recovering hipster

08:42 12th Dec 2012

Notes: 220

Shorter Eric Cantor: “The Rights of White Men to Sexually Assault Women of Color Shall Not Be Abridged!”

Leave it to a congressman from the ex-Confederacy, where the white rape of black women has a long and sordid history, to hold up the Violence Against Women Act in order to protect white men from prosecution by tribal courts if they rape a Native American woman.

Yes that’s right. Eric Cantor is the holding up VAWA for that reason. Republicans have been fighting it tooth and nail because the new act would expand protections to immigrants, the LGBT community, and Native Americans. They are caving on the first two. But about Native Americans, Cantor refuses to budge.

11:51 6th Dec 2012

Notes: 106

Reblogged from shortformblog

Tags: politics republicans technology copyright derek khanna

A Republican staffer just learned the hard way that a good idea, like copyright reform, won't get you very far in your job. He got fired. More info:

shortformblog:

The Republican Study Committee, a caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives, has told staffer Derek Khanna that he will be out of a job when Congress re-convenes in January. The incoming chairman of the RSC, Steve Scalise (R-LA) was approached by several Republican members of Congress who were upset about a memo Khanna wrote advocating reform of copyright law. They asked that Khanna not be retained, and Scalise agreed to their request.

The release and subsequent retraction of Khanna’s memo has made waves in tech policy circles. The document argues that the copyright regime has become too favorable to the interests of copyright holders and does not adequately serve the public interest. It advocates several key reforms, including reducing copyright terms and limiting the draconian “statutory damages” that can reach as high as $150,000 per infringing work.

Mind you, tech scholars and the public thought this idea was great. But content groups? They said no, and now this dude is out of a job. Ouch.

One of the few good ideas to come out of the conservative movement in ages… and the guy loses his job for it.

16:05 4th Dec 2012

Notes: 3

Tags: politics UNCRPD republican cowardice

Here’s a list of the Senators who voted against ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Sad to say that both of my senators are on this list (Alexander and Corker).

Alexander (R-TN)
Blunt (R-MO)
Boozman (R-AR)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coats (R-IN)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Heller (R-NV)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Johnson (R-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lee (R-UT)
McConnell (R-KY)
Moran (R-KS)
Paul (R-KY)
Portman (R-OH)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rubio (R-FL)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Toomey (R-PA)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

15:54

Notes: 6

Tags: UNCRPD conspiracy theories politics republican cowardice

US Senate fails to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

If you’re unaware of what this is all about, the short version is this: the CRPD is a UN resolution designed to raise standards of living for people with disabilities throughout the world. It would have almost zero affect in the US, as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 already exceeds the standards outlined in the CRPD. Ratification would be a symbolic gesture, merely a way to use America’s standing on the world stage to be a positive influence.

So, why did the GOP vote against it exactly? Basically, it’s because there are religious zealots on the far-right who believe in bizarre conspiracy theories about the UN sending stormtroopers to the US and forcing people to get abortions. (trigger warning: Rick Santorum)

Seriously. That’s why they voted against it. Because people like Rick Santorum lack basic reading comprehension skills. And as a result, disabled people around the world are going to suffer.

15:27

Notes: 172

Reblogged from motherjones

Tags: we the people petitions politics movies michael bay the rock

image: Download

motherjones:

A petition on the White House website asking President Barack Obama to make Michael Bay’s The Rock the official movie of America.

08:12 27th Nov 2012

Notes: 1

Tags: politics economics epistemic closure

Revenge of the Reality-Based Community: My life on the Republican right—and how I saw it all go wrong.

Conservative economist and historian Bruce Barlett wrote an amazing article for The American Conservative. It’s long, but definitely worth the read. Here’s the key part:

I am disinclined to think that Republicans are yet ready for a serious questioning of their philosophy or strategy. They comfort themselves with the fact that they held the House (due to gerrymandering) and think that just improving their get-out-the-vote system and throwing a few bones to the Latino community will fix their problem. There appears to be no recognition that their defects are far, far deeper and will require serious introspection and rethinking of how Republicans can win going forward. The alternative is permanent loss of the White House and probably the Senate as well, which means they can only temporarily block Democratic initiatives and never advance their own.

I’ve paid a heavy price, both personal and financial, for my evolution from comfortably within the Republican Party and conservative movement to a less than comfortable position somewhere on the center-left. Honest to God, I am not a liberal or a Democrat. But these days, they are the only people who will listen to me. When Republicans and conservatives once again start asking my opinion, I will know they are on the road to recovery.

13:35 26th Nov 2012

Notes: 4

Tags: benghazi foreign policy fox news politics

While being interviewed on Fox News, Thomas E. Ricks says the network “hyped” the attacks for political gain and calls Fox a “wing of the Republican Party.” The host then abruptly ends interview.

Transcript:

JON SCOTT (co-host): Pressure mounting on the Obama administration over its response to the deadly attack on our consulate in Benghazi, as [Fox News correspondent] Catherine Herridge reported just minutes ago. Several top GOP lawmakers are backing off their criticism of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, instead focusing on the White House. Two senators even expressing concerns about a possible White House cover-up. Let’s talk about it with Tom Ricks. He is author of The Generals. He has spent decades covering our military. He joins us now.

Senator John McCain said in the past he would block any attempt to nominate Susan Rice to become U.N. — I’m sorry, secretary of state. She’s currently the U.N. ambassador. He seems to be backing away from that. What do you make of it?

RICKS: I think that Benghazi generally was hyped, by this network especially, and that now that the campaign is over, I think he’s backing off a little bit. They’re not going to stop Susan Rice from being secretary of state.

SCOTT: When you have four people dead, including the first dead U.N. ambassador — U.S. ambassador in more than 30 years, how do you call that hype?

RICKS: How many security contractors died in Iraq, do you know?

SCOTT: I don’t.

RICKS: No. Nobody does, because nobody cared. We know that several hundred died, but there was never an official count done of security contractors dead in Iraq. So when I see this focus on what was essentially a small firefight, I think, number one, I’ve covered a lot of firefights. It’s impossible to figure out what happens in them sometimes. And second, I think that the emphasis on Benghazi has been extremely political, partly because Fox was operating as a wing of Republican Party.

SCOTT: All right. Tom Ricks, thanks very much for joining us today.

RICKS: You’re welcome.

(Source: mediamatters.org)

14:53 20th Nov 2012

Notes: 6

Tags: politics papa john's economics capitalism

A few thoughts on Papa John’s (and sundry other junk peddlers)

tl;dr version: Papa John’s is a billion dollar business whose CEO, John Schnatter, wants to maximize profits while externalizing expenses. Also, the sky is blue.

13:35 14th Nov 2012

Notes: 6

Tags: hypocrisy immigration politics racism xenophobia religion RSOTD

Meet Bryan Fischer, your Republican shithead of the day.

Fischer is Director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Association. He also seems to be illiterate. I mean, how exactly does one reconcile this racist, xenophobic bullshit with the teachings of the Bible? I mean… it’s pretty damn explicit about this stuff (Deuteronomy 10:17-19, Leviticus 19:33-34, and Exodus 22:21, just to pick a few random verses).

For those of you who can’t watch the video, here’s a transcript:

Hispanics are not Democrats— don’t vote Democrat because of immigration. That’s not the main reason they vote for Democrats. It’s not— it doesn’t have anything to do with lax immigration policy; it has to do with the fact that they are socialists by nature. They come from Mexico, which is a socialist country. They want big government intervention, they want big government goodies. It’s primarily about that. Now they want open borders - make no mistake - because they’ve got family and friends that they want to come up and be able to benefit from the plunder of the wealth of the United States, just as they have been able to do.

Republicans can pander all they want to Hispanics, to immigrants, and it will not work. There is no way on Earth you’re going to get them to leave the Democratic party. It’s one of the reasons why we’ve got to clamp down on immigration.