Scare Yourself

Billboard Liberation Strikes Out at Domestic Spies AT&T

NSA_2

Originally uploaded by Billboard Liberation Front

Too bad that the remaining Americans who don’t already know about AT&T’s domestic spying probably have no idea what the NSA is, or does.

From the Billboard Liberation Front’s Press Release:

AT&T initially downplayed its heroic efforts in the War on Terror, preferring to serve in silence behind the scenes. “But then we realized we had a PR win on our hands,” noted AT&T V.P. of Homeland Security James Croppy. “Not only were we helping NSA cut through the cumbersome red tape of the FISA system, we were also helping our customers by handing over their e-mails and phone records to the government. Modern life is so hectic – who has time to cc the feds on every message? It’s a great example of how we anticipate our customers’ needs and act on them. And, it should be pointed out, we offered this service free of charge.”

Insurance Fears Lead Many to Shun DNA Tests

What is the definition of a broken healthcare system? Is it a system in which those who are ill do not seek treatment, because they cannot pay the exorbitant cost of treatment for even a simple illness or injury? A system in which the “health care provider” withholds life-saving treatment, because the patient has no money? Or is it a system in which people refuse to even learn whether or not they have a disease, or will develop a disease, for fear that they will never be able to get the all-coveted, much-feared “health care coverage”?

I believe that of the many immoral, shameful and harmful practices American society sanctions, our allowing health care to be run as a for-profit enterprise is the very worst. It’s detrimental not only to us as individuals, but also to society as a whole. Continue reading »

Fucking Fuckwitted Jeff City Fucktards

You know it’s going to take a lot to make me hopping mad when I have a broken foot, but this almost gets me there. And what’s even more fucked-up (though not unexpected) is that despite this bill being all over the blogsphere, as of this posting the Post Dispatch’s site makes no mention of it at all.  Why am I not surprised? Karaoke cycling does get a really good write-up though.

Broadsheet: Missouri “abortifacient” bill both wrong and wrong

Well, clearly they’ve fixed everything else in Missouri, as lawmakers there are now able to turn their attention to fatuous bills addressing pretend situations. The recently introduced HB 1625 would — contrary to the position of the Food and Drug Administration and virtually the entire medical community — classify emergency contraception (as in Plan B) as an “abortifacient.” It would also allow pharmacies to refuse to dispense both Plan B and RU-486 (mifepristone), shielding them from any resulting legal action.

Bush Administration Hides More Data

This is about as typical as it gets for the Bushies.  Don’t like the evidence? Make new evidence you will like better! Can’t do that? Then get rid of the evidence! Problem solved!

Think Progress » Bush Administration Hides More Data, Shuts Down Website Tracking U.S. Economic Indicators

The U.S. economy is faltering. Family debt is on the rise, benefits are disappearing, the deficit is skyrocketing, and the mortgage crisis has worsened. Conservatives have attempted to deflect attention from the crisis, by blaming the media’s negative coverage and insisting the United States is not headed toward a recession, despite what economists are predicting.The Bush administration’s latest move is to simply hide the data. Forbes has awarded EconomicIndicators.gov one of its “Best of the Web” awards. As Forbes explains, the government site provides an invaluable service to the public for accessing U.S. economic data.

Yet the Bush administration has decided to shut down this site because of “budgetary constraints,” effective March 1:

Today’s TRD brought to you by…

Wow, he’s sponsoring these total reality disconnects left and right these days. Thowing them around like he’s made of money!

Made of big fat stacks of Exxon money, or something.

Think Progress » Bush Declares That Cheney Is ‘The Best Vice President In History’

During his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this morning, President Bush told the crowd of raucous right-wing activists that he “appreciates the fact that” they “invited Vice President Cheney” to speak. Between intermittent cheers of “four more years,” Bush told the crowd, Cheney “is the best vice president in history.”

Nude Buttocks May Cost ABC $1.4 Million

ABC in trouble for ass it showed online 5 years ago. You know, our nightly ‘news’ broadcasts are much more offensive to me than some actress’s butt cheeks. Please. (Bolding mine)

Newsvine – Nude Buttocks May Cost ABC $1.4 Million

The agency said the show was indecent because “it depicts sexual organs and excretory organs — specifically an adult woman’s buttocks.”The agency rejected the network’s argument that “the buttocks are not a sexual organ.”

Well, ‘the agency’ is fucking retarded. Thank you, abstinence-only education. Soon my ass will be bearing your child.

*snerk* Iran So Far Away

I want this guy for my grandpa

War Sentiments | Tongue Tied

Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR

ABC News: Victim: Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR

Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, says that after she was raped by multiple men at a KBR camp in the Green Zone, the company put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she’d be out of a job.

“I was upset; I was curled up in a ball on the bed; I just could not believe what had happened.”Finally, Jones says, she convinced a sympathetic guard to loan her a cell phone so she could call her father in Texas.

“I said, ‘Dad, I’ve been raped. I don’t know what to do. I’m in this container, and I’m not able to leave,’” she said. Her father called their congressman, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas.

“We contacted the State Department first,” Poe told ABCNews.com, “and told them of the urgency of rescuing an American citizen” — from her American employer.

I can’t comment here, I feel sick.

I am so sick of this ‘Ron Paul’ bullshit

So, the best argument that you can make for him is that he has…nothing to show for himself? Let me clue you in – in the Real World, where the rest of us have to live, spending 20 years doing nothing but criticizing other people while they do things you “don’t believe in” has a consequence. And unless you work for the DMV that consequence is “fired”.

It’s not enough to sit on your moral high-horse, never taking any kind of positive action to affect change or learning how to garner support for your ideas. “Uselessness” is not a positive character trait, no matter how many sweet little Chinese tales you trot out. Continue reading »

Protect The Children AND Destroy Open WiFi – Rock on, Congress!

And of course everyone’s got to be all “Ron Paul didn’t vote for it!” and then beam proudly like the huge simplistic children they are. Saying he didn’t vote for something is hardly exciting or novel. After all, what the hell is Ron Paul actually FOR?*

Techdirt: Congress Rushes Through Law To Protect The Children… And Make Open WiFi A Huge Liability

So what’s so awful about the law? Well, like most “protect the children” legislation, it goes way overboard in terms of what people are expected to do, and like most legislation having to do with technology, seems utterly clueless about how technology works. Continue reading »

Saudi punishes gang rape victim with 200 lashes

Saudi punishes gang rape victim with 200 lashes
Nov 15 10:51 AM US/Eastern

A court in the ultra-conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia is punishing a female victim of gang rape with 200 lashes and six months in jail, a newspaper reported on Thursday.The 19-year-old woman — whose six armed attackers have been sentenced to jail terms — was initially ordered to undergo 90 lashes for “being in the car of an unrelated male at the time of the rape,” the Arab News reported.

But in a new verdict issued after Saudi Arabia’s Higher Judicial Council ordered a retrial, the court in the eastern town of Al-Qatif more than doubled the number of lashes to 200.

St. Louis Leads Nation in 2 STD Infection Rates

Whooo! We’re #1!

City leads nation in 2 STD infection rates

By Blythe Bernhard
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/13/2007

St. Louis leads the country in infection rates for two of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, according to an annual report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The city has been plagued with high rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea for years. Last year, nearly 7,500 new cases of the diseases were reported.

But this will fix it:

The city’s health department held a task force meeting today to address the issue.

Bush Wars Cost Avg Family $20K

The Raw Story | Iraq, Afghanistan wars twice as expensive as expected, report says

President Bush’s six-year invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq will end up costing Americans about $1.5 trillion, or nearly twice as much as the White House has actually spent to fight its wars, because of unseen costs like inflation, rising oil prices and expensive care for wounded veterans.The estimate was revealed in a Democratic staff report from Congress’s Joint Economic Committee. The staff report, titled “The Hidden Costs of the Iraq War,” estimates that the Iraq and Afghan wars have cost the average family more than $20,000.