AGW And Climate Change

Mt Everest then and now:

And a Ted talk:



Questions?

Modern Methods

Actually, I don't really know how modern it is, but Repubs have developed an extremely effective approach to convincing people of the "rightness" of their political views.

The one overarching objective of this process is to turn somebody into somebody he's not.

eg 1:
Sarah Palin had no real chops as a politician, and certainly no great knowledge as a citizen (or as a human being for that matter), but the GOP needed us to think she was ready to serve as VP so they mounted an all-out campaign to turn her into some kind of Statesman Savant.

eg 2:
John Kerry is a mostly honorable guy and (as much as possible, I think) a legitimate war hero, but the GOP couldn't afford direct comparisons between him and W, so in 2004 they set about turning Kerry into a French-ified flip-flopping coward who lied about his war record to get medals blah blah blah.

This shit works because too many of us just don't have the time or the inclination to try to sort it out and find what the truth really is.

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right."
Thomas Paine

Sounds good, doesn't it?  Now, maybe you trust me to verify the stuff I put in here and maybe you don't, but how many people are going to look at that quote and just accept it at face value, versus the ones who'll take 45 seconds to Google it and at least make a cursory effort to check it out?

Enter Thomas Jefferson.  Even the the jerkiest of "conservative" jerks know they're not gonna make it to where they wanna go by sliming Tommy Jeff, so there's an ongoing effort on the part of the Wingnuts to co-opt Jefferson, and turn him into a guy who said things that seem to support the Christianists' point of view.

Some of what Mr Jefferson actually had to say:

"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes."

"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own. It is easier to acquire wealth and power by this combination than by deserving them, and to effect this, they have perverted the purest religion ever preached to man into mystery and jargon, unintelligible to all mankind, and therefore the safer engine for their purposes."

"The Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which they [the clergy] have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of it's benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind."

"Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one-half the world fools and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth."

 Some of the bullshit they want you to buy:

"Sir, no nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man, and I as chief magistrate of this nation am bound to give it the sanction of my example." monticell.org

"Without God, liberty will not last." monticello.org

 "The Bible is the source of liberty" monticello.org

Take nothing for granted.  Always check, especially when it seems this or that "quotation" attributed to a "Founding Father" seems to be in near-perfect alignment with any particular ideology.  Let's be careful out there.

With Apologies To Mr Godwin

..again.  A popular "conservative" debate trick right now is to refer to ACA as National Socialist Healthcare, obviously trying hard to get people to create a mental link between  Obama and the Nazis.  Not exactly new, but that kinda manipulative shit's been working for them for a good long time so why give it up now?

But anyway, another one of their favorite tricks is to revise (ie: pervert) history to the point that they claim Hitler was an atheist and so the horrors of The 3rd Reich were possible only because he espoused non-belief, which of course invites the inference that Atheist = Nazi.

Well, gosh - guess what?

It's popular among Christian apologists to claim that Hitler, the Nazis, and the Holocaust are all consequences of atheism, secularism, and liberalism. Such arguments fly in the face of reality: Adolf Hitler regularly proclaimed his faith in God, Nazi ideology was committed to supporting Christianity (on its own terms, of course), and Nazi anti-Semitism was firmly grounded in Christian anti-Semitism. Hitler's theism, religiosity, and Christianity are supported in his own words. His beliefs were not quite what most Christians today believe, but they are part of the same family and nowhere near secular atheism.

Today's Pix

A Tiny Glimmer

Rush Limbaugh got dumped from the line up at a CBS Radio affiliate in Philly recently, replaced by Michael Smerconish.

I haven't heard much of the usual indignantly outraged tantrums from the Wingnuts yet tho'.  Eerily quiet.  But it turns out the AM station dropped him, and he got picked up by an FM outfit, so this doesn't exactly sound like much of a big story, but hey - there it is.

Maybe the real point is that if Limbaugh continues to fade from the AM side, and even if he keeps getting picked up by the FM stations, his reach continues to diminish because FM gets out to a much narrower audience.

Anyway, from Addicting Info:

Limbaugh will no longer be heard on the CBS station in Philadelphia that has allowed him to spew his venom for the past twenty years. He has been replaced by Michael Smerconish with the intro “forget the anger, reason is back”
Score one for reason and morality.

Who's Side?

I'll have to ask for a temporary suspension of Godwin's 1st Corollary so we can play a quick round of Political Scattergories.  Quick - tell me which side of the standard Conservative/Liberal divide do you think this butthead fits best.

From Addicting Info:

The Mission statement of his current group:
“WE BELIEVE that the current government in America is run by Jews,” and, “WE BELIEVE that the Jews [sic] main goal is the total annihilation of the Aryan race, heritage, & culture.”

Mullet states that not only does he not believe President Obama was born in America, he believes Obama is the anti-Christ, (Ethos Magazine in 2010). On his web post on the American National Socialist Party forum, March 13, 2011 Paul wrote:

”Typical Nigger Behavior and they want equal rights? Really is America that far gone that they can not [sic] see that you can take the nigger out of the jungle but not the jungle out of the nigger.”

Heart And Soul

My maternal-side Grandpa owned a grocery starting in the early 20s, and when the Depression hit, he became pretty well-known locally for his huge heart and willingness to extend credit for those in need - even to the point of having forgiven thousands of dollars in accounts receivable well after the time most of his customers got back on their feet again.

As I learned something about politics, I always assumed he was a fairly "typical Liberal Democrat", but my mom set me straight on that one, telling me he was a life-long Republican and near-extreme conservative who hated FDR and The New Dealers with a passion.  That took me by surprise, and it made me understand that there's a kind of paradox that's always existed in American politics, but has recently begun to disappear at an alarming rate.

I guess it comes down to my favorite Tom Morris quote from his book, If Aristotle Ran General Motors: "There is no contradiction in having a hard head and a soft heart".

So anyway, this is not the heart and soul of American Capitalism, because there is no soul, no heart, and no honor in it:

This is the real deal, because this is where all the heart and the soul and the honor is in American Capitalism:

Boo-Yaah

Payback's a muthafukka, bitch.

Because

..."conservatives" are pussies.

The "French" Thing

Back in 2004, Repubs smeared John Kerry by saying (essentially), "He seems a bit - I dunno - French".

Anybody notice how French the word "Dressage" is?

Flame Up

Sister Simone Campbell:



Not crazy about mixing church with politics, but when somebody finally figures out that Jesus is no Republican, it's good to let her speak - to remind the followers what lies are hidden in all the bible-thumping bullshit coming from certain usurpers and false prophets.  And to get "good Catholics" back to doing what's right for them to do.

(and BTW: this is what a real Conservative looks like and sounds like)

Cuz

..."conservatives" really are a bunch of cowering, wimpy little pussies who have nothing but a childishly violent reflex to practically everything that happens around them.

And there's an ample supply of hucksters who're more than willing to take 'em for a nice ride.



hat tip = Crooks and Liars

Bald-Faced Hypocrisy

"Conservatives" are always whining about something, and one of the big ones has been what they spin as Obama constantly apologizing for us overseas.  Never mind the fact that he doesn't do that, it's what "conservatives" need us to believe, so they just lie their asses off, knowing we won't check, cuz we're don't pay any attention anyway.

So I'm wondering what this might mean to their little agenda of mendaciousness - oh yeah, I forgot - it'll mean nothing because if they just ignore the facts, then the facts don't count cuz - see paragraph above.

The US House of Representatives voted unanimously in favor of N 683, which issues an official apology to the Chinese people for the series of anti-immigration bills (including The Chinese Exclusion Act) from the 1880s.

U.S. House of Representative apologize for Chinese Exclusion Act (pg A4)

Beijing Youth Daily/Beijing Qingnianbao (Daily, circ. 650,000):

Hong Lei, spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that China has affirmed the U.S. House of Representatives' move. As an immigration nation, the U.S.'s development is closely connected with various ethnic people including the Chinese in the United States. The Chinese Americans should be fairly evaluated and respected. Zhao Maxim* said in past 25 years there were only 3 apology bills being passed in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Thus the apology bill this time has created history for Chinese Americans.

*Zhao Maxim = US Rep Judy Chu (D, CA-32)

It passed UNANIMOUSLY - as in no Repubs voted against it.

Mark It Zero, Dude

The wisdom of The Big Lebowski proves the extreme stoopidity of "we're all safer when we all have guns in all circumstances".

Middle Class Blues

Oh, the horribleness of a life lived in the midst of middle-American privilege.

An Air Of Freshness

Outside of the disinformation bubble of the Baghdad Bob style of "news" at Wingnut Daily, News Fluffer, The RNC and DumFux News, there still exists a fact-based reality.

From Small Business Majority:

Key findings:
Only a third of small business owners want the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act; a plurality of 50% would like it upheld, with minor or no changes. This support grows after learning more details about the law’s key provisions:
Only 34% of small businesses want to see the healthcare law overturned, while 50% want it to remain intact with, at most, minor changes. After learning more about its specifics, only 28% want to see it repealed and a 56% majority want it to be kept, as is or with minor changes. A 55% majority say they want it upheld because we need to make sure everyone has health coverage.

Today's Pix

To Be Clear

The income for the "average" American family in 2010 was less than $46,000.  That year, Willard and Ann Romney claimed a deduction of $77,000 on their tax return for expenses related to their horse hobby of Dressage.

I don't really care what these Silver-Spoon Legacy Fucks do with their disposable income or their spare time.  But I have a major problem with all of it when the system is rigged so that I'm forced to subsidize that kinda shit.

The Jesus Scam

When Jesus says we should walk away from everything in our lives in order to follow him; when he says we need to abandon ourselves and our thinking in order to "live in Christ" - when he says that shit, I can't help but think he's easily the most anti-individual,  anti-family, anti-society asshole there ever was.  No wonder they fucked him up.  Hopefully, of course, there was quite a lot more to it than that, but still.  Damn, son.

There's a pretty narrow intersection between me and Penn Jillette, but here's a good slice of it:

Employment Fantasies

From The Economic Populist:

There is no skills shortage, none. In fact employers are being absolutely ridiculous in their hiring practices. It's so bad, employers use software and third party rejection job application websites, which pretty much guarantee a candidate will be rejected. These websites and software are like virtual wastebaskets for your resume. No human involved, it's automatic, guaranteed rejection. It's so bad, an HR executive applied for his own job and was rejected.

If you think American Business Leaders (and their Coin-Operated Politicians) are really worried about unemployment, think again.  Labor is a market just like any other market. When the supply of laborers exceeds the demand for laborers, then employers can push down on the cost of labor while raising their expectations of any candidate's qualifications, which is exactly what we're seeing.

Unemployment only becomes a problem when we can no longer be bought off or distracted or intimidated.  In the meantime, getting dirt-cheap labor because you've got  400 applications for every open slot is a very good problem to have.