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Renewal

Monday, December 23, 2013

Despite all the noise about renewable energy sources — solar, biomass, wind, geothermal, and hydropower — not yet being ready for prime time, Yale University points out that all of the additional electricity-generating capacity added in the US in November came from renewable energy sources. Lest you think that was a fluke, in October 99% was from renewable sources.

Over the entire year, natural gas (which has dropped in price significantly due to the use of fracking) has accounted for 52% of added capacity, but solar accounts for 21%. Renewable sources now account for 15.9% of the total US electricity generating capacity, which is more than nuclear and oil combined.

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Late Night Political Humor

Sunday, December 22, 2013

“Fox News host Megyn Kelly now says she was just kidding when she said Santa Claus is white. However, she’s standing by her statement that the Grinch who stole Christmas, definitely Jewish.” – Conan O’Brien

“Is Santa Claus an American? Well he is fat and wears a velvet track suit.” – Stephen Colbert

“More snow storms all across the country. Man, New England is whiter than Santa Claus on Megyn Kelly’s front lawn.” – Jay Leno

“Over the weekend, China became the third nation to land on the moon. This morning NASA issued a statement: ‘Sending stuff to the moon is so 1960s. Call us when you get to Mars.'” – Craig Ferguson

“I’m happy for China. Sending a rover to the moon is really impressive. These days our government can’t even get a website to work.” – Craig Ferguson

“President Obama has named a top former Microsoft executive to run and fix the Obamacare website. Hey, how about fixing Windows first?” – Jay Leno

“Over the weekend the Obamacare website was down. Fortunately, most Americans were unaffected because they never knew it was up.” – Jay Leno

“It’s really starting the look like Hillary Clinton’s going to run. The digital team behind both of President Obama’s campaigns is already preparing for a Hillary Clinton run. They’re starting early because they’ve got to delete 10 years of Bill Clinton’s browser history.” – Conan O’Brien

“The U.S. Post Office announced that today is the busiest shipping day of the year. 600 million packages were shipped today, and as many as 500,000 of those will actually be delivered.” – Jay Leno

“George Zimmerman is auctioning an original painting for $100,000. $100,000? Man, this guy is getting away with murder.” – Stephen Colbert

“Scientists are testing out a new drone that would replace lifeguards. Here’s how it works: If you’re drowning, the drone would fly out and drop a bomb on you.” – Conan O’Brien

“An entrepreneur has made a device that can prevent the NSA from spying on you by blocking your laptop’s camera. This new high-tech device is called a small piece of tape.” – Conan O’Brien

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Unhappy War on Christmas, Part 5

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Once again, reality proves that it is stranger than fiction. There is a war going on, but it is not a War on Christmas.

First the facts. A week ago, a satirical website called The National Report printed a fictional piece (designed to look like a real news story) about a (fictitious) school involving one of their (fictitious) teachers. According to the (fictional) story, the school suspended a student for wishing the atheist teacher a Merry Christmas. In the fictional story, the (fictitious) school was named “Argon Elementary” in San Francisco.

Somehow, this story went viral in the conservative blogosphere, and quicker than you could say “Happy Holidays” a school coincidentally named “Argonne” (not “Argon”) in San Francisco became the target of phone complaints, email tirades, and (veiled) threats of violence against the (fictitious) teacher or the (actual) principal of the school. The school had to bring in extra security and the police have increased patrols around the school.

Ironically, another story published earlier in the National Report about (ficitious) “Berkley, Calif.” claiming that a “Berkley Elementary” student was expelled for saying Merry Christmas” to a Muslim teacher didn’t trigger any mass outcry.

And so the myth of a “War on Christmas” continues. And some conservatives get to paint themselves as victims once again.

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I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas

Friday, December 20, 2013

John Backderf
© John Backderf

And just why are we arguing about the race of various mythical and/or dead people? Are we really that race obsessed?

And even if she was kidding, did Megyn Kelly really think that kids would be traumatized if someone told them that Santa Claus is not white? Things are even worse than I thought.

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Late Night Political Humor

Friday, December 20, 2013

“This week President Obama attended Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in South Africa. Hundreds of world leaders were there. President Obama said it felt strange to listen to these leaders in person rather than eavesdropping on their phone calls.” – Jay Leno

“Yesterday everybody reported on the fake sign language interpreter at the Nelson Mandela memorial. Turns out that he was not a fake but a violent schizophrenic who was hallucinating that angels were flying into the stadium. So at least there’s a simple explanation for what went wrong. For a minute I thought there might have been some kind of security problem.” – Jay Leno

“You know that fake sign language guy? It was so cold today he was signing with mittens.” – David Letterman

“So let me get this straight. The NSA is listening to our phone calls, but no one is checking up on the violent schizophrenic who is 18 inches from the president of the United States.” – Jay Leno

“Obamacare is still struggling to catch on with most people. And so now the White House has started asking celebrities to endorse Obamacare. Because if anyone knows how to put a new face on something, it’s Hollywood.” – Jimmy Fallon

“There is an essay on Slate.com that argues that because America is a melting pot Santa shouldn’t be a white man anymore. The writer suggested that from now on, Santa should be a penguin. I don’t know how the writer would expect a penguin to carry toys.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Yesterday Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly told viewers that Santa Claus is white. Then she said Santa’s elves are Mexican and they are stealing jobs from American elves.” – Conan O’Brien

“Political correctness is in full swing this holiday season. Kids can’t even call Santa’s helpers ‘elves’ anymore. They have to be known as ‘undocumented little people.'” – Jay Leno

“Pope Francis has been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year. Also congratulations to ‘Big Bang Theory’s’ Jim Parsons. He was named Parsons of the Year. Also congratulations to Iranian President Hasan Rouhani. He was named Persian of the Year. And for the third year in a row, congratulations to cyanide, named Poison of the Year.” – David Letterman

“A New York lawmaker wants to legalize marijuana so it can be taxed and the money used to pay bills. Wasn’t that the plot of ‘Breaking Bad’ — selling drugs to pay bills?” – Jay Leno

“In defending the budget deal, Congressman Paul Ryan quoted the Rolling Stones and said, ‘You can’t always get what you want’. When it comes to Congress, here’s a better Stones quote: ‘Can’t get no satisfaction’. How about that?” – Jay Leno

“According to CNN, 200,000 Americans are signed up for a one-way trip to Mars to colonize Mars. Unfortunately, none of them are Kardashians.” – Jay Leno

“In a speech, Russian president Vladimir Putin slammed the U.S. for being ‘genderless and infertile’. My question is: How did Vladimir Putin get his hands on my Match.com profile?” .” – Conan O’Brien

“Alabama kicker Cade Foster had a tough time in the Iron Bowl, missing three field goals against Auburn. A lot of people blamed him for losing the game. Former President George W. Bush actually sent him a note to offer his support. The guy had such bad aim, you’d think he get a note from Dick Cheney.” – Jimmy Fallon

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Trickling the Economy Down

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Clay Bennett
© Clay Bennett

A must read article on Juan Cole’s website by Anthony Orlando points out that not only has the theory of trickle down economics been completely disproven, but there never was any evidence of it. A quick look at the historical record shows that.

Economists at the International Monetary Fund looked at 140 countries over 60 years, and “consistently found that countries with less inequality experienced stronger, more sustained economic growth and fewer, less severe recessions.” The reasons for this should be obvious. Workers are also consumers. The economy is a tight loop — as workers earn more they spend more, which grows the economy for everyone, both the rich and the poor.

Even the rich know this (or at least some of them). As one wealthy entrepreneur put it, “an ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator than a capitalist like me. […] Anyone who’s ever run a business knows that hiring more people is a capitalist’s course of last resort, something we do only when increasing customer demand requires it.”

The simple fact is that as income inequality between the rich and the middle class grows, the economy struggles. That’s right. Not only does the money NOT trickle down, it makes things worse for everyone, including the rich. Ironically, another study showed that in countries where there is greater income inequality, the rich are less healthy and less happy.

Reducing income inequality means fewer boom/bust cycles as the rich chase investments, less spending on “guard labor” (police, prisons, factory supervisors), and more spending on infrastructure (health, education, research and development, safety).

But the worst thing about out-of-control income inequality is that it makes the 99% feel like they will never succeed — that the game is rigged against them. So the theory that extreme inequality motivates the middle class to try harder to get rich is completely backwards.

I agree that too much income inequality is a bad thing. But we also know that complete income equality (where everyone earns the same, no matter what they do) is also a bad thing. So, is there a magic number for income inequality that maximizes the outcome for the most people? My gut feeling is that there is not a magic number. The real goal is to maximize equality of opportunity, not of income. If everyone has the same chance to succeed, that is the best situation. So make things like education and good health care affordable for everyone, then let people like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk earn as much as they want or can.

After all, isn’t that the American dream?

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Paul Ryan and Ronald Reagan are not Conservative Enough!

Thursday, December 19, 2013

The GOP has gone off the deep end. There is no other way to report this than with humor, and Jon Stewart is the best.

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60 Minutes of Propaganda

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

It looks like the once hard-hitting “60 Minutes” news program has completely lost its way. I already posted about their fluff piece for Amazon (and I love Amazon!). Then they totally bungled a report on Benghazi. And now they do an even worse fluff piece on the NSA, even letting the NSA control what everyone says.

This is what propaganda looks like.

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Late Night Political Humor

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

“Some are saying that while at Nelson Mandela’s memorial, President Obama flirted with the female prime minister of Denmark right in front of Michelle Obama. Man, if President Obama felt that the flight to South Africa was long, can you imagine the way home?” – Conan O’Brien

“Obama is facing a lot of criticism after he posed for a selfie in the middle of Mandela’s memorial service. You know it’s bad when even Biden is like, ‘Man, that was dumb’.” – Jimmy Fallon

“President Obama shook hands with Cuban dictator Raul Castro. Or as Fox News reported it, ‘Foreign communist shakes hands with the leader of Cuba’.” – Conan O’Brien

“The world said goodbye today to Nelson Mandela. And what a life he lived. He spent 27 years in prison and then ascended to become president of his country. He went from prison to politics. It was exactly the opposite of how we do it in this country.” – Jay Leno

“President Obama released a video this week to encourage kids to learn how to write computer code. Then he said, ‘Preferably, in the next two or three weeks. It would really help me out of a jam.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“A federal judge has ruled that President Obama’s Kenyan uncle may remain in the United States. The judge also ruled that President Obama’s Kenyan uncle is an amazing name for a band.” – Conan O’Brien

“Kanye West said he wants to be the ‘Obama of clothing’. To achieve his goal, he’s designing fashions that nobody wants and offering them on a website that doesn’t work.” – Jay Leno

“New documents leaked by Edward Snowden show that the NSA actually spied on people while they played the video game World of Warcraft. I don’t know. To me it sounds like some NSA agents had to think quick when they got caught playing World of Warcraft at work.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Pope Francis was named Time magazine’s person of the year, and today he performed his first miracle – he got people to buy Time magazine.” –Conan O’Brien

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Literal War on Christmas, part ?

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

[excerpted from “The Everlasting GOP Stoppers” by Marc Belisle]

BREAKING: US Navy Strikes North Pole, Obama Declares ‘War on Christmas’, Claus’ Fate Unknown

In a tense press conference with the conservative media, President Obama announced late Tuesday that US Navy destroyers deployed in the Arctic Circle were firing Tomahawk cruise missiles in a campaign to free the elves and eliminate Santa Claus’s ability to threaten secular humanists. Obama added that US forces would “cripple Santa Claus’ ability to spread good tidings” through “targeted strikes.” When asked what, exactly, the Pentagon was targeting, Obama replied, “Well, you know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen.”

Pressed on whether the US would be targeting Santa Claus specifically, the President, standing in front of four ten-foot pine trees garlanded with tinsel and baubles, chose his words carefully. “Uh, look. My Administration is not in the business of regime change. But, know this. By the time we’re done, Santa Claus will be wishing us Happy Holidays. His reign of cheer is at an end.”

A Barbie doll then stood up, identified herself as a Fox News reporter and said, “President HUSSEIN Obama, Fox News has been predicting this war for years. We have a map on our site of all the attacks against Christmas within the United States, waged in this year alone [seriously – check the link]. The casualties in the War on Christmas are much higher than you are admitting. Aren’t you ashamed that you’re encouraging a dangerous fifth column seeking to destroy AmeriChristmas?”

The president dinged a bell, “One seems to hear, words of rightwing fear, from everywhere, filling the air.” He sighed, “We had to deny the military buildup against Christmas, because we needed to maintain the element of surprise. The time was ripe to strike, because Christmas has been threatening its weaker neighbors for years, and this year, it threatened to invade Thanksgiving.”

“Doesn’t Christmas have a right to take over Thanksgiving?” the Newsdoll asked. “To defend itself?”

“Christmas already controls the entire month of December. It already has commercialized everything in its reach. It’s extremely well-defended, and aggressively extending its dominion. Just ask anyone in your community who happens to be Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Wiccan, atheist, agnostic, spiritualist, or just not particularly devoutly Christian how dominant Christmas is.”

“I’ve never spoken to anyone like that,” the Newsdoll said proudly.

Bill O’Reilly and Sarah Palin stood up and started shouting over each other. Bill O’Reilly said that while he likes Macy’s because it’s commercial, it’s not Christmas-y enough.

Sarah Palin said, “I love the commercialization of Christmas because it spreads the Christmas cheers, the most jolly holiday obviously on our calendar. It’s wonderful!”

Palin then told everyone to buy her book about “protecting the heart of Christmas,” which one reviewer said “is so bad that it seems entirely possible that she actually wrote it herself.”

[go read the rest of the original article]

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Love, Actually

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

A hilarious factoid in The Economist from a poll of married couples, asking whether both spouses always voted the same way. 73% of the married men said yes. “The wives’ response? Just 49% said yes.”

Also interesting is that unmarried women, who accounted for nearly a quarter of all votes cast in the 2012 presidential election, voted decisively for Barack Obama. Why?

The key to the puzzle appears to involve attitudes to government safety nets, and a shared sense among unmarried women that they are trying to survive without any back-up in a harsh, increasingly insecure economy (unmarried women are disproportionately likely to work in jobs which do not offer health cover, for instance). Put another way, the conservative battle-cry of “Leave me the Hell alone” sounds different when you are literally on your own.

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Late Night Political Humor

Monday, December 16, 2013

“This winter storm has left thousands without electricity. It’s as if President Obama had taken over the power companies.” – Jay Leno

“Last week a man was locked in an airplane for several hours after he fell asleep during a flight and nobody woke up him up when it landed. But other than that, Joe Biden had a great trip to Asia.” – Jimmy Fallon

“New Jersey legislators want to ban eating while driving. Good luck getting Governor Chris Christie to sign that one.” – Jay Leno

“The post office announced that since they have lost so much money they are going to be reviewing their business model. That could mean big changes. The last time the post office reviewed their business model they sold the ponies and bought trucks.” – Jay Leno

“North Korea has confirmed that Kim Jong Un has fired his uncle. Unemployment benefits in North Korea include two weeks’ severance and not being shot.” – Conan O’Brien [ironically, after Conan made this comment, the uncle was executed]

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Angry War on Christmas, part 3 1/2

Monday, December 16, 2013

If you watched the videos in the previous post, you saw Megyn Kelly claiming that Santa is white. Well, here’s Kelly defending her remarks by (as usual) going on the attack. She claims that her comments were “tongue in cheek” and that the people who got upset about them have no sense of humor:

Since it is mostly comedians (like Jon Stewart) who are making fun of her, it seems obvious that it is Megyn Kelly who has no sense of humor. And despite her protests that Fox News is being unfairly targeted, I don’t feel sorry for her or her channel at all.

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Joyful War on Christmas, part 3

Sunday, December 15, 2013

The Daily Show weighs in on the War on Christmas:

But it just keeps getting stranger. Fox News informs us that Santa Claus is white. That’s right, Fox News is actually arguing about the ethnicity of a mythical person. Oh, and Jesus was white too.

Remember, Fox News says that you can’t change facts to fit a political agenda.

Reporter, heal thyself.

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Happy War on Christmas, part 2

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Ruben Bolling
© Ruben Bolling

Sometimes real life is stranger than fiction. The inspiration for this comic started with a small disagreement in a small town in Texas over what to call the holiday party at an elementary school. As in the comic, Fox News jumped on this and printed a story that may have a teeny tiny nugget of truth somewhere, but then adds so many falsehoods on top of that that the truth gets buried. Consider the headline of the story “School bans Christmas trees, the colors red & green”. Never mind that nobody banned Christmas trees, let alone the colors red or green. I mean, seriously? A school would ban colors? Is this some kind of joke?

The Fox News article doesn’t even make sense. It refers to a recently passed law in Texas, called “The Merry Christmas Bill”, but this new law says only that people are allowed to call the winter holidays anything they please, including Christmas. It specifically doesn’t require anyone to call the holiday Christmas or anything else, it is supposed to let schools know that they can call it anything they want.

So the school decided that they wanted to call the party their “Winter Party”. But Fox News claims that by not calling it their “Christmas Party” that the school is violating the law. They even quote the author of the bill, who claims that the school is “flaunting” the law. They don’t want freedom of religion, they want government imposed religion, which ironically is exactly what the Pilgrims and other early European settlers to America were escaping from.

The second part of the comic is based on something Sarah Palin posted to Facebook about this. I have been trying my best to completely ignore Palin, but her quote shows how the right-wing nuts push the idiotic “War on Christmas” meme in order to make money:

Is there any doubt it’s imperative to protect the heart of Christmas? Take a look at this article about an elementary school in Texas banning Christmas trees and the colors red and green from a “winter” party. Just like I write about it “Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas,” every day we see stories like this one, and we need to stiffen our spines, say “enough is enough,” and hold on to REAL hope, America! The real hope that IS the message of Christmas. We can remember and capture that spirit of true hope during this holiday season and commit to live it out every single day. I promise you, it works!

So, no matter what your religion or what holidays you celebrate, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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