Not a caption contest:

The Dark Wraith, both at his home site and at the Big Brass Blog has posted the following graphic:

and has entitled it "Farewell, My King."

No, it's not a "caption contest" but I'm tossing my own contribution into the ring anyway:
"Didn't you know I was 'just kidding'?"

Red Has Questions

I like Puerto Rico. I've only visited there once, but I was pretty impressed. Like most Caribbean countries, there's a lot of natural beauty. I stayed out on the west coast in a little town called Rincon and had a fabulous time. The beaches were beautiful, and the whales migrate right off the coast during March. A lot of Surfer Eddies from Florida head down there during the winter months because the waves are good. There's also not so much of the grinding poverty one sees in many Caribbean countries (e.g., Jamaica, USVI, Haiti). And speaking of beauty, Puerto Ricans as a population have to be the most beautiful people I've ever seen, men and women both. Gorgeous! And very friendly.

So, I am curious about this whole Puerto Rico primary on Sunday. Why, exactly, does Puerto Rico get a say in who the Democratic presidential nominee will be? I'm not being snarky here; I really don't know the answer to the question. Puerto Rico doesn't get to vote in the presidential contest, so it's curious to me that they should vote for the nominee. (Guam too for that matter.) And why do Puerto Rico and Guam get to vote, but not the US Virgin Islands?

Also, why does Puerto Rico get 55 Democratic delegates, while poor South Dakota, which actually does award electoral college votes in the presidential election, gets only 15 delegates? I assume the number of delegates is based on population (Puerto Rico has more than South Dakota), but don't know for certain. If I were South Dakota or Montana (which only has 16 delegates), I would feel seriously dissed.

Anyone know historically how it came to be that Guam and Puerto Rico get to vote in the primaries? Also, and I ask this with all due respect, why is it that we care who their preference is, when they don't have a vote in the "real" election?

Obligatory Friday Sex Post

Oral is Normal.
Our kids are performing oral and it's more basic than vaginal.

"The raw numbers indicate that 50 percent of teenagers aged 15 to 19 have had vaginal sex. Fifty-five percent have had heterosexual oral sex. Are kids substituting oral for vaginal? Nope. Among technical virgins—teens who have never had vaginal sex—23 percent have had oral sex. That number sounds high until you notice that among nonvirgins, the oral-sex figure is 87 percent. If your teenager has had "basic" sex without somebody's mouth being involved, congratulations. You're probably the only such household on your block.

"The data on timing underscore this connection. Among teens whose first vaginal sex happened less than six months before the survey, 82 percent admit to oral sex. That figure barely increases for teens who began vaginal sex three years before the survey. In other words, teens lost their oral virginity at around the same time they lost their vaginal virginity. If you think your daughter is going to learn the basics now and the advanced stuff later, you've got another thing coming.

Hmmm. Sounds to me like things have changed since I was a teenager in an all girls Catholic HS before birth control was readily available and abortions were illegal. I don't see why this is so shocking to the writer though. Kids figure this stuff out even without the internet and news about the president. We did. We were taught that if we had intercourse that we'd have babies out of wedlock or be forced to marry the boy and then go straight to hell when we died. Necessity is the mother of invention. I just hope all these kids are practicing safe sex and using birth control.

h/t reader ROF in the comments

Vatican says will excommunicate women priests

From the story at Yahoo News: The Vatican issued its most explicit decree so far against the ordination of women priests on Thursday, punishing them and the bishops who try to ordain them with automatic excommunication.

"The decree was written by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, giving it immediate effect.

"A Vatican spokesman said the decree made the Church's existing ban on women priests more explicit by clarifying that excommunication would follow all such ordinations.
[...]

"The Church says it cannot change the rules banning women from the priesthood because Christ chose only men as his apostles. Church law states that only a baptized male can be made a priest."

Two thousand years ago in Palestine, women were not allowed to be seen gallivanting with a group of men, but there is Gospel proof that women were indeed devoted to Jesus and so much so that while the men were behaving like babies after Jesus' crucifixion, the women went out to investigate. Surely they must have been devoted disciples themselves to brave being caught hanging around Jesus' tomb on Sunday morning. And let us not forget the bum rap Mary of Magdala took for centuries- labeled a whore for hanging around with Jesus... and the early church fathers were so anti-women that they had to make Jesus' mother a virgin despite evidence to the contrary.

According to the Gospels, after Jesus was crucified and died, the male apostles went and hid. For they were not brave. (Throughout the Gospel's Jesus has to admonish their chickenheartedness, but that's another post.) The four Gospels differ, but there were definitely women who went to Jesus' grave. John's Gospel has one, Matthew's has two, Mark's has three and Luke's has 5 or more. They arrived on Sunday morning around the break of dawn.

John 20:1
The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

Matthew 28:1
As it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

Mark 16:1
And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.

Luke 24:1, 10
Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
...
It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.

So basically, if it wasn't for the WOMEN, no one would have known that Jesus was risen from the dead, let alone the "devoted" apostles.

That's enough for now.

see the Skeptic's Annotated Bible

Just a little "head" start on OSPF!

AWRIGHT, DAMMIT!

Which one of ya' did it? 'Fess up now or you're gonna get us ALL in trouble 'cause sure as hell it's gonna be labelled a leftist, liberal plot.
Fox News worker sues over bedbugs in NY office
(Article begins): "NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Fox News employee who says she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after being bitten by bedbugs at work filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the owner of the Manhattan office tower where she worked.
"Jane Clark, 37, a 12-year veteran of Fox News, a unit of News Corp, said she complained to human resources after being bitten three times between October 2007 and April 2008. She said she was ridiculed and the office was not treated for months."

From Huffington Post:


Alien to be revealed Friday

This nonconformist cannot WAIT to sink her teeth into that special crunch you get from a Hydrox cookie!! They're coming back by popular demand!

Oh the power of the people!!



They're only throwing us a few cookies though, so I'm cleaning out a corner of the basement in preparation -- just getting my hoarding plans in order - I hear they are only gonna be around for a limited time. (This is a great write up)



Here's the WSJ article that "broke" the story along with an amusing taste test video.

The marketing department @ Kellogg's is sure working overtime!

Maybe they'll bring back the 6 hour work day!!!





So what's your preference?

New Book by Sen Larry Craig

It seems that Senator Craig is writing a book about his ordeal since the restroom sting.

Hmmm. What would be a good title for it?

Thought For The Day

This is a picture of a city in India. You know, the place you call when you're having trouble with your computer.

Gardening on Salvia

Back in March, Jersey Cynic turned us on to Salvia. Could it be the next marijuana? Now, with all the videos on You Tube about tripping on salvia. This is has to be one of the funniest ones. Gardening On Salvia.



So much for the garden.

h/t my son the pop culture expert of the family.
--------

See also Smoke a Joint and Your Whole Family May End Up Homeless

My favorite part of the Scotty's book debacle

Today's reading is this piece by William Pitt over at Democratic Underground. Hey, you mainstream news media people. Got something for you to check out...

It's a letter to the media who today are busy trying to defend themselves against McClellan's claim that they were complicit in the lead up to the war. It's a list of all the stories by the MSM to prove that they were negligent in their duties.

------

If you get a chance to turn on the 24 hour news channels today, it's fun to watch the WH defenders slam old Scotty.
-------

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) has called on Scotty to testify under oath before the House Judiciary Committee because of the statements in his book.

-------

Maybe Scotty's book is Bush's blowjob.

NY Will Recognize Gay Marriages Performed Elsewhere

It's a start. I was wondering earlier if NY would do something about legalizing gay marriage in order to keep many businesses from relocating to California since gay marriage would be legal there. This is one way to do it until it becomes legal here too.

The appellate judges determined that there is no legal impediment in New York to the recognition of a same-sex marriage. The state Legislature "may decide to prohibit the recognition of same-sex marriages solemnized abroad," the ruling said. "Until it does so, however, such marriages are entitled to recognition in New York."

Massachusetts is currently the only U.S. state that recognizes same-sex marriage, but its residency requirements would bar New Yorkers from marrying there.

New York residents could instead flock to California, where gay couples will be able to wed beginning June 17 — unless that state's Supreme Court decides to stay its own ruling. Upon their return home, in the eyes of the state, their unions would be no different from those of their heterosexual neighbors.

Gay couples could also travel outside the country to marry in Canada, for example.

Yay for equal rights.

Speaking of paranoia

How does the FBI and CIA know that al Qaida is going to release another terrorist tape calling for use of WMD's on the west before the fact? Why do these tapes always come out around election times or times of great controversy? Why don't they make them in English so that blondes can understand them? Gee, I'm almost convinced that there is some kind of conspiracy between the powers that be and al Qaida because they seem to support the GOP. Weird, huh?


And while we're on the topic of the government knowing about things before they happen, how come the WH is so shocked about McClellan's book? They called him a traitor. I'm quite surprised that no one knew what would be in the book. They are so supposedly angry and outraged that it almost seems staged.

Is Your Paranoia Factor High Enough Yet?

That's a silly question to ask around this place, where the answer clearly is: yes!

I sleep better every single night knowing that the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is on the job. Snort. What job? Well, mostly making sure those dirty stinkin' hippies who attend vegan potlucks are not a threat to John McCain during the Republican convention in Minneapolis.

Apparently, they tried to recruit the wrong guy, and he blabbed:

"She told me that I had the perfect ‘look,’” recalls Carroll. “And that I had the perfect personality—they kept saying I was friendly and personable—for what they were looking for.” What they were looking for, Carroll says, was an informant—someone to show up at “vegan potlucks” throughout the Twin Cities and rub shoulders with RNC protestors, schmoozing his way into their inner circles, then reporting back to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, a partnership between multiple federal agencies and state and local law enforcement. The effort’s primary mission, according to the Minneapolis division’s website, is to “investigate terrorist acts carried out by groups or organizations which fall within the definition of terrorist groups as set forth in the current United States Attorney General Guidelines.”

Read the story. You might find it interesting how the FBI has infiltrated other anti-war groups.

"Carroll’s story echoes a familiar theme. During the lead-up the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, the NYPD’s Intelligence Division infiltrated and spied on protest groups across the country, as well as in Canada and Europe. The program’s scope extended to explicitly nonviolent groups, including street theater troupes and church organizations." (Y'all might remember that Blondie blogged extensively about this around that time.)

Yeah, you gotta watch those street theater and religious groups. They have shifty eyes and dodgy looks. And it's well know that we anti-war types are highly likely to be terrorists.

H/T Alternate Brain

Michelle Malkin stoops to new (propaganda) lows in the latest "Keffiyeh Kerfuffle". She's nothing but a MOUTH-piece for Dunkin' Donuts.

This is Rachael Ray's latest on-line ad for D&D that was just pulled.

Watch out for "Islamic jihad and its apologists" - oh my!

Does Dunkin' Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men. Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin' Donuts boycott. "The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad," Malkin yowls in her syndicated column. "Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant and not-so-ignorant fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons."

Keffiyeh: a traditional headdress of Arab men, made of a square of cloth ("scarf"), usually cotton, folded and wrapped in various styles around the head. It is commonly found in arid climate areas to provide protection from direct sun exposure, as well as for occasional use in protecting the mouth and eyes from blown dust and sand.

".....the keffiyeh would later become a trademark symbol of Yasser Arafat."

What-- was Yasser the only guy wearing a keffiyeh at the time??

I guess the keffiyeh serves as a convenient symbol of resistance also??


Here's her Keffiyeh-Kerfuffle piece -- obnoxious as ever.

It appears that Malkin has been a mouth piece for D&D for a while now - She continually praises Dunkin’ Donuts for volunteering to participate in a government database program to verify that workers are here legally:

Go buy some Dunkin’ gear here. It’s the right thing to do. And yummy, too. (6/24/07)

and you should read all of the over the top "sweet" comments following her post-- omg -- one right after the other --

"National security never tasted so good. " (6/1/06)

Lots of other consumers are coming to the same conclusion. Starbucks’ profits are down 28 percent.
So this weekend, I quit cold turkey.
I’m done.
I’ve always liked Dunkin’ Donuts coffee better, anyway. And as unapologetic supporters of immigration enforcement, they deserve your business and mine so much more.
Dunkin’: Tastes good, cheaper, and good for national security. Drink up!
Why I gave up Starbucks (5/5/08)

You gotta wonder how much the Carlyle Group and all the other Dunkin' Friends pay that little bitch.

"I don't recall your name, but your Fez is familiar"

UPDATE:

The Dark Wraith at Big Brass Blog alerts us to the fact that Meghan McCain also wears teh garb of the jihadist.

also

Dunkin' Donuts
Consumer Care
130 Royall Street
Canton MA 02021
(800) 859-5339

Dunkin' Donuts Public Relations Department
130 Royall Street
Canton, MA 02021
(781) 737-5200

Executive Management
Will Kussell,
President & Chief Brand Officer
Frances Allen,
Brand Marketing Officer
(781) 737-3000

Ya Think?

Ex-Press Aide Writes Bush misled US on Iraq

In other news, the sky is blue, and water is wet.

George W. Bush is a freaking liar with the blood of 4,000+ dead Americans and countless dead Iraqis on his hands.

But we already knew that, didn't we?

Panties for Peace

- Pledge to Send Your Panties Today-

The next time you think you’ve got it bad, here’s a reality check for what’s going on in the lives of the women in Myanmar and how you can help them.

Burmese superstition holds that contact with women's panties can sap a man's power right out from under their John Thomas Myanmars, and activists claim the fear is shared by the leaders of the country's military regime.

That’s why a Canadian organization called Panties for Peace is requesting that you go to your drawers, take out some panties, and write a little message on them, like

No booty for Burmese junta or

Than Shwe is ucked-fay or

Burmese babes’ bums are best or

Bwhahaha, Sap THIS! or

Moms of Myanmar rock! or

Come closer, I can’t SAP you! or

How about a Burma shave? or

Women whacking Burmese junta baloney! or

Myanmar Military sucks!

"If you don't believe me, you can bring this to the Yangon airport - you will be shot dead," said activist Thet Thet Tun as she clutched a pair of white undies. "So we use this against them."

Tun, who fled the country seven years ago, described a society suffocating under state control and widespread misogyny.

Spearheaded by a pro-democracy group based in Thailand, the campaign was launched in the fall to draw attention to human rights abuses against women in the country. At the time, the junta was violently suppressing a pro-democracy uprising by the country's Buddhist monks.

Please donate generously to Panties for Peace and if you don’t have any because you’re a man and you haven’t “had any” because you’ve been shit out of luck for a while, don’t worry. Just sew up the seam of your boxers or briefs, write a little ditty and send them to Panties for Peace and help all women of the world SAP those sick, backwards, murderous bastards from power once and for all!

-2Truthy

Energy speculators draw heat from US Congress. Germany in call for ban on oil speculation

Senate Democrats have already proposed legislation that would impose stiffer margin requirements on energy trading........

Next month, Representative John Larson, a Connecticut Democrat, plans to go even further, proposing legislation that would essentially ban over-the-counter trading of energy futures by traders who don't plan to take physical delivery of the commodity. While Nymex trading would be largely unaffected, billions of other trades could potentially be brought to a halt.

The idea for the bill, Larson says, came from local suppliers of heating oil, gasoline and diesel in Connecticut, who say the price spike can't be explained by simple supply and demand. While advocates defend the futures market as a way of hedging against higher prices, Larson doesn't buy it. "We see this as nothing short of greed on the part of speculators," he says.

He acknowledges that other legislators are likely to think his bill "is a little too bold or goes too far."

"But there is a widespread feeling amongst the leadership in Congress and the rank and file that something has got to be done in this area," he says. "And this situation requires bold action."

While Larson's bill is unlikely to pass, much less be signed into law, it's notable that even legislators who consider it a bit drastic say they would consider voting for it.

While Larson's bill is unlikely to pass, much less be signed into law, it's notable that even legislators who consider it a bit drastic say they would consider voting for it.

unlikely to pass......????????????

it's notable that they would consider it???????????????????????

WTF?????



LET'S SWAMP OUR CONGRESS CRITTERS WITH LETTERS FOLKS!!

It's probably too late, but what the hell!

Excerpt from Larson:

“People shouldn’t be allowed to speculate purely with paper, fluctuating and driving the cost of oil, especially when we have adequate supply,” Larson said during a news conference in the Capitol complex. “And demand, in fact, has gone down because of the crunch that everyone finds themselves in.”

Gene Guilford, executive director of the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association, said most Americans don’t realize that the daily setting of prices for oil, natural gas, electricity, gasoline and diesel fuel contracts takes place on worldwide commodities exchanges, led by the New York Mercantile Exchange.

He said over the last five or six years investment banks, hedge funds and pension funds have forced up demand in the contracts above and beyond the basic rules of supply and demand.

“It’s the financial-services industry in this country that over the last few years has started telling the American people and the Congress of the United States that supply and demand no longer matter,” Guilford said. “When supply and demand no longer matters, then the marketplace no longer works the way it was supposed to work.“

Related: German leaders are to propose a worldwide ban on oil trading by speculators, blaming the latest spike in crude prices on manipulation by hedge funds.


WTF is wrong with our Congress? Who are they working for anyway?

I guess it's pretty obvious.

UFO's on the ISS?

It should read Undesired Floating Objects. There is major crises on the International Space Station.
The toilet system is broken. Some problem with the suction plumbing. Does that mean, the toilets are backed up?
Does that mean we have to send the Shuttle? Or send a rescue mission for the astronauts?

I remember the days of the cesspool in my house having occasional "back-ups" That term sounds so innocent, but it must be seen to assess the seriousness of that crisis. (Slimy liquid floating in the basement, up to one's ankle, with brownish colored objects floating randomly)

I can imagine how that back-up behaves in micro-gravity!
One almost needs a windshield wiper.

I know, I know... it's not Friday, but a good laugh always brightens our day.

Dutch scientists first to sequence female DNA

Hat tip to tali for this
Dutch scientists have sequenced human female DNA... the human female in question being Dr. Marjolin Kriek.

Bit of geek humor here... "it was time, after sequencing four males, to balance the genders a bit”. He smiles: “And after Watson we also felt that it was okay to do Kriek”.

Blonde's Eye Movie Review: Recount

I probably shouldn't have watched "Recount" an HBO movie with Kevin Spacey that recounts the dreaded days following the 2000 election. It just re-infuriates me. But it is a very good movie that everyone in America who votes should watch (if you have access to HBO.)

Most people don't know what really happened in Florida that year and think that Gore and the Democrats were just whining because they lost. It was much more than that when you look at the facts and for those of us who looked at the facts 8 years ago know that Al Gore didn't get a fair recount in Florida in 2000 and learned why politicians need particular judges. This movie is important for those who really didn't follow the story originally. They need to get the facts because once again, we're having an election and it's clear that our votes really don't count when it comes to extreme politics.

Check out this piece with Charlie Rose discussing "Recount"
It's shorter than the movie and gives you a pretty good picture of what happened in 2000.

This review of Recount at the Orlando Sentinel is very good too.

May I add that Laura Dern as Katherine Harris was priceless and worth the price of admission?

Here's a Frequent Flier Bonus for Ya

Airport bungle gives passenger $10,000 in drugs

May 27, 2008 - 9:32AM


An unsuspecting passenger who flew to Tokyo is carrying one million yen's worth of cannabis compliments of customs authorities after a bungled exercise involving sniffer dogs.

An officer at Narita International Airport yesterday stuffed 142 grams of the drug into the side pocket of a randomly-selected black suitcase coming off an overseas flight so that the animal could detect it.

"The dog couldn't find it and the officer also forgot which bag he put it in," a customs office spokeswoman said.

"If by some chance passengers find it in their suitcase, we're asking them to return it."

The 38-year-old officer was quoted by the spokeswoman as saying: "I knew that using passengers' bags (for sniffer dog training) is prohibited, but I did it because I wanted to improve the sniffer dog's ability."

He was reprimanded by the head of customs at Narita airport.

"This case was extremely regrettable. I would like to deeply apologise," said the airport's customs chief Manpei Tanaka.

The cannabis, which has a street value of one million yen ($A10,100), was in a metal box wrapped with newspapers.

Japan strictly prohibits both hard and soft drugs, with people imprisoned for possession of even small amounts of cannabis.

***

What really floors me is the appeal by the customs officials: "If you find it, please send it back. Or at least don't bogart it."

So long, it's been good to know ya...

Utah Phillips, 1935-2008.

They are playing some archived interviews with him on Democracy Now! this morning, but I wasn't able to find a live link for it as of 6:15am (PST).

I had the very good fortune to get to hear him (and Rosalie Sorrels) in Santa Cruz in 1994.

Travel well, Grand Duke of Hobos.

(Here are some more linkages. To his website, an SF Chronicle piece, and an interview from 2003).

And the Word is: ACCESS

Elites Rule: America’s Have/Have-Not Society, Driving to a Town Near You

Progressive writer and author of the new book World Made by Hand James Howard Kuntsler, who recently appeared on The Colbert Report is an advocate of the choo-choo train. He has written an essay today that explains the need for a transition from our current car culture to riding the rails during this era of peak oil and skyrocketing fuel costs. Everyone I talk to agrees that this would be a great solution to help improve air quality, fuel efficiency and expediency –providing one lives on a rail line and/or has easy access to one. To borrow from my favorite comedian, Stephen Colbert, let’s first define a key word, below.


And the Word is: ACCESS.


That’s the ticket! It’s all about access. Before we can talk about access to transportation, let’s take a closer look under the hood of what America’s corporate culture of globalization has really bought us by selling off our white collar jobs to the third world and exactly what we are subliminally being asked when the inventors of new technologies and their hip political enablers ask the rest of us to “sacrifice” on this elitist ruled race to the bottom.


I am as much an advocate of promoting an expansive rail culture over our congested freeway car culture as anyone and could not agree with JHK more on this, as is the case with most, in fact all of the issues he writes about. It is not his analysis of peak oil or the need to wean off a car culture per se that I disagree with; it is rather the curious omission of facts or “connecting the dots” about the pitch for making a massive switch to riding the rails and foregoing semi-affordable land/air transportation that implies that the plebes and not the elites of this country are being asked to “sacrifice” these modes of transportation.


One cannot separate the legally orchestrated annihilation of white collar jobs from the discussion of mass transportation without first understanding why and for whom the train whistle blows. In addition to pal Citizen Carrie’s site Carrie’s Nation, one of the best sites to visit for a regular dose of how our government is legally ridding us of our right to employment and its consequent fallout is Robert Oak’s The Economic Populist that comprehensively debunks the myth of a “skilled labor shortage” by consistently imploring readers to push public awareness of this problem by demanding that lawmakers pass bills in the national interest.


What does economic populism have to do with transportation? Plenty. At no other time in our history have so many people sat idly by as jobs, (increasingly white collar) continue to disappear (and not come back) while prices of goods and services continue to skyrocket. Forget about the subprime mortgage crisis and lack of healthcare or lead tainted and poisonous products…among other things, if you are denied access to employment because a few greedy corporate and beltway elites get to profit by exploiting cheap third world labor at your expense, cars and trains and airplanes become a moot point.


“Curiously” during this election season, I have read several essays that highlight the personal attributes of successful politicians who can essentially sway the masses into believing that what’s good for the golden goose is good for the gander. (Obama, anyone?)


Access to power is the most crucial access of all. Once the golden ropes are opened to power, fuel, food, housing, medical care, and Prada, everything else is a piece of cake. One would think that for the millions of college educated citizens of this country, this would be a “no brainer.” In lieu of access to the power elite, government ought to be able to step up to the plate with protections that include labor, infrastructures, heath, food and safety. But every time I read the otherwise progressive, insightful, spot-on, invigorating observations on peak-oil and the world’s post peak-oil future by writer James Howard Kunstler, I find slight omissions that make his otherwise noteworthy assertions appear to be lacking that leave me questioning his affiliations into the rarified club of elites or want thereof, where the golden rule of admission is to never bite the hand that feeds you or discreetly knowing what not to talk or write about.


By Kuntsler’s own admission,

“It's not about running out of oil. It's about the instabilities that will shake the complex systems of daily life as soon as the global demand for oil exceeds the global supply.”

He is absolutely right. But what kind of “instabilites” is he referring to and more important, who will they affect? I would welcome further dissertation on what JHK believes this entails. For example, why doesn’t he just come out and say “there is no way that the world’s supply of dwindling resources can sustain global overpopulation” and that wars will always result over control of resources and that the citizens of the United States are considered to have “too much” already and this is the reason that greedy corporate executives are getting our crooked politicians to sell off our jobs, our highways, and our houses and our health to global elites from India, the Middle East and China? I believe that while our jobs continue to disappear, our transportation woes will not be solved by more trains until we stop the bogus claims of skilled worker shortages and stop H1-B legislation that hands our jobs over to those from third-world countries. Let us first be able to afford the goddamn transporation in the place. Horse before cart!

Kuntsler continues:

“And that's the worst part of our quandary: the American public's narrow focus on keeping all our cars running at any cost. Even the environmental community is hung up on this. The Rocky Mountain Institute has been pushing for the development of a "Hypercar" for years -- inadvertently promoting the idea that we really don't need to change.”

The Hypercar idea is fine, and it WILL work. Just not for most of us, because as long as the plebes are down with letting these corporate frat boys sell out the nation’s jobs, nobody outside the inner circle will be able to pay for one. The Rocky Mountain Institute is an organization by and for elites who are not speaking to the rest of us. Only elites will have access to these cars, and access to the jobs it takes to pay for them, maintain and operate them. Again, why doesn’t JHK just come out with it?

“The idea that we can become "energy independent" and maintain our current lifestyle is absurd.”

Again, Kuntsler is right, however, we CAN and ARE inventing clean energy alternatives, some with longer roadmaps than others. Although some, like ethanol, are unsustainable, the promise for viable alternative solutions can not be underscored. The question is how viable are these new solutions in the quasi-near term when it comes to sustaining a world population of 6-9 billion people globally? Some will lose. Who will those be?

“The pie-in-the-sky plan to turn grain into fuel came to grief, too, when we saw its disruptive effect on global grain prices and the food shortages around the world, even in the United States. In recent weeks, the rice and cooking-oil shelves in my upstate New York supermarket have been stripped clean.”

Shortages are only the beginning, and again, are only for the plebes. Shortages will not be a problem for connected elites who have decided to sell out the American people in favor of fellow global elites who can move into our foreclosed homes after our politicians have sold off our jobs to them.


Perhaps the only thing the trains will be good for is for the exploding homeless population to ride and live on. And we might even want to rethink pulling vehicles off the production lines since we might need a few more ambulances to carry off all of those millions of American losers who have no access to health insurance to closing hospitals in the next town over since the local hospitals have been shut down and looted by the HMO’s and insurance companies. Now, THAT’s a plan worth writing about!

“We cannot afford to remain befuddled and demoralized. But we must understand that hope is not something applied externally. Real hope resides within us. We generate it -- by proving that we are competent, earnest individuals who can discern between wishing and doing, who don't figure on getting something for nothing and who can be honest about the way the universe really works.”

Well James, “hope” is for free, and who cares whether it resides in us or not? The Republicans, BTW, have got to be laughting their asses off about all of this hope going ‘round. And nooooo, we are NOT “befuddled and demoralized.” This is not some fucking tea party and Kuntsler’s comment smacks of the Obama brand “bitter lite.”

We are “pissed off” that we are being hijacked by a few elites who are handing over our white collar jobs to third world workers who they want to pay a fraction of our wages to so that all they can afford is to ride the choo choo trains. These good old boy elites then can stuff the profits into the bursting seams of their drastically, gastrically bypassed greedy pockets so that they can shove even MORE exotic sushi into their surgically altered faces. Again, I do not disagree with Kuntsler’s premise about the need for more trains. It is just that it would be great if he would first acknowledge the economic populism black out in future essays and lectures because right now, it sounds like he is parroting the slick, subliminal message of the pols and tech energy elites (Gore, Khosla, Pelosi, Tesla Motors execs etc. Obama and their sycophants) who stand to profit from lucrative investments in alternative energy solutions that will in fact compromise living standards as we know them for the plebes (icky screw light bulbs, one of many examples however admittedly minor) while the “connected” shiny, happy people known as “elites” bask in the warm glow of their mega-powered soft lighting at their expense.

Maybe JHK is merely sucking up what’s left of that rarified air in the company of all of these Old King Coles who are muttering the ominous refrain “we must sacrifice” on this race to the bottom. Good for him, nice job if you can get it.

But a few questions still remain, like who exactly gets access to what’s left of the coveted cars, what’s left of the commercial carriers and private jets while the rest of the plebes ride on the smelly trains and busses with dwindling access to jobs, housing and healthcare? What good is transportation of any sort when the big problem that none of the politicians or journalists or writers dare talk about on the talk show circuit is ACCESS to jobs, healthcare and housing? Has one writer landed a talk show guest seat and dared broach the taboo subject of selling out America’s middle/upper class to the third world? How many college graduates in their twenties are now living at home while their college educated parents who are lucky enough to even find suitable employment are working to support them all under one roof? Is this what is meant by “sacrifice”?


Who exactly in the U.S. must “sacrifice” while other connected people go on talk shows praising well connected politicians and executives known for advocating an increase in H-1b visas to sell out what is left of our white collar jobs, only to get book deals that pave the way for more college lecture circuit stints?


I must agree that JHK is indeed onto something, and this kind of access may be the only ticket left in town.

Happy Memorial Day!

-2Truthy

The Phoenix has Landed

"PASADENA, Calif. – NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is in fine health after its unprecedented landing in the Martian arctic Sunday as mission scientists turn their attention to the craft's main goal: to explore the layers of water ice under the frozen soil.
Phoenix set down on the flat, cracked terrain of Mars' northern polar region after a harrowing, but successful, plunge through the planet's atmosphere.
"I know it looks like a parking lot, but it's a safe place to land," said Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, where the mission will be controlled for the majority of its primary 90-day run. "This is a scientist's dream right here on this landing site."
Mission scientists received the probe's first call home here at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at about 7:53 p.m. EDT (2353 GMT) on Sunday, though it takes signals about 15 minutes to traverse the 171 million miles (275 million km) between Mars and back on Earth..."

Read the rest here



Now, if they find water under the permafrost, can we send Bush and Cheney to start terraforming? Perhaps they can take John McMutant the Same with them.

Blonde's Eye View: Random Thoughts on Memorial Day

There had to be thousands of enlisted men and women at the air show I attended at Jones Beach on Saturday... and thousands and thousands of veterans there as well. And what a recruiting orgy it was. See that picture above? There was this blow up suit that someone was wearing and it was of a female, African-American Air Force officer. The character walked along the boardwalk enticing youngsters who were just blown away by the coolness of all the war toys they saw doing maneuvers in the sky. I asked a number of people if there were any African-American female pilots and they said yes there were but no one could give me a number. One good thing about being on recruiting duty is that you probably have never seen combat and you haven't been out in the world after serving yet, so you can only tell people what you've been told to tell. "Join us! See the world! Hang out at air shows! Go to college! Get great jobs!"

-----------

Would engineers have had the chance to invent such awesome flying machines if not for war. What else could they be used for? Rich people's folly? Transport planes, of course are quite useful for world citizens, but they don't do tricks and blow up stuff. It was mind boggling to think of all the fantastic technology that comes out of the need to kill people in other lands. Couldn't the brain power of such great minds be put to good use in the world? Sure, but the toys wouldn't be so cool.

--------

Could human beings be hardwired to actually want conflict and allow things to progress in such a way that war would be inevitable? Sometimes it seems that way and maybe I'm the weird one who finds it abhorrent.

--------

I do think of all the soldiers that died defending this country. I do honor their memory. Goddess bless them. I think of all those who are still living and served in wars. I honor them too. Maybe the whole war was in vain that they may have fought in, but I'm sure that they died bravely and valiantly and perhaps died saving someone else's life. Even if the war was fucked up, they did what they believed was the right thing to do. Those who will fry in hell for war crimes are those who started the wars and commanded them. (I hope)

I'd like to take time to remember all those vets who are still alive and suffering from PTSD and other battle scars. Their lives have been hell on earth. May they find peace.

-------

I wouldn't be so against war and the military industrial complex if they raised the enlistment age to 25.

Nader/Gonzales 2008 San Francisco Fundraiser: 2Truthy Attends

2Truthy and Host, Criminal Defense Attorney Robert Amparan, the guy who successfully defended former JonBenét Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr

2Truthy and Vice Presidential Candidate, Matt Gonzales

(Legendary civil rights defense attorney Tony Serra, background left)

Ralph Nader and 2Truthy at San Francisco Fundraiser

12 Issues that Matter for 2008

Adopt single payer national health insurance
Cut the huge, bloated, wasteful military budget
No to nuclear power, solar energy first
Aggressive crackdown on corporate crimeand corporate welfare
Open up the Presidential debates
Adopt a carbon pollution tax
Reverse U.S. policy in the Middle East
Impeach Bush/Cheney
Repeal the Taft-Hartley anti-union law
Adopt a Wall Street securities speculation tax
Put an end to ballot access obstructionism
Work to end corporate personhood

The Nation -- "Ralph Nader is making every effort to be the most serious candidate for president this year, and he is succeeding despite the dismissals of the political class and the media that sustains it." In the meantime, does anyone still seriously believe that the three new world order stooges, McClob, are standing up for you, dear reader?

On Mothers Day, I attended a Nader/Gonzales 2008 fundraiser in San Francisco where once again, yours truly had the privilege of meeting with the candidate along with vice presidential running mate, Matt Gonzales, to hear them and discuss with them the issues facing the majority in this country. For those of you outside of the SF Bay area, the awesome Matt Gonzales narrowly lost the 2003 mayoral race to the insufferable corporate welfare king Gavin Newsom, a blown-dry, connected Democrat who had a considerably larger budget and the outspoken support of other high profile corporate welfare whores Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi.

Nader and Gonzales gave compelling speeches that addressed REAL issues (see above chart) and concerns for the people of this country as opposed to the media black-out corporate elites and their media and “new media” whores who continue to silence the candidate. The only thing separating yours truly from the rest of my Lefty pals on the issue of my voting for a third party candidate is the perpetuated myth of a wasted vote and yet, no matter what third-party critics claim, the fact is that 9 million registered Democrats did not in fact vote for Al Gore in 2000. More telling is that over 200,000 registered Democrats did not vote for Al Gore in Florida alone. What's more, another 600,000 registered Democrats in Florida did not even vote at all! On top of it, this is the United State of Fucking America and how dare some asshole tell anyone they can not run for office…. Like Nader says, if the Democrats can’t win against these dirt bag Repubs, then they don’t deserve to win anything.

Many people continue to ask “why is Nader running?” The answer is that he actually raises issues that no other candidates would touch. Nader talks about issues on the campaign trail that affect people. For example, have you heard McClob talk about the shortsighted Pennsylvania Turnpike fire sale lease to Spanish firm Abertis Infraestructuras, of Barcelona? No. But Nader did. BTW, the PA Turnpike lease means

that if the lease agreement went into effect today, the cost of traveling the turnpike from Ohio to New Jersey — excluding the Northeast Extension — could increase from $19.75 for a vehicle with two axles, which includes most cars and light trucks, to $173.80 in 2083, an increase of 880 percent.

Wouldn’t you think that this is an issue for ALL candidates who might actually want to represent the people, like Nader, and not the corporate pols and elites who are profiting from this back room deal?

Whatsmore, Nader is not presenting another bogus plan to have the insurance companies run healthcare (into the ground) and the only way important issues like these get discussed are when he runs and he gets other candidates to respond.

Ralph Nader, the only intelligent, truly intellectual candidate running, is the only one that is standing up to the corporate welfare machine by speaking out for the American people. Unlike the three corporate shills, McClob, Nader is not taking money from special interest groups and PACs. Nader has the conviction to steer this country in the right direction, by ending the illegal war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, troop withdrawal and slashing the military budget, impeaching Bush and Cheney for high crimes and misdemeanors, ending the number one tyranny against the American public brought on by the Insurance Lobby by instituting a Single Payer-Medicare For All, ending corporate welfare and abuse, raising the minimum wage to a livable wage, ending corporate personhood, repealing the Patriot Act, ending GATT and NAFTA, and improving workers rights and labor conditions by slowing down the exodus of our white collar jobs via H-1b.

Ralph Nader recognizes that by ending the two party duopoly and including third party candidates who represents the majority of Americans who demand real change and not some insulting and empty rhetoric of “believing in the promise of hope” from the likes of Obama, Clinton and Mccain, we can begin to take back this country from the hands of the true "evil doers" -- the corporate elite of Dems and Repubs who are increasingly merging into one Big Money Party.

We want and need to hear more from Ralph Nader, and we want him on ballots all across the country and to be included in all national debates, talk show circuits and radio.

-2Truthy

Losing the War on Humor

Life Is For The Birds

Is there anything nicer in Spring than listening to the birds sing? Here in The Old Dominion, we get a fair variety of birds. A couple of seasons ago, I started putting seed out in a feeder. It was nice to see and listen to the little feathered things. Mockingbirds, sparrows, wrens and mourning doves. One of my particular favorites is the white-breasted nuthatch. He eats off the tree upside down. I'm not doing too well attracting finches yet, but I did put them up a special feeder this Spring, so we'll see what happens. They usually wait until the Black-eyed Susans bloom in July before they show up en masse. Alas, I have never been able to attract hummingbirds. A new type of bird showed up yesterday: he's all dark black on his body, with a kinda bronze colored head. He has a very high pitched warble. I haven't identified him yet. Any thoughts?

Anywho, I started putting out different kinds of foods in different types of feeders to see if I could attract a broader variety, a little cylander with peanuts for the Blue Jays, some saffron and sunflowers seeds for the cardinals. Last summer, I put out a couple of suet baskets and was delighted to welcome two couples of Downy woodpeckers, like this handsome fellow, and also a couple of hairy woodpeckers. Yes, all of you with your filthy minds, that's really what they're called -- hairy woodpeckers. Like most of the bird world, the males feel the need to have all the colorful plummage.

My kids laugh at me and tell me I'm obsessed with my little bird friends, but I don't care, they'll probably lock me up in the nuthouse one day anyway, the little brats.

The woodpeckers are now my problem. See, they don't feed on the ground, unlike, say, cardinals, who mostly eat on the ground. The woodpeckers only like the suet. Well, guess what, there's another species of bird that really, really likes suet. These little mofos right here:

The dreaded Grackle. I hate these birds with every fiber of my being. They are pesky, scavenger birds. They are ugly to look at. What's worse is, they don't sing; their caw is only slightly less annoying than a crow's. And they love the suet. I wouldn't mind if one or two occasionally stopped by, but these bastards travel in packs. Whenever I fill the suet baskets, they descend upon the backyard like locusts. First one shows up, then he lets all his freaking relatives know, and the next thing you know, there are six or seven here at once. They wolf down the suet, and my poor little woodpeckers show up to find the baskets empty. Now this bums me out to no end.

Any ideas? How do I get rid of the pest birds without also getting rid of all the ones I love so much? Is it like life, where you have to take the good and the bad?

"Say Goodnight, Dick."

"Goodnight, Dick."

Dick Martin, of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.

1922-2008

Have fun at the party.

I'll never forget that show, with Gary Owens in his Big Voice opening the week's episode with the credits and finishing up with "And Morgo the Friendly Grelb, as Morgo, the Friendly Grelb."

Richard Nixon saying, "Sock it to ME?!"

John Wayne doing Henry Gibson's poetry corner: "The sky is blue / The grass is green / Get off your butt / And join the Marines."

Joanne Worley, the Human Air Raid Siren.

Alan Sues. 'Nuff said.

Arte Johnson and Ruth Buzzi.

Ahh, happy memories.

Air Show at Jones Beach Yesterday

BREAKING NEWS!

With my Captain Midnight decoder ring and camera, I've managed to get a picture of the rock that Blackdog reportedly crawls under to avoid them twisters!
While I can't confirm it (the optical interferometer coupon is in the box of Kix and I ain't done with it yet), I'm pretty sure from intelligence reports that this is the real McCoy or McCain or McClinton or MC Hammer in Arkieville!





(Tours available in advance. Price is 2 Snausages!)

Conundrum

So what do you do when you're a part time employee who makes about $10/hour and it takes you a gallon or so of gas to get to work and another gallon or so to get home and they ask you to come in on Saturday morning for a couple of hours and the gas price is up to $4.15 for regular at the cheap gas station?

It's happening to a a lot of folks. Happened to my son this morning. We figure he netted about $9 or $10 for 2 hours work, not to mention the commute which took about an hour for both ways. Why even bother? He will use that $9 for gas to get to work the next time he has to be there. What's going to happen to companies when employees can't even afford to go to work?

arrest Bush? if only...

I need to remember to check the OCA website more often for catchy headlines.

Activist wants Bush arrested on arrival

Minneapolis activist will ask that President Bush be tried for war crimes. Ed Felien wants Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to convene a grand jury.

By ROCHELLE OLSON, Star Tribune
Last update: May 22, 2008 - 11:30 PM

Longtime Minneapolis peace activist and sometime-gadfly Ed Felien asked a Hennepin County District judge on Thursday to compel the county attorney to arrest President Bush when his plane lands for the GOP convention in September.

Felien, a former Minneapolis City Council member, said Bush should be investigated and prosecuted for murder because of troop deaths in Iraq, conspiracy to fix oil prices and conspiracy to distribute drugs by controlling the opium trade in Afghanistan.

A LONG SHOT: He acknowledged that his request was unusual, but also said, "The purpose of the prosecuting attorney is not to achieve convictions, but to seek justice."

At the end of a 30-minute hearing, Judge Gary Larson said he would rule in the normal course of business, but he did not provide a time frame. Felien's request certainly had the feel of a very long shot.

Deputy Hennepin County Attorney Patrick Diamond said the notion that the president could be taken into custody and prosecuted is "highly doubtful."

SOLE DISCRETION: Diamond emphasized that the county attorney bears the sole discretion of when to prosecute crimes. "Not everything a county attorney can do is something a county attorney should do," he said.

He argued, too, that Felien's request raises serious separation of powers issues. A totalitarian state exists when a "judge is deciding not just the outcome but who should be investigated and prosecuted," Diamond said.

PRESENTING HIS CASE: During Felien's nearly 20 minutes of wide-ranging argument, Larson advised him several times to slow down so the court reporter could capture his words.

Felien touched on Bush family history, claiming that the family has influential ties to "Saudi princes" as well as Afghanistan drug lords and the Mafia. He introduced numerous news articles to the judge regarding the Bush family and oil prices.

In his filings, Felien wrote that the president "has fraudulently represented a war against Iraq as essential for our national interests when in reality the war only benefits his private interests. With his Saudi friends he has cornered the supply of oil and raised prices. And through his longtime family contacts with the CIA and the Mafia he has arranged for the transporting of heroin into Hennepin County."...

Here's the link to the article itself.

For Brooke:

Hope it's the best ever!

Wars and Election Campaigns

Throughout centuries nations fought conventional wars. Wars based on honor and submission of the losing parties. There were rules they all abided by and armies lined up face to face on opposite sides of the field.

Winning or losing depended on strategies and tactics to bring the confrontation to a successful end. That meant, allowing the enemy to collect their dead and wounded after the battle, or respect POW's by treating them humanely etc. By the end of the 20th century, those rules started to break down. There were abuses outside the conventional war rules.

In the 21st century, rules almost disappeared, thus bringing the end of conventional wars on all sides. That means, IED's, suicide bombers, horrific executions of POW's, torture interrogations and civilian exterminations.

Election campaigns are fought just like wars. They all have a basic strategy to win, then they apply tactics to achieve the main objective. The solders are lined up at opposite sides of the field and fight the war, conventionally and sometimes unconventionally. To attack the enemy is not necessarily a bad thing if you want to win a war. Whether, it's a fair or an unfair attack is always due to interpretation. One side may interpret it as fair, the other may qualify it unfair. Who'll be the judge? The public, who may be siding with one or the other, watching the fight intensely . The same public, will decide who won the war, by voting.

Perhaps the rules of Election campaigns are breaking down just like the rules of war. We saw that in the most recent presidential elections: Willy Horton ads, Swift-boat veterans for truth etc

To whine that being attacked is unfair, is childish and self serving. How can you win a war if you don't attack? Or, if you win this battle by whining, how you expect to win the next battle, when you're going to be attacked with hard ammo?

That is just my two cents, on this day we celebrate, or mourn all those who fought and died in past wars. I'd like to hear your opinion on this subject!

Tunnel links NY to London

Check out this story


Here's a tidbit from the story:

"If you believe artist and inventor Paul St George then his "Telectroscope" connects New York and London via a (very) long tunnel running through the earth's crust, with the images bouncing back and forth using mirrors.

The other explanation is that it is all done by optical fibres - take your pick.

One end of the "tunnel" emerges next to Tower Bridge on the banks of the Thames in London - the other is next to Brooklyn Bridge on the banks of New York's East River.

It looks like something HG Wells might have imagined.

Each end has a giant telescope-like construction which appears to punch its way out of the earth.

There are dials, and levers, and thermometer gauges on the side of the 20m long brass and wood construction.

Peer into it and you can see people on the other side of the Atlantic.
Wave at them, they wave back at you.

Write on the whiteboard, and ask a question, and they will write back."

I think I'll have to take a ride to Brooklyn this weekend to see this thang. But first I'm off to the air show.

The Back-Door Draft

NBC: Army stop-loss policy a back-door draft

Stop loss is an insult to our troops!
58,000 soldiers have been stop lossed in the past 6 years.


Wait a minute. This is just making the news NOW?
N O W ?
Haven't we been reading about the stop-loss issue for years now?
Didn't John Kerry bring it up in '04? Why yes he did. Oh but wait, he was unAmerican. feh.

I used to think a person had to be dead BEFORE they could be reincarnated.

Hillary says she should stay in the race in May because Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June!


Someone should check to see if Bush transmogrified into Hillary!

A) Megalomania...
B) Pathological liar...
C) Psychotic...
D) Senile?

All of the above!

(Relatively Clean) Friday Sex Post

Australia ponders the age-old problem, "How to look good naked."

Blonde's Eye View: Knocked Up

I watched a movie earlier that I thought I was so going to hate. Surprise. I didn't hate it. In fact it should be mandatory viewing for young people- Knocked Up. Hated the title. Stellar performances by the cast particularly Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan whom I was sure I would hate, but was pleasantly surprised.

The gist of the story is that a gorgeous young woman with great potential and a loserish guy with no job or money get drunk in a bar, do it and part ways. Girl finds out she's pregnant, gets in touch with the guy and during the pregnancy get to know each other and fall in love. It wasn't mushy at all though. That's why I liked it.

All this took place against the backdrop of Hollywood- Tinsel Town and the vapid club culture of "look at me, I'm so beautiful, you have to love me, blah blah blah, if you don't love me, I'll do something drastic, yadda yadda yadda." That all made it interesting and liked how the characters didn't crumble (too much) when they discovered that they were too old or too un-beautiful for the scene.

Another reason I liked the movie was because she was beautiful and smart and he was a bottom feeder, yet she took the time to get to know him and in time, he got to know himself better and be a pretty ok guy. She did the same although she never seemed stuck up for someone so attractive, which is what you'd come to expect in Hollywood movies. I liked how vulnerable the characters were and how they seemed to just manage even though at times it didn't seem like they would. It's kind of like life... how sometimes you just survive a huge event you weren't planning on, sweat all through it and somehow come out alright just because you kept plugging along trying to take one day at a time and do the best you can under the circumstances, if you get what I mean.

My favorite part of the movie? When the 2 lead male actors eat mushrooms and attend Cirque du Soleil in Vegas. Can you imagine? Have to put that on my things to do before I die list. (Yes, I have led a poopy sheltered life in the first half century. Time time to rev it up a bit)

It's on HBO this month. Try to catch it if you can.

McCain Renounces Hagee. The fun ensues.

And Hagee takes back his endorsement of McCain.

Boo hoo. It's all over CNN here and here

"God says in Jeremiah 16: 'Behold, I will bring them the Jewish people again unto their land that I gave to their fathers. ... Behold, I will send for many fishers, and after will I send for many hunters. And they the hunters shall hunt them.' That would be the Jews. ... Then God sent a hunter. A hunter is someone who comes with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter," Hagee said, according to a transcript of his sermon.

After seeking Hagee's endorsement, John McCain had to pull the plug on his relationship with the "Pastor" of 20,000 and television minister to millions because of his comments about Jews and Hitler. Apparently that was the last straw. The nasty stuff he said about Catholics, gays and Muslims didn't quite get his goat though. He just repudiated that part but not the whole ministry... until now.

Obviously Senator McCain did NOT do his homework and the fact that Hagee is a "Christian Zionist" does not mean that he is pro-Israel in a way that would be good for Jews. (See also premillennial dispensationalism.) In fact CZ's see Jews suffering the most during end times. Hagee and his contributors are trying to raise money to get all the Jews of the world back to Israel so that Armageddon can happen, all the Jews will be punished by God and all teh devout 'christians' can go straight to heaven. Basically he wants all Jews to be blown up. This does not fare well for McCain who is looking for Jewish votes. Oh wouldn't it just be lovely if politicians weren't politicians?

Of course Hagee says that all his comments were taken out of context. (In fact, Hagee takes the whole freaking bible out of context, if you ask me, thank you for asking.)

So McCain said, "Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Rev. Hagee's endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well."

Sorry, but that's no excuse because all McCain or his "people" had to do was read the blogs or perform a simple google search to find out what all teh hooha was about when Hagee first endorsed McCain. Could it be that McCain was trying to court Jewish voters in Florida when he had this awakening?

Sooooo Hagee said, "I am tired of these baseless attacks and fear that they have become a distraction in what should be a national debate about important issues. I have therefore decided to withdraw my endorsement of Sen. McCain for president effective today, and to remove myself from any active role in the 2008 campaign."

Well hallelujah and pass the salsa.

Before anyone brings up Rev Wright, let's not forget that there's a difference in these 2 stories. Rev. Wright did not endorse Barack Obama and Rev Wright holds no political sway. Hagee does have political sway and has millions of followers via his tv ministry. McCain who once wisely renounced fundamentalists actively sought these crack pots for political gain. Now it bit him in the arse. You would think that by his age, he would know better and stick with his original gut feelings.

UPDATE
Speaking of Jews, Obama has his own Jewish problems going back to his apparent "appeasement" of those who hope to wipe Israel off the planet and also wary of his relationship with Reverend Wright. Alan Dershowitz is on CNN now talking about how email campaigns are going around among Jewish communities warning voters that Obama may be a Muslim. Dershowitz rejects those claims and also believes that Obama is pro-Israel in a good way, not the way John Hagee is.

Forward The Unfuckables

(Hello! Fat Lady Sings here. Liz has kindly invited me to contribute to this fabulous blog. I may not be blond – but this redhead’s on fire!)




Update: I received an email from someone claiming to be Michael Wolff pointing out that I use 'Richard' several times in this essay. Ooops! He got me! Chalk it up to a bad pain day. Most of you know I'm usually vigilant when it comes to details like this - but sometimes, when the pain gets really bad, the back of my brain takes over. I was thinking about the TV pundit Richard Wolff (the Wolff I know best). It just came out - and for that I am sorry. If I'm eviscerating the man - I should at the very least get his name right!

So thank you MICHAEL Wolff for the correction. That took courage.


A few weeks ago I read an article in Vanity Fair that really scorched my shorts. I was so pissed off, I had to think about it a while – let it simmer, so to speak – see if the pot came to full boil. Well it did. I’d say I’m well and truly ‘boiled’ now. In fact – the more I think about it the ‘prime-ier’ I get. Why this particular diatribe? Out of the encyclopedia of ‘I Hate Hillary’s’ littered like smashed walnuts on the side of the road – why did this pop my kettle? The complete and utter denigration and dismissal of women in general. Call it the final straw – the last nail in the coffin – one insult too far. You see - Michael Wolff has declared us over 50 types unfuckable – and you know what that means: invisibility to the point of shunning (he even uses that word!).

Guess we can all go home now girls - at least those of us in what the opposite gender sees as peri-(pathetic) menopause. We are now officially invisible – except for Hillary, of course. She’s still out there - plugging away – but it’s only a matter of time. She’s fading – shrinking towards germ status (with any male handy the prescribed antibiotic). The estimable and oh so quip worthy Mr. Wolff has pronounced her persona non grata, so – behold the unfuckable woman!




It’s all about the sex, you see:

Sex (sex, not gender) in politics is as significant a subtext as race.

Isn't that special? Michael, honey – you do make a girl swoon! Oh. Sorry. I’m unfuckable – unfuckable women don’t (or can’t – I’m not sure which) swoon. 'Old' women only support Hillary because she's as ‘unfuckable’ as they themselves are. Such a prince, this guy! Such insight!

But wait - there’s more! The candidate most likely to win will do so because fuckable women can imagine him (it has to be a ‘him’, you see) ‘doing it’. Gee – I guess that leaves McCain out.

….in real life everybody is constantly and openly speculating on the sexual nature and needs and eccentricities of every rising and demanding political personality.

It’s a point of identification and differentiation. We vote for or against sex lives.

I don’t care whether you’re for Hillary or against her – its no longer possible to pretend that gender hasn’t entered this election. You know - a couple years back, the UN studied the plight of women in this wide world. Know what they said?:

….women will have to wait until the 25th century, 2490 to be precise, before they can achieve parity with men.

So drop the scales from your eyes, my friends. Wake up and smell the misogyny. Michael Wolff does. Smell things, that is. And what he smells is the aroma of unfuckableness. Hillary obviously isn’t getting any from Bill (did she ever?) – so why vote for her? (Serial adulterers become that way because the women in their lives aren’t fuckable, after all. Everyone knows that!). We want stained sheets in the White House – not brilliant minds. And EVERYONE thinks that way (only secretly, of course):

Although it’s not discussed in reputable commentary, it’s discussed by everyone else: so what exactly is the thing with Hillary and sex, with the consensus being that she simply must not have it (at least not with her husband; there are, on the other hand, the various conspiracy scenarios of whom else she might have had it with).

Except for us dried up old prunes (or as Wolff categorizes us – the ‘sexually desperate’). We want Hillary because her vagina is as dusty and useless as our own. No KY Jelly for you! (Not even the warming kind). Wolff kindly enlightens us on this subject as well – at least where it touches on Hillary and the unfuckables:

She’s the special-interest candidate of older women—the post-sexual set. She’s resisted by others (including older women who don’t see themselves as part of the post-sexual set) who see her as either frigid or sexually shunned

I won’t even get into how he labels and denigrates Cindy McCain and Jeri Thompson Kehn (pole dancing, anyone?). Oh – he backs it all up with quotes from other middle-aged white men (Joe Scarborough for one) – but that’s what middle-aged white men do – flock together and compare their diminishing sexuality. It’s ageing roués anonymous – or as my best friend Amy puts it – the dick club (no tits allowed). Of course, the only thing hardening in these guys lately is their arteries – but who cares! They have penises! And we don’t. I can just see those testosterone molecules dashing about – brandishing little swords – making sure not a drop of estrogen remains standing. Of course – no estrogen in the brain means forgetting that tab ‘A’ fits into receptor ‘B’ – but like I said - who cares? It’s possessing the penis that counts – not the ability to use it.

And that’s not even the worst of it. Wolff goes on to say that women are part of a ‘prosecutorial matriarchy’. He sexually fetishisizes middle-aged politicians (a la Elliot Spitzer, whom Wolff at once criticizes and admires) holding them up as the great American arbiter: they act as we all do (or would like to); the ‘we’ being card carrying members of the dick club, I guess. Wolff really feels for fellow middle-aged philanderer Spitzer. He’s pissed off Spitzer didn’t fight getting caught:

Spitzer should have, reasonably, blamed the Bush Justice Department, the Patriot Act, the entire culture of investigation (again, mea culpa, mea culpa), instead of giving in to his own shame. He should have stood up for higher principles.

You have to be particularly shameless, of course, to stand such ground. But shamelessness is what we pay politicians for.

As for the unfuckables? We females who put up with the Elliot Spitzer’s in our lives?:

The result is a consensus on sexual politics that is driven by women, striking in its asperity and lack of generosity.

And Hillary? Well – she’s just Bills ‘beleaguered’ and eminently unfuckable wife. That’s what it all comes back to, you know: Bill – Bill and sex in the Oval Office i.e.: the ever-present and always terrifying ‘Clenis’. Wolff calls Bill Clinton the ‘Amos ‘N Andy of sexual need’. Imagine if he’d used that very same analogy on Barack Obama - Moyers would do a documentary! And Hillary – poor Hillary! That’s what everyone’s saying these days – ‘Poor Hillary’. It’s become almost as ubiquitous as ‘pass the potatoes’. Washington Post writer Libby Copeland calls it “death by condescension”. I say it’s a chuck under the chin complete with lollipop (make mine cherry, please). There just aren’t enough votes to be class president. Tracy Flick will never morph into Elle Woods – too organized, too strident, too needy – not enough flair in all the ‘right’ places. Hillary just doesn’t register on the bimbo meter. No – the only jiggle affecting men when regarding la Clinton is the tweak she gives their blood lust. They don’t just want her gone – they want her dead. Julia Keller of the Chicago Tribune labels it:

….the appalling preponderance of violent, death-infused imagery in conversations about Clinton, smuggled into otherwise ordinary political discourse like a knife taped on the bottom of a cake plate: On CNN, pundit Alex Castellanos said democrats must realize that "it's time to take the family dog to the vet." Matthews' MSNBC colleague Keith Olbermann expressed the hope that "somebody will take her into a room—and only he comes out." CNN's Jack Cafferty gleefully floated the specter of Clinton being run over by a flatbed truck. A recent Tribune editorial compared Clinton to a euthanized Kentucky Derby contender.

So bring out your dead, my friends (especially if that dead is blond and wears a pantsuit)! And all women over 50 please line up for mandatory shunning. Get your unfuckable stamp here – big, red letters (Helvetica, of course – it has to be universally readable). All snark aside – I find everything Michael Wolff said absolutely appalling. And I am shocked beyond words that a so-called ‘woman’s magazine’ actually published such tripe. Oh I know – many will read what Wolff said and label it some form of comedy: ‘he didn’t really mean it’. He was pointing out what OTHERS believe, or have said, or silently think in the long, dark tea-time of their souls. Right. Well I don’t buy that bullshit – not one stinking stone of it. It’s like the guy who says he doesn’t hate Hillary because she’s a woman – he hates her because she’s a bitch. Its bumfuzzel; a distraction – misogyny slipped under the door like so much pornography. Even the brown paper it’s wrapped in carries a stink. And before you dismiss this as the opinion of just one man – have a gander at the links I’ve provided. From Marie Cocco over at The Washington Post to Nina Burleigh of the Huffington Post – note has been taken of what is being said (and what is being ignored) - on all sides. It’s open season on women, my friends. This isn’t just about Hillary; though she’s the current locus. And it really isn’t about politics per se. Obama’s quest for the presidency has unleashed many racist elements in our country – something I predicted, by the way – more than a year ago (An Open Letter to Barack Obama). That certain elements have set these dual hatreds against one another is shameful – but not unexpected. The adage of divide and conquer is as old as civilization – even though as a modern society we should eschew such crap. The politics of exclusion should belong to our historical past. But they don’t – and here we are. No – no matter how you slice it – Wolff and the host of other’s battering Clinton’s gender posses twelfth century beliefs: a woman is only as useful as her vagina. When that dries up – when we become ‘unfuckable’ - we become useless. Discardable. Invisible. Hell - even Match.com has issues!

Well I say hooray The Unfuckables! Bully for us! Michael Wolff doesn’t want us? To hell with him and the old-boy network he rode in on. We unfuckables don’t need your stinkin’ imperator. We do alright on our own, thank you very much. Hey – we oughta band together – don’t you think? Get a website - maybe our own reality show. Loreena Bobbit (bless her sharp little heart!) can be our patron saint. Imagine - hoards of unfuckabe women roaming the countryside like maenads - looking for the men who done them wrong.

It'd be a freakin' apocalypse!

Summary of links (Homework):
It’s the Adultery, Stupid
Misogyny I Won’t Miss
Belittled Women
Nina Burleigh
Devil in a Pantsuit
Estrogen and the Male Brain
UN Study on Women

Racism vs. Sexism:
CNN
Salon 1
Salon 2

A Lighter Look:
Clenis
Match.com

Cross-posted in all the usual places