Exit poll limits prompt lawsuit

ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, and the AP are suing the state of Minnesota for its new law keeping exit pollsters at least 100 feet away from polling places. The news agencies feel it's unconstitutional and prevents them from doing their job.

The news organizations also fear the new law - which was designed to clarify limits on election judges - will make exit polls inaccurate.

Wait a minute!!!

Aren't these the same polls that showed John Kerry winning? Aren't they the same ones that showed the GOP having their asses handed to them in 2002 (when the polls were suddenly discontinued while the election results were coming in)?

Sounds to me like the media just admitted these surveys are accurate - WHICH MEANS JOHN KERRY WON!

In other countries, exit polls using the same methodology are employed as a safeguard against election fraud. When the polls don't jibe with the actual election results, it raises a red flag about the integrity of the election. But in the U.S., the media attacks its own exit polls (and even suppresses the polls, as what happened in 2002).

The media never placed any faith in its exit polls before, so why would it start now?

(Source: http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/29909699.html)

2 protests in 3 days!

There's no rule that says you can't have 2 protests only 3 days apart against the abusive youth confinement facility near Cincinnati that I've protested fluently all year. It happened in July, and now it's happened again!

Damn, I was tired! I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before - because of idiots yelling and running jackhammers - and jury duty and work kept me from catching some Z's later, but when I get called in for a protest, I have to be there!

Last night's roadside rally - which was #14 for me - was relatively short, but it had 8 participants, and it did the job. Trust me on that. I catch hell about the protests not having larger groups of people, but you have to have some firsthand familiarity with abusive programs to appreciate this little nuance.

Short. Quick. Sweet. That's last night's successful protest!

I wanted to do some Roads Scholaring with the Peace Bike today, but I went straight to bed when I got home and overslept. It's a death-defying life I lead, I'll take my chances...

(More info: http://www.isaccorp.org/kidshelpingkids.asp)

Teen boot camp investigated after video

Visions for Youth in Springfield, Ohio, is described as a "boot-camp-style" group home for troubled teenagers.

Now it's being investigated by state and local authorities after a surveillance video revealed a staffer assaulting a client. The victim of this attack is a teenage boy who reportedly has learning disabilities. The staffer body-slammed the boy after he fell asleep in church.

As a result of this brutality, many counties in Ohio are pulling kids from this program.

At first, prosecutors filed charges against the teenager, despite the video showing he was the victim. This charge was later dropped.

The incident happened at a community center that was used by the program. Staffers apparently believed they were not on camera. A pastor for a church that met in the same building confirmed that the teenager is innocent. He reported the incident to the county, but he was ignored until a news outlet picked up the story.

Now Visions for Youth may face the loss of its license and criminal charges against staffers.

Don't get your hopes up too much though: Ohio (like some other states) has become a haven for abusive programs.

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/content/wcposhared/story.aspx?content_id=8586cfd8-c42b-4093-8584-acaeffc7ad75;
http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/09/29/sns093008vision.html)

Customers lose music in Wal-Mart DRM scam

Wal-Mart has a music download service???

Up until February, the retail giant featured music that was saddled with digital "rights" management technology. Buyers had to log on to Wal-Mart's website to transfer their music to a music device.

Although only DRM-free music has been offered after February, you still need to log on to Wal-Mart's DRM servers to transfer the music you acquired before then.

But now Wal-Mart is closing its DRM servers effective October 9 - meaning these customers will lose the music they paid for.

Doesn't this defeat the whole purpose of DRM? DRM is useless for the consumer when companies decide to shut down their DRM servers. Of course it's a bonanza for Wal-Mart, which forces folks to buy the song again.

This is exactly like if, back in the days of 45 RPM records, you had to buy another copy of a record because your model of turntable was discontinued.

You could use the analog "hole" to simply play the track and rerecord it onto your computer. But if you were to do that, what's the purpose of digital recordings? You can do that with a record and a stereo cable! However, each time you use this method to rerecord digital music, it loses some of its quality.

Talk about one step up and 2 steps back (as Bruce Springsteen would say)!

(Source: http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/007820.html)

About your blogmaster!

Bloggers are human. We're not machines; we're people with feelings and needs.

Such is true of your friendly blogmaster. In the year since I started this blog, I've never had a chance to introduce myself. So allow me to do so.

I am a 35-year-old man, and I originally hail from the blue-collar burg of Highland Heights, Kentucky, but I now live in Bellevue, Kentucky. I was expelled from 4 schools. My battles with serial harassment at school are the topic of my book 'The Fight That Never Ends', which I published through Lulu.com in 2005.

When I was 16, a Catholic high school I got expelled from plotted to illegally place me in an abusive confinement facility for the "crime" of being expelled. This has led to my interest in having confinement centers shut down and my participation in 13 roadside protests against these programs.

I got interested in left-leaning populist causes sometime when I was a teenager. In college, I started my newsletter The Last Word as a protest against the Far Right. I still churn out an occasional issue. I was also a member of the Northern Kentucky Young Democrats, but I later switched my registration to the Green Party.

At one point, I ran the local pirate radio station, but the FCC invoked an Allowed Cloud against that.

Between the mid-'90s and the middle of the current decade, life wandered aimlessly and frustratingly. I was in a world of hurt, mostly because of the way my first high school treated me. I have post-traumatic stress disorder, primarily because of the abuse I suffered at the hands of those liars.

A list of some of my favorites...

Favorite TV show: 'The Simpsons'.

Favorite radio station: Now none. (Who even listens to radio anymore?) My all-time favorite in my area is the mid-'80s incarnation of the now-defunct WCLU.

Favorite music: '70s and '80s rock!

Favorite 'Sesame Street' character: Oscar the Grouch.

I also enjoy working on various projects. I have a lot of books and DVD's piling up for me to indulge in, but because I support myself largely with this blog and because I take pride in hard work, I don't have much time right now to watch my DVD's or read. (Soon I will.) Reading all the books I've hoarded may take some time, because it takes me a long time to read (probably due to dyslexia).

To celebrate my relentless toil, I've been to 45 states and D.C., but not Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. I've also visited Canada and (briefly) Mexico. I also led a project called New America as a protest against the Contract With America's fascism and being skipped in the 2000 census.

As a hobby, I bip about the area and photograph roads. I also draw up maps, and I plan to create a set of detailed local bicycling maps and help support myself with this work (seeing how I've been shunned by the corporate world and all).

So that's the life of the Great Royal Tim.

I've just created a Facebook page, which I haven't had time to work on much yet:

http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1485151823

Corporate empire ruins chocolate

Even something that seems as innocent as chocolate isn't safe from Corporate America's sleight of hand.

Populist luminary Jim Hightower reports that Hershey - the people who brang you the great American chocolate bar - is now using so-called chocolate that isn't chocolate at all.

Some of Hershey's products like Krackel and Mr. Goodbar now contain no real chocolate to speak of. For chocolate to be chocolate, it has to contain cocoa butter. That's an FDA Allowed Cloud, and that's the very definition of what chocolate means. But these products no longer have cocoa butter. They have ingredients like sunflower oil - but no cocoa butter.

So how do they deceive folks into thinking these products still have chocolate? It's because the industry has pressured the FDA into allowing them to be labeled as "made with chocolate" or "chocolatey", despite the lack of chocolate.

In other words, the FDA's definition of "chocolate" is different from "made from chocolate."

Now the industry wants the FDA to loosen the definition of chocolate itself so cocoa butter is no longer a must for that. That would be like the time I got an e-mail suggesting I publish The Last Word with "NO LEFTISM!"

But hey, if Bush says war is peace, I guess Hershey can say sunflower oil is chocolate.

(Source: http://www.jimhightower.com/node/6608)

Student arrested for violating dress code

Arresting kids over a fucking dumb school dress code violation now?

The self-appointed fashion critics who run Odyssey Middle School in Orange County, Florida, ban clothing that contains certain colors. This rule has proven so unpopular that hundreds protested the new dress code by wearing such colors.

How does the school deal with such dissent? It called the police - like a big baby!

The school suspended about 150 students, and police arrested one for violating the dress code.

What's a matter, school Nazis? Kids don't want to be pushed around anymore, so you called the cops?

(Source: http://www.wftv.com/irresistible/17553404/detail.html)

The Conservative Fool Of The Day is...Didi Lima!

I have no doubt the Republican Party of today is the racist party. Of the most outspoken racists you know, notice they gravitate to the GOP.

Didi Lima was the Republican communications director in the county that contains Las Vegas. She was also a liaison for the Hispanic community to the McCain campaign. The photo of Lima with this entry is the only one of her I could find, but it's from some sort of Republican meet-up website.

But now she's been fired from her positions because - while she was working at a McCain campaign booth, no less - she made racist remarks about blacks.

Lima claimed that all African-Americans (every last one) are "dependent on the government" for handouts.

Didi Lima said she and her party don't want Hispanics to "become the new African-American community." She said, "And that's what the Democratic Party is going to do to them, create more programs and give them handouts, food stamps, and checks for this and checks for that. We don't want that."

She cried, "I'm very much afraid that the Democratic Party is going to do the same thing that they did with the African-American culture and make them all dependent on the government and we don't want that."

Is that statement racist? It absolutely is! I have no doubt about that.

And it was intended to be racist. Didi Lima was a communications director - more or less a spokesperson. If she doesn't say what she means, why was she hired for that job?

Right now, it seems to me like the only people who are "dependent on the government" are big corporations. The corporate empire gets skillions of dollars in corporate welfare annually.

If I was a corporation, I'd be ashamed to bring in all that money for nothing.

As free money for corporations spins out of control, however, Republicans keep stepping up their bigoted attacks against people.

(Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/09/27/politics/p172030D91.DTL&tsp=1)

Tastes too good to contain carcinogenic sweeteners! (Bubble Gum Weekend)

Artificial sweeteners are feared and shunned by a majority of the American public.

Aspartame (NutraSweet), an artificial sweetener linked to lymphoma and brain cancer, appears in various brands of sugar-free gum today. But Care-Free has long been associated with saccharin - which the Canadian government banned because it causes bladder cancer. Reports from this decade show that some (if not all) formulations of Care-Free in the good ol' U.S. and A. still contain saccharin.

Despite the dangers of these toxins, Care-Free and other brands have long touted the fact that they are sugarless. They assume consumers would rather get cancer than cavities. This selling point appears again in this commersh from the early 1980s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qfa9Fq4GAYM

I wonder if Care-Free was sued for false advertising for making people think the gum turned them into Miss Universe?

My fondest memory of this ad though isn't from when it first aired. Rather it's from only a decade ago when an Internet cult sprang up around the ad. A fella began posting in the comment section of various websites demanding to know if anyone had an old videotape of this commercial. He was especially enamored by the actress in the second scene who bubbled.

Heated arguments broke out as to whether or not the actress was anyone famous - and if so, who. These discussions eventually gave way to fanfic involving the Gum Fighter (of Hubba Bubba fame) and Spider-Man.

Gum. The energy source of the 21st century!

Rightist intelligentsia calls floods a hoax

I knew that eventually the climate change deniers would call this year's flooding rains in the Cincinnati region a hoax (for this would fit their decades-old habit), but I didn't think they'd actually have the gall to say it this early.

This has been such a rainy year that crops have been ruined and recreation at Ohio's state parks has been crimped, causing a major revenue shortfall in that state. So far this year, the area has received 38 inches of precipitation - well above the average of 33. On Fourth of July alone, we got one-third of an inch.

But according to the cult of climate change denial, it's aaaaaaaall a big, elaborate hoax!

Today they claimed - and I swear I am not making this up - that Cincinnati is in a drought. According to them, this alleged drought cancels out the floods of spring and summer. It kisses the boo-boo and makes it all better. They reason that this year's total rainfall will thus be closer to the usual amount, which in turn means climate change is made-up.

Seriously. They claim that.

How can it be a drought if you have above-average rainfall in the country's drizzliest major city?

We're actually entering what's usually the driest time of the year, yet rain is predicted on 4 of the next 6 days.

Do these look like hoaxes to you?


And...

Ban on food for the homeless tossed!

Who was the heartless beast who thought it would be a good idea to pass an ordinance against providing food for the homeless? There's a special place in hell for whoever wrote this law.

The city of Orlando, Florida, passed such a fascist ordinance in 2006. It was out of sheer meanness. Some organizations secretly defied the law: Even some restaurants passed out food to the homeless through the eateries' back doors.

But now a federal court has tossed out this ordinance! It's no small irony that being allowed to legally feed those who needed it the most required a court ruling.

It's unclear how the city will react. Arresting the homeless just for being homeless had been going on in Orlando for years before the ordinance. I know it's going to take even stronger action to halt these illegal arrests, but at least the new ruling is a start.

(Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/27/america/Homeless-Feeding-Ban.php)

Protest brings record turnout!

It's a record!


Yesterday afternoon, I got a phone call: Drop everything and protest! Right now! So I did.

Protesting the abusive teenage confinement facility on the east side of Cincinnati is not something I do for pay, but I take it seriously, and there was no time to goof off. I take it as seriously as I do my paid writing gigs. Photographing roads is a hobby in which I can afford more humor and fun. But protesting is not that type of hobby. Protests are fun, but amusements take a back seat to serious rallying.

Contrary to popular belief, I'm not the one who organizes these protests. Others long ago accepted this daunting task.

Last night's event drew 12 - count 'em, 12 - protesters. This is a record for the 13 such protests I've been in! And it was gutsy! In fact, a recent detainee and a parent both drove in from out of town to participate.

I held the "STOP THE ABUSE" sign. One of the highlights was when I was walking from one side of the entrance to the facility to the other side and had the sign facing towards the driveway. Right at that precise moment, a parent or staff member was pulling out of the facility and got a full-face view of the sign! Right when they least expected it, they saw the sign pop into view!

So yes, it was a good protest - probably the best ever!

(More info: http://www.isaccorp.org/kidshelpingkids.asp)

Obama outdoes McCain in debate

I was out last night at another protest, so I watched last night's presidential debate online first thing this morning.

To be sure, there were some missed opportunities, but there's no doubt Obama won that debate. McCain lost when he baited Obama with the "liberal" tag, which was as predictable as Bush soiling his pants.

Even a CNN poll shows that viewers believed in a landslide that Obama won the forum.

Also, has anyone noticed something about McCain? If you shut your eyes and listen to McCain's voice, you'll notice that his voice sounds almost exactly like Ronald Reagan! (Some have said Al Gore attempted to look like Reagan during one of the 2000 debates, but it's unlikely that this resemblance was intentional.)

Actor Paul Newman dies

When I was about 9 years old, my parents told me Paul Newman was such a respected actor that he would not cuss in a movie unless he was paid $1,000,000 for each cuss word. According to this story, Newman was so esteemed that he was able to draw that level of pay just for one word.

That story may have been apocryphal. My folks may have devised this myth to discourage me from cussing. (Actually it probably encouraged it: After hearing this story, I probably thought I'd get $1,000,000 each time I cussed.) Or maybe it was designed only to illustrate how respected Newman was.

Paul Newman died at the age of 83 yesterday of lung cancer. But he had numerous acting and producing credits even in this decade.

Newman was also known for his charity work and political activism. He once placed #19 on Richard Nixon's Enemies List. Newman was even rumored to be running for Senate from Connecticut in 2006.

Sometimes I think I was born too late, because for years I've thought it would be neat to be on Nixon's Enemies List. I guess the fact that I was blackballed by the government of Singapore is good enough for me.

Palin appointee sues to quash Troopergate subpoenas

Damn. How much corruption is there in Failin' Palin's inner circle?

After the subpoenas were issued in Sarah Palin's Troopergate scandal, her husband Todd and 2 state officials refused to abide by the subpoenas in the bipartisan investigation - resulting in some legislators suggesting they be jailed until they cooperated. But now Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg is suing to kill the subpoenas altogether.

Who appointed Colberg? Why, Sarah Palin. That's who.

Talk about cronyism run amok. Even Bush couldn't have done it worse!

Meanwhile, cable "news" channels ignore Troopergate.

(Source: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/104/story/53108.html)

Palin cultists plan ABC boycott

You can't make this stuff up, people.

After ABC (which has displayed its right-wing bias throughout the campaign) devoted a whole episode of '20/20' to interviews with Failin' Palin, that's not enough for the right-wing cult that surrounds the Republican vice-presidential pick.

They think Charlie Gibson was too hard on Palin, so now they're organizing a letter-writing campaign to ABC's advertisers - declaring their intent to boycott them.

If Gibson was so hard on Palin, why did Palin herself agree to be interviewed by him again after the first interview?

I thought the Far Right's fawning over Bush was bad, but I've never seen such a cult surrounding any major American politician as I have surrounding Sarah Palin. I've also never seen any such political cult carp so much about negative media coverage, when the coverage has been almost exclusively not just positive but laudatory.

Meanwhile, Palin's followers on terrorist website Free Republic have urged readers to fund private investigators to "seek to destroy" journalists who dare to report any Palin scandal.

Try that shit with me, Freepers, and you'll find yourself in court.

Hawaii legalizes child abuse

It's been a good year for dominionist wingnuts who think children are their property to batter. In the spring, the Minnesota Supreme Court legalized the merciless beating of children.

Now the Hawaii Supreme Court has followed suit.

The Hawaii verdict is a bad ruling. And it's unmistakably an activist one. The unanimous decision reverses the abuse conviction of a man who ruthlessly kicked and slapped his girlfriend's teenage son because he didn't grate cheese properly.

Someone with the state's Public Defender's Office praised the ruling, saying, "If you don't have control of your child, and the child cannot listen to authority in a family home, imagine what could happen outside the home." Statements like this conjure up terrifying images of abusive adults.

The Hawaii Supreme Court has a track record of siding with abusers. Last year, it overturned the conviction of a woman who severely assaulted her teenage daughter with a variety of implements for bringing home bad grades.

So yet another state has become a safe haven for child abusers. Now the abusers don't even have to be hired as school principals to be able to get away with it.

(Source: http://starbulletin.com/2008/09/14/news/story01.html)

Boston schools violate law (sigh)

I guess laws really are just "damn pieces of paper" (to use Bush's phrase), right?

Massachusetts law says public schools may not "abridge the rights of students as to personal dress and appearance." That is the law. L-A-W! Law! End of story.

Now about half of public schools in Boston have decided to do exactly that by adopting mandatory uniforms. This comes on the heels of a similarly illegal districtwide policy in Springfield.

I'm not linking to the article in the right-wing Boston Herald about it, because it's so one-sided. For the record, the parents or the students did not "opt" for uniforms as the article claims. The schools chose the policy with input only from a select few parents. So the Herald was downright wrong.

It still begs asking why there is no legal action against the schools when such a large number of families is affected and when state law so explicitly outlaws mandatory uniforms. I wonder if it isn't being suppressed. If schools are willing to illegally suppress free expression, they'd surely be Nazi enough to bully folks into not filing lawsuits.

Offshore drilling ban repealed

Leave it to the Republicans to initiate such an ill-conceived idea. Leave it to the Democrats to cave.

The offshore oil drilling ban has been in force since the early 1980s. In the bad old days, before the moratorium, Americans were forced to deal with environmental disasters like the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill that dumped nearly 100,000 barrels of crude in the ocean, polluted the beach for months, and ruined wildlife. After the drilling ban, there would be no more spills from platforms off American shores.

Now, after almost 30 years, the ostensibly Democratic-led Congress has lifted the moratorium.

We'll see how long it lasts before there's another platform spill. It will almost certainly happen.

Will lifting the ban solve our energy crisis? Here's a hint: no. It'll be another 5 to 10 years before we get any gasoline from it.

The lifting of the ban is even worse than originally feared: Instead of giving states powers to halt the bans within 100 miles of their shores, states are instead being granted this power within only 3 miles. Everything from the 3-mile limit to the continental shelf will be open for drilling. Lest you think 3 miles is sufficient to keep oil off our beaches, the Santa Barbara spill was 6 miles from the shore.

The states need to act by patrolling their waters to keep platforms from being built.

All this for a finite resource like oil. Why not invest in renewable energy sources instead of remaining dependent on Big Oil?

(Source: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/24/43625/9799/814/608387)

Jack Thompson disbarred!

Remember Jack Thompson? He's a right-wing Florida attorney who got a Conservative Fool Of The Day entry for filing frivolous lawsuits because song lyrics offended him, trying to ban video games, mailing copies of his driver's license with a picture of Batman glued to it to prosecutors, and supporting school bullying.

Despite all his Nazi and other shenanigans, the media always considered Thompson an "expert" on media "violence."

Now the asshole is finally getting what he's long deserved: He just got disbarred! Among the reasons cited for the disbarment are his constant lying and his "vitriolic and disparaging" mail to courtroom opponents.

There is a such thing as a false prophet of populism. Thompson pretends to be a crusader for the little folks who fights big corporations like game makers. But his claims to populism are phony. He cares only about himself, his money, and his ego.

At least now Jack Thompson is no longer allowed to earn a living as a lawyer.

(Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10051241-1.html)

Watch for falling programmy propaganda

This sounds like something from the Sue-Sue files. (Some of those who have protested with me against the teen confinement racket will know what I mean.)

It appears as if some of the hacks who represent the teen torture industry have been trying to abuse this blog to gain business. They must think I'm a fool if they think I won't detect it, because I have detected it.

I checked the ads on one of the sites that was linked by one of the stories here, and I notice "the industry" has been trying to exploit our causes and distort them for their own greed-driven ends. My policy is, sites that knowingly carry such ads are blackballed here - retroactively.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened to this blog. The work-for-less cult pulled a similar stunt a year ago. I'm sure it won't be the last.

Be wary of these con artists. I'm glad I caught this fraud before probably any damage could be done by it. Forgive me for not detecting it yesterday. I try to screen links with a fine-toothed comb, but occasionally someone pulls a fast one.

Principal accused of assaulting child over hair

Three things are certain in life: death, taxes, and out-of-control school bureaucrats.

An 11-year-old girl in Fresno, California, says her elementary school principal assaulted her because her hair was "inappropriate." (Sounds like the school has adopted confinement program jargon: In some branches of ProgramSpeak, nothing is ever "good" or "bad"; it's always "appropriate" or "inappropriate.") According to the student, the principal violently pulled her hair as she was returning from recess.

Police say a teacher witnessed the incident, corroborating the student's account. Cops cited the principal for battery - but because it's only a misdemeanor, they did not arrest her.

What's that again? The made-up "trespassing" charge I suffered at NKU wasn't even a misdemeanor (it was only a violation), yet I was arrested for that (even though Kentucky law says you can't be arrested for a mere violation). Maybe this is more proof that a different set of laws applies to us than it does to school bureaucrats.

That's long been known to be true. When a school superintendent in the Northeast admitted that he mercilessly beat his own son, he got off completely. If he was charged under the laws that govern parents instead of those that govern schools, he probably would have had to do time - and deservedly so. After this incident, a school system in another state hired him for another position.

Incidentally, the mandatory Bushbot cadre praising the California principal's alleged actions has already freeped other sites' comment sections.

(Source: http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=6409812)

GOP suppresses college vote

In at least 4 American locales, Republican officials have been actively trying to suppress the college student vote.

Colleges and universities are supposed to be synonymous with the free flow of ideas - a counterweight against Big Business. This reinforces the politics of college towns.

By law, students who live on campus have the option of choosing what address to vote from. They may opt to vote from their off-campus home, or they may select their school address. Despite this, Republicans lie - by telling students they can't vote from their on-campus digs. This ruse is designed to discourage them from voting from all: Unless it's a commuter campus, relatively few are willing to travel all the way back home to cast their ballot.

In Colorado Springs - home of Colorado College - the county clerk informed students they couldn't register to vote if they were from out of state and if their parents claimed them as a dependent on their tax returns. This is a lie. By law, they can vote in Colorado.

The county clerk happens to have been a delegate to the Republican National Convention.

When he was called on his lie, he pretended it was just an honest mistake.

An almost identical attempt at voter intimidation was carried out in Virginia, where officials tried to discourage Virginia Tech students from voting.

An investigation by the Student Public Interest Research Group uncovered a nearly identical ordeal in 2 different counties in South Carolina - which serve as the homes of Furman University and Winthrop University.

The fact that almost the exact same bizarre thing happened in 4 different communities proves it's either an amazing coincidence or an organized effort to suppress student turnout.

The more you read about Republican efforts to suppress the vote, the less faith you have that your vote will even be counted - even if you actually make it to the polling booth.

(Source: http://www.truthout.org/092508J)

Kucinich bill would ban voter foreclosures

Welcome to the era of voter foreclosures!

A voter foreclosure is the Republicans' burgeoning practice of using lists of foreclosed homes to deny folks the right to vote. Voter foreclosures are fueled primarily by classism - and the mistaken belief that voting should be reserved only to the financially secure.

Are such eccentric actions legal? Short answer: no. They seem to fall under laws against voter intimidation and suppression. Clearly, however, the laws aren't strong enough, and that's why Dennis Kucinich has introduced a bill to specifically deal with this rogue practice.

The bill by the Ohio-based Democratic congressman would specifically prohibit political parties from challenging voters' eligibility on the basis of being the target of a foreclosure.

Republicans claim that by using foreclosure lists to challenge voters, they're just defending the "integrity" of the electoral process. You read it right: Republicans believe "integrity" is denying someone the right to vote because they don't own a home.

If only we had a whole Congress full of Dennis Kuciniches, we'd certainly have made major inroads in reversing the Republican Revolution by now.

(Source: http://coloradoindependent.com)

Kentucky may block gambling sites; attack sites still receive public funds

Remember the right-wing attack websites and message forums of the late '90s? The Last Word covered this public scandal and exposed the fact that these projects - designed to defame private individuals just for having the "wrong" views - were supported with taxpayer dollars.

I believe in free speech and the unfettered flow of ideas, but there's no doubt that the laws are too weak in protecting victims of these sites - which constituted out-and-out harassment. I know this because I was a victim. If the sites weren't criminal, they were certainly a civil matter - but the laws are so feeble and the system is so intent on protecting and even subsidizing these sites that victims have little power for recourse.

These sites have largely fallen by the wayside in the 2000s, but lately the concept has been reborn on a much smaller scale: The new sites repackage old lies under the open content concept. Like the many treacherous sites of old, the new sites receive special rights and privileges that other folks lack.

Now the state of Kentucky is trying to block gambling websites. In an unprecedented move, the state wants to seize 141 domain names that belong to these sites and shut them off.

I realize Kentucky loses revenue when the citizenry uses these sites instead of indulging in legalized forms of gaming such as bingo or the state lottery. But seizing domains raises questions: Are the gambling sites legal in other jurisdictions? (Perhaps not in the U.S., but possibly in other countries.) Is Kentucky seizing all that comes with the domains, including the files on the site? If not, is Kentucky trying to block access to the sites from within the state, while the sites remain accessible in other states? (Apparently so.) Will it force ISP's to block them?

It's a slippery slope we can't afford. This is especially true if the sites still exist but are blocked in Kentucky, for that would be nothing short of government restraint of speech. Government can restrict gambling; it can't restrict speech. Gambling that takes place on a website falls under gaming laws. But merely viewing a website is not itself gambling.

A more sensible course of action would be to legalize and regulate online gambling and ensure the state gets revenue from it - as it does with other types of gaming. You can't complain about gambling sites not paying taxes if you keep them illegal, which is what keeps them from paying taxes.

Meanwhile, attack websites and forums operate with no limits. I don't support forcing ISP's to block them, but it begs asking why these sites are still subsidized by our tax dollars. Public universities have hosted some of the accounts that posted the defamatory material. They've even hosted some of the websites. Other hosts of these sites have also received public funds.

All at your expense.

(Source: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/09/23/ap5458185.html;
http://www.kypost.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=18747748-4ec9-42eb-bad2-5713979b3d6c)

Fence to break up family picnics

This is how Bush deals with the fact that he has a microscopic wiener.

On the Mexican border between San Diego and Tijuana, the Bush regime is erecting what it calls a secondary fence. It's a new fence in addition to the standard border fence. The fences are 90 feet apart, and the gap between will be a tightly patrolled no-go zone where no members of the public are allowed.

Why is the fence being built?

It's because families who have members who live in both the U.S. and Mexico have picnics at the border, and the government wants them broken up, even though nobody crosses the border during these gatherings. The picnics are for those who cannot cross: Most of the U.S. residents are newcomers who are having their immigration status adjusted, and most of the Mexican residents aren't yet able to enter the U.S.

So they picnic along the border and chat back and forth.

The gatherings harm no one. No immigration laws are broken, because nobody crosses. But the government says the $60,000,000 fence is needed because of "terrorism."

Regardless of your feelings on immigration, this fence is a pointless boondoggle that serves only to intimidate innocents and to mortgage the public's freedom to use the land between the fences. It serves nobody other than the Bushists' bruised egos.

Few in San Diego or Tijuana even want the fence. It's also opposed on environmental grounds.

But Bush likes to waste other people's money, I guess.

(Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20080924-9999-1n24monument.html)

Nazi legislator wants poor sterilized

There's another ugly face that could stop a toilet.

Meet Louisiana State Rep. John LaBruzzo. He's a 38-year-old conservative Republican from the wealthy suburb of Metairie. He had a privileged upbringing, with a prep school education and all.

He's also a classist bigot. He's considering a proposal to have the state pay poor people $1,000 each to be sterilized. At the same time, he'd have tax incentives to encourage the rich to have more children. Evidently, he considers the rich to be a superior breed of people.

LaBruzzo claims his program would be voluntary. That's beside the point. Besides that, voluntary too often gives way to mandatory. Even if it is voluntary, to have a policy that considers the rich to be a more fit class of people than the poor for having children smacks of arrogance not unlike that which fueled the eugenics movement and the Nazis' policies.

I'm sure he knows it. I'm almost 100% positive he knows it.

Not only does John LaBruzzo represent racial racketeer David Duke's old district. Even Wikipedia says LaBruzzo "is reputed to share Duke's views." In fact, nearly 20 years ago, Duke proposed almost the exact same idea LaBruzzo has now.

This is an era in which elected officials can be suspended from their duties by unelected committees just for criticizing media outlets' right-wing bias. But what's the consequence for LaBruzzo for supporting genocide of the poor? Apparently nothing - even though he really wasn't even elected: In the most recent "election", he had no opponent.

Another LaBruzzo cause celebre is tax credits for wealthy private schools - in a state that's already perhaps the most generous to such institutions. Incidentally, this was also one of David Duke's major proposals.

LaBruzzo wants to give taxpayer money to schools that already have plenty, while he complains about the poor collecting too much in welfare? Only 2% of Louisiana households even get welfare, and they only get about $200 a month each. And welfare has a strict time limit.

So he's not only a Nazi, but also a hypocrite.

(Source: http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/labruzzo_sterilization_plan_fi.html)

RV voter purge fails

The Republicans have been executing a war on voting - in which they suppress voter turnout in an effort to bring about results they deem more favorable.

In the past few years, they've accomplished this by implementing more rigid ID requirements (which are an illegal poll tax), cracking down on voter carpools, and using lists of foreclosure victims to weed out voters. In 2006, Tennessee illegally purged hundreds of voters from the rolls all because they lived in recreational vehicles. The state's excuse was that RV communities are commercial addresses. (Actually the state purged them because they thought they were all hippies who weren't going to support the "right" candidates.)

The ACLU sued over Tennessee's policy. Now an eastern Tennessee county has agreed to allow RV residents to vote. Other counties are expected to follow suit.

Gasp! Letting people vote! How novel! Next thing you know, voting machines might actually start working right again.

(Source: http://tfponline.com/news/2008/sep/24/cleveland-agreement-provides-rv-residents-be-able-)

New guidelines condemn Ritalin

Schools today are like a free gumball machine that dispenses Ritalin - a dangerous drug widely prescribed for ADHD.

But now the government has issued new guidelines saying to avoid the drug at all costs. The trouble with this for Americans is, the government in question isn't that of the United States (where the toxin is most prevalent), but that of Britain.

These new guidelines say not to use the drug at all for children under 5. Ever. Except as a last resort, it's not to be used for older children either.

This follows yet another report documenting Ritalin's many side effects, which include insomnia, nausea, and rapid heartbeat. Ritalin has also led to fatal heart attacks in young people.

But those who support drugging kids to make them compliant with onerous school regimes still won't budge in their view that Ritalin is a cure-all.

(Source: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Health/Hyperactivity-Drug-Ritalin-Should-Not-Be-Given-To-Children-New-Guidelines-From-NICE-say/Article/200809415105539?lpos=Health_Second_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region_4&lid=ARTICLE_15105539_Hyperactivity_Drug_Ritalin_Sh)

House backs credit card reform bill

Finally! Some progress!

By a vote of 312 to 112, the U.S. House has finally voted to pass the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights Act - a bill that should've been passed ages ago. This Democratic bill is designed to stop greedy abuses like hiking interest rates on existing card balances and charging late fees on payments that were sent in a week before they were due.

Of course, this bill faces a less certain future in the ostensibly Democratic-led Senate, where legislators are more concerned with bailing out financial institutions. Needless to say, Bush is against the credit card reform bill. And he's the man who rules the world.

The Decider's excuse for opposing the bill is that it would hinder credit card companies' ability to set prices based on customers' supposed risk. BushSpeak to English translation: it'll deter credit card companies' power to practice price-gouging that hits less secure consumers harder (and helps keep them at the mercy of the elite). Gee, isn't it nice to know Bush is looking out for credit card corporations?

Now that the House has at least approved this bill, how about if they reverse the Republicans' bankruptcy "reform" law (which imposes indentured servitude) like they're s'posed?

(Source: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/52977.html)

Debate shuns third parties

Say what you want about third parties. Spoilers or saviors, they're here to stay.

When the presidential debates censored third parties in 2000 and 2004, I didn't focus much on the issue because Bush's daily gaffes were such a distraction. But now - as was true then - there's no excuse for excluding independents and third parties from the debates.

So they go ahead and do it anyway.

Because he was excluded from the debate that looms this Friday, Ralph Nader is bipping mad. So is Bob Barr.

But the matter underscores a much larger problem: The forums are governed by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Who runs the CPD? The CPD has conducted the debates since the 1988 campaign, and it was founded by the Republican and Democratic parties. Leaders of the 2 major parties continue to head the commission. There is no input by third parties.

In 2000, the CPD decreed that candidates couldn't be in the debates unless surveys showed that they were getting at least 15% of the vote. It was kind of a chicken-or-egg problem: How could candidates gain that much support if they got no debate exposure? Nader quite correctly sued the CPD because its ukase violated the Federal Election Campaign Act.

With the GOP/DLC coalescence, the forums have been referred to as mere news conferences rather than real debates.

If third parties are as out-of-step as the corporate media claims, why not let them participate in the debates so the voters can see for themselves? As long as the debates shun them, the media expects the public to view third parties as unworthy based solely on blind faith in the media's say-so.

With free air time given to the major parties by the CPD, we should demand that TV networks and stations give equal time to third parties.

Not like I expect that to happen. TV stations (I'm thinking of WIVB in Buffalo right now) are more interested in cheering for school uniforms than in providing unbiased, fair coverage.

(Source: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7162196)

The "what happens next" machine! ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

Hey, I think I finally found a clip that shows how voting machines "work" these days!

For years, I've been telling folks that 'Sesame Street' in the '70s featured a hilarious Kermit the Frog skit about something called a "what happens next" machine. Everyone thought I was making it up, but now I've found the segment on YouPube.

A "what happens next" machine was a Rube Goldberg-like creation that turned the simple task of turning on a radio into a complicated ordeal:



Even if Kermit's "what happens next" machine worked properly, it would be ruined after its first use, for using it required cutting the rope.

I think whoever designed the new generation of voting machines must have been inspired by this sketch. I noticed a few years ago that when I go to vote and press the buttons on the machine, what happens next is that I have to press it 5 or 6 times for it to work.

After that, what happens next is probably a sandbag containing the vote falling on a seesaw. What happens next after that must be a balloon popping out of a box and pulling the lever that supposedly counts the vote. What happens next after that is that the balloon floats away and carries the voting machine with it.

What happens next after that is that public officials laugh it off because (according to them) the vote tallies aren't supposed to be 100% accurate anyway. What happens next after that is you get 28 years of one-party Republican rule. Then, what happens next is a permanent recession.

See, the "what happens next" machine really does make things complicated: It would be simpler to just quit your job and flush all your money down the toilet than go through the complicated steps of using faulty voting equipment to "elect" Republican politicians to put you out of work.

McCain's campaign manager worked for Freddie Mac

Although McCain claimed Sunday that his campaign manager Rick Davis has had no involvement with Freddie Mac in years, this claim has now been revealed to be a piping cauldron of roo gas.

It turns out Davis's firm was paid $15,000 a month from 2005 until just last month by Freddie Mac to perform work for the embattled mortgage company.

So which is it? Can't the McAin't campaign even get its story straight?

Naturally, the wingnutosphere is crying that the media has a liberal bias just because this story got reported at all.

(Source: http://news.mobile.msn.com/en-us/articles.aspx?afid=1&aid=26859857)

Peace Bike open thread!

Tsk, tsk. The 'Pail has been around a year, and I still have to tell people what it is, and what it isn't.

The other day, someone told me I should "revamp the Online Lunchpail from a far, far, far left-wing political blog into a blog about Peace Bike adventures."

No.

This is like the time about 10 years ago when someone e-mailed me about The Last Word with a lengthy treatise on the type of issues I should cover and how I should cover them. Although the writer was serious, he informed me that I should espouse "NO LEFTISM!" Um. What would be the point of The Last Word if it was conservative?

But suffice it to say, in the 4 years since I purchased the Peace Bike, it's now acquiring a loyal following. Especially after the Peace Bike announced its membership in the Green Party.

So consider this an open thread about the Peace Bike's greatness!

Long live the Peace Bike!

To wingnuts, everything's a hoax (unless it is)

Monitor the fuckheadosphere long enough, you'll quickly learn one thing: Everything in this big, mean, awful world is a hoax, according to them. Unless it actually is, in which case it isn't.

And they're getting desperate right about now. Man, do I mean desperate! They might - I repeat, might - lose the election. And they can't handle it. So they kook out.

That's why they're vandalizing campaign signs (often with racist hate speech) - then claiming the whole thing is a hoax to make them look bad. The right-wing intelligentsia is melting down so spectacularly that one hand doesn't even know what the other hand is doing. And you're going to see more of this in the next 6 weeks.

Meanwhile, they still insist similar incidents in recent years are hoaxes - long after it's been proven they weren't.

In much of the world, there's serious penalties for the type of extravagant racket that the right-wing intelligentsia runs. I certainly think Congress should launch an investigation.

Real hoaxes though are never called out as such. Like 2 years ago when Jim Talent's operatives vandalized one of their own campaign signs in broad daylight so they could blame opponents. Weird how that got swept under the rug almost instantly.

Bush pressures EPA into allowing rocket fuel chemical in water

Under pressure from the Bush White House and the Pentagon, the Environmental Protection Agency is about to rule that it will not - I repeat, will not - set rules limiting how much perchlorate can appear in our drinking water.

Perchlorate is a dangerous chemical found in rocket fuel. The chemical has been linked to thyroid disorders in pregnant women, newborns, and children. Right now, 20,000,000 to 40,000,000 Americans suffer unsafe levels of perchlorate exposure.

The EPA's ruling appears to close a frustrating 6-year battle between scientists who want the chemical regulated and Bush dogmatists who opposed new rules. Unfortunately, the battle has ended in Bush's favor.

The EPA's decision follows a report that was heavily edited by the Bush regime to appear more favorable to perchlorate.

Our water is being poisoned, and Bush likes it fine that way.

(Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/21/AR2008092102352_pf.html)

Mark Warner backs work-for-less law

If this story doesn't prove that the Democratic Party I grew up with is nearly extinct, nothing will.

So-called "right-to-work" laws are a misnomer. These laws actually undermine the right to work: They weaken labor unions by gutting labor contracts and forcing unions to represent nonunion workers. I call them work-for-less laws: Workers in states that have such a law earn less money and have less safe working conditions than those in states without such a law.

In Virginia's hotly contested Senate election, the 2 major party candidates are shaping up to be masters of disaster. We all knew Republican Jim Gilmore was a doofus, for he bases almost his entire campaign on supporting work-for-less laws. But the frontrunner, Democrat Mark Warner, is not much better.

A Warner spokesperson said Warner supports Virginia's work-for-less law, an archaic policy that's hamstrung the Old Dominion's workers for decades.

If there's one thing that ought to be a firm, unequivocal stance of the Democratic Party, it's opposition to work-for-less laws. Democrats have diverging views on gun control, abortion, Mideast policy, what state 'The Simpsons' takes place in, and a range of other matters. But opposing work-for-less ought to be sacred.

And until recently, it was. The major exception was the party's conservative Southern wing, but in the past century, that wing never dominated the party like Warner's DLC does now.

Mark Warner is the man who's considered the future of the Democratic Party. If that's the party's future, then I'm gladder than ever I switched to the Greens.

Speaking of which, here's another warning: One of the minor parties in Virginia's Senate election is known as the Independent Greens. This party, however, is a sham that is not affiliated with the Greens that I registered under. The Independent Greens call themselves a "values conservative party", and one of its main causes was trying to get Michael Bloomberg to run for President.

Corporate America really is in control of the country's politics, isn't it?

(Source: http://www.newsvirginian.com/wnv/news/local/article/gilmore_talks_energy_taxes/28173)

Uniforms trigger uproar in China

What do you think would be the response in mainland China if public schools force students to wear uniforms?

Trust me on this: The response by the Chinese citizenry is much more sensible than what's been witnessed in America lately.

A high school in Wuhan, China, has ordered each student to buy 6 uniform ensembles as part of its new dress code. The new policy does have some supporters. But a majority of parents are unequivocally opposed to the idea on the grounds that it infringes on the right to free expression.

Meanwhile, in America, school after school after school implements uniforms, and nobody dares to raise a peep. In fact, uniform supporters pull out all the stops to silence dissenters.

It's pretty telling when folks in China have a better grasp of freedom of speech than Americans do.

(Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2008-09/23/content_7049578.htm)

NRA distorts Obama's record, causes miners' strike

The National Rifle Association doesn't seem to have much political gumption: The NRA has actually supported some gun control efforts by Republicans, and continues backing the GOP despite its increasingly poor record on Second Amendment rights.

Barack Obama (much to his credit) supported overturning the District of Columbia's gun ban. The Bush regime actively urged against such a ruling. Obama (again to his credit) supported a bill to stop law enforcement from confiscating guns from Hurricane Katrina survivors. The gun grabs had been ordered by Bush regime officials.

But the NRA continues to operate under the delusion that the Republicans actually care about gun owners' rights.

Now the NRA has a new ad falsely claiming that Obama wants to ban hunting shotguns and rifles. But that is a lie. The Obama campaign has explicitly opposed confiscating hunting guns. Obama's running mate Joe Biden even said, "I guarantee you, Barack Obama ain't taking my shotguns. ... I got 2 and if he tries to fool with my Beretta, he's got a problem."

The NRA's ad contradicts itself: It says Obama wants to ban hunting guns, but it also says he wants to tax them. You can't tax something that's banned - this ad's doublespeak notwithstanding.

The NRA's leadership is so insistent on spreading this doubletalk that it's managed to touch off a work stoppage by coal miners who saw right through it.

A mining company allowed the NRA to bring its film crews into a mine in West Virginia and try to get miners to assail Obama on camera. When the miners refused to go along with this hooey, the United Mine Workers - which has endorsed Obama - called for a brief work stoppage at that mine.

Miners don't look too kindly on mining firms or partisan Republican groups like the NRA trying to manipulate their views. I don't know whether the UMW officially refers to the walkout as a strike, but the stoppage was necessary to crimp the NRA's partisan mind-bending.

It's good to know that some folks aren't believing the distortions.

(Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/22/nra-ad-claims-obama-wants-to-ban-guns;
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/sep/22/umw-plans-stoppage-over-nra-filming)

Separation of school and sports

Separation of school and sports is an idea whose time has come.

Some have accused me of wanting to abolish school athletic programs solely because of the instances in which 'The Simpsons' was preempted for Bearcats games or because NKU wouldn't discipline a star basketball player who assaulted me. Quite the contrary. I'm a fair-minded man, and I don't want my emotions to interfere with my positions.

What I want is for the functions of academics and athletics to be split. Sports programs would still exist. They just wouldn't be school-sponsored. Ideally, every team would still exist as long as its continued presence could be justified.

Few countries besides the United States have school-sponsored organized athletics. They do have sports teams that are independent of schools and are funded by community members. America also has some programs like this - for example, Little League Baseball. And it works. This independence and community spirit seems to strengthen the redeeming values of competitive sports.

It's not uncommon for a student athlete to be let off the hook for an offense that would get any other student either expelled or jailed. We all know it happens. School and athletics should be disestablished from each other because each has too much influence on the other.

Schools spend more effort on winning a coveted championship than on academic endeavors. Thus, top athletes are coddled. Star athletes will often enjoy the benefits of grade inflation, because the school doesn't want them removed from the team. Regarding school discipline, there's also 2 different sets of rules: one for athletes and one for non-athletes. What school wants a star player kicked off the team for getting in trouble at school?

School sponsorship of organized sports is a bit too much like the taxpayer funding of professional sports venues. While greedy major league team owners demand that the taxpayers buy them stadiums, vainglorious school bureaucrats demand that those who pay taxes or tuition buy them entire teams.

I've paid taxes and tuition to attend school, and I'd rather my money go to my education - not to sports. This stance isn't against athletics; it's about making sure I get what I pay for.

It'll take a lot of guts to decouple athletics from education. But there's a lot of things that took a lot of guts. It's been true of every successful movement. The sooner we get the ball rolling, the sooner we can bring about this long-overdue change.

Day #9 of Blackout of '08

The Cincinnati Blackout of '08 is on its ninth day now - and now the power company is telling us to expect it to go on literally forever.

On the Sunday the outage started, the energy company promised to have all service restored within a week. Well, guess what? It's been over a week, and thousands still lack power.

Now a power company spokesperson says the blackout will continue until the end of time. She said that while thousands are still in the dark, "we won't ever be down to zero, because we continue to have outages that are storm-related."

Ever???

Yes, she said that. She said the dry wind that concluded over a week ago is still knocking out power somehow.

We must have a really weak electricity infrastructure if a storm that's been over for a week can still cut off power.

(Source: http://www.wlwt.com/news/17532317/detail.html)

P&G sues because it has to pay taxes

Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble was named as one of the 7 corporations that form the ultraconservative oligopoly that controls Cincinnati. Corporate groupthink led by these 7 firms made the region America's capital of capitalism in the late 20th century.

Now P&G is suing the IRS for $435,000,000 because it has to pay taxes like everyone else.

I'm always wary of government agencies like the IRS, but the millions that P&G claims the IRS made it overpay is only a fraction of P&G's profits. The more important point though is that the IRS assessing this tax was almost certainly not erroneous (from the information that I can gather).

The disagreement involves credits for artwork P&G donated to museums, work on patents and research, and other items. A corporation expects to get tax breaks just for owning patents? It sounds like that's what P&G is claiming.

I have little doubt that this suit is really an effort to gut corporate taxes entirely. If Procter & Gamble can make the IRS pay back millions, it'll be a foot in the door for our corporate masters.

Maybe the reason the government has allowed two-thirds of American corporations to evade taxes for the past 10 years is because it knows corporations will just sue over the taxes anyway.

Can I sue Kentucky over the sales tax I have to pay every time I have to buy something?

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/content/wcposhared/story.aspx?content_id=88d7ec3b-bd33-4731-9b41-20e093ba4c36)

Town to spy on parks

The Stalinist police state that America has become expands.

The city of Forest Park, Ohio - just outside Cincinnati - is getting a mobile surveillance camera for its police department. The city plans to use it to spy on parks.

Apparently inspired by a spying program pioneered by my former high school, the city also plans to link the camera to a laptop in police cruisers.

The town also plans to use motion sensors to detect if people enter a park after dark.

A police official boasts, "Down the road, the possibilities are limitless." And that's precisely the problem! The uses that are already planned show that America is nearing the bottom of the slippery slope of the surveillance state. And it appears that it's just about to make an ugly crash landing.

All this program will do is drive crime elsewhere. Programs like this have already proven this.

Orwell's '1984' is here. America is no longer fast becoming a police state (to borrow my famous line from the '90s). It now is a police state.

(Source: http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080922/NEWS01/809220320/1168/NEWS)

Postal Service crimps indie publishers

As one of the final insults by Congress's Republican "leadership" that was finally ousted 2 years ago, Congress passed a law (which Bush signed) saying the U.S. Postal Service is now automatically entitled to a postal rate increase each year - without having to prove itself first.

This harms individuals more than it does large businesses, for it effectively increases the subsidy that single pieces of mail provide for junk mail.

Now the Postal Service has issued a new policy that harms indie publishers. This change also subsidizes junk mail such as ads. The Postal Service's new policy in effect yanks the bound printed matter rates as an option for writers of zines and indie comics. Effective this month, bound printed matter rates are now by permit only.

Independent writers can no longer use stamps or a meter. And they can no longer send out their works using their own mailbox or public boxes. They have to go to the post office that issued the permit.

This change seems to do no damage to magazines that are considered more mainstream. But it costs the do-it-yourself publishers dearly. If I didn't know any better, I'd almost think the Bush regime was actively attempting to silence zinesters.

Where to voice your opinion? Call the Postal Service at 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777), and select "more options."

It's a shame postage will get another automatic increase next year (thanks to the Republicans' new law), despite the fact that the Postal Service clearly isn't proving it deserves it. The subsidy to big advertisers (which zinesters and other individuals are forced to pay for) continues unabated.

Peace Bike evades vandals

I got home from the Saturday installment of Cincinnati's Oktoberfest a couple hours ago.

While yesterday was plagued by people throwing items in toilet bowls in the portable outhouses such as a pair of jeans and a hand sanitizer dispenser they ripped off the wall, the vandalism seemed to be confined to the tinkletoriums.

Though I saw very few political activists distributing stickers this time, my sunblock trick appears to have worked. I smeared sunscreen on my new signs on the Peace Bike to keep stickers from adhering. I left the bike unattended (but chained to a signpost) for 12 hours near a crowd of thousands, and I found no vandalism to it whatsoever.

So what do the new signs on the ol' bikey look like? Here's the bike parked near the entrance to Ploptoberfest yesterday:


(http://i36.tinypic.com/2mca7bp.jpg)

Ploptoberfest looms

About Oktoberfest: It looms. It lurks in the offing.

Cincinnati's version of Oktoberfest is reportedly the largest Oktoberfest in North America. Possibly so, though it doesn't seem quite as eventful as it should be. Such as it is, it's still got to be the most exciting festival to hit the area.

I call it Ploptoberfest, because people often throw things in the toilet bowls in the portable outhouses. It also seems like every year, preachers hand out religious tracts at the event, and someone scatters piles of tracts all over the toilets and pees on them.

Ploptoberfest goes on today and tomorrow, and I plan to be there! As such, I won't have much time to work on this blog. So consider this another open thread, if you will.

Lollipops and gum...together at last! (Bubble Gum Weekend)

Whose brilliant idea was it to name this product Blow Pops?

Although the name of the product sounds almost vulgar, most American young people in my day had at least seen this invention. Blow Pops were and still are a lollipop with bubble gum in the center.

Blow Pops were the subject of this laugh-out-loud uproarious commersh from the '70s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH5yuQx1pL4

I have a vague memory of that highly dated ad. This commercial reportedly made a comeback in the '80s, but by that time it looked so old that it was considered a novelty.

But people bubbled in it. That's why it's called bubble gum. Because people use it to bubble.

It's also amusing how the lollipop in the wrapper about 10 seconds into the clip seems to be magically floating in midair.

Because they have gum-filled lollipops, why don't they have lollipop-filled gum? Sardine-filled gum would also be quite the event, and just think of the hilarious commercials that would make!

Tent cities: another Bush legacy

Tent cities for the homeless aren't new, but lately they've skyrocketed all over America as more and more people have become homeless.

Although a recent HUD study reported a drop in homelessness, that report was quickly debunked when it was found that the Bush regime had changed the definition of what homeless meant.

The data in the study also predates the foreclosure scandal, which Bush helped precipitate - and which Bush won't do anything about.

Besides the foreclosure crisis, the rise in homelessness has also been fueled by cities' classist efforts to replace working-class neighborhoods with those that are exclusively for affluent professionals - creating no-go zones that banish the working class. (Bush's "ownership society" he's always babbling about means "ownership for me, not for thee.")

The Hoovervilles of the 1930s have become Bush Heights today.

We need to have a moratorium on foreclosures until folks can get their finances straightened out. And we need a permanent halt to the practice of replacing affordable housing with exclusive neighborhoods.

(Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/19/national/main4460034.shtml)

Man wants name cleared in allergy meds bust

What did I tell ya?

Yesterday, I told you about the state of Iowa's guerrilla warfare against cold and allergy sufferers. Authorities used a new law to bust 41 people for buying too much over-the-counter medicine, using the excuse that the medicine can be made into meth.

And now one of these 41 has come forward in an attempt to clear his name.

The gentleman has severe allergies. He takes over-the-counter pseudoephedrine drugs daily because it's the only conventional medicine that works. That is what these drugs were meant for.

When the new law passed, he had to compute whether or not his pseudoephedrine purchases were within the legal limit. He believed he was within the law.

He discovered he was one of the 41 people who faced arrest when his niece told him his name was listed in the newspaper among those 41. He promptly turned himself in.

The man wants his name cleared, and pronto. These days, there's a vigilante attitude towards anyone who's even remotely suspected of illicit drug involvement.

I never suspected him or any of the other 40 of being involved with meth. I don't know any of these individuals, because they live hundreds of miles away, but I know enough to know they're probably all innocent.

Maybe 41 people being arrested for nothing will finally prod legislators to repeal this dumb law. Will it??? Huh?????

(Source: http://www.kimt.com/news/local/28674279.html)

Warning to Oktoberfest vandals

After I put new pro-Green and pro-labor signs on the Peace Bike today, I fully expected them to be vandalized tomorrow or Sunday outside Oktoberfest in Cincinnati.

Guess what, vandals? I'm 100 steps ahead of you.

In 2004, they vandalized the bike by sticking Bush stickers on my old signs. Today I tried thinking of a way to keep stickers from sticking to the new signs. So I had to find a good lubricant so stickers won't stick.

I thought of smearing my new signs (which are made of laminated paper) with a thin coat of mayonnaise (which becomes transparent when it sits out), but I feared it may stink. So I considered Blistex instead. But there's not enough of the goo to spare. So then I considered Lanacane. But Lanacane is powerful stuff, and I was afraid the right-wing nutters would scream that it's a chemical weapon.

I settled on sunblock lotion. A good coat of sunscreen is going to cover each sign, and it'll be thin enough to see through so you can still read the signs.

What's really going to be funny is the way the right-wing vandals act when they touch the signs and discover they're all slimy! I wish I could mount the Eyewitness Cam in a secret location to record that! They're going to think the sunscreen is baste!

I can't guarantee they won't find a way to vandalize the Peace Bike again, but at least now I've reduced the odds to about 50/50.

If they want to waste stickers by sticking them on slimy signs where they won't stay up, let 'em look stupid.

The car sign wars are back!

Yesterday someone sent me this photo of something that was seen in Highland Heights, Kentucky - my original hometown!


(http://i36.tinypic.com/10ici9v.jpg)

Lest you can't see that, that's an oversized SUV bearing the words, "I'm a REPUBLICAN because EVERYONE can't be on WELFARE." The SUV has a vanity Kentucky license plate saying I WORK.

I was unsure what to make of this at first. I thought it had to be a joke. But I don't see anyone laughing. So I think the owner of that SUV is serious. The driver really is some spoiled Contract With America leftover who hates the poor and isn't ashamed to show it.

I typed in the phrase on the back of the SUV into Google, and discovered that the hulking vehicle has been sighted throughout Cincinnati.

What sort of self-righteous asswipe puts something like that on the back of their car or SUV anyway? You know the owner of that SUV is someone who has never been poor and has a funhouse mirror idea of what work means. They think work is defined by how much money you make - not by the amount of, you know, work.

According to them, a ditchdigger who makes minimum wage is less of a worker - and less of a person - than a CEO who was born into wealth and makes millions a year. They think someone who works harder for less money doesn't have a "real job" (and is therefore lazier) compared to someone who works less for more money.

Everything to them is about money money money money money. If you don't have money, you're considered nothing.

I've come up with a more detailed profile of who might be driving that SUV. It's hard to see, but the SUV seems to have a Campbell County plate. (The shape of the county name is closest to Campbell.) The data with the photo indicates it was taken on July 25 (a Friday) at 3:11 PM. It's probably someone with a posh downtown office job who doesn't have to work full days, driving home to the exurbs in the southern part of the county.

I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if it's some bully who attacked me at school 20 years ago. I know they were somebody's bully, because normal people don't post crap like that on their cars.

I'm responding in kind. I made a small sign for the back of the Peace Bike that says, "I'm a GREEN because NOT EVERYONE was BORN RICH." In response to the plate, I made another sign, saying, "I WORK TOO."

Both have been attached to the trusty velocipede with strong adhesive tape.

This is reminiscent of the "IMPEACH BUSH" sign I had in the early 2000s, so it'll be interesting to see if the right-wing thought police reacts as violently to the new signs as they did back then.

Tomorrow and Sunday will see Cincinnati's Oktoberfest. Once again, I'm taking the Peace Bike to the 'Nati and parking it right outside the entrance to the festival. Since this is a presidential election year, I expect the right-wingers to go beefuck crazy at Oktoberfest like they did in '04 when they vandalized the bike and started 2 fights with me.

I'll then learn if mailing tape was strong enough to fasten the signs to the bike.

Dress code Nazis punish student over patriotic shirt

The Far Right hellhounds who are pushing tougher dress codes in our so-called public schools have shown what they think about America, haven't they?

At Dos Palos High School in Dos Palos, California, a sophomore student was punished because he wore a patriotic t-shirt. The shirt showed the American flag and the words, "United States of America, Washington, D.C."

Nothing offensive or controversial about the shirt at all. I'm sure the student thought the shirt would create no hullabaloo.

The school's excuse for punishing the teen was that the shirt promoted American culture - which is banned by the dress code. I swear I am not making this up.

Does the school not have a flag flying in its front yard? Does it not recite the Pledge of Allegiance daily? I bet it does both. So school officials are being hypocrites to go after someone over patriotic clothes.

This is like how the right-wing noise machine attacked Barack Obama because he failed to wear a flag pin - after the noise machine did nothing but run America down during the Michael Fay tumult.

The manner in which the school deals with dress code offenses is particularly Nazi: Offending students are forced to wear a bright yellow t-shirt that says, "DCV: Dress Code Violator."

The student's sister said, "It was really embarrassing and humiliating to have to wear that all day - and just for supporting your country."

Dozens of students protested the punishment by wearing patriotic items to school. Good for them! An equally effective protest would've been to get some yellow shirts, have "DCV: Dress Code Violator" printed on them, and wear them to school. If everyone wore them, it would thoroughly dash the stigma that the school's yellow shirts are supposed to carry.

It gets worse.

While the student was talking to the media about the incident, a teacher stomped up to him, assaulted him by ripping the microphone off his shirt, and told him he wasn't allowed to talk to the media.

Yes he is allowed to talk to the media. It's called the First Amendment.

It's interesting to note that this particular school district is also under investigation for misappropriating public funds.

In the meantime, here's something to give the Far Right school admins the willies over their vexiphobia:



(Source: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/460170.html)

City conducts anti-union classes

You know corporatism rules the roost in America when a city can use taxpayer funds to sponsor or organize meetings whose primary purpose seems to be to bust labor unions.

It's happening in Lexington, Kentucky. The city is conducting a series of human resource classes whose name leaves little to the imagination: "Staying Union Free." It's all paid for by Lexington taxpayers.

The meetings come during efforts by a group of city workers to unionize. Some of the local unions are furious that taxpayer money is being spent on this.

Some who attended the first session said the contents of the event were not anti-union. But when you call it "Staying Union Free", there's no doubt where it's headed.

I guess it's no surprise in BushWorld for workers to have their hard-earned tax dollars used to fight against their interests. A shame.

(Source: http://polwatchers.typepad.com/pol_watchers/2008/09/workshop-not-anti-union.html)

Ritzy restaurants accused of stealing tips

Fine dining in New York City? Servers and attendants at New York's fanciest restaurants say it ain't so fine for them.

A series of lawsuits filed over the past few years accuses the restaurants of stealing tips from workers and bilking them out of wages. Many of these eateries are owned by accomplished entertainment celebs.

It's illegal for businesses to take workers' tips, even if they're redistributing them to managers. (Just ask Starbucks.)

Recently a judge approved part of a $3,900,000 settlement for employees at some of the restaurants. Another establishment agreed to pay $1,750,000 for missing wages. Other suits involved claims of racial discrimination in promotions.

Meanwhile, Bush's Department of Labor sits on its hands.

(Source: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080919/world-news/new-yorks-top-restaurants-plagued-by-tip-trouble)

Photos show blackout disparity

As the Blackout of '08 enters its sixth day with still over 100,000 customers in the dark - disproportionately in poor or working-class neighborhoods - I've got a couple photos up showing the economic disparity that I first pointed out days ago. Both these photos are from Sunday night. (They'll count as Roads Scholaring photos when I have enough for a set.)

First there's this:


(http://i36.tinypic.com/35a3b0z.jpg)

The foreground is in working-class Bellevue, Kentucky. The only lights are taillights of a passing car. On the hill behind Bellevue though is the relatively well-off east side of Cincinnati. Look what eastern Cincinnati has that Bellevue doesn't have. That's right. Lights.

Another pic:


(http://i37.tinypic.com/oqg8it.jpg)

This photo illustrates this phenomenon perhaps even more clearly. The only lights in Bellevue are car lights and the camera flash reflecting off traffic signs. On Cincinnati's east side, however, lights are clearly visible.

This part of Bellevue remained in this sorry predicament until Tuesday.

Now that we have photo evidence, are people going to deny that more affluent areas got power restored quicker?

I'm not even the only person who's noticed this inequality.

Vermont AG candidate pledges to prosecute Bush for murder

Wow! Someone is finally starting to make sense!

Charlotte Dennett is the Progressive Party's candidate for Vermont Attorney General. The 61-year-old investigative journalist says that she'll prosecute Bush for murder if she's elected.

I so hope it happens. Going back at least as far as when Bush carpet-bombed a soccer field (one of his first acts as dictator), I've felt he should be hauled before a tribunal to answer for his crimes.

According to Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Charles Manson and his associates, the Attorney General of any U.S. state would have jurisdiction over charging Bush, because Bush lied as an excuse to start the Iraq War.

Several Vermont towns have already voted to indict Bush and Cheney over the war - but the towns' governing boards neglected to draw up the indictments.

Blair Latoff, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, cried, "It's extremely disappointing that a candidate for state Attorney General is more concerned with radical left-wing provocation than upholding the law of Vermont."

Is that the WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHmbulance I hear, Blair?

(Source: http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2008/09/18/vermont_candidate_plans_bush_prosecution)

MTV ruins rain forest, trashes beach

MTV has long brung hype and hypocrisy to much that it gets its poopy paws on. Back when my area first got MTV (which was later than most American locales), it was an innovative, hip channel. But these days (since it got taken over by the greedy Viacom empire), it's a waste.

MTV likes to claim socially responsible values such as environmentalism and tolerance. I'm in favor of that - as long as it sticks to these principles. But this story proves that what MTV says is often different from what MTV does.

While filming its series 'Real World/Road Rules Challenge' on a Caribbean island that's part of Panama, MTV practically demolished the island. It destroyed a rain forest and utterly wrecked a beach. The island was littered with garbage, discarded scripts for the show, and pieces of paper bearing the MTV logo. (If it's a reality show as MTV claims, why the fuck does it need scripts?)

One witness said, "I have seen the aftermath of a tornado, and this was almost as bad."

Just as bad as this, MTV bribed police to keep locals away from the beach throughout the filming of the series - even though it's a public beach.

When locals were allowed to return after MTV had left, they found the island and beach in ruins and had to clean it up themselves.

I guess Viacom thinks it doesn't just own the United States, but the rest of the world too.

(Source: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/fresh-greens/2008/09/16/is-mtv-being-hypocritical.html;
http://sustainablog.org/2008/09/14/mtv-cuts-down-rainforest-for-reality-tv-show)

After blackout, power company wants another rate increase

When you see stories like this, you almost have to wonder if suspension of disbelief shouldn't kick in.

The Blackout of '08 is on its fifth day, but the energy company that serves Cincinnati is...planning a rate hike. This rate increase for Ohio customers would bump up energy bills another 5.7%.

It must first be approved by PUCO (the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio). However, Puke-O has a long record of rubber-stamping utility rate hikes.

Nonetheless, PUCO is required to hold public hearings in Cincinnati about the rate increase. Whooooo, man! I bet they're gonna get an earful!

Great timing for a rate hike, huh?

If the increase goes through after the events of this week, it ain't gonna look too good for PUCO's effectiveness.

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/content/wcposhared/story.aspx?content_id=d6d3926b-1424-4d64-b674-3062ba015b2a)

School system launches War on Presidents Day

Campbell County, Kentucky! (Where else?) My home county!

I knew the Campbell County Schools would eventually find an excuse to add days to the school year (because they always do), but I didn't think they'd make this decision as early as September.

Using the Blackout of '08 as a pretext, they've decided to add 3 days to the school year. For fuck's sake, they started on August 11! Why would they need to add days? One of the days they added happens to be Presidents Day, which is supposed to be a federal holiday.

Not real patriotically sound (to adapt one of their favorite phrases) of them, is it? The school district will hire administrators who call students commies, but the district doesn't even recognize Presidents Day.

Families had vacation plans for those days. Now those are out the window. I think a lot of folks in my county are starting to ask why the hell they even bother to show up for work each day when they can't even give their kids a vacation.

(Source: http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080918/NEWS0103/809180367)

University has quota against working-class students

England's University of Oxford is a prestigious institution that's been around since the 12th century. Its alumni range from Rupert Murdoch to Bill Clinton.

But now Oxford has announced that it can't (won't) accept any more students from working-class backgrounds. Oxford University's admissions director says the working class offers only a "finite pool" of suitable students.

Nothing like affirmative action favoring the privileged, is there? Then again, it's not like the American system (which is hamstrung by legacy admissions policies that favor the affluent) is any less elite than the British system.

If Oxford's current administration had its way, Clinton never would have even been accepted there.

(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/education/2976099/Oxford-University-We-cannot-take-more-working-class-students.html)

41 face arrest for buying too much allergy medicine

I knew that when we got to the height of allergy season (which peaks in late summer in the Midwest), we'd see the drug warriors go bugfuck ballistic.

In northern Iowa, 41 men and women of various ages are facing arrest because they (gasp!) purchased too much over-the-counter allergy or cold medicine - an action that wasn't even illegal 5 years ago. Under the right-wing Patriot Act and under Iowa's version of this law (which became law thanks to the DLC's Tom Milksop), it's now a crime to buy too much of the stuff - even if you plan to use it only for its intended purpose.

When you've got 41 people in such a small area buying allergy drugs at the height of allergy season, something tells me that very few (probably none) of them are guilty of misusing the drug. Even though the drug can be abused by being made into methamphetamine, there's not enough of a market in such a small area to support 41 meth makers.

In other words, the 41 "suspects" are probably innocent of any meth involvement. Every damn one of them. Probably their only "crime" was having seasonal allergies.

But in BushAmerica, you can't always expect the authorities to use logic.

(Source: http://www.charlescitypress.com/articles/2008/09/18/news/news07.txt)

The Conservative Fool Of The Day is...Joe Lieberman!

How long is the Right going to beat the troop surge dead horse?

I'm pretty sure Joe Lieberman has gotten a Conservative Fool Of The Day entry before, but there's few other people who deserve an entry again and again. Now there's more laughs at Lieberman's expense, as he's demanding the Senate vote on a resolution declaring that the Iraq War troop surge was successful.

How many times does this bullshit have to be debunked? The fact of the matter is: the surge didn't work, most of the benchmarks weren't met, and more soldiers died. (The number of casualties declined only months after the surge ended.) Republicans like Lyin' Lindsey Graham and so-called "independents" like Lieberman just can't admit they were wrong to support it.

It amazes you: The economy has been agonizingly evaporating for a quarter-century, and Lieberman wants a vote on feely-bad horseshit like this.

What's even more amazing is that Lieberman insists the surge worked even though it's been proven that not only is this not true but it's also a politically disastrous stance. Obama's poll numbers tanked when he told Bill O'Reilly the surge worked. Hasn't Lieberman learned anything from that?

You're an idiot, Joe.

(Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/17/lieberman.surge)

Blackout of '08 enters fifth day

The deregulation-fueled power outage plaguing Cincinnati has entered its fifth day.

Days after the blackout began early Sunday, 200,000 customers still lack electricity. Although the power company boasted they would have 85% of customers back online by last night, the figure is only 70% even today.

People are frustrated and furious! Their livelihoods depend on electricity, and they haven't had power since Sunday. As a result of this aggravation, not only was there the celebrated spoiled food protest at the substation, but the Internet-only remnant of the Kentucky Post published a photo of a sign someone had made saying, "Duke, we need electric."

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=3a4ecc80-b0bd-4fba-9f1d-bb4e9f6a5d43;
http://www.kypost.com/content/wcposhared/story.aspx?content_id=8c792c14-fb50-4c62-a510-f36cfa4c36f2)

Obama leading in...Indiana?!

I actually thought a couple weeks ago that Obama might be done for, but I guess people really, really, really don't like McCain - and like Sarah Paliban even less.

The last time Indiana went Democratic in a presidential election was Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide. Why Indiana is so Republican, I'll never know. In the '90s, the Hoosier State went Republican even when all the adjacent states (including Kentucky) went Democratic.

So this poll by the Indianapolis Star and WTHR-TV in Indianapolis really made me do a double-take: Obama is now leading by 3% in Indiana.

Indiana, of all places!

(Source: http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=9029011)

Congress fixes ADA rollback

Although the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 isn't as strong as its proponents wanted (because they had to compromise to get it past the elder Bush's veto pen), it's still a useful law when enforced.

But the activist Supreme Court has been slowly but surely chiseling away at the ADA. For instance, the SCrOTUS removed protections for people who tried to mitigate the disabilities they had.

Now Congress has - finally - cleaned up the Supremes' mess. On a voice vote, the House approved a measure that recently passed the Senate that would effectively reverse the court's rulings. This is one of very few acts (possibly the only act) by the current Congress that has reversed any of the inexplicable public policy changes that have occurred since 1995.

The current Bush has almost no choice but to sign Congress's ADA restoration bill into law, because they'll just override him if he vetoes it.

Now if Congress would get to work on repealing the '96 telcom law and the welfare "reform" act, we'll know they're finally living up to their mandate (just in time for the next election).

(Source: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N17480217.htm)

When the moon hits a substation like a big pizza pie...

Last year, I told you about how an elderly woman fought back against Comcast's fartpipery by laying hulk to the cable company's regional office. Now something similar has happened here to our local electric company because of the Blackout of '08.

Ahem. Ahem, ahem, ahem.

Fed up with the ongoing darkness, loss of business, and food spoilage, a local man decided to fight back. He gathered a couple of items from his refrigerator that had gone stale because of the days-long blackout and wrote "SPOILED" all over the packaging in thick black marker.

Then - under cover of night - he bipped over to a spot that has a height advantage over a nearby power company substation.

The first item to be disposed of was a small frozen pepperoni pizza - which wasn't frozen anymore, because of the power company's "innovative" mass defrosting service that I ridiculed. Indeed, it was ru. The spoiled pizza (still in its wrapper) was thrown frisbee-like towards the substation. The rotten pie appeared to land on the ground just inside the fence.

The second item was a bit trickier. It was a nearly full tub of margarine. It too was ru. Although it was not flat, the man also attempted to throw it like a frisbee.

But a funny thing happened. The lid flew off the container mid-flight, and a trail of margarine formed between there and just inside power company property.

It behooves us to note that the man wasn't aiming for the substation itself, because that may have endangered the local power grid (as if it wasn't already out). He was aiming for just inside the fence, where it would be discovered. A work crew is probably going to see the rotten food, and they'll tell the boss, who'll tell their boss. And when the board of directors finds out someone fought the company, they're going to be so mad they'll poop holes in their pantaloons.

I'm almost 100% sure this isn't the only time during the outage in which someone has fought the power company. But I do have to warn you that legally it's a gray area. So I'd advise against doing anything like throwing rotten food at a substation fence.

Rain isn't predicted for a week, and it's still reasonably warm outside. So you know what that margarine is going to do? Stink. That's what. So it's going to be impossible not to notice that it's there and has "SPOILED" written all over it - so it'll be clear what all this is about.

Meanwhile, some neighborhoods in my immediate area report that the power remains out for the fourth day.

The Conservative Fool Of The Day is...Lesil McGuire!

Another recipient of the Gary Nodler Award, perhaps? Like Nodler, Alaska State Sen. Lesil McGuire is another Republican politician who doesn't know how to act right when they go out in this big, nasty world.

McGuire is a conservative who is the wife of former State Rep. Tom Anderson, who is in federal prison on corruption charges. McGuire was first elected to the Alaska Senate in 2006 after 3 terms in the state House.

Early this month, McGuire, 37, started a ruckus on an Alaska Airlines flight like a big baby. The powerful legislator had to be questioned by police when the flight landed.

During the flight, an apparently drunk McGuire kept using her pager to send text messages, even though there's an Allowed Cloud against it. The Tom Ridges of the world get so mad when people listen to radios on flights (because they want people to pay to listen to the airline's music system instead), even though radio receivers don't transmit. But when some GOP big shot uses a pager, which transmits and may interfere with the flight controls, the GOP calls it "art."

McGuire was asked repeatedly to shut her pager off. She refused, which forced the pilot to stop the plane while it was taxiing.

When flight attendants refused to serve McGuire alcohol, she became angry and deliberately poured a glass of water on the floor. She used profanity, insulted the pilots, and delayed the flight more by getting out of her seat.

There were numerous witnesses to McGuire's batshit, belligerent behavior. One attendant said McGuire was the rudest passenger she had ever met.

Everyone knows damn well that if you or I had done anything even close to this, we'd be rotting in jail now. But not Lesil McGuire. She's a Republican lawmaker, so she's special and privileged and all.

But McGuire says she was targeted because of a big, mean conspiracy against her.

Why are so many GOP politicians such spoiled crybabies?

(Source: http://www.adn.com/politics/story/528486.html)

Cave Muppets invent orange juice ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

The Blackout of '08 reminds one of this classic 'Sesame Street' sketch:



Once upon a time, in Cincinnati in 2008, 1,000,000 people lived in caves, because the power was out for a week.

Muppet #1: "My new bicycle has a flat tire. I wish I had a new tire. But the bike shop is closed because the power is out."

Muppet #2: "What the fuck difference does it make? The streetlights are out, so you can't see where your bike is going anyway!"

Then Ernie, the King of the Cave People, comes along and says, "I'm very thirsty, but everything in the refrigerator I had to drink went sour, and the water tastes like a 40-year-old road atlas."

So Sherlock Hemlock, the Royal Smart Person, bops along and uses some toilet water and orange hard candy to make orange juice. He has to make more orange juice every day, because it spoils thanks to the lack of refrigeration.

Ernie: "Maybe we can call it toilet juice!" (Laughs.)

So the week was saved by Ernie and Sherlock Hemlock!

Teen suspended for having tool in car

Fascism season really has set in, hasn't it? This is the second "zero tolerance" story here in less than a week.

A student at Blaine High School in Blaine, Minnesota, has a job that many other teenagers have: He cuts boxes at a store. This task necessitates a box cutter.

But 11 days ago, the guards (!!!) at his school peeked into his car and found his box cutter being stored safely therein. The tool was there because he goes to work right after school.

The result of having the tool that he needs for work in his car: 2 weeks of suspension, and the expulsion process has commenced.

Maybe the next thing that ought to commence is a lawsuit - against the school.

(Source: http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=524796&catid=2)

Open letter to the electric company

Heeeyyy yooouuu guuuyyys!!!!!

I want to thank you folks at the local energy company for your new service. Your mass defrosting service, in which everyone in Cincinnati defrosts their refrigerator at the same time, really works wonders! Nothing wards off burglars like the smell of spoiled food hovering over entire neighborhoods.

Love, Tim.

Power restored in rich areas first

In the current Cincinnati blackout (which continues days after it began), something rather interesting - but entirely predictable - was observed.

Listening to the radio (which offers brief, almost useless blackout updates between the long stretches of right-wing hate speech), we're told that power gets restored in this order: city, neighborhood, block, street, house. A whole city or neighborhood is supposed to come first because it has more customers than a single building.

But in reality, this order isn't followed. Reports from radio callers and my family members, plus my own observations, prove that power is actually being restored starting with the richer areas, working down to the poorer areas. There are exceptions, but by and large, this is the order that's followed. That much is absolutely clear.

I hope to be able to post a couple photos that illustrate this classism in one fell swoop. That affluent areas usually get power restored earlier is beyond dispute (much as it's long been clear that outages affect poor or working-class areas disproportionately).

Around 3 AM yesterday, I went for a little walk to see how far the outage went. Looking southwest through Bellevue, I could see that the power went on at about the point where the new rich condos are. Walking east through Dayton, Kentucky - a working-class town - no sign of electricity was seen throughout the length of the city.

Yet much smaller areas that have much higher income levels saw their power restored almost instantly.

Mad? You bet I am! And I know others are too. And not wrongly so either (unlike the spoiled crybabies on Freak Rethuglic who cry about people trespassing on "their" beaches). Much of this debacle could've been avoided in the first place. Even with 1,000,000 customers out, I don't believe that it has to take a week to restore of all of them. Not for one minute.

Incidentally, there's already been serious talk of a lawsuit against the power company.

The Bush Who Brings You Bedbugs

Bedbugs used to be considered a hazard of a world long past. But in the early 2000s (ahem), Americans began noting that the little critters were making a comeback.

Granted, that would be mighty annoying. They bite, you know. But - compared with everything else failing right around the same time (ahem) - not everyone could afford to worry about it.

But infestations continue to increase.

Once you've got bedbugs, your mattress is ruined. Utterly ru! You have to replace it.

Not long ago, a Cincinnati city official said he was shocked that we have to worry about bedbugs in the 21st century. Well, thank Bush. That sack of shit Bush hasn't done shit about the problem. In fact, the problem was thought to have long ago been eliminated nationwide when he seized power.

Just call him Bedbug Bush. Or - for emphasis - the Bush Who Brings You Bedbugs. (Sort of like "the beer that brings you baseball.")

There's a good chance you have them. I'd say in some areas, probably greater than a 50/50 chance. If you get what appear to be mosquito bites, but they last longer, they might not be from mosquitoes. They might be from bedbugs - a force to be reckoned with!

At least bedbugs are a relatively minor annoyance, unlike the major Bush-induced grievances that have proliferated lately.

Newt's Principle and the Blackout of '08

I can almost predict how the kookosphere is going to spin the Blackout of '08, so we might as well steel ourselves for their hate speech.

Let me introduce you to something I'll call Newt's Principle. It's named for right-wing former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, for it's characteristic of he and his supporters fucking up and blaming the victims. Like a true Nazi.

Newt's Principle is founded on a powerful person or group oppressing someone who has little power, and blaming the victim when things go wrong. The worse things get for you or me, the more the corporatists blame us for it - even though their many foul-ups caused it.

The purpose of Newt's Principle is to make it appear something is inherently wrong with the victims - so if you follow this "logic", there's no point in trying to make sure we get treated fairly.

I know who's gonna get blamed when it takes a week to restore power. It ain't gonna be the power company. We'll get blamed for "overworking" the system even though we weren't even using it any more than usual. Just watch.

The media and the Internet are rife with a right-wing dogma that's the polar opposite of where you or I stand. We take a balanced view that recognizes corporate responsibility. In the right-wing consensus of the media and the Internet, corporate responsibility is an alien concept. Corporations bear no burden for anything, even when something is clearly their fault. This makes for some highly irrational babblings from the other side.

So be on the lookout. As a highway sign may say: Watch for falling fascism!

Another deregulation disaster: the Blackout of '08

The storms are bad in Texas. That's indisputable.

But in Kentucky and Ohio, they're no cakewalk either, thanks to the spoiled, greed-driven free market cult that governs utilities. The media consensus tries to absolve Big Business of any role, but that's bullshit.

When the deregulation craze picked up height in the '90s, the media cooed that that it would open up competition in the utility business. That was a lie. I knew it was a lie. There's even less competition now than before - and almost no regulations to ensure more reliable service. Make no mistake: That's made the latest story all the worse.

This entry isn't about Cincinnati's 50 MPH sustained winds (which prove climate change is real). It's about the region being plagued by widespread power outages that would have never been dreamed of 30 years ago unless the weather was much worse. The area has had major wind events in my lifetime before this (though probably none over 50 MPH), but because those were before deregulation, they seldom caused much power loss. Now the industry is so ill-prepared because of deregulation that the whole city of Cincinnati was knocked to its knees.

Long and short of it is: But for dereg, all the power probably would've been restored quickly.

The weather was tinderbox dry when the power was lost. My electricity went out 4 times - the fourth time for 29 hours and counting. (I'm blogging from elsewhere.)

I called the electric company (not 'The Electric Company', but the electric company). I was met with a recording saying there were 500,000 residences and businesses in the area with no power, and that it would be 3 to 4 days to completely restore power. The 500,000 figure later became 1,000,000, and the estimate of 3 to 4 days later became a week.

What??? A week??? This is already the worst blackout ever in this area. This denial of service is also the worst wind-only outage in the nation's history.

I don't expect this outage to receive as much media attention as it should (the CBS evening news today ignored it), because the right-wing media has a pro-dereg agenda to push.

I also had difficulty reporting my power being out. When I called the electric company, a recording told me to enter my 10-digit phone number. I did so, and was told it wasn't a real number. The recording then told me to enter my 10-digit account number - which I don't have, because electric is included in my rent. So I called back and entered a family member's phone number. All this did was elicit a recording telling me that it would be reported that the power was out at that address. There was no way to contact a customer service person. Later, a family member called me and told me dialing 0 during these recordings is a secret method to get through to customer service. I didn't try it because by then the power company had to have known the electric was out in the whole neighborhood.

This family member also told me the phone company (which I once worked for) is as unprepared as the power company is. The phone company was called about a downed line that blocked the driveway (which is dangerous). The phone company played a recording saying it would be over an hour before the call would even be taken. Later they said they would not fix the downed line for 3 days.

Results of the deregulation-fueled Blackout of '08: Businesses were forced to close. Because stores closed, folks couldn't buy food to replace food that spoiled because of the power being out too long. People got stranded in buildings with elevators (especially if they're unable to use stairs). I lost business. Traffic lights and rail crossing signals didn't work (which caused accidents).

Spoiled Freepers who live nowhere near Cincinnati or Texas think they have it rough. They'll WWWHHHIIIIIIIIIINNNE because a poor family somewhere "robs" them by getting $10 a week in government benefits. But these Freepers weren't near the storm, so they never lost power. So they should shut their damn mouths.

After something like this, the government ought to require the power company to waive all of this month's electric bills. Nationwide, there's enough laws to fill a set of books the size of the Encyclopaedia Britannica that protect utilities and even grant them special powers (like the power to abuse eminent domain). But there's hardly any laws to protect consumers - especially from denial of service attacks like this.

I'm inclined to bill the power company for lost business, food going stale, and not getting the power I paid for (I'm on the flat rate plan). In modern America, where everything is computerized or runs on electricity, and where so many people depend on it for their livelihoods, a metropolitan area of 2,000,000 can't go for days on end without power. It wouldn't be such a hardship if electricity wasn't one of the building blocks of the local economy.

If the Republicans win greater Cincinnati in the election after this blackout, it'll be a once-in-a-lifetime miracle. Opponents have grounds to run ads on Cincinnati TV to raise the issue of deregulation and the outage.

I don't even want to hear what the excuses are form the market ideologues this time. I and thousands of others aren't in the mood. If a dry wind wreaks this much havoc on our power system, think what a tornado would do.

A postscript: The blackout got worse today, after the work to fix it reportedly began. From radio reports, the number of customers with no power increased through most of the day.

It's electric!

This may be a slow couple of days on this blog, because the power keeps going out here. The electricity has gone out here 3 times today, even though the weather today has been bone-dry.

We've pleaded, we've begged, we've implored for years. But electricity still doesn't always come easy in these parts.

(I worked for the phone company, so I have some knowledge of how utilities work.)

Former presidential candidate Peter Camejo dies

Peter Camejo, a longtime activist and author, died today of cancer at the age of 68.

Camejo was perhaps best known for his runs for elected office. He was Ralph Nader's running mate in 2004. And he was the Green candidate for Governor of California 3 times.

In California's 2002 gubernatorial election - when the 2 leading parties fielded disastrous candidates - Camejo won 5% of the vote, which was a respectable showing for a third party in an era known for its totalitarian suppression of dissent. (He ran ahead of the Republicans in San Francisco.) He was also a Green candidate in the recall do-over of 2003, and again in 2006.

He even ran for President in 1976.

But there was more to Peter Camejo than just electoral politics. When he was in college, California's then-Gov. Ronald Reagan called Camejo one of the state's 10 most dangerous citizens all because he protested against the Vietnam War. Camejo later opposed the illegal Iraq War.

Remember the name Peter Camejo when you look at past elections. He ran under a third party, but he was much more accomplished than many major party candidates of recent years.

Gum Fighter meets Rockjaw Jim (Bubble Gum Weekend)

The Gum Fighter is cool. He ought to be President of the World.

The Gum Fighter of course is the gumfightin' legend from the Hubba Bubba commercials of the '80s. He always brang out a zany cast of characters to complement his presence. They were often humiliated in gum chewing contests versus the ol' Fighter.

The Gum Fighter's rivals were sort of like the gangs of adversaries you fought as a youth. They had distinct personalities and characteristics and were always spoiling for a fight.

But one day it appeared that the Gum Fighter finally met his match: Rockjaw Jim...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTlqW0QROXo

Rockjaw Jim. A weird one indeed.

That old commersh showed ol' Rockjaw challenging the Gum Fighter to a "chewdown." The object was to chomp some BG until your jaw gets sore.

But when Rockjaw Jim realized his own gum had nails and boogers in it, he grimaced in frustration. He looked like my high school principal did when he got angry.

But amazingly, nobody bubbled.

L.A. Times publishes anti-Obama hit piece

Must...resist...temptation...to...vote...for...Obama.

If you read this blog, you know I'm a Green. But each time some right-wing news outlet publishes a Republican hit piece against Obama, I'm more and more tempted to vote for the Democratic standard-bearer.

In a blog entry for the right-leaning Los Angeles Times, Andrew Malcolm (Laura Bush's former press secretary) claims that Obama made light of McCain having his fingers injured while he was a POW. What Malcolm said of Obama is a filthy lie. Obama made no mention of McCain's hand injuries.

An Obama ad criticized the McCain campaign for being too far behind the times to know how to use a computer or e-mail. Obama said nothing about McCain not being able to type because of his injuries. In fact, very few people (and probably none of those involved with the ad) knew until after this ad was made that McCain couldn't type.

Unless you're fucking stupid, you can see that the ad makes no reference to McCain being injured.

So Andrew Malcolm lied outright.

The Los Angeles Times blog is chock-full of manufactured stories like this. One wonders if Free Republic didn't buy the Times while we weren't looking. On the other hand, the Times has long leaned well to the right.

In its next session - regardless of how the presidential election turns out - Congress must take up investigating right-wing media bias.

Congrats, L.A. Times. You just got shitcanned here, just like ABC, NBC, Fox, and so on.

Moron posts racist sign attacking Obama

If anyone at all challenges GOP dominance, no matter how timidly, Republicans just go bugfuck ballistic.

It's happened yet again, this time in Barefoot Bay, Florida. Some right-wing clod posted a handmade sign in his front yard saying, "OBAMA HALF-BREED MUSLIN."

What the fuck is a "Muslin"? I have no idea what a "Muslin" is. I know what a Muslim is, but Obama is a member of the United Church of Christ and is not a Muslim.

The maniac who posted the sign threatened, "If I see anybody touching that sign, I got a club sitting right over there." Touch touch touch touch touch!

He also cried, "Look what he's doing to Palin!" Is that the WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHmbulance I hear?

Oh well. Another day, another illiterate Republican't.

This man must know the doofus who sent me that e-mail calling me an "unpatriotic patriotic bubble blower."

What's even funnier is that the man in this story looks like Mr. Hooper from 'Sesame Street', only with a much more belligerent demeanor. (Watch the video and find out.)

(Source: http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2008/9/10/obama_sign_in_yard_stirs_up_neighbors.html)

The confrontation!

Last night's protest against the abusive teen confinement facility will be forever remembered for the argument started by an angry man. He and his wife defended the program for minutes on end.

I don't want to post my own video or audio, but I've used it to put together an account of the incident in which the man made a complete fool of himself. Incidentally, I wasn't in that particular abusive program, but all 12 of the protests I've been invited to have had at least one participant who was. I participate in these demonstrations because I know what "the industry" does.

The confrontation went like so...

Hostile man (angrily): "Which one of you was in the program?"

Protester #1 (politely): "Do you have a kid in the program, sir?"

Hostile man: "Which one of you was in the program? That was my question."

Protester #1: "My question is, uh, do you have a kid in the program?"

(Unintelligible speech.)

Protester #1: "I'll have a peaceful, civil dialogue."

(More speech.)

The hostile man's wife denied that this was even the same program that was around several years ago (even though this talking point was debunked long ago).

(More speech.)

Hostile man: "Are you drug-free?"

Protester #1 replied in the affirmative.

Hostile man: "So are you still in denial?"

(More speech.)

I shut the camera off but picked up a few minutes later. The second clip starts out with totally unintelligible speech before things pick up...

Protester #1 (still politely): "I don't know really what we're talking about here is getting anything accomplished, so if you don't mind, I'd just prefer to, uh, hold the signs and, you know, go about -"

Hostile man: "It's because people that can't stand [unintelligible] have to do this."

(Speech drowned out by traffic.)

Protester #1 (pointing at the phone number on the sign I was holding): "If you want further information, call this number."

Hostile man (to me): "Are you afraid of them? Is he afraid to say you weren't [unintelligible]?""

Another protester called me aside. More speech and a loud sigh are heard. The man then argued with yet another protester, before popping off at me again.

Hostile man: "It's all lies!"

Me: "I'm not lying! I was not - I wasn't in this program, but I never said that I was!"

Hostile man: "[Unintelligible] asking the question!"

Hostile woman: "Do you have friends who support -"

Me (to hostile man): "You're accusing me - calling me a liar right to my face! I don't appreciate that!"

The angry man turned ghostly with humiliation, as more muffled speech is heard.

Protester #1 (remaining calm while addressing hostile couple): "We obviously disagree. I think it just would be better if we just went about our own protests peaceably."

Hostile woman (flustered by shouting match started by hostile man): "That was quite interesting."

Protester #1: "Legally we're allowed to stay out here and we will continually stand out here and -"

Hostile woman: "We do not agree -"

(More noise.)

Protester #2: "Dialogue should be cut off when it's not productive. That's true of all negotiations."

Shortly thereafter the antagonists left.

In summary, a hapless fellow thought he could bully us. And we fought back when he least expected it - leaving him a humiliated shell of himself. It just goes to show the program's supporters don't think or behave logically.

(More info: http://www.isaccorp.org/kidshelpingkids.asp)

Protest happens; parent starts shouting match

Another success! Blublublublublub!

I got deployed out to Clermont County again last night for another roadside protest against a confirmedly abusive teen "treatment" center. There were 5 of us.

Although most weather outlets predicted a 100% chance of rain, no precipitation materialized. We were out there for about 5 hours. Our rally (replete with some fresh new signs) started out slow but things heated up when a parent of one of the teenage clients emerged from the building.

He began hassling us and asking us if we were on drugs. Obviously, if we were on drugs, we wouldn't be able to organize effective 5-hour protests and rack up a string of 12 successful efforts against the program for nearly a year.

In addition to this man's McCarthyist blatherings, he also argued with us about whether this was even the same program that was known to be abusive 20 years ago. It is. Some of our group had seen the incorporation documents that prove that it is - no matter how many times the program changes its name.

The man also said that if the program had been abusive, we should file a lawsuit with the local prosecutor. Um. File a lawsuit with a prosecutor? What law school did you go to, mister? I think I knew when I was 12 that prosecutors don't file civil suits.

But that bloke wasn't involved in the shouting match that defined the event.

Later, the same man and woman who had confronted us at other recent protests pulled into the facility's driveway. Their car window was down, and the thickset, bearded man said to us, in a frustrated tone, "You idiots."

The pair later emerged from the building carrying idiotic signs that appeared to support the program. Actually the signs assailed us more than it supported the facility. One of their signs said something like, "A sign is not artwork." This was a reference to the program's director stealing one of our signs back in July. But since nobody who drove past knew what the angry couple meant, they looked like buffoons.

Then came the real confrontation. The hapless gent began interrogating me. For several minutes, I opted not to answer him - until he called me a liar. (How can one be a liar if they don't say anything?) So I told him what I thought. Trust me on that. After I gave him a piece of my mind, he was so thoroughly humiliated that he and his wife stomped off and went back inside. (It reminded me of the time Bill Clinton told off a right-wing heckler.)

He was clearly trying to get me to say something incriminating, for he had a camera phone. (Displaying usual program incompetence, he was holding the phone backwards.) But that didn't work: Our protests are legal, so I had nothing incriminating to say. It was also clear that the man is a grownup bully who starts trouble deliberately. Thirty-five years ago, this guy was probably the spoiled brat in school who harassed classmates and went crying to the principal when someone got fed up and decked him.

There was no physical altercation last night though, despite this fellow's threatening demeanor. I hope to post more details of this hilarious squabble after reviewing my recordings of the event. (I want to wait to see if my ongoing hearing loss improves. In the interest of privacy, I choose not to post the actual recordings.)

Everything was anticlimactic from then. Later, parents streamed out of the parking lot in their vehicles. This time, the humiliated man and his wife said nothing to us. The Harangue (our name for the program's director) said nothing to us either, but she appeared clearly frustrated.

To celebrate this smashingly successful outing, we ate din-din at IHOP and blew bubbles in our beverages through our straws. Then we bipped down to the Dayton, Kentucky, floodwall for a nifty little stroll.

It takes a lot of work to effectively educate the public about abusive teen gulags, but since November we've made incredible progress!

(More info: http://www.isaccorp.org/kidshelpingkids.asp)

Ballots taken out with trash

If you had any faith at all in the accuracy of American voting systems, it'll swirl clean down the johnnypot once you read this story.

Recently there was an election for a judicial post in Palm Beach County, Florida - a county known for its confusing ballots in the 2000 recount scandal. When the votes in the recent judicial contest were being subjected to a recount, about 3,500 ballots mysteriously vanished. The disappearance of these votes actually decided who won the election.

Although this was a judicial election (and was probably a nonpartisan ballot), some speculated that this was a practice run for the Republicans to rig another presidential election. With the Republicans' record, I couldn't help but suspecting this myself. But this story gets so weird that it's probably more of an indicator of unchecked incompetence than of partisan shenanigans.

It now appears that the 3,500 ballots were mistakenly taken out with the trash. Now they're either in a landfill somewhere or have been turned into fertilizer by Oscar the Grouch.

The ballots were supposed to be secured in bank-style bags. But the county wouldn't even provide enough bags, so poll workers used garbage bags instead. You can guess what happened then: Someone thought the ballots were garbage, and they got taken out with the trash.

Talk about a complete lack of election security!

With utterly mind-numbing breakdowns like this, who can trust that their vote is even going to be counted?

This is as bad as the 2000 story in which half-burned bags of ballots kept turning up in hotel rooms.

(Source: http://www.wptv.com/content/breakingnews/story.aspx?content_id=71e2d137-1c23-4be3-aa89-cdef86f326b4)

Man hassled over bean plant

Another example of how America remains in a state of terrorism panic?

A man in Orem, Utah, purchased castor bean seeds for his garden. Castor bean plants (not uncommon in Kentucky) are widely regarded as beautiful, and the beans are used to make castor oil.

The beans can also be made into ricin, a deadly poison used as a biological weapon. But castor bean plants or their seeds are not illegal, and you can buy them at gardening shops.

Don't tell that to Orem police though. The homeowner got a visit from cops all because he grew the charming plant in his garden. Police even called in the Department of Homeland Security to investigate.

That's exactly like going after someone for having paper because paper can be used to make bombs.

In BushAmerica, everyone is viewed as a criminal, no matter how innocent they are.

(Source: http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=f2396fa3-c730-457d-825c-257c263a831c)

House burns because of terrorism panic

In the 7 years since 9/11, terrorism has been a more salient issue than ever before. But there's some who will exploit it and put the whole country in a catatonic state of panic - all for political gain.

For instance, the unreliable and oft-mocked color-coded terror alert system (promoted endlessly by the right-wing Fox News Channel) keeps this panic alive. Not only is this system not a reliable gauge of terrorist activity. It's also been used as an excuse to politicize terrorism and mortgage personal liberty.

Vigilance is good. Panic is bad. Panic has allowed the terrorists to win.

A house fire outside Dallas in June has made this all too obvious.

The blaze in Rockwall County, Texas, could have been fought. But the fire hydrants were dry.

Why did the hydrants lack water? It's because the private water company that serves that community had long ago shut the water off.

But why? The water company's general manager said, "These hydrants need to be cut off in a way to prevent vandalism or any kind of terrorist activity." This practice began right after 9/11.

House fires are all too common, and they kill countless Americans each year. But how often do you hear about active fire hydrants being used for terrorism? The water pressure would probably make it almost impossible to poison the water, for any contaminant would likely be ejected right back into the terrorist's face.

Fire departments often have tools to reactivate dry hydrants. But by the time they reactivate the hydrant, it could be too late. And that's what happened in Texas. Turning on the water adds an extra step that takes up precious time.

This can happen to you. Since 9/11, the panic-inspired practice of shutting off water to hydrants has become common in rich and poor communities all over America.

Maybe when people stop doing shortsighted things like shutting off fire hydrants, I'll believe America is finally winning the war against terrorism.

(Source: http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa080827_lj_hawes.1983f2d0.html)

Chavez Derangement Syndrome! (a blast from the past)

Two years ago, doctors discovered a new ailment: Chavez Derangement Syndrome (CDS)!

But Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (pictured here) isn't the one who's deranged. The deranged are those who assailed Chavez because he dared to criticize Bush.

Chavez is a democratically elected leader who has implemented populist reforms that have helped ease poverty and improve the lives of Venezuelans. Strikingly, Chavez has done more for the U.S. than Bush has - by offering inexpensive heating oil to U.S. communities.

But it was Chavez's criticism of Bush that led to the CDS epidemic of 2006. Shockingly, while this epidemic was contained among Republicans, it ran rampant among Democrats.

Manhattan-based congressman Charlie Rangel, for instance. Up until CDS was discovered, I always thought Rangel was a decent congressman. But then came his reaction to Chavez's United Nations visit.

In late 2006, Hugo Chavez addressed the UN General Assembly and provided harsh words against Bush and the corrupt Bush regime. His speech was met with roaring applause.

But Rangel immediately lashed out against Chavez. He cried, "I want President Chavez to please understand that even though many people in the United States are critical of our President [sic] that we resent the fact that he would come to the United States and criticize President [sic] Bush. ... You don't come into my country, you don't come into my congressional district, and you don't condemn my President [sic]."

Uh, you know something, congressman? The UN isn't in your congressional district or even officially in the United States. Although surrounded by New York, the grounds of the United Nations are legally considered UN territory and are in no single country.

It wasn't just Rangel that suffered from Chavez Derangement Syndrome. This ailment was also experienced by none less than Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

Pelosi called Chavez "an everyday thug." Since when is a democratically elected President who abides by the law and tries to respect human rights an "everyday thug"?

To this day, Reid continues to imply that Chavez is some sort of maniacal dictator every chance he gets.

The Democrats have spent more time and effort bashing Hugo Chavez for that one speech than criticizing Bush for all his travails combined. Sure, it might be fair to critique Chavez for some things - but you can't expect one to have much credibility after attacking him for his UN speech in which he blasted Bush.

CDS is just one of several reasons I can no longer consider myself a Democrat. A crying shame too. It's tempting to vote Democratic again this year. I want to do it. (And I certainly won't vote Republican.) But why reward the party that's championed CDS while not even living up to its pledge to impeach Bush? They'll try to impeach Chavez even though he's in another country, but they won't impeach Bush.

Please. Someone knock me out of this dilemma. Come on, Kentucky: We need instant runoff voting. I don't want my third party candidates to be spoilers.

Palin may launch war on Russia

When I received this link, I thought it was a joke. But it's actually serious.

In one of her interviews with Charles Gibson, Sarah Palin boasted that a possible McCain/Palin regime might go to war with Russia. "We will not repeat a Cold War," Failin' Palin said.

Damn. It appears as if Palin's hairstyle isn't the only thing about her that's stuck in 1959. She would've fit in quite well with the Cold War armchair hawks who thought America should start a war with Russia because it would cause 60,000,000 Russian casualties and "only" 40,000,000 American casualties.

Palin went on to say, "What I think is that smaller democratic countries that are invaded by a larger power is something for us to be vigilant against." Oh, you mean like the time Reagan authorized the CIA to try to overthrow Nicaragua's democratically elected government?

Failin' Palin doesn't exactly sound like someone who'd make the world a safer place.

(Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080911/ap_on_el_pr/palin_interview)

Media machine exploits 9/11

ABC's demonstrably inaccurate 'The Path To 9/11' exploited the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by airing on September 10 and 11 of 2006.

Now the conservative media machine is choosing today - the 7th anniversary of 9/11 - to exploit it further. Fox News has published a flagrantly biased piece that attempts to give credibility to the bogus claims that there was an effort to censor the discredited docudrama. The piece also promotes 'Blocking 'The Path To 9/11'', a new release that purports to document this nonexistent censorship.

It disgusts me to no end that anyone would exploit 9/11, but even seeing the Fox piece in print, you can almost see Brit Hume chortling. (Following the London subway bombings, Hume used the occasion to boast that it would be a good time to invest in the stock market.)

There's no level to which the smug partisan vultures in the media won't stoop to, is there?

4th-grader suspended for using broken pencil sharpener

Another new school year! So the "zero tolerance" Nazis are at it again!

In Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, a 4th-grade student is in the trouble of his life for something that's standard in almost every set of school supplies: a small pencil sharpener.

His sharpener had become accidentally broken, causing the blade to fall off. When this occurred, the school deemed the sharpener to be a weapon and suspended the student - who had been described as well-behaved. The school also called the sheriff and has threatened further disciplinary action.

Come on, people. Where are the lawsuits?

Every time there's a "zero tolerance" suspension like this, there ought to be an expert legal team to swoop in and sue the school for everything it's worth. Judging by cases like this, however, the school probably ain't worth much. So we must do more.

Look at how schools pester students and their families. I know from experience that if a child gets labeled, the school system will hound the child to the ends of the earth. Americans need to start doing the same to schools.

(Source: http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/607283.html)

GOP waterworks in Montana

I knew the Republicans were sore losers, but I can't believe they're such arrogant asshats about it.

In 2006, the GOPstapo tried rigging the Senate election in Montana by installing poll watchers to illegally intimidate voters who lived on Native American reservations. They almost succeeded at ensuring a result that was favorable to them.

Recently, Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer gave a speech in which he joked about the matter in his own peerless style. He told a story about tribal police showing up at the polling places to arrest the Republican operatives.

But this story was only fiction, and those who heard the speech knew that's what it was meant to be. There's no evidence that tribal authorities arrested the poll watchers or that Schweitzer ordered them to. The speech was "just Brian being Brian", as a Democratic spokesperson said. Schweitzer is known for making his points using folksy anecdotes and metaphors.

That said, the tribal police would have had grounds to arrest the poll watchers for voter intimidation.

But now some right-wing radio talk show host in Montana has found Schweitzer's speech on the Internet. She's filed a complaint against Schweitzer, accusing him of "admitting" to rigging the election by "bragging" about tribal police arresting Republican operatives.

Aaaww, what's wrong? Did the Republicans...LOSE???

Only a real baby would file a complaint over Schweitzer's fictional story.

It gets funnier. The complainant also said Schweitzer cajoled the Associated Press into calling the election for Democrat Jon Tester too early. Oh yeah? Then why did the AP wait until the following morning to call it? If a Republican had been leading by a slimmer margin (or even narrowly losing), it would've been called for the Republican hours earlier.

It takes a real sore loser to fume about losing an election for 2 years before finding such a flimsy excuse to try to overturn it. If this doesn't prove the Republicans are the biggest damn babies ever to disgrace American politics, what will?

Obama may win West Virginia

I knew for sure Obama would win a few counties in rural Appalachia, but I thought national Democrats were otherwise so stymied in rural America that West Virginia as a whole would be out of reach.

I know Dick Cheney's incest joke about the state should have dashed the GOP's chances, but the right-wing media didn't cover that gaffe enough to make as much of a dent as it should have.

I thought Obama may have been finished when he said the troop surge worked, but now it turns out that he's almost caught up to McCain in West Virginia. A new poll shows the Democrat down by only 5%, with almost 2 months to go.

More bad news for McCain in the Mountain State: Conservatives were vastly overrepresented in this poll. Forty-five percent of respondents identified themselves as conservative, even though only 33% of West Virginians did so in a CNN exit poll in the disastrous 2004 "election."

Twenty years ago, Republicans could forget West Virginia. Through much of this year, it looked like Democrats could forget it. Now I'm not so sure, especially because Obama is now doing better in West Virginia than in some nationwide surveys.

It's always satisfying when there's a chance a rural state like West Virginia can be rescued from swirling down the awful toilet known as Republicanism. If the Democrats can regain West Virginia, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, and Montana, and can maintain their edge in other states, they don't need Florida.

(Source: http://www.wvmetronews.com/index.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=26286)

Networks to give Palin free airtime

Now do you know why this blog blackballed linking to ABC's site?

ABC is planning a special edition of '20/20' tomorrow consisting of Charles Gibson's interviews with Sarah Palin. The primetime extravaganza will also feature a detailed bio of the embattled Republican vice-presidential candidate.

Where's the '20/20' specials for Democratic, Green, and other candidates? Maybe they're bipping. Just joking. Maybe the reason you can't find them on ABC's schedule is because they don't exist: Only Palin is special and privileged enough to receive free airtime.

In addition, parts of Gibson's interviews will be spread around other ABC programs.

Who's surprised? This is the same network that aired 'The Path To 9/11' (which blamed Bill Clinton for the 9/11 attacks) and has been running hit piece after hit piece in an effort to sway the upcoming election.

ABC isn't alone. Predictably, Fox News Channel already gave Failin' Palin a primetime documentary. And CNN is planning a Palin special this weekend.

Can the media's Republican bias be any more transparent?

We need to complain to the Federal Election Commission about the networks' in-kind contributions to the Republican campaign.

(Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gm0B7E3Fzr_D8xALRORRdd5H7VEgD93454N80)

Palin's book-burning efforts failed

Sarah Palin is such an incredible failure at everything that she doesn't even know how to go about being a failure.

A book burner can be a real pro at what they do. Whoever was in charge of the libraries in my area that illegally blocked my website really knew how to pull off their censorious deed. The Nazis who sued a school because it refused to censor an anti-bullying book also knew how to pull it off.

But Failin' Palin?

Well. She can't even do that right.

It's known that Palin abused her mayoral powers to try to have books at the public library censored. The wingnutosphere now claims to have debunked this story. But they haven't. The only thing that's clear now is that she tried to have books pulled but failed.

Oh well. I guess a failure who's a such a big failure that they failed at failing is the best kind of failure to have. But I'd rather not have a failure in charge of anything.

The librarian at the city of Wasilla's library said Palin asked her repeatedly how to ban books. But no specific volumes were mentioned, and the librarian didn't cave in. Later, Palin fired numerous city employees - including the librarian - because Palin believed they were not political supporters. (The firings closely followed the librarian's refusal to yank books.)

In summary, Palin tried to have books pulled from the library but was unsuccessful in this censorship attempt.

Most of the media is stuck on stupid by trying to place its own pro-Palin spin on the matter, but the Anchorage Daily News did mention the fact that "Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so."

(Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-09-Palin-book-ban_N.htm)

Judicial activism to protect Big Medicine looms

When a professional guitarist from Vermont had to have her arm amputated because of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals' carelessness, she sued Wyeth. And a Vermont court awarded her $6,800,000.

Wyeth had long known that using an IV push to deliver its anti-nausea drug Phenergan created a risk that could be avoided - but it neglected to warn doctors or patients of this risk.

Now - instead of paying up - the drug company is appealing the Vermont verdict, in typical crybaby fashion. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear Wyeth's appeal in November. And with the current Supreme Court's torrid record of right-wing judicial activism, many fear the worst.

Wyeth's defense is Bush's preemption doctrine. Bush's FDA has decreed that state courts can't award damages to people injured by manufacturers promoting the dangerous use of a drug.

Problem with that? It's a state issue - not federal. The FDA has no legal power to run roughshod over the states' rights to ensure remedies for consumers. None.

But with Federalist Society whack-a-doos in charge of the Supreme Court, federal preemption is a sacred doctrine. To them, states are not to be viewed as self-governing entities but as colonies to be micromanaged by a federal regime (which many of the states had no voice in putting in power).

Not like all the states are blameless. Under right-wing asshole Gov. John Engler, Michigan passed a tort "reform" law making it illegal for people to sue drug makers in almost all circumstances. Now, when consumers win a class-action suit involving defective drugs, Michigan consumers aren't allowed to collect damages (while those in the other 49 states and D.C. can). All because Engler was such a people-hating prick.

BushAmerica is like EnglerMichigan: near-total deregulation of Big Business, and - if the Supreme Court sides with Wyeth - near-total lack of remedies for the consumer.

The preemption dogma espoused by Bush's FDA was concocted by Daniel Troy, who used to sue the government on behalf of greedy drug makers and powerful tobacco corporations. When he left the FDA, he went to GlaxoSmithKline.

Another powerful FDA guy is Randall Lutter, who defended the preemption policy before Congress. Lutter was a member of an ExxonMobil-funded organization that denied the existence of climate change.

Wyeth hasn't repaired the problems with the Phenergan label. Years after the Vermont incident, an elderly Florida woman lost a limb because Wyeth failed to change the label to warn physicians about the risk.

(Source: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3894/high_court_may_immunize_big_pharma;
http://www.dangerousdrugs.us/2008/07/a-very-rare-law.html)

Palin defied judge's order

The Troopergate scandal expands!

Three years ago, Sarah Palin and members of her family were ordered by an Alaska judge to stop "disparaging" a state trooper who was in a divorce battle with Palin's sister.

Did Palin stop? Hell no. Rules don't apply to Republicans, you see.

The order came about when Palin and her family kept making strange complaints against the trooper. In response to these complaints, the judge told Palin, "Disparaging will not be tolerated - it is a form of child abuse."

But Palin and her family kept right at it!

If Failin' Palin's conduct was so abusive before and while she was governor, think what she'd be like as Vice-President. Do you really want someone like this a heartbeat away from the presidency?

(Source: http://www.newsweek.com/id/158140)

GOP uses foreclosures to deny right to vote

If you had even a glimmer of hope that the Republicans care about free and fair elections or were willing to follow the spirit or letter of voting rights laws, this story should kablammo that notion clean out of your conscience.

In Macomb County, Michigan - one of the largest counties in the state - the Republicans are using a list of foreclosed homes to bar people from voting. Their excuse is that people are voting from the wrong addresses - but this claim is unfounded.

For starts, if a person's home has been foreclosed, they may still be living in the home while they negotiate the foreclosure. Perhaps the more important issue is that the effort is intended to deprive Americans of their right to vote at all.

All Americans have one official place of residence. If they are otherwise eligible voters, they are entitled to vote. Period. End of story. Federal law protects this right: All eligible voters may vote in presidential elections regardless of when they moved to their current residence.

Truth is, this effort makes the Republicans nothing but a rogue party. Political parties are expected to abide by the law and work within the framework of fair elections. The GOP has repeatedly opted to break the law. They did it in New Hampshire when they jammed the Democrats' phone banks, and they're doing it in Michigan by preventing foreclosure victims from exercising their federally protected right to vote.

The GOP's Michigan efforts are nothing short of classism. These efforts are illegal and evil. And they affect working-class voters of all races. Regardless of your color, or whether you're male or female, the GOP wants to keep you from voting. All because you don't have money.

Many states have strict residency requirements for voters because of classism. It's an effort to keep poor and working-class people from voting, as the poor and working class (by very definition) are less financially secure and may have a harder time not losing their home. This is also a reason why I think we need a federal law with stronger guarantees of voting rights.

Michigan law (as in Kentucky) lets political groups place people at voting places to challenge voters to make sure they live in the precinct where they're voting. That's how the Republicans plan to accomplish their goal of disfranchising foreclosure victims. Imagine what you can what the reaction would be if our side placed challengers in Republican precincts to challenge GOP voters.

It gets worse. It turns out that the founder of Michigan's largest law firm that helps execute foreclosures has raised at least $100,000 for the McCain campaign! Now there's a big conflict right there.

This vote suppression may not be limited to Michigan. Republicans in Franklin County, Ohio - one of that state's biggest counties - now say they also want to check foreclosure lists to weed out voters.

So it's spreading, folks! Keep an eye out for what's going on. If you're a foreclosure victim, and you have trouble voting, there's a good chance you've been targeted out of classism.

The GOP could very will win, but they will not be called legit by me (because of their Nazi-like vote suppression). I will defy their rule.

(Source: http://www.michiganmessenger.com/4076/lose-your-house-lose-your-vote)

"'D'...dart!" ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

You know what? 'Sesame Street'. That's what.

If you want to scream in terror over a 'Sesame Street' segment, this one might do it to you like it did it to me:



That skit is reportedly from 1970, though it aired for much of the '70s. And it was absolutely terrifying. I've said before that it may be the most frightening segment ever to appear on 'Sesame Street'.

Lest YouPube removes that clip due to feewinghurt, here's a description: It's a short cartoon about the letter 'D' and the word 'dart'. Accompanied by a bebop music bed, it briefly summarizes a balding man's unfortunate dart encounter. The letter 'D' flashes on the screen periodically like a subliminal message.

As the man throws the dart, the dart gets caught on the sleeve of his shirt and carries him past the letter 'D' and a series of blue stripes on the wall. His journey ends when he crashes into a dartboard - splattering his guts everywhere!

I remember seeing this on 'Sesame Street' when I was about 3 years old and being absolutely horrified by it! Every time this sketch came on, I had to hold my hands in front of my eyes and sneak glances between my fingers. I always hoped it would end differently - but it never did.

At the time, I had never conceptualized a dartboard, so I didn't know what the object was that the man collided with. I knew it had to be something that started with 'D'. Was it a drinking fountain? A dinosaur? A donicker?

Even now, I still think this sketch is a little bit scary!

But 'Sesame Street' was much better back in the days when this segment aired. We must restore 'Sesame Street' to its '70s greatness! That'll make America strong again - because Americans of my age will agree that it's because of skits like this that we're better people than we otherwise would be.

GOP politician steals melon

Yet another story in which the Republicans think rules don't apply to them - and come up with flabby excuses for their lawbreaking.

Dana Soles, 53, is a Republican candidate for the Board of Commissioners of Chowan County, North Carolina. A couple weeks ago, he went on some poor farmer's property and stole a watermelon that was growing on the farm.

Soles is facing a charge of felony larceny of ungathered crops after he admitted stealing the melon. Now he faces a possible 2½ years in prison.

His excuse is that the melon was rotten and that he didn't know stealing was illegal. Seriously, he said that. Besides, if it was rotten, why the hell would he want it?

Soles claims his prosecution is politically motivated by the big, mean Democrats. "I've been singled out - it's political. Why else?" Soles said of his prosecution.

What a beezweezer.

(Source: http://hamptonroads.com/2008/09/politician-faces-felony-charge-melon-theft)

DLC caves on offshore drilling

When you see stories like this, we're at the point where the Democratic Party as I once knew it has effectively ceased to exist.

Offshore oil drilling has been banned by federal law since 1980 because it was so environmentally risky. But now a bipartisan "compromise" would gut this decades-old safeguard.

The DLC - the Republican wing of the Democratic Party (which is about the only wing represented in Congress these days) - has joined the Republicans in supporting offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic.

Nancy Pelosi calls it a "compromise." A "compromise" with what??? How do you compromise when the Republicans are so inflexible?

The GOP/DLC policy is indeed "drill, baby, drill." They think you can drill your way out of the energy crisis - while doing hardly anything to advance alternative energy or conservation and doing nothing to halt suburban sprawl.

One element that's completely missing from the debate is the fact that the waters that would be affected are actually international. True, they're in the U.S. economic zone (as long as they're within 200 nautical miles of the coast), but they're not U.S. territorial waters by any stretch of the imagination.

As an example of Capitol Hill doublespeak, this proposal says that the states that are closest to the drilling wouldn't even be allowed to prevent it unless it's less than 100 miles from land. OK, so are these waters part of the U.S. or not? You can't have it both ways.

But now the Republicans are saying the DLC's proposal isn't going far enough. They want drilling in the Pacific and around Alaska too - in addition to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, of all places.

(Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/5992569.html)

Bill Clinton to chair Constitution Center

Bill Clinton has been named the next chairman of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia - a nonprofit group that educates folks about the Constitution. His term starts in January.

He takes over from the elder Bush, who has headed the Constitution Center since last year. That's right, folks: Mad Dog Bush headed a group that's supposed to teach people about the Constitution. You can't make this shit up, people.

How ironic is that? I had my due process violated by Mad Dog Bush's supporters, and Mad Dog subverted the Constitution himself during Reagan's Iran-Contra scandal and during his execution of the '91 Gulf War (which led to an impeachment effort by legendary Texas Democrat Henry Gonzalez).

Many would also question whether Clinton is the right person to head something called the Constitution Center: Not counting anything that's gone on under the current regime, the most stunning collapse in constitutional liberties in America's history occurred while Clinton was President. While this agonizing spectacle was fueled primarily by the right-wing GOP Congress, Clinton himself wasn't blameless.

Isn't that right, Uniform Bill?

(Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080909/ap_on_re_us/constitution_center_clinton_1)

Palin billed taxpayers to sleep at home

Would the media kindly now end its Sarah Palin lovefest?

Despite the media's fawning over McCain's running mate, I manage to find new scandals about Failin' Palin almost daily - and this one's a real doozy. It turns out that even though she's been Governor of Alaska for just a bit more than a year, Palin has billed Alaska taxpayers for 312 nights that she's spent in her own home. She abused a state allowance that was intended only to cover official business.

Palin has also charged Alaska taxpayers for travel expenses for taking her kids with her on trips.

That's not exactly what I call accountability - especially from someone who claims to be an accountability stickler.

As an example of Palin doublespeak, she wrote some variant of "lodging; own residence" over 30 times in her allowance reports. She also billed the state for attending a college basketball tournament and for her husband entering a snowmobile race.

At least McCain wasn't billing the taxpayers to sleep at home. Then it would've cost the taxpayers 7 times as much.

(Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008090803088.html)

School holds McCain rally

If anyone doubts that the American school system is hell-bent on advancing Republicans and their outrageous causes, this story should dash those doubts.

In northern Kentucky, public schools have taken students to rallies supporting the '91 Gulf War (I know this because I attended a public school at the time and was among those who had to attend the rally) and Gary Bauer's ill-fated 2000 presidential bid.

Now Fairfax High School - a public school in the Fairfax County, Virginia, school system - is conducting a campaign rally featuring McCain and Palin. The rally is during school hours and is to be attended by students.

This violates the school district policy on using school facilities for campaign activities during school hours. But, you see, rules don't apply to Republicans - as everyone now knows.

Apologists for Mini-Me and Failin' Palin point to the fact that Obama held a town hall meeting at one of the county's high schools in July. Um, that was July, geniuses. School wasn't in session then. (Virginia isn't Kentucky where they make you go to school 11 months a year.)

Some teachers have criticized the school system's obvious support of McAin't's campaign, but they spoke to the Washington Post only under anonymity, for fear of retaliation by school officials. One said the McCain rally "gives an indication of support for his candidacy." Well, why wouldn't it, considering the school system clearly supports McCain's candidacy?

(Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008090803163.html)

About IRV

It cracked a roo. Just joking! Actually IRV is one of the greatest innovations in modern voting systems.

Since I announced my intent to vote for Nader, the reaction has been split about 50/50. I knew it would be a controversial choice, but after Obama said the troop surge is working (a claim that makes absolutely no sense), I have to vote on principle.

I've been told on the other hand that principle shouldn't matter when the country is on the verge of collapse. The country's not on the verge of collapse. It's already collapsed.

There's only one time after 1992 when I voted for a major party for President, and that was in 2004 when I backed John Kerry. And I was damn close to voting third party. So nobody should be surprised if I vote third party again.

Still think I'm making a poor choice? Well, look at a ballot from any of numerous other countries. They usually don't have just 2 candidates, and those who come in third or fourth in those countries usually win a much greater percentage than those who place third or fourth in America. Over there, people don't call them spoilers.

Here's a way to stop the futile bickering over who's a spoiler and who isn't: instant runoff voting. America needs IRV, and it needs it now. Before November. But Republicans have blocked IRV.

What's instant runoff voting? That's a question any child may ask you - but it is not a childish question.

IRV lets you (the voter) rank the candidates instead of just voting for one. You can put Nader (or McKinney) first, Obama second, another candidate third, another fourth, and so on. If no candidate wins a majority of first-place votes, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated. Then supporters of the eliminated candidate have their second-place votes counted and added to that candidate's first-place votes. The process is repeated until a candidate has a majority.

IRV is used to elect national lawmakers in Australia and Fiji and to choose the President of Ireland. In the U.S., it's used in 4 cities.

With IRV, there's no such thing as a spoiler. It's impossible. And you can feel much better about your vote, because you can vote on principle and not drain votes from a possible second choice.

Had the Republicans not stalled IRV in 2000, people wouldn't be so mad at Nader now, because the vote wouldn't have been split. The Republicans have a way of pitting people against each other, don't they?

Let's learn from the costly mistake of not having IRV back then. It's not too late to implement IRV for the upcoming election.

Here we go again...

I swear this is the worst year ever for this school uniform horseshit. (Thanks a zillion, wingnut politicians.)

According to WXIX-TV (Channel 19), this right-wing tyranny has come to Cincinnati now too, as Western Hills High School has reportedly implemented mandatory uniforms. Even if Channel 19 had this story online, I'm not linking to it, because it was the most biased story I've seen on any TV station in as long as I can remember. (Channel 19 has a long record of right-wing one-sidedness.)

It's unknown how many other public schools in Cincinnati require uniforms, or if there are any, but there are certainly some schools in surrounding areas that require it.

Incidentally, I don't think Cincinnati high school students are limited to attending a certain school based on the part of town where they live (which is highly unusual for any American locale). Thus, students won't automatically be affected just because they live nearest to this particular school. But because Cincinnati's high schools are specialized according to students' interests, uniforms greatly limit options for any student who dares to oppose standardized attire.

The GOP wit

Republicans laugh about the damnedest things.

Like during the convention last week. Rudy Giuliani hee-hawed uncontrollably because of the fact that Obama was a community organizer.

So community organizing is funny now?

The all-powerful, all-knowing Wikipedia defines community organizing as "a process by which disempowered people - most often low- and moderate-income people - are brought together to act in their common self-interest." Uniting low-income people in efforts to accomplish a serious goal is really funny stuff, I guess.

Rudy, grow up!

If the Republicans had any idea of what community organizers actually do, maybe they wouldn't think it's so comical. I read the list of community organizers on Wikipedia, and it seems to include a lot of people who worked to fix the many things right-wingers broke. Kind of like what I do.

Jim Gilmore. A sad, sad loser.

Jim Gilmore, a Republican, is the right-wing former Governor of Virginia and the GOP's current Senate candidate in that state. He even made a brief presidential bid, as he considered the other Republican candidates not rabid enough.

And he's a mess of a guy. So much so that he's getting beaten by Mark Warner, of all people!

As evidence of Gilmore's loserdom, It seems like every word that comes out of Gilmore's contorted mouth has to do with so-called "right-to-work" laws - which I call work-for-less laws. One of his big themes is trying to portray Warner as an enemy of the work-for-less law that plagues Virginia.

Seriously. That's what Jim Gilmore runs on.

No wonder he's fucking losing!

For those not familiar with work-for-less laws, these are laws that intentionally weaken labor unions and workers by gutting union contracts that have a security clause and in effect forcing unions to represent nonmembers. Most of the law's support comes from Big Business. That's the type of law Gilmore defends.

It's bad enough to favor work-for-less laws, but Gilmore seems to be making it the centerpiece of his campaign!

You're an utter clod, Jim.

Looks like this is going to be another valuable Senate seat that flips to the Democrats.

(Source: http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1474507)

An election memory and a flatulent flashback

The past few days have been slow news days. The only so-called "stories" seem to be the media accusing itself of being too hard on Failin' Palin.

So allow me (ooh...) to regale you with a story of an election long past.

It was 1988. 'Cheers' ruled the TV airwaves. Bruce Hornsby & the Range and Huey Lewis & the News dominated the music biz. And there was an election in the offing! The leading presidential tickets of course were Michael Dukakis/Lloyd Bentsen on the Democratic side and George Bush/Dan Quayle on the Republican side.

I was 15 at the time, and one evening my family gathered around the ol' b00b t00b to watch the vice-presidential debate. This of course is the debate where Bentsen said to Quayle, "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

Somebody in our living room seemed to have an extremely low opinion of Quayle's laughable performance. This is evident because the aroma of silent but deadly bunker blasts kept hovering thickly in the room.

Everyone blamed the dog. He was relaxing on the floor in front of the human members of the household, with his butt facing us.

The fart stench recurred for some time throughout the telecast. Each time it came back, it was always stronger. It was always met with either disgust or amusement by various family members.

"Phew!"

"Go lay down!"

"Good dog!"

This hilarity continued, but then came the telltale sign that the dog was likely innocent. While Dan Quayle was gibbering, we detected yet another bunker blast. But this one wasn't silent but violent. It was loud and proud!

Dogs almost never crack audible bunkeroos. In fact, the dog lifted up his head at the sound of this particular wafto. So I guess he's off the hook as a suspect.

I burst out laughing, and my parents became furious that someone disrupted the debate by loudly farting in the middle of it. But at least it cleared the air (so to speak) about the belief that a dog was responsible.

If I was speaking at a party convention now, this story would probably be the anecdote from my youth that I'd use to illustrate my interest in politics - for it was so funny!

Party on, peeps!

Well, folks, I'm completely stunned right now by something that I've waited many - and I mean many - years for.

When Reagan left office, I made serious plans for a party (although the elder Bush turned out to be worse). But something is happening in my area now that I've waited much longer than 8 years for (which I just found out about today). And I truly believe I had a role in it.

I've personally met very few people in life who I utterly despise. One of them happens to be an educator who has held a high-ranking position for decades. After the way he treated me, I have every reason to detest him for as long as I live.

I don't appreciate being called lazy and a liar to my face, mister. Especially from someone who has a hard time telling the truth himself. And that's one of the reasons I spent years exposing what went on.

Let me put it this way: In a few months from now, his misrule will finally be coming to a close - at long last! I found out about this today, and I almost couldn't believe what I was hearing.

We can all speculate as to what might be going on. But I'm 99% sure he would not be leaving his post had I not put out there in plain English what went on under his watch. After all that, it was pretty hard for anyone to defend him.

My longtime readers may notice the only "evidence" anyone has ever provided that I'm wrong about what went on has been in the form of childish attacks, not facts. Often these are e-mails or guestbook postings saying I shouldn't be trusted because I'm just some punk who is still bitter about school. Never facts - just attacks.

Someone who's obviously incompetent can pull off their crap for decades, but eventually it catches up with them. It might take a long time coming, but it happens. In this case, I think I finally got to him or his superiors.

I feel like partying! I feel like popping open a keg, putting on some Scandal records, hiring some strippers, and setting off a few bottle rockets!

Nonetheless, I don't have high hopes that there will be much improvement. Kind of like when Reagan's final term ended. The system has a way of perpetuating itself. But I will keep an eye on the new regime.

It's official: I'm voting for Nader

If you think I'd actually endorse a national Democratic ticket after the DLC has gotten through with things, you haven't been reading this blog for very long.

And if you think I'd vote for Green presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney - well, you'd be right. Except I'm not allowed to, because she didn't make the ballot in Kentucky. Apparently, McKinney didn't get enough signatures in time - though Kentucky did extend the time limit for Bush at least once earlier in the decade.

If a wastoid party like the Constitution Party can appear on the ballot while the Greens can't, then I'm a bit skeptical that the laws are being evenly applied anyway. Also, write-ins don't count in Kentucky unless the candidate goes through serious red tape, so that's not an option this time.

So that whittles the choices down to Ralph Nader, who's mounting an independent bid. Do I want to vote for Obama? I wish I could, but after Obama's FISA cave-in and his switch to supporting the troop surge, I can't in good conscience do it.

A lot of folks don't understand just how far to the right the DLC has dragged the Democrats. Like the even more dreaded Republicans, the Democrats lately have taken positions that aren't just conservative but are well to the right of the mainstream.

I sincerely think there won't be significant improvement until someone like Ralph Nader or Cynthia McKinney wins. That's how far gone things are. As much of a longshot such a victory is, the country can't keep going the way it's been going.

At an appearance in New Mexico, Nader said, "It's quite clear this country needs a third political force made up of people all over the country who are committed to the proposition that corporations and their governments must become our servants and not our masters as they are at the present time."

A third political force? Right now, the country doesn't even have a second political force, as long as the DLC owns the Democratic side.

(Source: http://polwatchers.typepad.com/pol_watchers/2008/09/presidential-candidates-on-ky-ballot-set.html;
http://www.alibi.com/index.php?story=24448&scn=news)

Basketball bubbling (Bubble Gum Weekend)

Not one person in the entire history of the world has ever hated bubble gum.

Maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but it's no stretch to say that a lot of important people have been known to bubble.

Politicians bubble. Singers bubble. And famous athletes bubble with extreme dispatch and frequency.

Athletes even bubble in commercials:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXCNN-FlkQU

That's a Bubblicious ad featuring basketball legend LeBron James. I never even heard of James until I saw this ad during the 2005 Super Bowl, but he must have already been mighty famous.

A sports website called that commercial one of the stupidest ads to appear during that entire broadcast. Because ads shown during the Super Bowl are often insufferable, that says quite a lot. Contrast that ad with another sports-themed gum commercial: the Big League Chew ad from the early '80s. Which one is more entertaining?

This is another indicator of how much commercials in general have declined since a generation ago.

LeBron James loves bubble gum. (The photo with this entry is of James bubbling at a different event.) He's given interviews in which he's discussed bubbling in detail, and he's even presided over bubble blowing contests.

Bubble gum and sports. They're almost inseparable!

Balance stealing

They call it "balance billing." I call it balance stealing. It's fraudulent, and it's illegal. Yet it goes on.

Greedy HMO's and other medical firms are now going after patients for money they don't even owe. Patients often don't know they don't owe it. So they pay it.

This happens when insurers don't pay what they're supposed - so the health care provider makes the patient make up the balance.

It's a mutually understood pattern of greed between insurers and HMO's. You know each of these parties knows about what the other does, because the practice has continued. Occasionally an insurer will sue the provider - but usually they don't.

As a result of this gluttony, American consumers pay over $1,000,000,000 (a billion) annually that they don't really owe. It goes straight into the deep coffers of HMO's and for-profit medical facilities.

Not only is this illegal. It's also racketeering: Health providers employ collection agencies to threaten patients until they pay what they don't owe. Usually they threaten to ruin their credit rating. (Credit ratings are themselves a big racket.)

It's illegal now, but right-wing members of Congress are trying to legalize it. Rep. Tom Price (R-Georgia) and known asshole Rep. Tom "Teeny Weenie" Feeney (R-Florida) have sponsored bills to make it legal. These efforts have been backed by the American Medical Association's right-wing lobbyists. (The AMA is known for other right-wing causes too, like trying to censor media materials.)

Hopefully the DLC won't let the Far Right get its way like they did with the failed troop surge. But it also begs asking why enforcement of the current laws is so weak. (Gee, let me guess.) The government needs to come down hard on balance stealing.

(Source: http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/08_36/b4098040915634.htm)

Woman arrested for not deleting airline fight video

This is one of these offbeat stories that shows how tightly regimented and paranoid BushAmerica is.

A 56-year-old grandmother who posed no threat to anybody was arrested because she failed to erase a video that she made of other air passengers arguing. She was threatened with federal charges, and the airline, JetBlue, is trying to blackball her from all future flights.

The incident took place on a flight from New York to Las Vegas. The diminutive woman recorded the altercation and later showed the video to the flight crew.

Apparently, JetBlue was more interested in going after her than in the unruly passengers (who posed more of a threat). Ever hear the saying that if you don't like the message, don't shoot the messenger?

She may have wanted to keep the video only as an amusing memento of her trip. And she certainly has a legal right to. Because the argument occurred in a place accessible to the public, the participants should have no expectation of privacy.

(This isn't the only recent instance of JetBlue skulduggery. On another flight on this airline, a passenger was forced to give up his seat and ride in the restroom. Hope they didn't hit any turbulence!)

Corporate and government paranoia join forces once again!

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/content/middleblue2/story.aspx?content_id=e81c295c-8d2d-4ed0-950a-db1cb55398b9)

Kentucky sheriff's office gets torture device

Now there's another torture device that the corrections boosters can wield against you.

In Kenton County, Kentucky (the county just west of here) the sheriff's department has buyed 5 Stun-Cuffs to use when transporting inmates. A Stun-Cuff is a remote-controlled device that emits a 3-second electric shock.

Call it what you want - but I call it torture. And I have no faith whatsoever in the Stun-Cuffs being used sparingly. How could it be? Its stated purpose is to replace leg irons - but who's ever heard of being shocked by leg irons?

The corrections system sure isn't used sparingly. There's so many laws now to put people in jail for "crimes" that weren't even illegal 15 years ago. The pseudoephedrine law is a perfect example. And what about the epidemic of people being jailed solely for their political views - like the protesters in St. Paul this week? There's a whole system in place to criminalize almost everyone.

Far Rightists will accuse this blog of coddling criminals by opposing the Stun-Cuffs. But that is a lie.

Something tells me it won't be very long before the county is sued over the Stun-Cuffs.

The Stun-Cuffs were purchased using drug asset forfeiture proceeds. Mind you, the failed drug war is so out of control these days that the forfeiture laws don't even require a conviction before police seize property (especially costly items like cars or computers). There have been recent documented cases of innocent Americans having their belongings seized during a bogus criminal accusation.

In effect - with America today being a command state - the Stun-Cuff purchase is a case of innocents being robbed to pay for their own possible torture.

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=41de69ef-b4b1-407a-9b89-e4f366b805ea)

Convention protester tortured in jail

The wingnutosphere was right when it said lots of violence went on during this week's Republican National Convention in St. Paul. But the violence wasn't from the protesters. It was from the authorities.

A young man who was jailed for daring to protest the convention told reporters he was beaten mercilessly at the Ramsey County Jail. A jail officer punched him in the face, and another slammed his head on the ground. He was then tortured so brutally that he had to be hospitalized.

The media has been asleep at the switch by failing to make sure this abuse is widely reported.

Here's hoping the city and county get the living shit sued out of them.

(Source: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2008/09/04/rnc-welcoming-committee-meeting-press-last.html)

McCainonomics!

According to the conservative consensus that dominates American politics today, losing your job is good because it is. Replacing it with a worse job is good because it is. This is bullshit, of course, but who's an average oaf like me to argue?

McCain's lengthy convention speech last night proves again how firmly entrenched this idea is in the political establishment.

At one point, he mentioned something about how he'd help fired workers by sending them to job training and then - once they find a job that pays less than the one they had - having the government reimburse them for the pay difference. At least it sounded like that's what he said.

Well, I'll give McCain credit for one thing (as hard as that is). His fellow Republicans would usually never support reimbursing folks for the pay cut. They generally have more of a "tough shit" approach. But that's not the point.

For starts, the workers already had job training. Many who are my age or younger had at least 12 years of it. It was called...school! What was the point in even going to school if you just end up losing your job?

Further, I just don't think it's too good for America when so many people end up having to take worse, less lucrative jobs than what they had - even if they get reimbursed for it. That costs the taxpayers. The workers who are affected would likely end up having to pay more in taxes just to cover their own compensation.

McCain acted as if the workers' previous jobs are gone for good simply because. So people are supposed to just stop making stuff? I know outsourcing is a real problem, but shouldn't we be dealing with that?

If America's self-styled political leaders aren't willing to protect American jobs, then why should we take them seriously?

To me, fair trade is more important than free trade. American companies shouldn't be moving jobs to countries where workers are more likely to be exploited and have their basic rights violated.

I think it's time we make it so American labor laws apply to American companies overseas. I think we'd see a lot less outsourcing then.

Nader qualifies for Kentucky ballot

I wish I could tell you whether or not Cynthia McKinney has qualified for the ballot in Kentucky, but the right-wing media is ignoring the Greens like always.

In fact, they're ignoring Ralph Nader's independent candidacy as well. But I've found a press release on Nader's campaign site announcing that the Ralph Nader/Matt Gonzalez ticket has made the ballot in Kentucky.

A damn good thing too - especially after Obama switched his position yesterday to support the Iraq War troop surge (on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News program, no less). (Backing the surge is tantamount to supporting the illegal war.)

Kentucky law requires candidates to submit the signatures of 5,000 registered voters, and Nader got 12,500. So there's no excuses if he's not on the ballot. None. Zero. Not like there were any excuses in 1996 when the thought police excluded him (which was politically motivated).

So now you have a choice, not just an echo.

(Source: http://www.votenader.org/media/2008/09/02/KYturnin;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/05/uselections2008.barackobama1)

No, the surge did not work

Now that the conventions are over, let's get one thing straight: Last year's Iraq War troop surge didn't work.

Politicians in all parties need to face up to this. Check the casualty statistics for while the surge was going on. The surge did not work, and why the myth of the surge's "success" continues is a mystery. (Actually it isn't such a mystery when you consider where the media stands.)

Anyone running for President who insists the surge worked shouldn't even be taken seriously.

If Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) wants to act like a dick about it, we should call him out for his idiocy. During last night's Republican convention installment, he gave a right-wing speech that dwelled on this issue. He looked like a nut. He bore his teeth, yelled, and raved.

(The speakers at the convention had a tendency to look very angry. Sarah Palin, for instance, appeared as if she was about to slug someone throughout most of her speech.)

But I will not vote for anyone - of any party - who says the surge worked. I will not.

The surge issue has become like the economic "boom" of a decade ago (which was a hoax) in that only one side is allowed to be heard despite overpowering proof (statistical and otherwise) that they're wrong.

Right-wing vitriol ends sick day campaign

Efforts to establish mandatory sick days in Ohio have been stymied by opponents' naked extortion.

A coalition representing workers had gotten a measure approved for the November ballot letting voters vote on whether large businesses have to provide sick days. From the start, Big Business made babyish threats that if it passed, they'd pull out of the Buckeye State. Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, has usually sided with labor, but he considered these threats serious enough that he chose not to back the proposal - even though it had widespread public support.

This is exactly the same reason a Louisiana governor in the '70s signed the state's work-for-less law even though he opposed the concept. Big Business actually means Big Bullies. They are so intent on withholding jobs from states and regions whose laws are not to their liking that public officials feel cajoled by them.

Now Coprorate (sic) America has browbeaten the Ohio effort so much that supporters of mandatory sick days have abandoned their effort in that state. The coalition has asked for their own measure to be pulled from the ballot. One of the leaders of the sick day effort said, "It became clear that a shrill and vitriolic ballot campaign marred by misinformation and disinformation would be impossible to avoid." Opponents even published a misleading article that tried using the Bible to blast sick days.

You know what needs to happen? Big Business opponents of the sick day measure should be charged with racketeering for threatening to move their businesses out of the state. One can argue that sick days actually save businesses money by preventing illnesses from being spread at work - but Big Business isn't always wise enough to figure this out.

All is not lost. Now the supporters of requiring sick days have decided to pursue a federal effort - not just state.

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/content/wcposhared/story.aspx?content_id=207e9cdc-9659-4f2e-93f8-9f379ca53c05)

Alaska's National Guard most poorly staffed

Republicans try painting Sarah Palin's national security credentials in a positive light thanks to her oversight of the Alaska National Guard - but now this claim is falling to rack and ruin (like everything else that comes out of Republicans' cavernous pieholes lately).

It turns out Failin' Palin has done such a wretched job at managing her state's National Guard that it has severe personnel shortages making its aviation units the most poorly staffed out of all 50 states. It's so bad that its top officer said that "missions are at risk" and that it's at "crisis level."

Is making a mess of the National Guard supposed to be Palin's idea of "leadership"?

She can start fixing things by calling National Guard units back home from Bush's war - a disastrous war she continues to support.

(Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/04/national/main4414482.shtml)

8 charged with terrorism for disagreeing with Republicans

Terrorism!

In the '50s, a surefire way to destroy someone's life and career was to call them a communist. In the '90s, calling someone a druggie was designed to accomplish the same. And now, calling someone a terrorist does what other McCarthyist accusations did in past decades (and may still do).

Minnesota has its own version of the right-wing Patriot Act. The state version just passed in 2002. Now, St. Paul area prosecutors have used this law to charge 8 protesters against the Republican convention with (drum roll, please) "conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism."

Which means what?

It turns out that all it means is that they disagreed with the Republicans. The charges stem from law enforcement's illegal infiltration of the 8 defendants using paid informants. Authorities claim the group tried to kidnap Republican delegates, attack the police, and sabotage airports.

But there is no proof whatsoever - other than an informant's say-so. In fact, all the real evidence seems to contradict authorities' accusations - and informants have long been abused to bust peaceful dissidents.

In other words, the RNC 8 (as many call the defendants) are actually a peaceful group. Authorities are trying to equate their nonviolent acts of protest with terrorism.

Now each of the RNC 8 faces 7½ years in prison under a law that didn't even exist before the Nazism wave of the current decade - even though they never encouraged, planned, or committed any terrorist act.

In fact, the criminal complaints by prosecutors don't even claim that the RNC 8 actually committed any violence or property damage. It does list minor crimes allegedly committed by others, but it attempts to hold the RNC 8 responsible for them. Authorities' so-called physical evidence against the RNC 8 includes finding only standard household items like tools and bottles.

Honestly, there's something seriously wrong with the dunce-cap prosecutors up there if they continue pursuing this case.

(Source: http://tc.indymedia.org/2008/sep/breaking-rnc-8-charged-conspiracy-riot-furtherance-terrorism)

FDA lets frankenfoods in our food supply

Americans have said skillions of times that they don't want genetically altered frankenfoods - let alone those from cloned animals or their progeny.

But does Bush's FDA listen?

Does any agency in the Bush regime listen to anyone other than Big Business?

Now the FDA admits that meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring are already in Americans' food supply. But they said it's impossible to know whether this is true of a specific item because there's no difference between clonal and nonclonal foods - a fib.

I think it's possible to know, because if someone was around to clone the animals, then there was someone around to keep track of it, right?

The safety of clonal foods has not been sufficiently tested. Other forms of modern genetic engineering have caused ill effects. (Did you know that the frankenfood industry now produces corn that is actually a corn/human hybrid?)

The rise in cloning has also failed to address ethical concerns like animal welfare.

Maybe cloning is why most food tastes the same lately (it tastes like soap or cardboard).

(Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080902/sc_nm/cloning_food_dc)

Allowed Cloud news!

Allowed Cloud-violating season ought to never end. It should be year-round! Seamless! Interactive! Bold! A bridge to the 21st century!

As you know, the Purple People Bridge - officially called the Newport Southbank Bridge - seems more like a bridge to the 17th century. It has a list of Allowed Clouds so voluminous that "shoeless persons" are prohibited.

But I've just been told that several Allowed Cloud violations (or evidence thereof) were witnessed on the span today!

For starts, a man rode a bike on the pedestrians-only portion. I've done exactly that before - but only when the bike portion is closed (which it often is).

Funnier yet, a condom wrapper was sighted on the pavement in the middle of the bridge - which is strong evidence of a major Allowed Cloud violation!

I'm also told that right after Riverfest - a veritable monarch's ransom of Allowed Clouds - an empty vodka bottle was sighted in the alcohol-free zone. (I thought the entire event was alcohol-free, but I'm having a hard time finding details.)

At least people are challenging Allowed Clouds. It looks like that may be the only way to stop America's slide down the slippery slope of much stricter regimentation.

Illegal Florida measures tossed

Florida - long a laboratory of right-wing activism - nearly faced ruin at the hands of 3 measures that were slated to appear on the November ballot.

Two of them would've dismantled public education by gutting state constitutional provisions such as the one dealing with handouts to churches and private schools. Another would've slashed property taxes - which would've likely forced an increase in the sales tax. (Having to increase the sales tax would be even more likely if the state gave handouts to private schools.)

But now the Florida Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the way the measures were placed on the ballot is itself illegal. Thus, these referendumbs cannot be on the ballot. Turns out the state's corrupt Taxation and Budget Reform Commission didn't even have authority to place the first 2 measures on the ballot (but tried doing so anyway).

Not only that, but the commission also deliberately used misleading language in the property tax amendment by not making it clear whether the lost revenues would have to be offset.

Life amazes you sometimes. The Taxation and Budget Reform Commission actually had the audacity to try to get away with illegal amendments? I guess that's what happens when years of misrule turn every state function into a wingnut activist run.

The 3 amendments were bad for various reasons. The tax measure would've eliminated billions in property taxes but would've also required the legislature to raise money to make up for it during the 2010-11 fiscal year. In other words, the tax burden would be shifted from those who are relatively well-off to those who are already have a hard time making ends meet. (Propertarianism is almost a state ideology in Florida.)

The other measures were like a wrecking ball against separation of church and state (thus violating the U.S. Constitution). And they would've imported a policy that had failed elsewhere - namely, taxpayer funding of private schools.

For all the animosity that suburban-dominated states seem to have against my politics, at least Florida has a relatively decent state supreme court going for it. They really laid down the law against corruption, illegal deceit, and abuse of power.

(Source: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/breakingnews/amend090308.htm)

Biden humiliates Palin!

Say what you want about Joe Biden, but he just came up with an excellent zinger!

After Sarah Palin's goofy convention speech last night, Joe Biden decided to issue a challenge. Biden called for a debate between himself and Palin to be held on November 5.

Why would Biden want to wait until the day after Election Day? To that question, Biden replied, "I do not wish to take unfair advantage of an inexperienced speaker. Besides, I will probably have nothing else to do that day."

He gotcha there, Failin' Palin!

Wingnut night at the convention!

Last night's installment of the Republican National Convention was insomniacs' night. Their major talking point last night was their delusional insistence that "the surge worked LOLOLOL!" This lie is already old and not too exciting.

But tonight has been batshit night. Mitt Romney's speech made Pat Buchanan's infamous 1992 tirade look like the Care Bears in comparison. By that time though, it was obvious that this was not a convention aimed at Jo or Joe Sixpack out there.

This was clear when former eBay CEO Meg Whitman delivered a speech charging that Democratic economic policies will "destroy your prosperity." What prosperity? The only real prosperity out there is held by an elite (mostly Republican) few. Whitman's statement was designed to energize the GOP's privileged base, not to appeal to you or me - who have gotten poorer and poorer under the Republicans. This was one of several appeals tonight designed for the financially secure few who make decisions for the rest of us (who work for them).

Much of the rest of tonight's convention installment sounded like a pro-nuclear rally. Monty Burns would love this gathering!

By the time we got to Rudy Giuliani's rant about what he called "the left-wing media", we were rolling on the floor laughing!

All in all, a hilariously miserable night in Republicanland! Sarah Palin's speech was so awful I had to shut it off in the middle of it.

(Also, did anyone else think the woman who gave the "I know John McCain" speech looked like singer Frida?)

Rottenberg torture report posted

At least Mitt Romney isn't McAin't's running mate. It was under Romney's watch (and with his support) that the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, a gulag in Canton, Massachusetts, became more out of control than it had in decades.

The facility is worst known for administering electric shocks to young people, some of whom have developmental disabilities. This torture continues, because legislative attempts to rein it in have been scuttled.

Now there's a video on YouPube detailing 8 coercive strategies that the Rottenberg facility uses:



These 8 methods aren't just coercive. They're brainwashing. They were used in North Korean prison camps and have been used in Bush's Guantanamo Bay death camp.

All 8 were also used in the youth torture center that I had dealings with as a punishment for getting expelled from a Catholic high school. I don't know of the facility where I was using electric shock (though I know they would if they could get away with it), and this facility did not generally deal with the developmentally disabled - but when the narrator of the above clip outlined the 8 methods, I got a sick feeling, because I had experienced them all.

In fact, the gulag where I was detained used almost all (if not all) of the listed variants of these 8 strategies. You can draw only one conclusion, and that is, it was a brainwashing camp. Not like I didn't know that already.

This national scandal is still going on, and that's why I've been involved in 11 roadside demonstrations in the past year to get an abusive teen confinement cult near Cincinnati shut down.

Right-wing waterworks loom

The right-wing thought police isn't known for taking it too well when they lose, but now it looks like they're on the verge of a total psychological collapse.

I think they know that unless their media friends act quickly, the Republicans are out of luck this time. So now they're already mulling Plan C - which stands for crying. Crying about the election results until the big, mean world listens.

Peep a thread they posted on right-wing terrorist website Free Republic. The mere title of it shows how they "think." It is titled, "Should we accept Obama as a legitimate President if he squeaks out a win?"

They're saying Obama might not really be President even if he wins? If a candidate loses but tries to act like they're President anyway, I can understand not accepting them as legit. (Isn't that right, "President" Bush?) But what if they win?

The main excuse by the freeposphere for refusing to accept Obama as President if he wins is that they claim media coverage has been heavily biased in Obama's favor.

Are you fucking kidding me?

The media played up the Wright "scandal" but won't raise a word about Sarah Palin following a pastor who preached that Bush's critics are going to hell.

When members of the Freak Rethuglic noise machine call Obama a "crack-smoking homosexual scumbag", it's a sign they're not being rational. They never are rational. But the GOP's increasingly likely defeat is just bringing out the worst in the right-wing noise machine. One Free Republic regular said of Obama, "I will view, treat, and respect the malotto [sic] marxist the way the left views, treats and repects George Bush."

In the meantime, why won't Republican "leaders" condemn Free Republic's incessant race-baiting? The answer is simple: because they support it.

The way things are going, get ready for Bushbots thrashing themselves around in frustration.

Book-burner Palin

I'm a former librarian, and my website has felt the sting of library censorship. So I don't look kindly at all upon those who would censor what people can read.

But vice-presidential hopeless Sarah Palin (pictured here) tried doing exactly that.

In 1996, when Failin' Palin first ran for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she ran on a wingnut activist platform. Wasilla being a posh new exurb and all, she won.

Palin's catatonic batshittery did not subside. In one Ernie Fletcher-like display, Palin fired city employees because they favored her opponent. This act prompted a lawsuit and almost caused Palin to face a recall attempt.

But what's especially shocking is Palin's dealings with her local public library. She contacted the library and demanded that it yank books that had profanity. When the librarian refused to censor books, Palin tried to have her fired.

Only a real right-wing whack-a-doo would try to do such a thing.

John F. Kennedy once said that libraries "should be open to all - except the censor." With free expression being suppressed regularly all over America these days, the libe should be a beacon of free speech.

Also, I find it interesting that Palin (who conservatives consider a champion of lower taxes) supported a new city sales tax while also favoring cutting city services. I guess it was to pay for her own mismanagement of the city's finances. Either that, or it's just like how conservatives try implementing tax "reforms" to redistribute money from the poor to the rich. Or it's both.

(Source: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837918,00.html)

The nutty pastor

It's a free country (supposedly), and you can worship (or not worship) in any manner you please.

But if you're a pastor who says I'm going to hell because of my politics - and if a major vice-presidential candidate is among your followers - you can count on me to rake you through cess.

Pastor Ed Kalnins heads the Wasilla Assembly of God in Alaska. Sarah Palin attended this church for most of her life, and now she attends a related church. Kalnins still hosts appearances by Failin' Palin.

Kalnins has some rather, um, interesting views. In his sermons, Kalnins has preached that anyone who criticizes Bush is damned to hell. Kalnins has also questioned whether anyone who voted for John Kerry will get into heaven. After seeing a debate between Kerry and Bush in 2004, Kalnins told his congregants, "I'm not going tell you who to vote for, but if you vote for this particular person, I question your salvation." After Hurricane Katrina, Kalnins said that criticizing Bush is "not going to get you anywhere, you know, except for hell."

When Palin was invited by Kalnins to speak at the church, she called the Iraq War "a task that is from God."

The right-wing media has been driven so batshit by Barack Obama's candidacy that they've dwelled on his membership in Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church for months - even though Obama condemned Wright's controversial statements. But there's not a peep from the dinosaur media about Palin following Kalnins, joining the pastor in appearances with him, and never condemning his remarks. While nothing suggests that Obama would have policies influenced by Wright's controversial words, it's clear that Palin's policies are inextricable from Kalnins's fiery preachings.

Although Palin now goes to an Assemblies of God church in Juneau, she also now attends Wasilla Bible Church, a nondenominational evangelical house of worship, when she goes back home. The vice-presidential candidate's relationship with this church is also controversial.

Sarah Palin was present during an anti-Jewish tirade that was delivered by a guest at that church. Palin has not condemned this hate speech.

This is the best running mate McCain could find?

(Source: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20672.htm;
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/3/84555/55316/359/584418)

Bert the Allowed Cloud ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

I'm sure you all agree: Anything to do with 'Sesame Street' is a laugh-out-loud riot! But now I'm much too old to use 'Sesame Street' sketches to learn letters and numbers. Instead I analyze them and speculate on them - like all adults do!

In this installment, we learn that Bert can be the very personification of an Allowed Cloud:



That sketch is said to be from 1973, but it ran for years. (The airing posted on YouPube seems to be preceded by a segment featuring the dogs with human hands, a concept that I don't think appeared on 'Sesame Street' until at least the '80s.)

As Ernie prepares to count the cups and saucers, Bert lapses into Allowed Cloud mode only 12 seconds into the skit. The fact that Bert had opted to buy such fine china even though he never throws fancy parties and has to constantly worry about Ernie breaking it reflects poorly on his judgment.

When you get to Ernie counting the second saucer (halfway through the clip), this skit becomes downright hilarious as Bert nearly loses his cool!

The sketch also seems to dispel the long-running urban legend that Ernie can only count to 6. (A similar legend says Bert can only count to 5 and thinks that any number higher than 5 is a massive hoax. But this is debunked by other sketches.)

The real highlight of this segment happens when Ernie prepares to put the dishes away. Ernie dances around the room with the fragile cups and saucers as Bert totally loses his shit! But then (spoiler warning) we discover that the stack of cups and saucers won't fall, because the ol' Ern glued them together!

In other words, that fine china is ru after all! It's always funny when valuable items in TV shows get ruined. But this time, instead of ruining the dishes by breaking them, Ernie destructs them by pasting them together.

I wonder if any young viewers ever tried gluing dishes together because they saw Ernie do it!

Reportedly, the portrait of the comedic duo falling off the wall at the end of the skit was a blooper. Producers of the ol' Ses left this blooper alone because it was so uproarious.

Bert and Ernie. Truly kings among men.

Have no fear, ish #449 is here!

Issue #449 of The Last Word is now published, and it's our annual Back-to-School ish!

It'll be hard to top last year's 20-page Back-to-School extravaganza (which remains the thickest edition in The Last Word's 15-year history), but this one isn't too shabby.

So what sort of school-related topics does the latest installment cover? How about:

• A summary of the harassing phone call that was traced to my old high school.

• A hilarious account of soap and other goodies being put in the toilet bowl during a school outing.

• The story of the time the word bank of a computer rhyming game got hacked in class.

• A guffaw-inducing narrative about the many, many times folks farted in high school.

So lean over on one cheek and point your pooper here:

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw080902

Our first September 100° day?

Is the Flat Earth crowd still going to insist climate change is a hoax?

I never thought I'd see 100° F in northern Kentucky in September, but here we are. I noticed it was utterly sweltering in here, so I just checked WUnderground and was taken aback at this:


A month from now, there'll probably be snow on the ground. These days, weather seems to go from one extreme to the other with no in-betweens. (Remember when there used to be those seasons called spring and fall?)

Is the cult of climate change denial satisfied now?

Singer Jerry Reed dies

Another music legend has died.

Jerry Reed, a country singer and musician known for hits like "When You're Hot, You're Hot" and for playing the character Snowman in 'Smokey And The Bandit', died yesterday at the age of 71 after a battle with emphysema.

I also remember Reed appearing in animated form in an episode of 'Scooby-Doo'.

Although Reed's music was seldom played on the radio in recent years, I remember him being quite popular back in my day.

(Source: http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080902/TUNEIN/80902039)

Palin opposes sex ed

McCain's own stance on teen pregnancy programs is bad enough, but the stances of his running mate Sarah Palin deserve just as much scrutiny.

Only 2 years ago, during her first campaign for Governor of Alaska, Palin said she opposes all sex education except for the failed abstinence-only approach.

Now, with the news that Palin's unmarried teenage daughter is pregnant, it shows what happens in the absence of sex ed. I'd hate to bring the personal life of a politician's teenage offspring into any debate, but this illustrates perfectly the ineffectiveness of the abstinence-only concept supported by Palin.

As for John McCain, he has been so shortsighted that he opposed teen pregnancy programs and voted to cut off benefits to impoverished teenage mothers. But at least he had a position those times (even though it was the wrong one). Recently when reporters asked McCain whether he thinks the government should provide contraceptive counseling, he admitted, "You've stumped me."

Does the McCain/Palin ticket really have much of a chance at winning the election? I'm really starting to think they might end up losing by at least 10%.

(Source: http://news.yahoo.com/story/ap/20080902/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_mccain_teen_pregnancies)

North Pole becomes island

Due to climate change - which conservatives like Sarah Palin claim is made-up - it appears as if Santa Claus is going to need a kayak this holiday season.

For the first time in known history, the North Pole has in effect become an island. NASA photos show that climate change has melted Arctic sea ice around the pole, leaving the pole an island of ice surrounded by water.

Shipping companies are trying to take advantage of the fact that this is the first known instance of a navigable sea route around the pole. But that's exactly like if I cheered strip-mining the entire Appalachian Mountains just because it would make it easier to bike to Virginia.

In this world we call reality, the melting of the ice is what sea ice specialist Mark Serreze calls a "death spiral."

As the ice becomes water, it holds in heat and melts more ice. Where does this newly formed water go? You've heard of icebergs, but who's ever heard of a waterberg? As a liquid, water can't pile up iceberg-like. Thus, the water will add to the oceans and make sea levels rise.

And beaches and cities will be flooded.

Despite this, the conservative intelligentsia continues to deny climate change. Maybe when their swanky beachfront condos are the first things flooded, they'll finally snap out of their delusion.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HealthSci/North_Pole_becomes_an_island/articleshow/3434077.cms)

Illegal convention arrest caught on video

The Republican National Convention itself has so far been limited to breakfasts where Pete Wilson rants about "socialism", but the suppression of protesters is already out of control. And it's been caught on video!

In St. Paul, police were recorded roughing up respected journalist Amy Goodman after they illegally arrested 2 of her colleagues.

Are Bush cultists going to deny it happened, like they deny everything else that's staring them in the face? Well, here's the proof it happened:



What's the Bushbots' excuse this time?

(Source: http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2008/9/1/amy_goodman_and_two_democracy_now_producers_unlawfully_arrested_at_the_rnc)

Riot police greet workers at Mall of America

Weird how the Republican National Convention comes to the Twin Cities and fascism breaks out all over the area.

Yesterday - which was Labor Day - 50 to 70 Starbucks workers and their backers launched a peaceful rally in Minneapolis. They planned to escort a Starbucks counter server back to work after he was reinstated after being illegally fired for trying to form a union.

The group took the train from downtown to the much-maligned Mall of America. But when they tried getting off the train at the mall, police in riot gear blocked them from getting off and threatened to arrest them for trespassing.

Riot police blocked all the exits of the train, detaining all passengers - not just those involved in the rally. A diabetic woman was denied insulin.

Because of riot cops' illegal show of force, the train had to go back to the last station, and the newly reinstated Starbucks worker had to walk the rest of the way to work - causing him to be a half-hour late.

I guess BushAmerica celebrates Labor Day by suppressing worker rallies.

(Source: http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20080901103018645)

Be young, have fun, violate an Allowed Cloud!

I just wouldn't be me if I couldn't violate some Allowed Clouds!

Every Labor Day weekend, Riverfest breezes into Cincinnati and neighboring Covington and Newport, Kentucky. I call it Rip-off-fest: It seems that practically nothing is allowed - partly because of the desire for control, but much of it thanks to sheer greed. The so-called festival has become mighty tame.

In the past decade or so, it's become forbidden to bring any beverages (even water or soda) into the festival. Surely you can get soft drinks or wawa at the fest, but at a massive markup.

This rule is so rigid that authorities have forced parents of infants to dump out milk from their baby's bottle.

Since about mid-decade, Rip-off-fest has even stationed military police at the city limits in an effort to make sure nobody walks in with wa. Around the same time, police began searching purses and backpacks for contraband water and other refreshments. (The searches are illegal, but hey, who in BushAmerica is counting?)

The list of Allowed Clouds for Riverfest is long. Umbrellas appear to be banned too. In an effort to appear "family-friendly", the event is also now reportedly completely alcohol-free, despite the availability of alcohol well into the '90s.

Last night for the Riverfest fireworks, I couldn't resist violating the totalitarian Allowed Cloud against bringing in sodie-pop. So I grabbed a nearly-full Pepsi bottle out of my fridge. Not a "vleering Pepsi bottle" as that radio ad used to say (I couldn't get the bottle to "vleer"), but just a Pepsi bottle. I donned jeans with deep pockets and stowed the soda flask safely therein.

I strolled down to Newport and walked right past the city cops and military police, with the Pepsi bottle still in my pocket.

Never got caught. Indeed, I brang along the Eyewitness Cam to document this "crime":


(http://i35.tinypic.com/1zcg4r4.jpg)

Soda was rotting my teeth, so my dentist long ago ordered me not to consume it. But I've completely ignored that Allowed Cloud ever since it was issued.

As for bringing Pepsi to Riverfest, what would've been the charge if I was caught? I can't find anything in the Kentucky or Ohio penal code about bringing soft drinks to festivals, so they'd have to pull something out of their ass if they were going to take me to jail.

(Source: http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080828/ENT/808290310)

Palin don't know much about history

Here we go, everyone!

Sarah Palin is hands-down the strangest vice-presidential pick by a major American political party not just in my lifetime but also in my parents' lifetimes - even more so than Dan Quayle. Palin is a bit like Quayle, in fact. She's a gaffe-a-minute, laugh-a-minute character.

If you're running for Vice-President, you should at least know a little about the Pledge of Allegiance. But Palin doesn't.

When Palin was running for Governor of Alaska for the first time in 2006, the right-wing Eagle Forum sent her a questionnaire about what she thought about the phrase "under God" in the Pledge.

She replied, "If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its [sic] good enough for me and I'll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance."

A big problem with this: The Pledge wasn't written until 1892, and "under God" wasn't added by Congress until 1954. The Founding Fathers were history by the time the Pledge was penned.

This Sarah Palin is just weird. Really weird. Right-wing? Certainly. But more than anything else, weird.

(Source: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/top10/350)

Warped Talk Express

Whooooo, man!

Check this out:

http://www.ruin.net/2008/08/31/dont-mess-with-the-straight-talk-express

(Incidentally, that article references the 'Pail.)

Secret Service and a SWAT team roughed the guy up because he took a photo of McCain's tour bus? Honestly, anyone would've gotten out their camera if they saw the bus of a presidential candidate (even a lousy one like McAin't).

I know I have photos of Michael Dukakis that are about 2 feet from his face, but McCain can't handle anyone getting near his stupid bus?