Saturday Emmylou Blogging

I have this song on a Johnny Cash LP from the late '50s. Sigh.

From Nashville Now 1980's

Emmylou Harris ~ I Still Miss Someone

Thanks to 1000Magicians, UK.

McCain apologizes for boob tweet

Raw Story

Meghan McCain, one of the daughters of former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, has apologized for using Twitter to post a picture in which she displayed an ample amount of cleavage.

Very nice, hon, no offense taken. They look very comfortable. The only people who'd take offense at your mildly cute picture are the ones who feign outrage about 'moral values' in public and consume mass quantities of porn in private. Oh, that's right, those are your people. Live with it.

Come ta think of it, I bet your Dad'd got a few more votes if he'da turned you out for the bikers' wet T-shirt contest last summer instead of your mom. Wouldn'ta been enough votes anyway, of course, but it'da been a lot more fun!

Enjoy 'em while ya got 'em, Meghan. They'll dry out and wither and droop pretty soon like all Repug broads' tits do. And, oh yeah, your face'll get all desiccated like a mummy too like the rest of 'em.

I don't know this first-hand of course, because I only hang out with good Librul gals who stay gorgeous and juicy forever thank you Jesus, but I understand there are other parts of Repug women that dry out and become useless too. That might explain a lotta the goings-on of Repug senators and congresspukes.

$400 a gallon

The Hill

The Pentagon pays an average of $400 to put a gallon of fuel into a combat vehicle or aircraft in Afghanistan. (my em and holy shit! - G)

“It is a number that we were not aware of and it is worrisome,” Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the chairman of the House Appropriations Defense panel, said in an interview with The Hill. “When I heard that figure from the Defense Department, we started looking into it.”

The Pentagon comptroller’s office provided the fuel statistic to the committee staff when it was asked for a breakdown of why every 1,000 troops deployed to Afghanistan costs $1 billion. The Obama administration uses this estimate in calculating the cost of sending more troops to Afghanistan.

The $400 per gallon reflects what in Pentagon parlance is known as the “fully burdened cost of fuel.”

Guess whose 'burden' it is. That's right - ours. No wonder those Repug senators didn't want rape victims to be able to take their rapists to court!

Maybe if they get somebody besides Halliburton to haul it we could get it down to $350. Yeesh.

No cost analysis available yet as to the 'fully burdened' cost of officers' whiskey in Afghanistan. $400 a gallon's probably pretty close if they don't get the good stuff.

Your government is trying to kill you

The best line in this is "my underwear looked like the mudflaps on a swamp buggy" (been there, done that), but my main point is: if there's any lingering doubts that the pundits, and in particular Little Miss Becky, have no limits as to the depths they will plumb to spew fear over nothing, this oughta take care of 'em:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Doubt Break '09
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

Colorado Balloon Boy Named Head of GOP

SPR

"When you think about it, it's really the perfect choice - an immature person, surrounded by hot air, but who still never gets off the ground."

I watched a few minutes of the Great Balloon Chase. Shot with a long lens from a helicopter, the balloon looked like it was really big and going really fast. Turns out it wasn't very big at all and was going pretty slow. Just like the GOP.

Obama proposes $250 for retirees

We got one of these in May. It bought us a new washing machine right when we needed one. Looks like we're gonna get another one.

The Hill

President Barack Obama proposed giving payments of $250 to more than 50 million retired Americans who won't get an increase in their Social Security checks next year.

"Even as we seek to bring about recovery, we must act on behalf of those hardest hit by this recession," Obama said.

I applaud the sentiment, but me 'n Mrs. G are probably the least hardest hit by the recession. Everything we own is paid for, we only use our credit cards for internet purchases, gas, and travel, and hardly ever so much that we can't pay it off every month without difficulty, we have retirement accounts that just sit there, in short, we planned ahead a little and it's paying off, at least in financial peace of mind.

I'm sure there are folks out there to whom $250 will make a difference, and I feel for them. I don't mean to sound like the old rich white guy I'm not, but that amount ain't shit these days. It used to be you could buy a pretty good car or bike for that, but I wouldn't sleep in a $250 car these days!

All that said, I'll gladly accept some of my tax money back, and I hope it comes soon. My TV quit the other day and I had to buy a new one (Energy Star rated, of course), and 500 bucks'll just about cover it.

Just as an aside, when I properly disposed of the old TV at the recycling center, it took me an' a Mexican to get it out of my truck and into the bin. I can lift the new one with one hand and it was $200 cheaper too and uses less electricity. That's progress. TVs, like all appliances, aren't made to last as long as they used to be. The old one lasted 8 1/2 years as opposed to the TV in the spare bedroom which is 25 years old and works fine. That's the flip side of progress.

The gang rape and the Republicans

Mark Morford on the pro-rape Repugs:

It is with this wonky filter in mind we turn our gaze to the gaping hellmouth that is the U.S. Senate, that drab cauldron of grumpy old men, defeminized women and tiny handful of rebellious dissenters, all of whom claim to have your best interests at heart but mostly only really give a damn about which lobbyist will help them best make their next boat payment.

It's the same old spectacle, isn't it? There they go, tossing around the health care reform issue like it didn't affect millions of humans every single day, throwing in massive compromises and snags just so the GOP can fellate its pals in the insurance industry and a gaggle of aggrieved Democrats can get their egos fluffed and you still won't be able to get a decent dental plan for your family.

But now, just for fun, let's take it a step further. Or rather, darker. Let's go ahead and step right onto one of those large, rusty nails sticking up from the senate floor, so painful as to make your stomach turn, a bit of your lunch jump back into your throat.

Here is freshman Minnesota senator Al Franken's first-ever legislative action, a relatively simple, almost laughably surefire bill requiring the Pentagon no longer do business with any contractor -- hi, Halliburton! -- that requires its employees to agree that she cannot sue said contractor if she is, oh let's just say, gang raped by its employees.

You read that right. It's a can't-sue-us-if-you're-raped clause. In a U.S. government contract. Aimed squarely at Halliburton. Thanks, Dick Cheney!

Let us pause to imagine if, say, Wal-Mart had such a clause. Or maybe Toys 'R' Us. Starbucks. Let us imagine the appalled outcry. But Halliburton? Dick Cheney's vile little spitwad of shameless war profiteering? No problem. Hey, it's Republican-endorsed military contracting. No one said it was ethical.

The most repellant part is the 30 U.S. senators -- Republicans each and every one -- who just stepped forth to vote against the Franken amendment, essentially saying no, women should have no right to sue if they are sexually abused or gang raped, Halliburton and its ilk must be protected at all costs, and by the way we hereby welcome Satan into our rancid souls forevermore. God bless America.

Let us repeat, for clarity. Franken's amendment passed with a vote of 68-30. Meaning 30 U.S. senators voted against the elimination of the rape/sue clause. Meghan McCain, call your dad. He's one of them.

So perhaps all we can do is ponder how pathetic and sad these various senator's lives must be, how these bitter old men will now go home at night and announce around the dinner table that, yes, today they worked very hard to help improve the welfare of the nation by essentially enabling rape and sexual abuse, tried their darndest to prevent women who've been viciously attacked from having much legal recourse. And lo, Satan will chuckle happily.

Then maybe these senators will try and hug their wives, or their daughters. And maybe, if there's any justice in the universe, their wives and daughters will slap them as hard as humanly possible, lock them in a shipping container, and never let them touch them again.

Why look, there's grandpa McCain. There's disgraced man-child John Ensign. Hooker-lovin' David Vitter. Saxby Chambliss. Inhofe. It's a veritable welfare-state who's who of Dick Cheney's sanctum of oily fluffers, and many more who would love to be. Shall we write a nice letter to them? Or maybe their wives and daughters?

I think these 30 asshole senators aren't as much pro-rape as they are pro-tort reform, as in there should be no civil or criminal or any recourse by the peasant victims of their big contributors. They've got it rigged so what Halliburton et al do overseas stays overseas.

That said, I think there are at least a few who think rape is what women are for, being vessels of unholiness and properly subservient to 'men' as the rightful Masters of the Universe and all, and that they should have no rights other than the God-given right to be dominated and humiliated by the same so-called 'men'.

Mainly, Morford's right. It's all about the money. It's disgusting and I hope this comes back to bite 'em all on the ass.

As usual ...

The American taxpayers are supporting the "red" states. It really chaps my ass that those who can't wrap their heads around having a black President benefit most from his largess.

WASHINGTON – Businesses reported creating or saving more than 30,000 jobs in the first months of President Barack Obama's stimulus program, according to initial data released Thursday by a government oversight board. Military construction led the way, and states in the South and Southwest saw the biggest boost. [my em]

...

Weren't these the states whose governors "rejected" the stimulus money? Just askin' because the governor of New York is about to cut everything to prevent us going belly up. We could use any extra the "big government" might have.

I'm sorry, at the risk of offending many great progressives down there, but fuck these people. They're the ones who yell the most about the "lack of values in New York or San Francisco", yet are the ones with the highest teen pregnancy rate and highest percentage of divorces. They are the ones who dismiss any federal program as "big government intruding into their lives" or "wasting their tax dollars" yet are perfectly willing to accept every dime they get from it.

Fuck them.

The next time one of their elected leaders makes a stink about federal money going to "welfare queens" or "those that don't deserve it", let's cut back on the amount of federal money they get. Let's face it, they should just say they don't want federal programs designed to help those who aren't Christian and Caucasian, not necessarily in that order, for heaven forbid they turn away any coming to them.

They're worried about the deficit should the health care bill pass with a "public option"? I'm worried about the deficit because we're spending so much on defense vis-a-vis the actual risk (psst ... the Cold War is over). How about we cut back on bombs and bullets and take care of Americans here? That wouldn't happen down there, would it? Not with all the defense contractors putting red staters to work. There's a government program is I ever saw one.

My message to those folks: How about shutting the fuck up and saying "thank you" to the rest of us?

Great thanks to Ol' Fez for the link.

How long ...

Have we been saying Joe Lieberman has to go?

...

We're told that Lieberman needs to still be part of the action because he's with us on everything except the war. Now we have to include health care on his list of shit he's against us on. What next?

...

So ...

That's how they make Easter eggs. (h/t Comrade Misfit)

...

A government contractor at Hanford, in south-central Washington State, just spent a week mapping radioactive rabbit feces with detectors mounted on a helicopter flying 50 feet over the desert scrub. An onboard computer used GPS technology to record each location so workers could return later to scoop up the droppings for disposal as low-level radioactive waste.

...

Vintage Dragsters

Please go enjoy this photo gallery.

"...left to their own devices, the nation's health insurers admit they're gonna ass rape us."

The Rude One on the insurance cartel's threats about health care reform. Links at site.

The horse's head of a report delivered by the American Health Insurance Providers to the beds of sleeping senators is quite a document, not just because of what it threatens, but because of what it admits. [...]

[...] In other words, left to their own devices, the nation's health insurers admit they're gonna ass rape us. They just wanna make sure we understand that if reform passes, they'll also...(tsk, tsk, such language! - G)

[...] Seems like a clusterfuck of such epic proportions that there's no fucking way you are going to understand any of this? No shit. The Rude Pundit just wrote that, and it seems like it's not only opposed to common sense, but it's where common sense goes to vomit and die.

Because the natural response to any of the insurance companies' threats is "Wow, there's an industry that needs the government to step in." And thus the circle is complete.

The Rude Pundit has tried to come up with a rational reason why the public option is still even being debated and is not the centerpiece of the bill. He can't do it. By AHIP's own admission, they have to be stopped or they'll kill again. The report is a taunt, a thug-level threat, terrorism, if you will. With no government alternative to corporate health insurance, it's like asking captured bank robbers if they'd mind not robbing banks anymore. When they say, "Yes, we mind," you ask if they'd stop shooting hostages. And when they say, "We'll think about it," you thank them for accepting their punishment so gracefully and release them.

I hope the AHIP mafia stepped on their dicks enough that folks take notice. The way to deal with bullies is to confront them. Then beat the shit out of 'em.

Fahrenheit 451, with fried chicken and all the sides

This is NOT satire. Raw Story:

A Baptist Church near Asheville, N.C., is hosting a "Halloween book burning" to purge the area of "Satan's" works, which include all non-King James versions of the Bible, popular books by many religious authors and even country music.

Church leaders deem Good News for Modern Man, the Evidence Bible, the New International Version Bible, the Green Bible and the Message Bible, as well as at least seven other versions of the Bible as "Satan's Bibles," according to the website. Attendees will also set fire to "Satan's popular books" such as the work of "heretics" including the Pope, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham and Rick Warren.

"I believe the King James version is God's preserved, inspired, inerrant and infallible word of God," Pastor Marc Grizzard told a local news station of his 14-member parish.

The event also seeks to destroy "Satan's music" which includes every genre from country,rap and rock to "soft and easy" and "Southern Gospel" and" contemporary Christian."

Church leaders did not respond to Raw Story's requests for comment, but the website notes they will be providing "bar-b-que chicken, fried chicken and all the sides" at the book burning.

I don't give a shit what they burn as long they paid for the books and music, but it looks like the preacher figured out how to attract all 14 members of his congregation. Heh. Gotta cook the chicken over something and most of these books may serve their highest usage as cooking fuel anyway.

If these morons knew how close to Catholicism, aka 'those bloody papists', the Church of England, aka 'Anglican Catholics' or 'Episcopalian' really is, they'd burn the 'Authorized Version' as well and just make up their own like everybody before them did.

My personal Sacred Texts are motorcycle service manuals.

Majority Of Newspapers Now Purchased By Kidnappers To Prove Date

From The World's Best News Source, after The Daily Show of course:

NEW YORK—According to a report published this week in American Journalism Review, 93 percent of all newspaper sales can now be attributed to kidnappers seeking to prove the day's date in filmed ransom demands.

"Although the vast majority of Americans now get their news from the Internet or television, a small but loyal criminal element still purchases newspapers at a steady rate," study author and Columbia journalism professor Linus Ridell said. "The sober authority of the printed word continues to hold value for those attempting to extort large sums of money from wealthy people who wish to see their loved ones alive again, and not chopped into pieces and left in steamer trunks on their doorsteps."

"These are sick, sick individuals," Ridell added. "God bless them for saving our industry."

"They're also great for wrapping up a severed ear and mailing it to the family when they don't come through with the cash fast enough," the source continued. "And I always enjoy reading For Better Or For Worse."

[...] While most Americans have cut back on specialty publications, kidnappers still find them useful for making cut-and-paste ransom letters and death threats.

Although newsstand sales remain steady, neither newspapers nor magazines have seen much growth in terms of subscriptions, as their last existing consumers are extremely reluctant to provide permanent addresses.

"In order to reflect the purchasing habits of our most loyal customers, we will work with our distributors to ensure that these people can get newspapers at all hours of the night in inconspicuous, security-camera-free venues," said billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who later offhandedly mentioned that his wife often takes late-evening walks all by herself. "As long as violent sociopaths continue to abduct those closest to affluent people for huge cash ransoms, the long and storied tradition of the American newspaper will be preserved."

And let's not forget that there's nothing better than newsprint for firing up the woodstove and lining the birdcage, not to mention the classic presentation of fish and chips.

Besides, where else can you find out which of your neighbors are being foreclosed on without the 'notice of trustees sales' in the classified ads?

A lot of talk ...

But I'll believe it when I see it. With Harry Reid at the helm, any threats made by the U.S. Senate toward the insurance industry have a slim chance of coming to fruition. But while we're talking about yanking the insurance industry's anti-trust exemption, why not include a provision to jerk the tax-exempt status of churches, synagogues, and mosques? Times are hard (except for those on Wall St.) and communities need all the help they can get.

Late for work ...

The best explanation I've heard ...

About why Obama should have won the Nobel. Michael Moore via Maru:

...

The simple fact that he was elected was reason enough for him to be the recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

Because on that day the murderous actions of the Bush/Cheney years were totally and thoroughly rebuked. One man -- a man who opposed the War in Iraq from the beginning -- offered to end the insanity. The world has stood by in utter horror for the past eight years as they watched the descendants of Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson light the fuse of our own self-destruction. We flipped off the nations on this planet by abandoning Kyoto and then proceeded to melt eight more years worth of the polar ice caps. We invaded two nations that didn't attack us, failed to find the real terrorists and, in effect, ignited our own wave of terror. People all over the world wondered if we had gone mad.

And if all that wasn't enough, the outgoing Joker presided over the worst global financial collapse since the Great Depression.

...

I'm down wid dat.

And ...

As if you didn't know, Tom Friedman is still an idiot.

...

More importantly, I thought we understood that this kind of adolescent, swaggering attitude turned out not to be the best way to deal with the rest of the world. I guess it's a sign of maturity that Friedman isn't advocating shock and awe this time, but it's clear he hasn't yet grokked the fact that the US can't rely on bombast and bombs to deal with foreign governments, legitimate or not.

Quote of the Day - Zwei

Athenae:

... It is entirely possible to hold in one's mind the idea that Obama is the best president we've had in a long time, and that he's not doing enough on X, Y or Z to move things along.

McDonald's At The Louvre

Thanks, YubaNet.

From the looks of the lady making the comment, her fries follow her wherever she goes too...

GOP Claims Olympia Snowe Was Born in Kenya

Andy Borowitz via YubaNet

Just moments after she broke with fellow Republicans and voted in favor of health care reform, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) came under fire from the GOP for allegedly lying about her nation of birth.

"This vote is going to raise suspicions, once again, that Sen. Snowe was born in Kenya," said GOP Chairman Michael Steele. "We demand that she prove, once and for all, that she is definitely not Kenyan."

Orly Taitz, leader of the so-called "birther" movement, said that Sen. Snowe's vote was "textbook Kenyan" behavior: "She's putting her tribe first."

Elsewhere, the Rev. Moon married 10,000 people, putting him slightly ahead of Liza Minnelli.