#CA : Thanks To Democrats, Prospective Employers Can No Longer Use Credit Reports For Most Hiring Decisions

Only for certain more sensitive positions will preemployment checks for good credit scores be allowed due to measure signed by Governor Brown after his Republican predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, vetoed similar bills twice.
See Long Beach Press Telegram report:   http://bit.ly/t5jmBf

Super PACs Get Permission to Hide Donors During First #Primary Contests #iowa #ows #occupy

During the first state primary contests this winter, while donors are funding copious amounts of (mostly TV) advertising, Super PACs will not have to reveal their donors according to a Politico report.

My Comment:

These early elections often are the key to the eventual nominee and therefore can decide the success of a party in a general election, but the courts don't seem to care.

This also infringes upon the news media's  apparently inalienable right to make billions from cheap acquisition of information, but I'm not sure even their clout can get this fixed in time this year. 

Those who hide their Super PAC donations are most likely to have even more ability to sway court decisions as, apparently, they already have; after all most judges must get reelected themselves.

Since mainstream news sources would have us locked into paying to get news so we can only read one newspaper which will then be free to feed us their propaganda and milk toast news  -- ask anyone who is aware of how the New York Times sold the Iraq war as an absolute necessity about that experience -- I'm not overly sympathetic to the media.

Still, important news--like what donors are making big cash dumps for which candidates--belongs to the people and should somehow be distributed to all Americans or at least to those that are interested in receiving it.

But the fact that it isn't is just another day in our society which is run by and for the 1%.

See report at link below on donations to Super PAC's advertising in the early primaries that are bring hidden.

http://bit.ly/sIGOlj

CA Supreme Court: State Allowed to Grab All Redevelopment Funds From Cities

The court has decided that since the state legislature created the development funds, the body can take back the funds completely leaving local communities with even less money to maintain their buildings and infrastructure.

See Mercury News for details.

http://bit.ly/rI6Ru4

Artist Removed From Contest for Pro-Palestinian Works

A Palestinian artist's works were removed from an artistic competition at the  Musee De Elysee on Switzerland sponsored by Lacoste allegedly for not fitting the theme of the contest although the works had already been selected based on reflecting the meme.

The clothing company has since dropped the sponsorship of the contest.

See details at source: http://bit.ly/tv3dWW

High Court: Israel Not a 'Classic Occupying Power'

The high court of Israel has decided that by stealing copious amounts of stone from Palestinian quarries to send to Israeli areas, that Israel is protecting Palestinians.

Of course, implied is an assertion the PA couldn't run quarries themselves.  The fact that they actually do run them right now shows that to be a fallacy.

See : http://bit.ly/uZDvh3

Signature on Letters Promoting Newsletter Subscriptions Ties Ron Paul to Product Created in his Name.

Solicitations for his Newsletters that appear to be signed by Ron Paul directly carry on the crazy ranting from which the GOP primary candidate has tried to distance himself.

This news came out Friday, and I'm not sure how much of it has hit the American airwaves.

See report on Reuters site that speaks for itself "In ad for newsletter, Ron Paul forecast "race war""

This is pretty damning after Representative Paul's haughty dismissal of Gloria Borger Friday over the newsletter for which he denied responsibility even for editorial control claiming that he was too busy to even read it.

Sea Shepherd Finds the Japanese Whaling Fleet

Using drone aircraft, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has located the Japanese Factory Ship that travels with other vessels that supply it with whale carcasses to process. The contact was reported by a Reuters article at Yahoo.com titled "Sea Shepherd says drones find, photograph Japan's whaling fleet"

The Japanese ship was located west of Perth, far from the waters nearer Antarctica in which they usually do their hunting and I don't remember drones being used before.

Hopefully the planes will enable more frequent contact with the fleet and a shorter to non-existent whaling season at least in the waters off the southern continent.

Contributors have helped the society to be more effective in the last few years via the use of newer boats and now the planes.

Reduced catches and time in the Southern Ocean by the whalers seem to be the result.

Hopefully, this trend keeps up. Please see the Reuters report linked above for their more detailed report on what transpired in the last few days.

Jon Huntsman To Pull a John Anderson and Go 3rd Party?

Is the former Utah governor hinting he will go third party of he doesn't get the GOP nomination?

John B Anderson proved a spoiler in the 1980 presidential race despite earning only 7% of vote (figure comes from Politico article linked).

The "red" electoral a map on election night masked a Reagan win based on drawing away votes mostly from incombent Jimmy Carter a with a third candidate.

After Citizens United  there its even more money to spend on third party shenanigans these days.

http://bit.ly/svZOUY

Federal Judge Blocks Portions of South Carolina's Immigration Law #sc

A district judge has blocked portions of an immigration law that is comparable to Arizona's earlier edict.  According to the injunction the laws could essentially usurp federal powers.

http://bit.ly/uCaoiE

Occupy Movement Given OK to Participate in Rose Parade

To keep prople from disrupting  the New Years Day parade, Occupy Rose Parade has been offered space behind the parade in in which to offer their own float and celebrities.

I have a comb. Can I be in the band?

See report for details: http://bit.ly/v1D7T1

Deep Pockets Creating Ads for Gingrich in Iowa

Newt's racism and elitism has hit a chord in at least one group of people.  Some very rich donors are ready to put ads their SuperPAC has created on TV in  Iowa in the weeks before the caucuses are held.

Politico seems skeptical that the group can buy much time on the airwaves, but I don't doubt the effectiveness of American will and fat cat millions.

BTW, this is why I was not in line with the conventional wisdom stance that Newt was the one we should want as the Republican nominee.  Schmaltzy ads and deep pockets could possibly even get Charles Manson elected president, and except for the forementioned serial killer Newt Gingrich appears to me, right now, to be the single worst person we could find to be president of the United States.

We should focus on getting Obama reelected, not guessing or gaming the GOP nominations.

They all believe in multiple wars in varied regions of the world starting in Iran to secure valuable resources that big business can acquire cheaply. 

They call it fighting terrorism, now.  It used to be called fighting Communism.

In the last presidential election I went through all the foreign policies of the major candidates and even Giuliani's . (Wherever Ron Paul fits, I didn't check him out.  If he's lying able his pacifism I doubt he'll have the evidence of his deception online.)

The rest of the GOP pack all called for using the armed forces in multiple nations to effect regime change and/or enforce compliance with the wishes of the US (as expressed by it's major  corporations and closest ally was implied).

I hope this big push for Gingrich wakes up the White House and anyone who doesn't want continuous war operations funded on the backs of the non wealthy US citizens. We only really have a choice between Ron Paul and Obama. Congressman Paul would end Medicare-Medicaid, Social Security, Public Schooling and so much else.  Now that the wealthy have gotten hold of so much of our money, that would be disastrous to the entire nation.

See details of the ad created for Newt Gingrich at Politico:

http://bit.ly/s1MobR

NDAA Faces Changes to Reduce Danger of Extra Legal Detention for US Citizens and Permanent Residents #ows #ndaa #election #HRW #AI

Fairy Tales are for Children

Reports that Obama wants a NDAA that will take away citizens' and residents' rights seem to have been over-hyped.

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I am getting a little clarity on what NDAA does do now. It was, as offered in the conference bill, apparently meant to be much less dangerous to citizens and permanent residents than it has been advertised. Too little evaluation and inspection and too much hype among sources we often trust has led us to believe it destroys our rights. That apparently was never the intent it seems.

The first explosion on Twitter made me think that the US Government would be rounding up people it didn't like any day.

I think some #ows people are worried they could be picked up for demonstrating and detained forever without seeing a lawyer. I worried about that too, but would Obama be okay with that?

Some earlier detentions without a judicial review were about groups picked up and put in camps mostly because of their genetic identity such as being of Japanese descent during WW2 and/or political associations (or assumed associations) during the time of the blacklisting of people with alleged ties to communist groups, according to articles and blogs.

From what I'm reading, changes made the bill in conference and now an attempt with a new bill that would amend the meaning of S1867 should cure us of the idea that the government wants to round up citizens and legal residents.

Lawfare article The Conference Version of the NDAA: Lingering Ambiguity as to Citizens\ shows that Congressionals did try to amend the meaning of S1867 by inserting commas. A Lawfare article posted a little later "The Problematic NDAA: On Clear Statements and Non-Battlefield Detention" says that the experts at Lawfare don't believe the ambiguity was cleared up. And possibly the Senate's own lawyers agreed.

Therefore: as of Friday just after midnight Lawfare had more: New changes reported by blogger Steve Vladeck show that 13 Senators led by Diane Feinstein have produced another bill that makes it clear that even under a Declaration of War the government would not be authorized to round up citizens or legal permanent residents without judicial review. See Lawfare The NDAA and the Due Process Guarantee Act of 2011

An authorization to use military force, a declaration of war, or any similar authority shall not authorize the detention without charge or trial of a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States apprehended in the United States, unless an Act of Congress expressly authorizes such detention.

Above is from: feinstein.senate.gov Why is the government working furiously to clarify that they don't want to give the president the powers to round up people without judicial review?

I can only think that the White House has put them up to it. Obama most likely doesn't want to sign a bill that contains any implication that US citizens could be rounded without legal protection.. A portion of Feinstein's statement and the list of co-sponsors from Diane Feinstein: United States Senator from California Press Release

“We must clarify U.S. law to state unequivocally that the government cannot indefinitely detain American citizens inside this country without trial or charge. I strongly believe that C

constitutional due process requires U.S. citizens apprehended in the U.S. should never be held in indefinite detention. And that is what this new legislation would accomplish.” The Due Process Guarantee Act of 2011 is cosponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Chris Coon

s (D-Del.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

Now I know that such a recognized Human Rights Organizations like Amnesty International have railed against Obama's promise to sign the NDAA. They haven't updated on the new information, that shows a clarified understanding exempting citizens and LPRs yet.

Well, it is a weekend, and anyway the more AI gets people worried about their civil rights the more money the organization is likely to collect, so I'm not sure they care that they have an article that is now definitely inaccurate in an over-hyped way. I've lost a lot of respect for them though, and won't be trusting their opinions on what is a civil rights emergency in the future. AI's out of date article is here.

I already lost faith in Human Rights Watch over the way they tried to pin the blame on Russia for the short Georgian-Russian war in 2008. It was then that I googled their history and found it was formerly known as Helsinki Watch a group that had learned how to make money crying out against abuses in the Soviet Union possibly with all validity, but obviously it's a lot harder to make money for such a group in the post Soviet era.

The fact is that I'm pretty damn sure that the White House put Feinstein up to crafting legislation to explain more how citizens and legal residents cannot be rounded up by the US government and held without access to a lawyer or the courts. (If you have a green card, you are a legal permanent resident.)

I don't know how the US government can go any further than that to promise not to round up citizens and permanent residents without legal protection.  But Newt Gingrich would love it if you solidified your thoughts on this right now, before the outcome is known so he can convince you his presidency would be preferable to that of Obama's second term so that you keep yourself pure for Ralph Nader or who ever the new guy will be that emerges to hand the 2012 election to the GOP candidate.

Instead let's all keep an open mind on this, though, until the entire process is resolved.

Don't take the witch's candy at this time.  She'll be passing out another, even crazier, flavor next week for sure.

Note:  I don't mean to imply that all people who are mistaken about the import of this bill are trying to deceive.  I do think that large numbers have gotten the wrong ideas and don't have the additional information they need to evaluate what is really going on. That's why I researched on the matter, picking mostly lawyers instead of politicians to guide my assessment and wrote this post.

I also suspect that the GOP is behind some of the misinformation being spread.  I've seen that hand with the ratty glove passing out candy before.

Video: Larry Wilmore Explains Newt Gingrich's Racist Code to Jon Stewart

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Public to #Occupy #ows. Thanks For Your Message, Now Go Home.

After listening to our hearts or maybe to mainstream news media (who are heavily dependent on money from corporations and the 1%), and from politicians  (even more heavily dependent for  $$ on those sources), we the 99% who still have a middle class income and the most weak minded of the rest of us would like you to go home and disappear again.
Thank you.
The poll takers didn't even make the effort to collect or maybe to transmit what kind of action would be acceptable to Middle America, or maybe they did and this Seattle paper refused to report on them.
I doubt Occupy will listen and do what this "poll" says the public wants them to do. Good for them.
BTW the "results" of this "poll" were published only days after a big push was made to get anti port closure editorials into newspapers, especially those near Ports on the West Coast after Monday's actions.
Coordinated much?
You betcha!

See report: http://bit.ly/sq3j6c

How Weakening Child Work Laws Aligns with Reducing Working Class and Poor Families' Financial Help

Child Egg Seller, Afghanistan

The young girl tells her story that she went to sell her families precious eggs, but the morning was too cold and (and you can see her clothes are too thin) so her shaking hands could not hold on to the families meager source of income.

Many times child workers are pushed to do more than they are capable of doing because of their compliant nature. This may not be good for them, or even for those who use their efforts thinking of them as just a cheap employee. In Afghanistan this might be necessary, but in the US it's just a way to get more money for tax cuts for the wealthy

.

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Note: I replaced "Poor" in the headlines above with "Working Class and Poor" since families who are working class are getting hit particularly hard, and not often acknowledged as struggling when the word "poor" is used. "Poor" connotes nonworking people, drug users, or immigrants, all unfair tags, that convince most Americans to ignore them or tag them as "lazy".)

Maine is a good example of how weakening child labor laws works with weakening financial aid to poor and working class families. Last spring Maine's new Governor Paul Le Page pronounced that he would both "loosen" the state's child labor laws and reduce payments and services to low income families working or not. What this does in the end is make children work to help support their families, not to get them extra cash which would instill in them an enhanced sense of self worth and a commitment to honest effort since when they become adults they'll find their the once good jobs being done by other children at sub minimum wages..

The labor laws have since been weakened and now Le Page is going after financial aid as promised.

Republicans tend to move in lockstep as much as they can, though. (Remember all the anti-union actions last spring?). And don't forget that ALEC coordinated new laws across our nation to make it hard for the elderly, the poor and the more liberal people of our society to cast our vote. The same program can be used to install the Maine program of cutting labor protections and general welfare to free up lots of money to offer as tax cuts for the wealthy. Not to mention that Newt Gingrich has given his endorsement and even his promise to cut good paying adult jobs by loosening child labor protections.

Therefore, I think we can plan on seeing more weakening child labor laws and more reduction in important social welfare programs that keep teens who should be in school from taking on too much work out of fear for their family's monetary circumstances.

Last Spring, pushed by the governor, Republicans in the Maine legislature introduced bills to weaken child labor laws. See: Bill to loosen child labor restrictions heads to Maine Senate. That bill finally passed both chambers and was signed into law to in a slightly watered down version. See : Maine Changes Child Labor Law.

Now Governor Le Page is whining about expenses for social programs that help the working class, the poor,.and the unemployed. See: LePage: Cut welfare and MaineCare or we’ll have to cut education

So those programs are likely to be cut and poor kids will likely be forced to take on more work to help with paying the bills.

And it's so lovely how the governor threatens education if he doesn't get his way with all the class of Russia's Vladimir Putin though not the sleek physique.

He complains that Maine covers people up to 200% of the poverty level, while the national average is 133%.

You can't think, Governor why people in Maine might need more money than the average? How about excessively long and deep cold seasons. I bet those heating bills are enormous. A person living in Georgia isn't going to need to pay out so much for expensive fuel and warm clothes.

Also in such a cold state, I imagine that any sickness a person comes down with needs to be dealt with rapidly and firmly. So cutting MaineCare to childless adults is a pretty bad move, too

In the last report linked the House Minority Leader noted that apparently much Maine's money crunch problem came from giving tax cuts to the wealthy (a regressive move that often hurts the economy). Letting the regressive Republicans into power is a long time deal and will take Maine a while to fix. I hope the people of Maine figure out how bad the GOP in power is for their state before their next election.

But the conjunction of cutting Child Labor Laws and reducing assistance shows that might be a blueprint for a GOP push across the nation. First reducing protections for children and then slashing their family's help. Voila' lots of child laborers to force more wage cuts to adult workers. Wall Street loves it!

So when Newt Gingrich now talks about poor kids working at cleaning toilets, and working at the lunch counter if he's elected president, just wait until it becomes functionally mandatory because he cuts down monetary and medical care for their families.

The racists and classist members of the middle class (who tend to side with the Republican party even when they don't register for it) have been complaining for years that poor and minority children were getting ahead of their pot, sex, video game, or fashion and shopping crazed kids who may never get any further from their parents big house than the basement because of lack of ambition.

Gingrich is offering them the way to keep those "others" down in their place.

But still you may ask why children shouldn't be working along side adults?

Besides that fact that they need the time to study, grow, and learn, they often don't understand the dangers therein. See: Death of two 14-year-olds girls in an Illinois field underscores the need for an overhaul of U.S. child labor laws, groups condemn new laws that weaken protections for young workers

There were adults around the two teens, but adults can't predict what a young person might do at any second.

And if you think that having one lunch worker supervise a cafeteria full of young workers is going to work, all it is going to do is allow chaos in the kitchen/serving area, with possible lapses in hygiene leading to dangerous illness in your child, while government can pull money out of your kid's school for more tax breaks for the Koch brothers and other multi-billionaires.  1%ers don't give money to candidates if they don't think they are going to get a whole lot more greenbacks coming right back at them out of the pockets of the 99% and by destroying the general welfare (which is definitely unconstitutional).

Pictures of December 12, 2011 Port Occupation

(Pictures below are not taken by me or friends but were offered to share via Creative Commons License (attribution). Roll over each to see it's Attribution. Click to go to original site at Flickr and see other sizes.)

Oakland Mayor Quan Calls Continued #occupy #oo Protest "Economic Violence" #ows

Mayor Jean seems to be getting her taking points straight from the 1% these days. Maybe they sent her emails with little propaganda bon mots.

Ms Quan please tell us who has committed more economic terrorism on our  country; the protestors at the ports this fall or the banks that scammed so many out of their money and their homes over the last 10 years? 

How can you look your people in the  eyes and reduce what was done to them both by shady financial scams played on them through mortgages that were predestined to fail, and by American businesses sending jobs overseas.

Both those types of economic terrorism were committed on your people by your 1% friends who you say are nowhere around Oakland.  If they are nowhere around Oakland then how  are they able to destroy lives in your city? 

Obviously the tentacles of the 1% reach everywhere

And Oakland will continue to be affected by their greed especially if the people's mayor refuses to acknowledge that anything is wrong.

To see article on which I am commenting click on following link: http://bit.ly/urmGRV

LOL: Christmas in Frisco

Christmas in San Francisco

Also probably Chanukah, Kwanzaa, and EID when it occurs in the winter months. (Great sense of humor from photographer or whoever placed this on Flickr)

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LA Colosseum Upgrades Purchased Through Personal VISA For "Points"

Official purchased $270,000 of sound equipment for the Los Angeles Coliseum using his personal VISA card, expenses he then paid off with official checks, possibly earning enough points for first class tickets trip London.

I'm suspecting he's going to feel more like he was set on top of that rock in the VISA commercial that is currently running.

The action may have cost  the coliseum extra for the privilege of using a credit card, which charge sellers for their use.

See link for details.

http://bit.ly/uPPgzK

Why I Agree That Girls Under 17 Shouldn't Get Plan B With Out a Prescription

From Baby Dolls to Babies?

It seems to me that some adult should know if a young teen is in a relationship that may lead to pregnancy, and if Plan B requiring a prescription for teens under 16 is the way that is going to get a teen to talk to an adult, then so be it.

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I have a good reason for not being outraged that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathrine Sebelius did not allow the Plan B contraceptive to be sold to young teen girls without a doctor's prescription.

For many years, I was one of those creatures and I know how they are treated  by other teens and even men.  In a way, I was lucky that my parents raised me to be more scared of hurting them,  than of the boys and men that tried to "get me" in those days and immediately broke off any relationship in which a guy tried to get under my clothes or take something off.

It happened a number of times.

But the over 18 guys were the worst and many were looking, apparently, for the youngest girls.  Talking with a group of 18 year old males while hanging with some friends my age I suddenly found a guy's hand going down my blouse and had to run home to get away from those people.

From what I've seen in life since then, the situation hasn't gotten any better.

We found out a neighbor of ours raped my daughter's friend for 5 years, starting when she was seven.  He was only discovered because he tried to get a friend of her's involved in a three way and the second pre teen instead ran home and told her father what was going on.  (BTW, because the raped girl did not record the dates and times of the rapes, the police said there was no case to be built against him. Go Figure!).

If no adult has to be brought into the discussion, and notice Plan B for young teens doesn't need parental consent, just a prescription, then who is going to protect young teens who apparently are still the focus of sexual predation by older teens and adults?

One study I read also noted that older men with teens often form an psychologically abusive bond as well as sexually advanced one.  And if a young teen gets a disease from a partner, it might be caught if she is required to visit a physician for Plan B. 

I had a daughter who got pregnant much too young and needed an abortion. I only learned about it later.  Girls in school find someone who can tell them how to get to Planned Parenthood for the test and the clinic for the operation.  Someone will tell them how to get help for Plan B. 

I don't want to wage a war with those who think all ages should get Plan B via OTC sales, but please tell me how young teens are going to get the help they need if they are targeted by predatory males without some need to tell some adult?

So are you really too wrapped up in your own lives to care what happens to young teen girls in the real world?  Well, then, maybe a doctor won't be.

ROFLMAO Parody of Rick Perry's Anti Gay Ad Points Out He Was Wearing Brokeback Mt Jacket

After Wailing About Debt Created By Proposed Payroll Tax Holiday, Now the GOP wants More Debt For Their Agenda

While Boehner pushes for the Keystone XL Pipeline, Eric Cantor and others want massive give-aways to the wealthy and business, even as they complain about our nation's debt.
They also want more reductions of environmental standards and other regulations. 
Thank you, Supreme Court for your Citizens United decision.
Now every Republican can sell himself or herself out for unlimited, targeted help from shadowy, possibly foreign deep pockets.
See Politico:
http://bit.ly/uut6U5

Master Degree holder and real world success takes mandatory 10th grade test and finds he isn't qualified for college

There Is More to College than the Football Games

And those who want to get through college don't need the discouragement of an overly harsh test telling them not to try to achieve a higher education

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This is amazing.  This man is extremely successful, even completing part of a doctorate program, and sits on the school board of  a major system.  But when he took the state's mandatory 10th grade test that would have guided a real school child towards college or towards a lesser future he basically failed it, especially the math portion.

Though he holds 2 Master Degrees and is, by the account of a friend, extremely accomplished his scores would have indicated that he shouldn't hope to get through college.  Friends of our subject, who worked in various professions told him the test he took (when he described the questions to them) told him they were not relevant to their real world professions.

Rather sad when you  know that such tests shove many students, especially minorities one can assume, out of the college track.

Supreme Court Case Against Health Care Overhaul Could Lose "Standing"

The Supreme Court Building

The Supremes will likely have to first decide if anyone still has standing to press the case against the Health Care Overhaul passed and signed into law in 2010.

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In August, Mary Brown, the owner of a small auto repair shop in Florida, became the only successful plaintiff to get her case against President Obama's Health Care Overhaul past a District Court and to the Supremes.

But this year, just after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the business woman, she became a non business woman by closing up her auto repair shop according to a Wall Street Journal report "Hurdle for Health-Law Suit". (If this link doesn't work for you, copy the words "Hurdle for health law suit" into Google which is authorized to give you 5 such entries into the WSJ daily according to what I've heard and indeed that is how I got into online WSJ today.

The Court doesn't want to decide on the case surrounding the Universal Health Care Plan based on the case of an individual because the balance of costs versus benefits is unclear. As a business owner Ms. Brown could have argued argued that being forced to pay for employees' insurance would have made it impossible to continue her business. It turned out though that her business was apparently nonviable even without the added cost of health insurance for employees. In addition the plaintiff and her husband filed bankruptcy in September and their financial problems could exempt them from the mandate as private citizens.

A retired investment banker was also a plaintiff on the case, but he acted as an individual, again something the court already seems to say doesn't give a person standing. A business association that Mary Brown belongs to believes they can assume standing, but they weren't part of the case as judged by the 11th Circuit Court.

And on it goes with one expert saying there is likely no standing left and another saying that if the Supreme Court wants to find standing, it will find it. I think the standing issue will show whether the right wing members of the most prominent court in the land are truly conservative, or just determined to sell the nation to the highest bidders.

Hutaree Militia Member Pleads Guilty to Using Firearm While Training to Attack the US Government

One member of the Hutaree  has pled guilty to the use of a firearm in relation to a violent crime.  The crime in this case is apparently plotting and practicing to attack the government.
The plea agreement states that  Joshua Clough was trained for an operation planned for last April.  The goal of the operation was to kill a law enforcement officer, and then attack local and federal officers who arrived for the funeral of the victim and, as I remember retreat to a type of shelter on a cliff from which the members would hold off the US Army and bring down the nation's government.

(The lesson to be learned here, folks is not to follow crazy people down the rabbit hole.  Please learn that if you learn nothing else.)

But right wing outcry last year forced the government to release the militia members since all they were doing was talking according to pro gun activist and other conservatives.  But Mr. Clough's plea agreement says that isn't true.

So all the whining about the Hutaree militia just participating in protected free speech appears to have been rendered moot by Clough's admission.

And another Limbaugh outrage rant lies quivering in the dust.

See more at:

TPM Muckraker: Hutaree Militia Member Pleads Guilty To Weapons Charge

 I first encountered a report on this in the Wall Street Journal which my daughter suscribes to and then doesn't read.   Since the WSJ doesn't allow people enter from my links I did not link to it.  If you search Google News for "Defendent Pleads Guilty as Militia Trial Nears", Google may be able to get you into their report (in which they hide the fact that Clough's militia was the Hutaree for a few paragraphs.  There is supposed to be an agreement that WSJ and other pay to read sites and those news sources who hide their older reports have to allow 5 reads a day from anyone, paying or not, though I believe that NYT does chalk each of those up to your 20 per month and then presents a whiny note when you've exceeded your limit though they still allow you to see the article linked from Google.

Sad: Life of Actress Who Played Zuzu Filled With Hardship

Death of parents caused a move away from Hollywood where she often found roles, and into a world where she bared the burdens of raising a large family.  Now she has been traveling with other actors who played children in the movie.

See WP:  For Zuzu of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ it wasn’t such a wonderful life afterward.

Video: Tom Lehrer Singing the names of the Elements #science

This song was created circa the 60s so there are many other elements on the periodic tabls at this time, as well as two more waiting for their placement on the table in 2012 (see Christian Science Monitor: Periodic table to welcome two new elements)
. Note the song does not put the elements in the correct order focusing instead on the sound of words to help with rhyming.

Newt Gingrich Has Exposed His Prejudice and His Deep Racism

Yeah. Whatever Happened to the Days When Poor Kids Had to Work First and Study Whenever They could find a few Minutes (or not at all).

Gingrich and his creepy followers want those days back.

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In a news clip I saw a few days ago Newt Gingrich was talking about how he wants to make "poor" school kids work at their schools and exposed his heavy class-ism and most likely his racism when he said (paraphrased) "those kids don't want to do anything that isn't illegal" (end paraphrase).

Since I don't know anyone who says such things about poor white kids, I have to assume that Newt  barely controls his egomaniacism, and barely hides a deep seated racism.  Also one can assume that his white followers know this and love him for it. Mainstream news colludes in hiding it most of the time like they colluded on hiding the fact that he was living with Callista (who was his his staffer at the time) while he led the charge to impeach Bill Clinton over a brief affair with an intern, and while his Newt's real, who was suffering from MS was home in Georgia.

Even the GOP's majority in the House may not have been enough if mainstream had reported what they proudly announced they knew all along after the information emerged from the divorce proceeding between Newt and Maryanne, but they should be ashamed to cover up Newt's philandering. And the fact that the Gingrich campaign already has so much power over the press should make people worry how far Newt who is obviously dismissive of women's and minority rights could take this if he should win the presidency.

Politico did expose some of Gingrich's creepiness recently, though they made sure to schmooze him with compliments on keeping it under wraps for most of the last 6 months since he's entered the race for the Republican nomination. (See The Return of Bad Newt.) 
I love how he took credit in a quote in that report for part of President Clinton's job boom that started about the time the 42nd president started tax reform more than a year before Newt became Speaker. Gingrich is such a eager liar.

And in the same news clip mentioned at the top of this post Gingrich specifically named cleaning the bathroom as a job that could be done by kids at school. Lets put aside the fact that would be the most demeaning job for a student to have to do at his or her own school or any other one, and I bet Gingrich is salivating at that idea, but I showed why the chemicals used make the bathroom one of the most dangerous places to clean in the body of an earlier post, because the most effective cleaners and sanitizers are dangerous for untrained people to use, and can instantly turn a bathroom into a gas chamber if mixed. See: Scientific Studies, News, Show Students Should Not Be Put To Work as Janitors.

Do you think maybe the child cleaners could just use less toxic chemicals? We actually shouldn't send kids in to face possible exposure to Listeria (which recently killed 29 people in the US), e Coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Amoebic Dysentery, or even Typhus and try to fight them with some kind of soap? (SARS the severe respiratory disease that spread from China in 2002-2003 hit Hong Kong hardest because the water supply to at least one apartment building was being contaminated with human sewage showing it probably can be transmitted via bathroom cleaning, as well. This is even more important because the disease can then be transmitted via breath or the  water droplets from the intense coughing that takes place often before the patient even knows how severely ill he or she is. This is not what a kid should do, Mr. Goingrich. He or she shouldn't be on the front line against these deadly diseases with lemony scented cleaner. (BTW many other kids, even those who don't clean bathrooms could be affected by that same diseases with an improperly sanitized lavatory.)

Some of the cutesy sprays do probably use chemicals that are safe as long as you are not spraying it in your eyes. But they are for use in the home. If a member of your family comes down with one of the deadly feces-transmittable diseases hopefully a doctor or nurse will advise you that you will have to clean with stronger chemicals than those lemony and pine based cleaners. I note many of them honestly admit that they only promise to kill germs that cause odor, not deadly diseases.

If you make enough money maybe you think your kid won't be affected because you aren't poor. The blog post I linked to above (starts with "Scientific Studies...") shows how any damaged child can become a killer (even affluent and white ones) and that could affect your family, even in a high incarceration state like California. Demeaning a child by having them clean a bathroom in the presence of his schoolmates (as Gingrich specified the program should be run) is one of the best ways I can think of to scar a child deeply. That might even be more effective than hearing an old, white politicians announce that you have no work ethic and need to be treated like a virtual slave to get some just because of your skin color or your parents' economic status.

Another point is that adults do not supervise children workers well, whether volunteers or paid. Gingrich mentioned that some kids might do clerical work. Okay, so now you have poorly paid young people working in an office possibly with grade records or other sensitive materials. I'm not saying a child working in an office might deliberately do something illegal like change scores for jocks, but you are leaving sensitive material in the hands of a child. I lost things all the time when I was a kid. And yes, there were always some older students already working in the office for a few hours a day, but to make Newt's magic work there are going to have to be a lot more working with less supervision. What if when your young adult student needs his or her grades to apply for college and they aren't there, or they've been skewed by test or grade recording errors.

Newt is using coded language to tell his rich and affluent followers that he can cut their taxes by making poor kids take over the jobs of unionized school employees - nothing his type hates more than public education and unions. Since the rich people he wants to send him money send their kids to private school, what do they care? And the racists see this "make them work" program as a just cause.

And if ordinary people and minorities gather together to effectively use their free speech rights, just bring out the weaponized pepper spray (UC Davis and other places), tear gas (Oakland, CA), or overwhelming force ( Los Angeles). F*ck the constitution. We have a plutocracy to run here.

Newt Gingrich Earned His Fortune By Serving the 1% in Congress

A RollCall report details basic facts about how the former speaker's accumulation of wealth started and progressed as he served and then rose to the position of Speaker in the House of Representatives.

What the report doesn't mention is his continuous efforts to destroy the safety net for the poor and elderly and to pay Clinton back for the former president's meager stands against
the designs of the 1% (which the former prez apparently gave up on entirely when his wife decided she wanted to run for a Senate seat from the great state of Wall Street (as a stepping stone to a presidential bid one can assume).

There are other stories out there--about sex in a car sitting in his own driveway while his children were near, and scammy business awards which require the recipient to pay thousands to join Gingrich's organization to receive, but more about those reports when the GOP is stupid enough to nominate their fat lothario.

It's going to be fun.
http://bit.ly/svHcVk

GOP House Leaders Stuff #XLPipeline Approval into Payroll Tax Holiday and #Unemployment Ins. Extension #p2 #ows

A revised report at The Hill newspaper after a 12:52 pm EST update makes the move by Boehner and others look like a generous measure to save the payroll tax holiday and unemployment insurance extension.  The earlier report made it much more obvious that the XL pipeline was put into the bill to pass pipeline approval by Congress.  The earlier report also said the final decision on the XL would be taken from the State Department and given to FERC.

That second claim doesn't seem to appear in this report.

The copious amount of blatant anti Obama propaganda in the new Hill piece seems to indicate that someone let GOP  staffers direct their writing quite a bit.

The article also mentions that some EPA decisions will be shot down if the measures survive, which is likely since all the Big Energy money will be going into the campaign coffers of those Congressionals who vote the way the energy industry likes.

My guess is that the orange faced drunk Speaker of the House is furious over how Obama outwitted him by using the Super Committee (which was basically guaranteed to fail) to get military cuts without having to give away entitlements.

The XL Pipeline gambit could be payback as well as a way to attract even more oil money to his party.

See current report at The Hill (mobile): http://bit.ly/sgHIzu

Creepy CofC Ads Photoshop Dem Senators into Faux Fugitives #ohio #montana #wiunion #ows #occupy

One picture was created for a news report on Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown visiting a factory, but ends up looking like an image from a surveillance camera as if the senator is a criminal on the lam.  It shows all the class of a James O'Keefe video. In other words, none at all.  BTW after his latest gambit in which he embarrassed himself in front of journalism professors, he may well be hiding out and working for others for a while.

Will Ohioans and Montanans be fooled by the demeaning picture in the ad? Ohio threw out the state GOP's anti union law just about a month ago.

Plus, one should ask "If the CoC believed their verbal message would resonate with the citizens of the states in which they ran the ads, why did they feel they had to make creepy false pictures to go along with them.

The people of Ohio and Montana should be outraged that the Chamber has so little respect for their ability to think for themselves.

The videographer who caught former Senator George Allen calling him "Makaka" in 2006 didn't have to change anything in his clip of the incident.

We need to name and shame all instances of such sleazy ads.  There is likely to be only a small minority that will react to the pictures, but that could be enough.

Report on which I am commenting can be found at link below.

http://bit.ly/tHLTWl

Creator of Weapons Grade Pepper Spray Opposes Use Against Demonstrators.