After the jump:
Todays Newsfeeds
January 20, 2012
On "Liberty"
Our Founding Fathers rode on horseback. They wrote with a quill. You could pay a doctor with a chicken, if he didn't kill you first. Rifled muzzle loaders were high tech.
They could not have even envisioned the world of today in their wildest dreams. That is why the Constitution has had to be amended twenty-seven times! A strong and competent national government is the only entity able to address the issues we need to deal with both locally and globally. Emphasis on the word "competent." Not a government bought and paid for by the one percent, but a government that truly represents and works for the people.
I have recently been hearing Republicans spewing the total nonsense that the reason the Democrats push for more social welfare programs is to further take away our "liberties." Huh? Say whut? Yep, it seems the the whole plot is to make us all dependent on the government for everything so we'll have no choice but to vote Democrat!
Does that not seem insane? If it doesn't, you're likely a Republican and a habitual viewer of Faux News. In which case, what the devil are you doing here?
"Liberty" is a great bumper sticker, but it is meaningless if you don't have decent healthcare, a process for making sure that our foods and drugs are safe, and that the environment will still be livable for our children's children.
Romney and his cohorts have worked hard all their lives to degrade all of the above. What good will your precious liberty do you when the only jobs available all pay starvation wages?
They could not have even envisioned the world of today in their wildest dreams. That is why the Constitution has had to be amended twenty-seven times! A strong and competent national government is the only entity able to address the issues we need to deal with both locally and globally. Emphasis on the word "competent." Not a government bought and paid for by the one percent, but a government that truly represents and works for the people.
I have recently been hearing Republicans spewing the total nonsense that the reason the Democrats push for more social welfare programs is to further take away our "liberties." Huh? Say whut? Yep, it seems the the whole plot is to make us all dependent on the government for everything so we'll have no choice but to vote Democrat!
Does that not seem insane? If it doesn't, you're likely a Republican and a habitual viewer of Faux News. In which case, what the devil are you doing here?
"Liberty" is a great bumper sticker, but it is meaningless if you don't have decent healthcare, a process for making sure that our foods and drugs are safe, and that the environment will still be livable for our children's children.
Romney and his cohorts have worked hard all their lives to degrade all of the above. What good will your precious liberty do you when the only jobs available all pay starvation wages?
January 9, 2012
Well, it's a start
A year ago, the most virulent climate change deniers simply claimed the whole thing was a lie. I recall Sen Jim Inhofe (R-Az) declaiming something on the lines of "God is in His Heaven, and climate change is a hoax."
Yeah, I know not all were this locked into the far out claim that is simply wasn't true, but some were. I even heard claims that the earth was actually cooling!
I check in at the Huffington Post ever once in a while, and it's wild to read the comments over there. There is a subset of trolls that insist on posting their far out right wing gibberish. They are particularly rabid whenever there is a story about climate change. I have amused myself by watching these guys slowly giving up their "Climate change is a hoax!" and "It was all made up to get AL Gore richer" story lines and more and more turn to a sort of laissez faire attitude of "The earth has climate changes, it gets warmer, it gets cooler. There's nothing we can do about it anyway. But the Left wants to impose more restrictions on our FREEDOMS!"
It's gonna be a self-fulfilling prophesy. If it's not too late already, by the time the right allows any hope of doing anything to stop the growth of atmospheric CO2, it surely will be too late to reverse anything.
But we can always hope.
Yeah, I know not all were this locked into the far out claim that is simply wasn't true, but some were. I even heard claims that the earth was actually cooling!
I check in at the Huffington Post ever once in a while, and it's wild to read the comments over there. There is a subset of trolls that insist on posting their far out right wing gibberish. They are particularly rabid whenever there is a story about climate change. I have amused myself by watching these guys slowly giving up their "Climate change is a hoax!" and "It was all made up to get AL Gore richer" story lines and more and more turn to a sort of laissez faire attitude of "The earth has climate changes, it gets warmer, it gets cooler. There's nothing we can do about it anyway. But the Left wants to impose more restrictions on our FREEDOMS!"
It's gonna be a self-fulfilling prophesy. If it's not too late already, by the time the right allows any hope of doing anything to stop the growth of atmospheric CO2, it surely will be too late to reverse anything.
But we can always hope.
October 25, 2011
America as a third world country
You don't think we're there yet? Check out this Google search result.
Was I Googling for Haiti? Pakistan? Fucking Cuba?
Nope, I searched for "tent city America". The so-called "Recession" has resulted in these popping up from Seattle to Portland, Maine. From Los Angeles to Miami and all stops in between. These people, for the most part, are folks just like you and me. Caught in the trap of having lost their jobs, used up their unemployment insurance, and kicked out of their homes, they are camping out in hopes of a better day.
While the 1% get richer and the Politicians argue whether to give them more tax breaks or the right to pollute our environment so they can steal more money from this land, local governments are trying to deal with the homeless problem.
How? By passing new and tougher laws criminalizing homelessness.
Was I Googling for Haiti? Pakistan? Fucking Cuba?
Nope, I searched for "tent city America". The so-called "Recession" has resulted in these popping up from Seattle to Portland, Maine. From Los Angeles to Miami and all stops in between. These people, for the most part, are folks just like you and me. Caught in the trap of having lost their jobs, used up their unemployment insurance, and kicked out of their homes, they are camping out in hopes of a better day.
While the 1% get richer and the Politicians argue whether to give them more tax breaks or the right to pollute our environment so they can steal more money from this land, local governments are trying to deal with the homeless problem.
How? By passing new and tougher laws criminalizing homelessness.
September 8, 2011
I know why they do it...
But for the life of my I don't know how they do it.
What, you ask?
Deny science. That's what. The fundagelical belief system that has its followers believe the Earth is 6000 years old. Evolution never happened, and further is some sort of secular/satanic lie to try to destroy Christian faith.
We won't even go into climate change again.
If xtians would only allow themselves to examine, and understand the science behind the claims, but they won't. Or can't.
For example: We know the earth is somewhere around 4.5 billion years old. How do we know this? Because of our understanding of quantum mechanics. One does not need to understand the science, only to know that others do, and if one wanted, they could do as well. It's the area of physics that describes the behavior of atoms and nuclei. The very field that has given us the foundations for development of transistors, nuclear reactors, and lasers. Without a solid understanding of this science, there would be no computers or TVs. Modern jet aircraft would be impossible. Even the control systems that make modern autos would have never been invented.
With our understanding of quantum mechanics, we can date rocks and meteorites based on measurements of the decay of unstable uranium and thorium in them using a technique similar to carbon 14 dating. Since World War 2 and the first atomic bomb, we have increased our understanding of the decay of radioactive nuclei and decreased the uncertainty about the age of the Earth.
Denying the science behind this is akin to denying that cell phones exist.
I get that for a lot of xtians, to accept these facts is denying central tenets of their faith. Which in turn brings down a towering house of cards, by allowing the light of reason to invade other central themes buried in deep dark cracks in their brains. Once you start questioning religion, it can become a slippery slope. Where does one stop? Therefore: the questioning cannot even begin.
A normally rational, thinking person suddenly becomes blind to the absurdity of his belief system.
How do they do it?
For more on this, check out this excellent post by Jim Kakalios on Jennifer Ouellette's Cocktail Party Physics blog
What, you ask?
Deny science. That's what. The fundagelical belief system that has its followers believe the Earth is 6000 years old. Evolution never happened, and further is some sort of secular/satanic lie to try to destroy Christian faith.
We won't even go into climate change again.
If xtians would only allow themselves to examine, and understand the science behind the claims, but they won't. Or can't.
For example: We know the earth is somewhere around 4.5 billion years old. How do we know this? Because of our understanding of quantum mechanics. One does not need to understand the science, only to know that others do, and if one wanted, they could do as well. It's the area of physics that describes the behavior of atoms and nuclei. The very field that has given us the foundations for development of transistors, nuclear reactors, and lasers. Without a solid understanding of this science, there would be no computers or TVs. Modern jet aircraft would be impossible. Even the control systems that make modern autos would have never been invented.
With our understanding of quantum mechanics, we can date rocks and meteorites based on measurements of the decay of unstable uranium and thorium in them using a technique similar to carbon 14 dating. Since World War 2 and the first atomic bomb, we have increased our understanding of the decay of radioactive nuclei and decreased the uncertainty about the age of the Earth.
Denying the science behind this is akin to denying that cell phones exist.
I get that for a lot of xtians, to accept these facts is denying central tenets of their faith. Which in turn brings down a towering house of cards, by allowing the light of reason to invade other central themes buried in deep dark cracks in their brains. Once you start questioning religion, it can become a slippery slope. Where does one stop? Therefore: the questioning cannot even begin.
A normally rational, thinking person suddenly becomes blind to the absurdity of his belief system.
How do they do it?
For more on this, check out this excellent post by Jim Kakalios on Jennifer Ouellette's Cocktail Party Physics blog
August 25, 2011
Warped world view
I don't know what else to call it. I was recently chatting with an acquaintance who has become an ardent teabagger. He was rhapsodizing on the merits of the so-called 'Fair Tax."
You likely have heard some version of this movement. It calls for the elimination of all taxes across the board. The only tax will be a 20 to 25% levy on first time purchases. Tax would, in theory, be paid one time on anything by the end purchaser. I have no understanding of how, or if third-party purchasers or manufacturers would be taxed. There would be no tax for example on used cars. It was paid when the car was purchased new. No income tax, property taxes, capital gains, etc. This is touted as 'fair' because everyone pays it for goods consumed. No mention is made of how to tax corporations or wealthy individuals who do not spend but a fraction of what they earn annually. Or how to stop them from buying their yachts in other countries.
But I digress.
The point to this post is a recurring theme that I hear among these folks. They are way less concerned with the wealthy paying their fair share of the tax burden, than they are that...wait for it...prostitutes and drug dealers are getting away without paying any income tax!
Yeah, you read that right. It's of minor concern to them that GE or the Koch brothers are getting away with tax evasion, but it's infuriating that "Welfare Queens" might be getting a free suckling at the public tit. They would willingly see old ladies reduced to eating cat food, or kids going to underfunded schools, if it meant that some drug dealer was forced to pay his "Fair Tax" on the Mercedes he buys with his ill-gotten gains. Or that some pimp had to shell out 20+% on the price of his new Caddy. Never mind that he or she could avoid the whole thing by just buying a used one.
I swear, I wonder about the future of this country that there are so many that can't get past the absurdity of this plan.
You likely have heard some version of this movement. It calls for the elimination of all taxes across the board. The only tax will be a 20 to 25% levy on first time purchases. Tax would, in theory, be paid one time on anything by the end purchaser. I have no understanding of how, or if third-party purchasers or manufacturers would be taxed. There would be no tax for example on used cars. It was paid when the car was purchased new. No income tax, property taxes, capital gains, etc. This is touted as 'fair' because everyone pays it for goods consumed. No mention is made of how to tax corporations or wealthy individuals who do not spend but a fraction of what they earn annually. Or how to stop them from buying their yachts in other countries.
But I digress.
The point to this post is a recurring theme that I hear among these folks. They are way less concerned with the wealthy paying their fair share of the tax burden, than they are that...wait for it...prostitutes and drug dealers are getting away without paying any income tax!
Yeah, you read that right. It's of minor concern to them that GE or the Koch brothers are getting away with tax evasion, but it's infuriating that "Welfare Queens" might be getting a free suckling at the public tit. They would willingly see old ladies reduced to eating cat food, or kids going to underfunded schools, if it meant that some drug dealer was forced to pay his "Fair Tax" on the Mercedes he buys with his ill-gotten gains. Or that some pimp had to shell out 20+% on the price of his new Caddy. Never mind that he or she could avoid the whole thing by just buying a used one.
I swear, I wonder about the future of this country that there are so many that can't get past the absurdity of this plan.
August 15, 2011
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