Comments from Left Field

Santorum Once Again On Everybody’s Lips (Ewwww)

matttbastard — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:00:51 PST

“He thinks he knows better. He thinks he’s smarter than you. He thinks he should be able to rule over all of you.”

- Latest anybody-but-Mittens alternative Rick “sweater vest” Santorum, reminding GOP voters after his (largely symbolic) hat-trick last night that, yes, Barack HOO-SAAAIN Obama is still an uppity negro (in case anyone had forgotten).

Related: Appropriately pithy summation of what Santorum’s sweep means from Rob Farley:

There is only one thing that I have asked of the 2012 GOP Presidential nomination contest, and that’s entertainment. The Santorum Sweep suggests that even if Romney remains inevitable, there may yet be additional chuckles.

Yeah, that’s about right. Keep the clown car rollin’, boys. All this constant (egg-on) face time is paying major dividends.

Ahem.

0-3 For Romney

David Katz — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:47:32 PST

Tomorrow morning team Romney is going to wake up with a really bad headache and ask themselves “what the just happened?”. In one day that frontrunner status that he thought he reclaimed went up in a poof of smoke. Ya they knew they were going to have a rough day, but Romney lost by 30 points in Missouri and Minnesota, and dropped over 20 points since 08 in Colorado. To make matters even more embarrassing, this collection of losses happened at the hands of sweatervest spokesman Rick “Frothy Lather” Santorum.

No matter how close he seems to coming to seal the deal, Romney just cant seem to do it, which makes me wonder, can Romney actually win the nomination? The man cant get above 40% approval within his party’s own primary. The problem is, he is just unrelatable, particularly to the GOP primary voter. He looks more like he should be skippering a yacht at a regatta than running to be president. The man is pure polish, I half expect old spice to waft out of my TV set every time he is on. The one thing Romney has going for him is Newt Gingrich. As long as this is kept a 3 man, Romney can continue to have the kookoo conservative base split allowing him to continue to roll up the W’s. Even with that, his hold on the primary is precarious at best and is slipping at worst.

So ya, tomorrow is going to suck for team Romney, and they are going to do their damn best to make today seem unimportant, but at the end of the day, elections (even primaries) matter, cause you know, that’s why we have them, and no matter how they try and spin it, the people of Minnesota, Missouri, and Colorado all just called Mit over, and did their own little recreation of M.I.A.’s Superbowl halftime pantomime

Obligatory Karen Handel Komen Resignation Post

matttbastard — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:21:56 PST

Shorter: Fuck you, fuck you, yr kewl, fuck YOU. *drops mic, walks off stage*

Yep. Straight from the Komen Foundation boardroom to a cushy future Fox News contract. C’mon, you know it’s gonna happen — the defiant, almost Nixonian delusion and naked martyr-posing is catnip for savvy grievance merchants.

Thus the cycle of wingnut welfare continues.

More from Jim Galloway, TBogg and AmericaBlog

Morning Maddow: It’s A Billionaires World — We’re Just Living In It

matttbastard — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:48:47 PST

Maddow may have been off last night, but never fear, true believers — rosy-cheeked weekend warrior Chris Hayes was in to pinch hit, and knocked one out of the park. In this segment, Hayes takes a look at this past Saturday’s Nevada Caucuses and how the role played by (fickle) billionaire financier Sheldon Adelson represents, in Hayes words, “a perfect microcosm of our post-Citizens United World”.

Watch it:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Monday Upper: ‘Democracy in Cages’

matttbastard — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:53:59 PST

Nothing more really needs to be said about Nevada — continued plummeting turnout, an honest-to-G*d religious test for Jewish voters at an official caucus site (yes, really) and a most curious redefinition of ‘elitism’ from Gingrich (hey, let’s hear it for Noo Yawk — 9/11 didn’t change shit) are apparently all you need to know. That, and the Republican Party is still on pace to nominate (with noses collectively pinched tight) a man who, in his own words, “[likes] being able to fire people” & “[isn't] concerned about the very poor” — and those are the sole qualities GOPers LIKE about Mittens.

(Oh, and ‘honest rape’. Can’t forget that. Dr. Paul, you do spectacular flameout proper.)

Sigh.

Beyond the latest GOP clown car pile-up, Chris Hayes strips away the spectacular, superficial facade of the modern campaign edifice to look at who gets a privileged voice in American general elections, and, tragically, criminally, those who are disenfranchised en masse. What lies beneath isn’t pretty, damn sure doesn’t make for deal-sealing cocktail party patter on the stump.

But it’s also damn sure more imperative viewing than anything offered by the Beltway bobblehead brigade.

Watch it:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The New 1% Doctrine in Action (Electro-Motive Diesel Edition)

matttbastard — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:01:37 PST

While many the US were celebrating seemingly positive job numbers yesterday, for London, Ontario residents such news was caustic, rock salt poured into a gaping wound.

WSWS:

Caterpillar subsidiary Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) has announced that it is transforming the lockout at its London, Ontario diesel-locomotive manufacturing facility into a plant closure.

Six weeks ago, Caterpillar locked out the 465 production workers at its London plant after they overwhelmingly rejected the company’s demands for a 55 percent wage cut, the elimination of their pension plan, and other sweeping concessions.

EMD announced the closure Friday morning in a terse press release that blamed uncompetitive labor costs and worker intransigence for its decision. “The cost structure of the operation was not sustainable,” said the release, “and efforts to negotiate a new, competitive collective agreement were not successful.”

Just last week Caterpillar boasted that the 2011 fiscal year was the most profitable in its history, with profits rising by 83 percent to US $4.9 billion.

Take a moment to absorb the jarring ironic contrast between those last two paragraphs, then listen to London Mayor Joe Fontana give Caterpillar the business for letting naked greed determine the bottom line — at the expense of local workers whose lives have now been callously thrown into total flux.

And wither the Harpercons? Alas, Canada’s market fundamentalist government always respects the sanctity of the Invisible Hand (except when it doesn’t).

AM980 News:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper used Electro-Motive as a backdrop in 2008 to promote big tax breaks for industrial capital investments, but the federal government declined to get involved in the labour dispute.

“This matter falls under provincial jurisdiction, and we are also disappointed that the Ontario Government was unable to mediate a solution to the dispute between the company and its employees,” read a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

The statement also promised that the federal government will continue to work on a plan that will generate new jobs and opportunities for those affected by the closure.

Shorter:

Thanks for providing a great campaign backdrop, but, um, we have our majority now, and besides, we can’t help it if the crummy Ontario Liberal Government is teh suck. So, uh, anyway, don’t call us — we’ll call you.

Of course, the matter of government responsibility — yes, at all levels — goes beyond mere inaction.

James Ede:

It is not so much its inaction that looks bad on the Harper government, but that the lockout undermines its argument that corporate tax cuts produce jobs. Electro-Motive Canada, under a previous owner, was given $5 million in tax cuts by Harper personally. The Harper government recently lowered Canada’s corporate tax rate by an additional 1.5%, voluntarily cutting almost $3 billion from government revenue. This at a time when it is planning massive budget cuts to reduce its deficit.

The lockout is equally damning to the Conservative claim that free trade will attract job-creating foreign investment. The federal Conservatives are finishing up a new free-trade deal with Europe and have plans for a deal with India next. Given the fact that the government will not discuss the details of these free-trade negotiations, there is no way of knowing whether they would leave Canada more vulnerable to actions like those of Caterpillar’s.

Premier Dalton McGuinty has largely escaped the anger directed toward Harper. That may be in part because Harper is seen as more of a poster boy for the free-market policies.

But McGuinty is equally committed to corporate tax cuts and free trade. He is planning to cut another $2 billion in corporate taxes in the 2012 budget, and is an enthusiastic supporter of free trade, even if a deal with Europe risks overturning local content rules in the Green Energy Act, his chief response to Ontario’s manufacturing losses.

Given Harper’s preference for an Alberta-style resource economy, his indifference to Ontario’s manufacturing losses can be understood. For McGuinty, the Caterpillar lockout hits closer to home.

Partisan/jurisdictional slap-fighting aside, 465 workers have been pink-slipped and now find themselves stuck in financial limbo as severance negotiations delay the already-tedious Employment Insurance application process.

Glen Pearson:

Federal MPs stressed that the workers couldn’t get EI because they hadn’t officially lost their jobs. Well now they have – sacked in fact – and that’s a game changer. Terminated by their employer, they now qualify for EI. The problem is that they are fighting for severance at the same time and EI can’t kick in until that is solved. So here’s something you can finally do without any jurisdictional excuses. Seek to streamline the access to EI in this unique situation. Given Caterpillar’s modus operandi, the severance issue might not be settled for months. Get these workers EI now and help them to survive. The maximum a veteran worker gets is two-thirds of their salary for 42 weeks. They’re about to lose their homes, so maybe a little intervention would be nice – it’s now in your jurisdiction. If severance is an issue, then arrange it so that it can be clawed back out of EI once the negotiations are concluded. But please, do something. This isn’t about your party’s detached position but about human justice, ostensibly offered to every worker who has paid into the system.

Human justice.

In an age when austerity rules, justice for workers is a rare commodity — especially in London, Ontario, where the willfully indifferent, cruelly banal machinations of the 1% have become all too apparent as a community reels in shock from the latest top-down missive of an ongoing, all-too-asymmetrical class war.

Related: Indiana goes ‘Right to Work’ just as Caterpillar appears to be moving EMD production to Indiana.

Entirely coincidental, I’m sure.

Morning Maddow: Komen, Planned Parenthood, and the Right’s “Vendetta Against Women’s Health”

matttbastard — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:43:27 PST

With AMBASSADOOORRRR (and Bush Pioneer ) Nancy G. Brinker doing her damndest to seal the role as the Baghdad Bob of big money non-profs and increasingly ridiculous examples of Susan G. Komen for the Cure hypocrisy coming to light, you just knew that Rachel would have to be breaking her uncharacteristic silence regarding the seemingly-unavoidable controversy. Watch as Our Hero queries House Pro-Choice Caucus co-chair Rep. Diane Degette about the controversy and the “decimating attacks” on Planned Parenthood over the last 12+ months.

Watch it:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Coda:

Susan G. Komen for the Cure Update: Crisis Management Crunch Time

matttbastard — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:03:57 PST

Shorter straight-talkin’ Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker, founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure:

Silly geese — Susan G. Komen for the Cure just had to throw (poor, largely non-white, disposable) women under our new, shiny, pink (pro-life) bus in order to save them!

Co-sign w/ Jamison Foser:

Don’t fund Komen’s new crisis communication industry stimpack strategy — stand with Planned Parenthood. And make sure to hit Komen where it hurts.

Related: The Atlantic’s Jeff Goldberg has the REAL straight dope on how Komen’s TOTALLY NOT POLITICAL hit on Planned Parenthood went down. Pull quote:

“The rule was created to give the board of directors the excuse to stop the funding of Planned Parenthood. It was completely arbitrary. If they hadn’t come up with this particular rule, they would have come up with something else in order to separate themselves from Planned Parenthood.”

Yep. Nothing to see here, just a routine rev…hey — look at my DEAD SISTER! etc etc.

Also, everything you needed to know about Komen’s new, ultra-wingnutty veep, in one classic editorial cartoon:

Add (poor, largely non-white, disposable) women to the body count.

Morning Maddow: She Was Underwhelmed (If That’s A Word)

matttbastard — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:30:59 PST

What if you threw a primary and nobody came? Ok, ‘nobody’ is a slight exaggeration, but for an election that was supposed to reflect a distinct lack of enthusiasm emanating from the left side of the isle, it’s the Republicans who now seem to be mired in an unshakeable malaise. And the turnout numbers in FL (and elsewhere) only seem to further confirm the doldrums many GOP voters apparently find themselves in.

Watch Rachel as she talks with former senior McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt about the thus-far underwhelming (and unappealing) Republican ticket:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Definitely NOT The #FLPrimary Aftermath (Midday Round-Up)

matttbastard — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:29:43 PST

As horserace fanatics lament the lull in tedious clowncar-wreck rubbernecking, some news from outside the overly-crowded campaign bubble:

WWJD? Drop the “love your neighbour” bullshit and become a ratfucker. Obvs.
Why expensive US military brinkmanship is both insustainable and unnecessary
Pakistan and the West continue their very public break-up
“[I]n the nearly decades-long orchestrated atomic scare that permeates American relations with Iran, there is still no evidence of a single bomb.”
Cold War Flashback: Soviets used to travel like THIS, while Americans used to travel like THIS.
Spreading democracy, spreading toxic waste — potato, potAHto.
““Protect and Serve” does not mean “you have to win every argument ever”” h/t
Your feel-good read of the day: “Chaos and poverty are the historical norms of western civilisation, not peace and plenty”
The paradox of “Israel First”: A “fair, accurate description of any number of American Jews”, yet still wrong
Stopped clocks. Blind squirrels. Terry Glavin. Hey, it had to happen eventually.
Fauxpulism as right-wing narcissism: Wingnuts like Charles Murray “aren’t interested in saving America, but in saving themselves” h/t
And finally, shout outs to the coolest motherfucker to ever rock syndicated weekend afternoon television (like a boss). RIP, Don Cornelius:

Susan G. Komen for the Cure to Planned Parenthood (and Poor Women): ‘Drop Dead’

matttbastard — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:35:33 PST

Ok, I WAS going to post a Maddow clip relating to Mittens’ overwhelming, inevitable victory in Florida. But come on — you already know the Sunshine State score: Big money, kosher food, negative ads, moon colonies.

This is WAY more important: the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation, one of the most prominent breast cancer non-profs, is reportedly cutting funds it had been providing to Planned Parenthood, previously used by PP to offer breast cancer screening services to low income women.

Why did Komen suddenly decided to stop funding PP?

Wonkblog:

The group has been under pressure from anti-abortion rights groups not to fund Planned Parenthood. It also hired a vice president last year who had previously advocated for the group’s defunding in her run for Georgia governor. With a congressional investigation underway, Komen pulled its support.

That’s right: (poor, largely non-white, disposable) women’s lives have been put at risk, all because the fetus-fetishizing anti-choice fringe has totally hijacked the US political process (and, apparently, infiltrated a key non-prof dedicated to women’s health) and could not care less if (poor, largely non-white, disposable) women become collateral damage in the long war against reproductive freedom.

Xeni Jardin (who is currently experiencing breast cancer up-close and personal) breaks it down:

The short version: Komen hired an anti-choice politician to become the charity’s vice-president before announcing this change in policy.

From her 2010 campaign website: “Since I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood.”

Regarding state funds for the women’s health clinics which she acknowledged were used for “breast and cervical cancer screening,” she said while campaigning, “I’ll eliminate them as your next Governor.”

Lame, lame, lame, lame. Cancer doesn’t care if you’re pro-choice or not.

No, cancer doesn’t care.

Akiba Solomon nails it:

If we needed evidence that the radical anti-choice movement is willing to sacrifice the lives of women for what they claim is a pro-life stance, this is the smoking gun.

The founder and chair of @komenforthecure is Nancy Brinker. Email: nbrinker@komen.org.

Related: Planned Parenthood statement responding to the abrupt, politically-motivated defunding; more from Daily Kos, ThinkProgress, TBogg, Feministing, skippy the bush kangaroo, Balloon Juice, Taylor Marsh, Crooks and Liars, Little Green Footballs, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Feministe

Definitely NOT the #FLPrimary (Lunchtime Round-Up)

matttbastard — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:46:23 PST

In honour of my sister from another mister, Nancy Goldstein, some news from well-beyond the Sunshine State edition of the seemingly-neverending GOP national clown car tour:

Not-meant-to-be-factually-accurate opinion journalism RULES
On global sporting events, mega-cities, and imposing “the logic of war”
Oh, CON-ada — our home and native land is totes open for business (damn the radical AGW theologians) h/t
Fabbo Flanagan takedown: blinding The Atlantic’s token asshat anti-feminist with science h/t
Is it too meta to link a round-up within a round-up? Meh. I’ll risk it. h/t
Yep — when I think sober, down-the-middle intel analysis, I think MEMRI & Palestinian Media Watch
NYPost, other NYC tabloids (un)fair & (im)balanced in mad rush to smear woman who accused NewsCorps employee/NYPD commish’s son of rape
The Progressive is well on top of the Tucson Unified School District book banning scandal h/t
“It’s like Brooks is some sort of Sisyphean device that has one purpose: to take any possible social paradigm observation, smash it with a sledgehammer, and reconstruct the bits in order to fit his god-awful worldview of bipartisanship, even if the pieces don’t fit and had nothing to do with the original observation in the first place, and he has to repeat that until the end of time.” Ever want to hug a run-on sentence for being awesome, despite itself?
On the murky ethics of pet taxidermy (yes, this is a thing. Ew?)
Speaking of murky ethics (of a decidedly more impactful variety): Obama WH claims unilateral authority to sanction w/o trial the assassination of US citizens accused of terrorism
Why AZ Gov. Jan Brewer never should have fingered POTUS (Stop that. Also, I unequivocally denounce & reject point #1. POTUS != monarch.)
Finally, this (yes, I’m a big ol’ softie)

Morning Maddow: Happy #FLPrimary Day (Vulture Capitalist Edition)

matttbastard — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:07:39 PST

Following a year in which ‘occupy’ achieved new meaning & protesters worldwide harnessed the collective power of ordinary people to make willfully indifferent elites address issues relating to growing inequality, the laborious ascension of ur-1%er Mitt Romney to the top of the GOP POTUS slagheap has been especially painful to watch. Thankfully, CFLF’s favourite smiling progressive assassin hones in and hits the mark re: the dirty details of Willard’s absolutely vile vulture capitalist feeding frenzy (with an assist from Jon Stewart).

Watch it:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Related: MoJo on how Bain kept the taxman from knockin’ on Mittens’ door; Grauniad stump profile of Willard and his perma-grin (now with extra awkward Mormon underpants queries).

Karl Marx Mancrushes on Abe Lincoln (Or, How To Make Ron Paul’s Head Explode)

matttbastard — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:36:53 PST

ISReview:

Lincoln’s proclamation is even more important than the Maryland campaign. Lincoln is a sui generis figure in the annals of history. He has no initiative, no idealistic impetus, no cothurnus, no historical trappings. He gives his most important actions always the most commonplace form….His latest proclamation, which is drafted in the same style, the manifesto abolishing slavery, is the most important document in American history since the establishment of the Union, tantamount to the tearing up of the old American Constitution.

Nothing is simpler than to show that Lincoln’s principal political actions contain much that is aesthetically repulsive, logically inadequate, farcical in form and politically, contradictory, as is done by, the English Pindars of slavery, the Times, the Saturday Review and tutti quanti. But Lincoln’s place in the history of the United States and of mankind will, nevertheless, be next to that of Washington! Nowadays, when the insignificant struts about melodramatically on this side of the Atlantic, is it of no significance at all that the significant is clothed in everyday dress in the new world?

Lincoln is not the product of a popular revolution. This plebeian, who worked his way up from stone-breaker to Senator in Illinois, without intellectual brilliance, without a particularly outstanding character, without exceptional importance—an average person of good will, was placed at the top by the interplay of the forces of universal suffrage unaware of the great issues at stake. The new world has never achieved a greater triumph than by this demonstration that, given its political and social organization, ordinary people of good will can accomplish feats which only heroes could accomplish in the old world!

- Karl Marx, no doubt further bolstering the true believin’, die-hard revisionist convictions of Ronpaulian neo-Confederate dead-enders (like a boss).

Related: Ta-Nehisi Coates & co. crowd-school Ron Paul on the cold, hard realities regarding the Civil War that Marx (among others) clearly understood and articulated at the time.

Monday Upper: Democracy For Billionaires

matttbastard — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:40:35 PST

Weekends are always rough for progressive USian poli-junkies — Maddow retires to the cocktail lounge as MSNBC morphs into a prison pr0n channel (and the Sunday shows? They make the prison pr0n seem positively palatable by comparison). Thankfully, the recent addition of Up With Chris Hayes to the political landscape has made the weekend less barren. Here, Chris takes a heartwarming look at billionaire casino magnate & big-spending Gingrich groupie Sheldon Adelson (srsly, you will be touched in the pikes and tumbrels area).

Watch it:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Tea Party Derangement Syndrome | Comments from Left Field
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past six months it is clear that the 'Tea Party' supported candidates are garnering significant support from