Archive for January, 2011
Governor colluding with state’s largest polluter
More examples of business not having society’s interest in mind, and the Republican leaders who who are under their financial control:
On January 26, New Mexico’s Republican Gov. Susana Martinez was dealt a serious blow by her state’s Supreme Court, when it ruled unanimously that Governor Martinez had violated the state Constitution when she prevented a rule that reduced carbon pollution from being published as codified state law.
The lawsuit was filed by the nonprofit group New Energy Economy (NEE) and reflects a growing number of claims that Governor Martinez arbitrarily and illegally sought to suppress the aforementioned rule in an attempt to appease major carbon polluters, which made huge financial contributions to her gubernatorial campaign.
NEE’s lawsuit also brought to light emails showing deep collusion between Governor Martinez and TJ Trujillo, a lawyer who represents the dairy industry, and who is also a lobbyist for the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), which is by far and away the state’s largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions. (PNM produces more than half of the greenhouse gas emissions for the State of New Mexico.)
A Gitmo guy gets life
Gitmo detainee…his case was heard at a trial…and he was taken to prison for a life sentence for conspiring in an attack. Done and done. Let’s knock out some more of these!
Having MLK Day off
I think I like having MLK day as a holiday, over the Friday before the big Sunday. The big day is on Sunday anyway, so it’s already not on a business day. Not everyone really identifies themself as Christian or needs/appreciaets having Good Friday off (not even Christians. Christians still celebrate Easter the same whether or not they’re off on Friday). But regardless of religion, everyone can appreciate MLK and his efforts (except for racists and maybe a little more attention to the intolerance in the 50’s and 60’s is a good thing).
In fact, I just had a minor epiphany (If that’s not an oxymoron). As it’s no longer acceptable to spout off about how black people will ruin their lives, how even the armed forces cannot stop them (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgH7WgtIU2k) – they’ve had to find new groups to preech hate and intolerance to. During the Cheney and W administration, the message that liberals are the enemy really went nation wide. And it’s like fuel for the uneducated and intolerant. They gotta have someone to hate, these people.
But — so the questions you’re most likely to get about me, ‘Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What’s the concrete thing?’ What they wanna hear is — so, we’ll give you talking points about what we’re proposing — close tax loopholes, roll back, you know, the tax cuts for the top 1 percent. Obama’s gonna give tax breaks to middle-class folks and we’re gonna provide health care for every American. So we’ll go down a series of talking points.
But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you’ll find is, is that people of every background — there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you’ll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I’d be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you’re doing what you’re doing.
— Barack Obama
It may not be “surprising” that they are bitter towards people who aren’t like them, or that they cling to guns and religion…but it’s not a blank check to act like an idiot to everyone around you just becuase you didn’t get your way. You know who else does that…children. Thankfully, not everyone calls for bullets instead of ballots every time something doesn’t go their way.
“A civil nation of laws cannot have prominent members of society constantly calling for the murder and assassination of other individuals or groups.”
— Julian Assange
The ‘You Lie’ rifle part
Here’s another bridge of Republican politics and weapons. A South Carolina weapons maker was selling semi-automatic rifle parts with the inscription “You Lie”. The phrase was made famous when Republican congressman Joe Wilson attempted, in Conservative fashion, to shout down the President during presidential address. High school children have more decorum and class than Joe Wilson. And from the party that railed on how saying you’re embarrassed by Bush is unforgiveable and means that you hate America…it’s hypocrisy of the highest order. Had a Democrat done that during a Bush speech the reaction from Conservatives would…well that’s another story.
So since it was a Conservative doing the complaining, and not being done to a Conservative, it was of course heroic (and not hypocritical). And in another example of anti-Democrat views tied to guns or threats…it was immediately inscribed on semi-automatic parts.
Last night on MSNBC’s Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) said, “what other message could we take from having ‘you lie’ on a weapon, a statement that was thrown at President Obama.”
Boxer went on to mention a sticker for sale, that has already been sold out, depicting a donkey — the symbol of the Democratic party — shot five times. The sticker has the words “Liberal Hunting License” written above the donkey and “No Bag Limit” below.
Ultimately, while conservatives frantically defend their hateful rhetoric in the aftermath of the Arizona shooting, Wilson’s “you lie” assault rifle is a good reminder of how low they’ve sunk.
Joe Wilson at Palmetto Armory
Read your horoscope? Here’s your sign…
I remember learning this in a physics class about 15 years ago – and I always laugh to myself when I see someone reading their horoscope.
If you look to your horoscope for a preview of your day, look again: You’re probably following somebody else’s supposed fate.
Thanks to Earth’s wobble, astrological signs are, well, bunk. (Or even more bunk than you might expect.) Astrological signs are determined by the position of the sun relative to certain constellations on a person’s day of birth. The problem is, the positions were determined more than 2,000 years ago. Nowadays, the stars have shifted in the night sky so much that horoscope signs are nearly a month off.
[Read: Why Your Horoscope for 2011 Is All Wrong ]
Despite the complete lack of scientific and observational evidence for astrology, 25 percent of Americans still believe in it, a recent Pew survey found. So here are the “real” dates of astrological signs, according to astronomers:
- Capricorn: Jan. 20-Feb. 16.
- Aquarius: Feb. 16-March 11.
- Pisces: March 11-April 18.
- Aries: April 18-May 13.
- Taurus: May 13-June 21.
- Gemini: June 21-July 20.
- Cancer: July 20-Aug. 10.
- Leo: Aug. 10-Sept. 16.
- Virgo: Sept. 16-Oct. 30.
- Libra: Oct. 30-Nov. 23.
- Scorpio: Nov. 23-29.
- Ophiuchus: Nov. 29-Dec. 17.
- Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41062376/ns/technology_and_science-science/?GT1=43001
Gradually we progress
Gradually, conservatives adopt the progressive ideas. It’s like getting into a bath real real slow. Throwing non-violent drug users in the general population is not an effective method of rehabilitation nor an effective use of government spending.
Newly-elected Georgia Governor Nathan Deal (R) announced Monday in his inaugural address that putting drug addicts and abusers in jail was placing an unsustainable financial and civic burden on his state.
For violent and repeat offenders, we will make you pay for your crimes. For other offenders who want to change their lives, we will provide the opportunity to do so with Day Reporting Centers, Drug, DUI and Mental Health Courts and expanded probation and treatment options. As a State, we cannot afford to have so many of our citizens waste their lives because of addictions. It is draining our State Treasury and depleting our workforce.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/10/nathan-deal-drug-addicts-jail_n_807016.html
Next on the block for conservatives to move to the left: legal protection for gays in the workforce. Oh wait – don’t ask don’t tell was just repealed this month. Hmmm, I guess they moved left on that one, too. Ok, then next after that – gay marriage.
As for “It is draining our State Treasury and depleting our workforce.” I’m sure they already know that outlawing abortion would put a giant strain on state Treasury funds (especially without universal health care). If you’re protecting the baby, then you have to protect the baby and the mother. And that means doctor visits, and specialists, and lab work, and prescriptions. It may mean drug counseling and rehab (because not many prospective adoptive parents want a baby who is addicted to drugs). And after the baby, that means paperwork, detailed work on prospective adoptive parents current situation and background, more paperwork, foster care for those not chosen, oversight of foster homes, more employees, more paperwork. And if you make it illegal, there’s resources to monitor the law and enforce it. And then there’s public defenders and court costs for those who break it. And there’s jail costs. And if abortion is deemed murder, then there are long and expensive murder trials, and then there are prisoners to tend to and paperwork and oversight. With universal healthcare, I think you could get abortion outlawed. Without it…better be prepared for some tax increases.
A civil nation of laws
On the violent political rhetoric, I read a quote today that sums it very concisely:
“A civil nation of laws cannot have prominent members of society constantly calling for the murder and assassination of other individuals or groups.”
I’d say that this is fairly accurate. If this rhetoric came from mainstrem voices on the left, those voices would no longer be “prominent members of society”, they would be ostracised by mainstream liberals (and reduced back to “normal” members of society). The quote above is from Julian Assange. Here is a snippet of a statement from today:
The WikiLeaks founder said that although his organization is a devoted advocate of free speech, “when senior politicians and attention-seeking media commentators call for specific individuals or groups of people to be killed, they should be charged with incitement — to murder.”
He added, “Those who call for an act of murder deserve as significant share of the guilt as those raising a gun to pull the trigger.”
The statement listed several high-profile U.S. figures who have called for Assange and his supporters to be attacked, killed or executed. It noted that Sarah Palin has said the U.S. should pursue Assange as if he was an al-Qaida or Taliban leader, while Fox News commentator Bob Beckel has publicly called for people to “illegally shoot the son of a bitch [Assange].”
The 39-year-old Australian said his organization had now implemented “extreme security measures” to protect its staff and called on U.S. authorities to “protect the rule of law by aggressively investigating these and similar incitements to kill. A civil nation of laws cannot have prominent members of society constantly calling for the murder and assassination of other individuals or groups.”
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/11/julian-assange-violent-rhetoric-will-spark-more-shooting-spre/
Thoughts on WikiLeaks
Ahhh….WikiLeaks. What a bizarre site. Is it making us stronger or is it a security problem? Both. It’s a V for Vendetta “freedom-fighter” vs “terrorist” type of situation.
Take the hacker community for a moment. At the higher levels of this group, a hacker will tell you that exposing the flaws in the most commonly used systems serves to force the makers of that software to develop strong defenses, and that their attacks force them to stay nimble enough to react to new threats. Without them, the makers of the systems would get sloppy, corners would be cut to rush products, and entire business systems would be exposed to terrorists or hostile nations. And it’s hard to say that this is not true. Hackers can wreak havoc on existing users. Sometimes illustrating system weakness comes at a price to company profits, IT staff, and to users.
Now enter the White Hat hacker. He’s a pain to some groups, but overall he may be helping. The White Hat hacker finds the holes, shows how an exploit can be done, and invites people to his site to see it. He gets a few fans and gets a few job offers. He doesn’t develop any hostile payload using the exploits. The companies who have their weaknesses posted then need to respond to fix their security problems because someone else might use the exploit with hostility. Think of him as a gun maker. It’s not the making of the gun that kills people, it’s the person who uses the gun. In this case, it’s not the discovery of the exploit…that was already there, waiting for someone to discover it.
In the case of WikiLeaks, this data was probably flowing already – it’s just that now instead of an underground river, it’s above ground. Maybe the armed forces new about it but kept it secret. Or worse yet…maybe they didn’t know how easy it was for Classified data to leave their systems, or how frequently it happens. These classified documents are just being passed out for free. No foreign government is paying people thousands of dollars. No organization is holding someone’s family hostage. I say that if it’s this easy and common for classified documents to leave the network, then don’t blame WikiLeaks – fix the problem! Before WikiLeaks, how many of these documents were going to the Middle East?
It’s like a losing team complaining that the winning team should have quit scoring touchdowns. You know what they should do…Stop ’em. If you don’t want them to score on you, play some defense. If you don’t want data to leave your network…get some tighter security.
It just strikes me that if Julian Assange can gather all this data for free…how many others are out there doing the same thing that we don’t know about?
Is he a pain in the side of the military? Sure. So are hackers (to the military, the government, private business, etc.). They cause endless hours of work for IT guys. But I’d rather get hit by a White Hat hacker who says “Hey – you’ve got this weakness right over here…and you better hurry up and address it” than get hit by a Black Hat who finds the weakness, keeps it secret, and sells it to others.
In other words, better that Assange publishes this data on WikiLeaks for the generals to see, than for someone else to keep it secret, so that no one even knows the military has a problem. Sometimes a little exposure brings attention to places that attention is needed. The real problem is that Top Secret and other Classified documents are so readily obtained. The Human Resources department and the IT department of the military need to get to work.
Tea, the new Kool Aid
So, this is the Tea Party…
If we don’t have a majority, if we can’t win an election fairly and legally…then let’s shoot everyone! Kidding? Nope. Some spare at a rally? Nope. This is GOP pundit Joyce Kaufman at a 2010 Tea Party rally saying “If ballots don’t work, bullets will!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UpwXHtCXBro
Tea! It’s the new Kool-Aid! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid
The #1 Name in Murder Fantasy
Let’s face the facts. The incinidiary language, the anger, the talk of violence, the talk of assanination – it comes almost completely from the right. Not that you can’t find an example or two, but it’s hard to imagine a mainstream voice from the left saying these things and not being ostracised by the left. What’s worse: The anger, hatred, and overtones of violence…or the spineless hypocrisy they show when they won’t acknowledge it. Conservatives: Embrace your hatred, violence, and bigotry. At least then you won’t be hypocrites.
Fox News: The #1 Name in Murder Fantasy
Bill O’Reilly’s recent “joke” about decapitating Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank was only the latest example of a demented Fox News culture that permits on-air personalities to fantasize about assassination and other forms of violence against those deemed enemies of the station, its personalities or their worldview.
During the cable channel’s 2008 election coverage, in what she later called an attempt at humor, Fox News contributor Liz Trotta linked Osama bin Laden to Barack Obama as people who both should be assassinated:
And now we have what some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama, uh Obama. Well, both, if we could.
A week before Trotta’s “joke,” Republican primary candidate Mike Huckabee was apologizing for his own Obama assassination quip. Addressing a gathering of the National Rifle Association, Huckabee joked that a loud thud heard backstage during his address was Barack Obama diving to the floor to avoid gun shots. Months later, Huckabee was given his own Fox News show.
http://www.truth-out.org/fox-news-the-no-1-name-murder-fantasies66707
Go Earth! 