Prepare to Panic

Nothing like announcing one will not be posting much to bring postable links out of the woodwork. ;-)

Mills River Progressive highlights the "sneaky insertion" of indefinite detention into a Defense Appropriations Bill and the failure to remove that feature.  The ACLU has further information. If you know history, you know why this is Very Bad Stuff.  If you don't, you need to go read up Right Now on all those regimes America Is Not Like, because guess what?  America is poised to become Just Like Them.  Pardon my caps.

Also, a bit of humor, because it's true.

Things that Don't Compute

1. Echidne of the Snakes on campaigning v. governing:

   The point I wanted to make in this context is this: A politician's ability to get elected may have little or no correlation with that politician's ability to do the actual job well.
   
   Telegenic applicants do well. Applicants who look like someone you'd like to get drunk with do well. Applicants who speak well do well. Applicants who understand the mass psychology of politics do well. None of those test the applicants' ability to govern.  

2. Southern Beale points at more "You don't want me to vote" in Tennessee.
3. Two from Republic of T:
• On the GOP tax "plan:"

  That’s why the $30 million a year the government spends in welfare for those who earn $1 million or more a year never gets mentioned. It’s why the tax expenditures for the wealthy — which cost more than what we spend on defense, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and all the other non-defense discretionary programs is never addressed, and is thus sacrosanct while all the other programs above are targeted for cuts.
  
  It all boils down to the Randian notion that the one percent contribute the most to the real wealth of society, while the other 99 contributes nothing and merely “leeches” off the mythically “self-made” one percent. But they’re the ones who’ve been getting a free ride for the last decade or so, at great cost to the other 99 percent of us. The one percent is largely made up of Wall Streeters, hedge fund mangers and other financial sector types — who arguably create nothing of social value, but have instead destroyed more wealth than they’ve created, and caused more misery in a quest to suck even more out of the rest of us.

• On dysfunctional family dynamics and Newt Gingrich:

  But Newt says, “Don’t talk about it.”
  
  After all, that’s the first rule of dysfunctional politics. The problem with the first rule of dysfunctional politics is identical to the problem with the first rule of dysfunctional families: It guarantees that everything stays dysfunctional, because problems that don’t get talked about don’t get solved.
  
  When it comes to conservatives like Gingrich, however, that seems to be the whole point.

Both articles are link-rich.

Still Alive

There are obits still to be posted and rants to write, but it's December, and we have to recalibrate the brain (and fluff-dry it when that's done) and develop new schtick.

Posting will be sporadic until morale improves.

Shark-fu Rings the Bell

On one aspect of conservative hypocrisy:

[Cain's attorney, Lin] Wood added...

"No individual, whether a private citizen, a candidate for public office or a public official, should be questioned about his or her private sexual life."

Cough.

Um, Lin...jumping up into private citizen’s bedroom-based business is a plank in the GOP platform.

And where she speaks for me:

But most of all I’m tired of hypocritical bullshit spewing politicians preaching the gospel of jumping all up into private citizens’ sexual bitness and then whining and keening when the masses and/or the press jump all up in their sexual bitness.

Thank you, Shark-fu.

Abrogated Economic Laws

Or the paradox of the farm laborer.  As Arte Johnson might say, "Verrrrrrrrrrrry interesting."

Saving Not Requiring Spending

Why "saving" seems to be a dirty word.

Not that it will help the larger economy.  But how about teaching the next generation a bit of frugality?

In Memoriam

Susan Palermo, musician.

Somewhere on one of my old computers I have archived the silly conversations we used to have.

[Also posted to rocknroll_n_blues_queens on dreamwidth. Her band was Cheap Perfume.]

In Memoriam

• Shelagh Delaney, playwright and screenwriter.
• Anne McCaffrey, writer.  (I was not much of a Pern fan, but I did like the first book when I read it thirty years ago.  The second one, not so much. That may have been the one I didn't finish.)

More Evidence in the Case

Where the money went.  We've been robbed, in short.  The BBC article linked to covers businesses in the UK, but the same things have been going on in the US for a long time.  And Jill points out a flaw of the public stock ownership model.

Observations of Others

1. Why the claims of protecting children are lies.
2. Mr. *ugh* Gingrich.  Also, status of Occupy Columbia and a video of The Who.
3. An illustration of the F. Scott Fitzgerald quote about the rich.
4. Arrests at a tuition protest at a CUNY campus.
5. You ever notice that people who insist that other people can and should live frugally do not in fact live frugally and resist mightily the suggestion that they should practice what they preach already?

Get Me My Psychic Flamethrower

• Almost two weeks ago, I linked to a former food executive writing about the food industry (4th item).  I missed the declaration of pizza as a vegetable (actually, the tomato sauce on pizza, which in the very poorest schools is in fact ketchup, which leads to a Ronald Reagan rant, which you've already heard), but Southern Beale didn't and in fact went on to spell out the way processed food is, frankly, toxic.  You know, poisonous.  Bad for your health.  Particularly if that's all you eat.  Her cite cites the ex-exec mentioned.  His most recent post is on how the food industry markets to kids.

  What do you think? Do you trust BIG Food companies with our children’s health? And why do food companies’ rights to market unhealthy products to our children trump our right to raise healthy kids who aren’t exposed to junk food marketing? It seems like profits are prioritized over our kids, doesn’t it?

  Warning for obesity faith statements, which could have been dropped out of the articles without lessening the impact or losing the point.
  
• Gendered difference in survivors of child sexual abuse may depend on messages about boys and girls.  Question posed by Echidne of the Snakes.
• Physics of a container of non dairy creamer, as reported by Dr. Grumpy.

Save the Tiger Internet!

The Stop Online Piracy Act, [pdf] using a bazooka to kill a mosquito.  Daisy has cogent arguments against.  Making Light also urges contacting Senators and Representatives.

Rally Towels for the Spirit

• I'm a Fighting Liberal, by Steve Gilliard.

  For the better part of a decade, the conservatives made liberal a dirty word. Well, it isn't. It represents the best and most noble nature of what America stands for: equitable government services, old age pensions, health care, education, fair trials and humane imprisonment. It is the heart and soul of what made American different and better than other countries. Not only an escape from oppression, but the opportunity to thrive in land free of tradition and the repression that can bring. We offered a democracy which didn't enshrine the rich and made them feel they had an obligation to their workers.

• A list of 25 liberals in American history (yes, it includes Richard Nixon, and yes, several of these people had feet, ankles, and legs of clay).  Nicked from skippy the bush kangaroo.

  Conservatism has never been successful in this country. It has only led to some of the darkest periods in American history. The Civil War, the Great Depression, and now this last decade are all due to rampant conservatism. The cause of the situation today can be traced all the way back to a day in January 1981, when a man named Ronald Reagan took office and began a slow and systematic purge of liberal policies and programs that built this nation. For the last thirty years, the infrastructure and foundation of America has been taken apart brick by brick. And now, conservatives are poised to use a wrecking ball to bring the remainder of the house down. America needs a strong liberal President once again to rebuild what the conservatives have torn down to suit their own personal and monetary interests. Being liberal is an American tradition. Liberals have always looked forward. They are men and women of vision who seek to make the government work for everyone. Liberals give a voice to those who previously had none. They give people hope and dare to dream of things that could be. And it’s time to return to that tradition before all is lost.

Too Depressing Today

Seriously.

• Child abuse, via Ramona's Voices.
• Possible race angle at Penn State abuse case, via Are Women Human?  These two links via Brilliant at Breakfast.
• Daisy's Dead Air notes who has been rousted and arrested in the Occupy demonstrations, and who has not.  Also:  the news blackout in South Carolina regarding Bob Jones University's current shame (frontispiece of the founder's racist crap is an old disgrace).
• How to talk about Social Security, from the Daily Howler.  Apparently we're doing it wrong.
• In case you don't check for ETAs:  Doghouse Riley disassembles the arguments in that New York Times article about taxing the middle class more.
• Dropping out of capitalism won't work, from the New Statesman.  Pertinent quote:

  There is almost no way to exist in this society without being contaminated by capitalism, unless you spend your whole life lying down in the dark, in a recycled rattan coffin, being drip-fed organic vegan mulch by a succession of fairly paid assistants, and if you do, I'm sure you'll feel great about yourself, but people will still make fun of you, and you won't be a step closer to changing the world.

• New Spider-Man, with spoilers.  From the Hathor Legacy.
• State of Occupy Oakland.

What's With These Guys?

• Lesser Whiskey Tango Foxtrot example:  Utah mayor admits to sockpuppetry.   (Comrade Misfit has the links;  I'm just trying to collect my jaw from the floor.)
• A book about the assassination of President Lincoln written by a known wingnut is so full of Wrong (to quote my source, Apparently the book is so filled with errors, inaccuracies and lack of documentation that historians are pointing their fingers and laughing.) that it won't be sold at Ford's Theater's museum bookstore.  Southern Beale has the information.  And Jurassicpork brings the snark.
• I mean, I'm sorry reality doesn't favor the conservative narrative, but there is a reason history is an academic discipline.

Say What?

A game of Spot the Propaganda.  Because, you know, some people are shameless.

ETA:  Doghouse Riley analyzes and explains what is wrong with that article in detail.  (I'm still sputtering.)

Veterans Day

What's being done to honor our veterans.

ETA:  And that's not all.

A Drawing

Two frogs in a tree.

Following Up

On the three unexplained deaths at Guantánamo.

Video Video

I bookmarked Friends of Keith months ago because once in a while, so I understand, Mr. Olbermann gets off a good one, but until today I had no reason to open it.  (Actually, I had no reason today, either, but it was that or another round of Bejeweled.)

Apparently Crosby & Nash (Stills is doing a solo tour) were at Occupy Wall Street yesterday and had nine minutes with Mr. Olbermann on Countdown discussing the movement and their impressions.  It's an untranscribed video, and I'm not even going to try embedding it here.

They're After Your Children, Part #1,073,741,824

No,not them.  The state of Tennessee, by forcing arbitrary standards on teachers and principals.

Once again, Tennessee is a national posterchild for being unable to, in effect, tie its shoelaces. The Republicans want government off everyone’s back except, you know, when they don’t. Then they’re all up in everyone’s business, like school principals, whom they don’t trust to know their teachers and their schools.

...

This is something Republicans just don’t get. It’s all stick with these clowns, never any carrot. They think if they’re the biggest dicks in the room they can force a good performance out of people. At least, that’s kind of how I took Kevin Huffman’s remarks. He’s saying teachers aren’t used to be evaluated, they’ve had it easy all these years. Give it a year, they’ll get used to it, the whining will stop! Meanwhile, you have people who are doing one of the hardest, most under-appreciated jobs there is and instead of listening to the people in the field — the “generals on the ground,” if you will — they’re all like, pfft. What do they know? We’re going to impose these arbitrary rules on you, make the band director get evaluated based on math scores or whatever.

From Southern Beale.

A Month Late

Post from Sara Robinson about reclaiming the American Dream, paraphrasing and quoting communicators Drew Westen and Celinda Lake.

Mr. Westen:

Make stories visceral and personal. For example, rather than getting wonky talking about revenues versus entitlements, talk about "raising taxes versus kicking granny out of the nursing home." (And stop using the word "entitlements," which implies that people are getting something they don't deserve.) Likewise: when we talk about Medicaid, we should point out that it's insurance -- something you've paid into for years. When the time comes to file a claim, nobody had better deny it. Social Security, likewise, is insurance that we pay for through our taxes.

Ms. Lake:

She also offered some language that should be avoided. Talk about "the less fortunate" should be brought back and grounded in specifics (like "throwing Granny out of the nursing home"). Talk about "the right to clean air and water" instead of abstractions like "the environment." Avoid policy minutia; keep it personal and specific, and tell stories about real people. Don't talk about the past, or project too far in the future -- people are terrified about what's happening to them right now, and are worried about how they're going to even get to the future.

and, you know, that stuff might work.

Saturday Afternoon

• Southern Beale on feeding birds, unemployment, and dishonest analogies:

  Funnily enough, I happened to watch this video on the same day that I had gone down to my local retailer and picked up about 50 pounds of bird seed for my own feeders. So as I’m filling my feeders and hearing my avian friends chirp excitedly in the trees I thought to myself: you know what? I’ve been feeding birds in my backyard for years and I’ve just never had these problems. I don’t have bird nests in inappropriate places, nor is my patio covered in bird poop. And none of my birds have ever dive-bombed us when the feeders are low. Funnily enough, I just have never had this man’s experience with the local wildlife. I wonder why. Maybe, just maybe, this tortured analogy was pulled out of somewhere other than reality.

• Humor:  via Just An Earth-bound Misfit, I, Occupy Docking Bay 94.
• Doghouse Riley on some talking heads and fracking.

  I don't know any more about shale oil than Brooks does; I'm just honest, and poor, enough to know that when someone calls Effects "side-effects" you might look for a financial interest, and not be surprised to find one. We can't expect to solve, or even salve, real problems while virtual jabberers promote the opposite, and their fellows recommend splitting the difference.

• You're less likely to have an appetite after reading this blog; it's about food, written by a former executive of a large food corporation.  Via The Sideshow, via Suburban Guerilla.
• Also, Those Masks, also via the Sideshow.
• Oh, and Andy Rooney died.  As did Bob Forsch, pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Well, I Can't Find a Direct Link

But Spocko's Brain features an essay by Sara Robinson on what to do about people who don't share the goals of the Occupy movement.

It is not wrong for you to set boundaries this way. You will get shit for this. “But…but…it looks a whole lot like a Maoist purge unit!” No. There is nothing totalitarian about asking people who join your revolution to act in ways that support the goals of that revolution. And the Constitution guarantees your right of free association — which includes the right to exclude people who aren’t on the bus, and who are wasting the group’s limited time and energy rather than maximizing it. After all: you’re not sending these people to re-education camps, or doing anything else that damages them. You’re just getting them out of the park, and out of your hair. You’re eliminating distractions, which in turn effectively amplifies the voices and efforts of everyone else around you. And, in the process, you’re also modeling a new kind of justice that sanctions people’s behavior without sanctioning their being — while also carving out safe space in which the true potential of Occupy can flourish.

Creeeeeeeeepy

Or:  Stalinism didn't die with Stalin.  With side of rape silencing.  Daisy has the story.

In Memoriam

Matty Alou, outfielder, youngest of the Alou brothers.

Tweets from Occupy Oakland

Yesterday's strike and march in tweets.

Justice as a Bad Word

Economic justice, that is.

For the record, you cannot have capitalism in the absence of economic justice, because eventually it decays to crony capitalism (a.k.a. “fascism”) and oligarchy — the dictatorship of the many by the few who control all wealth, who literally have power of life or death over individuals.

From A World of Progress, via Republic of T.

Ongoing

Livestream of Occupy Columbia (South Carolina) (Daisy had the link.)

Data

The Oakland general strike upcoming on Wednesday will be for one day. I have no idea what the unions will be doing. (I am thinking of the bus drivers, who recently had a sick-out.) I also don't think there has been enough preparation, but I'm a fuddy-duddy.