Saturday, August 27, 2011

Fixer's house is in the v-ring*!

Go here and click on "look at this".

*Example

Update:

A Guide for New Yorkers Experiencing Their First Hurricane
...

3. Floods are not ironically filthy fun pools. They are foul, garbage-filled, shit-containing rivers of poison. But it's cute to watch the rats drown. Ditto hobos.
...

6. If you decide to loot, go for small items. You just look stupid trying to carry a TV through the water.

No Mr. Romney, Corporations Are Not People

Nancy Abrams & Joel Primack in the EssEffChron:

Ok, let's look at this. Mr. Romney, please name any human that, like a corporation, lives indefinitely, can be in many places at the same time, and can kill large numbers of people sometimes knowingly and never get the death sentence or even prison, only a fine. Also, unlike people, corporations can be sold or dissolved. These are obvious legal differences, but cosmology -- the science of our universe as a whole -- gives us a much deeper understanding of Mr. Romney's error.
...

Corporations constantly exploit their different legal status from individuals, and they are also orders of magnitude more complex than people and operate according to different rules. It is absolutely ludicrous to imagine that corporations are nothing but people and to use this fraudulent metaphor to protect corporations at the expense of the real citizens the First Amendment was designed to protect.

More.

“Drink Hurricane Irene Away"

This grabbed my eye because the 2d Marine Division, of which I was once an indispensable member, has boarded a lot of ships at Morehead City. I embarked in Guam there. These folks have the right idea!

Most of the fast-food places were boarded up and dim, but a local fine-dining place called Bistro by the Sea (Click it, you'll like it) was open and catering to a few clusters of locals. Dressed Carolina golf-club casual, they sipped wine, nibbled on Atlantic Blue Crab Bisque and watched the trouble spinning toward them on a muted Weather Channel.

Among the nightly specials: a $6.95 drink called “Drink Hurricane Irene Away,” which seemed as though it was concocted to use up every last spirit behind the bar in the case the place was totaled on Saturday: vodka, gin, rum, amaretto, triple sec, grapefruit juice, pineapple juice and grenadine.

Might as well be found in the wreckage face down in a shitter full of chunks of Atlantic Blue Crab Bisque marinating in wine, vodka, gin, rum, amaretto, triple sec, grapefruit juice, pineapple juice and grenadine. Heh.

Alas, Babylon Line

Paul Krugman on Irene and Lawn Guyland.

I see that Nassau County, Long Island south of Sunrise Highway is being evacuated. That’s my homeland! In Merrick, Sunrise was the big east-west drag, with the Babylon Line of the Long Island Railroad running alongside. Our house was around a mile south of there, although it’s gone now, replaced with a McMansion. Anyway, given the canals running through that area, I can easily see how it might end up underwater.

Also, I’m glad we visited Coney Island and Brighton Beach a few weeks ago, while they still existed.

Wow.

Meanwhile, I’m filing Monday’s column, or at least a draft thereof, today, so that even if New Jersey is plunged into darkness, the show will go on.

Note to Mr. Krugman: I've been to Merrick. Nice place. Made it all the way ta Joisey, didya? I'm not sure that's the direction I would have strived for. New Jersey plunged itself into darkness when it elected that roly-poly fat fuck as governor.

No Saturday Emmylou Blogging Today

I posted one yesterday evening and timed it to appear after midnight. It disappeared.

I got my desktop back from repair the other day and it works fine except I have no audio. I probably hooked it up wrong. I'm looking for the trouble on an irregular schedule. I'll either find it or it's back to the shop.

In any case, if I can't hear it, neither can you. Sorry.

Prep ...

Running around already, making sure I got enough beer and provisions for the next couple days. Heading over to dad-in-law's in a couple minutes to get him squared away. He's just north of the evac line so I wanna do a last check for anything that might be dangerous. Of course the stubborn old fart doesn't want to leave so there you go.

I'll be back later once I'm sure everybody I'm responsible for is gonna be safe.

Update:

All done. The old man is good and my two old aunts around the corner too. I can relax. The Mrs. is cooking a buncha stuff so we don't have to worry if the power goes out for a couple days. We can heat stuff up on the gas grill once the storm is over.

Nothing else to do but wait, and watch football (soccer), and drink beer, and puff up a couple, and eat.

And just an observation: The other day, during the earthquake, the dogs didn't even notice. It came during their early afternoon nap and neither woke up. We're now starting to get the outermost bands of the hurricane and they're acting the way I would have expected before the earthquake. They know something's up. Whether they're reading our anxiety as we're making sure everything is done, or whether they know something big is coming, I know not.

Got my camera ready too. Of course I'll post pics in the aftermath.

And another observation: This storm shares the same name as my old aunt in Germany, the matriarch of the family. I'm expecting a big one. Heh ...

Friday, August 26, 2011

And yes ...

Mrs. G, the garden gnomes are all safe. Heh ...

Beck Mission to the Jews

Thanks to YubaNet.


A coupla years ago I recommended The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon. I'm doing it again.

In the novel, the State of Israel is founded in 1948, but is destroyed after only three months in an alternative version of the Arab-Israeli War. Without Israel, Palestine is described as a mosaic of contending religious and secular nationalist groups locked in internecine conflict; Jerusalem is described as "a city of blood and slogans painted on the wall, severed heads on telephone poles".[2] The United States president believes in "divine sanction" for neo-Zionism, a movement seeking for Jews to reclaim Israel once again.

In February 2008, Rudin told The Guardian that a film adaptation of The Yiddish Policemen's Union was in pre-production, to be written and directed by the Coen brothers.

Oy! To die for! Look what the Coens did for Fargo and Jeff Bridges! Not to mention O Brother, Where Art Thou?!

Rebels Fan Across Libya Dressed as Condoleezza Rice

TRIPOLI (The Borowitz Report) August 26, 2011 – In an all-out effort to capture Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, rebels fanned out across the country today dressed as former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Donning bright pink pantsuits and black pumps, the fifteen thousand rebels blanketed the Middle Eastern nation, hoping to create a honey trap of sorts for Mr. Gaddafi, whose unrequited crush on Secretary Rice has come to light in recent days.

Rebel field commander Awad Daiki said that with thousands of fierce fighters disguised as Rice, the military mission dubbed Operation Condoleezza was sure to be a success.

"Once we will have Gaddafi in our clutches, there will be cause for celebration," he said. "Plus, we can't wait to get out of these heels."

Oh, the visual...my sides, they hurt...

PBS documentary sheds light on marijuana’s cancer-killing properties

Could this plant be a new wonder-drug?


Nothing new about it! From Raw Story, links and video:

The cancer-killing properties of marijuana were the subject of discussion in a PBS documentary that aired this week to little media fanfare.

While using marijuana to kill cancer may sound like a wild claim to some, it struck Dr. Prakash Nagarkatti as a great idea. In his studies as professor of pathology and microbiology for the University of South Carolina, he tested synthetic cannabis drugs on cancer cells and developed a formula that was able to completely eradicate cancer cells in a test tube.

A follow-up on mice afflicted with cancer found that up to 30 percent in the test group completely rejected their disease, while others had their tumors significantly reduced. The same drug is now being tested on humans with Leukemia.

But it’s not just Dr. Nagarkatti who sees the medical value of marijuana: it’s the whole pharmaceutical industry. And that’s another point the documentary makes, examining the patents various companies have filed, and what they claim marijuana-based drugs could one day be used to treat.

The never-right denies science. This may change on this issue when Big Pharma tells their pols how much money there is in weed for them and that they, the pols, should A) step up the war on imported and home-grown weed, and B) proceed at flank speed to let Big Pharma control the supply by telling the sheeple that mota is now the American Way and good for what ails them as long as it's from the good right-wing bought-and-paid-for Government-Approved Source.

They'll still want to defund PBS.

I'm looking forward to legalization, nay, active promotion of marijuana, never mind by whom. People will smile more and California's financial problems will be over shortly after the next harvest.




A post you should read

George McGovern's Open Letter to President Obama

Quote of the Day

From a post entitled "3 Things That Must Happen for Us To Rise Up and Defeat the Corporatocracy":

Looking back on her career as a freedom fighter, Tubman noted, “I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.”

There is none so blind as he who will not see.

Bonus quote:

We are ruled by so many “industrial complexes”—military, financial, energy, food, pharmaceutical, prison, and so on — that it is almost impossible to stay on top of every way we are getting screwed.

No shit.

Can you be ...

A bigger asshole?

Is there an end to the stupid? It's a rhetorical question, don't answer. Eric Cantor's remarks about federal aid and Tuesday's earthquake centered in his district transcend stupid and go straight to dense.

...


Karoli is too kind. "Dense" makes him just sound ignorant. Cantor is a hateful, self-centered son of a bitch.

"It doesn't matter ..."

You see, this is what pisses me off about ignorant assholes. They don't care about facts. They run around believing whatever some other ignorant spooge millionaire is being paid to tell them, even though the spooge on the TV knows what he's telling them is untrue, and probably so do the ignorant assholes:

On Fox & Friends Sunday, anchor Clayton Morris admitted that Fox News factcheckers have confirmed that man-made global warming is “certainly” real, but argued that it “doesn’t matter” because climate denial is popular among Fox News-watching conservatives. Morris contrasted Jon Huntsman’s defense of the National Academy of Sciences with Rick Perry’s claims that scientists have “manipulated data” to concoct manmade global warming:

MORRIS: If you dive into the weeds a little bit on this global warming thing, you see that it seems that facts are certainly on Huntsman’s side on all of this and fact checkers have come out, we’re actually having our own brain room look look at this right now that any of Perry’s comments don’t seem to hold a lot of water. It doesn’t matter. What’s resonating right now in South Carolina is helping Governor Perry tremendously and he fired back at Huntsman on global warming and gaining traction, facts or not. [em in orig]


...


I've learned, over the course of an interesting life, that people are more ready to believe what they want to hear than the actual facts about anything. Most people have their minds made up about something long before a talking head can give them facts. The ignorant assholes listen to the talking heads (Fox 'News') who merely confirm their original assumptions.

One of the few times ...

That you will see, on a Friday in the summer, traffic flowing away from the Hamptons and the Jersey Shore. Heh ...

Update:

And from how it looks now, 48 hours out, we're gonna take it right in the ass early Sunday morning.

We got everything we need, the cars gassed up and the dogs' travel crates installed. I'm gonna get all the lawn furniture and garden stuff in the shed tonight. I'm not so much worried about the water here but the wind. I'd planned to put a new roof on the house in spring but I might be doing it sooner. I'm confident in the structure, especially with all the work I've done on it in the past few years. I do have my eye on a few of the big trees in the back yard (and a couple of my neighbors trees) that might uproot. We did have a foot of rain a couple weeks ago and more rain last night so the ground is soft. We'll see. I've done all I can do and I've got a good homeowner's policy. I've been through hurricanes before, on land and sea. Mother Nature can take her best shot.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Welcome!

If they have to evacuate Long Island's south shore this weekend, my high school has been designated one of the shelters. Gonna be getting some new neighbors for a while maybe. If we make it through okay, we'll try to get some volunteering in. We're lucky enough to be located dead center of the island at one of the widest points (15 miles). The folks on the south shore and out east are gonna get the brunt of it. Gonna be a fun weekend. Let's see if Long Island Sound finds a new way to connect to the Atlantic like it did 25 years ago.

Inconvenient Americans

Fixer's post just below this one prompted me to post this one of similar vein.

Kos

Miles away, under the same sweltering sun, a grandmother is standing on her front porch, watching her dog pee. She and her husband bought their house fifty years ago. They paid off one loan, then took out a second to get the kids through college and paid that one off, too. Now, she can no longer afford the property tax. Next month, she will have to move in with her daughter and grandson---the one who is allergic to dogs, so she’ll have to give up her pet. On the other side of town, the burger joint has applied for a property tax abatement for its regional distribution center. It has plenty of money to pay its taxes, but why pay taxes if you can get homeowners to do it for you? It’s too bad Grandma can no longer afford the “luxury” of owning a home. She should have planned better for the future. She should never have allowed herself to grow old. And the autoworker should have thought twice before going blind, and the teacher should have chosen some other profession and the veteran was a sucker for volunteering for Bush’s war.

The veteran is feeling a little dizzy today, the result of too much sun and too little water combined with the fistful of pills that the VA gives him in lieu of counseling. He takes a wrong turn and ends up in the upwardly mobile neighborhood where the burger joint has just opened. People on the sidewalk avoid his gaze or grumble angrily. Sometimes they do both. He doesn’t hear them. He is back in Baghdad, watching his best buddy get blown to pieces, only now he’s the one who is dying. Bone and flesh explode. A hero’s death, that’s how it was supposed to be. His country never meant for him to come back home. It has no place for him and his nightmares. It has no place for the blind or the downsized or the elderly. These folks are inconvenient. They make rich bankers look greedy and selfish. They make drug company executives think about their own frailty and mortality. They make oilmen tremble in the night, afraid of what will happen when the crude runs out---

If they were real Americans, they would crawl under a rock somewhere and die, and leave the light of the sun to someone more deserving of it.

Fat fuckin' chance. Us old folks izn't all pussies. I'm not ready to die yet. My rage at the Repug attitude will keep the fire burning inside me for years yet.

Old folks iz pussies ...

The great Athenae, Queen of the Rant:

...

Apparently what we really needed was the strength and inner toughness to let our old folks just die in misery and poverty. The ones who hadn't been smart enough to get rich, of course. The smart ones, the ones who valued Hard Work and Bootstraps and Eating Beets and whatever, would have enough money to live in their mansions with their servants until the end of time, or (and this is my personal fantasy of my late 80s) die in a hammock someplace warm, preferably of rum consumption.

...


Ya see, you old folks shoulda saved better when you were putting diapers, braces, and clothes on your kids, paying a mortgage, fixing your car so you can work your ass off for 40 years, keeping the lights on, etc.

How the fuck they expect people to exist on Social Security as it is, let alone if they do away with it and Medicare? The Republicans are some of the most sadistic bastards I've ever seen. They've managed to do away with secure pensions, instead making us give our savings over to their bankster buddies because keeping it in a safe savings account earns you shit. The old folks, if they have any type of investments, are at the mercy of these pirates and "the markets". I despise these people.

It is also getting harder to deal with my conservative friends, people who are reasonably intelligent and decent, lately because they support assholes like this. When it was a matter of having a different point of view about how the country should be run it was one thing and made for good debate, but when one party has become so mean spirited, not even bothering to hide their contempt for the poor, elderly, and infirm anymore (or their racism) and a friend can still defend it, it makes me want to reconsider calling that person a friend.

Quote of the Day

Note: The Rude Pundit always feels disgusting after he writes something that includes even mild praise for Reagan, who set us on this path of doom. But that's how filthy our discourse has become. You have to give credit to a cannibal serial killer when he doesn't eat all of his victims.

It had to happen, didn't it?

Raw Story

Within hours of an earthquake striking the eastern U.S. Tuesday, a rabbi that has spoken for the anti-gay group National Organization for Marriage (NOM) was already blaming homosexuals.

In a video posted to YouTube, Rabbi Yehuda Levin asserted that “one of the reasons God brings earthquakes to the world is because of the transgressions of homosexuality.”

“An email went out in my community just a few hours ago, ‘How long will it take Rabbi Levin to tie this earthquake in with homosexual marriage?’” he began. “Not very long at all. I’m happy to see that people — even if some of them are scoffers — are starting to see the connection.”

“Yes, there is a direct connection between earthquakes and homosexuality. There was in Haiti and it is here, in New York, in Washington, D.C., where they passed homosexual legislation ordinances, in New York City and state, where they opened, especially on Sunday early, where they passed the homosexual marriage law.”

Oy gevult...

Headline of the Day

Condoleezza Rice photo album discovered in Gaddafi compound

Oh. My. God. Of all the women in the world he could be beatin' the bishop (imam?) to, he picks that...

Note to Condi: Didn't know that one little ten-second hand job was gonna come back and bite ya on the ass, huh? Heh.

Note to Dubya: Looks like you've got more in common with ol' Muammar than ya thought.

Because a guy ...

Is actually concerned about the peoples' interest and making sure justice is done:

Eric T. Schneiderman, the top prosecutor in New York, was removed on Tuesday from a committee of state attorneys general investigating mortgage abuses.

In recent months, Mr. Schneiderman has voiced concerns over a proposed settlement between major banks and a coalition of federal and state officials over claims of foreclosure abuses. He has come under increasing pressure to approve the deal.

...


Where the White House and those in Congress worry about losing campaign contributions, the NYAG wants justice for those who were screwed by the banksters. For this he has everyone crawling up his ass.

...

Mr. Schneiderman has said that he opposes any deal that gives participating banks a release from other litigation surrounding their mortgage activities. Attorneys general from other states have also questioned aspects of the deal, including Beau Biden of Delaware.

...


They flushed their money and ours and now they want to walk away scot free like the telecom industry. At least, Big Telco was doing their bit at the behest of the government in the name of "fighting terrorists". You know, with all the pushback from the White House and Congress against Mr. Schneiderman, I get the feeling somebody (maybe a lot of somebodys) big was fully aware of what was going on or actually endorsed it (and making their own money off it, even though they knew the bottom would fall out) and don't want the truth to come out.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

How to eat a dead terrorist

If it's Wednesday, it must be Morford on SpecOps in the wake of the OBL raid.

But amidst all the hardcore politics, grisly details and hugely cinematic spectacle, one vital detail swung by almost without notice like a thief in night-vision goggles; it was a potent flash of insight so devastating and telling I re-read the passage a few extra times to really let it soak in, to induce a deeply felt shudder and sigh.

It was this: We do this sort of thing all the time.

The truth remains: To the mainstream, America is all flag waving patriotism and God-sanctioned moral righteousness, and any blood or misery or harrowing "Hurt Locker"-like suffering is reserved for some faraway place most can't locate on a map. Americans remain, along with a few almost equally well-pampered allies, perhaps the most coddled, blindfolded, happily ignorant populace on earth.

And then comes the kicker: This is how we like it.

Yes, send our kids to die for nothing and borrow all the money you need to enrich the M-I-C and tell us how safe it's making us. Other than that, we don't want to know. Or care.

I should have read the next before I said that:

For the most part, it's an ignorance most of us gleefully accept, encourage, even happily pay for, both in taxpayer cash and in wary, informed understanding. "Here," we seem to say, "take all this money, use our billions to pay for the most advanced, bloated military in the world; just promise to never, ever tell me the full details or (especially) the moral ambiguity of what we're doing. Deal?"

Deal.

We know, but we do not want to know. [...]

So it goes and same as it ever was. But what happens when people start denying facts en masse? What happens when larger and larger numbers of Americans band together in their willful ignorance, going beyond mere foreign policy and the military to start championing a lack of education, demonizing books and learning and science? What happens, in other words, when collective ignorance gets institutionalized and becomes a dangerous cultural force?

Why, you get fundamentalist Christianity. You get the Bush administration. You get the Tea Party. You get Palin and Bachmann and Rick Perry. And lo, the nation shudders and fractures even more painfully.

Put it this way: For anyone who values peace and moral progress, who resists using our military as pre-emptive attack force, who cares about fostering humane sensibility in the national dialogue, with Obama, this is about as good as it gets.

The sad news is, it's still not very good at all.

One wonders how "good" it would all be under President Palin McCain (or Perry or Bachmann or Willard).

More. Go.



You Know You're a Tea Bagger If...

The Ostroy Report

1. You hate science and the corrupt scientists who manufacture data in nefarious schemes
...
3. You think there are hundreds of Nobel Peace Prize-winning scientists who believe in Intelligent Design
...
17. You think governors who advocate their state's secession from the Union would make great presidents of the United States.
...
22. You love America but scowl when your opponents exercise the very Democratic principles which make it great, like free speech; separation of church and state; a free and open press; freedom of religion; checks and balances; freedom from persecution; and civil rights for all

23. And most of all, unlike your founding Tea Party brethren 238 years ago, you think "No taxation without representation" really just means "No taxation."


Also see:

He's ba-ack...

2. Who the fuck cares what kind of backwards ass country shitkicker stuff Rick Perry says? He's a dumbass hick from the barren wastelands of west Texas. Of course he's gonna say stupid shit. It's what he's hardwired to do. And because we've fetishized dumbass hicks in this country as having some kind of wisdom, people lap it up like dogs on cat turds. No, he's an idiot. He needs to be treated like an idiot. And anyone who supports him needs to be dunce-capped and beaten in the streets.

3. Who the fuck cares about demented, uber-Christian, Jesus ball-licking Michele Bachmann? Just...who the fuck cares?

The entire Republican nomination has already devolved into bullshit like who hates evolution and who wants to take health care away from old people, who loves Jesus and who really, really loves Jesus. The whole degrading affair is less an absurd circus than a version of "The Aristocrats" that ends up with all of us covered in blood and piss.

Could we just get to the Mitt Romney nomination already?

For good or ill, that last line is not quite as cut and dried as it seemed a few days ago. Perry. Huntsman. We will see.



McCain Promised Qaddafi To Help Secure Military Equipment From U.S.

Think Progress

For all the braying by the Senate’s top three hawks about how the U.S. wasn’t doing enough to oust Libyan dictator Col. Muammar Qaddafi from power, one might be surprised to learn that exactly two years ago, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) were in Tripoli meeting with the erratic leader and giving him assurances that relations between the nations were on the mend.

The trifecta of usual suspects.

According to a recounting the Senators’ junket, the neoconservative Connecticut Senator captured the dynamic of aligning with a brutal dictator:

Lieberman called Libya an important ally in the war on terrorism, noting that common enemies sometimes make better friends.

Note to Grampa Walnuts, Miss Lindsey, and the Likud senator from Connecticut: It's OK boys, it's just another promise you don't have to keep. And by the way, it appears that you are not alone.

Headline of the Day

God Smites GOP Leader Eric Cantor’s District with 5.8 Earthquake

If this latest visitation from God won’t open their eyes, what will? If they won’t heed the 130-year curse of kudzu, the recent bouts of record heat, the droughts, floods, hurricanes, oil spills and now an earthquake, what will it take to force them to mend their wicked ways?

Cue the swarms of locusts.

Quote of the Day

Obama may yet be saved by the sheer extremism of the likely Republican nominee. But we should not bet the farm on that either. I vividly remember being reassured that Ronald Reagan was too far-right, and George W. Bush too dumb, to be elected. So much for that theory.


Here.

A big "if" ...

David Atkins @ Digby's:

...

Meanwhile, it's worth remembering how Ghaddafi thanked Republicans for their help in defending his regime in June:

Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi has written to members of Congress thanking them for criticizing President Obama last week over his involvement in the NATO-led military campaign in Libya.


...

If national Democrats have an ounce of intelligence, they will hang this issue over the heads of Republicans at least 1/10th as vociferously as Republicans would have done to Democrats had the roles been reversed. [my em]

...


Seriously? Do we really think the Dems will muster up enough testicle (especially the President) to shove it up the Republicans' ass? I don't. David finishes:

...

That Republicans still somehow retain the mantle of national security is a testament to a massive lack of political courage on the part of Democrats to tell the truth about who is effective even in military policy, and who is not.


Whatever happens next year, it will be because the American people have had enough bullshit, or not. It will be because the economy turns around, or not. And it will be because Obama started acting like a Democrat, or not. Anything this administration and national Democrats do, we already know, will be half-baked and ineffective. It seems to me the Dems are allergic to helping their own cause. This assumes they even have a cause anymore.

But of course ...

We're smarter. From those crazies at Pshrinkology Today via the Facebook:

...

Analyses of large representative samples, from both the United States and the United Kingdom, confirm this prediction. In both countries, more intelligent children are more likely to grow up to be liberals than less intelligent children. For example, among the American sample, those who identify themselves as “very liberal” in early adulthood have a mean childhood IQ of 106.4, whereas those who identify themselves as “very conservative” in early adulthood have a mean childhood IQ of 94.8.

Even though past studies show that women are more liberal than men, and blacks are more liberal than whites, the effect of childhood intelligence on adult political ideology is twice as large as the effect of either sex or race. So it appears that, as the Hypothesis predicts, more intelligent individuals are more likely to espouse the value of liberalism than less intelligent individuals, possibly because liberalism is evolutionarily novel and conservatism is evolutionarily familiar.

...


Conservative = Neanderthal

I didn't a need a study to tell me this. When you hear all the stupid shit coming out of conservative mouths, it's quite obvious.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Saved by da shake, sorta...

Goddam! Just when I was all worried because my outrage meter hasn't pegged today and caused me to post something - I mean, c'mon, it's all Qaddafi and Perry, mox nix, same ol', same 'ol - along comes that rarest of things, a pretty good size Eas' Coas' earthquake! This'll take up the rest of the day fer sure!

Old stuff to us Californios, but the back east take is very entertaining. I hope there's not much damage and no deaths or injuries, but you never know. The thing was felt amazingly far and wide and reports will be trickling in for days.

It's something to talk about anyway. The real question is: Which side was God trying to smite? Heh.

Either ...

We just had an earthquake or I gotta stop smoking in the afternoon ...

Update:

You know it was tough in NYC:

...

Lord & Taylor on Fifth Avenue was also evacuated.


Update Zwei:

Cell service is down due to traffic. The Mrs. is in Jersey today. Let's see if they let her across any of the Hudson River bridges on the way home.

If you've been out of town ...

Or on another planet for a while, or don't live in the US and haven't gotten the full effect of Bachmann the Nut, here's your chance.

...

Michele Bachmann Bizarro World is an attempt to organize her insanity, bigotry and lying into categories.

We don't claim that she is insane, a bigot and a liar haphazardly -- we can point to many specific examples. We would like anyone who just discovered Michele to get an idea of the depth and breadth of her wackiness, hate and lack of honesty. For anyone familiar with her, we hope you'll find this helpful.

...


An encyclopædic work of all the crazy in one place, written by the people who know her best, real Minnesotans (unlike our pal Froggy, who'll always be a Jersey boy, no matter how cold he gets).

Great thanks to Skippy for the link.

A song for the revolution ...

Theirs and ours.



Elton John - Burn Down The Mission

Not that I agreed ...

With being involved in the Libyan revolution, even as remotely as we are(as far as I'm concerned, Muammar is Europe's problem), but I'm thrilled it's just about over without Barry sending the Marines to "the shores of Tripoli". That said, Grandpa Walnuts and Princess Lindsey are all mad they didn't have any masturbatory material from the conflict. It's amazing to me, after getting on so well with the Colonel not so long ago, that they'd want American planes to bomb him into subatomic particles. I guess they get more campaign contributions from Big Bullet than from Big Oil.

Monday, August 22, 2011

9. The Earth is round ...

And 99 other "Things You Can Say To Irritate A Republican". Thanks, Montag!

Run, Muammar, run!

CONCORD, NH August 22, 2011 (The Borowitz Report) – he mystery surrounding Col. Muammar Gaddafi's whereabouts was resolved today as the dictator announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in a town hall meeting in Concord, New Hampshire.
...

"In those final days in Tripoli he was becoming increasingly disconnected from reality," said the aide. "So I think he'll fit right in."
...

"Unfortunately for Muammar Gaddafi, he might be out of step with the current crop of Republican candidates," one pollster said. "There's a perception that he's too moderate."

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Analysts: Perry Could Win if Things Break His Way
If Jesus suddenly appears and debunks global warming, he's in.

Rep. Paul Ryan Charging $15 Per Person to Speak to Him
Considerably more if you want him to listen.

Perry Hopes to Bring “Texas Miracle” to Rest of Country
The miracle of low wages, lousy schools and fewer public services.

Billionaire Funding Project to Establish Sea-Based Libertarian Nations
Each would be just like America except no taxes, no regulations, no lawyers, no ex-wives.

REMINDER
Safety nets are for sissies.

Chutzpah ...

No tax cuts for you because it costs too much:

...

The GOP is also coming out against extending the payroll tax cuts. Yes, I know that takes some special chutzpah considering that they have made the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy a sacred cause. But giving tax breaks to workers will cost ...


And there's 30% of the American public who are going to pay more tax saying "Right on!"

Aren't men ...

Supposed to calm down after they get married? Don't seem to have worked on Drifty:

...

Moments later my teevee made a long, pleasant dopplerish sound as it sailed out the window.


Great thanks to Jill for the link.

Grow the fuck up ...

One of my biggest beefs with this country. Via Odd Man Out, via Susie, an excellent NYT editorial that all who have no skin in the game should read:

...

The new cult of the uniform began with the call to "support our troops" during the Iraq war. The slogan played on a justified collective desire to avoid repeating the mistake of the Vietnam era, when hatred of the conflict spilled over into hostility toward the people who were fighting it. Now the logic was inverted: supporting the troops, we were given to understand, meant that you had to support the war. In fact, that’s all it seemed to mean. The ploy was a bait and switch, an act of emotional blackmail. If you opposed the war or questioned the way it was conducted, you undermined our troops.

As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have dragged on, other purposes have come into play. The greater the sacrifice that has fallen on one small group of people, the members of the military and their families, the more we have gone from supporting our troops to putting them on a pedestal. In the Second World War, everybody fought. Soldiers were not remote figures to most of us; they were us. Now, instead of sharing the burden, we sentimentalize it. It’s a lot easier to idealize the people who are fighting than it is to send your kid to join them. This is also a form of service, I suppose: lip service. [my ems]

...


The collective American mind has turned to mush. We have become intellectually lazy about the things that affect us most. We are gulled by slogan and untruths, and given icons to worship so we don't look deeper. We've been told that as long as we support the government and its policies - and its wars - our responsibility ends.

Those of us who remember Vietnam know the paranoia families felt when their 18 year old had to go get his draft card, wondering if his number will come up, wondering if their child would go to Southeast Asia and come back missing part of his body or mind, or not come back at all. This was, of course, true only for those who weren't rich enough, or their child not smart enough, to get into college. I grew up in a blue collar community (it's where I live now and it's still a blue collar community) and almost every family around here had a son who was drafted. It was like that in the grocery store or the mall when you ran into a neighbor: "How's Johnny doing over there?" or "We're so sorry to hear about Timmy." That was shared sacrifice. At least, when you were sent to war, back then, you did your tour and came home. The Vietnam draftees weren't run through the meat grinder time after time, year after year, for a decade.

Now, we have a small group of American families paying the price for another shitbag war(s) while these lazy assholes sit on the couch watching football or NASCAR, thinking their service to the country is done by shaking the hand of a returning vet. They think they've done their patriotic duty by cheerleading the wars and "supporting the troops" ... well, at least until they come home disabled or deranged. How many of the "kill the ragheads" crowd volunteer at their local VA hospital? How many go and help a military family who are having trouble making ends meet? Odds are, that falls on other military families and the military community.

No, for most Americans, "patriotism" is a concept that ends when it involves breaking a sweat. Part of the answer to fixing this country is a draft, no exceptions. If you physically can't serve by carrying a rifle, then you'll do something else of service to the country in the civilian sector. Betcha we wouldn't be in 10 year wars anymore. Betcha Americans would pay a little more attention when some idiot politician says we have to go to war for some vague reason. Maybe we wouldn't be so gung ho to send other peoples' kids to war. Maybe we'd realize that waving the flag and military flyovers aren't a measure of patriotism (Are you listening, NASCAR?).

Patriotism means you're involved in your country. It means thinking for yourself, not believing politicians who question your patriotism if you disagree. It means realizing that bullshit never fixed anything.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Super Duper Congress. With Cheese. And Goats...

Will Durst on the "Super Congress":

A majority of the committee, equally split between Republicans and Democrats, must agree on the proposal to send it to the whole of Congress who will vote either up or down with no amendments or filibusters allowed: meaning one member has to cross party lines, which is about as likely as pimento flavored Velveeta taking first place in the 2012 World Championship Artisan Cheese Contest.

Just as an aside, no Velveeta in the American Cheese Society's biggest winners. California cheeses that did well include Sierra Nevada Cheese Co. Capretta plain goat yogurt; and Meyenberg European-style goat butter. Goats were well represented.

Now, this group has been called many things. Useless. The Supercommittee. Business as Usual. The Twerpy Twelve. A Dozen Punters. The Craven Caucus. Esteemed Assembly of the Ill- Advisable. League of the Unexceptionally Pontificating Pool of Party Hacks. But most commonly, it is referred to as: "Super Congress."

"Slower than a slug on Thorazine; less powerful than a soggy Kleenex; unable to compromise in a million years. Look! Up in that swiveling leather club seat of that private jet. It's a ruse, it's a sham, it's... Super Congress.
...

And when their capes are discarded and utility belts back in storage, we can move onto the next level of logical suspension and form the Super Duper Congress. Then, Son of Super Duper Congress. And call in Batman or maybe the Justice League or reconvene the Watchmen or that little guy who talks backwards and doesn't make any sense. Mr. Mxyztplk. You may know him as: Ron Paul. More scorpions, please



Hmmmmm...

From MoDo's column:

Let us take today’s lesson from Frost, who deliciously wrote in “The Lesson for Today”:

I’m liberal. You, you aristocrat,

Won’t know exactly what I mean by that.

I mean so altruistically moral

I never take my own side in a quarrel.