Flights crawled to a stop at one of the world's busiest airports this morning when it was invaded by turtles! One runway was closed at New York's JFK Airport when about 150 Diamondback Terrapin turtles were spotted crossing the tarmac. The mama turtles were trying to get to the other side to lay eggs on the shores of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, which borders the airport. Ron Marsico, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York said pilots from Jet Blue and other airlines halted their flights to let the expectant turtles pass. But he brushed off the turtle invasion saying: "Flight delays attributed to turtles were minor, about 15 minutes or so." People began tweeting about the turtles soon after the news broke. Within 8 hours, @JFKTurtles had almost 3,000 followers on Twitter. It's nice hearing these stories. Think of the alternative had the pilots been jerks.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Look for Oligarchs Attack on Workers to Continue
During the 2010 midterms, several far-right U.S. Senate candidates said they either wanted to slash the minimum wage or eliminate it altogether. Each of these candidates, incidentally, lost. The Republicans’ hostility towards the minimum wage hasn’t gone away. Michele Bachmann, for example, has argued that eliminating the minimum wage would eliminate unemployment entirely. Bachmann conceded she’d consider eliminating the policy as president as part of her efforts to crush “expansion of government.”
Their cockamamy theory is that instead of a company paying 4 workers $10 per hour, it would be better to pay 8 workers $5 per hour or even better in the regressive party's mind, 16 workers making $2.50 per hour. I've been saying this for months. Their plan to lower unemployment is to abolish minimum wage. Then they can bring back the jobs they've farmed out to third world countres while making the United States one. If their goal is accomplished, non-union companies can start slashing wages of current employees who are making a fair wage and/or threaten their job security if they fight back with the ability of cheap labor. Do you think maybe this is the long term goal of all the union busting? Anyone who thinks it can't happen here isn't watching what this SCOTUS is doing.
Such a radical change would be unpopular, and the idea is so far from the American mainstream, there aren't any polls even asking the question. The problem is the current Teapublican Party doesn't care about what the American people want. They don't care if their position is unpopular. Look no further than Ayn Rand fan boy Paul Ryan's "bold and couragious" budget proposal. It screws future Medicare recipients and further slashes taxes for the wealthy while raising the debt! Teapublicans only care about their strict ideology
I wonder if others in the GOP field will go on the record supporting this as well? Or they'll just pull a Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI). Run on balancing the budget and then spend every waking moment destroying unions with the help of the billionaire Koch Brothers, or as I prefer, Koch-roaches. Meanwhile, the idiotic voters who elect these fascists because
"the gays are out to get them," are chanting, "U.S.A., U.S.A." like a bunch of indoctrinated zombies.
People need to put down their iPods and stop playing Warcraft and start paying attention to what the plutocrats are up too, damn it.
Their cockamamy theory is that instead of a company paying 4 workers $10 per hour, it would be better to pay 8 workers $5 per hour or even better in the regressive party's mind, 16 workers making $2.50 per hour. I've been saying this for months. Their plan to lower unemployment is to abolish minimum wage. Then they can bring back the jobs they've farmed out to third world countres while making the United States one. If their goal is accomplished, non-union companies can start slashing wages of current employees who are making a fair wage and/or threaten their job security if they fight back with the ability of cheap labor. Do you think maybe this is the long term goal of all the union busting? Anyone who thinks it can't happen here isn't watching what this SCOTUS is doing.
Such a radical change would be unpopular, and the idea is so far from the American mainstream, there aren't any polls even asking the question. The problem is the current Teapublican Party doesn't care about what the American people want. They don't care if their position is unpopular. Look no further than Ayn Rand fan boy Paul Ryan's "bold and couragious" budget proposal. It screws future Medicare recipients and further slashes taxes for the wealthy while raising the debt! Teapublicans only care about their strict ideology
I wonder if others in the GOP field will go on the record supporting this as well? Or they'll just pull a Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI). Run on balancing the budget and then spend every waking moment destroying unions with the help of the billionaire Koch Brothers, or as I prefer, Koch-roaches. Meanwhile, the idiotic voters who elect these fascists because
"the gays are out to get them," are chanting, "U.S.A., U.S.A." like a bunch of indoctrinated zombies.
People need to put down their iPods and stop playing Warcraft and start paying attention to what the plutocrats are up too, damn it.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
New York Becomes 6th State to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage
MSNBC actually allowed "The Rachel Maddow Show" to run fourty minutes over it's normal 10PM conclusion last night to cover the New York state senate vote which legalized same-sex marriage in that state at approximately 10:30PM. It must also be noted that the NY state senate currently has a Republican majority. New York joins Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia where same-sex marriage is permitted. New Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) had made it clear that this legislation granting full and equal rights was a priority of his administration. He signed the measure at 11:55 p.m., less than an hour and a half after the vote. The law will go into effect in 30 days, meaning that same-sex couples could begin marrying in New York by late July. Evidently he's already evolved enough to understand that equality is equality. C'mon President Obama, you see how easy that was?
The powers that be at MSNBC must've had a tough call, cover a historical vote or switch to Lock-Up, their normal weekend programming which starts at 10PM on Fridays. I shouldn't pick on MSNBC too much, Faux Newz is still pretending it didn't happen. There was absolutely no live coverage from the "fair and balanced" network.
Very nicely done New York and congratulations!
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The powers that be at MSNBC must've had a tough call, cover a historical vote or switch to Lock-Up, their normal weekend programming which starts at 10PM on Fridays. I shouldn't pick on MSNBC too much, Faux Newz is still pretending it didn't happen. There was absolutely no live coverage from the "fair and balanced" network.
Very nicely done New York and congratulations!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Clarence Clemons Dead at 69
Clarence Clemons — the Big Man with the big horn of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band — died yesterday of complications from a stroke he suffered a week ago. He was 69.
Clemons, the group’s saxophonist was probably the most charismatic figure in The E Street Band's history, since even those of us who weren't devout fans knew who he was. Even Springsteen seemed to acknowledge this by always introducing Clemons last at concerts.
Statement from Bruce Springsteen:
Clemons, the group’s saxophonist was probably the most charismatic figure in The E Street Band's history, since even those of us who weren't devout fans knew who he was. Even Springsteen seemed to acknowledge this by always introducing Clemons last at concerts.
Statement from Bruce Springsteen:
“Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage.”
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Best New Thing ... Since 2008 Anyway
I'm a bit burned out by the craziness, but I thought this was a very nice gesture by the only consistantly competent commentator on the tv machine. I found it enjoyable to watch this "star" ridicule herself, while showing the artwork from some youngsters who called her out on her Sponge Bob error. I'm sure it was a huge deal for these kids. Very cool!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Weiner Succumbs to Media Circus Because, IOKIYAR
Rachel Maddow delivers a big F U to the Democrats in the nicest possible way:
"Congratulations, Democrats. In an era of unhinged, ideological, big money conservative media that is wholly and admittedly divorced from the precepts of journalism, in hounding Anthony Weiner into resigning ... you have just fed and unleashed this beast onto yourselves, probably for a generation."
I know, I know, but she's the best thing that has happened to our news media in at least 30 years. Democrats never learn. Because of this "let's take the high road" bs, we ended up with a dumb ass, selected by the SCOTUS to wreak havoc on us from 2001-2009. An era we may never recover from.
Meanwhile, Republicons operate under different rules. David Vitter, a Republican senator from Louisiana who was caught in the same sex scandal as Eliot Spitzer (Democratic NY governor forced to resign)in 2006 is still serving in the Senate even though he was making dates with hookers from the Senate floor. Oh, by the way, did I mention that this "family values" jackass liked to wear diapers and get spanked, presumably for being a bad boy? Meanwhile, he rails against same-sex marriage for couples who actually love each other and want to be in a committed relationship because in his mind, it's creepy. Freakin' douche bag.
I'm not condoning Anthony Weiner's actions, in fact it pisses me off because this guy was the best fighter for liberals/progressives and middle-class in the congress. He's a bigger disappointment than Clinton for liberals. Clinton ran to the right and gave us NAFTA, DOMA, and DADT. What did Weiner actually do? He sent some pics via twitter which as lame as it is, isn't illegal. If Teapublican Eric Canter had done this (although I'm guessing he's got nothing to show), the Republicans would've rallied around him, blamed the non-existent "liberal media" and the story would've disappeared within three days. However, self-righteous Democrats shoot our wounded, give an asinine story legs and allow, as Rachel basically said, feed and unleash a conservative media juggernaut that we'll be dealing with for years.
Will the Democrats ever learn to stand up to the GOP attack machine? I'm not hopeful.
*For non-Twitter folks, IOKIYAR is a hash tag which means "It's ok if you're a Republican."
"Congratulations, Democrats. In an era of unhinged, ideological, big money conservative media that is wholly and admittedly divorced from the precepts of journalism, in hounding Anthony Weiner into resigning ... you have just fed and unleashed this beast onto yourselves, probably for a generation."
I know, I know, but she's the best thing that has happened to our news media in at least 30 years. Democrats never learn. Because of this "let's take the high road" bs, we ended up with a dumb ass, selected by the SCOTUS to wreak havoc on us from 2001-2009. An era we may never recover from.
Meanwhile, Republicons operate under different rules. David Vitter, a Republican senator from Louisiana who was caught in the same sex scandal as Eliot Spitzer (Democratic NY governor forced to resign)in 2006 is still serving in the Senate even though he was making dates with hookers from the Senate floor. Oh, by the way, did I mention that this "family values" jackass liked to wear diapers and get spanked, presumably for being a bad boy? Meanwhile, he rails against same-sex marriage for couples who actually love each other and want to be in a committed relationship because in his mind, it's creepy. Freakin' douche bag.
I'm not condoning Anthony Weiner's actions, in fact it pisses me off because this guy was the best fighter for liberals/progressives and middle-class in the congress. He's a bigger disappointment than Clinton for liberals. Clinton ran to the right and gave us NAFTA, DOMA, and DADT. What did Weiner actually do? He sent some pics via twitter which as lame as it is, isn't illegal. If Teapublican Eric Canter had done this (although I'm guessing he's got nothing to show), the Republicans would've rallied around him, blamed the non-existent "liberal media" and the story would've disappeared within three days. However, self-righteous Democrats shoot our wounded, give an asinine story legs and allow, as Rachel basically said, feed and unleash a conservative media juggernaut that we'll be dealing with for years.
Will the Democrats ever learn to stand up to the GOP attack machine? I'm not hopeful.
*For non-Twitter folks, IOKIYAR is a hash tag which means "It's ok if you're a Republican."
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Olbermann Comments On Embarrassing Weiner Roasting
Keith Olbermann explains how Republicans and Democrats alike have embarrassed themselves over Anthony Weiner’s Twitter-revelations, and what Weiner should do next. This is a tough one. I love Weiner's fire, and I initially thought he shouldn't resign. The problem now is, the Democratic leadership has turned against him so this passionate voice of the people will not have the same affect. It's a shame.
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