Saturday, October 09, 2010
The Effects Of Citizens United Ruling On 2010 Elections
Outside spending in 2010 Senate races:
Republican Third Party Groups — $43,664,661
Democratic Third Party Groups — $6,658,236
With five of the nine Supreme Court Justices appointed by Republicans, the money coming in from third party and unlimited corporate financing is not surprisingly favoring the Right.
Friday, October 08, 2010
High Court Hypocrite
via thestranger.com
"[I]n 2006, [Washington State Supreme Court justice Richard B. Sanders] signed an opinion denying marriage equality to gay couples—because they have “more sexual partners” and because other courts have found that monogamy is “the bedrock upon which our culture is built.” Meanwhile, he’s been divorced twice, and this election season it became clear he has multiple simultaneous girlfriends. He doesn’t see anything inconsistent in any of that."
I'm sure David Vitter, Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich don't either.
Get 'Em Young: Childhood Indoctrination Is The Trick
via tumblr.com
Religion: telling your kids they are not perfect until they faith in myths. You have to start when they are young because they would not believe a word about "heaven" and "hell" is they had any exposure to the world that comes as adults.
Dylan Had Lennon's Back: FBI Letter From 1972
Bob Dylan’s 1972 letter to the FBI, written to protest the immigration proceedings against John Lennon and Yoko Ono. (The FBI claimed they had been admitted to the country in violation of then-existing immigration law.) One of our guests today, historian Jon Wiener, filed a Freedom of Information request to obtain the more than 200 letters written by artists and celebrities on behalf of Lennon and Ono.
In The Land Of The Blind, The One-Eyed Man Is King
"We have become, instead, a nation whose politicians seem to compete over who can show the least vision, the least concern about the future and the greatest willingness to pander to short-term, narrow-minded selfishness."
Paul Krugman, “The End of the Tunnel”
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Is War Really Worth It?
Is war really worth it?
With the 9 year anniversary of our war in Afghanistan, here are some facts:
- Nearly 6 in 10 Americans oppose the war in Afghanistan, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation study released this week.
- Afghanistan is the world’s 3rd poorest country with a GDP of $27.01 billion.
- There are more private contractors (120,000) than there are troops currently deployed.
- As of June 2010 1,832 total soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan.
- Last fiscal year, 239 soldiers killed themselves, 160 of them active duty.
- 146 soldiers died from high-risk activities, including 74 drug overdoses, and 1,713 soldiers survived suicide attempts, according to an Army report.
- A third of returning troops report mental problems and 18.5 per cent of all returning service members are battling either PTSD or depression, according to a study by the Rand Corporation.
- Amputations rose from 47 in 2009 to 77 through Sept. 23 of this year, or an increase of more than 60% - mostly caused by IEDs, according to Army reports.
- A recent Pentagon report said IEDs are now the “the most serious threat” to coalition forces, killing 6,200 allied and Afghan troops in fiscal year 2009, compared with 3,800 in 2008.
- Over the last year the number of child casualties has risen by 55%.
- Nearly 6,000 civilians have died since 2006 and over 2,000 have died this year alone.
- It costs the Pentagon $2 billion per month to support the American troops.
- To date, $1.09 trillion dollars have been allocated to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- The death of each Taliban fighter costs between $50-100 million. That’s, at the very least, $1 billion per 20 Taliban fighters. The best estimate of Taliban killed annually by coalition forces is roughly 2,000. Killing the estimated 35,000 Taliban fighting the occupation would cost $1.75 trillion.
- The poverty rate in Afghanistan is 36%, unemployment, 35%, and inflation, 30.5%.
- The population’s life expectancy is 44.4 years.
Is it really worth blowing up Afghanistan?
(Image via)
9 years in, it's time to atone and rethink policy in Afghanistan.
The Ownership Mentality Of Conservatives Burns You Everytime
The blogosphere is angry. It has sensed a profound unjustice, and it has rallied to cement its indignation in kilobits. Namely, it is angry that a fire department in Tennessee let a man’s trailer burn down because he had not paid his $75 in fees for fire protection.
The thing is, we should be a lot less angry about this fire, as tragic as it was for its victims, and a lot more worried about the fact that the fire department’s actions made perfect sense in the America we’re building these days. Or perhaps I should say taking apart.
As my wife put it to me last night, what happened in Tennessee is exactly what much of the tea party movement wants: a fee based government. It’s government by contract, and what you don’t want or can’t afford to pay for, you don’t have to pay for. You just don’t get the services, either. Glenn Beck put the matter simply on his radio show the other day: “If you don’t pay the 75 dollars then that hurts the fire department,” Beck said. “They can’t use those resources, and you’d be sponging off your neighbor’s resources.”
This notion that one ought to pay only for the services one wants is, of course, a core principle of consumer capitalism—or at least it’s supposed to be. (Did you really want ATT as your mobile phone provider for two years, or did you just want an iPhone? And why do you have to get all those shopping channels on cable or satellite?) And it’s been coming to government for some time: there are retirement communities in Arizona that are exempt from that part of their property taxes that go to schools, for example, and of course fees for seemingly everything have gone up as taxes have gone down.)
This is a substantial break from the old theory of government. For most of the last 200 years, Americans have looked to government to help them achieve collective, public goods: defense, roads, schools, bridges, safe water systems, reasonable court systems, prisons and the like. People disagreed about what and how much to do, but in general there was agreement that such ends were what government was for. As this is exactly what it says the purpose of government is in the Preamble of the US Constitution, I’m pretty sure I’m right on this one.
The Reagan Revolution turned this logic on its head. Government became the problem, not the solution, and any malfeasance or error that government officials made (and there were certainly quite a few) became a symptom of the disease of ineffective government. Moreover, most government actions were cast as takings of freedom: taxes now went to corrupt bureaucrats for pork barrel projects, rather than being seen as fees that pay for services.
At the heart of this sense is an idea I’ve commented on before: the notion of deservingness. Americans will pay to support those who “deserve” it—military, seniors, police and fire (maybe!), but don’t want to pay for those who don’t “deserve” it—the poor, the ill, the young, and perhaps even college professors (okay, that’s a bit too far).
The easy way around the problem of paying taxes to support things you don’t like is simply to move to fee-based government. You select your services a la carte. And if such a payment system kills welfare, so much the better—it just keeps the poor dependent anyway!
This is a real phenomenon, and it’s expanding every day. There are towns in California that have fired their entire police forces and hired officers from neighboring communities, for example. The community in Tennessee in which the fire discussed here occurred has done the same thing but with fire protection.
So one possible future is that we go to a pretty much fee-based America. (People might—might—agree for taxes for the military. Maybe.) Toll roads; privatized “public” education; corporate testing for food and drug safety—well, why not? If I don’t drive, I don’t pay. If I don’t have kids in school, I don’t pay. And as for food and drink, well it’s in producers’ interests to put out healthy stuff. What could possible go wrong?
A fee-based world is many conservatives’ and tea partier’s fantasy. And if you don’t—or can’t—pay, well: sometimes that house is just going to burn down.
Ownership Society FAIL
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
JFK On Being Called A "Liberal"
“If by a “Liberal” they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal,” then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal.”
— - John F. Kennedy, 1960
Todd Palin's Angry E-mail to Joe Miller
Alaska politics blogger Mudflats presents an e-mail, apparently sent from Todd Palin to GOP Senate nominee and former Papa Grizzly Joe Miller. Todd is not very happy with Joe!
The problem: On Fox last month, Miller declined to officially endorse Sarah Palin for president. Which prompted (within hours of the appearance) this message from Todd to Miller, SarahPAC treasurer Tim Crawford, and Thomas V. Van Flein, Miller and the Palins' attorney.
Joe and Tim,
Hold off on any letter for Joe. Sarah put her ass on the line for Joe and yet he can't answer a simple question " is Sarah Palin Qualified to be President". I DON'T KNOW IF SHE IS.
Joe, please explain how this endorsement stuff works, is it to be completely one sided.
Sarah spent all morning working on a Face book post for Joe, she won't use it, not now.
Put yourself in her shoe's Joe for one day.
Todd
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Ouch! All morning on that Face book post.
via salon.com
"If you spent all morning working on a Facebook post, I’ll go out on a limb and say that you’re not qualified to be president." - Elijah Myer
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Thanks To Republicans And Roberts Court: Foreign Countries Have Massive Influence On Elections
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce appears to rely heavily on fundraising from firms all over the world, including China, India, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Russia, and many other places. Of course, because the Chamber successfully lobbied to kill campaign finance reforms aimed at establishing transparency, the Chamber does not have to reveal any of the funding for its ad campaigns. Dues-paying members of the Chamber could potentially be sending additional funds this year to help air more attack ads against Democrats.
All these "Country First" Tea Bag assholes have been had by foreign interests. The Citizens United decision by the Roberts Court killed transparency in campaign funding leading to massive donations from foreign countries to run as many ads as they want.
For the first time in recent history, the lobbying, grassroots and advertising budget of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has surpassed the spending of BOTH the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee.
Hispanics May Skip Midterms Over Immigration
Arizona’s controversial immigration law has prompted denunciations, demonstrations, boycotts and a federal lawsuit. But it may not bring the protest vote many Democrats had hoped would stem a Republican onslaught in races across the country.That’s because although many voters are disillusioned with the political process, Latino voters are particularly dejected, and many may sit these elections out, according to voters, Latino organizations, and political consultants and candidates. A pollreleased Tuesday found that though Latinos strongly back Democrats over Republicans, 65 percent to 22 percent, in the Congressional elections just four weeks away, only 51 percent of Latino registered voters say they will absolutely go to the polls, compared to 70 percent of all registered voters.
via nytimes.com
Feeling dejected? So let the other side win? This is exactly the reason you should want to vote. C'mon, Arizona!
Mormon Prophecy Behind Glenn Beck's "White Horse" Message
"We are at the place where the Constitution hangs in the balance," Beck told Bill O'Reilly on November 14, 2008, just after President Obama's election. "I feel the Constitution is hanging in the balance right now, hanging by a thread unless the good Americans wake up."
The Constitution is hanging by a thread.
Most Americans would have heard this as just another bit of overblown commentary and thought nothing more of it. But to those familiar with the White Horse Prophecy, it was an unmistakable signal.
The phrase is often attributed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church. Smith is believed to have said in 1840 that when the Constitution hangs by a thread, elders of the Mormon Church will step in -- on the proverbial white horse -- to save the country.
Was it just a coincidence in wording, or was Beck, a 1999 Mormon convert, speaking in coded language about the need to fulfill the Mormon prophecy?
Secret organizations? Tramping on liberties? Breakdown of law and order? Shredding the Constitution? Betraying the Founders? This is the core of Beck's message, in his own words: "Some people in the government seem to have a problem, you know, shredding the Constitution." And: "You're trying to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, friends. It's in trouble." And: "He" -- that would be Obama -- "is going to bring us to the verge of shredding the Constitution, of massive socialism."
Beck has an agenda, let's face it. Using coded "us and them" language was a Bush trick to speak to Evangelicals, the Tea Baggers have taken it further with "outsider" memes about Obama. Building "boogie men" is what Conservatives do best.
Unlike the church leaders' versions, Beck's vision carries the possibility of a bloody end. Glenn Beck in a nutshell: White Horse Prophecy meets horsemen of the apocalypse. He has created his own martyrdom built on sucking dollars from his followers, giving them fear in return.
For those who think the State is corrupted, I will point out how corrupted the Church is.
Monday, October 04, 2010
Under Pressure: Double Kermits
Let's remember the people on the streets. The people who aren't always as easy to see.
Cause love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way of
Caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure
Diesel VW Goes 1,531 Miles On One Tank
via wired.com
"Gavin Conway of The Sunday Times spent a little more than two days driving from Maidstone, Kent, to the south of France and most of the way back. The final distance is a bit unclear — Conway says in the Times (subscription req.) that he drove 1,527 miles, but VW put the official figure at 1,531 miles. Either way, Guinness says it set a new record for distance traveled by a production car on a single tank of fuel."
VW and the British press say he got 90 mpg, and since it’s Europe we’re assuming they’re talking Imperial gallons. If so, that’s 74.9 mpg U.S.
Equal, Not Better
"Gay people who want to marry have no desire to redefine marriage in any way. When women got the vote they did not redefine voting. When African-Americans got the right to sit at a lunch counter alongside white people, they did not redefine eating out. They were simply invited to the table…We have no desire to change marriage. We want to be entitled to not only the same privileges, but the same responsibilities as straight people." - Cynthia Nixon
Can't See The Savior Through The Trees
"Hopefully in 2012, we'll make headway to repeal some of the things we've done, because politics only works when we're realigned with our Savior." - Sen Jim DeMint, Republican leaderLet's get rid of all the S-CHIP health care for millions of children so the Republicans can stay on Jesus' good side.
Top 4 GOP Presidential Candidates On Fox Payroll
With Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee all making moves indicating they may run for president, their common employer is facing a question that hasn’t been asked before: How does a news organization cover White House hopefuls when so many are on the payroll?The answer is a complicated one for Fox News. (See: GOP's struggles play out on Fox)
As Fox’s popularity grows among conservatives, the presence of four potentially serious Republican candidates as paid contributors is beginning to frustrate competitors of the network, figures within its own news division and rivals of what some GOP insiders have begun calling “the Fox candidates.”
via dyn.politico.com
Fair and balanced? Their Fox jobs allow these politicians an opportunity to send conservative activists a mostly unfiltered message in what is almost always a friendly environment.
The complete lack of separation of Corporation and State is pretty scary.
Working For The Rich While Thinking You're A Patriot
"Modern American conservatism is, in large part, a movement shaped by billionaires and their bank accounts, and assured paychecks for the ideologically loyal are an important part of the system. Scientists willing to deny the existence of man-made climate change, economists willing to declare that tax cuts for the rich are essential to growth, strategic thinkers willing to provide rationales for wars of choice, lawyers willing to provide defenses of torture, all can count on support from a network of organizations that may seem independent on the surface but are largely financed by a handful of ultrawealthy families." - Paul Krugman
via nytimes.com
"Fox is an obvious example, making million-dollar contributions to the Republican Governors Association and the rabidly anti-Obama United States Chamber of Commerce, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is signaling that it no longer feels the need to make any effort to keep up appearances."
The Biggest Obstructionist In History And Their "Trust Us" Farce
We are actually supposed to believe that the people who called for "Obama's Waterloo", filibustered more than any congress in history and obstructed the majority in every possible way are acting in good faith when they say they want to "end gridlock."I'd laugh if I weren't so busy holding down my lunch.
They are the same people who run for government jobs saying the Government is the worst thing in the world. Lucky for them, conservatives have a base that do not care about those “details”.
"Corporatism" And "Capitalism" Need To Be Divided
The corporation has become the de facto governing force of 21st century society, cyborgs pushing aside and making the individual state moot. Far from one world government, the earth is teeming with one-world corporations. 21st century schizoid man. The essential issue of our time is that western liberal democracies are ill equipped to handle unbridled corporatism; they have goals and motivations that are completely at odds with each other. Many people conflate “corporatism” with “capitalism”, most believing they are one and the same. They are not. It is possible to have a robust capitalism that answers to the social imperatives of democracy; however, the corporate goals of capitalism are entirely at odds with the social necessities of democracy. It is entirely possible — and desirable — to isolate corporatism through law and legislation, however the contemporary ideology of capitalism and free markets believes that the two – corporatism and capitalism – are indivisible. An attack on corporatism is an attack on capitalism. And an attack on capitalism is heresy. Corporatism: The Cyborg Amongst Us ☀
via azspot.net
The Roberts’ Court handed corporations the last piece: unlimited financial influence in elections.
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Shocker, Beck Sold Less Than 10% of Tickets For NJ Event
This, on the same weekend he appears on the cover of the New York Times Sunday magazine, and again we're told he's a hugely important and influential figure in American politics today.
From the Asbury Park Press [emphasis added]:
A crowd of about 700 people, comprised mostly of Tea Party supporters, gathered at Six Flags Great Adventure on Saturday to help kick off conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck's "Restoring America'' tour.
And the kicker:
Although the crowd was well short of the 8,000 capacity for the arena, there was a large contingent of conservative media in attendance.
via mediamatters.org
Going, going, gone. Fake "anger" and "rage" can last for so long as the Dow hits 11,000, insurance reform kicks in, credit card reform helps Joe Paycheck, the Government starts selling AIG shares at a profit, GM sells more cars, and the economy starts coming back after the Bush Horror Show. Suck it.
Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck in "Right Wing Radio Duck"
via youtube.com
Shows how meaningless the GOP populism really is. Sure, they are angry, but at what?
Shows how meaningless the GOP populism really is. Sure, they are angry, but at what?
"Donald’s life is turned upside-down by the current economic crisis and he finds himself unemployed and falling behind on his house payments. As his frustration turns into despair Donald discovers a seemingly sympathetic voice coming from his radio named Glenn Beck."
Bill Maher Keepin' It Real
"The Democrats have real accomplishments to run on, like preventing a depression and forcing insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions. Like stoping the banks from being the useless middlemen on student loans, and lowering taxes for non-rich people.
Obama has passed a credit card bill of rights, he restarted stem cell research, got our ass out of Iraq, and signed a nuclear treaty with Russia. Not to mention the intangible of having a President who can pronounce “nuclear."
— Bill Maher, Real Time with Bill Maher 10/01/2010 (via caraobrien)
(via stfuconservatives)
Sucking With Or Without Beck: Fox Employees Should be Embarrassed
"Look, Beck is a national embarrassment. There’s just no getting around that. But Fox News doesn’t get to play this silly game about legitimacy — if Glenn Beck were to leave the network tomorrow and communicate to his minions exclusively through ham radio, Fox News would still be a pathetic excuse for a news organization, making a mockery of American journalism and offering a case study of everything that’s wrong with the discourse of the United States in the 21st century.
Fox News is humiliated by Glenn Beck? Please. If there are people working at Fox News concerned about their professional reputations, hoping to be taken seriously as legitimate journalists, it’s time they realized the afternoon loon is the least of their troubles. The sighs and/or eye-rolling should apply just as easily to Hannity, Kelly, O’Reilly, Varney, the cast of “Fox & Friends,” etc.
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