The fundie’s shed bit the dust. I think I’ll be a good neighbor and offer to help when they clean it up.

From the Peoria Pundit:

Opinion: 21st century slavery in the United States

Glenn Beck can be a real doofus at times, but he is right on the money on the issue of illegal immigration:

The unspoken truth is that these businesses don’t hire illegal aliens because they can’t find American workers, they hire illegal aliens because they don’t want American workers. And it has nothing to do with wages.

Illegal aliens mean no workers’ comp claims, no age, race or sex discrimination lawsuits, no healthcare premiums, no unions, and no demands for raises, vacations or bigger offices. In fact, illegal immigrants are the perfect employees because they’re not employees at all; they’re corporate slaves.

Economist Dr. Thomas Sowell once said, “Blacks were not enslaved because they were black, but because they were available.” Can’t the exact same thing be said for illegal aliens? They’re available and we’re allowing them to be exploited in the name of cheap groceries.

Is the price of fruit really the standard we want to live up to as a country? Is that really who we’ve become?

I’m all for legal immigration. And I’m all in favor of increasing the amount of legal immigration, and making it easier.

But what we’ve allowed to happen here is an environment where good jobs are beign sent elsewhere by companies like our very own Caterpillar Inc., while low-paying jobs that can’t be exported are being taken over by the 21st century’s version of slave labor.

This cannot continue.

Usually I have nothing to say about Bill’s politics. I either agree with them, am neutral on the topic, or disagree, but not strongly enough to bother with it. Today falls under the latter category, but I do have a few things to say about the reasoning of the guy in the quoted snippet.

I disagree with the premise. The guy says “it has nothing to do with wages,” yet lists “no demands for raises” as a reason. It can’t be both. That’s what it comes down to: wages and healthcare. The rest is filler. I also think they’re missing something the corporations have in their favor: the leverage of non-citizenship. Unions? Lawsuits? Honestly, who are these people going to complain to without being deported?

I also think the notion that American workers are an unbearable burden to these companies is bogus. Sure, workers are both a liability and an asset. That’s the nature of employment. The problems listed here are not so frequent or excessive as to warrant this type of behavior from companies. I’ve worked at the same company for over two years and have not heard of a single instance where any of these was an issue, yet the company has nearly 2000 employees. The way the guy in the quoted article makes it sound, American employees are nothing but opportunists looking to make an easy million at a company’s expense, and if that’s the case, how do any companies who employ Americans remain in business?

I think the conclusion hits closer to the mark with its description of the kind of opportunism that leads to so-called corporate slavery. The thing is, certain individuals (read: wingnuts) tend to be mad at the wrong people for causing this. Illegal immigrants may be breaking our laws by being here without documentation, but it’s the corporations who are hiring them or shipping jobs overseas.

This begs the question: are illegal immigrants hurting us by being here, or are companies hurting us more by hiring them instead of Americans?

Yeah, I don’t disagree with the guy’s conclusion, but his reasons for getting there could use some work.

From PJStar.com:

What do child predators, wildfires, crops and shrimp have to do with U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Sorry, there’s no punchline to that setup. The answer is, of course, nothing. Which is why we’re not laughing at an attempt last week by certain congressional Democrats to tie a supplemental military funding bill to a bunch of unrelated matters.

In the Senate’s version of the war legislation these “domestic add-ons,” as they’re being called, included $50 million to track kiddie predators, $350 million to fight Western fires, $400 million in rural school assistance and $75 million to prop up commercial fisheries. Another add-on was a provision awarding extended work permits for hundreds of thousands of immigrant farm laborers.

The House’s version, meanwhile, had $5.8 billion for New Orleans’ levees. It also tacked on a measure to extend unemployment for Americans whose benefits have run out, and another to block the Bush administration’s attempt to cut Medicaid.

Look, our objection is not to these domestic priorities in and of themselves. Each one is an important issue worthy of due congressional consideration.

But they absolutely do not belong next to the $165 billion necessary to fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through the rest of President Bush’s term.

Indeed, riddling the war legislation with add-ons was a purely political move. For some Democrats, it was a dare to Bush — if he wants his war bucks, he’ll have to choke down a spoonful of unrelated spending, as he did last year to the tune of $17 billion. For some Republicans, it was an opportunity to support the war and bring home the bacon to constituents. GOP Sen. Richard Shelby, for instance, eagerly sent out a press release to Alabamans bragging about fishery assistance.

Tomfoolery like this is why Americans can’t stand politics. And it’s a disservice to the thousands of Americans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, as the fate of their funding gets hung up on Capitol Hill.

So bizarre are the political motivations involved and so entangled are the defense/domestic add-on measures that some fiscally conservative House Republicans actually helped anti-war House Democrats defeat the military funding.

Congress should let war spending — and child predator spending, and Medicaid spending, and school spending, etc. — stand or sink on their own merits.

The entire premise of this article is wrong, and if this is the depth of his or her understanding of rather common methods and processes, the author of this opinion piece should probably never write about Washington politics again. Ever.

Really, I wish every budget problem could be analyzed by devaluing it as a cheap political game. First off, if you think Congress never gets anything done now, could you imagine if they had to make a separate bill for each individual funding request, then debate and vote on each? No thanks. That’s what the House and Senate Appropriations Committees are for.

The fact of the matter is, if Congress tried passing any of these on their own (or even attached to another, less important bill), there’s a chance Bush would veto them but a better chance they’d never get called to the floor. Since this particular bill is one that needs to pass no matter what, it’s their best chance of getting the requested funding. What Congressional Democrats (and even a healthy number of Republicans) have finally realized is that the only way to pass much-needed spending is to attach it to something the president wants.

The hypocrisy of this article struck me as well. Bush is the one who started playing hardball by vetoing everything that came to his desk. Now that Congress is playing hardball, it’s suddenly unfair? The article even states that these attachments are important. What, then, does it tell us when both parties feel it is necessary to add them to a war spending bill to get the funding they need? It tells me that the president can’t be reasoned with and needs to be led by the proverbial carrot to make any progress. You may have noticed similar problems Illinois lawmakers are having with the governor.

Unfortunately, the Journal Star’s new website doesn’t have a category titled “Abject Filler and Other Banalities,” so this article ended up in the Opinion section. That’s the unfortunate drawback of opinions; you don’t have to be informed to have one.

The other day, actress/activist Sharon Stone made a remark that the recent earthquake and aftershocks in China were the result of “bad Karma” for the occupation of Tibet. I haven’t seen the response to this yet, but it ought to be indignant. Not only is this in extremely poor taste, it’s insulting to the thousands of victims both dead and displaced who have suffered tremendously in the aftermath of this disaster. Sharon, shame on you.

I’m sick of this kind of opportunistic bullshit where people exploit the tragedies of others to further some political cause. They’d benefit by spreading their message using something relevant to their cause, rather than trying to cash in on someone’s tragedy, especially when there’s no feasible correlation between what’s being compared.

You right-wingers ought to take a hint from this. When one of our people says or does something stupid, we say something about it. The next time one your nutbag buddies says something like “Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for gays,” “the holocaust was Hitler doing God’s work,” “9/11 was God’s punishment for America’s sins,” equate diplomacy with appeasement, use tragedies like the NIU shooting to promote their views against conceal/carry laws or to trump up their case against violent video games, laughably and quite inaccurately stating that America was founded to eradicate Islam… fucking call them out on it! Stop defending this lunatic opportunism and start holding people accountable for making idiotic statements, even if they vote for the same party you do. Remember accountability? That thing you say the left goes without? Give it a spin try sometime–you might rediscover your dignity.

Remember how I’ve often remarked on how far politics in this country have shifted to the right? This is the kind of thing I’m talking about. Behold, the good ol’ days:

Hat tip to Grandma’s Attic.

“Barack Obama’s dubious claim is inconsistent with world history and demands an explanation. It was Soviet troops that liberated Auschwitz, so unless his uncle was serving in the Red Army, there’s no way Obama’s statement yesterday can be true. Obama’s frequent exaggerations and outright distortions raise questions about his judgment and his readiness to lead as commander in chief.”Obama’s False Claim:

Obama: “I had an uncle who was one of the — who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps. And the story in our family was is that when he came home, he just went up into the attic and he didn’t leave the house for six months. Right, now, obviously, something had really affected him deeply. But at that time, there just weren’t the kinds of facilities to help somebody work through that kind of pain.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks On Memorial Day, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV1sxq8mqvA, Las Cruces, N.M., 5/26/08)

Historical Fact:

According To The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Auschwitz Was Liberated By The Red Army On January 27, 1945. “On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, where they discovered some 7,000 prisoners, including young children, who had not been evacuated by the SS.” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Web Site, http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/liberation/, Accessed 5/27/08)

Paid for by the Republican National Committee.

Jesus, they were quick on this one. These days the RNC is so used to grasping at straws that they get over-excited and jump the gun when they think they have something–anything–they can work with. Note the “gotcha” tone and pointed finger. Too bad they were wrong:

“Senator Obama’s family is proud of the service of his grandfather and uncles in World War II — especially the fact that his great-uncle was a part of liberating one of the concentration camps at Buchenwald,” campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. “Yesterday he mistakenly referred to Auschwitz instead of Buchenwald in telling of his personal experience of a soldier in his family who served heroically.” (Source: Associated Press)

Naturally, Fox News showed up first on the Google News list, and we know how neutral they are when it comes to things like this. Normally I wouldn’t bother with this kind of crap, but it seems viewers of Fux News never seem to hear when what they’ve been told on that particular network has been proven to be categorically false.  So here ya go, morans.

Trying something new. Here I talk about the crappy wiring in my office and the awesome EastBluffBarbie and Brad Carter.

Clicky.

Today was the day of the PeoriaSpeaks.com baseball outing to watch the Peoria Chiefs lay the smackdown on the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Due to a scheduling mix-up, my wife was unable to attend and thanks to the monkeys who “fixed” my truck, I also had to skip Zoo Fest, though I’ll probably be visiting the Zoo next Saturday.

Because of the truck situation, I was going to be ridiculously late. The plan was to meet at Trots (may also be known as Hoops) at 4pm to pass out tickets and socialize awhile before the game. Due to the planning faux pas, I had to take the boy to a relative’s house before making my way downtown. At about 5pm I called the proprietor of Grandma’s Attic and explained I’d be late.

That’s when I found out we weren’t meeting until 5:00 pm anyway. Shitbeans.

I showed up at Hoops and introduced myself to the regulars I hadn’t met. A few minutes later, Flam pulls out a box of chattering teeth and passes them around. We’d raced them at some point, but apparently my camera didn’t like it. I do, however, have this gem:

We also received a gummy-candy flamingo which I can’t bear to part with, meaning “bite its head off”:

The notorious duo East Bluff Barbie and Brad Carter showed up as well. We talked politics briefly before I had to catch up with the rest of the crew at the ballpark (they had a previous engagement). Y’know, it’s nice talking to people who can make it a civil topic, yet still call someone a fuck stain when they deserve it. Epic win!

Don’t worry guys–I let them know they need to blog more. Who loves ya?

So I made my way to the ballpark:

Cue Sprach Zarathustra.

(note: at this point in writing, the author broke into an operatic yawn solo, rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. Lazy writing ahead.)

Many beers, nachos, hotdogs, pictures, dances and cigarettes later, the Chiefs ended up winning 5-4 and we were treated to a fireworks show after the game. It was a great time all around with plenty of awesome people. I’d go into more detail, but it’s currently 1:18 AM and I’m pretty dang tired. So here are some pictures of the event, since they show what happened about as well as I could describe it:

See you there next time?

EDIT — By request, here’s a picture of the guy who delivered a slice of pizza to my seat:

Ingredient: Random Internet Amusement

Last night while the boy was napping, I visited my neglected myspace.com page to check messages. In the bulletins panel, I see something which says something like “Chat Live NOW!”

“Oh great” I thought,”I’ve accidentally added a porn spammer.”

So I click on the name with the intentions of removing the person from my increasingly exclusive friends list and instead feel a flash of recognition of the person in the profile. After browsing through a few pictures it dawned on me who it was: soon after the iPhone was released, a customer named Justine posted a video showing her bill from AT&T.

The bulletin was linking to a live blog. Despite being a connoisseur of internet culture, I had never bothered with video blogs and hey, it was worth trying once.

The blogger was sitting in a coffee shop talking to her laptop. Occasionally a random person would come to say hello or she’d get a phone call. Meanwhile she was responding to the constantly-scrolling text in the sidebar which was being moderated by several people. There were just over 100 users present at any given time.

It was obvious that some were trying to get her attention, while others made random commentary on what she said or what she was doing at the time. Then there were the occasional dweebs who hadn’t figured out that “OMFG U SO HOTT” is not the most effective way to address an attractive woman.

It was interesting, to say the least. I don’t think I’ll be back often if at all, but now I think I get what it’s about. “Type something random/funny and see if the person in the video responds.” For the 15 minutes or so I spent watching this thing, I got two responses: one was saying “NOM NOM NOM” after she started chewing some gum, the other was after asking about the moderators. Win? Win.

Ingredient: Heartburn.

Last night I discovered the upper limit of steak seasoning and overcooking (read: burning) expensive red meat.

Ingredient: Drama.

I would call it “needless drama,” but why be redundant? All drama is needless. This particular area of Dra-Mart is far worse than others–it’s in the internet department in a clearance aisle full of shit nobody ever wanted to begin with.  Maybe the trolls are in heat and their mating call consists of angry, bi-polar rants on internet forums. Or, maybe they caught the crazy.

Sometimes that spills over to other sites, as it has on ours or here at BlargenBlog. Preventative measures are being taken.

After using a standard and well-working anti-trolling policy over at the forum for awhile, I’ve applied the same standards here to my blog and am sure to achieve stellar results despite losing three quarters of all my comment activity (you guessed it: generated by a single person). In addition to weeding out run-of-the-mill trolls, this will also limit the amount of drama that splashes on the site the next time some stalker wants to take his misguided little grudge to the source. People are freaks.

Ingredient: Addiction

Specifically: the political one. I’ve done better than I expected in avoiding the topic on the blog, which is to say that I’ve failed horribly and therefore must extend the proposed hiatus. To be fair, I’ve mostly stuck to my intentions in this regard, which is why politics is not being mentioned in this post at all.

Wait… damn!

Dressing: Withdrawment

Tonight, due to weather, I will not be attending the Louie-Fest thing tonight. However, plans for tomorrow are still on.

I never thought I’d need a rules page for a blog.  People friggin’ amaze me:  linky.