Saturday, May 8, 2010

Jon Stewart - The Daily Show - Family Research Council's European Gaycation

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Family Research Council's European Gaycation
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorTea Party

The Daily Show - Jon Stewart - Recap of week of 5/3/10

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Recap - Week of 5/3/10
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorTea Party

Gratitude adjustment - Bill Maher


From the Huffington Post via Crooks and Liars:

New Rule: This Mother's Day, all Americans must pause and extend a special thanks to the women who maintain our homes, who take care of our kids, and who still make time for sex with Dad. I'm talking, of course, about our nannies. Lost in this whole immigration debate is why Americans want to be so harsh on the people who, in so many and varied ways, enable them to sit on their fat asses. Nannies, valet parkers, gardeners, all the people who do the things we're a little too busy or important to do. There are plenty of people to be mad at our there -- the jerks at Goldman Sachs, the idiots at BP, the guy who charged you fifty bucks for these tickets -- why set our crosshairs on the humble, servile people?

I'll tell you why. Because we're bullies. Instead of confronting real threats, like the debt or the environment or Utah, we pick out the poorest, most defenseless kid on the block -- illegal immigrants -- and say, "What are you looking at?" But I'll tell you something, you anti-immigrant hoopies -- as usual you're mad at the wrong people. It was corporate America that busted your unions and didn't keep your pay up to the cost of living, causing your wife to have to go to work and Esmeralda to have to come in to watch the kids. Your problem is low wages, not low riders. A middle class life can now only be maintained with the presence of an underpaid underclass. In the 1940s, fewer than one in five moms worked outside the home. Ironically, mostly in bomber factories, to beat Nazi Germany, a place, like Arizona, where you always had to show your papers. I kid, that's an unfair comparison. The Germans knew how to dress.

All this anger that we see aimed at the Mexican underclass might be more understandable if illegals came here with a bad attitude and sent the crime rate soaring -- but they don't. The Justice Department says violent crime in Arizona is at its lowest point since 1971. Property crime is at its lowest since 1966. There is no problem. There's only dicks and the politicians who pander to them.

I know this is anecdotal, but I've hired several immigrant housekeepers -- legal immigrants, I might add, in case anyone at the White House is considering me for a Cabinet position -- and they've all done great work. Especially on my monologue. While the one American-born Caucasian guy I hired to do some handyman work stole my tools. You know who you are, Stephen Baldwin.

And when I drive home every day and see maids trudging up a steep hill to the mansions where they work, and I offer them a ride, I'm astounded: they never refuse, because they're so exhausted that they'll accept a ride from a mysterious gringo blasting rap music, even though that's the beginning of every slasher movie ever. You know, neighbors, you're trusting these women to clean your homes, feed your pets, and give your kids their daily dose of Ritalin -- the least you can do is not make them walk up the hill.

Some time in the distant future, brown people are probably going to -- and I say this without judgment -- breed their way to power in both Europe and America. Arab populations are growing in countries like France and Holland, and I think we all see where this Mexican thing is going in America. That's right, because they fuck more, the darker skinned people are going to rule the world, and white people, for their own self-preservation, should get a start on being nice to them now! Nice! Just be nice, to the poor and desperate people who change our Depends and cook our food, hopefully not in that order.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

A message for the Tea Party people

A friend sent me this. I have no clue as to its origin. If someone knows, please let me know so I attribute it properly.

It's one hell of a message!



A Message to the Tea Party

After eight years of Bush and Cheney now you get mad!


You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed energy company officials to dictate energy policy.

You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed for political reasons.

You didn't get mad when the "Patriot Act" got passed and government was given unprecedented spying powers on you and all the rest of us.

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

You didn't get mad when we spent over $600 billion (and counting) on that illegal war.

You didn't get mad when over $10 billion just disappeared in Iraq.

You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.

You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.

You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions injured soldiers were enduring at Walter Reed Hospital.

You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.

You didn't get mad when we gave $900 billion in tax breaks to the already rich.

You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark under Bush.

You finally got mad when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick.

Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, they’re all okay with you, but helping other Americans... oh hell no!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Big government, oil spills and reality


[AP Photo by Gerald Herbert - from Boston.com]

This is a guest post by my very astute and erudite friend, Bob Poris.

I keep hearing bout how the government is too big; it is the problem; it doesn’t work, etc. But those who make such claims seem unable to be specific as to what the government should or shouldn’t do - it is just too big, they say.

But it is interesting that when anything goes wrong with climate events, oil spills, financial meltdowns, a delay in arresting a terrorist, two costly wars, unemployment, bad results from schools, etc., the government is always blamed and expected to step in and cure the problem.

The financial world imploded because the government canceled regulations that might have prevented part or all of the disaster that affected the U.S. and most of the world. The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico resulted from a lack of government insistence on a fool proof plan to prevent damage that such a spill would cause. Now the government is called upon to help contain the problem and we can only hope BP will somehow pay for all the damage. But who will pay for the lost businesses, jobs, damage to the eco system, etc? In the long run, government will have to deal with most of the problems.

Who is the government? We, the citizens, elect our representatives whose responsibility it is to make the laws and govern (run) the business of the government. Most of us could not list all the functions, good and bad, in which our government is engaged. Most of us would be quite unhappy if the government stopped checking our food, environment, air, water, research, medical care for all that it currently takes care of (over 50% of our population) aviation, armed services, diplomacy, public safety, police and fire, forest Rangers, Coast Guard, etc.

If not the government, who?

The oil companies managed to get permission to engage in off shore drilling for oil. They put up the money for the rigs, and personnel needed. They do it to make profits and get tax breaks and help from a variety of governmental agencies. Unfortunately, if something goes wrong, we, the people suffer. The oil companies may take heavy losses, some of which will be handled by insurance, but they will eventually get on with their business.

Those affected by the spill will not be so lucky. Forget the birds, fish animals, coral reefs, marshes, etc. They cannot sue anyone. What about the businesses and employees that will close if fishing is shut down; the people dependent upon tourism for their income, the long term effects upon the environment, etc.? At some point the government will have to pay to help some of these victims. The tax base of many areas will go downhill and the citizens will suffer. All of this because the government did not have a way to guarantee that it was safe to drill or that the benefits to the people outweighed the risks. I am not forgetting the loss of life but that too was a risk that was not considered.

The government was at fault, but which part? I think Congress was wrong to not have laws, as other countries do, that insist upon stop loss machinery that has been proven to work in case of a problem. I think lobbyists managed to convince our representatives that the need for more oil outweighed the need for controls to minimize the risks. The same problem was instrumental in the financial meltdown. We are the government. We should be asking what is meant by the government is too big, when it obviously is not big enough to prevent such problems.

We should demand that those who keep repeating the mantra that a smaller government is better, and thus we need smaller or less government, to explain how we will benefit and what we will give up. Let’s concentrate on how to make government work for the greater good. Let’s concentrate on punishing those that subvert the government with bribes or willful misinformation.

We might have to pay for better government with higher taxes. If so, let us make sure that all pay a fair share.

Bumper sticker slogans are meaningless. Let’s demand practical suggestions and work together to solve the real problems.