The 1% Hate Uncertainty

“Socialism, communism, whatever you want to call it, is never the answer.“ - Hank Steinbrenner, who received $1,200,000,000 Billion dollars in Taxpayer money to finance his baseball stadium. From which those profits will neatly land in his pocket.

The 1% of this Nation hate uncertain elements. What they would rather have is the certainty of the economic model they are confident in; Neo-Feudalism, in which their profits are privatized and protected by Government and their losses are socialized and paid for by the 99%.

But, there are also elements of modern life, pensions, Medicare, the EPA, freeways and schools which represent huge areas of Uncertainty. Your pension would be better off as a private account inside their Wall Street casinos where they can gamble it away and tell you, 'Oops! The Free Market just swallowed your life savings! Sorry, but that's Freedom.' As Republicon Jeb Henserling told America, "I don’t think we can figure out how to outlaw recessions any more than we can outlaw tornadoes or outlaw hurricanes. Economic growth has never gone in one straight line up. It’s a part of freedom."

Schools represent another area of Uncertainty. Schools and Teachers teach the 99% things the 1% does not want them to learn. Note how often this is the cry of David Horowitz, Michele Bachmann, Faux News listeners. Schools are awful places where children learn to make up their own minds instead of absorbing the Neo-Feudalist vision of America. And now unlike what George Carlin observed, the 1% don't even need Americans to be "just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passably accept all these increasingly shittier jobs", for they can increasingly go anywhere in the world to find their labor pool.

So, if it's revealed 1 in 2 Americans live in "Poverty"? The 1% funds Think Tanks to produce the kind of education they want you to have. Poverty? Harumph! Why that doesn't exist in America! Here is this Study which clearly shows the 99% "have an adequate and reasonably steady supply of food". This comes from the mouths of the puffy faces of those who've never, ever missed a meal.

You see the modern One Percenter has fully absorbed the Ayn Rand Economic Philosophy. They are Great Atlases bestriding this Land, this Nation, this World with their awesome Minds. The 99% are to be feared and controlled because, as in Rand's vision, the Common Man is nothing more than a potential Parasite. And once you've started viewing your fellow man as a "worthless eater" it becomes apparent why increasingly, the 1% is comprised of Sociopaths, people unable to express or recognize human emotion.

Why would a One Percenter want a functioning infrastructure? They no longer need the American worker or American factory. It's often pointed out we aren't a Manufacturing country anymore but a Financial one, and what the Financial Exploiters want is the ability to move "their" capital anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice, to engage in predatory lending, usury and eliminate all banking/financial regulation. The 1% do not see American workers, companies or factories as assets but as giant pools of liquidity waiting languidly, for them to drain and thus quicken themselves with Naked Credit Default Swaps.

Why would the 1% want EPA restrictions? Their water isn't going to be filled with the toxic run-off from fracking. And BP can't be certain a Government inspection of the BP Whiting, Indiana Oil Refinery Plant which routinely dumps a dozen toxic byproducts from oil refining, including benzene, toluene and suspended solids containing mercury, lead, nickel and vanadium, into Lake Michigan will cost them some of their beautiful money. And Massey Energy has to face the uncertainity of how much money the Government will demand they pay for killing their miners by their rampant criminal negligence.

So, much Uncertainty facing the 1%! How does the Melting Pot benefit the psychopathic 1%? They don't need a Nation, they gate off their communities, they hire their own private police services, they have 24 hour Propaganda Networks. If they have bigger problems they band together and instruct their wholly owned Congressmen and Senators to adopt their Views and pursue their issues. The 1% are constantly pushing their Republicon Guards to eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, and steal Social Security. Because those SSA funds represent the last Great Pool of liquidity waiting for them to tap.

The 1% don't need you. But, what they do need every so often is to eliminate Uncertainty. And that is why the filthy 1% who deliberately caused the economic collapse and the housing bubble are now trying to convince enough people that it was caused by social programs for the poor and middle class.

Because they need to get their Wholly Bought and Paid for Republicon Party and Pro-Business Democrats elected to eliminate Uncertainty so that they may turn all of America into a Galt's Gulch. But while, they live as Lords, the 99% will live as serfs and wage slaves mining their gold, picking their arugula and quietly dying off when their working years are over.

Because that is Certainty the 1% are Striving towards and Rand's Ultimate Vision for the 99%, for the Common Man, that he toil unobtrusively underneath the feet of the 1% Colossuses and have the courtesy to die quickly and quietly.

What You Talkin' 'Bout Willis Tower? Sears is Bankrupt

Well, it was a good thing Governor Pat Quinn gave a bunch of Illinois taxpayer money to Sears Corp because of all the Jobs they are going to create.

What a joke this modern American "Capitalism". Corporations routinely get bailed out by taxpayers, exploit the byzantine tax structure to pay "negative tax rates", eliminate jobs here in the States, close factories, and are declared "People" and "Job Creators".

Here is what Sears extorted from Governor Pat Quinn on December 16,

The deal gives Sears tax credits worth $15 million a year for 10 years, which it can use against withheld employee income taxes. The deal also would extend a special taxing district, reducing the company's local property tax bill for another 15 years.

So, Sears Holding Corporation got a 15 year special property tax zone in Illinois. Sears Corporate Headquarters is located in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. This is what they are going to do with their new special tax zone in Illinois, Sears is going to use accounting gimmicks and legerdemain to transfer money electronically from other stores in other states into the Corporate HQ, that money will then be listed on the Corporate profit sheet and will be accounted under the special taxation rate. This is known as the Las Vegas Loophole.

Additionally, by declaring Bankruptcy and closing 100+ stores Sears are reducing their labor costs and protecting their assets from going to the few American employees they have left. After Bankruptcy and restructuring the CEO, COO, and Corporate Board are going to abscond with Millions of Dollars in Golden Parachute severance packages.

Sears Corporation owes no allegiance to any flag, cares nothing for any nationality and sees every nation as little more than a piggy bank on which to fatten themselves all the while selecting governments which make their rampant corruption and outright theft "legal".

CME Group just swindled Illinois Taxpayers

"Why don't you accept your fate? You will return to your chair and you will sit there. You will entertain me and you will entertain my guests. And if you do not, I will simply kill somebody else. Him, perhaps. It doesn't matter." - Kivas Fajo, Star Trek: TNG, The Most Toys. Fajo explains the modern American Capitalist system and the threats the 1% use to control the Nation.

CME Group just robbed the people of Illinois for hundreds of millions and now they are going to transfer the extorted money to cover their losses from other areas of their corporate monstrosity. When faced with their own gross negligence, budgetary shenanigans, accounting fraud and malfeasance CME Group made the simple move of transferring one column of numbers to another column.

MF Global Holdings Ltd. filed for bankruptcy on October 31 after it was forced to reveal that it had made a failed $6.3 billion bet on European sovereign debt.

MF Global used at least $700 million of customer funds to “meet liquidity issues” in the days prior to its bankruptcy, according to CME Group Inc., which had auditing authority over the failed futures broker.

CME Group chief operating officer Bryan Durkin told a packed meeting of the National Grain and Feed Association this month, echoing earlier testimony by CME executives to Congress, that MF Global was the culprit, not CME's clearing house.

In a real Capitalist system, CME Group would go bankrupt for their shoddy accounting and managerial techniques but in the American Neo-Feudalist System, CME Group just threatens Governor Quinn and uses the power of the Government to take Millions from the Taxpayer to cover their losses due to criminal malfeasance or outright stupidity.

CME won a tax break from the state, which had hiked the corporate tax rate in January in an effort to plug a budget shortfall.

The legislation, signed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn on Friday December 16, will reduce CME's tax bill compared to what it was before the tax hike, shaving off about $77 million annually when it takes full effect in 2014.

I'm sure innocent investors lost fortunes by being involved with MF Global and CME Group but when an Illinois resident is taken by a Nigeria Lottery Email Scam they can't go to Governor Quinn and demand, 'Unless you cover my losses I'll leave the State' and be given taxpayer money.

This is how these 'Job Creators' cover their losses. CME Group and other financial behemoths don't create anything and have been engaged in a byzantine system of legerdemain and gambling wholly disconnected from labor and adding nothing to the economy.

And then when the bills come due these High Rollers simply march into the State Capital Building and demand the money from the Government. They don't come "hat-in-hand" but come armed with the smug superiority of being the Economic Elites, of being the financial gurus, the Wizards of Wall Street and demand their losses be covered or they will simply destroy more.

Republicans consider the Act of Voting to be Fraud and hate Democracy

It's not that the Republicon Party is actually worried about Voter Fraud it's that they consider the Act of Voting itself to be the fraud and quasi-criminal. Republicons have been fighting to restrict voting and limit election turnout because it aids them and their Owners, the Plutocratic Elite.

Voting has always meant power. Even now with the increasing control of both major parties by the 1%, Republicons and their Plutocratic Overlords hate voting because it means the voter may choose a Government which does not seek to defend through laws and violence the stolen wealth accumulated by the Plutocracy.

Much of this stems from Alexander Hamilton's fear the Demos would rise up and slaughter their Plutocratic Oppressors. The 1% today don't fear the Demos Rising because they have a powerful enough Paramilitary Domestic Army,

"I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh largest army in the world,' NY Tyrant Michael Bloomberg,

supplemented by the likes of BlackWater if need be.

What the 1% fear today is the 99%. This why the evolving OWS and #Occupy Movement has so angered the Rich, it may hamper the crooked gambling system known as "American Capitalism" which funnels TRILLIONS in stolen loot to them.

Republicons, however, are always engaged in repackaging their Theft and Transfer of Wealth under new slogans and are constantly pushing the ACORN/New Black Panther/Rampant Minority Voting Fraud lies. They know by lying they can push laws which restrict access to Universal Suffrage. Republicons first service to their Moneyed Masters is keeping people away from the voting booth.

The 1% sees the Univseral Suffrage as an affront to their Natural Rights. Since the founding of the Nation the 1% believe the Govenment should represent them exclusively.

"The People who own this Country Ought to Govern It." - John Jay.

To the 1% Government exists only to provide a framework for business cooperation, to defend Businesses from foreign invaders, create a extensive structured framework to quell and quash domestic dissent and create a massive military to open up Markets for Business to explore and exploit abroad. To the 1%, anything else done by Government is "Un-American" and "Unconstitutional".

"The 80,000 is a net number. The private sector created 104,000 jobs. The public sector happily shrank by 24,000 jobs. Both of that’s good." - George Will cheered when Americans lose their jobs, because Government workers not helping Private Businesses steal money or kill people are unconstitutional.

Matthew Vadum at The American Thinker clearly enunciated the conservative view of Democracy in his article, Registering the Poor to Vote is Un-American.

Because they know the poor can be counted on to vote themselves more benefits by electing redistributionist politicians. Welfare recipients are particularly open to demagoguery and bribery. Registering them to vote is like handing out burglary tools to criminals. It is profoundly antisocial and un-American...

This is what the 1% thinks of Voting.

Paul Ryan's Deathcare Plan is designed to eliminate Medicare and Medicaid and would serve up the least powerful Americans like a trussed-pig to business interests by getting government out of providing healthcare to the sick, the old, the indigent. At the basis of his Paul Ryan's Plan is the squeezing of eveyr last dollar from those with little hope before allowing them to die.

Republicon Mike Lee of Utah is one of the scummiest sychophants serving today. Mike Lee preceded Newt Gingrich in calling Child Labor laws Unconstitutional and routinely made pro-child exploitation videos on his youtube channel. Lee purposefully used his Senate Office to sabotage the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), because the CFPB is designed to stop the rampant corruption by the Richest 1%. Lee's constant fall back is to call everything he opposes Unconstitutional, which according to Lee's leash holders it is because it hampers their crimes.

The 1% don't see the ridiculous bloated DoD contracts as welfare, they don't see subsidies for Oil Companies as theft, they don't believe Corporations negative tax rates, meaning they made more after taxes than before they paid those taxes, is wrong.

The 1% think they are the Neo-Feudalist Lords. Trillions belong to them by the mere fact of who they are. Wealth and Power are theirs by Right. Anything which gets in their way is axiomatically wrong and needs be fought by their Guards and Defenders.

Oathkeepers? More accurately Oathbreakers and Conservative Domestic Terrorists

"Remember the lesson from my book: It just took a few shootings at Kent State to shut that down for good," - Ann Coutler.

The Oathkeepers were a loose organization of Veterans, Police Officers, Active Duty Military and National Guardsmen which nominally declared they would never "just follow orders" and deprive Americans of their Constitutional Rights, with the motto "Not on Our Watch". Today they have little impact but you can still find right-wing blogs which tout the Oathkeeper Pledge, as conservative blowhard The Bloviating Zeppelin recently did in declaring himself an Oathkeeper.

Originally, following the election of President Obama, the Oathkeepers began coalescing around the time the Department of Homeland Security released their 2009 memo concerning the Rise of recruiting efforts amongst returning service members by violent Right Wing Extremist/Sovereign Citizen/Domestic Terrorist groups. The DHS Memorandum was spurred on by the murder of 3 Pittsburgh Police Officers by Right Wing Extremist Richard Poplawski and noted that the Republicon Recession and President Obama's election presented unique moment in American history.

Additionally, the Southern Poverty Law Center began to document the Re-Rise of the Patriot Militia Movements and the evolving nature of the internet allowed for more dynamic connectivity. Famously, amongst the Oathkeepers former Marine Charles Dyer's skull-masked youtube video set to the soundtrack of The Last of the Mohicans, and the ludicrous videos of Bob Basso pretending to be Thomas Paine dressed in standard 1776 garb became rallying points.

Much of the resulting Oathkeeper History became entangled with the Tea Party, Birtherism, Faux News, fear of the Michele Bachmann/Glenn Beck FEMA Concentration Camps and the Co-opting of the organization's energy by the 1% to direct anger at President Obama and the Democratic Party.

The salient point now is not their manipulation at the hands of the Republicon Party, FreedomWorks or the Koch Brothers but, in light of their 10 Point "NOT" Pledge, the fact The Oathkeepers are little more than another group who wittingly or unwittingly carries the water of the 1% and should more accurately be called the Oathbreakers Militia. This is Pledge #10:

We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.

Want to guess what the reaction to OWS and #Occupy was from the Oathbreakers? Infiltration and Destruction.

I occasionally saw the odd Ron Paulian Banner at #OccupyChi, but the Oathbreakers attempt to pass along Alex Jones conspiracy memes at various #Occupy General Assemblies (GA) failed. Occupiers are too adroit (literally) and too well read to fall for that Pablum.

Of course, the failure of the Oathbreakers to successfully "Occupy the Occupation" may explain why when the NYPD, Oakland Police, Boston PD, and every paramilitary Police Force were ordered to beat, tear gas, pepper spray, shoot, destroy personal property, illegally detain and violate the Rights of Americans to Peaceably Assemble and petition the Government there was no outcry from the Oathbreakers. And as Right-Wing websites continued the call for more Police Violence and even as anti-American World Net Daily writer Phil Elmore requested,

"Call out the National Guard. Turn on the fire hoses. Send bulldozers. Bring flame-throwers, for pity's sake. Men and women who give a damn about their country, wearing Hazmat suits and respiratory gear, empowered by the lawful government of this nation, should be marching in ranks on every Obamaville this very moment, prepared to beat with truncheons and shoot with rubber bullets every last filthy hippie. The "occupiers" are criminals and terrorists."

There was naught but silence from the Oathkeepers.

When Richmond Police bulldozers turned the potential into the actual, the Oathkeepers showed themselves to be nothing more than a thinly veiled Militia, exactly what everyone at the DHS knew them to be, A Reactionary Anti-American Band of Pseudo Terrorists, who had no intention of standing for the American people but had the the very real purpose of blaming the Democratic Party and President Obama for the evils committed by Wall Street, the Corporate Plutocrats and the 1%.

Update:
“First amendment rights are not absolute.” Los Angeles Chief Deputy City Atty William Carter said in a public statement. He thinks that the lesson these protesters need to take away from being arrested and jailed for two days is that they were wrong about their rights. According to a LA Times article, Many Occupy L.A. protesters arrested during demonstrations in recent months are being offered a unique chance to avoid court trials: pay $355 to a private company for a lesson in free speech. Carter said the city won't press charges against protesters who complete the educational program offered by American Justice Associates.

You see as long as the Wrong Americans are having their Rights Violated, the Oathkeepers are willing to look the other way.

Good Conservatives! Let the Racism Flow Freely! Brent Bozell is a Bigot

If Opinions are like Assholes then, "you might want to say" Brent Bozell is flabby sack of smushed opinions.

Why is the Right-Wing Bigots who make the most incendiary racist or sexist comments look like fat sacks of putrid garbage?

Brent Bozell (L. Brent Bozell III), like all Conservative Pundits, has never had a real job in his entire life. Le Bigot Bozell has spent almost 3 decades sitting on his brains at various Conservative Think Tanks coming up with new ways to blame Liberals for all the fuck-ups by Conservatives. Bozell is one of those right-wing shills who blames Bill Clinton for 9/11 even if it inconveniently happened while George W. Bush was President and whines that George W. Bush got no credit for killing Osama Bin Laden even if it inconveniently happened when Barack Obama was President.

But, while expanding his mind by sitting on his fat ass for a Faux News interview Bigot Bozell decided to compose a racist simile about President Obama. What Le Bigot Bozell stated is so racist and so ignorant I won't type it again, but you can watch Bigot Bozell over at Talking Points Memo. Of course, because it is a simile right-wing liars try to parse the racist statement Bigot Bozell clearly made and then reinforced.

Bigot Bozell is yet another flabby jowled, wide assed, big bellied slob (i.e. A Conservative) who feels empowered to be as racist as possible because he thinks it's going to win elections for Republicons.

Again how many incidents will it take for conservatives to realize the Modern Conservative movement is little more than a club for bigots and racists?

Of Derrières, Jim Sensenbrenner, and Conservative Racism

Chicago born Wisconsin Republicon Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner isn't going to take any eating advice from someone of Michelle Obama's stature!

Sensenbrenner was overheard speaking loudly into his cell phone at Reagan National Airport. According to an eyewitness, he told a story of a woman who approached him at a church auction to make comments in support of First Lady Michelle Obama. Sensenbrenner responded that he believed Mrs. Obama to be a hypocrite in that “she lectures us on eating right while she has a large posterior herself.”

How many comments of a gross racist nature do we need to reach the conclusion that the conservative movement is little more than a club for evil bigots?

Of course, that Sensenbrenner is a grotesquerie, a shambling obese slob, puffy-faced, neck waddled, flabby assed, wide-waisted, prodigiously bellied (i.e a typical Republicon) making this comment is not lost on his rabid supporters. [Read the comments from the above linked story.]

It's not a coincidence that the most despicable comments about Michelle Obama are made by the most despicable obese right-wingers. Racist Limbaugh has rountinuely insulted Michelle Obama about her weight and routinely refers to the FLOTUS as Moochelle Obama. Ho ho ho ho! Of course, all conservatives repeat Limbaugh's insulting racist joke because they have no concept of humor or originality.

Conservatives eat this racist shit up. It fits their bigoted conception of African-American women.

Do Americans really not understand that the vast, majority of Republicons serving in the Federal Government are bigots or shamelessly pander to conservative racists?

Update:
Matrifocal Point correctly points out that Sensenbrenner is also playing into a centuries held conservative bigoted sexist/racist belief system which hyper-sexualized African/Slave women as having large butts (and breasts) as this allowed them to be raped and absued.

This belief still pervades conservative thinking as 'Women who dress immodestly are asking to be raped' which Faux News repeatedly asserts.

Rich Myopic A$$holes gonna be Rich Myopic A$$holes

"You’ll get more out of me,” the billionaire Leon Cooperman said, “if you treat me with respect.”

From the No Kidding Files,

According to researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, people in lower socio-economic classes are more physiologically attuned to the suffering of others than their middle- and upper-class counterparts.

Yeah, it's not hard to understand this, Rich People don't give a shit. They don't give a shit if you die from lack of healthcare coverage. They don't care if you get killed overseas fighting to expand emerging markets for them to exploit. They don't give a shit about the number of Americans living in so-called poverty. They don't care if your job is outsourced or an illegal immigrant comes over to do it for 1/10th the cost. They don't care if you die in a Mine Accident or Oil Rig Explosion. They don't care about your suffering. All they care about is stealing more for themselves.


Ask any historian, even one as evil and corrupt as Newt Gingrich about the Rich and Poor and you will see that the entire canon of recorded history is one of those who have wealth setting up elaborate systems of thought to justify their position, their oft-times illegally, unethically, or immorally gained riches. "What they [the Poor] lack is the richness of spirit." - Stuart Varney, Faux News.

Why do you think "I Get It" was the phrase Frank Luntz emphasized as most important to the assembled collection of out-of-touch, effete snobs he coached at the Republican Governor Association meeting earlier this month in Florida?

"Gordon Gecko" of Wall Street and "Patrick Bateman" of American Psycho weren't aberrations to these bastards, they were role models and guides.

Wall Street is fixated on stealing as much money as possible from where ever possible and making their thefts legal and protected by the biggest baddest thugs (The Republicons) they can find;

"Whether it’s the EPA, the FDA, the FCC, the SEC, the CFTC, you name it, there is an acronym for a federal agency causing harm right now. We’re trying to pull that in." - Eric Cantor, Republicon Hit Man for the Plutocracy and Defender of the Transfer of Wealth.

Do you think the 1% give a shit about your job?

"Rich businesspeople like me don’t create jobs,” Nick Hanauer, co-founder of aQuantive Inc.

To the Plutocrats 'Job creation' is an unfortunate by-product of Wall Street Thievery. If the 1% could find a way to make money... Oh Wait! That is what the entire Bush Presidency was! A time where the 1% increased their share of wealth, when 2 out of every 3 dollars of income growth went to the Elites, squeezed as much loot as possible out of a rigged "Capitalist" system and then got the Bush Government and Federal Reserve to give them over $8,500,000,000,000 dollars to cover their losses.

Related:
Capitalism at it's Finest! $7.77 TRILLION for the Banking Criminals [Disaffected]
Your Moneyed Masters are Getting Angry with You America [Disaffected]
American Capitalism is Medieval Feudalism [Disaffected]
Republicans Love when Miners Die [Disaffected]

All for the 1%, Nothing for the 99%

"Louis, Louis...still whining after all these years! Have you heard enough of that...I have! I've been listening to it for centuries." - Lestat

The unceasing whine from the 1% has surpassed the angst ridden moping of Anne Rice's titular character from Interview with the Vampire.

“Acting like everyone who’s been successful is bad and because you’re rich you’re bad, I don’t understand it,” JP Morgan Chase and Co CEO Jamie Dimon recently complained to an investor's conference.

Dimon and all the Banking CEOs have not succeeded because of superior skill, work habits or ingenuity. They have succeeded by lying, cheating, swindling, obfuscating, and setting up a giant rigged system in which they knew they could be assured of riding the bubble all the way until it burst and then the bill would be picked up by the American Taxpayer with the help of their chosen defenders the Republicon Party and the Federal Reserve.

But you didn't think they were done did you? At that same "Investor's" Conference Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus was asked if he was worried about the impact of OWS. "Who gives a crap about some imbecile?” Marcus replied. Be sure to read all the quotes from those assembled at this conference; Rich Myopic Assholes are going to be Rich Myopic Assholes.

But, the 1% are never satisfied. Sears and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) successfully took hostage the State of Illinois and demanded a $350,000,000 ransom. The Illinois Legislature passed a measure giving the two Corporations the ransom they demanded. Now, do you think these two are going to invest that money into the State? Do you think they are going to hire thousands of new workers? Do you think they are going to lower prices to aid consumers? No. Sears and CME, the world’s largest owner and operator” of private exchanges for derivatives products, are going to take that money and give their CEOs and Boards millions of dollars in "bonuses".

But, don't worry aid is coming from the US Congress. Of course, it won't be in the form of a payroll tax break which would overwhelmingly aid middle class and struggling working class Americans. No, if there is anyone the Republicons love to be overburdened by taxes and debt it is the 99%.

The Republicons are going to make sure that Millionaires don't receive food stamps and uninsurance coverage. But, don't be fooled by this Republicon move. It isn't designed to curb fraud, waste or abuse, it is designed to get Americans thinking that food stamps and unemployment are wrong and no one should have them.

Related:
Please Help the Republicans Eliminate Welfare and Reduce Government Spending [Disaffected]

Conservative Fury! Senate Democrats to take away flavored Cigars

Democratic Senators, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut wrote FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg on Thursday urging her to ban flavored cigars. Brown joined by his Democratic Party colleagues Senators noted "these products pose a serious threat to public health" and "Flavored cigars are putting children's health at risk and increasing nicotine addiction and tobacco use among young people."

ROAR! You can pry my Hibiscus-Passion Fruit flavored cigarillo from my cold dead, nicotine stained fingers!

"Tobacco companies embody the adage ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,’" Senator Brown said in a statement. "From Joe Camel to tobacco candies and now flavored cigars, Big Tobacco is always trying to find new ways to hook young, impressionable customers—and those customers are our children.”

Faux News promoted this as more nanny-state regulation run wild and ran a story that The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association authored a petition asking Congressmen, Senators and FDA officials to: Please don’t regulate premium cigars like cigarettes! Of course, No such petition to Congress would be complete without this type of language: And As an adult I want to make my own choices in life and not have a bureaucrat at the FDA making those choices for me.

Damn FDA bureaucrats! If I want to sell cigars soaked in formaldehyde shouldn't I have that choice?

People see what they what to see. Conservatives have created an alternate history for themselves with which they must view every issue as a left/right dichotomy.

It is incontrovertible that Tobacco Companies appeal to the youngest demographic possible, with the exception of those which cater to a different niche or audience. Thus what Senator Brown is saying is true "Big Tobacco" is always trying "to find new ways to hook young, impressionable customers". It's merely good business to get customers attracted to your product as soon as possible.

But what this really shows is those who are offended and up-in-arms over Nanny State Over Regulation have no idea what they are angry about, if they did they would know the main market for funky flavored 6-for-a-dollar gas station cigars are marijuana smokers. You see "dope-smoking criminals" remove the tobacco from the cigar, pack the now empty leaf with weed and have thus created a blunt.

So, if this regulation had been targeted against Hookah Lounges or Head Shops the reaction from Faux and it's bevy of conservative genuflecting sycophants would have been much different.

Brother, Can You Spare $10,000?

A Backup Yacht in Every Mansion A Proposed Campaign Slogan for Mitt Romney, created by Jerry Critter.

Lost among Mitt Romney's I'll bet you $10,000 dollars flub is the question; why is Romney even trying to run as a man-of-the-people? It makes no sense. Everyone knows he's a 1%er, is -- ahem, "worth" Hundreds of Millions of dollars, with multiple palatial mansions and is the son of wealthy politician. No one believes his "I'm unemployed, too" or "middle class people, like us" shtick. And besides Romney hasn't even been able to maintain his guise as a "Regular Joe". Half the time he's campaigning Romney touts his 'Job Creator' Class status.

You know Romney's business chops he likes to tout as qualifications for the White House? His work at Bain Capital, a private equity firm, Romney made millions on buying American companies and then selling off the assets, closing manufacturing plants and eliminating American Jobs. Take the Bain Capital acquisition of American Pad and Paper.

In all, Bain and its investors reaped more than $100 million even though Ampad went into bankruptcy, hundreds of workers lost jobs, and stockholders were left with worthless shares.

More recently, in Romney's magnificent Op-Ed Let Detroit Go Bankrupt, he wistfully longed for Americans to lose their jobs, blamed the UAW for the crisis and demanded Americans die quickly once they're done working to keep costs down:

First, their huge disadvantage in costs relative to foreign brands must be eliminated. That means new labor agreements to align pay and benefits to match those of workers at competitors like BMW, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Furthermore, retiree benefits must be reduced.

Maybe because Mitt Romney has never known a day in his life when he didn't have access to money he's able to make these myopic and callous statements. Although Mitt does like to relate the hardships he endured in the late 1960's overseas. Oh no, I apologize for the confusion Romney never served in Vietnam! No, Mitt suffered and did without while on a 30 month mission in France.

Perhaps, in Romney's defense, when he was filling out his missionary card someone mistook his entry of "French-Indochina" for "France"?

So, how was Mitt Romney was living while busily avoiding Vietnam? The British paper Telegraph is reporting that in 1968 when Mitt was in France he lived in a staffed Mansion. Mitt no doubt commiserated with the Spanish chef and "houseboy" over his morning cheese, jam and croissant about missing coffee just like those Americans on patrol in rice paddies.

Mitt then spent the rest of his time trying to convince the French to give up Wine.

Related:
Uncle Mitty and Blood in the Water [Disaffected]
The GOP Sure is Queer -- And not only in the Good Sense of the Word [DownWithTyranny!]

Tim Tebow throws Christopher Hitchens into the Lake of Fire

But! He overthrows him and Hitchens runs free and clear. "In whatever kind of 'race' life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist," Hitchens remarked last year upon learning he had cancer.

Christopher Hitchens passed away after a year and a half long battle with cancer. I read several of his works but, it's not like I knew him, so I can not say I'm sad. I enjoyed Hitchens passionate speaking and he struck me as what an erudite human can be given the access to and encouragement of higher education. I didn't like his Iraq War stance but I did love that he caused rabid American religious fascists mental consternation as they couldn't figure out how to reconcile his hatred of Islam with his hatred Christian Fascism.

However, it wouldn't be christian fascism if religious asses didn't use Hitchens' death as an opportunity to make smug statements about heaven and god.

Now, I shouldn't being making fun of Tim Tebow, for as much as I don't like his overt displays of piety at least he didn't use Hitchens' passing to make insulting comments about how Christopher is face-to-face with the almighty. Bill Bennett, supposedly a friend of Hitchens, didn't make a genteel statement or use the opportunity to say a short kind word. Nope Bennett, said, "And I hope as the big atheist that he was, he's in for a big surprise."

Classy. It's a standard move by right-wingers when someone they hate dies. It's a time for conservatives to level the most vicious insults at those who can no longer defend themselves. When Howard Zinn passed away in Jan 2010, NPR used the opportunity to get the raving flabby-assed, David Horowitz a reactionary chicken hawk anti-human punk ass bitch conservative who hates the poor and oppressed and loves war on to insult and slander Zinn preceisely because Howard Zinn fought for those crushed under the iron heel of anti-human conservatives.

However, Hitchens' passing highlight's one of the biggest problems I'm going to have when I prove there's no afterlife. Once I make it there and it doesn't exist there won't be anyone around for me to gloat over and Hitch won't be there to share a martini.

Merry Xmas the Iraq War is Over... Again

So, this is Christmas?

Mission Accomplished: "Major Combat Operations in Iraq have ended." - 05/01/2003

"Bring'em On!" - 07/02/2003

"They're in the Last Throes" - 06/20/2005

Saddam's Death - 12/30/2006

Right Wing Victory in Iraq Day - 11/22/2008

Conservatives have been declaring the Iraq War Over for years. When they thought it benefited them. Now, that the President is named Obama the Right has flip-flopped to calling the Iraq War "Lost".

Of course, it mainly stems from the alternate history the modern conservative movement has adopted. History is malleable to Right, if it's convenient to ignore the entire George W. Bush Presidency, the Right has shown themselves up to the task!

The Iraq "War" is over, finally. It was of no benefit to the US. It wasn't worth $1 let alone One Life! But, it was priceless for the Republicons.

The Republican Party used the War to win elections. That's the only winning the GOP ever really cared about. Even now Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum lament the loss of the war because they think it can help Republicans in 2012.

The GOP are the same as Saddam's Iraqi Republican Guard. They used War and violence to quell domestic dissent and steal Trillions of dollars from the American People. Because (Blackwater)(Xe)(Academi), Halliburton, Boeing, and the hundreds of Welfare DoD connected Corporations are the only ones who really benefited from this shameful debacle.

Newt Gingrich, a perfect amalgam of Hitler and Reagan

Newt Gingrich is a "viciously racist" Welfare Queen, Progressive Taxation Champion - Higher Taxes on the Poor, Lower Taxes on the Rich - composite of Adolf W. Reagan and Ronald Hitler all rolled into one big, fat, taxpayer subsidized maggot.

Newt, like all chicken hawk Republicans of his era abstained from Vietnam, but being a flabby-assed, weak-kneed, coward knew he couldn't hack it in the Real World. So Newt began running for a Government "Job" in 1974. Upon arriving in DC in 1978, Gingrich began his long career of comparing his political opponents to Neville Chamberlain, which contrary to what he "thinks" obviously makes Newt Hitler. Q.E.D. Godwin's Law really should be called Gingrich's Law.

Newt has even proposed The Newt Gingrich Youth. Gingrich called laws against child labor "truly stupid" and unveiled a plan so vile and so hateful, it not only puts poor children to work and eliminates their access to an education but, also takes jobs from struggling fathers and mothers.

During his time sucking off taxpayers Newt Gingrich's career goal has been to create Cargo Cult Conservatism. Republicons have been promising their duped and battered conservative drones that trickle down wealth is at hand for decades. All right-wingers need do is keep on voting for Republicans and the Rain of Wealth would fall on them.

In keeping in line with this cycle, Republicon Presidential Front Runner Newt Gingrich revealed his tax plan. Guess what? Just like with Herman Cain's ridiculous proposal, Taxes are higher on Middle Class and Small Business Owners than they are on the Super-Rich.

The Newt Gingrich plan, has a higher Federal Tax Rate for struggling Americans making $40,000 (12.7%) than for those earning over $1,000,000 (11.9%). Additionally, taxes on Income from Capital Gains would be eliminated.

Newt is a solid member of the Republican Guard, out to harass, harm, oppress and defeat the 99%. Gingrich proudly proclaims himself a "Reaganite" and his tax proposal is right in line with Piss Down Your Back and Tell You It's Raining Reaganomics. Screw the Majority of Americans and solidify the Transfer of Wealth up to the Richest 1%.

We've already seen that due to the Reagan instituted lowering of the Capital Gains tax rate, 50% of all Capital Gains profits go to the Richest 0.1% of the US. Gingrich's complete elimination would result in an even faster Transfer of Wealth upwards and accelerate the Income Inequality in this Nation to levels not seen since the Pharaohs.

But, Newt off-sets his vicious Neo-Feudalist Class Warfare by declaring he doesn't want to pay people for 99 weeks for sitting on their rear end. Oh wait, that's merely more attack the Poor Class Warfare! While, this rhetoric of not providing unemployment to anyone scores points with the duped and battered conservative voter, Newt Gingrich has never had a real job in his life.

Newt has spent 20 years working stealing in Congress and after being forced out due to rampant ethics violations transformed his DC Insider status into $60,000 dollar-an-hour speaking fees and peddling his influence to Freddie Mac for a cool $1,600,000 dollar kick-back. Gingrich is the epitome of the Republicon Welfare Queen. Getting paid millions of dollars by the Government for doing nothing.

To all the Republicon backers and all the conservatives out there you are clearly supporting a party which is anti-American. But, one of the most stunning achievements of Newt Gingrich, Jack Abramoff, Grover Norquist, Phil Graham, Racist Limbaugh, Tom DeLay, Michele Bachmann and all the current 300 Republicon Bureaucrats is how successful their full-blown John Bircher assaults have been at transferring the blame and guilt for their rampant corruption, high crimes and misdemeanors to Liberals and the Left.

Update:
When one needs to grasp the full tenor and terror of the puffy-faced wide-bottomed champion of toxicity that is Newt Gingrich one need only level their gaze at the magnificent Driftglass: Where Were You.

Jesus! He is Risen! But where is He? Playing QB on the Denver Broncos or a Hedge Fund Manager on Wall Street?

"I don't think he's been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. I think the media has been very desirous that a *christian* quarterback do well. They're interested in *christian* coaches and *christian* quarterbacks doing well. I think there's a little hope invested in *Tebow*, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he really didn't deserve. The defense carried this team." - Racist Limbaugh.

Here's how you know conservatives are willingly blind to racism and bigotry. I altered Racist Limbaugh's derogatory reference from skin color to christian and changed the QB's name from McNabb to Tebow. As is easily observed, any comment about Tim Tebow which is not positive is attacked as anti-christian, yet when Limbaugh made this heinous bigoted statement about Donovan McNabb in 2003 right-wingers rallied to his defense.

The Chicago Bears just lost to Tim Tebow. Dan Bernstein of 670 the Score is quite upset over the tactics He used to defeat the Bears.

For 3 quarters the Bears defense had Tebow flustered. Tebow had completed just 3 of 16 passes had thrown an interception and fumbled. Tebow's passes were off (although 4 drops by his wide receivers wasn't helping) and his normal running style was replaced by a skittish one as Tebow discovered, unlike in college, he couldn't outrun or bowl over the likes of Julius Peppers. Lovie Smith then decided to employ the "Prevent Defense". As Mike Ditka once said, all the Prevent does is prevent you from winning...

But, Tim Tebow is not the first NFL player to make his faith central to his life off or on the field. Reggie White was a preacher. Deion Sanders is a minister and led prayer circles on the football field after games. Troy Vincent was once asked what book everyone should read and he replied, "The King James Bible because it is life."

Even in the Bears-Broncos game Tebow wasn't the only player who makes a big show of his faith. Devin Hester touches his feet, legs, shoulders and points skyward in order to get god's protection, "I just tell god to watch over me from the toes on my feet to the head of my crown."

And Reggie White, Deion Sanders, Troy Vincent and Devin Hester are all African-Americans, Kurt Warner dedicated his Super Bowl victory (but not his two Super Bowl defeats) to Jesus.

So, what is it about Tebow? Do people really believe that Tim Tebow is winning because of Jesus is watching out for him or aiding the flight of the football? I think the Tebow Mania and the way everyone wants this to be an issue is because some christians want to feel they are persecuted. These christians are making Tim Tebow a litmus test for the persecution complex they crave and the war on their religion they are engaged in.

However, lost amongst all this Tebowing, was the is a more egregious religious affront. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, who recently conferred upon deadbeat Republican dad Joe Walsh, the title of #1 True Blue Pro-Family status wrote an article declaring Jesus was a Free Marketer not an Occupier.

Of course, the problem that Jesus lived 2000 years before the concept isn't really the issue. Because what Tony Perkins was actually writing about was a justification for the rampant theft and corruption by the 1%. Perkins, overplayed his hand, because the need to mention OWS and the term "occupier" in the title shows how frightened he is christians in this country will begin to side with the poor and correctly view #Occupy as a struggle against Oppressive Power and the corrupt system set up by those who wield that Power.

It's actually an old idea in christianity. The Poor Men of Lyons (Waldenses) were condemned as heretics by the Catholic Church and were eventually anathemamitised because they dared to question the Order of Society. The Waldenses meet the same fate as the Cathars in the early 1200's being chased down and brutally slaughtered by the Guardians of the Powers That Be.

Perkins ends his Jesus wants you to invest in sheep futures with the following:

Yes, we are to "occupy," not by railing against a free market system that rewards diligence, even though it is occasionally abused. Rather we are to occupy by using that system ethically as a means to advance the interests of the one we serve.

Got it? Jesus wants you to accept the Income Inequality, abuse of power and transfer of wealth. Focus instead on ethics, i.e. things which don't challenge the Economic Inequality.

Of course, what Tony Perkins is actually defending is Feudalism. Christianity grew along with Feudalist ideas. It's been a 1000 year struggle by powerful and wealthy christians to massage the meaning of christ into favoring the Rich and Elite. To turn Jesus from a rabble-rousing champion of the poor and oppressed into a scion of the Plutocracy and keeper of the status quo (Behold! The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus).

And today what the religious right have allowed themselves to become the marching foot-soldiers waiting for the opportunity to enforce the will of the 1% and oppress the Occupiers.