A Blog devoted to progressive politics, environmental issues, LGBT issues, social justice, workers' rights, womens' rights, and, most importantly, Cats.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Turrrrrrrsm: How Many Lone Wolves
make a pack?
From MSNBC comes today's "lone wolf" story about yet another fucking demented rightard loony who just decided to off him a cop. To no one's great surprise, this fucking demented rightard loony, just like previous fucking dementedrightardloonies, had a cache of bombs and other deadly devices, guns, and Nazi symbols. Law enforcement officials are currently investigating whether the fucking demented rightard loony, one Gilbert Ortez, Jr., has any ties to white supremacist groups.
Mr. Ortez' family are claiming that deputies illegally entered the home. Given that this took place in Texas, we at La Casa de Los Gatos will withhold judgment temporarily as to the exact degree of fucking demented rightard looniness involved here. OTOH, the entire fracas started because the water supply company sent a meter reader there to shut off the water for nonpayment of bills, and Mr. Ortez' "common-law wife," one Pamela Leggett, apparently decided to register her disapproval of this act by shooting at the meter reader. Whereupon the cops were called. And one of them tried to enter the trailer and was shot dead for his pains.
What argues most strongly in favour of the currently very late Mr. Ortez being a fucking demented rightard loony, however, is the vast quantity of munitions yielded by his premises. What the fuckin' fuckity-fuck in fuckellation does anybody need with over 100 bombs?
Here, we would like to make the following snarky aside: How come most "leftwing activists" or, if you prefer, "fucking demented leftard loonies," are, like, you know, some sandalista longhaired dudes and dudines with posters and buttons and signs saying things like "Peace Now," and "No More War," and shit like that, and the most grief they give you is, they're, like, stopping or slowing your morning commute or your desperate daily reconnaisance for that urgently needed Starbucks triple decaf soy mocha latte, or whatever that trendoid shit is? And the "lone wolf" rightwing dementards are usually, like, blowing the holy fuck out of the local cops or potentially wiping out the whole fuckin' trailer park, or killing some, like, nice smiley dude who makes a shitty wage opening doors at some local institute dedicated to the prevention of violence, or something?
I like Keith Olbermann, even though I don't always agree with him. He's incisive, articulate, and more lucid than any of the idiots at Faux Noise or the other yammerati the news channels foist upon us.
And, of course, when he is addressing my two least favourite monstrosities, I find him, and his words, utterly, irresistibly, discombobulatingly pleasant.
So, if you will, listen to him address that Satan who is largely responsible for the loss of your job, your health insurance, your 401(k), and possibly, your home.
Begone, foul spawn of Satan! he says. I agree. I'd like Cheney airlifted to Mosul, stripped of any insignia of rank or office (including his tie, belt, shoelaces, and suit jacket), and dropped among the civilian populace. I have a feeling they really won't be as, ummm, inhibited in their welcome to him as his fellow Americans perhaps might.
Wherever they've been hiding. Although, being stupid, most of them are publicly flaunting their stupid in great revolting gobs.
For those of you who just can't bear to read the depressing news, we have Serious Cute at the end of this post. Go ahead. Skip to the video. See if I care.
Here, for example, walking dildo and successful Zippy the Pinhead impersonator Bill Kristol, a Wingnut Welfare recipient if I ever saw one, bleats about how Israel's invasion of Gaza is a great favour to Obama. I mean, c'mon, you worthless impostor of humanity. Why not pull off the mask and bodysuit and tell us all about relationships on your planet, someplace far, far away from our galaxy (I fervently hope)? Because by all that's holy you haven't a fucking compassionate bone in your body to come up with shite like this.
"If you care about the peace process you should want Israel to embarrass and humiliate Hamas. That's the only chance -- there would be no peace process if Hamas were governing Gaza.
You pathetic little pig. I can't wait for you and Bush and Dick and all of you worthless ambulatory turds to fall off the world stage. Break a leg, fella. In fact, break all of them. Jeeze!
People are dying in their hundreds and you and your fellow Neocons are burping up this crap. Meanwhile, your associates in the halls of power have used their remaining muscle to prevent an immediate ceasefire, preferring to turn a blind eye to reports of Israel firing on Red Cross personnel and vehicles, of Israel refusing to allow medical aid to reach the victims of their bombings, many of them little children.
Even as your other dirtbag friends are running ads on American TV networks begging for aid to Israel, which is the major recipient of US taxpayer money. Which they're using to bomb little children, pregnant women, sick, elderly, and disabled people. Meanwhile, protohuman slime molds named Jack Abramoff and Xtianist pastor Hagee are behind this whole ad scam. Knowing the two of them and their dubious associations, chances are if you send them any money it's going directly into their own bank accounts. People like Hagee could care less if the Jewish people are wiped out in a second holocaust, since that will bring them closer to the Rapture they all work towards and pray for.
Even as our 401(k)s are turning into 101(k)s, Raw Story reports that
The administration of President George W. Bush alone has provided over 21 billion dollars in U.S. security assistance over the last eight years, including 19 billion dollars in direct military aid as freebies.
So while we, the taxpayers, are cutting back on all our expenses, begrudging money for the movies or dinner out, forgoing new clothes, selling stuff we don't need or use, putting off vacations and needed home repairs, and even our goddamned health care — the Israeli government is getting billions of OUR dollars and! AND! using our latest and greatest military offerings to slaughter others in our names.
They're using our top-notch military hardware to retaliate against home-made rockets and bombs that "traumatize" people. Their response to these pitiful weapons, which are the epitome of FAIL, is to kill. For every Israeli killed so far, over 100 Palestinians have paid with their lives. The entire country is being punished for the acts of a few.
And you wonder why there is an al Qaeda. The article also states that while the U.S. military gives the latest weapons and weapons technology to Israel, it also sells such weapons (after they're tested on the Palestinians and the Lebanese by Israel) at hugely inflated prices to the Arab nations. That's a bitter pill to swallow, eh, knowing that you're subsidizing the killing of your co-religionists, or tribe, or fellow ethnics, or whatever you want to call them?
We don't even need to remind ourselves of the Israeli military's readiness and willingness to attack American troops, unarmed American protestors, and humanitarian aid workers and medical teams.
Meanwhile, malcontents in Lebanon have begun firing rockets into Northern Israel. Holy quacking duckshit. I can't entirely blame them, it's gotta be a small group or even random individuals who are sick of seeing what's happening to Gaza. The Israeli elections will be held in a month and the leaders are trying to terrify the people and play on their fears to win by outdoing each other in killing Palestinians. I guess some Lebanese feel strongly enough to do something about it. Hezbollah was quick to distance themselves from these acts, as was Hamas. Given the fact that in the last encounter between Lebanon and Israel, Hezbollah conducted a very disciplined campaign, I tend to believe them. Besides, it's a lousy three fucking shells, yaknow?
Meanwhile, our Congresscritters strive to prove that they have but one neuron between the lot of them, by offering "staunch and unwavering support for Israel [...] recognizing its "inalienable right" to defend itself from attacks by Hamas."
Give it a rest, you feeble fucks. You can't even take care of the shitload of business that's been dumped on your workdesk, and now you're all fighting to get up on the nearest table so you can wave your teenie weenies at the press. Shut the fuck up already. Get ready to prosecute Bush, Cheney, and the entire criminal cabal. Figure out what to do about the totally fucked military situation. Come up with green alternatives to the transport money cities and states are demanding. Figure out how more of us can get decent fucking health care. Close the tax loopholes that allow these fucking CEOs to assrape us all without the benefit of lube even as they send our jobs overseas in the fucking hundreds of thousands. Jesus fucking J.H. Christ and his black brother Harry! You've got me so fucking mad I can't even stop to take my pain meds. You worthless POS just voted your own selves a sweet fucking pay raise out of our pockets. Work for our goddamned money, you louts. The free ride is SO over.
That limpdick closeted fairy queen Mitch McConnell is prancing around on the stage allowing as how the war and deaths are all the fault of those nasty nasty Hamas Islamists. WTF is that about? Can't someone put a cork in him? Mitch, you ambulatory rectum, don't you have enough work to do?
Meanwhile, that motherfucking asshole (man, I'd love to put HIS dick in a box. I'd throw the rest of him into the compactor and mail the box to his Mrs.) Richard "Dick" Cheney has the outright fucking GALL to tell us that Bush's actions are not illegal because if they were he would've been impeached. What kind of circular logic is THAT, you infernal spawn of Satan? Wipe the blood off your chin before giving us your answer. Foul, ancient, walking rottenness. He demeans everything good, noble, admirable, and beautiful about humanity just by his existence. Dick, you and your rotten brood should be swept aside, root and branch, into the dustheap of history.
But wait, here's the best part: Darth has the unmitigated gall to tell us that he's a "warm, lovable" sort of guy who had hardly any influence at all in the WH. Georgie made all the decisions, he says now. Remember, this is the guy who admitted authorizing torture. Somebody must've put acid in his metamucil.
And as the number of Palestinians, mostly children, killed in Gaza climbs over 700, Tom Cruise had this to say about the death of Jett Travolta, son of his friend John Travolta. All death is horrific. Why aren't more people speaking out about the parents in Palestine who have to bury their children? Not to take away anything from Mr. Travolta's pain, I'm sure he's a terrific father and absolutely loves and adores his children, but are American children more valuable than Palestinian children? Where are all those "pro-life" people now when babies are being slaughtered halfway across the world? Starved to death, denied medical care, torn apart by bombs. Won't you people speak up? Or are only some children deserving of life?
Enough with ranting. Here's a cute chick we can all ogle:
Raw Story is reporting that 195 people lost their lives in the attacks on Mumbai, the financial and showbiz heart of India. The number includes 26 foreigners and 15 of the security forces who fought them. Eleven terrorists were also killed, and one terrorist, a Pakistani national, is in custody.
The Times of India is reporting that the captured terrorist has told his police interrogators that the terrorists received assistance from locals in Mumbai. Given the extreme carnage and destruction in Mumbai carried out by a mere dozen terrorists, it is possible that a significant number of terrorists got away and blended in to the local population. Sources among the survivors have claimed that the terrorists appeared to be quite familiar with the layout of the hotels they took over. However, survivors of violent incidents are not the most reliable source of evidence.
Also, given interrogation methods favoured by the Indian police, it is quite possible that the suspect in custody is telling them whatever he thinks they want to hear. Other things the suspect, the unfortunate Azam Amir Kasab, has told the police: The terrorists' specific mission was to target Israelis to avenge atrocities on Palestinians.
This is why, he claims, they attacked Nariman House. Times of India's sources said Kasab's colleagues killed in the operation had stayed in Nariman House earlier. Interesting. How would Muslims be able to rent in Nariman House, a building owned by an Israeli businessman who rented only to Jews?
Also, the dead terrorists who had previously stayed at Nariman House assumed the identities of Malaysian students. Does this mean that Malaysians are involved? Or is the guy just saying whatever comes to mind?
Meanwhile, the Independent reported on Friday that two of the arrested gunmen appear to have been Britons of Pakistani descent. Since there is only one gunman in custody, it is clear that some sort of misunderstanding occurred. Moreover, the unfortunate Kasab has given the names of all his colleagues at this point and claimed that they are all from Pakistan (although that claim may embrace a multitude of sins, given that many individuals who are Pakistani or Indian or Chinese by ethnicity but citizens of the U.S., UK, or any other nation, often make trips to the old country to visit friends or relatives, or merely to ascertain their cultural roots.
The foreigners killed appear to have come from various nations, including Mauritania, Singapore, and Cyprus. Earlier reports that the terrorists specifically targeted U.S. and U.K. passport holders appear to be incorrect.
Some 300 people were injured. The terrorists, who appear to have been well-trained in military tactics, well-armed and provisioned for exactly such a battle, took three buildings — Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel, Oberoi and Trident Hotels, and Nariman House, the last being a building owned by an Israeli who rented to Chabad-Lubavitchers. Apparently, some of the Lubavitchers were U.S. citizens.
All eight inhabitants of Nariman House were killed before Indian commandos retook the building. The terrorists also targeted a hospital and the main Mumbai railway station. The New York Times is reporting that the terrorists immediately killed everyone they came across in the various buildings they invaded, although they allowed security forces to assume that they had taken hostages. The terrorists also fired randomly at people on the street and in facing buildings, killing several bystanders whose only crime appeared to be being within the line of fire.
CNN is reporting that the terrorists had planned on killing 5,000 people.
U.S. intelligence is stating that it has no firm opinion as to who is behind the attacks. According to the NYT, the Indian government seems to believe that Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, assisted the Lashkar e Taiba, or LeT, a militant Islamic group in Pakistan, in carrying out the attacks.
The terrorists claimed membership of the "Deccan Mujahideen." The Deccan is the mountainous plateau that divides North and Central India from South India. Mujahideen roughly translates to "freedom fighters." The group has not been involved in previous incidents and appears to be virtually unknown.
Indian security forces based their suspicions on the discovery of a boat adrift off the coast of Mumbai. The captain of the boat was discovered bound, face-down on the deck, dead. Four crew members are missing; and the logs from cell-phones retrieved from the boat indicate that they had been used to call Jalalabad, in Pakistan. Indian security have also, according to the Times of India, recovered multiple identity and credit cards from many different organizations. The level of sophistication involved is believed to indicate ISI involvement.
The current leader of Pakistan, best known for being the husband of Benazir "Pinkie" Bhutto, the corrupt Asif Ali Zardari, has warned India against holding Pakistan responsible while simultaneously, through the other side of his neck, warning Pakistani militant groups of a strict response should any of them be found responsible.
Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer, advisor to President-elect Barack Obama, as well as previous presidents, and a supposed expert on the Middle-East and South Asia, claimed in his book, The Search for al-Qaeda, that Usama bin Laden assisted the ISI in developing LeT. A devastating attack on India's Parliament was carried out in 2001 by another terrorist group, Jaish e Mohammad, also apparently in collusion with the ISI. It is not clear at this time which of these two terrorist organizations is behind the current attack.
The ISI has long operated as an independent force in Pakistan. It is controlled by no one and beholden, apparently, only to U.S. military and intelligence who supply it with arms and aid. It has been instrumental in the downfall of politicians who have not toed its line. It is quite possible that the ISI, acting on its own, planned and executed the attack on Mumbai with the intent to destabilize relations between India and Pakistan: an attempt that may well suceed, given the increase in such incidents since George W. Bush first took power.
For evidence of such increase in terrorism, see Rep. Henry Waxman's letter to Colin Powell written in 2004. The letter points out that while the misadministration of Gee Dumbya manipulated data to make it appear as if terrorist incidents decreased during his ill-favoured reign, the underlying data make it clear that the number of incidents had actually increased.
The only good news that has come out of this is that President-elect Barack Obama has already formed and announced an emergency advisory team to deal with intelligence received on the Mumbai situation. However, unfortunately, Obama does not assume the reins of power for a little over fifty days as yet, during which time the Idiot-in-Chief can fuck the situation up in a hundred different ways.
And before I forget - thank you, George, for leaving the world in the shitty state it's in. We couldn't have done it without you, ya little schmuck. While you bombed the crap out of women and children in Iraq, destroying the cradle of civilization, al-Qaeda had plenty of time to build up in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Thanks.
There's plenty of reason for Democrats, Independents, and many Republicans not to like Sarah Palin. She's greedy, ambitious, unprincipled, a liar, ignorant, uneducated, incapable, unethical, and too limited to realize her limitations. This does not mean she is stupid. Like Gee Dumbya, she has a certain shrewd cunning that allows her to manipulate those around her quite well. This makes her a dangerous person, because her ignorance and her inability to realize the depths of her ignorance tend to predispose the less-ignorant into underestimating her ability and willingness to go for the throat and cling on until the kill. This woman has no principles. She recognizes no limitations. Decency, morals, ethics, the greater good, all these are concepts with which she has a very limited acquaintance.
In case you need an example to convince you of the truth of the preceding, consider this:
Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."
[...] Palin, speaking to a sea of "Palin Power" and "Sarahcuda" T-shirts, tried to link Obama to the 1960s Weather Underground. "One of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers," she said. ("Boooo!" said the crowd.) "And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,' " she continued. ("Boooo!" the crowd repeated.)
"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.
Whipping up the frenzy of misinformed and frustrated, angry people is not a wise tactic. What happens if one of these bozos (and we have bozos aplenty, in this country) decides to pick up a gun and start killing people? Is the Secret Service paying attention to Palin's people? They'd better be. She is calling for murder.
And this is what he'll do (or authorize doing, or pretend not to know recruiters are doing) to your kids, your friends, your neighbours, your fellow-citizens. Threaten them with arrest and bully them into signing up, so that the rich Republicans who started the wars in the first place can shrug their shoulders like Dick "Dick" Cheney and say "So? They volunteered, didn't they?" when asked about the deaths of other people's children.
Amy Goodman tells us:
After the story broke, Marquette was suspended, and the military says it is conducting an investigation, but neither Martinez nor Gonzalez has been contacted. Recent history does not bode well. In 2005, Sgt. Thomas Kelt, who like Marquette worked at the Greenspoint Recruiting Station in Houston, left a phone message for potential recruit Chris Monarch, saying if he didn’t show up at the recruiting station that afternoon: “We’ll have a warrant, OK? So give me a call back.” The story went national. The military conducted a daylong “stand down” on recruitment to retrain their recruiters. They said they removed Kelt. In fact, he was promoted to head up a nearby recruiting center.
Because you can't have a war without cannon fodder, can you? And Dick's kids, grandkids, and his rich Republican friends' kids are too good to fight in his dirty wars. It's your kids that get that honour.
You want to vote for McCain? First be sure to kiss your kids goodbye. Or your relatives' or friends' or neighbours' kids. Because if he wins this election, there will be quite a few that you'll never see again.
CNN tells us that the FBI, at the request of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and his wife Trinity Tomsic, will be monitoring an investigation into the recent "no-knock" raid in which the Prince George's County Sherriff's SWAT team kicked in the front door of the mayor’s home and shot and killed his two black Labrador retrievers. The investigation will be conducted by the Prince George's County police. Which is rather like asking the fox to take charge of the henhouse, but hey. The spokesweasel for the FBI is one Richard Wolf, in an ironic example of Interesting Names Connected With Strange Cases. The Prince George's County police chief is — Melvin High. The county sherriff? Michael Jackson.
Mayor Cheye Calvo formally requested that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate his case and other similar cases in Prince George’s County. To date, the Prince George's County police and the County Sherriff have failed to produce a warrant consistent with their claims. While Maryland judges are empowered to grant no-knock warrants, the warrant issued by Circuit Court Judge Albert W. Northrup was a standard search warrant.
However, when Mayor Calvo requested the SWAT team to show him their warrant, they refused to do so. That should be a punishable crime, since the Constitution specifically requires that government employees who enter a private citizen's home have (and, presumably, show upon request) a warrant that states specifically the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
The Fourth Amendment is all but dead, the citizenry having traded it away for the mess of pottage that allows such criminal actions by government servants acting under colour of authority. Chances are, however, that the only "punishment" meted out to the police will be exclusion of evidence obtained by illegal search and seizure.
Subsequently, Prince George’s authorities claimed to have a “no knock” warrant, but failed to produce it when requested. The warrant that they finally did produce indicates that they never asked for, nor received, a no-knock warrant.
The fact is, the officers knew that they were behaving illegally. A detective signed a sworn statement to the presiding judge that he had provided Calvo a copy of the warrant at the time of the raid, as required by law. Why lie unless you are doing wrong?
The warrant issue will probably only heighten anger in the community over the incident. Even when a search warrant has been issued, courts have held that police must generally knock to announce their presence, preserve the privacy of a homeowner and let occupants know they are not experiencing an illegal home invasion.
"It's a traditional constitutional protection, going back forever," said defense attorney Richard A. Finci, who is not involved with the Calvo case.
Police officers are sometimes allowed to search without knocking, even without getting authority in advance, but courts have ruled they can do so only if there are specific circumstances at the time of the search that lead officers to conclude evidence might be destroyed or law enforcement could be endangered, said lawyer William C. Brennan, who is not involved with the case.
Do you think the Prince George's County law enforcement folks could tell us how to dispose of 32 pounds of marijuana between the time the cops knock at the door and the time the homeowner lets them in? A small amount of weed can maybe be flushed down the bog or set on fire, but 32 pounds?
Things took a turn for the surreal when Prince George's County Police Department spokeswoman Sharon Taylor said legal counsel had informed her that "no-knock" warrants do not exist in Maryland. CNN has a video clip of police defending their botched raid.
Taylor said:
"This warrant was for permission to search the premises," she said. "The special operations team that supported us made a decision about the necessity of entry at the point of being on the scene."
[...]
Taylor, a self-described dog lover, expressed sympathy for the loss of Calvo's dogs, but stopped short of apologizing for the incident.
"We've done these similar kinds of operations over and over again, to the tune of removing billions of dollars of drugs from the community and without people or animals being harmed," she said. "We don't want any of our operations to result in the injury or loss of anybody, and certainly not animals."
"I would say that the dogs presented a threat, I would imagine, to the special operations situation," Taylor said.
What's your degree in, Ms. Taylor? Weaseling? Incidentally, the Prince George's County law enforcement have bungled drug raids before.
It's time to end the so-called "war on drugs," whose major legacy to the nation is the imprisonment of one per cent of the population. If that seems ludicrous to you, consider that the prison system is privatized; but subsidized by you, the taxpayer; that prisoners are a cheap source of labour to manufacturers but the taxpayer derives no benefit therefrom; that every prisoner who is incarcerated for a drug "offense" has a family that is affected, sometimes severely — whether it's children who have lost a parent and a provider, however poor; or parents who have lost a pair of hands that could add economic, social, and emotional stability to the household.
Consider also that you, the taxpayer, heavily subsidize SOME drugs, like alcohol and tobacco, and the prescription pharmacopeia; that much of the prison population who you are paying to house and feed while businessmen profit from their cheap labour and take away your union jobs are in the hoosegow for offenses relating to marijuana, a drug that has no recorded fatalities; consider that if marijuana usage, possession, and even exchange were not criminalized, billions of taxpayer dollars currently spent to monitor, harrass, arrest, incarcerate, and otherwise interfere with ordinary citizens whose only offense is that they like to get high, could be used for better things — like a better health care system. Consider that prison has never rehabilitated anyone, only taught them how to commit worse and more dangerous crimes. And that prisoners are eventually released into the community from which they came, but it's a community that has changed during their incarceration and it's difficult for them to fit in. So they often turn to a life of crime.
Sheriff Michael Jackson and Police Chief Melvin High have not apologized for the raid, saying their officers acted appropriately. They claim the heavily armed SWAT officers in full protective gear were justified in shooting two innocent, tame, gentle family pets because they "felt threatened." Like we said before, clearly these cops are too wussy for their current line of work if they're scared of two black Labs. They should go into babysitting, there's good money in working as a nanny to the wealthy property-owning classes. Oh, wait, they're probably going to shoot the babies if they feel "threatened."
It turns out that Mayor Calvo and Ms. Tomsic were apparently the victims of a scheme in which packages of marijuana were sent to unsuspecting people and were intercepted by a deliveryman. Five or six other innocent residents of Berwyn Heights have been similarly victimised. Two men have been arrested in the marijuana shipping plot. And two sweet and much-loved dogs lost their lives for the complete idiocy of the LE of Prince George's County. And a couple or three very nice people are completely traumatized and will be for a long, long time.
We're really beginning to hate this election around-the-clock coverage, but as an atheist and firm believer in the Constitution of the United States of America, we feel it our duty to post about the manufactured controversy the mainstream media is generating regarding Reverend Jeremian Wright.
When we started reading about his recent address at the press club some time ago, we decided if we were going to be hearing inflammatory rah-rah from some unknown god-botherer, well, bag that. We have more important things to do with our life.
We tend to avoid any talk about religion, as a rule. People get excitable and emotional about their religion and it's not possible to have a rational exchange of information or opinion. So, why bother? We might as well be watching Britney Spears minus underpantment for all the intellectual gratification to be derived from such interchanges.
But when even supposedly progressive bloggers and people of our acquaintance began shrieking about the Reverend Dr. Wright's supposedly inflammatory remarks, we began to wonder if we should find out more. Then, Buzz Daly posted a lengthy and interesting piece about Dr. Wright and asked why he was being so savagely attacked by the mainstream media and the blogs, and we became even more interested.
Remembering the role of the media in sabotaging the previous two or more elections, and their lickspittle encouragement of the war which has now drained our treasury and the lives and minds and souls of so many, we embarked on some research. Buzz was right. This entire thing is a bunch of the most corrupt, scum-sucking, corporate assholery and total fucking bullshit.
The entire transcript of the Reverend Dr. Wright's speech is available here. You need to register, but registration's free.
Please. Go read the goddamned thing. Because if there is a single objectionable word or thought in there, it's certainly not coming from the Reverend Dr. Wright, who is as fine and outspoken a man, despite being one of the religious, as we have heard in a long time.
Read it and tell us what he is saying that's objectionable or unacceptable or wrong. This man left college to serve his country honourably. And moral midgets like Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, and their entire horde of scum-sucking arselickers are allowed to question his patriotism?
We fucking think not. Read it or listen to it and make up yer own fucking minds. This is utterly fucking ridiculous. To think that a nation that prides itself on freedom of speech is so utterly stupid and spineless as to attack this good man for saying something they don't agree with? We must be living in the fucking gulag.
Finally, someone has the guts and the brains to take on Teh Mighty Wurlitzer - the Republican Party media machine that guarantees only certain voices and viewpoints are heard, the Fairly Unbalanced shrill conservatives who mindlessly echo this misadministration's talking points until ordinary citizens come to believe those voices in their heads are their own. From AP:
MONTPELIER, Vt. - Condemning the Fox News Channel as a warmonger that's agitating for a U.S. attack on Iran, documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald and independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders announced an "online viral video campaign" Wednesday calling on television news organizations "not to follow Fox down the road to war again."
Greenwald, the director behind "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" and "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price," has compiled a new three-minute video that mashes clips from Fox's coverage of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its aftermath with recent coverage of possible U.S. military action against Iran.
The video and an accompanying "open letter" to ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC and CNN — viewable at http://www.FoxAttacks.com — urge news organizations to ask tough questions about administration policy on Iran and say citizens should pressure them to do so.
I don't suppose I need to add that the journalistic establishment, as represented by one Bob Steele, the Nelson Poynter Scholar for Journalism Values at the Poynter Institute school for journalists, is sniffily dismissive of the whole thing. So, so new media, y'know.
Personally, I'd rather hearken to the likes of Christiane Ahmanpour, who is quoted in the story and the clip, pointing out that the misadministration and its thugs at Faux News have worked to intimidate the press as much as they can. One of the reasons we no longer have a free press, in Teh Greatest Democracy In Teh World.
Quote from Sanders:
"We have got to put pressure on the mass media not to play the same craven role they played in Iraq, when they effectually collapsed and became a megaphone for Bush's policies," Sanders said. "What Robert is saying here is that the leader of that effort is Fox News, which in many ways is simply a propaganda machine for the Republican Party and the Bush administration."
He's only saying what those of us with a fucking grain of sense have known forever. Yay, Bernie! Long live the Free State of Vermont.
Vermonters, you now have official permission to look down your noses at the idiots in Connecticut and Maine, who elected feebs like Joe "BlowdaPrez" Lieberwhore and that Susan "KneepadsForBush" Collins.
(CBS News) KENSINGTON, Md. A 74-year-old retired mathematician who sells anti-Bush buttons at a Maryland farmers' market has become a symbol of free speech to some people. Others say Alan McConnell is a nuisance.
He's 74, for cryin' out loud. They arrested him because he's potentially dangerous? Oh, please. What's he going to do, throw up on the cops?
I'm decades younger than Mr. McConnell, and I can assure you my ability to pose a potential threat to anyone is severely limited by the bad knees, poor vision, carpal tunnel, torn rotator cuff muscles, and bad back. We don't need brownshirts to police us, it seems. Our fellow citizens and elected officials are more than happy to step up to the plate.
I just came back from seeing SiCKO. What a swirl of intense emotions I felt during that film!
Shame ... I just wanted to yell SHAME SHAME SHAME in all of our "leaders" faces. A small country like Cuba can take care of its citizens. What's up with us?
I felt shame about myself because we in the U.S. are not like the French ... we don't march in the streets ... occasionally, yes. But do our leaders fear us? No. Isn't it healthy for leaders to fear the citizenry? Instead of the other way around?
I mostly felt envy. Envy for those people that do not have to worry about health care costs. You might ask me: "You have insurance, surely you don't have to worry?" Yes, I do. What if I was hit with something catastrophic? I'd lose my house. No doubt. For the last 3 years, my dental bills have been several thousand dollars over what my dental plan covers. Knee replacement surgery? Not sure. I'm afraid to ask.
I live in fear. It's kind of like the fear of rape. What would it be like to live in a whole world ... not just my little part of the world ... no, the whole world ... what would it be like if we eradicated rape?
What would it be like to have free universal health care?
In this country people used to talk about "conflict of interest" ... isn't the whole system of who will be given insurance ... what health treatments will be paid for ... dictated by health insurance companies ... isn't that a conflict of interest?
I really recommend this film. I was dragging my feet ... I wanted to see it ... but I kept thinking "I'm a poster child for free universal health care. I had a root canal with no anesthesia because I had no insurance and went to a neighborhood clinic. I had an operation under someone else's name because I had no insurance. I didn't get physical therapy when I should have because of lack of insurance. I was sick for a whole year in my twenties because I didn't have insurance ... etc." But I got a lot out of it. Determination to get going and do something. Also, the movie is not just about health care .... it's about a whole way of life. Please see it.
A former member of Parliament talks in SiCKO about people being afraid and demoralized ... that some people in government want citizens to feel that way. "People who are healthy, confident, and optimistic are much harder to rule."
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Amiran White/NYT
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