mjh's blog

Lighting Bonfires in People’s Minds

Kudos to Garret Vreeland aka dangerousmeta!-

Scott Rosenberg’s Wordyard: Party context of that staggering debt chart.

”Whatever their motivations, every Republican politician who rails against the evils of the debt should be shown this chart and asked to explain it.” Exactly. Reagan fans will try to blame a ‘Democratic’ Congress, ignoring the fact that the Senate was Republican until 1987, and that Reagan requested even more spending than Congress approved, while Bush fans will just implode, because in spite of trying to cast back and blame the Clinton years, the Republican Congress knew no bounds to their spending.

The chart is clear about what needs to be done this fall. If you’re upset with Obama, put more Democrats in Congress to shift him left of center. If you want to run up higher deficits and enjoy a repeat of the mid-’90’s “death by a thousand cuts” (endless idiotic investigations and made-up crises), vote Republicans in. Plain and simple. [I feel and hear Democratic outrage rising. Will it be as strong as ‘08?]

dangerousmeta!

Washington Post: Republicans now blaming Democrats for Bush tax cuts.

”It’s not Democrats who are trying to pass the largest tax hike of all time, but Republicans who are calling for the largest increase in the deficit in memory.” Via Hal Rager’s Twitter.

dangerousmeta!

Beastly Behavior

Fireworks are cruel torture

Albuquerque Illegal Fireworks Gave Horse a Coronary
        ON THE FOURTH of July, people in our South Valley neighborhood seemed to think it was OK to buy lots of illegal fireworks, and they put on quite a display. We watched our horses closely that night and noticed our older mare was quite distressed. The next day her coat was covered in salt, but we simply thought it was dried sweat from her nervousness over the fireworks.
        Two days later she collapsed at our feet in a violent seizure, not able to breathe in or out. She was covered in sweat and had tears streaming from her eyes. She was in obvious great pain. It was horrific to watch. She survived that episode but had another episode in the trailer the next day as we attempted to take her to the vet. We never made it out of the driveway. The vet informed us that she had undoubtedly had a cardiac event that led to the secondary pulmonary issues. Her heart simply could not take the strain of her anxiety over the sights and sounds of the "patriotic" fireworks. Although still alive and on medication to ease her breathing, she will not see another Fourth of July.
        For those of you who believe it is OK to drive to another county and buy lots of illegal fireworks because chances are good the sheriff’s office won’t catch you when shooting them off, it’s not. And if you believe that your displays don’t cause any problems, they do.
        ANN HOUSE

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: Talk of the Town

Best Line of the Day

dangerousmeta! 

The lack of internal consistency in the alternate-reality red historical timeline virtually screams with purposeful self-aggrandizing falsehoods.

dangerousmeta!

[separate hat tip to NewMexiKen.]

“Violence is unacceptable – and un-American.” (Hear! Hear!)

Kudos to Heath Haussamen. Absolute madness has seized many extreme conservatives.

Violence is unacceptable – and un-American | NMPolitics.net – Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics

At least 10 House Democrats have reported “death threats or incidents of harassment or vandalism at their district offices over the past week,” the Washington Post is reporting. Bricks have been thrown through windows. Calls for the president’s assassination have gone out on Twitter.

The violent acts and threats against the president and members of Congress who supported health-care reform legislation are not only unacceptable – they’re simply un-American.

We are a nation of fierce independence, and I know many who believe the health-care bill threatens that. But we’re also a nation of laws. The bill was approved through a Democratic process that started with the election of a Democratic majority in the House and Senate and of a Democratic president.

The pendulum swings. It’s been doing that since our nation was founded. It should be no surprise to anyone that Democrats would try to pass reform many conservatives don’t like, just like the previous administration succeeded in securing the approval of legislation that’s abhorrent to many, such as the Patriot Act.

Violence is unacceptable – and un-American | NMPolitics.net – Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics

This Week’s WTF?!

Socialist Makeover Complete
IF “OBAMACARE” becomes law, we will have to change the name of our once great nation to the Union of Socialist States of America (USSA).
       Our metamorphosis from a capitalist nation to a socialist one didn’t happen overnight. It began with FDR’s New Deal. It grew with LBJ’s Great Society, which gave us Welfare.
       President Obama hastened the transformation at warp speed with government ownership of banks and automakers. Now Obama wants to nationalize health care, 14 percent of the economy. …
       The problem is the mindset of liberals. They never saw a problem that couldn’t be solved with a new government program. … Winston Churchill summed it up best: “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”
       If the voters don’t wake up in time for the next election, welcome to the USSA.
LEROY CHAVEZ Albuquerque

Fear and ignorance are contagious, Leroy. You’re spreading both like mad. peace, mjh

WT-Swift-F?!

Revived Anti-Gun Arguments
        All the tired old anti-gun rhetoric is floating to the surface again ("Obama Must Shoot Down the Gun Lobby" column by E.J. Dionne Jr.).
        How about a new perspective? How about a calm, objective reassessment of the First Amendment? After all, First Amendment freedoms have (damaged the) fabric of our democracy (more) than guns ever could.
        For example, so many journalists have been discovered fabricating news that it is entirely reasonable to require that all journalists be officially licensed. Licenses could then be denied or revoked — en masse if necessary — in order to ensure the integrity of the media. …
        And who could be opposed to the registration of computers? … And clearly, a system of background checks needs to be in place for anyone desiring to gain access to the Internet. Cyber-stalking, child pornography, malicious blogging — all could be reduced if some reasonable bureaucratic controls were introduced.
        Nobody had a "need" for more than one television set. Period.
        Let’s take a rational, common-sense approach to regulating the out-of-control beast we euphemize as "free speech." Surely the founding fathers had no inkling of the destructive power of the modern media.
        All honest, decent people would have to agree that the gain in emotional security would be well worth giving up a few archaic rights. After all, the Constitution is a "living" document, isn’t it?
        BOB CHRISTENSEN
        Belen

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: Substitute First Amendment in Revived Anti-Gun Arguments

Satire is hard. Christensen is a frequent contributor to Letters to the Editor. This is one of his longer works. I would read his blog.

However, I believe he just suggested that there is no difference between speaking and shooting. I’m glad we don’t hang out together. After all, saying what I think is no different than taking a shot at him. And, as a gunnut, he’s got a god-given right to shoot in self-defense. Don’t mention my name if you tell him about this. peace, mjh

Quote of the Day

Anne Kass, former judge:

Language is vague and subject to different meanings and interpretations, but these Originalists, and WWJD people, insist that they have an inside track on what the Founding Fathers (who didn’t even agree with each other, back then) would do, or on what Jesus would do, if he/they had been faced with today’s problems. The Founding Fathers are not available to be questioned or to speak for themselves so people like Scalia just make shit up and project it onto them.

Democracy for New Mexico: Anne Kass Guest Blog: Scalia in Albuquerque

This Week’s WTF?!

The signs that were distributed said “Obama Bin Lyin’ IMPEACH NOW”:

The “tea party” protests nationwide are being coordinated by the conservative public relations firm Freedom Works, which is run by former Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX). The tea parties are also being supported by Newt Gingrich, through his organization American Solutions For Winning the Future. Members of Congress, such as Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH), have appeared at previous rallies. In addition, Fox News’ Glenn Beck promotes the protests, and has launched a website publicizing the events.

This Week’s WTF?!

Read on for three examples of the meaning of ignoranus:

       THOSE WHO fear Rush Limbaugh wants President Obama to fail, need not worry. Obama is succeeding, succeeding at what he always sought to do — destroy this country. Here is your hope and change, Obama voters. I am sure you will be happy to see America in ruins. — A.V.P.

[mjh: Don't know how AVP failed to work socialist into this nonsense. As much as I hate the views of people like AVP, I don't think they are out to "destroy this country." That is in spite of all the damage they have actually done.]

       IS IT TIME yet to claim that the Obama administration is being run by a sinister cabal of “neolibs” whose philosophy is “Don’t let a good crisis go to waste; prolong it”? — B.E.

[mjh: Wait 8 years. In the meantime, STFU.]

       I DO NOT listen to Rush Limbaugh. He’s too liberal for me. — T.K.

[mjh: I do not listen to TK -- he's too scary for me.]

Amen

Some blacks forgot sting of discrimination – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com 

No, the black experience and the gay experience are not equivalent. Gay people were not the victims of mass kidnap or mass enslavement.

No war was required to strike the shackles from their limbs.

But that’s not the same as saying blacks and gays have nothing in common. On the contrary, gay people, like black people, know what it’s like to be left out, lied about, scapegoated, discriminated against, held up, beat down, denied a job, a loan or a life. And, too, they know how it feels to sit there and watch other people vote upon your very humanity, just as if those other people had a right. So beg pardon, but black people should know better. I feel the same when Jews are racist, or gays anti-Semitic. Those who bear scars from intolerance should be the last to practice it.

Sadly, we are sometimes the first. That tells you something about how seductive a thing intolerance is, how difficult it can be to resist the serpent whisper that says it’s OK to ridicule and marginalize those people over there because they look funny, or talk funny, worship funny or love funny. So in the end, we struggle with the same imperative as from ages ago: to overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. But if last week’s vote taught us nothing else, it taught us that persistence plus faith equals change.

And we shall overcome.

Some blacks forgot sting of discrimination – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com

This Week’s WTF?!

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: Letters to the Editor

It’s Fact: Obama as Left as They Come
        HAVING READ Eugene Robinson’s column, “Swift Boat Author Out To Torpedo Obama As ‘Leftist,’ ” I am left with the question is he that dumb or is he just willfully blind? Frankly I doubt that Robinson is dumb, so it must be a case of him having something to hide on behalf of Obama!
        It is a fact that Obama has the most liberal voting record in the Senate. [Fact: That's based on a single analysis of a few bills. I think Ted Kennedy would object.] He tells us that he wants to soak the rich and redistribute income on a “fairer” basis. [Fact: I haven't heard any of those words in any such combination from Obama. Stop lying.] The socialists and communists believe “from each according to his ability to each according to his needs.”  [Question: Relevance? Who are the socialists and communists in America? Come on, have the balls to spell it out.] He wants to allow the George Bush income-tax reductions to expire. [Yes! Please!]Then he wants to raise the rate of capital gains tax from 15 percent to 28 percent, which means that the federal government is going to take an additional 13 percent of the yearly earnings on your retirement accounts in tax.
        If you should sell your house and make a profit on the deal in inflated dollars, Obama wants to take 28 percent of that profit rather than the 15 percent presently taken. He wants to give us governmental-run medical and hospital care. Check with anyone who lives under a government-controlled medical system. The immediate effect is to ration medical care. Every one of these programs Obama wants to install is socialism — right out of Karl Marx’s “Das Capital.” [Yeah, I get it, you can't call Obama a communist but you can keep implying it. Gutsy guy.]
        Jerome Corsi [a self-serving criminal right wing nut case] calls Obama a “leftist” [Is that a big insult among your ilk?] because that is exactly what he is. Obama is a socialist [Took you long enough], and you cannot get any further left than that, unless you are willing to take up arms to bring about the dictatorship of the proletariat — doing the same thing through ballot box rather than by the muzzle of a gun. The end result is the same. The only real difference between socialism and communism it how you get from here to there.
        Be very careful what you wish for, the price may be very high in deprivation of your individual freedom.
HAROLD A. TEETER

You poor, sad, pathetic man. How do you live with so much fear? No one has done more lately to curtail freedom in AmeriCo than Duhbya and Company. Wake up. peace, mjh

The Party of Fear and Hate

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: Letters to the Editor

Albuquerque Shootings Show GOP Is Based in Hate
        A FEW WEEKS ago a gunman walked into a Universalist Church and shot and killed a number of people. Last week another gunman walked in Democratic headquarters in Arkansas and fatally wounded the chairman of the Democratic Party.
        In both instances the perpetrators were white males who hated “liberals.” Nobody has ever heard of a “liberal” shooting, stabbing or otherwise harming any other human being, because they espoused a different political ideology.
        The above incidents occur because the Republican Party — and its talk radio — constantly espouses hate. They do this through portraying all those who hold what they label as “liberal” views as unpatriotic, un-American, trying to destroy America and other characterizations structured to make people angry and to hate.
ALAN PEZARO

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: Letters to the Editor

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: Letters to the Editor

Here are a couple of good letters-to-the-editor. peace, mjh

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: Letters to the Editor

GOP Going Down as It Heads Far Right
THE NOMINATION of Steve Pearce, Darren White and Ed Tinsley and the election of Pat Rogers as GOP national committeeman indicates that the extreme right wing has taken control of the Republican Party.
    The Republican Party of Sen. Pete Domenici, Gov. David Cargo and Rep. Heather Wilson no longer exists. That party as we knew it is gone with the wind. The positions of these candidates as promoted in their advertising are as far right as any candidate has ever taken in New Mexico. The extreme right-wing views of Rogers are known to everybody who has followed politics in this state.
    This move to the far right will have dire consequences and may well cost the GOP a Senate and a House seat. Any chance of retaking the governor’s mansion will also be affected.
    For those who think that the election of John McCain will move the party to the center, forget about it. The senator, to placate the so-called base, has begun pandering to it with a flip flop on such issues as Roe vs. Wade, tax cuts — which he twice opposed — and immigration. So much for the “straight talk express.”
    I see nothing but disaster for the GOP so long as it insists on promoting extreme right-wing views and candidates.
BOB BACA Albuquerque

Ranchers Don’t Own Our Public Lands
LIKE THE majority of residents in New Mexico and Arizona, I am in favor of the wolf-reintroduction program. Wolves are a distinct, unique part of our natural heritage. They never should have been eliminated and should be reintroduced in a way that will allow them to successfully sustain a permanent population.
   The Endangered Species Act should not be sabotaged by a radical minority, which represents a special interest. Of course the interests of cattle ranchers must be taken into consideration, but they cannot be allowed to doom the program to failure. That is what is currently happening.
    Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just pick and choose the laws we personally want to follow? But that’s not the way America works. Most cattle ranching is done on public lands. Those are our public lands. I would like to see all cattle ranching done on private lands, but that is not the law. When people from areas where cattle ranching is a way of life come to the big city, they have the same right to use public facilities and infrastructures as everyone else. For them to claim that I should have no say on how my public lands are used, simply because I don’t live nearby, is very wrong. …
DANNY RUPPERT Albuquerque

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: Letters to the Editor

This Week’s WTF?!

Today’s paper was full of interesting letters, though this one takes the fruitcake.

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: Letters to the Editor

Limit Voting to Vets, Property Owners
A RECENT front-page article reported on skyrocketing property taxes. Of course, the main reason for this is that fewer and fewer of us are supporting more and more of us. My contention is this. I believe that the only people who should be able to vote are active or retired military personnel and those who own property. That would encourage people, perhaps, to own real property, and it would put the exploding population of do nothings right where they should be, and that is OUT, with a capital “O.”
JT, Albuquerque

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: Letters to the Editor

I give JT the benefit of the doubt that he doesn’t realize he’s just endorsed a view long held by racists, slave-holders and fascists. I don’t assume – based on one letter – that he is any of those things. However, it is quite clear he is an idiot. peace, mjh