Judge Throws Out WI Gov Walker's Union Busting Law

Photo by Micheal Sears - Protesters flood the streets around the Wisconsin State Capitol in March 2011 to protest Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining legislation.

Ring up another win for the good guys. Wholly owned Koch Brothers subsidiary Scott Walker just lost another big legal fight. Wisconsin Circuit Judge Juan B. Colas just struck down Walker's "kill the unions" law because it violates both the US Constitution and the Wisconsin Constitution guarantees of free speech.
Here's more...

Gov. Scott Walker's law repealing most collective bargaining for local and school employees was struck down by a Dane County judge Friday
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Colas ruled that the law violated workers' constitutional rights by making denying to union workers certain powers available to their nonunion counterparts.
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Under Walker's law, both the state and local governments were prohibited from bargaining over anything besides a cost of living salary adjustment. Other issues such as health benefits, pensions, workplace safety and other work rules were strictly off limits.

Those can all now be bargained.

The GOP war on workers is going about as well as the GOP war on voters. Every law these wingnut morans pass is overturned. Unless and until it gets to the wingnut dominated Supreme Court. This is why it's so vital to not let Willard and the Wingnuts win. The next prez is likely to get at least 2 and possibly 3 SCoUS appointments.

Lower Wingnuttia Lunacy: Embassy Marines Weren't Allowed To Carry Live Ammo - Marines: Idiot Wingnuttians Totally FOS

It's hard to keep track of the asinine nonsense that moves through Lower Wingnuttia at the speed of light, thanks to the flying monkey squad and the wingnutosphere, but this is just, well, fucking sick. You won't see many better examples of just how craven, dishonest and bat crap crazy these stupid assholes and their followers are than this.

The latest paranoid nutbag lunatic conspiracy theory to spur poutrage in Lower Wingnuttia is a claim that Barack Obama ordered Marines guarding our embassy in Egypt to not carry live ammo. This is such an intensely stupid, insanely asinine claim that it's hard to believe it requires refutation, but never underestimate the raw STPUIDITY of Lower Wingnuttians.

Forget that the original "report," which any sane person would immediately recognize as horse poop, came from only one source, Nightwatch, an "intelligence" blog by discredited lying lunatic John McCreary. Forget that nobody bothered to, oh, say, you know, CONFIRM anything. The flames of Teh Stupid were fanned into a blaze of bat crappery by many of the regular wingnut morans who pass for pundits among anencephallics. Professional monkey turd hurlers like Jay Severin, John Podhoretz, Michael Graham and Kurt Schlichter were quick to pounce.

Here's more from Mother Jones...

Early Thursday morning, conservative military bloggers began to float reports that the US ambassador to Egypt, Anne Patterson, did not permit US Marine security guards to carry live ammunition. Within hours, this "no ammo" rumor in response to the embassy attack in Cairo lit up right-wing social media, with the allegation unquestioningly blamed on the White House.

Recognizing bat crap when they see it, Mother Jones called the Marines. Guess what they found out? Read it for yourself from this official memo from the Marine Corps...

The Ambassador did not impose restrictions on weapons or weapons status on the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group (MCESG) detachment. The MCESG Marines in Cairo were allowed to have live ammunition in their weapons. The Ambassador and Regional Security Officer have been completely and appropriately engaged with the security situation. Reports of Marines not being able to have their weapons loaded per direction from the Ambassador are not accurate.

You might think this crystal clear repudiation would stop the poutrage and the spread of the bat crappery. Silly sane person! Not in Lower Wingnuttia. That's where even the most insane, ridiculous, absurd stupid asshole lies go to live on forever in the dark, cobwebbed corners of otherwise empty wingnut minds.

Romney: Middle Income Is $250,000 Per Year - Say WHAT!?

Hey, fellow middle class Americans, are you enjoying the TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS Willard Romdroid thinks you make every year? I poop you not, he really is THAT bleeping out of touch. Witness as witless Romdroid tells ABC, with a straight face, no less, that "middle income is $200,000 to $250,000."

Hey, Willard, you moran, NINETY-SEVEN PERCENT of Americans DO NOT make $250 grand/yr or anything close. FYI, you moran, "middle income" in the US is $43,000/yr. You're only off by a FACTOR OF SIX! Here's Willard farting nonsesne to George Stephanoupolis...

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Is $100,000 middle income?

MITT ROMNEY: No, middle income is $200,000 to $250,000 and less. So number one, don’t reduce– or excuse me, don’t raise taxes on middle-income people, lower them. 

Of course, this is the same stupid asshole who said $360,000 is "not very much" money and who tried to make a $10,000 bet during a debate, so WTF does he know about real money in the real world? I bet if you asked him about money in the Caymans or Switzerland, he'd get the answer right down to the penny.

Analysis: Romney paid only 13.9% tax on $22 million. Under Ryan's plan he'd have paid LESS THAN ONE PERCENT

What's wrong with this picture? Other than two chicken-hawks posing in front of a battleship...

Over at The Atlantic, business and economics editor Mathew O'Brien has been crunching numbers. He compared what Romney's tax rate for the one year of partial returns Willard has released - only 13.9% on $22 million in taxable income - to what he'd pay under Paul Ryan's plan. Are you sitting down?

Under Ryan's plan Willard would have paid an effective rate of...

LESS THAN ONE PERCENT!

This isn't speculation. This isn't a guesstimate. This is running the exact numbers from Willard's tax return using the exact numbers from Ryan's tax plan. This is fact.

From The Atlantic...

Under Paul Ryan's plan, Mitt Romney wouldn't pay any taxes for the next ten years -- or any of the years after that. Now, do I know that that's true. Yes, I'm certain.

Well, maybe not quite nothing. In 2010 -- the only year we have seen a full return from him -- Romney would have paid an effective tax rate of around 0.82 percent under the Ryan plan, rather than the 13.9 percent he actually did. How would someone with more than $21 million in taxable income pay so little? Well, the vast majority of Romney's income came from capital gains, interest, and dividends. And Ryan wants to eliminate all taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends.

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But what about corporate taxes? Aren't they a double tax on savings and investment, so Romney's "real" rate is higher than his headline rate? No. As Jared Bernstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has pointed out, Romney has structured his investments as "pass-throughs" that avoid corporate tax. In other words, the 0.82 percent tax rate is really a 0.82 percent tax rate.

 Apparently the Rombot has calculated that the best way to fend of questions about why he won't release his tax records, as every major candidate in this quadrant of the galaxy does, and why, despite eye popping income, he pays at a rate far lower than the average American, is to team up with a guy who would REDUCE Willard's already super low rich guys only tax rate to, essentially, NOTHING.

Yeah, boy, howdy, why, that's SURE to work, Willard! Brillyent strategery!

Of course, there is another possibility. Maybe it really is strategery. Maybe Willard figures picking an extreme far right wing, controversial, highly divisive running mate is good strategery because it worked so well last time for John McCain.

Gibson Enters Plea Bargain In Illegal Woods Case, Admits Intentional Law Breaking, Lying...

Gibson Les Paul "Classic"

I wrote two posts about this story last year, when Lower Wingnuttia guitar fans erupted in poutrage over the Kenyan Mau Mau Socialist Muslim sleeper agent taking away their rock. You should read those pieces, here, and here, for background, but the short of it is, as usual with Lower Wingnuttia poutrage, it was all a giant crock of crap to begin with. Here's a quick recap...

Gibson, formerly a private company of craftsmen in Kalamazoo, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of a giant South American conglomerate. The first thing the new owners did was fire all of the old workers and move the company to Nashville, where they could replace craftsmen with machines and not have to worry about pesky details like paying a living wage to the remaining humans they do employ.

The second thing the new owners did was to start trading in the illegal black market of endangered species, specifically, exotic woods protected by a 100 year old international treaty. And they got caught.

Gibson made wild-ass pleas to Lower Wingnuttia, claiming the evil gubmint, and Barack Obama, personally, was out to get them. In point of fact, at the time the feds seized the load of incoming illegal wood that started it all, they had no idea it belonged to Gibson. But hey, since when have facts ever mattered in Lower Wingnuttia?

Well, guess what, Wingnuttians? Gibson has now ADMITTED that they broke the law intentionally, then lied their right wing corporate asses off about it. And you idiots fell for it. Again.

Here's an update on Gibson's plea bargain deal from Mother Jones...

Gibson agreed to pay a $300,000 fine for the ebony from Madagascar that was taken in the first raid. The company also agreed to make a $50,000 donation to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to promote conservation work and forfeited the seized illegal wood, which was valued at $261,844.

Here's a link to the settlement agreement...

More from MJ..

DOJ notes that Madagascar is a country that has a major problem with illegal logging, and that its ebony is particularly threatened, which prompted the government to ban the export of unfinished ebony products in 2006. Importing those products would be considered illegal both under Malagasy law and under the Lacey Act

 Here's some details of Gibson's deliberate law breaking from the DoJ statement of facts, part of the settlement agreement...

Gibson participated in a trip to Madagascar, sponsored by a non-profit organization. Participants on the trip, including the Gibson employee, were told that a law passed in 2006 in Madagascar banned the harvest of ebony and the export of any ebony products that were not in finished form. They were further told by trip organizers that instrument parts, such as fingerboard blanks, would be considered unfinished and therefore illegal to export under the 2006 law. Participants also visited the facility of the exporter in Madagascar, from which Gibson’s supplier sourced its Madagascar ebony, and were informed that the wood at the facility was under seizure at that time and could not be moved. 

After the Gibson employee returned from Madagascar with this information, he conveyed the information to superiors and others at Gibson. The information received by the Gibson employee during the June 2008 trip, and sent to company management by the employee and others following the June 2008 trip, was not further investigated or acted upon prior to Gibson continuing to place orders with its supplier. Gibson received four shipments of Madagascar ebony fingerboard blanks from its supplier between October 2008 and September 2009.

1960 tobacco sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard

 So, there you go, Wingutty rockers. Gibson really is a huge pile of shit. I say this as a huge fan of the old Gibson. The REAL Gibson. Like the 1960 Les Paul Standard above, very similar to the '59 tobacco sunburst Standard I used to own. Anyone who's been around will tell you today's Gibson guitars are junk compared to real Gibsons. Now, the once spotless name of Gibson has been subverted by a huge, heartless, felonious corporation out to make Big Bux using a cherished name to sell mediocre crapola at premium prices.

Top 11 Nuggets of Teh Stupid From the Most Popular Christian Home School "Science" Text

How stupid are they, home scholers [sic} edition: The ignorant fundie boob.babble that passes for "science" in actual Christian home school "science" textbooks...

No, this is not an Onion article. Yes, the most popular "science" text used by idiot fundie home shoolers really does "teach" the following total nonsense, and all in the very 1st chapter. I poop you not.

Here's the top 11 nuggets of rock hard stupid just in the first chapter of the most popular "science" text for fundie moran home schoolers, re-written from a post to 11points.com...

1. Since no one saw the moon formed, science is the same as faith. Forget all of that science stuff - you know, like data, observation, the fact we've actually been there, etc. - because Bronze Age goat herders knew better.

2. The moon is  only 10,000 years old (see 1, 'cause that's not at all like circular reasoning or stupid bleephole kettle logic).

3. Absurd wild-ass guesses based on superstition and nonsense are just like scientific theories.

4. Forget all of those science-type theories and all of the data and evidence. We ignorant fundie morans KNOW how it all happened, 'cause some Bronze Age goat herders told us so.

5. Only evil godless Yankees use technology! That's why the good, upright KKKristians - slave owners, just like the Bible says - lost the War of Northern Aggression!

6. God uses "special signs" to warn us about God's own genocide. You know, mysterious special signs that nobody can explain or predict, like solar and lunar eclipses.

7. The Grand Canyon is only a few thousand years old and was caused by the Great Flood the last time God decided to commit planetary genocide. You know, the exact same Great flood described in the epic poem 'Gilgamesh,' which predates the fairy stories of the Bronze Age goat herders by 1,500 years or so.

8. God wants all of the glaciers to melt so we'll have drinking water.

9. Actually, I rather like fiddleheads...

10. Electricity, magnets and all of that stuff is a total mystery nobody understands and probably doesn't exist because you can't see it or hear it or feel it. Well, unless you're struck by lightning, but, apparently this is a logical leap to far for the idiots that wrote this garbage and the incredible imbeciles who buy into such full throated, 100% Grade AAA USDA Prime STUPIDITY.

11. BTW, we put in some of that godless "science" stuff, too, but just so we could get a publisher to put the rest of this happy horse poop out. You can just ignore it.