LA Voters Drilled, Baby, Drilled!

Posted by TomCat at 12:06 am Politics

May 312014

One of the biggest reasons that Katrina devastated New Orleans so completely is that the wetlands that have served as a storm buffer from the Gulf of Mexico in the past are mostly gone. To a great extent, the oil industry destroyed them to facilitate extraction and transport. The voters of Louisiana have made it crystal clear that they want the companies that did the damage to repair it. But thanks to Bobby Jindal and the Republican Party, the voters have been drilled, baby, drilled!

The oil and gas industry won a significant victory Friday in the Louisiana Legislature, receiving final passage of a bill that seeks to kill a lawsuit filed by a New Orleans area levee board against nearly 100 oil and gas companies.

The lawsuit by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East alleges the companies’ drilling activities damaged Louisiana’s coast and vulnerable wetlands.

Senators voted 25-11 for the measure by Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, that is aimed at retroactively voiding the lawsuit.

The vote sent Allain’s bill to Gov. Bobby Jindal, who is expected to sign it into law. The Republican governor opposed the lawsuit and pushed for the measure’s passage…

Inserted from <NOLA.com>

Effectively, no local government entities in LA will have the right to sue corporations without going through the Republican-controlled state government and any ongoing lawsuits pending, like this one, are now moot.

Rachel Maddow explained this issue in much greater detail.

This is how corporate criminals externalize costs. They make everyone pay part of their production costs, like the 2,000 people that died, and either the people that pay to repair the wetlands or the people who will lose life, limb and property, if the wetlands are not repaired. When Republicans own the government, so does Big Oil.

With Republicans in charge, what the voters want does not matter, and Big Oil will continue to pocket obscene profits, because the rest of us are paying the cost of the destruction they leave in their greedy wake and even subsidizing them with our tax dollars.

Open Thread–5/31/2014

Posted by TomCat at 12:06 am Open Thread, Personal, Plus, Politics

May 312014

I’m writing for tomorrow and am feeling quite tired out after the exertions of yesterday and today. I arose at 3:00 AM and spent several hours completing my most hated chore, and I still have lots to do to prepare for my two-day prison volunteer trip next week. I have had a couple cat naps since. Day 40.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:49 (average 5:41). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: OR-Sen, -Gov: PPP’s first post-primary poll of Oregon finds both of the state’s top Democrats, Sen. Jeff Merkley and Gov. John Kitzhaber, with comfortable leads over their GOP opponents. Merkley currently beats physician Monica Wehby, whose public image has recently taken a hit thanks to stalking allegations, by a 50-36 margin. Wehby’s favorables stand at just 26-40, while Merkley sports a decent 41-34 job approval score.

Except for one impossible-to-believe survey from Republican pollster Vox Populi, Merkley’s always had double-digit leads, so PPP’s numbers seem plausible. However, as Tom Jensen notes, most of the undecideds don’t like Obama (even though this is a blue state), so the race will likely tighten.

Kitzhaber, meanwhile, holds a similar 49-35 advantage over state Rep. Dennis Richardson, even though Kitz earns just a 42-46 approval rating. Richardson is little-known, though, and again, things are likely to tighten up. But Oregon’s demographics simply make victory for Republicans, especially against incumbents, very difficult.

The undecided voters that don’t like Obama are mostly further left than he is, so there is no danger of them voting for a billionaire loving stalker like Wehby, as Merkley is one of the most progressive Senators in the US. The danger is that too many may stay home.

From NY Times: President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority asked Rami Hamdallah, the prime minister, on Thursday to form a “government of national consensus” that would unite warring Palestinian factions for the first time in seven years and could send Israeli-Palestinian relations into a tailspin.

The new government, made up of politically independent professionals, would formally ally Mr. Abbas’s Palestine Liberation Organization, which is dominated by the mainstream Fatah faction, and its rival, Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, under the terms of a unity pact reached last month. Palestinian officials said the new government would most likely be announced in the next few days, with Palestinian elections to be held in about six months.

I see this as a good thing for the Palestinians, as Israel has been using a divide and conquer approach to achieve a one-state solution by attrition, in clear violation of the Helsinki Accords. Without a united Palestine to negotiate for all Palestinians, there can be no hope for lasting peace in the middle east.

From Upworthy: Maya Angelou was a poet, novelist, and public figure who became an American treasure in her 86 years on earth. Her work has received accolades, and in particular, her autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" — about her early life overcoming racism and trauma by turning to the written word — has become a literature classic. Listen to a popular poem of hers, one I distinctly remember reading in the newspaper as a child, below.

She is and will be very missed.

Cartoon:

0531TCLaundry

Open Thread–5/30/2014

Posted by TomCat at 12:09 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 302014

I’m writing for tomorrow. Physical Therapy was grueling, especially on top of walking a mile and a half on the way to and from, including a side trip to the bank. I think it will take at least a day to get over the pain. This will be tomorrow’s only article. We’ll have to see about Saturday, because, If I can, early tomorrow morning I’ll be taking on the most dreaded of all my chores. Day 39.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:43 (average5:10). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: "Your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights"

Conservative sensitivity at its finest, courtesy of Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher [Republican delinked]. Speaking in a time of great tragedy, Wurzelbacher’s only response to a grieving father discussing his son’s right to live is that the be all and end all is the right of Americans to be armed to the teeth without any regulation.

There is a time, a place and a manner for such discussions. He could easily wait several days. He could just as easily frame his ideas in less crass terms. He could choose to use words that will not rub salt in open wounds. He decided not to engage in such behavior, which, unfortunately, is nothing new for him.

Joe is not a plumber. Joe is not even a Joe. He IS a Republican. Need I say more?

From The New Yorker: President Obama raised eyebrows with his West Point commencement address Wednesday by offering a defense of his controversial foreign-policy doctrine of not invading countries for no reason.

Conservative critics were taken aback by Obama’s speech, which was riddled with incendiary remarks about only using military force for a clearly identified and rational purpose.

Obama did not shy away from employing polarizing rhetoric, often using words such as “responsible” and “sensible” to underscore his message.

Harland Dorrinson, a fellow at the conservative think tank the Center for Global Intervention, said that he was “stunned” to see Obama “defend his failure to engage the United States in impulsive and random military adventures.”

LOL Andy!! In a word, spot-on!

From NY Times: President Obama will use his executive authority to cut carbon emissions from the nation’s coal-fired power plants by up to 20 percent, according to people familiar with his plans, and will force industry to pay for the pollution it creates through cap-and-trade programs across the country.

Mr. Obama will unveil his plans in a new regulation, written by the Environmental Protection Agency, at the White House on Monday. It would be the strongest action ever taken by an American president to tackle climate change and could become one of the defining elements of Mr. Obama’s legacy.

Kudos. I’d hate to be the one to have to wash the stains from the Koch Boys’ underwear over this one.

Cartoon:

0530TCTherapist

Gun-Nuts Exposed Themselves

Posted by TomCat at 12:31 am Politics

May 292014

As sure as honey attracts flies, high profile shootings bring Republican gun nuts crawling out of the woodwork. As a former NRA sharpshooter in my youth, I never developed the perverse attraction to guns as symbols of manhood that these idiots seem to display. Consider Open Carry Texas.

At first, Open Carry Texas, a group of brazen, assault-rifle-carrying gun nuts, thought it would be fun to videotape their experiences walking into restaurants like Chili’s and Sonic in San Antonio fully armed, and then posting the encounters on youtube. They intended to stage a number of these demonstrations at area restaurants.

After being refused service and asked to leave, and perhaps realizing that this was an idiotic idea, especially after yet another horrific mass shooting made the news, the group took the videos off its YouTube account [Republicans delinked].

Mother Jones, however, got ahold of the video of these dangerous, sick losers, and reposted it. It’s embedded below for your viewing…

Inserted from <Alternet>

It’s hard to get more pathetic than those wimps. Their mommies should take away their dangerous toys until they learn to play in the sand box. However, in a way they have performed a public service by exposing just how worthy of ridicule they are.

Open Thread–5/29/2014

Posted by TomCat at 12:31 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 292014

I’m writing for tomorrow. First, I wish to express my sorrow over the death of Maya Angelou today, and wish condolences to all who loved her. Tomorrow I have to go for physical therapy for arthritis in my spine and hips and for a blown out shoulder. Because of that, please expect little or nothing on Friday, especially since I’ll be taking my walker onto regular public transit for the first time and walking over a mile. Day 38.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:38 (average 4:28). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) drew audible gasps Thursday when he told gathering of Christian conservatives that Democrats intended to amend the Constitution to limit free speech.

“When you think it can’t get any worse, it does,” Cruz warned at the Watchmen on the Wall gathering of pastors sponsored by the Family Research Council.

“This year, I’m sorry to tell you, the United States Senate is going to be voting on a constitutional amendment to repeal the First Amendment,” Cruz said, to the audible shock of the crowd.

We still need to drive with the Cruz control engaged!

From NY Times: A teenage girl was inspired after dropping her cellphone to create concussion-reducing cushions for football helmets. A team of Girl Scout Brownies designed a bridge that could withstand flooding. And an adolescent boy in a suit and tie told President Obama about his pending patents.

They were just a few of the more than a hundred students demonstrating their inventions and research on Tuesday for what Mr. Obama said was one of his favorite events: the White House Science Fair, now in its fourth year.

Republicans will likely consider this cause for yet another Congressional investigation and scandal. They hate it when ‘libruls do skience’.

From Think Progress: If Florida’s voters evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, the state’s Republicans could still expect to hold 58 percent of the state’s congressional seats. Indeed, according to California Institute of Technology statistics professor Jonathan Katz, a leading expert on redistricting who testified in a trial challenging these maps as an illegal gerrymander, Florida’s maps are the most biased districts he has ever examined.

Although Florida has some of the most biased congressional districts in the country — in 2012, President Obama narrowly won the state but Republicans captured 17 of the state’s 27 congressional districts — the League of Women Voters and other plaintiffs challenging Florida’s maps face an uphill battle in their lawsuit. Under a state constitutional amendment enacted in 2010, “[n]o apportionment plan or district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent.” Thus, the plaintiffs in this lawsuit do not just have to prove that the maps are biased, they have to prove that they were drawn with the intent of favoring Republicans. As neither the plaintiffs nor their lawyers have ESP, that’s a difficult bar to clear.

In several of the states that Republicans have Gerrymandered to assist them in election theft, they have openly bragged about their intent to favor Republican candidates. What other reason could there possibly be for stacking the deck?

Cartoon:

0529Cartoon

The Media Prefer Republicans

Posted by TomCat at 12:17 am Politics

May 282014

I, for one, am sick of seeing predictions of a Republican landslide in 2014. I see it in newspaper articles, on network news, and on cable news, even the non-thinking segments of MS-NBC. So lets ack ourselves just what Republicans have done to deserve such media acclaim. Why are the media giving them such treatment and making such predictions?

Republicans don’t like government, and they run on the idea that government is bad.   Those who decry the whole idea of government are hardly suited to take the reins and lead a nation, even when they inherit a budget surplus with a sound and prosperous economy. After the Supreme Court decided in favor of the Republican candidate in Bush v Gore , Americans became tolerant of sub par governance and Republicans hardly try to act ethically or responsibly. Democrats, especially since Reagan, are held to a higher standard and the administrations of Democrats have had far fewer scandals.   No longer liberal, the conservative-owned media is levels harsh criticism of any Democratic mistakes. With headlines like the IRS Scandal, Fast and Furious and Benghazi, the media created the red meat their TeaParty base needs to mobilize their voters.

In 2001, the Bush Administration and the NSA ignored the warning signs of an imminent attack, thus altering the course of history in ways never imagined. In retrospect, we know Congress and the American people were duped into a conflict in Iraq while futilely looking for Bin Laden in Afghanistan. This has been the longest period of war our military has experienced and paltry planning and funding for veterans has made so many of our heroes suffer due to George W. Bush’s hubris.   Long gone are the days when the terrorists attacked Americans and we united as a country to fight them. While President Obama is in office and Americans are killed, the Republicans practically unite behind the terrorists and blame the President. The casualties resulting from the numerous embassy attacks that occurred on Reagan and GWB’s watch were far worse than the single attack on our Benghazi, Libya consulate. Scandals like Iran-Contra, outing a covert CIA agent and the malicious swift boating of military heroes were trivial by comparison if you listen to the media. The conditions at Walter Reed medical center for veterans were appalling, but the story received less coverage in six weeks than the Shinseki probe received in one week. The number of veterans doubled after 9/11, and in this alternate GOP Universe, Bush and Cheney are assigned zero responsibility for the current crisis in the VA.Democratic vs. Republican Tax Structure (courtesy of the Washington Post)

The Republicans have had a sordid history of fiscal mismanagement and crisis and lately they’re focused on prohibitive laws that are based in evangelical doctrine.    The Great Depression and the recent recession just happened to occur right after taxes on the highest income earners were at their lowest points in history. But history is something the anti-education Republican Party is averse to, like their denial of the science of evolution and climate change.

Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it, and America’s history of financial crises are generally caused by lack of fiscal responsibility… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Liberaland> Hat-Tip: Crooks and Liars

The answer to my first question is obvious. Republicans deserve the exact opposite treatment than what the media give them. The article goes on to further document this and to explain the answer to my second question of why. Click through. It’s more than worth the read. The media consist of a few giant corporations with their own corporate agenda. The Republican Party is more willing to screw the American people to support that agenda, so the media want Republicans to win. Al;l their predictions of a Republican victory are intended to discourage people, who would vote for Democrats, cultivate their apathy, and keep them away from the polls.

Republican Reich Rule

is punishment for people who don’t VOTE!

Open Thread–5/28/2014

Posted by TomCat at 12:16 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics, Religion

May 282014

I’m writing for tomorrow on a busy day. I prepared and gave my grocery order to Store to Door and spent several hours researching the WYSIWYG comment editor problem. Finding a fix for that is like finding liberal Republicans in office, Tomorrow is grocery delivery day. Day 37.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:16 (average 4:49). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: As someone who is not American, I first heard about "purity balls" (eesh, that name) for the first time in 2014. It shocked me that fathers and daughters attend these dances to pledge her "purity" and virginity until she is married, giving her little choice or education on, you know, the importance of her own personal choices.

Then I saw this trailer for the documentary "Daddy I Do," which highlights the bigger issue: the serious lack of sexual education in America. Watch filmmaker Cassie Jaye explore the issue in the video below.

The video does an excellent job of exposing the devious way Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians are violating the establishment clause in the 1st Amendment and the way they seek to make women chattel: proferty first of the father and then of the husband.

From Daily Kos: NextGen Climate Action—the Super PAC founded by Tom Steyer, the former California hedge fund chief who seeks to counter the Koch brothers’ climate-change propaganda machine with money from his own fortune—produced this ad calling them out for a verbal duel.

LOL! Buk-buk-buk-buk-Koch-a-doodle-DO!!!

From Alternet: That Elliot Rodger, the now dead suspect in the UC Santa Barbara shootings, was deeply misogynistic has now been well reported. Less known is that the alleged mass murderer engaged in other kinds of hate-mongering, posting racist messages on PuaHate.com, the online forum primarily known for its fomenting of hatred for women.

According to Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch blog, Rodger ranted on the site against interracial dating, black, Asian and Indian men.

Six months before his deadly shooting spree, Rodger posted a message entitled: “Saw a black guy sitting with 4 white girls.” He proceeded to express his rage about the fact that white women would consort with men of color.

Click through for more GOP Hate. That explains his belief that violence in support of hate is justified. He listened to and followed the principles set forth by Republican politicians, pundits, and media.

Cartoon:

0528Cartoon

Republicans on Parade–5/27/2014

Posted by TomCat at 2:58 am Politics

May 272014

RepublicansOnParade3

Here is the forty-eighth article in our Republicans on Parade series, featuring individuals who personify what the Republican Party has become. Today’s honoree is Congressional candidate Tony Strickland. He is so honored for pushing his credentials to Republican gun-nuts the day after a local massacre.

A day after a horrific massacre in California that left seven people dead, voters outside Los Angeles received a robocall from the congressional campaign for Republican Tony Strickland talking about his pro-gun stance along with his backing from the National Rifle Association and other gun groups…

…Here’s the transcript of the robocall, via HuffPo:

Protect our gun rights, vote for Tony Strickland for Congress. Tony Strickland has a history of protecting our Second Amendment rights and will do the same in Congress, Tony Strickland was a founding member of the NRA Member Council and former California Rifle and Pistol Association Legislator of the Year.

Tony has been a longtime supporter of the rights of citizens to keep and bear arms and will continue to oppose, and actively fight, any legislation that would take away our Second Amendment right to bear arms. As the founder of the Freedom Firearms Coalition and with a lifetime ‘A’ rating from the NRA, we can count on Tony Strickland to protect our constitutional rights.

On June 3rd, vote for Tony Strickland for Congress. This call was paid for by Strickland for Congress…

Inserted from <TPM>

Now, this vile Republican claims that his robocalls were scheduled, before the shooting took place, but that’s no excuse. Any decent person would have made one easy phone call to cancel the robocalls. But no! This Republican opted to capitalize on the deaths by using this bloody phone SPAM to remind his rabid base that he will remain a GOP gun-nut, no matter how many die because of his policies. He’s the last thing we need in Washington!

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