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Chris Christie’s Implausible Deniability

Dbos, exactly! This was all caused by Obama using the Fast and Furious team which enlisted the IRS in Benghazi! Anyone can see that!

» Posted By AdLib On January 13, 2014 @ 8:38 pm

Agree, CL. This scandal is what the MSM lives for, they aren’t going to abandon it for another round of boring Benghazi chest pounding by Issa.

Sorry Christie, this scandal is real, unlike all the BS the RW has been trying to whip up against Obama, and you’re not going to be bailed out by feigning ignorance or the public getting bored of this story.

If abuse of power by a powerful bully in NJ wasn’t entertaining to the public, why was The Sopranos on for so long?

» Posted By AdLib On January 13, 2014 @ 8:35 pm

confuseddemocrat, I think it is very predictable that the RW will always defend their own no matter the outrageousness of their actions. And the MSM has been very cooperative in promoting Christie in the past despite how dishonest the portrait of him was.

However, they are coming down on him now because they love how “sexy” this story of corruption and self-destruction of a Presidential contender is. I don’t really see any MSM outlet besides the likely RW suspects, anxious to sweep this under the rug or portray Christie as a wronged victim. In fact, of all people, George Will came out on Sunday to compare Christie to Nixon on corruption.

If George Will, one of the unquestionable symbols of the establishsment GOP, is putting the Nixon stake through e heart of Christie, I don’t think we’re going to see him rise again.

» Posted By AdLib On January 13, 2014 @ 8:31 pm

The Weekend Music Thread – Life, The Universe and Everything

This one’s dedicated to KQuark:

The Galaxy Song – Monty Python

» Posted By AdLib On January 11, 2014 @ 1:51 pm

KT – Well, we are talking about space-ing out, right?

» Posted By AdLib On January 11, 2014 @ 1:31 pm

Had a few crazy weekends on the run and missed posting but always read/listened. Glad to be back!

» Posted By AdLib On January 11, 2014 @ 1:30 pm

Moonlight Drive – The Doors

» Posted By AdLib On January 11, 2014 @ 12:33 pm

Space Cowboy – Steve Miller Band

» Posted By AdLib On January 11, 2014 @ 12:31 pm

And of course…

Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon

» Posted By AdLib On January 11, 2014 @ 12:28 pm

Harvest Moon – Neil Young

» Posted By AdLib On January 11, 2014 @ 12:27 pm

The Brains of Climate Change Deniers Are Frozen

jj, very nice to hear that there’s been more progress than assumed on the green front but we still have a very long way to go.

The complete melting of the North Pole should alarm any thinking person…but than we are talking about Republicans. Of course such extreme changes would cause extreme weather, wind currents are of course affected by greater heat coming through the ozone layer and evaporating a greater amount of the ocean.

This is the true character of corporations and the wealthy, they would push the human race off a cliff tomorrow just to get more profits today.

» Posted By AdLib On January 7, 2014 @ 12:12 pm

Kalima, very powerful statement, well done!

It isn’t a complex concept to understand, that Climate Change means a bringing of weather extremes. Super cold winters for some, blistering hot summers for others. It’s not that the fanatics can’t understand this, they simply refuse to.

Facts, statistics, studies, all are meaningless to the faith-based haters of anything that will help the people or the planet.

Your experience in Tokyo is documented and fact. You and anyone else who isn’t dranged knows that the weather has changed to bring these long, oppressively hot summers.

What’s going on in the UK is obscene and the equivalent of letting a suicidal maniac drive you towards the Grand Canyon (or maybe the end of Thelma and Louise?). Undermining the push for green energy, letting fracking takeover and destroy the land and water and nuclear reactors??? After all we’ve learned and all the disasters and near disasters? Not to mention the lack of any workable plan for disposing of nuclear waste. The UK is not so big it can afford to have radioactive hot spots all around the country. And terrorists would no doubt be excited by the possibility of having such an ideal target for an attack.

Greed and corporatism is bad here in the US but in the UK, it is a de facto plutocracy when this kind of sacrificing the future of the UK for the wealthy profiting more today is the law of the land.

We can’t let them have that kind of power here again or we may not be able to undo the damage…I don’t know if the UK can at this point but after 2015, with the Tories hopefully out, let’s hope they can.

» Posted By AdLib On January 7, 2014 @ 12:06 pm

escribacat, that’s the really terrible thing about this, the deniers have the same fanaticism about Climate Change as they do about hating Obama.

There is no logic to contradict because there’s only hatred behind their beliefs and there’s no real antidote to that.

Studies have shown that the more this type of people are challenged on their irrational beliefs, the stronger they cling to them.

Hard to accept that maybe 1/4 or more of Americans are terminally ignorant but from all we’ve seen over many years, it’s hard to dispute.

» Posted By AdLib On January 6, 2014 @ 6:10 pm

Killgore, I think they are actually trying to send all of us back to the way the world was in the Dark Ages. However, it would be very satisfying to make these people live for a month in the conditions that their opposition to science represent.

Black Plague and Polio anyone?

» Posted By AdLib On January 6, 2014 @ 6:00 pm

Beatlex, even these Neanderthals’ claims about how critical the deficit is, is dishonest. They just want the Ayn Randian philosophy of cutting loose the poor to suffer and die and the wealthy to have their rightful plutocracy and domination of the majority.

The irony is of course that the majority of Repubs are rural and poor and rely on the national safety nets. They will never be wealthy so they would be among the worst hit if the policies they supported were put in place.

I don’t believe there is any reasoning with most of them. Energy would seem to be best spent on bringing the majority together to support action instead of trying to convince those beyond convincing.

» Posted By AdLib On January 6, 2014 @ 5:56 pm

Nirek, we are indeed on the same page, the conversation you had with Kalima really hit the same target. This is the result of corporate greed run amuck and having control over our government. And given the choice of making a little less of record profits and preserving the Earth, they choose the former.

If corporations want to be people, they should be treated like the sociopaths they are and put in prison for assaulting millions of Americans.

We do our part, we boycott many of the bad entities out there (no Koch products, my daughter has never set foot inside a Walmart and has been to McDonalds only with friends but less times than can be counted on one hand). After the admission by Nestlé’s Chairman that their agenda is to corner the market on potable water (even rainfall) because they don’t view access to water as a human right, it’s just another “foodstuff”, we added all Nestlé products to our boycott list (harder for my daughter because she loves many of their candies).

We conserve energy by setting heating and cooling at marginal levels and watering strategically.

Everyone can live by their principles at least to some degree and combined with the actions of others, make a difference.

All you’re doing, Nirek, combines with the acts of principle of others and has a positive impact, well done!

» Posted By AdLib On January 6, 2014 @ 5:45 pm

Dbos, as I noted above, they have denialist propaganda to fit any situation. There is no evidence that can convince someone with a petrified mind who simply refuses to accept reality.

They just have to be ignored and overrun by the rest of us.

» Posted By AdLib On January 6, 2014 @ 5:30 pm

Happy New Year! Make Your Predictions For 2014 and Resolutions For President Obama

My top resolution for Pres. Obama is to focus like a laser in his SOTU and in the remainder of his last term on two issues, economic injustice and Climate Change.

I wrote a post recently here about how raising the minimum wage to $15/hr could go a long way in lifting millions out of poverty while spurring on our economy. I would like Obama to get behind this in a major way along with holding firm against the Republican push for slashing our social safety nets for the poor and elderly. As ConcernedDemocrat mentioned below, I too would like to see Obama humanize the plight of the poor and put back in the spotlight the concept of Americans looking out for each other, especially the most vulnerable, as a truly American trait…and a responsibility.

As Escribacat mentioned, there can be no issue of greater importance than the endangerment of the entire planet and civilization. But since Climate Change has been a more gradual process and less simplistic than a single concrete event, the corporate energy propaganda machine has succeeded in raising unreasonable doubt and delay (“This needs more study before any action should be considered.”)

Meanwhile, it is now widely accepted by Americans that our weather patterns and intensity of weather events have changed. What’s badly needed now is a re-awakening of the public to the Inconvenient Truth days of not so long ago, when addressing Climate Change was a top priority for the American people.

I hope that this too will be a key part of Obama’s 2014 SOTU speech, setting it up for a full bore campaign.

As for predictions, I think that this year we’ll see an intensifying of the GOP civil war as the GOP Establishment rises up more to confront the Tea Party. The Dems may have a narrow chance to take back the House but even if they don’t, I think the 2014 elections will favor Dems and shrink the Repub majority in The House to well within reach of Dems in 2016.

If the Dems and Obama do focus on economic injustice and nationalize the 2014 campaign by presenting a concrete agenda of what they will do on that (and Climate Change) if given control of Congress, they could succeed.

In 2014, I expect web megasites and social networking sites to continue their disintegration of people’s privacy, further tabloidization of the MSM, growth of protests by minimum wage workers, re-emergence of immigration reform as a pressing issue and Miley Cyrus will do something so offensive to the media that they won’t be able to stop showing it and talking about it for weeks…while bumping much more important issues that actually affect people’s lives.

I do think the ACA will quickly come into its own as an indisputable success and demolish the Republican opposition to it and the lies they’ve sewn. With millions of Americans finding first hand how it has helped them, the Republican attacks will simply make the GOP more toxic, more obvious as the cynical liars they are who seek suffering for Americans in exchange for profiting the wealthy and corporations.

In any case, I do predict a rising of conscience and compassion among many Americans, as the deceptions the powerful and wealthy have used to divide us become more obvious.

I am quite hopeful about 2014 being a very good and defining year but it will require our energy and participation.

» Posted By AdLib On January 1, 2014 @ 11:56 am

Hey Escribacat, Happy New Year!

Early in his first term, I used to keep a running list of all of Pres. Obama’s accomplishments, it was very lengthy at that time, even before the ACA was passed.

Though I don’t think any President should be insulated from criticism on unaddressed issues in return for having addressed other issues, how about starting off the new year with a short list reminder of Pres. Obama’s top achievements to date?

1. Passing the ACA: Providing affordable health insurance for tens of millions of uninsured Americans, ending refusal of coverage for pre-existing conditions, require children to be entitled to health insurance up to age 26, etc.

2. Catching Osama Bin Laden: Finding and killing the most wanted enemy of the U.S. who designed the 9/11 attacks and other deadly international attacks against our country and citizens.

3. Withdrew U.S. troops from Iraq: After a decade of occupation after an unnecessary war that claimed the lives of so many innocent civilians and dedicated troops, Pres. Obama has withdrawn all combat troops from Iraq. He also ended the Bush practice of U.S. sponsored torture.

4. Ended Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) and The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA): Under the Obama Administration, gay rights and equality has progressed at an unprecedented speed. No longer is it against the law to be gay in the military or to be able to marry the person you love, no matter what sex they are.

5. Rescued the United States from Falling into a Great Depression: It may be hard for people to remember just how terrifying the collapse of the U.S. banking system and economy was and how the nation teetered on the edge of a Great Depression. Had John McCain won the WH and followed through on a policy of austerity instead of stimulus, America could have plunged deeply into a long and horrible Depression. Pres. Obama is rarely given the credit he deserves for all of his efforts in saving the nation from a far more horrible fate.

None of this changes the importance and immediacy of other issues that need Obama’s focus, with Climate Change among the most urgent. But we can acknowledge his huge successes while pressing for more.

» Posted By AdLib On January 1, 2014 @ 10:54 am

Hey ConfusedDemocrat, Happy New Year!

I think that Pres. Obama made clear after the CR and government shutdown battle with Repubs that he won’t negotiate anymore with Republicans on things that shouldn’t be negotiable.

As to the budget deal, one can absolutely take issue with what was omitted from it, especially the extension of UI payments. It does appear to be a strategic decision, to take the tactic of extortion out of the Republicans’ hands for two years (no one really believes that the Repubs will allow a debt default anymore despite the threats) and relieve the sequester for domestic programs as well as the military, as you noted.

It seems apparent that “all or nothing” propositions in DC always turn out to be “nothing” since Repubs would rather prevent anything from happening than commit the “traitorous” act of compromise. So one can make the case for taking the budget deal…as long as it is part of a campaign to leverage against Repubs to pass financing for UI and other social programs.

As for your point about the poor being neglected both literally and when it comes to recognition of their struggles, you are right on target. Much as I support Pres. Obama on many issues and give him the benefit of the doubt often, this is one issue where he has been terribly MIA. He has been around the edges occasionally, supporting increasing the minimum wage, SNAP, Head Start, etc. but he has not humanized poverty to the nation and pushed back hard on the Repub demonization and dehumanization of the poor. Along with you, I do hope he recognizes this and becomes a stronger advocate for the poor.

» Posted By AdLib On January 1, 2014 @ 10:10 am

Hey Assumed Name! Right with you on your resolutions for Pres. Obama, I don’t think we’ll be disappointed on those.

Happy New Year!

» Posted By AdLib On January 1, 2014 @ 9:45 am

Great New Year’s wishes, Nirek!

Common sense and wisdom is exactly what I expect from Pres. Obama this year as well. He’s learned his lessons about dealing with the Tea Party and Republicans, I think he’ll navigate his way through issues with greater success than before.

Got a smile out of your prediction about Congress. I’ll predict that those in Congress that eat in high chairs and throw their food will get more time outs…especially after elections in 2014.

I second your wish for Planeteers to give and receive much love this year.

» Posted By AdLib On January 1, 2014 @ 9:43 am

Happy New Year, Sabreen! Working towards GOTV this year is actually a great resolution for us!

» Posted By AdLib On January 1, 2014 @ 9:35 am

Republicans Reject Evolution in Favor of Devolution

Nirek, many people can possess reason and faith. The argument is well made to say, “if one believes God made us, then He gave us the ability to reason and intended us to use it.”

Would a wise God create human beings merely to challenge them to be lemmings? Wy not just make human sized lemmings instead?

Of course the human mind is meant to question and explore. I see it as more of a sin to waste one’s natural abilities.

» Posted By AdLib On December 31, 2013 @ 6:57 pm

Back at ya, Beatlex!

» Posted By AdLib On December 31, 2013 @ 4:53 pm

Thanks jj!

It is a hackneyed refrain from the Know-Nothings on the RW to say “we don’t know enough” as an excuse for denying everything they want to. One could extrapolate out how “we don’t know enough” about any issue, especially all the things Repubs do support (Supply Side economics, environmental damage from fracking, etc.) but that’s not the point.

They are like children who have been given an excuse to their teacher in their back pocket and they keep using it on every teacher they ever have. It’s dishonest and they know it.

The truth is that they will squirm away from any truth they need to deny. Having 95% of all climate scientists say Climate Change is real and man made is meaningless to them, they just grasp for the 5% who don’t agree and say it’s disputed.

Of course, tell them this truth, that only a third of the world’s population believe in Christianity and two thirds don’t and they’ll immediately declare that those who don’t believe are only ignorant of the truth.

I say this a bit, you can’t use reason to argue someone out of a position they didn’t use reason to acquire. These people are intellectually dishonest, either intentionally or because of their need to hide behind denial from things that frighten them.

They are anti-intellectual, they don’t understand or respect reason or truth and have been programmed by the GOP authority figures they follow to blather around actual logic to justify whatever propaganda they ingest and regurgitate.

I’ve never seen such types as being capable of learning or being convinced of truths they’re ignorant of, just fending off truths that don’t fit into the bubble they need to live in.

They are impediments to progress, IMO. Nothing can get better until we all accept basic realities despite our agendas.

» Posted By AdLib On December 31, 2013 @ 4:52 pm

VB – Great points. I do think there are enlightened people who accept the way things are without resorting to denial, as scary as it may be to them.

Some people learn to embrace their fear and face it. I would say that it at least seems that it is more common though for people to deal with fears by descending into denial, to one degree or another. For the former, it is more frightening not to know or to blind oneself to what is coming than to at least recognize the truth.

As for denialism, that is willful ignorance and sometimes dangerous practice. Those so small and weak on the inside that they need to build a bubble around themselves that makes them impervious to change and truth are not deserving of acknowledgement or power (though unfortunately some are in positions of power in our government).

There needs to be a real awakening of people, humanity can be so much more than it is settling for. One can hope that the more regressive some get, the more they inspire progressivism in those observing their small mindedness.

» Posted By AdLib On December 31, 2013 @ 4:34 pm

Beatlex, on one hand, it is a daunting future we face with us driving right off the environmental cliff and government not putting a hand on the steering wheel (because corporations have handcuffed them).

On the other hand, the history of America is one of being reactionary. We don’t head off problems as a society unfortunately, we wait until they become critical and then we do something about them.

There are a variety of scientific theories already on how we might reverse the damage to the ozone layer and no doubt more will be developed.

It is awful that so many people will suffer and die before an avoidable catastrophe has wreaked so much destruction will be addressed but it is the power of the wealthy and corporations that holds back what’s best for the world in order to squeeze the last drop of profit they can from causing global destruction.

We discussed a global people’s movement as critical and if it ever was to happen, stripping corporations of the political power they have now would have to be at the top of the list.

» Posted By AdLib On December 31, 2013 @ 4:17 pm

PocketWatch, excellent analysis! You really covered all the angles!

So true, in times of stress there is a retreat of some people to those things in the past that they see as comforting. For some, the simpler binary thinking of the past, is more reassuring. Confronting the complexities of reality can be too upsetting, some would rather to regress into behaviors and beliefs from their past or past history and that can be very destructive (as it was in Nazi Germany).

As for the literal “dis-integration” of society, that is both a corporate and political goal of the GOP. A house divided cannot stand and all that. As long as the people are polarized against each other, democracy is weakened and the wealthy minority is freer to exert their domination. The only thing that can stop them is a unified majority voting in their own interests.

So, the re-energizing of the evangelical fundamentalists also serves the interests of the top 1%. You asked who wins and you’re right, in the end no one wins when Climate Change, pollution, the destruction of resources and the spread of poverty amongst the 99% and oppression by the wealthy spreads its misery across the world.

The 99% are heading towards a future of great difficulty and the wealthy are heading towards their own Marie Antoinette moment.

Only by rejecting the campaign and lure of dis-integration and working towards re-integration can we turn things around.

Which is a great resolution to make for the new year!

» Posted By AdLib On December 31, 2013 @ 3:57 pm

Nirek, I don’t believe it’s disrespectful to see The Bible as a primary book about spirituality but not as a reference book on matters of science, whether it concerns astronomy, physics, geology, etc.

In the same vein, an astronomy book isn’t what one would regard as the go-to book for philosophy.

That’s at the core of conflict IMO, those who have an absolutist belief that everything in The Bible, even though it reflects perceptions about the universe that are 2,000 years old and deprived of the benefit of scientific progress since then, have an all-or-nothing mindset.

Either one believes that every word and concept of the Bible is from God and unarguably true or one doesn’t believe in The Bible and God.

There is a kind of absurdity to the concept that it is more important to revere the exact text of a book, most of which was written hundreds of years after the events it describes, than the spiritual truths and journey it seeks to impart. It is ironic that Jesus is revered for eschewing the bounds of the religion he was born into and yet the same Evangelical Fundamentalists, had they been around before Jesus, would have attacked him for not adhering to the word of God.

Jesus might agree with the modern cliche, “Haters gonna hate”.

» Posted By AdLib On December 31, 2013 @ 11:06 am