Posts filed under ‘Dumbed Down’
New Mexico: Corporations Are Not People
I’m about to crawl in bed because I have The Cold That Won’t Quit that everyone seems to have these days, but I want to put this up first:
New Mexico calls on Congress to overturn Citizens United ruling
The New Mexico state legislature has approved a resolution that urges the U.S. Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. FEC.
“This marks a major victory for the constitutional amendment movement to reclaim our democracy,” said John Bonifaz, director of Free Speech for People, a coalition of groups that oppose the controversial ruling.
“The Citizens United ruling presents a direct and serious threat to the integrity of our elections, unleashing a torrent of corporate money into our political process,” he added. “The ruling is also the most extreme extension yet of a corporate rights doctrine which has been eroding our First Amendment and our US Constitution for the past 30 years. As with prior egregious Supreme Court rulings which threatened our democracy, we the people must exercise our power under Article V of the Constitution to enact a constitutional amendment which will preserve the promise of American self-government: of, for, and by the people.”
If my memory serves, I think this is the first time a state legislature has passed a resolution opposing Citizens United. A number of city and county councils have passed amendments and/or resolutions but I think this is first state-wide resolution ever.
Bravo New Mexico.
Let’s keep this ball rollin’ people!
Mitt (Dog on Roof) Romney Wins Maine Caucuses
A whopping 39% of Mainers — that would be a total of 2,190 people — voted for Mitt
Illustration by Colleeen Clap for the "Chris Matthews Show"
Romney in today’s Republican caucuses there.
Ron Paul came in second at 36% with 1,996 votes.
Rick Santorum was third at 18% with 989 votes, and
Newt and Callista Gingrich came in fourth at 6% with a pitiful 349 votes.
Relevant factoid: Maine’s population? 1,328,188.
So, 5,524 Republicans voted in Maine today and the cables have been hanging on it all week? Really?
#ItsAllAboutRatingsTheMoney
Rick Berman, Millionaire Lobbyist, Gives We the People The Finger
Rick Berman gives us all a big freakin’ finger:
Big-time lobbyist Rick Berman creates nonprofit front groups to push corporate interests. Now he’s in an anti-union ad pretending to be an auto mechanic.
(Via.)
This is how brazen the corporatocracy is getting. They’re buying elections and they don’t care if we know it because we can’t do anything about it. They have the money and we don’t. Period. We’re on the outside looking in. Welcome to Campaign 2012!
(With special thanks to the activist Republican judges on the Supreme Court who brought us Citizens United.)
Dumbed Down America
Here are the Time magazine covers for next week’s issue:
Embarrassing for those of us who live in the U.S., imho.
View larger here.
Fox Suggests Employment Numbers Are Fake
Been waiting for this to happen:
Fox and Friends -- Photo by H. Walker/Getty Images North America)
Fox & Friends Suggests The January Job Numbers Are Made Up To Make President Obama Look Good
During the morning train wreck known as Fox & Friends on Monday, hosts Eric Bolling, Steve Doocy, and Gretchen Carlson discussed the positive January jobs report numbers, suggesting that the Labor Department doctored the numbers to help President Obama look good.
I predict Fox will keep pushing this meme and by November its viewers will blow off the employment numbers altogether.
Question is, what to do if a Republican wins in November and the numbers continue to be good?
They’ll pause for two or three months and then they’ll throw it into reverse. Their drugged viewers won’t notice a thing.
GE Lies — Super Bowl Ad Claims They’re “Revitalizing Manufacturing”
GE lied big time in an ad it ran tonight during the Super Bowl – on NBC, which is owned by GE — and gosh golly, NBC, an alleged “news” organization, let it go without noting the inaccuracies:
You gotta love the “liberal media.”
About the U.N. Establishing a Global World Order
There are people out there who think programs that encourage bicycling are being orchestrated by the United Nations
Photo: Wikipedia
in an alleged secret long-term plan to establish a one-world government.
Pretty funny when we see that while citizens in Syria are being massacred by the hundreds by their own government, sadly, the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council can’t agree on what to do about it.
A U.N. Security Council effort to end the violence in Syria ended in acrimony and a veto by Russia and China on Saturday, hours after the Syrian military attacked the ravaged city of Homs in what opposition leaders described as the bloodiest government assault in the nearly 11-month-old uprising.
[...]
The Security Council voted, 13-2, in favor of a resolution backing an Arab League peace plan for Syria, which calls for Assad to cede power to his vice president and a unity government to lead Syria to democratic elections. But passage was blocked by Russia and China, which opposed what they saw as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.
“ppl” Having Babies?
This would be my Tweet of the Day:
First of all Mr. King, “ppl” don’t have babies. Women. Have. Babies.
And about that supposed “dying civilization” due to “ppl” not having kids? Really? Tomorrow I’ll post some stats about how the planet is dying from overpopulation, not underpopulation. (I know, you and your crowd want to drown science in the bathtub and you think dumb is good. Hey, you’re a winner on both of those fronts!)
As for insurers? Don’t get me started.
Geezus.
From the You-Can’t-Make-This-Shit-Up File
I come across so much mind-blowingly crazy stuff like this every day, my whole blog could be dedicated to it. I tend to shake my head and move on at most of it but sometimes I have to stop and scream. And I’m screaming now:
Alabama Republican Senator: Low teacher Pay Mandated by God
A Republican State Senator from Alabama claimed this week that keeping teacher salaries low is actually an order from the Christian deity figure, imparted in ancient texts written by Jewish tribesmen thousands of years ago.
Speaking at a prayer breakfast recently, Alabama state Senator Shadrack McGill praised giving pay raises to politicians, saying that it helps to prevent bribery. Then he shifted gears and went in the opposite direction with regards to teachers, arguing against a bill that would increase their salaries.
“Teachers need to make the money that they need to make,” he said, according to Alabama newspaper The Times-Journal. “There needs to be a balance there. If you double what you’re paying education, you know what’s going to happen? I’ve heard the comment many times, ‘Well, the quality of education’s going to go up.’ That’s never proven to happen, guys.
“It’s a Biblical principle. If you double a teacher’s pay scale, you’ll attract people who aren’t called to teach. To go and raise someone’s child for eight hours a day, or many people’s children for eight hours a day, requires a calling. It better be a calling in your life. I know I wouldn’t want to do it, OK?”
He continued: “And these teachers that are called to teach, regardless of the pay scale, they would teach. It’s just in them to do. It’s the ability that God give ‘em. And there are also some teachers, it wouldn’t matter how much you would pay them, they would still perform to the same capacity. “If you don’t keep that in balance, you’re going to attract people who are not called, who don’t need to be teaching our children. So, everything has a balance.”
Huzzah!
10, 15, 40 years ago, this wouldn’t have made the news. It would have been thought of as, literally, crazy; the rant of a religious nut.
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.
Mitt Romney Campaigns For His Millionaire Donors
Who is Willard Mitt Romney campaigning for? You? Me? No. He’s campaigning for the folks who give to his SuperPAC, Restore Our Future, Inc.
Restore Our Future Inc.? A more appropriate name would be, Restore Rich People’s Future Inc.
Details here
The Susan G. Komen Foundation Joins Republican Effort to Destroy Planned Parenthood
The nation’s leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is halting its partnerships with Planned Parenthood affiliates — creating a bitter rift, linked to the abortion debate, between two iconic organizations that have assisted millions of women.
The change will mean a cutoff of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, mainly for breast exams.
Planned Parenthood says the move results from Komen bowing to pressure from anti-abortion activists. Komen says the key reason is that Planned Parenthood is under investigation in Congress — a probe launched by a conservative Republican who was urged to act by anti-abortion groups.
So, conservative congressional Republicans launch a “probe” of Planned Parenthood and then they turn to the Komen Foundation and pressure it to withhold donations to Planned Parenthood because they’ve launched a “probe?” How deceitfully, viciously clever.
Are the Komen people that stupid? Don’t they get that Republicans want to destroy Planned Parenthood altogether because they want to impose their American Taliban-like beliefs on all of us; that they don’t want women to have the freedom to chose?
Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, has depicted Stearns’ probe as politically motivated and said she was dismayed that it had contributed to Komen’s decision to halt the grants to PPFA affiliates.
“It’s hard to understand how an organization with whom we share a mission of saving women’s lives could have bowed to this kind of bullying.”
Exactly.
And I say this to the Republicans conducting that “probe:” It takes two to get pregnant:
Michael Steele Lies: Florida’s Primary is a “Grass Roots” Effort
Figures made available to The Associated Press showed Romney was spending $2.8 million to air television commercials in the final week of the Florida campaign. In addition, a group supporting him, Restore Our Future, was spending $4 million more, for a combined total of $6.8 million.
By contrast, Gingrich was spending about $700,000, and Winning Our Future, a group backing him, an additional $1.5 million. That was about one-third the amount for the pro-Romney tandem.
Only nine more months to go!
* It isn’t like me to refer to the former head of the Grand Old Party (i.e., the GOP) as the “former Republican party leader.” But given that 50% of Republicans have no idea who the GOP is, I’m thinking it’s a good idea to refer to Republicans not as the GOP, but as Republicans. I mean, if I have to hold their little hands so they’ll know what their party’s up to, I’ll do it.
Remember When Voting Was Thought of as a Sacred Right?
Remember when Iraq held its first election after the U.S. invasion and all of us, including conservatives like Bill Bennett, held their breath hoping the elections would be “free and fair?”
Let’s see many Americans color their right index finger purple in solidarity for the people voting in free elections in Iraq. Americans should watch closely the voting in Iraq.
I think it will do us all good to see democracy in action.
We watched from a high and mighty place back then because after all, we were the United States of America, where everyone has a voice, everyone has a vote and voting is sacred and respected above almost all other rights.
Well, that was then, this is now. Since then, the people in Bill Bennett’s Republican party have pushed through extraordinarily repressive voting rights laws in several states and now the international community is focusing attention on one of our most deeply held rights and traditions:
A wave of restrictive laws passed in Republican-held state legislatures will mean that a disproportionate number of ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, the elderly and the young, will find voting difficult and in many cases impossible.
Among the legislation is a requisite that aspiring voters present a state-issued photo identification card to cast their ballot. That would affect around 21 million people who do not have the ID.
The apparent reason for the ID requirement is to prevent voter fraud, yet an extensive analysis by the US Justice Department.found that incidents of vote fraud are exceedingly rare and that the new laws would not solve the eligibility issues.
Some analysts say the restrictions would have a severe impact on the country’s presidential vote in November, favouring the Republican candidate.
Al Jazeera’s Rob Reynold travelled to the state of Wisconsin, where he spoke to one woman whose right to vote may have been stripped by the new restrictions.
(Via.)
Fundamental rights in the United States are under assault people. We are facing an emergency.
Newt Gingrich attended a rally in The Villages, Florida yesterday and he said something about how he isn’t going to stand around while President Obama presides over America’s decline. Time to look in the mirror Newt.
Global Warming — The Video
No wonder Republicans want to do away with government. It produces hippie, socialist videos like this that rely on hocus pocus, commonly referred to by pot smoking liberal tree huggers as “science:”
The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880.The finding sustains a trend that has seen the 21st century experience nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record. NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York released an analysis of how temperatures around the globe in 2011 compared to the average global temperature from the mid-20th century. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience higher temperatures than several decades ago. The average temperature around the globe in 2011 was 0.92 degrees F (0.51 C) higher than the mid-20th century baseline.
Poor, Suffering Chevron
This would be our Tweet of the Day:
Poor thing.
By the way, those subsidies come out of We the People’s pocket, as in Our Tax Dollars. We pay Chevron because, according to our screwed up tax code, it can make $51,00o every minute of every day of the year and still claim it needs our tax dollars to stay alive and be a “job creator.”
Romney Backers Whine About the “Lefty” Media
This is my Tweet of the Day:
I think we’re going to be sicker than ever of professional Republican victims crying about the mythological “liberal media” this year.
I’d give anything if there were such a thing.
The United States Drops 27 Points in Freedom of the Press Index
Botswana, Namibia, Papua New Guinea and Niger are among the countries that rank higher in press freedoms than the United States in a new index released by Reporters Without Borders:
“Crackdown was the word of the year in 2011. Never has freedom of information been so closely associated with democracy. Never have journalists, through their reporting, vexed the enemies of freedom so much. Never have acts of censorship and physical attacks on journalists seemed so numerous. The equation is simple: the absence or suppression of civil liberties leads necessarily to the suppression of media freedom. Dictatorships fear and ban information, especially when it may undermine them.
[...]
“This year’s index finds the same group of countries at its head, countries such as Finland, Norway and Netherlands that respect basic freedoms. This serves as a reminder that media independence can only be maintained in strong democracies and that democracy needs media freedom.
[...]
Led by President Yoweri Museveni, Uganda (139th) launched an unprecedented crackdown on opposition movements and independent media after the elections in February. Similarly, Chile (80th) fell 47 places because of its many freedom of information violations, committed very often by the security forces during student protests. The United States (47th) also owed its fall of 27 places to the many arrests of journalist covering Occupy Wall Street protests.
Read more and see how other countries rank, here.
Time to hit the refresh button on what “they” tell us, that the United States is the worldwide beacon for freedom of the press.
Barney Frank Kicks Some A**
On January 20, the New York Times Magazine published an interview with the retiring Senator Barney Frank (D-MA) titled: The Not So Retiring Barney Frank.
This quintessential Barney Frank quote is my favorite part:
Interviewer: You’ve long argued for the decriminalization of marijuana. Do you smoke weed?
Barney Frank: No.
Interviewer: Why not?
Barney Frank: Why do you ask a question, then act surprised when I give an answer? Do you think I lie to people?
Interviewer: I thought you might explain why you support decriminalizing it but don’t smoke it.
Barney Frank: Do you think I’ve ever had an abortion?
Go get ‘em Barney!
Oh, and memo to the “interviewer:” Really? REALLY?
Rand Paul’s Red Hot Hypocrisy
Not making this up:
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), son of White House hopeful Ron Paul, was detained by the TSA Monday after refusing a pat-down, his dad tweeted Monday.
The father-son pair, both renegade libertarians within their party, are harsh critics of TSA searches they brand intrusive, and have called for the agency’s elimination.
“My son @SenRandPaul being detained by TSA for refusing full body pat-down after anomaly in body scanner in Nashville. More details coming,” the Texas Republican congressman wrote.
[...]
The younger politician was heading to Washington to address the March for Life, a massive Pro-Life [anti-choice] rally marking Sunday’s 38th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.
Don’t Like Citizens United? Turn the TV Off
Antonin Scalia is a simple-minded asshat unworthy of the position he’s in:
Photo: Adm Golub / The San Francisco Chronicle
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia has a simple solution for people who don’t like all the political advertisements unleashed by the court’s decision two years ago that ended limits on corporate contributions in political campaigns – change the channel or turn off the TV.
Scalia was asked about the [Citizens United] decision during a presentation before the South Carolina Bar on Saturday, exactly two years after the court handed down the 5-4 decision in the case that led to the rise of Super PACs. They are outside groups affiliated with candidates that can take in unlimited contributions as long as they don’t directly coordinate with the candidate.
“I don’t care who is doing the speech – the more the merrier,” Scalia said. “People are not stupid. If they don’t like it, they’ll shut it off.”
Yo Tony, people are stupid. They don’t turn their TV off. They watch and they get brainwashed.
(Hear me screaming now?)
I’m going to bed. I’m walking people through a food bank tomorrow.
Colorado News Channel: Sonogram Shows Baby Tebowing
Say it ain’t so already:
You expect to find out if you’re having a boy or a girl, but you might not expect what one local family saw in their sonogram this week. It showed their baby boy “Tebowing” in the womb.
“I think it really hit us kind of when we came home and looked at it because we had just got this on Tuesday; and the weekend before we were all ‘Tebowing,’” Elizabeth Vigil said. She added that the baby is already a part of her Broncos family.
“You’re born into the Broncos when you’re born into my family, pretty cool,” her husband, David Vigil, said.
(Via.)
What with so many things happening in the world that the corporate media would rather not touch, I guess you’ve got to fill the time any way you can.
Fox’s Spin on Obama Rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline
OMG, Fox’s spin on Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline is just juvenile and ridiculous and silly. They’ve really outdone themselves with this one:
Here is the accompanying article together with a — bonus! bonus! — August 30 video of Daryl Hannah appearing on the O’Reilly Factor:
O’Reilly: It’s interesting. You’re running up against Hillary Clinton and President Obama. It’s you, Daryl Hanna…
Hanna: No…
O’Reilly: Against Hillary Clinton and President Obama.
So there you have it. Daryl Hanna won. Obama caved to liberal Hollywood* hippie chick Daryl Hanna. On Fox, it’s that simple folks.
Is it any wonder people who watch no news at all are better informed than people who watch Fox?
Huzzah!
* On Fox, all those drug-crazed, hedonistic, nonbeliever Hollywood-types are nutzo liberals who pour money into the Democratic party and hate Republicans. That’s the deeper message here.
On Strike
Write Congress Now!
NOT IN THE US? PETITION THE STATE DEPARTMENT HERE
Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian on CNBC: “Why is it that when Republicans and Democrats need to solve the budget and the deficit, there’s deadlock, but when Hollywood lobbyists pay them $94 million dollars to write legislation, people from both sides of the aisle line up to co-sponsor it?”
#NewNYTSlogans
If you want a good laugh (or maybe a good cry) check out the suggestions being made as to potential new New York Times‘ slogans at:
#NewNYTSlogans
(Go here for the backstory.)
NY Times “Public Editor” Wonders If the Times Should be a “Truth Vigilante”
In the world of American “journalism,” circa 2012, where “fair and balanced” is all that matters and reporting say, spin from a Democrat and spin from a Republican on the same topic means “journalists” have done their job, we’re down to this, from the New York Times‘ “Public Editor:”
Should The Times Be a Truth Vigilante?
I’m looking for reader input on whether and when New York Times news reporters should challenge “facts” that are asserted by newsmakers they write about.
Should reporters challenge “facts?” Ah, YEAH! And when should they do it? Every. Single. Time!
This is like asking a veterinarian if he or she should diagnose illnesses in animals instead of just petting them.
Who Can Blame Iran For Wanting One — One — Nuke?
This is our Tweet of the Day:
The United States currently maintains an arsenal of 5,113 [nuclear] warheads.
If you were Iran, what would you do?
