Connecting Dots

Ya gotta be careful with correlations (not everybody lying down with their eyes closed is dead), but when these things pop up, we need to take a good look to make sure there's no real causatives in motion.
This one really bugs me because the Consumer Product Safety Commission has been another one of those "bloated and evil bureaucracies" the Repubs are always complaining about, and trying to defund and defang.

From USA Today:

Children's product recalls dropped 24% in 2011, but injuries and other incidents associated with these recalls grew 7%, a report out today says.

The decline in recalls is likely due to companies' adherence to a new children's product safety law, according to Kids In Danger, which did the report. But the advocacy group says that the secrecy surrounding product safety recalls makes it difficult to draw conclusions.

Product liability is a big deal.  It's one of the mainstays of an appropriately regulated Free Market System because if the customers have the kind of recourse that can kill a company (one that's been proven grossly negligent and is thereby in for a much-deserved major ass-whupping), then companies have to be aware of the stick that goes with the profit carrot.  But if the companies can buy some coin-operated politicians and first, make it harder to get good safety info; and second, make it a lot harder for us to mete out those beatings, then they improve their profits and shift more of the risk onto the buyers.

Don't be fooled - this is exactly what Tort Reform is about.

Music

For a Monday morning - Moby Grape's 8:05.

These guys were 2nd tier, but I think that was mostly because they were under-produced.  A better producer would've pushed them to write better tunes and to tighten up the all around execution.  But this is Revolution Rock, so "the old guy influence of the establishment" is nowhere to be found, which makes for a raw and visceral feel.  You just play; you let it happen; you turn it loose in the cosmos and it goes where it goes, man.

Anyway, it's easy to hear where guys like Jim Croce and Gordon Lightfoot came from in this cut.

Cue The Silliness

Get ready for the PhotoShop versions, which should start to surface any minute now.

Perspective

Abortion is about the biggest decision anybody is ever likely to have to make.
Which is pretty much why government should probably stay out of it.
Which is exactly why "conservatives" should be against letting the government anywhere near it.

hat tip = bluegal via facebook

I Love A Parody

You've prob'ly seen this junk before - surely you have some chowderhead relative or a half-bright buddy who sends you those emails everybody loves.

Here's an interesting little twist courtesy of shortpacked.com.
(hat tip = JG)

Once you get to the site, mouse over the figures in the painting for the commentary.

Today's Pix

Voter ID

Getting on airplanes and driving cars and cashing checks and having a drink are all things I dearly love being able to do.

But I actually have an obligation to go out and vote.  It's my right, and since every right carries a responsibility, it's the duty of everybody in this country to participate in our little experiment in self-government.

So I have to insist that you get the fuck outa my way and let me do it.  Thank you.

According To Pew

“Too Much” Religious Talk by Politicians

I won't go along with the part about "most people think churches should stay out of politics altogether", but I do think we've been flirting with disaster by allowing religious leaders to enact certain of their beliefs into law.

The US was founded by people who generally indicated they held religious beliefs that ran from Full-On Ayatollah to 'meh', and a lot of them mentioned God in public and in private - usually, I think, more as a rhetorical device than anything else, but maybe that's just me.  Here's my deal though: the US was founded by guys who believed in a variety of tenets from the Judeo-Christian smorgasbord, so it's almost a flat-out lie to say "this is a Christian Nation".  Can we knock that shit off now please?

The Real Mitt Romney

The Romneybot

Rachel gets a little preachy and I can do without that, but she's ridiculously diligent and astute about politics and the shit candidates have to pull (or get stuck thinking they have to pull), so she rarely gets this het up.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I just wanted to get this into the blog so I could find it later.  This is a good breakdown of the kind of stoopid shit our candidates put themselves thru to get elected.  Also a pretty good commentary on how too many of us end up seeming to demand these guys lie to us.

Goldwater's GOP

Barry Goldwater pretty much screwed the pooch in 1964 with the whole "extremism in the defense of liberty" thing, but he became a hero for me again over time because he allowed his thinking to evolve, while staying true to the core principles of American Democracy.

On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both.

I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in "A," "B," "C" and "D." Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?

And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of "conservatism."

--and--

Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.

Everything Comes From Somewhere Else

The first 40 seconds of this clip will forever be in my mind whenever I ponder how a leech like Rush Limbaugh came to be.



Is it really that much of stretch to think this is where he got the idea?

The Snatchel Project

From a spectacularly inspiring website:

Dear Men in Congress: If we knit you a uterus, will you stay out of ours?

(hat tip = Balloon Juice)

Virginia Report Card

From State Integrity via the comments at WaPo

A Thought

Young looks forward
faces its future
cuz there's not much in the past
that matters right now
and everything important's out ahead

Old looks backward
it sees a past filled
with the greatness of its youth
and turns its back
on a future with little left to offer