Lovely Spring Weather

And by "lovely spring weather" I mean "winter storm warning" with sleet and overnight snow. Forecast calls for "up to" a foot of snow by tomorrow night (although forecasts don't mean anything around here). Anyway, here's some Boobies.

"Death To The Poor"

We should be making it very clear that the current GOP agenda truly is "death to the poor". The latest example is the very “serious” Ryan budget plan: destroy medicare and medicaid while further cutting taxes for the wealthy. Throw in the impending government shutdown, and the GOP is clear about where their priorities are. One good read: Paul Ryan and the New Politics of Sadism:

The object of his politics is to render political liberty subservient to economic exigencies, to render it an unaffordable luxury item available only to the wealthy, because only the wealthy are competent enough to exercise it. Ryan has come to the unremarkable intellectual conclusion that more people would rather inflict pain — even vicariously, even through his greasy sadist’s smile — than receive it. He has seen that dynamic in action. Even the White House, occupied for the nonce by a putatively progressive Democrat, has signed on in a gentler way to the notion that “austerity” is the way out of our current economic morass, and “austerity” is fairly defined in this context as making other people hurt so you’ll feel better about yourself. Unemployed workers, whose pensions were looted by Wall Street sharpers, rage against the pensions of public workers, not because those pensions are so gloriously lavish, but because they exist at all. Somebody has something you don’t and they must pay for that. Small wonder that Paul Ryan thinks he can grin his way to the dystopic wasteland that he sees when he dreams of a free country.

What is even worse is that Obama and the Dems are reacting with unfettered timidity. They should be screaming about the GOP''s direct assault on the vast majority of the American people, not cowardly attempting to "compromise" with these extremists. The "Ryan budget" should be the biggest political club used to bludgeon the repubs on a daily basis. It's a very simple message: "the republicans want to take money from you and give it to the wealthiest 1%." Sadly, that will not happen. I do have a personal stake in Ryan's attempt to destroy medicare: Ryan propose a voucher system for those currently under age 55, which could be used to get 'private insurance'. I'm currently 52, and while I'm in reasonably good health right now I have a very long list of 'pre-existing conditions' that will only get worse as I get older. In short, the Ryan plan would condemn me (and a huge number of people like me) to an early death. Steven D of Booman Tribune shares his tragic story GOP Wants to Kill Me (and You). I hope you'll read it. It's really beyond time to say "enough is enough" to the GOP's assault on us, the people. If we want American society to survive, we must stand up to the oligarchs efforts to reduce us to serfs.

Seafood

I love seafood. It's literally my favorite food group. So the past year has been really depressing. First the BP oil spill contaminates the gulf, which will impact the food chain for decades. Then we get the radioactive water from Japan's reactor disaster spilling into the Pacific. I'm not an alarmist by nature, but the long term impacts of these two events will be huge. Despite the authorities 'reassurances' that the oil spill 'wasn't that bad' and that the radioactive water will 'disperse', anyone who understands pollution of an ecosystem knows that the total effects from these spills will take years to spread through the food chain. The bottom feeders will be the first contaminated; shellfish and halibut for example. The pollutants will then be spread to larger predator fish like tuna, snapper, and the like. Given that stocks of the 'food' fish were already in decline, safe seafood is well on it's way to scarcity and the price will soar into luxury status. Which really pisses me off. I'm not going to panic yet, but the thought of a future without eating scallops or sushi is depressing.