Death Panel Anonymous Nonsense

I got an anonymous (chickenshit) letter in the mail with nothing but the above photocopy of an ominous article. The envelope included a return address of 3030 30th Ave. #14 Kenosha, but who knows if that is real, a stupid oversight by Mr. Anonymous or simply more bull shit. It didn't take me long to identify the source of the article as the National Review, a well known GOPropaganda and fear mongering rag. Again with the "Death Panels" silliness!

It also didn't take me long to find a scholarly article on the UK's plan to improve the quality of life and services provided to patients who are at the end of their lives so they can die with dignity and hopefully at home. See below. I read it and it's a good plan, thoughtful in it's goals and well intentioned.

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/Files/Publications/Issue%20Brief/2011/Jul/1527_Gray_Englands_approach_endoflife_care_intl_brief_v2.pdf

So I asked the question; why must the Cult of Con faithful (and their ideological minders at the likes of FuxSnooze and the National Review) see everything through a lense of dark and sinister (and whacky) conspiracy theories? My friend Steve Sullivan gave me the answer: Because they are dark and sinister conspirators themselves -- and if they were in power, that's the way they'd run the world. And have in the past. It's called "projection."

Couldn't have said it better myself. Death Panels - Sheesh!

Recall Misinformation

There's some misinformation being spread about the recall effort. First let me tell you that if you want to sign legitimate recall petitions you can go to the SLUE office at 616 Droster Ave. Burlington from 9 am to 6 pm, 7 days per week, behind Coop Plus and across Hwy 36 from Miller Motors. However, if you're going to go there with the intent of destroying a petition as one couple did recently, don't. It's both a felony and an affront to freedom and democracy.

Secondly, the recall process is not being abused at all, but is operating as intended. The recall was put into the Wisconsin State Constitution by our forbearers who were far wiser than we. The founders left the grounds for recalling a public official up to the judgment of we the people. They set the bar high in terms of the number of signatures required to trigger a recall election, which is why they are rare. A lot of citizens have to be very unhappy with an official and very motivated to put forth the level of effort necessary to be successful in gathering the expressed will of the people in the form of their signatures. And there is no reason to change our Constitution or the recall process. Malfeasance or illegal activity in office is already grounds for removal under Wisconsin state law. Did State Senator George Petak commit malfeasance or an illegal act when he voted to include Racine County in the Brewers stadium tax prompting his recall? No. Heck it was the impending recall and subsequent resignation of Tom Ament that cleared the way for Scott Walker to become Milwaukee County Executive.

Then there is the GOPropaganda generated nonsense about Wisconsin being flooded with people from out of state being paid to circulate petitions. Even if I could, I wouldn’t go to another state and stick my nose in their business and we don’t need or want any outside help in this grassroots effort. I’ve yet to meet one person in this cause who is not a local resident, let alone from outside Wisconsin. But today's republicon party runs on this sort of misinformation so one should not be surprised by it. What is already flowing into the state from elsewhere is gobs of money which Walker is using to flood the airwaves in an attempt convince us that “it’s working” despite the fact that Wisconsin lost almost 10,000 mostly private sector jobs in October and that his budget was balanced with one time gimmicks that increase the debt service payments after 2012 according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Walker, like his republicon counter parts in states like Ohio, Michigan and Indiana has worked to implement a radical hidden agenda on which he did not campaign, that was handed down to him from far beyond Wisconsin. This agenda, including tax breaks for the wealthy few on the backs of the poor and middle class has divided our state as never before and Walker has shown nothing but disdain and disregard for the opinions of a large percentage of Wisconsinites. And in a stark demonstration of the kind of person he is the Governor is now poised to kick 75,000 of our fellow citizens off of Badger Care, a program started by Republican Governor Tommy Thompson. Some of these people will surely die without access to medical care. Apparently Walker doesn't care, better they do so and decrease the surplus population. 25,000 of these rejects are innocent children. No health care for you kiddies, only a lump of coal. Merry Christmas!

Actions have consequences and it’s time for Walker to face his, as provided for by our Wisconsin State Constitution.

Fox News Lies About "Violent Wisconsin Protests"

The palm trees, the mounted policeman and the violence proves that this is NOT Madison and tha FuxSnooze LIES!

Fruther Proof the Ryan is Lyin Sack of Shit

The following half truth (LIE!) courtesy Paully Ryan and the Weekneed Standard was posted by Nemo on Free Racine and is making all around the wingnut blogospere. The truth, which CONservatism cannot abide, follows below

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/cbo-director-says-obamacare-would-reduce-employment-800000-workers_547288.html

Chairman [Paul] Ryan: “[I]t’s been argued...that the new health care law will create jobs and increase labor force participation. But if I recall from your analysis, it was quite the opposite. Is that not the case?”

Director [Douglas] Elmendorf : “Yes.”...

[…]

Rep. [John] Campbell: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, we'll -- and Dr. Elmendorf -- and we'll continue this conversation right now. First on health care, before I get to -- before I get to broader issues, you just mentioned that you believe -- or that in your estimate, that the health care law would reduce the labor used in the economy by about 1/2 of 1 percent, given that, I believe you say, there's 160 million full-time people working in '20-'21. That means that, in your estimation, the health care law would reduce employment by 800,000 in '20-'21. Is that correct?

Director Elmendorf: Yes. The way I would put it is that we do estimate, as you said, that...employment will be about 160 million by the end of the decade. Half a percent of that is 800,000.

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/143379-gop-jumps-on-old-cbo-job-numbers

EXCERPT: However, the CBO prediction is a little more nuanced. Last summer's CBO report said the projected labor reduction is "largely" the result of more people voluntarily staying out of the workforce because the healthcare reform law gives them better healthcare options through an expansion of Medicaid and new state-run health insurance exchanges.

From the report:

"The expansion of Medicaid and the availability of subsidies through the exchanges will effectively increase beneficiaries’ financial resources. Those additional resources will encourage some people to work fewer hours or to withdraw from the labor market."

Further, a ban on discriminating against preexisting conditions will likely "increase the appeal" of health insurance plans offered outside the workplace for older workers.

"As a result," CBO said, "some older workers will choose to retire earlier than they otherwise would." END EXCERPT

Hey, THAT means they'll leave job openings that younger workers can fill. BONUS!

Thank you Nemo for your continued service in allowing me to point out the lies required to advance the Con-servatisma. If you must lie to advance your thoughts, your thoughts are not advanced.

Fux Snoozers Most Misinformed

The University of Maryland conducted a studt after the fall election that shows there is a disturbing amount of misinformation, you know propaganda in the Plutocratic States of America and that it is influencing the what citizens believe (wrongly) and how they vote (ignorantly): http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/dec10/Misinformation_Dec10_rpt.pdf

But Fux Snoozers are by far more likely to swallow the bullshit and then regurgitate it all over what remains of our republic. Fux viewers are by:
-14 points more likely to mistakenly believe that the stimulus legislation did not include tax cuts. -13 points more likely to erroneously believe that the auto bailout only occurred under Obama.
-12 points more likely to hold the incorrect belief that when TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it.
-30 points more likely to mistakenly believe that most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring.
-31 percent more likely to believe the that it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States.

Want more clear evidence of the lies the Teabgnorant are more likely to believe? Read it and weep:
-Most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely)
-Most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points)
-The economy is getting worse (26 points)
-Their own income taxes have gone up (14 points)

Plutarch's like Rupert the Murdoch and the Koch Bros don't like bedrock American values like self determination through the INFORMED consent of the citizenry. They're not your countrymen, they're would-be overlords.

5 Myths About Federal Workers

For those of you misguided enough to buy the GOPmyth that government workers are over paid, are the problem and that we can balance our budgets on their backs:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/03/AR2010120303160.html

Just a little more of the plethora of evidence that the entire modern conservative agenda is fueled by lies. But we know that wingnuts need enemies, so here are your "enemies".

1. Federal employees are overpaid compared with private-sector workers.
Federal employees make on average 24 percent less than their private-sector counterparts. In addition, the average private-sector salary in 2010 for a recent college graduate was $48,661. Entry-level federal workers start at $34,075, or $42,209 for candidates with superior academic achievement.

2. The federal workforce is bigger than ever.
federal government employs 2.1 million people. The workforce is now slightly smaller than it was in 1967, at the height of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, and today there are 100 million more Americans to serve. Even during the Reagan administration, when small government was a political mantra, there were still between 2.1 and 2.2 million federal workers. In fact, there was an increase of about 95,000 federal employees between 1981 and 1989. Today, two out of three federal civilian employees work for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs or Justice. The vast majority of government hiring since 2003 has been in these four departments.

3. You can't fire a federal worker.
In the 2009 fiscal year, 11,275 federal employees were fired for poor performance or misconduct. In addition, a survey of federal managers by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board suggests that besides those who are formally terminated, there are a sizable number of employees who voluntarily leave after they are counseled that their performance is unacceptable.

4. Most federal workers are paper-pushing clerks.
The vast majority of federal workers hold white-collar professional, administrative and technical jobs. Approximately 20 percent of federal workers have a master's degree, professional degree or doctorate, vs. 13 percent in the private sector. Fifty-one percent of federal employees have at least a college degree, compared with 35 percent in the private sector. Remarkably, more than 50 current or former federal employees have received Nobel Prizes. In fact, about one in four American Nobel laureates have been federal workers. Their contributions have included the eradication of polio, the mapping of the human genome and the harnessing of atomic energy.

5. Pay or hiring freezes would help slash the federal budget.
History has taught us that arbitrary, broad hiring and pay freezes don't return significant cost savings. How much will the government save by cutting 10 percent of the federal workforce - about 200,000 employees - as recommended by the president's deficit commission? If the work of federal employees is simply contracted to the private sector, the savings could be minimal or the move could even cost us more. If government employees are not replaced and their salaries are returned to the Treasury, the government would save at most $20 billion annually, or roughly 0.5 percent of total budget outlays.

Wingnut Watch - Beck and Fux Snooze Incitement

Byron Williams engaged in a shootout with California police in July where amazingly no one was killed. Turns out he was heavily armed and armoured and on his way to murder 11 people at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU in retaliation for the gulf oil disaster which was a conspiracy by Goerge Soros, Obama, Tides, a Brazilian oil company, etc. etc. At least that's what he was lead to believe by Fux Snooze's Glenn Beck, the aptly named Michael Savage and Alex Jones: http://mediamatters.org/research/201010110002

Climate Change and the Merchants of Doubt

If someone told you cigarettes are safe, would you give them to your children? Why on earth then would you take that exact same person’s word on global warming and the climate you’ll leave for your children!? http://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/

I heard a great show recently (Thursday 6/3 - 8:00) on WPR with Naomi Areskes, a geologist (yeah!) and one of the authors of Merchants of Doubt – How a Handful of Scientists Obscure the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming: http://www.wpr.org/webcasting/audioarchives_display.cfm?Code=jca

It seems that the same three names emerge repeatedly in the denial and sowing of doubt on major subjects where the science has actually been settled for some time, including DDT, Acid Rain, the Ozone Hole, Tobacco Hazards and Global Warming. Seriously? Tobacco and DDT!?

Cold warriors Fred Seitz, Fred Singer and Bill Neirenberg all worked on Starwars, Ronny’s Raygun project in the 1980s and were vehement anticommunists. When the Soviet Union collapsed they needed a new enemy (because that’s an essential conservative component). They were also free-market fundamentalists and believed that any government regulation lead directly to communism. Ironic, since global warming is a very real and concrete example of a failure of the so called free market place, just like the BP spill. In fact the externality of costs from global warming is probably the largest market failure in the history of the planet. So these market fundamentalists went to work for that pillar of corporate virtue RJ Reynolds and the Tobacco Institute. What fool would believe that a wholesome product like cigarettes cause cancer and emphysema?

These ideologues then turned on environmentalists as their new enemy, believing that environmentalists are like watermelons, green on the outside but red on the inside. They founded the George C. Marshall Institute http://www.marshall.org/ and worked closely with Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, American Enterprise Institute, the Advancement of Sound Science Center and the Heartland Group, all rightwing “think tanks” and all funded in large measure by the fossil industries. Unlike actual research scientists these groups carefully study how to change public opinion and then put their funding behind those efforts. And they’ve used an all too compliant media to convince a significant portion of the American public that there are two sides to every issue when there is not, especially in these cases. They even used the Fairness Doctrine (you know how much Cons love that) to threaten PBS into giving the pro-Starwars side equal time when essentially there were three scientist claiming it would work versus thousands who said it wouldn’t work, a fact that George Warcriminal Bush aptly proved 20 years later.

Doubt is their product and they use any minor uncertainty or disagreement and conflate it to convince the public that there are still major question surrounding the science that threatens the profits of their corporate sponsors. They use threats, intimidation, illegitimate lawsuits and lies (like the recent climate change email dust up) to advance their agenda.

One of these lies was that Roger Ravelle, one of the first scientists to study and warn about Global Warming and a mentor of Al Gore, recanted on his death bed. A young grad student, Justin Lancaster who worked with Ravelle and knew it was lie began to speak out, but Fred Singer threatened to sue him and because he had no money he settled out of court and agreed to a 10-year gag order that has now expired. Scientists, including the authors of this book have been threatened and targeted with ad homonym for espousing their anti-fossil views that the industrialists consider to be a threat to their profits for which they are willing to sacrifice future generations.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/books/reviews/2010-06-01-deathmerchants01_ST_N.htm

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2010/03/naomi_oreskes_on_merchants_of.php

WTF, This is Obama's NID Nominee!?

From today's Democracy Now!: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/6/10/headlines

Obama’s Intel Nominee Tied to False Iraq WMD Claim

The Associated Press reports a Senate vote on President Barack Obama’s choice for national intelligence director could be delayed into the fall because of questions about whether the nominee would be too close to the Pentagon. The nominee, James Clapper, is a retired Air Force general who currently serves as undersecretary of defense for intelligence. From 2001 to 2006, Clapper headed the Pentagon’s National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. In that position, Clapper played a key role in promoting the Bush administration’s claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction prior to the 2003 invasion. In October 2003, Clapper said it was unquestionably true that Iraq moved WMDs to Syria ahead of the war. The website ThinkProgress reports former Bush adviser Karl Rove has cited Clapper’s theory to defend claims by the Bush administration that it believed Iraq posed an imminent security threat to the United States.

ACORN Reported False Prostitution Claim to Police

The trumped up destruction of ACORN has been a huge victory for the anti-democracy right- wing activists who certainly don't want poor people or minorities to be registered or vote. It turns out the ACORN staffer supposedly caught on tape helping a pipmp and a protitute informed police immediately after the staged incident, further discrediting the wingnut hit team responsible and once again demonstrating why anything put forth by GOP and the wingnutti should should be viewed with extreme caution and suspicion until vetted. From a recent Democracy Now! report: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/9/headlines

Scary New GOPoll

Couple the crap in this poll with the teaparty chanting of "N&#$%^!, N&#$%^!, N&#$%^!, N&#$%^!, ..., their spitting on a Congressman and the explosion of right wing anti-government militia rascist groups and we are on a potential path to be torn apart by the ingnoramouses among us who increasingly represent the GOPster base.

A report on a new Harris Poll From the Daily Beast: http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailybeast/20100323/ts_dailybeast/7269_scarynewgoppoll

(Emphasis added)

57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe that Obama is a Muslim 45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree with the Birthers in their belief that Obama was "not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president" 38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that Obama is "doing many of the things that Hitler did" Scariest of all, 24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall) say that Obama "may be the Antichrist." These numbers all come from a brand-new Louis Harris poll, inspired in part by my new book Wingnuts. It demonstrates the cost of the campaign of fear and hate that has been pumped up in the service of hyper-partisanship over the past 15 months. We are playing with dynamite by demonizing our president and dividing the United States in the process. What might be good for ratings is bad for the country.

The poll, which surveyed 2,230 people right at the height of the health-care reform debate, also clearly shows that education is a barrier to extremism. Respondents without a college education are vastly more likely to believe such claims, while Americans with college degrees or better are less easily duped. It's a reminder of what the 19th-century educator Horace Mann once too-loftily said: "Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge."

The full results of the poll, which will be released in greater detail tomorrow, are even more frightening: including news that high percentages of Republicans—and Americans overall—believe that President Obama is "racist," "anti-American" "wants the terrorists to win" and "wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one-world government." The "Hatriot" belief that Obama is a "domestic enemy" as set forth in the Constitution is also widely held—a sign of trouble yet to come. It's the same claim made by Marine Lance Corporal Kody Brittingham in his letter of intent to assassinate the President Obama.

This poll is the latest and most detailed evidence of the extent to which Wingnuts are hijacking our politics. It should be a wakeup call to all Americans and a collective reminder, as we move past health-care reform, that we need to stand up to extremism.

John Avlon's new book Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America is available now by Beast Books both on the Web and in paperback. He is also the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.

GOPish Fear and Loathing in Racine

Are the GOPsters ginning up the next Timothy McVeigh? We’ve already had rightwing terrorist nuts murder a doctor who provided abortions and a security guard at the Jewish museum in DC. Now extremists are showing up at events with President Obama armed with guns and wearing t-shirts the same slogan that McVeigh wore - The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

We’ve got ignorant people scared to death by lies GOPropagated by the usual GOPropagandists so that their spouting all manner of crazy and hateful things with veiled threats of violence (and some actual minor altercations). And they’re stupidly accusing Obama of being both a fascist and socialist as if he could be both, a prime example of their appalling ignorance of history and political ideologies.

And now we have a direct threat of violence in Racine, presumably Paul Ryan’s Thursday August 27th “Listening Session” at 1:30-2:30pm at Gateway Tech Room #114, 901 Pershing Drive. The following email was recently sent to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) as reported by the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/08/unions-receive-increasing_n_254704.html

“You socialist f---s have the nerve to say stop the violence at the town hall meetings when they weren't violent until you p---ies showed up because your n----- leader obama said to?????? When we have ours in Racine, Wi, I want you there. I want one of your little b----- to put his hands on this Marine. I want one of you to look or talk to me wrong. I'll be the last thing your ignorant faux body guards will remember for a very long time. You can f---ing guarantee that.”

I guess this racist “Marine” either didn’t understand it or didn’t mean it when he swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. He apparently believes he’s justified in using violence against an American citizen who has different beliefs than he does or who looks or talks to him in a way that he deems to be “wrong”. Unfortunately he doesn’t appear to be alone in his zealotry, the wing-nutti are coming out of the woodwork like flying ants.

These idiots are seriously off their rockers and they’re being whipped into a frenzy by the Republicans and their corporate funded shell groups like Dick Armey’s Freedom Works and the Teabaggers. But what is really scary and grossly irresponsible on the part of the GOPsters is that it is the fear and hatred that these people harbor that is being played up and manipulated. It is their racism, xenophobia and their deluded notion that they need to “take our country back” for “real Americans” because they lost an ELECTION!

It’s a very dangerous game that the Republicans are playing with these frightened and ignorant people and when the next one acts out violently on his delusions the Republicans will bear no small responsibility for their shameful incitement and demagoguery.