Antislavery bill becomes law despite GOP obstruction

It's news to some, but many of the products you buy are made from slave labor abroad. Corporate America has never been serious about reining in this abuse. Occasionally, you'll read that some industry plans on eliminating slavery in the production of its goods within a few years, but there's a couple problems with that: Slavery should be eliminated immediately, not just within a few years. Plus - without fail - slavery still isn't eliminated when the deadline passes, so another empty promise to eliminate it is made, and the cycle begins anew.

Now President Obama has signed a federal law that bans the importation of goods produced with forced labor. It covers everything from food to minerals to clothing to electronics. The law remedies a 1930 law that has let slave-made goods sluice into the country unabated.

Why wasn't a law against slavery passed earlier? For years, it's been hamstrung by Republicans who preach market fascism.

Hopefully, the next step will be more specific legislation requiring overseas producers of goods sold in America to abide by American labor laws. Meanwhile, the new law must be enforced with gusto.

(Source: http://www.liberalamerica.org/2016/02/25/obama-signs-law-ending-the-slavery-you-didnt-realize-you-were-part-of)

Woman dies in jail after being deprived of water

Here's another case of a person dying in what amounts to a debtors' prison - and we won't stop short of saying the victim was tortured to death.

Last July, a South Carolina woman went to a hospital for a stomach illness. Then she was taken to the Charleston County Jail when it was discovered she couldn't pay a fine for a minor shoplifting charge from back in 2011. It's unknown how police found out she was hospitalized.

She died in jail a day later after being deprived of water. She had vomited all night and was denied access to a restroom. Jail staffers ignored officials' requests to take care of her.

Now the jail's medical contractor - Carolina Center for Occupational Health - is facing a lawsuit for her death.

(Source: http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20160224/PC16/160229636)

Stupor Tuesday

Super Tuesday is in 8 days, and did you know that Super Tuesday was one of the first shots fired by the DLC to try to install a right-wing candidate as the Democrats' presidential nominee?

It is believed that the first Super Tuesday coup attempt was in 1988, when right-wing Democrats got numerous states that were seen as friendly to their cause to hold their primaries on the same day in an attempt to commandeer the nominating process. It didn't work then, but it worked in 1992, when Super Tuesday allowed Bill Clinton to pull ahead of Tom Harkin - who had labor backing and would have likely been a much better choice in the long run.

The Democratic establishment is doing it now too. They're using Super Tuesday to help Hillary Clinton regain her lead over Bernie Sanders - even after poll after poll shows Sanders would do better in the general election.

This sounds like an intentional case of sabotage against the party's progressive wing. It's as if the party establishment is trying to deliberately lose the general election just to "prove" that the party needs to move even further right in order to win. I never used to think the DLC was that sinister - until they sabotaged that congressional race in Hawaii a few years back by running their own candidate in the general election to split the Democratic vote.

It's like how the Kentucky Democratic Party refuses to put any effort into taking back the Kentucky Senate and wouldn't run any candidates for Kenton County Fiscal Court.

Man dies in debtors' prison over ambulance bill

Utah is a command state, so it makes aggressive use of unconstitutional debtors' prisons to collect personal debts. There's no trial. They just haul people off to jail.

In the fascist stronghold of Box Elder County, a man was taken to debtors' prison because he was unable to pay an ambulance bill of almost $2,400. He died in jail.

A police official said, "We go to great lengths to never arrest anybody on these warrants." Bull. If that was true, why did they arrest this man?

Deaths at the hands of law enforcement is a serious issue, and I attended the protest in Covington against police killings in late 2014. It appears as if deadly debtors' prisons may have to be yet another front in America's fight against injustice.

(Source: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/02/utah-man-dies-in-police-custody-after-being-jailed-for-2400-unpaid-medical-bill)

Democrats grow ranks in Highland Heights

Don't look now, but in recent months, the Democrats have taken a registration advantage in all 5 precincts in my hometown of Highland Heights, Kentucky. The party has had a slight citywide advantage as long as I can remember, but I don't remember any other period when they led in all 5 precincts.

Thayer abused post to retaliate against ex-fiancee

Another scandal in the Republican Party of Kentucky? You've got to be kidding me!

Kentucky Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer has long been known as a right-wing hack, but now he's being sued by his former fiancee too. According to the suit, the Georgetown Republican abused his position to retaliate against his ex-fiancee when she failed to move out of a mansion they shared. Thayer threatened to contact a state office to have her removed from a list of approved family counselors.

Thayer also tried pressuring government officials into making sure no police report was made following a massive temper tantrum in which he screamed at his ex-fiancee until she ended up locking herself in a bedroom to avoid him. In another incident, Thayer entered the house at 1:30 AM "in a fit of rage" and destroyed Christmas tree ornaments. He also cut off access to a Kroger account they had.

America is feelin' the Bern, but Kentucky has to deal with Damon Thayer's shit?

(Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2016/02/20/former-fiance-senate-leader-thayer-abused-position/80662586)

Bevin faces impeachment effort

With Matt Bevin enjoying some of the worst approval numbers of any governor in America, the Tea Party blunderbuss is now the target of a serious impeachment drive to combat his nonstop lawbreaking.

In recent weeks, Bevin has tried to cut funds for committees that oversee elections and ethics probes. If Bevin succeeds at cutting these funds, these committees will be unable to investigate his corruption. He's doubled down on social issues as well - even filing a frivolous lawsuit against Planned Parenthood.

No provisions could be found in Kentucky law allowing a recall election - which is interesting, because Republicans tried to have Paul Patton recalled when he disagreed with them. Instead, an impeachment petition has been launched. This petition also cites widespread election fraud that put Bevin in power: The Attorney General's office received 52 fraud complaints on Election Day.

Maybe Matt Bevin and Rick Snyder can be cellmates.

(Source: http://www.inquisitr.com/2809007/breaking-news-petition-to-impeach-kentucky-governor-matt-bevin-initiated)

Sanders leads every Republican candidate

Twenty years ago, did you ever think Bernie Sanders would be the frontrunner for President?

A new poll from Quinnipiac University - a pollster that is usually too favorable to Republicans - says the Vermont senator would defeat every leading Republican candidate in the general election by 4 to 10 points. Sanders actually does better than Hillary Clinton would do!

Let that sink in for a moment: Bernie Sanders - a self-described democratic socialist - is now the frontrunner for President of the United States.

But you know the right-wing media's knives are coming out.

IBS thoughtcops Sanders, gets laughed at

The far-right Investor's Business Daily has just been upgraded from hilarious to uproarious.

A few weeks ago, IBS (as I call it) ran a lengthy hit piece against Bernie Sanders, one of America's most popular populists and leading presidential aspirant. I didn't discover the article until now, because nobody reads IBS.

But. It. Is. Funny!

And I'm not laughing with IBS. I'm laughing at them.

Idiot's Business Daily attacks Sanders for complaining about "how the rich were ripping everybody off." Good for Bernie! I've only been exposing the self-evident wrong of economic inequality for the past 25 years. I'm glad someone has been doing it longer.

IBS's hand-wringing whine says of the Vermont senator, "His worthless background contrasts sharply with the successful careers of other 'outsiders' in the race for the White House, including a billionaire developer, a world-renowned neurosurgeon and a Fortune 500 CEO." That statement stinks of right-wing elitism at its most embarrassing. The Far Right has been trying for years to recast themselves as "aw, shucks" populists, but IBS let the mask slip. American conservatism is as elitist as ever. They don't care about you. Team Tyranny might want your vote, but they thoroughly disdain you - because of your economic status, education level, job, etc.

As comical as IBS's editorial is, it has an underlying sentiment that's actually pretty serious - a sentiment that has caused incalculable harm to America. IBS is trying to marginalize the fight against income inequality - which isn't so funny. Until about 20 years ago, you could talk freely about the injustice of economic inequality and win a receptive audience. That changed because of the right-wing media thought police. They manipulated public opinion until income inequality wasn't seen as a serious issue again until Occupy came along. I beat my head against the wall for years trying to have this issue covered by the Really Serious People - and I was ignored.

And make no mistake, the Far Right was attempting to control thought - not just express an opinion. Their goal wasn't just to challenge economic populism but to exterminate it. I was prepared to be challenged, but the facts aren't on the Right's side, so they resorted to eliminationism. When a problem can't be exposed because we get shouted down, it can't be solved.

However, Investor's Business Deadly did the right-wing cause no favors with its harangue against Bernie Sanders.

Have no fear, the February ish is here!

Do people pop?

That question has vexed America since the dawn of mankind. But the latest ish of The Last Word - your road atlas to freedom - will answer this question for you! There's also an article about the coolness of Mister Rogers, and more!

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/doc/299182278/The-Last-Word-2-2016

Justice Scalia dies

Conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia - the longest-serving Justice on the court - has reportedly died at the age of 79:

http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2016/02/supreme-court-justice-antonin-scalia-reported-dead.html

West Virginia enacts right-to-scab law

Why would West Virginia of all places pass an unconstitutional "right-to-work" law? Fifteen years ago, I would have thought Kentucky and Ohio would have both easily beaten West Virginia in that marathon to ruin.

West Virginia is a state whose citizenry once literally fought a battle against the federal government to be allowed to unionize. And that state is now becoming "right-to-work"?

This week, Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin vetoed a right-to-scab bill passed by the state's Republican legislature. But today, right-wing lawmakers overrode his veto. (Like Kentucky, West Virginia requires only a simple majority to override a veto.)

One might think that by enacting a right-to-scab law, the West Virginia GOP has just permanently cost itself its electoral edge. "Right-to-work" support hurt Kentucky Republicans in 2014, and it may have hurt the GOP in the Senate election in Michigan too. On the other hand, Republican talking heads will inevitably blame "the liberals" when West Virginians are forced to work at low-paying jobs at fast food restaurants when they're 40 - even though it's GOP policies that are forcing people to do so.

West Virginia Republicans also repealed the state's popular prevailing wage law.

Just rejoin Virginia already.

Sanders and Trump win New Hampshire primaries

Bernie Sanders versus Donald Trump. If those are our choices in November, I don't even need to tell you which one to vote for.

Today in New Hampshire, Sanders and Trump won the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries, respectively. They must have each won pretty handily, since media outlets called it right when the polls closed.

I guess the Democrats there have gotten their act together quite well - eschewing the Third Way mind control that has held the party back. Meanwhile, Republicans there continue to embarrass themselves by choosing a useless right-wing billionaire.

Massachusetts town stands up against fossil fuel land grab

Don't look now, but there's actually a town somewhere in the United S. of A. that's standing up and telling the underpants-crapping Far Right to pound sand.

Fossil fuel giant Kinder Morgan wants to build a natural gas pipeline in Massachusetts. They've demanded that several towns give Kinder Morgan surveyors access to land belonging to homeowners and farmers. But the town of Deerfield is standing up against this corporate land grab. Deerfield has issued a directive that says police will arrest anyone from Kinder Morgan who trespasses on locals' property. Deerfield's Board of Health has forbidden all Kinder Morgan activities within the town - and will enforce this order.

This might not be remarkable except that it seems to be a Eureka Springs-style challenge against the Masters of the Universe who think they can tell Deerfield otherwise. Kinder Morgan gloats that right-wing state and federal laws preempt Deerfield's autonomy. Tough toilets, Kinder Morgan. The company has an atrocious safety record consisting of numerous fires, explosions, fuel leaks, and deaths. Deerfield has a duty to protect its citizenry from these dangers - and from the greed of corporations that want to seize land.

(Source: http://www.gazettenet.com/news/20894662-95/deerfield-threatens-to-arrest-anyone-on-private-property-without-permission-in-connection-with-gas)

Federal court tosses county right-to-scab laws

This is a victory for freedom and working people.

Not long ago, 12 counties in Kentucky (including Boone County) passed their own so-called "right-to-work" law, which was designed to cheat workers and make union organizing a thoughtcrime. Today, a federal court ruled that counties can't pass such a law.

The grounds for this case though is that federal law references states - not counties. The ruling itself doesn't invalidate state right-to-scab laws - though those laws too are in fact an unconstitutional impairment of contracts. It's time for smart lawyers to start arguing against work-for-less laws on those grounds.

But the "right-to-work" Gestapo is as wasteful as the day is long, so you can bet your bizcream they'll appeal today's ruling.

Another hilarious celebrity look-alike

Today at Kroger in Bellevue, I saw a Helen Reddy look-alike.

Clinton and Cruz win Iowa caucuses

Hope you enjoy your new right-wing President - because that's exactly what you're getting if the results of yesterday's first-in-the-country Iowa caucuses are replicated nationwide.

Last night, the Democratic and Republican caucuses in Iowa were won by Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz, respectively. It was a disappointing evening but not entirely unexpected. Granted, Clinton just barely won her caucus, and the margin was so slim that Bernie Sanders wants Iowa Democrats to count the actual number of votes, not just delegates.

I wasn't expecting Sanders to win, considering how much The Media hates his guts. But in the long run, Cruz will do more damage to the Republicans than Clinton will do to the Democrats. I repeat, that's in the long run. In more rural states, it may be too late.

It bears repeating: If we really had a "liberal media", a party led by Ted Cruz wouldn't even be a serious contender.

Tea Party sheriff brags about abusing children

Paul Babeu is the racist Republican sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona. The scandal-tainted Babeu has long been a favorite of the Tea Party.

Before becoming sheriff, Babeu ran the DeSisto School, a "therapeutic boarding school" (i.e., concentration camp) in Massachusetts. The facility was confirmedly abusive. Back before the "school" hired Babeu, it once filed a SLAPP lawsuit against a "client" who reported abuse. Under Babeu's "leadership", the DeSisto School forced teenagers to perform hard labor while depriving them of food and water and do bizarre things such as hold hands while using the restroom. When confronted with this, Babeu said he didn't know anything about it.

Now a 1999 home video has surfaced of Babeu at a Christmas dinner. In this clip, Babeu bragged about the very abuses that he later denied. He boasted that the teenagers at his facility were "sent to what's called the farm, where they actually do manual labor" and were required to sit alone in a corner for weeks on end. He said it was "because they're hopeless."

Guess what? Babeu continues to deny the whole thing and blamed the entire controversy on his sister.

(Source: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/01/27/3743243/home-video-shows-sheriff-bragging-about-abusing-children-in-his-care)

A story only Roads Scholars will care about

Roads Scholaring if poo.

Did you notice over the past few years that the typeface on the big green freeway signs is different? In 2004, the federal government ordered states to stop using the old font called Highway Gothic that was developed circa 1948 and switch to a new font called Clearview. In many states, newer signs now use Clearview, while older signs still use the stencil-like Highway Gothic.

Clearview developers published a detailed document touting their invention and tried to show that it improved legibility for America's irreversibly graying motorists. But many Roads Scholars thunk otherwise and said it was less legible.

Perhaps it was because of misuse. In some jurisdictions, it wasn't just large green mixed-case signs that were changed to Clearview but also some all-capital signs and those with dark letters on a light background. But some Roads Scholars thought Clearview looked too beedledicky even without such misuse.

Now federal highway officials have scrapped their 2004 fiat and told states to switch back to Highway Gothic. They say more recent research shows Highway Gothic is better after all, especially for dark-on-light signs. They also say that the reason the Clearview signs appeared more legible 12 years ago is that they were new signs with fresh reflective sheeting or paint being tested against old, worn-out Highway Gothic signs.

But we Roads Scholars have a thirst for nostalgia. Surely, some Roads Scholars 50 years from now will be seeking out remaining Clearview signs and viewing them the way today's Scholars go spoony over yellow stop signs or cutout route markers.

Just be thankful the feds didn't make us use a serif font on our road signs!

(Source: http://www.citylab.com/commute/2016/01/official-united-states-highway-sign-font-clearview/427068)

Election rules protect right-wing money men

For decades, one could just assume that in any American election, the Democratic candidate received more votes for each dollar spent than their Republican opponent. It's still true - but these days, campaign finance guidelines inspired by superPAC's and the far-right Citizens United ruling have glossed over this truism.

These rules protect right-wing money men who fund campaigns and run for office. And make no mistake, a vast majority are men. It's clear that the war on women is very real, much like the suburbs' ongoing war against the cities. The problem with the campaign finance regulations is that they do not count some campaign expenditures as partisan when clearly they are.

For example, they count Tea Party superPAC's as nonpartisan instead of Republican, even though the Tea Party is little more than a rebranding of the right-wing GOP establishment. The Democrats (let alone minor parties) don't have a strong counterpart to the Tea Party (big surprise).

As a result, the right-wing media can now gloat that the Republicans won more votes per dollar spent - when it isn't really true, since "nonpartisan" right-wing superPAC's spend their revenues from heroin sales on behalf of Republican candidates.

Lawmakers can fix this, but the President can act without Congress. All the President needs to do is issue an executive order that reclassifies "nonpartisan" expenses as partisan. Professional fearmongers will whimper and cry, but that's too damn bad.

Oregon standoff reads like Tea Party Who's Who

As the right-wing burglary and grand theft auto standoff near Burns, Oregon, escalates, it's time for a little Who's Who of some of the Tea Party characters who have been drawn there.

For instance, there's Joaquin Mariano DeMoreta-Folch, a Tea Party powerhouse from Florida. DeMoreta-Folch showed up at the Oregon standoff to support the militants and declared himself a "God-grace administrator" to investigate county officials. Foes have called DeMoreta-Folch "unlearned and unstable" - and he lives down to the description: When he was asked why he was using the Magna Carta instead of the Constitution as the basis for his phony proceedings, he hollered, "The Magna Carta is the supreme law of the land! The Bible is the supreme law of the land!"

Lee Rice is a Tea Party leader from Wisconsin who accompanied DeMoreta-Folch. Rice is just as delusional as the rest of the cast of zany characters there.

Meanwhile, the right-wing militants have expanded their counterrevolution from Harney County into neighboring Grant County, Oregon - where (unlike in Harney County) Tea Party Sheriff Glenn Palmer supports their cause. Palmer was also named Constitutional Sheriff of the Year for 2011 by an organization that has advocated overthrowing county governments and replacing them with right-wing juntas.

Bevin official resigns in scandal already

The totalitarian Matt Bevin regime is only 6 weeks old, and already a scandal has forced the resignation of a Bevin-appointed official.

The New Hampshire Forehead recently appointed John Rittenhouse to the Kentucky Department of Parks. But it turned out Rittenhouse had a serious violation of state ethics law only a year ago: After resigning as a manager of a state park, he had entered into a contract to buy a restaurant that subleased its location from the parks department. He did so even after being told it was an ethics violation.

Plus, Bevin hired Rittenhouse even after Rittenhouse disclosed the violation on his application.

Now that this scandal has come to light, Rittenhouse has been forced to quit his new post.

Once again, the Kentucky GOP.

(Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/ky-governor/2016/01/25/bevin-official-ethics-violation-resigns/79302482)

Oregon invader has murder conviction

Well looky what I've found!

When I tell people the Tea Party is a bunch of thugs, they act like they don't want to hear it, because they don't want to believe that such an influential movement (even one they don't like) is nothing but a criminal gang to its very core. But now any pretense that the Tea Party is peaceful and legal-like has been kablammoed to shards.

Neil Sigurd Wampler is a California man who is taking part in the armed Tea Party burglary standoff near Burns, Oregon. It turns out that Wampler has a murder conviction on his record for killing his father.

When this came to light, Wampler initially said it was a different guy with the same name who had the murder record. That's not true. His birthdate matched prison records, and a law enforcement official in California confirmed it's the same man. The cops know this, because they've had run-ins with him over whether he's allowed to own a gun following his conviction.

Other standoff participants denied even knowing Wampler, but that's another lie. He's been there cavorting with them the whole time.

Please don't send them any more bubble gum.

(Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/01/oregon_standoff_among_the_prot.html)

It's official. The forces of good have no guts.

What happened to the days when our side had guts? Remember Occupy? It was only 3 years ago that Occupy was perhaps at its peak.

It isn't just a matter of ideology but of what the law says. Even when the law is on the side of good, our side won't show any guts whatsoever anymore. Not a shred.

When the Bundys and their Tea Party pals took over that town in Nevada, the law could have lowered the boom. Instead, authorities surrendered to the Tea Party unconditionally. Now the same thing is happening in Oregon.

Something like this is happening in Tennessee now too.

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that it's unconstitutional to ban couples of the same sex from marrying. That's the law of the land. But right-wing lawmakers in Tennessee have introduced a bill that would defy this ruling outright and reinstate Tennessee's marriage ban.

Right-wing legislators in zillions of states are trying to nullify the Supreme Court's ruling, but the weak response to the Tennessee bill is mind-numbing. The federal government warns that if the Volunteer State passes this bill, the state will lose $8.5 billion in federal funding.

Only $8.5 billion? In a state of 6.5 million people, that's not much. Per person, that would be only a fraction of the monetary limit in a small claims lawsuit. What's worse than this though is that the $8.5 billion would come out of programs for the poor. It's not the poor that elected all these Republicans - but it's the poor that can't afford to pay for the GOP's extremism. For the people who'd actually be paying, $8.5 billion is a lot.

Instead of punishing far-right politicians, the government plans to penalize Tennessee's poorest citizens, who didn't even vote for these public figures. What incentive does this give for Tennessee Republicans to follow the law? The GOP enjoys harming the poor. No question about it. Cutting services for the poor will only encourage Republicans.

If public officials in Tennessee don't follow a binding federal law, why not arrest them? Is the federal government afraid to do so? Are they bullied? I'm sure there's somebody in government who doesn't think Tennessee or any other state should be allowed to defy the marriage ruling - because that's the law, not because it suggests any ideological position. But are they planning to take any real punitive action against officials who won't follow the law? Cutting poverty programs punishes only the innocent.

The long and short of it is that hardly anybody today who actually has the desire to do what is right has the guts to do it. With friends like this, who needs enemies? If they don't care, why should I? If the forces of good had shown even a smidgen of grit since the height of Occupy, we'd be living in a much grander country now.

(Source: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/01/20/3741018/tennessee-marriage-equality-nullification)

GoFundMe campaign for progressive safe space unveiled

I mentioned this in the most recent Last Word, but now I'm ready to unveil it to a larger audience, so listen like thieves...

I am trying to raise money for a "safe space" in northern Kentucky for political progressives, leftists, liberals, and others of a non-right-wing persuasion. I'm doing this because of the nationwide pattern of persecution by right-wingers.

The Tea Party has their own "safe space", which includes almost the entire United States. So it's time for us to have one of our own.

I plan to use the money we raise to buy a property in Newport, Bellevue, or Dayton in northern Kentucky. If another nearby location becomes available (even in Ohio), I'll consider it on a case-by-case basis. The property may include a building, or it can be simply a vacant lot. From checking property websites, I have estimated the cost at $50,000. That's how much an unimproved parcel around here usually costs. No kidding. Hopefully, I can find something cheaper. Excess money will be spent on taxes and maintenance for this site.

This will be a community space to provide safety for dissenters from right-wing tyranny.

Donate to this cause: http://gofundme.com/8854v7k4

South Dakota voters may repeal reich-to-work law

Come November, America may have one fewer so-called "right-to-work" state.

South Dakota voters will get to vote on a referendum that would effectively vanquish the state's hated right-to-scab law by allowing labor unions to charge fair share fees for their services.

Let reich-to-work laws die in misery.

(Source: http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2016/01/19/voters-decide-union-rights-measure/79000044)

Bubbling season lasts all year at Kroger

Earlier at Kroger, some guy bubbled.

Also, some woman was talking on her cell phone inside the supermarket and angrily declared, "This Kroger doesn't have shit!"

'Pail Poll delays Detroit move, brings party change

The results from the pair of 'Pail Polls I've had up for the past month are in!

These polls were not binding referendums but suggestions. Kind of like "Like It Or Spike It" that Power 94½ used to have. By an overpowering vote of 87.5% to 12.5%, you - the many befaced readers of this blog - voted that I should stay in greater Cincinnati instead of relocating out of town. I guess the idea of losing the guy who actually follows through on shit wasn't too appealing. This doesn't mean I'll never relocate - because my very life may depend on it - but now it's less likely that I'll do it very soon. The fact that Thomas Massie isn't unopposed like The Media hoped and predicted is another reason to stay.

The other 'Pail Poll was closer: By a vote of 57% to 43%, you suggested that I should rejoin the Democratic Party instead of remaining a registered Green. I jumped the gun on this and rejoined, because the deadline for changing party affiliation was earlier than I thought it was, and it was clear which way this survey was going.

Some of you will disagree, but there are valid reasons for rejoining the Democrats. For starts, the Kentucky Democratic Party has finally rid itself of DLC establishment hacks like Kim Davis and Jim Gooch. And the Greens seldom run candidates when they need to the most - for instance, when a right-wing Democrat runs unopposed. The Greens seem more likely to run candidates when the election is already competitive. But the main reason for rejoining the Democrats isn't because of the Greens' shortcomings, but because progressive goals need a bigger party. The Tea Party grew into the Republicans from the right, and the GOP is now largely synonymous with the Tea Party. We need a force to grow into the Democrats from the left. After the Tea Party debacle, others have backed up the notion that the best way to restore progressive power to American politics is to rebuild our ranks within the Democratic Party. Best all, now I can vote for Bernie Sanders in the primary.

Despite the party switch, I am not moderating my views. For those hoping I am, tough toilets. We have to take a sinewy stand for what is good. So - by and large - life will go on as usual for the Time Being.

Yesterday's photos...Don't stay around long...

Photos and videos from yesterday's Roads Scholaring in Newport with the Peace Bike are up already. You know what you're gonna do with 'em? Peep 'em...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/newp16.html

Harassment reports increase with Tea Party invasion

Harney County, Oregon, should expel that invasive species known as the Tea Party.

As the Tea Party "militia" standoff there gets more ridiculous by the day, the sheriff has issued a statement that says reports of harassment and menacing have increased markedly since the Tea Party arrived. Sheriff Dave Ward says he's received "continual reports" of local residents being followed around town by right-wing militants, and of the militants sitting in cars outside their victims' homes. The right-wing invaders have also confronted government employees while grocery shopping and argued with them about their job duties. They've even ripped down fences erected by local ranchers or the government.

Yet the stupid continues.

(Source: http://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/33944701-75/story.csp)