Jeb Bush: The Hard-Core Right-Wing “Moderate” Conservative Republican

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro
Jeb Bush Former Governor of Florida

Jeb Bush
Former Governor of Florida

By Elaine Magliaro

Last week, Mike Spindell wrote a posted titled Jeb Bush Is Not Who You Might Think He Is. Mike said that one of the political traits of the Bush family is presenting its members as “folksy” and as moderate conservatives. He added, “The reality though is that this clan is far more ultra-conservative and rapaciously vicious, than is thought by many.”

Adam C. Smith, Political Editor for the Tampa Bay Times appears to have a similar opinion about Jeb Bush’s political leanings being much farther to the right than many people think. In early December, Smith wrote a piece for the paper titled Jeb Bush, a moderate squish? Florida knows different. Smith said that radio host Mark Levin dismissed Florida’s former governor as “a very good moderate Democrat…” Smith added that the “specious perception of Bush outside of Florida reflects both a fundamental misunderstanding of the man, probably due to assumptions based on the presidential records of his father and brother, and also how far rightward the Republican Party has shifted since Bush left the Governor’s Mansion in 2007.”

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Posted in American History, Conservatives, Economic Policy, Education, Education Policy, George W. Bush, Government, Immigrants, Neoconservatives, Politics, Propaganda, RNC, Society, States, Tea Party, United States | Tagged , , , | 20 Comments

Jeb Bush for President???: Looking Back at the Terri Schiavo Case

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro
Jeb Bush Former Governor of Florida

Jeb Bush
Former Governor of Florida

By Elaine Magliaro

Jeb Bush announced recently that he planned to “actively”explore a 2016 presidential run. The Boston Globe reported that Bush posted a holiday message on his Facebook page and Twitter account, in which he said that he had discussed the ‘‘future of our nation’’ and a possible bid for the White House with members of his family over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Bush wrote: ‘‘As a result of these conversations and thoughtful consideration of the kind of strong leadership I think America needs, I have decided to actively explore the possibility of running for president of the United States.” He added, ‘‘In the coming months, I hope to visit with many of you and have a conversation about restoring the promise of America.’’

The former governor of Florida promised to focus on “ideas and policies that will expand opportunity and prosperity for all Americans.” Josh Israel (ThinkProgress) noted that Bush didn’t make mention “of his most controversial act during his two terms in office: his attempts to take custody of Terri Schiavo and overrule her husband Michael’s decision to remove her feeding tube, fifteen years after cardiac arrest had left her in a vegetative state.”

Israel said that ThinkProgress spoke with Michael Schiavo and George Felos, the attorney who represented him in the matter about Bush’s potential run for the presidency. Both Schiavo and Felos “expressed concern that Bush’s record was one of government interference and opposing individual liberty.” Schiavo told ThinkProgress, “If you want a government that’s gonna intrude on your life, enforce their personal views on you, then I guess Jeb Bush is your man.” He added, “We really don’t need another Bush in office.”

Israel said that Felos described Bush’s interference in the Schiavo case as, “An egregious example of the fat hand of government inserting itself into a family’s medical decision and the obtrusive hand of government trying to override their decision.”

Despite the fact that Michael Schiavo got a court order in 2002 to remove his wife’s feeding tube…Jeb Bush intervened. The Florida governor pushed “the state legislature to pass an unconstitutional bill in a special session giving him authority to order the feeding tube reinserted.” Felos said that when a state judge ordered the tube removed again, Bush “manipulated the organs of state government in order to try to evade the court order.”

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Posted in Conservatives, Courts, Government, United States | Tagged , , | 19 Comments

71 years ago this week, two honorable men met.

Posted on December 25, 2014 by Chuck Stanley

By Chuck Stanley

Lt. Gustav Rödel“You follow the rules for you, not for the enemy. You fight by the rules to keep your humanity. If I ever see or hear of you shooting at a man in a parachute, I will shoot you down myself.”
– Luftwaffe fighter Ace Lt. Gustav Rödel (right), to rookie fighter pilot Franz Stigler before his first combat mission.

Lt. Charlie BrownIt was December 20, 1943, seventy-one years ago this week.  Rookie American B-17F bomber pilot on his first mission, 2nd Lt. Charlie Brown (left), found himself alone in the skies over Germany, struggling to keep his big four-engine bomber aloft. Only one of the engines was fully functional. The others were either stopped or barely generating power. They had been part of a raid on a German aircraft factory. Of his ten crew members, there were only three who had not been wounded. Brown himself was wounded by shrapnel, and had passed out from hypoxia, regaining consciousness as they got to a lower altitude. The tail gunner, S/Sgt. Hugh Eckenrode, was dead. Charlie Brown’s B-17 was riddled with holes from anti-aircraft fire and bullet holes from an attack by German fighters. Blood was smeared on the outside of the big bomber from badly wounded crew members. With all the damage and partial power from the engines, Brown was unable to maintain airspeed and altitude. All the holes and bent sheet metal created tremendous drag.

As his crippled B-17F lost altitude and airspeed, Charlie Brown dropped out of formation, becoming a straggler. He was a sitting duck for any German fighter who might come up after them. His heart sank when he realized his flight path was taking him directly over a Luftwaffe fighter base.

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Posted in American History, Germany, Heroism, History, Nazis, United Kingdom, United States, US Army, US Military, USAF, War, World War II | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

Happy Holidays From FFS!

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Gene Howington
"Bet you thought I couldn't pull that sleigh, did ya, Fat Man?"

“Bet you thought I couldn’t pull that sleigh, did ya, Fat Man?”

On behalf of myself and all the author/editors here at Flowers for Socrates, we’d like to wish you all a Happy Holidays – no matter your holiday of choice – and thank you all for reading and participating in our blog. Over the last year, FFS has grown faster than any of us could have reasonably expected. That is due in no small part to our wonderful contributors but truly the gift is from you, the audience, to us. We had very modest expectations as to readership when I started this venue and those expectations were far more than met.

Thank you all very much.

May your days of celebration be filled with family, friends, love and good cheer.  A bit of good food and drink too. May your New Year be filled with even more.

So say we all.

Gene Howington, Editor-in-Chief

Posted in FFS Update(s), Holidays | 9 Comments

A Merry Musical Muppet Christmas!

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

Posted by Elaine Magliaro

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Posted in Humor, Music | Tagged , | Comments Off on A Merry Musical Muppet Christmas!

A Christmas Song from Our Animal Friends

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

Posted by Elaine Magliaro

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Posted in Music, Short Video | Comments Off on A Christmas Song from Our Animal Friends

Singer at Ex-Cop’s Charity Event Celebrates the Death of Michael Brown with Parody of Jim Croce’s Song “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro
Michael Brown

Michael Brown

By Elaine Magliaro

TMZ reported this morning that the Elks Lodge in Glendale, California, “is investigating a shocking incident that went down in the club a week ago Monday, when a member of the lodge performed “a song celebrating the death of Michael Brown … for an audience that included a number of retired and current cops…”

The song, a parody of “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown,” was performed by Gary Fishell. Fishell had changed the song lyrics, which include:

Michael Brown learned a lesson about a messin’
With a badass policeman

And he’s bad, bad Michael Brown
Baddest thug in the whole damn town
Badder than old King Kong
Meaner than a junkyard dog

Two men took to fightin’
And Michael punched in through the door
And Michael looked like some old Swiss cheese
His brain was splattered on the floor

And he’s dead, dead Michael Brown
Deadest man in the whole damn town
His whole life’s long gone
Deader than a roadkill dog

TMZ posted the video of the singer “ridiculing Brown, the unarmed black teenager who was killed by white Ferguson, Mo. police officer Darren Wilson in August” on YouTube this morning.

NOTE: I posted the video below the fold.

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Posted in Law Enforcement, Racism | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

FOX News Affiliate in Baltimore Caught Editing Demonstration Footage to Sound As If Protesters Are Chanting “Kill a Cop”

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

Baltimore_Police_Department_logo_patchBy Elaine Magliaro

On Sunday night, WBFF–a FOX affiliate in Baltimore–aired a video of “Justice for All” demonstrators in Washington, D. C., chanting “kill a cop.” Gawker reported that the news station claimed that the video was evidence “of murderously violent rhetoric on the part of anti-brutality protesters…” Gawker said the problem with WBFF’s claim was that the protesters weren’t actually chanting “kill a cop” at all. The WBFF broadcast reportedly said, “At this rally in Washington, D.C. protestors chanted, “we won’t stop, we can’t stop, so kill a cop.” Gawker said, however, that there was video evidence to prove that’s not what the protesters were actually chanting.

Gawker continued, “The current national pastime appears to be constructing elaborate ways of laying responsibility for recent police shootings at the feet of anti-police-brutality protesters.” Gawker added that it was “bullshit”–and that “cynical news media” had been forced “to dig deep into their bag of tricks” in order to shift “blame for broad and escalating distrust of police away from…themselves and onto mostly non-violent activists…”

Here’s what WBFF did: The FOX affiliate in Baltimore “deceptively” edited footage of the protesters’ chant!

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Posted in Law Enforcement, Media | Tagged , | 15 Comments

RIP Joe Cocker

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Gene Howington

by Gene Howington

It’s a loss for the world. Yesterday, singular musical talent Joe Cocker passed away at the age of 70, a victim of small cell lung cancer. Born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Cocker began performing in 1961 under the stage name Vance Arnold and his band, Vance Arnold and the Avengers. They were not a hit. Having developed a strong interest in the blues music of performers like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, Cocker dropped the stage name in 1964 and formed Joe Cocker’s Big Blues. His dusky voice was fantastic match to that style of blues rock. His first big hit came in 1968 with a Beatles cover that would go on to become what is probably his signature song, With a Little Help from My Friends. A song that could very well serve as an unofficial theme for this very blog. So without further ado, there is no better way to remember the man than his music.

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Posted in Art, Humor, Music | Tagged | 6 Comments

More Human Than Human?

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Gene Howington
Male orangutan in the wild (possibly old college roommate).

Male orangutan in the wild (possibly old college roommate).

by Gene Howington

Normally if you called Sandra a “non-human person”, you might get slapped in the face. However, in this instance, Sandra is a 29-year-old Sumatran orangutan at the Buenos Aires zoo.  What makes this more interesting is that it is an Argentine court doing the name calling. Using a tactic previously tried in U.S. courts the petitioners filed a writ of habeas corpus (in Latin “produce the body”) usually used to challenge a person’s imprisonment or detention, in a suit filed in November on Sandra’s behalf by the Association of Officials and Lawyers for Animal Rights (AFADA) argued the ape had sufficient cognitive functions and should not be treated as an object. The lower court agreed and the Buenos Aires zoo has 10 days to file an appeal. This is contrary to the view held in the United States (and elsewhere) that animals are property under civil law.

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Posted in Argentina, Biology, Civil Law, Civil Liberties, Evolution, Exobiology, Jurisprudence, Legal Theory, Weird News | Tagged , , , | 21 Comments