Choices Made Since 9/11/01

post from Texas Liberal on 11 September 2011 01:33:55 AM. © Texas Liberal

I’m sorry for the people who died on 9/11. I’m sorry we were told to shop after 9/11 and that many of us chose to consume beyond our means. I’m sorry that some of the financial firms in Manhattan chose to cheat people and to rip people off. I’m sorry we sometimes used 9/11 to scapegoat [...]

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An Honest Bumper Sticker For The GOP

post from jobsanger on 11 September 2011 01:07:00 AM. © jobsanger

If honesty was the primary requirement for a bumper sticker (rather than cute jargon), then the one above would be perfect for the Republican Party in the coming elections. Their sole effort since the election of President Obama has been to block all of his attempts to improve the economy and create jobs -- in the hope they can use the failing economy as an excuse to get votes in 2012. Found at the blog of the inimitable Juanita Jean (owner of The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc.).

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A Macabre American Holiday

post from jobsanger on 11 September 2011 01:06:00 AM. © jobsanger

It's been 10 years since the terrorists struck the Twin Towers in New York City, killing 2,973 people of all ages, sexes, colors, and many ethnicities and religions. And today there will be little else discussed. There will be myriad television programs reliving the horror both on news and entertainment channels. There will be articles in all the newspapers and across the internet. And there will be ceremonies, both large and small.

Even now, ten years later, the attack is still a national obsession -- one could say it has sort of morphed into a very macabre American holiday. Why is this? What makes this disaster so different from the many other disasters in our history?

Some might say it is because it took the lives of so many people. That doesn't really ring true. There have been American disasters that took more lives, and yet they weren't turned into some kind of sacred day of remembrance. The Galveston hurricane killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people. The San Francisco earthquake killed between 3,000 and 6,000 people. The infamous Trail of Tears killed at least 4,000 people. And the Johnstown Flood killed 2,209 people. And yet there is no special day on the calendar on which the nation remembers these events.

Others will say it is because it was a terrorist attack on the government and people of the United States. And I'll admit that the idea of being targeted by terrorists is frightening. But wasn't the attack on Oklahoma City just 16 years ago also a terrorist attack on the government and people of the United States? It is nearly as recent as the 9/11 attack, and yet I doubt that many Americans even remember what date on the calendar that it happened.

Could the reason the 9/11 tragedy has struck such a chord with Americans be because it feeds into the innate bigotry and hatred of far too many Americans? Oklahoma City was done by white, male, christian, Americans, and that strikes too close to home for many people. After all, most of the people in power in this country (at all levels) are white, male, christian, and born in this country. Examining the Oklahoma City terrorist attack too closely would require we look in the mirror and consider the problems this country has.

But 9/11 was different. It was done by foreign, brown-skinned, muslims. It is tailor-made for the inherent bigotry of this country. It is easy to hate foreigners. It is easy to hate people of color. It is easy to hate people who believe in a different religion. To hate the terrorists of 9/11 doesn't require we look in the mirror and examine our own faults, because it is easy to tell ourselves they are "different" from us.

The sad fact is that 9/11 made it easy for too many of us to wrap ourselves in the flag and boast of a false patriotism -- and then use that to spread hatred and bigotry against muslims, immigrants, and brown-skinned people (many of whom are our fellow citizens). It has given bigotry a reason to rear its ugly head again in America -- disguised as patriotism (and even echoed in the halls of government by dishonest politicians).

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we shouldn't remember the 9/11 disaster. It was a tragedy, and we should remember the innocent people who lost their lives. But we should remember it the same way we remember other American tragedies, and not use it as an excuse to foster hatred or encourage bigotry.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was also a great tragedy, and we still remember it on a specific calendar date. But we don't use it to spread hatred of Japan, Japanese-Americans, or Shintoism. Why can't we take the bigotry out of 9/11 and remember it the same way?

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10 Years Later

post from jobsanger on 11 September 2011 01:05:00 AM. © jobsanger

Political Cartoon is by Matt Bors at mattbors.com.

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Reagan Would Be Shunned By Teabaggers

post from jobsanger on 11 September 2011 01:04:00 AM. © jobsanger

There is little doubt that the one politician most revered by Republicans and conservatives is Ronald Reagan. Every Republican politician tries to position himself/herself as being the one most like the former president -- the true inheritor of the Reagan legacy. This was apparent in the recent Republican presidential candidate debate, where all but one candidate invoked the memory of Reagan to boost their own candidacies -- all of them except Romney, and he's probably kicking himself now for forgetting to do that.

For right-wingers, Ronald Reagan is more than a former president. He is a conservative icon, a hero, almost a god-like figure. But the Reagan they adore is a myth, and they either ignore or have forgotten many of his actions as governor and president -- actions that modern right-wingers would abhor. In fact, if Reagan was the president today, I think many on the right (especially the teabaggers who control the Republican Party today) would shun him as a moderate, or even worse.

Find that hard to believe? Well, consider the following 10 things compiled by Think Progress. They call it the "10 Things Conservatives Don't Want You To Know About Ronald Reagan". Here they are:

1. Reagan was a serial tax raiser. As governor of California, Reagan ?signed into law the largest tax increase in the history of any state up till then.? Meanwhile, state spending nearly doubled. As president,Reagan ?raised taxes in seven of his eight years in office,? including four times in just two years. As former GOP Senator Alan Simpson, who called Reagan ?a dear friend,? told NPR, ?Ronald Reagan raised taxes 11 times in his administration ? I was there.? ?Reagan was never afraid to raise taxes,? said historian Douglas Brinkley, who edited Reagan?s memoir. Reagan the anti-tax zealot is ?false mythology,? Brinkley said.2. Reagan nearly tripled the federal budget deficit. During the Reagan years, the debt increased to nearly $3 trillion, ?roughly three times as much as the first 80 years of the century had done altogether.? Reagan enacted a major tax cut his first year in office and government revenue dropped off precipitously. Despite the conservative myth that tax cuts somehow increase revenue, the government went deeper into debt and Reagan had to raise taxes just a year after he enacted his tax cut. Despite ten more tax hikes on everything from gasoline to corporate income, Reagan was never able to get the deficit under control.3. Unemployment soared after Reagan?s 1981 tax cuts.Unemployment jumped to 10.8 percent after Reagan enacted his much-touted tax cut, and it took years for the rate to get back down to its previous level. Meanwhile, income inequality exploded. Despite the myth that Reagan presided over an era of unmatched economic boom for all Americans, Reagan disproportionately taxed the poor and middle class, but the economic growth of the 1980?s did little help them. ?Since 1980, median household income has risen only 30 percent, adjusted for inflation, while average incomes at the top have tripled or quadrupled,? the New York Times? David Leonhardt noted.4. Reagan grew the size of the federal government tremendously.Reagan promised ?to move boldly, decisively, and quickly to control therunaway growth of federal spending,? but federal spending ?ballooned? under Reagan. He bailed out Social Security in 1983 after attempting to privatize it, and set up a progressive taxation system to keep it funded into the future. He promised to cut government agencies like the Department of Energy and Education but ended up adding one of the largest ? the Department of Veterans? Affairs, which today has a budget of nearly $90 billion and close to 300,000 employees. He alsohiked defense spending by over $100 billion a year to a level not seen since the height of the Vietnam war.5. Reagan did little to fight a woman?s right to choose. As governor of California in 1967, Reagan signed a bill to liberalize the state?s abortion laws that ?resulted in more than a million abortions.? When Reagan ran for president, he advocated a constitutional amendment that would have prohibited all abortions except when necessary to save the life of the mother, but once in office, he ?never seriously pursued? curbing choice.6. Reagan was a ?bellicose peacenik.? He wrote in his memoirs that ?[m]y dream?became a world free of nuclear weapons.? ?This vision stemmed from the president?s belief that the biblical account of Armageddon prophesied nuclear war ? and that apocalypse could be averted if everyone, especially the Soviets, eliminated nuclear weapons,? the Washington Monthly noted. And Reagan?s military buildup was meant to crush the Soviet Union, but ?also to put the United States in a stronger position from which to establish effective arms control? for the the entire world ? a vision acted out by Regean?s vice president, George H.W. Bush, when he became president.7. Reagan gave amnesty to 3 million undocumented immigrants.Reagan signed into law a bill that made any immigrant who had entered the country before 1982 eligible for amnesty. The bill was sold as a crackdown, but its tough sanctions on employers who hired undocumented immigrants were removed before final passage. The bill helped 3 million people and millions more family members gain American residency. It has since become a source of major embarrassment for conservatives.8. Reagan illegally funneled weapons to Iran. Reagan and other senior U.S. officials secretly sold arms to officials in Iran, which was subject to a an arms embargo at the time, in exchange for American hostages. Some funds from the illegal arms sales also went to fund anti-Communist rebels in Nicaragua ? something Congress had already prohibited the administration from doing. When the deals went public, the Iran-Contra Affair, as it came to be know, was an enormous political scandal that forced several senior administration officials to resign.9. Reagan vetoed a comprehensive anti-Apartheid act. which placed sanctions on South Africa and cut off all American trade with the country. Reagan?s veto was overridden by the Republican-controlled Senate. Reagan responded by saying ?I deeply regret that Congress has seen fit to override my veto,? saying that the law ?will not solve the serious problems that plague that country.?10. Reagan helped create the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. Reagan fought a proxy war with the Soviet Union by training, arming, equipping, and funding Islamist mujahidin fighters in Afghanistan. Reagan funneled billions of dollars, along with top-secret intelligence and sophisticated weaponry to these fighters through the Pakistani intelligence service. The Talbian and Osama Bin Laden ? a prominent mujahidin commander ? emerged from these mujahidin groups Reagan helped create, and U.S. policy towards Pakistan remains strainedbecause of the intelligence services? close relations to these fighters. In fact, Reagan?s decision to continue the proxy war after the Soviets were willing to retreat played a direct role in Bin Laden?s ascendancy.

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Tarnishing The Memory

post from jobsanger on 11 September 2011 01:03:00 AM. © jobsanger

Political Cartoon is by Ed Stein at edsteinink.com.

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Late Late Night FDL: Barbecue Hound

post from Firedoglake on 11 September 2011 01:00:47 AM. © Firedoglake

Huckleberry Hound in Barbecue Hound. This Hanna-Barbera cartoon first aired on January 29, 1959.[...]

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The Nightowl Newswrap

post from They gave us a republic... - Front Page on 11 September 2011 01:00:00 AM. © They gave us a republic... - Front Page

By BG & YD

We bet @ASCETweets agrees with us that we need a trillion bucks for infrastructure because it's been neglected for 30 years. "Yesterday, ThinkProgress published a report detailing Republican Congressional leadership's opposition to infrastructure investments even as structural deficiencies in bridges and roadways persist in their home states. Among those is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, where 34 percent of bridges are considered structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. ... The Sherman Minton Bridge, one of three major bridges spanning the Ohio River between Louisville, KY and southern Indiana, was among the Kentucky bridges listed as deficient. And last night, the Sherman Minton Bridge was closed after further deficiencies, including cracks, were found in a load-bearing part of its structure."

Can we be absolutely certain that Eric Cantor isn't a golom? "Yesterday, President Obama requested $5.1 billion to provide disaster relief to communities struggling to recover from recent hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and wildfires. The request includes $500 million in emergency funds FEMA needs to continue to operate effectively through the end of September. ... House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, whose home state of Virginia was hit by an earthquake and Hurricane Irene, is demanding more partisan spending cuts in exchange for approving the request."

Gay people aren't more dangerous than terrorists, but homophobic state legislators are. "Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern (R) first became infamous on the national stage when she said that blacks "don't work as hard" as white people. The Oklahoma House finally reprimanded her for those statements, but Kern has yet to answer for a number of derogatory remarks she's made about gay men and women. ... Now, ahead of the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, Kern is doubling down on her claim that homosexuality poses a greater threat to America than terrorist attacks. In 2008, Kern said homosexuality is "the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam," and called it a cancer that is "spreading" across America and "will destroy our young people." ... Now Right Wing Watch reports that a few days ago, she spoke with Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality to promote her new book, The Stoning of Sally Kern. She repeated her claim that homosexuality is "more dangerous" than terrorist attacks because unlike terrorism, we have to deal with it every day."

We keep telling you that there just aren't that many terrorists out there. "Charles Kurzman, a University of North Carolina professor of sociology, is the author of a new book titled The Missing Martyrs: Why There Are So Few Muslim Terrorists. Seeking to "turn down the volume on terrorism debates," Kurzman argues Al Qaeda and its affiliates have "failed so dismally" because they have been unable to attract large numbers -- particularly Muslim American recruits -- to their cause. ... In an interview with ThinkProgress yesterday, Kurzman told us that "evidence so far over the last decade" is that the threat of terrorism committed by Muslims "has not been growing." Kurzman's comprehensive analysis of terrorist plots since 9/11 finds that 186 individuals of the Muslim faith had become radicalized towards violence. Thus, he finds that while "Muslim Americans are participating in terrorist plots at a proportion greater than their proportion to the population," the overall threat of Muslim terrorism is "very, very low.""

Nice words, Bibi. We don't believe a syllable of them. "Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has reiterated his country's commitment to peace with Egypt, hours after a mob attacked Israel's embassy in Cairo. The Israeli ambassador and scores of embassy staff were evacuated from Egypt following Friday night's attack, that also threatened to unravel the peace treaty signed by the two countries 32 years ago. Netanyahu called Friday night's attack a "serious incident", but said Israel will send its ambassador back to Egypt "as soon as possible". Addressing a news conference on Saturday evening, Netanyahu also thanked the US president and Egyptian security forces for their help in defusing the embassy crisis. Egyptian officials had said three people were killed and more than 1,000 people injured in clashes late on Friday between protesters and security forces near the embassy, following earlier peaceful demonstrations in Tahrir Square."

Libya looking more and more like civil war. "Heavy fighting is raging for the control of three key Libyan towns after a deadline set for the surrender of loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi expired. Al Jazeera correspondents reported on Saturday that fighters aligned with the National Transitional Council (NTC) were seeking to wrest control of Bani Walid, Sirte and Sabha from Gaddafi loyalists after the latter chose to ignore the deadline for surrender. With talks aimed at peaceful handover of the Gaddafi strongholds collapsing, NTC Chairman Mustapha Abdel Jalil, the interim leader of the country, said on Saturday afternoon the situation was "in the hands of [his] battlefield commanders"."

Again, overcrowding kills hundreds of ferry passengers. "Nearly 200 people have died after a ferry travelling from Zanzibar to Pemba island off the East African country of Tanzania capsized overnight, police said. Zanzibar police spokesman Mohamed Mhina told the Reuters news agency that 192 bodies had been recovered and 606 passengers rescued from the Indian Ocean so far. "There is a possibility that more bodies still remain at sea. Rescue workers are still searching for survivors and retrieving bodies," he said. "The ferry flipped and capsized. There could be more bodies trapped inside the hull of the ship with the cargo," rescue worker Ali Ramadhan told Reuters at the port. "We suspect the ship was overcrowded with more than 800 passengers onboard. It is normal for these ferries to overload passengers and cargo." Zanzibar Police Commissioner Mussa Alli Mussa said early on Saturday that more than 500 people were on the ship's passenger list."

Politician resigns after saying something stupid - must not be a republican. "Japan's trade minister has resigned, after just eight days in office, following two separate incidents where comments he made were deemed to be inappropriate and insensitive. Yoshio Hachiro announced his departure at a news conference late on Saturday, apologising repeatedly for calling the evacuated area around the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant "a town of death". This came a day before Japan was to mark six months since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which left 20,000 dead or missing and sparked the nuclear crisis at Fukushima. People affected by the disasters, political opponents and even members of the ruling Democrats strongly criticised Hachiro's remark made on visit to the plant with other government ministers on Thursday. Hachiro told reporters he was just trying to convey the seriousness of the situation when he made the statement. But his words were seen as particularly outrageous because the government cannot provide evacuated residents with a firm timetable for their return, and has been criticised for how it has handled the crisis."

May he please have a couple days to recover before the book/movie sharks descend? "All nine passengers and crew aboard an Aerocon Airlines flight from Santa Cruz to Trinidad were assumed dead when the plane crashed in the Bolivian jungle on Tuesday. But three days later, rescue officials found one of the passengers, injured but alive, near the crash site. Minor Vidal escaped from the wreckage and says he survived by drinking his own urine and water from a lagoon. Al Jazeera's Caroline Malone reports. (video) "

And finally...

Jelly batteries - we'll take ours in grape, please. "A new polymer jelly could be the next big step forward for lithium batteries. The jelly replaces the volatile and hazardous liquid electrolyte currently used in most lithium batteries. Researchers from the University of Leeds hope their development leads to smaller, cheaper and safer gadgets. Once on the market, the lithium jelly batteries could allow lighter laptop computers, and more efficient electric cars. In 2006, Dell recalled four million laptop batteries because of concerns that they might catch fire. Dell replaced them with batteries that used lower-performance electrodes, but these batteries were significantly larger. Battery size still dictates the size and weight of most laptops, say the developers of the new battery. Electronics manufacturer Apple got around the safety problem for their lightweight laptops with a solid polymer electrolyte, but in doing so, the power output of the computers suffered. Overheating is also an issue for electric cars. Developers have had to use reinforced, steel-clad battery housings, multiple fuses and circuits to protect the battery during charging. All of these contribute to the cost and weight, and hence efficiency, of electric cars. The newly developed jelly batteries should prevent "thermal runaway", during which batteries can reach hundreds of degrees and catch fire. The Leeds-based researchers are promising that their jelly batteries are as safe as polymer batteries, perform like liquid-filled batteries, but are 10 to 20% the price of either. The secret to their success lies in blending a rubber-like polymer with a conductive, liquid electrolyte into a thin, flexible film of gel that sits between the battery electrodes."

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Rick Perry Skips Scheduled Wildfire News
ConferenceTexas Progressive Alliance Round-Up

Here is the most recent Texas Progressive Alliance round-up. The TPA is a confederation of the best political bloggers in Texas. TPA membrs are citizen-bloggers who are working everyday for a better Texas. With the round-up this week is news that Texas Governor Rick Perry did not show up at a scheduled news conference to [...]

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No Radio Show This Week

Our co-host is a little under the weather so unfortunately we'll have to extend our holiday break, but we hope to be back on the online air next week!

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