I usually don't add links with a lot of fan fare, but I received a request from a woman (who can identify herself in a comment if she so desires) asking if I would add a link to the Mesothelioma and Asbestos Awareness Center to my blog roll. What could I do? She asked.
As on who has dabbled in safety issues and a former member of the American Society of Safety Engineers, I can attest to the seriousness of asbestos (and other airborne contaminant) related illnesses. I know it's a legitimate cause, so visit the site, and if you know anyone who's been exposed to asbestos, say they built their house with Chinese made wallboard, refer them to the site.
Oh and if you even think that you have asbestos in your house, don't screw with it. Call in the pros. It can't really hurt you unless you disturb it.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Remember CNN's Tea Bagger Express?
Where were they? The "Save America Convention." Whoooo heeee...
300 people. WOW. Some grass roots movement there. This is why I don't use the term "Tea Party." It's NOT a party, and doesn't deserve the respect required of that term. It only exists when the Monopolists want it to exist in order to "populize" their objectives, like screwing your kids' teachers so they can get their tax cuts. Or nullifying your election of your city or county councils, or your school board, etc, so a commissar can be appointed at an exorbitant salary to add further indignities to that screwing. All in the name of fairness: Nobody should have anything since I have nothing, and fiscal austerity: We're broke so we need to cut taxes, and shared sacrifice: sharing the space in the culvert you've moved into since you've lost your house.
This isn't conservatism. It's insanity. It's by its very definition Fascism.
File this one next to all those articles about how the Secessionist State, and gubner Hair Club has weathered the recession to the tune of a 20 some billion dollar deficit. Obviously due to their state's workers union contracts and pensions, and... oh wait... they don't have any of that there. Money from that failed federal-overreaching stimulus bailout for unions fund only go so far
Damned liberal bias of that corporate owned media...
Outlawing unions and collective bargaining.... puts us right in there with North Korea, Myanmar (Burma), Communist China, Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia, Mussolini's Italy, among others. Yeah. Right where we want to be. But hey...
At least we won't be Socialist. Big ol thumbs up on that one.
300 people. WOW. Some grass roots movement there. This is why I don't use the term "Tea Party." It's NOT a party, and doesn't deserve the respect required of that term. It only exists when the Monopolists want it to exist in order to "populize" their objectives, like screwing your kids' teachers so they can get their tax cuts. Or nullifying your election of your city or county councils, or your school board, etc, so a commissar can be appointed at an exorbitant salary to add further indignities to that screwing. All in the name of fairness: Nobody should have anything since I have nothing, and fiscal austerity: We're broke so we need to cut taxes, and shared sacrifice: sharing the space in the culvert you've moved into since you've lost your house.
This isn't conservatism. It's insanity. It's by its very definition Fascism.
File this one next to all those articles about how the Secessionist State, and gubner Hair Club has weathered the recession to the tune of a 20 some billion dollar deficit. Obviously due to their state's workers union contracts and pensions, and... oh wait... they don't have any of that there. Money from that failed federal-overreaching stimulus bailout for unions fund only go so far
Texas Used Stimulus to Cover 97% of Its Deficit
I guess.Damned liberal bias of that corporate owned media...
Outlawing unions and collective bargaining.... puts us right in there with North Korea, Myanmar (Burma), Communist China, Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia, Mussolini's Italy, among others. Yeah. Right where we want to be. But hey...
At least we won't be Socialist. Big ol thumbs up on that one.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
It's not as if it's a Blow Job - UPDATED
Listening to Rachel Maddow's summary of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, it looks like Obama is in the clear / will get away with his actions toward Libya. (she starts at about the 6 minute mark) It all seems to depend on the limited scope of the operation. Vietnam anyone? Bosnia/Kosovo? Thing is, just like with our support of despots, we aren't good at limited actions. There's no money in them for one thing.
Before I digress: Is this... action a good thing? Yes it is. It's always a good thing when you're saving lives. Even when those lives aren't fetuses. Is it the right thing? I don't know. How's that for being decisive, eh?
The thing to keep in mind is that seldom is the "stated issue" the "real issue." Take the gay marriage issue in California. The "real issue" was, could the far right republican movement arbitrarily choose a group and deny them a basic human right? Just as a salad is a vehicle for blu cheese dressing, gay marriage was just the vehicle neo Jim Crowism. It's led to the republicorp assault on worker rights. Soon, we quite likely could se an assault on the rights of non-property owners. Your right to vote if you're homeless is already under attack; renters are likely next. So....
Back to Libya, and the basic question of, "WHY? ???" Oil? They supply only 2% of world supply. Terrorism? Don't make me laugh. The "they-kept-us-safe" guys took him off the master list of terrists and called him an ally in their war on terrists. Humanitarianism? Don't make me cry. We've stood back and watched throughout the Darfur genocide among others.
One thing, among the many that piss me off about Obama, is that everything this administration does is only done after running it through focus groups. After looking at the "political aspects." One reason Obama is doing this, and I fear it may be "The Reason" is that he believes it will positively affect is chances for re-election. Attract independent voters? Maybe. Gain contributions from defense contractors? Likely. Fuck the base; they've got no where else to go. And there's no money in satisfying them.
Scary thought that we have another president so cravenly self serving and self centered that he would do this, but it may well be so. But still... impeach..?
Previously:
Soooooo much outrage over Obama's decision to follow a UN resolution on the formerly-Republicorp-desired No-Fly Zone in Libya. Now that it's happening, it seems to be hard to know what side to be on. Saving lives is always good, even after they're born, but why Libya? And why not Bahrain? Or Yemen? Or the Congo? Or Darfur? Or Burma? Or Rwanda? Or Bosnia/Kosovo? Or any number of former Soviet states in Central Asia or the Caucasus? We can't pick one country and make up for the lack of action in others. And we've never had a good track record in picking and choosing which despots we want to prop up. Karzai anyone? Or cut off. Castro anyone? Is this an Obama staff method of firing up the base? Doubt it. sooo.... What to do.
I expect Republicorp hypocrisy / ies and the accompanying media coddling. It's what they do. Both of them. It doesn't matter why Bush invaded Afghanistan or Iraq. By Republicorp party orthodoxy, they had to support him. It doesn't matter how, when, why or what Obama does with Libya, that same orthodoxy requires they they oppose it in some fashion. I expect all of that, just as I expect Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich calling Obama out on this. They're democrats, liberals, progressives. OK, maybe Nader's not a registered Dem, but they're people with actual moral codes, values and core beliefs. They believe in applying their own rules to themselves, unlike the other guys.
Among the many problems I have with this effort is our continual bi-partisan support of unchecked military spending. There's allllllwaysroom for Jello money for wars. Says so in 1984. No money for schools. Or roads. Or our electrical grid. Or our water supply facilities. And NEVER money that would improve Social Security, or Medicare, or establish a universal health care system... by means other than (formerly) Republicorp approved corporate welfare. Gotta have those wars.
The hand wringing over all this misses the point: Executive power, and Obama's continuing embrace of Dubya style over-reach. Rather than raise the bar back to where it should be, where the president is accountable to congress and the people and the rule of law, he continues to be like or barely better than, Bush. He's repeatedly proven himself to be totally full of shit when it comes to him interpreting the constitution and Bush proved through John Yoo that you can find a lawyer/expert/quack to justify anything your twisted empty black heart and mind desire, so...
We no longer have standards in this country. If Obama should be impeached, then prosecute Bush, especially since he's confessed to committing what was considered a war crime post WW II. The same assholes who condemned Clinton for his blow jobs, fail to live up to their own standards: Newt, Ensign, Vitter, et al. In some cases they're glorified. If Obama gets impeached over this, so be it. But whichever way that goes, when will voters and backers of Republicorp and the Tea Baggers (sorry for the redundancy) hold their own side, not to MY/Democratic standards, no. When will they hold their side to their OWN standards? ???
More later.
Before I digress: Is this... action a good thing? Yes it is. It's always a good thing when you're saving lives. Even when those lives aren't fetuses. Is it the right thing? I don't know. How's that for being decisive, eh?
The thing to keep in mind is that seldom is the "stated issue" the "real issue." Take the gay marriage issue in California. The "real issue" was, could the far right republican movement arbitrarily choose a group and deny them a basic human right? Just as a salad is a vehicle for blu cheese dressing, gay marriage was just the vehicle neo Jim Crowism. It's led to the republicorp assault on worker rights. Soon, we quite likely could se an assault on the rights of non-property owners. Your right to vote if you're homeless is already under attack; renters are likely next. So....
Back to Libya, and the basic question of, "WHY? ???" Oil? They supply only 2% of world supply. Terrorism? Don't make me laugh. The "they-kept-us-safe" guys took him off the master list of terrists and called him an ally in their war on terrists. Humanitarianism? Don't make me cry. We've stood back and watched throughout the Darfur genocide among others.
One thing, among the many that piss me off about Obama, is that everything this administration does is only done after running it through focus groups. After looking at the "political aspects." One reason Obama is doing this, and I fear it may be "The Reason" is that he believes it will positively affect is chances for re-election. Attract independent voters? Maybe. Gain contributions from defense contractors? Likely. Fuck the base; they've got no where else to go. And there's no money in satisfying them.
Scary thought that we have another president so cravenly self serving and self centered that he would do this, but it may well be so. But still... impeach..?
Previously:
Soooooo much outrage over Obama's decision to follow a UN resolution on the formerly-Republicorp-desired No-Fly Zone in Libya. Now that it's happening, it seems to be hard to know what side to be on. Saving lives is always good, even after they're born, but why Libya? And why not Bahrain? Or Yemen? Or the Congo? Or Darfur? Or Burma? Or Rwanda? Or Bosnia/Kosovo? Or any number of former Soviet states in Central Asia or the Caucasus? We can't pick one country and make up for the lack of action in others. And we've never had a good track record in picking and choosing which despots we want to prop up. Karzai anyone? Or cut off. Castro anyone? Is this an Obama staff method of firing up the base? Doubt it. sooo.... What to do.
I expect Republicorp hypocrisy / ies and the accompanying media coddling. It's what they do. Both of them. It doesn't matter why Bush invaded Afghanistan or Iraq. By Republicorp party orthodoxy, they had to support him. It doesn't matter how, when, why or what Obama does with Libya, that same orthodoxy requires they they oppose it in some fashion. I expect all of that, just as I expect Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich calling Obama out on this. They're democrats, liberals, progressives. OK, maybe Nader's not a registered Dem, but they're people with actual moral codes, values and core beliefs. They believe in applying their own rules to themselves, unlike the other guys.
Among the many problems I have with this effort is our continual bi-partisan support of unchecked military spending. There's allllllways
The hand wringing over all this misses the point: Executive power, and Obama's continuing embrace of Dubya style over-reach. Rather than raise the bar back to where it should be, where the president is accountable to congress and the people and the rule of law, he continues to be like or barely better than, Bush. He's repeatedly proven himself to be totally full of shit when it comes to him interpreting the constitution and Bush proved through John Yoo that you can find a lawyer/expert/quack to justify anything your twisted empty black heart and mind desire, so...
We no longer have standards in this country. If Obama should be impeached, then prosecute Bush, especially since he's confessed to committing what was considered a war crime post WW II. The same assholes who condemned Clinton for his blow jobs, fail to live up to their own standards: Newt, Ensign, Vitter, et al. In some cases they're glorified. If Obama gets impeached over this, so be it. But whichever way that goes, when will voters and backers of Republicorp and the Tea Baggers (sorry for the redundancy) hold their own side, not to MY/Democratic standards, no. When will they hold their side to their OWN standards? ???
More later.
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