Figured the last one was getting full.
Archives for February 2011
Oscars Open Thread
Have at it.
Scenes from the Revoluton
A commenter sends by this picture from the Harrisburg rally yesterday:
I read on FDL that there were 70-100k people at Madison, until the cops came and… JOINED THE RALLY! That’s a pretty good turnout, so well done, Wisconsin.
BTW- having spent some time in Madison last year, it is uniquely constructed to be perfect for rallies, with massive spaces all around the building and multiple avenues of approach, with vendors and all sorts of ways to eat and feed a crowd. Such a great city. And I maintain that Union Cab was one of the best cab companies I have ever used.
NIXONLAND, Week 5: “The Bombing” & “Summer of Love”
By the beginning of 1967, the war in Vietnam had ended America’s ‘consensus’ for good.
Is there a word that means the opposite of nostalgia — something to describe the acrid taste at the back of one’s tongue when confronted with a vivid retelling of events recalled with loathing?
Although, since I was too young to notice pre-primary candidates outside my parents’ Democratic faith party, I never previously realized how much Willard “Mitt” Romney’s campaigning style owes to his wounded Franklinian vanity. Nixon’s willingness to crawl through whatever rancid sewers of innuendo and misdirection necessary to activate the collective lizard brains of the American voting public seem to have permanently marked young Willard.
(Tech note: You can edit your comment by right-clicking on the ‘Edit’ button to open a new tab/window and working from there. Another FYWP glitch… )
NIXONLAND, Week 5: “The Bombing” & “Summer of Love”Post + Comments (134)
BECAUSE UNION BUSTING IS THE PLAN
Please make it stop. Sullivan looks at poll data and finds the public supports the union concessions, but not ending collective bargaining, and wonders:
“Why doesn’t Walker concede on collective bargaining, declare victory and move on?”
Because union busting is the plan, has been from the get go, and we are dealing with crazy people. There are no reasonable conservatives- no one reasonable would continue to self-identify with this freak show. Horror of horrors, should Mitch Daniels get elected as Sully seems to be hoping, and the Republicans have the House and the Presidency and possibly the Senate, Sullivan will figure it out.
But only after they start gay-bashing.
You may have missed this…
Chris Christie is the latest Galtian “it” boy. He got there by being loud, rude and factually challenged–but with a Jersey swagger. And like the other rising stars of wingnutopia, he is racing to make his bones by selling the idea that working people–especially teachers–are greedy little bastards who need to give back most of the wages/benefits they are paid.
It is, of course, all nonsense. In reality, teachers are not overpaid. In fact they are under paid for the job they do. The $1.67 average hourly-rate-per-child that teachers are paid does not look very high when compared to what babysitters get ($6.04) and the average nanny ($12). But unlike babysitters and nannies, teachers have organized into Unions to fight for better schools and a living wage–and that is why they must be crushed.
And the best way to crush these teachers is to make shit up and sell it as a data set that can be sold as an alternative to reality. Fact are avoided by your average wingnutter the way a vampire avoids sunlight. What has made Christie a rising star is his ability to hide his fact-free data set through loud bluster, bombast and bullying.
This was on full display last month in a seven plus hour Twitter fight Christie had with a Facebook poster. The battle between Christie and “stopthefreezeNJ” has been preserved by blogger Jersey Jazzman–who is a good source for following the growing Chris Christie mess.
The Twitter fight was over a math challenged press release that Christie put out pimping the magic of Charter Schools. Turns out that the facts in the press release actually told a story of Charter School fail. But those details didn’t stop Christie from hyping Charter schools as the golden pathway to Galtian Utopia in New Jersey.
Jersey Jazzman set the scene for the Tweets:
I don’t describe this flame war as “astonishing” only because of Christie’s lack of candor and twisting of the facts; we’ve seen this before plenty of times. Nor would I say his evasiveness in the face of a direct question all that surprising as well; non-answering has become the standard operating procedure of the modern conservative pol. [snip]
No, what really made my jaw drop is Christie’s utter disregard for the dignity of the high office he holds. This is a man who not only engages in ad hominem attacks – he clearly relishes them. His first line of attack is to go after the motives of those who oppose him. This not only spares him from having to answer with a more compelling argument; it gives him a bizarre personal satisfaction that shines through even in the 140-character limits of his tweets.
I’m glad that Jersey Jazzman has preserved this example of high wingnuttery. It is a public service. This exchanged happened about a month ago, but something like it happens everyday as Christie and his fellow Republican Confederate Party Governors compete to see who can best lead the attack on workers, the poor and the middle class. Christie is still the Galtian “it” boy, but Scott Walker is fast on his heels. As the competition for head pats, kind words and warm smiles from their Galtian Overlords heats up, there will be a lot more of these kind of things to document–and fight.
Cheers
Everything You Wanted to Know About Radioactive Wastewater
And how gas drillers are dumping it in your sewage treatment plants, where they are completely unprepared to handle it, and simply pass on all the toxic water for you all to drink. Pennsylvania’s response, as we have noted, was to suspend regulations. That way we can play a solid game of hoocoodanode later on.
I love the smell of the free market in the morning. Smells like… tumors.
Although I’m just sure I overlooked the way the free market can handle this more effectively than public regulators. Surely I just missed all the Reason pieces about this that were no doubt up in between all their posts defending the Koch brothers.
Everything You Wanted to Know About Radioactive WastewaterPost + Comments (44)