Republicans Desire for Us the Worst of Every Society
April 1, 2013
Just a short hit & run on this holiday weekend folks. Have you ever noticed how Republicans seem to look at some of the most deplorable aspects of any society and say, “Hey! I like that!” I first noticed this after 9/11, when after we were attacked by religious zealots stationed in a middle-Eastern theocracy, Conservatives started “admiring” (for lack of a better word) the strict religious teaching methods of Madrassas, and the “dedication” of the very people they raged against. Don’t believe me? Check out the movie “Jesus Camp” where parents sent their young children to be “God Warriors” for Christ. President Bush famously referred to the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan as “a crusade”. The anachronism of the Pro-“Life”
Here’s something to think about: What do “Austerity” and “The Black Plague” have in common? In the mid 1300’s (yes, I promise to keep this short), a deadly disease swept through Europe killing millions. This was centuries before anyone knew of the existence of bacteria or viruses. “Illness” was either a punishment from God or inflicted by “Evil”. One of the ways people dealt with The Plague was to kill stray cats by the hundreds because cats were considered “minions of the Devil” or Hosts for witches that would then go about making people ill. The irony is that The Plague was actually being spread by fleas on rats, which the cats might have killed and kept the spread of the disease under control.
So, what does that have to do with “Austerity”, you ask? Right now in Europe, The UK is in danger of having their credit-rating downgraded again (last February, The UK’s credit rating was downgraded from “AAA” to “AA1” because their economy isn’t growing like it should. Why? Austerity! While President Obama passed a “Stimulus Package” of spending to stimulate growth in this country, the Brits went the other way and imposed economic austerity, deep spending cuts and raising taxes on the Poor. Now there is talk of a possible second downgrade barely six weeks after the first one, and the answer from Brittan’s ruling Conservative Party? Stay the course. More austerity. Once again, Europeans have decided that the “cure” for their ills is to do the very thing that… not only didn’t make things better, but in fact are almost guaranteed to make things worse.
And here in this country, Republicans who think “President Obama wants to turn America into Europe”, keep pushing European-style “austerity” in this country, demonizing Stimulus spending and thinking up ways to shift the tax burden from the Rich to the Poor.
Oh, but it gets better my friends.
Ever get the feeling many Republicans would like to see the return of “Jim Crow”? Ron and Rand Paul aren’t the only ones that think including “private businesses” in the 1964 Civil Rights Act” was a mistake. And now, we are… quite literally… hearing the same “separate but equal” arguments being made about “Same Sex Marriage”. “I’m comfortable with giving gay couples all the rights of ‘straight’ couples, from tax breaks to ‘hospital visitation rights’. Everything except the right to marry”, said GOP Spokesperson Ed Gillespi on “Meet the Press” yesterday. Adding that the GOP still supports an “
Republicans do this amazing dance where they denounce the most obvious flaws in other societies, and then go right out and start advocating for us to emulate them.
Remember Gov. Romney’s “Razor-wired factory” story from his infamous “47%” video? He talked about how, in his “private-equity days”, he went to China to buy a factory and was stunned to see “razor wire” along the prison-like walls around the factory. When Romney inquired about it, he was told… and believed… that “the razor wire is there to keep people on the outside from getting IN, not the other way around.” He described the horrid
In China, underage workers are common-place. Children as young as 12 can be found working in factories. In this country, Newt Gingrich thinks they should be janitors. No OSHA in China or the third-world either. That’s just more “
There’s the “Free Marketeers” that want Government completely out of the way to let business do its thing. I believe it was radio’s “Sam Seeder” that first pointed out that the only purely “unregulated Free Market” economy on Earth is Somalia. “You want to see what an unregulated Free Market economy looks like? Move to Somalia!”, said Sam.
And of course, (yes, with “Godwin’s Law” in mind) Government run by & for the Corporations… also known as “Corporatism”… better known as “Fascism”… the worst of all possible societies which Republicans claim to despise and use as The Ultimate Parjorative in describing things they hate, is also something they seem quite eager to emulate. Think about it.
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April 1, 2013
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Admin Mugsy · 
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Posted in: Economy, General, Middle East, Politics, Racism, Religion, Right-wing Facism, Seems Obvious to Me, Taxes, War
The Right’s Irrational Arguments Against Gun Control
March 25, 2013
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that he would be dropping the “assault weapons ban” from the Senate’s bill to ban Assault Weapons. If that’s not insane enough, how about his reasoning for doing so: Because it would fall “well short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.” AND WHOSE [bleeping] FAULT IS THAT, YOU PIECE OF [bleep]?” (Reid argued he has only around 40 votes. But I GUARANTEE you that if he only needed TEN more Senators instead of twenty, you’d find a LOT of people wouldn’t want to be on the losing side of that vote. Translation: It’s easier to oppose a bill you know has no prayer of passing.) So where does that leave Gun Reform? The argument against Gun Control goes something like this: Criminals don’t obey laws, ergo, we shouldn’t pass any laws prohibiting weapons of war from our streets because the only people affected by these laws are good
Yes, these seem like perfectly sane & rational arguments to The Right.
As you well know, Democrats have been pushing for filibuster reform ever since the GOP wildly abused the power during the first two years of President Obama’s first term. When Senator Reid had the opportunity to do something about it in 2010, many of us were appalled when he said “No”. Upon retaking control of the House in 2010, Republican Senators had backed off a bit, knowing that they could let a few bills they opposed slip through, confident in the knowledge that their colleagues in the House would kill it for them (without incurring the bad PR of being obstructionist asshats). But the problem didn’t go away entirely (not by a longshot), and 17 months later, Reid took to the floor of the Senate for a mea culpa, stating that his critics were “right” and he was “wrong” not to have reformed the filibuster when he had a chance.
So color everyone shocked when Reid balked at the opportunity YET AGAIN to reform the filibuster last January. His reasoning for doing so was basically a promise from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that Republicans would be on their best behavior. Honest & true! We
Anyway, back to Gun Control:
If you listen to The Far Right on ANY issue, fear & paranoia reign supreme. But what kills me is that this is only true when DEMOCRATS control the White House. Which is nuts because the biggest violators of the Constitution, personal privacy and civil rights were The Bush Administration with Republican control of both houses of Congress. I keep an ACLU flier from the 2006 election pinned to my corkboard entitled, “It’s Been a Tough Six Years for the Bill of Rights”, marking just a few of the ways
As I noted on here a few weeks ago, when you ask a Right Winger for their position on a buzz-word that the Right has demonized… like “gun control” or “ObamaCare“… they flat out oppose it… not just mildly… but violently & irrationally, and base their reasoning on a plethora of misinformation they heard listening to Glenn Beck or Fox “news”. But then ask them how they feel about individual items IN those bills, and they’re all for it! Opponents of “gun reform” attend huge rallies across the nation, yet 87% of them support “background checks”, 82% support “temporarily” suspending the license of a dealer that can’t account for the whereabouts of 20 or more guns, and 81% disagree with the NRA that juveniles convicted of a serious crime needn’t wait ten years before being allowed to buy a gun (yes, the NRA opposes preventing
Listening to NRA President Wayne “Guns don’t kill people, violent video games do” Pierre blather on yesterday about how “gun laws” are used to oppress legitimate gun owners… and yet we should be “enforcing the laws already on the books” (because law enforcement has become too lax?) makes my head hurt. These aren’t rational people. There’s a reason the Republican leadership pushes “home schooling” and “faith-based education” (where you accept everything you are told on faith.)
And Democrats like Reid need to stop listening to them.
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March 25, 2013
· Admin Mugsy · 4 Comments - Add
Posted in: Crime, Guns & Violence, Partisanship, Politics, Right-Wing Insanity, Seems Obvious to Me, Unconstitutional
10th Anniversary of the Iraq War, the Price of Gas, and the Mess We’re In Today
March 18, 2013
Tuesday marks the tenth anniversary of the saddest chapter of the George W. Bush presidency. Every disaster to follow… to this day… can be traced back to that decision to invade a relatively unarmed nation that had not attacked us, under the false pretense of “Weapons of Mass Destruction”. Our exploding National Debt, our decimated economy (from gas prices that led to the mortgage crisis that led to the Wall Street bailout), to even our muted response to North Korea’s latest reckless provocation. It all goes back to the decision to invade Iraq. So on this inauspicious anniversary, we should pause for a moment to reflect on how it all ties in.
It all began, incredibly enough, back in April of 1993 when Former President George H.W. Bush (“Bush-41”), fresh off his reelection defeat to Bill Clinton, traveled to Kuwait to bask in his “greatest achievement” as president: Winning the “Gulf War” and kicking Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait (after we basically gave him the green light to do so). While in Kuwait, a plot to assassinate the former president by Saddam’s military was uncovered and thwarted. Newly sworn-in President Clinton responded by launching a missile strike on the HQ of Iraqi Intelligence, but that wasn’t enough for Bush’s son, “George W”, who never forgave… nor forgot… the attempt on his father’s life.
A group of Right Wing pro-military extremists… few of which had actually ever served in the military… calling themselves “Neo-Conservatives” (“neocons” for short) formed a group called “Project for a New American Century” (“PNAC”) and repeatedly urged President Clinton to overthrow Saddam Hussein… a dictator that was in charge of the world’s fourth largest oil reserves, on the grounds he was developing
Why was Saddam refusing to cooperate with weapons inspectors when he had no weapons?
Shortly after his execution, Saddam’s closest American confidant while in captivity revealed that the Iraqi dictator admitted, “I lied about WMD’s to scare off Iran”… the country he had been at war with for eight years. If Iran knew that following the 1991 Gulf War he had been left defenseless, Iran would invade. If the U.S. believed he had WMD’s, so would the Iranians. Little did he realize he had more to fear from gullible American
It wasn’t until Texas Governor George W. Bush entered the Presidential race in February of 2000 that anyone started claiming Iraq “still possessed” and might be actively pursuing WMD’s.
Two Texas oilmen, George Bush & Dick Cheney, took office planning the invasion of Iraq & overthrow of Saddam Hussein “from Day One”. So single-minded focused on Iraq was he, Bush “ignored” the threat of alQaeda, despite multiple recent bombings including the attack on the USS Cole less than one month before the election.
Rather than go into the weeds regarding all the warnings President Bush ignored prior to 9/11, I’ll simply refer you to this NYT article. Worthy of note:
“[N]eoconservative leaders who had recently assumed power at the Pentagon were warning the White House that the C.I.A. had been fooled [re: warnings of a stateside attack by alQaeda]; according to this theory, Bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat.”
Moving on…
The Bush Administration started cooking up a reason to invade Iraq from day one, but “9/11” helped seal the deal, praying on the fears of a panic-stricken populace with daily warnings of another looming attack on the “homeland”. It didn’t matter that prior to “9/11”, President Bush’s own Secretary of State and National Security Adviser (Colin “Slideshow” Powell and Condi “Mushroom Cloud” Rice respectively) had already spent the preceding year reassuring people that Saddam had been “disarmed” and “no longer a threat”:
Barely two years in office, with the war in Afghanistan still going on and the economy in the toilet, people were asking if we could even afford to start a second war. The Bush Administration worked overtime to allay fears that the invasion of Iraq would not only “pay for itself” but possibly even turn a profit as the price of oil plunged from the heady highs of $30+ dollars a barrel to a more reasonable $18 dollars/barrel once Saddam was no longer in control of all that luscious oil (reminder, five years later, oil was hitting a then unimaginable high of $145/barrel, and still hovers close to $100 to this day.) “No blood for oil!” the people cried. “Blood for oil?”, asked the Bushies perplexed. Why on Earth would anyone think “Operation Iraqi Liberation” had anything to do with “oil”?
Current TV’s John Fugelsang recalled last week how much the war that was promised “to pay for itself in Iraqi oil revenues” actually ended up costing us (roughly $1-TRILLION dollars… not counting the economic catastrophe, the loss of over 4,000 American troops, or the future cost of caring for our wounded warriors:
Finally on the evening on March 19th, 2003 (just after midnight, March 20th Baghdad time), despite months of unimpeded UN weapons inspections, Bush gave the order to invade Iraq. Between 9/11/01 and 3/20/03, the price of oil barely fluctuated from its close of $28.03/barrel on September 8, 2001 to $29.88/barrel on March 20, 2003. Yet one year after “Mission Accomplished”, oil closed at $40/barrel after the Energy Department warned in
As I described in detail about a year ago, the rising price of gasoline meant people had less money to spend elsewhere. And when people aren’t buying, companies need fewer employees, causing the economy to contract even more. To make matters worse, a deregulated banking industry took advantage of interest rates being cut to the bone after 9/11, and continued to rate “mortgaged backed securities” as “AAA” even after newly unemployed Americans were defaulting on their Adjustable Rate Mortgages left & right as rates started to spike. Suddenly, the Bush Administration was faced with having to bailout Wall Street to the tune of $700 BILLION dollars… or about 40 percent MORE than the ENTIRE 2008 Federal Deficit. As a result, the Deficit exploded from just $459 Billion in 2008 to over $1.4 Trillion in 2009 (both budgets written by the Bush Administration as a “fiscal year” stretches from October 1st to September 30th.)
So the Obama Administration took office after being handed a $1.4T Deficit. With the Bailout behind them, the next Deficit would only be around
And here we are. Happy 10th Anniversary Everybody!
Now go put some air in your tires and cheat the oil companies out of a few bucks.
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March 18, 2013
· Admin Mugsy · No Comments - Add
Posted in: Economy, Energy Independence, Middle East, Money, Politics, Right-wing Facism, Terrorism, War
Did Rand Paul get his “Killing Americans with Drones” Idea from a Sitcom?
March 14, 2013
Someone needs to ask.
The holdup of President Obama’s choice for CIA Director John Brennan came to a dramatic head last week following Senator Rand Paul’s high-profile 13-hour filibuster on the Senate floor, demanding that the president “answer a simple question: Can the President of the United States order the assassination of an American citizen on U.S. soil?”
I’m not here to debate the efficacy of the President’s choice of someone like Brennan to head the CIA, or whether or not Sen. Paul’s question has merit (remember, Cheney already gave himself the authority to shoot down a passenger plane full of Americans on 9/11), and no one seems to have mentioned the fact that U.S. embassies in foreign countries also count as “U.S. soil”, it’s merely the timing of Paul’s question that strikes me funny
I personally don’t watch the show, but Season 1, Episode 4 of NBC’s sitcom “1600 Penn” entitled “Meet the Parent” included a line in the opening scene that stuck in my memory (I edited up clips from that episodes’ opening of the line in question):
[flv:http://www.mugsysrapsheet.com/4blog/video/1600_Penn-Using_drones_on_Americans.flv http://www.mugsysrapsheet.com/4blog/video/1600_Penn-Using_drones_on_Americans.jpg 480 266]
The week prior to the January 24th episode, the network was running promos where the fictional “President Gilchrist” was threatening his daughter’s suitor with “robots that roam the skies.” Suddenly, Sen. Paul was declaring his intention to hold up Brennan’s appointment until he got an answer to the question. “Can a president use armed drones against Americans on U.S. soil?”
I did a quick Google News search, and interestingly, the first instance I can find of anyone asking that very question is The World Socialist Website (link) on February 9th. I doubt Sen. Paul is reading TWSW, but hey…
(The Right Wing “Twitchy” website run by perennial teanut Michelle Malkin that claims to “debunk Left-wing Tweets”, attacked MSN on February 11th for supposedly claiming the LAPD might use a killer drone to get that deranged cop that holed himself up in a cabin after going on a killing spree last month.)
“Loyal Liberal Lefties™” like myself have expressed concern over “domestic drones” for years mostly on privacy grounds, and RW paranoia over the use of drones within the U.S. has been a popular Tea Party talking point for years (going back to the use of drones on the U.S./Mexico border). The subject seemed to fall off the radar during the 2012 campaign, but the sudden concern over using “armed” drones “against American citizens” on the Right seems to have risen only within the past few weeks. NBC ran promos for its show between January 18th-24th. Senator Paul first announced his intention to block the Brennan nomination over drones on February 15th. A Google News Search for “drones kill American soil” going back to 2011 turned up nothing other than the links mentioned above.
In any case, I find it interesting… the “timing” anyway… that a sitting U.S. Senator may have held up the appointment of the head of the Central Intelligence Agency over a made up question about the President’s ability to “kill Americans on American soil”… a power that hasn’t been in doubt since The Civil War, and reaffirmed by a GOP that repeatedly passed/renewed The PATRIOT Act (that gives the President the power to detain an American Citizen indefinitely without charge… even “disappear” them to Gitmo or a foreign country to be tortured) over a line in a TV sitcom.
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March 14, 2013
· Admin Mugsy · No Comments - Add
Posted in: fake scandals, General, Partisanship, Politics, Right-Wing Insanity, Seems Obvious to Me, Unconstitutional, War
Obama’s Successes Equal Failure in GOP-speak.
March 11, 2013
Back when I was in High School, there was this one kid that desperately wanted “the cool kids” to like him. And even though he had friends like me willing to hang out with him, he wouldn’t hesitate to abandon us for the greener pastures of
Making an appearance on Fox “news” Sunday Ryan introduced his (third & latest) plan to destroy Medicare by dumping it off on the states, claiming this could save the Federal Government “$770 billion over the next ten years”. Republicans LOVE to play this game… not necessarily with “Medicare” but with ALL government programs… suggesting that the way to “save the Federal government money and reduce the Deficit” is to simply dump every social program off on the states. So YOU… the taxpayer… don’t actually pay less in taxes, you just send the check to a different location (your State Treasurer instead of the Fed). In fact, with the loss of efficiency that comes from consolidating all these programs in one place, there is a VERY good chance… ESPECIALLY if you live in an impoverished Red state… that you’ll end up paying MORE for these services. Meanwhile, Ryan and his ilk get to strut around like peacocks bragging about how they’ve “cut Federal spending” and “reduced the Deficit” without actually improving anything.
But that wasn’t enough. Chris Wallace noted that for the numbers in Ryan’s own budget to work out, he’s depending on the current rate of economic growth under Obama to continue for the next ten years, not plunge into the abyss the way it did the last time we had a Republican president whose solution to every problem was “tax cuts”. Economy good? Tax cut! Economy bad? Tax cuts plus Stimulus Checks! Ryan didn’t dare try and calculate his budget using the rate of economic growth under George W. Bush because he knew it would be impossible. They want us to return to Bush’s policies, but only Obama’s numbers make it possible. It’s not unlike when an insane person thinks they don’t need their meds while they are on them and feeling good.
Repeatedly for the past two months during the “Sequester” fight, I heard Republicans (most notably Speaker Boehner) argue that President Obama “got his tax hike” and therefore additional revenue is “off the table” as a means of closing an “$84 Billion dollar” shortfall in the Budget. Republicans previously put “closing loopholes” and “limiting deductions” on the table as ways to
Problem is, President Obama did NOT get “his” tax hike. He wanted the tax hike to begin on incomes of $250K. Republicans held “the Fiscal Cliff” hostage in exchange for raising the starting amount to “$500K”. Extrapolating from one website that claimed starting the new top tax rate at $250K would raise “only $800 Billion in additional revenue”, and another report saying that starting the top rate at $450K will raise “$396 Billion” in additional revenue, that’s a shortfall of roughly $400 Billion… which would have MORE than made up for the “$84 Billion dollar budget gap”. So once again, Republicans are being obstructionist asshats over a problem of their own creation.
But ABC’s George Will took the cake. Whatever this guy is smoking, it must be strong stuff. On ABC’s “ThisWeek” yesterday, the Roundtable discussion turned to the latest
WILL: If the workforce participation rate were as high today as it was just 12 months ago, the unemployment rate would
be 8.3 percent. If the workforce participation rate were as high today as it was when Mr. Obama was inaugurated, the unemployment rate would beover 10 percent.
Think about what George Will is arguing here: job growth under Obama isn’t growing fast enough to to make up for the MILLIONS of jobs lost under President Bush, ergo Obama’s policies are a total failure and we need to return to the Conservative economic policies that got us into this mess in the first place.
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March 11, 2013
· Admin Mugsy · No Comments - Add
Posted in: Economy, Jobs, Partisanship, Politics, Right-Wing Insanity, Taxes
State Dept Says Modified Keystone Would Have Negligible Impact? (updated)
March 4, 2013
Last May, after the original Keystone XL Pipeline proposal had been rejected by the Obama Administration, TransCanada submitted a new modified proposal for a shorter, more direct route for the same pipeline to pipe saturated tarsands “oil” from Alberta, Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast. After
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to express my deep disappointment and serious concern regarding the potential approval of a revised Keystone XL Pipeline project. Based on my own research, it is quite clear that the KXL would not only be an environmental catastrophe, but would not produce an abundance of jobs as many have claimed, and would in fact lead to higher gas prices (also in direct contradiction to stated claims) to go along with the aforementioned ecological disaster.Even the premise of the pipeline “lowering gas prices” is absurd on its face. WHY would any company lobby so hard and spend tens of millions to push a project that would REDUCE their profits?
Reading the latest report on the revised pipeline proposal, right from the beginning I find myself gravely concerned that what is to be pumped through this pipeline being referred to as “oil” as it is not. It is in fact an oily sludge called “bitumen” that must be extracted from the sand and converted into oil. Thick bitumen sludge does not flow like oil, so it must be mixed with water… and LOTS of it (a minimum ratio of 3:1) to liquify it to the point it can be “pumped” like oil. That’s a horrendous waste of fresh water at a time when record heat means record drought.
Upon arrival at its destination, much of the water must then be extracted before the refining process may begin. The waste water… now a muddy chemical sludge, is dumped into giant “tailing ponds” of toxic waste that seep into the ground water, poison the soil for centuries, and kill off local wildlife.
The resulting “heavy-sour crude” is unsuitable for the production of gasoline (which relies on “light-sweet crude”), making it only suitable for producing “diesel” for export to Europe & South America. American refineries will have to give up roughly 15% of their existing refining capacity to convert this sludge into diesel, diverting gasoline production intended for the U.S. market to diesel production for export. Less gasoline being produced means HIGHER prices, not lower.
And there is no question “export” is the ultimate goal. Why else build a pipeline to the Gulf of Mexico? Wouldn’t it be cheaper/faster/easier to simply build a refinery in Canada (or anyplace between Alberta and the Gulf Coast?)
So TransCanada (the owners of the resulting “oil”) gets to export its oil and reap huge profits, while we get higher gas prices, toxic waste ponds and a leaky pipeline bisecting the nation and endangering ground water (and it WILL leak, as the sandy sludge “sandblasts” the thin metal pipeline transporting it.)
We also learned this past week that construction of the pipeline itself would produce no more that 42,100 temporary jobs and only between 35-50 permanent jobs. That’s a FAR cry from the “nearly 1 million jobs” falsely claimed by the pipeline’s supporters.
The solution to America’s energy problems is not to further embed our dependence on fossil fuels from one of the worst sources of oil on the planet, for an energy supply that would last only a few years (not “100+” as claimed), wreak havoc with our environment, increase gas prices and not produce anything close to a significant number of jobs to justify such a costly project. For a fraction of the cost, making our energy grid more efficient and investing in Green energy technology would produce FAR more “bang for the buck”… more jobs, better paying sustainable jobs with an actual future.
The idea that a revised pipeline proposal might be approved simply because the “new” proposal isn’t as an environmentally devastating as the first one is simply insane.
Thank you.
In the same report that says the pipeline is “unlikely” to have any affect on the GPA (“Great Plains Aquifer”) because the groundwater runs too deep and below bedrock, just three bullet points down it says this:
There are 2,537 wells within 1 mile of the proposed Project, including 39 public water supply wells and 20 private wells within 100 feet of the pipeline ROW. The vast majority of these wells are in Nebraska. Those wells that were in the vicinity may be affected by a petroleum release from the proposed Project. – Executive Summary, pg.12.
Tell us again how the pipeline is “unlikely” to affect the ground water?
UPDATE: A week after release of the report (March 9th), an investigation revealed that this latest report claiming a negligible impact of the Keystone XL Pipeline on the environment was not prepared by neutral government officials, but instead:“Environmental Resources Management (ERM) was paid an undisclosed amount under contract to TransCanada to write the statement.” Color me shocked.
Just for fun, and a reminder of what once was, the intro from the 2008 Apocalyptic comedy “Zombie Strippers” joked about “Bush’s Fourth Term”:
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March 4, 2013
· Admin Mugsy · No Comments - Add
Posted in: Economy, Energy Independence, Environment, Global Warming, Jobs, myth busting
Gun Nuts Across Houston Protest Laws No One Has Proposed (yet support ones that were)
February 25, 2013
My local news here in Houston Saturday night opened with an
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Why are Right-wing protesters always whiter than the driven snow?
Hosted by the “League City Tea Party” (natch), protestors came out to defend “their right to bear arms”… a right that NO ONE is threatening to take away. Mom & Dad never explained to these mental-midgets that just because they got a Ten-Speed for Christmas instead of a Harley doesn’t mean they are “the worst parents on the face of the Earth”. Likewise, just because you can’t have a military-grade AR15 with 100-Round drum doesn’t mean the government is “denying your right to bear arms”.
and whether it worked before… two things EASILY verifiable with a simple Google search.
First protester: “I think the last time they tried this, gun crime did not go down.”
…
Second protester: “I really think that he’s trying to take our weapons away.”
You “think” the last time the government passed an assault weapons ban, crime didn’t go down? Well how about if you actually checked to see if that’s the case before you get yourself worked up into a lather to attend a protest to argue against something you admit you don’t know the answer to? Does he not own an “Internet Machine”? A two-second Google search is all it takes to find out that in fact crime involving Assault Weapons declined by “between 17% and 72%” (depending on the state, according to a 2004 University of Pennsylvania study – PDF). The study rightly points out that very little “crime” actually involves Assault Weapons (you don’t use an AW to rob a liquor store), so it’s not surprising over-all crime declined very little, but AW’s do in fact account for the lions-share of “innocent bystanders” outside of the intended target and mass-murder victims. And that is the point. The Assault Weapons ban isn’t intended to curb “robberies” or reduce the number of “car-jackings”, it’s to reduce the number of “innocents” being killed by homicidal maniacs that do things like “spray-fire” inside movie theaters and 1st grade classrooms.
But the remarkable thing is THEY ACTUALLY KNOW THIS: After asking the nutters what they (cough) “think” Washington is going to do, the reporter then gets specific to ask about ACTUAL proposed legislation:
Reporter: “League City residents say more gun laws are okay so long as they don’t infringe on the Second Amendment.
…
Third protester: “It’s got it’s pros and cons. Everything will have it’s ups and downs,” said Josh Weed. “I agree with the stricter regulations and everything, psych screenings and everything like that. That’s great.”
…
Fourth protester: “I think it will help to a certain extent as far as doing mental checks and stuff like that, I think that would be good,” said Kathleen Weed.
So in general they are SO outraged that they show up by the “hundreds” to protest laws no one has proposed, but when you get specific and ask them about actual proposed legislation, they’re all for it. And these are Deep-South Texas Teabaggers from a town where earlier this week:
[The] League City [City Council]… approved a resolution [7-to-1] not to comply with any new gun laws from the federal government.“
Now I have to ask these Luddites on the City Council just what Federal laws they’re going to ignore? No one is threatening “confiscation” of their personal property. The most likely gun legislation is “universal background checks” and banning the sale & manufacture of various assault weapons and high capacity magazines/clips. So what will they do differently? Do they plan on NOT performing background checks to prevent convicted felons and the mentally ill from buying guns in their town? Or perhaps they plan on allowing gun manufacturers to come to their town to make/sell assault weapons and high-capacity magazines for sale ONLY inside the “League City” city limits? I’m really really curious just which federal laws they’ve just agreed to ignore. Remember, these are the same people they lay claim to “The Party of Lincoln”… a president that fought the Civil War on the grounds that the rights of the Federal government supersedes the rights of state & local governments.
Why are there always more black guys on stage at Right-Wing rallies than in the audience?
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February 25, 2013
· Admin Mugsy · 2 Comments - Add
Posted in: Crime, fake scandals, Guns & Violence, myth busting, Partisanship, Right-Wing Insanity
It’s Quite Clear Now the GOP is Trying to Link the Phrase “9/11” to Obama
February 17, 2013
Just as they have every week since last September, Fox “news” Sunday pulled out the defibrillator to revive the feux claim that the assault on our embassy in Benghazi, Libya last September 11th was some massive intelligence failure that resulted in the deaths of four Americans despite advanced warnings, with the Obama White House engaged in “a massive coverup” to conceal that fact (despite all the hearings, the release of over 10,000 documents, and ongoing investigations ordered by the White House themselves.) But I couldn’t help but notice something subtle yet sinister yesterday across two different programs: the absence of the phrase “last year” or “2012” when talking about the Benghazi attack, referring to it numerous times only as “September 11th”. Sen. John McCain did the same appearing on “Meet the Press” yesterday, getting into an eye-rolling argument with host David Gregory, asking if he “care[d] whether four Americans died” on “9/11”. It is quite clear to me now that there is an orchestrated transparent & cynical effort on the Right to link the phrase “9/11” to President Obama.
Where was the outrage, the claims of “coverup” and the demand for hearings to find out “what did the president know and when did he know it” eleven years ago when a Republican president ignored a half dozen CIA warnings of an imminent attack by alQaeda, climaxing with the infamous “August 6th PDB” entitled “bin Laden determined to strike in U.S.”… a title chosen out of frustration by the CIA after five (seven?) previous warnings went ignored? McCain even dared question President Obama’s (imagined lack of) response on the night of the attacks. Remind me again what President Bush’s response was upon learning that Americans were being “attacked by terrorists on 9/11”?
Add to that the number of “Americans” that died chasing down phantom “Weapons of Mass Destruction” ten years ago next month that Senator McCain very publicly assured the world was there despite serious questions. While McCain accused Gregory of not caring whether “four” Americans died “on 9/11”, Gregory should have responded by asking if the Senator “cared” that “four THOUSAND Americans died chasing down WMD’s” that he assured everyone was there? Where’s THAT investigation? (To quote Senator McCain as he berated Chuck Hagel over his concern over Bush’s “Surge™”:
Bonus: McCain, 13 years ago last Saturday, laying the groundwork for war with Iraq over WMD’s in the first GOP debate of 2000:
Following the REAL “9/11” in 2001, Senator McCain and his bussom-buddy Joe Lieberman were a bit more deferential to the White House concerning the “intelligence failure” that led to the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on U.S. soil, calling for only “an independent investigation” similar to the “Warren Commission” that investigated Pearl Harbor:
Explaining why a joint investigation involving both the executive and legislative branches was necessary, McCain said, “Neither the administration nor Congress is capable of conducting a thorough, nonpartisan, independent inquiry into what happened on September 11.” – Senator McCain, December 20, 2001
Do you remember what the conclusion of that investigation was? When the White House was non-committal on supporting an investigation into 9/11, they explained, “Right now, the president is focused on fighting the war on terrorism.” Did Senator McCain take to the airwaves to accuse the Bush Administration of a “massive cover-up” to hide “the most massive intelligence failure in American history”? That would be no. (After a bit of digging through news archives, I could find NO accounts of Senator McCain decrying the Bush White House for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into the events leading up to “9/11″… the REAL “9/11”. McCain lambasted another black woman that was being considered for Secretary of State… also named Rice…
We’ve seen this attempt to “redefine” losing topics for the GOP before: calling waterboarding “enhanced interrogation techniques” or GOP pollster Frank Luntz rebranding the “Estate Tax” the “Death Tax”. But this latest transparent attempt by Republicans to link the phrase “9/11″… which has hung over the GOP’s head like the Sword of Damocles for eleven years… to President Obama and the deaths of four Americans last year, is not only pathetic but revolting.
Note: I added a new “page” to the blog last week: “Cancer is not a cause, it’s a symptom”. This is a subject I’ve been mulling for years but never felt was appropriate until the death of my cat “Lefty” last month provoked me to action. I know a politics blog is an odd place for such a subject (which is why I never tackled it earlier), but it is definitely worth your time reading and I HIGHLY encourage readers to pass the link along. It might just save
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February 17, 2013
· Admin Mugsy · No Comments - Add
Posted in: fake scandals, Middle East, Partisanship, Politics, rewriting history, Seems Obvious to Me, Terrorism, War
Can You still Call It a “Response” If You Wrote It in Advance?
February 13, 2013
I‘ll try to be brief. I just finished listening to President Obama’s first State of the Union speech of his second term. Great as always, he seemed to hit on every topic, from ending America’s longest war (sounding at times like he was about to call for its conclusion by the end of this year, only to again disappointingly cite “the end of 2014” as the target date), tackling Climate Change as a smart business move, to reigning in gun violence, and even spending several minutes on “voting reform”… an issue close to my heart that I wholly expected to fall by the wayside once the election was over. But the President brought it up in his victory speech last November and now again in the SotU, so I’m feeling hopeful that we could (at the very least) see a “voting reform” bill come before Congress sometime this year. Also of note, the President talked about the high cost of education and calling for funding for “universal preschool” to give all children a headstart. He talked about a balanced approach to reducing our deficit through both spending cuts and asking the wealthiest to pay a little bit more in taxes. Then came “The Republican Response” presented this year by Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who clearly was reading a pre-written “response” that criticized President Obama over and over again for things he never said (“he keeps blaming the previous administration” and “we can’t reduce our deficit by increased taxes alone”), knocking over strawman after strawman. At other times, saying he “disagreed” with the President only to make the exact same argument President Obama had just made ten minutes earlier (Rubio calling for increased education funding for young children.) One quickly got the feeling Senator Rubio didn’t even bother to listen to the President’s speech. I mean, how do you pre-write a speech, and then after having just heard the President call for the same things as you, not tailor your own speech as appropriate, then go on to criticize the President for not suggesting the very thing he just advocated for? Either you are being deliberately deceitful (hoping your listeners didn’t bother listening to the President’s speech either), or you didn’t even bother to listen to the speech you are about to criticize (or, third-choice, you’re a whopping moron.)
Each year, the GOP’s “response” has been given by someone that was considered at the time to be an “up & comer”, only to flame out in the months to come. Remember 2010’s “Governor Ultrasound” Bob McDonnell? 2011 was Paul Ryan’s big year, and 2012 was Indiana Governor (and former Bush economic adviser) Mitch Daniels. Does anyone forsee any of them being major players in tomorrows’ GOP? We can only hope for the same for Mr. Rubio.
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February 13, 2013
· Admin Mugsy · No Comments - Add
Posted in: Economy, Partisanship, Politics, voting
We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Outrage for… More Outrage.
February 11, 2013
There was no shortage of things to talk about this week, with the a record-setting blizzard hitting the North-East, GOP feux-outrage over the use of “drones” as part of a secret National Defense policy where the government asserted it can kill anyone overseas deemed a threat to National Security… even United States citizens. And, of course, Tuesday night will be the President’s State of the Union Address, where he is expected to lay out his priorities for his second term. But something even more traumatic… for me personally… came up last Friday that I feel I just have to talk about first. “Lefty’s Autopsy”. You might remember me mentioning two weeks ago how my beloved cat “Lefty” passed away after being diagnosed with cancer but then being told I had to wait ten days for the next available appointment for a bone marrow biposy before they could perform life-saving surgery on him. But by then, he was too weak and died on the operating room table. 2-1/2 traumatic months and $3,400 dollars later, all I have to show for my ordeal is a tiny urn on my kitchen table. I told the doctor upon his death that I wanted… nay needed… them to perform an autopsy because I HAD to know what happened to him. I finally got those results back Friday, and what I learned turned my sadness into outrage.
First, the topics I’m glossing over this week:
- With regards to the recent snowstorm, I think my “myth-busting” report on “The Origin of the Global Cooling Myth” (with video), written almost three years ago to the day is worth checking out again. The fabulous 1970’s science-oddities TV show
“In Search Of…” dedicated an episode claiming to predict“the coming ice age” following the record-breaking North-East blizzard of 1978. Spoiler alert: the predictions were not based on actual science. - On the subject of “Drones” and “war made easy”: Forgive my geekiness, but does anyone else remember an episode of Star Trek entitled “A Taste of Armageddon”? (watch it for free here.) Two neighboring planets that had been at war with each other for centuries found a way to “sanitize” war, eliminating the costly destruction caused by “real” war, by using computer simulations to wage attacks upon each other, upon which citizens living in the areas struck by “virtual bombs” then voluntarily walked into “disintegration booths” as the very real casualties of those “virtual attacks”. Their war went on for centuries with no incentive to seek peace because they had removed the horror & destruction of war from the equation. I see the same thing happening with our increasing reliance upon unmanned aerial drones to do most of our killing. We’ve made war too easy. With no draft and a dwindling supply of willing recruits to volunteer to be lambs to slaughter just to perpetuate the lining of pockets by
war-profiteers , we had to find new ways of conducting war without soldiers. The result: we now rely on drones… heavily. And as long as the risk to the lives of American troops is reduced or even eliminated, and the only consequences we see of our actions are blurry iPhone images flashed across the TV screen while we stuff our faces with Buffalo Wings andcheese-fries , there is very little incentive for anyone to take to the streets in defense of civilians living in the countries we are at war with caught in thecross-fire . That’s how you end up in “the longest war in American history” while Republicans question if we’re “leaving too soon”. - And lastly, Tuesday will be President Obama’s first State of the Union Address since being reelected to a second term. I plan to cover that in more detail in a special edition Wednesday.
But back to Lefty’s autopsy. It all began last October. Not having much cash to spare and three cats to feed, I purchased “Purina Cat Chow” for the first time… knowing Lefty was unlikely to like it… because I had a $2 coupon that was about to expire. And sure enough, he didn’t, eating only small amounts. At the same time, I was growing increasingly concerned about his two sisters who are grossly overweight. Hearing them eat all night long as I tried to sleep, I started collecting their food before going to bed at night and putting it back out the next morning. After a couple of days of this, Lefty began throwing up in the middle of the night. The first night I didn’t think anything of it, the second night I became concerned, and after the third night in a row of him vomiting, I threw away the “Cat Chow” and called my vet to make an appointment, which wouldn’t be for another two days. Despite throwing away the “Cat Chow” and leaving other food out for him all night, he continued to barf for the next two days. I finally got him to the vet who diagnosed him as having “pancreatitis”, prescribed some bland wet cat food and gave him an injection of antibiotics that would last him ten days. I brought Lefty home the next morning (following a
Not willing to trust the first vet again, I called a specialist that agreed to see him the next morning. Another night with poor Lefty throwing up (I was now flushing his throat out with water after vomiting to prevent acid erosion damage… something I should have been doing all along), I rushed him to the specialist the next morning. By now, he was already in very bad shape after having not eaten very much in nearly two weeks (only “Cat Milk” and the bland wet food I was now baby-feeding him). He went from a healthy
On Monday, I brought him back for his Sonogram. It showed his spleen was indeed enlarged, so they performed a “needle biopsy” to check for cancer. The biopsy found the presence of “mast cells” indicating he had cancer… which seemed unimaginable as developing in barely two weeks, but I was told the cancer had probably always been there, dormant, coincidentally revealing itself only just now. The only treatment was to remove his spleen at a cost of “around $1,500”, being told it wouldn’t save his life, only alleviate his discomfort till he succumbed to the cancer in about a year. I couldn’t afford such an expensive surgery for something that wasn’t a cure, buying him just one more year of life.
I brought Lefty home, saddened by the thought that my pet… who was perfectly healthy just four weeks ago, was now predicted to be dead of cancer in just two months. I jumped online and started Googling “needle biopsies and cancer” to discover “needle biopsies” have a whopping 25% error rate, lending support to my suspicion he could not possibly have developed cancer so quickly.
The following weekend, Lefty started vomiting again. The Specialist was incredibly expensive (two visits totaled $2,300), and not trusting their diagnosis of cancer, I took him to a third vet. I expressed my concern and they reviewed his chart only to “agree” with the previous vet that cancer seemed all but certain and he needed surgery to remove his spleen… which, as I already mentioned, was a lot of money for something that wasn’t a cure. They prescribed some anti-nausea medication and a pill for gastrointestinal upset. I also continued the steroids the Specialist had prescribed even after the prescription ended because it was the only thing keeping his strength up (ironically, I take the exact same pill every day, so I gave him some of mine until the vet renewed his prescription.) Lefty did quite well and went another ten days without throwing up. By now I was crushing all his pills together in a pill grinder and filling empty medicine-capsules because forcing three pills twice a day down his throat was pure torture (for us both). Lefty had become quite adept at faking swallowing his pills only to spit them out the moment my back was turned. So forcing three pills became “twelve” as I redeposited the same pills over & over until he finally swallowed them. By now, Lefty was actually eating on his own again, which was good because trying to force specially prescribed bland wet food down his throat was a lesson in futility.
When Lefty started vomiting again about ten days later, a family friend (also a vet) told us of a veterinary surgeon that could remove his spleen for only $700. She referred us to a local veterinary oncologist (pet cancer doctor) that I (incorrectly) presumed was the same doctor that would do the surgery. She wasn’t. All she did was examine Lefty, look at his chart, agreed with the first vet’s diagnosis of cancer based upon the
I went home and started calling every local vet to see if I could find someone that could remove a spleen for less than $700. Instead, I was quoted everything from $3,500 to $4,800. Another family friend suggested “Texas A&M Veterinary School”, having once taken his own cat there years ago and only being charged the cost of anesthesia. So I called, but they wanted $2,300 and could not see him for at least a week, which was way too long. Suddenly, $700 didn’t sound so bad. I had to stop Lefty from vomiting, even if it only bought him one year, as least it would be a good one with no suffering. I called and scheduled Lefty for surgery in 36 hours.
A day & a half later, I brought Lefty in for surgery and the vet expressed concern over his apparent anemia, saying he would have to run some tests first. I left him there only to receive a call a few hours later saying his blood count was now so low (having fallen from a marginal 19 to just 10 in barely a week) that it suggested the cancer had spread to his bones meaning his cancerous spleen might be the only thing keeping him alive (producing red blood cells) and removing it could kill him. The only way to know was a bone-marrow biopsy. Here I was thinking I’d finally be bringing home a pet no longer in discomfort, and now he would have to wait still longer for yet another test. I once again called every local vet only to be told that “only two places left do animal bone marrow biopsies: one is in California and Texas A&M.” So I called TAMU to schedule an appointment and was told the soonest appointment I could get with a veterinary oncologist is in ten days! “Nothing sooner?”, I begged? “No, that’s the first appointment we have available.” How on Earth was I going to keep this poor animal healthy for another ten days?
I worked like a dog to keep him healthy, giving him his pills, keeping him hydrated by squirting water in his mouth because by now he had stopped drinking on his own, and making sure he had food at the ready any time he straying into the kitchen looking to eat (he still had an apatite, which was a very good sign, but he was only eating a few bites, which was bad.) I went back to squirting wet cat food in his mouth. The fact he fought me so vigorously was amazing considering how emaciated he had become. I nursed him day & night to keep him reasonably healthy till his scheduled biopsy (eventually the vomiting became more frequent, reaching twice a day towards the end.)
On Day-8, I called TAMU to confirm the appointment I had made the week before because I didn’t want to make the 90 mile journey only to be told there was a problem. The nurse on the phone asked me for the reason I was bringing him in. “Bone-marrow biopsy. The surgeon won’t remove his spleen until he has one to see if his cancer has spread.”
“When did you make the appointment?” (“Uh oh!” I thought.)
“Eight days ago”, I told her.
“Is there a reason you are waiting so long?” I explained that that was the earliest appointment I could get.
“You always could have brought him into the Emergency Room”, she replied, and my heart just sank. Here I was desperately trying to keep this poor animal alive and free of discomfort (never any sign of pain) for the past eight days and now I was being told there was never any need to wait??? I told her that I therefore would be rushing Lefty up there the next morning a day early. I was told to call once I was on my way so they could prepare for him, which I did.
My father and I made the 90 mile drive the next morning and after an hour wait, a nurse finally came out to talk to us and take Lefty in back for some tests. I never saw Lefty again. Another hour later we were told that Lefty needed surgery immediately to remove his spleen whether the cancer had spread to his bones or not, with a “20% chance” of not surviving the surgery. My $700 surgeon back home said he was booked, meaning TAMU would have to perform the surgery for $2,300. Out of options, we agreed and left Lefty there for the night where he was put on an IV due to dehydration to prep him for surgery (I gave Lefty as much water as he’d allow, but clearly it was not enough.)
The next day I received a call “before 11am” as promised to let me know how the surgery went. At 10:30, the doctor called, started using words in the past tense that I knew meant the worst had happened, and told me Lefty was in cardiac arrest, was being given CPR, and even if they revived him, he would probably be on a respirator at a cost of $10,000, asking me what they should do. Knowing Lefty’s quality of life was now over, I tearfully gave them permission to stop their resuscitation efforts and greenlighted an autopsy for an additional $50 because I HAD to know what killed him. With two more cats at home, I couldn’t risk this happening to them. I was told (not at that time) that it would take two weeks for the results.
Two weeks was last Thursday and no call. Friday I called and they agreed to email me the results. I was stunned (but not surprised) by the findings.
As you’ve probably guessed by now, I was right and Lefty didn’t have cancer. Reading the report with my jaw agape, the words “Cause of death: unknown” stood out like a dagger in my heart. Plowing through lots of medical jargon (which I’ve gotten quite good at interpreting following years of battling my own health issues years ago), buried towards the end, almost in passing, I read that an ulcer was found in his stomach. The poor animal suffered for two weeks and died of a completely curable stomach ulcer (which would explain why he responded so well to the antibiotics the first vet put him on despite the misdiagnosis of pancreatitis.) Lots of internal damage from the chronic vomiting, and the presence of precancerous “mast cells” in his spleen and liver were reported. His bone marrow was fine, and the words “cancer” or “carcinoma” appear nowhere in the two-page report, but the word “presumed” appears several times.
I never trusted the diagnosis of “cancer” based on a single test with a “25% error rate”. It just made no sense. My own determination of what happened? Lefty was allergic to something in the “Cat Chow” resulting in vomiting. By day three, it created an ulcer that kept him vomiting even after I threw the food out. Repeated vomiting damaged his spleen (just behind the stomach) resulting in it being flooded with precancerous “mast cells” (naturally present in the system) which were detected by the needle biopsy. No one ever did a “tissue biopsy” to confirm the diagnosis. They all just looked at the first test result, nodded their heads in agreement and charged me hundreds of bucks. Once they had made up their mind it was cancer, Lefty’s fate was sealed. All that misery they put my poor pet through, and all I have to show for it is a bank account that is now several thousand dollars lighter and this:
The Moral of this story: No one cares about your health (or the health of those you love) more than you do. If something doesn’t sound right, you’re probably right.
| Writers Wanted Got something to say? Mugsy’s Rap Sheet is always looking for article submissions to focus on the stories we may miss each week. To volunteer your own Op/Ed for inclusion here, send us an email with an example of your writing skills & choice of topic, and maybe we’ll put you online! |
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February 11, 2013
· Admin Mugsy · 7 Comments - Add
Posted in: Environment, General, Global Warming, Healthcare, Politics, Rants, Seems Obvious to Me, War
10th Anniversary of Colin Powell’s Infamous UN Presentation, Dissected
February 4, 2013
Tomorrow/Tuesday will be the 10th Anniversary of then Secretary of State Colin Powell’s infamous PowerPoint presentation before the UN detailing Saddam Hussein’s alledged preparations for war, by showing a series of slides (45 in all) consisting of satellite photos, drawings, and audio & video “evidence” that Iraq was pursuing an illegal weapons program prohibited under “Resolution 1441″… Saddam’s terms of surrender following the 1992 Gulf War. Not a single claim based on the images presented on that day turned out to be true, yet the United States (and 37 other countries) went to war based on those false claims. And to this day, no one has been held accountable for the consequences. I chose 15 of the most damning slides from the Powell Presentation, and with a bit of Googling, I was able to find out just what became of each. While reviewing these slides, keep in mind that the United States went to war, and nearly 4,500 American troops, 300+ coalition troops, not to mention and untold number of Iraqi civilians died based on the claims made in this presentation.
For some inexplicable reason, it seem to need mentioning for all the insipid Right-wing morons out there reading this that… Yes, Saddam was a bad man. Yes, he was evil & disgusting and rightfully earned his place in hell. This “debunking” is neither an excuse nor a defense of Saddam Hussein. But the world is FULL of evil dictators. More Iraqi’s died in the eight years of the Iraq War than Saddam Hussein had killed in his entire tenure as the brutal dictator of Iraq. The nation of Iraq was left in near ruins while thousands of Americans gave their lives and tens of thousands more returned with crippling injuries from fighting a war based on lies, all while a handful of very wealthy Defense Contractors… including one that directly financially benefited our Vice President… all became very very rich in the process.
(14 key slides from Powell’s presentation with updates.
(GlobalSecurity has the entire 45 video of his 75 minute presentation here.)
Over the past decade, I also collected numerous videos detailing just how comically false so many of the claims made that day turned out to be (most are quite old, so forgive the quality):
Sources: Info on UAV’s & Anthrax, Capabilities of Iraq’s Drones, Amiriyah, various debunking of several slides, Czech’s as source of training drones, Al-Zarqawi, “The U.N. Deception”, Al-Taji, “Weapons ‘capacity’ of Iraq challenged”, debunking of “Anthrax Jet” video, Al Musayyib “day-after” photo.
Postscript: As you can see, the winning blog theme was “Emerald Stretch”, which came as a bit of a surprise. I hope to tweak it a bit over the coming months. – Mugsy
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February 4, 2013
· Admin Mugsy · No Comments - Add
Posted in: Middle East, myth busting, Politics, Terrorism, War
A Death in the Family Reminds of ObamaCare (plus, Time to Vote!)
January 28, 2013
Last week was a tough week for me. My poor cat “Lefty” died on the operating table Thursday after suffering from the fastest occurrence of cancer I’ve ever seen in my life, going from perfectly healthy on Halloween to violent convulsions two weeks later to his death just two months after that. What made it all the more painful is that an unnecessary delay due to a nurse telling me (incorrectly) that I had to wait ten days for the next appointment, which may have been the difference between life and death for my friend. The struggle to keep him healthy for that period of time was emotionally draining as well as rough on him. But just as draining as it was emotionally for me, it was just as draining of my wallet. Thousands were spent on his care in those two months (including his initial misdiagnosis). Long gone are the days when vets were cheaper than “people-doctors”. Today, most vets charge every bit as much as any “specialist” that you or I might go to. Worse, far fewer people actually carry “pet health insurance”, so for the most part, veterinary care is a cash business, and EVERY visit to the vet was a guaranteed $150 minimum, with $400-$800 charges being the norm. It is easy to understand how many people, faced with such crushing frequent charges, are forced to make the crushing choice between treating an otherwise completely curable pet and putting them to sleep simply because they can’t afford the treatment. Fortunately, I had a bit of money set aside for emergencies that I burned through rather quickly, and my father & step-mother willingly covered the bulk of the bills. But try to imagine that instead of a sick pet, it were a sick child. Putting a child to sleep due to an inability to pay just isn’t an option (even if Rush Limbaugh once seemed to think it was.)
(And in case you are wondering – as I was – there is no NHS in England for pets. Taking your pet to see a veterinarian in the UK is the same costly insurance mess than we endure for human care in the U.S.. That’s right, the American health care system is on par with how dogs & cats are treated in the UK.)
On the first day of the new Congress three weeks ago, perennial nut-job Michele Bachmann actually made her first bill yet-another call to “repeal ObamaCare”. The country just reelected the man that gave us “ObamaCare” (by a wide margin), and the Supreme Court already declared the program “Constitutional”. Even if by some miracle the GOP-controlled House passed a repeal, it wouldn’t get past the Democratic Senate nor a presidential veto, and Bachmann knows that, so it was clearly her just tossing a bone to her insane wingnut/Teanut supporters to let them know she would continue to be every bit as BSC* in the 113th Congress as she was in the 112th. But more to my earlier point, none of these “repeal ObamaCare” zealots have ever explained what they would replace it with, nor express a word of compassion for the people faced with the devastating consequences of illness without insurance (
( *Bat $#!+ Crazy)
ObamaCare won’t be fully implemented until next year, but a key stage… the “health insurance exchanges” that force insurance companies to compete with each other on the same playing-field, begin October 1st of this year. Several
Health care costs are bleeding this country dry (as I can personally attest to on a half dozen different levels), and getting those costs down will pump Billions back into the economy. And THAT is the GOP’s TRUE fear, dear readers.
But, on to less depressing fare:
All this month, I’ve been toying with the idea of giving “Mugsy’s Rap Sheet” a face-lift, testing out new looks using different themes, and then giving everyone a chance to vote for their favorite. Keep in mind “readability” and
 Original RapSheet |
 Emerald Stretch |
 Easel |
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 Box of Boom |
 Ahimsa |
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The winning new theme will be in place when you return next week along with the results of the voting. (In the advent of a tie, I will cast the tie-breaking vote. And for those concerned voters, the “snow” effect so many of you complained about in an earlier theme, that was an add-on I have since removed and was not part of any of the themes I used. – Mugsy)
| Writers Wanted Got something to say? Mugsy’s Rap Sheet is always looking for article submissions to focus on the stories we may miss each week. To volunteer your own Op/Ed for inclusion here, send us an email with an example of your writing skills & choice of topic, and maybe we’ll put you online! |
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January 28, 2013
· Admin Mugsy · 2 Comments - Add
Posted in: General, Healthcare, Money
![](http://mugsysrapsheet.com/4blog/gop_death_cult.jpg")
