Saturday, October 22, 2011

"10 generations of retards who will probably vote Republican"

This guy is sooooo good! Abortion...incest...fundies...hypocrites...party, party, party!



More of these here.

Anne Frank, a Mormon?

My Favorite Big-Titted Irish Redhead on Willard And The Saints.

On "magic underwear":

And it’s not only a one-piece any more. “There’s a two-piece now,” he said.

Republicans are the ones who have made faith part of the presidential test. Now we’ll see if Mitt can pass it.

The Repugs know nothing about faith other than "tax cuts" and "less regulation", which is their religion, thus breaking the 1st and 3rd Commandments. Along with the rest of them.

Dispute keeps Russian sailing ship out of S.F.

Interesting.

EssEffChron

A goodwill visit to San Francisco and the Sonoma Coast by a big, handsome Russian sailing ship was suddenly canceled Friday, the result of a complicated legal problem that involves both history and cultural treasures.

But just after dawn, a message came from the Maritime State University in Russia. The Nadezhda wasn't coming. The captain got orders to avoid any U.S. port and head for Mexico.

Vinokurov said the change in orders came as a result of what he called "a long problem" that involves lawsuits and a diplomatic dispute over the so-called Schneerson Library, a collection of more than 62,000 Jewish religious books and documents held by the Moscow State Library. The library was assembled by the Chabad-Lubavitch Hassidic movement over about 200 years.

Some of the material was seized by the Soviet government soon after the October revolution and another portion was captured by the Nazis during World War II and seized by the Soviet Union after the war. Lawyers for the Chabad organization, based in New York City, say that the Russians had shown no interest in the library and had kept it boxed up in the basements of museums.

Apparently that's where they want to keep it. You know how them Russkies are. I think it would be of great interest to Russian Jewish scholars. Go read.

"You're going to explode every two minutes for eternity"

This is funny. The accompanying post at Slate has more examples of pop culture predicting things and many links. Interestingly (to me), our hero in this vid goes back in time to my 42nd birthday. Heh. I wish I could.

[...] Before we see Perry’s character, though, there’s an opening gag about Qaddafi going to hell. He’s just died. It’s July 29, 2011.

Pretty close!

Defending our country ...

From all enemies, foreign and domestic. Via our good friend and brother in arms deuddersun on the Facebook:



Click to embiggen

Voter fraud ...

No, not regular people voting early and often but Republicans trying to defraud regular people out of their right to vote. A federal judge calls it as he sees it:

...

"First, their motive for cooperating with F.B.I. investigators was not to clean up corruption but to increase Republican political fortunes by reducing African-American voter turnout. Second, they lack credibility because the record establishes their purposeful, racist intent," [U.S. District Judge Myron] Thompson wrote.

...


If it was left up to them, everybody who doesn't drink the conservative Kool-Aid would not be allowed ot vote.

Wah-wah-wah ...

You took my war away!

Aside from Grandpa Walnuts, it looks like the biggest whiner is perennial candidate Mitt Romney:

Oh, good, Mitt Romney wants to pretend to have foreign policy credibility again. Just one day after taking his sixth different position on U.S. policy in Libya, the former one-term governor is complaining about the end of the war in Iraq.

...

Which is part is the "astonishing failure"? And why is it, exactly, that Romney believes the U.S. military presence should simply continue on, indefinitely?

Romney added today that he’s concerned that “political calculations” were part of the decision making. Think about that one — Mitt Romney, whose decision-making process generally involves sticking his finger in the air to see which way the winds are blowing, is accusing someone else of making "political calculations."

If the Romney campaign was able to type that one up with a straight face, I’d be very impressed.

...


I love how all these assholes are crying. In one week, the President has done more in the name of national security than the Republicans did in the previous 8 years, let alone what he's done in the last 6 months.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

From German TV 2000. A Gram Parsons song.


Emmylou Harris & Spyboy ~ Hickory Wind
Thanks to 1000Magicians, UK.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Just sayin' ...



"Mission Accomplished"

Kristol: War Is Like Lemonade

Andrew Sullivan on neocons' influence on Willard, seeing as how he hired 'em all, and Bill "Never Met A War I Didn't Like Or Would Have Served In" Kristol:

And this must be a core debate in the next election. Are we going to return to a foreign policy that bankrupted the Treasury, destroyed America's moral standing, eviscerated the US military's reputation for competence (a huge loss of deterrence), and empowered our enemies? Or are we going to continue the pragmatism that has since ended torture, decimated al Qaeda, and removed more despots from power in two years than Bush tried to in eight?

Repeat after me: Romney = Cheney's return. And if your purism demands staying home next year, do not complain when a global religious war breaks out. They've told us quite plainly that's what they want. Like a cold, sparkling drink on a hot summer day. War as a cocktail.

And neocons as drunk drivers.

Bullshit ...

I don't care what that little shit from Florida says.

...

In a brief interview Thursday, Rubio said his accounts have been based on family lore. "I’m going off the oral history of my family," he said. "All of these documents and passports are not things that I carried around with me."

...


If you're a first or second generation American (like the Mrs. and me), you know exactly where you came from and when. The Mrs. knows how her people came from the shtetl during the Pogroms in Ukraine and Russia at the turn of the 20th Century. I can trace my English family back to 1544 and my German to 1815. I know my mother came here in May of 1951 aboard Queen Elizabeth and I know my dad came here in August of 1949 via Miami. I knew this when I was 6 years old. You know because your family who came here from the "old country" never lets you forget.

Lastly, if you're running for elected office, especially as a Republican, you know goddamn well that every fucking bit of your record will be scrutinized. If he didn't know he was talking bullshit, then he is more stupid than the average Republican.

The truth is he dreamed up a good story that he thought nobody had the balls to challenge and nobody can convince me otherwise.

A Few Bits of Advice for National Public Radio

From His Rudeness:

Could you stop being such acquiescent little bitches to the fucking assholes of right-wing blogging blabbery? (You might wanna put your finger on the bleep button.) Seriously, allowing your corporate agenda to be set by Andrew Breitbart is like allowing your balls to be waxed by chimpanzee.

Didn't we get that from a Chimp already?

Pinhead on the Pyre

Troops in Afghanistan Burn Donated Copies of Bill O’Reilly’s Books

They may regret that the next time toilet paper runs low. Heh.

Christ ...

Please. I can sorta understand people whining about the killing of al-Awlaki. Don't agree, but I can understand it (yes, the American citizenship issue makes people squeamish). However, none should be complaining that Gaddafy was executed or some shit. Of course he was executed and there are good reasons for it, just as there were for killing Osama and tossing his corpse overboard instead of capturing him and bringing him to stand trial here.

Personally, I woulda cut them both up and buried them in a pigsty (and let all their followers know it), deny them the 'paradise' they assumed they'd get in the afterlife. The last thing you want is a martyr for their people to rally around and it gives potential tyrants and terrorists pause before beginning their murderous plans. Yes, I know, most progressives, libs, or whatever would consider me a psychopath or sociopath and I don't have a problem with that. I can sleep quite well knowing I killed some bad guys, doesn't bother me in the least. It's the innocents that I've dispatched in the process that come to haunt me regularly.

There are things that need to be done, no matter how distasteful. Sometimes bad people need to be taken out, killed, deleted, whatever you want to call it, for reasons far beyond seeing them "face justice". Yes, there is a fine line between that and murder, and I believe there should be serious diligence done before the order is given, but we can't go around saying we won't kill someone who is a threat to our national security. Especially someone who has so much American blood on their hands.

In this country, terrorists, like these right wing militias and crazies, should most certainly be brought to trial and prosecuted (and not locked away without trial in some secret camp). I'm all for the Rule of Law. But, in an international scenario, that doesn't work (especially in someplace where "law" is highly subjective). You hunt them down and kill them like a rabid dog, period.

There are a lot more problems for us to worry about than the circumstances surrounding the deaths of murderers who are outside the jurisdiction of US law enforcement. Stop making a big thing over people whose only value is as fertilizer. Worry about the innocent people here who are having their lives destroyed by the psychos who hold the general public hostage to their greed and power trips. Worry about getting the crooked politicians who enable the greed out of office next year.

When we get this country running correctly and people are working again, when our bridges aren't falling down and our roads aren't falling apart, when the rich pay their fair share, when we're not bogged down in endless war, when our seniors don't have to decide between medication and cat food, when families aren't afraid they'll go bankrupt if one of their kids gets sick, when any American who wants a job can get one, I'd welcome a debate about the morality of killing a terrorist or a tyrant who has done nothing but kill innocents (or incite others to kill innocents). Until then, stop your crying over these people who would just as soon kill you as look at you. As a country, we should all sleep a little better at night knowing these assholes are pushing up daisies.

As Isaac Asimov said many years ago: "Never let your morals prevent you from doing what's right."

Strong on National Security ...

Ya think?

... This [the killing of al-Awlaki, bin-Laden, and Gadaffy] helps to inoculate Obama against GOP attacks on national security, but at the same time the number one concern Americans have is the economy. And if the Republicans keep voting against economic proposals the people like, like they did last night, Obama and the Dems in Congress can turn this around.


Though, heaven forbid, the Rethugs give him credit.

Top Republicans are starting to weigh in on Muammar Qaddafi’s death and one consistent theme is quickly emerging: Barack who?

...


Could you imagine the backslapping and partying if these 3 assholes were deleted when the Chimp was President?

Another Marine ...

Now this is my kind of Marine:



Pic stolen from our dear friend nunya. Click to make bigger.

Tell me ...

How this isn't treasonous:

The residents of Tea Party Nation always come up with the most innovative solutions to America's problems—bold ideas that would never come to the mind of your average, mediocrity-embracing sane-American. The latest comes from TP national Melissa Brookstone, who wants small businesses to stop hiring people until Obama's "war" against their businesses and their country ends.

...


Were the tables turned, the Teabaggers would be screaming that the libs were destroying the economy so the Muslim Kenyan Commie Fascist Usurper could institute Sharia law.

In the Teabag world, though, anything is fair game in the effort to make Obama a 1-term President. I'm really sick of these people.

Great thanks to MBRU for the link.

Headline of the Day Guar-on-teed to piss you off

Sen. Bernie Sanders: Fraudulent Defense Contractors Paid $1 Trillion

Doesn't surprise me a bit. All the usual suspects.

Wouldn't it be funny...

...if it turns out that while the Libyan rebels were parading Mooamar around and showing the world they had captured him, and while they were all firing their weapons into the air, he was killed by a falling bullet through the top of his skull?

Heh.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Veterans, the Human Rubble of Our Wars

Not quite in toto but almost. From Other Words:

[Back those troops
Where e'er they roam;
But let them suffer
When they're home.
...

But fast-forward to their return from the front. Many vets disembark at Andrews Air Force Base in boxes, others on gurneys, lots more in wheelchairs. These don't make it onto TV. Neither do those who carry the images of gory bodies or repressed guilt as tiny cancer-like cells in their brains. All too often these cells metastasize into explosive violence or solitary suicide.

For those who survive the transition to home, a new war begins, this time with our government. The government is eager to dodge the inconvenient costs of caring for the same lads it earlier lured into war. It's also reluctant to acknowledge some of their worst afflictions, specifically the ones that might hint at real but unspoken war crimes.

Thus it took the Pentagon 25 years to admit that perhaps Agent Orange might indeed have some connection to the cancer, lung disease, birth defects, and death visited upon our troops who served in Vietnam. (Never mind the millions of similarly afflicted Vietnamese.) Likewise, by 2006, around 11,000 veterans of the first Iraq war had died mysteriously of "Gulf War Syndrome," a euphemism for the poisonous effects of the depleted uranium (DU) used in our tank and artillery shells. Other thousands struggle to get DU's effects counted in their disability benefits. Iraqis need not apply.

Those yellow "Support Our Troops" magnets that the Pentagon bought to gin up enthusiasm for the war are now out of date. They don't stick to wheelchairs. And the military no longer hankers for paternity of those expensive suffering veterans.

Troops suffering from emotional disorders or PTSD have it bad too. Commanders often want to order them right back to the front to advance the mission, even if they are emotionally too frail to go. But if they are plainly too ill, the brass commonly just discharges them. That way the military washes its hands of their problems and they can begin their long slog through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Did we mention addiction? Not surprisingly, many heroes in Afghanistan turn to drugs to escape the daily game of dodge ball with death and dismemberment. After all, they grow the opium and heroin right there.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, drug addiction, and suicide are rampant among our veterans. Nevertheless, Republican lawmakers aim to further trim veterans' services.

OtherWords columnist William A. Collins is a former state representative, former mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut, and a member of Veterans For Peace's national board. http://otherwords.org ]

"No pull trigger, no get food" is holding. Another despicable Repug policy, one that is little noticed by people with no investment in our imperial wars other than their yellow ribbon magnet and who have never worn the uniform.

Quote of the Day II

From this really good interview with Ali Soufan on The Colbert Report in the wake of the bleeding-heart reaction to the nicely-done assassination of American traitor al Awaki:

"I don't like to discriminate against terrorists based on nationality. If you declare war on the United States and you want to kill us, we gonna kill you first. Period."

And that takes care of that.

What you mean "we", white man?

Joan Walsh in Salon on Pat Buchanan and his new book, with audio gems of his "wisdom":

Pat Buchanan doesn’t want my pity, and he probably doesn’t deserve it. But I couldn’t help feeling sad for him reading his apocalyptic, overwrought new book, “Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?” By almost any standard, Buchanan has had a successful life and career – he’s advised two presidents, run for president three times himself; he’s a wealthy author, columnist and MSNBC pundit – but apparently, it’s all been for naught. Ultimately his side can’t win, he says, because demography is against him. As long as white America remains on track to lose its majority status this century – and we can debate when that will happen, but there’s no way around it – the America Buchanan loves is gone.

The hell it is! The white phony-Xtian racist anti-everybody-but-them Repuglican't haters aren't exactly hanging on by their fingernails. If they're in their death throes, I wish they'd hurry it up.

And that was only the first paragraph. Go.

Quote of the Day

Michael F:

...

At this point I wouldn't be surprised if a wingnut [debate] audience cheered on the first candidate to endorse kicking puppies. Really, really hard.


And Gordon thinks* the regulars here (me and Gord included) are bloodthirsty? I'll say this, we don't want to string anybody up who doesn't need it. The Teabag/Conservative/GOP want to do the same thing to people whose only crime is being poor, gay, or have a pre-existing condition.

*See comments on this post.

Peace and Quiet ...

It's a good thing. Since Tuesday, the Mrs' admistrative assistant has been up here from Charlotte (living with us) as they prepare for their Eas' Coas' (Hartford, CT to Newport News, VA) swing to visit clients (happens twice a year).

In other words, I got 4 women (the Mrs., her assistant, and the Dingo Sisters) telling me what to do.

Today they're in the Manhattan office to meet clients in NYC and I slowed down to 20 mph and kicked them out dropped them at the train this morning. The sisters will be going out in the kennel in a little while so they can bark at the woodland creatures all day instead of me (it's been raining the last couple days and they've only been out for walks on the leash so they're stir crazy).

It's definitely a Zen day for me. Heh ...

Dear Banks ...

"This is Why They Hate You and Want You to Die"

You want to know why everyone in this country hates you and wants you dead, you big stupid fucking bank?

Here's why, pay attention:

...


Something you should read.

Great thanks to Yellow Dog at TGUAR for the link.

Sucks to be you ...

Muammar:

Commanders for Libya's transitional authorities say they have captured ousted leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.

The reports came after transitional forces claimed control of Sirte, Col Gaddafi's birthplace, following weeks of fierce fighting.

Col Gaddafi is said to be wounded. There is no independent confirmation of the reports.

...


Starting a pool to see how long it is before he "succumbs to his injuries".

Update:

Five minutes later, Auntie Beeb says Muammar is now dead.

Update Zwei:

Seems he's alive again.

Update Trois:

Dead again.

Update Quatro:

Looks like he's gonna stay dead.

***


And a question that's been bugging me since I was in Third World toilets with the Air Force 30 years ago: Whose bright idea was it to celebrate by shooting into the air? Did somebody think, how many years ago, that this was a good thing, and why haven't people learned that gravity works just as well on bullets as it does on 'Newton's Apple'? I'm watching these Libyans discharge more ordnance in a half hour than a Marine infantry division does in a year. Hopefully, we're not paying for it.

Propaganda ...

It ain't just Fox 'News':



Stolen from our pal PE Nolan on the Faceboook. Click to read.

Just to be clear ...

Steve Benen explains how the "47% of Americans don't pay taxes" line is nothing but a buncha bullshit:

...

The notion that 47 percent of Americans currently don’t pay taxes is just wrong. In case anyone’s forgotten, millions of Americans may be exempt from federal income taxes, but they still pay sales taxes, state taxes, local taxes, Social Security taxes, Medicare/Medicaid taxes, and in many instances, property taxes. It’s not as if these folks are getting away with something — the existing tax structure leaves them out of the income tax system because they don’t make enough money to qualify. Some are students, some are unemployed, and many are retirees who can’t earn an income because they’re no longer in the workforce.

...


It's the same thing when people say undocumented immigrants just freeload. At the very least, here in Suffolk County NY where I live, they pay 8.625% on everything they buy. They pay tolls on our highways and their apartment's landlord pays property taxes from the rent they pay. They also spend money in our local economy, buying the necessaries, taking the car to the mechanic, or getting a hair cut.

I'm so sick and tired of the poor being demonized. Georgia and Alabama learned how much the undocumented added to their economy once they chased them all away. If we tax those who couldn't afford it, they will have less money to spend in the economy affecting the jobs and income of their neighbors and local businesses.

By, as Michelle Bachmann says, demanding the poor pay something they probably can't afford, they're demonizing the poor to deflect criticism of the rich and corporations who can afford to pay far more than they do without affecting the bottom line.

If you're not a millionaire you shouldn't be voting Republican.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Shopping Day

Over the mountains and through the woods, a-shopping we must go. I'll leave ya with these:

Hurry up, get more done, and die

Hopefully before you get any Social Security. Others want that money.

Historians going to wonder why the rich overplayed their hand

With video.

See yas.

Headline of the Day

Rick Perry Event Pastor Predicts Coming “Prison Camps” For Jews

I think we need some 'camps' all right, but not for Jews. Or any sane people.

Quote of the Day

Comrade Misfit:

...

Shit has to change in this country. It will change. The question is whether the politicians are going to help change things, peacefully, or whether they become some of the first to dangle from the lamp posts.

...


When they get around to stringing these guys up, I got a list of those who should be the first. Unlike Misfit, who hopes a violent revolution will not be necessary, I don't believe anything will change until a few of them are put up against the wall (being German, a blindfold and cigarette are more my speed). Call it "shared sacrifice".

Yoo hoo, Bobo?

This isn't a great realignment of the middle class' moral compass, it's desperation:

...


Jesus H. Christ in a fking Volvo, no, it doesn't. It means people are broke. People are broke because the end product of 30 years of economic theorizing and political action that you supported has resulted in a shattered middle-class. People are broke because the Wall Street casino that your politics created and celebrated and enabled finally broke the entire country and took the rest of us down with it. People are broke because you and the rest of your "conservative" pals latched onto a crackpot scheme called supply-side economics, married it to a deregulatory frenzy and free trade, and then pitched it to the Bobos as economic liberty. You got rich. You got important. Now people are not using their credit cards because they can't afford to buy the overpriced, Chinese-made crap that you once proposed as the new staple of American society. That is not a conscious mass moral choice. You've got to be on mushrooms to believe that.

...

Christ ...

You know, if you masturbate, you're gay, right? Pam finds another nutjob:

Wow. I think the number of gay men just jumped 100,000%, based on this theory.

...

Popcorn!

Like a slow motion train wreck:

The inevitable divorce of the tea party loonies from GOP establishment forces is getting nastier, which is to say, more delightful, every day.

...


Heh ...

Thanks to MBRU for the link.

Deficit hawks ...

Mr. Urban Hellhole sums it up nicely:

...

But they don't care about the deficit, the[y] care about cutting spending. They don't care about cutting spending on freedom bombs and perpetual war everywhere, they care about cutting spending for old people and poor people. They aren't noble fiscal hawks, they're just bad people who enjoy the suffering of others.

Right on ...

I got a problem with drug testing in the same way I got a problem with drunk driving roadblocks. Yes, you catch people doing something illegal but you also subject the majority of people to a denial of their rights, namely, being presumed guilty without justification. If there is no probable cause to believe someone is drunk behind the wheel, or stealing so support a habit, why are they sujected to a denial of free passage on a public highway or of the opportunity to get a job (or some other thing desired). It especially chaps my ass because the ones doing the testing (or advocating the roadblocks) generally aren't subjected to the same infringements of their rights as the "common folk".

That said, an Ohio state rep feels the same way:

Republican lawmakers across the country have called for those seeking temporary government assistance to be drug tested. One state representative wants to extend the principle one step further, and drug test recipients of corporate welfare.

Ohio state Rep. Robert Hagan appeared Tuesday night on MSNBCs’ The Rachel Maddow Show to discuss his proposal.

...

Hagan said that if Republicans wanted to be consistent, they should drug test everyone who receives public money, including politicians, judges and recipients of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) — rather than just working and middle class people.

...


Good man. It would only be better if they abolished drug tresting completely.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

More ...

From Gordon's Marine.

Headline of the Day

Herman Cain Claimed That A ‘Liberal Court’ Killed Jesus

The stupid, it burns...

Or else he really, really wants out of the mess he got himself into, you know, leading in the polls and all.

Note to Hermie: This tack will make you even more popular but it'll work - you're not going to get elected to anything.

The Republican ...

Plan for prosperity.

We Can't Make It Here Any More

This song's about 5 years old. Still timely. Will be for the foreseeable future.

Thanks to kcitron. Channel not available.

I thought ...

The conservatives hated political correctness?

The government of Texas has removed references to climate change, rising sea levels and loss of wetlands from an environmental report because those references are not politically correct from the GOP point of view.

...


If you don't admit it, it won't happen. Does anybody in Texas look around and wonder why it hasn't rained in a year?

Problems ...

This is an unbelievable statistic:

Nearly 20 percent of the more than 2 million troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from mental health conditions, according to a new report.

They amount to more than half of the 712,000 veterans from both wars who have sought medical treatment since leaving military service. Nearly a third of those veterans may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, one of the signature injuries of the conflicts.

...


Call me a cynic, but why don't I have much faith in our government to give these people the help they need in a timely manner? We're gonna have serious problems if we don't do all we can to help them reintegrate into the real world. PTSD ain't a problem that goes away when you leave a war zone.

Link via No More Mister Nice Blog via Skippy.

Slave labor ...

Instead of giving more money to the "job creators", how about we put a gun to their head to pay Americans a living wage, as opposed to trafficking foreign students in to serve as slave labor?

Hundreds of foreign students, waving their fists and shouting defiantly in many languages, walked off their jobs on Wednesday at a plant here that packs Hershey’s chocolates, saying a summer program that was supposed to be a cultural exchange had instead turned them into underpaid labor.

...


I'd say that if you were going to take a vacation at Hershey Park, you might want to change your plans. I believe Halloween is coming up next week. Think about that when you buy candy for the local ankle biters.

Great thanks to Tengrain for the link.

Monday, October 17, 2011

The Rise of the Regressive Right and the Reawakening of America

A 'must read' by Robert Reich.

A fundamental war has been waged in this nation since its founding, between progressive forces pushing us forward and regressive forces pulling us backward.

We are going to battle once again.

Fix bayonets and go...

1 Marine vs. 30 Cops (Marine Wins)

And yer point is...?

Article at Raw Story. Comment at YouTube:

They say please to the big black man, they pepper spray the 95 lb. women. Cowards.

Thanks to BklynHandy.


The answer to your question, Sergeant, "Why do you do this to people?" is that when push comes to shove the cops are sworn to 'protect and serve' the 1%. Like you did, they follow orders. Unlike you, honor is not a requisite.

A Geography Lesson for the Tea Party

Good article. A little long and worth a read.

Even as the movement’s grip tightens on the GOP, its influence is melting away across vast swaths of America, thanks to centuries-old regional traditions that few of us understand.



The Deep South
Established by English slave lords from Barbados as a West Indies-style slave society, this region has been a bastion of white supremacy, aristocratic privilege, and a version of classical Republicanism modeled on the slave states of the ancient world, where democracy was the privilege of the few and enslavement the natural lot of the many. It spread apartheid and authoritarianism across the southern lowlands, ultimately encompassing most of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Louisiana, plus western Tennessee and southeastern Arkansas, Texas, and North Carolina. Its slave and caste systems smashed by outside intervention, it continues to fight for rollbacks of federal power, taxes on capital and the wealthy, and environmental, labor, and consumer safety protections.

The goal of the Deep Southern oligarchy has been consistent for four centuries: to control and maintain a oneparty state with a colonial-style economy based on largescale agriculture and the extraction of primary resources by a compliant, low-wage workforce with as few labor, workplace safety, health care, and environmental regulations as possible. Not until the 1960s was it compelled by African American uprisings and external intervention to abandon caste, sharecropper, and poll tax systems designed to keep the disadvantaged majority of their region’s population out of the political process. Since then, they have relied on fearmongering— over racial mixing, gun control, illegal immigrants, and the alleged evils of secularization—to maintain support. In office they’ve instead focused on cutting taxes for the rich, funneling massive subsidies to agribusiness and oil companies, rolling back labor and environmental programs, and creating “guest worker” programs and “right to work” laws to ensure a cheap, compliant labor supply. Tidewater, weakened to satellite status over the past 150 years, has fallen in line. But keeping Greater Appalachia and, now, the Far West in the coalition has been trickier, as both have strong populist and libertarian streaks that run counter to the interests of the modern-day southern aristocracy.

Which brings us to the Tea Party movement and the recent debt ceiling debacle.

Well, it would, wouldn't it? Heh.

By contrast, the Tea Party has encountered little resistance to its agenda in the four nations of the Dixie bloc, as it is a carbon copy of the Deep Southern program of the last two centuries: reduce taxes for the wealthy and services for everyone else, crush the labor unions, public education, and the regulatory system, and suppress voter turnout. The four nations account for fifty-one of the sixty members of the House Tea Party caucus—or 85 percent of them—with the Deep South alone accounting for twenty-two. Of the sixtysix House Republicans who refused to support the final compromise on the debt ceiling—roughly half of whom were not members of the Tea Party caucus—fifty-three hailed from the same cultural regions. Debt ceiling lunacy was a regional phenomenon. The Dixie-led bloc has produced many of the Tea Party’s most influential politicians, including Senators Jim DeMint (Deep South), Mike Lee (Far West), and Rand Paul (Appalachia), former Governor Sarah Palin (Far West), secessionist-minded Governor Rick Perry (Greater Appalachia), and FreedomWorks boss (and former house majority leader) Dick Armey (Deep South). Tea Party activists can be found most anywhere in the country, but only within this four-nation bloc have they had significant and sustained political success.

Last ¶:

In short, the Tea Party and the Deep South may do the country serious harm, but they will not take it over. They may hobble the workings of Congress, inject flat-earth thinking into Senate debates, or even capture the presidency next year. But their policy program will never win the hearts and minds of a clear majority of Americans, and it carries the seeds of its own destruction. The political pendulum will indeed swing back. How far it goes—and how long it stays there—will depend on how many of America’s cultural regions the Deep South’s opponents can attract to their cause.

Another way to say that might be "how many of America's cultural regions can be coaxed out of going back to the 'good old days', a time that never was good except for a few at the expense of the many?".

Gee, sounds like right now, doesn't it?

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

FBI Thwarts Dangerous Plot
After first talking gullible dupe into carrying it out.

Experts: Phones to Replace Wallets, Keys
Soon you'll be able to quickly and with virtually no effort lose everything essential to you at once.

Researchers Hope to Reconstruct Black Death Microbe For Study
What could go wrong?

A Futuristic Toilet That Does it All!
Besides opening and closing automatically, it wipes and cleans you, then updates your Facebook page with new revealing pictures. It does everything but recycle your urine as lemonade, which is extra. $6400, at Sitting Pretty.

I'll be out in the woods with a handful of leaves, thank you...

Quote of the Day

Jill:

They always whine when they see the pitchforks ...

Senior Care ...

From my dear friend and cousin-in-law Encino Man in an email last night:


So...you're a sick senior citizen and the government says there is no nursing home available for you, what do you do?

Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun and 4 bullets. You are allowed to shoot four Congressmen.

Of course, this means you will be sent to prison where you will get three meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating, air conditioning and all the health care you need! Need new teeth? No problem. Need glasses? That's great. Need a new hip, knees, kidney, lungs or heart? They're all covered. And, as an added bonus, your kids can come and visit you as often as they do now.

And who will be paying for all of this? It's the same government that just told you that you they cannot afford for you to go into a nursing home.

Plus, because you are a prisoner, you don't have to pay any income taxes anymore.

Is this a great country or what?


Either that or die before you get sick at this point.

Gordon Induced ...

Monday Morning Music Blogging.

Regulars around here know that every so often, Gordon inadvertently crawls into my brain when it comes to music. He'll post something that'll remind me of something else and then I'll have that racing around my head all day. So, what do I see this morning? His Roy Rogers post (which you should listen to, by the way) and boom, I got this in my head:



Elton John - Roy Rogers

SNL's Marriott TV GOP Debate

Sadly this parody from SNL mirrors all too well the corporate media clown show that is the current crop of GOP presidential debates. It's also surprisingly well-written.

Thanks to Crooks and Liars.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Slide Job

His git-tar throws sparks like a flattracker's shoe!

Roy Rogers performing "Avalanche" at the Sierra Center Stage 2001

Thanks to RoyRogersSlides.

See yas ...

All our troops are coming home from Iraq! It is indeed a good day!

Sunday ...

Jukebox In My Head Music Blogging.

This was in my head when I woke up this morning and I found this excellent YouTube taking you through our neighborhood (where we stay when we're in Paris) in 2 minutes 55 seconds. Enjoy!



Jaques Dutronc - Il Est Cinq Heures; Paris S'eveille


Scarce yesterday and probably today too. The Mrs. administrative assistant will be up from Charlotte on Tuesday for a couple weeks and I gotta get a buncha shit squared away.