Who Hijacked Our Country

Judd McMillan: “Everyone Needs to Pass a Drug Test — Except Me”

2012-01-29T15:19:00.000-08:00

State legislator Judd McMillan (R—Piss Fetish) introduced a bill in the Indiana legislature which would require all recipients of government aid to pass a drug test in order to qualify. It’s not yet known whether Judd McMillan would be personally watching while each urine test is administered.

Anyway, the bill was modified by Rep. Ryan Dvorak. Dvorak expanded the bill to include EVERYONE who receives money from the government. And this new expanded wording includes Indiana legislators.

After his bill was modified, Judd “Golden Showers” McMillan promptly withdrew it. Regarding McMillan’s blatant double standard, Ryan Dvorak said:

“After it passed, Rep. McMillan got pretty upset and pulled his bill. If anything, I think it points out some of the hypocrisy. If we’re going to impose standards on drug testing, then it should apply to everybody who receives government money.”

Amen.

Marco Rubio vs. Marco Rubio

2012-01-28T17:16:00.000-08:00

Marco Rubio — the teabaggers’ Great Hispanic Hope. Rightwing demagogues can spend four years bashing those swarthy immigrants who’ve ruined our country. They can conjure up all sorts of ugly ethnic stereotypes to get their inbred audiences all fired up. And then — Presto! — four years of race-baiting will be magically undone when Marco Rubio gets picked to be Mitt Romney’s running mate.

And now it turns out — there are TWO Marco Rubios. There’s Marco Rubio the tight-fisted fiscal conservative. He’s watching out for YOUR tax dollars. Social Security and Medicare have created a nation of dependent helpless parasites, and Marco Rubio will stand up for America and rescue her from these incentive-sapping nanny state bureaucrats.

And then there’s Marco Rubio the reckless irresponsible spendthrift. His own mortgage is underwater. And after being audited, he owed the IRS $16,000. That’s because he had been “using his party credit card for personal use.”

How’s that “personal responsibility” thingy workin’ out for ya?

Online Database for Credit Card Customers’ Complaints

2012-01-27T20:10:00.000-08:00

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been collecting people’s complaints about credit card companies, and the bureau is planning to set up a website where the public can view these complaints. An informed consumer is less likely to be gouged and shat on.

Haven’t we had enough yet? Gazillions of dollars in hidden fees, interest rates that double or triple without notice and for “reasons” that are flimsy to non-existent — most of these sleight-of-hand ripoffs would be eliminated through the transparency of an online complaint database.

Cockroaches scurry back into the nearest crack when somebody turns on the lights. And that’s exactly what sleazy bankers will do when their bait-and-switch “Gotcha!” tactics are displayed in front of God and everyone.

Needless to say, banks and credit card companies are trying to block the CFPB from creating this database. They don’t want anyone lifting up that rock and showing the public what those slippery creatures are doing underneath it.

If you would like the CFPB to create this online database of credit card customers‘ complaints, please sign this petition.

Low IQ + Wingnuttery = Bigotry

2012-01-26T16:35:00.000-08:00

We already knew this, but now a new study has distilled it down to an equation. Basically: dumber-than-dirt child grows up (chronologically that is) and is attracted to conservative ideas. The most appealing parts of conservatism — for dumbfucks — are resistance to change and the idea of a hierarchy.

After being mesmerized by these rightwing soundbites, Mr. or Ms. Bone-Stupid becomes part of the hierarchy, and — Presto! “Hey, we got us a pecking order, and them dark-skinned folks is lower than me, huh huh huh uh uh uh.”

These findings came from a study at Brock University in Ontario, which was conducted by Gordon Hodson. Among other things, the study found that people of limited intelligence generally have less contact with other ethnic groups. Gordon Hodson said:

“This finding is consistent with recent research demonstrating that intergroup contact is mentally challenging and cognitively draining, and consistent with findings that contact reduces prejudice.”

He also said that solid unbending rightwing beliefs are appealing to those who have trouble grasping the world’s complexities:

“Socially conservative ideologies tend to offer structure and order. Unfortunately, many of these features can also contribute to prejudice.”

Another psychologist, Brian Nosek — who was not involved in the study — said:

“They've pulled off the trifecta of controversial topics. When one selects intelligence, political ideology and racism and looks at any of the relationships between those three variables, it's bound to upset somebody.”

Gee, ya think? I’m guessing one of two things will happen: This story will be suppressed and ignored, or the shit will hit the fan.

Global Crackdown on Contaminated Meat

2012-01-25T18:40:00.000-08:00

The European Union, China and Taiwan — among other countries — have stopped importing tainted, chemical-laden meat from a certain backward country whose safety standards are lagging behind the rest of the world. Yes, that’s us.

Ractopamine hydrochloride is a drug that’s fed to pigs and other livestock. The FDA approved this drug thirteen years ago, but most other countries have banned it. I guess it comes down to what a government’s priorities are: public health or agri-business profits.

Ractopamine hydrochloride causes severe illness in the pigs, cattle and turkeys to whom it’s fed. There’s also been speculation — nothing proven yet — that these same health hazards are passed on to the people who eat these animals.

In a related story, California recently passed a state law requiring the immediate euthanization of any livestock animals that were too sick to walk. The law also prohibited the sale of these animals for meat. But that law has been overturned by the Corporate Arm of the Republican Party (formerly known as the U.S. Supreme Court).

Since business lobbyists are always talking about free enterprise — the invisible hand of the marketplace — you’d think they would figure out the obvious: In order to export their products, they need to be selling a product that other countries would like to buy.

Our bought-and-paid-for legislators certainly aren’t going to tell their agri-business pimps what to do. If they want to sell meat made from animals that were too sick to even stand up, and from animals that were raised on a hazardous growth hormone — let the marketplace decide.

Except — well, the global marketplace HAS decided. Being shrewd business people, Big Ag has probably figured out that they can export more of their products by adopting some basic safety standards on their own. Right?

Nope. U.S. trade officials are trying to armtwist other countries into importing our tainted products, health hazards and all.

Ah, free enterprise.

“An Economy That’s Built to Last”

2012-01-24T20:46:00.000-08:00

YES!!!

President Obama delivered one Hell of a State of the Union speech tonight, and “an economy that’s built to last” was the best soundbite I’ve heard in eons.

Tonight’s speech was as rousing and as articulate as any speech I can remember. If it’s true that President Obama is better at speaking and campaigning than he is at leading and standing up to Republicans, then the solution is to spend more time at the bully pulpit. Take these issues directly to The People while Congress just sits there playing with themselves.

His speech had that perfect combination of being unifying, upbeat, reaching out to everybody — and being firm at the same time:

“The state of our union is getting stronger, and we've come too far to turn back now. As long as I'm president, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place.”

I forget who the commentators were after the SOTU speech, but they made the point that the more positive, upbeat, optimistic candidate usually wins the presidency. Populism can be very infectious and unifying, but the speaker has to be careful not to sound too negative or resentful. And then one of them described Obama’s speech as “optimistic populism.”

I like it.

And then, right on cue, Mitch Daniels delivered the Republican response. In contrast to Obama’s hope and optimism, Mitch Daniels’ speech was basically:

“Boohoohooohooooooohooooooo” “Waaaaaaaahhhhhh” “It’s just awful” “We’re sinking!!!”

Way to go. May the more positive optimistic party win the White House.

“Negroes Are Shiftless and Lazy”

2012-01-24T13:24:00.000-08:00

by Newt Gingrich

And all they care about is food stamps. More on that later…

First, the good news. Asians. These are the real go-getters, the people with the strongest work ethic and a sense of entrepreneurship. And they’re good at math.

But they can’t drive. And you know what they say about Japanese women, when they spread their — OOPS, uh, wrong venue. Anyway…

Latinos — now there’s hope for at least some of these people. Most of them just want to join gangs and hang out in the streets. But some of them really do have that business sense, that entrepreneurial talent. If only they weren’t so hot-tempered. And each and every one of them carries a switchblade.

OK, back to the Negro. Now I realize this may offend some of those politically-correct elitists in the liberal media, but come on, we all know this. Let’s not kid ourselves. Blacks, African-Americans, whatever you want to call them — see, I didn’t use the N-word — these people are just lazy. They have no work ethic, and even if they did, they have no sense of entrepreneurship whatsoever. But give them food stamps and a crack pipe and they’re happy as clams.

Or as a close friend of mine once said, the only three things they care about are loose shoes, a warm place to sleep and, uhh, damn it, I can’t remember what the third thing was. But anyway, you know what I’m saying.

I know this is a little blunt, and I’ve probably lost the black and Latino vote. But that doesn’t matter. My friends at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and other “bill mills” have been grinding out dozens of assembly-line voter suppression laws — one for every red state. So the voters whom I’ve alienated — they won’t be voting anyway. So there.

England Might Close Mitt Romney’s Bank Account

2012-01-23T17:39:00.000-08:00

The U.S. government doesn’t seem to have a problem with large corporations and wealthy individuals hiding their money in foreign bank accounts, thereby sleazing their way out of paying jillions of dollars in taxes.

England, on the other hand, does. And the Cayman Islands — one of the world’s largest offshore tax shelters — are a British territory. Mitt Romney and Bain Capital have huge accounts hidden in the Cayman Islands.

There’s been a motion introduced in the House of Commons to close the Cayman Islands as a tax haven. The motion was introduced by John Cryer, former member of the British Treasury Select Committee. The motion “calls on the UK government to introduce urgent legislation to help close tax havens and increase transparency so that the very richest pay their fair share of tax in their respective countries.”

John Cryer said:

“I think it is a disgrace that the Cayman Islands, a tax haven, can enable wealthy corporations and individuals such as Mitt Romney and others in the wealthiest 1% to avoid tax and still be cloaked in secrecy. Meanwhile all across the western world, hard-working people are seeing their living standards and take-home pay stagnate or reduced.”

What will Poor Mittens do if his secret piggy bank gets smoked out? Who knows, he might have to start chipping in on that war with Iran that he keeps clamoring for.

Federal Election Commission: the REAL Culprit Behind Huge Anonymous Campaign Contributions

2012-01-22T17:11:00.000-08:00

Don’t get me wrong. The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision sucks balls. Citizens United overturned decades of restrictions on political campaign funding; basically saying America is for sale to the highest bidder.

But Citizens United had nothing to do with disclosure rules requiring wealthy campaign donors to reveal their identities. The culprit behind these anonymous campaign contributions is the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

The Federal Election Commission has taken already-existing campaign disclosure rules and basically “re-interpreted” them into oblivion. Under the FEC’s new “interpretation,” campaign donors still have to identify themselves — but only if the donor has specifically stated how the money is supposed to be spent.

Let’s say you’ve donated a million dollars to a militant anti-abortion group. If you’ve specifically told this group “I want you to spend this money on TV ads attacking pro-choice candidates,” then your identity has to be revealed. But if you’ve given a million dollars to this same group without specifying how you want them to spend the money — what the fuck else are they going to spend it on? — then you’re allowed to keep hiding under your rock. You can purchase an election and the lowly public won’t even know who purchased it.

Last April, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D—Maryland) filed a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission, trying to get them to “un-reinterpret” the already-existing disclosure rules. A month ago the FEC voted on a motion to consider Van Hollen’s request. The vote was 3 to 3; the tie vote killed the motion. Needless to say, the three No votes came from the three Republican appointees to the FEC.

While the Supreme Court gets vilified for its Citizens United ruling — and rightly so — nobody even knows the names of the three FEC commissioners who are allowing wealthy campaign donors to keep cowering in the shadows while they purchase one election after another.

Those three names are: Caroline Hunter, Donald McGahn II and Matthew Petersen.

Anonymous — get busy.

Reduced Funding for Education; MORE funding for Biblical Theme Park

2012-01-21T16:58:00.000-08:00

Priorities, don’t you know. Because of his state’s severe budget crisis, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear wants a 6.4% reduction in education funding.

At the same time, Governor Beshear is planning a $43 million tax break for The Ark Encounter — a Biblical theme park. The park includes a 500-foot by 75-foot simulation of Noah’s Ark.

Hallelujah! We never needed that there booklarnin’ anyway.

The state budget also includes $11 million to improve a highway interchange that just happens to be near the park.

Proponents of the Ark Encounter have claimed that the park will create jobs by boosting tourism. This claim is based on a study that was done by — you guessed it — the developers of the Ark Encounter.

Etta James

2012-01-20T15:57:00.000-08:00

Etta James has passed away at the age of 73. The cause of death was leukemia. I’m glad I got a chance to see her in concert — Inn of the Beginning, Cotati, CA, 1980.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame President Terry Stewart said:

“Etta James was a pioneer. Her ever-changing sound has influenced rock and roll, rhythm and blues, pop, soul and jazz artists, marking her place as one of the most important female artists of our time. From Janis Joplin to Joss Stone, an incredible number of performers owe their debts to her. There is no mistaking the voice of Etta James, and it will live forever.”

Her hits included “Dance With Me Henry,” “At Last,” “Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” “Stop the Wedding” and “It Must Be Love.”

Her career started in the early 1950s when she was discovered by Johnny Otis, who coincidentally passed away just yesterday at age 90. Johnny Otis was best known for his 1960 (give or take a year) hit “Willie and the Hand Jive.” But he was a huge behind-the-scenes player all through the 1950s and ‘60s.

Beyoncé played the role of Etta James in the 2008 movie Cadillac Records. In response to Etta James’ death, Beyoncé released the following statement:

“This is a huge loss. Etta James was one of the greatest vocalists of our time. I am so fortunate to have met such a queen. Her musical contributions will last a lifetime. Playing Etta James taught me so much about myself, and singing her music inspired me to be a stronger artist. When she effortlessly opened her mouth, you could hear her pain and triumph. Her deeply emotional way of delivering a song told her story with no filter. She was fearless, and had guts. She will be missed.”

R.I.P.

“Newt Gingrich is like the Italian Cruise Ship Captain”

2012-01-19T18:44:00.000-08:00

ZING!!!

I hate to actually agree on something with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. But you know what they say about a broken clock being right twice a day.

Tony Perkins said:

“I think, especially in the evangelical community, they understand the issue of forgiveness. But that does not necessarily translate into endorsing for leadership. When you look at the captain of the Costa Concordia, the guy who abandoned his responsibility — I mean, who’s going to put him in charge of a cruise ship again? I’m not getting on that cruise ship.”

And come to think of it, there are some other parallels between Newt Gingrich and Captain Francesco Schettino of the Costa Concordia captain. For instance:

Newt Gingrich’s reason for presenting his first wife with divorce papers while she was in the hospital undergoing cancer treatments: he was overcome by an uncontrollable patriotic love for America.

The reason Captain Francesco Schettino deserted the sinking Costa Concordia: he tripped and fell into a lifeboat.

Now what if these two wiggly slippery creatures switched places? If Captain Francesco Schettino took Newt Gingrich's place on the campaign trail — could anyone tell the difference?

Keystone Oil Pipeline — IXNAY!!!

2012-01-18T14:33:00.000-08:00

And let’s drive a stake through its heart once and for all.

President Obama has REJECTED the Keystone Pipeline project.

YAY!!!

Republicans tried to back Obama into a corner. They thought they had maneuvered him into one of those awkward “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” positions. It was supposed to be a paralyzing dilemma: veto the project and be portrayed as “job-killing” or approve the project and alienate environmentalists.

Obama had until sometime in February to approve or disapprove the Keystone project. This was an amendment that Republicans attached to the two-month payroll tax cut extension. Republicans thought he’d spend the entire two months squirming, paralyzed with indecision. Instead, he quickly and decisively VETOED it.

Now THIS is the exact kind of in-your-face decisiveness we’ve been waiting for. You go Mr. President.

A few months ago, Chris Christie was in this exact same scenario. This was when he was still the Great Republican Hope. There was a bill on his desk, which supposedly put him in that same rock/hard-place position. If he signed the bill he’d alienate this group; if he vetoed it he’d alienate that group. What would he do? Chris Christie called a press conference, walked up to the podium, took out a pen and, without a second’s hesitation, vetoed the bill.

Everyone ooh-ed and ahh-ed over Christie’s bold decisiveness and “what’re you gonna do about it” manner. And now President Obama is taking the same approach.

YES!!!

And the Republican hissy-fit has already started. Someone from the National Republican Congressional Committee tweeted:

“U just turned ur back on 20k american workers & energy security what r u gonna do next?”

And that brings us to another rightwing talking point that’s been parroted endlessly by oil industry prostitutes and their gullible listeners: The number of jobs that would have been created by the Keystone Pipeline is 6,000. NOT 20,000. Yes, 6,000 jobs is a lot of jobs. Repairing and maintaining the infrastructure would create a lot more jobs than that.

Again, that number is 6,000. NOT 20,000. OK!?!?!?

January 18th, 2012: The Day the Internet Stood Still

2012-01-17T16:01:00.000-08:00

A day without the Internet. Some of the most heavily used websites will go dark tomorrow. They will be protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261) and the Protect IP Act (S. 968). Maybe “protest” isn’t accurate. Tomorrow’s Internet blackout will illustrate what the Internet will become if either of those two abortional laws ever get passed.

Those two bills take terms like “corporate welfare” to a whole new level — bringing the Internet to a grinding halt just so the government can guarantee the profits of a few Hollywood/Media CEOs.

Anyway, tomorrow will be an “interesting” day on the Internet. Web searches, news gathering, political/social networking, blogging — it’s gonna be some slim pickins.

Here is a list of confirmed participants in tomorrow’s Web Strike.

“Why can’t they just hire a lobbyist like everyone else?”

2012-01-16T19:01:00.000-08:00

The above quote is the twenty-first century’s answer to “let them eat cake.” Here’s the background:

As part of their ongoing protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the hacktivist group Anonymous has published the personal information of two of the most powerful media titans in the U.S. That would be Time Warner CEO Jeffrey L. Bewkes, and Sumner M. Redstone of CBS and Viacom.

This is part of Anonymous’ “Operation Hiroshima” — the group’s war on high-ranking politicians and media VIPs who are pushing SOPA and its Senate companion, the Protect IP Act. As you probably know, these two bills would basically bring the Internet to a grinding halt in order to protect the profits of a few Hollywood and music industry CEOs.

Anyway, about the title of this post: another one of Operation Hiroshima’s targets was a congressman (not named in the linked article). One of this congressman’s aides, dumbfounded by the level of public anger and the use of such shocking tactics, actually did say:

“Why can’t they just hire a lobbyist like everyone else?”

Why indeed. That’s exactly what I was thinking earlier today as I was driving my Ferrari from an investors’ meeting to the yacht club. The above quotation reminds me of a joke I heard a long time ago:

There was a kid from an incredibly wealthy old-money family. He had the most sheltered pampered life imaginable. He was now in his mid twenties, having gone to one expensive prep school after another and obtained several college degrees. And now he was starting his first job — with an advertising agency. On his first day at work, his co-workers were coming up with an ad campaign, and they decided to run the commercial on the following Sunday afternoon. And the sheltered kid said “Sunday afternoon? But nobody will see the ad on Sunday afternoon. That’s when everybody’s out playing polo.”

OK, so it’s not the most side-splitting joke you’ve ever heard. But that line always stuck with me as an example of someone being so sheltered inside a magic bubble that he actually thinks everybody else is equally sheltered and pampered. And now an unknown aide to an unnamed congressman has shown — once again — that you can’t make this shit up.

South Carolina: “The South’s Inbreds Will Rise Again!”

2012-01-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

Mitt Romney’s vulture capitalism has already spread beyond the blogosphere and into the mainstream media. It’s part of the national conversation. And now the same thing is about to happen to the red states’ voter suppression laws — also known as Jim Crow 2.0.

Dozens of red states have marched in lockstep to pass these so-called “Voter ID” laws. These laws are supposedly necessary to fight the non-existent problem of “voter fraud.” Millions of qualified voters will be prevented from voting by these new Jim Crow laws — mostly the elderly, people of low income, minorities and the young. Be sheer coincidence, the people in those groups tend to vote Democratic. How conveeenient.

This interstate march-in-unison voter suppression drive has been financed by Koch Industries (among others) and choreographed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Until recently, this issue was confined to liberal blogs and a few non-mainstream news sites.

But now, with the South Carolina primary in full swing, South Carolina’s voter suppression law has burst into the mainstream media and the public consciousness. The Justice Department has already started cracking down on South Carolina’s Jim Crow 2.0 law. Republican candidates are dredging up the same tired “states’ rights” rhetoric they’ve been spouting since the Civil War. This guarantees that Obama won’t carry South Carolina next November; then again he didn’t have a chance in South Carolina anyway.

But what about the rest of the country? South Carolina voters will be perfectly happy to keep on keepin' the nigras down, as they’ve been doing since the 1800s. But most of the country isn’t South Carolina. When voter suppression laws are discussed over backyard fences and in coffee shops all across the country, how will the issue play out? Or as the old saying goes, “will it play in Peoria?”

Meanwhile, back in South Carolina, the local rednecks are having a ‘bacca-spittin’ hissy-fit over the National Guard forcing public schools to allow colored children inside. Er, I mean, the Justice Department cracking down on voter suppression laws. Rick Perry — yesterday he was a raging leftwing populist; today he’s back to his old redneck self — said:

“Each of our states are under assault right now by this administration. We may be under assault — South Carolina, they're actually at war with you.”

Yee Haw! Let’s get them inbreds all fired up.

And last week Rick Santorum said the 2012 election will be the most important election since 1860. He’s since revised that date to 1980. Too late, Frothy — you can't un-ring a bell; you can't push the toothpaste back into the tube.

Romney’s Vulture Capitalism Being Dragged Into the Spotlight

2012-01-13T19:49:00.000-08:00

Ever turn on a kitchen light and see cockroaches scurrying frantically back into the walls? Right now Mitt Romney and his fellow vulture capitalists are trying desperately to scurry back into the shadows. They prefer to do their “work” away from the public eye.

They can run but they can’t hide. Gingrich’s and Perry’s attacks on Romney’s career as a corporate raider — and other rightwingers’ attacks on Perry and Gingrich for “attacking capitalism” — have brought this entire sordid subject into the limelight. They’ve changed the conversation.

Corporate raiders, private equity firms — and whether these companies help the economy or only enrich a few at the expense of the many — this subject is being debated and argued furiously throughout the country. Several months ago you could have put an entire room to sleep if you said “Bain Capital” or “private equity firm.”

This new public scrutiny is the last thing Wall Street wants. They liked it better when the entire subject was too complicated for the public to understand, and too boring for anyone to even care if they understood it or not. Those days are over. The rock has been lifted and the public is getting a close look at those squiggly creepy-crawly creatures squirming in the sunlight.

Newt Gingrich referred to the documentary which exposed Mitt Romney’s “job” record:

“Now, this rattled a number of so-called conservatives, who say that to challenge where the money went and to challenge what deals were cut is to be anti-free enterprise. I'm not going to back down or be afraid to say we, the American people, have the right to know, and any candidate for president has an obligation to tell us, and I think that these extraordinarily wealthy institutions are going to somehow bring enough pressure to bear to say, 'You better shut up,' tells you just how bad-off the system has gotten.”

Whatever anyone thinks of Gingrich, and whatever his true motives are, that statement was spot on.

While Gingrich and Perry are pretending to be populists so they can derail Romney’s campaign, Romney is being defended by a Who’s Who of the Far Right: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Karl Rove, Jim DeMint, and Rudy Giuliani. Guiliani in particular has made some huge investments in vulture capital firms.

These ongoing arguments and mutual attacks can only be a good thing. The louder the arguments get, the more front-and-center this whole issue will become and the better informed the voters will be.

Scott Walker: “I Am a Crook”

2012-01-12T09:54:00.000-08:00

Wisconsin voters are learning more and more interesting things about their governor as he heads toward a recall vote. Several of Walker’s aides have already been investigated for embezzlement. And now Scott Walker himself is accused of committing 1,115 violations of Wisconsin‘s campaign laws.

How’s that for setting an example?

This report comes from One Wisconsin Now. Under Wisconsin law, a candidate is required to report all contributions exceeding $100. According to the director of One Wisconsin Now:

“Scott Walker has improperly reported well over $500,000 in contributions from inside and outside of Wisconsin. Scott Walker has absolutely no interest in following the campaign finance rules of the state of Wisconsin and we again call for state regulators to address his serial violation of our laws.”

Come on, Wisconsin voters, you can do better than this. Bring on that recall election and get that shitstain out of the Governor’s Mansion.

The Extinction of the Human Race

2012-01-11T00:28:00.000-08:00

Well, the end is almost here. Homo Sapiens, which once strangled the Earth with over seven billion specimens, is nearly extinct now. It didn’t have to be this way.

Back in 2012 A.D., Pope Benedict gave the strongest possible warnings of the dire threat to humanity. He spoke to diplomats from 180 countries. Er, a little background: Back then, huge numbers of Homo Sapiens gathered in settlements called “countries.” Some of these countries had millions of specimens. Hard to picture now, isn’t it?

Anyway, Pope Benedict warned everybody that the homosexual agenda — gay marriage, public “tolerance” of homosexuals in general — would be the beginning of the end for the human race. And nobody listened. They just laughed at him.

And now look what’s happened. It should have been so obvious. When homosexuality became legal — and more widely accepted by more people — well, you know the rest. More and more people turned gay. The only thing preventing them from being gay had been the law. That, and the fear of being ridiculed and ostracized (or worse). After those barriers were removed, billions of people started thinking “Hey, now it’s OK to do what I’ve always wanted to do.”

It was a gradual process, but the world’s human population slowly started dwindling. And dwindling…

It’s looking pretty hopeless now. There are just a few dozen of us left. The good new is: We're all a bunch of virile horny heterosexuals.

The bad news: We're all the same gender.

Media Blackout of Stop Online Piracy Act

2012-01-10T14:09:00.000-08:00

Countless blog posts and “non-mainstream” news sites have been warning us relentlessly about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), H.R. 3261. (The Senate version of the same bill is the Protect IP Act — S. 968.)

This bill is the ultimate example of using a nuclear bomb to kill a mosquito. In order to be 100% certain that nobody anywhere will ever again distribute or download movies or music without paying, the film and recording industries are willing to destroy the Internet. Period. This is NOT an exaggeration.

You can get more information here and here.

Under this proposed law: If a copyright holder complains that a certain blog or website is infringing on his/her copyright, that website will be shut down. No questions, no court hearing, nothing. One complaint — whether valid or not — and the “offending” website will be shut down. Search engines will be forced to de-list any website that’s been accused of violating the Stop Online Piracy Act. And if your own blog is even LINKED to a website that’s been accused of piracy — down you go.

This is more drastic than you’ve even imagined. For example: if someone complains that their copyright has been violated by a post on Facebook or a YouTube video, that entire website could be taken down. No more YouTube because somebody somewhere made a complaint?!?!?!

This bill is being pushed through Congress by three small — but incredibly wealthy — organizations: the film industry, the recording industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Search engines and Internet Service Providers — not exactly struggling mom-and-pop companies — are lobbying against this bill. But they’ve been outspent four to one by the film and recording industries.

This bill is quietly — very quietly! — working its way through Congress, with strong support from both parties. And there’s no indication that Obama will veto the bill if it reaches his desk.

A few politicians — of both parties — are alarmed by the Stop Online Piracy Act and are trying to fight it or at least water it down. Paul Ryan has warned that the bill could lead to mass censorship. Ron Wyden and Darrell Issa introduced a less extreme watered-down version of the bill, but it was defeated in the House.

Again, this bill has been warned about and argued about, all over the Internet, by millions of people. And yet, you’ve never seen or heard ONE mention of this bill in ANY mainstream publication or website.

Could that be because so many “news” corporations and movie studios are owned by the same people? Nah — just a coincidence.

A few millionaires are ready and willing to destroy the Internet just to make sure their own profits keep going up and up and up. And most of the public doesn’t even know about this. If you would like the mainstream “news” media to take a brief moment away from the Kardashians to warn the public that their Internet access could be gone forever —Please Sign This Petition.

Iran Not Developing Nuclear Weapons

2012-01-09T16:02:00.000-08:00

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said this yesterday on Face The Nation:

“I think the pressure of the sanctions, the diplomatic pressures from everywhere, Europe, the United States, elsewhere, it’s working to put pressure on them…Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No.”

Sorry, chickenhawks — your wetdream has been thwarted. It was all just a tease.

Maybe President Mitt “war is heck” Romney will attack Iran. Until then, the warmongering inbreds will have to fly their chickenhawk flag at half mast.

Millions of keyboard warriors having their phallic war fantasies derailed — that’s a lot of frustrated people. Chickenhawks with blueballs. These poor pitiful creatures have spent months entertaining the most graphic dreams and images of “Ugh! Battleships, missiles, bullets — penetrating deep deep deep into Iran! Ugh!”

It was almost complete. Almost, almost, almost, and then:

Not tonight, chickenhawks — the Pentagon has a headache.

The New Redneck Math

2012-01-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

The school district of Gwinnett County, Georgia, has found a way to make arithmetic a lot more interesting. There’s no sense boring your students shitless with a bunch of dry, sterile numbers when you can inject some life into those tired old math problems.

For example:

You have a barroom full of inbred rednecks. The combined IQ of all of those rednecks is 100, and their average IQ is ten. Ready? How many rednecks are in the room?

Now isn’t this a lot more fun than “one hundred divided by ten is…[yawn]…”

Here’s another example:

There’s a bunch of teabaggers holding a spontaneous demonstration on behalf of Koch Industries. One third of the teabaggers are holding up misspelled signs. Sixty teabaggers have managed to spell everything right. How many misspelled signs are there?

Now THIS is the way to make that mundane old arithmetic more enjoyable; something for the kids to look forward to. And here’s a bonus question:

If Mitch McConnell has 57 chins, how many ounces of vodka can John Boehner glug down while he’s spreadeagled underneath a Wall Street lobbyist?

Is Your Dog Smarter Than You?

2012-01-07T15:19:00.000-08:00

According to this article — Does Your Dog Know What You’re Thinking? — dogs excel in a specific type of intelligence. They can read a person’s facial expressions and body language, and based on these readings they can anticipate what the person wants them to do.

I actually saw a newspaper article at least fifteen years ago saying this exact same thing, so this isn’t anything new. In that earlier article, dogs outperformed pigs and monkeys — both considered generally smarter than dogs — when it came to anticipating what a person was going to do.

That previous article went a lot further. The upshot was: what a dog owner perceives as loyalty and blind devotion is actually just plain shrewdness. Your obedient devoted dog is actually more like a shrewd, observant employee who knows exactly what the boss wants to hear.

Nothing like shattering the sacred beliefs of millions of people. No wonder that article was never expanded on and the whole subject stayed hush-hush for years.

That article’s theory was that dogs are pack animals. In the wild, they’re instinctively attuned to the leader of the pack, a thousand percent. Their survival depends on it.. For domesticated dogs, the leader of the pack is a human.

Cats on the other hand are solitary in the wild. (Lions are the only exception that I know of.) That’s why house cats — according to all the stereotypes anyway — are completely aloof and detached and couldn’t care less about their owner or anybody else. Or as a San Francisco columnist once described the feline mindset: “I hate you feed me.”

Cat owners — or more accurately, people who are owned by their cat(s) — know otherwise, of course.

Mitt Romney: Job Creator. NOT!

2012-01-06T12:40:00.000-08:00

It’s already well known that Mitt Romney eliminated zillions of jobs during his career at Bain Capital and other private equity firms. Hopefully, the Democrats’ TV commercials will drive this point home relentlessly to everyone who doesn’t already know this.

But it gets even better. This is the most specific item yet about Romney’s distinguished “career.” A Kansas City, MO steel mill, Worldwide Grinding Systems, went out of business less than ten years after Bain Capital became the company’s majority shareholder. Romney was CEO of Bain Capital during this period.

Worldwide Grinding Systems had been in business since 1888. When the company folded, its workers were denied the severance pay and health coverage they’d been promised. And their retirement pensions were reduced by $400 a month. Nice job Mitt.

And the flipflops get even better too. Mitt Romney has already performed more flipflops on more issues than any creature in the universe. And now this: Romney was against the Wall Street bailout of 2008 — when George W. Bush was president — and he was against Obama’s bailout of the auto industry. But when Worldwide Grinding Systems went bankrupt — thank you Mitt Romney — the company received a $44 million bailout from the federal government.

And after the dust settled, Bain Capital ended up making a $4 million dollar profit — plus $4.5 million in consulting fees — from purchasing and destroying Worldwide Grinding Systems.

Does anybody seriously want this leech in the White House??? What Bain CEO Mitt Romney did to Worldwide Grinding Systems, President Mitt Romney will do to America.

Richard Cordray Hits the Ground Running

2012-01-05T15:55:00.000-08:00

After months and months of blocking, squelching and obstructing by Congress, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is up and running. The agency’s new chief — Richard Cordray, appointed by President Obama via recess appointment — is all set to start cracking down on corporate loan sharks.

Under the wording of the Dodd-Frank financial oversight law, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has already been able to regulate banks, but unable to regulate other types of lenders until the agency had a director. And now it does. Richard Cordray told an audience:

“We are determined to deliver positive results for American consumers. We must establish clear standards of conduct so that all financial providers play by the rules. The consumer bureau will make clear that there are real consequences to breaking the law.”

Ouch! No wonder Wall Street thugs have been fighting this agency tooth and nail.

Since the CFPB is no longer limited to regulating banks only, Cordray’s first target is the shadow banking industry. This includes those ubiquitous payday lenders — there are over 70,000 of them — mortgage servicers, and the providers of those inflated booby-trapped student loans. Go get ‘em!

And that’s not all. Another thing the CFPB is able to do — now that it finally has a director — is go after the corporate-owned fox-guarding-the-henhouse mandatory arbitration system. This is how the financial industry has been keeping its customers locked out of the legal system and forced into a corporate-rigged kangaroo court which is always stacked in favor of the company. It must be nice to be able to investigate yourself and conclude that you’ve done nothing wrong.

Hopefully that sleazy tactic will come to an end soon.

Correction: Obama WILL make Recess Appointment

2012-01-04T11:53:00.000-08:00

My post yesterday was based on the news that President Obama would not be making any recess appointments during Congress’ year-end adjournment. But now the story has changed: The President IS going to use this recess period to appoint Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

YES!!!!!!!

Wall Street has been desperate — frantic! — to derail the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB is designed to rein in at least some of the reckless Wall Street gambling that caused the 2008 global meltdown. Consequently, Wall Street has instructed its Republican prostitutes in Congress to block every candidate the President nominates to head this agency. And the Republicans have spread their legs as ordered.

Elizabeth Warren — who basically created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — was Obama’s first choice to head the agency. After being repeatedly blocked by Wall Street’s hookers, Elizabeth Warren decided to run for the Senate instead. And right now she’s favored to defeat incumbent Scott Brown (R—Massachusetts). Talk about unintended consequences.

Republicans are expected to throw the mother of all tantrums over Obama’s recess appointment of Richard Cordray. The country will be smothered with rightwing talking points about Obama over-reaching, overusing his executive authority, being a dictator, etc. The facts — fact is a four-letter word if you’re a Republican — speak otherwise:

President Obama has made far fewer recess appointments than any of his recent predecessors. G.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, G.H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan had all made a lot more recess appointments by this point in their presidencies than Obama has.

Please keep that simple fact in mind when Rush O’Hannity and the Foxsuckers start spewing their bilge into the airwaves.

Republicans Change Their Minds about Obama: “He’s Pretty Cool After All”

2012-01-03T13:33:00.000-08:00

Who would’ve guessed? For nearly three years, President Obama has been repeatedly capitulating and compromising with Republicans. I never understood why. Was he afraid they wouldn’t like him if he stood up and did what he said he was going to do? Or did he think that the 874th time he bent over for them, they’d suddenly realize what a nice guy he is, and they’d all go “hey, he’s all right!”

But I stand corrected. Apparently President Obama knew what he was doing all along. His two most recent cave-ins have finally yielded the acceptance he’s been craving. Obama had a chance to propose raising the debt ceiling, to keep the Republicans from taking America hostage every time they want something. This would have required a vote of approval from the House, but the vote would have to be held within two weeks and — oh darn it — Congress is on recess until mid-January. A golden opportunity! But Obama decided to wait until after Congress is back in session to make his proposal on raising the debt ceiling.

And now it seems Obama will NOT be using this recess period to make any appointments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and/or the National Labor Relations Board. [sigh]

But this time, for some odd reason, Obama's M.O. has worked! Republicans have suddenly decided that Obama is OK after all. Mitch McConnell (R—Ku Klux Klan) said:

“Aw, we was just puttin’ the boy through his paces. Sort of like an initiation, you might say. Except most initiations don’t go on and on for three years, heh heh. But now the boy has run every gauntlet we’ve put down in front of him. As far as I’m concerned, he’s one of us now. I reckon he can even come in through the front door if he wants to.”

John Boehner (R—Jack Daniels) said:

“I kept wanting to tell ol’ Baracky that thish whole thing wazh just shum short of initiashushun ritual, but my GOP buddies made me promish not to tell. It wazh not easy. Every time we played golf together, I wazh afraid the truth would shlip out. And now that heeezh my buddyroo, weezh gonna go and hazh a reberzhabb haberzhober zhu shish…”

Now that they’re all one big happy family, President Obama might reconsider some of his already-accomplished legislation. He was overheard saying “Government regulation of the health insurance industry? What was I thinking?”

George Will Exposes the Sinister Motives of “Environmentalists”

2012-01-02T00:44:00.000-08:00

Well, it’s been a nice ride, but the jig is up. Our phony “concern” over the environment has enabled us to create a huge all-encompassing socialist nanny state. But now George Will has exposed us. It looks like we’ll have to come up with another gimmick with which to brainwash even more millions of Americans into surrendering their freedom and liberty.

I can’t speak for any of my fellow Big Government Liberals. They might choose to continue with their crocodile tears over the environment, as a means toward achieving our agenda of destroying free enterprise. But I don't think this tactic will work much longer. Thanks to George Will — and various think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the Heartland Institute — the American People have seen through our ruse.

So I’m going to go ahead and come clean: I personally don't give a flying fuck about the environment, clean air, drinkable water or a bunch of smelly animals. It was just a ploy to achieve greater government control over every facet of every American’s daily life. And it worked. We've created layers and layers and layers of stifling federal bureaucracy, and we've destroyed millions of productive jobs. But there is still so much more to do. We will need to find another gimmick, another smokescreen, with which to achieve our Socialist Agenda.

George Will nailed it: the last straw for me and my fellow Socialists was the fact that in 2011, America became a net exporter of petroleum products. Damn it! As George Will puts it:

“Because progressivism exists to justify a few people bossing around most people and because progressives believe that only government’s energy should flow unimpeded, they crave energy scarcities as an excuse for rationing — by them — that produces ever-more-minute government supervision of Americans’ behavior.”

He also says:

“An all-purpose rationale for rationing in its many permutations has been the progressives’ preferred apocalypse, the fear of climate change. But environmentalism as the thin end of an enormous wedge of regulation and redistribution is a spent force.”

In other words, our cover has been blown. We need to come up with a new one. Our ultimate goal remains the same, of course: a gigantic smothering Orwellian nanny state which will completely stamp out every last shred of individual initiative.

I just HATE it when somebody starts a successful business and makes money from it. Building a better mousetrap? That’s the responsibility of the GOVERNMENT, not some uppity individual. I absolutely LIVE for the thrill of confiscating somebody’s hard-earned money and redistributing it to his next door neighbor who refuses to work.

Comrades, do not be discouraged. We will bury them. For the moment, it’s back to the drawing board. But we WILL ultimately achieve our agenda of brainwashing, enslaving and micro-managing the American People.

Da!

2011: Gone in 100 Seconds

2011-12-30T16:37:00.000-08:00

This was the year that was.

“Insane on the Campaign”

2011-12-29T12:34:00.000-08:00

You can be horrified — mortified! — at the parade of wackjob sickfuck GOP candidates campaigning in Iowa. Or you can kick back and laugh at the absurdity. Flavor Flav is the campaign moderator for “Insane on the Campaign” (to the tune of Cypress Hill’s “Insane in the Membrane”).

Check it out.

Obama’s Recess “Dilemma”

2011-12-28T18:02:00.000-08:00

Should President Obama use this brief end-of-the-year recess period to squeeze in as many recess appointments as humanly possible? Does the Pope shit in the woods?

This article — Obama’s Recess Dilemma — warns of the political risks involved if Obama takes advantage of this recess period.

Risks? Oh my God, now that I think about it, Congressional Republicans might not be nice to him any more. Bitch McConnell and Jim DeMented might come right out and say that their top priority is to make Obama a one-term president. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce might say mean things about him and start raising money for his opponents. The Koch Brothers might call him a “hardcore socialist.”

We certainly wouldn’t want this sort of thing to happen now, would we?

The Republicans have done everything they possibly could to derail Obama’s every move. When there’s a roadblock — or in this case a huge mountain of shit in the middle of the road — you have to go around. Take a detour. Make those recess appointments!

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been basically unable to function since the agency was created — much to the joy of Wall Street lobbyists and their Republican prostitutes. First, Republicans blocked Elizabeth Warren, who basically designed this agency, from heading it. And they’ve also blocked Richard Cordray — Obama’s second choice — from heading the agency. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was designed to PREVENT another repeat of the 2008 Wall Street meltdown, and there’s been nobody in charge of this agency since its creation. This is entirely because of Republicans’ continued obstruction. For God’s sake, use this recess period to appoint Richard Cordray.

The National Labor Relations Board is just about to lose its ability to function; again because of Republicans blocking every appointment. The Board has five positions, but only three of these positions are filled. And that third position, which was filled via recess appointment last year, is about to expire. With only two people and three vacant positions, the Board will not have quorum. Republicans think this is great; people who work for a living might think otherwise. Again: Recess Appointment.

I have no idea how many dozens, scores of high-ranking federal positions remain unfilled after years of Republicans blocking, holding and filibustering every appointment Obama tries to make.

That phrase again: recess appointment. Do it!

112th Congress: the Worst Congress EVER

2011-12-27T15:04:00.000-08:00

And the fun is only half over. This article gives eight reasons the 112th Congress is the most Godawful pitiful collection of oxygen-wasting whores EVER.

As the article says, they were designated the Worst Congress Ever last July, and they haven’t shown any improvement since then. In October, the public gave Congress a 9% approval rating. That’s 7 percentage points lower than BP’s approval rating at the height of the Gulf oil spill.

And how did the 112th Congress earn the title of Worst Congress Ever?

By ignoring the country’s most pressing problems so they could waste time and tax dollars with: reading the entire Constitution on the House floor; and affirming “In God We Trust” as America’s national motto. Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

They brought the country to its first credit downgrade by wallowing and dithering and stalling and bickering over the debt ceiling until the last second — barely averting America’s first-ever credit default.

And how about that Super Committee? When they failed to reach an agreement, they KNEW that this failure would trigger certain automatic budget cuts. But instead of accepting their self-created consequences, they wailed “oohhh, you’re not really going to cut the defense budget, are you??? NOOO!!!” Sort of like a high school student who willingly fails to turn in a term paper, and then sobs “Oh, you’re not really going to give me an F, are you???”

Oh, and they ruled that pizza is a vegetable. Careful now. About thirty years ago, somebody declared Ketchup to be a vegetable. A few years later, that person himself became a vegetable.

Then again, if House Republicans all turned into vegetables — how could we tell?

Legalized Online Gambling: New Gold Mine for State Governments?

2011-12-26T13:13:00.000-08:00

The Obama Administration has re-interpreted the Wire Act of 1961. Under the previous interpretation of this law, ALL online gambling has been prohibited, period. With the Justice Department’s new interpretation, the Wire Act only applies to bets on sporting events or contests. Everything else — lottery tickets, Internet poker, etc. — is now up to each individual state.

I. Nelson Rose, a gaming law expert, said:

“The United States Department of Justice has given the online gaming community a big, big present” and that the Justice Department’s new interpretation will eliminate “almost every federal anti-gambling law that could apply to gaming that is legal under state laws.”

Theoretically, state governments will be able to bring in another huge source of revenue by legalizing Internet poker or creating online lotteries.

Think it’ll work this way?

Merry Christmas from Around the World

2011-12-24T14:48:00.000-08:00

¡Feliz Navidad

Joyeux Noël

Frohe Weihnachten

Gëzuar Krishtlindjet

Շնորհավոր Սուրբ Ծնունդ:

Весела Коледа

Glædelig jul

Häid jõule

메리 크리스마스

Maligayang Pasko

Nadolig Llawen

メリークリスマス

मेरी क्रिसमस

Happy Festivus

President Obama’s Signature Failure in Iraq

2011-12-23T01:47:00.000-08:00

by Mitt Romney

President Barack Obama — by pulling out of Iraq, by playing cut and run — is guilty of Epic Failure. Signature Failure. Songbird McCain was absolutely right: President Obama deserves nothing but “scorn and disdain” for pulling American soldiers out of Iraq.

Now, full disclosure: I come from a wealthy family. Very very wealthy. I’ve had an extremely sheltered pampered life. I wouldn’t know a military uniform if it came up and bit me on the you know what. OK, anyway…

When we were busy fighting in Iraq and still looking for those Weapons of Mass Destruction, we were also building a new American Embassy in Iraq. And this new embassy was going to be the largest embassy in the world. Now, if we were planning to just pull out of Iraq after a brief eight-year skirmish, then why in the H-E double hockey sticks did we spend all that money building the largest embassy in the world? This is the exact kind of financial shortsightedness that a Mitt Romney Administration will NOT tolerate.

And another thing. I know failure when I see it. I bought, castrated and sold a lot of companies during my distinguished career with Bain Capital and other private equity firms. Every time I had to fire an employee — and trust me, I’ve fired jillions of them — I tried to sugarcoat it. You know: “Your position has been eliminated.” “Your job has been outsourced.” “This isn’t your fault; I purposely ran this company into the ground so I could sell it at an obscene profit.” But now that I’m moving onward and upward, I’m going to be totally blunt. Each and every one of those workers I fired was a signature failure. A total loser.

When I become Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America, the motto of the Mitt Romney Administration will be: Failure is NOT an option! America is the Greatest Country In The World! America is unique in all the world. Exceptional! Nobody in my administration will ever EVER apologize for America.

Any country that looks cross-eyed at America, or says anything even slightly disrespectful — we will Invade that country. No, we won’t just invade. We will OCCUPY that country FOREVER. And in each one of these American-occupied countries, America will build the world’s largest embassy; bigger than the “world’s largest embassy” record-holder before it. And right now, that list of countries includes — but is not limited to — Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela…and ANY other country that even THINKS about questioning America’s Exceptionalism.

Come on now, American People. The last of the “not Mitt Romney” flavors of the month have crashed and burned. You’re stuck with me. I’m much too bland and sterile to ever ever have any scandals that would embarrass America. And again, I will never apologize for America. And any time the Mitt Romney Administration invades another country — America will be there for the long haul.

Tax-Exempt Status for Churches Engaging in Political Activity

2011-12-22T13:05:00.000-08:00

Let’s hope this twisted sickfuck bill goes down in flames. Rep. Walter B. Jones (R—Taliban) has introduced a bill that would allow churches to endorse or oppose political candidates and still keep their tax-exempt status.

HR 3600, if passed, would repeal the Johnson Amendment to the Internal Revenue Code. This amendment, named after then-Senator Lyndon Johnson, goes back to 1954. It prohibits churches from campaigning for or against any political candidate.

This is at least the third time this same Biblehump has introduced this same bill in the House. In 2002 Jones’ bill got defeated. In 2007 it never made it out of the House Ways and Means Committee. Let’s hope the third time WON’T be the charm.

Emily Krueger of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State said:

“Religious politicking is a flat-out bad idea for a number of reasons. Making this change would dramatically impact our campaign finance system. Houses of worship are tax exempt because they are supposed to be charitable, not political. For this reason, contributions made to them are tax deductible while political donations are not…The bill has failed time and time again as it surely will this time around, and yet Rep. Jones refuses to quit.”

How does that old expression go again, something about doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result.

Democracy Restoration Act

2011-12-21T16:34:00.000-08:00

Senator Ben Cardin (D—Maryland) has introduced the Democracy Restoration Act. This law, if passed, will restore full voting rights to all ex-convicts after they’ve served their sentences.

The bill is being co-sponsored by Senators Richard Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse. Sen. Ben Cardin said:

“If we truly want to break the cycle of recidivism, we need to reintegrate former prisoners back into society. When prisoners are released, they are expected to obey the law, get a job, and pay taxes as they are rehabilitated and reintegrated into their community. With these responsibilities and obligations of citizenship should also come the rights of citizenship, including the right to vote.”

Makes sense to me.

Merry Christmas from John Boehner

2011-12-20T13:35:00.000-08:00

To the large corporations, PACs and wealthy individuals who continue to purchase our congressional seats for us: Merry Christmas. Hallelujah! Jesus loves you!

So far we’ve held off any and all attempts by Democrats to raise your taxes. All we have to do is keep convincing tens of millions of gullible voters that you folks are the “job creators,” and that the teeniest little tax increase will jeopardize the economy. And these dumbfucks keep falling for it hook line and sinker. Hee hee hee.

Remember now, we’re always in campaign mode — 24/7/365. So keep those bribes, oops, campaign contributions pouring in, and we’ll continue to bend over at your every command.

To the rest of you — the 160 million lowly working-class types who keep whimpering about “Waaaahhh, what about a tax cut for US???” — don’t come crying to me. (That’s my department.) You peons don’t have enough political influence for us to care whether you get a tax cut or even whether you get to keep your homes or not. The banks own us; you don’t. And if the economy starts faltering again because you didn’t get your tax cut and weren’t able to stimulate the economy, that’s Barack Hussein Obama’s problem. Our multi-billion-dollar PR department will convince you dummies that the economic slowdown is Obama’s fault and not ours. Works every time.

And furthermore: This is America, the land of opportunity, personal initiative and individual responsibility. Pull your whiny asses up by your bootstraps, work harder, earn more money, and if you play your cards right, you’ll have a little extra money left over that you can contribute to our re-election campaigns. Then — and only then — will we care about you.

Got it???

I’m John Boehner and I — Boy! Another triple shot of Johnny Walker! Now! — and I [hic] approved this message.

You Are What You Google

2011-12-19T20:29:00.000-08:00

This article shows us what we Googled in 2011. This past year’s top searches included Rebecca Black, Ryan Dunn, Casey Anthony, Battlefield 3, Adele, Steve Jobs and iPad2.

As one person in the article said: “If this is the spirit of our time, then we are living in a sad time. Google is showing us that we're, collectively, awful people.” Well, at least we know why the mainstream “news” has so much celebrity fluff and so little news.

Here’s a link to Google’s Zeitgeist 2011: How the world searched.

In other news: A pro-adultery website has endorsed Newt Gingrich for President. Ashley Madison, whose motto is “Life is short, have an affair” — has come out behind Gingrich.

And now this billboard adorns a highway in Pennsylvania.

Meet the REAL Job Creators

2011-12-18T18:22:00.000-08:00

By now everyone whose IQ is higher than his/her shoe size has already seen through the Republican bullshit about “the job creators.” In the GOP fantasy world, the wealthiest one percent of the country — i.e. the “job creators” — are champing at the bit to start investing money and creating jobs, if only those damn Democrats would give them more tax breaks and get rid of those job-killing regulations that are strangling the economy.

These alleged “job creators” are already sitting on trillions of dollars. If we lower their taxes even more, these “job creators” will have even more money to hide in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. And this will create jobs, uh, how again?

Small business owners are the true job creators. Since 1993, sixty-five percent of American jobs have been created by companies with fewer than 500 employees.

And right now, bank loans to small businesses have fallen to their lowest level in twelve years. Think that might have something to do with our huge unemployment rate?

The money that these bailed-out banks are sitting on — remember where it came from? It came from US, the taxpayers who rescued them three years ago when they gambled and lost everything they owned. And this is how they’re paying us back.

To help counter the Republican Propaganda Machine, everyone should read and bookmark this Mother Jones article: Six myths that have to be killed for our economy to live. The article is one small voice against Fox News and Wall Street. But it’s a start.

Bert Schneider: 1933 — 2011

2011-12-17T11:11:00.000-08:00

“Who???” I hadn’t heard of him either until I saw his obituary a few days ago. But his work lives on. Bert Schneider brought us “The Monkees,” “Easy Rider,” “Five Easy Pieces,” “The Last Picture Show” and “Hearts and Minds.”

I never watched the Monkees’ TV show but I liked a lot of their songs (there, I’ve admitted it). Quite a leap from TV pap to heavy hitters like Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and The Last Picture Show.

Heaviest of all was his Oscar-winning “Hearts and Minds” (1975) about the Vietnam War. The movie was named after Lyndon Johnson’s speech where he said we need to capture the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people if we want to win the Vietnam War. Or maybe it was unofficially named after Charles Colson’s “grab them by the balls and their hearts and minds will follow.”

It’s one of those movies where you’re glad you saw it because it’s so deep, but you’re reluctant to recommend it to anyone. It’s too much of an emotional roller coaster. The movie was mostly a series of short interviews and film clips, juxtaposed for maximum emotional impact. A person is sitting there, giving an emotionless recital of all the bombing runs he made, all the people he’s killed. Then the camera moves further away and you can see for the first time that he’s in a wheelchair. Another scene shows a Vietnamese funeral. Bereaved relatives are sobbing, stamping their feet, clawing at the casket. The next scene is General Westmoreland saying “You know, Orientals don’t place the same high value on human life that we do here in the West.”

Stuff like that.

Sometimes you just want to tune that shit out and watch The Monkees.

“I Came Unarmed, This Time” — the Sequel

2011-12-16T13:27:00.000-08:00

And sure enough, the next time he was ARMED. Johnny got his gun.

Mark Meckler, founder of the Tea Party Patriots, was arrested at La Guardia International Airport. He was caught trying to board a plane with a semi-automatic handgun and some ammunition.

At the next teabagger gathering, look for this new updated version of their famous sign: “I came armed with only a semi-automatic handgun. This time.”

Hollywood Remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

2011-12-15T13:57:00.000-08:00

Apparently Hollywood’s new version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo isn’t exactly setting the box office on fire. The linked article has four theories about why audiences aren’t breaking down the door to see it.

My own completely uneducated guess isn’t included in their list: Who needs the Hollywood remake when the original Swedish version was so good? It had everything: plot twists that keep getting deeper and more labyrinthine, real 3-dimensional characters that you care about, and some wicked fight scenes.

And most of all — for me anyway — the movie just felt like Sweden (I’ve never been there). I’ve been to a lot of European countries but never Scandinavia; and I’ve always had a fascination for those countries. And The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo really felt like an inside view of gritty day to day life in Stockholm.

Another movie I liked a lot, for the same reason, was Smilla’s Sense of Snow. This was a Hollywood film (Gabriel Byrne and Julia Ormond) but as far as I know there was no original Danish version to compare it to. It was a murder mystery that took place in Copenhagen. No mermaid statues or Tivoli Gardens or gorgeous blondes with exotic accents; just the gritty underside of Copenhagen.

Anyway, here’s a link to the original Swedish version of all three films of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. They’re well worth renting if you haven’t already seen them.

I usually hate movies with subtitles, but all three of these movies were so riveting, it didn’t matter.

Florida Family Association

2011-12-14T16:57:00.000-08:00

I don’t understand why there’s so much public fury at Lowe’s for pulling their TV ads after being threatened with a boycott. Sure it was spineless for them to cower and bend over under pressure from a pitiful group of Biblehumping inbreds. But most of the public’s anger should be directed at the aforementioned inbreds — the Florida Family Association.

The Florida Family Association is apparently not affiliated with the American Family Association, even though both groups love to handle snakes, and they both go into mass seizures at the mere mention of Muslims, gay rights and people who say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.

As you know, the president of the Florida Family Association — David Caton — threatened to boycott Lowe’s because Lowe’s was one of the sponsors of the TLC program “All-American Muslim.” Blasphemy! A TV show that portrays Muslims as ordinary day-to-day people instead of crazed jihadists — the nerve!

I’ve never seen All-American Muslim, or any other “reality” TV show for that matter. But I’ve seen a Canadian program — Little Mosque on the Prairie — a sitcom about the Muslim population in a small town in Saskatchewan. It’s pretty funny — just day to day life in a small town where the people happen to be Muslims. Presumably Canada doesn’t have any gangs of knuckle-dragging rednecks trying to get Little Mosque on the Prairie taken off the air.

Other TV shows condemned by the Florida Family Association include: Family Guy, Nip/Tuck, The Girls Next Door and Modern Family. Somebody has way too much time — and too many snakes — on his hands.

Mitt Romney Personally Responsible for Destroying Five Million Careers

2011-12-13T12:53:00.000-08:00

When Mitt Romney was working for various private equity firms, he single-handedly eliminated five million jobs. The elimination of these jobs has taken $14.7 billion out of the U.S. economy.

NOTE: The above paragraph was not intended as a factual statement. It was only an illustration of Mitt Romney’s newest variation on the Big Lie technique. Instead of the usual endless repetition of “job-killing regulations” versus the “job creators,” Romney is using specific numbers to give his Big Lie some authority.

Romney told a New Hampshire audience:

“The rate of regulatory burden has increased four-fold since Obama has become president. Four times the amount of regulation coming out per year as in the past. And so businesses say, ‘gosh, I’m not sure I want to invest in America.’”

The facts — remember those quaint old things — are a bit different. The Obama Administration has actually approved 4.7% fewer regulations than George W. Bush had approved at this same point in his administration.

Mitt Romney’s campaign staff even admits there’s no truth whatsoever to Romney’s statement. But it’s an interesting variation on the Big Lie. Usually the Big Lie consists of a few simple phrases that get repeated millions of times until they become the conventional wisdom.

Or you can put out a bunch of subtle implications and innuendos and let them seep into the public consciousness. The biggest example of this was Bush-Cheney “implying” that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks. They never came out and said it, but there were jillions of public statements that purposely blurred “al Qaeda Iraq Saddam bin Laden Hussein 9/11 Iraq 9/11...” It worked like a charm, since millions of bone-stupid Fox viewers still believe Saddam Hussein helped mastermind the 9/11 attacks. And at the same time, if someone called Bush-Cheney on their Big Lie, they could honestly say “What??? I never said that!!!”

Apparently the more variations there are on the Big Lie technique, the more effective each variation can be. In fact it’s kind of fun. Let’s take Newt Gingrich (please!). You could put out a few subtle rumors and innuendos about Newt Gingrich, prostitutes and drugs. Or you could Mitt Romnify it and say: “Thirteen underage prostitutes were arrested during an orgy at Newt Gingrich’s mansion. Police also seized $25,000 worth of cocaine.”

[ahem] Again, the above paragraph is not making any accusations against Newt Gingrich. It’s just another hypothetical example of the Big Lie Technique, as told by Mitt Romney.

Frank Luntz Has More Tricks Up His Sleeve

2011-12-12T12:59:00.000-08:00

Everyone was amused last week when Frank Luntz told an audience that he was “scared to death” of Occupy Wall Street, and “we need to get our message out better,” etc.

But a slick political manipulator who’s “scared to death” is a wounded Grizzly Bear backed into a corner. Getting complacent now would be analogous to Dick Cheney’s famous “the insurgency is on its last legs” speech, when we were just a few months into our 8-year quagmire in Iraq.

Goege Lakoff — the author of the linked article — has written extensively on the Far Right’s decades-long master plan. He’s a linguistics professor, and he’s totally zeroed in on rightwing think tanks’ success in using language — shades of meanings, word associations, nuances — to gain a virtual stranglehold on the American psyche. Republican masterminds — e..g. Frank Luntz — can use the most innocuous-sounding phrase or code word, and millions of dupes will snap to attention with the predictability of Pavlov’s dogs.

By now, Frank Luntz’ talking points — about Wall Street versus the Occupy movement — are out in the open, so they’ve lost their psychological impact. Once you’ve seen how the magician pulls a rabbit out of his hat, you’re not going to be dazzled when he does the same trick again. So now Frank Luntz has to go back to the drawing board.

In his “scared to death” speech, Luntz named several rightwing phrases that had “backfired” — “oh darn it, we can’t use these terms any more.” Two of his examples were “capitalism” and “taxes.” The purpose of his speech — at least in part — was to trick Democrats into thinking “all right, we’ll use these exact terms in our own speeches, since Frank Luntz is afraid of them.”

But it’s a trap. Wall Street and its Republican prostitutes are framing this whole issue in terms of risk-taking hardworking taxpayers versus a bunch of parasites who want free stuff. If Democrats use terms like “taxes,” “the rich” and “capitalism” in their speeches, they’ll be playing right into Luntz’ hands.

Words that Democrats and liberals SHOULD use include: revenue (instead of taxes) and investing (instead of spending). And Democrats need to play up — harder, louder, more often — the fact that large corporations exert a much greater control over our lives than any government agency. And they need to keep talking relentlessly about corporate welfare, wasteful military spending and the absolute absurdity of the term “job creator.”

Anyway, this article has some excellent advice. If you click on George Lakoff's name at the top of the article, you can access some of his other writings. The Right has brainwashed millions of Americans using language techniques that George Orwell never remotely imagined. Let George Lakoff show you how they've done it. Know Your Enemy. Forewarned is forearmed. Etc. This article concludes with:

“Progressives have magnificent stories of their own to tell. They need to be telling them nonstop. Let's lure the right into using OUR frames in public discourse.”

Republican Audience Cheers Gingrich’s Child Labor Speech

2011-12-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

What’s the difference between a Republican gathering and a tractor pull? No, this isn’t a riddle. I mean, is there any difference? I once heard a standup comedian describe a tractor pull as “ten thousand people, six teeth.”

And this is what the Republican Party has turned into. First we have a room full of Republicans shouting “YEAH!!!” when a debate moderator asked Ron Paul — and it was just a rhetorical question — if he thought an uninsured patient in an emergency room should be just left to die. Not long afterward, a GOP audience sees a video of a Marine asking if the reinstatement of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell would mean he has to go back into the closet. The audience full of yellow magnet chickenhawks booed and jeered wildly.

And last night Newt Gingrich was — for the umpteenth time — expounding on the joys of child labor. Needless to say, the inbred audience broke into furious applause. Gingrich said:

“If you take one half of the New York janitors, who are paid more than the teachers. An entry-level janitor gets paid twice as much as an entry-level teacher. You take half those janitors, you could give lots of poor kids a work experience in the cafeteria, in the school library, in the front office, in a lot of different things. I’ll stand by the idea young people ought to learn how to work.”

[cue the whooping and hollering]

Have we hit rock bottom yet, or is there still room to sink even further? America has turned into a country that yells “Jump!” when a suicidal person is standing on a ledge.

Merry Christmas From Your Local Anti-Abortion Wackjobs

2011-12-10T13:44:00.000-08:00

This holiday season, fetus-worshipers will be serenading family planning clinics with Christmas carols. And these aren’t your father’s Christmas carols.

The snake-handlers have named their Bible-humping orgy “Empty Manger Christmas Caroling,” referring to all the empty mangers that have been created by abortion.

If you’d like to be serenaded this holiday season — or if you’d like to tell these Salem Witch Hunters what you think of them — here is the

Pro Life Action League’s caroling schedule.

Some of these Empty Manger Christmas Carol protests will be held in Wisconsin. Uh oh, didn’t those people get the news? Scott Walker and his minions have passed a sweeping new anti-protest law. For any protest event, the organizers will have to pay for a permit, and they’ll need to pay additional fees to cover any possible police overtime. Surely this new law applies to ALL demonstrations and not just anti-Walker protests. Right???

And while we’re on the subject of abortion, a scientific study has debunked one of the “pro-life” movement’s favorite smokescreens: Women who have had an abortion do NOT have an increased risk of mental illness.

Not that these fetus-humpers give a flying fuck about women who have had abortions, or about anyone who’s already been born. But their phony “oh, we’re only concerned about YOU” soundbites were a clever diverting tactic. And now they’ll have to come up with a new one.

Ron Paul: “Bush Administration Gleeful After 9/11 Attacks”

2011-12-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

You’ve gotta love this guy. He blurts out exactly what he’s thinking, fuck what anybody thinks. Ron Paul is by far the most outspoken presidential candidate since Barry Goldwater; maybe even more so. Goldwater got trounced in 1964, and Ron Paul doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hell of ever making it to the White House either.

If you want to get elected president, you have to kiss ass. Pander. You have to flipflop on your positions and constantly “clarify” your earlier statements because somebody somewhere got offended.

Homey don’t play that.

Teabaggers pretend to be Libertarians, and at the same time they hate Ron Paul because he’s a Libertarian. (It’s a wingtard thing.) Yesterday he gave a speech at the Iowa State campus in Ames:

“Think of what happened after 9/11, the minute before there was any assessment, there was glee in the administration because now we can invade Iraq, and so the war drums beat. That’s exactly what they’re doing now with Iran.”

Referring to warmongering chickenhawks, Paul said:

“I think extremists have taken over. They’re the ones that run the foreign policy and that convinced us as a country to go along with all these wars.”

This past September 12th, Ron Paul got booed by a gang of teatards when he said:

“Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda have been explicit, and they wrote and said that we attacked because you had bases on our holy lands in Saudi Arabia, you do not give Palestinians a fair treatment. I didn’t say that, I’m just trying to get you to understand what the motive was behind the bombings…America is you and I. We didn’t cause it. The average American didn’t cause it. But if you have a flawed policy, it may influence it.”

You go Ron.

I could never vote for a Libertarian, but it sure is refreshing to have a presidential candidate who blurts out exactly what he’s thinking. No wonder the media ignores him.

Wall Street’s Prostitutes Are Very Well Paid

2011-12-08T13:10:00.000-08:00

Very VERY well paid. Forty-five of Wall Street’s most highly-paid call girls (formerly known as Republican senators) staged their 927th filibuster today. Acting on direct orders from their Wall Street owners, these forty-five prostitutes blocked Richard Cordray — former Attorney General of Ohio — from being appointed to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Believe it or not, there were actually two Republicans who DIDN’T march in lockstep: Olympia Snowe — who voted present — and Scott Brown, who actually voted with the Democrats.

And just how highly paid are these Wall Street hookers (hereafter referred to as the Skanky Forty-Five)?

The 45 members of the Skank Brigade have received over $6.5 million from the financial industry during 2011. Throughout their entire leg-spreading careers, these same whores have received over $125 million.

Who would’ve guessed being a prostitute could be so lucrative. Sure it’s a humiliating way to make a living. Do these people talk about their work day when they get home to their families? Do their kids ask: “Daddy, who did you spread your legs for today?” “Daddy, you’re walking so slow, and you’re walking in that funny wide stance again. What happened?”

These people must have ZERO sense of pride or self-worth. But the pay is fantastic.

Obama Promises to Veto Keystone XL Poison Pill

2011-12-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

As you know, President Obama has postponed his decision to approve or disapprove the Keystone XL pipeline until after the 2012 election. In retaliation, Congress introduced a bill to take away the president’s authority to make the Keystone XL decision, and transfer that authority to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Last week, Rep. Lee Terry (R—Inbred) threatened to attach this bill to the payroll tax holiday package that’s slo-o-o-owly wending its way through Congress.

And now Obama has pledged to veto the Republicans’ poison-pill attempt to ram the Keystone XL pipeline up America’s butt. Obama said:

“Any effort to try to tie Keystone to the payroll tax cut I will reject. If the payroll tax cut is attached to a whole bunch of extraneous issues, then it’s not something that I’m going to accept.”

You go Guy. Keep standing up to the Republican sleazebags.

Obama Promotes Global Homosexual Agenda!!!

2011-12-07T00:04:00.000-08:00

President Obama has sent a memo to the State Department which included the following:

“I am deeply concerned by the violence and discrimination targeting LGBT persons around the world. Whether it is passing laws that criminalize LGBT status, beating citizens simply for joining peaceful LGBT pride celebrations, or killing men, women, and children for their perceived sexual orientation.”

Blasphemy!

Predictably, the Biblehumping inbreds have gone into overdrive.

Rick Perry blubbered about “promoting special rights for gays in foreign countries” and called Obama’s message “a war on traditional American values” and a “war with people of faith.” And Rick Santorum, determined not to be out-Biblehumped by anyone, quickly jumped on the bandwagon.

Stay tuned. There are sure to be a lot more hysterical shitbursts from the Snake-handling community.

If America’s Land Was Owned in the Same Proportion as America’s Wealth

2011-12-06T12:29:00.000-08:00

Try to imagine life in the United States if the wealthiest ten percent of the population owned most of the land. The largest national parks would probably be owned by one super wealthy family (or even just one person), with fences and “Keep Out!” signs everywhere.

If you’re part of the bottom 90%, your living quarters would barely give you enough room to stand — if you’re lucky.

To get an idea, check this out.

Is this where we’re heading?

Florida’s Corrupt Police Departments

2011-12-05T17:52:00.000-08:00

A powerful public employees’ union, thousands of corrupt government bureaucrats who couldn’t get fired if they wanted to — you’d expect conservatives to jump on this story like flies on shit.

Florida’s police departments have a virtually non-existent disciplinary system for dealing with law-breaking officers.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune goes into more detail.

One Florida cop has been arrested three times, fired five times and has been investigated forty times by Internal Affairs. A prison guard has been investigated repeatedly for forcing himself on prisoners, and he was arrested on suspicion of raping two teenage girls. Another cop has had numerous violent incidents at his precinct office, and was seen beating up his girlfriend at a crowded nightclub. Another one denied having sex with a 14-year-old girl but couldn’t explain why her DNA was on one of his sex toys.

All four of the above-mentioned officers still have their jobs. And Florida has thousands of others just like them. Over and over, they commit the kinds of crimes that would get a long prison sentence for most people. And yet here they are, still “serving” the public.

Again, why aren’t conservatives outraged by this corrupt union full of crooked bureaucrats? (Don’t worry, it was a rhetorical question.)

Community of Latin American and Caribbean States

2011-12-04T19:55:00.000-08:00

Republicans — for the 897th time — are again ganging up on Obama for not thumping the Bible often enough and for apologizing for America instead of preaching to the world about American Exceptionalism.

And in a related story: Thirty-three Latin American and Caribbean nations have formed the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). The only countries excluded from this organization are the United States and Canada.

The group’s purpose is for member countries to unite against terrorism, drug cartels, price speculation and other global threats. Latin American leaders say the Organization of American States (OAS), which includes the U.S., does too much bending over for Washington, D.C. Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez concluded the group’s 2-day conference with:

“I don't think we're exaggerating if we call it a historic day. United in our differences, we must demand respect. No more interference, we've had enough.”

The organization claims that Argentina still has legitimate sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (I’m not touching that one). And like most of Latin America — and most North Americans whose IQs are higher than their shoe sizes — they’re against America’s eternal trade embargo against Cuba.

Polluting Industries Winning the Message War on Climate Change

2011-12-03T09:24:00.000-08:00

In 2007, 71% of Americans believed climate change was being caused — at least in part — by the burning of fossil fuels. In 2009, only 51% held that belief. And as of June 2011, only 44% of Americans still believe this.

According to the director of survey research for the Pew Research Center, “this is among the largest shifts over a short period of time seen in recent public opinion history.”

And these percentages aren’t the worst of it. In addition, there’s a new religious zealotry and emotional intensity among the reactionary anti-science tools. They don’t just scoff at the idea of climate change and then change the subject. They believe, they know — they’ve seen the light! — that climate change (a more accurate term than global warming) is just a trumped-up excuse for power-grabbing socialists to take over America and steal our property rights. Disagreeing on this issue is the equivalent of telling a born again Christian that there’s no God.

This mass viewpoint shift — and the culture war intensity — didn’t just “happen.” It’s been meticulously orchestrated and heavily funded. It’s a perfect storm of wealthy industrialists‘ massive funding, rightwing think tanks cranking out their “message” 24/7/65, and millions of gullible inbreds who keep falling for it hook line and sinker.

Two examples of these think tanks are the Heartland Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. In the linked article, Naomi Klein describes the Heartland Institute’s Sixth International Conference on Climate Change as “the premier gathering for those dedicated to denying the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is warming the planet.”

At this conference, a member of the Competitive Enterprise Institute gave a speech with the obligatory references to Saul Alinsky and the terrifying agenda of international socialists disguised as environmentalists:

“You can believe this is about the climate…but it’s not a reasonable belief…No free society would do to itself what this agenda requires…. The first step to that is to remove these nagging freedoms that keep getting in the way.”

This conference was basically two days of instilling fear in the hearts of the gullible. When Obama made a campaign promise to support locally owned biofuel refineries, he was actually carrying out a long-running Maoist plot. The editor of ClimateDepot.com compared environmentalists to Aztec priests sacrificing people to appease their gods. Speaker after speaker derided the whole notion of climate change as a Trojan Horse designed to destroy capitalism and replace it with a sinister eco-socialist police state.

Larry Bell, the author of Climate of Corruption, says climate change “has little to do with the state of the environment and much to do with shackling capitalism and transforming the American way of life in the interests of global wealth redistribution.”

Well, there you have it. This is what we’re up against. Environmentalists — meaning anybody who wants this planet to survive — need to get involved in this message war and start fighting back.

Four years ago, when most people were aware of the cause and effect between fossil fuel burning and climate change, it seemed like we could count on informed voters to unite and stave off the pending ecological nightmare.

Obviously we can’t.

Job Applicants: Please Provide Your ATM Password and All Bank Account Numbers

2011-12-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

It hasn’t come to this yet, but at this rate — who knows what’s next? At a police department in North Carolina, applicants for a clerical position are being asked to disclose all social media (e.g. Facebook) accounts AND their user name and password to these accounts.

WTF??? This has to be a new low. And how much lower can it go from here?

Is this even legal? It’s easy to just shrug it off with “so, don’t apply for a job there.” But there are millions of people who are desperate, frantic to find a job, any job. And they’d probably jump through whatever hoops a potential employer tells them to jump through.

If these Orwellian Kafkaesque practices aren’t against the law, they should be.

Brian Hayes — the Quitter

2011-12-01T00:05:00.000-08:00

Move over Sarah Palin. There’s a new Quitter in town — Brian Hayes.

Brian Hayes is the only Republican member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Hayes disagrees with the other two members of the NLRB — both Democrats — over an NLRB ruling on labor unions.

Most grownups are able to withstand the heartbreak of having their co-workers disagree with them. But Brian Hayes is threatening to resign his position on the NLRB. This would deny the Board a quorum, thereby bringing the National Labor Relations Board to a grinding halt.

The NLRB is supposed to have five members, but thanks to a giant shit pile in the middle of the road — i.e. Congressional Republicans obstructing and blocking Obama’s every nominee to every position — the NLRB has two longstanding unfilled vacancies. So now if one member quits, the entire Board grinds to a halt.

Brian Hayes hasn’t quit his position yet, as of this writing. Hopefully this won’t become a trend: quit your job and bring an entire government board screeching to a halt. If Hayes does quit, what will he put on his next job application under “reason for leaving your prior employer.”

A spokesperson for the Service Employees International Union said:

“We are shocked by the idea that a partisan difference would shut down the workings of a federal agency.”

Brian Hayes wrote a letter to his family, discussing the agonizing decision he’s facing. A portion of the letter was leaked to the press:

“Mommy: I can’t take this any more. It’s too haaard. It’s tough out here in the cold cruel world. People are mean to me. Can I come home? I want to move back into my old room again, just like old times, and just be me again. Pleeeease? I‘m sorry about that time when you walked in on me while I was ~~xxxx xxx xxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxxx~~ and I promise I won’t do it again.”

If You Liked Dick Cheney, You’ll Love Newt Gingrich

2011-11-30T13:36:00.000-08:00

It might be fun — in that sick sort of way — to have a pool on how many foreign quagmires we can dig ourselves into under President Gingrich. Dick Cheney and his adorable little sockpuppet were just getting warmed up with Afghanistan and Iraq.

That was a nice start. But what about Iran? Venezuela? North Korea? Syria? So many countries to liberate, so little time. Newt Gingrich’s foreign policy team is straight out of Dick Cheney’s inner circle. They include:

David Wurmser was one of the ringleaders of our Iraqi invasion. And now he’s Gingrich’s Middle East policy advisor.

James Woolsey is a former CIA director who’s fixated on invading Iran. He compares our failure to attack Iran with England’s appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. (See Godwin’s Law.) Woolsey’s other fixation is President Obama’s “political jihad promoting Islam around the world.”

Stephen Yates was part of Cheney’s national security team. He thinks China is the solution to America’s “enemy deprivation syndrome.” i.e. “You need some unifying enemy after the collapse of the Soviet Union.” Great. Let’s combine the best features of the Cold War and our current Crusade in the Middle East.

Let’s hope this week’s Not-Mitt-Romney will crash and burn soon.

King Street Patriots: Looking For a Few Good Rednecks

2011-11-29T19:40:00.000-08:00

If you hate immigrants, minorities, low-income people and college students — and you still can’t find Europe on that damn map — the King Street Patriots want YOU.

As you know, voter fraud is the gravest issue facing America today. Negroes, renters, people with swarthy accents — they’re all trying to vote. With your help, we can stop them!

Our small group got its start in Houston with our True The Vote campaign, and in 2012 we’re planning to expand throughout the country. Can you help us? All you have to do is show up at a polling place on Election Day — preferably in a precinct that’s low income and full of icky minority types. And then just hang around and scare away the undesirables.

You’ll be trained in how to look at a group of would-be voters and pick out the Democrats. Signs to watch for include: swarthy complexion, foreign accent, tacky clothing (indicating elderly or low income), the know-it-all demeanor of a liberal college student; and so many others. Don’t worry, you’ll be thoroughly trained and indoctrinated.

Then, when you see a Democrat who comes in wanting to vote — get right up in his face and scare him off. Don’t worry, they won’t give you any trouble. They’re afraid of war, they don’t think nonviolent pot users should be put in jail — in short, they’re pussies. Just go swaggering up to them and say “Boo!” and they’ll turn and scamper away.

You can do the same thing with election workers inside the polling place. If you see one of these do-gooders trying to help out some swarthy fuck who doesn’t speak English — see previous paragraph.

Please help us out on Election Day 2012. Your fellow teabaggers need you.

Federal Judge to SEC: “Grow a Pair!!!”

2011-11-29T00:13:00.000-08:00

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff threw out the SEC’s slap-on-the-wrist settlement with Citigroup. The SEC had agreed to a $285 million settlement over Citigroup’s sale of toxic mortgage debt.

According to the linked article, Judge Rakoff said the Securities and Exchange Commission “appeared uninterested in actually learning what Citigroup did wrong,” and ignored the interests of the public. Judge Rakoff said:

“An application of judicial power that does not rest on facts is worse than mindless, it is inherently dangerous. In any case like this that touches on the transparency of financial markets whose gyrations have so depressed our economy and debilitated our lives, there is an overriding public interest in knowing the truth.”

He called the SEC’s settlement “neither reasonable, nor fair, nor adequate, nor in the public interest,” and wondered whether the SEC was only interested in “a quick headline.”

YES.

This is the kind of news we should see more often.

Police Brutality is Legal; Photographing It ISN’T

2011-11-28T13:36:00.000-08:00

This seems to be some people’s “reasoning.” The infamous Rodney King beating by the LAPD would have been their little secret if the entire incident hadn’t been videotaped from somebody’s apartment window. At the time, there were jokes going around that the L.A. city council wanted a 3-day waiting period before you could buy a video camera.

These days it’s not even a joke. There are already a few state and local laws prohibiting citizens from videotaping police officers during an arrest. Leonard Pitts, Jr. writes about it in this column, Give Thanks to Citizens With Cameras.

He tells about a woman in Rochester, NY who was arrested for videotaping a traffic stop from her own yard. In Miami Beach, a man was arrested, beaten by police and had his cell phone stomped on — how convenient — after he recorded an officer-involved shooting.

The recent pepper spraying incident art UC Davis would have been nothing more than a rumor if the incident hadn’t been captured on a cell phone. Same with the police execution of an unarmed handcuffed suspect on an Oakland BART train (New Year’s Day 2009.) The executioner, BART police officer Johannes Mehserle, is already out of jail after serving a shorter sentence than most people would get for shoplifting. But if the murder hadn’t been caught by somebody’s cell phone, the police would have come up with an official story that the murder victim — Oscar Grant — had fallen and hit his head; pulled a gun and had to be shot; or something.

About ten years ago (give or take), the San Francisco Police Department filed a libel suit against a woman whose only “crime” was giving a sworn statement about what she had witnessed during an arrest.

Just as you don’t need a weather man to tell which way the wind blows, you don’t need a court ruling to know that these laws against videotaping police officers are clearly unconstitutional. Every one of these laws should be suspended immediately by the federal government until the courts can come to the obvious conclusion.

Republicans Tackle the Pentagon

2011-11-27T13:48:00.000-08:00

Talk about unintended consequences. When Republicans started hammering away at the Solyndra scandal, it seemed like a foolproof multi-pronged scheme to mobilize their base: Democrats and tie-dyed hippies with their sissy solar energy versus manly All-American oil, coal and natural gas.

But congressional Republican prostitutes got so carried away pounding on Solyndra and everything it represents, they suddenly found themselves pounding and kicking their pimps in the Defense Department. Awkward.

The Army, Navy and Air Force have all been utilizing — and publicly promoting — renewable energy sources for the past few months. Republicans might want to occasionally look up from their corporate instruction sheets — and the accompanying “campaign contributions” — and see what’s going on out in the world.

Republicans recently turned their Solyndra-bashing momentum on another solar energy company, SunPower Corp. The Republican Lockstep Brigade kept referring to SunPower Corp. as “Solyndra 2.0.”

And now it turns out, SunPower Corp. is in the process of building a huge solar installation at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California.

OOPS. What happens when a prostitute takes a wild swing and accidentally connects with her pimp’s jaw?

Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time

2011-11-26T01:04:00.000-08:00

It could have been the 10,000 Greatest Guitarists of All Time and everyone would still be going “What?!? You forgot __________________ !!!”

(Here's the link to Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of all time.)

My own “Hey, what about _______________” list would include Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton, Allan Holdsworth, Jan Akkerman, Stanley Jordan, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Vernon Reid.

Oh, and James Hetfield made the list but Kirk Hammett didn’t? Uh, OK…

Shop Locally on Black Friday

2011-11-25T01:11:00.000-08:00

Whatever one thinks of Occupy Wall Street, everyone should follow their advice for Black Friday: Shop locally. Patronize mom-and-pop stores instead of chains and Big Boxes.

As a downtown resident of a small town — for the past seven-plus years — I’ve been hearing this message constantly. It’s probably less obvious if you live in a large city or the suburbs.

The numbers I’ve been hearing over and over are: when you buy from a locally-owned store, sixty cents of every dollar you spend stays in your community. When you patronize a Big Box store — Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc. — only six cents of every dollar stays in your community. For non-Big-Box chain stores, the figure is somewhere between those two extremes.

Now that the economy is in the tank, and a larger share of the nation’s wealth is concentrated in fewer hands than ever before, this message is more important than ever. Buy local.

Remember — politicians won’t help you. They’re part of the one percent. You have to vote with your dollars whenever possible. If you hate Wall Street, don’t keep your money in one of the big banks. If you hate Wal-Mart, don’t shop there.

Happy Black Friday.

Chicago: the 51st State?

2011-11-23T12:38:00.000-08:00

An Illinois state representative wants Chicago and the rest of Illinois to break up into two separate states. Bill Mitchell (R—Redneck) has introduced a bill which, if passed, would put the issue before the state’s voters. If Illinois voters approve the measure, it will still have to be approved by Congress and the White House.

Proponents of the bill say Chicago and Cook County residents “hold different and firmly seated views on politics, society, and economics” from the rest of Illinois. Bill Mitchell said:

“These liberal policies are an insult to the traditional values of downstate families. When I talk to constituents, one of the biggest things I hear is 'Chicago should be its own state.’ Our voters' voices were drowned out by Chicago.”

If a new state was formed every time a few local yahoos talked about forming their own own state, America would have at least five hundred states instead of just fifty. There are several distinct regions of California that hate the rest of the state, and have probably been talking about forming their own state since the day California became a state.

There definitely is a culture clash between Chicago and rural Illinois. I went to a small college in western Illinois — near the Iowa border — a looong time ago. This was the late ‘60s, and it was still 1951 at this college. And the rest of the town was so much further backward, they made the college campus look like Berkeley.

But this is true for most states. Even in the Deep South, the largest cities are a lot more liberal and urbane than the small towns. All three of the Left Coast states have interior regions that might as well be backwoods Mississippi.

If Illinois voters succeed in giving Chicago the boot — or would it be the other way around? — this could start a trend. How many states do we want?

Fox News Slandered by Liberal Media

2011-11-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

The state-run liberal media is trying to undermine Fox News’ fair and balanced reporting. They’re trying to sell us some sort of socialist hogwash about people who watch Fox News being LESS informed than people who get no news at all.

Blasphemy!

The liberal media is desperate. They’re afraid of the Truth, and we’ve got ‘em on the run now! If you don’t watch Fox News, you are completely unaware of the following:

Barack Hussein Obama was born in Kenya, he’s a Muslim, and his entire Socialist Agenda is based on his late father’s tribal anti-colonial hatred of the White Man.

Global warming — if there even is such a thing — cannot possibly be man-made. God created the Earth 6,000 years ago. He created it and only He can control our weather. If global warming exists, it’s God’s Will. Or as Sarah Palin so aptly put it: Global warming is just God hugging us closer.

If you don’t watch Fox News, you probably still believe the liberal myth that government can create jobs; that a country can tax its way to prosperity. Fox viewers, on the other hand, are fully aware that the ONLY way to create jobs is to get rid of these cumbersome burdensome government regulations that are strangling the economy. Scrap these F#$%!&%! regulations, set the job creators free to do what they do best, and millions of new jobs will be created — in time for Christmas!

Ah, Christmas. That brings us to the War on Christmas. If it weren’t for Fox News, most Americans wouldn’t even know about it. A secret cabal of secular humanists — connected to the U.N. of course — has quietly instructed millions of cashiers to say “Happy Holidays” and “Season’s Greetings” instead of “Merry Christmas.” And it’s WORKING!

And what’s with this latest hullabaloo about those Occupy Wall Street parasites getting pepper sprayed? The liberal press would have us believe pepper spray is some sort of poison or toxin, or something. Fox viewers, however, know the Truth: pepper spray is just a food product. A FOOD PRODUCT, for Christ’s sake. Sheesh!

Steven J. Baum, P.C.: “Karma’s a Bitch”

2011-11-21T15:03:00.000-08:00

If you believe in Karma, this has to be the feelgood story of this Holiday Season — in that meanspirited vengeful sort of way. The law firm of Steven J. Baum, P.C. — one of those infamous foreclosure mills — had its fifteen minutes of fame this past Halloween. All 89 of the company’s employees came to the company Halloween party dressed as foreclosure victims and homeless people.

New York Times columnist Joe Nocera wrote about it.

And now — remember kids, what goes around comes around — the firm of Steven J. Baum, P.C. is closing. The firm has had constant battles with state and federal officials over its use of robo-signing and all the other sleazy tactics used by foreclosure mills. Steven J. Baum’s numerous fines and warnings were presumably the main cause of the firm’s, uh, departure.

But Steven J. Baum would rather blame that mean old New York Times columnist for his bad Karma. After announcing his firm’s closure, Steven J. Baum sent this e-mail to Joe Nocera:

“Mr. Nocera — You have destroyed everything and everyone related to Steven J. Baum PC. It took 40 years to build this firm and three weeks to tear down.”

Aw come on, Steven, cheer up. Next Halloween, people will be dressing up as YOU.

Rick Santorum Endorses Labor Unions

2011-11-20T20:05:00.000-08:00

Will wonders never cease. Pigs are flying and Rick Santorum is speaking out in favor of labor unions.

In Iran.

Meanwhile, here in America, if you’re one of those lowly working-class types, you’d better keep your nose to the grindstone, keep your mouth shut and be grateful you have a job.

Santorum wants an Iranian labor movement to serve as part of America’s three-pronged attack: economic sanctions, a strong Iranian labor movement and American military action against Iran.

Describing his newfound empathy for Iranian workers, Santorum said:

“There’s some fomenting going and, and there’s strikes going on. We should have several avenues of getting money into Iran to help striking labor unions, to give them money so they can keep out on strike and disrupt the government and try to create the revolutionary atmosphere there.”

As for American workers struggling to pay their bills and keep their homes, Santorum’s other personality said:

“I do not believe that — that state, federal or local workers, unions, should be involved in unions. And I would actually support a bill that says that we should not have public employee unions for the purposes of wages and benefits to be negotiated.”

Quick, put him back on his meds.

How the United States Devolved into this Current Crisis

2011-11-19T11:46:00.000-08:00

Bill Moyers has an excellent article explaining when the United States began its downward spiral into a corporatocracy. He even pinpoints the exact date. By the time Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, our oligarchy — or corporate dystopia, whatever you want to call it — was already ten years in the making.

On August 23rd, 1971, Lewis Powell — corporate lawyer and future Supreme Court justice — sent a memo to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Bill Moyers says:

“We look back on it now as a call to arms for class war waged from the top down.”

Lewis Powell’s memo ranted about “an attack on the American free enterprise system.” Powell said the attack was coming not just from “a few extremists of the Left,” but also from “perfectly respectable elements of society,” including politicians, well respected intellectuals and the media. Powell urged his fellow VIPs to “fight back and fight back hard” and to build a movement; take on the universities, the media and the courts. Powell wrote that TV programs should be “monitored the same way textbooks should be kept under constant surveillance.”

He also wrote that political power must be “assiduously [sic] cultivated; and that when necessary, it must be used aggressively and with determination and without embarrassment.”

Lewis Powell visualized the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a council of war. He sure got that wish. No doubt he’s been having multiple orgasms from his grave.

Powell’s infamous memo said that business executives have “little stomach for hard-nosed contest with their critics” and “little skill in effective intellectual and philosophical debate.” Therefore, Big Business should form think tanks, legal foundations and front groups. These groups could all be aligned into a united front through “careful long-range planning and implementation…consistency of action over an indefinite period of years, in the scale of financing available only through joint effort, and in the political power available only through united action and united organizations.”

And so it came to pass. (See above-mentioned in-grave orgasms.)
And in the late 1970s, William Simon — Nixon’s former secretary of the treasury — expanded on Lewis Powell’s rhetoric. He urged “men of action in the capitalist world” to mount “a veritable crusade” against all of the progress of the previous forty-five years.

Bill Moyers says:

“Those ‘men of action in the capitalist world’ were not content with their wealth just to buy more homes, more cars, more planes, more vacations and more gizmos than anyone else. They were determined to buy more democracy than anyone else. And they succeeded beyond their expectations. After their forty-year ‘veritable crusade’ against our institutions, laws and regulations—against the ideas, norms and beliefs that helped to create America’s iconic middle class—the Gilded Age is back with a vengeance.”

And here we are.

Anonymous, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Protect IP Act

2011-11-18T11:33:00.000-08:00

Whatever one thinks of Anonymous and other “hacktivist” organizations, they couldn’t pick a nicer target than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Anonymous attempted to hack the U.S. Chamber’s computer systems last May, with mixed results. Now they’re planning another attack.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce exists mostly as a money launderer, enabling large corporations and wealthy individuals to make huge anonymous political contributions. Elections and politicians can be purchased without the public even knowing who the purchaser was.

But now the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has found another purpose: lobbying aggressively for the Protect IP Act (also known as the Stopping Online Piracy Act, SOPA).

If you like the idea of people getting fined millions of dollars for downloading music without paying, you’ll love the Protect IP Act. Using the smokescreen of “stopping online piracy,” the Protect IP Act would give the U.S. government sweeping unprecedented powers for censoring the Internet.

So which is it? Does the U.S. Chamber of Commerce want a tiny bathtub-size government that lets the Free Market run wild, or do they want a gigantic Orwellian Big Brother controlling everything we do online?

Here’s Anonymous’ description of the Protect IP Act:

“This bill would allow the United States Government to force ISP’s and search engines to censor websites they do not like under the guise of ‘copyright protection.’ Instead of reducing piracy, this bill endangers the free flow of information. Through Domain seizures, ISP blockades, search engine censorship, and the restriction of funding to accused websites, this bill takes Internet censorship to a new level…

“The Internet is a place where anyone and everyone can come together freely to share information and opinions. The freedom the Internet provides has served us well, and driven our intellectual progress, sparked revolutions and changed the lives of many, all of which has been accomplished without the interference of corporations, governments, or any other global institutions until now.”

Aside from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the only other group that favors the Protect IP Act is the entertainment industry — i.e. those Hollywood Elitists that conservatives are always ranting about.

Benetton’s Unhate Campaign

2011-11-17T12:06:00.000-08:00

Benetton’s newest campaign is sure pushing a lot of people’s buttons. Benetton has released a series of ads that show various world leaders kissing.

Here’s another link.

Pictures include:

Barack Obama making out with both Hu Jintao and Hugo Chavez (in separate pictures); Angela Merkel smooching with Nicolas Sarkozy; and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas kissing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

And last but not least: the Pope smooching with Sheik Ahmed Mohamed El-Tayeb. The Vatican has threatened legal action against Benetton for this photo.

Each picture is captioned “unhate.”

It’s hard to know which is more offensive to the Powers That Be — the pictures themselves or the word “unhate.”

Another Reason to Recall Scott Walker

2011-11-16T14:14:00.000-08:00

And all the rest of the Koch whores in the Wisconsin legislature. It’s not just labor unions and microbreweries that Scott Walker (and the legislature) hates. Their newest target: College students; especially the blue collar riffraff that goes to technical colleges.

Don’t Let Them Vote!

You wouldn’t believe the level of trickery and deception being practiced by Koch Industries’ Wisconsin prostitutes. Under Wisconsin’s Koch-ordered Voter I.D. law, most college student I.D. cards are unacceptable as voter I.D. cards. College campuses will need to print a sticker with the required information. This sticker, together with a student I.D. card, will allow MOST college students to vote.

MOST college students. But NOT the lowly working-class types that attend technical colleges. A student I.D. card from a technical college is NOT valid for voting. No exceptions. Most of these blue collar types are Democrats, so it’s best to just keep them away from the voting booth.

There are about 400,000 technical college students in Wisconsin who will not be allowed to vote if this rule stands.

The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board tried to overrule the legislature’s action by “interpreting” that the procedures for college I.D. cards — i.e. a student I.D. card is valid if it includes a sticker with the required information — must include students from technical colleges as well.

Wisconsin Republicans retaliated by classifying the Government Accountability Board’s ruling as an “administrative” rule. An administrative rule can be blocked by the governor.

Problem solved.

Come on, Wisconsin voters. Get those recall petitions signed so you can scrub that shitstain out of the governor’s mansion.

Congress More Hated Than BP, the IRS and Communism

2011-11-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

Oh, and Paris Hilton too.

I don’t know what this all means; probably nothing. I’ve always been amused by these statistical displays, like Harper’s Index (no relation).

Senator Michael Bennet (D—Colorado) had a field day with these public approval ratings on MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown” last week:

The IRS: 40%

BP (during the height of last year’s oil spill): 16%

Paris Hilton: 15%

The idea of America “going Communist” — 11%

Huge Chavez: 9%

U.S. Congress: 9%

As the linked article says:

“Bringing the government to a standstill over and over again to spite Barack Obama (current approval 47% and tracking upward) is working out really well.”

Tell Congress: No War With Iran

2011-11-14T14:49:00.000-08:00

First of all — for the benefit of any rightwing readers here — this petition is coming from Downsize DC, a Libertarian organization.

As you’ve been seeing in the news, the chickenhawks are foaming at the mouth, champing at the bit to send somebody else’s children and spouses off to war in Iran. One would think our trillion-dollar quagmire in Iraq had taught us something, but you know the old expression about doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result.

Please click here and send a letter to Congress, telling them you oppose conflict with Iran. Sorry, it really is a letter and not just a petition to sign. Come on, your country needs you.

The first sentence is already filled in — “I oppose conflict with Iran.” Just insert a few sentences or phrases of your own in the blank field, and send it.

The GOP White House contenders — acting on orders from their pimps in the “defense” industry — are all trying to whip up the inbreds with scary images of Iran attacking the world. Don’t fall for it. And tell Congress not to fall for it either.

Boycott Costco

2011-11-13T17:25:00.000-08:00

I know this is a non-starter. Costco has high-quality products at low prices. Their employees are well-paid (if I’m not mistaken) and there always seems to be a really upbeat vibe inside the store.

Besides, if you do a web search for “Boycott Costco,” not many links come up.

But I’m gonna rant anyway. Costco spent $22.5 million — the largest election purchase in Washington State’s history — promoting Initiative 1183 to privatize the state’s liquor industry. Costco funded a similar initiative last year but it got defeated. So Costco changed the wording a little, quadrupled their campaign spending and — Presto — the voters “saw” things differently this time. 60% voted Yes on 1183.

Currently in Washington you have to buy your booze at a state-run liquor store. They’re open until 8 or 9 p.m.; closed Sundays and holidays. It’s a bit less convenient, but I never heard of anyone going through the DTs because they couldn’t get to the liquor store on time. (You can buy beer and wine at any grocery store or mini-mart; just not liquor.)

Every state is different; I didn’t see why Washington’s approach was a problem. I spent most of my adult life in California where every grocery store and mini-mart has a full liquor selection. That seemed like the norm, so when we moved to Washington, their state liquor stores took some getting used to. (Washington’s system will be similar to California’s when 1183 takes effect next year.) In some other states (e.g. Wyoming), if you want anything alcoholic — even beer or wine — you have to go into a bar and buy it off-sale.

So every state does it differently. I don’t see why a huge corporation needed to spend $22.5 million just to change the liquor laws in one state. And if you shop at Costco and notice their prices going up, you’ll know the reason.

I don’t know whether people voted for 1183 because they thought the price of booze would go down, or because it’s just too difficult to get to the liquor store before 9 p.m. So far the only effect of 1183 is that about 1,000 state liquor department employees will be out of work.

The Yes on 1183 campaign was a perfect petri dish to show how endlessly-repeated propaganda seeps into the public consciousness. Washington residents were bombarded for months with TV, online and newspaper ads saying “let’s get the state out of the liquor industry.”

And that exact phrase has been used in countless editorials, answers to survey questions and letters to the editor. Recite the same slogan often enough and the parrots will repeat it.

So anyway, there probably won’t be any sort of boycott of Costco. But the nearest Costco happens to be next door to a Grocery Outlet, which also has high quality products at low prices. And unlike Costco — if you see an item you like at Grocery Outlet, you don’t have to buy fifty of them.

Let’s hope the local Grocery Outlet siphons off a few Costco shoppers.

Colin Powell on Occupy Wall Street

2011-11-12T14:19:00.000-08:00

If anyone other than Colin Powell had said this, the Far Right would be pulling their hair out and yelling “Who IS that socialist parasite and why does he hate America?!?”

Colin Powell told CNN:

“I was born in Harlem to immigrant parents, and my parents always had a job. And so, people are concerned now that there is not that source of an income. There isn’t that work source that I remember. So, what you’re seeing with ‘Occupy Wall Street’ and the others are people who are unhappy, and they’re directing their unhappiness right now towards Wall Street and towards those they think are doing to well in our society. And so, demonstrating like this is as American as apple pie. We have been marching up and down and demonstrating throughout our history.”

CNN’s Piers Morgan asked Colin Powell:

“Do you understand the anger particularly towards Wall Street, I think? What really gets their goat is that a lot of these banks and bankers got bailed out by the taxpayers. The first chance they got, when they got back on their feet, to not give themselves huge bonuses again, they ignored that temptation and put their noses back in the trough.”

Colin Powell:

“…one of the things that is of concern to all of us is that there’s an increasing gap between those who are doing very well and I’m doing well, and those who are not doing as well. And those who are not doing as well are not seeing their lives improving. And so, there’s frustration and angriness there. And so, it isn’t enough to scream at the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ demonstrators. We need our political system to start reflecting this anger back in to how do we fix it? How do we get the economy going again? How do we get businesses that have a lot of money stacked up, how do we get them to invest that money and create jobs?”

Tourists: Come to America

2011-11-11T14:30:00.000-08:00

I think this is a great idea. The Corporation for Travel Promotion (CTP) is a private-public partnership formed for the purpose of bringing visitors to the United States. Their ad campaign starts next year. They describe their campaign as: “the first-ever coordinated global marketing effort dedicated to welcoming international travelers to the United States.”

They also refer to creating a “21st century brand which symbolizes the boundless possibilities of the U.S.”

The group’s website also offers a few tips for travelers to America:

“Health care is superior in the US but it can be very expensive because there is no universal health care.”

“Some banking networks charge fees of $1-2 per transaction.”

“Be aware that Americans are fanatics about showering and hygiene.”

They should have mentioned something about the language barrier. Foreign tourists who aren’t fluent in English are in for a rough time. I’ve traveled all over Europe and Asia and would have been totally stranded if I had to rely on my own tiny smatterings of the local language. English, and numerous other languages, are widely spoken overseas. Such is not the case here, for whatever reason.

A spokesperson from the Corporation for Travel Promotion said:

“What is so compelling about the United States is that no one thing can explain who we are as a nation. Each visitor and each experience helps create the fabric of American culture, and Brand USA embodies this spirit. When we launch our global marketing and advertising campaign next year, we will be able to reach audiences around the world by showcasing the best of America and spreading the message that we welcome visitors with open arms.”

Obama Delays Approval of Keystone XL Pipeline

2011-11-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

I was hoping for a flat-out DISapproval of the Keystone XL pipeline. But this delay is better than nothing. The Obama Administration is “delaying” approval for the purpose of finding a different route for transporting tar sands oil from Alberta to Texas.

What “different” route would be better? Apparently the people of (mostly Republican) Nebraska screamed too loudly; something about their aquifer being jeopardized by a massive oil pipeline running through it. So there’s, what, a different region of the country where the people WON’T care that their water supply and their surrounding environment would be devastated by a tar sands oil spill? Good luck with that.

NIMBY means “somebody else’s back yard.” And this “somebody else” will also scream NIMBY. And the search continues.

If you like massive oil spills in Alaskan waters and the Gulf of Mexico, you’ll love the Keystone XL pipeline. (More information on the Keystone XL pipeline here.)

This delay in approval will make the Keystone XL pipeline a major campaign issue for the 2012 election. It’ll come down to which side has a better PR campaign: the “Drill Here Drill Now” inbreds or the rest of the population whose IQs are HIGHER than their shoe sizes.

Thoughts on the 2011 Election Results

2011-11-09T13:30:00.000-08:00

Mostly it was encouraging. Ohio voters kidney-punched Governor John Kasich, trouncing his Koch-ordered union-crippling law in a statewide referendum. The 99 percenters have got some momentum now. Next stop — Wisconsin. And Michigan, Florida..

And you’ve gotta love John Kasich’s concession speech after his signature law got repealed:

“It's clear that the people have spoken. My view is when people speak in a campaign like this, in a referendum, you have to listen. I've heard their voices. I understand their decision. And frankly I respect what people have to say in an effort like this. As a result of that, it requires me to take a deep breath and spend some time reflecting on what happened.”

Gee, ya think? How magnanimous of the pompous little prick.

Maine voters showed they can’t be purchased by a jillion-dollar anonymous bribe. Maine’s legislature and teajob governor passed a voter-restriction law — basically eliminating a decades-long tradition of allowing voters to register on Election Day. Voters put a referendum on the ballot to overturn the voter-restriction law. Just a few days before the election, an anonymous conservative donor contributed $250,000 to the rightwing campaign to keep the disenfranchise-the-voters law in place. Didn’t work. Once again, Maine residents can register to vote on Election Day.

Arizona voters have recalled state Senator Russell Pearce (R—Ku Klux Klan), the architect of Arizona’s infamous “he looks swarthy, let’s stop and frisk him” law.

And thank you Jesus, Mississippi voters trounced the state’s “personhood” amendment. This was an attempt to define life as beginning at fertilization. This would ban all abortions — no exceptions! — and some forms of contraception as well. Even though this abortional idea (pun intended) got squelched by the voters, the Salem Witch-hunters who are promoting it might keep putting this question on other state ballots. This could be the “gay marriage” of the 2012 election — a scheme for getting every snake-handling fetus-humping Biblewipe to crawl out from under their rock and into the voting booth.

On the downside, Mississippi voters did approve a law requiring all voters to present a government-issued I.D. in order to vote. (I thought conservatives didn’t trust them government bureaucrats.) And in Washington State, Costco has discovered that if you keep doing the same thing over and over, you CAN get a different result. (More on that in a later post.)

McDonalds McRib: The Factory Farm Connection

2011-11-08T14:22:00.000-08:00

Every once in awhile, the sick horrifying conditions at factory farms are swept out from under the rug and shown to the public. Even if you don’t give a fuck about the tortures inflicted on these animals, how can you eat the byproducts of these factories? Factory farm animals are fed excrement and the rotting flesh of other livestock, among other things. If that’s what they’re eating, and you eat them, then that’s what YOU’RE eating.

Smithfield Foods is the factory farm that supplies the pork for the McDonalds McRib. Last year the Humane Society did an undercover operation at Smithfield Foods. Among other niceties, the pigs are crammed together so tightly that they suffer from “open pressure sores and other ulcers and wounds.”

No doubt there are hundreds of other factory farms that are just as putrefied as Smithfield Foods. But Smithfield Foods pretends to be different, claiming that their animals are raised under “ideal” conditions. And McDonalds has publicly praised Smithfield Foods for its humane treatment of their animals, and even presented Smithfield with a “supplier sustainability” award.

Other abuses discovered by the Humane Society include — from the linked article:

Animals were crammed into cages that were “coated in blood from the mouths of pigs chewing the metal bars....A sick pig was shot in the head with a captive bolt gun and thrown into a dumpster while still alive; prematurely born piglets routinely fell through the gate's slats into a manure pit… and employees tossed baby pigs into carts as if they were stuffed animals.”

Mmmm, it’s what’s for dinner. Belly up to the counter.

I have nothing against McDonalds or any other fast food chain. They’re wealthy because jillions of people like their products. Nobody is being forced to eat there.

If you go there — just remember what you’re eating.

Public Perception: YES, Republicans ARE Deliberately Sabotaging the Economy

2011-11-07T16:35:00.000-08:00

For months — OK, longer — it’s been obvious that Republicans in Congress were deliberately sabotaging any possible chance of an economic recovery. And it seemed like nobody else could see it, outside of a few people who frequent “alternative” news sites. Every time Obama or any Democrat would try to stimulate the economy, they'd get blocked, obstructed, straitjacketed by the “Party of Jobs.”

And it seemed like nobody was making the connection. I just felt like grabbing the American electorate by the lapels and screaming “Hello!!! Can’t you understand this??? Wake UP!!!”

And now the public HAS waken up. In a survey in Florida, respondents were asked if they thought Republicans were “intentionally stalling efforts to jumpstart the economy to ensure that Barack Obama is not re-elected.” 49% answered Yes. 39% said No. Of the voters who identified themselves as “Moderate,” 59% said Yes.

And again, this is Florida; not exactly a liberal state.

In another survey, this one nationwide, about half of the respondents agreed with the following statement:

“President Obama is making a good faith effort to deal with the country’s economic problems, but the Republicans in Congress are playing politics by blocking his proposals and programs.”

Congressional Republicans: We see you. The sausage factory doors have been flung open. The stench is unbearable.

Democratic strategists: You’ve finally got a winning issue here. Start hammering away at it, and keep on hammering and hammering again until Election Day.