Conservatives who love to brag about American exceptionalism must come here to California, and see it in person. And then they should be afraid — very afraid. Because while the rest of the country is beset by stories of right-wing takeovers in places like North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin, California is going in the opposite direction and creating the kind of modern, liberal nation the country as a whole can only dream about. And not only can’t the rest of the country stop us — we’re going to drag you along with us.
It wasn’t that long ago that pundits were calling California a failed state and saying it was ungovernable. But in 2010, when other states were busy electing whatever Tea Partier claimed to hate government the most, we elected a guy who actually liked it, Jerry Brown.
Since then, everything Republicans say can’t or won’t work — gun control, immigration reform, high-speed rail — California is making work. And everything conservatives claim will unravel the fabric of our society — universal healthcare, higher taxes on the rich, gay marriage, medical marijuana — has only made California stronger. And all we had to do to accomplish that was vote out every single Republican. Without a Republican governor and without a legislature being cock-blocked by Republicans, a $27 billion deficit was turned into a surplus, continuing the proud American tradition of Republicans blowing a huge hole in the budget and then Democrats coming in and cleaning it up.
There.Are.No.Words.
There are words, but… “family friendly”, right?
Thuck. Fem.
I want some of whatever Maher’s on – wow.
Hey Bob, our high speed rail is a roaring success! Everyone will want one!
Never mind that not one mile has been built but millions of dollars have been sucked into favored pockets …
I remember when Maher wasn’t insane. It’s been a long while.
He’s a cynical fucking liar who thinks enough people are sufficiently stupid or lazy to believe anything he says. That’s all it is. He’s Bagdad Bob’s American counterpart. He’s pissing on heads and calling it rain.
“Everything is wonderful in glorious People’s Republic!”
There is reality and then there is the perception of reality. Reality is what you can see, touch, smell, hear, taste around you. All else that you experience as being reality is mediated by others. Edited, arranged, handpicked for you to perceive as, and make part of, your personal reality.
The main thrust of the tyrannies that arose from the 20th century was the manipulation of this perception of reality through the new, more encompassing than text, mass media to create a myth that empowered a certain ideological group. Maher is just another functionary working in that long trod narrative rut.
There is also meta-narrative which can also be exploited by his side. If you come to believe that what the media world is putting out lies then they would like to push you into believing that all that the media put out are lies. It is almost as useful to have you limited to only believing what you can directly sense as it is to have you fully incorporate the false reality they are putting out into your own world view.
Critical thinking is required to escape from these traps. Unfortunately what is taught under that term leads the average person to accept the narrative as truth and the exceptional one to the belief that all of it is lies. And so, “Down and down and down we spin, weaving a web to hem us [all] in.”
In the end reality will have its way with all the lies. At least that is my belief.
As an addendum to my long screed there is this which raises the question of why is this ignored? And who is benefiting from that ignorance?
Now that Gov. Moonbeam is back, everything is wonderful and people (and companies) will totally stop voting with their feet.
I left during the Gray Davis administration because, you know, Republicans.
More Mouth of Maher.
California is Detroit on simmer. Give her time, she’ll be the first State to fail.
first State to fail
Maybe, but it looks to me as though the way Bill Daley scampered out of the picture, he thinks Illinois is going to take the place of honor.
[…] Protein Wisdom: It’s Official: Bill Maher smokes crack … [Darleen Click] […]
I have words: “There are 49 states full of Other People, whose money hasn’t run out. Yet.”
This piece by Maher is a perfect example of why it is impossible to talk to these people. If you don’t support their positions on virtually everything, then you are not worth listening to or debating. At all.
I’ve noticed that a lot of the proggs on other boards are pounding the law and are steps away from pounding the table to get us to shut up.
It’s settled law! they say. There is no such thing, doll.
They being the ones committed to unsettling just about everything under the sun.
Would anyone with the stomach to do so ask Maher how California has enacted “immigration reform?”
Tea Party California Caucus’ Tech-Based Gameplan for CA GOP Convention
Maher related anecdote ahead.
I was up late studying one night during the OJ Simpson trial and had Maher’s show on as background noise. The panel of assorted Hollywood has-beens and other little knowns was talking about the trial. A black actress decided to make an analogy to Shakespeare in her segment.
“It’s that whole Othello/Ophelia thing that has people upset” she said.
“Those are two different plays, stupid” I said back to the teevee while the panel all nodded along with her and tented their fingers.
The last time Maher was relevant was when he “acted” in DC Cab. And he sucked in that too.
Notice how the HuffPo files Maher’s piece under comedy? But one would have to strain to find the funny in it, even for Maher’s nominal supporters I reckon, since there’s far more insult directed at his supporters, on account of his assumption they’re so credulous, that is, than any credible insult directed at his political opposition.
[Fe]Yeah! Just like slavery![/Fe]
But so far, none of them care to address this question: if it’s settled law, how is it that the Great and Powerful O(tm) is choosing to not enforce or enact so much of the law?
“Settled Law” is whatever the “Great and Powerful O(tm)” says it is today. The same as that reality is only what the Great and Powerful Allah wills it to be this second.
All of which like Bill Maher is the blackest of black humor. They always send in the Clowns because that is all they have.
About that “Settled Law” thing; I just called out a progg about there being no such thing, cf: Slavery, debtor’s prisons, public hangings, witch burnings or the Selective Service.
He conveniently ignored all this to push a mountain of straw out at me.
Like I said, there is no talking to them. Their thinking is all tangential and emotion driven. They’re like talking to kindergarteners. (No slight to kindergarteners who are little Outlaws.)
that marriage was between a man and a woman used to be “settled law”
How is something claiming to be a law, something which is not completely written since administrative regulations are still being crafted, i.e. made up on the fly as crippling revelations come to light, to be regarded as settled? Seems perfectly unsettled, don’t it?
But then, that’s at least consistent with double-talk the order of the day.
nr, that is the topic we were arguing about. I didn’t want to summon the yellow menace.
a $27 billion deficit was turned into a surplus
He was apparently told that there would be no math.
This is the type of shit someone says for whom reality is whatever they wish it was. There’s not a single shred of truth in his meth-induced delusion except for the parts about CA reelecting Brown while simultaneously voting out almost every Republican.
so I didn’t mention it in my original post to this thread.
*not sure how I entered that half reply
gremlins?
it is settled baseball pgh sweeps cin
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That makes up for how bad the Stillers have been sucking.
So Reds at Pirates again on Tues., Cueto vs. Liriano. Good on yez: go get ’em.
wikipedia accepts the fascist narrative wholesale
2008–12 California budget crisis
but we won’t actually know if there was a 2012-13 deficit or surplus for many many moons
what we know is that Cailifornia’s biggest revenue drivers in 2012-13 were a large retroactive income tax hike followed by a .25% sales tax increase
the income tax hike went after the same people food stamp is targeting with the obamacare taxes Meghan’s coward daddy and Rick Perry are so fond of – a .9% Medicare payroll tax hike and an extra 3.8% tax on what food stamp calls “unearned income” from investments
and we know the fascists are getting tax-happy just as the boomerwhores are beginning to retire en masse while failmerica becomes ever more dependent on their yummy food stamps their disability checks and frenetic whorenanke dollar printing
*California’s* I mean
other than that things are going swimmingly dontcha think?
Darleen: I guess out in California it’s, ‘Driving that train / High on cocaine…’, eh?
i seen several articles recently what pointed to Dunkin’ Donuts’ plan to open a few dozen stores to be a sign that it’s time to let the good times roll in California cause of that will be an extra thousand jobs
jobs what are set to pay a minimum wage of $10 in just a couple years (thank you Governor Brown!)
i like their flatbread breakfast sammiches but Subway’s are much less complicated to run in and get at Dunkin’ you have to think more to make sure you get the healthy offering not the one for fat people
but my new year’s resolution for next year will to avoid all QSRs for the whole year including taco stands and such – and this includes Taco Bell’s new protein-heavy menu they’re test marketing now – I’d been looking forward to that but I feel like i need to minimize the extent to which I subsidize failifornia’s minimum wage utopia
I’m gonna try to mostly get started on that this year except for I want to make a few visits to Del Taco to sample their fare cause of I’ve been disparaging it for years but I heard that they actually have some tasty offerings what rival the “fresh fare” of some of their competitors and plus also people say they have tasty fish tacos – but this will just be in the spirit of research
maybe I’ll wait for a coupon or something
will *be* to avoid all QSRs I mean
omg the stupid is so
so very immense
I really think she just doesn’t have any idea how retarded and shallow she sounds
my mom would’ve called her a dippy broad
the problem mostly is just that the poor deluded bitch is a completely unthinking obamawhore I think
the same obama what threw that poor hapless innocent filmmaker in jail for a youtube video
her heart’s in the right place though
I don’t think she has any friends what help her think things through or maybe she’s just too busy to make time for those kinds of conversations
“I really think she just doesn’t have any idea how retarded and shallow she sounds”
Maybe if she stopped capitalizing everything except “I”, spoke with a vaguely valley girl cadence, threw in some more “whore”, “bitch” and “failshit” type references, and talked about food more, she would sound more urban and hip.
0_O
the previous comment has been unanimously adjudged to be non-constructive by our panel of celebrity judges
chop chop
Feets, I lasted about 20 seconds before I remembered how annoying she is and closed the tab. I’ll take your word for the immensity.
Madonna should retire and help her kids become the next generation. Her daughter is gorgeous and very talented. The boy hasn’t shown any chops yet, but his still pretty young.
young mr. rocco danced on the last tour plus his dad still takes an interest which is a good sign
but yeah i watched the whole thing she never circles back around to where she says anything redemptively not stupid
she even talks about how frightened she was that Romney would beat food stamp
but she doesn’t say why and the useless interview guy never asks her to back up her regurgitated bibble babble
obamawhores.
Bless their hearts.
But bless their hearts even more if someone catches them obamawhoring on camera.
How fucking embarrassing. Not just for her but for her whole family.
Maybe she’s still grieving for the dead main Kabbalah dude.
Though she hasn’t made a whole lot of sense since she dumped Guy Ritchie. She was even mackin’ on Sean Penn again the other day.
sunday night liv thread: pw expanding the audience;)
I saw that B&W movie she made and lasted about a minute before losing any interest. There needs to be a sign in front of that movie that says ‘Your head must be at least THIS FAR up your ass to watch this movie’ with a dotted line just below the eyes.
Roger Waters is less shrill, and more interesting. And the whole thing stinks of the mid 90’s.
My favorite part is cockblocked because that means Maher or however you spell that onetime comedian’s name admits furiously actively aggressively persistently fucking. It is the perfect phrasing.
QSR, give me a star, I figured that out on my own. If this were a crossword, I’d nail that corner. I invented something that has worked to tremendous advantage. Comes from keeping a sourdough pet starter and the need to feed it once a day at least, and also keep it small. What to do with the surplus? Discarding it day in day out is unsatisfactory. So I’ve been making pizza discs, freezing, coating with a thin layer of tomato paste, freezing again wrapping for storage. So now I have a pile of these pizza base discs that I use to doll up however I wish with whatever fresh ingredients on hand, any combination of cheese, and pow there it is, the most excellent personal size pizza on Earth, and I’m not exaggerating either. They are truly excellent. I’ve not had better. And even without anything at all they are wonderful.
This helpful hint is provide to assist you in your endeavor to reduce reliance on QSRs free of charge. Please consider Jewish Children’s Hospital for your charity.
The panel of celebrity judges has been found wanting and will be summarily shot.
Try the veal, and don’t forget to tip your waitress!
thank you very much now i just need me a sourdough pet starter
I’m still kind of carbophobic but still sourdough isn’t bad bad and I been running through a lot of these from trader joe’s
they do the trick you have to cook them longer than it says though
hahaha Mr. Pablo very funny about shooting the judges you lil terrorist hah you’re such a rascal
I can find no substantive style difference between Madonna and Hillary Clinton. Even the mannerisms are similar. These LeftLibProggs must come out of a mold.
Except, of course, for a few years and a couple dozen or so pounds. Perhaps Huma could tell, if the lights were on.
The Who Quadrophenia Full Album
There is another circumstance, however, that considerably
complicates matters. For many decades, the power ruling society in
the Soviet bloc has used the label ‘opposition’ as the blackest of
indictments, as synonymous with the word ‘enemy’. To brand
someone ‘a member of the opposition’ is tantamount to saying he or
she is trying to overthrow the government and put an end to
socialism (naturally in the pay of the imperialists). There have been
times when this labelled straight to the gallows, and of course this
does not encourage people to apply the same label to themselves.
Moreover, it is only a word, and what is actually done is more
important than how it is labelled.
The final reason why many reject such a term is because there is
something negative about the notion of an ‘opposition’. People who
so define themselves do so in relation to a prior ‘position’. In other
words, they relate themselves specifically to the power that rules
society and through it, define themselves, deriving their own ‘position’
from the position of the regime. For people who have simply
decided to live within the truth, to say aloud what they think, to
express their solidarity with their fellow citizens, to create as they
want and simply to live in harmony with their better ‘self’, it is
naturally disagreeable to feel required to define their own, original
and positive ‘position’ negatively, in terms of something else, and to
think of themselves primarily as people who are against something,
not simply as people who are what they are.
power of the powerless page 56
booby orr yo yo
Everybody expects the steaming yellow menace.
Surplus? California is on track to take in $95.4 billion this year, including nearly $6 billion from the passage of major, temporary tax increases in November. Millionaires will pay a top rate of 13.3% through 2018, while the state’s sales tax rate will be a quarter point higher through 2016. Corporations will also pay higher levies.
That’s not a surplus.
This is a surplus He touted the individual income tax cut he got the (Indiana) General Assembly to approve this year – one that lowers the state’s 3.4 percent rate to 3.3 percent in 2015 and then to 3.23 percent in 2017 – and said the strong balance sheet shows that it was the right decision.
Remain calm. All is well!
“The walls are crashing down all around us, but we’re all too stoned to notice!”
Hell of a state you got there, Bill.
– Just a side not of no great import; Notice how all of the Progaphile Limo-tard opportunists are nearing retirement just about the time the shit really hits the fan. Timing is everything in the entertainment industry.