It's true! Katherine Harris's tits are this fuckin' big!!!
The Meaning of "Woke"
1 year ago
Thursday, August 31, 2006
I Like Beer, It Makes Me A Jolly Good Fellow
As the studies pile up, we can say something we wouldn't have said twenty years ago: The average person is better off if they include alcohol in their diet.And in my book, beer is a natural choice for the health-conscious 21st century.
Yes, indeedy, beer makes for a great dinner in a pinch. It is easy to prepare, fun to drink, and is nicely complimented with a side dish of chips. Don’t do this every night, of course, but every so often – beer makes up my favorite evening meal.
Best of all, it is now proven that consistent (not excessive) drinking is good for your heart. To top it off, scientists at Okayama University in Japan have rather agreeably discovered that unidentified compounds in lager and stout may help to prevent DNA damage leading to cancer.
The old advertising slogan "Guinness is Good for You" may be true after all.
Historically, beer was viewed as a nourishing diet staple like bread, based on grain. One style, doppelbock, was even dubbed "liquid bread" by the monks who relied on it for sustenance during Lenten fasts. In earlier times, beer was the healthful mealtime beverage for young and old alike and a source of valuable nutrients.
Somewhere, we lost sight of beer's essential wholesomeness. Now, research has documented beer's medical and nutritional benefits. If an "average" 12 ounce bottle of beer sported a Nutrition Facts label, it would tell you that beer contains:
· 150 calories.
· 0 fat
· 0 cholesterol
· 0 caffeine
· 0 nitrates
· 1 gram of protein
· 13 grams of carbohydrates
· Significant amounts of magnesium, selenium, potassium, phosphorus, and biotin
· Impressive amounts of B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxin), and B9 (folate), with smaller amounts of B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B12 inotisol and choline.
· 92 percent water
Ben Franklin said: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." I agree
Clinton Ended Welfare-As-We-Know-It, But Poverty Persists
Robert Sheerer, at HuffPost, reveals why the LATimes didn't want him around.
To hear Bill Clinton tell it, his presidency won the war on poverty three decades after President Lyndon B. Johnson launched it, having changed only the name. Unfortunately, however, for the mothers and their children pushed off the rolls but still struggling mightily to make ends meet even when the women are employed, the war on welfare was not the same battle at all.
Clinton masterfully blurred the two in a recent New York Times opinion column, as did most others on the 10th anniversary of the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, writing as if getting mothers and their children off the welfare rolls is the same as getting them out of poverty. In the absence of any evidence that poverty is tamed, he celebrates a "bipartisan" victory, which was good for his image but not necessarily for those it claimed to help.
The ex-president gloats over the large decrease in the number of welfare recipients as if he is unaware of the five-year limit and other new restrictions which made it inevitable. Nor does he seem bothered that nobody seems to have thought it important to assess how the families on Aid to Families with Dependent Children fared after they left welfare. The truth is we know very little about the fate of those moved off welfare, 70% of whom are children, because there is no systematic monitoring program, thanks to "welfare reform" severing the federal government's responsibility to help the nation's poor.
The best estimates from the Census Bureau and other data, however, indicate that at least a million welfare recipients have neither jobs nor benefits and have sunk deeper into poverty. For those who found jobs, a great many became mired in minimum-wage jobs -- sometimes more than one -- that barely cover the child-care and other costs they incurred by working outside the home.
Yet, in rather the same way that President Bush likes to follow sentences about Sept. 11 with the words "Saddam Hussein" to imply a connection unsupported by facts, Clinton follows his boasts about welfare "reform" by announcing that "child poverty dropped to 16.2 percent in 2000, the lowest rate since 1979" as if that proves a causal relationship.
But if crushing welfare is such a boon to poor children, the effects should be snowballing the further we get from the bad old days, right? Well, no: The same census data Clinton cites for 2000 also records a 12% increase in childhood poverty over the four subsequent years.
Of course, Republican funding cuts to various poverty-related programs have no doubt played a role in this sad stat, as has a bitter resistance to raising the federal minimum wage, which, in real dollars, is now at its lowest point in a half-century. But it is ridiculous to imply, without evidence, that welfare reform is responsible for declines in poverty but is unrelated to increases in poverty.
What we do know unequivocally is that real wages have been declining for workers, both lower- and middle-class, despite increases in productivity. As the New York Times reported on Monday, "wages and salaries now make up the lowest share of the nation's gross domestic product since the government began recording the data in 1947, while corporate profits have climbed to their highest share since the 1960s." These numbers are even more depressing when we realize that the top 1% of wage earners, beneficiaries of Bush's feed-the-rich tax breaks, now earn an outsized 11.2% of the nation's total wages.
Now, Clinton knows full well that the playing field is neither level nor fair, so it is unconscionable to have singled out the minuscule welfare program for a big propaganda campaign to improve government efficiency. The overly examined welfare program costs $10 billion a year while the $300 billion already spent on the Iraq war is rarely raised in discussions of taxpayer burden and fiscal responsibility.
The sad reality is that "ending welfare as we know it" was championed by Clinton because it made him appear to be a "new Democrat" and not because it would improve the lives of poor kids. Otherwise, he would not dare boast in his column that "as a governor, I oversaw a workfare experiment in Arkansas in 1980," because that program was a failure.
In Arkansas today, fully half the children are described in Census Bureau data as "low income," while 1 out of 10 live in a situation that researchers call "extreme child poverty," meaning that a family of four survives on less than $9,675 per year.
Yes, Clinton all but ended welfare. Unfortunately, child poverty is again on the rise in Arkansas and throughout the nation.
(Emphasis added; William J. Clinton: Most effective traditional, moderate GOP President of the last half of the 20th Century. But he was no friend to the People: Look at those with whom he's palling around these days.)
To hear Bill Clinton tell it, his presidency won the war on poverty three decades after President Lyndon B. Johnson launched it, having changed only the name. Unfortunately, however, for the mothers and their children pushed off the rolls but still struggling mightily to make ends meet even when the women are employed, the war on welfare was not the same battle at all.
Clinton masterfully blurred the two in a recent New York Times opinion column, as did most others on the 10th anniversary of the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, writing as if getting mothers and their children off the welfare rolls is the same as getting them out of poverty. In the absence of any evidence that poverty is tamed, he celebrates a "bipartisan" victory, which was good for his image but not necessarily for those it claimed to help.
The ex-president gloats over the large decrease in the number of welfare recipients as if he is unaware of the five-year limit and other new restrictions which made it inevitable. Nor does he seem bothered that nobody seems to have thought it important to assess how the families on Aid to Families with Dependent Children fared after they left welfare. The truth is we know very little about the fate of those moved off welfare, 70% of whom are children, because there is no systematic monitoring program, thanks to "welfare reform" severing the federal government's responsibility to help the nation's poor.
The best estimates from the Census Bureau and other data, however, indicate that at least a million welfare recipients have neither jobs nor benefits and have sunk deeper into poverty. For those who found jobs, a great many became mired in minimum-wage jobs -- sometimes more than one -- that barely cover the child-care and other costs they incurred by working outside the home.
Yet, in rather the same way that President Bush likes to follow sentences about Sept. 11 with the words "Saddam Hussein" to imply a connection unsupported by facts, Clinton follows his boasts about welfare "reform" by announcing that "child poverty dropped to 16.2 percent in 2000, the lowest rate since 1979" as if that proves a causal relationship.
But if crushing welfare is such a boon to poor children, the effects should be snowballing the further we get from the bad old days, right? Well, no: The same census data Clinton cites for 2000 also records a 12% increase in childhood poverty over the four subsequent years.
Of course, Republican funding cuts to various poverty-related programs have no doubt played a role in this sad stat, as has a bitter resistance to raising the federal minimum wage, which, in real dollars, is now at its lowest point in a half-century. But it is ridiculous to imply, without evidence, that welfare reform is responsible for declines in poverty but is unrelated to increases in poverty.
What we do know unequivocally is that real wages have been declining for workers, both lower- and middle-class, despite increases in productivity. As the New York Times reported on Monday, "wages and salaries now make up the lowest share of the nation's gross domestic product since the government began recording the data in 1947, while corporate profits have climbed to their highest share since the 1960s." These numbers are even more depressing when we realize that the top 1% of wage earners, beneficiaries of Bush's feed-the-rich tax breaks, now earn an outsized 11.2% of the nation's total wages.
Now, Clinton knows full well that the playing field is neither level nor fair, so it is unconscionable to have singled out the minuscule welfare program for a big propaganda campaign to improve government efficiency. The overly examined welfare program costs $10 billion a year while the $300 billion already spent on the Iraq war is rarely raised in discussions of taxpayer burden and fiscal responsibility.
The sad reality is that "ending welfare as we know it" was championed by Clinton because it made him appear to be a "new Democrat" and not because it would improve the lives of poor kids. Otherwise, he would not dare boast in his column that "as a governor, I oversaw a workfare experiment in Arkansas in 1980," because that program was a failure.
In Arkansas today, fully half the children are described in Census Bureau data as "low income," while 1 out of 10 live in a situation that researchers call "extreme child poverty," meaning that a family of four survives on less than $9,675 per year.
Yes, Clinton all but ended welfare. Unfortunately, child poverty is again on the rise in Arkansas and throughout the nation.
(Emphasis added; William J. Clinton: Most effective traditional, moderate GOP President of the last half of the 20th Century. But he was no friend to the People: Look at those with whom he's palling around these days.)
Monday, August 28, 2006
The Groton, Conn, Hillbilly
The Kennebunkport Hillbilly (sung to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies Theme Song)
Stanza the First
Come and listen to my story 'bout a boy name Bush.
IQ huggin 60 and his head right up his tush.
Drank like a fish and acted like a lout,
But that didn't really matter 'cuz his daddy bailed him out.
DUI, that is. Criminal record. Cover-up.
Stanza 2
Well, the first thing you know little Georgie goes to Yale
He can't hardly spell his name but legacies don't fail.
He spends his time a'drinkin with his frat-brother folk.
And that's when Georgie learns to snort a line of coke.
Blow, that is. White gold. Nose candy....
Stanza 3
The next thing you know there's a war in Vietnam.
Kin folks say, "George, stay at home with Mom....
Let the common people be the ones that's maimed and scarred.
We'll buy you a soft berth in the Texas Air Guard."
Cushy, that is. Country clubs. More nose candy....
Stanza 4
Well the next thing you know, Georgie's a millionaire;
No that hard t'do when you're a President's son and heir.
He failed at oil drillin, at business and other schemes,
So his Pappy's friends and handlers got Georgie his own team.
Texas Rangers, that is. Municipal bonds. Slush funds...
Stanza 5
Twenty years later Georgie gets a little bored.
Trades in all the snort and booze, says Jesus is his Lord.
He figgered that the White House is the place he oughta be.
So he called his daddy's friends and they stole the GOP.
Gun owners, that is. Falwell. Jesse Helms.
Stanza 6
Come November 7, the election ran a little late.
Kin folks called up 'n' said "Jeb, give the boy your state!"
"Don't let them colored folks be a-gettin to the polls!"
So they put out State cop barricades so they couldn't punch their holes.
Chads, that is. Duval County. Miami-Dade.
Stanza 7
A'Fore them votes was counted, them five Supremes stepped in.
Made it clear to e'eryone that Georgie's gonna win.
"Don't count all the votes!" was their slimy proclamation.
And that's how Georgie finally got his coronation.
Rigged, that is. Illegitimate. No moral authority.
Stanza 8
Well that's how the Dummie got installed as President.
His Cabinet the sorriest the Congress was ever sent.
To placate all the righteous jerks that helped set him aloft,
He made his Atty. Gen'l. a lying zealot named Aschcroft.
Bigot, that is. Big Time Racist. Ho-mo-phobia!
Stanza 9
You know we'd love to say 'goodbye' to Shrub, his kin and friends,
Mebbe we could get it done before the four years ends.
In that much time they'll plunder, rob and wholly desolate
All the natural wonder left in every single state...
Desecration, that is. Oil wells. Strip mines. Drill ANWAR.
Y'all come vote now. Ya hear?
(i wisht i'da rote this hull thing but i did contribute: Stanzas 4, 8 & 9)
Stanza the First
Come and listen to my story 'bout a boy name Bush.
IQ huggin 60 and his head right up his tush.
Drank like a fish and acted like a lout,
But that didn't really matter 'cuz his daddy bailed him out.
DUI, that is. Criminal record. Cover-up.
Stanza 2
Well, the first thing you know little Georgie goes to Yale
He can't hardly spell his name but legacies don't fail.
He spends his time a'drinkin with his frat-brother folk.
And that's when Georgie learns to snort a line of coke.
Blow, that is. White gold. Nose candy....
Stanza 3
The next thing you know there's a war in Vietnam.
Kin folks say, "George, stay at home with Mom....
Let the common people be the ones that's maimed and scarred.
We'll buy you a soft berth in the Texas Air Guard."
Cushy, that is. Country clubs. More nose candy....
Stanza 4
Well the next thing you know, Georgie's a millionaire;
No that hard t'do when you're a President's son and heir.
He failed at oil drillin, at business and other schemes,
So his Pappy's friends and handlers got Georgie his own team.
Texas Rangers, that is. Municipal bonds. Slush funds...
Stanza 5
Twenty years later Georgie gets a little bored.
Trades in all the snort and booze, says Jesus is his Lord.
He figgered that the White House is the place he oughta be.
So he called his daddy's friends and they stole the GOP.
Gun owners, that is. Falwell. Jesse Helms.
Stanza 6
Come November 7, the election ran a little late.
Kin folks called up 'n' said "Jeb, give the boy your state!"
"Don't let them colored folks be a-gettin to the polls!"
So they put out State cop barricades so they couldn't punch their holes.
Chads, that is. Duval County. Miami-Dade.
Stanza 7
A'Fore them votes was counted, them five Supremes stepped in.
Made it clear to e'eryone that Georgie's gonna win.
"Don't count all the votes!" was their slimy proclamation.
And that's how Georgie finally got his coronation.
Rigged, that is. Illegitimate. No moral authority.
Stanza 8
Well that's how the Dummie got installed as President.
His Cabinet the sorriest the Congress was ever sent.
To placate all the righteous jerks that helped set him aloft,
He made his Atty. Gen'l. a lying zealot named Aschcroft.
Bigot, that is. Big Time Racist. Ho-mo-phobia!
Stanza 9
You know we'd love to say 'goodbye' to Shrub, his kin and friends,
Mebbe we could get it done before the four years ends.
In that much time they'll plunder, rob and wholly desolate
All the natural wonder left in every single state...
Desecration, that is. Oil wells. Strip mines. Drill ANWAR.
Y'all come vote now. Ya hear?
(i wisht i'da rote this hull thing but i did contribute: Stanzas 4, 8 & 9)
At CBS, "Racism" and Hypocrisy Battle To Be The "Survivor"
My very smart "little" brother, who sometimes post comments here as "Panamint Pete," e-mailed me this:
(I'll leave that to my good bro...)
Hey, here's some meat for your mill.
This am I was reading the news and saw some groups are protesting a production decision on CBS's show "Survivor" to split the contestants into racial camps. Obviously this is a ploy to bolster sagging ratings. Evidently Sumner Redstone, the 'liberal, progressive, socially responsible' owner of CBS, believes this kind of idiocy will resonate strongly enough in the public eye to promote viewership with the drooling idiots and knuckle-draggers who watch this waste of bandwidth.
Infuriated, I dashed off an e-mail to the programming office at CBS saying I was no longer watching CBS shows until they showed some social conscience, and reminding them that this show, with it's changes puts them well into the Supreme Court's definition of obscenity, as it is sensational with no redeeming social value. "What's next," I inquired. "Teams of Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druse battling it out in 'Survivor Lebanon'?"
My duty done and my conscience salved after clicking the send button, I clicked away back to my browser; but as I flashed past the CBS main page, I saw a link which made my sphincter tighten: There, prominently displayed was a photo of Nelson Mandela, under the link to "CBS cares."
I immediately went back to the feedback page and wrote ANOTHER e-mail, this
time lambasting them for the utter hypocrisy of using the visage of a man whose
tolerance is legendary and whose reputation is without stain to shill the message "CBS cares," and then turning around and running a load of racially supercharged bilge water that is "Survivor."
You gotta lay into this one, bro, get it out there. This is KorpoRat Komedy at its worst...
(I'll leave that to my good bro...)
Schtop Mit De "Schtupping", Schtupid...
(Offered without comment.)
The Wayne Madsden Report: Aug. 25, 2006 --
Neocon-influenced satellite news media silent on Israeli President's rape allegations.
When it comes to coverage of the Middle East, global satellite news networks -- from a European vantage point -- remain silent on any uncomfortable news from Israel.
(However) Israeli police have twice questioned President Moshe Katsav over charges that he raped a former employee. Two female members of the Knesset, both from the governing Kadima-Labor coalition, have called for Katsav to resign. European and Israeli papers are covering the unfolding scandal but CNN and the BBC remain silent on the subject.
Katsav's alleged female victim, referred to as "A" by police, said the President engaged in improper "sexual contact" with her while she worked at the Beit Hansassi presidential residence. Two other female employees at Beit Hanassi have also come forward to complain about improper sexual behavior towards them by the President. Although Katsav is claiming that A is blackmailing him, the scandal has expanded to charges that Katsav issued presidential pardons in return for bribes.
On Sunday, Israeli Attorney General Haim Ramon resigned after the Israeli Attorney General indicted him for sexually harassing a female employee in his office. Again, the global satellite news media remained silent on the subject.
The Wayne Madsden Report: Aug. 25, 2006 --
Neocon-influenced satellite news media silent on Israeli President's rape allegations.
When it comes to coverage of the Middle East, global satellite news networks -- from a European vantage point -- remain silent on any uncomfortable news from Israel.
(However) Israeli police have twice questioned President Moshe Katsav over charges that he raped a former employee. Two female members of the Knesset, both from the governing Kadima-Labor coalition, have called for Katsav to resign. European and Israeli papers are covering the unfolding scandal but CNN and the BBC remain silent on the subject.
Katsav's alleged female victim, referred to as "A" by police, said the President engaged in improper "sexual contact" with her while she worked at the Beit Hansassi presidential residence. Two other female employees at Beit Hanassi have also come forward to complain about improper sexual behavior towards them by the President. Although Katsav is claiming that A is blackmailing him, the scandal has expanded to charges that Katsav issued presidential pardons in return for bribes.
On Sunday, Israeli Attorney General Haim Ramon resigned after the Israeli Attorney General indicted him for sexually harassing a female employee in his office. Again, the global satellite news media remained silent on the subject.
Size DOES Matter, Beyotch!
My Dick's this long...
Cheney's schlong is this fuckin' long! So who do YOU think is actually running things?
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Who Says Payback's a Bitch? Blackwell's Revelling In It!
Who'da thunk it?
Jeezis fuck I hate these people.
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- Presidential adviser Karl Rove criticized a federal judge's prder for an immediate end to the government's warrantless surveillance program, saying Wednesday such a program might have prevented the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.Utterly neglecting to mention the PDB of August 6, 2001 which specifically warned that Al Qaeda was planning to strike the USofA inside the country soon.
Rove said the government should be free to listen if al Qaeda is calling someone within the U.S. "Imagine if we could have done that before 9/11. It might have been a different outcome," he said.Jeezis fucking christ, these shitwhistles have no shame, no memory, nothing but wholesale mendacity, fear-mongering, and deceit? These lying bastards had all the evidence, all the intelligence they would ever have needed, to prevent the attacks on IXXI, if they had wanted to pay attention to it. But Condaliarza Rice, the National Fucking Security Advisor, claimed the PDB and associated evidence supporting the warnting were considered merely "historical."
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit last week became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, ruling it unconstitutional. (Full story)Judge Taylor's opinion has been subjected to furious attacks from the right-wing shitheels who's responsibility it was to prevent both the attacks and the over-stepping of the Constitution in their zeal (ex post facto) to see them remedied by reducing the rights of the citizenry.
Rove's comments came as he headlined a fundraiser for Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who is running for governor. About 50 protesters stood outside the country club where the fundraiser was held, some with signs that said "Impeach Bush."Blackwell, of course, was the Ohio Secretary of State (and Bushevik campaign manager in the State) whose efforts to restrict the vote by possible Democratic partisans, to corrupt the franchise with the assistance of Diebold, and to steal the state for Bush, are now being so richly repaid, as he runs for Governor.
Jeezis fuck I hate these people.
Meet Us At The Fair!!!
Some Eschatonians/Atriots are coming to Albuquerque in September to spend a day at the Expo New Mexico (aka New Mexico State Fair). The date is Sept. 16. The gates open at 10 AM.
If You Are Planning to Attend the Field-Trip on SEPT 15, in ABQ, lemme know soonest? I am planning to take a van-load of interested folks out to Chaco Canyon, returning through Acoma pueblo that day, departing early (9-9:30-ish), and returning around dusk.
AFAIK, I think the following are confirmed: Mena, Katie, Agave, Olaf, LilRed, Ruth, and me...if your planning it too, I need to know asap, to arrange sufficient transportation. I am going to rent a van (7 or 9 passenger) for the weekend, both to go on the field trip and to carry folks to and from the fair on saturday...so I need a head count...help me out please?tanx....
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated
(I always envied Twain that line; it's fun to use it myself...)
Yesterday, blogging on Eschaton, I made reference to the fact that I was on my way to the hospital for an EKG. Many of my usual correspondents and interlocutors became alarmed, and expressed concerns, sending good wishes for my health They have continued to express concern and to inquire as to my prospects.
Okay, here's the story:
About 4-5 months ago, in late March or early April, I began to notice some discomfort in my chest and feelings of constriction in my arms. I figured it was some kind of angina, and that it wasn't too serious because I wasn't experiencing the severity of those symptoms popularly associated with serious heart issues, and more or less ignored them, carrying on doing whatever it was I was doing at the time (which was, mainly, performing as a background artist in various roles in "Comanche Moon," the prequel to "Lonesome Dove;" CM is scheduled for television in the fall, on CBS, rumor has it in late September). The incidents were irregular, brief, and more unnerving than painful. But they were not in any substantial way debilitating, so I just kept on doing what I was doing.
I have always been moderately sanguine about heart problems, since I've known I had a heart murmur since I was a kid (mytral valve prolapse, caused probably by rheumatic fever I had as a child; my parents forbade me to play organized basketball, because they thought the constant activity might be deleterious; they didn't prevent me from playing football or running track, playing tennis, or swimming). Looking back, I do not know how I passed the military physical in '64; but I did (which is neither here nor there).
Fast foreward to yesterday when, after walking Hannah, the most energetic of my four hounds, I felt myself beginning to experience the onset of one of the angina episodes. Meanwhile I had remarked to several folks on the experiences, and all had enjoined me to seek the advice of a physician. With the incident yesterday, I finally betook me of their advice, and called a nearby hospital, where I have been attended in the past. In a little while I found myself talking to a very nice and very concerned nurse who, after I explained why I was calling, and explained the symptms, told me to hang up and call 911. I did not think I was in any immediate distress, however, and so I drove myself (with Buddy) to a nearby ER. There, I was administered an EKG, and about a quart of blood was drawn for various tests.
The upshot of the visit was that the EKG registered no 'significant' anomalies. And the blood work was inconclusive. The doc prescribed nitroglycerin, and told me I must check in with a cardiologist for more tests. I filled the scrip today, and have so far not needed to test its efficacy. The incidents do not occur daily, or even over any regular interval. If one does occur, the doc says I am to place one nitro tab under my tongue and wait until I either 1) feel the effects in the subsidance of the symptoms or 2) feel no such effects; in which case I am to take another tablet and wait; if there is still no subsidance or diminishment, I am instructed to take yet a third tablet. If that third tablet still has no effect, I am to immediately call 911 (and presumably give my ass to god).
I am inestimably touched by and grateful to all my blog-buds at Eschaton for their care, concern, and good wishes. Thank you, all.
Friday, August 25, 2006
The Party Of Moral Vaues
This is a very interesting site:
Adelphia Communications Corp.: Donated large sums of money to some of the most conservative members of Congress. They are also the first cable company to offer hard-core adult movies to subscribers. Daily Kos article
Edison Misla Aldarondo, Republican legislator, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for molestation of his daughter and her friend for eight-year period starting when they were 9. Full Article
Randal David Ankeney, Republican activist, arrested on suspicion of sexual assault on a child with force. He faces 6 charges related to getting a 13-year-old girl stoned on pot and then having sex with her. Source Also accused of sexually assaulting another girl. Denver ABC Article
Dick Armey (R-Texas), former professor, has been accused by The Dallas Observer of sexually harassing female students.
Jim Bakker, televangelist with Pat Robertson at Robertson's Christian Broadcasting network. Committed adultery with Jessica Hahn [1] and then used charitable donations to pay her hush money[2]. Fellow televangelists say he's gay. [3][4]Indicted on 23 federal charges of fraud, tax evasion, and racketeering [5].
Bob Barr, Republican Congressman from Georgia. Sponsored the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act, saying "The flames of hedonism, the flames of narcissism, the flames of self-centered morality are licking at the very foundation of our society, the family unit." Was married three times. Paid for his second wife's abortion (she also suspected he was cheating on her). Failed to pay child support to the children of his first two wives and while married to his third and present wife was photographed licking whipped cream off of strippers at his inaugural party.
Merrill Robert Barter, Republican County Commissioner, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy. Booth Bay Register Article
Robert Bauman, Republican congressman and anti-gay activist, was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar. Source: Washington Blade
Parker J. Bena, Republican activist and Bush Elector, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography (including children as young as 3 years old) on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000. Source
Louis Beres, chairman of the Christian Coalition of Oregon. 3 of his family members accuse him of molesting them when they were pre-teens. Editor and Publisher article. In August 06, Beres confessed. The Portland Mercury
Howard L. Brooks, Republican legislative aide and advisor to a California assemblyman, was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography. Sacramento Bee article
John Bolton Bush's appointee ambassador to United Nations, corroborated allegations that Mr. Bolton’s first wife, Christina Bolton, was forced to engage in group sex have not been refuted by the State Department. Raw Story Article
Mike Bowers Former State Attorney General, prosecuted the famous Bowers vs. Hardwick case, based on Georgia anti-sodomy laws. Admitted to a 10-year adulterous affair Slate article
Pat Buchanan predidential candidate, media talking-head. His campaign refused to confirm or deny whether Pat has had chlamydia or any other venereal diseases.
Andrew Buhr, Republican politician, former committeeman for Hadley Township Missouri, was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy. Source
Ted Bundy campaigned for the Republican Party. Infamous serial rapist who murdered 16 women. Source: BBC
Jim Bunn Congressman of Oregon: With his success due in great part to support from the Christian Coalition, Bunn won his congressional seat, then immediately ditched his wife (and mother of his five children), married a staffer, and put his new wife on the state payroll for the unheard-of salary of $97,500. Conservative Babylon
John Allen Burt, Republican anti-abortion activist, convicted of sexually molesting a 15 year old girl at the home for troubled girls that he ran. Source: Pensacola News Journal
Dan Burton, Republican Congressman who, while married, fathered a child by another woman. Salon.com Article
George W. Bush, Republican president, accused in a criminal complaint and lawsuit of raping Margie Schoedinger, who was later suicided. Accused by Tammy Phillips, a former stripper quoted in the National Enquirer in 2000 saying she had an affair with Bush that had ended in 1999.
Neil Bush, brother or G. W. Bush, in a March 2003 divorce deposition, admitted repeatedly having sex with strange women who just showed up at his room while on an Asian business trip. (Overshadowing the sex scandal; the business scandal--see link.) Washington Post article.
John Butler, Republican activist, was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl...
And these are just the As and Bs...It's pretty incredible.
With much thanks to DKos.
Adelphia Communications Corp.: Donated large sums of money to some of the most conservative members of Congress. They are also the first cable company to offer hard-core adult movies to subscribers. Daily Kos article
Edison Misla Aldarondo, Republican legislator, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for molestation of his daughter and her friend for eight-year period starting when they were 9. Full Article
Randal David Ankeney, Republican activist, arrested on suspicion of sexual assault on a child with force. He faces 6 charges related to getting a 13-year-old girl stoned on pot and then having sex with her. Source Also accused of sexually assaulting another girl. Denver ABC Article
Dick Armey (R-Texas), former professor, has been accused by The Dallas Observer of sexually harassing female students.
Jim Bakker, televangelist with Pat Robertson at Robertson's Christian Broadcasting network. Committed adultery with Jessica Hahn [1] and then used charitable donations to pay her hush money[2]. Fellow televangelists say he's gay. [3][4]Indicted on 23 federal charges of fraud, tax evasion, and racketeering [5].
Bob Barr, Republican Congressman from Georgia. Sponsored the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act, saying "The flames of hedonism, the flames of narcissism, the flames of self-centered morality are licking at the very foundation of our society, the family unit." Was married three times. Paid for his second wife's abortion (she also suspected he was cheating on her). Failed to pay child support to the children of his first two wives and while married to his third and present wife was photographed licking whipped cream off of strippers at his inaugural party.
Merrill Robert Barter, Republican County Commissioner, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy. Booth Bay Register Article
Robert Bauman, Republican congressman and anti-gay activist, was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar. Source: Washington Blade
Parker J. Bena, Republican activist and Bush Elector, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography (including children as young as 3 years old) on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000. Source
Louis Beres, chairman of the Christian Coalition of Oregon. 3 of his family members accuse him of molesting them when they were pre-teens. Editor and Publisher article. In August 06, Beres confessed. The Portland Mercury
Howard L. Brooks, Republican legislative aide and advisor to a California assemblyman, was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography. Sacramento Bee article
John Bolton Bush's appointee ambassador to United Nations, corroborated allegations that Mr. Bolton’s first wife, Christina Bolton, was forced to engage in group sex have not been refuted by the State Department. Raw Story Article
Mike Bowers Former State Attorney General, prosecuted the famous Bowers vs. Hardwick case, based on Georgia anti-sodomy laws. Admitted to a 10-year adulterous affair Slate article
Pat Buchanan predidential candidate, media talking-head. His campaign refused to confirm or deny whether Pat has had chlamydia or any other venereal diseases.
Andrew Buhr, Republican politician, former committeeman for Hadley Township Missouri, was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy. Source
Ted Bundy campaigned for the Republican Party. Infamous serial rapist who murdered 16 women. Source: BBC
Jim Bunn Congressman of Oregon: With his success due in great part to support from the Christian Coalition, Bunn won his congressional seat, then immediately ditched his wife (and mother of his five children), married a staffer, and put his new wife on the state payroll for the unheard-of salary of $97,500. Conservative Babylon
John Allen Burt, Republican anti-abortion activist, convicted of sexually molesting a 15 year old girl at the home for troubled girls that he ran. Source: Pensacola News Journal
Dan Burton, Republican Congressman who, while married, fathered a child by another woman. Salon.com Article
George W. Bush, Republican president, accused in a criminal complaint and lawsuit of raping Margie Schoedinger, who was later suicided. Accused by Tammy Phillips, a former stripper quoted in the National Enquirer in 2000 saying she had an affair with Bush that had ended in 1999.
Neil Bush, brother or G. W. Bush, in a March 2003 divorce deposition, admitted repeatedly having sex with strange women who just showed up at his room while on an Asian business trip. (Overshadowing the sex scandal; the business scandal--see link.) Washington Post article.
John Butler, Republican activist, was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl...
And these are just the As and Bs...It's pretty incredible.
With much thanks to DKos.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
A Freebie, for the DNC, from Me
Here's a campaign ad for the Democratic party to stake out the ground of inclusivity, populism, and peace:
Theme:We're ALL Democrats...
(three vignettes, each 10 seconds)
Vignette 1: At the gas station, a vertibable cacaphony of bells ringing as each dollar slides down the pipe...it sounds like the slots room in a casino. Then everybody stops, looks at each other, and they (in chorus) announce: "We're ALL Democrats here!"
Vignette 2: A funeral, with a flag-draped coffin, surrounded by solemn mourners, and a black-clad family sitting by the graveside, quietly grieving. A crawl under the image reads: "We're ALL Democrats, here..."
vignette 3: Inside a church, a congregation giving praise, when the church door opens inward to reveal two men standing in the doorway. The hymn never falters, and the congregation continues as the two men take their places in a pew. The hymn ends. The preacher in the pulpit says "We're ALL Democrats here!" The congregation sings "AHHH-Men!!!"
Free for the asking...All I require is the cite.
Theme:We're ALL Democrats...
(three vignettes, each 10 seconds)
Vignette 1: At the gas station, a vertibable cacaphony of bells ringing as each dollar slides down the pipe...it sounds like the slots room in a casino. Then everybody stops, looks at each other, and they (in chorus) announce: "We're ALL Democrats here!"
Vignette 2: A funeral, with a flag-draped coffin, surrounded by solemn mourners, and a black-clad family sitting by the graveside, quietly grieving. A crawl under the image reads: "We're ALL Democrats, here..."
vignette 3: Inside a church, a congregation giving praise, when the church door opens inward to reveal two men standing in the doorway. The hymn never falters, and the congregation continues as the two men take their places in a pew. The hymn ends. The preacher in the pulpit says "We're ALL Democrats here!" The congregation sings "AHHH-Men!!!"
Free for the asking...All I require is the cite.
I Am Sick To Death Of ICORP Democrats
I Am Sick To Fucking Death With Tactical "Democrats"
They're the ones, like Paul Hackett and a LOT of others, who are not opposed to, and do not repudiate or revile, the ICORP (Invasion, Conquest, Occupation, Rape & Pillage) of Iraq, but only quibble about the mechanics of how it was accomplished, why it failed, or how it could be "saved."
They're ones who will endlessly fucking proclaim: well, we could have "won" if we'd only 1) used more troops, 2) dropped more bombs, 3) killed more Iraqis, 4) paid more attention to security, 5) guarded the museums like the oil ministry or 6) ALL THE ABOVE.
Listen, shitwhistles, the ICORP of Iraq was wrong--just wrong, get it?-- from the start. In consequence, any 'victory' there would have been a 'victory' which the world would have been (and IS) entitled to view as EXACTLY the equivalent of the German 'victory' in Czechoslovakia in 1938, or the Japanese 'victory' over China in '37--or, for that matter, General Miles' "victory" at Wounded Knee.
The ICORP of Iraq was WRONG from the first fucking day.
The results we are witnessing today--civil war, revenge killings, the balkanization of the country, the destruction of infrastructure, the rise of the fanatic imams, the influence of Iran--were entirely predictable (fuck, even I predicted them and I'm no fucking international specialist) already in April, 2003. No amount of tactical or strategic massaging the equation would or could have erased the first fundamental flaw and failing: It was always, is now, and always will be an act of unfathomable, unwarranted, immoral, unjust, and illegal fucking AGGRESSION.
You don't just march into a nation that 1) has done you no harm, 2) caused you no injury, 3) posed you no threat, and then a) slaughter their people wholesale with weapons of 'shock & awe', b) tear up their infrasturcture, c) depose their lawful ruler, d) execute his children, e) disrupt the entire civilian lifeworld, and under cover of the soi disant 'fog of war', f) murder and rape the civilians, and g) pilfer their treasures, and then claim to be on the side of the fucking ANGELS.
The Dumbocrap party hacks--basically the whole fucking party except Dennis Kucinich, and including Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and even Jack Murtha--who cleave to this line are just a fucking guilty of the crimes in Iraq as the GOPukes who promulgated this insane, illegal, immoral, insidious scheme in the first place.
I, a veteran of another, similar exercise in USer military adventurism 40 years ago, am appalled and ashamed of my country, all over again. Until the Dumbocraps return to principle, they're no better than fucking murderous sycophants and enablers, disgusted--possibly--by the blood splattered on them by their victims, but willing to wash it off and get on with bidness; and I for one, want to part of 'em.
They're the ones, like Paul Hackett and a LOT of others, who are not opposed to, and do not repudiate or revile, the ICORP (Invasion, Conquest, Occupation, Rape & Pillage) of Iraq, but only quibble about the mechanics of how it was accomplished, why it failed, or how it could be "saved."
They're ones who will endlessly fucking proclaim: well, we could have "won" if we'd only 1) used more troops, 2) dropped more bombs, 3) killed more Iraqis, 4) paid more attention to security, 5) guarded the museums like the oil ministry or 6) ALL THE ABOVE.
Listen, shitwhistles, the ICORP of Iraq was wrong--just wrong, get it?-- from the start. In consequence, any 'victory' there would have been a 'victory' which the world would have been (and IS) entitled to view as EXACTLY the equivalent of the German 'victory' in Czechoslovakia in 1938, or the Japanese 'victory' over China in '37--or, for that matter, General Miles' "victory" at Wounded Knee.
The ICORP of Iraq was WRONG from the first fucking day.
The results we are witnessing today--civil war, revenge killings, the balkanization of the country, the destruction of infrastructure, the rise of the fanatic imams, the influence of Iran--were entirely predictable (fuck, even I predicted them and I'm no fucking international specialist) already in April, 2003. No amount of tactical or strategic massaging the equation would or could have erased the first fundamental flaw and failing: It was always, is now, and always will be an act of unfathomable, unwarranted, immoral, unjust, and illegal fucking AGGRESSION.
You don't just march into a nation that 1) has done you no harm, 2) caused you no injury, 3) posed you no threat, and then a) slaughter their people wholesale with weapons of 'shock & awe', b) tear up their infrasturcture, c) depose their lawful ruler, d) execute his children, e) disrupt the entire civilian lifeworld, and under cover of the soi disant 'fog of war', f) murder and rape the civilians, and g) pilfer their treasures, and then claim to be on the side of the fucking ANGELS.
The Dumbocrap party hacks--basically the whole fucking party except Dennis Kucinich, and including Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and even Jack Murtha--who cleave to this line are just a fucking guilty of the crimes in Iraq as the GOPukes who promulgated this insane, illegal, immoral, insidious scheme in the first place.
I, a veteran of another, similar exercise in USer military adventurism 40 years ago, am appalled and ashamed of my country, all over again. Until the Dumbocraps return to principle, they're no better than fucking murderous sycophants and enablers, disgusted--possibly--by the blood splattered on them by their victims, but willing to wash it off and get on with bidness; and I for one, want to part of 'em.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
"Suspects' So-Called Suicide Vids Seen Suspicious"
The other day on I saw a video realistically and dramatically re-enact (or provisionally anticipate) the scene in a crowded market when a suicide bomber sets of his bomb. No dialogue, just images juxtaposed; no text. It was compelling to watch the last 30 seconds unfolding before the carnage erupted. Everything was so normal; there was a child playing quietly by the kerb, who catches the eye of the malefactor just as the bomber's jacket opens to reveal the cylinders of explosive; then there is a flash and a huge conflagration...I've never been anywhere near where such an act had occurred. It was, as I recall, slugged as part of an anti-bombing campaign. I went looking for it again today when I started to write this column and cannot find it via my own googling skills. If it shows up again (youtube, anyone?), I'll post the link.
I mention this because, among the apparently damning bits of evidence discovered by British police among the effects ond possessions of the accused 'chem-lab bomber' conspiracy are what are reported to be 'suicide-bombing' videos. These are alleged to be videos used by terrorist organizations to accustom volunteer suicide bombers to their chosen tasks.
(I have never seen an example of one such, but it must be a fascinating text to study, and I would very much like to see one: how fascinating to analyze the construction of the necessary languages...)
The apparent complexity and delicacy of the chemistry necessitated by the volatility of the ingredients, the mixing of which more or less privately would be required to fashion said bomb, that have so far been disclosed or discussed notwithstanding, the fact that these suspects were in possession certain videos should not, I think, be admissable as evidence of their intentions.
I haven't seen the alleged conspirators' alleged suicide training videos, but I have seen that San Andreas video.
So I wanna know: How, if the argument shall be made that the actions and situations 'acted out' in San Andreas are deemed NOT to have a deleterious effect, or NOT make any 'dangerous' impressions on the participants' psycho-social stabilityhow, under these claims can the intentions of the alleged terror plotters be thought to be reliably indicated by their possession of any video whatsoever?
I mention this because, among the apparently damning bits of evidence discovered by British police among the effects ond possessions of the accused 'chem-lab bomber' conspiracy are what are reported to be 'suicide-bombing' videos. These are alleged to be videos used by terrorist organizations to accustom volunteer suicide bombers to their chosen tasks.
(I have never seen an example of one such, but it must be a fascinating text to study, and I would very much like to see one: how fascinating to analyze the construction of the necessary languages...)
The apparent complexity and delicacy of the chemistry necessitated by the volatility of the ingredients, the mixing of which more or less privately would be required to fashion said bomb, that have so far been disclosed or discussed notwithstanding, the fact that these suspects were in possession certain videos should not, I think, be admissable as evidence of their intentions.
I haven't seen the alleged conspirators' alleged suicide training videos, but I have seen that San Andreas video.
So I wanna know: How, if the argument shall be made that the actions and situations 'acted out' in San Andreas are deemed NOT to have a deleterious effect, or NOT make any 'dangerous' impressions on the participants' psycho-social stabilityhow, under these claims can the intentions of the alleged terror plotters be thought to be reliably indicated by their possession of any video whatsoever?
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
The Death of JonBenet Ramsey Is (And ALWAYS Was) A LOCAL Goddamn Story
And who cares, anyway?
It is, since the death of her mother, of signal importance to exactly ONE person: her father.
Nobody else.
The lavish coverage by the SCUM amounts to nothing more than "Missing/Dead White Girl" porn pandering!
I, for one, am utterly uashamed to announce: "I DO NOT GIVE A ROSEY, RED, FAT RAT'S REEKING ASS ABOUT JONBENET RAMSEY!"
I do not care why she died.
I do not care who killed her.
I do not care that her parents forced her into kiddie porn.
I JUST DO NOT CARE.
It's a LOCAL story, you shitwhistles...
Just like the Robbie Padilla story.
What, you never heard of the Robbie Padilla story?
Not surprising, that.
He was a little boy, age 8, who lived in Santa Fe, and who simply disappeared one day, about 5 years ago. He has never been seen again. there has been a lot of local speculation about what happened to him. But there are no concrete leads in his disappearance. He's just gone.
And the national press is strangely quiet about it. Could it be because Robbie Padilla was a little latino boy from the working class with brown hair and black eyes, not a little, blonde-haired, blue-eyed upper-middle-class dollie?
Could it be?
Monday, August 21, 2006
The Emperor Wears No Socks
I heard the Bush 'presser' this morning and was pretty much aghast.
This was as singularly embarrassing a performance as one would never hope to experience from the putatively 'popularly elected' leader of the most powerful--and formerly the most admired--nation on the planet. It came about as close to a self-parody as someone who is as unreflective and unconscious as a box of rocks can get without noticing they had lapsed into self-parody.
I took some encouragement that the SCUM* are apparently beginning to notice that the Gibbering Chimperor (GC) is--if not naked, at least--not wearing socks. There were some pointed questions--which the GC maladroitly dodged: the money one being when the Cox News guy got the GC to assert that "nobody" had never claimed any connection between Saddam Hussein and AlQaeda (which was and is, of course, flatly false, exactly that statement having been made repeatedly by both the simpering, scampering, smirking pseudo-simian and his handlers).
But the SCUM still defer to him. They still treat him with a modicum of respect which is totally unnecessary when asking questions of some mendacious pol who--even if he is the soi disant 'president--is doing nothing but dodging accoountability and selling the "BIG LIE."
Interestingly--depressingly--CNN reported at the same hour as they summarized the presser that, according to recent polls, the GC has caught a small rebound from job-approval numbers in the high 30s, up now to "42%" (who knows the MOE?). Mao told us it was possible to rule with such a fraction, and the Busheviks prove it.
So there are still people in the USofA who apparently still hold the chattering Chimperor in some modest regard; at least, there seem still to be people who do not detest him utterly (which, imho, is the means test for sanity in the current political environment). And for this I blame the SCUM, and their unwillingness to convey to their readers, viewers, and auditors their own fairly evident understanding of the relevant reality: it's as if they are extras in a Marx Bros. film,--A Night At The WhiteHouse--at which the audience laughs, but from beyond the prescenium, while the supernumeraries on the screen are profoundly missing the joke.
Now, with 78 days til 'election day,' some folks on the 'left' (that's, in itself, such a joke as to be worthy of SNL) are ginning up anticipation for the fall "elections," seemingly excited in the prospect of the Dumbocraps taking back one of the Houses of Congress. They seem to think this will mark a 'victory' of sanity over idiocy, mendacity, and bloody-mindedness.
But it won't be a victory. As Digby noted a week or so ago, all that will mean is that the Dumbocraps will be heaped with responsibility for the eventual catastrophe, and will lose a good campain issue in '08. No razor-thin Dumbocrap majority in either House will stem the flow of fascism in this country, or applay any tourniquet to the hemorrhaging abroad; not as long as there are 'blue-dog Democrats' all over the country, sucking up to the CorpoRat hegemons and the local fundamentalist, nativist, apocalyptic crazies.
There is only one public symptom which would unarguably and irrevocably damn the Busheviks to the shit-pile of history where they belong: if and when the SCUM and the People greet any and every utterance, or appearance by the Busheviks with howls of scorn and hoots of derision. We have to get inside the proscenium, deliver the laughter where it may be heard.
Unless and until that condition can be reliably predicted, and the hoots of derisive laughter that greet them are visibly and audibly reported, nightly--along with the latest news about JonBenetRamsey and the mandatory Missing White Girl stories--believe me, friends, the Busheviks are still in command.
**SCUM: So Called Unbiased Media
This was as singularly embarrassing a performance as one would never hope to experience from the putatively 'popularly elected' leader of the most powerful--and formerly the most admired--nation on the planet. It came about as close to a self-parody as someone who is as unreflective and unconscious as a box of rocks can get without noticing they had lapsed into self-parody.
I took some encouragement that the SCUM* are apparently beginning to notice that the Gibbering Chimperor (GC) is--if not naked, at least--not wearing socks. There were some pointed questions--which the GC maladroitly dodged: the money one being when the Cox News guy got the GC to assert that "nobody" had never claimed any connection between Saddam Hussein and AlQaeda (which was and is, of course, flatly false, exactly that statement having been made repeatedly by both the simpering, scampering, smirking pseudo-simian and his handlers).
But the SCUM still defer to him. They still treat him with a modicum of respect which is totally unnecessary when asking questions of some mendacious pol who--even if he is the soi disant 'president--is doing nothing but dodging accoountability and selling the "BIG LIE."
Interestingly--depressingly--CNN reported at the same hour as they summarized the presser that, according to recent polls, the GC has caught a small rebound from job-approval numbers in the high 30s, up now to "42%" (who knows the MOE?). Mao told us it was possible to rule with such a fraction, and the Busheviks prove it.
So there are still people in the USofA who apparently still hold the chattering Chimperor in some modest regard; at least, there seem still to be people who do not detest him utterly (which, imho, is the means test for sanity in the current political environment). And for this I blame the SCUM, and their unwillingness to convey to their readers, viewers, and auditors their own fairly evident understanding of the relevant reality: it's as if they are extras in a Marx Bros. film,--A Night At The WhiteHouse--at which the audience laughs, but from beyond the prescenium, while the supernumeraries on the screen are profoundly missing the joke.
Now, with 78 days til 'election day,' some folks on the 'left' (that's, in itself, such a joke as to be worthy of SNL) are ginning up anticipation for the fall "elections," seemingly excited in the prospect of the Dumbocraps taking back one of the Houses of Congress. They seem to think this will mark a 'victory' of sanity over idiocy, mendacity, and bloody-mindedness.
But it won't be a victory. As Digby noted a week or so ago, all that will mean is that the Dumbocraps will be heaped with responsibility for the eventual catastrophe, and will lose a good campain issue in '08. No razor-thin Dumbocrap majority in either House will stem the flow of fascism in this country, or applay any tourniquet to the hemorrhaging abroad; not as long as there are 'blue-dog Democrats' all over the country, sucking up to the CorpoRat hegemons and the local fundamentalist, nativist, apocalyptic crazies.
There is only one public symptom which would unarguably and irrevocably damn the Busheviks to the shit-pile of history where they belong: if and when the SCUM and the People greet any and every utterance, or appearance by the Busheviks with howls of scorn and hoots of derision. We have to get inside the proscenium, deliver the laughter where it may be heard.
Unless and until that condition can be reliably predicted, and the hoots of derisive laughter that greet them are visibly and audibly reported, nightly--along with the latest news about JonBenetRamsey and the mandatory Missing White Girl stories--believe me, friends, the Busheviks are still in command.
**SCUM: So Called Unbiased Media
Net-Roots? Fuggeddaboudit!
Has anybody been following the latest developments in the full, frontal attack on the net-roots?
I have been saying for some several years that the democratizing possibilities of the WorldWideWeb willl prove too great for the hegemons to resist attacking and destroying aas much of it as possible.
The 'Technorati' keep saying that the system is too open, too fluid, too diverse, too pervasive, too robust to be regulated in ways that would threaten the discursive freedom that has evolved in the last 10-15 years.
But it isn't. It is susceptible to corporate domination, in exactly the same way in which ALL the predeeding mass media have been transformed into profit engines serving only the corpoRat interests.
I believe we will look back wistfully upon the Lamont campaign, and maybe even the rest of this year, this campaign cycle--as the high-water mark of the influence of the net-roots.
So much communicative democracy is just too great a challenge to the status quo--which it has cost billions upon billions of dollars, and occupied the untiring efforts of the Public Relations//Advertizing/Propaganda industry for close to a century for the corpoRats to buy and consolidate--to be permitted to persist in its current. anarchic, democratic form.
So enjoy it while you can.
Money doesn't talk, it fucking bellows...
I have been saying for some several years that the democratizing possibilities of the WorldWideWeb willl prove too great for the hegemons to resist attacking and destroying aas much of it as possible.
The 'Technorati' keep saying that the system is too open, too fluid, too diverse, too pervasive, too robust to be regulated in ways that would threaten the discursive freedom that has evolved in the last 10-15 years.
But it isn't. It is susceptible to corporate domination, in exactly the same way in which ALL the predeeding mass media have been transformed into profit engines serving only the corpoRat interests.
I believe we will look back wistfully upon the Lamont campaign, and maybe even the rest of this year, this campaign cycle--as the high-water mark of the influence of the net-roots.
So much communicative democracy is just too great a challenge to the status quo--which it has cost billions upon billions of dollars, and occupied the untiring efforts of the Public Relations//Advertizing/Propaganda industry for close to a century for the corpoRats to buy and consolidate--to be permitted to persist in its current. anarchic, democratic form.
Lured by huge checks handed out by the country's top lobbyists, members of Congress could soon strike a blow against Internet freedom as they seek to resolve the hot-button controversy over preserving "network neutrality."
The telecommunications reform bill now moving through Congress threatens to be a
major setback for those who hope that digital media can foster a more democratic
society. The bill not only precludes net neutrality safeguards but also eliminates local community oversight of digital communications provided by cable and phone giants. It sets the stage for the privatized, consolidated and unregulated communications system that is at the core of the phone and cable lobbies' political agenda.In both the House and Senate versions of the bill, Americans are described as "consumers" and "subscribers," not citizens deserving substantial rights when it comes to the creation and distribution of digital media. A handful of companies stand to gain incredible monopoly power from such legislation, especially AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon.
They have already used their political clout in Washington to secure for the phone and cable industries a stunning 98 percent control of the US residential market for high-speed Internet.
So enjoy it while you can.
Money doesn't talk, it fucking bellows...
Friday, August 18, 2006
"We Don't Seem To Be Going In The Right Direction."
Citizens of only two 'developed' countries deny evolution: Turkey and ???
A recent survey conducted by researchers at Michigan State University reports that, among 32 Eurpoean countries, the USofA, and Japan, majorities of people in only two countries reported they REJECTED evolution as the explanation for human development,
Those two countries?
Turkey, where a large segment of the population consists of pre-literate peasants and herders (but which is also the site of some of the first human experiments in controlling evolution by selective breeding of live-stock, in Anatolia)...
and the United States of America.
A recent survey conducted by researchers at Michigan State University reports that, among 32 Eurpoean countries, the USofA, and Japan, majorities of people in only two countries reported they REJECTED evolution as the explanation for human development,Those two countries?
Turkey, where a large segment of the population consists of pre-literate peasants and herders (but which is also the site of some of the first human experiments in controlling evolution by selective breeding of live-stock, in Anatolia)...
and the United States of America.
Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals: true or false?
This simple question is splitting America apart, with a growing proportion thinking that we did not descend from an ancestral ape. A survey of 32 European countries, the US and Japan has revealed that only Turkey is less willing than the US to accept evolution as fact.Religious fundamentalism, bitter partisan politics and poor science education have all contributed to this denial of evolution in the US, says Jon Miller of Michigan State University in East Lansing, who conducted the survey with his colleagues.
"The US is the only country in which [the teaching of evolution] has
been politicised," he says. "Republicans have clearly adopted this as one of
their wedge issues. In most of the world, this is a non-issue."
Miller's report makes for grim reading for adherents of evolutionary theory. Even though the average American has more years of education than when Miller began his surveys 20 years ago, the percentage of people in the country who accept the idea of evolution has declined from 45 in 1985 to 40 in 2005 (Science, vol 313, p 765).
That's despite a series of widely publicised advances in genetics, including genetic sequencing, which shows strong overlap of the human genome with those of chimpanzees and mice. "We don't seem to be going in the right direction," Miller says.
Only 40% of USers confidently acknowledge the unity and totality of nature, and admit themselves, humbly, to be part of it? Only 40% of USers recognize unambiguously their mutual affiliation and intimate relation with the great 'web of life?
Izzis a great fuukin country, or what?
Izzere ANYBODY who does not now have a pretty good idea why USers are ready to just let the perils of global change continue unabated?
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Sympa-Thorazine for the Devil
Opposition politicians are already suffering attacks impugning their 'americanism,' courage, and 'support for the troops,' which are certain to be the cannon (canon)-fodder of the coming campaign. Already these attacks include the false assertions of their complicity with terror on the basis of their legal, ethical, and constitutional reservations to the increasingly authoritarian imposition of Bushevism.
It's numbness they're counting on; and creating it is the purpose of the relentless onslaught of propaganda, dys-, and mis-information on, and about, terror. Narcotized by the incessant barrage of inflammatory, provocative information, and overwhelmed by their own existential problems and issues, the People are rendered 'stupid'*, in the classical sense of the word.
Because of the precariousness of their own life-worlds, and the all-inclusivity of the terror meme, the People respond only passively, if at all, to each new incident, each fresh affront. In an understandable desire to just bear their daily lives, they give up on 'politics', which is where, after all, all this up-setting and disturbing information comes from anyway.
The net effect is the psycho-social equivalent of the regular administration of thorazine, via daily injections of mediated, televised 'reality'.
*stupid: 1541, "mentally slow," from M.Fr. stupide, from L. stupidus "amazed, confounded," lit. "struck senseless," from stupere "be stunned, amazed, confounded," from PIE *(s)tupe- "hit," from base *(s)teu- (see steep (adj.)). Native words for this idea include negative compounds with words for "wise" (cf. O.E. unwis, unsnotor, ungleaw), also dol (from root of Ger. toll "mad," related to Gk. tholeros "muddy, turbid"), and dysig (see dizzy). Stupid retained its association with stupor and its overtones of "stunned by surprise, grief, etc." into mid-18c. The difference between stupid and the less opprobrious foolish roughly parallels that of Ger. töricht vs. dumm but does not exist in most European languages.
Opposition to gutting FISA (which is AL-fucking-READY an affront to the Constitution I was taught) can EASILY be sold to a terror-numbed electorate as sympathy for the devil...Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., UT), who continuously decries the bitter partisanship in Washington, implied this week that Democratic success in November's election could result in terrorist attacks on America. Hatch was quoted in Tuesday's Tooele (Ut.) Transcript Bulletin as saying Middle East terrorists are "waiting for the Democrats here to take control, let things cool off and then strike again."
Democrats are criticizing Hatch for what they see as "ridiculous" partisan hyperbole.
"There they go again trying to use smear and fear to win in November," said Stacie Paxton, spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee.While Hatch now says he does not recall making the reported statement to the Tooele newspaper, it would not be the first time he tied terrorist action to Democrats seeking office.
During the 2004 presidential election, Hatch suggested al-Qaida members wanted Democratic challenger John Kerry to defeat President Bush. Terrorists "are going to throw everything they can between now and the election to try and elect Kerry," Hatch said in a Washington Post story printed in September 2004.
Welcome to the politics of fear.
It's numbness they're counting on; and creating it is the purpose of the relentless onslaught of propaganda, dys-, and mis-information on, and about, terror. Narcotized by the incessant barrage of inflammatory, provocative information, and overwhelmed by their own existential problems and issues, the People are rendered 'stupid'*, in the classical sense of the word.
Because of the precariousness of their own life-worlds, and the all-inclusivity of the terror meme, the People respond only passively, if at all, to each new incident, each fresh affront. In an understandable desire to just bear their daily lives, they give up on 'politics', which is where, after all, all this up-setting and disturbing information comes from anyway.
The net effect is the psycho-social equivalent of the regular administration of thorazine, via daily injections of mediated, televised 'reality'.
*stupid: 1541, "mentally slow," from M.Fr. stupide, from L. stupidus "amazed, confounded," lit. "struck senseless," from stupere "be stunned, amazed, confounded," from PIE *(s)tupe- "hit," from base *(s)teu- (see steep (adj.)). Native words for this idea include negative compounds with words for "wise" (cf. O.E. unwis, unsnotor, ungleaw), also dol (from root of Ger. toll "mad," related to Gk. tholeros "muddy, turbid"), and dysig (see dizzy). Stupid retained its association with stupor and its overtones of "stunned by surprise, grief, etc." into mid-18c. The difference between stupid and the less opprobrious foolish roughly parallels that of Ger. töricht vs. dumm but does not exist in most European languages.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Contest: What Fate Is Appropriate For A Such A Gutless Shitwhistle?
Eugenics has been in the news lately.
Here's a likely candidate for eugenic experimentation.
The guy on the right is the one who engineered this stunt (the cat in the hat looks like some kinda right-wing satanic brother-in-law, doesn't he?).
I am at no loss for ideas on ways that would repay the debt this courageous fucknozzle has incurred from the planet, from nature, or from humanity.
I am only hoping there are are others who can expand my repertoire.
One thing that would work well, I'm sure, would be if 'fans' showed up at concerts to throw stuffed, arrow-pierced, teddy-bears at the cowardly, murderous, psychopathic dickwad everywhere he appears. I wanna rip off his fucking head and shit in his lungs
There's not a redeeming argument anywhere in the facts of the case. How empty IS this fuckwit? This shit-hole--I mean, who can agree with it? He killed a tame bear just for the 'joy' of killing it. Who can validate that? My B-I-L, probably...
I wanna rip off his fucking head and shit in his lungs... and not my brother-in-law...
Here's a likely candidate for eugenic experimentation.
The guy on the right is the one who engineered this stunt (the cat in the hat looks like some kinda right-wing satanic brother-in-law, doesn't he?).
I am at no loss for ideas on ways that would repay the debt this courageous fucknozzle has incurred from the planet, from nature, or from humanity.
I am only hoping there are are others who can expand my repertoire.
One thing that would work well, I'm sure, would be if 'fans' showed up at concerts to throw stuffed, arrow-pierced, teddy-bears at the cowardly, murderous, psychopathic dickwad everywhere he appears. I wanna rip off his fucking head and shit in his lungs
There's not a redeeming argument anywhere in the facts of the case. How empty IS this fuckwit? This shit-hole--I mean, who can agree with it? He killed a tame bear just for the 'joy' of killing it. Who can validate that? My B-I-L, probably...
I wanna rip off his fucking head and shit in his lungs... and not my brother-in-law...
Monday, August 14, 2006
It's Morphing In America...
I was listening to Franken (this morning), and his guest, Norm Ornstein from the AEI, was describing the scope of the threat that Hezbollah posed to the Israelis in terms of its tactics, infrastructure, and objectives. The Hezbollah that Ornstein described was a formidable force: well-armed, disciplined, able to hide in the community and sally forth to whack intruders and then melt back into the populace...
Except, of course, Ornstein didn't say 'intruders'. He said "Israeli soldiers." Which substitution, of course, removes the onus for their being there from the Israelis' responsibility, and makes, thereby, any Hezbollah activity 'aggressive.' But then we've always been at war with EastAsia...
The historical and global implications of his observations notwithstanding, Ornstein described, especially, and in a kind of wistful detail, the 'network of tunnels and underground bunkers' where the wily Hezbollians hid from Israeli air attacks, and stored their weapons, and conducted their resistance. And I was darkly reminded of the horrific descriptions of the Vietnamese tunnel networks, and the harrowing descriptions of the combats fought in them. Because, of course, we've always been at war with WestAsia.
And it struck me that--the obloquy of the conventional wisdom for even drawing the comparison notwithstanding- in some important, revealing, and perversely retro way, the Busheviki has constructed the Israelis in Southwest Asia the (more effective) replica of what the US imperium wanted, supported, and tried (in vain, ultimately) to train the puppet Vietnamese to have become in SE Asia. The IDF is a (so far, at least more) successful version of the ARVN. If things had gone as 'planned' in Vietnam in the '60s, the ARVN would have become the USer proxy force, keeping discipline and promoting commerce in the Southeast Asian region, keeping tabs on and occasionally slapping around the Burmese/Myanmarese, the Tamil Tigers, and other unruly elements in the area.
And I remember when somebody--mebbe Prof. Wombat--on a thread at Eschaton the other night asking if the top of the new, enormous embassy/armory in Bagdhad would accomodate helicopters; and i had replied (ironically, I judged) that I thought it was gonna be big enough to land a C-130.
Because you know we've ALWAYS been at war with Oceania...
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Of Nuns, Guns, and Freedom Runs
Along with the wanton, impudent betrayal of my 'great potential,' I was always regarded by the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary as a 'deportment' problem in grammar school. To shreve me of my sins, and to motivate me to work harder in school, the nuns of St. Mark's school kept me after school regularly--that is, virtually every day--during the course of my Sixth Grade year. By my birthday, near the end of April, I was already in possession of the Diocessan Detention Award, having been detained after class for affronts--real and imagined--to school order every day since the beginning of the second semester.So it was that, on my birthday that year (1957, iirc), Sister Mary Hand-Grenade was dragging me by the ear (I kid NOT) across the school parking lot from the school to the convent where a special room was set up with portable greenboards, on which it was my perpetual penance to inscribe countless repetitions of the times tables (to 25), and endless repetitions of the 10 Commandments.
I had been making that wretched trip since September, but on this day, I rebelled: With a quick jerk of my head, I shook free from the Sister's grasping claw, and made a break for it!
It took Sister a second to recover her wits; the nuns never contemplated resistance. By the time reality had sunk in, I had a pretty goood start. I was quite quick of foot in my youth, and with the start I had, both she and I knew she was NEVER gonna catch me. (That she need only telephone my parents would have occurred to her; but my father was at work in the City, and my mother was, I was certain, away from the house playing bridge, drinking sherry, and planning good deeds with her sorority sisters in their charitable efforts. I was free, at least til dinner.)
I was almost skylarking. I heard her harpy's caw: "Boy! BOY! COME BACK HERE, BOY!!!" I looked back and saw her coming at her best pace, striding and stamping across the parking lot, her black habit flapping, the crucifix on the rosary around her waste glinting in the sun. I felt like dancing a jig in utter disrespect.
But then I heard her hollering out to the 'big' guys--the Eighth Graders--playing basketball in back of the school. Shoutring orders at them, she sicced them on me and with orers to return me to her care. The jumped to their assignment with what was, in my eyes, unseemly alacrity. Still, I also had a couple of jumps on them, and so I kicked it into lower gear and jetted homeward.
It was a race in which I was pretty confident I had the advantage, since 1) I was quick and fast and knew where I was going, and 2) they pretty much had to follow me and overtake me if they could. I was about 30-50 yards ahead of 'em when I got to my block. They were just coming up the street, determined to return me to school, when I hit the front porch and bolted into the house.
Being a 'latch-key kid', I knew all the secrets of the place, and especially I knew where my dad kept a loaded .45cal revolver. By then I knew I was in trouble, but I was utterly and irremediably determined that I was not going to go back to that school that day. I dashed through the house, up to my parents' bedroom, and yanked open the bureau drawer where, among his socks, I knew my Dad kept the gun. Seizing it, I ran down stairs and got to the door, pistol in hand--but hand out of sight--as the Eighth Grade came up the steps and onto the porch. They clamored and demanded I come out. "Sister wants you back at school!" the biggest of them declared, menacingly. "If you don't come out, we'll come in after you!" When I refused, they started to reach for the door...
Which was when I raised the pistol and cocked the trigger.
Everything stopped, arrested in time.
It was a big gun.
It was in plain sight.
I had it in my hand and I was pointing it skyward...
And there was a movement and ...
And the gun kinda ...
WENT OFF...
The roar of that old hogleg in the tiny vestibule of the house was tremendous, a stupendous, enormous, incredible, thunderous, deafening BOOM. Acrid smoke filled the space. The bullet splintered the door jamb overhead...and when I looked again at the door, the Eighth Grade had vanished, scattered like a covey of quail. I took the gun back where I had found it, and awaited the return of my parents.
When the Mother Superior of the convent called that night to apprise my parents of the dreadful details surrounding the incident, everyone was (I gather) outraged, both at my departure from detention, but moreso at the means of my defense of that decision. There was talk, (I gather) of police, and of sending me to the juvenile delinquency home.
I received a severe 'whuppin' for that stunt. And I went back to school a few days later.
But I never spent another day's detention in that school that year, or ever. And the Eighth Grade avoided me as though I were contagious. We moved into a new parish the next year.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Lieberman Should Be Drummed Out Of The Party
I shall repeat, once again, and probably not for the last time:
If, by the time the Senate reconvenes in September, NoMoJo has NOT foresaken his destructive, disruptive, and anti-democratic quest to run as an "independent Democrat," if he has not, by then, endorsed Ned Lamont, the popularly selected candidate of the Party for the post of US Senator from Connecticut, Harry Reid MUST at minimum, immediately:
And if Harry Reid is incapable of such discipline, he should be forthwith replaced with and by someone who can and will.
The voters rejected him. Can the Party do less?
If, by the time the Senate reconvenes in September, NoMoJo has NOT foresaken his destructive, disruptive, and anti-democratic quest to run as an "independent Democrat," if he has not, by then, endorsed Ned Lamont, the popularly selected candidate of the Party for the post of US Senator from Connecticut, Harry Reid MUST at minimum, immediately:
1) strip him of all committtee assignments,
2) revoke his access to any and all private, or partisan communcations,
3) fire his entire staff and revoke their privileges immediately,
4) suspend all his funding except the Constitutionally-mandated franking privliege, and
5) move his fucking desk into the parking slot assigned to him in the Senate garage...
And if Harry Reid is incapable of such discipline, he should be forthwith replaced with and by someone who can and will.
The voters rejected him. Can the Party do less?
Connecticutting the Dots: Was /Is NoMoJo a GOPuke Mole?
Did NoMoJo get a free pass on his 2000 Senatorial campaign from the Pukes as a quid pro quo for fucking up the Gore campaign from the inside?
That seems to be at least a possible implication from Margie Burns' blog . Given the Busheviks deep Connecticut roots, it is not a specious question.
What was Lieberman's role in 2000?
by margieburns on Fri 11 Aug 2006 04:06 PM
EDT
Lieberman and the White House are stumbling, bigtime, in their eagerness to overreach. One result: looking at the double game Lieberman is playing has brought this writer for one to take a closer look at election year 2000..."
(The Money Questions)
1. Why couldn’t the Connecticut GOP find a better candidate to run for Senate against Joe Lieberman in 2000? Connecticut’s state Democratic Convention, which
nominated Lieberman unanimously, was held on May 27 of that year. The state Republican Convention, where Giordano was the only candidate and reportedly even had to buy his own balloons, was not held until July. These are the Republicans, beneficiaries of exactly the high-end white-collar sector in which Connecticut specializes. It strains credulity to imagine that the GOP, with ample time, could not field even a good sacrificial goat, a local candidate who could stand a handsome loss at the hands of a famous senator in return for the name recognition.
2. Why was Joe Lieberman a no-show candidate in his 2000 Senate race?
3. Why didn’t the GOP make a bigger and nastier issue of the fact that Lieberman was running (nominally) two races at once?
4. Why didn’t Dick Cheney make an issue of it in “debating” Lieberman?
5. Looking at the ways the White House and other Republican candidates are now supporting Lieberman (over Alan Schlesinger, the GOP nominee in Connecticut), was Team Bush making the way smooth for Lieberman –as a Senate candidate -- in 2000?
6. If so, was there a quid pro quo? Is there some good reason why Lieberman never went on the offensive against the other ticket in the attack dog mode that VP candidates are supposed to take?
In other words, did Team Bush have a tacit arrangement with Lieberman?
(Emphases added: Connectcutting the dots: it's definitely worth a read, as it provides plenty of circumstantial evidence that Lieberwhoreshitfuck has been in the GOPuke's pocket since at LEAST 1999...
Friday, August 11, 2006
The Clear and Present Danger???
This is probably too obvious to need repeating, but the pedant in me just cries out:
The United States of America--that gestalt comprised of laws , institutions, citizens and traditions agglomerated under said rubric--is in FAR greater danger to its integral self from the plans, policies, and projects of the Right-wing Bushevik regime to 'secure it' than it ever was or ever will be from ANY and ALL threats allegedly posed to it by those from whom the Bushevik regime's agenda claims to be protecting or securing it.
It stretches credulity to the utter limit to believe otherwise.
This is not to say that the Government (and I make a distinction between that and any particular Regime currently) should not exercise due caution and/or due diligence in seeking to preserve good order, or protect the borders, or prevent attacks upon the citizens. But, as has been the case with the current Regime, such natural and understandable precautions have become nothing more than the pretexts: Pretexts 1) for undermining accountability of the Regime to the People; 2) for unwarranted and illegal foreign military adventurism (and the imposition of draconian, unConstitutional surveillance upon the citizenry in pursuit of those adventures); 3) for circumventing and negating the systems of checks and balances embedded in the governing documents of the polity; and 4) for eliminating to the extent possible and/or, when elimination was not possible, for undermining and disempowering any and every Institution of the State by which the People may seek redress for the Regimes's wrongs.
This is the long-awaited, long-feared National Security State, and it is just as bad as we thought it was going to be. The myriad un- and anti-democratic measures undertaken by the Bushevik regime have far more to do with the 'securing' of their interminable power in the State than it has ever had to do with the safety of the People or the security of the Nation.
The United States of America--that gestalt comprised of laws , institutions, citizens and traditions agglomerated under said rubric--is in FAR greater danger to its integral self from the plans, policies, and projects of the Right-wing Bushevik regime to 'secure it' than it ever was or ever will be from ANY and ALL threats allegedly posed to it by those from whom the Bushevik regime's agenda claims to be protecting or securing it.
It stretches credulity to the utter limit to believe otherwise.
This is not to say that the Government (and I make a distinction between that and any particular Regime currently) should not exercise due caution and/or due diligence in seeking to preserve good order, or protect the borders, or prevent attacks upon the citizens. But, as has been the case with the current Regime, such natural and understandable precautions have become nothing more than the pretexts: Pretexts 1) for undermining accountability of the Regime to the People; 2) for unwarranted and illegal foreign military adventurism (and the imposition of draconian, unConstitutional surveillance upon the citizenry in pursuit of those adventures); 3) for circumventing and negating the systems of checks and balances embedded in the governing documents of the polity; and 4) for eliminating to the extent possible and/or, when elimination was not possible, for undermining and disempowering any and every Institution of the State by which the People may seek redress for the Regimes's wrongs.
This is the long-awaited, long-feared National Security State, and it is just as bad as we thought it was going to be. The myriad un- and anti-democratic measures undertaken by the Bushevik regime have far more to do with the 'securing' of their interminable power in the State than it has ever had to do with the safety of the People or the security of the Nation.
It's The Fuukin' Narrative, Stupid!!!!
A thoughtful commenter on Eschaton this morning posed the following plaintive plea:
And Rational Actor is utterly correct...
And it doesn't fucking matter in the least...
During the Lamont campaign, there were plenty of folks--in the campaign, in the blogosphere, and elsewhere--who tried to reshape the message that the Lamont campaign was about revulsion with and rejection of Lieberman; it was NOT just about the war...
But it made absolutely no difference in the SCUM.* They had their narrative, they had their marching orders, and they were never, ever, ever, EVER gonna change it, or reconsider it, or do anything with it but repeat what they wanted to say, despite and no matter what were the facts on the ground.
These matters are NOT in our hands...
We may proclaim that this is a referendum on Bushevikism, and the increasingly obvious growth of USer fascism, and the deterioration of USer civilians' personal liberties, and the destruction of their institutions of self-governance, but it wont matter a fucking shit, because that's too complicated for the 22-minute news cast. And it's too contrary to the conventional (read "SCUM") wisdom.
The anti-war narrative is both familiar and easy, and it has already shown itself useful in preserving the status quo (think 1972). There is NO FUCKING WAY it's gonna change, absent a change in the entire ownership/management structure of the SCUM*, and that includes NPR/PBS.
In the Corporate State, the corporate media are the Media Organs of the State.
*SCUM = SoCalled Unbiased Media
Please please please, refer to this as a referendum on politics-as-usual-in-DC, not the War. While 60% of Americans polled now believe that the war was a mistake, that means that making it about the war means you are pissing of 40%. Make it about the DC political inbreeding and you will have support well over 80%....
Rational Actor - 8/11/06, 12:59 pm
And Rational Actor is utterly correct...
And it doesn't fucking matter in the least...
During the Lamont campaign, there were plenty of folks--in the campaign, in the blogosphere, and elsewhere--who tried to reshape the message that the Lamont campaign was about revulsion with and rejection of Lieberman; it was NOT just about the war...
But it made absolutely no difference in the SCUM.* They had their narrative, they had their marching orders, and they were never, ever, ever, EVER gonna change it, or reconsider it, or do anything with it but repeat what they wanted to say, despite and no matter what were the facts on the ground.
These matters are NOT in our hands...
We may proclaim that this is a referendum on Bushevikism, and the increasingly obvious growth of USer fascism, and the deterioration of USer civilians' personal liberties, and the destruction of their institutions of self-governance, but it wont matter a fucking shit, because that's too complicated for the 22-minute news cast. And it's too contrary to the conventional (read "SCUM") wisdom.
The anti-war narrative is both familiar and easy, and it has already shown itself useful in preserving the status quo (think 1972). There is NO FUCKING WAY it's gonna change, absent a change in the entire ownership/management structure of the SCUM*, and that includes NPR/PBS.
In the Corporate State, the corporate media are the Media Organs of the State.
*SCUM = SoCalled Unbiased Media
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Dick Lieberman's Character Is At Last (At Least) Revealed.
And all I can say is:
At least this smirking, cowardly, dishonest, smug, corrupt, vicious, egotistical, vain, selfish shitwhistle is not a 'mere heartbeat' from the presidency.
Small favors, I know.
But still: be grateful for small favors.
At least this smirking, cowardly, dishonest, smug, corrupt, vicious, egotistical, vain, selfish shitwhistle is not a 'mere heartbeat' from the presidency.
Small favors, I know.
But still: be grateful for small favors.
We're Fighting 'Em In Iraq So We Don't Hafta Fight 'Em...In London?
The "terror alert level' has been raised to "red" today, in consequence of the discovery in Britain of an alleged plot to bomb airliners using explosive liquids. There have been 21 arrests, so far, and people all through the airline transportation are pouring out their shampoo, colognes, and mouthwash.
Which is fine.
We don't want airliners blowing up.
But I'm reminded that the current, most dominant excuse for the ICORP* of Iraq was/is that we're fighting 'em in Iraq so we don't hafta fight 'em at home, according the the Busheviki propaqganda machine.
So does this mean we're gonna ICORP the Brits? Canada (remember the Montreal arrests)? Florida?
Just askin'...
*ICORP = Invasion, Conquest, Occupation, Rape & Pillage
Which is fine.
We don't want airliners blowing up.
But I'm reminded that the current, most dominant excuse for the ICORP* of Iraq was/is that we're fighting 'em in Iraq so we don't hafta fight 'em at home, according the the Busheviki propaqganda machine.
So does this mean we're gonna ICORP the Brits? Canada (remember the Montreal arrests)? Florida?
Just askin'...
*ICORP = Invasion, Conquest, Occupation, Rape & Pillage
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Organic Farming: Where Have All the Hippies Gone?
Why am I not surprised to learn that, with the exception of not subjecting them to direct contact with poisons, so-called 'organic farms' treat their workers no better than the toxic factory farms? The reason, of course, is that organic farms have become "big bidness," and that is ALWAYS the kiss of death for even modestly humane labor practices.
The invaluable Grist provides the following information:
Green and red and unfair all over.
The invaluable Grist provides the following information:
Green and red and unfair all over.
When you go to the supermarket and buy produce or packaged goods that carry the organic label, you can feel confident that the food was grown under rigorous environmental standards. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's organic seal, which debuted in 2002, is a guarantee that your fruits and vegetables were cultivated without petroleum-based fertilizers or (with rare exceptions) synthetic chemicals, and that they aren't genetically modified.
The organic label, however, goes only so far. While the seal covers a range of environmental practices, it says nothing about labor conditions. Although comprehensive studies of conditions on organic farms are hard to find, complaints like Ortiz's are not uncommon. For example, Willamette River Organics, one of Oregon's largest organic operations, has been hit with several lawsuits charging violations of minimum-wage laws.
A Human Rights Watch report on the exploitation of adolescent workers said the atmosphere at Arizona's organic Pavich Farms was "hostile, suspicious," with laborers apparently not permitted to speak to inspectors. Threemile Canyon, a large organic dairy and potato farm in Oregon, faces accusations of sexual discrimination in its hiring practices.
Workers get no consolation in the form of higher wages or better benefits, either. According to a report published last year by researchers at UC-Davis, a majority of 188 California organic farms surveyed do not pay a living wage or provide medical or retirement plans. In fact, most organic workers earn the same as those in conventional fields -- less (adjusted for inflation) than they were making in the 1970s, when the famous UFW boycotts occurred. "The exploitative conditions that farmworkers face in the U.S. are abysmal -- it's a human-rights crisis," said Richard Mandelbaum, policy analyst at the Farmworker Support Committee. "In terms of wages and labor rights, there's really no difference between organic and conventional (farms)."
Baby Need A New Pair o'Shoes!!!
To say nothing of college tuition, the mortgage, and momma's wardrobe.
Atrios posted a link to this Stakeholder page linking to the WaPo for the following bit of paid-to-play political chicanery:
Ney, of course, is implicated up to his reeking arm-pits in the machinations of the Abramoff Ring, along with former House Majority Leader Tom Delay and disgraced and imprisoned Cal. GOP Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham and dozens of other regular participants in the weekly K-Street meetings held by Grover Norquist.
It simply doesn't get any more blatant than this, folks: Boehner telling a damaged colleague that his value to the party as a lobbyist will be reduced if said colleague does NOT step aside from the Congress. Corruption is endemic in Congress. And obviously it is not merely the GOPhascist fux who are guilty: William Jefferson is the posterboy for Democratic corruption, caught feathering his family food freezer with $100,000 in small to medium bills; and there are certainly others whose actions have so far escaped the lackluster scrutiny of the lap-dog SCUM and such 'ethics panels' as the Congress sees fit to (minimally) empower.
Until the CorpoRat fatcats are driven from the Temples of our laws and our justice, and their pharisiac lobbyists are purged, the interests of the People will ALWAYS take the inferior position on our politics.
One looks in vain for any Saviour; the only Thing on the horizon is that rough beast slouching toward Bethlehem...
Atrios posted a link to this Stakeholder page linking to the WaPo for the following bit of paid-to-play political chicanery:
House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) met with (Ohio GOP Rep. Bob) Ney last week to urge him to step aside, reminding him that with a son in college and a daughter nearing college age, he will need money, according to several congressional Republican aides. If he lost his House seat for the party, Boehner is said to have cautioned, Ney could not expect a lucrative career on K Street to pay those tuition bills, along with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees piling up.
"Ultimately this decision came down to my family. I must think of them first, and I can no longer put them through this ordeal," Ney said in a one-paragraph statement.
Ney, of course, is implicated up to his reeking arm-pits in the machinations of the Abramoff Ring, along with former House Majority Leader Tom Delay and disgraced and imprisoned Cal. GOP Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham and dozens of other regular participants in the weekly K-Street meetings held by Grover Norquist.
It simply doesn't get any more blatant than this, folks: Boehner telling a damaged colleague that his value to the party as a lobbyist will be reduced if said colleague does NOT step aside from the Congress. Corruption is endemic in Congress. And obviously it is not merely the GOPhascist fux who are guilty: William Jefferson is the posterboy for Democratic corruption, caught feathering his family food freezer with $100,000 in small to medium bills; and there are certainly others whose actions have so far escaped the lackluster scrutiny of the lap-dog SCUM and such 'ethics panels' as the Congress sees fit to (minimally) empower.
Until the CorpoRat fatcats are driven from the Temples of our laws and our justice, and their pharisiac lobbyists are purged, the interests of the People will ALWAYS take the inferior position on our politics.
One looks in vain for any Saviour; the only Thing on the horizon is that rough beast slouching toward Bethlehem...
Monday, August 07, 2006
The Dangers of Goat-Lust
According to a report on NPR's Morning Edition today, Sharia clerics in Iraq have condemned to death shepherds who have not covered with diapers the genitals of their goats, apparently on the theory that the uncovered goat genitals were an offensively provocative erotic exhibit.And they have also condemned and executed grocers who are careless with the displays of their vegetables: the juxtaposition of a carrot with two cherry tomatoes was apparently sufficient provocation to the mullahs that the offending grocer and two customers were killed when the store was fire-bombed to demonstrate their displeasure...
I hope i shall not be adjudged too intolerant of religious diversity when I proclaim that I do not want these fucking loons living next door to me, or in my community, or even in my city, state, or nation, with or without the capacity to punish real or imagined offenses to the pubic morality.
An Economic Puzzle
This is very strange, and I admit to probably requiring the correction and/or comment of a real "Expert Economist" (or some MBA whizz-kid) to sort it out, as I am sure I am not smart enough to figure it out.
Profit equals Price minus Cost, if I recall my one and only foray into the 'dismal science' a'right.
Why is it that when PROFITS rise, it is not considered 'inflationary' ???
Only when COSTS rise--and usually only when they rise on account of increased costs for labor--does it register on the National Official Federal Inflation-ometer...
Very strange, that...Very strange, indeed...
Late September, Early October SOO-PRAHS SOO-PRAHS!!!!!
Gary Hart, Huffpost: An October Surprise
{BlogNote: of course, if No MoJo does pull it out, it will be seen as an endorsement of the Chimperor's war policy...}
Depending on the fate of Senator Joe Lieberman on Tuesday, it should come as no surprise to anyone when (not if) the Bush administration announces a dramatic plan to exit Iraq sometime before the Congressional elections this fall.
As an increasing number of Republican Members of Congress confront unhappy, sometimes angry, constituents finally fed up with the absence of purpose in the continued U.S. occupation and the death and dismemberment of young American troops for no purpose having to do either with combating the jihad or making the U.S. secure, they will demand White House rescue for their political careers.
Since, with precious few exceptions, political careers trump principle, and since the cabal of neoconservatives and the religious right intend to govern forever, the genius Karl Rove will concoct a patently phony Iraq exit strategy.
But even as President Bush rolls out the bogus plan in the Rose Garden, surrounded by trembling Congressmen, and claims "victory" in Iraq, work will continue around the clock on the American fortress in central Baghdad and on the permanent military garrisons in the countryside.
It was all forecast years ago in the final scene of the movie Three Days of the Condor when the CIA official Higgins explains to the naive CIA research character portrayed by Robert Redford: "Of course it's about the oil. Do you think the American people care how we get it? They just want us to get it."
{BlogNote: of course, if No MoJo does pull it out, it will be seen as an endorsement of the Chimperor's war policy...}
Sunday, August 06, 2006
So, Is New Mexico REALLY 'Gay-Friendly'?
Or is it just Santa Fe & Taos? New Mexico has long been regarded as a bastion of tolerance for difference, especially for GLBT culture. Is our vaunted tolerance anything more than a shallow veneer? Even in Santa Fe, a recent spate of attacks on gay folks has been reported. An unpleasant possibility is posed by the following story.
Moriarty, NM - State police are investigating the beating of an 18-year-old gay man and his female friend as a hate crime. At the request of the victim's family, Eyewitness News 4 (in Albuquerque) isn't releasing his name.
State police say the man met some friends at a Moriarty park and went to a party at an Edgewood home (on the trailer-park clustered plains east of Albuquerque).
People at the party harassed the man because he was gay, police say, so he tried to leave with his friend when the two were attacked.
"He was kicked about the head and body and punched and slapped," said Lt. Rick Anglada with state police. "He was then walked back to a camper trailer at the residence, where they locked him up inside the trailer." An arrest warrant said the man was beaten until the sun rose the next day. (Sounds a lot like kidnapping to me.)
Anglada said the attackers told the man "they were going to scare him straight."
A spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union says she's disgusted by the crime. "They were so hostile and so angry at the fact he was gay that they decided that beating this man almost to death was justified, which is crazy."
Police have arrested William York, 21, and a minor in connection with the beating. They're still looking for another man, Leroy Segura.
The minor's mother says she doesn't believe it was a hate crime. "We've got gay people in the family," she said. The victim's family says they've received numerous threats since the beating.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
I guess 'friendship' matters more than Democracy
Mebbe I'm overly sensitive, but this just bothers the absolute shit outta me.
Hollywood Trio Endorses Governor
The move by Spielberg, Katzenberg and Saban could encourage other Democrats to follow.
By Robert Salladay, Times Staff WriterAugust 5, 2006
SACRAMENTO — Some of Hollywood's most reliable and generous donors to the Democratic Party — Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and media mogul Haim Saban — are endorsing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's bid for reelection.Their support is partly a matter of friendship over partisanship. But it could deal a blow to the governor's main opponent, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, by signaling to other Democrats that it's acceptable to embrace a Republican.
"It starts with a personal relationship. They are friends," said Andy Spahn, a spokesman for both Spielberg and Katzenberg.The two men also like Schwarzenegger's plans to tackle global warming and fund schools. But further, Spahn said, "they are receptive to the governor's taking a less partisan approach to the job and a more inclusive approach to government."Perhaps the deepest pockets among those embracing Schwarzenegger belong to the Egyptian-born Saban, who produced the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" and eventually created a media empire.
Saban, who is trying to acquire the Spanish-language network Univision with other investors, is a former trustee of the Democratic National Committee and one of its biggest donors. He spent $200,000 fighting the 2003 recall election that brought Schwarzenegger to power.Other Hollywood Democrats on the list of Schwarzenegger supporters include
Jerry Zucker of "Airplane!" fame, movie producer Jonathan Sheinberg and Bud Yorkin, a longtime TV director and producer."I can't run away from the fact that I am a friend of Arnold. But if I disagreed with him, I wouldn't have voted for him," Yorkin said Friday. "People think Hollywood is one giant liberal. That's not the truth."
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
What's the difference between a 'rocket' and a 'missile'?
While the New York Times breathlessly recorded fresh exchanges of explosives between IDF forces invading and endeavoring to 'pacify' southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah forces resisting them, I was given pause to wonder about the war of words also being waged on the front pages of the US and the world.
What IS the difference between an Hezbollah 'rocket' and an Israeli 'missile'?
Surely Hezbollah 'rockets' sound so much more lethal than Israeli bombs, don't they.
"Hezbollah Fires Over 200 Rockets Into Israel" sounds like a horrible onslaught. And as someone who has had the experience of 'in-coming' at one time in my life, I can attest that there are few sounds more terrifying than the explosion close-by of High Explosive ordinance--and few sounds as likely to redefine forEVER yout idea of a 'sudden, loud noise.'. It is not something I intentionally disparage. A 122-mm (the BM-22, the staple of the Hezbollah armory) round is a formidable piece of explosive ordinance. But basically it's no more than about 50 pounds of powder packed atop a self-powered, famously inaccurate, stubby-winged vehicle.
The Katyusha is NOT a 'guided' missile, by any measure. Rather, it's resembles nothing so much as a very big bottle rocket: it goes up, it comes down, and it makes a big boom. Still it is terrifying, and deadly, and--because it's a 'rocket'-- it sound very technological and formidable.
That is, until you recall that an Apache helicopter--with over 100 of which the USofA has the thoughtfully the Israeli 'defense' forces--armed with only a 30mm mini-cannon can spray 600 cannon-shells per MINUTE and blanket an area the size of a football field with one shell/square foot in less time than it takes to type it. Here is the unclassified description ot the Apache's armaments: The Apache can carry up to 16 Hellfire laser designated missiles. With a range of over 8000 meters, the Hellfire is used primarily for the destruction of tanks, armored vehicles and other hard material targets. The Apache can also deliver 76, 2.75" folding fin aerial rockets for use against enemy personnel, light armor vehicles and other soft-skinned targets. Rounding out the Apache’s deadly punch are 1,200 rounds of ammunition for its Area Weapons System (AWS), 30MM Automatic Gun.
And that's not counting the tanks and the artillery and the other Fighter-borne missiles...
If I had to guess, I'd bet the ratio of explosive Isreali ordinance delivered on Lebanon to Hezbollah rockets landing in Israel would be probably way over to 100--and probably closer to 1,000--to one. But nobody's counting, right?
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Requiem For What Used To Be A Pretty Decent Country, The USofA
Billmon, blogger extraordinaire at The Next Whiskey Bar, today more or less threw in the towel:
"So here's my confession: At this point I really don't give a flying fuck whether the Democrats take the House or the Senate back. No, wait, that's not true. The truth is I hope they don't. It wouldn't save us from what's coming down the road, in the Middle East and elsewhere. It wouldn't force President Psychopath to change course or seek therapy.
But it would make sure that the "left" (ha ha ha) gets more than its fair share of blame for the approaching debacle.
That may well be the natural role of the Democratic Party in our one-and-a-half party system, but I don't want any part of it any more. Which means that when I say it's a bad sign (consensus opinion always being wrong)
that Charlie Cook now thinks the Republicans are likely to lose their House and/or Senate majorities in November, I just mean that it's a bad sign for theDemocratic Party and its professional hangers on.
For the rest of us, and for whatever is left of this country's soul, it
doesn't really matter. We've already lost."
Funny, I was ahead of the curve again...
Not that that's a good thing...
He's right, of course:
The country was effectively lost when nobody arose to protest the judicial coup that ended the 2000 'electile dsyfunction.' The key date was (oh hideous irony) Nov. 22, 2000, when GOP operatives flown into Florida for the purpose, rioted in the offices of the Miami-Dade Elections Office and, by intimidating the officials there, caused the recount to be suspended. Then, when not a single Democratic Senator endorsed or sponsored the challenge levied by the Black Caucus at the installation of the Electors, in January, 2001, the coup was complete and the Junta was inaugurated.
The loss was cemented, and the outcome assured for all time, when nobody rose up to protest the irregularities of the federal elections in 2002 which saw, among other egregious insults to the intelligence of the polis and the memory of the Founding Fathers, Shelby Chambliss, a strident, effeminate chickenhawk, turn out Max Cleland, triple-amputee war veteran IN GEORGIA, for the love of fucking Christ.
The last nail was driven into the coffin of our late, lamented, democratic republic when nobody clamored to raise a public protest, nobody raged, nobody cursed, nobody threatened, and even the candidates failed to complain against the out-right, bald-faced, blatant theft of the 2004 'contest.' The 2004 embarrassment was marked by the most obvious kinds of malfeasance: Ballot rigging, votes lost or left uncounted in states all across the nation, rampant voter disenfranchisement, bureaucratic shenanigans (when did it become permissible for the Secretary of ANY State--the official in charge of the administration of the Franchise--to be also the Chairman of one Party's Election Committee?), machine 'malfunction', fixed--but unrecountable--ballots, declarations of Homeland Security emergencies to forestall the monitoring of vote counting.
But no one wanted to hear it, wanted to beleive it, wanted to challenge it. "It can't happen here," or so the implicit refrain ran, throughout the winter.
And now, it's done. Half-hearted reforms instituted or called for by the Less-Far-Right Wing of the Party of Property won't accomplish anything more then to put a fresh coat of lipstick on the pig.
We had our chances, and we did not sieze them.
As of course, the cheats, and the thugs, and the gunsels KNEW we wouldn't: Nobody wants to risk the destruction of their $2500, 55-inch plasma screen when there's a new installment of American Idol scheduled, and there's a 36'er of Bud in the fridge, and the pizza guy's at the door.
This used to be a pretty great country. But now it's "Rest in pieces, olde United States of America: Done, Ruined, Fucked...in just 6 short years."
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