HELLO, MY NAME IS PEGGY....

Here's the conversation I had with Comcast tonight after getting the runaround on the phone...

Hello Mike, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Joem. Please give me one moment to review your information.

Mike : My Issue: I was lied to by a cs agent

JoemBCBU: I am sorry about that Mike.

JoemBCBU: May i know what happened with your interaction with this agent?

Mike : Not as sorry as me

JoemBCBU: Can I have an overview of what has happened?

Mike : She told me I could find out who was calling me from "Out Of The Area" tonight, but only if I logged in. The number is (111) 111-1111

Mike : Please tell me who that is

Mike : And, tell me why I can't block it through preferences

JoemBCBU: Thank you for the information.

JoemBCBU: Can I have your comcast phone number so I may check it?

Mike : I believe you have you have it - I was forced to enter it when I went to this page

Mike : My experience with your company has been less then helpful tonight

JoemBCBU: I understand your part.

Mike : Please don't make it worse

JoemBCBU: May I know how many phone calls from the above number did you receive?

Mike : At least 4

Mike : in the past 2 hours

(minutes go by....)

Mike : It's a robo call that hangs up

Mike : Just block it, for the love of God!

JoemBCBU: Please standby while I check on this for you.

JoemBCBU: I am still on it Mike.

JoemBCBU: Were you able to receive the same calls before today?

Mike : I have no idea - not calling every 20 minutes. Why? What does that have to do with blocking calls from the number?

JoemBCBU: i would just like to verify if this has been on going Mike.

Mike : If you log into my account, you see 4 calls from (111) 111-1111 from 5:43 to 7:16.

JoemBCBU: Kindly tell me if you have used this feature.

JoemBCBU: To use Call Screening: 1. Lift the receiver and listen for the dial tone. 2. Press *60. 3. A menu of options will guide you in managing this feature. The prompts will enable you to activate and deactivate the feature as well as add and delete the numbers on your list.

Mike : I can do that online, too - right?

JoemBCBU: I would like you to try doing the block using your phone.

JoemBCBU: Let me know if it accepts the number.

Mike : "We're sorry, the number you have entered is incorrect."

Mike : 1111111111

(more minutes go by....)

Mike : Hello?

JoemBCBU: I tried calling that number, and its an invalid number too.

Mike : Seriously? You thought the number they were feedeing back to you (111) 111-1111

Mike : That that was their real number?

Mike : You're the phone company - get the real number.

JoemBCBU: What appears on your call logs is the same as what we here on chat.

Mike : So, what you are telling me is you have no idea where the call originated?

Mike : I could be a Neo-Nazi pranking the White House and no one would have any idea where I was calling from?

JoemBCBU: I can give you the number to our legal demand department, to have this checked further for we don't have the tool to trace this kind of calls here on chat.

Mike : Tell me this, why can't I block calls from non-real numbers? Doesn't that seem like kind of a no-brainer?

Mike : The most obvious calls to block and it just can't be done?

JoemBCBU: The system would only recognize existing numbers Mike.

JoemBCBU: Numbers you can be able to call.

JoemBCBU: But this 11111111 number does not even allow us to call it.

Mike : Do you, personally, see a problem with that? Not as an employee of Comcast, but as a human being, see a problem with a system that won't block fake calls?

JoemBCBU: Yes I see it as a problem personally, should that number call me many times would be very irritating.

"I'M ALL OUT OF LOVE..."

Inside an article by Alex Spillius in The Telegraph from across the pond titled Democrats doubt Barack Obama's reelection chances, we find two little nuggets.

The first comes from Washington consultant and former Clinton-ite, Morris Reid. It seems he’s found out why President Obama is seen as a failure by so many people on the right and the left – he’s too nice!

"He is a do-gooder at heart...He thinks everyone has the same agenda to do the right thing, but other people don't have the same agenda. Their agenda is to score points and get their party re-elected.

This is the downside of him not being terribly political like Bill Clinton was. Bill Clinton woke up every day relishing this kind of fight, and Hillary is just a tougher person. The Clintons are much more combative, they are always ready to go to Defcon 1 ('war is imminent' state)."

Ahhh..right. I get it - the man who dismissed concerns his stimulus was spending too much money (really?) with a dismissive, "I won" was just too nice. But, at the end of the article, I believe we find the real reason from Drew Westen, professor of psychology at Emory University:

"Those of us who were bewitched by his eloquence on the campaign trail chose to ignore some disquieting aspects of his biography: that he had accomplished very little before he ran for president."

SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS

How many of you have heard about this? Last week outside of the Wisconsin State Fair, mobs of young men attacked people as they left the fair.

“Unprecedented violence on the opening night of the Wisconsin State Fair by rampaging youths prompted extraordinary measures Friday: The head of the fair implemented new rules to keep unattended teens off the grounds at night, and Gov. Scott Walker ordered the State Patrol to help keep order.”

OK, gross, disgusting and sad – but honestly, not all that newsworthy outside of the upper Midwest. What if I told you this:

“Then around the closing time of 11 p.m., witnesses told the Journal Sentinel, dozens to hundreds of white youths attacked black people as they left the fair, punching and kicking people and shaking and pounding on their vehicles.”

WHAT! How did this not make the news? Where was the outrage? We have a post-racial President, this is just not to be tolerated! We need a national outcry and discussion about racism! Maybe because the “white youths” and “black people” were the other way around; it was black youths and white people.

“Witnesses, though, told the Journal Sentinel that the attacks appeared to be unprovoked and racially motivated.

"You could just tell they were after white people. That was the main thing. If you were white, they were coming after you," said Jon Stikl of Oak Creek.

He said he was stuck in traffic as a group of young people blocked cars near the fair gate on S. 84th St. near I-94 after he picked up family members attending the fair.

"We noticed a group of five to 10 young black males run up and jump a young white male for no other reason then him being white," Stikl said.

They knocked him to the ground, and then a group of 15 black men kicked and stomped on him, Stikl said.

"My wife's brother jumped out of the car - his natural reaction was to try to break it up. Before you knew it, five or 10 guys were on him and started punching at him. My wife was able to pull him back in the car. So now they surrounded my car and just started punching through the windows, kicking and shaking the car, screaming racial things."

You see, this doesn’t fit the racial narrative of the mainstream media. Racism is a one-way street in this country and anything else is just not to be acknowledged. I did a quick search on the websites (admittedly, this was quick, so unless it was a real story and not some comment on a Ureport kind of stupid thing, I may have missed something) on ABC, CBS, NBC, New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, CNN, FOX News and PMSNBC. The only two who talked about the attacks – Fox News and, are you sitting down, MSNBC! Yes, two times today I’ve been confounded by liberal outlets.

Imagine if it was a white on black attack, what could we expect? Maybe the same apathy? Not even my most liberal friends actually believe that. Then ask yourself - why the lack of coverage? Is it racism against whites? I doubt it, but then why?

Really, why?

SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS

How many of you have heard about this? Last week outside of the Wisconsin State Fair, mobs of young men attacked people as they left the fair.

“Unprecedented violence on the opening night of the Wisconsin State Fair by rampaging youths prompted extraordinary measures Friday: The head of the fair implemented new rules to keep unattended teens off the grounds at night, and Gov. Scott Walker ordered the State Patrol to help keep order.”

OK, gross, disgusting and sad – but honestly, not all that newsworthy outside of the upper Midwest. What if I told you this:

“Then around the closing time of 11 p.m., witnesses told the Journal Sentinel, dozens to hundreds of white youths attacked black people as they left the fair, punching and kicking people and shaking and pounding on their vehicles.”

WHAT! How did this not make the news? Where was the outrage? We have a post-racial President, this is just not to be tolerated! We need a national outcry and discussion about racism! Maybe because the “white youths” and “black people” were the other way around; it was black youths and white people.

“Witnesses, though, told the Journal Sentinel that the attacks appeared to be unprovoked and racially motivated.

"You could just tell they were after white people. That was the main thing. If you were white, they were coming after you," said Jon Stikl of Oak Creek.

He said he was stuck in traffic as a group of young people blocked cars near the fair gate on S. 84th St. near I-94 after he picked up family members attending the fair.

"We noticed a group of five to 10 young black males run up and jump a young white male for no other reason then him being white," Stikl said.

They knocked him to the ground, and then a group of 15 black men kicked and stomped on him, Stikl said.

"My wife's brother jumped out of the car - his natural reaction was to try to break it up. Before you knew it, five or 10 guys were on him and started punching at him. My wife was able to pull him back in the car. So now they surrounded my car and just started punching through the windows, kicking and shaking the car, screaming racial things."

You see, this doesn’t fit the racial narrative of the mainstream media. Racism is a one-way street in this country and anything else is just not to be acknowledged. I did a quick search on the websites (admittedly, this was quick, so unless it was a real story and not some comment on a Ureport kind of stupid thing, I may have missed something) on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News and PMSNBC. The only two who talked about the attacks – Fox News and, are you sitting down, MSNBC! Yes, two times today I’ve been confounded by liberal outlets.

Imagine if it was a white on black attack, what could we expect? Maybe the same apathy? Not even my most liberal friends actually believe that. Then ask yourself - why the lack of coverage? Is it racism against whites? I doubt it, but then why?

Really, why?

SURRENDER!

I give up. I’ve lost faith in the United States. Not THE United States, the greatest country in the world, the single greatest gift to date to the entire world, the country that brought freedom to more people in a mere 250 years than every other country combined. Not the dream that the United States used to embody. No, I’ve lost faith in our future. To quote John Derbyshire (not that can claim it): We Are Doomed.

Both political parties are useless. And we won’t have anymore. The last great rise of a party was the Republican party and that was possible only because the United States was growing and California gave them their first, national start – John Fremont. We’re not growing anymore, we have what we have, no change is possible and they’re both stink. The Democrats stink a way lot more than the Republicans, but to the Republicans, it’s like not being German when the outhouse exploded in Kelly’s Heroes (minute 8:40).

Am I going to leave? I doubt it – we’re still the lifeboat on the Titanic. I’ll stay in my precious (“my precious”) New Hampshire until it’s overrun by Massachusetts tax refugees who still want all of the Big Government babysitting and Vermonters who don’t realize why all the jobs are over here. At that point (and I thought we were there last year), I’ll move to another state who understands Big Government sucks! I’m thinking Texas.

THE LYING LIARS OF FRANKEN'S HEROES

It’s not rare that we see the mainstream media protect the President and tout his silly, smoke-and-mirrors and sometimes outright lies - heck it happens every day. What’s rare is to see it on such display as what the people logging onto CNN.com saw today. We were subjected to this opinion piece as the main story of the day.

Our stupid self-inflicted debt crisis

Shockingly, John Avlon blames the Republicans!

“But the blame for this stage of failure lies squarely on the party that unilaterally withdrew from the talks -- and that's the Republicans.”

That’s right, it’s all the Republicans fault - they have only proposed TWO bills, actual vote-able, score-able bills. It’s not the fault of the President or the Democrats who have proposed ZERO, none, nada bills.

Wait, before commenting, there’s more. We get this

“When the bipartisan "Gang of Six" proposal was put forward, it was rejected by some Republicans out of hand despite deep tax cuts and historic entitlement reforms and enforceable spending cuts simply because it was embraced by Obama. “

“Some Republicans.” Exactly who and how many? Why don’t we get those facts? Might it be because there were only two or three out of over 200? I can get two or three Democrats in the caucus that think Guam will tip over or Tigger is cool (OK, maybe that one is right). Pure obsequiousness and willingness to obfuscate to make BHO the real hero of the day.

How about this?

“There is talk of the Obama administration "moving the goal posts" in terms of asking for more revenue increases in the latest negotiations. But moving the goal posts on what constitutes a tax increase is in many ways at the heart of the current disagreement. Arguments for raising the top rate have been dropped until after the 2012 election. The common ground compromise available is tax reform.”

More straw men and confusion. What BHO really did was talk about one number (800 million in new revenue) and then, when it was met, increase it by 50%. That’s what Boehner meant by “moving the goal posts”. One would think a columnist for CNN would know that. Yet, what Avlon does is talk about moving the goal posts as some kind of disagreement over the definition of what tax increase means and lie to make the Republicans look bad.

This is just a small example of Big Media covering for the Chosen One. It would be amusing if it wasn’t so sad and even worse, serious.

TERROR BY ANY OTHER NAME

No need to link to a story for this piece; anyone reading this has seen story after story about Anders Breivik. It’s sad to see the similarities between his terror attack and every other terror attack – the willful lack of compassion and conscience in taking innocent human life. His attempt to emulate the attack on the Murrow Federal Building in Oklahoma City (thankfully much less successfully) and then his tenacious hunting and execution of helpless kids at a summer camp show a serious inhuman trait. Not all killing is a terror attack, explosive emotion (hate or fear) can cause a sudden and no less terrible act, but true terror takes planning and methodical action. We saw the same kind of willingness to personally and in close proximity kill people in Serbia just 16 years ago this month. We saw the same killing in Rawanda and more recently in the attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt.

I pray for all of the victims, may God hold their souls in his hand take all their pain, sadness and fear away.

DEMOCRAT HARKIN: LIAR OR JUST STUPID

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Mars) came up with this the other day:

“The debate and fight is not between Democrats and Republicans. It's between some Republicans and their sort of cult fringe as I refer to them out there," Harkin said.

"Democrats are willing to do whatever is necessary to raise the debt ceiling, not for future borrowing but to pay the debts that we racked up in the past. Which, mostly was racked up by a Republican House, a Republican Senate and a Republican President in the last 8 years. Yet, they're not willing to pay the bills," Harkin said.”

Some of my friends on the Right are upset by his description of the Tea Party as a “sort of cult fringe”. I say, “Whatever, he’s a liberal, what do you expect?” To them, you either agree or you are evil, not wrong – evil.

What got me was his line about the debt, “Which, mostly was racked up by a Republican House, a Republican Senate and a Republican President in the last 8 years.” Here’s a quick timeline of the last eight years.

• July 2003 – Dec. 2006 – Republican House, Senate and President
• Jan. 2007 – Dec. 2008 – Democrat House, Democrat Senate and Republican President
• Jan. 2009 – Dec. 2010 - Democrat House, Democrat Senate and Democrat President
• Jan. 2011 – present - Republican House, Democrat Senate and Democrat President

Additionally, let’s look at look at those terrible Bush years. In terms of the national debt, they were terrible – the debt was DOUBLED in those 8 eight years, from 5.5 to 10.6 trillion dollars. Now, let’s see what the 2 ½ years of the Obama presidency has done. In just under 30% of the time Bush was in office, the debt has gone up 3.7 trillion dollars, or over 66% of the disheartening Bush increase. And although Bush (with two years of Democrat controlled help) did rack up 5 trillion dollars in debt, a quick calculation shows 5 trillion is not a majority of 14.3 trillion.

Obviously, Senator Harkin’s statement is wrong. Senator Harkin has also been in Congress since 1974, so he has an intimate knowledge of what happened in the last eight years. I’ll ask the obvious question:

Is he a liar or just stupid?

THE LOCKBOX TURNED OUT TO BE A BOX FULL OF LOCKS...GO FIGURE

Has it really been four years? Yeah, I guess it has. I need to point out B.H. Obama’s startling confession that Social Security is really just a bankrupt Ponzi scheme. Never before has a Democrat President admitted that Social Security doesn’t actually have any money; that it’s current outlays to seniors aren't actually funded by this giant bank account in the First Bank of Never-Never Land, it’s funded by tax receipts from current employees with no hope of EVER receiving their “tax investments”. I quote President Obama:

"I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it,"

What? There’s no money in the coffers? What happened to Al Gore’s Lock Box? Oh, right – it’s just an environmentally-friendly, biodegradable, recycled and sustainably produced cardboard box of I.O.U’s. That’s the ONLY reason “there might not be money in the coffers” to pay Grandma. If A.G.’s lockbox theory were true, we could just pull the cash out and pay the bills. But, no…B.H.O. let the cat out of the bag, entitlements are actually a PROBLEM, there really isn’t any cash to pay for them, no matter how many seniors have been paying into them for so long – it’s all gone. Keep in mind, I’m mostly a senior, I’m 45 this year.

POLITICALLY INCORRECT

Even blogging about food, you get into politics:

OK, I'll come out and say it, I'll say the remarkably unpopular thing - it's not President Bush's fault that Katrina took out New Orleans. The blessed chef Leah Chase has been living in public supported home for TWO YEARS? How about sucking it up and getting a house of your own? You know, I'm a fat buyer from New Hampshire, but I knew over five years ago that a strong hurricane hitting New Orleans would flood the place. What was Chef Chase's problem? Why did this surprise her and so many others? Was it walking the streets and seeing the river higher than the road? Come on, people! Show some shred of intelligence!

OK, lets assume she had the brain power of a sunflower and got flooded out - why is that my problem or Bush's fault? How about the Midwest getting dumped on with blizzards - why aren't they living in Houston, complaining? How about those that got flooded this year - where is the outcry from the left to rebuild them?

Look, it's not George Bush's fault anymore than it is you fault Katrina flooded New Orleans. New Orleans is a bad idea, that's why the oldest part of the city is still dry - building under water is STUPID!!!!

DAMNED IF HE DOES, DAMNED IF HE DOESN'T

You really must wonder at the depths of Bush-hatred that permeate the mainstream press. Check out this headline from Washingtonpost.com via MSNBC:

“Hamas takeover shows failure of Bush's vision”

You see, everything is all George Bush’s fault. Because a group of people would rather kill themselves then act like human beings, George Bush is a failure. Here’s some of President Bush’s failures:

“The United States championed Israel's departure from the Gaza Strip as a first step toward peace and then pressed both Israelis and Palestinians to schedule legislative elections, which Hamas unexpectedly won. Now Hamas is the unchallenged power in Gaza.”

Ah, the Washington Post would much rather have had Israel occupy the Gaza Strip. No, wait…that’s can’t be right, Israel is supposed to LEAVE the lands it occupied in 1967. And Heaven forefend that there be Democratic elections.

“After his reelection in 2004, Bush said he would use his "political capital" to help create a Palestinian state by the end of his second term. In his final 18 months as president, he faces the prospect of a shattered Palestinian Authority, a radical Islamic state on Israel's border and increasingly dwindling options to turn the tide against Hamas and create a functioning Palestinian state.”

Idiot called for a separate Palestinian state. Of course, Hilary has done the same thing, but that was different.

I may not love President Bush as much as I used to, but I do feel for the man. Oh, and the press sucks, too.

D-DAY

Today is the anniversary of D-Day. June 6, 1944. On that day, Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, France to begin the invasion of Europe proper (we had landed in Italy the year before) and so the fall of Nazi Germany had begun. For the two American beaches (Iowa and Omaha), it was a nightmare. The “softening up” of the Atlantic wall from the air, the sea and under water had been iffy at best, usually it had gone badly. The three British and Canadian beaches (Juno, Gold and Sword) were not nearly as bad, but running through the ocean at people with guns pissed at you is never easy.

We should all take a moment to remember.

We should also take a moment to think what the ilk we call Democrat Presidential candidates would say about this invasion. Firstly, why are we invading a “friendly” country – France? We didn’t break from the beachhead for over 30 days – does anybody hear the word “quagmire”? And what about the allies having such an easier time of it? “Mismanagement at the highest levels”, perhaps? ”Why do we want to get into the middle of a European civil war?” “Maybe if we just tried to understand that Germany was oppressed by us after the First World War and tried to reason with them?” “For the love of God, where was the diplomacy?” “Roosevelt lied, people died!” “We need to focus on Japan!”

Sometimes, you need to love press censorship.

BUT DO THE HIPPES UNDERSTAND?

Meg at megnut has made such a good point about this New York Times article about “vaccinating” for E.coli., that I am harboring jealous feelings that I didn’t come up with it first. So, because I can’t take credit for it, this is what she said:

“Scientists Look to Vaccines in the War on E. Coli states "cows and their manure are considered the major sources of the pathogen" but in two pages of this New York Times article there isn't a single mention of the fact that E. Coli grows in the gut of corn-fed cows, but not in grass-fed cows. Instead of switching cows to a natural diet of grass, here are the solutions under consideration to protect us from E. Coli: feeding cows sodium chlorate, a chemical used in the pulp and paper industry; probiotics, which are good bacteria; phages, viruses that infect and kill bacteria; and E. Coli vaccines for people and for cattle.

The only sensible thing in the entire article was this quote from Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “What really is a concern to me about this issue is we always have a tendency to want high-tech responses to what in many cases are common-sense low-tech solutions.”

I hate it when I’m not first, but she is absolutely right. So much of what she is saying about current food regulations can be said about so many government programs, such a campaign finance and EVERY tax law. It’s broken, don’t try to fix it with “new and improved” versions. Get rid of all the garbage and let nature and/or the free market take care of it.
(Cross posted at my food blog melsdiner)

MY HERO, THE ULTIMATE POLITICAL BLOGGER, SCOTT OTT

See more of Scott at Scrappleface

TOO DUMB FOR PRIME TIME?

Check out what, who our friends at lucianne.com refer to, either Hildebeast or PIAPS, said in South Carolina:

"Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday she sees her sometimes Southern accent as a virtue.

"I think America is ready for a multilingual president," Clinton said during a campaign stop at a charter school in Greenville, S.C."

Uh, the dreaded Bu$hitler speaks Spanish, so is that what you are talking about? Are you a Bu$hCo supporter? And, I'm quite sure MANY of the former presidents spoke French and Latin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams come to mind from my own reading.

Yet, this simple fact was never mentioned in the article. No, there's no bias in the MSM.

"WHAT DO YOU JUST CALL ME?"

This was the headline on MSN this morning at 9:20 AM:

Dem hopefuls show political heft
The overall impression from the first formal debate from this early-starting campaign is that the Democrats have a field of contenders that, by any historical measure, matches in quality any the party has offered in decades.

Have they just been insulted?

BEYOTCH

Naomi Wolfe, the woman who was hired to teach Al Gore how to be a man in the 2000 election, has an out of this world screed in The Guardian about how America is becoming a fascist state. I need to take apart some of her arguments, so lets go:

First check out some of her preamble:

“Because we no longer learn much about our rights or our system of government - the task of being aware of the constitution has been outsourced from citizens' ownership to being the domain of professionals such as lawyers and professors - we scarcely recognise the checks and balances that the founders put in place, even as they are being systematically dismantled. Because we don't learn much about European history, the setting up of a department of "homeland" security - remember who else was keen on the word "homeland" - didn't raise the alarm bells it might have.”

And why don’t we learn about American History or Western Civilization anymore? Because of PC liberals just like you. So don’t pretend this is some George Bush plan to keep us all from wearing earth tones.

“1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy

After we were hit on September 11 2001, we were in a state of national shock. Less than six weeks later, on October 26 2001, the USA Patriot Act was passed by a Congress that had little chance to debate it; many said that they scarcely had time to read it.”

Now, why wouldn’t your Congressmen have scarcely read it? Maybe because they abdicated their responsibility? Maybe because they are lazy, obtuse, half-wits in earth tones who know how to get elected but have no idea how to lead? Or is it because they actually agreed with the "nightmarish "Patriot Act? Who are your representatives, Naomi? Morons, people you don't understand or liars?

“2. Create a gulag.

…But Americans still assume this system and detainee abuses involve only scary brown people (bolding mine) with whom they don't generally identify”

Don’t YOU ever accuse me of being a racist. YOU and your ilk are the racists in this. If I was a better Christian, another fault against me to you I’m sure, I wouldn’t have the disdain and anger I feel for you now.

"3. Develop a Thug Caste

… Thugs in America? Groups of angry young Republican men, dressed in identical shirts and trousers, menaced poll workers counting the votes in Florida in 2000.”

I can only imagine she-whose veins-course-with vinegar-and-water is talking about the pink shirted dweebs who insisted on witnessing the re-count (as required by law) in 2000. I hate this woman more and more.

“4. Set up an internal surveillance system

In Mussolini's Italy, in Nazi Germany, in communist East Germany, in communist China - in every closed society - secret police spy on ordinary people and encourage neighbours to spy on neighbours. The Stasi needed to keep only a minority of East Germans under surveillance to convince a majority that they themselves were being watched.”

Nobody is as surveillanced as the Europeans – they have video camera’s at every intersection and all over the Autobahn. What about that, beyotch?

“5. Harass citizens' groups

The fifth thing you do is related to step four - you infiltrate and harass citizens' groups. It can be trivial: a church in Pasadena, whose minister preached that Jesus was in favour of peace, found itself being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, while churches that got Republicans out to vote, which is equally illegal under US tax law, have been left alone.”

Which party consistently has candidates campaign in churches? Which President's detractors found themselves investigated by the IRS, especially if they accused the Gropenator of sexual misdeeds? Oh, yeah – it’s your party, Wolfey.

“6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release

This scares people. It is a kind of cat-and-mouse game. Nicholas D Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, the investigative reporters who wrote China Wakes: the Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power, describe pro-democracy activists in China, such as Wei Jingsheng, being arrested and released many times. In a closing or closed society there is a "list" of dissidents and opposition leaders: you are targeted in this way once you are on the list, and it is hard to get off the list.”

If this is so prevalent and used to stifle defense, why hasn’t your boy mentioned here, Nicky Kristoff been detained? For years he has been a very vocal critic of the George Bush in the paper of record, the New York Times. Wouldn’t it make sense to shut him down? Huh? Anything, Naomi? Anything?

“7. Target key individuals”

ibid.

“8. Control the press”

Double ibid. With another beyotch thrown in for good measure.

“9. Dissent equals treason

Cast dissent as "treason" and criticism as "espionage'. Every closing society does this, just as it elaborates laws that increasingly criminalise certain kinds of speech and expand the definition of "spy" and "traitor". When Bill Keller, the publisher of the New York Times, ran the Lichtblau/Risen stories, Bush called the Times' leaking of classified information "disgraceful", while Republicans in Congress called for Keller to be charged with treason, and rightwing commentators and news outlets kept up the "treason" drumbeat. Some commentators, as Conason noted, reminded readers smugly that one penalty for violating the Espionage Act is execution.”

I would throw this back on Wolfe. If this isn’t treason, OK. So, what DOES constitute treason? I’m not saying it was treason, but I would like to know, what, if anything, is treason?

“10. Suspend the rule of law

The John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 gave the president new powers over the national guard. This means that in a national emergency - which the president now has enhanced powers to declare - he can send Michigan's militia to enforce a state of emergency that he has declared in Oregon, over the objections of the state's governor and its citizens.

Even as Americans were focused on Britney Spears's meltdown and the question of who fathered Anna Nicole's baby, the New York Times editorialised about this shift: "A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that strike to the heart of American democracy have been passed in the dead of night ... Beyond actual insurrection, the president may now use military troops as a domestic police force in response to a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack or any 'other condition'."

Are you basing fact on an opinion piece? That’s stupid from step one, and gets dumber after that. This last bit proves to the world you are an idiot. Who can we take you seriously? If I didn't think you were out of your mind before this, this might just push me to pat you on your pretty head and say, "There, there, honey - it will be all right. The nice men in the white coats are here to help."