An open letter ...

Stays on top today and I heartily concur with the change of masthead art for the duration of the current emergency as well. United we stand... - G

[Posted in its entirety. - F]

AN OPEN LETTER FROM ANONYMOUS

February 16, 2011

TO THE CONGREGANTS OF WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH:

We, the collective super-consciousness known as ANONYMOUS - the Voice of Free Speech & the Advocate of the People - have long heard you issue your venomous statements of hatred, and we have witnessed your flagrant and absurd displays of inimitable bigotry and intolerant fanaticism. We have always regarded you and your ilk as an assembly of graceless sociopaths and maniacal chauvinists & religious zealots, however benign, who act out for the sake of attention & in the name of religion.

Being such aggressive proponents for the Freedom of Speech & Freedom of Information as we are, we have hitherto allowed you to continue preaching your benighted gospel of hatred and your theatrical exhibitions of, not only your fascist views, but your utter lack of Christ-like attributes. You have condemned the men and women who serve, fight, and perish in the armed forces of your nation; you have prayed for and celebrated the deaths of young children, who are without fault; you have stood outside the United States National Holocaust Museum, condemning the men, women, and children who, despite their innocence, were annihilated by a tyrannical embodiment of fascism and unsubstantiated repugnance. Rather than allowing the deceased some degree of peace and respect, you instead choose to torment, harass, and assault those who grieve.

Your demonstrations and your unrelenting cascade of disparaging slurs, unfounded judgments, and prejudicial innuendos, which apparently apply to every individual numbered amongst the race of Man - except for yourselves - has frequently crossed the line which separates Freedom of Speech from deliberately utilizing the same tactics and methods of intimidation and mental & emotional abuse that have been previously exploited and employed by tyrants and dictators, fascists and terrorist organizations throughout history.

ANONYMOUS cannot abide this behavior any longer. The time for us to be idle spectators in your inhumane treatment of fellow Man has reached its apex, and we shall now be moved to action. Thus, we give you a warning: Cease & desist your protest campaign in the year 2011, return to your homes in Kansas, & close your public Web sites.

Should you ignore this warning, you will meet with the vicious retaliatory arm of ANONYMOUS: We will target your public Websites, and the propaganda & detestable doctrine that you promote will be eradicated; the damage incurred will be irreversible, and neither your institution nor your congregation will ever be able to fully recover. It is in your best interest to comply now, while the option to do so is still being offered, because we will not relent until you cease the conduction & promotion of all your bigoted operations & doctrines.

The warning has been given. What happens from here shall be determined by you.



WE ARE ANONYMOUS.
WE ARE LEGION.
WE DO NOT FORGIVE.
WE DO NOT FORGET.
EXPECT US.

[Good.

No link. Don't know who's watching it and I don't want anybody else taking any heat. From here on, I'll be posting suitable press releases from Anonymous from time to time and giving the organization any help they might need. I told you I've had it. - F]

Come on out, F-Man!

Click to emhugen

...one day I'm gonna fly out there and surprise Gordon and Mrs. G. ... In the summer - Fixer at this post.

Oh, poo on summer! There's no time like the present! And ya don't gots ta surprise us neither. I'll pick ya up at any airport from Frisco ta Reno.

Come on out and enjoy the Sierra Nevada Winter Wonderland up close and personal! As can be plainly seen in the photo I have all the recreational gear anybody could possibly need!

See the slight lump in the upper left of the snow pile? That's the Weber. We can do the Dance Of Joy while we're grillin' something up! And it's only about twenty feet away!

Then I'll treat ya to hours and hours of the most beautiful views in the Sierra! From my roof...

Then we can go downtown and watch the flatlanders try ta drive in the snow! Vastly entertaining if we pick a safe spot. Think 'popcorn, extra butter'. Maybe we'll get ta wave at Badtux! If we're lucky, he'll see us and do a trick for us, like sliding by upside down!(winky smiley face)

So come on out and enjoy! Just bring yer strong back. Maybe some weed...

Oops...

I think I mis-identified the lump atop the snow in the top photo as being my Weber grill. It's the lump at the far end of the deck in this photo. Sorry 'bout that. It's still only about twenty feet to shovel to it.

I want my America back!

Your Saturday afternoon read:

...

That's the way it's supposed to work. But a veritable mountain of evidence indicates that when it comes to Wall Street, the justice system not only sucks at punishing financial criminals, it has actually evolved into a highly effective mechanism for protecting financial criminals. This institutional reality has absolutely nothing to do with politics or ideology — it takes place no matter who's in office or which party's in power. To understand how the machinery functions, you have to start back at least a decade ago, as case after case of financial malfeasance was pursued too slowly or not at all, fumbled by a government bureaucracy that too often is on a first-name basis with its targets. Indeed, the shocking pattern of nonenforcement with regard to Wall Street is so deeply ingrained in Washington that it raises a profound and difficult question about the very nature of our society: whether we have created a class of people whose misdeeds are no longer perceived as crimes, almost no matter what those misdeeds are. The SEC and the Justice Department have evolved into a bizarre species of social surgeon serving this nonjailable class, expert not at administering punishment and justice, but at finding and removing criminal responsibility from the bodies of the accused.

The systematic lack of regulation has left even the country's top regulators frustrated. Lynn Turner, a former chief accountant for the SEC, laughs darkly at the idea that the criminal justice system is broken when it comes to Wall Street. "I think you've got a wrong assumption — that we even have a law-enforcement agency when it comes to Wall Street," he says.

...

There is no more of, by, and for the People. We are all the pawns of the corporate overlords and their minions in both parties.

Update:

More from Montag:

...

Even if you accept the political "pressures" that let George W Cheney, Rummy, the Torture Memo 6 and others from the previous maladministration walk away, it is hard to believe that the Department of Justice under Holder can not get a prosecution of the best documented criminal financial fraud of [our] time.

Justice, bought and paid for.

Outsourcing ...

Boeing learns a lesson:

Outsourcing, as anyone who's ever had to manage a project staffed in another country will tell you, is rife with all kinds of pitfalls -- and it's almost never cheaper, no matter what Tom "The World Is Flat" Friedman would like you to believe. Boeing learned the hard way:

...

When you pay people slave wages to make close tolerance parts, it costs you more in the end. Ask the car makers about that.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

I've always liked this song, originally from The Band.

Sheryl Crow, Levon Helm, Emmylou Harris - "Evangeline" (Live, 1995)

Thanks to CrowVideoTV2, Italy.

"Let's go to the store!"

Mrs. G had the idea to go to the grocery store early today to beat the hordes of locusts skiers who will no doubt be here (if they can get here. See CalTrans Tahoe area webcams.) for a 3-day weekend with 10 feet of fresh snow on the ski hills.

Nice idea! Luckily I found some of her opium still clinging to my soldering iron. I'm just fine, thank you....Ommmmm...

Nothin' to it but to do it. Later.

There's a Tacoma in there somewhere...

Click to emhugen

Coupla thoughts on Madison

Walker's claims of a "budget crisis" as cover for stripping away citizens' rights are a very WMD-like lie to cover up a Repug agenda. I'm sensing* an M.O. here...

*As in 'sensing' a 2x4 upside my head.

Trying to ram this bill through in one week so no one would notice or have time to react until it was in the bag done backfired on his ass big time. Foot, meet pecker. The reaction surprised the shit out of him, I think. Prediction: he will not complete his term as governor.

Our protesters, yes, they are our people fighting for us, God bless 'em, spell their signs a lot better than the teabaggers. Must be a helluva lot smarter, no?

Note to der Gouverneur Walker

El Rude-o weighs in:

You see, Walkie-baby, what's going on in your state right now is that you finally broke the camel's back. No, wait. You not only broke the camel's back, but you fucked its ass while it was lying there paralyzed in the desert. You Or, to use another metaphor, the people in your state finally decided they've eaten enough shit, having sat there and watched while, in classic Republican style, you and your rubber-stamping Republican zombies in the legislature passed tax cuts that will drive your state to the very crisis you want to use to break the unions in a bare-ass naked power grab.

Since the election of Barack Obama, or perhaps since the 2006 congressional elections, Republicans have been throwing the most sustained hissy fit in American political history. See, for over half a decade, Republicans bought into that Rove black magic, thinking that if they blindly followed Bush over the brink, they'd reap the majority of majorities all over the nation. When that turned out to be a lie, fuckers went feral on our asses. But Republicans have misread the meaning of the 2010 elections (as have most people). They thought it was all about them and how much they hate those goddamn socialists. But it wasn't. No, what 2010 was really about was how much Barack Obama fucked up in keeping together the big-ass majority that voted for him. Some stayed home, some were stupid enough to run back into the crooked arms of the savage right. What it didn't mean, though, was that all of a sudden Republican ideology became accepted by the majority of the nation. Sorry, motherfuckers.

And now, as the public workers continue their uprising, as they act like engaged citizens of a democracy and not merely useful puppets who are manipulated into voting for idiots and tools, as they fight to keep a right that was battled over nearly fifty years ago, as the long-dormant force of worker action is awakened to lumbering, stunning life, as the crowds grow by the thousands, as the Democrats in the Assembly use the only tool they have left in the face of the arrogance of Republican leadership, as you, Gov. Walker, refuse to negotiate with Democrats just as you refused to negotiate with the unions, as the protests multiply against Republican assholes across the nation, oh, goddamn, how fucking stupid you must feel, like back in your classes at college.

No one told you this would be on the test, did they?

All you need to know about what's going on in Cairo Madison and elsewhere

In case you missed it, you MUST, please but MUST, watch this.

Right now and for the foreseeable future, there is one party with cubic money and the burning desire to rule, not govern, this country. They are superbly organized and, thanks to their bought-and-paid-for Supreme Court, unlimitedly well funded and they have their plan well in motion. I need not name this party.

Then there's another party made up of a loosely like-minded mob of everybody else known as Democrats.

Until the rainbows and unicorns unite to form a truly progressive party, the Dems are the only choice. Dammit.

Work toward that. Join Progressives United or the American Progressives United Party or form your own or whatever. Do what you can, but in the meantime:

IT'S US AGAINST THEM and it's a death match. That's the way the other side wants it so it's fight or die. Damn near literally.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

At least ...

I'm not the only one:

...

Desperately needed now, if Constitutional Democracy, as defined by the Preamble to that great document (see my Commentary of almost a year ago, "The Preamblers" http://blog.buzzflash.com/jonas/185) and the Bill of Rights, is to be maintained, indeed restored in the United States, and if a Second Civil War is to be prevented, is a new party. I am not talking here about a traditional US "third party" which could make a lot of us feel good but which would go nowhere politically. What we need is for the Democratic Party to split. We need the formation of the Progressive Democratic Party. Its platform would be fairly obvious and I need not detail it here. But what I will deal with here, briefly, is what it would need in order to be effective.

A Progressive Democratic Party with a chance of winning elections, and in 2012 in a three-way battle the possibility of even winning the Presidency, needs three things. It needs a significant cadre of elected officials at the Federal, state and local levels to split from Obama and the Corporate Power Democrats and join it, people like John Conyers, Al Franken, Sherrod Brown, and Peter Shumlin (the new, pro-single payer, Governor of Vermont). It needs very significant amount of money from National Interest Capitalists (URL: http://blog.buzzflash.com/jonas/214) like George Soros and his new group. It needs strong support from at least part of what's left of the US trade union movement (which would obviously not include that sector of it that is trying to make nice with the US Chamber of Commerce); and it needs dynamic leadership and potential Presidential candidates, like Alan Grayson (yes, Abraham Lincoln was also a one-term Congressman defeated for re-election, in his case because he had opposed the Mexican War), Howard Dean, and Dennis Kucinich.

...

I don't have much hope but if this happens, I'm there.

There is no shortfall ...

It's union-busting, period:

Wisconsin's new Republican governor has framed his assault on public worker's collective bargaining rights as a needed measure of fiscal austerity during tough times.

...

Furthermore, this broadside comes less than a month after the state's fiscal bureau -- the Wisconsin equivalent of the Congressional Budget Office -- concluded that Wisconsin isn't even in need of austerity measures, and could conclude the fiscal year with a surplus. In fact, they say that the current budget shortfall is a direct result of tax cut policies Walker enacted in his first days in office. [my em]

...

Rotten, thieving, pieces of shit, all of 'em. They should drag this idiot from the statehouse and hang him from the nearest tree. Seriously.

And my civil tone? You can kiss that goodbye. I want arrests of these assholes and, failing leadership in that regard, the people should do it themselves. Fuck this shit. I'm tired of seeing my country raped for the benefit of a small few.

...

The U.S. Government stands virtually alone in steadfastly blocking all such investigations even though it was the U.S. in the lead in creating this torture and detention system. Indeed, the American political class barely bothers any longer with even the pretense of legal accountability. Each political party shields the other from any accountability in a ritual of lawlessness, while the courts concoct ever-new doctrines for shielding our political class from any legal scrutiny. [my em]

...

Fuck them. I put my fucking ass on the line for this country and since that time (20 Feb 1980) I've watched it go down the tubes thanks to the Republican/Conservative/Corporate agenda and the so-called "progressives" who buy into it.

Fuck them all. I've had it. I'm tired of getting fucked by these people and my government helping them. I'm tired of the people I support (the Dems) going along with the conservative line and "compromising". The time for compromise is over. These fucking assholes are purposely tearing apart the fabric of this nation and the things that made us great. It wasn't those rich assholes or the corporations who built this wonderful place, it was the American worker. It was the labor unions who organized and got us the workers rights we have now and these fucking assholes want to take it all away.

It ain't about Left and Right anymore, it's Us against Them and the revolution is nigh. It's time we expelled the rapists from our midst by any means necessary. To the fucking barricades!

And just an addendum: There would be no need for "austerity" measures if the rich and corporations just paid their fair share of taxes. That's all it comes down to. Roll back the tax rates to Clinton-era levels and there would be no fucking problem.

Cairo, motherfuckers!

Links updated throughout the morning.

Smart people ...

Eventually see the light. I've been reading Balloon Juice for years, though Cole and his bunch were pretty conservative in the beginning, they've been moderate and thoughtful. John Cole's intelligence got the better of him a while back and realized where the conservatives were going. Yesterday, E.D. Cain followed suit:

...

I note all of this just to point out that this sort of thing probably ought to be seen as a severing of ties, a casing off of older positions I’ve held without making a big showy thing out of it. In at least a couple of these posts I say as much, noting that I was wrong to believe X and now that I’ve run the necessary intellectual gauntlet I’ve moved to position Y. Suffice to say, I don’t think any of this puts me in good standing with conservative or libertarian camps, and frankly that’s fine. I have no interest in being either, though I do consider myself a civil libertarian. In other words, I’ve changed my mind. The middle class and American workers are facing some tough times in this country, and I think progressives offer the middle and working class the best options – a revival of organized labor strikes me as fundamentally important to the well-being of our society – so that’s where I’m throwing my support. And I feel better about the stuff I’ve written and the positions I’ve taken lately than I have on anything I’ve written in a long time. I think that’s a good sign. I feel comfortable with these new progressive shoes. They fit nicely.

...

Welcome aboard!

Thanks, Jill.

How it works ...

The English have been on an austerity kick like we have, for probably the same reasons, though they've been promising people they wouldn't lose their jobs. Not so much:

The Conservatives were quite open about removing hundreds of thousands of government jobs in the UK but they did assure people that for the health care system, they would protect the system. That now looks like another empty promise. Imagine how many jobs the US conservatives will eliminate beyond what they're already saying they will cut. This will have a chilling effect on the system as more losses are discovered. Having employment as high as possible and receiving tax income is much more important than any benefits received from chopping programs.

...

They're cutting, both there and here, for only one reason. It's easier for their rich friends and corporations to loot whatever "savings" they may find.

And while we're on the subject ...

Re: My earlier post.

Regulars here know I'm an unabashed, unrepentant beer snob. My regular beer is Newcastle Brown Ale. The best beer in the world is made in Belgium and next is Germany (not Becks). The English and Irish run a close tie for third. That's the way it is, like the Laws of the Game (I don't take too many things seriously but beer and football are almost religious things for me).

That said, I regularly rag on American beer and rightly so. Most beer that's mass produced here is, what my German family calls it, American Goat Piss. There are a couple I love. One is Sam Adams Noble Pils and the other is Yuengling Lager. The Sam Adams is a seasonal brew but you can get Yuengling all year round.



It's relatively inexpensive (it ain't PBR but they won't take your nuts at the checkout either) and it goes pretty well with rich foods, especially pizza. If you want an alternative to Bud and its ilk, this is good without breaking the bank*.

Why yes, I think I'll have another ...

*Speaking of banks, Banks Beer from Barbados (if you can find it in your area) is a wonderful change of pace. So is Balashi from Aruba.

Cairo Madison ...

No need to comment [check out the pic at the link - F]:

There has been a dramatic development in Wisconsin. All 14 Democrats in the state Senate have left the Capitol building, thereby denying a quorum and preventing a vote on the Republican plan to cut salaries, health insurance, pensions and bargaining rights for state employees. Milwaukee reporter Nick Bohr broke the story over twitter (tweets presented in chronological order):

Thanks, Mr. Philly.

Being clear ...

John Cole(in toto) via Da Beez:

I’ve said this before, and I will say it again. Unless your proposal includes a substantial increase in taxes and a substantial amount of cuts to the military budget as well as ending the farm subsidies and giveaways to big oil and big energy and big business, you can kindly just shut up about the deficit and the debt. Additionally, any cuts to entitlements need to include cuts to the CURRENT recipients, not grandfathering the boomers and then wondering why the cuts never materialize in the future.

If you aren’t going to do those things, just shut up. You aren’t serious.

Ain't nobody serious in Washington anymore.

Light Blogging Today

Fixer's doing such a beautiful job today that I'm gonna go edit me some video. Thanks, F-Man. I wuz wonderin' how I was gonna squeeze it in amongst all the snow removal.

Later.

Update:

I have posted my first (and last - see 'rendition snow') video of the day over at Fixer & Gordon. Just a short, but exciting! (cough) vid of my fancy-schmancy* new snowblower in action. Ho-hum. Part of my attempt to convince Fixer to save his own life, although he may not need it. If the climate obeys the proposed laws prohibiting climate change that is.

*Thank you for that, dear Lisa!

While I was doing my daily dead tree reading (aka the "Magic Moment" after which I can face the day) yesterday, The Old Farmer's Almanac had as an entry for the day, "winter's back breaks". Go see how well winter operates with a broken back. Mine just aches a little.

Later. Time to go process and rendition more snow.

Update II:

Just got back in from clearing the driveway, well most of it. When I looked at the gas gauge I was surprised how close I came to showing you how to put gas in it, and they never run out within 100ft of a gas can. It is written. Usually in the middle of the street. Same amount of snow as yesterday and by the time I got done there was another four inches. Me 'n the pups came in looking like Abominable Snowbunnies. Mrs. G is quite used to me hollerin' "towel girl!" when we come in so she can throw something over them before they can shake off in the house. Heh.

Jailbreak ...

I know they're planning to spring the little one. Heh ...

Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak

The stupid ...

It burns:

A bill has been introduced in the Montana state legislature to declare global warming a "natural occurrence and human activity has not accelerated it," and that it is "beneficial to the welfare and business climate of Montana." State Rep. Joe Read (R-MT), a farmer and emergency firefighter who unseated a Democratic incumbent in 2010, introduced HB 549 "to ensure economic development in Montana":

...

Why? Because the idiot says so.

Personally ...

I'd replace Alex Trebek with Watson.

How dry I am ...

We must remedy this situation immediately!

Wishful thinking?

My rep, Steve Israel (D-NY02) thinks the Rethugs are shooting themselves in the foot over the abortion issue:

Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), the man charged with winning back the House for Democrats, told reporters Wednesday that Republicans have made his job easier thanks to their string of controversial abortion bills.

"They haven't focused on revitalizing jobs," he said at the briefing held at Democratic Party headquarters. "They've focused on redefining rape."

...

It'd be nice if he's right but I'm not too hopeful. If Americans don't realize it by now, they never will.

They don't get it ...

If people understood how the filthy rich live, while paying little to no tax (whether legally or illegally), the revolution would have started already. The average American sure as hell wouldn't believe in the "trickle down theory" of economics.

As one who regularly visits Monaco (I just pass through on my way to Provence) I've seen the disgusting ostentation first-hand. Believe you me, the last thing on these billionaires' minds is passing anything down to the commoners. Dave Johnson looks at just what a billion USD will buy you:

...

If people understood just how concentrated wealth has become in our country and the effect is has on our politics, our democracy and our people, they would demand our politicians do something about it.

How Much Is A Billion?

Some Wall Street types (and others) make over a billion dollars a year – each year. How much is a billion dollars? How can you visualize an amount of money so high? Here is one way to think about it: The median income in the US is around $29,000, meaning half of us make less and half make more. If you make $29,000 a year, and don’t spend a single penny of it, it will take you 34,482 years to save a billion dollars. . . . (Please come back and read the rest of this after you have recovered.)

What Do People Do With SO Much?

What do people do with all that money? Good question. After you own a stable of politicians who will cut your taxes, there are still a few more things you can buy. Let’s see what $1 billion will buy. [all ems original]

...

You can be certain they don't give a shit if you or I die of some horrible disease, let alone if we can afford to eat and keep a roof over our heads. It's time the rich pay their fair share and if they don't want to they can get the fuck out. It ain't like they're contributing much anyhow. They can all move to Monaco or Liechtenstein or Switzerland and live with their own kind.

See yas ...

John "I Coulda Been In Porno With This Mustache" Stossel thinks he came up with an original idea:

...

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of “seasteading,” this would be the genius libertarian idea where libertarians finally flee the horrible oppression that is the capital gains tax and decide to go live in the ocean where they establish an aquatic Galt’s Gulch and with any luck whatsoever all get eaten by sharks, who then proceed to poop out libertarians, in the manner of of a University of Chicago of the Bounding Main or similar.

...

It was done a while ago (though not as a libertarian enclave). The Mrs. and I looked into this when making our retirement plans. We decided against it because we'd have too many rich assholes for neighbors.

I'm not one ...

To generally condone the practice of "outing"; revealing someone is a closeted homosexual against their wishes. I think it's something a person has to come to grips with and decide for themselves. That said, paraphrasing Julian Assange: I like it when bastards get crushed.

...

But this time, the largest gay blog in the state, and one of the biggest gay blogs in the country, isn't going to stand for it. They're threatening to out family values hypocrites in the state who rail against abortion but secretly have abortions anyway (true story), and who rail against gays but secretly have sex with their male hairdresser instead of their wife (another true story).

...

Good for 'em.

More fun in the snow!

Actually, the, er, warmup for fun in the snow. I've been takin' movin' pitchers like crazy today. Here's the first one:



More tomorrow. I gotta get it outta the camera yet, but if all went well you'll ride downtown and back with me in a 2"/hr snowstorm.

No Cash for You, Kentucky

This is something we've gone on about before, and something I'd like to see happen. Purely as an economic experiment, of course: cut 'em off and listen to 'em howl about all the government spending they hate and aren't getting any more.

A great piece by Paul Begala:

While its small-government crusaders decry Obama’s budget and government spending, the Bluegrass State is thriving on D.C. welfare. Paul Begala says it’s the perfect place for a truly democratic experiment.

Fair enough. So here's my two-word response: Defund Kentucky. Cut it off the federal dole. Kentucky is a welfare state to begin with. The conservative Tax Foundation says the Bluegrass State received $1.51 back from Washington for every dollar it paid in federal taxes in 2005 (the most recent data I could find on the Tax Foundation's website.) We need to listen to the people of Kentucky. They don't want any more federal spending in their state—and they certainly must be appalled by the notion that they're a bunch of welfare queens, living off the taxes paid by blue states like California (which only gets 81 cents back on the dollar), Connecticut (69 cents), Illinois (75 cents) and New York (79 cents).

So give the people what they want. Defy Shields’ Law. Defund Kentucky. Kentuckians are addicted to federal spending—they're the Lindsay Lohan of states, the Charlie Sheen of commonwealths (my em). Let's put them in detox. By trying this experiment in one state we can honor the conservatives' belief in states' rights, allowing Kentucky to truly be a laboratory of democracy. If it were up to me, they'd go cold turkey—not one federal dime. But that may be going too far, too soon. So, I have to ask Kentucky, with all due respect: Can we just reclaim the extra 51 cents you take from Washington for every tax dollar you send? Can we transfer our gold from Ft. Knox to, say, San Francisco? They actually like federal spending there, so holding our federal gold will not offend their moral standards. And let's put that Gaseous Diffusion Plant in...well, on second thought, keep it, Kentucky. I'm not sure what it is, but it kind of sounds like my teenage boys' room after burrito night.

We here at the Brain can definitely relate to gaseous diffusion in the, er, wake (or maybe slipstream) of All-U-Can-Eat Burrito Nite. Heh.

Hint: less government spending, less money in Kentucky for burritos. The whole joint smells only like bluegrass and horseshit in the morning. Much better.

The American Taliban's Sharia Law

Peace Team.net, links at site:

In their blind ardor to impose a particular sectarian moral code on all citizens of the United States, the new Republican majority in the House is pushing a bill (H.R. 3 Text of bill) that would forbid women from using their OWN money to obtain abortion services, at the risk of invalidating their entire employer's health plan. This is outrageous and belies the hypocritical Republican mantra of getting government out of people's lives and their spending choices.

But it gets worse. Representative Mike Pence (R-IN) plans on adding a provision to strip all funding from Planned Parenthood, so that we can have an explosion of unwanted pregnancies and the supplemental budgetary disaster that will be the consequence of that.

Still not venal and mean spirited enough for you? House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) is bringing forward a provision to abolish Title X completely, eliminating all basic primary and preventive care, such as lifesaving cancer screenings, contraception, STI testing and treatment, and annual exams, for millions of women all over the country.

This is not just dogmatic, this is all truly sick. And this is NOT what the majority of the American people want. All the while that Republicans like just resigned U.S. House member Christopher Lee are trolling on line for extramarital sex.

Sometimes the throwback right-wing bastards are so despicable it leaves me speechless. They can't get power and control over their own women at home, so they'll try to get it over all women under the law. Real he-men. I think not.

Headline of the Day

Berlusconi Faces Trial and the Wrath of Italy's Women

Yo, Silvio, get to trial quick! You'll be safe in prison from da wimmens.

Update:

Thanks to YubaNet.

Heh. Ol' Sil'll be lucky if he's still got them silly shorts when those gals get done with him. Or what's in 'em.

For Sale: Rule Of Law

Here's another scandal brewing that's right up there with the Government/Corporate ratfucking of WikiLeaks supporters (thank you, F-Man):

U.S. Politics Today

Justice Clarence Thomas Failed To Disclose That Citizens United Supported His 1991 Nomination To The Supreme Court

I'm sure they were just acting as good citizens to get an 'affirmative action hire' on the Supreme Court. Yeah, right, affirmative action for them and fuck the law and us too.

Thanks to VRAdmin.

ProtectOurElections.org has released a video about this conflict on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJX7CPPiBjk The group is seeking the disbarment of Justice Thomas http://www.velvetrevolution.us/images/Clarence_Thomas_Bar_Complaint.pdf and has asked the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice to prosecute him for falsifying 20 years of financial disclosure reports. http://www.velvetrevolution.us/images/Clarence_Thomas_Public_Integrity_Complaint.pdf The Public Integrity Section was provided with a copy of the second bar complaint.

For more on this developing story, visit www.ProtectOurElections.org.

We've known for a long time that Thomas is a poor jurist and never should have been confirmed to SCOTUS. It's clear now that he's far more than that - he's a bought and paid for right-wing shill who knows it and doesn't want it to come out. It will.

Note to Thomas: save us the time and trouble and retire. Or stay and let us watch you get frog-marched off the bench in handcuffs. I've never heard of a Justice being arrested while in office, but I'd sure like to.

He needs to be impeached out of the position of trust he has violated, at the very least. Then, on to Scalia and the Kochs they rode in on.

The Supremes have no oversight and no appeal, but this malfeasance could also be the basis for overturning Citizens United. That may not have been just the worst decision ever, but a criminal act as well.

Afterthought:

However this turns out, Clarence old bean, you can thank that loud 'n lovely cow Ginni for getting the ball rolling for you. Heh.

Even worse afterthought, and please forgive me: hot sex with that barrel o' fun must be like riding a mechanical bull set on 'stun'. Heh.

Update:

Also see:

Clarence Thomas is a Role Model for Conflict of Interest and Supreme Injustice

As a role model for conflicts of interest while casting votes on cases before the Supreme Court, it would be hard to beat Clarence Thomas - except for Antonin Scalia.

The New York Times has been following Common Cause's accusation that Clarence Thomas' involvement with the oligarchical strategy of the Koch Brothers and other right-wing players and organizations should be cause for him to have recused himself from many cases, most notably Citizens United.

Of course, there was a far greater reason for Thomas to sit out the Citizens United Case: his wife was heading a Tea Party-style organization that benefited from the pro-corporate political decision.

Anyone who still thinks there's no 'vast right-wing conspiracy' must have been off-planet for a while.

More Greenwald ...

He talks with Dylan Ratigan about the attempted Government/Corporate ratfucking of WikiLeaks supporters:

...

GLENN: Well, at some point as we see in Egypt, the population gets to the point where they’re so consumed with grievance and anger that they’re willing to risk everything including their own lives in order to overthrow that order because they no longer believe that incremental reform is the answer and, of course, that’s the mentality in which our country was born. And at some point the elites in this country are playing with fire because they are going to risk triggering that same thing. Now, our population is very complacent and they are very propagandized. They think that thing is like what caused the revolution in Egypt exists in Egypt but not so much over here. But I think as you suggested earlier, the American population is moving inexorably in the direction of concluding that our system is inherently legitimate, and when that happens the results are fairly predictable.

...

Video link here (bottom of page).

Things are gonna have to get a lot worse before "Eat The Rich" becomes a battle cry but I know I'm just about fed up with the whole system.

Update:

Via DU. Heh ...

***

Off to the vet this morning. The little red beast is getting spayed.

Your Union-Busting State Sucks

The Rude Pundit on union-busting governors:

Man, those of us in public employee unions just fucking suck. We are awful, horrible human beings whose very existence is the very thing that's going to bring about the end of the United States. Our irrational demands for health insurance and raises that just barely keep up with the cost of living and retirement funds and wages that allow us to live relatively secure lives as good consumers and homeowners and all the things that Americans are supposed to do to keep the economy going, all that is nothing but greed as we take money from people to teach their kids and fix their potholes and pick up their trash and put out their fires. Goddamn, fellow AFL-CIO members, don't you understand that only sacrificing our benefits and collective bargaining rights can save the rich pukes of Wisconsin and Ohio and New Jersey from having to pay one more fucking dime of their precious fortunes? And if we don't like it, well, if we want to protest it by, you know, striking, a right that's been stripped from us in many state constitutions, then the National Guard will deal with our traitorous asses.

This is the pattern. All around the nation, against public sector employee unions, Republicans are on the attack. Fuck, New Jersey's Chris Christie's probably had a hard-on for destroying teachers since his high school gym coach made his tubby ass waddle around the track. (See, that's funny because Christie is dangerously obese.)

You know who hates unions? Bosses and people who aren't in unions and therefore don't understand what it means to have a union behind them. In Wisconsin, essentially Walker's just another boss and he's got his scab labor in the National Guard ready to step in. Maybe it's time for labor to start demonstrating again that in union there is strength.

No shit. I think a good way to demonstrate strength might be for every city and state worker to not show up for about two weeks. Let the National Guard scabs do the work. They might be able to collect the trash, but they'll be a disaster everywhere else.

Note to the National Guard: tell those Repug governors that you're state employees too and to go piss up a rope.

Stifling The Competition

YubaNet

White Supremacist Gang Members Arrested for Smuggling Heroin into Susanville State Prison

The word on the street is that the investigation and subsequent arrests are the result of Correctional Officers trying to eliminate sales competition from the Nazi Low Riders* and other gangs.

*I'm not making that up. I couldn't...

Also see:

World's Greatest Collection of Mexican Prison Tattoo Designs

¡Ay caramba! Betcha can't wait! Heh. Actually, those are a damn good way to communicate between vatos who are illiterate in two languages.

Not a patch on the ass of Russian prison tattoos though. They've even got a tattoo they put on the inmates they're gonna eat after a prison break, fer chrissake!

Headline of the Day

What the Media Would Look Like If It Were Actually Liberal

What it would look like is a bomb crater, a charred hole in the ground. It would scare the pants off the MIC and right-wingers and other evildoers and be 'accidentally' burned to the ground almost instantly.

Other than that, ah, to dream...

No Dems On Sunday Morning Talking Points Shows

This has been pissin' me off for months. Crooks and Liars noticed it too.

ABC's "This Week" - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Reps. John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Bobby Schilling, R-Ill.; Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Egyptian-American scholar and Nobel laureate Ahmed Zewail

"Fox News Sunday" - Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss.; Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

Pretty well-rounded buncha Repug shills.

It's sadly telling that Schieffer, a veteran Sunday morning host, feels the need to frequently turn to a Republican Senator to discuss a foreign policy issue, rather than hosting any number of qualified Democratic voices to opine on Egypt.

McCain has waffled on his views regarding the pro-democracy protests. Initially, he expressed fear about the movement, calling it a dangerous "virus" that could spread throughout the Middle East. But following President Hosni Mubarak's decision to step down, McCain issued a statement applauding the "Egyptian people" for "beginning ... their country's transition to democracy." Moreover, in late January, McCain told CNN it would not be wise for the Obama administration to "cut [Mubarak] loose." A few days later, he was demanding Obama call on Mubarak to resign immediately.

Right -- and this is partly why I started keeping track of McCain's appearances in the first place. The media in general, and Sunday show bookers in specific, consider the Arizona senator a knowledgeable, credible expert on foreign affairs and national security. If there's evidence to support this assumption, McCain's kept it well hidden -- on CNN's Sunday morning show two weeks ago, he urged President Obama to support "the right side of history" in Egypt, but couldn't quite explain which side that is.

That McCain can go 30 minutes without his drool bucket is an accomplishment by itself.

Flyover country gets their political views from these Sunday shows (except the ones lucky enough to get basic cable/dish and FOXPAC of course. They're misinformed all the time.). It's getting so I don't bother with the first half hour. The panels later in the show are generally a little better.

The best and most entertaining are the PBS shows, Inside Washington (help ya down them Capitol steps, Chuckie?) and The McLaughlin Group (Genghis Khan and a BBOB** on one side, a crippled old widow (feisty, though!) on the other), which I collectively call "The Shouters". Total right-wing crap v. a semblance of reality, which is the best us reality-based types can hope for, but who watches that commie* PBS anyway?

MSNBC makes way for these shows on Sunday by showing a prison life marathon. Yeesh.

Us Dems/Libruls/Progressives/Realists/Fair-minded are basically just being told we're irrelevant or worse and STFU and move to the right, please.

*Commie = tries to present both sides.
**Bleached Blond Overaged Bimbo

We Knew It Would

Patriot Act Extension Passes On Simple Majority Vote

Fuckers should read the oath they took.

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

I fail to see the part where they swear (or affirm) to shred the sonofabitch because it's in the interest of their masters to make us into fearful pussies for profit. With God's help, of course.

Headline and Quote of the Day

Can Conservatives be Trusted to Run the Country? Can an Embezzler be Trusted as a Bank Teller?

To the ropes!

Dealing with young Cattle Dogs is always an adventure. They're smart and have a high energy level so you have to keep them entertained. They also like to tear shit up and in order to keep them off the leg of an antique table or chair, you gotta keep them in toys. Toys that can take some abuse. Rubber Kong toys and heavy duty rope toys are the order of the day. To wit:

The one on the left is brand new. The one on the right was new yesterday.

This goes on for hours at a time.

If the Mrs. wouldn't kill me for doing it, I'd get an old tire and toss it in the middle of the floor for 'em (steel-belted radial of course).

Fuck with me ...

Like they did to Greenwald and I won't be retiring to the south of France, I'd own the motherfucker:

...

Given my involvement in this story, I'm going to defer to others in terms of the reporting. But -- given the players involved and the facts that continue to emerge -- this story is far too significant to allow to die due to lack of attention. Many of the named targets are actively considering commencing civil proceedings (which would entail compulsory discovery) as well as ethical grievances with the relevant Bar associations. As the episode with Palantir demonstrates, simply relying on the voluntary statements of the corporations involved ensures that the actual facts will remain concealed if not actively distorted. Entities of this type routinely engage in conduct like this with impunity, and the serendipity that led to their exposure in this case should be seized to impose some accountability. That this was discovered through a random email hack -- and that these firms felt so free to propose these schemes in writing and, at least from what is known, not a single person raised any objection at all -- underscores how common this behavior is.

...

I'd sue 'em into receivership.

Of course we have yet to hear anything about this on cable news. They want to bury this as quickly as possible because they know it's more the norm than the aberration.

"They hate us for our freedoms ..."

Not. They hate us because we kill them wholesale:

...

The stories immediately post-9/11 made me want to throw things: “Why do they hate us?” I can’t imagine. Because for years we dropped bombs on their children? Would that possibly piss YOU off a little, if someone did that to you? What would you do, if someone killed your family, everyone you knew, tore a gaping hole in the roof of your house, in your business, in your life, and then walked away? What would you want, of them? And knowing what you want, how dare you assume anyone, no matter where they live or what language they speak, would want anything different?

...

And enable their dictators.

Even in the prevailing political atmosphere, I can't believe how willingly blind Americans can be to the fact we've diddled and ratfucked these people since we realized their oil would make us Kings of the World.

How it works ...

Mr. Urban Hellhole (in toto):

Republicans don't want to cut spending, as at best they don't really give a crap about spending, and most likely love most spending except for programs liberals have an affinity for. They want Dems to take responsibility for unpopular spending cuts so they can run against them.

And the Dems are gonna do exactly that, starting at the top.

Personally ...

I woulda sent him to Gitmo for foisting his brain dead spawn on us:

(CNN) -- Former President George H.W. Bush, slugger Stan Musial and cellist Yo-Yo Ma are among the 15 individuals who will receive America's highest civilian honor Tuesday, the White House announced.

...

Were I Yo-Yo Ma (a national treasure) or any of the others, knowing the history of the Medal of Freedom, I would have declined the offer. I certainly would not want to be remembered in league with, or be part of a group counting Tony Blair or George Tenet as members.

Ya damn kids ...

Get off my lawn! From my buddy Dave The King of the Jews via email:

If you are 40, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways...yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of forty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

1) I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

2) There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

3) Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

4) There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

5) Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

6) We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

7) There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

8) And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

9) We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen.. Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

10) You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

11) There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

12) And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

13) And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1970 or any time before!

Regards,
The (way) Over 40 Crowd

#3 was one my dad woulda been fond of. His mantra was: "I made you, I can take you out and make another one who looks just like you." I was also the TV remote growing up. My dad used to smack me in the back of the head and say "Go change the channel".

Insane Clown Posse Update

Ron Paul Wins Big at CPAC

Ron Paul walked into the nation's most respected hate-organization with a mission: to win the CPAC straw poll for the second year in a row, so that he could unlock the Useless Endorsement from Terrible People achievement before the 2012 primaries really ramp up this summer.
...

Far be it from me to imbue Sarah Palin with any sort of air of legitimacy, but you kind of have to question the seriousness of a popularity contest in which Old Mr. Cranypants beats America's Hockey Mom by 27 percent. But, you never can tell. There are a couple dozen clowns in the clown car this year, and anything can happen.

And almost in the same motion:

Neocons Target Ron Paul After CPAC Poll Win

Establishment Republicans exploited a gullible Tea Party movement in order to get the neocon agenda of forever war against manufactured Muslim enemies back on track. Now they must purge Congress and the mainstream political landscape of those who would resist this agenda.

The primary target of the effort is Rep. Ron Paul.
...

“Rep. Paul’s refusal to support our nation’s military and national security interests border on treason {...}

And if that isn't bizarre enough:

Right-Wingers Heckle and Boo Rumsfeld & Cheney at CPAC

One of the delights of covering the Conservative Political Action Conference in the New Media Age is reading the tweets of right-wingers appalled at the bad behavior of the libertarians with whom they are supposed to be in coalition. At issue is the merciless booing and heckling endured by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former Vice President Dick Cheney as the latter presented the former with CPAC's "Defender of the Constitution" award. No, you truly cannot make this stuff up.

No, you truly cannot.

Lemme see if I'm getting the big picture here.

The wingnuts choose one of the most Presidentially-unelectables in the room as the favorite candidate for the second year in a row and then throw his ass out because he's against perpetual war and these two current wars in particular, then the heroes who started the war are booed and heckled as war criminals at the same moment that an award is given to one of them for defending the very Constitution he shredded in starting those wars and afterward.

Is that about right?

No wonder they're crazy, trying to believe all that contradictory bullshit at once. The question is whether they're crazy because they believe it or if they believe it because they're crazy. The chicken or the egg? The answer doesn't really matter.

Just pass the popcorn. Extra butter please.

Note to Fixer: CPAC* is pretty entertaining, but as soon as it starts to wind down, do yer stuff.

*Conservative Politicians And Concubines?

Finally ...

Got my desk assembled and a couple coats of clear urethane over everything. Just got the system back together now that it's all dry. Back after the London Derby. My lads are playing Fulham and I'm hoping they play better than they have been.

And by the way, it's 55 degrees out here today. I have 6 inches of snow ice melting in record time and my yard is a lagoon/glacier/mudbog all at once. Supposed to get down in the 20s tonight. Lovely ...

Headline of the Day

Herman Cain CPAC Speech: 'Stupid People Are Ruining America'

He should know. They were all right in front of him and he was talking to them.

HotD II:

Pamela Geller: CPAC 'Compromised By Muslim Brotherhood Activists'

No, Pam, them things flyin' outta yer ass are just monkeys...

HotD III:

Frank Gaffney Braves Muslim Brotherhood Infiltration To Warn CPAC About Grover Norquist

Thanks, Frankie. Such bravery! Warning about Norquist may be the only legit thing you've ever done, even if for all the wrong reasons.

Stephen Baldwin sues Kevin Costner

LATimes

Actor Stephen Baldwin is locked in a legal battle with fellow actor and director Kevin Costner over a plan to market an oil-spill fighting technology as the Deepwater Horizon crisis started to unfold in the Gulf of Mexico last year.

In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, Baldwin and a business associate say they were duped into cashing out their shares of Ocean Therapy Solutions, a Louisiana company that leased 32 centrifugal oil separators to BP for an estimated $52 million. Costner helped arrange the deal.

I think the legal theory behind the lawsuit is that it must be illegal for a right-wing religious nutjob to get screwed over, even inadvertently or if you didn't or if he did it to himself, and someone else has gotta take the blame and pay. They're the ones who are supposed to do the screwing over. Isn't it the law? Oh, just the right-wing M.O.?

I hope Costner wins. Loved him in Waterworld and Open Range, although I'm a little jealous because he got to keep Annette Bening in that one. Yum.

100 Years Of Reagan

A 'must read' by Will Durst:

We can be forgiven for feeling fittingly dazed and confused from the deluge of month- long wall-to-wall television specials, radio reports and magazine cover stories all tinged in that faint, beige, gauzy haze of selective memory that so easily metastasizes into revisionist history. The man was not Saint Ronny. He was an actor, who legendarily turned down Bogart's part in the movie "Casablanca." Think how history would have changed: Bogart might have become president. Then again, Casablanca would be a lousy movie.

Some folks have been so feverish with Reagan-Palooza there's renewed talk of putting his face on the ten-dollar bill. Excuse me? Wouldn't food stamps be more appropriate? Or considering what he did for Wall Street, maybe the ten thousand-dollar bill. On a related note, the US Postal Service unveiled the third stamp honoring the 40th POTUS, the distinction being this is a forever stamp, so apropos when you consider his legacy on America's disenfranchised.

[...] Hey, I got a funny joke for you: What did they call the homeless before Reagan. Mental patients! Does the term "Jared Loughner" have any meaning here?

And mos' definitely "Quote of the Day" material:

Like most presidents, Obama is just a figurehead, but Reagan… was a hood ornament.

Hood ornaments. What ever happened to those? Oh, that's right - they went away a long time ago for being expensive useless ornamentation. Just like Reagan. They're both throwbacks to the past and the memory persists for no good reason, although when it comes to nostalgia there's a better case for hood ornaments.

The Invisible, Growing Leaderless Revolution in America

Will Wilkinson at Common Dreams:

At first glance, the “leaderless revolution” in Egypt has nothing in common with the recent closing of Allyson’s, a local deli here in our small Oregon town. Until you hear why the bank called the note. “… the balance and payments are due.”

Quoting from a CommonDreams.org article by David Porter on Egypt, “It is the slowly-accumulating momentum of hundreds of thousands of confrontations with local officials and elites… that slowly develop the courage, confidence and essential horizontal networks bubbling below the surface…”

Meanwhile, out on the streets where we live, the anger is building towards a breaking point. How many Allyson’s closing down, how many home owners walking away (or being driven out), how many of us losing our savings to pay for health care, how many “confrontations with local officials and elites” will it take to finally get us out on the streets? When will the world start watching a “leaderless revolution” here in America? We don’t have a dictator to oust. For us, it’s a ruling oligarchy immune to influence by voting. It’s bankers, corporations, multi-whatillionaires, an enabling government, those with the gold, the power and no interest in us, beyond milking us everyday like the docile sheep they believe us to be.

The leaderless revolution in Egypt took years to develop. There wasn’t much news about it along the way. Likewise here in the good old USA. So, when it finally erupts, as it inevitably will, it may seem like a surprise. But it won’t be; it is inevitable. The only question is “When?”

This is probably a worst-case scenario for our masters, that we make them and their paper power unnecessary.

Here's my proposed anthem for this movement. The pictures are a little dated but still relevant:

Thanks to leaningtotheleftalil.

Eat The Future

Paul Krugman on proposed Repug spending cuts:

[...] The key point to understand is that while many voters say that they want lower spending, press the issue a bit further and it turns out that they only want to cut spending on other people.

The moral is clear. Republicans don’t have a mandate to cut spending; they have a mandate to repeal the laws of arithmetic.

[...] Yet the public opposes cuts in programs it likes — and it likes almost everything. What’s a politician to do?

The answer, once you think about it, is obvious: sacrifice the future. Focus the cuts on programs whose benefits aren’t immediate; basically, eat America’s seed corn. There will be a huge price to pay, eventually — but for now, you can keep the base happy.

In a better world, politicians would talk to voters as if they were adults. They would explain that discretionary spending has little to do with the long-run imbalance between spending and revenues. They would then explain that solving that long-run problem requires two main things: reining in health-care costs and, realistically, increasing taxes to pay for the programs that Americans really want.

But Republican leaders can’t do that, of course: they refuse to admit that taxes ever need to rise, and they spent much of the last two years screaming “death panels!” in response to even the most modest, sensible efforts to ensure that Medicare dollars are well spent.

And so they had to produce something like Friday’s proposal, a plan that would save remarkably little money but would do a remarkably large amount of harm.

They'll just blame everything on the New Deal commie takeover like they've been doing for 70 years. Remember - every dollar spent on the people is a dollar less for their masters.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Obama Wants to Cut $2.5 Billion in Heating Aid for Poor
To help cover cost of tax cuts for rich.

Fearing Torture Charges, Bush Cancels Geneva Trip
Lucky for him he lives in torture friendly country.

Mubarak Finally Leaves
Would have resigned night before but received encouraging call from Dick Cheney.

After Damaging Article in New Yorker, Scientology Airs Ad on NBC
Claims to be world's most friendly religion run by abusive lunatics.

Danger Close, or "FAC you, Jarheads! Ha!"

This is how Fixer likes to call 'em in too! Had ta be a USAF FAC. They love to entertain Marines. I recommend FullScreen and fire for effect.

Danger close Air Strike (USMC and Brits) - Nowzad, Afghanistan

Note: the narrator sounds like the Jarhead in my favorite "Marines in Fuckedupistan" video ever.

Thanks to WarClipz.

The Glenn Beck Conspiracy Generator

Daniel Kurtzman (Feb. 10)

The liberal media won't tell you this, because they're too busy promoting Obama's socialist agenda to allow gay Muslim illegal immigrants to open a drive-thru abortion clinic in your church, but today is Glenn Beck's birthday.

As a special tribute, we invite you to put on your tinfoil hat and check out the Glenn Beck Conspiracy Theory Generator — the secret source of the Fox News host's unfailing insanity.

If Becky believes his own spew, he's crazy. If he doesn't, he's lying. Either way he's making millions on the dupes that eat his shit.

Update:

When Monkeys Fly

Robin Hood Is Dead

William Rivers Pitt in the aftermath of the seeming success in Egypt:

In America, by contrast, all was quiet. The rich got richer, the poor got poorer, millions of people went without work, and the “news” media kept everyone up to date on the latest criminal doings of Lindsey Lohan.

...but but but...

Things are better in America than they are in Egypt.

Right?

Right?

Well, let’s see.

Corporations are people, and they own the news. Money is speech. We are fighting wars in Eurasia and Eastasia simultaneously. It’s cheaper to die if you get sick, unless you’re a car, in which case you are required to have insurance. Rape isn’t rape anymore, if you ask the right people. Being gay means the Bill of Rights isn’t for you. Having brown skin is original sin. Guns don’t kill people. Keep your damn government hands off my Medicare. Clean water is a socialist plot. The polar caps totally aren’t melting and stuff. Have some seafood from the Gulf of Mexico. Visit the 9th Ward in New Orleans. Your vote counts, especially in Ohio and Florida. American citizens don’t get “disappeared,” except for Jose Padilla...remember him? He doesn’t.

Nobody knows Pharaoh better than Egyptians. Those nifty stone triangles soaring out of the soil give testament to the benefits of absolute power, slave labor, and why it’s good to be the king. Everyone thinks Pharaoh went away thousands of years ago – it’s in the textbooks, so it must be true – but the fact of the matter is Pharaoh yet remains, and has no interest whatsoever in letting his people go. Pharaoh is ExxonMobil, BP, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon…yeah, any corporate entity dealing in oil, bombs and/or bullets is rich beyond the dreams of avarice, even in the current crummy economy…or should I say thanks to the current crummy economy.

A little overblown and hyperbolic, but that's what I like about him. What Mr. Pitt doesn't mention is that he can't get locked up for saying it like Worldwide Pharoah Inc. can do elsewhere. His words have the ability to be read and acted upon and the tanks will not come to his house. Not yet.

Bush feels hunted

As well a war criminal should.

Arab News:

At last, former US President George W. Bush is going to experience the fear of being hunted for the torture carried out on terror suspects on his order.

Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has vowed to pursue Bush wherever he travels. It is revealed by the same group that Bush had canceled a trip to Switzerland over fears that he could be probed for torture. Bush was due to attend a fund-raising gala evening in Geneva this week, but organizers say that he had canceled because of the risk of disturbances. The Swiss law requires the presence of the torturer on Swiss soil before a preliminary investigation can be opened. However, the group vowed that torture indictment would be waiting wherever he travels next.

Nobody expects the US government to investigate Bush though it is never tired of preaching human rights to other countries and asking the UN to arrest Third World leaders on the same charges. But it is heartening to learn that there are human rights organizations that pursue such cases without double standard.

Too bad they don't have the power to get him and his cabal inside the protective cocoon of the U.S. Rule Of Law, you know.

It'll take something like an Israeli Commando squad to bring Bush and the top of his neocon junta to justice. It ain't gonna happen and I hope I'm wrong about that.

Quote of the Day

Maureen Dowd:

Donald Rumsfeld is starting to make Robert McNamara look good.

Thanks, Montag.