Judge rules entire health care law unconstitutional

Now we know the other side is just making it up as they're going along.

Since last year's health care law passed, right-wing legal eagles have been trying to use the insurer mandate (which they previously supported) as an excuse to get the entire law ruled unconstitutional. Of course, it's not supposed to work that way. If one part of the law is unconstitutional, that does not by any means annul the rest of the law.

Unless, that is, activist judges make it so. And now - outrageously - they have.

U.S. District Judge Robert Vinson ruled today that the entire law is unconstitutional just because of that provision and a sensible provision that withheld federal money from states that refused to participate.

Alright, then that means the entire Telecommunications Act of 1996 is unconstitutional too, because the Communications Decency Act was tossed out.

Seriously now. If this ruling stands, everything good about the health care law is gutted. That means we can forget about sensible regulations on insurers like the new rules against limiting coverage of preexisting conditions or placing a lifetime cap on benefits.

So now the government has a "right" to make me get a prescription for over-the-counter Sudafed, but it can't require insurers to cover me?

Of course, even if the Supreme Court agrees with today's ridiculous ruling, it doesn't make this ruling any less goofy. I'd like to see where in the Constitution it says we can't regulate insurance companies. Nowhere does the Constitution say this. On the other hand, maybe now would be a good time to pass a better health care law - establishing the much-promised public option or (even better) a single payer system.

(Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/01/31/health.care.unconstitutional)

Drug warrior says cops are on meth

Now the apologists for the failed War on Drugs think the police are meth heads too?

Hey, the drug warriors are the ones claiming it. I'm not the one who said it.

With Kentucky seriously considering a bill to make over-the-counter Claritin a prescription drug - a policy that's failed to stem the outbreak of meth labs in other states - a lot of folks are on the lookout against this creeping tyranny. Even police are starting to come out against this bill, because it's been so ineffective elsewhere.

But a few people still don't get it, and they claim anybody who dares to oppose this bill is involved with meth themselves. Actually, meth makers don't object to this bill at all, since they'll find ways around it like they always do. Still, drug war partisans are mighty uproarious when they know they might not get their way. Here's what one of them posted about this bill on a news site's comment section:

"it isnt gonna hurt the honest people at all but it will help stop the drug problem if u disagree with this u are on meth or makin meth at least give the government a chance to stop htis or stop the chance your children will get hooked on meth and thats the way it is thank you"

So now the police are "on meth or makin meth"? That's what that person is saying - for the cops are against this bill just like almost everybody else is. According to the person who wrote that illegible harangue, 90% of the public is "on meth or makin meth."

If I'm "on meth or makin meth" just because I oppose a bill that will cost me an untold amount of time and money by forcing me to see a doctor to get a prescription for an over-the-counter drug each time my allergies flare up, doesn't that mean everybody else is too?

I love how they say to "give the government a chance" to stop over-the-counter allergy drugs - when they're complaining the rest of the time about government being too big. To them, the main purpose of government is to control what adults do in private.

The reeking stupidity of the War on Drugs is unending. The more it sinks in that it's losing support, the more irrational its remaining followers get.

Have no fear, ish #460 is here!

Volume 20!!!

Can you believe The Last Word - our durable fanzine of freedom - has been around almost 20 years? Can you believe it outlived the print version of the Kentucky Post?

We've just put out issue #460, and it's as great and as relevant as ever. This issue talks about:

• The creepy similarities between former schoolmates and Jared Loughner.

• The latest personal threat from a local right-wing cult.

• The growing and increasingly dangerous extremism of Kentucky's drug warriors.

• The creationist theme park that wants a taxpayer bailout.

• A genius who ruined his boat by trying to tow it under an overpass that was too low.

So peep, weep, and oggle-beep:

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw110129

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "Why No Green Response?"

Why no Green Party response to the State of the Union?

I know, this issue has been overdone here, and I haven't been authorized to speak for the entire Green Party anyway. But when the Republicans are allowed to have 2 responses, why not a Green response?

Our latest 'LCQ' mocks Michele Bachmann's Tea Party response. Of course, Paul Ryan's regular GOP response is also deserving of industrial-strength ridicule. Paul Ryan's class-baiting complaint about the already-gutted safety net becoming a "hammock" has zero appeal outside the Tea Party thought police.

The viewing public is not Facebook, Paul.

So - without further ado - here's this week's 'LCQ':

Another wish list entry ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

My wish list of 'Sesame Street' segments that I need to find before I am called home shrinks all too slowly. But here's one I'd like to add - if I haven't already.

It was a cartoon of a man demonstrating the diff between eyeglasses and drinking glasses. In this hilarious sketch, he poured water on his eyeglasses and held drinking glasses up to his eyes.

That guy was cool. He ought to be President of the World.

I've never found it on YouTube, Google, or Free Republic, and everybody insists I'm making the whole thing up. But we've seen what happens when somebody insists I've made up something I once saw on TV: It usually turns up eventually.

So there's 2 GOP responses now?

Damn that "liberal" media! Damn 'em, I say!

But what's this?! Now the Republicans get 2 responses to the State of the Union instead of just one?!

After President Obama's State of the Union address, most media organizations aired not just the regular Republican response, which was delivered by the yawn-inducing Paul Ryan. They also showed the Tea Party response, incoherently given by Michele Bachmann.

With the GOP being afforded 2 responses to one speech, don't the Greens deserve at least one?

Alright, so Obama's support of ending bailouts for greedy oil companies and replacing the failed No Child Left Behind law were good. It still doesn't justify 2 Republican responses. Furthermore, the media still owes the Greens the chance to give their response to Clinton's 1996 State of the Union, which was in essence a Republican speech - yet it received a Republican response.

If I had to give a response to Obama's speech, it would be every bit as confrontational towards the Republicans as Obama's speech should have been. Obama made no mention of civil liberties, raising the minimum wage, or repealing the extreme-right Citizens United ruling. I would have.

Fifteen years ago, the theme of Clinton's address was, "The era of big government is over" - even though the speech expanded government by endorsing school uniforms. The theme of any speech today ought to be, "The era of Big Business is over."

Media fools few about State of the Union "centrism"

It's getting to be that time of year again - when I have to set the media straight about how far from reality they've moved the center of debate.

The media boasts that President Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday will be one of "centrism." I'd hate to bring this up again, but I have no other choice: The truth is that the Democrats (not unlike that other party) would have to take a sharp left turn to achieve centrism.

It's been that way for years now. The policies implemented in America over the past 15 years are so extreme by any raw measure that one shouldn't be considered a radical leftist just because they want to reverse them. Nobody should even be called liberal if they want to expand them. But they're called that.

The center of debate is truly that far to the right these days. The garbage we read about on a daily basis these days never even came our way 30 years ago, thank heavens.

I've made this point zillions of times, because it's central to understanding just how very right-wing the major parties have become.

So I don't care to see some denizen of cyberspace accuse me of somehow being responsible if Obama's speech doesn't live up to the progressive ideals of this blog. I've spent the past 15 years warning you about the Democrats' increasingly weak grasp of civil liberties and economic fairness, so I don't deserve a bit of blame.

In fact, I'm a registered Green, and I didn't even endorse Obama.

If you don't grasp this then I'm sorry, I can't help you. I'm sure most folks aren't fooled by what the media considers to be moderate, but there's always a few who I have to correct.

If Obama was as progressive as I am, Robert Gates would have been shown the door on day one. And we wouldn't even be debating whether or not the Cat Food Commission's orders will be ignored.

In short, the State of the Union is the media's handiwork, not mine. If it's not up to snuff, let the media wallow in it.

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "That's Fascist!"

THAT'S FASCIST!!!

Remember a TV series in the early '80s called 'That's Incredible!'? It was cool. The 'That's Incredible!' kick-ass crew consisted of John Davidson, Cathy Lee Crosby, and Fran Tarkenton. This weekly ABC program featured lots of wild stunts, competitions, supernatural phenomena, domino set-ups, and heartwarming stories of people overcoming disabilities.

But these days, we need a show called 'That's Fascist!'

What better day to explore this need than today - the first anniversary of the unmistakably totalitarian Citizens United ruling? This ruling is finally prompting an independent investigation of several of the Justices behind it, but it's too late to free last year's elections from corporate dough.

Lots of things in modern America are fascist, and our latest 'LCQ' cuts to the heart of the matter by proposing a remake of 'That's Incredible!' titled 'That's Fascist!':

Connecticut town censors 'Sicko'

Militant fascism is on the march in the town of Enfield, Connecticut.

The local library had planned to show Michael Moore's 'Sicko' at a public screening. But then the mayor and town council threatened to pull the libe's funding and fire the library director if the film was shown.

How fucking stupid.

Then local officials denied that this act of government censorship was even censorship at all - because the movie is available elsewhere. One official said it wasn't censorship because Moore allegedly "thinks Fidel Castro is a great guy."

This isn't the first major act of censorship against a Moore work somewhere in America: 'Fahrenheit 9/11' was banned in Rapid City, South Dakota, during its theatrical run (though the ban was apparently lifted).

Since today is the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's inauguration, here's a JFK quote that should be remembered as much as any other: "Libraries should be open to all - except the censor."

(Source: http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2011/01/20/page_one/doc4d385d61a73c6632830994.txt)

Cookie Monster marks Citizens United anniversary ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

With the first anniversary of the Supreme Court's Nazi-like ruling in the Citizens United v. FEC case coming Friday, Cookie Monster is in the spirit! (The Shitizens United ruling is what led us to up our Fascism Advisory System from yellow to orange.)

I profiled this segment once last year, but it's so important that it's gotta be covered again! In this skit, the Cookster teaches children of all ages about what's living and what isn't. Cookie Monster alive. Rocks not alive:



That giant rock can actually represent a corporation. Unlike Cookie Monster, corporations not alive. But the Supreme Court gives them rights anyway.

It good to be alive.

NKU buys stations

One of the 4 schools I was expelled from is buying 2 FM stations to expand the reach of its existing station.

Northern Kentucky University - which already owns WNKU - is purchasing WPFB-FM in Middletown, Ohio, and WPAY-FM in Portsmouth, Ohio, and will begin simulcasting WNKU on these signals.

Surely, all 4 people who still listen to radio are quite interested to hear this.

For years, WPFB-FM between Cincinnati and Dayton has programmed a country format known as The Rebel. The WPAY purchase though may be of greater impact, since it likely has the most powerful signal in its own region. None of these new signals will help in Bellevue, where WNKU is jammed by stations that aren't worth shit in the first place and won't fix their transmitters.

As you may recall, I was expelled from NKU in 1995 because of my political views. This touched off several years of wasted police resources and phony accusations. Years later, the suppression of dissent was continuing as NKU persecuted other students and professors who didn't toe the party line. The university also invited Bush to appear on campus and tried to shoo away protesters. Bush then praised NKU for what he saw as upholding free speech.

Persecution of anybody who displays even a touch of progressive politics is pandemic throughout Kentucky's entire university system. (Oddly, I never had a bit of trouble when I attended community college, which proves the problems I had at NKU were NKU's fault, not mine.)

It's possible that NKU keeps WNKU at arm's length from its fascism, so it's hard to tell whether buying 2 stations is a net improvement for the listening public. It's also unknown whether WNKU now uses the studio on campus that somebody once used as a restroom.

I'm not bitter at NKU buying 2 stations, because it could be much worse. If the stations were being sold to Brossart, I'd be filing complaints with the FCC already.

FCC rubber-stamps Comcast's takeover of NBC

Gee, let's make corporations bigger - because we've seen how well that hasn't worked.

If there's one thing that's held true in America for the past 15 years, it's that you can usually count on ineptitude being rewarded. And if there's one agency that can usually be counted on to reward it, it's the FCC.

The FCC - the media gatekeepers who shut down Tantrum 95.7 because of its political views - have now approved Comcast's takeover of NBC and its cable channels. Comcast, as you may know, is a major cable company known for its dreadful service and for favoring right-wing channels.

The lone FCC commissioner who dissented from the 4-to-1 rubber-stamp vote is Democratic commish Michael Copps, who pointed out that the merger "confers too much power in one company's hands." If this merger is allowed to stand, this will be the first time in America that a cable company will own an over-the-air TV network - which itself raises conflict issues.

Of course, the FCC has been rubber-stamping with such velocity for years that one is surprised that their stamp hasn't been worn down to the handle. Since the pro-child-molester Telecommunications Act of 1996 passed, I don't think there's been a single instance in which the FCC rejected the sale or transfer of a radio or TV station - regardless of consequences.

What does all this mean, and how can it be stopped? NBC already leans far to the right: It infamously doctored a Michelle Obama speech during the 2008 campaign, and it tried to fire Keith Olbermann because he donated to Democratic campaigns. But don't expect NBC to improve, considering Comcast's own fascist leanings.

Are the states listening? The states need to break up Comcast and NBC, since the FCC won't. (Don't count on the Kentucky legislature to do it though, because they can't do anything right. That's why we have 2 other branches of government.) The same goes for other megamergers that have afflicted TV and radio in recent years.

(Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/18/fcc-approves-comcastnbc-m_n_810495.html)

Lieberman retires

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman is announcing tomorrow that he will not seek reelection next year.

Good riddance.

I guess he needs time to campaign for whoever wins the Republican presidential nomination again.

Comic book dreams

Ever have a dream about comic book characters?

If you do, you're weird. Just kidding! Actually, I have. In fact, I had one just last night.

This dream involved the old 'Super Friends' cartoon series. This dream had something to do with that little villain who got sent back to his home planet every time he was tricked into saying his name backwards. (Remember that guy?)

The message from this dream is that I should become a professional comic book artist. Dreams put together clues from the real world that you don't put together while you're awake. And this dream seems to have some real-word significance - like the countless variations of the "escape from Brossart" dream I've had.

Comic book artist. What a wonderful way to make a living! (Since the outsourcers deprive you of the right to make a living at anything else!)

Criminalize outsourcing?

You worked hard at the same company for 10 years.

But then the CEO moved your job overseas.

The global greed merchants say that's fair. But is it?

After unemployment benefits for Americans who have been left jobless by outsourcing were literally held for ransom last month, nothing is done to rein in those who make the decisions to move jobs out of the country. And who makes these decisions?

The people making these decisions are the right-wing weenie-wavers you see on the Internet bragging about how they own a large business and how they moved their operations overseas because workers abroad don't complain and don't unionize. If workers in some countries don't complain or unionize, it's because their supervisors beat them if they do. Is that what Corporate America wants? Obviously it is, because they keep moving jobs to where it goes on.

Folks, it's time to outlaw outsourcing. Just ban it. American companies simply should not be moving American jobs out of the country.

I'd make a sensible exception if it's for the rare work that simply can't be performed in the United States - but, by golly, it should still be BOUND by American labor laws if the company has any American interests.

If you're a company that wants to sell goods to Americans then, dammit, you're gonna keep the jobs making these goods in America whenever possible. I for one and sick and tired of everything I buy being made somewhere else - while almost everybody I know has been unemployed at least once in the past 5 years.

If you don't support a ban on outsourcing, then please don't attack people who have to go on welfare because they can't find a job.

Telling off public officials. It's therapeutic.

Well, folks, I did it. The 2011 Tim is living up to his name.

Today, I logged onto Facebook and told a local legislator what I thought of his shit. My message to him was not the kindest in creation. I'm not going to bother to look at his page again to see if he's deleted my post.

Don't think I don't stand up and fight. If public officials around here try to rob you of your rights, I'll wipe the floor with them. Local Tea Party activists know what I did to them, but they think lawmakers are immune to me just by divine right of their office. Well, this should show them - and believe me, telling off a state legislator felt good. I don't regret it.

I think it's symbolic that it happened to occur today. Fifty years ago, Americans were fighting hard for racial equality. In 2011, it's economic equality that's on the line.

I am more thankful than ever that I switched to the Green Party. I was starting to have regrets about raking a local Democratic politician through the coals some years ago, but the issues seem to pervade his party these days, and if he wants to come forward about the current state of his party, it's up to him.

But I can't do it all alone. I love you, but I can't. Now is the time to join me - before it's too late for me to help you when you're driven out of your own state.

The legislators who I'm opposing literally hold you and your well-being in contempt, and they don't give a damn what the Constitution says.

Looks like the teabaggers have some explaining to do

I had faith that this was going to be the year of bombshell stories against the Republican Right, and this may be the first one - if the media picks it up. Fat chance of that, considering Corporate America pays the media not to.

The Tea Party Express has a political action committee that is legally bound by campaign finance laws. The Center of Responsive Politics has just discovered that this PAC reported a series of donations from a woman in Guam in 2009 totaling thousands of dollars.

The trouble with this? The woman had died back in 2007 - before the Tea Party movement even began.

A dead woman gave money to the Tea Parties? We're supposed to believe that?

Wow. Just wow.

The woman's widower says he has no idea how this happened - because he says he didn't donate to the Tea Party in his wife's name, although he did donate in his own name. I don't think he donated in her name, because the risk of being caught would have been too great.

Can anybody locate the woman's credit card? The only explanation I can think of is that the woman used her credit card on a conservative website before her death, and this website gave her credit card number to the Tea Party movement, which kept charging false donations on her card in the hopes nobody would never notice. In fact, I think it's pretty obvious that's what happened.

I'm SURE of it. How else can something like this possibly occur?

It's called credit card fraud. I truly believe the Tea Parties committed a major crime to fund their movement. I don't think there's even a shadow of a doubt about it.

What's going to happen to the Tea Party Express for apparently committing credit card fraud? Probably nothing, because the media these days isn't worth shit. Still, somebody owes us an explanation. Now.

(Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/14/tea-party-dead-donor-joan-holmes_n_809165.html)

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "Magic Bus"

"I want it, I want it, I want it...You can't have it!"

TANK buses are not magic.

Seriously, they're not.

Northern Kentucky's transportation infrastructure is long troubled, and it seems to decline further every year. At one point in ancient history, TANK buses were fairly reliable and efficient, but now the routings don't seem to go many places that are useful, and the wait for a bus grows ever longer. Some local communities have lost TANK service entirely.

Meanwhile, officials over in Boone County have nixed their proposed trail system because the Tea Party movement told them to. This after loads of folks moved into the county simply because they thought the trail system would be built.

Because the trails were killed off, more money is going to be wasted on gasoline when it doesn't need to. You've got a hell of a way to drive up fuel prices, teabaggers.

Our latest 'LCQ' focuses on the fact that TANK ain't magic - as well as on other things, such as Lite Brites and Magna Doodles. Cool all. So peep our latest episode:

Don't own property? You might not count in Indiana

Damn, the teabaggers are a whole new plane of crazy!

After the Tea Parties demanded limiting voting to only those who own real property, a proposal by Republicans in Indiana stops little short of it.

A bill introduced by GOP lawmakers in Indiana would give special rights to property owners in several counties to challenge hospital projects. Under this bill, 5% of registered voters or 100 property owners could petition for a referendumb to nix the construction of new county hospitals.

Why 100 property owners? Why not just 100 people regardless of how much land they own?

And you do realize that the whole idea is stupid even without the property requirement, don't you? Why can't counties in Indiana fund hospitals, considering they gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Pathway Family Center cult (which then shut its doors almost immediately)?

This bill stems from a case in Harrison County in which the Republican-controlled county council inexplicably tried to kill construction of a county hospital that the public supported.

If the bill passes, it needs to be thrown out at once for discriminating against the poor who do not own real estate.

Let's look at how silly all of this is: The Republican machine in southern Indiana thinks a democratic republic means a county's richest citizens (but not the poorest) can decide what to put on the ballot - just to stop worthwhile projects. It's downright perverse.

And it's literally mob rule by the rich. Modern America may be the world's first and only society in which mob rule by the privileged guides so much government policy. The whole idea of referendums is to give a voice to the common person - not to limit democracy to just the elite who are worried about their precious, precious money.

(Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110112/NEWS02/301120107/Indiana+bill+would+let+property+owners+challenge+hospital+projects)

A game show teabaggers can't participate in ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

Guy Smiley is cool. And funny!

Mr. Smiley is of course the game show host on 'Sesame Street'. He looks a bit like a Muppet rendition of Bob Saget - but without the dirty jokes. However, since Saget became famous later, it is generally believed that Bob Saget was based on Guy Smiley - not the other way around.

The ol' Ses once featured a Smiley-hosted segment called "What's My Job?" For this game, contestants had to guess the occupations of panelists.

Most of the assassins who comprise the Tea Party movement could never be panelists on this show - because they don't have real jobs. The Republican Party and right-wing think tanks pay them to travel from city to city to hold stupid rallies. They don't really do much real work.

Most of the teagaggers do less work in a lifetime than I do in just a year. If they actually have any job other than professional agitator, it's usually a highly paid and powerful (but unstressful) executive position. And a lot of them just supplement their rally pay by living off their inheritance. That's how they can afford to stay in the swankiest hotels when they come to town.

Being a member of the LOSEianne crowd means an easy life with no worries.

Here's Guy Smiley hosting his teabagger-free skit:



The game show host who tries upstaging Guy Smiley bears a striking resemblance to Harvey Kneeslapper, a 'Sesame Street' Muppet known for numerous segments in which he played pranks on unsuspecting victims. Ol' Harv stopped appearing in new skits around 1976, but he was reportedly revived just last year.

Guy Smiley. Renewing America's purpose.

Tucson gunman a registered independent-turned-Republican

Much has been made about Jared Loughner's apparent party affiliation, and the dinosaur media - to the surprise of nobody - has made no attempt to clear the air.

Media reports say Loughner was a registered independent. And that's true. Loughner signed voter forms in 2006 and 2008 to this very effect.

The key word here is 'was'. Sometime later, he switched his affiliation to Republican:

http://img171.imageshack.us/f/jllrsc.jpg

I have not seen this reported by the pop-up media. Not once.

The wingnutosphere's "argument" is that the form that shows Loughner is a Republican is an elaborate hoax by the Arizona Secretary of State's office. Never mind that the Arizona Secretary of State is a Republican. At least one right-wing blog later posted a doctored version of this form that misspelled 'Tucson' and claimed this was the first version put out by anti-GOP hoaxsters.

But that fable won't wash. The right-wing blogosphere has proven itself to be untrustworthy.

Right-wing blogs that are doctoring the form to boost their defense of the GOP are actually hindering an official investigation - which itself is a crime.

Some have argued that registering as an independent has become shorthand for being a Republican but not having the gall to admit it - but I don't buy that. I'm sure it's true for some, but it's not an automatic conclusion.

The media's coverage is outrageous on several fronts. Not only has it repeatedly described Loughner as an independent while failing to mention that he's now a Republican. But the media is also trying to manipulate public opinion by downplaying the role of right-wingers' eliminationist rhetoric. Fact is - because of the Citizens United ruling - corporations now pay media organizations for favorable coverage of the GOP. In the past year, media coverage of everything has become a campaign ad.

In essence, the pop-up media IS the Republican Party these days.

Right-wing vitriol lacks counterpart on left

Right-wing calls to violence are deadly.

A federal judge and several others are dead, and a congresswoman is clinging to life - because the likes of Sarah Palin spend their lives drawing maps with poorly drawn crosshairs. Meanwhile, the media has generally ignored the fact that Jared Loughner was on Free Republic, is a registered Republican, was a fan of Palin's Facebook page, and is a follower of some right-wing nobody who encouraged people to add punctuation marks to their names because he thought it meant they wouldn't have to pay taxes.

I challenge anybody to find a leftist counterpart to the right-wing vitriol that led to the Tucson shooting. In my almost 38 years, I have yet to see one.

Believe me, I will fight for what I believe in. And I know there's some truly evil folks out there on the right. But it takes a lot - and I mean A LOT - for me to ramp up the talk to where the other side already is. I have no problem with telling child abusers and anybody who threatens me or my country where I stand. But I don't go around encouraging violence just because somebody has a different opinion.

My constitutional beliefs are naturally ordained, and it took me many years to reach this level of illumination. It is my natural duty to bring this message to the people. I don't have the power to change what the message is. It is what it is. I exercise my First Amendment right to spread the word.

But those on the lunatic right like Sarah Palin, Mitch McConnell, and Glenn Beck are frustrated at the lack of public support for their ideas. So they resort to promoting violence. That's all these cowards, weaklings, and America-haters have. It's the same feeling that drives the hatemongers who joined the Facebook page that tries to solicit Obama's assassination.

If we're at war with the Far Right, it's a war they started.

DeLay gets only 3 years

Um.

Wasn't Tom DeLay supposed to get 5 to 99 years?

That's the law, is it not?

I would've given him 99, but the law says no less than 5. Is this yet another case of rules not applying to Republicans? (Yes.)

And because he was convicted of conspiracy, others need to be charged too. Now. By definition, conspiracy means there's at least 2 people involved.

Hopefully, Tom DeLay will get his ass kicked daily over the next 3 years. I'd laugh in his ugly face if he did.

Judge killed in Arizona shooting

More details about today's assassination attempt against Gabrielle Giffords: Federal judge John McCarthy Roll was among those killed in the shooting.

Roll had previously faced death threats by right-wing extremists.

A few words...

Since I started The Last Word 18 years ago, I've been trying to warn the public about the propensity for violence harbored by the extreme right.

This wasn't hyperbole. I already knew from experience what they're capable of. And that was even before the Contract With America or the Tea Parties.

Too often, it seemed like my warnings fell on apathetic ears.

Today, the country has learned the hard way what the lunatic right is all about, and that only drives home what I've said for years. I won't stop because of this. In fact, I expect more people to pay heed when I say the extreme right has lost it, lost it, lost it.

We're dealing with crazies. I've known it my whole adult life. And now you know it too.

Democratic congresswoman assassinated

Now they've done it.

This is the day I had long feared, but the reality of it never sinks in until it happens.

Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was assassinated at an event in Tucson today around 10 AM MST (noon EST). Five others were also reportedly killed in the shooting.

Words cannot sufficiently describe today's events.

Blood on Jan Brewer's hands

Arizona has a cold-blooded murderer in the governor's office. It's time we start calling out killers like this for what they are.

Recently, at least 2 people have died as a result of being denied an organ transplant by Arizona. This followed Medicaid cuts by right-wing Gov. Jan Brewer and her Republican minions.

Why aren't Brewer and other Arizona Republicans being placed on trial for crimes against humanity? The Arizona GOP has become a death panel that controls the fate of poor and working-class people by slashing their medical coverage. (The rich of course are not affected.)

Meanwhile, dozens of Republican governors nationwide have sent a letter to the Obama administration demanding permission to slash Medicaid in their states. (Then again, Arizona never bothered to get permission.)

The Republican Party has become a party of calculating killers.

(Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/05/ap/national/main7217038.shtml)

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "Warding Off Drac"

Meet right-wing Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Kentucky). A complete and total pooplord.

He's the congressmoron from my district, and we call him Dracula Davis because he looks like a vampire. He's known for right-wing extremism like his bill that would encourage schools to perform strip searches of students.

During Drac's 2010 campaign, he sank to new depths. Davis's campaign goons built pretty much the entire campaign around making fun of his Democratic opponent John Waltz for being an Iraq War veteran with PTSD.

Drac is truly one of the worst members of Congress - ever. He may actually be the worst representative ever from my district. And that says a lot. He is THAT bad.

And - as has been the case with most other congressional Republicans since the Contract With America - he doesn't know a damn thing about separation of powers. Or maybe he knows but just doesn't give a shit. He acts as if the legislative branch (Congress) can just take over the other branches' functions.

The executive branch (the President) was elected by the people to make sure laws are properly enforced, but Drac's cause celebre lately is trying to keep the executive branch from enforcing the laws. Uh, Geoff? You don't get to decide how the executive branch carries out the law. If you don't like the laws, either repeal them in Congress - or admit that there's not enough public support for doing so.

Take it like a grownup, Drac.

The media may let Geoff Davis off the hook, but 'LCQ' sure doesn't. In the latest episode, one of Drac's congressional newsletters (which he sent out at taxpayer expense) gets abused like the booger rag it is:

Cincinnati to loosen failed pot law

Add Cincinnati to the list of major cities that the teabaggers don't own anymore.

Several years ago, right-wing city officials deluded themselves into thinking Ohio's state laws against marijuana possession weren't tough enough. Seriously, they really thought that. So they rammed through a new city ordinance establishing stricter penalties for pot.

The jail was already overcrowded, yet the city was making criminals out of thousands more people (and trying to get the taxpayers to pay for it with a sales tax hike).

But now the city has learned anew the old lesson that prohibition doesn't work, and they're now set to repeal this ordinance. Statistics reveal that the tougher marijuana law failed to reduce criminal activity, and it increased costs of law enforcement.

The city's new budget also eliminates services for private schools that the schools can afford to pay for themselves. (Ohio is one of the most spendthrift states when it comes to private school bailouts, even as the state has slashed services for the poor just out of meanness.)

Where were the teagaggers in the years that Cincinnati's draconian marijuana law was on the books? They claim to be for smaller government, but not once did I ever hear them criticize this failed ordinance. Not like I expected these whiny liars to give a shit.

(Source: http://networkedblogs.com/cCQ87)

Casey Kasem teaches kids about TV ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

After profiling the 'Sesame Street' segment about 'R' for radio, it's only fair to do the similar animated sketch about 'T' for TV.

At least TV isn't as deprived of a future as radio is. Damn, that's a shame about radio. Radio has the portability that no other medium has, and they went and threw it all away. It's so bad that I didn't turn on the radio even once during my Delmarva Peninsula trip.

The skit about 'T' for TV clearly features the voice of Casey Kasem. Back in my day, I always listened to ol' Casey counting down the 40 biggest songs each week. He didn't stop 'til he reached the top, don't ya know. But that was before Casey started a new countdown show that used the wrong chart (because the rise of rap scared radio programmers).

Watch Casey teach your kids about the magic of television:



I love how the conductor reaches out of the TV and silences Casey's character's singing. I wish I could have reached inside the radio and silenced some of the songs that only charted because of stations accepting payola money from record labels, but what can ya do?

California outlaws online impersonation

It's hard to believe that a federal law against buying too much Claritin-D passed before even a single state passed a law against impersonating folks on the Internet. But after the hard frost of 28 years of Republican misrule, here we are.

California has a new law making it illegal to fraudulently impersonate other actual people online. This long-overdue legislation carries fines of up to $1,000 and up to a year in jail.

Actually, malicious impersonation should have already been covered by existing laws against fraud, harassment, and racketeering. But impersonators and their apologists cried that this would have violated their True Free Speach Now (tm). Judging by the way they've acted in years past, they truly believe they have a birthright to carry out such fraud, so who truly expects the new law to be enforced with the gusto it deserves?

Either way, if California lawmakers hadn't procrastinated so much, this law could have come in mighty handy if it was on the books years ago. But I guess enacting punitive welfare "reform" laws was more important to them.

(Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/01/02/businessinsider-california-makes-it-illegal-to-impersonate-people-online-2011-1.DTL)

Idiot right-wingers fall for Bieber satire

It's gonna be a big year, folks, when the first story of the year is something as uproariously stupid as this.

Because the Republicans hate Muslims, they planned to base their 2010 campaign on opposing Park51. Most Republicans abandoned this issue though when they realized that most folks believe Muslims have a right to build their community center.

But some of the right-wing brain trust still hasn't learned, and they're so wrapped up in knee-jerk hatred that they'll fall for anything that fans it.

Take Park51 opponent Andy Sullivan, for instance. Sullivan has frequently been interviewed on TV about his Hard Hat Pledge - in which he tries to get construction workers to promise not to do any work for Park51.

Sullivan is now leading a boycott of Canadian singer Justin Bieber. He cites an interview in which the singer apparently declared, "Muslims should be allowed to build a mosque anywhere they want." The Facebook page for Sullivan's Bieber boycott now has about 500 followers. Sullivan said, "My little girl took down his poster and said she didn't want to have nothing to do with him anymore. These are my kids. They're living this thing."

It would be idiotic enough to boycott a singer because he supports building Park51. But it turns out the interview of Bieber isn't even real! It was just a satire published on some website. Anybody who read the actual interview could see it was just satirical.

Unless of course they're an idiot. But to keep supporting the Republicans in 2011, you'd almost have to be one anyway.

Meanwhile, the media has refused to promote a boycott of Pink even after she endorsed child abuse.

(Source: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/12/30/justin_bieber_ground_zero_mosque)