Resignation hastens Washington Times deathwatch

Much has been said here (none of it good) about John Solomon's career in journalism. Solomon once worked for the Associated Press, where he produced hit pieces against major Democratic politicians. Until recently, he was executive editor of Sun Myung Moon's far-right Washington Times.

One of the signs of the imminent closure of the Pravda on the Potomac is the fact that Solomon had failed to show up for work for days.

Now the Times has finally announced Solomon's resignation - which was effective way back on November 6.

To my knowledge, no replacement has been named. This comes at the same time 3 top Times execs were fired.

So it looks like folks in the nation's capital are going to have to start buying toilet paper again very soon.

(Source: http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/wash-times-executive-editor-john-solomon-resigns.php?ref=fpa)

Have no fear, ish #455 is here!

An ish. An ish. An ish, an ish, an ish, an ish, an ish... (To the tune of the 'Pink Panther' theme.)

The latest issue of The Last Word (a fanzine of freedom) is now published, and this installment is sort of like a '90s flashback, as we mention the decade of helmet hair quite a bit.

This ish features articles about:

• The similarities between the Tea Party loon squad and the phony populists of old.

• A local city wasting taxpayer dollars just to spite us.

• The scam of credit scores.

• A phony plumber's toilet-trashin' fraud.

• More right-wing tyranny in our schools!

• How health care reform opponents channel gun control.

So peep, eep, and meep:

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw091112

GOP senators face questions for vote against rape bill

As one of his first acts in the Senate, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota) offered a measure designed to fight rape and sexual assault among defense contractors.

Franken's measure would withhold defense contracts from companies "if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court." This amendment passed the Senate 68 to 30. All 30 opponents were Republicans. In fact, a vast majority of Senate Republicans voted no.

The Republicans' idiotic excuse for voting no was that the bill interfered with private business. Um, no. The bill deals with defense contractors - who are hired to perform public business. The Republicans apparently wanted companies to use taxpayer dollars to deny rape victims basic legal rights.

And now the Republicans are facing some tough questions for their stance.

Right-wing Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota) blames the entire controversy on everyone except the Republicans. He says Obama opposed the bill too. But that is an outright lie.

This story has been repeated countless times now: Republicans take a position they can't defend, blame everyone else when it backfires, and make up stuff out of thin air to justify it. No wonder they're the party of background noise now.

(Source: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29439.html)

Church's tax-exempt status in jeopardy

A couple weeks ago, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (the official leadership body of the Catholic Church in the U.S.) ordered pastors to distribute material at Mass opposing health care reform. Priests were also told to read a statement to this effect during Mass.

Nobody here is saying they can't do this. It's not a question of whether they can do this, but whether they can keep their tax-exempt status. The IRS has guidelines about whether churches can keep this status if they engage in political activity.

According to these rules, some activities do not jeopardize religious bodies' tax-exempt status. However, lobbying efforts and attempts to influence partisan elections clearly do. And the Catholic Church's leadership has done both. It's done this on other issues for decades.

Now Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-California) has quite properly urged the IRS to probe the Church's tax exemption.

In a society with separation of church and state, a church does not get to decide public policy for the entire citizenry. It's time we get that straight.

(Source: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/faith/2009/11/house_democrat_investigate_cat.html)

New rules block overdraft fees

Progress! At last!

The Federal Reserve has finally adopted new rules that would prohibit banks from charging overdraft fees on ATM or debit card transactions.

This crimps banks that scam consumers by giving them money at ATM's when there's not enough in their account, and making them pay an overdraft fee later. This also means banks will process transactions in chronological order. Starting with the largest transactions trapped customers with less money into overdrawing their accounts without even realizing it.

My hope now is that banks won't find an ingenious way around the new rules. You know a big bank somewhere must be trying. It's like when your school principal glares at you while thinking of new dress code provisions to outlaw your new shirt. If banks do try to get around the new regulations, we'll be on their case again.

(Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-adopts-strong-rule-blocking-bank-overdraft-fee-2009-11-12)

Terrorists threaten billboard

Life had been peaceful lately - until someone dared to disagree with the self-anointed moral elite that thinks it's their right to silence those who dissent.

A couple days ago, the United Coalition of Reason erected a billboard in Cincinnati as part of its nationwide campaign. The message of the billboard harmed nobody.

But right-wing terrorists made repeated threats of violence against the owner of the parcel where the billboard stood - forcing the billboard to be moved across town.

Aw, did the big, mean billboard upset the checkbook clergy types who try hiding behind religion to keep everyone else down?

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/content/wcposhared/story/Godless-Billboard-Moved-After-Threats/W0iGN9STXUW0m6VF2g2Xeg.cspx)

Teacher fired because of Facebook photos

Since schools think they can keep students in suspended animation by controlling what they do on their own time (when their acts have nothing to do with school), I guess teachers are no longer safe either.

In Barrow County, Georgia, a teacher was fired because she had photos on her Facebook page in which she held (gasp!) beer mugs and wine glasses during a trip overseas.

The firing occurred after some crybaby complained to the school about the pictures. Aw, did somebody get upset?

Now the school district is being sued by the fired instructor.

Isn't there a union contract prohibiting such clearly illegal firings? Or is the teacher out of luck because of Georgia's work-for-less law designed to keep workers down?

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/news/national/story/Teacher-fired-over-Facebook-pictures/9ctf8rqqqkWIppnU17DuPg.cspx)

Losing right-wing candidate wants to overturn election

This is hilarious!

After Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman lost a special congressional election in upstate New York, he's throwing a fit like the big baby he is.

Now he's decided - 9 days after the election - that canvassers didn't count the votes properly, so he wants the results to be thrown out.

Translation: A conservative lost, so said conservative wants the results tossed.

Methinks Hoffman would get along well with Louis Jenkins.

This comes on the heels of a Hoffman staffer slashing his own tire and blaming ACORN.

Washington Times on its last legs

It's usually a sad day when a newspaper goes out of business - but because it's the Washington Times this time, this story is almost too good to be true. The looming demise of the Times illustrates how the marketplace of ideas eventually prevails in the newspaper biz. (Right-wing papers haven't enjoyed the long-running government bailout that right-wing talk radio has.)

After the deaths of the modern incarnations of the New York Sun and Philadelphia's Bulletin, the toxic mold that has been claiming far-right scumbag rags is about ready to claim perhaps the most durable and influential of them all: Sun Myung Moon's Washington Times.

This Pravda on the Potomac may become an Internet-only publication. Or it may fold altogether. In fact, Moon's son - who now chairs the paper - reportedly almost shut it down just days ago.

Imagine if you can The Last Word outliving the Washington Times. Just the thought brings a grin to my mug!

The Times is the paper of record among America's right-wing poobahs, and its coverage resembles that of the state press in an oppressive dictatorship. Indeed, that's really what the Times was: Through the Republican era of the 1980s to the 2000s, the Times was an organ of ruling party propaganda.

Unfortunately, the nation's capital is a hotbed of conservative media, as the once-respected Washington Post has also charged to the right. If the city still has room for 2 or 3 daily papers, let's hope a more objective voice fills the void.

(Source: http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/is-the-washington-times-continued-operation-in-jeopardy.php)

School sued for racist harassment

The state without a school system strikes again!

The Grant County, Kentucky, school district is now being sued because of a pattern of harassment carried out by students and teachers.

The plaintiff says that from 2007 until last month, her 3 children were the repeated target of racial slurs and other harassment at an elementary school in the district. The Grant County Schools did nothing to stop this harassment. In fact, school personnel even blamed the victims for it, and required them to run laps because they complained.

Sounds like the Campbell County Schools, doesn't it?

I truly hope the judge throws the book at the school district. It sounds to me like there's some people in that district who need an attitude adjustment.

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/content/wcposhared/story/Mother-Files-Suit-Claiming-Children-Were-Harassed/IiY_BtycwE-emgyoKjgFdA.cspx)

Are you fucking kidding me?

It's stories like this that make you wish you never opened the morning paper.

For years, I've publicly lamented the fact that schools accept payoffs from students seeking better grades. Now this story proves schools aren't even trying to hide it anymore.

Rosewood Middle School in Goldsboro, North Carolina, announced this week that it's selling grades to raise money.

I shit you not.

Students who donate $20 would be able to buy a better grade.

A parent council concocted this absurd idea, and the principal supported it.

Man, doesn't this just bust one of the most covered-up stories in modern American history wide open?

Thankfully, the school board has just issued a statement halting this "fundraiser."

(Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/education/story/185460.html)

Bert likes Figgy Fizz ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

Bert is a lean, mean, bottle cap collectin' machine!

As a youth, I was so inspired by Bert (of 'Sesame Street' fame) that I launched a bottle cap collection of my own. This was back when Barq's still made orange, grape, and lime green sodas, so just think how much those lids would be worth today if they haven't become lost!

Figgy Fizz is like the green Barq's of the ol' Ses. Bert seems to love the stuff, but it seems to be in such short supply that he can never find a bottle cap for it.

That is, until his ol' pal Ernie saves the day in this sketch (believed to be from 1970 but still in circulation as late as 1992):



Notice that, mixed in there with all those rare sodas, Bert has a Diet Pepsi cap.

Bert's joyous reaction when he finally gets his Figgy Fizz cap he's wanted for years and years is priceless. It's sort of like the cheerful mood here when the Republicans lost control of Congress. Or what my reaction is going to be when I finally find the long-lost 'Sesame Street' sketch in which the blue Anything Muppet sings the "bawm bawm bawm" song.

This is also one of few Ernie and Bert skits in which Bert wins and Ernie loses. That is, if you consider making a complete ass of yourself over a Figgy Fizz lid to be "winning."

Is Google stonewalling complaints? You be the judge!

I've just found strong evidence that Google is deliberately stonewalling complaints about its long-broken post removal tool.

The wreckage of this tool has prompted countless public complaints by users. When I tried giving another user's complaint a good rating, my rating wasn't counted.

I made a video of Google failing to count my rating:



This strongly suggests that Google's help staff knows about the removal tool being broken and has decided to reject positive ratings for those who complain about it.

It's also interesting that the post I tried to rate has been up for 6 days, but Google's help staff hasn't even replied to it. Of course, we all knew Google hardly ever reads its help forums.

Wouldn't it be easier for Google to fix its removal tool and not stonewall users than to have its apparent stonewalling caught on video? Google could have saved themselves loads of humiliation if they had repaired the broken removal tool. But now it's too late.

Would you agree with my belief that Google is intentionally resisting help complaints? Watch my video, and judge for yourself.

One giant leap for Bush's wingnut anti-science agenda

Bush is the man who believed climate change is a hoax and that the universe is only 6,000 years old - and thought that a manned mission to Mars would only take as much time as the first moon voyage.

This mind-numbing ignorance of science isn't harmless. It rubs off onto society - and certainly onto government agencies.

And society pays the price.

Now - in order to coddle Bush's Mars fantasy - NASA is using monkeys in experiments to model the effects of radiation exposure that might occur on a Mars mission.

This has resulted in criticism by animal welfare organizations.

Using monkeys in a potentially harmful test that won't even yield any useful results would be typical of Bushism. After all, Bush wasn't known as Curious George for nothing, and his administration was harmful and produced no useful results.

(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/6530142/Nasa-plans-to-irradiate-monkeys-anger-animal-rights-groups.html)

Bush regime demanded list of Indymedia readers

I guess there had to be a giant parting shot by the Bush regime just as the silly clown was headed home to his new mansion in Dallas (for which Texas taxpayers are forced to provide a gate for the street, even though the road is public).

It turns out that Bush's so-called Justice Department (led by Michael "Mucus Man" Mukasey at the time) demanded that Indymedia turn over a list of people who visited its website. This order directed Indymedia to turn over their IP numbers, names, street addresses, Social Security numbers, and other identifying data.

The order also required Indymedia "not to disclose the existence of" the Justice Department's demand.

Believe me, if I got a gag order like that, I'd tell the government to gag on its own turds. They're not going to stifle my free speech like that. I follow the Constitution - not some right-wing dictator like Bush who stole the election twice.

This order was part of a long-running war by the Bush regime against Indymedia. The government had previously raided Indymedia's servers for daring to publish news items that the regime disagreed with. In 2004, Bush's Justice Department ordered Indymedia to disclose who posted lists of Republican convention delegates.

I've read Indymedia's website, and if I'm on any visitor log that was turned over to the government, I will personally see to it that some people in very high places do some very hard time. After our success in helping get the once-mighty Pathway Family Center cult shut down, I'm not a person you want to be messing with. (I can't take full credit for the takedown of PFC, but I guarantee I'll have a lot of support if I fight members of the Bush regime on the visitor logs.)

(Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/11/09/taking_liberties/entry5595506.shtml?tag=contentMain)

Probe says Kings Island ignored safety concerns

There's many reasons I haven't been to the Kings Island abusement park in almost 20 years.

After it started making all patrons walk through metal detectors in 2003, that was the final nail in the coffin of me ever returning. It's absurd to spend $50 just to be treated like a criminal. (On the very first day of this policy, Kings Island started a fight with a 50-year-old man at the entrance and called the cops on him.)

Now there's a lawsuit over injuries incurred on Kings Island's Son of Beast roller coaster. An engineer who inspected the ride now says Kings Island knew about the safety concerns but kept the ride running anyway.

That's greed on Kings Island's part. The park didn't want to lose one of its signature rides, so it kept it in service even though it was dangerous.

The inspector said the coaster even had a loose bolt, and that park officials knew the ride swayed too much.

Kings Island spent more effort getting metal detectors than in making sure Son of Beast was safe.

(Source: http://www.wlwt.com/news/21564970/detail.html)

Coburn delays disabled vets bill

Tomorrow is Veterans Day, yet right-wing Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) chooses this time to stab vets in the back.

Coburn is blocking a bill that would provide new health care services for disabled veterans. This despite vets' strong support for the bill. Coburn is single-handedly preventing the bill from passing.

His excuse is that Congress won't cut other spending to pay for it. Then why don't we cut funding for all these wars - wars that Coburn's fellow Republicans generally support?

Why don't we cut some of Coburn's ridiculous earmarks that he's proposed in an attempt to make political hay?

And how can a Republican senator block a bill all by his lonesome when the Senate has a Democratic majority? The U.S. Senate must be the only legislative body in the world where the majority does not rule.

Google's help department: clueless by design

Google's previous delay in complying with my requests to stop using my copyrighted material could merely be attributed to the fact that they hardly ever read their own help forums.

But the latest development showcases the deliberate cluelessness that now rules the roost at Google's help department.

Today, I finally got an e-mail response to last Wednesday's help ticket. Their response shows they didn't even have any grasp of what the problem I was complaining about was!

They denied there were any bugs on their end - which is a lie, because their post removal tool has been down for weeks. Then they said that all I needed to do was log on under my old e-mail address to delete the posts.

As I told them before, I no longer have that address. In fact, I'm pretty sure I followed this procedure while I still had it - only to see the posts reappear recently, when I no longer had this address. I can't get another account with this address.

If they bothered to read my original complaints, they'd know this.

So I had to tell them yet again.

This time, they sent back a form e-mail about how Google "does not monitor or control the content of" postings.

Idiots. I'm not asking them to "monitor or control" content. I'm asking them to stop using my copyrighted material. Is that so hard to understand?

Then they told me that in order to remove posts made using an outdated address, they need for me to get a court order proving that address was mine.

A court order? They expect me to spend money I don't have on legal fees for a court order just because they have no respect for copyright law? If they think I'm getting a court order, they can kiss my ass.

For another thing, this is also a lie. Google's post removal tool (which they won't fix) never required a court order.

Every time WMG or Universal opens its spleezox yip to get a clip pulled from YouTube (even though they don't own any of the material in the clip), YouTube (which Google owns) complies instantly - court order or not.

What about the Deja days when requests were accepted to modify posts that had already been archived? Clearly, Deja never required a court order. If they did, some of the fraudulent modifications by people impersonating other users would have never been accepted.

I know exactly where on Google I can find one of my posts that someone changed after it had been posted. I sure don't know of the person who changed it ever getting a court order.

Half the people I know who are of average intelligence haven't been able to find a job in 5 years, but Google's help department keeps hiring total idiots who lie to users and don't even comprehend their complaints.

Right now, I've shifted from being concerned about the content of the posts in question to being outraged over Google's double standard in demanding a court order and its complete disregard for basic copyright law that was passed even before the DMCA.

As for the fraudulent changes to my posts, at least now the other side can't have it both ways. My adversaries have insisted I wrote everything in those posts, just because my name appears on them. I did not. Now that Google is demanding a court order to prove the address is mine, I can point to the lack of a court order as proof that it isn't.

In the meantime, Congress or the states need to pass laws requiring Google to remove posts on demand, if the person who posted them requests it.

What? No more free Murdoch bullshit?

Damn. I'm crushed.

Waaah waaah waaah.

It appears as if right-wing media magnate Rupert Murdoch is getting ready to take his ball and stomp home. As part of his new business model - in which he actually expects people to pay to read his news organizations' propagandistic coverage - Murdoch says articles on his news sites will be made invisible to anyone who browses Google.

You mean I won't be getting Fox News and New York Post articles for free anymore?

Good. Because I don't want to see their bullshit anyway.

This is like when the AP discontinued its free news site a while back. Because that was during the "prosperity" hoax that accompanied the rise of the failed New Economy, I hardly missed the AP's site, because I was so tired of the AP stage-managing public opinion on matters economic.

(Source: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/News-Corp-Boss-Rupert-Murdoch-Says-Online-Newspaper-Pages-Will-Be-Invisible-To-Google-Users/Article/200911215446006?lpos=Business_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_7&lid=ARTICLE_15446006_News_Corp_Boss_Rupert_Murdo)

List of things worse than health insurance?

It's official: Health insurance has now been called "the worst product in American history" by a former insurance pitchman.

Is health insurance "the worst product in American history"?

Is it worse than masking tape that's so flimsy that it flies off the roll and gets stuck in your hair?

Worse than that domino toy where the plastic snaps break off the dominoes so you can't place them in the track?

Worse than calculators that smell like someone shit their pants?

Worse than audiocassettes that unravel inside your boom box?

Worse than the counterfeit Billy Joel tour shirts in which the singer's face fell off after the first wash?

Worse than street maps of Highland Heights, Kentucky, that misspell Blange Road?

Worse than the Atari BASIC reference manual that fell apart when you threw it across the room?

Yes, health insurance is more faulty than all of the above and more!

Indeed, health insurance may in fact be "the worst product in American history" - with the exception of some other products that have resulted in some attempt to file a product liability suit.

(Source: http://rawstory.com/2009/11/exblue-cross-spokesman-health-insurance-worst-product-american-history)

Pittsburgh to tax tuition?

Nice to know someone has reopened this can of worms after I was violently silenced.

In a move to balance the city budget, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is proposing a 1% tax on college tuition.

Ravenstahl argues that other taxpayers are already paying for services provided to college students, so why shouldn't the students pay too?

His stance is unpopular, but he may have a point. But if that's the case, then we really have to reexamine something that's stuck in my craw my whole adult life.

I work hard, and I pay taxes. Kentucky has a stiff 6% sales tax. Contrary to popular belief, some food items are taxed. In some states, all food is taxed.

Tuition is not taxed. Probably not in a single state in this fine land.

Wealthy families who send their children to elite private schools pay no tax. Everything except this is taxed!

Yet private schools receive generous taxpayer handouts. At last count, 3 of Kentucky's 120 counties gave a transportation handout to private schools. Naturally, I happen to live in one of those 3. Ohio is one of the most generous states regarding bailouts for private schools - even though the Buckeye State seemed to be at the forefront of welfare "reform" that hurt poor families.

Does anyone care to explain this injustice?

In the mid-'90s, I posted a series of messages on a local BBS endorsing a tax to remedy this inconsistency. And man, did I catch it! Nobody dared to criticize those who backed a federal sales tax on food. But when I expected my hard-earned money to stop financing private schools that were already swimming in cash, you better believe I heard about it!

If the Mayor of Pittsburgh accomplishes nothing else today, at least you can say he helped put this issue back in the spotlight.

(Source: http://postgazette.com/pg/09313/1011971-53.stm)

Correction Connection: Native American sovereignty

We're introducing an occasional feature to this blog called Correction Connection. In this feature, we shall correct false statements by people interviewed by the media or by the media itself.

Our first installment comes to us from an article in the New York Post.

The New York Post is a tabloid print version of Fox News Channel, so I don't trust it for facts. So it's only fitting that the Post is the source of the first item in this feature.

In an article about the Mohawk Native American reservation, a U.S. customs agent was quoted as saying, "They act like they are a sovereign nation, but we can go onto the land any time we want."

Um, no.

U.S. agents may not set foot on Native American sovereign land without permission. The reservation is in fact sovereign.

Those are the rules. If the U.S. customs department thinks it can just sneak onto a reservation, it's simply wrong.

Just as it's illegal for immigrants to cross into the United States without permission, it's also illegal for U.S. agents to sneak onto others' sovereign land. That is an illegal invasion.

Week 13 of POOP

On Wednesday, Google e-mailed me with an apparent response to the previous week's letter I sent them about using my copyrighted articles without permission.

At least I think it was in response to that. Since Google only checks its help forums once every few months, it could be in response to complaints I made there 13 weeks ago.

Google asked for the links to the infringing material, even though my letter already included the links.

As of now, the material still has not been removed. Oh well. Just give 'em another 13 weeks.

Pigs were flown where gum got blown (Bubble Gum Weekend)

The late '70s ad featuring the Wright brothers isn't the only aviation reference in Care-Free gum commercials. But I forgot about the commersh in this entry for years!

Back in 1990, Care-Free ran an ad for its bubble gum that appeared to take place in an air traffic control station or a similar facility. One of the controllers bubbled repeatedly.

This was particularly amusing because my mom had a friend at the time who worked at an air traffic control tower. I got to visit the tower once, and at one point during this visit, I had to work very hard to contain my laughter, because I envisioned the controllers sitting there bubbling as in this ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jqmGJ0pFxc

Sorry that whoever uploaded that appears to be reinventing the kinescope, but I'm thankful this commersh has appeared at all!

The end of this ad is also pretty funny. The fine print reveals that they actually tested Care-Free against Trident and Extra to find out which brand of bubble gum had the longest-lasting flavor.

There must not be any hunger or disease anywhere in the whole world, if science has the resources to spend on testing to see which brand of bubble gum's flavor lasts the longest.

WaPo blames antiwar activists for Fort Hood shooting

The pop-up media takes another step towards making itself irrelevant.

You'd expect deliberately misleading propaganda from the Washington Times, but not from the Washington Post - which was once a respectable paper. Then again, the Post displayed its own right-wing bias in the mid-2000s when it started a conservative blog but no parallel liberal blog. (The right-wing blog was quickly discontinued because of its plagiarism.)

A headline in the Washington Post yesterday blared, "Fort Hood attack is 3rd this year by antiwar radicals targeting military on U.S. soil."

How does the article back up this claim? Because "terrorism experts said."

Ooh, "experts." That narrows it down.

But the Post's claim is contradicted almost immediately, as the article reports, "Investigators are seeking to determine the motivations of the Fort Hood suspect." In other words, they don't even know whether the suspect had any views on the war that were a factor in the shooting.

There's no evidence that any of the 3 incidents referenced in the headline had any connection whatsoever to the antiwar movement.

Meanwhile, the media continues to ignore the story of the pro-war terrorists who burned down a family's house in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

That promise-bustin' Congress!

Nice to know the Republican wing of the Democratic Party is in charge of Congress!

Months ago, congressional leaders promised supporters of single payer health care a vote on their reform package.

There's a consensus among the cool people who read this blog that single payer would be the best species of health care reform. Unfortunately, the DLC must have missed this memo.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now debating whether single payer will even be voted on - even though she had already promised single payer supporters a vote. Furthermore, a provision that would let states adopt a single payer system has been stripped from the House's health reform bill by Pelosi.

At least Pelosi isn't being as blatantly two-faced as the Republicans. Right-wing Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana) admitted that the GOP's position boils down to "states' rights for me, not for thee." When asked about it, Pence said his party's opposition to single payer outweighs the party's alleged support for states' rights.

Gee, Mike, like I didn't already know the Republicans' support for state autonomy applies only when a state wants to be conservative.

(Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/05/pelosi-single-payer-amend_n_347017.html)

Joe Wilson blames Obama for swine flu

Mr. "You Lie!" is at it again.

Joe Wilson - the sad excuse of a congressman who disrupted President Obama's health care speech - is now blaming Obama for swine flu.

This despite the fact that the swine flu pandemic originated at factory farms that flourished because of the deregulatory environment that Republicans had created.

Wilson says Obama is "solely responsible" for the swine flu vaccine shortage. But Wilson had voted against funding vaccines! In doing so, Wilson joined 95% of other congressional Republicans in opposing this funding.

So which is it, Joe? Reminds me of the old sitcoms where someone breaks something and says, "It's your fault!" Except this isn't so funny, because Americans' lives are at stake.

(Source: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/joe-wilson-says-obama-has-put-the-lives-of-americans-at-risk-due-to-h1n1-vaccine-shortage.php)

Right-wing operative slashes own tire, blames ACORN

If Doug Hoffman - the Conservative Party lunatic in upstate New York - had won his House election on Tuesday, at least we'd have gotten one consolation: We'd be spending a lot less money on comedy clubs, because Hoffman would provide us enough laughter at his own expense to last us a while.

While voting was still going on, Hoffman accused Democratic opponent Bill Owens (who went on to win) of stealing the election.

Later, Hoffman claimed that ACORN had slashed the tire on a car belonging to one of his campaign staffers.

But then it turned out this was all a hoax.

The staffer in question had slashed the tire himself in an effort to frame opponents.

What? He didn't carve a backwards 'B' into the tire?

(Source: http://washingtonindependent.com/66380/ny-23-hoffman-accuses-democrats-of-stealing-the-election)

County nixes greenway plan because BTPers told it to

I must have missed the memo that said listening to a bunch of right-wing loudmouths takes priority over the rule of law.

Make no mistake: The recent Tea Party farces are idiotic and laughable. But I never said they didn't have influence. These rallies are an extension of the chronic right-wing plen-T-plaint that's spread its ideology of entitlement for over 15 years.

Boone County, Kentucky, is one of these exurban bailiwicks that'll compliantly listen to every demand the BTPers make.

Recently, Boone County made a rare foray into progress by introducing plans for a greenway to facilitate recreation and more efficient transport. In the long run, this greenway would have saved the taxpayers gobs of money. Some folks relocated to Boone County just because of the proposed greenway.

But now the county has permanently scrapped these plans. Why? Because the Tea Party movement told it to.

Indeed, the LOSEianne crew had already scheduled a rally in which they planned to shred a copy of the greenway plan. This event reportedly went on as scheduled.

How mature.

Boone County won't be getting a greenway now, all because 50 neo-Nazis screamed and cried about it. This proves the Tea Parties don't accomplish anything except to stand in the way of progress just for the sake of doing so.

If the greenway plan was one step forward, the Tea Parties are 10 steps back.

The luxury hotel that stole affordable housing

The Metropole is an apartment building on Walnut Street in Cincinnati. This historic 11-story structure is the home of over 200 people - most of them members of the working poor. Many of them are elderly or disabled.

But affordable housing doesn't sit well with the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation. CCCDC (or 3CDC, as it calls itself) is a secret society of corporate powers that has taken control of many downtown landmarks. CCCDC is the crew of right-wing autocrats who tried to ban an antiwar protest on Fountain Square and wasted zillions of dollars on an unnecessary reconstruction of this public space. After this reconstruction, Fountain Square was less accessible to the handicapped.

Because 3CDC hates the poor, it has purchased the Metropole and plans to convert it from a low-income apartment building into a luxury hotel - for rich people only. This at a time when America's housing crisis is the worst it's ever been.

And get this: CCCDC is asking for millions of dollars in municipal and federal tax money to help it pay for this conversion! In other words, CCCDC wants people to be forced out of their homes using their tax dollars.

Metropole residents must refuse and resist. If this happened to me, CCCDC would need a body bag to get me out.

If CCCDC gets away with converting the Metropole into a luxury hotel, it is my sincerest hope that the building subsequently becomes infested with bedbugs the size of silver dollars.