Needlenose

Mugato for Congress!

Yet another GOP Congressional courageously calling to flood our job markets with child labor.

Mitt says he isn’t concerned about the very poor:

“Are there no prisons? And the Union workhouses?  Are they still in operation?  The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?  I help to support the establishments I have mentioned — they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.

If they would rather die [then go to prison] they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.  Besides — excuse me — I don’t know that.  It’s not my business. It’s enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people’s.  Mine occupies me constantly.  Good afternoon, gentlemen!”

Was there every really any doubt that idiots grow up to be social conservatives and racists?  Why bother wasting time on a study?

…why are they pushing to ‘whitewash’ the history books?  ”remov[ing] references to slavery and mentions of the country’s founders being slave owners…”?  ”includ[ing] the exploration of the positive aspects of American slavery, lifting the stature of Jefferson S. Davis to that of Abraham Lincoln”?  ”study[ing] the “unintended consequences” of affirmative action.”?  What the Fuck?

…when The Rich could punish The Help with impunity…As Romney just said:

“I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. If someone isn’t giving me the service I need, I want to say, you know, I’m going to go get somebody else to provide that service,”

But what he meant was…”I like being able to break the fingers of people who provide services to me…”

Bad enough that we are plagued with the traditional reactionary yahoos that could be found south of the Mason-Dixon line, but the movement back to the stone age appears to be spreading.  New Hampshire just overwhelmingly passed a law to allow parents to any part of a school curriculum – and force the school to provide alternatives.  So much for traditional Yankee common sense and pragmatism!

Reminds me of a recent Beavis and Butthead episode, where the two boys encounter Fundees protesting the teaching of evolution in school.  The lead Fundee explains that the theory of evolution is too complicated, can’t be understood – and something you can’t understand shouldn’t be taught.  The two young idiots of course expand this notion to pretty much every subject in the curriculum.  Assuming that they live in New Hampshire (increasingly plausible), all they need now is to have Beavis’ slut mom complain about all the subjects…and legally the New Hampshire schools would have to provide them with dumbed-down alternatives to real education!

No child left behind?  Of course, just watch the dullards in NH exploit ‘social promotion’ – Reactionary style!!

It’s sad and somewhat horrifying to see US poverty hit it’s highest point in 50 years…you can watch the chickens of the Reactionary misleadership coming home to roost.  On the other hand, to get a different perspective, Americans make up half of the world’s top 1% in income.  More specifically:

 ”…people at the world’s true middle — as defined by median income — live on just $1,225 a year. (And, yes, Milanovic’s numbers are adjusted to account for different costs of living across the globe.)

In the grand scheme of things, even the poorest 5% of Americans are better off financially than two thirds of the entire world. “

Don’t assume that I’m pitching a trite “be grateful for what you have’ homily.  Rather, consider how much farther we Americans have to fall.  The Rich and their Reactionary tools won’t be satisfied until they’ve reduced our earnings down to the world median.

Back in ’03, there was discussion among the proto-Tea Bagger Libertarians about moving to some state like Montana or Wyoming and make it a Libertarian Utopia by using electoral clout to remake the state in Ayn Rand’s image.  Well here we are in 2011, and it looks like Libertopia may have already arrived – firemen in Tennessee refusing to save a burning house unless they get paid.  They don’t want to stop at taking us back to the 1890s, they want to go back to ancient Rome!

The first Roman fire brigade of which we have any substantial history was created by Marcus Licinius Crassus. Marcus Licinius Crassus was born into a wealthy Roman family around the year 115 BC, and acquired an enormous fortune through (in the words of Plutarch) “fire and rapine.” One of his most lucrative schemes took advantage of the fact that Rome had no fire department. Crassus filled this void by creating his own brigade—500 men strong—which rushed to burning buildings at the first cry of alarm. Upon arriving at the scene, however, the fire fighters did nothing while their employer bargained over the price of their services with the distressed property owner. If Crassus could not negotiate a satisfactory price, his men simply let the structure burn to the ground, after which he offered to purchase it for a fraction of its value.

 

*Update 12/7/11* Looks like Tennessee isn’t a true Libertopia, but rather just another Crony Capitalist state.

Just when you thought the Reactionaries hadn’t seen a tax cut they didn’t like, turns out they only like tax cuts that benefit the wealthy!  Although they were willing to shut down government and destroy the U.S. credit rating to keep the 1%’s taxes low, when it comes to Obama’s proposed cut to the payroll tax, something that would benefit workers…well, the Reactionaries aren’t so keen on that.  Turns out they have ‘conditions.’

Fucking hypocrites.

…and bring back miscegenation laws!!  Don’t believe ‘em when they say they dislike Obama for his politics and not his race – the Reactionaries won’t stop at sending racist photo-shopped pictures of Obama, they won’t be happy until they restore Jim Crow laws.

Tip of the ‘Nose to Film Critic Buddy