On the tornados

I'm sure all our hearts and thoughts and condolences and prayers if we do that go out to all the folks affected by the death and injury and destruction across several southern states, but...

How come I ain't hearing the fundie televangeliars saying it's God's wrathful payback for their sins like Katrina was for...others?

I guess if you're black it's Heavenly justice and if you're white and southern it's just bad weather. Can't piss off the folks you pass the plate to.

Possibly the most confused Spaniards ever...

This should help quell the notion that somehow Europeans are more sophisticated than we are...

Is that the Fixers way back there in the crowd...?

I'm sure these folks think the draped stars 'n bars is just a country music thing. Somebody should tell 'em what it really stands for.

By the way, I like to watch line dancing. Folks all over the world* do it. I don't do it in this country because I don't like getting hit with beer bottles when I flub a step.

*Still lookin' for some from Nepal...

coreografia: John "Grrowler" Rowell
música: Girl With A Bass Boat by Len Doolin.
IV Trobada Country a Premia de Mar, Barcelona, 23 maig 2010

Thanks to countryriderscat, España.

Welcome Home, Fixers!

Billie Anthony (born Philomena McGeachie Levy in Glasgow on 11 October 1932 — 5 January 1991) was a Scottish female singer.
In October 1953, after months of voice training and with her name changed to Billie Anthony, she recorded and released her first single for Columbia Records called "I'd Rather Take My Time" coupled with "Things Go Wrong". However it flopped.

Yes, things go wrong. Oh well, if at first you don't succeed... I'm sure this one did it for her.

For more info about this artist click here and on 'Show more'.

Thanks to DADRENO, UK.

Top 10 Birther Jokes

About.com

1. "These people could have personally witnessed Obama being born out of an apple pie, in the middle of a Kansas wheat field, while Toby Keith sang the National Anthem – and they’d still think he was a Kenyan Muslim." –Jimmy Kimmel

2. "It's important that we, the few, the proud, the reality-based, attack this stuff before it has a chance to fester and spread. This is not a case of Democrats versus Republicans. It's sentient beings versus the lizard people." –Bill Maher, on birtherism

8. "The state of Hawaii passed a new law allowing the state government to ignore requests for President Obama's birth certificate from the 'Birthers.' From now on, every future president should be required to be born on camera and in front of a national landmark." –Jimmy Kimmel

Fuckwads'd still think it was a socialist/communist/Muslim/Kenyan/whatever plot if the guy wasn't a whiter shade of pale.

Udderly Shocking*

*You just knew somebody couldn't resist that! Wasn't me. This time.

The Lookout

A man dressed in a cow suit managed to rob a busy Stafford, Virginia Walmart of 26 gallons of milk on Tuesday night before being nabbed by the cops.

The local news story on the crime, by David Pierce at InsideNova.com, is an absolute must read. Apparently, the cow-suited criminal escaped the megastore by crawling out the doors, "trying to emulate cattle." He then began handing out the stolen jugs right outside the store before making his escape, in a sort of bovine interpretation of Robin Hood.

Rumor has it** that Wall St. is looking for this guy. He likes to swipe stuff and give it away. They heard we had some money left so they want to re-educate him a little about priorities and run him for national office.

** "Rumor has it" = "I made it up myself"

And just another way ...

For a Yank to get in trouble (there were only 40 of us on this barge) in a crowd of Brits. Just use this quote (and I'm pretty sure it was from our friend Comrade Misfit) in a room full of 'em:

"Most of the problems in the world today can be traced back to the British mapmakers of yesterday."

For the last 2 weeks, I thought my first name was "Bloody", middle name "Fooking", last name "Yank".

Bloody 'ell ...

Sitting in Heathrow now, waiting for my flight. Bandwidth sucked yesterday during the Royal Wedding so I didn't get my post up from Vigo. I guess all the Limeys aboard had to text and email home about the wedding. Bloody twats. I'll be back in NYC by 8:30 Eastern, barring any screwups by Delta or the fucking plane crashing. Probly have something up tomorrow.

You all better behave. Heh ...

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Emmylou Harris ~ Goodnight Old World

Thanks to sessionslounge, Canada.

I hope it doesn't have the ejection seat...

...although rumor has it that Charles considered installing one for Di. Or his Mom...

I think this is funny. The car has an "L-plate". The 'L' is for 'Learner' as in new driver. What it really means is "Newbie at the wheel! Get outta the way!". I will ass-yoom there's not a similar plate on their bedpost. Heh.

CNN



This just in:

Harry did it! Apparently that is the plate for the Royal Bedpost!

Many have speculated that the bright red L plate on the grill of the James Bond-style vehicle signified that the Prince was still a rookie behind the wheel. But fret not, motorists! It’s probably just a royal inside jape, as Prince William successfully passed his drivers’ test in 1999.

From Cave News:

The DB6 was given to Prince Charles by his mother Queen Elizabeth II on his 21st Birthday.

The 42-year-old car is kept at Highgrove House the residence of Charles and Camilla.

The vintage car is running on vintage too - surplus wine from a nearby English vineyard. It was converted to bio-fuel about three years ago.

The car is only driven about 300 miles a year and averages ten miles a gallon. That's about 4 and one half bottles of wine per mile.

We wonder what the exhaust smells like.

"Honest, officer, it ain't me!".

Runs on wine? Why not? The Royal Family has run on gin for generations.

You can also get cufflinks made out of the Volante's old pistons as well.

Six pistons that came from the car's engine when it was being converted to run on biofuel are being melted down to create the 200 pairs of cufflinks.

That's their story and they're stickin' to it, but my guess is the pistons were maybe a little pre-melted when they pried 'em outta the engine block. English petrol and 'power timing' will do it every time.

Christopher Bennett, managing director of TMB, said: "These cufflinks are quintessential conversation pieces, with each pair directly benefiting The Prince's Trust. When I heard about the possibility of creating such future heirlooms from the Prince's Aston, the project was irresistible."
...

TMB was formed following the excavation of a Battle of Britain Hurricane fighter which crashed into Buckingham Palace Road, London, in 1940. Parts of the recovered Hurricane were later made into limited-edition sculptures.

Woulda been really cool if Wills and Kate had left the palace in one'a those...

Quote of the Day

Think Progress

While cable news has been offering wall-to-wall coverage since 3 am of the Alexander McQueen gown Kate Middleton wore to the royal wedding, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) was a bit behind this morning, tweeting, “Just catching up here. So she wore a Steve McQueen dress? #TheOneHeWoreInBullitt” — a reference to the actor’s 1968 classic cop flick.

I think Steve McQueen looked a lot cooler in the dress he wore in the motorcycle chase in The Great Escape. I still dress like that for riding...

One More Goddamn Birther Post

By The Rude One.

How mind-boggling is this? And how sadly not unexpected. And what's also sadly not unexpected is the reaction from the birthers. It's a forgery, it's not enough, it needs to go through forensics testing, what about his grades, what about his Social Security number, what about his Muslim connections, what about, what about, show us, show us. Seriously, could you guys just start saying, "That uppity nigger should be lynched"? Could you say that you're all het up because he looked at Hillary Clinton funny? Could you just stop pretending that anything else - anything else - is going on here other than that you hate black people with power? Because what you're doing is asking someone to prove shit when you don't have a scintilla of real evidence to support the crime you're accusing Obama of committing. What's next? Dig up his dead father to get DNA samples?

Shit, could Obama just get an intern to blow him in the Oval Office? Because, at this point, that fucking debacle makes sense. Hell, calling Bill Clinton a coke-snorting murderer just seems quaint.

After-Birthers

After-Birthers! I love it!

TPMMuckraker

Now that President Barack Obama's legal team went out of its way to get a copy of Obama's so-called long-form birth certificate, it's time for the birthers to eat crow, right? Not so much. It hasn't taken long for members of the "birther" movement to grab their backup plans.

They're getting wingnuttier and wingnuttier. Being caught in a lie doesn't faze 'em even a little bit. They had backup bullshit ready to go.

Many cultures bury afterbirth as a tribute to life-giving Mother Earth. I think it would be sacreligious to bury these After-Birthers for the same reason, but possibly OK as fertilizer.

Other cultures fry the placenta with shallots and garlic and...

TMI.

Update:

Go read "Josh's New Taxonomy of Birtherism". There's no reasoning with these racist morons so it's time to just plain ridicule them. Laugh 'em outta the picture.

Oh, and QUIT GIVING THEM AIR TIME.

So as we move into D Day +1 I've been trying to put together a new and workable taxonomy of birtherism. And here are my preliminary findings. Notwithstanding birtherism's roots in xenophobia and racism, the reactions have nonetheless been diverse. The birther movement has broken up into three broad contingents, with at least some overlap between the groups.

Second comes what I now term 'Forensic Denialist Long Form Birthers'. These are the folks who going on very theories deny or doubt the authenticity of the document released yesterday. Orly Taitz appears to be in this category, claiming, with no apparent reason, that an authentic document would have identified Obama's father as "Negro" as opposed to "African." More creatively, Jerome Corsi, author of the swift boat smear and leading birther now calls the Nordyke twins -- two girls born one day after Obama -- represent the "Rosetta Stone" of birtherism because the numbers on their birth certificates are lower than Obama's notwithstanding being born a day later.

Most intriguing and the final broad category are the Racialist Birther Triumphalists. This group accepts the birth certificate as proof that Obama was born where and when he claims. But that doesn't matter, they argue. And the birth certificate actually proves that President Obama's father was not a citizen of the United States at the time of his birth. Ergo, seemingly based on no existing constitutional argument, Obama himself is not a 'natural born' citizen although he is a 'native born' citizen. Even within the RBT category, there appears to be a division between those who say Obama isn't natural born because his dad was not a US citizen and those who claim that Obama is actual a dual-citizen of the British Empire, based on his father's birth, and thus not capable of being President.

Clever stuff. Enjoy.

And now, saving the best for last, my theory on what The Donald is really up to with all his birther noise. Are ya ready?

He's trying to get into Oily Taintz's pants and the haircut* wasn't working...

*He pays for that?!!

Quote of the Day

From The Political Carnival:

Radio host Nicole Sandler Arrested at Rep. Allen West’s Town Hall Meeting

The QotD:

Odd how during the health care reform town hall meetings of 2009, the tea baggers could scream, overshout, carry guns, make demands, cause a ruckus, and it was considered “freedom of speech”. But if a liberal asks a question or two, she gets arrested.

Batcrap wingnuts like West hate us because we ask questions they don't dare answer truthfully because it would sink them. Lying to cops was a handy way to get her outta there.

Links and videos at site.

"Now we have this craziness. The Republican party..."

For once, Joe Klein makes sense out of the obvious:

Now we have this craziness. The Republican party has rejected all of the polices mentioned above, except for financial deregulation. It has gone off the deep end on taxes. It has denied the long-term economic and societal benefits of universal health insurance. It has gone into climate change denial…it is hard for any card-carrying Republican to say: I believe that Darwinian evolution is God's plan. These sad realities probably led to Haley Barbour's decision not to run for President and may well lead to the same decision for Indiana's Mitch Daniels. They have led Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty to make mortal fools of themselves

And I wish them great success in doing so, but they don't need much help.

Two words immediately come to mind: Fox News. And two more words: Rush Limbaugh. And two more words: Newt Gingrich. And two more: Frank Luntz. But it seems clear that all eight of these words are part of the same, superficial, demagogic media phenomenon. And it also seems clear to me that there is a lot more to the profound political swing to the right that we've witnessed than telecharlatanism. The fear that has accompanied our economic slump has made the fear that right-wing demagogues sell a more attractive product. There is also the accumulating decades of educational incompetence, since - let's face it - a whole lot of smart female teachers were liberated to pursue their dreams and we were left, as Albert Shanker used to say, with the bottom 20% of college graduates to preside in our classrooms. And another thing: Perhaps this is just rear-view, rose-colored glasses, but after Bill Clinton took his lumps in 1994, he learned how to out-argue and out-think the extremists. His message was complicated, but his persona was clear - he was the McDonald's-eating, lounge-singer-screwing, good ol' boy with the 800 SATs, who really did understand how Americans (especially blue-collar American males) think, and really cared about their welfare. It was just flat embedded in his DNA after a childhood of having the cool athlete guys laugh at his sax-playing obese butt.

Last night, I watched two examples of the media at our best: Lawrence O'Donnell quietly filleting Rush Limbaugh on the subject of Jesus of Nazareth's economic policies and Anderson Cooper proving the utter non-existent nonsense of Donald Trump's "investigative" efforts to discover the "truth" about Barack Obama's birth certificate in Hawaii. Regular readers here know that I've avoided all mention of Trumpet from my posts on the grounds of life being too short for me to be played a sucker by that lame fool, but Anderson's work is probably a necessity for a mainstream outlet.

For most of the 40 years that I've been a working reporter, the country chugged along pretty damned well. There were plenty of important issues, but none that threatened the essence of our American miracle. That's no longer true. We face a future dominated by the celebration of ignorance and sloppy short-term thinking. I think those of us who are trying to actually report the world as it is - flawed and mistaken as we sometimes are - are facing a great challenge right now. We really owe the public a good, smart, rigorous couple of years between now and election day, 2012.

No shit you owe us. I'm not holding my breath.

Eye Eye, Cap'n

Mrs. G is going in for cataract surgery on her other eye today. It worked well last time so please beam your good wishes at her again. Thank you.

See yas later.

Update:

She's home now and all went well. Thanks for your kind thoughts.

This second cataract job seems to have gone easier on her than the first one.

The next one oughta be a breeze, if maybe a little more metaphysical...

Bored-ass Jesus will see you now

If it's Wednesday, it must be Morford going on about Guv'ner Goodhair's calls for prayer for rain and the Rapture.

Indeed, Perry's official Proclamation for Days of Prayer for Rain in Texas -- thusly issued after a staggering drought has ravaged the state for months, ruined crops, devastated local economies and dropped reservoir levels to record lows -- might at first glance induce, as it most certainly did for me, a chortle and gasp at the governor's somewhat mindless view of God; it might first make you think, "Oh Rick, you loveably despicable hunk of right wing chuzpah, you. Don't you know such peculiar entreaties just make God roll her eyes and laugh?"

She likes us better than you, Texas. Our drought is officially over after this past winter. Suck it, bitchez.

Ah, existential irony. Jesus loves that stuff.

But oh, poor Jesus, once again caught in the twee crossfire of mankind's terrible lack of imagination, once again reduced to a petty deity stuck way out there off the cosmic turnpike, a judgmental, lopsided hooligan who actually gives a damn about things like rainfall, and touchdowns, and borders, and math, and political parties, and gender, and whether or not you understand that the Second Coming has nothing whatsoever to do with bazooka-wielding angels blasting everyone into fiery smithereens, and everything to do with, you know, waking up.

But hey, if it will help, and before the apocalypse comes, I'll happily join right in and offer up a prayer for some rain for Texas, too. I'm sure the governor won't mind some liberal, left-coast, pro-gay, pro-sex, pro-choice, tantric-inspired love, right? I'm sure he'd happily do the same for San Francisco, right? We're all one, after all. Right?

See you at the Rapture. I'll bring the whisky.

Yeah, I'll be sittin' on my seabag all ready for that. Yeesh.

Enjoy.

Headline of the Day

White House releases Obama's birth certificate

Think this'll make the birther assholes STFU? Not bloody likely. Watch 'em try to make hay outta the typos and mistakes on it.

If Jesus Christ himself appeared with a copy of it, they'd accuse him of being an impostor for not looking like them too.

Update:

Kos

That the birthers aren't satisfied with the release of the long form birth certificate isn't surprising. Birthers aren't satisfied because no matter how many documents Barack Obama releases it will never be enough, because there isn't a document in the world that will turn him white.

Finally ...

Sorry for taking so long but I was in no mood to post after the great time we had in Funchal yesterday. I got posts up from Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and Funchal. At sea today, Vigo, Spain tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Au contraire...

Jan Brewer: Birther Issue Leading Country 'Down A Path Of Destruction'

Wrongamundo, 'Bagger Lady! It's leading the Repuglican't party down the road to destruction, but that's a GOOD thing for the country.

Why Are We Throwing Traumatized Vets in Jail for Calling 911?

AlterNet

For 30 years we've been experimenting with specialty courts because we know that putting someone with a mental health issue or an addiction in prison instead of treatment is not only cruel, it's much more expensive. For three years, we've been tentatively opening that model to veterans, who often fit into both categories. Since the attack on the Twin Towers, tens of thousands of veterans of previous conflicts have flooded VA facilities across the country, with PTSD by far the most common diagnosis. Ten years later, those old soldiers are being joined by younger veterans, in equally daunting numbers, who are similarly haunted by their memories and overwhelmed by the symptoms of their psychic injuries.

They use drugs or alcohol to manage their nightmares, red-line their Harleys to feed their addiction to adrenalin, keep guns under their pillows to feel safe, and when they have flashbacks, muscle-memory takes over and they default to combat survival skills. Rages at the terrible images that colonize their minds get misdirected at innocent bystanders, often the people who love them the most—all known symptoms of PTSD, all predictive of trouble.

Shorter: Train them, use them up, throw them away, punish them for their nightmares instead of helping them.

Some vets get help, some get jail. Shameful, and we have a whole new generation of them who were used every bit as badly as the Vietnam vets.

Thanks again Georgie, you fucking weakling.

Passing Through

Fixer has mentioned that whenever he goes cruising a certain long-ago incident somehow seems to come up.

Ah, yup...

Thanks to YubaNet.

The Progressive Budget Alternative

Paul Krugman on The People's Budget:

I’ve been remiss in not calling attention to the budget proposal from the Congressional Progressive Caucus. It’s not going to happen — but then neither is the Ryan plan. And unlike the Ryan plan, it actually makes sense.

So why does this plan get no attention, while the cruel fantasies of the right get headlines? I’ll leave that as a question for readers.

Because it makes sense and has the phrase "The People's" in it, which makes it socialist or worse, Librul.

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!