The Muppets vs. Big Oil (?!)

Michael Stickings (@mjwstickings) has shared a Tweet with you:

"thinkprogress: Fox News: The Muppets are 'brainwashing' young people to hate the oil industry"

Conservatives are hilariously stupid, aren't they? (If only they didn't have so many ignorant adherents.)

Thanks for never failing to deliver, Fox News.

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Here's the Think Progress post:

Life's a happy song, but not when Fox Business is singing along. The network is upset that the new Muppets movie, The Muppets, features an oil tycoon as a villain, with various contributors complaining last week that the film amounts to "indoctrination" of young people into "hating corporate America" that borders on "Communist[ic]." Dan Gainor of the conservative Media Research Center agreed with host Eric Bolling that "liberal Hollywood is using class warfare to brainwash our kids" and the discussion rambled on from there...

The discussion unraveled into attacks against President Obama, the 99 Percent movement, and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). Andrea Tantaros, host of "The Five" over on Fox News, implored that Tex Richman embodies "The American Dream," and Bolling suggested that teaching that wealth is bad amounts to Communism.

Poor Corporate America. Poor Big Oil. Boo-fucking-hoo. This woe-is-us thing they and their surrogates always do is pathetic.

Even if this were the case, which it's not. The movie, which I really enjoyed, is an old-fashioned story (not in 3D, thankfully, and full of charming musical numbers) about love and friendship and community, about being yourself and embracing who you are, about difference and acceptance, about values we all can cherish. It's quite wonderful -- and wonderfully American. And of course it doesn't promote the cruelty and brutality of today's conservatism, hence its rejection by conservatives like these morons. (So, yes, in that sense, the Muppets are against right-wing Corporate America, but not against capitalism -- they get their show on network TV, after all.)

And, seriously, attacking the Muppets? I've just got one thing to say to that:

Drill Baby Drill!

By Capt. Fogg

Think 'Drill Baby Drill' has been set aside for the nonce while a bazillion barrels of toxic crude poisons the gulf? Think again. Think it's wise to re-examine the permits issued by a government agency that's been run the Oil producers for aver a decade now that we know they've been rubber stamping every request without bothering to asses the danger? Think again and remember our new national anthem: Drill Baby Drill.

Agree with the dittoheads that Obama is the problem? That if he had or hadn't done some nebulous thing we'll think of if we have to, that we wouldn't have had this mess? Of course you do even though his attempt to make sure we wouldn't have another blowout before we've stopped this one has been shot down by courts to the tune of Drill Baby Drill. It's a victory!

Yes, the real disaster is Barack Obama and we'll all smile and nod approval and even giggle when our friends tell us 2012 will be "the end of an error." 2012 - we can get back to calling people traitors for criticizing the government. We can restore the cap on BP's liability and teach those lazy unemployed people to eat tar balls and shut up.

Maybe we can take advantage of the new corporate personhood by electing Exxon as president; replace congress with the Shell Oil board of directors or even make Sarah Palin Chief Justice if we can count on her not cutting and running halfway through. The possibilities are endless.

(Cross posted from Human Voices)

Truth in Comics

By Creature


If it's Sunday, it's Truth in Comics.

Truth in Comics

By Creature


If it's Sunday, it's Truth in Comics.

Big Oil, the GOP, and the screwing of the American taxpayer (and the environment)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

From our friends at the Senate Democratic Policy Committee:

Whose Side Are They On: Republican Inaction Protects Big Oil at the Expense of the American Taxpayer

Senate Republicans are once again putting special interests ahead of the American people by protecting Big Oil polluters. Attempts to block the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Liability Act send a clear message: Senate Republicans are on the side of Big Oil companies.

As the oil spill continues, the Gulf Coast’s fishermen, tourist industries, and small businesses are incurring millions of dollars worth of damage every day. Cleanup costs have already reached $450 million and will continue to climb. Unfortunately, the total economic impact will dwarf the initial cleanup cost – Louisiana’s fishing industry could lose over $2 billion and the Florida tourism industry another $3 billion.

Despite the billion-dollar costs associated with the spill, Big Oil companies enjoy the protection of a $75 million dollar cap on liability. Unless the cap is increased, these companies, earning profits in excess of $24 billion in the first quarter of 2010, will only have to pay for a fraction of the overall economic impact of this preventable disaster. That is why Senate Democrats have brought forward legislation that would ensure Big Oil companies pay for their own mistakes by raising the liability cap for offshore oil well spills from $75 million to $10 billion.

Blindly trusting Big Oil to take full responsibility, Senate Republicans have blocked this legislation and left hard-working American families at risk of paying for the economic damage caused by oil spills. Have Republicans forgotten about Big Oil’s miserable track record in similar disasters?

ExxonMobil used antiquated maritime law to stall and eventually reduce the damages (from $5 billion to $500 million) paid to Alaska’s fishermen, Native Alaskans, and landowners from the 53 million gallon Valdez oil spill. Not surprisingly, history is repeating itself. BP’s partner, Transocean, is trying to use obscure maritime laws from the 1850s to abdicate liability for the spill.

Senate Republicans should stop trusting Big Oil and allow this important legislation to pass.

Big Oil is a lot like Big Tobacco. If you trust it to do the right thing, you're a moron.