Today is the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party of 1773 in which colonists threw a boatload of tea into Boston Harbor to protest taxation without representation.
Those Tea Partiers are spinning in their graves so fast they could generate electricity over the stupid things today's teabaggers are doing in their name.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Assembly ...
I posted this about a year ago when I was working on the wife's office and the time was rife for me to start getting "Christmas gift assembly" calls. It's that time again. Spare the "guy with skills" in your life extra aggravation this holiday season. Heh ...
If all else fails, get a BFH or a stiff drink; whatever works for you.
* Open the box and find the directions first before you unpack any of the parts. Read them thoroughly, twice if you have to.
* Next, find the bag(s) or card with the hardware (screws, bolts, brackets) and compare them to the parts list in the directions (in both size and quantity - most manufacturers give "actual size" pictures of what things look like). If anything's not there, or you're not sure about something, now is the time to go to the website or call the toll-free number for help given in the directions (men, again, do not be ashamed to do this), not when whatever you're working on is half assembled.
* Locate all the major parts, unwrap them and lay them out in order of use (again, consult the directions).
* Use the now-empty box as a garbage can. As soon as you unpack something, toss the wrapping materials directly in there. Why? Because it's frustrating when little shit gets caught up or hidden by the wrappers and you can't find it when you need it. Makes it easier to throw the crap away too.
* Follow the directions step by step, using the method, technique, and parts they specify. Nobody knows how to put it together better than the folks who made it.
* And lastly, once the assembly is complete, go through everything again to make sure there's nothing you missed. Also, take the directions and file them somewhere. You might have to disassemble it someday and put it back together again. I have a folder in my file cabinet with every set of directions for everything we have.
If all else fails, get a BFH or a stiff drink; whatever works for you.
Kyl and DeMint: Baby Jesus Doesn't Want Us to Pass the START Treaty Right Now
The Rude One on the latest Repug bullshit. A good read:
Rude-y's right - it is kinda fun to watch. I worry about the direction my sense of humor is going sometimes. Ah, fuck it - phony outrage by Repugs is hilarious. Too bad so few get the joke and so many fall for it.
Jim DeMented said Xmas is the most sacred day for Xtians. It's not, but he's right: it's the most sacred day for the merchant class because they make a lot of money from people trying to emulate the Magi giving gifts to Baby Jesus. Money=Repugs=Xtians.
The real most sacred day for Xtians, of course, is the annual springtime recognition of The P.R. Stunt That Wrecked The World. And continues to do so for fun and profit.
"Ye shall know them by their fruits," motherfucker, says Jesus. And, goddamn, if that Middle Eastern Jew wasn't right in Matthew 7:16. In fact, a good bit of Book 7 of Matthew (King James, man, always King James) ought to be read to the alleged righteous Christians, Senators Jon "Looks Like W.C. Fields and Broderick Crawford Had a Big, Ugly Baby" Kyl and Jim "I Whip My Balls Bloody Every Night" DeMint. Whining like little bitches who were denied their evening Milk Bone, Kyl and DeMint announced that they want their Christmas vacation and they don't give a fuck about any damn reduction of weapons of mass destruction. That's right: no START treaty, no consideration of real and actual peace on Earth unless they get to sing songs about "Peace on Earth."
Now, the Rude Pundit's no biblical scholar, but he knows some basic shit. For instance, Jesus was pretty clear on helping people in poverty. Like, you know, 1 John 3:17-18: "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?/ My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." Yeah, DeMint and Kyl have clenched their sphincters tight and haven't shit out even a tiny turd of compassion for the poor.
Kyl and DeMint have both voted against expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program, against increasing the minimum wage, against funding for housing for the poor, and for raising the estate tax exemption to $5 million. DeMint gets extra points for voting against extending unemployment benefits in 2008.
Of course, they've both voted big time for anything to do with war, because killing Muslims is really high on Jesus's to-do list. As is torture, apparently, and denial of any help for illegal immigrants, who would probably qualify as the "least of these."
Of course, since all of this is over passing a treaty that would actively make the world safer from nuclear weapons, one imagines that even Baby Jesus would say, "Dudes, shove that myrrh up your asses and get back to work."
(Note: Harry Reid showing Kyl and DeMint his pimp hand on the whole stupid Christmas thing is deliciously fun. And so is Joe Biden's spit-rage.)
Rude-y's right - it is kinda fun to watch. I worry about the direction my sense of humor is going sometimes. Ah, fuck it - phony outrage by Repugs is hilarious. Too bad so few get the joke and so many fall for it.
Jim DeMented said Xmas is the most sacred day for Xtians. It's not, but he's right: it's the most sacred day for the merchant class because they make a lot of money from people trying to emulate the Magi giving gifts to Baby Jesus. Money=Repugs=Xtians.
The real most sacred day for Xtians, of course, is the annual springtime recognition of The P.R. Stunt That Wrecked The World. And continues to do so for fun and profit.
The Crux of The Afghan/Iraq Wars
In These Times
Yet waste it we will as long as there's money in it for the few.
For the defense industry, dumb wars are the best ones because they create more problems than they solve, assuring future sales of weapons and services. A great example of this bad policy propaganda machine in action occurred in the winter of 2002, when the Taliban had been defeated in Afghanistan and there was a chance to install a credible government. Then the defense industry helped fund the campaign to convince Americans they needed to divert resources from Afghanistan to launch a preemptive strike against Iraq. Eight years later, Afghanistan is in utter chaos, yet think tank scholars assure us that we can still “win” the war as long as we pursue Gen. David Petraeus’ counter-insurgency strategy.
From the vantage of the boardroom of a defense contractor, the Afghan war is a good war. It destabilized much of the Middle East and southern Asia, including nuclear-armed Pakistan. It has created tens of thousands of new enemies for the United States — people who had no beef with us until we invaded their country and killed their relatives. Most of our new enemies are too poor to pose any immediate threat. But they will be targets for recruitment into terror groups, thus assuring future dangers, more war and unsustainable levels of military spending.
Many, including George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower, have warned of the danger to republican liberty posed by massive standing armies and unchecked military spending. One of the most eloquent scholars on this topic, Chalmers Johnson, passed away in November. Johnson warned of the inherent instability of a political system that seeks to combine domestic democracy and foreign imperialism. The final volume of his seminal treatise on militarism is titled, The Last Days of the American Republic. If his analysis is correct, we have no time to waste.
Yet waste it we will as long as there's money in it for the few.
Heh ...
For the first time in years (the Mrs. put an end to it a while back), I personally went down to the Sheriff of Nottingham local Receiver of Taxes to pay my tribute to the King yearly property tax bill, unsupervised (she didn't even send Chooch along to keep an eye on me). Business was concluded without me getting tossed in the dungeon incident and in record time*.
*I was briefed, before I left the house, that the Mrs. needed a special kind of receipt (not my department, just do what I'm told) for the taxes this year and, since I needed them to do something for me, my opinions about the use of my tax money during the past year (and if I got rolling, I'd go back over everything since the last time I personally gave them a piece of my mind; one of the reasons I wasn't allowed to pay the taxes in person anymore) would not be appreciated by either the Receiver of Taxes or Mrs. F when I came home without what she needed. I might be crazy, I ain't stupid. Heh ...
Hey, Chickenshits ...
Or, "Keepin' Us Safe". Think modern-day Americans could deal with this?
Click to embiggen.
Just sayin' ...
Click to embiggen.
From my collection: In the London Transport Museum, Covent Garden, England.
Just sayin' ...
Ya think?
People are getting tired of the bullshit:
I'll tell ya what the review will say, just pull one of Westmoreland's briefings out of the archives from Vietnam and change the names of the towns and the dates to reflect the present.
From Wikipedia:
So we've resolved to stay in Afghanistan, longer than we were in Vietnam, and we have less to show for our efforts. Thankfully, we haven't managed to get 58,000 of our troops killed yet.
A record 60 percent of Americans say the war in Afghanistan has not been worth fighting, a grim assessment -- and a politically hazardous one -- in advance of the Obama administration's one-year review of its revised strategy.
...
I'll tell ya what the review will say, just pull one of Westmoreland's briefings out of the archives from Vietnam and change the names of the towns and the dates to reflect the present.
From Wikipedia:
...
On April 28, 1967, Westmoreland addressed a joint session of Congress. "In evaluating the enemy strategy," he said, "It is evident to me that he believes our Achilles heel is our resolve ... Your continued strong support is vital to the success of our mission ... Backed at home by resolve, confidence, patience, determination and continued support, we will prevail in Vietnam over the Communist aggressor!"
...
So we've resolved to stay in Afghanistan, longer than we were in Vietnam, and we have less to show for our efforts. Thankfully, we haven't managed to get 58,000 of our troops killed yet.
Bored?
You will be. Go see "The Amazingly Boring Antics Adventures of Gordon and Bermflinger!" at Fixer & Gordon.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Get out ...
Although Pedro Espada has too much chutzpah to resign, it's about time this scumbag had his day in front of a jury. Yeah, he's a Dem, but in Albany they're all crooks.
Personally, I think the NY State Police should throw a net over everybody in the State House and waterboard 'em until they confess to something. Get us a whole new buncha criminals.
State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. and his son pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of plundering the taxpayer-funded health clinic they operate in the Bronx.
The elder Espada and Pedro G. Espada are accused of stealing more than $550,000 from Soundview Medical Center coffers to pay for expensive dinners, Broadway tickets and a downpayment on a Bentley.
...
Personally, I think the NY State Police should throw a net over everybody in the State House and waterboard 'em until they confess to something. Get us a whole new buncha criminals.
Views of 2011 From 1931
Abnormal Use
Some hits, some misses. Interesting.
1931 was a long time ago, and few who live today can claim to remember it all too well. Just two years after the stock market crash of 1929, 1931 claimed Herbert Hoover as the President of the United States (which that year had 48 states). Movie monsters were the rage; Bela Lugosi starred in Tod Browning's Dracula film and Boris Karloff did his star turn in Frankenstein. Cab Calloway recorded the classic "Minnie The Moocher" (and he was 49 years from performing it again in 1980's The Blues Brothers). James Dean was born that year; so were William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. That December, the first Christmas tree was placed at the construction site that would later become Rockefeller Center. The Lindbergh kidnapping was a year in the future, and the attack on Pearl Harbor - precipitating the country's entry into World War II - was a full decade away.
It was a far different time culturally, socially, politically. The issue: What did the great minds of 1931 predict the rapidly approaching 2011 would be like?
Some hits, some misses. Interesting.
Quote of the Day Il Due
The header of an LATimes op-ed:
That's how Repugs roll.
Incoming House Speaker John Boehner weeps for our schoolchildren even as he works to take away their dreams.
That's how Repugs roll.
If You're Interested...
From Voyager 1 comes cutting-edge science on solar wind
Shorter: if yer ship depends on solar wind for propulsion, yer gonna be sailing in big circles.
Five things that change everything
If it's Wednesday, it must be Morford.
Here's a teaser about Wikileaks:
Go...
This is what they say. This is the breathless abandon that accompanies each tale of discovery and terror, pain and glory across the vast and troubled worlds of science and tech, politics and warfare, love and sex and death, oh my.
"This changes everything," they say. This revelation, that amazing gizmo, this startling new way of seeing things, that flaccid terrorist's imbecilic underwear bomb that now means anyone can be freely groped at the airport. Baby, the terrorists won long ago. Haven't you seen the news?
This box just arrived. Let's see what we've got.
2) Winner, most deliriously misleading headline of the year: "NASA finds new life form." OMG you guys! NASA! New life form! Maybe some crazy soil sample came back from Omega X-19 containing some pulsing blue alien microbes! Perhaps they found the living, conscious source of dark matter! Wait, what? They only found an odd microorganism in creepy ol' Mono Lake in California? A place where any tourist with a $95 Canon P&S could tell you bizarre things certainly must live? Oh.
Do not misunderstand. The discovery of an uncanny new organism that rearranges the six common ingredients for "normal" life -- carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur -- and instead munches arsenic for a living and it's not Dick Cheney? Well, that opens up all sorts of fascinating possibilities for what might be out there. Yes, gods of science, "this changes everything." But we're just not yet exactly sure how.
It would be lovely to think one idea could do it. But this has always been the impossible dream of empires on the verge of collapse: that somewhere in the maelstrom of wanton discoveries lies a wild new technology, a stupendous magic bullet that seven billion bipeds pray will soon absolve us of our unchecked gluttony, cure the vicious cancer we've inflicted on ourselves and make everything right with the world. Sure. As Jesus used to say, good luck with that.
Here's a teaser about Wikileaks:
-- Wikileaks is one unprecedented, stunningly detailed explanation of just how the global diplomatic sausage gets made.
And lo, it is vile sausage indeed. This is the biggest revelation of all, the thing that changes everything: What we're learning is, this meat is more rancid, disrespectful, abusive, cruel, barbarian and childish than anyone wanted to imagine. No wonder world governments and whimpering doltbuckets like Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee want this Assange guy dead.
Truly, the banality of global political evil has never been this exposed. Hell, even the Vatican is condemning Wikileaks over revelations about its own pathetic sex scandals in Ireland. In my book, that alone makes Julian Assange a goddamn saint.
Go...
To Serve Banks
From Rep Spencer Bachus (R-AL), new chairman of the House Financial Services Committee via al.com:
We knew that, but thanks for blurting it out so clearly, Spence.
"Clarified" is DC-speak for trying to clean up after a gaffe, i.e. inadvertently telling the truth.
Dude, it's what Repugs do, it's who they are. Their whole focus is be in charge of our money so they can give it to their Masters. They've done this pretty well over the last thirty years.
"To Serve Banks" is a cookbook just like in the old Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man". Recipes for disaster.
"In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks," he said.
We knew that, but thanks for blurting it out so clearly, Spence.
He later clarified his comment to say that regulators should set the parameters in which banks operate but not micromanage them.
"Clarified" is DC-speak for trying to clean up after a gaffe, i.e. inadvertently telling the truth.
"Republicans putting Spencer Bachus in charge of financial regulation is voting for the fox to guard the henhouse," said Ryan Rudominer of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Dude, it's what Repugs do, it's who they are. Their whole focus is be in charge of our money so they can give it to their Masters. They've done this pretty well over the last thirty years.
"To Serve Banks" is a cookbook just like in the old Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man". Recipes for disaster.
Quote of the Day
Karoli:
"Southern Heritage" is nothing more than coded language describing the "peculiar institution" of slavery.
... The old saw always goes thus: The Civil War was about states' rights. No. It was about states' rights to engage in human trafficking, something abhor[r]ent and evil.
"Southern Heritage" is nothing more than coded language describing the "peculiar institution" of slavery.
What Gordon needs ...
For Christmas. I saw a news story the other day about a buncha kids at Purdue U who invented a robotic snowthrower.
I looked for video of it but I couldn't find any. I did run across this, which still requires some human input, but it beats coming in the house covered in ice and whatever the dogs left behind in autumn. Heh ...
Note: Seems like the inventor put the guard on the front to avoid sucking up his little dog.
I looked for video of it but I couldn't find any. I did run across this, which still requires some human input, but it beats coming in the house covered in ice and whatever the dogs left behind in autumn. Heh ...
Note: Seems like the inventor put the guard on the front to avoid sucking up his little dog.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Sailors, Wrap Yer Junk!
Via TPMMuckraker
"Think lots of tiny horned devils stabbing mucus membranes with their pitchforks" pretty much describes sailors on liberty after weeks at sea too! Heh.
The Navy knows how to get the deck apes to pay attention, that's for sure. Musta showed 'em this on Saturday morning like when they were home before they joined up.
In 1973, the Navy made a 20-minute animated movie warning sailors -- in graphic detail -- about the dangers of venereal disease. The plot: The annual Communicable Disease of the Year Awards sees a huge upset when Venereal Disease, represented by the syphilis-carrying Count Spirochete, wins the coveted Fourth Horseman award over diphtheria and smallpox.
It's such an upset, in fact, that the host must explain in great, cringe-worthy detail, the history, science and symptoms of syphilis. Think lots of tiny horned devils stabbing mucus membranes with their pitchforks.
"Think lots of tiny horned devils stabbing mucus membranes with their pitchforks" pretty much describes sailors on liberty after weeks at sea too! Heh.
The Navy knows how to get the deck apes to pay attention, that's for sure. Musta showed 'em this on Saturday morning like when they were home before they joined up.
Thanks to DODvClips.
Michael Moore: Why I'm Posting Bail Money for Julian Assange
A 'must read' by Michael Moore via YubaNet.
Several.
Do not miss this one. Mr. Moore, a last name I am proud to share with him, is an idealist who walks the walk and he's right on the money on this one.
We were taken to war in Iraq on a lie. Hundreds of thousands are now dead. Just imagine if the men who planned this war crime back in 2002 had had a WikiLeaks to deal with. They might not have been able to pull it off. The only reason they thought they could get away with it was because they had a guaranteed cloak of secrecy. That guarantee has now been ripped from them, and I hope they are never able to operate in secret again.
So why is WikiLeaks, after performing such an important public service, under such vicious attack? Because they have outed and embarrassed those who have covered up the truth. The assault on them has been over the top:
Several.
**Rep. Peter A. King calls WikiLeaks a "terrorist organization."
And indeed they are! They exist to terrorize the liars and warmongers who have brought ruin to our nation and to others. Perhaps the next war won't be so easy because the tables have been turned -- and now it's Big Brother who's being watched ... by us!
Do not miss this one. Mr. Moore, a last name I am proud to share with him, is an idealist who walks the walk and he's right on the money on this one.
Look Up and South Tonight
YubaNet
It was clear last night and I missed it. Tonight looks like it may be overcast here. Maybe you can catch the show.
The Geminid meteor shower, which peaks this year on Dec. 13th and 14th, is the most intense meteor shower of the year. It lasts for days, is rich in fireballs, and can be seen from almost any point on Earth.
It was clear last night and I missed it. Tonight looks like it may be overcast here. Maybe you can catch the show.
Is Karl Rove Driving the Effort to Prosecute Julian Assange?
An interesting and plausible theory at Legal Schnauzer.
More.
I put nothing, I say again nothing past Turdblossom.
Former Bush White House strategist Karl Rove likely is playing a leading role in the effort to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a source with ties to the justice community tells Legal Schnauzer.
That Assange's legal troubles would originate in Sweden probably is not a coincidence, our source says. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has been called "the Ronald Reagan of Europe," and he has a friendship with Rove that dates back at least 10 years, to the George W. Bush campaign for president in 2000. Reinfeldt reportedly asked Rove to help with his 2010 re-election in Sweden.
Why would Rove be interested in corralling Julian Assange? To help protect the Bush legacy, our source says. "The very guy who has released the documents that damage the Bushes the most is also the guy that the Bush's number one operative can control by being the Swedish prime minister's brain and intelligence and economic advisor."
Could Rove also be trying to protect himself? What if WikiLeaks has documents--or Rove thinks it could get documents--that prove "Turd Blossom's" role in criminal activity during the Bush years? What if someone with a conscience from the Bush administration--if such a person exists--provided WikiLeaks with documents that show Rove's role in political prosecutions, the unlawful firings of U.S. attorneys, and more? Could Rove be trying to save his own doughy butt?
More.
I put nothing, I say again nothing past Turdblossom.
It's Okay to Have Principles
Last coupla ¶ from another good one from The Rude One:
Americans have become so self-centered and spoiled that if JFK gave his "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" speech today, he'd be booed off the podium as a socialist.
Don't worry. The tax cut extension will pass. The unemployment benefits extension will pass, as it should. We will put off any hard decisions on our future again for two years. And then, don't worry, we'll put them off again. Because that's who we are. That's our learned behavior. We are Americans and we've forgotten how to sacrifice anything because no one for a generation has asked us to. We're like Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas: we've decided to drink ourselves to death while being cared for by whores.
Oh, dear weary, weary leftists all, we've been treated like the once-virginal cheerleader who gave in when the quarterback wanted a hand job and then gave in again when he wanted a blow job, saying that it wasn't sex, no, not really, giving in, yes, even though it was against our core beliefs, to straight fucking, but, god, can't we at least say "No" to anal? Or is that too much to ask anymore?
Americans have become so self-centered and spoiled that if JFK gave his "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" speech today, he'd be booed off the podium as a socialist.
Lame-as-F@#k Congress
In case you missed it, Jon Stewart knocks it outta the park on the Repugs' response to health care for the 9/11 first responders.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Lame-as-F@#k Congress | ||||
| ||||
Famous Last Words
Foreign Policy
Ulp...
The last words of Richard C. Holbrooke, a lion of U.S. diplomacy, were "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan"
Ulp...
Monday, December 13, 2010
Holy Shit!
One of YouTube's top 10 videos of the year, via the EssEffChron.
Makes me wonder how many times they had to do this silly shit before it worked...and why? Hmmmm. It does bear a certain resemblance to what happens in an old English motorcycle to start the engine after the kickstarter is operated...
From the new album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky" available at http://www.okgo.net/store
OK Go on Tour http://www.okgo.net/shows/
Directed by James Frost, OK Go and Syyn Labs. Produced by Shirley Moyers. The official video for the recorded version of "This Too Shall Pass" off of the album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky". The video was filmed in a two story warehouse, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. The "machine" was designed and built by the band, along with members of Syyn Labs ( http://syynlabs.com/ ) over the course of several months.
There is an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at the warehouse here: http://www.okgo.net/this-too-shall-pa...
OK Go thanks State Farm for making this video possible.
Makes me wonder how many times they had to do this silly shit before it worked...and why? Hmmmm. It does bear a certain resemblance to what happens in an old English motorcycle to start the engine after the kickstarter is operated...
Some Choice...
LATimes
I think we're going to get higher taxes and fewer services no matter how we vote. Services? Road work and police and fire services are about all I get, at least I hope I do, but poor people are going to be even more miserable.
The party's over. It's way past time and the bill is due. Now comes the hangover.
California voters could be presented with a tough choice by summer under a proposal that Gov.-elect Jerry Brown is considering: Approve new taxes or other revenue in a special election, or live with far fewer government services. Brown is holding talks with small groups of lawmakers and influential interest groups about how to put that decision before the public. He won't discuss his plans publicly, but people involved in the private discussions expect him to propose a special election after enacting a dire austerity budget in the spring.
Would you vote for new taxes to close California's massive budget deficit? Or it is time for Brown and the Legislature to slash spending? Tell us what you think.
I think we're going to get higher taxes and fewer services no matter how we vote. Services? Road work and police and fire services are about all I get, at least I hope I do, but poor people are going to be even more miserable.
The party's over. It's way past time and the bill is due. Now comes the hangover.
Haiti Braces For Disaster
YubaNet
Good luck, Haiti. You guys are in deep merde with her there.
PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI (The Borowitz Report) December 13, 2010 – Just when Haiti thought it had suffered every disaster imaginable, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin decided to visit.
In the disaster-torn nation's capital, a leading government minister warned citizens to "prepare for the worst."
"We have suffered earthquakes, flooding, and disease," said Minister of Disaster Jean-Claude Mansaray. "But it remains to be seen whether we can withstand a disaster of Sarah Palin's magnitude."
Across Haiti, citizens prepared themselves for the possible devastation Palin might cause, especially to their language and syntax.
"We have seen what she has done to English, and fear that she could do the same to French," Minister Mansaray said.
Upon her arrival, Gov. Palin seemed to get off on the wrong foot by repeatedly pronouncing the name of the country "Hades."
Minister Mansaray said that he and his countrymen were fearing the worst, but hoping for the best: "Our only hope is that she does what she did in Alaska: leaves early."
Good luck, Haiti. You guys are in deep merde with her there.
Experts: ‘Death Tax’ More Deadly than Gout, Polo Injuries Combined
The Swift Report
More.
CNN
The Dems think it's too low and the Repugs think it's too high. That doesn't surprise me, but I am a little surprised that it's the main sticking point.
I once paid estate tax of $40,000 on an estate valued at $150,000 which mostly consisted of a house which I had to sell to pay the tax. That was all right because I couldn't have afforded to keep the house anyway, but I thought it was unfair. The estate tax has since been modified so that there was a threshold of (I think) $2Million before estate tax kicked in. I think that's a lot fairer. Inheritance tax is a good way to soak the rich, not so good for reg'lar folks who inherit grannie's house and silverware.
I think the threshold should be considerably lower than the proposed $5Million, so I'm down wit da Dems on this one. Tax rate? Mox nix. Get 'em for what ya can, I says.
There is no inheritance tax this year. Look for an uptick in rich old farts kickin' the bucket on New Year's Eve. I can hear it now:
Rich ol' grannie on her deathbed, "What's that electric plug (or hypodermic needle/pillow/.38 Special/etc.) in yer hand, sonny?"
"That's my financial future, grannie, and thank you. Happy New Year!"
Heh.
WASHINGTON, DC—A new study confirms what the richest Americans and their allies on Capitol Hill have long suspected: the so-called death tax is more hazardous to the health of the nation’s wealthy than gout, which has been linked to excessive consumption of port wine, or injuries suffered during polo matches. The research, based on surveys of obituaries run in such papers as The Rancho Santa Fe News, the Jackson Hole News and Guide and the Chevy Chase Gazette, found that the death tax far surpassed other causes of wealth-related fatalities.
Only silver poisoning, a result of so-called silver spoon related birth syndrome, followed by intermarriage, the practice of marrying among a small group of wealthy individuals, was found to cause any where near the number of fatalities brought about by the death tax.
More.
CNN
Estate tax emerges as key Democratic beef in Obama's compromise
The Dems think it's too low and the Repugs think it's too high. That doesn't surprise me, but I am a little surprised that it's the main sticking point.
I once paid estate tax of $40,000 on an estate valued at $150,000 which mostly consisted of a house which I had to sell to pay the tax. That was all right because I couldn't have afforded to keep the house anyway, but I thought it was unfair. The estate tax has since been modified so that there was a threshold of (I think) $2Million before estate tax kicked in. I think that's a lot fairer. Inheritance tax is a good way to soak the rich, not so good for reg'lar folks who inherit grannie's house and silverware.
I think the threshold should be considerably lower than the proposed $5Million, so I'm down wit da Dems on this one. Tax rate? Mox nix. Get 'em for what ya can, I says.
There is no inheritance tax this year. Look for an uptick in rich old farts kickin' the bucket on New Year's Eve. I can hear it now:
Rich ol' grannie on her deathbed, "What's that electric plug (or hypodermic needle/pillow/.38 Special/etc.) in yer hand, sonny?"
"That's my financial future, grannie, and thank you. Happy New Year!"
Heh.
So ...
You don't wanna pay taxes? No problem. They'll get it out of you, one way or the other:
Bloomberg can suck my dick.
The FDNY was quick to dismiss any complaints about their proposed charging of drivers for FDNY assistance after an accident, saying that insurance companies would most likely foot the bill. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. "Except for some limited circumstances, a charge by the Fire Department for responding to auto crashes would not be covered under current auto insurance policies," said Insurance Superintendent James Wrynn. And don't even think of complaining, because Bloomberg thinks you should just suck it up.
...
Bloomberg can suck my dick.
The Utility Protection Racket
Good article at Z Magazine about PG&E out here in California.
I'm one of the lucky ones who don't get their gas and electric from PG&E. Our electric company (TDPUD) is pretty generally on the ball and our gas lines (SWG) are only a few years old.
And how are the utilities in your neck of the woods doing? Anything rusting its way to catastrophe in your back yard?
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is a billion-dollar, privately-owned, publicly-regulated utility whose main function is to make enormous profits for its shareholders at great cost to ratepayers. I know this to be true; I'm one of the ratepayers. The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) permits PG&E to charge rates that are 30 percent higher than the national average.
PG&E's shareholders enjoy a guaranteed 11.35 percent yearly return on equity. That's slightly higher than the 11 percent that Bernard Madoff pretended to offer his investment victims. After Madoff was exposed, his victims were chided for not having realized that no one pulls down an 11 percent return year after year on the stock market. But PG&E investors take in more than that every year. Unlike Madoff, the company's earnings are for real, guaranteed at a fixed return, devoid of risk.
PG&E enjoys a captive consumer market of 15 million customers in northern and central California. The utility is a monument to state-supported monopoly capitalism. If costs rise, then so do customer rates—in order to guarantee the 11.35 percent return. PG&E carries a $17 million insurance premium and additional millions in insurance deductibles; these expenses are picked up by its rate-payers.
Along with all the other expenses they bear, PG&E's ratepayers usually pay for the enormous costs of utility accidents. This may still prove to be the case with the disaster recently in San Bruno. On September 9, 2010, a PG&E pipeline blew apart. Gas explosions and flames ripped through the San Bruno community, taking the lives of at least 8, injuring over 50 others (some very seriously), and completely destroying or damaging upwards of 100 homes. An official from the National Transportation Safety Board described it: "My immediate assessment was the amazing destruction, the charred trees, the melted and charred cars, the houses disappeared."
One wonders how many other California communities are at risk from aging and deficient pipelines. So much for the superior performance of a giant private-profit corporation.
Left out of the picture is how corporate malfeasance and corporate-generated disasters are a reflection of the capitalist system. If a gas pipeline had exploded in communist Cuba, killing people and destroying homes, the incident would immediately have been treated by U.S. commentators as evidence of the deficiencies of the broader economic system, as proof that socialism cannot do it right.
But disasters in our society are seen simply as immediate mishaps, at worst, instances of negligence and mismanagement by a particular company, never as the outcome of a broader capitalist system that steadfastly puts profits before people, with immense costs passed along to the public.
The same is true of mining accidents, train wrecks, plane crashes, unsafe auto vehicles, unsafe consumer products and foods, toxic spills, offshore-drilling calamities, and a host of other noxious things that corporate America foists on us. Private industries are not in the safety business. All of them are in the business of creating the largest possible profits for their shareholders and their executives.
I'm one of the lucky ones who don't get their gas and electric from PG&E. Our electric company (TDPUD) is pretty generally on the ball and our gas lines (SWG) are only a few years old.
And how are the utilities in your neck of the woods doing? Anything rusting its way to catastrophe in your back yard?
Oh, the irony...
Ironic Times
Obama Forces GOP to Accept Compromise
GOP agrees to permanent unemployment benefits for the rich.
Lieberman Suggests New York Times Violated Espionage Act
Suggests waterboarding Paul Krugman.
Leaked Fox News Memo: Network Discouraged Use of Term "Public Option"
In favor of “Stalinist Death Machine.”
French Library Finds Previously Unknown Leonardo Da Vinci Manuscript
In it, he describes a vast web-like system connecting people so they can exchange short, banal messages with each other.
I got my own crooks ...
But the next county over (Nassau, home of Rep. Peter King) has another idiot they just elected and he's managed to make their fiscal situation worse:
You expect this shit from a place like Deepinahearta, Texas, but if there's a place in this area where the Republicans run rampant and turn things to shit, it's Nassau. You can thank all the Wall St. types on the North Shore and the retirees on the South Shore, the former, voting to protect their interest and the latter doing whatever Fox 'News' tells them.
MINEOLA, N.Y. — Facing a huge budget deficit when he took office in January, Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano did not impose a hiring freeze. He did not stop borrowing to subsidize some of the richest school districts in the country. He did not eliminate the Police Department’s beloved mounted unit.
Instead, Mr. Mangano, a Republican who won one of the first upsets of the Tea Party era, did what he had promised: He cut taxes, adding $40 million to the county’s deficit, which has since reached nearly $350 million.
Now, with its bonds suddenly downgraded and a state oversight agency preparing to seize its checkbook and credit cards, Nassau is on the verge of a full-fledged fiscal crisis. [my em]
...
You expect this shit from a place like Deepinahearta, Texas, but if there's a place in this area where the Republicans run rampant and turn things to shit, it's Nassau. You can thank all the Wall St. types on the North Shore and the retirees on the South Shore, the former, voting to protect their interest and the latter doing whatever Fox 'News' tells them.
Great thanks to my pal, and fellow football nut, W.K. Maier for the heads up via email.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Sunday Crazy Maltese Redneck Music & Linedancing Blogging
It's a crazy world...
Jailhouse floor Line Dance
Choreographed by Malcolm Russell
32 Count 4 Wall Improver Level
Music: "I found Jesus on a jailhouse floor" by George Strait
Video produced for "Country Jamboree" 2009
ONE TV MALTA
Thanks to LinedancerMalta.
Peaceful Counter-protest At Edwards Funeral
Think Progress. Many comments.
Two of the WBC assholes are children. I can't really tell, but I think the other three are women. The big brave male WBC assholes musta been reading the blogs where all the peacelovedope libruls were espousing beatin' the crap out of 'em and stayed away. Heh.
Whatever we may feel viscerally, non-violence is better if it works. It looks like it worked.
300 Show Up In The Rain To Counterprotest 5 Westboro Protesters At Elizabeth Edwards’ Funeral
Two of the WBC assholes are children. I can't really tell, but I think the other three are women. The big brave male WBC assholes musta been reading the blogs where all the peacelovedope libruls were espousing beatin' the crap out of 'em and stayed away. Heh.
Whatever we may feel viscerally, non-violence is better if it works. It looks like it worked.
Rigging the game ...
So much for change:
Our governance and our economy are all just one big backroom deal.
The banksters own the pols and police themselves. Good thing they reformed the system after the meltdown 2 years ago, eh? It's gonna get worse come January too.
On the third Wednesday of every month, the nine members of an elite Wall Street society gather in Midtown Manhattan.
The men share a common goal: to protect the interests of big banks in the vast market for derivatives, one of the most profitable — and controversial — fields in finance. They also share a common secret: The details of their meetings, even their identities, have been strictly confidential.
...
Our governance and our economy are all just one big backroom deal.
...
But big banks influence the rules governing derivatives through a variety of industry groups. The banks’ latest point of influence are clearinghouses like ICE Trust, which holds the monthly meetings with the nine bankers in New York.
Under the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul, many derivatives will be traded via such clearinghouses. Mr. Gensler wants to lessen banks’ control over these new institutions. But Republican lawmakers, many of whom received large campaign contributions from bankers who want to influence how the derivatives rules are written, say they plan to push back against much of the coming reform. On Thursday, the commission canceled a vote over a proposal to make prices more transparent, raising speculation that Mr. Gensler did not have enough support from his fellow commissioners. [my em]
...
The banksters own the pols and police themselves. Good thing they reformed the system after the meltdown 2 years ago, eh? It's gonna get worse come January too.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Saturday Homebrew Not-So-Crazy Redneck Music Video Blogging
Me'n Mrs. G got this album in the mail yesterday on our way to Reno. When this song came on, lemme tell ya it ain't easy to ROTFLMAO when yer driving but I managed it!
You Ford* fans will get a kick out of the album cover. I know I do:
*Fuckin' Okies Really Dig'em
Inside the album cover is "If it ain't broke, we can FIX that". Heh. My sentiments exactly sometimes.
This song is the way I feel too. Sometimes I think the yuppies dragged the Bay Area up here on a chain behind their Volvo just to fuck with me.
You Ford* fans will get a kick out of the album cover. I know I do:
*Fuckin' Okies Really Dig'em
Inside the album cover is "If it ain't broke, we can FIX that". Heh. My sentiments exactly sometimes.
This song is the way I feel too. Sometimes I think the yuppies dragged the Bay Area up here on a chain behind their Volvo just to fuck with me.
Rodney Dillard & The Dillard Band do "There Goes The Neighborhood" from their 2010 CD "I Wish Life Was Like Mayberry".
As a member of The Dillards way back when, Rodney was the slack-jawed guitar player in The Darlings on The Andy Griffith Show.
Video is a rural road in the Sierra Nevada.
I had to shorten the title of the song due to the character limit of the bargain-basement software that came with my video camera.
Confederacy nostalgia finds disturbing echoes in contemporary conservative politics
From a 'must read' article in The Guardian, UK:
I believe the south will rise again. Shit floats.
These days, conservatives are the new Confederates. They may not all dress up and play Scarlett and Rhett, but their politics are at least 150 years old. Since Barack Obama was elected president, Fox News apocalypticist Glenn Beck has predicted a new civil war is coming. Senator-elect Rand Paul has expressed distaste for the Civil Rights Act. "Tenthers" – those who believe that the 10th Amendment gives states sovereignty – are increasing in number in state legislatures and in Washington. Recently, a Tea Party leader in North Carolina wrote in his newsletter, "Washington DC has become destructive of our economy and liberty. It is our right and our duty to throw off such a government."
Such language echoes the old southern justifications for secession: a "destructive and overweaning" federal government and a president seen as alien to their values. I guess that makes Barack Obama Abraham Lincoln. It's hardly surprising that the first black president has been an intestine-rocking shock for folks accustomed to power residing only in people who look like them. The coming years of American civil war commemorations will only throw gasoline on the fire already burning in the brains of white America. As William Faulkner famously said, "The past is never dead. It's not even past."
I believe the south will rise again. Shit floats.
"...founding document has ‘jumped the shark.’ "
The Swift Report
Effort to Merge Constitution, Ten Commandments Gains Steam
A growing body of detractors warns that Constitution “goes too far” and “shouldn’t apply” to luminaries of the political right.
Sources close to the Constitution say that its troubles began as early as 1791 with the adoption of the Bill of Rights. While fans praise the Constitution’s “commitment to free speech” and say it’s “unsurpassed” as a “ruling document,” a growing body of detractors warns that the document “goes too far” and “shouldn’t apply” to “criticism of Sarah Palin” and other luminaries of the political right. The Constitution has also seen its fan base shrink due to a persistent Internet rumor that the words separation of church and state appear in its text—a misconception that lives on despite the efforts of Constitutional experts.
While the two governing documents contain essential differences, even contradictions—experts say that reconciling the 2nd Amendment’s right to bear arms with the 6th Commandment, “thou shall not kill,” could prove difficult—they share one essential attribute: Americans are only vaguely acquainted with either. According to recent reports, fewer than a third of Americans have read the entire Constitution. Meanwhile, few Americans were found to be able to name more than five of the Ten Commandments. If Americans are a bit vague on what the two documents actually say, they have not doubt about who authored both the Ten Commandments and the Constitution. Recent surveys have found that patriotic Americans are more likely than their liberal counterparts to recognize Moses’ role in the creation of both documents.
Headline and Quote of the Day
Renewing the Bush Tax Cuts for the Super Rich is Like Celebrating Sobriety With a Cognac and Crack Party
driving your car off the cliff, paying a tow truck twice the price of the car to haul it back up, then driving it back over because your brother-in-law's cousin's friend told you this time it will fly.
More.
Friday, December 10, 2010
So ...
You let the bully kick your ass and then get your big brother to convince everybody you won? Plz:
Pussy.
Former President Bill Clinton made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room Friday afternoon to express his support for the tax cut compromise worked out between President Obama and Congressional Republicans.
Mr. Obama stood next to Mr. Clinton while the latter made a statement of support for the $858 billion bill, which is facing strong opposition from House Democrats who object to a two-year extension of tax cuts for the highest earners and the levels at which the estate tax would be set.
...
Pussy.
Headline of the Day
Halliburton may pay $500 million to keep Cheney out of prison: report
They'll just take it outta The Dick's next dividend check. Or maybe not. It's just taxpayers' money after all. It's free for nothing and there's plenty of it. The Dick saw to that.
Note to Halliburton: It'd be cheaper to off him. Shit, just stall Nigeria a little. He's damn near dead anyway.
Why the Obama Tax Deal Confirms the Republican Worldview
Robert Reich
Their blood will run in the streets before the Bigs allow that.
Make me and Fixer Prez and Veep for a day and we'll bring in a few of our peeps and fix this shit. It won't be pretty but it'll work. All we ask is immunity from prosecution for some of what we will do and pre-signed pardons for the rest. One day. K Street will be a smoking pit and McConnell and Boner and all their henchmen will be on what's left of their knees begging this country for forgiveness.
We won't need any "Second Amendment remedies" either. Maybe a coupla airstrikes, but mostly stuff that goes 'thunk' and 'crunch' and is satisfying to use.
The phony christian haters in the next post have made me a little extra angry today. It's time, has been, to kick wingnut ass. Literally.
Apart from its extraordinary cost and regressive tilt, the tax deal negotiated between the president and the Republicans has another fatal flaw.
It confirms the Republican worldview.
Americans want to know what happened to the economy and how to fix it. At least Republicans have a story -- the same one they've been flogging for thirty years. The bad economy is big government's fault and the solution is to shrink government.
But here's the obstacle. As income and wealth have risen to the top, so has political power. Money is being used to bribe politicians and fill the airwaves with misleading ads that block all of this.
In other words, the problem isn't big government. It's power and privilege at the top.
So another part of the solution is to limit the impact of big money on politics. This requires, for example, publicly-financed campaigns, disclosure of all sources of political spending, and resurrection of the fairness doctrine for broadcasters.
Their blood will run in the streets before the Bigs allow that.
Get it? By agreeing to another round of massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the president confirms the Republican story. Cutting taxes on the rich while freezing discretionary spending (which he's also agreed to do) affirms that the underlying problem is big government, and the solution is to shrink government and expect the extra wealth at the top to trickle down to everyone else.
Obama's new tax compromise is not only bad economics; it's also disastrous from the standpoint of educating the public about what has happened and what needs to happen in the future. It reinforces the Republican story and makes mincemeat out of the truthful one Democrats should be telling.
Make me and Fixer Prez and Veep for a day and we'll bring in a few of our peeps and fix this shit. It won't be pretty but it'll work. All we ask is immunity from prosecution for some of what we will do and pre-signed pardons for the rest. One day. K Street will be a smoking pit and McConnell and Boner and all their henchmen will be on what's left of their knees begging this country for forgiveness.
We won't need any "Second Amendment remedies" either. Maybe a coupla airstrikes, but mostly stuff that goes 'thunk' and 'crunch' and is satisfying to use.
The phony christian haters in the next post have made me a little extra angry today. It's time, has been, to kick wingnut ass. Literally.
Despicable
Pensito Review
Peacefully counter-potesting my ass. Mrs. Edwards was a class act and doesn't deserve this treatment by the Westboro Haters.
Note to the bikers that kept this bunch away from some military funerals: take off the biker garb, show up in cars, and beat the crap outta these assholes.
Update:
See Montag's and Bustednuckles' takes.
Wow. Us usually normal people are gettin' right up off the peace, love, dope, rainbows, and unicorns shit over this. And rightly so.
Update the Twoth:
From El Rude-o:
He lays into 'em for a variety of things, but on the Westboro assholes:
Well, we might notice a slight uptick in peace and quiet.
Like Nucks said in his post, I could do this shit all day. The day is young...
Westboro Baptist Church, a group with a history of staging protests at funerals and issuing anti-gay statements, is planning to picket the Saturday funeral of Elizabeth Edwards.
...
Lately, decent Americans have been peacefully counter-protesting this hate group by blocking their signs with large American flags.
Peacefully counter-potesting my ass. Mrs. Edwards was a class act and doesn't deserve this treatment by the Westboro Haters.
Note to the bikers that kept this bunch away from some military funerals: take off the biker garb, show up in cars, and beat the crap outta these assholes.
Update:
See Montag's and Bustednuckles' takes.
Wow. Us usually normal people are gettin' right up off the peace, love, dope, rainbows, and unicorns shit over this. And rightly so.
Update the Twoth:
From El Rude-o:
Note to Conservative Christians: Your God Is Kind of a Dick
He lays into 'em for a variety of things, but on the Westboro assholes:
1. In its increasing effort to be America's most-loathed inbred idiots, the piles of shit from the Westboro Baptist have declared that, like fags, God also hates Elizabeth Edwards and, as a result, said piles of shit will be protesting her funeral on Saturday. To teach the Edwards family a lesson, according to the inbreds, God killed their child: "When they were visited from the Most High God with the death of their 16-year-old son, they did not humble themselves before His mighty hand." Since we're just making shit up about what a fictional character thinks, how about this: God wants the Westboro Baptist Church to commit mass suicide in order to demonstrate how much they love him. The next move is yours, Phelps family.
(You know, as long as the CIA is targeting U.S. citizens for assassination, could we just thin the herd around here a bit? No one would even notice.)
Well, we might notice a slight uptick in peace and quiet.
Like Nucks said in his post, I could do this shit all day. The day is young...
Quote of the Day
From Paul Krugman on "Obama's Hostage Deal":
He set himself up to fail. Big time.
Well, concerns about the tax deal reflect realism, not purism: Mr. Obama is setting up another hostage situation a year down the road. And given that fact, the last thing we need is the kind of self-indulgent behavior he showed by lashing out at progressives who he feels aren’t giving him enough credit.
He set himself up to fail. Big time.
Friday Monster Blogging ...
Ziva, displaying what we call "Zivatude", and Chooch debating whether to bark at the garbage truck.
Happy Friday!
Stupid shit ...
As you know, I'm a big football (soccer) fan. One of my little things is team jerseys. When we travel, I buy a shirt from the local team. I wear 'em instead of t-shirts and they're very comfortable. One of the sponsors on Fox Soccer Channel is World Soccer Shop, who sell all sorts of shirts and equipment, and they have a great commercial up for the holiday season.
The Mrs. says I have the same look when I get a new shirt. That said, a box came for me yesterday.
Thanks, baby!
And a note: They're also a great way to break the ice with strangers when we're in Europe. Being football is so big over there, it's guaranteed someone will come up to you and say "oh, you like so-and-so?" and a conversation begins, though in Italy a Juventus fan gave me shit for wearing an ACF Fiorentina shirt. Can't please everybody ...
World Soccer Shop - The Box Is For Me!
The Mrs. says I have the same look when I get a new shirt. That said, a box came for me yesterday.
England National Team and Chelsea FC home jerseys
Thanks, baby!
And a note: They're also a great way to break the ice with strangers when we're in Europe. Being football is so big over there, it's guaranteed someone will come up to you and say "oh, you like so-and-so?" and a conversation begins, though in Italy a Juventus fan gave me shit for wearing an ACF Fiorentina shirt. Can't please everybody ...
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Once they're dead, they're gold
El Rude-o on the Repugs response to actually helping 9/11 first responders:
The definition of 'job-killing' is now whatever the Repugs don't want. They don't give a shit about jobs of course, only profit for their organ grinders, but it's a fine repetitive talking point.
Sadly.
Which makes it odd, to say the least, and disgustingly hypocritical, for Senator Enzi, so mournful about the date and so into honoring the memory of the victims, not to mention so into giving tens of billions of dollars away to rich people, to not only oppose the Zadroga 9/11 Victim Health and Compensation Act, but to circulate a letter to other Republicans that the $7.6 billion bill would lead to massive fraud and "job-killing taxes." By the way, the cost of the Zadroga Act, which is pretty much explained in the full name, has already been covered by closing a couple of tax loopholes on foreign corporations. Apparently, the definition of "job-killing" has been dumbed down.
The definition of 'job-killing' is now whatever the Repugs don't want. They don't give a shit about jobs of course, only profit for their organ grinders, but it's a fine repetitive talking point.
You can bet, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you could go through the websites of every Senate Republican and find canonization after glorification of the mighty 9/11 first responders. Especially the dead ones, because, you know, they don't require any medical care and the living ones are such a nuisance with their "needs" and "illnesses." Compassion is so much easier when you don't have to act. [...]
...
One final note: Imagine, just imagine, if this whole hostage thing had been taken seriously by the Democrats and the White House. Just imagine the President appearing with sick firefighters and unemployed mothers to hold the line on tax cuts. Imagine that battle. Sadly, it will remain only a fading illusion.
Sadly.
Headline of the Day
MasterCard and Visa cut off Wikileaks, but the KKK is still OK!
It's the Amurikkkan way...
Sleeping dogs ...
Being the master (use a very loose interpretation of the word) of 2 Cattle Dogs, I fully understand the meaning of the adage "let sleeping dogs lie". When my little monsters wake up from a nap, they're full of piss and vinegar and it's best to let them sleep as long as possible. Heh ...
That said, maybe people might not want to wake the doggie:
Independent hackers are much smarter than their government counterparts and it seems to me they're ready to put some serious hurt on anybody who dicks with Assange. I'd advise governments (especially ours) to make sure their countermeasures are up to par before pissing these guys off too badly.
That said, maybe people might not want to wake the doggie:
LONDON — In a campaign that had some declaring the start of a “cyberwar,” hundreds of Internet activists mounted retaliatory attacks on Wednesday on the Web sites of multinational companies and other organizations they deemed hostile to the WikiLeaks antisecrecy organization and its jailed founder, Julian Assange.
Within 12 hours of a British judge’s decision on Tuesday to deny Mr. Assange bail in a Swedish extradition case, attacks on the Web sites of WikiLeaks’s “enemies,” as defined by the organization’s impassioned supporters around the world, caused several corporate Web sites to become inaccessible or slow down markedly.
...
Independent hackers are much smarter than their government counterparts and it seems to me they're ready to put some serious hurt on anybody who dicks with Assange. I'd advise governments (especially ours) to make sure their countermeasures are up to par before pissing these guys off too badly.
Oy ...
Got my painting finished ... mostly ... but then I decided, while I was at it, to rework my desk (I built it about 10 years ago) and build a condo for the dogs. Details later.
Update:
Ain't finished but you can get an idea.
Update:
Ain't finished but you can get an idea.
Chooch (my supervisor): "Hey, old man, put the roach clip down and quit screwing off. Either that or play with me."
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
"Don't move or I'll shoot!"
William K. Black
Yo, O-man - give the bullies your lunch money if that's the way you are. Don't give them mine.
What Aspect of Dealing with Bullies Did Obama Fail to Learn as a Child?
Bullies play a well known game. Their strategy is to intimidate. Sometimes they threaten us directly sometimes they threaten those we care about. By the age of 14 we have all identified who the bullies are, figured out their strategy, and learned that one cannot "persuade" them to act appropriately. The only way to stop a bully is to "play games" -- to act strategically. They must be confronted and this can, we can all attest from personal experience, be painful. Bullies are cowards and most people hate bullies and will form alliances to stop them. Obama, as is his norm, raged at those who would have been his allies against the bullies. Giving in to bullies guarantees that they will act ever more abusively.
Obama thinks he can "persuade" Senate Republicans who are "playing games" about tax cuts. Their strategic (non)negotiating position is that unless they get tax cuts for the top one percent no American will get tax cuts (or any other necessary legislation). They are holding 99% of Americans hostage to benefit the top one percent. Obama thinks that if the Republicans play games he is helpless to resist them no matter how harmful his capitulation will be to the nation.
Note to President Obama: you misunderstand your position description. An adult who repeatedly gives in to a bully is a coward, not "reasonable." Do you realize that the Republicans have been calling you a coward with regard to your foreign policies for two years and that they hold you in utter contempt? That is why they believed they could get away with bullying you in Congress despite your large majorities in both Houses. I guarantee that they have view your falling for their Blazing Saddles threat to commit suicide as the ultimate demonstration of that your administration has descended into farce.
Yo, O-man - give the bullies your lunch money if that's the way you are. Don't give them mine.
Premature Concession Syndrome
This is a current picture of Mad Kane. She has an old one at her site and I didn't know what she looks like these days until today. Besides enjoying her wit, I think she's gorgeous:
Click to
She wrote this limerick:
Fixer has accused me of stalking her. I don't evenstill own shoes with the tread pattern they found in her rose bushes!
Click to engorge embiggen
She wrote this limerick:
Premature Concession Syndrome — A Remedial Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane
Dear Obama, it’s Law 101
That in deal making don’t jump the gun:
Never give stuff away
With the hope that one day
You might get something back — this ain’t done.
Your opponent will simply want more.
He will threaten to walk out the door
Unless you accede
To his limitless greed.
Learn this rule or you never will score.
You claim that you earned a JD.
I’ve got one of my own, so you see
Why I don’t understand
How you fail to demand
Quid pro quo from the damn GOP.
Fixer has accused me of stalking her. I don't even
What if...?
I've always kinda had the notion that Obama is a Stealth Ninja Jedi.
What if he made this awful tax cut deal with the Repugs giving them more than they wanted at terrible cost, knowing that it would disarm them completely and they would crow over it but that it would cause such an outcry and backlash from the Dems while they are still in the majority in the House that it would never get passed, no how, no way, unh-uh, nada, zip, bupkis like it seems may happen and not leave the Repugs time to do anything about it?
I know this is fanciful and 99.9999% certainly not so, but if it is...
The Bush tax cuts will expire like they were going to all along, the Repugs will have been snookered completely, and Obama will have added 11-layer 3-dimensional chess to his Stealth Ninja Jedi act.
What if he made this awful tax cut deal with the Repugs giving them more than they wanted at terrible cost, knowing that it would disarm them completely and they would crow over it but that it would cause such an outcry and backlash from the Dems while they are still in the majority in the House that it would never get passed, no how, no way, unh-uh, nada, zip, bupkis like it seems may happen and not leave the Repugs time to do anything about it?
I know this is fanciful and 99.9999% certainly not so, but if it is...
The Bush tax cuts will expire like they were going to all along, the Repugs will have been snookered completely, and Obama will have added 11-layer 3-dimensional chess to his Stealth Ninja Jedi act.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
A Matter Of Chance
I can't let 7 December pass without a Pearl Harbor story. Neither can the LATimes.
Good story. Please read the rest.
They were barely men at the time, unaware of each other but baptized by the same fire.
Paul Perrault was 21, a naval officer aboard the light cruiser Phoenix, anchored in Pearl Harbor's East Loch. He had just risen from his bunk when cannon-like blasts tore through the morning calm. Scrambling to his post in the gunnery, he saw a sky speckled with Japanese planes.
Across the harbor on Ford Island was Seaman 2nd Class Anthony "George" Mark, 18, who narrowly escaped as a plane strafed his area and bombs plunged into nearby hangars.
Twenty years later, two fathers met on a Monrovia cul-de-sac. One lived in a tan-colored home with his wife and two children. The other was moving his family of five into the house next door. After a month of small talk, the men learned of their shared past.
Chance had saved their lives. Chance made them neighbors.
The two belong to a dwindling fraternity. An estimated 4,000 Pearl Harbor survivors are still alive.
"It was just luck — where you happened to be and how the Japanese planned to bomb," Perrault said. "People say, 'God was with you,' but I think, 'How about the 3,000 that died?' How come God wasn't with them?"
There is little to be proud of when it comes to surviving a war, Mark said. "We got out and we're out, period."
Good story. Please read the rest.
Why do I have little trouble believing this?
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) December 7, 2010 – In his latest effort to find common ground with Republicans in Congress, President Barack Obama said today that he was willing to agree that he is a Muslim.
Differences over his religious orientation have been a sore point between the President and his Republican foes for the past two years, but in agreeing that he is a Muslim Mr. Obama is sending a clear signal that he is trying to find consensus.
"The American people do not want to see us fighting in Washington," Mr. Obama told reporters at the White House. "They want to see us working together to improve their lives, and Allah willing, we will."
But Mr. Obama's willing to back down on his claim of being a Christian does not seem to have satisfied his Republican opposition, as GOP leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) today insisted that the President must also agree that he was born in Kenya.
While Mr. Obama did not immediately agree to Rep. Bohener's demand, he hinted that yet another compromise might be in the offing: "My place of birth has been, and will always be, negotiable."
Spokespersons of US Right 'In Most Cases Stunningly Ignorant'
Excerpt from an interview in Der Spiegel about the Wikileaks with Zbigniew Brzezinski who's not running for office, has his F.U. money stashed, and can say what he wants:
Duh, but thanks for saying it out loud, Zbig.
SPIEGEL: And the American decline. Are Americans aware of that trend or does the fate of Carter await President Barak Obama should he openly address the issue?
Brzezinski: I am very worried that most Americans are close to total ignorance about the world. They are ignorant. That is an unhealthy condition in a country in which foreign policy has to be endorsed by the people if it is to be pursued. And it makes it much more difficult for any president to pursue an intelligent policy that does justice to the complexity of the world.
SPIEGEL: Yet the American right is still convinced of American exceptionalism.
Brzezinski: That is a reaction to the inability of people to understand global complexity or important issues like American energy dependency. Therefore, they search for simplistic sources of comfort and clarity. And the people that they are now selecting to be, so to speak, the spokespersons of their anxieties are, in most cases, stunningly ignorant.
Duh, but thanks for saying it out loud, Zbig.
Compromise After Compromise Is Just Defeat After Defeat
I think it's safe to say that Obama just got our ass kicked to little gain exzcept to the rich. I've been looking around for somebody who says what I feel because other people write better than I do. The Rude Pundit comes as close as anybody.
His first paragraph describes how he'd feel this morning if he was a Democratic congressman who partied with his supposed buddy Barry: a colossal hangover, his head in a bucket, a sore ass, weird stuff written on his forehead, and no memory of what happened. Then he gets to it:
We wanted this fight. Even though he had the edge and could've won, Obama didn't. If you don't fight a bully, you lose. End of story.
The guys who defended the Alamo didn't particularly want their fight, but they fought it. This came out about the same without all the bother.
Maybe Congress can save this, but I doubt it. On to our next ass-kicking.
P.S.: If someday Obama decides to fight, he's gonna say "Follow me!" and there'll be nobody behind him.
His first paragraph describes how he'd feel this morning if he was a Democratic congressman who partied with his supposed buddy Barry: a colossal hangover, his head in a bucket, a sore ass, weird stuff written on his forehead, and no memory of what happened. Then he gets to it:
There's writers on the left trying to spin President Obama's deal on extending the Bush tax cuts for two years. They talk about long-term strategy and the potential for 2012. Essentially, what that means is that the President'll re-argue one of the very things that inspired a large majority to vote for him in the first place. In other words, Obama's next campaign would have to say something along the lines of, "Hey, you know how I said I'd let those tax cuts on the wealthy expire last time? Boy, I really, really mean it now." Yeah, man, let's have that soul-searching discussion of American tax rates. Let's see how it goes.
We're talking about a public that was too stupid to realize that health care reform was not a government takeover of Grandma's feeding tube. We're talking about a public that didn't realize that Obama lowered taxes for 95% of the population, that were dead sure that an evil socialist Kenyan was taking money out of their pockets to pay ACORN to have Black Panthers stare blackly and pantherly at white voters in Crackerville, Pennsylvania. Thumbs up for thinking ahead. How'd that kicking it down the road work out before the midterms?
Yes, compromise supporters are correct that an extension of unemployment insurance for 13 months to those whose benefits are just running out (but not those whose ran out before now) is a good thing. And the only thing one can say to that is that the GOP sure fucking outgunned the Democrats without ever firing a shot. This is the end result of nearly two years of nonstop capitulation. Was there a single speech by the President where he said that Republicans were keeping food from the mouths of poor children in order for rich people to give their kids cars with sweeter rims? No, and that's because the poor are always the pawns, man, readily sacrificed until they're really needed. There were ways to have this fight. Get governors involved because a shift of 2 million people off unemployment would have meant a fuck of a lot of people needing public services mostly provided by overburdened, under-revenued states. Take the fight big and open instead of small and backroom.
Sorry, dear, sweet, strong Obama supporters. But congressional Democrats should rebel. They should tell Joe Biden today that it ain't gonna happen, that Mitch McConnell can shove it up his ass, that the minority leader needs to explain to America why it's more important to give the wealthy several hundred billion dollars in tax relief rather than extend unemployment, which would cost less then five months of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. In fact, Nancy Pelosi should donate some of her spine to the President and tell him to join with them. How many more times does this happen? If Obama is willing to cave so quickly with Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, what's he gonna do with a Republican House abetting a filibustering Senate minority?
To be sure, Republican bear almost the entire blame for this debacle. However, almost everyone on the left was telling the President that his approach to bipartisanship was going to bite him on the ass. Republicans acted like Republicans. Obama acted like his ass was made of titanium when it was just flesh after all.
We wanted this fight. Even though he had the edge and could've won, Obama didn't. If you don't fight a bully, you lose. End of story.
The guys who defended the Alamo didn't particularly want their fight, but they fought it. This came out about the same without all the bother.
Maybe Congress can save this, but I doubt it. On to our next ass-kicking.
P.S.: If someday Obama decides to fight, he's gonna say "Follow me!" and there'll be nobody behind him.
So ...
It's 2012, a Presidential election year, with the Republican/Conservative/Teabaggers in control of at least one house of Congress, and this "deal" Barry made with the Republicans is back up on the legislative calendar. What are the odds they'll repeal the tax cuts then?
Yeah, thought so.
...
The agreement would extend for two years the 2001 and 2003 income tax cuts at all income levels, continues federal unemployment benefits for 13 months at a cost of $56 billion, and calls for a 2-percentage-point cut in employees' Social Security payroll taxes that would add $120 billion to the deficit.
...
Yeah, thought so.
Quote of the Day
Rep. Anthony Wiener of New York:
...
"I think a lot of people are wondering why President Obama doesn't fight for what he believes in a lot more," said Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y. "It seems like it goes from zero to fold in pretty fast time." [my em]
...
Monday, December 6, 2010
Listen to McCain (Mrs.)
MoDo's got a pretty good column on DADT.
Heh. I gare-on-tee ya that some enlisted (wo)man came up with that addition to the play list! Officers ain't got the balls.
It's clear as a bell to me - McCain is pandering to what he thinks is his 'base', the same throwback minority that couldn't elect him President, thank you Jesus. They resist change from the 'good old days' of happy straight white intolerance. If homos was bad then, they're still bad now because we're real Amurrikans and never wrong cuz blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus said it even if he didn't but would've if he'da thunk of the next election in which we gotta get everything back from The Others, like libruls and the darker-hued and reality. And the next one after that. And the next one after that.
Shit, even LIE-berman appears to have seen the handwriting on the wall on this one. The writing on the wall of the men's room is all McCain sees.
The problem is that each individual Senator has the power to gum up the works for the whole country with his own brand of cheap shit. This needs to change.
As the troops waited for President Obama to come into the hangar at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, an Army band serenaded the crowd.
Not with Sousa or the theme from “Patton.” The band — drawn from the 101st Airborne Division and called Nuts after General McAuliffe’s rebuttal to a German surrender ultimatum — jammed to a more resonant tune.
The young female soldier who is the lead singer belted out “I Kissed A Girl” — Katy Perry’s ode to Sapphic smooching.
The lyrics about “the taste of her cherry Chapstick” and “just human nature” offered a cheeky counterpoint to the weighty debate going on half-a-world away as the Senate Armed Services Committee hashed over questions of human nature and sexual tension.
Heh. I gare-on-tee ya that some enlisted (wo)man came up with that addition to the play list! Officers ain't got the balls.
Even after a Pentagon report showing that most troops and their families think that allowing gays and lesbians to be themselves would not be a big deal, even after the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff urged the Senate to repeal the law that demands dishonesty, Democrats were still fending off a snarling John McCain and a few unreconstructed Southerners.
In yet another ludicrous bit of goal-post shifting, McCain said it wasn’t enough that the top two leaders of the military, and many of the troops, favored repeal. Now he wants to hold 13 hearings and solicit the views of senior enlisted personnel around the world, even though, as the Army chief, Gen. George Casey Jr., dryly informed the panel, the military is not a democracy. The five service chiefs agreed that, if asked, they could successfully carry out the changes.
It’s unclear why McCain is being so stubborn and stalling, particularly when those closest to him — his wife, his daughter and his cloakroom buddy Joe Lieberman — have all boldly spoken out on behalf of gays in the military.
It's clear as a bell to me - McCain is pandering to what he thinks is his 'base', the same throwback minority that couldn't elect him President, thank you Jesus. They resist change from the 'good old days' of happy straight white intolerance. If homos was bad then, they're still bad now because we're real Amurrikans and never wrong cuz blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus said it even if he didn't but would've if he'da thunk of the next election in which we gotta get everything back from The Others, like libruls and the darker-hued and reality. And the next one after that. And the next one after that.
Shit, even LIE-berman appears to have seen the handwriting on the wall on this one. The writing on the wall of the men's room is all McCain sees.
The problem is that each individual Senator has the power to gum up the works for the whole country with his own brand of cheap shit. This needs to change.
Quote of the Day dos
From a 'recommended read' on complicity in repression, "Happy As A Hangman" by Chris Hedges:
What is frightening in collapsing societies is not only the killers, sadists, murderers and psychopaths who rise up out of the moral swamp to take power, but the huge numbers of ordinary people who become complicit in state crimes.
Maybe Ugly Paranoia Doesn't Sell So Hot After All
Common Dreams
Operative words are "vaguely, slightly, possibly good news". Even down by 36% Miss Becky still gets several times Ms. Maddow's viewers. In other words, less crazies are still more crazies.
Hey, some vaguely, slightly, possibly good news! Latest cable ratings show Rachel Maddow's viewership up 20%, and Glenn Beck's - minus his 140 advertisers - down a whopping 36%. So the loonies get the press, but not the viewers? It's a start.
Operative words are "vaguely, slightly, possibly good news". Even down by 36% Miss Becky still gets several times Ms. Maddow's viewers. In other words, less crazies are still more crazies.
Quote of the Day
From "Teabuggering the Constitution" at Politics Plus:
Hear, hear.
Teabaggers have a rather selective understanding of what the Constitution guarantees, and seem quite ready to trash whatever portions thereof contradict their platform of guns, greed and hate.
Hear, hear.
Oh, the irony...
Ironic Times
Conservatives: Death Sentence For Those Who Leaked Classified Material
Except Scooter Libby.
Congressional Republicans Oppose Funds to Feed Hungry Children
Insist it takes away children's incentive to look for food themselves.
GOP Senators Pledge to Block All Democratic Bills
Result of election mandate to do nothing at all to help economy ever.
Russia, Qatar's Superior Bribes Earn Them 2018, 2022 World Cups
FIFA officials say they received substantially less from U.S., England.
At this point ...
We should just let all the tax cuts expire. If the growing national debt is supposedly the greatest danger to our economy, then we might as well all take the pain. Letting all the cuts expire will reduce the deficit by $3 trillion (as opposed to the relatively meager $700bln if only the top 2% get their taxes raised). Isn't that what we want?
If Barry had a ball or two, he'd veto any tax cut bill coming out of Congress but that won't happen. The White House has caved already, citing the need for 'compromise' and allowing extension of unemployment benefits to be linked to the cuts. Once again, those looking to 1600 for leadership are sorely disappointed.
Reporting from Washington — In a rare Saturday session, Senate Democrats and Republicans remained at loggerheads over whether to extend the George W. Bush-era tax cuts to all taxpayers, ratcheting up the pressure on lawmakers to try to reach agreement before the tax cuts expire at the end of the year.
With Republicans unified in opposition, Democrats, as expected, fell short of the votes needed to overcome a filibuster and extend the tax cuts for all but the very wealthy.
...
If Barry had a ball or two, he'd veto any tax cut bill coming out of Congress but that won't happen. The White House has caved already, citing the need for 'compromise' and allowing extension of unemployment benefits to be linked to the cuts. Once again, those looking to 1600 for leadership are sorely disappointed.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Playing in the snow
I finally got to take my machine out on a sunny day! This is my longest time on it yet and I still have no idea how to ride it. The dogs had fun too.
At one point, the first time I ever nailed the throttle, you will hear me invoke Fixer and his 'famous last words' but nothing bad happened. This time. Heh.
At one point, the first time I ever nailed the throttle, you will hear me invoke Fixer and his 'famous last words' but nothing bad happened. This time. Heh.
1st sunny day after two weeks of storms and gray skies.
I got this Yamaha for FREE from a realtor who wanted it out of the front yard of the house two doors down that was in foreclosure.
It may be an old crapcan but it runs and the price was right. Also, it's probably slower than molasses in January, but I have very little experience with these things and it's scary fast to me!
'Don't ask, don't tell' on the way out
Debra J. Saunders is the conservative columnist at the EssEffChron. 'Conservative' does not have quite the same connotation in Frisco as it does in, say, Bachmann's district.
Besides the fact that the 'concerns of combat troops' are mainly leadership, intel, a good plan, ammo, comm, supporting arms on call, and a little food and water, that one's almost easy to understand: combat troops are generally cockstrong macho young guys, very fit, trained up to the nines, and with a sense of comradeship and invulnerability in their mission, as in "Yea though I walk through the Valley Of Death, I 'm the meanest motherfucker in the valley". Operative word is 'young' which presupposes the modifier 'dumb' - 'gay' does not fit well in their idea of the macho world they inhabit.
That said, the trigger-pullers are remarkably well disciplined and will do what they are told. No one took a poll before Iwo Jima or Normandy. They'll get over it about the time a gay corpsman patches one of 'em up under fire. Or when they are told to. Besides, Marines never leave their buddies' behind anyway. Heh.
What the troops 'think', heh, has never been much of a concern. Still not a problem.
There's the rub. "Activist judges" seem to be OK when they decide that a corporation is a citizen with all the 'free speech' (actually many thousands of times themoney 'free speech') of an individual, but not OK when they go against something the right wing wants its Senate lapdogs to be in charge of not doing.
One way or another, DADT is over but for the shouting. Or in McCain's case, the drooling.
One gay service member noted that a repeal would "take a knife out of my back." Amen to that. They have our back; we should remove the knife pointing at theirs.
Besides, I have to agree with the gay service member who predicted, "If it is repealed, everyone will look around their spaces to see if anyone speaks up. They'll hear crickets for a while. A few flamboyant guys and tough girls will join to rock the boat and make a scene. Their actions and bad choices probably will get them kicked out. After a little time has gone by, then a few of us will speak up. And instead of a deluge of panic and violence ... there'll be a ripple on the water's surface that dissipates quicker than you can watch."
That doesn't mean that there won't be problems. As Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., noted during Thursday's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, the review also found that 58 percent of Marines in combat units and 48 percent of Army combat troops feared that repealing "don't ask, don't tell" would have a negative or a very negative impact on the ability of their units to work together. America is at war and Washington has to address the concerns of combat troops.
Besides the fact that the 'concerns of combat troops' are mainly leadership, intel, a good plan, ammo, comm, supporting arms on call, and a little food and water, that one's almost easy to understand: combat troops are generally cockstrong macho young guys, very fit, trained up to the nines, and with a sense of comradeship and invulnerability in their mission, as in "Yea though I walk through the Valley Of Death, I 'm the meanest motherfucker in the valley". Operative word is 'young' which presupposes the modifier 'dumb' - 'gay' does not fit well in their idea of the macho world they inhabit.
That said, the trigger-pullers are remarkably well disciplined and will do what they are told. No one took a poll before Iwo Jima or Normandy. They'll get over it about the time a gay corpsman patches one of 'em up under fire. Or when they are told to. Besides, Marines never leave their buddies' behind anyway. Heh.
What the troops 'think', heh, has never been much of a concern. Still not a problem.
Everyone knows that "don't ask, don't tell" eventually will be repealed. It's only a matter of time. So the question is: Will it be repealed by people who care about the military and the rights of dissenters, or will it be repealed by an arrogant judge with a political agenda? That is the choice before the Senate.
There's the rub. "Activist judges" seem to be OK when they decide that a corporation is a citizen with all the 'free speech' (actually many thousands of times the
One way or another, DADT is over but for the shouting. Or in McCain's case, the drooling.
Obama as Patty Hearst
Daddy Frank
Ooh! Cold shot, Pops!
THOSE desperate to decipher the baffling Obama presidency could do worse than consult an article titled “Understanding Stockholm Syndrome” in the online archive of The F.B.I. Law Enforcement Bulletin. It explains that hostage takers are most successful at winning a victim’s loyalty if they temper their brutality with a bogus show of kindness. Soon enough, the hostage will start concentrating on his captors’ “good side” and develop psychological characteristics to please them — “dependency; lack of initiative; and an inability to act, decide or think.”
The captors will win this battle, if they haven’t already by the time you read this, because Obama has seemingly surrendered his once-considerable abilities to act, decide or think. [...]
Ooh! Cold shot, Pops!
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