Baggers bagged by Oligarchic Corporate State

In the Tea Party narrative, victory at the polls means a new American revolution, one that will "take our country back" from everyone they disapprove of. But what they don't realize is, there's a catch: This is America, and we have an entrenched oligarchical system in place that insulates us all from any meaningful political change. The Tea Party today is being pitched in the media as this great threat to the GOP; in reality, the Tea Party is the GOP.

Vast forests have already been sacrificed to the public debate about the Tea Party: what it is, what it means, where it's going. But after lengthy study of the phenomenon, I've concluded that the whole miserable narrative boils down to one stark fact: They're full of shit. All of them.

READ the whole fucking thing and weep tears of laughter.

Let's hear it for Rick Scott

Would anyone have any objections if we stipulate that he's a scumbag? (That's our interpretation - not necessarily that of the sender of the message that follows)

Republican Rick Scott announced two policy proposals if he is elected. One is to allow Citizen's Insurance to raise rates to encourage more private companies to get back into the Florida's insurance market. He believes that if we raise the rates of 1.2 million Florida households, more private insurance companies will be interested in coming back to Florida. This plan will allow insurance companies to raise rates without almost any limits or regulations (details here).

His second plan is to save money by gutting the prison budget by a billion dollars. Law enforcement, prison, and union officials warn that a billion dollar cut would force some prisons to close and some dangerous inmates to be released. Scott wants to model our prison system after Texas. This coming from the Scott who touts he will add 700,000 jobs to Florida's economy when he is actually planning to cut thousands of jobs. (details here)

As if this is not enough, HCA and the lobbyists for US Sugar Corp are hosting a fundraiser for Rick Scott at Yankee Stadium on Sunday at the Yankees-Red Sox game. Yes, the same HCA that was fined $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud under Scott's watch. And yes, the same US Sugar Corp that poured millions in ads trashing Rick Scott during the primary. All this fundraising for Rick Scott who was on TV every twenty minutes during the primary calling himself the "outsider" who could be counted on not to take lobbying money. Hah! (details here)

Business Weak

Read the BW story about premature foreclosures:

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Attorneys general in three U.S. states are investigating foreclosures at Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage unit after the lender said it would halt some evictions following a discovery of faulty documentation.

Then read this:

Penile State is Number One

At Powerball:

Florida Stiffs: #47

Trends and Highlights for Civic Engagement in Florida:

• In Florida, 3 million adults volunteered with an organization (20.9%) - ranking them at number 47 among the 50 states and Washington, DC.
• 1.1 million residents in Florida worked with neighbors to fix a community problem (7.2%).
• 45.9 percent of Florida residents donated money, assets, or property with a combined value of more than $25 to charitable or religious organizations.
• 58.7 percent of residents in Florida voted in the 2008 Presidential election- ranking them at number 31 among the 50 states and Washington, DC.
• The first two bullets average data from 2007 to 2009; the third bullet averages data from 2008 to 2009; and the last bullet on voting reflects single year data from 2008.
• Please visit the glossary at www.serve.gov/civic for more information on the terms listed within this profile.

Been there, done that, Mr. Jones?

Never Underestimate the Insanity of Floridians

Dateline Gainesville, FL - home of UF, prestigious bastion of learning:

We met with the Fire Marshal and agreed to all their stipulations. There was no legal reason to turn us down. It was strictly a political move. We will on 9/11 still burn Korans. Dunceworld Outreach Center

Breaking Stupidity...

Dunceworld embeds a video of hard-to-beat loonytunity: