From 1982
Emmylou Harris ~ Rock & Roll Medley
Saturday, June 19, 2010
What truck?
Blue Wave News
There's more, but it's obvious that Armey The Head Teabagger runs in the rarefied atmosphere of lawyers up there in his political/high finance world and doesn't quite get how us little people do things.
The Blue Wave writer said it right, but he's pretty straight arrow.
For one thing, nobody but Dick Armey is stupid enough to park a truck in somebody's yard without permission, and certainly not stupid enough to walk away from it. If I had to deal with it, other than the obvious of catching the guy and telling him to move his goddam load outta my yard toot fuckin' sweet or there was gonna be trouble and let's get it over with, I'd do it in one of two ways.
First, if I just wanted the goddam thing outta my yard and I didn't wanta fuck with it, I'd just call ol' Edgar at Dependable Tow and have him come get it. As the property owner I can do that. It'd cost the owner about $300, more if I tell Edgar it belongs to a rich asshole. Edgar'd kick me down some change and everybody's happy but the truck's owner.
The second way, if I did wanta fuck with it is: Parking in my yard without permission is fine. It costs $300 (or whatever), per day, and I've got a whole buncha parts over here that I know will fit your now non-running truck, asshole, to ensure I get paid. Go get your money and come back. Bring some tools. Mechanic work's extra. If it takes you more than 5 days, not only do you owe me $1500, and it's only gonna go up, I'm gonna lien sale the sonuvabitch as an abandoned vehicle and sell it for whatever I can get for it. You can have it back anytime during the lien sale process at $300 a day. Or you can buy it back from whomever for whatever they want for it.
Actually, I have to send a registered letter to the owner of record and he can stop the lien sale process. The mail to him and back to DMV and back to me takes several days. If he does that, I take him to Small Claims Court. No lawyers. This all takes time and I have the truck in my possession. See "$300/day". Did I mention that I'm retired and have plenty of time for all this?
Lawyers as the answer for something like that. What a fuckin' outta touch asshole Armey is. But we knew that.
There's actually a third way to deal with it that would really be fun, especially if it was Armey's. Move the truck off my property and get Fixer over here to show me his specialty of how to catastrophically disassemble a truck with the parts all landing in specific grid squares. Or counties.
Truck? In my yard? What truck? I don't see no truck. 'Scuse me, pal, I gotta fill in this little crater here. Heh.
Dick Armey: Obama Forcing BP to Pay Damages to Gulf Oil Victims is… Unconstitutional?
While the existence of numerous species of fish, birds, and other animals are being threatened by the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico – to say nothing of the livelihoods of thousands of humans – one particularly stubborn creature is not only surviving but possibly thriving: the right-wing loon.
“There are all kinds of room in the Constitution for these roles to be taken up,” he said. “But it would begin with this: any law that extends the power of the state should be first judged against the Constitution… If I go park my truck on your yard, you don’t call the mayor, you call your lawyer and say we’ll settle this in the courts.”
Actually, Dick, if you parked your truck in my yard, my first call would be to you, asking you to move it, because I would assume that you, as an adult, would recognize what an assholish thing you had done and would be willing to rectify it. Since that would apparently be expecting too much of you, my next call would be to the police department, not my goddamned lawyer, because you would be violating the law. I sure as hell wouldn’t wait for the month or more it would take for this case to get before a judge. Hell, by then, you would probably have moved the truck from my lawn anyway.
There's more, but it's obvious that Armey The Head Teabagger runs in the rarefied atmosphere of lawyers up there in his political/high finance world and doesn't quite get how us little people do things.
The Blue Wave writer said it right, but he's pretty straight arrow.
For one thing, nobody but Dick Armey is stupid enough to park a truck in somebody's yard without permission, and certainly not stupid enough to walk away from it. If I had to deal with it, other than the obvious of catching the guy and telling him to move his goddam load outta my yard toot fuckin' sweet or there was gonna be trouble and let's get it over with, I'd do it in one of two ways.
First, if I just wanted the goddam thing outta my yard and I didn't wanta fuck with it, I'd just call ol' Edgar at Dependable Tow and have him come get it. As the property owner I can do that. It'd cost the owner about $300, more if I tell Edgar it belongs to a rich asshole. Edgar'd kick me down some change and everybody's happy but the truck's owner.
The second way, if I did wanta fuck with it is: Parking in my yard without permission is fine. It costs $300 (or whatever), per day, and I've got a whole buncha parts over here that I know will fit your now non-running truck, asshole, to ensure I get paid. Go get your money and come back. Bring some tools. Mechanic work's extra. If it takes you more than 5 days, not only do you owe me $1500, and it's only gonna go up, I'm gonna lien sale the sonuvabitch as an abandoned vehicle and sell it for whatever I can get for it. You can have it back anytime during the lien sale process at $300 a day. Or you can buy it back from whomever for whatever they want for it.
Actually, I have to send a registered letter to the owner of record and he can stop the lien sale process. The mail to him and back to DMV and back to me takes several days. If he does that, I take him to Small Claims Court. No lawyers. This all takes time and I have the truck in my possession. See "$300/day". Did I mention that I'm retired and have plenty of time for all this?
Lawyers as the answer for something like that. What a fuckin' outta touch asshole Armey is. But we knew that.
There's actually a third way to deal with it that would really be fun, especially if it was Armey's. Move the truck off my property and get Fixer over here to show me his specialty of how to catastrophically disassemble a truck with the parts all landing in specific grid squares. Or counties.
Truck? In my yard? What truck? I don't see no truck. 'Scuse me, pal, I gotta fill in this little crater here. Heh.
Friday, June 18, 2010
The Kirtland Kabul Weapons Lab
Been to the Air Force's Kirtland Weapons Lab a couple times. Looks like they're taking the act on the road:
Yep, nothing like doing live testing in a place where lives come cheap.
...
Setting aside the fact that using a "pain ray" in general is a horrible idea, how much more horrible is it to use in a country that already sees itself invaded by men who look like robot insects and where unmanned planes kill targets from a distance? It's hard not to see that as a weapons laboratory on a people who have no means to protest.
...
Yep, nothing like doing live testing in a place where lives come cheap.
The Nattering Naboblicans of Negativism
I just love "Nattering Naboblicans of Negativism"!
The Ostroy Report. Go see the poster of Rushole.
Anyone who calls me anti-American or a traitor or the like will rue his choice of words fucking instantly. I expect the same from those I call traitors. I'm pretty safe. They're all cowards.
Seems like it.
The Ostroy Report. Go see the poster of Rushole.
I have this friend out in LA. We'll call him Brad. Brad's a 100% narrow-minded, lock-steppin', self-serving, gated-community livin' Republican business owner (started by his dad) without an ounce of compassion for those less fortunate. All of which I can easily accept. I'm all for capitalism, political diversity and nepotism. I can even accept the wanton disregard for those in need. But what I can't accept about Brad is his shameful anti-Americanism. And there are plenty more Republicans just like Brad, lemmingly led by Rush "I want Obama to fail" Limbaugh.
Accusing someone of being anti-American is a serious charge, and I don't take it lightly, whether I am referring to Brad or whether the charge is hurled at politicians by the opposition simply over policy differences. So what makes Brad anti-American? It's simple. Brad is rooting for our president to fail. He is rooting for the economy to fail. He is rooting for the stock markets to fail. All because, to Brad, this failure translates to partisan victory in November. Brad, like so many Republicans, cheers with celebratory glee whenever there's bad news on Main Street or Wall Street. And there's nothing more unpatriotic than to want your government and financial system to fail, particularly for political reasons.
Anyone who calls me anti-American or a traitor or the like will rue his choice of words fucking instantly. I expect the same from those I call traitors. I'm pretty safe. They're all cowards.
What I don't get though is that Brad owns a successful business, a beautiful home and has a fat retirement account and two great kids. But you'd never know this judging from his sheer delight at even the slightest prospect of economic weakness. It's as if he'd rather be destitute, so long as Republicans regain power in November. And that's un-American, let alone just plain moronic.
But Brad is merely a symbol. He personifies today's highly charged, vitriolic partisan landscape, where one's misguided political passions often dwarf his own self-interests and those of his family. Is it possible that we can just be American on some issues? We all have a vested interest in seeing the economy recover. We all want to protect American's interests, both here and abroad. We all need improved health care coverage. We all breathe the same air and drink the same water. Does everything have to go through some convoluted partisan lens that turns bright, otherwise rational people into rhetoric-spewing automatons who root for failure?
Seems like it.
Analysis: Did the "gray lady" get played?
Global Post
And of course we mustn't let China get it. We must stay there forever. Or until we've got all the money.
No, we'll more likely make a deal with our mining companies and stay. Hey, our troops died for fucking bananas on behalf of corporate profit, fer chrissake. We'll lose a lot more over lithium.
The upshot:
The "news" about the minerals in Clusterfuckistan is not exactly new, but the timing of the NYT story is becoming more and more suspect. I wouldn't put it past the neocons in the military one little bit.
Was The New York Times' story on minerals in Afghanistan smart or the result of Pentagon PR?
KABUL, Afghanistan — The New York Times' lead story Monday about “nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghaistan” was the kind of journalism that seemed at first glance to be a game changer.
Suddenly, there was something worth fighting for in Afghanistan beyond an ill-defined counterinsurgency campaign: the lithium batteries that power our cell phones. The story even quoted an internal Pentagon memo that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.” And the article went further, trumpeting United States officials' belief that Afghanistan could eventually be “transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world.
And of course we mustn't let China get it. We must stay there forever. Or until we've got all the money.
A question that many media watchers, military analysts and pundits are now wondering is whether The New York Times gave that story shape or whether it was somehow played by the U.S. military to see the value of the mineral deposits at a moment in time when Washington appears to be increasingly concerned about the public losing confidence in the war in Afghanistan.
At a recent conference on Afghanistan, attended by several of the most respected research centers, the topic that drew the most heated response was the relative positions of the foreign troops and the Taliban.
...
“I told them they had already lost,” said one conference participant, speaking on condition of anonymity. The conference was trying to sail “under the radar” and was not open to the media.
“If you have 46 countries and the world’s most developed economies unable to defeat a bunch of insurgents, then you are just finished,” the attendee added.
This view was echoed at another super-secret gathering last week, where a prominent Afghanistan expert told high-level officials that it was time to get out of the country.
“You cannot win,” said the authority. “Make a deal and leave.”
No, we'll more likely make a deal with our mining companies and stay. Hey, our troops died for fucking bananas on behalf of corporate profit, fer chrissake. We'll lose a lot more over lithium.
The upshot:
Afghans, of course, immediately began dividing up the spoils from this trillion-dollar treasure chest. If history is any gauge, then the same problems that have kept them mired in war and misery for so long — poor governance, corruption and the less-than-tender attention of the world community in general and their close neighbors in particular — will more than likely plague them again and the people will just shrug and add the theft of their national treasure to their endless list of grievances.
The "news" about the minerals in Clusterfuckistan is not exactly new, but the timing of the NYT story is becoming more and more suspect. I wouldn't put it past the neocons in the military one little bit.
Joe Barton, Our Savior
Kinda on a Jesus thing today. Hmmmm...
P.M. Carpenter
Shit, "radical" has been on the Repug side since 1980. Maybe because of all the wacko shit they say now that they're so desperate for power that the gloves are off and they're outta the crazy closet, reg'lar folks might just notice, like a mule notices a 2x4 upside his head. Maybe.
The funny (not ha-ha) part is that the Repugs think the Dead End Quarter that actually believes in crazy is the same as "the American people".
I said yesterday sucked. I take it back. It turned out to be a wonderful day after all. Barton gave us a gift that hopefully will keep on giving.
P.M. Carpenter
Joe Barton's mike hadn't yet cooled from his searing stupidity about a tragic "$20 billion shakedown" before President Obama's former campaign manager, David Plouffe, now of Organizing for America, fired off an email that, to be fully savored, should be delivered in the aesthetic tones of Jeremy Irons as Claus von Bulow:
"Other Republicans are echoing his call. Sen. John Cornyn said he 'shares' Barton's concern. Rep. Michele Bachmann said that BP shouldn't agree to be 'fleeced.' Rush Limbaugh called it a 'bailout.' The Republican Study Committee, with its 114 members in the House, [also] called it a 'shakedown.' "
All the above is less a mere reversal of fortunes than the epic granddaddy of them all.
It's the sparkling bull's-eye of 435 ruthless campaign ads, plus 36. It's a titanic reaffirmation that Bushism's Wildness receded not into the West in January, 2009; its ideological tentacles still clumsily flop and sprawl.
And it's a priceless reminder that one must never despair. As long as modern-day Republicans are free to talk like modern-day Republicans, there's hope.
The right, the far right, the Tea Party right and all other sub-manifestations of contemporary pseudoconservatism just don't get it.
It was first with a chuckle that moments before Mr. Barton revealed his sagging spirits that I read this, in Politico's "The Arena," by a certain Charles Calomiris, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute:
"Obama will lose in 2012. The most important reason he will lose is not the decline in his overall approval ratings, which reflect his radical agenda and increasingly unlikable demeanor, but rather his decline in approval in swing states and among independents.... But the end of the Obama presidency will begin after the 2010 election, when the radical agenda will cease to be viable in a Congress no longer controlled by the radical fringe."
Then came Barton, and my chuckle -- "radical agenda," "radical fringe" -- turned to a (dangerously) self-satisfied "Say again, Charles?"
The election of 2012 is a long way away, indeed, as is this year's November, so no preferred outcomes could possibly be in the bag. But I know one thing with a Bartonlike certainty of the "first proportion": The burden of any publicly perceived "radicalism" -- which in American politics portends electoral death -- just shifted to the other side.
Shit, "radical" has been on the Repug side since 1980. Maybe because of all the wacko shit they say now that they're so desperate for power that the gloves are off and they're outta the crazy closet, reg'lar folks might just notice, like a mule notices a 2x4 upside his head. Maybe.
The funny (not ha-ha) part is that the Repugs think the Dead End Quarter that actually believes in crazy is the same as "the American people".
I said yesterday sucked. I take it back. It turned out to be a wonderful day after all. Barton gave us a gift that hopefully will keep on giving.
Headline of the Day
MSNBC
Note to my own testicles: You can come out of hiding now. I was only kidding...
'Intimate waxing' nearly costs man a testicle
Note to my own testicles: You can come out of hiding now. I was only kidding...
19 reasons why God torched Jesus
Friday Morford.
Grooooan. Today is Punday, day of pest...
Fuckin' A. Lets get on with it.
Actually, since it had a lot of metal in it and stuck up sixty feet in the air, it was a lightning rod waiting to do its thing. If the church had had the true symbol of Christianity, the collection plate, atop the steeple they wouldn'ta needed it.
Charred remnants remained this morning of the large Jesus statue iconic to Interstate 75 that was destroyed following an apparent lightning strike during a thunderstorm late Monday night. -- Dayton Daily News
You ever have that fine, epiphanic moment when you realize an eyesore's an eyesore and it's time for some, you know, housecleaning? And what better way to rid yourself of some of the more hideous crap laying about than maybe tossing it into a nice bonfire? By the highway? In Ohio? God has those moments, too.
Sure, you could argue it's a form of the Savior that's just a wee bit tacky, insulting and childish, not to mention a laughable piece of "artwork" you wouldn't wish upon a blind quadriplegic goat herder. Whatevs. As the Pharisees used to say: "No such thing as bad press, yo."
5) He is resin.
Grooooan. Today is Punday, day of pest...
6) The real Jesus of historical record, being a grizzled, husky, musky, dark-skinned Jew with short, curly black hair who rarely showered and smelled of goat droppings and dried sweat, and who had a thing for screaming random prophesies in the streets and talking about doom, fire and the unbearable hotness of Mary Magdalene, well, the real Jesus' spirit has been quite displeased with being eternally depicted as a pale, soft-focus blond European hippie in bleached-out robes who likes to give lots of there-there-now hugs while watching professional sports. Basta.
8) Two more: Insurance money. God has been eyeing the new Cadillac CTS Coupe. In this economy? You do what need to do.
9) God: "Wait, what? That was supposed to be Jesus? It looked like Charles Manson after too many marshmallow peeps and a bad peroxide job. Aw, dammit."
10) Word has it the Hustler Hollywood sign sitting atop the adult bookstore across the street from the torched Touchdown Jesus was left unscathed, thus proving (once again) that God really does like porn. And irony. Or just needs a new contact lens prescription.
19) At last! The End Times hath arrived! Wrath, hellfire, lightning, burning Jesus, oil in the seas, plagues of grasshoppers, a black president, Gary Coleman dead, the works. About time, no?
Fuckin' A. Lets get on with it.
Actually, since it had a lot of metal in it and stuck up sixty feet in the air, it was a lightning rod waiting to do its thing. If the church had had the true symbol of Christianity, the collection plate, atop the steeple they wouldn'ta needed it.
You knew ...
Some stupid shit was gonna happen.
As I warned you all, every 4 years I get insane over the World Cup. If you're a friend of mine on FB, you're experiencing it first-hand (Come on, be honest, how many of you have already blocked my "daily recaps"? Heh ...). Thing is, I might be nuts but some people are getting really fucked up over this:
Figures Jesus was involved somehow.
As I said on FB, the Americans, English, and Germans are playing today. My productivity at work is gonna be at an all time low. TGIF!
As I warned you all, every 4 years I get insane over the World Cup. If you're a friend of mine on FB, you're experiencing it first-hand (Come on, be honest, how many of you have already blocked my "daily recaps"? Heh ...). Thing is, I might be nuts but some people are getting really fucked up over this:
JOHANNESBURG -- Police say a South African man who wanted to watch a World Cup match instead of a religious program was beaten to death by his family in the northeastern part of the country.
David Makoeya, a 61-year-old man from the small village of Makweya, Limpopo province, fought with his wife and two children for the remote control on Sunday because he wanted to watch Germany play Australia in the World Cup. The others, however, wanted to watch a gospel show.
...
Figures Jesus was involved somehow.
As I said on FB, the Americans, English, and Germans are playing today. My productivity at work is gonna be at an all time low. TGIF!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Yeah, how come?
Another question in this series:
Really, one of the only questions left regarding the BP oil spill has to be "Why the fuck doesn't God get off his lazy ass and do something about it?" God's just sittin' around, eatin' Cheetos, trippin' balls, gettin' handjobbed by Marilyn Monroe while watchin' the World Cup, wonderin' what side he should take each game, and, hey, babe, could you use your other hand to pass that beer? Apparently, that holy sack of shit can't even take a second to pinch the oil well and seal it off.
...
Dry Hole Charlie and the Lakeview Gusher
Today sucks. Between Palin making O'Rally look almost intelligent by comparison, and oil pols apologizing* to BP for the 'tragedy' of the 'shakedown', I've called today off for lack of interest. I just need a break from all those assholes. If today was my job, I'da called in drunk.
Then I ran across a historical article in the LATimes that perked me right up outta my funkin' ennui. I love to read about California history and I recalled hearing about this quite some time ago.
This is about a huge oil spill in Kern County in 1910. Kern County is kinda California's Oklahoma. Two of its main products are oil and cotton, and the descendants of the local Dust Bowl refugees still have Oklahoma accents. This is Grapes of Wrath country.
California is a good 'union' state, and in this case and still, that means Union Oil and its successors.
I think the 60mil gal estimate is a little low. 60,000bbl/day @ 42gal/bbl for about 60 days is about 150mil gal, but it's anybody's guess. It's a lot. But I digress...
Kinda like George W. Bush who figures prominently in the Gulf spill.
Today, of course, the T-shirts would have been on sale within hours.
Makes ya wonder how he did at chasin' wimmen - the one he caught musta been a doozie...
I'll put my tinfoil hat back on tomorrow.
*Update:
Looks like Barton (Oil company suck-up - TX) got the word from On High and has backed off his apology which was apparently misconscrewed by the commie media so it was reported as what he actually said on live TV. Damn those media Libruls!
The asshole stomped on his weenie so hard it looks like a Vibram imprint on a dog turd.
Then I ran across a historical article in the LATimes that perked me right up outta my funkin' ennui. I love to read about California history and I recalled hearing about this quite some time ago.
This is about a huge oil spill in Kern County in 1910. Kern County is kinda California's Oklahoma. Two of its main products are oil and cotton, and the descendants of the local Dust Bowl refugees still have Oklahoma accents. This is Grapes of Wrath country.
California is a good 'union' state, and in this case and still, that means Union Oil and its successors.
Horrific though the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been, its output is still short of what occurred a century ago in scrubby brush about 110 miles north of Los Angeles — site of the Lakeview gusher.
While some experts believe the well off Louisiana has spewed upwards of 60 million gallons of oil into the gulf, the Lakeview well rained about 378 million gallons over an area between the towns of Taft and Maricopa.
I think the 60mil gal estimate is a little low. 60,000bbl/day @ 42gal/bbl for about 60 days is about 150mil gal, but it's anybody's guess. It's a lot. But I digress...
The spill following the April 20 oil rig explosion in the gulf is, of course, a much bigger environmental and economic disaster. But the two wells had one thing in common -- neither could be immediately capped.
Lakeview's geyser of crude, in fact, flowed for more than 17 months.
"It roars and rips like hell," the publication California Oil World said at the time. "It smells and terrifies like hell….Some of those who watched it the first night declared that it ejected glowing stones."
And to think, Lakeview's foreman was a guy nicknamed Dry Hole Charlie because of his association with unproductive wells.
Kinda like George W. Bush who figures prominently in the Gulf spill.
Then, on March 15, 1910, 2,200 feet below the surface, the well blew. (Some sources give the date as March 14.)
The eruption not only demolished the wooden derrick but created "such a large crater that nobody had a chance to get to what was left of the hole to try to control it," author Max Miller wrote.
...
The site became a tourist attraction.
Today, of course, the T-shirts would have been on sale within hours.
Some folks saw the gusher as a sign of disapproval from the Almighty. Hadn't one preacher in Pennsylvania warned drillers that the oil was meant to remain in the earth to "kindle the fires of Hell"?
Finally on Sept. 9, 1911, thousands of feet below the surface, the well caved in and sealed itself. It "died as suddenly as it was born," wrote author William Rintoul.
...
Of the 378 million gallons of oil that gushed out, about 40% was captured. The ensuing surplus dropped the price of oil by about half, to 30 cents a barrel.
Dry Hole Charlie moved on and in the following years "lived up to his previous reputation by drilling only dry holes, one after another," Miller wrote.
Makes ya wonder how he did at chasin' wimmen - the one he caught musta been a doozie...
Thanks to californiacrude, who has lots of CA oil patch videos.
I'll put my tinfoil hat back on tomorrow.
*Update:
Looks like Barton (Oil company suck-up - TX) got the word from On High and has backed off his apology which was apparently misconscrewed by the commie media so it was reported as what he actually said on live TV. Damn those media Libruls!
The asshole stomped on his weenie so hard it looks like a Vibram imprint on a dog turd.
Substance ...
It was a relief to see Obama put the pressure on BP yesterday, especially after that limp speech Tuesday night. Michael looks at the details and notes Republicans showing their true colors once again:
The Republican Party: Wholly owned subsidiary of Corporatist America.
...
As you might expect, though conservatives are not amused. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, for example, is worried that the fund will slash BP's profits, which, presumably, are more important than the environment and economy of the region, not to mention the way of life of and very welfare of those who depend on the Gulf, a clean Gulf, for their livelihood, many of whom of Barbour's own constituents.
And Michele Bachmann, finding conspiracy at every turn, thinks that the escrow account amounts to a huge "redistribution-of-wealth fund," as if the massive wealth of BP and its larger shareholders matters more than those in the fishing and tourism industries, among others, who are suffering immensely as a result of the spill, and who may never recover.
...
The Republican Party: Wholly owned subsidiary of Corporatist America.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
The Lottery ...
Harry Reid should play it:
Because he is the luckiest sumbitch in these U-S-of-A. This woman is a nut and if he can't put her away, he deserves to lose. Gord knows more about the politics in Nevada than I do but I doubt even the teabaggers can get behind a Scientologist who wants to reinstate Prohibition.
Former Nevada state Rep. Sharron Angle, who has become the Tea Party favorite in the Republican primary for Senate, is now working to distance herself from a possible weakness in the race -- accusations that she has ties to the Church of Scientology.
...
Because he is the luckiest sumbitch in these U-S-of-A. This woman is a nut and if he can't put her away, he deserves to lose. Gord knows more about the politics in Nevada than I do but I doubt even the teabaggers can get behind a Scientologist who wants to reinstate Prohibition.
Headline of the Day
Lawrence O'Donnell To Host MSNBC 10PM Show
This is good. Olbermann is funny and emotional. Maddow is sharp as a tack, funnier'n hell, and can talk faster than anybody except Cornel West, but you can understand her. Heh.
O'Donnell knows his shit about politics and ain't afraid to smack the Repugs upside they head. This is another progressive step forward, even though:
At MSNBC, people treat with great seriousness ratings fluctuations roughly equal to "the number of people who would go to the bathroom during a 'West Wing' episode," as O'Donnell wryly puts it.
If MSNBC lied like F**Noise I wouldn't watch it no matter how much I agreed with the general point of view, but it's more reality based, i.e. they tell the truth lots more often, and small as it is, it's ours.
Out West Here, we get two 'prime times' - MSNBC's lineup and the 8-11 one on the other networks. Win-win!
Growin' up too fast...or too slow...or both...
If it's Wednesday it must be Morford on growing up in our culture.
One of the reasons I don't pray is that my prayers for oral sex on school bus trips were never answered.
I lived at home until I was 26. See rent, expensive. Musta been ahead of my time. I do know how to drive a car. Sorta. Damn things sure are hard to lean inta turns. Probly wouldn't if we'da had all the social networking, but we had to go out to try to get laid and fail. I will let others comment on my personality, and it's none of my business what they think.
Speaking for only myself, growing old at any age sucks and I'll stick with "eternally adolescent", thank you very much. I think we had it easier way back when than kids do today.
Enjoy.
Here's the thing: Endless are the studies and countless are the shrill advocacy groups, politicians and bewildered grandparents lamenting just how harshly kids are raised these days, how we're sexualizing them at younger and younger ages, front-loading them with far too much stress and hardship, and drowning them in the ugly realities of the world before they even hit puberty.
Possible upshot: We're robbing our children of any vestiges of true innocence, never giving them a shot at stability or happiness before they're stamped with a Disney branding iron and force fed to the demons of K Street, violent videogames, porn, prescription meds and oral sex on the school bus field trip. Perilous!
One of the reasons I don't pray is that my prayers for oral sex on school bus trips were never answered.
[...] ecause gosh golly, life is hard and rent is expensive, and who needs that when your parents let you move back home after college and live there well into your 30s, so you never have to fend for yourself, can't cook and don't know how to drive a car because you spent so much damn time on Facebook and MySpace that you never grew a real personality?
I lived at home until I was 26. See rent, expensive. Musta been ahead of my time. I do know how to drive a car. Sorta. Damn things sure are hard to lean inta turns. Probly wouldn't if we'da had all the social networking, but we had to go out to try to get laid and fail. I will let others comment on my personality, and it's none of my business what they think.
Possible upshot #2: A whole generation stuck in eternal, insufferable adolescence, emotionally stunted and immature, never fully desiring (or requiring) to settle down, "get serious," get a life. Marriage? Kids? A career? Maybe someday. Maybe when I'm, you know, 40.
So, which is it? Are we eternally adolescent or prematurely old? Reluctant to grow the hell up, or taking on way too much, far too quickly? Can it be both? I think it might be both.
Speaking for only myself, growing old at any age sucks and I'll stick with "eternally adolescent", thank you very much. I think we had it easier way back when than kids do today.
Enjoy.
Why the Far Right Hates the World Cup
Dave Zirin in The Nation:
It would be high comedy to see and hear their spew coming out of a vuvuzela stuck up their ass.
Update:
Also see:
I think it's because soccer is a game we didn't invent and a game popular in the rest of the colored commie world just ain't fer good Amurikkkans. We don't seem to have a problem with blacks in football and basketball, and browns in baseball.
Then there's hockey. Buncha white commie Canuckistanians and Russians and such. I don't know what to think about that other than our inferior darker-hued brethren obviously aren't smart enough to live in snow and ice and darkness half the year. Heh. Football'd probably interest me more if they used sticks and really sharp shoes on each other.
The same kinda parochialism exists to a lesser extent between the all-American sport of motorcycle flattrack racing and the international sport of speedway racing, which has its own World Cup. Honkin' big and fast mostly American Iron that can throw their riders for a 100-foot walk on the wild side v spindly little sissy commie bikes that can only manage 50 feet. Both are exciting to watch.
The parallel between NASCAR and auto rally racing is similar. You can't beat rallying for action, but it's not all that popular here. Might be "big engines, turn 'em slow" v "little engines, rev the shit out of 'em". Americans lurves them some big engines! It might be because rallying is point-to-point and promoters can't sell a coupla million dollars worth of seats and T-shirts and hot dogs and TV rights inside a stadium they own all in a few hours. Also, rallies take days. NASCAR engines barely last all afternoon, just long enough for the spectators to spend all their money. Again, the rest of the world is way ahead of us on this one except for making money on it. NASCAR ain't nearly as exciting since they banned fist fights amongst the drivers and crews.
Which brings me, for some strange reason known only to three neurons in my brain, to long distance running. You'd think Americans would love that. Americans are way too fat and lazy to do it themselves, of course, but Africans and some Mexican Indians are really good at it. Amurikkans love to see those kinda folks running because it means they're up to something and can be shot at. The NRA is missing a bet here by not sponsoring this sport.
Every World Cup, it arrives like clockwork. As sure as the ultimate soccer spectacle brings guaranteed adrenaline and agony to fans across the United States, it also drives the right-wing noise machine utterly insane.
“It doesn’t matter how you try to sell it to us,” yipped [1] the Prom King of new right, Glenn Beck. “It doesn’t matter how many celebrities you get, it doesn’t matter how many bars open early, it doesn’t matter how many beer commercials they run, we don’t want the World Cup, we don’t like the World Cup, we don’t like soccer, we want nothing to do with it.”
As for Liddy, let’s be clear. There is not in fact hard anthropological evidence that early soccer games were played with a human head. Interestingly, though, there is an oft-told legend that the sport took root in England in the eighth century because the king’s army playfully kicked around the detached cranium of the conquered Prince of Denmark. Notice that this tall tale is about Europe, not “South American Indians.” I think we’re seeing a theme here.
But maybe this isn’t just sports as avatar for their racism and imperial arrogance. Maybe their hysteria lies in something far more shallow. Maybe the real reason they lose their collective minds is simply because the USA tends to get their asses handed to them each and every World Cup. After all, as G. Gordon asked, “Whatever happened to American exceptionalism?” When it comes to the World Cup, the exceptional is found elsewhere. Could Beck, Liddy and company just have soccer-envy? Is it possible that if the USA was favored to win the World Cup, Beck himself would be in the streets with his own solid gold vuvuzela? I feel that to ask the question is to answer it. In fact, this is as good a reason as any to hope for a mighty run by the US team. It would be high comedy to see Beck and Friends caught in a vice between their patriotic fervor and their nativist fear.
It would be high comedy to see and hear their spew coming out of a vuvuzela stuck up their ass.
Update:
Also see:
The Right-Wing War Against Soccer
[...] Whether one is a fan of the world's game or not, the notion that soccer's growth is part of some plot is reflective of a conspiratorial nativism all too prevalent among the right wing. [...]
Another right-wing claim is that soccer can be liked by socialists only. [...] Gainor said, "the problem here is, soccer is designed as a poor man or poor woman's sport," adding the sport "is being sold" as necessary due to the "browning of America." [...]
I think it's because soccer is a game we didn't invent and a game popular in the rest of the colored commie world just ain't fer good Amurikkkans. We don't seem to have a problem with blacks in football and basketball, and browns in baseball.
Then there's hockey. Buncha white commie Canuckistanians and Russians and such. I don't know what to think about that other than our inferior darker-hued brethren obviously aren't smart enough to live in snow and ice and darkness half the year. Heh. Football'd probably interest me more if they used sticks and really sharp shoes on each other.
The same kinda parochialism exists to a lesser extent between the all-American sport of motorcycle flattrack racing and the international sport of speedway racing, which has its own World Cup. Honkin' big and fast mostly American Iron that can throw their riders for a 100-foot walk on the wild side v spindly little sissy commie bikes that can only manage 50 feet. Both are exciting to watch.
The parallel between NASCAR and auto rally racing is similar. You can't beat rallying for action, but it's not all that popular here. Might be "big engines, turn 'em slow" v "little engines, rev the shit out of 'em". Americans lurves them some big engines! It might be because rallying is point-to-point and promoters can't sell a coupla million dollars worth of seats and T-shirts and hot dogs and TV rights inside a stadium they own all in a few hours. Also, rallies take days. NASCAR engines barely last all afternoon, just long enough for the spectators to spend all their money. Again, the rest of the world is way ahead of us on this one except for making money on it. NASCAR ain't nearly as exciting since they banned fist fights amongst the drivers and crews.
Which brings me, for some strange reason known only to three neurons in my brain, to long distance running. You'd think Americans would love that. Americans are way too fat and lazy to do it themselves, of course, but Africans and some Mexican Indians are really good at it. Amurikkans love to see those kinda folks running because it means they're up to something and can be shot at. The NRA is missing a bet here by not sponsoring this sport.
Git yer vuvuzela ...
Outta my ear!
The Brits (and those of us who follow the English Premier League) will have an earful when the season starts later this year:
Ya think, pal?
How much you wanna bet the Germans will ban them for the Bundesliga season? "You vill leaf your schtoopit horn at home or ve vill insert it in your rectum!" (Personally, I'm waiting for a YouTube of a guy blowing one with his ass). Heh ...
As for the vuvuzelas, I really don't care. Like I said on my FB page, a stadium full of 40,000 drunken Englishmen singing their team songs and chants at the top of their lungs ain't high art either. And the players should just stop whining and play football. With the money they make, they should be able to play under any circumstances.
The Brits (and those of us who follow the English Premier League) will have an earful when the season starts later this year:
...
England fans in the UK appear to be heeding his call; Sainsbury's sold 22,000 red vuvuzelas – or "Vu Vu horns" as it brands them – in 12 hours before England's game – one every two seconds. The supermarket chain has ordered 25,000 extra horns but thinks it may run out before Friday's game against Algeria.
There were none left at Sainsbury's in Emmersons Green, near Bristol. A few miles away in Chippenham, Wiltshire, half a dozen remained on the shelves.
Mike Brown was buying two for his children. "I could be making a terrible mistake but I think I'm going to have to make a rule that they can only blow them during the actual games. But the kids wanted them and I can't resist it when they get excited about something like the World Cup."
Amazon said sales had increased by 1,000%. David Broughton, from Northamptonshire-based company thevuvuzelaman.co.uk, said the country was gripped with "vuvuzela fever". [my em]
...
Ya think, pal?
How much you wanna bet the Germans will ban them for the Bundesliga season? "You vill leaf your schtoopit horn at home or ve vill insert it in your rectum!" (Personally, I'm waiting for a YouTube of a guy blowing one with his ass). Heh ...
As for the vuvuzelas, I really don't care. Like I said on my FB page, a stadium full of 40,000 drunken Englishmen singing their team songs and chants at the top of their lungs ain't high art either. And the players should just stop whining and play football. With the money they make, they should be able to play under any circumstances.
Thanks to Chris for the link.
What Creature said ...
In toto:
I wasn't as pissed as Olbermann obviously was, but good god, couldn't Obama at least have told us a little about the ass kicking he's gonna deliver ... someday?
I just don't know who the speech was intended for. It didn't play well with me, but for those who don't pay as much attention I suspect it may have done the job.
I wasn't as pissed as Olbermann obviously was, but good god, couldn't Obama at least have told us a little about the ass kicking he's gonna deliver ... someday?
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