And we thought senior politicians were chosen for their smooth, reassuring looks?
Thursday, November 7, 2013
John Boehner's face is such a gift...
... to his opponents!
And we thought senior politicians were chosen for their smooth, reassuring looks?
And we thought senior politicians were chosen for their smooth, reassuring looks?
Friday, November 1, 2013
The Only Way Republicans Can Stay In Congress...
... is by blanketing the airwaves with their paranoid, militarist, racist - quoting Winston Churchill's immortal phrase - "terminological inexactitudes".
To do that they need huge amounts of cash. And they would dearly love to have all limits taken off their ability to receive these bribes - which is what they are.
Why are they bribes? Because the rich - should we call them people; are they actual humans like the rest of us? - persons who pay these dues to "conservative" politicians, know full well that what they are buying is the right to have the laws passed that suit them - see my earlier posts about A.L.E.C., the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Now the Supreme Court is going to rule on a case called McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. (I mentioned this case a month ago, in Goddammit, What Did I Just Say?, and pointed out that "Judging by the Supremes' unconscionable decision in Citizens United, we may have a problem, Houston.") The hearing on McCutcheon was this past Tuesday.
But there is good news: Several leaders in Congress are standing up and fighting back. These lawmakers are pushing for major reforms that would reduce the amount of dirty money in politics -- and with the Supreme Court considering the McCutcheon case, that work has never been more important.
Will you take 30 seconds right now to push back against billionaire polluters? Let campaign finance reform champions know that we're 100% behind fair elections!
McCutcheon's Supreme Court case, which the justices are considering right now, is just the beginning -- imagine a system where billionaires could just keep giving and giving. As the U.S. solicitor general told the Court, take away those limits and "Less than 500 people can fund the whole shooting match. The government will be run of, by, and for those 500 people." [4] These are the people trying to replace our democracy with their dollars, and our health and climate with their profit. We must stop them in their tracks.
McCutcheon is the CEO of Coalmont Electrical Development in Alabama. He filed his lawsuit with the Republican National Committee, and Senator McConnell jumped at the chance to join them. McConnell, who's up for re-election, is one of the biggest coal champions in the country, and he couldn't be more excited to take all that dirty money -- even sending his lawyers to join McCutcheon at the Supreme Court.
Environmental champion Senator Bernie Sanders took a different approach outside the Court that day, and told it like it is: "Freedom of speech, in my view, does not mean the freedom to buy the United States government." [5]
We can turn the tide. Our allies on this in Congress, known as the DARE task force, want to "disclose, amend, reform and elect." [6] They're fighting for several critical changes: overturn Citizens United, provide more public campaign financing by matching small donors, block efforts to stop Americans from voting, and require donor disclosure for political front groups like those run by Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers.
Tell the DARE task force to keep at it -- let's send them a petition with 60,000 names so they'll know we've got their backs!
In it together,
Nathan Empsall
SierraRise Senior Campaigner
P.S. Five signatures are even more powerful than one -- after you take action, be sure to forward this alert to your friends, family, and colleagues!
"
To do that they need huge amounts of cash. And they would dearly love to have all limits taken off their ability to receive these bribes - which is what they are.
Why are they bribes? Because the rich - should we call them people; are they actual humans like the rest of us? - persons who pay these dues to "conservative" politicians, know full well that what they are buying is the right to have the laws passed that suit them - see my earlier posts about A.L.E.C., the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Now the Supreme Court is going to rule on a case called McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. (I mentioned this case a month ago, in Goddammit, What Did I Just Say?, and pointed out that "Judging by the Supremes' unconscionable decision in Citizens United, we may have a problem, Houston.") The hearing on McCutcheon was this past Tuesday.
A group called SierraRise is calling on us to raise our voices against this travesty of a case that should never have been filed, let alone taken seriously by the Supreme Court.
They say, "This is pretty crazy: There's a Big Coal CEO demanding the right to donate as much as he wants in an election cycle."
The message continues, ending in a Petition for your signature -
"The CEO's name is Shaun McCutcheon. His case would end campaign finance law as we know it -- and the top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, is on board, eager for all that coal cash. [3] If they get their way, corporate polluters will be able to buy more politicians and elections than ever before, launching a brutal assault on all the environmental progress we've made together.
But there is good news: Several leaders in Congress are standing up and fighting back. These lawmakers are pushing for major reforms that would reduce the amount of dirty money in politics -- and with the Supreme Court considering the McCutcheon case, that work has never been more important.
Will you take 30 seconds right now to push back against billionaire polluters? Let campaign finance reform champions know that we're 100% behind fair elections!
McCutcheon's Supreme Court case, which the justices are considering right now, is just the beginning -- imagine a system where billionaires could just keep giving and giving. As the U.S. solicitor general told the Court, take away those limits and "Less than 500 people can fund the whole shooting match. The government will be run of, by, and for those 500 people." [4] These are the people trying to replace our democracy with their dollars, and our health and climate with their profit. We must stop them in their tracks.
McCutcheon is the CEO of Coalmont Electrical Development in Alabama. He filed his lawsuit with the Republican National Committee, and Senator McConnell jumped at the chance to join them. McConnell, who's up for re-election, is one of the biggest coal champions in the country, and he couldn't be more excited to take all that dirty money -- even sending his lawyers to join McCutcheon at the Supreme Court.
Environmental champion Senator Bernie Sanders took a different approach outside the Court that day, and told it like it is: "Freedom of speech, in my view, does not mean the freedom to buy the United States government." [5]
We can turn the tide. Our allies on this in Congress, known as the DARE task force, want to "disclose, amend, reform and elect." [6] They're fighting for several critical changes: overturn Citizens United, provide more public campaign financing by matching small donors, block efforts to stop Americans from voting, and require donor disclosure for political front groups like those run by Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers.
Tell the DARE task force to keep at it -- let's send them a petition with 60,000 names so they'll know we've got their backs!
In it together,
Nathan Empsall
SierraRise Senior Campaigner
P.S. Five signatures are even more powerful than one -- after you take action, be sure to forward this alert to your friends, family, and colleagues!
"You probably never watch Network Television....
... for the very good reason that it's 99% garbage.
Believe it or not, I am at this moment writing a serious Post about McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. But I got sidetracked, your Honor.
By this....
One of the things about Network TV is that they love to make fun of dumb people.
BUT they are themselves one of the strongest influences in the dumbing-down of America. They have to do this, first, to be able to keep Americans satisfied with a diet of Pablum (meaning baby-food) and second, to keep them in a state of mind to buy whatever crap the networks' corporate masters want them to buy this month, and necessarily not pay attention to what's being done to them by the 1%.
Therefore, in order to titillate their audience by mocking dumb people, they are forced to find people who are even dumber than the viewers.
I'm about to show you a video. Sadly, you will first have to sit through a pack of lies from Chevron, about how much money they are "putting back" (their words) into the economy. No mention of where they got that money from in the first place. Then you will have to tolerate a set-up from a dead-eyed used-car salesman (Jimmy Kimmel), who is paid millions of dollars to do this shit.
THEN you get to watch the video. It is funny. But it only works because they picked on drunks, stoners, and people whose minds were... elsewhere, then insulted them before making fools of them.
Go for it -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/10/08/jimmy-kimmels-government-shutdown-demographic-study-video/?tid=up_next
Believe it or not, I am at this moment writing a serious Post about McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. But I got sidetracked, your Honor.
By this....
One of the things about Network TV is that they love to make fun of dumb people.
BUT they are themselves one of the strongest influences in the dumbing-down of America. They have to do this, first, to be able to keep Americans satisfied with a diet of Pablum (meaning baby-food) and second, to keep them in a state of mind to buy whatever crap the networks' corporate masters want them to buy this month, and necessarily not pay attention to what's being done to them by the 1%.
Therefore, in order to titillate their audience by mocking dumb people, they are forced to find people who are even dumber than the viewers.
I'm about to show you a video. Sadly, you will first have to sit through a pack of lies from Chevron, about how much money they are "putting back" (their words) into the economy. No mention of where they got that money from in the first place. Then you will have to tolerate a set-up from a dead-eyed used-car salesman (Jimmy Kimmel), who is paid millions of dollars to do this shit.
THEN you get to watch the video. It is funny. But it only works because they picked on drunks, stoners, and people whose minds were... elsewhere, then insulted them before making fools of them.
Go for it -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/10/08/jimmy-kimmels-government-shutdown-demographic-study-video/?tid=up_next
Sign Against California Fracking
An LA Times Editorial in September said
"SB 4 is the state's first attempt to exert oversight over fracking, a controversial process that involves the high-pressure injection of water, sand and chemicals to fracture rock and release the oil or gas locked within. Fracking has taken place in California for years, but it has been limited in scope, with most wells located in a remote area of Kern County. Now, with the revelation that the Monterey Shale in the Central Valley might contain 15 billion barrels of frackable oil, the practice is expected to boom.
"There are reasons to be concerned about possible effects on groundwater and air quality. Even more worrisome for California is the danger of setting off seismic activity; studies in other states where fracking is more established have linked earthquakes to the injection of wastewater into wells, even in areas that are not quake-prone.
"The Legislature should be embarrassed by its reckless attitude on this issue."
To read more, go here.
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Today there's a Petition to sign, from CREDO, who say:
"On Monday, CREDO activists and our allies had a chance to directly confront Governor Brown and demand a ban on fracking at an event in San Francisco. And he may have signaled an opening for a reversal on his position in support of fracking and SB 4, the dangerous fracking bill he recently signed.1
[The above link will take you to the Petiton, and to a clear description of the situation in California.]
"SB 4 is the state's first attempt to exert oversight over fracking, a controversial process that involves the high-pressure injection of water, sand and chemicals to fracture rock and release the oil or gas locked within. Fracking has taken place in California for years, but it has been limited in scope, with most wells located in a remote area of Kern County. Now, with the revelation that the Monterey Shale in the Central Valley might contain 15 billion barrels of frackable oil, the practice is expected to boom.
"There are reasons to be concerned about possible effects on groundwater and air quality. Even more worrisome for California is the danger of setting off seismic activity; studies in other states where fracking is more established have linked earthquakes to the injection of wastewater into wells, even in areas that are not quake-prone.
"The Legislature should be embarrassed by its reckless attitude on this issue."
To read more, go here.
Today there's a Petition to sign, from CREDO, who say:
"On Monday, CREDO activists and our allies had a chance to directly confront Governor Brown and demand a ban on fracking at an event in San Francisco. And he may have signaled an opening for a reversal on his position in support of fracking and SB 4, the dangerous fracking bill he recently signed.1
Ironically, Brown was in San Francisco to ink a climate agreement with Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. We know Governor Brown is committed to action on climate change, which he described on Monday as "the world's greatest existential challenge."2
But from his statements on Monday, it seems like Governor Brown, who greased the wheels for expanded fracking in California by pushing for and signing SB 4, may not realize some of the basic facts about how bad fracking is for the climate. If he stands by what he said on Monday, he should put a moratorium on fracking.
Tell Governor Brown: Impose a temporary moratorium on fracking while you fully investigate the science behind fracking for oil production. Click here to sign automatically."[The above link will take you to the Petiton, and to a clear description of the situation in California.]
Propaganda
This made me laugh....
(although the "Gander" looks more like a duck)
and this is a bit weird....
(although the "Gander" looks more like a duck)
and this is a bit weird....
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Russell Brand and his Buddy Plato
You may remember that a little while ago I posted "Help Wanted II - `In A Democracy...'". I sought your help in tracing an excellent quote from Plato, to the effect that "In A Democracy, everyone should take a turn at governing - except those who want it."
Excellent idea, you may say. And you'd be in great company.
I hope to post, imminently, about the kind of ... people... who seek power, in politics and also in the boardrooms of our "great" Corporations. And how they relate to certain historic figures of the last hundred years. I hope you're intrigued.
Meanwhile, here's another version of Plato's idea, from the Scottish philosopher Billy Connolly, channelled through Russell Brand:
Like most people I am utterly disenchanted by politics. Like most people I regard politicians as frauds and liars and the current political system as nothing more than a bureaucratic means for furthering the augmentation and advantages of economic elites. Billy Connolly said: “Don’t vote, it encourages them,” and, “The desire to be a politician should bar you for life from ever being one.”
Some samples: "I don’t vote because to me it seems like a tacit act of compliance; I know, I know my grandparents fought in two world wars (and one World Cup) so that I’d have the right to vote. Well, they were conned."
"I heard recently Oliver Cromwell’s address to the rump parliament in 1653 (online, I’m not a Time Lord) where he bawls out the whole of the House of Commons as “whores, virtueless horses and money-grabbing dicklickers”. I added the last one but, honestly, that is the vibe."
"There’s little point bemoaning... apathy. Apathy is a rational reaction to a system that no longer represents, hears or addresses the vast majority of people. A system that is apathetic, in fact, to the needs of the people it was designed to serve. To me a potent and triumphant leftist movement, aside from the glorious Occupy rumble, is a faint, idealistic whisper from sepia rebels."
"Materialism and individualism do in moderation make sense. If you are naked and starving and someone gives you soup and a blanket your happiness will increase. That doesn’t mean that if you have 10,000 silken blankets and a golden cauldron of soup made from white rhino cum your happiness will continue to proportionately increase until you’re gouched out, swathed in silk, gurgling up pearlescent froth."
Run don't walk, to read the whole damn thang, here.
Excellent idea, you may say. And you'd be in great company.
Meanwhile, here's another version of Plato's idea, from the Scottish philosopher Billy Connolly, channelled through Russell Brand:
Like most people I am utterly disenchanted by politics. Like most people I regard politicians as frauds and liars and the current political system as nothing more than a bureaucratic means for furthering the augmentation and advantages of economic elites. Billy Connolly said: “Don’t vote, it encourages them,” and, “The desire to be a politician should bar you for life from ever being one.”
Russell Brand
Plato
The other day I told you about Russell becoming a guest editor of the New Statesman in Britain. Now his effort is out on the newsstands, and, more relevant to us, on the Internet. It's a shining gem, if a little verbose, as Brand-y Baby tends to be.Some samples: "I don’t vote because to me it seems like a tacit act of compliance; I know, I know my grandparents fought in two world wars (and one World Cup) so that I’d have the right to vote. Well, they were conned."
"I heard recently Oliver Cromwell’s address to the rump parliament in 1653 (online, I’m not a Time Lord) where he bawls out the whole of the House of Commons as “whores, virtueless horses and money-grabbing dicklickers”. I added the last one but, honestly, that is the vibe."
"There’s little point bemoaning... apathy. Apathy is a rational reaction to a system that no longer represents, hears or addresses the vast majority of people. A system that is apathetic, in fact, to the needs of the people it was designed to serve. To me a potent and triumphant leftist movement, aside from the glorious Occupy rumble, is a faint, idealistic whisper from sepia rebels."
"Materialism and individualism do in moderation make sense. If you are naked and starving and someone gives you soup and a blanket your happiness will increase. That doesn’t mean that if you have 10,000 silken blankets and a golden cauldron of soup made from white rhino cum your happiness will continue to proportionately increase until you’re gouched out, swathed in silk, gurgling up pearlescent froth."
Run don't walk, to read the whole damn thang, here.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Wall Street and the Shutdown
I'm a little late posting this comment on an Open Thread in the Daily Kos - but it's still funny, and to the point....
“CHEERS to friends in "buy" places. Oh, Wall Street, you're so adorable because you're so predictable. On Day 1 of the government shutdown, stocks soared on the confidence that this is no big deal. But when Day 2 rolled around and rainbows hadn’t yet popped up over the horizon, they were selling off their shit faster than Ron Popeil. Lord only knows how twitchy they'll be today. Meanwhile, big business, realizing they've been sleeping with a lunatic, is running into the arms of the boring but not crazy Democrats.”
It comes from this Link: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/03/1243944/-Open-thread-for-night-owls-A-few-kind-words-for-Mr-Cheers-Jeers
“CHEERS to friends in "buy" places. Oh, Wall Street, you're so adorable because you're so predictable. On Day 1 of the government shutdown, stocks soared on the confidence that this is no big deal. But when Day 2 rolled around and rainbows hadn’t yet popped up over the horizon, they were selling off their shit faster than Ron Popeil. Lord only knows how twitchy they'll be today. Meanwhile, big business, realizing they've been sleeping with a lunatic, is running into the arms of the boring but not crazy Democrats.”
It comes from this Link: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/03/1243944/-Open-thread-for-night-owls-A-few-kind-words-for-Mr-Cheers-Jeers
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