Apr 13, 2013
Making Way Too Much Sense
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) co-founder Peter Christ talks sense about "The War On Drugs".
The main problem is the one that (as usual) is all about the cash. There are people who've spent their entire careers riding the swirling torrents of money and power that surge through another Industrial Complex here in God's America - this one involving a very lucrative marriage of Corporatized Prisons, Illegal Drug Cartels, and a Justice System Consortium of courts and cops who can sometimes fund themselves just thru the goodies they legally confiscate under the protection of Zero-Tolerance Policies (and the hyper-macho politicians who use the Drug War to scare us into keeping them in power).
The billions we piss down the rat hole every year would do wonders if we spent the money treating our drug problem as the Healthcare issue it actually is.
Of course, just like all the other really stoopid "conservative" ideas we fell into bed with over the last 40 years, The War On Drugs isn't going away easy.
(hat tip = facebook buddy Bill Davison)
The main problem is the one that (as usual) is all about the cash. There are people who've spent their entire careers riding the swirling torrents of money and power that surge through another Industrial Complex here in God's America - this one involving a very lucrative marriage of Corporatized Prisons, Illegal Drug Cartels, and a Justice System Consortium of courts and cops who can sometimes fund themselves just thru the goodies they legally confiscate under the protection of Zero-Tolerance Policies (and the hyper-macho politicians who use the Drug War to scare us into keeping them in power).
The billions we piss down the rat hole every year would do wonders if we spent the money treating our drug problem as the Healthcare issue it actually is.
Of course, just like all the other really stoopid "conservative" ideas we fell into bed with over the last 40 years, The War On Drugs isn't going away easy.
(hat tip = facebook buddy Bill Davison)
Oops - Almost Forgot
In honor of Confederate History Month here's my tribute to The Lost Cause, and to the nobility of the great struggle to defend our proud traditions during The War Of Northern Aggression:
Offended? Bite me.
Offended? Bite me.
Apr 12, 2013
Today's Turnaround
Fox Nation has this story about how Obama's ratings began to fall as he was releasing some of the points in his Budget Proposal which includes the offer to fuck up Social Security and Medicare:
I have a coupla questions. First, how come Obama's approval ratings always start to tank whenever he starts to talk and to act like a Republican?
And second, how come the knuckleheads watching DumFux News never fucking notice that?
Apr 11, 2013
The Krugman Speaks
Slowly - we're startin' to get it.
Here's Paul Krugman on the Budget:
Maybe on those rare occasions they do talk to real people, they're reminded of why they're supposed to be there and that's what makes a Joe Manchin cry. But I don't think those are tears of sadness or even of shame so much as they're the tears you cry when you really start feeling the stress. Manchin has to put on a good show, promising people he'll do something about their issue, and then he has to go into a committee meeting and basically fuck 'em over while making it look like he fought the good fight for them. That makes for an awful lotta stress. Let's hope I'm being overly skeptical. Maybe Manchin was crying tears of relief; grateful that he can say "the people made me do it", but let's not count on that one, OK?
With very few exceptions, it doesn't much matter what the "issue" is. Guns, Abortion, Immigration, Gay Marriage, Jobs, The Budget - none of that matters because it's not about the 2nd Amendment or Privacy or E-Verify or Equal Rights or Taxes vs Spending. The issues don't get resolved because politicians need those issues to get the money, and they need the money to get the votes. Which I think is the main contributing factor in why so many people believe the centrist baloney of Both Sides Do It / They're All The Same. For one thing, if you buy into it, then you don't have to take a real stand on anything, which means you don't have to defend your position if it comes up in conversation, which means you don't have to do the real work of a citizen participating in a democracy. Cuz hey - ain't nobody got time fuh dat.
Cutting to the chase - solve the problem of Coin-Operated Politics, enabled - if not driven outright - by a Corporatized Media (which has far more interest in keeping the fight going than they have in the outcome of the fight), and a lot of these horribly complex and nettlesome problems start to disappear as if by magic.
In the meantime, remember that while there's plenty that's seriously wrong with our system, there's something way more seriously wrong with a radicalized GOP right now - which could easily be the main reason why there's something so seriously wrong with our system.
Here's Paul Krugman on the Budget:
Since the beginning, the Obama administration has seemed eager to gain the approval of the grownups — the sensible people who will reward efforts to be Serious, and eventually turn on those nasty, intransigent Republicans as long as Obama and co. don’t cater too much to the hippies.This is the latest, biggest version of that strategy. Unfortunately, it will almost surely fail. Why? Because there are no grownups — only people who try to sound like grownups, but are actually every bit as childish as anyone else.
After all, if whoever it is that Obama is trying to appeal to here — I guess it’s the Washington Post editorial page and various other self-proclaimed “centrist” pundits — were willing to admit the fundamental asymmetry in our political debate, willing to admit that if DC is broken, it’s because of GOP radicalism, they would have done it long ago. It’s not as if this reality was hard to see.
But the truth is that the “centrists” aren’t sincere. Calls for centrism and bipartisanship aren’t actual demands for specific policies — they’re an act, a posture these people take to make themselves seem noble and superior. And that posture requires blaming both parties equally, no matter what they do or propose. Obama’s budget will garner faint praise at best, quickly followed by denunciations of the president for not supplying the Leadership (TM) to make Republicans compromise — which means that he’s just as much at fault as they are, see?The Beltway Bubble has become nearly impervious even though once in a very great while there's some evidence of a thin spot in the outer membrane. Joe Manchin's teary-eyed performance yesterday while responding to reporters after he met with Newtown parents is a pretty good example - but mostly, our glorious representatives are all too busy talking to each other or to the Press Poodles or to their Pollsters or to Lobbyists or to Wall Streeters and Fund-Raisers and Big Contributers; or whatever - they're just too busy to be bothered to talk directly to real people.
Maybe on those rare occasions they do talk to real people, they're reminded of why they're supposed to be there and that's what makes a Joe Manchin cry. But I don't think those are tears of sadness or even of shame so much as they're the tears you cry when you really start feeling the stress. Manchin has to put on a good show, promising people he'll do something about their issue, and then he has to go into a committee meeting and basically fuck 'em over while making it look like he fought the good fight for them. That makes for an awful lotta stress. Let's hope I'm being overly skeptical. Maybe Manchin was crying tears of relief; grateful that he can say "the people made me do it", but let's not count on that one, OK?
With very few exceptions, it doesn't much matter what the "issue" is. Guns, Abortion, Immigration, Gay Marriage, Jobs, The Budget - none of that matters because it's not about the 2nd Amendment or Privacy or E-Verify or Equal Rights or Taxes vs Spending. The issues don't get resolved because politicians need those issues to get the money, and they need the money to get the votes. Which I think is the main contributing factor in why so many people believe the centrist baloney of Both Sides Do It / They're All The Same. For one thing, if you buy into it, then you don't have to take a real stand on anything, which means you don't have to defend your position if it comes up in conversation, which means you don't have to do the real work of a citizen participating in a democracy. Cuz hey - ain't nobody got time fuh dat.
Cutting to the chase - solve the problem of Coin-Operated Politics, enabled - if not driven outright - by a Corporatized Media (which has far more interest in keeping the fight going than they have in the outcome of the fight), and a lot of these horribly complex and nettlesome problems start to disappear as if by magic.
In the meantime, remember that while there's plenty that's seriously wrong with our system, there's something way more seriously wrong with a radicalized GOP right now - which could easily be the main reason why there's something so seriously wrong with our system.
Smackin' My Forehead
Once in a while, I need somebody like Julianna Forlano to remind me - it's not about delivering content to consumers. It's about delivering consumers to advertisers.
Apr 10, 2013
Music
Stephen Stills
Manassas (1972)
Track: 9
And so begins the task
I have dreaded the coming of
For so long
I wait for the sun
To remind my body
It needs restin'
And I must learn to live without you now
I must learn to give only part some how
Camping on the edge
Of your city I wait
Hoping someday
You might
See
Beyond yourself
The shadows on the ceiling
Hard
But not real
Like the bars that cage
You within yourself
And I must learn to live without you now
I must learn to give only part some how
And I must learn to live without you now
As I cannot learn to give only part some how
All of these cages
Must
And shall be set aside
They will only
Keep
Us from the knowing
Actors
And stages
Now fall before the truth
As the love
Shared
Between us
Remains
...Growing
And I must learn to live without you now
As I cannot learn to give only part some how
Apr 9, 2013
Another One Bites The Dust
Gun Nuts are always like, "Well, c'mon man - people get killed with baseball bats and knives and frying pans - ya wanna ban all those things too, just cuz people kill people with odd weapons?"
In Texas today, some butthead went ballistic and started stabbing people with some kind of edged weapon. As of about 8pm Tuesday, none of them is dead.
If he'd had a gun, everybody fucking knows the story would be a whole lot different. So take that argument and stuff it right back in your ditty bag.
We gotta do something about the guns NOW.
In Texas today, some butthead went ballistic and started stabbing people with some kind of edged weapon. As of about 8pm Tuesday, none of them is dead.
If he'd had a gun, everybody fucking knows the story would be a whole lot different. So take that argument and stuff it right back in your ditty bag.
We gotta do something about the guns NOW.
Today's Number
30
Keeping "suspected terrorists" at Gitmo costs us 30 times what it would cost for us to put all of those guys in SuperMax in Florence Colorado.
Close that shit down now.
Keeping "suspected terrorists" at Gitmo costs us 30 times what it would cost for us to put all of those guys in SuperMax in Florence Colorado.
Close that shit down now.
Fun With Sousaphones
It took us years to understand that the 'Band Geeks' were actually pretty amazing.
Today's Irony
I use the word 'Irony' because I'm feeling a little more charitable than usual towards some of my reality-challenged friends, so I'm not absolutely sure today's example rises to 'Hypocrisy'.
"Conservatives" complain a lot about the PC Culture of Self Esteem and how if you don't let kids suffer the humiliation of never getting picked for playground games, then they'll never learn something they're supposed to learn - some of which I don't disagree with BTW; but that ain't my point and I'll save that one for another rant on another day.
What triggered my wondering today is a short piece on AGW/Climate Change from Addicting Info:
If you're gonna bitch about every kid getting a fair shot in grade school, then don't turn around and start demanding that your (almost-completely-misinformed) opinion counts as much as anybody else's and so the facts mean nothing just because those facts indicate we should do something you think conflicts with your ideology - cuz hey, Freedom.
Paraphrasing: The planet is round. And in spite of your opinion to the contrary, the fact that the planet is round is not in dispute.
So don't bring your schoolyard shit to a national debate - you're embarrassing yourselves in public.
"Conservatives" complain a lot about the PC Culture of Self Esteem and how if you don't let kids suffer the humiliation of never getting picked for playground games, then they'll never learn something they're supposed to learn - some of which I don't disagree with BTW; but that ain't my point and I'll save that one for another rant on another day.
What triggered my wondering today is a short piece on AGW/Climate Change from Addicting Info:
...Conservative ideology has resulted in an inherent mistrust/dislike of science and the scientific community, leading conservative constituents honestly believing that the validity of a theory, whether scientific or otherwise (meaning both definitions of “theory”), depends on whether or not you believe it. That’s not just a conservative problem; we have this idea as Americans, perhaps as people, that we need to “respect” someone else’s opinion no matter what the facts say.
Sorry, but I don’t buy into that. Not everyone’s opinion carries the same value or weight.That last bit is what hung me up in the context of "everybody gets to play".
If you're gonna bitch about every kid getting a fair shot in grade school, then don't turn around and start demanding that your (almost-completely-misinformed) opinion counts as much as anybody else's and so the facts mean nothing just because those facts indicate we should do something you think conflicts with your ideology - cuz hey, Freedom.
Paraphrasing: The planet is round. And in spite of your opinion to the contrary, the fact that the planet is round is not in dispute.
So don't bring your schoolyard shit to a national debate - you're embarrassing yourselves in public.
Apr 7, 2013
Today's Outlook - Bleak
This piece is a bit less hopeful than I usually like myself to jump into, but sometimes ya gotta say straight out that it looks pretty shitty from where you're standing. (UnrepentantLiberal at Democratic Underground):
They figured it out.
Who's gonna stop us? Most Americans don't read political websites and blogs. Their kids want milk, they buy milk at the supermarket. A two minute report on CNN is easily forgotten when the latest celebrity scandal breaks.
What are you gonna do if the politician we own puts this law in the books? You ain't gonna do shit.
What are you gonna do if you're making less money now than you were 30 years ago? You ain't gonna do shit.
What are you gonna do if we bust your union? You ain't gonna do shit.
What are you gonna do if we close down the factory that provided your grand father, father and you a means to provide for your families? You ain't gonna do shit.
What are you gonna do if we privatize your rotting town and part out what's left? You ain't gonna do shit.
What are you gonna do if we cut off the social services you now need to survive? You ain't gonna do shit.
What are you gonna do when we steal the Social Security account that you paid into for 50 years? You ain't gonna do shit.
What are you gonna do if you protest and we beat you, arrest you on trumped-up charges and then have Erin Burnett make fun of you? You ain't gonna shit.
And when it's all gone and we're living a life of luxury with the money we took from you? Well, you know the drill.
Suckers.
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