Welcome to ...

The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Saturday, February 21, 2015

The Daily Drift

Hey, wingnuts, yeah, we're talking to you ...!
 
Carolina Naturally is read in 200 countries around the world daily.   
    
Everybody Loves Blue Jeans ... !
Today is  -  Women In Blue Jeans Day

Don't forget to visit our sister blog: NNN
Don't forget to visit: It Is What It Is

Some of our readers today have been in:
The Americas
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Curitiba, Goiania, Rio De Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil
Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec, Regina, Toronto and Wanless Park, Canada
Bogota, Colombia
Quito, Ecuador
Mexico City, Mexico
Managua, Nicaragua
Luquillo, Puerto Rico
Sangre Grande, Trinidad-Tobago
Alamogordo, Anaheim, Kissimmee, Manassas, Muskogee and Ronkonkoma, United States
Europe
Brussels, Belgium
Sofia, Bulgaria
Karlin, Mala Strana, Pardubice, Prague and Stare Mesto, Czech Republic
London and Saint Johns Wood, England
Laval, Paris, Rouen, Salon-De-Provence and Velizy-Villacoublay, France
Athens and Marousi, Greece
Saint Peter Port, Guernsey
Waterford, Ireland
Giavera del Montello, Milan, Ravenna and Rome, Italy
Skopje, Macedonia
Chisinau, Moldova
Amersfoort, Netherlands
Bucharest and Sura Mica, Romania
Moscow, Russia
Belgrade and Nis, Serbia
Barcelona, Madrid and Torrent, Spain
Karlskoga, Sweden
Schaffhausan and Zurich, Switzerland
Chernihov, Kharkiv and Sevastopol, Ukraine
Asia
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Amedabad, Cochin, Kolkata, New Delhi, Patna and Shillong, India
Jember, Indonesia
Tehran, Iran
Tokyo, Japan
Amman, Jordan
Seoul, Korea
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Singapore, Singapore
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Africa
Nairobi, Kenya
Casablanca and Rabat, Morocco
Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa
Lusaka, Zambia
The Pacific
Brisbane, Melbourne, Strathfield and Sydney, Australia

Today in History

1631   Michael Romanov, son of the Patriarch of Moscow, is elected Russian Tsar.  
1744   The British blockade of Toulon is broken by 27 French and Spanish warships attacking 29 British ships.  
1775   As troubles with Great Britain increase, colonists in Massachusetts vote to buy military equipment for 15,000 men.  
1797   Trinidad, West Indies surrenders to the British.
1828   The first issue of the Cherokee Phoenix is printed, both in English and in the newly invented Cherokee alphabet.  
1849   In the Second Sikh War, Sir Hugh Gough's well placed guns win a victory over a Sikh force twice the size of his at Gujerat on the Chenab River, assuring British control of the Punjab for years to come.
1862   The Texas Rangers win a Confederate victory in the Battle of Val Verde, New Mexico.  
1878   The world's first telephone book is issued by the New Haven Connecticut Telephone Company containing the names of its 50 subscribers.  
1885   The Washington Monument is dedicated in Washington, D.C.  
1905   The Mukden campaign of the Russo-Japanese War, begins.  
1916   The battle of Verdun begins with an unprecedented German artillery barrage of the French lines.  
1940   The Germans begin construction of a concentration camp at Auschwitz.  
1944   Hideki Tojo becomes chief of staff of the Japanese army.  
1949   Nicaragua and Costa Rica sign a friendship treaty ending hostilities over their borders.
1951   The U. S. Eighth Army launches Operation Killer, a counterattack to push Chinese forces north of the Han River in Korea.  
1956   A grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama indicts 115 in a Negro bus boycott.  
1960   Havana places all Cuban industry under direct control of the government.  
1965   El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcom X) is assassinated in front of 400 people.  
1972   Richard Nixon arrives in Beijing, China, becoming the first U.S. president to visit a country not diplomatically recognized by the U.S.  
1974   A report claims that the use of defoliants by the U.S. has scarred Vietnam for a century.

In MSNBC Interview Justice Ginsburg Smashes repugican cabal Myths About Women’s and Civil Rights

RBG1During an exclusive interview with MSNBC’s Irin Carmon, aired on The Rachel Maddow Show, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg discussed Roe v. Wade and why she believes it will be upheld and the state of race relations.  Such interviews offer a rare insight into the innerworkings of a Supreme Court Justice’s mind and the Court itself.  Perhaps the highlight of the interview came when Justice Ginsberg explained by she believes the Court will probably uphold Roe v. Wade.
From the interview, one can see that Justice Ginsburg remains a sharp legal mind, aware of the issues and who is affected by them.
. She continues to understand the political landscape in Congress but also within the Supreme Court. You see a woman who rose to every challenge she ever got, well except cooking.  You also see a person with compassion, humor,  a sense of purpose.
On women’s rights, Justice Ginsburg describes the 1970’s as a period of ending the close door area. Today’s challenge, of “unconscious bias” she says is more difficult. She tells the story of a symphony orchestra to illustrate the point.
JUSTICE GINSBURG: When I was growing up, one never saw a woman in the symphony orchestra, except perhaps playing the harp.  People who should have known better like The New York Times critic, Howard Tau– Taubman said, “You could put a blindfold on him and he could tell you whether it’s a woman playing the piano or a man.”
Someone had the simple idea, “Let’s drop a curtain.  Let’s drop a curtain between the people who are auditioning and the people who are judging.”  And almost overnight, there was a sea change.  Once the curtain was dropped, the testers couldn’t tell whether it was a man– or a woman.  And they made their judgments based on the quality of the performance.
When the discussion turned to reproductive rights, Justice Ginsburg pointed to the fact that the repugican cabal’s “pro life” agenda, in reality, only makes reproductive choice inaccessible to poor women.
JUSTICE GINSBURG: –Who does that hurt?  It hurts women who lack the means to go someplace else.  It’s almost like– remember the– oh, you wouldn’t remember, because you’re too young.  But when most states allowed divorce on one grounds, adultery, nothing else.  But there were people who went off to Nevada and stayed there for six weeks.  And they got a divorce.  That was available to people who had the means, first to get themselves to Nevada, second to stay there for some weeks.
The highlight of the interview occurred when Justice Ginsburg outlined the 3 factors that that she believes make it unlikely wingnuts will overturn Roe v. Wade. First, Ginsburg says this court places a very high value on precedent. Second, when giving a chance at an earlier time, the court upheld the ruling and actually strengthened it. Finally, a woman’s right to make her own choices has become part of the culture. She drives the point home by recalling what former Chief Justice William Rehnquist did when the opportunity arose to overturn a ruling he was critical of – the Miranda ruling.
IRIN CARMON: You mentioned if Roe v. Wade is overturned, how close are we to that?
JUSTICE GINSBURG: This court is highly precedent bound.  And could happen, but I think it’s not– not a likely sc– scenario.  The court had– had an opportunity to do that some years ago.  And they said in– in an opinion known as C– Casey that they would not depart from the precedent they had set.  They did more than that.  They gave a reason, a rationale that was absent in Roe v. Wade itself.  Roe v. Wade was as much about a doctor’s right to practice his profession as he sees fit.  And the image was the doctor and a little woman standing together.  We never saw the woman alone.  The Casey decision recognized that this is not as much about a doctor’s right to practice his profession, but about a woman’s right to control her life destiny.
Think of– a famous decision.  It’s known by the name of Miranda.  It tells the police, “Before you question a suspect, you have to tell that suspect of his or her right to remain silent and to have a lawyer.  And if the suspect can’t afford a lawyer, to have one provided by the state.
That’s routine now.  The– that– that– that the– the police will– will give to people who are arrested.  My former chief, Chief Justice Rehnquist, was highly critical of the Miranda decision.  But when the question came up, “Would it be overruled?” he said, “No, it has become part of the culture.”
While discussing her health, Justice Ginsberg shares a story about her self-described stubbornness when she had stint surgery to repair a blocked coronary artery.
JUSTICE GINSBURG: The most recent episode– occurred when I was with my personal trainer.  And suddenly, my chest felt so constricted.  And I broke out in a sweat.  I was overwhelmingly (UNINTEL).  So I said, “Well, I stayed up all night last night writing an opinion.  So I’m just exhausted.  I’ll rest for awhile.”  I was very stubborn.
My trainer called my secretary– my wonderful secretary, who had already gone home to Annapolis.  She came back.  And in her gently persuasive way, she said, “We’re putting you in an ambulance and taking you to the hospital.  You really must go.”  And– of course, I got there.  And they gave me an E.K.G.  And it showed– whatever it showed, they whisked me up to the catheter place.
And it was a blocked right coronary artery.  As soon as they put this stint in, I was awake and in the procedure, groggy, but still awake.  And I could see them doing another (UNINTEL).  As soon as the stint was in place, I was fine.  No more constriction in my chest.  I wanted to go home.  (LAUGH) And they said, “No, we’re not gonna let you go home.  You– you have to stay here for two nights to be sure.”  I did that.
At one point, Irin Carmon asked Justice Ginsburg if she changed her mind about anything.  That was when the Justice shared advise she got while serving on the DC circuit and continues to live by.
JUSTICE GINSBURG: I got very good advice when I became a judge of the D.C. circuit.  Judge Ed (UNINTEL), who is very much my senior colleague, said, “Ruth, I’m gonna tell you something about the business of judging.  You work very hard on each case.  But when it’s over, don’t look back.  Don’t worry about things that are over and done.  It’s not productive to do that.  Instead, go onto the next case and give it your all.”  So nothing leaps immediately to my mind that I would have done differently.  But I don’t dwell on that kind of question.  I really concentrate on what’s on my plate at the moment and do the very best I can.
When the discussion turned to the topic of tattoos, it was clear that Justice Ginsburg has very strong views on the topic of tattoos.  She expressed distress over the fact that they are permanent but she also had an appreciation for one that is a picture of her with the words “Respect the bench”
JUSTICE GINSBURG: I saw that.  And I thought it was– I thought it was a joke.  I thought it was something you pasted onto your arm.  But I– I’m a little distressed that people are really doing that.
IRIN CARMON: Distressed why?
JUSTICE GINSBURG: Because why would you make something that can’t be removed on yourself?
However, there was one tattoo that she liked.
IRIN CARMON: Well, I think it’s because they admire you, that’s why.  This is the second tattoo I’m aware of.  The other one has a picture of you.  And it says, “Respect the bench.”
JUSTICE GINSBURG: Well, that’s a nice sentiment.  (LAUGH)
Then Irin Carmon asked “What do you want young women who admire you to take away from your work?”
JUSTICE GINSBURG:  I would like them to have the enthusiasm that we had in the ’70s– determining that the law should catch up to the changes that have occurred in society, changes in the way people whatever, the realization that no one should be held back, boy or girl– because of gender, artificial gender barriers.
During one part of the interview, Justice Ginsberg was asked to describe things and people in one word.
She described President Obama with “sympathie” which means “who cares about other people. She described Chief Justice Roberst as “Most able to.”
When asked about  Citizens United and Hobby Lobby rulings she had the same word many of us think of — Wrong.
Justice Ginsburg declined to discuss gay rights generally and she certainly didn’t want to speculate on how the court will decide the upcoming case on marriage equality.
While critical of rules to restrict abortion access, Justice Ginsburg sees some positive developments in rulings pertaining to women’s rights. She points to one example of her influence over the more conservative justices in a case involving Savana Redding, a girl who was strip searched.
IRIN CARMON: But you’ve been dismayed by the courts rulings on women’s rights?
JUSTICE GINSBURG: Not all (UNINTEL).  Think of the case of the girl who was strip searched.  She was in the eighth grade.
IRIN CARMON: Savana Redding.
JUSTICE GINSBURG: And if you saw the difference between the oral argument and what some of my colleagues thought, “Oh, the boys in the gym, they– they undress and nobody thinks anything of it.”
IRIN CARMON: That was a case in which you changed their minds.
JUSTICE GINSBURG: Yes.
When the interview turned to race relations, Justice Ginsburg dropped a truth bomb on the wingnut shrieking points about racism being a thing of the past.
JUSTICE GINSBURG: People who think you could wave a magic wand and the legacy of the past will be over are blind.  Think of neighborhood living patterns.  We still have many neighborhoods that are racially– identified.  We still have many schools that– ev– even though the days of state enforced segregation are gone, segregation because of geographical boundaries remains.
While recognizing that we “have come a long way”, Justice Ginsburg describes the discrimination (based on race and gender) people continue to experience buy cars and homes as prevalent.
JUSTICE GINSBURG: That same pattern.  So again, we’ve come a long way from the days where there was state enforced segregation.  But we still have a way to go.
Then the discussion took the next logical step to Justice Ginsburg’s views on the Court’s rollback of civil rights.  However, she sharply rebuked the disfunction and shenanigans of the teabagger dominated repugicans in Congress when compared with the bipartisanship of passed Congresses.
 JUSTICE GINSBURG: The– the Congress in 1991 took a look at some of this court’s restrictive interpretations of Title 7.  And they passed a bill that changed– changed all of those.  At the moment– our Congress is not functioning very well.  (LAUGH) I mean, for example, the Voting Rights Act was renewed by overwhelming majorities on both sides of the aisle.  But the current Congress is– not equipped really to do anything.
When it came time to discuss her marriage to Martin Ginsburg, Justice Ginsburg identified the characteristics her late husband had, that she felt were exceptional in her experience. She talked about the fact that theirs was a marriage based on mutual support as they built their respective careers but it was also reflected in the way they cooked their meals.
JUSTICE GINSBURG: Marty was an extraordinary person.  Of all the boys I had dated, he was the only one who really cared that I had a brain.  And he was always– well, making me feel that I was better than I thought I was.  So we went to law school.  And he told everybody, all of his friends, and he– he was one year ahead of me.  His wife was gonna be on the Law Review.
And people looked at me and said, “She doesn’t look like the type that’s gonna be on the Law Review,” whatever that type was.  And– but in the– in the course of a marriage, one accommodates the other.  So, for example, when Marty was intent on becoming a partner in– in a New York law firm in five years, during that time, I was the major caretaker of– of our home and– and– and then– child.  But when I was– when I– started up the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, Marty realized how important that work was.
Well, I was the everyday cook.  And Marty was the company and weekend cook.  And my daughter, who was a fine cook– when she was in high school, maybe about 15-16, she noticed the enormous difference between Daddy’s cooking and Mommy’s cooking.  And decided that– Mommy should be phased out of the kitchen altogether.  She shouldn’t be cooking every day.
Justice Ginsburg went on to confess that she hasn’t cooked a single meal since 1980.
Later, Carmon asked Justice Ginsburg if she still experiences sexism.  The answer is yes, though less than she once did.  When asked how she reacts to it, Justice Ginsberg said she does it through her opinions and speeches.  She tells the message that it is “wrong to judge people on the basis of what they look like, color of their skin, whether they’re men or women.”
When the question of retirement came up, told us how she would know when it is time.
JUSTICE GINSBURG: once I sense that I am slipping, I will step down.  Because this is a very intense job.  It is by far the best and the hardest job I’ve ever had.  And it takes a lot of energy and staying power to do it right.  So that is– is when I will– I will step down when I feel I can no longer do the job full steam.
On how she hopes to be remembered.
JUSTICE GINSBURG: Someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability.  And to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has.  To do something, as my colleague David Souter would say, outside myself.  ‘Cause I’ve gotten much more satisfaction for the things that I’ve done for which I was not paid.
Ginsburg also provided more detail and context to why she fell asleep during President Obama’s SOTU Address.
IRIN CARMON: I’ve gotta ask you, by the way, everybody’s talking about the State of the Union.  They’re saying you said yesterday that you were not 100% sober.
JUSTICE GINSBURG:  Oh– (LAUGH) what I meant was that I head a glass of wine with dinner.  And that on top of having stayed up all night.  I was writing something.
Overall, the interview tells us Ruth Bader Ginsburg sees America as it really is and how it could be.  We see a justice who recognizes a period of struggle, in which there are shades of gray, but also shades of light that give us hope. Justice Ginsberg is someone who combines the reality of the way things are with an idealism of how things could be and as importantly, a pragmatic way to make those ideals possible. Throughout it all, Justice Ginsburg shattered repugican shrieking points with facts, legal history and the insights of a great Supreme Court Justice.

Eisenhower's 91% income tax rate

It wasn't that long ago:
[T]he most successful repugican of the 20th century, Dwight D. Eisenhower, had been quite happy with a top income tax rate on millionaires of 91 percent. As he wrote to his brother Edgar Eisenhower in a personal letter on November 8, 1954:
[T]o attain any success it is quite clear that the Federal government cannot avoid or escape responsibilities which the mass of the people firmly believe should be undertaken by it. The political processes of our country are such that if a rule of reason is not applied in this effort, we will lose everything–even to a possible and drastic change in the Constitution. This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon ‘moderation’ in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt [you possibly know his background], a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.
That was a marginal tax rate, of course, but still worth noting.

It's The Economy Stupid

Democrats do it better

A Bill That Could Cripple Citizens United Is Being Considered In Four States

A crippling blow could be dealt to Citizens United as legislatures in four states are debating bills that would require shareholders to approve corporate political spending.
we-the-corporations-citizens-unitedLawmakers in at least four states are considering a back-door way to dampen corporate political spending: Require shareholders to approve it.
State legislators in Maine, Maryland, New York and New Jersey have introduced bills that demand that a majority of shareholders approve corporate gifts to political committees or candidates.
“The whole thesis of Citizens United is that the companies are just speaking for the shareholders,” said state Senator Jamie Raskin, a Democrat who is sponsoring the bill in Maryland. “If this is going to be anything more than a cynical fiction, then state legislatures need to act to make it real.”
Raskin has received interest from a dozen legislators in other parts of the country who are interested in his bill. Huge corporations are big spenders in elections at all levels, but that all could change if corporations would have to get approval of their shareholders before they could spend a dime.
Currently, there is no accountability for corporate dark money political spending. Corporations can ignore their shareholders at will. If a corporation had to get approval from their shareholders before they spent millions of dollars on an election, the whole process would change.
Decision makers would have to justify their political spending. Shareholders would have to sign off on it. The whole process of getting shareholder approval would lead to information becoming public that mostly politically active corporations would not like their customers to know.
Details about the hidden dark money that big corporations don’t want their customers to know about would be exposed, and a backlash would be inevitable. Citizens United has allowed corporations to hide their repugican political advocacy through dark money contributions. Some of the nation’s biggest corporations have been funding repugican dark money efforts.
The bill being discussed in the states is a nifty backdoor effort to stop Citizens United. Shareholders deserve a say in how a company spends their money. The state level legislation doesn't conflict with the Supreme Court’s decision, but it would have a damaging impact on the flow of corporate money into repugican campaign coffers.

Random Celebrity Photos

eastmanhouse:

Nickolas Muray (American, b. Hungary, 1892-1965) Elizabeth Taylor, ca. 1948, Carbro print, Gift of Mrs. Nickolas Muray, George Eastman House Collection, ©Nickolas Muray Archives
Elizabeth Taylor, ca. 1948

President Obama’s Greatest Accomplishment Is Exposing Un-American repugicans

obama-flag
Presidents’ Day was originally established to honor the nation’s first president, George Washington, on or near his birthday, but for some time it has been an occasion to honor all presidents. For many Americans it is a day off of work, and for many more it is a time, like every holiday in America, to be bombarded with special sales. Instead of looking back at former presidents and either marveling at their achievements, or decrying the devastation they wrought on this country, it is worth taking stock of the current President for two specific reasons. First, what Barack Obama accomplished that will cement his place in history as one of the country’s greatest Presidents, including his greatest accomplishment of all. And second, to challenge the President’s detractors on just a sampling of the mountain of lies they have spouted since before Obama was even inaugurated and continue unabated.
Wingnuts, in their various iterations, have accused the President of committing all manner of slights against the American people and garnered support as well as legitimacy among their racist supporters because they are inherently ignorant and suspicious of people of color. They also depend on the preponderance of stupidity and willful suspension of disbelief at bizarre assertions among a certain segment of the population to perpetuate the mountain of lies about the President. Without the overwhelming stupidity and fear of “the other” rampant among wingnuts, racists, and religious fundamentalists, any one of the lies about the President would be dead before they left a repugicans’ lying mouth.
For example, repugicans have spent over six years claiming that Barack Obama is coming for Americans’ guns, and yet there has been no gun safety legislation passed or absurd “gun confiscations” during the President’s tenure in the White House. In fact the last gun control legislation was a ban on assault weapons 20 years ago in spite of a rash of mass shootings using assault weapons. Still, one sees myriad polls on websites sponsored by wingnut cabals and the NRA asking if repugicans should fight against Obama’s gun seizure crusade. These claims have not been reserved to the NRA and gun fanatics; McConnell sent out a letter during his campaign last year warning Kentucky voters that they need a strong repugican senate because Obama was coming for their guns. It has been a six year accusation and it is time for repglicans, the NRA, and seditious teabaggers to prove the assault on the 2nd Amendment or shut down the lies.
Another common charge is that the President has eviscerated the U.S. Constitution and yet, repugicans cannot produce one shred of evidence backing up their claim. Oh it is true that nearly everything Obama does brings the usual charge that he is violating the Constitution, particularly in issuing executive orders every one of his white repugican predecessors issued. As a matter of fact, right now repugicans are threatening to endanger American lives and shut down the Department of Homeland Security because Boehner and Ted Cruz claim the President’s executive action on immigration enforcement is ‘unconstitutional.’ However, according to the Roberts wingnut Supreme Court, the President’s actions are perfectly constitutional; and that ruling is without citing the precedent set by every repugican president since Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The repugicans claim this President is hostile to the nation where their true loyalty lies, Israel, and yet he has given more of American taxpayers’ money to support Israeli warmongering than any other Democrat President or repugican pretender. It is true that Obama has not appointed Benjamin Netanyahu to his war department, or obeyed the Israeli prime minister’s orders to declare war on Iran like the shrub did in invading and occupying Iraq, but that is not hostility towards Israel. That is not allowing a foreigner to dictate American war or Middle East policy; something most Americans would consider being a strong American President.
The religio-wingnuts, and their repugican facilitators, has spent the past six years claiming President Obama is waging war on and persecuting christians. Many of the seriously fanatical evangelicals claim the President is ready to begin burning down cults and imprisoning christians in FEMA concentration camps any day. It is true the President has not shred the Constitution and declared that America is a christian theocracy, and he did state that the right to use birth control belongs to a woman, and not evangelical extremists, but that is not persecuting christians; it is upholding the Constitution. It is time for the religious right to prove how this President persecutes them by adhering to his oath of office to support and defend the constitution; or shut their lying evangelical mouths forthwith.
Those are just a sampling of the repugican accusations against Barack Obama that have no basis in fact, and do not include that he is not an American, supports islamic terrorists, is imposing Sharia Law on the nation, and “treading on Americans’ freedoms and liberties.” Add in taxing people into poverty and spending like there is no tomorrow and one gets the picture; repugicans are rank liars and frankly state precisely the opposite of any and everything this President represents or has accomplished in the face of unrelenting repugican attempts to sabotage his Presidency and America.
The President’s achievements and accomplishments are too numerous to mention, and frankly are cited daily as the economy improves, America stays out of wars, and the nation’s reputation recovers around the world. There is one accomplishment that, although notable, is not something the President is likely proud of but cannot be ignored; he has exposed wingnuts in general, and repugicans in particular, as racists, enemies of the people, and un-American.
It is likely that at no time in American history, except for the Civil War, has there been a concerted effort by one faction of Americans to decimate the economy and work tirelessly for the government’s failure and demise; all because Americans elected an African American man as their President. The President’s contribution in exposing the fascist un-American efforts by repugicans is that he has stayed the course with grace and dignity despite an overwhelming and concerted effort to destroy his Presidency. In fact, although repugicans did not say, like the filthy Lush Dimbulb, that they hope the President fails, they have made every effort to see Dimbulb’s hopes come to fruition.
Whether they met in private to plot against Obama’s effort to save the economy, tried to destroy the full faith and credit of the United States, kill millions of Americans’ jobs, or withhold funding for diplomatic security around the world, repugicans have shown their true nature and it is contrary to what any sane American would call patriotic. Through it all, this President wrongly asserted that “repugicans are patriots; they just have a different idea about how to govern.” Nice words, but untrue and the President probably knows that sad fact.
No American patriot, regardless their political affiliation, deliberately and with malice aforethought, attempts to harm this country or its people, or conspires with foreign governments and agents to push Americans into a war of convenience or destroy its precious environment and endanger the health of its people. On this Presidents’ Day, one hopes that the current President continues asserting his agenda for Americans and finds the fortitude to tell the American people what many already know; repugicans are not patriots, they do not love America, and have nothing but contempt for its people. If President Obama would do that, he will go down as the one of nation’s greatest Presidents for, if nothing else, identifying this country’s real enemy.

New Rankings Obliterate The repugican Lie That Obama Is The Worst President In History

New presidential rankings by the American Political Science Association have shattered the repugican lie that President Obama is the worst president in history.
obama-addressThe most highly ranked presidents contained many of the usual suspects. Abraham Lincoln was rated the greatest president, with an average score of 95 out of 100, followed by George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The rest in the top 10 were Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson.
How does Barack Obama fare? Scholars had a mixed view of him. Obama ranks 18th overall and, among the modern presidents (those since FDR), he is in the middle of the pack. He ranks behind not only Clinton and Eisenhower but also Reagan, Johnson, Kennedy, and the shrub's daddy. Obama ranks ahead of Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, and the shrub.
Historians and experts caution that is nearly impossible to rate a president while they are still in office. It is difficult to evaluate Obama. The president’s legacy will be tied to the Affordable Care Act. If the law stays in place and continues to grow, the president’s legacy will be helped. Obama’s actions on gay marriage, immigration, and climate change will also shape his legacy in a positive way.
The economy is also going to shape President Obama’s legacy. If the economy continues to grow rapidly over the next two years, Obama could become a top ten president. It is easy to imagine a scenario where the economy robustly expands, and history rewards this president for bringing the nation out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
The American Political Science Association did warn that the participants were influenced by their personal political ideology.
What is clear is that the favorite refrain of Republicans that Obama is the worst president is not true. Obama is not even close to being the worst president ever. The numbers, the facts, and experts all agree that repugicans are wrong about Obama.

The Numbers Don’t Lie: Intense repugican Hate Is Skewing Obama Polls

A Pew examination of presidential poll numbers revealed that intense repugican hatred of President Obama weighs down his job approval numbers.
According to Pew Research:
obama-social-securityViews of the president among members of the opposing party have become steadily more negative over time. Our 2014 report on political polarization documented this dramatic growth in partisan divisions over views of presidential job performance. Over the course of Obama’s presidency, his average approval rating among Democrats has been 81%, compared with just 14% among repugicans.
During Eisenhower’s two terms, from 1953-1960, an average of 49% of Democrats said they approved of the job the repugican pretender was doing in office. During ronny raygun’s junta, an average of 31% of Democrats approved of his job performance. And just over a quarter (27%) of repugicans offered a positive assessment of Clinton between 1993 and 2000. But the most recent pretender, the shrub  –  and President Obama – have not received even this minimal level of support.
These numbers confirm a suspicion that repugican Obama hate is throwing off the polls. President Obama isn’t as unpopular with the country at large as he is with repugicans. Obama’s job approval ratings are being weighed down by the fact that he gets nearly half the support from self-identified repugicans that Bill Clinton did. The idea that repugicans impeached Clinton and tried to throw him out of office, but still got more of their support than President Obama is a real mind blower.
Even if one tries to account for the increased level of polarization in politics by assigning the president 20% approval rating from repugicans, the difference in Obama’s approval rating would be dramatic. The president would go from a 48%-50% approval rating to something more in the neighborhood of 54%-56%.
The repugican hatred of Obama is so intense that it is difficult for pollsters to get an accurate reading on the president’s true level of popularity. The extreme intensity of the opposition prohibits a good read on where the president stands in the court of public opinion, but it does illustrate the degree to which our national politics has become polarized.
Irrational repugican hatred of Obama is making it impossible to accurately compare polls. This doesn’t mean that the polls are wrong, but that the Obama polling is more accurately measuring polarization than the president’s job performance.

9 Of The 10 Senators Who Got Paid By Taxpayers But Missed The Most Votes Are repugicans

Rubio CruzMarco Rubio (r-FLA) is the “least likely to show up for work.” Ted Cruz (r-TX) also tops the list of no-shows. This is convenient because both are now working as a chairman for subcommittees that oversee climate change in some capacity, and what better way to deny reality than to not show up.
Nine of the ten spots of no-shows go to repugicans, according to a new analysis by Vocativ.com working with GovTrack.us.
Vocativ says there is a Senate absentee rate average of 2.01 percent, with Rubio taking the lead at 8.30% percent no shows. The “biggest no-shows in Congress”, per Vocativ:
List of absentee senators from Vocativ
The repugicans are Marco Rubio (r-FLA) with an 8.30% absentee rate, Jerry Moran (r-KS), John Boozman (r-AS), Ted Cruz (r-TX), David Vitter (r-LA), Lisa Murkowski (r-AK), Lindsey Graham (r-SC), Jim Inhofe (r-OK) and Roy Blunt (r-MO). The Democrat is Brian Schatz (D-HA), which they justify because it’s so far away (um, no, please show up for your pay).
Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are supposed to be big stars who might make a run for the White House, yet they now each have the dubious honor of being a biggest no-show. This should matter, but it probably doesn’t matter to repugican voters. After all, repugican ideology dictates “small government” (though you wouldn’t know this when it comes to their use of subsidies, addiction to defense spending except when they’re shutting down government or refusing — for years– to pass a real budget, propping up certain favorites in the market, or use of government to impose their alleged religious choices onto the populace). But it’s also true that the minority tends to show up less, and up until seven weeks ago, repugicans were the minority in the senate.

Legislative Paralysis Strikes Capitol Hill Under New repugican congress

boehner mcconnell 60 minutes obamacare
Despite a successfully stealing the November election, where the repugican cabal increased their majority in the House, and stole control of the Senate, the new repugican misled Congress has proven unable to pass significant legislation. Since taking the reins in both Houses of Congress, the repugicans have only been able to pass two pieces of legislation. By contrast, in 2007, when the Democrats were in a similar situation, after retaking the U.S. House, they had managed to pass six pieces of legislation by this stage. The Democrats managed to push through three times as many bills then, even though the White House was still held by the repugican pretender - the shrub.
The two measures repugicans have been able to pass into law, included funding a terrorism insurance program, and passing a noncontroversial bipartisan bill related to Veterans mental health. Many other bills have crumbled under the weight of partisan infighting. Squabbles between the hyper-partisan repugican cabal house leadership and the somewhat more moderate senate leadership have generated back and forth rhetoric, but little in substantive accomplishments.
The House and Senate were able to garner enough votes to send a Keystone XL Pipeline approval bill to the President. However, the White House is likely to veto that measure, and neither the House nor the Senate has the votes whipped up to override a veto.
The repugican Mick Mulvaney (SC-05) summed up repugican underachievement, when, he said, of the pipeline vote:
Is it the most important piece of legislation facing the nation? No. But it is an opportunity for us to prove that we’re able to work with each other and govern, and it is a good test of whether or not the president is interested in doing that as well. We have to learn how to crawl before we can walk, and walk before we can run.
Meanwhile, as the repugicans are still learning to crawl, the nation faces a looming budget shutdown over the funding of Homeland Security. The repugicans are divided over whether to derail funding to punish President Obama, for his executive order on immigration. The repugicans also failed to pass an anti-abortion bill, because although the reagcan cabal congress is almost entirely anti-choice, a few repugicans objected to not exempting rape and incest victims from the bill’s abortion ban.
Many members of the new repugican majority campaigned on ending gridlock in Washington. However, while they proved themselves able campaigners, they have not yet proven they are actually capable of governing.

Grand Jury Indicts Mississippi Judge Who Attacked Disabled Black Man

Bill-WeisenbergerA Grand Jury indicted Madison County Court Judge Bill Weisenberger for simple assault on a vulnerable adult. The indictment stems from an incident at the Canton Flea Market on May 8, 2014. Weisenberger allegedly struck 20-year old Eric Rivers and yelled “run, n—-r run.” Rivers is a mentally disabled black male.
Weisenberger turned himself into the Madison County sheriff’s office Thursday. He was released shortly after that on 10,000 dollars bond. If convicted of the felony charge, the judge could face five years in prison. He could also be removed from the bench for having a felony conviction.
Since the reported assault, Judge Weisenberger has come under fire for other racist behavior as well. For example, an African-American was allegedly jailed for the non-existent charge of “roaming livestock”. Another black individual was reportedly given an illegal sentence for a DUI conviction.
The judge’s comments put Mississippi in the spotlight for racial intolerance yet again. Weisenberger’s indictment represents a stark contrast between his commitment to racial equality, and that of fellow Mississippian U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves. Earlier in the week, Reeves sentenced three white men to prison, for their roles in the death of 48-year old James Craig Anderson, who was murdered in a Jackson parking lot. During the sentencing, Reeves spoke eloquently about Mississippi’s tortured past, and he called for a “new Mississippi”.
However, Judge Weisenberger’s alleged behavior serves as a reminder that the “old Mississippi” is far from finished. Recent racist remarks by Gene Alday (r-Walls) further illustrate that much work is still to be done, to eradicate the cancer of racism from Mississippi soil.
In order for the justice system to appear colorblind, at the very least, overt racists have no position serving as arbiters of justice. If Judge Weisenberger is convicted of assaulting Eric Rivers, he should be incarcerated and removed from the bench immediately.

Random Photos

How to fool enemy sonar

luna_moth_Florida_Museum
Moths shed light on how to fool enemy sonar

It’s hard to hide from a bat: The camouflage and mimicry techniques that animals use to avoid becoming a meal aren’t much use against a predator using echolocation. But a […]

Mental time travel

SMPmemorycompositelr-585x298New insight on how brain performs mental time travel

In Proust’s novel Recollection of Things Past, the distinctive smell of a lemon madeleine launches the narrator on a long, involved reminiscence of his past that fills seven volumes. It […]

Jerusalem sewage virus

Can a bacterial virus from Jerusalem sewage prevent root canal infections
Can a virus from Jerusalem sewage prevent root canal infections?

Every year, drug-resistant infections kill more than 50,000 people across Europe and the United States, and hundreds of thousands more around the world. According to the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance […]

Nosebleeds

Why on Earth does the body sometimes decide to start gushing blood out of its nose -- when no one has even punched it? It's a problem for more people than you might imagine, and Julia explains what things can bring on a dreaded nosebleed.

Coma Arising

There's currently no way to tell which patients will awake from a coma -- or when. A new marker could offer guidance for treating patients. 

Historical Photos

peerintothepast:

"Woman Auto Racer, Miss Elinor Blevins" 1915 #History @DanicaPatrick  Source: loc.gov
"Woman Auto Racer, Miss Elinor Blevins" 1915

Shaped Erosion

Photographer Joshua Nowicki created a sensation across the Internet when he posted a photo of tiny sand towers created by wind eroding frozen sand along Lake Michigan. 

This Brutal Winter


More evidence for link between wavy jet stream and extreme weather, Rutgers study finds Prolonged cold snaps on the East Coast, California drought and frozen mornings in the South all […]

Ocean Acidity

New satellite maps show the variation in ocean acidity across the globe, revealing a side effect of climate change that threatens marine life.

Surprisingly Explosive Death

Our sun will not explode as a powerful supernova when it eventually runs out of fuel, but that doesn't mean there won't be fireworks.

Supermassive Diet

It has long been assumed that the size of a supermassive black hole in a galaxy's core is intimately related to the number of stars that galaxy contains -- but it might not be that simple.

Star Blast Through

Astronomers have discovered a star that carried out a stellar hit-and-run 70,000 years ago... and our solar system was the victim. 

Nature's Strongest Teeth

Spider silk is no longer the strongest known biological material, since that distinction now goes to the teeth of a rather unimposing marine creature. 

Beached Whales

Mass beachings of whales look like a collective suicide pact come to fruition among the giant creatures of the sea. But science has a few more realistic, less self-destructive ideas about why they may head for shore. 

Off Endangered List

Thanks to a strong recovery, the small minnow has been removed from the federal list of endangered and threatened animals.

Animal Pictures