Drink The Kool-Aid!

Socialism2012 Conference June 28 - July 1, 2012 in Chicago, IL

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:06:43 -0700

Socialism2012 Conference

June 28 - July 1, 2012 in Chicago, IL

Scientists use modified virus to make mice live longer

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:55:14 -0700

Scientists use modified virus to make mice live longer:

An experimental gene therapy recently tested on mice at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre found that by modifying a non-replicating virus to trigger production of an enzyme that repairs chromosomes, scientists were able to slow down cellular aging in the mice by up to 24 percent.

Up to 1M Americans Too Poor to Go Bankrupt - They can't afford $1,500 fees

Sat, 12 May 2012 17:06:49 -0700

Up to 1M Americans Too Poor to Go Bankrupt - They can't afford $1,500 fees:

Personally, I think this number is much, much higher. Probably closer to 30 million.

San Francisco teachers vote overwhelmingly to support strike

Fri, 11 May 2012 17:11:47 -0700

San Francisco teachers vote overwhelmingly to support strike:

cognitivedissonance:

San Francisco teachers voted overwhelmingly to support a strike Thursday night, with 97 percent saying yes in what was the first of two required votes.

“Last night the teachers of San Francisco sent a message loud and clear to the San Francisco Unified School District,” said Dennis Kelly, United Educators of San Francisco President, in a statement after votes were counted Friday. “It is time for the district to stop seeking unilateral cuts and sweeping program changes, and to start treating the teachers and paraprofessionals with respect and to recognize what we have done to keep this district afloat.”

About 1,900 teachers voted. A second vote required to give union leadership the ability to call a strike has not been scheduled.

Fuck yes. The union is pushing back on more cuts to the education budget and layoffs. Way to send a message.

Gay Former Romney Staffer: Obama ‘On The Right Side Of History’

Wed, 09 May 2012 23:02:00 -0700

Gay Former Romney Staffer: Obama ‘On The Right Side Of History’:

Richard Grenell, the openly gay former Bush administration official who was Mitt Romney’s national security spokesperson for a couple weeks before resigning under pressure from social conservatives upset with his hiring, praised President Obama for publicly supporting same sex marriage Wednesday. Grenell, who is an advocate for same sex marriage, told Metro Weekly Obama “deserves credit for finally taking a stand in favor of equality.”

cartoonpolitics: “If you want total security, go to prison....

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:27:44 -0700

cartoonpolitics:

“If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking is freedom.” ~ President Dwight D Eisenhower

Who are they really scared of?

I applaud the President for his statements

Wed, 09 May 2012 14:46:42 -0700

This is the first courageous statement he’s made in a while, and to do it at the beginning of what promises to be an ugly election season speaks a lot to his character.

determinatenegation: From the Socialist Workers Party Paper The...

Wed, 09 May 2012 14:45:22 -0700

determinatenegation:

From the Socialist Workers Party Paper The Militant Vol.76/no.19 May 14th 2012

Don’t let liberal 99% rhetoric fool you, Capitalists are more than their income!

lol Mitt Romney

Tue, 08 May 2012 23:58:46 -0700

Terrific Blog To Follow.

Mon, 07 May 2012 21:21:37 -0700

Terrific Blog To Follow.

Photo

Mon, 07 May 2012 21:18:34 -0700

Hit job on our academic work

Mon, 07 May 2012 15:34:00 -0700

Hit job on our academic work:

On April 30, blogger Naomi Schaefer Riley attacked the work of several African American graduate students, as well as African American studies in general, in a post on the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Brainstorm blog.

The right-wing post—and a subsequent defense by Schaefer Riley—caused a firestorm at the Chronicle website and provoked outraged responses from several academics and bloggers, as well as the faculty of the African American Studies Department at Northwestern University. In just a few days, a petition in defense of the students and African American studies garnered more than 6,000 signers.

In this statement, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, La Tasha B. Levy and Ruth Hays, the three graduate students who Schaefer Riley attacked, respond.

Delta Air Lines drops ads from Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show

Mon, 07 May 2012 15:21:23 -0700

Delta Air Lines drops ads from Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show:

The Catholic League announced Monday that Delta Air Lines had pulled its sponsorship of Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show following a boycott launched by the organization.

tumblangeles: On the May Day protest downtown, the thing I...

Wed, 02 May 2012 22:35:00 -0700

tumblangeles:

On the May Day protest downtown, the thing I found so astonishing was the number of police there. I would wager there were more cops than protesters. I counted eight helicopters in the air. They had about eight of these battalions (see pic) at each intersection. It was a ridiculous show of force. The crowd was probably only a thousand people…at most, three thousand at it’s peak, but I doubt that. I wouldn’t be surprised if they deployed 1500 to 2000 cops. It sure looked like it.

I wonder about the Occupy movement and any sort of change coming about in this country. This excessive show of force, just waiting to pounce, to crush any dissent, at the slightest provocation, has me wondering if we haven’t already lost. The 1%, the powers that be, control the money, the media, the politicians, and law enforcement. The deck is stacked against us. The game is rigged. I found it to be very discouraging. All these police, for what? A bunch of people in the street who want to speak their mind? And it happens all over the country. People take to the streets and the police show up in riot gear, ready to bash some heads. The cops are becoming more militarized every day. There is no longer a public square, or if there is, it’s getting smaller and smaller, and it’s surrounded by two thousand cops…with billy clubs.

What do you think?

The traffic backups were caused solely by the police. I never saw a single protester, but I did see the helicopters, and about 50 (no joke) cop cars.

"A criminal is a person with predatory instincts without sufficient capital to form a corporation."

Wed, 02 May 2012 19:39:23 -0700

“A criminal is a person with predatory instincts without sufficient capital to form a corporation.”

- Howard Scott (via theredhammerandsickle)

"We’ve been hearing a lot about the war on women, which is real enough. But there’s also a war on the..."

Wed, 02 May 2012 19:14:04 -0700

“

We’ve been hearing a lot about the war on women, which is real enough. But there’s also a war on the young, which is just as real even if it’s better disguised. And it’s doing immense harm, not just to the young, but to the nation’s future.

Let’s start with some advice Mitt Romney gave to college students during an appearance last week. After denouncing President Obama’s “divisiveness,” the candidate told his audience, “Take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business.”

The first thing you notice here is, of course, the Romney touch — the distinctive lack of empathy for those who weren’t born into affluent families, who can’t rely on the Bank of Mom and Dad to finance their ambitions. But the rest of the remark is just as bad in its own way.

I mean, “get the education”? And pay for it how? Tuition at public colleges and universities has soared, in part thanks to sharp reductions in state aid. Mr. Romney isn’t proposing anything that would fix that; he is, however, a strong supporter of the Ryan budget plan, which would drastically cut federal student aid, causing roughly a million students to lose their Pell grants.

So how, exactly, are young people from cash-strapped families supposed to “get the education”? Back in March Mr. Romney had the answer: Find the college “that has a little lower price where you can get a good education.” Good luck with that. But I guess it’s divisive to point out that Mr. Romney’s prescriptions are useless for Americans who weren’t born with his advantages.

… What should we do to help America’s young? Basically, the opposite of what Mr. Romney and his friends want. We should be expanding student aid, not slashing it. And we should reverse the de facto austerity policies that are holding back the U.S. economy — the unprecedented cutbacks at the state and local level, which have been hitting education especially hard.

Yes, such a policy reversal would cost money. But refusing to spend that money is foolish and shortsighted even in purely fiscal terms. Remember, the young aren’t just America’s future; they’re the future of the tax base, too.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste; wasting the minds of a whole generation is even more terrible. Let’s stop doing it.

”

- Paul Krugman, The New York Times, “Wasting Our Minds.”

Go read the whole damned thing.

(via inothernews)

If there’s one thing I hate more than stupidity,...

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:11:27 -0700

If there’s one thing I hate more than stupidity, it’s hypocrisy.

"Although it is true that only about 20 percent of American workers are in unions, that 20 percent..."

Tue, 01 May 2012 10:40:05 -0700

“Although it is true that only about 20 percent of American workers are in unions, that 20 percent sets the standards across the board in salaries, benefits and working conditions. If you are making a decent salary in a non-union company, you owe that to the unions. One thing that corporations do not do is give out money out of the goodness of their hearts.”

- Molly Ivins (via cognitivedissonance)

Happy May Day, everyone.

Biden unveils new health initiative to make U.S. women hotter.

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:29:01 -0700

Biden unveils new health initiative to make U.S. women hotter.

Koreatown during the L.A. Riots in 1992, 20 years ago.

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 20:39:43 -0700

Koreatown during the L.A. Riots in 1992, 20 years ago.