The Restroom Debacle: A Summary

The restroom debate continues, most recently with the response to the Departments of Justice and Education releasing guidelines instructing schools to treat transgender students according to their gender identity. The battlefield is not so much a warzone as it is wells of ignorance residing in the comments sections of conservative copypasta sites, a circle-jerk of OMGz.

Since some of the newer talking points erupting from conservative megaphones is "Libs are creating this as a smokescreen" and "Why can't we just let people decide this city by city?" [Hannity for the latter], I thought it might be instructive to take a step back and see how this actually went down.


Charlotte, NC



On February 22nd, 2016, Charlotte's city council passed an ordinance (7-4) which expanded protections to the LGBT community, effectively treating sexual orientation and identity as a protected class within Charlotte. Yes, the transgender bathroom accommodation was a part of that, but only a small part. Much of the ordinance dealt with business practices and not being able to discriminate based on sexual orientation when it came to serving customers and in hiring practices.

There was some news coverage of the ordinance, but it was generally quiet and passed under the radar. It was Charlotte's business.


NC State Legislature

On March 23rd, 2016, just days before Charlotte's ordinance went into effect, the North Carolina General Assembly called both houses back in for an emergency session. They opened the circus tents, piled in front of cameras, and explained why this needed to be done. It's for the children!

NC conservatives took one piece of the Charlotte ordinance - allowing trans people to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify - and confounded it with perversion, pedophilia, and molestation to proudly build their straw man. They said and repeated something to the effect of: "This will allow any man to 'identify' as a woman and walk into a women's restroom for a peepshow whenever they like - and think of the children!"

Of course, that's not anywhere near reality, either of what the Charlotte ordinance would have done or why the state had to stop it.

They passed a law shutting down Charlotte's non-discrimination policies and forbidding any other municipalities from attempting to do so in the future, claiming it was a state issue.



Deptartment of Education

On May 13th, 2016, The Departments of Justice and Education released guidelines stating transgender students could not be discriminated against, as it violates Title IX's provision prohibiting discrimination based on sex.

This is still in it's beginning stages, but the Administration has said that schools blatantly violating the guidelines could see their federal funding dollars disappear.


Realities

Pervs are going to perv. Period. They'll get caught sneaking a peak or hiding a camera, and the law will deal with them. Anyone thinking treating the trans community equally is going to suddenly make perverts realize this one new trick is naive and foolish - they're already dressing like women and getting caught in the act.

Realistically, dozens of schools and municipalities have been doing this for years. Increase in perversions or problems? None. Actually, since Target's policy on restrooms emerged and DoE came out with their guidelines, there has been one large increase in behavior: creepy conservative men, sometimes in wigs, have loudly protested and wildly barged into women's restrooms to prove it could be done. As if there was previously a police officer or gender force field keeping them from being an asshole for their YouTube Channel.

This issue, for me, has really shown a blatant hypocrisy in yet another facet of the conservative facade. They're presenting a completely unrelated story - say, girl gets choked by pedo dude in bathroom - and then uses that as a reason for more laws and more restrictions. It's kind of like what conservatives say liberals do when it comes to gun control. In this case, zero legislation would have stopped this predator from following a little girl into a restroom to choke her. That's already illegal. Making up new laws that will harm the rights of others in order to make a show for morality and old-timey values doesn't help anyone.

But the final reality of this issue and how it's playing out takes us back to where we started: Charlotte. Charlotte's ordinance was NOT just about bathrooms. Conservatives seized upon that because it could be exploited and blown large with misinformation and fear. The bigger picture is that conservatives are afraid of actual LGBT equality. Marriage was a big hurdle, and they see the avalanche. A federally-protected class is on its way, and when that happens, they will no longer be able to use the go-to excuse of religion to trump the rights of the LGBT community and justify discrimination.

And when that day comes, it will be a good one indeed.

Catholic Answers, Catholic Lies

As I've mentioned before, I enjoy spending time in the car listening to right wing and religious AM talk radio. It keeps me informed about what's happening in circles to which I don't belong, fires me up, gets me thinking, and serves as fodder for this blog.

This weekend I was in a museum looking at some illuminated texts and remembered a rather poignant piece of radio I'd dismissed from a couple weeks ago.

During this episode of Catholic Answers, they were doing a "Non-Catholic Open Forum" where they specifically ask the audience to let just Non-Catholics to call with their questions. The show is generally a doctrine-splain-o-thon with some highlights in either caller ignorance or odd interpretation, but this one was cringe-worthy, and it wasn't the caller's fault this time.

Patrick Coffin with Bishop James Conley were hosting and "Henry in Kansas" came on with this question:

Why the Church wasn't doing anything to stop the slaughter of the Native Americans over here? Because of that we lost a lot of knowledge, a lot of books, codices and all that.

(Question is doctored/paraphrased on the linked page.)

Patrick Coffin replied:

Before we change to second gear, Henry, Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 1300s and the technology of written material didn't exist in the New World, so I'm not sure what books were there to destroy - since there weren't any books.

WHAT THE EVER-LOVING FUCK!?

Henry comes back with the very factual and calm response that Aztecs and others recorded their knowledge in pictographs and other writings and Patrick dismisses him with "I'm not sure that's true, Henry."

First off, the printing press was developed by Gutenberg about 1450.

Secondly, the words that came out of Patrick Coffin's mouth - besides the random date pick - were drivel of the most ignorant sort. Not only is there "written material" that we have records of tracing back over 5000 years, but to say that there were no books before the printing press discounts the over 1400 years of hand-written Biblical material that serve as the very basis of his religion!

Arrrrgh!

So for anyone who listens to Catholic Answers Live for clarifications on specific Church doctrine as it exists today, you should be in the clear. But if Patrick Coffin or any other apologists start making mention of history or dates or happenings outside the codification of the Bible, you might want to vet those "facts."

The Right Wing Ferguson Misinformation Campaign

Today I had to lay down a little internet sleuthing after seeing the above image posted with the following caption:

This is Ferguson police officer BEFORE he shot Mike Brown. Please pass this around over and over. Think Sharpton and MSNBC will show this? That means TPC will have to...start passing folks.

Well, damn, I knew the orbital blowout fracture was questionable (the sole source being right wing rag Gateway Pundit), but this had to be some solid proof, right? I mean, who would just go on the internet and spread lies?



My first problem was that this guy in the picture doesn't look anything like Officer Darren Wilson, unless he stopped for a Hair Club and dye job beforehand - and had his ears pinned back. So a little more digging and a reverse image search and I come up with this article from 2006.

That picture up top isn't Darren Wilson. He's not even a police officer. His real identity is American motorcyclist Jim McNeil who face-planted during a trick in 2006. So I clicked back through and found the photo and caption on my wall had been shared by a Tom Sullivan III ...and 67,000 other people.

So, fair readers, should you come across some of the thousands of shares of this disingenuous photo, here's your ammo. There is enough crap being spread about Ferguson shooting of Michael Brown. We don't need more.

Romney: Liar Campaign

Feel free to steal. Figured out they're using Trajan Pro as a font and decided to have some fun.

Hillary for VP? Just a Repub Lie

If you're interested, I put together a nice post over at All Things Democrat discussing the ghost the conservatives have cobbled together feigning chaos in the Democratic party by insinuating there's a big decision between Biden and Hillary in the works. Spoiler alert: They're lying.

In Short: Hannity Didn't Watch SOTU

I know, I know. Every time I begin a post with "Yesterday on Hannity's radio show..." a little part of your soul dies and a dribble of vomit leaks inexplicably from your left ear. Me too. So weird.

However, yesterday on Hannity's radio show, after listening for a few minutes on the way to Kroger, it became apparently clear that Sean Hannity was relying on what other people had to say about the SOTU Tuesday evening:

• He mocked Obama for saying "the state of the union is strong," but Obama notably did not say that. He said "The state of our Union is getting stronger."
• He said that Obama's recognition of the Military as an example was a call to work together, but Obama's statement was using the US Military as an example to focus on a mission and get the job done.
• Working together obviously brought out the "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun" quote from Obama, but it was directly implied that Obama had said that to the military (when it was a one-off to the press pool about a debate in Philly with McCain in '08).

I know Hannity artfully and gleefully spins facts and pulls emotionally charged rhetoric - however disproved or irrelevant - to be another powerful voice in painting Obama as "the other," but this seemed particularly ignorant, like he was spinning an intern's notes.

Or maybe he's purposefully deconstructing every argument against Obama into a single, timeless, reference-less amalgam of foul vitriol, an abstract, artistic work in progress that will culminate Election night 2012 in a single, forced, guttural syllable followed immediately by his very essence being expelled in a protoplasmic blob as his human shell collapses like an ancient paper wasp nest whacked with a snow shovel.

Or he's just being a dick.

Gingrich on Drudge?

Today I took my painful peek at Drudge's site and saw - prominently - something that read "Obama plays golf with hooker-solicitor." Awesome.

And I thought to myself: what would happen if Drudge actually had a site that talked realistically about conservatives?

Here's my answer, your little peek into an alternate universe:

Mark Simone is a Lying Idiot

In my daily adventures traveling the dark and terrifying highways of the AM band, I'm bound to run into monsters. Many have been demystified; most I've encountered before. But while quietly observing these beasts I may see some new depravity, like a wild creature eating its own feces.

Thus was today's experience with this guy:



Mark Simone's got a gig on WABC in NY but today was subbing for Sean Hannity. The topic turned to Ron Paul because Ron Paul showed up on Leno and said Michele Bachmann doesn't like Muslims. You can see it here:



Oh, the humanity!

(Sidenote: Michele Bachmann, back in '05, in reference to Muslims in France, stated "Not all cultures are equal. Not all values are equal.")

But we're getting off topic. So we're back on Ron Paul and Mark Simone is jerking the Paul-supporting callers back and forth, putting words in their mouth, extrapolating opinions, generalizing, and changing the subject - for which all right wing nut radio hosts must have a book.

During one call, in order to discredit a caller, Mark said Ron Paul goes nutty, says crazy things, implies you'd have to be nutty to support him. The caller disagreed. Mark Simone then stated (paraphrase):

Ron Paul said that we were to blame for 9/11. Do you believe that? No patriot would back Ron Paul.

Not 3 minutes later, Mark received a call from an active duty member of our military who mis-attributed "No patriot would back Ron Paul" to the previous caller and said that was an awful thing to say.

Mark responded by saying (paraphrase):

I don't know, I didn't hear him say that; that would be a wrong thing to say.

Thus, Mark Simone is a lying idiot.

This is a prime example of the psychological back-talk and denial of reality that has gripped conservative radio for so long. It's obvious; it always is to thinking people. Unfortunately, most listeners are not thinking people.

Ohio's Issue 3: So Hard to Say NO

Ohio's Issue 2 on November's ballot is relatively straightforward. The Kasich administration is trying to kill unions, collective bargaining and anything that has to do with the Democratic base; and as opposed to Wisconsin, this includes police and fire. They tried to do this with SB5. After gathering many times over the required signatures, it turned into a referendum, Issue 2.

There is some confusion on whether you are voting yes on repealing or voting no on the bill (that is intentional), so here's a picture to help:



Vote NO on Issue 2 if you support your public employees including teachers, fire, and police.


"But wait," you're saying. What's this about Issue 3?

I saw an absentee ballot this weekend and was terrified by what I saw on that ballot as Issue 3.

Long story short, Issue 3 is Kasich's Anti-Obamacare amendment to Ohio's constitution. It's pure politics and nothing but BS. Why was it scary? Because the language is a little confusing except for the incredibly biased header which reads: To Preserve The Freedom Of Ohioans To Choose Their Health Care And Health Care Coverage

I mean, who doesn't want to preserve freedom?

This one's moving under the radar because so much has been put into Issue 2, but it cannot be ignored. Millions of Ohio voters are going to go to the polls this November and probably have a good idea about Issue 2, but know little about issue 3. How do you think that header is going to affect them? How will that affect their on-the-spot voting on an issue?

Vote NO on Issue 3 to stop Kasich's do-nothing, stop-Obama agenda.

Here's the page for info (and ballot language) for Issues 1, 2, & 3 in Ohio.


And have a great week!

NASA, the Right, 9/11, and Lies

Today, Mark Steyn in for Limbaugh revisited one of the biggest, hypocritical tropes available in the conservative grab bag: NASA.

"You see," they say, "NASA was a bastion of American exceptionalism, a sign of America the Winner, and now it's done so it's Obama's fault. Obama hates America."

This is a Lies & Stupid sammich.

• NASA was and continues to be government-funded.
• The race to the moon was founded on a pissing contest with godless USSR.
• Hundreds of billions of dollars of tax money spent by the government got us to the moon.
• NASA was defunded by BushII.
• NASA was defunded by BushII because private enterprise is supposedly a good thing.

So welcome to brain rape. Spending billions on anything? Bad. Unless it's to prove our machismo against non-Christians (see: illegal wars). Defunding a government program to let free enterprise move in? Good! Until the defunding command rolls over to a Democratic presidential term where we can blame that president for not believing in America.

And then Steyn rolled it over into 9/11 - You know what we did in the 60's? We said "We're going to the moon" and we fucking did, yo (despite the absurd espense). "Can you see us going to the moon now?" (No. Remember? Government spending = BAD.) So on 9/11, we should've jumped on that hole and built up that skyline so fast it made Al Queda's heads spin! Yeah! Except "We" as in "America" don't control that. That's private enterprise confronted with political infighting, egos, etc.

So here's what you've actually proved in your diarrhea-mouth diatribe: If the government is solidly focused enough and dumps enough tax dollars into something, we can do something amazing like get to the moon. Maybe develop and build an entire interstate highway system. If we leave it to private enterprise, we get a hole in the middle of New York City that's getting filled WAY slower than American Exceptionalism declares it should be filled.

Folks on the AM dial are mad in their rhetoric, and the goons listening for the most part are slurping it up with a straw, ignoring inconsistencies, and becoming dumber by the minute.

Good for us, I guess. Except they're more ignorant and own more guns.

Maybe There's an Opening for a Chimney Sweep?

Republicans are full of fuckery. They took a normal, expected, non-fanfare issue - raising the debt ceiling - and owned it and lied to America and whined and pissed and moaned and lied and got many ignorant Americans to back them.

So what if America is being downgraded and there are STILL no jobs? Let's do a sing-along!

Leave Fox News Alone!

I'm serious, folks. Murdoch is in some heavy shit across the pond and looking like the US is coming down the pike after him for hacking into 9/11 victim cell phones (despite his "Oh my, what's going on? Where's my pickles?" bullshit feigning senility).

Now I'm hearing some clamoring from the left: make Fox old news, knock down Fox, bring it to an end. Like hyenas circling the wounded zebra, some of us smell blood - we note the chink in Achilles' heel and feel the need to strike, to kill the stinking, hulking monstrosity while we are able to.


M'f'ing Shadow of the Colossus style!

No.
Stop.
I'm goddamned serious.


Success?

IF there is a groundswell grassroots push to knock down Fox, to take out the network, that would be a bad thing. Please: follow every legal outlet to investigate and prosecute to the fullest of the law should wrongdoing be found. But if there is a serious rising of liberals with online petitions and firey blog posts decrying Fox as an attachment to Murdoch and a call to tear down the beast, all we will garner is ridicule. With good reason. We will truly be hypocrites.


What is Fox?

Fox is a tool (in both senses), something that Sean Hannity this week referred to as a "weapon" of conservatives. It is right-wing machinations donning a mask of "news." This is a heavily-weighted propaganda machine that uses "Fair and Balanced" as their primary slogan.

But because of all that, Fox is a joke. Fox is a news station that exemplifies conservatives in humor by launching and immediately killing their answer to The Daily Show (they don't get humor). Fox is conservatism manifest, an aggregator in that Rush Limbaugh today said Heat Index was invented by the government and has never been passed off as a real temperature and Fox stressed the heat index (for rational, safety reasons), and tomorrow, somewhere, Fox will show duress over this clash. Manifest in the multiple personality hydra it sometimes seems to be in attempting to cater to conservatives and tea party and Republicans and RINOs with a reach-around for the Libertarians.



So What Do We Lose?

Fox is our beacon, our early warning sign for the pulse of stupid, our klaxon, our open playbook. Fox is a tool in a third way: our periscope.

If this goes away, we'll still have some spastic jolts of conservative reality in AM radio with the classic nutters like Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck, and that asshat they call the Great One, but nothing like the heart monitor we have now.

It's the monster we know, the nooks and crannies we're accustomed to, the madness we've accepted. And what do we lose? Exactly that. And Murdoch will get over his temporary insanity and bring something to life even more malicious. The devil you know and all that?


Right now we have a speaking template of how stupid the right can be. It's been limbering around since the Tea Party popped their heads out from another universe, but they're trying. And this Murdoch horror has brought red, steaming blood to the party.

Ignore the blood.

Let it stand, let it stumble, let it rant, let it mumble.

You can both be not a hypocrite and help the liberal cause. Woohoo!

Leave Fox alone.

Srsly.



Ignore it.

John Boehner's a Dick

Today POTUS Barry-O was on teh Twitter answering questions in a town hall format. It was cute. It was quaint. It was for the kids ...until the kids' drunk uncle stumbled in about 10:40am.

Everyone pivoted just in time to see Speaker Boehner, cradling a magnum of Turning Leaf Merlot, stumble into the room. "Hay! Hay!" sputtered Boehner. "Where's the jobs! Hahaha!" *hic*

"If you'll wait just a moment John--"

"No. No, Mobama! I said werer the jobs? Huh? Why you so mean to the jobs?" at which point he collapsed into weeping pile on the floor and people tried not to stare.

Okay, so all that just kinda happened virtually. Seriously. In the middle of Obama's tech-savvy town hall, Boehner - instead of keeping quiet - decided to troll the event like a bratty kid who just got his internet limited by his mommy. Or he had Merlot for breakfast. Either or. Total dick move.




ROUND 2!

Take a look at the screenshot above. Boehner hits off the mid-tirade with a snicker and a RT from AFLCIO, the Union Movement. Because Boehner thinks it's funny that the Unions are wondering where the jobs are too. Yay! Everybody hates Obama! Republicans Win!

Not so fast, B. Turns out AFLCIO, probably a little more savvy than Boehner on teh Twitter, notice him using them and take a couple hits back.



Personally, I like "Where are the jobs? Answer: Not in House Republican Budget" Unsurprisingly, none of this activity was acknowledged by Speaker Boehner.


Keep it classy, you lying, corporate whore.


[SIDENOTE:
If you're unfamiliar with Twitter, the hashtags exist so you can search by a hashtag and follow a stream of tweets. For instance, #AskObama search would allow you to follow - and check out at a later time - questions and answers from today's event. Hyperlinks go to the Twitter search for each hashtag.

#AskObama - designated for today's event
#jobs - This is generally related to job offerings and proof Boehner knows not what he does.
#p2 - progressives 2.0, progressives on Twitter
#u1 - union workers/supporters]

The Republican Terror Looms

No, I don't mean Republicans have suddenly found weaving as a pasttime. I'm saying that - news to none, unfortunately - the group of "candidates" we saw for the GOP last night was a terrifying spectacle.

Here's the highlights:

• Everything Obama did is WRONG
• Obama continues to seek to destroy American jobs and freedom and people
• Republicans have, like, ideas!

All three of these points are lies.

Cherry on top last night is Batshit Bachmann entered the race. Just another reason for ignorant Republicans to claim both: 1) This female candidate is qualified AND 2) Democrats actually hate women and can't deal with female success.

Sorry Repubs: it's not a level of intelligence we're scrutinizing but a bottom-floor base of human competency.

This election is going to be the most horrid example of the American Election process most of us have ever seen. And for what it will reveal about the soul-less monsters we call conservatives, I personally welcome it.

Do The Trump Hair Lash! Devil!

While the Colossus of Trump may be attacked directly, his wisps of hair hold the key to his destruction and are grouped and randomly assigned +30 Undead (weakness:fire), +50 Rich (weakness:steal), +20 Vanity (weakness:female attack), respectively.


Trump. Ah, Trump. No runny, no winny. But we already knew that. Everyone did except for the ebb/tide morons (*cough* *tea party*) who cheered him on because they both recognized and remembered his name. Here's how the drama unfolded:

1. Trump announces he's exploring running.
2. The right entertains it.
3. The left finds it entertaining.
4. Trump goes all batshit Birther.
5. For the most part, the Fox/Hannity right back him.
6. The left finds it entertaining.
7. Trump pushes forward in his Obama callout.
8. Obama smacks down his birth certificate.
9. The right kinda edge off a bit.
10. Trump congratulates himself.
11. Obama smacks down Trump on CSPAN.
12. The right aren't really considering Trump a serious candidate.
13. The left is all "Ooh, snap, bitch!"
14. Right is all: Okay, so what do we do if he really runs?
15. Trump says he's not really running.
16. The left is not surprised.
17. The right says "It's because of left wing attacks!"

So, "right" you had a horse in the race, then you kinda didn't, then you had a dog in the race, then you thought you might because others weren't looking so good, then Trump bowed out like every sane person knew he would, and now: Liburlz sux!

Anyone surprised?

For anyone making the connection between this conservative absurdity and their call that science is religion for liberals, here's the other end: For conservatives, politics is religion; Republicans are God, Liberals are Satan.

Like God, if a Republican says something and does something else, they're testing us, or testing themselves. They mean to do well and will if given the chance against ...Satan! Liberals won't do a damn thing right and if they do, well they're just trying to seduce you so you die and go to hell.

Luckily, in the conservative world, they can claim ownership over the Bible and the flag and honor neither. Which kind of speaks to the Deceiver.

No wonder everyone's so confused...

We Don't Own All The OIL!

Let me say this a different way:

Some of the conservatives are correct: if you announced that the USA was allowing the drilling of every ounce of oil under its land, gas prices would drop tomorrow while the speculators scrambled and if it actually happened, prices of the world market would slowly decrease until, like... anything happened in the Middle East, we realized China was buying even more (and now cheaper) oil, or the wells went dry.

But here's where it gets hinky, and I heard direct evidence of this on Columbus 610AM WTVN with Chuck Douglas: While Chuck stuck to the potential of drilling as potentially lowering the gas price, he gave callers a blind crazy license to say, basically "We've got enough oil and natural gas and coal within our shores to carry the USA forever and FUCK foreign energy!" Of course without even questioning them let alone correcting them.

Here's the problem: The same ignorant goons saying "We own our oil!" don't quite realize that it is because of the entrepreneurial free market, the "government out of business" that they tout that THIS IS NOT TRUE.

Drilling companies pay the US a fee for exploratory - then drilling - rights. They own the crude they drill and will sell it not to the US (but we needs it, precious) but to the highest bidder who in turn sells the next product down all the way to gas, everyone getting the highest price on the market. We will buy it off the same market as China, even if it was drilled from my Cincinnati, OH yard and I was on the drilling team.

The ONLY way these right wing goons saying "We own our oil!" could be right is if the United States Government got its hands into the drilling business, the oil business, the refining business, the gasoline and petrol products - Hell, let's call it TAINT-OIL - and then we can cut off the rest of the world and TAINT-OIL can keep and distribute and control the flow of the fuel ("Hell, you can be Joe Cocaine with it") - and our livelihoods.

[Pause: You get this, right? The right wing is basically calling for eschewing free markets and governmental control of our energy resources.]

So how do so many people, people who don't want "the nanny state" thinking about talking about looking at them sideways, NOT understand this basic fact, this absolute catastrophe of logic?

Because people like Chuck Douglas and Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh let them. Because while these show hosts should (and probably do based on their measured speech) know better, realize that the USA will never drill and take our own oil -- those hosts, their livelihood, their base, their ratings are activated, are generated, are receiving salvation from the Lord Above from ignorant people who want nothing more than to yell at the radio about how Obama is screwing them.

Ironically, would the US Government open TAINT-OIL, those talk show hosts would be on the front lines of WTF! And, ironically, Obama cares more for these gas-price-cursing AM-drooling myrmidons than any of the hosts do.

Ignorance abounds. I would say Obama needs to push this basic reality, but it would be discounted because Obama said it.

So I leave it to you: How do we explain to the indoctrinated AM listeners that their basic beliefs in the free market and governmental control are keeping them from getting them cheap oil?

(Note: I am adamantly opposed to our government getting into the oil industry. That would be a BAD idea; Oil conglomerates need to be checked, but NOT controlled.)

Fox & William Tucker Say "Meh" to Nuclear Danger

Ahhhhhh! When will I learn? Ten minutes of Fox News is enough to give a thinking / informed person a terrible headache.

Last night I stayed up kind of late watching coverage of the tragedy in Japan and much of that coverage was on the danger of the nuclear situation there. After a few shows and many an animated graphic, I had a solid grasp. Here's the gist:

• Each of the 6 (!) reactors have an inner containment casing surrounding the reactor core, and an outer reactor casing.
• 3 of the reactors were offline for maintenance and contained no reactor cores.
• The remaining went offline with quake for safety.
• ALL six of the reactor buildings contain spent nuclear fuel rods, cooled by water, contained only by the outer walls.
• Because of quake damage, maintaining water levels has been a problem.
• Due to 2 explosions and 2 fires, outer walls of 3 reactors are severely breached (like the whole roof and most of the walls of #3)
• ALL 6 of the reactors pose varying levels of problems and concern.
• The local utility company TEPCO has a jaded history of not quite reporting the severity of situations.

Yeah, that about sums it up.

So imagine my surprise (and gag reflex) when I switched on Fox News for less than five minutes to see Doocy talking to William Tucker, author:



I paraphrase, but his assertion was thus: "Basically one reactor has a crack in it and might vent some steam, but it'll just dissipate. We've got 6000 miles of ocean between us and there's no reason for anyone in the US to panic or even be worried."

Wha-what?

Take all that exposition above along with the fact that the closest point between Japan and Sarah Palin's Alaska is 660 miles and, well, you wonder why Fox News viewers operate like barely-functional vegetables.

Wisconsin: Template for the Fall of America

Every time I think Republicans can get no lower, I am not surprised when they beat out my expectation and take another dip. What happened in Wisconsin yesterday was a swan dive straight into hell.

Here's how it went down:

• Gov. Walker takes power, immediately gives corporations big tax cuts.
• Gov. Walker suddenly has a money problem.
• Gov. Walker & Repubs craft "budget" bill that strips public employee unions of right to collectively bargain (gov't control of wages, basically).
• Gov. Walker shouts to the heavens that it is about the budget, not about busting unions.
• Union workers protest over proposed bill.
• Senate Democrats realize if they all leave, there will be no quorum, no vote, and bill cannot pass.
• Senate Democrats must leave the state and shack up in Illinois because Gov. says he could "compel" them to the capitol (Read: worst episode of Cops evar)
• Workers continue protest.
• Gov. takes fake "Koch" call, reveals he is underhanded goon, wants to trick Dems into coming back.
• Gov. says It's about the budget!
• Gov. discusses bounty hunters to get the Dems back.
• THEN: Breaking the legally-binding meeting rules, Republicans strip the bill of spending (therefore don't need a quorum) and pass the bill without Democrats.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Yes, the same Republicans who look at the health care bill as being shoved down their throats just practiced some of the most dirty, underhanded, illegal politics ever seen. These are not just crafty, clever, or manipulative elected officials - these are terrible people who lied, cheated, and finally weaseled their way through to breaking the unions for the *sole purpose* of decimating a source of finance for the Democratic Party and sticking their middle finger up the ass of the American Public Employee.

Doc Thompson in for Glenn Beck skimmed over the video of the committee vote and lied to his listeners, saying there was a Democrat from the Senate who came back (It was a House Democrat presenting rules). Rush Limbaugh managed to call teachers lazy bums and protesters bullying mobs in the first couple minutes.

And the best thing to see is the people in Wisconsin get PISSED. Someone better. These are the first dominoes in the Republican master plan of Corporate Wealth-ocracy ruling over the proles. If you're not in Ohio or Idaho - where it's already happened - and not in Wisconsin, keep the TV on. It's coming. And if you're not part of a union? Head over your shoulder, there - you're next.

STOP the Lies About Offshore Drilling!

I know that in Sean Hannity's superlative wet dream, God comes down from the Heavens to his second home - the USA - and cracks the crust of the Earth all about us to extract oil, pitch it in perfect drums and place it on the White House lawn.

Yay! Oil independence from the rest of the world! We win because of Jesus! Unicorns farting rainbows abound!


The sad truth is that even if we open up ALL drilling EVERYWHERE in the USA, we probably wouldn't see a whole lot of change, let alone energy independence.

Here's a short short version of how the process goes:

• Oil Drilling Company contacts the USA government and says "We think there's oil here."
• US grants them exploratory rights.
• After a few years, studies are concluded, and the Oil Drilling Company has found something viable. They purchase lease rights and plop down a few billion for a drilling rig.
• Crude magic happens, pumping, barreling, etc.
• Oil Drilling Company sells it to an Oil Refining Company or refines it themselves.
• Refining company splits crude into the most viable end products, sells some down the line, sells fuel to a Gasoline Company.
• Gasoline company sells to affiliates.
• We put gas in our car.

And here's why the right wing rhetoric of "US drilling = Energy Independence" = Bullshit

• Drilling rights only put a little bit of coin in USA's pocket.
• (We do NOT own the oil that comes from our land.)
• Oil Drilling Companies sell their crude to an Oil Refining Company at the best price they can get.
• Refining companies sell their products (gasoline) for the best price they can get.

The Entire Argument is Anathema to All Conservatism!
The only reason we talk about countries like Saudi Arabia as "oil-rich" is because they have government-run oil companies (we have a reserve because at some point the government bought up a shitload and put it in a garage somewhere). If the USA wanted to own the oil drilled on our land, they would need to create drilling, refining, and gasoline companies all owned by the governemnt - in order to remove ourselves from the much-lauded "free-market" system for a controlled price of oil - and ignore any sort of fair bidding to potential service providers.

But the additional problem here is that even if, in my opening paragraph, God came down and turned every drop of oil into gasoline, we wouldn't have that much. I mean, sure, we'd have a lot, but it would be finite.


The Bigger Argument

The bigger problem we're facing with Big Oil is that it is, precisely, big oil. And it acts like it is infinite. But it is NOT. And one day, Hannity's SUV is going to run out of gas and he won't have enough money to buy more (if there is any more).

I understand that Conservo-Repubs are in the pocket of the corporations, but open your eyes! Drilling here will do NOTHING. Eventually it will all run out. That's why we use the word "sustainable." It will hurt you too.

So why are conservative folks arguing against renewable energy when their current fav is going to eventually leave them poor before going away? It's not totally cost-effective yet but that's because it's relatively new. Do they truly want the rich to get richer? Are they looking for a global epidemic of destruction? Can they not wean from the reach-around they get from Oil Companies? Do they enjoy their nipples rubbed with baby oil?

Let me put forth two options:

1. In the USA, we take a sober look at gasoline and alternative energies and slowly transition as quickly as possible.
2. In the USA, we ignore the warning signs, play along with "all is good here" and one day it spikes and then runs out. Millions - billions - die in the chaos.

#2 will happen to much of the world (hehe #2). It's going to take someone everyone else calls crazy to see the reality and perhaps just save the lives of millions.

Thank you President Obama.

Middle East DoubleNewSpeak Headache

I was listening to some nondescript AM dial goon today and heard the same thing we've been hearing from the right since Egypt erupted, and now Lybia:

Just because you don't care for a dictator and in the scheme of things they're kind of a horrible person, not-so-friendly to US interests, plenty of human rights violations, bit of a ego-douchebag does NOT mean you can just go in there and take him out. We have no right to force our design or opinions on them. What about the stability of the Middle East? Who's going to move into power? What about our ties with Israel? What about the oil for chrissakes?


Oh, wait. No. Sorry. That was my sentiment before we invaded Iraq. (I'd add Afghanistan, but that was kind of a fucksmack of a whole country because we thought one dude was hiding there and we can't even fart in the direction of Saudi Arabia.)


I guess the fact that they sound so similar is proof positive that we don't really want brown people to have freedom or liberty. We just want to sell them bombs.