New Terror Alert Color Codes Released - Sort of....

The folks over at The Vigilant Lens are always a bit edgy to say the least. But they always spew with a touch of irony.  Below is their new version of Terror Alert Color Code system VL featured  in a story about how the government is not seeing the forest for the trees when the TSA is allowed to violate your rights and bust your balls, no pun intended, at the airport. They argue that government resources should be focused on what maybe the real problem, bomb factories like the one discovered in Escondido, California.

"Billions upon billions of dollars spent every year, grabbing your crotch, reading your email, hunting illegal’s and infiltrating peace groups…all in a self-serving, corporate attempt to Kabuki you into giving the rich more tax breaks."

"More Homelandians are killed every day by a lack of health care, than any Langley employed underwear bomber ever trained for. Smoking, dental decay and french fries, kill more of us than any CIA trained-Iraqi pilot ever dreamed."

Buffett You Beautiful Bastard! I Read Your Book......

Warren Buffett's interview from ABC's This Week's shame the rich into acting ethically segment. The oligarchy must hate Buffett because he's like the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz and a wealthy SOB too. There is no plausible reason a tax cut for the richest should be allowed to happen. 

Never Make A Working Class Irishman Mad

Does this sound familiar...  

Ireland's current banking crisis has been blamed on the misdeeds of Banks and greedy speculators. Also the business favoring politicians now in power in Ireland have been more then willing to keep business and personal taxes on the rich low and financial regulations lax. Their reasoning being that such policies attract investors and investments in the the Irish economy. But rampant speculation, especially in real estate, and lack of regulation created banks that are too big to fail.

Now faced with a banking and financial meltdown the government has to bail out the greedy bastards, not with the speculator's or bank's assets, but with money provided by taxpayers. They've decided to pay for the bailout through tax increases, cuts in pensions and services that will predominantly impact the middle and working class.

 “The 5.8 per cent interest rate (on the bailout loan) is unaffordable , The decision to force the state to take €17.5 billion out of the Pensions Reserve Fund to pour into the black hole that is our banking system is a disaster. The costs of this deal to ordinary people will be deep and will result in hugely damaging cuts to public services, social welfare and wages.” Sinn Féin Party President Gerry Adams

What maybe different about this crisis from the one we've experienced here in the US could be that Irish voters who are angry are politically astute enough to know where the blame should be placed.  What we may see in upcoming elections in Ireland will be the election of significant numbers of candidates from left and left of center parties like Sinn Fein or Labor.  Of course in the US we saw the opposite effect in our recent elections, where the voters rewarded the greedy who caused the crisis here with the election of more of their Republican enablers.

Who Was Right Huxley Or Orwell?

This is quite good ....... Click here to get original PBH Network blog post enlarged version...

 

How The World Feels About Organized Religion

Here's the survey graph. It seems to me like some of the biggest troublemakers are the countries that support the idea that religion is more of a positive rather then negative force in the world. Could there be a correlation?

Via: BBC News US and Canada

Bankers: The Musical

Via: Crooks and Liars

Ten Truths That Republicans And Misinformed Americans Ignore

Ted McLaughlin over at The Best Of The Blogs likes to write on this recurring theme. Below is McLaughlin's list of truths that Republicans like to deny or ignore.

The problem is the right has apparently won the public relations battle when it comes to getting this factual information out there. They just lie about it. Many Americans have bought into the wingnut version of things that promotes the idea that none of these things happened or if they did they had the opposite outcome from what actually happened. Maybe if we keep repeating the truth a small light bulb will go on in the minds of the unwashed masses.

1. President Obama cut taxes for everyone that earns a paycheck.

The first piece of legislation ushered in by the Obama administration was a stimulus package that contained almost $300 billion in payroll tax cuts. As Nate Silver calculated, that means 98.6% of working households received a tax cut once Obama took office.

2. TARP Worked

TARP worked. And it was a Republican policy. But it actually turned out to be a hugely successful program. The most successful policy of George Bush's two terms to be exact. The program earned the American government at least $40 billion. By far the most revenue any program has ever earned the government. In all, if it were to never make another penny, the program would now only cost tax payers $30 billion. That's dramatically cheaper than the near $1 trillion it was expected to cost. Pumping tax dollars into the the private sector helped ward off a complete financial meltdown. It worked. Plain and simple.

3. The Stimulus Worked

It warded off complete collapse. Stopped the flood of job losses. And boosted GDP back to positive territory. Economists agree the stimulus "raised GDP by about 3.4 percent, holding the unemployment rate about one-and-a-half percentage points lower, and adding almost 2.7 million jobs to U.S. payrolls."

4. Ronald Reagan Tripled the National Debt

This simple fact is regarded as pure fantasy by conservative and Republicans alike. But the truth is, if you turn down your Fox News teevee set that is, you'll learn that the national debt exploded under Saint Ronnie. Here's the scorecard:

After 8 years of Reagan the national debt went from roughly $900 billion to $2.6 trillion. That's a 186% increase, the most since WWII. That is an incredible amount of debt from the so-called small government, fiscally responsible party.

5. George W. Bush doubled It


Then without a second thought, or a single gripe from the fiscally conservative, deficit hawk crowd, George W. Bush and his GOP took a government that was running surpluses and created the largest deficits in human history. As a result, the national debt went from $5.7 trillion to more than $11 trillion when you add in all his bailouts including TARP.


6. Obama Inherited the Worst Scenario Any Elected President Ever Has

Simply and factually stated, no elected president in the history of America has ever inherited two ongoing endless wars with an economy on the verge of collapse. It's never happened before. But it did when President Obama inherited the country from Bush.

7. Obama Has Shrunk the Deficit

According to the U.S. Treasury, for the 2010 fiscal year that ended on September 30, the government had a budget shortfall of 1.294 trillion dollars, down 122 billion dollars from the previous year's record-setting high.

The 2010 fiscal year was President Obama's first federal operating budget. The previous year's budget was the final Bush budget which set a record for the largest deficit in American history. The budget deficit shrunk by $122 billion since Obama has taken office.

8. Obama Inherited a $1.4 trillion deficit, He Did Not Create It

It's amazing that some people believe American history began on Jan. 20th, 2009-- BUT IT DIDN'T. The day Obama took office the budget deficit was $1.416 trillion. He did not create it.

9. All the Bailouts Were Republican George Bush Policy

TARP was passed in October of 2008, over three months before Obama would become president. The original legislation was submitted to Congress by President George Bush and passed with both Republican and Democratic support of which Bush signed into law. Prior to TARP, the Bush administration had already committed $30 billion to Bear Stearns, $400 billion to Fannie and Freddie, $180 billion to AIG, $25 billion to the Auto industry, $85 billion to AIG, and billions more to the airline industry after 9/11.

Even the GM bailout in 2009 came from TARP funds and was structurally in place before Obama took office. It was the continuation of a Bush plan already moving forward, much like the surge in Iraq can't be credited to Obama either.

10. Republicans Have NEVER -- NOT ONCE IN MODERN HISTORY -- Shrunk Government, Cut Spending, or Reined in the Deficit

Is there anyone that still believes Republicans have ever governed with their so-called "principles" in mind? If so, consider this:

Since the ushering in of the modern Republican "Reagan Revolution," the GOP has never done any of the above. Frankly put, in the 20 years of modern Republican rule-- 8 years of Reagan, 4 years of Bush, and 8 years of Bush-- spending has never decreased, the deficit only grew by leaps and bounds (see #'s 4 & 5) and never did government shrink. There is no factual record they can point to that would in any way whatsoever suggest they are a fiscally conservative lot.

Shoppers Gone Wild

Something is wrong with this behavior my gut tells me.  These poor, mostly working class, people seem to have lost their dignity and been duped once again into nearly killing one another over a TV set. The Walmart door buster sale on Black Friday reminds me of starving people attacking a food truck in some famine ravaged African country instead of a sale on flat screen televisions or a toaster.

This relatively new shopping experience in America ironically follows Thanksgiving Day, which has become more a day to feed ones face and plot your position in line the next morning than considering the fact your lucky to have a roof over your head, a job or anything to eat at all.

"Advertising defines "the good life" in terms of buying rather than of doing, of acquisition rather than of accomplishment, of consumption rather than conservation." Thomas Hines

Another Republican Lie: The Stimulus Didn't Work

Unfortunately, most Americans bought that Republican BS bill of goods too. The only problem with the stimulus is it probably wasn't big enough and should of contained more shovel ready infrastructure repairing projects than tax cuts.

So instead of a 11.6% unemployment rate we have a 9.6% rate because of the stimulus according to the impartial Congressional Budget Office. The Republicans have proposed we rescind the remaining $12 billion of the Recovery Act that remains unspent, even though many of them actually voted for the original legislation or made sure they could claim credit for the jobs it created in their home districts or states even though they originally opposite the Recovery Act.

"The stimulus created the equivalent of 2 million to 5.8 million jobs during the third quarter as part-time workers shifted to full-time work, or employers offered more overtime work."

Southern Poverty Law Center Lists Top 18 Anti-Gay Groups

The SPLC, the long established and respected civil rights advocacy group,  has published a list of the top 18 anti-gay groups. We couldn't help but notice that the creeps over the the American Family Association, who we just happen to expose yesterday in a previous post, also made the list.

Video: Climate Change Denial Wackos Wrong Again

Climate change is real and the evidence of the lose of sea ice, a key indicator, is undeniable according to most objective scientists who are experts in the field.  But the wackos continues to politicize the issue. Their motives apparently based on greed,  hokey-poky and other assorted crapola. Their theories usually follow the pattern of something like, there's more snow in the front yard this year so how could the the planet be warming. 

Much of the misinformation campaign is spewed out from the website watts up with that, which claims to be "the world's most viewed climate website". The site is authored by deaf former TV weatherman Anthony Watts. I think that Watts real end game is motivated by using his notoriety to sell his weather widgets and website ad space. It's comparable to the deceased Seattle's KIRO TV weatherman Harry Wappler coming back from the grave and suddenly being anointed a climate change expert.



Via: Little Green Footballs

Power Hungry America's Quadrillions of BTU's

Texas is the biggest hog and Washington leads in renewable energy.....

 

 Click here for full sized look via GOOD infographics

Republicans Playing Politics With START Will Ultimately Strengthen Iran and North Korean Position

Republicans playing politics with START is just plain stupid and threatens to embolden Iran and North Korean efforts to develop nuclear weapons, and George Will is a pencil neck twit.

I Just Balanced The Federal Budget Now It's Your Turn

The New York Time has a groovy interactive budget puzzle that let's you "fix the budget" by choosing what taxes should be collected  and cuts made to balance the budget. One of my major cuts was the funding for our wars. Boy it felt good selecting that option.

Vigilante Politics Musical Interlude

Jesus Freak Says Medal Of Honor Should Require More Killing And Less Life Saving

This is just beyond the pale. Christian spokesman from American Family Association says Medal of Honor recipient not deserving because he saved lives rather then killing the enemy. These fascists would make a controversy out of anything if they felt in some strange way it serves their twisted political agenda.

Christians Who Don't Believe In The Separation Of Church And State Are Not Really Being Christ Like

I respect atheists who lead a good life because they simply choose to, rather than because of the fear of some sort of atonement should they not behave themselves. Often atheists believe there is no god because it is a belief that is both logical and intelligent, especially given the alternatives demonstrated in the myriad of evil doing that has transpired in the name of organized religion. I believe strongly in the separation of church and state, something that in present day America seems to be a dying concept even though the idea surely demonstrated the often ignored brilliance of some of our country's founders.

I was raised an Irish Catholic and now generally think of myself as more agnostically or open theism inclined then Catholic when it comes to matters of spirituality. One of the main reasons I stopped being a practicing Catholic was because I had a difficult time reconciling how religious people, especially Christians and Catholics could justify violence, vilifying the weak, poor, killing, hating gays, war and all the other evil they promote in the name of Jesus as being something that Jesus would approve of under any circumstances. In my limited understanding of Christ's teachings modern Christian dogma seems to be completely contrary to Christ's actual teachings and more often than not a justification for widespread hypocritical behavior. Like other progressives I have often wondered how all this hypocritical behavior, lying, killing and promotion of violence by these righteous Christian folks could ever be justified as being Christ like.

Gregory Boyd is a theologian and failed Catholic who now preaches and writes extensively on how Christians have it completely wrong if they believe that the mixture of church and state is acceptable behavior. Boyd in fact says that mixing the two is the opposite of what Jesus would want them to do. Boyd's book, The Myth Of A Christian Nation: how the quest for political power is destroying the church, caused quite a stir when it was first published in 2006. He was called a heretic by his fellow Christians and generally attacked by those on the political right, a sign that he must be preaching something intelligent. Boyd believes that Christians who think Jesus would approve of war and violence of any kind are missing Christ's message.

Although I don't agree with everything Boyd says during the three part interview below from the Charlie Rose's show in 2006, I think that most of what he says about present day politically involved Christians if pretty much directly on point, and worth the time to watch.

Patty Murray Tabbed To Head Senate Campaign Committee?

Les Blumenthal, McClatchy's Washington State correspondent, writes that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the White House are trying to convince Senator Murray to head up the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2012 campaign.

The Impersonal Nature Of Modern Warfare

"Wonder weapons... my God, I don't see the wonder in them. Killing without heroics, nothing is glorified... nothing is reaffirmed? No heroes, no cowards, no troops, no generals? Only those who are left alive... and those who are left dead. I'm glad I won't live to see it." George C. Scott from the Movie Patton

Yes, a made up quote from a Hollywood movie, yet quite fitting I think when it comes to the American war policy of using drone attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I remember being in the Army during the Vietnam War and receiving a fellow soldier's letter from Saigon that talked about how impersonal war had become in the modern world.

Carpet bombing in the Vietnam War was common place and the collateral damage it inflicted  caused thousands of innocent civilian deaths, all in the name of more efficiently killing the enemy. War is truly evil, most people agree, but modern warfare has turned war into the likes of a government sanctioned video killing game. Americans driven by misinformation, fear and preoccupation with our personal lives appear willing to turn a blind eye to the killing of humans randomly and impersonally by our government, often divorced from the the true reality of what it really means.

"While the United States might be at war in Afghanistan, many of the people we are trying to fight seem to be taking refuge in Pakistan. While the government won't acknowledge it, there is a massive operation using unmanned aircraft to hunt and kill militants in Pakistan. The New America Foundation has been tracking these operations since 2004, and their numbers show that as the war in Afghanistan winds down, our attacks in Pakistan are increasing." 

Click here for larger interactive graphic via: Good Infographics

Over 100,000 Jobs The GOP Didn't Want To Save

Think Progress has a nice piece on the success of the GM bailout and their successful IPO.  GOP leadership at the time ranted on about the destruction of the free market and how the bailouts of the auto industry would be, “the road toward Socialism."

I always like it when the Republicans talk about the destruction of the free market. Right wing free market dogma speak doesn't apply when it's some monopoly the wingnuts wants to protect from competing in the so called free market.  In fact the existence of free markets is pretty much a total bullshit lie when it comes to the way multinational corporations operate in today's world.

I wonder what the more than 100.000 auto industry workers, who's jobs were saved or created by the bailout, feel about the Republican fears of Socialism and destruction of the free market now.