More wisdom, from one of America's greatest truth-tellers!

Running Behind, getting caught up...

Not surprisingly, I've been a fan of Keith Olbermann for MANY YEARS now, but this might be the single best broadcast I've ever seen from him...




And here's some other funny, and vaguely relevant stuff for your enjoyment...

Boys have swag, men have style, GENTLEMEN have CLASS.  Patrick Stewart is THE MAN.

If Obama has any balls at all, Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning will receive full pardons by the end of his administration.  (Spoiler: They won't.)  And when they don't under Hillary either, maybe the Right will begin to understand what the Left doesn't like about her.

I probably hate anti-vaxers more than any other camp in the legion of science denialism.  They do orders of magnitude more harm than the Creationists and Climate-Deniers combined.  (And as the parents of two autistic boys, my wife and I have had more run-ins with "Autism Andy's" than I can count. It's all I can do not punch them in the face. If you won't (notice I didn't say"can't"!) vaccinate your children, they should be taken away form you. PERIOD. FUCK YOU. STICK 'EM, JAB 'EM and IMMUNIZE 'EM.(And while you're rotting in jail for child abuse/neglect, we'll immunize YOU while we're at it.) (Asshole.) I am so sick of hearing the media (and fucking OPRAH!) coddle these ignorant fucking morons, and I'm glad the press is FINALLY beginning to call them out on their genocidal bullshit, even if it is about Seventeen Years too late!

Best argument against religion that I've even heard:

Yep.

Kung-fu Panda... (lol)

Probably. (I love both. What the hell, people?!)

It would put me out of a job, but they've got a point!

Life in the bubble; OR: Would the modern GOP appall George Washington?

This is some pretty backwards, delusional stuff.  (William should love it.) Though I still do fully encourage everyone to read it in full:

The Modern GOP Would Appall George Washington

In case the author's comment I quoted gets buried, here it is in full. (Bold = parts read aloud.)

I have no problem with "the possible." What I have a problem with is the "refuse to try" or worse still, the "working for the enemy." 

The modern GOP isn't interested in compromise; they are interested only in surrender. Like a battered woman, they foolishly think if they cry "Don't hurt me" enough, liberals will be nice to them. What complete idiots. And that's just the ones who aren't enemies in the camp--liberals who wear an "R" to get elected, then betray the documented values of the Republican Party (if people really liked RINOs, RINOs wouldn't pretend to be conservatives, lying about their positions and their records). 

Compromise? Heck, that would be a big improvement over the "Surrender Caucus" that is running things right now. And surrendering to the evil of the Left is just evil itself. 

~Bob Ellis

And, for reference, from his BIO:

Bob Ellis has been the owner of conservative media company Dakota Voice, LLC since 2005. He is a 10-year veteran of the United States Air Force, a political commentator for the past decade, and has been involved in numerous election and public policy campaigns for 20 years, including a founding Tea Party leader and organizer starting in 2009. He lives in Rapid City, South Dakota with his wife and two children.

Oh, and apologies: Obviously I was referring to the Heritage Foundation, not the Heritage Institute. Despite what William will tell you, I'm not perfect and I DO sometimes make mistakes. But fuck it: You know who I was talking about, so I'm not re-recording it! ;)

Going to trial...

It appears the George Zimmerman will be headed to court to answer for the killing of Trayvon Martin.  This is a good thing.  It would appear that a charge of First Degree Murder is off the table, but based on what I've read about the case, I am not particularly bothered by this.  I've seen no reason to believe that there was any premeditation on the part of Zimmerman and, while I believe that race has been a clear factor throughout this case, I do not believe that he pursued and shot Martin solely because he was Black.  Obviously I don't know EVERYTHING about the case (as one frequent commenter will no doubt remind me) but based on what I DO know a lesser charger (Murder-2, for example?) would seem appropriate.
What was NOT appropriate, and what I am happy to see being resolved, was for Martin to continue to go uncharged, based on a self-defense claim that was never subjected to examination in trial or by a jury of his peers.  And this is a claim that, even given Florida's "Stand Your Ground" / ("Kill-at-Will") statute is undermined by two facts which are not in dispute, even by Zimmerman himself:

1) Martin was unarmed.

2) Zimmerman left the safety of his car to PURSUE Martin, and did so against the advice of the Police on the 9-1-1 call.

Standing you're ground =/= pursuing someone, and pursuing someone certainly =/= an act of self defense.  Ultimately this case may be decided on how the "Stand Your Ground" / (Kill-at-Will) law is interpreted by the Jugge, Lawyers and Jury.

If Zimmerman is found guilty, then it will serve a s precedent to others who would follow Zimmerman's example. It will come to resemble more "Stand you ground" and less "Kill-at-will." It doesn't address ALL the concerns in this ALEC / NRA conceived monstrosity of a legal technicality, but clarifying that HUNTING SOMEONE DOWN is, in fact, still against the law in this Country, and in the State of Florida, can only be a GOOD THING.

If he is found innocent?

Hoo-buy... Well, first of all, I hope that the inevitable and richly deserved and justified public outcry will remain non-violent and non-destructive. Considering what has been presented of this case by the media, to the public? I am too optimistic about this point. (Just being realistic here.) But once the populace realizes that the Liberals' long-held concerns about these kinds of laws are VALID? And that HUNTING SOMEONE DOWN is, in fact, actually LEGAL in some parts of the Country?  I have to believe that the repeal, or at least a significant re-work, of the law will become a matter of complete inevitablilty.

I would say that is also a good thing, but I can find no comfort in the fact that a young man had to die to bring attention to a stupid law that makes a death like this one inevitable.


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And, for the record, I very much support the Second Amendment, and gun OWNERSHIP rights.  This is no more about the Second Amendment that a citizen's boycott of Rush Limbaugh's corporate sponsors is about the First Amendment. This is NOT an issue of gun OWNERSHIP, it is an issue of gun USAGE. So while I despise guns on a personal level, I fully cherrish the fact that my choice of owning one remains my own to make, and thus I fully support the Rights of Americans (violent felons and the mentally ill excepted) to OWN guns.  I do not however support ANYONE'S right to pursue and gun down an unarmed person with one.

Song Dedications (Political)

The following song is dedicated to either George Zimmerman or the family of Trayvon Martin, whichever makes more sense to you. (And to the one commenter who I already know is going to tell me that it doesn't make sense either way... Hell with you, you don't get a vote.)




"Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace, and criticize all fears... Take the rag away from your face, for now ain't the time for your fears."

That was 1964, BTW. Shame how relevant it is half a century later. If there is any justice in the world, I will not one day be re-posting this, with the caption clanged to the final chorus.

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The following is dedicated to Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Paul Ryan - particularly the last two verses, to the last two Republicans respectively:




My hero: Harry Chapin, 1975.  Apologies for the poor quality of the audio, but this is a hard one to find.  This and She Is Always Seventeen were an additional tracks on the Live Album that were only on the 8-Track and Vinyl and were never released on the CD of that Album, or any other that I am aware of.

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Here's Seventeen:
(Admittedly it's a bit funky, but it's still damned GOOD.)




This might resonate more with my... *a-hem* older readers, so I guess this one's for them. (I have no memory even of the events that didn't happen before I was born, so... yeah.)

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Finally... One more from Harry...  This is called The Shortest Story.  And though Harry meant it to be about WOLRD hunger, I'm dedicating this to Stuart Varney of Fox "News", who recently asked of the Food Stamps program: "Can we afford this? We've got a trillion dollar deficit every year as far as the eye can see. But we want to reach out and give people food." 

No, Stuart, fuck 'em: Let 'em starve, I guess. Even as hunger and poverty levels are elevated and continue to rise in this country - my country - this guy is more concerned about the deficit, and maintaining unsustainable tax breaks for the wealthy than helping poor people.  But then that's always been the Rigth Wing trope, hasn't it? If you can't profit from a problem, just deny it exsists. Sad that it's no different from the kind of denial, ingoranc eand apathy that Harry fought against for most of his career, when he's been dead since 1981!



BTW... Putting aside any feelings you may have about our domestic issues of hunger and poverty, if you don't find this song and video heart-wrenching, then you simply aren't human.

Wow. Month's just about gone.

And I've posted just TWICE? WTF?

Sorry, guys. I just have no idea where the time went this month!  And what a month it's been too!  For three straight weeks now we've watched the Republican Party show just how divorced from reality they are as they keep talking about how imperative it is that they defeat that "Radical Socialist" Barack Obama, and yet have tried every trick in the book to make sure they don't nominate the one guy who would have a snowball's chance in hell of actually WINNING, because he's that dreaded word that all true Conservatives have been conditioned to break out in hives at the sound of: A MODERATE.

Don't get me wrong, Mitt Romney won't get MY vote or backing. But come on! Newt Gingrich?! One of the most despise politicians in American history?! Rick Santorum?! That fucking DOUCHEBAG?! Rick Perry...? Who's learned the hard way that the rest of America in not fucking TEXAS?! And after the revolving side show loonies - Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, Donald Trump... Who the hell IS John Huntsman anyway?!

*shakes head*

But enough of that...  I'd like you to take a listen to the following clip. It was from ~1986 IIRC, and it's both hilarious and depressing in it's relevance. L & G, the late, great George Carlin:



And here's another one. Great clip in it's own right, but the PICTURES the user put over it elevate it to BRILLIANCE:



That's right, Rush. A BIG, BROWN DICK!

Oh, and, uh... If SOPA and PIPA had there way? YouTube could be shut down over these clips. Great country we're living in, huh?

Couple of other things that caught my eye...

A few posts back, William found it appropriate to mock my calls for comprehensive sex education as a way of reducing abortions. well, here's an article that, while fairly stunning, shows, once again, that I'm right and Conservatives generally suck.

And there something else that I'd meant to post before the holidays, but I lost the link.  It appears the Occupy movement isn't going away.  Well... The Tea Party took over the House and all they managed to accomplish was to derail the economy with an artificial debt crisis and put more people out of work an out of home just as things were finally starting to turn around. Well done, cockmunchers.  So I for one, would like to see what influence this new movement can have. Probably not as much - it lacks corporate sponsorship and media backing for one - but at least the article was BEGINNING to clarify the actual political agenda.  Because that's really what's lacking here. WHAT DO THE WANT TO ACCOMPLISH?

And there are a few things that I think would make some pretty powerful, populist and scary (to the status quo) talking points.  Two that I think REALLY should be at the top? 

1) Overturn the decision in Citizens United, via Constitutional Amendment, if needed.
2) Strip Corporation of their "personhood" status.

The whole "no more bailouts" thing... Meh, not so much. That's Tea Party talk, and mostly the area of people who let their anger get in the way of better judgement.  Bt ending corporate welfare via tax loopholes? No longer allowing corporation to write legislation?  Ending for-profit prisons?  Hey: There's some good political grist in this mill.  Don't get me wrong, I'm under no illusions that it will WORK.  But hey: You show me an OCCUPY Candidate? 

And S/He'll have my vote!

Anyway, I realize this isn't all that deep, but I figured I'd drop in and post, so you'd all know I was still alive anyway.

Open Fascism

Many of us have made case that the new American Right Wing are a bunch of fascists. I have. Classic Liberal has. Down With Tyranny has. And so have many others. And the situation on the Right has now devolved to the point where they apparently think Godwin’s Law will continue to shield them from any and all criticism, indefinitely. But they are WAAAY beyond the point of merely abusing that otherwise reasonable principle: they’ve beaten it to a bloody death with their bare hands and ass-raped its still-warm corpse.

And now you can MMFA to the mix: http://mediamatters.org/blog/201011120017

Granted, that piece was exclusively about Glenn Beck (well… and his handlers/enablers at Fox) but we are all grown up enough by now to know full well that this is just the latest, and arguably most blatant, example in what is becoming a disturbing and disgusting trend in American Right-Wing Politics.

I particularly want commenter Duta to read that piece. Because while I won’t ever try to over-simplify the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the online company of someone who LIVES there – there’s no doubt in my mind that there’s nothing I can tell her about it, and plenty she could tell me – I think she (and many others) grossly oversimplify our Right Wing’s policy of unwavering support of Israel.

My advice is just this:

You should be very wary of the support you get from a group of people who LOVE ISREAL, but HATE JEWS.