Halli Casser-Jayne is the co-host of The Halli and MoJoe Show on BlogTalkRadio dot com and the author of A Year in My Pajamas with President Obama, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows, which takes a provocative, fun, thoughtful look at Election 2008 through the creative eyes of an author with a sassy and distinctive voice. There are many President Obama books, but none quite like this one! Look for her forthcoming novel, Scout Finch's Diary scheduled for an October 2011 release.

Friday, November 4, 2011

LIVE IN ONE HALF HOUR...A RARE FRIDAY NIGHT SHOW

The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe is airing live tonight at 9 PM ET. Tune in when Halli and MoJoe reminisce about their first meeting and how their show evolved to where it is today. We promise, it will be a lot of fun.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

A Halloween Special with Just Halli and MoJoe

A Halloween Special with Just Halli and MoJoe

Sunday the 30th of October at 5pm EDT / 2 pm PDT

What do Brad Pitt, Phil Donahue, and President Obama have in common? They have never been guests on The Halli Casser Jayne Show!

Why you ask…well they are just too busy for us…but we are not too busy for you!

Halli and MoJoe will share some of their scariest moments from Halloween’s Past. Along with that fun I am sure they will discuss how scary Washington D.C. is! Why commercial banks are trying to drain your pockets. They will share how the potential Republican Presidential Nominees are shaping up going into the holidays.

Of course Halli and MoJoe want to hear from you…the studio phone lines will be open during the entire show. Share your Halloween stories, how the dog is doing, are you expecting a raise from your employer, and tell us about your Bucket List!

Join in with the fun and more!!!

The Halli Casser Jayne Show with MoJoe

Sunday the 30th of October at 5pm EDT / 2pm PDT.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

REMINDER: TODAY 5 P.M. ET AUTHOR JENNA BLUM -- THE HALLI CASSER-JAYNE SHOW with MOJOE

Join us TODAY, October 16th at 5 pm Eastern – 2 pm Pacific when master storyteller JENNA BLUM will be our guest for the hour on THE HALLI CASSER-JAYNE SHOW WITH MOJOE. Oprah Winfrey included author JENNA BLUM on her list of Oprah’s Top Thirty Women Writers, and Oprah was right.

JENNA BLUM’S matchless ability to tell a story is equal only to her brilliant insight into the spectrum of human emotion. Blum’s New York Times and #1 international bestselling tour de force, THOSE WHO SAVE US is a classic of modern American prose.

Her latest work is THE STORMCHASERS, a powerful and provocative novel that explores the most intimate and mysterious of family relationships – the bond between twins. THE STORMCHASERS, which has garnered extensive critical praise and which Jenna researched by chasing tornadoes for five years with stormchase company, Tempest Tours, is also an international bestseller.

When Jenna is not on the road speaking and stormchasing, she divides her time between Boston, where she teaches master novel workshops for Grub Street Writers, and Minnesota, where she writes in the rural town in which her mom and grandmother were born.

Author, teacher, adventurer, mentor, JENNA BLUM will be sharing her talent and wisdom with us TODAY, Oct. 16, 2011 5 pm ET.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

AUTHOR JENNA BLUM -- GUEST FOR THE HOUR -- THE HALLI CASSER-JAYNE SHOW with MOJOE

Join us Sunday, October 16th at 5 pm Eastern – 2 pm Pacific when master storyteller JENNA BLUM will be our guest for the hour on THE HALLI CASSER-JAYNE SHOW WITH MOJOE. Oprah Winfrey included author JENNA BLUM on her list of Oprah’s Top Thirty Women Writers, and Oprah was right.

JENNA BLUM’S matchless ability to tell a story is equal only to her brilliant insight into the spectrum of human emotion. Blum’s New York Times and #1 international bestselling tour de force, THOSE WHO SAVE US is a classic of modern American prose.

Her latest work is THE STORMCHASERS, a powerful and provocative novel that explores the most intimate and mysterious of family relationships – the bond between twins. THE STORMCHASERS, which has garnered extensive critical praise and which Jenna researched by chasing tornadoes for five years with stormchase company, Tempest Tours, is also an international bestseller.

When Jenna is not on the road speaking and stormchasing, she divides her time between Boston, where she teaches master novel workshops for Grub Street Writers, and Minnesota, where she writes in the rural town in which her mom and grandmother were born.

Author, teacher, adventurer, mentor, JENNA BLUM will be sharing her talent and wisdom with us Sunday, October 19, 2011 5 pm ET.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

UP NEXT: A CONVERSATION WITH POLITICO COMMENTATOR ROGER SIMON

There are few who understand politics like Roger Simon, Chief Political Columnist for Politico! Mr. Simon will be our guest on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe this Sunday the 9th of October at 5 pm ET.

Mr. Simon grew up on the South Side of Chicago where politics was a contact sport. At the Chicago Sun-Times, where he wrote a column four times per week, Simon was taught that the only way for a journalist to look upon a politician was down. He admits he now fights against that impulse daily.

Roger calls ‘em as he sees ‘em, straight up the middle giving a view from a lay person's perspective.

And what a perspective it is. From Chicago to Saudi Arabia, from Lebanon to Egypt, Israel, South Africa and now his view from his perch in Washington, DC, Simon has seen it all!

He’ll be giving us his straight up the middle view of today’s political climate on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe, Sunday, October 9, 5 pm ET.

Friday, September 30, 2011

UP NEXT: TREND BENDING IS MIND BENDING with STEVEN KLEINE

Up Next on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe:

Political Junkies, this show is for you!

Are you on Facebook? Do you Tweet? Did you know that what you post on social media sites is as important to some as the words of the president of the United States? Welcome to “Trend Bending is Mind Bending,” the study of You and Your Facebook posts and Tweets.

Join The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe Sunday, October 2nd, 5 pm Eastern when our guest will be Steven Kleine, principal owner of ENSOMO, “You Need to Know,” a company that mines your thoughts and opinions on the social networks and defines political trends. Kleine is the ultimate geek, but he also has one heck of sense of humor. And trust us; you will be surprised by his findings. All is not what it appears to be when you read the pages of the mainstream media.

Is Sarah Palin the most talked about pol on the web? Is President Obama anti-Israel? According to your Tweets is Rick Perry the Republican frontrunner? Tune in Sunday, 5 pm Eastern to The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe for some Trend Bending, Mine Bending surprises.

Also joining us, our own fabulous Paige Wheeler the CEO of PurpleLetter.org.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

DO-OVER: JACKIE COLLINS ON THE HALLI CASSER-JAYNE SHOW with MOJOE

Sh*t happens and our good friend Jackie Collins was unable to join The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe last Sunday. But Jackie will be with us Thursday, Sept. 29, 2 PM Eastern live. For those of you celebrating Rosh Hashanah, we will re-broadcast our interview with Jackie, Sunday, October 2, 6 pm Eastern following our regular live show, which, by the way is for all you political junkies (more about that in another post). We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused you and hope that you will join us for The Jackie Collins Interview on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe, Thursday, Sept. 29 2 pm Eastern. We promise, Jackie Collins is well-worth the wait! ~ Halli and MoJoe

Friday, September 23, 2011

Jackie Collins-- Guest for the Hour -- The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe

Washington, DC (I-Newswire) September 22, 2011 - The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe, Talk Radio for Fine Minds, is pleased to announce that author Jackie Collins will join Halli Casser-Jayne and MoJoe Johnson on Sunday, September 25, at 5 p.m. Eastern Time.

There is only one Jackie Collins, and we've got her! She’s outrageous, she’s outlandish and she is out of this world! She’s the doyenne of chick lit and she’ll be joining The Halli Casser-Jayne Show for the full hour, September 25th, 5 pm eastern on the Blog Talk Radio network.

There have been many Jackie Collins imitators but no one spins a tale like the inimitable Jackie Collins. From Beverly Hills bedrooms to a raunchy prowl along the streets of Hollywood; from glittering rock parties and concerts to stretch limos and the mansions of the power brokers, Jackie Collins chronicles the real truth from the inside looking out.

Affectionately referred to as a "raunchy moralist" by the late-great director Louis Malle and called "Hollywood's own Marcel Proust" by Vanity Fair magazine, Jackie Collins has sold over 400 million copies of her novels in more than 40 countries with some twenty-eight New York Times bestsellers to her credit.

Hold onto your fascinators when author Jackie Collins comes to The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe to talk about her new sure to be bestseller -- it already is in the UK and Australia -- Goddess of Vengeance! This is an interview with a fascinating woman that shouldn’t be missed!

The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe stars the smart, sassy, thoughtful, and refreshingly honest author of A Year in My Pajamas with President Obama and the highly-anticipated watershed novel Scout Finch’s Diary. Please join host, Halli Casser-Jayne and her sidekick and radio mastermind MoJoe Johnson.

The show features stellar guests from the world of politics, books, art, culture, and celebrity. Listeners are treated to intriguing, feisty and superior discussions. Upcoming guests include Middle East expert and author, Barry Rubin, and New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us, Jenna Blum.

Listen to The Halli Casser-Jayne Show live every Sunday at 5 pm Eastern Standard Time on Blog Talk Radio. Podcasts are available at iTunes and multiple podcast websites including BlogTalkRadio on demand, anytime.

Contact Executive Producer Pat Nisen at Pat@hcjstudios.com for advertising/sponsorship information or other show details.
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Sunday, September 18, 2011

CATCH THE PODCAST OF THE HALLI CASSER-JAYNE SHOW with MoJoe

There is one word for activist-author Gloria Feldt: Inspiring. Get inspired when you listen to the archive/podcast of the Gloria Feldt segment of The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe. I promise, it will be well-worth your time! ~ Halli

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thehalliandmojoeshow/2011/09/18/gloria-feldt-a-woman-for-all-women

TODAY ON THE HALLI CASSER-JAYNE SHOW with MoJoe

Don't miss an opportunity to talk with and listen to feminist icon, former CEO and President of Planned Parenthood and author, Gloria Feldt. TODAY 5 pm Eastern The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe on Blog Talk Radio. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thehalliandmojoeshow/2011/09/18/gloria-feldt-a-woman-for-all-women

GLORIA FELDT A WOMAN FOR ALL WOMEN
www.blogtalkradio.com
Gloria Feldt activist-author of No Excuses 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power will be our special guest TODAY, Sunday September 18, 2011 5 p.m. Eastern.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

SUNDAY'S HALLI CASSER-JAYNE SHOW WITH MOJOE

Sunday's show was stunning and emotional. If you missed The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe you can listen to it by clicking on the link. Trust me, you'll be sorry if you miss it. This is what talk radio is all about!

Friday, September 9, 2011

THE HALLI CASSER-JAYNE SHOW with MOJOE

I really hope you will all tune in to Sunday's very special The Halli Casser-Jayne Show with MoJoe. Our guests will be a lot of special people, all who are survivors of 9/11 and each with their own story to tell...one with an unbelievable ending that will be announced on the show. Don't expect another maudlin show. This is a rare and remarkable group we've gathered for you. ~ Halli and MoJoe

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

9/11 TEN YEARS LATER: A NATION OF WIMPS?

In 1950, an animated turtle named Bert taught American children to "duck and cover" in case of atomic attack. Comic yet terrifying, Bert's lessons reflected an abiding national concern with civil defense that reached back to the Minutemen, spread nationwide during World War II, and rose and fell with the tensions of the Cold War.

2011, in the Aftermath of 9/11, is America still taking Bert’s advice and “Ducking and Covering?” Are our politicians trading on a cottage industry at the victim’s expense? Is America suffering from a mass case of PTSD? Has America become a nation of wimps? Did bin Laden win?

On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, The Halli and MoJoe Show will take an honest look at the nation and where it stands ten years after one of America's darkest days. Joining us will be Liz Goutvenier-Reyer whose life was decimated by the events of that fateful day. Also Alix Michel, with a different story to tell.. and many others.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

THE WASHINGTON COLISEUM, AHEM

Who was it who said that politics is not for the faint of heart?

It is no surprise to anyone who follows the day-to-day machinations of our politicians that American politics has become a blood-sport.

Not that the game of politics has ever been a stroll in the park; it hasn’t. But something sinister has invaded our political discourse of late, and that something is tearing our country apart.

What is that something?

Negativity.

In fact, negativity has viralled into all aspects of American life.

America has become a nation obsessed with what’s wrong with our country rather than what’s right. As a country we see the glass as half-empty rather than as half-full. We find the worst trends in a poll that might actually have small indications of better days ahead and we glom onto them. We rub our hands together with glee when the opposition is one-upped.

We’ve become like the uncivilized in the stands of the Roman Coliseum, watching the gladiators fight to the death, shouting “Kill, kill, kill.”

Transfixed by the Boob Tube we find joy in the on-air barkers, also known as political pundits, as they tear the opposition to shreds with clever but mean-spirited and highly-negative silver tongues.

In most ways, we can blame this pessimistic ailment on our contemptuous leaders. But we must also blame ourselves for allowing our politicians to lead us down this path of unrighteousness.
Yes, there are those who are angry with the ugliness that has become the norm on Capitol Hill. The Tea Party movement formed in response to current Washington ways. But like the old guard on Capitol Hill, this new group quickly became part of the establishment, screaming about what is wrong with Washington rather than what is right.

We just celebrated Labor Day, officially the start of the 2012 campaign. Congress comes back into session later this week. If you thought things were negative before, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Despite this country’s huge economic woes, we are about to watch our politicians descend into the depths of political darkness. Such a descent could prove catastrophic to a country already in its darkest days since The Great Depression.

On Thursday night President Obama will present his plan to solve the job crisis to a joint session of Congress. Is there doubt in anyone’s mind that the following day the Republican opposition will be hitting the airwaves and the editorial pages of our major newspapers spewing their negativity on the president’s ideas in an effort to destroy his presidency?

Which makes me wonder what the opposition could accomplish if the Republicans took all their negative energy focused on thwarting President Obama’s efforts at every turn, and turned it to the positive.

What a novel idea for a party and a politician: Winning an election or a political argument by putting forth a positive agenda! Of course, in fact, they’d most probably lose if they did. Politicians reflect the people. These days the people would rather watch a gladiator combat than a beauty contest, which for a time was the criterion for electing our leaders and a part of what got this nation into the negative place that is.

Oy, another negative thought. But, forgive me for being just one more of those cynical political pundits.

Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows. She is the co-host of the popular The Halli and MoJoe Show on BlogTalkRadio airing Sunday 5 PM/EST. To read more of her musings visit her @ The CJ Political Report dot com and Halli Casser-Jayne dot com.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

TODAY'S THE HALLI AND MOJOE SHOW

WASHINGTON WHACKADOODLES:

Political Talk Radio Online: How many Washington Wackadoodles does it take to screw in a light bulb?

The Gang is all here...and we are taking on Washington.

Join our regulars for a discussion of Washington Ways...Halli Casser-Jayne, MoJoe Johnson, Zach Foster, Paige Wheeler.

And you just never know who may stop by The Halli and MoJoe Show...Talk Radio for Fine Minds!

TODAY....Sunday, September 4, 2011 5 p.m. Eastern The Halli and MoJoe Show on BlogTalkRadio dot com

Saturday, September 3, 2011

BRAGGING RIGHTS & SHAMELESS PLUG

I was simply astonished by the lovely note I received from R. Jeffreys the wonderful author, poet, Editor-in-Chief at Dancing With Bear Publishing, and host of the renowned radio show The Write Step. Apparently, Jeff posted this on his Facebook page, a popular watering hole for authors.

"I've just read one of the most, exceptional short stories, I ever had the pleasure to read! Halli Casser-Jayne submitted her short story for my holiday anthology, Stories from a Holiday Heart; and it's as if Harper Lee wrote this story, just for me. I cannot wait to share the published book with you all when it's released this November! Halli, you are a cherished friend and a phenomenal writer. Thank you!"

Thanks, Jeff!

Friday, September 2, 2011

WHAT OBAMA NEEDS NOW IS A KERFUFFLE

The renowned "kerfuffle" between the President of the United States and the Speaker of the House is now history, but not the damage done to the presidency (never has a president been treated with such abject disrespect). Speaker Boehner broke a code with the office of the presidency: the code of respect for the office if not the office holder. Can we go any lower?

Of course, Obama asked for it. Surely he knew that there was a Republican debate set for the night his office proposed for the speech. My guess is that he and his staff never figured that Congress would turn down a president's request to speak before a joint session of Congress.

Or they didn't heed a lesson taught by Speaker Boehner during the debt debate: Boehner then stabbed the president in the back, as he did now, making a he said/he said argument, exactly as he did the other day slyly declaring that he had never agreed to the original date as Obama's Chief-of-staff insists that Boehner did.

Once again the Republicans, who care little of the optics, played the political hand and now Obama has been set up.

Next week's speech on jobs better be the speech of Obama's life. It better be chock-filled with ideas. It had better have some huge surprise.

Without that Obama is going to be pummeled by the media who are as disgusted with this political rookie and his mistakes as is the Right and Obama's own left.

I don't envy the president's position. For what can he actually suggest? A new New Deal? Big Deal!

His only option is to pull some fabulous political move, opting for a big plan that would keep the House from having to vote on the president's package. This would get everyone up in arms and give the media something to jabber about other than yet another tired old jobs plan.

Yes, Obama, you need to create a kerfuffle or you're screwed.

Diversions, Obama. It's your only way out, except, of course, to fire your Chief-of-staff, Bill Daley, who has turned you into the Wimp-in-chief since he arrived in Washington.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

THE HALLI & MoJOE SHOW SUNDAY SEPT. 4

WASHINGTON WHACKADOODLES:

Political Talk Radio Online: How many Washington Wackadoodles does it take to screw in a light bulb?

The Gang is all here...and we are taking on Washington.

Join our regulars for a discussion of Washington Ways...Halli Casser-Jayne, MoJoe Johnson, Zach Foster, Paige Wheeler.

And you just never know who may stop by The Halli and MoJoe Show...Talk Radio for Fine Minds!

Sunday, September 4, 2011 5 p.m. Eastern The Halli and MoJoe Show on BlogTalkRadio dot com

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

SHAKE, RATTLED & WE'RE BEING ROLLED


Yikes, what a week on the East Coast of the United States!

First, a 5.9 earthquake shake, rattled, and rolled unsuspecting citizens from Atlanta to New Hampshire. And then came Hurricane Irene bringing anything but gentle rains to the very same populace.

What next, locusts and plagues?

Mother Nature was heaving a hissy-fit, a punishing blow.

“I said shake, rattle, and roll tra la la.”

Looking at a map of the East Coast, is it merely coincidence that at the center of the storm sits Washington, D.C.?

Even as Mother Nature cut her swath of devastation across the region, in Washington, D.C. the tide took nary a turn. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of the deeply shaken and flooded Virginia Commonwealth continued his political rant: “No Federal aid for disaster,” Cantor stormed, “without spending cuts.”

Does this partisan ever miss an opportunity to further his political agenda?

“You look so warm but your heart is cold as ice tra la la.”

But Majority Leader Cantor was not alone. As Hurricane Irene barreled along the U.S. East Coast, Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas said the nation would be much better off without the Federal Emergency Management Agency popularly known as FEMA.

“I live on the Gulf Coast. We put up with hurricanes all the time,” the GOP candidate told CNN after a New Hampshire campaign event Friday. “There’s no magic about FEMA,” he rattled on. “More and more people are starting to recognize that.”

Would someone please shake, rattle and roll some sense into this man’s callous heart?

Even the Republican National Network aka Fox News posted an opinion piece titled: “Do We Really Need the National Weather Service?”

Do we really need Fox News?

About this Republican onslaught against the Federal government, treating it as some evil doer, which is their campaign slogan for 2012. No doubt about it, their “The Federal Government is Evil” catch phrase has gotten traction and no fight back from the Democratic Party. Instead, the Obama administration has been on the defensive almost apologizing for its efforts to bailout Wall Street and the Auto industry in the wake of the Republican-led storm that was a gale-force destructive wind that blew down our fiscal house in 2008.

Would someone please shake, rattle and roll the Democratic Party?

You’re being sandbagged! If you don’t fight back, you’re about to be shake, rattled and rolled right out of the White House.

What a perfect campaign theme from the opposition party: Reduce the size of government, and, by the way, reduce President Barack Obama while you’re at it. Never mind that the very people who are campaigning on this theme earn their living from…you guessed it…the evil government.

The Founding Fathers understood that there is a fine line between too big a government and one that is ineffectual. But of course the Founding Fathers were patriots first and partisans second, unlike the destructive force of right-wingers leading this earthquake of a political campaign.

No FEMA, no National Weather Service, The Federal Government is Evil. Tell that to the millions on the East Coast who suffered damage at the fury of Mother Nature last week.

As for the Republicans: Locusts and plagues.



Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows. She is the co-host of the popular The Halli and MoJoe Show on BlogTalkRadio airing Sunday 5 PM/EST. To read more of her musings visit her @ The CJ Political Report dot com and Halli Casser-Jayne dot com.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

THE HALLI & MOJOE SHOW

Joe wants you to tune in today at 5 p.m. est when our guest will be prankster and comic genius Tom Mabe. Don't disappoint Joe!

Monday, August 22, 2011

PRETTY IN RED


Mitt’s got it. Michelle’s got it, and Rick’s got it, too. What do the three Republican Party candidates vying for their party’s nod for presidential candidate have?

Pulchritude.

Pulchritude you ask? Yes pulchritude...beauty.

Mitt Romney, Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry are short on a lot of political assets. On the other hand, they may be three of the prettiest people in American politics today. They are the bevy of beauties vying for the Republican nomination to be their party’s candidate for president of the United States in what is turning out to be one odd political contest filled with pageantry, predictability, and prettiness, but clearly little else.

The Grand Old Party has become the Gorgeous Old Party, home to telegenic candidates. Yes, Barbie and Ken the three talking dolls be. Pull the string on the back of their bodies and hear them repeat their tape-recorded phrases: No new taxes, fiscal discipline, no new taxes. I think the tape is broken.

Mitt, a doll’s name to be sure -- hear me Mattel? -- is handsome as the day is long, but reminds me of one of the male models on the pages of a Sears Catalogue. He looks like a mannequin frozen in time, wooden, permanently posed in that awkward position models affect on the back spread of cheap Sunday newspaper supplements, arm crooked, face bland but attractive, hair polished to perfection … knock, knock, anybody home blah, blah, blah?

Bachmann is a Veronica, out of the pages of an Archie comic book. Etched to comic book perfection, all dolled-up, Bachmann is more a Miss America pageant candidate-type in looks, what with her 1950’s bouffant hair-do, her Max Factor 1950’s Pan make-up drawn to perfection, and her wide-eyed glare. Yes, Tina Brown, you were right to put that frightening photo of Michelle on the cover of Newsweek. It wasn’t sexist; it was Michelle Bachmann, a woman too pretty to be the girl next door, but also lacking the sensuality that would have primed her more for a Hollywood career than the congressional one she opted for and her I.Q was not meant for. “Here she comes, Miss Minnesota,” tra la la…


Now about Rick Perry . . . Rick is a cool name for a cool dude. And a dude Perry is, replete with a face burnished with the manly-etchings of the bristling Texas sun, hair perfectly-coiffed as if he’d never been out on the range, his dress flamboyant, his swagger unrelenting. Rick is a rhinestone cowboy, not quite a Roy Rogers with a drawl that rolls off the tongue just a little bit sweeter than it need, making the dumb things he says such as Texas should secede from the Union, the Fed Chairman is committing treason, we should repeal the 16th and 17th amendments, ending direct election of U.S. Senators and the federal income tax sound all the more sweet. Happy trails to you Rick, tra la la.

Dolls, all three, frightening reminders of the words of the great theologian and prosaist Baltasar Gracian, “Beauty and folly are generally companions,” Sarah Palin, the original GOP doll.

Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows. She is the co-host of the popular The Halli and MoJoe Show on BlogTalkRadio airing Sunday 5 PM/EST. To read more of her musings visit her @ The CJ Political Report dot com and Halli Casser-Jayne dot com.


Sunday, August 21, 2011

TODAY'S THE HALLI AND MOJOE SHOW

Hey ya'll--
Just wanted to remind you to catch today's show, live at 5 pm est @ THE HALLI AND MOJOE SHOW on BLOG TALK RADIO DOT COM MoJoe has some tricks up his sleeve, and surprises for me, I've been warned. Now you are, too. It's the Dog Days of August, tune in and let's have some fun.~ Halli

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

THE UDDER HYPOCRISY OF CONSERVATIVE WOMEN

I'm short on time this morning, but I had to post this because it is so utterly unbelievable. As many of you know, I've never understand how women in today's times could back conservatism, a movement that touts freedom in so many ways except when it comes to women's rights. The linked article is so clearly filled with the lunacy of a women backing conservatism, that it's content should be an anthem to the abject stupidity of conservative women. The author unwillingly points out the fallacy of her own misguided beliefs. You'll want to follow the link to the story that spawned the article which I link, which is a rubberstamp for why youth is wasted on the young and conservative women.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

DUMB...DUMB...DUMB...

Is the mainstream media as dumb as they appear to be? Are they part of the reason that this country is on the wrong track? I say that they are, particularly the political pundits who fail to ask the politicians who they cover the right questions.

There is a meme generated by the Republicans that government is a bad thing. All those senators and congressmen and women of the GOP united in their singular talking point: Government is the bogeyman.

This by the very same people who earn their living off of the government. EXCUSE ME!?!

As I posted on my Facebook page recently, here are the benefits these same clowns who denigrate the government get for saying that government is the bad guy.

Salary of House/Senate...$174,000 for life
Salary of Speaker of the House...$223,500 for life
Salary of Majority/Minority Leaders...$193,400 for life...

Get my drift! And not a word from the Fourth Estate that questions the very hypocrisy of the right-wing talking machine.

Then yesterday, from the smartest politician alive today, former President Bill Clinton comes his "coaching" interview...leading the press down the path they need to go, specifically talking about Gov. Rick Perry, the newest candidate in the race...

“And he’s saying ‘Oh, I’m going to Washington to make sure that the federal government stays as far away from you as possible – while I ride on Air Force One and that Marine One helicopter and go to Camp David and travel around the world and have a good time.’ I mean, this is crazy.”

But the take away line the press ran with was Clinton's comment on Perry's good looks, "Perry is a good-looking rascal..."

Yes, dumb when this country oh so badly needs smart.

Monday, August 15, 2011

CORNY IN AUGUST

I have never been to Iowa. I’ve barreled through Iowa on a fast-moving train on my way west, but that was a longtime ago. What remains of that train ride is a faded black and white memory of miles of cornfields and quaint train stations. It is a picture of an America much like those first few black and white minutes of the 1939 film classic The Wizard of Oz, stark, bleak, aged, a cruel contrast to the vivid colors of that over the rainbow Munchkin Land Dorothy crashed on impelled by the power of a whirling cyclone.

Ironically, the reality of Iowa is the vivid colors of the over the rainbow Munchkin Land Dorothy discovered on her way to Oz. Iowa is in fact a red, white, and blue state, the Currier and Ives heart of Americana whose landscape is painted green with cornstalks and golden with wheat fields.

There in this kaleidoscope of color, as happens whenever there’s a contest for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, impelled not by cyclones but by politics, politicians and the media land in this heart of the corn belt for some…well…corniness.

Yes folks, welcome to The Iowa Straw Poll, that relic of Americana where country music is the backdrop, corndogs and apple pie the promise, the show: the Republican hopefuls for the office of the American presidency starring in a colorful display of theatrics much like the one created by the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz.

While really not as ancient as it sounds, The Iowa Straw Poll, officially The Ames Straw Poll, was first held in 1979. It is non-binding and has no official consequence on the presidential primaries. Its organizers would like everyone to think that it tests the candidate’s organizational skills and it can aid the candidates nationally by helping to build momentum for their campaigns. Not to be overlooked is the reality that The Iowa Straw Poll is also a major boost to the local economy and for the Iowa Republican Party, a highly-lucrative fundraising event.

Since its founding, the winner of the Iowa Straw Poll has gone on to win the Republican presidential nomination two out of five times. Three out of five winners have gone on to win that other throwback to simpler times, the Iowa Caucuses. Only one winner of the straw poll has gone on to win the presidency. George W. Bush won the straw poll in 1999, followed up by winning the Iowa caucus, the GOP nomination and the presidency. Let’s all sing…”and there’s a note with a lump in my throat when I speak of that wonderful guy…” Oy!

So, yeah, the Iowa Straw Poll is corny. No it’s not the great predictor of who will win the Republican nomination. It’s a slice of Americana that barely exists today except in America’s heartland, surely not in Washington, D.C. It’s a colorful display of politics as we wish it would be, and rarely is anymore. It lets us pretend even for a moment in picnics and Mr. Deeds, in politicians who really do care about America and her future.

About those black and white moments at the beginning of the Wizard of Oz. They weren’t filmed in black in white rather on Sepia Tone film, the black and white a grand, old optical illusion alas, like The Iowa Straw Poll and Americana.  

IT'S THE INTERVIEW EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT...

If you didn't have a chance to listen to my interview with novelist John Schlimm on The Halli and MoJoe Show yesterday, you must listen to it in the archives. The feedback has been stellar. You'll love John, he is one interesting man. And you'll adore hearing the background on his delicious read of a book, TWANG. So, stop on by and let me know what you think. ~ Halli

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Halli Casser-Jayne

Halli Casser-Jayne: "TIME TO ROCK BlogTalkRadio again! Please tune in to The Halli and MoJoe Show today at 5:00 p.m. EST for my interview with the ever FAB Halli Casser-Jayne about TWANG, Country Music, and all things life! You can stream the interview live at: http://bit.ly/pvCNT9
http://bit.ly/pvCNT9
www.blogtalkradio.com"

Saturday, August 13, 2011

AS THE TIDE TURNS

Are Republicans losing the economic argument? Sure looks like the tide is turning. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/13/business/economy/voices-faulting-gop-economic-policies-growing-louder.html

OY VEY

HAMAS' Military Academy operated in Gaza mosques...http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-4107803,00.html

Enter Rick Perry, Formidable Fund-Raiser - NYTimes.com

A race between Perry and Obama would turn into another culture war. Can America handle yet another war? Aye yi yi!Enter Rick Perry, Formidable Fund-Raiser - NYTimes.com

Friday, August 12, 2011

IT'S FRIDAY NIGHT AT HALLI CASSER-JAYNE'S CAFE

It's Friday night. Time to kick back and relax after a tough week on the job. For your relaxing pleasure here's a little something to help start your weekend off right and get you in the mood for this week's The Halli and MoJoe Show on BlogTalkRadio dot com. Stop by Sunday at 5 pm est for our live show with our very special guest John Schlimm, author of the fun and fabulous novel TWANG! a rhinestone and Stetson look into the country music industry. We'll be taking calls and yours might be one of them. Cheers! Halli

ANNOUNCING...

The Halli and MoJoe Show now has its own webpage. Have a look @ http://thehalliandmojoeshow.blogspot.com/

THE HALLI AND MOJOE SHOW August 14, 2011

Make sure that you don't miss The Halli and MoJoe Show this Sunday, August 14, 2011 5 pm/est when our guest will be the outrageous John Schlimm, author of the deliciously fun new e-novel TWANG, a campy and addictive fictional romp that takes a behind the stage curtains, Stetsons, and rhinestones look at the billion dollar Country Music Industry. This is jaw-dropping and scandalous writing in the tradition of Jackie Collins that famed Page Six gave a nod because, they, like you will want to know the true identity of the book’s characters. John is a former country music publicist,and, by the way, also worked in Vice President Al Gores’ Communications Office during the Clinton Administration.

As always, we will be discussing the week's political news and Halli will be offering her often sassy commentary.

We're looking forward to hearing you on the radio! Join us.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA



Halli Casser-Jayne's new book, A Year in My Pajamas with President Obama, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows takes a provocative, fun, thoughtful look at Election 2008 through the creative eyes of an author with a sassy and distinctive voice. There are many President Obama books, but none quite like this one.

“Hey, it's a free country where you can say what you want. And Halli Casser-Jayne does just that! Always irreverent, occasionally profane, but often spot-on logical, Halli's unique take on the American political scene is well worth the read.”
-- Fraser P. Seitel, Larry King Live & Fox News contributorFraser P. Seitel, Larry King Live & Fox News contributor

STRANGE DAZE

Strange daze for the Republican Party whose leadership is acting like Bonnie and Clyde, its gang leaders Mitch McConnell and Eric Cantor defined by now the Tea Party renegades. Bank robbers all, hell-bent on stripping America of its good name while protecting their rich donors, rat-a-tat-tat let's gun down dem Dems and their poor, when polls show that the majority of Americans don't agree with their tactics or their ideology.

Strange daze for the Dems who have the polls in their favor and are acting like they are not, particularly our dazed president who continues to have that deer in the headlights look in his eyes and acts like he's been clobbered over the head instead of picking up his own gun and firing back. After all he has the right to bears arms according to the Second Amendment that he refuses to challenge.

Strange daze for the media who this morning interpreted last night's Wisconsin recall vote in which the Dems actually recalled two Republicans -- no small feat -- as a conclusive win for Governor Rick Walker and his reckless policies. Are they kidding?

Why am I not surprised. It is after all The Dog Daze of August and it appears as if the world is in one giant happy? daze.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

SHOULD OBAMA BRING CONGRESS BACK TO D.C.?

Hmm.

Lotsa talk around DC suggesting that in the wake of the Standards & Poor's downgrade and the stock market dive, Obama should bring Congress back and at least act like he's in control of the situation.

I disagree. Why should he bring them back? So that the fighting can continue and further test the markets?

No, I think a little furlough is a good idea to give each side some time to calm down. Maybe when the clowns return to their districts and speak to their constituents reality will set in and they'll realize how absurd they all look.

One can only hope, right?

Monday, August 8, 2011

NO JOKE


This is no joke: America is a joke. She’s become a three ring circus. It’s not a pretty picture. The U.S. for the first time in its long history has become the laughing stock of the world. All who have hated us are having a field day at our expense. Those who have loved us are shaking their heads in disbelief.

How did the once great nation get where we are today?

If you ask an economist to answer that question you’ll probably get a long, convoluted explanation and depending upon the economist’s beliefs, you’ll get answers that vary.
Ask a politician what happened and rest-assured you’ll get a long-winded answer replete with aspersions, lies, innuendos, and most-definitely denials that America’s fall from grace has anything to do with them.

Ask Americans how we got where we are today and 82% of them will have a few things to say, all with disgust, leaving one to wonder how even 14% of Americans are still not reeling from the reality that our country is a punch-line to our friends and what’s worse the great despots of the world.

Ever hear the old joke, “I never kick a man when he’s down, I just stamp on his head, it’s easier?” Yes, it’s easy to kick a man when he’s down, and a country, as Standard & Poor the ratings agency did – what they probably wouldn’t have dared do just months ago – before America laid herself bare to her detractors.

On Friday night, Standard & Poor’s removed the United States government from its list of risk-free borrowers with strong reference to the antics of the Republican Party run by the Mad Hatters aka the tea party, talk about a joke.

“We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act.”

The ratings agency had threatened to downgrade America’s rating if the government did not act to reduce the federal debt by at least $4 trillion over the next decade. Earlier last week, Congress instead passed a plan to reduce the debt by only $2.1 trillion.

While warned, the tea party Mad Hatters, heads stamped by their intransigent foolishness acted as if there was no need to heed S&P’s warning. You might call it “Through the Looking Glass Politics,” a reversal of fortune, their bad joke on America.

It’s been a long, difficult, non-amusing time for our nation. Since 9/11 we’ve suffered one blow after another. While one was the result of an invading force, al Qaeda, most of our wounds have been self-inflicted.

W got us into an expensive war or two that we didn’t need to get into. He cut taxes for the wealthy, which he never should have done, turning our house into a fiscal not so fun house. While it is true that President Obama inherited the Republican induced financial mess, he also lacked the courage to do exactly what was necessary to stem the tide of default Standard & Poor sees on the horizon.

Yes, the GOP is a joke, but our president is also a coward and a buffoon. As are the irresponsible clowns in Congress, Bozos all, Claribels, Emmet Kelly’s, Bubbles…America’s great jokesters.

So, tell me, why am I not laughing?

Monday, August 1, 2011

SURRENDER DOROTHY OBAMA

He has wiled away the hours, conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain
His head he’s a scratchin' while his thoughts were busy hatchin'
If Obama only had a brain.

He’d unravel every riddle
For every individ’le
In trouble or in pain.

With the thoughts he’d be thinkin'
He might have become another Lincoln
If Obama only had a brain.

Oh, he could tell you why
The ocean’s near the shore
He can think of things he’d never thunk before
And then he’d sit and think some more.

He would not be just a nothin’
His head all full of stuffin’
His heart all full of pain.
He would dance and be merry
Life would be a ding-a-derry.

If he only had a brain.

When a man's an empty kettle
He should be on his mettle
And yet he's torn apart
Just because he's presumin'
That he could be a human
If he only had a heart.

Picture him on balcony
Above a voice sings low
Wherefore art thou, brainy Clinton?
Help, I hear a beat, how sweet!

Just to register emotion, morality and devotion
And really feel the part,
He could stay young and chipper
Leave a reputation like The Gipper
If he only had a heart.

Yeh, it's sad, believe me, Missy,
When you're born to be a sissy
Without the vim and the verve.

But he coulda shown his prowess,
been a lion not a mou-ess
If he only had the nerve.

But I'm afraid there's no denyin'
He's just a dandelion
A fate he much deserves.

He coulda been brave as a blizzard
Been gentle as a lizard
Been clever as a gizzard
If he only had a brain!
The heart to defend the disenfranchised
The NERVE to fight the whack-a-doo Republican Party!

No brain, no heart, no nerve!

The surrender President Barack Obama, a wizard NOT!
The final straw!

*With apologizes to Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

AMERICA'S LONG NIGHTMARE

Washington has always had its scuffles, and the American electorate with it. But these days it seems those scuffles have become street fights more dangerous than the gang-related violence one might find in the inner cities of our nation. The scuffles have turned into downright brawls, and in an eerie way, the American people appear stunned and incapable of measured response to the scenes they are witnessing on Capitol Hill.

Last Friday night was American theater better than anything you might see at the venerable Kennedy Center. A president of the United States called a press conference in which the normally restrained Barack Obama unleashed a tirade against Republican and Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner the likes of which many of us had never heard.

The President’s remarks were met with a tit-for-tat by an uncommonly restrained Speaker Boehner, although his words were laced with vitriol at his president. Still, Boehner, who bears an uncommon resemblance in style to his late fellow Ohioan Dean Martin, seemed in an odd way almost anesthetized in his delivery. Had he had a Martini earlier in the evening?

Both men seemed startled, having that deer in the headlights look about them, and that made me wonder.

If you subscribe to the theory that Washington reflects the American electorate as I do, than these two men represent everything that seems odd in America these days. Our leaders are like their citizens: irritable, angry, at times emotionally numb, having difficulties maintaining close relationships.

Forgive me for playing psychologist but I am going to make a diagnosis on what is going on in America. I think America is suffering from a national case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Ever since 9/11 this country has been in a massive meltdown, incapable of staying focused on any one event, operating at half-tilt, reactive rather than active, and exhibiting all the symptoms I stated earlier common to PTSD to our nation’s extreme detriment.

It wouldn’t be the first time America has exhibited the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Who would deny this country went into full PTSD mode after the death of President Kennedy? There are those who say the Sixties were a clear reaction to those turbulent times when our beloved young president, his brother Bobby, and Martin Luther King’s lives were violently taken before our very eyes.

Now here we are nearly 10 years after that brutal September day when we lost so many in those towering infernos at the evil hands of al Qaeda, again before our very eyes. And just as we felt back in the Sixties, our nation is traumatized even 10 years later. In fact we’re doing exactly what we did as a nation in the Sixties: splitting into angry, righteous factions out to do our fellow Americans in. Anxiety seems to rule the day and an eerie numbness as well. No one seems to be thinking clearly. And who would argue the inability of our leaders and our citizens to maintain close personal ties. Some of our leaders even admit to hearing things, Michelle Bachmann, a key symptom of PTSD.

This is America’s grand long nightmare, nightmares another symptom of PTSD. But maybe if we name it we can do something about it. If we don’t, al Qaeda wins and America loses…and America is losing.

Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows and the co-host of The Halli and MoJoe Show on Blog Talk Radio, Sundays at 5 est. Look for her upcoming novel, SCOUT FINCH'S DIARY. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter and read more of her musings @ The CJ Political Report dot com.

© 2011 Halli Casser-Jayne. Reprints with permission.

Monday, July 11, 2011

THAT DIRTY LITTLE WORD

Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!

We’ve got a bunch of babies running our country. Yes, you heard me right, babies! Sticks and stones will break their bones and names will surely harm them.

Simpering, whimpering, dickering, bloviating fools have usurped the American government. We’ve got a cry-baby speaker of the House, John Boehner; a whining House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor; and a President Barack Obama, whose Mama apparently never taught her little boy to have the courage to stand up for his own convictions, never mind have them.

Like I said: Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!

As the August 2 debt-ceiling crisis looms, on Capitol Hill childish temper tantrums rule the day. Eric Cantor had one last week and walked away from the deficit talks. Last night Speaker Boehner did the same. Weepy-eyed he pulled out of the deficit talks, refusing to budge on revenue increases, a teen-age pre-mature ejaculation if ever there was one.

Is there even one adult in the room?

Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!

Like kids on a see-saw, our leaders play their politics. Both sides want to be up, no one wants to be down, and that compromise position in the middle where each gives a little seems unattainable. Compromise, of course, is the mark of an adult. Unfortunately, it appears that on the playground that sits on the bluff of the Potomac, there are no adults.

There are nothing but intransigent little kids who enjoy playing games with America’s future, this season’s favorites: Russian Roulette, Chicken, Duck Duck Duck, Goose!

But why should we be surprised? If you, as I do, subscribe to the theory that our leaders reflect our society, then why is the lack of compromise on Capitol Hill such a big surprise?
After all, fifty percent of all American marriages end in divorce undoubtedly due to U.S. couple’s utter inability to reach compromise. Which begs the question: When did “compromise” become a dirty word? When did compromise become synonymous with defeat? I’m old enough to remember a time when reaching a compromise was considered a win-win for all.

Once we considered compromise an accommodation, an accord, a happy medium. Today we treat compromise as a concession, a sell-out, a cop-out.

“Cop-out, sell-out” do these words ring a bell you children of the Sixties?

Wow, far out, the counter culture has become the culture. Whatever happened to peace, love, and understanding? When did it turn into peace, love and MISunderstanding? It’s mind-blowing. What a freak out! What a bummer! What a bad trip!

Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!

There are solutions to every problem, and one can only hope that in a happening town like Washington, D.C. there is room for compromise. But as I said, compromise requires the presence of adults and clearly there are few of them on Capitol Hill.

Groovy. So how do we get there? I say treat the babies running our government like the children that they are. Lock both sides in a room with the instruction that no one leaves until they make-up and do what is best for America: compromise.

And watch them flip-out. I can almost hear the wailing coming from the Hill.

Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!

On the other hand, they just might do the right thing. Right on, bro’. Beautiful, baby.


Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows and the co-host of A PINT OF PLAIN AND POLITICS on Blog Talk Radio, Sundays at 5 est. Look for her upcoming novel, SCOUT FINCH'S DIARY. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter and read more of her musings @ The CJ Political Report dot com.

Monday, July 4, 2011

WHEN COOLER HEADS PREVAIL

Hot time, it's summer in that big city on the Potomac where the deer and the antelope don’t play well together. And where lately seldom is heard an encouraging word and the skies are cloudy with smog most days.

Tra la la.

There seems that there is nothing but bad news raining down on our 4th of July parades. These days there are only dire tales of hot chat, hot tempers, hot-headedness, hot as the dickens false rhetoric sprinkled on America by the phonies in the hot-seat sitting in Congress, running our over-heated government whose debt is about to implode.

Hot Potato!

Can you tell that I am hot under the collar, bristling at the idiots in charge of our futures who can’t even share a hot tamale without getting into a fight?

Eric Cantor, that hot-headed Republican Majority leader of the House of Representatives from that sizzling city of Richmond, Virginia threw up his hands recently and walked away from the budget talks screeching in his hot Southern drawl like Maggie the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that the talks had reached an “impasse.”

“Impasse?”

Hot cross Southern drawl buns.

Yes, Leader Cantor, there is an impasse. You caused the impasse when you got all hot and bothered and hot-tailed-it out of the budget talks because YOU refused to compromise and agree to raise taxes on those who can well-afford a tax hike. And you did it for purely political, purely selfish motives.

Cantor, it seems, is a scardi-cat on a hot tin roof, terrified of the right wing of his own hot Tea Party, not wanting to be the responsible public servant and do what is right and left – agree to raise taxes on the wealthy as part of the mix to bring the deficit under control– rather than compromise his leadership position in the House.

Hot Shot, not!

Meanwhile, the normally cool cat President Barack Obama finally stepped up to the hot-plate and appeared all hot and heavy, clearly not happy when the Republicans hot-tailed it out of the budget talks. He went all hot under the collar when in an unusual daytime presser he tore into the Republicans for walking away from the budget talks, accusing them of being more infantile than his two young daughters.

According to the boiling hot President, Sasha and Malia are more responsible than the errant Republicans because they know better than to wait until the last minute to finish their homework assignments. August 2nd is looming hot on the tails of the American government and Republicans seemed poised for an all-nighter or default.

Hot Big Dog! You tell ‘em!

Apparently, some on the left like their president hot. The Dems are feeling hotter about their president than they have in months, lefty bloggers encouraging their new sizzling leader to stick to his hot guns and not give in to the Republicans in the deficit talks. Yes there have to be revenue cuts, the Dems agree, but there also have to be tax hikes.

You see, it’s called compromise, not exactly a hot topic on Capitol Hill these days, where cool heads do NOT prevail.

Hot diggity dog!


Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows and the co-host of A PINT OF PLAIN AND POLITICS on Blog Talk Radio, Sunday's at 5 est. Look for her upcoming novel, SCOUT FINCH'S DIARY. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter and read more of her musings @ The CJ Political Report dot com.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

ANTHONY WEINER

The media circus surrounding Anthony Weiner and Twittergate came to an end this afternoon when Weiner held a press conference in an attempt to resign from Congress with a shred of dignity and expression of remorse.

He was forced to shout like a barker from his podium as obscene shouting roared through the presser, many of the comments lewd and cruel.

No doubt, Weiner screwed up. What he did was not only stupid, but close to insane. He clearly has a mental problem but who cares. His fellow Democrats certainly had no sympathy for the long-serving Representative whose constituents, despite Weiner's dalliances, were sticking with him....even if he was acting like a somewhat deranged man.

And what of the press? They fed this story with bizarre glee. Young Luke Russert, this his first national story, did what every cub reporter does: Went after his subject, knowing that if he could get Weiner to resign his career would be off and running. Sleazy, sleazy, sleazy.

Perhaps the lowest point in this painful all too human episode was when the Democratic President of the United States, Barack Obama, weighed in on this tortured affair. Was it necessary for the president to insert himself in this mess? I think not. It used to be that presidents stayed above the sordid fray. That was when the Office of the Presidency had dignity.

As for the Republicans: They rode this story like a fine circus performer. They shut up when the Dems didn't, and piled on when the Dems did not. In the wake of the press conference they continued to pile on, even after Weiner bowed to the pressure and resigned his longstanding job.

No one comes out of this story looking good. In many ways the story is much bigger than Anthony Weiner. It is a story that reflects America's morally corrupt society. The image it reflects is not a pretty picture.

Perhaps a moment of personal reflection would benefit us all.

A WARNING TO REPUBLICANS

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas looks like Pollyanna
compared to the vitriolic voice that for too long has been the Republican Party. Schoolyard bullies and thugs is what the GOP has come to represent. They bludgeon, they club, they bash, they beat, not afraid to take down any Democrat who might get in the way of their agenda. They are indeed, a belligerent lot.

The Comanche that are the Republican Party these days bring out their Winchesters for sport, as they seek to kill Medicare as we know it, cut unemployment benefits, stop Medicaid for children; their politics rests on the backs of the poor. Singing tunes with lyrics like "Armageddon," "showdown," Tea Party Express spokesperson, Amy Kremer, has been yodeling fiscal control. Control? The obese, intransigent Kremer talking about "control" seemes disingenuous considering the body from which this tune is being sung. No wonder they are against gun control; Republicans are out of control.

When not attacking programs for the poor, the GOP sets its sights on people. Their current target is new Democratic National Committee Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. No doubt, the nubile chairwoman has left herself vulnerable to the Right’s attacks. Nevertheless, some of the verbal firepower launched at Wasserman Shultz seems exponentially over-the-top, and for good reason. Wasserman Schultz represents the Jewish state of Florida. Obama has a Jewish problem thanks to his stupid handling of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace talks. Wasserman Schultz is Obama’s bridge to the Jewish community in Florida where every vote counts. While mean, Republicans aren’t dumb. They want Wasserman Schultz out, and if not out, dismembered — Jeffrey Dahmer politics.

In 1980 it was Republican Lee Atwater who started the Comanche Politics cannonball rolling. South Carolina State Senator Tom Turnipseed was in a bitter contest against Republican incumbent Floyd Spence. Atwater aimed his guns at Turnipseed employing false push polls, which linked Turnipseed to the NAACP. Then he shot the bullet across the bow that started the vitriol war, announcing that Turnipseed had been "hooked up to jumper cables" as a teen undergoing treatment for depression. Needless to say Turnipseed lost, but Lee Atwater’s mean machine won, and became the stuff of which Republican legends are made.

I was thinking about all of this the other day when I read a report that Republicans are furious with possible GOP presidential candidate, former Ambassador to China under Barack Obama, Jon Huntsman. Huntsman is attempting to do something that Republicans haven’t done since Atwater’s days: Run a campaign like a statesman should. Now there’s a novel idea. What? Not obliterate the competition with smear tactics but run on the issues? Similarly, the White House appears to have joined into a Non-Aggression pact with Huntsman. But Republicans are firing away at Huntsman nonetheless, calling his strategy “stupid,” and Huntsman a “friggin’ loser…”

…proving that Republicans have yet to learn the final lesson of Lee Atwater who died of a brain tumor at 40. “My illness,” Atwater said, “helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime.”

My Republican friends: It is never too late to learn.

Monday, June 6, 2011

ONCE UPON A TIME AND NOT SO LONG AGO

Once upon a time -- and that was not so long ago -- former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney would have been considered the Republican Party’s perfect presidential candidate.
Tall and handsome, making him telegenic, wealthy, bright, accomplished, Romney is a fine family man still married to his high school sweetheart after 42 years, the father of five and now a grandpa with a coterie of cute grandchildren to exploit.

Politically, Romney offers something for everyone. As a moderate Conservative, he appears reasoned rather than dogmatic, and appeals to a wide swath of voters. But that was once upon a time, and that seems, oh, so, long ago before two extremes took over the Republican Party: The Christian Right and the even further to the right the off-the-charts Tea Party/Libertarian Bowel Movement of a party now controlling the GOP.

The Grand Old Party is no longer grand; it is dysfunctional. Worse, it is OLD. It operates in its own world, one that denies that the social revolutions of the Sixties ever occurred but rues the day that they did. Once the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Eisenhower -- the party of grand ideas -- the GOP has become the party of only one idea: reduce the size of the Federal Government. It is the party of Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, Tim Pawlenty -- a vice president, by the way, if ever there was one --- and the appalling Paul duo, Ron and Rand.

Ron Paul advocates eliminating all foreign aid, Gingrich is a self-serving serial philanderer. Palin and Bachman share more than their gender identification: They both play to the lowest common denominator preying on the beleaguered masses, spewing their brand of Conservatism that takes the best of Republicanism and turns it into a weapon to control the downtrodden. In the 2012 race for the Republican nomination, we have the class of the 1.800.GOP.BABES, 1.800.GET.A.BABE, 1.800.SAYNO2GOVERNMENT,1.800...well, you get the idea.

Which takes me back to the candidacy of Mitt Romney and of any other moderate Republican who might choose to run for the party's nomination: I FEEL YOUR PAIN! Your own party has placed you in an untenable situation. In order to get your party's nomination, you have to play to the whack-a-doodle base that votes in your primaries. But to win the general election, you have to appeal to the thoughtful and reasoned. Good luck with that.

Last week, I derided Mitt Romney for being a poor panderer. I made the observation that he is too obvious in his pandering. "Maybe if this guy would just take a course in sincerity he might get somewhere. Somebody out there, help this guy, puleeze," I pleaded.

And then I thought about what I had said. I thought that maybe the fact that Romney is a lousy panderer is actually a good thing, a reflection of the decent character that is in fact the man. Maybe he's another George Washington: He cannot tell a lie.

Alas, once upon a time and not so long ago that thought wouldn’t have seemed so farfetched. It might have been considered a grand old idea… once upon a time oh-so-painfully-long ago when running for the presidency wasn’t a business but a calling of decent men.


Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows and the co-host of A PINT OF PLAIN AND POLITICS on Blog Talk Radio. Her novel, SCOUT FINCH'S DIARY is about to be published. You can read more of her musings @ The CJ Political Report dot com.

Monday, May 30, 2011

MEMORIES OF MEMORIAL DAY PAST

It comes the last Monday in the month of May and today we call it Memorial Day. When I was a kid it was often called Decoration Day, and in the small East coast town where I was raised, it was a mighty special day.

At the center of town stood a monument to the brave soldiers who gave their lives in service to our country. I loved that monument, not just for its majesty -- indeed it was majestic -- but because it was situated at the center of a roundabout on a lovely flower-laden circle, a circle that united the many corners of my community.

Come Memorial Day that community would gather at the top of the Palisades on which our lovely town was built: The dignitaries, the old and young, people of all colors, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Brownies, the fireman -- and the marching bands. Oh, how I loved to watch the twirlers toss their beautiful gold batons to the sun, and listen to the rat-a tat-tat of the uniform-clad drummers.

Leading the parade was always the oldest living survivor of World War I looking proud and grand – bedazzling -- wearing full military regalia. Walking behind him were the veterans who had given their service in the second Great War; all who participated the dignified survivors of the wars to protect our nation -- the walking museum of America’s military might.

I remember the passion with which my Brownie Troop and later Girl Scout Troop took our practice for our participation in that yearly event. The Annual Memorial Day Parade was serious business. It was surely a great honor to hold our troop’s colors, but an even greater one to carry the Grand Old Flag.

For weeks we marched and worked diligently for our badges that would adorn our uniforms that day. Finally, that morning in May arrived. I can remember waking early to make certain that the sun was shining and that there were no clouds on the horizon in anticipation of the day’s festivities.

Memorial Day Parades still occur in America’s small towns. I’m sure little girls feel the excitement as I once did. But much has changed in our country as the century of The Great Wars turned into the Twenty-first Century of The Obscure War Against Terrorism. And of course these days not every able-bodied man and woman goes to defend our nation. There is no longer a draft. Few of us know personally those that serve.

War to most of us is not ours to worry about, a mere sound bite and visual on the Evening News, though hardly any of us even watch the news anymore.

We have become a fractured nation: the rich and the poor, Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative, those that serve --and those who do not.

Which somehow makes that symbol of the United States of America, the Memorial Day Parade seem a relic of our past, a remnant of Americana that gets in the way of what we’d really like to be doing the last day of our now “government-mandated three day holiday”: Shopping -- at that new symbol of Americana: Wal-Mart.

Rat-a-tat-a-tat!


Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows. You can read more of her opinions @ http://www.thecjpoliticalreport.com and listen to her on Blog Talk Radio on Sunday at 5 est at A Pint of Plain and Politics.
c. 2011 Reprints with permission.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

BIBI THE MAN VS BAMBI THE BOY

In Election 2008, 78% of American Jews voted for Barack Obama. That was when he sold himself as a friend of Israel, in fact, promising a delegation of Jews that Jerusalem would never be split, not while he was president. Barack Obama backtracked on that promise days later. But there were plenty of other warnings that Barack Obama might not prove to be the true friend of Israel that he purported to be. After assaults from the right revealed a growing list of Obama associates who are known Israel detractors, the Obama aura took a hit with Jews. Days before the election a worried Obama went so far as to leak that should he be elected, Jewish Rahm Emmanuel would become his chief of staff, such an announcement prior to a win a break with tradition.

I was in the Jewish shtetl of Florida those days before election 2008. Obama’s poll numbers were showing that Jews were worried. So he corralled his onetime nemesis and longtime friend of the Jewish community, Hillary Clinton, to post an editorial in the local papers, vowing for Barack Obama’s “Jewish” character. I recount these events in my book, A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, the Politics of Strange Bedfellows.

Obama went on to win the election handily with the full support of the Jewish community. But not long after he was seated in the White House, the Jewish president became the Muslim Barack Hussein Obama in the eyes of many Jews, when he refused to break Challah with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and made him enter the White House through the backdoor.

Thus reality came home to roost and it was tough for many Jews to absorb the seemingly hostile president who had begun to pressure the Israeli’s on an array of concessions, while making no such demands on the intransigent Palestinians. Reports circulated and continue to do so that Obama and Netanyahu don’t particularly care for one another. Of course only those close to them know the truth; at the end of the day what does it matter anyway?

What does matter are these still unanswered questions: Is President Barack Obama inherently anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic? Is Barack Obama a closet Muslim, a man whose sympathies therefore lie with the Palestinians? As the President of the United States, is President Obama acting out of a concern for American interests and its long-term ally Israel? Or is Obama willing to sell-out Israel because he feels that the Arabs are controlling America’s economic destiny these days, since they control the vast amount of the world’s oil, and the price of oil will ultimately effect Obama’s reelection. Is Obama being held hostage by the Arab states to do something about the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and if he does not, they will see to a higher price for oil? As absurd as some of these questions may sound, they are questions often raised by the public at-large.

Overtime, it appeared that the relationship between the two leaders had improved. But just when it appeared so, along came Obama’s speech last week in which he essentially told Israel that he would be the one to dictate the terms of the peace talks. Clearly, his Thursday speech was meant to steal Netanyahu’s thunder which would come this week in his speech to AIPAC and the joint session of Congress, while Obama was off in Europe schmoosing with British royalty and the G-8.

Indeed Obama changed the conversation, wittingly or unwittingly (which will be argued in the history books, I’m certain), stating that from here on in the ’67 lines would be the basis for an independent Palestinian state with mutual land swaps. Vey ist mier. If you’re paying attention to the story, you know what happened next. It wasn’t pretty. Conservatives went after Obama and accused him of everything they could possibly throw at him. The left defended him to the point of losing their credibility as their response was their typical knee-jerk it’s all Israel’s fault, the meme of the left these days, and apparently that of their leader, Barack Obama. The center, which didn’t like what Obama said/did, took the posture that Obama can pontificate all he wants because the chances of the two sides sitting down with one another any time soon, considering the new alliance between the Palestinian suit and tie terrorist organization led by Abu Mazen and the terrorist group Hamas have joined forces to take down Israel.

All that being said there are two points that need to be addressed here. The first: Why does Obama speak to the Jewish people as if they are children and only Barack Obama knows what is best for them? That is certainly the tone he used to address AIPAC Sunday, and one assumes is the tone he is using when he addresses Prime Minister Netanyahu in private. The tone is offensive particularly from a man who only two years ago had zero foreign policy experience.

And the larger question that I would like an answer to is why is this president continually getting in public dust-ups with Prime Minister Netanyahu and a large segment of world Jewry?
It’s unseemly. Spats amongst friends shouldn’t reach the public. But it is the reality, a reality that speaks to a huge failing on the part of the President of the United States.

I don’t buy into this administration’s jazzy line that good friends can have spats but it doesn’t mean anything. It very much does on the world stage. It plays into the hands of our ally Israel’s enemies. For this and for the reasons stated above, I blame the president for the current worldwide efforts to de-legitimize Israel. And I note that in their joint press op following their reported spirited private meeting last week, I saw none of the surliness present in Bibi Netanyahu in their joint statements before the press corps following their reported Bibi was the mensch: earnest, sincere, poetic, and heartfelt. The president’s posture, on the other hand, was a familiar one. He displayed it all too often during the primary debates when his nemesis then was Hillary Clinton. He appeared peevish, annoyingly professorial, and he imposed an air of superiority to an equal head of state. In a word: he came off as a shmegegge…which is bad, but not as bad as the code name Scotland Yard has given the president during his visit to the UK: Chalque, the Punjabi word meaning Smart Alec.

Oy vey! It seems the truth.