deadissue.com

More on the creeping police state. I wonder where all the people who claim to care about freedom are when our civil liberties are being trampled.

I have a feeling a Sarah Palin will be the republican nominee for president
In 2012, and I have a feeling she will be a huge loser, but I think people thought that about Reagan as well.

This entire op-Ed is great but this part stood out:

Extreme inequality is already contributing mightily to political and other forms of polarization in the U.S. And it is a major force undermining the idea that as citizens we should try to face the nation’s problems, economic and otherwise, in a reasonably united fashion. When so many people are tumbling toward the bottom, the tendency is to fight among each other for increasingly scarce resources

The idea with class warfare is to keep the lower classes arguing with each other so they don’t notice they are being screwed over by the rich, my belief is religion is a huge part of how this is done and is naturally divisive. Too bad no one seems to notice this.

I flew from Chicago to Denver a couple days ago and airport security seemed really laid-back, maybe this is why. I wonder if a lot of screeners working at TSA know the new standards are kind of silly and are not really enforcing them any more. It is sort of the American way to passively get out of doing something you know is stupid and if your boss had clue you wouldn’t have to do.

Now if they would just stop enforcing the three ounces rule I would be really happy.

I don’t think that is what Matthew Yglesias is trying to say here but I think he makes a good point as to why right leaning politicians do well.

The basic idea of a center-right party is that it represents a coalition of the business establishment with the socio-cultural mainstream. That tends to give you a dominant position in politics.

You can see why a pro-business politician that is socially liberal will probably do well, businesses are happy to give them money, and for the most part people want to be left alone. This makes me think that what is really dragging the republican party down are the social conservatives; although I am not sure that conservatives are really pro-business so much as pro rich guy and that might be why they need the social conservatives for electoral success.

This is a really interesting article,. As I understand it the author is arguing that rather than talking about climate change we should just start doing things about it, and people’s beliefs will start to fall in-line with the science. Sort of the opposite of what Gore has tried to do.

I think a lot of conservatives understand this dynamic and hence the the push back against green cars such as the Volt. Once people realize that lowering their carbon footprint is not so bad, it is a lot easier to convince people to do things that actually fix the problem.

Rush limbaugh is really good at talking about things he doesn’t know anything about

Animals seem to be doing pretty well in this years elections and legislation.

The US Senate on Friday unanimously passed legislation to ban the creation, sale and distribution of so-called “crush videos” — sexual fetish films in which small animals are maimed or killed.

The measure, which calls for fines and prison terms of up to five years, now goes to President Barack Obama to sign into law

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The TSA blog seems filled with what they call “myths”. I have traveled quite a bit this summer and haven’t really had any problems with TSA, in fact they don’t even make me take my iPad out of my carry-on. if I have any problem with flying, it is the fact that everybody carries everything on the plane to avoid the extra bag fees and it makes the plane feel like a train in the third-world.

Sarah must be so proud. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that the Sarah Palin raised a bunch of mean spirited kids, that don’t seem to be able to get out of high school, but it is sad that so many people hold Sarah Palin up as a good mom.

Cindy McCain comes out against Sontag ask don’t tell. I really wonder who is left that that supports don’t ask don’t tell.

This seems like a good idea.

The war on sex is starting to produce a lot of collateral damage

Lake City – Utah Supreme Court justices acknowledged Tuesday that they were struggling to wrap their minds around the concept that a 13-year-old girl could be both an offender and a victim for the same act – in this case, having consensual sex with her 12-year-old boyfriend.

The Ogden, Utah, girl was put in this odd position because she was found guilty of violating a state law that prohibits sex with someone under age 14. She also was the victim in the case against her boyfriend, who was found guilty of the same violation by engaging in sexual activity with her.

“The only thing that comes close to this is dueling,” said Associate Chief Justice Michael Wilkins, noting that two people who take 20 paces and then shoot could each be considered both victim and offender.

The right wing noise machine has been making a fuss for a while now about Michelle Obama’s healthy living projects, looks like the republican mainstream is starting to pick up on it as well.. It is worth mentioning that Republican mainstream is a half term governor turned pundit. Eating healthy really should be a bi-partisan issue, but republicans seem unable to get past their hate for even a few minutes. One day, hopefully soon a grown-up will step in and get the republican party to focus on something that matters, but right now the party of Beck, Palin and Limbaugh, is not going to let anything positive happen in the U.S.

Another example of our for profit, not for patient medical care

Nothing is too big, or too small for the tea party

I might actually agree with Ross Douschat.. He seems to argue that most centrists wield a lot of power in a hyper partisan environment but they mostly seem to use it for trite purposes, think “cornhusker kickback”.

Although, my guess is that centrists get to be centrists by not really caring about the big picture, again think about the “cornhusker kickback”.

I still think the guy is a douche bag but he might be the best of the 2010 quarterback class

The election results are kind of a bummer and probably mean the U.S can look forward to more deficits and less jobs, but it was a good night for animals which kind of makes up for it.

And a bad night for Marijuana but I would look for legalization ballot initiatives in quite a few states in 2012, it is only a matter of time before America gets a more sane drug policy.

Some people think so.. I have feeling the Democrats are going to lose about forty five seats in the house, and eight in the Senate.

It will be interesting to see if in republicans are a little bit more constructive if they have a majority in congress.

The more I talk about this the more I realize the market does not work for a lot of things. Like for private prisons.

This is sort of like Ginni Thomas trying to get Annita Hill to apologize to her husband, the porn loving supreme court justice Clarence Thomas. In the Case of Tim Proffit, the now infamous Kentucky stomper, his comments might be adding years to his sentence. Where in the case of Ginny Thomas she has just added years to the comic factor of her husband.

I am starting to think this story might have legs, it not about the sex, of course it is all about the perjury, and a crazy wife of a supreme court justice.

speaking out after 19 years, the former girlfriend of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas says he was “obsessed” with porn and women’s breast sizes, the same week the justice’s wife called one of his former employees to demand an apology for testimony during his 1991 nomination hearings.

Thomas’ former girlfriend, Lillian McEwen, broke her silence after Thomas’ wife, Virginia, called Anita Hill, who Thomas had supervised, to demand an apology.

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You kind of wonder what his wife was thinking when she decided to bring up the past

Ken Buck sure seems like a soft on crime liberal, or maybe he just thinks the government shouldn’t interfere with criminal enterprises.

Looks like the country came out way ahead from the TARP bailout. According to some people 25 billion dollars ahead. So, as much fun as it would have been to watch all the banks go under and see the Wallstreet types get what they deserve, I think most of us would prefer 25 billion dollars in the public coffers and a functioning financial system. Maybe the guys who did the bailout really do know what they are doing.

This article is does a great job reporting on the Marijuana industry in California.
The interesting part for me is that the growers are what libertarians want to be, people who live off the grid and make their own way. Of course most real libertarians are people that live in a suburb and collect government checks for their disability.

If you think people should die young that is.. The other eye popping fact from the report is that the U.S spends almost twice as much on healthcare as any other country and we are still ranked 49th in life expectancy. Makes me think that the market is uniquely bad at delivering healthcare.

Sometimes I think conservatives project their issues on to others

Most major polling organization do not poll cell phones
I would assume that most cell only households are younger people who seem to overwhelmingly vote for Democrats. This article gives me hope, but I think it is still going to be a bad election for the better party.

Accept when they don’t