Lawn Chair Quarterback: "Face Farts"

Tim describes the hilarity of when someone farts in a person's face...

H.B. 279 debacle illustrates legislative arrogance

Everybody talks as if the executive branch reigns over all else in Kentucky, but today's fiasco proves nothing can be further from the truth.

H.B. 279 is a bill in Kentucky that masquerades as a religious freedom measure - although it seems to neglect the very essence of religious liberty. For most folks, religious freedom is about the right of free people to exercise their beliefs without interference - not imposing their ideas on everyone else. For instance, real religious freedom would protect people from fascist diktats such as Real ID or public school uniforms.

But H.B. 279 overreaches. It seems to provide a gaping avenue for people to ignore antidiscrimination laws and hide behind religion to justify it. That's not religious freedom. In Kentucky, we have a saying: The right to flail your fist ends where someone else's nose begins. When we say this, we mean it. Mean it like a dictionary, we do.

I would have supported H.B. 279 if lawmakers had modified it so nobody could dodge antidiscrimination laws. But they wouldn't listen to reason.

The legislature approved H.B. 279 - but Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear vetoed it, probably because of the aforementioned flaw. Today, however, lawmakers overrode Beshear's veto.

What does this tell us about the arrogance of those who subscribe to the warped notion that the legislative branch should have greater power than government's other branches? The situation in Kentucky is particularly dangerous, because it only takes a simple majority of each chamber to override a governor's veto. Fact is, the branches were originally conceived to be coequal - in Kentucky and at the federal level. There are times when lawmakers are supposed to pipe down and let governors do their job. The idea of coequal branches is supposed to safeguard the people's rights from mob rule by a privileged few.

Apparently, some other states have already passed laws like H.B. 279. The good news is that people who try hiding behind these laws to defend discrimination haven't had much traction. So today's override may prove to be a pyrrhic victory for those who fail to grasp religious liberty.

Farty City

Earlier at the Party City in Eastgate, somebody ripped an SBD bunker blast, which stunk up an entire aisle.

CVS forces workers to reveal private health data

When you see stories like this, you can probably understand why my faith in the system is just about nil. I'm a swell guy, but my patience ended decades ago.

CVS Pharmacy - America's largest drugstore chain - has a new policy that menaces all 200,000 employees. Workers must now submit their private health data such as their body fat level - or pay a $50 fine each month.

There's no way in hell this is legal. Medical data is supposed to be confidential. It's between you and your doctor - not between you and your boss.

I know this is a dumb question, but it must be asked: Do CVS employees have a union? If they had one, they might be able to halt the pharmacy chain's snooping. Without a union, they're probably out of luck.

Violence against child abusers: right or wrong?

I usually mean what I say. If I cheer violence against known child abusers, it's no exception.

I hate people who beat children. By that, I don't mean actions that might be widely regarded as reasonable parental discipline (though I'm not a supporter of corporal punishment either). I'm talking about outright battery. A few years ago, I posted a strongly worded entry on this blog about a case in which a school administrator beat the living shit out of an 8-year-old boy, and prosecutors refused to bring charges. I demanded nothing less than complete ruin for child abusers.

I truly believe what I posted. But once in a while, I get a pang of regret over posting this. It's not because I didn't mean what I said - because I meant it. It's not because I'm afraid the sheriff is going to try to have me institutionalized just for saying it - because I will absolutely humiliate anyone who tries that. Rather, it's because that entry might scare away folks who might otherwise enjoy this blog. They might want me to try to "understand" child abusers. Why, where's the love?

I've been around long enough to know there are crybaby so-called "liberals" out there who give real progressives like me a bad name. I know that if they saw the entry I wrote, they'd mewl about it for the next few centuries and look for other excuses to criticize me. (I can imagine them crying, "How can you call yourself left-wing when you didn't endorse Mark Warner?")

I will defend what I said. And I'm not alone. People on other websites have also had some tough words about other abuse cases. One person said of an abusive principal, "I'm afraid I'd have to take my fist to him and go to jail for battery but it would be worth it."

The real question is: Is it morally right to endorse violence against known child abusers? I've added a poll on this blog that asks this question, and I plan to have this survey up until the end of April. Hopefully, it won't be freeped by the now-discredited FairTax cult like the old 'Pail Poll was.

The outcome of this poll will not change my mind. I'm not here to "understand" people who beat kids. If you knock a defenseless child around, you deserve what's coming.

Local lawmaker opposes popular domestic violence bill

Damn, Joe Fischer is fucking pitiful.

The Kentucky House recently approved H.B. 9, a very popular bill that would allow dating partners to obtain domestic violence protective orders. The vote was 92 to 5 in favor.

Kentucky has been weak regarding protective orders - a fact that has led to the deaths of some victims. In fact, there was reportedly no such thing as a protective order in Kentucky until sometime very recently. But H.B. 9 is a strong safeguard for victims.

Guess who was among the 5 members who voted against this robust bill? That's right, folks. Campbell County's very own Joe Fischer. Mr. "Right-to-Work" himself. The same Joe Fischer who was almost laughed out of the chamber for trying to gut Kentucky's laws against corporate funding of elections. The same Joe Fischer who sued the state in order to force it draw a House district where he could get elected.

The other 4 members opposing the bill were - like Fischer - also Republicans: Mike Harmon, Kim King, Mike Meredith, and of course failed attorney general candidate Stan Lee.

Hey, we just got a message for Stan Lee: Jim Photoglo called. He wants his mustache back.

(Source: http://pageonekentucky.com/2013/03/22/naming-names-on-the-house-bill-9-shenanigans)

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "Because It Bips"

Why ask why, when the answer is always, "Because it bips"...

GOP wants to hang up on phone service for the poor

GOP evil never ends.

Congressional Republicans now want to shut down a program called Lifeline - which funds phone service for tens of millions of low-income Americans. The Media calls this program the "Obamaphone", even though it began in 1985 and was expanded to cell phones back in 2005 - long before President Obama took office.

Lifeline is one of the most efficient government programs and yields some of the best results. The program has saved lives by paying for phone service that allows people to call for help in case of an emergency.

Far-right wrath against Lifeline was aggravated last year when a video appeared featuring a woman saying she would vote for Obama because he gave her a free phone. That video has since been debunked as a hoax.

Now, Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Arkansas) has introduced a bill that would bar Lifeline from funding potentially life-saving cell phone service.

Republicans also use the budget sequester to try to justify cutting Lifeline, but they don't seem willing to cut a penny from their bloated "defense" programs or their failed Washington, D.C., school voucher program. When it comes to wasting taxpayer money, the GOP wins hands-down.

Fascist class warfare and government waste rule the roost in the modern Republican Party.

(Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/288553-supporters-rally-to-defense-of-obama-phone-program-)

10 years, zero prosecutions

I am livid.

According to Wikipedia, the Iraq War began on March 20, 2003, and ended on December 18, 2011. That means today is the 10th anniversary of the start of this unpopular, illegal war.

Ten years - yet not a single prosecution of Bush, Cheney, and other lying war criminals in the Bush regime.

And while the war itself has ended, the insurgency in Iraq continues and threatens the lives and mobility of Iraqis daily. All because of the Bush thugocracy - and The Media that cheered the war.

Time to start the prosecutions.

Livin' in the KCIT...Talkin' hard times in Kansas City...

Now for something a little more lighthearted...

I majored in radio/TV, so I reserve the right to lapse into an uncontrollably animated state whenever I see a website dedicated to a failed TV station. Over 40 years ago, there was a station in Kansas City bearing the unmistakable call letters KCIT. Evidently, TV in Kansas City at the time was just as laden with questionable preemptions as Cincinnati was later. KCIT's selling point was that they picked up the shows that the main network affiliates preempted. (Even The Brady Bunch was preempted! What is this world coming to?!)

Now there's a bloke out there who has an entire website lamenting the loss of this short-lived station. And it's hilarious! Like where he talks about how KCIT once spliced out a climactic scene from a movie to use in a promo, then spliced it back in upside-down and backwards before they aired the film.

The best part of this guy's website is his lengthy diatribe about his heroic efforts to pick up this station. He goes on and on and on about how his parents wouldn't buy him a TV set that was capable of picking up KCIT clearly. This cranky narrative takes up most of a page. It sounds like his inability to watch KCIT ruined his whole life.

I can sympathize to some extent. I recently learned that the real reason Cincinnati radio stations banned songs over lyrics that were tolerated in other cities is that right-wing groups threatened to picket the stations' advertisers. When these songs were first banned, it led to the internalization of the notion that a song was somehow "tainted" unless it was "safe" enough not to be banned from local airwaves. Thus, anyone who listened to the few stations you could pick up locally that played these songs was made to feel like some sort of pariah. Long story short: right-wing extremism kills.

America's seemingly wide smorgasbord of TV and radio stations doesn't always foster diversity of voices. Rather, it often creates media congestion. This congestion has turned the airwaves into a specialty medium where right-wing talking points are amplified and songs are repeated too often. Dissenting voices usually can't afford to compete.

Without further ado, here's that uproarious ode to KCIT that I've been talking about...

http://www.wtv-zone.com/dpjohnson/kcit50

GOP tries to punish schools for failing to bust unions

The spirit of Hitler has come to life in Michigan lately.

Much as the Republican Congress in the '90s defunded colleges and universities that didn't adhere to unbending right-wing creed, GOP lawmakers in Michigan are now attempting to do the same. Because the University of Michigan and Wayne State University approved new labor contracts before the state's fascist "right-to-work" law takes effect, legislators are now threatening to defund these schools.

Another Republican bill would revoke funding from public school districts that approve labor contracts before the right-to-scab law goes into force.

The latest act of Republican goosestepping might not become law, because the Michigan legislature today is less Republican than it was during the Tea Party-fueled session that foisted the right-to-loaf law upon the state. What's ironic is that one of the biggest legacies of the Tea Party - which claims to be for limited government - is the passage of so-called "right-to-work" laws in 2 states. They claim to be for smaller, less intrusive government, yet they passed a law requiring union workers to subsidize nonunion labor.

That's why we call 'em fascists.

(Source: http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/03/right_to_work_michigan_univers.html)

Tea Party leader has ties to American Fascist Party

James Ives is one of the leading lights of the far-right Tea Party in the Houston area. Now the conservative activist has some explaining to do.

It turns out that Ives - who has hosted statewide Tea Party events, contributed to right-wing radio, and cavorted with local Republican politicians - was the director of propaganda for the American Fascist Party. He regularly touted the AFP's dogma on a right-wing Internet forum, and an AFP promotional video even shows him in the party's black uniform. In one post, he said that building up the fascist movement was "our spirit, our calling."

When asked recently about his involvement in the American Fascist Party, Ives said, "It was all pro-Constitution, pro-America."

Most of the rest of the Tea Party is of course involved in not the American Fascist Party, but a fascist party in America - called the Republicans.

(Source: http://bigcountryhomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=580012)

Media talking heads weep for rapists

A few months ago, 2 high school football players in Steubenville, Ohio, were indicted for raping a 16-year-old girl at a party. The defendants have now been found guilty and will be incarcerated. In the months leading up to the trial, however, defenders of the rapists swaggered about town, accusing the victim of ruining the rapists' lives. The pro-rape contingent even said the crime should be overlooked because the perpetrators had such a promising future in football. School and government officials also led a cover-up of the rape in order to protect the rapists.

Occupy has been conducting protests in Steubenville against this cover-up. These rallies helped expose the rape and bring about the conviction of the defendants.

The attitudes of a city's residents are often a product of local institutions. I'm confident that most folks in Steubenville surely don't want rapists anywhere near. But the relatively small number who support the rape defendants were influenced by local organizations known for their conservative bent. In that regard, Steubenville is like many other places - where a small, arrogant contingent inspired by reactionary institutions catatonically excuses violent crimes that afflict the community.

Several nobodies at CNN seem to share the view of this small contingent. Today, one of these nobodies sniffed that it was "incredibly difficult" to watch the rapists hear the verdict "as they believed their life fell apart." Another of these CNN nonentities added, "There's always that moment of just - lives are destroyed. But in terms of what happens now, the most severe thing with these young men is being labeled as registered sex offenders."

Tough shit. Crimes have consequences. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

Why do the thought guardians at CNN expect us to feel sorry for 2 young criminals who raped a teenage girl? It sounds like they care more about the perpetrators than the victim.

The fact that a media outlet has so much concern for the rapists is another example of how the hard frost of rightism has dashed America's morals. But victim-blaming is not "cool" like The Media thinks it is. One of the most shameful aspects of this story is that some will insist that the defendants' conviction is a sign of "tyranny" by "the liberals." Those who say this are those who judged the victim for attending the party where she was raped - but not the football players who attended the same party.

I hope that future prospective employers will see that these thugs have a rape conviction on their records. If workers in 24 states can be fired for the "crime" of entering into a union security contract, then I sure as hell hope a person can be fired for being a rapist.

(Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/17/cnn-grieves-that-guilty-verdict-ruined-promising-lives-of-steubenville-rapists)

Cincinnati! Dayton! It's a great place to start!

Roads Scholars like me love stories like this, and you will too, provided you're a Roads Scholar and all.

Much cooing has been generated by local economic boosters claiming that Cincinnati and Dayton will merge into one lump metropolitan area because of the results of the 2010 census. Well, now the new official definitions of America's metropolitan areas have been released, and it is not to be: Cincinnati and Dayton remain separate. They're not even in the same combined statistical area (though nobody uses combined statistical areas anyway).

In the new definitions, the Cincinnati metropolitan area actually dropped Franklin County, Indiana - and gained neighboring Union County. So now there's a nice big dent in the official map of the metro. Rules are rules, and Union County apparently now has greater commuter ties to Cincinnati than Franklin County does.

It makes sense, mapfaces. Trust me on that.

Another week ruined by shingles

Keek! Ruin!

I reported last week that several days were flushed down the johnnypooper by an unspecified illness. Now I know that I've been suffering from shingles.

I started feeling sick to my stomach a couple days after I posted that, and I began experiencing a rash on the right side of my abdomen that burned like it was going out of style. Also, the high fever returned briefly. 'Twas shingles and a force to be reckoned with!

For the record, this will extend my illness log entry by a week.

Bet yer excited about that, huh?

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "Bananagate"

Tim describes how Richard Nixon always looked like he was storing bananas in his mouth...

GOP lawmakers squander taxpayer money on meals

The Kentucky Senate is heavily Republican - since it's gerrymandered like there's no tomorrow. And it shows, considering the GOP's record of waste.

Last week, the Kentucky Senate pissed away almost $1,000 in taxpayer money on expensive dinners for themselves. Each meal consisted of pork barbecue, potato salad, beverages, and of course a cookie. Had to include the cookie, didn't it?

We're paying senators to do a low-budget Cookie Monster impression instead of writing laws? You can bet your bottom dolllar Katie Stine grabbed a cookie, lurched into Chris McDaniel's face, and roared, "Coooookie!" as she shoveled the dessert into her mouth and made munching noises.

Now the ornate Kentucky Senate chamber is stained with crumbs and barbecue sauce - which will cost even more to remove.

The Kentucky GOP keeps telling state employees and other working people throughout the state to tighten their belts - but they won't lead by example. Some state workers haven't gotten a raise in 6 years!

The $1,000 spent on the Kentucky Senate's barbecue dinners seems even more exorbitant when you consider that this chamber has only 38 members. Do the math.

Don't let the party of wastage and spilled food win the Kentucky House too.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/03/14/2557544/state-senate-orders-985-meal-at.html)

When Elaine Chao attacked workers

The only thing that stops the Republican Party of Kentucky from shriveling into a petrified husk is a friendly media that props it up and amplifies its demagoguery.

Elaine Chao - Secretary of Labor under dictator George W. Bush - is the wife of Kentucky's embattled multimillionaire Sen. Mitch McConnell. It's a fact that Chao's father James is a friend of some of mainland China's political leaders and has contracted to do business with a shipbuilding company owned by the Chinese government. McConnell has used his position in the Senate to enrich James Chao and the Chinese government, make slaves of Chinese workers, and send American jobs to China.

This information is factual. Republican apologists say it's racist to bring it up. But it isn't - as long as the story is true. I don't judge anybody based on their ethnicity. When an immigrant comes to America and works hard, great. The real story here is that a senator abuses his power to benefit his father-in-law - killing American jobs.

As an official in the corrupt Bush regime, Elaine Chao carried out an endless war against American workers. She supported union-busting and refused to endorse raising the minimum wage. She tried to erase government regulations that protected workers from repetitive motion injuries.

In 2007, Chao launched a stunning broadside against the industriousness and intelligence of American workers. She flatly claimed that American workers have poor workplace skills, and that this justifies moving jobs overseas. "American employees must be punctual, dress appropriately, and have good personal hygiene," she scolded. "They need anger management and conflict resolution skills, and they have to be able to accept direction. Too many young people bristle when a supervisor asks them to do something."

Incidentally, that cry wasn't new - but it was as bogus as ever. Our corporate masters had long complained that there was something wrong with the American workforce. Many of you have probably had a dickish boss who grumbled about your "attitude" because you wouldn't come into work on Thanksgiving every year to clean the toilets. Usually, complaints about workers' "attitude" is shorthand for a desire to subjugate. When your boss says, "I don't like your attitude," it means, "I don't like it that we can't pay people only 12 cents an hour to sort used syringes with their bare hands."

It's easy to picture well-known officials in the Bush regime telling someone, "I don't like your attitude." Authoritarian personality types are the people Bushism appealed to. If you're stunned that there were actually people out there who thought Bush was a credible politician, now you know what his base of support was. Normal people would consider Bush one of the least compelling politicians around, but the authoritarian GOP base considers his reign to be an era of shimmering national greatness (as a Daily Kos user put it).

The Department of Labor was created to protect workers. But under Elaine Chao, its only function seemed to be to scold workers, call them stupid slobs, and offshore their jobs.

Conservative dogma has failed, so diversion is now one of the Evil Empire's last tactics. They accuse their enemies of the same things they're guilty of themselves. It's a propaganda technique. Forewarned is forearmed.

Scabs on society

"One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys." –Proverbs 18:9

The right-wing Bowling Green Daily News gloats that it's "inevitable" that Kentucky will become a so-called "right-to-work" state. Never mind that right-to-scab laws violate not only the U.S. Constitution (which conservatives ignore) but also the National Labor Relations Act and Section 19 of the Kentucky Constitution, which bars the impairing of contracts. Never mind that passing such a law will be legislatively impossible if the upcoming redistricting conforms to laws that govern the redistricting process.

We will fight against the violence and fascism of "right-to-work" laws. I'm not afraid to die for the cause.

In workplaces that I've been in or have become at least somewhat familiar with, the laziest people were always those who supported union-busting. Strikebreakers are called scabs for a reason. Incidentally, employing people to break a strike also violates the National Labor Relations Act - but it occurs anyway. Back to my main point: I worked at the local library in the '90s. One day, the libe hired a bloke to work in my office who personified the attitude of scabs everywhere.

The man was about 65, so he was a bit older than the average worker there. Still, his somewhat advanced age didn't excuse his behavior. He had a desk job, so it's not like he was expected to lift TV's and adjust the satellite dish like I had to do. I know people who had to break their backs daily well past 60, so it's hard for me to feel bad for this guy.

This man bore an unwavering reptilian smirk as he sat at his desk. He didn't seem to do much actual work. Supervisors would give him stacks of books to process, and a day later, the same pile would still be sitting there. The only thing different would be that one of the books would have our all-important roll of lamination sheeting hanging off of it. He hadn't gotten around to cutting the sheet yet (an act that took a whole 30 seconds).

This guy would offer his right-wing commentaries just out of the clear blue. We'd all be sitting there working in the quiet office, when all of a sudden, he might say, "You know, I never did like unions." Thus would begin a speech lasting at least 10 minutes about the "corruption" of organized labor. He once treated us to a philippic about how he thought the Kennedys were communists. And one day, when some of us were lamenting the rise of the police state, he pointed to the government-mandated warning label on a bottle of Liquid Paper - as if he thought consumer protection regulations were the same as being arrested without charges by secret police spying on you at a Cheap Trick concert.

This gent's economic views indicated he was among the then-burgeoning brand of loudmouth who believed that being anything more than barely breathing was a privilege, not a right. He's like the clod who attacked me on a BBS around the same time during a discussion about proper wages for personal groundskeepers. I had a good mind to slug that guy! I wasn't even talking to him, and he started calling me a punk kid because I said minimum wage wasn't enough for a person to tend someone's lawn.

Some people understand the value of a dollar. Scabs and their apologists don't. And they can't stand that I know better than to sell myself short.

Their ignorance can't be anything but deliberate. And - just as the Book of Proverbs says - they are just like those who destroy. Right-to-scab laws are destructive.

If the Daily News gets its way and Kentucky - by some miracle - becomes a right-to-loaf state, I will either go on strike until the law is repealed or start my own business. I'll be damned if I'm going to work for less just so nonunion labor can be subsidized. That's slavery. If I own my own business, then at least I can choose to defy the right-to-scab law. If you work for me, you pay the union fees. End of discussion.

Teabagger who makes robocalls must close unlicensed "university"

Xanthi Gionis is a Tea Party candidate for California Senate who keeps making illegal, unsolicited robocalls to voters.

Gionis founded and ran something called Aristotle University. She falsely advertised it as an accredited school. It was not accredited. Now the state has ordered it closed for not having a license.

This closure follows Gionis defrauding students from all over the world. One student came all the way from Ghana and lost his entire life savings to this scam. Gionis also threatened to take away students' visas and have them deported.

This is the movement that runs the U.S. House, a significant number of state legislatures, and the bulk of the American media. The country is being controlled by scam artists and grifters who have an agenda, and don't care what the majority thinks, because this is a holy war for them.

We are at war. What will be necessary to fight back?

(Source: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/11/1193234/-Tea-Partier-accused-fraudster-scumbag-still-robocalling-in-CA-Senate-bid)

Great rally brings MediaFail

On Friday, I attended the rally outside Western & Southern in Cincinnati where we protested against the financial service giant's bullying of the women of the Anna Louise Inn. The event wasn't organized by Occupy, but Occupy folks were face-deep in attendance. In all, about 300 people showed up.

I'll at least give The Media credit for covering it more than they've covered any local Occupy event in months. Channel 9 was on hand, and CityBeat covered it before the fact. But I didn't see any other media there - even though the local press endlessly hyped the Tea Party's Day of Resistance garbage a couple weeks ago.

Channel 12 - called WKRC-TV by those in the know - was particularly disappointing. Channel 12 was recently taken over by the far-right Sinclair syndicate - a takeover that was rubber-stamped by the FCC, of course! It shows. I watched Channel 12's news in the hopes they'd covered the rally, but instead, here's a partial list of stories covered in that hour of news:

• Local college sports teams switching conferences. This was their top story, believe it or not.

• A run-of-the-mill high school basketball game. This too was covered within the first 12 minutes.

• A point-by-point rehashing of talking points about the federal budget sequester. This piece - which looked like it was produced by Sinclair's central propaganda ministry - repeated each right-wing lie one by one, as it absurdly denied that the sequester would contribute to the austerity-fueled recession.

• How nobody likes caffeinated chewing gum, because it tastes like shit.

• Justin Bieber's troubles.

The local media is as bad as the national media that invites Jeb Bush on every single Sunday talk show.

Message for Rand Paul

AT&T accused of threatening Kentucky lawmakers over bill

Make no mistake: We are at war.

Republicans in Kentucky have introduced a bill - written by ALEC and backed by the Tea Party - that would allow phone companies to stop offering phone service. In other words, they would be unimproved monopolies - monopolies that don't even provide the service that they've been granted a monopoly on.

Legislators who oppose the bill say they've been threatened by AT&T for their stance. AT&T has reportedly been making robocalls warning these lawmakers about the looming threat of what's called a 527 - which is in essence like a tax-exempt PAC that has no contribution limits.

This is why Kentucky needs to ignore the spuzzybuzz Citizens United ruling - and imprison anyone who attempts to enforce it. Kentucky also needs to enact its own regulations on 527's.

Instead, like always, the fart-like miasma of capitulation lingers in the air - for a "compromise" bill is in the works.

(Source: http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2013/03/07/lawmaker-accuses-att-of-heavy-handed-tactics-to-pass-land-line-bill)

3 more days down the toilet

If this doesn't get an illness log entry, I'll cry like the macho superman I am.

Monday through Wednesday of this week will live in notoriety from tonight until the end of time. I acquired a splitting headache on Monday that didn't subside until last night.

And I was cold. The heat was on, I was bundled up in 3 jackets, but I was cold. I felt like the guy in the Jack London story who treks through the wilderness in subzero weather and keeps getting colder. (That's one of few short stories I read in school that I actually remember.)

I ached all over, I was freezing cold, and I got no sleep. It was miserable. A diagnosis has yet to be made, but the region is experiencing the season's second flu epidemic, because the serial incompetents who make up the local Republican machine are more interested in their own pet causes than in improving public health.

Hopefully, this ailment will not return, as a major rally (with Occupy support) looms in Cincinnati tomorrow. I hope this event can be as grand as the worker rally this past Saturday that drew about 100 participants and countless thumbs-up from passing motorists (although the event was completely ignored by the couldn't-give-a-shit media).

Tea Party whiner prompts politically motivated probe

The Far Right went berserk recently when the superintendent of the Franklin, Ohio, school system spoke out against school funding cuts by fascist Gov. John Kasich. These cuts will require a stiff tax levy to restore funding.

You'd think the Tea Party would have wanted the school district to keep its funding in order to keep taxes lower. But what the loldumb Tea Party says is often different from what it does.

Now it turns out that one Kelly Kohls contacted Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell - a Republican - about the superintendent who dared to oppose the cuts. Kohls wanted Fornshell to file charges against the superintendent for engaging in political activity. So? Isn't a good portion of activity by school officials in other districts political? A school system in Kentucky urged folks to attend a right-wing rally supporting a bill against Sudafed. Why aren't charges being filed against that school district? Faculty at my high school took us to a rally supporting the 1991 Gulf War. Should charges be filed against them?

Kohls's complaint resulted in Fornshell launching a politically motivated investigation of Franklin's superintendent.

Who is Kelly Kohls? She's the head of the Warren County Tea Party and president of the school board in Springboro, Ohio.

The real question is, how in the hell did a teagagger get to be president of a school board? Why is this mistake being repeated elsewhere in the state? Kohls helped start the extreme-right Ohio School Boards Leadership Council - which lists the president of the East Knox school district among its board of directors.

Despite her claims to being a champion of limited government, Kohls has tried to have creationism taught in her school district.

This is the status of the Tea Party as of today, Thursday, March 7, 2013. Hated worse than ever - but still soothed at every opportunity. How long will this zombie fascism last? As long as you let it. It's your call, folks.

(Source: http://www.plunderbund.com/2013/03/05/tea-party-activist-first-to-contact-gop-prosecutor)

Occupy Philly acquittal sets free speech precedent

Today, a jury acquitted 12 Occupy Philadelphia protesters who were charged with trespassing and conspiracy back in 2011 during a sit-in inside a Wells Fargo bank. Wells Fargo had engaged in what Occupy rightly called "racist predatory lending" - a banking practice that has ruined neighborhoods and left customers homeless.

Occupy had argued that the protest was protected by the First Amendment. Thirty years ago, few would have questioned Occupy's stance - for Wells Fargo is a corporation, not a person. Corporations do not have limitless rights. But the hard freeze of rightism and the constant drumbeat of official praise for corporations made this defense a tougher sell.

But everything came up cool at the trial today when the Occupy demonstrators were quite properly acquitted. The implications of this acquittal are colossal. This sets a clear precedent that corporate "rights" are outweighed by the public interest served by peaceful protest.

Last year, Wells Fargo had to pay $175,000,000 to settle allegations that independent brokers who originated its loans practiced racial discrimination against borrowers by charging higher fees based on race.

Meanwhile, the judge who presided over the Occupy trial said the Occupy peeps "are the most affable group of defendants I've ever come across."

Now the Far Right is threatening to hold a demonstration in the courtroom to protest the acquittal. Your side lost, teaburglars. Get over it.

(Source: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/195297211.html)

Hugo Chavez dies

Sad news about Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-21679372

Ever since Chávez became well-known in the U.S., I've always wished the U.S. or one of the 50 states could have a leader like him.

The left-leaning President died of cancer today at the age of 58.

University may expel rape victim for speaking out

The unchecked evil of the disaster capitalists continues.

The University of North Carolina, a state-supported institution, is threatening to expel a student all because she talked to the media about the fact that she was raped. The university is accusing her of violating the school's honor code - even though she did not name the rapist.

The potential expulsion appears to be retaliatory. The university is upset about negative press resulting from their shoddy handling of the rape complaint. The school's honor court also told the student that she violated the honor code just by reporting the rape.

This is just the latest example of how some universities have a pattern of covering up serious crime and keeping students who commit crimes out of the court system if they have a lot of clout.

Predictably, Tea Party types have commented on other websites blaming the victim.

(Source: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/college-rape-victim-faces-expulsion-speaking-out)

East End...Do what you wanna do...

I'd be a weirdo if I didn't tell my longtime fans that I got 8 new Roads Scholarin' photos up from Cincinnati's East End neighborhood a couple weeks back.

The Peace Bike is now 9 years old, and this batch includes a new bike lane and various other minor goodies around the neighborhood...

http://www.angelfire.com/yt2/lastword/roadpics/cineast13.html

Lawn Chair Quarterback: "The Maniac Center"

In our latest video, Tim talks about the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a far-right Michigan think tank. The Maniac Center is known for supporting handouts for private schools and spreading the bogus idea that you shouldn't have to pay union fees in order to get union benefits. The latter stance is exactly like saying we shouldn't have to pay taxes in order to get services like roads and public schools.

Gee, let's just take stuff without paying for it.

This also fits into the "sequester" garbage we keep hearing about today - which was caused by right-wingers racking up huge government expenditures like illegal wars and bailouts for big corporations and not paying for them.

This clip ridicules the "something for nothing" Right - which seems to be synonymous with the "nothing for something" RIght, as they're also the ones who have forced folks to pay higher utility and medical bills for decreased service...