A Liberal's Hit List

Snuggly the Security Bear on SOPA-PIPA

2012-01-27T14:00:00.000+01:00

From the brilliant Mark Fiore:

Gabby Giffords at the State of the Union

2012-01-25T15:17:00.003+01:00

Highlights from the State of the Union

2012-01-25T15:16:00.002+01:00

LIAR! @SenRandPaul Was NOT Detained by the TSA

2012-01-24T15:05:00.000+01:00

"Senator" Rand Paul tried to go on all the talking head shows to claim that he'd been detained by the TSA for refusing to submit to a pat-down. The pathetic moron when to to claim that the scanners are "rigged" to go off just I guess whenever.

The problem is that this is 100% bullshit! From Gawker:

Despite the most fervent wishes of the libertarian conservative corner of the internet, Paul was not seized by Barack Obama's Black Panther stormtroopers and tortured for information about the supposed "gold standard": he set off the body scanner (something in his knee, apparently), which requires a pat down; he refused the pat down, and was escorted out of the security area. He took another flight later. Inconvenient? Sure. Silly? Absolutely? But Rand Paul was not detained.

Mitt "Flip-Flop" Romney Calls Newt "Breakfast At Tiffany's" Gingrich an "Influence Peddler"

2012-01-24T15:00:00.000+01:00

Mitt "15% Tax Rate" Romney: Under Newt's Tax Plan I Would Pay Zero Taxes

2012-01-24T14:40:00.000+01:00

Republican Clown Car "Debate" in 100 Seconds

2012-01-24T14:30:00.000+01:00

From TPM:

Phlegm Speck & Faux Historian @DavidBartonWB Claim Repubs Are 'Cowards" Who Won't Call Obama a Socialist

2012-01-24T14:05:00.000+01:00

Utterly Irrelevant Phlegm Speck & Hate-Preacher Opine That 'Glee' is Destroying America

2012-01-24T14:00:00.000+01:00

Hate-Preacher and all-around whack-job, James Robison, whines to Glenn Beck that the powers and principalities of "the enemy" are using Hollywood and shows like "Glee" to bring America down.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Resigns from Congress

2012-01-23T14:30:00.000+01:00

A sad day.

Hate-Mongering, Christianist Shit-Weasel @BryanJFischer: Mormon President is Threat to Spiritual Health of Nation

2012-01-20T14:26:00.000+01:00

From Right Wing Watch:

Misogynistic, Chrsitianists Shit-Weasel @BryanJFischer Thinks Only Men Should be in Gov't

2012-01-10T13:00:00.000+01:00

The bullshit that pours forth from this anal-douche's cake hole is disgusting. Sometimes I really do with there were a war on Christians.

John Stewart Destroys Repuglicans Over Faux Outrage of Recess Appointment of Richard Cordray

2012-01-08T14:02:00.000+01:00

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

Serial Liar @MittRomney Lies About Job Creation Record While at Bain

2012-01-08T14:01:00.000+01:00

Liar, liar, pants of fire!

Dumber Than a Bag of Hammers, @GovernorPerry Says He'd Send Troops Back to Iraq

2012-01-08T14:00:00.000+01:00

Flaming Turd Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum Thinks Cancer Survivors Should Pay More for Insurance

2012-01-08T13:30:00.000+01:00

According to Frothy Mix, if you're a cancer survivor, it's your own fault. Consequently, you should pay more for health insurance.

Anonymous Hits ArcelorMittal's Belgian Website (VIDEO)

2012-01-07T14:30:00.000+01:00

From Expatica.com:

The online piracy group Anonymous hacked into the Belgian website of industrial giant ArcelorMittal on Friday, posting a video to protest the closure of two blast furnaces in Belgium.

"Anonymous has done its work by attacking the ArcelorMittal site and, as you can see, it was a success," said a message posted alongside the video [video can be seen at the bottom of this post] on the hacked homepage.

The website was blocked in the morning before returning to service in the afternoon.

ArcelorMittal, a multinational iron and steel group headquartered in Luxembourg, filed a complaint in court while the Grand Duchy's police opened an investigation for computer fraud.

Anonymous Belgium had threatened to target ArcelorMittal on January 1 to punish the company for closing the two blast furnaces in the eastern city of Liege and cutting nearly 600 jobs.

The hacker group has been involved in scores of hacking exploits including retaliatory attacks last year on companies perceived to be enemies of the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.

Last month, Anonymous stole a trove of email addresses and credit card numbers from the website of US-based intelligence analysis firm Stratfor.

© 2011 AFP

Occupy New Hampshire Protester Takes Romney to Task for Declaring "Corporations Are People"

2012-01-07T14:00:00.000+01:00

From Democracy Now:

2011: The Year In Crazy (VIDEO)

2012-01-07T13:30:00.000+01:00

From Mark Fiore:

Grampy McCain Forgets Romney's Name

2012-01-07T13:00:00.000+01:00

"Eh, who are you? Get off my lawn!"

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T13:00:00.000+01:00

Have a Happy and Safe 2012!

Merry Christmas To All

2011-12-25T13:00:00.000+01:00

Source chopeh on deviantART

Mental Midget Victoria Jackson (@HoiDoiter) Get's Her Unbelievably Dumb Ass Handed to Her

2011-12-23T14:30:00.000+01:00

This is great. Joy Behar and guest destroy homophobic nutball Victoria Jackson.

Raving Lunatic @DavidBartonWB Claims Elections Come Out of the Bible

2011-12-23T14:00:00.000+01:00

Well of course they did. We all know that the kings of Israel and the Caesars of Rome we all elected. Fucking moron!

Christianist Whack-Job Rod Parsley Attacked by Satan...AGAIN

2011-12-23T13:30:00.000+01:00

Are people really gullible enough to fall for this? Never mind, dumb question, if they weren't then he wouldn't be doing this. This guy is no more a Christian thank the Freak Show carnies of the 1880s.

Serially Out of Touch Romney Defends Insurance Companies & Wall St

2011-12-22T14:00:00.000+01:00

Romney defends the 1%.

John McCain Says Payroll Tax Standoff Hurts Republicans

2011-12-22T13:35:00.000+01:00

HaHaHa!

The Latest Lie From Pathological Liar & Pseudo-Christian @DavidBartonWB

2011-12-22T13:32:00.000+01:00

Czech Republic Mourns Havel

2011-12-22T13:00:00.000+01:00

Newt "Breakfast at Tiffany's" Gingrich Gets Called a "F--king A--hole" at Iowa Grocery Store

2011-12-21T13:05:00.000+01:00

So it would seem that all people in Iowa aren't brain dead, sheeple.

Christianist Whacko Cindy Jacobs Thinks "Satanic Humanism" Is Behind Public Education

2011-12-21T13:00:00.000+01:00

Clearly whatever education, or rather "education" this moron had, it failed.

Mental-Midget William Tapley Is All Upset at Anderson Cooper & Stephen Colbert

2011-12-18T13:01:00.000+01:00

Hurry, call the waaaaambulance!

Psuedo-Christian, @Doug_Giles, & Uber-Moron, @EricBolling, Opine About Obama's Non-Existent Gun Grab

2011-12-18T13:00:00.000+01:00

This is certainly a battle of who can be the biggest lying douche. These Troglodytes are so unbelievably stupid, and what makes it all the worse is that they don't know their complete and utter imbecile. I'm sure they believe their bullshit. Let's send these two morons to Glenn Beck's FEMA camps shall we?

Christianist Shit-Weasel Bryan Fischer Wants to Criminalize Fornication & Adultery

2011-12-17T14:00:00.000+01:00

This pathetic douche had better hope they don't criminalize stupid or he'd go away for life.

Un-Aired LOWE'S Commercial for "All-American Muslim"

2011-12-16T18:46:00.000+01:00

This is absolutely brilliant! Directed by Gregory Bonsignore and starring Rizwan Manji & Parvesh Cheena.

Tip of the hat to Parvesh Cheena

Frothy-Mix Santorum Doesn't Think Obama Deserves Credit for Getting Bin Laden

2011-12-16T14:02:00.000+01:00

Frothy-mix Rick Santorum continues talk out of his ass.

Pompous Tub-o-Shit Gingrich Wants to Abolish the 9th Circuit Court

2011-12-16T14:01:00.000+01:00

I don't think it's the 9th Circuit court that's Un-American. Why does Newt hate the Constitution? From Crooks and Liars:

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich declared Thursday that he would work to abolish federal judges if he didn't agree with their "anti-American" or "dictatorial" rulings.

At a GOP debate in Sioux City, Iowa, Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly noted that at least two conservative former attorneys general had blasted Gingrich's "dangerous" and "totally irresponsible" plan because it would alter the balance of powers.

"It alters the balance because the courts have become grotesquely dictatorial, far too powerful," Gingrich admitted. "I've been working on this project since 2002 when the Ninth Circuit court said that 'one nation under God' is unconstitutional in the Pledge of Allegiance. And I decided that if you had judges that were so radically anti-American that they thought 'one nation under God' was wrong, they shouldn't be on the court."

"Like Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln and FDR, I would be prepared to take on the judiciary if, in fact, it did not restrict what it was doing," he added.

The Fox News #NoiseMachine #Lies & Claims Mickey Mouse And Hitler Signed Petitions

2011-12-16T14:00:00.000+01:00

More bullshit from the political whorehouse that is Fox News:

How Dummies Take Over a Political Party

2011-12-15T15:00:00.000+01:00

Ron Paul...ish "Everyone Want to Do It, and Not Think About the Bad Feces Pudding"

2011-12-15T14:03:00.003+01:00

'RON PAUL' - A Bad Lip Reading SoundBite - watch more funny videos

"What's Up With the Fruit Panties? You Hatin' On Me?"

2011-12-15T14:00:00.000+01:00

"NEWT GINGRICH" â a Bad Lip Reading Soundbite - watch more funny videos

5 Dead, Scores Injured in Belgium Grenade, Gun Attack

2011-12-14T14:30:00.000+01:00

From CNN International:

Gay Republicans vs. Breitbart: Hot Hypocrite on Hypocrite Action

2011-12-14T14:19:00.003+01:00

From @SamSeder & @MajorityFM:

Darth Cheney Calls for More War Over Downed Drone

2011-12-14T13:36:00.000+01:00

Is anyone really surprised by this? Cheney's nothing but a war mongering criminal.

Animated Takedown of Rick Perry Hate Ad

2011-12-14T13:35:00.000+01:00

Rick Perry: "I'm proud of my gun, and I poo'd in space"

2011-12-14T13:30:00.000+01:00

Bad Lip Reading: Rick Perry's "Strong" ad - watch more funny videos

Mitt Romney Adopts the Language of the KKK

2011-12-13T21:35:00.001+01:00

AMERICAblog points out that Mitt Romney has taken to saying "Keep America American." Which is a KKK slogan.

Internet Censorship Is the Wrong Answer to Online Piracy

2011-12-13T21:17:00.000+01:00

I'm usually not one to agree with anything the Cato Institute says, but I'll make an acception for this draconian censorship law.

The 12 Days of Conservative Movement Christmas

2011-12-13T20:06:00.002+01:00

60 Minutes Interview with President Obama

2011-12-13T19:38:00.000+01:00

D.I.S.C.O. Gif — The Young Professionals

2011-12-12T14:30:00.000+01:00

One of my favorite new songs.

President Obama on Republican Accusations of Appeasement: ‘Ask Osama bin Laden’

2011-12-11T14:00:00.000+01:00

Take the biaach!

For Jonah Mowry. Whats Going On?

2011-12-11T13:51:00.000+01:00

Beautiful and touching.

Fucktard Bill O'Reilly Bloviates About His Umbrella Attack

2011-12-10T15:09:00.000+01:00

The Gays of Christmas

2011-12-10T15:07:00.000+01:00

TPM's Campaign in 100 Seconds:

Christianist Whack-Job William Tapley Thinks He Knows Who Obama Really Is

2011-12-10T15:00:00.000+01:00

The Third Eagle of Bullshit thinks he knows who Barack Obama really is, because the magic story book told him so. He's using Biblical numerology y'all, so you just know that it's going to be true. WOW! Talk about stupid. This moron takes the stupid to a whole new level.

A Message for Newt Gingrich from America's Children

2011-12-09T15:03:00.001+01:00

Jesus Responds To Rick Perry

2011-12-09T14:57:00.001+01:00

The Young Turks & Glenn Greenwald Take on SOPA and the Defense Authorization Bill

2011-12-09T14:47:00.001+01:00

Mitt Romney Admits Limited Understand of the World Economy

2011-12-08T11:31:00.001+01:00

Mittens met with the right-wing Washington Examiner editorial board, and amongst the topics that came up was the world economy, vis-a-vis the European debt crisis. Romney admitted that he has a very little understanding of the world economy.

TIM CARNEY: The European Union might be on the verge of an economic meltdown and the U.S. is already getting involved at least indirectly. They opened the Fed window. The IMF, which we heavily fund, is sending money their way. Do you support this Fed and these IMF measures and, if this were still going on when you were inaugurated, what steps -- what US aid -- would you be willing to provide to Europe?ROMNEY: Not much, because Europe is capable of solving Europe's problems. I actually think that -- I mean, I'm not an economist by training, but what limited understanding of the economy I have suggests it's very difficult to cobble together Greece, Ireland, Italy and Germany with the same monetary policy and highly disparate fiscal policies. I don’t know how they hold it together.

Audio:H/T to AMERICAblog Elections

Mittens Romney Says He "Just Finished" The Same Book Twice...Six Months Apart

2011-12-08T09:51:00.001+01:00

From DailyKos TV:

Terrorist Collaborator @RepPeteKing (R-Dumbfuckistan) Continues Islamophobic Attacks On Muslims

2011-12-08T09:37:00.001+01:00

From The Young Turks:

Knuckle-Dragging, Mouth-Breathers Fight Fictitious Obama Plot to Take Their Guns

2011-12-07T14:30:00.001+01:00

Source Crooks and Liars

Mike Stark Has Fun F**king With the Pig-Man

2011-12-07T14:28:00.001+01:00

@mike_stark decided to have a little fun with Rush Limbaugh last week. This is just freakin' awesome. I love when Mike is able to get on Limpball's show and get him all flustered.

Newt Gingrich Totally Gets Occupy Wall Street

2011-12-07T14:22:00.001+01:00

Actual audio from Salamander:

Congress Forgets How to Pass a Law

2011-12-07T14:21:00.001+01:00

Herman Cain Explains "Leader not Reader" to Jimmy Dore

2011-12-02T11:21:00.001+01:00

The Pale Blue Dot — Carl Sagan

2011-12-01T11:02:00.001+01:00

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

-- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

Mentally Deficient Greg Gutfeld Says "White Academics" Want "Poor Minorities" To "Stay On Government Assistance"

2011-11-29T10:21:00.001+01:00

Sorry you moronic ass-hat, I'm pretty certain if you look at the actual evidence, academics and Democrats have done everything possible to try and lift "poor minorities" out of poverty. Unlike the track record and agenda of your pathetic, sociopathic, right-wing ilk.

Colin Powell Uses Founding Fathers to Explain Why the Tea Party Will Lead GOP to Defeat in 2012

2011-11-27T20:06:00.001+01:00

video platform video management video solutions video playerH/T to PoliticusUSA

WSJ Hack, Stephen Moore, Calls Unemployment a "Welfare Benefit"

2011-11-27T11:31:00.001+01:00

I'd like to see this imbecile unemployed for an extended period of time to see how he'd deal with it.

Pathetic Imbecile Eric Bolling Bring on Ignorant Teatard to Mock #OWS For Wanting to Boycott Black Friday

2011-11-27T11:27:00.001+01:00

From Crooks and Liars

WWII Vet Sums Up What's Wrong in America at Sen. Sanders Town Hall

2011-11-27T08:25:00.001+01:00

I'm ticked off too Verne! We're all ticked off.

Christian Nutball Fired for Not Wearing 666 Sticker

2011-11-27T07:49:00.001+01:00

Why am I not surprised that this mouth-breather has a Southern accent? No offense to all my liberal friends in the South, but what the hell is in the drinking water down there?!H/T to Christian Nightmares

Rep Don Young (R-Dumbfuckistan) "Not Right In The Head"

2011-11-27T07:41:00.001+01:00

Ed Schultz talks to Dr. Doug Brinkley about Rep. Don "Big-Oil Whore" Young's (R-Dumbfuckitstan) pathetic outburst at a committee hearing.

How Did The Universe Begin?

2011-11-27T07:34:00.001+01:00

From MSNBC's The Dylan Ratigan Show

Comedian Christian Finnegan on Why Watching No News is Better Than Watching Fox News

2011-11-24T10:35:00.000+01:00

Comedian Christian Finnegan provides "Countdown" guest host David Shuster with perspective on why a new Fairleigh Dickinson University poll found that, on average, Fox News viewers know less about news and current events than people who do not follow the news at all. Finnegan concedes that regardless of its value as a source of news, Fox News will continue to dominate: "In a debate between a smart person and a stupid person, stupid will always win."

Abusive Texas Judge Claims Child Abuse Victims Are 'Fantasizers'

2011-11-24T10:33:00.000+01:00

Read more at Crooks and Liars

Retired Police Captain Ray Lewis On His Arrest And Why He Supports #OWS

2011-11-24T10:30:00.000+01:00

I really got to give this man a lot of credit. It really does take "testicles of an elephant" to show up in uniform.

Part 1

Part 2

Fucktard Bryan Fischer Sounds the Alarm on the Muslim Turkeys Invading America's Dinner Tables

2011-11-24T10:26:00.000+01:00

Oh, this is just too fucking funny.

Bullshit Historian & Faux Christian Thinks If Christians Ran America, The Government Would Stop Helping The Poor

2011-08-10T08:28:00.000+02:00

Bogus historian and dominionist shit-weasel David Barton is up to his same nonsensical rantings again. From Right Wing Watch:

David Barton explains that everything would be different would be if people who actually followed Christ ran things, including foreign policy, economics, and education.

N.Y. Enviro Commissioner Expects Little From EPA Fracking Study

2011-08-10T08:23:00.000+02:00

by Abrahm Lustgarten ProPublica, Aug. 9, 2011, 1:49 p.m.

When Joe Martens became commissioner of New York's Department of Environmental Conservation in March, he expected an unusual challenge. The department oversees everything environmental in the state, from managing 4.5 million acres of land to regulating ship ballast water in the Great Lakes.

But no contemporary issue is more dominant 2014 or more controversial 2014 than whether and how to allow energy companies to drill for natural gas in New York using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Drilling in New York could access vast resources of gas, boosting local economies. However, across the country, drilling and fracturing have been linked to complaints about water contamination, air pollution and health problems. New York halted in-state drilling development in 2008 after an investigation by ProPublica revealed that the state was not prepared [1] to handle the waste from the process or the chemicals that would be injected underground. New York launched an in-depth environmental analysis of the risks of drilling, with the goal of setting new standards for how drilling would be permitted if it goes forward in the state.

Now that environmental review is close to completion, and it will fall to Martens, formerly president of a land conservation group called the Open Space Institute, to decide how the drilling will be governed and how quickly it might progress. The state could begin issuing permits to drill early next year. I spoke with Joe Martens on Aug. 3. The following questions and responses have been edited for length.

Q: Fracking has become a national issue. By circumstance, New York is at the center of it. What extra responsibility does this put on the DEC, and what should New York's role be in that national debate?

I don't think New York has faced an issue like this in a long period of time. It's a huge environmental issue, one of the biggest of my day.

I think we are setting the national standard, and that is the responsibility that I am comfortable with. The proposed requirements in our SGEIS (the generic environmental impact statement that will dictate drilling conditions) are the most stringent in the country. We have taken a very cautionary approach. We have set aggressive setbacks from water supplies; we have taken state land off the table; we are recommending prohibiting drilling in the New York City watershed.

Q: The Environmental Protection Agency is in the midst of its own national study of the risks of hydraulic fracturing, but the results won't be known until after New York's review is finished. What if the federal government's findings contradict New York's?

We obviously look at everything that is going on, and the EPA is an important player. If they find something that we have missed, absolutely we will incorporate it into our program. We don't have blinders on.

Q: Why not wait a few more months to see what they determine?

EPA is coming at this a bit later than we are. I think DEC is ahead of the game. I think we looked at the very things that EPA is looking at and we think that we have incorporated the problems that have occurred around the country. You can always wait for new information, but I don't expect the EPA study will add measurably.

Q: One of the greatest environmental fears around fracking is that pressures exerted deep underground will allow chemicals used in the process to migrate into drinking water supplies. Has New York evaluated this risk, and how is it being addressed?

There is no evidence that we found that fracking fluids can migrate through that ... distance and those zones. That is not to say that there aren't shallow migration problems. We just don't see any risk from the deep horizontal well that is very far underground and migration up to the lowest level of fresh water.

Obviously, lots of technically competent people are looking at this. I think they looked at virtually everything that is out there.

Q: Our investigations [2] have identified a number of cases where deep underground migration may have caused well-water contamination, and just last week Environmental Working Group reported on an old EPA study of a case in West Virginia. Are these cases of concern?

The case studies are inconclusive. DEC has reviewed the EPA contractor's 1987 report and additional information regarding the West Virginia incident where a gel contaminated a drinking water well. The report gave no explanation of how the gel found in the water well got there. Our counterpart agency in West Virginia in fact concluded that the most likely cause was not fracking but rather the use of gel at relatively shallow depths in drilling the gas well in the first place and completing or cleaning it out for operation.

One theory that has been discussed is that abandoned wells in the area were not properly plugged and may have allowed gel used in fracturing to migrate upward. Our revised draft SGEIS assessed this type of potential problem and would require drilling companies to survey the land generally within one mile of the proposed well location. If an unplugged deep well is found, the department would require the operator to properly plug and abandon it before fracturing begins.

The draft SGEIS does address the risks associated with underground gas migration through stringent well construction requirements and other protections.

In addition, the revised SGEIS would require hydraulic fracturing pumping operations to be monitored for pressure and flow during pumping and an immediate suspension of fracturing if any anomalous pressure occurs.

Q: How did the DEC arrive at its various buffer measures one safe distance from an aquifer, another different distance from a watershed boundary?

We didn't have a formula. In general I'd say we erred on the side of caution for increased setbacks.

The department considered the nature of the potential environmental impact under the circumstances posed at each type of aquifer or water supply. For example, the risk of surface spills in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds includes the potential loss of an EPA Filtration Avoidance Determination and the resulting crushing potential cost to those two cities of filtering their drinking water.

Where the wetlands law might have proposed a 100-foot setback, we increased it in some cases by an order of magnitude just out of caution. Other states don't have nearly as generous setbacks as we do.

Q: And what is the primary purpose of the setbacks then?

It was basically to keep any activity sufficiently away from the area around the two watersheds (the New York City and Syracuse public water supplies) and a variety of other natural resources. It is surface activity, not the drilling 5,000 feet underground that we are concerned about, but the trucks carrying chemicals on the surface. We don't believe there is any risk of migration from the well bore to the underground aquifer above it.

Q: Health complaints are emerging in drilling areas, and health impacts are both a growing concern and represent a significant scientific gap in the study of drilling's impacts. Pennsylvania is considering a health registry to track related complaints. What steps is New York taking?

We are not planning to have a health registry. The main approach of the SGEIS is to prevent exposure of the public and any resulting health impacts. We are also requiring that private drinking water wells be monitored. DEC and DOH (Department of Health) have been coordinating in assessing public health risks associated with the drilling and gas extraction activities. In the unlikely event that contamination of groundwater occurred, the state and county health Ddepartments would first determine whether the public has been or might likely be exposed. Those agencies are also fully equipped to conduct epidemiological studies of exposed populations.

Q: In 2008 ProPublica reported that New York state was not prepared to handle [1] the wastewater that would be produced from drilling. Later we wrote that drilling waste was likely to be dangerously radioactive [3]. Originally, New York planned to permit water treatment plants to accept the waste. Where do things stand today?

Currently, no wastewater treatment plants in New York are equipped to treat or permitted to accept wastewater with the range of contaminants expected to be in fluids produced from high-volume hydraulic fracturing. These plants would need to make modifications or additions to the treatment systems at their facilities. These plants would need an SPDES (environmental discharge) permit from New York state. ... The plants would be required to perform a "headworks analysis" demonstrating they can safely treat the waste before DEC would grant or modify the permit. It is possible that these plans could include exporting waste to Ohio.

Q: As more drillers recycle their wastewater, more of those fluids are left permanently underground in the well. Will New York have any requirements limiting how much fluid can be discarded underground before the drilling is considered "underground injection," a process extensively regulated by the federal government?

DEC is currently examining this issue as part of its environmental and rule-making process. There should be more details once the draft SGEIS and accompanying regulations are finalized.

Q: Can you explain the recent controversy about "lifting New York's ban" that was reported in the national press? I never knew about a ban on fracking in New York.

A moratorium certainly hadn't been lifted because a moratorium hadn't been in place. I think of a moratorium as an act of the legislature that says a state can't do something for a period of time, by law. Nothing about the situation changed other than we revised the draft. The revised draft was expected all along. And we are required by law not to consider applications to drill until the [environmental review] is completed. Everybody knew this was just another revision that had been promised for months.

I took exception to the way The New York Times reported the story when they heard we were coming out with our revised draft. It was a very misleading headline ... that the governor was trying to slip one by on people.

Q: The DEC has a multitude of responsibilities and has faced severe budget and staff restraints. Will the drilling issue define the department and consume the state's environmental regulatory resources?

We still have a large staff that deals with mining (which oversees drilling), and it is not going to dwarf any of the other functions of the agency. But we will need to be properly staffed. We are going to need the people to properly oversee it. I don't think this will ever dominate the agency's mission or focus.

Q: Speaking of staff, New York has just 14 gasfield inspectors and has cut its staff by more than 20 percent since 2003. By comparison, Pennsylvania2014which continues to be challenged by environmental problems from drilling2014has doubled its inspection staff to more than 200. Your predecessor at the DEC was fired after warning that cuts would interfere with drilling oversight. How does New York now expect to be able to oversee drilling in the state?

I've put together an advisory panel that's going to meet in August. One of the main focuses will be to look at the resource issues. They will look at Pennsylvania and how they have staffed it and how we have staffed. The advisory panel's work will flow into a budget process here in New York.

I'm not just talking about the mineral division, I'm talking about the water division, staff in lands and forests; it's across divisions that we will need additional resources to address issues around high-volume hydraulic fracturing.

If we don't get those resources, we will only review applications that we have the capacity to review at any given point in time. We are not going to approve permits just because we have lots of them.

Q: The country appears on the verge of a second recession, and drilling could bring revenue. How do today's economic troubles affect New York's decision about whether to allow Marcellus Shale drilling?

The fact that the economy is in recession is one factor, but it's certainly not the most important factor for the DEC. It hasn't affected the environmental review process. Our primary objective is to figure out how this can be done in an environmentally protective way.

Q: What preferences have the governor and others outside the DEC expressed?

I can say categorically that no one has exerted any pressure on me. There is a provision in the environmental conservation law that requires us to promote the efficient use of the state's oil and gas resources, so we have a legal obligation to try to use these resources efficiently. At the same time, we have air, water and solid-waste laws that make sure things are done in a way that meets national and state environmental standards. So, it is a balancing act, but the objective is to see if they can be simultaneously met and we have concluded that they can.

Q: New York drilling regulations say that state authority usurps municipal authority when it comes to regulating drilling, yet a number of communities are considering local bans or limits of their own. How will New York address these conflicts and is it prepared to fight them in court?

It is likely that the courts will need to decide these issues in a lawsuit between the town and the drilling company, not the state.

From @CountdownKO: Will Rupert Murdoch's Empire Collapse Like A House Of Cards?

2011-07-09T09:31:00.000+02:00

Anti-Gay Rethuglicans Offer Alternatives to DOMA & Other Anti-Gay Nonsense

2011-07-08T12:50:00.000+02:00

care2.com is reporting on three virulently anti-gay amendments put forth by hate-mongers of the House GOP as amendments to the DoD Appropriations Act for FY 2012. The first of these is from wall-eyed uber-bigot Rep. Virgina Foxx (R-Dumbfuckistan). Foxx you'll recall said that Matthew Shepard's murder was a hoax. care2.com reports:

The amendment aims to shore up the Defense of Marriage Act by, well, enforcing what the Defense of Marriage Act already does, that is to say denies same-sex couples equal benefits or treatment from the federal government. According to the text, the purpose is as follows:
The proposed amendment would reaffirm Congress’ expectation that funds shall not be used for benefits, such as housing, education, medical services, transportation, etc., for same-sex couples on the same basis as opposite-sex married couples.
Foxx, who introduced the amendment along with Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) (more from him in a moment), contends this amendment is necessary because currently there is no Plan B should those “radical lawyers and judges” following the U.S. Constitution overturn DOMA because, you know, it is unconstitutional, or as they put it:
It is not enough for the Department of Defense to dismiss all concerns about this and many other issues involving marriage status and benefits by pointing to the existence of the DOMA. There is no contingency “Plan B” to deal with this issue if federal courts invalidate that law. Indeed, the administration is inviting that possibility. Possible court orders could suddenly overturn current policies of the Department of Defense, which is not likely to resist or oppose potential court orders or directives that disregard the intent of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Congress should establish policy guidance on this issue that covers numerous contingencies and unexpected situations in the future. Given the potentially enormous cost of extending marriage benefits to same-sex couples and their dependents, Congress can and should enact a policy making it clear that Defense Department funds should not be used in ways that violate federal law: the Defense of Marriage Act.
There you go. She doesn’t want to have to pay for equality. How heartwarming. Particularly telling is the line about having a “Plan B,” or to give the contingency measure its full title, the “Back up our Bigotry” plan. Catchy!

This modern day GOP will do ANYTHING to promote bigotry and hatred, won't they? Check out care2.com for the rest of the GOP's hateful nonsense.

Professor Ardel Thomas On MSNBC Discussing the FAIR Education Act

2011-07-08T12:16:00.001+02:00

CROSS-POSTED FROM BACK2STONEWALL.COM

According to Equality California the FAIR Education Act (SB48):

The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act would amend the Education Code to include social sciences instruction on the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. This bill would also prohibit discriminatory instruction and discriminatory materials from being adopted by the State Board of Education.

Richard Lui discusses the legislation with Professor Ardel Thomas of City College of San Francisco on MSNBC.

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

Chris Matthews, Ron Reagan, Jr., and Josh Marshall Discuss Fox News' Vendetta Against Media Matters

2011-07-08T12:02:00.000+02:00

The mental-midgets over at Faux News are so incredibly frightened of the power of Media Matters for America, that their laughingly trying to go after MMFA's tax exempt status. It would see that Fox News doesn't like having their own words thrown right back at them, because that's pretty much all MMFA does. They take exactly what is said on Fox Noise and other reich-wing media outlets and show how fucking batshit crazy it is.

Ferguson Adds Hilarious Sound Effects To Jan Brewer's Awful Opening Debate Statement (VIDEO)

2010-09-04T08:26:00.000+02:00

@CraigyFerg is freakin' hysterical!

Via The Huffington Post

Hannity: 'I can't find any' racist Tea Party signs

2010-07-19T11:06:00.001+02:00

Is Sean Hannity really that stupid? That's a rhetorical question obviously, of course he is.

From crooksandliars.com

Private Sector Employment has Increased for 6 Straight Months

2010-07-15T08:16:00.001+02:00

PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYMENT HAS INCREASED FOR 6 STRAIGHT MONTHS
Originally uploaded by Speaker Pelosi

Vice President Biden Responds to Joe Barton's Apology to BP

2010-06-18T13:12:00.003+02:00

Via The White House

Vice President Joe Biden calls Congressman Joe Barton’s statements about the BP escrow fund and his apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward as “incredibly insensitive” and “incredibly out of touch” in response to a reporter’s question at a White House Press Briefing.

The Low Countries' New Low

2010-06-15T16:25:00.002+02:00

That so many people in the Netherlands and Belgium have voted along ethnic lines in their respective elections is unsettling

By Iliana Bet-El
The Guardian
Photo: Dirk Waem/EPA

The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg were once collectively known as the Low Countries, largely by Britain which eyed them from across the Channel, and often fought them too. Over the centuries this rather disparate grouping of people and interests passed from ruler to empire, from Charlemagne to the Bourbons, through the Spanish and eventually the Dutch, before finally gaining official separation with the creation of Belgium in 1830, and the demise of the union between the Netherlands and Luxembourg in 1890. As a result of this history, there is nothing worse than lumping two or three of these states together in any way – which makes it all the more ironic to mark how alike they seem to have become.

Both the Netherlands and Belgium have been to the polls within days of each other, and both have produced rather similar results: a rise in narrow national, near-nationalist interests, coupled with a strong socialist showing. These are interesting trends....(Remainder.)

N-VA (Flemish Separatist Party) in the international spotlight

2010-06-08T16:41:00.002+02:00

Via Flandersnews.be

With less than a week to go before the General Election international interest is growing in the platform of the Flemish nationalist party N-VA. The party sees Flemish independence as its ultimate goal and a Belgian confederation as a staging post towards this objective.

On Tuesday the party attracted considerable attention at a specially organised 'international' news conference.

A party spokesman told the daily De Standaard that this was the only way to deal with all the queries it was receiving from international journalists based in Brussels.

At the news conference the party explained its key policies in French, English, German, Spanish and Italian. N-VA leader Bart De Wever also set out his party's view on Flanders, Belgium and Europe.

On Monday alone the party was contacted by the Montreal Daily, the Estonian Public Broadcaster and Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine.

The daily De Morgen writes that international interest is linked to several factors. There's tumbling confidence among foreign investors that has dented the value of Belgian state bonds in recent days. This is making it increasingly expensive for the Belgian State to borrow money on the international markets.

Investors are following the political developments in Belgium with baited breath. Fears about a new period of political instability after the election have triggered concerns about a delay in tackling economic problems including the state debt. International investors and the international press are all worried....(Remainder)

Now, THIS is the Man I Voted For! Fighting for Health Insurance Reform

2010-03-09T14:08:00.000+01:00

Iran and U.S. Wingnuts: a 9/11 Love Story

2010-03-08T10:30:00.001+01:00

By John Avlon
The Daily Beast
Photo: Associated Press

Ahmadinejad this weekend called 9/11 a "big lie." In doing so, he was just echoing what a particularly sick brand of American wingnut, the "truther," has been saying for years. John Avlon, author of Wingnuts, on some virulent bedfellows.

It was perhaps inevitable that the world’s most notorious Holocaust denier would out himself as a 9/11 Truther. This weekend, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pronounced the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, a "big lie," "a complicated intelligence scenario and act" and "a pretext for the campaign against terrorism and a prelude for staging an invasion against Afghanistan."

He echoed claims long made by one of the most virulent conspiracy theories to infect recent American politics—the Orwellian named 9/11 Truthers, who believe the attack was an inside job.

It is appropriate that Ahmadinejad used the phrase the "big lie," first coined by Adolph Hitler in Mein Kampf to explain the psychology behind propaganda campaigns of misinformation. "In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility," Hitler wrote, because "It would never come into [most people's] heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously."

The Big Lie can be seductive. It masquerades as reason, even scientific inquiry, but it leads down a path confirming your worst suspicions about your worst enemy. Its proponents cast themselves cast themselves as populist truth tellers taking on powerful interests, but many are trying to profit personally or politically by stirring up fear and paranoia.

The Pentagon gunman John Patrick Bedell was an extreme example of an unstable soul who bought into these claims. But he is far from alone. Five years after the attack, a Scripps Howard poll found that thirty-six percent of Americans believed the federal government "either assisted in the 9/11 attacks or took no action" because they "wanted to go to war in the Middle East." Sixteen percent thought the World Trade Center might have collapsed because of secret explosives—a claim made by Bedell in his online writings. Not long ago, purple "9/11 was an Inside Job" stickers were ubiquitous on New York City street-corners and in 2008 Truthers rallied around the presidential candidacy of leftist Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney as well as Texas libertarian Ron Paul, winner of this year’s CPAC straw poll....(Remainder.)

Calling All Rebels

2010-03-08T10:24:00.001+01:00

By Chris Hedges
Truthdig

There are no constraints left to halt America’s slide into a totalitarian capitalism. Electoral politics are a sham. The media have been debased and defanged by corporate owners. The working class has been impoverished and is now being plunged into profound despair. The legal system has been corrupted to serve corporate interests. Popular institutions, from labor unions to political parties, have been destroyed or emasculated by corporate power. And any form of protest, no matter how tepid, is blocked by an internal security apparatus that is starting to rival that of the East German secret police. The mounting anger and hatred, coursing through the bloodstream of the body politic, make violence and counter-violence inevitable. Brace yourself. The American empire is over. And the descent is going to be horrifying.

Those singled out as internal enemies will include people of color, immigrants, gays, intellectuals, feminists, Jews, Muslims, union leaders and those defined as “liberals.” They will be condemned as anti-American and blamed for our decline. The economic collapse, which remains mysterious and enigmatic to most Americans, will be pinned by demagogues and hatemongers on these hapless scapegoats. And the random acts of violence, which are already leaping up around the fringes of American society, will justify harsh measures of internal control that will snuff out the final vestiges of our democracy. The corporate forces that destroyed the country will use the information systems they control to mask their culpability. The old game of blaming the weak and the marginal, a staple of despotic regimes, will empower the dark undercurrents of sadism and violence within American society and deflect attention from the corporate vampires that have drained the blood of the country.

“We are going to be poorer,” David Cay Johnston told me. Johnston was the tax reporter of The New York Times for 13 years and has written on how the corporate state rigged the system against us. He is the author of “Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With the Bill,” a book about hidden subsidies, rigged markets and corporate socialism. “Health care is going to eat up more and more of our income. We are going to have less and less for other things. We are going to have some huge disasters sooner or later caused by our failure to invest. Dams and bridges will break. Buildings will collapse. There are water mains that are 25 to 50 feet wide. There will be huge infrastructure disasters. Our intellectual resources are in decline. We are failing to educate young people and instill in them rigor. We are going to continue to pour money into the military. I think it is possible, I do not say it is probable, that we will have a revolution, a civil war that will see the end of the United States of America.”...(Remainder.)

History Channel Smears President Kennedy

2010-03-08T10:22:00.001+01:00

So Long Farewell, Auf Weidersehen, Adieu

2010-01-29T10:19:00.000+01:00

After a lot of internal back and forth, I have decided that this is the end of the road for this blog.

I was spending hours and hours each day making posts, to an audience of 20. Hardly seems worth the effort.

So now, because of my health issues, and me being sick to death of politics now, this blog will go away, along with my YouTube channels. I hope everyone who has read my blog has found it informative.

Cheers!

Why Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh Ought to Be Dropped Into Haiti as Food

2010-01-14T19:33:00.000+01:00

By Rude One

The Rude Pundit

Seriously, did you think that Pat Robertson wasn't going to be a completely batshit insane fuckbag about Haiti? C'mon: natural disaster, scary black people, hoodoo-voodoo shit? It's the first Jesus boner Robertson's had in over four years, since he blamed New Orleans for being some kind of gay, sinning magnet for Hurricane Katrina. Robertson said that Haiti only overthrew colonial control because the slaves there made a pact with the devil. "True story," he assured us, despite the fact that it's false. (Sure, yeah, fine, Robertson's got relief organizations working in Haiti. Doesn't make him less of an asshole.)

By the way, if you wanna prove your God is so goddamn powerful, let him cause an earthquake somewhere that's not on a fault line, or let him whip up a hurricane in, say, the middle of the desert. Otherwise, shut the fuck up about how big and strong he is. In fact, Pat Robertson, you saggy, sick, senile fuck who needed to be ground up into soylent green about a decade ago or buried alive with Jerry Falwell's corpse, if your God is such a dick that he'd try to prove some bullshit point by flattening a country of poor, beaten down people, then fuck your God. Motherfucker oughta spend some time hanging with his son to learn how to treat the meek. (And as for Robertson's nodding sidekick there, Kristi Watts, others have put it quite nicely.)

Other ugliness will rear its ugly head, as is the wont of ugliness. And while writing about Rush Limbaugh twice in one week is like researching burn victim goatse (Note: don't), the man who sadly did not die a couple of weeks ago used the Haiti earthquake as a way to attack President Barack Obama in many bizarre ways.

- According to Limbaugh, there's some kind of equivalence between the deluded fucktard who sparked his balls aflame on an airplane on Christmas and a major catastrophe that has destroyed a country and probably killed tens of thousands of people: "Now, I want you to remember, it took him three days to respond to the Christmas Day Fruit of Kaboom Bomber, three days. And when he came out after those three days, he was clearly irritated that he had to do it. He didn't want to do it. He comes out here in less than 24 hours to speak about Haiti." It's a little like saying, "How dare those bastards in the ER deal with a code blue heart attack while I'm sitting here with an ass pimple that needs popping."...(Remainder.)

Keith Olbermann Rips the Pig-Man and Robertson a New Asshole

2010-01-14T19:19:00.000+01:00

Prop 8 is Simply Unconstitutional

2010-01-14T09:46:00.000+01:00

By Lisa Bloom

CNN

Editor's note: Lisa Bloom is a CNN legal analyst and is the managing partner of The Bloom Firm, where she practices civil and criminal law.

(CNN) -- A pop star could have a quickie Vegas wedding tomorrow, to a man she meets tonight, if she so chooses. Scott Peterson, convicted of the murder of his pregnant wife and on death row, has an inalienable right to a prison wedding with a female pen pal if the mood strikes him.

Indiana grandmother Linda Wolfe holds the Guinness World Records title for most marriages: 23. One lasted just 36 hours. She's on the lookout for No. 24, and when she finds him, no law can stop her from marrying him.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held unanimously that "the freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men. Marriage is one of the basic civil rights of man."

So basic, so important, so fundamental, in constitutional parlance, that no state can interfere with even the most reckless heterosexual nuptials.

Yet in most states, my friends Wilbert and Carlos, "free men" together 16 years and lovingly raising a son, are shut out of the 1,100 federal and hundreds of state legal benefits that come with marriage. These include the right to visit a spouse in a hospital and make medical decisions; employer sick and bereavement leave; inheritance rights; the right to give unlimited gifts to a spouse without gift tax; disability, pension, and Social Security benefits; the right to bring a wrongful death case; the right to refuse to testify against a spouse; or the right to prevent the deportation of a foreign-born partner by marriage, among others....(Remainder.)