by Blueberry T
Saturday, April 14,
2012
I couldn’t
resist including sunnyjane’s excellent post on Senator Scott Brown, from my own
state, Massachusetts . Senator Brown likes to portray himself as
Everyman, driving a pickup truck and wearing a barn jacket; but he never was
Everyman. He was elected to Ted
Kennedy’s seat due to a perfect storm of circumstances. Brown tapped into the emerging faux rage and
real money of the Tea Party, pulling in major donations which he used
effectively to build the regular-guy image and portray Attorney General Martha
Coakley negatively. His wife is a
well-known reporter for one of the Boston
networks, so he had solid media connections from the get-go. The campaign was very short, and was
interrupted by the holidays; by the time (early January) that Coakley and
others realized the dynamic of the race had shifted, it was too late. So, we’re stuck with him for now. He continues to portray himself as a
moderate, but as sunnyjane points out, he votes at least 80% of the time with
the arch-conservatives, but plays “maverick” just often enough to claim the
moderate label among those who aren’t paying close attention. In addition to the votes mentioned in this
post, he voted for the Blunt Amendment to allow employers to dictate employees’
health care choices and supported Keystone XL.
He is very well-funded by Wall Street in his current campaign against
Elizabeth Warren (although she is raising more money from individual
contributors).
Sunday, April 15,
2012
Dusty has
Willard Rom[o]ney’s number. As everyone with
a pulse must know by now, he constantly changes his position because he doesn’t
really have a moral compass or convictions other than worshipping the almighty
dollar, and is constantly trying to be someone that he is not. Mr. Etch-a-Sketch. He used to be pro-choice and progressive, but
now he’s anti-choice and severely conservative.
Later, he’ll probably pretend to be moderate. Ironically, he is lambasted for “gaffes” that
are candid moments when he actually tells the truth: he has rich friends like NASCAR owners; is
building a house with an elevator for cars; likes firing people; doesn’t worry
about the very poor; his wife drives two Cadillacs; $360K isn’t very much money
to him; and he and Ann are just like you and me. I know, right? Dusty gives Bristol Palin and a few others a
piece of her mind as well; enjoy!
Tuesday, April 17,
2012
Patrick’s
post reminds us of Sarah Palin’s completely implausible story of the birth of
Trig. In a nutshell: she claims that,
knowing she was carrying a baby with Down Syndrome and a heart defect, and that
she had 2 prior miscarriages, 4 prior births and was 44 years old, five weeks
before her due date, with amniotic fluid leaking (we’re up to 7 risk factors)
and experiencing contractions, rather than going to a nearby hospital to be
checked out, she chose to gave a political speech, then took two four hour
flights, bypassing two more hospitals with neonatal units (one where her doctor
had privileges and could easily have met her), so that she could have a
“delivery” at Mat-Su Regional Health Center, a hospital that does not do high-risk
deliveries, not even twins. (How much
inanity can be fit in one sentence?) Of
course, minor details like when and where Trig was born, who called the doctor
and what she said, whether she was really having contractions or not – these details change depending on which
version of the tale she is telling. Was
it reckless negligence or a complete fabrication? If these were the only factors, there might
be a choice – but the photos and other circumstantial evidence prove that
babygate was indeed a brazen hoax. Lidia17’s
brilliant video includes key images, along with the Sarah’s own convoluted, contradictory,
incredible story.
Thursday, April 19,
2012
Sunnyjane’s important post highlights the
right-wing’s crusade against environmentalism. Back in the day,
environmentalism was bipartisan; in fact, the first Earth Day and enactment of
landmark environmental legislation (eg Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act,
Endangered Species Act) occurred during Richard Nixon’s presidency. More recently, Republicans supported ideas
such as “cap and trade,” which would set limits on carbon emissions that can be
traded, thus bringing market forces to bear on air pollution abatement – until
President Obama was elected, that is.
Then, suddenly, “cap and trade” became dirty words for prior supporters
like Sarah Palin and John McCain and many others. Instead, there is all-out stonewalling of
environmental initiatives to address air and water pollution, and a holy war
against not only environmentalists, but also EPA. The oil industry controls the Republican
agenda and politicians even more blatantly than under Bush. Now, eschewing links that had developed
between Christians and environmentalists (over that pesky biblical “stewardship
of the earth” thingy), right-wing Dominionists are actively demonizing the
environmental movement. The set of DVD’s
really is titled, “Resisting the Green Dragon.” (I thought the title was a joke
at first, but no.) From the DVD listing: “Why Christians should resist the environmentalist movement… it
covers a variety of topics---including environmental myths, global warming, how
"going green" leads to poverty, and more.”
Sunday, April 22,
2012
Happy
Earth Day, Politicalgaters! Did you know
that Rupert Murdoch considers wind turbines to be “ugly”? I guess he doesn’t live within view of a
coal-fired or nuclear power plant, because then he would really know “ugly.” (Of course, as sunnyjane noted, he could just
look in the mirror.) Plus, if he lived
near these plants, he would breathe “ugly” every day at coal-fired plants and
run the risk of Fukushima-like radiation disaster near nuclear plants. Personally, I think he should live in
these locations near power plants, since he prefers them as power sources. But, I guess he figures those ugly views are
only for peons and “crappy bloggers.” Kathleen also had some great information
about the progress Germany
is making with wind power (20%!!) and about reductions in bird deaths from wind
power. In addition to the reduced
rotational speed of the new-generation turbines, some research related to a
wind turbine near me found that shutting off the lights that illuminate the
wind turbines at night greatly reduced bird and bat mortality. (Apparently insects were attracted by the
lights, and birds and bats were attracted to the insects. There are still red lights on the turbines
themselves to signal to airplanes, but these are not a problem.) This is an area right on the Atlantic flyway,
a major bird migration route, so there was a lot of concern about bird deaths;
thankfully, it is not a big problem.
Some Comments and Links: (I am still behind so didn’t get to read all
the comments; I’m sure I missed some gems!)
Older_Wiser: No,
Mittens, everyone doesn't "envy" you--they simply want to be treated
fairly and your agenda doesn't qualify for fairness, either. Do you
really think your record of eliminating jobs here in the US and shipping
companies overseas to qualify for tax breaks and cheap labor really resonates
with sensible voters who think for themselves and are suffering, whose children
are unsure if they even have a future? How many average Americans do you
think can put $100M in a sheltered trust for 5 kids and still have plenty of
money to maintain the kind of lifestyle you live, much less afford to send
their kids to college for 4 yrs and beyond on their own with the knowledge they
will inherit a fortune?
Comeonpeople: You
know what? I was just thinking that
the Romney's reckless treatment of their dog Seamus, all those years ago, has
gotten more national scrutiny than Sarah & her doctor's treatment of Tri-G
4 years ago. I think that really
says a lot.
ProChoiceGrandma: It always struck
me as a highly unusual choice of words when Sarah used "logistics" to
describe the "birth" of Trig. But "logistics" fits
right in when you are staging a faked presentation, making sure all
the actors are in their place and know their lines…
Psalm023: Lydia17 did a
great job!! In the audio, where Sarah answers the press, her voice is so
overly sickening sweet, a little girl voice, speaking at low volume, like she's
speaking to a child. That is one of her manipulation techniques to
deceive everyone listening. It gets the desired result of disarming
everyone, which discourages them from asking any more personal questions. Compare that innocent-sounding voice to
Sarah's normal everyday raspy loud Fox News voice. When she's
cornered it's all soft and sweet, and when she's overbearingly confident, it's
harpy mode.
JCos: No
disrespect to Tri-G, but wasn't Palin's special needs gift from God meant to
teach her valuable life lessons? So why
is she still a hot-headed, short tempered, ignorant, selfish, lazy, greedy
bitch?
Jame: Murdoch?
Interested in things that kill birds? Since when? He is pro-pesticide,
pro-herbicide, pro-chemical of every sort. THOSE are the biggest bird-killers
in the world, bar none. The only birds
Murdoch is concerned about are all the 'canaries' who might be willing to 'sing
to the authorities' in his phone-hacking case, in exchange for a
get-out-of-jail-free card.
Cheeriogirl found this on the Rom[o]ney’sIranian oil investments, conveniently left off their 2010 tax returns.
HonestyinGov pointed out this NYT article onALEC:
Congrats to sunnyjane and
sunnyjack, and Mr & Mrs TBB on their anniversaries!
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