Ted, Just Admit It. You're A Pussy

Poor Ted Nugent. He's really upset that he doesn't realize that his music is irrelevant, or maybe his music is so irrelevant that he has to resort to making patented "outrageous" statements to get any press these days.
Mr. Nugent, famous for that one song, you know, the one that all the classic rock stations play, I think Meat Loaf sings it, let fly with said statements in an interview with culture magazine Royal Flush, a magazine that boasts a circulation of 50,000 people which, while slightly higher than the readership of this blog, is still spit in the ocean compared to real publications.
Terrible Ted says that "Barack Hussein Obama should be put in jail. It is clear that Barack Hussein Obama is a communist." So, now we should jail people for their political beliefs? The only thing that the racist "Nuge" hates about President Obama, is the fact that he's black.
Terrible Ted then goes on to list a number of people he feels should die. Pam Anderson, Bill Maher, people who step on his lawn, animal rights activists, and vegans. But most of his rage is directed towards Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner for "Jann Wenner won’t do a story on my sold-out tour this year because I’m on the board of directors at the NRA. Jann Wenner should die." Sold out tour? Really? I live in the heart of his happy hunting ground home state of Michigan, where every appearance he makes is covered incessantly by the local crass, er, classic rock stations, and I didn't hear a word about any tour, let alone about it being 'sold out', and since I don't believe The "Nuge" has the drawing power to fill any arena/stadium outside of Michigan, I'm sure his tour consisted of small clubs, bars and dives where alcohol soaked brains clamor for the music it remembers from a time before most the brain cells were killed by alcohol consumption.
But, really, Ted Nugent is a pussy. Given a chance back in the sixties to fulfill his anti-communist zeal and kill as many as he wanted, Nugent chickened out, and got a draft deferment. You see, the difference between shooting animals and shooting communists is that animals aren't armed with weapons trying to kill you back. Most animals just want to co-exist with their dwindling surroundings, so it's easy to sneak up on them and shoot them in the back like a coward.
So, since Mr. Nugent is unable to compose a good song on his own that might generate some airplay, or develop his stagnant guitar style which hasn't evolved since "Wango Tango", his only other alternative is to behave like a neanderthal jackass in order to draw attention to his narrow and twisted political beliefs.
Ted made a lot of money in the sixties and seventies extolling the virtues of the whole "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" lifestyle, now has the gall to criticize those poor souls who made Nugent rich taking the message to heart by becoming too incompetent to work and having far too many babies than they can afford. Ted, that makes you a fucking hypocrite, and as I have become fond of saying, you cant spell fucking hypocrite with out the GOP, of which Nugent is one of the few people left on the right willing to identify themselves with that party.
So, go ahead Ted, and blame your political affiliations for your "lack of press coverage", the truth is Ted, you are a talentless hack who lost his audience when they sobered up enough to realize just how badly you suck. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you can concentrate your attention on the one thing you do that makes you any money. Killing creatures not evolved enough to fire weapons back at you.

Ready To Kill You For Their Own Benefit

Is the US government trying to kill it's own people? According to congressional hearings held on January 27 of this year US intelligence agencies shielded the Christmas Day "underwear bomber" and stopped the State Department from revoking his Visa. It's strange that this story wasn't covered in the unbiased corporate media, after all, Fox News has been working overtime to embarrass the Obama administration, and this wold have been a perfect opportunity for them to do so.
So when intelligence chiefs warn of another attack "soon", is this wishful thinking, or prior knowledge of another operative allowed to slip through to justify military action somewhere else in the Middle East?

Apparently, Tony Blair Thinks He Has Some Credibility Left

In the run-up to Iraq War, then-British Prime Minister became known in certain circles as "Bush's Poodle", or "Phony Tony" because of his unequivocal support for the Bush(Cheney) administration's unilateral decision to violate international law and invade Iraq. Besides the Downing Street Minutes, there was the whole 'Dodgy Dossier' which even it's author states was wrong. What's more, Blair's recent refusal to apologize has hurt his party's chances in upcoming elections.
So now, with the US beefing up it's military presence in the Persian Gulf, Blair is claiming that's it's up to the world to halt Iran's nuclear program. Well, Mr. Poodle, I mean, Blair, the IAEA has yet to find that Iran is doing anything but building an nuclear reactor for anything other than peaceful purposes. So whom am I to trust? A proven liar with an agenda, or an independent international watchdog agency? If Phony Tony Baloney wants to squander what precious little political capital he has left on questionable intelligence, good luck with that. Just remember, one day when you cry 'wolf', a lot of people are just going to think poodle, and ignore you.

Christiansanity Is A Seriously Flawed Belief System

Interesting.
It seems that anti-abortion activists are angry with Scott Roeder's conviction for murder in the execution of Dr. George Tiller. Maybe it's the life sentence they don't like, perhaps they feel the death penalty is more in order, since their Bible demands "an eye for an eye". After all, Roeder freely admitted to assassinating Dr. Tiller, so there is no question of guilt.
Well, except the Christiansane feel that the cold blooded murder of an abortion provider is justified to protect the lives of little tiny babies. Following that same spurious logic, wouldn't it be perfectly alright to gun down The Rev. Donald Spitz? After all, he condones the murder of abortion doctors by the likes of Roeder and Paul Hill, so in order to prevent more assassinations, wouldn't his murder be justified?
Americans are free to cling to any whacked out belief system they wish, from Scientology to Evangelical Christiansanity, it's when you cross the line and force that belief system on to other people that you become a criminal. If you don't like abortions, don't get one. Work hard to allow our education system to promote sex education and birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies. That seems like a sane response to the problem, but the problem is that not only are these people ignorant to all they do not read in the Bible, but they're Christiansane as well. They all possess the dead eyes of soulless zombies. And their belief system is based on a mythology better suited to less enlightened times, when an invisible guy in the sky was the answer to all of life's mysteries, and scientists were burned at the stake as witches.

If Money Is Speech, Then Comment With Cash

Since money is speech as defined by a recent Supreme Court ruling.....
And taxation without representation is tyranny as defined by our Founding Fathers.....
If I am unable to have my fair representation in Congress due to my inability to match donations to political candidates owned by large multinational corporations whose concerns may run contrary to my own ideals.....
Why am I paying taxes?
By not paying taxes, I am saying that I no longer support the permanent national security state, which requires a perpetual enemy in order to justify it's existence. It believes that collateral damage is acceptable, I do not. It believes that those people who do not hold to the same belief system as it does deserve to die. I do not. It believes that my children, your children, and every other child with the exception of it's own must be sacrificed in order for it's continual existence. I do not.
The Corporatocratic Military State believes that money that could be spent on Universal health care for all it's citizens is better spent on munitions and armaments. I do not. It believes that money that could be spent on providing a decent education to all it's citizens is better spent on enriching a small percentage of it's citizens. I do not. It believes that money that could be spent helping out the less fortunate of it's citizens is better spent helping out the more fortunate citizens. I do not.
The Bankster and Corporate Criminal Police state would gladly exchange clean air and water for bigger profits, homes and families for bigger bonuses, and people's futures and livelihoods for a bigger market share. I would not, and I wouldn't entrust them to shepherd my future, or my children's future anymore than trust us. Innocent until proven guilty has changed into guilty until beaten by police officers. They have prepared for the worst because they know that the people won't stand for their nonsense forever. Or at least until they can no longer afford the soporific effects of cable television.

World War Four, or The New Crusades?

When are we going to finally admit that the "war with al Qaeda", the "war on terror", or perhaps even better, the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism is in fact, another World War? Or, more fittingly, it's the new Crusades?
When the US admitted that Blackwater security forces were operating in Pakistan (then backtracked and denied it), it was essentially announcing that the new Knights Templar were continuing their crusade to wipe Islam from the planet. Follow that up with the revelation of Biblical inscriptions on military rifles, and it would appear that the US has decided to declare war on Islam. Which is weird, since President Obama is a secret Muslim.
So on one side, we have religious extremism, hell bent on imposing their views on the rest of the world while committing genocide against those who don't share their belief system. And on the other, the same thing. But only one side has the support of the world's only remaining military super power. So which is more terrifying?

Take The Democrats. Please.

Yesterday's special election in Massachusetts wasn't a referendum on President Obama, as much as right wing pundits would like you to believe, as much as it was the beginning of the end for the Democratic Party.
Like Kvatch, I believe that Scott Brown's win yesterday was good for the Democrats. They don't have to work towards passing any health care reform now, even with a majority in the House and the Senate because they don't know how to lead. Reading too much into yesterday's defeat, some of them are talking about extending the Bush tax cuts, once again showing the lack of disparity between the two parties. And Joe Lieberman thinks they should move more to the right.
In 2008, the Democratic Party ran on, and won the election on some fairly forward thinking ideas. Now, it turns out, they don't actually want to enact any of these ideas, because they're afraid of the opposition party, of which only 22% of Americans identify themselves with. So why are they pandering to twenty two percent of the population?
Ultimately, the election was a referendum on the stupidity of the average voter. Don't like the way Democrats are doing things? Vote for the Republican! Republicans run the country into the ground? Hmmm, who should I vote for now. It's no wonder the Teabaggers have gotten some traction. Sure they may be insane, but at least they're not the same old crap.

Small Change Is Better Than Nothin' At All

I'll admit it, I'm sick of politics. One side may claim moral superiority over the other, but the truth is, it's a just a game designed to distract us while the looters strip every last dime from as many people as they can. And I will gleefully admit bitter disappointment with the Obama administration for failing to pass on the change they promised in the last election. But that disappointment is all with myself, for being stupid enough to believe that any candidate is going to do anything that the corpocracy hasn't already pre-approved.
That's why I bring up this story. It seems that while President Obama was in Massachusetts stumping for a Democratic candidate their, he was openly heckled by a crowd member. It brought a smile to my face, because I can remember a time not too long ago when something like that would never have happened. A time when political rallies weren't so open, crowds were vetted better than a Republican vice-presidential candidate, and protesters were delegated to "free speech zones" where they could protest all they wanted....far, far away from anybody they might wish to protest against. So while it is a small change, it still represents some changes from the oppressive Cheney/Bush regime. So it doesn't matter that the people of Massachusetts have decided to elect as their senator some one who thinks anal rape is funny, those Massholes appear to have the collective intelligence as a crate of cantaloupe.

The Crippled Epistemology Of The American People

President Obama's appointee to the head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs advocates infiltrating 9/11 Truth groups. In a paper published in 2008, Cass Sunstein says that conspiracy theories arise not from irrationality or mental illness, but rather than a crippled epistemology in the form of a sharply limited number of news sources. Given that only five corporations control what the majority of Americans watch and read as news, doesn't that mean that all Americans suffer from this? And, since most people choose one or maybe two news sources, why isn't their judgment being called in to question?
Because the sources chosen by the majority of Americans do two things. They all sell the idea that any problem can be solved through the magick of market based capitalism. Even those problems, such as obesity, which are caused by capitalism. Secondly, they propagate a myth that our political system works, as long as you keep voting for the two major parties. Never mind that the stewardship of the Republican and Democratic parties have done nothing for anybody not connected monetarily to the corpocracy.
In 2008, Prof. Sunstein suggested infiltrating the 9/11 Truth movement in order to undermine it, enlisting nongovernmental officials to rebut the theories that run counter to the official government conspiracy theory. Given that many people still believe President Obama was born in Kenya, despite evidence to the contrary being provided, all I can say is, Good luck with that.

Specious Reasoning In The New American Babylon

I find it interesting (and even a little bit racist) that Pat Robertson blames the earthquake in Haiti on a curse due to that country's 'pact with the devil'. The global warming climate change cult wonders if global warming had something to do with it. Next, Dick Cheney will blame the Obama administration's lack of desire to label WWIII as "the war on terror", while the Teabaggers will blame it on excessive taxes and intrusive government programs.
Me, I noticed this happened right after Sarah Palin began her position as a contributor to Fox News.........

Hooter Nation News Network

Journalistic integrity has been on life support for sometime now. The American Idiocracy's obsession with celebrity has so permeated our society that even a "serious" news site like The Huffington Post is skewered towards celebrity that I won't visit it any more. Except, of course, to see which starlet stripped for which magazine cover, in an obvious and desperate attempt at attention.
Fox News, since it's inception, has been devoid of anything remotely approaching journalistic integrity. Whether it still clings to it's "we distort/you decide", I don't know, but just when you think they could get more biased, they show us all how one sided they are: Fox News has hired Sarah Palin as a contributor to it's network. This comes as a shock to no one, I suppose. Palin will fit right in with all the other "anchorwoman" on Fox whose short skirts provide eye candy for crusty conservatives who are just one mouse click away from watching The Naked News anyway.
Is this where have ended up as a society? The only way a woman can be validated is if she's reasonably attractive, wears short skirts and tight sweaters? Some may call it empowerment, but has Fox hired Olympia Snowe as a contributor?
We are a nation of Hooters patrons. Obese and grubby men who drool at anything in a tight shirt like a bunch of hormone raging adolescents. Stripper poles have become standard boudoir accessories that even teenage girl role models have no problem posing on. And as the blood drains from the big head to the littler one, our ability to think clearly is clearly diminished. How else can you explain all those Palin fans?

An Elephant Can Only Remember How To Get Peanuts

"We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We've had one under Obama."

-Rudy Giuliani, speaking on ABC's Good Morning America
Am amusing thing about a party that chose an elephant (which allegedly "never forgets") as it's symbol is the way they seem to have developed convenient amnesia in their on going jihad against President Obama. Dana Perino, one of former President Bush's press secretaries made the claim earlier this year, following the shootings at FT Hood "there were no terrorists attacks in America under President Bush". This gives credence to many of the conspiracy theorists that, indeed, 9/11 wasn't a terrorist attack, but merely a false flag attack, designed to engineer support for invasion of Middle Eastern countries that happened to have a lot of oil in them, or are strategically located for helping move energy resources to market where they can be used by giant corporations to increase their profit margins.
It's as if our leaders on the right seem to hope that the nation of television watchers, memories full of which episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond they have seen, don't have room to remember anything we haven't seen on television recently. Lately RNC Chairman Michael Steele released a book, in he refers to himself as chairman at least three times, which he claims was written before he became chairman.
Which brings us to Dick Cheney, you know, the guy who has been criticizing President Obama for calling the "war on terror" the "war with al Qaeda". Cheney seems to have forgotten that two of the alleged masterminds behind the underwear bomber were released from US custody in 2007. Cheney also forgets claims made by his administration that the war in Iraq has made the world safer. How convenient.

Flying Naked Is The Next Step In Airline Safety

The latest weapon in the Global struggle Against Violent extremism, the War on Terror, the War Against alQaeda, or whatever they're calling it this week, is the full body scanner. Many US airports are rushing to have these machines installed to calm passengers who might be dissuaded from air travel following the underwear bomber scare. Sure, these nifty numbers are intrusive, unduly expose passengers to radiation, and at $150,000 a pop, pretty darn expensive as well. And sure, a lot of politicians are making money touting them as the end all answer to the problem, however, even Ann Coulter admits they're useless in probing the anal cavity.(Don't ask about Ann's anal obsession, obviously it arises from hanging around the assholes on the Right) How convenient that Canada ordered their scanners months ago, and now have an excuse to install them in their airports.
The point is, we can install them all we want in airports here, unless they're in airports overseas, they can't really protect us from those people who want to harm us because we're free to send drones into their neighbor's wedding party. The upside ti installing them is Europe is that it would discourage those pesky Europeans from visiting here, spending their money and generally walking around like they own the place. (Only the Chinese can do that)And once more, Americans can isolate themselves, wrapped in the cocoon of knowledge that, Jersey Shore notwithstanding, we are the most awesomest country on the planet.

Shooting Yourself In The Foot To Spite Your Face

Hello, everybody, I have returned once again from the land of the television watcher, where fear and loathing are peddled and logic and intelligence are ignored. The most recent case in point is the Christmas Day plane bomber. Or should I say attempted plane bomber, since, like fellow shoe bomber Richard Reid, he wasn't actually successful, unless his goal was to frighten the bejeezus out of television watchers nation wide who immediately favored US intervention in Yemen.
Yemen? Really? I thought the suspect was from Nigeria and passed through Ghana, which is like a whole continent away from Yemen. To be sure, there are a lot of America hating people in Yemen, but is that a real reason to drop bombs on a bunch of people who could care less one way or the other? Because if they don't care, one way or the other now, once US bombs began ripping apart family members, they will care one way, and it's not the way we as US citizens would like them to care. Using the US military to intervene in a country that had nothing to do with the "terrorist" attack, while sounding vaguely Bush-like and familiar, makes about as much sense as swatting a fly with a battleship. It's very unwieldy, and will kill a lot more than the fly.
All this really does is illustrate how the corporatist agenda of Total Global Domination puts Americans at risk, and as long as we continue to cede power to them, we all are at risk.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Redefining Patriot

I've been hearing on the radio and seeing on the teevee a lot about a government supported program called Safelink, that provides free cell phones and minutes to the economically disadvantaged. Which is a good idea, I guess, that in an emergency people are able to contact help. Why a cellular over a land line? I don't know, perhaps so the homeless can use them as well.
But hearing and reading about this program started me to wondering: how did this program get started with out the Tea Baggers protesting against it? I mean, if they going to get their knickers in a twist over health care reform, a basic necessity, then why haven't they taken to the Capitol steps over this?
Well, they soon will be. A Google search about this program's origins led me to this website, where the blogger suddenly finds they have problems with the government running deficits. A person who had no problem with spending billions monthly in Iraq and Afghanistan to no end, spending millions more on unconstitutional spying on American citizens because they are a patriot, now has a problem with assisting those people being crushed under the weight of the economy run into the ground by these "patriotic" programs.
I think we really need to redefine "patriot".

The New Downing Street Memos

In 1 May 2005, official British governments documents were leaked to the press, heretofore known as The Downing Street Memos (or, as they were known in England, the Downing Street Minutes). Nothing more than writings on a piece of paper, notes taken at a meting, they stated clearly that the US (under the Bush administration) was intent on invading Iraq and "the intelligence and facts were being fixed [by the U.S.] around the policy" of removing Saddam Hussein. For many people in the anti-war(or pro-peace, if you like)movement, it was the smoking gun that proved that the war in Iraq was not a necessity, rather an undertaking of choice, by an administration eager to enrich political donors and cabinet members enough to deliberately falsify documents. It was roundly ignored by the right as well as the corporate media as everyone was making a buck from the Iraq war.
Now, years later, an equally damning leak has made it's way into the press. Called ClimateGate, it shows through emails and documents leaked from the University of East Anglia’s Hadley Climate Research Unit that scientists were conspiring to falsify data to support an already arrived at conclusion, global warming climate change.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't think we should be dumping more pollutants into the atmosphere, but this seems less about protecting the environment and more about a select few becoming billionaires in the cap and trade carbon market (which shifts cost from polluters on to the consumer, and doesn't do much to end pollution)who seem to have a double standard about reducing one's carbon footprint. It's like selling low energy fluorescent bulbs on the premise of saving a few dollars to people too stupid to care about disposing of them properly.
The leaked emails, touted by the right as evidence that global warming climate change is all hype, will not even be published by the "liberal" New York Times, the same "liberal" paper that committed treason and aided Judith Miller in leaking the name of a CIA operative handed to them by a Bush administration official bent on punishing said operative's husband for declaring forged documents used to justify an attack against Iraq to be forgeries.
So I don't expect these leaked emails to be reported on by the corporate media anymore than they applied to Downing Street Memos. The agenda has been set, and not having fully drank from the global warming climate change Kool-Aid, I can see how they've been slowly selling people 'green' in much the same manner as they sold us the war in Iraq. Hopefully, the end result will not be the same.

The Annual Unbrainwashed Anti-Holiday Rant

I really have come to loathe this time of year. Of course, I mean the holiday season, which starts officially tomorrow, although some radio stations have been playing Christmas music since Halloween, which means that millions of innocent people have had to endure that one person who insists on listening to Christmas music until you're ready to vomit anytime you hear "Holly Jolly Christmas", "Jingle Bell Rock", and "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree", which seem to get played every hour and a half on these stations. And although 'officially' the 'shopping season' doesn't start until four o'clock tomorrow morning, some retailers, in an effort to prop up a dismal year, are letting you know they'll be open today, so that when Dad, Brother and Uncle Pete are relaxing post-meal on the couch watching the football game, Mom, Grandma, and Aunt Shirley can sneak off to KMart to buy more presents that will get lost in the post Christmas morning overkill, that is, after they've finished all the dishes.
And by this time tomorrow, we'll be inundated with stories of that one shopper who falls victim to the spirit of the season and is trampled to death by salivating shoppers pushing each other out of the way to have first dibs on some item they don't really need but couldn't pass up, because it was such a bargain.
This is also the time of year where advertising takes it's toll on me, and I can hardly stand to see another commercial with kids in their jammies waiting for Santa, elves, or dogs with 'reindeer' antlers on their heads. And it's also the time of year when Christ-centric fuckwads refuse to acknowledge that their might be other religions celebrating their various holidays as well, and threaten to boycott advertisers who do acknowledge it in the same breath as they do Christmas.
It's also the time of year when, despite warnings of anthropegenic global warning climate change, not to mention dire predictions of the arrival of peak oil, people cover their yards with displays consisting of so many lights they could be seen from space. Many communities erect Nativity displays, or allow them to be erected on public property.
Not any more in Chambersburg, PA, where every year the local garden club was allowed to erect an Nativity Scene on the ground surrounding the town fountain. That is, until the local Pennsylvania Non-Believers, an atheist group, stepped in. It seems they wanted to put up a sign for the solstice honoring Atheist war veterans. I mean, after the birth of Jesus, what could be more sacred than our soldiers?
Oh. wait a minute, this is a sign honoring our veterans, not our, troops, a difference indicated by where they are now, either over in Iraq and Afghanistan, making sure that the Good Ol' US of A gets first crack at what little oil there is left, or, over here displaying the symptoms of post traumatic stress syndrome, reminding those who gleefully sent them over there, that, yes indeed, war is Hell.
Anyway, the town council, sensing a political hot potato decided that, rather than allow a religious-free message be posted, decided to remove the Nativity. Score a point for the War On Christmas!

You're Still Here?

With all the attention being lavished on Sarah Palin now due to her recent book and tour, it's time ask ourselves: what about that other right wing nut-job from last year's campaign? No, I'm not talking about Joe Lieberman, I mean that other Joe, Joe the Plumber?
He popped up recently at a rally for Cherilyn Eagar, who's looking to unseat longtime Senator Bob Bennett and was interviewed by Editor & Publisher. In it, he hoped that Sarah Palin did not run for president in 2012, but praised her for writing nice things about him in her book. That's very nice of him since Palin is drawing large crowds to her book signings as Joe, not so much. Also, while Palin's book is sure to be on best sellers lists, Joe's book is in remainder bins.
Sam/Joe took used the interview as an opportunity to slam media coverage of himself, noting that the tax lien filed against him was sitting at the Ohio State Capitol in Columbus two months prior to his well-documented exchange with then-candidate Barack Obama over tax policy. He also criticized the media attempts to paint him as a wife beater and racist, but offered up no evidence to dispute these claims. He slammed journalists in general for making accusations at the same time he accused President Obama's policies as "unAmerican". Joe knows a lot about being a journalist following his ten days as a 'war correspondent" for the conservative Web site pjtv.com, where he failed to notice any of any of Israel's war crimes during Operation:Cast Lead.
Sam/Joe also criticized those who say Wurzelbacher is capitalizing on his fifteen minutes of fame. I mean, everybody gets book deals, record deals, journalism gigs, and appearance fees, right?

Once A Quitter..........

Looking for "Real America"? Look no farther than this video, which shows an angry mob booing Sarah Palin after she left before signing their books on her recent book tour. What Palin doesn't get is that these people own her, they waited in the rain, and while some staunch supporters may make apologies for Sarah stiffing them, there's also a certain percentage that will never buy a Palin endorsed product again.
I would have liked to have been in that bus as it sat their idling, her supporters outside chanting, but what went on in that fabulously ornate mobile billboard, we'll never know. Did her handlers hold her back as Sarah ambled to the door, not wanting to let her people, the real Americans, down? Or, did her handlers insist she go out and finish the job while Palin demonstrated why she is a rogue by refusing to meet and greet any of those people she will surely come to despise by the end of this tour? Whichever it was, I'm sure it was the real Sarah Palin, not the one she presents before the cameras, oozing contempt for the very people who will make her the next president of the United States.

Sarah Palin's Coming To Town

Resigned ex-Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin kicked off her 2012 Presidential Campaign book tour today here in my hometown, with a book signing at Barnes and Noble, and lots of Grand Rapidians lined up to gawk and help push her ghost written tome on to the best sellers list. This is not surprising, as this is one of the most conservative parts of that state, a place where John McCain has been removed from McCain-Palin bumper stickers (like he was the weak link in that train wreck)on the back of elderly driver's Buicks, leaving Sarah, Plain and Tall. In fact some "news" networks went as far as to edit in old campaign footage to bolster the claims. I'm sure it was just because it's so much cheaper than sending a news crew out to film a bunch of obese and wrinkled septuagenarians who took time off from their busy schedule to stand in line.
Palin's book tour is focused on the "real America", because somewhere in the faltering brain cells of those few people left who still refer to themselves as Republicans, small cities and rural areas are more American than say, California or New York City. This is her way of saying that if you live in these outlying regions, and as long as you vote Republican, then your vote counts, darn it. And if you the other 78% of Americans, well, darn it, you're just not real enough to deal with everyday problems, such as your daughter's baby daddy posing for Playgirl, or being interviewed by Katie Couric as a political candidate, instead of as one working mother to another like you thought. Whatever it is, she's not going away anytime soon. You betcha.

So Much Useless And Pointless Noise Adding Up To A Giant Waste Of Time And Energy

By now, the pattern is familiar. Whatever President Obama does, no matter how trivial it may seem, is cause for criticism from the right. Obama becomes elected president, he isn't even an American citizen. Obama carefully weighs his options on Afghanistan, he is criticized for not making a decision, "whether or not it is right". The administration announces it's holding the trial of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in NYC, the right brings out loser Rudy Giuliani.
It's to the point of ridiculousness now. During his state visit to Japan, President Obama bowed to the emperor, and the right wing noise machine goes apoplectic. Some infer that Obama must have grown up watching The Golden Girls.
How soon they forget.

The homophobes on the right never had a problem with Bush kissing the Saudi prince, of course, they'd even have Bush give him a rim job if it meant cheaper oil which with for them to fuel their gas sucking SUVs.
Now I'm not saying we shouldn't be able to criticize President Obama, once again, that was the right wing during the Bush administration, admonishing the left for criticizing the president during a time of war. Well, those wars that Bush started are still going on, so what has change but the party affiliation of the president, and the color of his skin?

The Easiest Job In The World Is Fact Checker At Fox News

..Mainly because they don't check facts, they merely make shit up. They already went to court to protect their right to lie to people and shield advertisers from negative publicity, after they won that case, well, you know the rest of the story.
recently, Sean Hannity aired a segment on Michelle Bachman's most recent tea bagger gathering. In order to inflate the numbers, someone edited footage from one rally that had a large number of lunatics onto one for Bachman's smaller lunatic fringe gathering. After being busted, not by media watchdogs, but a comedy show, Hannity weakly offered up this apology:

we screwed up - we aired some video of a rally in September, along with a video from the actual event,...It was an inadvertent mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.

Yes, someone inadvertently took one piece of file footage from another file and put it in with another accidentally. Happens all the time. On Fox News.
Now I seem to remember the professional prevaricators at Fox getting their tighty-whities in a bunch when Dan Rather reported on the Killian Documents, which were criticisms of George W Bush by his former commander in the National Guard.
Sean Hannity on the lack of media ooutrage over the documents, which were later found to be forgeries:

I was just thinking to myself, you tell me if I'm wrong here, if Republicans had forged documents or had gotten forged documents and gave it to a news organization, and they turned out to be false, wouldn't this be a much bigger story in the mainstream media?

Isn't this the same form of misrepresentation you're guilty of Hannity? More:

An article in The New York Observer today revealed some new information about the CBS investigation into the "Memogate" scandal. According to the story, freelance producer Michael Smith, he taped many of his conversations with CBS investigators and executives in the weeks after the scandal broke.

Smith told The Observer that the tapes of his conversations proved that nobody at CBS, quote, "seemed interested in the truth."

And, so it seems, is anybody at Fox News.
Rather was run off CBS News by the right for his mistake. I think it only fair that Hannity be held to the same standard.
Contact Fox News here and demand they fire Hannity for such an obviously unfair and imbalanced piece.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Because Rupert Murdoch Cannot Have Enough Money

Now he's going to turn all his online News Corpse sites into subscription only. Good luck with that. People I know all over are clamoring to put money down on a web site to read the news.
To make his point, Murdoch says now his online newspapers will be "invisible" to Google users.
How will they find his online papers?
Murdoch thinks that because people demanded and pay for Fox News on their cable systems, that people who like that sort of propaganda will look for it online as well. Idiot. People won't look for it online because it would tear them away from Fox News, require them to get out of their comfy chairs, and require them to read. Fox News better because reading done for viewer. Viewer not even have to think, just do as Glenn, Bill or Sean tell them to. Viewer no like computers, computers reek of intellectualism.
Rupert knows you have two coins in your pocket, he can hear them clinking around. And, by God, he's going to find away to get them from you, even if he has to torpedo his own websites to get them.

Let's Excise All Unpleasantness To Keep Up Our Lives As An Illusion

I took my kids to see a movie yesterday, using movie passes my brother's girlfriend had given me almost a year ago as a thanks for helping her move into my brother's apartment. Given Hollywood's crappy output this past year, it took us that long to find a movie we could all finally agree on seeing. Our choice was The Men Who Stare At Goats, based on the book of the same name, mainly because Wilbur really wanted to see it, which meant of course his little brother wanted to as well.
The film centers on a journalist who stumbles on to the story of a lifetime as he investigates a psychic unit within the US Army. The unit is first run by Lt. Col. Bill Django as a new age alternative to standard military operational procedure, and uses psychic means.One scene, which takes place after Django has been kicked out of the military and Larry Hooper has taken over, concerns Hooper's experiments with mind control using LSD. After dosing a recruit and exposing him to flashing lights and loud noises, the recruit walks stark naked into the middle of the base and begins shooting aimlessly as other soldiers march and drill. The point of this scene is to illustrate not only the evilness of Larry Hooper, but of how use of techniques can have unintended consequences when used not for good, but for evil. No soldier is shot, but they do scramble for safety when the soldier begins shooting.
Well, now some people feel the scene should be edited from the film following the tragedy at Ft. Hood. Considering early reports indicating multiple shooters, this isn't very close to real life at all.
It's funny how sensitive Americans are when it comes to tragedies close to home, but when a tragedy occurs somewhere else, the insensitivity comes shining through.
I would say this is a recent development, that somehow, Americans became stupider or wimpier, but even The Manchurian Candidate was pulled from distribution because of it's eerily similarity to the Kennedy Assassination (You know, brainwashed patsy, part of conspiracy to assassinate a president)as well as scenes of the Twin Towers being excised from the first Spiderman movie.
But IMHO, this is being brought up to reinforce the single shooter theory, and negate any stories of second gunmen. Better the people thinkl it was due to the suspect having to misdiagnose cases of PTSD than think there was any sort of conspiracy.

Another Big Fuck You To The American People

It's nice to know that as the Republicans and Democrats waste time bickering in a non-rush to offer health care to millions of Americans that they can set aside their differences long enough to condemn the Goldstone report , because, even though it condemns the actions of both Israel and Hamas, it is still "biased". Why is it biased? Because Hamas, with their rockets their barely reach their target are much worse than the Israeli government dropping white phosphorous on civilian populations, targeting schools and other numerous infractions of international law.
So the Obama administration, which has sided with the criminals in the Bush administration, who tortured and committed numerous other crimes, has once again sided with the bad guys (okay worse guys) once again.
The report, which will go before the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, is just another in a long list of reasons Israel has used to stall peace talks. Israel also refuses to stop building illegal settlements, destroying Palestinian homes, and ravaging Palestinian crops until a peace agreement has been made, which gives them all the more reason to oppose a settlement.
But how about those assclowns in Congress? Seriously, it's almost as if the taxpayers don't exist. "Sorry your beloved family member had to die, but we had to protect more criminals who receive your money and have their health care taken care of by the US government.

The Selective Amnesia Of The Cheney Family

Does Dick Cheney have Alzheimer's? Did he contract it from his years of association with Ronald Reagan? In recently released FBI documents of an interview with then Vice President Cheney, he claimed that he has no idea" who leaked Plame's name to Bob Novak, he does not recall any discussion with Libby of perceived nepotism associated with Wilson's selection for the CIA assignment, and that the vice president is relatively certain that he spoke to someone about the article but he cannot remember exactly who it was.(UPDATE:A list of 22 things Cheney can't recall about the Plame affair) Which is pretty much the same testimony Reagan gave in the Iran-Contra case.
Well, if Alzheimer's isn't contagious, it certainly is hereditary. Take Cheney's daughter, Liz (Please). When President Obama went to Dover AFB to honor returning fallen soldiers, she shot back "I think that what President Bush used to do is do it without the cameras. And I don't understand sort of showing up with the White House Press Pool with photographers and asking family members if you can take pictures. That's really hard for me to get my head around...It was a surprising way for the president to choose to do this."
What she fails to remember is that President Bush never met returning caskets at Dover, EVER. Neither did her father. With cameras, or not, the previous administration loved to send US troops to die, make money for their crony friends doing it, and never having to be reminded of the end result of their handiwork. In fact, in 2004, Bush wanted to slash over one billion dollars from the Veteran Affairs budget.
So I guess it's okay for Liz Cheney to blather on about things she chooses not to remember, it's her right as an American. The problem here is that in their mad rush to torpedo the efforts of the Obama administration to undo all the evil inflicted by the previous administration (which is certainly no mad rush unto itself), the Fox "news" organization will put anyone on who is willing to lie or selectively remember events to cast an unflattering light on them to further their corporate right wing agenda.

Satan Is Better Than Jesus

Why, you may ask, and I will tell you.
Studies have proved that intercessory prayer doesn't work, that in fact, God and Jesus either don't have all the magic powers that their followers claim they do, or they really don't give a fuck about humans.
However, Halloween candy prayed over by witches are chock full of demons. So if God/Jesus can't do anything about the demon filled candy offered for free to good little Christian children, they must not be as powerful combined as Satan is on his own.
And if Satan is more powerful than God/Jesus, using the same system used to determine which football team is better than another by virtue of number of victories incurred during a season, that means that Satan is better than Jesus.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I feel compelled to dress up as The Dude and mooch Milk Duds from my neighbors.......

The Pinnacle Of Retardation

Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) and 75 other House Republicans have introduced a resolution "expressing gratitude and appreciation to the individuals and families who participated in the Taxpayer March on Washington on September 12, 2009".
I'll let that sink in.



The irony of wasting taxpayer money "honoring" people who protested "skyrocketing deficits, taxpayer-funded bailouts, pork-barrel projects", in other words-wasting taxpayer money, is proof that the Republicans are more interested in embarrassing the Obama administration than actually accomplishinganything that falls beyond their limited abilities.
I mean, sure, those people should be commended for listening to some guy on television who told them when and where they should go, and what they should do when they get there. After all, we are not truly free until we blindly follow the commands of our favorite "journalists" on our favorite "news networks". And it was important to get these people off their couches, into the fresh air where they could walk on, drive on, or fly to taxpayer funded streets, sidewalks and airports to complain about taxes.
Good for you, Republicans, for acting like the self-involved and self-important people we always knew you were.

The Perfect Career Choice For A Prime Motivator

George W. Bush, a motivational speaker? Surely, a former alcoholic and cocaine abuser who skated through life on his famous father's political and business connections has no clue about motivation. Until you think about it.
After all, he motivated citizens of two great cities in two different countries (Baghdad and New Orleans) to find a new place to live. He motivated defense contractors to overcharge the US taxpayers for services in Iraq by cutting their taxes and stopping any oversight. He also motivated a group of cronies to loot money from the Iraqi people.
His lack of oversight within his own administration motivated the office of the vice-president to commit treason and out a CIA operative as retaliation for the people who were motivated to forge documents to start a war being exposed as the motivated liars they are by her husband in a NYT op-ed.
The Bush administration were also motivated not to regulate the banking industry, leading us into the economic mess were in now. Fortunately, he wasn't too much of a motivator that the alleged opposition party dare investigate any of the motivation behind his criminal acts.
And now, in the end, he has motivated the Cheney family and friends to fight to keep Dick out of jail for war crimes he authorized while Bush was off motivating the whole left blogosphere to rise up against him. So, for $100,000 a pop, Bush can motivate people to acquire an approval rating of 22%, just like he had.
And people wonder why the economy's in the toilet.

Grow Up, It's Halloween

The United States has become a haven for overly sensitive, namby-pamby cry babies whose sensibilities are easily offended any time some one dares to make a joke.
Take The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. They've become deeply offended by an 'illegal alien' Halloween costume. the costume features an orange jumpsuit stamped 'illegal alien', a rubber alien mask, and a green card. While I will fully admit the costume isn't clever, or funny, only the most sensitive of types would be offended by it.
Like Jorge-Mario Cabrera, the director of communications for CHIRLA. who thinks because the costume comes with a green card, that it's "an ignorant attempt to poke fun at a small community." Yes, but a small community of criminals who have entered the US illegally. Now, I am not opposed to immigration. Everybody in this country has ancestors who have emigrated from some other place. What I am against is those who operate outside the law, and yet seem to want to claim so sort of legal protection. I'm sorry, but you're a fucking criminal, no better than the previous presidential administration we had, which placed itself above the law as well. And if you're offended-good, you should be ashamed. Don't do disrespectful things then demand my respect.
1 in 6 Americans are living in poverty, there is no work in California, and the real unemployment rate in this country is at 16%. An influx of more unemployed people who are willing to work for less flooding the labor pool is the last thing we need. So don't cry to me if some uncreative redneck decides to wear a costume poking fun at your illegal activity. I'm sure they would find it just as funny if you wore a toothless mask with singed eyebrows and went as a meth-head.
After all, it's Halloween!

Gang Raped By The Corporatocracy In The Permanent Terror-Security Industrial Complex

Remember back in 2000, when George W. Bush was running for the presidency, and a number of female Republican politicians stood up and told us repeatedly that "W stands for women!"?
Or how about last year, when John McCain cynically chose Sarah Palin as his running mate because the Democrats had abandoned women by choosing Barack Obama as their presidential candidate over Hillary Clinton?
Of course, we all knew it was bullshit. The Republicans only care about women when they're white, pregnant, of hooked up to a life support machine. The rest of the time they could careless about women, unless they're trying to keep their wives from discovering their mistresses.
When Sen. Al Franken added an amendment to a defense appropriations bill that would not allow the US to do business with corporations that will not let their employees seek legal action in rape cases, 30 Republican Senators voted against that bill, including that guy who last year wasn't going to turn his back on women, Sen. John McCain.
So while right wing bloggers make a big deal about Hollywood liberals defending Roman Polanski, there seems to be a lack of outcry from the right about Jamie Leigh Jones who was brutally drugged and gang raped by her co-workers. Keep in mind, Franken wasn't asking these companies to change their policies, he was asking the tax payer funded government from funding more atrocities by denying companies that condone gang rape any more government contracts.
Guess we know where the right really stands on the issue of women's rights. They're not as important as the right of the corporatocracy to rape them with impunity.

Scannon's Corollary To Godwins' Law

"As an [online] discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches."-Godwin's Law
Any online discussion about Israel will end with the probability of anyone critical of the state of Israel being called an anti-Semite-Scannon's Corollary to Godwin's Law
We weren't always the bad guys. back in WWII, we faced down evil and triumphed, only to become what we feared most, the governmental embodiment of evil.
And no, this is not directed at President Obama, who has been called a Fascist/socialist/communist by the same people who supported the country's shift to the right, extreme far right, under the previous administration.
Right now, the US is considering a reassessment of the 2007 NIE that stated Iran had abandoned it's nuclear weapon program in 2003. Thge terror-industrial complex needs a new monster to shake at us, now that Saddam Hussein is dead and Osama Bin Laden is more than likely passed on as well. That "monster" is Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, a man so scary to millions of people that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Iran that "the world will not wait indefinitely" for Iran to meet it's obligations on it's nuclear plans. Iran has, of course, repeatedly stated that they are seeking nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and has opened up it's nuclear sites for inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has found no evidence that Iran is doing anything except building a nuclear power plant thereby meeting it's "obligations" on it's nuclear ambitions.
In the meantime, the US has thrown it's support behind Israel, which has been accused of 37 different war crimes under the UN Goldstone report. The US, ready to impose economic sanctions on Iran for...absolutely nothing wrong, was one of the six countries voting against a resolution on the so-called "Goldstone report", which accuses both Israel and Hamas militants of war crimes committed during the 22-day Gaza conflict last December and January. Once more becoming part of the terror-industry complex.
Similarly, Israel has refused to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty and open it's nuclear sites up for inspection. And, by US law, according the the Symington Amendment, the US is forbidden to send aid to Israel until it does sign the treaty and open up it's sites to inspection.

So now we are the bad guys, the evil empire, ready to terrorize the world or our own people to meet our ends. WE threaten one country with sanctions for obeying the law while simultaneously enabling another to break every law of decency we used to hold as an ideal for the rest of the world.

Community Organized Television Is Coming....................................................Look Out!

Born At The Crest Of The Empire had a link to this post of how the television networks are jumping on the I-Participate bandwagon next week, with 60 television shows mentioning the program, or writing it into their scripts.
Which, since it's an Obama initiative, means once again the cries of "indoctrination" are rising from the right. Funny, I don't remember any complaints pre-Iraq war from these people about the propaganda foisted on the American people. But now, it's different, with that no Xmas celebrating secret Muslim in the White House.
But for me, the humor lies in the comment section over at Big Hollywood.
"I'd like to avoid this nonsense even if it means boycotting all TV for a week."-Oh, don't take such drastic measures. I'm sure Fox News isn't involved.
"I don't watch TV (except Fox news) anyway"-Ladies and gentlemen, the root of the whole problem.
"When coerced, it is not volunteerism, when service is involuntary or unpaid, it is slavery.
It is bad enough that the government is stealing our freedom, now they want us to help. "-Yes, we must do what the television tells us because we are all mindless zombies.
"Voluneerism is something that we should all be compelled to do because it is the Christian thing to do...it is expected of us. Certainly not because Pres. Opompous orders us to do it so it, like everything else, must reflect positively on him (because in Obamaland....EVERYTHING is about him!)."-Ladies and gentlemen, a true display of Christian love and understanding. Everything in America should be compelled to be about Jesus!
"I think someone should plan a counter campaign to turn off the tv during this period. Instead everyone should spend time with their families. I pledge to not watch tv during this period. I will instead enjoy the outdoors, spend time with family, or actually help another person without expecting payment in money or political credit."-As opposed to the rest of the year when you stay indoors, watch television ignore your family and don't do a thing without expecting financial enumeration for it.
It goes on and on, with people bemoaning their inability to watch television without being offended by someone actually asking them to be part of making a better society (oops, that's Socialism)and being indoctrinated into that whole community thing. In all this is a little less sinister than television participating in Nancy Reagan's Just Say No To (Some) Drugs program(which I'm sure they whole heartedly endorsed) back in the 1980's.
I know I will be watching very little of it, not because I hate Obama, but because television is a time thief, and 99% shit anyways. If you define yourself by what you watch on television, you are really nothing at all

2012

End Timers have been making a big deal lately about the Mayan Calendar which "predicts" the end of the world in 2012. While it may not signify the apocalypse, it's a fairly safe bet that the United States Empire will be gone by then, and not because voters will elect Sarah Palin as president.
What we'll begin to see very quickly is the wholesale looting of our country as the dollar loses reserve currency status. That means all those petrodollars the world bought from us to buy oil will be leaving the world's central banks and coming home to roost, drowning the banks we have left here in too much capital. This will spur a round of hyperinflation not dissimilar to what was seen at the end of the Weimar Republic. Foreclosures will increase, but this time it won't just be the lower classes suffering. Unemployment will increase as people scramble to take any job available.
So while the economy has been tanking, and the brokers have been looting, the corporate media lackeys in this country have been dutifully keeping the public distracted with protests against the wrong people, celebrity worship and too much sports coverage to notice that the ship is sinking.
Why is this happening? Because somewhere, someone decided that they didn't actually have to manufacture a product to make money, all they had to do was to convince the brainwashed masses into believing they needed a product bad enough that they'd mortgage their future to keep ahead of their neighbors. Fortunately for them, they had a Congress on their payroll that was only concerned with getting re-elected and so they would do anything they were asked to keep those campaign contributions rolling in. And why wouldn't you want to be a politician when you can work two and a half days a week, make $165,000 a year, and invest in wars you support. So now uniquely American products like the Hummer will be built in China.
And finally, when the American people wake up because their cable television has been disconnected, they'll take to the streets against the crooks who robbed them (the ones still in this country anyway) they'll find that the criminals will be protected by police who have evolved from Andy Taylor into something resembling Robocop. Good luck with that.

Living In Retarded Times

These are definitely interesting times we are living in right now. Despite continuing the war in Iraq, expanding the war in Afghanistan into Pakistan, and threatening Iran, President Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Then, following this announcement, Rush Limbaugh agrees with the Taliban (a move that would have him removed from the air at the height of the Bush administration), putting the alleged "patriot" on the side of the enemy in Afghanistan, what with al Qaeda pretty much removed from that country.
Code Pink, an anti-war organization, has announced it's rethinking it's anti Afghan war stance. I guess now war is acceptable, if it fits within your feminist agenda. But how feminist is it when you're sending men to women's rescue?
There is now a movement under way (by Republicant operatives, naturally) to Impeach Obama. Not for any high crimes or misdemeanors, mind you, but for "Obamaism", whatever the fuck that is.
I woke up one morning last week to find those that claim to be the most biggest patriots in this country cheering because the US lost a chance to host the Olympics. The jobs this would have created and revenue generated would go a long way towards helping lift the US out of the Second Great Depression we are in now.And make no mistake about it, we are in a Great Depression. And while jobs are being lost and people are struggling, these asswipes who pretend to be patriots are cheering, not so much for the failure of Obama's programs, but because Bush and eight years of Republicant policies so destroyed the economy that there's nothing that can be done to fix it. The middle class is slowly disappearing, worker's rights are slowly being lost, but rich white men are getting richer and whiter, all because stupid white men are getting stupider and stupider. And n one of this pettiness and bickering will restore us to the former flory that was once the greatest democracy on the planet.

Conservapedia Presents: The Ten Commandments-Revisited

In yesterday's post, there was a story about how Conservapedia was planning on deleting the "liberal" bias from the Bible. But why stop there? As you'll see, they seem to pick and choose which commandments to follow as well.

It's Not In The Bible Anymore

Does the Bible have a liberal bias? Of course it does, which is why the nice folks at Conservapedia have decided to delete the liberal bias from the Bible. No more of the love shit for them, now it's just going to be fire and brimstone and the wrath of God. That'll make for some exciting reading for them.
But why stop there? Why not make the Innkeeper a free market entrepreneur who was well within his rights to make those moochers Mary and Joseph sleep in the stable. Or portray Judas as having a keen business sense and as being loyal patriot for betraying Jesus for a few pieces of silver? There's a lot of Jewish people in the Bible,couldn't an anti-Semite just delete them all, and make Jesus a nice Christian boy who grew up worshipping himself?
It would appear that the wonderful Christians over at Conservapedia don't love Jesus as much as they hate "liberals", which I believe puts them squarely in violation of the whole "Thou Shalt Not Have Any Other Gods Besides Me" commandment. These twisted souls have shown how utterly useless their Bible is by changing the word of their God to fit their belief system, as opposed to changing their behavior to fit the word of their God. But, you would expect as much from the same people who changed the Constitution to allow torture, illegal wiretaps and indefinite incarcerations.

Who Runs This Country?

Or, better yet, who should run this country, seeing how were a republic and all? Lindsey Graham thinks that if we let the bloggers run the country than our best days are behind us. Uh, dude, our best days are behind us.
Who are these elusive bloggers I hear criticized by the people on the right while appearing on the news? Most blogs, big, small, and miniscule (like this one) are run by tax paying citizens who read and report the news that the corporate-owned media refuses to report, or buries while devoting more and more time and space to celebrity gossip or sports "news". Why would we, as a democracy, want the actual people deciding the future of the country. We have let the corporations run this country for too long now and we have rampant unemployment, a stagnant economy and two government sponsored quagmires on our hands. It's been great for the corporations, but bad for 99% of other people in this country.
But who does run this country? Who has been pushing for another war based on lies? The bloggers. or the people who "run" this country? Who is threatening to impose sanctions on Iran for obeying the NPT all the while violating the Symington amendment?
Most bloggers are people of conscience, and blog out of a sense of duty, or outrage at how far we have strayed. very few make a profit, if at all, and are not media darlings or part of the cultural elite. We are, however, citizens, and when the citizens no longer run this country than we have ceased to be the democracy we claim to fight for while dropping bombs on dark skinned people in democracy's name.