The Marines are coming to Wall St

Democratic Underground

This was taken from a message I just received on facebook:


"The Marines are coming to Wall St...(to PROTECT the protestors) "I'm heading up there tonight in my dress blues. So far, 15 of my fellow marine buddies are meeting me there, also in Uniform. I want to send the following message to Wall St and Congress: I didn't fight for Wall St. I fought for America. Now it's Congress' turn. My true hope, though, is that we Veterans can act as first line of defense between the police and the protester. If they want to get to some protesters so they can mace them, they will have to get through the Fucking Marine Corps first. Let's see a cop mace a bunch of decorated war vets. I apologize now for typos and errors. Typing this on iPhone whilst heading to NYC. We can organize once we're there. That's what we do best. If you see someone in uniform, gather together. A formation will be held tonight at 10PM. We all took an oath to uphold, protect and defend the constitution of this country. That's what we will be doing. Hope to see you there!!"

I'm proud of this guy and other Vets who might show up for this but they're about to find out what the power brokers and Masters Of The Universe really think of them - useful to the bottom line and then STFU.

The sky is always sunny ...

At 50,000 feet. When I was in the Air Force, especially when I went to SAC for a couple years, bomber pilots always creeped me out. Not a one of them I'd ever met gave a second thought to dumping 70,000 lbs of ordnance over a target while not knowing who would die when gravity did its work. Friendlies, civilians, didn't matter. Bombs away, do a 180, and head for the O-club, then home to help the kids with their homework and lay some pipe on the ol' lady. All in a day's work.

Rick Perry didn't bomb anything, but he was a transport pilot (how the fuck they taught him to fly an aircraft is beyond me, but they taught the Chimp how to fly fighters so there you go) and those guys are almost as bad. They also see things from 'above the clouds' and wish they could bomb or shoot at something.

Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry on Saturday said he would be open to sending U.S. troops into Mexico to combat drug cartels.

Speaking in New Hampshire during a campaign stop, Perry said, "It may require our military in Mexico working in concert with them to kill these drug cartels and keep them off our border."

...

After a decade of endless war, how this idiot can come up with the bright idea that we should now send our troops across the southern border and engage the drug cartels is beyond me. It's red meat to the old white people who are the core of the GOP/Teabag cult but somehow I think the Mexican people would have a problem with US troops running all over their country, let alone after a decade of witnessing the 'collateral damage' left over in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It'd be nice if the "supporting the troops" crowd would actually see our armed forces as people, with families, homes, and dreams, as opposed to the little green army men we played with as kids, as numbers on a ledger under the heading "force strength".

As opposed to actually solving the drug problem (probably giving our economy a big boost in the process and saving a buncha ammunition and American lives), the GOP's only answer to anything is to either shoot it or drop bombs on it, whether literally or metaphorically.

And a last thought: Haven't we heard this before?

...

As the Washington Post points out, Perry on Saturday also said he wouldn’t send American troops into a combat situation if he didn’t have a clear plan for victory and withdrawal.

...

I think I remember the Chimp saying that before we went to Iraq and Afghanistan. Does Rick Perry think our troops should be in Mexico for a decade or more? Just askin' ...

Goin' ridin'

Off today to ride the Boreal Ridge Trial. 8 miles from my house. Couldn't they have made it any closer? Actually, no. Heh.

The club previously held their yearly "ski hill trial" at Donner Ski Ranch, aka "the granite patch", but there was some kind of property line issue so they moved it exactly one ridgeline over to Boreal Mountain Resort. Even closer and right off I-80.

I'm getting sick and tired of this http/blogspot/img/gif crap turning up about half the time I try to put in a link like in 3 outta 3 in this post. Fixer, I think the Dingo Sisters need to visit their office and put a little fear in 'em.

Update:

Moi, trophy and bike in hand. I was once again the only rider in my class, so the trophy is kinda like the self-esteem award given to a kid for solo tetherball if he managed to wrap the rope around the pole. I bled for the damn thing so that's just fine!



As you may know, riding an observed section without putting your feet down or otherwise bungling it is called a 'clean'. My motorcycle cleaned a section today without me. I had cleaned this section on the 1st loop, but on the 2d loop my left handlebar caught a sapling-type tree. This turned the front wheel sharply full left. At the same time my right arm, being attached to the right end of the bar, got about as long as it will ever be and, trying to make itself even longer, grabbed a handful of throttle as a result. At this point, the evolution was out of my hands. Literally. I flew off and the motorbike, suddenly unweighted and with a fresh blast of power, straightened itself up and rocketed the half dozen feet through the exit of the section and tipped over. The checkers instantly asked if I was OK and all I could say was, "I cleaned it! I cleaned it!". Heh. They scored me clean. Everybody I told about that got a big kick out of it. Oh yeah, I cleaned that section on the 3rd loop.

I got home tired, dirty, sore, a little battered and bruised, but HAPPY! It was a great day at a beautiful venue doing what I love with a lot of nice people. It doesn't get any better than that.

Just sayin' ...

Avedon:

...

Tweet from @maxbsawicky (Max B. Sawicky): Liberal states with lower unemployment than Texas and no oil: VT, HI, MD, MA, WI, NY, DE. #socialism
Unemployment Rates for States

...

Hammering, dogs barking ... My head, it is numb ...

Just read Krugman ...

And see how much more depressing things are gonna get unless our "elites" change their way of thinking:

Martin Wolf is getting frantic, as well he should. The austerians have brought us to the brink of a vast disaster. A recession in Europe looks more likely than not; and the question for the United States is not whether a lost decade is possible, but whether there is any plausible way to avoid one.

...

Indeed. Posen’s “unduly influential voices” are my Very Serious People. And it has been an awesome spectacle watching the VSPs search, obsessively, for reasons not to fight mass unemployment. Fiscal policy must tighten to appease the invisible bond vigilantes and please the confidence fairy. Interest rates must rise because, well, um, inflation, well, no, low rates cause moral hazard — yes, that must be it.

...

I don’t fully understand it. But a large part of it, it seems obvious, is the intense desire to see economics as a morality play of sin and punishment, where the sinners are, of course, workers and governments, not the bankers. Pain is not an unfortunate consequence of policies, it’s what is supposed to happen.

...

I don't have much hope that things will change anytime soon, unless Obama's reelection chances get much worse.

Got a buncha guys crawling all over my house today, putting on a new roof. My job will be keeping the Dingo Sisters pacified, being they don't like strangers (a Cattle Dog trait) and are chomping at the bit to take a piece outta somebody's ass for making all the noise that's disturbing their morning nap.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Possibly the most iconic Emmylou tune.

Thanks to 1000Magicians, UK.

I gotcher friendly skies...

Gleefully gleeped from our pal Lisa. Our brother deuddersun helped build the sets for the show as well.

'Shrooms make the man

Study finds ‘magic mushrooms’ may improve personality long-term

One more reason why I'm such a terrific guy!

I took those things at a bluegrass festival at some wild animal park in San Diego County many years ago. It was bitchin'! Plenty OK in the daylight, but when the sun went down and the big cats started sounding off it got even better! Ah, jungle noises...

Then I drove the 130 miles home, still under the influence. I got called "my hero" by one of my female passengers. She shoulda seen it from my side! No heroics, just survival. Heh.

AF Academy not on board with AF Chief of Staff

Air Force Academy Was Against Chief Of Staff's Religious Neutrality Edict Before It Was For It

One cadet wrote to MRFF reporting that when he asked if he could post the Chief of Staff's memorandum on a bulletin board at the Academy, the response he got was, "Don't go there. Who's side are you on?" Apparently, wanting to post a memorandum from the Chief of Staff of the Air Force now means you're on the "wrong side" at the Air Force Academy. [...]

There's no doubt "whose side" the AF Weenie Academy is on. Not ours. The Air Force used to be a proud service, defenders of liberty. What the hell happened?

[...] In fact, the number of MRFF's clients at the Academy jumped from 297 to 341 in the week and a half between the Air Force Times article and this Wednesday, when the Academy finally decided to distribute the memorandum, weeks after it was issued. (This cadet's email, along with emails from two other cadets, are included at the end of this post. I urge everyone to please read these emails, which describe the situation at the Academy far better than anything I could ever write.)

So, why the sudden change of heart on the part of the Academy leadership? Why did they finally decide to distribute General Schwartz's memorandum after weeks of withholding it? Well, maybe it was this nice big billboard, containing the entire text of the memorandum, put up by MRFF on Tuesday at a very busy intersection in Colorado Springs, the home of the Air Force Academy.

Much more. Go see the sign and read the emails.

Note to General Schwartz: You need to go hold a little dungaree liberty on the MFIC of that joint.

And just ...

For all the bleeding hearts who are all puffed up and crying this morning about "the assassination of an American citizen", let me make this perfectly clear. We got bigger things to worry about than whatever rights some fundie goat fucker in a cave has or doesn't. The minute you leave this country, align yourself with a terrorist organization, and plot to kill innocent people, you deserve whatever the U.S military sends in your direction.

Capture him and bring him back for trial? Sorry but we don't need to waste more American lives in another shithole. If he was in the States, by all means. If he was in a place where we had police cooperation (Europe, Japan, Korea, etc.), most certainly put him in front of a jury. In a place where there is barely a government, where any attempt the locals would make at arrest and extradition would end up in a buncha dead policemen (if they were so inclined to take the job on; there's a reason he's been so successful from Yemen, you know) and no arrest, this was the best alternative.

Save your complaining for the innocent Americans who end up getting their balls broken by the Military/Security apparatus of this country. Stop worrying about some asshole in Trashcanistan who'd kill you and then spit in your face if he got the chance.

And just to add one more thing: This shit ain't new. We just never used the fact we killed assholes like this for political gain before. You can thank cable news for that. It used to happen quietly. 30 years ago, nobody would have known bin Laden was dead, let alone that we did it. Same thing woulda happened with this clown if it weren't for all these politicians who've never been in a war zone waving their pricks around.

Now ...

That's escargot!

Gotta get ready for court ...

Quote of the Day

Seth Bracken about his experience at a "Pray Away The Gay" conference:

...

I was propositioned more times at a conference that was supposedly changing people straight than I ever have been at a Pride festival, gay bar or party. I had guys old enough to be my father putting their arms around me, bumping up against my leg and asking to take me home.

...

And just an additional thought: What kind of confusing experience must this be for a teenager? I'm no pshrink but I can see, at the least, where this would cause a lot of problems in a kid who's probably been bullied and outcast already. At one point, he's told what he feels is a sin and must get this "therapy" and once he's there, he's probably getting hit on by every old queer who's been forced into a het marriage. You know, those who believe homosexuality is a sin and are there to get "cured" too.

These things are nothing but godly hookup bars.

Great thanks to the manliest, godliest man alive.

American Autumn?

Mike Krieger via Da Beas:

...

Most of you reading this right now are thinking that this is interesting but he is exaggerating and this will blow over. I am here to assure you that it is not and this whole thing is about to grow exponentially as the economy continues to stagnate and people climb the learning curve. Are you aware that the founder of Salon.com, David Talbot, is publicly calling for an “American Spring?” This of course is a reference to the Arab Spring, in which revolution swept across North Africa earlier this year and led to the collapse of the Tunisian and Egyptian governments and then major government bribes to the people living in the oil rich kingdoms. Mr. Talbot writes “In these increasingly hard times, Salon is dedicating itself to an American revival. Our editorial mission will become more explicitly and aggressively populist. We will be publishing more investigative pieces, exposing the shadow dance of power. And both Democratic and Republican targets will be fair game, since both parties are increasingly under the control of the same corporate forces.” His full piece is here ... You need to read it if you want to understand where all of this is headed. How about journalist Chris Hedges talking about “Occupy Wall Street” ... We the people now understand it is not “rich vs. poor,” businessperson vs. teacher.” It is serf vs. oligarch. They are 0.1% and we know what they are up to. GAME ON. [original links edited for readability]

...

See you in Hell ...

Motherfucker:

Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric linked to al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing, has been killed, Yemen's Defense Ministry said on Friday.

"The terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed along with some of his companions," it said in a statement sent by text message to journalists, but gave no details.

...

"Gave no details" means the Americans got him with a drone or the SEALs "did a bin Laden" on him. You won't hear details because the Yemeni Street doesn't need to know about our military operations in their country.

What's old ...

Is new again.

What I'd give ...

For a guillotine*. At the least, a good, sturdy brick wall and my old, trusty M-14. The "Let Them Eat Cake" crowd thinks the Occupy Wall Street protest is amusing:

It's hard to believe it's real, but here is video evidence of Wall Streeters drinking champagne from a balcony as they watch the protesters walk by:

...

Like I said, there's a buncha fuel laying around. Shit like this might just be the spark that lights it.

*Video at the link.

Hmmmmm...

"Guten Morgen! You vill haff a vunderful day!"

An odd similarity between South Carolina's state flag and another one from history which both appear to depict Saharan oases and religious symbols.

Quote of the Day

87 year old New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg to Secaucus Fats:

"If the governor wants to challenge my age, I am ready for a foot race whenever he chooses."

Now ...

If we could only get HRH Governor Cuomo II to sign on to this:

Montana’s Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer believes his state should follow Vermont’s lead in progressive health care reform at the state level. He plans to ask the federal government to grant Montana waivers to adopt a better system modeled after the one used in the neighboring Canadian province of Saskatchewan ...

New York State borders two Canadian provinces (Quebec and Ontario). Can we copy their systems? Because I could do a lot with another $16.5K a year in my pocket.

London calling ...

With a message for us:

...

Please, we beg you, elect a grown up.

...

You are scaring us.

...

Off to court ...