(via phroyd)
The essential difference between the progressive consciousness and the conservative consciousness in America is that progressives, for the most part, are attempting to build an entirely new United States in which race, gender, sex, sexual orientation, disability, religious affiliation, class, relationship status and gender expression are not inherent impediments to access and equality; whereas the conservatives are trying to maintain the status quo—more than maintain it: bring it back to a time when access and equality were ONLY afforded to a select group of monied, white, heterosexual, cisgender, able-bodied, educated, masculine-performing men. In other words, progressives, for the most part, want it to be 2020; and conservatives, for the most part, want it to be 1776.
(via socialuprooting)
Source: sonofbaldwin
Is Michigan Tea Party-Backed Education “Reform” the Worst in the Country?
…as with much of the country, we had a huge wave of victories by “tea party” backed candidates in the 2010 election cycle, where anti-government folks consolidated control in the state Senate and took back control of the state House. They started by embracing the new governor’s priority for a business tax cut, giving up to $1.7 billion in tax reductions to business but effectively raising taxes on lower income families and removing about $1 billion in funding from education at all levels. (School operating funding is centralized in Michigan, and is determined each year by the legislature.) Schools now face this dramatically reduced funding level as the “new normal,” and funding for next year does not even keep up with inflation.
You Always Knew it, but Now . . . | Informed Comment
10. You always knew it, but yesterday former British prime minister John Major admitted that billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch came to his office and threatened him that if he did not change his foreign policy, Murdoch’s corporations “would not be able to support” him. Major confesses to having been overly frightened by the prospect of bad publicity. Murdoch’s Fox Cable News likewise works by intimidation and fear tactics.
9. Even though corporation profits as a percentage of our gross domestic product are at a high for the post-War II period, workers have seen little benefit, since CEO compensation is is now 350 times that of the the average worker, up from 50 times in the period from 1960-1985.
8. You always knew it, but now WHO has officially announced that diesel fumes cause lung cancer.
7. Romney wants to remake Obamacare so that millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions will be excluded from it.
6. The UN peace-keeping head has now pronounced whatever is going on in Syria to be ‘a civil war.’
5. Criminalizing ever more drugs is getting in the way of bio-medical research.
4. Stealth Republican-enacted state laws supposedly intended to prevent voter fraud don’t actually work.
3. Too much dependence on natural gas will cause carbon emissions to sky-rocket, according to the International Energy Agency
2. Even congressmen are having to use strong-arm tactics to find out how many Americans are being spied on by the government.
1. Economic inequality is leading the US to the brink, according to a Nobelist in economics
(via mommapolitico)
Source: sarahlee310
The Politics of Narcissism
[gee, who does this sound like]
Big egos, resistance to change, ruthlessness and dishonesty are not just the foibles of high achievers, neither are they the admirable qualities of ‘go getters’. They are the symptom of a serious pathology. It is important for the public to be able to understand and name what it sees rather than feel dismayed and puzzled by it.
Narcissistic leaders can give a whole society a narcissistic ‘flavour’ by promoting and advancing those who are like them. The most obvious signs of a narcissistic society are a strong focus on ‘grandness’, appearances and spectacles, disregard for rules and laws, and an empty confusing rhetoric at the expense of real substance. A narcissistic government would spend a lot of money and effort publicising its achievements, real or imaginary. Under narcissistic rulers reality begins to mix with fiction and real data about what is going on are covered up.
Michigan House Spokesman Claims Two Female Lawmakers Threw Temper Tantrums During Abortion Debate
On Friday, the spokesman for the House Speaker wrote a letter to the press in an attempt to whitewash the whole ordeal. But in that attempt, the spokesman portrays the two women as nothing but a pair of children throwing a fit on the House floor, even though video clearly proves that the two women were just doing their jobs and speaking for their constituents just as their male counterparts do. But according to the spokesman, the two women threw a “temper tantrum.”
”Just to be clear, despite the misinformation being spread by Reps. Brown and Byrum, and Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, there are two representatives not being recognized on the House floor today because of their actions yesterday,” the letter reads. “It has nothing to do with their gender, their religion or the topic they were discussing. All day today, we have had representatives of both parties, both genders and several different religions passionately debating important issues that will significantly impact the future of Michigan. I would urge you not to become too distracted by temper tantrums designed to score political points.”
Unfortunately for the Michigan GOP, the videotape tells a different story. The women, in fact, did not throw temper tantrums at all. As can be plainly witnessed by watching the video, both women gave passionate floor speeches in defense of women and the right to choose. But Michigan Republicans want everyone to think that these women were hysterical children who had to be controlled and punished. The actions of the GOP, from banning these women, to issuing this letter, indicate that Republican males are the ones throwing temper tantrums. They are whining about women defending their reproductive rights and organs from being legislated by a group of men. These women had the guts to fight back against the rampant sexism and chauvinism raging like a wildfire throughout the Republican Party. If two Republican men had stood up and said the word ‘vagina,’ you can bet they wouldn’t have been banned from speaking. But because two women dared utter the correct term for a woman’s reproductive organ, they were ruthlessly silenced by men. It adds yet another chapter to the Republican war on women.
Romney Touts Presidential Salary Plan That Was Literally A Saturday Night Live Skit
Apparent Romney policy adviser Dana Carvey in 1992
In an interview with conservative radio host Neal Boortz, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney floated an unusual profit-making opportunity for himself if he becomes president — paying himself a higher salary if he performs well in the White House. In Romney’s words, “I do believe in linking my incentives and my commitment to the accomplishment of specific goals … . I wish we had that happen throughout government — where people recognized they are not going to get rewarded in substantial ways unless they are able to achieve the objectives that they were elected to carry out.”
This is not a new proposal, however. It was actually proposed in 1992 by billionaire presidential candidate Ross Perot — or at least by someone pretending to be Perot. In a 1992 Saturday Night Live skit, Perot impersonator Dana Carvey outlined something very similar to the Romney plan for presidential compensation:
If I’m President, we get 0% growth, you don’t pay me nothing. 1% growth? Hell, a chimpanzee could run this country and make 1% growth! So you don’t pay me dime one. Got my own plane, don’t need Air Force One. State Dinners? I’ll pay it, it’s nothing to me, sand on the beach! Now, don’t worry about ol’ Ross Perot, I got $3 billion back at home.
Now, here’s the deal. Here’s what I’m trying to tell you. 3% growth in our economy, $120 billion growth in our GNP – I get a billion dollars. Now, think about it, that’s a bargain! You’re up $119 billion. I’m telling you, 2.99% growth, I don’t see a penny, not one red cent. But don’t feel sorry for me – I got $3 billion. I’m gonna be fine.
Now, this here’s a business proposition. Now, see, 4% growth, you pay me $20 billion. The way I see it, you’re ahead $140 billion, see? Now, this ain’t no golden parachute, this isn’t the President GM giving himself a big bonus when the company’s losing money sending jobs to Mexico. I get my money if and when you get yours.
Now, 5% growth, I get $50 billion. Everybody’s happy, see?
Rolling Stone debunks GOP voter fraud myths
Most instances cited by Republicans are clerical errors, shoddy reporting, wildly exaggerated/misrepresented, or not fraud at all.
Don’t show me that one time that one guy did that one thing. Show me the election that was thrown — or was even close to being thrown — by fraud.
Until you can do that, you get to shut up about how essential voter ID and voter roll purges are for America.
(via mommapolitico)
Source: Rolling Stone
