30 October 2006
The bee genome
Science remains ever cool. Read the comments, too; some of them have some really interesting stuff.
What I hate the most about the current administration
They think that corruption is something that can be done right out in front of everybody and as strict authoritation personalities and social dominators, they feel no guilt whatsoever.
Some thoughts on the ugly facts
I've been thinking about Iraq.
We don't have a clear mission. Support the new democracy? Okay, how? We haven't disarmed the militias. Until that happens, they don't have a democracy. It's too dangerous, you say. Well, I think that's where we come to the rub. Yep, we would take a lot of casualties for a few weeks as we disarmed the neighborhoods. Lots of casualties. Unacceptable to the American people numbers. Or so says the conventional wisdom.
We would also have to re-introduce the draft because we would have to send another 750,000 troops to Iraq to pacify the countryside. What's that you say? It didn't work in Vietnam? Sure it did. You're buying into anti-war propaganda. After the Tet offensive, there was no Viet Cong and the countryside was pacified. We still took casualties but they were along the Cambodian and Laotian borders and up near the DMZ where we were in contact with NV regulars. We quit when America lost the will to continue.
Should we have stayed? Well, that depends on where you fall on the nationalism spectrum. We promised the South Vietnamese that we would protect them from the North. We didn't. I'm of the opinion that we failed several thousand Vietnamese who were executed by the North. Should we have been there in the first place? Hmm. Way different question.
Communist dictatorships are defined, in American politics, as bad. Stalin, sure. Krushchev, much less so. Brezhnev, went a long way back to the bad old days. Pol Pot, of course. Murderers are bad. The domino theory had a lot of geopolitical truth but it was premised on a falsehood: the Soviet Union would bankroll world-wide revolution. They did until they couldn't afford it anymore. We would probably have hastened their collapse by letting them run riot for a few years. Of course, that would have resulted in a lot of deaths. Containment resulted in a lot of deaths, too.
Isolationism? Let the world go the way it will? We can't do that until we get off the oil tit. Oh, and the Japanese electronics tit. And the Latin American and Southeast Asian textiles tit. And the Japanese car tit. And the Chinese "whatever else we buy because we don't make anything in the US" tit. So isolationism isn't an option and we have to play international politics and that means we have to put the interests of the US ahead of the interests of other nations because if we don't there's no reason to play.
Now game theory says that cooperation is always better than competition in a zero sum game. And when veiwed in a large enough context, we've been in a zero sum game since we came down out of the trees. So, by cooperating with other nations we improve our chances of success, satisfying our requirement that US interests be addressed.
Now, as I said, I've been thinking about Iraq.
If we "cut and run," Iraq goes to shit. Three regions: Kurds in the north, with oil. Shi'a in the south, with oil. Sunni in the middle with nothing but desert, no oil, no farms, no olive trees, no water, no nothing. Sunnis don't like the sound of that "no nothing" talk. Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Syria don't like that "Kurds with money" part because it is the avowed goal of these people to create a Greater Kurdistan. Saudi Arabia and Egypt don't like the sound of "Shi'a with anything" because it strengthens Iran's hand. What are the US interests in this? Get the oil flowing but keep our allies happy in case we need to use them as a base to invade something. Hmm. Who are our allies? Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia.
"Stay the course doesn't work." We're bleeding to death for nothing. No oil, no way out, no increase in national prestige.
National prestige in this instance doesn't just mean that everybody hates us because we're a terrible, wicked, imperialist aggressor. We don't care about that because we're putting our interests first, remember? What we care about is the fact that we have committed the national treasure and the national army to Iraq. And therefore cannot rattle a fucking sabre anywhere else? Iran and North Korea have decided to go nuclear and there's fuckall we can do about it because every manjack of us is in Iraq. Not that invading either of those countries is really an option but we could at least have blustered seven or eight years ago and we would have been taken seriously. Now? Kyrgyzistan and Burkin Faso could imprison our ambassadors and we'd have to ask them kindly to let them go because we don't have Marines to spare for a parachute drop. THAT'S what's really wrong with this adventure in empire building. You can't do it without conscripts.
And in order to get the Iraq we want, we have to have more boots on the ground. Lots more boots. Enough that we can walk into Sadr City and announce that we expect all the weapons and explosives to be deposited in the square in front of the main mosque by dark and have it mean something. Sure, when we start something like this there will be a lot of people flee into the desert. Let them. We just need to hold the cities and the roads between them and the pipelines. And we can do that if we're willing to let the world see us doing what the Israelis have done in the West Bank and Gaza: bulldoze neighborhoods that contain people we don't like.
Empire is dirty work. But necessary when you manufacture nothing but weapons and you owe more than the gross national product to foreign govenments. And when the lifeblood of the world's economy can mainly be found "over there."
There is another way to do this. We could flat out hire a few other countries to do the occupying for us. That's what the Romans did when it got to the point that they couldn't go it alone anymore. An army of Mexicans would solve a couple of the problems that the GOP would like us to think are vital to the national interests. Six years of service in the Iraq Occupation Force and you get to be a voting US citizen.
Not a very progressive position I've taken, is it? Suppose that you fall on the other end of the nationalism spectrum and consider yourself a human ahead of being an American. We can't cut and run because the Sunni region is not viable. And the Turks would start killing Kurds. We can't stay the course because it's stupid. What's left? A real occupation with a disarmament of the militias. This is a very unpleasant situation.
It doesn't do us any good to holler that we shouldn't have been there in the first place. We shouldn't have but there's nothing we can do about that now. Oh, we can, and should impeach Dear Leader and the Lesser Leader but that's domestic politics and doesn't cast any light on the current discussion.
A solution is needed and I don't see one other that what I've described above. Anybody else got a magic wand they want to wave?
We don't have a clear mission. Support the new democracy? Okay, how? We haven't disarmed the militias. Until that happens, they don't have a democracy. It's too dangerous, you say. Well, I think that's where we come to the rub. Yep, we would take a lot of casualties for a few weeks as we disarmed the neighborhoods. Lots of casualties. Unacceptable to the American people numbers. Or so says the conventional wisdom.
We would also have to re-introduce the draft because we would have to send another 750,000 troops to Iraq to pacify the countryside. What's that you say? It didn't work in Vietnam? Sure it did. You're buying into anti-war propaganda. After the Tet offensive, there was no Viet Cong and the countryside was pacified. We still took casualties but they were along the Cambodian and Laotian borders and up near the DMZ where we were in contact with NV regulars. We quit when America lost the will to continue.
Should we have stayed? Well, that depends on where you fall on the nationalism spectrum. We promised the South Vietnamese that we would protect them from the North. We didn't. I'm of the opinion that we failed several thousand Vietnamese who were executed by the North. Should we have been there in the first place? Hmm. Way different question.
Communist dictatorships are defined, in American politics, as bad. Stalin, sure. Krushchev, much less so. Brezhnev, went a long way back to the bad old days. Pol Pot, of course. Murderers are bad. The domino theory had a lot of geopolitical truth but it was premised on a falsehood: the Soviet Union would bankroll world-wide revolution. They did until they couldn't afford it anymore. We would probably have hastened their collapse by letting them run riot for a few years. Of course, that would have resulted in a lot of deaths. Containment resulted in a lot of deaths, too.
Isolationism? Let the world go the way it will? We can't do that until we get off the oil tit. Oh, and the Japanese electronics tit. And the Latin American and Southeast Asian textiles tit. And the Japanese car tit. And the Chinese "whatever else we buy because we don't make anything in the US" tit. So isolationism isn't an option and we have to play international politics and that means we have to put the interests of the US ahead of the interests of other nations because if we don't there's no reason to play.
Now game theory says that cooperation is always better than competition in a zero sum game. And when veiwed in a large enough context, we've been in a zero sum game since we came down out of the trees. So, by cooperating with other nations we improve our chances of success, satisfying our requirement that US interests be addressed.
Now, as I said, I've been thinking about Iraq.
If we "cut and run," Iraq goes to shit. Three regions: Kurds in the north, with oil. Shi'a in the south, with oil. Sunni in the middle with nothing but desert, no oil, no farms, no olive trees, no water, no nothing. Sunnis don't like the sound of that "no nothing" talk. Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Syria don't like that "Kurds with money" part because it is the avowed goal of these people to create a Greater Kurdistan. Saudi Arabia and Egypt don't like the sound of "Shi'a with anything" because it strengthens Iran's hand. What are the US interests in this? Get the oil flowing but keep our allies happy in case we need to use them as a base to invade something. Hmm. Who are our allies? Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia.
"Stay the course doesn't work." We're bleeding to death for nothing. No oil, no way out, no increase in national prestige.
National prestige in this instance doesn't just mean that everybody hates us because we're a terrible, wicked, imperialist aggressor. We don't care about that because we're putting our interests first, remember? What we care about is the fact that we have committed the national treasure and the national army to Iraq. And therefore cannot rattle a fucking sabre anywhere else? Iran and North Korea have decided to go nuclear and there's fuckall we can do about it because every manjack of us is in Iraq. Not that invading either of those countries is really an option but we could at least have blustered seven or eight years ago and we would have been taken seriously. Now? Kyrgyzistan and Burkin Faso could imprison our ambassadors and we'd have to ask them kindly to let them go because we don't have Marines to spare for a parachute drop. THAT'S what's really wrong with this adventure in empire building. You can't do it without conscripts.
And in order to get the Iraq we want, we have to have more boots on the ground. Lots more boots. Enough that we can walk into Sadr City and announce that we expect all the weapons and explosives to be deposited in the square in front of the main mosque by dark and have it mean something. Sure, when we start something like this there will be a lot of people flee into the desert. Let them. We just need to hold the cities and the roads between them and the pipelines. And we can do that if we're willing to let the world see us doing what the Israelis have done in the West Bank and Gaza: bulldoze neighborhoods that contain people we don't like.
Empire is dirty work. But necessary when you manufacture nothing but weapons and you owe more than the gross national product to foreign govenments. And when the lifeblood of the world's economy can mainly be found "over there."
There is another way to do this. We could flat out hire a few other countries to do the occupying for us. That's what the Romans did when it got to the point that they couldn't go it alone anymore. An army of Mexicans would solve a couple of the problems that the GOP would like us to think are vital to the national interests. Six years of service in the Iraq Occupation Force and you get to be a voting US citizen.
Not a very progressive position I've taken, is it? Suppose that you fall on the other end of the nationalism spectrum and consider yourself a human ahead of being an American. We can't cut and run because the Sunni region is not viable. And the Turks would start killing Kurds. We can't stay the course because it's stupid. What's left? A real occupation with a disarmament of the militias. This is a very unpleasant situation.
It doesn't do us any good to holler that we shouldn't have been there in the first place. We shouldn't have but there's nothing we can do about that now. Oh, we can, and should impeach Dear Leader and the Lesser Leader but that's domestic politics and doesn't cast any light on the current discussion.
A solution is needed and I don't see one other that what I've described above. Anybody else got a magic wand they want to wave?
And here's the problem with news stories about the economy
Even the people writing the stories don't know what the problem is.
What will happen if we keep on our current course? Why, there'll be a disaster. What kind of disaster? Why, an economic one. What will happen? Weren't you listening, boy, I said "a disaster."
Social Security is solvent for the next hundred years or so. And it could be made infinitely solvent by raising the age at which you can start collecting benefits by 2 years. So let's just take SS out of the picture.
Medicare is doom-ed. Because the insurance industry will continue to rape the public on health care costs. The solution to the Medicare problem is to put an end to health care for profit. We need a generation of political leaders who will take this issue by the throat and shake.
Are we going to continue to have the most expensive, Third World medical care system in the world? Sure we will until the peasants have had enough and decide to let blood run in the streets.
What will happen if we keep on our current course? Why, there'll be a disaster. What kind of disaster? Why, an economic one. What will happen? Weren't you listening, boy, I said "a disaster."
Social Security is solvent for the next hundred years or so. And it could be made infinitely solvent by raising the age at which you can start collecting benefits by 2 years. So let's just take SS out of the picture.
Medicare is doom-ed. Because the insurance industry will continue to rape the public on health care costs. The solution to the Medicare problem is to put an end to health care for profit. We need a generation of political leaders who will take this issue by the throat and shake.
Are we going to continue to have the most expensive, Third World medical care system in the world? Sure we will until the peasants have had enough and decide to let blood run in the streets.
29 October 2006
Hey! You can't have electronic voting machines that will vote *against* the GOP!
I guess this sort of investigation could do some good. I guess. For somebody. Maybe.
28 October 2006
The US media continue to serve as the administration's lap dogs
Oh, they're standing up to Dear Leader on some stuff but we still have no idea what does on in Iraq because they don't report it. There was a time when war was the kind of story that all reporters wanted to cover and all newscasts led with. Now, eh. They aren't allowed to go where the war is and it's *dangerous* and they're not so much reporters as "media personalities."
Link provided by Daniel.
Link provided by Daniel.
27 October 2006
Another good exciting thing to contemplate with a Democratic majority in the House
Dennis Kucinich will be the chair of the House Government Oversite Committee's subcommittee on International Relations, National Security, and Emerging Threats.
Support Dennis here.
Support Dennis here.
26 October 2006
Rush Limbaugh is the scum of the earth
Where does this drug addict get off saying shit like this? If this wasn't their normal behavior, I'd say that the right-wing talking heads were desperate.
Oh, jesus christ!
Are we going to let them get away with this? It's just going to be one thing after another for the next two weeks. Rather than one plan, they'll use a jillion different ideas so that the conspiracy to subvert the Constitution and the will of the people is obscured. And when the low-level conspirators start to rat them out, they'll just laugh and say that the Democrats shouldn't have counted their chickens, etc etc etc
Conyers as chair of the House Judiciary Committee is just one of the many reasons we need a Democratic majority
. Conyers's drone-y little voice can get on my nerves but I wouldn't mind hearing it asking "What did the President know and when did he know it?" for a couple of years.23 October 2006
The Dear Leader has no shame
The arrogance of an appointment like this is hard to comprehend. For a position devoted to mine safety, in a year when we've had a lot of mining deaths, he appoints a big-coal executive that HAS BEEN TURNED DOWN TWICE BY HIS OWN SENATE!!!!!
Jesus.
ITMFA
Jesus.
ITMFA
Trudeau profile
I don't talk about comics here very often. In general, there are plenty of people blogging about comics and a lot of them do it better than I ever could. I blog about politics because I think the more screaming the more likely someone might here.
This piece is about art and comics and politics and sanity. All near and dear to me. I've always had this image of Trudeau as some sort of hateful, self-centered recluse. I'm going to assume, based on this profile, that I was wrong.
I remember the day that the "B.D. is wounded" sequence began. I thought that Trudeau had killed him. And I was hurt. I probably e-mailed a lot of you about it. I found my chest tightening over the death of a fictional character. And it turned out not to be the case anyway but it was one of the most powerful comic strips I'd ever read. And two of the four panels were black.
Trudeau should be rated with Herriman, Seegar, and Kelly. He has made the comic strip into art and has sustained it over decades. And kept a measure of popularity that Herriman never achieved. That is exceedingly rare.
This piece is about art and comics and politics and sanity. All near and dear to me. I've always had this image of Trudeau as some sort of hateful, self-centered recluse. I'm going to assume, based on this profile, that I was wrong.
I remember the day that the "B.D. is wounded" sequence began. I thought that Trudeau had killed him. And I was hurt. I probably e-mailed a lot of you about it. I found my chest tightening over the death of a fictional character. And it turned out not to be the case anyway but it was one of the most powerful comic strips I'd ever read. And two of the four panels were black.
Trudeau should be rated with Herriman, Seegar, and Kelly. He has made the comic strip into art and has sustained it over decades. And kept a measure of popularity that Herriman never achieved. That is exceedingly rare.
21 October 2006
From www.truthdig.com
After Pat's Birthday
By Kevin Tillman
Truthdig
Thursday 19 October 2006
Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2000, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.
It is Pat's birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier leaves us without a voice… until we get out.
Much has happened since we handed over our voice:
Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can't be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.
Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.
Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few "bad apples" in the military.
Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It's interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.
Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.
Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.
Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.
Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.
Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.
Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.
Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.
Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.
Somehow torture is tolerated.
Somehow lying is tolerated.
Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.
Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.
Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.
Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.
Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.
Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.
Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.
Somehow this is tolerated.
Somehow nobody is accountable for this.
In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don't be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that "somehow" was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.
Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat's birthday.
By Kevin Tillman
Truthdig
Thursday 19 October 2006
Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2000, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.
It is Pat's birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier leaves us without a voice… until we get out.
Much has happened since we handed over our voice:
Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can't be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.
Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.
Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few "bad apples" in the military.
Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It's interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.
Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.
Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.
Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.
Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.
Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.
Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.
Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.
Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.
Somehow torture is tolerated.
Somehow lying is tolerated.
Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.
Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.
Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.
Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.
Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.
Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.
Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.
Somehow this is tolerated.
Somehow nobody is accountable for this.
In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don't be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that "somehow" was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.
Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat's birthday.
20 October 2006
The great Iraqi oil reserves
Somebody is full of shit. And I don't know if it's this guy or the oil industry or just who it is.
So he says that Iraq has proven reserves of 112 billion barrels of oil. Hmmm. And that Iraq has a production potential of 8 billion barrels a day.
The US's DAILY consumption is 20,030,000. The top five oil consuming countries consume 37,476,000 barrels a DAY. The world consumes 80,727,430 barrels per DAY.
Okay. That means that Iraq's reserves would last (if it was the only country producing, which I know it is not) , uhm 3 1/2 years. Gosh. Maybe the mean British billions. That would mean 35 years. Hmmm. No, I checked the CIA Fact Book and they mean American billions -- 1 thousand million.
So. We've killed maybe 650,000 Iraqi civilians in order to take away from them the only goddamned thing they've got that's worth anything and it will only last for 3 1/2 years? That we continue to allow these vile theives to run this country makes me sick and ashamed.
Impeach the Mother Fucker Already. Failing that, remember that the Tree of Liberty must, from time to time, be refreshed by the blood of tyrrants and of patriots. Look for me in Gitmo.
So he says that Iraq has proven reserves of 112 billion barrels of oil. Hmmm. And that Iraq has a production potential of 8 billion barrels a day.
The US's DAILY consumption is 20,030,000. The top five oil consuming countries consume 37,476,000 barrels a DAY. The world consumes 80,727,430 barrels per DAY.
Okay. That means that Iraq's reserves would last (if it was the only country producing, which I know it is not) , uhm 3 1/2 years. Gosh. Maybe the mean British billions. That would mean 35 years. Hmmm. No, I checked the CIA Fact Book and they mean American billions -- 1 thousand million.
So. We've killed maybe 650,000 Iraqi civilians in order to take away from them the only goddamned thing they've got that's worth anything and it will only last for 3 1/2 years? That we continue to allow these vile theives to run this country makes me sick and ashamed.
Impeach the Mother Fucker Already. Failing that, remember that the Tree of Liberty must, from time to time, be refreshed by the blood of tyrrants and of patriots. Look for me in Gitmo.
Coup on Iraq?
There's been talk about a possible coup in Iraq. I also heard it mentioned on NPR's "All Things Considered" yesterday.
How could that possibly happen with our conivance? We have the largest military force in the country. The government lives in the Green Zone, that fortified area that we guard. The generals who would stage such a coup are under the orders of American generals for the duration. Is the Dear Leader getting ready to perpetrate another one of his lies? Are we suddenly going to find ouselves dealing with a Sunni strongman that "just happened" to have staged a coup and "oh, how terrible. oh, well"?
Have you noticed that the Sunni insurgents were referred to last week by Rumseld as an "honorable resistance" to what they percieve as an "occupation"? Not one mention of the "die-hard Baathist supporters of Saddam." Orwell didn't know how close he was coming to nailing the future right on the nose.
Coup. Coming to an occupied country near you. If your in the Middle East.
How could that possibly happen with our conivance? We have the largest military force in the country. The government lives in the Green Zone, that fortified area that we guard. The generals who would stage such a coup are under the orders of American generals for the duration. Is the Dear Leader getting ready to perpetrate another one of his lies? Are we suddenly going to find ouselves dealing with a Sunni strongman that "just happened" to have staged a coup and "oh, how terrible. oh, well"?
Have you noticed that the Sunni insurgents were referred to last week by Rumseld as an "honorable resistance" to what they percieve as an "occupation"? Not one mention of the "die-hard Baathist supporters of Saddam." Orwell didn't know how close he was coming to nailing the future right on the nose.
Coup. Coming to an occupied country near you. If your in the Middle East.
Careful with your produce
So, this woman found a black widow spider in some grapes she bought at a California grocery store. Well, things happen. No reason to get all spun up, right?
"A few such cases"? Joshua Crust, how many times do you have to find black widows in grocery stores before you start to wonder what the hell is going on? Once, sure, that's not odd. Twice? Gosh, what a coincidence. Three times? Wow. We might oughta check into this. How many does it take to constitiute a few? More than three? Lordy, lordy, stay away from Price Chopper!!
Election fraud
This is enough stuff to choke a whale. And do not imagine that even if they fail to steal the election that they will give up power easily. Sure, we've always had peaceful turnover even in disputed elections (see 1876 and 2000) but that was back when the Constitution meant something to our leaders. Remember that this is the bunch that has proclaimed that the President can lock up ANYBODY he chooses and never charge them and never release them and torture them if he wants to and no court in the land has any authority to do anything about it.
Read that previous sentence again. That's not my spin. That's not some Democratic propaganda. That's not some subtle mis-statement of fact. That is the way the law is written. Could you have imagined such a thing 10 years ago?
We may have to go to the mattresses to get rid of these people.
And if I disappear, look for me in Gitmo.
Execute them
There are certain crimes that cause my progressive, liberal attitudes and politics to evaporate.
I suppose that instead of executing them we could sterilize them. While that would stop the perpetuation of their genetics to the next generation, it wouldn't keep them from committing this same kind of crime. Nor would it prevent them from raising someone else's child to be like them.
And keep in mind that they cannot be reformed. How could they be? Surely if they were ever well enough to recognize the heinousness of the crime they had committed, they would commit suicide, no?
Keep in mind that I'm trying to persuade you, dear reader, to agree that execution is what they should get. I accepted a long time ago that there would always be crimes for which I think the criminals should die.
A question for the masses
The "official" death toll for the World Trade Center attacks is 2749. How was that number determined?
Something about Oklahoma makes them strange
Maybe it's that constant wind that causes the howling in their heads that makes them think stuff like this is a good idea.
19 October 2006
18 October 2006
Ah, fungi science
Fungi are just weird. When we were in grade school they told us they were non-photsynthesizing plants.
Web sites for House candidates we need to support
These are Democrats who are running competitive races but where it is currently leaning toward the GOP. Go through, pick out 4 or 5 and give them $10 each (I've hot-linked to their websites). Don't just talk about doing that or think about doing that, do it. Do it now. If you can afford $100 each, do that. If you can only afford $5 each, do that. This is important. Vitally important. I am not engaging in hyperbole when I say that I think the future of our constitutionally-governed republic rests on restoring the checks and balances that our country was founded on.
AZ-05 Harry Mitchell
CA-04 Charlies Brown
CA-11 John McNerney
CO-04 Angie Paccione
KY-02 Mike Weaver
KY-03 John Yarmuth
NV-02 Jill Derby
NV-03 Tess Hafen
NH-02 Paul Hodes
NJ-07 Linda Stender
NY-20 Kirstin Gillibrand
NY-29 Louise Slaughter
PA-08 Patrick Murphy
There is another seat that is leaning Republican but I haven't the faintest idea what you should do. It is TX-23 and they're having a special election and seem to have a handful of Democrats and I don't know enough today to advise you on which one to support but I would hate to split the resources for this district.
So there. Don't just talk about it. Do something.
AZ-05 Harry Mitchell
CA-04 Charlies Brown
CA-11 John McNerney
CO-04 Angie Paccione
KY-02 Mike Weaver
KY-03 John Yarmuth
NV-02 Jill Derby
NV-03 Tess Hafen
NH-02 Paul Hodes
NJ-07 Linda Stender
NY-20 Kirstin Gillibrand
NY-29 Louise Slaughter
PA-08 Patrick Murphy
There is another seat that is leaning Republican but I haven't the faintest idea what you should do. It is TX-23 and they're having a special election and seem to have a handful of Democrats and I don't know enough today to advise you on which one to support but I would hate to split the resources for this district.
So there. Don't just talk about it. Do something.
LR Zoo's new baby
Our new baby gorilla. The first gorilla born in Little Rock. Isn't he just darling?They're going to have a contest to name him but they are going to make sure they get a dignified name.
Dear Leader wants to know what people are saying about him
Do you honestly beleive that they will only use this to look at foreign publications? Will we ever wake up and throw these bastards to the fucking wolves? They've arrogated for themselves the right to seize enemy combatants and hold them indefinately without trial. They've already said that an enemy combatant is anybody that poses a threat to the US. And then they say that negative opinions of the US government pose a threat to the US. It isn't a strained leap to imagine American publishers, editors, reporters, or writers of opinion of all stripes Gitmoed.
Have you noticed how much Dear Leader has been using words like "intolerable" and "unacceptable" lately, regarding foreign policy matters? Notice how his political opponents are characterized as sympathizing with the terrorists and trying to protect them?
Do not for a second imagine that these monsters won't use the power they've seized. A gun on the matle in the first act must be fired in the third. I'm frightened for the future of my country and ashamed of myself and my countrymen for not being down at the federal building right now, weapons in hand, demanding redress of our grievances.
Impeach the Mother Fucker Already
Have you noticed how much Dear Leader has been using words like "intolerable" and "unacceptable" lately, regarding foreign policy matters? Notice how his political opponents are characterized as sympathizing with the terrorists and trying to protect them?
Do not for a second imagine that these monsters won't use the power they've seized. A gun on the matle in the first act must be fired in the third. I'm frightened for the future of my country and ashamed of myself and my countrymen for not being down at the federal building right now, weapons in hand, demanding redress of our grievances.
Impeach the Mother Fucker Already
The Ohio governor's race
Perhaps you haven't kept up with the Kenneth Blackwell. He's the black, fundamentalist christian, Republican secretary of state in Ohio. He's the one who gave Ohio to the Bush in '04. He's running for governor.
His Democratic opponent is Ted Strickland, a congressman from the Appalachians.
There is a third, far left candidate in the race who had to qualify for the ballot by petition. Those petitions were certified by...Kenneth Blackwell, the secretary of state. Hmm. I wonder if a left-wing candidate would hurt the candidacy of a Democrat?
Further, it seems that a group of Republicans are challenging Strickland's eligibility as a candidate. It seems that he is registered to vote at with an apartment address but, aparently, he lives in a condominium elsewhere. Ohio law allows folks with two residences to register to vote at either one. But, in any event, this group is claiming that since Strickland doesn't live at his voter registration address, he isn't a legal voter and therefore he isn't a legal candidate. Did I mention that Strickland is currently leading Blackwell by 25%?
So the group's complaint went to the county election commission which had a vote on whether or not to investigate the claim. They split along party lines, 2-2. A tie vote means that the question of voter legitimacy is passed along to...the secretary of state's office.
Blackwell has said that he will recuse himself and let his deputy, hired by him, fireable by him, decide the matter. These people have no conscience. I'll bet cash that Strickland will have to go to court to stay on the ballot.
Oh, and then there's this little bit of electoral magic, if all else fails.
UPDATE: The Diebold magic has already been used. These people do not intend to give up power.
His Democratic opponent is Ted Strickland, a congressman from the Appalachians.
There is a third, far left candidate in the race who had to qualify for the ballot by petition. Those petitions were certified by...Kenneth Blackwell, the secretary of state. Hmm. I wonder if a left-wing candidate would hurt the candidacy of a Democrat?
Further, it seems that a group of Republicans are challenging Strickland's eligibility as a candidate. It seems that he is registered to vote at with an apartment address but, aparently, he lives in a condominium elsewhere. Ohio law allows folks with two residences to register to vote at either one. But, in any event, this group is claiming that since Strickland doesn't live at his voter registration address, he isn't a legal voter and therefore he isn't a legal candidate. Did I mention that Strickland is currently leading Blackwell by 25%?
So the group's complaint went to the county election commission which had a vote on whether or not to investigate the claim. They split along party lines, 2-2. A tie vote means that the question of voter legitimacy is passed along to...the secretary of state's office.
Blackwell has said that he will recuse himself and let his deputy, hired by him, fireable by him, decide the matter. These people have no conscience. I'll bet cash that Strickland will have to go to court to stay on the ballot.
Oh, and then there's this little bit of electoral magic, if all else fails.
UPDATE: The Diebold magic has already been used. These people do not intend to give up power.
13 October 2006
An al-Qaida letter
This is just fascinating, for a lot of reasons. It gives some neat insight into US operations in Iraq. It gives some neat insight into al-Qaida operations in Iraq. And mostly it shows that the Dear Leader and the terrorists have the same idea: STAY THE COURSE!!
ITMFA
ITMFA
The real score in Iraq
* Saddam: 31,250 deaths a year (750,000 divided by 24)
* The Dear Leader's Administration: 87,500 deaths a year (350,000 divided by four)
Hmmm. Things aren't better than they were under Saddam. Imagine that.
ITMFA
* The Dear Leader's Administration: 87,500 deaths a year (350,000 divided by four)
Hmmm. Things aren't better than they were under Saddam. Imagine that.
ITMFA
Greg wonders how the rich live with themselves
This prompted his wonderment.
The availability of cheap Chinese labor has had a lot to do with the growth of the plutocracy in this country. I suspect that the Chinese would like to harvest for themselves the fruit of their labor.
The availability of cheap Chinese labor has had a lot to do with the growth of the plutocracy in this country. I suspect that the Chinese would like to harvest for themselves the fruit of their labor.
12 October 2006
Yes, yes, they've trampled on the Constitution but they're also trying to destroy science
This is hard to get laymen to appreciate.
11 October 2006
Keith Olbermann looks at habeus corpus and our Constitution
Make everybody you can watch this video. I understand that some browsers won't play video on the MSNBC site so you can watch it Crooks and Liars if you have to.
Hmmm. I think I believe in the 4% Panic
Juxtapose this and this. You'll have to watch a short ad to read the second one; it's from Salon.
I think the facts of the first caused press flaks to get to work and cause the second to be written. Maybe we are going to see an end to the tyrrany of the religious right in this country.
Chuck supplied me with the link to the first, btw.
I think the facts of the first caused press flaks to get to work and cause the second to be written. Maybe we are going to see an end to the tyrrany of the religious right in this country.
Chuck supplied me with the link to the first, btw.
Josie, 1985 -- 2006, RIP
One of my most vivid mental images of her has her lying on the front porch in the hot part of the summer, sprawled out on her side, eyes just barely slitted open, but the tip of her tail flicking back and forth...back and forth...back and forth...just daring birds or chipmunks to get close to her.
She was a good hunter. Caught a bat once, or at least she puked up a bat wing once. Caught more than her share of chipmunks and once brought a baby rabbit, still hairless and its eyes not open, into the house. I know that's not a great feat of capture, but it's a pretty great feat of discovery, I think. She could fight when she had to and hold her own. We had to take her to the vet once for a swollen paw from which he removed a tooth that was not hers. She liked my chili, even in the last year when I thought she had lost her sense of smell.
There was a while when if she was in the house when you opened the door, she went out -- ZING! And when you opened the door if she was on the porch or patio, she came back in -- GNIZ!
Her favorite vocalization, when she was younger, was "Herrm?" I called her Herm quite a lot. In the last few years, her vocalizations were very seldom but they resembled those of a clutch of crows we raised when I was a kid: "Craawwk. Craawwk. Craawwk."
For last couple of years, I greeted her every morning, expecting her to have died in the night, with a cheery "Arigato, Kitty!" She would lift her head and turn her poor old blind eyes toward me. I scratch her head and she'd go back to sleep. She didn't get up out of her heated bed much, except to go to the litter box but some evenings she would come into the dining room and want some attention.
She never was much of a lap kitty but she was always affectionate with adults. Not always so much with kids but she was already six years old before we had kids around much. She never liked Ojo. She was old when he came to live with us and he was far, far too exuberant for an old lady. She bowled him over with a forepaw slash (no claws, though, she knew he was a puppy) on his first day and then ignored him for the rest of her life.
She was never a clown, always dignified but never a snob. Ariane phographed her a lot and she was the subject of much of Ariane's art. Right now, that stuff is painful to look at but I know I'll be grateful for it later when it will bring her mind.
I loved her and will miss her.
She was a good hunter. Caught a bat once, or at least she puked up a bat wing once. Caught more than her share of chipmunks and once brought a baby rabbit, still hairless and its eyes not open, into the house. I know that's not a great feat of capture, but it's a pretty great feat of discovery, I think. She could fight when she had to and hold her own. We had to take her to the vet once for a swollen paw from which he removed a tooth that was not hers. She liked my chili, even in the last year when I thought she had lost her sense of smell.
There was a while when if she was in the house when you opened the door, she went out -- ZING! And when you opened the door if she was on the porch or patio, she came back in -- GNIZ!
Her favorite vocalization, when she was younger, was "Herrm?" I called her Herm quite a lot. In the last few years, her vocalizations were very seldom but they resembled those of a clutch of crows we raised when I was a kid: "Craawwk. Craawwk. Craawwk."
For last couple of years, I greeted her every morning, expecting her to have died in the night, with a cheery "Arigato, Kitty!" She would lift her head and turn her poor old blind eyes toward me. I scratch her head and she'd go back to sleep. She didn't get up out of her heated bed much, except to go to the litter box but some evenings she would come into the dining room and want some attention.
She never was much of a lap kitty but she was always affectionate with adults. Not always so much with kids but she was already six years old before we had kids around much. She never liked Ojo. She was old when he came to live with us and he was far, far too exuberant for an old lady. She bowled him over with a forepaw slash (no claws, though, she knew he was a puppy) on his first day and then ignored him for the rest of her life.
She was never a clown, always dignified but never a snob. Ariane phographed her a lot and she was the subject of much of Ariane's art. Right now, that stuff is painful to look at but I know I'll be grateful for it later when it will bring her mind.
I loved her and will miss her.
Children's rights and our backward, fundamentalist Christian-controlled country
Did you know that only two countries in the world have failed to ratify the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)? Somalia and...the United States of America. Makes you sick, doesn't it?
By the way, the text of the treaty is here. It's Article 2, Paragraph 2 that causes the problem for those who are oh-so-concerned about "the family."
By the way, the text of the treaty is here. It's Article 2, Paragraph 2 that causes the problem for those who are oh-so-concerned about "the family."
10 October 2006
A former Reagan under-secretary doesn't much care for the Dear Leader
It seems that there are Republicans who can count.
I hadn't considered the ongoing costs of veterans medical bills. I knew that the job growth numbers were horeshit, though.
Impeach the Mother Fucker Already
I hadn't considered the ongoing costs of veterans medical bills. I knew that the job growth numbers were horeshit, though.
Impeach the Mother Fucker Already
Part Two of the NYT series on government accomodation of religion
You can read it here.
I wrestled with this for a few minutes and then concluded that if a church hires somebody, then they have to play by the same rules as all other employers and I don't care if that results in a minister in the pulpit because a court ordered that he be there. It seems to me that if a church was robbed by its treasurer, they'd want a court to be invloved, by god. Churches want the protections of the law but not the responsiblities.
They can practise their religion any way they want to as long as they don't enter into a contract with somebody and then expect that they can abrogate the contract on whim. Those churches that use lay preachers who are unpaid can send 'em packing whenever they please. If you weren't getting paid, you can't argue that you were hurt by being dismssed on whim.
Or, at least that's the way I'm seeing it this afternoon.
I wrestled with this for a few minutes and then concluded that if a church hires somebody, then they have to play by the same rules as all other employers and I don't care if that results in a minister in the pulpit because a court ordered that he be there. It seems to me that if a church was robbed by its treasurer, they'd want a court to be invloved, by god. Churches want the protections of the law but not the responsiblities.
They can practise their religion any way they want to as long as they don't enter into a contract with somebody and then expect that they can abrogate the contract on whim. Those churches that use lay preachers who are unpaid can send 'em packing whenever they please. If you weren't getting paid, you can't argue that you were hurt by being dismssed on whim.
Or, at least that's the way I'm seeing it this afternoon.
The words "US policy" and "unilateral" appear close together a lot more than they use to
Seems that in addition to many of our other treaty obligations, the administration has decided that the various space treaties are to be thrown out the window.
I wrote a paper on the militarization of space several years ago that probably needs to be updated.
I wrote a paper on the militarization of space several years ago that probably needs to be updated.
09 October 2006
Our only hope really lies with the professionals in intelligence and the military
These will be the guys who restore democracy and the supremacy of the Constitution. It certainly won't be the spineless Congress or the Republican-appointed courts.
It will take blood. And I expect it. Sooner, rather than later.
Impeach the Mother Fucker Already
It will take blood. And I expect it. Sooner, rather than later.
Impeach the Mother Fucker Already
The Navy knows who decides if ships get built
And therefore they punish this guy for doing his job and for being good at it.
Gill thought you should see it.
Gill thought you should see it.
What separation of church and state?
Read this. All of it.
This right-wing nut idea that somehow Christians are being persecuted is one of their more difficult to understand lunacies. They control the White House, the Congress, the federal courts, and the military. Who is persecuting them? Academics?
This right-wing nut idea that somehow Christians are being persecuted is one of their more difficult to understand lunacies. They control the White House, the Congress, the federal courts, and the military. Who is persecuting them? Academics?
06 October 2006
The things we can do
How is it that we can do things like this, and we can't take care of the planet any better than we do?
Amazing monkeys we are.
Amazing monkeys we are.
The things we can do
How is it that we can do things like this, and we can't take care of the planet any better than we do?
Amazing monkeys we are.
Amazing monkeys we are.
I've been thinking about poverty
The poverty rate for 2005 was 12.6 percent. 'Bout the same as the year before. And it's been steadily increasing for the last 5 years. The poverty threshhold is set in the same manner as it was in 1967: three times a nutrionally adequate food budget scaled for family size. No rent, no health care, no transportation expenses. No taxes, no insurance, education expenses. No credit card interest.
In 2004 spending by the poorest 1/5 of Americans exceeded their income by a staggering 95%. The poor get poorer. And there are concerns that are established for the purpose of separating the poor from their money. Pay day lending operations routinely charge $15 or so as a "finance charge" and then they charge 390+% APR. Jesus. Legal theft. The original 1874 Arkansas constitution forbade charging more than 10% APR on any loan. That's why your parents didn't have credit cards. They were almost impossible to get from Arkansas banks. In 1982 we passed Amendment 60 that was so goofily worded it had to have interpretation by the state Supreme Court. They ruled that banks in Arkansas could charge 5% above the federal discount rate. In 1994 Congress gave out-of-state lenders the right to charge their home state interest rate if they chose. You can see how Arkansas bankers would have been a bit pissed. So in 1999 the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act was passed. It was written specifically to affect Arkansas only. It allowed in-state lenders to charge the same interest that out-of-state lenders were charging. So the idea of "usury (17% in Arkansas)" lost any importance in Arkansas law and nearly every bank in Arkansas began to make enough money to be snatched up by the big east coast banking concerns. All of that was banking legislation. In 2000 Congress fixed it so that non-bank lenders could charge the same ridiculously high rates. The goal of all this legislative work was supposedly to give Aranksas banks a chance to make the same money as out-of-state banks. Such bullshit was actually swallowed by some. The goal of all this legislation was to increase bank profits. Any impact this might have on local economies was gravy.
So. We've got 1 in 8 (or so) Americans living below the federal poverty threshhold ($19, 350 for a family of 4 in 2005). That's something approaching 37 million people. Note that if you are working full-time for minimum wage (as say, a janitor, a food service person, a data entry clerk, etc) you will make $10, 712 (calculated using a year-round employment figure of 2,080 hours). Note that if you are working as construction labor, for instance, you won't have year-round work; there'll be rain out days and such. And the minimum wage hasn't been raised since 1997, a record long stagnation.
Next, premiums for employer-based health insurance rose by 9.2 percent in 2005, the fifth consecutive year of increases over 9 percent. All types of health plans -- HMOs, PPOs, and point-of-service plans (POS) -- all went up. The average employee contribution to company-provided health insurance has increased more than 143 percent since 2000.The annual premiums for family-of-four coverage is about $10,800, higher than the total earnings of a full-time, minimum-wage worker. So, obviously, minimum wage employees don't have family health care insurance. I realize that most employers don't pass all the rises in insurance costs on to their employees but they certainly don't absorb it all, either. And it is not a vanishingly small number of companies that are no longer offering health care insurance; insurance costs are seriously eating into their profits.
Profits. That's the money that they get to take home and spend on their own families.
Anyway. You can work full-time and make half of the poverty level. Anybody paying minimum wage to people trying to make a living ought to be ashamed. The employers are stealing food from the mouths of children. Any employer who isn't doing everything he can to make sure that his employees have the same health care coverage that he has is a monster, tending to the health of his children at the expense of his employees' children.
It is conventional wisdom in political circles that nobody ever lost an election by saying "Fuck the poor." But, as we move away from Republic and on to Empire, I'd like to remind the powers-that-be that peasant revolutions are always very, very bloody for the non-peasants.
In 2004 spending by the poorest 1/5 of Americans exceeded their income by a staggering 95%. The poor get poorer. And there are concerns that are established for the purpose of separating the poor from their money. Pay day lending operations routinely charge $15 or so as a "finance charge" and then they charge 390+% APR. Jesus. Legal theft. The original 1874 Arkansas constitution forbade charging more than 10% APR on any loan. That's why your parents didn't have credit cards. They were almost impossible to get from Arkansas banks. In 1982 we passed Amendment 60 that was so goofily worded it had to have interpretation by the state Supreme Court. They ruled that banks in Arkansas could charge 5% above the federal discount rate. In 1994 Congress gave out-of-state lenders the right to charge their home state interest rate if they chose. You can see how Arkansas bankers would have been a bit pissed. So in 1999 the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act was passed. It was written specifically to affect Arkansas only. It allowed in-state lenders to charge the same interest that out-of-state lenders were charging. So the idea of "usury (17% in Arkansas)" lost any importance in Arkansas law and nearly every bank in Arkansas began to make enough money to be snatched up by the big east coast banking concerns. All of that was banking legislation. In 2000 Congress fixed it so that non-bank lenders could charge the same ridiculously high rates. The goal of all this legislative work was supposedly to give Aranksas banks a chance to make the same money as out-of-state banks. Such bullshit was actually swallowed by some. The goal of all this legislation was to increase bank profits. Any impact this might have on local economies was gravy.
So. We've got 1 in 8 (or so) Americans living below the federal poverty threshhold ($19, 350 for a family of 4 in 2005). That's something approaching 37 million people. Note that if you are working full-time for minimum wage (as say, a janitor, a food service person, a data entry clerk, etc) you will make $10, 712 (calculated using a year-round employment figure of 2,080 hours). Note that if you are working as construction labor, for instance, you won't have year-round work; there'll be rain out days and such. And the minimum wage hasn't been raised since 1997, a record long stagnation.
Next, premiums for employer-based health insurance rose by 9.2 percent in 2005, the fifth consecutive year of increases over 9 percent. All types of health plans -- HMOs, PPOs, and point-of-service plans (POS) -- all went up. The average employee contribution to company-provided health insurance has increased more than 143 percent since 2000.The annual premiums for family-of-four coverage is about $10,800, higher than the total earnings of a full-time, minimum-wage worker. So, obviously, minimum wage employees don't have family health care insurance. I realize that most employers don't pass all the rises in insurance costs on to their employees but they certainly don't absorb it all, either. And it is not a vanishingly small number of companies that are no longer offering health care insurance; insurance costs are seriously eating into their profits.
Profits. That's the money that they get to take home and spend on their own families.
Anyway. You can work full-time and make half of the poverty level. Anybody paying minimum wage to people trying to make a living ought to be ashamed. The employers are stealing food from the mouths of children. Any employer who isn't doing everything he can to make sure that his employees have the same health care coverage that he has is a monster, tending to the health of his children at the expense of his employees' children.
It is conventional wisdom in political circles that nobody ever lost an election by saying "Fuck the poor." But, as we move away from Republic and on to Empire, I'd like to remind the powers-that-be that peasant revolutions are always very, very bloody for the non-peasants.
Olberman continues to malign the president
And, of course, every bit of it is deserved.
Rumors are swirling that Olberman is going to be fired for his anti-Bush rhetoric. Think back to the anti-Clinton pundits and the horrible, horrible things they said about Bill and Hillary and then look at Olberman's simple (but admittedly angry) recitation of facts.
Do not imagine that we will be free of Cheney, Bush, & Co. in January '09. There's plenty that can happen between now and then and if you think this outifit wouldn't declare martial law and postpone the elections, then you are living in a fantasy world. They made plans for it in '04.
But, most likely, they won't need to postpone the elections because they'll know the results before the votes are cast. Electronic voting machines will spell the end of elective democracy in this country. If Jeb wants to be elected president in '08, it's his now, for the asking. Oh, and for the buying. Musn't forget that this is not about politics, this is about money.
The only way this evil will be ended will be if the people end it. We will have to go to the federal buildings, with weapons and words and sufficient numbers, and demand that our grievances be redressed. I firmly believe that it will take violence or the threat of violence to remove these people. They've spit on the Constitution; it means nothing to them. They are capable of any evil.
Impeach the Mother Fucker Already.
Rumors are swirling that Olberman is going to be fired for his anti-Bush rhetoric. Think back to the anti-Clinton pundits and the horrible, horrible things they said about Bill and Hillary and then look at Olberman's simple (but admittedly angry) recitation of facts.
Do not imagine that we will be free of Cheney, Bush, & Co. in January '09. There's plenty that can happen between now and then and if you think this outifit wouldn't declare martial law and postpone the elections, then you are living in a fantasy world. They made plans for it in '04.
But, most likely, they won't need to postpone the elections because they'll know the results before the votes are cast. Electronic voting machines will spell the end of elective democracy in this country. If Jeb wants to be elected president in '08, it's his now, for the asking. Oh, and for the buying. Musn't forget that this is not about politics, this is about money.
The only way this evil will be ended will be if the people end it. We will have to go to the federal buildings, with weapons and words and sufficient numbers, and demand that our grievances be redressed. I firmly believe that it will take violence or the threat of violence to remove these people. They've spit on the Constitution; it means nothing to them. They are capable of any evil.
Impeach the Mother Fucker Already.
04 October 2006
Parents kidnap bride
If the rest of us really knew what goes on in Mormons' minds, we'd run 'em out of town and make 'em live in a desert or something.
Foley's attempt to blame somebody else
I don't think blaming priests will help. At least I hope it doesn't. First they tried to claim that it was just harmless flirtation. Then the messages about "spanking it" showed up. Then they tried floating the rumor that he was drunk but then they found a message sent from the House floor and that didn't look good. So now it was because he was molested by a priest. When he was 15. Jesus. These people are the worst of the worst.
And, never let it be forgotten, Hastert and Reynolds knew a year ago and did nothing. Protect your own, at all costs, regardless of hypocracy, regardless of propriety, regardless of legality. Protect your own.
They make me sick.
And, never let it be forgotten, Hastert and Reynolds knew a year ago and did nothing. Protect your own, at all costs, regardless of hypocracy, regardless of propriety, regardless of legality. Protect your own.
They make me sick.
03 October 2006
Rice is stone-cold liar
So it seems that not only did they have a briefing paper in August that warned of al-Qaida attacks in early September but it seems that Tenet met with Rice in July and told her to her face that there was credible evidence of a serious threat. Now it doesn't surprise anybody, by now, to find out that the members of this administration will lie about anything but I just want to make sure that we never forget that these bastards have lied to us over and over and over and when they're caught, first they deny it, and then they say that it wasn't exactly reported right, and then they say it wouldn't have mattered anyway and then they say that we have to keep fighting "the war on terror. Shit.
And another thing about Condi: have you ever noticed the implicit racism in the way she used to be praised to high heaven for her intellect? I haven't seen anything to make me think that she's any brighter than normal other than her over-articulation.
Impeach the Mother Fucker Already.
And another thing about Condi: have you ever noticed the implicit racism in the way she used to be praised to high heaven for her intellect? I haven't seen anything to make me think that she's any brighter than normal other than her over-articulation.
Impeach the Mother Fucker Already.
A new Hubble picture
Uranus. The dark smear in the box is a storm of some sort. About 2/3 the size of the US.
Foley's scandal should be the downfall of the House GOP leadership
I mean, the guy sent an IM to a 16-year old boy discussing masturbation. You can't spin that away. So Foley has to go. So he goes.
Then we find out that Reynolds and Hastert knew about Foley's interest in pages a year ago and did nothing? How can that be spun to a positive? Can you imagine the exchange?
Reynolds: Uhm, we've got evidence that Foley's an internet pedophile, preying on children that we've brought to Washington.
Hastert: Is that a safe seat?
Seems to me that Reynolds and Hastert both have to give up their leadership positions. How can it be handled otherwise? The party needs the scandal to end right now. They can't afford to have it drag on for the rest of the month, running right up to the election.
Don't you just know that Pat and Jerry and Co., are squiriming right now?
What I've always loved about the GOP is their shining hypocracy. 50-year old "Family values" Senators marry their 25-year old staffers. "Save our children from internet predators" representatives tell 16-year old boys about their erections. And "wag-the-dog, he's lying about his blowjobs" national leaders claim anybody who questions illegal wiretapping or no habeus corpus imprisonments is a traitor and terrorist symp.
But never underestimate these sorry, sorry bastards. They've stolen elections before. It ain't nothing to them to re-program a view touch-screen voting machines.
Then we find out that Reynolds and Hastert knew about Foley's interest in pages a year ago and did nothing? How can that be spun to a positive? Can you imagine the exchange?
Reynolds: Uhm, we've got evidence that Foley's an internet pedophile, preying on children that we've brought to Washington.
Hastert: Is that a safe seat?
Seems to me that Reynolds and Hastert both have to give up their leadership positions. How can it be handled otherwise? The party needs the scandal to end right now. They can't afford to have it drag on for the rest of the month, running right up to the election.
Don't you just know that Pat and Jerry and Co., are squiriming right now?
What I've always loved about the GOP is their shining hypocracy. 50-year old "Family values" Senators marry their 25-year old staffers. "Save our children from internet predators" representatives tell 16-year old boys about their erections. And "wag-the-dog, he's lying about his blowjobs" national leaders claim anybody who questions illegal wiretapping or no habeus corpus imprisonments is a traitor and terrorist symp.
But never underestimate these sorry, sorry bastards. They've stolen elections before. It ain't nothing to them to re-program a view touch-screen voting machines.
Hiëronymus Bosch action figures
You know you're some kind of freaky geek when you want a full set of these.
02 October 2006
So. Is Frist an idiot or what?
Is there some deep thinking that I'm not following here or is he stone cold stupid?
A well-written piece about the Military Commissions Act
This guy said it better than I could. But even at that, I'm not sure that he's hysterical enough.
These evil bastards will not go gently into that good night. To believe that they will respect the outcome of elections is to have forgotten how they came to power. To believe that they will lay down the reins of power that they worked so hard to get is to be more than naive, it is to be their stooge.
One of the central tenets of fascism is that you have to come to power through the normal process (cheat if you have to) and *then* you dismantle the rule of law. No revolution is necessary. If you do it right, the people welcome you with open arms. But you never give up willingly. No fascist government has ever voluntarily surrendered power. This one won't be any different.
Impeach the mother fucker already.
These evil bastards will not go gently into that good night. To believe that they will respect the outcome of elections is to have forgotten how they came to power. To believe that they will lay down the reins of power that they worked so hard to get is to be more than naive, it is to be their stooge.
One of the central tenets of fascism is that you have to come to power through the normal process (cheat if you have to) and *then* you dismantle the rule of law. No revolution is necessary. If you do it right, the people welcome you with open arms. But you never give up willingly. No fascist government has ever voluntarily surrendered power. This one won't be any different.
Impeach the mother fucker already.
It all started to go bad with the election of Reagan
01 October 2006
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