Headlines - Monday January 9

Republicans: The Single Greatest Threat to America

 

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Margaret and Helen: Three Wise Men With Extra Cheese Please

 

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Note to corporate psychopaths: Bloomberg: Clive R. Boddy, most recently a professor at the Nottingham Business School at Nottingham Trent University, says psychopaths are the 1 percent of "people who, perhaps due to physical factors to do with abnormal brain connectivity and chemistry" lack a "conscience, have few emotions and display an inability to have any feelings, sympathy or empathy for other people." As a result, Boddy argues in a recent issue of the Journal of Business Ethics, such people are "extraordinarily cold, much more calculating and ruthless towards others than most people are and therefore a menace to the companies they work for and to society." How do people with such obvious personality flaws make it to the top of seemingly successful corporations? Boddy says psychopaths take advantage of the "relative chaotic nature of the modern corporation," including "rapid change, constant renewal" and high turnover of "key personnel." Such circumstances allow them to ascend through a combination of "charm" and "charisma," which makes "their behaviour invisible" and "makes them appear normal and even to be ideal leaders."

 

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Of course @MittRomney was pro-draft. He was a chickenhawk coward who knew damn good and well he would never be drafted because he was rich and that he had a religious petticoat to hide behind. "A newly-unearthed photograph showing Mitt Romney demonstrating in favour of the Vietnam War draft might leave the presidential candidate feeling somewhat embarrassed. ... The veteran Republican, then 19, can be seen picketing an anti-war sit-in at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, in 1966. ... Mr Romney will no doubt be proud of his younger self taking what was at the time a very unpopular stance. ... Taken at the height of the swinging Sixties, Mr Romney holds a sign declaring 'Speak Out, Don't Sit In' as, alongside like-minded individuals, he proclaims his support for Lyndon Johnson's ever-expanding draft. ... But, in a marked contrast to the relaxed  dress sense associated with that decade's youth movement, he is wearing smart white slacks, a white buttoned-up shirt and a dark blazer. ... A newspaper clipping headlined 'Governor's son pickets the pickets' states: 'Mitt Romney, son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, was one of the pickets who supported the Stanford University administration in opposition to sit-in demonstrators.'"

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Did you hear the one about the republican presidential candidate who wants to put troops back in Iraq?

It's true. Rick Perry isn't just pissed off that the war in Iraq is over, he wants to gin it back up.

"I would send troops back into Iraq," Rick Perry told a New Hampshire audience at Saturday night's GOP debate, warning that without yet another military operation in Iraq it would fall under the influence of neighboring Iran.

"I think it's a huge error for us," he said. "We're going to see Iran in my opinion, move back in at literally the speed of light. They're going to move back in. And all of the work we've done -- every young man that has lost his life in that country will have been for nothing. Because we've got a president that does not understand what's going on in that region."

First off, someone should gently remind him that the withdrawal of troops was part of the Status of Forces Agreement that was negotiated, agreed to and signed by the previous occupant of the White House, not the current one. I wish people would get that right, but I really wish that the presstitutes (looking at you, George Stephanopolous) would call out the deliberate misinformation and alternate realities as they happen.

But let's consider what he said about Iran being the real winner of the United States and our misadventure in Mesopotamia. That part happens to not only be true, but it happens to be the outcome that was warned about beforehand by everyone who knows anything at all about the region and the political dynamics at work there, and staying for a hundred years like McCain said we should wouldn't change the ethnic makeup of the region.

The fact remains that Iran won that war the instant the first troop carrier rolled into Iraq in March of 2003. That is the reality that the Mayberry Machiavellis created when they invaded a sovereign nation based on lies and sexed-up intel.  

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The police don't serve and protect us, they exist solely to act as paid thugs in service of the 1%. "Police officers knocked down and clubbed a young woman during an anti-police march in Oakland late Saturday night, and arrested six people. ... Video of the incident uploaded to YouTube showed the young woman riding her bicycle towards a small group of officers. As she approached, officers shoved her to the ground and at least one clubs her with his baton. ... Protesters quickly rushed to her aid, and dragged her away from police. ... An "Occupy Oakland" press release said the "Fuck the Police" march was held to protest the "brutal campaign of repression" conducted by Oakland police to prevent protesters from re-establishing their camp in Frank Ogawa Plaza. It describes the City of Oakland as a "war zone.""

 

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If running for office is only for the rich, can the right to vote be far behind? 

 

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It's about effing time MSNBC kicked his racist ass to the curb. We never understood why he was ever hired by that network to begin with. "Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan has been suspended indefinitely from MSNBC, according to a statement from that network's President Phil Griffin. An Associated Press article on CBSNews.com blames reaction to Buchanan's latest book Suicide of a Superpower for his ouster from the cable network, as well as a campaign by the advocacy group, Color of Change. ... The former Nixon aide has long courted controversy. In April of this year he said that President Obama's path to the White House was the result of "Affirmative Action all the way." In 2009, he asserted that the U.S. "has been a country built, basically, by white folks." ... MSNBC's Griffin apparently believes, however, that Buchanan's newest work has crossed a line. Suicide of a Superpower came out in October and features chapters with titles like "The End of White America" and "The Death of Christian America." ... The AP quotes Griffin as saying, "Because of the content of the book, I didn't think it should be part of the national dialogue, much less part of the dialogue on MSNBC.""

 

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Repeat after us...Iran is not a threat. Not to the US, not to Europe, not to anyone. "There's not much foreign policy talk on the campaign trail except for one issue - Iran. Everyone is talking about Iran's new strength and assertiveness - its missile tests, its progress on the nuclear program, its moves in Iraq. Mitt Romney, the Republican front-runner, describes Iran as "the greatest threat that the world faces over the next decade." Newt Gingrich has compared the Iranian challenge to the rise of Hitler's Germany. More measured commentators also see Iran's rising influence and power across the Middle East. ... In fact, the real story on the ground is that Iran is weak and getting weaker. Sanctions have pushed the economy into a nose-dive. The political system is fractured and fragmenting. Abroad, its closest ally and the regime of which it is almost the sole supporter - Syria - is itself crumbling. The Persian Gulf monarchies have banded together against Iran and shored up their relations with Washington. Last week, Saudi Arabia closed its largest-ever purchase of U.S. weaponry. ... The simplest measure of Iran's strength is its currency. When Barack Obama became president, you could buy 9,700 rials with one dollar. Since then, the dollar has appreciated 60 percent against the rial, meaning you can buy 15,600 rials. ... Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told parliament recently that the latest sanctions were "the most extensive . . . sanctions ever" and that "this is the heaviest economic onslaught on a nation in history . . . every day, all our banking and trade activities and our agreements are being monitored and blocked." The price of food staples has soared 40 percent the past few months."

 

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Pipeline Inspector-Turned Whistleblower Calls Keystone XL a Potential "Disaster"

 

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The GOP speaker of the Kansas House has sent out an email prayer for the death of President Obama. Such "imprecatory prayers" are usually seen from far-right preachers, not politicians.

The Journal-World also revealed that O'Neal had forward another email which referenced the Bible verse Psalm 109:8, which reads: "Let his days be few; and let another take his office." The very next verse adds: "Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow." The verse became a conservative meme in 2009 after it began appearing on bumper stickers, t-shirts and even toys. The most common slogan was, "Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8." "At last — I can honestly voice a Biblical prayer for our president!" O'Neal wrote. "Look it up — it is word for word! Let us all bow our heads and pray. Brothers and Sisters, can I get an AMEN? AMEN!!!!!!"

Another email from O'Neal referred to the First Lady as "Mrs. YoMama" and compared her appearance to Dr. Suess' Grinch.

 

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Rat bastards

The citizens of Wichita, Kansas are about to learn what it feels like to be trickled down on.

This week, defense and aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing announced that it will be closing the Boeing Defense, Space & Security facility in Wichita by the end of 2013, which "means the loss of 2,100 well-paying jobs at its Kansas facility, which was once considered the centerpiece of Wichita's claim as the air capital of the world." Boeing will instead be performing the operations that were scheduled for Wichita in San Antonio and Oklahoma City.

Boeing's decision — which it blames on possible defense cuts that may take place in the future — is devastating to Wichita community, which also includes more than four hundred Boeing suppliers. [...]

The announcement is particularly shocking given the fact that Boeing had repeatedly promised to keep jobs in Kansas and add many more if it were able to land a $35 billion contract for an aerial tanker. Kansas lawmakers went to bat for the company in early 2011, with Sen. Pat Roberts (R) even calling on "everybody who's out there tweeting, chirping and Facebooking" to push for the Air Force to grant the tanker contract to Boeing rather than European rival EADS.

I'm sure everyone recalls the shitstorm that was the fuel tanker contract which saw Republicans losing their minds and whispering impeachment over the Pentagon offering the contract to a European company rather than to Boeing.

Ultimately, Boeing did land the $35 billion dollar fuel tanker contract, and the state of Kansas offered them millions of dollars in tax breaks to keep them in the state where Boeing promised to remain if awarded the contract.

Despite recieving both the $35 billion contract and the tax incentives, Boeing is closing its Wichita plant because of "possible defense cuts that may take place in the future."

Possibly. Maybe. Who knows?

I'm sure the 2,100 local employees and over 400 local suppliers and their employees would like a better explanation than that.

It's true that there will be considerable defense cuts over the next decade, however Boeing is not a company that is hurting financially or anywhere even close to it. According to Bloomberg, Boeing saw roughly $68.6 billion in revenue in 2011 and is projected to see $78.7 billion in revenue in 2012. Boeing is also among the 30 corporations that paid no federal taxes between 2008 and 2010.

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The Rude Pundit: A Scene from Radical Christianity's Ongoing War on Women

 

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