The Party of Bork

(Justice)Rosenberg equals the government over business, the individual over government, the environment over everything. And the Indians? Oh, give 'em whatever they want. -- Pelican Brief, 1993

That description of a fictional Supreme Court Justice's judicial philosophy condenses as well as anything I've ever read the core of liberalism.

Government over business, the individual over government, the environment over everything, and give the Indians whatever they want.

In other words: regulate business to protect society; regulate government to protect individuals; regulate business, government and individuals to protect the environment on which they all depend; and do everything to make up for America's genocide.

Liberalism prizes the individual above business and government in every case, except where trumped by protecting the natural world and paying for genocide.

No surprise that conservatism values precisely the opposite: government over individuals who challenge business, and business over government, individuals, the environment, Indians, science, religion and common sense.

It's easy to figure the conservative position on virtually anything: whatever is in the best short-term interest of huge, rapacious corporations is what conservatives are for. No matter who or what gets trampled in the process.

There is one guaranteed way to turn every repug in the nation into a pro-abortion fanatic overnight: find a way for the Koch Brothers to profit from it.

Repugs are anti-women - or rather anti- sentient, independent women - because sentient, independent women are not profitable.

Think I'm exaggerating? It's all there, plain as day, in the judicial decisions of the man Mitt Romney has hired to advise him on judicial appointments - whom a President Romney would appoint to the Supreme Court: Robert Bork.

Down with Tyranny:

In August 1987, during his Supreme Court confirmation fight, the Public Citizen Litigation Group published an exhaustive and devastating report on Judge Bork’s judicial record. The authors could find no “consistent application of judicial restraint or any other judicial philosophy” in Bork’s work on the Court. Rather, by focusing on split decisions, where judicial ideology is made most plain, Public Citizen found that “one can predict [Bork’s] vote with almost complete accuracy simply by identifying the parties in the case.” When the government litigated against a business corporation, Judge Bork voted for the business interest 100% of the time. But when government was challenged by workers, environmentalists and consumers, Bork voted nearly 100% of the time for the government.

In the crucial field of administrative law, for example, “Judge Bork adhered to an extreme form of judicial restraint if the case was brought by public interest organizations. His vote favored the executive in every one of the seven split decisions in which public interest organizations challenged regulations issued by federal agencies.” In these cases, Judge Bork defended, for example, Reagan administration rules relating to the environment, the regulation of carcinogenic colors in food, drugs and cosmetics, the regulation of companies with television and radio licenses, and privacy rules in family planning clinics. Similarly, in the six split decisions relating to civil rights and civil liberties where the government was a party, Judge Bork “voted against the individual every time.” In one of these cases, Dronenburg v. Zech, Judge Bork wrote a 1984 opinion upholding the Navy’s discharge of a sailor for being gay and used the opportunity to attack the Supreme Court’s entire line of authority, beginning with Griswold v. Connecticut, which articulated a constitutional right to privacy in matters relating to sex and procreation.

Yet, in the eight split decisions where a business interest challenged the government, Judge Bork voted straight down the line for business every time.

He's not alone; just the most blatant example. Bork might as well be on the Supreme Court already, because every decision of the Fanatic Five falls right in line on the conservative business uber alles imperative. Bush v. Gore, Carhart, Citizens United, Florence: every single one elevated business and authoritarian government over the individual regardless of Constitutional letter, spirit or precedent.

No lie repugs tell is as despicably mendacious as the claim that conservatism honors and protects individuals.

Read the whole thing.

No More Marquis of Queensbury Rules

Liberals can't afford them.

Erik Loomis asks: Are conservatives any crazier today than 50 years ago?

Rick Perlstein suggests not in an excellent essay placing today’s wingnuts in context. A choice passage:

Over fifteen years of studying the American right professionally — especially in their communications with each other, in their own memos and media since the 1950s — I have yet to find a truly novel development, a real innovation, in far-right “thought.” Right-wing radio hosts fingering liberal billionaires like George Soros, who use their gigantic fortunes – built by virtue of private enterprise under the Constitution – out to “socialize” the United States? 1954: Here’s a right-wing radio host fingering “gigantic fortunes, built by virtue of private enterprise under the Constitution … being used to ‘socialize’ the United States.” Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, “fed up with elitist judges” arrogantly imposing their “radically un-American views” — including judges on the Supreme Court, whose rulings he’s pledged to defy? 1958: Nine Men Against America: The Supreme Court and its Attack on American Liberties, still on sale at sovereignstates.org.

Only the names of the ogres have changed — although sometimes they haven’t. Dr. Noebel’s latest project is to republish a volume he apparently finds freshly relevant, Dr. Fred Schwarz’s You Can Trust the Communists: To be Communists. Schwarz, an Australian physician who died three years ago, had his heyday in the early 1960s, when he would fill municipal auditoriums preaching his favorite gospel: that the Kremlin dominated its subjects by deploying “the techniques of animal husbandry,” and harbored “plans for a flag of the USSR flying over every American city by 1973.” The new version, updated by Noebel – it comes with raves from grateful Amazon.com reviews, like this: “Just as important as it was 50 years ago”; and this: “Should be required reading for every American,” and “This book made me a conservative” – is titled You Can Still Trust the Communists: To be Communists, Socialists, Statists, and Progressives Too.

This is fundamentally true. The difference between 2012 and 1962 isn’t that conservatives are crazier, it’s that liberals are far weaker and thus it is much harder to fight back. Perlstein also pushes back against the idea developed by people like Jonathan Chait that the demographics suggest a more liberal future, suggesting that this is just another argument liberals have made for a half-century without it ever really happening.

The upshot: We have to prepare for a decades-long fight to the death. That’s the nation’s only hope.

Grow the Economy By Growing the Post Office

David Dayen at Firedoglake notes that "by May 15 Congress must come up with some postal service reforms to avert mass closures of post offices."

Jim Hightower cuts through the lies with "The Post Office is not broke--and it hasn't taken any of our tax money since 1971"

From the gated enclaves and penthouses of the ueber-wealthy to the inner-city ghettos and rural colonias of America's poorest families, the US Postal Service literally delivers. All that for 45 cents. And if you've written the wrong address or your recipient can't be found, you'll get your letter or package back for no charge. The USPS is an unmatched bargain, a civic treasure, a genuine public good that links all people and commu-nities into one nation.

So, naturally, it must be destroyed.

For the past several months, the laissez-fairyland blogosphere, assorted corporate front groups, a howling pack of congressional right-wingers, and a bunch of lazy mass media sources have been pounding out a steadily rising drumbeat to warn that our postal service faces impending doom: It's "broke," they exclaim, the situation "is dire," USPS "nears collapse," it's "a full-blown financial crisis!" This is the year, they insist, that the whole shebang will implode: The PBS Newshour recently alarmed viewers about "a complete shutdown this winter," and even the current Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, has added to the din by declaring, "we'll be out of cash next August."

According to this gaggle of gloomsayers, the national mail agency is bogged down with too many overpaid workers and costly brick- and-mortar facilities, so it can't keep up with the instant messaging of internet services and such nimble corporate competitors as FedEx. Thus, say these contrivers of their own conventional wisdom, the Postal Service is unprofitable, is costing taxpayers billions of dollars a year in losses, and is plummeting irreversibly into bankruptcy. Wrong, wrong, and wrong. I realize that the Powers That Be never allow truth to get in the way of their policy intentions, but--come on--three strikes and you're out!

Hightower demolishes all three Big Lies, and then goes beyond to show how very small reforms can not only save the Post Office but turn it into an engine of economic renewal and growth. He urges: Think Large

The biggest lie of all is that USPS is an antiquated, unnecessary, failing civic institution that simply must give way to electronic technology and corpo-rate efficiency. This is nothing but ideological hogwash spewed by private profiteers and political quislings. Obviously, the Postal Service is no longer the only player making the rounds, and it must make some major adjustments to find its proper fit and new opportunities in the marketing and public service mix. But this requires top management and polit-ical overseers to be a bit more creative and business- like than constantly cutting, closing, outsourcing, eliminating--and giving in to the bashers and slashers.

This is the time to innovate, offer new services and products--don't shrink, expand! Start with three phenomenal assets that USPS has: (1) that network of 32,000 retail outlets (many of them historic and even works of art) that form the most extensive local presence of any business or government in America, drawing more than seven million people into them each day; (2) an experienced, smart, skilled, and dedicated workforce of nearly 600,000 middle-class Americans who live in the communities they serve and are brimming with ideas and energy to move the Postal Service forward--if only those at the top would listen and turn them loose; and (3) the general good will of the public, which sees their local post office and its employees as "theirs," providing useful services and standing as one of their core civic insti-tutions (in a 2009 Gallup Poll, 95 percent of Americans said it was personally important to them that the Postal Service be continued).

Let's build on those big pluses. This is one government program that really works for the people, but it can work better and do more. Here are just a few ideas:

Go digital ....

Expand the store ....

Seven days ....

Bank here ....

America's postal service is just that--a true public service, a grassroots people's asset that has even more potential than we're presently tapping to serve the democratic ideal of the common good. Why the hell would we let an elite of small-minded profiteers, ranting ideologues, and their political hirelings drop-kick this jewel through the goal posts of corporate greed? This is not a fight merely to save 32,000 post offices and the middle-class jobs they provide--but to advance the BIG IDEA of America itself, the bold, historic notion that "Yes, we can" create a society in which we're all in it together.

That's worth fighting for, which means that you and I must add our voices and grassroots activism to those who're daring to confront the cants and greed of the privatizer elite. It means standing up to them, but most importantly standing up for ourselves, our values, our country.

Read the whole brilliant thing.

Earth Week in Kentucky

Feeling cynical about the 43rd Earth Day? Find both confirmation and reason for hope in this article from The Nation.

Meanwhile, Earth Week in Kentucky once again ignores the giant Big Coal elephant in the room.

Governor Steve Beshear has proclaimed April 22-28, 2012, as “Earth Week in Kentucky.” This year’s celebration focuses on the Division of Forestry’s 100th anniversary with the theme of “Celebrating Kentucky’s Forests.”

“Forestry’s monumental milestone of serving Kentuckians since 1912 is certainly something to celebrate and reflect upon,” said Gov. Beshear. “Historically, the division has enforced forest fire protection laws; provided fire suppression and technical assistance to private landowners and maintained a tree seedling service.

“Today, the division also provides public education, timber harvesting and forest health inspections. It’s appropriate to celebrate Kentucky’s forestry division that creates additional public awareness of how we can become better stewards of our forests.”

For Earth Week activities:

The Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission (KSNPC) is partnering with the Kentucky Society of Natural History, Frankfort Parks and Recreation and the Kentucky Native Plant Society to celebrate Earth Week in Kentucky, April 22-28.

On Saturday, April 21, KSNPC botanist Tara Littlefield and the Kentucky Society of Natural History (KSNH) will host a 2- to 3-hour wildflower hike through Pine Creek Barrens in Bullitt County. This hike is rated as easy to moderate. Signups and questions can be directed through the KSNH website: www.ksnh.org.

KSNPC ecologist Brian Yahn will lead an easy to moderate “wildflower walk” through the mesic forest of Cove Springs in Franklin County on April 22. Everyone is invited to join Brian and Frankfort Parks and Recreation on a search for a wide variety of spring wildflowers. The walk begins at 2 p.m. and will last until approximately 3:30 p.m. No registration is required. Participants should meet at the large picnic shelter near the parking lot 15 minutes prior to the start of the hike. For more information, contact either KSNPC Ecologist Brian Yahn through email at Brian.Yahn@ky.gov or by phone at 502-573-2886. You may also phone Debbie Bramlage, Frankfort Parks and Recreation Outreach Coordinator via email: nanstheman@Yahoo.com or phone 513-300-8500.

The 32nd Annual Wildflower Weekend will be held April 27-29, in conjunction with the Kentucky Native Plant Society, at Natural Bridge State Park Nature Preserve in Powell County. This event offers activities for the entire family.

On Saturday, April 28, KSNPC staff members will host hikes of varying levels of difficulty in search of spring wildflowers. Those interested in participating will need to sign up for the hikes after their arrival at Natural Bridge.

For more information, contact park naturalist Brian Gasdorf by e-mail at brian.gasdorf@ky.gov or call Natural Bridge at 606-663-2214 or toll free at 800-325-1710, ext. 2104.

Songs to Fight the Plutocracy By: "Casey Jones"

Uploaded by mill6771 on Apr 4, 2008

"Give Our Young People a Chance to Succeed"

You'd think that since repugs are trying to finance tax cuts for the obscenely wealthy by doubling interest rates on student loans, they'd want to encourage more indebted college students rather than disparaging them.



Full transcript here.

Support the Future of Liberalism in Candidates Like Trevor Thomas

Outside of John Yarmuth's Louisville, the Democratic congressional prospects in Kentucky are grim and grimmer. But beyond the Commonwealth there are fresh liberal faces you can support whole-heartedly.

Down with Tyranny:

Trevor Thomas is running for Congress in west Michigan's 3rd CD, which is mostly based in Grand Rapids and Battle Creek and has traditionally been a mainstream type of district. Before the House seat was captured last year by radical right teabagger Justin Amash it had been moderate Republican Vern Ehler's district. Long before that it has been represented by Arthur Vandenberg and, later, Jerry Ford. Amash is a bad fit for the district. But before Trevor can face him, he has to win the Democratic primary against a virulently anti-Choice, self-funding multimillionaire, Steve Pestka. Pestka will be just another hackish social conservative helping the GOP in their wars against everyone. While in the state legislature, for example, Pestka voted with the GOP to defund Planned Parenthood-- same stand as Amash. Trevor, of course, is a 100% pro-Choice candidate, like every Blue America-backed candidate.

“I’m the only candidate in this race who is pro-woman and pro-choice," he told us last week. "Just look at the record. My opponents have both voted to undermine a woman's right to choose and eliminate critical health services. I would expect that from a tea-party favorite like Rep. Amash, but a Democrat? Clearly there are folks supporting him who aren’t comfortable with me raising this as a major issue, but we’re not going to back down. There’s too much at stake in this election for women, and I am the only one who will fight for the issues that matter most to them and their families.”

Trevor learned something important-- probably many things-- when he was working for Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. She was running against billionaire Grand Rapids powerhouse Dick DeVos but even being outspent by $27 million, she beat him decisively. "Michigan voters, Trevor told me, "cannot be bought." Good to know-- but he also learned how to make dollars stretch a long way and how to leverage grassroots support against a campaign bloated with money from corporations and the one-percent. And he'll need to use those lessons in his own race-- in both the primary and general as he faces off against two consecutive wealthy self-funders.

Gov. Granholm and Lt. Governor John Cherry are both campaigning for Trevor. They know him-- and they know Pestka.

"From day one Trevor has been a fighter for fairness and opportunity," said former Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. "From the newsroom to the halls of Congress, Trevor has the experience and passion to get results on the issues critical to Michigan families. This is a campaign of inclusion that will stand up and represent all the voices of West Michigan and I am proud to support and be a part of it."

Trevor is proud of his working class roots and eager to get to work for working families. “I’m a product of public education. I was the first in my family to go to college, right here in West Michigan. I worked nights to put myself through school. Today, young people often need to get two or three jobs to afford the rising tuition, but the jobs aren’t there. The alternative is leaving the state to find opportunity elsewhere. I don’t think that should be a choice our young people have to make. They should have the chance to get a good quality education, at affordable costs, right here in Michigan. And they should do so with the confidence that once they graduate, they’ll be able to find a good-paying job. During my first year in office I will fight to stop the ongoing tuition loan rate hikes, like the one scheduled to take effect this July. We need schools to do their part as well to help keep tuition affordable, but Congressional action is critical, and I am committed to taking the lead on this issue.”

Trevor is proud of who he is and doesn't shy away from his status as a gay man any more than he shies away from his working class roots. “My dad and brother both served in the military, just like my grandfather. I went to work to help repeal 'don't ask, don't tell' to repeal the discriminatory policy with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, where we built a bipartisan coalition of folks to press Congress to vote on repeal. We had the odds against us, but we prevailed. Now, I’m the only one in this race who can say that I helped pass legislation to help our troops. This is just the beginning. In Congress I will ensure our men and women in uniform have the tools and the resources to do their jobs and protect our nation, and receive the benefits they earned upon returning home. Michigan is last in the nation for our troops getting their benefits-- that's wrong and I'm going to make sure we keep our promise to them."

August 7 is primary day. It's coming up very fast and Trevor can use some help-- very fast. He's Blue America's newest candidate and if you can, please consider making a contribution to his campaign on our ActBlue page.

Video here.

This Explains "Don't Think; Just Tase"

They're not even trying to hide it anymore: if your reaction to seeing two cops beating a defenseless kid for no reason is to try to stop them, then you are obviously unfit to be a cop.

Wonkette:

Bogota, New Jersey, police officer Regina Tasca responded to a call about a young man who was being erratic. She was supposed to transport him to the hospital. Two of her fellow officers, though, thought they were more supposed to jump on him and kick him in the head and shit — you know, the law! Tasca jumped in and managed to pry the officers off the young man. What do you suppose has happened since? A commendation, maybe? Definitely a commendation right? Haha no of course not. She has been suspended from duty for being “psychologically unfit.”

The black-and-white tape captures it all–a mother, Tara, screaming for police to stop punching her son on their front lawn. She had called to have her emotionally disturbed son Kyle taken to the hospital. Bogota police responded while waiting for the ambulance. Tasca was the sole officer on the road that day, so she called for back-up according to protocol. Ridgefield Park police then sent two officers. Tasca had just completed her state-mandated training for working with emotionally disturbed citizens.

Tasca described what we see on the videotape: “The Ridgefield Park officer automatically charges and takes him down to the ground. I was quite shocked. As he’s doing that, another Ridgefield Park officer flies to the scene in his car, jumps out and starts punching him in the head.”

What happened next? Is it baffling to many?

What happened next is so baffling to so many.

Tasca’s voice began to waiver as she recounted the meeting with her superior officer:

“The next thing I know he asks me to turn over my weapon and be sent for a fitness for duty exam,” she said.

Bogota PD, after hearing Tasca’s story, believes she is psychologically incompetent to be a police officer, and she is being sent for testing. The Ridgefield Park Police officers seen tackling and punching an emotionally disturbed man waiting for an ambulance are never questioned. never interviewed by an Internal Affairs Investigator, and are still working the streets today.

Bogota Police chose to suspend Tasca, an 11-year veteran with numerous commendations.

We are waiting on the outcome of Tasca’s show trial. Oh, but did we mention that in addition to being a lady cop, Regina Tasca is also gay? That might not be helping.

Tasca spells it out: “I’m the only female–the first female ever–and the first and only gay female also.” When asked if she feels targeted because of her sex and her sexual orientation, she doesn’t hesitate in here answer: “Yes.”

Therefore, it is probably best if Bogota, New Jersey, fires Regina Tasca twice. [WPIX, via Reason]

Compared to the bloodthirsty Tonton Macoutte local police forces seem to be turning into, the fuckwit brutes of Bull Connor's day were the epitome of cool professionalism.

Songs to Fight the Plutocracy By: "Hold the Fort"

Uploaded by theflood79 on Feb 24, 2011

Billy Bragg's version of the old Wobbly song. Apologies for the inappropriate Union MEN line.

Fort Knox Nixes Nugent

Even the politically-conservative, Xian-coercive U.S. military draws the line at threatening the President of the United States.

From the Courier:

The artist lineup for the Fort Knox annual summer concert scheduled for June 23 no longer includes right-wing rocker Ted Nugent.

Co-headliners REO Speedwagon and Styx remain scheduled to perform. However, after learning of Nugent's recent public comments about the president of the United States, Fort Knox leadership decided to cancel his performance on the installation.

Army Entertainment and the Fort Knox Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation remain committed to carrying out the June 23 concert, and the possibility exists that a replacement will be selected.

Nugent was scheduled to be the concert’s opening act.

Tasked with protecting the president, Secret Service personnel decided they needed to talk to Nugent, 63, after his remarks at last weekend's NRA convention in St. Louis in which the longtime gun-rights and hunting activist and conservative said, "If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year."

Poverty is a Shortage of Money. Period.

As Congressional repugs compete to come up with the most mendacious and degrading excuse for snatching the last crumbs of sustenance from America's non-rich, Barbara Ehrenreich reminds us that lying about the real source of poverty has a long history.

Harrington did such a good job of making the poor seem “other” that when I read his book in 1963, I did not recognize my own forebears and extended family in it. All right, some of them did lead disorderly lives, by middle-class standards, involving drinking, brawling and out-of-wedlock babies. But they were also hard-working and in some cases fiercely ambitious—qualities that Harrington seemed to reserve for the economically privileged.

According to him, what distinguished the poor was their unique “culture of poverty,” a concept he borrowed from anthropologist Oscar Lewis, who had derived it from his study of Mexican slum-dwellers. That concept gave The Other America a trendy academic twist, but it also gave the book a conflicted double message: “We”—always the presumptively affluent readers—needed to find some way to help the poor, but we also needed to understand that there was something wrong with them, something that could not be cured by a straightforward redistribution of wealth. Think of the earnest liberal who encounters a panhandler, is moved to pity by the man’s obvious destitution, but refrains from offering a quarter—since the hobo might, after all, spend the money on booze.

SNIP

By the Reagan era, the “culture of poverty” had become a cornerstone of conservative ideology: poverty was caused not by low wages or a lack of jobs but by bad attitudes and faulty lifestyles. The poor were dissolute, promiscuous, prone to addiction and crime, unable to “defer gratification” or possibly even set an alarm clock. The last thing they could be trusted with was money. In fact, Charles Murray argued in his 1984 book, Losing Ground, that any attempt to help the poor with their material circumstances would only have the unexpected consequence of deepening their depravity.

So it was in a spirit of righteousness and even compassion that Democrats and Republicans joined to reconfigure social programs to cure not poverty but the “culture of poverty.”

SNIP

Even today, more than fifteen years later and four years into a severe economic downturn, as people continue to slide into poverty from the middle classes, the theory maintains its grip. If you’re needy, you must be in need of correction, the assumption goes, so TANF recipients are routinely instructed in how to improve their attitudes. Applicants for a growing number of safety-net programs are subjected to drug testing. Lawmakers in twenty-three states are considering testing people who apply for such programs as job training, food stamps, public housing, welfare and home heating assistance. And on the theory that the poor are likely to harbor criminal tendencies, applicants for safety-net programs are increasingly subjected to fingerprinting and computerized warrant searches.

Unemployment, with its ample opportunities for slacking off, is another obviously suspect condition, and last years twelve states considered requiring urine tests as a condition for receiving unemployment benefits. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have suggested drug testing as a condition for all government benefits, presumably including Social Security. If Granny insists on handling her arthritis with marijuana, she may have to starve.

SNIP

Fifty years later, a new discovery of poverty is long overdue. This time, we’ll have to take account not only of stereotypical Skid Row residents and Appalachians but of foreclosed-upon suburbanites, laid-off tech workers and America’s ever growing army of the “working poor.” And if we look closely enough, we’ll have to conclude that poverty is not, after all, a cultural aberration or a character flaw. Poverty is a shortage of money.

Read the whole thing.

Later, Ehrenreich responded to defenses of the "culture of poverty."

I am somewhat dismayed, though, by Harrington’s and Burton’s apparent assumption that the poor or a subset of them do in fact exhibit some forms of “unfortunate behavior” that can be attributed to a “culture of poverty.” If there is a “culture of poverty” among the long-term or multigenerational poor, it has always been, in my experience, characterized by a great deal of generosity. As my father used to say: “If you ever need money, go to a poor man, because they’re the only ones who will help you.” The “culture of wealth,” if we could call it that, provides an instructive contrast.

Killing A Billion-Dollar Economy is Easier Than You Think

Like I said two years ago: the Gulf Coast is dead. Twenty million Americans fucked right into the ground by BP and governments wholly owned by Big Oil.

Annie-Rose Strasser at Think Progress:

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded nearly two years ago to the day, beginning an oil spill that lasted three months and released some two hundred million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP may have declared their mission accomplished, but the results of the spill are still trickling out.

The latest? Shrimp with no eyes, fish with lesions, and clawless crabs.

Scientists believe that shrimp, fish, and crabs in the gulf have been deformed by the chemical released to disperse oil during the spill. Fishers in the area say that they’ve been noticing deformities on their catches since. Al Jazeera reports:

“At the height of the last white shrimp season, in September, one of our friends caught 400 pounds of these,” [Louisiana commercial fisher Tracy] Kuhns told Al Jazeera while showing a sample of the eyeless shrimp.

According to Kuhns, at least 50 per cent of the shrimp caught in that period in Barataria Bay, a popular shrimping area that was heavily impacted by BP’s oil and dispersants, were eyeless. Kuhns added: “Disturbingly, not only do the shrimp lack eyes, they even lack eye sockets.”

“Some shrimpers are catching these out in the open Gulf [of Mexico],” she added, “They are also catching them in Alabama and Mississippi. We are also finding eyeless crabs, crabs with their shells soft instead of hard, full grown crabs that are one-fifth their normal size, clawless crabs, and crabs with shells that don’t have their usual spikes … they look like they’ve been burned off by chemicals.” [...]

The dispersants are known to be mutagenic, a disturbing fact that could be evidenced in the seafood deformities. Shrimp, for example, have a life-cycle short enough that two to three generations have existed since BP’s disaster began, giving the chemicals time to enter the genome.

BP claims to be investigating any toxicity and testing fish in the gulf, but they also claimed these marshes were clean. The company is clearly trying to distance itself from the spill, which was a public relations disaster. Indeed, just today, BP came to a settlement agreement with plaintiffs suing over health and economic issues related to the spill.

At the same time, deep water drilling has started again. And though details are still only emerging on the full impact of the spill, some want the U.S. to move back into offshore drilling as aggressively as possible. Today, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) went on the Senate floor to advocate for more drilling permits in the Gulf, arguing that “mother nature has proved amazingly resilient” in the wake of the spill.

Tell that to the fish without livers and the shrimp without eyes.

The cover story in this week's Nation magazine is an investigation into BP's Toxic Legacy: Two Years After the BP Spill, A Hidden Health Crisis Festers.

Wall Street nearly brought down the global economy, and ruined enough of it to leave hundreds of millions in economic misery for years, but it took just one of the thousands of oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico to destroy for decades if not centuries one of the world's largest and most productive food ecosystems.

Songs to Fight the Plutocracy By: "On the Picket Line"

Uploaded by tylershipley on Feb 9, 2010

Support New Public Workers Union in Lexington

More than police, more even than firefighters, the single most critical category of public employees is sanitation workers. Because when the garbage doesn't get picked up and hauled away, chaos reigns.

Phil N. Ferrill at Barefoot and Progressive:

(Yesterday), the Lexington sanitation workers seeking to join AFSCME launched a Facebook page for supporters of their drive to unionize. This seems like to spot to find out all the happenings with that campaign.

If you’re on Facebook, go like it!

No word from the city yet on the workers’ request for a union election, but, under the ordinance allowing city workers to collectively bargain, the city has until May 10 to respond.

It's About the Healthcare, Stupid

Compared to the deficit hysterics, Chicken Little was a cock-eyed optimist. As Kevin Drum explains, forget government spending; healthcare spending is the only thing that matters:

The chart on the bottom is my take: I've cut it off at 2007 so that the Great Recession doesn't obscure the real trend of the past few decades: government spending increased steadily until the mid-70s, but since then it's flattened out almost completely.

Now, I agree with Barro that entitlement spending is certain to go up over the next 20-30 years as the baby boomers retire. But what the bottom chart shows us is that government expenditures in general haven't been on an inexorable upward path over the past three decades, and there's no special reason to think they'll rise inexorably in the future. Generally speaking, domestic spending, defense spending, and Social Security are on extremely sustainable paths.

What's left is healthcare spending. That's it.

So this is basically just another excuse to repeat something that I and others have said over and over: We don't have a spending problem in America. We have a healthcare problem. The other three categories of government spending taken together will probably rise by a point or two over the next few decades, but that's not a big deal. We need to pay normal, prudential attention to them, but nothing more.

Bottom line: no one serious should spend an awful lot of time talking about "the deficit" or about "government spending." We should be talking about healthcare. Everything else is just a red herring.

Voter Registration Deadline in Kentucky is April 23

Next Tuesday, April 23, is the deadline for registering to vote in Kentucky's May 22 primary election.

From Kentuckians For the Commonwealth:

All voter registrations for the May Primary Election must be received at the County Clerk’s office or postmarked by Monday, April 23rd, less than one week from today.

If you're not registered, or need to update your voter address, get down to your local County Clerk's office and register or download a mail-in voter registration card and get it post-marked by then.

Note that only registered Democrats can vote in Democratic Party primaries and only registered Republicans can vote in Republican Party primaries in Kentucky (though many cities also have non-partisan primaries that anyone can vote in).

If you're updating your address with a voter registration card, it's important to make sure to mark the same political party you're already registered as. The deadline to change political parties for purposes of voting in their primary elections was December 31st. If you're a registered Democrat and you turn in a voter registration card tomorrow with the Republican box checked (or vice-versa), you will lose the right to vote in either party's Primary. To find where you are currently registered and what party you're registered as, visit the Voter Information Center Here.

Note that the above paragraph assumes you're already registered in Kentucky. If you're not already registered in this state, you may register as whatever party you want and be able to vote in that election right up until the April 23rd deadline.

17-year-olds may also register and vote in the May Primary as long as they will turn 18 before November 6th, 2012.

Many KFTC chapters have scheduled voter registration outreach events leading up to the deadline, so contact your local KFTC organizer to see how you can pitch in.

Only One Way to Really Stop ALEC

No, this was not a progressive victory and this war is far from over.

Color of Change, which led the boycott, calls ALEC’s move a “PR stunt“:

ALEC’s latest statement is nothing more than a PR stunt aimed at diverting attention from its agenda, which has done serious damage to our communities. To simply say they are stopping non-economic work does not provide justice to the millions of Americas whose lives are impacted by these dangerous and discriminatory laws courtesy of ALEC and its corporate backers. It’s clear that major corporations were in bed with an institution that has worked against basic American values such as the right to vote. Now that these companies are aware of what they’ve supported, what will they do about it? If ALEC’s corporate supporters will not hold the institution accountable for the damage it has caused nationwide, then the ColorOfChange community will hold them accountable.

You know goddamn good and well that ALEC is just going to keep doing the same shit under another name. So the real solution is to fight fire with fire. We need a progressive counterweight to ALEC.

David Dayen at Firedoglake:

The campaign has garnered national attention, but I’ve been wondering where this game ends. The problem with ALEC is of corporate underwriting. Companies support the organization with funding, and Republican state legislators join up as members, sit down with these corporate interests, and share legislation that they model and bring back to their states. What’s getting these corporations into trouble is that they are having to answer for ALEC-modeled legislation well far afield of their core business, like anti-abortion laws or the pro-gun Stand Your Ground law. For consumer operations, this is just terrible branding; Democrats eat at Wendy’s and McDonald’s and drink Pepsi and Coke as well.

But the idea of a central clearinghouse for legislation, to support often part-time, underfunded and understaffed state legislators, is not an inherently evil one. In fact, progressives have been trying to create such a space for 40 years, pretty much since the creation of ALEC.

For example, the Progressive States Network is a group founded seven years ago whose mission is to “engage and build the capacity of state and national leaders to advance public policy solutions that uphold America’s promise to be a just and equitable democracy.” They are but one of several attempts in this space to help coordinate state legislative activities on the progressive side. “We see ourselves as connective tissue,” said Charles Monaco, director of communications and new media for PSN. The organization works closely with state-based groups as well as national policy shops, providing connections to policy research, campaign strategies and legislative initiatives to state legislators and their staffs. “If there’s a great immigration policy in one state, that’s the type of thing that should get traded across state lines,” Monaco said.

Unlike ALEC, state legislators are not formal members. In that sense, it differs from ALEC, which is strictly a pay-to-play operation. State lawmakers who join up with ALEC quite literally pay for access to corporate interests, who they know can support them in future campaigns if they carry their bills for them. That structure doesn’t exist on the progressive side.

“It’s a question we’ve been trying to answer for years in number of ways,” said Monaco of PSN. “We try to get state legislators to think of themselves as a national progressive movement.” But that doesn’t equal the lure of money to finance future elections.

And this is why it has been such a challenge to create a progressive version of ALEC.

Read the whole thing.

Songs to Fight the Plutocracy By: "Defense Factory Blues"

Uploaded by cdbpdx on Jun 5, 2010

The Leech Economy

It's not what the repugs say it is.

By email:

In the old days, if a "doctor" thought that your skin looked too red, the standard prescription was . . . leeches. Fever? Leeches. Rash? Leeches. Bruise? Leeches. In fact, if you seemed to have an unfortunate tendency to get angry, the treatment for that was – you guessed it – leeches.

This was not some passing fad. This went on for 2,700 years, throughout Asia and Europe, and then the New World.

The leeches actually were grown on leech farms. Doctors bought the leeches in lots, and kept them in an earthenware jar with little breathing holes in it. Whenever a patient "needed" one, the doctor would apply it to the patient. And then the leech would suck the patient's blood out.

Yuk.

So, basically, whatever was wrong with you, the doctor would attach a blood-sucking parasite to you, and that was supposed to make it better.

And that actually sounds very much like the right-wing's economic policies. Whatever might be wrong with the economy, let's just drain all the blood out of it, and see if that helps.

Unemployment? Let's cut teacher jobs. Deficit? Let's cut police and firefighter jobs. Trade imbalance? Let's cut sanitation and public transport jobs. Banking crisis? Let's cut nursing jobs.

Just bleed that sucker.

Yesterday, in the New York Times, Paul Krugman described right-wing economics in a similar way: "suicide by economic crisis." The greedheads who run Europe are exploiting the economic crisis in weaker countries like Greece and Spain to wipe out pensions, benefits, unions and public healthcare everywhere. They don't just want to tear the social safety net. They want to nuke it.

The saddest thing about that is all of the pain that it inflicts on the vulnerable and the needy. But the next saddest thing is this:

It just doesn't work. Bleeding a patient with leeches doesn't make him healthy. Even if you bleed him dry.

And now the greed-heads are coming for us, with their Ryan Budget and their Medicare vouchers and their Social Security cuts and their Medicaid block grants and their student vouchers and their privatization. Now, they're coming for us.

Well, here is my answer:

No.

Now get lost, you leeches.

Courage,

Alan Grayson

Number 107

No, the Afghanistan clusterfuck is by no means slowing down. Kentucky's 107th casualty is our third in seven weeks, the fourth in 2012, already more than the three in all of 2011. The 2012 pace of worse-than-pointless deaths is the fastest since 2010, when five Kentucky soldiers died in one horrific 21-day stretch in June and July.

Thomas McAdam at The Arena:

Ken Faust and his wife Tess were at home Monday evening, at their house on Bradley Avenue—just south of Eastern Parkway—when they heard a knock on their door and received the news every military family dreads. Their 22-year-old son, Aaron, had been killed in Afghanistan.

The Marine delivering this devastating news could provide the family with only a few details. According to the Department of Defense, Cpl. Aaron M. Faust, of Louisville, Kentucky, died April 15 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Like his dad, Aaron was a member of the Okolona Veterans of Foreign Wars. Ken serves as the post’s Quartermaster; and also as VFW 6th District Jr. Vice Commander. Aaron’s mother, Tess, is the secretary with the Okolona VFW Ladies Auxiliary, Legislative Department Program Chairman, and an officer in the Ladies 6th District.

The Faust family knows the meaning of the words: duty, honor, and country.