AMA Bessie Stringfield Award to Gabby Giffords

Bessie Stringfield

The American Motorcyclist Association has awarded the Bessie Stringfield Award to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

The AMA Bessie Stringfield Award, first awarded in 2000, memorializes the accomplishments of AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame member Bessie Stringfield, an African-American motorcycling pioneer of the mid-20th century. The award recognizes individuals who have introduced motorcycling to emerging markets. Until her recent retirement announcement, Rep. Giffords was the co-chair of the Congressional Motorcycle Caucus. As a rider for more than 20 years, and as a member of the U.S. House and the caucus, she worked with the AMA and the motorcycling community on a number of issues to protect and promote motorcycling. Arguably, Giffords is the most visible woman motorcyclist ever elected at the national level, and her embrace of motorcycling encouraged many other women to take up riding.

"This is a great honor from the AMA," said Gifford's husband, astronaut Mark E. Kelly, on her behalf. "Gabby and I have been motorcyclists for many years, and I can tell you that motorcycling, and motorcyclists, have been important in our lives. She has been able to inspire so many others to take up riding, particularly women."

Kelly added that Giffords is progressing in her recovery from the failed assassination attempt on her life in January 2011, and that the couple hope to ride together again one day in the future.

That's good!

More about Ms. Stringfield:

Bessie Stringfield (1911–1993), nicknamed "The Motorcycle Queen of Miami",[1] was an African American woman credited with breaking down barriers for both women and African American motorcyclists. She was the first African-American woman to ride across the United States solo and during World War II she served as one of the few motorcycle despatch riders for the United States military. The award bestowed by the American Motorcyclist Association for 'Superior Achievement by a Female Motorcyclist' is named in her honour. In 2002 Stringfield was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.[2]

Stringfield was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1911, but her parents migrated to Boston when she was still young. Her parents died when Stringfield was five and she was adopted and raised by an Irish woman.

At the age of sixteen Stringfield taught herself to ride her first motorcycle, a 1928 Indian Scout. At the age of nineteen she commenced travelling across the United States and eventually rode through the 48 lower states. During this time she earned money from performing motorcycle stunts in carnival shows.[2] Due to her skin colour, Stringfield was often denied accommodation while travelling, so she would sleep on her motorcycle at filling stations.

During WWII Stringfield served as a civilian courier for the US Army, carrying documents between domestic army bases. During the four years she worked for the Army she crossed the United States eight times. She regularly encountered racism during this time, reportedly being deliberately knocked down by a white male in a pickup truck while travelling in the South.

From the AMA Hall Of Fame:

In the 1930s and 1940s, Bessie took eight long-distance, solo rides across the United States. Speaking to a reporter, she dismissed the notion that "nice girls didn’t go around riding motorcycles in those days." Further, she was apparently fearless at riding through the Deep South when racial prejudice was a tangible threat. Was Bessie consciously championing the rights of women and African-Americans? Bessie would most likely have said she was simply living her life in her own way.
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Late in life, Bessie suffered from symptoms caused by an enlarged heart. "Years ago the doctor wanted to stop me from riding," she recalled. "I told him if I don’t ride, I won’t live long. And so I never did quit."

Fuckin' A, lady! That's the spirit!

Soooo...in the face of societal discrimination against Afro-Americans, women, and motorcyclists, even while they were doing their patriotic duty, here was a fine lady and role model who prevailed over it all.

There's a lot more at the links.

Citing Safety Concerns, Somali Pirates Refuse to Board Cruise Ships

MOGADISHU (The Borowitz Report) April 5, 2012 – In yet another public relations setback for the beleaguered cruise industry, Somali pirates today said they would no longer board cruise ships, citing "unsafe working conditions."
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The pirate said that the recent fire that crippled the cruise ship Azamara Quest "has sent a shiver through the pirate community."
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When asked if the Somali pirates might attempt to board cruise ships in the future, he responded, "I am telling me hearties that if they were thinking of pillaging a cruise ship of its booty over Easter Break, they should make alternative plans."

Carol Foyler, a spokesperson for cruise industry, said that the cruise ship companies "would be working overtime to win back the pirates' trust."

More buffets oughta help...

According to my unimpeachable sources (ahem), Somali pirates have an agreement with the Cunard Line to not board their vessels, citing the dress codes.

No shit ...

Stolen from the Americans Against the Tea Party FB page.

Speaking of ...

American Taliban, Sheriff Joe is whining because the Feds want to look over his shoulder. It'd be nice if the Feds went one step further and indicted him for turning a county of an American state into his own private gulag.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio — who previously claimed he was cooperating with the Justice Department in an attempt to settle allegations that he violated the civil rights of Latinos in his jurisdiction — told Fox News on Wednesday that he’ll “be glad to meet them in court.”

DOJ cut off negotiations with Arpaio Tuesday saying he had refused to let an independent monitor be a part of any settlement agreement.

...

Wah-wah-wah. Why is it the Republicans think they should be allowed to exercise their authority with impunity? Big tough "law and order" guys as long as they don't have to follow any laws themselves. Those are for everybody else but them. Did you ever notice that when someone points out they've run roughshod over the legal system and Americans' rights, they whine like a bunch of crybabies? The Republicans are not tough. They are a bunch of cowardly bastids who want everything their way and to be exempt from the responsibilities we all have to our society.

Exactly!

Digby on the idiot who tried to blow up a Planned Parenthood clinic the other day:

...

I wonder what this paragon of virtue would say about a theoretical Pakistani terrorist who planted a bomb in front of the Pentagon, using the same rationale to complain about children killed by drone strikes. He would doubtless argue that it's totally different, except for the part where it totally isn't. Terrorism is terrorism.

...

It'd be nice if we stopped making the distinction between Islamic terrorism and the shit the right wing nutjobs here do. There is no difference between the Taliban and Sharia Law and the Christian Fundamentalists who want to make the United States more "moral". If most of the American Taliban weren't ignorant, lazy, generally intoxicated cowards, shit would be blowing up here with the same regularity it does in Iraq and Afghanistan. Notice you don't see the American Taliban strapping on a vest and blowing themselves up. They're far away from the bomb when it goes off. Thinking about it, what little respect I have for Islamic terrorists is far more than I have for the American ones.

Former ‘sheriff of the year’ pleads guilty to trading meth for sex

What, that's illegal now?! Raw Story.

A former Colorado police sheriff, who was once named national “Sheriff of the Year,” pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of trading methamphetamine for sex with a male prostitute.
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The former sheriff, who already spent eight days in prison, will serve the remainder of his 38-day sentence in a jail named after him in Arapahoe County, Colorado.

Now THAT'S funny! Heh.

Note to former Sheriff Sullivan: You sent hundreds of people to your eponymous lockup, so man up and show 'em how to do it. County time's easy. You can do 30 days standing on your head with your balls on fire. Oh, and play nice when they strip search you. Be inventive. Heh.

Headline of the Day

Arizona Legislators Trying to Declare Pregnancy Two Weeks Prior to Conception

Some days it definitely is worth chewing through the restraints to see things like this. Yeesh.

Under the gun ...

Well, the deck footings came this morning and the lumber is coming Friday. In that time, I have to move a ton of Hostas and knock down a cement wall. Pics to follow ...

And, of course, I forgot to bring the shit sample for the vet when I brought Da Chooch in for shots this morning. Thankfully, I don't have to make a special run back because her little sister has to go for her shots tomorrow.

Update:

A pallet and a half of footings. I'm gonna look like the Incredible Hulk by the time I'm done. They weigh 50 lbs. each.

My dad built this wall when he built the patio 45 years ago. The deck will extend 14 feet past it so it's gotta go. The Hostas in front of the wall have been relocated elsewhere in the yard.

The reason I'm doing this in the first place. When dad built the patio, he left a hole in the middle where mom could plant flowers. I don't know which one got the bright idea to plant a Sycamore tree in the middle of it (it was the diameter of a baseball bat when they planted it) but 45 years later, it heaved the patio out of the ground. At this point, it's essentially useless and when we entertain, I set up tables out in the grass.

Of course, the appropriate supervisory personnel will be in attendance. Heh ...

Update Zwei:

Done for the day and tired. Chelsea is playing Benfica in the Champions League and I'm relaxing. See:

I carried that back from Amsterdam in my hand luggage, btw. Heh ...

The day they killed the Easter Bunny

If it's Wednesday, it must be Morford. Given the title of his column, I thought he was going to go on about the upcoming 2000-and-somethingth anniversary of Easter, The P.R. Stunt That Stuck, but noooooo....

Do you know how to defile innocence? Do you know the best way to permanently stain a relatively clean soul, corrupt a vibrant imagination, molest a heart full of wonder and raw, unchecked power? I bet you do.

Let's see: You could drag said innocence to a GOP convention, or maybe Las Vegas, or let it watch five minutes of "Real Housewives" or "Brooklyn 11223" or "Doomsday Bunkers." You could hand it a rifle and tell it to blast a wild animal to death, have it attend an anti-gay rally at a Colorado Springs megachurch or Mormon temple, or plop it down at a One Direction concert. That would certainly do it.

But let's say you really want to mess it up, forever and true, tattoo it down deep with adulthood's most vile energy, a poison that's hugely common in the culture but is just shy of being actually physically abusive or illegal. Can you name it?

I can now.

Tucson's Mexican-American Studies Ban

Notable quote, paraphrased:

"If there weren't any more white people, they could do what they want."

I guess the flip side is "As long as whites are in charge, the Messkins will do it the white man's way".

Did I mention that the interviewee is a racist idiot? And a professional educator? Oy.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Time to Elect the Worst Idea

Gail Collins on "Americans Elect" which is the dumbest idea I've heard of to elect a POTUS. Maybe it would work in a world full of peace, love, dope, rainbows, and unicorns, but in that world we wouldn't need politicians anyway.

Our topic today is picking the worst new trend of the political season.

Not including putting the dog on the car roof.
...

But since I still have some space here, let me throw in a plug for the terribleness of the idea of Americans Elect.

And throw in a plug she does. Cut to the chase:

The thing that makes our current politics particularly awful isn’t procedural. It’s that the Republican Party has become over-the-top extreme. You can try to fix that by working from within to groom a more sensible pack of future candidates, or from without by voting against the Republicans’ nominees until they agree to shape up.

Door No. 2, Bob. Fire for effect, repeat, repeat, repeat!

Blow the nice officer a kiss...

The Rude Pundit on the latest SCOTUS intrusion into our lives:

You know what? It doesn't matter what the case was about. Here's the outcome of Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders (in New Jersey's Essex County): if you are stopped by police and you have a few too many parking tickets, even if it's a mistake, you can be arrested and, if going to be placed in the jail, strip-searched by the police. Don't worry, though, the Supreme Court says, because the cops can't touch you, but they may ask you to lift your nutsack so they can see if you have drugs under there.

Playing the fucking fool, Justice Anthony "Swings Both Ways, But Hangs to the Right" Kennedy says that the lawyers of the plaintiff, a poor bastard who got chewed up by our incarceration nation mentality, didn't even really define "strip search," despite there being, you know, a definition offered in police manuals.

That last part wasn't really germane but I just had to get "Swings Both Ways, But Hangs to the Right" in there. Heh.

Mr. Florence got the shaft on this deal and spent six days in two different county jails because of a clerical fuckup over a traffic fine he paid that didn't show up as paid and there was a warrant out on him. He had proof he'd paid it but the cops didn't give a shit. Every time he changed police and correctional officer hands, he got strip searched. Did I mention he's Afro-American? White cops just know every black man they stop has a machine gun up his ass. Or they just want to humiliate him because they can.

Cops probably won't strip search you by the side of the road, or even usually when you get to jail. If you're white.

I've been strip searched. I've been in jail a coupla times, and the rules permitted me to be a trusty and thus eligible for working parties out in the community. If you have to be in jail, that's what makes it bearable. The civilians you work for treat you very well with food and smokes. They appreciate your help.

You change clothes from the skin out when you return to jail after the work day. Our county jail is in a small town and the inmates know people and there's a slight chance that the youngbloods will score a little dope and try to bring it in but I don't think it happens very often. Most guys aren't that stupid and don't want to get busted back to the regular lockup. Usually if dope appears they snort or smoke it on the spot. The C.O.s check yer junk but they don't give you a blood or urine test.

I decided to have fun with the strip search. Believe you me, fun is hard to come by in the hoosegow and stuff that wouldn't be fun anywhere else is uproarious!

Let's say there's six guys on the work party. They line you up and go down the line like a short-arm inspection (without the "milk 'er down" feature) in the Corps. Apparently a lotta dope (weapons?) gets smuggled in under foreskins because you peel that back for 'em. They tell you to lift up yer nutsack - in my case, "just past yer knees is fine, gramps" - and then you turn around, bend over, and spread yer cheeks. Yeah, like this old man scored a pound of crank and keestered it into jail fer chrissakes. (I do know a fellow who could keester a claw hammer, but that's another story). I think the cops find more cell phones these days than dope. The jail pay phone is damn expensive.

But I digress. Point is, I tried to have fun with it. I looked back at the cop and grinned and grabbed both cheeks and yanked them apart. I did my best to flex my asshole and make it wink. Shit, if I coulda got it to whistle "Dixie" I would have. It made the cop laugh which is always good. One caution: shooting sparks at the officer is probably not a good idea. Heh.

That cop was there every day. I don't envy him having to do that, but reason prevailed. I guess he decided that either I wasn't a danger and wouldn't try to smuggle in the explosives and/or anthrax I'd scored whilst trimming the hedges at the Elks Club, or else looking up my butt was just too horrible to contemplate, because he never asked me to do that again. I like to think it was the latter option.

Jail is a unique situation. I would never do that at Walmart although I've been tempted to...

It'll be over ...

If the Frothy Mixture can't win it all today (which the polls say he cant).

Another batch of Republican National Convention delegates will be allocated on Tuesday as voters in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C. make their picks for the GOP nominee.

...

It's just a matter of whether he's self-aware enough to drop out gracefully. It's obvious Noot is no longer a factor and if he could bring himself to admit he's out, he would. I will say that this 2012 Clown Car has been one of the most entertaining in my memory. I'm gonna miss that collection of idiots.

Glutton for punishment ...

I'm beginning to think I'm a closet masochist (probably a determining factor in being a progressive blogger for almost 8 years) because in addition to everything else I'm in the middle of, I decided it's a good time to build a deck in the backyard. I'll elaborate later on but since I'm effectively out of the dad-in-law house sale (aside from lifting heavy shit), I figured I'd take the week the Mrs. is in Charlotte, NC (next week) on business and do the deck project I've been meaning to do for the last couple years. I'm using this system and I ordered up 120 of them this morning from Lowe's. After I take the dogs for shots tomorrow morning, I'm going to Home Depot and put in my lumber order. I should order some extra and build a box so when I drop dead out there, the Mrs. can make the dogs dig a hole and they can drag my carcass in it. Heh ...

Unleash ...

The Mittster!

GREEN BAY, Wis.—Mitt Romney has long been criticized for being awkward on the stump, but his wife, Ann, defended her husband in a radio interview today, rejecting a host's statement that Romney is "too stiff" on the campaign trail.

Per ABC News' Emily Friedman, Ann Romney told Baltimore WBAL radio that she's working to show another side of her husband. Asked about criticism that Romney is "too stiff," Ann Romney laughed and replied, "I guess we better unzip him and let the real Mitt Romney out because he is not!"

...

Honey, I coulda told you he was a limp dick years ago.

Charlie Pierce is racist!

Or at least, that's what the town drunk Ann Althouse says (Who knew she was still alive?). The Duchess of the Wine Box thinks that calling Antonin "Fat Tony" Scalia "Tony" is racist because that's not his nickname*. I still don't know why Thers amuses himself with her but hey, we all have our little entertainments (mine is sitting in a public place seeing how many women wear the wrong bra).

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You may be inclined to consider this ridiculous. However, Shocking Footage has emerged of an enraged Pierce hurling barrels at an innocent Italian plumber, probably because Pierce suspected the little fellow is Catholic:

...

Oh the Humanity! You'd think Pierce shot Tony on a February night as he was heading home from the store with Skittles and iced tea.

*My first name is Richard and I don't go by "Dick" (unless it's a woman prefacing it with "Give me some of that big") but that sure as hell doesn't stop people from using that moniker (sometimes justified, heh ...).

Why ...

Is this not terrorism?

A small, homemade bomb exploded outside a Planned Parenthood office in Wisconsin on Sunday night, prompting a federal investigation and the swift condemnation of violence by a Republican presidential candidate ahead of the state’s primary on Tuesday.

...

The Frothy Mixture denounced it (good for him) but I'm certain he doesn't realize (or care) that he and his fellow Jesus-freaks are the ones who get these fundamentalist idiots riled up. When a fundie like Santorum rails against Planned Parenthood as if it's some kind of abortionplex, when they say abortion is tantamount to murder, and when they say using birth control is a sin, it is inevitable that some on the fringe will take it as license to go after the "murderers". It would be nice if Homeland Security would classify these right wing nutjobs as terrorists, but that classification is only for brown Muslim folks who they want to send to Gitmo. If you're a Christian and you blow up a public building, you're a "misguided patriot". Maybe we should round them all up and send them on a "Cuban vacation" for a while.

Heh ...

Stolen from God's FB page.

Mitt-mentum

Willard is the perfect Repug candidate for this election cycle. The still-not-any-good-but-better-than-him candidates laid chilly on this one because they knew the teabagger radicals were going to lose this race to the O-Man for them. Why waste a good candidate?

April Fool!

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) April 1, 2012 – In an April Fool's Day announcement that took the political world by storm, the Republican Party revealed today that its entire presidential race had been an elaborate prank.
...

Former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain agreed that the prank had gone well, but added, "I'm just amazed that the American people never figured out we were kidding."

"I mean, I kept saying ‘9-9-9' every four seconds, which was total and utter bullshit," he said. "And everything out of Michele's mouth made her sound like a mental patient."

"True that," Rep. Bachmann agreed.

Texas Governor Rick Perry said he worried that "every time I screwed up at a debate people would figure out I was pulling their legs," but added, "The American people seemed to accept the idea that a Governor of Texas could be a blithering idiot."

When one reporter mentioned that Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) was not at the press conference, a sudden silence fell over the gathering.

"Did anyone ever tell Ron this was supposed to be a prank?" Mr. Romney asked. "Holy cow, maybe he's really serious."

Ha. Fucking. Ha. Next time do something funny instead of mean-spirited and pathetic.

Nevada County Selected for Agenda 21 Project by UN

My county! Subhead:

Tea Party/CABPRO Activists Have a Conniption

Heh. Fuck 'em.

YubaNet

GENEVA/NEVADA CITY, Calif. April 1, 2012 - Nevada County's sluggish economic recovery will receive a substantial boost, thanks to an application submitted several years ago by a group of non-profits focused on sustainable living and development. The UN's Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or Rio +20) just released the list of counties chosen to receive advanced planning and investment help. Nevada County was selected as the only rural county in California. Other counties selected throughout the US include Maricopa, Arizona - Madison, Wisconsin - Collin County, Texas - Utah County, Utah and Broward, Florida.

The reaction from the wingtards comes as no surprise:

Sue McGuire, also running for District 1, didn't want to comment on the record at first. But, after hearing that the UN was involved, she didn't hold back: "This is socialism, pure and simple. Agenda 21 is a danger to the American way of life and I will fight this. Our community doesn't need UN troops and black helicopters. Thankfully, our strong opposition will send this communist plot back to where it belongs, to the trash heap that is the UN headquarters." She pointed to the local Republican party's resolution Exposing United Nations Agenda 21, saying she fully supported the resolution.

She probably thinks all the helicopters flying around in the woods doing logging* operations are the UN's advance force. The Repugs that are for Agenda 21 think it's a real estate company. Heh.

*

Ask someone in heli-logging how business is going and they will inevitably answer, “Up and down.”

I love living in Nevada County. Note to the "blue helmets": Coffee's always on, boys. Stop on by. English is not a requirement.

Headline of the Day

Man whose WMD lies led to 100,000 deaths confesses all

There need to be a few hundred more deaths over this. In the USA. By hanging.

Why Overturning ‘Obamacare’ Could Lead To Single-Payer

First, in a spate of shameless blogwhoring, go read my earlier take on single-payer. Roostin' dirt and tubs o' beer will likely not play a major role in "Medicare For All" but my heart's in the right place.

TPM

“Conservatives may find that they weren’t careful about what they wished for in opposing ‘Obamacare,’” Adam Winkler, a constitutional law professor at UCLA School of Law, told TPM. “The economic, social and political pressure for health care reform aren’t going to just disappear. There’s a reason every major industrialized country has national health care. If the Supreme Court invalidates the Affordable Care Act, we are likely to see a government takeover of health care in the next decade.”

In that scenario, progressives could turn to two alternatives that have proven successful at lowering costs in other countries: A single-payer plan a la Medicare but for everyone, or a two-tier system in which private and public insurers compete. Both concepts are anathema to Republicans, but their constitutionality is not in doubt — and the GOP has been unable to devise a replacement plan, which could give liberals ammunition for their cause.

There’s little doubt that the idea behind the individual mandate — in which Americans either buy insurance or pay more in taxes — would be constitutional if rewritten explicitly as a “tax” as opposed to a “penalty” for not buying a product. But the political fallout of a Supreme Court decision to strike it down may well scare lawmakers away from the concept altogether.

“The defenders of federalism will be rewarded with an even bigger federal government,” Winkler said. “Wouldn’t that be ironic?”

The time for "healthcare for profit, available to those who can pay through the nose" is starting to be seen for the scam it is and the time for "healthcare as public utility, available to all" is nearly upon us. As it should be. It will still be a long time coming.

Update:

GOP Attorney General Suing Over Obamacare Supports Single-Payer: ‘I Trust The Government More’

“I trust the government more than insurance companies.” Caldwell went on to endorse the idea of a single-payer health care system, saying it’d “be a whole lot better” than Obamacare:

KEYES: You don’t think the subsidies for low-income people are going to be helpful?

CALDWELL: No, no. The worst thing you can do is give it to an insurance company. I want to make my point. All insurance companies are controlled in their particular state. If you have a hurricane come up the east coast, the first one that’s going to leave you when they gotta pay too many claims is an insurance company. Insurance companies are the absolute worst people to handle this kind of business. I trust the government more than insurance companies. If the government wants to put forth a policy where they will pay for everything and you won’t have to go through an insurance policy, that’d be a whole lot better.

One realistic Repug. Not nearly enough but it's a start.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Santorum Open to VP Position
Says he'd be proud to serve under liberal flip-flopping no-better-than-Obama Romney.

When pigs fly...

Apple CEO Tours Foxconn Plant, Asks for Changes
Calls for shorter hours, higher pay, then flies to Philippines to shop for cheaper factory.

Chocolate Good For You
According to studies that always appear right before Easter, Halloween and Valentine's Day.

Supreme Court to Release Health Care Decision in Late June
You might want to get your annual checkup by then.

64 years ...

Worth of stuff. That's how long my in-laws were together and it seems like they never threw anything out. The Mrs. and I started the task of going through dad-in-law's place this weekend in preparation to put it up for sale. I can't believe how much stuff they'd accumulated in that time and the things they thought were worth saving. I understand it; they were children of the Great Depression (just as my parents were) and had the "you never know when it might come in handy" mentality. It's close to being overwhelming. Gonna have to get a really big dumpster.

Let's see ...

You treat women like chattel. You would deny women access to vital health care. You would deny women eminance over their own bodies and decisions. Is there any wonder why the GOP is losing the female vote?

...

Pew research and other polling organizations have shown that there has been a growing gender gap on the presidential level, with President Obama doing better with women against his likely rival in former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney than the President did against Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) at the same point in 2008. But other recent numbers show the presidential race isn’t the only one being affected.

It’s one point both Democrats and Republicans agree on: social issues at the top of the ticket are poisoning the well and creating a gender gap across the board — mostly to the benefit of Democrats.

...

I guess the cracker bastids who run the show over there that the women of America will accept a return to the 1950s without complaint or disagreement. I got news for you, they've "come a long way, baby" and they ain't gonna give it up without a fight. Good luck with that.

More slime ...

Why doesn't this surprise me?

...

The founder of Beef Products, known for its production of "pink slime," is a major donor to Mitt Romney.

...

It seems we have a word that can describe the GOP succinctly.

Slime is slime ...

No matter how you dress it up. Perfesser Krugman on Paul Ryan's "almost inconceivably cruel" budget plan:

...

And when I say fraudulent, I mean just that. The trouble with the budget devised by Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, isn’t just its almost inconceivably cruel priorities, the way it slashes taxes for corporations and the rich while drastically cutting food and medical aid to the needy. Even aside from all that, the Ryan budget purports to reduce the deficit — but the alleged deficit reduction depends on the completely unsupported assertion that trillions of dollars in revenue can be found by closing tax loopholes.

...

I can't believe average Americans are still buying this guy's bullshit but, like we say in the car business, "there's an ass for every seat".

Great thanks to our pal Montag for the link.

Headline of the Day

George W. Bush Breaks from Partisan Politics, Endorses Barack Obama for 2012

Republican Presidential Candidate Target Practice

Via email from my old school pal Barb. .45 hole. Heh.

Ahhhhhh, Bonnie...

The first single from Slipstream* due out April 10th on Redwing Records!
http://www.bonnieraitt.com

*

She has a custom purple Larry Pogreba resonator guitar made of salvaged wood and recycled aircraft aluminum, with a big round metal R (for Raitt) that was a 1951 Rambler hubcap.

How can I not love this woman? Oh, I do, I do...

Thanks to TheBonnieRaitt.

The Harder They Come

Bruce Springsteen & Jimmy Cliff "Harder They Come" at Austin City Limits (SxSW 2012)

Thanks to mimobot.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Me 'n Mrs. G played Emmylou's CD Duets that has this song on it on the way home last Monday. Had ta watch the speedo while it was on. Heh.

Emmylou Harris & The Desert Rose Band ~ The Price I Pay

Thanks to 21estrellas.

Immoral Equivalence

Thanks to Slate.

Bruce and Trayvon

The New Yorker

But the most memorable moment, the one that demands immediate distribution, came after the “Apollo Medley”—a medley of Smokey Robinson a cappella and a rafter-raising version of “634-5789.” Suddenly, the mood went sombre and Springsteen said, “This is for Trayvon.” I first heard “American Skin (41 Shots),” at Madison Square Garden a dozen years ago, but now the lament, as the circumstances changed from the shooting of Amadou Diallo, in New York, to Trayvon Martin, in Florida, was less subdued, far tougher, as if to underline the outrage. Like “Born in the U.S.A.” and the new “We Take Care of Our Own,” “American Skin” belies its easy reading; it attempts to get at the complexity as well as the grief and fury of its subject. But better to just let you experience the song. Here it is, performed in Tampa, last week:

The Boss is turning out to be Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez all rolled into one for an angrier age.

Note to Bruce: GET SOME!

New Low

Hard to imagine, but the wingnuts constantly come up with new nadirs in all areas.

The Political Carnival, links at site.

You know how there are people you love to hate? Well, here’s a grease spot of a guy that you simply loathe, no fun, “love,” or snark involved whatsoever. You all remember Deadbeat Dad Joe Walsh, the disturbingly crass GOP/tea bagger Congressman from Illinois, right? Yes, that Joe Walsh.

Per VoteVets.org, he’s sunk to a new despicable low. Here’s the press release:

Chicago, IL - In an appalling new low, Congressman Joe Walsh today slammed his opponent Tammy Duckworth’s military service. Walsh told Politico, “What else has she done? Female, wounded veteran … ehhh.” Duckworth served as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot in Iraq in 2004, and lost her legs and part of the use of her right arm. She was awarded the Purple Heart for her combat injuries and is still active as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Illinois National Guard.
...

“Just when you think Congressman Joe Walsh couldn’t sink any lower, he insults the service and sacrifice of our Veterans, particularly one like Tammy who lost her limbs in the line of duty. Congressman Walsh owes Tammy Duckworth and all Veterans an apology for his outrageous disrespect for their service,” said Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran and Chairman of VoteVets.org PAC. “But it’s not just that. If you think working for America’s veterans at the VA both in Washington and Illinois is nothing, if you think working to improve the economic lives of veterans is nothing, then Joe Walsh’s record is below nothing. He represents the do-nothing, obstructionist, extreme Tea Party wing of the GOP, not the values that Tammy stood up for.”

Somebody needs to knock the dog shit outta that worse-than-worthless motherfucker Walsh. He Never served a day in his life, besides stiffing his kids outta their child support.

Note to Walsh: Shut yer fuckin' pie hole, asshole, and I'd love to do it for you. Colonel Duckworth is every inch a woman and United States soldier and more of a man than you'll ever be.

ASU College Republicans: "The Right to Vote is Too Important to Give to Everyone"

No, not Arizona State. Read on.

Kos

The local Republican Party is pretty much in shambles. The George Bush/Dick Cheney Administration killed the Party off as rural people finally decided they'd been had on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and their dead and buried kids had died for nothing but lies.

So the Tea Party came riding into town to save the day and rebrand the conservative image. Most of the local Tea Party members don't look anything like the rest of us here. The leaders are high-heeled women who wear pearls when they "garden" and impressive diamond jewelry to local public hearings. It's clear they've never put in a day's work in their lives. But, by god, they're determined to whip the rest of us into submission.

Which brings me to the debate forum between the Appalachian State University (my em) College Democrats and College Republicans this past Tuesday night.

Appalachia. Do these young Repug punks even know where they are?

The deer began to put their texting on hold when they heard the College Republicans argue that, among other things, women had no rights to mandatory insurance coverage for contraception: "if women want to avoid getting pregnant, they should stop having sex" and "just because I want a diet coke every hour doesn't mean the taxpayers should have to pay for it." (One of the College Democratic debaters asked him if he'd ever had a period.)

There was other "good stuff." The College Republicans argued that prison life was really just a piece of cake ("they get cigarettes, gourmet food and a soft mattress"), and the proposed same-sex Constitutional Amendment that will be on our primary ballot this May is essential because gay and lesbian couples' children are more likely to commit heinous crimes and do poorly in school.

Not only have the College Repunks never had a period, or gotten laid for that matter, they've never been in jail either. Doesn't stop them from knowing everything.

Then there was this:

A motorcycle mechanic friend of mine once said that "college is where you go to get your conscience removed".

I disagree. Pretty hard to get something removed that you grew up being taught you didn't need anyway because you were born to the privileged class and know what's best for everybody else.

These kids have a lot to learn, and they won't learn it hanging around with other dumbass Repug kids. That's OK. They don't want to be burdened with facts, much less the truth.

Headline of the Day

Don't Want Health Insurance? Then Sign "Let Me Die" Legal Document

Problem solved!

I'll tell ya something, Bobby ...

A study conducted by Echo Research and Makovsky found that the “Occupy Wall Street” movement had an impact on marketing and communications executives at financial services firms.

However, professor Robert Reich said Thursday that marketing specialists might understand how angry the public has become at Wall Street, but CEOs and major traders — “the real power” — have probably not been effected.

...

The only way the Wall St. crowd is gonna get the message is when they see their buddies getting perp-walked out of their offices by federal agents during business hours. Until then, nothing's gonna change.

***

Gotta head up to the shop this morning to inspect my car. In all the hubbub surrounding dad-in-law's passing, I'd forgotten the inspections were up on the cars this month.

What you must believe ...

If you think George Zimmerman was acting in self defense by killing Trayvon Martin:

In order to believe the highly-connected-to-the-system family of George Zimmerman, here's what you have to believe transpired the night Trayvon Martin was killed:

1) You have to believe that after George Zimmerman started heading back to his van, Martin, who had already expressed concern to his girlfriend about being followed, picked a fight with a guy who outweighed him by about 100 pounds.

...

The Zimmerman family and hangers-on are trying to "game the refs". Unfortunately, the way this stupid law is written, he'll probably walk. I don't have much hope getting justice for Trayvon, but it'd be nice if the Sanford PD and the local DA underwent some sort of reorganization to get the mouth breathing crackers off the public payroll.

Let's Hope The Lady Doesn't Get Shot

Thanks to YubaNet.

I will, of course, not make any reference to the brand of truck depicted. Heh.

An Argument Against Healthcare

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) March 29, 2012 – The following message was released today by the National Alliance of Funeral Directors:

This week, several Republican Supreme Court Justices have argued that the Affordable Care Act supported by the Obama Administration is unconstitutional. At the National Alliance of Funeral Directors, we couldn't agree more.
...

Let's take a look, if you will, at the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which protects every American's right to shoot another American. It says nothing about giving the person who is shot health insurance to prevent him from dying. This cherished constitutional right to shoot people and make them dead is currently recognized in all fifty states, most recently Florida.

In commenting on the Affordable Care Act this week, Justice Samuel Alito compared the Obama healthcare plan to burial insurance. Coincidentally, burial insurance is the Republican healthcare plan, and one that we enthusiastically support. Under this plan, every American would be mandated to buy a coffin from one of our member-owned and operated funeral homes. May we recommend the Peaceful Valley Royale,™ a luxury mahogany casket with sienna satin interior and the finest imitation antique nickel handles ($2899).

As the organization representing America's funeral directors, gravediggers, embalmers and cremators, we are confident that the Supreme Court will ultimately do the right thing and decide that healthcare flies in the face of every American's constitutional right to the pursuit of deadness. And when they do, we'll be waiting for you.

Hmmm, they left out organ salesmen and necrophiliacs. Musta been an oversight.

Fugitive Slave Mentality

NYTimes

Before he temporarily stepped down from his position last week as chief of the Sanford, Fla., police department, Bill Lee Jr., gave an explanation of his decision not to arrest George Zimmerman for killing Trayvon Martin. Lee said he had no reason to doubt Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense. Though Lee is no longer in the spotlight, his words linger for at least one compelling reason: his explanation bears an eerie resemblance to cases brought under the Fugitive Slave Law during the Antebellum period. Today, a legal standard that allowed the police chief to take Zimmerman at his word recalls the dark past of slave-owners claiming their property. The writings of Martin Delany, the African American political philosopher and activist, shed light on the uncanny resemblance.
...

On Delany’s account, the effect of the Fugitive Slave Law, at least as Judge McClean interprets it, is to subject all unowned black persons to the domination of all white persons. For by requiring that the self-proclaimed slave catcher be taken at his word, the law leaves unconstrained the ability of any white person to arrest and seize any black person. In effect, it renders all titularly free blacks vulnerable to the power available to all whites in exactly the way that, according to Frederick Douglass, a black slave is vulnerable to the power exercised by his or her white master.
...

In short, it appears that whites (or other non-blacks) may hunt down blacks with immunity from arrest so long as they leave behind no clue that they were not acting to defend themselves; or, to echo Martin Delany, that Florida’s Stand Your Ground law threatens to render some citizens subject to the arbitrary wills of others.

If it seems a stretch, finally, to paint Zimmerman in the image of the slave catchers of yesteryear, recall that he himself invited the comparison when, while stalking the African-American teenager against the advice of a 911 dispatcher, he complained, using an expletive to refer to Trayvon, that they “always get away.”

Zimmerman is one asshole that won't get away. Not this time. If we as a nation and human beings have progressed far enough.

Quote of the Day II

The Rude Pundit in a post about the possible/probable demise of the Affordable Care Act which, by the way, Fat Tony doesn't think he needs to read because his mind has been made up for a long time.

These are days where, in the name of freedom of the individual, the individual is crushed.

Deep down, conservatives are scared to death of freedom as more than a talking point. George Hanson was right those many years ago.

Thanks to delosss.

On Military Suicides

There's a good article in this month's VFW magazine on the Army and Marine Corps trying to get to the bottom of what's behind the rash of military suicides in the last few years so they can be prevented. It's in PDF form so I can't c&p quotes but if you're interested, please go read it. You can enlarge the print.

What I think is a good point - one of the doctors interviewed wants to change the term "PTSD" to "PTS" because he feels the word "disorder" implies weakness, which is shameful to male service personnel and is a factor in not seeking help. PTS is not a weakness. He may be on to something. The services are working to change this perception.

I learned from the article, and am proud of the way my Marine Corps is trying to handle teaching and counselling with more or less a squad-level personal approach as opposed to impersonal Powerpoint presentations in an auditorium.

That's the problem ...

He actually believes his own bullshit:

...

One of the things it has always been easy to admire (yes, admire) about Santorum is that the motherfucker may be crazy as a shit fight in a monkey house, but he believes what he's saying. He's all-in. If you're gonna base your candidacy on your belief that Satan wins if you don't, own that shit. And nothing says nutzoid like Santorum's latest video from his campaign, not a Super PAC, wherein he imagines the color-drained hellscape that America will become if Barack Obama wins a second term. Because apparently you can put anything after the President's last name, it's called, "Obamaville":

...

Yeah, I want his finger on the nuclear button.

You'll get health insurance ...

If we decide you're worthy:

...

“We’ll look at a circumstance where someone is ill and hasn’t been insured so far,” Romney said, “but people who have the chance to be insured — if you are working in the auto business, for instance, the companies carry insurance, they insure their employees, you look at the circumstances that exist — but people who have done their best to get insured are going to be able to be covered.”

...

Now, I don't know what the Mittster knows about the auto industry but having been on the business end of it for 40 years, I can tell you this. If you're not working for a dealership, odds are you ain't getting health insurance through your boss. Most independent shops with a handful of employees can't even afford the most basic insurance plans.

...

“If they are 45 years old and they show up and say, ‘I want insurance because I have heart disease,’ it’s like, ‘Hey guys. We can’t play the game like that. You’ve got to get insurance when you are well and then if you get ill, you are going to be covered,’” Romney said.

...

So, some poor schmuck who's been working for minimum wage for all his life, maybe two or three jobs at a time, who's never been offered health benefits through his employer and who certainly can't afford to get it on his own, is just shit out of luck? Is that right, Mitt? Is that what you're telling 30 million people? That they can just up and die because well ... fuck them, they should have been born into money?

And we thought Dick Cheney didn't have a heart.

Quote of the Day

Fez, in toto:

The man has a large subterranean lair, a car elevator, his own lobbyist, and proclaims the Russkies our No. 1 enemy.

Give Mitt a lap cat and he's a Bond-Villain.

Must be gay ...

Heaven forbid, at a campaign stop where the Frothy Mixture showed off his bowling skills, a young boy used a pink bowling ball:

But when Frothy Santorum stopped to perform in an alley in La Crosse, he suddenly got controlling. According to Reuters reporter Sam Youngman, Santorum said to a young man bowling with him:

You’re not gonna use that pink ball. We’re not gonna let you do that. Not on camera.

Wait, what exactly is wrong with a pink bowling ball? And what if that bowling ball was the one closest in weight for the guy’s playing needs? Is this what we have to look forward to if Frothy Santorum is elected–the government telling us what color balls we can play with? That men can’t stick their fingers into something pink?

That's right, I want a President who acts like a fifth grader. I mean, that's the last time I worried about something pink being a threat to my masculinity. If a grown man is infantile enough to have apprehensions about a color, he's not fit to be President, period.

I wonder if there's an echo?

Gleefully gleeped from my Facebook page after I gleefully gleeped it from someone else's.

Photo of the Republican National Committee searching for presidential candidates.

House of hemp

Cool! Let's fire up the living room! No, not in the living room, silly!

LATimes

Woody Harrelson championed the environmental benefits of hemp. Giorgio Armani and Calvin Klein incorporated it into their collections. Now a company promoting hemp as the eco-building material of the moment said it wants to build California's first hemp house.

Lends a whole new meaning to "brick house". Heh.

My first act as EOTUS will be to get rid of the puritanical, anti-fun, anti-Mexican, pro-prison and -liquor industry, and anti-quated regressive (but profitable) cannabis-related laws and bring this country into the 21st century. If the Secret Service calls me "Duuuude", so be it!

Besides, a new Hempcrete addition to the White House will be a nice place to relax. I'm sure the, er, outgassing from the new construction, particularly from out the window, will be more beneficial than from previous construction materials.

10 things you need not worry about

If it's Wednesday, it must be Morford easing our minds about various things.

There are plenty of things to concern yourself with. There are far too many things that wish to stress you out, slap you asunder and make you feel heavy, sad, lost. These should not be among them. Starting with:

1) Rick Santorum. Isn't he just the skeeviest little disruption, like fingernails on the chalkboard of human delight? Is he not the weirdest, bitchiest little dog whose cute scruffiness belies the fact that, when he opens his mouth, the strangest, most hideous sounds come out?

Good news: Rick is about as much of a threat to the attuned way of life as flea is to a pack of wolves. You only worry about him the way you worry about an errant wart on your elbow, the one you only notice when you lean in to watch "True Blood" on your laptop and you go, "Oh right, I need to get that dry little nub excised, pronto," and then you go back to enjoying all the other good things in life -- which, when compared to Rick Santorum, is pretty much everything.

9) Massive, unstoppable global socioeconomic meltdown. Look, 53 percent of the world claims they're "happy." Which seems utterly impossible, given how they can't all have unlimited access to iPads and iPhones and free porn and bacon-flavored vodka and Leonard Cohen records and Burning Man and Ducati motorcycles and sweaty yoga and artisan whisky and leather, like you do. What is wrong with them? Might they be onto something? What do they know that you don't?

Dey gots nuttin', honey. Eight more plus this jewel:

Instead, spend your energy on figuring out how to adapt, evolve, and fight the zombies.

Enjoy.

DNT*

Just one before I head out. Seems it costs me and the Mrs. a couple grand a year to pay for everybody's healthcare who isn't insured. I think they should carry this if they don't want to be in the system.

Stolen from the Being Liberal FB page.

*Do Not Treat

Thanks ...

Thanks for all the kind words regarding my father-in-law's passing. We buried him on Sunday morning and sat Shiva until yesterday. I should be back in form tomorrow after getting caught back up with the rest of the world. Now the fun stuff starts, namely cleaning out the house so we can put it on the market before summer. Thankfully, with dad-in-law's Alzheimer's, the Mrs. was granted power of attorney over the estate when her mom died 4 years ago and had everything organized so the paperwork end of it will be relatively easy.

Thanks again for your good wishes.

Avram Ishmael "Irv" Brickman
1921 - 2012

Wrecking Ball

While we were out on the coast we picked up The Boss's new CD, "Wrecking Ball". No review, just get it, and pay the extra two bucks for the deluxe version with two bonus tracks which includes the song in the video below. This song played (at pretty high volume for old farts like us) while we were strafing the Salinas Valley at 70 per on the way home yesterday and it was a good backdrop for the sentiment expressed. Sounds like the "E Street Irish Regimental Band" and is probably my favorite number on an album of memorable, and more than a little angry, songs.

The McNicholas, the Posalskis, the Smiths, Zerillis too
The Blacks, the Irish, Italians, the Germans and the Jews
They come across the water a thousand miles from home
With nothing in their bellies but the fire down below

They died building the railroads, they worked to bones and skin
They died in the fields and factories, names scattered in the wind
They died to get here a hundred years ago, they're still dying now
Their hands that built the country we're always trying to keep out

Thanks to TomoSpringsteen.

Cheaper than Weight Watchers...

Gingrich campaign charges $50 for photos

Mrs. G said the only reason to be in a photo with Neutie is to appear slender by comparison. Heh.

Murder made legal will not stand

Toon from Slate.

The Rude Pundit on "The Niggering of Trayvon Martin":

We see this again and again. A black male who captures the imagination of the nation must be degraded by the right. He must be turned into something else, some Other. President Obama can't simply be an educated black man from a lower middle-class background with whom they disagree ideologically. No, he's got to be an enemy, a foreigner, a nigger. It's hard to denigrate someone who might be like you, conservatives. But it's easy to attack a nigger because he's just a nigger. Or a coon.

You're allowed to defend yourself against a REAL threat everywhere, "duty to retreat" laws notwithstanding, but apparently, the "stand your ground" laws in 24 states allow you to START a confrontation and then get scared halfway through the proceedings when it's apparent you're going to lose and shoot the guy you started the confrontation with. If he's black.

Zimmerman knows by now that he fucked up BAD. That's why he's hiding under a rock somewhere and not becoming a big celebrity like Kim Kardashian's ass by bragging on FOXNoise about how he saved the Republic by blowing a kid armed with pogey bait to kingdom come. I've got news for him that he already knows: he's going to go to prison. As he should.

The Sanford cops fucked this deal up enough, probably knowing full well what they were doing, that the racist cretin punk Zimmerman will never be charged with 1st degree murder, but I hope the punk gets 20 to life for 2nd degree murder. We'll see how well he "stands his ground" in a Florida prison full of black men when the NRA and racist cops and pols and gasbags drop that wannabe real man like a hot rock and aren't there to back him up. Street justice - the same "justice" given young Mr. Martin under that stupid right-wing law - is liable to get him first. Fine with me.

Update:

Can We Trust the Cops’ New Account of Trayvon Martin’s Killing?

No. I've read the police reports on my own arrests enough times to know that cops are skilled liars with a criminal justice system that's on their side.

The Sanford cops handled this about like innumerable "white man kills black man" cases in the South and elsewhere, figuring no one would ever notice. Once the rocks were turned over and the sunlight shone on this incident and the story made the big time, they realized how badly they had screwed up and are trying, in vain it will turn out, to save their own asses. Even as professional liars, they're not that skilled. They had best STFU and leave the subsequent skilled professional lying on their behalf to their lawyers, who will get paid even if the Sanford PD is no more after this.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

CHENEY UNDERGOES HEART TRANSPLANT
Gets heart of young Chinese dissident.

U.S. Can Still Win in Afghanistan, Says Top Commander
Iraq and Vietnam, too.

Employers Expect to Hire 9.5% More Graduates This Year Than Last
Do you want fries with that?

??? - News Quiz - ???

Oil prices are rising and are expected to continue rising through the spring, summer and fall because:

A ) supply is tight.

B ) the invisible hand of the free market system is moving in mysterious ways.

C ) UFOs are using alien technology to siphon off our reserves for Mars.

D ) there's a Presidential election coming up, and Wall Street, Big Oil, and the banksters would really love to have a Republican in the White House.

Hint: supply isn’t tight, the hand ain’t invisible, and Mars doesn’t run on oil.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Sorry about my lack of blogging yesterday. The motel wifi was down. This thing turned into a fancy Freecell machine. Heh.

Thanks to kejiaquin.

Headin' out...

We're going out to the coast today so blogging will be etch-a-sketchy for a few days. Sorry, couldn't resist. See yas.

Scarce ...

I'l be scarce around here for the foreseeable future. They took dad-in-law to the hospital this early morning. According to them he suffered a massive stroke during the night. He's been unresponsive since. The doctors say it could be "minutes, hours, or days". The merciful conclusion for a 90-odd year old man with Alzheimer's would be sooner rather than later. See yas when I see yas ...

Update:

Dad-in-law passed at 1840 this evening. He's in a far better place.

The 4 Horsemen of Republican Failure

Gleefully gleeped in toto from our pal montag!

Radio Free America

My two favorite radio stations are independent community stations that come up with their own programs, KVMR and KTKE. Give 'em a listen.

Raw Story

FCC decision strikes critical blow to right-wing radio dominance

“Now these right-wing radio networks won’t keep getting their translator applications approved,” Renderos added. “That will severely limit their ability to expand.”

The FCC’s decision also set clear criteria for community radio stations in heavily populated urban areas, which are otherwise bombarded by the endless droning of commercial media full of snide opinion masquerading as news.

The FCC’s move Monday was the first step on a path laid out by the Local Community Radio Act, signed by President Barack Obama at the start of 2011, which represented the first real victory in activists’ long fight against the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) the radio industry’s biggest lobbying group. The bill freed up portions of the radio spectrum that had otherwise been kept empty by the larger broadcasters, who had long insisted upon four clicks of blank space on the FM dial to prevent interference. It also stipulated that new space on the dial must be reserved for community stations in urban areas where there might otherwise be none.

“There’s hardly news at all on commercial radio at this point, much less a diversity of viewpoints and a diversity of news.” Doyle concluded. “A lot of times corporate media doesn’t even cover things that are majority views, and there’s a disconnect between what we hear in the media and what we know most of our neighbors are thinking and feeling. This is a real opportunity for people to connect with each other and start building real alternatives.”

It's a real alternative to the crap Big Radio serves up.

Update:

Me'n Mrs. G are going out to the coast tomorrow. We like KPYG (or KPIG, it's complicated)(wiki) down there. With a logo like this, is there any question why? Listen online.

Quote of the Day

MFBTIR on Clusterfuckistan:

When you’re buried alive in the Graveyard of Empires, all you can do is claw your way out.

Racist? Us?

Seems the guys at Little Green Snotballs are put out by the racism of those on their side. Of course, they were part of the problem for a long time but no matter, it's good of them to see the light. Fortunately I don't have to link to them and I can send you to Addicting Info instead:

The right has truly perfected the Orwellian art of doublespeak. While screaming out of one mouth that liberals are the real racists (seriously, they do. Google it), conservatives, who will swear on a stack of Republican Bibles, engage in some of the most vile racism outside of a Ron Paul newsletter.

littlegreenfootballs.com has posted a partial list of the comments regarding the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. You’ll recall that Trayvon, armed with Skittles and a bottle of iced tea, was stalked by George Zimmerman and shot for the crime of walking while black. Three weeks on and Zimmerman has yet to be arrested. The Department of Justice and the FBI have announced that they will be investigating this…oversight as a hate crime. Apparently this has outraged the Fox News commentator community.

...

Calling all kinkster hippie sluts

Welcome to all you folks who googled "kinkster hippie sluts"! If it's Wednesday it's a Morford must read.

I know how it is. Have you been feeling it, too? The heat of recent media attention? The sour breath of bland, conservative evil on your nicely tattooed neck? Perhaps you've noticed. Sluts and sex, gays and deviants, perverts and hippies, yoga teachers and tattooed miscreants have been in the news a lot recently. More than usual, even. And that's saying something.

It's not difficult to see why. There's a very weird, grisly Republican presidential race underway right now, featuring some of the least appealing, most disagreeable conservative candidates to limp across the national stage in decades. And that's really saying something.

It's all a result of the sad fact that the once-noble GOP has devolved in the past few decades from a semi-reasonable party of stiff values and staid institutions, into a kowtowing, far-right, fundamentalist drainage ditch full of Christian fear, Bible literalism and anti-everythingism. Voilá: one hell of a kinkystrange little witch hunt, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Then he starts in on Frothy Mixture:

He's like an incontinent raccoon accidentally coming within hissing distance of getting into the Westminster Dog Show.

Much more. ends on a happy note:

You think for yourself, act for others, love without regard for church or country or sad conformist dogma. And let me just tell you, they hate that most of all. You slut.

Quote of the Day

Drifty:

...

The racket you hear beneath your feet is the sound of Abraham Lincoln spinning in his grave fast enough to give local spacetime a double swirly.

...

Fox 'News' Lies Kills!

...

Hallie Jean Mayes Knauss Culpepper passed away on February 16, 2012. Ten days earlier, she had fallen, but as Knauss says, refused to see a doctor. Her obituary notes that she was a "lifelong, dyed-in-the-wool Republican" who at one time had also been a business owner (TECO Products, now Griffin Products).

...

And it wasn't because she didn't like doctors. Shit like this really pisses me off.

Scary black man ...

Not so much. The last conversation Trayvon had before that cracker asshole killed him for Walking While Black:

...

Recounting her conversation with Martin, the teen girl said, "He said this man was watching him, so he put his hoodie on. He said he lost the man."

"I asked Trayvon to run, and he said he was going to walk fast. I told him to run but he said he was not going to run," she said.

After a few minutes, the girl said, Martin thought he was safe. But eventually the man appeared again.

"Trayvon said, 'What are you following me for?'" the girl said. "And the man said, 'What are you doing here?' Next thing I hear is somebody pushing, and somebody pushed Trayvon because the [phone’s\] headset just fell."

...

Way cool ...

I've seen this before and I think it's the coolest thing. Chalk art.

Small government ...

Yeah, right:

More toons here.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

ROMNEY OUTLINES HIS FOREIGN POLICY
Would look for a failing country, take it over, oust its leader, deport most of its citizens and then sell it for a huge profit.

Go with whatcha know...

Republicans Split on War In Middle East
Half want to attack Iran, half want to attack Syria.

The third half wants to attack both at once.

This next one is no shit, with or without the squiggly:

Norwegian Study: LSD Helps Treat Alcoholism
Primarily through one-time, life-changing revelation: you’re a drunk.

Theory: Internet Flame Wars Actually Good for Society
When you consider most of these people would otherwise be marching down Main Street in Nazi uniforms.

Heh. Good point.

Really, Joe?

HuffPo

Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County Sheriff, Says Media Conspiracy Against Birthers Is 'Bigger Than Watergate'
...

Arpaio also maintained that his own political leanings were irrelevant to the investigation.

“I don’t care about the politics,” he said. “That has nothing to do with it.”

Really, Joe?

Comment from Facebook:

Walter K Maier Isn't it about time he got the jacket where the arms tie around the back?

Yep. It's too dangerous to let him reach his handgun.

New Bill Requires Man To View Sonogram Photos Before Having Sex With Someone Half His Age

Goblinbooks

A controversial new bill is making its way through both houses of Congress that would require older men to view sonogram photos, grade school class pictures, and birthday video footage of women half their age with whom they wish to engage in sexual intercourse. The Family Values Law, as it's called, is supported by a variety of activist groups, but it is bitterly opposed by a coalition of state senators, church leaders, and corporate CEOs.
...

Political insiders speculate wildly on whether the bill will ever make it out of Congress. On one hand, many of the most powerful legislators in both the House and Senate will be directly affected. But the bill is gaining widespread grassroots support that makes it difficult to oppose. Religious figures -- many of whom are elderly men themselves -- are staging a massive write-in campaign against it, arguing that Scripture and church traditions don't prohibit an old man betraying his marriage vows and moving in with his massage therapist.

"This law would discriminate against people like us," says the pastor of a Norfolk-area megachurch who spoke on condition of anonymity, because of pending legal issues. "God wants everybody -- all straight, elderly, rich men -- to be happy. That message is throughout the Bible."

"He's right," admits Schell. "Then again, there's some really sick crap in that book."

Most wingnut christowhackos' Bibles fall open right at those passages as well.

Note: CLEARLY LABELLED SATIRE. I hope.

What is this 'vote' you speak of?

Because if it was up to the Republicans, half of us wouldn't get the opportunity (who needs those stinking 'rights' anyway):

...

“This wave of restrictive voting laws is inexcusable, and the numbers clearly show the impact it could have on this year’s elections,” said Wendy Weiser, director of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. “These laws represent the most significant cutback in voting rights in decades. Rather than erecting senseless barriers to voting, we should make our voting system work for all Americans by upgrading our ramshackle voter registration system.”

...

The conservatives can "vote early and often". The rest of us, not so much.

How you know ...

Our national media is broken.

What could happen?

Arizona is going the way of Afghanistan:

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But not the Special Missions Unit. Oh, no. A state senator named Sylvia Allen wants to spend $1.4 million to arm and "train" a militia of armed volunteers who run around Arizona busting anyone suspected of "cross-border criminal activity," including both Mexican drug cartels and the units of the Hezbollah who, Ms. Allen believes, are inches from pouring over the border in force from their training camps in Mexico. Of course, exactly who will train these citizen soldiers, and how they'll be trained, has been left somewhat vague, because what can possibly go wrong with arming government-sponsored vigilantes and loosing them upon the populace in a place where racial distrust and division has been at high tide for two years.

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Um, like I said before, Arizona already has a militia. It's called the National Guard.

For those who are interested ...

My homemade dog waste recycler is working as advertised.

Quote of the Day

Robert Fisk via our pal Montag:

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Now this was an extraordinary plea to come from the US commander in Afghanistan. The top general had to tell his supposedly well-disciplined, elite, professional army not to "take vengeance" on the Afghans they are supposed to be helping/protecting/nurturing/training, etc. He had to tell his soldiers not to commit murder. I know that generals would say this kind of thing in Vietnam. But Afghanistan? Has it come to this? I rather fear it has. Because – however much I dislike generals – I've met quite a number of them and, by and large, they have a pretty good idea of what's going on in the ranks. And I suspect that Allen had already been warned by his junior officers that his soldiers had been enraged by the killings that followed the Koran burnings – and might decide to go on a revenge spree. Hence he tried desperately – in a statement that was as shocking as it was revealing – to pre-empt exactly the massacre which took place last Sunday.

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"I know that generals would say this kind of thing in Vietnam. But Afghanistan?"

I know a couple old NCOs (*cough* Gord and F-man *cough*) who've been saying it was gonna come to this for years.

And let me just add: I don't care how professional, elite, or well-disciplined your army is, if you put them in theater for 10 years without a defined mission and endgame, among a population of which you cannot tell the good guys from the bad guys, there will be a breakdown in discipline. When you keep rotating troops in an out, for four, five, or six tours, when you have to medicate troops to keep them from completely losing their grip, there will be more and more of these incidents and tragedies. Afghanistan is just another Vietnam and until the generals and chickenshit civilians realize that, incidents like this will become more and more frequent.

Heh ...

Stolen from the Americans Against the Tea Party FB page.