Saturday, December 19, 2009

War Propaganda Never Sleeps, Not Even For The War On Christmas

Did Iran seize and Iraqi oil well or didn't they? When the Iranian Cyber Army takes down Twitter, preventing millions of Americans from following the mundane activities of the people on their lists, who really benefits?

Monday, December 14, 2009

The Rich Man's News Network

In their continuing war against the working class, Fox News made the pronouncement that cutting minimum wage is good for workers. How? Well, according to Fox, lower wages creates more jobs, which is good for workers, because if they're making less than $7.25 an hour, they're going to need more jobs to able survive.
It seems to me that I've heard this before. Oh, yeah, that was the same claim that was made about Nafta, about how it was going to create all these new jobs. Well, we know how that turned out. It didn't.
As the middle class evaporates so that the top ten percent of the country can have more money, our corporatist legislatures are looking for more ways to screw the working people out of what little they have. The latest plan from the working people hatin' Republicans is eliminating unemployment benefits for the victims of the corporcratic economic policies.
I think there's a pretty good chance that our current congress is out of touch. With their heel-dragging on health care reform, and now this pronouncement, I don't think a lot of them realize that there are people who don't live in gated communities, drive SUVs, or have stock portfolios. People who are a paycheck away from total destitution. Or, more probably, they know it and just don't give a fuck, since people like that can never afford to donate money to the GOP.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

2009:The Year Of No Change

Events of the past few weeks have only gone on to underline my underlying belief that our political system is a corporatocracy, that there is no real difference between Republicans and Democrats (although, oddly enough, I don't care for Republicans at all).
Matt Taibbi writes of how President Obama campaigned on a platform of change and reform , then replaced most of his staff with Wall St insiders once elected. No change there.
Sarah Palin praises President Obama's Peace Prize speech as something that could have been taken from the pages of her memoirs. Since Palin is an acolyte of neocon leader Bill Kristol, the man behind the Bush administration's foreign policy, once again, no change.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday he expected the international community to impose significant additional sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. Even though there is no evidence that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, and has every right to seek nuclear power for peaceful purposes as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the US is still laying the ground work for some sort of military strike against Iran.Like I said, no change.

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

How To Write Books For Morons And Make Millions

President Obama, who won the last presidential election with not only a majority of electoral votes, but winning the popular vote as well, is perceived by many to be a liberal, or, if you will, a "progressive", even by those who voted for him. That must mean that by logical extension, a majority of Americans view themselves as liberals (or progressives). Following that same logical conclusion, therefore, those who consider themselves conservatives (or reactionaries) who hate liberals and claim to love this country (because liberals hate America)despise a majority of the people within it. Which leads me to the question: can you love a country while simultaneously hating most of the people who reside there?
Conservatives (really reactionaries) have built an industry of writing books about how liberals have destroyed America. Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and even god bless him, Joe the Plumber have written books about how much they love America and hate liberals. These books frequently make the best sellers list (with the exception of Joe the Plumber's book, which is now on the remainder rack at the local Bargain Barn), embraced by those who need reaffirmation that their political view is the sole acceptable view.
The latest entry into this market is by Fox News reporter John Gibson. His book, entitled How the Left Swiftboated America: The Liberal Media Conspiracy to Make You Think George W. Bush Was the Worst President in History. The problem is that for years those on the right have decried the "swiftboat" term as a 'hate term'. As Sean Hannity put it: "I am tired of this word 'swift boat' being used as a pejorative..When we talk about the Swift Boat Vets for Truth, these are brave American heroes." The point which sails over Hannity's head of course, is that so was John Kerry. The Swiftboaters, as they came to be known, were in fact funded by a donor to the Republican party.
Gibson's book tries to simultaneously change the perception that the Bush administration was an abysmal failure while blaming that perception on the "liberal" media. This from a "journalist" who works for a "news" outlet caught stage managing an anti-Obama protest. The "liberal' media didn't have to do anything of that nature, all it had to was honestly report on the Bush administration, as he was the worst president in history.

Monday, December 07, 2009

The Terrorist Attack That Never Was

No, I don't mean 9/11, but I've been following a story at TPM concerning one Tedd J Petruna who claims to have thwarted Muslim terrorists on a flight he wasn't even on. The FAA investigated and found no violations ever took place. The story goes like this: Muslims, in full attire create a ruckus and refuse to turn off their electronic equipment before take-off. When a flight attendant asked them to turn it off, one of them yelled "Shut up, infidel dog."
This is where I had had enough! I got up and started to the back where I heard a voice behind me from another Texan twice my size say "I got your back." I grabbed the man who had been on the phone by the arm and said "you WILL go sit down or you Will be thrown from this plane!" As I "led" him around me to take his seat, the fellow Texan grabbed him by the back of his neck and his waist and headed out with him. I then grabbed the 2nd man and said, "You WILL do the same!"

And how did he know he was a fellow Texan? He wore cowboy boots, a cowboy hat, a bolo tie, and had a giant belt buckle in the shape of Texas as he held his pistols in the air, like this fellow:
Mr. Petruna told his story in an email that was sent to friends and family members, including one Gene Hackemack, who passed it along with this introduction:
"the muslims are all getting very brave now, since they have one of their own in the white house." The story then was picked up by right wing blogs like this one where the misspellings in the comments section illustrate the average intelligence of those on the right.
This clearly illustrates how the right wing paranoia has taken over their party. Not only are "Muslims in full attire" taking over our airplanes, but our White House as well. Even though the alleged hijackers/terrorists violated many laws, they were allowed back on the plane. Probably by the Muslim in the White House. It's evident Mr. Petruna has a Rambo complex (he was able to overpower 11 men with the aid of a Texan saying those mighty words "I Got Your Back") And, like a Rambo movie, all the characters were stereotypes.

Saturday, December 05, 2009

And They Wonder Why No One Trusts Their Judgement

Outside a small circle of Americans, Fox News, and far right whack jobs, no one really takes the Tea Party Movement seriously. And, honestly, how can you? Glenn Beck, Michelle Bachmann, and Sarah Palin, their de facto leaders have proven themselves to be a couple sandwiches short of a picnic. They claim to be Christian while displaying utter contempt for their fellow human who does not believe as they do.
And the name these conservatives chose for themselves? Well, now that they know it's other definition, Teabaggers don't like the label they have been given. By themselves. No body gave it to them, they chose it for themselves, and now, they don't like to be called it.
I can understand them not using the Urban Dictionary, after all, these people are suburbanites. And urban connotes something more akin to President Obama than they care to be at any given time. How out of the loop did they have to had been to not know what popular usage of the phrase meant? I'm sure they think that a hot karl has something to do with Karl Rove.
Conservatives like to play the victim when they're not in charge. But in this case, they're victims of nothing but their own ignorance.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

President Obama Wants To Make Me Gay!

Of all the powers afforded the president by the Constitution, I didn't realize this was in there but apparently according to the Family Research Council, President Obama will impose homosexuality and silence Christianity. I realize he had the power to impose martial law, but homosexuality?
While the upside to this is I might get laid more often, or find a life partner I can share a wardrobe with, the downside is YOU CAN'T MAKE SOMEONE BE SOMETHING THEY ARE NOT!!!!
I have always found the Religious Right's homophobia to be a leetle bit suspect. Why fear queers when you can just say no? Unless you can't resist.
'Untrammeled homosexuality can take over and destroy a social system. If you isolate sexuality as something solely for one's own personal amusement, and all you want is the most satisfying orgasm you can get - and that is what homosexuality seems to be - then homosexuality seems too powerful to resist. The evidence is that men do a better job on men and women on women, if all you are looking for is orgasm .... It's pure sexuality. It's almost like pure heroin. It's such a rush. . . . Marital sex tends toward the boring end. Generally, it doesn't deliver the kind of sheer sexual pleasure that homosexual sex does.'" [Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, Chaos, Law, and God: The Religious Meanings of Homosexuality, 2008]

Now, if the 'anointed one' has this kind of power, I just wish he'd use it to make me slimmer, but if he can make you gay, well, then you'd better bow down to him now, because it looks like he's already started.