Hatewatch Tweets
Hatewatch is managed by the staff of the Intelligence Report, an investigative magazine published by the Alabama-based civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center.
Paranoid Prognosticators Fear Doom Under Second Obama Term
The far right does not like President Obama. He’s been depicted as a Muslim (he’s not) and a terrorist sympathizer. He’s been called a fascist and compared to Hitler. He’s been pegged as a socialist and even a communist. And, of course, an entire cottage industry has been built around the false accusation that he’s not even an American.
His 2008 election also helped fuel an explosive resurgence of the antigovernment “Patriot” movement, whose sympathizers indulge themselves in all sorts of wild conspiracy theories about the federal government: It’s building concentration camps for dissidents, it’s selling out Americans to the dreaded “New World Order,” it’s planning to institute martial law, confiscate everyone’s guns and send in U.N. troops to keep order.
Of course, none of these fantasies have come true in the last four years. But therein lies the rub. The first term was nothing but an elaborate ruse to get re-elected. The second term, now that’s when everything hits the fan. Freedom itself, maybe even all of civilization, hangs in the balance.
That, at least, is the impression you might get by reading the paranoid prophecies of some of the right’s most rabid Obamaphobes. They see a dark night of despair, madness and chaos – with no guns around to defend freedom – if Obama is re-elected.
To record these prophecies for posterity and so that you will know what’s in store if the president accumulates 270 electoral votes next week, here are some of the Top Predictions of the Obamapocalypse:
One Thousand Years of Darkness. In a video posted on YouTube, tough-guy actor Chuck Norris and his wife, Gena, warn of “socialism or something much worse.” Quoting a 1964 speech by Ronald Reagan, Gena says: “We will preserve for our children this last best hope for man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into 1,000 years of darkness.”
An Obama Dictatorship. Robert Ringer, who calls himself “A Voice of Sanity,” is a motivational speaker, a self-help author and big fan of Ayn Rand. He’s also got the president all figured out. After the election, the “Marxmeister” will move swiftly to unleash a “dictatorial full monty.” We’re talking instant citizenship for all Third World immigrants; a new sedition act that criminalizes criticism of the government; forced equalization of income; suspension of habeas corpus; the end of fossil fuel production, and much more.
Obama Will Take Away Our Gun Rights. Obama will take away our guns and “erase” the Second Amendment, says Wayne LaPierre, the $970,000-a-year executive director of the National Rifle Association who once called federal agents “jack-booted thugs” in a fundraising letter. Obama’s first term was nothing but a “conspiracy to ensure re-election by lulling gun owners to sleep.”
U.S. Will Be Enslaved by Globalists. Dick Morris, the one-time aide to Bill Clinton, told Sean Hannity on Fox News last March that Obama’s “big focus” will be to make the U.S. a “vassal state to a globalist entity.” And by the way, he’ll sign a treaty ensuring that the U.S. has to get permission from Russia and China to go to war.
U.N. Troops and Civil War. Tom Head, a county judge in Texas, called for a property tax increase to help fund his county’s response to post-election civil unrest – what he envisions as a good old fashioned “Lexington, Concord, take up arms” uprising. But it seems like he wants to be leading the insurrection. “He’s going to send in U.N. troops,” the judge warned a local TV station. “I don’t want ‘em in Lubbock County, OK? So I’m gonna stand in front of their armored personnel carrier and say, ‘You’re not coming in here.’”
And No. 1:
Hunted Down Like Dogs. Joseph Farah, who leads the far-right, conspiracy-mongering website WorldNetDaily, is under no delusions about his fate. “If [Obama is] re-elected, it’s gonna be war,” said Farah, who swears he saw a drone surveilling his Northern Virginia property. “We will be hunted down like dogs.”
Now that we’ve reported this information, you can decide your next move. The local gun store closes at 9 p.m.
on October 30th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
And what will they do when all of that doesn’t happen? The same thing the rapture/end times bunch do when they miss another date? Yep! New dates and new conspiracy theories. They never stop to think that their own party has been brainwashing them for years, so they can be ready when the UFOs come.
on October 30th, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Waitwait…. if he were going to set himself up as an evil dictator and eliminate the Constitution, national sovereignty, elections, etc. etc…
Why in the heck would he NEED to wait to be reelected? Why not just do it within the first week and save time?
on October 30th, 2012 at 2:14 pm
You know, that proletarian revolution is looking better and better every day.
That’d shut those blowhards up, if only for a moment.
on October 30th, 2012 at 2:43 pm
Don’t forget the nefarious plot to undersign the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
on October 30th, 2012 at 4:23 pm
All six earn money from promoting this asinine stuff.
on October 30th, 2012 at 4:34 pm
They’re projecting. DARVO.
on October 30th, 2012 at 5:05 pm
Cherry picking these wildest predictions from the trainloads of reasonable differences with the policies of the last four years will not save the election. Mitt Romney, like it or not, absolutely will win. There is a fairly credible huge list of Government agencies slated for evaporation by a Romney administration. Look under Ryan Budget to find them. I honestly do not know what a lot of them do, so I can’t comment on the possible effects, except that if you work for one of these agencies, I suggest getting your resume on a firefly and filling out the paperwork at some temp agencies, like, soon.
on October 30th, 2012 at 6:40 pm
The Vassal to Global interests is my favorite of these, since this is actually something that Romney, at Bain Capital was actively promoting.
on October 31st, 2012 at 8:03 am
“socialism or something much worse.”
Gee Chuck, what is worse than socialism, according to you guys. And WHY would Obama being president for a second term lead to that?
“Robert Ringer, who calls himself “A Voice of Sanity,” is a motivational speaker, a self-help author and big fan of Ayn Rand.”
Sanity. Ayn Rand. Polar opposites.
“After the election, the “Marxmeister”
Obama has got to be the worst Marxist in history. Aside from his actions which are pretty much exactly the opposite of what any Marxist in history has done, the man doesn’t write so much as an essay on Marx, Marxism, socialism, the USSR, Communism, etc.
“will move swiftly to unleash a “dictatorial full monty.”
Uh yeah ok. Why? How? Why couldn’t he do this in his first term? Hitler never waited for reelection.
“We’re talking instant citizenship for all Third World immigrants;”
Uh yeah..WHY? And of course this is TOTALLY not racist. Immigrants from “non-Third World” countries like Croatia, Poland, Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, or Russia will be told to go to hell.
” a new sedition act that criminalizes criticism of the government;”
And how’s he going to get this Constitutional amendment through congress? How long has it been since these nuts started making claims like this?
” forced equalization of income;”
Yes, this is why Obama has so many rich/corporate donors. They want their property expropriated and their incomes equalized. Warren Buffet has always had a dream of working in a mine; George Soros wants something in retail.
” suspension of habeas corpus;”
This is pretty much a done deal, and would be a legitimate complaint were it not buried under all this nonsense.
” the end of fossil fuel production, and much more.”
Yes. We’re going to stop producing oil. Just like “socialist” Norway. Again, WHY? I can only speculate as to what “much more” would entail. Forced gay marriage and abortions?
“Obama Will Take Away Our Gun Rights. Obama will take away our guns and “erase” the Second Amendment, says Wayne LaPierre, the $970,000-a-year executive director of the National Rifle Association who once called federal agents “jack-booted thugs” in a fundraising letter. Obama’s first term was nothing but a “conspiracy to ensure re-election by lulling gun owners to sleep.”
Why didn’t he just move in his first term?
“U.S. Will Be Enslaved by Globalists. ”
Actually the US is one of the slavemasters.
” And by the way, he’ll sign a treaty ensuring that the U.S. has to get permission from Russia and China to go to war.”
And WHY would he do this?
“He’s going to send in U.N. troops,” the judge warned a local TV station. “I don’t want ‘em in Lubbock County, OK? So I’m gonna stand in front of their armored personnel carrier and say, ‘You’re not coming in here.”
Why would he send in UN troops? Does he realize how the UN works?
“If [Obama is] re-elected, it’s gonna be war,” said Farah, who swears he saw a drone surveilling his Northern Virginia property. “We will be hunted down like dogs”
I hope Farah added: “But if he’s reelected and I’m wrong, I will publicly admit that I am a moron.”
on October 31st, 2012 at 9:25 am
CoralSea, if it wasn’t so tragic the fact that Mitt Romney represents just about every attack that the Republicans made on John Kerry (and are making on President Obama) would be comical.
on October 31st, 2012 at 9:40 am
Sam, you claim that Willard is ‘absolutely going to win.’ I must counter by stating that there is no such thing as an ‘absolute’ in national politics.
on October 31st, 2012 at 10:23 am
This takeover of the U.S. by the U.N. sure is taking a long time. I was warned about it at least 20 years ago, when Bush Sr. (the New World Order’s arch-Illuminatus) was president. That’s when I learned that the stickers on the back of highway signs are there to help guide the U.N. troops to their assigned targets. And of course the infamous black helicopters. But no need to waste a good conspiracy theory, even if it keeps turning out to have zero predictive value.
on October 31st, 2012 at 10:44 am
Sam, as you sit there in the comfort of your own little happy bubble, trying to reify your dreams of destruction of any and all social agencies, I would like expose the fallacy of this mode of thinking.
Well more than half of our federal budget goes to the gargantuan, grotesquely overgrown military. If you do even the slightest amount of research into what this mean, we are not competing with anybody, but forcing the rest of the world to compete with us.
All of these right wing fantasy expenditures such as the .001% of the budget that goes to PBS, are smoke screens to conceal concern by the massive corporations and families like the Waltons who own $100 billion of the world’s wealth which is the equivalent, I am led to believe, of the lower 40% of our nation.
How can you possibly argue that the vote is fair when the Waltons, or the Koch brothers, or the plutocrats of our sick, ignorant society have literally billions to spend to walpaper our social conscience with the same sort of nonsensical arguments you are making here about this “huge list of government agencies”.
You are obviously an intelligent and reasonably open minded individual, or you would not have stuck it out with us this long. But how can you possibly describe the policies that you are rooting for as being anywhere remotely in the realm of betterment for society?
The plutocrats who are behind this message you have so earnestly swallowed in discontent — much probably justified — about the Obama administration, are convinced that they and they alone have the higher wisdom to run the world. And why is that? Because if they were not wise, they would not already own it.
And yet the system is rigged at every turn in keeping the rich on an upward trajectory of power while the rest of us sink downwards or stagnate. The attacks on unions, the attacks on health care, these are symptoms of greed that is unrestrained and unrestrainable except through collective political effort, the same sorts of effort that you seem to oppose so gratuitously.
The fact of our climate change, warned about it the most dire of terms three decades ago, has become a reality. This year was the hottest in recorded history, and the second hottest of any year ever in the history of our planet based on the best of scientific research.
With a thirst for hydrocarbons, fuelled by wealth, and driven forward by the war machine, we are acidifying our oceans, killing the reefs which are the basis for the oceanic food chain, and literally causing hundred of thousands of deaths per year to “natural” disaster. These aren’t just environmental bugaboos; this is a reality which could have been avoided decades ago if we had stopped buying into the corporate imperative to consume.
Shame on you, Sam. You should be more careful what you wish for.
on October 31st, 2012 at 10:45 am
CM — I agree. I mean, how lame can the U.N. be? They should have taken over a long time ago if even 10% of what has been said about them and their intentions has been correct.
Gee — do you think that means that they AREN’T planning to take over the U.S.? Hmmmm. I guess the nutcases haven’t considered that one.
on October 31st, 2012 at 11:52 am
Good conspiracy theories never die, they just get updated. Sadly, the same goes for bad conspiracy theories.
on October 31st, 2012 at 12:36 pm
You can put whip cream and a cherry on a pile of Mitt, and it’s still a pile of Mitt.
on October 31st, 2012 at 2:06 pm
” There is a fairly credible huge list of Government agencies slated for evaporation by a Romney administration. Look under Ryan Budget to find them. I honestly do not know what a lot of them do, so I can’t comment on the possible effects, except that if you work for one of these agencies, I suggest getting your resume on a firefly and filling out the paperwork at some temp agencies, like, soon.”
Did it ever occur to you that people in those agencies vote, and many of them live in influential states? Might have been a bad strategy.
Mitt, rather like Obama, talks about cutting things which take very little money, while at the same time pouring ever more money into the things which are more or less useless.
The right loves using poor analogies to confuse people about deficit spending, so I’ll use a more apt analogy to explain this concept.
Let’s say there’s a guy who is in debt, and he decides he needs to cut back his spending. So he decides the fast food meals he has twice a week have to go. It will save him a little less than $20 a week. On the other hand, the guy goes to clubs every week where he spends $60 on booze, buys X-box games, orders pizza, etc. It’s clear that perhaps the fast food meals weren’t his problem.
Unlike the Republican tactic of likening government debt to a credit card, this analogy actually tracks.
on October 31st, 2012 at 3:15 pm
We’re talking about species survival and some belly buckers are out there saying, well Romney won’t take away our V8s and coal mines!
Surely there is someone in this forum from coal country who can tell us what the coal industry has done to the local environment. Not too unlike the horrendous damage done by the oilsands production in Canada, where cairbou are walking around with weeping sores from the chemicals permanently saturated into the groundwater.
The pipeline spoken about during the debates carries oil to the US and death to Canada. Meanwhile we crank the A/C to 68 degrees and burn natural gas to keep our houses from feeling the effects of global warming.
Was there ONE comment about climate change during the debates? One? You would think in the hottest year in North America ever, there would be one comment from the intended leaders of our land.
It isn’t about the economy, stupid. It isn’t about the Teachers Unions. It’s about the species. I hereby assume the fetal position and propose we emit a mayday on our solo journey around the sun.
And I am sad to say, or maybe glad, that the only voices of reason and political truth we find anywhere in America is on social media and blogs.
on October 31st, 2012 at 3:54 pm
aadila, the coal mining interests have tons of billboards around the Commonwealth promoting Romney because he’ll allow more coal mining which will bring energy independence (much of that coal winds being loaded on ships headed to Europe or South America at Newport News or Norfolk, BTW).
What i remember was that according to some seriously reputable economists the annual economic value of the coal being removed in mountaintop removal (which devestates the enviornment) was much lower than the value of tourism, hunting, etc. in the State of West Virginia. And that was on an annual basis – long term, coal mining is even more of a loser. There is a reason why areas which are heavy in coal mining are some of the poorest around.
on October 31st, 2012 at 4:05 pm
Aadilia, come visit Coal Country. Beautiful parkways and prolific industrial parks were recently built but not many jobs have moved there. I have seen reclaimed Strip Mines that look like beautiful rolling grassy meadows instead of the forested mountaintops we found when we stole Kentucky (American Indian for “dark and bloody hunting ground”). People turn loose horses they can’t afford and there are herds of wild horses running through these rolling pastures like out west. I have heard the stories of poisoned streams, and there probably are some. I have never personally seen any, and I have swam in the Kentucky River, recently, which flows North like the Nile from deep in Coal Country. There are so many Elk there is now a season to hunt them. There are Coyotes, like out west, and they are always in season. I do not hunt, but I try to be prepared for people who harm Gay people or anyone not known to them personally. They also kill cats for sport, and you don’t see many up there. After Welfare Reform, many people got on SSDI Disability. One county has over 25% of the population on the Government Dole. “What do you do?” “I draw” (a check). BTW, if we wanted to, the Carbon Dioxide from burning coal, if pumped into algae tanks, makes it grow so fast it would be feasable to make Biobiesel from it.
on October 31st, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Sam, if the human race leaves heirs, I wonder what the physiographers of several thousand years hence will say of that.
on October 31st, 2012 at 4:55 pm
Of course none of this will happen..one of their their main concerns should be the economy but, o well..
on October 31st, 2012 at 4:57 pm
if Barry gets re-elected that is
on October 31st, 2012 at 6:34 pm
” I have heard the stories of poisoned streams, and there probably are some. I have never personally seen any, and I have swam in the Kentucky River, recently, which flows North like the Nile from deep in Coal Country.”
Well, there you have it. Absolute proof that extracting coal creates no environmental problems. Next up, Sophomore Sam explains that AGW is a lib-rul hoax.
on October 31st, 2012 at 10:16 pm
I still can’t get over the idiocy of some of these theories. Can you visualize this scenario?
Obama: All I need is one more term, and I’ll finally be able to enact my greatest plan! I will make the US subordinate to the UN, unlike any other country, and I shall sign a treaty requiring us to get permission from Russia and China in order to go to war, breaking the policy of going to war whenever we feel like it which we have had pretty much since our country’s beginning, and which incidentally, I implemented myself several times in my first term!! HA HA HA!!!
White House aide: Uh….Why would you sign such a treaty?
Obama: I…….don’t know. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA
on November 1st, 2012 at 8:55 am
“one of their their main concerns should be the economy but, o well..”
Of course it should.
Especially the question of a fair vote when the Walton kids each have net worth of $24 billion, i.e. together representing the equivalent of the lower 40% of our nation’s population.
Now, if you want to look at the economy, let’s look at why the wealth keeps flowing to the 1% from the rest, and then look at how political contributions and superpacs are funded disproportionately by the 1%. The problem in our _economy_ is economic disparity. There is plenty of wealth, it is just in the hands of a self-interested class of plutocrats who set the political agenda.
Now if you want to talk about the problems with the _deficit_this is obviously due to military spending. There is no other way to discuss it. That is the elephant in the room. All the other phantom expenditures pointed to by Republicans go back to the same plutocrats fearful for not their wealth, but any change to the system that allows their wealth to set the political agenda.
Anyone voting for Republicans in this election are either billionaires or voting against their own interests. Since only 1% are billionaires, that means 99% have been completely hoodwinked by fear and lies. I’ll ASSume they are not all fools…
on November 1st, 2012 at 9:34 am
Sam, the only reason why there is any environmental remediation at all from mining operations is due to governmental regulation.
The reason why so many people living in coal country are receiving disability payments is likely due to black lung – black lung is so pervasive for coal miners that there is a special benefits hearing board set up solely to hear black lung cases and there are a very large number of lawyers who do nothing but black lung cases. There are also other pollutants – clearly the large number of chemical plants in the Charleston vicinity play a role in pollution as well, but if you look at the rivers which originate in coal country.
In fact, you really want to know who bad mining and industrial activity can be to the environment you need to go back prior to the EPA, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, etc. Back to the time where several American rivers (not just the Cuyahoga – it was merely the most famous) caught on fire due to having so many chemicals. Back to the time when cars in Pittsburgh had to drive with their headlights on in the middle of the day becuse the sky was black with pollutants from the air pollution. Back when over 200 people died in London due to one particularly nasty smog.
Centrailia, Pennsylvania is also coal country.
In fact, there is a famous Supreme Court decision Pennsylvania Coal v. McMahon (if this isn’t exactly right, its close) where coal companies challenged a Pennsylvania state law which prevented them from removing all of the coal underneath entire towns causing them to collapsae and won before the United States Supreme Court. That was in 1922 that case was decided in the height of the Lochner Era (see also Hammer v. Dagenhart which struck down laws banning child labor). There are many on the right who want to go back to the Lochner era – they want to go back to the days when life as a peasant was “solitary, nasty, brutish, and short.”:
Trying to pretend that hte coal industry of today after years of unions, safety, and environmental regulations is relatively benign (it is compared to the coal industry of 100 years ago – its still one of the most dangerous, nasty, and destructive industries around) doesn’t change the fact that they are looking to return to the Gilded Age of unregulated capitalism.
Contrary to what you think Sam, your argument actually refuted itself.
on November 1st, 2012 at 10:12 am
If I didn’t know better I’d think this was a politically biased report from the SPLC.
The SPLC did outstanding work identifing and exposing true “racist” groups like the KKK and other white and black supremacist groups whose focus was on color and genetics – that is true racism.
How sad to see SPLC have trashed their legacy and are now anti Conservative political hacks.
Just to make sure I wasn’t jumping to conclusions I googled “SPLC President Bush” What popped up was more far right conspiracy theories with a focus on President Bush – No equal conspiracy theories from the left (and their are a bunch if you go to Daily KOS for starters.)
http://www.splcenter.org/get-i.....-the-right
on November 1st, 2012 at 11:20 am
Hatewatch, I’m disappointed you dropped the alliteration.
“Paranoid Prognosticators Predict Peril if President Prevails at Polls”
on November 1st, 2012 at 11:20 am
aadilla, as w/ any group, repubs or demos, each will have their share of fools…as a cynic and a realist, i’d like to believe the dems are all about saving the middle class but i don’t buy it…ditto for the repubs
on November 1st, 2012 at 11:27 am
From 1968 through 2007, black lung led to some 75,000 deaths in the United States.
Tougher environmental laws passed in 1969 slowed the trend down, but it picked up again in the late 1990s when the Republicans got in power again.
Republicans: the Pro-Black Lung Party.
on November 1st, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Well Spurious, the article you cite includes ample documentation of right wing activities, so it is obvious there is a problem with right wing groups forming terror cells. This is not really a conspiracy theory, this is a record of actual groups. Read it and weep.
So based on what you provided I am not sure what you intended to say, but clearly the idea of far right conspiracy theories is linked with the emergence of such groups, given their stated ideologies.
We’ve heard time and time again about how the SPLC doesn’t focus on “left wing terror” but the extremely few numbers of incidents have already been documented.
Where are all these “left wing” menaces that are being overlooked, do tell? All of these pansy soy eating peaceniks Rush Limbaugh likes to talk about all of a sudden turning violent?
The focus on right wing terror and hate crimes is motivated by the constant proliferation from the right of terror groups and hate groups. And, in no small part, the unwillingness of right wing demogogues to admit their role in fanning the flames.
If the right wing didn’t keep producing these dangerous nut cases, the SPLC would be unable to document them.
on November 1st, 2012 at 12:18 pm
Spurious Left,
What part of “Keeping an Eye on the Radical Right” do you not understand?
on November 1st, 2012 at 2:53 pm
aadila is correct about the return of Black Lung. If you read any of the follow-up reports on the men who were killed in the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch mine disaster, you will note that the majority of these men had signs of occupational lung disease — including men who were in their 20s.
We know how to keep atmospheres in coal mines safe and/or equip workers so they are protected. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) fines these companies constantly — but their fines don’t have sufficient teeth to get the owners to shape up.
Since I am a certified hazardous waste worker who also has worked in a lot of hazardous work settings as well as contaminated sites, I am well aware of the technology and safe practices that CAN be used to reduce accidents and occupational exposures. Some workplaces are still nightmare-worthy — and I have long thought that one good remedy would be “Take your C-Suite Executives and Board of Directors to Work Month” would be a really great idea in some of the manufacturing plants I’ve visited, where you really, really have to pay attention to where you can run if things go south.
Also, Sam, not all of the mining going on is the incredibly damaging “mountain top removal” mining. I haven’t been to any place where the mountain top removal activities are going on, but people I know who have seen this — and the utter devastation it creates to entire areas and ecosystems — say that it is orders of magnitudes worse than strip mining. And as Erika said (I think she said it), the only reason that strip mined land is reclaimed is because of laws that have been passed requiring restoration.
Half of the people in the U.S. get their drinking water from surface waters — arsenic, cyanide, and other goodies from mining runoff isn’t really something you want to drink. As for the other half of the people in the U.S., who use groundwater for their drinking water, acid runoff from mining also leaches into the ground. The acid is significant, by the way, because it causes the leaching of metals in potentially toxic concentrations to enter the groundwater, and once an aquifer is compromised, particularly by metals, it will require expensive treatment in order to render it safe. But that would be a cost that, most likely, would be pushed onto the tax payers rather than paid by the companies that cause the problems.
on November 1st, 2012 at 3:36 pm
John, being a “realist” implies you are in touch with reality, which judging by your comment to date, you do not. Hence I’d say you’re neither a realist nor a cynic, but merely a crank.
on November 1st, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Thanks Coral, for a sobering encounter with the reality of environmental destruction proposed by the Republicans.
Clearly the issue of coal goes well beyond its immediate repercussions of soil and water contamination, it is one of the dirtiest fuels known. There are some Fischer-Tropsche technologies that permit carbon capture and a less damaging use of goal to produce syngas, but in my mind this requires a global approach.
It makes little economic nor environmental sense to focus exclusively on dirty fuel use within individual countries since airborne contaminants quickly go global. China for example is by far the greater offender, and Romney would joyously ship American dirty fuels there to increase our atmospheric carbon and ocean acidification, after raping the earth here to extract it.
In cases such as these, measures need to be taken at the United Nations level such as the Kyoto accords — which the U.S. previous agreed to then later “un-signed”.
Un-signing would be a lovely technique if you could apply it to other agreements such as a credit card purchases and marriage contracts. Unfortunately, like most of the policies of George W. Bush, this term has legal merit only when backed by use of force majeure.
Clearly, as regards the issues raised by Coral, only when we see the kind of massive, crippling legal action pursued against the asbestos industry will the coal industry respond with anything more than empty promises. The latter being something the Republicans are good at perpetuating.
on November 1st, 2012 at 4:08 pm
I know the regulations have been responsible for the current standards of coal mines. Why assume I think they weren’t? Naked Capitalism forces companies to compete for the lowest cost, and sensible regulations all even out the playing field. People with more agenda than horse sense can rig any study there is. Here’s one way to get the results you want: some environmental runoff studies were done right after a rain, others in the driest part of summer. The State of Kentucky does a pretty good job of seeing through bulls**t, and our environment overall shows it. There is a bias from the educated urban class in Louisville and Lexington against Strip Mining, AKA Mountaintop Removal. They of course do not have to go into a coal mine to earn a living. The old way is more dangerous and more apt to cause Black Lung. Strip mines are being reclaimed very well, although the landscape does look different.
on November 1st, 2012 at 4:18 pm
there you go ASSuming again, aadilla…i just can’t take your replies seriously..if you’re trying to equate me w/ the right you’re not even close…there’s more to people than the right-left, conservative-liberal paradigm that you and your friends are used to..and where’s my bananna pudding?
on November 1st, 2012 at 5:49 pm
I have a theory that ugly lands breed ugly thoughts. Ever notice how “Red” states are butt-ugly places to live?
on November 1st, 2012 at 7:24 pm
aadila — actually, coal can be burned a lot more cleanly, especially in terms of Sulfur Dioxide (which causes acid rain). If power plants use scrubbers, they can burn it relatively cleanly, however, they don’t want to spend the money. Instead, a lot of them went to burning low-sulfur, Powder River Basin coal so they could avoid spending money on scrubbers. Unfortunately, Powder River Basin coal has a relatively low BTU value, and they have to burn a lot of it, which results in NOx (Nitrogen oxides).
Depending on the quality of the coal, you also may get excessive mercury, which deposits both near power plants and disperses and carries for global exposures. Soot and other particulates from old plants that should be phased out but are often allowed to continue to operate are another serious issue (although the number 1 problem emission in most urban areas is diesel — which includes both gases and particulates). EPA has been making strides, giving out research grants for “clean diesel.”
I have worked with a lot of different industries, and they have very different attitudes toward the environment and regulation. Believe it or not, the chemical industry, with the exception of a few bad actors, is relatively amenable to regulation — as long as everyone has to comply. The oil companies — ehhhh, a lot of them tend toward “cowboy” syndrome and they are a couple of decades behind the chemical industry in terms of willingness to engage in environmental protection.
Surprisingly, however, many of the public utilities are actually far more resistant to regulation than the oil industry. They were the ones who dug in their heels with G. W. Bush and whined about complying with climate change regulations that the chemical industry had already paid billions to comply with. When Bush let the utilities off the hook, this, along with the “opportunity” of 9/11 to rein in those pesky environmentalists (DHS wanted to keep information on toxics out of the hands of the public), allowed industry as a whole to push back against regulation, which they did. Thus, we have lost a decade during which we might have been addressing climate change.
As for the mining companies — I have limited knowledge of them, but I know that the abuses outside the U.S. are horrendous (and a lot of the same multinationals are operating here). Government oversight is VERY important, but with the way corporate money has insinuated itself into the regulatory and enforcement processes, there are some very bad things going on. I hope that at some point the tides change on this.
on November 1st, 2012 at 10:27 pm
None of these so called predictions are really anything more than the repackaged junk I head from the Birchers and Sen. McCarthy while growing up in Wisconsin in the 1950′s A few tweaks here and there, a new word included every now and then and NOTHING strikes my ear as really new.
Yes, the Birchers once held noisy sway (as did George Wallace and George Lincoln Rockwell) and Sen. McCarthy’s committee witch hunts have been replaced by those of Issa. The “N” word has been replaced by every slur imaginable for hispanics. Predictions used against the UN when Truman and Ike praised it are now continued unabated.
Call me unimpressed.
American politics has ALWAYS had its fringe candidates and parties. But, only the Republican Party has deemed in necessary to allow the fringe in. They did it with the Birchers and McCarthy in the 50′s and now with the TPs, Koch Brothers and Issa in this year.
In the 6 decades of my life it is no closer to communist take-over now as it was then.
on November 2nd, 2012 at 4:55 am
Erika, Black Lung is a separate check and also carries Survivor Benefits for spouses. The Federal SSDI Disability Checks handed out in the poorest Eastern Kentucky counties may come from work related injuries, or smoking, or valid disabilities. But for 25% of the population to be on it would seem to indicate that a lot of them come from Disability lawyers, whose billboards sometimes seem to outnumber any subject except Religious billboards.
on November 2nd, 2012 at 8:41 am
Sam, think. You find more admiralty lawyers in Florida than in Utah. Why? So if disability lawyers are so common in coal country, that’s because they know there are plenty of provable disabilities.
on November 2nd, 2012 at 4:27 pm
Rey, Welfare reform limited cash payments to five years, and a lot of people got on permanent disability. Obviously they are legally proveable or they would not have it. There are few jobs in Eastern Kentucky, just like the mostly Black West End of Louisville, so I can see the shortsighted thinking of considering yourself disabled to get on Disability VS the actual wisdom of, uh, MOVING to get a job paying at minimum twice what a Disability check would be for someone with no work history. Also, stories abound of some of the dubious disorders that qualify. How about ODD, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, where a person absolutely will not follow instructions? I have some of that myself.
on November 3rd, 2012 at 12:35 am
Now hold on here, I thought the Free Masons were going to take over and now your telling Me Obama beat Them to it??
on November 3rd, 2012 at 9:50 am
Much of the “religious right” is easily lead by the more intelligent money hustlers and feed them all the bull dinky they can absorb . I dodged this storm (Sandy) by an inch where I got caught the last time for $100,000. If that was a gift , then maybe I’m inline for another – namely for Obama to win and help clean up these “puke pockets” that want to cause trouble . ” I’m All In ” !!!
on November 4th, 2012 at 7:25 pm
I know you have ODD, Mr. Molloy, and it has clearly caused you a significant impairment in rational thinking.
on November 5th, 2012 at 7:39 am
Silly Sam, you really have no clue about which you are spouting. But i believe that you are speaking out of ignorance and not malice and i happen to know quite a bit about Medicaid so i’ll try to educate you.
It is extremely hard to qualify for government disability payments – the burden of proving disability (which under the Social Security standard requires that you must show that you are unable to work) is on the patient. The vast majority of disability claims are rejected and often people have to file several appeals to qualify.
Now is it possible that some people on disability can in fact hold a job – yes, of course it is. However, generally to do that requires continued treatment which requires health insurance. For example, a person with bipolar disorder might be able to work if they take mood stabilizers which would cost hundreds of dollars per month without health insurance. However, unless the job provides health insurance coverage the person would not be able to afford the medication even making more than the SSDI amount. So even wanting to return to work, the person with bipolar disorder has to stay on SSDI and maybe SSI to receive medication. Thus, a person may want to return to work and be able to work if medicated but be in the position where they cannot afford to take the medication which is required for them to work if they are working. If the person goes back to work and then is not successful it is also very difficult to get back onto SSDI.
That is why the feds have developed the Ticket to Work program. The Ticket to Work program allows people to return to work gradually and be able to keep their SSDI and more importantly their Medicare (SSDI) and possibly Medicaid (SSI) which is their health insurance. Unless the job provides both “substantial gainful employment” and health insurance, the feds know that a person is not going to be able to work because the person with a disability cannot work without insurance. It also enables a trial work period where a person can keep their benefits while seeing if they are successful at returning to work.
Another factor which keeps people particularly with mental illness or intellectual disability from working is the fact that the state and local governments have a strong incentive to keep those populations which require expensive treatment (ever see the price of anti-psychotic medications?) being elgible for Medicaid (which is to say receiving SSI) because then the federal government picks up the bulk of the cost. In ID, almost all services are only provided if a person is receiving Medicaid (SSI) which again requires a showing that they are unable to work in gainful employment. Often people with disabilities want to work but their care providers who would lose money if they are able to successfully return to work block them. Many care providers (as well as the state and local governments – and even the feds are using these things) also make money through day programs and sheltered workshops which can legally pay less than a minimum wage under Title 14c of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Thus, it is not as easy as just going out and finding a job. There is the fact that the treatment needed to be able to work – and possible accomodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act also cost money. Going on disability as being unable to work provides health insurance. Working even if able does not provide health insurance and often leads to more health problems and social costs.
Thus, the best way to enable people with disabilities to return to work is to assure health insurance coverage – such as the feds have done through the Ticket to Work program in a limited way. And of course, the health care reform does that through the Medicaid expansion and the employer mandate. In fact, enabling people with disabilities who almost always want to return to work but can’t and stay on disability because it is the only way to get insurance and treatment which might enable them to work and receive health insurance without receiving SSDI and/or SSI is likely to save a whole lot of money in the long run.
Basically Sam you are completely misinformed and are basing your views on the stereotypes given in the right wing media. Try actually knowing people.with disabilities. Or just study Title 14c of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Sheltered Workshops. Start your education here: http://www.ndrn.org/images/Doc.....loited.pdf and here: http://www.ndrn.org/images/Doc.....loited.pdf
Understand 14c and health insurance issues and you understand why so many people are really receiving SSDI and SSI.
(and if you need a translation, SSDI is Social Security Disability Income which is disability based and SSI is Supplemental Security Income which is income based and pays next to nothing).
on November 5th, 2012 at 7:44 am
Weren’t these same people saying the same thing about Bill Clinton in 1996 and about Al Gore in 2000 and about John Kerry in 2004 and about Obama in 2008 (and likley before that but i’m too young to remember)?
Why is it that these people promise doom whenever a Democrat might get elected?
COuld it be similar to the reason why the Koch Brothers-Fox News controlled Tea Party suddenly showed up in 2009 complaining about the deficit which simply wasn’t an issue when Bush was running up a huge deficit?
In fact, could it be that these paranoid right wing nuts are being paid for by right wing corporate interests in the service of Mammon to try to scare people to vote Republican out of fear of a radical right wing invasion?
on November 5th, 2012 at 3:27 pm
Erika, I think I know more about conditions in Kentucky than you do. Everybody has quirks that, with a good Disability lawyer, and a self image of a sick person, can get them on Disability. Think. 25% of the people? Something somewhere ain’t right.
on November 5th, 2012 at 4:20 pm
Sam — I don’t know eastern Kentucky well, but I DO know a thing or two about disabilities. First, modern medicine is both a wonder and a curse. A lot of people who would have worn out and died in their forties or younger are still with us because the usual causes of death (occupational injuries/deaths, childbirth, and infections [which tended to result from and cause the other two]) have been greatly reduced. However, those of us with compromised immune systems who would, 100 years ago, have died of some infection, are still tottering around, trying to be as functional as possible.
I am a case in point. I am 56-years-old and I could get on disability if I wanted (although even when you are very disabled, it often takes a couple of years — this idea you have that just anyone can get on disability is very odd and not what I have seen or experienced). On a good day, I have a blood oxygen level of around 87%. If I was in a hospital, they would be calling a code on me. I have pulmonary fibrosis, which means that my lungs are filling up with scar tissue. This condition, in my case, is the result of rheumatorid arthritis, an autoimmune disorder that can attack more than just your bones. I also have a bad heart and suffered a silent heart attack last year.
Although I am very tired much of the time and am really only functional 8 hours a day total (and that means the entire amount of time I can be out of bed), because I am well-educated and have good creds as a writer and consultant, I can get by, working a few hours a week. There is no way in the world that I could work in an office or work part-time somewhere, even. (Actually, I do work a six-hour day every few weeks at an antique shop that a friend of mine owns, but it wipes me out and that is absolutely ALL I can do that day).
But I would like to continue along, working, because I like to work. Most other people who have crappy health aren’t lucky enough to be able to work at home a few hours a day and make enough to live a middle-class life. Instead, they would need to work full-time, which many people with chronic health problems are unable to do. Part of this has to do with the way benefits are set up (as Erika explained), but a lot of it is because employers aren’t exactly understanding regarding health issues.
Over the past 6 months I have been doing a lot of writing on demographic trends, which means that I have been slogging through a lot of health data. A large percentage of folks in their forties and fifties are in really bad health. And once you fall through the insurance net (unless we do get Obamacare–Goddess willing), your health declines even further and faster. I can’t yet afford insurance and still support myself, but in my case, it doesn’t really matter. THe only remedy for my lung condition is a lung transplant, and I don’t want one. (I know that sounds weird, and I think it’s great if other people get them, but I wouldn’t go through that myself).
This is, indeed, a serious social issue, and it is likely to get worse as the general health of the population deteriorates and wages continue to be depressed so that it’s harder and harder for people to support themselves. There are remedies — such as higher wages, more flexibility in work hours for people who aren’t well enough to work part-time, access to better medical care to prevent chronic illnesses.
Or we could all go and die. I know that this is the popular solution among many Republicans now (unless you are pregnant, then you have to have the kid so everyone knows you are a slut and had sex, but once the kid is out, oh well — it’s on its own, and you can just die). Is this your position as well? I didn’t ask to be disabled, and I am doing my level best to be productive and live my life. Are you doing anything to help? Or are you just bitching about people who are already leading tough, difficult lives? We’d all like to know.
on November 5th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Sam, honey, a simple Google search for Kentucky SSDI statistics shows that there are a total of 206,189 people receiving SSDI benefits as being disabled workers in Kentucky out of a population of over 4,000,000. Needless to say that is not anywhere close to 25%. Here are the actual numbers by county.
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs.....11/ky.html
That is a rate of SSDI which is twice that of Virginia but as Virginia’s numbers here show:
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs.....11/va.html
the disability rates in coal country are much higher than in say a suburban county where most people work in offices (compare Lee County with Fairfax County in VA).
In fact, high rates of disability tend to be present in areas where a high rate of people work in extraction industries (mining, oil drilling) or construction/industrial work, etc. because that work is more dangerous. Dangerous work tends to lead to disability claims. See also worker’s compensation claims.
And even with those actual numbers – i seriously doubt that you can show any county where there is 25% of the population receiving SSDI and that there is a large number of fraudulent claims (and yes sweetie that is exactly what you are trying to claim – obviously you have never ever dealt with Social Security if you think you are going to get a fraudulent disability claim past them – and SSDI recipients also have to recertify periodically that they remain disabiled) believe me if there was such a county and doctors giving a large number of questionable claims the feds would be in investigating and sending people to prison.
Basically honey the burden is on you to prove your claim. You have the actual numbers – here is a link to the official CEnsus figures for all Kentucky Counties – http://quickfacts.census.gov/q.....y_map.html – show an actual county where 25% of adults are on SSDI (obviously the disability column). i don’t have time to do your homework for you unless you are going to be paying me to do it.
on November 5th, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Sam, now that you have seen the facts, and realize how deeply you were duped, I think you should just do the right thing and vote for Obama.
on November 5th, 2012 at 7:04 pm
Erika,
If you are waiting for young Sam to acknowledge his lazy trolling habits then you are going to be waiting a long time. Ask him about the Kenyan Farthings.
on November 6th, 2012 at 3:28 pm
Erika, Kentucky has 120 counties, and some of those approach or exceed 25% on Disability. Most parents still prepare their children for a job, or, a good education. In these counties too many parents make sure their children get on the dole, and they know both the laws and lawyers that can do just that. The parents get a check until the kid is 18, then the kid is “set for life”. Of course they will have to live down there, as most cities are too expensive to live on, what, $750 a month, if they have never paid in to the system? Plus the kid is stigmatized at an early age as “not quite right”, when good parents and the usual jobs trail should have led them to a better future. This is in no way the Eastern Kentucky norm, but it is a tragic issue. Gay kids, by the way, invariably move to Lexington Ky. or Huntington, W.Va as soon as they can, if they survive.
on November 6th, 2012 at 4:36 pm
One county has over 25% of the population on the Government Dole. “What do you do?” “I draw” (a check).
—
Sam, the original source of your joke is a Harpers Weekly December 2, 1865 political wood engraving on page 761 entitled SOLUTION OF THE LABOR QUESTION IN THE SOUTH (caps original).
An “inquiring stranger” on horseback in a stovepipe hat and Lincolnesque beard asks two groups, black and white, what they will do for a living, now that the war is over.
The “Ex-Slaves” say “Why, Master, we’s gwine to draw.” “Draw what?” “Draw rations, Sir.”
The “Ex-dominant Race” says “I reckon we’ll run–” “Run! After what?” “O! we’ll run for offices of some sort–Congress, Legislature, Constables, or Notary Public, or any thing!”
I recognized it at once because I have an original of this woodcut print in my office. Just goes to show how a bon mot can pass the test of time.
on November 6th, 2012 at 7:19 pm
“some of those approach or exceed 25% on Disability.”
Which county(s), Sam?
on November 6th, 2012 at 11:46 pm
Sam — you haven’t answered my question: are people who are disabled or who cannot work full-time (meaning, away from home) just go ahead and die? Or should efforts be made to help us continue to live as best we can? What are your thoughts? You made some insulting claims. Can you tell me what you think should be done about people like me?
on November 7th, 2012 at 5:58 am
Sam, honey, i’ve given you access to the actual numbers of SSDI recepients and Census figures for Kentucky. If such counties really existed it would be easy enough for you to name them so your claim can be independently verified.
Because you refuse to do that, i am getting the impression that you simply made your claim up.
In any case, i really do not see why it matters – because the feds take benefits fraud very seriously they would investigate any suspicious spike or pattern in questionable disability claims. And you are simply wrong that all it takes is to have a child be declared to be “not quite right” to get disability (maybe it will get the child beaten to “beat The Devil” out of her or put on medication but it won’t get her on SSDI). Thus, if there really are so counties (which i kind of doubt because i’m definitely not going to take your word for it) the real question you should ask is what went on in that county to create so many disabled adults? Most likely candidates are pollution, industrial accidents, and injuries during military service (the number and percentage of disabled veterans is depressing).
on November 7th, 2012 at 6:02 am
while the scary Mitt Romney threat is gone, i seriously worry what the idiots making these claims will do in the next four years.
on November 7th, 2012 at 6:18 am
Well Obama’s victory was so exciting that it disturbed my meditations. I am pleased that reason and the facts prevailed in this election, while the U.S. broadly put a reject stamp on the Tea Party.
I was pleased that the right wing torturer Alan West was rejected in his bid in Florida, but unfortunately the Texas nut job Cruz won as Senator. Given the stronger Democratic majority in the upper house, I have a feeling that Cruz will be marginalized but I am concerned that his rabid ideologies will continue to envenom the political process in his freshman term.
It is also noteworthy that Texas, as the great bastion of the right wing war machine, took a staggering blow with a surprising surge of Democratic voters. Although the Republicans swept the elections, the races were very close in almost every example, from judges to state legislators and minor local offices.
This is a shock to many in Texas, and it suggests that within a few election cycles, the status may shift from Red State to Blue State. This is very relevant for national politics and keen observers will see that the Texas Democrats are going to become politicos to watch on the national arena in the near future. Don’t be deceived by the Republican victories: they are running scared and already trying to rethink their strategies.
Hopefully, this election will break the Tea Party’s parasitical sucker-lock on the veins of political power in America, and usher in a new era of political contribution from the party of obstruction. It is good to see the reactionary movement defanged.
on November 7th, 2012 at 7:17 am
I guess I will move to Canada to escape all this Sociialism. Oh, wait…
on November 7th, 2012 at 7:57 am
Well folks, Obama’s been reelected. So I guess we should start watching for those UN troops. I’m sure if they don’t come, all those flogging that conspiracy theory will happily admit their mistake.
on November 7th, 2012 at 8:36 am
Let us all contemplate a verse from the minor Roman poet, Lucretius:
“It is pleasant, when the sea is high and winds are dashing the waves about, to watch from the shores the struggles of another.”
on November 7th, 2012 at 8:58 am
Wish I could post that charming little blue Eeyore I downloaded this morning, but, thanks, folks, I’m smiling a mile. And, Sam, sorry about your disappointment, but with that mirror in your pocket, you’ll never be without your best-beloved.
on November 7th, 2012 at 9:52 am
The Republicans have found themselves between the scylla of the spend-nothing libertarians and the charybdis of the restrict-everything evangelicals. It is a tragic outcome for a party so set upon a heroic victory never to be achieved amid the changing demographics of the New America.
The death knell of these political delusions tolls a somber note that Republicans are loathe to hear: change, change, change
on November 7th, 2012 at 10:28 am
It is necessary now, even amid the euphoria of the end to war, for we, the victors of this bitter struggle, to turn our sights now to the hard task of Reconstruction. The destruction that was wrought over the past four years is impossible to ignore.
We have seen defiled our sacred American symbols and iconography, such as Big Bird, seen reviled our exceptional achievements such as the National Endowment for the Arts, and even free expression, in the form of National Public Radio, has not emerged from this bitter conflict unscathed.
Our national Treasury has been depleted by obstructionist politicians, the God-given natural right of marriage has been denied to a large segment of our population, and no part of this land has escaped some consequence of the vicious campaign against the Union brought about by the Republicans, and most notoriously their ignominious Reactionary front, the Tea Party.
The People have spoken; their choice has been heard. It is not enough to declare our victory. No, the struggle has truly only begun. Now it is necessary for us to contemplate a somber and weighty measure of what comes after:
What form of Reparations shall be made!
on November 7th, 2012 at 12:45 pm
“Mitt Romney, like it or not, absolutely will win.”
Any post election predictions, Sam?
on November 7th, 2012 at 2:41 pm
Maybe Mitt and Sam took advantage of the run on Kenyan farthings, and are laughing all the way to the bank?
on November 8th, 2012 at 10:42 pm
No Mitt Romney did not win, like it or not America wants change, a change that only Obama can bring
on November 12th, 2012 at 4:53 pm
It would certainly be nice if any of them… Republican or democrat, would stick to the Constitution.