Sunday, November 27, 2011

Man, this can't be good...

U.S. Chopper Strike Kills 25 Pakistani Troops

A capitalist who understands how it should work...

"I truly believe that capitalism was created to help people live better lives, but sadly over the years it has lost its way a bit. The short-term focus on profit has driven most businesses to forget about the important long-term role they have in taking care of people and the planet."—Richard Branson, quoted in The Guardian.

via Boing Boing

Former Bush Education Official: Reform Movement A Campaign To Privatize As Many Schools As Possible

No surprise here...


Ravitch, a former assistant secretary of education for President George H.W. Bush and an early champion of education reform, eventually concluded the reform movement was misguided and led by corporations.

via Crooks and Liars

Thursday, November 24, 2011

We lose more and more of our constitutional rights every day. When will the populace fight back?

Carey sez, "NYC Deputy Mayors Howard Wolfson and Cas Holloway went on NY1 (our local news channel) last night to discuss Tuesday morning's raid on Zuccotti Park. When the anchor confronted them about the media blackout, they became indignant and firmly stated that the press does not have the right to report in the vicinity of police operations. So much for freedom of the press!"

via Boing Boing

Wire creator to atty gen'l: "Thanks for your interest in another season; end the war on drugs and we'll talk"

Last summer, US attorney general Eric Holder made a public plea for another season of The Wire to be produced; series creator David Simon emailed a response saying he would do another season if Holder ended the war on drugs.


The Attorney-General's kind remarks are noted and appreciated. I've spoken to Ed Burns and we are prepared to go to work on season six of The Wire if the Department of Justice is equally ready to reconsider and address its continuing prosecution of our misguided, destructive and dehumanising drug prohibition.
via Boing Boing

The Ironic News Report

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

How we defeat ourselves

I AM a bleeding heart liberal, but to me, this is just heartless.

Rick Santorum, speaking in Ottumwa, Iowa on Friday:
If you're low-income ... in many states you can qualify for Medicaid, you can qualify for food stamps, you can qualify for housing assistance, and that's not if you're in poverty. That's if you're above the poverty line. And so you have all of the children growing up in an environment where government is paying you, and then we wonder why do these kids feel they're entitled to so much? [...] That is not a healthy thing for children, it's not a healthy thing for society ... Suffering, if you're a Christian, suffering is a part of life. And it's not a bad thing, it is an essential thing in life ... There are all different ways to suffer. One way to suffer is through lack of food and shelter and there's another way to suffer which is lack of dignity and hope and there's all sorts of ways that people suffer and it's not just tangible, it's also intangible and we have to consider both.

via Daily Kos

Remember when they told us Al Qadea hated us for our freedoms? Now I must ask - "What freedoms?"


Republican voters


Texas miracles


He's scary


Religious equation


Off to church


Thom Hartmann: What America Has Given Up For 10 Years of Bush Tax Cuts

Dave Allen on religion

What Liberal media?

Who does God want to be President?

Who God wants as president

Re “What oppression?,” Opinion, Nov. 18

With at least four of the Republican presidential candidates disclosing that they were summoned by God to run for office, what can we lowly voters surmise? Multiple choice:

God only communicates directly with those seeking the presidency.

God is playing games, particularly with Rick Perry, because God turned away Perry’s summons for prayer to stop the Texas drought.

God is promoting democracy by encouraging people to run.

God makes mistakes.

God is a Democrat.

God is seeking fools to show us how stupid bringing him into politics really is.

God is setting the stage to mess up the world as a prerequisite for his return per prophesy.

None of the above; the candidates are nuts.

Mike Miller
Los Angeles

via Political Carnival

Monday, November 21, 2011

Great movie idea...


Right wing dogma put succinctly...


This is another possible version of Genesis


This is about right...


Any question?

Any question in your mind about who is running this country today? Is it the right-wing religious fanatics and corporations, or the reasoned intelligentsia?  Think about this image below.


We know the truth...

Inside the Corporate Plan to Occupy the Pentagon: Behind the growing push to slash soldiers' pensions and other military costs is a little-known advisory group—stacked with Wall Street executives.

Anyone with half a brain cell knows that our governmental leaders are bought and paid for by the corporations and the top 1%. If the defense budget is cut, a lot of the aforementioned stand to lose a lot of money unless they take away from the people serving in the military. And we all know that money comes before country.

Sounds about right.

"Congress' approval rating has fallen to an abysmal 9% -- to put this in perspective, herpes is now slightly more popular than Congress."

I saw this on Reddit and it's cute - but I recall all of the survey's that have been done of voters and the fact that they all think everyone in Congress is awful - except for the Congressperson THEY vote for. Not much will change come 2012.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Good words

In "Conservative Thought," an unjustly neglected essay from 1927, Karl Mannheim argued that conservatives have never been wild about the idea of freedom. It threatens the submission of subordinate to superior.

--Corey Robin's, in an essay he did in 2008 for The Nation, Out of Place

Thursday, November 10, 2011