Geography: Fox Reports, You Decide

Looks like your average atlas/world map also has a well-known liberal bias:

Granted this is pretty low hanging fruit, but come on. We've been in Iraq for almost 8 years. You'd think they'd realize by now that Egypt does not border Iran.

I Thought 'No' Meant 'No'?

The GOP is really beginning to rack up quite the pro-rape reputation:

For years, federal laws restricting the use of government funds to pay for abortions have included exemptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. (Another exemption covers pregnancies that could endanger the life of the woman.) But the "No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act," a bill with 173 mostly Republican co-sponsors that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has dubbed a top priority in the new Congress, contains a provision that would rewrite the rules to limit drastically the definition of rape and incest in these cases.

With this legislation, which was introduced last week by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Republicans propose that the rape exemption be limited to "forcible rape." This would rule out federal assistance for abortions in many rape cases, including instances of statutory rape, many of which are non-forcible. For example: If a 13-year-old girl is impregnated by a 24-year-old adult, she would no longer qualify to have Medicaid pay for an abortion.

[...]

Laurie Levenson, a former assistant US attorney and expert on criminal law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, notes that the new bill's authors are "using language that's not particularly clear, and some people are going to lose protection." Other types of rapes that would no longer be covered by the exemption include rapes in which the woman was drugged or given excessive amounts of alcohol, rapes of women with limited mental capacity, and many date rapes. "There are a lot of aspects of rape that are not included," Levenson says.

Personally, I can't think of anyone more qualified to define rape and the federal protections afforded thereto than the middle-aged white male vagina police in the Republican caucus that will never be subjected to the trauma of such a horrific crime. File this one under another of the "how the fuck could any decent or sane human being honestly support something like this?" Republican policies.

But wait! There's more. Let's not forget the Franken Amendment to the FY2010 Defense Appropriations Bill, which sought to exempt federal funding from defense contractors that use mandatory arbitration clauses in cases of allegations of sexual assault or rape. This was sparked by the case of Jamie Leigh Jones, who was gang raped while working for KBR in Iraq. Jones sued KBR, and KBR later tried to enforce a mandatory arbitration clause in her employment contract (under the pretense of terming her gang rape a 'personal injury' resulting from her employment) in order to sweep the crime under the rug. Thirty Republican Senators voted against the amendment, and it was opposed by our favorite serious and principled We-Only-Want-What's-Best-For-America-and-the-Average-Citizen political organization, the US Chamber of Congress.

Next up: the Rape Babies Are A Blessing From Jebus Act, which prohibits abortions of pregnancies resulting from rape under any circumstances, and provides federal funding for mandatory counseling of victims to 'choose life.' Because that's what Sarah Palin would do.

Perhaps We Should Deem Combat Injuries Pre-Existing Conditions

I'm sure there would be some savings to be found in that legislative brilliance as well:

Tea party favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has unveiled a plan for cutting $400 billion in federal spending that includes freezing Veterans Affairs Department health care spending and cutting veterans’ disability benefits.

Her proposed VA budget cuts would account for $4.5 billion of the savings included in the plan, posted on her official House of Representatives website.

Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, said cutting veterans’ health care spending is an ill-advised move at a time when the number of veterans continues to grow as troops return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Sullivan said he finds it difficult to see how VA could freeze health care costs without hurting veterans.

“It is really astonishing to see this,” he said.

I wouldn't agree that this is especially astonishing coming from Bachmann, who proves herself to be a completely vapid idiot week after week (just see her SOTU 'response'). Cutting veteran's healthcare during two never-ending armed conflicts, at a time when 20% of returning Iraq/Afghanistan combat veterans are being diagnosed with PTSD, is just epically stupid, not to mention cruel. For a country like the US, and it's long history of acting as the world's police, the least we can do is properly care for our veterans upon their return. It really kills me that Republicans can honestly suggest something like this as a viable option for balancing the budget or reducing the deficit while reflexively refusing to ever raise taxes of any kind. I mean really...really! How can you seriously argue that cutting VA healthcare is a superior fiscal policy to say, requiring that billionaire hedge fund managers pay taxes on their exorbitant capital gains at a marginal tax rate that isn't among the lowest in the tax code for income? It's a position so stupid that it deserves no place in any rational debate, but these are the kinds of things that originate from half of our political establishment, and as such, they are treated as Serious Ideas. It really shows you their priorities, and it just kills me that this is the 'opposition party' in the US. Having a debate when one side is this far displaced from any sort of logic, facts, or reality is not a debate - it's the equivalent of reasoning with a child. And we just lost a national election to these people.

(Via Balloon Juice)

Happy Birthday, 8 lb 12 oz Baby Republican Jebus

Dumb lady Snowbilly Snookie professional grifter and half-term governor extraordinaire Sarah Palin is giving a speech to commemorate the Republican Jebus' 100th birthday:

On Feb. 4, the former governor of Alaska will give the keynote address at the opening of two days of festivities marking the late president's 100th birthday.

Her speech at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, Calif., "will draw parallels to today, while calling on young people to continue the Reagan revolution into the future," according to Young America's Foundation, the sponsor of the event.

Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, says she is considering a bid for the presidency in 2012. Like most of her potential rivals for the GOP nomination, she considers herself a "Reagan conservative."

The author clearly means 'speech' in the loosest sense of the term, since it will likely be more along the lines of a cacophony of dropped consonants from the ends of progressive tense verbs, general misstatements, purposeful misrepresentations of history, and a cesspool of vapid Republican platitudes. Dear Sarah is just doing what is necessary to be considered a prominent conservatard in these United States, and that includes servile worship at the altar of the Republican Jebus, which is as quintessentially Republican as unequivocal support for Israel. I am going to go out on a limb and guess that Palin's ramblings at RJ's birthday bash won't be nearly as entertaining as this (as I'm sure she will be in attendance at both events):

Former first lady Nancy Reagan announced plans Thursday to invite the leading Republican contenders to the first debate of the presidential primary season, to be held at her late husband’s presidential library and co-hosted by POLITICO and NBC News.
The debate, sponsored by the Reagan Presidential Foundation, will be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, Calif., during the spring of 2011. NBC News will serve as the television partner for the debate while POLITICO is the online content partner.

I don't usually ever watch Republican primary debates, but I have a feeling this will be one not to miss. If the candidates falling all over themselves to adequately praise the name of Republican Jebus and wrestle with one another to carry his mantle forward isn't tribute enough, perhaps they could conclude with something along these lines:

He lives among us still, selectively solving problems. If shit is fucked up anywhere in the world, he knows about it and can solve it. If he's not solving it, it's because the solution is still trickling down. Be patient!

Although to be fair, there's a good chance that their crescendo of praise might reach these levels long before the grand finale, thus spoiling the awesome laser show.
(from reaganboner.tumblr.com, via Andrew Sullivan)

Thursday Night Tee Vee

Archer, The Office, and Parks and Recreation tonight, the second season of Archer being the most welcome of the three. That has to be one of the best new shows in the last year or so. It's absolutely hilarious.

Delicate Flowers Abound on Wall Street

More hurt fee-fees from the supposedly tough-as-nails titans of finance:

"Not all banks are the same and I just think that this constant refrain 'bankers, bankers, bankers' is just unproductive and unfair. People should just stop doing that," Dimon told a panel on "The Next Shock: Are We Better Prepared?"

Poor guy, being all demonized and stuff for blowing up the economy. Life is so hard. People are so mean! Leave Jamie Dimon alone! The latter portion of his quote, if you follow the link, is actually related to which banks needed TARP money, which is beside the point. People tend to care less about who needed TARP and who didn't more so than they care about the fact that Wall Street's reckless money orgy helped bring the country to its knees, that Wall Street continues to do business as it has in the past, and it continues to pile on massive bonuses and take no haircuts on its bad mortgages while millions get kicked to the curb. So yes...'bankers, bankers, bankers.' There's a reason people hate you, and it's not unfounded. Let's just look at some of the highlights from the financial crisis commission's report:

"This financial crisis was avoidable."
"Despite the expressed view of many on Wall Street and in Washington that the crisis could not have been foreseen or avoided, there were warning signs," the report reads."The tragedy was that they were ignored or discounted."

"Dramatic failures of corporate governance and risk management at many systemically important financial institutions were a key cause of this crisis."
Financial institutions acted recklessly and depended too heavily on short term loans, the inquiry found. "Compensation systems--designed in an environment of cheap money, intense competition, and light regulation--too often rewarded the quick deal, the short-term gain--without proper consideration of long-term consequences,"

"A combination of excessive borrowing, risky investments, and lack of transparency put the financial system on a collision course with crisis."
The inquiry found that in the years leading up to the crisis, American households, and institutions, borrowed too much and saved too little.

"There was a systemic breakdown in accountability and ethics."
Many borrowers lied about being able to pay mortgages, lenders made loans they knew borrowers couldn't afford, the report said.

"Countrywide executives recognized that many of the loans they were originating could result in 'catastrophic consequences.' Less than a year later, they noted that certain high-risk loans they were making could result not only in foreclosures but also in 'financial and reputational catastrophe' for the firm. But they did not stop."

"Collapsing mortgage-lending standards and the mortgage securitization pipeline lit and spread the flame of contagion and crisis."
The report found irresponsible lending was prevalent, and there were warnings, but "the Federal Reserve neglected its mission," and mortgage lenders passed the risk along.

"From the speculators who flipped houses to the mortgage brokers who scouted the loans, to the lenders who issued the mortgages, to the financial firms that created the mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations... no one in this pipeline of toxic mortgages had enough skin in the game."

"Over-the-counter derivatives contributed significantly to this crisis..."
Speculating on devices like collateralized debt obligations fanned the flames, with everyone from farmers to corporations to investors betting on prices and loan defaults. When the housing bubble popped, these were at the center of the fallout.

So no, it's not a matter about whether or not your institution took TARP funds or not. Your institution, its corrupt practices, and your entire industry were culpable in the wholesale fucking of the economy. There were many causes, but you were a big part of it. It's an indisputable fact. And Christ, suck it up. Go eat what you kill, tough guy.

More Violent Right Wing Threats

California state Senator Leland Yee receives the following after calling for an apology from Rush Limbaugh:

But both sides do it, because left-wing bloggers say fuck, and Keith Olbermann had a 'Worst Persons in the World' segment.

Manbearpig

DougJ sums up the usual back-and-forth of the 'debate' on climate change:

You know the drill: global warming isn’t happening, if it is happening then it’s not caused by human behavior, if it is caused by human behavior then we can’t do anything about it, if it is caused by human behavior and we can do something about it, then that something is too expensive, if it is caused by human behavior and we can do something about it that is not too expensive, then that something is not what Democrats are proposing. And Al Gore is fat, he flies too much, look at his electricity bill, and sometimes when he goes somewhere it snows there, which is very ironic

Pretty much.

Really F-ing Excited

Just picked up two tickets for my wife and I to go see Bill Maher later next month. I have been wanting to see him live for some time now, but I didn't think the opportunity would come anytime soon as Arizona is pretty much the brunt of a number of his jokes on Real Time.

I think I must have given my wife a heart attack when I saw the billboard advertising his show. She thought I was freaking out and trying to warn her of some unseen danger/accident. Nope. Just an ad for Bill Maher in AZ. That the two events might provoke a similar reaction in me is simply beyond my control.

'The Scourge of European Socialism'

A piece on Inc.com today brings us a tale of the horrors of how Norway struggles to cope under the tyranny of 50% marginal tax rates and a generous social welfare state. Riots, demonstrations, famine, disease, and gnashing of teeth threaten to tear the very fabric of their fragile nation asunder:

Norway is also an exceedingly pleasant place to make a home. It ranked third in Gallup's latest global happiness survey. The unemployment rate, just 3.5 percent, is the lowest in Europe and one of the lowest in the world. Thanks to a generous social welfare system, poverty is almost nonexistent.

[...]

Every Norwegian worker gets free health insurance in a system that produces longer life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates than our own. At age 67, workers get a government pension of up to 66 percent of their working income, and everyone gets free education, from nursery school through graduate school. (Amazingly, this includes colleges outside the country. Want to send your kid to Harvard? The Norwegian government will pick up most of the tab.) Disability insurance and parental leave are also extremely generous. A new mother can take 46 weeks of maternity leave at full pay—the government, not the company, picks up the tab—or 56 weeks off at 80 percent of her normal wage. A father gets 10 weeks off at full pay.

Wait, that can't be right. That sounds like a relatively prosperous and stable democracy. Surely with all those generous benefits and excessive taxation, the poor Norwegians are wallowing in squalor, doubling-up with friends and family, or taking out second mortgages on their cardboard boxes in these harsh economic times:

Norway, which in 2009 had the world's highest per-capita income, avoided the brunt of the financial crisis: From 2006 to 2009, its economy grew nearly 3 percent. The American economy grew less than one-tenth of a percent during the same period.

Okay, so they seem to be doing relatively well. Highest per capita income in the world is nothing to scoff at. But anger and unrest at the government usurping 50% of their income must be widespread:

Norwegians don't think about taxes the way we do. Whereas most Americans see taxes as a burden, Norwegian entrepreneurs tend to see them as a purchase, an exchange of cash for services... "The tax system is good—it's fair," he tells me. "What we're doing when we are paying taxes is buying a product. So the question isn't how you pay for the product; it's the quality of the product." Dalmo likes the government's services, and he believes that he is paying a fair price.

It's a crazy principle really - establish a progressive tax code, use tax revenues to provide services that people need, and people don't bitch and complain whenever the word 'tax' is uttered by an elected official. Funding healthcare, education, and retirement are intrinsically much more valuable to your average citizen than decades of endless war in the middle east, subsidizing tax breaks for corporations and millionaires, and propping up the ever expanding Police/National Security state in the name of keeping us Safe from Evil Terrorists.

But there's little point in discussing this, because this Evil Socialism would NEVER work here in America - it would be unconscionable, un-American, and unconstitutional. We could always ask the new GOP majority to re-read the Constitution on the floor of the House just to double check, that is, if they aren't too busy skipping their own dog and pony show to attend fundraisers.

The Tucson Shooting

I was out of town when the shooting happened in Tucson, and I have been trying ever since to get back to this blog to write something about it (among other things), but for some reason or another I have never managed to find the time. Plenty of blogs and op-eds have been written about the incident at this point, but I just want to add a few points.

First, you can say what you want about Loughner's motives and politics or whether or not one should speculate, but let's be perfectly clear: both sides of the political spectrum have not regularly engaged in violence-fomenting rhetoric. Over the last two years there has been one collective group of individuals that has been hyping Second Amendment remedies, don't retreat - reload!, bullseye-laden maps, packing AR-15s at rallies, death panels, FEMA concentration camps, waving signs that read 'we're unarmed - this time,' spewing crap about refreshing the tree of liberty with blood, and otherwise creating an apocalyptic atmosphere where President Obama and the Democratic Party are the greatest Evil ever inflicted upon America . One party/collective group, and that has been the Republicans and the teatards and their corporate mouthpieces on Fox News. Regardless of Loughner's mental illness, regardless of his political motivations (or lack thereof), there are consequences when your national political strategy consists of maintaining a constant state of fear and paranoia and instability, and this is just one of them. Many on the right have rushed to the insanity defense. Yes, Loughner was mentally unstable. But guess what? Mentally unstable people are more prone to mentally unstable acts when you fill the airwaves with eliminationist falsehoods and 24/7 paranoia.

Second, I agree with what Arianna said that we do not seem to be viewing this, and it does not seem to be covered as, an occurrence that bears the gravity of an attempted assassination on a sitting member of our elected government.

Well, not so fast. This weekend's atrocity shouldn't simply be a crash on the side of the road that delays us for a few minutes before we put it in the rear-view mirror -- this should be a moment that changes the direction we're traveling in. The consequences of this should be more than simply a week's delay of the vote on the "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act." We need to recognize what has happened to our democracy and renew our efforts to fix it.

[...]

Rage, paranoia, and division are not the only possible responses to the very legitimate anger millions of Americans -- on both sides of the political spectrum -- are feeling at the state of the country and the state of their lives. And the Arizona shootings put a spotlight on the need to redirect that anger, frustration, and despair, and use them to take action, and make life better for those who need help. We can choose connection rather than division. Understanding rather than fear. Reaching out rather than turning away.

More time has been spent in the wake of the shooting in the typical red vs. blue horse race bull shit of he said/she said than concentrating on the fact that we just had an attempted assassination on a sitting member of Congress. That's an incredibly grave occurrence, but as usual, the nation is more interested on what Sarah Palin said on her Twittertwat account than the fact that WE JUST HAD AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON A SITTING MEMBER OF CONGRESS. But it's okay now, because the Republicans are now calling the healthcare repeal bill the "Repealing the Job Destroying Health Care Law Act" instead of "Job Killing." And Chuck Schumer wants to sit with Tom Coburn at the SOTU.

These things will continue to happen until we can manage to inject a modicum of decency and honesty in our public discourse, which is unlikely to ever happen when the Republicans have adopted lying through their teeth as an electoral strategy, dumbshits keep voting for them despite their god awful track record of governance, and we have an entire cable network devoted to reinforcing their falsehoods.

This Never Gets Old

It's been years since I've watched/checked up on this YouTube series, but it still makes me laugh as hard as the first time I watched it.

A Tale of Two Americas

These stories are a bit old, but I've been meaning to get this post up here for a while now.

Wall Street:

Bonus season is fast approaching on Wall Street, but this year the talk does not center just on multimillion-dollar paydays. It’s about a new club that no one wants to join: the Zeros.

Drawn from a broad swath of back-office employees and middle-level traders, bankers and brokers, the Zeros, as they have come to be called, are facing a once-unthinkable prospect: an annual bonus of ... nothing.

[...]

At Goldman, for instance, the base salary for managing directors rose to $500,000 from $300,000, while at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse it jumped to $400,000 from $200,000.

Even though employees will receive roughly the same amount of money, the psychological blow of not getting a bonus is substantial, especially in a Wall Street culture that has long equated success and prestige with bonus size. So there are sure to be plenty of long faces on employees across the financial sector who have come to expect a bonus on top of their base pay. Wall Streeters typically find out what their bonuses will be in January, with the payout coming in February.

Let's all pause for a moment and consider the sheer horror of only having your annual compensation MORE THAN DOUBLED while not receiving a year end bonus. Those poor, poor banksters must have their fee-fees all hurted, having to wander their halls of power and listen to the jeers of being called 'Zeros.' This is a big deal - they will probably have to settle for a Gulfstream III instead of a Gulstream IV.

And while the delicate flowers on Wall Street cry themselves to sleep over their $300,000 raises, here's what's happening in the rest of America:

Census Bureau data released in September showed that the number of multifamily households jumped 11.7 percent from 2008 to 2010, reaching 15.5 million, or 13.2 percent of all households. It is the highest proportion since at least 1968, accounting for 54 million people.

Even that figure, however, is undoubtedly an undercount of the phenomenon social service providers call “doubling up,” which has ballooned in the recession and anemic recovery. The census’ multifamily household figures, for example, do not include such situations as when a single brother and a single sister move in together, or when a childless adult goes to live with his or her parents.

For many, the arrangements represent their last best option, the only way to stave off entering a homeless shelter or sleeping in their cars. In fact, nearly half of the people in shelters in 2009 who had not previously been homeless had been staying with family members or friends, according to a recent report, making clear that the arrangements are frequently a final way station on the way to homelessness.

While the poor, beleaguered Zeros on Wall Street sprain their vaginas whining about their salaries doubling, almost a fifth of the country is 'doubling up' with friends and family to stave off financial ruin and avoid sleeping in homeless shelters. Maybe they should be handing this out during bonus season on Wall Street:

Southland

Season premiere is tonight. I love this show. The decision to cancel this show ranks up there in "Dumbest Decisions Ever Made by NBC" along with their brilliant plan to keep Leno around.

Repeat After Me

Republicans don't care about the deficit, Republicans don't care about the deficit, Republicans don't care about the deficit:

The new Republican rules will gut pay-as-you-go because they require offsets only for entitlement increases, not for tax cuts. In effect, the new rules will codify the Republican fantasy that tax cuts do not deepen the deficit.

It gets worse. The new rules mandate that entitlement-spending increases be offset by spending cuts only — and actually bar the House from raising taxes to pay for such spending.

Say, for example, that lawmakers want to bolster child credits for families at or near the minimum wage. One way to help pay for the aid would be to close the tax loophole that lets the nation’s wealthiest private equity partners pay tax at close to the lowest rate in the code. That long overdue reform would raise an estimated $25 billion over 10 years, but the new rules will forbid being sensible like that.

[...]

For example, the cost to make the Bush-era tax cuts permanent would be ignored, as would the fiscal effects of repealing the health reform law. At the same time, the new rules bar the renewal of aid for low-income working families — extended temporarily in the recent tax-cut deal — unless it is fully paid for.

Republicans only pretend to care about deficits when they're in the minority or a Democrat is in the White House or federal dollars are being appropriated for anything other than tax cuts (because in an adult, reality-based world, cutting revenue is indeed a cost) or when it will upset their base of rich, white oligarchs. As I've said before, Republicans would never run a business the way they want to run the government. Okay, so 2 years of throwing tantrums about the deficit, and now they immediately pursue irresponsible budgetary policies that will make the deficit even worse. What else?

A little-noticed detail in the new rules proposed by House GOP leaders would greatly increase the power of Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the incoming chairman of the House Budget Committee. As National Journal's Katy O'Donnell reports, the new rules say that, for fiscal 2011, the chairman will set spending limits without needing a vote.

So whatever happened to all that bitching and moaning about unprecedented power grabs, back room deals, and ramming things through without transparency and deference to congressional process? Again, apparently such very serious principles don't apply when you're pursuing a blindly ideological, factually and economically bereft agenda.

Paul Krugman sums up the stupidity of the Republican tax cut fetish nicely:

After all, if you never have to offset the cost of tax cuts, why not just eliminate taxes altogether?

I'm sure they would if they could, all the while going on all the Sunday talk shows and Fox News and telling everyone that having no source of income for the Treasury does not need to be addressed or offset and that having zero taxes on any one or any thing will actually 'widen the base' and 'increase revenue.'

You Get What You Vote For

Morans:

Locally, certain not to happen is construction of a $15 million facility planned for Columbus by US Railcar Co. The plant would have employed up to 200 when fully staffed, said Mike Pracht, president and chief executive officer of the Columbus-based railroad-car manufacturer.

“It’s unbelievable these states would send back $400 million and $800 million in free money,” Pracht said. “It’s mind-boggling.”

“The only thing I can compare it to is the interstate-highway program back in the ’60s. Where would Ohio be today if it opted out of the interstate highway system? To suggest passenger rail would be any different is naive.”

Pracht said that in addition to the jobs his company would have added, abandoning the rail plan negates millions of dollars in potential development that would have clustered around each rail station along the 258-mile route.

Way to make your constituents suffer for the sake of your pathetically stupid ideology. And with unemployment at 9.5% in Ohio, it's not like you need to do anything that would actually create jobs, although I'm sure the standard GOP tax cut fetish will take care of that in due time.

At least other states aren't as dumb as Ohio/Wisconsin.