MPNW: 2013-07-21

Saturday, July 27, 2013

House Republicans Are on the Hook for Killing 1.6 Million Jobs

The sequester was always a Republican dream, and Republican Budget God Paul Ryan (R-WI) has been championing it since 2004.

On August 1, 2011, Paul Ryan went on Fox News to crow that he finally got his way when sequestration was put into place via the 2011 congressional debt ceiling deal. Yes, that’s right. We got there because House Republicans were holding the economy hostage over raising the debt ceiling because they didn’t want to pay for the things they’d already bought.

Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor (R-VA) admitted that they were the force behind sequestration when they admitted that they got House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to walk away from the Grand Bargain because they were unwilling to give on any revenue at all.

Documents Detail Coordination Between Republican Party And Right-Wing Media -

Ever noticed how for years it appeared that the right-wing in this country appeared to be working in lock-step? Every right-wing media outlet discussing the same topics in the same way as every right-wing politician? From Benghazi to the debt crisis, the talking points were point for point identical. There was a reason for this, Grover Norquist has held weekly planning sessions for the Republican Party and other conservative groups for years now. Held at the same time every week, this meeting has been the go-to event for those seeking to establish themselves within the conservative movement. As a result, he has been able to control the message by both lawmakers and lobbyists.

This consolidation has made him quite influential, but as with many such sessions, it becomes a case of haves, and have-nots. And with the loss of the election, a coalition of interests has decided on stepping away, and created their own weekly meeting. Calling itself Groundswell, this group has been steadily growing in strength, sapping the attention away from Grover Norquist’s weekly shindig, and the name list is getting quite impressive. With Ginny Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, as the main planner, this group has set as its goal to control the message which Grover Norquist had no masterfully managed, and for doing it, they have embedded themselves with the right-wing media. Not just invited media to observe, as Grover Norquist has done for decades, but actually implanted the media in the brainstorming sessions themselves.

Tennessee Cemetery Keeps Racism Alive Even After Death, Desecrates 'N*gger' Graves To Bury White Clients -

Racism is unacceptable and totally outrageous in today’s civilized world. It’s certainly not a desired quality in a politician who is supposed to legislate in the interest of all Americans no matter their race. But Republicans are racism deniers as much as they are climate change deniers. They want Americans to believe them when they say racism is dead so they can continue being racists and passing racist policies under our noses, all while claiming that such attitudes and policies are patriotic and strengthen America. Their beliefs are wrong, their ideas are wrong, and their attempt to fool Americans is also wrong, and conservatives should be punished for it. Make no mistake, racism is still very much alive in America today and conservatives want African-Americans to be the victims of racism from cradle to grave.

Racist KKK Tea Partiers Face Terrorism Charges!

You’ve got to hand it to crazy Tea Party racists; they sure do know how to make headlines. Take for example the two geniuses who are now facing terrorism charges in upstate New York after conspiring to use an “X-Ray” gun that they built while working at General Electric to kill Muslims while they sleep. To make the story even more perfect, one of the men is both a member of the Ku Klux Klan and the Tea Party Patriots. You know, TEApublicans get really angry when you accuse them of having racists in their flock, you may want to bookmark this story and send it to them every time you hear one of them whine and moan about being unfairly portrayed in the media.

How Successful Cooperative Economic Models Can Work Wonderfully… Somewhere Else

Capitalism rests on a foundation of myths. One of them is that capitalism somehow “invented” entrepreneurship. Another is that capitalism provides the only “market” economy. Then there is the self-proclaimed virtue of capitalism that only capitalism is compatible with “self-reliance” and individual responsibility. (The reality of course is that most people are utterly dependent on capitalists for jobs, financing, education, transportation, health care, shelter and just about everything else.) Capitalism also presents itself as the model of “efficiency,” when in truth it generates enormous waste of all kinds.

Finally, the biggest whopper of all is that There Is No Alternative. All of this is nonsense. The economy of the Emilia Romagna region of Italy and its largest city, Bologna, is living proof.

NC Passes Voter Suppression Measures as DOJ Moves to Protect Voters in TX

The North Carolina legislature voted Thursday to approve the most restrictive voter suppression measures in the country, making it the first state to pass new laws after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. But the move comes the same day that the Department of Justice announced plans to use other means to protect voting rights.

As the Center for Media and Democracy has reported, the North Carolina bill will not only enact strict voter ID requirements that threaten to disenfranchise 318,000 registered voters, but authorize voter vigilantes, end election day registration (used by 155,000 voters last November), cut early voting (used by 56% of the electorate), make it harder to register, and even create paranoid protections against "zombie voters." It also raises campaign contribution limits and kills public financing for judicial elections.

America Is on a Path to Turn into Detroit, and Republicans Are Cool with That

When given a chance to stop the outsourcing of American jobs overseas, Speaker Boehner and his Republican colleagues balked. In September of 2010, Republicans in Congress killed a bill that would have eliminated tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs.

But outsourcing isn’t the only problem that Detroit and the rest of America have in common.

In Detroit, thanks to a severe lack of funding, public education is failing that city’s children. Only 7% of Detroit public school 8th-graders are proficient in reading, while just 4% are proficient in math. And, in 2008, Detroit’s high school graduation rate was just 24.9 percent.

In the rest of the United States, public education is just as underfunded as it is in Detroit. As a result, in 2008, the US’ high school graduation rate was lower than the rates of the UK, Switzerland, Norway, South Korea, Japan, Italy and a host of other developed nations.

Steve King's Tall Tales about Immigrants Couldn't Be Farther From the Truth

What is certain is this: when it comes to the topic of immigration and crime, nativists like King have no need for facts when there is so much fear and innuendo at their disposal. Perhaps this is because the facts are so stacked against them.

As numerous studies over the past 100 years have shown, immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be behind bars than the native-born, and high rates of immigration are not associated with higher rates of crime.

How Student Loans Create Inequality, and How to Solve the Problem

Is it then any wonder that the American dream is dying? Economists like Miles Corak have discovered that upward mobility is now lower in America than a host of other European countries, among them, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, France, Germany, Norway and Finland. Is it, as George Carlin claimed, “called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it?”

The United States Is Awash in Public Stupidity, and Critical Thought Is Under Assault

America has become amnesiac - a country in which forms of historical, political, and moral forgetting are not only willfully practiced but celebrated. The United States has degenerated into a social order that is awash in public stupidity and views critical thought as both a liability and a threat. Not only is this obvious in the presence of a celebrity culture that embraces the banal and idiotic, but also in the prevailing discourses and policies of a range of politicians and anti-public intellectuals who believe that the legacy of the Enlightenment needs to be reversed. Politicians such as Michelle Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich along with talking heads such as Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck and Anne Coulter are not the problem, they are symptomatic of a much more disturbing assault on critical thought, if not rational thinking itself. Under a neoliberal regime, the language of authority, power and command is divorced from ethics, social responsibility, critical analysis and social costs.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Daily Kos: Rubio: "Obama is threatening to shut down the government unless we fund Obamacare"

Up is down. North is South. East is West. Name your example, but Rubio has taken his atttempt to be "More Crazy than Cruz" (TM pending) to new heights:

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) have circulated letters in the Senate and House to push their colleagues to unite behind the anti-Obamacare effort. The proponents of the push argue that if the government shuts down over Obamacare, it will be the president’s fault — not theirs.
“I see it as Obama is threatening to shut down the government unless we fund Obamacare,” Rubio said.

People are not as dumb as you think, Mr. Rubio. If Republicans cause a default or close down government over Obamacare, people will blame you and other Republicans.

Meanwhile Republicans begin to panic over the monster they created.

Arctic Warming Could Cost the World $60 Trillion

The Arctic sea ice, which largely melts and reforms each year, is declining at an unprecedented rate. In 2012, it collapsed to under 3.5 million square kilometers by mid-September, just 40 percent of its usual extent in the 1970s. Because the ice is also losing its thickness, some scientists expect the Arctic ocean to be largely free of summer ice by 2020.

The growing fear is that as the ice retreats, the warming of the sea water will allow offshore permafrost to release ever greater quantities of methane. A giant reservoir of the greenhouse gas, in the form of gas hydrates on the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS), could be emitted, either slowly over 50 years or catastrophically fast over a shorter time frame, say the researchers.

Funny or Die Is Making Pro-Obamacare Videos

The meeting was run by senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, who gave a presentation on health care reform and talked about pushing back against conservative memes surrounding the law. President Obama dropped in for roughly half an hour to mingle and hear some ideas from the attending celebrities and artists. Mike Farah, president of production and "ambassador of lifestyle" at Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's comedy website Funny or Die, was at the meeting with his colleague Jake Szymanski. "It was awesome," Farah tells Mother Jones. "It kind of kicked ass...I was honored to be there and to hear from Obama directly."

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Halliburton pleads guilty to destroying evidence in BP oil spill - latimes.com

Oil-field services giant Halliburton has agreed to plead guilty to destroying evidence in connection with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

Halliburton has been charged with one count of destruction of evidence in U.S. District Court in New Orleans.

Under a plea agreement that is subject to court approval, Halliburton agreed “to pay the maximum-available statutory fine, to be subject to three years of probation and to continue its cooperation in the government’s ongoing criminal investigation,” the Justice Department said.

Zimmerman Verdict: Why Conservatives Applaud the Acquittal

What is most curious about the reactions to the Zimmerman acquittal this week is how easily, in these conservatives' minds, Trayvon serves as a proxy for Barack Obama. For, you see, what conservatives have wanted all along was to destroy the personage and legacy of this first African-American president -- for fear that his ascendance would signal a shift in the inequitable racial power dynamics that exist throughout American society.

Zimmerman Verdict: Why Conservatives Applaud the Acquittal

The killing of an unarmed teenage boy isn't something you'd expect to be political. You would certainly never expect it to inspire gleeful adulation from any American of supposedly "good conscience." But it appears that some Republicans -- and prominent conservative talking heads in particular -- have developed a metastasizing form of "Obama Derangement Syndrome" in the wake of George Zimmerman's acquittal for the murder of Trayvon Martin, such that Trayvon has become an object of their putrid ridicule and unapologetic racist innuendo.

What is most curious about the reactions to the Zimmerman acquittal this week is how easily, in these conservatives' minds, Trayvon serves as a proxy for Barack Obama. For, you see, what conservatives have wanted all along was to destroy the personage and legacy of this first African-American president -- for fear that his ascendance would signal a shift in the inequitable racial power dynamics that exist throughout American society.

Who Is The Smallest Government Spender Since Eisenhower? Would You Believe It's Barack Obama? - Forbes

Amidst all the cries of Barack Obama being the most prolific big government spender the nation has ever suffered, Marketwatch is reporting that our president has actually been tighter with a buck than any United States president since Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Who knew?

Alberta Tar Sands Demonstrate a Legacy of Negligence and Deceit, New Study Says | DeSmog Canada

After a tedious series of Freedom of Information filings, Timoney and Lee were eventually granted access to the lot—1,700 printed pages and 3,500 more PDF files detailing everything from spills into the Athabasca River and excessive smokestack emissions to the discovery of random waste dumps in the bush.

Overall, the data shows the disconcerting reality that environmental violations in Alberta’s tar sands region are frequent, enforcement is rare, record keeping is dysfunctional, and there is a chronic failure to disclose important environmental information to the public.

Game Over, Austerity—Obama's Speech Clinches the Case Against Right-Wing Economics | Alternet

If you need any further evidence of the stark ideological divide that separates progressives from conservatives, you can find it by contrasting President Barack Obama’s speech on the economy with the response of the House Republicans.
* * *
In the progressive view, rebuilding a broken economy requires productivity-enhancing investment in manufacturing, innovation, infrastructure and education. In his speech, the president called for federal action in all four areas.
* * *
Short on vision, the House Republican plan is short on specifics, too. It proposes “3 ways to immediately grow jobs and strengthen the middle class”— approve the Keystone pipeline, pass the SKILLS Act to reform job training, and expand offshore domestic energy production.

The republican plan is STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!

The Keystone Pipeline alone is incredibly stupid. It will create some short term jobs, but it also increases fuel prices IN the United States, increases pollution and chances of a major environmental disaster, the likes of which we've never seen, and only help people who personally have money invested in the project... like John Boehner!!!

Keystone Pipeline Is A Clear LOSER, So It Would Be STUPID To Build It

The Latest Republican Threat: Obamacare or Your Life | Mother Jones

A few weeks ago, Republicans unveiled their latest brainstorm: a menu of concessions that President Obama could choose from in order to avoid a debt limit crisis. Privatizing Medicare would get him a debt limit increase for the rest of his term. Cutting SNAP and block granting Medicaid would buy him a couple of years. Means testing Social Security would get him a few months.

The whole thing was childish enough that it died a quick death even among tea partiers. So now they have a new rallying cry: repeal Obamacare or they'll shut down the government.

Inside Groundswell: Read the Memos of the New Right-Wing Strategy Group Planning a "30 Front War" | Mother Jones

Believing they are losing the messaging war with progressives, a group of prominent conservatives in Washington—including the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and journalists from Breitbart News and the Washington Examiner—has been meeting privately since early this year to concoct talking points, coordinate messaging, and hatch plans for "a 30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation," according to documents obtained by Mother Jones.

You Might Be A Conservative If... -

8: You believe in putting American jobs first, except when president Obama rescued 1.5 million GM and Chrysler autoworkers, because that was socialism.

9: It angers you that you can’t communicate with the Mexican busboy at your local Olive Garden, but when you took a vacation to San Francisco’s Chinatown, you thought it’s quaint that so many Chinese-Americans are holding fast to their traditional language. Because that’s America!

10: You deny that the lunatic who tried to murder Gaby Giffords was a conservative, even though he targeted a Jewish, pro-choice, pro gay rights, Democratic Congresswoman.

11: You thought it was perfectly normal that every president in history had an untethered right to raise the debt ceiling when warranted, but when Obama asked the GOP held congress to do it, you thought it only natural that it be tied to cutting Social Security and Medicare.

12: When the new 112th Congress was sworn in, you swooned as they promised to focus on “Jobs, jobs, jobs.” But when they pivoted, and went after NPR, Planned Parenthood and gay rights, you cheered.

13: You accuse president Obama of raising your taxes to the highest point ever, even though they’re lower today than at any time since 1950.

Right-Wing Pennsylvania Police Chief Calls For Violence Against Democrats And The Government (VIDEO) -

Apparently, Kessler is angry about gun control being implemented in Schuykill County by the democratically elected officials there. So, rather than go to court or start a petition or waiting till the next election to vote for new leaders, Kessler wants right-wing militias to march on the county and remove Democrats from office by violent force. Here’s an error-filled post on Kessler’s Facebook page from Tuesday in which he calls for the armed rebellion and refers to Democrats as “antiamerican thugs” and “nazis,” in true Tea Party form:

Westboro Baptist Church Sends Out Flier About Illiteracy, Misspells 'Illiterate' -

Our favorite anti-gay, homophobic pseudo-Christian hate group is at it again, picketing same-sex marriage. This time their wrath petulant hissy fit is aimed at Rhode Island, which begins recognizing same-sex marriages on the first of August. The WBC is ready to march around with their hateful signs and shout about Hell a lot. They really mean it, too – just look at that flyer! Why, there are CAPITAL LETTERS and bold script and everything… hang on a second. Do you see what I see?

Watch Sen. Bernie Sanders Demolish GOP Global Warming Deniers In 5 Minutes -

During a Senate environment committee hearing on Thursday (held during a record-breaking heatwave in the Northeast, no less,) Republican senators once again contradicted or ignored the near-unanimous consensus among scientists that global warming is real, man-made, and spells dire consequences for America’s national security and environment.

But if they thought that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was going to sit quietly and let their dangerous demagoguery go unchallenged, they had another thing coming. In his response, Sanders went on the offensive, embarking on a must-see point-by-point takedown of GOP arguments against legislation to tackle the warming global climate.

Right Wingers Post Fake Race Riot Video After Zimmerman Verdict

Videos of rioting in Miami began circulating quickly after last night’s (July 13th's) not guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman murder trial. But there was no riot in Miami.

The conservative media were beating the riot drum all week. Fox News host Bill O’Reilly asked his guests if a not guilty verdict would trigger rioting. The conservative Washington Times polled its readers, and 74% said there would be riots. The self-styled National Liberty Foundation offered a how-to-survive the riots post that includes a potpourri of conspiracy theories about the Department of Justice, New Black Panther Party, and Russian troops being brought into the U.S. to put whites in FEMA camps.

It's Time to Investigate Boehner, Issa, and the Republican Criminal Conspiracy

A conspiracy is an agreement to perform together, an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act, and according to legal statutes is a crime in and of itself. Beginning on Inauguration night in 2009, Republicans conspired to deliberately obstruct any and all attempts by new President, Barack Obama, to reverse the devastation of their economic malfeasance that led to the worst recession since the Great Depression, and whether or not it was an illegal act, it was certainly wrongful and subversive. Over the past four-and-a-half years, Republicans have systematically conspired to abrogate their duty as legislators, and between swearing oaths to violate Article 1, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution, to fabricating false scandals to take down President Obama, or serving corporate interests, it is high time to demand an investigation into Republicans in Congress and take appropriate action to remove them from office.

Monday, July 22, 2013

I've Been Grieving Since Saturday, but the President Spoke for Me Today

That was everything I ever need to hear to know that our President understands me and my pain more personally than his 43 predecessors could have. His speech today affirmed that, regardless of how much some on the left and right may scrutinize his explicit contributions to black America, President Obama has implicitly contributed more to the spiritual well-being of Americans who look like me than perhaps most of us realize. I will leave my pain for Trayvon's death here, and leave you with the President's exact words today for you to read:

Daily Kos: Meet the Republicans who vote against food stamps while getting millions in farm subsidies

There are 14 Republicans who have gotten a combined $7.2 million in farm subsidies since 2004, but voted to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the bone; only one of the 14 then voted against the version of the bill that removed SNAP entirely.

Time to Repeal ALEC/NRA Stand Your Ground Laws | PR Watch

Some have claimed that Stand Your Ground played no role after Zimmerman was eventually arrested -- he and his lawyers relied on Florida's lenient self defense statutes -- but the jury instructions invoked the Stand Your Ground protections by stating he had no "duty to retreat" from the situation:

"If George Zimmerman was not engaged in an unlawful activity and was attacked in any place where he had a right to be, he had no duty to retreat and had the right to stand his ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he reasonably believed that it was necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony."

This language is nearly identical to that in the Florida Stand Your Ground law and the ALEC "model" legislation. We cannot know if the outcome would have been different had the six jurors been instructed differently -- but we do know that Stand Your Ground played a role in the case, even after Zimmerman's arrest.

And here is a link to the jury's final instructions from the judge...

http://www.scribd.com/doc/153354467/George-Zimmerman-Trial-Final-Jury-Instructions

Rising Temps, Shrinking Snowpack Fuel Western Wildfires | Climate Central

Wildfire trends in the West are clear: there are more large fires burning now than at any time in the past 40 years and the total area burned each year has also increased. To explore these trends, Climate Central has developed this interactive tool to illustrate how warming temperatures and changing spring snowpack influences fires each year.

More Storms, More Heat, More Extremes Says WMO | Climate Central

The World Meteorological Organization says the planet “experienced unprecedented high-impact climate extremes” in the 10 years from 2001 to 2010, the warmest decade since the start of modern measurements in 1850.

Those 10 years also continued an extended period of accelerating global warming, with more national temperature records reported broken than in any previous decade. Sea levels rose about twice as fast as the trend in the last century.

Record Heat in June Extends Globe's Streak to 340 Months | Climate Central

June was one of the hottest such months on record globally, based on newly released data from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The month extended the unbroken string of warmer-than-average months to 340, or a stretch of more than 28 years. That means that no one under the age of 28 has ever experienced a month in which global average temperatures were cooler than average (based on the 20th century average).

How To Prove Obama LOWERED The Deficit In Four Easy And Indisputable Steps -

The GOP, Fox News and AM Hate Radio regularly complain that Obama has raised the deficit. This is a lie. A very VERY big lie. It’s such a big lie and so easy to prove as a big lie that the fact 90% of the country thinks it’s true is one the greatest failures of the “liberal” media since they couldn’t be bothered to vet the Iraq War. The problem is that conservatives don’t want to know, independents can’t be bothered to look and liberals should be deeply ashamed for not knowing.

But worry not! It’s very VERY easy to clear up this misperception (and piss off conservatives to boot!) in just 4 simple steps.

Study Shows That The Abortion Rate Falls Dramatically When Contraception Is Free -

A study published last fall in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology shows that providing free birth control to women and teenaged girls does, in fact, have a dramatic impact on the rate of unintended pregnancy, which, in turn, impacts the abortion rate. The study, which included more than 9,000 women and teenagers in the St. Louis area, and found that providing free birth control, including IUDs and hormonal implants, reduced the abortion rate by 62% to 78%.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

6 Ways A $12 Minimum Wage Would Help The Economy

After the D.C. Council approved a bill that requires large retailers to pay their workers a "living wage" of $12.50 -- and Walmart retreated from the capital in protest -- we thought it'd be worth considering what that requirement could do for the economy.

A report from non-partisan public policy center Demos released in 2012 looked into the effect of large retailers raising wages to pay the equivalent of $25,000 per year, or $12.25 per hour, for full-time, year-round workers. The study revealed that the wage hike could benefit not only workers, but also retailers and the economy at large.

The Koch brothers are spreading lies about Obamacare.

As Obamacare goes into effect, some states are getting creative with ads telling residents about the healthcare law's benefits. However, those ads will be running alongside a multi-million dollar misinformation campaign orchestrated by the Koch brothers. According to the Think Progress Blog, the conservative group Americans for Prosperity is spending a fortune on television ads aimed at turning Americans against the new healthcare law.

Daily Kos: Last stop—Fruitvale Station

For young Oscar Grant, on New Years Day in 2009, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Fruitvale Station would be his last stop in life. He was shot and killed, while handcuffed, face down on the ground, by transit police officer Johannes Mehserle, who later claimed he had mistaken his taser for his service weapon.
While many of us, across the nation and around the world are protesting the travesty of justice in the death of Trayvon Martin, which eerily echoes the trial and subsequent release of Mehserle after doing only a year of incarceration (though at least with Mehserle there was a conviction of sorts), it is somehow fitting that Oscar Grant's life and death is now opening as a film, Fruitvale Station, which will shine a light on another young black man cut down.

Two weeks ago, I wrote, "Before Trayvon Martin there was Oscar Grant." It is clear to many of us that there are parallels in the two stories.

This is also clear to the filmmaker.

Fox News' Chris Wallace Says NO To Fox's Race Baiting - by McSpocky - Newsvine

Fox News' Chris Wallace goes against the grain at Fox and speaks the TRUTH: No, Obama isn't stoking racial tensions with Trayvon remarks.

Way to go Chris!

How To Spot And Out A Pro-'Lifer' That Really Just Hates Women And Sex -

How To Spot And Out A Pro-'Lifer' That Really Just Hates Women And Sex -:

There are two kinds of pro-life people. The first kind are actually pro-life and oppose abortion to the extent that they will use any legal method to reduce unwanted pregnancies and not just try to ban abortions. I can respect, if not necessarily fully agree with, this group. They mean well and genuinely care about the end product of the pregnancy. They support food stamps and other forms of public assistance to ensure children are cared for. The idea is that if the mother can be assured she will able to support her child, she will be less likely to abort it even if she was not looking to get pregnant. Not altogether unreasonable.

But then there’s the other kind of pro-”life” person. This group doesn’t really care about abortion at all but only seek to use unwanted pregnancies to punish women for having sex. These people are the sickest of creatures. The first group sees pregnancy as a miracle. The second sees it as retribution for being a whore. The first is motivated by love. The second is motivated by a hatred of women that is difficult to fathom.

Racist Republicans React » Politics Plus

Watching Barack Obama’s comments about the travesty of Zimmerman’s acquittal, after murdering Trayvon Martin, I think Obama went out of his way to avoid offense. His comments were respectful, low key and hopeful. Of course, no matter what he said, racist hatemongers from the Republican propaganda mill were sure to take offense, such as these four examples.

The Immoral Minority: Here's a shocker, new study finds that members of the Tea party motivated by racism. I know, right?

The researchers found no evidence that a strong white racial identity lead to identification with the tea party. However, they did find the opposite was true. Those who strongly identified with the tea party movement became more concerned with their racial identity over time.

I find that last part fascinating. So in other words you don't necessarily have to be racist to join the Tea Party, but once you do your racism will grow over time.

I imagine it was much the same for young members of the Klu Klux Klan.

The Immoral Minority: Actual doctor responds to misleading anti-Obamacare ad created by Americans for Prosperity.

Excellent job by that doctor and this provides yet another useful tool to use against those annoying Right Wing relatives who have been convinced that Obamacare was foretold in the Book of Revelations as a sign of the Apocalypse.

He's Causing A Racial Divide In This Country - by McSpocky - Newsvine

No, I'm not talking about President Obama. Even though some of those on the right would lie and say that President Obama has been the cause of racial tensions in this country, that is nothing but a figment of their imagination.

If you want to see who the people are who REALLY are causing racial tensions in this country, we have to look no further than at the fringe right wing. Far right on the right wing actually. Comments and stories causing racial tensions have been coming from the far right at a rate of speed not seen in years, and we see it whether we are talking about their cable "news" channel or the right wing blogosphere.

McSpocky On Newsvine

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Friday, July 26, 2013

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Monday, July 22, 2013

Sunday, July 21, 2013