“I came home every Friday afternoon, riding the six miles on the back of a big mule. I spent Saturday and Sunday washing and ironing and cooking for the children and went back to my country school on Sunday afternoon.”
Category Archives: News
Freedom Means Everything
Palestinian cartoonist Mohammad Saba’aneh has been detained without charge by Israeli officials since February 16 at the Allenby Bridge checkpoint between Jordan and the West Bank. Saba’aneh, a popular editorial cartoonist for “Al-Hayat al-Jadida,”s the Palestinian daily newspaper, is also head of public relations at the Arab American University in Jenin. His imprisonment has sparked an international outrage.
The Cartoon Movement, a global cartoonist collective, Cartoonists Rights Network International and Reporters Without Borders have joined in an effort to have Saba’aneh released. It’s hard to imagine cartoonists getting into an uproar, but like most artists, they’re often the voice of the people.
I was surprised to learn that Israeli law allows for the detainment of foreigners without charge; mere suspicion can induce imprisonment. I suppose if I happen to find myself in downtown Tel-Aviv and ask for a BLT, I could end up in the slammer. Damn! For just that?! In such a hostile society, anything can happen.
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When the Truth Really Hurts – and Scares the Crap Out of Most People
“It’s easy for CEOs with mega-million-dollar retirement funds to demand cuts to Social Security. They’ll be enjoying their country clubs while America’s already shamefully high poverty rate among the elderly will increase.”
– Scott Klinger, of the Institute for Policy Studies, in “Inequality in the Social Security Debate,” March 14, 2013.
Why don’t our elected officials take this issue more seriously? With the worst economic downturn in U.S. history depleting the savings and home values of millions of citizens and so many people entering their “Golden Years,” there are few other matters that deserve more attention.
Download the full IPS report here.
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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
The legend of St. Patrick has become lost amidst the blur of green beer and leprechauns gone wild. But, Patrick was a real person born in – of all places – England around A.D. 390. Whether he heard voices in a dream and ultimately drove snakes out of Ireland is all part of the mythology surrounding such historical figures. Still, it makes for some great storytelling!
March 17, 2013 · 12:37 AM
Stupid Quote of the Week #3
“I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if we do prosecute – if we do bring a criminal charge – it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy. I think that is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large.”
– U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, later emphasizing that he was speaking generally.
Holder had been subpoenaed to testify about the fraud and money laundering case involving banking giant HSBC (formerly Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation). HSBC has been accused of laundering money for Mexican and Columbian drug cartels; interesting, once you realize the company was founded in 1865 by opium merchants.
If I’m arrested for robbing a convenience store of $100, I suppose I could say I shouldn’t be prosecuted because I’m caring for my elderly parents. While HSBC paid a record $1.92 billion in fines, none of their senior level officials have been imprisoned. Holder’s claim makes him sound like a Republican businessman! From Texas!
Stupid Quote of the Week #2
“Dear Joe, Jack in the Box restaurants will likely drive customers away if they continue advertising in a manner that offends parents. Their newest commercial has Jack telling his son how he met his mother at a rock concert. In a flashback, just as she is about to lift her shirt exposing herself to Jack, the ad ends but leaves nothing to the imagination. Even though Jack in the Box is not located nationwide, One Million Moms has received numerous complaints from concerned parents and could not ignore this issue. It is important to let people know how they market their restaurant so they do not patronize the fast food chain while on vacation. Jack in the Box needs to know we do not approve!”
– One Million Moms, in an email to the Joe.My.God blog, complaining about the latest Jack in the Box commercial.
Meanwhile, on March 1, filmmakers Lori Silverbush and Kristi Jacobson released “A Place at the Table,” a documentary that asks why 50 million people (including 17 million children) in the U.S. suffer from food insecurity.
Like most conservative groups, One Million Moms (a.k.a. ‘Housewives with Nothing Better to Bitch About’) has its priorities skewered.
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Stupid Quote of the Week #1
“Let me remind the gay rights fanatics, North Korea plans to send a nuclear warhead our way. There’s a terrible price to pay for outright rebellion against the Holy God of Israel and your sins are going to get us all killed. When the full communist revolution gets underway [in America], why do you think Homeland Security is stockpiling billions of rounds of hollow point ammo? It’s not to protect you and me. They’re setting up ammo depots for Obama’s commie army.”
– Pastor Rick Wiles, of TruNews Radio, who has said (among many other things) that God will send a scourge of locusts to take out President Obama and that IRS SWAT teams will start shooting at people attending church.
Is he serious? I didn’t know the IRS has its own SWAT team! Cool! Maybe they can finally invade Wall Street!
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Oh yea, things really are looking up!
Just wait and see. Oh, of course. Why shouldn’t the 10 to 20 million unemployed and under-employed in the U.S. be patient a little while longer? Wall Street has just experienced an extraordinary boom and the jobless rate has ticked down to 7.7% with reports that employers added 236,000 jobs in February. A tick is something I yank off my dog and throw down the disposal. While our elected officials continue to behave like unsupervised grade schoolers, average Americans keep losing their homes, and my student loans keep accruing interest.
International Women’s Day 2013
“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” – Nora Ephron
Today is International Women’s Day, an unofficial global holiday in which we honor all the accomplishments women have made and continue to make in every society. Since women have been around from…oh, Day One, it’s only proper to acknowledge they’re not akin to decorative plates – sitting on a shelf looking pretty without any real purpose in life. Sadly, many countries still treat females as second-class citizens; refusing to pay them equal wages for equal work and provide them the same educational opportunities as men. Fortunately, things are changing for women across the world, as national leaders realize the importance and value of women’s contributions. One of these days – hopefully, not too far away – we won’t need a day like this.
Click here for a comprehensive list of some of history’s most famous – and infamous – women.
Chief Writing Wolf 
Worst Quote of the Week
“I’m not going to engage in the back and forth and the attacks. Several Democrats have demonstrated a willingness to attack me by name. I’m not going to engage in that argument. I’m going to stay focused on what I think Texans want me to stay focused on, which is the substance of the job.”
– Sen. Ted Cruz, in response to a question from Dallas Morning News reporter Todd Gillman on whether or not he admired the late Sen. Joe McCarthy.
A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ couldn’t suffice?
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Tagged as communism, Joe McCarthy, Sen. Ted Cruz, stupid comments