Mr. Elbow Care channels '1984'

"Mr. Elbow Care Man (waaah wawawawah)...There's something wrong with my line...When I dial my baby's number (waaah wawawawah)...I get a click every time..."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch "Howdy Doody" McConnell (R-Kentucky) is best known as the author of 'Mitch McConnell's Book Of Elbow Care'. Just kidding! Actually he's better known for repeatedly making incongruous comparisons between campaign expenditures and the amount of money Americans spend on bubble gum. Seriously, he makes this same statement every 2 years, following each election cycle.

Now Mitch the Glitch is channeling George Orwell's '1984'. Orwell's novel was known for the maxim, "War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength." A few days ago, at a brief ceremony at the U.S. Capitol for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, McConnell declared, "The purpose of war is peace."

Isn't it nice to know how many parallels there are between the current Republican leadership and the totalitarian government that was the topic of '1984'?

"The purpose of war is peace"??? How did this idiot ever get elected from my state (4 times, no less)?

(Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/03/13/couricandco/entry3935047.shtml)

Investors about to learn recessions are real

Whooo, man!

All evening, I've been reading on blogs of every political stripe that tomorrow ain't going to be a good day for the stock market! There's going to be lots of TV preemptions tomorrow, because financially secure investors losing their money is always a big item, as you know. But the irritating preemptions aren't the real story. (Today I've gradually lost all my hearing in my left ear, so I can barely hear the TV anyway.)

If the dire predictions come true, I guess you might end up being able to consider the crash to be what's called a correction. What that really means is that the market has been inflated to begin with, and investors are only now paying the piper. The more important point though is that folks such as you and me - the poor and working class who don't invest in the stock market - have lived in a deepening recession for a quarter-century. Quite frankly, as someone who owns no stocks, a crash probably won't do me any harm.

I'm not bragging, and I'm not having fun at investors' expense. I'm just telling you the truth. That's just how things work. In the post-Depression era, the stock market is generally antithetical to the interests of a majority of the public.

If a crash does hurt me, it will be only through indirect means. I'm worst off when the stock market does well, so I don't expect to come out too far behind.

Wealthy investors are about to learn that recessions are very real. If there's a crash, maybe what it'll accomplish for us is to expose the fact that a recession exists. Sure, it'll cost someone - but this time it might not be us. You might not relish seeing people lose money - even if they are better off - but if you're reading this blog, you're probably like me and don't have enough invested to be hit too hard.

HUD corruption blooms under Bush

Nothing in the dinosaur media about this except a few articles in the Washington Post, which the rest of the media hasn't picked up on. Maybe it's because the Bush regime has had so many corruption scandals that a new scandal is hardly news.

Under Bush appointee Alphonso Jackson, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been trying to punish the Philadelphia Housing Authority because it refuses to help one of Jackson's cronies. In an e-mail exchange, 2 of Jackson's assistants discussed making the Philadelphia Housing Authority director's life "less happy" by taking away $50,000,000 in federal funding.

The Senate has been questioning Jackson about the scandal, but he's been as evasive as you'd expect from a Bush appointee.

Jackson later dismissed the threat to take away funding as just empty blustering by staffers who were frustrated by a different dispute. But he's used this excuse for stuff before. Jackson once related this story: After a HUD contract was awarded to a contractor who made a good bid, the contractor thanked Jackson but told him he wasn't a fan of Bush. Then Jackson promptly revoked the contract. "Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the President?" Jackson said. But when called out on the fact that he took away a contract over politics, Jackson's HUD then backpedaled and said this story was just apocryphal.

Later, however, an inspector general's report confirmed that Alphonso Jackson had indeed intervened against contractors based on politics.

The media has got to cover the current HUD scandal. But I know it won't cover it much, because most of the media is too busy trying to fix the next election to let the GOP win again. (If the Republicans win, America will have endured 32 continuous years of conservative rule come the following election. Isn't that depressing? And yes, I'm counting the Clinton years as conservative.)

(Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/15/AR2008031502048.html)

Conservafool only vote against stronger animal cruelty law

Who with any decency would tolerate those who torture dogs and cats just for fun?

Kentucky State Sen. Dick Roeding doesn't count - because he has no decency. The GOP legislator got a Conservative Fool Of The Day entry on the old blog because he blamed the Democrats for the patronage corruption of the now-defeated Gov. Ernie "Hey Bert" Fletcher, a Republican. Later, Roeding attacked the Log Cabin Republicans, calling them "a bunch of queers."

How adult contemporary of you, Dick.

Now Roeding is the only state senator to vote against a tougher law on animal cruelty. The bill would make it a felony to torture cats or dogs, and it passed 36 to 1 - with the 1 being Roeding.

It's unclear what Roeding's excuse for opposing stronger penalties for animal abusers is. Being too familiar with the inane doctrine of conservafoolery, I can guess: He'll probably claim it's because he's for smaller government - even though he supports the draconian law that makes people sign a log just to buy cold medicine. Maybe the real reason he opposes stricter laws on torturing animals is that he wants Bill Frist to be able to move to Kentucky with impunity.

For much of my lifetime, northern Kentucky - more so than any other region of the state - has elected right-wing state legislators like Roeding who have built a reputation of being unbending advocates of idiocy. Instead of focusing on projects for constituents, they more often push ideological agendas - on culture war issues and economic matters alike.

This is why northern Kentucky was the only area in the state that didn't have a community college until just the past few years. (It had a university, but this didn't meet the needs of many. Besides, NKU has a history of going out of its way to pursue right-wing causes to appease these lawmakers.) It is because of local lawmakers being obstructionists.

At least now Roeding's attempted obstruction of the animal cruelty bill consists of only one vote.

(Source: http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/gov2/2008/03/no-love-for-romeos-law.asp)

Former governor beaten in prison

I know the media doesn't want to cover this story, because they're more interested in attacking a presidential candidate because of his middle name, but here goes it...

Former Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama was the target of a Karl Rove-linked politically motivated prosecution that landed him in federal prison. I've discussed the case before, particularly when a TV station owned by a Bush crony blacked out a '60 Minutes' report about the political motivations behind the probe.

Now it turns out Siegelman is being physically beaten in prison.

Isn't this exactly the type of stuff we used to hear about in Amnesty International PSA's about authoritarian foreign regimes? Considering the United States is now run by a Nazi dictator who doesn't respect human rights, I'm actually not surprised the regime's political opponents are being tortured in the corrections system following a phony conviction.

(Source: http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/03/15/don-siegelman-all-roads-lead-to-rove)

Lawmakers give Jindal whatever he wants

Bobby Jindal is the much-criticized Republican governor of Louisiana. The Jindal administration has made Louisiana a miniature version of the bunker politics that characterized the almost limitless power that was exerted by the Bush regime when the GOP controlled Congress.

I've collected several articles about Jindal's wacky views. For instance, Jindal does not believe in the constitutional clause that forbids religious tests for public office. And when conservatives praise a politician as the next Newt Gingrich, you have to keep an eye on the subject of this adoration.

Louisiana lawmakers have finished a special session in which they rubber-stamped everything Jindal asked for. Every single bit of it. Not exactly a testament to the state having checks and balances, is it? The initiatives backed by Jindal range from questionable to probably harmless to perhaps necessary to utterly fetid.

Perhaps most controversially, one of the truly miserable bills supported by Jindal gives a tax deduction to exclusive private schools - in a state that already gives more taxpayer funding to private schools than perhaps any other place in the whole country. This very notion is legally questionable itself. (Louisiana has been known for special perks for private schools thanks largely to current U.S. House candidate and right-wing extremist Louis Jenkins. If Jenkins loses the upcoming election, I wonder if he'll cry about it being rigged like when he lost the Senate election some years back.)

Still Jindal portrays himself as more pragmatic than he is. At an ego-building press conference, Jindal bragged, "The country's watching us ... We know they'll like what they see." We're watching, all right, Bobby. And what we see is an administration that clings to discredited ideas after everyone else has rejected them.

(Source: http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1205560209224150.xml&coll=1)

It's happy protest time, it's happy protest time...

Once again, I went to another protest against the teen behavior modification facility near Milford, Ohio, last night! You know the one I'm talking about, because I'd been to 3 other demonstrations against the money-grubbing cult since November.

Nothing truly bizarre happened during this protest. The 3 of us arrived late last night as cars were pulling out. None of the parents or staff tried criticizing us last night, but some of the kids who were being taken to their host homes certainly saw our signs. So at least they know we're here to support them, and maybe they'll feel emboldened! (It's kind of like how I would have been encouraged to fight back harder against my high school if my candidate had won the '88 election.)

The bottom line is that the programmies don't know what the hell to do now. They know we're against the facility because we know what a scam the facility is. The fact that we know it's a fraud frustrates them endlessly. People in that part of town know it's a scam too.

While the protest itself was relatively uneventful, it was as much of a success as the earlier demonstrations. I'd rather have it be boring and a success than eventful and a failure.

Of course the 3 of us later got some supper and zipped over to what used to be Crestview Hills Mall to goof off and climb on the giant snowdrifts at 1 AM.

I know the teenagers in the Milford behavior modification center are denied contact with the outside world, so they won't be reading this entry any time soon. But if they were allowed to read this, I'd tell them: We stand behind you in your fight against this oppressive facility.

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

School goes to waste in Georgia county

In Clayton County, Georgia, the school district is so beset by corruption that it could become the first public school system in America to lose its accreditation since the 1960s.

What does that mean for the county's 53,000 public school students? In short, it means school doesn't count, because the schools are so bad. High school grads wouldn't be eligible to go to college, because their high school education didn't count. If students move to other school districts, they'd have to start school over.

All because of the school board's unchecked incompetence and corruption.

One student said, "We're in school for nothing, basically." It's so bad that groups as varied as the county's Chamber of Commerce and the Georgia NAACP have urged the disgraced school board members to resign.

I'm surprised my old school system hasn't had its accreditation revoked. My former school district was run by right-wingers who were probably even more unethical than this school board in Georgia is, and it's done some of the exact same things. I wouldn't have been too pleased about several years of school not counting though.

(Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-clayton14mar14,1,3309316.story)

Banks bully congressional witnesses

This is how banks and credit card companies act these days: First they raise their interest rates on credit cards to confiscatory levels that can't be justified by any means. Even customers who pay all their bills on time and never go over the limit find themselves saddled with mind-boggling rate increases.

There's almost no regulation on credit card companies. I've been scorched myself, like when my credit card company lied when it said it would take less than a week to transfer money from my bank account. The credit card company was so slothful in transferring my money that I ended up paying much more for a purchase than I otherwise would have. So they lied and got away with it.

Now some of the hard-working folks who have been swindled by the banks have gone to Washington to testify about it before a congressional panel. But the banks that would have been exposed demanded that the people who wanted to testify sign a waiver allowing their personal financial data to be released to the public.

And of course, Republican members on the congressional subcommittee are backing the banks' demand. However, the witnesses refused to sign the waiver, because the waiver is as deceptive as the banks' practices that they planned to testify against. Because of the Republicans' influence in allowing the banks' intimidation, these witnesses weren't allowed to testify - even though the banks' testimony was permitted to be heard.

Thankfully, a new bill in Congress would crack down on banks' and credit card companies' deceit by stopping rogue rate increases.

State usury laws used to be enforced. But since the '80s, the federal government has illegally robbed the states of this power: Now the banks are bound only by the laws of the state where they incorporate, not the state where customers live - so banks simply incorporate in states with lax usury laws. We need to restore state powers to make banks follow their laws.

We also need to come down hard on credit card companies that lie about important things like the time it takes to transfer money to your account.

(Source: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3226079&mesg_id=3226079)

Librarian drug tests banned

At long last, the Ninth Circuit has issued a ruling that actually makes sense. Usually this federal appeals court that covers the West Coast is a particularly bigheaded outpost of Bushism (conservative complaints notwithstanding). But now they've laid a long-overdue smackdown against one of the Bushists' key policy initiatives.

In Woodburn, Oregon, a job offer for a librarian was withdrawn when the applicant refused to take a drug and alcohol test. The applicant then sued the city over this policy - and won. The city had the nerve to appeal, and now the Ninth Circuit has ruled that while the city can justify drug tests for some positions, it can't test librarians or most other employees. The court ruled that if drug tests are required, the city has to show why drug use "may pose a great danger to the public." In other words, drug tests can only be imposed for occupations like pilots, commercial drivers, or miners.

The ruling against employee meddling in workers' lives is legally binding and unambiguous (at least for most jobs).

I guess the library thought some drug-addled librarian might do something really horrible like mistype the title of the Sue Grafton novel 'C Is For Corpse' as 'C Is For Cookie' and accidentally file it in the children's section. Heaven forfend! At least now employers' efforts to keep workers in suspended animation when they're away from work have been severely crimped.

(Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/13/BA1FVJK4K.DTL)

Should the dinosaur media be shunned?

I'm so angry right now at the media I can barely contain myself.

I'm going to pose a serious question here, and hopefully I'll get some thoughtful comments here from readers like you: Should I blackball the entire "mainstream" media from being sourced in entries here? Of the 5 major national TV news operations, I had already eschewed 2 before today because of their right-wing bias (though that doesn't count their affiliates and O&O's), and tonight I've made it 3. (I still cite other sources that cite these shunned sources - though I probably shouldn't.)

There's nothing mainstream about the national "mainstream" media's bias. On the Political Compass, which assigns scores ranging from -10 for most liberal to +10 for most conservative, the major national media overall (at least in the TV realm) would probably be a +10 on economic issues and close to it on social issues. (Seriously, I'm only in the -9 range on social issues, but the media has got to have damn near a +10. I'm more moderate than the media is, even though I score a -10 on economic issues.)

The major media has become so partisan that I've completely run out of patience.

The current ban list includes (in addition to any right-wing blog):

ABC
Fox News
NBC
UPI
Investor's Bullshit Daily
Washington Times

These outlets are no longer considered credible (if they ever were).

Does anybody know of any news organization that should be added to this list? Or should the entire dinosaur media be spurned? Even the relatively respectable outlets are influenced by the bogus stories put out by the bad ones, so it's hard to know where to draw the line.

High school disobeys ruling on student's service dog

At a public high school in Westbury, New York, a deaf student who uses a service dog has endured a long battle against the school system. When the school refused to let him use the dog, the teen filed a federal lawsuit. Inexplicably, the court ruled against him, despite federal law clearly being on his side. Then he took his case to the state's Human Rights Division.

Now the Human Rights Division has ruled in favor of allowing the dog. The commission correctly pointed out that New York law "prohibits educational institutions from denying access to their facilities to people with disabilities."

How does the school respond? By disobeying the Human Rights Division's ruling.

The school is still refusing to allow the 15-year-old student to use his service dog, even though the commission clearly stated what the law is.

The taxpayers there must be pretty damn fed up with having to pay for a school system that doesn't even follow the law. (I'm from Campbell County, Kentucky, so I know what that's like.)

(Source: http://www.wnbc.com/news/15572075/detail.html)

Assholes oppose anti-bullying policy (and lose)

In Charlotte, North Carolina, the public school system has just adopted a policy to fight school bullying. After reading the policy, it's the type of thing you'd think nobody would be against.

But with the Republicans (the Loser Party) still around, think again.

Thankfully, the school board did approve the policy by a vote of 6 to 3. The 3 who voted against it? Republicans, of course. The assholes who opposed it were Kaye McGarry, Ken Gjertsen, and Larry Gauvreau. McGarry even called it "indoctrination."

That's 3 more extremists who have no business calling themselves human. Maybe someday they'll invent special cages to contain the noxious gases released by these 3 terrorists. And let me be completely unambiguous about this: By opposing the policy, they are being terrorists. One who backs terrorism is a terrorist. End of story.

Because the 3 Nazis on the Charlotte school board obviously hate America, why do they stay? North Carolina is much closer to international waters than my state is, so all they need is a boat and an anchor. The fact that there's 3 whole people on one school board who actually support bullying has ruined the good day I had been having with the Peace Bike.

Let's face it: The only reason anyone would oppose an anti-harassment policy like this is because they want themselves or their kids to be able to harass people. Nothing more.

But fortunately, the policy passed - and was greeted with a standing ovation by dozens of good people who attended the school board meeting, ranging from students to religious leaders. The new guidelines establish procedures for reporting harassment and provides for data to be kept on harassment incidents. And it helps provide guidance for teachers and principals who have to confront this scourge in their schools.

Hopefully the "values voter" hypocrites will be chastened a bit by this 6 to 3 vote.

(Source: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/12/93010/7002/1016/474950;
http://www.charlotte.com/109/story/532543.html)

Clear Channel tries enforcing invalid noncompete clause

Brenda Matthews is a longtime radio personality in Orlando. With the pandemic of rogue consolidations in the broadcast industry, Matthews eventually found herself employed by predatory broadcast giant Clear Channel. Clear Channel heartlessly eliminated her full-time job during the holidays last year - causing her to take a part-time job with the company, which paid so poorly that she qualified for food stamps. Now she's found a new full-time gig at another company.

But Clear Channel lapsed into Allowed Cloud mode and decided they weren't going to let her take a job elsewhere - citing a noncompete clause. In other words, Crap Channel was trying to meddle in her life after she no longer worked for them.

Wait! I thought Florida was a "right-to-work" state! As you know, "right-to-work" doesn't mean you're allowed to enjoy the, uh, right to work. "Right-to-work" laws are a tool of greedy union-busters to ban unions from having a security clause. It has nothing to do with the real right to work - which is being infringed on by Clear Channel fighting a former employee.

If you think radio personalities are nothing like other workers, think again. The business - especially today - isn't just glitz and glamour like everyone thinks. For most folks on the radio, it means long hours and sometimes less-than-stellar pay. The fact that a respected radio announcer who was in the business for years would have made only $10,000 this year after losing a full-time gig shows this.

There's several problems with the noncompete clause Brenda Matthews supposedly agreed to. For one, she signed it way back in 1996 at another station, which wasn't even owned by Clear Channel. For another, even if she had signed it with Clear Channel, it became invalid once they took away her full-time job.

That's why many states have banned noncompete clauses like this. However, Florida - the so-called "right-to-work" bastion - has not. In fact, the corrupt Nazis who control the Florida legislature have actually made it so noncompete clauses can be even more unfavorable to workers than before. Despite this, under Florida law, Crap Channel still has to prove Matthews caused them irreparable harm by working for a competitor. In other words, Clear Channel has no case.

If a company eliminates a full-time job and makes someone take a part-time job that pays just a fraction of what they were making, the company has no business complaining when the worker goes to a competitor.

The corporate world is like the student hierarchy in a bad private high school: A spoiled few who have had it easy their whole lives and take pleasure in lording it over everyone else rise to the top with little effort. People who have something worthwhile to contribute end up being relegated to a much lower status. I call it the Poolog Principle. High-ranking corporate executives are often the bullies of the modern business world. Shame on these bullies for treating respected longtime employees like shit.

(Source: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_local_namesblog/2008/03/brenda-matthews.html)

Spitzer resigns

Happy now, media?

In other news, "Diaper Dave" Vitter continues to stink up the Senate.

By the way, I stand by my view that the Republicans should usually be held to a higher standard than Democrats in scandals like this. That's because the GOP has done more to try to control what individuals do, so they're bigger hypocrites.

School handcuffs 4-year-olds for refusing to take nap

In the prison schools of today, kindergarten classes don't necessarily treat shrugging off nap time with kid gloves.

At one school in the Bronx, a substitute teacher for a 4-year-old kindergarten class got a school police officer to handcuff 3 little boys who were in the class. Their "crime"? They refused to sleep during nap time.

Why in the fuck does a kindergarten even need a police officer anyway? We didn't even have one at my first high school, where teenagers with knives practically ran the place.

The cop who cuffed the children told them they would never see their parents again. (What? The cops didn't waterboard them?)

Now the New York City school system is being sued by parents of 2 of the 3 boys.

This isn't the only recent incident like this in New York City. A 5-year-old boy was also cuffed by the cops at a school across town. At another school, authorities handcuffed a 10-year-old mentally challenged girl.

All this while the city's right-wing leadership keeps boasting how they've cleaned up the school system.

(Source: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2008/03/4yearolds_handcuffed_for_not_r_1.html)

Another bad day for the DLC: Obama also wins Mississippi

I hate to bore you with another tiny blurb about the primaries, but I know someone's going to ask sooner or later how Mississippi turned out.

Well, chalk up another loss for Hillary.

Why hasn't Hillary quit her campaign yet?

Benchwarmer drive sets new meanness record?

If this story doesn't show what a bunch of crybabies some people can be, nothing will.

In San Diego, some wingnut has come up with a cruel and cowardly idea to sweep the homeless out of sight. The busybody who is affiliated with a merchants' association has sent out an e-mail asking people to sit on public benches so homeless people don't have any place to sit.

She cried, "Right now, a bum can sit out in front of a store, and they can do it all day, day after day."

Tough shit, genius. And unless you help come up with real solutions for homelessness instead of trying to fight the homeless, the homeless are going to keep sitting on the benches, because they have nowhere else to go.

A more accurate statement than the above quote would be: Right now, people are homeless, and they're homeless all day, day after day. If someone who isn't homeless actually has the time to serve as a benchwarmer to keep a homeless person from sitting down, they've got a lot less to worry about in life than the homeless or any other disadvantaged people.

Remember when Phil Collins had that song that went, "Think twice...It's another day for you and me in paradise"? Maybe the spoiled baby who complains about homeless people sitting on public benches should give that tune a listen.

So far, however, nobody has volunteered to act as a benchwarmer.

How is a homeless person sitting on a public bench any worse than a benchwarmer deputized by the merchants' association sitting there? The homeless have the same right to use the benches as anyone else. The benchwarmer program is a legally questionable attempt to stop someone from engaging in legally protected activity.

Another day, another story about some greedy, privileged elitist not giving a shit about the less fortunate.

(Source: http://kob.com/article/stories/S373501.shtml?cat=648;
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080308-9999-1m8bench.html)

Maturity brings progressive politics

An interesting new study says that as people get older, their political views become more liberal.

Although news stories about the study won't use the word, there's a name for it: It's called maturity. The maxim that a liberal is a former conservative who was bullied means that life itself is a long learning process. As we have more experiences, we learn.

With most people, the move away from conservatism might not be a sudden epiphany, but is rather a gradual process.

This study should go a long way to debunking the cult that modern conservatism has become, but the story (when it's covered at all) is treated by the media as a more of a novelty than anything.

(Source: http://news.aol.com/story/_a/people-become-more-liberal-with-age/20080311091309990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001)

Alabama tries to criminalize beer drinking

One of my pet peeves with conservatism is that - although they fail to regulate Big Business - they lapse into Allowed Cloud mode to control what individuals can do.

Thankfully, a bill signed into law by President Carter removed the federal prohibition against homebrewing beer. However, the states can still be Allowed Clouds by banning homebrewing. Some of the toughest laws against beer are found in Alabama.

In most states, you can make beer that's as homebrewed as this blog (in contrast to the blog that the Washington Post gave to some Bush cultist that lasted about 2 days because most of it was plagiarized). But Alabama outlaws homebrewing completely. Homebrewing carries up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. As for brewery-made beers that are sold to the public, 85 of BeerAdvocate.com's 100 top-rated beers are banned in Alabama because of their higher alcohol content.

Beer enthusiasts and homebrewers are fighting to ease the state's labyrinthine laws. But they're up against a powerful prohibitionist lobby - which quotes the Bible in an attempt to back up its stance. Joe Bob Mizzell of the Alabama Baptist State Convention says the state's tough laws on alcohol should remain because Paul the Apostle once said, "Be not drunk with wine but filled with the spirit."

So that's the prohibitionists' argument? It sounds like something to quote for a sermon, not like something you'd present to lawmakers in a democratic republic that supposedly has separation of religion and state.

Homebrewing isn't what I call a public safety threat. Beer buffs imbibe the high-alcohol and homemade brews for flavor - not to get drunk.

Some states are probably worse than Alabama in other regards. In the mid-'90s, Texas tried to ban the Encyclopaedia Britannica because it included a recipe for beer.

Why do the states have so many laws against private consumption of alcohol, but so few laws against corporations dumping mercury in rivers?

(Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-beer10mar10,1,785594.story?ctrack=1&cset=true)

What I'd say if I was Eliot Spitzer

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, has been long known as a fighter for consumer rights and against corporate corruption. He's been nationally famous at least since he was the state's Attorney General.

As far as Spitzer's prostitution scandal is concerned, I'm going to assume that all he did was hire a prostitute. I've seen no evidence that he's done anything more. Of course, hypocritical prudes are demanding Spitzer be damn near hanged high over this. But if I was Eliot Spitzer, here's what I'd say:

"Greetings! I did what I did, and if some hypocrites want me to resign over it...TOUGH SHIT!!! Thank you."

Bear in mind that Spitzer was caught because of a federal wiretap of his phone. I have to question the legality of the wiretap, because the Bush regime hasn't been too concerned about making sure wiretaps fall inside the confines of the law. And why were they tapping his phone at all? Is this yet another politically motivated effort? (Here's a hint: Yes.)

If Spitzer doesn't resign within 48 hours, New York Republicans are threatening to impeach him. For what??? You can impeach public officials for high crimes. Hiring a prostitute falls more into the category of a low crime. (Incidentally, Spitzer hasn't actually been charged with anything.) This is another "do over" attempt to annul an election like the Bill Clinton impeachment or the Gray Davis recall. Even though Clinton and Davis deserved not to be reelected prior to these "do over" attempts, they would have lost if the Republicans hadn't put up such laughable opposition.

What's most amazing is that those who are demanding Spitzer's resignation let "Diaper Dave" Vitter get off completely for the exact same thing.

Oh, there's a difference alright between a Democratic sex scandal and a Republican sex scandal. A Republican one is worse, because the Republicans are more often the ones who are telling everyone else how to live their lives. When it comes to hypocrisy, the GOP has everyone else beaten hands down.

Contrast Spitzer's scandal with the Bush regime's war crimes, illegal eavesdropping, and election rigging. Where's the Democratic response to Bush's crimes after 7 years?

Judging by the public's negative reaction to the Clinton impeachment, New York Republicans may have just guaranteed themselves further losses by trying to impeach Eliot Spitzer. The Empire State may be the site of some Election Day laughs after all.

(Source: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3220851)

I pulled one over on the Far Right!

This is the story of one man's struggle.

It's about one man's effort to watch a new 'Simpsons' episode in a market where the local TV station denied him this privilege by running a boring basketball game over it (after the game had been postponed by weather, even though it was an indoor game).

It's about I.

To make a long story short, I eventually got to watch yesterday's preempted 'Simpsons' episode in full. Don't ask me how I did it. With a little gumption, I was able to procure a chance to view it.

Admittedly, there's more serious things going on in this world than a guy not being allowed to catch a fresh 'Simps'. But it was the only injustice I was able to quickly rectify this morning. (Bush can rectify many of the others, but he opts not to.)

I'm not going to tell you how I got to watch it, but if the Cincinnati affiliate doesn't like it, that's too bad. It was the only way I'd get to see it at all, so fair is fair. If Channel 19 wants to sue me for not watching it on their station despite living in their "territory", it's their fault for running the game over it. And if Fox wants to sue me for not viewing it via the "right" affiliate, maybe their contract with Channel 19 should have stipulated that they couldn't run over the network's most popular show with basketball games nobody watches.

I watched it the way I did because it was the only way I could. If the network objects to my action, it's primarily the fault of Channel 19, so blame them.

McCain gets something right for a change; media goes ballistic

Recently the federal government finally conceded there was a link between autism and a preservative used in childhood vaccines. The link between thimerosal and autism had long been denied by the government, but evidence of it was strong enough that the preservative was mostly phased out. However, even after it was eliminated from most vaccines, supplies of thimerosal-laden shots were allowed to be used until they ran out, which didn't happen until at least last year (and may still be happening). In fact, some vaccines (such as for diphtheria and 80% of flu vaccines) still contain thimerosal.

In admitting the link, doctors who worked for the government "concluded that compensation is appropriate" for children whose autism or similar symptoms appeared just after they got their vaccines. A spike in autism cases has also occurred in other countries after they began using thimerosal in their vaccines. (Aspartame, an ingredient in sugar-free foods, has been another factor.)

Recently, John McCain - responding to a question from a parent who asked about the compensation for children with autism - correctly stated that there's powerful evidence that thimerosal causes autism. The senator said it's "indisputable" that autism rates are rising and "there's strong evidence that indicates that it's got to do with a preservative in vaccines."

The media just about went bonkers! The pop-up media has usually downplayed the autism/thimerosal link, for Big Medicine has insisted the chemical is safe. When McCain actually sided against Big Medicine's dogma, media talking heads fell over themselves to defend thimerosal. (McCain's stance is unusual for a Republican, as the GOP has done little to stem this toxin. The despicable Bill Frist even tried to pass a law protecting drug companies from thimerosal lawsuits.) Some of the dinosaur press's assertions in favor of thimerosal are simply wrong - such as the claim that the preservative is no longer used at all. Regulars of right-wing extremist site Free Republic have also blasted McCain on this, calling him a "scientism kool aid drinker."

Don't get me wrong: The media is usually pretty positive towards McCain, because they've conceded that the GOP nominee isn't Bill Owens like they wanted. But just not this time, because the media always sides with makers of dangerous chemicals.

Despite all this, I'm still not voting for McCain just because he's right about one thing for a change. But you get the idea. I'm also not condemning vaccines in general - just a toxic chemical that continues to plague America's vaccine supply (albeit in smaller amounts than a few years ago).

Denial of the thimerosal/autism association is similar to Freepers' denial of climate change. The media and Free Republic place the corporate drug lords' dogma over science - endangering the safety of who knows how many people.

Let's make vaccines safe again by taking poisonous chemicals out of circulation.

(Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/government-concedes-vacci_b_88323.html)

Rove gets unfriendly welcome for $40,000 speech

Ann Coulter got $25,000 just for giving one speech on a college campus. Then, Alberto Gonzales got $30,000. Now Bush thug Karl Rove gets $40,000. Oh well. With inflation being so out of control under Bush, I guess it's just a cost-of-living increase, huh?

Yesterday, Rove showed his ugly visage at the University of Iowa. The disgraced Republican aide was paid $40,000 just to give a speech there. But his reception was far from cordial. Nifty, huh?

Just before the speech, dissidents staged a mock trial of Rove. When he entered the auditorium, people booed and yelled "traitor!" and "war criminal!"

When students heckled the ethics-challenged clod, he shot back, "You got a chance to ask your questions later and make your stupid statements, let me make mine!" Two people also tried to make a citizen's arrest of Rove for crimes he committed when he worked for the Bush regime.

And about that $40,000, Karl. Near the end of the speech, a spectator yelled to Rove, "Can we have our $40,000 back?"

Rove hollered back, "No, you can't!"

The heckling serves Rove right after he helped make sure no dissenters were allowed anywhere near Bush at his rallies. Too bad it cost the University of Iowa $40,000 that could have been spent on things sort of like education, you know.

So now can the students have their $40,000 back, Karl? And can we all have our country back?

(Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/10/rove-taunted-at-university-of-iowa;
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008803100332)

Missouri may pass pro-bullying law

Missouri might currently be among the few places in America that hasn't instituted a pro-bullying "no pass, no drive" law, but that may be changing under a rightist bipartisan proposal.

This policy was thrown out by a Kentucky court for (among other things) violating a federal law barring schools from releasing academic records. (Of course, this didn't stop Kentucky lawmakers from passing it again.) Just as bad though is the fact that (like probably all other states that have this law) the Missouri plan doesn't revoke the licenses of school bullies.

Gee, isn't it nice to know the Show Me State might join other states in giving special rights to serial bullies? At least the Governor of West Virginia proposed revoking school harassers' licenses, which would end the special privileges bullies get. I know of no such effort in Missouri or any other state.

America has a nationwide school harassment pandemic. I believe firmly that "no pass, no drive" - which punishes poor academic performance but not bullying - is the cause of some of it. Is it just my imagination, or did school violence get a whole lot worse after "no pass, no drive" became common? I think this law gave serial harassers the message that crime pays, and their victims are the ones who end up being punished. (Most bullies used their clout to get good grades, and thus were not penalized under this law.)

Every time a "no pass, no drive" law passed, the harassers were rubbing their hands together in excitement at how their victims who were distracted from their schoolwork were going to be the ones punished. I guarantee it.

If a state has "no pass, no drive", the very least the state can do is revoke bullies' licenses too. This is a reasonable request, but most states won't even consider it.

(Source: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/61E408F75AC06D3A862573FC001668F9?OpenDocument)

I'm gonna be a gloatgoat!

I almost never publish sports stuff here, but this time I'm going to. And I'm gonna be a gloatgoat about it, because it's sorely needed.

I root against all the local college sports teams. I truly do. That includes any team within about 100 miles of here. That's because I got so sick of hearing about the teams years ago. Usually I take the outcome of the games like an adult, but this time I'm going to be as much of a sore winner as I can, because the Bearcats were being so babyish by refusing to play in an indoor arena when it was snowing outside (causing the game to be delayed and making Channel 19 preempt much of the network's most popular show).

When I tuned in to WXIX in a vain attempt to watch 'The Simpsons', UC was losing by a hilarious score of 91 to 44. I shut it off without digesting the final score, but I've just been told that they ended up losing by 45 points! Reportedly, this was the team's worst loss in almost 100 years!

I think it serves Channel 19 and the big babies right!

The Bearcats need to be renamed the Big Babies for letting weather cancel an indoor game.

Fuck this...I'm giving away my TV set

Listen to the bleezymouth shit we have to deal with!

Channel 19 - WXIX in Cincinnati - is known as a fleevixmouth operation that wozzes up the whole sky, like a big bolt of lightning (very, very frightening) and strikes us all. It is a pox on the 'Nati landscape and has been so since my youth.

Even in the days of on-air editorials about "the evils of communism" sandwiched between Cocoa Puffs commercials featuring people blowing giant bubbles of pink gum that burst and cover their glasses (in defiance of the Allowed Cloud issued by the eye doctor with many arms who plays a corporate jingle on an electric piano), 19...19...19 shot shitloads clear up its own tower that (figuratively speaking) fell back down and polluted Mill Creek like nothing before it ever did.

On a lighter note, believe me, bubble gum does burst. And when it bursts on one's glasses, it can be quite difficult to remove. But comical nonetheless, because it's gum, which is always funny.

As for 19...19...19 (thanks, broadcast folks, for reminding me of that jingle), the worst things in life are on 19...19...19 (wasn't that another of their jingles?). Trust me, it's shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!

I know of only one show on any channel that's still worthwhile and still has new episodes, and that's 'The Simpsons'. But the past couple weeks, Fox and Channel 19 have both been giant Allowed Clouds that - like the beezlydolfs they are - have prevented me from watching it, even though they were brand sparkling new shows. Last week, the liars at Fux lied like the lying liars they are and said it would be on at 8 PM. But no. They were showing NASCAR instead, and still kept boasting that 'The Simps' would be on at 8. But it was after 8, and still no 'Simps'. So I shut the TV off. Later I found out Fux had delayed 'The Simps', but I missed it because the Fuxfux led me to believe it wouldn't be on at all.

Now 19...19...19 pulled a zizzbogey this week. The UC basketball game - always a target of cult-like worship by 19...19...19 - was scheduled for the middle of the day yesterday. But they delayed the game until today at 6 PM because of weather.

What's wrong? Is the hoops team such a bunch of weaklings that they can't play if it's snowing outside? Mind you, the game was in an indoor arena. Are they little babies or something? Do the little babies need their bottle? A rattle? Do they need their diaper changed???

Yeah, that's it! They all pissed and shit in their b-ball shorts, so now the little babies need a change! Aaaww!

So while all zero viewers of the game got to watch a bunch of college-age guys run around the court with pee and poop oozing down onto their socks, and sliding around on the gooey mess, I was getting ready for a spang-new 'Simps'! But thanks to the noxawoxawoxawoxalism of the Far Rightists at 19...19...19, it was not to be!

Why? Because the game ran over its 2-hour time slot. That's why. And the baste-caked talons of Channel 19 joined my living room already in progress.

This is it. Totally, completely it. First of all, since the TV set is obviously useless to me now, because the Allowed Cloud won't let me watch my 'Simps', I'm going to have someone take the set off my hands. I know nobody's going to pay for the set, because it's a 25-year-old set that is not compatible with DVD players and won't be able to pick up anything after the digital conversion anyway. It's a damn good set, but it's of no damn use to me when all I can pick up is a basketball game being played on a court coated with feces and urine.

In the meantime, whoever made the decision to run over 'The Simpsons' with a fucking dumb game nobody gives a farting damn about needs to undergo the basketball treatment. They should be made to shove a deflated basketball into their rectum, while the ball is slowly inflated with a pump until it ruptures. This torture would be preferable having to deal with 19...19...19 another minute.

I'm also asking why there aren't zillions of people in this area who are a few years older than me who remember the "19...19...19" jingle more clearly and, because of this, go around singing "19...19...19" every time the number 19 is mentioned. Free your minds, people, and the Channel 19 jingle will follow. No big deal, but just a thought.

How do we deal with the Allowed Cloud fuckery of WXIX and Fux? I have a good mind to bring Tantrum 95.7's transmitter out of retirement and seeing if the frequency range goes up into the audio portion of UHF television. Then I would override Channel 19's audio by singing what I think of the station's right-wing fartpipery: "Peevoglums...Badeedle deedle deedle...Peevoglums!"

But since the FCC gives a license to Channel 19 but not to someone like me who would make better use of the radio spectrum, there's an Allowed Cloud against that too! The Allowed Cloud really is on a roll, isn't it?

Drug agents call crime boom a "success"

If this isn't proof the Bush regime lives in a topsy-turvy world where up is down, what is?

As the crime rate continues to soar, the ogres have a new excuse for it. They say the increase in crime actually shows the "success" of the failed War on Drugs. The head of a federal drug task force boasts that his agents in Atlanta have created a boom in burglaries, robberies, and car thefts as illegal drug users have to pay more for drugs. He brags that if his task force manages to break up established drug territories, it will cause a similar increase in murders as the drug gangs fight more. That too is touted as a "success."

Causing car thefts and violent crime is a "success"?

If I lived in Atlanta and became the victim of a theft or robbery, I'd be furious at Bush's drug agents. But they don't give a shit. They applaud serious crime because they think it shows they're doing their job. That's right, ladies and gentlemen: Law enforcement is actually cheering a crime increase!

If they're doing this just as an excuse to hit up the taxpayers for more funding, it's just another illustration of ongoing corruption caused by the War on Drugs. I don't see how anyone can put a happy face on a major crime boom, but the drug agents in Atlanta are doing exactly that and expecting people to fall for it. It's the only excuse they can come up with for continuing today's draconian policies. That's pretty sad.

Another War on Drugs failure? As part of the Nazism boom in the middle of this decade, Georgia passed its own form of what became federal law around the same time: The state sharply restricted the sale of over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, using the pretext that pseudoephedrine can be used to make meth. This is the modern version of the Rockefeller drug laws. In some states, parents have gone to prison just for stocking up on over-the-counter medicine for their kids. Now drug agents admit that the law has created more business for international drug cartels and increased the amount of meth.

Gee, who would have thunk that would happen? (That's sarcasm, people.) But of course they say that's a "success" too. Yeah, sure it is - because the federal government owns part of the international drug cartels! Follow the money, people, follow the money.

The next President needs to repeal this 21st century version of the Rockefeller drug laws - and order all the logs that track legitimate buyers of over-the-counter medicine to be destroyed with all haste.

(Source: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/03/08/Atlantavice_0309.html)

Drugs flood drinking water

For once, the programmies were right: I probably am on drugs! But I just didn't know it until now.

An investigative report by the Associated Press has just found that at least 41,000,000 Americans have pharmaceutical drugs in their drinking water supply. These range from antibiotics to sex hormones to ibuprofen to psychotropic drugs to steroids. Gobs of it!

Scientists say the problem is so severe now that it poses serious long-term health risks to the American public. The contaminated water has already ruined wildlife, especially fish.

One wonders how the drugs get in our wa. Well, millions of Americans take these drugs. Much of the drugs get peed or pooped out and become mixed in with wastewater, which goes back into reservoirs and rivers - which becomes drinking water. Drinking water is supposed to be treated before reaching the public - but the treatments water companies use today are ineffective. Water from wells in rural areas isn't safe either. Most home filters that you can buy also do not sift out drugs - and many brands of bottled wa are actually repackaged tap water, so it's also unsafe.

The threat is probably much worse than it appears, because the federal government won't set limits for pharmaceutical drugs in drinking water. (They'd rather bust cancer patients who use medical marijuana.)

Water companies seem to be living in denial, so I think it's time the federal government establish some standards.

(Source: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/K/KY_PHARMAWATER_I_KYOL-?SITE=OHCIN&SECTION=TENNIS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT)

States may lower drinking age

Under a policy first imposed by the Reagan regime, the federal government withholds some highway funds from states that fail to raise their drinking age to 21. As a result, it's 21 now in every state. But now some states are studying whether to lower the drinking age from 21.

It's about time. Almost every other country in the world has a lower drinking age than 21. Yet it's the United States that's seen an increase in irresponsible drinking. National 21 has only made binge drinking among college students under 21 much worse. And while 18-year-old Americans are fighting in Iraq, they're not even allowed to buy beer in their own country for another 3 years. (Ooh, an Allowed Cloud!)

Now Vermont is studying whether to lower the drinking age, and a group in Missouri is collecting signatures to conduct a referendum on it.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving is already crying foul. MADD, incidentally, has lost the credibility it once had. MADD's own founder quit the group because she felt it was becoming a prohibitionist organization. Indeed, MADD has absorbed the membership of the temperance movement that had been in decline. And it spouts statistics that are skewed or cannot be sourced or are downright wrong.

While MADD claims drunken driving deaths declined in the mid-'80s as a result of the national 21 policy, this was before most states had complied. In fact, many states had just lowered their drinking ages in the '70s. Several years after almost every state had complied with the national 21 rule, the drunken driving fatality rate went up again. Ruth Engs, a researcher at Indiana University, says alcohol abuse among people under 21 soared when the national drinking age took effect. Countries with lower drinking ages haven't seen as many problems.

In addition to increasing binge drinking and irresponsible boozing in general, the high drinking age creates a real bunker mentality. It has effects on society that have no relation to the law's alleged purpose of highway safety (which the law has been ineffective at dealing with anyway). It creates an atmosphere where everyone is looked at as a criminal and has even encouraged the bowdlerizing of media materials. (I've even seen the word 'beer' censored from a university newspaper.)

Hopefully the national 21 prohibitionism will be halted once and for all. But I wouldn't count on it, because Congress can be pushy.

(Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-teen-drinking_bdmar09,0,2713904.story)