My comments can only be construed as un-Christian and certainly uncharitable, but too, too bad. "Reverend" Falwell passed away today of an apparent heart attack. Falwell, who founded the Moral Majority, did as much as anyone to turn right-wing Christianity into a hate-filled perversion of Christ's teachings in a successful effort to gain political power.He can best be remembered as a pimple on a boil on the asshole of decency, who made his living blaming disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on gays, pornography, liberals, and abortions. He was a scum who worked tirelessly spreading hate and fear among his followers, and labored mightily to establish a theocracy in the United States by overturning the First Amendment protections against the establishment of a national religion.
The man was a traitor to both God and the United States, and I'm glad he's gone on to his just reward.I'm not sure what his just reward is, but I have a mind-picture of Falwell turning slowly on a spit for eternity, fat dripping and feeding the fires burning him, while his sensitized skin crackles like an oversized pork rind.
Do I really feel this way? Yeah, I think I do, and yes, I feel guilty about it, but I do know the world is a better place for his passing.
One down, many more to go. That special place in Hell, reserved for anti-Christian hypocritical lying frauds claiming to speak with Gods voice, will fill up one of these years, and Falwell will be reunited with his friends. Crackle, crackle, drip, crackle.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Friday, May 4, 2007
One Day You're Gonna Wake Up
An excellent essay here from David Michael Green posted on The Regressive Antidote
READ IT!
One day you’re gonna wake up, America.
And, like every other one since last you can remember, it’s gonna be an ugly morning.
One day you’re gonna wake up and go to your lousy job with its lousy salary and non-existent benefits. You might even remember the good job you once had. Or that the government you once supported gave tax breaks to companies like the one that exported that good job of yours to the Third World (which is what they’re now starting to call your country). Or that that same government undermined the labor unions which fought to get you your good wages and benefits.
One day you’re gonna wake up and be furious at the monstrous tax burden you are carrying, a tab which accounts for fifty of the seventy hours you must work each week just to eke by. You might even figure out why your tax bill is so high. You might remember that the government you once supported shifted the tax burden from the rich onto people like you, and from the taxpayers of the time onto those of today. And that they borrowed money in astonishing quantities to fund their sleight-of-hand, so that you work thirty hours a week just to pay the interest on a mountain of money borrowed decades ago.
One day you’re gonna wake up in anger at the absurdly poor education your children are receiving. You’re gonna remember that it wasn’t always that way, that even after the military’s voracious appetite was temporarily sated, your country still managed to find a few bucks to at least educate a workforce. No more. And you’re gonna remember how you applauded when your educational system was twisted in to a test taking industry that is careful, above all, not to teach children how to think.
One day you’re gonna wake up literally sick and tired. You’re gonna want treatment for your maladies but you won’t be able to touch the cost. You’re gonna wonder what you were thinking when believed your country had the best healthcare system in the world, even though it was the only advanced democracy in the world that didn’t provide universal care, even though it devoted fifty percent more of its economy than those other countries to pay for a system that left fifty million people uninsured, and even though there were massive layers of unnecessary and harmful private sector bureaucracy skimming hundreds of billions of dollars of profits out of the system in the name of free enterprise.
One day you’re gonna wake up too tired to go to work anymore. You’re gonna want to retire in dignity but will be left instead to laugh bitterly at the cruelty of that joke. And you’re gonna wonder what in the world you had been thinking voting for a president who’s primary goal was to allow Wall Street to raid Social Security, destroying what had once been considered the most successful domestic program in human history.
One day you’re gonna wake up and wish that it wasn’t so bloody hot, and that there weren’t so many diseases and species eradications and violent storms lashing the planet. And maybe you’ll even remember that you once supported a government that lied about the very existence of global warming – back when it might have been curtailed – a government that scuttled the barest remedy for the problem in order to protect oil company profits.
One day you’re gonna wake up and wish you had a government that could simply and competently do the basic things it was designed for. A government that could protect you from foreign attack, that could come to your rescue after a devastating hurricane, that could properly manage a new program or other people’s security. An administration that didn’t pervert the purpose of every agency within the government to its opposite, using civil rights lawyers to fight civil rights, for example, or the EPA to protect polluters.
One day you’re gonna wake up and cry out for simple justice, blindly applied without bias. And perhaps you’ll remember when that principle died. When your country stood by and watched the politicization of its judicial system for purposes of partisanship, and said nothing. When it stood by and watched its highest law enforcement officials in the land lie about their failing memory of events and pretended to believe that was acceptable.
One day you’re gonna wake up and wish that you weren’t being drafted to go fight wars you don’t believe in. You’ll remember how soldiers were sent to their deaths for lies. You’ll remember how badly they were treated when they came home maimed and twisted. You’ll remember how real, patriotic, former soldiers were mocked and humiliated by dress-up, unpatriotic, former non-soldiers. And suddenly you’ll understand why no one would volunteer for the military anymore, and why people like you had to be drafted.
One day you’re gonna wake up and want very badly to run outside and scream in anger about a government that long ago stopped serving your interests in favor of the narrow interests of a tiny oligarchy. But instead you’ll stay inside and keep your scream tucked safely in your belly. Because you’ll know that in your country dissent has long since been outlawed, on pain of torture and death. You’ll remember concepts like due process, limitations on government search, seizure and wiretapping, habeas corpus, trial by peers, legal representation and prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment as historical artifacts no longer even taught in schools.
On day you’re gonna wake up and want so badly to change governments. You’re gonna treasure the concept of democracy like no Soviet dissident ever did. You’re gonna crave the opportunity to own your own government, to make your own societal choices, to make a change of direction never before so desperately necessary. And you’re gonna wonder why you didn’t speak up as you watched first-hand the dismantling of the democracy you had been handed by previous generations of patriots. You’re gonna wish you had been patriotic enough yourself to demand, above all else, free and fair elections, and you’re gonna shake your head in puzzlement at how you stood by watching in silence those that patently were not.
One day you’re gonna wake up and want to get the hell out of your rotting, repressive country. You’re gonna remember a time when that wasn’t true. But, oddly enough, you’ll find that other countries remember too. They’ll remember your country’s arrogance, its unilateralism, its walls, its racism, and its politicized abuse of immigrants. And they’ll remember how your government undermined and violently replaced theirs whenever corporations from your country had their profits threatened. You’re gonna want to leave, but there will be nowhere you’ll be welcome. You’re gonna find out that walls can face both directions.
One day you’re gonna wake up in a hostile world where your country no longer has any friends. There will be governments of other countries – former long-standing allies – that cannot afford to have anything to do with you, lest their publics angrily remove them from office for collaborating with a country as hated as yours. Nor will those governments trust yours anyway. They will perhaps possess intelligence that could save your life, but they will not share it. They will possess forces that could help you survive real security threats, but they will not provide them. Your country will have become an international pariah, the South Africa of the twenty-first century.
And because no one will assist you, one day you’re gonna wake up fearing for your life as your country is brutally attacked by angry militants deploying weapons of mass destruction against your cities. Long dormant connections in your brain will resurface, and you will dimly understand why. On this day – perhaps March 20, 2023 – you might be assisted in your comprehension by the message of one of the attackers, someone whose family your country callously destroyed in its mission accomplished in Iraq, and who spent the next twenty years plotting this day’s revenge. And you will wonder again why you stood by as your country attacked Iraq on a completely bogus pretext. You’ll remember applauding when this mailed fist was long ago sent. And, just as it comes hurling back in your direction at a lethal velocity, stamped “Return to Sender”, you’ll wonder what you were thinking. And you’ll realize just how much you weren’t.
One day you’re gonna wake up, America, and you’re gonna find out what was happening while you were sprawled on the couch watching endless mind-numbing loops of CSI, Desperate Housewives or Dancing with the Stars.
One day you’re gonna wake up and realize that catching all the action during week seven of the 2011 NFL season really wasn’t so critical in the greater scheme of things after all.
One day you’re gonna wake up and wished you’d invested a little more energy into monitoring and choosing the people who made monumental decisions on your behalf.
One day, with a flash of remorse greater than you thought it possible that one human vessel could contain, you’ll remember the ignored warning shots across your bow. Moments later, you’ll discover the human capacity for searing remorse is actually even greater still, as you contemplate your inattention even to the shots that were fired right through the bow. With a fury you would yesterday have thought yourself incapable of, you’ll hurriedly attempt to affix Band-Aids to the tattered splinters remaining from your country’s once sturdy hull. But you’ll learn quickly the toll of those years spent wasted in a civic coma. You’ll find that no amount of patchwork can any longer save this sinking ship from its appointment with the dustbin of history.
In shame, you’ll regret the callous arrogance with which you laughingly dismissed those who sounded the early clarion call. “We are destroying ourselves”, they tried to tell you. But even on the rare occasion when you roused yourself from your stupor long enough to learn the slightest bit about the very threats that jeopardized your life and that of your species, still you found it more reassuring to follow the blustering worst amongst us, with their patently absurd pretended confidence, and their ever constant resort to the cheapest of false solutions, and the rudest of demeanors.
One day, you’ll desperately search for hope of any sort, but none will remain. Nothing will be left to save you.
One day you’ll realize that once there were solutions, but that that day is now long past. You’ll see that human technological capacity ran its evolutionary race with wisdom, and the latter came in second. You’ll sadly realize that you stood by while your country led the once great tool-making species to its own destruction.
One day you’re gonna wake up, America, and realize how far it’s all gone. But if that day isn’t very soon, it won’t matter.
Because one day you’re gonna wake up, and it will be far, far too late.
***
Hell of an essay, huh. And when that day comes, the worst thing is that I won't be able to take any satisfaction from saying "I TOLD YOU SO".
READ IT!
One day you’re gonna wake up, America.
And, like every other one since last you can remember, it’s gonna be an ugly morning.
One day you’re gonna wake up and go to your lousy job with its lousy salary and non-existent benefits. You might even remember the good job you once had. Or that the government you once supported gave tax breaks to companies like the one that exported that good job of yours to the Third World (which is what they’re now starting to call your country). Or that that same government undermined the labor unions which fought to get you your good wages and benefits.
One day you’re gonna wake up and be furious at the monstrous tax burden you are carrying, a tab which accounts for fifty of the seventy hours you must work each week just to eke by. You might even figure out why your tax bill is so high. You might remember that the government you once supported shifted the tax burden from the rich onto people like you, and from the taxpayers of the time onto those of today. And that they borrowed money in astonishing quantities to fund their sleight-of-hand, so that you work thirty hours a week just to pay the interest on a mountain of money borrowed decades ago.
One day you’re gonna wake up in anger at the absurdly poor education your children are receiving. You’re gonna remember that it wasn’t always that way, that even after the military’s voracious appetite was temporarily sated, your country still managed to find a few bucks to at least educate a workforce. No more. And you’re gonna remember how you applauded when your educational system was twisted in to a test taking industry that is careful, above all, not to teach children how to think.
One day you’re gonna wake up literally sick and tired. You’re gonna want treatment for your maladies but you won’t be able to touch the cost. You’re gonna wonder what you were thinking when believed your country had the best healthcare system in the world, even though it was the only advanced democracy in the world that didn’t provide universal care, even though it devoted fifty percent more of its economy than those other countries to pay for a system that left fifty million people uninsured, and even though there were massive layers of unnecessary and harmful private sector bureaucracy skimming hundreds of billions of dollars of profits out of the system in the name of free enterprise.
One day you’re gonna wake up too tired to go to work anymore. You’re gonna want to retire in dignity but will be left instead to laugh bitterly at the cruelty of that joke. And you’re gonna wonder what in the world you had been thinking voting for a president who’s primary goal was to allow Wall Street to raid Social Security, destroying what had once been considered the most successful domestic program in human history.
One day you’re gonna wake up and wish that it wasn’t so bloody hot, and that there weren’t so many diseases and species eradications and violent storms lashing the planet. And maybe you’ll even remember that you once supported a government that lied about the very existence of global warming – back when it might have been curtailed – a government that scuttled the barest remedy for the problem in order to protect oil company profits.
One day you’re gonna wake up and wish you had a government that could simply and competently do the basic things it was designed for. A government that could protect you from foreign attack, that could come to your rescue after a devastating hurricane, that could properly manage a new program or other people’s security. An administration that didn’t pervert the purpose of every agency within the government to its opposite, using civil rights lawyers to fight civil rights, for example, or the EPA to protect polluters.
One day you’re gonna wake up and cry out for simple justice, blindly applied without bias. And perhaps you’ll remember when that principle died. When your country stood by and watched the politicization of its judicial system for purposes of partisanship, and said nothing. When it stood by and watched its highest law enforcement officials in the land lie about their failing memory of events and pretended to believe that was acceptable.
One day you’re gonna wake up and wish that you weren’t being drafted to go fight wars you don’t believe in. You’ll remember how soldiers were sent to their deaths for lies. You’ll remember how badly they were treated when they came home maimed and twisted. You’ll remember how real, patriotic, former soldiers were mocked and humiliated by dress-up, unpatriotic, former non-soldiers. And suddenly you’ll understand why no one would volunteer for the military anymore, and why people like you had to be drafted.
One day you’re gonna wake up and want very badly to run outside and scream in anger about a government that long ago stopped serving your interests in favor of the narrow interests of a tiny oligarchy. But instead you’ll stay inside and keep your scream tucked safely in your belly. Because you’ll know that in your country dissent has long since been outlawed, on pain of torture and death. You’ll remember concepts like due process, limitations on government search, seizure and wiretapping, habeas corpus, trial by peers, legal representation and prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment as historical artifacts no longer even taught in schools.
On day you’re gonna wake up and want so badly to change governments. You’re gonna treasure the concept of democracy like no Soviet dissident ever did. You’re gonna crave the opportunity to own your own government, to make your own societal choices, to make a change of direction never before so desperately necessary. And you’re gonna wonder why you didn’t speak up as you watched first-hand the dismantling of the democracy you had been handed by previous generations of patriots. You’re gonna wish you had been patriotic enough yourself to demand, above all else, free and fair elections, and you’re gonna shake your head in puzzlement at how you stood by watching in silence those that patently were not.
One day you’re gonna wake up and want to get the hell out of your rotting, repressive country. You’re gonna remember a time when that wasn’t true. But, oddly enough, you’ll find that other countries remember too. They’ll remember your country’s arrogance, its unilateralism, its walls, its racism, and its politicized abuse of immigrants. And they’ll remember how your government undermined and violently replaced theirs whenever corporations from your country had their profits threatened. You’re gonna want to leave, but there will be nowhere you’ll be welcome. You’re gonna find out that walls can face both directions.
One day you’re gonna wake up in a hostile world where your country no longer has any friends. There will be governments of other countries – former long-standing allies – that cannot afford to have anything to do with you, lest their publics angrily remove them from office for collaborating with a country as hated as yours. Nor will those governments trust yours anyway. They will perhaps possess intelligence that could save your life, but they will not share it. They will possess forces that could help you survive real security threats, but they will not provide them. Your country will have become an international pariah, the South Africa of the twenty-first century.
And because no one will assist you, one day you’re gonna wake up fearing for your life as your country is brutally attacked by angry militants deploying weapons of mass destruction against your cities. Long dormant connections in your brain will resurface, and you will dimly understand why. On this day – perhaps March 20, 2023 – you might be assisted in your comprehension by the message of one of the attackers, someone whose family your country callously destroyed in its mission accomplished in Iraq, and who spent the next twenty years plotting this day’s revenge. And you will wonder again why you stood by as your country attacked Iraq on a completely bogus pretext. You’ll remember applauding when this mailed fist was long ago sent. And, just as it comes hurling back in your direction at a lethal velocity, stamped “Return to Sender”, you’ll wonder what you were thinking. And you’ll realize just how much you weren’t.
One day you’re gonna wake up, America, and you’re gonna find out what was happening while you were sprawled on the couch watching endless mind-numbing loops of CSI, Desperate Housewives or Dancing with the Stars.
One day you’re gonna wake up and realize that catching all the action during week seven of the 2011 NFL season really wasn’t so critical in the greater scheme of things after all.
One day you’re gonna wake up and wished you’d invested a little more energy into monitoring and choosing the people who made monumental decisions on your behalf.
One day, with a flash of remorse greater than you thought it possible that one human vessel could contain, you’ll remember the ignored warning shots across your bow. Moments later, you’ll discover the human capacity for searing remorse is actually even greater still, as you contemplate your inattention even to the shots that were fired right through the bow. With a fury you would yesterday have thought yourself incapable of, you’ll hurriedly attempt to affix Band-Aids to the tattered splinters remaining from your country’s once sturdy hull. But you’ll learn quickly the toll of those years spent wasted in a civic coma. You’ll find that no amount of patchwork can any longer save this sinking ship from its appointment with the dustbin of history.
In shame, you’ll regret the callous arrogance with which you laughingly dismissed those who sounded the early clarion call. “We are destroying ourselves”, they tried to tell you. But even on the rare occasion when you roused yourself from your stupor long enough to learn the slightest bit about the very threats that jeopardized your life and that of your species, still you found it more reassuring to follow the blustering worst amongst us, with their patently absurd pretended confidence, and their ever constant resort to the cheapest of false solutions, and the rudest of demeanors.
One day, you’ll desperately search for hope of any sort, but none will remain. Nothing will be left to save you.
One day you’ll realize that once there were solutions, but that that day is now long past. You’ll see that human technological capacity ran its evolutionary race with wisdom, and the latter came in second. You’ll sadly realize that you stood by while your country led the once great tool-making species to its own destruction.
One day you’re gonna wake up, America, and realize how far it’s all gone. But if that day isn’t very soon, it won’t matter.
Because one day you’re gonna wake up, and it will be far, far too late.
***
Hell of an essay, huh. And when that day comes, the worst thing is that I won't be able to take any satisfaction from saying "I TOLD YOU SO".
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Daylight Savings a liberal plot !! Here's proof !!
Connie M Meskimen, from Hot Springs, Arkansas, wrote a letter to her local newspaper complaining about the unusually hot weather in March, and, displaying an intellectual depth others can only envy, explained that the hot weather was due to the fact that Daylight Savings Time started nearly one month early this year, and the extra hour of daylight was causing the extreme warming.
Ms Meskimen went on to blame Congress for not considering the effects of the time change legislation, and suggested it was done as part of a liberal plot to make global warming seem real. Link here:
http://www.nctexasbirds.com/images/hot_news.jpg
Ms Meskimen, in addition to her job as a bottle rocket launch pad, also teaches abstinence-only sex education down to the pre-school, chairs the Arkansas Intelligentsia For Bush, and gets yearly grants from the Exxon Corporation because they value her insights.
Just a caution to my faithful readers--If Ms Meskimens letter makes sense to you, DON'T EVER ADMIT IT.
Ms Meskimen went on to blame Congress for not considering the effects of the time change legislation, and suggested it was done as part of a liberal plot to make global warming seem real. Link here:
http://www.nctexasbirds.com/images/hot_news.jpg
Ms Meskimen, in addition to her job as a bottle rocket launch pad, also teaches abstinence-only sex education down to the pre-school, chairs the Arkansas Intelligentsia For Bush, and gets yearly grants from the Exxon Corporation because they value her insights.
Just a caution to my faithful readers--If Ms Meskimens letter makes sense to you, DON'T EVER ADMIT IT.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Boehner -Shameless Two-faced Party-line Animal
This one is over the top, even for Boehner. Boehner, a totally partisan mouthpiece for the Bush administration, is one of a chorus of Republican lawbreakers (oops-lawmakers) who have been spouting the party line that the Democrats are guaranteeing defeat in Iraq by insisting on a withdrawal date as a condition for war funding. This despite having voted in the past for de-funding and early withdrawal from Somalia in 1993.
Other top Republican officials have done the same thing in past conflicts, including John McCain and Jon Kyl . Even Dear Leader Bush blasted President Clinton because he didn't set a timetable for leaving Kosovo. But Boehner is in a class by himself. This shameless shill had the gall, despite his votes on Somalia, to give a speech on the House floor again blaming the Dems for passing a funding bill with a deadline, and actually referred to Somalia as an example of a country we didn't have courage to stay in.
Thanks to Think Progress for their article and video clip.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/27/boehner-somalia
You know, I just gotta find a better word for "hypocrite". I can't write anything anymore without needing to use it, and though it's spot on accurate, it's becoming worn out from overuse. Any suggestions?
Other top Republican officials have done the same thing in past conflicts, including John McCain and Jon Kyl . Even Dear Leader Bush blasted President Clinton because he didn't set a timetable for leaving Kosovo. But Boehner is in a class by himself. This shameless shill had the gall, despite his votes on Somalia, to give a speech on the House floor again blaming the Dems for passing a funding bill with a deadline, and actually referred to Somalia as an example of a country we didn't have courage to stay in.
Thanks to Think Progress for their article and video clip.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/27/boehner-somalia
You know, I just gotta find a better word for "hypocrite". I can't write anything anymore without needing to use it, and though it's spot on accurate, it's becoming worn out from overuse. Any suggestions?
Onward Christian Traitors
Waaaay back on Feb 3rd, I posted a little essay about the rapid and dangerous infiltration of our armed services by radical Christians, who now hold a disproportionate number of chaplaincies, and have in place a large cadre rising through the officer corps as well. These zealots openly place "serving God" ahead of "family", and more importantly, the Constitution. Link here:
http://carpebaloney.blogspot.com/2007/02/army-of-god-attacking-us.html
Now I've found an article by Bruce Wilson on the Talk to Action website which shows several examples of the problems we face from these people.
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2007/4/21/113553/663
By their actions within the military,they are damaging the security they are tasked with providing for the United States, and at the same time, are closely allied with religious extremists plotting "Armageddon".
Trust me when I say that I would feel infinitely safer if every one of these scum were replaced with gays, whose "agenda"(whateverinhellthatis) I'm sure, does not include either treason or ending life on Earth. Remember, if our country falls it will be from within, and this threat may be the most serious of them all.
http://carpebaloney.blogspot.com/2007/02/army-of-god-attacking-us.html
Now I've found an article by Bruce Wilson on the Talk to Action website which shows several examples of the problems we face from these people.
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2007/4/21/113553/663
By their actions within the military,they are damaging the security they are tasked with providing for the United States, and at the same time, are closely allied with religious extremists plotting "Armageddon".
Trust me when I say that I would feel infinitely safer if every one of these scum were replaced with gays, whose "agenda"(whateverinhellthatis) I'm sure, does not include either treason or ending life on Earth. Remember, if our country falls it will be from within, and this threat may be the most serious of them all.
Regent U.-only the best and brightest
Monica Goodling is a central figure in the widening scandals concerning the political firings (and hirings) of U.S. Attorneys General by the Department of Justice. She was the third highest person in the DOJ until she abruptly resigned her position. She was subsequently subpoenaed by the committee investigating the USAG purge, and pleaded the Fifth amendment. That committee just offered her immunity to compel her testimony about what she knows. It will be interesting to see if she can bring herself to tell the truth.
Ms Goodling is an attorney, as evidenced by the diploma which she "earned" at Regent University, having gone there after graduating from Messiah College. Regent U. is a law school founded in 1986 by televangelist businessman Pat Robertson, so you know that God must have told him to start the school. I'm giving you two video links here, one by Bill Maher, who dissects Regents ties to the Bush Administration, and the other from Jon Stewarts The Daily Show, who also destroys them, but with just a little more humor.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/14/maher-blasts-regent-law-schools-transformation-of-the-doj/
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/27/daily-show-monica-goodling-and-pat-robertson-university/
Despite the way this subject is treated in these clips, this is a very serious matter, as is points up the right-wing Christian supremacists ongoing under-the-radar efforts to place as many of their people into the government as they can to advance their drive for a theocratic state. It also illustrates the eagerness of the Bush Administration to hire poorly-educated ideologues to help advance their OWN agenda, which includes creating a permanent Republican majority and subverting every government agency to that end. Soulless traitorous bastards kinda nails it for me.
Ms Goodling is an attorney, as evidenced by the diploma which she "earned" at Regent University, having gone there after graduating from Messiah College. Regent U. is a law school founded in 1986 by televangelist businessman Pat Robertson, so you know that God must have told him to start the school. I'm giving you two video links here, one by Bill Maher, who dissects Regents ties to the Bush Administration, and the other from Jon Stewarts The Daily Show, who also destroys them, but with just a little more humor.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/14/maher-blasts-regent-law-schools-transformation-of-the-doj/
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/27/daily-show-monica-goodling-and-pat-robertson-university/
Despite the way this subject is treated in these clips, this is a very serious matter, as is points up the right-wing Christian supremacists ongoing under-the-radar efforts to place as many of their people into the government as they can to advance their drive for a theocratic state. It also illustrates the eagerness of the Bush Administration to hire poorly-educated ideologues to help advance their OWN agenda, which includes creating a permanent Republican majority and subverting every government agency to that end. Soulless traitorous bastards kinda nails it for me.
Global warming and the Republican hot air machine
I watched a PBS Frontline show a few nights ago about global warming. It contained in-depth interviews and video footage showing the pattern of lies, deceit, distortions, backstabbings and betrayals by the Bush administration regarding the whole issue. You have to see it-I'm going to give you a link, but I don't know how long it will be up.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hotpolitics/interviews/luntz.html
The link to PBS and frontline also contains a printed interview with Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster and general whore. The interview was shown on the same program and is particularly noteworthy, because it was Luntz, who in the mid-1990s, that came up with the memo instructing Republicans to take every opportunity to dispute the science about global warming. They are still following his advice to this day.Luntz is the same guy who came up the the phrase "deep sea exploration" for offshore drilling, and the infamous "death tax" for the estate tax. He's a" hack of a guy" who has done tremendous damage to the truth on many issues, and is immensely proud of his skill. What an arrogant prick!
Follow through these links and you will learn what deception really is, and how the Republicans excel at it.
As an aside, here's a little news to show that there's a good side to global warming. You remember all those heart-wrenching pictures of helpless baby harp seals being clubbed to death for their fur? Well, it seems that thanks to global warming, that annual slaughter may soon come to an end! Isn't that great!
Yep, it seems that the seals must be born onto ice thick enough to support them until they can fend for themselves, and the ice just isn't lasting long enough now to do the job, so the baby seals are drowning before they can be clubbed. Good news, indeed.
Just ran across this link to Media Matters titled Global Warming: Misinformation Action Center.
http://mediamatters.org/action_center/global_warming/
If you're smart, you'll bookmark this site, read it, and sign up for their e-mail updates.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hotpolitics/interviews/luntz.html
The link to PBS and frontline also contains a printed interview with Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster and general whore. The interview was shown on the same program and is particularly noteworthy, because it was Luntz, who in the mid-1990s, that came up with the memo instructing Republicans to take every opportunity to dispute the science about global warming. They are still following his advice to this day.Luntz is the same guy who came up the the phrase "deep sea exploration" for offshore drilling, and the infamous "death tax" for the estate tax. He's a" hack of a guy" who has done tremendous damage to the truth on many issues, and is immensely proud of his skill. What an arrogant prick!
Follow through these links and you will learn what deception really is, and how the Republicans excel at it.
As an aside, here's a little news to show that there's a good side to global warming. You remember all those heart-wrenching pictures of helpless baby harp seals being clubbed to death for their fur? Well, it seems that thanks to global warming, that annual slaughter may soon come to an end! Isn't that great!
Yep, it seems that the seals must be born onto ice thick enough to support them until they can fend for themselves, and the ice just isn't lasting long enough now to do the job, so the baby seals are drowning before they can be clubbed. Good news, indeed.
Just ran across this link to Media Matters titled Global Warming: Misinformation Action Center.
http://mediamatters.org/action_center/global_warming/
If you're smart, you'll bookmark this site, read it, and sign up for their e-mail updates.
Limbaugh's oKKK -might get a Grammy
Racist references permeate the right-wing media machine, especially talk radio, and Rush Limbaugh leads the pack. I'm not an Obama supporter, but what Limbaughs latest attempt at political "humor" speaks to doesn't come close to politics. It is a clear signal to the racist elements in our society that racism will always have a home in the Republican party. Those bastards work overtime to both play up fears of and make fun of blacks, gays, liberals, Arabs, Asians, and Mexicans , and to undo the painstakingly slow progress we have made in this country against inequality based on discrimination. They thrive on divisiveness, regardless of the damage it does, because it gets them votes.
Here is a link to an audio file of a recent Limbaugh program on which a "parody" got prominent play. It's called Barack the Magic Negro.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/27/breaking-limbaughs-barack-the-magic-negro-on-air-song-has-staffers-up-in-arms/
This disgusting piece of shit (the song-not Limbaugh) has actually ruffled a few feathers. Can you imagine!Some people of color, including some who work for Limbaugh, are really offended.
I can imagine Limbaughs explanation--"What? You mean that these folks are actually black? If I had known that, I never would have played that song. I thought they were just wetbacks in blackface using affirmative action to get hired".
Remember, this program has had as guests many top Republicans, including Bush and Cheney, and if they don't quickly and clearly repudiate Limbaugh for his blatant racism, they can never make any claim about supporting equal rights or civil rights or representing a majority of Americans. And forget any posturing about the "moral high ground".
If any of you have been voting Republican, you should try real hard to reclaim your humanity. If this doesn't make you feel dirty, I don't think you can be redeemed.
Here is a link to an audio file of a recent Limbaugh program on which a "parody" got prominent play. It's called Barack the Magic Negro.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/27/breaking-limbaughs-barack-the-magic-negro-on-air-song-has-staffers-up-in-arms/
This disgusting piece of shit (the song-not Limbaugh) has actually ruffled a few feathers. Can you imagine!Some people of color, including some who work for Limbaugh, are really offended.
I can imagine Limbaughs explanation--"What? You mean that these folks are actually black? If I had known that, I never would have played that song. I thought they were just wetbacks in blackface using affirmative action to get hired".
Remember, this program has had as guests many top Republicans, including Bush and Cheney, and if they don't quickly and clearly repudiate Limbaugh for his blatant racism, they can never make any claim about supporting equal rights or civil rights or representing a majority of Americans. And forget any posturing about the "moral high ground".
If any of you have been voting Republican, you should try real hard to reclaim your humanity. If this doesn't make you feel dirty, I don't think you can be redeemed.
Mike Gravel speaks for me
Whaddya know, Dennis Kucinich isn't the only presidential candidate who has the guts to tell the absolute truth. Here's a link to a You Tube video highlighting former Senator Gravel at the Democratic debate held at South Carolina State. Someone really does have a "Straight Talk Express", but it sure as Hell isn't John McCain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gMlHv2lDqA
Wanna know how to get out of Iraq? Wanna know about nuking Iran? How about nuclear proliferation? Maybe something about the influence of the military-industrial complex? Or how about something you can really use, like the perfect response to the fools who say we can't leave Iraq because "our soldiers will have died in vain".
Don't ever shut up, Sen. Gravel, even though most of the other candidates treated your comments lightly. Like all the Republicans, some of the Democrats simply can't handle the truth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gMlHv2lDqA
Wanna know how to get out of Iraq? Wanna know about nuking Iran? How about nuclear proliferation? Maybe something about the influence of the military-industrial complex? Or how about something you can really use, like the perfect response to the fools who say we can't leave Iraq because "our soldiers will have died in vain".
Don't ever shut up, Sen. Gravel, even though most of the other candidates treated your comments lightly. Like all the Republicans, some of the Democrats simply can't handle the truth.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Eau de Dough--It's Heaven scent
Play those suckers like a heavenly harp! Some imaginative types have introduced a new perfume called Virtue. It's designed to suck bucks from the uber-gullible, like Fundamentalist Republicans who'll believe anything they're told as long as it sounds good.
I picked this up from the Pensito Review:
Is That Christ I Smell?
Posted by Trish Apr. 26, 2007, 11:18 am
Want to literally smell divine? Thanks to a new perfume, which supposedly mimics the scent given off by Christ and the saints, you can!
The makers of “Virtue” say they were guided by the Lord in picking their product’s name, ingredients — including apricot, fig, pomegranate, frankincense, and myrrh — logo and bottle design. Who knew Jesus was such a marketing whiz?
We turned to the Bible and let Spirit guide us through the process of picking and choosing the right elements to include in the fragrance…
What was right? When the Spirit let us know, through both, an inner knowing and outer worldly confirmation. The worldly confirmation was a process of holding to our Inspirations, even when our “deadlines” were not met. Holding our Faith, when money and circumstances were not always in alignment with our intent to move ahead. Even, when our suppliers delayed us by either internal practices or personal bias.
Well isn’t that commendable? These folks soldiered on because it was their mission to bring a new perfume to the world. A perfume that costs only $80 per 1.7 ounce bottle. And for which Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and PayPal are accepted. I’m inspired!
The thing is, you want to smell right when you commune with your creator.
…if you choose to use is as it’s creators intended, it’s a simple matter. Spray your wrist(s) and prepare yourself to begin a spiritual practice that you are familiar with; prayer, meditation, contemplation, etc…
All the while, Feel, in the Stillness, the Presence that is your Spiritual Self. Smell your wrist. Let Virtue’s scent wrap this Awareness with it’s unique character that is slowly transitioning into your own Signature version of Virtue®. In time, your association with the fragrance will give you the ability to transition to a Spiritually Centered state, almost instantaneously. For Christians, we call this practicing the Presence of God, the Holy Spirit or Christ. Being Christ Centered.
Jesus should lead them to a good copywriter.
Fundraising opportunities are available, in case your church or faith-based initiative wants to buy into this hooey. In the meantime, the makers are getting on beauty pageant sponsor lists by awarding bottles to winners in the Miss Anaheim and Miss California contests.
The only fragrance I’m sniffing is horseshit — and bald greed. ( end)
**
Anything for a buck. Personally, I wouldn't buy this without a notarized certificate of authenticity signed by God Himself, but sometimes I get a little cynical. I should realize that these people would never lie about being guided by the Lord, but my faith isn't strong enough. If you want to get some though, you have my blessing. You'll go straight to Heaven when you die, and will smell so good that God will probably make a pass at you. Really!
I picked this up from the Pensito Review:
Is That Christ I Smell?
Posted by Trish Apr. 26, 2007, 11:18 am
Want to literally smell divine? Thanks to a new perfume, which supposedly mimics the scent given off by Christ and the saints, you can!
The makers of “Virtue” say they were guided by the Lord in picking their product’s name, ingredients — including apricot, fig, pomegranate, frankincense, and myrrh — logo and bottle design. Who knew Jesus was such a marketing whiz?
We turned to the Bible and let Spirit guide us through the process of picking and choosing the right elements to include in the fragrance…
What was right? When the Spirit let us know, through both, an inner knowing and outer worldly confirmation. The worldly confirmation was a process of holding to our Inspirations, even when our “deadlines” were not met. Holding our Faith, when money and circumstances were not always in alignment with our intent to move ahead. Even, when our suppliers delayed us by either internal practices or personal bias.
Well isn’t that commendable? These folks soldiered on because it was their mission to bring a new perfume to the world. A perfume that costs only $80 per 1.7 ounce bottle. And for which Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and PayPal are accepted. I’m inspired!
The thing is, you want to smell right when you commune with your creator.
…if you choose to use is as it’s creators intended, it’s a simple matter. Spray your wrist(s) and prepare yourself to begin a spiritual practice that you are familiar with; prayer, meditation, contemplation, etc…
All the while, Feel, in the Stillness, the Presence that is your Spiritual Self. Smell your wrist. Let Virtue’s scent wrap this Awareness with it’s unique character that is slowly transitioning into your own Signature version of Virtue®. In time, your association with the fragrance will give you the ability to transition to a Spiritually Centered state, almost instantaneously. For Christians, we call this practicing the Presence of God, the Holy Spirit or Christ. Being Christ Centered.
Jesus should lead them to a good copywriter.
Fundraising opportunities are available, in case your church or faith-based initiative wants to buy into this hooey. In the meantime, the makers are getting on beauty pageant sponsor lists by awarding bottles to winners in the Miss Anaheim and Miss California contests.
The only fragrance I’m sniffing is horseshit — and bald greed. ( end)
**
Anything for a buck. Personally, I wouldn't buy this without a notarized certificate of authenticity signed by God Himself, but sometimes I get a little cynical. I should realize that these people would never lie about being guided by the Lord, but my faith isn't strong enough. If you want to get some though, you have my blessing. You'll go straight to Heaven when you die, and will smell so good that God will probably make a pass at you. Really!
Fascist America, in 10 easy steps
I know what I know,but as a "writer" my biggest difficulty is organizing my thoughts in a coherent fashion so that they can be presented and understood by those who read them. I fully recognize that others are much better at this, so when I see an article on a subject that is as important to me as it should be to you, and written with more clarity and logic than I could ever muster, I am going to do us both a service and refer you to it. This is a case in point.
Naomi Wolf, writing in The Guardian, uses examples of how other dictatorships have come into being around the world, and draws chilling parallels showing that the U.S. is well along the same dark path.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064157,00.html
If you value freedom, if you value democracy, if you value the lives of yourself and others, don't dare pass this off as a malcontents rant. Get involved in any way that you can to help stop and reverse this awful slide into a police state. Scream and shout, write to the newspapers, contact your elected officials (constantly), join activist organizations like the ACLU, MoveOn.org,People For the American Way, Progressive States, etc. Passivity is another form of suicide, so don't be lazy or claim you're too busy, because your freedoms will be much harder to regain than they were to lose.
Naomi Wolf, writing in The Guardian, uses examples of how other dictatorships have come into being around the world, and draws chilling parallels showing that the U.S. is well along the same dark path.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064157,00.html
If you value freedom, if you value democracy, if you value the lives of yourself and others, don't dare pass this off as a malcontents rant. Get involved in any way that you can to help stop and reverse this awful slide into a police state. Scream and shout, write to the newspapers, contact your elected officials (constantly), join activist organizations like the ACLU, MoveOn.org,People For the American Way, Progressive States, etc. Passivity is another form of suicide, so don't be lazy or claim you're too busy, because your freedoms will be much harder to regain than they were to lose.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Bush gets a Purple Heart--WAY TO GO GEORGE!
Bill Thomas and his wife, Georgia, met with President Bush at the White House for 20 minutes recently, and gave Bush one of three Purple Hearts Thomas had been awarded during the Viet Nam war.
http://www.thecoveherald.com/page3.html
Thomas was thrilled at the opportunity to present the medal. He and his wife also got to meet Barney, the Presidents dog.
Mr Thomas did not specify exactly the reasons that he awarded Bush the medal. It may have been that Bush sprained his ankle in his haste to go AWOL from his National Guard service, or it might have been for all the well-deserved flak he has taken about leading us into an illegal war that so far has killed over 3,000 of Mr. Thomas's brothers-in-arms.
I have never served in the military, but have enormous respect for those who have, and have always felt that medals earned by their recipients were badges of honor bestowed on behalf of a grateful nation as recognition for service above and beyond the call of duty.
If I held a medal, especially a Purple Heart for injuries received in combat, I would feel that Mr Thomas's action had insulted and dishonored the medal I had earned, and would be sorely tempted to throw it away.
By this time Bush has probably given the medal to Barney for a chew toy.
http://www.thecoveherald.com/page3.html
Thomas was thrilled at the opportunity to present the medal. He and his wife also got to meet Barney, the Presidents dog.
Mr Thomas did not specify exactly the reasons that he awarded Bush the medal. It may have been that Bush sprained his ankle in his haste to go AWOL from his National Guard service, or it might have been for all the well-deserved flak he has taken about leading us into an illegal war that so far has killed over 3,000 of Mr. Thomas's brothers-in-arms.
I have never served in the military, but have enormous respect for those who have, and have always felt that medals earned by their recipients were badges of honor bestowed on behalf of a grateful nation as recognition for service above and beyond the call of duty.
If I held a medal, especially a Purple Heart for injuries received in combat, I would feel that Mr Thomas's action had insulted and dishonored the medal I had earned, and would be sorely tempted to throw it away.
By this time Bush has probably given the medal to Barney for a chew toy.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
DOJ-- ignorance and disdain rule Gonzo's world
The blogosphere is exploding with new revelations and speculations about the firing of the U.S.Attorneys for partisan political reasons. Even the mainstream media are exploring this scandal more and more, as it reveals a very widespread problem with the administration of impartial justice. If you are not yet aware of this scandal, which reaches at least as far as Karl Rove, you are comatose, so I am not going to bore you with all the juicy details. Anyway, much more will come out in the near future, and it will definitely dominate the news, almost as much as Anna Nicole Smith.
Rather, I would like you to read two really good articles that provide perspective on "purgegate". They were both published on 4/16/07 on Law.com.
The first is an in-depth interview with Daniel J. Metcalfe, a highly respected career attorney with the DOJ, who recently retired after more than 30 years in the department. Mr Metcalfe, who is a registered Independent, offers some very telling views on the culture at DOJ under Alberto Gonzalez, and how it differs from all of the previous AG's. It aint pretty, but it explains the thinking and the processes that go on in a politicized department staffed with inexperienced ideologues, who don't understand the law and show disdain for government procedures.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1176455062969
The second piece gives background information Preet Bharara, Senator Chuck Schumer's chief counsel, who is the man most responsible for running the Senate investigation. It also gives a synopsis of the investigation thus far.
http://www.law.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/View&c=LawArticle&cid=1176455065937&t=LawArticle
Both articles are well worth the read, and will help you understand events as they unfold.
Rather, I would like you to read two really good articles that provide perspective on "purgegate". They were both published on 4/16/07 on Law.com.
The first is an in-depth interview with Daniel J. Metcalfe, a highly respected career attorney with the DOJ, who recently retired after more than 30 years in the department. Mr Metcalfe, who is a registered Independent, offers some very telling views on the culture at DOJ under Alberto Gonzalez, and how it differs from all of the previous AG's. It aint pretty, but it explains the thinking and the processes that go on in a politicized department staffed with inexperienced ideologues, who don't understand the law and show disdain for government procedures.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1176455062969
The second piece gives background information Preet Bharara, Senator Chuck Schumer's chief counsel, who is the man most responsible for running the Senate investigation. It also gives a synopsis of the investigation thus far.
http://www.law.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/View&c=LawArticle&cid=1176455065937&t=LawArticle
Both articles are well worth the read, and will help you understand events as they unfold.
FEMA-- The bungle boys bungle along
This is what happens when you staff a critical Federal agency with political hacks.FEMA used to be run by highly trained professionals, at least during the Clinton administration, but since Bush took office, the agency has been virtually destroyed by the party loyalists placed into top management positions as rewards for their fealty. We all know the horror of Katrina and the gross mismanagement of Michael(heckuva job) Brown and others, who were not prepared in any way for a quick response to that 2005 disaster. Unfortunately, FEMA today is in no better shape than it was then. The agency is riddled with problems ranging from lack of logistical coordination to fraud to massive waste. Here is a Washington Post article by Spencer Hsu:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202411.html?hpid=topnews
I won't mention the many Katrina related foul-ups that cost the taxpayers billions of dollars, but will show how far the agency has progressed since they pledged to improve their ability to respond to disasters as ordered by Congress.
The article reveals a few of the problems that have come to light. For example, Fema managers, anticipating a busy hurricane season in 2006, and determined to avoid the criticism that surrounded Katrina, loaded the area up with massive amounts of food, water and ice. The only problem is that they failed to take into account that they did not have enough storage for all of these supplies, and when they weren't used because of the mild season, over $40 million in food rotted and had to be thrown away.
In addition, two FEMA staffers are being investigated for misappropriating money for unauthorized purchases. No names have been made public yet.
One neat bit of possible illegality, so common in this administration, concerns a $71 million no-bid contract awarded to a Georgia firm in 2005 to develop a system that would enable Fema to track all shipments from their warehouses, similar to what FedEx uses. This system was to have been in place in mid 2006, but the first phase has been pushed back to 2009 so far.
The contract was given to a company named Stratix, who was favored by FEMAs chief operating officer, Kenneth O. Burris, Jr. He is no longer employed by FEMA, having been hired into an executive position by Stratix, in what I am sure is nothing but the merest coincidence.
Impropriety, illegality,waste and mismanagement, thanks to Mr Bush and company, remain the hallmarks of Fema today. If we have another disaster in the U.S., the folks affected won't be able to count any government help.
Next election, vote for people who at least have some concern for the welfare of our citizens-vote Democrat!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202411.html?hpid=topnews
I won't mention the many Katrina related foul-ups that cost the taxpayers billions of dollars, but will show how far the agency has progressed since they pledged to improve their ability to respond to disasters as ordered by Congress.
The article reveals a few of the problems that have come to light. For example, Fema managers, anticipating a busy hurricane season in 2006, and determined to avoid the criticism that surrounded Katrina, loaded the area up with massive amounts of food, water and ice. The only problem is that they failed to take into account that they did not have enough storage for all of these supplies, and when they weren't used because of the mild season, over $40 million in food rotted and had to be thrown away.
In addition, two FEMA staffers are being investigated for misappropriating money for unauthorized purchases. No names have been made public yet.
One neat bit of possible illegality, so common in this administration, concerns a $71 million no-bid contract awarded to a Georgia firm in 2005 to develop a system that would enable Fema to track all shipments from their warehouses, similar to what FedEx uses. This system was to have been in place in mid 2006, but the first phase has been pushed back to 2009 so far.
The contract was given to a company named Stratix, who was favored by FEMAs chief operating officer, Kenneth O. Burris, Jr. He is no longer employed by FEMA, having been hired into an executive position by Stratix, in what I am sure is nothing but the merest coincidence.
Impropriety, illegality,waste and mismanagement, thanks to Mr Bush and company, remain the hallmarks of Fema today. If we have another disaster in the U.S., the folks affected won't be able to count any government help.
Next election, vote for people who at least have some concern for the welfare of our citizens-vote Democrat!
Sex education mis-directed, Dobson says
A detailed Federal study just released compared students who had received "abstinence-only" sex education with students who had not, and found no difference in the sexual habits of the two groups. Here's a link to a 164 page pdf file containing the full report, with the relevant summary on page 17:http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/PDFs/impactabstinence.pdf
The study shows that teens who had received "abstinence-only" sex education : 1) were just as likely to have sex; 2) had just as many sexual partners; 3) started having sex at the same age; and 4) had the same amount of unprotected sex.
Other studies have suggested that many teens resort to anal sex, unaware that while it may help to avoid pregnancy, it does nothing to stem the epidemic rates of sexually transmitted disease. In that regard, anal sex is still a crap chute.
It is clear that the concerted effort to destroy the First Amendment separation of church and state by insinuating "abstinence-only" education into our public schools should be stopped immediately, as this religion-based curriculum has been proven to be without merit.
Even the right-wing ultra conservative Christian groups who have pushed hard for abstinence education would seem to agree. Dr James Dobson, head of the powerful organization Focus on the Money, sent a letter to his followers acknowledging the failure of their efforts, but indicates that he now has a deeper understanding of the causes of teenage sex. I obtained a copy from a mole in the Bush administrations Office of Faith-Based Fallacies , and am reprinting it below.
To my faithful contributors,
I have recently learned that the "abstinence-only" sex education courses we had been so successful in getting inserted in to the public school curriculum have failed to produce the desired results. It appears that the problem of teen sex is the same regardless of the method of sex education that is taught. I have anguished over the failure of our pet program, trying to understand how we blew it so badly, but God has appeared to me and explained it.
We have been teaching these kids about Gods wish that sexual congress be avoided until sanctified by marriage. You know-"no fun until one", which is clearly explained in Scripture. However, I now know that teens are NOT responsible for their promiscuous behavior, and we have been preaching to them for naught.
Teens, God told me, are unwilling and unwitting carriers of EVIL THINGS lurking in their bodies, that they cannot control. We have something called "hormones", and while many of them are good for us, there are two HELL-SPAWNED DEMONS. They are named Estrogen and Testosterone, and it is they who make the "bad thing" happen. That these demons really exist should have been obvious, because we even use the word "horny" to describe the victims of their handiwork. It is they who create in their unwilling hosts the overwhelming feelings of lust and desire that must be sated even if it means eternal damnation.
Thus, my friends, it is clear that it is not the children, but the demons with whom we must communicate directly and convince to screw off. I have been praying hard on teen sex most of my adult life, just as many of you have. However, it is now time for me to take a more hands-on approach with teen sex. I must and I will learn how to talk with these demons, even if I have to get right in there with them. Doing Gods work is never easy, but I am his willing servant, and will gird my loins for this effort.
Please help my loin-girding by making a generous love offering today. It is vital that my research be as well-endowed as I am, and I can't wait to get started.
Once I have plumbed the depths of the teen sex thing, and satisfied myself that I have solved the demon-convincing angle, it will be easy to thrust our newly developed program back into the schools as an integral part of the Leave No Childs Behind Act. We can call it "teaching to the testes".
Pray for the day of our return.
The study shows that teens who had received "abstinence-only" sex education : 1) were just as likely to have sex; 2) had just as many sexual partners; 3) started having sex at the same age; and 4) had the same amount of unprotected sex.
Other studies have suggested that many teens resort to anal sex, unaware that while it may help to avoid pregnancy, it does nothing to stem the epidemic rates of sexually transmitted disease. In that regard, anal sex is still a crap chute.
It is clear that the concerted effort to destroy the First Amendment separation of church and state by insinuating "abstinence-only" education into our public schools should be stopped immediately, as this religion-based curriculum has been proven to be without merit.
Even the right-wing ultra conservative Christian groups who have pushed hard for abstinence education would seem to agree. Dr James Dobson, head of the powerful organization Focus on the Money, sent a letter to his followers acknowledging the failure of their efforts, but indicates that he now has a deeper understanding of the causes of teenage sex. I obtained a copy from a mole in the Bush administrations Office of Faith-Based Fallacies , and am reprinting it below.
To my faithful contributors,
I have recently learned that the "abstinence-only" sex education courses we had been so successful in getting inserted in to the public school curriculum have failed to produce the desired results. It appears that the problem of teen sex is the same regardless of the method of sex education that is taught. I have anguished over the failure of our pet program, trying to understand how we blew it so badly, but God has appeared to me and explained it.
We have been teaching these kids about Gods wish that sexual congress be avoided until sanctified by marriage. You know-"no fun until one", which is clearly explained in Scripture. However, I now know that teens are NOT responsible for their promiscuous behavior, and we have been preaching to them for naught.
Teens, God told me, are unwilling and unwitting carriers of EVIL THINGS lurking in their bodies, that they cannot control. We have something called "hormones", and while many of them are good for us, there are two HELL-SPAWNED DEMONS. They are named Estrogen and Testosterone, and it is they who make the "bad thing" happen. That these demons really exist should have been obvious, because we even use the word "horny" to describe the victims of their handiwork. It is they who create in their unwilling hosts the overwhelming feelings of lust and desire that must be sated even if it means eternal damnation.
Thus, my friends, it is clear that it is not the children, but the demons with whom we must communicate directly and convince to screw off. I have been praying hard on teen sex most of my adult life, just as many of you have. However, it is now time for me to take a more hands-on approach with teen sex. I must and I will learn how to talk with these demons, even if I have to get right in there with them. Doing Gods work is never easy, but I am his willing servant, and will gird my loins for this effort.
Please help my loin-girding by making a generous love offering today. It is vital that my research be as well-endowed as I am, and I can't wait to get started.
Once I have plumbed the depths of the teen sex thing, and satisfied myself that I have solved the demon-convincing angle, it will be easy to thrust our newly developed program back into the schools as an integral part of the Leave No Childs Behind Act. We can call it "teaching to the testes".
Pray for the day of our return.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Capitalism works, but not for you
Washington Post op-ed columnist Harold Meyerson has written a thoughtful, disgusting little article about the Circuit City plan to fire 3,400 sales clerks simply because they make too much money, and to replace them with entry-level employees.
Meyerson uses this to illustrate how American businesses consider loyalty, job performance, and longevity to be detrimental to their bottom lines, and increasingly view their employees as totally expendable. He also points out that total income rose 9% in 2005 over 2004, but ALL of the increase went to the wealthiest 10% of Americans. The bottom 90% actually LOST 0.6% in the same period.
There was a time when a rising tide of prosperity lifted all boats, but now it just lifts yachts. If the trend continues unchecked, there will no longer be "wage slaves", because there won't be any wages.
Any of my faithful readers who may be affected negatively by the Republicans whorish adoration of the wealthy might want to think twice about voting for them because they're against gay marriage or some other phony issue.
Here is Meyerson's article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/10/AR2007041001309.html
Meyerson uses this to illustrate how American businesses consider loyalty, job performance, and longevity to be detrimental to their bottom lines, and increasingly view their employees as totally expendable. He also points out that total income rose 9% in 2005 over 2004, but ALL of the increase went to the wealthiest 10% of Americans. The bottom 90% actually LOST 0.6% in the same period.
There was a time when a rising tide of prosperity lifted all boats, but now it just lifts yachts. If the trend continues unchecked, there will no longer be "wage slaves", because there won't be any wages.
Any of my faithful readers who may be affected negatively by the Republicans whorish adoration of the wealthy might want to think twice about voting for them because they're against gay marriage or some other phony issue.
Here is Meyerson's article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/10/AR2007041001309.html
Green Zone bombing reddens faces
A suicide bomber infiltrated the cafeteria at the Iraqi parliament building today, killing at least two Iraqi legislators and wounding many others. The building is located inside the super-secure super-fortified "Green Zone" in Baghdad, long thought to be impenetrable by terrorists and insurgents, and is the supposed safe haven for U.S. and Iraqi officials. Guess not now.
Initial reports blame Al Qaeda for the bombing, and it may be true, because the Iraqis don't like them any more than we do. Who was responsible doesn't matter so much as how they managed to do it, given all the extra troops Bush surged in to make the city safe and secure.
Any time you hear happy talk about how the surge is working, remember this incident. If Bush and the boys can't even make this one comparatively small area safe, you know damned well that they can't do it anywhere.
I'm curious how they're going to spin this one to show we're on the road to success. "Temporary setback"."Isolated incident". "Proves they're desperate"."Definitely the last throes -they're almost out of suicide bombers". "If they're bombing the Green Zone, it's because they're afraid to go into the neighborhoods where we're operating". Etc. Etc.
Oh well, death goes on.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070412/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=ArqQe.7tPzCoJqCjnwJvunnMWM0F
Initial reports blame Al Qaeda for the bombing, and it may be true, because the Iraqis don't like them any more than we do. Who was responsible doesn't matter so much as how they managed to do it, given all the extra troops Bush surged in to make the city safe and secure.
Any time you hear happy talk about how the surge is working, remember this incident. If Bush and the boys can't even make this one comparatively small area safe, you know damned well that they can't do it anywhere.
I'm curious how they're going to spin this one to show we're on the road to success. "Temporary setback"."Isolated incident". "Proves they're desperate"."Definitely the last throes -they're almost out of suicide bombers". "If they're bombing the Green Zone, it's because they're afraid to go into the neighborhoods where we're operating". Etc. Etc.
Oh well, death goes on.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070412/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=ArqQe.7tPzCoJqCjnwJvunnMWM0F
Dan Burton-Mr. Hypocrazy himself
Representative Dan Burton(R-IN) is one of a number of Republicans who have been spinning the line warning Democrats about issuing subpoenas in a partisan witch hunt. Holy moley, Battyman! Methinks you are guilty of partisan hackery! A little double double standard standard music, please.
Burton was one of the most prolific abusers of subpoena power EVER. While the Clinton impeachment hearings were going on, he subpoenaed over 140 people, investigating anything he could think of. He even held ten days of hearings on the White House Christmas card list!. This clown is also well-remembered for a news event at his Indiana farm, where he shot watermelons trying to prove that Vince Foster was murdered, not a suicide.
Link to Raw Storyhttp://rawstory.com/news/2007/Republican_who_probed_Clinton_White_House_0410.html
Neither Burton nor any other House Republican has any right to claim some kind of high ground now, not after what they did to Clinton. All of their efforts were part of a totally partisan campaign to smear Clinton, and they knew from the outset that the Clintons had done nothing wrong. The difference now is that there has been literally no oversight or investigation of the Bush administration in six years, and the Dems have a lot of catching up to do. If the Democrats manage to spend $100 million on their "witch hunts", like the Republicans did on the Clinton blow job, then it'll be money spent to a necessary purpose. If they end up issuing subpoenas to everyone at all connected with the Republican thieves, then fine--we can always build more prisons.
Burton was one of the most prolific abusers of subpoena power EVER. While the Clinton impeachment hearings were going on, he subpoenaed over 140 people, investigating anything he could think of. He even held ten days of hearings on the White House Christmas card list!. This clown is also well-remembered for a news event at his Indiana farm, where he shot watermelons trying to prove that Vince Foster was murdered, not a suicide.
Link to Raw Storyhttp://rawstory.com/news/2007/Republican_who_probed_Clinton_White_House_0410.html
Neither Burton nor any other House Republican has any right to claim some kind of high ground now, not after what they did to Clinton. All of their efforts were part of a totally partisan campaign to smear Clinton, and they knew from the outset that the Clintons had done nothing wrong. The difference now is that there has been literally no oversight or investigation of the Bush administration in six years, and the Dems have a lot of catching up to do. If the Democrats manage to spend $100 million on their "witch hunts", like the Republicans did on the Clinton blow job, then it'll be money spent to a necessary purpose. If they end up issuing subpoenas to everyone at all connected with the Republican thieves, then fine--we can always build more prisons.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Good stuff here
Most of the time here I try to add my spin to news articles about political happenings, but every so often I run across an essay so thoughtful and well-written that I can't add anything to it without diminishing the essay itself. Here are some that are definitely worth reading. Take the time and broaden your understanding.
1) Why Having More No Longer Makes Us Happy , by Bill McKibben.
An excerpt from his latest book that shows that the accumulation of wealth is NOT the way to
happiness. This is a long one, but read it through anyway.
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/49593/
2) Sweet Little Lies, by Paul Krugman.
Explains how the Republican attack machine constantly uses deliberate lies to create
negative impressions, aided by the media.
http://welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com/2007/04/paul-krugman-sweet-little-lies.html
3) The Legacy of the Plame Affair, by David Sirota.
On what happens when the press grants anonymity to sources for all the wrong reasons.
http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=67D04FC2-E0C3- F084-D86022AE8AD7D017
4) The Complicity of Congress in a Criminal War, by Richard W. Behan.
The Democrats are advancing the Iraq war by requiring an Iraqi oil-sharing plan as a funding
benchmark, and by not impeaching Bush for lying repeatedly about the reasons for the
invasion.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/06/353/
If anyone disagrees with these essays, please let me know.
1) Why Having More No Longer Makes Us Happy , by Bill McKibben.
An excerpt from his latest book that shows that the accumulation of wealth is NOT the way to
happiness. This is a long one, but read it through anyway.
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/49593/
2) Sweet Little Lies, by Paul Krugman.
Explains how the Republican attack machine constantly uses deliberate lies to create
negative impressions, aided by the media.
http://welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com/2007/04/paul-krugman-sweet-little-lies.html
3) The Legacy of the Plame Affair, by David Sirota.
On what happens when the press grants anonymity to sources for all the wrong reasons.
http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=67D04FC2-E0C3- F084-D86022AE8AD7D017
4) The Complicity of Congress in a Criminal War, by Richard W. Behan.
The Democrats are advancing the Iraq war by requiring an Iraqi oil-sharing plan as a funding
benchmark, and by not impeaching Bush for lying repeatedly about the reasons for the
invasion.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/06/353/
If anyone disagrees with these essays, please let me know.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Bush fixes illegal immigration! Yeah, right.
Used to be in this country, slaves didn't have to pay for the privilege of their status, but President Bush is a clever fellow. He has just unveiled and is busy touting his plan to deal with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. As you might expect, the plan is unworkable and extremely punitive to the illegals.
His plan would require that these folks go home, apply for U.S. residency at a consulate, obtain a special visa at a cost of $3,500 every three years, and pay a one-time fine of $10,000 before returning.
The fine alone would come to $50,000 for a family of five (@10k/head). That's chump change!
Could you come up with $10, 000 for everyone in your family, even if you were single? Didn't think so. How do you suppose that low-paid workers are possibly going to afford it? Just in case they all did, however, that comes to a tidy $1.2 TRILLION dollars, almost enough to pay for Bushes wars.
Additionally, the special visas at $1,167/yr would bring in another $140 BILLION annually. Plus, of course they would all be paying taxes (many are already, with no recovery). This annual bounty to the Treasury would pay for the border fence and allow more tax breaks to deserving corporations, Republican donors, and the super-rich(including both Democrats).
The only problem is , it won't work. It can't work, because the illegals can't afford to do this. If it cost $10,000 to get in, the Indians , God bless 'em, would still own this land if Bushes plan had been put into effect 200 years ago. Do you think that 12 million illegal aliens are going to pick up and leave because they can't afford to comply with these draconian regulations? Hell no they're not! They're going to stay right where they are, scraping by, doing work for lower wages than others get so that their employers can make greater profits, until they are picked up and deported. In other words, NOTHING WILL CHANGE.
Yes, they are illegal. Yes, something should be done, but surely to God there has to be something better than this! Make no mistake, this plan was put forward as a sop to racists who don't care one bit about practicalities and realities. Bush wants to keep them happy because they represent a solid Republican voting bloc. Although the immigration problem has been around for years, they've made it a BIG ISSUE recently to keep people distracted from the Bush gang rape of our country.
Two links:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070407/ap_on_re_us/immigration_protest;_ylt=AvOmaD3WbOCQ6Eo0LcEVd3ms0NUE
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070409/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_25;_ylt=AjXkGArvjZQNnT4M3FocoSVH2ocA
His plan would require that these folks go home, apply for U.S. residency at a consulate, obtain a special visa at a cost of $3,500 every three years, and pay a one-time fine of $10,000 before returning.
The fine alone would come to $50,000 for a family of five (@10k/head). That's chump change!
Could you come up with $10, 000 for everyone in your family, even if you were single? Didn't think so. How do you suppose that low-paid workers are possibly going to afford it? Just in case they all did, however, that comes to a tidy $1.2 TRILLION dollars, almost enough to pay for Bushes wars.
Additionally, the special visas at $1,167/yr would bring in another $140 BILLION annually. Plus, of course they would all be paying taxes (many are already, with no recovery). This annual bounty to the Treasury would pay for the border fence and allow more tax breaks to deserving corporations, Republican donors, and the super-rich(including both Democrats).
The only problem is , it won't work. It can't work, because the illegals can't afford to do this. If it cost $10,000 to get in, the Indians , God bless 'em, would still own this land if Bushes plan had been put into effect 200 years ago. Do you think that 12 million illegal aliens are going to pick up and leave because they can't afford to comply with these draconian regulations? Hell no they're not! They're going to stay right where they are, scraping by, doing work for lower wages than others get so that their employers can make greater profits, until they are picked up and deported. In other words, NOTHING WILL CHANGE.
Yes, they are illegal. Yes, something should be done, but surely to God there has to be something better than this! Make no mistake, this plan was put forward as a sop to racists who don't care one bit about practicalities and realities. Bush wants to keep them happy because they represent a solid Republican voting bloc. Although the immigration problem has been around for years, they've made it a BIG ISSUE recently to keep people distracted from the Bush gang rape of our country.
Two links:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070407/ap_on_re_us/immigration_protest;_ylt=AvOmaD3WbOCQ6Eo0LcEVd3ms0NUE
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070409/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_25;_ylt=AjXkGArvjZQNnT4M3FocoSVH2ocA
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