Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Apple Loses ANOTHER Unreleased iPhone!



OOPS! Apparently Apple's "geniuses" only work in the stores. C/NET reports on yet another Apple employee losing yet another unreleased iPhone in yet another bay area bar...
In a bizarre repeat of a high-profile incident last year, an Apple employee once again appears to have lost an unreleased iPhone in a bar, CNET has learned.

The errant iPhone, which went missing in San Francisco's Mission district in late July, sparked a scramble by Apple security to recover the device over the next few days, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
...
Apple declined to comment after being contacted this morning.
...
A day or two after the phone was lost at San Francisco's Cava 22, which describes itself as a "tequila lounge" that also serves lime-marinated shrimp ceviche, Apple representatives contacted San Francisco police, saying the device was priceless and the company was desperate to secure its safe return, the source said.
...
After last year's embarrassing loss, Apple reportedly has taken extraordinary steps to protect its prototype devices from leaks. Next-generation iPhones are sent to carriers for testing "inside locked and sealed boxes so that the carriers can carry out checks on their network compatibility in their labs," according to the Guardian.
Apparently they need to take extra extraordinary precautions. I've got 50 frog pelts that we see an "exclusive" story on the lost iPhone 5 in the next few days a la the Gizmodo story last year...

Dancing With The D-List - Bristol Palin Fans Attack Chaz Bono Selction

from Wikipedia
Normally anything happening on Dancing With the Stars would fly well below my radar but when LGBT rights and right wing crazy meets terrible "reality" TV, it's just too good to pass up.

Entertainment website TheWrap reports that it seems the wingnut goobers who kept voting for hoof footed talentless unwed teen mom Bristol Palin week after week after week are less than thrilled with one of the contestants announced for this season, Chaz Bono.

Chaz Salvatore Bono, you see, was born Chastity Sun Bono, daughter of Sonny and Cher, and is an advocate for transgender rights. Cue predictable wingnut outrage...

"Dancing With the Stars" aims for provocative casts, and Chaz Bono joining the show this week has already yielded strong reaction -- some of it ugly.

Bono, the only child of Sonny Bono and Cher, was born female but legally changed his gender and name last year.

"But when I heard that Chaz Bono was going to be on, I was sick. Not that I have anything personally again her/him, I just don't want that lifestyle choice continually flaunted in the media esp ABC," went one typical anti-Bono comment."

"Chaz Bono How low can this show sink. Well you have certainly addressed the gay commuity. Guess this will not be a family show any longer!!!! Lost my family!"

"YOUR choice to bring Chaz Bono into the mix goes too far. I am not about to risk the potential for on screen dialogue about sex changes and gender confusion while my 7 and 9 year old are watching. If you want the 'anything goes' hippy culture, then soon that is all you will get. You've lost us. In case any of you are wondering ... no, we are NOT tolerant."
Gee, ya think Chaz will get multiple passes from viewers/voters for piss poor dancing, as did Bristol? I wouldn't bet on it. Who knows? He might be light on his feet.

I most heartily apologize. I couldn't help it.

Ron Paul Is A Racist, Misogynist Nutball



Ron Paul has managed to acquire quite a bit of support form those who consider themselves progressive, despite the fact that he's a racist, misogynist, hypocritical, Bircher conspiracy theory nutball. Why? Kuz, like, you know, he's totally against the wars and for legalizing dope, d00d! For real!

I can find one or two issues on which I agree with Batshit Bachmann, too. Here's five good reasons progressives should never support Ron Paul. See the must read original post for details...

1. Paul would restrict abortion based on anecdotal "evidence," rather than science.
2. Paul has dreadful views regarding personal liberty and fundamental rights.
3. Paul would threaten the independence of the federal judiciary.
4. Paul wants to repeal historic legislation that was responsible for curtailing racial and sex discrimination in the workplace and for prohibiting racial discrimination in places of public accommodation.
5. Paul wants to erode the power of voters by repealing the Seventeenth Amendment.

Snowbilly Grifter Quits AGAIN! - Palin Cancels Appearance At Iowa Tea Bagger Rally



Quitters quit. It's what they do. From the Wall Street Journal...
Sarah Palin’s Saturday appearance at a tea party rally in Indianola, Iowa, has been cancelled, a person close to the former Alaska governor told The Wall Street Journal. The person said Ms. Palin’s appearance was “no longer confirmed” and cited “continual lying” from event organizers at Tea Party of America
...
Ms. Palin is known for last-minute schedule changes that whipsaw supporters and media across the country. But the latest decision is puzzling. Ms. Palin’s speech at the rally was viewed as her most high-profile appearance of the summer, fueling  speculation she was indeed plotting to run for the Republican presidential nomination.
...
The former governor’s team decided to back out Tuesday night after rally organizers re-invited Ms. O’Donnell to speak on stage.
After her decision to back out generate gales of laughter across the Internet, Palin aides "clarified"...
Correction: Sarah Palin put her appearance at a Tea Party of America rally in Indianola, Iowa, on hold but did not cancel it
So, she quit, then quit her quitting? BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA, whew! What a shame the Snowbilly Grifter won't be running  for prez. Times are tough and we can use the laughs. But hey, we've still got Batshit Bachmann and Rick Perry...

American Exceptionalism On Parade, Health Care Edition - We're Number 1! In Preventable Hospital Deaths

Chris Bodenner reports that the US ranks dead last out of 19 developed countries in preventable hospital deaths...
Number of hospital-acquired infections that lead to death:
Europe: 1 in 122
United States: 1 in 7
Here's a graphic (original full size image at URL) showing why the US ranks dead last among developed nations in preventable hospital deaths...

The Loaves and the Douches...



From the Ottawa (Canada) Citizen...
“Winnipeg: A busy church food bank, known for offering warm drinks and snacks to its regulars, has announced it’s closing because it is attracting too many poor people.

“‘It’s attracting a lot of street people that make it uncomfortable,’ said Charlotte Prossen, Unity Truth Centre minister Thursday, ‘It’s creating social unrest in the church’

“‘A food bank is a social service and that is not who we are’

“Ms. Prossen said the program is being cancelled to focus on more church-specific activities. The church’s board of trustees made the decision to cancel the bimonthly food bank after receiving an e-mail from a sister church in Victoria.

“‘Most clients of food banks have not yet come to a sense of personal responsibility in life. They are still in denial, blame or seeing the world as owing them,’ wrote Rev. David Durksen of the Unity Church of Victoria.
So much for Christian charity...

Thursday, August 25, 2011

New Wingnut Meme - Obama Picking On Guitar Maker Gibson


UPDATE: A lot has happened since this story was published almost a year ago. There's a follow-up story here from a few weeks later, but here's the final story in the series, with full details about Gibson's plea deal with DoJ - a nearly $1 million fine and an admission of specific and deliberate illegal activity.

Again, here's the first follow-up, from 9/24/11...

http://everythingpossiblehappens.blogspot.com/2011/09/gibson-redux-as-their-lies-unravel.html

And here's the final story in the series, from this week...

http://everythingpossiblehappens.blogspot.com/2012/08/gibson-enters-plea-bargain-in-illegal.html

The wingnutosphere is ablaze with a new wingnut meme. Barack Obama is persecuting legendary guitar maker Gibson! This "outrage" has been picked up by many of the usual wingnut sources and is now spreading through social media. Like all of these flash memes in the wingnutoshpere, this one is 99.9% BS. Despite right wing whining about Obama picking on Gibson, the fact is current enforcement actions were begun by the BUSH Justice Department. This from Gibson press release, via Twitter...
Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp., has responded to the August 24 raid of Gibson facilities in Nashville and Memphis by the Federal Government.
...
The raids forced Gibson to cease manufacturing operations and send workers home for the day while armed agents executed the search warrants. “Agents seized wood that was Forest Stewardship Council controlled,” Juszkiewicz said. “Gibson has a long history of supporting sustainable and responsible sources of wood and has worked diligently with entities such as the Rainforest Alliance and Greenpeace to secure FSC-certified supplies. The wood seized on August 24 satisfied FSC standards.”
Aw, poor babies! Guitar maker Gibson is being picked on for deliberately flaunting US regulations in place since 1900 and amended by the Bush admin to stop international trade in illegally logged wood. How unfair that they shouldn't be able to pay less than half price for their illegally logged foreign wood! Especially since the Forest Stewardship Council, aka the Enron of forestry, sez it's okay!

FYI, Gibson, no longer the legendary family owned Kalamazoo guitar maker, has, since being taken over by South American conglomerate, a long and sordid record of buying illegally logged foreign wood for a fraction of the price of legally logged US wood. And the FSC, which, coincidentally, I'm sure, receives most of its funding from Gibson, has been thoroughly discredited by every conservation group on the planet, including founding members like the Rainforest Foundation, for being nothing more than a front for protecting Big Biz while promoting the destruction of old growth forests around the world.

Is this really the latest wingnut meme on the Intertubes? Typical. Long on outrage, short on facts. The fact is any player can tell you Gibson quality has gone to crap since the ECL takeover and the move to Nashville. In a relatively short period of time the new foreign mega-corporate management has managed to destroy Gibson's sterling reputation for quality, workmanship and worker fairness built up over more than 100 years.
Why, one might ask, would Gibson move from Kalamazoo, their home for more than 100 years, to Nashville? Just another Big Biz decision to kill off union jobs in MI in favor much lower paying jobs with virtually no benefits in Tennessee. See, it's a lot cheaper to hire unqualified labor using cookie cutter manufacturing techniques than it is to pay craftsmen to build fine instruments.

I would remind my right wing friends that there's always another side to every story, and the Gibson side of this story is truly an ugly one. Unless you support killing off US jobs in favor of cheap, illegally obtained imports while trashing worker's rights and drastically lowering quality, you really don't want to be carrying water for companies like Gibson. Put the outrage on hold for a minute and look at the facts.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Analysis: The Credit Crisis - How We Got Here And Why

For the first time in the history of the United States our previosuly perfect credit rating has been downgraded. How and why did this happen and what can we do about it now?



The National Journal has the best analysis so far of why S&P downgraded the credit rating of the US and what it means. The bottom line is yes, debt and spending are factors, but it was the spectacle of tea baggers in Congress holding a nation hostage to inflexible and insensible ideology and stubbornly refusing to consider any form of revenue enhancement that badly rattled Wall Street's trust in the good faith and credit of the US. It's clear to Wall Street, as it's clear to the vast majority of us who are not part of the tea bagging wing of the GOP that tea baggers in the House were perfectly willing to shoot the hostage - our economy - unless they got their way.

I highly recommend reading the entire piece at the National Journal website. In the meantime, here's a few excerpts...
The big new element on Friday was an official outside recognition that U.S. creditworthiness is being undermined by a new factor: political insanity. S&P didn’t base its downgrade on a change in the U.S. fiscal and economic outlook. It based it on the political game of chicken over the debt ceiling, a game that Republicans initiated and pushed to the limit, and on a growing gloom about the partisan deadlock.   Part of S&P’s gloom, moreover, stemmed explicitly from what a new assessment of the GOP’s ability to block any and all tax increases.

S&P was remarkably blunt that its downgrade was mostly about heightened political risks:  “The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed,” it said.
...
But it’s hard to read the S&P analysis as anything other than a blast at Republicans.  In denouncing the threat of default as a “bargaining chip,” the agency was saying that the GOP strategy had shaken its confidence.
...
In previous projections, it said, its “base case scenario” had assumed that Bush tax cuts for the wealthy would expire at the end of 2012, while tax cuts for families earning less than $250,000 a year would be extended.  That, it said, would have reduced deficits about $950 billion over ten years.
But the new S&P base case assumes that Congress extends all the Bush tax cuts.   “We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act,” S&P said.
...
“S&P's judgment was not that the U.S. could not repay, but rather, given the political process, that it might choose not to repay,” said Vincent Reinhart, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former director of monetary affairs at the Federal Reserve.  “That is in part a fall-out from Washington partisanship.”
Let's review how we got here. When George W. Bush took office in 2001 we were running a surplus, paying down our national debt and our economy was humming along at a record pace. Bush squandered the surplus he inherited, the largest surplus in history, by giving tax breaks worth trillions to the richest of the rich and by spending trillions more on two unfunded wars. Another nearly a trillion dollars was spent on a prescription drug benefit for seniors, a laudable policy, assuming it's paid for.

The fact is none of this profligate spending was paid for. Congress agreed to spend the money, but not pay the for the spending. The GOP put the entire tab on our national credit card. Eight years later Bush left office in the midst of a financial meltdown second only to the last GOP caused economic catastrophe, the Great Depression, having turned the largest surpluses in US history into the largest deficits in US history.

During the Bush years the GOP declared war on long standing regulations put in place after the Great Depression that were designed to prevent similar disasters in the future. As regulations fell new products flooded investment markets, many of them based on smoke and mirrors or worse. Bad loans and bad investments were bundled together and sold as top quality, rock solid investments, with the help of same ratings agencies threatening our credit rating today. When the truth began to come out that these invesments were mere bundles of worthless paper, markets crashed, home prices tumbled, unemployment sky-rocketed and global financial chaos ensued. Before leaving office Bush approved putting another trillion dollars on the credit card in the form of the TARP bailouts.

Enter Barack Obama, saddled with trying to clean up the spectacular financial mess left behind by George W. Bush. Republicans charge that Obama went on a spending spree of his own, but the fact of the matter is most of the spending they attribute to Obama was approved and signed into law by George W. Bush under TARP. The only new major spending by Obama was the auto industry bailout, which has turned out to be a good deal not just for manufacturer's, but for the entire nation. A major industry was saved. More than one million jobs were saved. Manufacturer's have since returned to profitability and are paying off the loans early. The government not only is being paid back ahead of schedule, but stands to make a profit on the deal. In the end we avoided a truly devastating blow to our economy, a knock-out punch from which there would have been no recovering.

Unlike the very real crises caused by Bush spending and the resulting economic downturn, the crisis over raising the debt ceiling was an entirely manufactured crisis; manufactured by the GOP. Never before in the history of our nation had a political party held hostage the inevitable and necessary raising of the debt limit. The very GOP leaders in Congress now holding the debt ceiling hostage had themselves voted to raise the ceiling many times before with no strings attached, as had their immediate predecessors over the previous two decades.



Under Reagan Congress raised the debt ceiling 17 times for a whopping increase of 199.5%. Congress raised the debt ceiling 5 times under Bush I for an increase of 48%. The ceiling was raised 4 times under Clinton totaling a 43.66 increase. Under George W. Bush the debt ceiling was raised 7 times nearly doubling the limit during the Bush years (90.2% increase). By contrast, Obama was seeking a much more modest raising of the ceiling of  26.3%. Rather than raise the ceiling with a one line bill as they had done 33 times over the past 2 decades, newly elected tea baggers in the GOP House, a minority in one half of one third of our government, announced their intention to hold hostage the debt limit unless they got their way, which flatly rejected raising revenues in any way to meet our obligations.

Keep in mind that this was not a fight about spending. In fact, Congress had already approved every penny of the spending in question. This was purely about whether or not we would pay up when the credit card bill came due. Republican leaders in both houses, especially John Boehner, tried to educate the economically illiterate tea baggers and forge a compromise which would have reduced spending while increasing tax revenues. Polls showed a large majority of the public, 81% in one poll, favored a balanced approach based on compromise. But tea baggers rejected out of hand any possibility of a compromise, will of the people be damned, making it clear to all that they were, indeed, willing to shoot the hostage if they didn't get their way.

It is this reckless disregard more than any of the underlying financial realities that rattled Wall Street to the point where for the first time ever our perfect credit rating was at risk. S&P has explicitly cited this manufactured crisis and the political dysfunction of a major party threatening to blow up the entire economy as the primary reason they downgraded our credit rating for the first time in history. S&P also said the probability if more tea bagger intransigence in the future may lead to further downgrading of our credit worthiness. They also specifically cite a change in their thinking about the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. While previously they had assumed the tax cuts would be allowed to expire, which in a single stroke would shave trillions from our national debt and greatly reduce deficits, they now believe tea baggers in the House will not allow this to happen.


Effect of Bush Tax Cuts On Federal Debt


Effect Of Bush Tax Cuts On Annual Deficits

These are quotations directly from Standard & Poor's list of reasons for taking action now...
We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act
...
The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy.
...
It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options.
...
The act (deal to raise debt limit) contains no measures to raise taxes or otherwise enhance revenues, though the committee could recommend them.
...
The majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues
It's crystal clear that they're saying it was stubbornness and stupidity that got us here and they predict more stubbornness and stupidity in the future. They didn't lower our credit rating because they think we might not be able to pay our debts. They lowered our credit rating because they think we might choose not to pay our debts. A large majority of Americans favor a balanced solution of spending cuts coupled with revenue enhancement. A large majority of Americans favor raising taxes on the rich, who are currently enjoying the lowest tax burden in modern history. A small minority in one half of one third of our government - tea baggers in the House, absotively posilutely refuse to even consider any such thing. And here we are, stymied by an ideologically inflexible, economically illiterate minority from doing what the majority knows is right.

The credit ratings agencies are hardly innocent in all of this. Nor are they omnipotent voices ringing down from from Mount Olympus dictating The Way Things Are for we mere mortals. It was these very same agencies that rated bundles of paper not worth wiping your butt with as AAA rock solid securities. But they are right to be concerned about our future. If we continue to allow a small and irresponsible minority to dictate suicidal policy, we will all be the victims.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Global Warming Deniers Dancing Backwards Furiously...

(image from http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/seasonal_drought.html)

Can we please stop with the asinine "global warming is a scam" stupidity? Please? First off, the reality is here in Texas, as in the rest of the country, it's never been this hot. Never, as it not ever. It's so hot that were we to see normal temperatures for the rest of the year, 2012 will still be the hottest year ever.

But one year doesn't a trend make, the denier idiots argue. And they're right. One year does not a trend make. In point of fact, including 2011, the 10 hottest years on record have been the last 10 years. 19 of the 20 hottest years on record have occurred in the past 2 decades.

Can you say "trend"? I knew you could.

The 2nd reason deniers arguments are absurd is they are based on the idiotic paranoid conspiracy theory BS premise that global warming is some sort of scam perpetrated on us by greedy, rich scientists out to make a big bucks at the expense of those poor, selfless oil companies who are only trying to do what's right. Ahem.

Wake the bleep up, deniers. Big Oil and big coal don't give a skinny rat's ass what's best for all of us. Their one and only consideration is enriching themselves and their investors, everyone else be damned. In fact, they are legally obligated to consider only how to make the most money for stock holders. Anyone who believes they are in any way working for the common good is an idiot or an ignorant fool.

At this point the arguments of the anti-science deniers are every bit as asinine, absurd and just plain stoopit as the wingnut fundie conservadolt attacks on evolution. The reality is we're witnessing a confrontation of science and knowledge against ignorance, belief and reality.

Those who are compelled to turn to prayer as an answer to our self created crises are better served by praying for knowledge and wisdom. It's superstition and ignorance that's keeping us from implementing changes to ameliorate the effects of global warming. But it's not fair to blame it all on American fundie fools. The truth is as a species we're fools. It's very human to deny our own deleterious effects on our environment, no matter how obvious. Unless we succeed in changing this seemingly universal human trait, we're doomed to disappear after one of the shortest runs of dominance in evolutionary history. Maybe we're just not built for the long haul. Maybe the arthropods or the cephalopods can do better after we're gone. They can't possibly do any worse.

Friday, August 5, 2011

BREAKING: S&P Donwgrades US Credit Rating Over GOP Idiocy


Make no mistake, the main reason S&P is downgrading our credit rating, the first time in history the credit rating of the US has been downgraded from the highest level, AAA, to AA+, is because the tea bagging GOPers in the house are stubborn fools and idiots. ThinkProgress quotes from the S&P downgrade announcement...

The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy.
...
It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options.
...
The act (deal to raise debt limit) contains no measures to raise taxes or otherwise enhance revenues, though the committee could recommend them.
...
the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues
It couldn't be more clear. A major reason for the S&P action was the intransigence and stupidity of the GOP, and in particular the idiot babbling fool wing of the GOP, aka tea baggers. This small minority in 1/2 of 1/3 of our government has royally fucked us all. Well done, tea baggers! Yer doin' a heckuva job!

For now the lone rating agency to take action is S&P, the same jokers who told everyone how safe all of those derivatives based on bundled crappy mortgages were. Should other major ratings agencies follow suit, every single American will suffer. It will cost every single one of us in higher interests rates, higher prices and lower availability of credit.

Prosecutors Seek To Jail Cartoonist For Mocking Cops


Oh, brother. City prosecutors in Renton, WA are trying to jail a cartoonist for posting videos that mock the Renton police department. Prosecutors have served Google with a warrant forcing them to reveal the identity of the poster known as Mr. Fiddlesticks. KIRO television reports...

The Renton City Prosecutor wants to send a cartoonist to jail for mocking the police department in a series of animated Internet videos.


The "South-Park"-style animations parody everything from officers having sex on duty to certain personnel getting promoted without necessary qualifications. While the city wants to criminalize the cartoons, First Amendment rights advocates say the move is an "extreme abuse of power."
...
The series of web-based short cartoons feature a mustachioed street cop and a short-haired female bureaucrat. The dry, at times, witty banter between the two touches on some embarrassing insider secrets, some of which seem to match up with internal affairs investigations on file within Renton PD.
...
We asked attorney Venkat Balasubramani to review several parody videos and the court documents. He's an expert in cyber-law and constitutional issues.


“The cyberstalking angle doesn't pass the laugh test," Balasubramani told KIRO-TV.
The odds are prosecutors know they have zero chance of getting a conviction in this case. Or even an arrest. But they can get Google to out Mr. Fiddlesticks, who is very probably a police department employee. IOW, it's a cynical effort to stamp out free speech using intimidation and job threats.

Video of KIRO story, including clips from the cartoons and links to documents filed by city prosecutors, at the KIRO website...

The original cartoons are still up on YouTube. Here's the first of nine...



UPDATE: The ACLU has offered to defend "Mr. Fiddlesticks"...

Racist Fox Fux Ignore Good Jobs Report, Blast Obama's "Hip-Hop Barbecue"

As Barbara Morrill at Daily Kos said earlier, forget the dog whistles, the Fox Fux have gone full blown vuvzela with their racism. Apparently they no longer care who knows what a bunch of nasty, racist assholes they really are. It's hard to count the ways this Fox Nation post is an insulting, racist idiot screed.

This was the front page of the Fox Nation site earlier today. The Fox Fux played down the good news on jobs that buoyed a panicked stock market  to focus on race baiting complete with pictures of scary black people.

Oliver Willis captured this image and posted it to Twitter...

A&M Transcripts Prove Rick Perry Is An Idiot - As If There Were Any Doubts


Just how stupid is Rick Perry? The grades tell the tale. Texas A&M is hardly Harvard on the Brazos, but Perry still struggled to barely pass. He had to wait to run for student gov at A&M. Until he got off of academic probation. <insert aggie joke here>

Original graphic at Scribd...

How hot was July? So hot that... Records Tumble Across The US


In response to the ongoing devastating heat wave, the Fox Fux and the deluded idiot denier fools who listen to them have amped up their war on science. Just in the past week Fox shouters have touted a study by an Exxon paid "scientist" so bad at his job that his last three papers had to be revoked for serious errors of math and logic that would embarrass a 6th grader. Then the Fox Fux told us SpongeBob Squarepants was a plot to indoctrinate children into the GW religion. Douche Limpballs chimed in and told us the heat wave is a government plot.

Shockingly, there seem to be millions of people gullible enough, foolish enough and stupid enough to gulp down these huge, steaming piles of asinine, illogical happy horse shit like puppies on fresh puke. Well choke this down, idiot deniers. From the Environmental Visualization Lab at NOAA, part of the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service...

How hot was the month of July in 2011? So hot that just by plotting the location of each daily heat record that was broken, a nearly complete image of the contiguous United States is visible. Almost 9,000 daily records were broken or tied last month, including 2,755 highest maximum temperatures and 6,171 highest minimum temperatures
They go on to say that the image above is incomplete...

The statistics reported here only include weather stations with real-time electronic reporting, which accounts for about two-thirds of the locations. Final numbers should be available later in August.
Boy, howdy, good thing that whole global warming business is just a scam being run by rich, greedy scientists to fleece the poor, noble oil companies, eh?

Thursday, August 4, 2011

The Daily Show: Super Congress?


I've been carefully reading my copy of the Constitution and I'll be damned if I can find any reference to a "Super Congress" with special powers Congress can't challenge. I must be missing something. Can anyone help me out on this?


Another "Isolated Incident" Of Right Wing Domestic Terrorism


The worse the economy gets,the more of these types of incidents we're going to see. Luckily this wingnut was busted before he acted. From the Patch, local paper for Hopatcong, NJ...

A Hopatcong man had kiddie porn, Nazi uniforms, high-velocity ammunition and handcuffs in his motel room in Andover, police in that township said.
...
The building was evacuated and searched by K-9 units, police said. During the search, Sussex County Sheriff's Department Officer Warren Slahor saw child pornography on the dresser of a room, along with a bandoleer containing about 100 rounds of high-velocity ammunition, handcuffs and a large-capacity assault rifle magazine, police said.

Police said after motel employees told officers the room belonged to Christopher Bootsma, 45, K-9 units cleared the room, but found no explosives there or elsewhere in the motel. Customers were allowed back in, police said.
...
Boostma was arrested and admitted to possessing the items, police said. He was charged with possession of child pornography, possession of a large capacity magazine and handcuffs.
...
Bootsma said he had recently lost his home to foreclosure, police said.
Heavily armed wingnuts are inherently dangerous. Homeless heavily armed pedophile Nazi wingnuts...

Santorum Offers, Um, Jelly To Supporters...


Considering Rick Santorum's Google problem, you'd think the last thing he'd want to promote would be jelly (think K-Y). If you're not aware of his Google problem, go ahead and Google "Santorum" (not safe for work). From the Des Moines Register...

The Pennsylvania Republican told a small crowd at the Perry Public Library on Tuesday he and his wife, Karen, have some fruit trees back home. Their family harvested about 600 early peaches and then he and their kids peeled them and made them into jam at their house. They ended up transporting about 40 jars of peach preserves to Iowa.

“We are bringing them to the Straw Poll and we are going to give everybody a sample,” Santorum said. He described the product as “Pennsylvania Presidential Peach Preserves.”
I think I'll pass on sampling "Frothy's" jelly...

I went to high school with this idiot at Carmel, in Mundlein, IL, where he was the dweebiest dweeb in the history of dweebdom. He was an idiot then and he hasn't gotten any smarter since.

DIY Don'ts - Swede Busted For Kitchen Nuclear Reactor

From Richard Handl's Facebook Page

I'm usually a big fan of DIY projects, but there are some things that are best left to the experts. Case in point, nuclear reactors. From the Associated Press...

A Swedish man who was arrested after trying to split atoms in his kitchen said Wednesday he was only doing it as a hobby.

Richard Handl told The Associated Press that he had the radioactive elements radium, americium and uranium in his apartment in southern Sweden when police showed up and arrested him on charges of unauthorized possession of nuclear material.
...
"I have always been interested in physics and chemistry," Handl said, adding he just wanted to "see if it's possible to split atoms at home."

The police raid took place in late July, but police have refused to comment. If convicted, Handl could face fines or up to two years in prison.

Although he says police didn't detect dangerous levels of radiation in his apartment, he now acknowledges the project wasn't such a good idea.

"From now on, I will stick to the theory," he said.

Mike Yokelbe teaches kids about 9/11 and how George Bush killed Osama bin Laden...



Mike Huckabee has moved on from "aw shucks" preacher/politician to 9/11 profiteer with this, the latest in his series of revisionist comedy history designed to fleece idiots out of a few bucks, this time using 9/11 to get the money flowing.

In Yokelbe's camera obscura world, everyone has a southern accent, including Colin Powell and every day New Yorkers, Geroge Bush killed Osma bin Laden and there is no Barack Obama.

The Sad Truth Behind Perry's "Texas Miracle"


Austin writer Jason Cherkis exposes the reality of crowded homeless shelters, substandard education, low pay dead end jobs and lack of worker safety behind Perry's supposed "Texas Miracle"...
Texas is struggling right along with every other state. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics
...
Plenty of states without miracles posted lower unemployment rates; New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Wisconsin, among others are all out performing Texas.
...
Houston's not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped to 9 percent. The unemployment rate has hit double digits in the Rio Grande Valley. In Hildago County, it's 12 percent. Quality of life indexes like child poverty rates put Texas further behind. State Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D) told The Huffington Post her state ranks 48th in teen birth rates, 50th in prenatal care and 46th in income disparity -- and 50th in the number of persons who receive a high school diploma by age 25.
...
"Texas is tied for last with Mississippi for the highest percentage of minimum wage jobs and Texas is by far the leader of residents who don't have health insurance. It's low wage jobs without any benefits."
...
This year, the state faced a projected budget shortfall totaling as much as $27 billion; the legislature also had to contend with a $4.3 billion deficit in its current budget. The state made massive across-the-board cuts to state agencies -- including $4 billion in public school cuts over two years. Perry and the state legislature also ended up closing out funding for pre-kindergarten programs for roughly 100,000 low-income children. Mass layoffs of public sector workers is expected.
Some miracle, eh?

Perry Pouts: Response "The Response" Is Deafening Silence


Rick Perry's big fall down on your knees and beg the old white guy in the sky not to kill us all event, aka "The Response," is coming up this Saturday at Reliant Stadium in Houston, a 71,000 seat football stadium. But the response to "The Response" has been pathetically weak. Organizers report only 8,000 people have singed up online to attend, barely enough to fill one section of the massive stadium. From CNN...

Organizers of the religious gathering, dubbed "The Response," say only 8,000 people have registered on-line to attend this Saturday's event at Houston's Reliant Stadium, a venue with a seating capacity of 71,000.
Eric Bearse, a "Response" spokesman and former speech-writer for the potential GOP presidential candidate, says attendance numbers are a non-issue.
...
"We need God's help," Perry says in web video on the site's main page. The Texas governor goes on to call on Americans "to pray and fast like Jesus did."
Yeah, you need God's help getting anyone but a handful of wingnut lunatics and their idiot followers to show up. Perry's event has taken massive criticism recently due to the batshit crazy crap that falls out of the mouths of the preachers leading this flock of nutballs. Here, from ThinkProgress, are some examples of the creme de la crazy...

Preacher Mike Bickle says Orpah is a "harbinger of the anti-Christ" and “forerunner to the harlot movement.”
...
Dr. Cindy Jacobs preaches that blackbirds are dying en masse in Beebee, Arkansas because of gay soldiers.
...
John Benefiel claims the The Statue of Liberty is a “demonic idol” given to us by French Masons and homosexuality is a plot by the Illuminati.
...
John Hagee has said too many crazy things to list here. Highlights include claiming Hurricane Katrina was divine retribution for sins of New Orleans residents and the Holocaust was the fault of the Jews and Hitler was a positive force herding Jews back to Israel.
...
Dwight McKissic agrees that Katrina was God's vengeance because “New Orleans flaunts sin,” and the gay rights movement is a “satanic anointment…inspired by the anti-Christ that comes from the “pit of hell.”
...
Mega-church mega-moron David Barton says Jesus opposes the minimum wage and the purpose of public schools is “homosexual indoctrination.”
...
Jim Garlow says children of gay parents are just like the orphans of 9/11 and praises African Americans for haring teh gay.
...
Domestic terrorist wannabe Jay Swallow is the Director of SWAT, a “Christian Military Training Camp” organized “for the purpose of dealing with the occult and territorial enemy strong holds in America.” Bizarrely, He also teaches his followers to pray for casinos on Native American land.
...
Willie Wooten wrote a book claiming African Americans are cursed because of their tolerance of "immorality" and the Democratic Party begets “adultery, incest, children from incestuous union, children born out-of-wedlock, destroyed virginity, bestiality, homosexuality, lesbianism.”
And that's just the stuff from the highest profile participants. Imagine the rest of the crazy. With all of this idiot babble about the retribution of a vengeful God, why is it you never hear about a busload of atheists going over a cliff?

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Are You Smarter Than A Tea Bagger? Matt Damon Schools Wingnuts On Why Teachers Teach

Having lived through the 8 year fuster cluck of Drooling St. Ronnie, who put us on the path to financial extinction tea baggers are following today, I'm not a huge fan of the mix of celebrities and politics. But this video of Matt Damon trying to explian why teachers teach to a wingnut "reporter" is an excellent example of the depths of dumb plumbed by the conservadolt fringe...



These tea bagging wingnuts simply cannot comprehend why anyone smarter than they are, teachers, for example, would work at a difficult, low paying job simply because they love it or they think it's the right thing to do. FYI, wingnut morans, no, actors do not act because of job insecurity. Nor do teachers teach for job security. There's an apt word for that sort of "thinking." Stupidity.

And yes, wingnuts, there are people who are really bad at their jobs in all fields. For example, take the idiot wing of the GOP in Congress. Please...

GOP's "Zero Tolerance" Pledge Doesn't Apply To GOP


Via ThinkProgress...

Ohio GOP Forgets Its Zero Tolerance Pledge After Three Members Get In Trouble With The Law

Three Ohio Republicans have had run-ins with the law this year. State Rep. Robert Mecklenborg (R) was arrested for drunk driving with a stripper in his car. State Rep. Jarrod Martin (R) has had three drunken incidents with law enforcement, including one in which he was driving with his kids in the car. State Sen. Kris Jordan, meanwhile, is being investigated for a domestic dispute with his wife while he was allegedly drunk and in possession of a firearm.

And in the wake of those run-ins, Ohio-based blog Plunderbund reports that Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine has seemingly cast aside the “zero tolerance” policy he instituted for “any candidate or party official who crosses the line.”

(more at URL)

Update: Nootie Noot's Sock Puppet Army...


Yesterday Gawker reported that most of Newt Gingrich's Twitter followers are fakes...
Yesterday Newt Gingrich laid out a new argument for why he should be the GOP presidential nominee: He's got the most Twitter followers. But according to a former Gingrich staffer, he bought them.
A former staffer told Gawker...
Newt employs a variety of agencies whose sole purpose is to procure Twitter followers for people who are shallow/insecure/unpopular enough to pay for them. As you might guess, Newt is most decidedly one of the people to which these agencies cater.

About 80 percent of those accounts are inactive or are dummy accounts created by various "follow agencies," another 10 percent are real people who are part of a network of folks who follow others back and are paying for followers themselves...
Today Gawker corrected the record...

Yesterday, we published an item based on a former Newt Gingrich staffer's claim that Gingrich assembled his 1.3 million Twitter followers—a number that he's taken to bragging about—in part by buying fake Twitter followers. A lot of people did not think that was true! But today social networking search firm PeekYou announced that it had crunched the data and come to the conclusion that roughly 106,055 of Gingrich's million-plus followers are real people. The rest are fakes.

GOP Rep "Apologizes" For Calling Obama A 'Tar Baby'...


Yesterday GOP Rep. Doug Lamborn, who represents Colorado Springs, speaking about Barack Obama told a Denver radio station...
“I don’t even want to have to be associated with him. It’s like touching a tar baby."
Today Congressman Asshole issued the standard GOP non-apology apology...
In an email, Lamborn spokeswoman Catherine Mortensen wrote, "Congressman Lamborn regrets any misunderstanding. He simply meant to refer to a sticky situation or quagmire.”
...
Monday evening, Lamborn's office sent a news release saying he had "sent a personal letter to President Barack Obama apologizing for using a term some find insensitive."
There's no misunderstanding, Congressman. We understand perfectly. You're a racist stupid asshole. We all know exactly what you meant when you used a highly offensive racially charged expression to refer to the president of the United States.

The GOP Irony Deficiency On Parade...

Conspiracy Nut Frank Gaffney: Herman Cain Pals Around With Muslim Terrorists

Sometimes karma jumps up and bites one right on one's ass, especially if one is an ass, like anti-Muslim bigot and GOP prez hopeful Herman Cain. In the following video wingnut conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney accuses wingnut bigot Hermain Cain of meeting with a "prominent Muslim brotherhood group."

10 Reasons Why Rick Perry Is An Idiot

Rick Perry loves to take credit for the "Texas miracle" of job creation. In fact, the only "miracle" is that anyone can survive on the low wage service jobs that have replaced real jobs in Texas under Perry. The Houston Chronicle lists Ten reasons why the Texas economy is growing that have nothing to do with Rick Perry...

Kay Bailey Cheerleader On GOP Shutdown of FAA: "Not Honorable"


Every once in a while our do nothing senator Kay Bailey Hutchison actually stands up and does something. Yesterday was one of those days. CNN reports...
"We're getting ready to leave for a month. We should not shut down the FAA because of a rider put on the extension of the FAA legislation that has not been negotiated," Hutchison said.
"It is not honorable for the House to send an extraneous amendment" on a funding extension, she said.
Hutchison was bucking her own party on the GOP driven shut down of the FAA. Republicans refused to authorize the FAA, which had been running on a series of shirt term authorizations, for the first time in the history of the agency. Republicans are holding the agency hostage in an attempt to kill of unions representing aviation workers, including the 4000 FAA employees currently on furlough.

One of the consequences of the shutdown is as of July 23 the FAA stopped collecting federal taxes on airline tickets that pay for air traffic controllers, among other essential items. Contrary to early claims by the Fox Fux and other wingnut idiot media, this did not result in lower air fares for consumers as airlines simply pocketed the difference. In fact, in anticipation of higher operating costs due to the shutdown, ticket prices have gone up.

In addition to the 4000 FAA workers off the job, the shutdown will impact an additional 70,000 construction and support workers as projects are put on hold. More from CNN...

Monday, August 1, 2011

Fox Fux Push New Lies By Roy Spencer, Denier Shill And OilCo Puppet

He's baaa-aaack! Those who follow climate issues closely know the name of Roy Spencer. He's a psuedo scientist working at that bastion of scientific excellence, the University of Alabama, Huntsville. When he's not being paid to shill for Exxon or wingnut extremist anti-science groups like the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance and the Evangelical Climate Initiative.

So shoddy is Spencer's "work" that several of his previous "peer reviewed" papers were withdrawn due to errors in basic math and absurd logical assumptions that would embarrass a clever 6th grader. Which means he's the PERFECT go to guy on climate science for the Fox Fux, who've been breathlessly hyping Spencer's latest paper, published in an obscure journal nobody has ever heard of called Remote sensing.

Here's a great deconstruction of Spencer's latest happy horse shit courtesy of RealClimate.org, a scientific organization run by climate scientists for climate scientists that people actually have of...

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2011/07/misdiagnosis-of-surface-temperature-feedback/

Basically, the short version is Spencer is a pid lackey whose data is all wrong, his assumptions asinine and his conclusions unsupported. But,other than that, yer doin'a heckuva job, Roy!

BTW, here in Austin we're awaiting our 32 straight day of temps over 100. July was the hottest month ever in Austin. Considering it was 107 today, August looks to easily break the record.

The History of Raising The Debt Ceiling

Here's a chart from the Congressional Budget Office showing the rise of the debt ceiling over the past 20 years. Under Reagan Congress raised the debt ceiling 17 times for a whopping increase of 199.5%, 5 times under Bush I for an increase of 48%, 4 times under Clinton totaling a 43.66 increase and 7 times under GW Bush increasing the limit by 90.2%


That's a total of 33 times Congress raised the debt ceiling limit over the past 20 years with by far the largest number of increases coming with a Republican in the White House. Reagan quadrupled the debt ceiling. GW Bush nearly doubled the debt ceiling. By contrast, Obama's debt limit request would bring his total to just 26.3% in increases.