Atheists suffer at the hands of the religious

This article suggests that prejudice against atheism is why many American atheists are less happy than their religious brethren.

Prejudice of any sort makes the victims of it suffer, so this stands to reason.

Interesting.

GM asks taxpayers for some of what the banks got. HELL NO!

Holy crap! I'm getting a sense of deja vu from General Motors' cries for taxpayer help in the form of a government bailout.

U.S. car companies have had decades to change to leaner companies with better and more fuel efficient cars that consumers would buy, but did they do the smart thing?

Hell no.

Instead they hitched their wagon to bigger cars and refused to look around the corner at the coming oil shortage and the alternative energy push.

Should we bail them out? Hell No!

Of course the economy will take a hit. Of course workers will suffer.

Those are the consequences of poor management decisions over decades and consumers who've bought into the whole Hummer/SUV/Land Rover phenomenon.

Whose fault is it that U.S. auto manufacturing has shed jobs affecting the whole economy? It's management's fault. They could have made better, more forward-looking cars that people wanted, but they chose to maximize present profit at the expense of future viability. That's poor management and the cost of these bad practices should not be externalized to the rest of us. The free market should deal with this, not the U.S. taxpayer.

Let them fail. Maybe the actual threat of failure will provide the necessary impetus for them to do what they should've done all along...being a real American company. Americans are in front of the market instead of being behind the curve and getting hammered by excess and inertia.

GM's timing is highly suspicious. They stood back and watched what happened with the bank bailout. Now, their hands' are out. They're hoping a lame duck Bush will help before Obama takes office.

Republican message is to blame for their losses, not people

Republicans are quick to try to blame a person for their stunning loss on November 4.

Campbell Brown calls them to task for blaming Sarah Palin. Rightly so.

Blaming a person for the loss is bullshit, even if that person wasn't qualified for the job. Perhaps it was the Republican message that was at fault?

If the republican message is to blame shouldn't that be re-tooled?

That's a hard pill to swallow for the Republican faithful. Like religious fanatics, they'll scapegoat people without the power to damage a whole movement rather than look to their own beliefs as the source of their failings.

Until the Republicans look at their message, the real cause of their failure, they'll be stuck in limbo.

Conclusive proof that human activity the cause of global warming

Rush Limbaugh actually is a big fat idiot after all.

Rush is a strong opponent of human-induced climate change.

Well, there is now conclusive proof that climate variability has exceeded natural variations.

Of course, like holocaust deniers, Rush will point to the scientists as being some liberal cabal of pointy-headed intellectuals and are therefore not to be believed.

Here's what I say to that: If you're standing on a train track with lights approaching and horns blowing, you can deny the fact that a train is coming up until you get run down.

Or, you can take the evidence and take action.

GOP should move toward fiscal responsibility and away from conservative orthodoxy

The GOP has some tough times ahead.

Although I don't consider myself a Republican, due in large part to the overly religious nature of the party, I share some common values with the Republicans on the fiscal front.

The Republicans need to attract more moderates if they wish to regain some measure of power in the future. The conservative wing will fight this, but the party cannot afford the orthodoxy of the extreme right if it wishes to return from the wilderness.

I suspect that the Republicans will come out of this newly chastened. I also suspect that they will adopt many of the attitudes and practices of the New England Republicans. Specifically, Mitt Romney.

Those values are less wingnut and more economics driven.

Rush Limbaugh gives Republicans some stunningly stupid advice for winning the next election.

Here's some advice to Republicans from everybody's favorite stink-wind, Rush Limbaugh.

Rush advises Republicans to run to the Right even more if they want to win.

All I can say is this: I hope the Republicans take the supreme bloviator's advice. If they do, that will ensure continued Democrat dominance.

Rush is known for ignoring reality in the service of his religion--Right-Wing Ideology.

Must be nice to get paid so much to live in a fantasy world and spew idiocy to like-minded sycophants.

Go Rush!

Lessons of this election for Republicans

It's over. Now comes the gnashing of teeth and the rending of clothes by the Republicans.

What has this election determined:

1. John McCain was better than his campaign. He allowed Lee Atwater -type operatives to hijack his genuine nature and run the campaign into the ditch of defeat.

2. Tough economic times moves the electorate toward a we're in this together philosophy and away from the individualist attitude of every man for himself.

3. Fear no longer drives votes enough to win. Hope is better in the end. This fits with American optimism anyway.

4. Exploiting factions for electoral gain has limited efficacy. Finding common ground and looking for compromise ultimately wins the day.

5. America is not a conservative nation. America is a moderate nation that flirts with conservativism and liberalism.

6. Race remains an issue. I spoke with a number of people who voted for McCain, but none could give a cogent reason for their vote, except that Obama was an other and their fear wouldn't allow them to vote otherwise. A nice-sounding pretext doesn't excuse a racist rationale. Maybe the wish to move beyond race is ahead of the reality on the ground.

7. The Republican party faces a choice. If they continue like they have for the past 20 odd years, their only pockets of support will be in the deep South amongst white rural voters. Most Americans live in urban areas or close to them, so that dog won't hunt for too much longer.

8. Latino voters opted for the Democrat ticket. This bodes ill for today's Republicans, since Latinos are set to become the largest minority group in the U.S. Combine Latinos with African-Americans and you have a very large Democrat voting bloc.

9. Due to number 8 above, the Republicans are paying the price for their reliance on pretext racism to drive uneducated whites to the polls. Uneducated rural whites are an endangered breed. The Bubba vote, although staunch, is diminishing in value as the population shifts toward cities.

Republicans have their work cut out for them. If they manage to re-invent themselves, they won't look like Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh--they will look like Bill Richardson and Colin Powell. Republicans will need to cut loose constituencies that depend on subtle, code-word driven bigotry if the party hopes to capture those targeted by such petty prejudice.

It's a hard choice.

West Wing laid the groundwork for the Obama campaign

Here's a reason why I like the West Wing. In a dramatic display of art imitating life, I give you the following.




Enjoy.

Old Wive's Tale is shot down by science

As a child, my mother always told me that boys were made of "Snakes and snails and puppy dog tails" whereas girls were made of "Sugar and spice and everything nice."

The clear implication of that early training was that boys are dirtier than girls.

Girls readily buy into this and regularly call boys dirty.

Science has shot that notion all to hell in this study.

Apparently, women are the nastier of the two sexes if bacteria are the criteria used to judge nasty-ness.

Well, at least now I can begin the healing process.

Old story from the Onion nailed the last 8 years -- before Bush took office!

I love The Onion. Probably the only good source for satire.

Here's a story produced by The Onion in January 2001.

I defy anyone to read this and not choke on the creepy similarities to the story and the results of the last 8 years.

The Onion is spot on with its prediction, even though it was intended as humor.

Read it and laugh, cry, or pound your fist on the desk.

Scary how life imitates art.

Hedge Fund manager spills the beans on the wealthy, connected, and privileged...oh, and marijuana

I came across this letter from a Hedge Fund Manager. He's 37 and he decided to quit the business after amassing scads of cash for his clients.

Here's his letter .

It's nice to see someone with a chip on their shoulder against the rich take aim at them and point out what everyone knows, but is afraid to admit.

It should be noted that he advocated the legalization of marijuana in his letter.

NRA has managed to flex its Republican muscle against a gun company apostate

I refer you to the most previous post for background when looking at this stunning display of ideological stupidity.

Cooper Firearms has fired its eponymously named founder Dan Cooper for supporting Obama for President.

I see this as a tacit, if not blatant, acknowledgment by the firearm manufacturer that a significant portion of their customers are wingnuts.

Unfortunately, the gun lobby, and by this I mean the NRA, has bought into the notion that only Republicans support the 2nd Amendment. In defiance of reason and with the result of alienating a significant portion of the electorate. The Republican Party doesn't have the market cornered on support for 2nd Amendment rights. The NRA and the Republican party would like everyone to think that's the case, but that isn't true. You can favor the 2nd Amendment AND also favor a Woman's Right to Choose. It's all about freedom of choice.

Now, before all you gun nuts or NRA whackjobs get your panties in a wad and accuse me of wanting to take away your guns, let me disabuse you of that notion right here.

I hate the NRA, but I love the 2nd Amendment. Supporting one doesn't require that I support the other. Don't fall for the simple-minded absolutism marketed by the Right that only Conservatives and Republicans favor and will protect Gun Rights. That's complete bull.

I got flack for supporting the 2nd Amendment rights of if the DC security guard who successfully won the right to possess a gun in DC in the Heller case.

The NRA gives real gun owners a bad name. The NRA is nothing but a Republican lobby masquerading as a Rights Group.

I don't like the NRA and I don't agree with their political positions. Yet, I think the Constitution gives citizens the right to keep and bear arms. I own guns. Mere gun ownership doesn't turn anyone into a bad person.

In fact, I think the 2nd Amendment gives me the right to own pretty much any gun I want, including Assault Rifles. Extreme? Maybe, but the 2nd Amendment says what it says and the U.S. has historically viewed gun ownership rather liberally.

So, where do I fit?

I don't fit with the NRA because they are idiots with an ideological zeal that undermines all rationality; I cannot align myself with idiocy over a single issue.

If the NRA would open their minds (won't happen because that requires actual thinking...), those of us with a more expansive view of individual rights wouldn't feel so alienated by the moronic rank and file catered to by such small-mindedness.

Cooper Firearms sold their soul to a Right Wing idiocy group. Terminating their CEO for the reasons they cite is un-American. I won't buy any of their guns now that I know how un-American their board is.

Buy true American...Support ALL the Contitution.

Corporate executives possibly liable for breaching fiduciary duty by causing corporations to support political candidates

Here's a story showing that some corporate executives of large retailers are actually subordinating their fiduciary duty to their shareholder to their own personal political interests.

In the legal industry, we call this a breach of fiduciary duty Such a breach is grounds for immediate termination. On top of that, they can be held personally liable to the shareholders in a shareholder derivative lawsuit for such bad decisions. The boards of these companies have a duty to investigate and immediately terminate those executives found guilty of a breach. That's the law.

Why is this important?

A personal political decision is fully protected by the 1st Amendment. When personal political choices become the basis of an executive decision, IN SPITE OF EVIDENCE THAT CONTRADICTS THAT PARTICULAR DECISION, then said choice becomes a form of defalcation.

Defalcation occurs where a fiduciary takes advantage of their executive position for personal gain at the expense of shareholders, the corporation and ultimately the market.

I note this so corporate shareholders will exercise their power to hold executives and corporate boards accountable for their corporate decisions...especially when those corporate decisions are made for the personal gain of the corporate executive at the expense of the shareholders.

Get the facts, learn the truth, and remove your heads from your backsides.

Study finds hubris begins with insecurity.

Science is making headway at finding proof of what many of us already intuitively know.

This study shows that hubris, pride, and other such negative group expressions really result from group insecurity.

Many of us already know that people over-compensate for perceived failings by excessive boasting. This study just provides scientific evidence to support that notion.

The study points to real world implications. Good stuff.

Tribute to a child's life

Here's a father's tribute to his son.

If you can watch this without being moved to tears then something's wrong with you.

Xenophobia based on wrong-headed thinking.

Apparently all the anti-immigrant animus is based on faulty assumptions.

Recent immigrants are more likely to produce whiz kids as opposed to the native born.

An unfortunate sign: Once people are here and in the club, so to speak, they want to lock the gates for fear of having to actually work to maintain their position.

What a load of crap.

Mortgage mess: Placing blame were it needs to go.

Here's an article from the usually right of center L.A. Times that places the blame for the mortgage crisis precisely where I said it should go in a previous post.

I worked closely with the mortgage industry over the past few years. I saw, first hand, how mortgage brokers and the banks underwriting their loans skirted the bounds of excess.

The incentives were to write as many loans as possible as quickly and as expediently as possible. The incentives weren't on the buyers. One mortgage company I worked with made cold calls every day to push loan products.

I was opposed to the bailout just for this reason.

Republican backing Diebold makes ther voting machines easy to hack...probably on purpose

When I hear the Republicans complain about voter fraud, I can't help but be reminded of Diebold.

Diebold makes electronic voting machines. They make the kind without a paper trail, so if the machines screw up, then well, voting is FRAUDULENT.

Now this normally wouldn't be a much cause for concern except when Diebold does something obviously stupid that screams out for some bozo to take advantage of the voting process. Here's a good example of Diebold stupidity.

The problem with Diebold is simple. The CEO of Diebold is a staunch Republican supporter.

So I ask you: Are the claims about voter fraud really a red herring to point the finger away from the side who will actually be engaging in voter fraud?

Based of the problems with electronic voting machines, lack of paper trail, companies like Diebold offering up online keys to anyone for their voting machines. I can hardly believe voting fraud is the sole province of Democrats.

Republicans are killing themselves with their Faustian deal with the religious right and the ideologues

E.J. Dionne writes a rather compelling article about the Republican party's self-immolation.

He describes a party that sold it's soul to the religious right in exchange for political power, but is now having to pay for their Faustian deal with their soon to be visit to hell.

I wrote an essay about the same issues back in 2004 called: Charting a New Democratic Course. Published by the now defunct Democratic Policy Alliance.

I was quite pleased with myself at the time, unaware that I was a few years ahead of my time with the present situation.

Perhaps, if one waits long enough, all predictions and prophecies come true--in a sense.

Republicans and McCain are bankrupt of ideas, money, and sense.

Here's an excellent article from Forbes magazine . I don't normally read Forbes, but came across this article on a Right-leaning website and found it compelling.

Gerstein spells out the trouble with Republicans and why they've squandered their position by relying on McCarthyism to ensure votes through dependence on hatred and prejudice.

Scary stuff. It helps when someone gives name to a tragic turn of events.

Watch my nice segue...

Unmentioned in the article is how out of touch the McCain campaign is for relying on the base-ness of Nixonian style politics.

Another story popped up today indicating that Palin's clothing budget after joining the campaign topped $150,000.00. This is along the lines of the previous AIG issue where the company spent $450,000.00 on a spa visit for salespeople AFTER getting a taxpayer funded bailout.

How can we trust a man in the presidency when he allows his own party--you know, the one he's in charge of--to spend $150,000.00 in less than two months on clothes and makeup for Palin and her brood? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

So much for fiscal discipline. Reports are that the money spent on Palin's couture exceeds her yearly salary as governor. Wonder if she gets to keep the clothes? I bet she does.

So long Ronald Reagan. Say hello to the wilderness...