Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Welfare states ...

Dear Mississippi.

Shut the fuck up:

Yes, it's true, as BuzzFlash at Truthout documented a short time ago, the State of Mississippi (MS) "sucks up $2.73 in federal support for every dollar its residents pay in national taxes." In the dog-whistle language of the right wing, that makes the state where 66 percent of GOP voters believe in creationism, an official "welfare state."

In short, the MS state government run out of Jackson is a leech upon the US government, but try telling that to Mitt Romney.

...

Like my dad used to tell me when I was a kid, as long as I'm supporting you, you'll shut up and do what I tell you.

The Jukebox in my mind ...

Some good blues from Cyndi Lauper.

Cyndi Lauper - Don't Cry No More

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Thanks to MisAcerdayt179.

Fuck it...

I'm declaring "Weekend!". It's been raining here for four days. It's only just turned to snow. If we're gonna get our predicted 5-7 feet by Monday it better heavy up pretty quick.

I really like this song and nobody's made a video of it yet so I did. My folks said I'd probably go to my, er, reward on a motorcycle and that's fine with me, thus the subject matter. This song has the best verse I've heard in years:

"If you visit my grave you won't be alone,
I'll be dancin' on my own gravestone,
Bring your pretty woman, bring your fruit of the vine,
A whole lotta laughin' and a little bit o' cryin'! "

Can't ask for much more than that.

The first time I heard this song I was kinda put off by it. After a coupla times I understood - death is the end result of life and the song celebrates it as such. This is actually a pretty happy song. Fullscreen for best effect.

BTW, I put this vid on the band's Facebook page and they liked it and thought it was "trippy".

I See Hawks In L.A. ~ The Spirit Of Death

Thanks to me.

Repugs should stop and smell the flowers

I'm thinking of sending them some nice bouquets of these:

You might think that titan arum is just another monstrous, maladorous growth best left in its native jungles of Sumatra, where its vile-smelling flowers sustain the rare species by drawing pollinators with a hankering for rotting flesh. Hence the nickname -- corpse plant.

And I wish them all the tidings the name of the plant implies.

Shit seeks its own level Headline of the Day

Westboro releases ‘You Might Be a Slut’ ad for Limbaugh’s show

Quote of the Day

Bill Maher via PoliticalTicker:

"It's no coincidence that the type of tree which God forbade Adam and Eve eating from was the tree of knowledge. Rick Santorum home-schools his children because he does not want them eating that (audio bleep) apple," Maher said. "He wants them locked up in the Christian madrassa that is the family living room, not out in public where they could be infected by the virus of reason."

Home schooling is a great way to keep kids from learning inconvenient things they don't want them to - facts, truth, history, science, etc. An ignorant population is easily frightened and manipulated and will believe the lies the Repugs want them to.

The War on Women ...

The new MoveOn.org commercial if you haven't seen it:

Might as well ...

Wear sheets. Or, as Fez put it "Old, extra White and Stupid is no way to go through political life." Why? This is why:

...

"The Republicans really are the party of white people, and especially older white people," Kohut told reporters as the poll was released. "They’ve done nothing in this campaign to make themselves be more favorably viewed" among other parts of the electorate.

...

Latinos, for example, view the Republican Party unfavorably by a 2-1 margin (30% favorable, 60% unfavorable). By contrast, Latinos view the Democrats favorably, 56%-31%.

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Christ ...

This is why I generally avoid Americans when I'm traveling abroad. I've heard this shit many places ("What do you mean they don't speak English," in some little town in Bumfuck, Portugal) but a presidential candidate with 3 graduate degrees should know better, even if it is the Frothy One.

...

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told Puerto Ricans on Wednesday they would have to make English their primary language if they want to pursue U.S. statehood, a statement at odds with the U.S. Constitution.

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The best one I ever heard was in the Port of Marseilles, France. I was standing on one of the weather decks aboard MS Prinsendam with the cruise director, his wife, and my wife (all Francophiles btw) when another passenger asks the cruise director why the flags on the pier, arranged in a circle, didn't have an American flag included in the display. The cruise director explained France was part of the EU and the 20-odd flags were from EU nations. The other passenger asks then "So why don't they have an American flag?"

When someone in Europe says "you're so American," it's not intended as a compliment.

That Sinking Feeling

Newsweek

For passionate Pacific Islanders, the people of Kiribati are displaying impressive sang-froid. Destined to disappear undersea as a result of climate change, the atoll nation is making arrangements for the day when it will exist only in out-of-date atlases. Kiribati’s government intends to purchase 6,000 acres in Fiji—a land blessed with less precarious sea levels, and, clearly, a very accommodating people—on which to relocate Kiribati’s entire population of 103,000. The projected date for the change of address: 2062.

In case you've never heard of Kiribati, you have. Here's a little movie about it:

Thanks to openflix.

Statistics ...

...

In 2009, Benjamin G. Edelman of the Harvard Business School published the results of a state-by-state study on the number of people who were subscribing to adult membership Web sites; Edelman found that eight of the 10 states that had the highest per capita consumption of online porn were states that Republican John McCain won in 2008’s presidential election. Utah topped the list, and other red states in Edelman’s top 10 included Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alaska, North Dakota and West Virginia. The only states in Edelman’s top 10 that Obama won in 2008 were Florida and Hawaii.

More recently, in December 2011, Rutgers University researcher/blogger Omar Haq published the results of his study on Google searches for gay porn. Haq found that between 2004-2011, the top 10 states that had the most Google searches for gay porn included five states that McCain won in 2008 (Texas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana, West Virginia) and five states that Obama won (New York, Ohio, New Mexico, Nevada and Florida). “People subscribe to a lot of porn in the southern Bible Belt states,” Haq noted. “I really believe it is suppression. Freud himself said that the more you suppress people, the more they are going to want to do something. It might be due to conservatism; I think that definitely plays a role."

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Can we now please shut up about porn vs. morality?

There's a first ...

I actually agree with Ann Coulter:

...

"And just a more corporate problem is I think our party and particularly our movement, the conservative movement, does have more of a problem with con men and charlatans than the Democratic Party," she said. "I mean, the incentives seem to be set up to allow people — as long as you have a band of a few million fanatical followers, you can make money. The Democrats have managed to figure out how not to do that."

...

It's because the Dem base probably has an average of 75-100 IQ points over the GOP base.

Quote of the Day

Blue Girl and Yellow Dog:

Shut up about firing Rush Limbaugh! For the love of all that is holy, shut up about firing him. He needs to stay on the air and keep talking, doubling down every few days, all the way to November, criminy, even republicans are bailing on him, now is no time for him to clam up.

And ...

Speaking of right wing nutjob theocrats, Charlie Pierce* looks at the Frothy One's latest success and the people who gave it to him:

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For all the post-game analysis of whether or not Santorum is now clearly "the real conservative" alternative to Romney, and whether or not it's time for N. Leroy Gingrich, Definer Of Civilization's Rules And Leader (Perhaps) Of The Civilizing Forces, to get out of his way, the basic point is being missed. The basic argument is not about being "the real conservative" per se; it's about being "the real conservative" as "conservative" is defined by a shoeless, Bible-banging, anti-intellectual, woman-hating, sex-maddened Republican base. And, for the moment, that is Santorum in full. He has recovered from whatever damage he did to himself in Michigan, and I'm thinking he didn't really do that much. His retrograde position on contraception is now fully part of the mainstream debate. He has been rewarded by the people who feel the same way he does, and they happen to be the people who are driving the train at the moment. And he's doubled down on all the other faith-based nonsense that passes for critical thought in the Republican party. Daring to be stupid is the highest form of courage to the people to whom Santorum is pitching his campaign. And there are a lot of them, and very few of them are sold on Willard Romney.

"The dangers of carbon dioxide? Tell that to a plant, how dangerous carbon dioxide is," he said.
(I asked a tree in my front yard, Rick. It said it thought you were a colossal dick.)

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That's why guys like Frothy don't want people to go to college, ignorant people are easier to manipulate. I don't know why the GOP doesn't adopt the slogan "The dumber you are, the more we like you".

*Not a right wing nutjob theocrat.

Since ...

Politicians love watching polls, they should watch this one (.pdf!) closely:

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1. Support for Continued Diplomacy Rather Than an Israeli Military Strike
Only one in four Americans favor Israel conducting a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program. Seven in ten favor instead the US and other major powers continuing to pursue negotiations with Iran. Three in four say that the US should primarily act through the UN Security Council rather than acting by itself.

...

3. If Israel Goes Ahead With a Strike
If Israel goes ahead with a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program and Iran retaliates (but not against American targets), only one in four favors the US providing military support for Israel and only 4 in 10 favor the US providing even diplomatic support. Few would support open opposition. The most popular position is for the US to take a neutral stance. If Israel strikes Iran even without American approval one in three Americans think the US would provide military support and a slight majority thinks that it would at least provide diplomatic support.

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The American people are sick of war and a very small few actually want us to get sucked into another one by some right-wing nutjob theocrats in another country.

Great thanks to Dr. Fez for the link.

Woman On The Wheel

I doubt if Ms. Peters anticipated the knives currently being thrown at women from the right , but this song turns out to be rather timely. Posted on YouTube yesterday.

"One false move and it's a real bad day at the amusement park"

Thanks to gretchenpeters.

If only...

Thanks to Slate.

Lee needs an Intervention!

In a Rude Pundit post about Sandra Fluke comes this:

(Note: The Rude Pundit is having a serious case of the writer's block when it comes to bloggery. Hopefully, he'll drink his way through it. If not, he may need to call in the pill guy. If that doesn't work, he'll call the powder guy. If that doesn't work, he'll call the virgin sacrifice guy. One way or another, he'll deal with it.)

Fixer, if you can lift it, take yer stash bag and get over there! I know it doesn't have any virgins...

"They don't like me. They really, really don't like me".

The National Memo.

Mitt Romney's losses in Alabama and Mississippi underscore a stark reality: The core of his party does not want him.

To paraphrase The Rolling Stones:

You don't always get what you want/but if you try sometime/I think you'll find/you get exactly what you got comin'.

If there was any clearcut karma in the world they'd get a Santorum/Gingrich ticket. I'd love it, but they'll get Romney and then they'll lose, just not as badly.

Collapse of the shiny pretty things

If it's Wednesday, it must be Morford on how we're runnin' outta planet ta fuck up.

And then the international think tank said, you know what? It's still not working.

All the green initiatives in the world combined with all your good intentions intermixed with a million heartfelt promises to do better, all the environmental summit agreements and all the solar panels and recycled toothbrushes and spending all those hours sorting plastic from glass and carefully rinsing your mustard bottles?

What's that you say? You've heard it all before? The end is nigh and civilization as we know it is on track for serious collapse, meltdown, infrastructure implosion unless -- and this might be the biggest unless in modern world history -- unless there's a major and they do mean major overhaul of how culture, greed and entitlement operate? Sure you have. So did the Romans

Hence, zombies. Hence, Rick Santorum's sad little existence, his and his followers' blind faith in an angry, self-hating God to save us all from His own creation.

Hence, gruesome end times scenarios, apocalypse porn and a new reality show called "Doomsday Preppers" -- or was that "Doomsday Bunkers"? -- all about numbly misanthropic, unbathed white nutballs in mostly Podunk towns readying themselves for the end of the world by stockpiling canned meat, coddling large firearms and training themselves in hand-to-zombie combat as they feed their twitchy kids stuff they killed with a crossbow in the driveway. Neat.

Here is the question of our day: Does it take a cataclysm? It takes a wake up call so massive and deadly there is nothing else to be done but make ferocious and painful change? Or can it be induced by something more calm and deeply felt, a flip and turn in the soul, an intimate spiritual awakening writ large? What's it going to take? I don't know, either, but whatever it is, it really might require some intense sacrifice on the part of -- whoa, wait a second. Is that the new iPad? Wow. Pretty.

Shorter: smoke it while ya got it before the Earth is all stems and seeds. Enjoy.

Exactly!

Stolen from the Americans Against The Tea Party FB page.

I admit it ...

I talk a lotta shit. If you ever catch up to me at a cocktail party or at a bar on a cruise ship, I will regale you with strange, made up stories, tell you shit just to get a rise out of you, and tell a lot of off-color jokes. I'm also the master of the grand entrance. It's the way I am and I always draw a crowd. I've had total strangers come up to me, shake my hand, and tell me what a funny guy I am. Thing is, I'll tell you I'm bullshitting and I don't ever expect to get paid for the crap I say.

That said, some people whose words could have life and death implications, talk a lotta shit, take it and themselves seriously, and actualy draw a 6-figure salary:

...

Seriously, O'Hanlon has never been right about anything, not even whether Sarah Palin had a clue what she was talking about in foreign policy. (She didn't.) It's just amazing that he's still out there getting paid to pontificate.

Quote of the Day

Our pal Comrade Misfit:

Rich and clueless. Didn't we have enough of that between 2001 and 2009?

Yes indeed, my friend.

Heh ...

Dr. Fez:

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Of course, this being the South, those are probably the only actually innocent people in the building.

Look who's counting votes in Gooberville down south.

The Clown Car ...

The Frothy Mixture won big last night and that means we have to buy more popcorn.

Rick Santorum won primary victories in Alabama and Mississippi on Tuesday, according to network projections, bolstering his credibility as Mitt Romney’s top challenger and denying the former Massachusetts governor an opportunity to solidify his status as inevitable nominee. With most of the vote counted, Romney appeared likely to finish third in both races, with Newt Gingrich poised to take second.

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So they're gonna continue to out-wingnut each other for the foreseeable future. The more crazy they bring, the better it will be for Barry in November.

How d'ya git a chicken stump broke?

Georgia Republican Compares Women to Cows, Pigs, And Chickens
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"They's all jist fine fer fuckin'!"

I mighta made part of that up...

Headline of the Day

Cheney says Canada ‘too dangerous’ for visit

Yeah, a real Somalia is Canuckistan. Besides, The Dick might get arrested for war crimes. Or get sick and have to be treated under - gasp! - socialized medicine.

Better just stay holed up in Der Dickenbunker and wait for your battery to run down, Dick.

Off ...

Gonna be in Manhattan in a little while with the Mrs. to see our lovely and talented niece Lauren perform in a showcase for Broadway agents, directors, and producers. Break a leg, sweetie!

Because we have to get out ...

Sooner rather than later. I'm putting our pal Montag's post up in toto. Please sign the petition.

Calling all bloggers

I have had enough of that bullshit Kabuki we call the War on Afghanistan. I have started a petition on the White House website calling for us to declare Victory in Afghanistan and get out. I need your help to get 25,000 signatures by April 10. If we get to that number the White House says they will respond. I don't want to hear that it will not do any good. All I want are as many signatures as possible. Please sign and pass it around to as many people as you can.

There is a registration necessary to sign but they are already watching you so it is harmless.


Declare Victory in Afghanistan and bring all troops home now.

Can't fix stupid ...

Personally, I don't know why anybody gives a shit what people in Mississippi and Alabama think anymore.

...

In Alabama, 45 percent say he's a Muslim, 41 percent aren't sure and 14 percent think Obama's a Christian. In Mississippi, 52 percent of likely GOP voters say Obama's a Muslim, 36 percent aren’t sure and only 12 percent take his word that he's a Christian.

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I mean, come on, who really looks at that part of the country as a hotbed of intellectualism? You know Dems can't win there, no matter what they say. There is no way these people will support a black man in the White House and they're gonna believe what Rush, Hannity, and Fox 'News' tells them.

Update:

And it might just be time for this little reminder.

Support The Troops. Until it costs money....

We've posted before about government nickel-nosing that threatens the mental health of Bush's Unnecessary Veterans until the last one of them dies from old age in about a hundred years. Dr. Winston Chung in the EssEffChron revisits this despicable aspect of "support the troops":

Amidst speculation and outcry surrounding the alleged killer of 16 civilians in Afghanistan, the AP reports that the solider comes from a base, Lewis-McChord, that has a history of soldiers being convicted for killing Afghan civilians, one who shot a Salt Lake City police officer, and another who killed a Mt. Ranier National Park ranger.

Joint Base Lewis-McChord saw more suicides in 2011 than ever before and doctors at its hospital, Madigan Army Medical Center, are being reviewed for whether they have been influenced by how much a PTSD diagnosis can cost.
...

Captain Susan Carlson is a social worker whose story was chronicled in the New York Times last month, serving as an example of one of thousands who have been discharged from the military by virtue of being diagnosed with a personality disorder. She provided portions of her medical record to the New York Times, including a document signed by a psychiatrist saying, “Her command specifically asks for a diagnosis of a personality disorder,” (my em) suggesting the possibility that military commanders pressure clinicians to issue diagnoses for reasons other than soldiers’ best interests.

Based on these trends, I guess it’s not surprising that the military has also become wary of the costs for treating veterans’ mental health. But, the war in Afghanistan continues and what few vets I’ve seen that are returning from this war have some of the most serious mental health needs.

As resources continue to be cut and minimized, what happens to the mental health of the thousands of soldiers who continue to fight in Afghanistan?

We'll find out and it won't be pretty.

Just a word about the recent killings in Clusterfuckistan - I'm a little grateful that the doggie Sergeant nutted up over there rather than waiting 'til he got back to Washington.

He may have done us all a favor if the timetable for getting the fuck out of that shithole moves up because of his alleged act.

Quote of the Day

Bill Maher

Tough weekend for Mitt Romney - lost Kansas by a zillion pts. Guess an endorsement by Ted Nugent aint what it used to be.

Heh. His cat scratch fever musta done cooled off.

"But it's Spring, sir!"

The weather has been gorgeous on the Isle of Long, low 60s to 70, for the last few days and me and the girls have been out in the yard getting rid of the remnants of winter (mild as it was). On our way out now to prep the flower beds.

Works for me ...

Hey, if our women have to get 'probed' to get adequate reproductive care, the men should have to do their part as well:

Before getting a prescription for Viagra or other erectile dysfunction drugs, men would have to see a sex therapist, receive a cardiac stress test and get a notarized affidavit signed by a sexual partner affirming impotency, if state Sen. Nina Turner has her way.

...

I'd add they should have a colonoscopy too, just to check for prostate problems, a major cause of impotence.

"Lube? What is this 'lube' you speak of?" Heh ...

Time to go ...

This just makes it that much harder for our boys and girls over there:

US troops in Afghanistan have been placed on alert following the killings of 16 Afghan civilians by a US soldier.

US officials warned of reprisals after the soldier went on a rampage in villages near a base in Kandahar. Nine children were among those killed.

...

It's long past time to get out of that shithole. At this point we've shitted up our own bed so badly that even if we doubled our resources over there it still wouldn't do any good. Just as other nations have learned since time immemorial, Afghanistan is a lost cause.

Update:

Our pal Comrade Misfit says it quite well.

...

I have no idea how this all can be turned around. I believe that if there was a time when we could have prevailed in Afghanistan, it was gone by 2005. We squandered the chance we had to make a difference and, since then, it has been more a matter of denying the flow of the tide of the war. The cheerily optimistic pronouncements from first the Bush Administration and now the Obama Administration have been the equivalent of putting pretty siding over a rotting structure.

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Yeah, if we would have done it correctly from the get go, we might have had some success there, but the Chimp and his henchmen were never serious about Afghanistan. All they wanted was to use it as a stepping stone to Iraq and anywhere else in that part of the world who had oil.

The reason why ...

I say John McCain should be relegated to a rocking chair on his front porch, yelling at the kids to get off his lawn:

Former Republican presidential nominee John McCain is still adamant that no one was more qualified than Sarah Palin to be vice president in 2008.

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Time to get you back to the home, gramps.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

State Legislature in Wisconsin Passes Bill to Amend State Constitution to Restrict Recall Elections
If it goes well, all elections will be outlawed.

U.S. to Cut Size of Iraq Embassy Staff in Half
World’s largest embassy building will now employ just enough people to sweep the floors.

And mercs.

Pat Robertson Calls for Legal Sales of Pot
Just not to homosexuals.

Study: LSD Can Help Treat Alcoholism
And a few stiff drinks can stop the hallucinations.

And around and around we go...

Heh ...

Mitt Romney's "Southern Strategy". Heh ...

I liked Dennis Kucinich ...

I liked what he stood for and I liked his stand on principles, however:

Glenn Greenwald says everything that needs to be said about the near universal reaction to the defeat of Dennis Kucinich. It's dispiriting, to say the least, that such a stalwart liberal losing his office is celebrated with even more gusto than the defeat of your average Blue Dog, but there it is.

I realize that Kucinich was an odd duck and that he probably "asked for it" by supporting the gerrymander along with a hundred other bad political decisions. Nobody ever said he was a master strategist. What he was, was the guy who occupied the most leftward space in our political system along with just a small handful of others like Barbara Lee and Bernie Sanders --- and that's important. It's not like they grow on trees.

...

I support anyone who has the backbone to stand up for the right things but it does no good if that person is not taken seriously. Kucinich's "odd duck" persona prevented a lot of people on his own side from taking him seriously, even though they shared principles. Comparing him to Bernie Sanders and Barbara Lee isn't fair to Sanders or Lee who are taken seriously by their side. I don't give a shit what conservatives say about them because they'd never vote for Sanders or Lee but when they speak, progressives listen. When Kucinich spoke, the most common reaction was "what did he pull out of his ass now?"

I hope he does well in the private sector and hopefully will be able to push the progressive message a little better, but I'm not sad he's out of the Congress. An elected representative who says crazy shit more times than not is not what's needed at this time. I'm sure the people of his former district would like a representative whose voice is considered in the debate as opposed to being mostly dismissed and ignored. He might be a hero to us raging Lefties, but his constituents decided that they'd rather someone more effective than wacky.

Conservative propaganda ...

Our pal Montag shows that once again, conservative policy, once put into practice, is an abject failure:

The Republican/Teabagger attack on Obamacare needed a front man to begin the trek to the Supreme Court. They found a front woman in the person of Mary Brown, owner of a small Florida body shop. She was adamantly opposed to being required to buy health insurance. Now for the fun part.

...