I Hope You're Happy

Birthers Must be Stopped by Bill Maher

Maher shows why he’s among the best on this editorial for the LA Times.

And there’s nothing anyone can do to convince these folks. You could hand them, in person, the original birth certificate and have a video of Obama emerging from the womb with Don Ho singing in the background … and they still wouldn’t believe it.

Which raises the question: Why, in this country, is it always the religious right that won’t take anything on faith?

So far, the reaction from Democrats is to laugh this off, and I understand why. If you seriously believe that President Obama is an African sleeper spy, get out of your chat room and have your house tested for lead.

But we live in America, and in America, if you don’t immediately kill arrant nonsense, no matter how ridiculous, it can grow and thrive and eventually take over, like crab grass or reality shows about fat people.

Speaking of Birthers, they seem to congregate in the south

I wonder what this statistical deviation indicates?

And here’s the best part about it

There was no deviation among minorities, meaning the concentration of whites who aren’t sure of Obama’s citizenship is even more skewed than the graph showed.

What? Glenn Beck lies to support his own paranoid political agenda? Say it ain’t so.

Gets called out on his accusations of Obama’s science guy John Holdren talking about forced abortions and sterilants in the water supply. Seems the only one who is obsessed with forced abortions and sterilization is Glenn Beck. He’s also really good at taking things out of context.

The guy who got the drinking age raised to 21 regrets it

Just looking at common sense talking, though if you read the article, I’m not sure his solution would make things any better. I can just say that keeping something away from people, like drinking, drugs, or sex, only makes them more attractive, and in my eyes, juvenile about how they handle it when they can get their hands on it.

The way our society addresses this problem has been about as effective as a parachute that opens on the second bounce. Clearly, state laws mandating a minimum drinking age of 21 haven’t eliminated drinking by young adults—they’ve simply driven it underground, where life and health are at greater risk. Merely adjusting the legal age up or down doesn’t work—we’ve tried that already and failed. But federal law has stifled the ability to conceive of more creative solutions in the only place where the Constitution says such debate should happen—in the state house—because any state that sets its drinking age lower than 21 forfeits 10 percent of its federal highway funds. This is called an “incentive.”

Global warming releases more CO2 from permafrost

The thing about climate change deniers I can’t believe is how they can boil the most complex of all the systems any living human will likely ever have to deal with to a simple “Oh, we can’t be doing all that. We’re having a cool summer, see? Not true.”

Belief in God claims another victim

Dale Neumann told the jury he didn’t seek medical help for his [child's diabetes] because “I can’t do that because Biblically, I cannot find that is the way people are healed.”

He added: “If I go to the doctor, I am putting the doctor before God. I am not believing what he said he would do.”

So let me get this straight, since the only way people are healed in the Bible is by miracle, and even though people are cured every day by medicine, you chose prayer? Brilliant. Poor kid’s probably going to come back as an atheist in her next life.

NPR turns the cameras on the healthcare lobbyists

In the first hearing on healthcare reforms, NPR reporters turn the cameras away from the Senators and on to the people who are trying to influence them. Help them Identify people in the room. I want to see little “i” spermies over every head in the room. It can be like Whack-a-mole, get enough points and win a prize: a new health care system.

I’m going to pay attention to this issue, since as you know, I’m fairly intensely fucked by the economics of the current health care system.

Once again, WRITE TO YOUR REPS IN CONGRESS ABOUT THIS. NOW.

Reporter sets up a nice lob, Obama Shuts him down

Harry Smith of CBS takes some comments out of context to give Obama an easy attack on Bush, Obama corrects him before tellign him that he’s heard the question enough, answered it enough, and he should just move on. That’s bipartisanship you can believe in.

Meanwhile Bill O and Glenn Beck play with dollies

Enough said.

And Iran’s #2 is rallying support to remove the Supreme Leader and hold a run-off election

Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Assembly of Experts (the body with the power to choose and dismiss the Supreme Leader) is in the city of Qom—the country’s religious center—trying to rally enough votes from his fellow Assembly members to remove the current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from power. News out of Iran suggests that he may be succeeding. At the very least, it seems he may have gained enough support from the clerical establishment to force a compromise from Khamenei, one that would entail a run-off election between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his main reformist rival Mir Hossein Mousavi.

If this doesn’t work, I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a Student’s Rebellion II: Revenge of the Nerds

How Environment Science works, as opposed to global warming denial propaganda

The article explains it in actual human terms, the links go to abstracts only the fairly scientifically literate can understand. This is one other piece of the puzzle in the study of global warming. One more thing the lobbyists will have a hard time denying.

Here’s a very interesting reform proposal

Former IBM CEO says short term gains-like day trader gains should be taxed at 80% and long term, say five years, should get 0% tax. This would certainly encourage investment in the future. 80% seems steep, but the current is 35%.

How to develop your own bullshit detector

Sure, they call it a baloney detector, but we know what it really is. Michael Shermer from the Richard Dawkins Foundation.

Speaking of bullshit

The scientologists have some new ads out.

Michele Bachmann being crazy again, like that’s news

Something about the census being used to round the political opposition up. She isn’t saying they’re planning it, just that they could maybe kind of sort of be but not really because saying that would make her look stupid.

Did you hear the one about the Republican and the racist joke? Oh you have?

Hillsborough state committeewoman Carol Carter may lose her position because of the racial joke she forwarded in an e-mail. Ready for the bad taste?

I’m confused

How can 2,000,000 blacks get into Washington, DC in 1 day in sub zero temps when 200,000 couldn’t get out of New Orleans in 85 degree temps with four days notice?

Her response is even more frightening:

I have been asked to send this apology for my earlier e-mail. I am sorry that it was received in a negative manner. I do hope that we are going to be allowed to keep our sense of humor.

As you can now see, it went to very few people. I did add Todd Marks in this apology, as he is in the mix now. I am also sorry to learn that some of these persons are not real team players. There really was no reason for this to go beyond those that I e-mailed (8 people). This was not an e-mail blast as I do not have that capability.

Is she really saying It should be okay, because it was sent to only a few people (her private racist cabal?), and that the people who spread it beyond this circle were the ones commiting the wrong? Hm, is she saying she can’t be racist because she can’t send email blasts?

And here is her boss’s response:

“I’m pretty much done with those sorts of inappropriate and, and — I am at a loss for words,” Greer said. “I just came back from Washington, D.C., working to get our first African-American elected as (Republican National Committee) chairman.

He’s just touting his love of the black man because all the cool kids are doing it. The subtext of what he said is that he was working to get a black man elected to head the RNC, instead of the right man.

One other great line:

“That kind of behavior has no place in the modern day Republican Party,” Stokes said.

Seems the modern Republican party didn’t become modern until Nov. 5th, 2008. Funny that.

Finally, a Job Bush can handle. Hardware store greeter

I like the idea of the secret service standing next to the hardware store greeter.Just tickles my fancy.

Libertarians on the stimulus, or why Libertarians don’t get it.

Let’s see, repeal corporate income taxes (so the government has less money, and they can pay larger bonuses), Reduce Social Security and Medicare (so the poor and vulnerable get poorer and more vulnerable), eliminate wasteful spending (like the Republicans did, right?), withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan (you’re just pandering for votes here), Limit union power (because we need workers with less rights), Renew free trade (because we haven’t lost ALL of our jobs to other countries yet), expand legal immigration (because more people for less jobs is really what we need right now), and stop bailing out businesses (let it all collapse). Kind of sounds like what got us into this whole mess.

Obama Revamps faith based initiatives…

So they aren’t so faith-based anymore. Fox news is panicking.

Good op-ed about how the Republicans are playing politics with the economy and nation suffers

There’s so much common sense in this article, it’ll smack you in the face.

Obama getting aggressive and smart in defending his stimulus package

Now, I read the other day that critics of this plan ridiculed our notion that we should use part of the money to modernize the entire fleet of federal vehicles to take advantage of state of the art fuel efficiency. This is what they call pork. You know the truth. It will not only save the government significant money over time, it will not only create manufacturing jobs for folks who are making these cars, it will set a standard for private industry to match. And so when you hear these attacks deriding something of such obvious importance as this, you have to ask yourself — are these folks serious? Is it any wonder that we haven’t had a real energy policy in this country?

You’re using reason to combat politics? I see what you did there…..

Cheney is still fearmongering

Glad to see he’s out of the wheelchair. He was kinf getting a Dr. Strangelove vibe to him.

Permanent Republican Majority + 8 Years of Bush = Permanent Republican Minority = win

Rove to let the Obama White House determine his Executive Priviledge Status

This is your mastermind? Him? Oh, he’s going down hard.

Your Bush Admin NSA: Spying on prominent Americans, and just about everyone else

Whistle blower tells all.

That’s it for today, folks. Please take a look at gearsecure.net. 1 new listing today.

This is from CNN’s list. The comments in parentheses are why the Republicans oppose them.

• $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.

(Because coal should be dirty, global warming isn’t real is it?)

• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.

(They should shoot on digital)

• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.

(just buy a new TV. You don’t need to eat and it makes jobs….in China)

• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).

(Hey, if global warming is true, we won’t need this…right?)

• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.

(until now they’ve been squatting at VP’s place)

• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.

(personally I think they should sit on the floor)

• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.

(I told you before, global warming isn’t real!)

• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD’s.

(But this encourages promiscuity. Oh we can’t have that)

• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.

• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.

(We all know how much shit flows around there)

• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.

(Because we all know how much Republicans hate learning)

• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.

• $75 million for “smoking cessation activities.”

(This will destroy an industry and allow millions of people to lead healthier lives!)

• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.

(I told you, we like ‘em dumb. That’s the economy of tomorrow. We need to deal with today’s issues. We don’t need computer smarts, we can always farm that out to India. Who will be my Joe the Plumber?)

• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.

(Because we won’t even let Obama fight terrorism.)

• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.

(That’s their problem)

• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.

(THERE IS NO GLOBAL WARMING!!!!)

• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.

• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into “green” buildings.

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) (I’m not going to tell you again)

• $500 million for state and local fire stations.

(We all know how good the Republicans are at disaster relief)

• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.

(See above)

• $1.2 billion for “youth activities,” including youth summer job programs.

(Screw the young people. There aren’t any in this party. Creating jobs for youth only takes jobs away from older people who have been laid off.)

• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.

(And this creates jobs how?)

• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.

(You’re just trying to give people jobs now. Who cares about fighting disease?)

• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.

(Don’t make me repeat myself)

• $160 million for “paid volunteers” at the Corporation for National and Community Service.

(God save us from community organizers.)

• $5.5 million for “energy efficiency initiatives” at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

• $850 million for Amtrak.

(Trains? do those even exist in America?)

• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.

(Hey, lead is lead.)

• $75 million to construct a “security training” facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.

(Again with the construction jobs. You’re in bed with the unions)

• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.

(What do farms need with computers?)

• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

If you liked this, please give it a stumble, or a digg, or a buzz….

First, I’m planning a return to normal operations as of this weekend. I had a lot of obstacles in front of me in December, and I found that the way out is through. I have mostly pushed my way past, and will have at least a podcast up by this weekend.

Now that I have that out of the way:

How to Draw George Bush:

Political cartoonists chime in on his image and its evolution.

http://blog.cagle.com/daryl/2009/01/13/how-to-draw-president-george-w-bush/

14 million White House emails have been found. Maybe.

Insert penis enlargement spam joke here.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Missing_White_House_emails_may_have_0115.html

News to change the mind of any global warming skeptic:

Global warming will affect the price of beer.

http://www.kansan.com/stories/2009/jan/15/global_warming/?news