"Perry is a slot machine who pays on every pull"

From a post on "Perry's not a cheap whore..." at Kos:

Republicans pretend to loathe judicial overreach. They rail against activist judges who "make law" and pound their chests about original intent, but the truth is that since the 2000 Bush v Gore decision, there has been an ever accelerating wave of radical judicial activism from the right. Conservative judicial decisions have overturned two hundred years of rules designed to prevent just what we're now seeing, ownership of both the media and political system by a very wealthy few.

The greatest pretense in American politics is this: that our politicians can be utterly dependent on money given to them by contributors, but not be influenced by the source of those funds. It's not true. It's never been true. Now that the judicial takeover of our electoral system is complete, there's not even any reason to hide it. This is a bribe-based system — an oligarchy all the way to the core. Getting it back isn't going to be easy, and probably can't be done with dollars. It's going to take something far more dear.

I hate to say it this way but it's liable to take more Blut und Eisen than polite discourse.

If you wonder ...

Why corporate profits are so high when most of us are too broke to buy their products, M. Bouffant lets some Wall Streeters explain it:

...

Not to be outdone, Michael Cembalest, the chief investment officer of JPMorgan Chase, wrote in July of this year (in a clients-only newsletter obtained by Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson) that “profit margins have reached levels not seen in decades,” and “reductions in wages and benefits explain the majority of the net improvement.” (Cembalest printed the latter quote in boldfaced lettering.) “US labor compensation,” he explained, “is now at a 50-year low relative to both company sales and US GDP.”

...

So, when there's no one left in the company who can afford to work there, what are they gonna do about the bottom line then? The big takeaway:

... Henry Ford famously boosted his workers’ pay to $5 a day so they could buy the Model Ts they were assembling ...

Think about it.

Reminiscent ...

Of my dealings with the New York City Police Department. Thank the lord most of our criminals are stupid.

Quote of the Day

Our pal Montag:

... Ricky Good Hair ... is just the turd that floated to the surface of the Republican/Teabaggers Bowl of Dumb Punch.

If you want ...

As Mayor Bloomberg said the other day:

...

"You have a lot of kids graduating college, [who] can't find jobs," said Bloomberg, during his weekly radio show on Friday. "That's what happened in Cairo. That's what happened in Madrid. You don't want those kinds of riots here."

...

Just vote for Republicans. Via Jill, a pretty sober analysis of what America would look like as a Tea Bag nation:

In the Tea Party’s America, families must mortgage their home to pay for their mother’s end-of-life care. Higher education is a luxury reserved almost exclusively to the very rich. Rotten meat ships to supermarkets nationwide without a national agency to inspect it. Fathers compete with their adolescent children for sub-minimum wage jobs. And our national leaders are utterly powerless to do a thing.

At least, that’s what would happen if the Tea Party succeeds in its effort to reimagine the Constitution as an antigovernment manifesto. While the House of Representatives pushes Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) plan to phase out Medicare, numerous members of Congress, a least one Supreme Court justice, and the governor of America’s second-largest state now proudly declare that most of the progress of the last century violates the Constitution.

...

Take a few minutes and read it. Tell me what would happen in such a world. I don't see this country surviving it.

Chelsea vs. Manchester United this morning. If you don't see me here anymore, you know I've had a stroke*. Heh ...

*I am a HUGE Chelsea fan.

"We were deer in headlights"

The interesting thing about this account of yesterday's horrific crash at the Reno Air Races is that the witness is Fred Scholz, a good friend of mine from here in town. Fred's a cyclist, motorcyclist, pilot, and mechanic. I've known him for over twenty years and even worked for him at one reincarnation of his auto repair business, FAST Automotive. He gets tired of dealing with the public and goes to being a ski lift mechanic, which he's doing now. He keeps his business sign for when he gets tired of dealing with ski hill management and opens another garage. A great guy and, like me'n Fixer, knows that if a guy's smart enough to be a good mechanic, he's too smart to be a mechanic and does it anyway.

And by the way, Mr. Leeward's re-enactment of a WWII augering-in is something we don't need to see very often.

Thanks to CNN.

You are not patriotic ...

If you're an asshole:

...

You are not patriotic for sending sons and daughters off to die in some desert war. You are not patriotic for tying a yellow ribbon to your SUV, filled to the brim with the very oil those sons and daughters are dying over. You are not patriotic for saluting the flag while trampling every right taken away by the Patriot Act and its subsequent horrors. You are not patriotic for fighting against gay marriage. You are not patriotic for fighting to extend government's reach into the wombs of women everywhere.

You are not patriotic for cheering — yes, cheering — at the thought of Rick Perry executing hundreds of people. You are not patriotic for wanting poor people to die without medical care. You are not patriotic for wanting to shut down schools and hospitals to keep the size of government more to your liking.

...

And if you claim to be a Republican nowadays, your assholery is almost guaranteed.

Stimulating the economy ...

The roof guy just left and I'm gonna be putting a crew to work here for a day (it's an easy job, relatively speaking) in a few weeks. After hearing the cost*, I shoulda ripped a couple more shingles off the roof and put in a homeowners claim after the hurricane.

*They are tearing off two layers of shingle and all of the sheathing, adding ridge and soffitt vents, new plywood, and 30-year shingles in a color the Mrs. (of course, heh ...) picked out.

Rocky Horror? Really?

Via Pam Spaulding on the Facebook, they're banning Rocky Horror Picture Show in a shitbag town in Georgia.

In a case of life imitating art (or at least a Glee storyline from last year), political officials in Georgia have shut down a community theater's production of The Rocky Horror Show after deeming it "too risqué," reports Entertainment Weekly.

...

I was 13 when I first saw it, along with almost every other kid in school. My mom even saw it. Grow the fuck up.

Quote of the Day

John Sheirer on the Republican Clown Car:

...

They claim that God has called them to run for office--several of them. God apparently can't make up his mind which one to support.

...

The causes ...

Continuing on a theme from yesterday's post. If you wonder how Afghanistan got to be the way it is, and why it was almost inevitable the 9/11 attacks would originate from there, you should read this:

...

This history has implications for the war the United States is waging in Afghanistan today. Many Americans would be surprised to learn that some of the same “freedom fighters” to whom the Central Intelligence Agency provided billions of dollars worth of Stinger missiles and other weapons in the 1980s are the same “terrorists” who today are fighting U.S. forces – such as we saw in the Sept. 13th attack on the U.S. embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul, purportedly carried out by the Haqqani Network, one of the CIA’s favored clients in the 1980s.

...

We laid the groundwork for the 9/11 attacks and this endless war 30 years ago.

The Big Casino ...

You know, back when I was young, growing up in a blue collar world in the 1960s, not many people were "invested" in the stock market. When someone "owned stock" (usually connected with the old American Telephone and Telegraph), you knew they were pretty well off, probably not punching a time clock.

Now, I don't think I know anyone who doesn't have some sort of an investment, a 401(k) or 529 at minimum. You know the banksters want it that way. McKenna:

Confirmation that a “rogue” trader somehow lost $2 billion making “unauthorized” trades at UBS “will test the faith of investors, clients and regulators,” says Wall Street Journal. It should also test the credulity of anyone who would still argue that investment bankers are fundamentally different from degenerate blackjack players with a lot of money to lose.

...

You know, if that guy cheated somebody out of a couple bil to the banks favor, he woulda got a promotion instead of a pair of silver bracelets.

If a bear shits in the woods ...

And there's nobody there to smell it, does it still stink?

...

If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound? Good question. Now try this one: If a ranting lunatic doesn't have a show on Fox, does anyone know he exists? Apparently not. For some reason, we have bestowed this power to define who matters and who doesn't on Roger Ailes and Fox News. Why?

Glenn who?

Thanks, Skippy!

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Elvis Costello & The Imposters with Emmylou Harris 2005 - Love Hurts

Recorded and broadcast live on July 22, 2005 in New York, NY. Featuring Larry Campbell on guitar and mandolin.

Thanks to docinwestchester.

Sarah Palin, take note

$2 million for a double-wide

This is in the same place where Rockford lived, although they just propped up his piece'a crap in the beach parking lot. I used to go there occasionally to fish (the pier used to be a lot longer and they had a barge) and these trailers, pardon me, mobile homes, have been there forever.

Surprisingly, this $2 million transaction doesn't go down in history books as the most expensive double-wide ever sold. During the housing hey day, other mobile homes in the park went for as much as $2.5 million. The premium buys access to a prime lot and Malibu shoreline views often only seen at the multi-million dollar homes of Hollywood celebrities.

Sounds like the kinda place a trailer-trash grifter who cashed in on the Mother Lode of Gullible could live comfortably and stay in touch with her roots.

Street food cred

Ah, ambiance...

LATimes

Vendors of tamales, hot dogs, fruit and more in L.A. County are supposed to be licensed by the health department and get regular inspections. The proof is a yellow sticker.

I've never been one for eating food off the street.

But this week, in pursuit of journalistic truth, I purchased a tamale — or tamal, in Spanish — from a street vendor pushing a shopping cart in South Los Angeles.
...

But this tamal, wrapped in a corn husk with several strips of green chile inside, was clearly unlicensed. It was made by a woman from Acapulco, Mexico, who will never get a letter grade and who will run away if you try to give her one.

Nevertheless, her tamales were greasy and delish. They tasted authentically homemade, too, which wasn't surprising, since she makes them in her apartment. Every weekday, she told me, she wheels around her South Figueroa neighborhood, tooting a little horn to announce her presence.

"One dollar each," she said in Spanish. Quite a bargain.

These are the kind of people, I learned later, that drive Khaled Hassan crazy.
...

Latino immigrants dominate the street-food trade. As Hassan sees it, he's trying to help one group of Latino immigrant vendors stay in business despite unfair competition from another group of Latino immigrants.

There's more, but I'll cut to the chase:

Adela, a Salvadoran immigrant, didn't want to give me her full name — for reasons that will soon become apparent — even though she had a yellow health department sticker on her cart.

She described being stuck between two business cultures. "You try to do things right," she told me in Spanish. "If the inspector gives me a note, then I have to go to court for it." But following these rules has earned her the wrath of other, unlicensed vendors, she said.

"I've been threatened with death," she told me, wiping tears from her face. Other vendors think Adela is the one calling the inspectors and the police, because when those officials arrive, she doesn't have to gather her fruit and take off running.

Now, to make things worse, business has gone down the tank. "If you know of a job cooking or cleaning, let me know," she said.

You can help out the Adelas of L.A. by shopping at carts with a county Public Health Department sticker on the side.

I bought some mango slices for $3 from her. They were succulent, sweet and tart. And unlike the unlicensed tamal I had eaten earlier, they didn't burn and roil in my stomach.

What, first time out? And a 'licensed' green chile tamal would have been different how?

L.A.'s been giving letter grades to be prominently displayed in the front windows of restaurants for years. This is apparently relatively new for restaurants on wheels and is probably a good idea, but I've eaten street food in Tijuana where any 'license fee' went into some cop's pocket and it was delicious and I'm not dead yet.

To quote that guy Zimmern who eats stuff I'd run away from and call the bio-hazard crew in on, "if it tastes good, eat it!"

The law and Justice Clarence Thomas

...and ne'er the twain shall meet.

Semper Fi

LATimes

On Sept. 8, 2009, then-Cpl. Meyer and Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez were part of a contingent of U.S. forces visiting an Afghan village to train fighters and persuade elders to support the Afghan government. It was a dangerous area, and as the meeting was underway, the village was suddenly plunged into darkness. Insurgents on the ridges above began firing on American and Afghan soldiers. Meyer was back with the trucks at that moment, but his comrades who were posted farther forward were cut off by the ambush.

Amid gunfire so intense it "sounded like static," Meyer and Rodriguez-Chavez radioed for permission to rescue the embattled Marines and soldiers. They were denied. Defying orders, they commandeered a Humvee and, with Rodriguez-Chavez at the wheel and Meyer manning the gun, made five trips through the fire zone. For six hours, they kept up their heroic efforts, even after Meyer was wounded in the arm. All told, they brought 13 Americans and 23 Afghans to safety before, on the last foray, risking their lives yet again to recover the bodies of four fellow Marines. At Meyer's request, those four, and a fifth American killed that day, were honored Thursday with private ceremonies in their hometowns as Meyer was receiving the Medal of Honor from President Obama.

While I applaud this young Marine's actions and his humility, just once I'd like to hear a MOH recipient respond with, "Fuckin' A right I'm a hero!".

Hatin' on us for our freedoms?

Not really:

...

People, it’s not our freedom they hate. Most of the world envies our freedom.

What the hate is our sense of entitlement to their resources, our indifference to their suffering and blinding need, our support of the sociopathic dictators who rob and subjugate them, as long as they allow our corporate rape of their children’s futures for our personal comfort and gain.

What they hate is our military presence in every far-flung corner of the world, assuring that we’ll always get our way at their expense.

What they hate is our self-righteous certitude that Our God is Good and their god is bullshit.

My Fellow Americans, they hate us because they think we live in a Democracy, and that We The People knowingly choose and approve of what our government and corporations do to them.

...

Those who don't learn from history ...

I'm off to the hangings, back later.

Great thanks to MBRU for the link.

"Carlin Street"

I'm all for it; renaming a portion of W 122nd Street in NYC "Carlin Street" in honor of my favorite comedian, George Carlin. Lotta Carlin quotes in this post that make me smile:

...

Now, speaking of consistency, Catholics, which I was until I reached the age of reason, Catholics and other Christians are against abortions, and they're against homosexuals. Well who has less abortions than homosexuals?! Leave these fucking people alone, for Christ sakes! Here is an entire class of people guaranteed never to have an abortion!

...

Better than renaming the 59th Street (Queensborough) Bridge after that idiot Ed Krotch Koch. If they hadda rename it, it shoulda been the "Simon and Garfunkel Bridge".