Freeing The Airwaves From Corporate Control

A lame duck act of Congress we might not hear much about on corporate media. Via Prometheus Radio Project:

WE WON! Senate Joins House in Passing the Local Community Radio Act!

Today a bill to expand community radio nationwide – the Local Community Radio Act – passed the U.S. Senate, thanks to the bipartisan leadership of Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and John McCain (R-AZ)(He did something right? Holy shit! - G). This follows Friday afternoon’s passage of the bill in the House of Representatives, led by Representatives Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Lee Terry (R-NE). The bill now awaits the President's signature.

The Local Community Radio Act will expand the low power FM (LPFM) service created by the FCC in 2000 – a service the FCC created to address the shrinking diversity of voices on the radio dial. Over 800 LPFM stations, all locally owned and non-commercial, are already on the air. The stations are run by non-profit organizations, local governments, churches, schools, and emergency responders.

The bill repeals earlier legislation which had been backed by big broadcasters, including the National Association of Broadcasters. This legislation, the Radio Broadcast Preservation Act of 2000, limited LPFM radio to primarily rural areas. The broadcast lobby groups claimed that the new 100 watt stations could somehow create interference with their own stations, a claim disproven by a Congressionally-mandated study in 2003.

Much more. This is a good thing.

When Zombies Win

Paul Krugman

When historians look back at 2008-10, what will puzzle them most, I believe, is the strange triumph of failed ideas. Free-market fundamentalists have been wrong about everything — yet they now dominate the political scene more thoroughly than ever.

The answer from the right is that the economic failures of the Obama administration show that big-government policies don’t work. But the response should be, what big-government policies?

President Obama, by contrast, has consistently tried to reach across the aisle by lending cover to right-wing myths. He has praised Reagan for restoring American dynamism (when was the last time you heard a Republican praising F.D.R.?), adopted G.O.P. rhetoric about the need for the government to tighten its belt even in the face of recession, offered symbolic freezes on spending and federal wages.

None of this stopped the right from denouncing him as a socialist. But it helped empower bad ideas, in ways that can do quite immediate harm. Right now Mr. Obama is hailing the tax-cut deal as a boost to the economy — but Republicans are already talking about spending cuts that would offset any positive effects from the deal. And how effectively can he oppose these demands, when he himself has embraced the rhetoric of belt-tightening?

Yes, politics is the art of the possible. We all understand the need to deal with one’s political enemies. But it’s one thing to make deals to advance your goals; it’s another to open the door to zombie ideas. When you do that, the zombies end up eating your brain — and quite possibly your economy too.

If memory serves, zombies can be sent happily to their graves if salt passes their lips. Rock salt from a 12-gauge oughta do it.

No Labels My Ass

Daddy Frank

JEEZ, can’t we all just get along? Can’t we be civilized? Can’t we reach across the aisle, find common ground and get things done? Can’t we have a new Morning in America as clubby and chipper as MSNBC’s daily gabfest, “Morning Joe”?

This is actually the manifesto of the new political organization called No Labels. It’s no surprise that its official debut last week prompted derisive laughter from all labels across the political spectrum, not to mention Gawker, which deemed it “the most boring political movement of all time.” But attention must be paid. In its patronizing desire to instruct us on what is wrong with our politics, No Labels ends up being a damning indictment of just how alarmingly out of touch the mainstream political-media elite remains with the grievances that have driven Americans to cynicism and despair in the 21st century’s Gilded Age.

The notion that civility and nominal bipartisanship would accomplish any of the heavy lifting required to rebuild America is childish magical thinking, and, worse, a mindless distraction from the real work before the nation. [...]

Beltway conventional wisdom is equally responsible for another myth promoted by No Labels: that the Move On left and the Tea Party right are equal contributors to America’s “hyperpartisanship.” In the real world, no one could seriously believe that activists on the left have the sway over Democratic leaders, starting with President Obama, that the Tea Party has over the G.O.P. Nor, with all due respect to MSNBC, does the left have a media megaphone to match the Tea Party’s alliance with the Murdoch empire, as led by Fox News, and the megastars of talk radio.

Besides, polls consistently show that hyperpartisanship is more prevalent among Republican voters than Democrats. [...]

Repuglican'ts totally suck and Democrats only suck less.

Yet what’s most disturbing about No Labels is that its centrist, no doubt well-intentioned leaders seem utterly clueless about why Americans of all labels are angry: the realization that both parties are bought off by special interests who game the system and stack it against the rest of us. Indeed, No Labels itself is another manifestation of this syndrome. Its two prime movers are a political consultant, Mark McKinnon, a veteran of the Bush and McCain campaigns known for slick salesmanship; and a fund-raiser, Nancy Jacobson, who, along with her husband, the pollster and corporate flack Mark Penn, helped brand the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign as a depository for special-interest contributions.

WHAT America needs is not another political organization with a toothless agenda and less-than-transparent finances. The country will not rest easy until there are brave leaders in both parties willing to reform the system that let perpetrators of the Great Recession escape while the rest of us got stuck with the wreckage. [...]

This just popped into my mind: with enough thrust, pigs fly just fine.

As The Times reported, Citi is now marketing all-new lines of loosey-goosey credit cards to debt-prone Americans much as it stoked the proliferation of no-money-down mortgages during Rubin’s tenure in the housing bubble. It can do so with impunity, since the incoming chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Spencer Bachus, has already guaranteed institutions like Citi a pass. As Bachus’s instantly notorious pronouncement had it, “My view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks.”

In truth, this congressman’s view has been the prevailing view in Washington under both parties since the Reagan administration. If No Labels is the best our centrist political establishment can come up with to address the ills eating away at America, its culture is as bankrupt as Citigroup would be if taxpayers had been allowed to let it fail.

I have a hunch this outfit will accept donations and fade away. Labels are descriptive and we need them to tell the players apart. Much like biologists need their species, phyla, and genuses, there are a lot of subheadings under 'wingnut assholes' and 'Dem pussies'.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Congress Repeals “Don't Ask”
Passes “Don't Dream.”

Abu Dhabi Hotel Spends $11 Million Decorating Christmas Tree
Does nothing for Hanukkah.

Study: Fox News Has Most Misinformed Viewers
Least misinformed viewers: ScyFy Channel.

Latest Nixon Tapes Filled With Anti-Semitic, Anti-Black, Anti-Irish, Anti-Italian Remarks
And he didn't have very nice things to say about you, either.

Light Blogging Today

We had a power outage this morning. So we're sittin' there in our too-light-to-sleep, too-dark-to-read living room on auxiliary power (8 D-cells) listenin' ta the Sunday morning Hawaiian music show on KVMR after a breakfast of cold last night's pizza (Coyote Combo, skimpy on the coyote thank God). Very cheery, but we got bored outta our skulls.

So I cleaned the woodstove and chimney pipe in case the power stayed off for very long. Haven't used it in years and didn't want it smellin' like fried dust if we had to fire it up. Then we switched out the living room drapes and washed the sliding glass door and a window while the drapes were off. Then we hung a framed poster starting with the blank spot on the wall. Both of these little projects had been sitting right there for months. As soon as we were all done the power came back on. It was off for 3 hours. Perhaps Mañana, The God Of Procrastination was trying to tell us we'd put this stuff off long enough even for Him.

I guess we should get bored more often.

Now I'm all amped up from all the activity so I guess I'll go outside and decoratively rearrange some snow. See yas later.

At least ...

Now all American citizens have the right to fight for and defend their country. It's a very good day:

A bill allowing openly gay people to serve in the military was approved by the U.S. Senate today, drawing cheers from gay and lesbian military veterans and other members and supporters of the LGBT community who gathered in San Francisco to watch the vote.

The Senate today voted 65 to 31 in favor of the bill to end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The bill was approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday and will now go to President Obama to be signed into law.

...

Now, if we'd see fit to allow them to spend their lives with the people they love (like every other fucking American) and share the benefits of being a married couple, we'd be doing pretty good. It still boggles my mind that we're even having this argument in the 21st Century.

Addendum: And much as it kills me to say it, I appreciate Joe Lieberman's efforts on this front. For the first time in a long time, he's on the correct side of an issue.

Saturday Crazy Redneck Music Blogging

This goes out as a cautionary vision of what most certainly would happen to all of us dirty ol' married men who feel the way I do about Kathy Griffin should we lose our minds and think we're single again. Heh.

Joey & Rory ~ Cheater, Cheater

Thanks to emimusic.

Bones found on island might be Amelia Earhart's

I've had my ear glued to the radio over this one since 'thirty-seven, bunkie. One of the fascinating mysteries of the 20th century.

"There's no guarantee," said Ric Gillespie, director of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, a group of aviation enthusiasts in Delaware that found the pieces of bone this year while on an expedition to Nikumaroro Island, about 1,800 miles south of Hawaii.

"You only have to say you have a bone that may be human and may be linked to Earhart and people get excited. But it is true that, if they can get DNA, and if they can match it to Amelia Earhart's DNA, that's pretty good."

It could be months before scientists know for sure — and it could turn out the bones are from a turtle. [...]

Build me up and then dump me. The story of my life. Sigh.

I watched a show the other night on this same TIGHAR expedition. They did an experiment with a pig carcass to find out how long it would take the land crabs to consume the meat and how far the bones would get dispersed. Not long and pretty far. Them land crabs'll have yer meat gone before ya know yer dead and take some home with 'em.

Here's how I prefer to think of her:

Thanks to prem73.

Headline of the Day

Up To 10 Feet Of Snow Expected In Sierra

Just another day in paradise. Sigh.

Update:

Sand and Sandbags are available for residents of Nevada County.

I live at 6000' of altitude on the side of a hill a half mile and 200 feet above the Truckee River. I will deploy sandbags if I have to and if I do, all y'all from Lawn Guyland to Iowa to Napa will already be floating. Row on over fer coffee.

The Hammer Gets Nailed

Jim Hightower

For once, I actually agree with something that with Tom DeLay said. The former Republican leader of Congress recently declared in his most somber tone, "The criminalization of politics undermines our very system." Wow, so true, Tommy.

Of course, what I mean by the "criminalization of politics" is very different than what he means. DeLay was bemoaning the stunning fact that a Texas jury had just convicted him on two felony counts of money laundering. He wailed that he was a victim of a political vendetta by Texas Democrats, calling his prosecution "an abuse of power."

Yes, Tom, politics has been criminalized. It's been turned into a criminal enterprise funded by corporations for corporations. Reprobate politicos like you have turned the People's House into a shameful pay-to-play parlor.

DeLay was so good at hitting up corporate lobbyists for money, then pounding their wish list into law, that he was nicknamed "The Hammer." But now, The Hammer's been nailed--not by Democrats, but by a jury of 12 common citizens, whom his own hot-shot lawyers helped select. These honest people diligently sifted through reams of evidence and ultimately saw him for what he is: a felon.

A small yet satisfying victory.

Everything else ...

Is just "fooling around":

In a late afternoon Senate floor verbal dustup Friday, Sen. Charles Schumer lambasted Sen. John McCain for characterizing time spent debating the Zadroga 9/11 health bill as "fooling around."

Congressional Democrats were working to secure Senate ratification of a new arms control treaty before the holiday break when Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) asked if there could be a "time agreement" on the debate, as it was getting late.

McCain (R-Ariz.) dismissed the idea, saying that, "after all the fooling around that we've been doing on the DREAM act, on New York City, on all of these other issues that [have] taken up our time, we will not have a time agreement . . . until all members on this [the Republican] side have had an opportunity to express their views." [my em]

...

So long as their rich patrons have their tax breaks, nothing else matters. They don't care about anyone and the only useful person is a "productive" one. If you're injured or dead, can't carry a rifle or work like a dog for a multinational corporation, you ain't worth shit to the Republicans. Too bad more regular folks don't get it.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

"Later" 2008.

Emmylou Harris ~ How She Could Sing The Wildwood Flower

Thanks to thecatkeaton, Canada.

Thought for the Day on DADT

Much has been made lately by the dinosaurs that repealing DADT would be detrimental to "combat efficiency". Got me ta thinkin'... (uh-oh!)

Combat generally takes place out in the field and far from the comforts of a nice, civilized (cough) base.

There's no sex in the field, and as the Wise Old Gunny said, "When I'm home, my wife is my right hand. In the field, my right hand is my wife." You can't tell if a troop is gay or straight by watching him jack off.

Unless you can see the picture he's holding up in his other hand, and if you're watching this private act that closely, you're the perv.

Everything's relative...

This is Kathy Griffin, whom I adore even though I'm not gay, showing off her "starvation body" to the troops. I think she looks positively delectable for young stuff of merely 50 years. Makes the ol' sap rise and all that.

Check out the look on the trooper's face. This is not the face of a young man holding a scantily-clad pretty redhead in his arms. It's the face of a Boy Scout helping a little old lady across the street. Heh.

House Passes Legislation to Strengthen Post-9/11 G.I. Bill

Imperial Valley News

S. 3447 (Akaka) builds on the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, which was enacted in June 2008 and provides education benefits for veterans at World War II levels, recognizes the sacrifice of our 1.8 million Reserve and National Guard troops by better aligning their educational benefits with their length of service, and also allows unused education benefits to be transferred to spouses and children. S. 3447 seeks to rectify many of the ongoing technical concerns that were highlighted after passage of the bill. First, the bill would address a major shortfall expressed by the veterans’ community by those who would prefer to attend a non-college degree program that would meet their professional goals. This bill seeks to expand on the eligible programs of education to include apprenticeship and on-the job training, in addition to flight training and non-college degree programs of education. This legislation would also provide veterans with a housing stipend when taking courses strictly through long distance learning and would allow student veterans to use their education benefits for pay for national tests, and licensure and certification tests. Finally, this bill seeks to recognize a families’ role of caring for an injured veteran by extending the period that a family member can use his or her education benefits.

This is good. It cleaned up some stuff from the 2008 Bill that needed fixing.

I went to The College of Motersickle Knowledge with my Vietnam-era G.I. Bill benefits. It wasn't much, just a check every month, but it helped. Bought my first house with a government-backed loan from the Bill as well. Every little bit helps.

S. 3860 (McCaskill) addresses recent reports which identified a number of troubling problems at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC). The bill requires reports to Congress on the management of ANC, including gravesite discrepancies, the management and oversight of contracts, and the implementation of recent Army directives. This comprehensive survey will further investigate reported burial errors, determine the full scope of the problem, and provide the first step to a concrete solution.

Heads should roll over that one.

California adopts cap-and-trade program

EssEffChron

The California Air Resources Board has approved the creation of the nation's first broad-based program to put a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and to begin charging large emitters for the excess carbon dioxide they put in the air.

After an all-day meeting on Thursday, the board voted 9-1 for the proposal, which will take effect in 2012 and means California is once again moving forward with climate-change policy while efforts on the national level have stopped.

"The comment 'the world is watching' is sometimes an idle comment. It's not idle this afternoon," said Air Resources Board member Ronald Loveridge.

Cool! We're a buncha exhibitionists out here anyway. We do it with the shades up!

Cap-and-trade will be remembered as a plan introduced by the Repugs which they were for before they were against because Obama and the Dems wanted it and which the Repugs now lie about.

This part is of local interest to me:

Several people and environmental organizations also called for changes in the offset program involving forests, arguing that the rule as written could encourage clear-cutting of forests on land that might be eligible for tree-planting credits, leaving swaths of forests with trees of the same age, which ultimately would be harmful.

I don't think that's much of a problem. I live in the middle of a pine forest where all the trees for fifty miles around are about the same height. All second growth. The area was clear-cut in the 1860s and '70s for railroad ties and Deidesheimer Square Sets to shore up the mines in Virginia City. Things in the forest seem to be OK with it. So far.

Just as an aside, we would usually think mines are maybe a little ways out of town. Not in Virginia City. They're right on, or under the main street. When yer havin' a beer in the Bucket of Blood or enjoying the Julia C. Bulette Red Light Museum, there's a coupla thousand feet of nothing but rotting timbers underneath you. In my heart of hearts I just know there's one that's going to snap one of these days and they can go change the elevation on the city limits sign.

I'm a little amazed that a drunken, spirited Saturday night buck dance or Klingon-like dalliance with one of Julia's girls by Hoss Cartwright didn't do it already. Heh.

Dear Santa...

I hope he gets mine. I wrote it on 80-grit sandpaper.

Thanks to Fyaah.

Headline of the Day

Extended exposure to Fox News makes voters stupid, university study finds

Duh. They needed a study for that? An "easy A" course fer sure.

You can't build a wall high enough...

El Paso Times

A Mexican drone crashed in El Paso's Lower Valley, sparking a federal investigation and raising questions about why the aircraft was in U.S. airspace.

Approximately twelve passengers were seen fleeing north after the crash and from the speed of their departure are believed to be uninjured.

I mighta made some of that up...

Friday Monster Blogging

Woke 'em out of their late morning nap. Heh ...



Update:

I'll never get done ...