Add the fact that Santa has roots as a Turkish Christian saint of children and sailors, and that has been mixed together with 19th century poetry, early 20th century Coca-Cola ads [the red suit], and 1960’s stop-motion animation specials, and you see how stolen and borrowed traditions work.
"What I can’t understand is the willingness of the citizenry to protect and reward someone who has harmed or is continuing to harm them. I do not understand voting for politicians who support tax cuts for and neutered regulation of these same destructive speculators. Nor do I understand voters’ apparent willingness to eviscerate all of the social programs and safety nets that are all that stand between them and what can only be regarded as neo-feudalism. I conjecture that the reason for this counter-intuitive behavior is that the moral narrative that accompanies a technocratic tax cut for the wealthy is more compelling that the moral narrative that accompanies a technocratic stimulus of aggregate demand or support for families harmed by the financial sector’s market and moral failures."
We are a vindictive country, scared by boogie men of our own making.
The Senate just voted to break the GOP filibuster of the START Treaty, with a critical 67 votes. That suggests, though nothing is ever guaranteed in the Senate, that the treaty should muster the 2/3 required for passage.
Another score for Obama. Suck it, Republicans.
A party that rode 9/11 for years at every RNC event, and in every commercial, heck, Giuliani and Cheney couldn't say a sentence without 9/11 in it, now Republicans expose themselves for what they really are: #complete scum
"On the other end of the spectrum, Southeastern Kentucky was home to four of the nation's poorest counties."Home of millionaire Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell and a lot of Republicans who push the Conservative agenda and get hicks to vote against their own self interests. I bet dickheads in Kentucky pushed for the "billionaire bailout" as they ate dog food out of a can. #idenitypolitics #yourewhitetrash
Taxes already pay for more than 60 percent of US health spending Americans pay the highest health care taxes in the world. We pay for national health insurance, but don’t get it.
50% of the country is covered by Medicare/Medicaid/VA Hospitals. And they all will never part with it. Why is convincing the other 50% that they don’t have to get screwed by private corporations so hard?
Americans are so vindictive. They can’t let another person enjoy health care. Somehow they “earned” the right to be taken care of in a time of need.
Why not not just envision your insurance premiums as pitching in to the Universal Plan and everyone gets covered. It would be the same money. Probably less.
Is your indignation towards the less fortunate that strong? That was rhetorical.
‘…money alone does not create political trends in the United States. Within a year of Barack Obama’s inauguration, the most energized and angry people on the American political scene were not the homeowners with subprime mortgages who faced foreclosure as a result of the crisis, but rather those who faulted the government for taking steps to protect those homeowners, and to prevent the crisis from deepening.
It was a strange phenomenon that saw many of those most deeply injured by the crisis become, in effect, objective allies of those who caused it.’
For every mortgage given to a less-qualified applicant, there were 1000’s of bankers, risk analysts, Wall St traders, and their entire respective industries, building a house of cards. They created the fantasy land, they built the speculative track homes, they approved the lending.
To focus on the little guy as the Big Shots stole the farm is the classic Tea Bag mindset. Tea Klanners are upset and angry at individuals, with zero influence, at gaming a system run by greedy, soulless corporations.
To them, the entire global banking and mortgage industries were brought down by a NINJA loan for a condo in [place minority-populated city here].
Rape culture is telling girls and women to be careful about what you wear, how you wear it, how you carry yourself, where you walk, when you walk there, with whom you walk, whom you trust, what you do, where you do it, with whom you do it, what you drink, how much you drink, whether you make eye contact, if you’re alone, if you’re with a stranger, if you’re in a group, if you’re in a group of strangers, if it’s dark, if the area is unfamiliar, if you’re carrying something, how you carry it, what kind of shoes you’re wearing in case you have to run, what kind of purse you carry, what jewelry you wear, what time it is, what street it is, what environment it is, how many people you sleep with, what kind of people you sleep with, who your friends are, to whom you give your number, who’s around when the delivery guy comes, to get an apartment where you can see who’s at the door before they can see you, to check before you open the door to the delivery guy, to own a dog or a dog-sound-making machine, to get a roommate, to take self-defense, to always be alert always pay attention always watch your back always be aware of your surroundings and never let your guard down for a moment lest you be sexually assaulted and if you are and didn’t follow all the rules it’s your fault.
This is a damn good read. (via nikkiwiley)
thesmithian:
‘…the Democrats are starting to rack up a pretty sizable number of successes in what was at one time expected to be a quiet and largely uneventful lame-duck session. There was the tax-cut deal, which included an extension of unemployment benefits, then the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and soon, it appears, even the long-stalled James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act…
New York’s Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand didn’t give up, and with a few tweaks, they’ve apparently been able to garner a whopping three Republican votes for the legislation. “I believe we now have more than enough votes to pass this legislation,” Gillibrand said yesterday.’
Obama and Democrats get things done. #haterz gonna hate
"Because if this is gonna be a Christian nation that DOESN’T help the poor, either we’ve got to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that he commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition — and then admit that we just don’t want to do it."Stephen Colbert (via technipol)
Doesn’t it seem a little strange that teaching safe sex will make kids want to misuse that knowledge, but teaching gun safety won’t do the same?
"That’s why net neutrality is the most important free speech issue of our time. And that’s why, this Tuesday, when the FCC meets to discuss this badly flawed proposal, I’ll be watching. If they approve it as is, I’ll be outraged. And you should be, too."Sen. Al Franken,
Big media corporations like AT&T and Comcast are pushing for tiered-service to improve their profits. The fact that these same corporations do not cover these stories on their media networks is no surprise. Why would they want to let you know they are about to rob you?
On Thursday night, hours before passing the tax cut compromise, House Republicans thwarted a bill that aimed to protect girls around the world from being coerced into child marriage. They opposed it because, they claimed, it might fund abortions.
"The text of the bill does not mention abortion, contraception or family planning. Instead, it directs the president to make preventing child marriage a priority, especially in countries where more than 40 percent of girls under the age of 18 are married. The ways to do that, according to the bill: support educating communities on the dangers and health effects of child marriage, keep young girls in school, support female mentoring programs and…."
Pious Republicans want every young female child, around the world, to not have access to health care. Just like they oppose condoms in the era of HIV/AIDS, the amount of pain and suffering the Republicans have spread around the world is staggering. #complete scum
Merry Crimbo to my friends on the interwebs. Glad we are connected. Holiday Cheer to all!
- Douglas/liberalsarecool
