Howard Zinn: 1922-2010

Howard Zinn joined the Army during WWII to fight fascism. However, it was his work as an author, speaker, teacher and all around activist that really gave fascism a run for its money. Zinn's most notable work "A People's History of the United States" has sold millions of copies and replaced traditional textbooks in countless classrooms. He worked tirelessly for the cause of justice and truth from his days as a teacher in segregated Georgia to his opposition to the Iraq war. "There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people for a purpose which is unattainable."



On Wednesday, January 27, 2010, the world lost a great historian, and lovers of freedom and truth tipped their 40s out to the O.G. himself. For heaven's sake, there had better not be any bullshitters up there.




"You must not despair. If you are right, and you persist, things will change. The government may try to deceive the people, and the newspapers and television may do the same, but the truth has a way of coming out. The truth has a power greater than a hundred lies."

In Case You Missed It

Going against two longheld First Amendment precedents, the Supreme Court ruled last week that the government may not ban or limit political spending by corporations in candidate elections. The court ruled 5-4 in favor of extending the First Amendment rights to corporations. The ruling should prove to benefit Republicans greatly as they tend to receive more corporate funding than their Democrat counterparts. But the Dems get more union money, which is also protected under this ruling. So it's not entirely one-sided.



President Obama called it “a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”




Whereas big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and other powerful interests called it "Freaking awesome!" They went on to say, "Justice may be blind, but pretty soon she's gonna have her clothes off, too. We're gonna make it rain up in here!"

Scott Brown Elected Sexy King of Senate

The voters of Massachusetts asked Barack Obama yesterday if he liked apples. The President came all the way up to Boston to say, "I'm sorry. Could you repeat the question?" To which the voters of Massachusetts said, "Well, we just replaced your friend Teddy Kennedy with this naked guy. How do you like them apples?"






Scott Brown will be seated immediately. Upon arriving to Washington, he will be the 41st vote against health care. It is reported that he will also steal all our girlfriends.

Anderson Cooper: Not a Douchebag

CNN reporter Anderson Cooper is in Haiti. And while filming near a food store a fight broke out, seriously injuring a young man. Anderson Cooper swooped in and brought the boy to safety.



This isn't a fairy tale. And the odds are that this kid, should he fully recover, will still have a pretty tough life in Haiti.... earthquakes or not. But, it is nice to see one image from this whole catastrope that isn't totally awful and void of any kind of hope. For more pictures and video, click here.

Team Haiti

Last week things in Haiti went from bad to worse when a 7.3 magnitude earthquake rocked the nation. It is estimated that the death toll might reach 200,000. Secretary Clinton has traveled to the nation to survey the damage herself and President Obama has promised swift action.



Many Americans responded to the news of unimaginable tragedy (in an already tragic nation) by sending text messages to their service providers, pledging a few dollars. However, corruption and fiscal inefficiency have plagued these efforts (not to mention the corrupt pipelines already on the ground in Haiti). Even Wyclef Jean's foundation has been scandalized recently for skimming off the top and paying himself handsome administrative fees.



Noted douchebag Rush Limbaugh has taken to the airwaves citing the earthquake as a great opportunity for President Obama to court 'light-skinned and dark-skinned' African Americans. And Pat Robertson even suggested that the Haitians deserved this for the pact with Satan the Haitians made 200 years ago in exchange for ridding themselves of imperialist French rule. Yeah, no, hey, that makes sense.



Unfortunately, it doesn't end there. The presumably religious organization Faith Comes By Hearing has pledged 3,000(!) audio books of the Bible for the relief effort. Because who needs access to clean water when you've got Paul's Letter to the Thessalonians?



The situation in Haiti is awful. Despite the honest outpouring of goodwill, aid and supplies remain bottle necked due to rampant national corruption and lack of infrastructure. And as the already impoverished nation deals with the onslaught of impending disease and tremendous loss of human life, many are wondering how best to help. The inclination is to throw money at the problem. However, the problems in Haiti may be deeper than that, and very well may have existed long before the earthquake.

Obama's Step War

Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama has committed a stronger military presence in Afghanistan. (For those keeping score at home, that's one of the two wars he's currently waging.) Some major news outlets, namely Fox News and the Drudge Report have dubbed this "Obama's War."



However, that's not entirely fair. And therefore, we here at MuckBreaker suggest calling it Obama's Step War. It's his war and all cause he's the President. He's gonna be calling the shots. He's gonna be writing the checks... But, it ain't his.

The Crotch Bomber

Last month, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria attempted to detonate a bomb in his underwear while traveling from Amsterdam to Detroit. Passengers quickly subdued the would-be terrorist and unquestionably saved many lives. The Obama Administration as well as the Department of Homeland Security gets a big fat goose egg on this for missing the warning signs, including the fact the guy's father contacted the State Department fearing his son was up to something shady.



But really, the joke's on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Detroit? Nobody cares about Detroit, man, especially not the American people. That is unless of course you are a factory building a shitty car nobody wants.



Detroit? Have you read a newspaper? Have you seen their abandonded train station? It looks like a hideout for a lesser Batman villian.




We can all agree that nobody cares about Detroit. However, we do take exception with his methods. Blowing it up is a little much, don't you think? Our plan was to let it wither away slowly with white flight and lack of federal funding. But to just blow it up? How savage.