Zephyr Teachout For Governor

And not just because she has one of the coolest names ever.  She might actually take a shot at reducing the bi-partisan corruption in NY state.

An excerpt from the blurb for the forthcoming book reads: "For two centuries the framers’ ideas about corruption flourished in the courts, even in the absence of clear rules governing voters, civil officers, and elected officials. Should a law that was passed by a state legislature be overturned because half of its members were bribed? What kinds of lobbying activity were corrupt, and what kinds were legal? When does an implicit promise count as bribery?" 

The book also touches on the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision which gave corporations the right to spend unlimited money to influence elections. Teachout writes that the Citizens United decision transformed American politics for the worse, again speaking to her background as an advocate for public campaign financing.

That she worked for Howard Dean, was active with the Occupy movement and was rejected for the Moreland Commission is a bonus. And it's fine with me if this reduces Cuomo's chances of becoming president to zero. 

Her experience with Dean is a clear indication that Teachout knows how to mobilize people on the grassroots level, an attribute that will surely come in handy if she ends up as the Working Families Party gubernatorial nominee. 

UPDATE: Teachout missed making the Working Families ticket. Doesn't really sound like she's going to run against Cuomo in the primary. Maybe someday, tho.

No, We Can't All Get Along

I'd like to start by asking all those who are currently living in right-wing hell-holes in this country to consider moving to the Northeast Kingdom of our once-great country. This began as an invite to the folks  in Nevada who are burdened with sharing their state with Cliven Bundy and his gang of over-armed and under-educated militia members. I'm also asking all those who are unhappy living under the rule of King Andrew to consider moving to one of these right-wing hell-holes where you undoubtedly be  happier. I'm thinking of starting an exchange program. Let's just divide up. Shirts and skins.

So here is the Cliven Bundy update: 

1)Authorities call bullshit on Bundy's land claims.

2)Militia members threaten members of the community.

3)Civil war is threatened between Bundy supporters.

4)Authorities prepare for charges to be filed against all involved.

5)Violence spreads to Utah

If we can summarize what’s happened since the spotlight moved on, we see the ongoing spread of lies and violence on the one hand — which is completely unsurprising. The almost-shooting war that Bundy supporters got themselves into is precisely the reason that the Second Amendment doesn’t mean what they think it means: As John Locke’s social contract theory explained, civil society was created because individual force cannot guarantee peace and security — even among the supposedly like-minded. Hence, the turning of violence against one another was just as predictable as its threatened spread to Utah as well.

On the other hand, we see a deliberately restrained, but methodical law enforcement process underway. Let’s hope it stays that way, because nothing damages the law as badly as those who abuse its authority, or use it recklessly. But let’s also hope they don’t take too long in beginning to bring folks to justice. Hatred, lies and violence already have too big a head start. We don’t need to let them get any further ahead.

Nearly forgot to mention that, apparently, fighting the tyranny that is Barack Obama's federal government doesn't pay anything. I mean, Bundy is not paying his grazing fees why would he pay these yahoos. So, if anyone passing through here would like to slip a few bucks in the tip jar of these domestic terrorists...

The life of an ever-vigilant anti-government armed patriot is hard. And by hard, I mean dull and unproductive. Also, not very profitable. Maybe that's why all those guys hanging out cleaning their guns in Nevada are now begging hard-working Americans to please give them some money.

I would, but I already gave to SPLC.

And Take Ann Coulter Away

I hate to even give my little bit of attention and waste any bytes or internet storage space on Ann Coulter, but sometimes rules have to be broken. Apparently Ann was jealous of the Nigerian girls who were kidnapped and thereby diverted the world's attention away from her.

 

And then folks who can do photoshop, unlike myself, had fun with her. My favorite:

Bonus cartoon characters:

 

OK, I only understood about half of that, but then I don't have one-eyed aliens watching me.