This is bubbling season

Today at Kroger, a person bubbled.

Tim zings USA Today!

Boom goes the bubble gum. The Affordable Care Act has now met the original prediction of 7 million sign-ups on the private insurance exchanges.

Here's an amusing little story I intentionally sat on for months - because I knew there'd be better days ahead to spring it.

Back in November - during the darkest throes of The Media's complain-a-thon against the ACA website - USA Today ran an article titled "Obamacare credibility going up in smoke." I responded to it, saying, "I think USA Today's credibility just went up in smoke."

Who's laughing now? Not USA Today. The government had originally predicted 7 million private insurance enrollees. This was a forecast, not a requirement, but it was perceived as a goal to measure the law's success. Later, the prediction had to be scaled back to 6 million, because the right-wing media squandered the entire first month of the exchanges' rollout by incessantly whining about it. But now it's reached 7 million after all, and may reach 8 million once all the sign-ups are counted.

I knew the day would come in which I could rub USA Today's noses in their own fetid excrement. I had absolute confidence in it. This must be humiliating for them.

I still hope the next step is single payer health care. Remember, the ACA was a disappointment when it passed - only because it didn't go far enough.

It's the Cincinnati Reds playin' basteball again!

Now that the bleeding from Friday has halted for now, I went to the Opening Day parade in Cincinnati today!

Dave Concepción was there, and his presence brang back a fond memory of the 1988 Reds season. That was when Concepción became so angry during an away game in San Francisco that he uprooted first base and threw it. Following his tantrum, Concepción said of his own actions, "I think a lot of people enjoyed it. I think a lot of people think it was a classic."

Celebrity look-alikes abounded today. During the course of the parade, I saw people who resembled Glenn Beck, Morgan Freeman, Debbie Harry, Abe Vigoda, and John Edwards. I'm pretty sure a couple of the aforementioned celebrity look-alikes had been sighted at other events like this.

Also, I saw 2 people who were in such a festive mood that they bubbled.

Archie ruins a mink

Since many folks don't seem to understand anything on this blog that doesn't have to do with TV shows in which a valuable object gets destroyed in a hilarious manner, I thought I'd oblige.

I was told a long time ago that there was an All In The Family episode in which an expensive mink cape got ru by spaghetti sauce. I later confirmed that this was indeed a real episode. But you still don't believe me, so now I'm presenting the proof...



That episode first aired in 1972. I can't help but notice that Archie Bunker strongly resembled an old man who lived in the house next door to me when I was growing up.

The ruinment of Edith's mink resulted in an absolutely uproarious argument between Archie and a houseguest! That might be even funnier than the actual destruction of the mink, if you can believe that! You've got to see that part!

And yes, the magic word does get used a couple times in that episode.

Hitler preferred the Brossart era

This is uproarious!

I've spent much of the day on the johndola because of a personal health issue, so I didn't have time to do a Lawn Chair Quarterback. But I found something on YouTube that's just as funny, and folks from Campbell County who are familiar with the Tea Party's statism will adore it...

Tea Party defeat brings good press to Cincinnati

You may remember the days when Cincinnati was the subject of more bad publicity than any other American city, but the Occupy coalition has helped restore the city's good name. The 78% to 22% defeat recently of a Tea Party-backed pension referendum has resulted in the most positive attention the city has had since the Big Red Machine...

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/3/cincinnati-pensionreformteaparty.html

The piece is titled "How Cincinnati Beat The Tea Party." Twenty years ago, this would've been the equivalent of seeing an article called "How Alexandria Shut Down Brossart."

The CIA-backed Tea Party is so extreme that even Cincinnati's hyperconservative business community feared what Team Tyranny's pension referendumb might do. It's pretty bad for the Tea Party when even such a corrupt and oppressive corporate culture has abandoned them. Who does the Tea Party have left to support them?

If Cincinnati can break the fascist Tea Party's back, any other big city can. It's strange that Oakland had a Tea Party group that formed just to try to shut down Occupy, when Cincinnati can defeat Team Tyranny by a 3-to-1 margin at the polls.

Kentucky GOP's slasher budget

Lately, we've seen one far-right power grab after another by the Republican-led Kentucky Senate.

These chortling sore losers have tried expanding the official reach of the legislative branch - which already has disproportionate power in Kentucky. They've pulverized a popular measure that would've restored basic voting rights to people convicted of nonviolent crimes who've served their sentences. They've gutted an effort to let schools more easily make up snow days. They haven't even acted on a bill passed by the Kentucky House months ago that would raise the minimum wage. And they've tried to mandate the teaching of creationism in public schools, and have jeopardized a bill that would settle the Tea Party's frivolous library lawsuits.

Now the Senate GOP has passed a budget that slashes funds for community colleges. At the same time, it retains funds for the state's increasingly right-wing universities - presumably because of the universities' propensity for hiring officials who spend their time hobnobbing with the Tea Party instead of treating the movement as the sick joke it is.

The budget also threatens community colleges' building program. It would even slash inspections of coal mines by two-thirds.

Everybody else is talking about progressive ideas like guaranteed employment, single payer health care, eminent domain reform, green energy, the continuing rise of Occupy, and the community rights movement. But the Kentucky GOP slogs along and embarrasses the whole state. It's not just in the state legislature. It's at the county level too. Take Kenton County, for instance, where county government won't even accept responsibility for maintaining roads in Latonia Lakes. Instead, county officials keep arguing with residents about whose responsibility it is.

If only they were more like the "ZZ Top Republicans" of the late 19th century, people might actually give a shit what they think. Instead, the modern GOP chooses to be a party of unmitigated fucking nonsense.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/03/25/3161123/kctcs-president-shocked-that-senate.html)

Religious fanatic sentenced for beating boy

John Kelley - a Cincinnati area man - has just been sentenced to 3 years in prison for repeated beatings of his adopted son, who was 9 when the abuse occurred. The prosecutor said it was the worst case of physical abuse he'd ever seen.

It turns out that Kelley is a religious fanatic who was encouraged to beat the boy by other members of his church. When he was arrested, Kelley arrogantly declared, "You have to spank a child until you see the resistance is broken." Kelley had also taken the boy to a Kroger supermarket and made him wear a sign saying, "I pee on my family if I don't get my way."

Why did any adoption agency place the youngster with a man like this? I don't know if they knew of the man's background, but the unfortunate fact is that many agencies favor zealots like this. Religious extremists are a privileged class in the America of today.

Religious liberty is a constitutional guarantee. But this doesn't give anyone the "right" to abuse children. Adherents of churches that condone outright child abuse should be automatically barred from adopting kids. It's that simple. The well-being of children should be of utmost importance.

We're now seeing the results of a media and government that for many years has willfully mollycoddled extremism. There is blood on the hands of talking heads and public officials who have allowed child abuse to take place.

We are at war. A war against right-wing extremism. A war we cannot afford to lose. We are naturally endowed with the obligation to fight this war at all costs.

In the meantime, I hope John Kelley is beaten bloody in prison.

(Source: http://www.local12.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/father-sentenced-beating-9yearold-son-9696.shtml)

Knox County GOPer indicted

The party of wire fraud strikes again.

Because this is a day in which the sun rose in the east and will set in the west, we have another new story about a scandal stinking up the Republican Party of Kentucky.

David Jorjani is a Republican former county attorney in Knox County who is now seeking that office again. But yesterday, Jorjani, his wife, and one other individual were indicted for tampering with physical evidence. The indictment says the trio knowingly submitted faked evidence for an official proceeding.

Oops.

This is the party that thinks it's owed control of both houses of the Kentucky legislature - and has a friendly media that's always happy to help 'em.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/03/21/3153625/candidate-for-knox-county-office.html)

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "Meet Me In St. Louis"

Tim talks about last weekend's roadmeet in St. Louis and the bunker blasts that came with it...

Fred Phelps dead at 84

Fred Phelps Sr. - the far-right Topeka-based pastor known for picketing funerals of celebrities and soldiers - died last night at the age of 84. Details here:

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2014/mar/20/fred-phelps-founder-westboro-baptist-church-died-w

Amazing roadmeet, shitty bus service

If Greyhound had pulled a stunt Saturday like they did yesterday, it would've ruined a roadmeet 14 years in the making. Indeedity-doodledly, it would've spoiled what may be the greatest Roads Scholaring session in the hobby's long history. And there would've been unshirted hell to pay.

On Saturday, I attended the nationwide roadmeet in St. Louis, which drew almost 30 people. Nobody but nobody disputes that it was one of the best roadmeets ever - for a variety of reasons.

I arrived early enough to roam around downtown St. Louis for hours. But the actual meet began with a luncheon at 11 AM. When I read beforehand that baked beans would be on the menu, I had a hunch that one of the highlights of the roadmeet would have nothing to do with roads. I wasn't disappointed. Two silent-but-deadly bunker blasts were reported during lunch.

That wasn't even flatulence's first cameo of the day. An SBD had also wafted that morn at the Indianapolis bus station - where I also noticed that someone had thrown a penny in a urinal. (I dared not remove the coinage, for fear of a hepatitis outbreak.) In fact, an SBD was reported even before I left for the meet: Another Roads Scholar notified me that a stinker erupted on his flight to the event.

Oh yes, the roads. Roady highlights include a bumpy, forgotten street near the St. Louis riverfront, a spang-new I-70 span, and the Chain of Rocks Bridge. Decent all. This turned out to be a "choose your own adventure" event, for several cars in our motorcade opted to deviate from the itinerary.

But the air biscuits weren't done wafting yet! Someone let loose with a loud-and-proud during dinner. Another LAP trouser sneeze bombarded the premises right when I was getting ready to go home.

The unprecedented success of the meet itself contrasts with my experiences with Greyhound - which were miserable both to and from the meet. If someone had cracked a loominsky on the bus from Cincinnati to Indianapolis, nobody would have noticed, because the stench of the restroom filled the coach all the while. Worse, I got no sleep whatsoever on the trip there - primarily because a sleeping passenger next to me on the route from Indianapolis to St. Louis seemed to slowly conquer my seat. Also, this bus was late arriving in St. Louis.

That was nothing compared to the unmitigated disaster that defined the trip home. The departure of my first Greyhound bus home was initially delayed 2 hours, even though the bus was idling at the platform long before it was even supposed to leave. The reason for this was never explained, as there were no weather delays whatsoever. After we got moving, we made it 20 miles outside St. Louis when we noticed the heater in the bus was broken - which forced us to return to St. Louis for a different bus. This wosted another 40 minutes - plus another half-hour waiting at the terminal for the replacement bus, even though it was sitting there the whole time.

We got to Indianapolis 3 hours late. Then there was another half-hour wait - even though the scheduled layover had already been completely eaten up by the earlier delays. After the bus to Cincinnati got moving, the driver told us we were being rerouted through Dayton, Ohio. For no apparent reason.

I got no sleep on the way home, because by this point, I was so angry that I was just too animated to sleep. Most of the other passengers felt the same way. I haven't heard so much cussing in years. The only sleep I got during my outing was a couple brief snoozes as we gathered right before I went home. (Does this trip count as a mish because these unplanned naps were on the floor of a hotel room? I'm going to have to consult the mish judges.)

When we got to Dayton, the bus let us off. Greyhound then said it would be another 4 hours, then a different bus would take us to Cincinnati. I decided I was better off calling a family member who lived near Cincinnati to pick me up in Dayton.

Greyhound tried to put a diaper on my trip, but even the hopelessly delayed route from St. Louis to Indianapolis yielded some amusement. Other passengers kept complaining because there was no toilet paper in the restroom on the bus - on a 4-hour route, no less. A young woman on the bus stood up and gave a speech about her personal health problems - and appeared to be ready to drop her pants in front of everyone to underscore the point. Also, the scent of a bunker blast was detected - which was so strong that other riders were heard discussing it. Since the bus was moving, I can only conclude that we drove into a fart.

But nobody bubbled.

Have no fear, the March ish is here!

The Last Word is back! (Circus Vargas, Circus Vargas!)

That's right, peoplefaces. The March edition is now pub, and it talks about these amazing topics...

• A Catholic elementary school's support of far-right websites.

• The decline of Brossart's approval ratings.

• The coolness of old cartoons.

• A sheriff's ongoing erratic behavior.

• People eating supermarket food without paying for it.

• The best cities for Road Scholaring.

• The bugs that afflicted Atari BASIC.

So beep, meep, and oggle-peep...

http://www.scribd.com/doc/211493145/The-Last-Word-3-2014

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "Be All That You Can Be!"

Tim lampoons an old Army advertising campaign...

GOP politician forces store to remove "left-wing" magazines

The spirit of Hitler is coming to life in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, where a Republican member of the borough assembly is forcing stores to remove magazines he disagrees with - especially Ms.

Fascist assemblyman Lance Roberts has pressured Fairbanks Co-op Market into removing these publications from its shelves. Roberts gloats in his newsletter that the store "had some left-wing political magazines they were selling", and that they have apparently stopped selling them after he turned up the heat.

Ironically, one of Roberts's articles is titled "The Absurdity Of Government Trying To Be Your Parent."

Some folks have proposed fighting back by buying Ms. at another store and depositing it in the magazine stand at Fairbanks Co-op.

(Source: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/05/1282417/-Alaska-GOP-Official-Ms-Fires-Wants-Extreme-Magazine-Off-Shelves)

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "The Halls Of Medicine"

Tim reminisces about a hilarious cough drop advertising campaign...

Some people say...

There are people out there who say climate change isn't real. I can't imagine they actually believe it, but they say it every chance they get.

There are people who say the world is only 6,000 years old - despite piles of proof to the contrary.

There are people who say the media has a liberal bias.

There are people who say Saddam Hussein still had weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the Iraq War.

There are people who say Hitler was a leftist.

There are people who blame Obama for a recession that started a dozen years before he became President. These same people used to say the recession wasn't real back before Obama took office.

There are people who say genetically modified foods are safe.

There are people who say aspartame is safer than sugar.

There are people who say nuclear power is safe.

There are people who say the violent crime rate declined in the 1990s and 2000s.

There are people who say banning Sudafed will wipe out meth labs.

There are people who say marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes.

There are people who say unemployment is less severe in so-called "right-to-work" states.

There are people who say Reagan ended the Cold War.

There are people who - to this very day - say Michael Dukakis actually did enact the prison furlough program William Horton abused.

There are people who say school uniforms will improve student safety.

There are people who say the 2000 "election" wasn't stolen.

There are people who say gas cost more under Jimmy Carter than it does now.

There are people who say the Tea Party is popular.

There are people who say Occupy Wall Street supporters defecated on a police car - even after it was proven that the photo was in a completely different precinct from where Occupy Wall Street was taking place.

There are people who say Palestinians celebrated in the streets after the 9/11 attacks - even though the footage in question was from a festival years earlier.

There are people who say the IRS targeted the Tea Party.

There are people who say the Obama administration covered up events surrounding the Benghazi attack.

There are people who say the Bill of Rights was never intended to be binding on the states.

There are people who say America has high taxes compared to the rest of the industrialized world.

There are people who say the legislative branch of government is supposed to be more powerful than the other branches.

There are people who say the worst private school is better than the best public school.

There are people who say media consolidation has made radio better.

There are people who say there's more Republicans than Democrats among the general public.

There are people who say the DLC improved the Democrats' electoral prospects.

There are people who say separation of church and state isn't found in the Constitution.

There are people who say the Affordable Care Act doesn't let folks keep their doctor.

There are people who say increasing the minimum wage kills jobs.

There are people who say violent TV shows and video games lead to real-life violence.

There are people who say the poor caused their own poverty.

There are people who claim the Canadian health care system needlessly delays surgery while the U.S. system before the ACA did not.

There are people who say the stock market is an accurate indicator of Americans' economic well-being.

There are people who say the poor pay less in taxes than the rich.

There are people who say the Constitution isn't supposed to apply at school.

There are people who say Singapore is one of the freest countries in the world.

There are people who say Obama is trying to take people's guns away.

There are people who are wrong about everything.

Kentucky may abolish Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time is almost useless for the majority of Kentucky that inexplicably rests within the Eastern Time Zone. For this region, the drawbacks of this annual ritual outweigh the scarce benefits.

Now a remedy may be finally in sight. State Rep. Kevin Sinnette (D-Ashland) has introduced a bill that would opt Kentucky out of Daylight Wasting Time. He said the time change squanders energy by encouraging folks to run air conditioners later in the evening. He also said farmers and people with sleep disorders would benefit if Kentucky pulled out of Daylight Saving Time.

The time change travails worsened in the mid-2000s when the Bush regime extended Daylight Saving Time to please the energy industry.

It's time for Kentucky to mature, take charge, and fix this mess.

(Source: http://www.dailyindependent.com/local/x1783692353/Sinnette-pushes-to-end-daylight-saving-in-Kentucky)

GOP bill would ban gays from NFL

Oh, the stupid. It burns.

I guess this story is an indication that the Republican Party has given up on "rebranding" itself so people don't think they're a bunch of zillionaire bigots. Jack Burkman - a powerful Republican lobbyist in Washington - says his lobbying firm is now drafting a bill that would ban gays from playing football in the NFL. Burkman issued a statement that reads, "If the NFL has no morals and no values, then Congress must find values for it."

I swear I am not making this up. This is not an article from the Onion.

Just another day in the life of the "limited government" GOP.

(Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/24/powerful-gop-lobbyist-drafts-bill-to-ban-gay-athletes-from-playing-in-the-nfl)

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "See My Vest...See My Vest..."

"See my vest...See my vest...Made from real gorilla chest..." Tim talks about a special item he buyed for the upcoming St. Louis roadmeet...

All the right roads in all the right faces

I'm all caught up on uploading my recent Roads Scholaring photos, and there's 2 new sets from Cincinnati!

First, there's last month's minor event downtown...

http://www.angelfire.com/yt2/lastword/roadpics/cencin14.html

But if you really wanna peep and beep, there's the Peace Bike excursion on Tuesday that covered everything from West End to Northside. It has new ramps, new roads, the paths of closed ramps, and aging sines...

http://www.angelfire.com/yt2/lastword/roadpics/cinnorth14.html

St. Louis trip etched in stone

This is a stern warning to all of humanity.

I am planning an outing to the St. Louis roadmeet on Saturday, March 15. Because that's what cool people do - regardless of political views. Then again, most cool people do share my devotion to progressive populism, so the point may be moot. This is not officially a vacation trip. In order to be classed as a mish, it has to be longer, or there has to be real lodging - not sporadic snoozes on the bus or at bus terminals.

Yes, I'm taking a bus. I will leave early Saturday morning and get home Sunday morning. This cannot be changed. I repeat, THIS CANNOT BE CHANGED. That's because I buyed a nonrefundable ticket. Granted, it only costs tens of dollars, not hundreds - but for me, that's big bucks. I shan't let it be wosted.

I've checked the long-range forecast, and I doubt Greyhound will cancel over weather. But I am reiterating this for the sake of readers: MY TICKET IS NONREFUNDABLE, SO MY PLANS CAN'T BE CHANGED. I MEAN IT! If any of my close family members are reading this, please tell the rest of my close family members as soon as possible, in case I don't get a chance.

If it turns out that's the day my Cousin Filbert who I haven't seen since 1976 has his wedding, then tough toilets. And if I was Cousin Filbert, I'd say the same. I don't think there's any conceivable situation that can keep me from this roadmeet.

Except one: personal illness. Mine, not yours. Quarantine measures will be very stiff in the run-up to the roadmeet.

The upcoming event has been described as the roadmeet to end all roadmeets. If I miss it, you WILL hear about it until the end of time. If I can't go, I will make sure to bring it up at every family event for the foreseeable future.

I think we can all agree that ever since what occurred in 6th grade, I have walked through fire (as Bad Company would say). The least I deserve is to attend this roadmeet unimpeded. If you think I'm being dramatic, then you don't know how much I suffered. You just don't know. I'm unspoiled, hard-working, and easy to please, so I've only been to a few roadmeets, and I don't plan on going to many others. But the upcoming event in St. Louis is a different animal altogether.

Arkansas! Louisiana! Mississippi! It's a great place to start!

My most recent fact-finding mission - 3 months back - explored the Mid-South, and it yielded 146 Roads Scholaring photos and videos.

I divided them into 6 parts, and you're gonna bip every one of 'em, so point your pooper here...

http://www.angelfire.com/yt2/lastword/roadpics/midsouth13a.html
http://www.angelfire.com/yt2/lastword/roadpics/midsouth13b.html
http://www.angelfire.com/yt2/lastword/roadpics/midsouth13c.html
http://www.angelfire.com/yt2/lastword/roadpics/midsouth13d.html
http://www.angelfire.com/yt2/lastword/roadpics/midsouth13e.html
http://www.angelfire.com/yt2/lastword/roadpics/midsouth13f.html

Kentucky still holds out against REAL ID fascism

Every 4 years - when I have to renew my driver's license - I always get to report on whether or not Kentucky has begun complying with REAL ID. REAL IDiot is a right-wing law enacted by Bush and backed by the fascist Heritage Foundation that tries forcing states to erect a needless amount of red tape just to get a photo ID - red tape that's impossible for many Americans to meet. It's convenient that I get to report on it right before each congressional midterm.

This morning, I renewed my ID, but I was worried sick that I'd need a birth certificate now - though I never needed one before just to renew it. The reason I was so worried was that I'm taking a bus to the St. Louis roadmeet next month, and Greyhound doesn't accept expired ID's - plus I was worried that a family member had lost my birth certificate and I wouldn't be able to get it replaced in time. But no bother! The woman at the DMV today said no birth certificate was needed - much to the chagrin of the REAL ID thought police.

Luckily, Kentucky still stands out as "noncompliant" with REAL ID. However, I'm furious that so many other states have apparently caved. If REAL IDiot kept me from going to St. Louis - and ended up wasting tens of dollars of my hard-earned money, since it's a nonrefundable ticket - there would have been unshirted hell to pay.

Submission is treason. So Kentucky should go a step further than merely not complying with REAL ID. There should be a state law imposing stiff criminal penalties for public officials if they attempt to comply. The law should also prohibit airports within the state from requiring that a traveler's ID comply with REAL ID.

These days, an ID isn't just a driver's license. It's a license just to exist. With the expansion of Soviet-style devices, any business or peace officer can now just demand that you show your ID at any time. I've seen people arrested for not carrying their ID. "Papers, please" is the rule in modern America.

Outrage at Tennessee auto plant

Interference by right-wing politicians and anti-worker think tanks has yielded its intended effect at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga.

This week, workers at this factory voted on whether to unionize under the United Auto Workers, which would have led to the establishment of the first works council at any workplace in the whole country. But the election was marred by outside interference, and union supporters narrowly lost.

Tea Party Sen. Bob Corker defended his own efforts to stick his nose into the situation. The misnamed Center for Worker Freedom handed out right-wing propaganda to autoworkers. State Sen. Bo Watson threatened Volkswagen management if they allowed workers to unionize. The fascist National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation also meddled in the election.

There'll be other chances to unionize that plant. In the meantime, there should be tougher laws against outside manipulation of union votes.

(Source: http://uaw.org/articles/historic-election-brings-outside-interference-vote-chattanooga-volkswagen-workers)

9th Circuit stunner: school uniforms ruled unconstitutional

And boom goes the bubble gum.

A federal court has just issued a surprise ruling affirming that requiring uniforms in public schools is unconstitutional. Even more surprising, it's the 9th Circuit, which - despite its liberal reputation - has been hostile to students' interests before.

Parents at Roy Gomm Elementary School in Reno, Nevada, had sued over uniforms. But today, the panel of judges ruled 3 to 0 that the uniform policy violates students' free speech rights. The opinion was written by Judge Jacqueline Nguyen, an Obama appointee.

The ruling may be surprising - but it's fair, and it's constitutionally proper. Nothing less should have been accepted. I've only discussed a zillion times before how school uniforms are unconstitutional.

(Source: http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-school-uniforms-20140215,0,6231619.story)

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "My New Kentucky Home"

My recent Last Word edition talked about how to whittle a 51st state out of Kentucky that the Republicans would be virtually guaranteed to lose. My latest 'LCQ' does one better by using Dave's Redistricting to form a "cool state" from Kentucky that not only includes most of northern Kentucky, but also would have gone almost 2-to-1 for Obama...

Comcast to take over Time Warner

Brace yourselves. The Walmart of the cable TV industry is about to fill your living room.

Comcast - America's largest cable company, which is widely criticized for shitty service and favoring right-wing channels - is about to take over Time Warner - the 2nd-largest. The $45,000,000,000 transaction is of course expected to be rubber-stamped by regulators.

When you buy something at the store, you have to pay sales tax. Comcast of course doesn't have to pay a cent in taxes when it buys a competitor.

This comes after Comcast's purchase of NBC was rubber-stamped - a purchase that raised questions about conflict of interest.

We just got done talking on Facebook about how the Northern Kentucky Cable Board delayed MTV coming to town because it might offend the Moral Majoritarians who thought it was their right to decide what we could watch. But you can bet your bippus the local cable board won't block the Comcast/Time Warner deal.

(Source: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/comcast-set-to-acquire-time-warner-cable)

...Because nothing says workers' rights like school uniforms!

You can't make this stuff up, people.

An elementary school in a Texas suburb is using an Adopt-a-School grant from the AFL-CIO to make a Big Statement about school uniforms.

As a civil libertarian and economic populist, I have a firm record of opposing school uniforms. But, surprisingly, I'm not against using grants to buy uniforms - as long as uniforms are not compulsory. After all, mandatory uniforms in public schools are unconstitutional.

All this is lost on school officials. When they got the grant, they told students that a uniform requirement would teach them about labor and civil rights struggles of the past. They also said uniforms would instill the meaning of living in a society free of discrimination.

Ending discrimination is a good goal. Yet mandatory uniforms discriminate against students on the basis of clothing style.

Plus, America has a major historical example of uniforms being used to discriminate. Over a century ago, the federal government forced Native American children to attend boarding schools that required them to wear uniforms, forbade them from speaking their native languages, and forced them to change their religion.

Texas could be doing something that really helps workers, such as repealing the far-right "right-to-work" law, but instead they're acting like making schoolchildren wear uniforms somehow advances workers' rights.

I think for myself. I don't let schools tell me what to think.

Ritalin damages penises

Here's a story from 2 months ago that was completely covered up by the lying media - so it's just now being discovered.

According to the FDA, Ritalin and other ADHD poisons cause painful and long-lasting erections - a condition called priapism. This condition can permanently damage the penis.

As a result of the potential to be a penis ruiner, the FDA has directed makers of these drugs to carry warning labels about it.

(Source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_143507.html)