20T17:25:59.606-07:00This interesting second thoughts piece from Newser blogger and founder, Michael Wolff, takes a second look at the conventional wisdom evinced by most of the blathering class: that the Obama administration's frontal assault on Fox News, depicting it as the propaganda mill that so many on the left and even in the middle feel it to be, is madness. His conclusions might hearten many outside the http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2009/10/bearding-fox-in-its-den.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-4930969425204588005Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:23:00 +00002009-10-15T17:24:15.546-07:0030 Republican senators voted against an amendment designed to protect woman employees of US defense contractors from rape, physical abuse, and other abusive workplace practices, claiming to do anything else would amount to government interference with commerce, since the rapes and other abuse are no one else's business but the companies and the victims. If that sounds weird, read on and find out http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2009/10/23-of-republicans-once-again-vote-to.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-2420626668396783459Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:03:00 +00002009-10-09T17:11:10.483-07:00Many -- including, we suspect, the president himself --  were surprised by today's announcement that the Nobel Peace Prize was going to U.S. President, Barack Obama. Reactions were largely laudatory, occasionally bemused, but about the only folks coming right out and condemning the largely unexpected award were the U.S.'s number one enemies, the Afghan/Pakistani Taliban, joined by a number of http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2009/10/republicans-join-taliban-in-condemning.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-3921481451379023953Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:41:00 +00002009-09-13T11:53:55.801-07:00Representative Joe Wilson, Republican from South Carolina, just doesn't seem to get it. Chastened, apparently, by the outrage expressed by other members of Congress in both houses and on both sides of the aisle after Wilson heckled the President as he attempted to address Congress and the US citizenry, Rep. Wilson quickly offered a private apology to President Obama. That's between him and http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2009/09/joe-wilson-r-sc-just-doesnt-get-it.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-2690100356637555939Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:03:00 +00002009-09-13T10:11:52.125-07:00This reader couldn't help but not an interesting slip of the tongue from Lindsay Graham, one of the few Republican politicians from South Carolina not caught up in a political or sexual scandal.While trying to run interference for South Carolina representative Joe Wilson, who may be facing punitive action in Congress for his startling breach of Congressional decorum in yelling "You lie!" at the http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2009/09/interesting-slip-of-tongue.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-9169929884333297497Sat, 29 Aug 2009 02:00:00 +00002009-08-28T19:14:10.076-07:00Is no lie too outrageous, no scare tactic too outlandish, no deception too shameful for the once Grand Old Party?The national Republican Party has mailed a fundraising effort claiming Democrats are trying to single out Republican to deny them healthcare.Of course, the claim is completely and utterly unfounded.Like other absurd lies promoted by leading Republicans like former vice presidential http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2009/08/party-of-shame-and-lies.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-6690446178191347501Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:36:00 +00002009-07-07T08:45:39.144-07:00Sarah Palin opened up a little to ABC News over the weekend, letting it be known that she and her family have been discussing leaving Alaska. When asked about future political plans she was vague but left the door open on future political aspirations.Since one of the principal reasons Palin has given for her sudden resignation as Alaska governor -- with 18 months left on her term -- were http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2009/07/sarah-palin-and-department-of-law.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-6671405181622330229Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:06:00 +00002009-06-21T15:13:58.037-07:00Some have suggested that the Iranian leadership have shown contempt for the truth.I would submit that they have shown contempt for their people and contempt for many of the principles of good leadership and responsibility found in the Koran.But I would say they regard the truth with fear.Why does anyone fear the truth? Why do tyrants and criminals work so hard to keep people ignorant and weak?http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2009/06/contempt-or-fear.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-1270422262469205028Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:06:00 +00002009-06-17T08:06:49.632-07:00Iran elections: Regime cracks down on opposition as further unrest looms | World news | guardian.co.uk: "There were also unconfirmed reports that Mohammad Asgari, who was responsible for the security of the IT network in Iran's interior ministry, was killed yesterday in a suspicious car accident in Tehran. Asgari had reportedly leaked evidence that the elections were rigged to alter the votes http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2009/06/iran-elections-regime-cracks-down-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-6692701693317659181Tue, 05 May 2009 16:06:00 +00002009-05-05T09:19:25.426-07:00Well... the facts are trickling in on the horrific wedding feast massacre in Turkey Monday evening.When I read the initial headlines, the first thing I thought was an internecine war between religious groups that consider each other infidels (as is the sad, time-honored custom even within religions in that bitterly divided part of the world). Or perhaps it was an ethnic feud between Kurds and http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2009/05/mans-inhumanity-to-man-part-9-million.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1314146122254148956.post-26534536966277083Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:43:00 +00002009-04-30T10:05:49.911-07:00It's hollow laugh time scanning the headlines this a.m.The Republican Party is apparently slowly waking to the fact that something like 70% to 80% of US citizens see them as a BIG part of the problem and not much of any solution at all. (I say this as someone who was a Republican, himself, only about a year ago -- although it had been a number of years since I'd actually voted with my party in http://www.bluetrip.com/ks2p/2009/04/gop-national-council-for-new-america.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (KS2 Problema)0