happy new year, suckers

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/12/30/oligarchy/index.html

atheist humor

While perusing the local MySpace "musician wanted" ads, I noticed one posted by a young man who wants to form a christian metal band. As if that in itself isn't a big enough incongruity, the last line of the advertisement was:

Though my biggest rule of thumb is you have to be a faith driving musician and not a flake.


Well, good luck with that...

where are they now?

you fucking kidding me?

The big question on MSNBC tonight:

"Will Bhutto's assassination damage Bush's foreign policy?"



Yeah, 'cuz everything's been going so well thus far...

the fourth (branch) estate

I hate to be all meta and have two consecutive posts that are just links, but the incomparable Gleen Greenwald explains everything wrong with our "free press" by simply quoting our nation's best-known journalists.

Have an airsickness bag handy:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/12/26/quotes/index.html

American beauty

I'd like to share an incredible blog:

http://dailycoyote.blogspot.com/


Look at this and then tell me that nature conservation isn't important. Of course, if you do tell me that, I will hit you.

Really, really hard.

Repeatedly.

holiday wishes

I've been remiss. I have no holiday season's greetings posted.

So, to correct my oversight, I would just like to remind everybody of the sage advice of Tiny Tim:





"Tiptoe through the tulips with me."



Ho ho ho.

golden anniversary

I got my first piano fifty years ago. And I'm still in love.

President Gantry, I presume?

The Huckabee campaign is really starting to flog the fundamentalist horse it has used to give his candidacy a recent bump in the polls. Commenting on all of the ruckus over his "floating cross" commercial of last week, Huckabee was quoted this weekend regretfully saying that while you can discuss lots of other things "as soon as you mention jesus the whole world gets upset."

Of course, we are supposed to understand his Mayberry "aw, shucks" wide-eyed naive surprise at what was a perfectly innocent invocation of his religion that had absolutely nothing, nothing to do with his trying to work up the christianist freaks that form his base and to add a few more to the pack, was a perfectly genuine display and not as contrived as it seems. And it was just a coincidence that a glowing crucifix hovered slowly behind him during his non-campaign holiday wishes commercial and he isn't really a duplicitous little counterfeit hayseed, he's just misunderstood and persecuted.


Go Huck yourself, Mike.

AL-VIN!

WHAT?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqtjOn9qVg4

well?

I've been watching the ARM/home foreclosure debacle heat up over the last several weeks with tremendous interest. There's much talk of the government apparently taking it upon themselves to unilaterally renegotiate legally binding contracts in favor of the people who willingly agreed to the terms of the original contract, which would destroy any faith in any contracts in the entire country, and would actually end up penalizing people who chose higher-rate mortgages because they found the lowball rate mortgages unrealistic and risky. What lender is going to provide funding if they know that the government can step in any time and change contractual terms of payment? Instead, the government is rewarding people for making bad decisions, punishing those who made wise decisions, and telling business that it will just have to settle for whatever the government thinks is the best arrangement for the financial security of the country.

In other words, the Bush administration is socializing home ownership. And the free-market-worshipping Republicans are apparently going along with this.

Fair enough. However, this course of action should lead to some other ones.

How about the government telling the oil companies that they don't need to make billions of dollars in profits every month? How about telling health-care providers that they should slash their prices so that everybody can afford them?

I'm having a really hard time understanding why it is that our current administration thinks it can meddle in contractually binding business affairs in one part of the economy and not carry that line of reasoning over to others that impact a far broader segment of the population. A segment which, by the way, did not sign contracts that were stupid to begin with for energy and medical care, but who have been swept up in escalating costs that only result in higher profits but not better services.

it was inevitable

Time's up

Breaking news is that Time magazine has not renewed the contracts of Charles Krauthammer and Bill Kristol. After January, their columns will be history.

Now, I can understand them finally getting around to canning the odious little Hitlermallet, but what's up with dissing that "joo look MARbelous" guy?

All I want for Christmas....

our eternal shame

For a week now we have watched the surreal spectacle of carefully-groomed political operatives and media professionals calmly debate just how much torture our country should be permitted to use on helpless captives, and what is the national moral dilemma that the television news networks are laser-targeted on this morning?

How we should punish baseball players for using steroids.

These fucking people are wringing their hands over how they should "tell the children" that their "heroes" are users of illegal drugs.




Waterboarding.
Stress positions.
Sleep deprivation.
Sexual humiliation.
Frigid temperatures.
Violating international treaties.
Ignoring the Geneva Convention.
Non-stop music at high volumes.
The eradication of habeas corpus.
Psychological and physical trauma.
Mercenaries accountable to no law.
Black sites where people disappear.

The moral correctness of these things is subject to debate and they must be not be criticized because that is tantamount to supporting the terrorists. The ultimate expression of "look what you made me do to you," the predictable call of the sociopathic abuser performed on the international level, brings only polite discourse.




Self-indulgent, overpaid juveniles in adult bodies chasing balls while they take horse hormones to enhance their performance in meaningless games?

This causes an avalanche of righteous indignation because it will have to be explained to the children.




I love America, but I sure despise a lot of Americans.

free speech

This last couple of days have been a real revelation. All over the news shows, there have been well-dressed vipers from the right-wing side of the fence sitting on camera and calmly and with measured and reasonable tones expounding the propriety of and need for this government to torture people, and going so far as to state in so many words that when we do it, it isn't actually torture because everybody knows we are the good guys. These wretches are being permitted to use the hideous euphemism "enhanced" interrogation as though a sanitized turn of phrase negates the horror of the country that used to be a beacon to the world resorting to the techniques of all of the petty warlords that have plagued this planet through history.

I understand that it is their right to espouse and support this position.

What I can't understand is that not one commentator on television has stood up and told any of these scoundrels to get the fuck out of the studio before they get their reprehensible asses beaten like the rabid vermin they are. These monstrous perverts need to be taken into the woods, get John Gibson's "five to the noggin" treatment, and be unceremoniously dumped into a shallow grave. They have given up their right to claim to be human and to claim to be American.

In the Sixties and Seventies, liberals weren't ashamed or afraid to stand up and call out these people for the paranoid lunatics they are. Today, they are politely engaged in courteous debate and their repugnant ideals are granted undeserved dignity.

The United States of America has a contract with all citizens. We are a nation of laws, not men. In return for the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution, we accept a certain amount of risk. Each and every citizen is expendable in the defense of the Constitution. Every president and legislator swears to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not the citizens. If we give up protecting the Constitution in favor of protecting the people, we are no longer the United States of America.

The moment we overturned the principles upon which this nation was founded, we became yet another banana republic. Unless we put an end to this madness immediately and begin impeachment proceedings and war crimes trials for the highest-ranking members of this administration and all of their enablers, including any Democrats who have passively permitted this to happen, the United States of America is dead. Those who are convicted should have the maximum penalty of law applied to them with no mercy and we should broadcast photographs of their hooded bodies swinging from the gallows around the world as a signal that we have returned to our ideals and our precepts and that we have excised this cancer on our history.

We are getting perilously close to the time when armed revolt against our lawless government is the only remaining option.

There's an old saying from the hippie days, "if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."

It's time to choose. Where are you going to draw the line?

what might have been

Like the kids say, mad props to CNN for their remarkable coverage today of the Nobel awards and interview time given to Al Gore. This only underscores my personal take that of all of the people in the United States of America, Mr. Gore is the one who could most effectively become President "of the world" if this country had the common sense to put him in the White House.


Of course, if there really was such a thing as "common sense" we wouldn't have a special name for it.

Happy Birthday!

Alexander Courage turns 88 years old today. You may not know his name, but you recognize his music immediately.


bing...



bing...



bing...



bing...



"Space - the final frontier..."





Yes, Alexander Courage wrote the music for the original Star Trek television series. Not to mention a LOT of other wonderful compositions.

Live long and prosper, Mr. Courage. Thank you.

just sayin'

If I were Barack Obama, I'm not sure that I would be all that encouraged by Oprah vouching for me with almost exactly the same soaring rhetoric that she used for James Frey...

and pass the ammunition

A man shot one person to death and wounded four others at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs Colorado, the former church of the homosexual-hating-gay-prostitute-patronizing hypocrite Ted Haggard. The gunman was shot and killed by a church security officer before police arrived.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/09/church.shooting/index.html

Apparently, the church placed more faith in Smith & Wesson to protect them than they did in their purportedly all-powerful deity, but apart from that telling fact I can't help but wonder what in the world goes on in this place that they feel they need to have armed security guards ready to shoot to kill on a moment's notice.

Shrub Facts

RESUME
GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20520

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

Law Enforcement:
I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been 'lost' and is not available.

Military:
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.

College:
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:

I ran for U.S. Congress and lost. I began my career in the oil business in Midland, Texas, in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock. I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS:

I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.

I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money.

I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.
With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after losing by over 500,000 votes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:

I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.

I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.

I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.

I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.

I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.

I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.

I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market. In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues every month.

I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My 'poorest millionaire,' Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.

I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.

My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. History, Enron.

My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.

I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history. I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.

I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.

I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.

I appointed more convicted criminals to administration than any President in U.S. history.

I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States government.

I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.

I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.

I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.

I refused to allow inspector's access to U.S. 'prisoners of war' detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.

I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election).

I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.

I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.

I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.

I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.

I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. citizens, and the world community.

I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families in wartime.

In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.

I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.

I am supporting development of a nuclear 'Tactical Bunker Buster,' a WMD.

I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.

RECORDS AND REFERENCES:

All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view.

All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.

All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.

(Thanks, Tracie!)

is that your final answer?

Mitch McConnell, R(atfuck)-KY:

"I won't tell you everything is great in Iraq; it is not. But we want to keep a steady flow of funds so that we don't disrupt the military. Unfortunately, most of our friends on the other aisle are having a hard time admitting things are getting better; some days I almost think the critics of this war don't want us to win. Nobody is happy about losing lives but remember these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers." (emphasis mine)

http://www.gcnewsgazette.com/articles/2007/12/06/local_news/news86.txt


Way to support those troops, Mitch. I bet they can hardly wait to thank you in person. I know I would sure like to.

PZ says it better than I did

"We are not in the forefront of civilized nations. As the Religious Right has risen ascendant, we have launched a pre-emptive, unjust war against Iraq; our government threatens another crusade against Iran; we have endorsed torture; we have compromised our own civil liberties; we have seen science belittled and diminished in favor of theocratic ideology; our educational system is being starved to death; the gulf between the rich and poor has steadily widened; and the selfishness of the wealthy has led to the erosion of our essential infrastructure. We have become a banana republic in mentality with the largest armory in the world."


Read the rest:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/12/romneys_paean_to_piety.php#more

Special Comment...Bush K. O.'d again

Keith Olbermann went to town on 'w' again tonight with his special comment which ended with....

"You, sir, have no business being president."

Stewart/Olbermann in '08...

now I'm sure

"Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom."

FUCK YOU, MITT ROMNEY.

the party of families, indeed

Watching Jenna Bush's recent appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show was most illuminating. After being cajoled by Ellen to call her parents on the spur of the moment, Ms. Bush was very fretful the entire time, and once her father got on the phone, she was clearly terrified that there were going to be repercussions for her impromptu call. She asked her father several times if he was mad and if she was going to get in trouble, and her voice quavered and her body trembled the entire time she was speaking with him.

If that doesn't explain what kind of "man" her father is, I don't know what does.


I've often been quite derisive of Jenna Bush on this blog. While I still think that she possesses her father's self-centered lack of curiosity, emotional shallowness, and intellectual weakness, I suspect she is the person she is because she's never had the chance to learn to be anything else. That's tragic. I now find that I pity her instead of being contemptuous of her.

inspiration of the finest kind

I've been noticing this occasionally for a while, but there was a lot of it going on at this weekend's gig and I finally realized just how much I love watching it. All I can say is, whoever it is that invented this latest dance move for girls where they twirl their arms over their head while they wiggle their hips and spin deserves a Nobel prize at the very least.

Like a bad penny

I feel safer already...