Cooking for the Unemployable
July 5, 2010 at 9:04 am | Posted in Economy, Miscellany | Leave a commentTags: budget meal, cooking on a budget, DIY
After watching that, I’m sure you’re feeling a bit philosophical. Why not enjoy an episode of Three Minute Philosophy?
Go ahead, America — keep electing Republicans
June 27, 2010 at 6:43 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Bobby Jindal, BP, Gulf of Mexico, Haley Barbour, Mississippi, Mississippi Sound, oil spill
Washington, D.C. Scrap salvage campaign, Victory Program. Bathtub, boiler and fence in wholesale junkyard. 1942 May. Marjory Collins, photographer (Library of Congress)
(ThinkProgress) “The most important thing right now is the 2010 elections,” [Mississippi Governor Haley] Barbour told reporters.
Continuing his record of dismissing the magnitude of the BP disaster, Barbour said on Friday after he returned to Mississippi that major slicks miles long within the Mississippi Sound “shouldn’t be a cause for alarm.”
* * *
The system for responding to a major oil spill depends on coordination between the federal government, the responsible oil company, and the state government. Out of the 6,000 National Guard troops President Obama has authorized for response in Mississippi, Haley Barbour has mobilized only 58. However, he has declared today to be a Day of Prayer “to remember the Mississippi Gulf Coast.”
This is what you get when you elect people who believe that Government should be drowned in the bathtub — people who are incompetent to govern.
Barbour is going to wait for that oil to wash ashore and then scream and bitch, like Jindal, that it’s Obama’s fault that Mississippi’s entire coast is rendered uninhabitable by man or beast.
Pink Elephants On Parade
May 15, 2010 at 2:25 pm | Posted in palin, politics straight up, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Disney, Dumbo, pink elephants, politics, sarah palin
I haven’t been posting. It’s just all too depressing.
But this delightful Disney clip from Dumbo was just too much fun and nicely demonstrates how completely stupid Sarah Palin is:
“Look out, Washington. There’s a whole stampede of pink elephants coming.”
Thanks, Mudflats!
Glenn Beck hates capitalism!
May 3, 2010 at 2:34 pm | Posted in Miscellany | Leave a commentTags: 1915, Atlanta, Georgia, Glenn Beck, Hallmark, Mother's Day, Vermont Teddy Bear Co., Woodrow Wilson
Who would have ever predicted this?
Mrs. Dora Stainers, 562 1/2 Decatur Street, Atlanta, Georgia, 39 years old. Began spinning in an Atlanta mill at 7 years, and is in this mill work for 32 years. Only 4 days of schooling in her life. Began at 20 cents a day. The most she ever made was $1.75 a day & now she is earning $1 a day when she works. She is looking for a job. Her little girl Lilie is the same age she was when she started work, but the mother says, "I ain't goin to put her to work if I can help it. I'm goin' to give her as much education as I can so she can do better than I did." Mrs. Stainers is a woman of exceptional ability considering her training. 1915 March. Lewis Wickes Hines, photographer. (Library of Congress)
And I said, Mother’s Day, it’s a scam. It’s a big business scam. And I said, I bet it was started by Woodrow Wilson. Look it up, Sarah. And she didn’t. I said, look it up. She’s like, no, I’m not going to look it up. I said, look it up, I’ll bet you, I’ll bet you. Mother’s Day? Started 1914. Woodrow Wilson. Hate that guy. Love my mom. Hate the holiday. Now, you could go to Hallmark because Hallmark and Woodrow Wilson would like you to do that. But there’s something new from Vermont Teddy Bear. Three handmade teddy bears in pink, green, and white.
In a few brief seconds, Glenn Beck manages to insult Mother’s Day, one of America’s greatest Presidents and 1919 Nobel Peace Prize winner Woodrow Wilson, an advertiser on his radio show, Hallmark Cards and capitalism.
Way to go, Glenn!
Transcript excerpt from Media Matters.
What has the federal government ever done for you.
May 2, 2010 at 2:08 am | Posted in Miscellany | Leave a commentTags: monty python, politics, Tea Party, teabaggers
Thanks, They Gave Us A Republic!
Back with Black
April 25, 2010 at 7:55 pm | Posted in Economy, journalism, politics straight up, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Bill Moyers, Bll Moyers, Economy, financial fraud, financial markets, financial reform, William K. Black
Last week William Black, author and professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri, testified before the House Financial Services Committee with regard to the financial industry. On April 23, 2010 he sat down with Bill Moyers:
The more I hear about the current “financial reform” legislation, the less I am convinced it is going to address any of the real problems.
Thank you, Bill Moyers. You will be missed.
Following Rules of War American style: Shoot first, lie about it later.
April 5, 2010 at 2:32 pm | Posted in Department of Defense, Foreign Affairs, Reality Bites, terrorism, Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: Baghdad, Department of Defense, FOIA, Freedom of Information Act, Iraq occupation, Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, murder, Namir Noor-Eldeen, Reuters, rules of war, Saeed Chmagh, war atrocities, Wikileaks
On July 12, 2007 Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, driver Saeed Chmagh and nine others, including two children, were killed by a U.S. helicopter strike in Baghdad. The American military authorities claimed they were armed insurgents.
“There is no question that coalition forces were clearly engaged in combat operations against a hostile force,” said Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a spokesman for the multinational forces in Baghdad.
WikiLeaks, their Freedom of Information Act request stonewalled by the Defense Department, has obtained video from unnamed military sources that clearly shows that the people targeted and killed in cold blood were not carrying, and certainly not firing, AK-47s or RPGs.
I can only hope that the people who committed this atrocity are haunted by their crime because they will certainly never be held accountable.
UPDATE: If you don’t believe your lying eyes and think that this film was edited in some way to make the US military look bad, go here to see the full, unedited video.
UPDATE: Josh Stieber, a former US Army solider, deployed to Iraq in 2007 and 2008 as a member ofBravo Company 2-16 — the same Company as the infantry ground soldiers involved in the Apache helicopter attack — spoke with Glenn Greenwald about the video and “compellingly explains how the incident depicted there — from the initial killing of the Reuters journalist to the shooting of unarmed rescuers to the language used by the pilots — was anything but rare; it was extremely common.”
Nothing silly about it
March 31, 2010 at 5:32 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Hardeman County, letter to the president, Michigan, Obama!, Texas
Native Texan farmer on relief. Goodliet, Hardeman County, Texas. "Tractored out" in late 1937. Now living in town, and on the verge of relief. Wife and two children. "Well, I know I've got to make a move but I don't know where to. I can stay off relief until the first of the year. After that I don't know. I've eat up two cows and a pair of horses this past year. Neither drink nor gamble, so I must have eat'n 'em up. I've got left two horses and two cows and some farm tools. Owe a grocery bill. If had gradutated land tax on big farms, that would put the little man back again. "One man had six renters last year. Kept one. Of the five, one went to Oklahoma, one got a farm south of town and three got no place. They're on WPA (Works Progress Administration). Another man put fifteen families off this year. Amother had twenty-eight renters and now has two. In the Progressive Farmer it said that relief had spoiled the renters so they had to get tractors. But them men that's doing the talking for the community is the big landowners. They got money to go to Washington. That's what keeps us from writing. A letter I would write would sound silly up there." 1938 June. Dorothea Lange, photographer. (Library of CongressO
You have to read this.
Overview of the President’s Health Care Reform Proposal
February 22, 2010 at 11:53 am | Posted in Department of Health & Human Services, health, House of Representatives, politics straight up, senate, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: health care reform, health care summit, politics
Public Health Service nurse treating patient. Between 1918 and 1925. (Library of Congress)
In advance of Thursday’s bipartisan health care reform summit, the White House has posted specific proposals.
The 11-page “blueprint” is here (PDF).
The HCR bill passed by the House in November 2009, as well as CBO and budget information, can be read here. The HCR bill passed by the Senate in December 2009, as well as related information, is available here.
A Republican plan posted at an unknown date, but perhaps October 2009, is here. Whether they’re sticking to what is in this proposed “substitution” is anybody’s guess. Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office has no information.
Read up, then call your Congresscritters and let them know what you think.
UPDATE: The White House has information about Republican ideas included in the President’s proposal and the legislation passed by Congress here.
Igor Volsky at the Wonk Room provides a brief side-by-side comparison between the president’s current proposals and the House and Senate bills here.
Something to think about
January 30, 2010 at 1:33 am | Posted in Miscellany | Leave a commentTags: citizenship, civic life, moral principles, politics
Home Sweet Home, East Hampton, Long Island, New York. c1913 (Library of Congress)
George Lakoff at Common Dreams has a post titled “Where’s the Movement?” in which he talks about our role as active participants in our political system that I think you all should read.
Movements also transcend particular policies. The framing of moral principles comes first and the policies elaborate on the principles. The way to unite a movement is to form policies that carry out the principles in ways that everyone can understand.
As a citizen, what moral principles, values or characteristics do you believe are important for a happy and well-functioning society?
Compassion, cooperativeness, fairness, generosity, honesty, industriousness, loyalty, moderation and tolerance are important to me.
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