The PCTC Blog

Come On President Obama -- Show Some Leadership!

I think we have the best president in office than we could have possibly hoped for in many ways. But I have to part ways with him when it comes to his approach to the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. We need singular leadership on this, and his Administration is simply dropping the ball, big time.

Look, folks; maybe I’m a dreamer, but it seems to me that when it became clear that BP and the Coast Guard are in over their heads, the government has no choice but to step into the void and work to fix the problem. I know that concept irks people like Rand Paul, but this is why you have government in the first place. I don’t know what the solution is, and neither do any of you. But I know what the solution is not, and that is to allow BP to run around like Moe, Larry and Curly trying to fix the plumbing.  I might have been okay with two weeks of this, but for Chrissakes, folks, this hole has been gushing over a month now; it’s obvious that BP, Transocean and the Coast Guard don’t know how to fix this, which means Obama should have been on the phone with everyone he can think of with even the smallest bit of expertise, to put their heads together and come up with a way to stop the flow of oil.

If this was above ground, the answer is rather simple; you actually create a small explosion, and allow the hole to fall in on itself and plug the leak. That may or may not work here; I don’t know the physics in play a mile below the surface of the ocean. I don’t know whether that could make it worse.  But that’s why you gather together everyone smarter than you, to come up with a solution. We need a solution.

Rachel Maddow v Rand Paul: How Journalism is Supposed to Work

What follows is how real, actual journalism is supposed to work. Reporter asks question. Interviewee answers question. If interviewee isn't answering the question, reporter continues to demand an answer until he/she gets one. All of you would be journalists out there, you would do well to use the video at the end of this piece as an example.

In one of the most interesting exchanges I’ve seen in a very long time, we actually get to  see just how vacuous the (capital L) Libertarian philosophy is. For fifteen solid minutes, Rachel tried to get Rand Paul, the newly minted Republican candidate for the Senate in Kentucky, to answer a simple question; should the federal government have the power to tell private business owners whose businesses are open to the public that they cannot discriminate against people who come into their business.

Here's Hoping Democrats Take the Right Lessons From Yesterday

Democrats, please don’t take the wrong lessons from yesterday’s primary elections.

If I see one more media “expert” tell me the vote turned out the way it did because voters are pissed at incumbents in general, I think I’ll scream. As you listen to these people, keep in mind; these are the same dipshits who declared Hillary Clinton the “presumptive nominee” a year before the first primary, and held onto that hope even when she was officially mathematically eliminated in 2008.Remember that? Some of them wouldn't give up, even when it was clear that 80% of super delegates would have had to vote Hillary to give her the nomination by a vote.

What you saw yesterday may have had a “throw the bums out” flavor to it, but has it occurred to these geniuses that it’s because the politicians thrown out were genuinely “bums”?

Do NOT Drunk Dial FreedomWorks

As you no doubt heard, GEICO commercial announcer left a nasty voice mail message at the FreedomWorks number, and was promptly fired as a spokesman for GEICO. He has now produced a response:

Senators Who Should Be Ousted -- A Miranda Warning Warning

Let’s talk about Miranda Warnings, shall we?

First of all, Miranda warnings do not grant rights. A lot of times, when the media talks about them, it almost sounds as if police are giving suspects rights or something, but the fact of the matters is, everyone has the right to due process, and the right to not be compelled to incriminate himself, simply by being present in United States jurisdiction. In short, when the government accuses someone of a crime, the government has to prove the crime occurred and that you were responsible; you do not have to prove you didn't do it. Got that? Everyone has the same rights, regardless, in order to protect you from government tyranny.

What does the right wing have against the Constitution? Except for the Second Amendment, which they hold as truly sacred, they seem to simply disregard the rest of it, when upholding it becomes “inconvenient.”

Ignorant Facebook Posting: What The Right Wing Wants US to Be

I've seen this posted several times on Facebook, and I felt it was time to respond (Warning; if you're allergic to ignorant crap, save brain cells now and look away):

YOU PASS THE NORTH KOREAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET 12 YRS HARD LABOR, YOU PASS THE AFGHAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET SHOT. YOU PASS THE AMERICAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET A JOB, DRIVER'S LICENSE, ALLOWANCE FOR A PLACE TO LIVE, HEALTH CARE, EDUCATION, BILLIONS OF DOLLARS SPENT SO YOU CAN READ A DOCUMENT. WE CARRY PASSPORTS IN OTHER COUNTRIES OR FACE JAIL TIME. REPOST THIS IF YOU AGREE!!!

So, lemme get this straight...

We live in the United States of America, and all of the posters of this garbage thus far have been US citizens. They live in a country where they are free to post stupid shit on Facebook at will, and where they are free to get a passport and travel everywhere else in the world and enjoy the full protection of the United States government when they do so. They enjoy one of the most prosperous and free societies in the history of the world.

But now they wish we were more like North Korea (one of the most brutally repressive dictatorships in history), or Afghanistan, which is in the middle of a war?

But it's worse. Almost all of the undocumented immigrants who are here are working their asses off. They get a job, but the vast majority of these jobs no Americans will do. They don't get a driver's license most of the time, they don't get health care unless their condition is grave, they don't get an education.

And by the way, you do not face jail time in other countries if you don't carry your passport. I spent three months in Australia and not once did anyone ask to see it, except when I was entering and leaving the country.

I'll get more into this in another rant. But this stuff was just too ignorant to let pass.

Immigration Reform Without Racial Profiling

I have to tell you; I have never understood why illegal immigration is such a vexing problem. I was in Arizona most of last year, I lived in an area where there were quite a few, and I found them to be mostly very charming and shy; just working their butts off to make a life for their families.

Yes, I'm sure that, among the people who are here illegally are some nasty people, including people who bring drugs over, and some who commit serious crimes. But the vast majority of them come here to work and send money back home.And I know how I would feel if everyone treated me like Timothy McVeigh because I was blond. Or like damn near every serial killer in the history of this country, who happen to have been white.

Of course, we can’t have totally open borders, and we can’t just allow everyone in who wants to come here. But why has this problem been so difficult to solve?

Oh, please… cut the crap…

The Caribou Barbie is an Idiot Chronicles: The Oil Spill

This blog has been remiss, and I apologize.

You see, I often dismiss Caribou Barbie (Sarah Palin) as a crank and an idiot, which is just too easy at times. I sometimes forget that a significant portion of the population actually believes what they think she said (most of it is intelligible, quite frankly), and she does have a modest amount of political power. Therefore, we have to cut her crap, too.  She says some incredibly crazy shit, and I think it’s time we called her on it.

This particular piece of prose from the the ex-governor, ex-candidate, ex-beauty queen, ex-college student-four-times-over, etc, doesn't seem quite as nutty as the crap she spews from her second-darkest orifice, which is why I felt it particularly necessary to address it. It's pure garbage wrapped in a veneer of pure reasonableness.

The following is from her Facebook page, April 30 (and no – I will not provide a link – let her find her own “friends”). This isn’t among her stupidest things, but it’s still completely right-wing clueless: