July 31, 2012

A shout out to... Quiet DUers!

To all those members of Democratic Underground who DON'T post monumental, epic posts, but who quietly READ everything, RECOMMEND what they read and even ADD a short comment or two.

They're not flashy nor do they wish to attract attention to themselves. They're either long-time posters, newbies (welcome!) or long-time lurkers who have decided to participate.

Here's to all of you!

July 19, 2012

Just heard something interesting about the French Revolution

It was started by the right wing upper classes, protesting high taxes. France was BROKE because of war and colonial pursuits (sound familiar?)

The Crown (royalty) tried to quell the dispute, but then.... the "left-wing", the poor and oppressed, seized the opportunity and rebelled against both the rich AND royalty itself and took control.

Occupy Wall St. is not at all a new concept.

March 17, 2012

I get it now

I was wondering WTF the GOP was doing, throwing away moderate voters with this anti-woman shit.

Then it hit me.

This isn't some big misogynist thing (although the natural misogynists are having a field day with this), at least not ultimately.

It's about cheap labor.

I always come back to this link to remind myself why the GOP does ANY of the shit they pull. It's a post from 2007 by Conceptual Guerilla called the "Cheap Labor Conservatives Issues Guide"
http://www.conceptualguerilla.com/?q=node/16
And it's premise still holds out - that nearly EVERYTHING conservatives do, their ultimate goal is - you guessed it, cheap labor.

But anyways - I understand what all the Ultrasound and transvaginal probe nonsense is about. They're making the women PAY for this, remember?
They want to make abortion for lower income women so expensive, they'll keep reproducing. And ditto for getting birth control. Not for you, poor woman....

And poor babies with poor educations grow up to be good convenience store workers or janitors. Or soldiers.

Social mobility is EXACTLY what the 1% DON'T need right now for their long range plans. So, do all this in an election year that doesn't matter. Like 2012.

March 2, 2012

Glenn Greenwald tweet on Sandra Fluke

http://www.salon.com/2010/06/06/marriage_18/
http://www.alternet.org/story/38192//

March 2, 2012

Virginia Supreme Court Rejects Subpoenas of Climate Scientists’ Emails

Good! Glad to see that Cucinelli has been shut down. This was an outrageous attempt to harass scientists working on climate change research.
More:
http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/virginia-supreme-court-1374.html

February 15, 2012

Leak exposes how Heartland Institute works to undermine climate science

The inner workings of a libertarian thinktank working to discredit the established science on climate change have been exposed by a leak of confidential documents detailing its strategy and fundraising networks.

DeSmogBlog, which broke the story, said it had received the confidential documents from an "insider" at the Heartland Institute, which is based in Chicago. The blog monitors industry efforts to discredit climate science.

The scheme includes spending $100,000 for spreading the message in K-12 schools that "the topic of climate change is controversial and uncertain - two key points that are effective at dissuading teachers from teaching science", the documents said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/15/leak-exposes-heartland-institute-climate?CMP=twt_gu

February 5, 2012

Romney and Gingrich Do Who's on First

February 4, 2012

Electro-Motive plant shut by U.S. owner

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/02/03/electro-motive-plant-london-close.html

You might remember that this is Caterpillar, who wanted to slash unionized wages by 50%. The union said |Hell, NO| and drew their line in the sand.
So Caterpillar closed the factory and is moving the jobs to Muncie, Indiana, where the wages will be LESS than half.

Oh, and did I mention that Caterpillar is one of the most PROFITABLE corporations in the world right now, with over a billion dollars earnings in the past 3 months?
I heard a radio interview with an economist who said "Caterpillar hates unions more than they hate profits"

And yes, that's Stephen Harper, our glorious leader in 2008, announcing a $5 million TAX BREAK for Caterpillar when the plant was taken over by Caterpillar.

December 19, 2011

Big Oil and Canada thwarted U.S. carbon standards

When President Barack Obama decided in early November to delay a decision on TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline until after the next election, America’s environmental movement celebrated one of its biggest victories in recent memory. And no doubt the news came as a blow to Alberta’s tar sands industry, and to Canada’s oft-stated dream of becoming the next global energy superpower.

But behind activists’ jubilation lurked a somber reality, an untold story with much wider implications. The broader fight to reform Alberta’s tar sands, the one which actually stood a chance of breaking America’s addiction to the continent’s most polluting road fuel, has been quietly abandoned over the past several years. For that we can thank the planet’s richest oil companies and their Canadian government allies, who’ve together waged a stealthy war against President Obama’s climate change ambitions.

~snip

On Pennsylvania Avenue

Perhaps the best place to start is on December 30, 2009. It was a bad day for Michael Whatley, founding partner at a K-Street consulting firm in Washington called HBW Resources that has close ties to Alberta’s tar sands industry. The reason: 11 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic governors had agreed in writing to consider adopting one of the planet’s most forward-looking climate change policies, something called a low-carbon fuel standard. Whatley thought his friend Mar would be interested. “Please let me know your thoughts,” Whatley emailed him.

More:
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/15/big_oil_and_canada_thwarted_u_s_carbon_standards/singleton/