Letting Down Those Who Built The Town

A town in Alabama has illegally stopped paying pensions to its retired workers, abrogating the contract made with them for the work done. These people put in their time with the expectation that this would be part of their compensation for the work they did building this town and fulfilling its purpose, and now people who weren't even around when these promises were made are making cold-hearted decisions to cut them off illegally.

Shouldn't the people against whom these decisions were made now repossess city buildings and equipment? And since the decisions made by governmental officials were admittedly contrary to the law, shouldn't that defeat sovereign immunity, allowing for their personal homes and property to be seized as well?

Vaseline-Smeared Reality

So, let's see...Sarah Palin thinks President Obama "flip-flopped" when he compromised with Republicans and publicly said he didn't like not cutting taxes for the rich. This from someone who flip-flopped on her commitment to the State of Alaska just so she could cash in.

In her magnificent vaseline-smeared lens, she didn't quit, she simply moved on to better opportunities. Ones that didn't involve failing grades.

Ecliptic Visions

Maybe the Republicans will reduce the moon's funding. The Earth's gravity is an entitlement they probably think the moon needs to break free from. And what about the moon scamming off the earth's shadow last night? Sounds like this is one celestial body that is just along for a free ride.

Mistaken Identity?

Why does the president (not just Obama, but any president). or any authority figure who wants to underline what they are saying with EXTREME GRAVITY start out any "serious" statement by saying, "Make no mistake...?" Who the hell was in danger of making a mistake?

Or is the use of this phrase somehow implying that any disagreement with the speaker's VITALLY IMPORTANT PRONOUNCEMENT is a mistake?

Following The Example Of The Guy On The Five

President Obama may posture like he's reaching out to Republicans, but he's really just giving in on a lot of issues. What has he gotten from them? Versus what he's given them? And why is he just giving away stuff, when all that does is move the bar?

If Obama wants to use Lincoln as his model, he should keep a couple of things in mind:

‎1) Lincoln kicked Jefferson Davis' ass. He didn't say, "I'll give you slavery, and maybe we can compromise."

2) Being Lincoln didn't work out so well for Lincoln in the end.

Social Security And The Bigger Sinking Ship

One of the main reasons that Social Security is sinking is because so much of the wealth has been distributed to the top. With the cap on taxes paid toward Social Security cut off at a certain income, there is less money to pay for it. That is why a true solution would come from making all income taxable for Social Security.

But truly Medicare is in a lot more trouble. Politicians have created a focus on Social Security to divert attention away from the crisis in health care costs.

OK, Free Willie, But Free The Rest Of Them Too

It is amazing how many clamor for the release of some famous individual when they get popped for violating a stupid law while doing something negligent. Maybe some of those people should be making noise all the time for others breaking the same ridiculous laws. Many of the not-so-privileged have families who suffer, and our resources are much more strained by spending money to imprison the "offenders" and provide social benefits for the surrounding casualties.

Regarding Willie Nelson: First of all, it's not the smartest thing to go through the checkpoint at Sierra Blanca holding. Most would not cross the border with drugs, and this is about the same thing. This is not to justify the repressive action of having a police checkpoint on the road, but if you know it's there, you are pretty much asking for it if you are going to carry with you one of the main things they are looking for. Of course, if you are doing it to protest, get some mileage out of it, and speak courageously about your action. That doesn't seem to be happening in this case.

Many of us have no love for laws against substances. But the rich should not get special privileges.

The point here is not to rag on Willie, but to call attention to the many others who are less fortunate who don't have the resources to hire a good lawyer after getting caught for some ridiculous possession. Also, possession laws are perfect for a society that is looking to become more and more authoritarian, because they require no component of intent. Such laws makes it easy to plant illegal objects on people, and convict them on circumstantial evidence that is indistinguishable from direct evidence in the eyes of many onlookers. Nobody deserves that. And possession laws also can lead to potential corruption due to authorities stealing the valuable contraband...how much of it never makes it back to the evidence room? It's often impossible to say.

So if you're going to make noise about freeing Willie, please don't stop making that noise until all in similar positions with not as many resources are free too. Because Willie will be free; indeed, he probably already is. He even made it out from under the highly oppressive IRS debacle relatively intact (OK, he's probably got some wounds from that, and who would wish that on anyone, but on the whole, he's in good shape due to being able to marshal a heck of a lotta resources). Can the same be said about your average working-class pot criminal?

The Limits of Compromise

If Obama is going to compromise with Republicans, rewarding them for having acted like toddlers with tantrums throughout his whole presidency, in the same spirit, should he make Kansas a Taliban state to mollify more unreasonable people?

Billing The Real Deadbeats

If you can send a political candidate a donation, it stands to reason that you should also be able to send a candidate a bill.

If you can say that you support someone so much that you are willing to back them financially, well, it stands to reason that you can also say that you oppose someone so virulently that they should pay you. If you think someone is committing malfeasance against the American people, why shouldn't they pay you for the privilege of their corruption?

It can even vary with the degree of numbskullery that the person exhibits. Maybe you just lightly oppose someone. If you supported someone to that degree, you might send them twenty bucks. So you would bill the offender twenty bucks.

So how much is Abu Ghraib worth? Homelessness and hunger? Bank corruption? Someone owes us all a pile of money in contributions.

If the candidate doesn't pay the bill, it would seem that makes that person an irresponsible deadbeat, right? Shouldn't they be reported to the credit bureaus?

Cuts You Can Believe In

The Republicans are talking about "across-the-board cuts." But none of 'em will say what they will cut. Why don't we cut the salaries of the House and Senate, and turn Congress into a homeless shelter? There's a start.

And who knows, if you pack enough people into triple bunks throughout the halls of Congress, it might save us some benefits money at least in the DC area, and it could be a pilot program for government buildings all over the country. Not to mention the organic gardens that could grow once we plow up all the cement on the grounds. It might invigorate Congress with some new energy once it has the vibe of a youth hostel in Copenhagen.

Now, some will say that this can't possibly be a serious proposal, and that we can't squeeze enough savings out of it to make a dent in the deficit. But symbolism matters, otherwise President Obama would not have finally pinned that American flag onto his lapel. And once the ball gets rolling, with real pain coming to the ones who, after all, caused it for the American people, maybe real fiscal responsibility will be around the corner.

False Choices

The Deficit Commission has been focusing on Social Security as one of the major means to lower the deficit and the national debt. But Social Security is really not as much of a problem as other areas of the government. Social Security is solvent for years to come, and one of the only reasons that it is not in better shape is that the Social Security Trust Fund has been repeatedly raided for years.

One of the biggest problems going forward into the future is the cost of providing health care. This is an elephant that threatens to engulf huge amounts of money going into the next few decades. With workers everywhere being asked to downsize, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and providers continue to expand their profits.

One of the reasons that single-payer was allegedly rejected is the amount that it would add to the deficit. But that money is circulating in the economy anyway, and to bring it under the federal government would be eliminating most of the profit that adds to the cost, and much of the waste. Also, providers and pharmaceutical companies would be held to reasonable profits that would be more in line with what people are experiencing and able to pay in this diminished economy.

And let's not forget military spending. Is it really necessary for the US to spend more than most of the other countries of the world combined? And why are do we still have bases in Germany, Japan, and other countries around the world? Military spending threatens to overwhelm us, and no other country spends anywhere near as much as we do.

Cutting education would be a huge mistake when the US is falling so far behind in its ability to innovate. And with the economy in a shambles, unemployment and food stamps provide an important (but inadequate, given the increase in hunger and homelessness within our borders over the last 30 years) safety net.

Maybe we should heed the old truism and not "bite off our nose to spite our face."

Propaganda Factories

Why is it that the corporate-owned half-hour news shows all cover the same eight stories night after night, with all the things that are going on with six billion people around the world?

Just try watching more than one national news broadcast at any given time (or recording news broadcasts) on major broadcast or cable networks, and it is often obvious that sometimes they are even covering stories in the same order at the same time, with very close to the same slant. There is something seriously wrong with that.

It probably has something to do with news pools, embedded reporters, "pack journalism" and editors that don't want to run things that other organizations are not confirming. But when a virtual corporate news cartel fulfills a propaganda function that is not all that dissimilar to what the Communist Party did in Eastern Europe, maybe that is a problem.

Repeal Health Care? Good Luck With That...

Just how exactly are the Republicans going to repeal health care?

Dry up funding for it? That will just bring in less revenue and bust the budget, making them look like bad guys. Defund the IRS' ability to monitor taxes? Obama has already said he is open to changing the 1099 provision. What else can they do? Tell the country that their children under 26 have to come off their insurance? Re-impose discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions? Take insurance away from those who couldn't get it before? Put the doughnut hole for seniors back?

Good luck with all that, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.

Homophobia and Hypocrisy

The Pope went to Spain and blasted same-sex marriage. Funny he didn't have anything to say about same-sex priests (or pedophile priests).

Seriously, many of the people who are against same-sex marriage say they don't have anything against gays, it's just that the institution of marriage is "sacred." But often it is the only way for people to get insurance, to inherit, to get tax breaks that others can get, and obtain many other benefits that others see as a basic right. To deny these economic and political benefits to an entire class of people is nothing short of bigotry.

And it is certainly not compatible with the Catholic Church's lip service to tolerance.

Now Is Not A Good Time To Order A Printer From Yemen

You might want to cancel any orders for laser printer cartridges from the Middle East in general.

In the foreseeable future: Laser printer cartridges are forbidden on flights. Of course. Any thing that has happened in the past becomes hysterically prohibited. Even though there are infinite numbers of ways people can mess with us in the future.

What is it they say in the stock market? Past results are not predictive of future performance. And, indeed, every time a terrorist tries to mess with the US, it rarely happens in a fashion that has been discovered in the past. Yet we can't carry toothpaste or other liquids and we have to take our shoes off so that the authorities can show that they are taking impotent measures.

What will happen if somebody brings on a toupee bomb or a bra bomb? What will happen when somebody activates a remote-controlled aircraft with a bomb? And what absolutely intrusive measures will be taken if somebody is caught with swallowed or surgically implanted explosives? You can't take a person apart and put them back together...

Just Trying To Help Carly Out Here...

Since Carly Fiorina fired so many HP employees and bought herself two corporate jets, here's a strategy that would work for her, and fit in with the Republican philosophy: Fire the people of California, and then buy a Hummer. Of course, Carly, you would only want to fire the slackers, not the fine, shiny, productive millionaires who are pissed off about how much they pay in taxes. So Paris Hilton can stay.

Her lackeys can just drive up to peoples' houses in the middle of the night, ring the doorbell, and when someone answers, say, "You're fired!" Then put a black hood over their heads and whisk them to the Nevada border. It's simple, it's inhumane, and not much thought needs to be put into it. In other words, it's solid baseline Republicanism through and through.

But maybe the people of California will fire her first. That would be what you might call "pulling an HP."

Perspective...It's a Beautiful Thing.

Fox has been involved in so many conflicts of interest and instances of blatant manipulation that perhaps someone should consider pulling their license, yet they thrive, supported by some of the most angry, evil and blatantly political money. NPR does one vaguely stupid thing and it should be destroyed? And the guy they fire immediately gets a two million dollar contract and national attention? What kind of punishment is that?

What Juan Williams said on Fox was definitely cringe-worthy. But he probably should not have been fired over it. It's really not the greatest move for NPR, already in the crosshairs of conservatives, to create a bullseye on their forehead in a manner that will attract negative attention on them, and has rewarded Williams with a better deal. Many people say unintelligent, uninformed things all the time, and it often just passes. Williams definitely should have been brought in and read the riot act, and absolutely prohibited from identifying himself as an NPR correspondent in any further outside outside interviews.

The True Culture of Entitlement

The Republican Right is really furious about the "culture of entitlement." For years, terms like "welfare queen" have been bandied about to try to inflame passions and influence voters.

We do need to get rid of the culture of entitlement. But the right is looking in the wrong direction. We need to get rid of the feeling of entitlement to big government contracts and legislated bribery from those who demand they should have it because they have the right friends and grease the right wheels. We need to get rid of the claim to privilege by those who have sucked the wealth out of society through activities that have damaged our nation. We need to cast off the demand that there are those who deserve to use up our resources and flaunt it in everybody else's face because, frankly, "we are better than you."

These are some of the worse claims of entitlement around. And none of us should stand for it.

Mental Red Sludge

There are some truly vile and disruptive things people will do for money. People like Ann Coulter, Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are the psychological equivalent of strip-mining entire mountaintops or Hungarian red sludge released into the Danube. Some people will just say things that are divisive and clearly just uttered to draw attention for no other purpose than to get money to flow in their direction.

It is really sad that segments of our culture encourage this and come up with large sums to reward it. Can you imagine if great teachers were paid what any of these hate-spreaders makes on a book tour, or if an organic farmer made what a Wall Street trader makes? Surely they create more true value in our society where the meaning of "creating value" has been turned upside down.

Driving Miss Daisy (Or Running Her Over)

Sometimes it seems like the main objective of many drivers is not to get from point A to point B. It is to become enraged, aggressive and abusive if anybody gets in front of them or acts like they want to get in front of them. Sometimes it also seems like the main use of an automobile is not as a means of transportation, but as a weapon.

Popular psychotic driving maneuvers include the "question mark", where somebody zooms around you in a (questionable) move shaped like a question mark just so they can wait in line in front of you at the red light ahead.

Another trendy move is "peeling out straight from the right turn lane." Or its more dangerous cousin, executed from the left turn lane. Bonus points for complete disregard as to what is going on with the rest of traffic so multiple people have to suddenly brake into a near-skid. C'est magnifique.

Our driving habits are, for the most part, sad, and indicative of a disturbed society. The courteous driver is out there, but there seem to be few sometimes.

It helps, though, to think of those reckless drivers as altruistic. Just think of how generous and selfless it is of them to divert police attention away from you.

Fractured Fairy Tales

It's sometimes amazing how someone will put a complete fruitcake on TV for some imagined concept of "balance." Political hacks will combat facts with unimaginable fantasy and then howl about how their "side" is not being represented.

One of the best examples of this (though there are many) is the "opposing view" on global warming. Somebody seeks out some parapsychotic "expert" to come up with a fairy tale that is contrary to all of the scientific data, and suddenly after there is some fabricated howling about how "the other side of the story is not being told," corporate media and politicians are suddenly putting the straw man in front of the cameras to spin the "reality" that up is down.

That's the beauty of an America where opinions can be bought.

Feeding The Beast

The reporting in the New York Times is excellent compared to most big media sources. But the huge, glossy real estate ads for properties that probably only the top .05 percent of the population could afford are really a discordant note. Not only do they strike a tone that that these overpriced spaces are the norm and surely anyone who can't even approach affording anything of this sort is not even worth considering as a human being, but the occasional features that provide background noise for the culture of these ads about "how far your money goes" in various locations seem to skew towards the most opulent properties in what are otherwise very affordable areas.

And then there are the wedding ads. They certainly sometimes seem like a directory of the overprivileged. When was the last time the love of two homeless people was celebrated in these venerable pages?

The argument would be that you have to feed the beast somehow, especially since print media is flying down the trash chute at an immoral velocity. Investigative reporting suffers somewhat, but, hey, at least there's a style magazine.

Radioactive Waste

Sharron Angle wants to phase out the EPA? The EPA should phase out Sharron Angle. First, they can declare the things she says to be toxic waste. Next, they can create a special fund to clean up the brownfields of her mind. And then they can put a protective bubble around her temporarily and finally encase her in a concrete dome designed to protect us all from her radioactive ideas.

Does "Green" Mean "Money?"

A lot of "green" solutions turn out to be not so green when examined more closely. Take electric cars, for instance.

Ten years ago, one would be shouted down for even suggesting that the materials in batteries in electric cars might be troublesome, that the energy to power them might be really dirty, and nobody knows if massive electromagnetic fields that close to one's body might not be the greatest thing (even from people who complained about cell phones causing damage from the electric fields). But now people are starting to look at those things in earnest.

There's also the fact that once the batteries are used up (seven years?), you have to get another really expensive and material-intensive one. Mined rare earths are being diverted to many of the car batteries at an alarming speed.

And how will this all play out for the consumer? Suppose they implement one idea that has been talked about and put up charging stations so you can change out your depleted battery for a charged one every 100 miles (or whatever the range of an electric vehicle is). What happens when you change out your brand-new battery for one that is near the end of its chargeable life? Can you say "rip-off?"

It's funny how there's been a much more environmentally friendly vehicle around for a long time (called a "bicycle") that is just not getting the good press. And there's an even more environmentally friendly way of getting around. Have you heard of "feet?"

Afghanistan Bandstand

The Afghani War continues as Congress votes to provide more funding even after the WikiLeaks documents show what a fiasco this is. General Motors has killed more people than Al-Qaeda. Should we bomb the car companies mercilessly? Of course not.

We are killing large numbers of innocent civilians, including women and children, and also sowing untold misery, as well as flushing our future down the drain by massively wasting money. The whole thing is basically a gangland vendetta. Good idea? If anybody thinks so, I wish they would please provide a definition of "good idea" because this mess looks like monumental stupidity.

Tolls and Trolls

People have been whining a lot about toll roads lately. One of the latest whines involves a certain local road where ONLY ONE LANE would be tolled, and it has been pointed out that not only would this lane be added, but others would benefit from the decreased traffic due to those who choose to pay the toll. Some people have been suggesting that we start charging bicyclists also, especially since bicycles are a menace because they crash into pedestrians.

Yes, maybe we should charge a shoe tax also, and have all shoes inspected, for pedestrians? Or simply put toll booths on everybody's front doors to go outside? But then, shouldn't we all be charged to go from the living room to the kitchen also? Or to get up at night to pee?

Where are the news reports about all of these medical victims of bicycles? Where are the headlines about these rampant mobs of killer bicycles who are mowing down pedestrians so heavily that it is burdening our society? If this is such a big factor in our fiscal insolvency, we should take immediate action by all means. But, ummm...how many people did General Motors' cars kill last year (sorry...fill in Toyota, Hyundai, Mazda, Fiat or the death machine maker of your choosing...not trying to make it "evening in America")? And didn't they know when they made the cars that a certain number would die from using their product as intended?

All kidding aside, the fact is that cars heavily use fossil fuels, pollute, congest our traffic and do not anywhere near pay for their usage. They are heavily subsidized in our society to the exclusion of good public transportation. It is no wonder nobody wants to ride the train or a bicycle, when auto drivers can have the public paying for their automobile usage and pollution. Why pay for it if you can get someone else to?

In Poland, there are bus stops in every small town (imagine if you could take a bus from Austin to Dripping Springs or Elgin at any time), and they run almost all the time (though the night buses, from 11 pm to 5 am, only run every half hour). The city buses coordinate with the regional buses and the national buses. People who look like our parents and grandparents are routinely riding bicycles. There are bike lanes (usually made with bricks or tile) in many small towns. C'mon, if they can get this kind of public transportation going in a relatively poor European nation, surely we could do it here. We have poor people in our suburbs and exurbs who are virtually landlocked, and this can't be helping the employment situation (of course, there are no jobs for them to take right now, but that's a separate issue). The only excuse we have for not setting up good, usable public transportation, and setting up a regulatory structure to promote it over car use, is raw selfishness.

So if your blood pressure, cholesterol and weight go up because you rode your car instead of walking, taking the bus/train or riding a bike (keep in mind I'm talking about the able-bodied here, which probably comprise a majority of the drivers), or your lungs got congested from all the car pollution, don't expect medical care, because that's going down the tubes too in our lopsided, "too-rich-to-support-the-poor-and-middle-class" society. Maybe if there is a toll on some of our roads, ya might make a healthier choice, not only for the rest of us, but for yourself.

The Republican Economic Recovery Plan

The Republican economic plan seems to be the same as their health care plan, "Die Quickly." That surely must be what is behind their latest maneuver to kill any further extensions of unemployment in this era where so many cannot find employment.

But seriously, is it a good thing to have more calls to suicide hot lines?

Hostile Corporate Takeover

Has the Supreme Court dashed all hopes of public financing for elections? It looks like Arizona's gubernatorial race is unalterably messed with, but we'll have to see what happens in the Supremes' next term to see the full impact of this order.

We already pretty much have corporations holding public office. I mean, to win public office, you have to have a lot of ill-gained money from the exploitation of huge numbers of people, a large organization comprised of power-hungry drones advertising a product using deception, and an enormous amount of marketing based on manipulation of people's emotions. Bingo. Maybe as a first step toward acknowledging this, we should rename the Gulf of Mexico the Toilet of British Petroleum.

Housing Prices and Median Income

Housing prices still have room to fall, if you look at median price/median income ratios. Here is one case study of a very old house, showing that though there were ups and downs, bubbles and dips, the price only doubled from the 1600s to now.

The "Freegan" Movement

"Freegans" eschew the use of money and simply move into abandoned properties, refusing to pay for rent. And in some cases, the authorities and the neighbors are on their side. According to the Wikipedia article on "Freeganism," it is estimated that there are about one billion squatters worldwide. And, according to this article, the United Nations says our leftovers could satisfy every single empty stomach in Africa.

Collapsitarians

Maybe there's something to be said about planning your life around the collapse of our society.

More Insurance Blues and Hassles

It seems to be OK to hassle you to make you prove whether the dependents on your insurance are really eligible, even though it would only catch a small number of people who are ineligible.

BP's Crime Scene

“The government is letting BP clean up their own crime scene. On TV cop shows, they don’t do that.”--David Pettit, a senior lawyer with Natural Resources Defense Council.

But then again, what Texaco did to Ecuador or what Shell did to Nigeria is just as bad as what BP did to the Gulf of Mexico...

Call BP at home: Here are the home phone numbers of some of their executives, they worked yesterday. Douglas J. Suttles, BP Exec: 832 437-2273 and 832 437-2273. Per another BP exec, Randy Prescott: "Louisiana isn't the only place that has shrimp." Randy's office number: 713-323-4093.

Enemy Combatants?

Why are BP officials not considered "enemy combatants"? Why is Tony Hayward not in Guantanamo? Oh, yeah, because we closed it down. Umm...NOT.

Tony Hayward pulls in about 3 million British Pounds a year. What's that, about 5 million bucks? So about every minute that he is working, while his oil is fouling the Gulf of Mexico, about thirty bucks are fouling his pockets.

Let Someone Else Choose Your Senator

So the Tea Party is trying to repeal the seventeenth amendment now. You know, the one that allowed people to vote directly for their senators. Whud up? Does the Tea Party really want to be where the Reform Party is now? Or the Bull Moose Party? If so, go for it.

Pay-Free Mortgages?

Why pay your mortgage? The company that is asserting the right to collect on it probably sold it to somebody else who chopped it into bits and has no direct proof that they have any right to collect your payment. Who's to say that they really have the note?

I Definitely Don't Miss You

‎"Miss me yet?" Hell no. Can you go farther away? Say, Pitcairn? Or maybe Midway? Take your Dick with you. There would be no prosecution...we are forgiving, even for monumental fuck-ups.

Apologies in advance to the good citizens of Pitcairn Island for the suggestion. At least Midway is (technically) uninhabiited.

Or maybe they should live in a bubble at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

Libertarianism = The Robber Baron Mentality of the Nineteenth Century

Libertarianism contains some of the most intellectually bankrupt and selfish ideology. Economic externalities just don't exist. If there's inequity, tough, as long as I've got mine. Most libertarians just whine about taxes, after taking advantage of many perks those taxes paid for.

Is Health Care Reform a Joke?

So we get these totally lukewarm, mind-bending, convoluted health care and financial reform laws. They don't move the cheese, they just swizzle around the bacteria growing on the cheese. And the Democrats talk about how they are the greatest thing ever, and the Republicans talk about how civilization will collapse. What is wrong with this picture?

If we could only spend as much time, energy and political will on feeding, housing, and providing medical care as we did on building big ugly concrete and steel monoliths filled with lawyers, bankers, insurance executives and accountants, this world would be a better place.

Expert Texpert, Choking Voters

So yesterday the stock market went down, and the "experts" said that one of the reasons was the House passing financial reform. And today the stock market went up, and the "experts" said it was due to the Senate passing financial reform. Do the "experts" really know their asses from their elbows?

I mean, weren't the "experts" in charge of the housing bubble, the derivatives debacle, the faulty engineering behind the BP oil spill, and every war we've ever been in? Methinks maybe your average transvestite junkie would do a better job running things.

Maybe we should be appointing welders from Peoria to high-level positions rather than eggheads from the Ivy Leagues. That having been said, there's nothing wrong with having people who actually have solutions run things. But the "solutions" all seem so corrupted by money, and the people in charge seem to be just well-connected prostitutes.

The Tea Party Fireworks Show

Rand Paul is going to self-destruct. Like sweaty dynamite. I don't think the Tea Party will really make a difference in too many elections. They are internally inconsistent (they mostly have no idea what they stand for other than anger), intellectually bankrupt, and not at all cohesive.

Razing Arizona

Now they are purging teachers with accents in Arizona? What the hell is going on there? Are they trying to take their state apart? First the Capitol and other government buildings get sold to corporations, then there's the whole insane illegal alien thing, and now this?

It used to be Mississippi that made Texas look bad, but it looks like we have a new contender.

Baby, You Can Drive My Car

So somebody has figured out how to hack into cars' computers. “We demonstrate the ability to adversarially control a wide range of automotive functions and completely ignore driver input — including disabling the brakes, selectively braking individual wheels on demand, stopping the engine, and so on.” How would you like to be driving down a winding road on the coast of California, and find that your brakes are being disabled by a hacker in Bulgaria?

Birth Management

Hawaii is getting so many requests for Obama's birth certificate that they set up an FAQ page for questions about Obama's birth.

Toy Story

Predator drones are going to be flying over Texas. Finally, Texans can get shot to death by an umanned armed toy.

Lock, Stock and Barrel

Considering how quick it was to bring the stock market to a slamming halt, how easy would it be for a terrorist?

America Is Really Great For The Lucky Few

Laura Bush finally reaps a profit from offing some guy, and manages to blame it on God in the process. Isn't America great. For her.

Travel-Loss-City

There's been a new travel advisory involving Mexico...

TV Medical Care vs. Real-Life Medical Care

"House." There's a team of medical professionals, all obsessing on one person. Bouncing theories off each other, pushing each other to the brink. And then, of course, they rifle through the patient's house to find clues. Doesn't that sound exactly like all of our collective experience with the health care system?

I'll Take "Missing The Point" For A Thousand, Alex

It's amusing (and sadly pathetic) to see the deployment of metal detectors at the Texas Capitol being tied up by the question of how to accommodate people who want to bring their guns into the Capitol now. Apparently it is perfectly legal (and encouraged in some circles) to bring concealed weapons into the Capitol, except into the public galleries for the Senate and House chambers. And heaven forbid anyone would interfere with that right.

April Fools! Oh, Wait...Not...

Life isn't fair. Idiots get rich. Duplicitous thieves run corporations that fleece us all. Unscrupulous politicians manipulate the gullible into voting against their own interests self-righteously. So let's dance and play, enjoy each other's company and wisdom, spread the truth, and party like the world will end tomorrow (because it might).

There's No Place Like Home(less)

There are a number of groups popping up to fill vacant foreclosed properties with the homeless. With the glut of commercial properties going into foreclosure, this could be an opportunity to end homelessness. All we need is the political will.

You Bet Your Life

Soon to come to network TV? A game show where celebrities torture contestants to death in return for, say, a kidney for their ailing daughter...We shouldn't say that too loud. Some network exec might take us seriously.

Now they are recreating the Milgram Experiment as a reality show on TV. The Milgram experiment involved a situation where people were asked to shock others until they complied with orders, and to turn the electricity up higher and higher until the shocks were life-threatenting. Only the people "shocked" were actually confederates of the researcher, and they were not actually being shocked, just pretending that they were. The experiment showed that most people would just blindly follow the orders of an authority figure.

Anybody Have Any Boxes?

‎"I don't know. I'll just tell you this, if this [health care reform] passes and it's five years from now and all that stuff gets implemented -- I am leaving the country. I'll go to Costa Rica."--Rush Limbaugh.

Need help moving?

Of course, Rush is already denying that he will actually move. He says he just meant he would go on vacation there.

Out In The Cold?

The first Cold War was political consisting of the West vs. the Iron Curtain countries. Are we at the beginning of a second Cold War--an economic Cold War, that we are losing to China?

And with our reliance on surveillance, the Patriot Act, detainment of enemy combatants and illegal immigrants with minimal due process, and corporate dominance are we becoming "Cold Fascists?" Kinder, gentler fascists?

Ethical Mayhem

People in power will have you believe that you have to accept what can be gotten along with. To a certain extent that may be true, but this is much more subject to change that their limited viewpoints may allow. The way it works is you have to get what you can grab. That's how they got where they are.

And I don't mean that people should run around bopping each other on the head and taking each other's stuff at random. You have to target what you need and what you ethically deserve based on your contributions, and go for it balls-out.

The Last Liberal President?

Nixon is looking like a liberal these days. A proposed guaranteed income, wage and price controls, creation of the EPA, enforced integration in southern schools, engagement with China and the Soviet Union, ending the Vietnam War. All that happened during the Nixon administration. Though Nixon pushed the drug war, two-thirds of the money went to treatment of addicts. "In many respects, [Nixon was] 'the last liberal president'"--Noam Chomsky.

Compare the Obama administration's talk. Obama seems to be writing the Republicans' strategy for them. It is pretty sad that after advocating single-payer as a State Senator, President Obama won't go anywhere near talking about it now. Supposedly, this can be chalked up to pragmatism, or a desire to build a consensus. But pragmatism is supposed to be a means for getting things accomplished, not for letting your opponents make you look foolish. C'mon, President Obama. Step up.

The Republicans are winning the language war in coming up with slogans that inflame people's emotions and point them at enemies, even if those enemies are straw men. Yet the Democrats have a former writer for one of the most popular shows on television as their leaders. C'mon, Senator Franken. Step up.

"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."--Thomas Paine

The Upside of an Economic Catastrophe

Our society is in a challenging place right now. There is no denying that many people are going through difficult times. There is evidence that many are suffering, and that some of the things that appeared to work in the past simply don't appear to work any more.

The problem is, some of the things that appeared to work really didn't work. They just created a bigger problem. There is no easy money. America simply doesn't have the right, nor apparently the ability any more, to just haphazardly grab most of the world's wealth and resources.

After World War II, we went on a huge binge. We partied like there was no end, and we bought into the myth that unparalleled, unlimited wealth was just out there for the taking. We helped create a myth that big, unregulated business built wealth out of nothing, and expert after expert added to the mythology by insinuating that creation of wealth was nearly unlimited. But it isn't. The world is a closed system. There is only so much stuff to go around. And when the population was expanding at a large rate, there were always people to pass the Ponzi scheme on to to keep the whole carnival of dreams going long enough to gorge ourselves on more and more cotton candy.

So now it appears that many of our young, and their young, won't have a pile of stuff to collect that approaches the piles of their parents. And there is a lot of resentment and backlash about that. It's easy to assign blame, but hard to find solutions. It's easy to whine and moan, and difficult to build a sustainable future.

But maybe some of the priorities that had gone so wrong can start getting right again. What we have had for a very long time is a society that is completely built on lies. The television, altar to our misguided paradigms, is an absolute icon to the lies that we have been sucking on like a mother's breast that only spews forth poisoned condensed milk.

There is no Huxtable family. Gilligan is not the Skipper's little buddy. That news reporter who cradled the diseased orphan in his hands and looked so concerned just left and moved on to the next story. Those people in that movie didn't fall in love from across the room, and their lives didn't just unfold easily and breathlessly from then on. If a guy buys that product, it won't make women more likely to have sex with him. That movie that told you how bad capitalism was raked in a pile for the various business organizations that backed it. I could be driving a Mazda, but I could be having sex with an ape, too, and I'm not. That frumpy loser in that sitcom doesn't live in a pristine, high-end house with a gorgeous wife despite having no apparent means of support.

A society that has lies so embedded into it as a core value couldn't have a better high priest than the television set. But maybe now that the lies are starting to fall apart, people will discover some truths.

We are defined by what we do, not by what we have. We need our community, not our possessions. That boat, or Porsche, or house in the Hamptons, won't fill a hole in your heart.

So if people spend as much time working on their communities rather than their bank accounts, maybe we will have a culture that is really based on traditions that do special things for all of us, rather than images created by faceless corporations. The corporate world would have you believe that our common heritage is Mickey Mouse and formulaic action films. They create a structure where if Steve Jobs wins, Bill Gates loses, because you will only buy one of their shiny boxes to masturbate to. We have the opportunity here to create something that is more than that. Actually, we had the opportunity the whole time, but most people didn't feel like doing it.

America--Improve It Or Leave It!

Many years ago, in a response to the counter-culture of the '60s, the refrain, "America, love it or leave it!" was a common talking point for the conservatives. I guess the implicit message behind it was that people should leave this idealized illusion of a perfect alone.

But every political system has its problems. The whole notion behind the formation of the United States was that the people should have the right to fix things that were not working right.

So maybe we should have a new refrain, as our country's problems mount: "America, Fix it or leave it!"

The Rich Taxed Us First

The rich started the class war, too.

New Union of the Unemployed

There is a new union of the unemployed. It is called UCubed and it looks like a really innovative idea for some of those in the lowest echelon of power to group together for leverage. If you are unemployed, you may want to strongly consider joining. Go to http://www.unionofunemployed.com/ for more details.

Democracy In Action, Sort Of

At our Democratic Precinct convention in 2008, there were about 1000 people who showed up. All the people couldn't even fit into the school cafeteria where the event was held. This year, two years later, only five showed up. Three of us were elected delegates, though we had space for 33 delegates and 33 alternates. But still, the precinct will have its full voting force at the convention. If the three show up, then each one will have the voting force of eleven people. But it is not clear if all three will show up for the Travis County Convention as some were ambivalent, and there are no alternates. Will we have a situation where only one person speaks for the entire precinct?

The Radical Corporatist Fringe

The radical corporatist fringe has taken control of our society and is determined to succeed even if many of us are driven into homelessness, hunger and destitution by their policies. They are inspired not by the spark, drive and compassion that characterize us as a people, but by the oceans of dirty money that they can tap into to strip our culture of its most precious resources. That is a condition that none of us should tolerate.

We should be building on our strengths, not tearing them down. There is no excuse for allowing anyone to be hungry, homeless or needlessly ill in a world where the resources exist to stop all of these conditions.

Great Moments In American History

One of the first victims of America's concentration camps was Benjamin Franklin Bache. He was the grandson of Benjamin Franklin, and inherited his printing presses. He was arrested for allegedly publishing seditious material and never returned to freedom. He died of yellow fever in prison at the age of 29.

If you ask most Americans who the United Empire Loyalists were, you will get a blank stare. The United Empire Loyalists were some of the first victims of ethnic cleansing in the United States. They were American citizens who had either sympathized with Britain or had failed to declare loyalty to the breakaway Colonialists.

Another person you usually won't read about in American history books is William Walker. William Walker was an American who decided it was his destiny to turn Latin America into a slave-holding empire with himself as emperor, and created a private army backed by American corporations to conquer a number of Central American nations. He is something of an Adolf Hitler figure in Central America, but you hardly hear a peep about him in the U.S. He first conquered and declared the Republic of Baja California. He tried to take over the Mexican state of Sinaloa, and when he failed, he declared Baja California to be part of the greater Republic of Sinaloa, planning to return and complete his conquest. He then conquered Nicaragua and sentenced an American journalist to death for reporting that he was setting up a slave-holding empire there; the journalist escaped disguised as a woman. Walker was turned back in Costa Rica by fierce fighters fighting with rudimentary weapons; some only had pickaxes and hoes. He was then executed in Honduras.

And, finally, an unsung American hero you probably won't hear much about: Tom Ogle. Ogle invented a carburetor in the 1970s that would make a clunky big American car (a Ford Galaxy) get over 100 miles to the gallon. His device burned gasoline vapors instead of a fuel-air mixture.

He first got the idea for such a device when he was mowing his lawn and ran over a rock that punctured the fuel tank. The fuel all ran out, but the mower kept running for a very long time afterwards, running on just the fumes.

Ogle's device burned the fuel so efficiently that there was almost no exhaust; the output was almost completely condensed water vapor. Engineers pored over his altered Ford Galaxy and other cars in which he had installed his device, suspicious that he had hidden fuel sources, but all of them appeared to find that Ogle's claims were true. There is some controversy about how much efficiency you can get from vapors, though.

What happened to Ogle? He started marketing his device. Then shortly thereafter, he was sued by the oil companies. He was hit with investigations by the IRS and the SEC. He was driven into bankruptcy, and several death threats were made on his life. He was shot once by an unknown assailant. And then, after he told his lawyer that he had received threats that someone was going to poison his drinks, he died of an overdose of Darvon and alcohol. His death was ruled a suicide.

Language and Politics

It's time to redefine some terms.

"Construction"--the removal of obscene corporate icons to money, and the restoration of the land on which they were built to natural habitat

"Destruction"--the creation of large obscene monoliths out of concrete and glass to house banks, insurance companies, and the like

"Entitlements"--government programs that allow lobbyists to feel entitled to control our government, regulatory structures that allow corporations to plunder our natural wealth, and the bold allowance of the purchase of our elected officials

"Socialism"--a structure whereby social networks interact to provide support for our friends and families outside of the corporate rubric

Of course, action is required also, but conservatives have long realized that through the control of language, the argument is defined. It's time for us to take the rhetorical initiative so we can take start fighting the real battles.

Entitlements

I think that most lobbyists have a greater sense of "entitlement" than just about anybody. They feel they are "entitled" to move America toward the vision of their corrupt corporate clients. They want to be "entitled" to be paid unethically high amounts of money to manipulate elected officials. Are they "entitled" to pour cash into elections and bring in elected officials who have very little connection with the interests of the electorate? It's time for us to end entitlements!

Investments vs. Waste

There is some myth out there that liberals like to spend huge sums of money. It seems to me that the debt has been run up the most under conservative administrations. The Representative for my district, Lloyd Doggett, is a good example of a deficit hawk who is still pretty liberal. I sure wish he would sign on to end the drug war, though.

Kennedy lowered the top marginal tax rate from over 90%, and Clinton balanced the budget (not that Clinton was a huge liberal). Liberals make better investments in society.

Light Rail In Austin

I'm all for light rail, and amazed and delighted that we are actually getting it started in this sometimes brain-dead state of Texas. But it has to WORK! A year and a half of delays in getting it started is not going to endear this project to anyone.

Desperate Actions For Health Care?

They are doing their best to stop universal affordable health care. What do we have to do, stop traffic on all the freeways? Cover ourselves with maple syrup and give politicians big hugs? Incidentally, I'm all in for the maple syrup. I recommend Vermont light amber grade A...it forms an airy froth when playfully whipped, and is not only a gustatory sensation, but also a tactile symphony on the tongue. It has that certain "je ne sais quoi."

But I digress. The insurance companies are already rationing care by denying coverage, terminating policies and screening out pre-existing conditions. That's the most cruel form of rationing; one run by nothing but some corporate executive's bottom line. It's almost unbelievable that a human being would make those decisions, chalk them up to "business" and then go home and play with his or her children.

I am constantly amazed by the people who accept the multiple reasons that somebody can be excluded from having health insurance as just an acceptable business practice rather than an absolute human rights violation. And that is why it should not be run by a profit-motivated business that answers to shareholders. While we're at it, why don't we open concentration camps for the homeless and the people who whine about not being insured, and assign them to a company with a profit motive? Maybe then some of them will actually get health care.

By the way, Texas has the nation's highest percentage of uninsured--25 percent.

Going Bayh-Bayh

Evan Bayh decides to retire from the Senate one day before the deadline for Democratic candidates to submit signatures to qualify to run. What is up with that?! Daniel Coats, former Senator, has already announced on the Republican side. There is a movement to draft John Cougar Mellencamp, but he'd have to want to, and he'd have to get the signatures by tomorrow.

A long shot is a provision that allows party leaders to select a candidate if there is a vacancy, but Bayh would have to file and then drop out.

Hardball Time

There is no excuse for letting a minority lock up the Senate and gum up the House unless you are not really committed to getting something done in the first place but want to sound like you do. It is time to play hardball, not tiddlywinks.

Your Tax Dollars

The U.S. Gov't paid bounty hunters in Afghanistan $5K each for 6 Uighur detainees who weren't even involved in the war. Then we kept them at Guantanamo, and paid Palau $100K each to take them off our hands. More of your tax dollars at work.

Texas' Legislative Districts

Ah, the memories. It wasn't that long ago that Tom DeLay and the Texas Legislature came up with their grand plan to re-draw Texas' legislative districts. As a result, my district (District 25) is now a long, narrow, snake-like object that goes all the way to the coast. Austin was carved up pretty much out of spite in an extremely anti-democratic maneuver. I attended the hearings in the Texas Capitol when this change was proposed, and the whole time I was there, I didn't hear a single person speaking in favor of this. The committee politely listened to everybody overwhelmingly testifying that this was a bad idea, and went ahead and imposed Tom DeLay's vision on Texas anyway.

And where is DeLay now? A reject from "Dancing With The Stars." But he will be making huge amounts of corporate money for his influence and connections. There is a powerful employment agency for the well-connected, even if there are few decent jobs for the average American