MODIFIED LIMITED HANGOUT

All it takes is a few February snowstorms to send the wingnuts into a frenzy over climate change.

But not only climate change.  They also went into a frenzy about the weather's impact on job data.  Educated people who have been paying attention to business news since 1990 or so realize that stormy weather has been proven to have both micro- and macroeconomic consequences.  Weather effects earnings, consumption, spending, production, and everything connected to them in our economy.

They probably don't remember nor care that Enron, once a poster child for 21st century corporate America, developed one of the world's first electronic weather derivatives markets - in which investors and institutions both speculated on what the weather would bring, and also hedged their weather-related exposure.  And now the wingnuts are in denial that a series of strong snowstorms can slow hiring?  They are hysterical, excitable, violent, dim-witted, anti-intellectual liars.

I learned a few things in college.  One of them was a checklist of identifying characteristics of fascism.  There are certain ingredients in fascism that make it undeniably fascist.  Not all fascist societies had all the ingredients, but they are key to identifying the system in question.  

It's a weird analogy, but think of asian cuisine.  You see stir-fry chicken dishes all over east Asia.  But if the dish has lemongrass in it, you know it is southeast Asian.

It is similar with political systems.  You could examine two similar systems that have a totalitarian, military junta in-charge, a strong propaganda infrastructure, and state-ownership of industry.  You're pretty sure one of them is communist.  But if the other has added flavors such as xenophobia, constant scapegoating of immigrants and ethnic minorities, and an explicit rape/humiliation claim to motivate and anger the people, then that one is fascist.

Case in point:

Al Franken talking to angry conservative constituents at the Minnesota State Fair. Watch and learn (I need to learn, too):

n Saturday, August 29th, wingnut Texans held a 'Soverignty or Secession' Rally in Austin while Governor Perry stayed home and left them to twist in the wind.