Mouth of the South

The Rude Pundit on Haley Barbour's moronic comments about how life in the Jim Crow South wasn't that bad for a white man.

There's a particular delusion that Confederacy apologists have. They have to be in deep denial about secession and the war because it prevents them from acknowledging that it's just fucking racist to honor the Confederacy. And they'd have to acknowledge that it wasn't the honorable beliefs of citizens being oppressed by the federal government. It was just a bunch of traitorous, rich scumbags who didn't want to lose their biggest moneymaking asset: free labor. Remember: when you honor Confederate soldiers, you honor terrorists. Having a party to celebrate secession is not unlike a group of extremist Muslims in a Pakistan cave hosting a let's-fuck-this-goat party every September 11.

Shit, every day is goat-fuckin' day in Pakistan. Maybe in the extremist Xtian parts of this country too.

On The South Carolina Secession Gala:

[...] "The wonderful news is that the ORIGINAL Ordinance of Secession will be available for viewing by our guests. This is not a lithograph, but the ACTUAL document which has been protected for years in the vault and hasn’t been seen in years. Those sponsoring tables will be able to have a group photograph with all Sponsors made with the ORIGINAL ORDINANCE." Man, that's like fucking your cousin on Martin Luther King's grave while using the Emancipation Proclamation as a condom, it's so good.

I'll take yer word for it...

Barbour, though, is just another incarnation of the Confederacy apologists. Of course it was a wonderful life for Barbour. He was white and ignorant. You put on blinders as a kid, but you're supposed to realize when you're an adult, "Oh, shit, Mom and Dad weren't blissfully happy all the time. Oh, shit, blacks in my town were treated like shit." So, one has to wonder, is being white and ignorant still his excuse now?

It's his ticket to the Presidency. He thinks. I think he just blew his chances for that to hell and gone. Good.

Barbour looks and sounds just like the late comedian Jerry Clower, also from Yazoo City and known as "The Mouth Of The South".

The difference is, I like ol' Jerry. Here he is talkin' about fishin' with the game warden. Sounds a lot like fishin' with Fixer...

Thanks to Dogote82.

Manger Danger!

The Daily Palin. Yes, The Daily Palin.

(WIKILEAKS) URGENT DISPATCH: FRONT LINES / WAR ON CHRISTMAS

Am under heavy fire from Intercontinental Ballistic Mistletoe. STOP

Ah, the War on Christmas rages once more. 'Tis the season.

Flairs up around this time each winter -- a right-wing holiday tradition that seems to bring more unintentional cheer with each passing year.

Gretchen Carlson of "Fox and Friends" got the memo from the Man Upstairs (no, not Him -- Ailes). She trumpeted this "crazy" (and sadly, false) story about a Florida school banning red and green, and rolled some silly tape. Soon after, Stephen Colbert lit her up like a holiday tree -- his mocking well-hung by the chimney with care. (Blitzkreig on Grinchitude)

By the chimney? Mox nix as long as yer well-hung...with care, of course.

Christmas is supposed to be all Christian and non-materialistic -- a message Fox News Radio stooge John Gibson embraced by cashing in with a "War on Christmas" book. (The subtitle -- "How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday is Worse Than You Thought" - suggests the man is not hauling a full sack of presents.)

But this year's Sergeant Shultz and Colonel Klink in the War on Christmas have to be GOP Sens. Jon Kyl and Jim DeMint. Kyl accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of "disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians." DeMint chimed in with more phony piety -- calling Democratic efforts to do the people's business in the two weeks around Christmas "sacrilegious."

Jiminy Christmas -- how stupid do these disingenuous GOP-holes think the American people are? I suppose their excuse is they're just playing to their constituents in the Jingle Belt. Poor saps. All they were doing was angling for a new way to screw Obama -- surely they didn't mean to deploy Jesus as a political weapon.

That last line is the most tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic line in the piece. It's what the Repugs do, it's who they are. Work Jesus like a redheaded stepchild to their advantage with the great mis-informed.

Palast Arrested

From BuzzFlash:

Greg Palast Arrested, Busted by BP in Azerbaijan

No flesh on that bone so I looked around a little.

MWC News

"Here in Azerbaijan we believe in human rights. PLEASE GIVE US YOUR FILM."

Oh, no, no, not good.

I would say doubleplusungood!

I told the dumbest-looking one, "Look here: This paper says your so-called President is a weasel's rectum," which our 'fixer' translated as, "This letter from Foreign Ministry is authorization to make a documentary for the British Television."

So that's what Fixers do...

Welcome to the Islamic Republic of BP, otherwise known as Azerbaijan. And good-bye.

I'm out of there. Out with the evidence we need about BP and how it lead to the Gulf of Mexico blow-out and an extension of the occupation of Iraq.

It's a hell of a story, and my holiday gift to myself is that I'm here and ready to tell it.

The date on that was yesterday. I'm waiting with bated breath.

Note to Greg: Keep yer head down, dude. BP missed killing you there, but...

The World's Oldest Holiday

The 'Skeeter Bites Report with its annual update of its biggest hit. Good read.

Many Americans often refer to Christmas as "the Yuletide." And no wonder: Yule is the Winter Solstice. Most modern Pagans still celebrate Yule. Even most Christians use "Christmas" and "Yule" interchangeably to describe the season without even thinking about its Pagan origins.

Yule celebrates the beginning of the sun's light and warmth returning to the northern hemisphere after reaching its southernmost point on the Earth at the Tropic of Capricorn on the Winter Solstice -- which this year will occur this evening (Tuesday) at 6:38 pm EST, some 13 1/2 hours after the end a spectacular total lunar eclipse that took place during the pre-dawn hours of this morning. It is one of the two very ancient Pagan holidays that are still widely celebrated in the Western world -- and beyond -- relatively intact. The other is our modern celebration of Halloween.

I got to see bits and pieces of the eclipse through a rapidly changing cloud cover.

In addition to the Winter Solstice celebration of Yule on December 20-22 (depending on the actual date of the solstice itself from one year to the next), the other seven Pagan holidays are:

• Imbolg or Candlemas (Groundhog Day, February 2) -- also known among Catholics as St. Brigid's Day;

• Eostre or Ostara (Spring Equinox, March 20-22);

• Beltaine (May Day, May 1);

• Litha (Summer Solstice, June 20-22);

• Lammas or Lughnasadh (Midsummer's Day, August 1);

• Mabon (Autumn Equinox, September 20-22);

• Samhain (pronounced SOW-en), the Wiccan New Year (Halloween, October 31).

This is one reason why Easter (whose name in English is a derivative of Eostre) always falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox and why Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, almost always falls in close proximity to the Autumn Equinox.

Good shit! Much more.

Christ ...

Only in America:

I just needed to tell someone what happened at the Chester County Ballet production of the Nutcracker. Yes, I know I live in rightwingville but did you know that the Nutcracker now has the songs “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful” in it?

...

Why do you think I tell people I'm Canadian when I go abroad?

DADT Gone: Social Conservatives Lose Their Fucking Minds

No celebration of the end of DADT would be complete without a weigh-in by The Rude Pundit. He does not disappoint.

Upon seeing on the CSPAN that the nation's stupid Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy regarding gays in the military had been overturned on Saturday, the Rude Pundit celebrated in the old way: by inviting a bunch of queer soldiers from every branch (even the Coast Guard) over to Casa de Rude for tequila, ecstasy, and more blow jobs and fingering than in the parking lot of your high school after the junior prom. By the detritus left behind, he knew it had been quite the celebration, even if his only memories involve repeatedly hearing orgasmic cries of "Hoo-ah" and watching a lesbian couple slow dance as a third sang, "Off we go into the wild blue yonder." On Sunday morning, the Christmas tree was festooned with empty condom wrappers, the three wise men in the Nativity were positioned as if they were fucking the camels and donkeys, the nutcracker's mouth was stuck shut, the poinsettia was uprooted, and the pantsless Marine still asleep in the tub had mistletoe tied to rest just below his belly button. A splendid Yuletide festival, indeed.

Glad ya had a good time. Hope ya din't sign anything, Pvt/SR/AB Rude-y. Heh.

Much, much more.

A busy day on the celestial calendar

From YubaNet. Cool graphic.

Early in the morning on December 21 a total lunar eclipse will be visible to sky watchers across North America (for observers in western states the eclipse actually begins late in the evening of December 20), Greenland and Iceland.[...]

Maybe. The sky cleared for a while last night and the moonlight on the new-fallen snow was fantastic!

This is the first time in 456 years that a total lunar eclipse has coincided with the winter solstice. Some of our, er, lunier brethren and sisteren are seeing it as a possible bad omen.

Montreal Gazette

The celestial eccentricity holds special significance for spiritualities that tap into the energy of the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and a time that is associated with the rebirth of the sun.

"It's a ritual of transformation from darkness into light," says Nicole Cooper, a high priestess at Toronto's Wiccan Church of Canada. "It's the idea that when things seem really bleak, (it) is often our biggest opportunity for personal transformation.

"The idea that the sun and the moon are almost at their darkest at this point in time really only further goes to hammer that home."

A lunar eclipse taking place during the solstice is not an event Hawkins has seen in research, but he said it would have been viewed as something special.

"Eclipses could be taken either way," he said. "Certainly it would have been an omen, but it would have been up to the interpretation of specialists of whether it was good or bad."

I'll buy that. Here's an interpretation by this "specialist":

Tonight's eclipse will be a rare coincidence of celestial phenomena, interesting to see. The mid term elections, now there was a bad omen.

Kosher Pizza?

The Hill

Disgraced ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff has left his job at a small kosher pizzeria in Baltimore after working there for nearly six months.

Leaving aside for the moment the fact that Abramoff and I are from the same home town (along with Monica Lewinsky and the Menendez brothers) and I've probably done more to put Beverly Hills in a good light, which is a little scary, I never heard of a kosher pizzeria before.

Meat? Dairy? I guess pepperoni, sausage, and linguica are out of the question? I can't think of anything more boring than The Orthodox Combo. Oy.

Headline of the Day

From BuzzFlash:

Pentagon Prepares for End of DADT

What, they're redecorating?

Update:

DADT Repeal Allows Gays Out of Closet, But McCain Stays In Cave Like Japanese WWII Holdouts

Heh.

Freeing The Airwaves From Corporate Control

A lame duck act of Congress we might not hear much about on corporate media. Via Prometheus Radio Project:

WE WON! Senate Joins House in Passing the Local Community Radio Act!

Today a bill to expand community radio nationwide – the Local Community Radio Act – passed the U.S. Senate, thanks to the bipartisan leadership of Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and John McCain (R-AZ)(He did something right? Holy shit! - G). This follows Friday afternoon’s passage of the bill in the House of Representatives, led by Representatives Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Lee Terry (R-NE). The bill now awaits the President's signature.

The Local Community Radio Act will expand the low power FM (LPFM) service created by the FCC in 2000 – a service the FCC created to address the shrinking diversity of voices on the radio dial. Over 800 LPFM stations, all locally owned and non-commercial, are already on the air. The stations are run by non-profit organizations, local governments, churches, schools, and emergency responders.

The bill repeals earlier legislation which had been backed by big broadcasters, including the National Association of Broadcasters. This legislation, the Radio Broadcast Preservation Act of 2000, limited LPFM radio to primarily rural areas. The broadcast lobby groups claimed that the new 100 watt stations could somehow create interference with their own stations, a claim disproven by a Congressionally-mandated study in 2003.

Much more. This is a good thing.

When Zombies Win

Paul Krugman

When historians look back at 2008-10, what will puzzle them most, I believe, is the strange triumph of failed ideas. Free-market fundamentalists have been wrong about everything — yet they now dominate the political scene more thoroughly than ever.

The answer from the right is that the economic failures of the Obama administration show that big-government policies don’t work. But the response should be, what big-government policies?

President Obama, by contrast, has consistently tried to reach across the aisle by lending cover to right-wing myths. He has praised Reagan for restoring American dynamism (when was the last time you heard a Republican praising F.D.R.?), adopted G.O.P. rhetoric about the need for the government to tighten its belt even in the face of recession, offered symbolic freezes on spending and federal wages.

None of this stopped the right from denouncing him as a socialist. But it helped empower bad ideas, in ways that can do quite immediate harm. Right now Mr. Obama is hailing the tax-cut deal as a boost to the economy — but Republicans are already talking about spending cuts that would offset any positive effects from the deal. And how effectively can he oppose these demands, when he himself has embraced the rhetoric of belt-tightening?

Yes, politics is the art of the possible. We all understand the need to deal with one’s political enemies. But it’s one thing to make deals to advance your goals; it’s another to open the door to zombie ideas. When you do that, the zombies end up eating your brain — and quite possibly your economy too.

If memory serves, zombies can be sent happily to their graves if salt passes their lips. Rock salt from a 12-gauge oughta do it.

No Labels My Ass

Daddy Frank

JEEZ, can’t we all just get along? Can’t we be civilized? Can’t we reach across the aisle, find common ground and get things done? Can’t we have a new Morning in America as clubby and chipper as MSNBC’s daily gabfest, “Morning Joe”?

This is actually the manifesto of the new political organization called No Labels. It’s no surprise that its official debut last week prompted derisive laughter from all labels across the political spectrum, not to mention Gawker, which deemed it “the most boring political movement of all time.” But attention must be paid. In its patronizing desire to instruct us on what is wrong with our politics, No Labels ends up being a damning indictment of just how alarmingly out of touch the mainstream political-media elite remains with the grievances that have driven Americans to cynicism and despair in the 21st century’s Gilded Age.

The notion that civility and nominal bipartisanship would accomplish any of the heavy lifting required to rebuild America is childish magical thinking, and, worse, a mindless distraction from the real work before the nation. [...]

Beltway conventional wisdom is equally responsible for another myth promoted by No Labels: that the Move On left and the Tea Party right are equal contributors to America’s “hyperpartisanship.” In the real world, no one could seriously believe that activists on the left have the sway over Democratic leaders, starting with President Obama, that the Tea Party has over the G.O.P. Nor, with all due respect to MSNBC, does the left have a media megaphone to match the Tea Party’s alliance with the Murdoch empire, as led by Fox News, and the megastars of talk radio.

Besides, polls consistently show that hyperpartisanship is more prevalent among Republican voters than Democrats. [...]

Repuglican'ts totally suck and Democrats only suck less.

Yet what’s most disturbing about No Labels is that its centrist, no doubt well-intentioned leaders seem utterly clueless about why Americans of all labels are angry: the realization that both parties are bought off by special interests who game the system and stack it against the rest of us. Indeed, No Labels itself is another manifestation of this syndrome. Its two prime movers are a political consultant, Mark McKinnon, a veteran of the Bush and McCain campaigns known for slick salesmanship; and a fund-raiser, Nancy Jacobson, who, along with her husband, the pollster and corporate flack Mark Penn, helped brand the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign as a depository for special-interest contributions.

WHAT America needs is not another political organization with a toothless agenda and less-than-transparent finances. The country will not rest easy until there are brave leaders in both parties willing to reform the system that let perpetrators of the Great Recession escape while the rest of us got stuck with the wreckage. [...]

This just popped into my mind: with enough thrust, pigs fly just fine.

As The Times reported, Citi is now marketing all-new lines of loosey-goosey credit cards to debt-prone Americans much as it stoked the proliferation of no-money-down mortgages during Rubin’s tenure in the housing bubble. It can do so with impunity, since the incoming chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Spencer Bachus, has already guaranteed institutions like Citi a pass. As Bachus’s instantly notorious pronouncement had it, “My view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks.”

In truth, this congressman’s view has been the prevailing view in Washington under both parties since the Reagan administration. If No Labels is the best our centrist political establishment can come up with to address the ills eating away at America, its culture is as bankrupt as Citigroup would be if taxpayers had been allowed to let it fail.

I have a hunch this outfit will accept donations and fade away. Labels are descriptive and we need them to tell the players apart. Much like biologists need their species, phyla, and genuses, there are a lot of subheadings under 'wingnut assholes' and 'Dem pussies'.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Congress Repeals “Don't Ask”
Passes “Don't Dream.”

Abu Dhabi Hotel Spends $11 Million Decorating Christmas Tree
Does nothing for Hanukkah.

Study: Fox News Has Most Misinformed Viewers
Least misinformed viewers: ScyFy Channel.

Latest Nixon Tapes Filled With Anti-Semitic, Anti-Black, Anti-Irish, Anti-Italian Remarks
And he didn't have very nice things to say about you, either.

Light Blogging Today

We had a power outage this morning. So we're sittin' there in our too-light-to-sleep, too-dark-to-read living room on auxiliary power (8 D-cells) listenin' ta the Sunday morning Hawaiian music show on KVMR after a breakfast of cold last night's pizza (Coyote Combo, skimpy on the coyote thank God). Very cheery, but we got bored outta our skulls.

So I cleaned the woodstove and chimney pipe in case the power stayed off for very long. Haven't used it in years and didn't want it smellin' like fried dust if we had to fire it up. Then we switched out the living room drapes and washed the sliding glass door and a window while the drapes were off. Then we hung a framed poster starting with the blank spot on the wall. Both of these little projects had been sitting right there for months. As soon as we were all done the power came back on. It was off for 3 hours. Perhaps Mañana, The God Of Procrastination was trying to tell us we'd put this stuff off long enough even for Him.

I guess we should get bored more often.

Now I'm all amped up from all the activity so I guess I'll go outside and decoratively rearrange some snow. See yas later.

At least ...

Now all American citizens have the right to fight for and defend their country. It's a very good day:

A bill allowing openly gay people to serve in the military was approved by the U.S. Senate today, drawing cheers from gay and lesbian military veterans and other members and supporters of the LGBT community who gathered in San Francisco to watch the vote.

The Senate today voted 65 to 31 in favor of the bill to end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The bill was approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday and will now go to President Obama to be signed into law.

...

Now, if we'd see fit to allow them to spend their lives with the people they love (like every other fucking American) and share the benefits of being a married couple, we'd be doing pretty good. It still boggles my mind that we're even having this argument in the 21st Century.

Addendum: And much as it kills me to say it, I appreciate Joe Lieberman's efforts on this front. For the first time in a long time, he's on the correct side of an issue.

Saturday Crazy Redneck Music Blogging

This goes out as a cautionary vision of what most certainly would happen to all of us dirty ol' married men who feel the way I do about Kathy Griffin should we lose our minds and think we're single again. Heh.

Joey & Rory ~ Cheater, Cheater

Thanks to emimusic.

Bones found on island might be Amelia Earhart's

I've had my ear glued to the radio over this one since 'thirty-seven, bunkie. One of the fascinating mysteries of the 20th century.

"There's no guarantee," said Ric Gillespie, director of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, a group of aviation enthusiasts in Delaware that found the pieces of bone this year while on an expedition to Nikumaroro Island, about 1,800 miles south of Hawaii.

"You only have to say you have a bone that may be human and may be linked to Earhart and people get excited. But it is true that, if they can get DNA, and if they can match it to Amelia Earhart's DNA, that's pretty good."

It could be months before scientists know for sure — and it could turn out the bones are from a turtle. [...]

Build me up and then dump me. The story of my life. Sigh.

I watched a show the other night on this same TIGHAR expedition. They did an experiment with a pig carcass to find out how long it would take the land crabs to consume the meat and how far the bones would get dispersed. Not long and pretty far. Them land crabs'll have yer meat gone before ya know yer dead and take some home with 'em.

Here's how I prefer to think of her:

Thanks to prem73.

Headline of the Day

Up To 10 Feet Of Snow Expected In Sierra

Just another day in paradise. Sigh.

Update:

Sand and Sandbags are available for residents of Nevada County.

I live at 6000' of altitude on the side of a hill a half mile and 200 feet above the Truckee River. I will deploy sandbags if I have to and if I do, all y'all from Lawn Guyland to Iowa to Napa will already be floating. Row on over fer coffee.

The Hammer Gets Nailed

Jim Hightower

For once, I actually agree with something that with Tom DeLay said. The former Republican leader of Congress recently declared in his most somber tone, "The criminalization of politics undermines our very system." Wow, so true, Tommy.

Of course, what I mean by the "criminalization of politics" is very different than what he means. DeLay was bemoaning the stunning fact that a Texas jury had just convicted him on two felony counts of money laundering. He wailed that he was a victim of a political vendetta by Texas Democrats, calling his prosecution "an abuse of power."

Yes, Tom, politics has been criminalized. It's been turned into a criminal enterprise funded by corporations for corporations. Reprobate politicos like you have turned the People's House into a shameful pay-to-play parlor.

DeLay was so good at hitting up corporate lobbyists for money, then pounding their wish list into law, that he was nicknamed "The Hammer." But now, The Hammer's been nailed--not by Democrats, but by a jury of 12 common citizens, whom his own hot-shot lawyers helped select. These honest people diligently sifted through reams of evidence and ultimately saw him for what he is: a felon.

A small yet satisfying victory.

Everything else ...

Is just "fooling around":

In a late afternoon Senate floor verbal dustup Friday, Sen. Charles Schumer lambasted Sen. John McCain for characterizing time spent debating the Zadroga 9/11 health bill as "fooling around."

Congressional Democrats were working to secure Senate ratification of a new arms control treaty before the holiday break when Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) asked if there could be a "time agreement" on the debate, as it was getting late.

McCain (R-Ariz.) dismissed the idea, saying that, "after all the fooling around that we've been doing on the DREAM act, on New York City, on all of these other issues that [have] taken up our time, we will not have a time agreement . . . until all members on this [the Republican] side have had an opportunity to express their views." [my em]

...

So long as their rich patrons have their tax breaks, nothing else matters. They don't care about anyone and the only useful person is a "productive" one. If you're injured or dead, can't carry a rifle or work like a dog for a multinational corporation, you ain't worth shit to the Republicans. Too bad more regular folks don't get it.