Florida’s 48-Hour Voting Law = Less Poor & Minority Votes

This week’s Smackdown goes to Florida’s continued nefarious efforts to block underprivileged & minority voters in their state.

LA Times: “Florida Vote Ruling Seen As Win for Poor & Minorities“

ACLU: “Legal Victory – Voter Registration“

ColorLines: “Federal Judge Overturns Draconian Voter Registration Rules in Florida“

And, in order to laugh to keep from raging at Florida’s undaunted attempts at voter suppression – reworked, reworded, and redefined from their successful 2000 and 2004 election fraud – Jon Stewart shares clips from John Oliver’s interviews with Florida’s democracy-challenged voting-related lawmakers.

 ”Purge Overkill – Florida’s Voter Registration Law“

(Minus the pre-video ad: ”Purge Overkill – Florida’s Voter Registration Law“)

What’s your take on this issue?

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Sylver’s Saturday Smackdown

Was There Lotion in the Making of Bodies in Motion?

These are the words that came to mind as I watched this video:

• Icky
• Creepy
• Peeping Tom
• Exploitation
• Men edited this

The super slow-mo’s on ass & crotch-shots, the numerous ass shots, the girls hugging while patting each other’s ass shots, and the creepy porn soundtrack made me wonder how many NBC executive erections this soft-porn-disguised-as-Olypmpic-footage video went through before airing.

The Big, Bad Wolf

Once upon a time, there was a young girl with no parents, and a little sister to care for.

Her name is Diane Tran, and she is a high school Honors student who works 2 jobs to pay for her schooling, and financially support herself and her little sister.

This young girl’s heavy academic load (because not only is she an Honors student, she is also taking advanced-level college courses), and her demanding work schedule sometimes means missing classes due to exhaustion, emotional turmoil (a result of both her parents having abandoned her and her little sister), or sudden changes in work schedules at jobs she cannot afford to lose.

Young Diane is stressed beyond her years, and carrying a load no average 17 year old can manage. But she struggles on, determined to make it work. And with the help and encouragement of her teachers, social workers, and the community at large, this admirable young girl is able to persevere.

But along comes a big, bad wolf.

His name is Judge Lanny Moriarty.

He is a heartless wolf with sharp, super-white dentures, and he wields a big gavel which he likes to bang down on his perceived throne.

This time, however, Wolf Moriarty banged his big gavel right down on a struggling young girl’s life.

Santorum Agrees: Obama is “An Avowed Muslim” with “No Legal Right to be President”

This week’s multi-Smackdown goes to:

1. The bigoted woman in this video who said about President Obama:

“He is an avowed Muslim, and why isn’t something being done to get him out of our government? He has no legal right to be calling himself President!“

2. The bigoted audience who applauded her.

3. Rick Santorum for his agreeable response to this bigoted woman:

“Yeah, I’m doing my best to try to get him out of our government.“

And an additional Smackdown to Santorum for his pitiful, defensive excuse for agreeing with the bigoted woman: “She was an elderly lady.“

PUL-leez!

Here’s how John McCain responded to another bigoted “elderly lady” who made the same sort of Islamaphobic comment about then-Presidential candidate Obama:

Bigoted woman: “I don’t believe in…I can’t trust Obama. He’s an Arab.“

John McCain: “No. No, m’am. He’s a decent family man, a citizen, who I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. And that’s what this campaign is about. Thank you.“

That audience applauded this non-bigoted response.

Minority Defense Pretense: No-Apology Hypocrisy

This week’s Smackdown goes out to Michigan GOP Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra, for this unabashedly racist campaign ad.

Let’s take a moment to think about how many people were involved in the process of creating this ad – from conception (can you imagine this person?) to its national airing to millions of people across America.

And not just White Americans.

Asian-Americans live here, too.

Does it boggle the mind that the thousands of people involved in the process of creating this ad saw nothing wrong with it? Didn’t see anything racist about it? Thought it was just fine and dandy to broadcast on the most-watched night of American television to a nation which includes millions of Asian-American citizens?

Characters in Disney's "Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers."

 Frightening.

Yet we somehow manage to remain unaware of, and even scoff at the idea of systemic racism.

Go figure.

But this Smackdown has a double-billing on its ticket. This one also goes to the reporter in this video.

Sotheby’s CEO Salary Doubled as Workers Get Pay Cut

“Hang art, not workers!”

– Occupy Sotheby’s

This Smackdown goes to Sotheby’s, the famous (now, infamous) art auction corporation, for locking out New York employees who refuse to accept a 10% pay cut.

Think that’s bad?

There’s more.

This 10% pay cut, to employees already struggling to make ends meet during an economic bust created by corporate greed such as that in play by Sotheby’s, is being forced upon their workers even though:

1. the company’s CEO, Bill Ruprecht’s salary has doubled to $6 million

2. the company’s executive pay increases for their top 5 CEO’s amounts to $15.3 million, a 125% increase from 2009

2. the company’s profits for fiscal year 2010 increased to over $680 million, and consolidated sales in the first half of 2011 jumped 44% to a record $3.4 billion.

Can’t get any worse, right?

Wrong.

For Shame!

This week’s Smackdown goes to our government for its greedy, gluttonous, money-grubbing, mercenary, piggish, leech-like, self-indulgent, avaricious, opportunistic, sociopathic healthcare system which sends us bleeding and limping to the poorhouse – provided we don’t die in battle with our healthcare insurance providers (if we even have insurance) first!

This raping, ravenous, rapacious corporate-controlled government healthcare system is forcing hard-working Americans (us!) to resort to all manner of desperate alternatives to survive serious illness, and insure basic human health for ourselves and our families.

Newt Gingrich: Extend Tax Cuts for Rich / End Unemployment Benefits for Poor

This week’s Smackdown goes to Newt-brained Gingrich for insulting the intelligence (not to mention the empty wallet) of the 99% with 1% let-the-rich-decide rhetoric which would keep 99% of our country’s wealth in the hands of multi-millionaires/billionaires like himself.

 

 

What. The. FLUCK??!! 

Share your Smackdown!

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Sylver’s Saturday Smackdown

Fired for Saving an Animal’s Life

This week’s Smackdown goes to Airport Terminal Services and its president, Sally Leible for firing their baggage handler employee, Lynn Jones.

Why?

For saving a dog’s life.

The dog’s owner brought him to the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, expecting to travel with him even though the animal was in a visibly obvious abused state. Lynn Jones took one look at the dog’s injuries, and refused to load him into the airplane’s cargo.

“He was just totally emaciated,” Jones said. “He had sores on his body, and his paws were raw. I was crying. I said, ‘This dog is going to die.”

See No Evil

This super-duper-Smackdown goes out to any and everyone in the Penn State University child sex rape scandal who:

1. Had even an inkling that kids were being molested by their defensive football coach Jerry Sandusky and KEPT QUIET ABOUT IT FOR NINE YEARS.

2. Covered for or defended those who covered for him.

 

QUESTION #1

How do you walk into a shower room, SEE a child “being subjected to anal intercourse“ (i.e. being RAPED - because, though our media must use p.c. terminology, make no mistake about it: sex with a child is RAPE), then just turn around and WALK OUT?