It needs to be said...

...Or, assuming it's probably already been said upwards of a million times in the last 24 hours, it bears repeating:

FUCK HAMID KARZAI.

And far be it for me to fault our top diplomat for being, well, diplomatic about things, but I think Secretary Hagel's response would have better sounding something like, "Listen, dickhead, you're both alive and gainfully employeed right now becuase of us and us alone, so you just keep talkin' smack about the U.S. and we can pull our forces out of your country tomorrow. And then lots of luck, asshole!"




---------FORTY-BY-FORTY-UPDATE---------
Date: 3/11/13 (Day 16)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 207.6
Morning Weight: 205.8 (BMI: 31.3)
Pounds Down: 9
Pounds to go: 31
Days Left: 192
Workout Summary: (night off)

40 x 40 update

Date: 3/10/13 (Day 15)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 209.1
Morning Weight: 206.9 (BMI: 31.5)
Pounds Down: 8
Pounds to go: 32
Days Left: 193
Workout Summary: Eliptical Climber, 33 min, 385 cal; Rope, 10 min, 209 cal; Total: 594
(Yeah, felt like crap tonight. So I cut it short. Back in on Tuesday.)

The War on Women

A few posts back, Anonymous (dude, seriously, please: Pick a fucking name if you're going to be a regular commenter. If anyone else decides to post anonymously, it's going to confuse the hell out of everyone) told me that there was no Rebublican War on Women. That it was as fictitious as the Liberals' War on Christmas.  Well, I suppose he's half right.

Considering that the Violence Against Women act passed despite Republican inaction and opposition, the fact that the Republican Platform now wants to outlaw abortion WITHOUT a rape exception, that fact that, on top of that, they fight mandatory insurance coverage for contraceptives which, as Sandra Fluke so eloquently pointed out last year, puts women's health at risk when insurance companies refuse to pay for their MEDICAL use (such as the treatment of endometriosis) on the ground that they don't cover CONTRACEPTIVES, the fact that the defunded Planned Parenthood, one of the leading providers of Cancer Screenings, Pre-Natal Care, and Family Planning services for poor women, the fact that they opposed equal pay for Women, the Lilly Ledbetter act and equal employment opportunities...

The only reason that any women should vote Republican would be that she's a religious nut-bag or terminally misinformed. (Or just plain fucking stupid.) If you have any doubts of this, here's a brilliant piece for the defacto mouthpiece of the Right Wing in America:



WOW, right?

Also curious is this...



Yeah, there's no War on Women here!

As offensive as it is that he mocks domestic violence, date rape, and every other form of violence that countless women face every day in this country, and the bill that provides training to law enforcement to properly fight against it, the hypocrisy of this partiuclar stand makes it more disgusting by an order of magnitude:

Estimates of the number of women that are the victims of violence every year range form 600,000 to 6 Million (http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/abusiverelationships/a/physicalabusestatistics.htm) and yet, this act - which does nothing more that TRAIN LAW ENFORCEMENT, and has been effective in reducing the rate of occurrence of this crime since its passage in 1994 - is treated like a joke.

And yet, this is the same Party that is perfectly happy disenfranchising millions of people, and going out of their way to make it more difficult for people to exercise the FUNDAMENTAL, CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to VOTE, due to their fears of "voter fraud."  A crime in which actual cases (of in-person voter fraud) numbered in the SINGLE DIGITS in the past few elections.

You know what? Fuck these people! Seriously.



----------FORTY-X-FORTY-UPDATE---------
Date: 3/9/13 (Day 14)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 209.1
Morning Weight: 207.7 (BMI: 31.6)
Pounds Down: 8
Pounds to go: 32
Days Left: 194
Workout Summary: Eliptical Climber, 33 min, 403 cal; Rope, 10 min, 253 cal; Bike, 35 min, 271 cal; Eliptical, 13 min, 142 cal. Light/Short weights. TOTAL: 1069 Calories.

Hey, Anonymous:

LOL. (Watch Game of Thrones!)

And BTW, the time will eventually come...

 

Better get familiar with Determinism!

------------------FORTY-X-FORTY-UPDATE-----------

Date: 3/7/13 (Day 12)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 208.7
Morning Weight: 206.9 (BMI: 31.5)
Pounds Down: 8
Pounds to go: 32
Days Left: 196
Workout Summary: Eliptical Climber, 33 min, 404 cal
(Short workout, today/tonight was way too hectic. I just ran out of time.)

40 by 40 update

Date: 3/5/13 (Day 10)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 210.0
Morning Weight: 207.8 (BMI: 31.6)
Pounds Down: 8
Pounds to go: 32
Days Left: 198
Workout Summary: Eliptical Climber, 33 min, 400 cal; Rope, 10 min, 237 cal; Stairs (FUCK!), 10 min, 81 cal; Rowing, 10 min, 35 cal; Lateral, 17 min, 169 cal; SmartStride, 12 min, 120 cal = 1042 Total Calories.

WTF is up with ROWING?! 3.5 Calories per minute? Christ, I propably burn more than that watching TV and eating Cheetohs!



Bleach kicks so much ass!

What it feels like sometimes...

Not you guys though. You guys rock. I mean other people. ;)


--------------------------------------
Date: 3/4/13 (Day 9)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 208.2
Morning Weight: 206.7 (BMI: 31.4)
Pounds Down: 8
Pounds to go: 32
Days Left: 199
Workout Summary: None. Resting. And DW has her classes.

40 by 40 Update

Date: 3/3/13 (Day 8)
Last Night's Bedtime Weight: 210.4
Morning Weight: 207.8 (BMI: 31.6)
Pounds Down: 7
Pounds to go: 33
Days Left: 200
Workout Summary: Elliptical Climber (388), Rope (237), Lateral (257), Standard Elliptical (245)

I don't plan on breaking it down every time, but I really felt like crap tonight, and while that 1127 total was pretty close to yesterday's, it took a bit longer for me to do it. I was REALLY not firing on all cylinders tonight:

Elliptical Climber: 388 in 33 minutes = 11.75 per minute (11.9 yesterday)
Rope: 237 in 11 minutes = 21.5 per minute  (25.9 yesterday)
Lateral: 257 in 25 minutes = 10.3 per minute (9.8 yesterday)
Elliptical: 245 in 30 minutes = 8.2 per minute (10.1 yesterday)
(I didn't row tonight.)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to a night off tomorrow, as DW has Akido/Iaido Class in the evening.

And honestly I feel way too beat to be posting any inspirational music right now, so here's the Full Metal Alchemist, Edward Elric, his bother Alphonse and their frienemy Scar) getting the absolute shit kicked out of them by Lust, Gluttony, Envy, Greed, Sloth, Wrath and Pride (Who also spend a fair amount of time kicking the shit out of each other!) to Flogging Molly's Seven Deadly Sins:



OK, so you'll have to go to YouTube. I recomend watching it. This AMV is VERY well done!

And if you're interested, these clips are form the ORIGINAL "Fullmetal Alchemist" Anime, which totally fucking rocks. (And will actually make you cry at least once!) They did a more recent re-make, but IMHO it's unwatchable garbage. The original OTOH, absolutely kicks ass, and I guarantee will be amongst the best series you'll ever see.

I forgot about this...

 I meant to say something about this earlier, but I forgot.

President Obama pissed of a LOT of Sci-Fi fans yesterday by saying he couldn't do a "Jedi Mind-Meld" with Congressional Republicans. (To get them to not tank the economy make a deal on the sequester.)  Now personally? I thought it was brilliant. I'm a huge Star Wars fan, and a small Start Trek fan, so I thought it was a great way to acknowledge BOTH fandoms at once, kind of cleverly and ironically.

BUT I totally forgot what a bunch of whiny little bitches so many Sci-Fi fans can be.

So rather than smile and appreciate the two-way shout out, they bitched about it. In the future, should he want to try something like that again, here's how he can piss of fans of Star Wars, Harry Potter and  Lord of the Rings all at the same time:

LOL. Beautiful.

Poor, Sad Rush Limbaugh

*shakes head*

So... just one year after Limbaugh started a mass exodus of advertisers from Right-WingRadio, that continues to this day, by responding to Women's Health Advocate Sandra Fluke's eloquent, emotional and medically sound testimony before Congress by calling her a "slut," on the air, and going on a three-day tear attacking her over what amounted to her sexual proclivities, as imagined by Rush Limbaugh,  the Great Gastropod has this to say about NFL Prospect Lauren Silverman:

[Female Kicker Means NFL As We Know It] "Isn't Long For This World"

Yes, Rush, as it turns out, women are people too.  It's a bitter pill to swallow, I know, but it turns out they can do a lot more than we give them  credit for.  Before you know it they'll want to be allowed to vote, and get the same pay as a man for doing the same job.  I mean... Who's going to make our sandwiches once that happens?!

In other news...

I would like to congratulate Danica Patrick on her strong finish at Daytona this year...

Eri Yoshida on her productive, if not spectacular, season in the North American Baseball League last year...

and my Wife who earned her 2nd Degree Brown Belt in Iaido last week.

What do you know,Rush? Women are people too!

Remember my "Republicans are Scum" post?

Well, MediaMatters did an excellent write up to Sean Hannity's continued Islamophobic attacks on Congressmen Keith Ellison, and Ellison's response that Hannity should be ashamed at being so immoral by saying so may things on the air that aren't true. Haniity, for his part, just amped up his attacks, but here's a list of 10 Examples of Sean Hannity saying things that aren't true.

If you don't want to read the whole post, here's the short list. If you [Conservatives] doubt any of these, don't bother arguing them here unless you first check out the citations and background evidence that MMFA presents. I grow weary of replying to such arguments with "read the fucking article."


10. Hannity Hyped RNC's Doctored Audio Of Supreme Court Arguments. [Media Matters, 3/30/12]

9. Hannity Distorted CBO Data To Attack Obama. [Media Matters, 2/2/12]

8. Hannity Falsely Claimed A White House Adviser "Advocated Compulsory Abortion." [Media Matters, 9/9/09]

7. Hannity Falsely Claimed Obama Called The Death Of Four Americans "Just A Bump In The Road."  [Media Matters, 9/25/12]

6. Hannity Spread False Report That Egypt Was Considering Necrophilia Bill.  [Media Matters, 4/30/12; Huffington Post, 4/26/12]

5. Hannity's Special On "Liberal Bias" Featured Wildly Distorted And Out-Of-Context Quotes.  [Media Matters, 4/24/11]

4. Hannity Cast Doubt On Scientific Consensus About Climate Change. [Media Matters, 12/4/09, 1/13/10, 8/27/10, 11/19/10, 6/24/11]

3. Hannity Fueled Myth That Obama Is A Muslim.  [Media Matters, 3/24/11, 3/21/12]

2. Hannity Fed The Birther Movement. [Media Matters, 3/28/11, 4/20/12]

1. Hannity Ignored Overwhelming Evidence To Repeatedly Claim Obama's Policies Have Not Helped Improve The Economy. [Media Matters, 1/13/10, 7/14/11, 2/2/12]


And remember... This is a man who's paid approximately $20,000,000 per year - enough to hire over 500 School Teacher, about 230 Engineers, or 80 Medical Doctors.

And as interesting as I'm sure it will be to see some anonymous Conservative poster try to debunk ANY of these as not being actual false hoods, I defy that same poster, or indeed any Conservative to give me a similar list for say, Rachael Maddow, or Keith Olberman, or Ed Shultz, or Chris O'Donnell, or MMFA for that matter!

(Remember when William tried that? He posted one example of MMFA ADMITTING they got something wrong, one example that was clearly a true statement, and one that was said (by some RW website) to contain misinformation, which turned out to be taken verbatim from the subject's own tax returns!)

I'm sure any Conservative could come up with a list of 10 examples of things that were said by one of these people that were LIBERAL, but I'll vote a strait Republican ticket in the 2014 mid-terms if they can come up with a list of 10 examples of things that were said by one of these people that were actually FALSE. Lots of luck!

40 by 40 Update

Date: 3/2/13
Morning Weight: 209.4*
Pounds Down: 6
Pounds to Go: 34
Days Left: 201
Workout Summary: Elliptical Climber: 394 Calories, Ropes: 259, Lateral: 226, Rowing: 72, Elliptical: 182

BOOM! That's 1133 Calories, motherfuckers! YEAH!

Curious thing...

Elliptical Climber: 394 Calories in 33 Minutes = 11.9 Calories per minute

Ropes: 259 Calories in 10 Minutes = 25.9 Calories per minute (And I believe it - this is EXHAUSTING)

Lateral: 226 Calories in 23 Minutes = 9.8 Calories per minute

Rowing: 72 Calories in 10 Minutes = 7.2 Calories per minute

Standard Elliptical: 182 Calories in 18 Minutes = 10.1 Calories per minute

Look at how inefficient Rowing is!  No wonder we invented motorboats! (And no wonder THOSE are still painfully inefficient!)

BTW... That "*" on my morning weight... That's actually UP from a 207.9 that I neglected to post yesterday. That's OK. No reason to panic. The trend line still goes steadily downward. And I know form past experience (and a basic understanding of math, science, statistics, engineering and commons sense) that TRENDS like these have NOISE. And the occasional datapoint going against the trend does not change the long term trend.

Hmmm... That sounds like something someone ought to tell those idiots over at Fox news (or the idiots who watch Fox News) every time Sean Hannity or Brian Kilmeade try to debunk Golbal Warming by pointing out that it snowed today, no?

Anyway, I felt like shit when I started today (hence my coming in below 400 Cal's on the Elliptical Climber) by I feel awesome right now.  So here you go:

Big News Day for Conservatives

The Pope has resigned for the first time since 1415 and the Republicans have managed to tank the economy for the first time since 2008. 

Remember folks: Things started getting BETTER around March of 2009. That's when talk of stimulus started, and once that hit it's when the Stock markets turned around, it's when unemployment turned around, it when economic growth turned around.  And despite all they they kept saying "Obama made it worse," lacking even a single, solitary economic indicator that was on a negative trend to support their claims.

Assuming nothing is done to prevent massive cuts that were never supposed to happen?  Let's see who they blame, now that things are ACTUALLY going to get worse? As if I have to ask.

Mr. President?  THIS is why you need to stop these bi-partisan outreach efforts, that will be domed to fail.  The Republicans are traitorous scum who will consistently put party, self, and ideology ahead of Country, and remain more interested in your failure than the country's success. 

President Obama and the Democrats stop this "everyone has a hand in it" nonsense. They need to call out Shitty Republican Policies, like Austerity, for what they are: SHITTY REPUBLICAN POLICIES. For Christ's sake come out swinging!  The Republicans haven't done a thing right for this country since Eisenhower! And it's about time the American People were reminded of that.

40 by 40 Update

Date: 2/28/13
Morning Weight: 209.4 (BMI: 31.8)
Pounds Down: 6
Pounds to Go: 34
Days Left: 203
Workout Summary:
     Eliptical Climber: 33 Minutes, 408 Colries
     Ropes: 10 Minutes, 267 Calories
     Standard Eliptical: 13 Minutes, 136 Calories
     Weights (Short)

Feelin' good.



(No, I can't do most of that. LOL)

What clever sounds like to a stupid person

See... Don't try to be clever.  Stick to what you're good at.  And appearing clever isn't it.  Unfortunately Conservatives are fairly easy to impress, as long as what they're been fed comes from a Conservative.

"Keep your Government hands off my medicare, indeed."

I've lost track of the number of times my parents, or one of my Conservative friends, have sent me one of the Right-Wing, anti-Obama, anti-Pelosi, or anti-Democrat emails that Snopes has already debunked. (Usually YEARS ago.) If you think what you're saying (or reading) is too good to be true, and no Liberal could ever possibly have an answer for it?

Keep quiet, and do some research first.

You missed something really obvious. You're wrong. And it will take someone like me about five seconds to figure that out.


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2/27/13
Morning Weight: 208.8
Pounds Down: 6
Pounds to Go: 34
Days remaining: 204
Gym: Not tonight. (DW has Akido/Iado.)

Alignment Meme's

As a one-time huge D&D nerd, one of my absolute favorite memes is the "alignment meme." That's the one where you take nine people or characters fitting a given theme and arrange them according to the twin spectrums of AD&D's character morality model: From Good to Evil and from Lawful to Chaotic.

Here's a particularly relevant one (for this blog) that I came across recently:

What I love about these is the possibility for interesting debate.  (Among HUGE NERDS, granted but still...)

For example, I didn't really see Truman as "Lawful Evil." Until I read his quote. Then I was was like... "Oh... Yeeeeah. Riiiiiight." (awkward)

Also... I REALLY can't see JFK as "Lawful." Don't get me wrong, I like Kennedy but if he belongs anywhere it definitely on the Chaotic spectrum. (But yeah... TR and Jackson? PERFECT choices already.  For Lawful Neutral, I'd have gone with either Franklin Pierce or James Buchanan, both of whom supported the legal, yet morally reprehensible institution of slavery.  (And sure, one can argue that they belong in the 'Evil' category of that, but there actions were taken to AVOID a war, whilst Truman's were taken to WIN one, so I can see leaving it as it is as well.

Another brilliant one was this:

Now calling the media "True Neutral" is not suggesting, in the least, that they have been unbiased. On the contrary, the fact that they have even tried to maintain the appearance of neutrality here is proof-positive of the Systematic Conservative bias of our Corporate Press: THIS WHOLE MESS IS ENTIRELY THE FAULT OF CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS.

PERIOD.

It's not even a question of who supported what during the debate, or whether one side of the other (or Obama) supported the sequester deal or not. If the Republicans did play bullshit politics with what should have been a routine piece of maintenance-level legislation, namely RAISING THE DEBT CEILING, then none of this would have happened.

And make no mistake: It WILL harm the economy. (Not our security though: We spend twice as much on defense as France, England, Russia and China COMBINED. So we'll be FINE, militarily. The problem of defense spending is entrierly an ECONOMIC one, just as all other spending questions are!) (What do you know? Eisenhower was RIGTH!)



(Too bad we didn't listen!)

And remember: The Debt Ceiling has NOTHING, at all, to do with either the national debt or the federal budget deficit.  Raising the debt ceiling only allows the US to pay the bills it has ALREADY RUN UP when Congress drew up the budget. It has NOTHING, at all, to do with "blank checks" or "new spending" or ANYTHING like that.

But hey: Just as Rush Limbaugh (and his ilk) have contended form the beginning that Obama it "trying" to wreck the economy, in order to adopt some [straw-man argument that they keep harping about which has no basis in reality], I have also contended that the Republicans actually WANT to forestall economic recovery, and even force us back into recession.  The difference between me and Limbaugh?  I can demonstrate actual MOTIVE, and can point to ACTUAL ACTIONS, both taken and obstructed, by the Republicans to demonstrate MEANS and OPPORTUNITY.

Motive: Tank the economy on Obama's watch and the Dem's will get blamed for it.  Hey - it has some precedent. (George Bush Sr. in 1992, for example.) And it's also why you only hear about austerity and reducing the deficit when there's a Democrat in the White House: Because the ONLY possibly result of Government Austerity is a shittier economy! There is no other possible result! And when there's a Republican in the White House?

"I think Reagan proved that deficits don't matter."

~Vice President Dick Cheney

As for means & opportunity?

- Obstructed the American Re-Investment and Recovery Act, and sought only to weaken it.
- Unprecedented use of the filibuster
- All this nonsense about the debt ceiling
- All the anonymous holds on Presidential Appointees, also unprecedented both in terms of number, and the positions in question
- All their talk about cutting spending. Where was that under Bush? Nonexistent, because they wouldn't want to tank the economy under Bush!

(Though they managed to anyway!)

(Now watch as anonymous forces us to rehash the debate over the CRA with the same, tired debunked talking points we already beat in to the ground! LOL)

Evil indeed. Without a doubt in my mind.

Goal Update+

Date: 2/26/13
Morning Weight: 209.9
Pounds Down: 5
Pounds to go: 35
Days Left:205
Gym:  I did not go to the Gym tonight. It took me 2 hours to get home (normally 45 minutes) due to the shitty (icy) road conditions. So I'm not going back out. I did get SOME excercise though: I shoveled ~3" of heavy, wet snow off of the driveway. Not quite up to the level of my usual workout, but I did at least break a sweat.

I also saw a lot of Snow-Lightning.  Damn.  You know how the light flicker when the power's diming? The whole sky would look like that for a minute at a time. Eerie.

Human Sexuality is Complciated...

So here's a GREAT educational video.  Right-Wing, Religious Conservatives, in particular, need to watch it and listen...



Now it is with all that in mind that I would also like to post the following from Dan Savage:

 "If the Bible got the easiest moral question that humanity has ever faced wrong - slavery - what are the odds that the Bible got something as complicated as human sexuality wrong?"

Or this, which I don't know from whence it came originally, but I read in an email the other day:

"Religion is like penis. It's OK to have one, but it's not OK to shove it in my face."

 I post all this, as yet another counterpoint to the completely absurd argument that anyone chooses to be gay. Because this is not about gene's, or any other part of science that the Right wants to misuse.  It's not a scientific argument. Not YET anyway. Right now? It's a semantic one. We don't yet agree on the TERMS, because SOME PEOPLE insist on refusing to acknowledge what WORDS MEAN.  (If there's any question, I'll refer you to the video above. If you have a problem with that, go argue with THEM.)

Being Gay (Bi-, Lesbian, Pan-, A-) is not about one's BEHAVIOR. It is about one's PREFERENCES. That's what ORIENTATION means.  Obviously one chooses one's behavior. No one is arguing about that. (Outside of University Philosophy Classes at anyway.) (I married a philosophy major, so I've got to cover all bases.)  But you do not choose your PREFERENCES.

And saying that you do only demonstrates a complete ignorance of the fact that there even is a philosophical debate going on between Free Will and Determinism, never mind where you stand in it.  I actually happen to hold on to the quaint and romantic notion of free-will myself. But that doesn't means that I don't understand the argument of the Determinists, even if I don't accept it in its entirely. Though, to be fair, it is completely idiotic to reject it in its entirety as well. 

Go figure that so many Conservatives do exactly that.

You don't choose you're preferences. Period. They are the things that, consciously and unconsciously, influence you're choices. And that's not being Liberal - that's just not being a moron.

And remember:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

 ~Jefferson

Remember him? THAT'S what America is all about.

Now would anyway like to try telling me, again, why these people shouldn't have THE SAME rights as everybody else? (And they ARE the SAME rights, BTW. So don't be a fucking moron and try to talk about them wanting "special rights."  That only marks YOU as "special!")


--------------------------------------------
BTW...
Date: 2/25/13
Morning Weight: 210.7 (BMI: 32.0)
Pounds Down: 4
Pounds to go: 36
No gym. (DW has Akido & Iado tonight.)

My Goal

(No politics in this one.)

Last night my wife and I went out to dinner; not something we do all that often these days.  We drank... enough, gorged ourselves until it hurt, and THEN went to another place for desert.

This morning (2/24), when I stepped on the scale I weight 215. lbs.

Ugh.

And I'm 5'8", so yeah... That's lard-ass territory.  Or... it's a BMI of 32.7, which is obese. Where I am now, I'd have to lose at least 18 pounds just to be fat!  And it's the heaviest I've ever weighed.  (I did hit 215 once before - just once. For like a day.) 

So today I'm setting a goal. On September 19th of this year, I'll turn 40.  By that time I want to be at or below my high school graduation weight of 175.

I know it's possible. I was 210 when I turned 30, and on two separate occasions, a couple of years apart, I've hit that weight. (I actually got down as far as 165 once.) So 175, by the 19th of September, 2013.  That's a BMI of 26.6, which is still a little bit high, but then, I've always been stocky - broad shouldered, thick-legged, muscular, though not huge by any stretch.  I've never been skinny is what I'm sayin'. (Plus BMI is shit anyway. I'm just using it as a guide.)

So there's my goal.

So why put it here?  Mainly because while I know I can do it, and I know how, having already done it twice before in the past ten years, I've really had a hard time keeping my motivation up.  It's a long stretch - a marathon, where as I'm a sprinter by trade.  So I figure that if I post about it publicly, in front of people I both respect and otherwise... I should be able to keep it up.

If nothing else, the amount it would fucking irk me to fail in front of the likes of William and our recent "Anonymous" should be enough to keep me going. I'm not looking for attention, replies, encouragement or anything else - though it will still be welcome, as will heckling.  (ADVICE however, is NOT welcome, unless it is specifically solicited. Just want to make that clear!)  And I'm going to post regularly about my progress. Not for any reason, other than to stay in the habit.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays and at least Saturday or Sunday (or both) I'm going to post a brief report lie this one:

Date: 2/24
Morning Weight: 215 (BMI: 32.7)
Pounds down: 0
Pounds to go: 40
Days Left: 207
Workout Summary: Light - 406 Calories on Elliptical/Climber, no weights.

And if I don't post at least that, then I didn't stick to it.  I don't know how it's going to go with the weight. Middle of last year I injured my elbow and STILL haven't gotten it looked at. And it still hurts when I lift, so... I need to.  And that's part of why I fell out of the habit: If I can't do weights, I don't like going to the gym. Cardio only is FUCKING BORING!  I may also post something like "Swam a mile" or "Mountain Biked 10 Miles" or some such thing. And I'd like to get my elbow looked at pretty soon. So...

I'll make an appointment with the Orthopedist by the time I report in on Tuesday!

There: I'm committed.

And now that I'm on my way, here's some inspirational music to keep it going:

Genius

This humor and beauty of this will be lost on anyone who hasn't read or watched Games of Thrones but whoever put it together was a satirical genius.  And if you haven't read or watched Games of Thrones, you're really missing out. Few things live up to their hype; GoT is, if anything, underrated.

Republicans are scum

I've said it before and it bears repeating...

Republicans are scum.

Republicans are scum.

Republicans are scum.

Republicans are scum.

Republicans are scum.

Republicans are scum.

Republicans are scum.

Republicans are scum.

Republicans are scum.

Republicans are scum.

Can anyone tell me why they would vote for or support the Republicans when, in order to 'win' the argument, they have to lie with every breath they draw?

William once said that he's a Conservative because he didn't want to be a Liberal. (IOW: He'd rather be wrong than Liberal. Aaaaand... that's idiotic.)

Why am I Liberal?  Because the alternative is throwing in with the lying liars who constantly lie to and insult me by either assuming I'm too stupid to see through their lies, or crooked enough to accept their lies anyway.

It always brings back two favorite points of mine:

1) In any argument the Liberal will always prove that you're wrong, whilst the Conservative will always prove that you're Liberal.

2) Conservatives only come in two flavors: Evil and Stupid. One's lyin' and the other's buyin'.

A word on SPAM...

No politics on this one.

I just wanted to make you all aware that I've just again had to deleted a shit-ton of comments that were (correctly) flagged as SPAM on both this Blog and over on Utopia.

While most of the comments read like this:

Hello to eνeгу onе, it's truly a fastidious for me to go to see this site, it consists of precious Information. Visit my site: [...]

...some were better camouflaged. It is my own personal policy that I do NOT censor opinions or even attacks in the comments section. Everyone should feel free to post as they will, without regard to how I, or someone else, might react. A bigger defender of free expression you are not likely to find.  You are also perfectly welcome to post links back to your own blogs or websites as well. That's fine too.

But if it's just SPAM, like the example above, I will delete it.

That being said, there is the possibility that I inadvertently deleted one or two legitimate comments. (There were some old ones in the SPAM folder that I restored and published, but not many.) If that happens, you have my sincerest apologies. If it seems to be a pattern, feel free to email me (niceguy9418@usa.com) and let me know. 

NO ONE gets "banned" form this site. Ever.

That's a Right-Wing practice! *wink*

Not as thunk as you drink I am!

Remember folks... everything the Bible says is both fact and truth!

Two things that require an explanation...

...And I can only partially explain one.

First of all, can someone explain the Star Wars-Angry Birds-Jenga game to me?  Not the Star Wars part, I get that.  Licensing is paying George Lucas' daughter's way through college, and then some, so I get that part.  It's the combination of Angry Birds and Jenga that I don't get.

The object in Angry Birds is (basically) to knock everything down as quickly as possible.
 
The object in Jenga is to keep everything standing as long as possible.

How do you mix those two?

I don't get it. Can someone please explain this to me?

Another thing I don't get came out of the last election.  Now let's put aside, for the moment, how we feel about who won what. Obviously I'm pleased at the outcome, given the Fox News-created alternative, but the point I'm about to make is one of simple math, requiring no partisan leanings one way of the other.

ONE PARTY won the Presidency, for the Second time.

THAT SAME PARTY made gains in the Senate of  of 2 seats.

Yet somehow, despite making gains, the OTHER PARTY (though losing six seats) maintained Control of the House.

Now, yes it was a close election - 51.1% of the Popular Vote (Obama) is NOT a Landslide.  But here's the thing...

If there was going to be an odd man out here, it really should have been the SENATE, no? I mean... the HOUSE is more proportionate to the population in general, with seats apportioned accordingly. The Senate is not: two per state, whether you're California or Alaska. So, putting aside whetehr we like it or not, it would make sense for the Senate to be disproportionate to the population.

So why are the White and Senate aligned and the HOUSE out?  That doesn't really make sense, right?

Unless you recall how the Republican gerrymandered the SHIT of the districts back in 2010!

Now... I will say this: Even with the 2008 districts, the Republicans STILL keep their majority, though a smaller one.  I still don't get it though...

How do you win the White House and the Senate and lose the House?!  Winnign the White House and the House and losing the Senate I can totally get.  I just don't get this.

And I realize that a lot of people DON'T vote a straight party ticket. I have the last few times, though I didn't used to. (I didn't used to be as Liberal as I am now.) But with the sharp uptick in hyper-partisan obstruction since 2008, I don't see how someone can say...

"Hmmm... I really liked president Obama, so I'll vote for him, but then I will vote for a House that will NEVER support his Agenda."

...just I could not understand someone who would say...

"Hmmm... I really like the Republicans, so I'm voting Republican in the House, but I'm going to Vote for a President that will veto everything they pass."

WTF? How can anyone seriously not vote a straight ticket at the Federal level in this day and age? (Regardless of which side or agenda you support?)

Just for the record:

Obama: 51.1% of the Popular, 61.7% of the Electoral Vote.
Democrats: 54.3% of the Popular Senate Vote, and won 54.1% of the open seats.

These kind of make sense. (Mathematically I mean.)  And actually the Senate numbers are almost odd in how closely proportionate they are! (Of course, you can't gerrymander the Senate.)  But...

Democrats won 49.2% of the House Popular Vote (to the Republican's 48.0%), but won only 44.4% of the Seats.

Despite the further, more detailed analysis of Mother Jones, which did conclude that the GOP win was not entirely due to gerrymandering, this is still a VERY unusual occurrence: In the previous century, only four times (out of fifty) did the party with a plurality of the popular vote fail to receive a majority in the House. The last time was in 1996, where the GOP kept the House for similar reasons.

Yeah... That smells a lot like gerrymandering to me. (Not to mention a load of horse-shit!)

Amen!

I've always believed that morality exsists independantly from Religion, but I've never seen it put so perfectly.

For William & my recent "Anonymous" friend...

See? I told y'all that the MetaPicture has awesome stuff!

Gold Star Awards, January, 2013

YAY! The Backlog is cleared!!! I'll do February's sometime in the week and I'll be caught up with these after four months!  Also, I organized my long list of candidates yesterday , and I've pretty figured out who the honorees will be through September of 2013. After that, I'm tapped, but I'm sure I'll have some nice discoveries between now and then. The Internet's a big place, after all.That being said, if there are any sites, that any of you would like to nominate, please let me know, preferably by email: (niceguy9418@usa.com)

Here we go, 1983, 2 Golds, one Silver:


The Juan Marichal GOLD STAR #61: Bold Progressives

An outfit with over 950,000 members nation-wide, that believes in fighting for bold progressive change and support heroes in Congress and candidates on the campaign trail that also believe in fighting for these values.  Check them out, join their mailing list!


The Brooks Robinson GOLD STAR #61: Credo

Quick: Why is there no such thing as "liberal media"?

Easy: "The Media" is 99% consolidated under just six huge Corporations. And neither are Corporations liberal, nor Liberals corporatists.

Well... Here's an exception. Credo is a cell phone and mobile service provider and a bonafide LIBERAL CORPORATION.  In 2012, they put their money and influence behinds numerous progressive Candidate and causes, and fighting hard to enact progressive change and defeat regressive policies is right in their mission statement.  Now I'm still in my current contract, but 'llI tell you: These guys sure seem like some of the GOOD GUYS and, assuming I can get coverage, I plan to switch my plan over to them when it's up. (And I plan to let my current provider know why I did!)  Not all corporations are bad. Most are, but outfits like Credo deserve our support.  Please check them out!


The George Kell SILVER STAR #58: The MetaPicture

Another site that just brings the funny and the awesome. I first discovered it when someone sent me the following, which, having driven there many times, I can totally relate to:

So true. So true. So check 'em out. A lot of funny and a lot of awesome..

Gold Star Awards, December, 2012

Third of Four (well, FIVE, since it's February now!) But we're almost done (caught up) with these.  I gather from the (lack of) responses that y'all aren't too interested in these posts, but I DO hope you check out some of these sites, at least once.  (And it wouldn't kill you to leave a comment letting me know what you think of them! *wink-wink* *nudge-nudge*)

OK... 1982... Two Golds, One Silver...


The Hank Aaron GOLD STAR #59: Avaaz

Avaaz is a progressive, international organization focused on bringing to the attention of it's readers those stories that the mainstream media often chooses to ignore or under-report.  They also engage in online petitions (my personal favorite form of slacktivism, LOL) to pressure world leaders, Congress,  the UN, etc... to act on these important issues.  Please check them out, and please support their work by (at least) subscribing to their mailing list. (And they won't spam you - I get about one message from them a day, tops.)  Give the Corporate media, and their toadies in Politics one more reason to be accountable to the people!


The Frank Robinson GOLD STAR #60: CGPGrey and his YouTube Channel

A lot of this could fall under the heading "Reality for Dummies" as he endeavours to explain things that most of us already know.  (And I'm sure many of my readers can already guess which half of society needs these things explained to them!) But there's also a lot of stuff that he explains that most of us DON'T KNOW (such as the difference between Great Britain, the United Kingdom, England and the Crown, for example.)  That was the video I first discovered him through, but looking over the rest of his stuff was fascinating. (And useful, should you ever find yourself arguing with morons, as I have recently. LOL)  And he has a very nice, strait-forward, yet light and sometimes humorous style, that really leads to some great presentations.  Check him out!


The Travis Jackson Silver Star #57: Post Secret

Admittedly this one's been around for a long time, but I've been trying to find a place to include it almost from the very beginning. So here it is. I've made no secret in the past about my appreciation for Dark Humor, nor my interest in examining the hidden underside of polite society. And we are all aware how the anonymity of the interment suddenly allows people to throw off that polite veneer and really let their true selves shine through. (AKA "Keyboard Cojones," which is a mixed bag, to be sure, but I actually believe is a GOOD thing.)  Well, this is a collection of all the things people are otherwise afraid to admit to or talk about, posted artistically and anonymously, all in one place. It is sometimes funny, often thought-provoking and at times heart-wrenching. But it is a reflection of that side of us that we never show anyone else. And that's a beautiful thing.

Gold Star Awards, November, 2012

2nd of Four. LOL. November 2102 = 1981 = 1 Gold, 1 Silver...


The Bob Gibson GOLD STAR #58: Everyone is a Sith!

A funny, poignant, and socially relevant Blog.  Although Liberal-leaning, it is not exclusively political. He spends at least as much time talking about Movies, Video Games, Anime and other hunorous miscellenia.  But when it does delve into politics, I find  the posts to be generally well-written and insightful.  He writes like a Philosophy Major, which is a good thing (says the guys who MARRIED ONE.)  There's not much else I can say that I haven't said about so many others, but check it out. Great stuff.


The Johnny Mize SILVER STAR #56: A Softer World

Looks like a web-comic at first, but is more of an artistic / personal expression blog that is consistently deep, meaningful, irreverent, intelligent, emotional, dark, inspirational, cynical, nihilistic and enlightening.  Sound complicated? Well, Emily Horne and Joey Comeau do amazing work, post after post, matching cool photography with dark poetry, to create so amazing work.  I would also like to thank them personally for giving me permission to (eventually) use the following as inside cover-art for Utopia, once I finish it and hammer it into book-form:

Thanks guys! You're awesome!

Gold Star Awards, October, 2012

Yep. THAT'S how far behind I am. I haven't given Gold Star's since last September.  And while I could just pick up NOW where I left, I don't want to do that. And while I know these generally don't get read (or at least commented on) as often as other posts, I do really encourage people to check out the site's I'll be highlighting in my next four posts. There are some really important people, doing really important work that I think really deserve some publicity and support.  So for the next four posts, over what I hope is the next four days, I'm going to get my awards list caught up.  Please check these guys out.

October, 2012 = 1980 = 2 Golds, 1 Silver. Without further ado...

The Duke Snider GOLD STAR #56: WikiLeaks

OK, I know that I'm going to get in some trouble from several corners for this one, but fuck it. While I don't necessarily approve of everything he/they have done, and don't know that I like the man personally, I DO applaud his mission. Government SHOULD be more transparent, and they've had more than enough chances to become so.  Conservatives and Liberals alike will argue that the Obama administration is no more transparent that the Bush administration was, and they would be right. (Though... still hardly a reason to vote Republican.) So fuck 'em.. They had they're change. I say, "You go, minions of Julian Asange!" and let the chips fall where they may.  Maybe after a little anarchy, this Democracy might start becoming accountable to the People again!


The Al Kaline GOLD STAR #57: Human Rights Campaign

HRC has emerged as the premier organization lobbying for LGBT Equality.  With 1.5 million members and supporters nationwide, HRC envisions an America where LGBT people are ensured of their basic equal rights, and can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.  They have reached the point where they were relevant in the last election, and one of the driving factors behind the repeals of DADT and DOMA and the legalization and recognition of Same-Sex Marriage is the States.  They do great work. Check them out, and be sure to sign up for their email alerts.


The Chuck Klein SILVER STAR #55: Head Trip

Admittedly I am not as regular a reader of this as I am so many of the other web-comics that I've Silver-starred, but I always get a laugh when I tune into Head Trip.  Amanda Russell is a geek-girl, either at-heart or in reality (not sure, I don't know her personally) and it really comes through in this quirky, sometimes dark, usually twisted, and often absurd "trip" of a web-strip.  I love her sense of humor.  There's no ONE story line, so you can pick it up anywhere.  (But if you can find any of the "Adventures of EmoKid and ChemoKid... those are classic!)

Great!

...As soon as they end their ban on atheists, I might start supporting them again!

Still, progress is progress.

You go girl!

THIS GIRL is a thousand times as awesome as anyone who would respond to this post (or that one) with hate. 

Yep.

Happy New Year's, part two

*phew*

Sorry. I really needed that break.  I'm still sick, so I took a nap, made a quick jaunt to the store, and now I'm back, rested, and somewhat fed. Worst part about being sick: You're really hungry, because you haven't eaten anything, but you haven't eaten because NOTHING sounds the least bit appetizing! (Even junk-food has lost it's appeal at the moment, and that's saying something!)

So, in the last post I mentioned that there were a few things I wanted to share.  The first one is intended for my cousin Justin, who I watched run full-smack into "the bubble" as he debated economic policy with my Dad. This was a few days before Congress decided to punt on "the fiscal cliff" (arguably the most over-dramatized and over-sold news stories of the year, I might add, and an overblown "crisis" fabricated whole-cloth, entirely by Congressional Republicans, I might add!)  And Fox (of course) is lamenting (I guess?) the "lack of Presidential Leadership" on the issue of the fiscal cliff.  This is VERY STRANGE for several reasons...

1) No matter how you read the tea leaves, the BUDGET is Congresses issue to fix. Given how gleefully Fox has pointed out every (imagined) time the President has exceeded his Constitutional Authority, it seems odd that they would want him to do so here. Especially when...

2) It would mean placing full blame for the entire problem firmly on the laps of the Republicans and then insisting that the shut the front door, and exclude them ENTIRELY from the process moving forward, and seeing that the ADULTS in the room (which at the moment all happen to be Democrats) fix the problem.

And all that is before you consider that the Republicans have done everything they could to sabotage the economy, the budget and the Government, since the very minute Obama was sworn in!  And that not just me bitching here, that not hyperbole, that was MITCH McCONNELL'S STATED PLAN! He said it very clearly: His top priority was making sure Obama would be a one-term President. Well, he FAILED at that. But it certainly was for a lack of trying!

SO, quite frankly, the next time I here a Republican whining about how Obama "isn't working with them" or "lacks leadership," I sincerely hoped that get hit in the head with a brick, bearing the words "FUCK YOU, YOU TRAITOROUS SCUMBAG" etched into the side.

ANYWAY... Whatever Right-Wing Wind-Bag they were hosting that day (I was in the other room, so admittedly I don't now who it was, or who's program it was on - I don't watch that shit) was cheerleading the expiration of unemployment benefits. My father jumped on that bandwagon, crying out, "Yeah, get the lazy bastards an incentive to get off their asses and go find a job!" Now, I'm paraphrasing, but this was NOT meant as satire. This nugget of idiocy was said with the utmost enthusiasm and sincerity. You know... Because the existence of poor people and the unemployed is evidence of their own personal failures, rather than a failure of the American brand of Capitalism!

Now my cousin is a Democrat, a Liberal and well-educated. He's currently a grad-student and he's generally a pretty sharp guy. But he's young. It's not his fault, I know: we all were once. And I know from experience that he's likely to grow out of it. (Most of it, anyway. LOL) And he argues like a very young, very idealistic Liberal.  He pointed out that there are simply more people than there are jobs, and that there's just not enough work right now to go around.  Which,of course, if very true and very accurate.  So my Father suggested putting them to work somehow, like FDR did. (Odd, coming from a Conservative, but that's what he said.) To which my cousin replied, "Doing what? There's NO WORK for these people!" To which my father replied (jokingly, I hope) "Well, put them in CAMPS them, like FDR did!"

(But Daaaaad... They're not Japanese Muslim!)

He then went on to explain, doing a fair impression of Rush Limbaugh, from the early days, how whenever Liberals try to help people, it always ends up doing more harm than good, and that helping poor people only forces them to remain dependant on the Government. He finished up by saying, "You can't be EMOTIONAL about these things!"

You know... Because we Liberals always think with our [bleeding]  hearts, whilst Conservative always think with their heads.

Well, Justin, if you're reading this, I'm here to tell that it not a question of Hearts versus Heads. Liberals feel with our hearts, and think with our heads, and Conservatives mostly talk out of their asses. (Where, if you're brave enough to look, is where you'll typically find their heads!) 

There is a basic, simple reason that we have unemployment benefits, food stamps, welfare and many other social safety nets, and believe it or not it has absolutely nothing to do with it being the humane thing to do when your economic system, even at the best of times, has a targeted unemployment rate that's higher than zero. The FACT is that we do these things because, even after taxes are paid, the economy is better off because of it.  Here's a chart that you might find handy in the future. It was put together by Mark Zandi of Moody's, and it shows how much economic benefit we get per dollar spent (or not collected) by the Government:

 

So, for every dollar we would "save" by not paying out unemployment benefits, our economy would LOSE $1.64.  This happens, because no jobs will be created by eliminating these benefits. In fact, so many people suddenly having less (no) income (at all) will have the exact same affect as them losing their jobs in the first place did: Depressed demand. Which will only lead to... duh-da-daaaa: FEWER Jobs. No business hires MORE people when the see their demand FALL.  The only reason the Right keeps championing this nonsense is because (1) they're idiots who (2) live in a bubble that (3) encourages them to keep ignoring real-world evidence. Also, they're (4) short-sighted, (5) greedy, (6) petty little people who's political mantra can be summed up in eight words: I've got mine, screw the rest of you!

 

BTW... Those Bush tax cuts that have added TWO-TRILLION DOLLARS to that vaunted National Debt they keep yammering on about? Well, going forward, every dollar that these so-called "Job-creators" get to keep only brings about $0.29 of economic benefit. Why? Well, first, because people aren't hired out of a person's bank account, or even a company's profits.  And second: because Rich People don't tend to spend all of their money. (Hence WHY THEY'RE RICH!) And that's FINE, but it's a lousy, inefficvent and very expensive way to stimulate an economy!  Anyway, the next time a Conservative accuses these programs of resulting from nothing more than Liberal gullibility and over-sensitivity, you might consider pointing out an emotion that they can better relate to: SELF-INTEREST.

 

There's another thing I'd like to point out about this whole debt "crisis." When I say it's manufactured, I'm going WAY beyond the whole "Republicans pitched a bitch about the debt ceiling back in 2011" thing.  They DID, and that's what created the current "crisis" (the absurdly named 'fiscal cliff'.) But there is another reason that this whole National Debt thing is a completely phony issue, and it comes, surprising, from Fox news, and there insistence on invoking GREECE'S fiscal and economic troubles when discussing our own.  Well, MMFA had a great write-up last week contrasting the differences between the situations in the U.S. and Greece. Basically...

 

• Greece's current debt is currenlty at 142% of their GDP. Ours is projected to top out at around 74%.  That's the TOTAL DEBT, mind you, not the deficit or the cost of the interest.

• Austerity in Greece, and other European countries had stifled economic growth.  See the Moody's chart above to understand why that is, and consider that Republicans never say SHIT about the debt or deficit when they're in office.  No... wrecking the economy is only something they actually TRY to do when a Democrat occupies 1600.

• Despite Spending Cuts, Greek Debt Has Increased.  Well.... Their economy tanked. So go figure. Recessions can only tend to lower Government revenue while increasing the demand for Government services. What the hell did they expect to happen?!

• We have our own Central Bank. Greece doesn't. (Anymore.) So It's basically impossible for us to run out of money, even if things did go fantastically badly for us.

 

And the actual COST of all this debt?  Well, you might hear some scary numbers being thrown around like "$46,000" per person or some bullshit like that. Well... it's not. In fact, the cost of financing this debt is currently LESS THAN ONE PERCENT of our overall budget.

 

That's it. That's what having a more robust economy (or allowing one, while a Democrat remains in office) amounts to: 1% of what we're spending anyway.  It's a bullshit issue, and if you have any doubts, try to find any Conservative hand-wringing over the deficit when Bush was in office. Either one! Or Reagan for that matter!  No, fear-mongering about the debt is a pastime they save for when Democrats are in office, in hopes that the can scapegoat them when the economy turns sour, and frighten people enough that they don't notice how much better we're doing with them in control.

 

OK, that's enough of that.  See... This is what I'm talking about: To me this stuff is so self-evident that I get no satisfaction from writing about it. Most of my regular readers already know this stuff, and William won't accept (or actually address) any of it anyway.  So... What's the point?

 

(Well, maybe my cousin and some of his other young, idealistic friends will come away better informed, and better armed. Who knows?)

 

Anyway, speaking of... he who should not have been named...

Jerome Corsi, of WorldNetDaily shame, recently penned an interestingly informative piece on how to recognize TROLLS.  Now... he intended this ito be applied to LIBERAL trolls, but in yet another example of Right-Wing projecting leading to some unintentional honestly, I believe that with only a very few changes (for objectivity's sake) much of his piece might serve as a VERY handy guideline in identify trolls in general.  Check it out:

Making outrageous comments designed to distract or frustrate. This is a [...] tactic employed to stir emotion and angry reactions.

Posing as a [member of a political group] and making comments that discredit the movement. After claiming to be a member of the movement, [...] the troll then proceeds to post long, incoherent diatribes to appear either racist or insane. In some cases, these “Trojan Horse Trolls” have been known to make posts that advocate or incite to the use of violence in an apparent attempt to provide evidence to [...] critics and government sources that [said group] is comprised of “radical extremists.”

Dominating discussions. Trolls may attempt to throw a discussion off course and frustrate participants whose purpose is to engage in a serious and respectful exchange of views.

Posting pre-written responses. Many trolls appear to have been supplied with a list or database of pre-planned “talking points” designed as generalized and deceptive responses to honest arguments. When trolls post prewritten responses, their words typically feel strangely plastic and rehearsed.

Making false associations. In this technique, the position of honest posters is characterized in derogatory terms. For example, a troll may call advocates of [a certain policy or position] “conspiracy theorists” or “lunatics.” Or, by suggesting certain political arguments are “racist” or otherwise outside the accepted confines of serious political discourse, trolls attempt to dissuade readers from examining the evidence objectively.

Exhibiting false moderation. By pretending to be the “voice of reason” in an argument with obvious well-defined sides, trolls attempt to move readers to relegate the argument to a “gray area,” such that holding or seriously considering the argument is a leap away from reasoned judgment.

Raising straw-man arguments. Here a troll will accuse his opposition of subscribing to a certain point of view, even if the argument is irrelevant and never actually raised.

You may observe that I've removed some details that Corsi included solely for the purpose of implying that only LIBERALS engage in this sort behavior. You'll also notice that I've added nothing of my own to make this list exclusively apply to Conservatives. This is, for all intents and purposes, a very useful test in identifying a TROLL.  And it is with that in mind that I would invite anyone to apply this list to literally ANYTHING William has evey posted in the comments section on this blog.

ROTFLMAO! Thank you, Jerome Corsi!

Oh, and uh... thanks for the email's, Will, but I don't do one-on-one's. I replied to you once, and your next email just showed me that you have no intention of treating my in-bow any differently that you did my blog. If you want to waste your time and everyone else's writing meaningless drivel, I will gladly debate you on THIS forum, so that someone else might get some amusement out of it. (Or at least share in my frustration.)  So if you want to talk about anything non-political, free free to e-mail me. I've got a pretty good record getting back to people. If you want to debate politics (or do whatever it is that one calls what you do) I will only do that HERE, on this blog. (And if you force my hand, I'll simply post your email, along with the address it came from. So I would appreciate if you would respect that request.) I realize that you've been posting here as well, even though I've been away, I just wanted to know why I'm responding to your emails.

Anyway, thanks again, welcome back and I hope that everyone has a healthy and prosperous new year!

Happy New Year, part one

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday.  For my part, in 2013, I have hit the ground stumbling, having been sick as a dog (along with my wife, two sons, parents and grandmother) for the past week and a half now.  I'd say 'it serves me right' for not getting a flu shot this year, but 'patient zero' (my son, Michael) DID, as did my Parents and Grandmother. So a fat lot of good it did anyway!

I hope (resolve?) to get back to writing more, either here, or over on Utopia, on a regular basis. My lack of writing here over the past couple months certainly has NOT been a reflection of a lack of absurd things going on in the world, mostly perpetrated by Republicans and Right-Wingers, but rather a sort of burn-out that I suppose inevitably sets in when you've had your outrage-meter pinned in the red-zone for so long.  It just seems like I've reached a point that we are so saturated with such complete absurdity, that it seems almost inane to have to write about it.  I mean... the level of intellectual dishonestly and hypocrisy on the part of Republicans has reached a point, at least in my mind, of complete and utter self-evidence. So.. What the hell am I suppose to say about it?  I mean... for me it's become akin to predicting the sun will rise tomorrow (12/21/12 notwithstanding, LOL) and acting like this is some kind of profound thing! So I don't know where to even begin anymore.

One thing I will point out is that, very much like Congressional Republicans, I have a lot of unfinished business carrying over from 2012. (The last three(?) months worth of Hall of Fame posts, for example.) Unlike Congressional Republicans, I have only myself to blame.  Wait a 'sec... On second thought, that's EXACTLY like Congressional Republicans! But unlike Congressional Republicans, I won't actually TRY to blame anyone else, I'll just take responsibility for it, move on and try to do better.  So at some point, there's going to be a post or three getting my Hall of Fame caught up. And I really need to do it, because I've come across some REALLY strong sites in the past few months - outfits I REALLY want everyone to know about and get involved with. I've just be too lazy/busy to be bothered to post them.  My bad.

One bit of good news for readers of Utopia, is that despite that blog's (intentional) lack of updates (and the removal of most of the content) of late, I have now written up through Chapter Thirty-Nine, and plan to post a new chapter every week for the next three or four months or so, until the work is finally finished. So if you, like me, agree with Steeve that pretty much every one of our problems can be solved simply by getting rid of the Republicans, check out my exploration of that proposal in  Utopia! 

(And if  j.riddle happens to be reading this, I hope he's gotten his computer issues sorted out and look forward to getting back to working with him on a more regular basis.  Everyone else is welcome and encouraged to leave comments, questions or suggestions as well.)

I've got a handful of other things I want to touch on, mostly about my holiday, but I'm going to leave those for a moment, and try to post them later today. In the meantime, welcome back, and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and had a fun, safe, happy and HEALTHY holiday.

Oh my god...

Utterly horrified just now to hear about the K-4 Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. I went to school not far from there myself, grades 1-4 and later grades 7-10.  I just cannot believe it. How unbelievably horrible.  My thoughts go out to the families and friends of everyone affected.

I have nothing more to say, politically speaking, as I am not exactly an anti-gun advocate myself, and I do truly believe that emotional cases make for bad laws, but I have to ask: After Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, now Newtown, and so many others... How many more, America?  How many are going to die before we can at least have an intelligent discussion about the issue?

Unbelievable. What an utterly senseless loss.

Woo-Hoo!

I'm very happy about the results last night. Congratulations to Presdient Obama, and congratulations to Alan Grayson, to Joe Donnely, to Claire McKaskill, to Elizabeth Warren, to Angus King, to Tammy Baldwin, to Debbie Stabenow, to so many others and especially to the record number of women elected to Congress last night.  Congratulations to Pot Smokers in Colorado and Wisconsin, to supporters of marriage equality and to same-sex couples and to all those who voted for progress over dogma, acceptance and toelrance over bigotry and hate, personal liberty over corporate dominance, reproductive freedom over mysogynistioc theocracy, excellence over anti-intellectualism, and reality over Right Wing Propaganda.

It was a great night for Democracy, for America and for Progress, and I have no doubt that the best IS, in fact, yet to come.

And to Karl Rove, Dick Morris, Rush Limbaugh and every other numerically illiterate pundit out there who, if there were any justice in this world, should NEVER be given their credibility back...

SUCK IT, FUCKERS! WE WON!

Unfit to serve

People like Paul Broun are unfit to serve.

Unfit.
To.
Serve.

This level of reality denial should, absolutely, be enough to remove you from office, remove you from the ballot, hell... remove you from polite society so that you can get the medical and psychiatric help you need to deal with your delusional mental illnesses.

Unfit to serve the public, shit... unfit to serve fries at a drive-through. (I never take food from crazy people!)

And if he's a Doctor, then he should lose his licence. He's dangerous and so is every other reality-denying, science-denying, Right-Wing Jack-Hole like him.

Unfit to serve.

Debate?!

So there was a 'debate' the other night.  Yeah. Woo-hoo!  And usually these 'debates' are little more than political theatre. This one was actually a little bit LESS than that. And once again we were treated to a milquetoast Obama who let one lie after another out of Mitt Romney go unchallenged, leaving his supporters wondering just what the hell he was thinking, and who the hell is advising him!  Mittens 'won' on the basis that none of his points were challenged!

Now... I have read in various places people complaining about the MODERATOR. Suggesting it was THEIR job to point out when Romney was lying. Bullshit. It wasn't. That's OBAMA's job. It is ALWAYS the job of the person IN THE DEBATE to contest the points being made by their opponent. That he chose to do otherwise, as he has done for four strait years now, is why he 'lost.'  And if Romney, against steep odds, manages to WIN the election, it will once again be a case of teh stupid triumphing over the weak.

Barbara Morill over at the Daily Kos did an excellent write-up enumerating Mitt's many falsehoods.  Just the highlights:

When he claimed that "pre-existing conditions are covered under my plan." They're not.


When he said that President Obama had "cut Medicare by $716 billion to pay for Obamacare." Obama didn't.

When he denied proposing a $5 trillion tax cut. He did.

When he said President Obama had "added almost as much to the federal debt as all the prior presidents combined." Not even close.

When he resurrected "death panels." That was called "one of the biggest whoppers of the night."

When he stated that half the green energy companies given stimulus funds had failed. Only if three out of nearly three dozen is half.

Well done. And the FACT-CHECKERS are, in general, ripping Mitt apart.  Too bad facts are for Liberals, and the rest of the Country keeps hearing about how "strong" Mitt was.  (Notice how no one is saying how 'well informed' (or, more accurately, mis-informed) he was.

No. He was "Strong."


BEHOLD: Your liberal media!

So once again we're left to choose between the "Strong" and the "Smart."

Oh hell, who am I kidding? 

Once Paul Ryan was added to the ticket, there became no doubt at all this was a race between the STUPID (-R) and the WEAK (-D).

That being said, as I just told Steeve, I will continue to vote for the Party that's shitty at implementing great ideas over the one that great at implementing shitty ones.

Yep. That's pretty much it...

Ban Corporate Profits! [/sarcasm]

I recently got the following video in an email that asks, "How for to the Left are the Democrats willing to go?" and follows up with "What's happening to this country?!"



A couple of observations...

First of all, I'm always amazed how easily some people are taken in by Right Wing Propaganda.  I suppose the same people who would be swayed by this crap probably bought "Head-On" because they heard a couple of testimonials in their television commercials.

What they DIDN'T hear was the opinions of the thousands of user who said, "This stuff smells funny and doesn't work." You know... Because "Head-On" was found (by SCIENCE, no less!) to be nothing more than a placebo. Which is why they don't sell it anymore.  Funny that the Republican platform is being sold to us the same way here.

I mean... WOW. In a building full of thousands of people he managed to find a dozen of so who would humor him long enough that he'd have some video he could deceptively crop. (Notice who DIDN'T fall for this trap? Van Jones, right at the beginning, because he KNOWS who Peter Schiff is, and how these Right-Wing douchebags operate.

I wonder how long it took him to find that many people?  I really have no idea. Nor do I have any idea how many people just nodded their heads politely and then walked away thinking, "Wow THAT GUY was pretty weird!" Again, I have no idea...

But I wonder.

I also wonder how long it would take, and how many people I'd have to interview at the Republican National Convention to find...

...an Evolution denier,

...or a Global Warming denier,

...or an Autism denier,

...or someone who thinks spending cuts will create jobs,

...or that tax cuts will close deficits,

...or that a rape victim should, at a minimum, be subject to any kind of government harassment, and burdens of proof, if she wants to terminate the resulting pregnancy - assuming  they would allow her to AT ALL,

...or that equal right for Gays constitutes giving them "special rights"

...of that having Freedom of Religion, by means of having No Established State Religion, means that we're a Christian Nation,

...or that Corporations are both People and Citizens,

...or that Money is Protected Free Speech, but anything one finds "indecent" is NOT,

...or that the SIZE (read: COST) of the Government is more important that what actual POWERS they have and what DIRECTION they are leading this country, and VALUES they have, OR LACK.

Again, I don't know how long it would take me to find these people, but the really sad thing?

Is that at the RNC I could start with the TWO GUYS RIGHT AT THE TOP OF THEIR TICKET.

So fuck Peter Schiff and his goofy propaganda videos!

Gold Star Awards, September, 2012

Been away a couple weeks.  So much crazy shit going on, don't even know where to start.

So instead, here are some award winner from September.  It's 1979 and we've got one of each...


The WILLIE MAYS Gold Star #55: How Conservatives Drove Me Away

I got turned onto this site through the link on LeftHook.  I like this blog in particular because in addition to the well-reasoned, informative and entertaining posts, it's coming from someone whom I seem to have a lot in common with, politically speaking.  His tag line says it perfectly: I support smaller government, lower taxes, less spending, and more individual freedom, yet I want nothing to do with modern conservatism.  Hey: ME TOO!  Of course, you first have to know what these words ACTUALLY MEAN, and about the only thing the modern Republicans and Conservatives embrace now is fear, ignorance and stupidity. And while I've mentioned it before, newer readers might find it hard to believe that I also once identified as a Conservative. I voted for Bush in '92 and Bob Dole in '96.  But then... then whole movement found religion and got... stupid. And bigoted. And ignorant.  Well... Fair enough it always was, but I started to recognize it and they stopped trying to hide it. And I always like hearing hear from those folks who they LOST in their Rightward march towards insanity. So check him out! Great stuff.


The HACK WILSON Silver Star #54: BUSTYGIRL COMICS

All right... let's get all the joking and snickering out of the way right up front:

BIG BOOBS. 

OK.  Now that's out of the way, let me explain in all seriousness what impresses me most about this web-comic.  Putting aside it's primary subject matter (see above), this strip does a fantastic job dealing with such serious socila issues as self-acceptance, body image, objectification, sexualization, double-standards, sexism, stereotypes, tolerance and discrimination in a manner that is at once ironic, pointed, effective and FUNNY.  Throw in all the practical advice, and the Rampaige's highly enlightened political and social philosophy, and you've got something really great here. (Plus... you know... boobs!)

*ducking the brick*

*a-hem*

...And if I had any lingering doubts about including this here, they were solidly dashed away this morning as I read her latest reply in an ongoing discussion about sexism, as experienced by people of the same gender and by men:

Okay, let me clarify. A sexist comment towards a man is upsetting and hurtful and he has every reason to be upset. But put that comment in context. When men show emotion, they’re told to “stop being so girly” because women are stereotypically “overemotional” (the same is true if he’s not especially strong or is gentle, etc.). Okay, in that instance, the man is being compared to a woman. The only reason why this would be hurtful is if there was something wrong with being a woman, which society insists there is.

So that man experienced an insult and it hurt but he’s also silently buying into the idea that to be a woman is beneath him and insulting at the same time. Yes, it harms him but it’s also harming half of the population as well.

Bravo. Couldn't have said it any better myself. And I really couldn't have, because until reading that, I hadn't really considered it that way!  And after reading it, I will never think of sexism and double-standards the same way again. It's not every day that a single, short post has such a profound influence on my general world-view, and for the better. And for that? I THANK YOU.