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Legalized Bribery

Sunday, February 16, 2014

I know that the Citizens United decision happened over four years ago and has already done immense damage to our political system, but I fear that we ain’t seen nothing yet. According to the NY Times:

This election year will be the moment when individual candidate super PACs — a form of legalized bribery — become a truly toxic force in American politics. The giant ideological super PACs formed by political operatives like Karl Rove spent hundreds of millions in 2012, but didn’t produce the conservative revolution demanded by the big donors. So now the torrent of cash is heading toward smaller groups set up to promote a single candidate or, more often, to trash that candidate’s opponent.

Is there anything we can do? I’m not sure. Bills have been introduced into Congress to fix this problem, including the Empowering Citizen’s Act, but given that most Republicans think Citizens United was a good thing, I’m not sure that they will have much chance of passage anytime soon.

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Late Night Political Humor

Sunday, February 16, 2014

“In spite of being a terrible game, the Super Bowl was the most watched TV event in history. So apparently it’s true — if we do start televising executions, people will watch.” –Jay Leno

“The Broncos got beaten really bad — and we still won’t know until we find the black box exactly what went wrong.” – David Letterman

“With all the hoopla over the Super Bowl, did you know Sunday was Groundhog Day? What happened was the groundhog saw his shadow and then kept watching it. He thought it would be more exciting than watching that stupid Super Bowl.” –Jay Leno

“So we have the Broncos, and Jay Leno is leaving the “Tonight Show” — what a week for turnovers, huh?” – David Letterman

“People were partying in Seattle on Sunday night after the game. They were singing, they were laughing, they were hugging complete strangers, dancing in the streets. Basically, the same thing they’ve done every night in Seattle since they legalized marijuana.” – Jay Leno

“People are worried that Sochi in Russia is not ready for the Olympics. They have a mall there where the only store that’s currently open is a Cinnabon – or as Americans refer to it, a mall that caters to all of our needs.” – Conan O’Brien

“Facebook is 10 years old today. You know who else is celebrating a birthday today? Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles. Facebook and Los Angeles are very different. One was considered cool a long time ago but is still a good place to waste time with fake friends — and the other one is Facebook.” – Craig Ferguson

“Actually, Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook. He was a 19-year-old student in a hoodie. Now he’s a 29-year-old billionaire in a hoodie.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“More than anyone, Mark Zuckerberg revolutionized the way we avoid doing work in this country.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Hillary Clinton is encouraging Hispanic families to read to their kids. She’s also telling Asian families to ease up on the math so the rest of us can catch up.” – Conan O’Brien

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Out of Thin Air

Saturday, February 15, 2014

The group Americans for Prosperity — funded by the Koch brothers — is taking heat for several deceptive negative campaign ads they are running.

In Louisiana, they are running attack ads against Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu. The ad features a number of people who appear to be Louisiana residents, receiving letters telling them that their health care policy has been cancelled because of the Affordable Care Act. But the people shown are not from Louisiana. In fact, they are paid actors.

Likewise in Alaska, Americans for Prosperity is running an ad featuring a woman who purports to be an Alaskan voter. The woman criticizes Alaska Senator Mark Begich (a Democrat of course). But you might have seen this woman’s face before, because she is actress Connie Bowman, who regularly appears in print ads for various products.

I guess the Koch Brothers believe that getting someone elected is no different than selling a product.

Why are they hiring actors? Can’t they find any real voters who don’t like Obamacare? Apparently not. Pretty much all of the Obamacare “horror stories” have been quickly debunked.

So why are are they getting so desperate. According to Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post “Oh dear. The Republican Party’s worst nightmare is coming true. Obamacare is working.” The number of people signing up for Obamacare is increasing steadily, and in January for the first time exceeded expectations.

But the Republicans have all but bet their future on campaigning against Obamacare. They would do pretty much anything to sabotage it.

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Not for Profit???

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Remember how I reported that NFL commissioner Roger Godell took home $29 million dollars in salary?

It is actually worse than that. According to NFL tax returns, in the 12 month span that ended March 31, 2013, Goodell earned $44.2 million in compensation.

Their head lawyer earned $7.86 million (with an additional $1.23 million in deferred compensation), and their executive VP came in at $4.24 million (with another $527 thousand deferred).

The NFL may have non-profit status, but their head honchos are sure making a lot of profit off of it. Somebody is making up for the taxes they don’t pay, and that somebody is you.

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The New Monopolies

Friday, February 14, 2014

Mike Stanfill
© Mike Stanfill

It is no coincidence that immediately after federal courts invalidated the FCC’s rules enforcing network neutrality (which means that your ISPs can discriminate against any content that competes with them, or which they simply don’t like), that Comcast announces that they are paying billions of dollars to acquire Time Warner Cable. The death of network neutrality gives them the ability to extort as much money as they want from you, the internet consumer. But first they have to eliminate their main competition.

How bad is Comcast acquiring Time Warner? Even business friendly Bloomberg news says that it will be bad for America:

The reason this deal is scary is that for the vast majority of businesses in 19 of the 20 largest metropolitan areas in the country, their only choice for a high-capacity wired connection will be Comcast. Comcast, in turn, has its own built-in conflicts of interest: It will be serving the interests of its shareholders by keeping investments in its network as low as possible — in particular, making no move to provide the world-class fiber-optic connections that are now standard and cheap in other countries — and extracting as much rent as it can, in all kinds of ways. Comcast, for purposes of today’s public , is calling itself a “cable company.” It no longer is. Comcast sells infrastructure subject to neither competition nor a cop on the beat.

For a country attempting to compete on the global stage, this is a problem. It’s time to recognize that industrial policy — true leadership, the kinds of initiatives that brought us the federal highway system and national electrification — is called for. If regulating these guys is too difficult, let’s allow mayors to build alternative fiber-optic networks such as the one in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that has lured businesses and spurred economic growth. We can’t allow our future to be captured by the short-term cash flow desires of Comcast’s investors.

If all of this sounds technical, try this: We’re all the people of Fort Lee, New Jersey, trying to get on the George Washington Bridge. There’s a bully narrowing our access to the world whose interests aren’t aligned with ours. What we need is for that bridge to be maintained, for traffic to flow and for the bully to get punched in the nose, collectively, by the entire country. Let’s be clear: This is old-school monopolistic behavior.

It is time to contact our representatives and insist that we get a law protecting network neutrality and eliminating this new kind of monopoly in our increasingly important technology infrastructure.

UPDATE: Comcast has given millions of dollars to the members of Congress who are supposed to responsible for the FCC. As we always say, follow the money!

UPDATE 2: Michael Copps, who was an FCC commissioner from 2001 until 2011, says that the Comcast merger with Time Warner is a terrible idea and that the merger would “run roughshod over consumers in the end.” And he should know, since he watched similar mergers create monsters out of News Corp (owner of Fox News) and Clear Channel (home of Rush Limbaugh and many other conservative talk radio shows). But according to Copps, the worst consolidation by far was the Comcast merger with NBCUniversal. Copps was the only commissioner to vote against that merger.

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Late Night Political Humor – Superbowl edition

Friday, February 14, 2014

“Did you all see that game yesterday? Was that the worst Super Bowl ever? It was 43 to 8. The Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet was more competitive than that.” – Jay Leno

“With all the hoopla over the Super Bowl, did you know Sunday was Groundhog Day? What happened was the groundhog saw his shadow and then kept watching it. He thought it would be more exciting than watching that stupid Super Bowl.” – Jay Leno

“The final score was 43-8. At least that’s what people told me when I woke up.” – David Letterman

“How about that Super Bowl? Some of you may expect me to make jokes about the Broncos. I won’t do that. To me it’s just beating a dead horse.” – Craig Ferguson

“Let’s talk about the big game yesterday. The Seahawks beat the Broncos 43-8. The Broncos are blaming it on a traffic study.” – David Letterman

“Poor Broncos. Experts said they haven’t seen something crushed like that in New Jersey since Chris Christie’s beanbag chair.” – Craig Ferguson

“While he was at the game, Governor Chris Christie was up to his old tricks. It turns out he blocked three lines at the concession stand.” – Jay Leno

“The Broncos couldn’t move the ball. The last time I saw a Bronco going that slow, OJ was driving it through L.A.” – Jay Leno

“On Saturday before the Super Bowl, Peyton Manning received the NFL’s MVP award for the season. Yeah, unfortunately it was immediately intercepted by a Seahawk.” – Conan O’Brien

“The Broncos looked so bad, even the L.A. Lakers said, ‘This is kind of embarrassing to watch.’ Peyton Manning had such a bad night that Tim Tebow said, ‘I could have done that.'” – Craig Ferguson

“Well done, Seattle. I think they needed this to cement their reputation. Before last night, the meanest guy from Seattle was ‘Frasier’.” – Craig Ferguson

“It wasn’t much of a Super Bowl game. The Seahawks beat the Broncos 43-8. You know how after the game the winning players go to Disney World? Some of the Seahawks went halfway through the third quarter.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“In spite of being a terrible game, the Super Bowl was the most watched TV event in history. So apparently it’s true — if we do start televising executions, people will watch.” – Jay Leno

“People were partying in Seattle on Sunday night after the game. They were singing, they were laughing, they were hugging complete strangers, dancing in the streets. Basically, the same thing they’ve done every night in Seattle since they legalized marijuana.” –Jay Leno

“The Broncos got beaten really bad — and we still won’t know until we find the black box exactly what went wrong.” –David Letterman

“So we have the Broncos, and Jay Leno is leaving the “Tonight Show” — what a week for turnovers, huh?” –David Letterman

“The Super Bowl was on Fox, so the traditional pre-game sit-down with President Obama went to Bill O’Reilly. The interview got off to a rocky start. O’Reilly asked Obama, ‘Where you were born was football played with your feet?’ And it went downhill from there.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“At the end of the interview O’Reilly said he thinks Obama’s ‘heart is in the right place.’ What does that mean? That’s basically saying that I don’t think he’s destroying America intentionally.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Yesterday, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea admitted the band faked playing during the Super Bowl. In his defense, so did the Broncos.” – Conan O’Brien

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Late Night Political Humor

Thursday, February 13, 2014

“This week in New Orleans, Hillary Clinton said she still doesn’t know if she’s running for president in 2016. Isn’t that unbelievable? With 315 million Americans, what are the odds she’s the only one in the country who doesn’t know she’s running for president in 2016?” – Jay Leno

“Joe Biden said that Hillary Clinton’s decision to run for president won’t affect his decision to launch a campaign. While Hillary says Biden’s decision to run for president won’t affect her becoming president.” – Jimmy Fallon

“When Sunday’s Super Bowl is finished, it will be followed by the Republican rebuttal.” – David Letterman

“The Super Bowl this year will be played in Governor Chris Christie’s home state of New Jersey. It’s a state that lately has gotten used to 300-pound guys blocking things.” – Conan O’Brien

“Poor Atlanta… what a thing they went through…drivers were stranded, traffic was at a standstill and everyone was asking the same question : ‘What did we do to piss off Chris Christie?'” – Bill Maher

“Once again, President Obama will grant an interview to a journalist from the network broadcasting the Super Bowl. The game is on Fox this year, so Bill O’Reilly will do the interview. I’m taking O’Reilly with the points.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Ted Cruz already is calling Obama the ‘Imperial President,’ which he sees as a threat to his title, ‘Supreme Asshole.'” – Bill Maher

“It was a tough week to be black in America. Obama’s speech got the lowest ratings in 15 years; a white guy won all the rap awards at the Grammys and the Real Housewives of Atlanta were found frozen to death.” – Bill Maher

“The ratings were very low for the president’s State of the Union address. I think I know why the ratings were low — because it’s the State of the Union address, that’s why. Next year it will be presented by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.” – David Letterman

“One congressman brought with him as his guest to the State of the Union the duck dynasty guy. Wild guess which party. It was Republican Congressman from Louisiana Vance McAllister. When asked why he said, swear to God, ‘I wanted to bring some diversity to our nation’s capital.’ Yes, affirmative action for rednecks! This is what this nation needs. When will white people get a seat at the table in this country?” – Bill Maher

“It seems like every week we get introduced to some new frothing lunatic who’s actually in Congress, and this week it was Michael Grimm. He’s a Republican from Gold’s Gym, I’m sorry Staten Island. His hobbies are lifting weights and losing his temper. He was being interviewed after the State of the Union by some reporter, and apparently got pissed off and threatned to throw the reporter off the balcony, and said to him, ‘I will break you in half like a boy.’ Which sounds to me more Fire Island than Staten Island.” – Bill Maher

“The President gave a great State of the Union address. President said we must stay vigilant against foreign threats – and yet – Justin Bieber remains a free man.” – Bill Maher

“A petition to have Justin Bieber deported got over 100,000 signatures, which means the White House now has to legally rule on it. So finally a chance for Obama to issue an executive order that both Republicans and Democrats can agree on.” – Jay Leno

“House Republicans unveiled a new plan that would allow undocumented immigrants to become citizens if they learn about American history. Which will be great, because then they can teach it to Americans.” –Jimmy Fallon

“New Rule: Now that liberals have forwarded their agenda by inserting a mass gay wedding into the Grammys, conservatives must match them tit-for-tat by having a mass shooting at the Country Music Awards.” – Bill Maher

“New Rule: If polls show we now live in an America that can accept gay marriage and legal marijuana it’s time we knocked over the next social domino – puritanism – especially as it pertains to our elected leaders. Let’s stop being a nation of grade school prudes about adult consensual sex and accept that politicians aren’t boy scouts – that’s just a costume they wear on Grindr.” – Bill Maher

“NSA leaker Edward Snowden was just nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. When Snowden asked where he could pick up the award, the organizers said, ‘Um, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.'” – Jimmy Fallon

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Late Night Political Humor

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

“Last night of course was the State of the Union address, and during his speech, President Obama promised to focus on economic growth, education, and healthcare. Or as people tuning in put it, ‘Oh crap, it’s a rerun.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“How many of you folks watched the State of the Union speech last night? How many of you watched just for the commercials?” – David Letterman

“As you know, President Obama gave his State of the Union address last night. Obama says he wants to give ‘America a raise’. He’s just waiting, of course, for final approval from China. As soon as they say it’s OK, then we’ll move ahead.” – Jay Leno

“President Obama asked that Americans pitch in and help those who are most down on their luck — like the Lakers. I think he mentioned them by name.” – Jay Leno

“Immediately after the State of the Union address, Joe Theisman delivered the Prostate of the Union.” – David Letterman

“The president said that unemployment is dropping, but critics claim it doesn’t include people who have left the workforce. How about people who were asked to leave the workforce like me? Are we included in that?” – Jay Leno

“At last night’s State of the Union address, President Obama renewed his call for a path to citizenship for illegal aliens. Yeah, that was popular. Even more popular, though, was his roadblock to citizenship for Justin Bieber. That went over huge.” – Conan O’Brien

“Justin Bieber was booked for assault for an incident that happened in December. Boy, this kid is on a real crime spree. He’s become a menace to society. I liked him better when he was just a menace to music.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“By the way, when you have Justin Bieber and Rob Ford in the same place, it’s like Gotham City getting attacked by the Joker and the Penguin at once.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“In anticipation of the Winter Olympics, a female curling champion released some sexy photos of herself curling in lingerie. When asked for comment, Americans said they’re still not going to watch curling.” – Conan O’Brien

“The mayor of Sochi is now saying that there are no gay people in Sochi. So the only thing that is flaming over there now is the Olympic torch.” – David Letterman

“It seems that England’s royal family is running out of money. They are down to just $1.6 million. Well sure, that’s what happens when nobody in your family has had a job for the last thousand years.” – Jay Leno

“Oprah Winfrey is 60 years old today. All federal offices and banks are closed.” – David Letterman

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Late Night Political Humor

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

“Earlier tonight President Obama gave his State of the Union address. Or, as Fox News called it, ‘Lame Duck Dynasty’.” – Jay Leno

“You see president’s State of the Union address earlier tonight? Oh man, it’s the last pointless event until the Super Bowl.” – David Letterman

“The first address broadcast live on TV by a president was given by Harry Truman in 1947, and since then it’s really just an annual competition between Democrats and Republicans who see who can fake clap the loudest.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“This was a very important speech for the president tonight and he gave it at a time when he’s losing support from his own party. In fact, congressional Democrats were warned tonight that if they didn’t applaud the president’s speech, he would go out and campaign for them.” – Jay Leno

“The big TV event tonight — not too many people want to watch but it’s on every channel so we do anyway — is the president’s annual State of the Union address.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“The president’s State of the Union address was tonight. And just three weeks after the ‘Bridge-gate’ scandal, the mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, was invited to attend the speech. When he heard that, Chris Christie said, ‘Good luck getting there’.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Actually, that Fort Lee mayor should feel right at home in Congress – you know, since they’re a bunch of gridlocked people who are angry with the guy in front of them.” – Jimmy Fallon

“In his speech tonight, President Obama urged Congress to raise the minimum wage. Now don’t confuse that with congressional minimum wage. See, that’s doing the minimum for your wage. That’s completely different.” – Jay Leno

“President Obama’s chief speechwriter said the president started working on his State of the Union address around Thanksgiving. In a related story today, Joe Biden finished GIVING a speech he started around Thanksgiving.” – Conan O’Brien

“It’s tradition that one cabinet member does not attend the State of the Union address and is kept in a secret, undisclosed location. So this year the cabinet member will be on a prime-time show on NBC.” – Conan O’Brien

A petition on the WhiteHouse.gov website asks the U.S. to deport Justin Bieber. If they get 100,000 signatures, the White House has to respond. They already have 87,000. The Canadian military is scrambling jets and mobilizing troops along the border to make sure this doesn’t happen.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is in the news. He claims he found a way to bring in $50 million for Toronto. America will pay him to take Justin Bieber back.” – Conan O’Brien

“In Vatican Square the Pope comes out and he has kids release doves of peace. And then some sort of angry bird of prey swooped down and killed the doves. On the Vatican press release, all they said was ‘Bummer’.” – David Letterman

“The royal family has reportedly burned through its money and is now strapped for cash. In fact, Queen Elizabeth needs money so badly she’s now co-starring in the next Nicolas Cage movie.” – Conan O’Brien

“Iran says they want to encourage more tourism from the United States. They might want to change that ‘Death to America’ slogan. A lot of families are not comfortable with that.” – Jay Leno

“During a speech yesterday, Hillary Clinton said she still doesn’t know if she’s running for president in 2016. You know, just like I still ‘don’t know’ if I’ll have a beer on St. Patrick’s Day.” – Jimmy Fallon

“The mayor of Sochi in Russia where they’re having the Olympics says there are no gay people in Sochi. Well, we can’t expect too much from the opening ceremonies then. Who will be working on the choreography?” – David Letterman

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Rights, and Wrongs

Monday, February 10, 2014

Cory Doctorow has a must-read article for anyone interested in copyrights and DRM (which officially stands for Digital Rights Management, but is more like Digital Restrictions Management).

He points out something that should be obvious to everyone who owns a computer: DRM makes our computers less secure. DRM treats you (the owner of a computer) as the enemy, and whose rights must be limited. DRM is like a virus, because it takes away control of your computer from you. It controls whether you can play a piece of media, or copy it (including making a backup). Even worse, real viruses can then piggyback on DRM, which is exactly what has happened.

But what really screams insanity is the host of laws that have been foisted upon us in order to enforce DRM. In the US, this is the DMCA. The DMCA is unconstitutional because it violates free speech. It is also unconstitutional because it allows companies to criminalize something that is (and should be) legal, with no protections for individual rights.

Ironically, the DMCA also has the effect of making your computer less secure. Because researchers are prohibited from talking about flaws in digital security, the process required to improve security is compromised. We have already seen several cases where security researchers knew about computer vulnerabilities, but were afraid to tell people about them so that those vulnerabilities could be fixed because the DMCA made that illegal. Ironically, one of these cases was a vulnerability caused by DRM itself.

If you are the least bit interested in this, go read Doctorow’s article. If you don’t have the time, here’s an article with a shorter synopsis.

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Is Poverty a feature or a bug?

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Ted Rall
© Ted Rall

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I firmly believe in capitalism. So why am I posting this comic by Ted Rall that condemns capitalism as a system where income inequality is a core feature? Because I agree with Rall that capitalism, at least as currently practiced, has lost its way and has serious problems. It has become corrupt and overly greedy. But I disagree that this is a core feature. Democracies have become corrupt too, but that does not mean that democracies are bad.

The father of capitalism, Adam Smith, was deeply concerned about social justice, where everyone had equal worth and was entitled to equal opportunity. Indeed, Smith believed that a balance existed between self interest and sympathy, but that the latter had greater importance. His view was that “mercantilism” (which in his era drove colonial expansion and resulted in frequent European wars) was wrong and he worked to improve the living conditions of the poor.

What we call “capitalism” today is more like corporate mercantilism and has things in common with fascism (where corporate rights are more important than individual rights).

Want evidence? Banks that are “too big to fail” is not capitalism. Capitalism is where you take risks and you are rewarded if your efforts succeed, but also where you pay the price if your efforts fail.

Large corporations hiring lobbyists to write bills that become laws by thinly veiled bribes to politicians is not capitalism. Capitalism is where you have a level playing field, so that the smallest company has the opportunity to compete with the largest. Capitalism is where monopolies are strictly prohibited, and power is not based on how much money you have, but on how well you use that money.

Capitalism is where trademarks and copyrights are limited to the minimum time necessary to encourage innovation, and where patents are only allowed on things that are provably novel and non-obvious. In true capitalism, the copyright on Micky Mouse should have run out a long time ago, and “one click” would never have been awarded a patent.

I believe that people are entitled to reap the rewards of their success, but are not entitled to use those rewards to tilt the playing field in their own favor. That destroys capitalism.

I also believe that progress requires death. The charters of corporations should have a limited time frame and scope, and inheritance should be severely taxed and limited.

I believe that in true capitalism, people would have a guaranteed right to have the opportunity to achieve their greatest potential. This means that full education and health care should be guaranteed to all.

Ironically, these beliefs would prompt some people to call me a socialist. But that’s because they have somehow perverted the idea of capitalism into something that is based purely on greed and where social goals have been sadly eliminated. And that’s too bad, because repeated studies have shown that as inequality increases, everybody (including the rich) suffer. When a corporation spends more time and money on legal fees to destroy competition than it does on innovating, that is not capitalism.

Capitalism may be based on self interest, but it must be about enlightened self interest. Money and power have never been a zero-sum game.

As anyone who has started a company knows, you do much better when you have competition. Heck, as anyone who enjoys sports know, you do far better when you have good competition. How much fun is a sporting event where the “field” is tilted to give one team an unfair advantage? Not much.

We do best when everyone has the right and the ability to compete. That’s capitalism. Or at least what it should be.

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If at first you don’t succeed, blame Obama

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Just a week after raising hopes that the GOP would finally do something about immigration reform, House Speaker John Boehner did a complete flip flop and said that Republicans will again refuse to do anything about it. And then he blamed Obama, saying “There’s widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to enforce our laws.”

Boehner’s claim that Obama would not enforce immigration laws is total bullshit. Obama has more aggressively enforced laws against illegal immigrants than any other president in history. Conservatives have even run ads touting this fact in an effort to sway Latinos to vote against Obama.

Now that’s hypocrisy — claiming that Obama is soft on illegal immigrants while running ads denouncing him for aggressive deporting of illegal immigrants.

The real reason is that massive GOP gerrymandering after the last census means that Latinos make up less than 10% of voters in most Republican districts, while red-meat conservative voters would likely punish GOP politicians if they stray from their traditional racist ways. Or as a Latino Republican congressman from Texas put it “If you were the Republicans and you think you’ve got the Democrats on a good issue, like Obamacare, why would you muddle the message before you go into an election?” Another Republican congressman suggested that Boehner might lose his speakership if he pursues an immigration bill in a midterm election year.

In other words, pure craven politics.

Boehner has claimed that immigration reform is a top priority of the GOP, while not allowing a single immigration bill to come to the House floor. House committees have approved five separate bills, but the Speaker has not allowed any of them to come to a vote. The Senate approved their own bill, but Boehner declared he would not allow a vote on that bill either.

Apparently, some Republicans have not changed their stance since Mitt Romney endorsed “self deportation” for illegal immigrants.

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Tradition, Prejudice, or Extreme Stupidity?

Friday, February 7, 2014

British actor Russell Brand has an excellent rant about the death of US actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, and the stupidity of drug prohibition. You should go read the whole thing; it is short. But here is just one paragraph to entice you to go read it:

Countries like Portugal and Switzerland that have introduced progressive and tolerant drug laws have seen crime plummet and drug-related deaths significantly reduced. We know this. We know this system doesn’t work – and yet we prop it up with ignorance and indifference. Why? Wisdom is acting on knowledge. Now we are aware that our drug laws aren’t working and that alternatives are yielding positive results, why are we not acting? Tradition? Prejudice? Extreme stupidity? The answer is all three. Change is hard, apathy is easy, tradition is the narcotic of our rulers. The people who are most severely affected by drug prohibition are dispensable, politically irrelevant people. Poor people. Addiction affects all of us but the poorest pay the biggest price.

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Late Night Political Humor

Friday, February 7, 2014

“After the president’s State of the Union address, there will be three separate Republican rebuttals. Obama said, ‘Yeah, I live with two daughters, my wife and my mother-in-law. Three people telling me I’m wrong is a holiday.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Tomorrow night, President Obama will deliver his State of the Union address. Aides say he won’t mention the war on drugs because he’s still not sure which side he’s on.” – Jay Leno

“They say the threat of terrorism at the Sochi winter games is very high right now and it’s pretty scary. In fact, it’s so dangerous over there right now that today NBC asked me to go as a correspondent.” – Jay Leno

“President Obama announced today that America’s No. 1 domestic terrorist has been apprehended. They finally arrested Justin Bieber, ladies and gentlemen. He is in custody. We don’t have to live in fear anymore.” – Jay Leno

“Justin Bieber was arrested in Florida for drag racing. There are so many questions I have, what is wrong with this kid? Why drag racing? What was he doing in Florida? And where is George Zimmerman when you need him?” – Bill Maher

“The Pope announced that he is coming to the United States. How about that? The purpose of this visit is to perform an exorcism on Justin Bieber.” – Jay Leno

“This week in his inaugural address, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spoke of wanting to bring the people of New Jersey together. He wanted to bring them together by having them all try to merge into one lane.” – Jay Leno

“MSNBC has come under fire for creating its own Chris Christie attack ad. However, later it turned out to be just an ad for Jenny Craig.” – Conan O’Brien

“We have Mitt Romney on the show tonight. We made him our first guest – you know, because he’s still a little sensitive about coming in second.” – Jimmy Fallon

[Thursday was Jay Leno’s last night as host of the Tonight Show. Jimmy Fallon now takes over.]

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Freedom of Football

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Keef Knight
© Keef Knight

I know there are many out there who think that football is included in the Bill of Rights guarantee of freedom of religion, but seriously, why is the National Football League given a massive tax break?

In fact, some senators are trying to end the nonprofit status of the NFL, saying that it is only fair to taxpayers. Under the bill, the NFL foundation would remain tax exempt (like any charitable foundation). Only the league itself, which takes in around $180 million a year, would become taxable.

Incidentally, is the salary of the NFL commissioner — one person — really more than 16% of their entire budget? ($29 million out of $180 million)

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