Archive for February 1, 2012
Tom Coburn Hates America
This would be Republican Senator Tom Coburn:
Tom Coburn Blocks 9/11 Museum Funding
Sen. Tom Coburn is blocking legislation that would provide $20 million a year in federal funding for the National September 11 Memorial & Museumat [sic] ground zero…
Photo: AP
Coburn hates America and he’s dissing our dead. Not only that, where’s his flag pin?
Huh? Huh?
I’m thinking Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.
About Those Frye Boot “Benchcrafters”
A friend gave me a pair of Frye shoes the other day. They came with a rustic cardboard tag advertising Frye’s as “Benchcrafted Since 1863:”
The first pair of Frye Boots were benchcrafted in 1863. What made them America’s best then still holds true today. Frye quality is timeless. Since 1863 Frye leather products have been benchcrafted from the finest full grain leather uppers and genuine leather…
So I’m thinking:
Not only that, but the address on the tag says:
The Frye Company, 160 Great Neck Road, Great Neck, New York 11021
Moving on, I imagine bent-over, gray-haired sweet old men wearing tiny wire-rimmed glasses who smell of leather dye working in Great Neck, New York benchcrafting away.
But then I look inside my new shoes and gosh golly gee, what do I see? “Made in China.”
Republicans Are Killing Alabama’s Economy
You get what you vote for:
Photo: Alamy
Alabama’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, widely seen as the toughest in the United States, could cost the state’s economy up to $10.8 billion, according to a new study.
The Alabama law, passed in June, requires police to detain people they suspect of being in the United States illegally if they cannot produce proper documentation when stopped for any reason, among other measures.
A cost-benefit analysis released this week by University of Alabama economist Samuel Addy estimated up to 80,000 jobs could be vacated by illegal immigrants fleeing the crackdown, costing Alabama’s economy up to $10.8 billion.
The lost jobs would cost Alabama up to $264.5 million in lost state sales and income taxes, and as much as $93.1 million in lost city and county sales taxes, it found.
At the low end of the range, Addy found the crackdown could cost the state economy $2.3 billion.
A U.S. appeals court blocked Alabama from enforcing parts of the law, including a provision that permits the state to require public schools to determine the legal residency of children upon enrollment. But the court left most of the law untouched.
Last summer I posted about farmers in Alabama who were suffering due to this new law which was passed, seemingly, without an ounce of study. (Republicans think ignorance is cool, after all.)
Alabama, is it any wonder you’re 50th in just about everything?
Like I said above. You get what you vote for.
Republicans Want to Freeze the Pay of Federal Workers — But Not Their Own
As part of their effort to pull us down, instead of lifting us up, Republicans in the House want to freeze pay for Federal workers:
The GOP-led House is ushering forward bills to freeze federal employee pay and ban welfare recipients from accessing their benefits through ATMs at casinos or strip clubs — moves intended to give Republicans leverage for including those proposals in negotiations to extend President Obama’s payroll tax holiday for the remainder of the year.
[...]
Republicans in the House also sought to freeze federal employee pay, confronting Obama’s proposal to lift the federal pay freeze that has been in effect since fiscal year 2010 and give federal workers a half-percent pay hike.
Thing is, I can’t find anything out there about Republicans committing to freezing their own pay:
Members of Congress have the only job in the country whose occupants can set their own salary without regard to performance, profit, or economic climate,” said Tom Schatz, president of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste in a press release.
[...]
Congress has now voted itself a total of $16,700 in raises over the last six years. Since 1990, congressional pay has increased from $98,400 to $154,700 in 2003.
Oh, okaaaay.
University of Colorado Regents Approve a $7 Million Scoreboard for Folsom Stadium
A few weeks ago the citizens of Colorado learned that tuition at the University of Colorado could soar as much as 15.7% next year. That would be on top of tuition increases of “between 8.8% and 9.3% each of the last four years.”
Fast forward to today, and we hear that the University of Colorado Board of Regents has approved “a $7 million scoreboard project in Folsom Stadium.” A $7 million scoreboard for Folsom Stadium, when students can barely afford books and tuition? Really? Really?
This is the scoreboard at Folsom Stadium:
It’s fine.
Puhleez. Let’s screw our heads on straight around here folks.
House Republicans Protect Gas Industry, Arrest Director of Gasland at DC Hearing
This is horrifying. Welcome to police state USA folks:
In a stunning break with First Amendment policy on Capitol Hill, House Republicans directed Capitol Hill police to detain a highly regarded documentary crew that was attempting to film a Wednesday hearing on a controversial natural gas procurement practice. Republicans also denied the entrance of a credentialed ABC News news team that was attempting to film the event.
Josh Fox, director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary “Gasland” was taken into custody by Capitol Hill police this morning, along with his crew, after Republicans objected to their presence, according to Democratic sources present at the hearing.
[...]
“Gasland” received strong critical acclaim and takes a critical eye toward the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a process in which several tons of highly pressurized water and chemicals are injected into the ground, allowing valuable natural gas to escape.
[...]
Fox had hoped to film Wednesday’s hearing for a follow-up to “Gasland.”
Fox did not have formal Capitol Hill credentials, but such formalities are rarely enforced against high-profile journalists. … The right to a free press is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Documentary crews are almost never denied access to public meetings of elected government officials.
A separate ABC News crew, which did have official Capitol Hill credentials, was also denied access to the publichearing.
Republicans to all journalists and to America: Fuck the First Amendment. I mean seriously. This was a public hearing being held in the United States Capitol, a building owned by We the People, and the hearing was being conducted by people who We the People elected and who work for us! What the hell is going on around here?
If this isn’t a form of terrorism I don’t know what is.
Freeing a Humpback Whale
Wow, what a way to start the day. This video will bring tears of joy:
Michael Fishbach narrates his encounter with a humpback whale entangled in a fishing net. Gershon Cohen and he have founded The Great Whale Conservancy to protect whales. http://www.greatwhaleconservancy.org, is their website.
