Perry Is Peddling Texas Snake Oil
22 June 2011
by: Jim Hightower, Truthout | Op-Ed
Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and get your ticket to see "Rick the Wonder Worker!"
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is less than revered back home, where he is widely ridiculed as Gov. Good Hair. So he's now on the road with a traveling medicine show, billing himself as the "Texas Miracle Man." From New York to New Orleans, he's been wowing the Republican hard core by telling astounding tales of his job-creating prowess in our state, suggesting he can do for America what he's done for Texas.
Such GOP sparklies as Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich are hailing the economic wunderkind, and his roadshow spiel has prompted some party stalwarts to tout him for the presidency, hoping he can do for America what he has done for Texas. As a giddy New Yorker put it, "We want a piece of that!"
Hold it right there. First, while the Texas unemployment rate of 8 percent is 1 percent lower than the national rate, 23 other states are doing even better -- including New York. Also, his self-touted record of job growth is essentially the same as Democratic Gov. Ann Richards produced and far lower than what Texas had under George W.'s governorship.
Most damning, however, is that Perry-jobs are really "jobettes," offering low pay, no benefits and no upward mobility. In fact, under Rickonomics, Texas has added more minimum wage jobs than all other states combined! After 10 years in office, Gov. Perry presides over a state that has more people in poverty and more without health coverage than any other.
Meanwhile, the Miracle Man has dug Texas into one of the deepest budget holes in the country -- $27 billion short of the money needed to cover the same miserly level of state services Texans now get. Although his party controls the state Senate and has a supermajority in the House, he was unable even to get a budget passed in the regular legislative session, forcing him to convene a costly special session. His plan is to cut $4 billion and as many as 100,000 teachers from our public education system, even as school enrollment is growing exponentially.
Do Republicans really want a piece of this kind of "leadership"? PR hype aside, Perry is so embarrassingly inept at governing that he has lately turned to prayer as his official solution for all problems. Interestingly, the 1836 Republic of Texas Constitution banned "ministers of the gospel" from holding office. Our problem these days, however, is not ministers in office, but politicians posing as ministers, literally seizing the pulpit to preach and proselytize.
Perry's praying is not quiet and contemplative, but garish public displays -- Elmer Gantryism in action. In April, with a biblical-level drought and some 800 wildfires ravaging the state, his gubernatorial response was to proclaim three "Days of Prayer for Rain." The days came and went, but no rain. Presumably, Rick was praying up a storm, but not a drop fell from the heavens.
Undeterred, the gubernatorial padre simply doubled down on prayer politics. Proclaiming Aug. 6 as a "Day of Prayer and Fasting," he has invited all other governors to join him in Houston for a seven-hour prayer-a-palooza, dubbed "The Response." It's billed as "a nondemoninational, apolitical, Christian" event to unify all Americans by calling upon Jesus "to guide us through unprecedented struggles." Wait ... Jesus? What about all those Americans who're Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or other faiths? No room at the inn for them?
Adding to this PR fiasco, Perry's co-sponsor for The Response is the American Family Association -- a Mississippi-based extremist outfit so infamous for bashing gays and Muslims that a watchdog group has characterized it as a hate group. So far, there's been no rush of governors RSVPing.
The governor's spokeswoman loudly insists that his Prayerfest "doesn't have anything to do with (Perry's presidential ambitions)" -- which, of course, means that it does. But if this political show is even too hokey for Republican governors, I doubt that God will be tuning in.
Toward the end of George W.'s right-wing presidency, national columnist and Texas icon Molly Ivins wrote, "Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be elected president of the United States, please pay attention." truthout
Friday, June 24, 2011
Rick Perry McJobs and Snake Oil
US Environmental Protection Agency: What Nuclear Disaster?
Update: New Exposé Reveals Nuclear Regulatory Commission Colluded with Industry to Weaken Safety Standards. Watch/read Democracy Now
If radiation levels are too high, increase the allowable exposure. and here.
If US safety standards are too high for ageing nuclear plants, reduce the standards.
If you are worried what the results of tests might reveal, stop testing.
EPA Halted Extra Testing for Radiation From Japan Weeks Ago
23 June 2011
by: Mike Ludwig, Truthout
Radiation is expected to continue spewing for months from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that suffered a meltdown following an earthquake and tsunami in March, but despite grim reports from Japan, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has quietly stopped running extra tests for radioactive material in America's milk, rain and drinking water.
The EPA initially ramped up nationwide testing in the weeks following the disaster in Japan, and radioactive materials like cesium and iodine-131 were detected on US soil. Citing declining levels of radiation, the EPA has abandoned the extra tests, even as reports from Japan indicate that the Fukushima plant continues to emit radiation and the disaster is one of the worst in world history.
The EPA posted a statement online saying it would return to routine testing on May 3, but the agency did not send out a press release. The media widely ignored the change, even as Japanese officials admitted just weeks later that they were battling a full nuclear meltdown.
In March and April, samples of milk, rain and drinking water from across the country tested positive for radiation from the Fukushima plant. The radiation fell in rain across the US and was absorbed by plants and dairy cows.
The EPA insisted that the radiation levels were too low to cause public health concern, but Truthout identified gaps in the agency's data and nuclear critics said the EPA has failed to acknowledge that even small amounts of radiation could be dangerous.
Now the EPA has returned to routine testing of milk and drinking water once every three months and testing rainwater once a month. The EPA continuously monitors background radiation with more than 100 air filter monitors, but nuclear critics say more testing should be done.
"The Fukushima disaster is unlike any nuclear accident we have ever had," said Dan Hirsch of the nuclear watchdog group Committee to Bridge the Gap. "We haven't had anything that has gone on for a year, and that is what the Japanese authorities are predicting - if they're lucky. It might even take longer. The fuel has melted through, there are breaches at the containment structures, and there are constant radioactive releases." more
Fukushima Residents Demand Action
I attempted to explain in the post below, though I fear I didn't do it terribly well, that I may have produced a blog post that actually had some effect or influence regarding the situation at Fukushima.
Rightly or wrongly I felt that my blog post of June 10, 2011, and possibly others previous, where, through a simple cartoon, I brought to the attention, in Japan, of a Democracy Now broadcast that exposed the criminal, there being other word to describe the behaviour of, Dr. Shunichi Yamashita.
I say rightly or wrongly, because in all honesty I have no way of knowing, but I felt, and felt being the operative word here, I felt I might have played a part in providing information that helped effect the likes of this below.
Although I mention the post of June 10, that wasn't my first post that attracted mega hits; a previous post featuring Arnie Gunderson of Fairewinds Associates had in actual fact received far more attention than June 10.
But what has been a constant while blogging about Fukushima, is the criminal negligence displayed by the Japanese government, Fukushima Prefecture Council and Tokyo Electric Power Company in not evacuating the citizens, particularly the children, of Fukushima Prefecture. That behaviour typified in this previous post, which by anybody's standards, is a bit of a jaw dropper to say the least.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) isn't by the way, exactly blameless in playing down the threat to Fukushima Prefecture residents.
Rightly or wrongly I felt that my blog post of June 10, 2011, and possibly others previous, where, through a simple cartoon, I brought to the attention, in Japan, of a Democracy Now broadcast that exposed the criminal, there being other word to describe the behaviour of, Dr. Shunichi Yamashita.
I say rightly or wrongly, because in all honesty I have no way of knowing, but I felt, and felt being the operative word here, I felt I might have played a part in providing information that helped effect the likes of this below.
Although I mention the post of June 10, that wasn't my first post that attracted mega hits; a previous post featuring Arnie Gunderson of Fairewinds Associates had in actual fact received far more attention than June 10.
But what has been a constant while blogging about Fukushima, is the criminal negligence displayed by the Japanese government, Fukushima Prefecture Council and Tokyo Electric Power Company in not evacuating the citizens, particularly the children, of Fukushima Prefecture. That behaviour typified in this previous post, which by anybody's standards, is a bit of a jaw dropper to say the least.
Fukushima Ten Chernobyls Into the Sea?
What really pisses me off about the criminally, I was about to say negligent, but a much more sinister word is required to describe the actions of both TEPCO and the Japanese government, but whatever. The real pisser here is the way both parties are playing fast and loose with the welfare of the next generation, confirmed when you read things like this.Nonetheless children have been observed attending schools while bulldozers were removing the radioactive soil from their playgrounds outside. Amidst global protests, the Japanese government has weakened (increased) the limits of allowable radiation exposures to children. source --- more --- more
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) isn't by the way, exactly blameless in playing down the threat to Fukushima Prefecture residents.
Japan parents launch nuclear 'emergency petition'
By Yuka Ito (AFP)TOKYO — Japanese parents living near the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant issued an "emergency petition" on Tuesday, demanding the government do more to protect their children from radiation exposure.
A coalition of six citizens' and environmental groups called for the evacuation of children and pregnant women from radiation hotspots, stricter monitoring and the early closure of schools for summer holidays.
They voiced concern that authorities had focused on testing for radiation in the environment and not on people's internal exposure through inhaling or ingesting radioactive isotopes through dust, food and drinks.
"Since atmospheric radiation levels show no sign of abating, the inhabitants of heavily contaminated areas will continue to endure high radiation doses, both externally and internally," they said in the petition.
"To minimise such exposure, residents should be evacuated promptly to areas where radiation is less severe. Top priority must be given to infants, children and expectant mothers -- all highly susceptible to radiation effects."
Japan has struggled to bring the Fukushima plant under control since it was hit by a tsunami that knocked out cooling systems, leading to three reactor meltdowns, explosions and radiation leaks into the air, soil and sea.
Following the March 11 disaster, Japan has raised the exposure limit for adults and children from one to 20 millisieverts per year, matching the maximum exposure level for nuclear industry workers in many countries.
The move has stoked anger and fear among many in Fukushima prefecture towns outside the 20-kilometre (12-mile) evacuation zone around the plant that have been exposed to lower levels of radiation for more than three months.
The education ministry has since pledged to keep radiation in schools below one millisievert per year for the current school year from April 1 to March 31.
Medical experts agree that high doses of radiation raise the risk of cancers such as leukaemia and genetic defects, especially for foetuses and children, but they disagree on the risk of lower doses over longer periods of time.
On Tuesday the six protest groups -- including local citizens, anti-nuclear activists, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth -- launched their "Emergency Petition to Protect the Children of Fukushima" at the Japanese parliament.
In a separate petition, one of the groups demanded the sacking of a radiation health risk management adviser to Fukushima prefecture, Nagasaki University Professor Shunichi Yamashita, alleging he had downplayed the threat.
One of the organisers, Seiichi Nakate, told a news conference: "As a father of two children, I cannot forgive him for having told us that there is no problem and that we should let our children play outside as usual."
"Parents who believed what he said are now feeling guilt towards their children," said Nakate, head of the Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation, adding: "Are we guinea pigs or livestock?"
Professor Yamashita's office declined comment on the claims to AFP.
Meanwhile, Fukushima prefecture said Tuesday it would test washing walls, garden shrubs and roads in and around three elementary schools with high-pressure hoses to reduce radiation levels, Jiji Press news agency said. Google News
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Fame (no fortune) Putting 'Democracy Now' on the Japanese Map. Dr. Shunichi Yamashita and Some Very Pissed Japanese
This is not a post about me being the brilliant satirist that I am, said he with utmost modesty. It is a post about the power of the internet to expose the twats of this world.
But in exposing these twats, much depends on the methodology as it does on the content of the expose. A blogger might have the scoop of the year, but if he can't get the story noticed, it then becomes a spent silver bullet that might otherwise have found a target in the black heart of the bad guy.(s)
Here's a bit of something I wrote quite recently on Teddy's blog, that explains my philosophy somewhat.
So it's not without a certain satisfaction that one of my efforts has achieved some success. I don't know what figures constitutes ''going viral'' but as of six o' clock this evening, the blog post, or more specifically, the graphic, received over six hundred hits for the day. Whereas that might not be much in the way of traffic for the big blogs of this world, I don't consider it small potatoes for what is an otherwise obscure blog.
But that simple graphic, or more accurately a cartoon; a cartoon where I can't even claim any originality, my contribution being only to change the text. But that simple cartoon has done far more than give me a moment of satisfaction, it has brought to attention, through a Democracy Now broadcast, the criminal conspiracy by, shill for the Japanese nuclear industry, Dr. Shunichi Yamashita. Which judging by the reaction of the Japanese bloggers, was, I can only assume, something that they were totally unaware of. Which I fear is true about a much of the goings on at the Fukushima Daiitchi complex. Never was the mushroom theory more applicable than when applied to TEPCO and Fukushima, the difference being, in spite of all the buckets and all the crap, Fukushima mushrooms are glowing in the dark.
I have taken the liberty of applying Google translation to three Japanese blogs. Much is lost in the translation, but I still think you can get a feel for the outrage felt in Japan against the nuclear industry, but more specifically the criminal behaviour of Dr. Shunichi Yamashita, where all three blogs are running with the comparison of Yamashita to Josef Mengele.
blue.ap.teacup --- kaleido11.blog --- blog.livedoor.jp
All related material can be found under the 'Japan' tag in the sidebar.
Long live a free internet; and Democracy Now, let us never forget that beacon of light in a dark land, becoming darker by the hour.
The original post: Witch Doctor Shunichi Yamashita to Head Fukushima Health Study
I hope, Putting 'Democracy Now' on the Japanese Map doesn't sound too pretentious, but I couldn't think how else to word it. Perhaps bringing attention might have been a lot better, but it just didn't work.
Updated here.
But in exposing these twats, much depends on the methodology as it does on the content of the expose. A blogger might have the scoop of the year, but if he can't get the story noticed, it then becomes a spent silver bullet that might otherwise have found a target in the black heart of the bad guy.(s)
Here's a bit of something I wrote quite recently on Teddy's blog, that explains my philosophy somewhat.
If you want to get the most out of your blog, your message and your graphics, make sure you name your photo's and stuff, with something that will get your message across, code numbers and obscure titles won't work for you.
The reason I blog in the fashion that I do, is not for the five minutes titillation it might provide, (for some) nor is for the countless hours spent buggering about, it is because, long after all the words have been forgotten, the graphics won't have, they will still be there imparting the original message years later. Ninety five percent of Google traffic comes via an image search. Make the most of it.
So it's not without a certain satisfaction that one of my efforts has achieved some success. I don't know what figures constitutes ''going viral'' but as of six o' clock this evening, the blog post, or more specifically, the graphic, received over six hundred hits for the day. Whereas that might not be much in the way of traffic for the big blogs of this world, I don't consider it small potatoes for what is an otherwise obscure blog.
But that simple graphic, or more accurately a cartoon; a cartoon where I can't even claim any originality, my contribution being only to change the text. But that simple cartoon has done far more than give me a moment of satisfaction, it has brought to attention, through a Democracy Now broadcast, the criminal conspiracy by, shill for the Japanese nuclear industry, Dr. Shunichi Yamashita. Which judging by the reaction of the Japanese bloggers, was, I can only assume, something that they were totally unaware of. Which I fear is true about a much of the goings on at the Fukushima Daiitchi complex. Never was the mushroom theory more applicable than when applied to TEPCO and Fukushima, the difference being, in spite of all the buckets and all the crap, Fukushima mushrooms are glowing in the dark.
I have taken the liberty of applying Google translation to three Japanese blogs. Much is lost in the translation, but I still think you can get a feel for the outrage felt in Japan against the nuclear industry, but more specifically the criminal behaviour of Dr. Shunichi Yamashita, where all three blogs are running with the comparison of Yamashita to Josef Mengele.
blue.ap.teacup --- kaleido11.blog --- blog.livedoor.jp
All related material can be found under the 'Japan' tag in the sidebar.
Long live a free internet; and Democracy Now, let us never forget that beacon of light in a dark land, becoming darker by the hour.
Original unadulterated cartoon.
The cartoon in question.
The original post: Witch Doctor Shunichi Yamashita to Head Fukushima Health Study
I hope, Putting 'Democracy Now' on the Japanese Map doesn't sound too pretentious, but I couldn't think how else to word it. Perhaps bringing attention might have been a lot better, but it just didn't work.
Updated here.
Highway Robbery But it's a Helicopter!
Is there any wonder the country is on the bones of its arse, multiply this example by a gazillion.
Buddy can you spare a yuan?
Buddy can you spare a yuan?
Boeing has just been caught spending $37 dollars for nut and bolt retainers for the Army's CH-47 helicopter, but charging the Army an average of $381.78, according to a recent Department of Defense's (DoD) inspector general's (IG) report. The IG's office won't comment on the report because it is "For Official Use Only," but Bloomberg News got a hold of the report and wrote a story on May 24 about how the DoD IG recommends that Boeing refund the government at least $6 million. If the Army had used the traditional way of getting the parts for this helicopter, through the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), they could have paid $6.77 each; there were, as of last December, 734 of the bolt and retainer sets in the DLA stocks. more
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
TSA: America's Gestapo
Update: There is a story doing the rounds about a gun being discovered inside a teddy bear at Orlando International. But I am far too cynical to report on it until more details are available.
Was it only three days ago that I said this?
Drive on!
Power corrupts, but absolute powercorrupts absolutely is much more fun.
Was it only three days ago that I said this?
I don't know which would trouble me the most, the nuke plant or the mobilising of the TSA.
Drive on!
Surprise! TSA Is Searching Your Car, Subway, Ferry, Bus, AND Plane
By Jen Phillips
June 20, 2011
Think you could avoid the TSA's body scanners and pat-downs by taking Amtrak? Think again. Even your daily commute isn't safe from TSA screenings. And because the TSA is working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, you may have your immigration status examined along with your "junk".As part of the TSA's request for FY 2012 funding, TSA Administrator John Pistole told Congress last week that the TSA conducts 8,000 unannounced security screenings every year. These screenings, conducted with local law enforcement agencies as well as immigration, can be as simple as checking out cargo at a busy seaport. But more and more, they seem to involve giving airport-style pat-downs and screenings of unsuspecting passengers at bus terminals, ferries, and even subways.
These surprise visits are part of the TSA's VIPR program: Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response. The VIPR program first started doing searches in 2007, and has grown since then. Currently, the TSA only has 25 VIPR teams doing these impromptu searches: in 2012, it wants to get 12 more.
The searches are in the name of passenger security, and the TSA says it wants to prevent incidents like the 2004 Madrid train bombings. But if the airports' TSA searches miss security risks like large knives, loaded guns, and explosives, there's certainly the chance that screenings at train stations would be similarly flawed.
Not to worry: security isn't the only goal of VIPR. A recent VIPR operation/screening at a Tampa Greyhound bus station was conducted with US Border Patrol and ICE. "What we're looking for is threats to national security as well as immigration law violators," said Steve McDonald from US Border Patrol. An ICE representative said that they were also looking for smuggling, and Gary Milano from Homeland Security said that although that was the first time the Tampa bus depot had been screened, VIPR would be back again sometime in the future and was using the element of surprise as a deterrent to "the bad guys."
Although one man at the Tampa screening said he felt "safer," VIPR operations are not without their naysayers. A VIPR screening at a Des Moines Greyhound station last week is alleged to have targeted Latinos. Another TSA/Border Patrol VIPR screening on a trolley in San Diego resulted in three teens being handcuffed and deported while on their way to school. Around 20 others were also deported, according to local news outlets.
The trolley is part of the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. "We believe this is a flagrant violation of human rights, when we have a situation in which children are being separated from their families without the proper due process rights being afforded to them," said a spokesman for the girl's family. The three teens nabbed in the San Diego VIPR operation were deported to Tijuana, but later allowed to re-enter the United States on humanitarian visas.
More children, this time train passengers disembarking at Savannah, Georgia, were treated to questionable TSA treatment in February along with their families. While the passengers (who again, had just gotten OFF a train) were lifting their shirts and having bras handled during pat-downs, their luggage was sitting unattended on the train platform.
The TSA later admitted that the VIPR operation should have ended before the train entered the station, but told the public that the Savannah passengers didn't have to enter the screening area... even though an eye-witness says a TSA agent instructed them to go into the screening area to collect their luggage... the luggage that was actually waiting somewhere else.
VIPR operations are now even targeting freight trucks on highways. In addition to the random checks on public transit systems, it makes you wonder: can private vehicles be far behind? Will there be any mode of transportation beyond the reach of the TSA?
UPDATE: According to at least one news report out of Brownsville, Texas, TSA/VIPR has already conducted unannounced inspections of private passenger cars and trucks. Thanks for the tip, reader @jwindz.
UPDATE 2: Welcome, Drudge Report readers! If you liked this story, check out our story on how the TSA is scanning your face in an attempt to read your mind, our explainer on the safety of the new "porno-scanners," our report on the TSA missing a man's loaded handgun, our investigation of the people who are profiting from the new scanners, and Kevin Drum's anti-anti-TSA rant. ....... Mother Jones
Power corrupts, but absolute power
Tricky Ricky Perry
Shurely shome mishtake? These kind of things are what you would expect from a sleazy Republican pol, not a man of God like our Rick.
And curses on Mother Jones, she that brings you this story, for all her distractions. If you consider your time valuable, don't start opening (batshit) links to other stories, they take you all over the place, most of those places, somewhere quite insane. But invariably, located south of the Mason Dixon line.
And curses on Mother Jones, she that brings you this story, for all her distractions. If you consider your time valuable, don't start opening (batshit) links to other stories, they take you all over the place, most of those places, somewhere quite insane. But invariably, located south of the Mason Dixon line.
Rick Perry's Top Controversies
By Josh Harkinson
June 20,2011
By all appearances, Texas Governor Rick Perry is edging closer to a presidential run. His wife wants him to jump into the race and so do the big money guys in New York. Also enthused by the idea were attendees of last weekend's Republican Leadership Conference, where the crowd chanted, "Run, Rick, Run!" But despite everything that Perry's got going for him—a strong state economy, great hair, bible-thumping bona fides, and more than a decade as a sitting governor—he also has a lengthy track record of gaffes, controversial remarks, and dubious dealings. Here are some of the most notable:
Shady home sale: With the help of well-placed friends, Perry earned nearly $500,000 in questionable profits from a waterfront home in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, the Dallas Morning News revealed last year. Doug Jaffe, a prominent political powerbroker, sold the house in 2001 to a Perry friend and political ally who passed it on to the Governor for $300,000, two-thirds of its true market value. Six years later, Perry sold it to a friend and business associate of Jaffe for $350,000 above its market value—a cool $1.3 million.
A builder's best friend: In June, 2003, Perry helped push through a bill creating the Texas Residential Construction Commission, a new government agency that was supposed to protect homebuyers from unethical builders. In reality, the bill was written by the housing industry with the help of John Krugh, a lobbyist for the homebuilder and GOP money man Bob Perry (no relation). That September, after getting a $100,000 check from Perry, the Governor appointed Krugh to the TRCC. Consumer groups fought back and got the agency abolished in 2009.
A road to nowhere: In 2003, Perry proposed the Trans-Texas Corridor, a 4,000-mile mega-highway that would have destroyed 500,000 acres of farmland while enriching a handful of politically-connected toll road operators. After the state spent nearly $60 million on the plan, overwhelming public opposition killed it.
Hands off: In 2004, whistleblowers repeatedly informed Perry's office that the Governor's Texas Youth Commission hires and protects "known child abusers." His office ignored the warnings. Three years later, the story broke that top officials with the TYC had learned of and done nothing to stop widespread child molestation at a juvenile detention facility in West Texas.
Texas justice?: In February, 2004, Perry refused to stay the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, a death-row inmate who was almost certainly innocent. Perry later refused to release documents related to his decision and abruptly replaced three members of a commission that was investigating the case.
Nader raider?: Perry's political associates, including top adviser Dave Carney, have been repeatedly accused of helping the Green Party qualify for the ballot in order to siphon votes away from Democratic candidates.
A shot in the arm: In 2007, Perry bypassed the state legislature and signed an executive order making Texas the only state in the nation to require 6th grade girls to receive a vaccination against a sexually-transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. At the time, Perry's former chief of staff, Mike Toomey, was a lobbyist for Merck, the manufacturer of the vaccine. When conservative Christians protested, the legislature repealed his order.
The stimulus two-step: In March, 2009, Perry refused $555 million in stimulus money that would have funded unemployment benefits. The move backfired four months later when Perry asked the federal government for a $170 million loan to cover his state's dwindling unemployment funds.
If at first you don't secede: At a tea party rally in April, 2009, Perry said: "We've got a great Union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that?"
Blame God, not BP: Last year, Perry called the BP oil spill an "act of God."
Crony capitalism: Perry has used the state's Emerging Technologies Fund to benefit political allies. According to the Dallas Morning News, $16 million from the fund, or nearly 10 percent, has been awarded to companies with investors or officers that are large campaign donors to Perry.
Black Ops: Perry keeps a daily "political schedule" that he argues is separate from the "official schedule" that must be disclosed under Texas open records laws. His official schedule for the first six months of 2010 showed an average of 7 hours of work per week; he has admitted that he simply doesn't record much of his official business. His office destroys its emails weekly.
Getting Wasted: Perry has accepted $1.2 million from Texas billionaire Harold Simmons, who is building a nuclear waste dump in West Texas over the objections of some of the state's own environmental regulators. In January, Texas' Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission opened the door to allowing the dump to accept nuclear waste from around the country. Six of of the commission's seven members were appointed by Perry.
Juarez, Texas?: Earlier this year, Perry told reporters that "Juarez is reported to be the most dangerous city in America." Mother Jones
Pre 9/11 Planning
Everything We're Doing Now Was Planned BEFORE 9/11
By Washington's Blog
June 21, 2011 "Washington's Blog" - - We've been told that 9/11 changed everything.
Is it true?
Let's look at the facts: more
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Are The Good Times Really Over?
Only until the second coming.
This was to be a post on Iraq's missing $6 billion, which has every chance of turning out to be a missing $18 billion. Story and video Al Jazeera. Which in turn got me to thinking, just how large physically is a billion dollars?
Well, judging by the photo below, (12 pallets) depicting one billion dollars in hundred dollar bills, it's not something you would want dropping on your toe. And if the report is to be believed and the figure is accurate, multiply that lot by eighteen.
So with my interest piqued, I started looking at other figures, specifically a trillion, and what that figure means in relation to the US national debt, now running at over fifteen trillion dollars.
Time is of the essence this evening, so I have taken advantage of the the work done by others, which is duly posted below.
One billion dollars in hundred dollar bills, and if you that's an eye opener, just wait until you get to the trillion dollar related data. But first, a short musical interlude.
From the man himself, Merle Haggard.
Or a studio produced Wynonna Judd cover.
H/T and thanks for effort, Wise Young.
This was to be a post on Iraq's missing $6 billion, which has every chance of turning out to be a missing $18 billion. Story and video Al Jazeera. Which in turn got me to thinking, just how large physically is a billion dollars?
Well, judging by the photo below, (12 pallets) depicting one billion dollars in hundred dollar bills, it's not something you would want dropping on your toe. And if the report is to be believed and the figure is accurate, multiply that lot by eighteen.
So with my interest piqued, I started looking at other figures, specifically a trillion, and what that figure means in relation to the US national debt, now running at over fifteen trillion dollars.
Time is of the essence this evening, so I have taken advantage of the the work done by others, which is duly posted below.
One billion dollars in hundred dollar bills, and if you that's an eye opener, just wait until you get to the trillion dollar related data. But first, a short musical interlude.
From the man himself, Merle Haggard.
Or a studio produced Wynonna Judd cover.
How much is a million, billion, trillion?
Wise Young PhD MD
The W. M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8087
We often speak casually of millions, billions, or even trillions. We are accustomed to thinking of cities with millions of inhabitants, government agency budgets that add up to billions, and even the United States debt that that is now close to $9 trillion. Most people don't appreciate these numbers.
Let's start with a million.
• A million minutes is nearly two years (1 year, 329 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes). Put in another way, it will take you nearly two years to spend a million dollars if you paid a dollar a minute.
• A book called "How much is a million?" tried to explain the concept of a million to children, pointing out that it would take a person 23 days of non-stop counting to count a million anything, including dollars (Source).
• If you walked a million steps, you can walk to Boston from New York (approximately 200 miles), assuming that each of your steps is a bit longer than a foot (a million feet is 189 miles).
• Since each dollar bill weighs about a gram and each pound has about 454 grams, a million dollars in one dollar bills weighs about 2202.6 pounds (Source). In 20 dollar bills, a million dollars would still weigh 110 pounds. In 100 dollar bills, it would weigh 22.0 pounds.
• A stack of 1000 bills is about a foot tall. Therefore, a million dollar stacked on top of each other would be 1000 feet tall. The Empire State Building is 1250 feet tall. A dollar bill is about 6 inches by 2.5 inches (15.7 cm by 6.6 cm) or about 0.10 square foot. So one cubic feet of $1 bills has about $10,000. A million dollars would take up about 100 cubic feet.
A billion is of course 1000 million. You can multiply every thing above by 1000 but using $100 bills is a bit more practical.
• A billion minutes ago is about the time of the birth of Christ.
• A billion steps is more than 200,000 miles. The circumference of the earth is only 25,000 miles. Therefore, one can walk around the earth at least 9 times and possibly 10 times.
• A billion dollars in $100 bills would weigh 22,000 pounds, over 1,100 cubic feet of bills.
• A stack of $100 bills for a billion dollars would be 10,000 feet tall, taller than the tallest building in the United States and taller than any mountain east of the Rockies, including Mt. Washington (6288 ft, the tallest mountain in Northeast United States).
• It would take 230 days to count the 10 million $100 bills. That is to count $1 billion.
• On September 7, 2003, President Bush asked Congress to grant an additional $87 billion to continue the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The $87 billion would cover a whole football field with $100 bills to the depth of 6 inches. By September 2007, the United States will have spent $315 billion on the war (Source). The Senate is working on adding another $50 billion. The $365 billion would fill a football field to a depth of 2 feet with $100 bills.
• Filling a football field with $100 bills may seem sort of silly but it is not far from what the Bush Administration did. During Paul Bremer's tenure as administrator of Iraq, the United States shipped bales of cash to Iraq. The total amount cash sent was over $12 billion, requiring a football field size warehouse to store the cash. A special inspector general for the Iraqi reconstruction said that $8.8 billion is unaccounted for after being given to the Iraqi ministries. But more interesting, illustrating the physical dimensions of the cash shipped, $4 billion of the cash is missing, some 363 tons of it.
"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and sixpence, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds and sixpence, result misery." Mr Micawber
A trillion is an mind-boggling number, well beyond the capability of most of us to imagine. The following will illustrate.
• A trillion minutes ago is 31,688 years ago, close to the beginning of human history. In other words, if you spent a dollar per minute, you could barely spend a trillion dollars during all of known human history. Even if you spent $100 per minute, you would not be able to spend $1 trillion in 300 years, virtually the entire history of the United States.
• Packed in bales of $100 bills (each weighing a gram), a trillion dollars would be 10 billion $100 bills, or about 10 million kilograms, 22 million pounds, or over 10,000 tons of cash (at 2000 pounds per ton). A trillion dollars in $100 bills would occupy a million cubic feet of space. It would fill a football field 6 feet deep. Before the end of 2008, the United States is likely to have spent over a trillion dollars on Iraq. conclusion
H/T and thanks for effort, Wise Young.
Conspiracy Theory by Paul Craig Roberts
I don't know why I am so reluctant to embrace 9/11 as an inside job. Particularly when I am 99.5 percent positive that building three didn't collapse without a great deal of help.
And the Pentagon! Frankly I would believe the world is flat before I would subscribe to the theory that an aeroplane hit that building.
Add to that, the factors involved in order to achieve a ''successful mission'' and it becomes increasingly more difficult to swallow the official account. Those factors are listed below, starting paragraph: Let’s take a minute to re-acquaint ourselves.
But more compelling than any list of factors, is something, whereas I wouldn't quite describe it as my god, it is something I have employed as a basis for rational thought throughout my life, the one true law, the law of physics.
The planet came into existence in accordance with the law of physics, it exists by the law of physics, and just as surely, one day, it will cease to exist by the laws of physics. There is no room whatsoever for the supernatural within that one true law. But I digress.
So if the physics quoted in this case are true, I have know way of knowing, then there can be only one rational explanation for the events surrounding that awful September day.
But perhaps I'm just fearful, because this is what the article is all about, of being labelled a kook and a conspiracy nutter if I were to be more vocal on the subject.
And the Pentagon! Frankly I would believe the world is flat before I would subscribe to the theory that an aeroplane hit that building.
Add to that, the factors involved in order to achieve a ''successful mission'' and it becomes increasingly more difficult to swallow the official account. Those factors are listed below, starting paragraph: Let’s take a minute to re-acquaint ourselves.
But more compelling than any list of factors, is something, whereas I wouldn't quite describe it as my god, it is something I have employed as a basis for rational thought throughout my life, the one true law, the law of physics.
The planet came into existence in accordance with the law of physics, it exists by the law of physics, and just as surely, one day, it will cease to exist by the laws of physics. There is no room whatsoever for the supernatural within that one true law. But I digress.
So if the physics quoted in this case are true, I have know way of knowing, then there can be only one rational explanation for the events surrounding that awful September day.
But perhaps I'm just fearful, because this is what the article is all about, of being labelled a kook and a conspiracy nutter if I were to be more vocal on the subject.
Conspiracy Theory
By Paul Craig Roberts
June 20 2011
While we were not watching, conspiracy theory has undergone Orwellian redefinition.
A “conspiracy theory” no longer means an event explained by a conspiracy. Instead, it now means any explanation, or even a fact, that is out of step with the government’s explanation and that of its media pimps.
For example, online news broadcasts of RT have been equated with conspiracy theories by the New York Times simply because RT reports news and opinions that the New York Times does not report and the US government does not endorse.
In other words, as truth becomes uncomfortable for government and its Ministry of Propaganda, truth is redefined as conspiracy theory, by which is meant an absurd and laughable explanation that we should ignore.
When piles of carefully researched books, released government documents, and testimony of eye witnesses made it clear that Oswald was not President John F. Kennedy’s assassin, the voluminous research, government documents, and verified testimony was dismissed as “conspiracy theory.”
In other words, the truth of the event was unacceptable to the authorities and to the Ministry of Propaganda that represents the interests of authorities.
The purest example of how Americans are shielded from truth is the media’s (including many Internet sites’) response to the large number of professionals who find the official explanation of September 11, 2001, inconsistent with everything they, as experts, know about physics, chemistry, structural engineering, architecture, fires, structural damage, the piloting of airplanes, the security procedures of the United States, NORAD’s capabilities, air traffic control, airport security, and other matters. These experts, numbering in the thousands, have been shouted down by know-nothings in the media who brand the experts as “conspiracy theorists.”
This despite the fact that the official explanation endorsed by the official media is the most extravagant conspiracy theory in human history.
Let’s take a minute to re-acquaint ourselves with the official explanation, which is not regarded as a conspiracy theory despite the fact that it comprises an amazing conspiracy. The official truth is that a handful of young Muslim Arabs who could not fly airplanes, mainly Saudi Arabians who came neither from Iraq nor from Afghanistan, outwitted not only the CIA and the FBI, but also all 16 US intelligence agencies and all intelligence agencies of US allies including Israel’s Mossad, which is believed to have penetrated every terrorist organization and which carries out assassinations of those whom Mossad marks as terrorists.
In addition to outwitting every intelligence agency of the United States and its allies, the handful of young Saudi Arabians outwitted the National Security Council, the State Department, NORAD, airport security four times in the same hour on the same morning, air traffic control, caused the US Air Force to be unable to launch interceptor aircraft, and caused three well-built steel-structured buildings, including one not hit by an airplane, to fail suddenly in a few seconds as a result of limited structural damage and small, short-lived, low-temperature fires that burned on a few floors.
The Saudi terrorists were even able to confound the laws of physics and cause WTC building seven to collapse at free fall speed for several seconds, a physical impossibility in the absence of explosives used in controlled demolition.
The story that the government and the media have told us amounts to a gigantic conspiracy, really a script for a James Bond film. Yet, anyone who doubts this improbable conspiracy theory is defined into irrelevance by the obedient media.
Anyone who believes an architect, structural engineer, or demolition expert who says that the videos show that the buildings are blowing up, not falling down, anyone who believes a Ph.D. physicist who says that the official explanation is inconsistent with known laws of physics, anyone who believes expert pilots who testify that non-pilots or poorly-qualified pilots cannot fly airplanes in such maneuvers, anyone who believes the 100 or more first responders who testify that they not only heard explosions in the towers but personally experienced explosions, anyone who believes University of Copenhagen nano-chemist Niels Harrit who reports finding unreacted nano-thermite in dust samples from the WTC towers, anyone who is convinced by experts instead of by propaganda is dismissed as a kook.
In America today, and increasingly throughout the Western world, actual facts and true explanations have been relegated to the realm of kookiness. Only people who believe lies are socially approved and accepted as patriotic citizens.
Indeed, a writer or newscaster is not even permitted to report the findings of 9/11 skeptics. In other words, simply to report Professor Harrit’s findings now means that you endorse them or agree with them. Everyone in the US print and TV media knows that he/she will be instantly fired if they report Harrit’s findings, even with a laugh. Thus, although Harrit has reported his findings on European television and has lectured widely on his findings in Canadian universities, the fact that he and the international scientific research team that he led found unreacted nano-thermite in the WTC dust and have offered samples to other scientists to examine has to my knowledge never been reported in the American media.
Even Internet sites on which I am among the readers’ favorites will not allow me to report on Harrit’s findings.
As I reported earlier, I myself had experience with a Huffington Post reporter who was keen to interview a Reagan presidential appointee who was in disagreement with the
Republican wars in the Middle East. After he published the interview that I provided at his request, he was terrified to learn that I had reported findings of 9/11 investigators.
To protect his career, he quickly inserted on the online interview that my views on the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions could be dismissed as I had reported unacceptable findings about 9/11.
The unwillingness or inability to entertain any view of 9/11 different from the official view dooms to impotence many Internet sites that are opposed to the wars and to the rise of the domestic US police state. These sites, for whatever the reasons, accept the government’s explanation of 9/11; yet, they try to oppose the “war on terror” and the police state which are the consequences of accepting the government’s explanation. Trying to oppose the consequences of an event whose explanation you accept is an impossible task.
If you believe that America was attacked by Muslim terrorists and is susceptible to future attacks, then a “war on terror” and a domestic police state to root out terrorists become necessary to make Americans safe. The idea that a domestic police state and open-ended war might be more dangerous threats to Americans than terrorists is an impermissible thought.
A country whose population has been trained to accept the government’s word and to shun those who question it is a country without liberty in its future. ICH
US Nuclear Plants A Fukushima In Waiting
There are some very scary findings in this report, resulting from a year long investigation by the Associated Press into the state of America's nuclear power plants.
And not unlike TEPCO/Fukushima, if the parameters surrounding safety are giving a problem, change the parameters. Which, when you are sitting only three thousand miles downwind and downtide, is not the most reassuring news you have ever heard.
And the latest from Germany.
And not unlike TEPCO/Fukushima, if the parameters surrounding safety are giving a problem, change the parameters. Which, when you are sitting only three thousand miles downwind and downtide, is not the most reassuring news you have ever heard.
AP IMPACT: US nuke regulators weaken safety rules
By Jeff Donn, AP National Writer
June 20, 2011
LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found.
Time after time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews.
The result? Rising fears that these accommodations by the NRC are significantly undermining safety — and inching the reactors closer to an accident that could harm the public and jeopardize the future of nuclear power in the United States.
Examples abound. When valves leaked, more leakage was allowed — up to 20 times the original limit. When rampant cracking caused radioactive leaks from steam generator tubing, an easier test of the tubes was devised, so plants could meet standards.
Failed cables. Busted seals. Broken nozzles, clogged screens, cracked concrete, dented containers, corroded metals and rusty underground pipes — all of these and thousands of other problems linked to aging were uncovered in the AP's yearlong investigation. And all of them could escalate dangers in the event of an accident.
Yet despite the many problems linked to aging, not a single official body in government or industry has studied the overall frequency and potential impact on safety of such breakdowns in recent years, even as the NRC has extended the licenses of dozens of reactors.
Industry and government officials defend their actions, and insist that no chances are being taken. But the AP investigation found that with billions of dollars and 19 percent of America's electricity supply at stake, a cozy relationship prevails between the industry and its regulator, the NRC.
Records show a recurring pattern: Reactor parts or systems fall out of compliance with the rules. Studies are conducted by the industry and government, and all agree that existing standards are "unnecessarily conservative."
Regulations are loosened, and the reactors are back in compliance.
"That's what they say for everything, whether that's the case or not," said Demetrios Basdekas, an engineer retired from the NRC. "Every time you turn around, they say `We have all this built-in conservatism.'"
The ongoing crisis at the stricken, decades-old Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear facility in Japan has focused attention on the safety of plants elsewhere in the world; it prompted the NRC to look at U.S. reactors, and a report is due in July.
But the factor of aging goes far beyond the issues posed by the disaster at Fukushima.
Commercial nuclear reactors in the United States were designed and licensed for 40 years. When the first ones were being built in the 1960s and 1970s, it was expected that they would be replaced with improved models long before those licenses expired.
But that never happened. The 1979 accident at Three Mile Island, massive cost overruns, crushing debt and high interest rates ended new construction proposals for several decades.
Instead, 66 of the 104 operating units have been relicensed for 20 more years, mostly with scant public attention. Renewal applications are under review for 16 other reactors.
By the standards in place when they were built, these reactors are old and getting older. As of today, 82 reactors are more than 25 years old.
The AP found proof that aging reactors have been allowed to run less safely to prolong operations. As equipment has approached or violated safety limits, regulators and reactor operators have loosened or bent the rules.
Last year, the NRC weakened the safety margin for acceptable radiation damage to reactor vessels — for a second time. The standard is based on a measurement known as a reactor vessel's "reference temperature," which predicts when it will become dangerously brittle and vulnerable to failure. Over the years, many plants have violated or come close to violating the standard.
As a result, the minimum standard was relaxed first by raising the reference temperature 50 percent, and then 78 percent above the original — even though a broken vessel could spill its radioactive contents into the environment.
"We've seen the pattern," said nuclear safety scientist Dana Powers, who works for Sandia National Laboratories and also sits on an NRC advisory committee. "They're ... trying to get more and more out of these plants." much more
And the latest from Germany.
BERLIN, June 20 (UPI) -- A nuclear power plant in Germany won't return to the grid after undergoing inspections in the coming week, German energy company RWE said.
The utility company announced that its Biblis Block B nuclear power plant won't return to service.
"This is in line with government's wish that the plants shut down during the moratorium should no longer be used for regular electricity generation," the company said in a statement. A moratorium ended last week.
The March 11 magnitude-9 earthquake that crippled the nuclear reactors in northern Japan sparked global concerns about the safety of nuclear energy. more
Justice Clarence Thomas: Bought and Paid For
If you want to know what corruption looks like, it looks just like this.
You have to smile at this though, from fellow justice, Antonin Scalia.
Previous Clarence Thomas:
Justice Thomas He's a Louisiana Man
Clarence Thomas, the Anti-Black
Related:
Conflict of Interest: Bush Cousin Presides Over 9/11 Federal Court Case
You have to smile at this though, from fellow justice, Antonin Scalia.
“I am a textualist. I am an originalist. I am not a nut.”
Justices Have Been Forced to Resign for Doing What Clarence Thomas Has Done
by: Ian Millhiser,
20 June 2011Justice Clarence Thomas is an ethics problem in a black robe. Just eight months after ThinkProgress broke the story of Thomas’ attendance at a Koch-sponsored political fundraiser, we learn that Thomas doesn’t just do unethical favors for wealthy right-wing donors — they also do expensive favors for him.
Leading conservative donor Harlan Crow, whose company often litigates in federal court, donated $500,000 to allow Thomas’s wife to start a Tea Party group and he once gave Thomas a $19,000 Bible that belonged to Frederick Douglass. The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank which frequently files briefs in Thomas’ Court, also gave Thomas a $15,000 gift.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because America has seen this movie before. Indeed, the Thomas scandal is little more than a remake of the forty year-old gifting scandal that brought down Justice Abe Fortas. Like Thomas, Fortas liked to associate with wealthy individuals with potential business before his Court. And like Thomas, Fortas took inappropriate gifts from his wealthy benefactors.
Fortas’ questionable gifts first came out when President Johnson nominated him for a promotion to Chief Justice of the United States in 1968. Fortas had accepted $15,000 to lead seminars at American University — far more than the university normally paid for such services — and the payments were bankrolled by the leaders of frequent corporate litigants including the vice president of Phillip Morris. Fortas survived this revelation, although his nomination for the Chief Justiceship was filibustered into oblivion.
Just a year later, the country learned that Fortas took another highly questionable gift. In 1966, one year after Fortas joined the Court, stock speculator Louis E. Wolfson’s foundation began paying Fortas an annual retainer of $20,000 per year for consulting services. Fortas’ actions were legal, and he eventually returned the money after Wolfson was convicted of securities violations and recused himself from Wolfson’s case, but the damage to Fortas — and the potential harm to the Supreme Court’s reputation — were too great. Fortas resigned in disgrace.
It is difficult to distinguish Fortas’ scandal from Thomas’. Like Fortas, Thomas accepted several very valuable gifts from parties who are frequently interested in the outcome of federal court cases. One of Thomas’ benefactors has even filed briefs in his Court since giving Thomas a $15,000 gift, and Thomas has not recused himself from each of these cases.
Of course, Thomas is also the least likely Justice to actually follow the command of precedent. Thomas embraces a discredited theory of the Constitution which would return America to a time when federal child labor laws were considered unconstitutional. His fellow justices criticize him for showing “utter disregard for our precedent and Congress’ intent.” Even ultra-conservative Justice Antonin Scalia finds Thomas’ approach to the law too extreme — in Scalia’s words “I am a textualist. I am an originalist. I am not a nut.”
But Thomas’ disregard for what has come before him changes nothing about the precedent he faces. If Abe Fortas had to resign his seat, so too should Clarence Thomas. Think Progress
Previous Clarence Thomas:
Justice Thomas He's a Louisiana Man
Clarence Thomas, the Anti-Black
Related:
Conflict of Interest: Bush Cousin Presides Over 9/11 Federal Court Case
We Have The Knowledge of The Ages at Our Fingertips
We have the knowledge of the ages at our fingertips, how bad a thing is that? - Stephen Fry on the benefits of the internet.
British Library hands 200 years of history to Google
40 million pages
By John Oates
20th June 2011
The British Library is handing 250,000 books to Google for scanning into the Google Books project.
The Library had previously partnered with Microsoft which digitised books from the 19th century and Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks. The Library only owned one of the notebooks - the second was from Bill Gates' own collection.
The Google slurp will see 40 million pages scanned and made available on Google's site and through the British Library. All the works are out of copyright - Google's scanning of in-copyright books has caused trouble in the past. The search giant pays the cost of scanning.
Material includes books, pamphlets and magazines from 1700 to 1870 in several European languages.
The scanned books will also be available through the Europeana site, funded by the European Commission. more
Monday, June 20, 2011
Rick Santorum: Wanker of The Week
I suppose there are all kinds of reasons for me not to do this post, Rick Santorum being such a sanctimonious twat would be one. But that's hardly reason enough, given the amount of twats that have previously made it to these pages.
I'm old enough to know better, and I should be far above such things, because let's face it, Schadenfreude is not the most noble of characteristics that could be attributed to a fellow, no matter how enjoyable (and memorable) the moment might be.
Set against these arguments is the question of time, or more specifically, the waste of time. The two hours of my life that I am never going to get back, those two hours fruitlessly spent searching Youtube for one specific Santorum clip.
But having expended something so valuable on something so worthless; Santorum, not my Youtube search, I think I owe it to myself to complete this post, not with the intended clip, but with something that will have to suffice.
What I didn't realise, but endorsing just how memorable the occasion, the event in question goes as far back as 2006, that auspicious and gratifying moment in American politics, Rick Santorum losing his senatorial seat.
A delightful moment of Schadenfreude I readily admit, made all the more delicious by the reaction of what I can only describe as an obnoxious, rotten fat kid, one of Santorum's own objectionable offspring.
Doesn't it just break your heart, but now, thanks to a little perseverance on my part, I can now offer you. though not embeddable, a link to Santorum's concession speech. A little focus throughout on the bottom right hand corner, might not go unrewarded.
Michael Kindt is a writer living in South Dakota. Living in South Dakota would I think, establish anybody's bona fides that writes on the subject abortion and the batshit crazies of the Christian right.
Previous:
South Dakota! Where's My Batshit Crazy Folder? Same link as above.
South Dakothangers in the News Again + Tales From Nepal
"There is not an outcry for, 'Teach us evolution.'"
And finally, just two of the many clips I could have chosen to establish Santorum's own bona fides, as the arsehole he is.
h/t Maren
I'm old enough to know better, and I should be far above such things, because let's face it, Schadenfreude is not the most noble of characteristics that could be attributed to a fellow, no matter how enjoyable (and memorable) the moment might be.
Set against these arguments is the question of time, or more specifically, the waste of time. The two hours of my life that I am never going to get back, those two hours fruitlessly spent searching Youtube for one specific Santorum clip.
But having expended something so valuable on something so worthless; Santorum, not my Youtube search, I think I owe it to myself to complete this post, not with the intended clip, but with something that will have to suffice.
What I didn't realise, but endorsing just how memorable the occasion, the event in question goes as far back as 2006, that auspicious and gratifying moment in American politics, Rick Santorum losing his senatorial seat.
A delightful moment of Schadenfreude I readily admit, made all the more delicious by the reaction of what I can only describe as an obnoxious, rotten fat kid, one of Santorum's own objectionable offspring.
Doesn't it just break your heart, but now, thanks to a little perseverance on my part, I can now offer you. though not embeddable, a link to Santorum's concession speech. A little focus throughout on the bottom right hand corner, might not go unrewarded.
Rick Santorum: When the Anti-Choice Choose
By Michael Kindt
June 15th, 2011
Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania senator and likely presidential candidate, wants all abortions outlawed. He has even said that abortion providers should be “criminally charged.” Clearly, his compassion for zygotes, fetuses and other squishy, jelly-like substances not fully alive is without question. When it comes to actual human beings, however, there is some doubt. He voted to cut every social and welfare program that came before him as senator, and not just those helping women and girls, but those helping the poor, immigrants, children in general and, of course, education.
Mr. Santorum doesn’t hate all people, however. As a Republican, he loves rich people, white people, business people and Christians. The real Americans, he calls them. There’s one other person he loves, too: his wife, Karen Santorum.
He loves her so much, in fact, that in 1997 when she became seriously ill during the 2nd trimester of her pregnancy, he didn’t want her to die.
In the 19th week of her pregnancy, Karen discovered during a routine exam that the fetus she was carrying had a fatal defect and was going to die inside of her. A long-shot surgery was performed that required cutting directly into the womb. It carried a high risk of infection and was performed not to save the fetus, but to reduce Karen’s complications while she attempted to go full term.
Two days later, she became severely feverish. She was rushed to the hospital and placed on intravenous antibiotics, which reduced her fever and bought her some time, but could not eliminate the source of infection: the fetus.
Karen was going to die if her pregnancy was not ended, if the fetus was not removed from her body. So, at 20 weeks, one month before what doctors consider ‘viability’, labor was artificially induced and the infected fetus was delivered. It died shortly thereafter.
They named it Gabriel Michael Santorum.
The event is obviously tragic, especially for Karen, who, like her husband, opposes any and all forms of abortion, even when it saves a woman’s life. As her fever subsided, she realized what was happening and asked for drugs to stop the labor, saying, “We’re not inducing labor. That’s abortion. No way.” But it was too late.
Today, hindsight being 20/20, Karen says she would have authorized the procedure after all, justifying the saving of her own life by explaining that her other children would have lost a mother.
Indeed.
The procedure, whereby labor is induced to remove the fetus before it has any chance of surviving on its own, is considered by Mr. Santorum to be a ‘partial-birth abortion’, and he is correct. He also personally authorized one to save his wife, whom he loves.
Mr. Santorum is opposed to any and all forms of abortion. Incest? Too bad. Rape? Too bad. Twelve years old? Too bad. Wife, mother, daughter, lover, friend dying? Too bad.
This hypocrite needs to be kept out of all elective offices for the rest of his life.
“Abortion in any form is wrong,” said Santorum in 2000, three years after the tragedy. He should have added, “Except for my wife. If your wife’s life was at stake and the only thing that could save her was an abortion, well, too bad. Your wife will have to die. It was different with my wife. You see, I love her. I don’t even know your wife’s name.”
—–
Michael Kindt is a writer living in South Dakota whose work has appeared in College Times, Midwest Lit Review and in the poetry anthology “It’s Dark & Scary In Here.” He’s the author of “Early Onset of Night, Volume One” and blogs at Early Onset of Night. The Cagle Post
Michael Kindt is a writer living in South Dakota. Living in South Dakota would I think, establish anybody's bona fides that writes on the subject abortion and the batshit crazies of the Christian right.
Previous:
South Dakota! Where's My Batshit Crazy Folder? Same link as above.
South Dakothangers in the News Again + Tales From Nepal
"There is not an outcry for, 'Teach us evolution.'"
And finally, just two of the many clips I could have chosen to establish Santorum's own bona fides, as the arsehole he is.
h/t Maren
Manslaughter Cop Released After One Year
Constitution indeed.
Probable cause! tell it to the Feds.
Democracy, ain't it great?
"The policy is clear, and the constitution is clear," she went on. "You must have probable cause to believe an individual is committing a crime.
Probable cause! tell it to the Feds.
Some of the most notable changes apply to the lowest category of investigations, called an “assessment.” The category, created in December 2008, allows agents to look into people and organizations “proactively” and without firm evidence for suspecting criminal or terrorist activity.
Under current rules, agents must open such an inquiry before they can search for information about a person in a commercial or law enforcement database. Under the new rules, agents will be allowed to search such databases without making a record about their decision. more NYT
Mehserle's free, but some protesters could still face jail time
06.15.11
Johannes Mehserle, the former BART police officer who shot and killed Oscar Grant while he was lying face down on the Fruitvale station train platform on New Year's Day 2009, was released from a Los Angeles jail June 13 after serving a total of 365 days for his involuntary manslaughter conviction. He was sentenced to two years behind bars, but Judge Robert Perry granted him an early release due to credit for time served and good behavior.The same date of his release, the National Lawyers Guild filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 150 protesters who were mass-arrested during the Nov. 5, 2010 demonstration in Oakland in the wake of Mehersle's sentencing. Meanwhile, a handful of individuals who engaged in the Jan. 14, 2009 and July 8, 2010 protests launched by Grant supporters -- which morphed into riots after community rallies came to an end -- are still battling court cases.
Two of the protesters arrested last July initially faced serious felony arson charges for igniting a trash can, which could have led to incarceration for a longer duration than Mehserle served for fatally shooting Grant.
"There were several felony arrests last July, and people were facing charges that could lead to more than a year, no question about that," noted attorney Dan Siegel of the Oakland-based firm Siegel & Yee. Siegel is currently representing Todd Lister and Adrian Wilson, the two defendants who were accused of arson. The codefendants now face attempted arson charges, carrying a minimum penalty of eight months, with a midterm of one year. "Theoretically, that's what they're still facing," Siegel said, but added that he was confident the as-yet unresolved case would result in a more lenient outcome.
Meanwhile, some of the burglary charges stemming from the looting that occurred in Oakland last July could potentially lead to multi-year sentences, Siegel added, leading to more time in jail than Mehserle served.
Some of the hundreds arrested over the course of the three protests who had prior criminal convictions had their probation or parole immediately revoked as a consequence, said Rachel Jackson, a member of the Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant and one of the organizers of the Nov. 5 community rally in downtown Oakland's Frank Ogawa Plaza.
Of the hundreds of arrests made in Oakland during waves of protests launched by Grant supporters, just a small number were on serious charges such as burglary or arson. The mass arrest of 150 individuals last November was initially made on charges of unlawful assembly, yet nearly all of the arrestees were cited and released after spending up to 24 hours in jail, and all had their charges dropped.
In that instance, Oakland police corralled 150 demonstrators who had been participating in a lawful march through the streets into a residential block in East Oakland. Once they were surrounded, Oakland police -- who were aided in the streets by 32 other law-enforcement agencies that night, according to National Lawyers Guild attorney Rachel Lederman -- placed them all under arrest. No dispersal order was issued prior to making the arrests, and it would have been impossible to comply if one had been issued.
In a class-action lawsuit, the National Lawyers Guild argues that the Nov. 5 protester roundup and mass arrest was a violation of the Oakland Police Department's crowd control policy, and that it constituted a violation of protesters' rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. "Even legal observers and a few people who happened to live in the neighborhood were swept up," Lederman said.
"The policy is clear, and the constitution is clear," she went on. "You must have probable cause to believe an individual is committing a crime. But in this case, the whole crowd was herded onto a residential street, blocked in, and held on the street for hours. There was never a dispersal order, and all exits were sealed off."
The Oakland Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Arrestees were held handcuffed in vans, in some cases for hours, without access to a bathroom, Lederman noted. All of the women were subjected to pregnancy tests upon being booked into jail, "which made no sense and was abusive in this particular case," Lederman maintains, because the short time they spent there didn't justify the excuse that the test would have been necessary to determine whether anyone needed prenatal care. Several men, meanwhile, were subjected to DNA swabs, which is "only supposed to happen if you're arrested for a violent felony," according to Lederman.
Jackson, who was also arrested that night, said she believed police conduct was "incredibly intimidating, and it has a chilling effect on free speech." SFBT
Democracy, ain't it great?
US Orders News Blackout Over Crippled Nebraska Nuclear Plant
I don't know which would trouble me the most, the nuke plant or the mobilising of the TSA.
You heard it first, courtesy of Pakistan?
You heard it first, courtesy of Pakistan?
US orders news blackout over crippled Nebraska Nuclear Plant
A shocking report prepared by Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency (FAAE) on information provided to them by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) states that the Obama regime has ordered a “total and complete” news blackout relating to any information regarding the near catastrophic meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant located in Nebraska.
According to this report, the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant suffered a “catastrophic loss of cooling” to one of its idle spent fuel rod pools on 7 June after this plant was deluged with water caused by the historic flooding of the Missouri River which resulted in a fire causing the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to issue a “no-fly ban” over the area.
Located about 20 minutes outside downtown Omaha, the largest city in Nebraska, the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant is owned by Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) who on their website denies their plant is at a “Level 4” emergency by stating: “This terminology is not accurate, and is not how emergencies at nuclear power plants are classified.”
Russian atomic scientists in this FAAE report, however, say that this OPPD statement is an “outright falsehood” as all nuclear plants in the world operate under the guidelines of the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) which clearly states the “events” occurring at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant do, indeed, put it in the “Level 4” emergency category of an “accident with local consequences” thus making this one of the worst nuclear accidents in US history.
Though this report confirms independent readings in the United States of “negligible release of nuclear gasses” related to this accident it warns that by the Obama regimes censoring of this event for “political purposes” it risks a “serious blowback” from the American public should they gain knowledge of this being hidden from them.
Interesting to note about this event was the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chief, Gregory B. Jaczko, blasting the Obama regime just days before the near meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant by declaring that “the policy of not enforcing most fire code violations at dozens of nuclear plants is “unacceptable” and has tied the hands of NRC inspectors.”
This report further notes that the “cover-up” of this nuclear disaster by President Obama is being based on his “fantasy” of creating so-called green jobs which he (strangely) includes nuclear power into as his efforts to bankrupt the US coal industry proceed at a record breaking pace.
Unknown to the American people about Obama’s “war” on the US coal industry is it’s estimated to cost them over a 60% increase in their electricity bills by 2014 and cause over 250,000 jobs to be lost in an already beleaguered economy.
More ominous for those American people whose lives depend on the coal industry that is being deliberately destroyed is the Obama regime’s massive “security exercise” currently ongoing in the major coal mining States of Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia, and as we can read about, in part, as reported by InfoWars.Com:
“If you’re still living under the delusion that the TSA is just restricted to airports then think again. A joint VIPR “security exercise” involving military personnel has Transportation Security Administration workers covering 5,000 miles and three states, illustrating once again how the TSA is turning into a literal occupying army for domestic repression in America.
The TSA, in alliance with a whole host of federal, state, local agencies as well as military personnel, is currently conducting a massive “security exercise” throughout Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.
“The participating teams are composed of a variety of TSA assets including federal air marshals, canine teams, inspectors and bomb appraisal officers. They will be joined by state and local law enforcement officials to supplement existing resources, provide detection and response capabilities. The exercise will utilize multiple airborne assets, including Blackhawk helicopters and fixed wing aircraft as well as waterborne and surface teams,” reports the Marietta Times.
Although the exercise is couched in serious rhetoric about preparedness, it relates to “no specific threat” and the details are nebulous to say the least and seems to revolve around little else than testing out high-tech surveillance equipment and reminding Americans who their bosses are.”
Obama’s fears of the American people turning against nuclear power, should its true dangers be known, appear to be valid as both Germany and Italy (whose people, unlike the Americans, have been told the truth) have turned against it after the disaster in Japan and vowed to close all of their atomic plants.
Perhaps even more sadly for the American people is this report stating that the Obama regime is “walking in lockstep” with Japan in their attempts to keep the truth of nuclear accidents from their citizens; which in the case of the Japanese can only be labeled as horrific as new evidence points to them knowing within hours of the Great Tsunami that their atomic reactors had melted down, but have only today ordered an evacuation of pregnant women from what are called “radiation hotspots.”
With a country that some scientists are now warning may soon become uninhabitable due to radiation damage, and with reports of mutant rabbits and radioactive whales now being reported, one wonders if in knowing the truth the American people would really want to follow Japan’s “example” instead of those people in Germany and Italy?
But, with an already documented 35% increase in the infant mortality rate for American mothers living in the western coastal regions of the US caused by radiation blowing onto them from Japan being ignored by these people there doesn’t seem to be much hope for them.
http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/International/18-Jun-2011/US-orders-news-blackout-over-crippled-Nebraska-Nuclear-Plant-report/1
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Chinese to Give Embezzlement Lessons to Iraq
You might recall this story about the Iraqis bitching about their missing few billions, well that's just small potatoes compared to the shenanigans of the Chinese.
Makes me wonder just how difficult it was for the miscreants to obtain an entry visa to the US?
Kind of takes me back to Canada in the early seventies. Some East European bloke, who was an illegal or had overstayed his visitors visa, managed to hit the jackpot on the National Lottery, then about five million bucks if I remember rightly. And the government's response? Would you (and your $5M) like a green card?
Makes me wonder just how difficult it was for the miscreants to obtain an entry visa to the US?
Kind of takes me back to Canada in the early seventies. Some East European bloke, who was an illegal or had overstayed his visitors visa, managed to hit the jackpot on the National Lottery, then about five million bucks if I remember rightly. And the government's response? Would you (and your $5M) like a green card?
Chinese officials stole $120 billion, fled mainly to US
17 June 2011
Thousands of corrupt Chinese government officials have stolen more than $120bn (£74bn) and fled overseas, mainly to the US, according to a report released by China's central bank.
Between 16,000 and 18,000 officials and employees of state-owned companies left China with the funds from the mid-1990s up until 2008.
The officials used offshore bank accounts to smuggle the funds, according to the study posted on the People's Bank of China website this week but which has since been removed.
It said the officials smuggled about 800 billion yuan into the US, Australia, Canada and Holland through offshore bank accounts or investments, like property or collectables.
The stolen funds were covered up by disguising them as business transactions by establishing private companies to receive the money transfers.
The study said corruption inside China was severe enough to threaten the nation's economic and political stability. BBC
Keith Olbermann - Rolling Stone
Whatever your opinion of Keith Olbermann, mine being far from negative, I think his reply to this question says much, about the man and the country.
From the Rolling Stone article: Keith Olbermann on Why He Left MSNBC
From the Rolling Stone article: Keith Olbermann on Why He Left MSNBC
Q: What's been your biggest disappointment with Obama so far?
A: The night before the inauguration, I wrote a "Special Comment" criticizing him—it was obvious that he was not going to hold the Bush administration accountable. He said, "We don't want to waste this administration playing politics." I said to myself, "OK, that's you—but the Republicans want to waste your administration playing politics."
We had laws broken in this country that involved the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in another country, and more than 4,000 people from our country. Not acting against Dick Cheney or John Yoo or Alberto Gonzales indemnifies the next president, Republican or Democrat. It lets them know exactly what they can get away with. To me, that remains a cloud over Obama's entire administration.
Everything else, particularly on health care reform, he was right and I was wrong. I thought he needed to be in there with a mallet, pounding away from Day One. Instead, he came in at the end and saved it. His health care reform wasn't sufficient by any stretch of the imagination, but he was right—it's a start, and it will grow as years go by. Full interview
UK to be Sued Over Bahrain Crackdown: Watch
How strange, not a word about this story in any of the western media outlets. Although I am well aware Press TV is an Iranian outfit, a Google search shows the story is not unique to said organisation.
UK to be Sued Over Bahrain Crackdown
A group of lawyers are set to take the United Kingdom to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague over its role in the brutal crackdown of Bahrainis.
The lawyers from Lebanon, Spain, France and Italy accuse Britain of selling arms, including sniper rifles, to the Manama regime and training Bahraini police forces, who are accused of using heavy-handed tactics against anti-government protesters in the Persian Gulf sheikdom, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The legal dossier targets both members of the British government and the Ministry of Defense.
It includes harrowing testimonies, medical records and photographic evidence of what are described as crimes against humanity.
“We know that they have trained Bahraini police how to capture and how to stop protests in Bahrain,” Chief Representative of Beirut-based International Coalition against Impunity, May el-Khansa, told Press TV.
The ICC has promised to examine the dossier within the next month, but it is not yet clear if it will open an investigation into the case.
The coalition of lawyers is now hoping that the ICC will refer the case to the United Nations for further investigation.
The United Kingdom has a long history of meddling in Bahrain.
The UK helped establish the Al Khalifa dynasty in Bahrain -- whose ruling system was inspired by the British monarchy.
Soon after coming into power, the Al Khalifa family, which is originally from Najd in central Saudi Arabia, signed the first of many treaties establishing Bahrain as a British Protectorate.
Shortly after the start of large-scale oil production in the Persian Gulf state, the British naval base in the Middle East was moved to Bahrain.
Despite claiming independence from Britain few decades ago, Bahrain has continued a tight relationship with the UK. In 2004, bilateral trade between the two countries was worth over USD370 million.
Now, Bahrain also plays host to the huge naval base of the United States' 5th Fleet in the Persian Gulf.
Anti-government protests against the rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty in Bahrain began in mid-February.
Since then, Manama has unleashed a massive crackdown on anti-government protesters.
On March 14, Saudi Arabia -- backed by both the US and the UK -- deployed troops to Bahrain at Manama's request to help crush the nationwide anti-government protests there.
Scores of people have been killed and many more arrested and tortured in prisons in the Saudi-backed crackdown on protests in Bahrain. Video
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