The data we should all know by heart.

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Wednesday February 23, 2011 · 6:50 PM PST

2011/02/23 · 18:50

I've been visiting often the past few days and, except for a tiny mention on the front page, haven't seen this get much play here. Mother Jones -- and I can't give them enough kudos for putting this together -- recently published a series of charts, gleaned from CBO and other reputable data sources, that completely and utterly pierces the capitalist wealth-maximization (trickle-down) conservative economic myth that has dominated economic legislation over the past thirty years. While we have been told over and over again that we are all going to benefit from those policy enactments, this data proves the lie. It shows just how far conservative economic policy dominance -- and, sad to say, Democratic Party capitulation -- has pushed us back to the days before the American worker had any pro-worker regulations to defend. Of course, given what's happening in Wisconsin and elsewhere this month, this data couldn't be more timely.

The data, some commentary, and a fun little trouncing-of-an-ideological-capitalist made so much easier by these charts... below the fold.

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Will the data in these charts help you kick some capitalist ideologue ass?

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Will the data in these charts help you kick some capitalist ideologue ass?

Yes

6 votes

5 votes

Cake

2 votes

To the Democratic Party: "You're a bear"

FedUpDan

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Monday November 15, 2010 · 12:30 PM PST

2010/11/15 · 12:30

Trent: You know what you are? You're like a big bear with claws and with fangs.
Sue: Big f_cking teeth, man.
Trent: Yeah. Big f_ckin' teeth on ya. And she's just like this little bunny, who's just kinda cowering in the corner.
Sue: Shivering.
Trent: Yeah, man just kinda... you know, you got these claws and you're staring at these claws and your thinking to yourself, and with these claws you're thinking, "How am I supposed to kill this bunny, how am I supposed to kill this bunny?"
Sue: And you're poking at it, you're poking at it.
Trent: Yeah, you're not hurting it. You're just kinda gently batting the bunny around, you know what I mean? And the bunny's scared Mike, the bunny's scared of you, shivering.
Sue: And you got these f_cking claws and these fangs.
Trent: And you got these f_cking claws and these fangs, man! And you're looking at your claws and you're looking at your fangs. And you're thinking to yourself, you don't know what to do, man. "I don't know how to kill the bunny." With *this* you don't know how to kill the bunny, do you know what I mean?

Swingers (1996)

FedUpDan

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Tuesday June 22, 2010 · 12:56 PM PDT

2010/06/22 · 12:56

So... Has anyone actually read the Rolling Stone story, end-to-end? The real story here is not about whether or not a subordinate said on the record that Obama seemed unprepared for one freakin' meeting, or that an aide to that subordinate childishly and humorlessly rephrased Biden's surname as "Bite Me."

The real story here is so very much bigger than whether or not Asshat McChrystal is going to be fired for criticizing the President. I have found at least eight -- EIGHT! -- examples of more important stories, below the fold.

FedUpDan

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Sunday May 23, 2010 · 10:06 PM PDT

2010/05/23 · 22:06

This is going to be a short diary because the dynamics here are pretty simple, in my view. Yahoo! News is currently featuring a story on the homepage that should never have come to be. Take a look:

PALIN ACCUSES OBAMA OF BEING IN BED WITH BIG OIL

Right-wing darling Sarah Palin accused US President Barack Obama on Sunday of being lax in his response to the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster and suggested this was because he is too close to Big Oil.

[snip]

More than 3.5 million dollars has been given to candidates by BP over the last 20 years, with the largest single donation, 77,051 dollars, going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Palin suggested this close relationship explained why Obama was, "taking so doggone long to get in there, to dive in there, and grasp the complexity and the potential tragedy that we are seeing here in the Gulf of Mexico."

FedUpDan

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Wednesday April 21, 2010 · 12:10 PM PDT

2010/04/21 · 12:10

CONTEXT: The Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Stevens has been reported fairly extensively on the front page. This diary picks up where that left off, offering some (mercifully) brief analysis of the myopic legal reasoning behind the majority opinion (cross-posted at HERE.am). Thanks to Adam B for the front page diary, which has substantially shortened the research time required to write this diary.

Robert Stevens, animal torture profiteer, has won.

**UPDATE: Hey everyone, great discussion in the comments section. I just want to stress to newcomers and existing commenters alike that the law that's been struck down focused on commercial distribution and possession with intent to sell. Hence my contention that this is not actually a free speech issue at all.**

Poll

86 votes Show Results

Has justice carried the day in United States v. Stevens?

86 votes Vote Now!

Has justice carried the day in United States v. Stevens?

Yes.

41 votes

No.

45 votes

Republican Response to the SOTU -- STFU Edition (transcript)

FedUpDan

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Thursday January 28, 2010 · 12:34 AM PST

2010/01/28 · 00:34

Good evening. I’m Bob McDonnell. Eleven days ago I was honored to be sworn in as the 71st governor of Virginia.

I’m standing in the historic House Chamber of Virginia’s Capitol, a building designed by Virginia’s second governor, Thomas Jefferson.

FedUpDan

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Monday June 29, 2009 · 2:35 PM PDT

2009/06/29 · 14:35

(Cross-posted at www.HERE.am)

Last week some people gathered outside my work building to voice their dissatisfaction with some of Mayor Bloomberg's budget priorities. One of their gripes: Millions of dollars for a new scoreboard at Yankee Stadium, but zero for some select programs that assist the poor. That kind of thing.

They were raucous and loud. They chanted. They marched. They often blocked the sidewalk. Not a police officer or law enforcement monitor in sight. And that's fine.

Today there was another protest outside my work building. Only this time, it was extremely quiet, not blocking the sidewalk, 100% peaceful and orderly. Not a single disruptive action to speak of.

But something else was different too: Less than ten feet away and directly facing the protesters, a few police officers stood silently and menacingly.

The message was clear for this group of protesters:

We're watching. Just give us an excuse.

FedUpDan

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Monday June 01, 2009 · 9:51 AM PDT

2009/06/01 · 09:51

As you all know, George Tiller, a prominent doctor and abortion provider in Kansas, was shot and killed by an anti-abortion activist yesterday. By all sane accounts he was a wonderful man.

President Obama’s reaction:

I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence.

United States Attorney General Eric Holder has called Tiller’s killing "an abhorrent act of violence." I agree. But Obama's and Holder's statements also reflect a disastrous failure to appreciate the fervent anti-abortion position, to our continued peril.

FedUpDan

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Monday December 01, 2008 · 4:32 PM PST

2008/12/01 · 16:32

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.

So says Upton Sinclair, according to Paul Krugman and Wikipedia.

As it turns out, all of our salaries — our livelihoods — within modern culture depend upon thievery. We buy and sell land, "commodities," and, most abominably, other living creatures, without wondering what exactly it is that makes these things ours to buy and sell.

It can’t be money that gives us right of ownership — after all, we had to act upon a presumed right of ownership regarding non-owned resources just to be able to print the damn money to begin with. Non-monetary forms of wealth encounter the same problem (among others). What is it, then?

FedUpDan

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Friday October 03, 2008 · 9:30 AM PDT

2008/10/03 · 09:30

For those of you sleeping under a rock on the moon, the Vice Presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin happened last night. As usual, various media outlets play the post-debate fact check game.

And, as usual, the piss-poor quality of the traditional corporate media's "fact-checking" stands in stark contrast to that of independent -- and, who'd've thunk it, liberal -- media like ThinkProgress .

In the most stunning example of false equivalence I have seen to date, the AP "fact-checks" Palin alongside Biden, without naming a single misstatement of the truth on Biden's part. Behold the AP's stunning idea of fact-checking a Democrat, below the fold.

FedUpDan

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Thursday September 18, 2008 · 3:34 PM PDT

2008/09/18 · 15:34

Click here to have a listen.

Unfortunately, the quality of the article’s text lags far behind the audio in terms of their respective power to enlighten. For example, writer Brandon Keim ends the article with this gem of a thought:

What does it matter if a habitat vanishes, or changes in some basic way? Does it matter if animals in one region die out, so long as they exist in another? Or if a species goes extinct, so long as a few remain in zoos? Maybe it doesn’t matter. The answers aren’t obvious. [emphasis mine]

FedUpDan

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Monday September 15, 2008 · 11:59 AM PDT

2008/09/15 · 11:59

According to an article in the NY Times, some important folks apparently think that AIG is "financially sound," despite the failure of its "rescue plan."

You may be asking yourself, "How can this be?" Normally, sound companies don't require rescue plans, let alone "crumbled" ones. For the answer, let's go to NY Governor David Paterson. Take it away, David:

...

Okay, so he didn't give an answer. But he did tell us some other stuff:

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The data we should all know by heart.

To the Democratic Party: "You're a bear"

The REAL McChrystal story

Palin accuses Obama of "Big Oil" corruption

A Supreme failure, a victory for animal torturers (updated)

Republican Response to the SOTU -- STFU Edition (transcript)

A Tale of Two Protests

Progressives add fuel to the anti-abortion fire

The Saving; or, A Word with Upton Sinclair

AP drags Biden down into Palin's muck.

Soundscapes of dying (or dead) places past

AIG and Reflexive Borrowing