Comments from Left Field

Yes, TIME Magazine Thinks Americans Are Stupid.

matttbastard — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:41:55 PST

First:

Now:

Morning Maddow: Contraception, Culture Wars, and the Utter Hypocrisy of Republicans (Redux)

matttbastard — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:28:59 PST

Waitaminute — y’mean the GOP was FOR Obama’s suddenly controversial contraception legislation before they were against it? Oh, please — epic flip-flops are a longtime Republican trademark. Everyone’s favourite living argument for birth control has the 411.

Watch it:

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

Regressive U.S. Birth Control Battle: “Your health care benefits shouldn’t depend on who your boss is.”

matttbastard — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:07:26 PST

And speaking of vindictive Republican absurdity (h/t):

[Yesterday] morning, House Speaker John Boehner vowed in a House floor speech to overturn the provision in thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that would require faith-affiliated hospitals and universities to include birth-control coverage in their employee health benefits. The provision, Boehner argued, “constitutes an unambiguous attack on religious freedom in our country.”

In response, U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Lois Capps (D-CA) and Gwen Moore (D-WI), spoke out on behalf of the 99 percent–that is, the 99 percent of American women who have used birth control–arguing that the provision is a respectful balance between religious interests and individual conscience and freedom.

[...]

As it stands, the PPACA still includes a religious exemption, allowing houses of worship to refuse to offer contraception coverage in their employee health plans. But the National Conference of Catholic Bishops has been pressuring the Obama Administration for some time to broaden the religious exemption for contraceptive coverage to include Catholic or other religiously-affiliated schools, hospitals, universities and charities.

Speaker Boehner failed to mention that 28 states already require birth control coverage in employee health plans. Eight of those states don’t offer any religious exemption. Rep. Schakowsky argued that the religious exemption for houses of worship in the PPACA was a respectful compromise, and that many Catholic hospitals and universities already provide birth control coverage to their employees as a standard of care.

Surveys show that 99 percent of all women–and 98 percent of Catholic women–have used birth control at some point in their lives. “It’s not as controversial as they want you to believe,” Rep. Capps said. “The majority of women support this.”

Even with health insurance, contraception costs American women between $600 and $1,200 every year. While many women struggle to afford this basic health care, their husbands, fathers and brothers often have access to drugs like Viagra with no co-pay whatsoever. Full coverage for birth control and other women’s health services in the PPACA will finally bring an end to the “longstanding gender discrimination in prescription drug coverage,” said Rep. DeLauro. “Women’s health will finally be put on equal footing.”

The recent Susan G. Komen foundation fiasco showed the nation that women don’t want politics getting in the way of health care. Ultimately, the convictions of some religious leaders should not be allowed to trump the rights of millions of women employees to have access to birth control. Or, as Rep. Schakowsky put it, “Your health care benefits shouldn’t depend on who your boss is.”

Bingo, Rep Schakowsky. Also, your benefits shouldn’t depend on whether or not the U.S. Congress is being held hostage by a gang of sniveling socon assmufflers who want to dictate what literally 51% of the nation do with their bodies, but would howl like banshees if someone tried to take away their dick pills subsidy (from their cold, dead hands!)

Last word goes to Jessica Valenti:

Griswold: it’s what’s for dinner.

Lucky Duckies May Get Their Wings Clipped By Top Hat GOP Congress

matttbastard — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:02:19 PST

Simon Johnson on the vindictive absurdity of Republican plans to slash unemployment benefits:

The jobs crisis was caused by recklessness in the financial sector, made possible by irresponsible deregulation (including a period when Republicans controlled Congress and the White House) and resulting in enormous unconditional bailout protection for the bankers at the heart of the disaster (under both President George W. Bush and President Obama).

Let’s be generous for a moment and simply state that mistakes were made — on an enormous, macroeconomic scale with gut-wrenching consequences for families around the country. Why would anyone now seek to punish these people when they seek work but cannot get it?

In some parts of the Midwest, there are roughly four unemployed people for every job vacancy; the numbers are similar in many other parts of the country. Simply telling people to move is also not helpful — where exactly do you see hiring on a scale that would put a dent in these overall numbers?

Extended unemployment benefits provide on average about $300 a week — one-third of the average weekly wage and only about 70 percent of the poverty level for a family of four. If you strip even this money from people who remain out of work through no fault of their own, you will push more individuals and families onto the streets and into shelters. The cost of providing those fallback services is very high — and much higher than providing unemployment benefits.

How does it help any economic recovery when the people who lose jobs cannot even afford to buy basic goods and services — enough to keep their family afloat?

As they say, read the whole damn thing. Such questions may not concern some, but it should.

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

Links for 2010-09-26 [Digg]

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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