Why Democrats Lost the 2010 Midterm Election

The midterm elections of 2010 brought a wave of new politicians into power. The House of Representatives, which has held a large Democratic majority over the past 4 years, is now solidly Republican. Many writers on blogs and in news organizations have tried to analyze the election and formulate reasons for the election results and prescriptions for what the Democrats should do in the next two years to win back the House and retain power in the Senate and Presidency. This article is similar in that it will try to explain the reasons for the Democratic losses, recommend what the Democrats should do to regain the House in 2012, and look at the influences of Fox News and the Citizens United decision on the election. The first part of this article will discuss the reasons that the Democrats lost and what they should do in the next Congressional term, based on what polls say about American views on the budget deficit, health care, foreign policy, and income distribution. The second part will discuss whether liberals or conservatives were more important in the last election and examine the effects of Fox News and Citizens United.

On November 3rd, Frank Newport of Gallup posted an analysis of the 2010 midterm elections, citing many reasons which combined to form the "wave election" for Republicans. Newport states that there were various structural factors that affected the election. Historically, midterm elections favor the minority party. Additionally, the Democrats had a number of uncertain seats which they had picked up in the 2006 and 2008 elections and were not in reliably Democratic districts. Compounding these issues were the facts that Congress had low approval ratings and that most Americans are dissatisfied with "the way things are going" in the country. The last structural factor was that Americans had a negative perception of the economy. Besides structural factors, Newport also cites other reasons for the 2010 election results. The economy was definitely the top issue in this year's election, which, combined with the negative perception of the economy that most Americans held, did not bode well for the incumbent Democrats. Differences in belief about the role of the federal government were also important in this election cycle, with the Tea Party movement and Republicans advocating a reduced role. Many of the above factors created an enthusiasm gap which favored the Republicans and resulted in a high turnout of Republican voters. Furthermore, President Obama's job approval rating was below 50% at the time of the election, which also portended that his party would lose seats. Gallup's research is nonpartisan, supported by many polls, and goes quite far in explaining the results of the election. However, the question remains, what could the Democrats have done to mitigate these factors and what should they do in the next session of Congress?

Evan Bayh, a retiring Democratic Senator from Indiana, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times immediately after the election which argues that the Democrats have been too liberal and need to return to the center to win in 2012. Bayh blames the losses in Congress on Democratic overreach in many areas. He believes that Democrats paid too much attention to health care, but should have focused on economic growth and creating jobs. According to Bayh, the Democrats were too deferential to their liberal base, which hurt their chances among the moderate and conservative voters. Democrats spent time dealing with gays in the military, immigration reform, and the Bush tax cuts, which are not issues that motivate moderate voters. Bayh recommends that the Democrats take a more centrist approach in the next two years. He believes Democrats should focus on economic growth as their primary goal and try to evade their stereotype as "taxers and spenders". According to Bayh, Democrats should reduce corporate taxes, ban earmarks, freeze federal hiring and pay increases, and reform entitlements. Adopting these policies would allow the Democrats to take the center of the American political debate and force the Republicans into an extremist position.

However, there are many on the left who disagree with Bayh and argue that the Democrats should have pursued a more progressive agenda. Mark Weisbrot, the Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Social Policy Research, argues that the Democrats erred in not passing a larger stimulus. The CBO estimates that the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act saved between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs by the middle of 2010. Weisbrot claims that a much larger stimulus was needed and that such a stimulus would would have lowered unemployment and helped the Democrats in the election. Karen Dolan, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, states that liberal Democrats were more successful in the last election, noting that Blue Dog Democrats lost more seats in Congress than did Progressives. The Blue Dog Caucus in the House decreased from 54 to 26 members, while the House Progressive Caucus decreased from 78 to 75. If the Democrats had been guilty of overreach, then why did the most liberal Democrats win their elections? If the American people wanted Democrats who valued economic growth and fiscal discipline above all else, then why did the Blue Dogs lose so many seats? Norman Solomon, a co-chair of the Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign, writes that contrary to Bayh's claim, the Democrats actually suffered from a "tragedy of under-reaching". Solomon argues that the Obama administration has undermined itself by not following progressive policies. The administration, along with many Democrats, have accommodated wars, wavered on Bush tax cuts, allowed high unemployment, not stopped foreclosures, and permitted environmental destruction. These policies, writes Solomon, have empowered the Right and weakened the Democratic Party.

Advocates of divergent political philosophies have disparate views on what the Democratic party should do, but what do public opinion polls have to say about public support for various policies? Polls performed by CNN, the New York Times, Quinnipac University, and the Atlantic Review all show that the majority of voters favor many policies that are labeled "liberal" in the current political landscape. Here are a sample of some polls.

Health Care
72% of Americans supported a public health care option in 2009 (link)

Gays in the Military
72% of Americans favor gays and lesbians to openly serve in the military (link)

Budget Deficit
69% think preventing cuts in Medicaid is more important than reducing the deficit (link)
79% think preventing cuts in Medicare is more important than reducing deficit (link)
78% think preventing cuts in Social Security is more important than reducing deficit (link)
61% think preventing cuts in unemployment aid is more important than reducing deficit (link)
43% think the Bush tax cuts should continue for families who make <$250k (link)
35% think the tax cuts should continue for all

Foreign Wars
58% of voters said in 2007 that "it is a dangerous illusion to believe America is superior to other nations; we should not be attempting to reshape other nations in light of our values." (link)
50% say that the US should not be involved in Afghanistan vs. 44% who say the country should be involved (link)

These polls show that a large majority of Americans were in favor of a public health care option during the debate in Congress and are currently in favor of gays serving openly in the military. These are two issues on which Republicans have attacked President Obama for being too liberal. Additionally, media pundits have argued that the budget deficit is an important issue, with Republicans supporting entitlement cuts and tax cuts and Obama proposing the expiration of the Bush tax cuts for individuals who make over $250k. According to Evan Bayh, entitlement reform should be a large priority for the administration, but these polls show that approximately 4 out of 5 Americans believe that preventing cuts in Social Security and Medicare are more important than reducing the deficit. Similarly, large majorities of Americans do not want to cut Medicaid or unemployment aid to balance the budget. However, most Americans would rather let tax cuts expire for families who make under $250k than let the tax cuts expire for everyone. In terms of foreign wars, most Americans are to the left of the Obama administration and many Democrats. The majority of Americans do not favor nation-building nor forcing our values onto other nations. Furthermore, half of Americans do not want the country to be involved in Afghanistan, despite the Obama administration's escalation of the war. When the American public is polled on a variety of other issues such as defense spending and foreign aid, they do not follow a uniformly liberal platform. However, the polls above show quite clearly that when dealing with the budget, health care, and foreign wars, there is widespread support for many liberal policies.

Another survey by behavioral scientists Daniel Ariely and Michael Norton shows that most Americans, regardless of political affiliation, share similar ideas on wealth distribution. The survey asks the following questions:

1) What percentage of US wealth is owned by the bottom 40% of the population?
2) What percentage should the bottom 40% own, in an ideal version of U.S. society?
3) What percentage is owned by the top 20%?
4) What percentage should the top 20% own?

In this survey, wealth is defined as "all property of value, from cash to art to stocks and bonds to homes, minus debts". Try to do the quiz yourself to see what you think. Here are the respondents' estimates, the ideals, and the actual numbers.

Wealth Distribution in America
Income Division............Estimate.......Actual........Ideal
Bottom 40%......................10%.............0.3%.......20-25%
Top 20%............................60%.............85%..........36%

According to this survey, Americans prefer a much more egalitarian society, similar to a Scandinavian country, rather than the unequal system currently present in the US. This indicates that the vast majority of Americans may actually prefer "socialist" policies. If the Democrats want to appeal to the most Americans, they should pursue policies that are at least "left-of-center" and perhaps more liberal, and not completely in the supposed center of the American political debate. They should protect entitlements and work to make the US more egalitarian. They should stop waging wars and embrace civil liberties. And if they want to win, they should focus on creating jobs through fiscal stimulus. Furthermore, unlike the last two years, they need to actually execute progressive policies effectively.

The midterm election of 2010 was a result of many factors, the most important being the economy. The effect of the midterm elections on the incumbent party and the unpopularity of the current incumbent party were also factors. Although some moderate Democrats believe that the party should move to the right, polls suggest that many Americans prefer more liberal policies. The second part of this article will examine the effects of the Republican enthusiasm gap, Fox News, and the Citizens United decision on the election.

Message from Credo Action

I got this email from Credo Action today. I thought it was right on the money, so I decided to post it here. Please sign all the petitions with which you agree.

What a truly brutal election. One rare exception was the crushing of Texas Oil's Proposition 23 in California (see CREDO's campaign at stoptexasoil.org), which proves that even unlimited corporate cash can be beaten back — if it is disclosed and fought by grassroots mobilization.

At CREDO, we fight hard on the issues, but we don't take sides in partisan elections. As someone who cares about progressive issues, there is no doubt that Tuesday's results will make for even harder times for our country. It is crazy making to realize just how extreme and misinformed much of the new Congress will be.

There is little reason to expect any useful legislation from the Tea Party-dominated House or the dysfunctional Senate. Swing votes in the Senate have really troublesome names: Lieberman, Nelson, Manchin, and Pryor. In fact, this Congress will do damage to anything even remotely progressive.

So let's take a look at what happened and what we can do now. Bear with us as this is a bit longer than our usual missives. The media, unfortunately but not surprisingly, will be of no use in making sense of Tuesday's results, and even less so in helping chart a course for the future.

There is a lot of evidence that the state of the economy, and employment in particular, drive the results of elections — and this one was no exception. As the saying goes, "If you think the economy is working, ask someone who isn't." We have an economy stuck in a deep ditch, with corporate profits and bank bonuses soaring while long-term unemployment is at near Depression levels.

The Republicans shrunk the first "stimulus" package and filled it with tax breaks, even as corporate Democrats helped them along, blocking any effort to restructure mortgages in bankruptcies, freeze foreclosures or force banks to lend money. The election outcome was partially baked in early 2009, when the White House preemptively conceded on the scale and provisions of the stimulus package and chose to coddle the banks. To watch this unfold was simply maddening.

Making matters worse were other factors. Among the most damaging were the actions of the conservative majority on the Supreme Court, which seemed energized by the new President, and took the radical step of rehearing a campaign finance case — now known forever as Citizens United. In ruling 5-4 that corporations have the right to spend unlimited amounts of money for and against candidates, the Court transformed the electoral landscape in a way potentially more profound than its 5-4 ruling that seated George W. Bush as president. As many predicted, the Citizens United ruling unleashed the greatest wave of corporate spending in history, though it's a safe bet to say that their spending in 2012 will make this year's outlay look modest.

In an astonishing turn of events, the right wing was able to kill — essentially murder in public view — the organization that registered millions of poor and working class African-American and Hispanic voters in the last six years. I am speaking of ACORN, of course. By editing video completely out of context, and using the right-wing media machine to perfection, Andrew Breitbart was able to convince the mainstream media and eventually Congress, that ACORN was an election-stealing organization that had no qualms giving advice to pimps on how to increase revenues. Fulfilling Karl Rove's wildest dreams, Congress, including most Democrats, voted to block public funding for any of ACORN's laudable and effective housing or tax assistance programs, and ACORN died a quiet death. There would be no millions of new registrants.

Traditions are important in the Senate, but almost always to the detriment of progressive change. The health care reform effort was a victim of Senate conventions. Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, who chairs the critical Senate Finance Committee solely due to his long tenure, stalled development of a health reform package for many months in order to "negotiate" with Republicans on his committee. They weren't interested in the least, and walked away from the discussions muttering bizarre comments about reforms "killing grandma" and setting up "death panels," because Sarah Palin says so. The behavior of Baucus would be laughable if it were not so utterly destructive.

No matter what one thought of FOX News in the 2008 election, Murdoch's monster went on a rampage over the past two years. Serving as both an instigator and an amplifier for the craziest and most offensive pundits, FOX News misled and misinformed the American people on every issue, and effectively became the public face of the Republican Party. Glenn Beck's show became so toxic and spewed so much venom that one of his devoted fans took it upon himself to plot the execution of key leaders of the Tides Foundation and the ACLU, who had figured prominently in Beck's rants. Fortunately, the madman (the fan, not Beck) was stopped before he accomplished his mission.

We could go on, of course, on all the missed opportunities, the cave-ins, the sell outs, and the unpopular and misguided war in Afghanistan.

But the results are in. The House of Representatives is in the hands of the most corrupt Speaker-in-waiting ever, the Tea Party is ascendant, and the U.S. Senate, however dysfunctional it has been, is poised to be much worse.

For those of us who had hopes that the Obama Administration could seize the moment and enact popular progressive changes, this is a bitter pill. And like many, we grieve at the lost opportunities.

But now we need to brush off the dust, suck it up, and plunge back into substantive fights. Politics is not fair — indeed, U.S. elections are rigged in profound ways! But walking away is not an option at CREDO Action, and we hope you will join us in some of the actions below we think are strategic in the new political landscape:

1. Commit to Taking Down FOX News. So long as FOX News has any credibility within the Beltway, it will be a pipeline for malicious material that will poison our political culture. Join our friends at Color of Change: turnofffox.org/landing?credo.

2.Tell the Senate to pass the DISCLOSE Act during the lame duck session. We were able to defeat the Texas Oil Initiative, Prop 23 in California, in part because we knew who the enemy was — having disclosure of corporate contributions brings the enemy out in the open for us to take on and fight. The DISCLOSE Act passed the House and came within a single vote of passing the Senate. One vote. You can join this fight by taking action with Public Citizen at citizen.org/disclose-act-action.

3. Keep fighting to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. This issue will get resolved during the lame duck session. Take action at act.credoaction.com/campaign/bushtaxcuts.

4. Sign up for the fight for a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United decision by declaring that corporations do not have the legal rights of humans. This may take years, if not decades, but we should start now. Please join Free Speech for People: freespeechforpeople.org/.

5. Tell the FCC to use its existing authority to establish and defend net neutrality. Our friends at Free Press are leading this charge: act2.freepress.net/sign/put_up/.

6. Demand that the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service investigate the political organizations set up by Karl Rove to launder millions of dollars in secret cash to change the outcome of elections. Act now at act.credoaction.com/campaign/investigate_crossroads.

7. Defend the EPA from castration by pro-coal interests in Congress. The EPA accomplished almost nothing during the Clinton years because the Gingrich-led Congress used the budget process to prohibit the agency from doing its work. This battle has already started. The Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign is a great way to join this fight: sierraclub.org/coal.

8. Convince the Obama administration to stop appealing progressive court rulings on matters like the Defense of Marriage Act, Don't Ask Don't Tell, and the state secrets defense against torture and wiretapping. Urge the Department of Justice to change its approach at act.credoaction.com/campaign/stop_appealing.

9. Urge Democratic senators to do away with lifetime tenure for committee chairs and open up all chair positions to majority vote elections. This will go a long way towards more progressive legislation. Take action with us at act.credoaction.com/campaign/end_seniority_system.

10. Demand that the Department of Justice enforce the provisions of the national voter registration law that require state governments to offer to register all voters at departments of public welfare and motor vehicles. Many state governments simply ignore these requirements and this is a cheaper and more inclusive way of registering voters than the campaigns of the now dead ACORN. Urge Attorney General Eric Holder to expand voter registration: credoaction.com/campaign/enforce_motor_voter.

I suspect you are angry and exhausted at this point. I know I am. But let us not forget that the values and ideals we fight for are greater than any one election. They still endure, and so must our fight. We have a lot of work to do.

Michael Kieschnick, CEO
CREDO Action from Working Assets

Blue's House of Trolling - Week One

One of my favorite pastimes on the ol' intertubes is partaking in the time-honored tradition of trolling really stupid shit. Since Skynet has been so neglected of late, I have decided to take you all along for the ride, much like those trips you used to take in the back of your mother's station wagon while she "delivered Avon." Or was that just me?

Anyways... I intend to scrounge up and share some of my most horrible internet finds with all four of our regular Skynet readers on a somewhat weekly basis.

I invite you all to troll the ever-loving crap out of these, if you are so inclined. Stress is a serious factor in many chronic health conditions, and what better way to relieve stress than making a 13 year old girl cry from four states away?

My fellow Skynet writers will not be surprised by my first presentation. We have been laughing and trolling this dipshit for months. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:

The Republican Revolutionary

It appears that The Republican Revolutionary's purpose is to re-post stories from other conservative blogs and news sources, but with the added twist of horrible grammar and butchered spelling. To make this site even more awesome, the author has included links to several YouTube videos of himself wearing funny hats and reading rants from a cue card that sound like they were written by Sean Hannity's fatter, slower brother.

For example, from his latest post: "We cast obvious, plane truth to the wind, and we have the gull to wounder why the wrong thing did not work out for US."

I can not make it through that sentence without scrounging around for a red pen.

Haiku About Roommates

Who ate my cookies?
The dryer runs at midnight.
Fuck this fucking shit.

Awesome Rant from Bill Maher

From the Sept 25th episode of "Real Time":

New Rule: The next rich person who publicly complains about being vilified by the Obama administration must be publicly vilified by the Obama administration. It's so hard for one person to tell another person what constitutes being "rich", or what tax rate is "too much." But I've done some math that indicates that, considering the hole this country is in, if you are earning more than a million dollars a year and are complaining about a 3.6% tax increase, then you are by definition a greedy asshole.

And let's be clear: that's 3.6% only on income above 250 grand -- your first 250, that's still on the house. Now, this week we got some horrible news: that one in seven Americans are now living below the poverty line. But I want to point you to an American who is truly suffering: Ben Stein. You know Ben Stein, the guy who got rich because when he talks it sounds so boring it's actually funny. He had a game show on Comedy Central, does eye drop commercials, doesn't believe in evolution? Yeah, that asshole. I kid Ben -- so, the other day Ben wrote an article about his struggle. His struggle as a wealthy person facing the prospect of a slightly higher marginal tax rate. Specifically, Ben said that when he was finished paying taxes and his agents, he was left with only 35 cents for every dollar he earned. Which is shocking, Ben Stein has an agent? I didn't know Broadway Danny Rose was still working.

Ben whines in his article about how he's worked for every dollar he has -- if by work you mean saying the word "Bueller" in a movie 25 years ago. Which doesn't bother me in the slightest, it's just that at a time when people in America are desperate and you're raking in the bucks promoting some sleazy Free Credit Score dot-com... maybe you shouldn't be asking us for sympathy. Instead, you should be down on your knees thanking God and/or Ronald Reagan that you were lucky enough to be born in a country where a useless schmuck who contributes absolutely nothing to society can somehow manage to find himself in the top marginal tax bracket.

And you're welcome to come on the show anytime.

Now I can hear you out there saying, "Come on Bill, don't be so hard on Ben Stein, he does a lot of voiceover work, and that's hard work." Ok, it's true, Ben is hardly the only rich person these days crying like a baby who's fallen off his bouncy seat. Last week Mayor Bloomberg of New York complained that all his wealthy friends are very upset with mean ol' President Poopy-Pants: He said they all say the same thing: "I knew I was going to have to pay more taxes. But I didn't expect to be vilified." Poor billionaires -- they just can't catch a break.

First off, far from being vilified, we bailed you out -- you mean we were supposed to give you all that money and kiss your ass, too? That's Hollywood you're thinking of. FDR, he knew how to vilify; this guy, not so much. And second, you should have been vilified -- because you're the vill-ains! I'm sure a lot of you are very nice people. And I'm sure a lot of you are jerks. In other words, you're people. But you are the villains. Who do you think outsourced all the jobs, destroyed the unions, and replaced workers with desperate immigrants and teenagers in China. Joe the Plumber?

And right now, while we run trillion dollar deficits, Republicans are holding America hostage to the cause of preserving the Bush tax cuts that benefit the wealthiest 1% of people, many of them dead. They say that we need to keep taxes on the rich low because they're the job creators. They're not. They're much more likely to save money through mergers and outsourcing and cheap immigrant labor, and pass the unemployment along to you.

Americans think rich people must be brilliant; no -- just ruthless. Meg Whitman is running for Governor out here, and her claim to fame is, she started e-Bay. Yes, Meg tapped into the Zeitgeist, the zeitgeist being the desperate need of millions of Americans to scrape a few dollars together by selling the useless crap in their garage. What is e-Bay but a big cyber lawn sale that you can visit without putting your clothes on?

Another of my favorites, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann said, "I don't know where they're going to get all this money, because we're running out of rich people in this country." Actually, we have more billionaires here in the U.S. than all the other countries in the top ten combined, and their wealth grew 27% in the last year. Did yours? Truth is, there are only two things that the United States is not running out of: Rich people and bullshit. Here's the truth: When you raise taxes slightly on the wealthy, it obviously doesn't destroy the economy -- we know this, because we just did it -- remember the '90's? It wasn't that long ago. You were probably listening to grunge music, or dabbling in witchcraft. Clinton moved the top marginal rate from 36 to 39% -- and far from tanking, the economy did so well he had time to get his dick washed.

Even 39% isn't high by historical standards. Under Eisenhower, the top tax rate was 91%. Under Nixon, it was 70%. Obama just wants to kick it back to 39 -- just three more points for the very rich. Not back to 91, or 70. Three points. And they go insane. Steve Forbes said that Obama, quote "believes from his inner core that people... above a certain income have more than they should have and that many probably have gotten it from ill-gotten ways." Which they have. Steve Forbes, of course, came by his fortune honestly: he inherited it from his gay egg-collecting, Elizabeth Taylor fag-hagging father, who inherited it from his father. Of course then they moan about the inheritance tax, how the government took 55% percent when Daddy died -- which means you still got 45% for doing nothing more than starting out life as your father's pecker-snot.

We don't hate rich people, but have a little humility about how you got it and stop complaining. Maybe the worst whiner of all: Stephen Schwarzman, #69 on Forbes' list of richest Americans, compared Obama's tax hike to "when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939." Wow. If Obama were Hitler, Mr. Schwarzman, I think your tax rate would be the least of your worries. 

Machete is a Masterpiece

Robert Rodriguez' latest work, the faux trailer turned feature film, Machete, is absurd over-the-top film making at its finest.

The shockingly 66 year old Danny Trejo plays Machete, a former Federale who lost his family to a drug lord (played corpulently by Steven Seagal)now just trying to get by in the US. He catches the eye of a sleazebag named Booth who hires him to shoot racist anti-immigrant state senator Robert DeNiro, who spends his leisure time shooting migrants with his Minuteman-like buddy Don Johnson. Where it goes from there, you'll just have to watch and see. Suffice it to say you'll eventually see Cheech Marin as a priest, Michelle Rodriguez as a guerilla leader, and Lindsay Lohan as a nun. Oh yes, a nun.

If it sounds ridiculous, it is. Its supposed to be. In the spirit of Planet Terror, Rodriguez uses an action movie to skewer every moronic action flick ever made. The result is, as I said, pure brilliance. There isn't a serious moment in the entire movie. There's a hint here and there of some social commentary about the anti-immigrant fervor that periodically grips White America might not be tongue in cheek, but when it ultimately results in someone standing on a car and yelling "We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us!" you know its all an elaborate joke.

My only worry is that not everyone will get it. The theater I was in seemed to be an equal mix of constant laughter from some of us and utter confusion from others. It would be a shame if this film is not recognized for how awesome it is.

Sparklecados: Day 197

I'm very sad to report Sparklecado #1 did not survive the transition from Twilight cup to actual planter. Much like lame ass Bella, it apparently had no interest in living without limp dicked Edward.


Sparklecados #3 and #4 are still alive in their respective cups. One of these god damned things had better live. I've invested too much time.

I Have Had Enough of Insipid Lap-Band Adverts

It is difficult for me to pin down what exactly bothers me so much about these billboards that now dot the California freeways with more frequency than any other advertisement I can recall. It isn't that I have no reason, but rather that I have a myriad of them. So I present to you my ramblings about why these things need to be torched to the ground.

Billboards Suck. I understand that they are on private property, and that legally that property can be used to rent out advertising space, but I really detest seeing a huge ugly thing on my skyline where I would prefer mountains.

The Lap-band Sucks. I know it is considered incredibly insensitive to say that weight loss surgery is lame. It is very judgmental to believe that those who choose surgery over self-discipline to be weak and brainwashed sheep. I guess I am incredibly insensitive and judgmental.

Allow me to clarify. Weight-loss surgery is an excellent resource and an incredible procedure for people who possess a medical need for it. The 500 lbs person who can no longer walk is not about to exercise those pounds away. The older person with rampant diabetes and heart disease MUST lose weight quickly to add years to their lifespan. I am completely in favor of this procedure being available to these people. I am even in favor of insurance companies covering the surgery in these extreme cases. The problem lies in the fact that many of these surgeries are conducted on people who are perfectly capable of losing weight the normal way.

The adverts are also misleading, implying that the lap-band is a quick and easy fix. In actuality, it is painful and will force you to eat protein supplements and weird textures for the rest of your life. I will say this for the lap-band, wikipedia reports that only 1 in 2000 patients who get the band die from it. Gastric bypass has a mortality rate of 1 in 250.

There are Too Damn Many of Them! I counted 17 of these signs on my drive to Governor X's place and back. This is a 45 mile drive.

The Company Behind Them is Shady. TopSurgeons has some really questionable business practices and is run by two doctors who have lost their licenses, as revealed by the LA Times. That's really a company I want to put my medical well-being and life into the hands of.

Taking Advantage of Illness to Make Money is Morally Reprehensible. I am not talking about weight when I say illness; I am talking about mental illness, such as low self-esteem and eating disorders. Surgery appeals to people because it seems easy and takes the brunt of the responsibility for their condition off their own shoulders. It does not cure the underlying causes of their obesity. Many people who get the surgery gain their weight back after several years. These individuals need real healing, therapy to help them regain control of themselves and their lives. The last thing they need is for someone to cut on their body until it is as mutilated and scarred as their psyche.

Medical Procedures and Medications Should be Recommended by a Doctor, Not an Advert. I have a real problem with the advertising of any medical procedures or medications. People should not be hearing about a pill or operation and then checking to see if they need it. When a patient has a condition, then they and their physician work to treat that condition. This approach of advertising medication as though it were a new brand of clothing has led us to become a nation of legally-prescribed drug addicts.

Good Health is More Than Weight. Good health comes from eating a balanced diet and exercising, not from being forced to starve yourself by having a bit of plastic tied around your insides. It isn't the weight of Americans that are making them sick, but the lifestyle choices they have made that got them fat in the first place.

Suck It. If you have gotten surgery yourself that was not medically necessary, I'm sorry you were duped. Before I get flamed by anyone, I would like to note that I am no pixie myself. But I have dropped more than 20% of my body weight in the last 9 months by eating well and moving my ass. It helps to have some nancy-boys around to slam tennis balls at.

Sparklecados: Day 181

Just a brief update today. Sparklecado #4: A New Hope has begun.

Sparklecados: Day 179

There have been some exciting developments on the Sparklecado front. Our stalwart, Sparklecado #1 had developed a small stem and the beginnings of some tiny leaves, so it was time to kick it out of the nest and move it into a home of its own. Today, just shy of six months after our experiment began, it was transferred from the Twilight cup to its permanent home in a terra cotta pot. It still hasn't sparkled, but it still may some day. Sparklecado #3, started just 34 days ago has shown significant growth. I expect to transfer it to soil far sooner than Sparklecado #1. There is yet another pit drying on my counter as I type this, and in a couple days, it will become Sparklecado #4: A New Hope.

Sparklecado #1, quite ready to face the world on its own without the help of the insipid Cullens.

Sparklecado #3 is thus far easily outpacing its predecessors.

Sparklecado #1 is barely visible in its new home for the moment, but it will soon grown into a mighty tree. Sparklecado #3, with something to prove, sits in the shadow of its gas-giant of an older brother.

Is This Thing On?

So, its been dead around here, but I promise Skynet is still alive and well. The problem is, we're all lazy. Keep checking back for new articles on topics varying from my outrage over not being able to buy horse meat to how much TV's in public suck.

These Are the People in Your Karaoke Bar

I must admit, I enjoy the occasional visit to a karaoke establishment. I used to attend on a weekly basis with friends. While it is a lot of fun to sing in front of an audience, the drama that surrounds karaoke "regulars" has gotten to be too much for me. So now, without further ado, I present a breakdown of your typical karaoke fans.

The Loud Drunk Asshole. These seem to be a staple in every karaoke bar. They are usually in their 30s, overweight, and playing pool or darts. They will pick a song like "Hotel California" or "Knocking on Heaven's Door" and sing it far too loudly and off key, occasionally yelling unintelligible nonsense into the mic. Whenever anyone else sings, they will cheer loudly and tell them, "You rock, man!"

The Dorky Hipster. These are usually decidedly geeky guys who sing karaoke to be ironic. They will stand onstage with one hand in their pocket, looking completely disinterested, and sing something ridiculous, like Weird Al's "Yoda" or a Lady Gaga tune. They are usually drinking lager.

The Cutesy Girl. The cutesy girl looks too young to even be in a bar. She will be wearing a tight shirt and she will bounce while she sings a Shania Twain song. Sometimes she is an awesome singer. Sometimes she sucks. All of the Loud Drunk Assholes will cheer either way.

The Broken-Hearted Fat Chick. This girl will always sing a sad, slow love song. She is usually accompanied by two or three other corpulent girls who will cry during her rendition of "Wind Beneath My Wings."

The Professional Jackass. These are usually men, around fifty years old, who have formal voice training. There are the occasional, rare female Professional Jackasses. He will walk into the bar about once every two months and select the same song every time. He will order only water with lemon. He will sing his selection with a cocky look on his face, sniff disdainfully, then leave before having to speak to any of the riffraff.

The SRS BSNS Regular. For this person, karaoke is not a pastime, it is a way of life. They will spend time and money practicing all week for their Saturday "performance". They are most likely the sad remnants of a little girl who always wanted to be a rock star when she grew up. They NEVER miss karaoke. They hate the Cutesy Girl. They wish all the Drunks and Hipsters would go away, because they just don't take this seriously enough. If anyone sings well, they will viciously attack them behind their back, because there CAN BE ONLY ONE. They may stomp off home if their rendition of "Me and Bobby McGee" doesn't get a standing ovation. If anyone sings a song that they enjoy singing, they hate them for "stealing their song." Every karaoke bar will end up developing at least two of these individuals by the third month of being open.

Conservative Media Show True Colors

In case you didn't know about Shirley Sherrod, here's a segment by Rachel Maddow about this reprehensible scandal. Andrew Breitbart showed a clip from a speech USDA employee Shirley Sherrod gave which claimed to show that she had denied a white farmer benefits because of his race. What Breitbart didn't mention is that the speech was about overcoming racism, she made the speech in 1986, she wasn't working for the USDA at that time and she didn't actually discriminate against anyone. CNN later interviewed the white farmer that Sherrod supposedly discriminated against, and he had nothing but good things to say about her. The point of Sherrod's speech was that she had an epiphany. She realized that poor people are suffering, regardless of race. However, without doing any research, Fox News paraded the story as an outrage, an example of black discrimination. Sherrod was quickly railroaded out of her position at the USDA, bowing to public pressure. She was denounced by the NAACP and forced to resign by Tom Vilsack.

After the story aired, she received hate mail and phone calls from people calling her a "bitch" and a "racist". This is particularly sad, because, as Media Matters reported, Sherrod's father was killed by racists in 1965. She has been actively involved in the Civil Rights movement for years and took careers at non-profit organizations and within the government because of her commitment to issues of social justice and civil rights. Sherrod said that she has thick skin after years of working in the Civil Rights movement. However, nobody should have to go through that kind of abuse because of a completely fabricated, politically motivated smear campaign.

This story touches on more than a few issues. First of all, conservative media purveyors like Breitbart and Fox News have very few scruples about running fake stories designed to highlight their issues and destroy innocent people's careers. Look at the ACORN non-story. For those of you who still don't know, the ACORN employees on tape were playing along with the phony pimp and prostitute in order to get as much information from them as they could before calling the police. The video showed ACORN employees shining on James O'Keefe, nothing more.

Second, notice that conservatives target minorities in these scandals. The ACORN employees were black and Latino and Shirley Sherrod is black. Does Fox ever go after white racism? Not that I've seen.

Third, notice that Breitbart's fake story continues the theme of the "oppressed white man". Conservatives have drummed up fear in white people by convincing them they are under siege by minorities, even though in reality, whites still hold the vast majority of wealth, political power and corporate power in our society. Despite the claims that Republicans are not racist or even partial to whites, this story clearly shows that Fox and the Republicans intervene on behalf of white people, even in fake scandals like this. That is whose side they're on, over and above notions of equality and fairness. Conservatives will claim over and over again that they aren't racist, but their words and actions show otherwise. Anyone who has talked with a conservative for more than a few hours knows that they tend to hold uninformed positions about race. Many conservatives will openly say that they don't like minorities or that they think white people are superior, either genetically or culturally. Others will just be ignorant of racial issues to the point of being insensitive, and will blame blacks for their poverty, instead of pointing to years of slavery, discrimination, and wrongful imprisonment that continue to this very day. Republicans claim that we now live in a color blind society, so blacks and Latinos need to stop being so lazy and get to work. This couldn't be further from the truth and doesn't take into account discrimination that still occurs.

Fourth, the main reason conservative media outlets run stories like this is to distract poor white people from their truly injurious policies such as trying to destroy Social Security, giving few limitations and punishments to corporate executives, dismantling labor standards and destroying the environment. Republicans have been doing this for years. It's called the Southern Strategy. Reagan used this strategy by launching his campaign supporting "states' rights" in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the site where three Civil Rights activists were murdered in 1964. Reagan also repeatedly told the story of a "welfare queen" who never existed. The result of this strategy is the winnowing of the middle class, the largest prison population in the world, consolidation of corporate power into fewer hands, and the destruction of labor unions. White people need to wake up and realize that minorities are not a threat to them; big, powerful and unbridled corporations are. Republican leaders gain the support of poor whites for policies that are against their interests by playing to their fears. This is a truly cynical, diabolical and harmful policy.

Lastly, this should be a lesson to Democrats, particularly the Obama administration. When a conservatively biased news source like Fox News or www.biggovernment.com comes up with a controversy like Van Jones, ACORN or Shirley Sherrod, don't assume they are right or that they are even being sincere. Take the time to investigate the story and deliberate for a while before disavowing one of your people. People like Andrew Breitbart and Glenn Beck should not factor into your decisions. They are not reliable, not fair, and not even adults.

Sparklecados: Day 145

It has been quite some time since I updated you on the progress of our Sparklecados, but in the last couple days there have been some interesting developments.

First, after nearly six months with no progress, I pulled the plug on Sparklecado #2 which had been languishing in a persistent vegitative state. It couldn't even muster the energy to star at a brightly colored balloon. Here is the last known photo of the Sparklecado before it passed into the next life (in this case, my kitchen trash can):



Sparklecado #1 is flourishing nicely. The root is quite long and there are the beginnings of a stem. Its almost ready to move on to step two, which I can't remember the details of at the moment, but I bookmarked it. Here is #1:



Finally, since I can't stop eating avocados, it just so happened I had another pit ready to go after pulling the plug on Sprarklecado #2. It is an organic California avocado, slightly smaller than its Mexican brother in the other cup, but we will see how it goes:

Whitey McWhite Wants All You Minorities to Get Out of His Face

Dennis Prager, a voice of the far right on talk radio, wrote this column today. Blue Napkins sent the article to me in an email, and I found it to be really ridiculous.

I thought Dennis Prager was a moron, and this really confirms it. Dennis Prager lives in a fantasy world where his illegitimate right-wing notions are true. He wants us to pretend that none of our social problems exist and that everything is hunky-dory. He also wants us to ignore the fact that being white, male, Christian and heterosexual has historically and still does grant many privileges. Furthermore, he wants us to pretend that identifying yourself with an ethnic group or sexual orientation is narcissism but identifying yourself with your country is selflessness. In Prager's commandments, he wants to define a school that restricts freedom, recognizes nothing but the State and ignores all of the problems that exist in our society.

In his first commandment, Prager seems to be troubled by narcissism, so logically he's going to ban any group affiliations and focus on the individual: "The only identity I care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual identity." That totally makes sense... This is along the lines of Arizona's law banning ethnic studies programs. What this amounts to is enhancing the white majority's ability to oppress minorities by not allowing them to organize or even identify with each other. The only affiliation of which Prager approves is with the country, an artificial boundary maintained by force that has been won through the genocide of Native Americans and theft from Mexico. I guess debate about the validity of the nation-state just muddies the waters though.

In his second commandment, Prager calls for a "formal dress code", which I assume means school uniforms. School uniforms are fucking horrible and stifle freedom of expression. Do we want school to be even more like the military? Dennis Prager's totalitarian school doesn't allow any other freedoms like making a club or identifying yourself as anything other than an American, so I suppose the freedom to dress however you want is not honored either.

In his fourth commandment, Prager forbids the use of "obscene language". I assume he's talking about words like shit and cocksucker, basically George Carlin's Seven Dirty Words. We don't want children to speak these "bad" words in school because these words presumably erode moral character and later in life, people will use them indiscriminately as adults. Of course Prager then precedes to brazenly drop an n-bomb and write the word "bitch". For some reason he couldn't bring himself to write "fuck" though. This paragraph alone shows what an ass he is. I personally find the n-word more offensive than any of George Carlin's words. Furthermore, I'd like to declare that Skynet promotes the use of the word "fuck" in all spheres of life but does not approve of the n-word.

Now that I think about it, I almost always have to choke back my own vomit when I read his Dennis Prager's shtick. This article is no exception, and I think it's safe to hang a label on him. Don't worry Dennis, I won't label you according to race, religion, or sexual orientation. Dennis Prager, on behalf of Skynet California, I hereby declare you to be an asshole.

Things That Suck: Human Billboards

If you are as easily annoyed as I am, you have no doubt had to choke down bile as you pass new housing development, wireless stores, and going-out-of-business sales and see these idiotic human billboards on the corner. I'm not sure what genius came up with the idea of having an illiterate drug addict standing on a corner dancing whilst holding a sign for a new housing development, but I want to punch them in the face repeatedly. What kind of an idiot do these ads work on? The type of loser who would have to work doing this sure, but they can't afford a new home, or probably even 50% Adam Sandler DVDs at a closing Hollywood Video. If I ever run for a city council position, I will run on a platform of banning these stupid things once and for all.

The trouble with kids these days (a haiku)

Kids. Can't shut them up,
Can't tie them to the sofa
Can't sell them online.

Seven More Ways to be an Annoying Roommate.

I'm going to build on Boots' previous post with a few experiences of my own. I don't know if these would bother everyone, but they are from personal experience and certainly annoyed the ever-loving fuck out of me.

1. Contract an infectious disease, like scabies. Walk around pulling your shirt up and scratching your sores. Deny any accusations of illness. Use your roommate's towels and put them back in the linen closet.

2. Steal and use your roommate's tampons. When she mentions it, tell her it's not your fault that tampons are so expensive and point out that she makes more money than you do.

3. Have a child. Pay no attention to said child and refuse to allow anyone to correct his/her wrongdoings.

4. Get drunk. Puke in your roommate's underwear drawer.

5. Eat nothing but pizza and leave the boxes all over the kitchen. When your roommate asks you to please take them to the trash, build a fort out of them on the porch and fall asleep in it stoned. Wake up and move to the roof to sleep some more. Use your roommate's car to reach the roof, rather than a ladder, and scratch the paint. Puke on the roof and make sure some drizzles down onto your car-ladder.

6. Drink your roommate's juice. When you realize she may notice how much is missing, add water to the bottle to cover your tracks.

7. Invite several party-folk over while your roommate is at work. Allow them to write on the walls with sharpies and put all the Tupperware in the oven at 400 degrees.

Six of these things happened across the span of three months and were committed by the same person. It takes dedication and perseverance to be THAT excellent.

7 Top Ways to be a super annoying roommate.

Got roommates? Don’t like ‘em? Here are some tried and true techniques for driving normal roomies completely batty.

1. Follow your roommates around and talk incessantly, especially if they look busy. Take care to avoid any pauses that might allow them to get a word in edgewise.  If they do manage to excuse themselves from the conversation, tail them to the door of their bedrooms and make them close it in your face to escape. Proceed to #2.

2. Wait 5 minutes after tailing them to the bedroom, then ask for a legitimate thing you could have addressed in the first place, like rent or bills.

3. Play iPhone games in the bathroom, especially in living situations with 2 or more people per bathroom. Shoot for a minimum of 30 minutes occupying the john, 45 if your roomies start to get antsy. For extra points, leave the bathroom door open and do not turn on the fan.

4. Go in your roommates’ private living areas and take whatever you want. Use it, screw it up, and leave it out somewhere that tells your roomie exactly who raided his stuff. Then, see #5.

5. Cause obvious disturbances in the residence, then lie your ass off about having done it. If your roommate has sorted something into piles, stack them all together and mix them up. Eat their food from the fridge and save yours for later. If there were witnesses to your transgressions, make up more elaborate and unlikely coverup stories.

6. Don’t do laundry. Ever. When you run out of skivvies, buy new socks and underwear and pile dirties in your bedroom. When the bedroom becomes unliveable due to the festering pile, take over the living room couch. Invite homeless friends with contagious skin diseases to join you.

7. Make promises you fully intend to break. Do this often.

I hope these special tips and tricks for irritating otherwise patient roommates will guide you in achieving your destined future, which will be well-laden with sincerely deserved solitude.

Diapers and Grocery Bags? How About Greening Your Girly-bits?

More green, reusable products hit the market every day, and that is certainly a promising trend. It is especially noticeable here in California, where even the snotty "soccer moms" in their gas guzzlers are piling their teams' Gatorade and chips into canvas totes. Biodegradable dish soaps and laundry detergent are becoming more widely available as demand for them increases. The most hardcore of the green movement are buying biodegradable, chlorine-free diapers. Some are even purchasing cloth diapers. (I must note, however, that while cloth diapers are more cost efficient and seem green on the surface, the soap and water used laundering them makes virtually no less of an environmental impact than disposables.)

Almost every food item is now being offered in an organic version. We buy toilet paper and bank checks made from recycled paper. The world of casual disposal is coming to an end. One product, however, seems immune to criticism: feminine hygiene products. Whether this is out of fear of the wrath of bleeding, grumpy women or from sheer squeamishness, very few people seem willing to take aim at this wasteful product and its vast contribution to gorging landfills.

I believe the environmental impact of feminine hygiene products may also be ignored because it is generally off the radar. Many people purchase reusable grocery bags and the like because other people can see them. Nobody knows what is going on under your skirt, so there is little societal pressure to make greener choices. Several products are available that will greatly reduce, if not virtually eradicate, the environmental impact of menstruation. Until I began researching this topic, I had never even heard of some of them.

The typical feminine hygiene products are pads or tampons. Pads are, obviously, much larger and use more materials. Both products come in cardboard boxes. Each individual item inside the box is wrapped in a plastic liner. The tampons usually come with an "applicator." When all is said and done, there is a ton of unnecessary packaging that must be discarded in addition to the product itself. This, in and of itself, could be easily reduced. As a matter of fact, some companies seem to use the excess packaging as a selling point, offering it in various colors and making the applicators more elaborate. In the past, I have been a fan of the O.B. brand, which uses minimal packaging and is applicator free. Out of all the obvious choices, it is the one with the least environmental impact.

My research uncovered a myriad of other choices, some of which appear cleaner than tampons, not linked to T.S.S., and almost completely without waste. The Diva Cup is reusable for up to a year. There are also washable sponge tampons, chlorine free biodegradable pads and tampons, and the usual washable cloth pads from days of yore. Of all these products, the reusable cup seems to be the most sensible and sanitary, and some of the silicon versions claim to last as long as ten years.

I would love to see someone high profile actually have the balls to start pushing these greener products. If I were the first lady, I would be all over this, if for no other reason than to make Republican legislators squirm.

Guess Who's Back!

Old Sugar Tits is back friends! You honestly have no idea how great this makes me feel. I feed off of Mel Gibson's insanity like a Sith feeds off of anger.

This time Mel takes a break from blaming the Jews or offending the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica to take care of a little home cooking. It seems he may have fathered a child with his ex, Oksana Grigorieva and he's none too pleased. He also doesn't care for her manner of dress. Here are the highlights from the HuffPo story:

"You're an embarrassment to me. You look like a f***ing pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n***ers, it will be your fault."

"How dare you act like such a bitch when I have been so f**king nice."

"I am going to come and burn the f**king house down... but you will blow me first."

And to close it all out, this parting shot...

"This is my last message. I might be the father... Well, f** you... You psycho c**t... Because I don't care. Do you understand me? I'm done."

Oh man, I hope you're never done Mel. How do the Jews tie into this? I have to know! Review of Edge of Darkness to follow shortly...

Eclipse: A Tale of Sappy Outdoor Conversations

I was torn in two over paying to see the third installment in the movie version of this abortion of a book series. On the one hand, I did not want to be another 30-something woman pumping money into this ridiculous franchise on opening night. On the other hand, I was full of curiosity, a desire to write a review, a love of being ironic, and a need to seek revenge on my four-year-old for making me endure both Toy Story 3 and Shrek 3 in the same month. I was bored, the matinee was cheap, and the latter decision won out. With preschooler in hand, I joined the throng of women queuing up for Twilight 3: The Return of Jacob's Pecs.

Not only did my son almost die of boredom during this movie, he also managed to get a Buzz Lightyear spinning candy dispenser caught in his hair. We are now even.

The movie started off with a relatively suspenseful scene of some poor schmuck being turned into a vampire minion by our main antagonist, Victoria, then ended with an epic battle between the Forks Supernatural Protagonist Society and the evil army of vampires Victoria and her minion form. Everything that happened between those two scenes was either mind-numbingly dull or embarrassingly painful.

First of all, Bella is still torn between Jacob and Edward. Does she want the whiny douche-bag with the golden eyes, tons of money, and the ability to offer her immortality? Does she want the pushy but hot Native American boy who needs anger management and might accidentally rip her face off if she burns the casserole? Decisions, decisions...

The dialogue, as before, is very wooden and phony. Think Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones. Everyone is madly in love with everyone else, and they all talk about it outside for the hour and forty-five minutes they had to fill between battle scenes. Bella and Edward talk about their feelings in a field full of flowers. Then she and Jacob talk about their feelings at a lake in the mountains. Then they talk about it some more on a snow-dappled cliff in the mountains. Then she and Edward talk about some more random shit in a field again. It was like the worst dialogue scene from Attack of the Clones had glitter added to it and increased in length tenfold.

To add insult to injury, I still have to admit this movie was much better than both of its predecessors.

I think the best summary was what my son said about a half hour from the conclusion of the film: "Can we go home now? All these people do is talk and kiss and be stupid." Amen.

A Confusing Photo of Bill Clinton and Mick Jagger

Something appears to be afoot in this photo and our former President is none the wiser. Mick seems positively terrified though. Was it the chupacabra, the goat sucker of Mexican legend? Unlikely. The chupacabra was sympathetic to the DeKlerk government that fell in 1994. He is no longer welcome in South Africa.