Obama wins Wyoming

Life just got even more miserable for the Clinton camp (and for the McCain camp come November), as Wyoming - which held its caucus today - has now been called for Obama. And it's not even close there, so the DLC can't spin this one like they did during the February routs.

Kentucky may split electoral votes

Two things in life are certain: 1) Kentucky is a politically diverse state. 2) The Electoral College should have been reformed years ago (as the ghastly events of this decade have proven).

Maine and Nebraska are the only states that let their Electoral College votes be split if their congressional districts are carried by different candidates. Republicans pushed for California to do it too, but only for their partisan advantage. They proposed no similar plan for Texas, where this policy would have helped the Democrats.

The truth is, the Electoral College already favors Republicans, and that's why there hasn't been any national reform.

Now a bill in the Kentucky legislature may allow the Bluegrass State to join Nebraska and Maine in splitting its electoral votes by congressional district.

The Republicans supporting it only for California is like if I supported it only for Texas. I'm almost inclined to say every state should do it, but it would be fairer if the Electoral College increased representation for large states. And if you think splitting electoral votes is a bad idea for Kentucky, then you don't know Kentucky. Trust me. You don't.

The strongholds of dissent in Kentucky have been increasingly pushed into the inner cities or the mountains. Even though the state has trended Republican in presidential elections, Louisville (not counting the newly annexed portions) has become more Democratic. A few coal counties aren't exactly GOP bastions either - even after the rural Republican trend around 2000. These areas of course are outvoted by the exurbs that have grown to dominate much of the state.

The exurbs hold the political strength in probably 5 of Kentucky's 6 congressional districts, even where they don't have a majority of the population. If Kentucky splits its electoral votes, the likely result in close elections would be that one party gets the Louisville district while the other party gets the other districts. This at least is a more accurate way to distribute electoral votes than the winner-take-all system we have now.

Splitting Kentucky's electoral votes would also encourage candidates to campaign more in the state by making some of its districts competitive.

The Kentucky Electoral College bill was suggested by high school students studying government and - surprisingly - was introduced by a Republican. Whether it will get past the Kentucky Senate's corrupt Republican leadership is doubtful (even though I'm sure they'd support California doing the same).

(Source: http://news.nky.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20080308/NEWS0103/803080425)

Birmingham ordered to end debtors' prison

Debtors' prison - the practice of jailing folks who cannot pay a debt - was thought to have gone out with the 19th century. But in Birmingham, Alabama, it was going on until just a few weeks ago when a court halted it.

The city of Birmingham had a policy that created a double standard for those charged with small crimes. A person who could afford to pay a fine got fined. But if you couldn't pay it, you got sent to jail. Poor citizens had to serve a day in jail for every $15 they owed.

The policy was tailor-made for the bloated corrections-industrial complex, and other places around the country have adopted similar policies. A few years ago in my area they were making people who were jailed for minor crimes pay for their jail stay - and sentencing them to additional community service if they couldn't pay it. It was a "gotcha!" practice. Kind of like when your school suspends you for wearing the wrong color of shirt, then counts the suspension as an unexcused absence, leading to further punishment. Like the school system, the "justice" system itself is a class crime against the poor.

With everything illegal nowadays, a lot of fines have been levied. And in Birmingham, that's meant a lot of jail time for a lot of poor people who committed only minor violations - because Birmingham automatically converted fines into jail time for the poor. One man who had over $5,000 in traffic fines was ordered to serve over 3 years in jail.

The result of this was that poor people found guilty of misdemeanors in Birmingham served more jail time than they would have if they had committed a felony just outside the city.

But now, thanks to a federal lawsuit against the city, judges in Birmingham will no longer automatically sentence the poor to jail if they can't pay a fine. Now judges are required to consider whether a defendant is able to pay a fine.

This ruling might not sit well with the corrections industry that has so much clout with government officials. But it's this industry that's helped fan the prison boom and the rise of the police state.

(Source: http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/120393091986860.xml&coll=2)

2 more reasons to homeschool

Here's another reason to pull your kids out of America's slaughterhouse education system at once:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-daley-cameras-07mar07,1,1323551.story

Chicago, incidentally, isn't the first place in America to have this surveillance system. Last year, the Catholic high school that I attended in the late '80s became probably the first in the country. Isn't it nice to know the worst school in the world is becoming a model for large school systems like Chicago?

Someone just told me my former high school "must have gotten really bad to need cameras." Trust me, it already was bad 20 years ago, and the cameras aren't there to go after the real thugs. I know that school well enough to know.

If that wasn't reason enough to homeschool, here's another:

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/15525366/detail.html

Forced drug testing of 6th graders? That ain't gonna go over too well. Or maybe it will, because now they're brainwashing kids earlier. This shows you America's educrats today are a bunch of right-wing galoots who don't place a high priority on the Constitution.

Save me from tomorrow. I don't want to sail with this ship of fools.

Mail spying program revealed

Quick show of hands: Who's surprised by this?

Nobody??? Well, I'm not either.

Not happy with just a warrantless phone spying program, the government does the same with mail - and has been for years, according to FOIA inquiries filed by USA Today. Like Bush's phone tapping program, the mail surveillance has also been carried out without bothering to get warrants first.

Since 1998 the postal service has approved over 10,000 law enforcement requests to keep tabs on customers' mail.

Why isn't this a front page headline in every paper in America?

After the Republicans in Congress gave the postal service the power to raise stamp prices every year without a hearing (and not doing anything about the cost to mail a letter subsidizing junk mail), and with the postal service participating in a warrantless surveillance program, I know I'm going to be using the mail less.

This isn't just Bush's fault (for a change). It's probably gone on since Reagan, but nobody's done anything about it.

(Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-05-mail_N.htm)

Clinics spread hepatitis

Really great health care system we have, huh? This story is yet another example of how bad America's medical system has been allowed to become under the past quarter-century of greed-driven conservative rule.

You hear about North Korea using empty beer bottles as IV bags. The health care system in the United States hasn't slipped that far yet, but it's damn close. (Failed dictatorships are a lot alike, you know.) Nevada health officials now say serious violations have been found at 13 outpatient surgical centers in the Las Vegas area alone. These include reusing syringes.

A hepatitis C epidemic afflicting at least 6 patients has been traced to one facility. Now officials suggest that all 40,000 people who were treated at this center during the past 4 years should be tested for hepatitis and even HIV.

This is the health care system Americans have to live under these days?

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/news/national/story.aspx?content_id=fd29e25c-6bdd-4fc3-93e2-08a9653da14f)

Democrats may reach 60 Senate seats

Yes, it can happen: After the November election, the Democrats may end up with 60 of the 100 U.S. Senate seats - the magic number they need to stave off Republican filibusters.

It might not seem likely, but it's very possible, and it would be historic. The Democratic margin is considered 51 to 49 now, because the 2 independents caucus with the Democrats (although one of them kisses Bush's ass every chance he gets). At this time in 2006, I told people there was a good chance the Democrats could regain control of both houses of Congress (which were both in Republican hands then), and they looked at me like I had a King Don growing out of my forehead. But the Democrats did take both houses.

Not like it got our side anywhere, because the Michael Mukasey-loving Democrats in Congress now don't know what a mandate is, but you get the point.

The last time any party had a 60% majority of the Senate was during the Carter years.

Mitch McConnell might be one of the Republicans who loses this year. That would just be the icing on the cake, wouldn't it? I've wanted to see Mitch the Glitch lose for over 20 years! I think it's within striking distance this time!

If it accomplishes nothing else, at least a 60% Democratic majority would send the GOP off into one of their hilarious sore loser shitfits to amuse us.

(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/us/politics/07senate.html)

What is a Wal-Nut?

People have asked me: What is a Wal-Nut? And why is this term being used to denote rightists of relatively high income groups?

Broadly, a Wal-Nut is an exurban-oriented Bushist. By being Bushists, they're of a higher income level by default. They're so named because of the retail giant that's so prevalent in America's newest communities. Wal-Nuts overlap heavily with programmies, and they trust and are catered to by the pop-up media.

Although Wal-Mart does not have a reputation as an upscale store, I've boycotted the chain for years, ever since Wal-Mart began being exposed as exceptionally predatory and irresponsible. The Wal-Mart for my county is so far away from the populated areas that how are most people supposed to get there anyway? Car insurance is expensive here (thanks to inaction by the right-wing crooks in the Kentucky legislature), so not everyone drives.

Thus, Wal-Mart has made itself into an upscale outlet without even trying!

Still, it's hard to find the proper spot to call someone a Wal-Nut in an entry where it would seem suitable. I often to have to play musical chairs with the words of an entry.

Don't be a Wal-Nut!

Another one from the "boo hoo hoo" files

Just outside Houston, Habitat for Humanity wants to build a development of 90 homes for folks of relatively modest means.

But a few residents of rich subdivisions nearby are already crying on their monocles. They say the small Habitat homes aren't welcome anywhere near their mansions - simply because the Habitat homes are for poorer people. No other reason. Only that.

My message for the privileged Wal-Nuts who oppose Habitat for Humanity?

Suck. It. Up.

Live with it, and quit complaining. The mansion-dwelling bigots who are griping about the Habitat's houses will never be poor in their lives. So they need to STFU.

And yes, they're bigots. Nothing but selfish, classist bigots. I would call them that to their faces if I had the chance.

But hey, it's BushAmerica, so O the world must revolve around them.

One of the privileged suburbanites displayed photos she claimed were of another Habitat development. These pictures featured such unattractive sights as appliances on front porches and smashed windows. But the photos turned out to be a hoax. It's unclear where the photos came from, but a reporter drove through the development and found that the Habitat homes were very well cared for by the residents.

What? You mean a Bushist lied? What else is new?

Right-wing terrorist website Free Republic is of course siding with the mansion-dwellers. One poster complains that in their area, Habitat for Humanity "shoved a huge complex down our upscale area's throats." Somebody call the WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHmbulance! Nazis also flooded a comment section of one newspaper with threats to chase the Habitat's residents out with guns.

This shows you what America's working poor have had to deal with on an increasing basis for years. We've had to listen to spoiled babies who have had everything handed to them their whole lives crying when those who are less fortunate aren't banished from "their" sheltered communities. The sentiment held by these pop-up rightists has been inflamed by the hate-spewing Hitlers who populate talk-shit radio.

Habitat for Humanity ought to just ignore the classist bigots instead of trying to make sure they're satisfied (because the latter is an impossible task).

(Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5589610.html)

Media and politicians point fingers over Times Square blast

Around 3:45 AM today there was a minor bomb explosion on Times Square. Nobody was injured, but the blast could have been deadly if there were more people around.

The media and politicians immediately spread the lie that it was peace activists targeting a military recruitment center. Though a recruiting station received minor damage, it's likely the bomb didn't target that facility. It's absolutely clear that the bomb wasn't placed by peace activists.

Mark my word on that last sentence. If any more facts - not innuendo, but facts - emerge about the case, it will be proven that antiwar activists did not commit this crime. That is a 100% ironclad guarantee.

That's why there might not be any more facts emerging. The case might just suddenly be forgotten once it gets too close to people in high places - much like the anthrax terrorism of 2001 and the Amtrak sabotage in Arizona in the mid-'90s. The Times Square blast could have been international terrorism. But I suspect strongly it was the work of a right-wing domestic terrorist, like a Timothy McVeigh or a Unabomber or an Eric Rudolph. Slinking around in the middle of the night sounds like the modus operandi of creeps like that.

It very well could have been an attempt by the CIA or domestic terrorists to frame the antiwar movement. Stuff like this has happened before. I find it rather suspicious that the bombing was on the same day Bush's telcom immunity proposal is supposed to be voted on. It's like someone's trying to scare Congress into backing Bush's plan. And this is an election year, and scaring people with terrorism is about the only way the GOP can stay in the White House.

The explosion may be linked to 2 earlier, lesser-known bombings at foreign consulates in Manhattan.

The right-wing media, of course, is milking the explosion for all they can. While the AP article reprinted on MSNBC's site does not suggest the recruitment center was targeted, MSNBC (which is not exactly a champion of credibility lately) has added the headline, "Blast targets NYC military center."

Right-wing politicians milk it even more. John McCain said that "some idiot tried to harm a recruiting station" - even though all signs point to it being some idiot trying to harm the peace movement. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg puffed up and blustered that the recruiting station was specifically targeted, despite the lack of proof. Fox News generously gave Bloomberg a forum for this conclusion by running an entire article filled with his wild-eyed ravings.

The pop-up media has pulled similar stunts before. A few years ago, a housing development under construction in Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., burned to the ground. The media immediately spread speculation that environmental activists had torched the development. This turned out to be a filthy lie. It was soon discovered that the fires were set by a white supremacist gang. The media sure did clam up about the arsons after that, didn't they?

When the truth emerges that antiwar activists didn't bomb Times Square, members of the movement should sue media corporations like Faux News and Not Bloody Credible for defaming them. And believe me, the truth will come out. We need to haul Brit Hume's stupid helmet head into court to answer some questions.

Goeglein plagiarism worse than feared

Smell that? Someone keeps stinking up the place with their wafto gas.

Why, it's the disgraced Tim Goeglein, a Bush aide who was already caught plagiarizing an essay and using it as the basis for a piece he wrote for an Indiana newspaper.

The Goegster had longtime links to the Religious Right before being hired as Bush's liaison to religious organizations. Rev. Ted Haggard - who later got caught up in a sex and drug scandal involving a male prostitute - said Goeglein "actually produced the evangelical vote in America." Goeglein, 44, also helped advance Bush's right-wing economic stances among religious conservatives and helped push John Roberts's and Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nominations through.

Now his plagiarism has been found to be much worse than everyone thunk. The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel now says that out of 38 columns Tim Goeglein has written for the paper in the past 8 years, 20 of them have been found to be plagiarized. So it wasn't just a one-time slip-up. He's a serial plagiarist.

As a result of all this bad press, the Goegster has now resigned in disgrace from his White House post.

Seems like hardly a day goes by anymore without some Republican insider embarrassing themselves like this.

(Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-plagarism1mar01,0,3650839.story)

School bars student from council over blog post

A public high school in Burlington, Connecticut, has displayed its hostility not only to free speech but also to keeping its nose out of what happens off school grounds.

A student from this school wrote on her blog that "'Jamfest' is canceled due to douchebags in central office", referring to the school's administration. She didn't use the school's computers or website to post this. The posting was completely independent of school.

Despite the blog being run from outside of school, the school refused to allow her to run for class secretary because of it. She won anyway from write-in votes, but the fascists who run the school wouldn't let her serve.

If only my first high school knew the stuff I said about it on BBS's! Then maybe I wouldn't have had to wait 3 years to get expelled. And we might be a lot better off now.

Believe it or not, U.S. District Judge Mark Kravitz sided with the school in the Connecticut case. Maybe Kravitz hates the First Amendment. But that wouldn't be surprising, because he was appointed by lying shitsack Bush, who also hates the First Amendment.

This case is another example of schools thinking they can keep students in suspended animation 24/7. Schools today think of students as their property. Schools run the show, because most folks have become afraid to stand up to them.

If a decent President is elected, the new President and Congress are going to have to take a serious look at the damage caused by Bush's judicial appointees.

(Source: http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=7968213)

Clinton snaps 11-state losing streak

...But don't worry. Obama is still going to be the Democratic nominee. Even if Hillary Clinton wins every primary remaining, she'll still probably be behind (unless the DLC cheats, which is possible). Despite carrying Texas yesterday, Clinton may have only gotten one more delegate than Obama in that state.

Even Ohio netted Clinton only a slight advantage, despite the Clinton blowout everyone expected. I can go on about Ohio, because I live only blocks from it. Part of the problem in the Buckeye State is the strength of the DLC, embodied in such Clinton endorsers as Cincinnati-based politician David Pepper. How does one describe Pepper and his views? Well, it ain't a pretty picture: The Last Word of 11/5/05 reported that Pepper actually thought the state law against marijuana possession wasn't harsh enough. Seriously, he actually thought that. He actually proposed a city ordinance against pot that would have been tougher than the state law.

That's how the DLC "thinks." They're willing to keep backing Hillary Clinton even though it's clear now she'd get demolished in November.

Vermont towns approve Bush and Cheney indictments

Yesterday, voters in 2 towns in Vermont approved measures to indict Bush and Cheney for violating their duties to uphold the Constitution.

Brattleboro approved the measure by over 200 votes. At a town meeting in Marlboro, it was approved 43 to 25. Under these measures, police are bound to either arrest Disgeorge or Sure Shot Cheney if they set foot in either of these towns or extradite them to be prosecuted elsewhere (unless they're impeached first).

The measure was obviously necessary, because nobody else had the sense to do it. I wish my county had this back in 2006 when Bush visited the local university. Even if it didn't, if I was judge-exec, I would have directed the sheriff to arrest the little creep on sight.

Predictably, the GOP is throwing a little tantrum about the results, like the big babies they are. Republican National Committee spokeswoman Blair Latoff cried, "It appears that the left wing knows no bounds in their willingness to waste taxpayer dollars to make a futile counterproductive partisan political point."

Aaaaaaaaaawww, boo hoo hoo!!!

(Source: http://abcnews.go.com/WaterCooler/wireStory?id=4385777)

Huckabee concedes (finally)

You'd think this would have happened weeks ago, but Fuckapee had to be stubborn, didn't he?

With McCain now the sure GOP nominee, it looks like Huckabee won't get a chance to embarrass his loser-filled party any further. I'm sure McCain will do a good enough job at embarrassing it himself though.

(Source: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/4/211940/7063/946/468902)

FCC investigates '60 Minutes' blackout

FCC, duuuuuh, FCC! (That's an inside joke!)

When WHNT-TV in Huntsville, Alabama, showed a blank screen instead of the '60 Minutes' report on the political motivations behind the probe of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, one thing was perfectly clear: The blackout was intentional, as the station is owned by a Bush crony. The station came up with several different excuses for the loss of '60 Minutes', but CBS says these excuses are nothing but bunk gas.

Now the FCC is investigating WHNT for the incident.

However, one thing is almost as clear as the fact that the blackout was deliberate: The FCC probably isn't going to punish WHNT. Years ago, WHNT probably would have lost its license (in the same manner a Mississippi station did when it shut off network coverage of the civil rights movement). But not now. Today's FCC is the FCC that raids 1-watt pirate stations that don't hurt anyone, but lets Donald Wildmon clutter the dial with repeaters of his right-wing propaganda station (and knock other stations off the air in the process).

WHNT has 30 days to respond to the FCC's letter launching the probe of the station. The blackout created such bad publicity for the station that it wound up showing the segment at a later time. So that really backfired, didn't it?

(Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-fcc-60-minutes-blackout,0,7208242.story)

Dungeons & Dragons creator dies

I've received word that Gary Gygax died today at the age of 69. Together with Dave Arneson, Gygax helped invent the legendary role-playing fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons.

Probably a majority of American teenagers in the '80s were at least somewhat familiar with Dungeons & Dragons. Maybe they played it themselves, or they had a family member or a schoolmate who did. I remember how as a parody I designed my own monsters for Dungeons & Dragons, and one of them was the bus monitor on my school bus who slapped kids. Every so often, the game came under fire from moral panic types for some reason or other. (One such controversy resulted because one of the official manuals for Dungeons & Dragons featured a topless drawing of a female monster.)

Ah yes. Good ol' Dungeons & Dragons. Before today, it had been years since I had even thought about Dungeons & Dragons. I was quite good at drawing blueprints on graph paper for the actual dungeons. Players actually used these maps that I made.

Dungeons & Dragons brings back one hilarious memory that could fit into a modern political context. I remember one of the books for the game included a section on dealing with uncooperative players. It was an uproarious set of paragraphs. It said something like, "Every dungeon master will inevitably host players who throw tantrums, start arguments, and cry about the dice being 'rigged.' Such players are the type who will always try to use the books as their defense."

I don't know whether this meant the obstinate players tried using information in the books to help their cause, or if it meant they held the books in front of their face to protect themselves when other players got fed up and started throwing punches. Either way, it's quite a comical memory.

The uncooperative players described in that section remind you of the scoundrels of the Republican Right who throw little shitfits when elections don't go their way, don't they? Bush, Bob Dornan, Louis Jenkins, and that clod in Memphis who got the state legislature to overturn the election because he lost wouldn't have been too welcome at a Dungeons & Dragons gathering. (There was some Republican county clerk candidate in southern Kentucky who threw a similar tantrum about a year ago and got the election overturned by some GOP judge.)

(Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080304/ap_en_ot/obit_gygax)

New Mexico GOP embroiled in vote-buying scandal

With scandals like the phone-jamming saga in New Hampshire, Republicans have proven themselves to be the champions of election fraud. Because the entire Republican Party today is a fraud, we shouldn't be surprised.

Now the Republicans in New Mexico have been caught in a vote-buying scandal at their own nominating conventions - and media giants have tried to silence any reporters who dared to report on it.

Laura MacCallum, a news anchor at powerful radio station KKOB-AM in Albuquerque, quit her job because the right-wing station management pulled her stories about the scandal. The station was caving to pressure from Heather Wilson's Senate campaign. A Wilson spokesperson called the station to complain about the stories, which reported that the campaigns of Wilson and other powerful right-wing big shots paid delegates to vote a certain way.

The vote-buying was an unethical effort to lock out challengers to Wilson and to Darren White's congressional campaign.

MacCallum, a respected longtime journalist, criticized KKOB's decision to bow to pressure by Wilson. "Should we just be doing the Heather Wilson news? And as soon as we make her angry she's going to call and start giving everybody trouble?" she said. Judging by Wilson's past tantrums, she probably will call and give everybody trouble. This is the same Heather Wilson who threw a shitfit because she wasn't placed at the front of the parade at the state fair.

A memo from a KKOB higher-up (in all lowercase) said the story wasn't valid because other news outlets hadn't picked it up yet. This is the station that bills itself as New Mexico's news leader? Imagine if every news outlet waited to report a story until after every other news outlet reports it. Then they'd have an awfully long wait to report anything! Naturally KKOB is also the local affiliate for Rush Limpballs, Sean Inanity, and Michael Sewage.

I don't believe for one minute that KKOB would have waited to report this story if it involved Democrats instead.

The Republican vote-buying - which was witnessed by several public officials who objected to it - is a fourth-degree felony in New Mexico.

(Source: http://f-brilliant.blogspot.com/2008/03/kkob-radio-news-anchor-laura-maccallum.html)

Clinton endorses McCain?

Because it's obvious Hillary Clinton ain't going to be the Democrats' standard-bearer (unless David Pepper and the other DLCers get their way tomorrow), it looks like Hillary has decided to just go ahead and endorse likely Republican nominee John McCain. Yeah, I know, it's not really an endorsement, but it's damn close!

Yet I got called a not-very-good Democrat for failing to sign a petition to support gun control?

(Source: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/3/174218/4966/721/468110)

Bankruptcy abuse defrauds gift card holders

Homer Simpson calls the bankruptcy law the "cool law." But while Bush made it much harder for working-class Americans to file for bankruptcy when they need it, corporations and white-collar criminals go unscathed. Once in a while you'll hear of some CEO ruining their business and abusing the bankruptcy laws by absconding with all the money to Florida where the right-wing laws protect them.

Now retail giants are abusing the bankruptcy laws to make gift cards worthless. After declaring bankruptcy, retailers are decreeing that gift cards for their stores will not be accepted. So if you got a gift card, you can't even use it. The card is now worth no more than the plastic it's printed on.

All across America, over $75,000,000 in gift cards may be made worthless by this abuse this year. That's because retailers are allowed to treat gift cards as a loan to the company.

This is an outright scam. Somebody actually paid to buy the card. The company already got the money from it. So the company is, in effect, detaining merchandise that rightly belongs to the card's bearer.

In my day, this would have been called fraud. But in BushAmerica, they call it business.

Those who defend retailers for this swindle are the same types who accuse hard-working individuals who seek help for their financial woes of being "deadbeats." They claim that when a corporation declares bankruptcy, it's "reorganizing", but when a person does it, it's being a "deadbeat."

We need laws to crack down on retailers pulling this scam. We also need to restore the old personal bankruptcy law - which Congress has a mandate to do, but still hasn't done. With Congress's inaction, the states need to shore up this loss by reinstating the old law themselves. If Florida can protect white-collar scofflaws, the other states can protect the working class.

(Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080303/ap_on_re_us/bankruptcy_gift_cards)

Right-wing high school sued for leaving grad nearly illiterate

There's a handful of schools and school districts that seem to be the source of a disproportionate number of miserable moments in conservafoolery. Campbell County, Kentucky, is one. That town in Arkansas where they beat kids for not wearing uniforms is another. Another is Sissonville High School in West Virginia.

Sissonville has earned itself several lawsuits just in the past few years. One resulted when the school allowed Nazis to harass a student who wore an antiwar t-shirt and suspended the student for distributing flyers that the school disagreed with. Many of the students who attacked her were avowed Ku Klux Klan members, and a school board member called the antiwar teen a traitor right to her face. (The school's handbook incorrectly stated that constitutional rights "possessed by adult citizens do not extend to students.")

After the suit, the student was illegally denied the right to return to Sissonville High. The school later backed down.

Later the Kanawha County school bored and the principal of Sissonville High were sued because a student was illegally suspended for 10 days because he refused to join the school's "narc program" after he stuck a Smarties candy up his nose as a prank. Under this program, the school pressured students into going undercover in the restrooms to bust stoners. The suspension caused the student to miss a meeting with college recruiters who planned on giving him a scholarship.

Now the school board is being sued for educational malpractice. A 21-year-old man who graduated from Sissonville in 2004 says he can only read on a 3rd grade level because the school wouldn't do its job. Reportedly he had been diagnosed with ADHD.

Allow me to be perfectly frank: From the limited information I have, it's quite probable he has dyslexia, not ADHD. You can find countless accounts of people being misdiagnosed with ADHD when really they had dyslexia. Schools do this on purpose because a diagnosis of ADHD is usually countered with psychotropic drugs. Dyslexia is not. Prevalence of dyslexia could be as high as 17% of the population, so this is not an uncommon disorder.

This would actually boost the notion that the school neglected him. If you have a learning or other disability, federal law requires schools to make accommodations in the least restrictive manner. Clearly the school failed to do this.

It's hard to win a lawsuit against a school. Schools themselves are a protected class that's above the law in many ways. But hopefully the forces of good will prevail over Sissonville High's serial incompetence.

(Source: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n1658/a01.html;
http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/16176872.html)

A petition against looting the troops

In November I told you about the military's efforts to force grievously injured soldiers to give back their enlistment bonuses if their injuries won't let them complete their commitment.

The right-wing blogosphere has been silent about this issue, because they don't give a shit about the troops. The wingnutosphere's mantra is that anyone who dares to oppose Bush's illegal war is really attacking America's brave men and women in uniform. But this meme is a lie. If anyone's against the troops, it's the Bush cult. Every time they bluster about supporting the troops, it's only to distract. Making troops repay enlistment bonuses was never a policy until Bush took power.

I don't think the wingnutosphere is prepared to put its money where its mouth is (except maybe when people are paying attention), but I think we should petition our local officials to make Congress act. I'm developing a petition about this scandal that you might want to copy and present to your city, town, township, or county council. My petition reads:

"We, the undersigned, condemn the Bush White House's unpatriotic policy of requiring America's wounded fighting men and women to repay part or all of their enlistment bonuses.

"We ask that, on behalf of the community, you resolve to request that Congress end this policy and order the reimbursement of injured troops for portions of enlistment bonuses that have already been taken from them."

I don't know how well that's worded, since I have more important things to worry about in life than grammar. But hey, unless someone has a better idea, you might want to circulate this as a petition and present it to your local government. Some of the war's wounded may be from your town, and Congress allows municipal resolutions to be accepted. This may be a matter of importance to your community.

Ritalin linked to youth crime and substance abuse (a blast from the past)

A study from several months ago says kids who use Ritalin for extended periods are at much greater risk for lawbreaking and drug abuse.

Although it's an American study, I can't find it covered anywhere other than foreign news sources, because America's right-wing media sweeps it under the rug. (tIm u r a tErRoRiSt lololololol!!!) Not only that, but it took until now for me to find out about it at all.

The report says that the longer a child uses the drug, the worse their delinquency got. Kids who took Ritalin were at 27% risk of committing a crime, while the risk was only 7% among other children. The rate of substance abuse among children taking Ritalin was 17%, which is twice as high as it is among kids who don't take this toxin.

I wonder what excuses the programmies are going to come up with to try to put a happy face on this study. Of course, if they're in the U.S. and A., they're not going to need to, because the study has been ignored all along by the American media anyway.

It's a shame so many young people's lives have been ruined or ended by psychotropic drugs all because the pharmaceutical racket wanted to Make Money at their expense.

(Source: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22133793-5006007,00.html)

Thousands of abuse claims found in detention centers

While conservatives baste to fantasies about "superpredators" in a flimsy attempt to justify growing the prison-industrial complex, the real "superpredators" are juvenile detention facilities themselves.

The American teenager of today - if they aren't placed in a "treatment" facility without even being charged with a crime - is increasingly at risk for criminal sanctions for even minor offenses. This helps fill juvenile corrections facilities all over the land. Young people are often sent to juvenile hall illegally: In Kentucky, for instance, it's illegal to put a young person in juvenile detention for a status offense such as truancy. The law states this clearly. However, Kentucky's detention centers are filled with teenagers whose only offense was ditching school.

Now it's been revealed that - just between 2004 and 2007 - there have been 13,000 claims of abuse in America's juvenile detention centers. With 46,000 detainees, this represents more than one abuse case for every 4 inmates - an amazingly high number.

This includes a facility in Mississippi where teenagers were forced to eat their own vomit and shackled for 12 hours a day. Some of the detainees there were sent there just for getting in a fistfight one time at school. In other facilities, children died while being hogtied in restraints.

I'm sure there were more than 13,000 acts of abuse. It's actually very difficult even to report abuse, because the system makes it difficult. Often the detainees are coerced into not reporting it. It's also a fact that if they do, the cases are often dropped without any real investigation. So the guards keep abusing.

If the guards ever get convicted, they get off easy. One guard in Hawaii "grabbed, squeezed and twisted" a boy's testicles, but was sentenced to only probation and to 90 days in jail spread out over many weekends.

I'm sure the problem has only gotten worse. Without a serious crackdown, it will likely get worse still.

(Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080302/ap_on_re_us/juvenile_detention)

McCain dredges up Phil Gramm

My opinion of John McCain just slipped a bit more (not like there was a chance in hell I'd vote for him anyway).

I've despised Phil Gramm ever since I was starting college. The disgraced Republican senator from Texas eventually retired from the Senate - but I knew there was a chance someone would dig up his still-living corpse while he's still around. (He's fairly young for a retired senator. But I think his soul died years ago.)

Gramm's trademark hangman's grin (pictured here) was legendary in the '90s. He was widely considered one of the nastiest American politicians of the era. (Molly Ivins called Phil Gramm and Dick Armey "two of the meanest guys ever to serve in the U.S. Congress.") Gramm is the man who proclaimed, "We're the only nation in the world where all our poor people are fat!" One day, when an elderly widow told Gramm that cutting Medicare would make it too hard to live independently, Gramm turned to her with a big smirk on his face and said, "You haven't thought about a new husband, have you?"

If there's one thing I hate, it's a bully. That's why I detest public officials like Gramm who make policies that are designed to force innocent people to suffer.

McCain is less of a bully than just a guy with anger management problems who doesn't know when to pull back. That doesn't excuse the fact that he actually made Gramm his chief adviser on economic issues.

On economic issues, of all things! Gramm would have been a perfect choice to become an adviser on, say, how to sneer. But it's economic matters where Gramm's tyranny usually came out in its fullest force. It's like making Bill McCollum drug czar. Phil Gramm is so extreme on economics that he doesn't believe in the concept of public property. Although he believes in strict laws on personal conduct, Gramm believes market forces should be essentially unregulated.

The long and short of it is, Gramm is a champion of "regulation for thee, not for me." His ultraconservative philosophy is built on total deregulation of Big Business and strict regimentation of personal morals (with more draconian drug laws and the like).

Gramm has influenced McCain's health care plan, but it's a sham. It gives too much power to insurers and essentially does nothing for low-income households. Even though John McCain voted against Bush's tax cuts for the rich, Gramm has now influenced him to support extending the cuts.

Not real mavericky of you, John.

There's some talk now that if McCain wins the election, he'll appoint Phil Gramm as Secretary of the Treasury - so we'll have to deal with Gramm's rectum-emptying garbledygoop again. Not like I'm willing to even view a Republican presidency as legitimate, because the GOP has screwed the pooch so hopelessly, but the dinosaur media doesn't have the gumption to call the party out for what it is.

(Source: http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/18/news/newsmakers/tully_gramm.fortune)

Bundle up again! It's another protest!

I didn't think it was possible to hate the teen confinement racket any more than I did. But now, for the first time, I truly despise it to a degree I had never before thought possible.

Kids Helping Kids is a so-called "treatment" center for teenagers outside Cincinnati. But it's actually a cult with a decades-long record of abuse. I had been to a couple of protests against the facility in recent months, but KHK ducked out of the January one by getting everyone off the premises before we arrived. This proves how cowardly the cult's administrators are. A good program wouldn't have hidden from us like that. (However I have yet to hear of any good programs, other than ones where people can just get up and leave.)

KHK has to be called on this cowardice. It's worse than cowardice, in fact.

On Friday night I was invited to my third protest against KHK. It was cold, but we got 4 people together. This demonstration was a smashing success!

One of KHK's directors showed up and chitchatted with us. His mantra was that abuse that occurred there in the past doesn't occur there anymore. (I guess now KHK realizes it can't hide the fact that it's been abusive at some point.) Before the night was over, I saw firsthand that this spiel was bullshit.

For one thing, on 2 separate instances, mothers who were heading home from the family meetings at KHK pulled up to us and said almost the same thing word for word. The approximate quote was: "I'm sorry KHK didn't work for you, but it worked for my son."

For the record, I was never in KHK. I was invited to these protests because of my illegal confinement in a different concentration camp. I join protests against KHK because I want the entire youth confinement racket held accountable. Many centers like KHK are cults. Many commit insurance fraud to keep kids locked up longer. What was my "crime" that caused me to be locked away? My "crime" was getting expelled from a Catholic high school.

The fact that 2 different parents said almost the exact same thing verbatim during our protest indicates that admins at KHK were coaching the parents on what to say to us. A good program wouldn't have had to do this. Still another parent pulled up to us and said something about 50 Cent and Wal-Mart that we couldn't decipher.

How do I really know the abuse is continuing? When the kids were being hauled away from KHK to go to their host foster homes for the night, I noticed the back seat of one of the vans that was pulling out of KHK held a person with a bag or an eyeless hood over their head. The light in the back seat of the van was on very brightly. I was told by my allies that KHK has in the past forced kids who were being taken to the host homes to keep their heads down during the journey so they couldn't see where they were being taken. I was also told that putting a bag over a teen's head to keep them from seeing would be the type of thing KHK would do, although it was not known if it had happened before.

I know the abuse is continuing, because this itself is abuse! I was outraged when I saw this.

That act alone has got to be illegal. But Ohio is a child abusers' haven, so enforcement is weak. A few years ago, a cult that immigrated from Canada chose to set up shop in Ohio, because Ohio had the weakest child abuse laws in the United States. I don't know if federal human trafficking statutes apply if the trafficking is confined to the United States, but if they do, KHK's apparent placing of a bag or hood over a teenager's head while having them transported somewhere has got to be punishable under that law.

If KHK was such a great program, it wouldn't feel like it has to do this.

Our protest was successful at helping to expose Kids Helping Kids, and we all got some dinner afterwards.

I'm putting my ass on the line by even writing about these protests, and I may face repercussions from the industry - but I'm prepared to live with it. I doubt such retaliation is likely, because it would simply draw negative attention to KHK's actions. I'm a longtime activist, and I'm tough to beat. (If you doubt our side of the story, do your own research on centers like KHK.) KHK can't claim I'm just some punk kid with an ax to grind, because I'm almost 35, and I'm a grown man.

If KHK closed down this minute, we'd still have a long way to go to rein in the teen torture industry. Part of the problem is that America has become a child-hating society, and laws to protect kids are weak. As an example, there's 2,270 children in the U.S. serving life in prison - while it's believed that there's only 12 children in all the other countries put together who are serving such a sentence. Life imprisonment was almost never imposed on children in the United States before the '80s, and was still very rarely handed down before the '90s, but today it's not unheard of. Many of these young people were under 14 when the crime they were convicted of was committed and received life imprisonment despite being only marginally involved in the crime. So the system isn't exactly one that protects youth.

With youth confinement facilities like KHK, most detainees weren't even charged with a crime. These are billed as "treatment" centers, not jails. But the negative effects of these centers can be lifelong.

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

More right-wing sour grapes

Just a quick entry here...

The right-wing Bushiganda machine is whining now because a college in Ohio provided copies of utility bills to students so they can vote (as is legal for them to do, as long as they officially reside in Ohio). The bills can be used as identification when they vote.

The college did this because ID requirements that took effect in 2006 in the Buckeye State made it too hard to vote otherwise, because many students were young and still did not have an ID card (especially if they didn't have a car). Many students were stymied when they tried to vote when the new requirements first took effect - even though they were eligible voters.

In other words, right-wing dimbulbs tried to suppress the college vote by making it harder to vote - so the college provided utility bills to use as an ID. Now the right-wing crybabies are throwing a fit because their vote suppression attempt didn't work as well as they thought it would.

New loophole allows anonymous attack ads

I think the worst type of conservative today must be the ones who go around flapping their gizzards about how everyone else is stuck in a "pre-9/11" world. These are the conservatives who endlessly accuse dissenters of supporting terrorism.

This type of conservative is commonly known as a liar. (And a Bushist.) They're the real terrorists, because they're letting terrorists win by taking away our freedom.

But a brand-new loophole issued by the Federal Election Commission seems tailor-made for them. The new rule implements a Supreme Court ruling that gives more power to groups to run campaign ads without revealing donors. These groups are known in the tax code as 501(c)(4) groups. They're tax-exempt nonprofits, but now they can run anonymous attack ads at whim, if they have the money.

The Swift Boat liars were what's called a 527 group - which had to identify donors. But 501(c)(4) groups are even less restricted. Although both conservative and liberal groups are making use of the new loophole, it appears to be of more benefit to conservatives of the worst sort, because they have all the big money behind them.

A 501(c)(4) group called Defense of Democracies is using the new rule to run idiotic TV ads against 15 Democratic members of Congress for failing to support Bush's spying program or retroactive immunity for telcoms' lawbreaking. If the maker of TV Brick doesn't see an increase in business this week, it'll be a miracle. If you live in or near one of these 15 House districts, these ads are the sort of scuzzomouth lies you have to look forward to. And Defense of Democracies won't even disclose who's funding the ads, because it doesn't have to.

The Defense of Democracies group used to be bipartisan, but Democrats bolted from it because of the hopeless direction it was taking.

A hate group known as Freedom's Watch plans to use the new loophole to run ads against the eventual Democratic presidential nominee, accusing them of being soft on Iraq. Another right-wing group, Citizens United, plans to use the new rule to make a feature-length propaganda film making bogus, ridiculous charges against Barack Obama. Ironically, Citizens United had filed an FEC complaint against 'Fahrenheit 9/11' in an effort to ban that movie. The hypocrisy is overpowering.

Get ready for the smears, because they're coming! And this time, you won't even be able to find out who's behind them!

(Source: http://www.newsweek.com/id/117848;
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/dems_jump_ship_from_bipartisan.php)

Rezko's GOP ties ignored

The stronger of a challenge the Republicans receive, the more the source of the challenge is blasted by the media machine. I'm on guard for bogus stories about Barack Obama because I saw what the right-wing media did to Michael Dukakis. Dukakis enjoyed almost a 20-point lead over Mad Dog Bush in surveys through the summer of '88, but look what happened.

So I've learned to detect bullshit when I see it. ABC just put out a hit piece against Obama, trying to link him through Tony Rezko to what ABC calls a "cesspool" of bad government. (Except for the first piece I read, I've ignored articles about the Obama/Rezko links until now, because I have no appetite for hit pieces disguised as serious reports and because I quickly figured out there was nothing to see.) Obama's association with Rezko was so minor that it doesn't even come anywhere near the Whitewater nonscandal - which itself was nothing. As a matter of fact, Obama hasn't been linked to any criminal wrongdoing.

I can see now the "cesspool" that Rezko's involved in: It turns out he's had at least some dealings with a whole Who's Who of public officials, Democrats and Republicans alike. Rezko's relationship with most of these officials seems to be fleeting as well - but not always. It's also turned out that Rezko co-chaired a multimillion-dollar fundraiser for George W.'s 2004 campaign.

Why is that covered up? Why aren't the Republicans undergoing the same amount of scrutiny that Obama has?

There's also no question that the timing of Rezko's trial is political.

I'm not saying this out of partisanship. (If I was that partisan, I'd hype every negative story about Democrats and Republicans to help the Greens.) I'm saying it because it's a fact: If you're looking for anything shady between Barack Obama and Tony Rezko, there's nothing there. Nothing. Zero. Just insinuation by ABC and the rest of the right-wing noise machine.

The right-wing bias of the pop-up media is so extreme that I think it's time for Congress to hold hearings about it and make some talking heads answer a few questions.

If you believe media hit pieces, you're believing those in the media who have helped up prop up the brutal, oppressive regime that Bush has led.

The Conservative Fool Of The Day is...Bruce Thompson!

Meet Bruce Thompson, a Republican former county commissioner in Shelby County, Tennessee.

This week, Thompson pleaded guilty to a federal mail fraud charge after being accused of abusing his position to mislead a construction business into thinking he could control the Memphis school board's vote on a lucrative contract to build 3 new schools. Other mail fraud counts and a count of extortion were dismissed under a plea bargain.

Oops.

All this after Thompson kept proclaiming how innocent he was.

Oh well. Another day, another crooked Republican disgraced for life.

(Source: http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/Content?oid=oid%3A40049)