The Teabaggers think the eighteenth century

Was a really good time to live:

Tea Party Nation President Says It ‘Makes A Lot Of Sense’ To Restrict Voting Only To Property Owners

Phillips is advocating a policy of voter disenfranchisement that has its roots in the 18th century. When the United States was first founded, ownership of property was one of the requirements to vote in most elections. Many of these restrictions were phased out by the 1820s and replaced with requirements that the voter pays taxes. By 1850, these requirements, too, were phased out. Nashville Scene blogger Betsy Phillips calls the Tea Party Nation president’s idea a “frivolous proposal designed to stoke intergenerational antagonism — as if the people who are older and can afford a home are somehow better citizens than the 18-year-olds who are going off to war to die for our country.”

I remember when... not too long ago...

Our government worked. Yes, yes, of course there have always been problems and disagreements (and riots and crimes and all the rest). But Democrats and Republicans actually worked together and delivered laws that made our lives better. We had no established religion in our nation so all religions thrived. We listened to our conscience and challenged hate speech and racism. We questioned the wars we had been in and ended one that was without end. We regulated banks and corporations. We respected education and the educated. People could send their children to school and expect the next generation would do better than the last. The American dream seemed to be working.

And then something broke.

Now we have people insisting that a shutdown of the government is a good thing. (To teach us not to rely on the government? The very thing we as a nation organized and paid for with our tax dollars to work FOR us?)

We have people insisting we are a Christian nation. (No. We are not. And I don't think you guys have thought it through. Exactly WHICH Christian religion are you going to establish as the one true religion? .... Check out Europe's history for the consequences.)

We have people who are feeding the flames of hatred of anyone who has brown skin, a 'different' name, an 'odd' religion. Often these are the same people who claim they are Christian. Hate is in. (Do you think Jesus would recognize these people as followers?)

We have people denying rapid global climate change as the permafrost melts and methane clouds fill the atmosphere, as floods get worse, snow gets deeper, deserts get larger... and people die. (But Al Gore is fat and he wears beige!)

We have people who mock the educated and education in general, yet have an embarrassing lack of knowledge about the history of our own country, about science and why the word 'theory' is used, about other cultures and countries about the world. (But they're keeping it real!)

We have people in government who lie, change their minds, lie about that, lie again. Even when their own words are played back to them, even when YouTube runs loops of their malfeasance, they will deny all and lie. Because there are people who will ignore all facts and all proof and decide they must be telling the truth. (And your side never lies to you, right?)

We have people who are actually corporations. Mega-monolithic-multi-billion dollar corporations who pollute and contaminate and poison and kill their customers with indifference and greed. And no one holds them accountable because of the money. (Money controls everything.)

And these people are now in power.

Who are the Nazis now?

Israeli Government Documents Show Deliberate Policy to Restrict Food to Gaza

Cold enuff fer ya? Hyuk hyuk.....

Rapid thaw of permafrost concerns climate experts

Gas locked inside Siberia's frozen soil and under its lakes has been seeping out since the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago. But in the past few decades, as the Earth has warmed, the icy ground has begun thawing more rapidly, accelerating the release of methane - a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide - at a perilous rate.

Some scientists believe the thawing of permafrost could become the epicenter of climate change. They say 1.5 trillion tons of carbon, locked inside icebound earth since the age of mammoths, is a climate time bomb waiting to explode if released into the atmosphere.

"Here, total carbon storage is like all the rain forests of our planet put together," says the scientist, Sergey Zimov - "here" being the endless sweep of snow and ice stretching toward Siberia's gray horizon, as seen from Zimov's research facility nearly 350 kilometers (220 miles) above the Arctic Circle.

We'll not know what we had until it's gone.....

Soon our DNA will unlock the ancient migrations

Of nomadic tribes and ....Romans....

Genetic testing of villagers in a remote part of China has shown that nearly two thirds of their DNA is of Caucasian origin, lending support to the theory that they may be descended from a 'lost legion' of Roman soldiers.

Hmmm....

Eyes the stew pot...



The BBC asks:

Is squirrel the perfect austerity dish?

Yes. Especially after they've eaten my apricots and tomatoes...

Dechision points

Bring 'em on...

Bush ends “Decision Points” with the sanguine thought that history’s verdict on his Presidency will come only after his death. During his years in office, two wars turned into needless disasters, and the freedom agenda created such deep cynicism around the world that the word itself was spoiled. In America, the gap between the rich few and the vast majority widened dramatically, contributing to a historic financial crisis and an ongoing recession; the poisoning of the atmosphere continued unabated; and the Constitution had less and less say over the exercise of executive power. Whatever the judgments of historians, these will remain foregone conclusions.

Talk about a book critique!

The Finns show the world

How to behave:

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland has gotten itself into hot water with its members -- many of whom are now ex-members -- after aligning itself with hateful, conservative views about homosexuality.

More than 78% of Finns are said to be members of the church, but those numbers have been tumbling as of late; last year, some 40,000 people resigned from the church, and this year 70,000 have already left. The most recent exodus can be attributed to a recent live televised debate during which church representatives called homosexuality a "sin" and questioned gay couples’ ability to raise a family.

Weirdness uncorked

In the Era of Stupid:

Judge: Let lesbians into military so male GIs can turn them straight

North Korea/ South Korea /whatever ...

GAFFES VS. DUMBSTUPID

Hey!! The rule was you guys are supposed to go ELSEWHERE around the world and blow things up! Not here at home in Saudi Arabia.

Ryadh--Saudi authorities said Friday they arrested 149 al-Qaeda suspects in a months-long sweep and thwarted attacks inside the kingdom on government officials, media personalities and civilian targets.

And speaking of religious nutcakes:

The Myth of Christian Persecution in the United States

And:

The world is deeply divided on the question of whether religion is a force for good, a survey by Ipsos Reid suggests.

And:

Happy Thanksgiving! Right Jabs Pilgrims For ... Communism?

Bob Herbert of the New York Times warns the rich.

Happy Tryptophan Day

Because the world has gone mad...

I will give you a cat playing the piano.

I thought they loved the Constitution so much

That it could not be touched...

Rep. Steve King (R-IA), the staunch opponent of illegal immigration who is set to become the chairman of a key subcommittee on immigration, is setting his sights on the right-wing cause of ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants -- which many experts say would be unconstitutional.

And, as King told the local paper Cityview, his plan is to pass a statute anyway, and if it gets overruled in the courts, to then step up the effort to a constitutional amendment...

Actually getting something done

And doing something right:

Senate approves $4.6B for black farmers, Indians

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press

The Senate has approved almost $4.6 billion to settle longstanding claims brought by American Indians and black farmers against the government.

The money has been held up for months in the Senate as Democrats and Republicans squabbled over how to pay for it. Both of the class action lawsuits were filed over a decade ago.

The settlements include almost $1.2 billion for black farmers who say they suffered discrimination at the hands of the Agriculture Department. Also, $3.4 billion would go to Indian landowners who claim they were swindled out of royalties by the Interior Department. The legislation was approved in the Senate by voice vote Friday and sent to the House.

When corporations and morons are allowed to rule the world

15 Dangerous Drugs Big Pharma Shoves Down Our Throats

Chemical Industry Lobbyists Block Measure to Protect Infants and Toddlers

Probe is sought of lead in reusable grocery bags (But what else is new?)

Rep. Schock’s Response To Poll Showing 64 Percent Want End To Tax Cuts For Wealthy: Americans ‘Reject’ That

Another 1995-style government shutdown?

In 2007, Beck Praised IAVA But Now Demonizes The Vets Group As Part Of His Made-Up Soros Conspiracy

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Just be quick to mute the ad at the end of the scene....

Update 11/19:



Update: And then there are those who dislike it...

BooMan says it best

Here's what I want to know. Name ten Democratic members of Congress who are radical. Find me ten Democrats who don't believe in evolution, or who don't believe in climate change, or who think that the president might not be an American citizen, or who think the president wants to euthanize your grandma. Find ten Democrats who want to turn the United States into a Soviet Socialist Republic. Find me ten Democrats who want to do anything far outside of the mainstream. You might find ten in favor of a political system more akin to Canada's or the United Kingdom's, but how radical is that, really? How does wanting single-payer health care compare for crazy with freaking out about the ready availability of contraception and the stubborn persistence of masturbation?

Tell me, who's the freaking radical here?

You want to know what happened? All the loonies left our party. That's what happened. We deradicalized ourselves. We got rid of the socialists and the segregationists. The Republicans are an extremely radical party, and you can put that on a chart and stuff it in your hat.

Maybe nationalizing women's wombs

Enshrining Christianity into the Constitution, and shoving gays back into closets isn't such a good idea....

Ya think???

Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly:

MORE CALLS FOR A CULTURE-WAR TRUCE.... It's been a while, but in the months leading up to the 2006 midterms -- the last time a chamber of Congress had a Republican majority -- GOP policymakers were intent on making the base happy.

In the three months leading up to Election Day '06, Republicans voted on an anti-gay constitutional amendment, a flag-burning constitutional amendment, assorted restrictions on abortion rights, new penalties for "broadcast indecency," and a measure to retain the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Republican lawmakers thought they could gin up the base and salvage the election cycle. It didn't work, and Democrats soon after won majorities in both chambers.

It's interesting, then, to see some Republicans urging the party to just skip hot-button culture-war issues altogether in the next Congress.

Amazingly some teapartiers are not too happy about this....

Playing with your food

The joys of teaching...

The mid-term election

By Cliff Schecter for Aljazeera:

It's amazing what can happen, however, when you have a Democratic president who doesn't live up to many of his core progressive promises, who blames his base for asking him to, and whose communications people, to quote Democratic National Committeeman and CNN Contributor Robert Zimmerman, "... couldn't sell cocaine to Charlie Sheen."

The results were on display this past Tuesday, when an American public tired of being unemployed, scared about their future, and looking for some kind of leadership, handed over the US House - in stunning fashion - to a coterie of cranks who have to put corks on the end of their forks not to jab their own eyes while eating. Think Steve Martin’s Ruprecht from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and you get the basic picture of some of the Tea Party proxies we elected to Congress last week.

Perhaps my sentiments regarding the newest US House members were best put into words by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. While in China this past week, he had this to say about who we’re sending to Washington to represent us, "If you look at the US, you look at who we're electing to Congress, to the Senate -they can't read ... I'll bet you a bunch of these people don’t have passports ... nobody knows where China is. Nobody knows what China is."

Whooooo boy.... these next few years should be interesting.

The Era of Stupid continued

WTF?

Energy Committee Chairman Candidate Says God Promised no More Catastrophic Climate Change after Noah

Bush's book (novel):

Still Spinning The Spin

And I thought Georgie didn't pay any attention to polls. In his own words:

PRESIDENT BUSH: (Chuckles.) Well, first of all, you have got to know I don't pay attention to polls. I just don't.

So what is this?

Bush On Social Security: 'Privatization' Was A 'Poll-Tested Word'

Booman:

The Tea Party candidates explicitly opposed all these efforts except the targeted tax cuts, and their number one issue is the deficit, which most tax cuts will only exacerbate. More mainstream Republicans also oppose all these solutions. So, basically, people said they want the government to create jobs but they voted in people who don't support using any of the tools the government has to create them. That's stupid.

Hillary Clinton

In a wonderfully light moment with Australian comedians.

But.... I LIKE bacon....

Darn...

Processed Meats Declared Too Dangerous for Human Consumption

Design it to last

eWaste and the toxic pollution it produces.

Via Ms Fahrenheit.

Maher takes on Stewart's rally

And makes some good points.

Via Mustang Bobby.

Ow.

Krugman.

Just a reminder

Net neutrality = freedom of speech.

Stunned but not dead....

Please, President Obama, stop trying to play it safe. Because these guys are after you and every other Democrat. And these guys. And these. And guys like this. And idiots who say this. They're coming out of the woodwork!

Dead coral in the Gulf.

Footshooting in Oklahoma.

Be afraid of science, bring on the STUPID!!

Welcome to the Plutocracy

Bill Moyers.

You, sir, are a douchebag.

Bullshit

Bush: 'I Was A Dissenting Voice' On Iraq War

I remember

Via Steve Bates