Wall Street greed fueling high gas prices →
cnn.com
Another fun citation for people claiming gas prices are Obama’s fault.
March 2012
409 posts
“
At the same time that the price of gasoline is rising, the US oil industry is increasing its exports of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Compared to a year ago, exports of gasoline have tripled – at a time when the price of gasoline is 42 cents a gallon more expensive at the pump. On Thursday, for example, the price of crude oil remained elevated at $107 a barrel because of fears over the Iranian nuclear situation, and the price of gasoline rose 3 cents a gallon compared to Wednesday, according to AAA.
The oil industry maintains the exports are necessary because domestic demand is weak.
” —And another one! Yeah, we’re exporting record amounts of American-made gasoline to other countries instead of lowering prices here. Obama’s fault… how exactly?
-Jess
(via stfuconservatives)
So apparently, the House is voting on the "Blunt Amendment" tomorrow, which would allow any employer to not cover birth control if they're "morally opposed" to it.
Pro-tip: If they can spend less money on their employee’s benefits, every employer will be “morally opposed” to covering birth control. Do these people seriously not understand that if there is a loophole, EVERYONE will exploit it?
Report: How Payday Lenders Make Billions By Fleecing Americans In Poverty →
thinkprogress.org
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s first public hearings, held in Alabama Thursday, were on the subject of predatory payday lenders.
This is horrifying stuff, but for a lot of the working poor, these companies that rob them blind are their only option.
Now think about all that and remember how Congressional Republicans — in both chambers of Congress — fought tooth and nail to keep CFPB leaderless and toothless. Hell, they didn’t want such an agency AT ALL.
Looks like Richard Cordray is getting to work.
Ugh, payday lenders disgust me. One time I was reading a financial advice blog, and then I saw that they had payday lenders as their advertisers. UGH. If I’m ever a multimillionaire, I want to start a no-interest short-term loan business. Car break down? Need rent money? Here’s $500, pay it back with no interest over the next two years. Instead, your only options are these terrible places that charge more than you’ll ever be able to afford just to get a few hundred bucks for a week.
-Jess
“If I wanted the government in my womb, I’d fuck a senator.”
—Senator Judy Eason McIntyre; Tulsa, OK (via supcakes)
“Danica Patrick is such a.. pretty girl. She makes a lot of money and sponsorships because of it. But what’s not attractive is that she’s sexy and she knows it… Oh I’ve got a few words [to describe Patrick], it starts with a b, and it’s not beautiful… She always has a chip on her shoulder trying to prove something.”
—
Fox 5 news anchor Ross Shimabuku, on Danica Patrick’s question to a report about why female athletes must always be described as “sexy,” and imploring him for another word to describe her.
Shimabuku was suspended today for a week without pay for his comments after he apologized… by admitting that he “gets nervous on the air” and has “TV anxiety.”
(via reallyfoxnews)
Today in casual sexism and shitty apologies. -Jess
(via stfuconservatives)
Federal judge blocks another portion of Arizona immigration law
A federal judge says day laborer rules in Arizona’s SB1070 violate free speech. (flickr: Gage Skidmore)By JUAN GASTELUM
Channel: ImmigrationA federal judge in Arizona has blocked a portion of the state’s crackdown immigration law that prohibited day laborers from blocking the streets when looking for work, according to the Associated Press.
You're fucked now, UrbanOutfitters, muahahahahah! →
news.yahoo.com
This is the big news of today and I haven’t seen it all over the place yet! The Navajo Nation (who has trademarked their name) is suing UrbanOutfitters. The suit is based on trademark infringement and violation of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act. This is going to be an awesome case!
It’s great that they’re taking a stand to reclaim what’s rightfully theirs, but given how many lawsuits against UO have either been settled or dismissed, I doubt they’re fucked in any way.
-Jess
“What does it say about the college coed Susan [sic] Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex? What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex. What does that make us? We’re the pimps. The johns, that’s right. We would be the johns — no! We’re not the johns. Well — yeah, that’s right. Pimp’s not the right word.”
—
Rush Limbaugh, on law student Sandra Fluke, who was denied the ability to testify before the all-male panel considering contraceptive coverage.
Fuck. You.
As ThinkProgress states: “While it’s probably not even worth engaging with Limbaugh on the facts, Fluke’s testimony was about a friend who is a lesbian and needed birth control for non-sexual medical reasons, so he’s only wrong about three times over, and offensive many more times over than that.”
Need we discuss Limbaugh getting caught with Viagra that wasn’t even his? No? How about pointing out that with birth control, it doesn’t matter how much sex you have — taking one pill is enough to prevent pregnancy?
Or how about he’s a misogynistic pig? Is that ok?
(via cognitivedissonance)
“
When she worked the streets, Yvette Gonzales said, she frequently saw other prostitutes working without condoms. But they were not having unprotected sex at the request of their customers.
Often, Ms. Gonzales said, the police would confiscate condoms when making a prostitution arrest so they could be used as evidence. And as soon as the prostitutes were released from jail, she said, they would go right back to work without protection; or they would refrain from carrying condoms at all, for fear of being arrested, and would hope customers would supply their own. “It breaks my heart,” said
Ms. Gonzales, who now works for a nonprofit group, the Positive Health Project, that counsels prostitutes, tests them for infection and provides them with free condoms. “The police need to understand: Don’t take their condoms. You’re taking someone’s health from them.”
” —Albany Bill Would Bar Condoms as Evidence of Prostitution - NYTimes.com
Good article about no condoms as evidence legislation.
Two things, though (always! always with the critique):
- There’s no mention of how the collection of condoms as evidence of prostitution is an act of profiling people of color, especially trans women, who are using public spaces and may or may not be engaged in street based sex work.
- Also there’s this: ” Excluding certain types of evidence from criminal court is rare, but not unprecedented. One example is the rape shield law, which limits evidence or questions in rape trials about a complainant’s previous sexual conduct.” Mention of the rape shield law is ironic because rape shield law in NY state doesn’t apply to people who have gotten a prostitution related conviction in the last three years.
(via audaciaray)
