Happy Khriskwanukkafestinalia 2013

Hey, Happy Khriskwanukkahfestinalia, everybody:

It’s me, Buddy The Wonderdog* I had Emperor Terrance, Lord of Church Street and its environs, Provider of Sustenance and Keeper of the (pellet stove) Flame** set up the voice regonizhun software on this box so’s I can write while he sits over in the comfy chair, swillin’ the eggnog and eatin’ the stuff he won’t let me have.

The occasional glitch in the software will sometimes render a “Woof” as a “WooF”, a “wOof” or even a “WOOF”. I apologize for such errors in advance. Doggerel, our language is a lot like various forms (Mandarin, Cantonese and other) or Oriental languages and Arabic, dependent upon context, pronunciation and syntax. If something comes out sideways I don’t got no Ko-Rec-Type or WyteOut and, even if I did, I got no hands, just paws. Deal with it.

So, where was I? Oh, yeah, me and The Guy have had our home for 2-1/2 years. He was in the house here longer but without it don’t have a dog, it ain’t a home! I came from a nice enough house where I was before (Buckingham Palace, does that ring a bell?) but try getting up on the furniture around those people***! This place is a little beat up (The Guy says it just looks, “lived in”—yeah, like it was lived in when an F5 twister hit) but a nice, snuggly, somewhat “experienced” couch that smells like ME—that’s heaven with bad upholstery, noi’msane?

The food here is WAY better than it was at them other places—especially the vegan PETA shelter that I was in for a couplea weeks, before I got into the DPP (see note 1). I get MEAT with some other stuff and it’s all good. I get some decent kibble that’s made by a nice lady with a cooking show on the teevee  (The Guy don’t got one, one of life’s small trials); I think her name is Rayshell Ray. Oh, I get cookies, too. Bacon, peanut butter, blueberries, chicken fat and just enough flower to hold it all together—YUM!

I’m not complaining, this is pretty good gig. Like any relationship there’s some give and take; The Guy gives me biscuits and I take them back to my bed, crunch them while dreaming that they are small mammals or brilliantly plumaged songbirds and take a nap—eating is hard work.

Yeah, I gotta wear a collar, get inoculated, have that fleantick stuff put on me and pee outside (usually—and when I don’t hold my water, it’s not my fault. I’m a little dog, little dogs are usually yappers, snappers and indoor crappers and I don’t yap, snap or crap in the house, so 2-1/2 outta three AND no “#2”, ain’t bad), no mean task when it’s 5 degrees outside.

I do some chores, cleaning out my dogfood bowls every day being one of the more important ones. I also patrol the house, looking for skwerlz, bobcats, wolverines, polar bears and musk oxen. You know how many of those guys are in the house? That’s right, Zero, bupkus, nada; and only the skwerlz stayed in the neighborhood—those little guys are QUIK! I patrol the neighborhood three times a day, checking for interlopers and thinking dire thoughts at them (I’m telepathic, too) until they leave the area. I also volunteer, along with a number of other fellas like myself, to do some informal ethnobiological research. What, you think alla that sniffin’ is idle curiousity?—oh, kontrare—we’re gathering data points. It’s just dog pee and poo to you.So, whattayagot, like, 5,000,000 odor receptors in those puny little schnozzolas of yours? Well, I got about 20 times that many and my buddy Billybobbloodhound down the street has like 230,000,000 of ‘em. We don’t just know who left the “deposit”, we know why, when and what he was eating and drinking. I shouldn’t be telling you this but when I go the vet he always wants a little “alone time” with me, so’s I can fill him in on what’s going on in the neighborhood. His office assistant wants other stuff, things like The Guy’s bank routing and account numbers—lucky for him, I can’t read.

Sorry—we had to take a little break for me to go out and romp in the snow (actually, it’s at this time of the year when the danger of marauding Polar bears is greatest—they blend right in with the snow, but I act all lighthearted and gay while I scan the snowdrifts for signs of recent Polar bear activity. The Guy is oblivious; he’s just enjoying his hard bought freedom from fear, without a care in the world. Today’s a good day, nothing to report) and now that he’s had his outing, I think that The Guy is ready to do a little work.

Me, I’m pretty much tuckered out, anyway, from all this work and my eyes are a little tired from squinting while looking into the sun (the direction where most polar bear attacks come from) and I think I might need a little nap.

Ahhh, yeah, here he comes now. A little stretch, roll over, get my belly scratched, hop up on my bed and look cute. Then, BissssssssssssssCUTZ!

Happy Humanholidaze!! (or as we say in doggerel, “ArfwOOf, WooFarf!”

Buddy TheWonderdog

 

Hi and Merry Christmas or whatever holiday you’re currently celebrating:

Buddy was good enough to help out with the ChrisKwanukkahFestiNalia letter this year (I was NOT napping—I was THINKING about all of the things I have yet to do before I go a’visitin’. And, NO, those were not snores that Buddy was hearing, it was a little mantra I came up with years ago while in boring classes at CHS).

I’ve been making candied mixed nuts, zaletti (Italian cornmeal cookies with currants soaked in Marsala), fudge sauce, banana-blueberry bread and pumpkin ginger bread. But the piece de resistance is dulce de leche. Five gallons of milk and fifteen pounds of sugar (simmered in smaller batches) yields about 6 quarts of beautiful, thick, caramel sauce. Dulce de leche is good on everything, especially a spoon.

I am happy to report that at least HALF of the lovely Christmas cards I get every year have already arrived. I am sure that the rest of them will be along as soon as the USPS gets offa its lazy butt and gets to work—whoops, my bad, Jolene!

This year has been a bit of a challenge, physically. I have had some issues with my right arm (ganglion cyst on my hand, pronated lunate process in my wrist, torn bicep and probable tear in rotator cuff). After several trips to the clinic, some PT and a little bit of that Kellymagic anger I finally got a cortisone shot in my shoulder (immediate relief) and an MRI scheduled for 1/06/14.  I just got an oxygen condenser for using while I sleep—not sure that’s gonna work out, between the noise and the cannula up my nose!—because while the VA says I don’t have Sleep Apnea, they think I need more O2 at night. If/when they can get a handle on that stuff, I need a podiatric consult and maybe some new knees and hips down the road.

In spite of all of the above I’ve walked and biked quite a bit since June of this year (a virtue born of necessity) and it’s probably a good thing. Between taking Buddy out for his neighborhood patrols, various errands and trips to the local Beerdration clinics and debate clubs, I’m clocking about 15 miles walking or 40 or more on the bike, per week and the hills here are like the ones on Bancroft and 46^th to 48^th Street.

Work on the house proceeds slowly but it proceeds. Buddy’s water doesn’t freeze in its bowl OR in the toilet. I got me some gummint pellets this year, 2 tons from HEAP and that will be the bulk of my heating requirement. I use a pellet stove that keeps the downstairs tolerable and, at night, a small portable radiator keeps me cozy in my bedroom. Buddy has a nice couch for warmer nights and new, raised doggy bed about 2 feet from the front of the stove. He seems to enjoy watching the fire and dreaming about catching oneathem Polar bears.

Well, I’ve got a new batch of dulce de leche simmering on the burner and some cookies (not zaletti, these are my special holiday cookies with about 25 ingredients) to make before I nip next door for a late Chrismas dinner. My neighbor, the chair of the local SUNY theater department invited me. She apologized for the fact that her and her boyfriend’s children (1 and 2 kidaloos, respectively) would be there. I told her not to worry, they won’t beat me to the food. I may have lost a step but, coming from our background, I wield a pretty mean fork.

Buddy will have been fed, walked and biscuited before I go and he will spend a few hours listening to Christmas music while visions of roasted skwerl, stuffed with pepperoni, prosciutto, bacon, sausage, roast beef plus cheddar, asiago, parmegiano reggiano and manchego cheese dance through that thimble sized brain of his.

Buddy also has a physical challenge. He’s had a seizure disorder for some time and it recently ramped up to high frequency and “cluster” episodes. He’s going in for blood work on Friday and his vet says that he’s pretty sure (and will know for certain after the blood panels) whether it’s anything diagnosable or simple idiopathic epilepsy. The only real treatment (that I can afford) is Phenobarbital twice a day. Several of my friends have animals who seize and they all treat them with Phenobarbital and it seems to be effective and relatively benign. Buddy’s a gamer and he’s still really likin’ the cookies and walks, so he’s gonna wanna stick around for a few more years—my adoption papers say he’ll be 12 in February, the vet says he thinks he’s 9. I’ll let you peeps know how it all comes out.

I wish you all, family and friends alike, all of the wonder, joy and happiness that you can share with those whom you love today and always. I also wish you success and prosperity in 2014 and the years to come.

Peace and Love from your favorite dope and his “roomie”

Terry and Buddy The Wonderdog. 

*  Not my real name, I’m in the Dachsweiler Protection Program. My litter name was Prince Kurzbinder von Puppenhund—I come from a long line of royal dogs. The DPP thing?  Um, it’s got to do with peeing on expensive shoes and chewing up the boss’s steak (the last one, boss, that is). I had to “rat out” some chicken killers I knew or spend the rest of a short and miserable life in a PETA vegan shelter.  So “Buddy” it is (“The Wonderdog” was The Guy’s idea—he’s such a kidder, always saying things like, “Hey, Buddy, don’t sell yourself short!”). Everybody’s a comedian—so, why ain’t I laffin?

**  Hereinafter referred to as “FBWSBtEG” (Food, Ball, Walk, Scratch Behind the Ear Guy), nah, that’s too long, too. Let’s just call him, “The Guy”.

*** And those corgis? They think they’re “special” , just ‘cuz they live a queen. I got news for ya, fellas; my forepawfathers were livin’ with the Kaiser when yours were still peein’ on un-pruned trees—do ya get my drift?

When does a Teaparty become a Romneyesque hippiefag punchup? When it starts, silly, when it starts.

I left this comment:
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“Ideology is not (what) motivates them. ditto drugs. It’s about power”

True, in one sense.

But it really IS about ideology in a broader sense.

The Post-modern (as in totally fucking regressive) GOP is ONLY about gathering power; it’s a Ponzi scheme of Power. The rubes are suckered into donating money, running phone banks and attending rallies so that the oligarchs and demagogues can gain power–it never trickles down to the sheeple.

Progressivism is about social and personal responsibility and the power of the group to effect change in a positive way, what passes for conservatism today is about the accumulation of power and the eschewing of responsibility.

The GOP’s new “China Shop Rules”:
"Yeah, I fuckin; broke, YOU clean it up and pay for the damage and, oh, yeah, Why do you hate MurKKKa?”.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

over here:  http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2013/11/06/columbia-sc-should-fire-their-police-chief/#comments

I am fairly well convinced that accruing political/financial power is THE reason that the GOP exists at this point. The Teabaglicans are useful idiot teens (emotionally) who happen to have found the keys to the car, the liquor cabinet, the old man's porno stash AND the closet where he keeps the REAL firepower and are raising some serious hell while the folks are at their John Birch meeting.

Looks like Ex-Chiefie Kessler's got hisself a soulmate in that there Ruben Santiago feller. There may be a little problem with that last name, but I'm sure that they can work it out. After all, I'm sure that Santiago is oneathem "good" OTHER people.

At the same blog there is this post/comment thread:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2013/11/06/the-skeletons-in-christies-closet/#comments

relative to the imperious style of Chris Christie, NJ's freshly re-elected "populist RINO" governor and how off-putting it was to Romney's political strategists. It is somewhat delicironic that Romney found Christie to be somewhat of an asshole; that's sorta like Jeff Dahmer finding Ted Bundy to be a not nice person.

Poor, poor pitiful Grover.

It appears that Grover Norquist has done such a good job of  "raisin' up" his anti-tax astroturfers that they not only hate taxes, they hate anyone who's not completely fucking insane--per this link:

http://godfatherpolitics.com/12960/grover-norquist-hates-ted-cruz/

which Ed Brayton over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars picked up on, here:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2013/10/24/wingnut-on-wingnut-crime-demar-vs-norquist/#comment-277774

My comment:

________________________________________________-

"This is the tactic that Gary DeMar, a genuine Christian reconstructionist, takes in attacking Grover Norquist for his criticism of Ted Cruz."


That sentence makes me think of that old cartoon with the guppy being swallowed by the goldfish being swallowed by....
Gosh, seeing poor Grover being attacked by a member of the BKBotBS*--a movement which he was instrumental in creating; a movement that he nurtured, funded and whose collective ego he stroked while it sought to kill liberalism and, instead, killed the last bits of genuine conservatism in the GOP--when I see that happening, I picture poor Grover weeping in the wreckage of his bunker mentality. I see that and I think:
"Aw, c'mon Grover, things could be worse. You could be getting indicted for tax fraud, outed for being a HINO**, watching your entire portfolio going up in smoke or finding out that you have a rare, incurable form of colon cancer that will take a slow and painful course from your anus right to your brain, wasting your body along the way, until you're small enough to drown in a cup of TEA!"
That could ALL be happening, Grover (and I, for one, look forward to hearing that it has) but for now, you still have your money and your Fortress of Indignorance, although you HAVE lost control of your Frankenwhine followers.


*    Batshit KKKrazzeepants Brigade of the Burnin' Stoopit.
**   Heterosexual In Name Only

_________________________________________________________


Seeing Grover in this situation makes me remember the end of Jurassic Park 2 where the evil themepark fuck, Peter Ludlow, is wounded by the adult T-Rex so it's little guy can learn how to kill--it's kinda sweet in a cold-blooded patriarchal sortaway.

Gunzloonz, Preppers and their paranoid fantasies.

Link:  http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2013/10/18/wouldnt-you-like-to-be-a-prepper-too/#comments

The following is my comment on the blogthread for the above post. Material in indented block quotes are comments (in part) by other bloggers.  I always suggest reading the blogpost and comments in their entirety to get all of the snarkliciousness that they have to offer.
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“One question the target market probably won’t think to ask: If there’s going to be some kind of apocalyptic economic meltdown in a mere 10 months, why are they asking for money?”

I was thinking the same thing. You should prolly send them food. Or, bearing in mind that old Chinese proverb:

“Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him forever*”,

you might want to send them a cubic foot of chicken manure. They can the use the manure to fertilize their “Prepper peppers” and other food crops–or just eat the same shit they’ve been broadcasting to their target demographic, right out of the box.

“If all 317 million Americans have a drone assigned to track and target them, then who is operating these drones?

It would require another 317 million people to operate the drones.

Yeah, the math doesn’t work very well.”

A while back, Raven, I wrote about my nascent political party, the “Thin The Herd Party”. The motto of the party is:

“If each of us removes one useless bastard, per week, from the herd, in short order there will b NO useless bastards in MurKKKa!”

I am aware of the potential for unintended consequences, that you or I may be someone’s, say Lancifer’s, “useless bastard”–one cannot make an omelet without breaking lovely Omega-3 stuffed free-range eggs, vegan, dairy-free emmenthaler and a veritable battery of wonderful gadgets from “The Pampered Chef” and Williams-Sonoma.

To the end of a “Useless Bastard Free” MurKKKa, the drones would be an excellent means. If each of us controlled a drone, targeting ONE USELESS BASTARD per week, the project to rid this wonderful democracy of those idiots with whom we disagree would yield fruit much more quickerer. Keep watching the skies, my man, keep watching the skies.

 

* And give a “hand-up, not a hand-out!” to L.L. Bean, Shimano, Zebco, Orvis, Gander Mountain, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops.
__________________________________________________________________________-----

It is apparent that the one valuable service that has been performed by the Kochturfers who comprise the "leadership" of the various SKKKrotalMurKKKanPatriotiKKK Front organizations is the amalgamation of the various groups of wingnuts, gunzloonz, preppers, birthers, truthers, racists, xenophobes and other reiKKKwing conspiracy theorists who have cropped up like toadstools on the zombified corpse of the once reasonable GOP. These new groups join hands with their idiotological brothers and mentors in the John Birch Society, the Ku Klux Klan, the Knights of the White Camellia, The League of the South, The American Nazi Bund., Posse Comitatus and other organizations dedicated to the proposition that it's far easier (and more satisfying) to be hatin' on the "other" than it is to actually work towards SOLVING problems that bedevil our society.

It's KKKlowns like those in the groups I've listed above (and the dozens of others that have proliferated since Bill Clinton was elected to the presidency) that make me yearn for some modicum of firearms regulation.

I think that a bumper sticker that said:

"Gunz don't kill peepul; KKKrazzee, indignorant, self-righteous pieces-of-shit with vigilante fantasies about usin' teh gunz to solve their problems kill peepul!".

is one that I could put on my bicycle!

 

Mean old wrinkly white people and bunny sex politics?

CNN contributor Alex Castellanos posited the reason for the current right wing insanity is analogous to bunny sex.


I think he's wrong.  I think the right is just drunk on their perceived power to threaten their own elected /tame politicians, and in their minds they exaggerate that power.  It makes them ripe for financial exploitation, but they are coming very close to crashing hard into the wall that is reality. However, if you want to get out of your mind the image of old, wrinkly white people who hate sex because it is sinful being driven insane because of lust, there's this.

Right Wing Racism from the D.C. trucker (non) shut-down

Friday, October 11, 2013

2nd Update - the Racist Right statements from the truckers non-shut-down of Washinton D.C.

We've often heard the right deny they're racists.

I think that must be because 1. they are good at denying facts and reality; and 2. they don't know what racism is when they trip over it and face plant in the muck they wallow in.

It is worth noting that Zeeda Andrews, event organizer, is an avowed birther.

The Las Vegas Guardian Express picked up on some of the more extremely racist comments made by the event organizers and presenters:

T2SDA Libertarian Trucker Protest Begins in Washington

Added by Mandy Gardner on October 11, 2013.T2SDA – the Truckers to Shut Down America protest organization – officially begins today in Washington on the back of wildly racist, libertarian ideals. Dubbed the “Ride for the Constitution,” the trucker-led protest was organized by ex-trucker Zeeda Andrews, who is currently hosting a live radio feed via the Ride For the Constitution website. Andrews states the purpose of the T2SDA protest is “about getting these folks in Washington to know that we are paying attention.” Andrews and many of her colleagues believe that Americans need to send a strong message to the government and force them back to work, as well as eradicate socialist-leanings in legislation.
The protest in Washington, as well as planned War Memorial protests across the United States, are unaffiliated with a political party, says Zeeda Andrews. A libertarian co-host referred to the President as “Barack Hussein Obama” and blamed him for the socialization of health care. Not to be labelled a Red-State Republican, however, he also blamed former President Ronald Reagan for the socialization of public education, urging all parents to pursue home schooling for their children. Andrews’ radio show is being presented by the Guerilla Media Network, but is experiencing technical difficulties which staff are blaming on anti-T2SDA hackers.

...“Is it legal of them to be talking about raising the debt ceiling?” asked one of the Ride for the Constitution radio hosts. He went on to suggest that the President be thrown out into “the woods” on his own without any “socialism” to take care of him. In a remarkably racist comment, the man went on to laughingly draw out a plan where “Barack Hussein Obama” be forced into an outdoor survival situation where he would theoretically learn the value of guns, violence and independence. After the ordeal, the President would come back to the city and “tell all the black people” to forget their socialist values, buy guns and stop asking for government handouts.

...“You have until midnight to vacate voluntarily,” a presenter calling himself Train Wreck Tommy said to the President. “Take your basketballs and go.”

Presumably the "vacate voluntarily' is intended to be taken as a threat, with involuntarily meaning by force or violence.

I wonder if Train Wreck Tommy is aware that 1. Obama is himself competent with guns, 2. he is protected in the White House by the Secret Service, backed up by the military, and 3. he's trash talking insurrection and treason?

The unpatriotic little pissant might want to wait for a few more people to back him up on that, because I don't see the coward doing it alone.  And I don't see a few dozen old, white, flabby, and crabby children-who-never-grew-up, playing with their real big rigs, as nearly enough help.

Perfect~

So far off that they can't even be wrong

This:

"Of course, not all of the country’s referendums are meant to promote a socialist state. For example, a majority of Swiss voters have voiced support for a referendum that would maintain the country’s conscription policy , which requires all men in the country aged 18-34 to complete a period of public service." (http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/switzerland-to-vote-on--2-800-monthly-%E2%80%98basic-income%E2%80%99-minimum-for-adults-181937885.html)

is an exemplar of what's wrong with what passes for professional journalism in the world (particularly the U.S.) today.

If universal conscription is not emblematic of socialism, I'm not sure if anything else could be. What, after all, says, "We're all in this together.", more forcefully than telling everyone that they MUST serve in their country's armed forces?

It seems that the writer(s) have conflated militarism with capitalibertyness and a "floor" for earnings (in one of the wealthiest nations on earth) with rampant commomusliGAYtheism. It would be deliciously funny, if it wasn't a contributing factor in the disinformation wars waged by the ReiKKKwing "news" outlets. Misinformation, blatantly erroneous conflation and outright fabrication constitute the core of the offering from FuckTheNew'sCorpse and their fellow slimetrailers in the media. And the horseshit that they shovel onto the airwaves, cable and the intertoobz is, usually, treated as a "viewpoint" by the MSM and simply passed along without critical comment or any questioning as to their accuracy, validity or relevance .

The "Shutdown" is a case in point.

The deliberate and malicious shutdown of a number of U.S. government agencies last week was engineered by the GOP, specifically the batshitKKKrazzee SKKKrotalMurKKKanPatriotiKKK Front Wing* of the GOP. It was allowed to happen by the rest of the GOP out of fear, fear that the Frankenstein that they have created in the crackpot religious/nationalist/xenophobic/racist/posse comitatus/gunzloonz/anti-tax fringe**, will primary their asses into oblivion if they act like rational adults and stop this nonsense.

That, in itself, is bad enough. However, what we also have to contend with is the ReiKKKwing noise machine blaming the rest of the country for causing this, and particularly blaming the dems and the PotUS. The charges are complete nonsense. If the so-called MSM were doing their job, they would simply note that FuckTheNew'sCorpse reported thus and so, and then proceed to demonstrate that it's a lie. Instead they report it with no attempt to refute what is obviously untrue.

I rarely listen to or watch a news program. I choose to read accounts by reputable sources (they do exist) and form my opinions from genuine information instead of the breathless nonsense that passes for news and analysis on the airwave, public or private and cable.




*  You might refer to them as "Patriots", "Teabaggers" or "Petulant, hypocritical assholes".

** The effective majority in today's GOP.

The word for today is "apochridence"

I think we need a demoneologism for whatever it is that the SKKKrotalMurKKKanPatriotiKKK Front and its fellow slimetrailiers are doing when they come a’trollin’. They seem to confuse feelings with facts and “anecdotal evidence”/apocrypha with actual data. I think I’m going with apochridence (evidence of doubtful origin or veracity). My mind can be changed, but it usually costs some money.

Case in point:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/27/ted-cruz-filibuster_n_4003947.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
it would prolly bother me if I did something like what Cruz did, but then I’ve got morals AND a conscience–even though I’m an atheist.

I'll try and get back with a few more, later.

The homophobe's cookbook

This:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/26/pasta-firm-barilla-boycott-gay

is the latest addition to the "Clueless asshole making homophobic comments, because he thinks that he can get away with it." collection.

Guido Barilla, you're my candidate for "Piece-of-shit of the day" (or longer).

What is really amazing (although we should be inured to it by now) is the rapidity with which the homophobes start screeching about being discriminated against. It usually happens almost immediately after people start telling them that their bigoted assholes.

I think I'll start collecting the names of food/restaurant concerns that are anti-gay and see about putting together a cookbook for homophobes.

Red, white and burnin' stoopit.

Another comment (this one over at Southern Beale's)  that turned into a post.



These aren't yours but it's early in the hunting season (at least for some critters.
http://www.twincities.com/old/home/ci_23152152/washington-county-officer-shot-turkey-load-says-its
Lucky for Mr. Cusick, he was out scouting turkey hunting sites instead of deer hunting sites--a .30-06 or .308 would have left him considerably worse off, if not dead.
Another gunzjeenyus, here:
http://now.msn.com/william-daniel-lloyd-injured-hunting-squirrel-with-bb-gun
I wonder if he's the same person as this guy;
http://www.whosarrested.com/florida/alachua-county/gainesville/acj/3473045-william-daniel-lloyd
And, finally, we have some GOOD gunzloonz nooz!
http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/local/regional/article_fb0afd26-78bf-11e2-adc1-001a4bcf887a.html
From the linked article:
"“The only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” Petersen says, resolutely, then quickly qualifies: “Just buying a gun doesn’t improve things much.”
and:
“The safety is only a mechanical device, and we all know how reliable mechanical devices are,” he says to a roomful of knowing nods. “The best safety on any weapon is the person holding it.”
Well, maybe not.
About two months later, this:
http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/article_c36cde4e-b149-11e2-8f65-001a4bcf887a.html
Some of the comments are truly fucking braindead.

The only thing that tastes better than the first apple crisp of the fall is the delicious tears of cryin' gunzloonz.

Let's fuck the poor people some more.

Yeah, because that will make them become more responsible.

The state lege in NY is trying to pass a law requiring drug testing for people on TANF. I just talked to a county rep's wife about this.


Her husband is for it and so is she. She says that hurting these people will make them straighten up and fly right. So, basically, what she, her husband and others are saying is that punishing all poor people because some percentage of them might be using illicit drugs is okay. Apparently meting out that punishment is preferable to their being angry and feeling impotent about "welfare abuse". It's just that simple. That they are willing to suspend people's 4th amendment rights--if it even occurs to them that they are doing so--is not a problem. That the primary recipients of the punishment will be defenseless AND blameless children is also not, for them, a problem.

Having dealt with a fair number of irresponsible assholes in my life I have seen numerous instances where punishment for wrong doing was simply "rolled downhill" to someone with even less power than the person who was being punished in the first place.

I could be mistaken about what I think are the motivations (anger about their powerlessness to make people behave is the primary one, imo) that drive people to think withholding benefits to dependent children will be sufficient to drive their parents into the job markets/stop their being addicts. I am willing, however, to bet a case of beer that not one person that advocates for this sort of nonsensical "solution" to what is perceived as a pervasive problem (and it is not, actually) would be very uncomfortable if they were told that THEIR drug use (alcohol is, after all, a drug) should bar them from holding public office, taking a government paycheck or being given benefits like medicare and social security. We need, also, to bear in mind, that the drug testing is not to identify drug addicts but simply drug users. Whether a person shoots Mexican Brown, snorts meth or coke, tokes a doobie or hits a crack pipe is immaterial. All/any drug use is grounds for disqualification from the programs under discussion.

I truly understand the frustration of people who have to deal with a permanent underclass but it doesn't mean that I must agree with them. Their prescription for eradicating welfare fraud/drug use amongst welfare recipients is the opposite of a panacea.

The way I see it is this. If it's okay to make people on TANF or unemployment piss in a cup to collect their enormously bloated checks (I think they get, like, $5,000 a month and vouchers for Cristall and a Lamborghini) why not the crazy old fuckers on SS and the people on SSI and the people on ANY sort of gummint assistance, including--and most especially--all of those millionaires and billionaires who were forced to accept low or no interest loans from US as punishment for stealing or losing $T's?  I mean sauce for the goose and all that noise.

Why are people who use drugs while they draw government checks for their work or as subsidies any less likely to be drug addled or have their drugging affect their performance?

UPDATE:

The video at the Gawker link is from a Congresswoman who's more of a man than most of them:

http://gawker.com/lawmaker-tears-apart-anti-food-stamp-republicans-with-g-1351601548

The headlines I've seen say, in a variety of ways, that she "shamed" her congressional colleagues who voted against food stamps. I doubt that happened, those people are impervious to shame. She may have alerted a few non-braindead voters to the fact that their representatives are not, in fact, that.

H/T to Southern Beale's "Good News Friday" column of today.

YHWH or the highway!

Southern Beale put up a post about this:

http://www.ksdk.com/news/watercooler/article/397049/71/Vince-Gill-confronts-Westboro-Baptist-Church-protesters-in-Missouri

Go there and read her OP and comment if you like.

I'm posting my ditty here and I'll e-mail it to her (I'm terrible at doing this sort of thing and having it look right when it gets on the blog).

I Just Came To See What Hate Looked Like

 

I was sittin’ in a bar, livin my sweet, sweet life of hedonistic sin;

When at the church across the way there arose such a great din.

It was during a funeral service for kid not old enough to vote yet,

A kid not old enough to vote or drink, a kid who’ll never be a vet.

I heard the ruckus, saw the signs, I saw that kid’s parents cry.

It’s bad enough to lose a son, without being told GOD wanted him to die.

I just came to see what hate looked like, it looked a lot like you;

You with your signs ‘bout hatin’ fags, your hoods and robes and crosses, too.

 I just came to see what hate looked like, it looks a lot like you;

And your hatred of the folks who don’t fit in your crew.

 I was a kid when I was taught that JESUS loved the publicans and whores
And how he made the blind to see and healed the leper’s sores.

And now I’m older, the scales have fallen and my once blind eyes now see,

Unless I hate the other tribe, JESUS won’t love me.

 

I just came to see what hate looked like, it looks a lot like you;

You say that you love JESUS but you just hate blacks and jews.

You say your GOD is omnipotent, infinitely strong and wise,

But he likes only whom you like and hates the other guys?

 

I asked the barkeep for my check and tossed cash on the bar,

I went outside and crossed the street, on my way to my car.

A sign waver stepped up to me, told me I was bound for hell;

Because GOD hates teh GAY (and I guess everybody else) 

I could have grabbed his sign and thrown it on the ground.

I could have lost my temper and smacked the guy around.

Instead, I told him what I thought of his church and their bile.

I told him he was hateful, I said it with a smile. 

I just came to see what hate looked like, it looks a lot like you;

You look like fear and hopelessness and you look stupid, too.

You say that your GOD hates everyone who doesn’t share your goals.

If that was true, you and your tribe would just be smoking holes.


Yepper, that's pretty much what KKKristian LOVE is all about, hatin' everybody that's not in your tribe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I need a new T-shirt

I just skimmed a story about elderly protestors being arrested at the NC lege after refusing to leave the chambers. That, this story, the other stories about the attacks on voters’ rights, a woman’s freedom of choice, education, science and the old stand-byes of race and poverty gives me an idea for a graphic that I, unfortunately, cannot do myself.

Anybody’s got the mad skilz at graphics is welcome to this idea.

A group of robed and hooded figures with crosses and confederate battle flag logos, standing at the base of a tree. The tree is festooned with the hanged and broken bodies of black men, “illegals”, women, children, the infirm, the elderly, welfare recipients, scientists, muslims, democrats and other people who are the subjects of the GOP & SKKKrotalMurKKKanPatriotiKKK Front vitriolic and hyperbolic hatred.

A legend under the image would read, “Strange fruit–it ain’t just black, anymore” and, emanating from the mouth of one the hooded figures in the foreground:

“We’re gonna need BIGGER trees!”.

I really have fucking had it with the racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, illogical assholes who comprise the ReiKKKwing and all of its various factions.

Somebody out there has to be able to make this image.

Damn it! I forgot; they should have gunz, too, LOTS of gunz and maybe a few Wholly Babbles.

As long as I’m off on a disjointed rant…I think that the NRA, Walmart, HCA, Chick-fil-Aholes and the the like are missing an opportunity. They could have sponsorship deals with the hate groups whom they enable/use. It could be like the NASCAR of misanthropy.

Youse can haz the controls of my Donzi when you kin pry them from my cold, dead and wrinkly fingers.

I put this elsewhere first so maybe it's autoplaigarism--I'll leave that decision to a competent authority to make.

"This:
Is nothing to do with gunz, except for the contrast in what happens when you stupidently hurt people with objects that don’t fire projectiles.

Reply

• democommie

  July 29, 2013 at 9:24 am

  It would be nice if I put in the friggin’ link!:
  http://www.belgeinfo.com/hudson-river-boating-accident-two-missing-four-injured-driver-charged-28433-2013/
  And here I was thinkin’ that would just happen in a commonist onkclave like New Yorkistan. Apparently NOT:
  http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20130702/NEWS01/307020025/Palmyra-man-charged-vehicular-homicide-boating-fatality
  Remember:
  Boats don’t kill people. Boat propellers and barges kill people."

Well, I sure hope that boy in Cumberland, TN don't lose his gunzritez; cuz' he was only being an irresponsible fucking moron  with a boat, not a handcannon!

Guns, Homicides and Suicides, and the U.S. Constitution

Lincoln, sulpted in stone on Mount Rushmore

cross-posted from IVN:

Although it is a statement widely attributed to Abraham Lincoln relating to a temporary suspension of habeas corpus under the Suspension Clause of the Constitution (Article 1, Section 9, clause 2), the first actual recorded quote that the U.S. Constitution is “not a suicide pact” was made by Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson in his Terminiello v. Chicago dissent, not quite 100 years later. It was used again almost 15 years later in another SCOTUS decision in 1963, also about freedom of speech and the First Amendment.

That should apply as well to the Second Amendment.

What the U.S. Constitution IS supposed to be and do, instead of functioning as a suicide pact,  is explicitly spelled out in the preamble:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

In that larger context, looking at how we interpret and implement the Constitution, it is fair to look at the Constitution generally, and the Second Amendment specifically so that it is not LITERALLY a suicide pact, which permits gun violence that kills large numbers of Americans (and for that matter, others who are not citizens, but who are within the borders of the U.S.).

Saturday, July 20, 2013 is the one year anniversary of the Aurora, Colorado mass shooting, and a little more than six months from the Sandy Hook, Colorado mass shooting.    It is worth looking at both murders and suicides, especially mass shootings, together because most mass shootings are murder suicides.  We have  some 17,000 suicides a year using firearms, which is HALF of all suicides.

In looking at homicides, in comparison to other countries in the world, which is a fair comparison for a larger sense of how our constitution is functioning to assess and evaluate how successfully or unsuccessfully  our interpretation of the constitution is working to fulfill its expressed  purpose in the preamble, which is in part about the public safety of citizens, not only from foreign threats, but from our fellow Americans.  In that regard, expressed as homicides per 100,000 persons, we are second behind Pakistan, and FAR higher than for example, Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Sweden and the United Kingdom.  The graph below reflects data from the UN Office of Drugs and Crime; if you use the FBI statistics, we fare even worse in the comparison, by about 0.5%.

The Preamble specifically mentions the Posterity of the founding fathers and other citizens of the United States.  Such a reference to posterity inherently presumes that the offspring of citizens survive to enjoy all of the benefits outlined in the preamble, and are safe from firearms injury.  Therefore, not only when we think of the Sandy Hook mass shooting but the other statistics of children dying from firearms, and being injured by firearms, this is a significant concern in the context of the preamble of the Constitution.
From a USA Today news article earlier this year:

In 2010, 15,576 children and teenagers were injured by firearms — three times more than the number of U.S. soldiers injured in the war in Afghanistan, according to the defense fund.
Nationally, guns still kill twice as many children and young people than cancer, five times as many than heart disease and 15 times more than infection, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
“We see guns as much of a threat in their life as we used to see bacteria and viruses,” said Dr. Judith S. Palfrey, a past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the co-author of the New England journal report. “If you look at what’s actually killing children and disabling children, guns is one of the major things.”

Although the following comparison is a bit dated, because the pattern of these statistics has remained relatively constant over the past twenty years, it is worth noting, in looking at ‘Posterity’, to evaluate how well we are interpreting and implementing the U.S. Constitution, including the 2nd Amendment.  The original figures come from the Center for Disease Control, by way of the American Bar Association web site:

• The overall firearm-related death rate among U.S. children younger than 15 years of age is nearly 12 times higher than among children in 25 other industrialized countries combined.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 1997;46:101-105.

•  The United States has the highest rate of youth homicides and suicides among the 26 wealthiest nations.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Rates of homicide, suicide, and firearm-related death among children: 26 industrialized countries.
MMWR. 1997;46:101-105

Here is what is wrong with how we have applied the 2nd Amendment, especially in permitting lax gun regulation, which contributes heavily to gun violence, both homicides and suicides, and to gun accidents, and which includes making it relatively easy for mass murders to acquire firearms to use in mass shootings.  An excerpt from the Huff Po around the time of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting murder/suicide makes it clear:

How freely do guns flow in the United States compared with the world’s other industrialized countries?
According to GunPolicy.org, run by Philip Alpers, a firearms analyst at The University of Sydney, the United States is unusual with what Alpers described as the “two pillars” of gun control: licensing gun owners and registering weapons.
“You are basically the only country in the developed world that doesn’t license gun owners across the board and you are almost alone in not registering guns across the board,” Alpers said. “It’s very difficult to compare [the U.S.] with others, because you simply don’t have those things.” New Zealand and Canada are the other developed countries that don’t register guns across the board, Alpers said. The two countries register handguns and military-style semi-automatics, but not rifles and shotguns.
The Small Arms Survey, an independent research project based in Geneva, noted that of the 28 countries it surveyed for its 2011 report on civilian firearm possession, only two consider civilian ownership of a firearm a basic right: the U.S. and Yemen. But even Yemen has begun clamping down on civilian guns, Alpers said.

It is literally not a suicide pact regarding guns used in homicides or suicides or accidental shootings, and when it becomes such a large problem that it is resulting in the deaths and injuries of so many Americans, where much stricter limitations on firearms could dramatically reduce those deaths, injuries, as well as the fear of threat and intimidation by firearms in the hands of our fellow Americans, it is time to follow the wisdom attributed to Lincoln in the 19th century, and specifically expressed by Supreme Court Justices Jackson and Goldberg, respectively at different times in the 20th century.  It is time for we the people to be protected from we the people with guns, not just the crazy ones, not just the mass shooters, but all the other people who pose a significant safety and public health risk to the rest of us who should be more rigorously regulated for ourselves and posterity.

There are none so blind...

I heard about this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/16/stevie-wonder-boycotts-florida-stand-your-ground-zimmerman_n_3603571.html

on the Syracuse FM drive-time show (Gomez&Dave........and Lisa*). One of the guys surmised that Mr. Wonder only wants to perform in states where he "can't defend himself".

I think it's a safe bet that Stevie Wonder, despite his vast accomplishment in the field of music is still not able to see well enough to aim and fire a gun with any degree of accuracy (my bad if I'm wrong). I don't know, maybe there IS a "Stevie, The Blind Pianist" who wields weaponry with the same degree of efficiency that he demonstrates with his music--I'm guessing, "Not.

Unless he's got accountants and managers that are aemoral thieves and idiots, Stevie Wonder prolly has no genuine need to pander to an audience. I think it's probably been obvious to anyone who's ever listened to "Living for the City" (released on "Innervisions", 1973) that his take on inner-city violence was that it WAS a racist thing. I'm sure that lots of folks don't care for his "political" music, preferring to listen to tunes like, "You are the Sunshine of My Life"--a fine tune, btw--or, maybe, "Ebony and Ivory" (performed, on the album, "Tug of War", with the best white songwriter prior to Justin Bieber or something like that). Stevie Wonder has taken a number of unpopular stances (well, unpopular with white folks--radiKKKal asshole whitefolks) during the last 50 years--yeah, he's been around that long--including being banned from performing in South Africa for a while. I don't think that he really does a CBA to determine whether his opinions are going to hurt his box office or record sales.

Stevie was born blind, but he has an ability to "see" which transcends a lot of folks' 20/20 vision.


*  Lisa doesn't get the same billing, I don't know who makes that decision.

George Zimmerman is a murdering scumbag

Yeah, I know, that's mean.

Fuck it.

Because of jury "nullification" or prosecutorial misfeasance a man who murdered a teen-ager armed with candy and a soft drink walks free.

Is it a coincidence that many of the same people cheering the Florida jury's verdict were cursing the jury in LA after they acquitted OJ Simpson? I think not. You see, in both cases there were "good" (white or armed, or both) people and "bad" (black or, well, black). Now, OJ Simpson is a piece of shit who murdered two people for no reason other than that he wanted to make them stop laughing at him. I'm not precisely sure what George Triggerman's motivation was but I think it boils down to his being very upset that people get away with shit and he's mad as hell and he's not gonna take it anymore.

I wonder how long it will be before one of the NRA's primary constituents (gun companies) issues a "Zimmerman" model 9mm handgun.

George Zimmerman is a murdering scumbag. Otoh, he's still alive, so I guess that worked out pretty well for him.

The limits of "Free Speech" here and elsewhere

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Part Trey--Gunzligion and Gunzilla

Gunzloonz need some gunzligion.

So much of gunzloonznation's attempt at justification for wanting to have the AWESOME power of life and death over their fellow man is based on oft-debunked "facts" from people like Kleck and Lott; outright lies from the NRA, and the "analysis" by FuckTheNew'sCorpse, talkingshitheads on the radio and the rest of the ReiKKKwing noise machine.

The number of DGU's (ranging from 1.5--2.5 million per annum, depending upon which Gunzgospel one is reading) are an established fact, in the hivemind of gunzloonz nation, despite their having been criticized by statisticians, LEO organizations, including the U.S. DoJ and professional pollsters for their lack of empiricism and shoddy methodology*.

When asked to explain how Kleck's/Lott's wildly inflated numbers for annual DGU's are justified they say, "it's a peer reviewed study", peer reviewed by an eminent criminiologist, Marvin Wolfgang, at that. Well, aside from the fact that Marvin Wolfgang might have been a little overfocused on race being a PRIMARY cause of violence, he didn't say that Kleck's "research" was perfect. Quite the opposite in fact. Wolfgang did say this:

""I am as strong a gun-control advocate as can be found among the criminologists in this country. If I were Mustapha Mond of Brave New World, I would eliminate all guns from the civilian population and maybe even from the police ... What troubles me is the article by Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz. The reason I am troubled is that they have provided an almost clearcut case of methodologically sound research in support of something I have theoretically opposed for years, namely, the use of a gun in defense against a criminal perpetrator. ...I have to admit my admiration for the care and caution expressed in this article and this research. Can it be true that about two million instances occur each year in which a gun was used as a defensive measure against crime? It is hard to believe. Yet, it is hard to challenge the data collected. We do not have contrary evidence. The National Crime Victim Survey does not directly contravene this latest survey, nor do the Mauser and Hart Studies. ... the methodological soundness of the current Kleck and Gertz study is clear. I cannot further debate it. ... The Kleck and Gertz study impresses me for the caution the authors exercise and the elaborate nuances they examine methodologically. I do not like their conclusions that having a gun can be useful, but I cannot fault their methodology. They have tried earnestly to meet all objections in advance and have done exceedingly well."

(source: http://jneilschulman.rationalreview.com/2010/05/j-neil-schulmans-stopping-power-q-a-on-gun-defenses/***

and he also said this:

"“The usual criticisms of survey research, such as that done by Kleck
and Gertz, also apply to their research. The problems of small
numbers and extrapolating from relatively small samples to the
universe are common criticisms of all survey research, including
theirs. I did not mention this specifically in my printed comments)because I thought that this was obvious; within the specific
limitations of their research is what I meant by a lack of criticism
methodologically.”--J of Criminal Law and Criminology 86:2 p617-8"source:  http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/1996/12/16/dgu-

by way of clarification when asked about his earlier statement.

Kleck has never been able to convince a lot of non gunzloonz types that his data and methodologies are beyond reproach. Lott, afaia, has never convinced ANY non gunzloonz types that his data and methodologies are beyond reproach. In Lott's case he doesn't even HAVE the data on which he claims to have based his conclusions (the infamous 1997 study)****. These two "researchers" are the authors of most of what teh gunzloonz rely on to justify their insane avidity for firearms.

The writings of Kleck, Lott and a few other authors, friends and heroes of the gunzloonz and NRA are countered by numerous peer reviewed/government conducted studies which refute (and have the data to back up their refutations) the findings of the Pro-gun authors.

The gish galloping,  cherry picking of statistics, willful misinterpretation of the plain language of the U.S. Constitution's 2nd amendment and all of the rest of their denialism is much like that seen in the anti-evolution, anti-AGW, anti-gay, anti-immigrant and anti-woman's rights communities. They believe what they believe--DESPITE clear and convincing evidence that debunks their "gut  feelings" about these things.

In that regard the various groups are akin to fundamentalist religioinists. No amount of evidence will ever be enough to satisfy their demands for "proof"; witness the "Birther", "Truther" and anti-AGW movements, for just a few examples.

Their "religion" in this case is the set of beliefs--which they hold as incontrovertible truth--that they are qualified to own and operate any projectile weaponry that they might be able to afford. Further, they believe that they are guaranteed (and that the guarantee is unqualified and absolute) their 2nd Amendment RIGHT to own weapons, without impediment, limitation or registration.

To the gunzloonz, their faith--gunligion--trumps all else in the legal, moral or social sphere. Many of them believe themselves qualified to decide when a government has overstepped its bounds and become the oppressor. Curiously few, if any, of those gunzloonz that I've encountered believe in submitting to a central authority and performing as a member of a militia. This is because, they maintain, the phrase:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,"

has NOTHING to do with what follows:

"the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.".

Maybe it's just me, but it seems downright odd that the Founders would have put a clause on the FRONT END OF THE SENTENCE that has nothing to do with the rest of it. Especially when one considers that none of the other nine of the Amendments contained in the Bill of Rights have, in their opening sentences a "throwaway" irrealevant clause. Don't take my word for it, take the time to read all ten of the Amendments in the Bill of Rights and let me know which ones have opening sentences which start with clauses that are not germane to the substance of the Amendment. When you have satisfied yourself that it is ONLY the 2nd Amendment that features this anomoly then we can move on.

So, in addition to believing that ONLY the 2nd Amendment has a meaningless clause attached--at its beginning--one that is in no way related to the enumerated right contained in the SAME SENTENCE, gunzloon also believe that ONLY the 2nd Amendment is worthy of the protections that they insist it have. I say this because it's not been my experience in my dealings with the gunzligious that they spend any time arguing in defense of the other nine Amendments in the BoR or, for that matter, the other 18 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. They are, of course, strict constructionists and "originalists" who want only for the "intent" of the Founders to be honored. That  the Founders were men who owned slaves--and resisted efforts to change the status quo , considered wives and children chattel ?  those men? Okay.

So, following the logic of gunzligionistaz there should still be slaves and legislation that forbade the exploitation of child labor and guaranteed the rights of women, non-whites and others should never have been passed. After all, none of those things were even in the minds of the Founders. There are those gunzloonz who, reading this, would nod their heads in sober agreement--not publicly, of course, but still...

It is quite clear that the 2nd Amendment says what it says. What  is exceedingly unclear is WHAT any of the authors or signatories "intended" at the time of it's writing, signing or ratification. This is why the Supreme Court has had to consider "texture" and "intent" in their deliberations. Oddly enough, when the SCotUS is less conservative a linkage of the two parts of the ONE sentence that comprises the 2nd Amendment is obvious; when the Court is more conservative, the first clause becomes an orphan.

As has been the case with christianity in the U.S., there are schisms, political divisions really, between those who think that the 2nd Amendment is inviolable and immutable and those who think that sane firearms policy, of a national nature is required.

Next post, soon; and, yes, we will get into the gunzilla meme.


*           http://vacps.org/public-policy/the-contradictions-of-kleck

**         http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/trigger/trigger1.htm

***        another fat, angry, white man, wit teh gunz

****     http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2003/04/10/duncan3/