Sith Lords Rising

"You can’t have expanded health care in this state, you can’t have expanded education in this state,..."

fathappyandcaffeinated — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:56:34 -0400

“You can’t have expanded health care in this state, you can’t have expanded education in this state, unless you get the economic development right first.”

- Texas Governor Rick Perry after hecklers interrupted his speech at an Austin business forum to call for state health care expansion. Texas has the highest number of uninsured in the nation at 6.2 million which advocates say could be decreased by 1 million through federal health care reform measures. (via kileyrae)

Y’all just need to be patient. The rich people aren’t rich enough yet.
(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
Fucking GOP priorities….
I wonder how many people like me are moving from a red state to a blue one in a quest for healthcare?
(via wheeliewifee)

"[C]ompanies such as Facebook and Google may now face monetary fines if they refuse to share client..."

fathappyandcaffeinated — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:44:41 -0400

“[C]ompanies such as Facebook and Google may now face monetary fines if they refuse to share client data and consent to wiretaps requested by government agencies. In a world where people increasingly use the ample cloud-memory space afforded by services such as Gmail as a storage locker for information, the apparent belief on the part of government that individuals’ email accounts do not qualify as “private” is deeply troubling.”

- Murtaza Hussain, “An increasingly unchecked surveillance state”

The whole article is definitely worth a read.
(via hipsterlibertarian)

hipsterlibertarian: Don’t tweet about food, or exercise, or...

fathappyandcaffeinated — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:40:54 -0400

hipsterlibertarian:

Don’t tweet about food, or exercise, or animals! If you do, you might be a terrorist.

Other words that terrorists apparently like to use include wave, pork, and metro — so definitely nix those Facebook complaints about how slow the Red Line is today, because the Department of Homeland Security is watching.

If this sounds ridiculous, overreaching, and like a huge violation of privacy, that’s because it is:

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) just released DHS internal documents about the surveillance of social media and the information collected daily. EPIC gained access to the documents with a lawsuit, pushing the Freedom of Information Act.

The documents included hundreds of keywords that the government tracks.

The Department of Homeland Security initiative started in February 2011. The department aimed to use social media to stay in-the-know about breaking news as it’s happening. Tweets mentioning “attack” or “shooting” could, for instance, alert officials disturbances to national security right away.

Yes, if we’d only had Twitter in 2001, I’m sure DHS could have prevented everything by intercepting bin Laden’s “Big plans to attack American today! #twintowers #terrorism” tweet.

All joking aside, this program isn’t legal, and it isn’t right. Click here to learn more, and here to see a full list of terms DHS monitors, as well as a larger version of the graphic.

STFU, Conservatives: The Red State Republican "Screw Everybody Else" Mentality

fathappyandcaffeinated — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:56:30 -0400

STFU, Conservatives: The Red State Republican "Screw Everybody Else" Mentality:

liberalsarecool:

Oklahoma currently ranks third in the nation … in terms of total federal disaster and fire declarations. This is not a new trend, every year OK needs Federal help.

Enter Republican Sens. Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn who are fiscal hawks who have repeatedly voted against…

Three mass graves with 1,000 corpses found in Iraq

fathappyandcaffeinated — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:12:20 -0400

Three mass graves with 1,000 corpses found in Iraq:

fuckyeahmarxismleninism:

Iraqi officials have found three mass graves containing the bodies of about 1,000 people thought to have been executed by US soldiers during their occupation of the country.

The graves were uncovered in Iraq’s western province of al-Anbar. The remains are believed to be from victims killed by US forces during 2004 and 2005 in the city of Fallujah, located roughly 69 kilometers (43 miles) west of Baghdad.

Imagine if Bull Conner could have gotten these people classified...

fathappyandcaffeinated — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:45:10 -0400

Imagine if Bull Conner could have gotten these people classified as “terrorists”.

earthfirstjournal: New Laws Would Make Environmental Protest...

fathappyandcaffeinated — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:36:18 -0400

earthfirstjournal:

New Laws Would Make Environmental Protest Terrorism
By Will Poter, Vice

Most people have heard of tree-sitting—a tactic environmentalists use to…
View Post

Photo

fathappyandcaffeinated — Wed, 15 May 2013 23:39:05 -0400

climate-changing: thebadgerman619: That’s republican Hypocrisy...

fathappyandcaffeinated — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:47:30 -0400

climate-changing:

thebadgerman619:

That’s republican Hypocrisy with a capital H.

Politics of GOP

ecowatchorg: U.S. State Department Exposed For Pushing Biotech...

fathappyandcaffeinated — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:45:08 -0400

ecowatchorg:

U.S. State Department Exposed For Pushing Biotech Seed Industry’s Global Agenda

“This report provides a chilling snapshot of how a handful of giant biotechnology companies are unduly influencing U.S. foreign policy and undermining our diplomatic efforts to promote security, international development and transparency worldwide …

http://ecowatch.com/2013/u-s-state-department-exposed-pushing-biotech-industrys-global-agenda/

U.S. Military ‘Power Grab’ Goes Into Effect

fathappyandcaffeinated — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:28:50 -0400

U.S. Military ‘Power Grab’ Goes Into Effect:

Pentagon Unilaterally Grants Itself Authority Over ‘Civil Disturbances’

House GOP Votes To End Overtime Pay With ‘Working Families Flexibility Act’

fathappyandcaffeinated — Mon, 13 May 2013 23:40:56 -0400

House GOP Votes To End Overtime Pay With ‘Working Families Flexibility Act’:

stfuconservatives:

The Working Families Flexibility Act will make it easier for employers to avoid paying for overtime and give workers far less flexibility in their lives.

A few people have asked why I’m against this bill. It’s a fair question: what’s so bad about getting to choose whether you get overtime pay or comp time (paid time off) at your job? If you’re a working parent, or you wish you had more time to travel, or whatever, getting comp time instead of overtime pay doesn’t sound too bad.

Here’s the issue: it lets your EMPLOYER choose which one you get. The Fair Labor Standards Act says your boss has to pay you time-and-a-half when you work overtime. If you’re struggling to pay the bills, you probably don’t want more vacation days. You want the money you earned by working ridiculous hours. You want to see your paycheck, not your PTO balance, reflect the time you put in.

Comp time is great. But you can’t trade it in for money - or for your electricity bill. It’d be great if workers could CHOOSE overtime pay or extra paid time off, but letting the employer choose on your behalf is a pretty clear ploy to let employers stop paying you more to work more.

ecowatchorg: How Big Oil Uses the Republican Party to Subvert...

fathappyandcaffeinated — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:56:36 -0400

ecowatchorg:

How Big Oil Uses the Republican Party to Subvert American Democracy

With low cost disruptive technologies like cheap, fast and efficient electric vehicles, and solar and wind technologies poised to displace Big Oil, the industry is using its hold on the Republican Party to permanently embed itself in our economy while subverting science, American democracy, free market capitalism and our sacred belief in an ethical God.

thepeoplesrecord: thepeoplesrecord: Richard Berman: if you see...

fathappyandcaffeinated — Thu, 02 May 2013 10:02:09 -0400

thepeoplesrecord:

thepeoplesrecord:

Richard Berman: if you see this man in public, please spit on him. If you serve him food ever in any restaurant, please do the people of the world a favor and defecate in it.
April 29, 2013

Yesterday we reblogged something from HumaneWatch.org, which was criticizing (& representing straight-up lies) against the humane society. One reader was kind enough to inform us that HumaneWatch is one of the many misinformation projects of Richard Berman’s. All of the above organizations are various projects run by Berman and Company, paid for by the ruling class, intended to spread misinformation & lies for the benefit of the ruling class.

Richard Berman is a Washington, D.C.-based hired propagandist who uses front groups to defend his corporate clients against the public interest. Using his lobbying and consulting firm, Berman and Company, as a revenue vehicle for his activities, Berman runs at least 23 industry-funded projects, such as the Center for Union Facts, and holds 24 “positions” within these various entities.

Make a mental note of the above organizations and keep in mind these brands. Never reblog (like I did) Berman and Company’s propaganda.

It was suggested to me that Charity Navigator is an honest & useful tool for actually evaluating how charities are spending their money. Here’s their information on The Humane Society of the United States. They have a 4 star rating.

The information in that post against the humane society was wrong, but it got 800+ notes (and we contributed to that count in a big way). Please reblog this & do some more reading/post your own posts about the propaganda campaigns Richard Berman is running to combat the misinformation.

I’m sorry we posted the original post, but let’s not allow this opportunity to expose this terrible organization go to waste.

http://bermanexposed.org/

—

The original post spreading misinformation is still about 100 notes ahead of this one. I think we can change that this morning.

"Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its..."

fathappyandcaffeinated — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:05:44 -0400

“Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy, and that it uses force only as a last resort. And, sadder still, there always is a chorus of willing intellectuals to say calming words about benign or altruistic empires, as if one shouldn’t trust the evidence of one’s eyes watching the destruction and the misery and death brought by the latest mission civilizatrice.”

- Edward W. Said, Orientalism (via sunrec)

"Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not..."

fathappyandcaffeinated — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:22:42 -0400

“Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed,” Obama preaches – while his drones and soldiers kill women and children around the globe.”

- Margaret Kimberley (via indizombie)

Photo

fathappyandcaffeinated — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:32:11 -0400

What Privacy? CISPA Passes in Closed Door Vote

fathappyandcaffeinated — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:27:14 -0400

What Privacy? CISPA Passes in Closed Door Vote:

theyoungturks:

CISPA passed. CISPA passed. CISPA passed.

thepeoplesrecord: “We must rapidly begin the shift from a...

fathappyandcaffeinated — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:12:15 -0400

thepeoplesrecord:

“We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘person-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” - Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968)

http://proudtobeafilthyliberalscum.com/2013/04/04/confederate-his...

fathappyandcaffeinated — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:59:52 -0400

http://proudtobeafilthyliberalscum.com/2013/04/04/confederate-history-month-is-for-racist-douchebags/