Painting: The Balance of Power (digital)--Newly minted Blue Dog, President Obama, throws in the towel on tax cuts

Painting and Commentary by Jack Brummet
Social Mores Editor

I created this last night while thinking about President Obama basically throwing in the towel on tax cuts.  That was very disappointing for both us, and especially for him.  How much choice did he have?  Just a hair more than none at all. 

No matter how little We, The People, or, The President like it, he has little choice but to operate like a Blue Dog Democrat.  Just ask President Bill Clinton.

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All This Is That's Staff

Pablo, Jack, and Mona

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Watercolor by Jack Brummet: Bluehead 11: Patient Zero

Watercolor: Bluehead 11: Patient Zero
by Jack Brummet

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Poem by Jack Brummet - A spring and an autumn

A spring and an autumn

by Jack Brummet

Times change

And with them the demands

Of time

There is a spring and an autumn in

The life of people and countries

There is a fire below and a lake above

With the forces of light

And the forces of darkness

Always at war in different guises

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The Golden Times music video of "Let It Be"

By Jack Brummet
Social Mores Editor

Wow. This is a must see. This is so bizarre and random, and somehow sort of sweet.  The video has B-listers, has-beens, active celebs, and even at least one dead one...all performing Let It Be. The video apparently promotes a Norwegian TV show "Golden Times". Huh? Golden Times seems to be a show on the theme of "where are they now?"

I don't watch many viral videos--or not all the way through to the bitter (and often disappointing) end, but this one. . .I found myself  watching all the way, just to see who, and what, came next.

I can't even explain why I find this compelling.  But that's why you need to watch it yourself.

 
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The real NASA press conference was cancelled & they ended up using a back pocket story about bacteria...

By Mona Goldwater
Science Editor











As it turns out, NASA had to go with their lesser story when the family of Greys they planned to show the world got an extreme case of stage fright. We will be posting more details on the press-conference meltdown in the next few days.  In the meantime, have a great weekend.

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WikiLeaks: Does this batch of leaks end up being "good" leaks?

By Jack Brummet
Social Mores Editor

I've read more than one "expert" or "pundit" this week say that while there were some embarrassing moments in the current round of WikiLeaks, on the whole many foreign governments were pleasantly surprised to find that the U.S. diplomatic corps actually seem to care and are actively working to solve real problems. You can say I am just a hapless dupe, but, yeah, it's possible?
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Double painting by Jack Brummet: Eden/The Tooth Monster

Digital Painting by Jack Brummet

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Faces No. 188: Sections

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drawing by Jack Brummet

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The Four Horsepeople Of The Apocalypse: The Republican Front-runners Romney, Palin, Huckabee, and Gingrich

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor
Illustration by Jack Brummet, Social Mores Editor

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In the Republican-Tea Party, there is, at the moment, a four-candidate top-tier including Ex-Governor Palin, Former Governor Mike Huckabee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt "Contract On America" Gingrich.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed the four of them all in a pretty tight cluster--with each potentially receiving around 15 to 19 percent of the vote. 

Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Haley Barbour, John Thune, Mike Pence, Rick Santorum, Mitch Daniels, Gary Johnson, Chris Christie all pulled from 1 to 5% of the potential voters.

Let's face it. . .the Republicans have to be scared sh**less!   I don't think the Tea Party wing is smart enough to be spooked.  The one candidate that seems mostly likely to be elected--Mitt Romney--is not loved, and the party activists like neither his religion nor the excellent health-care bill he marshaled through in Massachusetts.

Obviously this is an extremely early poll and EVERYTHING can--and probably will--change.  And then remember, too, I published my first list Democratic front-runners at about this same time in the election cycle last time around.  Barack Obama wasn't even on my list. . .just in case you're wondering how solid these prognostications are.

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The WikiLeaks Conundrum

By Jack Brummet
Social Mores Editor, All This Is That

Julian Assange - Mr. WikiLeaks

It's fascinating that WikiLeaks is still breathing. When you think of the people we (yes, we, of we the people) have assassinated--from low level intelligence operatives, up to and including, Presidents of foreign countries--you really do have to wonder how do these guys survive? Sure, there's Executive Order 12333, but that didn't save Ngo Dinh Diem in Vietnam, or Patrice Lumumba in the Congo, or Rene Schneider in Chile. Maybe Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan too. And we made more than one hapless attempt on Fidel's life. So how does Julian Assange--variously described as somewhat paranoid to nuttier than a fruitcake--get a pass once again?

Today our government shut down hundreds of counterfeit, pirate, and software download sites. Whatever the merits of their uber-Freedom of Information stance, WikiLeaks seems to be faring much better than a site selling fake designer tennis shoes did today.

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Mario Cuomo's words from 1984 sound similar to our situation today, except The GOP has had another quarter century to redistrbute the wealth upwards...

Mario Cuomo in his keynote address at the 1984 Democratic Convention:

"Now, how important is this question of the deficit. Think about it practically: What chance would the Republican candidate have had in 1980 if he had told the American people that he intended to pay for his so-called economic recovery with bankruptcies, unemployment, more homeless, more hungry, and the largest government debt known to humankind? If he had told the voters in 1980 that truth, would American voters have signed the loan certificate for him on Election Day? Of course not! That was an election won under false pretenses. It was won with smoke and mirrors and illusions. And that's the kind of recovery we have now as well."

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