Bank Transfer Day November 5th: Just a Little Reminder

Only five more shopping days ‘til Bank Transfer Day.  If you haven’t yet taken your money out of the megabank you’re currently using, you’ve probably noticed that — Doh! — November 5th is a Saturday.

The giant Wall Street banks probably all have Saturday hours, but what about the locally owned bank or credit union you’re planning to move your money into?  Better to play it safe and take your money out of your humongous banking conglomerate before Saturday.

For that matter, Bank Transfer Day is calling for people to transfer their money on or before November 5th; not necessarily on November 5th.  November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day, which is why the organizers chose that date for Bank Transfer Day.

Don’t forget now.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

A friend forwarded this to me.  Let’s hope it goes viral:

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:

"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election."

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011:

1. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.  All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.

Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message.

Maybe it is time.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!

Occupy Wall Street Movement has Created Jobs

Especially in the private security industry.  Along with the unimaginable wealth and splendor comes the paranoia.  Protect me from the riffraff!  And as the linked article says, “as the mood on Main Street turns increasingly hostile, New York's financial titans are cranking their security measures up to 11.”

A cofounder of Risk Control Strategies said “We expect to more than double our revenue in New York this year.”  Another firm, Insite Security, has received dozens of calls since the Occupy Wall Street protests began.

That’s more new jobs than the GOP — the “Party of Jobs” — has created.

The executive protection industry, as it’s called now, has already been extremely lucrative ever since the 2008 Wall Street meltdown.  Gee, I wonder why.

One of Risk Control Strategies’ newest clients is a bank chief financial officer who received an anonymous e-mail message saying:  “You filled your pockets, and now I'm going to fill mine, starting with your family.”

A security firm CEO — and former Secret Service agent — said:

“If Zuccotti Park is tapping into resentment against wealthy people, that really changes the calculus.  It's not that far of a connection between what's happening now in that park and a more focused, research-based kind of attack.”

Squirm, Motherfuckers.

Rick Perry: No More Interaction with the Public

First, Rick Perry decided not to take part in any more debates.  Next he decided — hey, I might as well take this to the next level and just tune out the riffraff completely.  Rick Perry told an interviewer:

“I’m not a people person, so why keep pretending?  I come up with a lot of big ideas.  Texas Big.  But I get treated pretty ugly whenever I talk about them in public.  I like to make big meaningless smoke and mirrors productions — like my giant prayer rally last month at that huge stadium.  I need to be the center of it all, completely in control.  As soon as somebody asks me a question, I get thrown off message.  Everything collapses.  I go from being the Wizard of Oz to being that pitiful little man behind the curtain yelling ‘pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.’  So I’m not gonna do this any more.”

Rick Perry’s wife Anita is relieved that her husband won’t be out there in the spotlight any more, being asked one annoying question after another.  She said:

“The media hates Rick because he’s a devout Christian.  Rolling Stone has a mean article about him, calling him ‘the best little whore in Texas’ and saying he has the build of a retired underwear model.  We just don’t need this.”

Rick Perry continued:

“When I become president, I won’t be dealing in person with Congress or any other politicians.  One of my handlers will come up with a few folksy soundbites, I’ll recite them in front of a video recorder, and an aide will just play the video whenever he needs to.  I’ll be doing this with foreign leaders too.  Why should I travel to some weird place where everybody talks funny like?”

By eliminating all public interaction with politicians and reporters, Rick Perry will have more time to do what he does best:  Fundraising, and creating phony “regulatory” agencies to which he can appoint his largest campaign donors, where they will pretend to “regulate” their own industries.

Occupy Wall Street: Today’s Version of 1930s Bonus Army Protesters

In 1932, the Bonus Army — aka the Bonus Expeditionary Force or the Bonus March — was comprised of 17,000 World War I veterans and their families.  Including family members, the group added up to 43,000 marchers.  They occupied Washington, D.C. during the spring and summer of that year to demand payment of the money they were still owed for their service during WWI.

Retired Marine Corps General Smedley Butler visited their campground to offer them encouragement and reassurance.  (And if you’re up on your American history, you know that Smedley Butler became famous later for refusing to take part in a rightwing plot to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt.)

Anyway, General Smedley Butler’s endorsement didn’t do much good.  On July 28th, the U.S. Attorney General ordered the WWI veterans to vacate all government property.  During the ensuing clashes with police, two WWI veterans were shot and killed.  After that, President Hoover ordered the Army to clear out the campground completely.  All shelters and personal belongings were destroyed.

The following year there was a smaller march, which wasn’t squelched by police or the Army.  Three years after that, the WWI veterans received their pay.

Here are some more links.

Last night Rachel Maddow talked about the similarities between Occupy Wall Street and the Bonus Army; particularly the police crackdown in Oakland where an Iraqi war veteran was shot by the Oakland Police Department.

The more things change…

November 5th, 2011: Bank Transfer Day

On or before November 5th of this year, everyone who has an account with one of the Big Banks is encouraged to withdraw their money from that bank and transfer it to a credit union or a locally-owned bank.

(H/T to Reconstitution where I first learned of this, and to Jess for mentioning it in a comment at an earlier post here.)

Here are some links to Bank Transfer Day.

The idea for Bank Transfer Day came from somebody’s Facebook page and was immediately endorsed by the Occupy Wall Street movement.  As much as I’m in favor of Occupy Wall Street, I think voting with your dollars is a much more effective tactic than demonstrating.  If you’ve had it up to HERE with Wall Street’s scrotal grip on the entire country — and you have an account with Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup or Wells Fargo — there’s something YOU can do right now to become part of the solution.

Vote with your dollars.  Too many people hate Wal-Mart while continuing to shop there; hate the Koch Brothers while buying their products in droves.  This means YOU.

If you need to be reminded of why you shouldn’t be patronizing the Big Banks — check this out.

OK, what are you waiting for?

Rightwing Radio Host Condemns John Kasich’s Union-Busting Law

On November 8th Ohio voters will get a chance to overturn Governor John Kasich’s Cripple-Labor-Unions law.  Opinion polls show the union-busting law to be unpopular and likely to be voted down.

And now, of all people, rightwing radio host Bill Cunningham has blasted John Kasich for refusing to meet with labor unions before he pushed for his anti-worker law, Senate Bill 5.  Bill Cunningham said:

“From my perspective, those affected by governmental decisions need to have a place at the bargaining table to determine the outcome of what’s being discussed.  The best Americans I know are cops, firefighters, and teachers. They’re reasonable and they’re good people.”

And then he went on to urge Ohio voters to vote No on the anti-worker law (Issue 2.)

I’d never heard of Bill Cunningham before, but whatever his views are on other issues, he’s got this one dialed.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO agree on something!

Hell has frozen over.  On one of those ubiquitous Sunday talk shows yesterday, Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, both said that Congress needs to provide funding to rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure.

Richard Trumka said:

“We can’t be competitive in a global economy unless we have infrastructure that allows us to be competitive.  This is really a no-brainer.”

And that’s not all:  The Vatican has called for a sweeping overhaul of the global financial system.  The statement called for an end to “an economic liberalism that spurns all rules and controls.”

The Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton said:

“While conservative leaders and several presidential candidates want to eviscerate financial reform, the Vatican has sent a powerful message that prudent regulation of our financial system is a moral priority…It’s clear the Vatican stands with the Occupy Wall Street protesters and others struggling to return ethics and good governance to a financial sector grown out of control after 30 years of deregulation.”

So we have the Vatican, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO all standing together.  Gee, who could be against them?  Oh, that’s right — Republicans.  They don’t want any infrastructure work done or any new jobs created because that would make Obama look good with an election coming up.  And they don’t want ANY regulation of the finance industry — their Wall Street pimps have told them very explicitly not to let this happen, Or Else.

N.O.W. Confirms Joe Biden’s “Rape” Comments

As you probably know by now, Joe Biden has been lashing out at Republicans for blocking President Obama’s American Jobs Act.  Among other things, this jobs bill will prevent the laying off of police officers.

Biden has been getting pretty blunt, saying “rape will continue to rise” if the jobs bill doesn’t pass.  Opponents have called the American Jobs Act a “temporary fix,” to which Biden responded:

“Well let me tell you, it’s not temporary when that 911 call comes in and a woman’s being raped if a cop shows up in time to prevent the rape.  It’s not temporary to that woman… I wish these guys that thought it’s temporary, I wish they had some notion what it’s like to be on the other side of a gun. Or a 200 pound man standing over you telling you to submit. Folks, it matters. It matters!  Murder will continue to rise, rape will continue to rise, all crime will continue to rise.”

Rightwing useful idiots have been slamming Biden for being over the top and too dramatic.  But NOW president Terry O’Neill is backing up Biden’s statements:

“I think he is concretely worried that with fewer police on the beat crime will go up…I think he is imagining the lives of real people. That is not a devise, that is an actual ability to know what everyday people go through.  The people that are blocking jobs legislation really don’t care and don’t have an idea of what its like.  They don’t have an idea what it’s like to have your child in a classroom of 45 kids and one teacher — and that is what we are looking at if these kinds of jobs are not restored. They don’t have a clue what its like to be threatened with rape and there are not enough police officers to come and prevent it or stop it.  I think it is absolutely legitimate to demand that these uncaring un-empathic legislators get a clue.”

A clue?  Those assholes wouldn’t recognize a clue unless it was attached to a 7-figure campaign contribution.

Florida Republicans: “No Hablo Hispanic”

According to state Senator Alan Hays (R—Ignoramus), Florida’s biggest problem is Hispanic-speaking immigrants from Puerto Rico.

Aside from there being no such language as “Hispanic,” can you name Einstein’s other little booboo?  You are correct — the territory of Puerto Rico is part of the United States.  Therefore, anyone born in Puerto Rico is automatically an American citizen.

DUUUHHH!!!

Are there any — ANY? — education or intelligence requirements for serving in the Florida legislature???

Members of both parties condemned Alan Hays’ comments, but one of his fellow Republicans stood up for him:

“I don’t think he meant it in a way that was negative or demeaning or detrimental.”

The End of the Horatio Alger “Only in America” Myth

I’ve been hearing and reading about this for years, but I never Googled it.  But now it’s official:  Some of those European socialist nanny states actually have more upward mobility than the United States.

Ouch!  One of the Right’s favorite talking points — down the drain.  Any time you talk about protecting the environment or ensuring safe working conditions, you get the same rightwing drivel:

“We can’t have all these bureaucratic regulations strangling the economy.  We’ll be just like those stagnant welfare states over there in Yerp, where everyone is the same, nobody has any incentive to work harder and improve themselves because they just lie around getting government handouts.”

Other personal favorites include:  “Equal opportunity, not equal outcome” and “If you work hard and play your cards right, YOU too can be part of that 1%.”

Rick Santorum, of all people, acknowledged this at the GOP debate in Las Vegas last Tuesday:

“Believe it or not, studies have been done that show that in Western Europe, people at the lower parts of the income scale actually have a better mobility going up the ladder now than in America.”

NOOO!!!  God Damn it, only in America can a shoeshine boy lift himself up by his bootstraps and build his own business empire!

The “American Dream” is most likely to come true in Denmark.  What?!?!?!?  Them lazy socialist welfare-guzzling layabouts???

In fact, Great Britain is now the only major economy in the world with less upward mobility than the United States.

Sorry, Oligarchs — back to the drawing board.  Looks like you’ll need some new slogans to feed your useful idiots.

Republican Strategy: Not a Single New Job Created Until Obama is Out of the White House

It’s been obvious for a long time that Republicans — having absolutely NO plans or ideas of their own — are deliberately sabotaging the economy for their own twisted political goals.  If they can keep the unemployment rate sky high until November 2012, Obama will look bad and he’ll be less likely to get re-elected.

It’s one thing for it to be obvious, but now it’s official.  Tea Party Nation is openly urging all business owners to “not hire a single person.”  This is their way of fighting back against Obama’s “war against business.”  If ALL business owners stop ALL hiring, the teatards will be able to stand up to “this new dictator” and the “global Progressive socialist movement.”

Personally, if I was job-hunting, I’d be more worried about paying my bills and keeping my home than about the “global Progressive socialist movement.”  But that’s just me.

Below is a copy of the letter sent by Teabag Nation’s Melissa Brookstone to her fellow teajobs.  Read it if you dare:

“Resolved that: The Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Senate, in alliance with a global Progressive socialist movement, have participated in what appears to be a globalist socialist agenda of redistribution of wealth, and the waging of class warfare against our constitutional republic's heritage of individual rights, free market capitalism, and indeed our Constitution itself, with the ultimate goal of collapsing the U.S. economy and globalizing us into socialism.

Resolved that: President Obama has seized what amount to dictatorial powers to bypass our Congress, and that because the Congress is controlled by a Progressive socialist Senate that will not impeach one of their kind, they have allowed this and yielded what are rightfully congressional powers to this new dictator.
Resolved that: By their agenda and actions, those in our government who swore oaths to protect and defend our Constitution have committed treason against the United States.

Resolved that: The current administration and Democrat majority in the Senate, in conjunction with Progressive socialists from all around the country, especially those from Hollywood and the left leaning news media (Indeed, most of the news media.) have worked in unison to advance an anti-business, an anti-free market, and an anti-capitalist (anti-individual rights and property ownership) agenda.
…
Resolved that: Our President, the Democrats-Socialists, most of the media, and most of those from Hollywood, have now encouraged and supported "Occupy" demonstrations in our streets, which are now being perpetrated across the globe, and which are being populated by various marxists, socialists and even communists, and are protesting against business, private property ownership and capitalism, something I thought I'd never see in my country, in my lifetime.

I, an American small business owner, part of the class that produces the vast majority of real, wealth producing jobs in this country, hereby resolve that I will not hire a single person until this war against business and my country is stopped.”

That’s OK; who’d want to work for that shitstain anyway?

Say the word “Abortion,” Go to Prison

Out of all the split-personality Republicans who yell “Freedom!” while simultaneously trying to bring back the Salem Witch Trials,

Senator Jim DeMint (R—Cocksucker) might be the most schizoid of them all.

DeMint’s latest brilliant idea:  A law prohibiting women and their doctors from even discussing abortion over the Internet.  No doubt this is the biggest screaming priority for millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and their homes.

Needless to say, Jim DeMint’s proposal is NOT a separate bill that could be voted up or down.  It’s an amendment that DeMint is sneaking into a larger bill — HR 2112 — relating to agriculture, transportation and housing.  Asswipe.

You can call the U.S. Senate at 202-421-3121 and tell them to oppose Jim DeMint’s amendment (Amendment #768) to HR 2112.

Godfearing Christians Murdered by Gangs of Militant Homosexuals

Damn those liberal judges!  I knew this was going to happen.

Here’s the background:  The Washington State legislature passed a law two years ago nicknamed “Everything But Marriage.”  Washington doesn’t have gay marriage, but this law gives unmarried gay couples most of the legal rights and protections of married couples.

A group of concerned Christians started a petition drive to overturn these special privileges for homosexuals.  Their referendum failed.  “Everything But Marriage” is still the law.  Gay rights activists wanted to see the names of the people who signed the petition.  And now, these people’s names have been released to the public, as ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle.

The anti-gay petition signers had been trying frantically to keep their names secret, knowing how vicious these homosexuals are.  Well, no matter how terrified these Good Christians were, they had no idea what was in store.  As it says in the Good Book, “What I feared most came to pass.”

It’s been just awful.  Terrifying.  The petition signers’ names were just released yesterday, and already the mayhem has been unimaginable.  Countless Christians have been murdered by these homosexual brutes.  Nobody even knows the death toll; the number keeps going up every time there’s another newscast.

To add insult to injury:  Each and every one of these murder victims will have his/her funeral picketed by Fred Phelps since, after all, these people allowed themselves to be overpowered by a homosexual.

And the murder victims are the lucky ones.  Other less fortunate victims have been forced to look at gay pornography while being brutally sodomized by a vengeful homosexual.  And these victims’ wives and children were tied up and forced to watch.

So far these petition-signers have only been attacked at home.  But according to a secret memo from a homosexual terrorist group — which was leaked to the press — the petition signers will not be safe anywhere.  At work, at school, in church — the message said “No matter where you hide, we’ll find you.  And we’re gonna tie you up and do terrible horrible excruciating things to you.  And you will LIKE it!”

Oh God!  Who can we turn to?  Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Jesse Helms — Help!

“Corporations Have Carried Out a Coup d’état in My Country.”

This quote is from Chris Hedges.  He’s written for the New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor.  He won a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for a series of articles profiling al Qaeda and the terrorist attacks on the United States.

Over the weekend Chris Hedges spoke to one of the Occupy Wall Street rallies:

“I spent 20 years overseas, I’m a war correspondent.  I came back and realized that corporations have carried out a coup d’état in my country…

“I covered the street demonstrations that brought down Miloševic, I’ve covered both of the Palestinian intifadas, and once movements like this start and articulate a fundamental truth about the society that they live in, and expose the repression, the mendacity, the corruption and the decay of structures of power, then they have a kind of centrifugal force, you never know where they’re going…

“What happens, and it’s true in all of these movements as well, is the foot soldiers of the elite, the blue uniform police, the mechanisms of control, finally don’t want to impede the movement. At that point, the power elite is left defenseless. So, where’s it going? No one knows. Even the people most intimately involved in the organization don’t know. All of these movements take on a kind of life and color that in some ways is finally mysterious. The only thing I can say, having been in the middle of similar movements, is that this one is real … And this one could take ‘em all down.”

Or as somebody else once said, “the times they are a-changin’”

Deliberate Obtuseness

I got the phrase “deliberate obtuseness” from this column.  Those two words totally capture one of the Right’s favorite arguing tactics.  After reciting the exact same simple-minded talking points over and over and over, their second favorite gimmick is to throw a wrench in the gears by playing Dumber Than Dirt.  They’ll make a totally clueless statement, or ask a “Duh, I don’t get it” question, so that the other person has to stop and patiently explain — for the 800th time — “No, I don’t hate business” or “No, I don’t want Communist thugs to come in and nationalize American industries.”

The example that Ben Adler gives in this column is the numerous rightwing talking heads who act confused about the “99%” label:  “So 99% of us are aging hippies who just left a Phish concert, huh huh huh huh uh uh uh uh.”  Ben Adler says:

“This is deliberate obtuseness. Of course it’s true that the dreadlocked campers at Zuccotti Park do not represent the cultural values of 99 percent of Americans. But they do not clam to. They say they represent the economic interests of the 99 percent of Americans who have been left behind by growing inequality and plutocratic policies.”

There was an Occupy Wall Street rally in our town over the weekend; about 200 people showed up.  Here’s a write-up from the local paper.  If you want to see deliberate obtuseness, check out some of the comments at the end of the article.  Several commenters have given very precise, articulate statements about what the protest means and why the public is furious at the financial robber barons who have the rest of the country by the shorthairs.

And the same tinfoil-duncecap-wearing teatards keep coming back and back and back with “What do you people want anyway?” “You just hate everybody who’s successful,” “You just want to get something for nothing.”  Etc.

Some of the other “99%” commenters have clearly explained that they themselves have jobs and own their homes, but they’re scared to death of what’s happening around them.  And again, the teatards’ only response is “Get a job!” or the sooo-funny “Why don’t you ‘occupy’ a job instead of the local park?”

Deliberate Obtuseness.  Now that we have a name for it, you’ll be seeing it everywhere.

Adbusters

I’ve never known anything about Adbusters other than a few vague references to them as the group that organized the Occupy Wall Street protests.

Here are some links.

According to their online magazine (which is completely ad-free), “We are a global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society.”

Works for me.  The magazine is based in Vancouver, B.C. and has an international circulation of 120,000.  Other campaigns launched by Adbusters, besides Occupy Wall Street, include TV Turnoff Week and Buy Nothing Day.  Maybe they should launch a “Take Your Money out of Bank of America and put it in a Credit Union” Day.

According to Wikipedia, Adbusters was founded in 1988.  The two founders had created their own TV commercial against excessive logging and clearcutting.  TV stations refused to air the ad because it was too “controversial,” i.e. it might offend their pimps in the logging industry.  This media censorship inspired them to start Adbusters.  As the Wikipedia article says:

“Adbusters was born out of their realization that citizens do not have the same access to the information flows as corporations.”

Occupy Wall Street — and the guerilla approach of Adbusters — has been an effective weapon against the trillion-dollar Wall Street empire.  Obviously it’s an uphill David-and-Goliath battle and there’s still a lot of work to be done.  But as you’ll remember, David won.  Adbusters’ campaigns have a certain ingenuity, a Young Turks quality, that’s completely lacking among the Wall Street barons.

It’s like rock-scissors-paper.  Sometimes this combination of fury and ingenuity is able to trump a billionaire’s wealth and influence.  Sometimes a 110-pound martial arts expert will disable a 300-pound attacker.

47% of Americans Pay No Income Taxes!

It figures.  The Rightwing Hate Machine had to come up with something to compete with the 99 Percent Movement.  So they invented the so-lame-it’s-funny 53% Movement.  This “movement” is based, of course, on Fox News’ and talk radio’s current shouting point:  that 47% of Americans pay no income taxes.

THIS is the cause of our budget deficit.  The recession is THEIR fault!  Make those leeches pay up!

Who ARE the 47 percenters, these parasites who pay no income taxes?

It turns out  — DUH, rightwads always need to have the obvious spelled out for them —  most of these “freeloaders” are families whose income is below the poverty line.  That’s no excuse!  Squeeze some more blood out of that turnip.

Talk radio spewbags and their inbred audiences have conveniently “forgotten” that their swashbuckling hero, Ronald Reagan, made this possible.  He signed into law the Earned Income Tax Credit, describing it as “the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress.”

How sad is that, when Ronald Reagan is the liberal compared to the current crop of teatards.  Reagan’s quote contained the phrases “pro-family” and “job creation.”  Isn’t that exactly what Republicans have been blubbering about ad nauseam?  Oh, that was last week. 

What ever happened to the Republicans’ previous mantra of “you can’t raise taxes during a recession!”?  I guess that only applies to the wealthiest 1%.  Our economy desperately needs these people’s secret offshore bank accounts and their shuttered factories that keep getting moved overseas.

On the other hand, the poorest 47% actually ARE stimulating the economy, since they’re spending everything they have on necessities.  If more money is squeezed out of them, they’ll spend less, and local businesses will suffer.  But alas, these 47 percenters can’t afford to make huge campaign contributions, so what good are they?  Tax those peons!  Squeeze harder!  More blood!

Rick Perry: Drill Baby Drill 2.0

You’ve gotta be kidding.  Variation #947 of “create millions of new jobs, just by getting those meddling bureaucrats and sniveling environmentalists out of the way.”

If this is the best Rick Perry can come up with, no wonder he’s Texas Toast.

So far the Everglades are safe, since Florida is a swing state and Republicans don’t want any drilling in THEIR back yard.  For the rest of America’s public lands and sensitive environmental areas — Sayonara.

In addition to crippling the Environmental Protection Agency, Perry’s “plan” also includes preventing lawsuits by those pesky environmental activists.  Yes, our Founding Fathers clearly intended for the courts to be reserved exclusively for wealthy businessmen in three-piece suits.

This article goes into more detail.

If you think fracking is the greatest thing since sliced bread and only a treehugging Communist would want to regulate it  — you’ll love President Rick Perry.

And for God’s sake, hurry up and get those yucky animals out of that Arctic National Wildlife Refuge so we can drill for that there AWL.

Needless to say, the Keystone XL Pipeline needs to approved and fast-tracked yesterday.  Those people in Nebraska weren’t using their aquifer anyway, were they?

“We found out later on that, constitutionally, you can not ban a type of music”

Gee, ya think???

If there’s a contest for the most clueless ignorant statement of the year — Game Over.  No more calls, we have a winner.

California Assemblywoman Fiona Ma tried to crack down on raves by banning the kind of music they play at raves.  That’s when she made her horrifying discovery:  “We found out later on that, constitutionally, you can not ban a type of music.”

DUUUHHH!!!

And she’s a Democrat.  psssssst  — you’re in the wrong party!

Last January she introduced the Anti-Raves Act of 2011.  Yes, raves are surely the most urgent problem we’re facing right now.  This bill would have made it a misdemeanor — punishable by a $10,000 fine — to conduct an event that includes pre-recorded music and lasts longer than three and a half hours.

The bill was amended six times and eventually morphed into the watered-down Concert and Music Festival Safety Act, which Governor Jerry Brown signed into law.  This law requires that state agencies conduct a “threat assessment” for any large event being held on state property.

But Fiona Ma still isn’t satisfied.  She wants these state agencies, during their threat assessments, to prohibit “rave culture” items such as LED gloves and pacifiers:

“I believe with the new secretary, the new people appointed to these boards, more sophistication in terms of what raves are, the safer they will be.  Can’t wear gloves with lights, you can’t walk around with stuffed animals.”

Problem solved.  Today’s lesson:  You don’t have to be a Republican to be an idiot.

The Attack of the Fifty-Foot Elizabeth Warren

Wall Street barons are getting their inbreds all riled up and scared shitless over that Comminist wealth-redistributor who’s running for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts.  If you think the GOP is the party of job creation — and you keep getting lost in your one-room apartment — then we’ve got a sca-a-a-a-ary movie for you.  Break out the popcorn and Raisinettes, sit back and get ready to start screaming.  Ready?

Elizabeth Warren Throws Rocks!

OOOOOHHHHH!!!!  When Obama’s fascist goons came for the Wall Street CEOs, I said nothing…then when they came for me…

Wall Street is scared to death of Elizabeth Warren.  They’ve instructed their prostitutes in Congress to do whatever it takes to keep her out of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — never mind that she personally designed that agency for the purpose of preventing another 2008-style Wall Street meltdown.  And Wall Street’s hookers followed their pimps’ orders right down to the letter.

Since Obama was planning to appoint Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during a Senate recess, the Senate responded by not taking any more recesses.  Even during their six-week vacation last summer, technically they weren’t in recess.  But YOU try taking a six-week vacation and then telling your boss, "Huh, no, I wasn't on vacation."

Another Wall Street prostitute, Patrick McHenry (R—Skank), was ordered to get up in Warren’s face during a hearing last May and call her a liar.  Skanky did exactly as he was ordered.

Now that Elizabeth Warren is running for the Senate, Corporate America will spend whatever it takes — and stoop as low as they need to stoop — to make sure she’s defeated next year.  Wall Street’s current prostitute, Scott Brown (R—Bimbo), is following his pimp’s orders just fine, thank you very much.

Hopefully Scott Brown’s infamous “Thank God” comment will be aired endlessly on every Massachusetts TV station between now and November 2012.  In case you don’t know the background:  Elizabeth Warren was recently asked how she supported herself during college.  Referring to Scott Brown — handsome dimwitted Playgirl centerfold-cum-politician — she joked that “at least I kept my clothes on.”  When Scott Brown heard about her comment, he replied “Thank God.”

Asshole.

Anyway, the 2012 Elizabeth Warren-Scott Brown campaign will probably be the mudslingingest most expensive campaign of the year, outside of the White House race.  The GOP’s pitiful “Elizabeth Warren Throws Rocks” ad is just the beginning.

Get Money Out

Get Money Out is an online petition drive to get money out of politics.  Their goal is a constitutional amendment that will prohibit all people, and all business entities of any type, from contributing money — directly or indirectly — to any candidate for federal office.

It’ll be an uphill battle.  (How’s that for an understatement?)  But they’re hoping that with enough signatures, this can become a major issue for the 2012 elections.

About 80% of Americans are against the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling which opened the floodgates to unlimited “campaign contributions” (this used to be called bribery) to politicians.  This is one issue that cuts across all party lines and socioeconomic groups.

Hope you’ll check out their site and sign the petition.

Earn up to $650 a Week, Just for Demonstrating Against Wall Street

If you hate America and everything she stands for, George Soros has a big fat paycheck for YOU.

And if you actually believe the above sentence — or the title of this post — I can get you a fantastic deal on some oceanfront property in Nebraska.

Supposedly, a liberal group called the Working Families Party has a Craigslist ad offering $350 to $650 a week for demonstrators who will “fight to hold Wall Street accountable…immediate hires…must be outgoing, articulate, dedicated, determined, and energetic communicators…”

Anybody seen Andrew Breitbart and his skanky girlfriend James O’Keefe lately?  This “exposé” has their fingerprints all over it.

I have no idea whether or not somebody is contributing money to Occupy Wall Street.  In any case, these demonstrators are reflecting the rage and frustration of tens of millions of Americans.  Three years ago, taxpayers “contributed” a trillion dollars to bail out Wall Street.  So far the bailed-out banks have used this taxpayer money to purchase more congressmen and judges, fund more Astroturf organizations and pay their senior executives record bonuses.

Three years of unarticulated fury have finally crystallized.  Occupy Wall Street isn’t going away.  It’s spreading to more cities every day.  Whether or not somebody is contributing money to Occupy Wall Street and the 99 Percent Movement — the fact remains, these organizations are reflecting the anger and fury of most Americans.

As far as being suspicious of where someone’s money is coming from — how about those huge “demonstrations” two years ago against health care reform?  Tens of thousands of hardworking everyday Americans suddenly flew into a white-hot rage at the thought of HMOs’ profits being jeopardized.

Riiight.

The Media: “Ron Paul? Who???”

Jon Stewart was talking about this several weeks ago on The Daily Show.  Ron Paul had come in second in a poll in Iowa, and almost every newscast went on and on about the winner — Michele Bachman — and the candidates who came in third and fourth.  Not a word about Ron Paul.

This past Saturday, Ron Paul won the straw poll at the annual Spanish Inquisition Reunion   Values Voter Summit.  But like this article says, the Powers That Be will probably keep ignoring him.

First of all — WTF???  How did a convention of Salem Witch-hunting snake-handlers end up voting for a Libertarian???  Unlike the two-faced schizoid Republican Party, Ron Paul actually means it when he says “limited government.”  He’s against the wars on:  1) Iraq, 2) Afghanistan and 3) drugs; and he doesn’t hump the Bible.  What were these people thinking???

Anyway, besides the straw poll votes in Iowa and at the Values Voter Summit, Ron Paul has also won similar polls conducted by the California GOP and the Conservative Political Action Conference.  And yet he remains invisible to everyone except his diehard supporters.

I personally don’t want a Libertarian for president, but it’s refreshing to see somebody who actually means what he says.  You won’t find Ron Paul yelling “Small Government” while quietly working to ban abortion, increase the prison sentence for drug use, deciding which sovereign nation to invade next…

This is probably why so many “Freedom”-shouting Republicans hate him.

“Should Democrats Distance Themselves from Occupy Wall Street?”

That’s the title of this article.  My answer is NO.  And not just “No” but Fuck No!  Democrats who try to “distance” themselves from Occupy Wall Street and the 99 Percent Movement are the exact same politicians whose constituents will stay home on Election Day.

Hasn’t this simple fact already been made crystal clear over and over during the past two and a half years?

Every time Obama has compromised and folded and yielded to the Republicans, he’s alienated a few more of the people who voted for him in 2008.  Number of new rightwing converts Obama has gained every time he bent/folded/yielded:  Zero.  Nada.  Zip point shit.

Same goes for all of the “moderate” “Blue Dog” Democrats in Congress.  The Right doesn’t hate them any less for being moderate and not wanting any trouble.  The only thing these DINOs are accomplishing is alienating the people who voted for them.

Like it or not, the 99 Percent Movement — which includes the “Occupy” movements that are spreading to more cities every day — has become a Litmus Test.  Take a side.  Take a stand.  Speak out.  Or get voted out.

The Republicans understand this.  They’ve been told by their corporate pimps to get out there NOW and start their smearing and name-calling.  And their useful idiots have complied.  Eric Cantor (R—Prostitute) has expressed his “concern” about those unruly “mobs.”  Peter “Kill All The Mud Races” King is whining that if the media keeps covering and “glorifying” the protesters, it’ll be like the 1960s all over again, and “we can’t allow that to happen.”

Democrats who squirm and try to sneak out of the spotlight will only be sabotaging their own careers.  Three years of unarticulated public rage and frustration have finally crystallized.  As the 99 Percent Movement spreads and gets more coverage, more and more Americans will be lining up on one side or the other:  Wall Street powerbrokers — and this includes the “legislators” and “regulators” who keep going down on them — versus the other 99 percent of the population.

As someone in the linked article said, “Democrats can either lead or get left behind.”

Or as Steppenwolfe sang a few decades ago:  “If you want to retire, get out of the way.”

The Long Reach of America’s “Limited” Government

Schizoid Republicans — the gift that keeps on giving.  Out of one side of their mouths they shout “Freedom!” and “limited government.”  Out of the other side, they’re constantly screaming for a huge government crackdown on everything imaginable.

They want government to be small enough to drown in Grover Norquist’s bathtub; and this same bathtub-size government needs to be big enough to monitor everybody’s private life 24/7/365.

Conservatives’ newest urgent problem:  American citizens who do something in a foreign country that’s legal in that country but illegal in the U.S.  How can we sleep at nights, knowing that somebody somewhere is getting away with something that should be against the law?  Fortunately, Rep. Lamar Smith (R—Inbred) has the solution to this Earth-shattering problem.  He’s introduced the Drug Trafficking Safe Harbor Elimination Act of 2011.

According to the linked article, this bill “would make it a federal crime for U.S. residents to discuss or plan activities on foreign soil that, if carried out in the U.S., would violate the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) — even if the planned activities are legal in the countries where they’re carried out.”

Examples include:  smoking (or buying/selling/distributing) marijuana in a place where pot has been decriminalized (e.g. Amsterdam); taking part in a needle exchange program in a foreign country; or even purchasing an over-the-counter medicine in a foreign country if that same medicine requires a prescription in the United States.

A civil liberties attorney said:

“I don’t see any interest other than to a desire to impose our moral and cultural preferences on the rest of the world.”

You mean like American Exceptionalism and all that.  Yeah!  America is unique in all the world — a Beacon of Freedom.  And America’s Freedom will be forced down the throats of all the rest of you Podunk countries.  Got a problem with that???

Lamar Smith is hereby invited to take a long walk off a short plank.

The Values Voter Summit: Exclusive Coverage

If you’re an upstanding Real American, you already know that the Values Voter Summit is being held today through Sunday at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.  Most of the GOP presidential candidates will be there, plus a lot of other conservative VIPs.

The Values Voter Summit is being sponsored by the Family Research Council and the American Family Association.  These Godfearing organizations will be warning their audience about the evils of abortion, socialism and the Homosexual Agenda.

Eric Cantor and John Boehner have already spoken.  Later today the audience will get a chance to hear Steve “my nail polish isn’t dry yet” King, Rick Perry and Laura Ingraham.

Tomorrow’s speakers include Glenn Beck, Mitt Romney and Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association.  And tomorrow afternoon there will be a lecture titled Why Christians Should Support Israel Even Though We Hate Jews.

Sunday morning will feature a worship service led by Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council.


Be there.

Retroactive Recusal to Overturn a Supreme Court Decision

I have no idea whether this is a real possibility or just a far-flung theory that’ll never see the light of day.  Rep. Louise Slaughter (D—New York) has suggested that a retroactive recusal of Justice Clarence Thomas could lead to the overturning of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

Supreme Court justices are entitled to their opinion that anonymous multi-million-dollar bribes are just hunky dory.  But this opinion can NOT be based on any conflict of interest.  That quaint old phrase again is “conflict of interest.”

Clarence Thomas’ wife may have benefited financially from the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, and this fact was never disclosed.

Clarence Thomas has indicated on financial disclosure forms that his wife received no income since Thomas became a Supreme Court justice in 1991.  Well, except that she did.  She “earned” $700,000 from the Heritage Foundation between 2003 and 2007.  Sounds like a conflict of interest to me, if not perjury.

Louise Slaughter said:

“What I’m very interested here is the votes that he has cast that may be in conflict.  Of course, his wife can work. But the fact is there are only nine justice on that Supreme Court and it certainly should be a given that a family member of any of those people lucky enough to be a Supreme Court justice should not in any way involve themselves in matters that will go before that court. Now, we all know that she worked very hard for the Citizens United case, which I think is one of the most egregious things that have ever happened in the United States Supreme Court.  There is such a thing as a retroactive recusal. We’re looking into that. That case, if you remember, was decided 5-4. If we could take away his vote, we could wipe that out. It would lose…you know, the judiciary is the last place for all of us to go. We’re only as good — all of us — as the courts are, only as safe as the courts are good. Their interpretations are really what give us the freedoms when you come down to it. They have enormous power.”

All right.  Let’s hear it for retroactive recusal.

Rep. Steve King: Out of the Closet

If you’re a teabagger, make sure you’re sitting down before you read any further.  Your idol, your raison d’etre — Rep. Steve King — has been outed.  He’s a Metrosexual.

He was seen getting a manicure and pedicure at a trendy salon in Washington DC.  Not that there’s anything wrong with it.  But how will his fellow “We’re Taking Our Country Back to 1859” teabirthers handle this?

And what will he wear to his next teatard gathering?  He’ll have to make sure his George Washington costume doesn’t clash with his nail polish.

The Romney Rule

The Buffett Rule refers to the idea — suggested by Warren Buffett himself — that millionaires should NOT pay a lower tax rate than middle- and lower-income earners.  But if you want an even better name — and a much more bumpersticker-friendly soundbite — how about the Romney Rule.

Mitt Romney is the perfect poster child for the absurd inequality of our tax laws.  As you probably know, the richest Americans derive most of their income from investments, rather than wages or a salary.  And the tax rate on capital gains is much lower than the tax rate on money that a person has actually worked for.

Obama wants to remedy this by establishing a minimum tax rate on the wealthiest .3% of American taxpayers.  That number would come out to roughly 450,000 taxpayers.

Mitt Romney would be hit especially hard by the Romney Rule since most of his wealth has come from capital gains.  (More specifically, Romney has made most of his money through purchasing solvent companies, driving these companies into debt, laying off the workforce and shipping the jobs overseas.  But that’s a whole ‘nother post.)

Romney is desperately fighting this Wall Street image and various nicknames like Millionaire Mitt.  He repeatedly describes himself as “currently unemployed” and “part of the middle class.”  Romney’s Achilles’ Heel is showing.  Democrats need to keep hammering away at Millionaire Mitt and the Romney Rule and all the rest of Romney's Wall Street baggage.

Even Mike Huckabee has said that Romney comes off “like the guy who laid you off.”

PrioritiesUSA Action is among the organizations trying to turn the “Romney Rule” into a ubiquitous slogan.  That should be easy to do, considering Romney paid a 14% tax rate on his income last year (according to Citizens for Tax Justice).

Bulletin: Terrorist Alert!

Don’t worry, these terrorists aren’t Muslims or furriners, so Homeland Security can keep looking the other way.

Pam Geller’s racist organization, American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), has called for the murder of American politicians (both parties), college professors and media talking heads.

The call is from John Joseph Jay, a founding member of AFDI.  His post is titled “Start The Revolution.”  Among other things, this inbred neckdrooler is urging his drones to:

Take out the talking head media; and burn the Washington Post, New York Times and L.A. Times to the ground.  Take out the incumbent leaders of both parties in Congress.  Eliminate the faculty of Harvard, Yale, NYU, Columbia and the University of California at Santa Barbara.  (What, not Berkeley?)  Bill Ayers, Angeles Davis and Bernie Dohrn are to be boiled in canola oil.

He also wants the governors of New York, California, Ohio, Illinois, Washington, Florida and Massachusetts to be “thrown into the fiery pits… from which there is no escape.”  And he isn’t finished yet:  “I’ll think of something suitable for Hilary Clinton.”

I have no idea what the rightwing governors of Ohio and Florida could’ve possibly done to offend their fellow wacktard.  But [ahem] in an ideal scenario, John Joseph Jay could start his jihad with Rick Scott and John Kasich — and THEN get nabbed by Homeland Security.

(Just Kidding!)

 

Koch Brothers are With the Terrorists!

Koch Industries has been selling huge shipments of petrochemicals to America’s number one enemy — this year’s Hitler — Iran.

Calling all flagwaving, yellow-ribbon-decal-displaying flag-lapel-pin-wearing Patriots:  what’ve you got to say about this?  The Koch Brothers — the creators, masterminds and remote controllers of the “tea party” — have been aiding and abetting the enemy.

Koch Industries has made “improper payments” (i.e. bribes)  to win contracts in foreign countries, including Iran.  Their deal with Iran is in violation of U.S. law.  They’ve been making these bribes since 2002 in countries all over Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Koch Industries products have enabled Iran to build the world’s largest methanol plant.  Again, that country is IRAN.  When we invade Iran, the blood of American soldiers will be on the hands of the Koch Brothers.

Prosecute those Kochsuckers.

Alaska Voters’ Choice: Mining Company Profits or Salmon Habitat

Next week in southwest Alaska’s Lake and Peninsula Borough, voters will have an important choice to make.  This region is home to one of the world’s largest salmon fisheries.  And a gigantic mining conglomerate wants to undertake a huge gold and copper extraction project right here.

Next week’s Save Our Salmon initiative will ask voters whether or not to ban all local extraction/mining activity that could threaten salmon habitat.  Hmmm…one of the world’s largest salmon habitats, or higher profits for a mining company…a resource that renews itself every year, forever (i.e. salmon) vs. a resource that gets extracted from the Earth only once (wreaking havoc in the process), and then that’s it…

The proposed mine would be right above Iliamna Lake, which has more sockeye salmon than anywhere else in the world.  The local Bristol Bay Native Corp., with more than 8,000 shareholders, is opposed to the mine, needless to say.  The company’s CEO said the proposed mine is an “unacceptable risk to Bristol Bay salmon, which have supported our communities for thousands of years.”

Robert Redford has gotten involved in this issue, along with a lot of world-famous chefs.  And some of the biggest-name jewelers have vowed not to sell any gold that comes from this mining project.

The proposed mining project is called Pebble Mine.  It’s being promoted by Pebble Limited Partnership.  It’s a joint venture of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and Anglo American plc.  And that’s enough tangled corporate-speak; my head hurts.

An attorney for the Save Our Salmon group said:  “It's not a NIMBY thing so much as a survival thing.”

He said putting that mine near Iliamna Lake would be like putting a nuclear plant next to an elementary school:

“To these people, it's completely inappropriate and incompatible with the life they want to live.”

School Lunch Fraud

Most Republicans are so obsessed with voter fraud, they’re missing some of America’s other serious problems.  Rampant voter fraud is of course a crucial issue.  The very thought of immigrants, homosexuals, Negroes and poor people actually voting — [gasp] — it’s enough to make decent Americans long for the 1950s.

But now another type of fraud has been brought to America’s attention:  school lunch fraud.

It’s bad enough millions of low-income nobodies get to foist their children on our public schools where they eat for free.  Now, Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R-All Hat No Cattle) has revealed that some of these children aren’t quite low-income enough to qualify for those free lunches they’re getting.  Parasites!

Somebody somewhere is getting Something For Nothing!  And that’s just plain Un-American!

This isn’t the first time Dennis Rehberg has warned The American People about fraud and waste.  Last April, he warned us about another waste of taxpayers’ money:  Pell Grants.  He fumed:

“Why should they go to school?  I never did.”

And God Shall Visit a Plague of Ants Upon the South

And not just ordinary ants, either.  God is punishing Texas and the Southeast with millions of hairy crazy ants.

They move a lot faster than ordinary “picnic” ants.  And they bite.  They’ll eat anything.  They can disable a factory by shorting out electrical equipment.  And when one of these ants gets electrocuted, it emits a chemical scent which throws the entire ant colony into attack mode.

Ouch!  An Angry God is a Creative God.

Pat Roberson where are you???

One high-ranking official in Alabama — who wished to remain anonymous — said:

“Dang it, we just god rid of them there Meskins, and now THIS?!?!”

In other news:  This article is titled Is Global Warming Shrinking Sea Creatures?

Well DUH.  What do you think???  Take a look at this picture of a Great White Shark and decide for yourself.