Ronald Reagan remains the icon of modern conservatives, as slayer of the Evil Empire and restorer of American confidence and prosperity. But it is Kemp whose persona and message seem a better fit in an era in which voters want empathy, conservatives need some warm-bloodedness and fiscal conservatives need a reminder of why it is that we favor free markets. (Psst: It’s the freedom, which allows every individual to find fulfillment and personal expression according to his merit and character). Kemp was the ultimate big-tent man, making his case to anyone who would listen and devoted to broadening the reach of the Republican Party. As a passionate advocate for ending apartheid in South Africa, the defense of Israel and human rights everywhere, he understood the lamp of freedom should shine beyond the water’s edge.
In the Obama era, Kemp’s legacy is the perfect antidote to the grumpy, unimaginative and finger-wagging brand of conservatism and the scolds who want to purify the Republican Party. Kemp and his family who keeps his vision alive deserve our ongoing gratitude.
I give Mrs. Rubin credit, when she is right, she is right. I never thought much of the Republican Party establishment. I always thought they were too eager to fold to the other side. However, I will say this; Mitt Romney’s President bid failed, not because of Romney’s record. But because of the extremism of the grassroots on the right. Not to mention some of the nuanced racism, and not-so nuanced crap that is out there. Anyone who has watched a Sean Hannity show, knows what I am talking about.
This is why I walked away from the right. Because they seem to believe that imposing partisan Government upon organized labor is going to solve the Country’s problem. Which is crap. Globalism is what is killing our State and the rest of the Nation, not the unions. Jack Kemp would agree with that, I believe.
Again, Kudos to Rubin. She does know —- just like I do; that the GOP needs much work.
Least anyone should think that I have totally lost my mind, I present to you, one of the chief reasons why I was never a big fan of President Barack Obama.
Jazz Shaw, who once called me a “racist dickbag” for calling out one of Obama’s lapdogs; highlights one of the reasons why I am not a huge fan of the Obama wing of the Democratic Party:
The host of Up With Chris Hayes was holding court over a panel discussion on domestic energy issues, so since that’s pretty much my field I had decided to tune in. The initial discussion had roped in quite a bit of the usual disinformation on natural gas fracking (which appeared to draw heavily on “facts” from fabulist Josh Fox’s fictional propaganda piece, Gasland). There was one industry “advocate” included who I wasn’t familiar with, but she never seemed to manage to take a stand against any of the worst of the energy witch-hunt comments being thrown around, which led to my wandering off to fry up some scrapple and eggs. But then, just as Hayes was preparing to toss to a commercial break, one quote reached my ears which quickly dragged me back to the TV.
My sense is that the price of energy is too low at some level right now, and I want to talk about that right after we take this break.
The quote is a bit long, here, but as Jazz says, it is worth the read:
Chris Hayes: We’re talking about the massive, extractive energy boom happening in America right now and how it’s transforming our politics and how that can be made to work with a sane climate policy, which is really the difficult question. Before the break I left the question on the table about the price of energy being too low right now. Basically we see this massive amount of supply has come onto the grid thanks largely to natural gas. The price has come down, and I think we generally think, “Oh, lower prices are better.” But it seems to me there’s a lot of problematic stuff about the price coming down sharply as it is right now in terms of incentives for efficiency and et cetera.
Dan Dicker:You would want the prices to go up a lot because it would drive the next stage towards renewables, and make that at least cost-effective. Algae fuel, we talk a lot about that…
C.H.: Some people talk about that.
D.D.: Yeah. The cost is about eight and a half to nine dollars a gallon compared to gasoline as it is now. You want the prices to go up to make these a little more cost effective. Drive the technology into them. Unfortunately it’s actually going quite the opposite. You talk about increased supply here in the United States. In fact, overseas demand is dropping. We are still in the midst of an economic problem in Europe. Chinese growth is going down. Indian growth seems to be going down. In this country we’ve done better in terms of efficiencies and our demands are starting to drop, so in terms of what economically you can expect, you will expect the opposite, or at least I do over the next several years, that oil prices will in fact go lower. Natural gas you can – because we have a futures market, we look forward to the future and see what people are betting the price is going to be. That doesn’t go over 5$ an MCF until 2020 according to the futures markets. So although you might want… we have to drive the renewable argument some other way, because price doesn’t look like it’s going to do it.
Frances Beinecke: Look, the only thing that’s going to change that is if we finally put a price on carbon.
C.H.: Right.
F.B.: The externals of all the fossil fuel development are not incorporated in the current price, so the environmental effects, the health effects, the consequences to communities, none of that is factored in. We have to change that, get a price on carbon, drive it up so we can promote renewables and efficiencies first and foremost.
Jazz Shaw observes the obvious here:
And for what? On Hayes’ show he even admitted that the recent surge in natural gas usage has driven carbon based emissions down to the lowest levels seen in decades. But is that enough? No. It is not. Because somebody, somewhere is still burning hydrocarbon based fuels. And that’s got to be stopped, no matter the cost to the country.
Look, I’m not saying this is the most shocking thing Chris Hayes has ever done or said, nor that it even represents some sort of low point. (I highly doubt he’ll ever top his now famous moment when he decided he was uncomfortable referring to the Honored Dead as heroes.) But there is a repeating pattern here of media spokesmodels who seem to be so out of touch with the lives, concerns and challenges facing regular Americans that one wonders if they ever leave Manhattan. And you should be disturbed by this, because there are still people who listen. Some of them even vote in Congress.
Which explains why I am not a huge fan of the far left in this Country — or in this case Chris Hayes. Because the far-left in this Country believes that we should punish anyone who does not want to pursue an agenda of renewable energy. I believe this to be wrong; not because I am some sort of shill for the big oil companies or anything sill like that. But rather because I happen to know that when you start punishing people in their wallets, they are going to be less inclined to vote for you. Renewable energy is nowhere near mass production levels at all. It is still being tested.
Now as for how this jives with my departure from the so-called “Conservative” movement; I will say this: The Conservatives have some really good ideas on fiscal policy and some of their social polices are nice too. The problem is that they seem to believe that imposing big partisan Government regulations on those who choose to organize and demand that companies respect their rights. This is just something that I cannot agree with at all. I am, after all, a comment sense type of a person, who does believe in limited Government, at all levels. This is why I turned away from the Conservative movement, for the time being. I hope they come around and get off of the extremist stupidity that has sprung up since Obama took office.
Now, as for the far-left: The reason why I really just do not get into the idiotic stuff, like this here; is because it is simply out of touch with the rest of the World. The idea that we should punish people, is just not cool in my book.
Hopefully, that all makes sense; it does to me. I am not a partisan person. I am about common sense and there seems to be a bit of a lack of that, on both sides.
Prayer for this man, he stood against injustice and for that, I admire him.
(Reuters) – Former South African president Nelson Mandela spent a second day in a Pretoria military hospital on Sunday for medical tests and the government said the anti-apartheid leader’s condition was comfortable.
President Jacob Zuma visited the 94-year-old, according to an official statement. It provided no other details of the health of South Africa’s first black president, who came to power after historic all-race elections in 1994.
On Saturday, Zuma’s office said there was no cause for alarm and that the medical treatment Mandela was receiving in the military hospital in the capital was “consistent with his age”.
It figures, union busting asshat Scott Walker, like most Republicans, wants to take voting rights away from others. But, has no problem letting his son register on the same day to vote:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) may find same-day voter registration inefficient, but his son apparently finds it quite convenient.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Matt Walker, a freshman at Marquette University, went to vote in Wauwatosa for the presidential election and registered while at the polls. A witness at the polling place said the governor accompanied his son.
Wisconsin has had same-day registration since 1976. But at a recent speech in California, Walker said he would like to get rid of this law, citing the burden it placed on poll workers.
“States across the country that have same-day registration have real problems because the vast majority of their states have poll workers who are wonderful volunteers, who work 13-hour days and who in most cases are retirees,” he said. “It’s difficult for them to handle the volume of people who come at the last minute. It’d be much better if registration was done in advance of election day. It’d be easier for our clerks to handle that. All that needs to be done.”
Poll workers and election clerks have disputed Walker’s characterization of same-day registration, and on Wednesday, he walked back his remarks.
“This is a ridiculous issue. My priority is about jobs, creating jobs,” he told reporters. He did not, however, specify whether he would still sign a repeal bill if it came to his desk from the GOP-controlled legislature.
The left photo is the logo for UAW local 22 in Detroit, which is my Father’s local.
The center is a 1950’s Cadillac which was taken in the plant at the Clark street plant in southwest Detroit sometime in the 1950’s.
The left is the UAW logo.
Please, do not get me wrong; I am all for businesses and capitalism. But when Republicans begin to embrace fascism, which is what this little move by Governor Snyder was, that is when I have to sign off.
I still consider myself an Independent voter; and this Indy’s vote is up for grabs come 2014 and 2016.
When the Conservative movement and the Republican Party want to come back to reality; we’ll talk. Till then, they can go jump in the lake.
I am my Father’s son and I will not sit idly by and allow some crony capitalists and corporatist pigs screw him over. Not in this lifetime.
Emails that attorneys representing a defendant in the BP oil spill case plan to introduce in February show for the first time that the oil company knew the massive scale of the 2010 blowout in the Gulf of Mexico weeks earlier than previously disclosed.
BP has long maintained that it provided full disclosure to the public and the federal government about its knowledge of the spill’s extent and did so promptly. The emails suggest otherwise.
BP has said in the past that it learned of the spill’s full extent months after the April 2010 blowout. But the emails indicate that the company knew almost immediately after the drilling rig exploded, killing 11 workers and injuring 17, that the spill may be extraordinarily large.
BP pleaded guilty in mid-November to more than a dozen felony charges related to the spill, including lying to Congress about the size of the leak, as part of a wide-ranging deal settling the company’s corporate criminal liability. Justice Department officials said a probe of individual criminal activity related to the spill is ongoing and may result in more indictments.
Alternative headline: “Somebody really, really, really, really, really, really, wants to go to jail so bad!” I mean, free meals, free bed, group showers. Hey, it beats living in the streets. The complimentary forced anal sex might be a bit rough, but you take the good with the bad. 😆 😀 😛 😯
If you cannot be safe in the parking lot of Rikers Island, America is in some deep trouble and we are seriously screwed. 🙄
From a thief’s point of view, the place had a lot of potential.
It was big, with lots of room to work. Rows and rows of cars that almost certainly contained valuables left behind by their owners, more so than on a normal city street. What was more, the cars were almost guaranteed to be unattended for at least two or three hours while the owners were away.
The location’s only drawback: it was the parking lot for visitors to Rikers Island. At the other end of a long bridge sat the huge jail complex that held the inmates these drivers were visiting. That must deter many potential thieves.
But not all.
It was Oct. 7, a Sunday, typically a busy day when family members who cannot come on a weekday find time to visit.
One of them was Ailsa Williams, 39. She was going to see her son, whose name and crime she declined to share in an interview. She had been visiting for months and was prepared for the long day ahead, beginning with this parking lot.
“There aren’t enough spots,” Ms. Williams said. “The ones that are there aren’t outlined properly.” The lot is irregularly shaped, sort of a triangle. The broad end is occupied by an administrative office in a trailer. Below it are narrowing rows of parking spots, ending in the tip, where she found a spot.
She did something no right-thinking New Yorker would normally do elsewhere. She left all her things in the car.
This is so typical of the propaganda wing of the Republican Party:
Michigan Republicans touched off a firestorm Thursday with an abrupt push to pass right-to-work legislation, in what would be a blow to organized labor in the home of the U.S. auto industry.
Right-to-work legislation prohibits unions from forcing workers to pay union dues. Unions and their Democratic allies adamantly oppose these laws — but with little warning, Michigan Republicans on Thursday laid the groundwork to, in a matter of days, make their state the 24th with right-to-work legislation.
“This is all about taking care of the hard-working workers in Michigan, being pro-worker and giving them freedom to make choices,” Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said. “The goal isn’t to divide Michigan, it is to bring Michigan together.”
The votes Thursday, though, drew hundreds of union-tied protesters to the capital, some of whom were pepper-sprayed by police when they tried to storm the Senate chamber
I did notice for a while, after the Bush Administration that Fox News Channel had gotten away from the propagandizing for the Republican Party. However it seems that they are back to doing that once again. For the record, the Union members are sticking up for their rights, given to them by the Government to collectively bargain and organize, if they should see fit to do so.
This is war, and I just picked my side. Republican corporatist assholes, you all want a war with organized labor? You just got yourselves one and you picked the wrong city to invade and try to bust up the unions. I might not be formally in a union, and I might not agree 100% with all the political stances involved with the unions. However, when you start invading my Father’s right to collectively bargain, or in layman’s terms, to keep what he rightfully earned, after working 31 years for the same company —- you and me are going to have a serious problem. 😡
To do what Fox News Channel and Network is doing is borderline Nazi Fascist or Soviet style propaganda, it is anti-american and President Obama needs to step up and ask the FCC to inquire whether Fox News is breaking any laws about disseminating any anti-American propaganda or not.
Again, this is about family and this….is war. 😡
I voted for a Governor, who promised to bring leadership to Michigan, after a Democratic Party Governor fails and what the hell does he do? He pulls some extremist crap like this here? I do not think so; this is war and I just decided that I no longer wish to be associated with his ilk any longer. I gave the Republicans and the Conservatives a chance, but they seem to be bound and determined to push people like me away. So, screw them, let them push me away. I will fight the good fight and they can go count their money.
Because sooner or later, the law catches up with you.
A Dallas grand jury has brought charges against Anonymous spokesman Barrett Brown stemming from the 2011 hack of intelligence vendor Stratfor Global Intelligence.
Brown isn’t charged with committing the hack; just with possessing and transmitting credit card numbers that were stolen in the incident.
He has been in prison since he was arrested in dramatic and public fashion three months ago after posting a threatening video to YouTube. Brown was talking with acquaintances during a Sept. 12 TinyChat session when the feds burst in and took him away. The chat session was later posted to the internet.
The Anonymous spokesman was charged the next day with threatening a federal officer.
This time the charges are are related to a different incident: the 2011 Stratfor hack where credit card numbers and internal e-mail messages were stolen.
According to the grand jury indictment, dated Tuesday, Brown posted a link to a zipped version of the documents stolen in the Stratfor hack on Christmas day 2011 — that counts as trafficking in “stolen authentication features,” the indictment claims. He’s also charged with possessing stolen credit card numbers, Card Verification Values, and other information related to those credit card numbers.
Unless you consider logging into their public IRC chat network as “doing something with them.” I went there, very much a hard leftist sort of a group. Which is, honestly, really not my thing. In fact, on the Anonops network’s “Newblood” channel there was someone who gave me a hand with setting up Linux Mint 14 on Oracle VM Virtual Box, which really does work well. Before anyone panics, I checked, it was an legit ISO and the system works great on this laptop.
Anyhow, this dude is going up the river for a long time. I feel sorry for his Mother; I mean the dude freaked out and was trying to protect his Mom. Something I know very well about. I am quite protective of my Mother and Father too. He did that, and is now going to have pay the piper. This is why I never got involved with anything illegal, internet or otherwise. Because the law always catches up with you. The Wheels of justice turn slow, but they do turn. If you are a lawbreaker, and the Government decides your number is up, its all over but the court case and crying in jail then. If you are not well off, you are done. As my uncle (Dad’s youngest brother) found out back in the 1990’s. He fell into hard times, start dealing blow and weed; wanted to make some quick money. One of his friends, got busted for possession with intent to distribute and of course, he sung like a yellow canary and they nailed my uncle, big time.
He pulled 15 years in prison for it too. This is why I keep my nose clean. Because jail sucks. I have never been there and I do not intend to go there, if I can at all help it!
(Reuters) – The proposed Michigan “right-to-work” law will not apply to existing union contracts, a leading sponsor of the proposal said on Friday, which may blunt its immediate impact on the huge auto industry in the state.
Michigan Republicans pushed through the state legislature on Thursday a law making the payment of union dues voluntary in the private sector. The state Senate also voted to apply this to the public sector except for police and fire unions.
Republican lawmakers, who hold majorities in both chambers of the legislature, could give final approval to the laws on Tuesday and Republican Governor Rick Snyder could immediately sign them, Amber McCann, spokeswoman for state Senate Majority Leader Richard Richardville, said on Friday.
“Right-to-work” could be signed into law within a week in the cradle of the U.S. auto industry, a stunning blow to organized labor in the United States.
The law would actually take effect at the end of March, Richardville said on Thursday.
But the legislation has a so-called “grandfather” clause exempting existing union contracts until they expire, said Republican state Senator Arlan Meekhoff, a sponsor of the plan.
[…]
“I don’t think this will hurt the UAW with the (Detroit automakers) as much as it will hurt unions trying to organize nonunion companies in Michigan,” Schwartz said.
Just the same, the whole idea of Government essentially blocking Union organizing rights is asinine. Which is why I no longer will be supporting the Republican Party.
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