In case of choking on faux progressive rhetoric...

Tip: Mark Gisleson

TEPCO, Toshiba, Stone & Webster, and You

TEPCO, the utility company that operates the exploding Japanese nuclear reactors, has an 18 percent stake in the two new reactors President Obama has proposed for the South Texas Project. And as Greg Palast reports, both TEPCO and their US construction partner, Stone & Webster (now a division of The Shaw Group) have a history of falsifying safety reports. Not only that, but the reason The Shaw Group was able to acquire Stone & Webster so cheaply was due to a failed $147 million Indonesian kickback scheme that sank the company. And Toshiba has acquired the Westinghouse brand primarily for the purpose of promoting nuclear energy in the US, despite its now apparent incompetence in Japan. So, as usual, our nuclear power future is pock-marked with corruption and incompetence.

But wait! There's more!

In the latest shocking reversal from his campaign positions, President Obama is defending nuclear power's safety record in the wake of Japan's calamity. He has already asked Congress for $9 billion in loan guarantees for nuclear energy, and he is expected to seek an additional $56 billion in his inevitable second term.

So it appears the looming corporate feudal state will be augmented with dangerous, expensive nukes just for shits and giggles.

Hypocrites to the Left of Me, Republicrats to the Right

This is awesome. Three years ago, Indiana Republicans enacted draconian voter identification legislation, and now, the Republican state elections chief has been indicted for voter fraud. Priceless.

In case you're wondering how draconian Indiana's voter ID law really is, check this out:

Retired Nuns Barred from Voting in Indiana

Wednesday 7 May 2008
At least 10 retired nuns in South Bend, Indiana, were barred from voting in today's Indiana Democratic primary election because they lacked photo IDs required under a state law that the supreme court upheld last week.


What's more, the voter fraud these laws are supposedly attempting to combat is virtually non-existent, unless, of course, you count Republicans.

The true purpose of these voter ID laws -- which, by the way, are being enacted in around seven states -- is to disenfranchise elderly and poor voters, who traditionally vote Democratic.

Meanwhile, the outgoing (nominally Democratic) Chicago mayor and brother of incoming Obama chief of staff dutifully recites GOP talking points.

What Bill Said

The Return of Despair.

When Bush won re-election in 2004, I did serious research into moving to Canada. They have a point system for immigration, and I came up a few points short, according to my calculation. Today, I feel about a million times more despondent than I did then. Any Canadian, Australian or New Zealand women out there who would like to marry an American malcontent who's really a nice guy beneath the gruff exterior? I'm good at cooking, chopping firewood and cunnilingus.

Reality - 11, Obama - 0

Obama vs. Reality

Crimes R Crimes

So George W. Douche says his biggest failure was not privatizing Social Security, a sentiment shared by Republicans in Congress. Meanwhile, Obama wants to make cuts to Social Security in order to balance the budget. So as usual, our choices are shitty or really shitty.

Well, here's what pisses me off about the Social Security debate and about Americans in general:

In France, the president -- a conservative, mind you -- suggests raising the retirement age by two years and people go apeshit. They halt oil production and disrupt trains and clash with riot police and so forth. In this country, the president -- a liberal, mind you (nominally at least) -- suggests the same thing and...nada, zilch, crickets chirp, leaves rustle.

Cutting Social Security is considered A-OK simply because it's less bad than the Republican plan. But the secret no one wants us to hear is that there's nothing wrong with Social Security. It's fine. The way to balance the budget is to end our two (or more) illegal, un-winnable foreign occupations and return the tax schedule to pre-Bush levels. I mean, it's a simple fix and nobody is suggesting it, except for a few non-viable types like the Green Party and Bernie Sanders, etc.

America is over. When your choices are between two Wall Street hookers, the only option is to stock up on toilet paper and brace for the worst. We are getting the government we deserve.

EDIT: I don't know what the fuck is up with this piece of shit blogging software. I've changed the fourth paragraph to the same motherfucking font as the rest of the paragraphs 20 motherfucking times, but it insists on staying like that. You would think that Google, with all their trillions of dollars, would be able to come up with a rudimentary blogging program, but I guess they're too busy colluding with Verizon to give a fuck about little details like text consistency in their shitty fucking software. Fuck this fucking country. I CANNOT WAIT to see this fucking shit hole go down in flames. I will waste my last breath laughing.

How About a Little Cheese with that Whine?

Obama Mocks Public Option Supporters

FDR famously said, "Don't tell me to do it, make me do it." (Or words to that effect.) By contrast, Obama is complaining because progressives ARE trying to make him do it. He has what every president dreams of: a mandate from the people. The electorate has spoken clearly, both by electing him by a strong majority and by making their desires known throughout the first two years of his presidency. It wasn't Republicans who stymied the health care debate; it was fellow Democrats. It wasn't Republicans who watered down Wall Street "reform;" it was Tim Geithner & Larry Summers -- people within his own administration. It's worth noting that these two guys -- Summers & Geithner -- were the ones who stymied Brooksley Born's efforts to regulate over-the-counter derivatives trading during the Clinton administration. And that, in turn, helped create the financial meltdown, yet they are STILL opposing regulation of over-the-counter derivatives trading. This is why the Democrats' approval ratings are in the toilet -- not because they're doing too much, but because they're doing too little.

In short, the president is whining because his supporters are actually paying attention for a change. Instead of complaining about progressives, he should be telling the GOP and the bluedogs, "I'm sorry, guys. It's what the people want."

Both parties are beholden to business interests, but the anti-masturbation, gun nut whackaloons that make up the Republican base are not in direct opposition to Wall Street, Big Oil, etc., whereas the book-reading, reality television non-watching, homo non-fearing citizens who comprise the Democratic base ARE in direct opposition to such interests. I suspect that privately, you would find Karl Rove & Dick Cheney mocking the evangelicals & slack-jawed yokels who comprise their base. In fact, I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that they did just that. Ah, yes. Here it is.

In his book, (David) Kuo wrote that White House staffers would roll their eyes at evangelicals, calling them "nuts" and "goofy."

But publicly, they embrace so-called "values voters" because it's politically expedient to do so.

The Democratic leadership, on the other hand, is OPENLY hostile to its base. Robert Gibbs, for example, was instrumental in undermining Howard Dean's candidacy, much more so than any Republican. And that was long before his recent whining about progressives.

The reason you don't see the unity among Democrats that you do among Republicans is that the neo-liberal DLC crowd is at odds with the old-school FDR Democrats.

"Good luck with the next asshole you hand the presidency to," you say? Democrats have a 20-year history of handing the presidency to assholes. One was named Clinton and one was named Obama. Oh, but they had that ever-important (D) behind their names and that makes all the difference. I guess a Democrat bombing the snot out of civilians and handing the reins of power to Wall Street is so much better than a Republican doing it.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

The Short Leash of Corporate America

There are lots of people lamenting the tendency of Blue Dogs like Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln, Evan Bayh, etc. etc. of ignoring their constituents and instead, representing WellPoint or BP or some such thing, and rightly so, but there's another thing hamstringing the Left: We all work for or otherwise support our political opponents.

As I type this, I am supporting AT&T, who is trying to kill net neutrality. My U-Verse payments (or, more accurately, my landlord's U-Verse payments) go in part toward something I adamantly oppose. If you have a mortgage payment or a checking account, chances are you're supporting mounttop removal or stadium financing or illegal arms trading or a million other nefarious schemes. Most of the jobs I've had have been supportive of the other side, too, either because I was working directly for some right-wing asshole, or because my work prolonged and supported something I detest. In other words, just to earn a living and take part in the world, we lefties are forced to support our enemies. Right-wingers don't have this problem. As far as I know, there aren't any conservatives who are forced by economic conditions beyond their control to work for, say, Greenpeace or the ACLU.

So, in addition to the fact that around half of the Democratic Party are recalcitrant corporate hookers, we are supplying their pimps with capital.

Jesse Ventura on Larry King

I didn't vote for him, and he said a lot of stupid things as Governor, but I sure agree with him here.

And here.

Does Somebody Feel Faint?

My Thoughts Exactly

From Dennis Perrin:

Several readers, both directly and indirectly, have criticized my "defense" of Ron Paul's presidential campaign. Why so soft on a whacko righty? I'm asked. Is this a sign of further rightward drift? Don't I know any better?Let me take a moment from stocking my basement with gold bars and automatic weapons to say for the record that I don't support Paul's campaign, and have no plans to vote for him, nor would I under existing conditions. I thought I'd made this plain in my original post when I confessed to having many differences with Paul's politics. Clearly, this didn't get across. So, I'll say it again: I have numerous problems with Ron Paul, and do not support his campaign. Capice? Terrific.The two points I was trying to express were: 1) liberal attacks on Paul's alleged racism, especially the New Republic's hit piece, have more to do with Paul's anti-imperial politics than with upholding Dr. King's dream; and 2) when it comes to statist abuses, I would side more with libertarians like Paul (though not exclusively Paul) than with most Dems, Hillary and Obama included. Of course, Paul is imperfect on the civil liberties front. His stances on immigration and abortion rights alone should make one wary. And his laissez-faire approach to economics would hand more power to corporations, given the present system. Thus, I don't view Paul as some kind of answer. Indeed, if the guy were ever elected to high office, I suspect that he'd either be weighed down by political/economic reality, which would negate most if not all of his plans, or he would crash ahead regardless, sending the system into chaos and shock. But this is all speculation. Ron Paul is not going to be president.There are those lefties who do support Paul's campaign, seemingly undisturbed by his numerous faults. In some ways, pro-Paul lefties are essentially Leninist in their approach, looking to heighten the contradictions of the system, perhaps knowing that in the contemporary U.S., a radical from the right would gain more grassroots traction than one from what passes for the left. Others are so sick of the war that they'll back anyone who openly opposes imperialism, no matter where it originates. Given that the leading Dems, all rhetoric aside, embrace the war state, and that Paul's profile is higher and stated position much sharper than any other antiwar candidate, his campaign is attracting a lot of positive attention. Again, this is why TNR attacked him with what it had. Were Paul in Mike Gravel territory, he wouldn't inspire the same venom. He'd be ignored or laughed away. I support no one for president. Not. A. Soul. No matter who takes the wheel later this year, the ship will remain on the same destructive course for quite some time. Enjoy shuffleboard and bingo while you can, and try not to spill your Mai Tai on the deck.