. . . and not in the Rod Stewart sense of the phrase.
Tonight Barack Obama accepts his party's nomination. I *am* going to watch the speech live / streamed.
Of course, the stage setting at Invesco Field in Denver where Barack will speak has drawn some invidious comment from certain quarters because the backdrop looks like an ancient Greek temple(!). Well, people, lots of buildings are based on ancient Greek temples -- the Capitol Building in DC, Cali's own Capitol being just two. Where the hell do you think the word "democracy" itself comes from? Space fairies?
It's kind of ironic that the world has just wound down another cultural artifact that comes to us from the ancient Greeks: TEH FSCKING OLYMPIC GAMES!
OK, people, answer me this: What day is it? 28 August. On this date in 1963, another great American, also of African descent, also a great orator, gave a speech on the steps of a very similar building.
History's being made this week. The least we can do is watch it. Yes I can...and yes I WILL!
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Now playing: The Elders - Turning Point
via FoxyTunes
Showing posts with label propaganda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label propaganda. Show all posts
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Un. Be. FSCKING-Lievable!
Hillary Clinton, today, about why she's staying in the running despite her being virtually mathematically eliminated from nomination contention:
This remark is utterly beyond the pale. Yes, Bill Clinton didin't wrap up the nomination till June, but back then we didn't have the front-loaded system we have today. I almost read this as an idle wish that her rival -- Barack Obama -- were to be assassinated to clear her way to the nomination!
Consider this: Senator Obama and his family have been subjected to death threats since he announced his candidacy over a year ago. Not to mention this: Inspirational American political leaders have all too often been the targets of assassins the last fifty or so years. Given the groundbreaking nature of his candidacy and the fact that too many people have too much to lose if Obama is elected, I'm not very surprised at the talk. Eight years ago, when Colin Powell was considering a run for the Presidency, the racists in my family said that "He dropped out because he's be shot like a dog for being black if he dared run."
Hell, a few months ago, when Ex#2 served me my divorce papers, I asked her who she supported. "Obama, of course. But I think he'll get assassinated."
Nonetheless, it's nothing short of reprehensible of HRC to even go there.
Kids, this shit has to stop, NOW!
Time to put on your magickal thinking hats. No, not the one with the stinky fish entrails. When you think about something, you feed it's thought-form. When you feed a thought-form enough energy, you make it real and give it impact in the world. How many thought-forms are dining on the thought-energy of the thousands of people out there this subtle but toxic meme is evoking?
Here's the counter: visualize Barack Obama taking the oath of office next January 20. Visualize him shielded from harm by the good wishes and the hopes of the millions who will have cast their ballots for the change he represents. Let THAT thought-energy protect and preserve him. Ask the God/s you reverence to ward him from the ill-actions of others.
And most of all, admonish Hillary for her ill-chosen words.
Responding to a question from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader editorial board about calls for her to drop out of the race, she said: "My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know I just, I don't understand it," she said, dismissing the idea of abandoning the race.
This remark is utterly beyond the pale. Yes, Bill Clinton didin't wrap up the nomination till June, but back then we didn't have the front-loaded system we have today. I almost read this as an idle wish that her rival -- Barack Obama -- were to be assassinated to clear her way to the nomination!
Consider this: Senator Obama and his family have been subjected to death threats since he announced his candidacy over a year ago. Not to mention this: Inspirational American political leaders have all too often been the targets of assassins the last fifty or so years. Given the groundbreaking nature of his candidacy and the fact that too many people have too much to lose if Obama is elected, I'm not very surprised at the talk. Eight years ago, when Colin Powell was considering a run for the Presidency, the racists in my family said that "He dropped out because he's be shot like a dog for being black if he dared run."
Hell, a few months ago, when Ex#2 served me my divorce papers, I asked her who she supported. "Obama, of course. But I think he'll get assassinated."
Nonetheless, it's nothing short of reprehensible of HRC to even go there.
Kids, this shit has to stop, NOW!
Time to put on your magickal thinking hats. No, not the one with the stinky fish entrails. When you think about something, you feed it's thought-form. When you feed a thought-form enough energy, you make it real and give it impact in the world. How many thought-forms are dining on the thought-energy of the thousands of people out there this subtle but toxic meme is evoking?
Here's the counter: visualize Barack Obama taking the oath of office next January 20. Visualize him shielded from harm by the good wishes and the hopes of the millions who will have cast their ballots for the change he represents. Let THAT thought-energy protect and preserve him. Ask the God/s you reverence to ward him from the ill-actions of others.
And most of all, admonish Hillary for her ill-chosen words.
Monday, May 12, 2008
The Great Respec, SotR, Mayoral Racism
If it's the middle 60s in WoW, it's time to look forward to what they call "end game." Endgame is where the best loot and toughest challenges lie in WoW.
My Alliance Shaman is about to hit level 66, and at the level 65 midpoint, I took the plunge and "respeced" -- picked a new talent mix. The talent mix plays a very big role in how a WoW character performs; Dakatirr was originally speced in the "Enhancement" tree as a pure elemental-based damage dealer. Now he is a healer -- in groups I stand back and make sure the damage dealers stay healthy.
Before the respec, I could not buy an invite into a group for love or gold. The reason for this is that most players prefer to be damage dealers and there are a lot of them. This is understandable because of the Player-vs-Player element of the game. Better damage dealing = more kills in PvP = more honor earned. Healers in PvP also get honor, but few really enjoy that role. Most characters are damage-dealers -- Hunters (most popular class), Warlocks (close second) Mages and Rogues. Shamen are the least popular class next to warriors and priests. Now I am the Shammy in demand. Now I get whispers all the time: "Need healz for Ramps/BF/whatever... wanna come?"
Now if only loot for a resto shammy would drop in the instances I'm running . . .
As for me: I'm doing OK. The shift to weekends off is going to be hard to hang onto for more than one shift bid cycle; I got it in a trade.
On to the local mayor's race (you will see how appropriate that line is in a second). Yesterday this mailer landed atop my mail pile. I expect political campaigns to include some rather, shall we say, strong charges of mud to be hurled. However, it was not the charges against one of the mayoral candidates that caught my attention (nothing short of "Candidate X eats babies!" will do that), it was the photograph of the candidate being attacked. He happens to be African American, and the photo of this particular candidate made him look utterly menacing -- the kind of guy who might indeed dine on one's children.
If I recall correctly, the same stunt was pulled on another upstanding candidate (and, I hope, next President of the US).
Now, I understand political opponents under no obligation to present the opposing candidate in a flattering golden glow of angelic light. However, there is routine political vilification and there is "dog-whistle" racism. This mailer crossed the damned line, and I'll be damned if I vote for the people behind this scurrilous racist crap.
My Alliance Shaman is about to hit level 66, and at the level 65 midpoint, I took the plunge and "respeced" -- picked a new talent mix. The talent mix plays a very big role in how a WoW character performs; Dakatirr was originally speced in the "Enhancement" tree as a pure elemental-based damage dealer. Now he is a healer -- in groups I stand back and make sure the damage dealers stay healthy.
Before the respec, I could not buy an invite into a group for love or gold. The reason for this is that most players prefer to be damage dealers and there are a lot of them. This is understandable because of the Player-vs-Player element of the game. Better damage dealing = more kills in PvP = more honor earned. Healers in PvP also get honor, but few really enjoy that role. Most characters are damage-dealers -- Hunters (most popular class), Warlocks (close second) Mages and Rogues. Shamen are the least popular class next to warriors and priests. Now I am the Shammy in demand. Now I get whispers all the time: "Need healz for Ramps/BF/whatever... wanna come?"
Now if only loot for a resto shammy would drop in the instances I'm running . . .
As for me: I'm doing OK. The shift to weekends off is going to be hard to hang onto for more than one shift bid cycle; I got it in a trade.
On to the local mayor's race (you will see how appropriate that line is in a second). Yesterday this mailer landed atop my mail pile. I expect political campaigns to include some rather, shall we say, strong charges of mud to be hurled. However, it was not the charges against one of the mayoral candidates that caught my attention (nothing short of "Candidate X eats babies!" will do that), it was the photograph of the candidate being attacked. He happens to be African American, and the photo of this particular candidate made him look utterly menacing -- the kind of guy who might indeed dine on one's children.
If I recall correctly, the same stunt was pulled on another upstanding candidate (and, I hope, next President of the US).
Now, I understand political opponents under no obligation to present the opposing candidate in a flattering golden glow of angelic light. However, there is routine political vilification and there is "dog-whistle" racism. This mailer crossed the damned line, and I'll be damned if I vote for the people behind this scurrilous racist crap.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Mediots, NIGYYSOB and America's future
The best illustration of the reason I don't watch or even own a TV set anymore: The ABC Democratic debate the other night.
I saw the coverage of the debate, and the consensus of the port side of the blogosphere is clear: The debate was little more than an exercise is what my freshman English teacher and Transactional Analysis fan, Mr. Davajohn, used to call "the game of NIGYYSOB" (Now, I've Got You, You SOB!).
*sigh*
OK, this country has BIG problems at the moment: an endless war, recession, inflation, income inequality and stagnation, the environment, the betrayal of our professed values with the rest of the world, the assaults on the Constitution, etc, etc etc... and for fifty plus minutes the two Democrats were compelled to debate minutia like flag pins and bowling. Gotcha, NIGYYSOB!
Why, OH WHY, cannot the so-called mainstream media treat Americans like adults? I remember a time, early in my life, when the media did just that. I was born too late for the McCarthy hearings, and I was in my early teens when media revelations brought down two presidents (Johnson, over the Vietnam, war and Nixon over Watergate). The media treated the American people like adults, even if the pols did not.
I saw the coverage of the debate, and the consensus of the port side of the blogosphere is clear: The debate was little more than an exercise is what my freshman English teacher and Transactional Analysis fan, Mr. Davajohn, used to call "the game of NIGYYSOB" (Now, I've Got You, You SOB!).
*sigh*
OK, this country has BIG problems at the moment: an endless war, recession, inflation, income inequality and stagnation, the environment, the betrayal of our professed values with the rest of the world, the assaults on the Constitution, etc, etc etc... and for fifty plus minutes the two Democrats were compelled to debate minutia like flag pins and bowling. Gotcha, NIGYYSOB!
Why, OH WHY, cannot the so-called mainstream media treat Americans like adults? I remember a time, early in my life, when the media did just that. I was born too late for the McCarthy hearings, and I was in my early teens when media revelations brought down two presidents (Johnson, over the Vietnam, war and Nixon over Watergate). The media treated the American people like adults, even if the pols did not.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Saturday, February 2, 2008
What next?
OK, this is more than enough!
What "this" is, is that a state legislator in Mississippi has introduced a bill to forbid serving overweight people in restaurants with more than five seats.
No, this is NOT a joke! I guess since discrimination against people with dark skins is out, these assholes have to have someone to discriminate against. Or maybe this is a way to accomplish the same goal (since people of color are also very often overweight).
Overweight people are a class of people it's OK to hate. Perhaps the only one left in the US anymore. We get stares . . . we get sneers . . . we get criticism disguised as unwanted medical advice from EVERYONE, because everyone is a weight loss authority. The last thing overweight people need is shame; most of us have enough other issues with our relationshio to food as matters stand!
At least some medical people are starting to understand that strident advice / shaming people to lose weight is counterproductive.
What "this" is, is that a state legislator in Mississippi has introduced a bill to forbid serving overweight people in restaurants with more than five seats.
No, this is NOT a joke! I guess since discrimination against people with dark skins is out, these assholes have to have someone to discriminate against. Or maybe this is a way to accomplish the same goal (since people of color are also very often overweight).
Overweight people are a class of people it's OK to hate. Perhaps the only one left in the US anymore. We get stares . . . we get sneers . . . we get criticism disguised as unwanted medical advice from EVERYONE, because everyone is a weight loss authority. The last thing overweight people need is shame; most of us have enough other issues with our relationshio to food as matters stand!
At least some medical people are starting to understand that strident advice / shaming people to lose weight is counterproductive.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
An double IV drip of "Irony"
Another factoid in the current debate on domestic spying:
The US Attorney General has a portrait of Grorge Orwell in his ofice.
He says he admires Orwell's style and clarity as a writer. Yea, and I used to read Playboy for the articles, too.
/bangs head on desk to dull the pain . . .
359 days until those people (to use a favorite phrase of Gen. Robert E. Lee) are outta there and our long long national nightmare ends.
His other office portrait, of Supreme Court Justice, US Attorney General and Nuremburg prosecutor Robert Jackson, is likewise ironic. But not in the way he might think it is.
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Listening to: Green Day - American Idiot
via FoxyTunes
The US Attorney General has a portrait of Grorge Orwell in his ofice.
He says he admires Orwell's style and clarity as a writer. Yea, and I used to read Playboy for the articles, too.
/bangs head on desk to dull the pain . . .
359 days until those people (to use a favorite phrase of Gen. Robert E. Lee) are outta there and our long long national nightmare ends.
His other office portrait, of Supreme Court Justice, US Attorney General and Nuremburg prosecutor Robert Jackson, is likewise ironic. But not in the way he might think it is.
----------------
Listening to: Green Day - American Idiot
via FoxyTunes
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Monday, December 31, 2007
The Christian Hell Just Froze Over . . .
I am in complete agreement with a New York Times editorial for once.
Monday, December 24, 2007
An "anti-endosement"
Mitt Romney takes it in the shorts from the Concord Monitor.
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Listening to: "Weird Al" Yankovic - The Night Santa Went Crazy
via FoxyTunes
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Listening to: "Weird Al" Yankovic - The Night Santa Went Crazy
via FoxyTunes
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
I hate payday loans
Yesterday I proclaimed my appreciation for Sacramento RT and Elk Grove e-Tran. Today's bit of bloggery has to do with an industry that should, even in a free market, be run out of town like criminals. And, sadly, one I became all too familiar with during the first part of this decade.
Back when I was a kid, usury laws were on the books that forbade the loaning of money at massive rates of interest. People with wealth and property could always secure loans with collateral from federally regulated banks. Folks lacking these resources turned to "the bank of Guido and Luigi," the local shady operators, often a Family operation, who substituted the threat of pain or worse for more tangible resources and charged enormous rates of interest. Well, laws have changed and the collection specialists (legbreakers) are something of a thing of the past. Now anyone with a fixed address, a steady income and a startling lack of financial sense can score for themselves a "payday loan" from one of 22,000 such bloodsucker locations scattered across the fruited plain.
Payday loans are like the Dark Side of the Force in Star Wars: " . . . once you start down the Dark Path, forever will it guide your destiny . . ." "Easy" money is soooo seductive, a quick way out of a jam that carries a tremendous cost of its own. How well I know because a few years ago, my paydays were little more than covering last pay period's payday loans and re-writing new ones . . . then taking the cash, minus a couple hundred in fees, to pay the bills.
I admit it, I knew better. I could read the disclosure statements and I winced at the 300% - plus APR interest rates. I wish in retrospect I could have learned to say NO to these loans. I'm owning up to my own weakness, accepting my share of the blame. I've completely eschewed them and stayed that way for almost two years.
It seems that the industry now has a trade association. Go figure.
Back when I was a kid, usury laws were on the books that forbade the loaning of money at massive rates of interest. People with wealth and property could always secure loans with collateral from federally regulated banks. Folks lacking these resources turned to "the bank of Guido and Luigi," the local shady operators, often a Family operation, who substituted the threat of pain or worse for more tangible resources and charged enormous rates of interest. Well, laws have changed and the collection specialists (legbreakers) are something of a thing of the past. Now anyone with a fixed address, a steady income and a startling lack of financial sense can score for themselves a "payday loan" from one of 22,000 such bloodsucker locations scattered across the fruited plain.
Payday loans are like the Dark Side of the Force in Star Wars: " . . . once you start down the Dark Path, forever will it guide your destiny . . ." "Easy" money is soooo seductive, a quick way out of a jam that carries a tremendous cost of its own. How well I know because a few years ago, my paydays were little more than covering last pay period's payday loans and re-writing new ones . . . then taking the cash, minus a couple hundred in fees, to pay the bills.
I admit it, I knew better. I could read the disclosure statements and I winced at the 300% - plus APR interest rates. I wish in retrospect I could have learned to say NO to these loans. I'm owning up to my own weakness, accepting my share of the blame. I've completely eschewed them and stayed that way for almost two years.
It seems that the industry now has a trade association. Go figure.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
From Teh Innerweb for your Bush-Bashing Pleasure!
I like this
I was looking for a website with a countdown clock where I could use the new WebClip feature of OS X Leopard Safari 3.0 to make a Dashboard widget showing a countdown of the time till Shrub is scheduled to leave office. The widget even has a reset feature to reset the countdown in case the SOB is impeached. They also have Winderz screen savers (the Mac version is for pre-Tiger versions of the OS) and other assorted widgetoid things.
I was looking for a website with a countdown clock where I could use the new WebClip feature of OS X Leopard Safari 3.0 to make a Dashboard widget showing a countdown of the time till Shrub is scheduled to leave office. The widget even has a reset feature to reset the countdown in case the SOB is impeached. They also have Winderz screen savers (the Mac version is for pre-Tiger versions of the OS) and other assorted widgetoid things.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Catapulting the Propaganda on cable teevee, and Why Cable Internet Is Evil
As all five of my readers know, I absolutely HATE television. I do not, and will not own a TV set. While my new roomie, bless his lupine soul, has satellite TV at our place and I had Comcast cable TV at my last place, I refuse to buy a set.
Speaking of cable internet versus DSL: AT&T Yahoo! consumer aDSL beats the holy snot out of Comcast cable for internet access. While cable IS faster and a bit simpler to set up (your computer is configured by default for cable over ethernet, DSL configuration is a bit harder), aDSL is a LOT more reliable. Back when I lived near CSUS, with both my first set o' roommates and my own place, the DSL went down a total of twice, and a power-cycle of the CPE and router fixed the issues. World of Warcraft latency was usually under 25 milliseconds -- not too bad at all. When I lived with Evil Otto, thanks to the wonders of cable "bandwidth sharing" the connect speed would drop to the point where WoW latency exceeded 1500 milliseconds; web pages and email took forever and a day to download (so I knew the game issues were not Blizzard's servers).
Not to mention what Comcast is doing to Bittorrent users . . . never has a problem with Bittorrent when connected to SBC / AT&T Yahoo! consumer aDSL. Of course, if Comcast hoses Bittorrent, it will also hose World of Warcraft updates because these updates are distributed using the Bittorrent protocol.
Moral of the story: do not get cable internet. Ever.
Back to the evil that is cable teevee. Even though I don't own a set, many public places where I spend time have sets tuned to Fox News, CNN or ESPN. It is very easy for me to ignore Faux News and Conservative News Network because of the sheer idiocy the hosts. For some reason ESPN is harder to ignore but the sheer inanity of big-time sports -- not to mention how addicted certain parents of mine are to teevee sports -- makes me more sensitive to it.
Anyway, I saw an ad the last time I was exposed to the toxin that is ESPN that made me go "WTF?" The spot was a generic VISA card ad. What made me go "WTF" was not the usual conspicuous consumption / debt overload stuff that makes me want to puke. The ad is basically a parade of consumers buying stuff they don't need with their VISA cards . . . then one of the parade of customers offered Federal Reserve Notes -- cash -- instead of a VISA card to pay for his purchases. From the look on the clerk's face you'd think the customer offered to pay for his crap with a used condom. Two thoughts went through my head at this point" one was "Why is cash treated like a leprous dead badger with AIDS?" When last I looked at a dollar bill, it said "valid for all debts, public and private." Just what is the Wall Street / Madison Avenue politico-economic axis of evil REALLY trying to say? To me it sounds like "Cash (and by extension, the government that issues it) cannot be trusted but VISA (and by extension the private sector) can be."
Of course, from the standpoint of someone who has a massive distrust for the current regime of corporate overlords in DC, you have to wonder. Is government issue cash money on the way out the door? Perhaps it is. Thanks to the "War on Drugs," cash transactions of more than $10k must be reported to the IRS to ferret out money laundries. Then there is the terrorism angle . . . I'm sure that dealers in weapons, explosives and other things needed for terror operations do not take credit cards (then again, the 9/11 guys got the job done with box cutters . . . and Home Depot takes plastic . . .).
Anyway, there is a long history of private currencies in the US -- Hmmm...something to think about.
Speaking of cable internet versus DSL: AT&T Yahoo! consumer aDSL beats the holy snot out of Comcast cable for internet access. While cable IS faster and a bit simpler to set up (your computer is configured by default for cable over ethernet, DSL configuration is a bit harder), aDSL is a LOT more reliable. Back when I lived near CSUS, with both my first set o' roommates and my own place, the DSL went down a total of twice, and a power-cycle of the CPE and router fixed the issues. World of Warcraft latency was usually under 25 milliseconds -- not too bad at all. When I lived with Evil Otto, thanks to the wonders of cable "bandwidth sharing" the connect speed would drop to the point where WoW latency exceeded 1500 milliseconds; web pages and email took forever and a day to download (so I knew the game issues were not Blizzard's servers).
Not to mention what Comcast is doing to Bittorrent users . . . never has a problem with Bittorrent when connected to SBC / AT&T Yahoo! consumer aDSL. Of course, if Comcast hoses Bittorrent, it will also hose World of Warcraft updates because these updates are distributed using the Bittorrent protocol.
Moral of the story: do not get cable internet. Ever.
Back to the evil that is cable teevee. Even though I don't own a set, many public places where I spend time have sets tuned to Fox News, CNN or ESPN. It is very easy for me to ignore Faux News and Conservative News Network because of the sheer idiocy the hosts. For some reason ESPN is harder to ignore but the sheer inanity of big-time sports -- not to mention how addicted certain parents of mine are to teevee sports -- makes me more sensitive to it.
Anyway, I saw an ad the last time I was exposed to the toxin that is ESPN that made me go "WTF?" The spot was a generic VISA card ad. What made me go "WTF" was not the usual conspicuous consumption / debt overload stuff that makes me want to puke. The ad is basically a parade of consumers buying stuff they don't need with their VISA cards . . . then one of the parade of customers offered Federal Reserve Notes -- cash -- instead of a VISA card to pay for his purchases. From the look on the clerk's face you'd think the customer offered to pay for his crap with a used condom. Two thoughts went through my head at this point" one was "Why is cash treated like a leprous dead badger with AIDS?" When last I looked at a dollar bill, it said "valid for all debts, public and private." Just what is the Wall Street / Madison Avenue politico-economic axis of evil REALLY trying to say? To me it sounds like "Cash (and by extension, the government that issues it) cannot be trusted but VISA (and by extension the private sector) can be."
Of course, from the standpoint of someone who has a massive distrust for the current regime of corporate overlords in DC, you have to wonder. Is government issue cash money on the way out the door? Perhaps it is. Thanks to the "War on Drugs," cash transactions of more than $10k must be reported to the IRS to ferret out money laundries. Then there is the terrorism angle . . . I'm sure that dealers in weapons, explosives and other things needed for terror operations do not take credit cards (then again, the 9/11 guys got the job done with box cutters . . . and Home Depot takes plastic . . .).
Anyway, there is a long history of private currencies in the US -- Hmmm...something to think about.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Incredible...
As I made my rounds of the blogosphere last night, I simply could not believe what I was reading.
Yesterday, the Democratic-controlled US Congress passed a bill that would greatly expand the President's power to spy on Americans -- wiretap them, intercept emails and so on -- in the name of "protecting" the Amurikan peeple from terrorism without the safeguard, such as they are, of the FISA court.
Shrub says he needs these extra-Constitutional authority to keep the American people safe from the threat of terrorism. Given that this has been a summer of incredible unease -- the "gut feelings" of Homeland Security director Chernoff, the unceasing catapulting of propaganda from the Giggling Murder Monkey himself with his barrage of speeches conflating the various species of "al-Quaida," the gathering economic storm that is the US subprime mortgage market -- I have to say that there is a sense sometimes of we are about to face something really really bad.
None of the above scare me half as much as what the Democrats in the US Congress did in enabling that admitted criminal in the White House to continue further shreading the Constitution. I seriously thought the election of a Democratic Congress was supposed to stop this kind of crap, to rein in that pathetic excuse for a leader and human being. Now with the Iraq War bill and this second capitulation, I am now FURIOUS with the Democratic leadership who LET THIS HAPPEN. And, once again, one of the Senators from this "Bluest" of Blue States, Sen. Feinstein, has voted in lockstep with these most evil of men. Kudos to Sen. Boxer and Rep. Matsui for doing what they were sent to Washington to do.
Flogging Molly has the words for how I feel right now.
Yesterday, the Democratic-controlled US Congress passed a bill that would greatly expand the President's power to spy on Americans -- wiretap them, intercept emails and so on -- in the name of "protecting" the Amurikan peeple from terrorism without the safeguard, such as they are, of the FISA court.
Shrub says he needs these extra-Constitutional authority to keep the American people safe from the threat of terrorism. Given that this has been a summer of incredible unease -- the "gut feelings" of Homeland Security director Chernoff, the unceasing catapulting of propaganda from the Giggling Murder Monkey himself with his barrage of speeches conflating the various species of "al-Quaida," the gathering economic storm that is the US subprime mortgage market -- I have to say that there is a sense sometimes of we are about to face something really really bad.
None of the above scare me half as much as what the Democrats in the US Congress did in enabling that admitted criminal in the White House to continue further shreading the Constitution. I seriously thought the election of a Democratic Congress was supposed to stop this kind of crap, to rein in that pathetic excuse for a leader and human being. Now with the Iraq War bill and this second capitulation, I am now FURIOUS with the Democratic leadership who LET THIS HAPPEN. And, once again, one of the Senators from this "Bluest" of Blue States, Sen. Feinstein, has voted in lockstep with these most evil of men. Kudos to Sen. Boxer and Rep. Matsui for doing what they were sent to Washington to do.
Flogging Molly has the words for how I feel right now.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Friday, July 6, 2007
Mr. Rogers, Destroyer of the Youth of Amurika!
Free parenting advice form our "friends" at Fox and Friends
"Can you say 'fscktards'? I knew you could . . ."
And all this time I thought it was something else.
That's what you get when you put a convicted child molester with over 100 confirmed kills as a Marine sniper in Vietnam in such a position . . .
"Can you say 'fscktards'? I knew you could . . ."
And all this time I thought it was something else.
That's what you get when you put a convicted child molester with over 100 confirmed kills as a Marine sniper in Vietnam in such a position . . .
Friday, June 22, 2007
Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot? (volume 1337)
Let's see if I get this straight. Reason with me; follow my logic:
Yes. It's true. Dick Cheney thinks the law does not apply to him because he's a member of two branches of government.
a. If the Vice President of the US is a member of the executive branch of the United Stares Government, and is therefore subject to laws covering said branch's actions, and...
b. If the aforemntioned official of the US Government, in his capacity as presiding officer of the US Senate, is a member of the Legislative Branch and is subject to laws covering the Legislative Branch
c. Therefore, VPotUS is NOT subject to laws covering the Executive Branch!
OK. While I am no lawyer, I'm very very familiar with the Constitution of the US. I aced my 8th grade pass-or-not-graduate exam on it and aced the entire course on it in high school. Not only that, I'm pretty well versed in logic. In all of my vast-for-a-layman knowledge of the US Constitution, there is not a word there that says anything like "VPotUS is above the law because he is a member of two branches of the government."
If you're a member of, say, the Freemasons and the Knights of Columbus, are you immune to rules affecting members of one or the other alone? This makes less sense than a hockey boot or a football bat.
But that's what Dick the Prsck seems to be saying to us.
Yes. It's true. Dick Cheney thinks the law does not apply to him because he's a member of two branches of government.
a. If the Vice President of the US is a member of the executive branch of the United Stares Government, and is therefore subject to laws covering said branch's actions, and...
b. If the aforemntioned official of the US Government, in his capacity as presiding officer of the US Senate, is a member of the Legislative Branch and is subject to laws covering the Legislative Branch
c. Therefore, VPotUS is NOT subject to laws covering the Executive Branch!
OK. While I am no lawyer, I'm very very familiar with the Constitution of the US. I aced my 8th grade pass-or-not-graduate exam on it and aced the entire course on it in high school. Not only that, I'm pretty well versed in logic. In all of my vast-for-a-layman knowledge of the US Constitution, there is not a word there that says anything like "VPotUS is above the law because he is a member of two branches of the government."
If you're a member of, say, the Freemasons and the Knights of Columbus, are you immune to rules affecting members of one or the other alone? This makes less sense than a hockey boot or a football bat.
But that's what Dick the Prsck seems to be saying to us.
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