I thought we could use one. Here’s a couple of my chickens, as of yesterday. The red one is named Ravenclaw, and the black one is called Ninja. (The kids named them that, not me.)
Florida woman, still rocking a punk rock ethos in the 2020s, which is kind of sad. Betty Cracker has been a Balloon Juice writer since 2012.
Santorum’s “Endorsement” of Romney
Shorter Santorum:
Well, at least the Obamacare-inspiring heretic isn’t a blah person.
An endorsement via email? Isn’t that like breaking up with someone on Facebook?
Honest to god, I have zero faith in the American people’s sagacity (the dumb motherfuckers almost elected George W. Bush twice!), and the economy will probably still be in the shitter this November, which should doom the president’s reelection chances under normal circumstances.
But these aren’t normal circumstances. Romney is just an awful, horrible, terrible, heinous, unlikable candidate, and I’m not sure “at least he’s not Obama” will be enough to put Mittens over the top, since that line really only resonates with people insane enough to think Santorum, Gingrich, Perry, Bachmann, Cain, et al, aren’t bug-eyed loons and/or booger-eating idiots.
It’s not exactly where I’d hoped we’d be in the summer of 2012, but hell, I’ll take it.
Early Morning Open Thread — Artsy Fartsy Edition
Artists tend to use the materials close at hand to create their masterworks, which explains all those lovely Italian Renaissance sculptures carved in Carrara marble.
At my backyard tiki bar, the abundant resource is wine foil — you know, that heavy foil that must be removed from the top of the bottle to expose the cork prior to decanting. Here’s a wine foil sculpture of a chicken:
And here’s a foil art tribute to Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” which recently sold for $120 million. (The original, not the tribute, for which bids are currently being entertained.)
Bonus wino points to whoever can name the winery that produced “The Scream” foil. Please discuss whatever.
PS: If you’re in North Carolina, vote NO.
Early Morning Open Thread — Artsy Fartsy EditionPost + Comments (48)
Help Take Amendment 1 Down
Assorted ninnies and white supremacists are attempting to deface the North Carolina Constitution with anti-gay graffiti via Amendment 1. There’s already no marriage equality in NC, but Amendment 1 is designed to keep same-sex couples in the back of the bus.
Here’s Balloon Juice commenter Jibeaux:
I assume if you’re reading B-J and live in NC that you know about Amendment One. If you’re reading B-J and do not live in NC but know anyone there, please nag them to vote against A1 or dialogue with them about it if they are on the fence. We could be—but are not poised to be—the first in the nation to reject an anti-gay marriage amendment. This amendment would go further than our current statutes and would prohibit recognition of any domestic union other than marriage. If passed, it will throw partner benefits and domestic abuse law into uncertain territory. We need to pull out all the stops on this, if you have any NC stops please get in touch. Thanks for listening.
Also via Jibeaux, a link to an organization that is leading the charge: Protect All NC Families.
Maggie Gallagher’s NOM outfit likes to brag that the anti-gay bigots always win on ballot measures (neglecting to add that many state voters would re-segregate schools if given the opportunity), and the polls don’t look good. But a big turnout by marriage equality supporters could send a huge message. Please do what you can to help.
Are there no workhouses, etc.
I know less about economics than I do about fashion, which is to say, nothing. But I can usually spot a bamboozle in the hatching phase. Here are two items on the economy that appeared within the last week. First up from a Reuters business piece:
Disability rolls may be holding economy back
Those receiving benefits now account for 5.6 percent of working age populationSince the recession began, the share of Americans actively looking for work, known as the labor participation rate, has fallen to 63.6 percent from 66 percent in 2007.
Some people give up looking for work temporarily, but the size of the decline has perplexed economists and disability is clearly a factor.
JP Morgan estimates it accounts for half a percentage point of the drop. With jobs scarce, it causes little drag on growth.
But Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, said over time, disability will rob roughly $250 billion — or 1.6 percent — from total output each year once the economy returns to full employment, probably within the next five to seven years. This will also widen the budget deficit.
ROB, he says. Okay, here’s the other item:
Study: CEO Pay Increased 127 Times Faster Than Worker Pay Over Last 30 Years
From 1978 to 2011, CEO compensation increased more than 725 percent, a rise substantially greater than stock market growth and the painfully slow 5.7 percent growth in worker compensation over the same period.
In 1978, CEOs took home 26.5 times more than the average worker. They now make roughly 206 times more than workers, EPI found. The pay isn’t always tied to the performance of their businesses — as ThinkProgress has noted, CEOs at companies like Bank of America often pocket huge pay increases even as the company’s stock price plummets and jobs are cut.
Workers’ wages aren’t tied to productivity either. Despite substantial gains in productivity since the 1970s, worker pay has remained flat. According to Labor Department data cited by the Huffington Post, inflation-adjusted wages fell 2 percent in 2011.
How to solve the problem? Getting the feed straws of those disabled layabouts out of our wallets, obviously. And more tax breaks, a greater share of political control and higher bonuses for the CEO class.
I haven’t heard a GOPer make a big show of specifically attacking disability payments yet, but it’s coming if it hasn’t already happened. The disabled will be the new strapping young t-bone buying bucks.
[X-posted at Rumproast]Dispatch from a Very Sincere Pumpkin Patch
It turns out Erick Erickson is more limber than generally suspected, fully capable of bending over and blowing himself on his own blog (hey, somebody has to do it):
As I’ve grown up online, I’m one of the uncommon few who has moved on to both television and radio. I have been blessed. Along the way, I find others who are making the transition too, but still others who have been toiling away in the blogosphere for years who have refused to make the transition, or been unable to despite their hopes, and they may look at me and others like me and think we’ve sold out or decided to go along to get along. But I look at them and think what a waste of talent and energy.
Erickson notes that more wingnut bloggers get “respectable” gigs like CNN analyst spots than lefties:
Though there are a few exceptions, I think more conservatives have moved into television and radio directly from blogs and new media websites than the left.
Hint: It’s not because y’all don’t suck: It’s because Fox News is eating CNN’s lunch with an all-wingnut, all-the-time format. The other media corporations want a piece of that sweet wingnut action, and they found you all tarted up on your street corner. Meritocracy!
But Erickson, having become all respectable, notes that “others” on the right could fuck the dealio up for the lot of them:
But there are others who are dragging those folks down and the rest of us too.
Sadly for them and the rest of us who get invited to nice places to meet nice people off the record, as long as the rest of us keep humoring them and their antics, those invites won’t come for any of us.
I don’t follow the wingnutosphere closely enough to know who pissed in Erickson’s cornflakes. Does anyone know?
BONUS: I hate opening the RedState page, not only because of the suckage contained within — hell, that’s what I’m there for — but because of the stupid newsletter popup that features a graphic of Erickson’s grinning melon rising from the bottom of the page like the Great Pumpkin. But all is forgiven, RedState, because this is the best wingnut website ad ever:
Hahahaha!
[X-posted at Rumproast]Dispatch from a Very Sincere Pumpkin PatchPost + Comments (49)
Profiles in Courage (Not)
Willard is taking some flak from folks who observed the way he left the rabid neo-con he’d hired as a foreign policy spokesman twisting in the wind when the rabid anti-gay bigots in Willard’s party hung a “NO FAGS!” sign on the GOP clubhouse.
One of the several Sears mannequins deployed by the Romney campaign argued that Willard does TOO have the balls to push back against wingnut bigotry:
“Mitt Romney has confronted those voices of intolerance,” Fehrnstrom said. “He did it last October on stage at the Values Voters summit and denounced some of the poisonous language that is being used by some of the same people that had criticized Ric Grennel’s appointment.”
Yeah, when the talibangelicals go after Willard as a heretic for his Mormonism, he can be arsed to fire back. But when they go after someone on his staff for being gay, Willard regretfully accepts the man’s resignation. Face it, centrists: Martin Niemöller he ain’t.
[X-posted at Rumproast]