Seize the Uterus!

The General gets his little soldier all worked up writing a letter to a Texas Republican. Heh ...

...

But I'm afraid you're not fighting this war properly. Going after contraceptive providers isn't enough. What about those wicked not-men who demand that their partners complete the act outside of their womb tunnel? What are you going to do with them?

I think I can help. I've developed a bungee-based device that when strapped to a couple, limits the amplitude of a man's secret parts. Put simply, the device stops a mans hips from moving more than and inch and a half, just short of the 1.75 inch distance a normal man requires in order to disengage his little soldier from a not-man's woo woo thing.

...

It's all about your parts, ladies, and the Republicans are obsessed with them. A whole buncha no-fun assholes who would deny you any amount of pleasure without you "paying for it". Digby looks at this too ... seriously:

... It's a war on pleasure. Anything that promotes human happiness other than the ecstasy of counting money and prayer must be stopped.

I am so sick of these old pasty white guys making judgments about what women do with their bodies. I don't know how any self respecting woman could call herself a Republican at this point.

Conspiracy threories ...

I read quite a few bloggers who, aside from their insights on politics and policy, which I respect, are firm believers that 9/11 was an inside job. That is, the US government played an active hand in the deaths of 3000-odd people. They've zeroed in on 2 targets, WTC #7 and the crash at the Pentagon.

Now, I can believe Bush & Co. might have had some sort of forewarning. They would have seen the political opportunity but I can't wrap my head around them having an active hand in it. One question always bothered me about the Pentagon thing and it's a question none have answered sufficiently, if at all.

If something other than an airliner full of people hit the Pentagon, where are these people today? There were people (at least one semi-famous one - Barbara Olsen) aboard an airliner over Washington who called loved ones to tell them they were aboard a hijacked plane. They were never heard from again. Are they all in on it? Did they all pledge to live their lives in anonymity in order to help the "war effort"? Why haven't any of them been inadvertently spotted somewhere on the street in the past decade?

I don't put much past Bush, Cheney, and their evil minions but until someone explains to me where those people who supposedly died that day are (read: show me fucking pictures), the worst I'll believe is that the political leadership at the time saw the opportunity to screw and bamboozle the general public and took it.

Off to court ...

Word ...

Pic stolen from here.

A lot ...

Of our mealy mouthed elected representatives could learn something about being a politician from the future junior senator from Massachusetts*:

...

There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody.

You built a factory out there—good for you! But I want to be clear.

You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for.

You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate.

You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for.

You didn’t have to worry that maurauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did.

Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea—God bless. Keep a big hunk of it.

But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.

...

Our "centrist" Dems had better embrace this kind of talk or they're gonna find themselves out of a job come next year. There is no "middle" anymore and if there is a "D" behind their name, they ain't gonna get anywhere pandering to the GOP voters. To them, even the Speaker of the House is too "liberal". Get with the people or get out.

*Video at the link.

Great thanks to Thers for the link.

Whar da Sheriff?

Showed up to court this morning, waited for an hour for one of the Deputy Sheriffs to testify but they couldn't find him. The sent us home and told us to come back at 2:30. Just as I was about to leave, our "government minder" calls and says they still can't find the Deputy and to come back at 9:30 tomorrow. What a waste of a day.

The upside? There's a Carling Cup match on in a few minutes that I thought I'd have to miss. Leeds United vs. Manchester United. Some of us are hoping for miracles. Heh ...

Update:

Well, the Age of Miracles is, indeed, over. Man U had most of their bench warmers out on the pitch and Leeds still lost 3 - 0.

Quote of the Day

Ted Frier:

...

And for the record, "class warfare" is when the masses, motivated by envy and greed, burn down the mansions of the rich, cut off their heads and stick the severed remains on the ends of bloody pikes.

...

Just so you understand how it works.

Admin ...

Well the blog is back. Blogger went bonkers about 6:30 this morning and hadn't come back until now. I have to be back at court in a little while. See yas later. Don't forget to surf the blogroll.

So you don't forget ...

This is what they're trying to convince you of:

Again, the central premise of the contemporary Republican Party is that people making $400K+ a year are living a hardscrabble existence, while a teacher or police officer making $50 K a year is enjoying a pampered life of unimaginable luxury.

Don't believe them.

I'm not one ...

For TV. I don't watch regular shows, sitcoms, series, dramas. Standard TV programming does nothing for me. I usually have the BBC, MSNBC, or the local Long Island news station on for background noise when I'm doing something. My "must see TV" is football (soccer). The Mrs. schedules our social life, generally, around my football watching on the weekends from August to May (and she puts up with it during the week when the UEFA Champions League, or Carling Cup, or FA Cup matches are on). She's a good, understanding woman but I digress.

The Mrs. likes Dancing With The Stars. I'd watch it with her when it first began because it still resembled ballroom dancing. I'll watch professional ballroom dancing with her and I enjoy it very much. DWTS, after 10 years, has now become the professional wrestling of ballroom dancing. Too much flash, too little substance. I don't watch it anymore with the Mrs. I did however, watch the first half hour with her last night (waiting for the New York Football Giants game to come on Monday Night Football) and I saw what we missed from the clips on the early morning insomniac news and I just wanted to say this:

Chaz Bono impressed me.

Not for his dancing skills, but for his poise and dignity and good humor. For getting out there and shaking his moneymaker in light of the deep divisions in this country because some of us wouldn't even consider him a human being, with rights and feelings. The LGBT cause has been furthered immeasurably by his courage. Good on him. His mother must be kvelling. Good on Cher too, for giving him the support he needed when making such difficult decisions.

I attribute no altruistic "social change" motives to Dancing With The Stars itself. They just had him on to put eyes on the screen (ratings = money).

"...an economic hole so deep we're bumping elbows with blind moles"

Will Durst on the economy:

What this country needs right now is tough love to get through these rough times. Common-sense solutions. I'm not talking about the futile recommendations Super Congress is busy formulating. Those won't be remedies. Those will be more mere, election-year platitudes. As inevitable as gratuitous gore in a Danny Trejo movie. Like cookies in day care. Erasers on golf pencils.

When this sort of thing happens to families, they find ways to tighten their belts. Come up with plans to cut back on expenses and bring in extra money. Exactly what we should be doing now. So allow me to offer up a few modest proposals to help get this country back on its feet.

-Do we really need nine Supreme Court Justices? Couldn't we slide by with seven? Considering recent decisions, I'd hazard to say a junior grade Justice Department law clerk could flip a coin and handle the job as well.

-There's no reason why the feds should continue to fund expensive Congressional elections in the Bible Belt. What we do is give the candidates an IQ test and the one with the lowest science score wins. A cheap alternative for the same result.

No shit to both of those!

-Pretty apparent we can't afford to indulge in high-priced fossil fuels anymore. Time to shift into bio-fuels. Ethanol, sure, but a better bet would be methane, especially with the incredibly abundant supply being regularly emitted out of our representatives in D.C.

Yeah, I'm surprised yer allowed to smoke within 100ft of 'em.

More.

Do you know how I know ...

The country is fucked? Happened this morning. First time in close to 50 years of life because that's how long I've known this woman, all my bloody life. My old German "aunt" (not by blood but the fact she was my mom's best friend) who lives around the corner.

Now this is a woman (and her late husband) who had "belt privileges" from my parents (you gotta be my age to probably understand that). They had full parental responsibility and if they felt the need to kill me when I was young, they would only have had to explain to my parents why. We are that close.

Well, today I had to take her to a doctors appointment, to the vampire to have some blood drawn, because her son (my best friend) couldn't get off work to take her (she doesn't drive, ever since The Great Station Wagon/Motorcycle Incident of 1970 - another post, maybe at F&G). So that's when it happened, when I was driving her home. Once sentence from her as I waited at the train crossing.

"You know, this Republican bullshit is really pissing me off."

Now, these few words rocked my world on several levels, at least as much as the earthquake a couple weeks ago.

First: Let's take note of the use of the word "bullshit". This is the 3rd time (in close to 50 years) I heard her use the word "shit"; never with a modifier attached. A devout Roman Catholic, member of the church choir, dragged herself to church every Sunday, even while undergoing chemo for a tumor in her leg. Lives Jesus' word (the Jesus I learned about, mostly from her) and works to help the poor and her fellow congregants. She is a really good person. And she doesn't curse (a sin, don'tcha know). I walked home a few nights with a palm print on my cheek thanks to my frequent use of "fuck". "Pissing me off" is just dressing (she'd gone all the way with "bullshit"), probably learned from us or her grandchildren.

Second: Let's back up to the word "Republican". This is not a political woman. She is a farmer's wife. She came here from a little town outside Munich before meeting her husband, who was from a place that would become the East Zone after the war. He was a chicken farmer. His father was a chicken farmer in Germany and they came here and built a chicken farm in the late 1920s. They came from a Germany where kings and queens ruled still. They knew what it was like for their property to be part of one kingdom or duchy one year and another the next. They didn't care who was in power as long as none of them decided to take their stuff. They were the same way after they came here. They were never political, just hard working folks (16 hour days were normal; 18 - 20 regular). They raised two great kids and she enjoys playing grandma to 5 grandchildren. She ain't political.

Until now.

So what would cause a woman who never cared about what goes on in Washington, suddenly pay attention after 80-plus years of ambivalence?

They're trying to take her stuff. The stuff she and her husband broke their asses for, for over 60 years. If she knows it, and is angry about it, you know a lot of people are. Yer damn right Barry better listen to the people instead of the weasels who run around in the White House. If my Tante is mad at you, the end is near.

Breitbart: Bring it on. Oh, yeah...?

From RawReplay, with video if you must.

Speaking to a Massachusetts tea party group recently, conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart made some comments that are raising eyebrows online this week, telling the small gathering of Republicans that he sometimes wants to “fire the first shot.”

“I’m under attack all the time,” he said. “The call me gay. There are death threats… There are times when I’m not thinking as clearly as I should, and in those unclear moments, I always think to myself, ‘Fire the first shot. Bring it on.’ Because I know who’s on our side.

“They can only win a rhetorical and propaganda war. They cannot win. We outnumber them in this country and we have the guns… I’m not kidding. They talk a mean game, but they will not cross that line because they know what they’re dealing with. ”

It must be reassuring to that lily-livered pansy Breitbart that he won't be there when the shit goes down, but he'll take credit for it.

Public challenge to Breitbart: You want "bring it"? I'd LOVE to. Any time, any place, any weapon or none, you chickenshit motherfucker. You think you've been 'under attack' because people have told the truth about you? You don't know the meaning of the words. I pray that I get to instruct you.

Foo Fighters - Keepin it Clean in KC

I've got no idea who the Foo Fighters are, never heard 'em before, but now I like 'em! BTW, if this is "alt rock" I'm a monkey's uncle. This here's country. son!

Via Raw Replay:

Categories: Featured, Say What?
...

Searching for a way to counter the Westboro Baptist Church’s weird protests? If you can find the Foo Fighters, you have the solution to that problem.

On Friday evening in Kansas City, Missouri, the renowned rock band staged an impromptu mini-concert against the church, who lined up to protest the band’s upcoming concert. Performing on a truck that drowned out the church member’s noises, lead singer David Grohl offered the crowd an all-loving, all-included monologue.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Study: Pot Smokers Less Obese Than Non-Users
Willie Nelson named new spokesperson for Jenny Craig.

NGO Report: Twenty-One Countries Ranked Less Corrupt Than U.S.
Insiders say bribes went to wrong people, blackmail attempts backfired.

In Study, Researchers Find Eating Chocolate as Good as Exercise
Sitting on couch all day eating bonbons equivalent to running six miles.

Someone, somewhere, is going to believe that.

Massive Solar Storm Would Kill Satellites For a Decade
Fortunately there are millions of public phone booths, and there's always Western Union.

That'll put the 'wires' back in 'wired'!

Heh ...

Pic stolen from NYT via Montag.

Buncha shit to do this morning before I have to be at court. See yas this afternoon ...

Backwards At High Speed

MoDo

THERE are two American archetypes that were sometimes played against each other in old Westerns.

The egghead Eastern lawyer who lacks the skills or stomach for a gunfight is contrasted with the tough Western rancher and ace shot who has no patience for book learnin’.

Gee, I could never guess where this is going...

Our education system is going to hell. Average SAT scores are falling, and America is slipping down the list of nations for college completion. And Rick Perry stands up with a smirk to talk to students about how you can get C’s, D’s and F’s and still run for president.

Fuckin' swell. I suppose this was inevitable now that ignorance is a right-wing virtue and actually using your brain is "elitism".

So we’re choosing between the overintellectualized professor and blockheads boasting about their vacuity?

The occupational hazard of democracy is know-nothing voters. It shouldn’t be know-nothing candidates.

Double jeopardy. Reverse synergy - the whole is considerably less than the sum of its parts. To the detriment of all and everything.

"Perry is a slot machine who pays on every pull"

From a post on "Perry's not a cheap whore..." at Kos:

Republicans pretend to loathe judicial overreach. They rail against activist judges who "make law" and pound their chests about original intent, but the truth is that since the 2000 Bush v Gore decision, there has been an ever accelerating wave of radical judicial activism from the right. Conservative judicial decisions have overturned two hundred years of rules designed to prevent just what we're now seeing, ownership of both the media and political system by a very wealthy few.

The greatest pretense in American politics is this: that our politicians can be utterly dependent on money given to them by contributors, but not be influenced by the source of those funds. It's not true. It's never been true. Now that the judicial takeover of our electoral system is complete, there's not even any reason to hide it. This is a bribe-based system — an oligarchy all the way to the core. Getting it back isn't going to be easy, and probably can't be done with dollars. It's going to take something far more dear.

I hate to say it this way but it's liable to take more Blut und Eisen than polite discourse.

If you wonder ...

Why corporate profits are so high when most of us are too broke to buy their products, M. Bouffant lets some Wall Streeters explain it:

...

Not to be outdone, Michael Cembalest, the chief investment officer of JPMorgan Chase, wrote in July of this year (in a clients-only newsletter obtained by Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson) that “profit margins have reached levels not seen in decades,” and “reductions in wages and benefits explain the majority of the net improvement.” (Cembalest printed the latter quote in boldfaced lettering.) “US labor compensation,” he explained, “is now at a 50-year low relative to both company sales and US GDP.”

...

So, when there's no one left in the company who can afford to work there, what are they gonna do about the bottom line then? The big takeaway:

... Henry Ford famously boosted his workers’ pay to $5 a day so they could buy the Model Ts they were assembling ...

Think about it.

Reminiscent ...

Of my dealings with the New York City Police Department. Thank the lord most of our criminals are stupid.

Quote of the Day

Our pal Montag:

... Ricky Good Hair ... is just the turd that floated to the surface of the Republican/Teabaggers Bowl of Dumb Punch.