Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Davids Daily Dose - Tuesday January 14th


1/  Republicans hate and despise the poor, and are doing everything they can to make their lives even more miserable. That's not my commentary - it's Paul Krugman in the Times, telling it like it is in an excellent column, which has enraged the right wing media.......


Enemies of the Poor

Suddenly it’s O.K., even mandatory, for politicians with national ambitions to talk about helping the poor. This is easy for Democrats, who can go back to being the party of F.D.R. and L.B.J. It’s much more difficult for Republicans, who are having a hard time shaking their reputation for reverse Robin-Hoodism, for being the party that takes from the poor and gives to the rich.
And the reason that reputation is so hard to shake is that it’s justified. It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that right now Republicans are doing all they can to hurt the poor, and they would have inflicted vast additional harm if they had won the 2012 election. Moreover, G.O.P. harshness toward the less fortunate isn’t just a matter of spite (although that’s part of it); it’s deeply rooted in the party’s ideology, which is why recent speeches by leading Republicans declaring that they do too care about the poor have been almost completely devoid of policy specifics.
Let’s start with the recent Republican track record.
The most important current policy development in America is the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, a k a Obamacare. Most Republican-controlled states are, however, refusing to implement a key part of the act, the expansion of Medicaid, thereby denying health coverage to almost five million low-income Americans. And the amazing thing is that they’re going to great lengths to block aid to the poor even though letting the aid through would cost almost nothing; nearly all the costs of Medicaid expansion would be paid by Washington.
Meanwhile, those Republican-controlled states are slashing unemployment benefits, education financing and more. As I said, it’s not much of an exaggeration to say that the G.O.P. is hurting the poor as much as it can.










2/  I'm sure the story that 300,000 people in West Virginia cannot drink their water due to contamination from a chemical spill made a 10 second blip on TV news, but imagine if this was your town - you can't drink the tap water, you can't even shower in it and it will be many days before it is safe. What the hell do you do?

And then it sinks in - it's in a poor area of West Virginia with low income voters, so who cares - the corporation responsible will fix it in their own good time.......

One of the big stories coming in the next few years is what will happen when fracking contaminates the water supply with toxic chemicals the gas industry won't even identify, especially in Republican states like West Virginia that have been sold to the corporations exploiting their resources.....

Critics Say Chemical Spill Highlights Lax West Virginia Regulations

By CORAL DAVENPORT and ASHLEY SOUTHALLJAN. 12, 2014
    Launch media viewer
    The Elk River in Charleston, W.Va. A coal-processing chemical spill last week cut off water to more than 300,000 people. Tyler Evert/Associated Press
    Last week’s major chemical spill into West Virginia’s Elk River, which cut off water to more than 300,000 people, came in a state with a long and troubled history of regulating the coal and chemical companies that form the heart of its economy.
    “We can’t just point a single finger at this company,” said Angela Rosser, the executive director of West Virginia Rivers Coalition. “We need to look at our entire system and give some serious thought to making some serious reform and valuing our natural resources over industry interests.”
    She said lawmakers have yet to explain why the storage facility was allowed to sit on the river and so close to a water treatment plant that is the largest in the state.
    Ms. Rosser and others noted that the site of the spill has not been subject to a state or federal inspection since 1991. West Virginia law does not require inspections for chemical storage facilities — only for production facilities.
    Critics say the problems are widespread in a state where the coal and chemical industries, which drive much of West Virginia’s economy and are powerful forces in the state’s politics, have long pushed back against tight federal health, safety and environmental controls.
    “West Virginia has a pattern of resisting federal oversight and what they consider E.P.A. interference, and that really puts workers and the population at risk,” said Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council and a lecturer in environmental health at George Washington University.














    3/  The above story #2 is from the Times, but for real news here is Al Jazeera America.......with how the coal industry has been polluting West Virginia for decades, and many of the water wells in the southern half of W Va. are polluted.....


    Coal mining’s long legacy of water pollution in West Virginia

    by Wilson Dizard @willdizard January 13, 2014 9:00AM ET Updated 1:33PM ET
    As tap-water restrictions continue for 300,000 residents, activists say there's nothing new about chemical-laden water
    Topics:
     
     Energy
     
     West Virginia
     
     Law & Justice
    1 of 7
    Bonnie Wireman of Dry Branch, W.Va., sits in her home with water she has collected. The ban on drinking and washing with tap water has had a substantial impace on her family, she said. Michael Switzer/AP
    CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The disastrous impact of mining on West Virginia’s water resources goes back generations and could soon render much of the state’s water undrinkable, activists and experts say.
    Officials on Monday started lifting the ban on tap water prompted by last week's chemical spill in the Elk River. About 300,000 people in nine counties have been unable to use their water other than to flush toilets for the past five days.
    Experts, however, say the problem goes much deeper, and that coal mining made many wells and streams useless years ago.
    “For more than a century, the coal industry has had pretty much free rein to do whatever it wants,” said Vivian Stockman, spokeswoman for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.
    Stockman points to a common coal-industry practice: pumping chemical-laden wastewater directly into the ground, where it can leech into the water table and turn what had been drinkable well water into a poisonous cocktail of chemicals.
    “All this waste is going underground for years, and then one day people start noticing their well water turning sometimes orange, sometimes black. The water stinks,” Stockman told Al Jazeera.









    4/  A very interesting video that does a good job of getting an understanding of the size of the universe in proportion to our own galaxy, and by the end we literally cannot comprehend the vastness of the cosmos. It's overwhelming, but at least you get a tenuous grasp of it.....ten fascinating minutes......



    Having watched this clip, some thoughts to do with the meaning of life started......most religions say a "Creator" made the universe and everything in it, and certainly the Christian doctrine says God is watching everything down to the way you say your prayers, but if you see the scope of what God has to look at, literally trillions of galaxies with what has to be billions of planets with some kind of life, how does this Holy Dude have the time to monitor you? Good question......and if a member of one of the fundamentalist religions [that believe the universe is 10,000 years old] looks at the vastness of the galaxy, let alone the universe, what would they think?













    5/  Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the Golden Globe Awards Sunday, and although their opening monologue wasn't quite as good as last year's, it still had it's very amusing moments with the assembled group of Hollywood celebrities.....two four minute clips......

    On Sunday evening, Tina Fey and Amy Poehlerhosted the 71st Annual Golden Globes for their second consecutive year, and they kicked it off with another hefty dose of their irreverent, quirky humor, taking jabs at other A-listers in the room (“You’re basically a garbage person, Matt Damon”) to the nominated films and movies (American Hustle was just an “explosion at the wig factory).
    Before we give away any of the other (better) jokes from the monologue, just stop reading this and watch below already, via NBC:













    6/  Following on from #4, according to this article they would reject the validity of the video in #4 because it contained facts that contradict their beliefs. There a lot of people in this country with this fundamentalist mindset, maybe up to 30%, and they cannot be reasoned with, persuaded or cajoled into changing their minds even if they are presented with scientific proof and hard data. The sooner we all recognise this, the better.

    Fundamentalism - A Psychological Problem

    Fundamentalism is a widespread problem. It often manifests in a religious context - making it highly visible - but there are plenty of secular fundamentalists too. If we are to understand fundamentalism we should not view it as a religious problem: It is a psychological one.
    What is a fundamentalist? A fundamentalist is usually considered to be a person who adheres strictly to a doctrine, viewpoint or set of principles that are considered original and 'pure'; this doctrine might be theological in nature. For the fundamentalist, many of their beliefs and the behaviours that arise from them will, at least in theory, be derivative of their fundamental doctrine. For the fundamentalist, there is no room to consider views that are at variance with their accepted doctrine and contrary views will usually either be dismissed out-of-hand or resisted with considerable vigour and, often, violence.
    In contrast to the fundamentalist, a person who is 'open-minded' may still hold strong views and perhaps even have a strong conscientious position on certain issues. They will usually behave in accordance with those views and their conscience. However, despite this, they will usually also demonstrate a willingness to seriously contemplate an alternative view or course of action before discarding it. Moreover, they are likely to accept suffering, in one form or another, as the outcome of their conscientious position; they are unlikely to use violence to 'defend' it.
    Article image
    Fundamentalism, in a religious guise, is both widespread and problematic. 











    7/  Ladies - the tagline at the end of this powerful one minute commercial is especially relevant, but you will have to watch it to see what it is......all I can tell you is that you are exposed to this every day, and I'll also tell you Mary liked it...... 










    8/  Jon Stewart was in rare form in this four minute clip, and you could tell his heart was in the topic of income inequality, and the efforts to slash benefits to the poor. He also assembled a collage of Fox News clips that will test your barf index - what a bunch of insensitive, cruel scum they have on this channel.

    One of his better segments......excellent. 

    Note Huffpo has the first 3 minute clip on the bottom, and the continuation [4 mins] on the top.
    Jon Stewart spent much of Thursday's "Daily Show" on a topic he's clearly passionate over: Income inequality. Or, more specifically, the Republican party and conservative media's trend of going out of their way to demonize citizens in poverty and defend the rich.
    "The left thinks it's unfair because of systemic disadvantages for the less affluent, and the right thinks it's unfair because those advantages aren't systemic enough," he said.
    Over the next eight minutes, he played dozens of clips of conservative media personalities -- Bill O'Reilly, Steve Doocy, Eric Bolling, Charles Krauthammer -- who blast the poor by reflecting the Randian view that it's easier to "suck on the teat of the state" than to work for a living.
    He also took aim at Republican policies that uphold the same view, such as the recently proposed bill that would extend unemployment benefits, but only at the expense of health care.








    9/  Wow - remember the article about the Australian heat wave in the climate special last week? It's got worse.....they just say it hit 54 C [129 F], and there are fires everywhere.....

    Australia goes off the scale: Meteorologists create new colour chart for record 54°C heatwave as wildfires blaze across bush

    • Country's forecasting chart's temperature range extended to 54°C
    • 'Catastrophic' conditions as 100 people remain missing in Tasmania
    • 120 holidaymakers and staff evacuated from central Australian resort
    • Tasmania locals: 'Fire came over hill like a bullet and heat was horrendous'
    • Heatwave moves north as southern states welcome cooler weather
    PUBLISHED: 05:11 EST, 8 January 2013 | UPDATED: 01:10 EST, 9 January 2013

    Australia’s meteorologists were yesterday forced to create a new weather chart as they prepared for the worst wildfires on record, with national parks evacuated and homes continuing to burn.
    The Bureau of Meteorology added deep purple and pink to their weather chart's colours as its range was extended to 54°C from a previously capped 50°C, in anticipation of record temperatures.
    Remote parts of southern Australia have already soared to 54°C, while Sydney hit a scorching 42°C.
    Scroll down for video
    Australia's Met Bureau has extended its forecast map's temperature range (far right) to 54 celsius in anticipation of record temperatures as wildfires continue to rage across south east Australia
    Australia's Met Bureau has extended its forecast map's temperature range (far right) to 54 celsius in anticipation of record temperatures as wildfires continue to rage across south east Australia













    10/  Chris Christie the fat bully from New Joisey is "defended" by Stephen Colbert.....a funny four minutes......

    Must-see morning clip: Stephen Colbert rips Chris Christie over his
    Stephen Colbert sums up Chris Christie’s political philosophy and the revenge-driven lane closures on the George Washington Bridge thusly: “It’s my way or I shut down your highway.”
    On Thursday’s “Colbert Report,” Colbert mock praised the New Jersey governor as “committed to proving the core conservative value that government is the problem — even if he has to create those problems himself.”










    11/  One of the best blues guitarists in the world is Gary Clark Jr., here he and his band are featured in a Rolling Stone video, doing what he does excellently......playin' the geetar, and singin' the blues......

    The backdrop for the Guitar Center Sessions is a high wall of guitars, of course, and it couldn't be more fitting for Gary Clark Jr. The Austinite, who will appear on the DirecTV program Friday at 9 p.m. EST, has helped bring the electric guitar back into favor for a generation raised on hip-hop. His band's performance of "Don't Owe You a Thang," from his 2011 Bright Lights EP, premiering here, is a "natural boogie" hat-tip of sorts to one of Clark's favorites, the late houserocker Hound Dog Taylor.









    12/  I know there are worse states than Florida for stupidity and corruption, but none of those have such a putrid, disgusting and crooked Governor like Rick Scott. Look what happened with the Expressway authority....just blatant, and it was appointees to the Board by Scott that did this.... 

    Thankfully we still have journalists like Scott Maxwell....

    Last week, my cat Furball brought home a smelly, decapitated squirrel.
    Yet that bloody rodent corpse still stank less than the stench that continues to emanate from theOrlando-Orange County Expressway Authority.
    That is why it must be destroyed.
    I have a plan — one that will save you money and give over-tolled drivers more control.
    But first let's talk about last week's ethically stinky decision — one so costly you'd have to drive through a toll booth more than 300,000 times to pay for it.
    It happened Tuesday, when the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority cast an outrageous vote to hire state Rep. Steve Precourt as the leader of the scandal-plagued agency.
    The hiring was shady from the get-go.
    Precourt was unqualified for the job. That's not my opinion. He literally did not meet the agency's written job qualifications. Despite work as a civil engineer, he'd never even worked in a toll agency before. Yet now — about to be term-limited out of political office — he wanted a job running one.
    He also has potential conflicts of interest: financial ties to a company that does business with the authority.
    Even more shady, the only reason Precourt could apply was that board members had ousted the current director — a widely respected fellow they had given a stellar job review just a few weeks earlier.












    13/  Steve Martin and Kermit the Frog, with "Duelling Banjos"........hmmm, didn't know Martin could play the banjo......2 minutes....











    14/  One of the documentaries up for the Oscars this year is "Blackfish", the story of the orcas at SeaWorld and Carl Hiassen gives the backgound on how the whales are exploited.....

    Misery of captive whales portrayed in ‘Blackfish’

     
      
     

    BY CARL HIAASEN

    CHIAASEN@MIAMIHERALD.COM

    Well, God bless Willie Nelson.
    The country legend has canceled an upcoming performance at SeaWorld Orlando because of a CNN documentary called Blackfish, a profoundly disturbing account of the theme park’s exploitation of captive killer whales.
    If you haven’t yet seen Blackfish, download it today. The film has been shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination, with good reason.
    Last week, Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart also scratched a SeaWorld show amid the outcry. The rock group has roots in Seattle, which isn’t far from the site of brutal roundups of baby killer whales during the late 1960s and early 70s.
    The early minutes of Blackfish present footage of one such expedition, and it’s heart-wrenching to observe the misery of the adult whales as the young ones are netted and loaded on ships. (Those that died were slit open, loaded with weights and sunk to conceal the evidence).
    One of those captured whales is still performing as “Lolita” at the Miami Seaquarium. Another that was snatched 30 years ago from the waters off Iceland is in the Shamu extravaganza at SeaWorld Orlando.
    Its name is Tilikum, the subject of Blackfish. At six tons, “Tili” is said to be the largest bull orca in captivity. It’s also one of the most volatile and emotionally damaged, involved in three human deaths.














    15/  Hiaasen wrote his article in December, and this is in today's Orlando Sentinel.....record profits for Seaworld......not sure what this proves, but it's clear that the great American public could care less that the whales are suffering......OR they only watch TV, because although this was national news it disappeared immediately.

    What a great country we live in......."Mericuh"......


    Amid 'Blackfish' controversy, SeaWorld sets attendance record
    Pushing back against speculation that fallout from the film “Blackfish” is hurting its business,SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. said Monday that its world-famous marine parks set a fourth-quarter attendance record and that it will soon report the highest annual revenue in its 50-year history.
    The Orlando-based theme-park owner said its three namesake marine parks — in Orlando, San Diego and San Antonio — combined to post their best-ever attendance for the September-through-December quarter, which includes most of the critical holiday travel season.
    Boosted by the bigger crowds, SeaWorld said it expects to report record full-year revenue of approximately $1.46 billion when the newly public company officially reports its fourth-quarter results in March.












    Todays video - not sure this is worse than the Gilbert Gottfried commercial for Shoedini, but this ad sent in by one of our alert readers comes close......this is more "Mericuh" folks, where products are specifically made for stupid obese people........



    OK, Ok, here's "Shoedini" again......











    Todays marital bliss joke

    Apology Letter To Spouse -
     
    Hi Sweetheart,
    I am sorry about getting into an argument about putting up the Christmas lights.  I guess that sometimes I feel like you are pushing me too hard when you want something.  I realize that I was wrong and I am apologizing for being such a hard-headed guy.  All I want is for you to be happy and be able to enjoy the holiday season.  Nothing brightens the Christmas spirit like Christmas lights!  I took the time to hang the lights for you today; and now I will be off to the hockey rink.
     
    Again, I am very sorry for the way I acted yesterday.  I'll be home later.
    Love you...
     
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
    Her Response -
     
    Hi Honey,

    Thank you for that heart-felt apology.  I don't often get an apology from you, and I truly appreciate it. I, too, felt bad about the argument and wanted to apologize.  I realize that I can sometimes be a little pushy.  I will try to respect your feelings from now on. Thank you for taking the time to hang the Christmas lights for me.  It really means a lot. In the spirit of giving, I washed your truck for you; and now I am off to the mall.

    I love you too!
     
     
     
     
    Scroll down
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Have a great day!







    More marital bliss - joke

    After 40 years of marriage, a husband and wife came for counseling.

    The wife went into a tirade, listing every problem they had ever had in the
    years they had been married. On and on and on, she went: neglect, lack of
    intimacy, emptiness, loneliness, feeling unloved and unlovable, an entire
    laundry list of unmet needs she had endured.

    Finally, the therapist got up, walked around the desk and after asking the
    wife to stand, he embraced and kissed her, long and passionately, as her
    husband watched - with a raised eyebrow. The woman shut up, and quietly sat
    down as though in a daze.

    The therapist turned to the husband and said, "This is what your wife needs
    at least 3 times a week. Can you do this?"

    "Well, I can drop her off here on Mondays and Wednesdays, but on Fridays,
    I golf!"











    Todays Red State/ Blue State wry humour joke

    Dear Red States,

    We're ticked off at your Neanderthal attitudes and politics and we've decided we're leaving. We in New York and California intend to form our own country and we're taking the other Blue States with us.

    In case you aren't aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and the rest of the Northeast.

    We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation and especially to the people of the new country of The Enlightened States of America (E.S.A).

    To sum up briefly:

    You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.
    We get stem cell research and the best beaches.

    You get Bobby Jindal, Rush Limbaugh and Todd Akin. We get Andrew Cuomo and Elizabeth Warren.

    We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood.

    We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.

    We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.

    We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs.
    You get Alabama.

    We get two-thirds of the tax revenue. You get to make the red states pay their fair share.

    Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition states, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.

    With the Blue States in hand we will have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners), 90% of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the US low sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

    With the Red States you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans and their projected health care costs, 92% of all US mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

    We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

    38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.

    You used to have 97% of the tornado damage and 90% of the hurricane damage, but Sandy has evened the playing field, so unfortunately we all are vulnerable now.
    Oh! And we are taking the good weed too. You can have that crap they grow in Mexico.

    Sincerely,
    Citizen of the Enlightened States of America




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