The next time ...

Some genius in Texas says they're gonna secede, we should let them. Serious. We're in tough enough shape and you know we're gonna end up paying for this sooner or later:

...

It’s not a pretty picture; compassion aside, you have to wonder — and many business people in Texas do — how the state can prosper in the long run with a future work force blighted by childhood poverty, poor health and lack of education.

But things are about to get much worse.

A few months ago another Texas miracle went the way of that education miracle of the 1990s. For months, Gov. Rick Perry had boasted that his "tough conservative decisions" had kept the budget in surplus while allowing the state to weather the recession unscathed. But after Mr. Perry’s re-election, reality intruded — funny how that happens — and the state is now scrambling to close a huge budget gap. (By the way, given the current efforts to blame public-sector unions for state fiscal problems, it’s worth noting that the mess in Texas was achieved with an overwhelmingly nonunion work force.) [my em]

...

Yep, keep believing them "fiscally responsible" Republicans. Texas, the new Mississippi.

Dear Cable and Network News,

And I mean those who still try and present some sort of veil of impartiality.

Thank God that lady dropped the "F-bomb" at the Oscars last night [and Charlie Sheen ran off at the mouth again], eh? Now you have a genuine reason to ignore the protests in Wisconsin; don't you, you fucking tools? When they write the history of the American Empire, you will, forever, be known as the ones who enabled its fall. Self-serving scumbags.

All of you should catch fire and die.

Regards,

Fixer

A sawbuck ...

Is more than big corporations pay in taxes.

...

In an interview with In These Times, Carl Gibson, the founder of US Uncut, which is organizing some of today’s UK-inspired massive demonstrations against tax dodgers, explains that while ordinary Americans are being asked to sacrifice, major corporations continue to use the rigged tax code to avoid paying any federal taxes at all. As he says, if you have "one dollar" in your wallet, you’re paying more than the"combined income tax liability of GE, ExxonMobil, Citibank, and the Bank of America":

...

Personally, I'd rather give my tax money to union laborers than these assholes.

Rest easy, brother ...

He was the last:

Frank Woodruff Buckles, a onetime Missouri farm boy who was the last known living American veteran of World War I, has died. He was 110.

Buckles, who later spent more than three years in a Japanese POW camp as a civilian in the Philippines during World War II, died Sunday of natural causes at his home in Charles Town, W.Va., family spokesman David DeJonge said.

...

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Report: Army Deployed Psy-Ops on Members of Congress
Made Sen. Lieberman believe he was a rooster.

Consumer Confidence Grows
Due to hallucinogens in Nescafe.

Harry Reid Wants Prostitution Banned in Nevada
It's bringing too many Republicans into the state.

Trust me, they're the only ones who can afford it.

Internet Fraud Down in 2010
As reported in Nigerian Times.

CORRECTION

Last week, we spelled the last name of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddaffi incorrectly. It is properly spelled Qaddafi, or Gaddafi, or Ghadafi, or Gadhafi, or Khadafy, or Khaddafi, or Kadaffi, or Qadafy, or Kadafy, or Qadaffi, or Qadaffy. Or Khaddafi. We apologize for the confusion.

The Republican Shakedown

Robert Reich

You can’t fight something with nothing. But as long as Democrats refuse to talk about the almost unprecedented buildup of income, wealth, and power at the top – and the refusal of the super-rich to pay their fair share of the nation’s bills – Republicans will convince people it’s all about government and unions.

The final truth is as income and wealth have risen to the top, so has political power. The reason all of this is proving so difficult to get across is the super-rich, such as the Koch brothers, have been using their billions to corrupt politics, hoodwink the public, and enlarge and entrench their outsized fortunes. They’re bankrolling Republicans who are mounting showdowns and threatening shutdowns, and who want the public to believe government spending is the problem.

They are behind the Republican shakedown.

These are the truths that Democrats must start telling, and soon. Otherwise the Republican shakedown may well succeed.

They're workin' their class war on us like it's a red-headed stepchild.

That's how the yodel was born

This goes out to Sarge. Go read the comments on this post. This is all I know about horses: the old cowboys carried a six-shooter as an emergency brake in case their horse's throttle stuck.

Thanks to banjostead, UK.

"We know pretty well know who you work for."

Raw Replay

An inspiring speech made by a member of the Wisconsin police union, explaining why they’ve chosen to resist the governor’s anti-union agenda. “Mr. Walker, if you’re listening: We know pretty well know who you work for. Now let me tell you who we work for,” he said, eliciting a round of cheers from the crowd.

This video was published to YouTube on Feb. 26, 2011.

I like cops better today than I have for fifty years.

Anonymous shuts down Westboro Baptist Church site -- during a live interview

Salon, with video:

Less than a week ago, a rumor spread that the vigilante hacker organization Anonymous had declared war on the Westboro Baptist Church. Though quickly dismissed as a hoax, the headline-grabbing possibility spread through the media faster than an offensive Kanye West tweet. Given the clandestine nature of Anonymous -- as the name implies, all of the member of the group are, in fact, anonymous -- the truth proved elusive. Regardless, the Westboro Baptist Church started a smear campaign against Anonymous and insisted that their message could not be silenced. In the words of WBC: "Bring it."

From the 'hoax' link:

Then things got weirder.

Heh. Remember, when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. Nobody's weirder than the WBC pros.

Hoping to clear the air, radio talk show host David Pakman invited Shirley Phelps-Roper, spokesperson from the Westboro Baptist Church, and an (anonymous) member of Anonymous onto his show for a live web chat. Pakman moderated the conversation, and the banter started out almost cordial. However despite Anonymous' continued denial of a war or plans of an attack, Phelps-Roper persistently insulted the group and its representative. After Phelps-Roper tells the Anonymous representative he's going to Hell, Anonymous says, "I have a surprise for you."

At the time of publishing this post, all of the Westboro Baptist Church's various sites -- including godhatesfags.com -- were inaccessible.

Good work, Anonymous.

Why Wouldn’t the Tea Party Shut It Down?

Daddy Frank on the possible Repug shutdown of the government.

NO one remembers anything in America, especially in Washington, so the history of the Great Government Shutdown of 1995 is being rewritten with impunity by Republicans flirting with a Great Government Shutdown of 2011. The bottom line of the revisionist spin is this: that 2011 is no 1995. Should the unthinkable occur on some coming budget D-Day — or perhaps when the deadline to raise the federal debt ceiling arrives this spring — the G.O.P. is cocksure that it can pin the debacle on the Democrats.

The 2011 rebels are to the right of their 1995 antecedents in any case. That’s why this battle, ostensibly over the deficit, is so much larger than the sum of its line-item parts. The highest priority of America’s current political radicals is not to balance government budgets but to wage ideological warfare in Washington and state capitals alike. The relatively few dollars that would be saved by the proposed slashing of federal spending on Planned Parenthood and Head Start don’t dent the deficit; the cuts merely savage programs the right abhors. In Wisconsin, where state workers capitulated to Gov. Scott Walker’s demands for financial concessions, the radical Republicans’ only remaining task is to destroy labor’s right to collective bargaining.

That’s not to say there is no fiscal mission in the right’s agenda, both nationally and locally — only that the mission has nothing to do with deficit reduction. The real goal is to reward the G.O.P.’s wealthiest patrons by crippling what remains of organized labor, by wrecking the government agencies charged with regulating and policing corporations, and, as always, by rewarding the wealthiest with more tax breaks. The bankrupt moral equation codified in the Bush era — that tax cuts tilted to the highest bracket were a higher priority even than paying for two wars — is now a given. The once-bedrock American values of shared sacrifice and equal economic opportunity have been overrun.

Here again, the dollars that will be saved are minute in terms of the federal deficit, but the payoff to Koch interests from a weakened E.P.A. is priceless. The same dynamic is at play in the House’s reduced spending for the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue Service. and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (charged with regulation of the esoteric Wall Street derivatives that greased the financial crisis). The reduction in the deficit will be minimal, but the bottom lines for the Kochs and their peers, especially on Wall Street, will swell.

The crux of the biscuit.

PSA

Olbermann has a blog.

From his latest post:

...

Lastly, a brief note about the launching of this blog. I’m overwhelmed and grateful; I am going to have to get some help with the Comments backlog; I am going to be adding videos within a few weeks (including Thurber); and for those who have not gotten the message, I will be bringing the program back to television in late spring on Current TV, weeknights at 8 PM (with re-airs and on-line availability TBD, and yes, we’ll tell you plenty in advance). Your support, particularly since the adventures of last November, has been energizing, and will be returned. Thank you.

Figures ...

You knew something like this would come up:

When it comes to the Wisconsin union fights, right-wing pundits Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh have a couple of things in common. For starters, have all voiced their opposition to the plight of public employee unions in the state.

...

As it turns out, all three of them belong to the American Federation Television and Radio Artists union (AFTRA), which is the AFL-CIO affiliate for television and broadcast workers.

...

Color me surprised ... [/sarcasm]

Link thanks to They Gave Us A Republic.

Plan B

On Thursday, the last nice day before the next snowstorm, I went out to shovel the five feet of snow off my deck. When Motha(bleep)in' Nature blew the very first shovelful into my face I went to Plan B which was to make the video below for (hopefully) your amusement.

On Wednesday, we went to Carson City to go shopping and I turned on my Active-i to get some windshield vid for music videos or in case there was something interesting along the way or whatever. For whatever reason, the thing shut off after ten minutes. I'm disappointed in that at one point on the descent from Spooner Summit to Carson there's a nice view of the Carson Valley. It's pretty impressive on the 360 days a year that it's shitmuckle brown, but this day it and the mountain range beyond were covered in snow and it was spectacular! Maybe next time.

By accident, I got the little jewel in the video. I think it's funny and hope you do too. It just came over the radio from KVMR all by itself. Notice also, please, the credits which I bungled my way through fairly well for the first try, I think. Also, the temples on my Active-i came slightly skewed so the picture sorta tilts. I'm scared to reef on 'em like I do with reg'lar glasses, so I gotta get aholt of the purveyors and find out how they recommend to straighten them.

Enjoy.

Oh, the snow on my deck is well over my head now.

Announcer at KVMR community radio in Nevada City CA describing a fantastical voyage on Route 66.

Video is SB on CA SR 267 in Martis Valley.

Thanks, Fixer.

Just as an afterthought, when Mrs. G saw the credits she said, in her usual sweet way but with a menacing undertone I don't hear very often (gets my attention when I do), "You want maniacal? I'LL SHOW YOU MANIACAL!!!"

Kinda hard to type here under the bed...

I can relate...

From a good article in Newsweek, mostly about his work in Sudan, George Clooney on why he won't get into elective politics:

“I f--ked too many chicks and did too many drugs, and that’s the truth.”

And were he to take leave of his senses and run for office:

"...’That’s gonna be my campaign slogan: ‘I drank the bong water.’?”

He rides a Triumph too. I like this guy.

Does anybody remember ...

George Bush's "signing statements"? Well, guess who's whining now?

Lawrence O'Donnell took a shot at these great "defenders" of marriage, Glenn Beck and Newt Gingrich for going after the Obama administration for their decision not to defend DOMA. Apparently the two of them have a little trouble telling the difference between enforcing a law and defending that law in court.

Here's Beck via Media Matters -- Beck Falsely Claims Obama Won't Enforce Law On DOMA; Adds, "He Has Made Congress Irrelevent".

...

The Chimp didn't enforce anything he didn't want to. If I've ever seen a Congress that was "irrelevant", it was the ones during the Bush years.

Update:

I'm starting to think like Marcy Wheeler, and that's a good thing (a far more positive thing than her beginning to think like me):

...

Which makes what Obama did far far less abusive (in all senses of the word) than what George W Bush did with his long catalog of signing statements. Perhaps Bush’s most famous was his signing statement to the Detainee Treatment Act.

...

Truth hurts ...

But unless the Dem Party finds some leaders, we're all screwed in the end anyway:

We all know what this means. It means Harry Reid, scared as usual, is rationalizing his abandonment of social programs because he can't seem to avoid a checkmate in our current game of "Who will orchestrate the blame for a government shutdown?" And the problem is this is not over an actual budget, but he's willing to give make these cuts for a TWO WEEK EXTENSION.

...

Did anybody think this wouldn't happen? The GOP went deep, the Dems rejected, and the GOP came back "half-way". Like tourists 'haggling' with a street vendor in the Caribbean. The tourists always pay big, even when they're walking away thinking they just pulled one over on 'the stupid local'.

...

This is the watershed moment. Our party HAS TO STAND FOR SOMETHING. And standing up doesn't mean standing down. There are those out there who believe it's all fixed. That our party has happily accepted second rate status so they can receive their lobby money and pork. I reject that. Our side can't seem to agree on anything, least of all a behind-closed-doors ruse on the public.

...

With the amounts of money involved, I think it would be the only time the Dems did stand up for something; getting their donation checks. I put nothing past them.

It ain't over ...

The WI Assembly ain't giving up, even though the Rethugs pushed through the vote on the "budget repair bill" in the wee hours of the morning:

MADISON (WKOW) -- Assembly Democratic leaders said they are researching whether a hasty vote to pass Governor Walker's controversial budget repair bill was sufficiently flawed to be invalidated.

"We're looking at whether or not anything is legally or constitutionally problematic," said Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha).

The vote shortly after one a.m. Friday was taken abruptly, with the measure passing 51-17, with more than two dozen Democrats unable to get to voting mechanisms in the chamber in time to record their votes.

...

Good on them. It's nice to see they're not rolling over in the face of procedural shenanigans from the Corporatists.

Link via DU.

Governor Walker Union Buster

This Spadecaller video subtitled "The Plantation Empire" focuses on the plight of the worker in corporate American with some background history on unions and collective bargaining legislation.

Early American plantations were associated with disparities of wealth and income, political influence, and exploitative social systems such as indentured labor and slavery, which resembles the course of a corporate dictatorship that has infiltrated today's American political system and subjugated the fair and equal representation of the working class wage earner. Governor Walker and most Tea Party devotees believe that the wages earned by teachers, public employees, and health care givers must be held back by eliminating their right to use collective bargaining. They call it "fiscal responsibility".

The most powerful middle class in the world is now on its knees. After the banks and speculators exploited the nation, the economy crashed. Unprincipled politicians and corporate greed took the U.S. and other nations into a depression. Trickle down economics has left only a small oasis for a wealthy few in a vast wasteland of have-nots.

The party is over and the finger-pointing tirades between the democrats and republicans have become mundane and meaningless. Major companies and banks woke up with a terrible hangover. However, Congress slapped them on the wrists and then rewarded them with bailout money, while American workers lose good jobs, their life savings, pensions and their homes. Presidents Bush and Obama gave away billions to bailout those who were directly responsible for our current financial crisis. Taxpayers money was given to the guilty- those who profited from exploiting our nation's most vulnerable. The Tea Party of today is a front organization primarily backed by insurance companies, bankers, and corporate thugs intent on destroying health care reform, social security, and the universal rights that union workers fought and died for during the 1920's.

Once again the worker's right to organize is under attack. If Americans fail to fight back soon, the middle class will become nothing more than a slave class run by plantation owners; the banks, insurance companies, oil companies, and defense contractors are our masters. How ironic it is to have a black President in the White House while wage earners become the new slave class of America.

The time is long overdo for standing up against the lobbyists and the corporate taskmasters who now own Washington and the White House. Americans must find a voice and unite or the freedoms won through great sacrifices will soon be lost again.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

From 1992 - Sam Bush on mandolin and Roy huskey Jnr on bass

Emmylou Harris & Vince Gill ~ The Other Side Of Life Now

Thanks to 1000Magicians, UK.

The other shoe ...

Drops.