No matter what your opinion on the auto bailout, one lasting image of that fight was Mitch McConnell, and his fellow facist neo-con flock "informing" Americans how we are too fat and sassy because we strive to create, and sustain a viable middle-class. Yes, the same group that supports bailing out the bankers, and for outrageous CEO pay that milks the very companies they run were telling us that the real problem were the greedy American workers, who god forbid want fair wages and some kind of benefits for their efforts.

This is the same group that actually WANTS the outsourcing of American middle-class jobs because the American worker won't work for peanuts. They tell us that we have overpriced our labor and destroyed our companies.

The question is, what exactly is their model for labor, and what exactly do they want us to emulate in America??? The answers are easily found, and quite disturbing.

We here in the United States need to recognize the exceptional vulnerability of our basic production systems; food, clothing, shelter, education and health-care.  We should take steps immediately to re-create dependable stable production systems.   The United States, immediately and as a matter of extreme urgency, must rebuild the domestic production systems for these necessities.

When hundreds of billions are squandered for war and this drain is not even included in the budget, yet, in the spirit of balancing this fictitious budget successful social programs like relative foster care intended to protect the most vulnerable among us are eliminated how are we fulfilling our most basic responsibility of maintaining domestic tranquility?

Two renowned research organizations have released the results of studies concluding:

1. The Pew Foundation: foster care system nationally is in dire need of major changes;

2.. The Annie E. Casey Foundation: Children aging out of the foster care system are ill prepared to transition into adulthood, because they lack a critical support network and significant adult relationships.

An artist friend, Ginette Callaway, has put her animal rights cause called, "Stop the Live Skinning of Animals Everywhere", on change.gov for President-Elect Obama to consider funding it. These causes are being voted for and hers has landed in second place. The second round of voting will start on January 5th (this Monday), and she is asking people everywhere to consider her cause as very important and to please vote for it. The final 10 causes will be presented to President Obama on Inauguration Day. Thank you very much for any help you can give by voting. Also I hope I'm not stepping on boundaries to post this here! I know there are so many things to consider right now.

Here is her plea and her links:

Viewpoint: No regrets from a president who 'fell to the occasion'

By Ellen Goodman
December 26, 2008

What I can't "snap out of" is the fact that he (Bush) is preparing to write a book and design a library whose themes will undoubtedly be: "Heckuva job, George."

The 43rd president is going home with less remorse and fewer regrets than my grandchildren express for spilling their cereal.

This is the tenor of the farewell tour being conducted across the landscape from ABC to the American Enterprise Institute. It's the No Regrets Tour, the nonreflective "reflections by a guy who's headed out of town. "

Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama
Holiday Radio Address
December 27, 2008

Many ages have passed since that first American Christmas. We have crossed many rivers as a people. But the lessons that have carried us through are the same lessons that we celebrate every Christmas season—the same lessons that guide us to this very day: that hope endures, and that a new birth of peace is always possible.

http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/a_season_of_giving_a_sense_of_common_purpose

http://goodbye.us

http://www.goodriddance.org

http://www.sendbushpacking.com

I am an artist and have recently had two galleries that represent me close. Selective zoning might help create place that galleries can afford to rent or own. Also, most individual art grants are to estamplished artists, not to those who most need the money. Go to: http://www.progressivevisualarts.com

I received this link from my cousin in England. Appears to have
generated a lot of controversy over there for the Christmas season.
With only 5 days left until Christmas let's get the ball rolling here -
better late than never.

This is a take off on the Christmas time song of "Feed the World."

Click to view: http://www.bleedtheworld.com/