Using The Language Of Freedom

Adam Curtis.  Yeah, he can be formulaic, and more than a little heavy on the Makes-Ya-Clench-Yer-Asshole thing when he lays the spooky music over the gritty visuals.

Well, maybe we need a little asshole clenching now and then.

And not to get too Centrist here, but I do know this seems to dance perilously close to the kinda shit being peddled by Alex Jones and Glenn Beck, et al, but comparing black helicopters and FEMA camps and Ammo-gate to what Mr Curtis has to say makes my decision on what's closer to reality much easier.

Mathematicians such as John Nash developed paranoid game theories whose equations required people to be seen as selfish and isolated creatures, constantly monitoring each other suspiciously – always intent on their own advantage.

… politicians and scientists came to believe that this idea of human nature could be the basis of a new type of free society. But what none of them would realize was that within this dark and distrustful vision, lay the seeds of a new and revolutionary system of social control. It would use the language of freedom, but in reality, it would come to entrap us and our leaders in a narrow and empty world.

The Trap, part 1: "F**k You, Buddy"


The silly thing from days long past that comes to mind:  "Only yo mama loves ya, and she might be jivin' too."

The Trap, part 2: "The Lonely Robot"


The Trap, part 3: "We Will Force You To Be Free"

Go, Charley

The staffers working for Charley Pierce must be truly awesome (or maybe it's just Charley).  I dunno, but dang, somebody has some real chops when it comes to diggin' up nuts.

I first saw President Reagan as a foot, highly polished brown cordovan wagging merrily on a hassock. I spied it through the door. It was a beautiful foot, sleek. Such casual elegance and clean lines! But not a big foot, not formidable, maybe a little ...frail. I imagined cradling it in my arms, protecting it from unsmooth roads. --Peggy Noonan, speechwriter for the Reagan administration

If you wanna good breakdown of the monuments to mendacious mediocrity that David Brooks puts up every week, read driftglass (he does pretty well with Sully and Friedman too).

But nobody (imo) gets at Nooners With Ronnie better than Charley Pierce:

Anyway, she's on again about the IRS dumbassery. A while back, she pronounced it the worst scandal in the history of scandalosity. Everybody laughed, even the ghosts of the Nicaraguan peasants killed by the contras with the weapons we bought for them by selling missiles to the mullahs in Iran, which happened while Peggums herself was contemplating hot monkey bunion-sex with Reagan's metatarsals. So, she has now moved along. The IRS dumbassery is now a clash of American civilization itself.

The Benghazi scandal was and is shocking, and the Justice Department assault on the free press, in which dogged reporters are tailed like enemy spies, is shocking. Benghazi is still under investigation and someday someone will write a great book about it. As for the press, Attorney General Eric Holder is on the run, and rightly so. They called it the First Amendment for a reason.

Uh, because it was the first one?
(This is really too easy.)

God Love The Onion

Popular Children's Book Author Reveals The 'Spooky Truth' About Creepy Conspiracy Theories

Today In Atheism

Rotten Kid

14-year-old Tremaine McMillian stared at a police officer in a dehumanizing way, clenching his fists and flaring his nostrils - looking all mean and threatening and shit - while holding a puppy.

So of course, the cops had no choice but to body-slam the kid and choke him out til he stop resisting.



hat tip = Wonkette

Picture This

The Repubs are known far and wide as the Party Of No.  But I have to wonder - since my default position is that "it's never really about what they say it's about", and since the GOP doesn't ever really do anything to push back against that perception - well, what's up widdat?

It's not so much that they wanna take the really stoopid ideas of the wingnuts and turn 'em into law (in spite of what seems obviously contrary to that statement - cuz you can dip me in shit and call me lonesome but there's a buncha Monumental Stoopid goin' on over there).  I'm just thinking the wingnut agenda is diversionary. It's there to keep everybody yappin' along about stuff that's never gonna happen.  The wingnuts are forever  being encouraged to get nuttier and nuttier, and "the left" / "the public" / "the rest of us" - the big squishy middle is always being pinged with all this nuttier and nuttier shit that we're supposed to think about / talk about / be upset about - but mostly send-money-to-somebody about.

Sump'm ain't right.

Crazy Theory Alert - proceed only if adequately equipped with NaCl.

It is my considered opinion that we're living in a time of transition (I am, if nothing else, a regular genius, eh?).  My guess is that what we're watching now in 2013 is more or less what is fairly easy to imagine was going on maybe 20 years before the opening scenes of Rollerball (the original - not that pocket lint remake).

But anyway - wanna see what that diversion looks like?  Here ya go:

Bachmann's been in office for 8 years, and the US has nothing to show for it.  She's raked in over $1 Million in salary, plus close to another 40% in Federal Bennies, plus Farm Subsidies (estimated at another $1 Million), plus whatever she's made in "Honoraria" and perks and what she's managed to "earn" trading on the inside info she gets because of her position in government.

And now, of course, we'll be further amused (ie: distracted) as we watch Ms Bachmann's excellent adventure with the Ethics Investigation.

And maybe it's just a good grift, but it seems like we watch the fluttering birds and the glitter showers and the crash scenes while everything we need to make life workable is either stolen outright or co-opted, commoditized, processed, repackaged and sold back to us at a price just slightly higher than what we're allowed to make in wages.

Welcome to the World Wide Company Store. 

My Pal, Charley

I wish.

Marco Rubio Is Still Not Ready For Prime Time

By Charles P. Pierce

at 2:00pm

Every few months, Senator Marco Rubio reminds us that, in his case, the goblet of victory comes with a sippy-cup lid.

"So the only answer to this is to repeal Obamacare," Rubio said in response to an email from a man in Orlando, Fla. "It's just one more reason why this law is going to be a disaster for our country. And in the months to come, I'm really going to focus on the issue of repealing Obamacare because in addition to the IRS's role there is all sorts of other problems with regards to Obamacare that we need to answer." 

What in the climate-controlled hell is this man talking about? We have a situation with some IRS dumbassery in which inappropriate criteria were used to evaluate the claims of thousands of groups attempting to get in on an embarrassing scam made possible by a lint-headed Supreme Court decision that handed the job of regulating the insane way we run elections to the federal agency least qualified to do the job. So, naturally, the solution is to...repeal Obamacare! Because...IRS! This leads me to the completely cynical conclusion that Rubio is now trying to suck up to the crazoid Republican House caucus in the hopes that its members will vote for something they wouldn't vote for if you took out their fingernails with tractor-trailer trucks — namely, whatever immigration bill he and his Senate colleagues produce. Remember, Marco Rubio is the young man who can get...things...done. He is the face of the rebranded GOP. Good luck with that.

The KrugMan Speaks

Paul Krugman tells about Taxing The Rich:

First, over the past three decades we’ve seen a soaring share of income going to the very top of the income distribution (right scale) even as tax rates on high incomes have fallen sharply, with the recent Obama increases clawing back only a fraction of the previous cuts:

Second, there is now a lot of hard empirical work on the incentive effects of high top tax rates. None of it shows the kind of huge negative effects that figure so prominently in right-wing rhetoric. In particular, none of it suggests that we are anywhere close to the point where raising taxes on the rich would reduce revenue as opposed to increasing it.

Here're the bullet points from the article at Economic Policy Institute:

The top U.S. income tax rate is currently well below best estimates of the optimal rate for revenue maximization.

Recent research implies a revenue-maximizing top effective federal income tax rate of roughly 68.7 percent. This is nearly twice the top 35 percent effective marginal ordinary income tax rate that prevailed at the end of 2012, and 27.5 percentage points higher than the 41.2 percent rate in 2013.2 This would mean a top statutory income tax rate of 66.1 percent, 26.5 percentage points above the prevailing 39.6 percent top statutory rate.

Tax reform that broadens the tax base and minimizes tax avoidance opportunities actuallyincreases the revenue-maximizing top marginal tax rate.

This means that base-broadening tax reform and higher marginal rates should be seen as complements, not substitutes. Analyses of top tax rate changes since World War II show that higher rates have no statistically significant impact on factors driving economic growth—private saving, investment levels, labor participation rates, and labor productivity—nor on overall economic growth rates.

Both short-run demand-side and long-run supply-side growth effects stemming from top tax rate changes are extremely modest. Thus, related “dynamic” revenue “leakages” stemming from reduced economic activity following top rate increases are small as well. Indeed, the net revenue feedback of the 2001–2004 tax cuts was recently estimated at recouping just 1 percent of their scored cost.

Historically, decreases in top marginal tax rates have widened inequality of both pre- and post-tax income. This has been interpreted by some economists as marginal rate reductions providing a higher payoff to rent-seeking (i.e., using influence to “bargain” a higher share of income at the expense of other workers).

Today’s economic context of a depressed U.S. economy, political pressure to prematurely reduce near-term budget deficits, and ever-widening income inequality actually strengthens the case for raising top marginal tax rates. There remains substantial scope for further raising top rates toward the revenue-maximizing levels estimated by the best economic research.

I'm all for letting your Freak Fly.  You feel a deep driving need to get rich? Go for it. It's mostly a lotta fun to watch, and you should get to hang onto the bulk of it.  But let's make sure the things that need to be taken care of are getting taken care of - 'cuz those are the things that everybody's responsible for; the things you get the biggest benefits from; and the things that make it possible for you to continue making your zillions.  But mostly, let's make sure the disparity and inequalities are kept to reasonable levels - 'cuz that's what keeps the wait staff from takin' a giant shit in your punch bowl.

Today's Pix

  

 

 

Today's Eternal Sadness

15-year-old Saylor Slone Martine died this weekend after an accidental shooting in her home. 5NewsOnline reports that the Leflore County, Oklahoma teen and her 12-year-old sister, Savannah, had been “handling a .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun,” and then “put it down on the counter.” When Martine reached for her cell phone, which had also been placed on the counter, the gun fired. LeFlore County Sheriff Rob Seale told reporters that the girl had “sustained life-threatening injuries” and was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Tulsa, where she died. He added that the girls’ mother was outside when the shooting occurred and that it “looks pretty clear-cut accidental.” Neither sister was holding the gun when it unexpectedly fired. Seale suspects that the gun had a “manufacturing defect.”

hat tip = Addicting Info


And let's not forget - we need Tort Reform to make sure the family of this teenager can't possibly go suckin' around for a big fat payday at the expense of that poor defenseless Gun Maker.

3,820 Americans killed with guns - so far this year - and just according to Slate's DIY database.  The official number is likely to be higher.

This is a partial screen capture from Slate - which doesn't even show all of May:

Project Much?

Reporting on a study out of Geo Mason Univ (not exactly El Centro dela Librulisimo), from Addicting Info:

The study reveals that 32% of Republican statements have been rated ‘false’ or ‘pants on fire’ by Politifact, an organization that fact checks claims made by politicians and others. In stark contrast, only 11% of statements made by Democrats received the same ratings.

According to CMPA President Dr. Robert Lichter, “While Republicans see a credibility gap in the Obama administration, PolitiFact rates Republicans as the less credible party.”

Fat Bottom Girls

...you make the rockin' world go 'round.

Add Now - Mrs Betty Bowers

Today's Market Opportunity

...with a large side of What The Fuck.  From Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Guns weren't the only thing people raced to buy after 20 students and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Some parents bought school gear that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago: bulletproof backpacks.

Impact Armor Technologies in Cleveland is among a small but growing number of U.S. companies marketing backpack shields and other bulletproof school products.

The movement to steel children against the extremely rare chance they'll encounter a school shooter is controversial. Opponents say bulletproof backpacks feed children's fear and suspicion of their peers, adults and the world at large.

So basically, we've got Wayne LaPierre pissin' on our heads, and Impact Armor sellin' us umbrellas.  That's pretty fucked up right there.

From Around The Intertubes

Some things just never change.  The sun's gonna come up somewhere east of here tomorrow.  The mockingbird that nests in my crabapple tree is gonna shit all over my windshield every spring.  And the bacchanal at UVa is pretty much 24/7, slowing only occasionally when a legitimate distraction comes along.

Congratulations.  I'm glad you finally made it.  Now go home so I can experience the joy of finding a decent parking space for a coupla months.

And God Said

The Big Bamboozle

...part ∞

Seems like politicians never stop campaigning.  Well, guess what - it seems that way because it is that way.  People get riled up during a political campaign, so campaigning is a good way to keep 'em riled up enough to get 'em to send you lots and lotsa money.  The more riled up they are, the bigger the fuckloads of money they send in, and you have practically no obligation to account to them for any of it.  You can fail over and over again, and they'll still pony up the next time you ask.

It's an astounding racket - and it's one of the big objections most people have when it comes to griping about "the system", but we've become almost completely conditioned to hate The Gubmint, so even when the IRS (eg) tries to get to some simple truth about who's buying our elections this time around, we lose our shit and start screaming about tyranny.

(yes, Dub, I know - using the IRS as an attack dog against your political opponents is a rotten thing to do.  I don't think that's exactly what happened in Cincinnati, but if there really was an element of intimidation to it, then it was low-level and weak.  Remember now, these are The Democrats we're talkin' about; the very same Librul Bureaucrats that you claim can't find their own asses with GPS and a bloodhound at noon on a clear day.  If you can't bring yourself to read any history, at least try to remember some of the shit that fell outa your own gob yesterday - you deliberately ignorant puke)

But take a peek here:

I haven't done much research on it, so please, can somebody point me to a "growth industry" in America that's done a lot better than this?

And if you took this graph and added the growth curves of the campaign contributions of Big Corp, along with the growth curves of the profitabilities of Big Corp - what do you think that might look like?

Cutting to the chase - this stinks of Government-as-Private-Enterprise.  We make a lot of noise about what a great thing The American Revolution was; and about the great sacrifice our uniformed services continue to make to ensure the life and health of our little experiment in democratic self-governance - especially on Memorial Day.  So, in addition to planting flags and going to parades and bowing our heads between the 3rd and 4th Budweisers at the neighbors' BBQ, and generally trying to "Out-Patriotic" each other the whole fucking day, maybe we could best honor those heroes by pushing back against the small minds with the big ambitions of returning us to the glories of the 18th century.

Just sayin'.

hat tip = MoJo

Economic Climate Change

There are more hints every day that s storm of a slightly different variety is headed our way, but this one is something we can actually do something about - not that we will, but we could.

From truthout, a glimpse of things to come:

The incomes of 100 people out of the seven billion on the planet could fix that, and then fix it again, and then fix it again, and then fix it again. The exact total of the wealth of these individuals is actually something of a mystery, thanks to the tax havens they use to hide their fortunes. There are trillions of dollars squirrelled away in those havens - no one knows quite how much - and the subtraction of that money from the global economy has a direct and debilitating effect on the people not fortunate enough to be part of that elite 100.

In America alone, some $150 billion in tax revenue is lost each year because of these havens, money that could be used for education, food assistance programs, infrastructure repair and health care. Instead, Americans are told the country is going broke, and are force-fed austerity measures by the same politicians who passed the laws allowing the wealthy and corporations to wallow in treasure like Tolkien's dwarves hiding under their mountain.

Call it whatever ya wanna call it - I'll call it a storm because I think it's a very natural thing, and pretty much the standard scenario that's been replayed somewhere in the world every few generations since forever.

More and more power and wealth gets concentrated into fewer and fewer hands; while more and more people get pushed down towards the bottom, having less and less.  At some point, so many people have been left with nothing more to lose, all it takes to start some real shit is for some eloquent ambitious bastard to stir their resentment, and "suddenly" the mob rises up; they smash your gated community, and they take what they want.  And then of course, the whole thing starts over.

We have to do something to get some kind of balance back into the system, and the first thing we have to do is to learn (re-learn?) how to have a calm conversation about things like Economic Justice, and how we go about trying to fix the disparity problems, without all the knee-jerk reactions and overheated partisan rhetoric.*

So maybe we could tap into some of that American Exceptionalism we hear so much about.

*ed note: if you bring the standard crap that passes for "conservative" ideology these days, and I slam you for it - that's not what qualifies as overheated rhetoric.  That's just callin' it what it is.  Some people are stubborn, and really - about all you can do is hit 'em with a shovel til they loosen their grip on The Stoopid.

For Memorial Day

Anticipating that special feeling of sappy desperation from all the Facebookers and emailers who get really geared up to send and/or post all that drippy maudlin crap that often takes honest-to-god people in uniform and turns them into fetishized plastic effigies that resemble real human beings in practically no way at all:



And just as a reminder:  Way too many of us are way too fond of saying something like this:

"The warriors are not to blame for the war".  

Bullshit.

The ultimate responsibility for every war is borne by the individual soldier.

You don't have much of a war 

if nobody shows up to fight.

Today's Stoopid

On the collapse of the I-5 bridge in Skagit, from Addicting Info:

Now, instead of the $7 million in renovations and upgrades, the cost to replace the collapsed bridge will run $15 million and take up to a year. The collapse will cost an estimated $47 million in reduced productivity and trade. With the current average tax revenue from this total for trade and productivity in dealing with trade to Canada to be around 22%, the result is that this bridge collapse will cost the federal government $10 million in revenue for the period of repair, which when added to the $15 million pricetag means that we are looking at a total impact of $25 million. All in order to save $7 million.

"Conservatives" are anything but conservative in way too many cases.  Anybody who has ever actually worked for (much less owned) a properly functioning business of any kind who doesn't understand the fundamental Cost-Effeciency concept of Prevention vs Remedy is unworthy of any label connoting Business Savvy or Common Sense or Entrepreneurship - they've earned nothing but contempt and disrespect.  And if any of them then try to pass themselves off as clear-eyed serious-minded adult realists, they need to be mocked and ridiculed for the Stoopid Fucking Rubes they are.