Amen

Manifesto Joe

Franklin Graham Interview Reminds Me: Maybe It's Time For God Inc. To Start Paying Taxes

Make the pious little shit pay taxes. Now.

Marine Air Blowing Off Steam In Clusterfuckistan

Normally I don't post music videos during the week, but when the cat's away the mice will play, and I couldn't resist this one.

These are my young tribal brethren and sisteren. Despite the fact that Marine Air is the best infantry weapon ever devised (think of it as a really looooong bayonet), and the 169 squadron's snakes will come bring maximum smoke on your enemy with one phone call, look at the fucking haircuts on some of these Air Wing pogues! Looser'n a soup sandwich! We always thought of the aviation Marines as being some kinda separate service with different rules anyway.

Via Raw Replay.

In the fine tradition of military personnel blowing off steam in the field comes this latest masterpiece out of Afghanistan.

Below, watch the 266 Rein and HMLA 169* Marines perform their awesome rendition of Britney Spears’ “Hold It Against Me.”

*Mottoes:

"World Famous Vipers, perhaps you have heard of us?"

"We hate each other, but we hate you more."

Heh. Also, this vid has had over 2,000,000 hits in the week it's been up. I left 'em a little comment and while I was doing that about 20 more comments came in. I think this vid qualifies as 'gone viral'.

Thanks to atarin18.

Just another GOP hypocrite...

Drug-bashing RI Republican charged with drug use

Robert Watson, a high-ranking Republican state legislator in Rhode Island, is in hot water after being charged with driving under the influence of marijuana and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Drug charges alone would be bad enough for a public official, but Watson, Rhode Island's House minority leader, is still remembered for his controversial anti-drug, anti-gay and anti-immigrant remarks.

In February, Watson said the Rhode Island legislature had their priorities right "if you are a Guatemalan gay man who likes to gamble and smokes marijuana."

Watson was pulled over at a police checkpoint Friday, East Haven police told the Associated Press. Police noted a "strong odor of marijuana" coming from Watson's car, and charged him with possession and driving under the influence. The lawmaker was released after he promised to appear in court, and has not yet issued a statement.

Ahhhhhhh, schadenfreude!

Wrap Your Royal Rascal!

To celebrate the engagement of Prince William of Wales to Ms. Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, Crown Jewels Condoms of Distinction has commissioned a unique heritage edition Royal Wedding Souvenir boîte de capotes.

Combining the strength of a Prince with the yielding sensitivity of a Princess-to-be, Crown Jewels condoms promise a royal union of pleasure. Truly a King amongst Condoms.

I'm speechless...

Headline and Quote of the Day

Is the GOP Really America’s Domestic Enemy?

So the GOP has but one step left. If they can gain control of our national government and establish the same rules that now exist in Michigan, America’s beautiful experiment in democracy is over.

So yes, Tom, the GOP is indeed the Devil incarnate - and worse.

ElBaradei suggests war crimes probe of Bush team

AP

Former chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei suggests in a new memoir that Bush administration officials should face international criminal investigation for the "shame of a needless war" in Iraq.

"I was aghast at what I was witnessing," ElBaradei writes of the official U.S. attitude before the March 2003 invasion, which he calls "aggression where there was no imminent threat," a war in which he accepts estimates that hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed.

In such a case, he suggests, the World Court should be asked to rule on whether the war was illegal. And, if so, "should not the International Criminal Court investigate whether this constitutes a `war crime' and determine who is accountable?"

Formidable political and legal barriers would seem to rule out such an investigation. But ElBaradei, citing the war-crimes prosecution of Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic, sees double standards that should end.

"Do we, as a community of nations, have the wisdom and courage to take the corrective measures needed, to ensure that such a tragedy will never happen again?" he asks.

No.

Drunk as a skunk ...

Me and Terry spent the afternoon hanging in The Golden Lion (talking football - soccer - with a couple of drunken Irishmen) while our women were out shopping on Gran Canaria. Ain't in no condition to write a post right now. We'll be in Madiera (Portugal) tomorrow. We're behind schedule because our compass went to shit last night as we left Tenerife and we had to recalibrate, cutting holes in the Atlantic for 4 hours. Cap'n Wells (a friend of mine through 1st Engineer David, who served with Cap'n Wells on QE2) says he's gonna have to do a speed run tonight to make up time. He's gonna put the engines to full and try to get 30 - 32 knots out of her during the night. Should be a fun ride. We have lunch and dinner reservations in Madiera tomorrow so I'll have something up in the morning from Tenerife and Gran Canaria.

Gotta get ready for more drinks and dinner. See yas in the morning.

And just a note: My mother emigrated from Germany to the US aboard the first Queen Elizabeth 60 years ago today.

Addendum: What the fuck is with that so-called English they speak over there in the Kingdom? Can't understand a bloody thing when I'm loaded. Heh ...

Addendum Zwei: And fucking Terry, when he's loaded, speaks to me in fucking Welsh (a beautiful language BTW) but Jesus H. Christ, it's bad enough trying to understand the English. ;)

Yours truly on Playa del Ingles (Beach of the Englishmen) on Gran Canaria this morning

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

ElBaradei: Bush Should Be Tried for War Crimes
Bush: ElBaradei should be arrested, tortured and shot.

Thank you ElBaradei.

72% Say Raise Taxes on Those Earning More Than $250,000
28% say eat them.

California Wine Company Asks Court to Declare its “Mommyjuice” Doesn’t Violate Rival’s “Mommy’s Time Out” Trademark
Or their “Mommy’s Drunk Now,” or “Mommy’s Soused, Get Lost, Kiddo” brands.

Afghanistan: Buzkashi Championships Begin Under Cloud of Scandal
Apparently some of the horsemen fighting over a headless goat carcass are “juiced.”

They are learning something from us!

Ah, there's nothin' like a restful sea cruise...

Thinkin' about the Fixers disporting themselves all over the Atlantic is bringin' back memories and making me nostalgic for my own sea cruise frolics. Here's the main activity aboard one of the ships I was in. The squid who shot this left out the Marines who were also cargo for these hell-o-copeters. This is about 25 years after my cruise. Not much difference.

I think my cruise in Guam may have been slightly noisier than Fixer's in Queen Liz.

Thanks to CFD145.

Listen here to some of the delightful festivities when flight ops weren't going.

Thanks to g4511.

Thoughts on Easter

A PR stunt that succeeded beyond its wildest dreams and has been causing trouble the world over pretty much ever since, mostly after Constantine organized Christians to unify the Roman Empire and gave them a book that satisfied his agenda and that continues to be taken seriously to this day by the tiny-brained.

How'd that 'Roman Empire' thing work out for ya, Con-Man? Its successor, the 'Holy' one? The United States is fixin' to reenact the last part of those pretty soon and then we'll know.

Not directly related to The Big Prank, if it hadn'ta been for Mohammed, it seems to me that most of today's Muslims would be Jews. With them, eh, we coulda cut a deal, saved the world a lotta trouble...

We could start by cannin' the whole 'ham on Easter' thing that originated no doubt to stick the crucifixion in the the Jews' eyes - they didn't do it.

Hiccuping Volcanoes

Will Durst on how the right-wing culture war tops the important stuff and things that actually matter and why the never-right is totally fucked.

You got to love The Right. Every single study and poll, every one, shows independents turned off by cultural- values wars; the same way chalk sidewalk drawings dissolve in a thunderstorm. And they try and they try and they try but they just can't help themselves. Like active moral volcanoes with a bad case of the hiccups, conservatives erupt and spew and god help any innocent bystander that gets in the way of their lava of virtuousness. That includes themselves.

Oh, they talk about getting the government out of people's business. But when its bedroom business or women's body businesses, an infatuation with perceived iniquity overcomes them. Especially businesses into which tab A is not destined for slot B; which could possibly offend some busybody. That's when their business becomes the business of judging other people's business. And business is good.

Knowing better, but unable to control his compulsion, Speaker John Boehner (R- $$$) swoopingly interrupted his budget putsch, hiring a law firm to argue on behalf of the Defense of Marriage Act. President Obama declared it unconstitutional and indefensible, so the Speaker is taking it unto himself to ensure equal rights are denied to same sex relationships. Apparently, certain people's happiness makes him miserable.

Previously, the GOP tried lathering their moral superiority onto the budget bill. That's when Jon Kyl (R- Wackyville) went on the floor of the Senate to say abortions "are well over 90% of what Planned Parenthood does." And he was close. Off by 87%. Just a bit outside. Later, Kyl's office recanted saying "his remark was not intended to be a factual statement." Of course. Who would ever think it was? After all, he is a known politician.

With no innards left, leaping onto the anti- abortion bandwagon with talons extended, Michele Bachmann called Planned Parenthood the Lenscrafters of abortion, which by all rights allows you to call the Heritage Foundation the Orange Julius of the death penalty. Congressman Bachmann, the Home Depot of ridiculously overwrought indignation. Making the Republican Party itself, the Luigi's Shoe Repair of self inflicted gunshot wounds to the chest.

I hope they shoot so many holes in themselves they automatically, like a player piano, whistle "Red River Valley" in a breeze and maybe "Onward Christian Soldiers" in a gale. Heh.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...Marijuanaman!

Betcha dey's some serious dreds under dot hood, mon!

Brand X

Look, up in the sky, it’s a bong, it’s a plate of brownies — no, it’s … Marijuanaman.

Superheroes are everywhere these days, so perhaps it’s no surprise that a cannabis-themed crusader is fighting the good fight on the cover of a (ahem) high-profile new project with musician Ziggy Marley as part of the creative team. But what’s intriguing is the hero on the cover is no bleary-eyed burnout looking for the Xbox controller in the couch. This pothead looks as intense as the Punisher, and Marley says there are meaningful messages rolled up within the tales’ action.

“It relates to the reality of why the plant is being criminalized and why it’s not being used in all of its facets,” said the five-time Grammy winner and 42-year-old son of the late Bob Marley. “In the early days of American history, this plant was used much more widely, and then it became a demon and a devil.”

The 48-page hardcover premiere of “Marijuanaman” from Image Comics hits on 4/20 (no surprise)...[...]

There was a need to please discerning comics fans but also a resolution to keep the Marley name, music and legacy as a touchstone. Spattered with references to the contemporary reggae singer and his father, intricate (and sometimes incongruous) tapestries of Wailers song references and hat tips to the Tuff Gong record label are woven in the pages. Naturally, the Lion of Judah makes several majestic cameos.

Comic books have come a long way since the Classics Illustrated masterpieces that got me through book reports...

Coffee ...

I don't know about you, but coffee plays a very important part of my life. Makes me human in the morning. Thing is, being on a ship, good coffee is impossible to get. If the seaworthiness of a ship was measured by the quality of its coffee, the entire fleet would be towed out over the Atlantic Trench and scuttled. An old Navy chief would willingly jump overboard and drown himself. I'm not exaggerating.

What they do, is make the coffee ashore, turn it into a concentrate, and then add water aboard ship. Makes for a horrible swill. The Mrs. and I have a solution.



We bring a pound of good coffee, our little drip fixtures and a box of #2 filters. All we do is order up a couple pots of boiling water from room service and make our own.

Off to Tenerife in a couple hours. Sorry I didn't post yesterday but they had a big football (soccer) bash in The Golden Lion all day so you can figure where I was.

Later ...

Happy Easter!

Tea Time with the Posse

Idaho is well-known as a Mecca (heh) for militant right-wing nutjobs. This will remove all doubt and chill you to your bones. It ain't just in Idaho either.

Inside An Idaho Tea Party Patriots Conference

Little talk of repealing “Obamacare” or of modifying objectionable provisions of healthcare legislation took place at Stout’s “Patriots Unite” event, held March 26. The impending possibility of a government shutdown due to an impasse over the budget was hardly mentioned. Nary a word was spoken about bailouts or taxes. Instead, speakers at this Tea Party event gave the crowd a heavy dose of racist “birther” attacks on President Obama, discussions of the conspiracy behind the problem facing America (complete with anti-Semitic illustration), Christian nationalism, anti-environmentalism, and serious calls for legislation promoting states’ rights and “nullification.”

Read this article. It's like looking in through the window of the snake exhibit at the Crazytown Zoo.

Minnesota Republicans Want To Bust Poor People Who Carry Cash

I don't carry much cash around with me because I like the convenience of using my debit card to pay for stuff. I use cash for very small purchases or if they're going to charge me for using the card. It's my choice. Your choice is your choice. This is unconscionable. It's the Repug way.

Crooks and Liars

They're not just crazy, they're evil -- and un-Christian, should they have the audacity to claim otherwise. If only we could force them to live like this, they wouldn't last a week:

St. Paul, MN – Minnesota Republicans are pushing legislation that would make it a crime for people on public assistance to have more $20 in cash in their pockets any given month. This represents a change from their initial proposal, which banned them from having any money at all.

It's not stated, but I think the pols are convinced that poor people's only use for cash is to buy dope. They must think that everybody's got a checking account, debit card, credit cards, etc. At the least we're talking massively outta touch here.

At the worst, which is probably a lot closer to the truth, we're talking keep poor people poor so they can be more easily controlled.

There is an obvious target on the poverty stricken in this country. Let’s not forget, just as many poor people are Republicans. This won’t fare well and they’re signing their own Get Out of the House certificate. As the classes divide even more with their assistance, this is further proof that their campaign against government spending was simply to gain power and now, they’ve gone power mad.

They need to be dealt with like rabid skunks.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Can't get much more recent than this!

Emmylou Harris performs "Hard Bargain," written by Ron Sexsmith, live at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, CA, on April 21, 2011

Thanks to ednla.

Cascais and Sintra ...

2 hours off the Portuguese coast and just heading into the shower before drinks and dinner. We went north of Lisbon to the beautiful towns of Cascais and Sintra. Come along. I love Portugal!

Later ...

And who didn't see this coming?

Big Pharma set to take over medical marijuana market

Yes, mota is soooooo bad! It leads to harder drugs, will get your daughter pregnant and make her jump out a window, has no medical usage whatsoever, and can still get you life in prison in some places. It's illegal to grow, sell, transport, possess and use.

Unless you get it from a corporate- and government-approved commercial source, of course.

And perish the thought that you should ever use this plant that God put on this earth for pleasure and fun! It is written in the Holy Book that He put it here to exploit for profit only by Chosen entities like Big Pharma.

Sleepwalking into the Imperial Dark

As always when I link to a Tomgram, take a lunch...

What It Feels Like When a Superpower Runs Off the Tracks
...

This can’t end well.

But then, how often do empires end well, really? They live vampirically by feeding off others until, sooner or later, they begin to feed on themselves, to suck their own blood, to hollow themselves out. Sooner or later, they find themselves, as in our case, economically stressed and militarily extended in wars they can’t afford to win or lose.

The United States is, of course, an imperial power, however much we might prefer not to utter the word. We still have our globe-spanning array of semi-client states; our military continues to garrison much of the planet; and we are waging war abroad more continuously than at any time in memory. Yet who doesn’t sense that the sun is now setting on us?

Can there be any question that something big is happening here, even if we don’t quite know what it is because, unlike the peoples of past empires, we never took pride in or even were able to think of ourselves as imperial? And if you were indeed in denial that you lived in the belly of a great imperial power, if like most Americans you managed to ignore the fact that we were pouring our treasure into the military or setting up bases in countries that few could have found on a map, then you would naturally experience the empire going down as if through a glass darkly.

Hit the brakes or hit the wall. Will we get over the denial in time?

Above all, even as our imperial wars in the oil heartlands of the planet went desperately wrong, they allowed us not to think about empire or, until the economy melted down in 2008, decline. They allowed us to focus our fears on “them,” not us. They ensured that, like the other great imperial power of the Cold War era, when things began to spiral out of control we would indeed sleepwalk right into the imperial darkness.

Now that we’re so obviously there, the confusion is greater than ever. Theoretically, none of this should necessarily be considered bad news, not if you don’t love empires and what they do. A post-imperial U.S. could, of course, be open to all sorts of possibilities for change that might be exciting indeed.

Right now, though, it doesn’t feel that way, does it? It makes me wonder: Could this be how it’s always felt inside a great imperial power on the downhill slide? Could this be what it’s like to watch, paralyzed, as a country on autopilot begins to come apart at the seams while still proclaiming itself “the greatest nation on Earth”?

I don’t know. But I do know one thing: this can’t end well.

It will end, though. Soon.

"...a demented slapstick comedy starring The Donald as The Donald in "The Donald." "

An enjoyable read by William Rivers Pitt who survived both the Yuengling and Western Pennsylvania to bring us this.

Stick your nose into the air and smell the panic emanating from RNC headquarters. It is bad enough that they have to contend with potential presidential runs by the likes of Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich. Now they're staring down the barrel of a full-fledged freak storm, a demented slapstick comedy starring The Donald as The Donald in "The Donald." I feel a deep and overwhelming compulsion to go to church every day this week, light a candle each time, and pray until I'm sweating blood that this actually happens.

Seriously. Oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please let this happen. It is already wildly entertaining today, and can only get better if Trump actually jumps into the race. He has gone over the high side* (my em) at top volume regarding the "birther" issue, which has pleased the berserk GOP base to such a degree that he is blowing away the entire potential Republican presidential field, and now leads the pack by as much as nine points in the latest poll.

*A rare and heartwarming reference to the absolute worst way to get off a motorcycle at speed that doesn't involve a brick wall, a cliff, or a Buick Pahk Avenoo!

So what gives here? Did Trump just turn on a dime, scrap all of his former positions, and embrace the Tea Party platform because he believes in it? Is he cynically using those positions to elbow his way into the conversation because he knows GOP primary voters are made mostly of the far-right base?

I have my own theory, out there though it may be. He could believe in all that stuff, or he could be using those issues to position himself, but there is a third possibility. Trump could be pulling the biggest prank in the history of American politics. If he still believes in single-payer health care and higher taxes for the rich, he could be playing the GOP for fools with a fake run that is already scrambling the RNC's eggs.

Could it be that Trump is the greatest political mole/troll we've ever seen?

I report, you decide.

I have embraced the "deep plant Democrat" theory myself. It's probably not so, but it would be the best punk job in recent political history if it were.

I'll wait for the report and then decide. Please God, let it be so! Heh.

Update:

Olbermann to Trump: ‘Don, FOK off!’

With a shit-eatin' grin, I must add.