Arise, you prisoners of starvation,
Arise, you wretched of the earth,
For Justice thunders condemnation -
A new world's now in birth!
No more tradition's chains shall bind us
Arise, you slaves, no more in thrall!
The Earth shall have a new foundation!
We have been naught - we shall be all!
So, comrades, rally
And the last fight let us face!
The International
Unites the human race!
No savior from on High deliver,
No trust we'll place in prince or peer;
Our own right hands our chains will sever -
Chains of hatred, greed and fear!
Ere the thief is forced to share his booty,
And to all give a happier lot,
Each at his forge must do his duty,
And strike while the iron is hot!
So, comrades, rally
And the last fight let us face!
The International
Unites the human race!
So, comrades, rally
And the last fight let us face!
The International
Unites the human race!
Tuesday, May 1
Thursday, April 26
Not Insane, But ...
On a nice day in July of last year, a truck bomb was set off in the government center of the Norwegian capital of Oslo.
Which, for the benefit of my readers in the USA, is in Norway.
Eight people died in the blast, and more than 500 more were injured to varying degrees. Since it was summer vacation time in Oslo, the center wasn't as full of people as it usually is, which explains the low casualty rate. The bomb itself was our good old friend ANFO (ammonium nitrate / fuel oil), the weapon of choice if you want to make a big boom for not a lot of money.
Surveillance videos showed a man walking away from the truck just before it went horribly nasty, and by reading the registration number on the vehicle the police determined that it belonged to a man named Anders Behring Breivik. An immediate search was mounted.
They were too late.
Breivik had left the area and headed for the island of Utoya, where the ruling party's youth movement was having a summer camp - boating, group activities, just clean fun for kids. When a man dressed as a police officer and carrying weapons showed up about two hours after the bombing, no one thought much of it.
Until he shot two off-duty cops who were acting as security (one of them the stepbrother of the Crown Princess).
When the smoke had cleared, Breivik had claimed another 69 lives before voluntarily giving up to police. Over the course of his shooting spree he would call out that the police were here, that everything was all right, and the kids should come out of hiding - whereupon he started shooting again.
His trial started several days ago, and one of things that surfaced as evidence was his psychological profile. It said, perhaps not surprisingly, that he was insane. Breivik immediately repudiated the study, claiming that he was most definitely not insane.
Of course, we remind ourselves that he planned and executed a killing spree, claimed that he was a crusading Knight Templar, and that he was trying to save the country from multiculturalism and "cultural Marxism." Suggesting that he's insane is a way to put some kind of rational meaning on his acts. If we can't understand his motives for shooting teenagers and trying to blow up the government, he must be crazy, right?
Not really.
Timothy McVeigh wasn't crazy, and despite whatever we might think Osama bin Laden wasn't crazy either. While their world-view may seem skewed to us, they act rationally. They make their plans carefully (Breivik began planning this in the early 2000s, and one of his ideas was to kidnap the former Prime Minister and behead her on internet video), and they carry out those plans without visible rancor - and without pity (McVeigh set off his bomb at the Murrah Federal Building even though he knew that there was a day care center with small children in the structure).
So, as the trial goes on, is Anders Breivik insane?
No. He is rational according to his worldview.
How should he be punished for his acts? Well, that's a poser; Norwegian law has no death penalty, and apparently the longest you can stay in prison for any offense is 21 years. They might get around that by stringing all 77 sentences together consecutively, but even that may not fly. In this country (depending on which state you live in) he would spend every day of the rest of his life in prison, or spend an average of twenty years on Death Row awaiting execution.
Which, for the benefit of my readers in the USA, is in Norway.
Eight people died in the blast, and more than 500 more were injured to varying degrees. Since it was summer vacation time in Oslo, the center wasn't as full of people as it usually is, which explains the low casualty rate. The bomb itself was our good old friend ANFO (ammonium nitrate / fuel oil), the weapon of choice if you want to make a big boom for not a lot of money.
Surveillance videos showed a man walking away from the truck just before it went horribly nasty, and by reading the registration number on the vehicle the police determined that it belonged to a man named Anders Behring Breivik. An immediate search was mounted.
They were too late.
Breivik had left the area and headed for the island of Utoya, where the ruling party's youth movement was having a summer camp - boating, group activities, just clean fun for kids. When a man dressed as a police officer and carrying weapons showed up about two hours after the bombing, no one thought much of it.
Until he shot two off-duty cops who were acting as security (one of them the stepbrother of the Crown Princess).
When the smoke had cleared, Breivik had claimed another 69 lives before voluntarily giving up to police. Over the course of his shooting spree he would call out that the police were here, that everything was all right, and the kids should come out of hiding - whereupon he started shooting again.
His trial started several days ago, and one of things that surfaced as evidence was his psychological profile. It said, perhaps not surprisingly, that he was insane. Breivik immediately repudiated the study, claiming that he was most definitely not insane.
Of course, we remind ourselves that he planned and executed a killing spree, claimed that he was a crusading Knight Templar, and that he was trying to save the country from multiculturalism and "cultural Marxism." Suggesting that he's insane is a way to put some kind of rational meaning on his acts. If we can't understand his motives for shooting teenagers and trying to blow up the government, he must be crazy, right?
Not really.
Timothy McVeigh wasn't crazy, and despite whatever we might think Osama bin Laden wasn't crazy either. While their world-view may seem skewed to us, they act rationally. They make their plans carefully (Breivik began planning this in the early 2000s, and one of his ideas was to kidnap the former Prime Minister and behead her on internet video), and they carry out those plans without visible rancor - and without pity (McVeigh set off his bomb at the Murrah Federal Building even though he knew that there was a day care center with small children in the structure).
So, as the trial goes on, is Anders Breivik insane?
No. He is rational according to his worldview.
How should he be punished for his acts? Well, that's a poser; Norwegian law has no death penalty, and apparently the longest you can stay in prison for any offense is 21 years. They might get around that by stringing all 77 sentences together consecutively, but even that may not fly. In this country (depending on which state you live in) he would spend every day of the rest of his life in prison, or spend an average of twenty years on Death Row awaiting execution.
Monday, April 16
Dumber Than A Second Coat Of Paint
That's Tennessee.
The Volunteer State - or, in this case, the "Volunteer for Stupidest Bunch of Cretins in Their State Legislature."
Okay, you ask, what's got his nickers in a twist now?
First, the State of Tennessee is now a state where the teachers are practically required to "teach the controversy" regarding such topics as climate change and evolution. Got that? Two subjects about which there should be absolutely zero controversy.
Of course, the evolution "controversy" is simply the resurgence of idiocy known as Intelligent Design, which is actually Creationism, which is actually Religion (specifically Christianity, so don't be bringing any heathen controversies, just good solid Christian ones) - which is, by an amazing set of coincidences, against the law for teachers.
Yes, the state which hosted the Scopes Trial decided to forget the facts that Scopes' conviction was overturned, that the anti-evolution law they had on their books was stricken back in 1968, and that the town of Dover, Pennsylvania had to pay out the ass for failure to rein in the assholes on their own school board.
But it doesn't stop there, no sir! Tennessee's legislature, a concatenation of complete coprophages if ever I've seen one, is also considering a bill that would restrict sex education. Now, they already had a law that requires teachers to tell students that abstinence is the best way to stop teenage pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
But abstinence education doesn't work. How do we know? Look at Tennessee! Abstinence-centered sex education, and one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy and STDs in the nation.
Gosh, Cletus, think there might - just might - be a correlation here? Bear in mind that when kids get a shiny new toy (particularly one that stimulates the post-orgasmic production of hormones such as endorphins) they will simply fester to try it out!
The Stupid's so thick on the ground in Tennessee you'd think you were in Mississippi.
So Tennessee's making an effort to make sure that teachers double down on the abstinence crap, by also instructing people on the idea of "gateway sexual behaviors."
"Gateway sexual behaviors."
You hear about gateway drugs, substances that can lead to you taking harder chemicals in an effort to get high. Drink alcohol? That's a gateway. Smoke weed? That's a gateway.
So, what are the fine men and women installed in the State Legislature by the voters of Tennessee (who have no one to blame but themselves) describing as "gateway sexual behaviors?"
Holding hands, and kissing.
You'll notice they say nothing about masturbation, but apparently the progression would be:
1. Holding hands, and kissing.
2. Hugging.
3. Dancing.
4. SEX! NAUGHTINESS! SWEATY SNUGGLEBUNNIES!
And how do you enforce that? Do you accuse every parent who holds a child's hand as they cross the street of being a closet pedophile? Or do you simply brainwash kids that any body contact is so inherently dangerous that they'll spontaneously combust if they do so much as look at the opposite sex?
But never fear; it'll never work. Kids will be taught that you must abstain from sex, and that holding hands and kissing are gateway sexual behaviors that can lead to risky sex and teenage pregnancy. No mention of condoms, or the pill, or abortion, or responsible safe sexual intercourse (and recall that at least one political faction in that state refers to itself as "The Party of Personal Responsibility(tm)").
But kids are raised amid a tsunami of sexual images - TV, music, the Internet - and when the winds of puberty begin to blow and various secondary sexual characteristics develop, young men and women will start to touch themselves Down There.
And they'll decide they'll like it, and want more.
And they'll suddenly realize that they want to share their bodies.
And the Tennessee Legislature will wake up, turn around and realize that they've been, quite literally, dumber than a second coat of paint.
The Volunteer State - or, in this case, the "Volunteer for Stupidest Bunch of Cretins in Their State Legislature."
Okay, you ask, what's got his nickers in a twist now?
First, the State of Tennessee is now a state where the teachers are practically required to "teach the controversy" regarding such topics as climate change and evolution. Got that? Two subjects about which there should be absolutely zero controversy.
Of course, the evolution "controversy" is simply the resurgence of idiocy known as Intelligent Design, which is actually Creationism, which is actually Religion (specifically Christianity, so don't be bringing any heathen controversies, just good solid Christian ones) - which is, by an amazing set of coincidences, against the law for teachers.
Yes, the state which hosted the Scopes Trial decided to forget the facts that Scopes' conviction was overturned, that the anti-evolution law they had on their books was stricken back in 1968, and that the town of Dover, Pennsylvania had to pay out the ass for failure to rein in the assholes on their own school board.
But it doesn't stop there, no sir! Tennessee's legislature, a concatenation of complete coprophages if ever I've seen one, is also considering a bill that would restrict sex education. Now, they already had a law that requires teachers to tell students that abstinence is the best way to stop teenage pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
But abstinence education doesn't work. How do we know? Look at Tennessee! Abstinence-centered sex education, and one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy and STDs in the nation.
Gosh, Cletus, think there might - just might - be a correlation here? Bear in mind that when kids get a shiny new toy (particularly one that stimulates the post-orgasmic production of hormones such as endorphins) they will simply fester to try it out!
The Stupid's so thick on the ground in Tennessee you'd think you were in Mississippi.
So Tennessee's making an effort to make sure that teachers double down on the abstinence crap, by also instructing people on the idea of "gateway sexual behaviors."
"Gateway sexual behaviors."
You hear about gateway drugs, substances that can lead to you taking harder chemicals in an effort to get high. Drink alcohol? That's a gateway. Smoke weed? That's a gateway.
So, what are the fine men and women installed in the State Legislature by the voters of Tennessee (who have no one to blame but themselves) describing as "gateway sexual behaviors?"
Holding hands, and kissing.
You'll notice they say nothing about masturbation, but apparently the progression would be:
1. Holding hands, and kissing.
2. Hugging.
3. Dancing.
4. SEX! NAUGHTINESS! SWEATY SNUGGLEBUNNIES!
And how do you enforce that? Do you accuse every parent who holds a child's hand as they cross the street of being a closet pedophile? Or do you simply brainwash kids that any body contact is so inherently dangerous that they'll spontaneously combust if they do so much as look at the opposite sex?
But never fear; it'll never work. Kids will be taught that you must abstain from sex, and that holding hands and kissing are gateway sexual behaviors that can lead to risky sex and teenage pregnancy. No mention of condoms, or the pill, or abortion, or responsible safe sexual intercourse (and recall that at least one political faction in that state refers to itself as "The Party of Personal Responsibility(tm)").
But kids are raised amid a tsunami of sexual images - TV, music, the Internet - and when the winds of puberty begin to blow and various secondary sexual characteristics develop, young men and women will start to touch themselves Down There.
And they'll decide they'll like it, and want more.
And they'll suddenly realize that they want to share their bodies.
And the Tennessee Legislature will wake up, turn around and realize that they've been, quite literally, dumber than a second coat of paint.
Wednesday, March 28
Culture Project: Blueprint for Accountability - From Georgetown University last evening
Culture Project: Blueprint for Accountability from Culture Project on FORA.tv
"Tonight at 7pm EDT, you can watch Blue Print for Accountability --a live-stream from Georgetown University featuring the verbal pyrotechnics of Eliot Spitzer, former governor of New York; Matt Taibbi, the journalist best known for documenting the obscene behavior of Goldman Sachs; Van Jones, the honcho behind Rebuild the American Dream; Heather McGhee of Washington Demos; best-selling author Ron Suskind; and OWS activist Jesse La Greca. Hosting this powerhouse lineup is the indefatigable Dylan Ratigan, who skewers the failures of the corporate system everyday from his perch at MSNBC. Sponsored by the Culture Project."
Thursday, March 15
Away, Down South !
Mullah Ricky Stomps on the Competition ... Gingrich's Cri de Coeur ... What Is That Senile Fool Up To? ... The Show That Will End in Tampa?
"Away down south in the Land of Cotton
I smell you and you smell rotten!
Go away! Go away! Go away, Dixieland!"
Two huge primaries were decided back on Tuesday in two rather unlikely states, Mississippi and Alabama. A poll released just before the voting revealed something that should shock no one - that a majority of the Republican voters in those two states steadfastly believe that President Obama is Muslim, and don't believe in evolution.
Again, that comes as no surprise. Both states are deep red - meaning that Ignorance is cultivated there as a cash crop. Mississippi is the poorest state in the nation, with a high percentage of teen pregnancies and a whole raft of other handicaps (notably Haley Barbour). But on the other hand, MS does get more Federal money than it pays into the kitty in taxes, so I suppose that's a plus.
Newton "I'm Not As Fat As Baron Harkonnen, And I Have Better Hair" Gingrich considered these two states (Alabama particularly) as his "firewall," two states that he absolutely had to have in order to maintain his legitimacy as a viable candidate for the nomination. He's from Georgia and he can connect with the voters. All he had to do was campaign hard, and trust to Romney to stick his expensive shoes in his mouth.
Which Romney did, frequently and with great hilarity, from his statements about liking "cheesy grits" and catfish to his affected drawl. So it looked like Gingrich might have won, right?
Wrong.
Santorum campaigned like a ferret on crank, and by about ten o'clock Eastern Time was doing the weasel war dance all over the place. While proclaiming his victory in Alabama, he got word that the race in Mississippi had been called for him as well, which amped up the crowd so much I thought they were actually watching the last Crimson Tide game.
The Wannabe Mullah connected with voters down there more than Gingrich did, and at the podium finish it was Santorum on top (Eww!) with Gingrich coming in a close second and Romney breathing down his neck at third. The Two-by-Four managed that much, and his campaign had started downplaying expectations about a day before the voting actually started. Mittens got the booby prize of the night by winning the all-important Hawaii caucus.
Gingrich decided to vent his frustration, an act somewhat reminiscent of a humpback whale venting out its blowhole or a massive, blattering beer fart. It boiled down to one short sentence that any parent of a teenager will have heard at some point: "People just don't understand me!"
Not so, Newton: The problem is that people understand you too well.
All of which put Doddering Old Fool Ron Paul a distant fourth, where he's been ever since the last creep left the field. Supposedly Paul's a gynecologist or obstetrician by trade - all I know is I never want any member of my family setting foot in his practice (or his hideous clot of a son's for that matter). I just hope he's a better doctor than he is a candidate.
Rumors of some sort of backroom deal (the kind of thing all GOP candidates and voters say they abhor) between Romney and Paul started moving around, with the following basics - that at the convention Paul will throw his massive, swollen nut of 50 or so delegates to Romney, along with his endorsement and that of his merry band of minions, in exchange for Mittens putting Rand Paul on the ticket as Veep.
Which just made me wonder something: With all the bullshit about the Mormons posthumously baptizing non-Mormons so they go to heaven, did any of them give Hitler the Get Out Of Jail Free card? Just asking.
Santorum wants to debate Romney, the putative puta front-runner, one on one. Gingrich has vowed to fight on in memory of all those ragged, starving, out-of-ammunition rebels just before Lee went to meet Grant, and no one knows why the blistering fuck Ron Paul is still even in the race. It all ends in Tampa, where I hear that the strip joints are feverishly preparing pressure washers and steam hoses to clear away the tidal wave of straight-laced Good Christian Republican semen.
More popcorn?
Monday, March 12
You Don't Have to Go Home, But You Can't Stay Here
Over the weekend, a US soldier, identified so far only by his rank as a staff sergeant, left his base in Afghanistan.
He went to several Afghan homes, and shot sixteen Afghans - nine of them children. According to the BBC, several of the children were killed by single shots to the head. There is also evidence that some were set on fire after they were shot.
Five or so others are being treated for wounds, and after his little outing the soldier returned to his base and turned himself in.
I think it's time we left. We have stayed too long for any good we are doing.
Let us go.
He went to several Afghan homes, and shot sixteen Afghans - nine of them children. According to the BBC, several of the children were killed by single shots to the head. There is also evidence that some were set on fire after they were shot.
Five or so others are being treated for wounds, and after his little outing the soldier returned to his base and turned himself in.
I think it's time we left. We have stayed too long for any good we are doing.
Let us go.
John Boehner Speaks!
Or, Out of the Mouths of Fools.
The Great Orange-Skinned One, the Oompa-Loompah from Ohio, the Speaker of the House of Reprehensibles, John "Crying Man" Boehner (R-OH), sat down to have a chat with the Wall Street Journal over the weekend.
Among the many nose nuggets he fished out and flicked at the reporter was little gem, one of several amazing things said while the rest of us were trying to catch up on sleep:
"We got 435 members. It's just a slice of America, it really is. We got some of the smartest people in the country who serve here, and some of the dumbest. We got some of the best people you'd ever meet, and some of the raunchiest. We've got 'em all."
One has to wonder which category Boehner files himself under. Being a fairly typical politician (that is, a flaming narcissist), he will probably lump himself in with the smart people.
And yes, we have to recall that we voted for these 535 idiots (I include the Senate). We voted for them. They didn't pass through an interspatial membrane, nor are they The Lizard People of Whamadoodle IX.
There's a reason P.J. O'Rourke titled his book about the Congress Parliament of Whores.
Saturday, March 10
Bleeding Kansas
... And the Half-Sane Prince (Of The Church) ... Romney Bails On The Sunflower State ... Can A Patrician From Massachusetts Love Grits, And Does It Go Well With Scrod? ...
The Kansas caucuses are now history.
His Eminence Rick Santorum, Archbishop of Kookyville, trounced the field and won about 33 of the 40 delegates on offer. This boosts his standing on the hustings, but according to Romney's staffers it won't matter anyway.
See, Romney wants the rest of the candidates to drop out of the race now, so he can suffer all the way to Havana (or Tampa, if you prefer). The other three worthless assholes in the race, however, don't see it that way.
For some reason, Romney didn't show up to campaign in Kansas, letting his name recognition and fireball personality ... oh, yeah, right. He lost.
He did pick up the immense delegate haul from Guam and the Northern Marianas. Looks like something good came out of Abramoff after all.
So now attention turns to the Deepest bit of the Deep South, the home of NASCAR fans, dyed-in-the-wool Confederacy freaks, meth addicts and sheer blithering lunatics. I'm talking about Mississippi and Alabama, folks.
Romney opened up with a fantastic ploy guaranteed to win the hearts and minds of Southerners who might be suspicious about voting for a rich non-Baptist Jack Mormon from one of them there elitist Northeastern states who was born on third base believing he'd hit a triple.
Said ploy being telling everyone that he was "learning to like grits," the gratuitous use of "Ya'll," and saying that he was a "kinda politician." At a campaign event featuring the rock group Alabama, Mittens suggested they play the song Sweet Home Alabama.
Which is by Lynyrd Skynyrd, not Alabama.
I don't think that Microsoft 'Speak Southern' software patch is working too well, Willard.
Newton Gingrich (again, I'll use his full first name as much as possible, as the short form is an affront to good amphibians everywhere) laughed off Romney's ploy as a typical carpetbagger smokescreen and touted the fact that he'd lived in neighboring Georgia. He confidently expects to win in Mississippi and Alabama.
Saint Santorum is also expecting to do well. Jesus is second only to college football in those two states. Doddering Old Fool Ron Paul keeps blathering on, apparently content to muddle along at fourth or third place in practically every race so far, and maybe far into the future as the Republican Traveling Circus lurches and stumbles and staggers into Tampa, where the deal will go down.
Monday, March 5
Monday News Roundup
The war drums continue to throb in the late-winter air, gentle readers, reminding us that the Top In The Relationship wants us to throw ourselves headlong into yet another war on the Asian landmass. Yes, indeedy, Israel wants war with Iran, and the neocons in this country just bend right over and beg, "Will you at least kiss us this time?"
A group of retired generals have put out a full-page ad, signed by them all, asking can we please not stick our collective genitalia in the meat slicer again, pretty please with sugar on top?
I'm surprised. If they had done this in a Republican Administration, they'd all be in Gitmo right now, trying out that new soccer pitch. Which leads me to that - a few people at work questioned the wisdom of having a soccer pitch, until I pointed out that it was probably built on the beds of land mines that keep the base separate from the country it belongs to; i.e., Cuba.
Homophobia got back into the news, with Useless Has-Been Kirk Cameron holding forth that The Gay was destructive. News flash, Kirk: It's destructive if it's done wrong. You obviously have had a bad experience.
The ruler of Belarus remarked over the weekend that he thought it was better to be dictator than gay. From the look of his picture, I think he's smoked the old Baloney Pony at some point in his life. Maybe he and Kirk can hook up.
Speaking of Useless Drains on Our Precious Resources, Rush Limbaugh issued a tepid "apology" to the young college student he called a slut for using birth control. The "apology" was painstakingly hand-crafted by The Viagra Smuggler's bevy of lawyers after more than a half-dozen corporate sponsors bailed on his flabby ass.
And in a breathtaking display of cognitive functions, America's Senile Uncle, Ron Paul (R-TX, gee ya think?) let everyone know that Rush's "apology" wasn't genuine. I'm so glad that the Sociopath candidate for President is still capable of displaying enough thinking skill to enable him to tie his own shoes.
How's this for stupidity? Pat Robertson says that the recent spate of tornadoes are due to a lack of prayer. Will someone get this guy more Aricept, please?
A shitstorm of hideous tornado weather has smacked into states like Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and so on, killing a bunch of people and erasing entire towns. If you have any money to donate, dear readers, I suggest the Red Cross or a similar disaster relief organization.
Ohio's Governor, Drooling Republican Kasich, has waved away Federal disaster aid. He says that Ohio can manage all on its own, but that he may ask for assistance 'later.' 'Later' might be too late for a lot of people, which includes the people who voted this jackass into office.
Just for fun:
The Montgomery County, Texas, Sheriff's Department became one of the first police agencies in the country to get its very own remotely piloted surveillance drone. At $300,000 it's a tad pricey in this economy, but so what? The police need it.
The SWAT team decided to have a photo op with the drone, which looked as if it was going to be a lot of fun.
Until the drone lost contact and crashed into the team's armored car.
And, finally, just to remind you there are Beautiful Things still in the world, check out this little photo spread featuring the splendor of Micaela Schaefer's breasts.
A group of retired generals have put out a full-page ad, signed by them all, asking can we please not stick our collective genitalia in the meat slicer again, pretty please with sugar on top?
I'm surprised. If they had done this in a Republican Administration, they'd all be in Gitmo right now, trying out that new soccer pitch. Which leads me to that - a few people at work questioned the wisdom of having a soccer pitch, until I pointed out that it was probably built on the beds of land mines that keep the base separate from the country it belongs to; i.e., Cuba.
***
Homophobia got back into the news, with Useless Has-Been Kirk Cameron holding forth that The Gay was destructive. News flash, Kirk: It's destructive if it's done wrong. You obviously have had a bad experience.
The ruler of Belarus remarked over the weekend that he thought it was better to be dictator than gay. From the look of his picture, I think he's smoked the old Baloney Pony at some point in his life. Maybe he and Kirk can hook up.
***
Speaking of Useless Drains on Our Precious Resources, Rush Limbaugh issued a tepid "apology" to the young college student he called a slut for using birth control. The "apology" was painstakingly hand-crafted by The Viagra Smuggler's bevy of lawyers after more than a half-dozen corporate sponsors bailed on his flabby ass.
And in a breathtaking display of cognitive functions, America's Senile Uncle, Ron Paul (R-TX, gee ya think?) let everyone know that Rush's "apology" wasn't genuine. I'm so glad that the Sociopath candidate for President is still capable of displaying enough thinking skill to enable him to tie his own shoes.
How's this for stupidity? Pat Robertson says that the recent spate of tornadoes are due to a lack of prayer. Will someone get this guy more Aricept, please?
***
A shitstorm of hideous tornado weather has smacked into states like Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and so on, killing a bunch of people and erasing entire towns. If you have any money to donate, dear readers, I suggest the Red Cross or a similar disaster relief organization.
Ohio's Governor, Drooling Republican Kasich, has waved away Federal disaster aid. He says that Ohio can manage all on its own, but that he may ask for assistance 'later.' 'Later' might be too late for a lot of people, which includes the people who voted this jackass into office.
***
Just for fun:
The Montgomery County, Texas, Sheriff's Department became one of the first police agencies in the country to get its very own remotely piloted surveillance drone. At $300,000 it's a tad pricey in this economy, but so what? The police need it.
The SWAT team decided to have a photo op with the drone, which looked as if it was going to be a lot of fun.
Until the drone lost contact and crashed into the team's armored car.
***
And, finally, just to remind you there are Beautiful Things still in the world, check out this little photo spread featuring the splendor of Micaela Schaefer's breasts.
Probably a little childish...but then the recipient is a cockatrice trying to evole into a basilisk.
I've posted this before on this blog. It's from an old BBS back in the late 80s (the Stone Age of the Intertubes).
With the idiocy that has manifested itself in the embodiment of a POS known as Rush Hudson Limbaugh, especially due to his recent comment to Sandra Fluke and his hateful, derogatory remarks toward women, I decided a physical letter was in order. Since I couldn't formulate the vitriol properly (due to being totally pissed off) I am feeling toward this sub human who has fecal matter for brains, I remembered this old "Flame!"
To make me feel even better, I produced this on an actual typewriter (if you kids don't know what that is, ask your parents or google it) on a material known as "paper" to enjoy the full effect. Additionally, I enclosed it in a standard Manila envelope so I could place 45 two cent stamps on the thing, just for old tyme's sake.
If the spirit moves you, feel free to print it out and send a copy to that fat POS.
You are an idiot.
A moron of the highest order. You're so stupid it's a wonder you can remember to breathe. Intelligent ideas bounce off your head as if it were coated with Teflon. Creative thoughts take alternate transportation in order to avoid even being in the same state as you. If you had an original thought it would die of loneliness before the hour was out.
On an intelligence scale of 1 to 10 (10 corresponding to the highest attainable IQ) you're rating is so far into negative numbers that one would need to travel into another quantum reality in order to even catch a distant glimpse of it. Your personality is that of a rabid Chihuahua intent on destroying its own tail. Your powers of observation are like that of the bird who keeps slamming into the picture window trying to get that other bird it keeps seeing. You are walking, talking proof that you don't have to be sentient to survive, and that Barnum was thinking of you when he uttered his immortal phrase regarding the birth of a sucker.
You are, at varying times, tedious, boring, earth shatteringly hilarious in your idiocy; childish, moronic, pathetic, wretched, disgusting and pitiful.
You are wholly without any redeeming social grace or value. If God ever decides to give the planet an enema you'd better run like the wind because anywhere you stand is a suitable place for The Insertion. There is no animal so disgusting, so vile that it deserves comparison to you, for even the lowest, dirtiest, most parasitic member of the animal kingdom fills an ecological niche. You fill no niche. To call you a parasite would be injurious to the thousands of honest parasitic species.
You are worse than vermin, for vermin do not pretend to be what it is not. You are truly human garbage. You are a fraudulent, lying, predatory charlatan. You are of less worth than a burnt-out light bulb. You will forever live in shame. You have nothing to say, and Godwin's Law does not apply when writing about you.
You are the anti-Midas, for all that you touch becomes valueless and unusable. Mothers gather their children close when you appear. You are an aberration, a corruption, a boil that needs to be lanced. You are a poison in need of being vomited. You are a tooth so rotten it infects the whole body. You are sperm that should have been captured in a condom and flushed down a toilet.
I don't like you. I don't like anybody who has as little respect for others as you do. Go away, you swine.
You're a putrescent mass, a walking vomit. You are a spineless little worm deserving nothing but the profoundest contempt. You are a jerk, a cad, a weasel. Your life is a monument to stupidity. You are a stench, a revulsion, a big suck on a sour lemon. You are a curdled staggering mutant dwarf smeared richly with the effluvia and offal accompanying your alleged birth into this world. Meaningful to no one, abandoned by the puke-drooling, giggling beasts that sired you and then killed themselves in recognition of what they had done.
I will never get over the embarrassment of belonging to the same species as you. You are a monster, an ogre, and a malformity. I barf at the very thought of you. You have all the appeal of a paper cut. Lepers avoid you. You are vile, worthless, less than nothing. You are a weed, a fungus, the dregs of this earth. And did I mention you stink? Monkeys look down on you. Even sheep won't have sex with you. You are unreservedly pathetic, starved for attention, and lost in a land that reality forgot. You are a waste of flesh. You have no rhythm. You are ridiculous and obnoxious. You are the moral equivalent of a leech. You are a living emptiness, a meaningless void. You are sour and senile. You are a disease. You are a puerile one-handed slack-jawed drooling meatslapper.
On a good day you're a halfwit. You are deficient in all that lends character. You have the personality of wallpaper. You are dank and filthy. You are asinine and benighted. You are the source of all unpleasantness. You spread misery and sorrow wherever you go.
You are a fiend and a coward, and you have bad breath. You are degenerate, noxious and depraved. I feel debased just for knowing you exist. I despise everything about you, and I wish you would go away. I cannot believe how incredibly stupid you are.
The only thing worse than your logic is your manners. Maybe later in life, after you have learned to read, write, study, spell, and count, you will have more success. True, these are rudimentary skills that many of us "normal" people take for granted that everyone has an easy time of mastering. It just wouldn't have been "right". Sort of like parking in a handicap space. I wish you the best of luck in the emotional, and social struggles that seem to be placing such a demand on you.
With the idiocy that has manifested itself in the embodiment of a POS known as Rush Hudson Limbaugh, especially due to his recent comment to Sandra Fluke and his hateful, derogatory remarks toward women, I decided a physical letter was in order. Since I couldn't formulate the vitriol properly (due to being totally pissed off) I am feeling toward this sub human who has fecal matter for brains, I remembered this old "Flame!"
To make me feel even better, I produced this on an actual typewriter (if you kids don't know what that is, ask your parents or google it) on a material known as "paper" to enjoy the full effect. Additionally, I enclosed it in a standard Manila envelope so I could place 45 two cent stamps on the thing, just for old tyme's sake.
If the spirit moves you, feel free to print it out and send a copy to that fat POS.
You are an idiot.
A moron of the highest order. You're so stupid it's a wonder you can remember to breathe. Intelligent ideas bounce off your head as if it were coated with Teflon. Creative thoughts take alternate transportation in order to avoid even being in the same state as you. If you had an original thought it would die of loneliness before the hour was out.
On an intelligence scale of 1 to 10 (10 corresponding to the highest attainable IQ) you're rating is so far into negative numbers that one would need to travel into another quantum reality in order to even catch a distant glimpse of it. Your personality is that of a rabid Chihuahua intent on destroying its own tail. Your powers of observation are like that of the bird who keeps slamming into the picture window trying to get that other bird it keeps seeing. You are walking, talking proof that you don't have to be sentient to survive, and that Barnum was thinking of you when he uttered his immortal phrase regarding the birth of a sucker.
You are, at varying times, tedious, boring, earth shatteringly hilarious in your idiocy; childish, moronic, pathetic, wretched, disgusting and pitiful.
You are wholly without any redeeming social grace or value. If God ever decides to give the planet an enema you'd better run like the wind because anywhere you stand is a suitable place for The Insertion. There is no animal so disgusting, so vile that it deserves comparison to you, for even the lowest, dirtiest, most parasitic member of the animal kingdom fills an ecological niche. You fill no niche. To call you a parasite would be injurious to the thousands of honest parasitic species.
You are worse than vermin, for vermin do not pretend to be what it is not. You are truly human garbage. You are a fraudulent, lying, predatory charlatan. You are of less worth than a burnt-out light bulb. You will forever live in shame. You have nothing to say, and Godwin's Law does not apply when writing about you.
You are the anti-Midas, for all that you touch becomes valueless and unusable. Mothers gather their children close when you appear. You are an aberration, a corruption, a boil that needs to be lanced. You are a poison in need of being vomited. You are a tooth so rotten it infects the whole body. You are sperm that should have been captured in a condom and flushed down a toilet.
I don't like you. I don't like anybody who has as little respect for others as you do. Go away, you swine.
You're a putrescent mass, a walking vomit. You are a spineless little worm deserving nothing but the profoundest contempt. You are a jerk, a cad, a weasel. Your life is a monument to stupidity. You are a stench, a revulsion, a big suck on a sour lemon. You are a curdled staggering mutant dwarf smeared richly with the effluvia and offal accompanying your alleged birth into this world. Meaningful to no one, abandoned by the puke-drooling, giggling beasts that sired you and then killed themselves in recognition of what they had done.
I will never get over the embarrassment of belonging to the same species as you. You are a monster, an ogre, and a malformity. I barf at the very thought of you. You have all the appeal of a paper cut. Lepers avoid you. You are vile, worthless, less than nothing. You are a weed, a fungus, the dregs of this earth. And did I mention you stink? Monkeys look down on you. Even sheep won't have sex with you. You are unreservedly pathetic, starved for attention, and lost in a land that reality forgot. You are a waste of flesh. You have no rhythm. You are ridiculous and obnoxious. You are the moral equivalent of a leech. You are a living emptiness, a meaningless void. You are sour and senile. You are a disease. You are a puerile one-handed slack-jawed drooling meatslapper.
On a good day you're a halfwit. You are deficient in all that lends character. You have the personality of wallpaper. You are dank and filthy. You are asinine and benighted. You are the source of all unpleasantness. You spread misery and sorrow wherever you go.
You are a fiend and a coward, and you have bad breath. You are degenerate, noxious and depraved. I feel debased just for knowing you exist. I despise everything about you, and I wish you would go away. I cannot believe how incredibly stupid you are.
The only thing worse than your logic is your manners. Maybe later in life, after you have learned to read, write, study, spell, and count, you will have more success. True, these are rudimentary skills that many of us "normal" people take for granted that everyone has an easy time of mastering. It just wouldn't have been "right". Sort of like parking in a handicap space. I wish you the best of luck in the emotional, and social struggles that seem to be placing such a demand on you.
Have a Great Day, Loser
P.S.,
You are also hypocritical, greedy, violent, malevolent, vengeful, cowardly, deadly, mendacious, meretricious, loathsome, despicable, belligerent, opportunistic, barratrous, contemptible, criminal, fascistic, bigoted, racist, sexist, avaricious, tasteless, idiotic, brain-damaged, imbecilic, insane, arrogant, deceitful, demented, lame, self-righteous, Byzantine, conspiratorial, satanic, fraudulent, libelous, bilious, splenetic, spastic, ignorant, clueless, illegitimate, harmful, destructive, dumb, evasive, double-talking, devious, revisionist, narrow, manipulative, paternalistic, fundamentalist, dogmatic, idolatrous, unethical, cultic, diseased, suppressive, controlling, restrictive, malignant, deceptive, dim, crazy, weird, dystopic, stifling, uncaring, plantigrade, grim, unsympathetic, jargon-spouting, censorious, secretive, aggressive, mind-numbing, arassive, poisonous, flagrant, self-destructive, abusive, and socially-retarded.
You are also hypocritical, greedy, violent, malevolent, vengeful, cowardly, deadly, mendacious, meretricious, loathsome, despicable, belligerent, opportunistic, barratrous, contemptible, criminal, fascistic, bigoted, racist, sexist, avaricious, tasteless, idiotic, brain-damaged, imbecilic, insane, arrogant, deceitful, demented, lame, self-righteous, Byzantine, conspiratorial, satanic, fraudulent, libelous, bilious, splenetic, spastic, ignorant, clueless, illegitimate, harmful, destructive, dumb, evasive, double-talking, devious, revisionist, narrow, manipulative, paternalistic, fundamentalist, dogmatic, idolatrous, unethical, cultic, diseased, suppressive, controlling, restrictive, malignant, deceptive, dim, crazy, weird, dystopic, stifling, uncaring, plantigrade, grim, unsympathetic, jargon-spouting, censorious, secretive, aggressive, mind-numbing, arassive, poisonous, flagrant, self-destructive, abusive, and socially-retarded.
Saturday, March 3
Jesus H. Xrist!
From the Huffington Post
The Wilmington City Council has a message for men -- sperm are people, too.
The council for Delaware's largest city passed a resolution by an 8-4 vote Thursday calling on the Delaware legislature, other state legislatures and the U.S. Congress to pass laws granting "personhood" rights to eggs and sperm. The resolution was authored by councilwoman Loretta Walsh as a protest in the current battle over women's health care access.
"[E]ach 'egg person' and each 'sperm person' should be deemed equal in the eyes of the government and be subject to the same laws and regulations as any other dependent minor and be protected against abuse, neglect or abandonment by the parent or guardian," says the resolution. "[L]aws should be enacted by all legislative bodies in the United States to promote equal representation, and should potentially include laws in defense of 'personhood,' forbidding every man from destroying his semen."
The vote came the same day that the U.S. Senate voted down an amendment that would have given employers the right to refuse any health care service to employees for moral reasons.
Walsh isn't the first lawmaker to introduce such a measure. Sen. Constance Johnson, a Democratic state senator from Oklahoma, introduced and later withdrew an amendment to a "personhood" bill that would have given zygotes the same rights as adults. "However, any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman's vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child," reads the amendment.
Other legislators have lodged similar protests. As the Virginia legislature considered a bill requiring women to undergo mandatory ultrasounds before abortions, state Sen. Janet Howell put forth an amendment mandating that men get a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test prior to being treated for erectile dysfunction. (The mandatory ultrasound bill has since passed the state Senate and the governor is expected to sign, albeit no longer requiring an invasive transvaginal ultrasound.) Georgia state Rep. Yasmin Neal introduced a bill vastly limiting vasectomies for men as a protest against an abortion bill in her state.
"What's good for the gander is good for the goose," said Walsh, according to The News Journal.
These nematodes who pass for Right(eous) Wingunt Politicians make the boys in black from the Third look positively sane!
They seem to be in a hurry to meet their god, let's not make them wait any longer.
This country is turning into an even shittier version of the inquisition but it's not because of the liberals!
The Wilmington City Council has a message for men -- sperm are people, too.
The council for Delaware's largest city passed a resolution by an 8-4 vote Thursday calling on the Delaware legislature, other state legislatures and the U.S. Congress to pass laws granting "personhood" rights to eggs and sperm. The resolution was authored by councilwoman Loretta Walsh as a protest in the current battle over women's health care access.
"[E]ach 'egg person' and each 'sperm person' should be deemed equal in the eyes of the government and be subject to the same laws and regulations as any other dependent minor and be protected against abuse, neglect or abandonment by the parent or guardian," says the resolution. "[L]aws should be enacted by all legislative bodies in the United States to promote equal representation, and should potentially include laws in defense of 'personhood,' forbidding every man from destroying his semen."
The vote came the same day that the U.S. Senate voted down an amendment that would have given employers the right to refuse any health care service to employees for moral reasons.
Walsh isn't the first lawmaker to introduce such a measure. Sen. Constance Johnson, a Democratic state senator from Oklahoma, introduced and later withdrew an amendment to a "personhood" bill that would have given zygotes the same rights as adults. "However, any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman's vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child," reads the amendment.
Other legislators have lodged similar protests. As the Virginia legislature considered a bill requiring women to undergo mandatory ultrasounds before abortions, state Sen. Janet Howell put forth an amendment mandating that men get a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test prior to being treated for erectile dysfunction. (The mandatory ultrasound bill has since passed the state Senate and the governor is expected to sign, albeit no longer requiring an invasive transvaginal ultrasound.) Georgia state Rep. Yasmin Neal introduced a bill vastly limiting vasectomies for men as a protest against an abortion bill in her state.
"What's good for the gander is good for the goose," said Walsh, according to The News Journal.
Related on HuffPost:
I think these fools mistake spem for semen. But if my guys are in store for legal "personhood rights" and my wife's eggs the same, the IRS is gonna owe us a damn nice return next year for tax dedutions for all our dependants!
BTW, gals, Oral sex may now be defined as cannibalism.
The natural "flow" of eggs monthly should automatically convict every woman who reaches that age.
But are priests exempted? Maybe Barry can give a special dispen-semen to them! I'm sure the Catholic Church will agree!
BUT. if I voluntarily give my guys to someone and that "person" doesn't allow them the "honor" of producing another "person" does that girl or guy get charged with murder, too?
And...can I leave my guys at the "Semen R Us Day Care Center" while I work? I'll drop them off every day. I'm sure they'll be well taken care of.
I imagine this was intended as a slam at Republicans. At least I hope so.
The "men" and some frigid "women" who support this maniacally insane thinking need to be locked away, sterilized (for women) and men made eunuchs.
The Golden Rule of the Right:
Do as I say, not as I do!
They seem to be in a hurry to meet their god, let's not make them wait any longer.
This country is turning into an even shittier version of the inquisition but it's not because of the liberals!
Friday, March 2
Concerned about Google invading your privacy for their monetary gain?
Anybody with a Gmail or Google account who may be worried (and rightly so) about their privacy and how Google plans to use all your web stuff should check this site out and make sure your web history is (supposedly) turned off.
From boldprogressives.org
Protect Your Privacy
Thursday, March 1
Even the Rothschilds Are Weather Obsessed (WSJ)
Me too!
(Hmmm....E.L. Rothschild LLC acquired A 70% stake in Weather Central last year)
So how's the weather in your neck of the woods?
(Hmmm....E.L. Rothschild LLC acquired A 70% stake in Weather Central last year)
So how's the weather in your neck of the woods?
Wednesday, February 29
Saturday, February 25
Dance, Monkeys, Dance
Mewling Man-Child Newton Gingrich, worried that his birth state of Georgia might go for Santorum or one of the other Feeble Foursome on Super Tuesday, said that it was essential for each candidate to win their home state in order to stay in the race.
Nice try, Newton my lad. As long as Sheldon Adelson keeps writing checks you'll stay in and be the Circus Geek everyone always wants to see.
Don't know what a circus geek was? That was a guy you saw at the freak show in carnivals or circuses. He used to bite the heads off live chickens and swallow them raw, for the delectation of the paying customers.
That's what you are, Newton, a side show - that's what you all are. A freakish combination of dancing hurdy-gurdy monkeys and geeks, capering at the end of long leashes while the shadowy money men (Adelson, Friess, the Koch Brothers, etc.) call the tune.
Nice try, Newton my lad. As long as Sheldon Adelson keeps writing checks you'll stay in and be the Circus Geek everyone always wants to see.
Don't know what a circus geek was? That was a guy you saw at the freak show in carnivals or circuses. He used to bite the heads off live chickens and swallow them raw, for the delectation of the paying customers.
That's what you are, Newton, a side show - that's what you all are. A freakish combination of dancing hurdy-gurdy monkeys and geeks, capering at the end of long leashes while the shadowy money men (Adelson, Friess, the Koch Brothers, etc.) call the tune.
Friday, February 24
Mutato Nomine ...
"Muskie is already finished ... (h)e had no base. Nobody's really for Muskie. They're only for the Front-Runner, the man who says he's the only one who can beat Nixon - but not even Muskie himself believes that anymore; he couldn't even win a majority of the Democratic vote in New Hampshire, on his home turf."
- Frank Mankiewicz, in Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 by Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, p. 123 (New York, Warner Books, 1973).
This came leaping out at me, here in the far-flung future of 2012. It occurred to me that one might almost say the same about Willard Romney, since the Well-Dressed 2x4 seems to be having trouble getting his Message across that he's the only Republican capable of beating Barack Obama and putting the GOP back into the Oval Office.
Polls? Well, the polls are a good indicator, but they're what economists call a lagging indicator - they follow the electorate, they don't dictate what it'll do (although, granted, predictive analysis has come a long way since the 1972 debacle). Romney expected to do well in the caucus states, but had his ass handed to him. Even in Minnesota, which he won handily in the 2008 primaries.
Which leads us to the upcoming votes in Arizona and Michigan.
The debate Wednesday night was an orgy of mutual masturbation and flagellation, as each of the four remaining candidates alternately slobbered out buzzwords and platitudes to delight the gullible while doing their best to sap or shank or destroy their opponents. It was rather fun to watch, if you were drunk.
The vote in Arizona might be a tie, and experience in Iowa, Nevada and Maine seems to point to an orgy of hand-waving. Based on the other three contests, I don't think the GOP can handle simple arithmetic (of course, one sees that in their economic plans as well).
One of Mittens' staffers crowed that his man was going to win in Michigan, Romney's birth state and the state in which his daddy was Governor. We'll have to see - Willard's done a few things that haven't really endeared him to Michiganders, like opining in 2008 that the auto industry should be allowed to die without government intervention, or more recently that the housing collapse and the mortgage debacle should be allowed to "hit bottom."
Which leads me to another quote from the late and revered Dr. Thompson's book, from Page 130:
"The reason people didn't vote for Ed Muskie here is that they didn't have any reason to."
Mutato nomine, Willard, de te fabula narratur.
- Frank Mankiewicz, in Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 by Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, p. 123 (New York, Warner Books, 1973).
***
This came leaping out at me, here in the far-flung future of 2012. It occurred to me that one might almost say the same about Willard Romney, since the Well-Dressed 2x4 seems to be having trouble getting his Message across that he's the only Republican capable of beating Barack Obama and putting the GOP back into the Oval Office.
Polls? Well, the polls are a good indicator, but they're what economists call a lagging indicator - they follow the electorate, they don't dictate what it'll do (although, granted, predictive analysis has come a long way since the 1972 debacle). Romney expected to do well in the caucus states, but had his ass handed to him. Even in Minnesota, which he won handily in the 2008 primaries.
Which leads us to the upcoming votes in Arizona and Michigan.
The debate Wednesday night was an orgy of mutual masturbation and flagellation, as each of the four remaining candidates alternately slobbered out buzzwords and platitudes to delight the gullible while doing their best to sap or shank or destroy their opponents. It was rather fun to watch, if you were drunk.
The vote in Arizona might be a tie, and experience in Iowa, Nevada and Maine seems to point to an orgy of hand-waving. Based on the other three contests, I don't think the GOP can handle simple arithmetic (of course, one sees that in their economic plans as well).
One of Mittens' staffers crowed that his man was going to win in Michigan, Romney's birth state and the state in which his daddy was Governor. We'll have to see - Willard's done a few things that haven't really endeared him to Michiganders, like opining in 2008 that the auto industry should be allowed to die without government intervention, or more recently that the housing collapse and the mortgage debacle should be allowed to "hit bottom."
Which leads me to another quote from the late and revered Dr. Thompson's book, from Page 130:
"The reason people didn't vote for Ed Muskie here is that they didn't have any reason to."
Mutato nomine, Willard, de te fabula narratur.
Tuesday, February 21
Conservatives Cornering the Market on Stupid
You have to wonder if they sell stock in Stupid, because if they did the price would be going through the roof right about now.
We have Frothy Mixture Santorum doubling down on the Stupid, first by dribbling that the Affordable Care Act will (somehow) lead to - hey presto! - the French Revolution and guillotines. And if that Chick Tract version of the future isn't enough for you, Ayatollah Santorum recently framed his campaign against President Obama as being just like our struggle against Hitler.
The Ayatollah didn't actually come out and break Godwin's Law, but he came close enough.
Ayatollah? you ask.
Yes, indeed. Santorum wants to impose Christian Sharia Law on the United States, stating that he wants the government and the laws to more closely conform to "God's Will" - whatever that is, and however it may be interpreted by that poltroon the Pope I guess.
But he's not the only one who's investing heavily in The Stupid this election cycle.
Newton Gingrich weighed in with the old tried and true Dick Cheney "Vote For Me Or You're All Dead" fear tactics, couching his campaign as a national security necessity, and never mind that Obama's gotten our troops out of Iraq, ordered the hit on Osama bin Laden, and authorized more drone attacks than even He Who Must Not Be Named But Is Actually George W Bush.
A state congresscreature from Indiana refused to sign on to a proclamation recognizing the Girl Scouts on their 100th anniversary, stating that the GSA fosters the homosexual agenda, supports Planned Parenthood, teaches little girls to have sex, and (gasp!) has Michelle Obama as an honorary chairman.
The entire Republican caucus in the Virginia state legislature decided to add The Stupid to its state pension fund's investment portfolio by putting together a law that would order doctors to insert a transvaginal ultrasound probe into a woman's uterus if she wants an abortion. Dana Loesch said that women who have intercourse have already pretty much given up the right to complain about anything inserted into their orifice, so why should they complain?
Currently, public outcry is causing them to postpone passage of that draconian little piece of shit, but that's only Part 1 of a triad of bills going through the Virginia Legislature - the others would forbid The Gays to adopt kids, as well as allow a Florida-style "no backing down" law to allow people to shoot first like Han Solo.
Neoconservatives, Fox News warmongers and the "liberal" mainstream media are figuring that Americans need More Stupid - or Stupid 2.0 - if the incessant beating of war drums about Iran is any indication. We let ourselves get fooled back in 2002-2003; are we really going to let ourselves get roped into yet ANOTHER land war in Asia?
Are we that stupid?
Conservatives are banking on that.
Monday, February 20
Having Fun
I swear.
I'm having so much fun in this election cycle that it's almost illegal.
Why?
Well, I'm so glad you asked!
I direct your attention to Arizona, where the anti-immigrant craze has hit amazing heights. The Sheriff of Pinal County, Paul Babeu, has been a very loud voice on the side of those who want to keep those scary dark-skinned Mexicans from sneaking across our border.
But he's not riding that one trick pony, oh no sir. He's also given money to anti-gay groups and talked all the right talking points to burnish his conservative street cred. In fact, he's running for the US Congress in the 4th District, and was a co-chairman for Mitt Romney's Presidential campaign.
Until a couple of days ago.
An allegation surfaced, you see, wherein it was alleged that Babeu allegedly sent his alleged lawyer to a fellow with an alleged affidavit that would swear the alleged fellow to silence ... or else.
Or else ... what?
Or else the alleged fellow would be deported back to Mexico.
And who is this alleged fellow? Simply put, he's Babeu's sweet babboo.
Yes, this Mexican man (who is an undocumented - i.e., illegal - immigrant) is the Sheriff's gay lover.
To his credit, Babeu fessed up to being The Gay, and withdrew his position (heh!) as Mitt's campaign co-chair. He's still running for Congress from AZ-04, though.
But allegedly threatening to deport his boyfriend if he didn't clam up about their relationship may open up the Sheriff to criminal charges, and we shall wait and see.
Pass the popcorn, please.
Friday, February 17
"If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament" ~ Florynce Kennedy
more spot on quotes from Flo Kennedy
same old, same old...
Are we REALLY going to keep this up?
I can't stand these redundant distractions for much longer.
Maybe it's the final test by TPTW?
UPDATE
From Bill Moyers (one of the few sane voices left): FREEDOM OF AND FROM RELIGION
"So here we are once again, arguing over how to honor religious liberty without it becoming the liberty to impose on others moral beliefs they don't share. Our practical solution is the one Barack Obama embraced the other day: protect freedom of religion -- and protect freedom from religion. Can't get more American than that."
His entire commentary is here at CommonDreams
same old, same old...
Are we REALLY going to keep this up?
I can't stand these redundant distractions for much longer.
Maybe it's the final test by TPTW?
UPDATE
From Bill Moyers (one of the few sane voices left): FREEDOM OF AND FROM RELIGION
"So here we are once again, arguing over how to honor religious liberty without it becoming the liberty to impose on others moral beliefs they don't share. Our practical solution is the one Barack Obama embraced the other day: protect freedom of religion -- and protect freedom from religion. Can't get more American than that."
His entire commentary is here at CommonDreams
Tuesday, February 14
Sunday, February 12
Should Republicans/Christians give up sex if they don't want any more children?
Contraception - Bad!
Pregnancy - Good!
It's good to know that when Republican/Christian Men, especially politicians and clergy, decide they don't want any more children, they gladly give up sex no matter what age they are because they believe
contraception means taking a life.
Pregnancy - Good!
It's good to know that when Republican/Christian Men, especially politicians and clergy, decide they don't want any more children, they gladly give up sex no matter what age they are because they believe
contraception means taking a life.
You Republican/Christian women, we know you are
only interested in sex for procreation
(Women don't really need sex for fulfillment or enjoyment)!
Do your part!
Stay pregnant each and every year or have your husband give up sex.
only interested in sex for procreation
(Women don't really need sex for fulfillment or enjoyment)!
Do your part!
Stay pregnant each and every year or have your husband give up sex.
It's what's expected of your religion and husband's beliefs.
Support him!
Support him!
Remember! Use of any contraception during Sex,
married or not, by you, your husband or both,
married or not, by you, your husband or both,
is murder!
Republicans and Christians,
Ask yourself...
Republicans and Christians,
Ask yourself...
I'm sure all good Republican/Christian men and women in politics and especially certain media either will continue to have children on a yearly basis or give up Sex
to set good examples for their Party, their Base, their Children and their Network.
to set good examples for their Party, their Base, their Children and their Network.
Friday, February 10
Thursday, February 9
America -- You're asleep at the wheel -- LITERALLY -- But that's OK....
because in a very short time, there will be 30,000 drones flying overhead that will have our backs!!
From The Washington Times: Drones over U.S. get OK by Congress, by Shaun Waterman
From Yahoo news : The legislation allocates $63.4 billion over the next three and a half years to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), $11 billion of which will be used to update air traffic control systems at 35 US airports to handle the remote-controlled aircrafts. The deadline for the systems update is June 2015.
There are too many conflicting stories out there at the moment. I'll try to weed through them.
From The Washington Times: Drones over U.S. get OK by Congress, by Shaun Waterman
From Yahoo news : The legislation allocates $63.4 billion over the next three and a half years to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), $11 billion of which will be used to update air traffic control systems at 35 US airports to handle the remote-controlled aircrafts. The deadline for the systems update is June 2015.
There are too many conflicting stories out there at the moment. I'll try to weed through them.
Tuesday, February 7
If Today's Tuesday . . .
That means that the Federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that California's Proposition 8 - defining marriage by statute to mean one-man, one-woman - is unconstitutional. The entire decision of the Court is here, and the Court ruled 2-1.
While this is a victory for the forces of tolerance, modernity and overall good sense, the conservatives who initially backed the measure have gone into their usual hate-frenzy. I confidently expect them to file for a writ of certiorari to the US Supreme Court. Based upon the US Supreme Court's ideological and religious composition and their recent decisions, I expect the Ninth Circuit's decision to be reversed.
(For extra fun points, look at how the Court defines marriage: "... symbolizes state legitimization and societal recognition of their committed relationships." Which is what marriage is, despite what the God-botherers screech about.)
So the war's not over, although a battle has been won.
In Syria today, the shells still fall and the bullets still fly. The United Nations failed to pass a resolution calling upon the Assad Government to stop fucking over its own people, mainly because Russia and China refused to back it. Both states have their reasons - Russia sells a lot of guns to Syria and resents any growth of Western influence into the region, while China thinks that it's a purely internal matter.
Meanwhile, the Turks are starting to get antsy about the idea of a civil war spilling across into their country (they're Syria's largest trading partner), and I'm sure there's a lot of Viewing With Alarm in Beirut and Tel Aviv. This will get worse before it gets better, folks.
Iran continues to develop a nuclear capacity. Now, this isn't the same as building a bomb; building a bomb requires highly-enriched uranium or plutonium, which it doesn't have. That's what came from our own Secretary of Defense, dear readers. Iran has low-enriched uranium suitable for running a reactor (and has managed to create one - one! - fuel rod element).
But fear is a great motivator. Fear can motivate otherwise reasonable people to buy guns and shoot people if they feel they're being threatened. The US and the EU have instituted an oil embargo on Iran in an effort to economically strangle the country into giving up its nuclear ambitions, and Israel has been making noises about bombing the nuclear sites for a few years now.
Be wary of backing Iran into a corner. It has stated that any attack on it by either the United States or Israel will result in retaliatory action against the Sunni Arab Gulf states - which supply us with a lot of oil. And attacking Iran may cause it to do what it's been saying it doesn't want to do.
Build a bomb.
There's an old Far Side comic that has people arriving in Hell and getting a complimentary accordion. Well, Hell might be in North Korea:
While this is a victory for the forces of tolerance, modernity and overall good sense, the conservatives who initially backed the measure have gone into their usual hate-frenzy. I confidently expect them to file for a writ of certiorari to the US Supreme Court. Based upon the US Supreme Court's ideological and religious composition and their recent decisions, I expect the Ninth Circuit's decision to be reversed.
(For extra fun points, look at how the Court defines marriage: "... symbolizes state legitimization and societal recognition of their committed relationships." Which is what marriage is, despite what the God-botherers screech about.)
So the war's not over, although a battle has been won.
***
In Syria today, the shells still fall and the bullets still fly. The United Nations failed to pass a resolution calling upon the Assad Government to stop fucking over its own people, mainly because Russia and China refused to back it. Both states have their reasons - Russia sells a lot of guns to Syria and resents any growth of Western influence into the region, while China thinks that it's a purely internal matter.
Meanwhile, the Turks are starting to get antsy about the idea of a civil war spilling across into their country (they're Syria's largest trading partner), and I'm sure there's a lot of Viewing With Alarm in Beirut and Tel Aviv. This will get worse before it gets better, folks.
***
Iran continues to develop a nuclear capacity. Now, this isn't the same as building a bomb; building a bomb requires highly-enriched uranium or plutonium, which it doesn't have. That's what came from our own Secretary of Defense, dear readers. Iran has low-enriched uranium suitable for running a reactor (and has managed to create one - one! - fuel rod element).
But fear is a great motivator. Fear can motivate otherwise reasonable people to buy guns and shoot people if they feel they're being threatened. The US and the EU have instituted an oil embargo on Iran in an effort to economically strangle the country into giving up its nuclear ambitions, and Israel has been making noises about bombing the nuclear sites for a few years now.
Be wary of backing Iran into a corner. It has stated that any attack on it by either the United States or Israel will result in retaliatory action against the Sunni Arab Gulf states - which supply us with a lot of oil. And attacking Iran may cause it to do what it's been saying it doesn't want to do.
Build a bomb.
***
There's an old Far Side comic that has people arriving in Hell and getting a complimentary accordion. Well, Hell might be in North Korea:
Let there be (wasted) light...
The candle is burning low...
Another often overlooked, overuse of fossil fuel. Coal and oil burned to excess to light the night while other methods could save much. Who cares?
This is a compressed 10 minute flight over the east coast of North America.
Watch it in HD and full screen.
Vol nocturne de la station spatiale internationale au-dessus de la côte Est de l'Amérique. from ASTROLab on Vimeo.
Friday, February 3
One in the Pink Makes a Stink
Take a look at the object depicted above.Go ahead, take a long smouldering gawk at it.
It's a Walther P-22 semiautomatic pistol.
With a pink slide (that's the bit that holds the barrel, and goes back and forth when you pull the trigger).
But it's the pink I want to talk about. Specifically, the reason Walther allowed the slide on the P-22 to be colored pink.
Walther decided to be one of the corporate sponsors of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, a charity dedicated to fighting breast cancer in women.
Now, I have a bit of ambivalence about attacking a breast cancer charity. My sister-in-law passed away two years ago after a long and bloody struggle with the disease, and the SGK Foundation helped out.
But there's a reason to rant now, as the SGK has put its collective charitable foot in it, big time.
Let's follow a few dots and see where they lead, shall we?
First, SGK appoints a new executive vice president, a woman who had earlier run unsuccessfully for office in Georgia on a brutally anti-choice platform. How anti-choice? She was endorsed by Sarah Palin, that's how anti-choice.
Second, there is a change in the Foundation's bylaws to deny grants to any organization under investigation. A board member admitted that the change was solely to target one organization.
Third, enter US Representative Cliff Stearns of Flori-duh, who obligingly starts an investigation.
Fourth - hey, presto! SGK cuts off its grant funding to the organization.
What organization, I hear you ask? Planned Parenthood, the successor to ACORN as Number One on the GOP/US Taliban Alliance's shit list. You see, they don't like Planned Parenthood because it (gasp!) provides abortions, it (gasp!) provides birth control, and (gasp!) it helps poor women get breast exams that could spot cancerous growths early and help them get treatment.
So SGK shuts down about $700,000 in funding to Planned Parenthood. The dots are simple to follow, eh?
Despite the angry denials by the founder and CEO of SGK, it's too easy to see the linkage between the Foundation and the efforts by the Right to shove women back into the Dark Ages. There's a lot of yelling going on, as donors start pulling money away from SGK and sending it directly to Planned Parenthood
The Foundation issued an apology, but still isn't going to give grant money to Planned Parenthood because "it's under investigation."
Perfect logic, isn't it?
Meanwhile, women who are poor and at risk for breast cancer might not be able to get examinations, which means they could get breast cancer and not know it, which means that by the time they do spot it it'll be too late to treat it, which means deaths by breast cancer could go up among poor women.
Which, again, is perfectly logical.
Wednesday, February 1
Florida: Mitt Romney Is All Like
Yes, the Well-Coiffed 2x4 managed to pull out a win against ethical loser and relentless degenerate Newton Gingrich. It was a close victory, 46% to 32%, with Ayatollah Wannabe Santorum and Doddering Fool Paul splitting up the booby prize.Romney managed his win (still failing to get 50% of the voters) by basically outspending Gingrich by a six-to-one margin. Gingrich got funds from his bagman, Las Vegas Rich Nabob Adelson, and sounded a defiant and downright surly note in his post-election speech. He didn't congratulate Romney, which merely illustrates how classy Newt is.
Mittens collects a massive nut of 50 convention delegates (marked down from 99 after Florida's GOP decided to fiddle about with the primary calendar), which outweighs what Gingrich won in South Carolina and what Santorum was finally given after they unearthed the stuffed ballot boxes in Iowa.
The Nevada caucuses loom now, on February 4th. Romney can expect a massive boost from all the Mormons bused in from neighboring Utah to work for him. Paul is feeling bullish on the caucus states, feeling that he's in with a chance in these contests, and Gingrich will probably be licking Adelson's taint for more bucks.
But at least we poor people in Florida can be granted at least a temporary respite from all of the pointless ads, mailers and robocalls.
A Miscellany
Back in the 1880s or so (1889) the absolute high-tech sound gadget to have was an Edison phonograph, with recordings made on wax cylinders. It was the iPod of its day; astoundingly simple to use, although not really very portable.
Once people realized the awesome implications of the device, everyone clamored to have their voices recorded. There were probably millions of variations of "I sound like that?" all over the place.
In 1957 a box of wax cylinder recordings, some in very bad condition, were found at the Edison laboratory in New Jersey. It took a while, but thanks to modern digital technology, they were able to resurrect the content on the recordings.
One of the voices captured for prosperity is Prince Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian chancellor who unified Germany; another is Helmut Graf von Moltke, the commander of the armies that defeated the French in 1871. There are also songs and instrumental music.
A real blast from the past.
In 1976 (before things went horribly wrong over there), an archeologist in Iraq unearthed a tablet that displayed examples of 'wisdom literature,' a collection of pithy sayings that could be used as guides in living. Such things were used as writing exercises for students. The tablet dated to ancient Babylonia, about 3500 years or so ago, Daylight Savings.
One has to do with beer: In your mouth and your teeth, constantly stared at you, the measuring vessel of your lord. (-What is it?) Beer.
(The scientists who are translating this assure us that the cuneiform symbols for 'teeth' can also translate as 'urine.' I'm sure it was a real rib-tickler.)
Another is a bit odd: ...of your mother is by the one who has intercourse with her. What/who is it? [No answer]
Could this be, dear readers?
Could it be that these enterprising scientists may, in fact, have unearthed the World's Oldest Yo Mama Joke?
Once people realized the awesome implications of the device, everyone clamored to have their voices recorded. There were probably millions of variations of "I sound like that?" all over the place.
In 1957 a box of wax cylinder recordings, some in very bad condition, were found at the Edison laboratory in New Jersey. It took a while, but thanks to modern digital technology, they were able to resurrect the content on the recordings.
One of the voices captured for prosperity is Prince Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian chancellor who unified Germany; another is Helmut Graf von Moltke, the commander of the armies that defeated the French in 1871. There are also songs and instrumental music.
A real blast from the past.
***
In 1976 (before things went horribly wrong over there), an archeologist in Iraq unearthed a tablet that displayed examples of 'wisdom literature,' a collection of pithy sayings that could be used as guides in living. Such things were used as writing exercises for students. The tablet dated to ancient Babylonia, about 3500 years or so ago, Daylight Savings.
One has to do with beer: In your mouth and your teeth, constantly stared at you, the measuring vessel of your lord. (-What is it?) Beer.
(The scientists who are translating this assure us that the cuneiform symbols for 'teeth' can also translate as 'urine.' I'm sure it was a real rib-tickler.)
Another is a bit odd: ...of your mother is by the one who has intercourse with her. What/who is it? [No answer]
Could this be, dear readers?
Could it be that these enterprising scientists may, in fact, have unearthed the World's Oldest Yo Mama Joke?
OH BOY oh boy oh boy (or girl) -- This Isn't Good: Pfizer recalls 1M birth control packs after mixup
"The recall is not related to safety but does raise the risk of unintended pregnancy."
Did they really say this? They really did say that....
via USA Today
Did they really say this? They really did say that....
via USA Today
WASHINGTON (AP) – Pfizer Inc. is recalling 1 million packets of birth control pills because of a packaging error that could leave women with an inadequate dose of the hormone-based drugs and raise the risk that they will get pregnant accidentally.
Pfizer found that some packets of the drugs had too many active tablets, while others had too few.
The problem affects 14 lots of Lo/Ovral-28 tablets and 14 lots of generic Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol tablets. Both products are manufactured by Pfizer and marketed in the U.S. by Akrimax Rx Products under the Akrimax Pharmaceuticals brand.
Pfizer found that some packets of the drugs had too many active tablets, while others had too few. Oral birth control products use a series of 21 drug tablets and 7 inactive sugar tablets to regulate the menstrual period while providing contraception.
A company spokeswoman said the problem was caused by both mechanical and visual inspection failures on the packaging line. She said the problem has been corrected.
Pfizer issued a statement saying the problem was identified and corrected immediately. The recall is not related to safety but does raise the risk of unintended pregnancy. Patients with the affected lot numbers should return them to the pharmacy.
The affected packets have expiration dates ranging between July 31, 2013, and March 31, 2014. Lot numbers are available at http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm289770.htm
The drugs were distributed to warehouses, clinics and retail pharmacies throughout the U.S.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Tuesday, January 31
lyrics
Oh we up up up for the below show
Yea we down down here on the ground
Yea we up up up above low
Yea we up up up through the clouds
Yea we up
Yea we up
You’re gonna find a way
Find a way to be
You’ll get yourself a line with your old man
You’ll get it free
You’ll get it free
It’s the way now
Way to see
But it’s inside and out with no doubt
It’s in everything
It’s in everything
Oh we up up up for the below show
Yea we down down here on the ground
Yea we up up up above low
Yea we up up up through the clouds
Yea we up
Yea we up
Yea we up
Yea we up
You’re gonna find your way
Find your way to be
Yea you’ll get yourself a line with your spine
You’ll get it free
You’ll get it free
It’s the way now
Way to see
Bound in the moment it comes and it goes
It’s in everything
It’s in everything
We up up up for the below show
Yea we down down here on the ground
Yea we up up up above low
Yea we up up up in the clouds
Yea we up
Yea we up
Yea we up
Yea we up
Yea we up up up for the below show
Yea we down down here on the ground
Yea we up up up above low
Yea we up up up in the clouds
Yea we up up up for the below show
Yea we down down here on the ground
Yea we up up up above low
Yea we up up up in the clouds
Yea we up
Yea we up up up for the below show
Yea we down down here on the ground
Yea we up up up above low
Yea we up up up in the clouds
Yea we up
Yea we up
Yea we up
Yea we up
(audio is a teeny bit better on this one)
Phew...
The Hot flashes are now coming an hour apart. I am expecting me to deliver me the new me at any moment. Thank my goddess above! I can't imagine this going on for much longer...
I came across this piece about solar flares today. I'd like to say that I believe everything she has put forth, but due to my age and symptoms, I must conclude that all my "issues" are whimen changes. I did, however experience most of these symptoms back in the last solar cycle (I think it was '99). But we moved around then -- I had buyer's remorse big time -- so I blamed all my bodily aches and pains on that emotional mess.
Well,
What ye say. How are you all feeling?
How Recent Solar Flares Are Affecting Humans, by Heather Carlini
I came across this piece about solar flares today. I'd like to say that I believe everything she has put forth, but due to my age and symptoms, I must conclude that all my "issues" are whimen changes. I did, however experience most of these symptoms back in the last solar cycle (I think it was '99). But we moved around then -- I had buyer's remorse big time -- so I blamed all my bodily aches and pains on that emotional mess.
Well,
What ye say. How are you all feeling?
How Recent Solar Flares Are Affecting Humans, by Heather Carlini
Monday, January 30
Is it just me??
this came in my email today...
Dear Google user,
We're getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that's a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google.
We believe this stuff matters, so please take a few minutes to read our updated Privacy Policy and Terms of Service at http://www.google.com/policies. These changes will take effect on March 1, 2012.
Where's my red marker??? getting rid of? believe this stuff matters??? OH PulHEEEZZZE deliver me from evil right this very moment -- I really can't take this shit anymore.
Dear Google user,
We're getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that's a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google.
We believe this stuff matters, so please take a few minutes to read our updated Privacy Policy and Terms of Service at http://www.google.com/policies. These changes will take effect on March 1, 2012.
Where's my red marker??? getting rid of? believe this stuff matters??? OH PulHEEEZZZE deliver me from evil right this very moment -- I really can't take this shit anymore.
One policy, one Google experience
Easy to work across Google
Our new policy reflects a single product experience that does what you need, when you want it to. Whether you're reading an email that reminds you to schedule a family get-together or finding a favorite video that you want to share, we want to ensure you can move across Gmail, Calendar, Search, YouTube, or whatever your life calls for with ease.
Tailored for you
If you're signed into Google, we can do things like suggest search queries – or tailor your search results – based on the interests you've expressed in Google+, Gmail, and YouTube. We'll better understand which version of Pink or Jaguar you're searching for and get you those results faster.
Easy to share and collaborate
When you post or create a document online, you often want others to see and contribute. By remembering the contact information of the people you want to share with, we make it easy for you to share in any Google product or service with minimal clicks and errors.
Sunday, January 29
Castro Was Right
The Republican candidate field is down in sunny Florida, so you know red meat is going to be tossed out to the voters.
We know most of the flavors of red meat: anti-abortion sirloin, anti-tax filets, a lovely great slab of corporatist meat loaf.
For Florida, though, we have to have another strip of red meat tossed out to the usually quite conservative Cuban-Americans - the anti-Castro T-bone.
It's been a Republican mainstay in Florida to bash the hell out of Castro and predict the imminent collapse of the Communist government there. Oddly enough, we've heard that rhetoric ever since the Cuban Revolution back in 1959.
Which leads me to Fidel Castro.
Fidel has outlasted US Presidents from Eisenhower to GW Bush, and I think that his position as America's favorite bugaboo has given him a unique perspective on Presidential politics.
So in response to the usual rhetorical bashing, Fidel penned an editorial that the Cuban press duly transmitted. He stated in his editorial that "The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is – and I mean this seriously – the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been."
I'll stress one line: " . . . the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been."
Like I said, he has an interesting perspective on matters, doesn't he?
Now, two days ago, GOP candidate Newt Gingrich opened his gaping maw to more than justify Fidel's statement.
In a statement to a group of Hispanic leaders here in Florida, Newt said, "So one of my goals would be to flood the island with enough cellphones that are video cameras that any act of oppression is filmed by 30 people, and they start posting them: this person will be on the list after the revolution. You watch the morale of the police force drop dramatically as they are no longer all powerful."
Got that? Flooding Cuba with cell phone cameras will topple the Cuban government.
If it confuses you, it also confused the hell out of the audience.
In the same article, we also have Mitt Romney talking to the same group. He sounded like he was wishing the Eighties were still here, as he gawped that Castro's Cuba and Chavez's Venezuela pose existential threats to the United States and cited possible influence by them upon Ecuador and Guatemala.
Things aren't going well for the GOP Clown Car, but you gave to agree:
Castro was right.
We know most of the flavors of red meat: anti-abortion sirloin, anti-tax filets, a lovely great slab of corporatist meat loaf.
For Florida, though, we have to have another strip of red meat tossed out to the usually quite conservative Cuban-Americans - the anti-Castro T-bone.
It's been a Republican mainstay in Florida to bash the hell out of Castro and predict the imminent collapse of the Communist government there. Oddly enough, we've heard that rhetoric ever since the Cuban Revolution back in 1959.
Which leads me to Fidel Castro.
Fidel has outlasted US Presidents from Eisenhower to GW Bush, and I think that his position as America's favorite bugaboo has given him a unique perspective on Presidential politics.
So in response to the usual rhetorical bashing, Fidel penned an editorial that the Cuban press duly transmitted. He stated in his editorial that "The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is – and I mean this seriously – the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been."
I'll stress one line: " . . . the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been."
Like I said, he has an interesting perspective on matters, doesn't he?
Now, two days ago, GOP candidate Newt Gingrich opened his gaping maw to more than justify Fidel's statement.
In a statement to a group of Hispanic leaders here in Florida, Newt said, "So one of my goals would be to flood the island with enough cellphones that are video cameras that any act of oppression is filmed by 30 people, and they start posting them: this person will be on the list after the revolution. You watch the morale of the police force drop dramatically as they are no longer all powerful."
Got that? Flooding Cuba with cell phone cameras will topple the Cuban government.
If it confuses you, it also confused the hell out of the audience.
In the same article, we also have Mitt Romney talking to the same group. He sounded like he was wishing the Eighties were still here, as he gawped that Castro's Cuba and Chavez's Venezuela pose existential threats to the United States and cited possible influence by them upon Ecuador and Guatemala.
Things aren't going well for the GOP Clown Car, but you gave to agree:
Castro was right.
Saturday, January 28
Julian Assange Vs. Mark Zuckerberg
(h/t to MoMule for the Pic)
Everything You Need to Know About Facebook’s $100 Billion IPO
There are several reasons why a company typically goes public. In a recent paper by professors James Brau and Stanley Fawcett of Brigham Young University, the two outlined the usual motivations: To raise capital and to enrich the company’s founders and insiders. However, Facebook’s situation is a bit different. For Facebook, a better question might be “Why are they going public now as opposed to a couple of years ago?’”
Friday, January 27
On the Eve of the Florida Primary
Astronaut, Astro-Newt, or Astro-Nut? . . . Romney Pulls the Razor from His Sock . . . Wisdom from A Dead Roman . . . Who is Gingrich's Bagman?
Hoo boy, dear readers, it's been a fun-filled week.
We'll start with Wednesday, as bloated ethically-challenged philanderer Newton Gingrich sallied forth to speak to a friendly crowd of likely voters in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Cocoa and the rest of Brevard County has been a tad low of late ever since the Space Shuttle program ended.
But there's no need to fear! Newt Gingrich is here!
(Special No-Prize for picking out the arcane cultural reference.)
Newt roused the crowd by declaring that, by the end of his second term as President, there would be a base on the surface of the Moon, and to make it all the sweeter, it would be an American moon base.
Uh. Huh.
After screaming for the past few years that there's no money to repair decaying highways, bridge, dams, or other infrastructure (because that would increase the deficit, and as we all know, Deficits Are EVIL - unless there's a Republican in the White House), we're going to plunk down X amount of dollars - to build a base on the Moon.
Now, Man or Astroman didn't say that the Evil Gummint would fund the whole project, oh no. He'd merely gouge the NASA budget for another $2 billion in order to set up incentive prizes to lure private industry.
Jon Stewart had a bit of fun with the idea.
NASA's budget has been a favorite whipping boy. When money is need for some program or other, the Congress is all too ready to take an axe to the space program.
Newt making this statement is rather par for the course. He'll spin out a truly vast and sweeping promise in the hopes that people will be inspired. But he also framed it as a goal for the end of his second term.
I think he'd better concentrate on achieving his first term, first.
***
Speaking of which, Newt went into his second Florida debate still riding a bit of the wave of his South Carolina victory. Polling at the time showed him running more or less even with Mitt, so Romney had to retrieve the edge.
Now, way back in the mists of last October, I wondered when Romney was going to cut a bitch. Thursday night's debate was The Moment, because Romney went on an all-out attack against Gingrich.
Romney had hired Crazy-Eye Michele Bachmann's debate coach, and it showed as the well-coiffed 2x4 laced into Gingrich. Newt, for his part, looked a bit flabby and debate honors clearly went Mitt's way.
Except . . .
For some reason, Frothy Santorum started in on Romney and his health care plan for Massachusetts, comparing it to the Affordable Care Act and making Romney visibly irritated. Oh no! His carefully-crafted facade might have cracked, but the photo montage pretty much says it all.
Romney won the debate, according to the surveys done after the low-rent downer.
But Gingrich continues to rise in national polling, and the Romney camp is clearly hoping that a big win in the Sunshine State will turn that around.
We shall see Wednesday morning.
***
"Our forefathers complained, we complain, and our descendants will complain, that morals are corrupt, that wickedness holds sway, that men are sinking deeper and deeper into sinfulness, that the condition of mankind is going from bad to worse."
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 4 BC - 65 AD
***
Money in politics is as old as the Roman Republic, as making campaign promises is as old as Athenian democracy.
The election of 1800 between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson saw the introduction of attack ads into American political discourse.
But we're talking money here, thanks to the US Supreme Court's misguided and frankly stupid Citizens United decision. Money talks in America, and the more money you have, the louder you can speak.
This is a truism that Newt Gingrich knows in his bones, having been in the US House of Representatives before being run out of the place like a rabid ferret and then making a hint of mint in speaking fees, lobbying fees and book sales.
But he needed money in order to finance his campaign against Mitt Romney. Willard has a net worth estimated in the $250 million range, and can easily finance his run out of his own pocket. Gingrich needed a supporter who was willing to put his money where his mouth was.
Enter Sheldon Adelson. Casino magnate with a net worth at about $21.5 billion. Um, that's Billion, with a B.
Adelson and Gingrich share something in common - a deep and abiding support for Israel despite anything the Jewish State might do, while at the same time saying rather generalized but nonetheless hurtful things like the Palestinians are an invented people (and never mind the fact that Jews aren't exactly ethnically pure either - several thousand years will do that).
Adelson, when appealed to, said, "Sure!" Whereupon he scribbled out a check for $5 million that helped Gingrich run ads in South Carolina.
His wife helpfully supplied her butter and egg money - another $5 million, making them the two largest single donors to the Gingrich campaign (or, rather, to his PAC, and we all know that the campaign and the PAC have nothing to do with each other, huh yeah that's right that's the ticket nudge nudge wink wink say no more).
Taking for granted the pernicious consequences of the Supreme Court's decision, we can expect those with the most money - the Adelsons, the Trumps, the Gateses, etc. - to wield greater power and greater access and a greater voice in the electoral process.
What's a simple voter to do?
Can we PLEASE cancel prom this year?
I know, I know it's prom. How could I ask such a thing -- think such a thing?? (that was my first goog hit for "prom rite". Case Closed -- seems it's a hot essay topic too.)
Everything seems to be out of control on the home front. I need to pick my battles, but where's a mother to start these days? I have 3 children of voting age (whatever that means now) and none of them could make it on their own today without a struggle (I'm not going to go into how smart, beautiful or talented they are. Everyday I am amazed at how many smart, beautiful and talented kids there are out there). What's up with that? At 18 I had the usual grocery store job and could have easily moved out with a friend or 2 and started my life. My parents encouraged me to go to college, so I did. OK times have changed and that first option is pretty difficult to do now. The college route? Don't EVEN get me started. I can't even get a decent job now, so that I can pay for my kids to go off to college like my mother did for me. AND I HAVE A COLLEGE DEGREE -- what's up with that? The only way they're going to college today is if they take the loans out (7.8%) or we take a home equity (4%). Since we don't have anymore equity, that leaves them with the only other option of 40K in debt at 7.8%. Since I refuse to fill out the Fffff FFFFFFafsa FFForm -- that's not an option either (I already know what I can "afford" to pay -- it's pretty easy to figure out. Hint: It's whatever is left after the bills are paid.)
I've decided that the best thing I can possibly do for them at this point is to empower them enough so that they have complete control of their lives (i.e., get out of my wallet now, babydoll).
In order to do this, I'm pulling the plug. I still pay for our family cell phone plan, so that will be an easy one -- no bloodshed -- I just have to call verizon and suspend their service. When they go out of the house (driving my 3 cars that I maintain & insure), they can take a cell phone with them "for emergencies" -- that's why we got them one in the first place. Remember after nine eleven? It seemed as though overnight every one had a cell phone. Now it's an iphone. The iphones aren't necessary if you can't afford to pay for it yourself. It's just a super duper high tech gadget -- I just hope there won't be too many withdrawal issues for them to deal with! I'm sure big pharma must have a medication out there if they need assistance.
Since I pay the cable teevee bill and have been threatening to blow up that corner of the room for years now -- why not? That's an easy one too!
I will keep the internet connection and the home telephone line. They all have lap tops (their HS graduation presents -- good thing we qualified for Apple Credit!) so they can still be connected through our wireless at home and at millions of other places in the world.
Since I can't control what they do "on-line", I will ask them to PLEASE consider a one month respite from facebook, twitter, tumbler, stumbler, bumbler -- whatever -- in order to reboot their lives. It seems they are all on overload. I'll tell them it's time to do some serious reflection -- step back and listen to the noise in your own brains for a while. When you're with your friends, try a serious conversation for a change -- see what happens. Bring a boom box so everyone can listen to the music. What have you got to lose?
How about we just cancel junior prom?
This rant was provoked by Charles Hugh Smith's recent post: The New American Divide
Everything seems to be out of control on the home front. I need to pick my battles, but where's a mother to start these days? I have 3 children of voting age (whatever that means now) and none of them could make it on their own today without a struggle (I'm not going to go into how smart, beautiful or talented they are. Everyday I am amazed at how many smart, beautiful and talented kids there are out there). What's up with that? At 18 I had the usual grocery store job and could have easily moved out with a friend or 2 and started my life. My parents encouraged me to go to college, so I did. OK times have changed and that first option is pretty difficult to do now. The college route? Don't EVEN get me started. I can't even get a decent job now, so that I can pay for my kids to go off to college like my mother did for me. AND I HAVE A COLLEGE DEGREE -- what's up with that? The only way they're going to college today is if they take the loans out (7.8%) or we take a home equity (4%). Since we don't have anymore equity, that leaves them with the only other option of 40K in debt at 7.8%. Since I refuse to fill out the Fffff FFFFFFafsa FFForm -- that's not an option either (I already know what I can "afford" to pay -- it's pretty easy to figure out. Hint: It's whatever is left after the bills are paid.)
I've decided that the best thing I can possibly do for them at this point is to empower them enough so that they have complete control of their lives (i.e., get out of my wallet now, babydoll).
In order to do this, I'm pulling the plug. I still pay for our family cell phone plan, so that will be an easy one -- no bloodshed -- I just have to call verizon and suspend their service. When they go out of the house (driving my 3 cars that I maintain & insure), they can take a cell phone with them "for emergencies" -- that's why we got them one in the first place. Remember after nine eleven? It seemed as though overnight every one had a cell phone. Now it's an iphone. The iphones aren't necessary if you can't afford to pay for it yourself. It's just a super duper high tech gadget -- I just hope there won't be too many withdrawal issues for them to deal with! I'm sure big pharma must have a medication out there if they need assistance.
Since I pay the cable teevee bill and have been threatening to blow up that corner of the room for years now -- why not? That's an easy one too!
I will keep the internet connection and the home telephone line. They all have lap tops (their HS graduation presents -- good thing we qualified for Apple Credit!) so they can still be connected through our wireless at home and at millions of other places in the world.
Since I can't control what they do "on-line", I will ask them to PLEASE consider a one month respite from facebook, twitter, tumbler, stumbler, bumbler -- whatever -- in order to reboot their lives. It seems they are all on overload. I'll tell them it's time to do some serious reflection -- step back and listen to the noise in your own brains for a while. When you're with your friends, try a serious conversation for a change -- see what happens. Bring a boom box so everyone can listen to the music. What have you got to lose?
How about we just cancel junior prom?
"Banish the word 'struggle' from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we have been waiting for." — Hopi elders
This rant was provoked by Charles Hugh Smith's recent post: The New American Divide
Thursday, January 26
A friendly game of hockey - eh?
That must have been some pile-up!!
I think there is more to this story than meets the eye...
I think there is more to this story than meets the eye...
Wednesday, January 25
Tuesday, January 24
Jesus F.H. Christ!
Where the hell is the media on this! They had a field day covering Paterno.
PLEASE! I want any supposed, hypocritical, pretend Christian to hear their defense to this piece of shit's (Santorum's) ramblings. And if you support Santorum in any way for ANYTHING and you condemned Joe Paterno for his supposed "crime", then you are worse than anything he or Sandusky ever did.
Is this what all you demented Christians who support this shitty piece of anal dropping think?
From Firedoglake.com
PLEASE! I want any supposed, hypocritical, pretend Christian to hear their defense to this piece of shit's (Santorum's) ramblings. And if you support Santorum in any way for ANYTHING and you condemned Joe Paterno for his supposed "crime", then you are worse than anything he or Sandusky ever did.
Is this what all you demented Christians who support this shitty piece of anal dropping think?
From Firedoglake.com
Last Friday, CNN’s Piers Morgan asked Santorum to clarify his reasoning behind such a callous position. Insisting that “it’s not a matter of religious values,” Santorum explained that sexual assault victims should “accept this horribly created” pregnancy because it is “nevertheless a gift in a very broken way” and that, when it comes down to it, a victim just has “to make the best out of a bad situation“:
SANTORUM: Well, you can make the argument that if she doesn’t have this baby, if she kills her child, that that, too, could ruin her life. And this is not an easy choice. I understand that. As horrible as the way that that son or daughter and son was created, it still is her child. And whether she has that child or doesn’t, it will always be her child. And she will always know that. And so to embrace her and to love her and to support her and get her through this very difficult time, I’ve always, you know, I believe and I think the right approach is to accept this horribly created — in the sense of rape — but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you. As you know, we have to, in lots of different aspects of our life. We have horrible things happen. I can’t think of anything more horrible. But, nevertheless, we have to make the best out of a bad situation.
Blondesense FIELD DAY!!!! China No Match for Dutch Plants as Philips Shavers Come Home...
via bloomberg.com
Royal Philips Electronics NV (PHIA) workers in the Dutch town of Drachten who expected to be fired were astonished when the site manager said the company was bringing production of its top-priced electric shavers home from China.
oh please DO have at it!
Royal Philips Electronics NV (PHIA) workers in the Dutch town of Drachten who expected to be fired were astonished when the site manager said the company was bringing production of its top-priced electric shavers home from China.
Rob Karsmakers, the factory manager who returned from four years working for Philips in Asia, told the baffled crowd that the consumer-electronics company would boost investment in Drachten, where it employs 2,000 staff.
“A product engineer in Shanghai now is just as expensive as in Drachten,” said Karsmakers, who has overseen the plant since 2009, in an interview. “But in China, the headcount turnover is high. That is not sustainable.” Philips, which also lights the Eiffel tower and the Olympic Stadium in Beijing, employs a total of 14,000 people in the Netherlands.
The nation, the fifth-largest economy in the euro region, has expanded its allure as a manufacturing powerhouse next to its dominant German neighbor. The Netherlands leads in areas as varied as paints and combat uniforms for the U.S. Army. Apple Inc. (AAPL) uses chips produced by machines from ASML Holding NV (ASML) for its iPhone and iPad, and TomTom NV (TOM2) help drivers navigate unfamiliar roads......
oh please DO have at it!
Sunday, January 22
South Carolina
Pray for Her Redemption ... Denatured Pig's 'Southern Strategy' Wins Where Civil War Started; Romney Faces Heavy Lifting in Florida; Dotty Grandpa Decides to Go Where He Might Have a Chance; Frothy Mixture Keeps Oozing - Pass the Moist Towelettes, Please
(First, allow me to make an historical digression.
Way back in the day, the Democrats held the Solid South, mainly as a reaction to the fact that the Republicans were in power when the Union trashed the unholy living fuck out of the Confederacy, and served them damned right, too. That all changed when the civil rights movement started up in the Fifties, and Southern Democratic anger hit a rolling boil when the 1965 Civil Rights Act was signed into law by a Democrat.
After watching third-party assholes like George Wallace feed off that anger, Richard Nixon had the idea of the 'Southern Strategy,' deliberately wooing those alienated Southern Democrats. He didn't do a very good job of it, but he laid the groundwork so he gets credit.
Enter Ronald Reagan, with his carefully-scripted talk about states' rights and welfare moms. Most of the so-called Reagan Democrats were those who never forgave Democrats like Truman, Kennedy and Johnson for letting the non-white folk think they were just as good as white. The Reagan Democrats became Republicans in the ensuing years.
Then they became, by and large, Tea Partiers. Go figure.
And thus endeth the lesson.)
However, through all the vicissitudes of recent history, two things have been abundantly clear.
These people are angry. Angry at what they perceive (such perception carefully nurtured by Fox News, the right-wing chattering classes, and conservative politicians) as a central government that doesn't care, angry at minorities sponging off them, and angry that they're paying too much in taxes.
Of course, their anger is misplaced. The Republican Caucus in Washington has done everything it can to obstruct and destroy any hope of improving America's economy, a stultifying 70% of all food stamp recipients are white, and taxes are at their lowest point since the Fifties.
So now we come to South Carolina, the Palmetto State.
The state where the Civil War began.
Willard 'Mitt!' Romney campaigned long and hard in South Carolina, netting the influential endorsement of that state's Governor. Historically, that endorsement indicated who would win the state's primary and convention delegates.
Unfortunately, Romney's not well-liked. He comes across as too stiff, polished and facile, and his assertions that he knows about the working class and poor despite his obvious wealth strikes a very tone-deaf note. Still, he enjoyed a comfortable lead over the rest of the field, including his closest rival, Newt Gingrich.
However, in two stunning debates, Gingrich stole a march on Romney. First, he blew the racist dog-whistle for all it was worth at Juan Williams, who is African-American. The debate audience lapped it up like kittens at a bowl of cream, with one later congratulating Newt for 'putting him in his place.'
The second debate started off with a bang, with Newt ripping thin strips off of CNN's John King for opening the debate with a question about his adultery. Now, you wouldn't think adultery would go down well with the highly moral Christian evangelicals in South Carolina, but while they may hate moral queasiness they hate the idea of the "liberal media elite" even more. Gingrich won that debate in the first two minutes.
Yesterday, South Carolina Republicans voted.
By the end of the night, Newt Gingrich was all like
While Mitt Romney was all like
The secessionists voted for Newt, who beat Romney 41% to 28%, with the rest of the vote going to the second-stringers.
Romney now faces an uphill climb in Florida and the rest of the primary states, with one GOP nabob opining last night that the contest may drag on into May.
Florida Governor Rick Scott, whose popularity is still down there with scabies mites, is now pondering who to endorse. I'm sure that whoever he'll endorse will be tempted to say, "Thanks but no thanks."
It's fast becoming a two-cornered race, but what of the other two corners?
Ron Paul's bypassing Florida, instead deciding to run in the four upcoming caucus states of Colorado, Minnesota, Maine and Nevada. He's going to hit the wall in Nevada, I think, because of all the Mormon money that'll slip across the border from neighboring Utah.
And Rich Santorum? What about him?
(First, allow me to make an historical digression.
Way back in the day, the Democrats held the Solid South, mainly as a reaction to the fact that the Republicans were in power when the Union trashed the unholy living fuck out of the Confederacy, and served them damned right, too. That all changed when the civil rights movement started up in the Fifties, and Southern Democratic anger hit a rolling boil when the 1965 Civil Rights Act was signed into law by a Democrat.
After watching third-party assholes like George Wallace feed off that anger, Richard Nixon had the idea of the 'Southern Strategy,' deliberately wooing those alienated Southern Democrats. He didn't do a very good job of it, but he laid the groundwork so he gets credit.
Enter Ronald Reagan, with his carefully-scripted talk about states' rights and welfare moms. Most of the so-called Reagan Democrats were those who never forgave Democrats like Truman, Kennedy and Johnson for letting the non-white folk think they were just as good as white. The Reagan Democrats became Republicans in the ensuing years.
Then they became, by and large, Tea Partiers. Go figure.
And thus endeth the lesson.)
However, through all the vicissitudes of recent history, two things have been abundantly clear.
These people are angry. Angry at what they perceive (such perception carefully nurtured by Fox News, the right-wing chattering classes, and conservative politicians) as a central government that doesn't care, angry at minorities sponging off them, and angry that they're paying too much in taxes.
Of course, their anger is misplaced. The Republican Caucus in Washington has done everything it can to obstruct and destroy any hope of improving America's economy, a stultifying 70% of all food stamp recipients are white, and taxes are at their lowest point since the Fifties.
So now we come to South Carolina, the Palmetto State.
The state where the Civil War began.
Willard 'Mitt!' Romney campaigned long and hard in South Carolina, netting the influential endorsement of that state's Governor. Historically, that endorsement indicated who would win the state's primary and convention delegates.
Unfortunately, Romney's not well-liked. He comes across as too stiff, polished and facile, and his assertions that he knows about the working class and poor despite his obvious wealth strikes a very tone-deaf note. Still, he enjoyed a comfortable lead over the rest of the field, including his closest rival, Newt Gingrich.
However, in two stunning debates, Gingrich stole a march on Romney. First, he blew the racist dog-whistle for all it was worth at Juan Williams, who is African-American. The debate audience lapped it up like kittens at a bowl of cream, with one later congratulating Newt for 'putting him in his place.'
The second debate started off with a bang, with Newt ripping thin strips off of CNN's John King for opening the debate with a question about his adultery. Now, you wouldn't think adultery would go down well with the highly moral Christian evangelicals in South Carolina, but while they may hate moral queasiness they hate the idea of the "liberal media elite" even more. Gingrich won that debate in the first two minutes.
Yesterday, South Carolina Republicans voted.
By the end of the night, Newt Gingrich was all like
While Mitt Romney was all like
The secessionists voted for Newt, who beat Romney 41% to 28%, with the rest of the vote going to the second-stringers.
Romney now faces an uphill climb in Florida and the rest of the primary states, with one GOP nabob opining last night that the contest may drag on into May.
Florida Governor Rick Scott, whose popularity is still down there with scabies mites, is now pondering who to endorse. I'm sure that whoever he'll endorse will be tempted to say, "Thanks but no thanks."
It's fast becoming a two-cornered race, but what of the other two corners?
Ron Paul's bypassing Florida, instead deciding to run in the four upcoming caucus states of Colorado, Minnesota, Maine and Nevada. He's going to hit the wall in Nevada, I think, because of all the Mormon money that'll slip across the border from neighboring Utah.
And Rich Santorum? What about him?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)