The Repugnicunts Strike Again

Yes, This is Really How They See the World

Welcome to Kentucky

Yep, Kentucky's government is offering $40 million in tax breaks to a "Noah's Ark Museum" to bookend with the Creationist "Museum."  The horror.

Bernie Sanders is a Good Man

Some Cartoons from the Last Week

 

So Rand Paul as Senator of Kentucky Makes Sense?

Where She Lands, Nobody Knows!

But I'm pretty sure we all lost:

Teabag Psycho

Leaky Wiki

Who The Law Protects

No Choice Election Choices

And Thus The Goose Stepping Begins

Excellent analysis of the current situation and its relationship to fascist movements here.

"Democracy" in Modern America

True Colors: Tea Baggers Assault Move On Activist

Denial, It's the Republican Way.

Elephant in Fox Clothing

Why?

Dear Mr. Conway,

I am a life long Democrat and progressive. My first reaction to your "Why?" ad is to want to vote for Rand Paul to punish you for airing it. I agree with absolute separation of church and state, feel "faith based initiatives" are bad for Democracy, feel religious institutes should be taxed heavily, and think religions are hoaxes meant to fleece the weak of mind. If I didn't know Paul was a lunatic I would pull the lever for him simply to punish you for this religious bigotry. There is a very good chance I won't vote for you regardless because of this senseless ad. I am an atheist and I vote and I tend to loath voting for pretentious Bible thumpers like you. Being a Christian does not make you a good person, and being a self-righteous, fear mongering Christian makes you an asshole.

Sincerely,
Alan Miller
Louisville, Kentucky

A Letter to Bill Maher

10/13/2010

Dear Bill Maher,

I’ll start by sucking up and saying what a big fan I am, blah, blah, blah.  Sometimes you screw up or are shockingly ignorant on a subject but you’re fighting the good fight and unlike your counterparts on basic cable channels, you admit to mistakes.  A tiny mistake from last Friday’s show was the pronunciation of the county with the asshole firemen.  It’s oh-buy-un (phonetically obaiyun).  I think you said ohbeeon or something.

Just so you know, I grew up in Western Kentucky just north of there and it is a bigger shithole than you can possibly imagine.  You’ve heard of the Bible Belt?  This is the puss leaking from the penis just behind the belt.  It is a horrible place full of mean, hateful people that are truly the worst on earth.  You haven’t seen hate until you’ve lived amongst the Church of Christ and Baptist motherfuckers that make up the population there.  Horrible, evil, haters to the core, most of them were delighted to hear about this man’s house burning to the ground and would’ve been delighted if his children had been killed as well.  They would have felt it was just.

But that’s not what I’m writing about.  I was really disappointed that you let P.J. O’Rourke and S.E. Cupp get away with one of the stupidest Republican tropes out there:  “The government can’t create jobs.”  This is utter and complete horseshit.  Here’s how you counter that statement: 

1.  During the New Deal the government put most of America to work.  Those weren’t jobs?

2.  The people that are re-building all our roads and bridges aren’t working at jobs?

3.  When the government gives people jobs they spend money because they have money.

4.  That money being spent means people sell things meaning they have to buy things to sell meaning they have to hire people to sell the things and make the things and that stimulates the economy and creates more jobs.

5.  The best way to make sure that government money moves straight into the economy is to give it to the poorest first because they’re going to spend it immediately.  I’m poor.  I assure you this is true.

Republicans’ problem with this is the money is going to the bottom instead of the top, and they prefer to be trickled on than raised up.  That’s why they vote against their best interests (mention What’s the Matter with Kansas next time they disagree with you on that one), it’s because they believe they are better than everyone else even though they are dirt poor and getting poorer.  We live in a country of idiots that function according to belief rather than reality. 

There’s also the simple fact that what pulled us out of the Great Depression more than any other thing is that our government took complete and absolute control of the entire economy for four years and put everybody to work with good paying jobs with great benefits while forcing conservation and economy.  When our boys came home from war they came home to fat bank accounts, free education, and health care for life and that combined with the New Deal is why we had the greatest economy, best educated citizenry, and best health in the world up until the Republicans managed to end it all. 

“You can’t raise taxes during a recession” is bullshit.  “Tax cuts create jobs” is bullshit.  “Democratic spending caused the recession” is bullshit.  “The government can’t do it better (or cheaper)” is bullshit.  We have proof in recent history against all these but the Republicans keep on stating them as if they were laws of nature and they need to be called on it every time.  Maybe next time you have two conservatives on, haul out that little list and point out to them how each and every one has no basis in fact.  The Republican economic world view is just as H.W. Bush called it:  Voodoo economics.  In other words it is a religion, a belief system, not a science.  It is pure fantasy and history proves it again and again and again.

I watched Overtime as well and here’s a thing that occurred to me years ago about President Carter’s time in office.  The GOP hated Carter with a loathing that may exceed that which they have for Obama and were almost as obstructionist as today’s Congress.  The oil supply was cut off right after he got elected (probably with strong encouragement from GOP leaders).  The real nail in his coffin was the failed rescue mission in Iran.  Who planned this operation?  The CIA.  Who gave the intel that it was safe to fly those helicopters?  The CIA.  Who was the head of the CIA?  George H.W. Bush.  What did Nixon say about Bush?  “He’ll do anything we tell him.”  Worth thinking about.

Thanks for your time.  Please quit fucking up.

Love,

Alan Miller

US Chamber of Commerce

Many people are under the impression that the Chamber of Commerce is some kind of benign business association, maybe even a governmental branch, that helps boost small businesses.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The Chamber is, in fact, a rabid right-wing fund raising machine that cares only for profits and nothing else.  They are against labor, health care reform, and regulation of any kind.  They are against people and for corporate profit.  This avid celebration of greed with the regal sounding name demonstrates how typical it is in the world of the "conservatives" by really not caring where their money comes from or how it was made.  Most recently it turns out the CoC is channeling large sums of foreign money into our political system.  Much to my surprise the Obama administration is actually making a fuss about this.  Why can't they get outraged over the unprecedented use of the filibuster against Obama's agenda?

David Axelrod has managed to do something with this the GOP are masters of:  He's flipped their accusations back at themselves by saying, "You need to prove you're not doing this."  Amazing.  Is our Democrats learning?  Now they need to throw the results of their "free trade" like the massive loss of jobs, the number of us that have been pushed out of the middle class and it's rapidly shrinking size (shrinking into "lower class" and poverty) back in their faces.  

Links:

Obama aide asks chamber to open its books
Axelrod: U.S. Chamber Using Foreign Cash To Fund GOP Campaigns
Rove, Gillespie Slam Obama for Spreading 'Baseless Lie' Over Foreign Contributions
"U.S." Chamber of Commerce campaign stash awash in foreign cash: Frisch
Senator wants Chamber investigated

 

Morality

Mitch McConnell's Tortured Syntax

NPR Begins the Slide to Irrelevance

Current.org, a trade magazine for public media has an article about NPR in which they spout a marketing study as some kind of scientific theory.  The strength of my disdain for the entire marketing industry is difficult to express.  I decided to point out to the author and NPR how fucked up stupid this idea is with the following letter:

Cc:  NPR ombudsman

re:  http://www.current.org/audience/aud1017npr-opportunities.shtml

Dear Karen Everhart,

I'll be up front and tell you that I think "marketing" is generally a complete and utter fraud run by shallow, simple fools that believe in what they're doing while it drains dry the businesses it advises and our society in general.  This "study" is marketing research and in my mind is about as plausible as Scientology.

That being said, there is one enormous problem with the idea NPR can "expand" its audience by becoming more "accessible" (read:  by dumbing itself down):  As NPR attempts to lighten its content it will lose the people that already listen to NPR.  The television news networks did this same thing in the late 70's to "capture the youth demographic" and the result was that the people that watched the news quit watching it because it was more flash and chattiness, cute pandas and celebrity gossip than news.  None of the kids started watching it because it was the NEWS.  So viewership continues slowly to decline.  All sorts of attempts have been made to place blame on societal changes, different age groups, etc. but the fact is the people that don't listen to NPR aren't going to start but those that do listen to NPR may very well stop listening as the programming gets reduced to stupidity.  A perfect example of this is the flagship talk show Talk of the Nation.  This show has been dropped by stations around the country since it was broken up into multiple short segments around 2001 by the current host to "keep it moving."  Well, the reason people listened to the show was to hear long, serious discussions with experts about complicated issues.  You can't have that when your programming is designed to "keep it moving" and "give it energy."  As a result I know I quit listening to TOTN a few years ago and it was removed from my local NPR's lineup without so much as a whimper of protest from local listeners.  They had to keep Science Friday or the listeners would have stormed the station with pitchforks and torches.  Why?  Because Science Friday tackles difficult questions without dumbing it down and isn't afraid to bump the next subject if the host senses they have really started to make headway in explaining the topic.

I've sensed for years that NPR was heading down the road of listening to marketing professionals and focus groups rather than trying to report the news as thoroughly as possible.  This study and your cheerleading coverage of it I'm sure will be more nails in the coffin of one of the few reliable news sources we still have in this country.

Sincerely,

Alan Miller

Worst Political Speech Ever

This "speech" remains just as awful at the end as it begins. What makes my head spin is he claims to have a master's degree in communication!

Koran Burning = Cross Burning as Mosque Arson = Church Bombing

Religion is Like a Penis

Blackwater Is Back... Again and Again and Again...

Lobbyists

Shhhhh, So Very Quiet (cont'd)

The posts have been few and far between of late, and I apologize for that.  I have been posting blurbs to the MOpod blog regularly but I really feel I should write at least one long piece a week for this blog (after all, that's what it's here for) rather than only posting cartoons and links, and I've barely done that of late.  This is summer and when you work on houses this is when you can work a lot so you do, because during the winter monthly income can hit $0.  I do have the tiny excuse that I'm writing a fairly long piece about outsourcing that I'm going to try to sell.  Perhaps a few bits of that article will be excerpted here.  But things are still going on in the world and dammit, you deserve my opinion on these things.  In the meantime, please check out the podcast I do with my friend Dr. David Overbey every week (except for the occasional week or two in the summer) as well as the blog for the podcast.  If I have time later tonight I will dump a bunch of links and videos.

your editor,
Alan

Louisville Cops SUCK

Here's a letter sent to LMPD today after being stopped yet again on Monday:

To whom it may concern (and at this point I doubt that is anyone on the police force):

I own a house on the edge of Smoketown and have for almost a decade. In the last few months I have been stopped TWICE by bullying cops demanding I show them my ID. They have had no reason to stop me other than I am white and driving a work van. I am sick and tired of this treatment. Both times I was spoken to in that condescending tone of voice that says, "I know you're a criminal and I caught you." This last time (Monday 8-19-2010) I was getting some tools out of my garage and the two steroid pumped thugs in LMPD uniforms you've put on the street approached me and DEMANDED I show them my ID. In case you people haven't heard, this is not East Germany and you are not the STASI. You are not wardens and I am not a prisoner. You have no right to demand an ID of a citizen who has done NOTHING. I am contacting the ACLU about this and am considering a lawsuit. YOU MUST STOP THIS CRAP.


One of the "officers" had the balls to tell me he was trying to protect me. This is utter BS. They were trying to get a cheap and easy drug bust, plain and simple. My crime? Being white in Smoketown. If you wanted to protect me you would have foot patrols keeping an eye on the teenage boys with nothing to do in the neighborhood, not a couple of pumped up assholes harassing any white working man that ventures into the area. If you were interested in protecting me it wouldn't have taken FORTY MINUTES for a car to show up after three school skipping teen boys stuck a damned GUN in my face. White trash buying crack has never given me any trouble but it sure does help you to suck money from the Federal tit. Maybe if you pulled some of the cops slowly patrolling the rich neighborhoods and had them slowly patrol the crime ridden areas you might actually do something about crime, but your mission is to make the rich people that donate money to politicians feel safe, not actually fight crime.


If I get stopped like this again I am going to demand to be arrested or left alone. If I'm arrested I will sue the living you know what out of the city. I am not a criminal and I WILL NOT BE TREATED LIKE ONE.


Sincerely,

Alan Miller

GOP Proves They Are Assholes

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
I Give Up - 9/11 Responders Bill
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

The End Times Are Near!!!

BP Ends Meeting When Someone Brings in Some "Missing" Oil

Not surprisingly, at a public meeting BP shuts off the mics when a fisherman pulls out a bag of oil he got out of the marshes a few miles away after BP claims there is no oil.

High Fructose Corn Syrup Loved By Cancer Cells

A recent study has found that pancreatic cancer cells metabolize fructose (the cheap, corn based sweetener found in just about every refined American food) more easily than sucrose disproving the "all sugars are the same" claims of Big Corn. Yet another reason to drink Mexican Coca-Cola, other than the fact that the corn sweetener tastes like crap.

Israel is a Racist Nation

An Arab man is facing eighteen months in prison after two years of house arrest for having consensual sex with a Jewish woman who thought he was also a Jew.  Someone explain to me why we continue to support this bigoted, racist, apartheid nation.

BBC Friday Comedy Podcast Quotes

You should listen to this podcast because it's funny and it's not from America and it'll make you smarter.

"Being thrown out of the tea party for being a racist is like being thrown out of the conservative party for drinking Pimms."

"When Shakespeare invented words it was on purpose."

If He Only Had a Pulse...

So There Are No Fish in the Ocean?

Over 500 penguins have washed up dead on the shores of Brazil recently as well as some turtles and a porpoise.  The cause of death appears to be starvation.  These penguins usually feed over a wide area and should be finding huge amounts of food.  I have this horrible feeling this is another sign of the death of life in the oceans of the world.  In 1808 the passenger pigeon numbered in the billions and there were many millions of bison.  By the end of that century there were no passenger pigeons and only a few thousand bison hiding in Yellowstone.  Yes we can obliterate all life in the oceans because we're foolish enough to believe we can't.

Maybe sealife isn't going extinct in the Atlantic and this is a hiccup, but the chance of extinction in the Gulf of Mexico is very high:
"World killing event."
Turtles and crabs may become extinct in the Gulf.
Brown pelicans, just removed from endangered species list, threatened.
Here's seven more.
Too early to say if it's the worst disaster in history or not, but it's up there.

Nuclear Energy = Fool's Gold

There are many arguments in favor of nuclear energy.  None of them holds up to scrutiny. 

"It's carbon neutral."  This is the closest to a true statement but it isn't true.  Tons of oil and coal will be burnt in the extraction, refinement, and transportation of nuclear fuel.  Compared with your average fossil fuel burning power plant it isn't much but I don't think I'm splitting hairs by pointing out that nuclear energy is not carbon neutral.

"It's cheap."  Someone please point to a nuclear plant that hasn't over-run projected costs by billions of dollars or has actually lowered anyone's electric bill.  I'll wait.

"It's safe." or "Technology and design has improved to such a degree that a failure is impossible."  To that I'd like start by saying, "See BP."  All technology has a chance of failure.  This chance is almost always much greater than those designing and building the technology think it is.  The safest cars' accelerator pedals stick, skyscrapers designed to withstand an airplane collision collapse after a collision and an intense fire, deep water drilling rigs claiming to have no chance of an accident explode and kill the Gulf of Mexico, two space shuttles fall to the earth in flames.  Anything made by humans will fail eventually.  And as recent events have shown us when a "low possibility" event occurs in a very complex situation, the result is usually a catastrophe many times greater than any "plausible" worst case scenario accepted before the event. 

The very idea that we believe we can store radioactive waste for over 100,000 years while it decays to a safe state is astonishing.  The same people that built Three Mile Island or Chernobyl are going to build the chambers where we house the waste from nuclear reactors.  We can't even get short term storage right, apparently.  Tritium has been leaking from the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant for some time and it will probably end up in the drinking water of New York.  We can't keep very good track of the deadliest poison known to man, plutonium, which has a half life of 24,000 years.  As far as humanity is concerned the life span of plutonium or any other slowly decaying radioactive material is infinite.  We will not be here 100,000 years from now.  Some other form of us or some other creature will have taken our place long before the poison ceases to be deadly.  Cultures and societies will rise and fall violently and to think we can guard this horrendous danger against those future persons is laughable.  An oil spill, no matter how immense, is finite.  For the human race, the radioactive material we are making today will last beyond forever.

Bat Shit Crazy Report: A Cartoon by Steve Sack

Success In Afghanistan According to Patraeus (This Modern World)

Another Glimmer of Hope: Court Tells FCC Its Rules are Stupid

Though you still can't play George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words" routine on the radio, you won't get the living shit sued out of you if someone accidentally curses or if one bad word slips by the censors.

We now hold that the FCC’s policy violates the First Amendment because it is unconstitutionally vague, creating a chilling effect that goes far beyond the fleeting expletives at issue here.

Thank fucking god.  The very idea that the FCC could levy a half a million dollar fine against a broadcaster because someone said "shit" is just beyond insanity.  I want my country back, and my country is one that is progressing and improving, not regressing and devolving.

The Fag Hater Doth Protest Too Loudly

BP Claims Oil Flow Stopped

As of 2:25pm CST BP claims the oil gushing from the Deep Horizon disaster has been slowed almost to zero.  Supposedly the new arrangement will allow for them to siphon off all the oil being released (as of today that is $76 per barrel and it is estimated 60,000 barrels per day so that's around $4.5 million per day of income to offset the billions of damage) if the well is fractured and they have to relieve pressure while they complete the relief wells.  If the pressure goes up and stays there they will seal the well for now.  The well will not be completely contained until the relief wells are finished and the well is filled with concrete.  Let's just hope it's not Haliburton that is in charge of the cement this time.

Glimmer of Hope? D.C. Agrees to Mass Arrest Settlement

The District of Columbia has settled a decade long class action lawsuit over the illegal mass arrest and detainment of peaceful protesters.  The fact is this will make no difference in New York or Los Angeles, or Chicago until similar suits have sat in courts for a decade or more.  It is shameful that the people we hire for cops have no time for serving the public because they believe the public is a bunch of prisoners they have to beat.

The Blame Game

Senator Robert Byrd's Speech Opposing Iraq War

NASA Timelapse of Oil Spill

The Bat Shit Crazy Report: Ever Expanding Insanity on the Right

Thanks to Talking Points Memo I have two additions to the Bat Shit Crazy Club!

Let's start with a nutjob who has grazed the BSC radar before, Representative Sue Myrick (R-NC).  She who has seen terrorists amongst Muslim interns and convenience store clerks.  Her firm entrance into the BSC Club comes with her assertion, based on... well... based on the fact the idea floated through her BSC head, maybe?... anyway, she has decided that Hezbollah is invading our country from Mexico.  Seriously.  

Next up is Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) who has "discovered" a conspiracy by terrorists to use the 14th Amendment to allow them to sneak women into the U.S. in order to have babies that will be raised as arch terrorists. I am not making this shit up, people.  I'm guessing this is a "logical" extension of the "Obama born in Kenya" lunacy. 

Energy Independence - A Daily Show History of Empty Rhetoric

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
An Energy-Independent Future
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Letter to NPR about Fox Correspondents on Their Staff

[updated 6/17/2010]

I'm sure I join a loud chorus of listeners that are sick of your correspondents that also work for Fox News.  You need to completely purge your organization of these contaminated, damaged anti-journalists.   Fox News is not a news organization and you should not allow anyone to be employed by NPR and Fox simultaneously.  You don't have correspondents that are in the employ of the RNC's PR office, do you?  There is no difference except the RNC might lie less.


On today's ATC, Fox employee Mora Liasson in a typical Fox-style meaningless aside commented that the President was "reading from a teleprompter."  This is unnecessary information and serves only one function:  To belittle the President of this country.  Do you know what a Dixie dog whistle is?  Well saying Obama was reading from a teleprompter is a wingnut dog whistle and you should be ashamed you let it on the air.  Every single President since Carter has used teleprompters constantly.  GWB always had one though he obviously had trouble reading it.  The only people that make note of this President's use of a teleprompter are people that hate him and are out to end his career.  You seriously need to check your editors and producers about this kind of crap, or is NPR more worried about getting teabaggers to listen to ATC than in presenting the news in a truly fair and balanced manner?

[response from NPR 6/17/2010]

Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2010 2:46 PM

Subject: Re: Right Wing Fox News Language – Message ID:26967

Response to Message #26967:

Dear Alan,

Thank you for contacting the Ombudsman. We appreciate your feedback on NPR National Political Correspondent Mara Liasson who also appears on Fox New.

It is not uncommon for NPR reporters to appear on other networks, such as CNN and PBS.  Ombudsman Alicia Shepard wrote a column on this issue. NPR continually evaluates what its reporters say, how they present their work, and whether that crosses an ethical line, and NPR staff is held to a strict code of ethics and practices. These standards are in place to protect and support the integrity, impartiality and conduct of journalists.

When recently asked, Senior VP of News Ellen Weiss confirmed that NPR is continually evaluating how appearances on other news outlets may or may not undermine the NPR journalist’s reputation as an impartial source of information. 

Again, thank you for bringing your observations and thoughts regarding language used in Mara Liasson's report on All Things Considered to our attention. We appreciate you taking time to write.

Best,
Alexandria Neason
Office of the Ombudsman
NPR

[My response]

Please let it be known that I think any correspondent with a link to Fox News is damaged merchandise and should not be allowed airtime on NPR.  With no problem I can find you 10 qualified individuals in New Orleans that can do her job without throwing in disguised insults against our President in the process.  Anyone that is associated with Fox News is contaminated by their fascist leadership and should not be allowed a voice on National Public Radio.

 

Also you did not address her noting the President was reading from a teleprompter.  This is unacceptable on every level, especially that of journalistic behavior.  It is a BS partisan slur and you damn well know it whether it is stated specifically in your code of ethics (which it isn't) or not.

You may not watch Fox News (what sane person can?) but this teleprompter nonsense has been one stick in the continuous drumbeat of opposition to our President, along with the birther nonsense and more recently the "he's not angry enough/he's too angry" blather that you have also stooped to covering.  When will NPR have the balls to say enough is enough?  Fox News is a propaganda wing of the GOP and to say it is other is to lie to oneself.

 

 

6 Weeks Later...

The Horror.

Letter About Regulation's Impact on the Poor to Congressman John Yarmuth

 

6/9/2010

Congressman John Yarmuth

435 Cannon House Office Building
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-5401   FAX 202-225-5776

re:  EPA’s RPP rule and governmental responsibility to inform the public

Dear Congressman Yarmuth,

      As a man who at least appears to be interested in the plight of the poor in this country I’d like to bring a recent EPA regulation to your attention.  Let me say first that I am no opponent of the EPA and consider myself to be an environmentalist and occasional activist.  I am also in favor of lead abatement but would like to express a worry I have about the RRP rule and government’s general attitude towards the poor.

      The new RRP rule contains maximum penalties per day of over $37,000 for non-compliance.  I don’t have the time to read the entire regulation and though I worked as a typist for a major law review while in college, reading legalese is not an easy or enjoyable task.  Imagine that task laid on the average painter.  You may have met one at some point, you know, didn’t graduate from high school, literally scraping by?  These rules require that a painting (or any other) contractor  go through an 8 hour certification course that, if I’m not mistaken, requires a bit of math to be able to work on any building built before 1978.  Has anyone at the EPA actually met a painter?  How do they expect that old black man down the street that paints houses with his brain damaged son and an ex-con that can’t get any other work to a) know anything about this new rule and b) to be able to afford the $250+ per worker and actually be able to pass certification? 

      Let me start with a.  Despite my education and experience I had no idea that starting 5/22/2010 I could be in legal and financial jeopardy if I painted a house built before 1978 until a chance statement from a real estate agent of one of my clients.  I found out by accident.  Does the government believe that ordinary people have legal advisors?  As an artist and musician contracting to be able to afford to make art and music my income is probably the same as the hypothetical painter above and I can’t even afford to get someone else to do my taxes, much less keep an attorney on retainer to inform me of changes to federal regulations that criminalize my livelihood.   I expect my government to inform me of minor details like this.  I’m a licensed contractor, you’d think my representative or city hall or someone could send me a postcard telling me that to continue to work on homes built before 1978 (I haven’t worked on anything newer than 1950 in years) I have to get certified for lead abatement or risk enormous fines.  Or how about at least requiring postings at places that sell paint and hardware?  Is it wrong to expect part of the job of government to be educating people that if they do the same thing they did last year they could be bankrupted?

      Now to b.  Passing certification will be no problem for me (though $250 out of my pocket always hurts) as I already know most of what I need to know and I have a bit of mathematics and test taking skill.[1]  But for many people that can barely get by, both the cost and the difficulty will be too great a hurdle to clear.  There is, as always, little or no consideration of the least amongst us when these decisions are made and the largest burden falls on their shoulders.  When you make $500/week for six months of the year painting houses, $250 is a huge amount of money.[2]  These EPA regulations have put an awful lot of poor, defenseless people in the position of being unwitting criminals.  Was there ever a thought of these people or how to help them deal with this?  I’m pretty sure there wasn’t.  For some reason when people envision “contractors” it’s some middle class man with thirty uniformed workers under him wearing a hard hat and driving a brand new truck when in fact the majority of us are doing this hard, dirty, underpaid work because there is nothing else they can do.  Most of these people are the kind of people we as a country continue to fail every single day.

      Perhaps I’ve been walking around in a haze since this bill passed in 2008 and just missed all the signs, e-mails, postcards, etc. that were put in my face and I just didn’t see them.  I wonder how many of the hundreds of thousands of small contractors in this country know nothing about this rule.  Perhaps you could have a member of your staff find out for me how much the EPA budgeted for enforcement of this rule as opposed to how much they budgeted for informing and aiding the contractors it affects. 

Sincerely,

Alan Miller

---

[1] I am an artist and musician that does contracting to afford making art and music.  I have a B.A. from Tulane.

[2] But then again, allowing utility companies to add on flat fees is a disproportionate burden (like if the Louisville Water Co. were to add .25 per 1000 gallons to the cost of water they would probably get more money for repairing our water system but instead they hit everyone with an extra $56/mo so the million gallon a month manufacturing plant pays $56/mo towards this just like me that uses around 1000 gallons a year), just as flat fees for all governmental services is a disproportionate tax on the poor, etc. seems to be the way American government works these days.  And how American business works as well between the virtual use of slave labor for production outside the country to our usurous credit system for that matter. 

Fucking Booming

When Will We Condemn Israel?

Can we expect our government to at least protest Israel's attack on an unarmed aid flotilla sailing to Gaza and murder of activists on board?  Of course not.  We always support apartheid, xenophobic, fascist murderers, just look at Reagan and South Africa. 

39 Pictures From the Gulf

Pictures.

Live Feed of Oil Spill

Rand Paul Steps Into the Spotlight

BP, Oil Flow, Lies, and Videotape

Steve Wereley, an engineering professor at Purdue University has released estimates of the oil flow from the BP well in the Gulf that are at least ten times what both BP and the US Government have been saying.  We must know how much oil is entering the over mile deep water column in that area if we're going to try to mitigate this disaster and if we're going to force BP to pay every penny it owes the people of the Gulf Coast, the Caribbean, and the world.

Bat Shit Crazy, Meet Bat Shit Crazy

 

why

Orly Taitz is running for Secretary of State of  California?!?

Alabama's Gubernatorial Race: Who's The Better Creationist?

Will it turn out more people in Alabama believe in a superstitious, stone age creation myth than understand science?

Dan Fanelli Knows What a Terrorist Looks Like

This is not a parody. This is an actual ad by Alan Grayson's (D-FL) opponent.

video: Gulf Spill Update from the Times-Picayune

Oil spill video: T-P reporter update

Spill Baby Spill

Gulf Coast Oil Spill and Our Old Friends Halliburton

See this full set of pictures here.

When obtaining the license to build this enormous oil well that reached over a mile down into the water to drill, baby drill, BP said the chances of an explosion or catastrophic accident was next to zero.  Aren't these same people making the same claims about nuclear power plants?

Oh, and a little tidbit about this that brings a nostalgic image of the evil Dick Cheney to the mind's eye:  Haliburton was the company that did the cementing, a process of injecting cement to line the well cap and the walls of the well to contain the highly explosive gases.  Haliburton's cementing is also implicated as the cause of the gigantic Timor oil well blowout last year.


cross posted to the mopod blog

The Bat Shit Crazy Report

I have regularly mentioned the bat shit crazy madwoman Michelle Bachmann many times before here at MTBN, but Talking Points Memo has come out with an excellent article about the other bat shit crazy loons on the right wing bench. Get to know Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC), Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), and Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) just a little better and try not to let their creepy insanity rub off on you.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), who also co-sponsored the "Birther Bill," brushed aside Obama's birth announcement in a local newspaper as irrelevant, saying it's "like me sending out a birth announcement for one of my children."

Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) has ... said Obama's nationalized the country more than Hugo Chavez has nationalized Venezuela, and called Nancy Pelosi a "domestic enem[y] of the Constitution."

Enjoy!

The Big Lie(s) - 1

"The vast majority of Americans are against health care reform (voted for President Bush/support the war/oppose giving milk to kittens)"

This is the right wing lie variety that most sets my teeth on edge.  The loathsome Mitch McConnell made the health care claim ["We urge you to abandon the use of reconciliation to pass a partisan bill that is opposed by the vast majority of Americans."] before the vote and it is a subtle kind of lie.  Though factually barely true according to the poll he was quoting, his innuendo was that Americans support his side of the argument.  The fact is that the opposition to health care reform was split into to very disparate camps, one that believed like McConnell that the bill went to far and another that was in complete opposition to McConnell that believed (like me) that the bill did not go far enough.  These two groups are fundamentally opposed to one another but in the continuing Big Lie to the American people, McConnell has made them one.  Again, the fact is that the "vast majority" of Americans didn't believe the bill went far enough and were opposed to the GOP's position.  McConnell is, at heart, a lying son of a bitch.

I remember hearing this same horrible man say that GWB had a "mandate" and that he was elected by the "vast majority" of Americans.  Shrub was (a) never elected legally and (b) even if the vote count was legit (which it was not as the Republicans were involved in massive vote fraud both elections) Shrub received a minority of the popular vote the first time around and the vote was split almost perfectly down the center the second time.  That is not a "vast majority" by any means and makes the GOP and McConnell specifically liars.

Though they have not said so on the record yet, if Obama or the Democrats wanted to pass a resolution saying that kittens should get a little bowl of warm milk the GOP would stand firmly against it and would claim that a "vast majority" of Americans were opposed by adding the people that think kittens should get a little warm cream, the people that think milk is bad for cats, and the people that hate cats together and claiming they think like right wing morons.

"You can't raise taxes during a recession."

This is the mantra of the right wing (including my own repulsive "Democratic" mayor, Jerry Abramson), descending directly from the "Voodoo Economics" lie of "Trickle Down Economics," once poo-pooed by true conservatives and anyone that could add.  What actually happens when we cut taxes (and regulation) on the rich and corporations?  We saw under Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II:  The economy tanks.  Why is this?  Perhaps it's because when you make life easier (as if it needs easing) for the ultra-megas you make it harder on the poor and middle class.  State and local governments must rely more on fees and regressive taxes like sales tax and lotteries which disproportionally effect the lower end of the economic scale to provide services that help most Americans in their daily lives.  Ultimately taxing the poor is not a good way to fund government and those same services are cut drastically (god forbid you should reduce the police patrols in the rich parts of the city) or eliminated completely in the name of a "balanced budget."

The way I look at it is if you're rich and you don't want to pay taxes get the fuck out of this country.  You don't want to pay a local income tax in Louisville, for instance, move to another city.  We don't want your worthless, cheap ass.  You are a leech on society and the community if you don't want to use a little bit of your wealth to improve it.  Better infrastructure, improvement and education programs for lower income individuals, housing for the homeless, mass transit, drug rehabilitation, and so many other publicly funded programs don't only improve the lives of the people they serve directly, the improve the lives of everyone in the community by beautifying the city, reducing crime, and building community. 

"America has the highest tax rates in the world."

"America has the best health care in the world."

Only if you are astonishingly wealthy.  Otherwise we're 37th, just below Costa Rica and a good bit below Morocco.

If Obama Wanted a "Give Kittens Milk" Resolution...

Living in Kentucky is embarrassing in so many ways. Our public education system's motto is "Thank God for Mississippi," the inbreeding in the hills is not myth, and our Senators are the knuckle dragging Jim Bunning and the lying GOP mouthpiece (and bugeyed corpse) Mitch McConnell. It's hard to be proud of a people that would elect these two worthless bastards to Congress once, much less over and over as they have done for years now.  At least in Louisiana the crooks and nazis they elect are colorful.  Mitch McConnell is just an awful, repulsive man.

Updates and News

The blog posts here have been a bit few and far between of late.  Though I have opinions about recent events such as the surge in child fucking priests coverage (seriously, who didn't know this was going on?) most of these opinions are either deep and multi-faceted (i.e. it takes a long time to explain it) or I'm dealing with new information like Google Buzz being used by a White House staff member or something.  Ordinarily I would have given myself a couple of hours to write about these topics in a given week but these are not ordinary times.  That's more than a little overly dramatic as they're not that unusual.  I've just been a little busier than normal in the world of labor by which I earn money and much busier in the world of making music and art and stuff (in which I mostly spend money).  And you, dear reader, are left bereft of my wisdom and editorial cartoon addiction.  If you have been harmed by my inaction, I apologize.

One thing I have been doing that you might be interested in is a podcast called Modus Operandi or MOpod.  Each week I get together with my friend, Dr. David Overbey, and we record for an hour and a half or so talking about politics, culture, language, pets, sports, and the occasional fart joke.  We also keep a blog over there.  I mirror my content here over there and once in a while Overbey will post something.

So here are the last few podcasts, enjoy:

episode 12 4/4/2010

episode 11 3/26/2010

episode 10 3/12/2010

Onion on GOP Reaction to Health Reform

Republicans, Leukemia Team Up To Repeal Health Care Law

April 8, 2010 | ISSUE 46•14

 

Key Republicans and the blood cancer leukemia make a joint statement condemning the health care bill.

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WASHINGTON—Citing a mutually shared vision of health care in America, congressional Republicans and the deadly bone-marrow cancer leukemia announced a joint effort Wednesday to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the historic new bill that extends health benefits to 32 million Americans nationwide.

"Republicans have no greater ally in this fight than leukemia," said Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who was flanked by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), and the abnormal increase in white blood cells. "Denying insurance to Americans with preexisting conditions and ensuring that low-income Americans stand no chance of receiving quality health care are just a few of the core beliefs that the GOP and leukemia share."  [more]

Dinosaurs

Yesterday I saw an older woman buying stamps... with a check. 

Thanks you, I'll be here all week!

Breast Bombs! I Think I'll Travel By Boat

British intelligence service MI5 has discovered that Al Qaeda female suicide bombers are getting explosive charges inside their breasts, using a similar procedure to breast augmentation. This makes bombs almost impossible to detect at airports. But there's something strange here. more

First the shoe bomber, then the crotch bomber, and now this?  The author of the referenced story does note some suspicious tidbits about this sudden discovery:

...I don't doubt that MI5's intentions are good this time—even while they weren't good at all back in the ramping up of misinformation before the Iraq invasion—but there's something here that smells a bit fishy. Actually, really fishy, since the "terrorism expert" quoted by the Sun and Fox News is none other than Joseph Farah, publisher of World Net Daily, Rush Limbaugh collaborator, and well known for questioning President Obama's origins. In other words, an extremist douchebag. [The Sun via Fox News and Wikipedia]