Marine's father won't pay Phelps

After being ordered by a right-wing federal court to pay the legal fees for Fred Phelps's cult, the father of a Marine whose funeral was disrupted by the cult's protests now says he's not paying.

Good. I wouldn't pay either.

He says he's not paying "until I hear from the Supreme Court."

Even if Phelps's protests are protected under the First Amendment, Phelps doesn't deserve a penny from the plaintiff. I'd like to know what matchbook legal theory the court used to try to justify this windfall.

When SUV's go out of control

It's happened again.

Only in very recent years has there seemed to be a national pandemic of vehicles crashing through buildings. And in almost all cases, it's an SUV.

Now it's happened yet again - this time at a United Dairy Farmers store in suburban Cincinnati.

The reason for this is clear: SUV's are of a size and gait that make mishaps like this much more likely.

If the auto industry wanted a bailout, they should have had to first stop producing these death traps - which guzzle fuel, help keep America dependent on foreign oil, and needlessly endanger the public.

Naked Ziggy look-alike destroys flowers ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

Another of the most terrifying segments ever to appear on the ol' Ses has been found after many years of oblivion!

In this animated sketch that reportedly dates from 1972, an unclothed male of an indeterminate age picks wildflowers - which kills them. Then, oddly, he smiles widely as strange Moog music plays:



(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5HS4neB81k)

The person in this sketch has been said to resemble Ziggy, Charlie Brown, the Pillsbury Dough Boy, or all of the above. But he is one cool peep!

Notice also that the flowers seem to be humping his leg at the very end! I thought only mammals could do that! (Actually, others have observed that if you look closely, this clip is full of naughty bits.)

There's general agreement that, even after 41 years of 'Sesame Street', this still ranks as one of the scariest segments ever to appear on the show - because of the ruined flowers and creepy music. It was reported to have sent many of the show's young viewers running out of the room. Many are still unable to view it even as adults.

Have no fear, ish #456 is here!

Have no fear.

Because the long-awaited issue #456 of the durable Last Word is finally here!

You're going to love the latest edition of this long-running populist bandstand - which includes articles about:

• Corporate personhood.
• Facebook's closure of a vile class warfare group.
• Our successful attempt to rein in a local city's war against the poor.
• New sidewalks that violate the ADA.
• A local public school district's rehiring of an abusive employee and its charging of tuition for students within the district.
• The library that babysits bratty middle schoolers who pee on the floor.
• The traffic fine that clogged a toilet.
• Luis.

You know where to look. Just click here:

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw100331

Frivolous lawsuit by Giuliani's son tossed

Rudy Giuliani is a big advocate of tort "reform", as Bedbug Rudy accuses everybody else of filing frivolous lawsuits.

But a couple years ago, his son Andrew filed a frivolous suit all because he was kicked off Duke University's golf team because he was such a subpar golfer and because of his run-ins with teammates.

Now a federal judge has dismissed the younger Giuliani's idiotic lawsuit - after it tied up the court system for 2 years.

The fact that Giuliani's son sued over something like this just proves once again that the Republicans have an entitlement mentality.

(Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/03/30/2010-03-30_judge_tosses_rudy_giulianis_son_andrew_giuliani_suit_over_getting_boot_from_duke.html)

Well, they screwed up again

I don't even know which of the icons from the key I should use for this entry, but if there was one for incurable stupidity, it would be suitable here.

Years ago, I conceived a computer game that would feature Ronald Reagan's voice saying, "Well, you screwed up again." I think that applies to the Oklahoma legislature in this story.

Because most Republicans in the Oklahoma Senate hate gays, they just passed a bill designed to make it illegal to enforce the newly expanded federal hate crime statute in the Sooner State. Their aim was to "nullify" the part of the law that protects people from hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation.

What the Oklahoma Senate tried to do is illegal of course, but they were undeterred by law, science, or reason.

However, the bill they passed cited the wrong federal statute to ignore. So, instead of sexual orientation, this bill refers to the federal law against hate crimes motivated by race or religion.

It's bad enough that they tried to pull Oklahoma out of a perfectly valid federal law, but they didn't even cite the right law!

And the Oklahoma Senate actually passed this shit? Of course they did. They're the Oklahoma Senate, after all.

Then again, I know that some right-wing legal eagles out there are thinking of ways to overturn the federal hate crime statutes as I write this. And when you have courts like the federal Fourth Circuit, which supports Fred Phelps, how can people be sure they won't get away with it?

(Source: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/29/oklahoma-hate-crimes-screwup)

Fourth Circuit, fifth column

This past Friday seems to have been windfall day for right-wing cults.

Not long ago, the father of a Marine who was killed in the Iraq War sued Fred Phelps's cult because they picketed the funeral.

For those unawares, Phelps is pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. This particular congregation is actually a cult. Its followers are known for carrying signs saying "God hates fags" at various events and for picketing the funerals of celebrities and military personnel. Like Sun Myung Moon, there's not a good thing to be said about Fred Phelps. He is truly a lost cause.

The Marine's father didn't win his suit against the cult, but that's not really the issue here. The reason we have courts is to decide cases like this.

The real story here is this: On Friday, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit then ordered the plaintiff to pay Westboro Baptist Church all of its court costs - including those that the cult incurred when it chose to appeal the case.

What message does this send? Extremist cults now know they can disrupt military funerals AND win thousands of dollars from the families of the deceased.

All because the Fourth Circuit doesn't appreciate our fighting men and women, I guess. And I truly believe they don't. The jurists who made this ruling are the enemy within.

Hell, if I was the Marine's father, I just wouldn't pay it. Fred Phelps is threatening to take his property and garnish his wages if he doesn't pay up, but if Phelps's cult tried taking money or property from me, I'd so dare them to.

How can a court even THINK of making a Marine's family PAY Westboro Baptist Church over something like this? Is this any way for the government to treat the family of someone who died for the country?

(Source: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/carroll/bal-protest0329,0,3866909.story)

Teacher assaulted over Obama sticker

So when are the criminal charges coming?

Now. (Finally!)

In Nashville, a teacher and his 10-year-old daughter faced the wrath of the extreme right at a highway intersection. An SUV pulled up behind the teacher's car, which bore an Obama bumper sticker. The SUV's driver began pointing angrily at the sticker and honking. Then he repeatedly rammed the teacher's car, running it off the road.

When police caught up with the assailant, it turned out he was stinking drunk. He was charged with a series of counts that may land him in prison for years.

And he deserves to serve every minute behind bars.

This incident reinforces what many of us have known for years: We're up against violent sore losers who have absolutely no self-control whatsoever.

(Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100329/NEWS0105/3290345/1008/NEWS01)

RNC squandered thousands at bondage club

Fascinating! Truly fascinating!

The Republicans try to control what grown adults do in private by passing laws to restrict nude dancing in nightclubs or what books people can read.

Yet they go and spend party funds at a sexually oriented business themselves!

What a bunch of hypocrites!

The Republican National Committee is now under fire for spending almost $2,000 at a Los Angeles area club known for simulated bondage and similar activities.

Why would someone place a bondage club expense on their party expense account? Remember, this account was held by some of the RNC's most talented operatives. If these are their best operatives, what are their worst like?

That doesn't bode well for the Republicans' future. But that's fine with me.

This is actually taxpayer money that was wasted. Through most of the 2000s, the RNC pretty much was the government itself. America was a GOP machine country. And with the Republicans' political power growing so meteorically at the time, donors also flushed more of their own money into the GOP's coffers.

Leave it to the Republican National Committee to squander it all.

(Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/campaign-committees/89611-rnc-looking-into-money-spent-at-club-featuring-simulated-sex)

Insurers already plan to disobey health care law

Under the new health care law, children with preexisting conditions must be covered by insurers starting 6 months from now.

But now the insurance industry says the law doesn't really say this. They say that the conditions themselves must be covered, but children with such conditions don't have to be. So they're not going to cover them.

When was the last time there was such a wholesale effort by a major industry to disobey a law in plain sight?

How's that Real ID bullshit coming along?

How's that Real ID bullshit coming along? Hahahahaha!

Remember how all the states were supposed to be "compliant" by 2010? Damn, the states have sure fooled the Bush regime on that one, haven't they?

Last year, KOB-TV in Albuquerque reported, "A federal mandate says driver's licenses won't be accepted as identification to fly in 2010 if the license doesn't meet federal standards."

BUT A TIM MANDATE SAYS THEY WILL!

So far, the Tim mandate is winning out over the George mandate. Florida may be the only state that's changed it's driver's license requirements to comply with this unfunded federal decree.

Is the TSA going to set up a state-by-state no-fly list to weed out folks from the other 49 states and D.C.?

Some points of order about the comment feature...

Some clarification is in order about the comment feature for this blog.

First and foremost, impersonating others is not allowed. Period. End of discussion.

And yes, that is an Allowed Cloud.

To minimize abuse like this, the anonymous post option is now closed.

My blog, my rules.

Furthermore, there have been some reports that posts are not showing up. I have no control over this. Blogspot does. Complain to them.

The GOP's new school uniform

Because the Republicans and their fellow travelers in the Democratic Losership Clowncil love school uniforms so much, I think I've found the perfect uniform for them:


Make somebody wear something like that as a school uniform, and I guarantee you they'll never support school uniforms again.

This is the perfect example of the type of clothing item that, 20 years from now, people are going to see when they dig up a 2010 catalog and say, "Hahaha, look what everyone wore back in 2010!" - even though nobody wears anything like that.

Toledo ends fascist uniform policy!

Chalk up a victory for constitutional liberty and economic fairness in the Toledo, Ohio, public school system!

Several years ago, right-wing school officials issued a citywide policy requiring public school students to wear uniforms. The media cooed in support of this fascism.

But now the school district is abolishing uniforms, because this policy is costing the school system money and hasn't reaped any positive results.

Very few will miss uniforms.

What's astonishing is that it took this long. A lawsuit should have abolished uniforms as soon as they were implemented.

(Source: http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=12204401)

Kansas tries banning porn

Damn, conservaworld is like having the Taliban in power, isn't it?

The "small government" conservatives are hard at work in Kansas, as they've introduced a bill that would police private conduct. This bill would prohibit nude dancing or waitressing everywhere in the Sunflower State. It would also impose stiff controls on businesses such as porn shops.

A Republican supporter of the bill said, "This is Kansas, for Pete's sake. Let's start acting like it."

The Republicans are the ones who are always saying they're for "small government." Start acting like it.

How can anybody support deregulating Big Business while placing harsher controls on what individuals do in private? Has America become a country of Phil Gramms?

(Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/24/1544596/strip-clubs-pornography-vendors.html)

Island disappears because of climate change

All the whack-a-doodles who insist climate change is a hoax can kindly pipe down now.

New Moore Island was a prominent feature some 2 miles long in the Bay of Bengal. India and Bangladesh had long fought over what country the island belonged to.

But climate change seems to have resolved the dispute for the two countries.

Rising sea levels caused by climate change have now permanently submerged New Moore Island underwater. And this isn't even the first disappearance of an island at the hands of climate change. Nearby Lohachara Island was submerged in 1996 - which forced residents to relocate to the mainland. Other islands in the region may disappear as well - displacing more people and ruining their livelihoods.

If predictions hold true, 20,000,000 people in Bangladesh alone will be displaced by the middle of the century.

Are the climate change deniers happy now?

(Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/24/new-moore-island-disappea_n_511162.html)

Laugh of the day: Tea Party whiners want you to pay to see them

Today I read something that got me rolling on the floor guffawing my little noggin off.

The Tea Party sore losers have invited Sean Hannity to appear for a book-signing at their April 15 rally at the University of Cincinnati's arena. But that's not the really funny part.

The real hilarity is that the BTPers are charging $5 just to attend their idiotic rally!

Like I'm going to spend $5 just to listen to a bunch of sore losers bash my President? The Tea Party is made up of people who think everybody owes them something - and now they've proven it by charging $5 for a POLITICAL RALLY, of all things!

I'd gladly pay $5 to go to an event that was worth a damn - but not this shit.

I learned about the upcoming event because the Cincinnati Enquirer is promoting the Tea Party by printing their press release verbatim - again.

Kentucky nuke bill about to get a whole lot worse

I thought this business of allowing nuclear plants in Kentucky had been exorcised for the time being, but I didn't count on this added layer of bullshit.

Kentucky lawmakers recently rejected a bill that would have allowed nuke plants by ending a quarter-century-old ban on these dangerous facilities. But with the Republican thought zombies, it's never over, is it?

Now there's a bill in the state legislature that would give utility companies eminent domain "rights" to take your home to build carbon dioxide pipelines. Giving corporations eminent domain powers is just so plainly unconstitutional that I can't believe there's even a bill like this. Welcome to the brave new world of corporate personhood, courtesy of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Republicans added a provision to this bill that would also allow nuclear plants to be built.

Well, that makes at least 2 bad things in this bill. What else does this bill do? Does it require people to wear name tags with a corporate sponsor's logo on them too?

Naturally, this bill is roaring ahead in the legislature.

(Source: http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2010/03/25/senate-committee-revives-nuclear-power-proposal)

Crybabies want Georgia AG impeached over health care

Now that the NFL is adopting new overtime rules, I guess the Republicans are following suit. Under the GOP's new overtime rules, if their candidate doesn't win, they kick and scream until there's a do-over.

After the health care bill was signed into law, Republican attorney generals of a whole gaggle of states are suing to have it ruled unconstitutional - even though it contains the insurer bailout they supported. In Georgia, however, Attorney General Thurbert Baker - a Democrat - refuses to join this suit.

Republicans think this gives them an opening to nullify Baker's election to this post - and sabotage his gubernatorial campaign. So now they're planning to impeach Baker for not joining the lawsuit against health care. (The sore loser symbol for this entry refers to the Republicans, not Baker.)

The GOP has collected at least 30 signatures of Republican lawmakers who want Baker impeached for not following the national Republican Party's order to sue over the health care law. Furthermore, right-wing Gov. Sonny Purdue says he's appointing a "special Attorney General" to join the suit because Baker won't do it.

I think Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway said it best when he refused to join the suit: "I am not going to waste taxpayer dollars on a political stunt."

(Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/25/georgia-attorney-general_n_512970.html)

Ohio court destroys workers' rights

It's widely known that the Republican leadership of the Ohio legislature elevated fascism to new heights, but it got plumb ridiculous in 2005 when they passed a law to limit lawsuits by workers injured on the job.

This law was passed out of sheer meanness.

No real legal theory would consider the law constitutional - even under the Ohio Constitution. This law also robbed many workers of compensation to which they were rightly entitled.

Outrageously, the GOP-dominated Ohio Supreme Court has now upheld this law.

Why is this so bad? Because the law actually forces injured employees to prove that their employer acted deliberately. It lets workplaces off the hook for careless behavior - which turns centuries of workplace law on its ear.

The high court said the law is constitutional because the Ohio Constitution lets lawmakers make laws that provide for "the comfort, health, safety and general welfare of all employees." This law wasn't for employees though. It was for the comfort of employers, not employees. It also violates the constitutional guarantee of the right to a jury trial.

They really are trying to make sure Ohio joins Virginia on the list of states with no rights for workers, huh?

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/content/wcposhared/story/Ohio-Court-Upholds-Limits-On-Injured-Worker-Suits/TeivaFlOyUC-ZDVkEUlHGg.cspx)

So when do the criminal charges begin?

The wingnuts are never satisfied, are they?

Even though the new health care law includes the insurance industry bailout that they supported, it's not enough for them. Now they're trying to kill members of Congress who supported the overall bill.

In Virginia, Lynchburg Tea Party organizer Mike Troxel wrote a blog post urging people to "drop by" the home of Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello. But he stupidly posted not Perriello's address, but that of his brother.

Following this incitement, someone cut the propane gas line at Perriello's brother's house - in an attempt to blow up the house.

Federal investigators are now probing the attack. But when are the criminal charges coming?

Sadly, this act is the latest in a long pattern of right-wing domestic terrorism that's gone on for nearly 20 years. You can see it in the deadly righist kook-outs of the 1990s, the arson of antiwar activists' homes in the 2000s (as in another Virginia incident), and other displays.

(Source: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/fbi_investigating_cut_gas_line_at_home_of_dem_reps.php)

More proof Bush is a total nutcase

This man was allowed to lead the most powerful country in the world for 8 years?

In this clip, Bush appears with Bill Clinton in Haiti. After shaking hands with local residents, Bush wipes his hand off on Clinton's shirt:



(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DtwkTS9mq8)

This is almost as crazy as the time Bush fondled German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the G8 meeting.

School district blackballs students

Keep an eye on the broken, corrupt school system of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, folks.

Recently, Woonsocket wanted to institute mandatory uniforms, but school officials discovered that this specifically violated state law. So they pressured right-wing lawmakers into changing the law.

Now that they've got the green light for this fascism, the school district is proving just what a bunch of control freaks they are.

In addition to threatening to file truancy charges against students who refuse to wear uniforms, the school district also plans on blackballing them from economic advancement. School officials issued a detailed policy report that says the school system will send letters of recommendation to potential employers for students who follow the new uniform requirement. Students who do not follow it will receive no such recommendation.

Is there any starker illustration of schools' totalitarian, controlling attitudes than this?

Ann Coulter whimpers and cries

Pity poor Ann Coulter.

Recently, right-wing loudmouth Ann Coulter was scheduled to give a speech at the University of Ottawa. (The Harper regime expels visitors from Canada if they've ever had to rely on welfare, but it invites a hatemonger like Ann Coulter?)

Dissidents organized peaceful protests against Coulter's speech. This prompted Coulter - being the weakling she is - to cancel the event.

Now Coulter is claiming she's the victim of the big, mean libs - because she chose not to give her speech. So she's hired Canadian right-wing extremist Ezra Levant to help her file a formal human rights complaint.

Doesn't Ann Coulter have to be classified as human before filing a human rights complaint?

Coulter then referred to the Canadian people as "a bunch of girls named Francois."

I'm reminded of that big tantrum Alan Keyes threw when he wasn't invited to that debate in Atlanta during the '96 campaign.

But one can't help but suspect the entire saga might just be an attention-seeking gimmick - as Coulter rapidly becomes a has-been. I wonder if Coulter deliberately set herself up for this just so she'd have an excuse to blame opponents for "scaring" her.

(Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/bureau-blog/ann-coulter-prepares-human-rights-complaint/article1510468)

I want, I want... ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

This installment usually Sessifies your world by showing a memorable clip from 'Sesame Street'. But this is one where you're going to just have to use your imagination, because the skits in question haven't turned up yet.

I've compiled a top 4 list of 'Sesame Street' segments I want to find. I don't know of them appearing on any DVD collection, YouTube, or anywhere else. They're totally lost!

Here's my top 4, from #4 to #1...

4) BANJO BERT. I have a very, very, very vague memory of this from the mid-'70s, and NOBODY else seems to remember it, despite it being possibly the most bizarre segment ever to appear on the show. It featured Ernie playing basketball while banjo music plays, and Bert's head appearing in the upper left corner of the screen and trying to catch the ball in his mouth. It only ranks #4 because I know it's going to be almost impossible to find, and I don't want to get my hopes for finding it up too much.

3) LISTEN. This was a live action film of various sounds, particularly those made by wildlife. A female voiceover kept saying, "Listen." This is significant because I once witnessed a person saying, "Listen," each time they passed gas. This was apparently based on this sketch. (It was kind of like the "Here it comes" meme.)

2) 'SESAME STREET' GOES BALD. Around 1978, there was a storyline in which several of the adult human characters lamented the fact that Gordon kept shaving his head, thus keeping him a total chrome dome. Then it showed hilarious shots of what other characters might look like if they were bald. I think Maria might have been one of them, but I know for a fact Oscar the Grouch was. The segment showed the ol' Osk with the fur on the top of his head replaced with bare green felt.

1) BAWM BAWM BAWM. This was a musical sketch that featured the chubby blue Anything Muppet from Grover's restaurant and numerous other Muppets singing, "Bawm bawm bawm, bawm ba bawm bawm bawm, bawm bawm bawm...bawm bawm bawm..." There is a similar skit that goes, "Clap clap, clappity-clap," but that one proliferates wildly on YouTube. The "Bawm bawm bawm" sketch is the Holy Grail of lost 'Sesame Street' segments.

If you can lead me to any of those 4 clips, I promise you I'll never send you a rotting piece of poop in the mail.

Mandatory insurance actually Republicans' idea

Shocker!

As the new health care law makes it mandatory to buy insurance from greedy corporations, it turns out this portion was the Republicans' idea all along - as if that wasn't clear already.

A health care official in Florida says she first heard of the idea when John McCain endorsed it in the '90s. McCain was contrasting his proposal versus the Clinton administration's health care package.

Mitt Romney endorsed mandatory insurance in a Wall Street Journal piece in 2006.

The Business Roundtable - a secret society of right-wing CEO's - later announced its support for it. Right-wing former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson backed it as well.

Of course they did. In conservaworld, everything is mandatory - unless you're a corporation, that is. Conservaworld is a land of Allowed Clouds. You can't do this. You can't do that.

Now, however, Republican attorney generals in several states are trying to have the entire law ruled unconstitutional because of this provision - even though it's a provision the GOP supported.

One almost suspects they supported adding it just so they'd have ammo against the whole law.

In the unlikely event that mandatory health insurance is ruled unconstitutional, then at least that means mandatory car insurance (which is just as much of a rip-off) must be too, right? Maybe the attorney generals who are suing might end up getting what they didn't bargain for.

(Source: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/23/90948/that-health-mandate-gop-is-suing.html)

I guess Tantrum 95.7 is legal now

America is truly being ruled by an unelected "second legislature" wearing black robes.

Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued what is clearly an activist ruling. This order blocks FCC rules that prohibited media corporations from owning a newspaper and a TV station in the same city.

Why? Simply because.

With this ruling, the far-right propaganda pipeline widens - if that's at all possible after Congress's 1996 bailout of right-wing media hadn't already made it pervasive.

Republican FCC commissioner Robert McDowell praised the ruling because it removes "burdensome ownership rules." Are you kidding me? "Burdensome" how??? The rule that was lifted appears to have been the only ownership rule that remained!

The only "burdensome ownership rules" are ones against independent micropower stations like Tantrum 95.7 - which was shut down by the FCC.

If ownership caps violate corporations' True Free Speach Now (tm), then doesn't that mean individuals have a free speech right to run a station too?

In the meantime, the states need to be defiant. The states must step up to the plate and break up newspaper/TV combos that may be allowed under this ruling.

(Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i--VTd4twDDwIs6fFZPTcO6Gkn1AD9EKJMP01)

Air Force wants to close Ohio's road because of "security"

This is one of these times when a city needs to stand up and be defiant.

The Air Force wants to close a mile-long part of State Route 444 in Fairborn, Ohio, near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base - citing a Bush-era "security" guideline. The city of Fairborn opposes the effort because of traffic problems.

Um, it's a state route. Thus, it's Ohio's road. Not the Air Force's.

No explanation by the Air Force was offered as to why the road must be closed - other than the fact that it's needed to comply with the Bush regime's fiat.

Hell, if I was the city of Fairborn, and if the Air Force put a barricade across my road, the barrier would be gone within the day.

(Source: http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/air-force-officials-want-to-close-more-than-a-mile-of-ohio-444air-force-officials-want-to-close-more-than-a-mile-of-ohio-444-into-fairborn-616451.html)

24% of Republicans think Obama is the Antichrist

If there was any doubt that the Republicans have gone completely batshit, a new Harris poll should kablammo those doubts.

According to this survey, 24% of Republicans think President Obama "may be the Antichrist."

Seriously, they said that.

I actually thought this story was a parody at first. But nope, it's as real as the fact that the Republicans would be on the cusp of becoming a third party had the Supreme Court not bailed out the GOP with its corporate personhood bullshit.

If 24% of Republicans think Obama is the Antichrist, I guess I'm the Antichrist to the other 76%.

(Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-03-22/scary-new-gop-poll)

Tanning salons and the health care law

As the new health care bill was signed into law, here's one provision that I'm happy to say I wholeheartedly support.

This bill imposes a 10% tax on visits to tanning salons. And I'm all for it.

It certainly makes more sense than taxing food does. If consumers spend their time and money on artificial tans that put them at risk for skin cancer - which places a burden on the health care system - that's their choice. This tax affects those who choose to patronize such a service.

The tax is on a potentially unhealthy vanity product - not on a necessity such as food or shelter.

Last year, a World Health Organization agency even placed tanning beds in its highest cancer risk category. An Associated Press piece even said that cancer researchers now deem tanning salons "as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas."

If you opt for unhealthy activities that we all end up paying for, then you have to pay into this system. Those who insist health care is not a right can't very well claim that visiting tanning beds without having to pay a tax on it is a right.

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/content/wcposhared/story/Health-Care-Bill-Will-Likely-Increase-Tanning-Fees/z5EQp2UEKEKG77N_StB1tQ.cspx)