pls no (hiatus b/c of job)

Huge voter suppression plot exposed in Wisconsin

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 09:54:10 -0400

Huge voter suppression plot exposed in Wisconsin

this is my area code I WISH I WAS A MAN SO I COULD CALL

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:25:33 -0400

this is my area code I WISH I WAS A MAN SO I COULD CALL

thenoobyorker: “Brisenia Flores, the nine year old girl who was...

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 20:13:38 -0400

thenoobyorker:

“Brisenia Flores, the nine year old girl who was murdered in Arizona, shot by a group of pseudo-vigilantes who forced their way into her home looking to steal drug money that was to be used to finance a citizen border protection organization. They killed her father, wounded her mother and then killed the nine year old for reasons that still make no sense. Basically, it was a group of anti-immigrants who killed a little Latina girl to pay for their anti-immigrant activities. Perfect fodder for Grace and her ilk, no? In fact, the third and last defendant in the Brisenia Flores murder trial, Albert Gaxiola, was being tried at the same time as Casey Anthony. But not a peep in the media.
This isn’t to diminish what happened to little Caylee Anthony. It is a horrible crime that has yet to be solved. But the story quickly went from being sad to being a side-show – amplified by the 24 hour news wheel and the instant Internet repost cycle. We talked about it, we tweeted about it, we linked to it on FaceBook.”

- Caylee and Brisena: Why the difference in coverage?

So here's how my math class works

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 19:40:59 -0400

jagsrox:

What we learn in class:

1 + 1

Homework:

-55x + 47x

Test:

39048240x^2(3454x + 84) + 8343x(x - 454)(354 - x)

only one variable? you’ve got to be kidding me.

weiner and his wife / amy davidson for the new yorker

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 12:46:38 -0400

weiner and his wife / amy davidson for the new yorker:

firthofforth:

persifleur:

a nice take:

Measuring risk is what politicians do for a living—from when they decide to run, to voting to hire policemen or teachers or to go to war. One doesn’t want them to be completely, or even mostly cautious: politicians who never say anything that causes anyone to cringe, and never take a political risk, are useless. (That kind of risk can become routinized, of course; Ron Paul would probably make people angry if he made a safe vote.) There has to be some idiocy in idealism, as well as self-delusion. But that brand of bet is as different from what Weiner did as the gambit of putting up a Facebook page calling on people to come to Tahrir Square is different from spending hours hunched over an online-poker site. Not all hungers are alike, and courage shouldn’t be confused with mindless greed, or self-sacrifice with self-immolation, particularly because other people can easily get burned. (Did Weiner, in putting his political future in the hands of a twenty-six-year-old in Texas whom he had never met, congratulate himself for being brave?)

That is why it is, sad to say, a matter of legitimate interest that Weiner’s wife was pregnant when he sent those tweets. It widens our sense of just how careless he is with the lives of others, particularly those of people who are more vulnerable than he is. That is good to know about a politician; it is distinct from the question of whether someone who lies to his wife will lie to the public and, I’d argue, is more important.

Probably the best-written thing about what this scandal really is about.

"A quite illuminating post from Mother Jones. Apparently, a good deal of the recent crazy talk from..."

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 12:44:52 -0400

“

A quite illuminating post from Mother Jones. Apparently, a good deal of the recent crazy talk from the far-right of the GOP (i.e., it’s leadership) is based in the teachings of an amateur historian from Texas (of course). He’s teaching them, among other things, that the Founding Fathers debated evolution vs. creationism, and ended up siding with creationism.

Funny, then, that Darwin wasn’t even born until 1809, and didn’t write the Origin of the Species until 1859. As MoJo notes, those Founding Fathers had to be pretty prescient to debate a theory in 1776 that wasn’t fully formed until they were all long dead.

”

- GOP’s favorite historian: Founding Fathers opposed Darwin, even though Darwin not born yet. (The FF used leeches too.)

I totally did not catch that before when I reblogged that video. That being said,

AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Well, someone got caught with their pants down pulling facts out of their ass, didn’t they?

(via depressingfacts)

Hey, since you're for abortion and all I'm just gonna go back in time and tell your mom you're all for it. Sound good?

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:52:31 -0400

an-ominous-atheist:

sonic-hip-attack:

But then my mom has an abortion and then I never exist, so I never had a chance to form an opinion about abortion, so you never would have gone back in time to tell my non-mother anything.

Paradox’d.

Also, this argument is hilarious. Thinking abortion should be legal and a viable choice for people who need it does NOT mean you prescribe abortion for every pregnant person. And why would my mom care about my political views?

This is just as relevant as going back in time and telling my mom that I support same sex marriage. That means she’d immediately dump my dad and get into a lesbian relationship, right? Except for how she’s not attracted to women and you’re a dumbass.

I would like this post but I don’t want the insanely idiotic OP to think I approve of her stupid message, so I’ll just reblog it instead.

Edit: Oh god it’s a he, even worse.

Man gets ass kicked by SWAT for wife's student loan default

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:42:31 -0400

Man gets ass kicked by SWAT for wife's student loan default:

jonathan-cunningham:

Kenneth Wright does not have a criminal record and he had no reason to believe a S.W.A.T team would be breaking down his door at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

“I look out of my window and I see 15 police officers,” Wright said.

Wright came downstairs in his boxer shorts as the officers team barged through his front door. Wright said an officer grabbed him by the neck and led him outside on his front lawn.

“He had his knee on my back and I had no idea why they were there,” Wright said.

According to Wright, officers also woke his three young children ages 3, 7, and 11, and put them in a Stockton police patrol car with him. Officers then searched his house.

As it turned out, the person law enforcement was looking for was not there - Wright’s estranged wife.

“They put me in handcuffs in that hot patrol car for six hours, traumatizing my kids,” Wright said.

Wright said he later went to the mayor and Stockton Police Department, but the City of Stockton had nothing to do with Wright’s search warrant.

The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife’s defaulted student loans.

Welcome to the second gilded age, where we have debtors prisons and the government uses force to make sure what meager earnings the poor and middle class receive go straight to the pockets of the wealthy.

Wow what the hell

"Pawlenty’s economic plan, presented yesterday, is to enact tax cuts three times larger than Bush’s...."

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:19:44 -0400

“Pawlenty’s economic plan, presented yesterday, is to enact tax cuts three times larger than Bush’s. When one realizes that he is regarded as one of the more serious candidates, one wonders if the Republican degeneracy is actually intensifying. In this period of massive debt, Pawlenty’s position is to gut revenues even more - and balance them with spending cuts that could never overcome massive public resistance. Is it still GOP orthodoxy that the answer to any economic problem - even a collapse in federal revenue - is cutting taxes? The mind reels. Look: you simply cannot be in favor of debt reduction and massive tax cuts - on top of Bush’s bankrupting decade - at the same time.”

- Andrew Sullivan, “The Profound Unseriousness of Tim Pawlenty” (via technipol)

'Patriotic Millionaires' Ask Obama, Congress To Raise Their Taxes

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:19:37 -0400

'Patriotic Millionaires' Ask Obama, Congress To Raise Their Taxes:

militantagnostic:

technipol:

NPR - The 200 members of Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength are advocating higher taxes on the wealthy. Group member Dennis Mehiel says this is part of balancing the country’s fiscal policy. Host Michel Martin speaks with Mehiel to learn more about this concept. Martin also checks in with Washington D.C. restaurant owner Andy Shallal for his views on taxing the business elite.

This is what real patriotism looks like.

"Did you know that teachers, firemen, police, office workers, IT professionals and mail carriers..."

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:19:26 -0400

“

Did you know that teachers, firemen, police, office workers, IT professionals and mail carriers aren’t actually doing a “real” job?

That’s according to Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), who told a conservative radio host recently that he’s opposing a national debt limit increase because he believes it wouldn’t affect anyone with a “real job.”

”

- GOP Rep: Gov’t. workers need to ‘find a real job’ | Raw Replay (via militantagnostic)

Syrian forces head to rebellious northern town | AP

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:37:17 -0400

Syrian forces head to rebellious northern town | AP:

Convoys of Syrian tanks and elite troops led by President Bashar Assad’s brother were heading Wednesday to a restive northern area where soldiers reportedly joined an anti-government uprising, a Syrian activist said, citing witnesses.

Syrian forces have lost control of large areas of Idlib province, a pro-government newspaper reported, in a rare acknowledgement of cracks in the regime’s tight grip. The paper said gunmen had set up boobytraps and ambushes in small villages to thwart incoming troops, and were sheltering in forests and caves.

The separate reports by the pro-government paper Al-Watan and Mustafa Osso, a human rights worker, raised the prospect of another bout of bloodshed in Syria’s nationwide crackdown on the revolt against the Assad family’s 40-year rule. The region borders Turkey, which said Wednesday it would open the frontier to Syrians fleeing violence.

Osso, who is in Syria, said witnesses told him that thousands of troops were on the move toward Idlib, near the Turkish border, in one of the biggest military deployments since the 11-week uprising began. [read more]

How the Ohio Court Decision on RU-486 Set Back the Clock on Fifteen Years of Medicine (RH Reality Check)

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:37:07 -0400

How the Ohio Court Decision on RU-486 Set Back the Clock on Fifteen Years of Medicine (RH Reality Check):

In 2004, the Ohio legislature passed a law barring use of RU-486, the combination drug used for early termination of pregnancy, unless it was prescribed strictly in accordance with official labeling by the Food and Drug Administration. The law never went into effect because of an injunction immediately sought and won by Planned Parenthood of Ohio and partner organizations in a suit claiming the law was unconstitutionally vague, lacked an exception to protect patients’ lives and health, and created undue burdens on a woman’s right to access abortion care by limiting their options and forcing many to undergo surgical abortion rather than early medication abortion.

After remaining under injunction as it wended its way through court for the past seven years, the case came before Ohio Federal District Court Judge Susan Dlott, who vacated the injunction and set the stage for enforcement of the law. […]

Unhappy with women’s rapidly expanding access to early medication abortion, in no large part because it reduces the ability to harass and stigmatize women for terminating a pregnancy, anti-choice advocates have repeatedly attacked medication abortion in much the same way they have surgical abortion: spreading lies and distortion about the medical safety of abortion procedures, stigmatizing abortion (and contraception) and seeking to pass one law after another creating spurious barriers to access to abortion, all under the guise of “protecting women.”

The 2004 Ohio law is one such example: A law forbidding off-label use of mifepristone means doctors can not prescribe medication based on new evidence (evidence-based prescribing). In other words, they can not use their skills or their medical judgment to prescribe an already-approved drug in accordance with the most recent medical and clinical data available.

The hard truth about health care

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:36:52 -0400

The hard truth about health care:

Everyone knows — or should know — that the United States spends much more than any other country on health care. But the Kaiser Family Foundation broke that spending down into two parts: the government’s share and the private sector’s share (both measured as a percentage of total gross domestic product), then compared the results to figures from 12 other countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. And here’s the shocker: Our government spends more on health care than the governments of Japan, Australia, Norway, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Canada or Switzerland.

Think about that for a minute. Canada has a single-payer health-care system. The government is the only insurer of any note. The United Kingdom has a socialized system, in which the government is not only the sole insurer of note but also employs most of the doctors and nurses and runs most of the hospitals. And yet, measured as a share of the economy, our government health-care system is the largest of the bunch.

And it’s worse than that: Atop our giant government health-care sector, we have an even more giant private health-care sector. Altogether, we’re spending about 16 percent of the GDP on health care. No other country even tops 12 percent. Which means we’ve got the worst of both worlds: huge government and high costs.

Boehner loves giving himself taxpayer money

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:36:43 -0400

Boehner loves giving himself taxpayer money:

jonathan-cunningham:

As Minority Leader, the Ohio Republican had received a direct payment of $833 each month from taxpayers to cover “official expenses for leaders,” the same monthly total then-Majority Leader Steny Hoyer received.

But Boehner now receives a monthly $2,083.33 direct payment for expenses, according to the most recent expenditure reports from the Clerk of the House. Because the total of the expense payment is the same each month, it is apparently not reimbursement for individual itemized expenses…

The boost in Boehner’s expense account is in addition to the $30,000 increase in the base pay that he began to collect in January after becoming Speaker. According to the Congressional Research Service, the Minority Leader’s salary was $193,400 last year. This year’s Speaker salary is $223,500.

The next time Boehner pretends to care about the deficit or the debt, remember that it only applies when the cost reductions hurt the poor. Though he’s willing to increase healthcare coverage costs for citizens receiving Medicare/Medicaid, when it comes to spending our money to benefit himself, his ideology goes right out the window.

Alec Baldwin Considering NYC Mayoral Run in 2013 | The Daily

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:36:34 -0400

Alec Baldwin Considering NYC Mayoral Run in 2013 | The Daily:

shortformblog:

Alec Baldwin is mulling a run for mayor of New York City now that kinky Congressman Anthony Weiner appears to have sexted himself out of the 2013 race.

The “30 Rock” star, who has long talked about running for political office, believes Weinergate has shaken up the field of candidates enough that he might have a chance to win, a friend of the actor told The Daily.

“Alec said, ‘Hey, maybe this changes the race. The dynamics have shifted,’ ” said Baldwin’s pal.

“The Democrats need a high-profile candidate, and Alec can fill that bill.”

Baldwin, a die-hard Democrat originally from Massapequa, a suburb on Long Island, N.Y., has said 2012 will be his last year on “30 Rock,” which would free him up for a 2013 mayoral run.

We take umbrage at the idea that Anthony Weiner has “sexted” himself out of the race (he’s not a family-values guy!), but a Baldwin mayoral race would be a breath of fresh air.

azspot: Perceived Moral Acceptability of Behaviors and Social...

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:36:24 -0400

azspot:

Perceived Moral Acceptability of Behaviors and Social Policies

"Why do Americans continue to give President Obama a free pass? Despite pitiful job creation, a..."

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:16:21 -0400

“Why do Americans continue to give President Obama a free pass? Despite pitiful job creation, a lurching and disappointing recovery, recurring confrontations with Israel, paralysis on immigration, despair over Afghanistan, a worsening fiscal outlook, an expensive stalemate in Libya, a dysfunctional relationship with Congress (including his own party) and a world view that is patently at odds with mainstream Americans – Obama continues to enjoy positive approval ratings. As of last week, according to Gallup, more than half of American voters thinks the president is doing a good job.”

- Liz Peek for Fox News

Because none of these things have to do with the volatile 112th Congress, it’s all Obama’s fault.

(via reallyfoxnews)

Dancing at the Jefferson Memorial sparks new national holiday

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:16:02 -0400

shortformblog:

banned Last Saturday, there was a flashmob at the Jefferson Memorial in DC to protest a dancing ban at the national icon. About 200 people showed up to party like it’s 1999 after a court said in May that the landmark isn’t a dancefloor. There was a similar happening closer to the court ruling, but people were roughed up and arrested.

rebellion Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes wants to declare July 30th “National Dancing Day” and move the dancing flashmob to the National mall in response to the court ruling. Norton said this whole thing was a wake up call, and DC should do more with the National Mall — like throw an awesome dance party on it. Good show. source

Read ShortFormBlog • Follow

still doing nothing for the day after getting my wisdom teeth out, my mouth is trying to destroy me. love you guys :)

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 10:22:38 -0400