The Constitution? It's Just a Piece of Paper

Remember when Dubya made that statement? His actual words were "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face! It's just a goddamned piece of paper!", an appalling statement that I wrote about at the time.

And that's evidently what current Rethug front-runner, former pizza chef chief and full time cynical manipulator of the low-information voter Herman Cain thinks as well. He's a little more slick than Baby Doc, but he is either woefully misinformed on exactly what is in the constitution, or he's pandering to the Rethug base.

Why else would he make so many egregious constitutional errors in his speeches, in his off-the-cuff remarks, such as these:

• Pledging to “sign” a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion if he is elected president: Actually, presidents have no duties at all when it comes to amendments.
• Confusing Founding Documents: In his speech announcing his candidacy for the presidency, Cain lectured the nation to “reread the Constitution.” Rather than take his own advice, however, Cain quoted the Constitution as saying that “when any form of government becomes destructive of those ideals, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.” Those words are not in the Constitution, although a very similar phrase appears in the Declaration of Independence, which, in case Cain is not aware, is actually an entirely different document than the Constitution.
• Banning Worship: As part of a wide-ranging campaign of hate against Islam, Cain claimed that local communities have a right to ban mosques. The Constitution disagrees. It forbids laws restricting the “free exercise” of a person’s faith.
• No More Medicare or Medicaid: During his time as a talk radio host, Cain claimed that absolutely every single line of the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. One problem with this radical view is that if Congress cannot subsidize health care — one of the key functions of the ACA — then Medicare and Medicaid are also unconstitutional.
• Unrepealable Laws: Cain doesn’t just support a radical tax plan that would create the largest deficits since World War II, slash taxes on the wealthy and jack up taxes on the poor, he proposed effectively locking that plan in place permanently. The Constitution forbids lawmakers from preventing their successors from repealing new laws.
• Letting Arizona Start A War: Cain also wants to give each state the power to set its own immigration policy. The Constitution, however, leaves immigration almost entirely up to the national government because immigration policy is so closely tied to foreign policy. Nations have gone to war over another nation’s treatment of their citizens, so no one state should have the ability to force the entire United States into this kind of conflict.

And I believe that this is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg when it comes to that vast but empty storehouse of knowledge residing in the brain of Cain. But, since there is virtually zero chance that he will actually become president, I think we can relax.

Actually the Cain campaign is nothing more than a public relations tour designed to sell more books and get higher speaker's fees from the frothing wingnut morons who are willing to pay this joker for the privilege of being snookered by his moronic but undoubtedly charismatic snake oil.

New Logo for the 2012 RepubliCON Convention

This week the Rethugs announced the official logo for next year's convention. Take a close look at it and you will see that it appears to be a semi-rampant rogue elephant taking a shit on the American flag -- a flag with only three stars because, I presume, they can't count any higher than that...

Okay, I'll admit that I did do a little freehand addition to the original; the pile of crap was added, but only because I thought that the graphic looked a little ... unfinished.

Just In Case You Wondered About the Teabaggers

It seems as though the Occupy Wall Street movement has kind of sent them to the back of the bus, but don't worry. They are still with us, doing their level best to ruin the economy and bring down the president.

The latest is that they are going on "strike" this year. As business owners they are "striking" from hiring anyone, not a single person in the next year.

We all knew that the RepubliCONs were up to no good in trying to keep the economy in chaos until the election next year, and here's actual proof of how they are doing it.

I think that that vast army of unemployed are going to be more than a little pissed off when they find out that they could have been working at a job that was there except for the pissy-ass whiner of an owner who would rather drive his own business in the ground and become unemployed himself than allow Obama to "win". I can't be held responsible for what might happen to that owner's business when the word gets out.

Jesus, were can we find a list of assholes who have signed on to this farce? I'll be perfectly happy to never set foot -- and more importantly set money -- in their stores. For the rest of my life.

Everyone join me and then let's see how you like them apples, Mister I'm on "Strike" business owner.

Return of the Chickenhawks

I see that the neocons lost no time in calling for yet another war, this time against Iran.

As you might surmise, it's the usual suspects: Sean Hannity, William Kristol, John Bolton, et al., none of whom have actually worn the uniform of the US armed services, even though they all had a significant opportunity to do so.

In short, chickenhawks, whose motto is "let's you and him fight -- I'll hold your coat". I haven't done my due diligence on all of the names mentioned in the Common Dreams article, but I'm willing to bet good money that not a single one of them has served in the military.

But that inconvenient fact has never stopped them before.

Monday Music Break

Somehow it just seems right:

The Rapture? Again? Yawn...

In our semi-regular segment, The Rapture Will Not Be Televised, I note that religious rapture professional Harold Camping (wrong in 1992, 1994, and last May) is once again claiming that The Rapture is gonna happen -- yeah, this time for sure, really! -- next week.

Jeez, when will this demented old geezer finally just GTFU ("give the fuck up") on this shit?

Still, though, I am willing to spend some good money on attorneys who will draw up letters of transfer for the personal and real property of those who think that they will be "translated" to that Higher Plane come next week. After all, they aren't going to need those cars, houses, clothing and personal effects after they shuffle off this mortal coil, and those of us who are Left Behind are going to need some creature comforts which will aid us in the long night ahead.

Anyone want to show some Christian charity and that spirit of sharing that Jesus (the "real" one, not the one that totes the M16 and is willing to smite mightily his enemies) preached about? Just contact me here.

I'll be waiting...

Hypocrisy Much?

Occupy Olympia

I managed to drag my old and tired bones down to Olympia's Sylvester Park on Saturday for the Occupy Olympia rally, and it was well worth it. A bit chilly, but it didn't rain, and a terrific crowd that spanned all the demographic, from children happy to be outdoors to teachers to fellow veterans to one feisty ninety year old(!).

I didn't get arrested. But neither did anyone else. The Olympia bunch are pretty laid back, and I really didn't see any of those rightwing agents provocatuers who seem to have popped up in other locations. I heard a guy on the radio this morning talking about Fox News "coincidentally" setting up their equipment right next to a sketchy group of big-talking violence-pushing "smash the state" people. Unfortunately I didn't get the city, but if you don't smell setup in this, then you need a sinus transplant.

As demonstrations go, this wasn't huge, just a couple hundred people or so, but the enthusiasm was infectious and the speakers were inspiring.

Here's a video with some of the people and the signs from Saturday:

There are also more videos on YouTube of Occupy Olympia, and here is my favorite sign from Saturday:


The other side said "If corporations are people, why hasn't Texas executed one?" Great stuff.

Of course the hard core of wingnuttery right here in Olympia has been burning up the comment section of the local newspaper's online account of the movement. Read it here and look for some comments by some leftwing rabble-rouser who posts under the name of "farnsworth68".

Charts Tell the Chilling Story

Okay, this is verging off into some pretty wonky stuff, but here are a couple of telling charts from the oddly interesting Portal Seven.

The first is the unemployment rate from 2000 to 2011 showing exactly what damage was done by the Baby Doc Bush Maladministration when it comes to putting people out of work:

Click on either image to view it in a larger format.

The second is the count of monthly bank failures for the period of 2008 through 2011:


And the War in Afghanistan is now officially in its tenth year of boots-on-the-ground boondoggle, and the generals are saying that they still want the chance to "win" it. Excuse me, but this is where I came in 40 years ago. They wanted the chance to "win" in Vietnam, too, and we all know where that got us.

WASF. Indeed...

A Simple Declaration

Here is the Declaration by the Occupy New York City crowd:

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

• They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.


• They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.


• They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one's skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.


• They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.


• They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.


• They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.


• They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.


• They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.


• They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
• They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.


• They have sold our privacy as a commodity.


• They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.


• They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.


• They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.


• They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.


• They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.


• They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.


• They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.


• They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.


• They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with
  serious doubts about their guilt.


• They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.


• They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.


• They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*


• To the people of the world,We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.

Sound familiar? It ought to. It mirrors the Declaration of Independence.

You'd think the Teabaggers would be all about it. But no, they are not true American patriots, unlike the folks at Occupy Wall Street, and unlike the folks at Occupy Everything.

There are Occupy events across the nation this weekend, including right here in Olympia, Washington. I plan to be there.

What about you?

Looking More Closely at Herman Cain

Now that Herman Cain's star has, kind of by default, started to rise, I think a closer look at him is warranted.

Especially that 666 999 tax plan of his.

Bruce Bartlett, a senior Republican economist and long-time associate of the likes of Ronald Reagan, George Bush I, Jack Kemp and Ron Paul, has some impressive credentials to bring to the discussion, and he recently had a column in the NY Times, Inside the Cain Tax Plan:

Little detail has been released by the Cain campaign, so it’s impossible to do a thorough analysis. But using what is available on Mr. Cain’s Web site, I’m taking a stab at estimating its effects.
First, the 9-9-9 plan is actually an intermediate step in Mr. Cain’s plan to overhaul the tax system and jump-start growth. Phase 1 would reduce individual and business taxes to a maximum of 25 percent, which I assume means reducing the top statutory tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent.
No mention is made on the site of a tax cut for those now in the 10 percent, 15 percent or 25 percent brackets. This means that the only people who would get a tax rate cut are those now in the 28 percent, 33 percent or 35 percent brackets. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, only 4 percent of taxpayers pay any taxes at those rates.
. . .
This means that the 47 percent of tax filers who now pay no federal income taxes will pay 9 percent on their total income. And elimination of the payroll tax won’t even help half of them because the earned income tax credit, which Mr. Cain would abolish, offsets both their income tax liability and their payroll tax payment as well.
Additionally, everyone would now pay a 9 percent sales tax on all purchases. No mention is made of any exemptions from this tax, so we may assume that it will apply to food, medical care, rent, home and auto purchases and a wide variety of other expenditures now exempt from state sales taxes. This would increase their cost of living by 9 percent while, at the same time, the poor would pay income taxes.
. . .
And here’s the kicker in the Cain plan. Phase 2 is merely a transition to yet another fundamental tax reform. In Phase 3, the United States would adopt the so-called Fair Tax, which would replace all federal taxes with a 30 percent [!!!] sales tax on all goods and services.
...
At a minimum, the Cain plan is a distributional monstrosity. The poor would pay more while the rich would have their taxes cut, with no guarantee that economic growth will increase and good reason to believe that the budget deficit will increase.

Even allowing for the poorly thought through promises routinely made on the campaign trail, Mr. Cain’s tax plan stands out as exceptionally ill conceived.

Got that? THIRTY percent tax on all goods and services. Memo to Herman Cain, who as a "business executive" pizza vendor, ought to know this: Our capitalist society is based on buying stuff, and if you put in place a tax that increases the price of that "stuff" by one third, then people are going to buy less of it. And there go the jobs (and this time they just disappear, instead of being outsourced to some Third World country), along with any chance of recovery, along with the very fabric of our society.

This is not rocket surgery. I learned this fifty years ago, way back in Econ 101. The real question is why didn't Herman Cain learn it?

My New Religion: Dudeism

I've toyed around with different "mock" religions over the years, including Church of the Sub Genius, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and the Church of Reality, but now I've finally found one that most exactly represents my personal beliefs, attitudes and the need for slack.

And that is the Church of the Latter Day Dude, based on the character of "Dude" as played by Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowsky:

Come join the slowest-growing religion in the world – Dudeism. An ancient philosophy that preaches non-preachiness, practices as little as possible, and above all, uh…lost my train of thought there. Anyway, if you’d like to find peace on earth and goodwill, man, we’ll help you get started. Right after a little nap.
. . .
While Dudeism in its official form has been organized as a religion only recently, it has existed down through the ages in one form or another. Probably the earliest form of Dudeism was the original form of Chinese Taoism, before it went all weird with magic tricks and body fluids. The originator of Taoism, Lao Tzu, basically said "smoke ‘em if you got ‘em" and "mellow out, man" although he said this in ancient Chinese so something may have been lost in the translation.

Down through the ages, this "rebel shrug" has fortified many successful creeds – Buddhism, Christianity, Sufism, John Lennonism and Fo’-Shizzle-my-Nizzlism. The idea is this: Life is short and complicated and nobody knows what to do about it. So don’t do anything about it. Just take it easy, man. Stop worrying so much whether you’ll make it into the finals. Kick back with some friends and some oat soda and whether you roll strikes or gutters, do your best to be true to yourself and others – that is to say, abide.

You can even get yourself a more-or-less legitimate ordination as a priest of Dudeism.

Dude, am I wrong?

In the meantime, The Dude abides...

You Go, Zach!

My good friend Debby, who has made several appearances on this blog, has a son named Zach.

Zach was a student in Denver studying Labor History with the idea of becoming a college professor in the field. He is also a "white card" (i.e., "on call") longshoreman, and the son of a longtime longshoreman, so labor issues are in his blood. As is political activism. Here's a definite case of DNA not falling far from the tree, as it were.

He decided to come home to Washington state and get involved in the longshore dispute in my "home town", Longview. He figured, rightly so, that in the long run it would be better to be involved in history rather than just studying it.

Day before yesterday he managed to get himself arrested at the Occupy Seattle demonstration. Debby was a little apprehensive about it (after all, he's her "baby"), but I assured her that at worst he would be locked in a bare holding cell with his other demonstrators and wouldn't go into "general population" and the most they could charge him with would be a misdemeanor. Plus it will greatly enhance his "street cred" when he carries this arrest with him as a badge of honor.

Sure enough, they held him and three others in that holding cell for two hours with their hands cuffed behind their backs and then cut them loose.

At last notice, he was back in the tents at Westlake Center, doing his part to bring attention to the crimes of the banksters.

It's so refreshing -- so liberating -- to see young people willing to put themselves on the line for something that they so deeply believe in.

You go, Zach! Don't let the bastards grind you down.

You Might Be... Addendum

One that wasn't on the original list but ought to have been.

You believe that government can't do anything right, except in cases of capital punishment, wherein each and every person executed had a completely fair trial with evidence presented by the government that was incontrovertible and an appeals process that was fair, even and balanced.

If you agree with me on the barbarity of the death penalty, please check out The Innocence Project and do what you can to eliminate this appalling practice by the governments of the various states.

Another thought: If capital punishment is such a deterrent, why does Texas have such a high rate of capital crimes?

Why Ronald Reagan Would Never Make it in Today's GOP

Here's a video clip from 1985. RepubliCONS, watch it and weep.

Sarah Palin Out -- Say It Ain't So!

It is with great regret that I note that Sarah Palin is dropping out of the race for the White House, a race that she was never in to begin with.

Only in America could this be headline news. My personal regret is that it will probably drive down the readership of this blog.

The one page on this blog that has gotten, according to Blogger Statistics, the absolute highest number of hits (by a factor of 2-1!) is my post from November 2008, Sarah Palin Camel Toes, the vast majority of those hits coming from Google Search for the phrase "Sarah Palin Camel Toes". Do the search yourself and you will see that this blog occupies the top four slots in the Google rankings.

What does that say about the Internets, about the users of those Internets, and about the public at large? And what does it say about the media in this country that of all the possible stories they could cover on a given news day, the non-story of a non-candidate dropping out of a race that she was never in gets top billing?

It's a sad commentary on our times, for sure.

Still, I'm going to miss her. She was easy, a ready target every time she opened that pit-bull-with-lipstick mouth of hers and said something stupid. My biggest regret is that I didn't slam her more than I did.

Shit. See, I'm doing it myself... Damn you, Sarah Palin!

You Might Be a Conservative If...

I just love this stuff. Here's a terrific list of "warning signs" that may prove you are a conservative, including:

1: You’re irate over the president taking so many vacation days on the taxpayer’s dime (61 thus far), but you thought George W. Bush earned every minute of his leisure time (196 days at the same point in his presidency).
2: You’re happy with your 40 hour work week, paid vacations and company-provided healthcare, but you’re strongly anti-union, because those commies haven’t done anything for you lately.
. . .
13: You accuse president Obama of raising your taxes to the highest point ever, even though they’re lower today than at any time since 1950.
. . .
22: You believe that no matter who’s in the White House, the office, if not the man himself is deserving of your respect. The only exceptions to this rule, are if his middle name sounds Muslim, and if he’s not at least as white as that black guy who works down in the mailroom at the office.

There are lots more. Go ahead and read them and shake your head in sad-but-funny disbelief.

Sure, Good Idea! Invade Mexico! It Worked Before!

Whenever you think that the Rethugs just can't get any worse, you will always be in for a surprise.

Now Rick Perry wants to invade Mexico!

Why not? We've done it twice in our history, first in the so-called-by-white-people Mexican War, and once more in 1916 when General John "Black Jack" Pershing made an incursion -- a "punitive expedition -- into Mexico allegedly in pursuit of the "bandit" Pancho Villa.

As you can well imagine, the native Mexicans were less than happy to see us there each time. As in Baghdad, troops were not met with flowers and open arms. Nor will they be so welcoming when General Perry leads his wetpants troops across the Rio Grande this time around.

But you still gotta hand it to the Rethugs. They will do almost anything, go almost anywhere, to fight a war.

Just so long as they are fighting it with someone else's children.

Goddam that Arab Spring Anyway!

So Michelle "I'm Not Crazy I Just Act That Way" Bachmann is decrying President Obama as an unindicted co-conspirator for everything that the so-called "Arab Spring" stands for, huh?

Yeah, okay...

Of course she's just fine with the US propping up brutal dictators (Shah of Iran anyone?), just so long as they continue to mouth the "I'm pro-American" platitudes while torturing, butalizing and murdering their own people.

Jesus wept.

God help us if that fucking wacko-assed bitch actually gets the nomination. As I've often said, whichever inept wingnut crazy-ass motherfucker actually becomes the nominee (and the official odds are 9-2 for at this point for Bachmann), we are still just one "October Surprise" away from her actually becoming president...

Jeez, Costa Rica is looking more attractive every day...

The Proof Is In! Living Will Kill You

The latest non-issue is a report that eggs are now back to being bad for you.

And I had to read this right after I ate two homemade eggs on muffins for breakfast.

But not so fast. This study actually says that they found a "suggestion" which "was not statistically significant" and yet they published a screaming-headline story to the effect that eggs may increase the risk of developing lethal prostate cancer.

News flash: If you are a man and you live long enough not to die of something else, you will most likely get prostate cancer.

I'm now trying to get some Federal bucks to validate my own study that breathing air will kill you. My proof: Everyone who has ever died breathed air -- and probably a lot of it -- before they shuffled off this mortal coil...

Now it's just a question of sitting back and waiting for that generous handout.