Crying wolf and falling skies

The Gentle Reader may have noticed that virtually every reform that improved conditions for low income and working people was vigorously opposed by conservative and business interests. These groups typically try to scare the public by predicting apocalyptic consequences for any piece of legislation they don't like.

A new website, the Cry Wolf Project, is a good resource for challenging and exposing this kind of rhetoric. I especially recommend the searchable quote bank section, which gives example after example of hysterical hyperbole going back to the 1800s.

A lot of the old crud sounds pretty familiar today.

FULL. I'm not always Thomas Friedman's biggest fan, but I think he may be right here.

ROCK ON. Here's more about WV Senator Jay Rockefeller's defense of Medicaid.

LIVING LONGER. OR NOT. Here's an interesting county by county look at life expectancy in the US. I noticed that women in southern WV are actually experiencing a decline, as a study of early deaths published in 2008 by West Virginians for Affordable Health Care noted.

THIS IS KOCHED UP. The Koch brothers funded, among many other vile things, a study of which states are the most free. Apparently those that are on the blue side of the political spectrum are totalitarian gulags.

WHACKADOODLES, REVISITED. Click here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED