tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88631122024-03-07T02:47:41.106-05:00It's All Downhill from HerePatrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.comBlogger321125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-9645110314360092112017-02-18T18:09:00.000-05:002017-02-18T18:09:45.323-05:00Letter to Senator Young on Pruitt vote to head EPAIt's been well over a year since I posted here, but I wanted to share the letter I e-mailed to Senator Todd Young regarding the vote of he and fellow Republican senators (and a couple Democrats) to confirm Scott Pruitt as the head of the EPA. Pruitt is a man who despises the EPA and has opposed them at every turn. Young and other senators have truly let the fox into the hen house and they know it. It's absolutely shameful and a disaster for the environment. These senators only care what a handful of big polluters with deep pockets want.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Dear Senator Young,</span></div>
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I am writing in regard to the vote to confirm Scott Pruitt to head the EPA. In confirming Mr. Pruitt, you and almost all the other Senate Republicans have chosen a man who has spent many years opposing the EPA at every turn on behalf of his friends in the fossil fuel industry. He even tried to block mercury and ozone protections, two of the most dangerous pollutants in the country. In another lawsuit, he sued on behalf of an oil company to prevent enforcement of the Endangered Species Act. Mr. Pruitt has sided with polluters against protecting the environment again and again. He despises the EPA and choosing him to lead it is inexcusable, appalling, and frankly immoral. As Mr Pruitt's views have been abundantly clear for a long time, I must conclude that you share those views.</div>
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Public opposition to Mr. Pruitt was unprecedented, and the public overwhelmingly supports a strong EPA. EPA officials know he's a terrible pick, and that's why over 750 former officials openly opposed his confirmation. You showed that you didn't care at all what the public thinks. Between this vote and the vote to repeal protections for our waterways from mountaintop removal coal mining waste, you have shown where your loyalties lie and it's not with average Americans, but with a handful of wealthy people who benefit when they can trash the environment for profit. You have chosen the greed of a few over the health and well-being of the many and over the long term health of the environment we all share. You should be ashamed.</div>
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In confirming Scott Pruit to lead the EPA, a man who opposes the fundamental mission of this vital agency, you have in effect declared war on the EPA. Those of us who care about the environment, who understand that sensibly protecting it IS putting people first, must respond. We need leaders who will work on our behalf, not work to make the dreams of the worst polluters in the country come true. We deserve to be represented by leaders who put the people and the planet ahead of corporate pay masters. You are apparently not that kind of leader.</div>
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I'm only one person, but I'm politically active on the issues I care about and unless there are big changes in your stance on environmental issues in the next few years, I will do my part to oppose your re-election.</div>
<br />Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-25117330214454958452015-07-06T23:30:00.000-04:002015-07-06T23:33:25.888-04:00Just pop that shoulder back in!Laurens Ten Dam told you he was hardcore. <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de-france-injuries-galore-from-stage-3-crashes">Caught up in a massive crash in stage 3 </a>of the Tour de France today, he suffered a dislocated shoulder. His team understandably figured his Tour was over and put his bike on a team car. That's when Ten Dam demanded they pop his shoulder back into place so he could continue the race. He rode 60km more to finish the stage and plans to line up for the next stage in the morning. They'll be racing on cobbles tomorrow. That's going to hurt.<br />
<br />Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-33943959052786337862013-10-11T21:12:00.003-04:002013-10-11T21:12:28.539-04:00A hostage crisis?Why are some people referring to the current government shutdown and debt ceiling talks as a hostage situation rather than typical political negotiations where two sides make some compromises in order move forward? Isn't that just overheated rhetoric?<br />
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Well, it is certainly heated rhetoric, but it's not far off the mark. In a setting of good faith negotiations, both sides have to make concessions, ie. give up some of the things that they want, to reach a compromise. Republicans aren't offering any actual concessions though. They're saying "give us what we want or we'll blow up the economy". Make no mistake, while the shutdown is bad enough, what would really wreck the economy is not raising the debt ceiling. The GOP caucus, excluding a few of their craziest members, don't actually <i>want</i> to push the US government into debt default, so they're not making any concession at all if they agree to raise the debt ceiling. They're just playing a high stakes game of chicken.<br />
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Agreeing to Republican demands with regards to the Affordable Care Act would set a terrible precedent. It would mean that any time the nation approaches the debt ceiling, any and every law already on the books is up for grabs. The laws wouldn't even have to be confined to budget issues. It could just as easily be "do what we want on this foreign policy issue" or "change this environmental regulation law" or anything else in exchange for not ruining the economy.<br />
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As for the ACA, it's already a compromise law that includes, among other things, over 100 Republican amendments and no public option (which most Democrats wanted in there). It passed the House and the Senate, was signed into law by the President, and was upheld by the Supreme Court. To now allow the House to in effect unilaterally change it -- so they won't blow up the economy -- would be a terrible abuse of the government's system of checks and balances. Why have the Senate and the President involved in lawmaking at all if the House can later simply extort both to get whatever changes they want made to existing laws? <br />
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We have a hostage situation.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-740590608746213632012-02-10T11:00:00.002-05:002012-02-10T11:08:49.071-05:00Stop fighting birth control<a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/02/source-obama-to-change-birth-control-rule/1">John Boehner this week:</a><br /><p>House Speaker John Boehner this week called the mandate "an unambiguous attack on religious freedom" in a rare House floor speech and vowed legislative action to reverse it.</p><p>"If the president does not reverse the attack on religious freedom, then the Congress, acting on behalf of the American people and the Constitution we are sworn to uphold and defend, must," Boehner said. "This attack by the federal government on religious freedom in our country must not stand and will not stand."</p><p>Translation of Boehner's words: "I'm a pandering ass who uses ridiculous hyperbole while pathetically grandstanding to blast everything Democrats do." Shut up, John.<br /></p><p>Then there's this guy, who's demanding on behalf of Catholic bishops that the contraceptive requirement be removed entirely, not just given an exception for church businesses -- Anthony Picarello, general counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: "If I quit this job and opened a Taco Bell, I'd be covered by the mandate."</p><p>You're damn right you'd be covered, as you should be! Do you know how screwed up our laws would be if every private business owner could claim religious exception to laws they didn't like? Take your backwards, anti women views and shove them.</p><p>I'm so sick of this regressive bullshit. Welcome to the 21st century, same as the 19th century.<br /></p><p><br /></p>Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-86169209053254248362012-01-20T14:14:00.003-05:002012-01-20T14:30:48.980-05:00Whiling away the hoursThe words of one of my college professors from 15+ years ago came to mind just now. "Are we just whiling away the hours until we die?"<br /><br />It seems to me that life is meant to be enjoyed, but sometimes short term pleasure, something that's amusing for awhile, leaves nothing. Is it worth it because "a moment enjoyed is not wasted" as a popular video gaming website likes to say? Perhaps.<br /><br />Yet what did I gain out of several years in my 20s when I was practically addicted to online role-playing games? I usually enjoyed it, but on the other hand, I don't spend much time telling people about all those great times we had back then staring at a computer screen. Mind you, it's no worse than many other activities people do to fill their time. Plenty of people go home and stare at the television screen for hours every night.<br /><br />"Moderation in everything" also comes to mind. Then again, some people become truly great at something by doing it obsessively and they seem to like it that way. <br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death">Amusing Ourselves to Death</a>. Great book title. "Kill the spirit, sell the flesh, we amuse ourselves to death." Words from a song by Bill Mallonee. <br /><br />No answers... just musings...Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-38685924489797777582011-10-04T19:46:00.003-04:002011-10-04T19:52:13.900-04:00Youth on Wall StFor the many young people spearheading protests on Wall St. and now in many other cities: <br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/k9Kf4esMvdE" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe><br /><br />Your energy can be the engine for change.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-40968456783911241512011-09-30T00:12:00.003-04:002011-09-30T00:26:07.730-04:00Money RulesIf there was any silver lining in the disastrous Supreme Court ruling on the Citizens United case, the case that opened the floodgates for unlimited individual and corporate donations to political action committees, it was that who donated and how much they donated had to be disclosed.<br /><br />Tonight Stephen Colbert humorously, yet depressingly for those of us who still give a damn about good government, demonstrated how those donations can be rendered completely anonymous. Bonus: It's sooooo easy. Start with the SuperPAC such as Karl Rove's American Progress, an organization that must disclose all donations given to it. Then simply add a shell corporation under a legal designation called 501(c)(4). Rove's shell corporation is called <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Crossroads_GPS">Crossroads GPS</a>. The corporation can take unlimited anonymous donations from individuals and corporations, then spend the money directly on "issue-oriented" political advertisements, OR give the to the SuperPAC. All the SuperPAC has to disclose is that it received the money from the shell corporation, thus completely shielding all contributors.<br /><br />To show how easy the process is, Colbert created a shell corporation to gather anonymous donations, creatively named Anonymous Shell Corporation, to go with <a href="http://www.colbertsuperpac.com/">his already created SuperPAC.</a>Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-31463492832983153032011-08-08T14:44:00.003-04:002011-08-08T15:02:25.144-04:00S&P credit downgrade proving insignificantInterestingly, S&P's credit downgrade of US debt is not looking like near the disaster many expected.
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<br />The headlines today are full of declarations that stocks are falling because S&P downgraded US debt from AAA to AA+. These headlines are simply wrong. The stock market is not a measure of investor confidence in the US's ability to repay its debt. The interest rate the nation must offer on its treasury bonds to attract buyers is that measure. If investors have less confidence in our nation's ability to repay its debt, that interest rate will rise.
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<br />The exact opposite is happening. Interest rates on US treasury bonds fell today. People are selling stocks and buying US treasury bonds, still considered the safest place in the world to keep money.
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<br />Of greater concern to investors is the Euro-zone economic crisis that's showing no signs of letting up. Of greater concern to the US economy as a whole is the continuing high joblessness and underemployment rates as well as the stagnant growth rate.
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<br />By the way, why are we listening to credit rating agencies like S&P? They completely destroyed their credibility by being a major cause of the 2008 financial collapse. They gave AAA rating after AAA rating to the mortgage backed securities that were pure, toxic garbage. They handed out these absurdly high ratings because they were competing with one another for income from the very banks that were selling the mortgage securities and paying the rating agencies to rate them. They're corrupt profit mongers with no credibility. The S&P gave Lehman Brothers an A rating right up to the month of its bankruptcy. They're morons. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/opinion/credibility-chutzpah-and-debt.html?_r=1&ref=opinion">Krugman has more today on this topic.</a>
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<br />Speaking of government spending and deficits during a bad economy, we've been here before and massive budget cuts is not the answer. Facing criticism of high deficits, FDR slashed his New Deal programs in 1937. The unemployment rate had dropped from well over 20% to 14% in the prior few years. In a matter of months after he slashed the New Deal programs, it was back up to 19%. After about a year, FDR realized his error and worked to restore the program funding. The result? The recovery began anew.
<br />Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-36224757940351995872011-07-30T13:52:00.004-04:002011-07-30T14:14:55.732-04:00<span class="Apple-style-span">Harry Reid's debt ceiling bill is very similar to Boehner's bill before the latter's most recent idiotic revisions made at the behest of the moronic teabaggers in Congress. Reid gives Republicans almost everything they wanted. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/30/us-usa-debt-letter-idUSTRE76T1IX20110730"> Nevertheless, <span class="Apple-style-span">a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 30px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">ll 43 Republicans in the Senate have signed a letter, released on Saturday, saying they will not vote for a Democratic plan to raise the debt limit.</span></span></a> </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Letter I've sent to Senator Dick Lugar, which I'm sure won't do any good: </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>"Reuter's today: "All 43 Republicans in the Senate have signed a letter, released on Saturday, saying they will not vote for a Democratic plan to raise the debt limit."</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>Why? Harry Reid's bill gives the GOP almost everything they wanted. It is quite close to Boehner's bill before his most recent revisions made at the behest of the radical, economically ignorant tea party backed House members. I had some hope for the Senate, but your latest foolish actions have destroyed it. Your party is willing to drive the country off a cliff. </i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>Why is the GOP utterly unwilling to compromise? Raising the debt ceiling shouldn't even be up for debate. The money is already committed and you know it. The US government has agreed to pay. Not doing so means a default and that would be catastrophic. Those who think otherwise are stunningly ignorant. Stop this ridiculous game of chicken and get a compromise bill. </i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>Poll after poll shows that a strong majority of Americans want a bill that combines spending cuts with revenue increases. Harry Reid took even modest tax increases and tax loop hole closure off the table in an attempt to get GOP votes. You've still refused.</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>Meanwhile the GOP controlled House is pushing a terrible, extremist bill that will never pass the Senate and will not be signed by the president. What a waste of time! Also, ask most any economist how smart a balanced budget amendment would be. It's a horrible idea. </i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>Despite some policy disagreements, I once had great respect for you, Senator Lugar. No longer. Your actions in lockstep with the rest of the GOP senators absolutely disgust me. Think of the country's well-being and get your house in order. The nation can't afford the increasingly far right wing insanity that now dominates the once reasonable GOP."</i></span></div>Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-49442918843504412902011-07-26T14:17:00.003-04:002011-07-26T14:28:44.725-04:00US likely to lose AAA credit rating<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/26/us-usa-debt-poll-idUSTRE76P5BI20110726?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=71">Yep, we're already likely to lose our top credit rating</a>, which will amount to a huge tax on the American people as interest rates go up across the board. On top of that, if the debt ceiling impasse continues, we will default on our debt, triggering an economic collapse of immense proportions.<br /><br />You bear the responsibility for this disaster, Republican lawmakers. You are pathetic. You're playing chicken with the nation's economy in an attempt to get your demands met, demands that should be debated during budget talks, not when the full faith and credit of the US government is on the line. <br /><br />For the sake of the US economy, the debt ceiling must be raised. It should not be contingent on the GOP's ridiculous demands. It should simply be done. Budget haggling is for another time. Economists know that a default would be a total disaster for the US economy. Since the GOP refuses to compromise, even after Obama and the Democrats in the Senate have offered concession after concession, far more than they ever should have, and even when poll after poll shows that a strong majority of Americans want a compromise solution with spending cuts and tax increases, I can only conclude one or both of the following are true:<br /><br />1) GOP congressmen do not give a shit about the country.<br />2) GOP congressmen are too ignorant to begin to understand the massive consequences of the political game they are playing.<br /><br />These two options are not mutually exclusive.<br /><br />Once again the GOP is proving that they are an ignorant, broken party hell bent on destroying what's left of the United States in order to please their wealthy friends. <br /><br />There was a time when we had two major, worthwhile parties in this country. That time has passed. The GOP is worse than worthless. They are destructive to the nation and everyone in it except for a wealthy few. I hold out little hope that what needs to happen will ever happen, but we need another major political party, better yet more than one, but at least one to replace the ignorant, anti-intellectual, far right wing disaster that is the Republican party.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-257500875134262472011-05-24T12:35:00.003-04:002011-05-24T12:39:46.367-04:00Gov Christie's bizarro worldIn a New York Times story about New Jersey, where the state supreme court has to order the governor to stop screwing over poor people so much, I found this line:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>Gov. </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/christopher_j_christie/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Christopher J. Christie Jr." class="meta-per">Chris Christie</a><span style="font-style: italic;">, whose efforts to rein in school spending and teachers’ salaries have ... helped establish him as a leader in national education circles.<br /><br /></span>Slashing education funding and teacher salaries makes one a leader in education circles? Welcome to bizarro world.<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></span>Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-3029050167210686492011-05-18T10:28:00.002-04:002011-05-18T10:33:16.796-04:00Senate keeps tax breaks for the world's most profitable companiesToday our sorry excuse for a legislative body, the US Senate, <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=13622961">blocked a bill to repeal $2 billion in tax cuts for Big Oil corporations</a>. This move is despite an analysis, mentioned in the article, indicating that the move would not raise prices at the gas pump. It's also despite the fact that the GOP especially is insisting that we need massive budget cuts and is totally fine with doing that on the backs of the poor and middle class. <br /><br />Yeah, guess which party blocked the bill? They can't let their hugely profitable corporate buddies bear any costs, but screwing over most of the actual citizens of our country is fine. Welcome to the GOP.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-2129965777952669262011-05-17T09:17:00.001-04:002011-05-17T09:21:52.444-04:00How the media tried to string us along about TrumpThis article shows just how pathetic our media is: <br /><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/16/trump.again/index.html?hpt=T2">Was he ever serious? How Trump strung the country along, again</a><br /><br />Myself and so many other people knew that Trump's supposed flirtation with a presidential run was bullshit. We talked in various forums about how it was certainly a publicity stunt and there's no way he was going to actually run. <br /><br />Yet despite how obvious this fact was, the media went on and on about him, breathlessly covering his every utterance as though he were a serious presidential contender. Polling results indicate that many Republicans took him seriously and actually supported his run, but let's put the blame where it belongs. They took him seriously because so much of the media took him seriously, idiotically giving Trump all the attention he wanted and more. Attention, after all, was the whole point.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-10646739761730238822011-04-28T11:34:00.001-04:002011-04-28T11:36:40.813-04:00A voice of reason<b><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></b><a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0411/White_House_releases_more_birth_records.html">From a comment under this Politico article</a> about the birther crap, we have proof that at least one reader of that site has some sense: <br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Why can’t the media just accept that a good plurality of conservatives in this country are clinically insane? Their brains have been rotted by 20 years of nonsense AM radio and Republican hyperbole. Once upon a time, it was just the communists that lurked under every bed — since 9/11, it’s become Arabs, Muslims, and ever since the dixiecrats gravitated over the Republican party – the blacks, too. Why is the 80% of the country — some liberal, some moderate, some actually even NON-crazy conservative — are forced to play games with the stupid 20%? I’m not advocating for any sort of quarantine or worse – I’m just asking why can’t we ignore them? When Republican politicos kowtow to them because they know they need the crazy vote to win, why can’t we just call them out and shame them? Why does our nation need to deal with millions of people that are just too stupid to deal with? Let them stand on their streetcorners – both virtual and real — ringing their bells of crazy, wearing their sandwich boards of crazy, and shouting their crazy nonsense. Ignore them. Look the other way. Don’t give them their loose change. Don’t talk to them – lord knows they’ll just follow you home, yammering nonsense about secret Muslim FEMA camps hellbent on bringing gay atheist socialism to America, stealing your guns, your bibles, and whatever idiotic tripe pops into their diseased heads.</span>Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-87961751936749172352011-04-11T10:44:00.002-04:002011-04-11T10:52:46.855-04:00On debt ceiling, tell GOP to f**k offWe can argue about the federal government's debt for years on end and we have. We can debate what should be cut, how, when, etc. However, one thing we cannot do is fail to raise the debt ceiling. The government has obligations to pay that will force the debt to continue to rise when we reach the current debt limit in mid May. There is absolutely no getting around that fact, no matter what spending cuts are proposed or passed. It's going to happen. <br /><br />Now if the debt ceiling is not raised, the government will default on its debts by early July. That would be an economic catastrophe on an immense scale, one that would destroy our economy. No one who gives a damn at all about our country wants that to happen, at least no one with a functioning brain cell. Yet the GOP is promising a huge fight over raising the debt ceiling. Boehner says they won't raise the ceiling <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/04/debt-ceiling-mega-battle-begins-wednesday.html">"without something really, really big attached to it"</a>. <br /><br />In other words, the GOP's message to America is: Do what we want or we will destroy the economy. They are fools, scum, or both and they want to play chicken with the economy. The Democrats should grow spines and tell them to go fuck themselves. The GOP won't commit the economic suicide of allowing the United States to go into debt default.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-92084546211706098152011-04-07T17:21:00.002-04:002011-04-07T17:32:52.047-04:00Republican riders in the budget bill "compromise"<a href="http://www.ombwatch.org/files/budget/OMB_Watch-HR1_Policy_Riders.pdf">Here's a list of riders</a> the GOP House has added to the budget bill. As will quickly become apparent, they largely have jack and shit to do with the budget. The main focus is to gut health care and destroy the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as satisfy a host of other Republican dreams to turn the United States into a hell hole. <br /><br />There was a time when the policy disagreements and resulting compromises between Republican and Democratic politicians were a vital part of ensuring the creation of good public policy. That time has passed. GOP politicians have become so extreme, so regressive, that they no longer represent a political party worthy of serious engagement in public policy debates. They are scum, plain and simple. They don't care about the country, the environment, health care, women, the poor, the middle class, or much of anything else except making the wealthy even wealthier. That's their goal. They should driven through the streets and run out of Washington like the swine they are.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-40353558925486825032011-03-04T12:04:00.002-05:002011-03-04T12:06:08.023-05:00Climate change answers<a href="http://www.skepticalscience.com/">Skeptical science</a> is the best page I've seen for responses to climate change deniers claims. Responses often include several levels of detail via tabs depending on how in depth you want the information to be: Basic, intermediate, and advanced.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-31607142416882183272011-02-21T22:34:00.001-05:002011-02-21T22:34:30.297-05:00LibyaIt appears that thousands, not hundreds, of Libyans are dying. It's not Tunisia or Egypt. Gadhafi has vowed to crush the protests. I hope that the US government condemns Qadhafi's regime in no uncertain terms and that the regime falls soon.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-61328041710244807902011-02-17T22:38:00.002-05:002011-02-17T22:48:02.403-05:00SnowblindThink Harlem in the early '70s:<br /><br />"Everywhere you look there is this new standard of cool. And you pick up on it. And if your man is stepping out of a Rolls Royce, you <span style="font-style: italic;">know</span> he's doing something right. Add to that the fact that he's got knife wounds all over his body and in America you've got yourself a culture hero. Here is a guy so downright virile, and sure of it, he can afford to dress like a <span style="font-style: italic;">woman</span>. He's wearing a monk coat, a contoured silk shirt and high-heeled crocodile shoes . . . he's got diamond rings up and down his hands . . . he's . . . <span style="font-style: italic;">the fucker's wearin' pearls!</span> . . . He's got on a white felt hat with a brim as wide as the Astrodome . . . and maybe there's a feather in it . . . velvet trousers with a twenty-eight-inch flare . . . and shades . . . always shades . . . three A.M. and shades . . . he's got lace cuffs . . . and . . . <span style="font-style: italic;">Jesus Christ . . . a cane . . . with sterling silver brightwork. </span>And the son of a bitch is six-four. He never bends his knees or his back . . . he folds at the waist . . . he pivots from the hips and struts like a bayou water crane. He has a tall, fragrant, fox-furred woman on either arm, calling him <span style="font-style: italic;">baby . . . </span>or <span style="font-style: italic;">sir!</span> And this motherfucker's wearing a sixteen-hundred-dollar, gold and ivory, emerald-encrusted coke spoon around his neck.<br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Step aside, suck-er.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />Now, you <span style="font-style: italic;">know</span> your girl friend is going to be in bed with him tomorrow. All day. Broadway Joe has let you down. Budweiser is a thing of the past. You have been sold down the river. And all you can say is <span style="font-style: italic;">shit . . . suck-er.</span>"<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br />From <span style="font-style: italic;">Snowblind: A Brief Career in the Cocaine Trade</span> by Robert Sabbag.<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-45987291454386629502011-02-04T10:13:00.002-05:002011-02-04T10:13:59.328-05:00Walk like an Egyptian<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSR8KWyh1FYB6uN4vaguPo8qeHowv9l0Xm4cVy5-md2y-MwQtrw6KcQENodZe1xTilx_VrVCdRxb6XQR_OYqOKglqkZs_VidA0cE-yZh7eDYPKzRr6FoaUHX9R1euKsvEy-Gh5/s1600/walk+like+an+egyptian.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 257px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSR8KWyh1FYB6uN4vaguPo8qeHowv9l0Xm4cVy5-md2y-MwQtrw6KcQENodZe1xTilx_VrVCdRxb6XQR_OYqOKglqkZs_VidA0cE-yZh7eDYPKzRr6FoaUHX9R1euKsvEy-Gh5/s320/walk+like+an+egyptian.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569852887515019298" border="0" /></a>Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-56335488694261438552011-01-27T10:36:00.002-05:002011-01-27T10:40:16.422-05:00No filibuster reform. Again.<a href="http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/congress/2011/01/senate-quiet-death-filibuster-reform">Once again the Senate has refused to reform the badly broken filibuster rules</a>. As such the de facto requirement of 60 votes to pass ANYTHING in the Senate will remain because the minority party is willing to rampantly abuse the rule and filibuster every damn bill of any importance whatsoever. In the last congressional term, Republicans once again blew away the record for most uses of the filibuster.<br /><br />The Senate is a broken institution. Between the filibuster and senate holds, especially the controversial secret holds, their rules are easily abused yet they refuse to change them. The Senate is where meaningful legislation goes to die.<br /><br />Screw this system. It's a disaster for a variety of reasons. We'd be better off with a parliamentary system, but of course that will never happen.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-23725275460415691132011-01-21T11:42:00.002-05:002011-01-21T11:45:08.600-05:00When Vultures AttackFrom Virginia we get <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/15/AR2011011503474.html">this story</a> about a vulture infestation and a father who didn't think his cunning plan all the way through: <br /><p> <span style="font-style: italic;">Homeowner Scott Koehn had a bright idea to chase away vultures. He stepped outside his split-level home in northern Staunton with his son, Andrew, 9, and started firing paint balls into their roost in pine trees. </span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;"> A single vulture sailed into action, swooping toward them. "It vomited on my son," Koehn said. "It was like a half pound of ground beef on his shoulder. It was so disgusting. We got it off him. Got his shirt off. And got him to stop screaming."<br /></p><p>Bwahahahahahahahaha.... </p><p>Yes, vultures do in fact defend themselves by projectile vomiting. Isn't nature beautiful?</p><p style="font-style: italic;"><br /></p>Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-4405903930252784792010-12-28T16:53:00.002-05:002010-12-28T20:17:29.268-05:00Just thinking...Strength doesn't mean inoculating yourself against the painful moments of life. It means feeling every ounce of the pain and not letting it stop you, continuing to wear your heart on your sleeve and putting yourself out there again and again, thereby opening yourself more to the joyful moments and making the lives of those around you a little bit better. <br /><br />So often I'm just not that strong.<br /><br />"You sew your heart onto your sleeve<br />and wait for the ax to fall."<br />-- Bill Mallonee from his song "Skin"Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-35419654687442605952010-12-14T13:50:00.002-05:002010-12-14T13:53:40.138-05:00Don't speak ill of the dead? Bah!"Bryan was a vulgar and common man, a cad undiluted. He was ignorant, bigoted, self-seeking, blatant and dishonest." -- from H. L. Mencken's obituary for William Jennings Bryan, July 27, 1925. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.peeniewallie.com/2005/06/h_l_menckens_ob.html">Read the entirety of perhaps the most vitriolic obituary written here</a>.<br /><br />For comparison, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/graffiti/crook.htm">check out Hunter S. Thompson's brutal obituary for Richard Nixon.</a> (May 1, 1994). Thompson held Mencken's work up as the standard to which he aspired on this piece.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8863112.post-86470785022406923232010-12-06T23:48:00.005-05:002010-12-07T00:07:23.575-05:00Revolting scum versus spineless twits, the two party system in AmericaAll indications are that President Obama is going to cave to the GOP minority yet again. He will give them their tax cuts for rich people at a cost of $700 billion over the next ten years despite our gigantic budget deficits.<br /><br />The congressional term isn't over. Democrats still have a huge house majority and 58 seats in the Senate, plus they have the Presidency. Yet again and again, they give in to the GOP despite the fact that it seldom gets them any GOP votes at all. The President appears to have a pathological need to "compromise" and after nearly two years still somehow hasn't figured out that the GOP's doesn't give a fuck about compromising.<br /><br />The GOP's idea of compromise is "give us everything we want". The Democrats are too spineless to really fight them on it. Obama gives away compromises before debates even start. For example, he abandoned any advocacy for a public option in health care reform before the reform debate even began. The Democrats simply refuse to play hardball and that's all the Republicans play. Despite what Obama and the Democrats gave away on health care reform before serious debate even got going, they didn't get a single GOP vote despite ultimately passing health care reform that bears a strong resemblance to GOP proposals from the '90s. Naturally that resemblance didn't stop today's GOP from calling the bill a socialist nightmare. Newsflash: reality has nothing to do with GOP rhetoric. Center-right bills are labeled socialist and a President who bends over backwards to accommodate them is called the most liberal President ever.<br /><br />The GOP congressional leadership has publicly stated that their #1 priority is to make Obama a one term President. That's right. Their top priority isn't jobs. It isn't improving the economy. It isn't ending the wars, improving health care, or any other actual issue effecting Americans. It's to get rid of Barack Obama at all costs. They vote against anything Democrats want simply to deny them a victory, regardless of whether or not a bill is good for the country.<br /><br />The congressional GOP simply does not give a shit about the country. That's the reality. It's time congressional Democrats and President Obama woke the fuck up and realized it.<br /><br />I'm sick and tired of having two significant political parties in this country, a far right wing party led by unrepentant scum who don't give a flying fuck about the country but fight tooth and nail, no holds barred for what they want and a center right wing party led by spineless twits including the President.Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11156262927014857773noreply@blogger.com1