From Inside The Tin Can

The Guy Next Door

2012-01-02T18:20:00.001-05:00

Does anyone think the good folks of New Hampshire will go for a Texan, a Georgian, or a feller from Utah over a guy from ~~Michigan~~ the state next door?

January 02, 2012

From Taegan Goddard:

Romney Solidifies New Hampshire Lead

The latest Suffolk tracking poll in New Hampshire shows Mitt Romney leading with 43%, followed by Ron Paul at 17%, Jon Huntsman at 9% and Newt Gingrich at 8%.

Key finding: "Romney is not only widening his margin in New Hampshire, his supporters are now the least likely to change their minds between now and next Tuesday."

King Snakes are ophiophagous.

Are We High Yet?

2011-12-26T17:46:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I just don't know what to say...

Painkiller 10 times stronger than Vicodin worries addiction experts

(It Should)

(CBS/AP) As pharmaceutical companies are approaching the final stages of development for a new type of painkiller said to be 10 times stronger than Vicodin, addiction experts worry a new wave of abuse may soon follow...

Four companies have begun patient testing on the pills which contain a pure version of the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone...

"It's like the wild west," said Peter Jackson, co-founder of Advocates for the Reform of Prescription Opioids. "The whole supply-side system is set up to perpetuate this massive unloading of opioid narcotics on the American public."

***

Opiates block pain but also unleash intense feelings of well-being and can create physical dependence. Withdrawal symptoms can be intense, causing cramps, diarrhea, muddled thinking, nausea and vomiting. After a while, opiates stop working, forcing users to take stronger doses.

"You've got a person on your product for life, and a doctor's got a patient who's never going to miss an appointment, because if they did and they didn't get their prescription, they would feel very sick," said Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing. "It's a terrific business model, and that's what these companies want to get in on."

The U.S. consumes 99 percent of the world's hydrocodone and 83 percent of its oxycodone, according to a 2008 study by the International Narcotics Control Board. [Emphasis mine].

What Is Happening To Our Children?

2011-12-26T15:57:00.000-05:00

I fear I have encountered an iceberg. My research is just beginning and I don't like what I am finding out about child abuse in the U.S.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau. (2010). Child Maltreatment 2009. Available from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/index.htm#can
(HT) ChildHelp.org

Iraq Coalition Military Fatalities By Year

Year	US	UK	Other	Total
2003	486	53	41	580
2004	849	22	35	906
2005	846	23	28	897
2006	822	29	21	872
2007	904	47	10	961
2008	314	4	4	322
2009	149	1	0	150
2010	60	0	0	60
2011	54	0	0	54
Total	4484	179	139	4802

Afghanistan Coalition Military Fatalities By Year

Year	US	UK	Other	Total
2001	12	0	0	12
2002	49	3	18	70
2003	48	0	10	58
2004	52	1	7	60
2005	99	1	31	131
2006	98	39	54	191
2007	117	42	73	232
2008	155	51	89	295
2009	317	108	96	521
2010	499	103	109	711
2011	412	45	101	558
Total	1858	393	588	2839

More than 13,000 children have died from abuse since 2003. Double the number of military coalition casualties of two wars.

The Donald tells the GOP; "You're Fired!"

2011-12-24T13:22:00.000-05:00

From Political Wire:

Trump Dumps Republican Party

Donald Trump continued to tease a potential presidential run by changing his voter registration from Republican to "unaffiliated" and publicly denouncing the behavior of members of his former party, CNN reports.

Michael Cohen, an aide to Trump, said the real estate mogul and reality television star made the switch "in order to preserve his right to run for president as an independent if he's not satisfied with who the Republicans nominate."

Cohen added that Trump was "disgusted with the way Republicans are handling" the payroll tax cut extension, saying the actions of Republicans were partly to blame for his party change.

A person just can't make this shit up. Mitt, Newt, The Donald, Jon, Ron Paul, Rick Perry (what the fuck is up with the two first names?), Herman the Ho...Is anyone else embarrassed? It's Not going to be The Thrilla In Manilla folks.

Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus

2011-12-24T12:44:00.000-05:00

From Taegan Goddard at Political Wire:

December 24, 2011
Gingrich Fails to Qualify for Virginia Ballot
Newt Gingrich has failed to qualify for Virginia's presidential primary, the Richmond Times Dispatch reports.

Rick Perry also failed to amass the required 10,000 signatures of registered voters to qualify for the March 6 contest.

Mitt Romney and Ron Paul will be the only candidates on the ballot.

Several polls this month showed Gingrich with a substantial lead over Romney in the state.

Merry Christmas from Virginia.

Oh yeah, Christmas.

2011-12-23T10:29:00.000-05:00

So it's that time again. Well we saved the cattle but we lost the farm. A person can't have everything. For the one or two lost souls who have happened onto this electronic cave, a suggestion for Christmas day entertainment:

The Dismal Political Economist

They promise to bring us the up side of our holiday cheer.

Occupation

2011-11-05T10:00:00.000-04:00

Can they accomplish something? The OWS movement is toddling along, looking for its feet, legs and voice. The goals are virtuous, even tho they vary widely. The protesters appear to be a cross section of the American populace, not wild eyed extremists. How will the extremists in the 1% respond? Physical and economic violence do not seem too absurd a response from the engineers of a spectacularly failed economic and political oligarchy.

Mikey, Mikey, Mikey.

2011-11-03T10:08:00.000-04:00

So everyone is up in arms about Michael Bloombergs sanctification of the banking industry in favor of condemning the US government.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said this morning that if there is anyone to blame for the mortgage crisis that led the collapse of the financial industry, it's not the "big banks," but Congress.

Who coulda knowed?

American businessman, politician and philanthropist, Michael Rubens Bloomberg, has a net worth of $19.5 billion as of September 2011, according to Forbes’ rich list making him the 12th-richest person in United States.

Definitely a 1 percenter. Not exactly a surprise.

The List Is Too Fucking Long

2011-11-01T13:39:00.000-04:00

Greece is bankrupt. Mitt is running, again (hoping we forgot that dog thing). BP is Back! Snow in October in Virginia and north. Newt has grown a new tail. Brian Moynihan and BofA don't seem to get the Occupy Wall Street mentality. Herman Cain, what were you thinking? America is for sale. Looks like Obama wants to do a "Bush" to Iran.It all looks bad, but I could be wrong.

Very Standard and Very Poor

2011-08-13T22:45:00.001-04:00

The definition of structural (un)employment can be successfully elucidated as taking S&P seriously. They seem to lack the requisite skill set necessary to successfully execute ~~themselves~~ their job. WTF? You dissed America because we have a few loonies running the "hoochie coochie goochie" show in D.C.? So maybe we should invest in Greece, or Iceland, or Ireland or Estonia? Say, how about we just invest in ourselves?

Just a powder-puff followup from the good Dr. Krugman:

August 12, 2011, 3:45 pm
Downgrade Downgraded
A week ago, before the S&P downgrade, the interest rate on US 10-year bonds was 2.56 percent. As I write this, it’s 2.24 percent, with the yield on inflation-protected bonds actually negative.
You would think this would amount to strong evidence that the downgrade totally failed to shake confidence in US debt.

The S&P comedy seems to be the denouement of the Laurel & Hardy debt limit charade. This dissembling has become seriously un-amusing for many Americans.

The Hubris Of the Charlatans

2011-08-10T12:22:00.000-04:00

A moment of silence, please...

So, S&P has downgraded the USA...sort of like when my son told me his allowance was too small...it got smaller. Let's see what the reaction of the pros is...

Paul Krugman:
Credibility, Chutzpah and Debt
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 7, 2011

To understand the furor over the decision by Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency, to downgrade U.S. government debt, you have to hold in your mind two seemingly (but not actually) contradictory ideas. The first is that America is indeed no longer the stable, reliable country it once was. The second is that S.& P. itself has even lower credibility; it’s the last place anyone should turn for judgments about our nation’s prospects.

Robert Reich:
Why S&P Has No Business Downgrading the U.S.

Friday, August 5, 2011
Standard & Poor’s downgrade of America’s debt couldn’t come at a worse time. The result is likely to be higher borrowing costs for the government at all levels, and higher interest on your variable-rate mortgage, your auto loan, your credit card loans, and every other penny you borrow.

Why did S&P do it?

Not because America failed to pay its creditors on time. As you may have noticed, we avoided a default.

***
Pardon me for asking, but who gave Standard & Poor’s the authority to tell America how much debt it has to shed, and how?
   ***

S&P’s intrusion into American politics is also ironic because, as I pointed out recently, much of our current debt is directly or indirectly due to S&P’s failures (along with the failures of the two other major credit-rating agencies — Fitch and Moody’s) to do their jobs before the financial meltdown. Until the eve of the collapse S&P gave triple-A ratings to some of the Street’s riskiest packages of mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations.
   ***
In other words, had Standard & Poor’s done its job over the last decade, today’s budget deficit would be far smaller and the nation’s future debt wouldn’t look so menacing.

We’d all be better off had S&P done the job it was supposed to do, then. We’ve paid a hefty price for its nonfeasance.
A pity S&P is not even doing its job now. We’ll be paying    another hefty    price for its malfeasance today.

Ezra Klein:
Does the downgrade mean more U.S. towns will go bankrupt?
By Suzy Khimm

Standard & Poor’s announced another wave of downgrades on Monday, lowering the credit ratings that affect thousands of cities, school districts, public housing and transportation projects directly linked to federal funds.
***
But the worst may not be over yet. S&P is expected to announce another wave of downgrades later this week. “Where we’re headed is more like spreading a flu.
***
Another wave of downgrades could come at a particularly bad time for some financially troubled corners of the country. Though overall default numbers remain low, there’s already been a recent uptick in the number towns, cities and other municipal bond holders on the brink of solvency.

Andy Borowitz:
Predator Drone Seen Hovering over Standard & Poor’s Headquarters
Company Could Be in for Downgrade of its Own, Experts Say
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – Just days after downgrading the credit rating of the United States, Standard & Poor’s was on high alert this morning after an unmanned Predator drone was seen hovering over its headquarters in lower Manhattan.
While the mission of the Predator was unclear, some insiders speculated that S & P might be in for a downgrade of its own.

The Predator appeared in the skies above the company’s headquarters minutes after it was rumored that S & P was about to downgrade the United States to the same status as Pluto.
As a so-called “dwarf nation,” the U.S. would no longer be accorded the same respect as a recognized country like France or Brazil, one S & P source said: “Basically, the United States would be considered a social network with parking.”
At the White House, President Obama offered no comment on the Predator’s mission, saying only, “The Predator is an effective weapon against the enemies of the United States of America.”
He did offer apologies for what he called “an accidental Predator missile strike” over the weekend at a golf course in Virginia which narrowly missed Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA).

In other financial news:
– In an effort to find a safe haven, rattled investors fled the dollar today and moved their money into Groupons.
– In one rare bright spot on Wall Street, manufacturers of red ink posted record profits.
– And finally, Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner explained his decision to remain at the U.S. Treasury: “I didn’t want to look for a job – it’s fucking scary out there.”

Helo, hello, hello?

2011-08-10T10:32:00.000-04:00

Robert Reich:

Slouching Toward a Double Dip, For No Good Reason

Monday, August 8, 2011

Imagine your house is burning. You call the fire department but your call isn’t answered because every fire fighter in town is debating whether there will be enough water to fight fires over the next ten years, even though water is plentiful right now. (Yes, there’s a long-term problem.) One faction won’t even allow the fire trucks out of the garage unless everyone agrees to cut water use. An agency that rates fire departments has just issued a downgrade, causing everyone to hoard water.

While all this squabbling continues, your house burns to the ground and the fire has now spread to your neighbors’ homes. But because everyone is preoccupied with the wrong question (the long-term water supply) and the wrong solution (saving water now), there’s no response. In the end, the town comes up with a plan for the water supply over the next decade, but it’s irrelevant because the whole town has been turned to ashes...

The most important aspect of policy making is getting the problem right. We are slouching toward a double dip because we’re getting the problem wrong. Despite what Standard & Poor’s says, notwithstanding what’s occurring in Europe, and regardless of U.S. budget projections years from now — our current crisis is jobs, wages, and growth. We do not now have a debt crisis...

We are slouching toward a double dip, with all the human costs that implies. We don’t have to be. That is the tragedy of our time.

Slip Sliding Away

2011-08-04T15:47:00.001-04:00

Paul Krugman

Hope Is Not A Plan
Nor is it good politics. So what the heck are they thinking?
President Barack Obama’s spokesman is discounting talk that the economy may be headed back into recession, despite recent concerns of economists.
Spokesman Jay Carney says there is no question that economic growth and job creation have slowed over the past half year.
But, Carney told a White House briefing, “We do not believe that there is a threat of a double-dip recession.”
Of course there’s a threat. Larry Summers puts the odds at one in three; I might be slightly more optimistic, but the risk is very real. Who, exactly, is at the White House who knows better?

Passage Creek Flooded

2011-07-03T11:08:00.000-04:00

Late 420 Video

2011-04-23T15:07:00.002-04:00

Why We Fight

2011-04-23T14:49:00.000-04:00

Did you ever wonder?

Thanks to asiangrrlMN at ABL Chronicles for popping this vid.

ABL Is the Shit

2011-04-21T20:45:00.000-04:00

Thanks to ABL for posting (re-posting?) this Spike Jonze video.

"More than a Lost Decade"

2011-04-21T08:05:00.000-04:00

by CalculatedRisk on 4/20/2011 09:13:00 PM:

I've been more upbeat lately, but even as the economy recovers - and I think the recovery will continue - we need to remember a few facts.

There are currently 130.738 million payroll jobs in the U.S. (as of March 2011). There were 130.781 million payroll jobs in January 2000. So that is over eleven years with no increase in total payroll jobs.

And the median household income in constant dollars was $49,777 in 2009. That is barely above the $49,309 in 1997, and below the $51,100 in 1998. (Census data here in Excel).

Just a reminder that many Americans have been struggling for a decade or more. The aughts were a lost decade for most Americans.

And I'd like to think every U.S. policymaker wakes up every morning and reminds themselves of the following:

There are currently 7.25 million fewer payroll jobs than before the recession started in 2007, with 13.5 million Americans currently unemployed. Another 8.4 million are working part time for economic reasons, and about 4 million more workers have left the labor force. Of those unemployed, 6.1 million have been unemployed for six months or more.

So even as we start to discuss how to fix the structural budget deficit, and also to address the long term fiscal challenges from healthcare costs, we can't forget about all of these Americans.

So Mo Didn't Know

2011-04-10T14:48:00.000-04:00

Maureen Dowd finally gets Bob Dylan. This is an excerpt from her "you totally fooled me" OpEd in todays NYT:

Bob Dylan may have done the impossible: broken creative new ground in selling out...Before Dylan was allowed to have his first concert in China on Wednesday at the Worker’s Gymnasium in Beijing, he ignored his own warning in “Subterranean Homesick Blues” — “Better stay away from those that carry around a fire hose” — and let the government pre-approve his set... But he’s the first to admit he cashes in.
David Hajdu, the New Republic music critic, says the singer has always shown a tension between “not wanting to be a leader and wanting to be a celebrity.”
In Hajdu’s book, “Positively 4th Street,” Dylan is quoted saying that critics who charged that he’d sold out to rock ’n’ roll had it backward.
“I never saw myself as a folksinger,” he said. “They called me that if they wanted to. I didn’t care. I latched on, when I got to New York City, because I saw (what) a huge audience there was. I knew I wasn’t going to stay there. I knew it wasn’t my thing. ... I became interested in folk music because I had to make it somehow.”
“Folk music,” he concluded, “is a bunch of fat people.”
He can’t really betray the spirit of the ’60s because he never had it.

Dylan has always been an arrogant, self-absorbed hypocrite. This is an article from the LA Times:

Bob Dylan's neighbors sing outhouse blues
March 17, 2009|Bob Pool

How sweet is life when you live next to a celebrity in Malibu?
Outside Bob Dylan's house, the answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind.
That's what some of the singer-songwriter's neighbors are charging in an increasingly odoriferous dispute over a portable toilet at his sprawling ocean view estate on Point Dume.

Residents contend that the nighttime sea breeze sends a noxious odor from a portable toilet on Dylan's property wafting into their homes. The stench has made members of one family ill and forced them to abandon their bedrooms on warm nights, they say.
For more than six months, Dylan, 67, has ignored their complaints and their pleas to remove the outhouse, the downwind neighbors say.
"It's a scandal -- 'Mr. Civil Rights' is killing our civil rights," said David Emminger, whose home is directly behind the toilet -- which is apparently intended for use by employees of the entertainer best known for his 1960s-era protest songs.

Emminger and his wife have installed five industrial-sized fans in their frontyard in an attempt to blow the odor back at Dylan. They say the fans are no match for the ocean breeze that sweeps across the singer's land, however.
Dylan, who has lived in a compound next to Bluewater Road for more than two decades, did not respond to inquiries about the toilet. Neither did his New York-based attorney.
Malibu officials said they are investigating the complaint. As a result, they are unable to discuss the issue, they said.
But Dylan's neighbors who contend their patience has run out have plenty to say about the odor.
"It started in September. I'd go into the frontyard and get nauseous," said Cindy Emminger, 42. "I couldn't figure out at first where the smell was coming from."
Her 8-year-old son, David Jr., was sickened by the stench. Then she became ill too.
"We both have allergies and are sensitive to chemicals," she said. "I finally noticed that they had moved the porta-potty directly in front of my front door."
By some accounts, the city's response has been sluggish.
In January, one inspector reported that a city code enforcement officer was turned away by Dylan's security staff and told that he was trespassing. "He said they were going to sue the city," the inspector said.
Guards who staff a security shack near the edge of Dylan's compound around the clock are among those who utilize the toilet, neighbors say.

Politics, Pundits and The Peter Priciple

2011-04-09T12:02:00.000-04:00

Never has The Peter Principle been so convincingly proven as in the recent US budget dis~~compromise~~agreement.
Now I suppose they will have a party. A little spine would help. When will the pain end?

Jumping The Shark, Our Egomaniacal Masters

2011-04-08T23:45:00.001-04:00

So, with less than an hour to spare, the Congress has covered itself with glory. This kind of debauched publicity politickin' really looks bad. Just a bunch of Fonzies.

Vocationing Quietly

2011-04-06T23:42:00.000-04:00

So it's been a while. Libya, Ivory Coast, Fukushima Daiichi, Portugal, government shutdown, Glenn Beck falls; some great stuff, but I had nothing to say about it since my idiot quotient had come up against the Zero Lower Bound.

A good read by Emily L. Hauser at ABL Chronicles on The BASE, Boss! The BASE! Boss!

Lest I forget, Joseph E. Stiglitz on risk management and why humans suck at it. (Lack of experience and arrogance.)

Spring is here, the farm is greenin', so this will be an after dark blog. It may go bump in the night.

Have You Ever...?

2011-03-12T14:03:00.000-05:00

Ordered ~~medication~~ an aspirin online? Think you have a fucking headache now, wait until your email explodes with offers from every ~~drug dealer~~ pharmaceutical retailer with internet access. How do they do that? The government can't find the assholes that blew up the world economy, but every two bit purveyor of dope can network my email and purchasing history? You Know what's next:

Lesson From Day 20152 of My Life

2011-03-11T19:34:00.001-05:00

Experience is often mistaken for expertise.

Just A Thought (borrowed)

2011-03-11T18:56:00.000-05:00

Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

Let's Party Like It's 2011

2011-03-10T06:31:00.000-05:00

Dr. Reich has more on the emerging Peoples Party. Everyone is invited. The time has come to throw the bastards out.

The Principles of the People’s Party

Robert Reich
Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The following was sent to me by someone in Madison, Wisconsin, who found it in the Capitol building last week. It was obviously written in a hurry, and it carries the label “first draft.”

It’s emerging from the heartland – from Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and Iowa — and it is spreading across the nation. It doesn’t have a formal organization or Washington lobbyists beyond it, but it’s gaining strength nonetheless.
***
1. Increasing the pay and bargaining power of average working people. We’ll stop efforts to destroy unions and collective bargaining rights. Protect workers who try to form unions from being fired. Make it easier for workers to form unions through simple up-or-down votes at the workplace.
2. Requiring America’s super-rich to pay their fair share. Increase top marginal tax rates and the number of tax brackets at the top. Treat income from capital gains the same as ordinary income. Restore the estate tax. Revoke the citizenship of anyone found to be sheltering income abroad.
3. Protecting and expanding government programs vital to the working middle class and the poor. These include Social Security, K-12 education, Pell Grants for disadvantaged students, public transportation, Medicare and Medicaid, and the Earned Income Tax Credit.
4. Ending corporate welfare and cutting military outlays. Trim defense spending. End special tax subsidies for specific corporations or industries – at both state and federal levels. Cut agricultural subsidies.
5. Saving Social Security while making it more progressive. Exempt the first $20,000 of income from Social Security taxes. Make up the difference – and any need for additional Social Security revenues – by raising the ceiling on income subject to the Social Security payroll tax.
6. Ending Wall Street’s dominance of the economy and preventing any future taxpayer-funded bailout. Break up Wall Street’s largest banks and put a cap their size. Link pay on the Street to long-term profits rather than short-term speculation. Subject all financial transactions to a one-tenth of one percent transactions tax.
7. Fully enforcing regulations that protect workers, consumers, small investors, and the environment. Raise penalties on corporations that violate them. Expand enforcement staffs. Provide more private rights of action.
8. Providing affordable health care to all Americans. The new health law isn’t enough. We’ll fight for a single payer – making Medicare available to all. End fee-for-service and create “accountable-care” organizations that focus on healthy outcomes.
9. Slowing and eventually reversing climate change. We’ll fight to limit carbon emissions. Impose a ceiling on emissions or a carbon tax on polluters. Return the revenues from these to the American people, in the form of tax cuts for the working middle class.
10. Getting big money out of politics. We’ll fight to appoint Supreme Court justices who will overrule Citizens United v. FEC. Require full disclosure of all contributions for or against any candidate. Provide full public financing for all presidential, gubernatorial, and legislative candidates in all general elections.
A few of the places it’s happening:
Madison (ongoing).
Des Moines (ongoing).
March 10: Indianapolis. Gather at 10am and rally at 11:30am at Statehouse, 200 W. Washington St., Indianapolis. Rallies will continue at the capitol until the impasse is over.
March 11: St. Louis. Downtown at 3:30 pm at Kiener Plaza. SB 1 is expected to be voted on in the Senate the week of 3/7 or 3/14.
April 4: In cities across America. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – Demonstrations to show that “We Are One.”

The Peoples Party

2011-03-08T05:59:00.000-05:00

Is Robert Reich todays John Lennon? I think the argument can be legitimately made. Here is Dr. Reich's early read:

The Birth of the People’s Party

Robert Reich

Monday, March 7, 2011

Look at the outrage in Madison, Wisconsin. Look at the crowds in DesMoines, Iowa. Look at the demonstrations in Indiana and Ohio and elswhere around America.
Hear what they’re saying: Stop attacking unions. Stop making scapegoats out of public employees. Stop protecting the super-rich from paying their fair share of the taxes needed to keep our schools running.
Stop gutting the working middle class.
Are we finally seeing average Americans stand up and demand a fair shake in an economy now grotesquely tilted toward the wealthy and the privileged? Are Americans beginning to awake to the fact that our economy now delivers a larger share of total income to the very top than at any time in living memory? That big corporations are making more money and creating more jobs abroad than in the United States?
That this concentration of income and wealth has so corrupted politics that corporations can extort whatever they want from the government — tax breaks, loan guarantees, subsidies — while the super-rich can take most of their income as capital gains (taxed at 15 percent), and the rest at the lowest top rate in 25 years? And that because of this our kids are crowded into classrooms, our streets and highways and bridges are falling apart, and our healthcare bills are out of control?
The Tea Party grew out of indignation over the Wall Street bailout — an indignation shared by the vast majority of Americans. But the Tea Party ended up directing its ire at government rather than at big business and Wall Street. Was this because billionaires Charles and David Koch and their like funneled money to the Tea Party through front organizations like Dick Armey’s Freedom Works, and thereby co-opted it?
Now we may be seeing the birth of a genuine populist movement. Call it the People’s Party. Like the Tea Party, the People’s Party doesn’t have a clear organization or hierarchy or single address. It doesn’t have lobbyists in Washington. It’s not even yet recognized by the mainstream media.
But the People’s Party seems to be growing in numbers and in intensity. And it’s starting to push elected officials — first at the state level — to listen and respond.

Just A Reminder

2011-03-07T08:20:00.000-05:00

In this harsh economic climate there is little talk about the real fiscal problem.

Wisconsin Where?

2011-03-04T12:11:00.005-05:00

Dave Weigel is doing an outstanding job not forgetting The Wisconsin Workers.

Wisconsin Capitol Occupation Ends With Fishy Damage Figures

Posted Friday, March 04, 2011 11:11 AM | By David Weigel

The two week sleep-in at the Wisconsin state capitol is over; protesters will no longer crash in the building. The decision comes after a court battle (a polite, short one) over whether it was legal for the state to limit access to the building, and the state's case was that protesters were doing damage.
[S]tate officials said that damage from the demonstration to the marble inside and outside the Capitol would cost an estimated $7.5 million: $6 million for damage inside, $1 million for damage outside and $500,000 for additional expenses.
How do they estimate this?
But the state provided no explanation for their figures or the kind of evidence that one expert said they would need for such a figure.
Officials said in court that the damage came from tape used for posting fliers and papers and other materials.
But DOA spokesman Carla Vigue said she could not immediately provide any detail about how state officials arrived at such a figure.
I've got my own call in on this. There's no precedent for the occupation of the Capitol, nothing to compare this number to, but protesters were very conscious to limit damage to the building. The conservative MacIver Institute reported that the door to the Supreme Court had been damaged, but I did not hear about or see any physical damage to the building. After the first day, according to student organizer Tom Bird, only blue electrical tape was used to put up signs -- this tape left no noticeable impression on wood or marble. There was a little vandalism of toilet paper dispensers in bathrooms, but by the time I got to the state the doors to every bathroom had signs on them asking people not to "tag" anything.
The only times I looked at the Capitol and said "wow, this is going to need cleaning" were when I saw carpet in the rooms being used for strategy and protest-staging, like the third floor room occupied by teaching assistants. There wasn't filth; there was just some of the liquid spatter and food crumbs you'd expect after two weeks of people living in these rooms. But will it cost $6 million to scrub the building's carpets and floors? It's worth checking back in a few months to see if this $7.5 million estimate actually panned out; also worth checking how much it usually costs to clean the building.

Thanks to Dave Weigel.

Once In A While, just once in a while...

2011-03-04T11:59:00.000-05:00

I read Ezra Klein. He is not a flaming left wing commie. He is, generally a very sensible person. He is kind enough to explain to George Will the economic theory of choices.

When Freedom Rings...Hollow

2011-03-02T11:08:00.002-05:00

Our present SCOTUS has legitimized the Westboro/Phelps carnival barkers, etching this little gem in the stone of American jurisprudence:

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the court. Justice Samuel Alito dissented.

"What Westboro said, in the whole context of how and where it chose to say it, is entitled to 'special protection' under the First Amendment," Roberts wrote, "and that protection cannot be overcome by a jury finding that the picketing was outrageous."

Outrageous? Driving drunk is outrageous. What Westboro does is terrorism. SCOTUS should be able to differentiate.

I suppose future historians will understand that you just had to be here.

Now What?

2011-02-26T12:57:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Pavlovian Obeisance.

Scott Walker and The Fetal Position

2011-02-22T07:54:00.004-05:00

Our National Introduction to Scott Walker has been less than inspiring. He is a college drop out with a deep dislike for his "inferiors", ain't that a hoot? A Union busting "good ole boy"*, he has the key to the koch outhouse.

* Steve Fitzgerald, the father of the top two Republican lawmakers in state government, will lead the Wisconsin State Patrol, Gov. Scott Walker's administration announced Tuesday.

An in depth understanding of Scott Walker (oxymoronic, I know) is emerging. I turns out he is just as dedicated to dis-empowering women as he is unions:

From Andy Kroll at Mother Jones:

Walker's nearly nine-year record in the Wisconsin Assembly, the legislature's lower house, reads like a pro-life handbook, an all-out assault on abortion rights. What's more, the many anti-abortion initiatives he backed are perfectly in sync with the assault on reproductive rights now unfolding on the national level, where House Republicans recently gutted funding for Planned Parenthood and controversially tried to redefine "rape" to limit the long-standing exceptions to the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life.

This Is The Real Thing

2011-02-19T12:58:00.002-05:00

Madison, Wisconsin...Anytown USA

Have we forgotten who stole all the money? It wasn't the cheese-heads. It wasn't Mexicans or poor people or sick people or elderly people. It wasn't unions or carpenters or doctors or gay people. It wasn't me. It probably wasn't you.

Yup. Hims.

Robert Reich - The Man Who Should Be...

2011-02-19T12:16:00.002-05:00

Anything He Wants:

The Republican Strategy

Robert Reich
Thursday, February 17, 2011

The Republican strategy is to split the vast middle and working class – pitting unionized workers against non-unionized, public-sector workers against non-public, older workers within sight of Medicare and Social Security against younger workers who don’t believe these programs will be there for them, and the poor against the working middle class.
***
Republicans would rather no one notice their campaign to shrink the pie even further with additional tax cuts for the rich – making the Bush tax cuts permanent, further reducing the estate tax, and allowing the wealthy to shift ever more of their income into capital gains taxed at 15 percent.
***
The strategy as a whole

These three aspects of the Republican strategy – a federal budget battle to shrink government, focused on programs the vast middle class depends on; state efforts to undermine public employees, whom the middle class depends on; and a Supreme Court dedicated to bending the Constitution to enlarge and entrench the political power of the wealthy – fit perfectly together.
They pit average working Americans against one another, distract attention from the almost unprecedented concentration of wealth and power at the top, and conceal Republican plans to further enlarge and entrench that wealth and power.
What is the Democratic strategy to counter this and reclaim America for the rest of us?
*****

Read the whole article here.

Field Trip!

2011-02-19T09:57:00.002-05:00

More from FightBack!NEWS :

3000 students walk out in Milwaukee, support public workers
By Mike Gold
February 17, 2011
Milwaukee, WI - 3000 students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) walked out of classes at noon, Feb. 17 to protest Governor Scott Walker’s proposed union busting bill, which would effectively ban public sector unions from being able to collectively bargain. Students at colleges and high schools across the state organized walkouts and many school districts were shut down by teacher absences.
***
Resistance Continues in Madison
In Madison, the sit-in at the Capitol continues as tens of thousands of workers and students unite in bold resistance. Democrats refused to show up to the Senate, breaking quorum and delaying the vote for the bill. Many Senators crossed the state border in order to delay the vote, as Governor Walker attempted to dispatch state police to find them.

The Revolution Will Be Peaceful, But It Will Be.

Pick Your Side, Buster

2011-02-19T09:34:00.003-05:00

This from FightBack!NEWS :

Wisconsin governor tries to strip state employees of union rights, workers fight back

Huge protests in Madison
Madison, WI - Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has proposed to take away union collective bargaining rights for more than 175,000 public employees. Walker has made his state the center of a vicious, far-reaching union busting move. But the people of Wisconsin are rising up. They are fighting back.
On Feb. 15 a rally of more than 12,000 people converged on the Capitol with chants of “Recall Walker.” This followed a rally of 2000 students on Feb. 14. The Madison School District has announced that they will not hold classes Feb. 16 because so many teachers have already called in sick in order to attend the protests.

Afghanistan, You Never Loved US

2011-02-18T09:51:00.005-05:00

The Silence is deadly. The Silence is bankrupting US, morally and financially. The Silence is stealing the future of our children. The Silence is destroying Afghanistan.

The solution in Afghanistan: Get out

By James P. McGovern and Walter B. Jones

Friday, February 18, 2011; 12:00 AM

washingtonpost.com

No one, it seems, wants to talk about the war in Afghanistan. This week the House debated a budget bill that is touted as reflecting new fiscal restraint, yet borrows tens of billions more for the war. In an hour-long State of the Union address last month, President Obama devoted less than one minute to the conflict. Given the investment and sacrifices our country has made for nearly 10 years, the phones in our offices should be ringing off the hook with calls from those who are tired of being told that the United States doesn't have enough money to extend unemployment benefits or invest in new jobs.

But by and large, Americans are silent...

What are we giving up to maintain the status quo? Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz told the House Veterans Affairs Committee in September that the costs of Iraq and Afghanistan, including interest payments on the money borrowed for these wars and care for our wounded soldiers and veterans, is likely to total $4 trillion to $6 trillion.

Simply put, we believe the human and financial costs of the war are unacceptable and unsustainable. It is bankrupting us. The United States should devise an exit plan to extricate ourselves from Afghanistan, not a plan to stay there four more years and "then we'll see." This doesn't mean that we abandon the Afghan people - rather, we should abandon this war strategy. It is a failure that has not brought stability to Afghanistan and has not enhanced our own security. As the retired career Army officer Andrew J. Bacevich has written, to die for a mystique is the wrong policy.

It is easier for politicians to "go along" rather than make waves. But we were elected to do the right thing, not what is politically expedient. The discussion of Afghanistan shouldn't be about politics, which we acknowledge are difficult, but what is right for our country. And the right thing is to end this war.

*****

James P. McGovern, a Democrat, represents Massachusetts's 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House. Walter B. Jones, a Republican, represents North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District.

Peas In Their Pods

2011-02-07T07:48:00.014-05:00

Peas In Their Pods

Just click the link. It's worth it.

The Good Dr. Robert Reich

2011-02-05T13:01:00.000-05:00

Someone Had To Say It

Robert Reich has a post on the lack of structural integrity inherent in US income and wealth distribution. There is none.

The Jobs Report, and America’s Two Economies

Friday, February 4, 2011

At a time when corporate profits are through the roof, the Dow is flirting with 12,000, Wall Street paychecks are fat again, and big corporations are sitting on more than $1 trillion in cash, you’d expect jobs be coming back. But you’d be wrong.
***

We have two economies. The first is in recovery. The second remains in a continuous depression.

The first is a professional, college-educated, high-wage economy centered in New York and Washington, that’s living well off of global corporate profits. Corporations continue to make money by selling abroad from their foreign operations while cutting costs (especially labor) here at home. Wall Street is making money by taking the Fed’s free money and speculating with it. The richest 10 percent of Americans, holding 90 percent of all financial assets, are riding the wave. And their upscale spending has given high-end retailers and producers a bounce.

The second is most of the rest of America, and it’s still struggling with a mountain of debt, declining home prices, and job losses. In coming months most Americans will also be contending with sharply rising prices of food and fuel.
***
... Corporate profits cannot continue to rise on the basis of foreign sales (which are slowing as Europe adopts austerity and China raises interest rates), the purchases of the richest 10 percent of Americans (which are dependent on a rising stock market), and cost-cutting measures at home (which are necessarily limited). Without a strong and broadly-based middle-class recovery, America’s big money economy will fall in on itself. A major stock market “correction” is a certainty.

Thoughts On Egypt, Again

2011-02-03T01:43:00.000-05:00

One more time, again...

Great American Stoners

2011-01-24T11:54:00.000-05:00

This post was inspired by stopthemadness in a Micheal Phelps post at ABL.

Cheech and Chong...Goin' Grey

2011-01-24T11:33:00.000-05:00

New Chinchillas!

2011-01-20T17:48:00.000-05:00

Mama Chin

There Is No WE in US

2011-01-12T08:25:00.003-05:00

Six dead in Tucson...fourteen wounded...Americans are mortified...outraged...aghast...

Americans are full of proverbial shit:

Sales In Glock Pistols Up After Arizona Shootings - Jason Linkins (HuffPo)

Hey, everyone. Not to unnerve you, but apparently, days after a madman went on a murdery rampage with a Glock in Arizona, Arizonans are heading to gun stores in droves to purchase the very same weapon used...

Michael Riley from Bloomberg News documents how we at last have stimulated some aggregate demand in something!

After a Glock-wielding gunman killed six people at a Tucson shopping center on Jan. 8, Greg Wolff, the owner of two Arizona gun shops, told his manager to get ready for a stampede of new customers.
Wolff was right. Instead of hurting sales, the massacre had the $499 semi-automatic pistols -- popular with police, sport shooters and gangsters -- flying out the doors of his Glockmeister stores in Mesa and Phoenix.
"We're at double our volume over what we usually do," Wolff said two days after the shooting spree that also left 14 wounded, including Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who remains in critical condition.

No corresponding data detailing how sales of DEMON WEED are proceeding in the wake of this weekend's tragedy, but one has to imagine that they're up, if only because so many people maybe want to dull the pain that comes when you realize that you are surrounded by gun-crazy maniacs.

*******

OK. Let's get this straight. I own guns. 4 or 5, I don't know because I don't care. I own chain saws. 5 or 6. I don't know. They are tools. I still burn wood so I use the chain saws. I no longer hunt since the children have grown, so I don't use guns or even know the number or condition of them. I have owned them all for 30-35 years and don't expect to ever buy another gun. I'm not an insane 2nd Amendment freak. Guns are an anachronism, at best, an insanity at the worst. There is no good argument for non-regulation.

This immediate lust for a ~~cock~~ glock has nothing to do with the Constitution or individual liberties, or even self-defense. Quite frankly, too many goat fuckers have pissed in the gene pool and their get just don't get it. This is I-pod, black Friday, Master of the Universe bullshit. If this crazy fuck had used a golf club, would we be lining up to buy Tiger Woods 9 irons?

NO!

Want to know why? They don't come in pink is not the answer. It is because a golf club requires too much commitment and we have become a nation of lazy, ball-less, wimps; petrified we may have to change some little bit. That ain't happening, so "...fill your hands, you sons of bitches".*

*For the Babe in Your Life

Where Do We Go From Here?

2011-01-11T12:47:00.001-05:00

Martin Luther King Day is 6 days hence and the US embodies greater stress, discord and provincial hatred than anytime since the harrowing months following his assassination. He was a particular hero of mine, just as Nixon embodied the embodiment of evil in my Universe, Martin Luther King was our beacon of light. The sadness when he left us was almost unendurable. The sadness, today, feels very similar. To this point, we have failed Dr. King, to our shame. Freedom is many things. It is not Tucson. It is not Arizona. It is not a tea party. It is not Iraq or Afghanistan.

Freedom is civility, tolerance and inclusion. Just ask my children.

It Just Has To Get Better

2011-01-08T23:09:00.000-05:00

On Wingnuts and War

2011-01-08T15:06:00.000-05:00

The bastards are killing the children. So far US punched out hippies have been quiet. Fuck that shit. In the words of James "Maddog" Carville, "This is War!"

I wanted to get along with these seriously misguided assholes, but now I just want to destroy them. The shit storm is rising.

The Fucking Insanity Has Begun

2011-01-08T14:43:00.001-05:00

~~Gabrielle Giffords Shot Dead: Congresswoman Killed In Arizona~~

Update: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Critical Condition After Shooting

Just To Clear Things Up a Bit

2011-01-06T09:35:00.000-05:00

On Birds and Such

2011-01-06T09:32:00.002-05:00

Merry Drunks

2011-01-06T09:21:00.001-05:00

This Is Gettin' Old

2010-12-23T19:14:00.001-05:00

It's Been Good To Know You, Sike...

David Leroy Burner (1955-2010)

David Leroy Burner, 55 of Fort Valley died at his home Wednesday, December 22, 2010.

A graveside service will be held today, 2:30 p.m. at the Smith Cemetery, Fort Valley, by Rev. Sherry Waddell.

David was born February 3, 1955 in Shenandoah County. He was the son of the Late Elvin Burner and survived by his mother, Rosezella Funkhouser Burner of Edinburg. He was preceded in death by a brother, Jeff Burner.

David is also survived by his wife, Carolyn Burner of Fort Valley; a daughter, Cara Arlene Burner of Fort Valley; two sisters, Cindy Ritter of Maurertown and Laurie Lantz of Timberville; two brothers, Danny Burner of Woodstock and Chris Burner of Timberville.

So 'long, Cap'n

2010-12-18T10:13:00.000-05:00

Don Van Vliet has left the building.

1941-2010

We Are All Elves

2010-12-17T13:11:00.001-05:00

For our listening pleasure (and erudition) Barenaked Ladies:

(HT) (I love this shit.) Ezra Klein

Kickin' Doors

2010-12-13T13:16:00.002-05:00

I meant to post this sooner. Hilarious.

Is Obama the Angry Black *Lord* to My Angry Black *Lady*?

By stopthemadness on December 10th, 2010

Makes me think of this:

A Bridge Too Far

2010-12-13T12:38:00.000-05:00

Nat In ~~Holiday~~ Christmas Threads

Meems Bottom Covered Bridge

One of the best-known covered bridges is the 204-foot single-span Burr arch truss known as Meem's Bottom Covered Bridge in Mount Jackson. The Meem's Bottom Bridge was constructed in 1892-93 from materials cut and quarried nearby for the massive arch supports and stone abutments, which extended 10 feet below the riverbed. It was deeded to the Highway Department in the 1930's in return for assuming its maintenance.

This long span over the North Fork of the (Shenandoah) river carried traffic for more than 80 years before being burned by vandals on Halloween 1976. After salvaging the original timbers, the bridge was reconstructed and eventually undergirded with steel beams and concrete piers. The bridge was reopened to traffic in 1979 and is still in operation to date.

Sunday morning after breakfast and Santa...

You Can't Make This Shit Up or We Are All T-Baggers Now

2010-12-13T12:18:00.000-05:00

Andy Borowitz puts a crimp in diplomacy:

(12-7-2010)

In Latest Compromise with GOP, Obama Agrees He is a Muslim
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – In his latest effort to find common ground with Republicans in Congress, President Barack Obama said today that he was willing to agree that he is a Muslim.
Differences over his religious orientation have been a sore point between the President and his Republican foes for the past two years, but in agreeing that he is a Muslim Mr. Obama is sending a clear signal that he is trying to find consensus.
*****

This is Borowitz at his best, but is it good enough for this?

***

Saudi Media Fall for Borowitz Report Joke on HuffPost
...The satirical headline, "In Latest Compromise with GOP, Obama Agrees He is a Muslim," was reported as straight news by the Saudi newspaper Al-Hayat, one of the region's most influential publications, believed to be controlled by the Saudi interior ministry.
According to an official statement from the satire site, "The Borowitz Report is proud to be the official news source of the government of Saudi Arabia.

Or this?

Saudi media fall for Obama Muslim joke

We got a cold one comin' down.

2010-12-13T11:16:00.000-05:00

Hazardous weather condition(s):
Point Forecast: Fort Valley VA
38.85°N 78.41°W

Wind Chill Advisory
Wind Advisory
Hazardous Weather Outlook

This Afternoon: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 29. Breezy, with a northwest wind between 21 and 24 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 16. Breezy, with a west wind between 22 and 24 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 28. Breezy, with a west wind between 21 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 43 mph.

Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 15. West wind between 14 and 18 mph.

Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 31. West wind between 11 and 17 mph.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 15.

Beck Don't Have a Chance

2010-12-13T10:56:00.001-05:00

On the other hand, I may let my grandson, Little Red Eye, take care of Beck.

(Click the pic for the laugh.)

If Glenn Beck Was My Son...

2010-12-13T10:49:00.000-05:00

...I'd beat the shit out of the pompous. lying, xenophobic asshole. Then I'd really get mad...

Fareed Zakaria Blasts Beck's Muslim Terrorist Claim: 'Total Nonsense'

On this Sunday's "GPS," CNN host Fareed Zakaria blasted Glenn Beck's assertion that around ten percent of Muslims are terrorists.
Beck first made the claim in a 2003 book, but it didn't attract major coverage until he repeated it last week on his radio show. Zakaria said Beck's claims were ludicrous.
***
"Beck wondered why this wasn't receiving any media coverage," he said. "Well, let me suggest one reason. It is total nonsense. A figure made up by Glenn Beck with absolutely no basis in fact."
***
Zakaria also debunked the response from Beck's producer Steve "Stu" Burguiere to the controversy Beck created. On his blog, Burguiere said that Beck was citing polls showing that many Muslims advocated or supported violent action against the United States, and that this matched the dictionary definition of terrorism.
"Of course, the FBI, the State Department and most other organizations define terrorists in the more common sense that they are well, terrorists, but never mind," Zakaria said. "Hating America is not the same thing as being a terrorist."
Zakaria also noted that many polls show a substantial percentage of Americans are angry with the government.
"Does supporting such anger against the American government make one a terrorist?" he said. "According to Glenn Beck's producer and his dictionary.com definition, maybe, but in that case, how would one describe a man who has been fuelling (sic) such singer against the American government on television daily for the last two years? How, in other words, would one describe Glenn Beck?"

HuffPo Has the whole article.

First Snow and All That Pretty Shit

2010-12-10T11:09:00.000-05:00

Not much, but more than I want to see again this year.

Are You Assholes Happy, Now?

2010-12-02T20:08:00.000-05:00

House Votes Rare Censure of Rangel in Ethics Case

...during the Battle of Kunu-ri. Despite shrapnel wounds, Rangel led 40 of his comrades for three days behind enemy lines rather than surrender. He was later recognized for his bravery with the Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, a Presidential Unit Citation, the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, and three battle stars. "Since Kunu-ri ," Rangel says, "I have never, never had a bad day."

What a shameful bunch of assholes. This is the only thing the hypocritical scumbags could agree on.

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Parks

2010-12-01T15:24:00.000-05:00

1964

People Are Corporations, Too. Right? Right??

2010-11-28T07:23:00.000-05:00

Corporate Profits Were the Highest on Record Last Quarter

O.K. So could y'all toss a little over here in the corner. We got some sick, hungry kids here. How about grandma? Her check has gotten a little thin since her medicare co-pay went up. I got a 56 year old buddy with heart disease and no insurance. I know a dozen folks in their mid 20's lookin' for jobs. So, how about it? Y'all gonna let US in the game, or are we going to have to change the rules?

Toles: There is No 'Rest of the Trick'

Willie Is The Man (One of them)

2010-11-27T20:52:00.000-05:00

Same old Willie. Got to love him.

Willie Nelson Arrested for Pot Possession

'He said he feels great,' Nelson's harmonica player tells Rolling Stone. 'He lost six ounces.'

Run, Johnny, Run...

Kentucky 'King of Pot' On The Run 2 Years After Giant Raid

SPRINGFIELD, Ky. — With authorities closing in to seize 2,400 marijuana plants on John Robert Boone's farm two years ago, the legendary Kentucky outlaw vanished like a puff of smoke. The prolific grower has been dodging the law ever since, his folk-hero status growing with every sale of a "Run, Johnny, Run" T-shirt and click on his Facebook fan page.
Tracking down the fugitive who resembles a tattooed Santa Claus has proven as hard as "trying to catch a ghost" for the federal authorities canvassing tightlipped residents among the small farms in a rural area southeast of Louisville. Boone, who's trying to avoid the life sentence he would get if convicted a third time of growing pot, has plenty of sympathizers in an area where many farmers down on their luck have planted marijuana.
"That's all he's ever done, raising pot," said longtime friend Larry Hawkins, who owns a bar and restaurant called Hawk's Place. "He never hurt nobody."

G/L, Johnny.

The Doctor Will See You Now

2010-11-17T21:46:00.000-05:00

What do you call an economist with a sense of humor?
Why, Paul Krugman, of course.

Austerity In Action

Dr. Krugman's blog is Conscience Of A Liberal at the NYT.

Word Games

2010-11-17T10:43:00.001-05:00

ABL has a nice rant about, well, stoopit. Classic ABL and worth the read.

I left a comment and need to define one of the terms I used, Spongin:

The arcane sport of backwashing bong water through the stem of the bong. This is usually accomplished by making some obscenely hilarious comment at the apex of the toke and buzz. Distance is the determining factor in the competition, but points will be awarded for volume. Accuracy is not important as form is always weighted more heavily. Points are deducted for unburned weed that is expelled. Bong drop results in instant disqualification and forfeiture of the competitors bag. Most professional sponginers retire by the age of 25 due to lung disorders and work mandated urine tests*.

*(Many retired sponginers have reported success using spongin techniques during these tests.)

I hope this clears ~~the fog~~ everything up.

*** Update: (The "heads" of the largest international smoking organizations have, today, classified Spongin as a full contact sport. Respect at last.)

I Got a Follower, In spite of myself (Belated Thanks)

2010-11-12T01:44:00.000-05:00

The Gentlewoman from Angry Black Lady Chronicles has her pic under the followers (Please ignore this shit) thing, and I thank her. Ego sucks. She has a great blog, and as of now, is guest posting at Balloon Juice, but she's bein' real so...

So, a belated thank you to the ABL, damn, I wish I drank PBR. (It's that asshat thing, again)

Y'all check out Matt Taibbi, he's on our side. What we don't know can get us river front property, under a bridge.

I Got the Answer!

2010-11-12T01:19:00.001-05:00

Well, I did. Have. Fucking rethugs is sneakin' around here stealin' my answers. Y'all see 'em? Got to be here, somewhere. Don't matter what the ~~assholes~~ McCainites say, the answers is here and it don't take a lot of blood letting to find them. Pain caucus, my skinny white ass. These asshats (see I used it) don't know pain from a bad blowjob. (Is blowjob supposed to be one word?).

It ain't contrary that has got us to this point, it's hate. It ain't just hate, it's hatin' the wrong peeps. One another. 99% of US are getting dealt down by the other 1%, but we love Bill and Warren and Carly and Lloyd and LeBron and KO and Oprah and Lilo and I'm getting the shits from this. But we hate the poor fuckers who have to get by on "public assistance", or unemployment, or lose their home, or have any other normal life threatening situation that we would prohibit our pets from having to endure. To paraphrase Gandhi, I like America, but I don't like our Americans. A little charity ~~is tax deductible~~ will go a long way.

Thank you, Sally Kohn, and Willa!

2010-11-12T00:33:00.000-05:00

This is something I can agree with. From Movementvision., here is Willa Hansen-Kohn:

Repeat After Me

2010-11-12T00:07:00.000-05:00

Despite the purported insanity and impending doom stalking us all, I would like to be totally miscreant in my outlook tonight. Some folk would call me loaded. They would be presumptuous, if correct.

Ya see, I got these two sons I really like and don't deserve and they got five kids, too. We all get along like a bunch of ho's at a crack party, so that ain't the subject here. What I mean to do is talk about my youngest son and a little change in the world that might not fit in with the we're all gonna die crowd.

He's a big guy, a weight lifter and a cook at a retirement home. One of the kindest people I have met. He will turn 23 when I post this on 11/12/2010. He will drive an hour and a half and work 12 hours. Then he will go home to his girl and 2 sons, maybe get in an hour of WOW. If you read this, Happy Birthday, son.

I know many other young folks with the same level of commitment as Travis. It ain't time to go all Apocalyptic, yet. I believe in these people because they are better than me.

Repeat after me:

This means we have succeeded. Our children are better than us.

Just Because We Need It

2010-11-11T12:52:00.001-05:00

Just another hero from my youth. Now we call him Yusuf. Got to love him and that Carter boy, Jimmy.

Midterm Mystery

2010-11-11T10:29:00.002-05:00

The Angry Black Lady has a spirited post concerning the Midterms which I don't pretend to understand much of. This is my fault. Much of her spectacular prose concerned some uppity dicks on television and we don't get TV here (out of choice). My ignorance almost pains me, but not enough to fucking do business with that English dude who owns most of American television. Beyond that, she tries to point out that the difference between dems and rethugs is...that we're different. This is not a facetious point, it is the point. Only rethugs look the same if you stand them all on their heads. (I should have been able to work asshat in here. Another failure for public education.)

But, to the point of this pitiful exercise in techno-stupidity, I did steal this cartoon from the ABL (hey, she can steal it back anytime). Far too many morons have dsl and a keyboard.

Now, wasn't that worth the bullshit you had to read?

Ephphatha Poetry - Tim Wise

2010-11-10T15:00:00.001-05:00

I am re-posting this article from Tim Wise originally posted on Ephphatha Poetry. If you have to ask why, go away.

"Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" - Tim Wise

Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called “Imagine.” The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure - the ones who are driving the action - we’ll envision black folks or other people of color instead. The object of the game is to imagine the public reaction to the events or incidents, if the main actors were of color, rather than white. Whoever gains the most insight into the workings of race in America, at the end of the game, wins.

So let’s begin.

Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s political leaders if the need arose.

Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington.

Imagine that a rap artist were to say, in reference to a white president: “He’s a piece of shit and I told him to suck on my machine gun.” Because that’s what rocker Ted Nugent said recently about President Obama.

Imagine that a prominent mainstream black political commentator had long employed an overt bigot as Executive Director of his organization, and that this bigot regularly participated in black separatist conferences, and once assaulted a white person while calling them by a racial slur. When that prominent black commentator and his sister — who also works for the organization — defended the bigot as a good guy who was misunderstood and “going through a tough time in his life” would anyone accept their excuse-making? Would that commentator still have a place on a mainstream network? Because that’s what happened in the real world, when Pat Buchanan employed as Executive Director of his group, America’s Cause, a blatant racist who did all these things, or at least their white equivalents: attending white separatist conferences and attacking a black woman while calling her the n-word.

Imagine that a black radio host were to suggest that the only way to get promoted in the administration of a white president is by “hating black people,” or that a prominent white person had only endorsed a white presidential candidate as an act of racial bonding, or blamed a white president for a fight on a school bus in which a black kid was jumped by two white kids, or said that he wouldn’t want to kill all conservatives, but rather, would like to leave just enough—“living fossils” as he called them—“so we will never forget what these people stood for.” After all, these are things that Rush Limbaugh has said, about Barack Obama’s administration, Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama, a fight on a school bus in Belleville, Illinois in which two black kids beat up a white kid, and about liberals, generally.

Imagine that a black pastor, formerly a member of the U.S. military, were to declare, as part of his opposition to a white president’s policies, that he was ready to “suit up, get my gun, go to Washington, and do what they trained me to do.” This is, after all, what Pastor Stan Craig said recently at a Tea Party rally in Greenville, South Carolina.

Imagine a black radio talk show host gleefully predicting a revolution by people of color if the government continues to be dominated by the rich white men who have been “destroying” the country, or if said radio personality were to call Christians or Jews non-humans, or say that when it came to conservatives, the best solution would be to “hang ‘em high.” And what would happen to any congressional representative who praised that commentator for “speaking common sense” and likened his hate talk to “American values?” After all, those are among the things said by radio host and best-selling author Michael Savage, predicting white revolution in the face of multiculturalism, or said by Savage about Muslims and liberals, respectively. And it was Congressman Culbertson, from Texas, who praised Savage in that way, despite his hateful rhetoric.

Imagine a black political commentator suggesting that the only thing the guy who flew his plane into the Austin, Texas IRS building did wrong was not blowing up Fox News instead. This is, after all, what Anne Coulter said about Tim McVeigh, when she noted that his only mistake was not blowing up the New York Times.

Imagine that a popular black liberal website posted comments about the daughter of a white president, calling her “typical redneck trash,” or a “whore” whose mother entertains her by “making monkey sounds.” After all that’s comparable to what conservatives posted about Malia Obama on freerepublic.com last year, when they referred to her as “ghetto trash.”

Imagine that black protesters at a large political rally were walking around with signs calling for the lynching of their congressional enemies. Because that’s what white conservatives did last year, in reference to Democratic party leaders in Congress.

In other words, imagine that even one-third of the anger and vitriol currently being hurled at President Obama, by folks who are almost exclusively white, were being aimed, instead, at a white president, by people of color. How many whites viewing the anger, the hatred, the contempt for that white president would then wax eloquent about free speech, and the glories of democracy? And how many would be calling for further crackdowns on thuggish behavior, and investigations into the radical agendas of those same people of color?

To ask any of these questions is to answer them. Protest is only seen as fundamentally American when those who have long had the luxury of seeing themselves as prototypically American engage in it. When the dangerous and dark “other” does so, however, it isn’t viewed as normal or natural, let alone patriotic. Which is why Rush Limbaugh could say, this past week, that the Tea Parties are the first time since the Civil War that ordinary, common Americans stood up for their rights: a statement that erases the normalcy and “American-ness” of blacks in the civil rights struggle, not to mention women in the fight for suffrage and equality, working people in the fight for better working conditions, and LGBT folks as they struggle to be treated as full and equal human beings.

And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.

Game Over.

*****

Thank you to Sara and Brian.
This material was co-opted from ephphatha-poetry.blogspot.com

Thievery, Plain and Simple

2010-11-10T13:06:00.004-05:00

Bryan Fischer at Rightly Concerned, "A Project of the American Family Association", shares his fast food opinions with us:

One human being is worth more than an infinite number of grizzly bears. Another way to put it is that there is no number of live grizzlies worth one dead human being. If it’s a choice between grizzlies and humans, the grizzlies have to go. And it’s time...

"A grizzly is a top-level carnivore; at times he will act like one," said Chuck Neal, author of "Grizzlies in the Mist," who lost a botanist friend to a grizzly attack this year. "People are a readily available source of high-quality protein. We eat too much and exercise too little. We're like a hot dog on two legs."
Yep, the problem is those pesky couch potato homo sapiens who just need to get in better shape. So they, what, can outrun a bear?...

Ms. Cart continues her angst-ridden piece by making a statement that is ludicrous on its face:
"With more bears and more people stuffed into the 22,000 square miles of bear habitat, something has to give, and no one here has a simple answer.”
Of course there is a simple answer: shoot these man-eaters on sight...

God makes it clear in Scripture that deaths of people and livestock at the hands of savage beasts is a sign that the land is under a curse. The tragic thing here is that we are bringing this curse upon ourselves.

Fischer is stunningly stupid and inhumane, but the comments were a hoot. I am re-posting some of the "I almost pissed myself" comments. They were anon so they shall remain, though I wish I could take credit for a few of them. (This would be the theivin' part since I can't attribute these gems.)

11/10/2010 4:17:23 AM
In 2008 there were exactly zero fatal grizzly bear attacks in the US, while 28 people were killed by dogs. Can we expect you to advocate shooting all dogs on sight?

11/10/2010 1:14:36 AM
"This article certainly does point out just one of the many curses we very sadly are bringing on - full speed." You fools are inviting the bear curse. BEAR CURSE.

11/10/2010 12:39:23 AM
Thanks for opening my eyes to this epidemic of bear! I have heard that people are paying money to attend Bear vs. Dolphin fights and this is clearly our Awesome Lord's punishment for such heathenry! (sic)

11/9/2010 11:54:10 PM
This Bryan Fishhead guy is an idiot.If you want to stay all safe and comfy maybe you should stick to the petting zoo and stay out of national parks, where one of the main draws is the WILDlife.A curse indeed.The wingnut doofus curse.

1/9/2010 9:59:11 PM
I support the right to arm bears.

11/9/2010 9:42:43 PM
The #1 threat in today's threatdown: BEARS! Smoking kills millions of people a year. Therefore, tobacco plants need to be shot on sight. It's just common sense. Also, it is correct that shooting grizzly bears is scripturally mandated. Deuteronomy 34:1 reads: And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo. And there he saw three bears, grumbling about the theft of their porridge. And Moses unslung his Winchester Model 94, and shot the bears. And the Lord said unto him "Good shooting."

11/9/2010 3:31:38 PM
Christians pose a far greater threat to the survival of our planet than bears.

11/9/2010 3:07:11 PM
At least the bears aren't gay.

11/9/2010 2:26:40 PM
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the new dark ages.

11/9/2010 2:13:02 PM
It's cute because you think that you're using your brain.

11/9/2010 1:16:33 PM
Did you mean to post this on The Onion?

11/9/2010 12:24:43 PM
Moron.

11/9/2010 10:29:02 AM
Bryan, you crazy piece of right-wing bat-shite... If only a Grizzly or Killer Whale would get a hold on you and eat you, you might actually do some good in the world. You really are the worst person in the world.

11/9/2010 10:07:36 AM
As usual Mr. Fischer you are right on. This article certainly does point out just one of the many curses we very sadly are bringing on - full speed. We absolutely have to pray diligently that our awesome GOD will continue to Bless America and that more and more will wake up.

Damn, I thought it was the beer curse. ~~Drunk~~ Old eyes.

2010-11-09T11:04:00.000-05:00

From TPMMuckraker:

A federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order against an amendment to the Oklahoma constitution that would prohibit courts from considering Sharia or international law.

The Sharia ban passed as a ballot measure in last week's election, in a vote of 70 percent to 30 percent.

These jerks make me almost proud to be a Virginian, almost. We do have Cantor and McDonnell blotting our copy book. What are these people so afraid of? Last I checked, they were attacked by an American terrorist.

Is Bob Herbert The Smartest Man In America?

2010-11-09T06:29:00.000-05:00

Bob Herbert says everything I ever wanted to say about politics in the NYT:

One of the most frustrating tendencies of mainstream leaders in the United States is their willingness, year after debilitating year, to embrace policies that have no hope of succeeding...

I don’t know if it’s the drinking water or the rarefied air at the highest reaches of government that makes so many of our leaders go loopy. Whatever it is, we need to put a stop to these self-defeating tendencies. The U.S. is in sad shape, and most of the policy prescriptions being tossed around by the movers and shakers are bad ones...

People traveling in the real world understand that the federal budget deficits are sky high because of the Bush-era tax cuts, the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the spending that was needed to keep the Great Recession from spiraling into another Great Depression...

As a society, we’ve lost our way, and there is no chance of getting reoriented if we can’t find the courage to make some really tough decisions about warfare, taxes, public investment, the crying need to educate all young people, and the paramount importance of gainful employment as the cornerstone of a revitalized America.
Great sacrifices will have to be made if the U.S. is to get its act together, and those sacrifices will have to be shared. We can start now, or we can wait and continue to fantasize about an eventual triumph in Afghanistan, or about cutting budgets with some magic cleaver until they’re finally balanced and all’s right with the world, or whatever other impossible dream is floated by the chronically dissembling political class to blind us to the real world.

The whole column is a great read.

Definitions

2010-11-08T09:49:00.000-05:00

Link

From the lexicon of the Angry Black Lady:

twatwaffle, as in:

These dumb ass race-baiting twatwaffles with their faux concern-trolling and faux outrage...

From the Urban Dictionary:

Complete idiot. Dipshit, assrod. You get the idea.
Bush voters are such twatwaffles..

asshat, as in:

"John Boehner: Stop using my dad's name as a punchline, you asshat," - Roseanne Cash.

From the Urban Dictionary:

One who has their head up their ass. Thus wearing their ass as a hat.

Public Eradication

2010-11-07T10:25:00.000-05:00

The farm has kept me busy lately but I had to re-post this from the Angry Black Lady (remember this post?):

The Angry Black Lady is guest posting at Balloon Juice. Check her out. Good shit.

Covered By A TARP

2010-10-15T10:11:00.002-04:00

Tim Geithner and Larry Summers have engaged in a massive redistribution of wealth, from the bottom to the top. They saved nothing but the nominal and relative worth of the wealthiest Americans from destruction. The rest of US are well and truly fucked, if you think not, read on...

"Dr. Pitchfork, an iconoclast who writes at Daily Bail ", has a brilliant dismemberment of TARP and Timmy over at :

naked capitalism

In “5 Myths About TARP,” Tim Geithner joins Steve Rattner and Herb Allison in the parade of Washington insiders who have gone out of their way to tout the great success of TARP, calling it the “most effective government program in recent memory.” If you think the Timmy doth protest too much, methinks you’re exactly right.
Geithner starts by rehearsing the same, tiresome narrative we’ve heard a thousand times:
[TARP] was essential to averting a second Great Depression, stabilizing a collapsing financial system, protecting the savings of Americans and restoring the flow of credit that is the oxygen of the economy. And it helped achieve all that at a lower cost than anyone expected.
Then Geithner proceeds to debunk some “myths” about TARP.
*****
The message of the bailouts, like Geithner’s message to us, is clear. The guys at the top get served first, at our expense. We are expected to be grateful that people like Geithner have bailed them out. And the buck stops nowhere.

This article was originally posted at The Daily Bail, to which site I was helpfully pointed by Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism.

Thoughts On Replication

2010-10-09T13:31:00.001-04:00

Robosigners rule!

(HT) Nadir Times

Nerds and Such

2010-09-25T13:29:00.001-04:00

From Ka-Troo.

Blog, what Blog?

2010-09-24T23:19:00.000-04:00

Balloon Juice had an American Idol moment tonight. DougJ, the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice had a WWF type blogroll:

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while and now seems like a good time, in light of commenter ellaesther/Emily Hauser’s recent triumphs....do you have a blog? I’d like to add all the Balloon-Juice readers’ blogs to my RSS reader, I have about a dozen so far.

I must have surfed 50-60 blogs, but most contained old posts. I added 3 to my RSS reader:

DADT or Why the Fuck You Wanna Know?

2010-09-20T23:43:00.001-04:00

I think we are approaching this "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" thing from the wrong perspective.

Rather than repeal it, we should extend it to cover straight people, too. Here are some examples where this policy would be extremely handy:

Should a friendly police officer inquire as to ones degree of inebriation, "DADT, ossifer."
Upon arriving home, after posting bail for aforementioned inebriation, and your wife inquiring about your paycheck, "DADT, but we're eating in."
When the preacher asks if you'll be attending the Revival on Saturday, your regular poker night, "DADT, but let the chips fall where they may, Padre."
When your buddies start asking about 'roids after your bowling average jumps 43 pins, "DADT, it's all in the wrist."
When your senator is asked how he/she will vote on DADT, (all together, now), "DADT".

This Is A Big F*****g Deal!

2010-09-18T10:10:00.000-04:00

10 30 10 "Rally to Restore Sanity"

Stephen Colbert David Ippolito - "See You in Washington, Colbert!"

Stewart and Colbert plan DC Rally; South Carolina plots preemptive counter-protest

2010-09-18T09:50:00.000-04:00

William Moultrie reports on a counter demonstration at the diSCust.com:

Columbia – In an emergency conference call, a hastily assembled coalition of South Carolina’s politicians, bloggers, newspaper reporters, strategists, and inmates crafted plans to protest a newly announced rally by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
...
The Rally to Preemptively Restore Honor to South Carolina will be held on the same day as the Stewart/Colbert rally, October 30, but due to National Park Service rules about overlapping events, the South Carolina rally will begin at 4 a.m.
“We’ll be all be meeting at the corner of South Carolina Ave. and Independence Ave. and carpooling to the Lincoln Memorial,” said U.S. Senate Candidate Alvin Greene, who was asked to publicize and organize the event because of his proven method of frugal yet effective campaigning. “We picked that location for symbolic reasons, but unfortunately we didn’t realize how far it would be to walk from there to the mall, so please call me if you’re planning on driving and you have a bus or minivan.”
...
The preliminary speaking list includes:
Governor Mark “Hiking the Trail” Sanford
Lt. Governor André “Don’t Feed the Poor” Bauer
Former Treasurer Thomas “convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine” Ravenel
Former State School Board chair Kristin “alleged erotic fiction author” Maguire
Sen. Jim “Drink the Koolaid” DeMint
Sen. Lindsey “Goes both ways (on political issues)” Graham
Rep. Joe “YOU LIE!” Wilson
Former Rep. Arthur “NAACP = Nat. Assn. of Retarded People” Ravenel
State Sen. Nikki “So transparent you see right through her” Haley
State Sen. Jakie “Nikki’s a raghead” Knotts
U.S. Senate Candidate Alvin “I did too campaign” Greene
Dr. George “I was trying to fix the gay kid” Rekers
Kaitlin “Miss Teen South Carolina” Upton

*****

Maybe we should have let them secede.

About Babies

2010-09-18T07:56:00.000-04:00

We have lots of them around , right now. A couple of new ones, a couple of medium ones and one who is 4 going on 18. From Justin at Shit My Dad Says:

"You came out of your mom looking like shit. She thought you were beautiful. Don't know what scared me most, your looks or her judgment."

Just sayin'. My son and his wife were having a similar conversation yesterday.
Which brings this Pete Seeger tune to mind, not for any good reason, it just does.

I'll See Y'All in D.C. 10.30.10 * Peace Out *

2010-09-17T11:25:00.000-04:00

I haven't been to a rally since 1973, the "Honk If You're for Impeachment" rally. I guess this is a good occasion to stomp my feets and dance:

Stewart, Colbert: 'Rally To Restore Sanity' vs. 'March To Keep Fear Alive'

Sign up for updated info HERE.

Dude, You Have No Quran

2010-09-15T15:41:00.001-04:00

There are still some real Murikens.

Updated 9.18.10 (ht) John Cole

Waitin' for Godot, er, Kaleb...

2010-09-15T14:47:00.002-04:00

Grandson #3 is scheduled to land today. I wish my mama was here to see him.

Peter, Paul and Mary 1966

~ 2008

Mark Thoma: An Economist I Can Understand

2010-09-09T21:15:00.000-04:00

First I want to link to Mark Thomas' post at his blog, Economist's View. I don't have anything to add except this:

My Shit's Fucked Up

2010-09-09T19:50:00.000-04:00

John Cole at Balloon Juice reminded me of this Warren Zevon tune. Thank you, John.

Excuse Me?

2010-09-07T10:37:00.001-04:00

Based on the latest data, around 7,200 students drop out of high school each day, or about 1.3 million a year. Nationally, about 68.8 percent of students who start high school graduate four years later, but there are huge local differences. While 83 percent of the students in New Jersey graduate each year, only 41.8 percent of Nevada's students do. ~ Newsweek

But Sharron Angle has a solution:

Where do these people come from? Evidently not the public education system.

Jefferson Thomas Dies At 67

2010-09-06T23:18:00.000-04:00

Little do we remark the passing of giants in our midst. From The Huffington Post:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Jefferson Thomas was fast and athletic and often played pickup basketball with white students while growing up in Little Rock in the 1950s.
But when Thomas became one of nine black students to integrate Arkansas' largest high school, many of his basketball buddies weren't happy to see him in their classes.
"One of them said, 'Well I don't mind playing basketball or football with you or anything. You guys are good at sports. Everybody knows that, but you're just not smart enough to sit next to me in the classroom,'" Thomas recalled years later.
The pioneer in school desegregation died Sunday at an extended-care living facility in Columbus, Ohio, of pancreatic cancer at age 67...

I Feel Better Now

2010-09-04T23:10:00.000-04:00

I just don't know what to say about this, except a free laptop is a nice incentive...but who would want a job with such a high barrier of entry? Months of training? C'mon, gimme a break. It's just a laptop.

Feedin' Time

2010-09-04T17:59:00.000-04:00

Part of the horde. All of the cats and both dogs are either abandoned or the progeny of abandoned pets. We live in the mountains in a fairly remote location that seems to attract irresponsible scumbags who no longer have any use for their pets. We have an open farm policy and everybody eats. The rabbits and chinchillas are my brides acquisitions. It's my job to feed and doctor everyone. There are actually those rare days when I go 24 hours without being burdened with human conversation.

A Thought On Productivity

2010-09-04T17:28:00.000-04:00

From the BLS:

PRODUCTIVITY AND COSTS

Second Quarter 2010, Revised


Nonfarm business sector labor productivity decreased at a 1.8 percent
annual rate during the second quarter of 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported today as hours increased 3.5 percent and output
increased 1.6 percent.



From Justin at Shit My Dad Says:

"Put the rake down. I don't wanna sit around
watching you 'give it your best.' Either
stop sucking or get the fuck out of the way."

More or Less on Beck

2010-09-04T16:52:00.000-04:00

Sally Kohn at Movement Vision Lab has initiated an ongoing, we hope, dialogue with Glen Beck, heroically challenging his inane prattle. Here is the first installment, sort of a Beck-mania primer:

The Real Lich King

2010-09-04T15:21:00.000-04:00

E.D. Kain at Balloon Juice and Ta-Nehisi Coates at The Atlantic are in agreement that Glen Beck is the Lich King and a virulent brain eater. The Lich King thing is a WOW character that I had to have my son explain to me. He is sort of a 21st century Sauron. Though I have not hammered the Beckster here, I have no problem with their characterization, per se. I would proffer that in reality he is Saruman, merely a pale imitation. Dick Cheney is the front runner. This from Matt Yglesias.

Tony Blair confirms Dick Cheney's identity as the Lich King in his memoirs:

“He would have worked through the whole lot, Iraq, Syria, Iran, dealing with all their surrogates in the course of it – Hizbollah, Hamas, etc,” Mr Blair wrote in his autobiography, A Journey. “In other words, he thought the whole world had to be made anew, and that after September 11, it had to be done by force and with urgency.”

I would point to this WaPo article by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilme;

"...today, as the United States ends combat in Iraq, it appears that our $3 trillion estimate (which accounted for both government expenses and the war's broader impact on the U.S. economy) was, if anything, too low."
...
"Re-imagining history is a perilous exercise. Nonetheless, it seems clear that without this war, not only would America's standing in the world be higher, our economy would be stronger."

Dick Cheney is a real live Lich King, the driving force of evil in America.