The Washington Post Wants Your Social Security to Pay for the War
They can have my Social Security when they pry it from my cold, dead, cat food-smellin' hands...
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Headline of the Day
They can have my Social Security when they pry it from my cold, dead, cat food-smellin' hands...
How the fuck ...
Are you supposed to 'win'* a war if you can't get fuel for your vehicles to the battlefield?
Don't mean a shit how many troops you have on the ground. If you can't resuppply 'em easily, you might as well bring 'em home. This is what killed the Russians over there and it will be our downfall as well.
*The definition of the U.S. "winning" a war has changed dramatically since World War 2.
Gunmen in Pakistan have torched at least 10 oil tankers carrying fuel for Nato vehicles in Afghanistan in the latest such attack in recent days.
A driver died in the ambush near the south-western city of Quetta.
The number of attacks on tankers has soared in the last week since one of the main routes into Afghanistan was shut by the Pakistani authorities.
...
Don't mean a shit how many troops you have on the ground. If you can't resuppply 'em easily, you might as well bring 'em home. This is what killed the Russians over there and it will be our downfall as well.
*The definition of the U.S. "winning" a war has changed dramatically since World War 2.
Thanks to Chris for the link.
If you've wondered ...
What makes Glenn Beck cry, this does:
Teary eyed rodeo clown Glenn Beck kicks off his "Restoring America" tour by selling 700 tickets for an 8,000 seat venue.
...
Contrary to published reports ...
Via Digby, the truth about Social Security:
As Digby sez: "Do yourself a favor and print this out. Or memorize it. Read it at least."
In a new paper, I’ve tried to correct some of the misinformation that critics of Social Security have been spreading about the program.
Here are the facts. Social Security is a well-run, fiscally responsible program. People earn retirement, survivors, and disability benefits by making payroll tax contributions during their working years. Those taxes and other revenues are deposited in the Social Security trust funds, and all benefits and administrative expenses are paid out of the trust funds. The amount that Social Security can spend is limited by its payroll tax income plus the balance in the trust funds.
The Social Security trustees — the official body charged with evaluating the program’s long-term finances — project that Social Security can pay 100 percent of promised benefits through 2037 and about three-quarters of scheduled benefits after that, even if Congress makes no changes in the program. Relatively modest changes would put the program on a sound financial footing for 75 years and beyond.
Nonetheless, some critics are attempting to undermine confidence in Social Security with wild and blatantly false accusations. They allege that the trust funds have been “raided” or disparage the trust funds as “funny money” or mere “IOUs.” Some even label Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” after the notorious 1920s swindler Charles Ponzi. All of these claims are nonsense.
...
As Digby sez: "Do yourself a favor and print this out. Or memorize it. Read it at least."
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Queen Mary 2 update ...
Updating Gord's post, being she's my second home, a buddy of mine aboard directed me to The Daily Mail who got it mainly right. I'm still waiting for email answers from some of the bar staff I know.
The plot thickens. Heh ...
...
An elderly British couple were ordered off luxury Cunard liner QM2 after an explosive row with fellow passengers during a black-tie dinner.
...
Other passengers gave a different side to the story.
They said Miss Sher had been cantankerous during the journey and that on another night on the cruise she flew into a rage because a piano lounge was closed.
...
The couple claim they should be given far more regal treatment because of their connections.
Miss Sher says her husband is the illegitimate son of the Duke of Windsor, the abdicated King Edward VIII, as well as a British knight.
Her ex-husband, Louis K Sher, owned an art house cinema chain and produced a porn film.
...
The plot thickens. Heh ...
Right Wing Radio Duck
Via Raw Story.
Watch this! Trust me...
This is a re-imagined Donald Duck cartoon remix constructed using dozens of classic Walt Disney cartoons from the 1930s to 1960s. 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.
Watch this! Trust me...
Thanks to rebelliouspixels.
Headline of the Day
Senior federal judge allegedly bought cocaine from stripper
A Reagan appointee. Ah, schadenfreude...
Sniff my asshole, teabaggers
TPM Muckraker
Oy-fucking-gevult!
Spare me, Wurzelbacher. Wasn't your fifteen minutes up?
What. A. Crock. Of. Right-wing. Crap.
Puppy mills suck, and the proposed bill will only apply to breeders with 10 or more "brood mares" as I call them.
Our Maggie (given name "Naggy, Queen Of Beauty". Yeesh. Google it. We're No. 1! Unpaid. Heh.) was a brood mare at a puppy mill out in the Bay Area. Luckily, her owner got evicted and gave her to a rescue outfit and we adopted her. She's timid and skittish and barks at everything. She trusts us, but barely, and is always on the verge of getting the hell away. We can only presume that her social deprivation comes from the conditions of her early life, whatever they may have been.
Puppy mills need to be put out of business, period. There are plenty of dogs from shelters and rescue services, and from reputable breeders, directly or through a reputable pet shop.
All that aside, this is just another lame attempt by the wingnut whackjobs against all regulation of business, however despicable that business might be, and all government, particularly the fascist Nazi socialist Kenyan anti-colonialist godless commie fuck kind that WE elected. Sounds like there's a well-financed puppy mill lobby in Missouri as well.
Missouri Tea Partiers, Joe The Plumber Join Movement Against 'Radical' Anti-Puppy Mill Legislation
The measure, which can be read in full here, is called Proposition B or the "Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act." It aims to help eliminate the "3000 puppy mills" in Missouri that constitute "30% of all puppy mills in the U.S.," according to Michael Markarian, the Chief Operating Officer of the HSUS.
Well, according to the Alliance For Truth, the main force behind the anti-Prop B movement, there is something much more nefarious afoot (er, apaw) in the HSUS measure. The Alliance For Truth claims that the HSUS has a "radical agenda" and is "misleading the public with its intentions on Prop B. The society seeks only to raise the cost of breeding dogs, making it ever-more difficult for middle-class American families to be dog-owners."
...
"They don't like animals," she said of the Humane Society of the United States.
Oy-fucking-gevult!
The Alliance For Truth also has the support of some better-known conservative activists, like Joe 'The Plumber' Wurzelbacher, who wrote on the Alliance For Truth site that the HSUS is "cowardly hiding behind animal cruelty, lying to our citizens and taking our constitutional rights away - one state at a time."
He continues:
Spare me, Wurzelbacher. Wasn't your fifteen minutes up?
What. A. Crock. Of. Right-wing. Crap.
Puppy mills suck, and the proposed bill will only apply to breeders with 10 or more "brood mares" as I call them.
Our Maggie (given name "Naggy, Queen Of Beauty". Yeesh. Google it. We're No. 1! Unpaid. Heh.) was a brood mare at a puppy mill out in the Bay Area. Luckily, her owner got evicted and gave her to a rescue outfit and we adopted her. She's timid and skittish and barks at everything. She trusts us, but barely, and is always on the verge of getting the hell away. We can only presume that her social deprivation comes from the conditions of her early life, whatever they may have been.
Puppy mills need to be put out of business, period. There are plenty of dogs from shelters and rescue services, and from reputable breeders, directly or through a reputable pet shop.
All that aside, this is just another lame attempt by the wingnut whackjobs against all regulation of business, however despicable that business might be, and all government, particularly the fascist Nazi socialist Kenyan anti-colonialist godless commie fuck kind that WE elected. Sounds like there's a well-financed puppy mill lobby in Missouri as well.
Pay Up Or Burn Down
Think Progress
More like paying the local criminal element for "protection" from the local criminal element, I'd say.
Keith Olbermann interviewed Mr. Cranick yesterday:
This has happened in this burg before, as well as exceptions made. Now that this is out in the light of day, or maybe the light from a burning home, I want to see a criminal investigation of the Repugs who made it happen. Some serious civil litigation too. Put the bastards in jail and make 'em pay.
I also would like to hear what other firefighters have to say about the supposed firefighters who stood by and allowed this to happen and sullied the good (and deserved) image of selfless dedication to duty of firefighters everywhere.
We know about fire in rural areas out here in California. When my town had a volunteer fire department with only a couple of paid professionals, we used to joke about them as being the "cellar savers" whose motto was "We haven't lost a foundation yet!", but when the call went out, they always showed up and fought the fire.
Now we have a full-time paid fire department:
That is what we expect from our firefighters.
We have a mutual assistance pact with nearby fire departments. We have CalFire and the U.S. Forest Service. One or more or all of these will respond to any fire. We put our trust and faith in them and they do their best. They may not always prevail against fire as quickly as we might like, but they always give it their best shot. All these agencies have their own money problems, but they're not about to be on scene and watch somebody's house burn down for a lousy seventy-five bucks.
For all the taxes that I pay, all I want is for the fire department to show up should I or my neighbors need them. I have never been disappointed by them nor do I have any reason to suspect I ever will be.
What these so-called firefighters in Tennessee did was absolutely unconscionable and they should be penalized for it, along with the local Repug power structure that gave the orders to not fight fires unless the homeowner was "on the list".
I want heads to roll.
As ThinkProgress has noted, there are currently two competing visions of governance in the United States. One, the conservative vision, believes in the on-your-own society, and informs a policy agenda that primarily serves the well off and privileged sectors of the country. The other vision, the progressive one, believes in an American Dream that works for all people, regardless of their racial, religious, or economic background.
The conservative vision was on full display last week in Obion County, Tennessee. In this rural section of Tennessee, Gene Cranick’s home caught on fire. As the Cranicks fled their home, their neighbors alerted the county’s firefighters, who soon arrived at the scene. Yet when the firefighters arrived, they refused to put out the fire, saying that the family failed to pay the annual subscription fee to the fire department. Because the county’s fire services for rural residences is based on household subscription fees, the firefighters, fully equipped to help the Cranicks, stood by and watched as the home burned to the ground:
A local newspaper further pressed Mayor Crocker about the city’s policy, which has been in place since 1990. Crocker, a Republican who was elected in 2008 and serves with a county commission where every seat is also filled by a Republican, likened the policy to buying auto insurance. [...]
More like paying the local criminal element for "protection" from the local criminal element, I'd say.
Keith Olbermann interviewed Mr. Cranick yesterday:
This has happened in this burg before, as well as exceptions made. Now that this is out in the light of day, or maybe the light from a burning home, I want to see a criminal investigation of the Repugs who made it happen. Some serious civil litigation too. Put the bastards in jail and make 'em pay.
I also would like to hear what other firefighters have to say about the supposed firefighters who stood by and allowed this to happen and sullied the good (and deserved) image of selfless dedication to duty of firefighters everywhere.
We know about fire in rural areas out here in California. When my town had a volunteer fire department with only a couple of paid professionals, we used to joke about them as being the "cellar savers" whose motto was "We haven't lost a foundation yet!", but when the call went out, they always showed up and fought the fire.
Now we have a full-time paid fire department:
Our Mission Statement
As authorized by Special District Law, and the Government Code of California, the "Mission" of the Truckee Fire Protection District is to protect life, property and wildlands in order to enhance the economic, environmental, and social benefits derived from these resources within the boundaries of the District. To provide "all risk" services to Truckee and surrounding communities, the District will maintain cooperative agreements with Local, State and Federal agencies. The District will ensure that it's members, individually and collectively, will strive to meet the intent of the "Mission" of the Truckee Fire Protection District in regards to education and personal commitment, while maintaining the highest level of professional conduct and standards as mandated by the fire service.
That is what we expect from our firefighters.
We have a mutual assistance pact with nearby fire departments. We have CalFire and the U.S. Forest Service. One or more or all of these will respond to any fire. We put our trust and faith in them and they do their best. They may not always prevail against fire as quickly as we might like, but they always give it their best shot. All these agencies have their own money problems, but they're not about to be on scene and watch somebody's house burn down for a lousy seventy-five bucks.
For all the taxes that I pay, all I want is for the fire department to show up should I or my neighbors need them. I have never been disappointed by them nor do I have any reason to suspect I ever will be.
What these so-called firefighters in Tennessee did was absolutely unconscionable and they should be penalized for it, along with the local Repug power structure that gave the orders to not fight fires unless the homeowner was "on the list".
I want heads to roll.
President of The United States of F**
Paul Krugman
Murdoch can't be President himself. At least until one of his paid shills steals the office and Xes Paragraph 4, Article 2, Section 1 out of the Constitution.
Luckily for us and the world, he'll die first.
A note to Tea Party activists: This is not the movie you think it is. You probably imagine that you’re starring in “The Birth of a Nation,” but you’re actually just extras in a remake of “Citizen Kane.”
True, there have been some changes in the plot. In the original, Kane tried to buy high political office for himself. In the new version, he just puts politicians on his payroll.
I mean that literally. As Politico recently pointed out, every major contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination who isn’t currently holding office and isn’t named Mitt Romney is now a paid contributor to Fox News.
Murdoch can't be President himself. At least until one of his paid shills steals the office and Xes Paragraph 4, Article 2, Section 1 out of the Constitution.
Luckily for us and the world, he'll die first.
Teabagger power
NYT energy and environment blog:
All well and good as far as it goes, but it's a low-power solution better suited to a smaller house and mostly symbolic. I've got a plan to light up the White House like Las Vegas, and off the grid.
First, a little tech talk straight from the automotive world and Boulder Dam, relatively low-tech and reliable. In those kind of applications, you need three things to make electricity: an electromagnetic force (EMF), a conductor, and relative motion between the two. You can engineer this any way you want for a desired output. L.A. and Vegas are supplied power in this manner, as is your car's battery and electrical system.
I propose we put the Founding Fathers to work. Disinter as many of them as the engineers call for, insert a permanent magnet (the EMF) in each in a manner best left unspoken, ensconce them in copper caskets (the conductor), wire 'em up, and re-bury them on the White House lawn.
Then let the teabaggers ramble incoherently, which is not hard to get them to do. Armey and theCock Koch Bros can do it with a word and some money. The more they invoke the Constitution and incorrectly second guess the Framers' intent, the faster the Founding Fathers will spin in their graves and Bingo!, the joint will light up!
Come ta think of it, that might generate enough power to light up the whole Eastern Seaboard. Might even have to put in a voltage regulator to keep from blowing every light bulb in the country!
Besides, the chatter in the control room will be hilarious - "Benjie's BO, Adams OK Temp, cuttin' in Hancock".
The teabaggers and Repugs in general waste tons of another renewable energy source: hot air. I propose it be put to use heating the water in gay bathhouses.
The only part I haven't figured out is how to keep the volume down...
The White House, which only last month rebuffed a proposal by activists to reinstall one of former President Carter’s solar panels atop the executive mansion, plans to announce Tuesday that it will be adopting solar power after all.
Nancy Sutley, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Steven Chu, the energy secretary, will unveil plans to place photovoltaic solar collectors and a solar hot water heater atop 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to heat water and provide a small amount of electricity for the residence.
All well and good as far as it goes, but it's a low-power solution better suited to a smaller house and mostly symbolic. I've got a plan to light up the White House like Las Vegas, and off the grid.
First, a little tech talk straight from the automotive world and Boulder Dam, relatively low-tech and reliable. In those kind of applications, you need three things to make electricity: an electromagnetic force (EMF), a conductor, and relative motion between the two. You can engineer this any way you want for a desired output. L.A. and Vegas are supplied power in this manner, as is your car's battery and electrical system.
I propose we put the Founding Fathers to work. Disinter as many of them as the engineers call for, insert a permanent magnet (the EMF) in each in a manner best left unspoken, ensconce them in copper caskets (the conductor), wire 'em up, and re-bury them on the White House lawn.
Then let the teabaggers ramble incoherently, which is not hard to get them to do. Armey and the
Come ta think of it, that might generate enough power to light up the whole Eastern Seaboard. Might even have to put in a voltage regulator to keep from blowing every light bulb in the country!
Besides, the chatter in the control room will be hilarious - "Benjie's BO, Adams OK Temp, cuttin' in Hancock".
The teabaggers and Repugs in general waste tons of another renewable energy source: hot air. I propose it be put to use heating the water in gay bathhouses.
The only part I haven't figured out is how to keep the volume down...
Denial and Acknowledgement
The Rude One:
I just wonder where "we are all God's children" went over the past 30 years?
...
See, if one acknowledges gay-bashing, then one must acknowledge gays. And if one acknowledges gays in an article that says bullying in general is bad, the one must say that gay students deserve the same respect and rights and safety as every other student. And if one says that, then one is, by implication, saying that being gay isn't something to be condemned. And if one doesn't think that gayness should be condemned, then one has to accept that gay students should be allowed to be gay. And if one agrees with that, Jesus will get really fucking angry and probably just create a giant hole where the school will be sucked down into Hell and then everyone will get bullied by demons with pitchfork penises that can skullfuck three sinners at once.
...
I just wonder where "we are all God's children" went over the past 30 years?
Thank god ...
We have an artillery piece like Kieth Olbermann in our arsenal:
Or we'd really be up Shit Creek.
Good article, thanks to Digby, on CNNs attempts to stay relevant next to MSNBC and Fox.
...
Olbermann’s tiff with the White House was minor, a “superficial” issue, he assures me. His true enemies will always be the right and Fox News, which, in Olbermann’s eyes, are one and the same. “The standard false equivalency in the coverage of cable news is that this is a left-wing version of Fox,” Olbermann says. “I get no talking points. It illustrates the core difference between us and the guys down the street.”
With the explosion of anti-Bush rage after Hurricane Katrina, Olbermann saw an opening. “I wanted to take over this little corner of the world,” he says. He blasted onto the scene by practicing the well-worn political tactic of punching up, attacking Bill O’Reilly, who, at the time—it’s hard to remember now—was TV’s king right-winger. “O’Reilly punched down on Olbermann and brought attention to Keith,” Phil Griffin tells me. Tensions got so bad that in 2009, Zucker and then–Murdoch adviser Gary Ginsberg discussed a secret truce after O’Reilly began attacking G.E. CEO Jeff Immelt. But these days, Olbermann largely ignores his old foe. “There’s just something missing. There’s some fire that’s gone,” Olbermann says. “He looks tired, he sounds tired.” Olbermann has refocused his artillery on Glenn Beck. “He is the spearhead of the moment. It underscores where the right is,” Olbermann says. “He really is the definition of the demagogue.”
...
Or we'd really be up Shit Creek.
Good article, thanks to Digby, on CNNs attempts to stay relevant next to MSNBC and Fox.
Quote of the Day
Adrastos:
... We're talking about the United States Senate: an august, albeit impotent, chamber full of pompous windbags and we're debating Bozo the Clown? Sounds right to me.
Monday, October 4, 2010
For Jimmy Cliff Fans
Jimmy Cliff kicked off the 36th season of Austin City Limits. I caught it last night. Mr. Cliff has a huge band, dancers, pretty girls, etc., and puts on a helluva show! Also, I'm surprised he got away with some of his material in Texas, being a peace & love anti-war commie and all, but maybe Austin is different.
Anyway, catch the show here. Smokin' show! Well worth watching.
Oh hell, here:
Anyway, catch the show here. Smokin' show! Well worth watching.
Oh hell, here:
Watch the full episode. See more Austin City Limits.
QM2 News
Elderly Couple Thrown Off Ship For Dinner-Time Fight (VIDEO)
One night at dinner, 82-year-old, 95-pound Gloria told a man at her table to "shut up" after he said that there were "too many f***ing Jews" on the ship. Gloria, who is, in fact, Jewish, got upset.
One can only imagine the language that must have ensued. Mine would have included phrases like "your f***ing ass" and "over the f***ing side", but I have no idea what an 82-year-old Jewish lady would have said. It wasn't in the report.
Get Out And Get Under
I just love this part of the LATimes' recommendation of Moonbeam as our next governor:
He oughta have a bumper sticker: "GRIZZLED OLD MECHANICS CAN FIX YER SHIT!"
Of course I know nothing about grizzled old mechanics, but I'm a hopeless romantic...
Also see recommendation of Brown by the EssEffChron and the SacBee.
But Brown offers a different kind of leadership, and although it might not be our first choice, it will do. Rather than the dynamic leader of new ideas from the 1970s, Brown comes to us now as a sort of grizzled mechanic of the state's failing machinery. He knows which parts can hold out a few more weeks, which rattles can be ignored and how much tension the timing belt can handle before it fails.
He oughta have a bumper sticker: "GRIZZLED OLD MECHANICS CAN FIX YER SHIT!"
Of course I know nothing about grizzled old mechanics, but I'm a hopeless romantic...
Thanks to Aaron1912, UK.
Also see recommendation of Brown by the EssEffChron and the SacBee.
It ain't about the President anymore
Brebt Budowsky on Saturday's big not-teabagger rally in D.C.:
We got all fired up over the guy and elected him by enough of a margin the Repugs couldn't steal it. Well and good. Personally, I think he's doing all right. I'm a realist and he's better than the alternative would have been.
It ain't about him any more. The upcoming election is about the survival of the nation for two more years.
How long can this country wobble along on the verge of madness two years at a time?
A year ago there would have been wall to wall Obama pictures. At this rally they were few and far between. This is good. People came to the rally because of the beliefs they share, and the causes and issues they believe in, not because of any one person or personality.
I believe Democrats will turn out in lesser numbers than in 2008 but in greater numbers than pundits expect. Democrats will turn out because they care about the future of the nation but not because of any single person or personality.
I doubt the president or White House staff fully understand this. But I doubt that it matters whether or not they do.
We got all fired up over the guy and elected him by enough of a margin the Repugs couldn't steal it. Well and good. Personally, I think he's doing all right. I'm a realist and he's better than the alternative would have been.
It ain't about him any more. The upcoming election is about the survival of the nation for two more years.
How long can this country wobble along on the verge of madness two years at a time?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)