Taking it personally, Parts 1 and 2

Today I ran across an old bit of information that I'm surprised I didn't notice back when it actually happened: Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) voted for the flag burning amendment last year.

Now, this is no great surprise to me. I already knew that Senator Feinstein has a tendency to vote for terrible bills and appointments despite a complete lack of electoral impetus. But I distinctly recall her staff getting particularly angry and defensive with me when I pointed out that she supported banning flag burning a few years ago.


More recently, Senator Barack Obama has taken to claiming that there is some kind of vague Social Security Problem which needs to be solved. He mentioned this at the rally in Washington Square Park, which annoyed me, but I hoped it would go away. Now he seems to be bringing it up again, which is extremely aggravating.

As Atrios points out here, not only is this factually incorrect, it is also a slap in the face to everyone involved in the fight against privatization. A great deal of what that fight entailed was pointing out that there is no Social Security Crisis, so we don't need to take drastic measures to "save" it from some imagined enemy.

I'm someone who spent that entire summer knocking on doors, putting pressure on Members of the House and Senate to vote against privatization. Hearing Senator Obama echoing the pro-privatization talking points is an unnecessary stab in the back.

The Illustrious History of Machinists Union Belt Buckles

[P]olice sprayed pepper gas on some 800 [striking IAM workers] at the company's North Kingston plant in early 1982. Three weeks later, a machinist narrowly escaped serious injury when a shot fired into the picket line hit his belt buckle. The National Labor Relations Board subsequently charged Brown & Sharpe with regressive bargaining, and of entering into negotiations with the express purpose of not reaching an agreement with the union.

http://www.cnylabor.org/cnysolidarityreport6thissue.htm

Painfully Urban

Check out the "graffiti tag" style Adam Smith logos on these t-shirts and hoodies:



The Adam Smith Institute, which sells these atrocities, claims that these logos will give their (conservative, white, upper class, Ayn Rand-loving) customers "street cred."

Given that this is a 'free market' think tank named after Adam Smith, my guess is that they haven't actually read anything the guy wrote. Or maybe they have, which would explain the complete lack of actual Smith texts available in their gift shop. Only books about Hayek. I'm not even joking.