December 15, 2009 05:00 AM
Mike's Blog Roundup
After the Future: Shaping Reality or Accepting it
Where’s the Outrage?: Dr. Thompson examines conservative healthcare solutions
Figleaf's Real Adult Sex: Copyblogger author practicing what she preaches about compelling post titles: "Why James Chartrand Wears Woman's Underpants" (Not Work Safe, though the post is OK)
Pufferfish: Corporate Bimbo
Sensen No Sen: The troubling math of Gitmo "suicides"
MN Progressive Project: Finalist for 2009 "Lie of the Year"
Con-servative healthcare solutions - Alan Grayson has already opened & closed the book on that...
We don't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children - Native American proverb
If being cold means there's no such thing as global warming, does being full mean there's no such thing as world hunger?
Obama Announces 'Climate REDI': New CleanTech Programs and Funding - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/obama...
The Wildlife Conservation Society Connects the Dots between Climate Change and Species Decline - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/the-w...
Tuvalu to Obama and the Senate: ‘The fate of my country rests in your hands’ [VIDEO] - http://www.grist.org/article/2009-12-14-tuval...
Last week, Ian Fry, the Tuvalu delegate to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, made an impassioned plea for legally binding agreements to be made by world leaders to save his nation and other low-lying island states.
Inaction is not an option....
Al Gore: Polar ice may vanish in 5-7 years - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091214/ap_on_sc/...
Another WTF? in the early Obama Administration....Disgraceful: Discredited E-Voting Vendor VP Appointed to U.S. EAC Advisory Panel
- http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7575
Incredible. This would be the equivalent of appointing the sitting Vice President of Exxon Mobil to an EPA advisory committee, but Ed Smith has now been appointed to the disastrous U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC)'s Technical Guidelines Development Committee as one of their new "Technical and Scientific Experts".
....Smith is the guy who, after years of paying a crackpot contractor named Mike Gibbons to do this and that for Sequoia with loads of federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) tax-payer cash, assigned him to do an "independent" analysis of Sequoia's touch-screen machines after they failed in NJ's 2008 Super Tuesday election.
That was just after Smith had sent a letter threatening two Princeton computer scientists with legal action "to stop any infringement of our intellectual properties, including any non-compliant analysis", if they performed the actually independent analysis of the machines as they were tasked by NJ election officials to do....
After The BRAD BLOG exposed who Smith's friend Mike Gibbons actually was --- a Sequoia insider, as well as a drunk and a philanderer with an obnoxious Facebook page seeking a "well endowed blonde nymphomaniac", only to change the page after we'd outed him to feature a photo of him and George Bush Sr. and a professed love of Jesus Christ instead --- Gibbons was fired.
(He would be found dead a few months later, the actual cause of which we've never been able to ascertain.)
Child diabetes blamed on food sweetener - Fructose - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/heal...
Fructose syrup is increasingly being used as a substitute for more expensive types of sugar. .... Scientists have proved for the first time that a cheap form of sugar used in thousands of food products and soft drinks can damage human metabolism and is fuelling the obesity crisis.
Raise your child on organic foods....
Chevron and Cultural Genocide in Ecuador - http://www.ips.org/TV/copenhagen/chevron-and-...
This nightmarish landscape is the legacy of Texaco. Between 1964 and 1990, Texaco (which was acquired by Chevron in 2001) drilled roughly 350 wells across 2,700 square miles of Amazon rainforest.
It extracted some $30 billion in profits while deliberately dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic soup, known as produced water; a mixture of oil, sulfuric acid, and other carcinogens, into the streams and rivers where people collect drinking water, fish, bathe and swim. In the process, Texaco constructed over 900 oil sludge pits, many the size of Olympic swimming pools.
Unlike swimming pools, these pits were unlined punctures in the earth. With no concrete to protect the surrounding soil, poison seeped into the ground water.
Big Oil is a detriment to humanity...
Bush birth control policies helped fuel Africa's baby boom - http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/80331.html
Promoting birth control in Africa faces a host of obstacles — patriarchal customs, religious taboos, ill-equipped public health systems — but experts also blame a powerful, more distant force: the U.S. government. Under President George W. Bush, the United States withdrew from its decades-long role as a global leader in supporting family planning, driven by a conservative ideology that favored abstinence and shied away from providing contraceptive devices in developing countries, even to married women.
Just another cluster #@$& of the Bush crime family....
Tucker Carlson: Was George W. Bush Preparing to Wage War on Space Aliens? - http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2009...
Quote: "And speaking of aliens, is President Bush preparing for intergalactic war with our comrades in outer space? Former Canadian defense minister and deputy prime minister, Paul Hellyer, says, 'Oh, yes.'... "
ON THE RIGHT TRACK: Toyota promises plug-in hybrid vehicle by 2010 - http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/green/...
Toyota is introducing a plug-in hybrid with next-generation lithium-ion batteries in Japan, the U.S. and Europe by 2010, under a widespread strategy to be green outlined Wednesday.
The ecological gas-electric vehicles, which can be recharged from a home electrical outlet, will target leasing customers, Toyota Motor Corp. said. Such plug-in hybrids can run longer as an electric vehicle than regular hybrids, and are cleaner.
The Senate: Where Progressive Legislation Goes to Die - http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/...
Another WTF? Democratic moment: Who won the election? Senate Democratic Policy Committee turns to McCain adviser Holtz-Eakin for job creation ideas.
81% Of Dems Want Lieberman Punished For Health Care Filibuster - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/14/81-o...
What the #@$% is wrong with the other 19%????
White House Denies Advocating Deal With Sen. Lieberman - http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091214-...
CT voters....this is what you got...Ned Lamont wouldn't have been this bad on his worst day...
22 million missing Bush WH e-mails found -- we want to see them, too. - http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/A...
MUST SEE! Keith Olbermann blasts the Foxers - http://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2009...
Report that Lieberman Apparently has the Only Spine in the Democratic Party and Forced WH and Dem Caucus to Abandon Weakened Public Option and Medicare Expansion. Pathetic if True.
- http://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2009...
Damn, I'd hate to see what would happen if the Dems had the WH & the majority in the house & senate....
Obamania - Matt Taibbi - http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2009/12/13/ob...
I supported Barack Obama. I still do. If I had to vote tomorrow between Obama and Tim Pawlenty, or Sarah Palin, it wouldn’t be a choice that required a whole lot of thought. He’s done some good things. He’s restored some confidence in the United States among foreign leaders.
We had something of a revolutionary regime for eight years under George Bush, and Obama has put the United States back into the club of rule-abiding nations, at least to some degree.
But I’m a little mystified by the letters I’m getting from people who suggest that being a supporter of a politician means that you should “give him a break” on this or that shortcoming, and behave more like a fan than a citizen.
The above post by the always-intelligent Glenn Greenwald perfectly describes this mindset — he talks about this bizarre phenomenon of Obama fans threatening to “leave the left” because of criticism of Obama trickling up from those ranks.
I was particularly struck by his analysis of the now-infamous video of Sarah Palin book-buyers explaining to a snarky interviewer how they support her despite the fact that they can’t really identify any of her positions.
Our country is sick....Even when sick, workers slog into work - http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-sick...
We don't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children - Native American proverb
If being cold means there's no such thing as global warming, does being full mean there's no such thing as world hunger?
I nominate Joe Lieberman for the national disgrace of the year.
Vice President Joe Biden was on Morning Joe this morning talking about Afghanistan and Healthcare. I wish he could be put in a room with Lieberman for about an hour. I think Lieberman would come out singing a different tune.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Followed by, Nelson, Baucus, Lincoln, Landraiu (or however her name is spelled).
Special mention goes to Palin.
Then , we start on the whole GOP. and their mouth pieces
What is your conceptual, continuity?
Oh, and one other thing. Will anyone be able to get some coverage of today's "Die In" by the tea baggers?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
"Shaping Reality or Accepting it."
I'd rather molest it.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
This is a good piece, I will need to read it more carefully to comment in full.
For me personally, in the primaries Obama did NOT represent an ideal candidate but he did convincingly say that he would fight on FISA. That was enough for me support and even contribute from my tiny piggy bank. The ability of the secret government to illegally surveil its citizens with impunity was of great concern to me. It still is.
Immediately after the primary season the final FISA vote came up, the timing of which now itself must be suspect and Obama turned 180° to say he would not fight.
That told me everything that I ever would need to know about Obama.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
From the After the Future piece again:
The point needs to be made again and again, the Democrats, with a few notable but marginalized exceptions, are not of the left.
The left understands the power struggle.
It is the class struggle.
Related to this is a very good piece by Michael Hudson here
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
"Corporate Bimbo"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFrBG4xyaF8
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Ok, we're all gonna take this in the shorts folks. This needs to be voted down BY the DEM's.
If I may, I'd like to offer up an idea.
This will never get accepted. So, WTF, why not give it a shot?
Early Medicare for people 55 and up.
Medicare for people up to 25 years of age.
So people will basically be on their own from 25 to 55.Unless they have a medical condition that warrants further medical care. They would be cared for until the condition is either taken care of, or, as long as needed. I dunno. Anyone else with any ideas.? I like the idea of single payer(medicare) for young people. It gives young families a head start. A serious illness in a young family can ruin them for life. Just one serious illness.
Of course I want single payer across the board for everyone.
But if this is the best we can get right now. We should do it. Then fill in the gaps .
What is your conceptual, continuity?
I was discussing this with some Gopers I work with.
They were against this healthcare at any cost.
The funny part was, when I mention the medicare for 0-25 years of age.
All the GOPers with young families loved that idea.
The way I see it, this way, we can pin the GOPers ears back by calling them anti family. Anti child.
So, what do you folks think?
What is your conceptual, continuity?
First of all, I think you are replying to your own comment.
Second of all, the GOPers you are talking about. Are they the propagandized working class.
They need deprogramming and class awareness instruction.
If they are actually middle class, Doctors, Lawyers, middle managers etc, the deprogramming will be more problematic.
If they are actually the owners, which I somehow doubt, they understand full well the class struggle.
They are winning.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
he was replying to himself. It was probably an afterthought.
So what do you think of my idea?
What is your conceptual, continuity?
You get cheap healthcare for the first few years of adulthood, then, assuming you're reasonably healthy, you're on your own for awhile. Still, if single payer is working for just about every other Western industrialized nation, I don't see why it shouldn't work here. But if we have to compromise to accommodate the insurance dickheads, your plan sounds reasonable. And yes, the "AGAINST, AGAINST AGAINST, wait a minute, I could benefit?" response is typical.
Prenatal through adolescence is the most demanding of resources next to old age.
That is just off the top of my head.
We need complete reform so that no one is getting unconscionably rich while others suffer.
Medicare, except that it has been seriously eroded in part C (now Medicare Advantage) & D is a single payer solution that is incomplete and requires for some supplemental coverage.
SCHIP was meant to fill for children and that has been poorly handled.
Medicare has been eroded and will be eroded further with the current Senate proposal.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
No, I wasn't responding to your comment.
But thank you for your input.
No, they're not the owners. Just workin class like me.
Construction.
I found it funny how they were so set against any HC reform.
Until they could benefit from it. Then they were all for it.
They don't even know when something like HC reform is a plus for them. It also shows their hypocrisy.
Why am I not surprised at this?
What is your conceptual, continuity?
Hi mudshark, I didn't mean to suggest you were responding to my comment, just wondering why you locked your own comment with a reply.
That isn't important.
I am always forgiving of the working class for not understanding the nature of their problems and interests.
If I am not, I mean to be.
They have suffered through one hundred years of corporate propaganda which has culminated in the massive power to indoctrinate of the television.
They have suffered but they don't know it directly.
Hypocrisy is not the word I would use for the victims of the owner's propaganda.
The owner's are the hypocrites.
The workers are their victims.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
But some of these guys have friends in Xe.
They are anti anything when it comes to Dems. It doesn't matter what it is. They hate Dems. Yes, they've been indoctrinated. They've been somewhat brainwashed.(For lack of a better word)
But to see the look on their faces when they realized that this could be beneficial to them personally. Spoke volumes.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
I did lock myself out didn't I. ooppss.:)
Have a great day folks. I'm goin surfin. I actually find work by goin to the beach. It's worked for years. Slim pickens around here right now.
I use Pebble Beach as a bell weather of things to come. When it's slow in there, it's worse every where else. We are generally the last to feel the pinch of recessions. It's more than a pinch here now. It's more like a punch.
Ok, off to the beach. It's startin to get light. Hasta.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
I've just edited here what I think is the most important part of the article:
"....it only matters who has the most compelling narrative or mythos.....the Right understands (the Dems know this, too).....that you can make anything up, and if enough people believe the narrative that you create, it becomes real, it becomes the consensus reality."
And this is the crux of the matter in the ongoing power struggle humans have been waging for centuries. The people with the biggest, grandest lies are the ones who gather the power/wealth unto themselves.
With that wealth they then have the means to continue to disseminate even bigger lies, to ensure they retain the power/wealth. Mass media and instantaneous communication has made that process much easier for the fascists to perpetuate, and much harder for us who see through the sham to be heard.
Obama is just the latest, greatest 'disseminator'. My friends, we live in the Matrix, and things are not as they seem to be.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
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