And I don't mean that as a pun. Coal has no upside, no good side. This may not be a topic many of you hear about in some parts of the country, or abroad. But here in KY, we hear about coal ALL the time. So let me give you a little overview of the realities of the coal industry.

::EDIT:: I just found out one of the sites I quote here is spoof site. SO, yes, I was a bit punked, but the actual response to that site from its target, Peabody Energy is almost as outrageous, Check back for updated info soon!::

( This is a bit long, but worth reading, and very, very important. )

Another very disturbing dimension of the recent legal maneuverings in Michigan is that it's not alone. There are a significant number of the current crop of governors and state legislators enacting, or trying to enact, strikingly similar legislation. We have seen this with the union-busting measures in Wisconsin, Ohio, and other states, and it's looking like Scott Walker may try to enact a the same emergency powers arrangement in Wisconsin as well.

Now none of this seems too far fetched for the Tea Party. However, it is interesting when one takes a step back and wonders exactly how did all these state-level politicians all come up with the same legislative initiatives at the same time? If you're thinking they must have some 'sooper seekrit' neo-con policy handbook, you're not too far off.

Introducing the American Legislative Exchange Council (or ALEC). A conservative legislative policy group, they provide boilerplate ideas designed for implementation by state legislators and aimed at dismantling unions, regulation, pretty much everything they don't want to have to contend with. Membership is open to state legislators (for an affordable $100 a year), but boasts an impressive cadre of corporate sponsor/members as well (for the far more significant $5,000-50,000 per).

So what, right? After all, industry folks flock together at conferences; it's what they do. It's as inevitable as geese flocking in the fall. Chiropractors, shoe salesmen, grocers - they all have organizations where they compare notes, show off, trade ideas. What's the big deal?

Well, let's look at who founded ALEC, and who the big names are. ALEC's founders include:
-Paul Weyrich, a long time Right Wing activist, and one of the founders of the Moral Majority, founder of the Heritage Foundation, and known for his dominionist leanings.
-Henry Hyde, of the Hyde Amendment fame, another long-time conservative stalwart, and a banner bearer in the Clinton impeachment proceedings, internet censorship, and other Religious Right causes.
-Lou Barnett, former Political Director of the American Conservative Union, National Director of Reagan’s Political Action Committee, "Citizens for the Republic, and central to the revival of CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference.

The real clincher is the big money though. ALEC, in 2000, collected $56,126 in dues from members who were legislators. However, their total revenues were $5,685,299, almost 100 times that much. That money comes from big money corporate interests. Represented among the big money contributors and members? Amoco Corporation, Archer Daniels Midland , Koch Industries, Coors Brewing Co, Verizon Communications, Inc., PhRMA (Big pharmaceuticals), Pfizer Inc..... it's a regular Who's Who of corporate America.

According to reports from people who've been in these conferences, the agendas tend to run on two tracks: enabling corporations (by union-busting, stripping regulations, etc. ALEC was also behind the recent bills criminalizing attempts to expose cruelty or unsanitary conditions at factory farms.) and social conservatism (opposing health care reform, global warming denial, anti-environmentalism, anti-immigration, etc.). Groups like Family Research Council and the Pro-Family Legislative Network are represented in ALEC as well.

Read more on this story at these links:
SmartALEC: Dragging the Secretive Conservative Organization Out of the Shadows
ALEC fingered as source of coordinated anti-union, anti-immigration legislation
Creating a Right-Wing Nation, State by State
American Legislative Exchange Council - Source Watch.org
American Legislative Exchange Council | Right Wing Watch
Gov Rick Snyder Sellout? Prefabricated Corporate Michigan (Government) Courtesy of Koch & ALEC
FORTUNE - The big political player you've never heard of

For those of you who may still be able to delude yourselves into denying that the RepubliCorp Party is screwing the poor so the rich can get just a tiny bit richer, I hope this will settle the question.

If you don't know this, the state of Michigan recently passed legislation allowing the governor to declare "financial emergency" in towns or school districts and appoint someone to fire local elected officials, break contracts, seize and sell assets, and eliminate services. Under the law whole cities or school districts could be eliminated without any public participation or oversight, and the elected officials of such a town or city may be rendered powerless under the authority of an "Emergency Manager."

This law has been touted as a dramatic measure needed to save communities in dire conditions, and stop corrupt local governments from hampering effort at revitalizing renewal effort. It has, however, been put into effect for the first time in Benton Harbor, a small predominantly black town in SW Michigan. While it's true that this town has been in trouble for decades, this is not the 'saving the town' measure the Repubs may want you to think it is....

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

AND... we are going to arrest anyone who objects, First Amendment be damned, our legally elected official be damned.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This is infuriating beyond measure. Can we really look at this and not see shades of totalitarianism? Is this where we are now? And from all indications, a similar measure is being drafted in Wisconsin....

Courtesy of DailyKos

http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/KM1ZP7J14S0/-Assault-on-student-voting:-Just-the-latest-GOP-overreach

The right to cast a ballot and choose one's representatives in government from alderman to president is viewed as a quintessential and inalienable right of the American democratic experience. The expansion of this right to an ever-wider range of previously disenfranchised populations has been a cornerstone of all the great civil rights movements in America. And not coincidentally, these expansions have been opposed by conservatives at every turn.

The original American conservatives were the Tories, who opposed the very idea of a free America and wanted to ensure that the only "voter" who mattered was the King of England, but their undemocratic ideas were defeated by a popular revolution and the radical notion of Thomas Jefferson that people should be able to choose their leaders—or at the very least, the white landowners who were the only ones really considered people at the time. Subsequent generations saw a gradual expansion of the franchise: to those who did not own land, to blacks, to women, and finally, to young people between the ages of 18 and 20 who had the obligation to fight in our country's wars, but did not have the right to vote for the people who got to declare them.

At every step of the way, these movements were opposed—often with violence—by conservatives who wanted to keep things exactly the way they were and leave the decision-making in the hands of the people who most resembled them, rather than see rights be expanded to entire groups of people who just might have a different political perspective. Not coincidentally, these groups of more recently enfranchised voters tend to vote far less conservatively; it's a natural instinct, after all, not to vote for the politicians who promise to follow in the footsteps of those who actively sought to curtail hard-fought freedoms.

Because of this, many conservative politicians have done their absolute best to limit the voting rights of the types of people who would generally vote against them—most often black voters or young voters, since these two groups are the ones most likely to vote for Democrats. (If conservatives could successfully attempt to restrict the rights of women to vote, they probably would, but women are evenly distributed throughout the population, while black voters and young voters tend to live in more concentrated areas such as particular neighborhoods or college towns, making their usual voter-caging and voter-suppression tactics far more actionable.) Stringent voter ID laws have been introduced in several conservative-leaning states under the premise that they are urgently needed to prevent voter fraud, even though only a handful of cases of voter fraud are ever prosecuted in a given year.

The real objective of these bills, of course, is to make it harder for Democratic-leaning voters—poorer people, immigrants, and young voters especially—to cast a ballot. This real objective was never explicitly stated, of course—until now. New Hampshire State Representative Gregory Sorg recently sponsored a flatly unconstitutional statute to eliminate the right of New Hampshire's college students to cast a ballot where they go to school. But most crucially, his argument against the franchise for students was not based on their residency, but based on the decisions they made when voting:

In prepared remarks, Sorg referred to students as "transient inmates . . . with a dearth of experience and a plethora of the easy self-confidence that only ignorance and inexperience can produce."He wasn't alone: these same sentiments were echoed by New Hampshire House Speaker O'Brien, who also felt that younger voters should be disenfranchised until they learned to vote his way:

New Hampshire's new Republican state House speaker is pretty clear about what he thinks of college kids and how they vote. They're "foolish," Speaker William O'Brien said in a recent speech to a tea party group.

"Voting as a liberal. That's what kids do," he added, his comments taped by a state Democratic Party staffer and posted on YouTube. Students lack "life experience," and "they just vote their feelings.

Conservatives have always wanted to do this. They have always felt that students and minorities should not be able to vote because they don't make the same decisions. But until now, they have never had the temerity to come out and say it. Similarly, conservatives have always wanted to destroy public employee unions. They have long chipped around the edges and made hints and rumblings. But until now, they have never dared to do what Gov. Scott Walker has done in Wisconsin. In like fashion, conservatives have always wanted to roll the clock back on women's rights. They have gradually restricted abortion rights in all the ways they possibly could under the constitution, and hinted that birth control was a net negative for society. But now they dare to openly change the definition of rape and defund the vital family planning and cancer prevention services that so many women of lesser means rely on.

Just like the all-out conservative assault on women and on public employee unions, this new assault on the voting rights of our youth is an example of the type of overreach that will once again doom the GOP to minority status in the years to come. Voters were frustrated with Democrats in 2010 that not enough progress had been made on jobs. They did not vote for the GOP because they truly wanted to see the elimination of the labor movement, access to birth control, and voting rights for college students. The biggest mistake made by conservative politicians is a fundamental belief that their skill in messaging and winning elections truly translates into real support for their actual policy ideas. If they keep going down this road, they will soon find out the truth—the hard way.

Read this: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/21/947947/-The-Koch-Brothers-End-Game-in-Wisconsin

No, really, I mean it; read it. This union thing? It's a shell game, a diversion. A Big, loud, straw man. Not that it's not important, far from it! Selling out the infrastructure workers anywhere is not just bad business, it's monumentally stupid. Not that Walker won't take whatever concessions he can wring from the unions along the way, and be damned happy about it; we all know he will. But let's review a few things:

Wisconsin HAD a budget surplus when Walker came into office.

Wisconsin lost that surplus almost immediately to "business tax cuts" (I'm guessing I know which kinds of businesses benefitted from those cuts, and it's NOT the local, small businesses....) and a health care bill that Walker put in place.

NOW Walker has this mad crisis to offset the deficit (which he created.)

So enter the deunionizing schtick, which everyone knows won't help the budget, but will only hurt more or less everyone.

Now, let's pause here, and look at Walker's big supporters. To whom does Walker owe his office? It's not a new or unknown name, and it's no surprise either. Koch brothers, directly, and through the sort of money-shifting voodoo they do so well, pretty much bought this guy the Governorship.

OK, here's where it gets dicey, but stick with me a minute more. Why does this matter? What do the Koch brothers or their interests have to do with unions in Wisconsin? Well, not much, and that's just the mystery. Until one looks closely at the REST of the budget Walker is pushing.

Say Walker concedes on the union issues, and admits defeat. The Dems come home, the budget passes, and there is much rejoicing. But what's in the rest of the budget? How about this little gem, so far unnoticed, and unremarked:

"Sale or contractual operation of state−owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state."

I hear you saying "Huh?" What this little bit of jargon does is allow the state government to sell off any public utility or power plant to a private entity anytime, for whatever price it likes, with no oversight. Let that sink in a second.

By sneaking this provision in under the union kerfluffle, Walker can now hand over Wisconsin's public utilities to anyone he likes. And who do we suppose he likes? The folks that put him in office, of course. Considering the assets already owned by the Kochs in Wisconsin, this could create a staggering monopoly.

So if Walker's budget, even with removal of the anti-union component, passes with this provision, the only thing keeping such a monopoly from happening would be Walker's sense of fair play and desire to protect the citizens of Wisconsin from being raped at the hands of a massive corporate monopoly.

Anyone want to take any bets on that?

Didn't think so.

Spread the word, pass this around.....

Published on Right Wing Watch (http://www.rightwingwatch.org)

Religious Right Brings Back the Halal Meat Panic

There isn't a satirist out there that has a chance of running out of material!

I have decided to see just how bad things are. I took the transcript of Keith Olbermann's Special Comment "If the Tea Party wins, America loses," with its laundry list of the insanity from the Tea Party, and checked it against the election results. Let's see how many of the nutjobs he mentions won their races, shall we? I bolded those who won, italicized those who did not. If the race has not been called, it's underlined with the percent up or down in parens. Remember, as you read, the people whose names are in bold are now numbered among our nation's lawmakers. I warn you, it's not a pretty picture....

( The list portion is under a cut, for those who want to preserve their belief that America makes any kind of sense at all. (And because it's long, but mostly the former) )

Olbermann closed by saying, among other things: "You are willing to let these people run this country? This is the America you want? This is the America you are willing to permit? These are the kinds of cranks, menaces, mercenaries and authoritarians you will turn this country over to?"

The answer is apparently yes. Not all the loonies made it, true. Some of the most bizarre were weeded out, true. But a lot got it. A whole lot. Over the next two years, we MUST fight to take it back, to discredit the insane Tea Party, to push these lawmakers to reveal their flaws, show their agendas. And in two years, we have to make it right. The democratic congress blew it in the last two years. And we blew it this fall. We have two years to get our shit together and make damned sure we don't blow it again.

Get out and vote! Many people fought hard for you to have the right to vote. Of course, you can choose not to exercise that right. But today - this is a day that could change so many things, for better or worse. I know many of the Democratic candidates are disappointing. Trust me, we have some duds here, too. But look long and hard at the alternatives before choosing not to vote, or to vote third party. If your Republican candidates are anything like mine, or many of the ones we've seen in recent weeks, is this *really* the election you want to walk away from? Do we want Christine O'Donnell and Rand Paul and others like them plotting the course of our futures, even for a few years?

Please, vote today.

"At best, a throwback to primitivism -- at worst, unconstitutional political posturing and manipulation..."

An Atheist public policy group denounced Sunday's "Day of Prayer" by Southern governors as a political stunt which is exploiting an environmental tragedy in order to win votes and promote religion and as, incidentally, a clear violation of Christian biblical principles.

"At best, this is a bronze age response to disaster," declared Dr. Ed Buckner, President of American Atheists. "This is just another example of how some political leaders use religion to win votes, garner public sympathy, and lead people to believe that superstition trumps the need for good planning and responsible public policy. These governors are plainly hypocrites as defined, allegedly in words from Jesus, in Matthew 6:5-6."

The Governors of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, along with the lieutenant Governor of Florida, all issued proclamations declaring Sunday, June 27, 2010, a Day of Prayer and urged citizens to engage in religious ritual in hopes of finding a solution to the growing oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

"This is about as deep as you can get when it comes to promoting irrationality and faith-based superstition," added Dr. Buckner. "We have another example of public officials telling citizens when and how to pray, whether to pray, and what to pray for."

Dave Silverman, Vice President and Communications Director for American Atheists, said that prayer is never a suitable substitute for sound public policy, environmental safeguards, and sensible planning for catastrophic emergencies.

"I doubt that Jesus or some angel is suddenly going to descend from the sky with millions of feet of boom, or more barges to suck up the leaking oil," said Mr. Silverman. "If prayer really worked, why is it that so far, anyway, God seems to be ignoring the suffering all along the gulf?"

Dr. Buckner added, "Perhaps the politicians need to get up off their knees and spend more time mobilizing the resources to deal with this catastrophe. That should not include offering false hope or ridiculous suggestions for the people being affected by this event.”

---

Personally, while I certainly am in complete agreement with this denunciation of a backward and utterly unconstitutional thing, I am even more concerned and disgusted that it's even necessary. Honestly, these days, I find myself wondering with increasing trepidation, how the extremism building in the US can possibly be reconciled without massive violence, or at the very least, massive upheaval. It's not a pretty thought, but with the right/religious right so far over the sanity line, and the very real threats to our environment, our food supply, our health, our society- I just can't see it ending well.

---

AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights for Atheists, Freethinkers and other nonbelievers; works for the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.

AMERICAN ATHEISTS, INC.
http://www.atheists.org
http://www.americanatheist.org

American Atheists, Inc. PO BOX 158, Cranford, NJ 07016
Tel.: (908) 276-7300 Fax: (908) 276-7402

For more information, please contact:
Ed Buckner, President 908-499-9200 (cell) or 770-803-5353 (office/fax)
Dave Silverman, Communications Director 732-648-9333

Well, you may get the chance! Seems there is at least some folks who think a new Crusade to liberate the Levant from the Infidels is a dandy idea!

Read it here: http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2010/04/19/imagine-the-loss-of-the-christian-holy-places/comment-page-1/#comment-12488, though I will give you a sample:

"Later it hit me: What if the mad leader of Iran fulfilled his pledge to wipe Israel from the map with the Iranian nuclear weapon, coming soon? What would we Christians do without the Mount of the Sermon?

Without Capernaum? Without Nazareth? Without Cana?

Without the lovely and mystical city of Jerusalem–without Golgotha, and the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Tomb?

Back in the 1940’s, when Reinhold Niebuhr started Christianity in Crisis to support the war against Nazism, he abandoned his earlier pacifism, and his earlier too-simply pious way of wishing evil away, and called for a new tough-minded Christian realism.

He rooted this realism in the writings of St. Augustine....We do not have much time to wait before getting that argument going. We must get it done soon, in order to be able to act in time.

What is at stake is whether any future Christians will be able to sit and pray where Our Lord Jesus once preached the unforgettable Sermon. And much else besides.

Compare his words to that of Pope Urban II's call to the first Crusade, here: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2-5vers.html. Here's a highlight:

"From the confines of Jerusalem and the city of Constantinople a horrible tale has gone forth and very frequently has been brought to our ears, namely, that a race from the kingdom of the Persians, an accursed race, a race utterly alienated from God, a generation forsooth which has not directed its heart and has not entrusted its spirit to God, has invaded the lands of those Christians and has depopulated them by the sword...it has either entirely destroyed the churches of God or appropriated them for the rites of its own religion...Let the holy sepulchre of the Lord our Saviour, which is possessed by unclean nations, especially incite you, and the holy places which are now treated with ignominy and irreverently polluted with their filthiness.

On whom therefore is the labor of avenging these wrongs and of recovering this territory incumbent, if not upon you? You, upon whom above other nations God has conferred remarkable glory in arms, great courage, bodily activity, and strength to humble the hairy scalp of those who resist you."

So, lovely! Seems what we really need, folks, is a new Crusade to the Holy Land! Admittedly (and I am happy to report it), the comments on Novak's essay seem to show most of the readers think he's as nuts as I do. But still, nut-cases tend to be like cockroaches; for every one you see, there's probably a hundred you don't.... And while this sentiment is nothing new among the more extremely evangelical circles, this goon may be the first to all but plagiarize Pope Urban II.....

The Blame Game:

The range of excuses offered up by various ecclesiastics for the child abuse scandal is amazing. Admittedly, these come from disparate entities, and don't [seem to] represent a unified position on the part of the Vatican. Still, we've been talking about this for a while now, and you'd think by this point they'd have their talking points laid out. Further, even if these statements are not official, I don't see any of them being condemned as wrong. Official statements distance themselves from them, yes, but I have yet to see anyone say 'No, that is not consistent with Church doctrine.' And in fact, none of them are inconsistent with Church doctrine, which, as I see it, is a big part of the problem to begin with....

Satan Behind Media Attacks on the Pope, Asserts Italian Exorcist

Vatican Attacked Over Cardinal's Claim of Homosexuality and Pedophilia Link

Bishop Blames Jews for Child Molestation Scandal

"Media Bias and Catholic Bashing" by Bill Donohue, President, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

At Vatican Service, Priest Likens Abuse Allegations To Anti-Semitism

Vatican Cardinals Claim Sex Abuse Claims Have Been Orchestrated by Enemies of the Pope

Stuff Catholics Have So Far Blamed for the Church's Pedophilia Scandal

Social Justice?

US Catholic officials are fighting AGAINST extensions to the statute of limitations on reporting of sex abuse, under claims ranging from the bills being 'designed to bankrupt the Church' to a trend of 'anti-Catholic sentiment, even when those bills do not target (or even mention) the Catholic Church. This is being reported even by Catholic news organizations.

Beltway Cardinals Oppose Abuse Extension Bills, Many Cite Nationwide Anti-Catholic Trend

Connecticut Bishops Fight Sex Abuse Bill

Religious Leaders Battle Abuse Bill in New York

[Wisconsin] State Bishops Oppose Legislation to Repeal Statute of Limitations [on Child Abuse]

(Crazy Vatican makes medieval monk [see userpic] cry.)

The entire Catholic Church sex business is altogether revolting from the word go, but it has taken on a new level of WTF. The idea that criticism of the pope, and the RCC as an institution is bigotry, because it collectivizes guilt. Well, I have two rather significant problems with that statement.

One, to be honest is related to the source. Do you mean to tell me that Donahue is going to stand up and cry foul when an institution is criticized because of what some of its members have done, and for some of its policies? Really? To that I say: Planned Parenthood. N.O.W. How about the Catholic social services that have closed their doors when told they had to employ fair hiring practices, or had to serve clients of all faiths and orientation? How many institutions or organizations have been blacklisted, lambasted, vilified and their associates branded collaborators by not only Donahue, but the other voices croaking out this same spiel? Sucks being painted with a big fat brush, doesn't it, you bigoted prick? The irony here goes so far beyond irony as to need a bigger vocabulary.

But more seriously, there is a disambiguation going on here between a body of Catholics worldwide and the institution of the Church. The difference is subtle, but vital. For one thing, to discuss the guilt of the Church is not the same thing as collectivizing 'guilt' with regard to a minority group. Saying all black people, or all Jews, or all gays, are guilty of X because some of that group did X - that IS collectivization of guilt. However, saying that a self-organized, institutional entity is guilty of thing X, which it did/sanctioned/contributed to is not. The institution is not its members. Which is why, when the media criticizes the RCC, is is not "Catholic bashing."

Furthermore, it isn't even 'priest-bashing,' any more than for example, media criticism of a police force for not taking action against corruption on a police force is 'cop-bashing.' If a department has a rash of cops going bad, it does serious damage to the image of the department as a whole. Police departments know this, and take swift, decisive, public action to remove those who abused their power from further access to that power. Why?

Because beyond the individual crimes (which themselves are worth appropriate sanction, regardless of who commits them - blind Justice, remember?) there stands a symbol, and the impact those crimes have upon it. If a uniform and a badge are to stand as symbols of trust, safety, respect, and protection, then abusers of that symbol MUST be swiftly dealt with. If any police officer is to be trusted, the symbol must be reclaimed.

Until the guilty are removed, we may know full well that not every police officer is a craven abuser, but we are simultaneously painfully aware that any officer *could* be. Who wants to play Russian roulette? This is the criticism of the Church, and it is entirely fair and deserved.

Until the Church, as an institution, acts swiftly, decisively, and publicly to remove those who abused their power from further access to that power, it matters not that we know not every priest is an abuser. We also know that any priest *could* be. We know this because we know abusers still wear the collar. It's not about Catholics, or even priests. It's about the symbol.

The attempt to muddy the waters by crying discrimination, bigotry and Catholic-bashing are just that - misdirection. And incidentally, if there was EVER an institution that should have its ass kicked around the Vatican walls for having the nuts to squeal "collectivization of guilt...' well you know. And don't even get me started on that Easter sermon "concentration camp" crap....

I am going to assume many of you have seen or heard of this: the Harris poll showing that outrageous numbers of people believe outrageous things about President Obama.

Now there is a lot of hoopla in the media about the poll being unreliable, the data being skewed, etc. I am not a statistician, so I can't evaluate these claims too well. I will say, in all fairness, that there seem to be some reasonable questions being asked as to how accurately the sample can be extrapolated out to represent the entire population, and some equally reasonable explanations in defense of the poll's methodology.

However, none of the issues the poll raised are exactly virgin territory. All of these things have been present in the national political and social dialog before now. So, we could fart around quibbling over whether the reported 32% of all Americans think Obama is a Muslim is really 30%, or 25%, or 40%. However, the fact remains that whatever the exact percent may be, it is a staggeringly huge number.

Look at it this way. The population of the US is just under 310 million, of which a bit over 3/4 is adult. So that leaves us with about 233 million adults. If the percentage of adults who think Obama is a Muslim is even 20%, far lower than the Harris poll suggests, that still means nearly 47 million people think this. It's one out of five adults in the US. It's larger than the entire population of Spain. Think about that. For comparison's sake, the largest stadium in the Western Hemisphere is Beaver Stadium, which seats 107 thousand. You would have to fill that stadium 434 times to equal even the lowball estimate of the number of people who really think Barack Obama is a Muslim.

The percent of 'birthers,' those who believe that Obama is not a US citizen and not eligible to be president, listed by the Harris poll is 25%, which, if accurate, represents 58 million people, nearly the population of Italy, and enough to fill Beaver Stadium 544 times.

So think of the largest sporting event or concert you have ever been to. On average, it was probably about half the size of Beaver stadium, roughly 53,000. So multiply the biggest event you have ever been to by about 1,000, and that's how many people (remember we are low-balling here) think our President is not legally our President.

Multiply that event by about 800 times and that's how many people think that our President is a domestic enemy who should be removed by violence, about 18% (a substantially smaller number than reported by the Harris poll). About that same number think our President is the anti-Christ.

Rather than quibbling about the accuracy of the Harris poll, shouldn't we be focusing on the fact that terrifyingly large numbers of people believe these things? Shouldn't we be worrying about the future, not only our own, but that of our government, our peace and stability, our safety? Shouldn't we be focusing on what to DO about these numbers, rather than getting into pissing contests over whether the number of people who think our elected leader is a domestic enemy is 25% or only 15%? Seems to me, either number is way too many. Let's keep our eye on the ball people, shall we?

http://reformed-theology.org/html/books/slavery/southern_slavery_as_it_was.htm

This is a Christian Slavery Apologetic. No, really. This article is a diatribe about how slavery in the south wasn't all bad, only the parts that were not in conformity with 'biblical slavery,' and 'biblical slavery' is OK, and fine and good because the Bible says so.

I quote:

"Provided he owns them in conformity to Christ's laws for such situations, the Bible is clear that Christians may own slaves."

And

"Today if an abortionist sought membership at either of our churches, he would be refused unless he repented and abandoned his murderous practice. But if our churches had existed in the ante bellum South, and a godly slave owner sought membership, we could not refuse him without seeking to be holier than Christ. Such a desire would be wicked, and this wickedness was at the heart of the abolitionist dogma."

This nutjob claims that Southern slave owners vigorously opposed the slave trade as 'wicked,' but evinced no hypocrisy by owning slaves. After all, they were doing the poor slaves a favor by taking them into Christian homes...

"The slave trade was an abomination. The Bible condemns it, and all who believe the Bible are bound to do the same. Owning slaves is not an abomination. The Bible does not condemn it, and those who believe the Bible are bound to refrain in the same way. But if we were to look in history for Christians who reflected this biblical balance — i.e. a hatred of the slave trade and an acceptance of slavery in itself under certain conditions — we will find ourselves looking at the ante bellum South."

I mean, wow. Seriously?

Read the article - I can't begin to relate how mind-boggling it is. The level of mental contortion required to actually advance such a position is... well, it's bloody insane.

....is you keep demanding that you get screwed and then, not surprisingly, you keep getting screwed.

(Reposted from Slacktivist. This is his work, not mine. But it's important, so I'm reposting, with full credit.)

Hey you. You there in the Glenn Beck T-shirt headed off to the Tea Party Patriot rally.

Stop shouting for a moment, please, I want to explain to you why you're so very angry.

You should be angry. You're getting screwed.

I think you know that. But you don't seem to know that it doesn't have to be that way. You can stop it. You can stop it easily because the system that's screwing you over can only keep screwing you over if you keep demanding that it do so.

So stop demanding that. Stop helping the system screw you over.

Look, you can go back to yelling at me in a minute, but just read this first.

1. Get out your pay stub.

Or, if you have direct deposit -- you really should get direct deposit, it saves a lot of time and money (I point this out because, honestly, I'm trying to help you here, even though you don't make that easy, Mr. Angry Screamy Guy) -- then take out that little paper receipt they give you when your pay gets directly deposited.

2. Notice that your net pay is lower than your gross pay. This is because some of your wages are withheld every pay period.

3. Notice that only some of this money that was withheld went to pay taxes. (I know, I know -- yeearrrgh! me hates taxes! -- but just try to stick with me for just a second here.)

4. Notice that some of the money that was withheld didn't go to taxes, but to your health insurance company.

5. Now go get a pay stub from last year around this time, from January of 2009.

6. Notice that the amount of your pay withheld for taxes in your current paycheck is less than the amount that was withheld a year ago.

That's because of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan, which included more than $200 billion in tax cuts, including the one you're holding right there in your hand, the tax cut that's now staring you in the face. Republicans all voted against that tax cut. And then they told you to get angry about the stimulus plan. They didn't explain, however, why you were supposed to get angry about getting a tax cut. Why would you be? Wouldn't it make more sense to get angry at the people who voted against that Obama tax cut?

But taxes aren't the really important thing here. The really important thing starts with the next point.

7. Notice that the amount of your pay withheld to pay for your health insurance is more than it was last year.

8. Notice that the amount of your pay withheld to pay for your health insurance is a lot more than it was last year.

I won't ask you to dig up old paychecks from 2008 and 2007, but this has been going on for a long time. Every year, the amount of your paycheck withheld to pay for your health insurance goes up. A lot.

9. Notice the one figure there on your two pay stubs that hasn't changed: Your wage. The raise you didn't get this year went to pay for that big increase in the cost of your health insurance.

10. Here's where I need you to start doing a better job of putting two and two together. If you didn't get a raise last year because the cost of your health insurance went up by a lot, and the cost of your health insurance is going to go up by a lot again this year, what do you think that means for any chance you might have of getting a raise this year?

11. Did you figure it out? That's right. The increasing cost of health insurance means you won't get a raise this year. Or next year. Or the year after that. The increasing cost of health insurance means you will never get a raise again.

That's what I meant when I said you really should be angry. That's what I meant when I said you're getting screwed.

OK, we're almost done. Just a few more points, I promise.

12. The only hope you have of ever seeing another pay raise is if Congress passes health care reform. Without health care reform, the increasing cost of your health insurance will swallow this year's raise. And next year's raise. And pretty soon it won't stop with just your raise. Without health care reform, the increasing cost of your health insurance will start making your pay go down.

13. I wish I could tell you that this was just a worst-case scenario, that this was only something that might, maybe happen, but that wouldn't be true. Without health care reform, this is what will happen. We know this because this is what is happening now. It has been happening for the past 10 years. In 2008, employers spent on average 25 percent more per employee than they did in 2001, but wages on average did not increase during those years. The price of milk went up. The price of gas went up. But wages did not. All of the money that would have gone to higher wages went to pay the higher and higher and higher cost of health insurance. And unless Congress passes health care reform, that will not change.

Well, it will change in the sense that it will keep getting worse, but it won't get better. Unless the problem gets fixed, the problem won't be fixed. That's kind of what "problem" and "fixed" mean.

14. Sadly for any chance you have of ever seeing a raise again, it looks like Congress may not pass health care reform. It looks like they won't do that because they're scared of angry voters who are demanding that they oppose health care reform, angry voters who demand that Congress not do anything that would keep the cost of health insurance from going up and up and up. Angry voters like you.

15. Do you see the point here? You are angrily, loudly demanding that Congress make sure that you never, ever get another pay raise as long as you live. Because of you and because of your angry demands, you and your family and your kids are going to have to get by with less this year than last year. And next year you're going to have to get by with even less. And if you keep angrily demanding that no one must ever fix this problem, then you're going to have to figure out how to get by on less and less every year for the rest of your life.

16. So please, for your own sake, for your family's sake and the sake of your children, stop. Stop demanding that problems not get fixed. Stop demanding that you keep getting screwed. Stay angry -- you should be angry -- but start directing that anger toward the system that's screwing you over and taking money out of your pocket. Start directing that anger toward fixing problems instead of toward making sure they never get fixed. Instead of demanding that Congress oppose health care reform so that you never, ever, get another pay raise, start demanding that they pass health care reform, as soon as possible. Because until they do, you're just going to keep on getting screwed.

And it's going to be that much worse knowing that you brought this on yourself -- that you demanded it.

Thanks for your time.

P.S. -- I didn't mention this because I'm trying here to be as patient with you as I can, but you might also want to keep in mind that in addition to screwing over yourself and screwing over your family and screwing over your own children by demanding that Congress oppose health care reform so that you will never, ever see another pay raise, by doing that you're also demanding that I never, ever see another pay raise, which means that you're also screwing over me, and my family, and my children. Not to mention the millions of poor and uninsured and uninsureable people I didn't even mention above because they don't seem to matter at all to you. And for that, let me just say the only appropriate thing that can be said to someone so determined to do direct, tangible harm to the welfare of my family: Fuck you, you fucking moron.

(Reposted from Slacktivist. This is his work, not mine.)

[Error: unknown template qotd]Hell, yes. I can relate on a very casual, or very formal level (like co-workers, in-laws, etc.) with pro-Lifers, Right-wingers, and religio-conservatives when I have no choice. But I simply cannot maintain any kind of serious dialog with someone who is so fundamentally opposed to everything I hold to be the highest goods and most cherished human rights and responsibilities, and things which are blatantly evident to even the most basic of honest rationalism and critical thought.

I acknowledge that I am something of an elitist (which may, in itself, be an understatement, things at which I lately feel I excel), but I find I cannot hold these people in anything but contempt. If you think global warming denial (like holocaust denial, and the 'reclaiming of Senator McCarthy) should be taught in schools, you are an idiot and I want no further discussion with you. If you truly believe the universe revolves around the earth, and that early man put saddles on dinosaurs, you are a moron who has no business holding adult responsibilities, because you are clearly very far out of touch with reality. And if you think Obama is the antichrist, that it's perfectly OK for politicians to operate in secret, ostensibly Christian cabals, and the big business is honest and fair, kindly hand over your voter's registration card, your car keys, any college degrees you may, inexplicably, have acquired, and most of all your sense of righteous indignation, because you have not earned the right to use any of them.

Am I another shade of bigot for thinking people who voluntarily choose to suspend their intellect and instead worship unreason, illogic, and chicanery have no right to participate in the business of being a responsible citizen? Perhaps. But treating these people with kid-gloves and that most offensive of all tropes, 'toleration,' has gotten us where we are today, which is pretty much royally screwed in terms of things like health & healthcare, education, religious freedom, equal rights, environmental conditions, sustainable energy and all those frivolous things us liberals care so much about. I know this is a rather non-P.C. position. Fine. Polar bears will be extinct in my son's lifetime, thousands die annually in the richest nation on the globe for lack of affordable insurance or health care, and rights for women and gays are only slightly improved over the stone age. P.C. isn't working. F*&k P.C.

I have known Blackwater (Oh, sorry, "XE," and I have no doubt there is some sooper seekrit Dominionist meaning behind that) was trouble for a looooong time. Now that they are getting outed as theocratic lunatics by their own members, I feel vindicated, if saddened. There are times, after all, when one desperately wants to be proven wrong!

It's not the case here, however. XE/Blackwater is proving to be every bit as connected to the domininist/theocratic movement as I have always thought them to be. Given the size and power of the group, and their very nature as a mercenary military, I find this deeply worrying. After all, we have seen how the money and influence runs a la C-street and its denizens, and it is alarmingly on the side of militaristic theocracy and reconstructionism. So clearly the Right is well funded. Now it seems there exists an entire army, as well or better equipped and trained as our own, already in ideological harmony with this dominionist tide. The possibilities are mind boggling.

I know we (myself included) want to say 'It could never happen, the constitution, democracy,' and so on. And I will personally craft and wear tinfoil my whole life long if it proves there is nothing to any of this. But yowza, if there is? Scary shit, folks, scary shit indeed.

(Geek moment: And to discover that they are actually using crusade references, invoking the Knights of Malta, the Templars? Insult to injury! And really, no matter how much our understanding of the crusades has changed, still not exactly a sterling recc.)

::EDIT:: Come to think of it, a bunch of end-times, rapture-ready, 'gotta rebuild the Temple' lunatics running around the Middle East fancying themselves Templars may be more than a geek moment; it might be the scariest aspect of all of it......

I have seen a lot of people getting really concerned by the buzz over Universal Health Care. Much of that buzz however, is generated by big insurance companies, their PR firms and lobbyists. In the interest of public service, therefore, I am offering these two videos to help present what's really going on.

The fact of the matter is, big insurance and their allies WANT you to be terrified of what will happen to you and your loved ones under UHC. Much like the rhetoric of impending doom which followed 9/11, and allowed the Iraq war to be begun without much objection, this stuff is designed to keep people unsure of who to trust, and fearing for their own personal safety. It's cunningly crafted nonsense, however. These clips help to blow the cover off the attempts these billion dollar players are making in a desperate move to keep your money going to them.

Rachel maddow exposes one of many supposedly "grass-roots" organizations which is sending people to disrupt town hall meetings, harass elected officials, and generally give the impression of an outraged citizenry. Sadly, while these folks may be legitimately upset, the things about which they are upset are fabrications.



Also a must-see on this issue: July 10, 2009 - "With almost 20 years inside the health insurance industry, Wendell Potter saw for-profit insurers hijack our health care system and put profits before patients. Now, he speaks with Bill Moyers about how those companies are standing in the way of health care reform."

One of the pertinent sections of this interview shows memos from inside a major insurance company, outlining the PR plan for discrediting the idea of universal health care by any means necessary. However, the overall picture he gives of an utterly corrupt, purely money-driven industry is also quite relevant at present.

Swim Club Boots Kids Who Might "Change the Complexion"



More than 60 campers from Northeast Philadelphia were turned away from a private swim club and left to wonder if their race was the reason.

Kids at Creative Steps Day Camp were thrilled to go swimming once a week at the Valley Swim Club. (http://www.thevalleyclub.com/) But after only one trip to the private club, they were asked to leave.

"I heard this lady, she was like, 'Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?' She's like, 'I'm scared they might do something to my child,'" said camper Dymire Baylor.

The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers' first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.

"When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool," Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email. "The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately."

The next day the club told the camp director that the camp's membership was being suspended and their money would be refunded. "I said, 'The parents don't want the refund. They want a place for their children to swim,'" camp director Aetha Wright said.

Campers remain unsure why they're no longer welcome. "They just kicked us out. And we were about to go. Had our swim things and everything," said camper Simer Burwell.

The explanation they got was either dishearteningly honest or poorly worded: "There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club," John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement.

While the parents await an apology, the camp is scrambling to find a new place for the kids to beat the summer heat.

Source.

Another source.

Thanks to doctoreon and other who posted this. Spread it around, call the Club, write letters, etc.!

The one the Obama administration caved and withdrew following grumblings from the religious right? I sure hope they kept a copy handy, because clearly, the report was far from inaccurate.

Today, a gunman opened fire in a Kansas church, murdering abortion provider George Tiller. This is exactly the sort of incident the report was written to highlight, and hopefully, prevent by raising awareness of the risk of these kinds of attacks, and admitting that this is essentially a form of domestic terrorism. Today's events could not have made it any clearer how badly a reassessment of religiously motivated violence is needed.

I sent an e-mail to Barack Obama, quoted below. I will be sending similar messages to my local congressmen as well. I urge you to do the same.

I am deeply upset by today's fatal TERRORIST attack at Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas. I am especially concerned because this is exactly the kind of domestic religious terrorism addressed by the recent Homeland Security report, as well as the recent hate crimes legislation. Both of which YOUR administration backed down on, a defeat deeply disappointing then, and truly disturbing now. I hope that this tragedy–certainly proof positive of the need to reevaluate the ways in which we define and address religious violence on our own soil–will spur real, definitive, and proactive legislation on the issue of religious violence here at home.

This is a chance for you, Mr. Obama, to really deliver on the promise of change and hope for ALL Americans, those of faith, and those of no faith, those who oppose abortion and those who fight and risk their lives to defend the right to and availability of choice. I hope you take the opportunity, and prove to this American and many like me, who are tired of religious oppression, that we too have a leader in our president. And I speak here of real religious oppression, not that which is ludicrously claimed by the overwhelming Christian majority. Real religious oppression, the kind that makes freedom from faith a dangerous choice, and threatens every woman's right to control her body and her health.

Religious violence cannot be tolerated, no matter the faith or the nationality of the perpetrators. Those who murder out of Christian conviction MUST be handled in precisely the same manner as those who kill in the name of Allah. Religion MUST cease to be an excuse for those in this nation who seek power over others at any cost. Step up, Mr. Obama; please don't sell out my faith in you as my leader.

There have been several brilliant responses to the hate-mongering of Fred Phelps and his gang already. Notably the Bikers lining up and drowning out all the slogans and jeers from Phelp's crew. Next, I believe first appearing at Matt Shepperd's funeral, were the Angels, with huge white wings to block Phelp and Co. from view of their target, or the media.

But this one is new (to me anyway) and it's brilliant! Presenting: The Phelps-a-thon!

"When the Phelps group comes to Hartford to protest the Connecticut Supreme Court, they will actually be raising money for LGBT equality.

Driving Equality is hosting a Phelps-A-Thon to counter Fred Phelps’ hateful message. For every minute the “God Hates Fags” clan is protesting, we will be collecting donations for Love Makes a Family, a local organization working for marriage and LGBT equality in Connecticut.

The Phelps clan will be protesting at the Connecticut Supreme Court from 1:15 PM to 2:00 PM on April 28th. You can pledge any amount you chose, whether it be $0.25, $0.50, $1, or even $2 for every minute they protest. You can even pledge a flat rate for the entire time the group will be demonstrating.

The point of this Phelps-A-Thon is two fold. First, we are using Phelps’ own hateful message to raise funds for a good cause, one that will help counter the lies that are being spread about LGBT people. Second, After the event, we will send Phelps a thank you card, telling him how much money he raised for LGBT equality. This will certainly upset the group and it is possible that they will stop protesting in order to stop our fundraising."

Quoted from http://www.phelps-a-thon.com

Please consider going and pledging for the upcoming protest. (Next up is Hartford, CN.)

Thanks to ynfytyn for pointing this out. I'm just helping spread the word.

Saw this gem courtesy of the Planned Parenthood newsletter, but the article is from Feministing.

The Ex-Masturbator Campaign: Shaming idle hands since 2009

(quoted from the article) "You know...sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. (Not to mention an infinite number of jokes.)

Apparently the Passion for Christ Movement has a bunch of these "ex" shirts, and this is just the latest."

The author of the article quotes from another article on the campaign associated with the shirts, noting that the "shame" which these idiots associate with masturbation comes from just these sorts of tactics, like those in this article referring to "an illegal orgasm," apparently a common term among Passion for Christ members. He quotes that article:

Two things I've come to know about masturbation is this:

1. It brings shame, and...
2. It is addictive

Most people who have engaged in masturbation know that the culmination of this sexual act ends in shame. I don't have to share with you the thousands of emails of the admittance of this shame because you know all too well since you have experienced it yourself. Curled up in a fetal position, crying, because your bed is even more empty and you're lonelier than you did before you violated yourself.

What I find particularly tragic about this is that, let's face it, no one is *really* going to stop fiddling below the belt for life. (Heaven help us if they do, because they're all gonna go postal one day!) What they ARE going to do is take on, willingly, cheerfully, a boatload of guilt, shame, and psychological ass-f*cking over utterly harmless, purely natural and healthy behavior. This is psychological repression on a deeply inherent level, and it is toxic, and fer fucks sake, shouldn't we know better by now?

Once again, I am forced to ask if some of these people have noticed that it isn't 1600 anymore?