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